Page 10 - All India Magazine Jul-2020

That’s why I speak of courage — but really it is aspira-
tion. They go together. A real aspiration is something full of
courage.

Surrender
And now, surrender. In English the word is “surrender”,
there is no French word which gives exactly that sense. But
Sri Aurobindo has said — I think we have read this — that sur-
render is the first and absolute condition for doing the yoga.
So, if we follow what he has said, this is not just one of the
necessary qualities: it is the first attitude indispensable for
beginning the yoga. If one has not decided to make a total
surrender, one cannot begin.

Endurance or perseverance
But for this surrender to be total, all these qualities are
necessary. And I add one more — for so far we have only four
— I add endurance. For, if you are not able to face difficulties
without getting discouraged and without giving up, because
it is too difficult; and if you are incapable... well, of receiv-
ing blows and yet continuing, of “pocketing” them, as they
say — when you receive blows as a result of your defects, of
putting them in your pocket and continuing to go forward
without flagging — you don’t go very far; at the first turning
where you lose sight of your little habitual life, you fall into
despair and give up the game.
The most... how shall I put it? the most material form of
this is perseverance. Unless you are resolved to begin the
same thing over again a thousand times if need be... You
know, people come to me in despair, “But I thought it was
done and now I must begin again!” And if they are told,
“But that’s nothing, you will probably have to begin again a
hundred times, two hundred times, a thousand times; you

All India Magazine, July 2020
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