Here is the flower
we have called "Aspiration in the Physical for the Divine's Love." By
the "Physical" I mean the physical consciousness, the most ordinary
outwardgoing consciousness, the normal consciousness of most human
beings, which sets such great store by comfort, good food, good clothes,
happy relationships, etc., instead of aspiring for the higher things.
Aspiration in the physical for the Divine's Love implies that the
physical asks for nothing else save that it should feel how the Divine
loves it. It realises that all its usual satisfactions are utterly
insufficient. But there cannot be a compromise: if the physical wants
the Divine's Love it must want that alone and not say, "I shall have the
Divine's Love and at the same time keep my other attachments, needs and
enjoyments...."
The fundamental seat of
aspiration from which it radiates or manifests in one part of the being
or another is the psychic centre. When I speak of aspiration in the
physical I mean that the very consciousness in you which bankers after
material consort and well-being should of itself, without being
compelled by the higher parts of your nature, ask exclusively for the
Divine's Love. Usually you have to show it the Light by means of your
higher parts; surely this has to be done persistently, otherwise the
physical would never learn and it would take Nature's common round of
ages before it learns by itself. Indeed the round of Nature is intended
to show it all possible sorts of satisfactions and by exhausting them
convince it that none of them can really satisfy it and that what it is
at bottom seeking is a divine satisfaction. In Yoga we hasten this slow
process of Nature and insist on the physical consciousness seeing the
truth and learning to recognise and want it. But how to show it the
truth? Well, just as you bring a light into a dark room. Illumine the
darkness of your physical consciousness with the intuition and
aspiration of your more refined parts and keep on doing so till it
realises how futile and unsatisfactory is its hunger for the low
ordinary things, and turns spontaneously towards the truth. When it does
turn, your whole life will be changed - the experience is unmistakable.
When, as a child. I used to complain to my mother about food or any such
small matter she would always tell me to go and do my work or pursue my
studies instead of bothering about trifles. She would ask me if I had
the complacent idea that I was born for comfort. "You are born to
realise the highest Ideal," she would say and send me packing. She was
quite right, though of course her notion of the highest Ideal was rather
poor by our standards. We are all born for the highest Ideal: therefore,
whenever in our Ashram some petty request for more comfort and material
happiness is refused, it is for your own good and to make you fulfil
what you are here for. The refusal is actually a favour inasmuch as you
are thereby considered worthy to stand before the highest Ideal and be
shaped according to it.
