The Hour of God - By Yogi Aurobindo
There
are moments when the Spirit moves among men and the breath of the Lord
is abroad upon the waters of our being; there are others when it
retires and men are left to act in the strength or the weakness of
their own egoism. The first are periods when even a little effort
produces great results and changes destiny; the second are spaces of
time when much labour goes to the making of a little result. It is true
that the latter may prepare the former, may be the little smoke of
sacrifice going up to heaven which calls down the rain of God’s bounty.
Unhappy is the man or the nation which, when the divine moment arrives,
is found sleeping or unprepared to use it, because the lamp has not
been kept trimmed for the welcome and the ears are sealed to the call.
But thrice woe to them who are strong and ready, yet waste the force or
misuse the moment; for them is irreparable loss or a great destruction.
In the hour of God cleanse thy soul of all self-deceit and hypocrisy
and vain self-flattering that thou mayst look straight into thy spirit
and hear that which summons it.
All insincerity of nature, once thy defence against the eye of the Master and the light of the ideal, becomes now a gap in thy armour and invites the blow. Even if thou conquer for the moment, it is the worse for thee, for the blow shall come afterwards and cast thee down in the midst of thy triumph. But being pure cast aside all fear; for the hour is often terrible, a fire and a whirlwind and a tempest, a treading of the winepress of the wrath of God; but he who can stand up in it on the truth of his purpose is he who shall stand; even though he fall, he shall rise again, even though he seem to pass on the wings of the wind, he shall return. Nor let worldly prudence whisper too closely in thy ear; for it is the hour of the unexpected, the incalculable, the immeasurable.
Mete not the power of the Breath by thy petty instruments, but trust and go forward. But most keep thy soul clear, even if for a while, of the clamour of the ego. Then shall a fire march before thee in the night and the storm be thy helper and thy flag shall wave on the highest height of the greatness that was to be conquered.
|
|
