The Difference Between Living According to the Inner Truth of One’s Being or the External Ego Personality
reference: Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter VII Attitude, pp. 78-79 This episode is also available as a blog post at https://sriaurobindostudies.wordpress.com/2024/11/07/the-difference-between-living-according-to-the-inner-truth-of-ones-being-or-the-external-ego-personality/
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0:01 The mother draws a clear distinction between the individual who is in contact with his own deepest inner truth of being, his swadharma, and the individual who does not pay attention to this deepest truth but lives what may be called a transactional existence focused on the aggrandizement and enjoyment of his outer being and personality. In the Mahabharata we can identify two major people who embody these two opposite tendencies. There is King Yudhishtira, later emperor, who is the embodiment of Dharma, who works not for his own self aggrandizement but to provide benefit to everyone under his umbrella.
0:47 Then there is Duryodhana, his cousin, who while a king in his own right, with power and wealth at his disposal, is so jealous of his cousin that he is willing to lie, cheat and steal to win the wealth and Kingdom of Yudhishtira and eventually becomes the proximate cause of the great battle that led to the destruction of vast numbers of Chatrias. In the battle of Kurukshetra, one can see the peace and harmony at work in the person of Yudhishtira and can observe the selfishness, bitterness and jealousy eating away at Duryodhana and clouding his wisdom.
1:32 The mother notes quote the inner law. The truth of the being is the divine presence in every human being, which should be the master and guide of our life. When you acquire the habit of listening to this inner law, when you obey it, follow it, try more and more to let it guide your life, you create around you an atmosphere of truth and peace and harmony, which naturally reacts upon circumstances and forms, so to say, the atmosphere in which you live. When you are a being of justice, truth, harmony, compassion, understanding of perfect goodwill.
2:18 This inner attitude, the more sincere and total it is, the more it reacts upon the external circumstances. Not that it necessarily diminishes the difficulties of life, but it gives these difficulties a new meaning, and that allows you to face them with a new strength and a new wisdom. Whereas the man, the human being who follows his impulses, who obeys his desires, who has not time for scruples, who comes to live in complete cynicism, not caring for the effect that his life has upon others, or for the more or less harmful consequences of his acts, creates for himself an atmosphere of ugliness, selfishness, conflict, and bad will, which necessarily acts more and more upon his consciousness and gives a bitterness to his life that in the end becomes a perpetual torment. Of course, this does not mean that such a man will not succeed in what he undertakes, that he will not be able to possess what he desires.
3:29 These external advantages disappear only when there is within the inmost being a spark of sincerity which persists and makes him worthy of this misfortune. If you see a bad man become unlucky and miserable, you must immediately respect him. It means that the flame of inner sincerity is not altogether extinguished and something still reacts to his bad actions. End Quote. Reference Srioro Bindu and the Mother Powers within, Chapter 7 Attitude, pages 78 to 79.
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