Page 5 - All India Magazine Jul-2025

Not self-effacement but self-fulfilment
But the true essence of sacrifice is not self-immolation, it is self-giving;
its object not self-effacement, but self-fulfilment; its method not self-morti-
fication, but a greater life, not self-mutilation, but a transformation of our
natural human parts into divine members, not self-torture, but a passage
from a lesser satisfaction to a greater Ananda. There is only one thing pain-
ful in the beginning to a raw or turbid part of the surface nature; it is the
indispensable discipline demanded, the denial necessary for the merging of
the incomplete ego. But for that there can be a speedy and enormous compen-
sation in the discovery of a real greater or ultimate completeness in others, in
all things, in the cosmic oneness, in the freedom of the transcendent Self and
Spirit, in the rapture of the touch of the Divine. Our sacrifice is not a giving
without any return or any fruitful acceptance from the other side; it is an
interchange between the embodied soul and conscious Nature in us and the
eternal Spirit. For even though no return is demanded, yet there is the knowl-
edge deep within us that a marvellous return is inevitable. The soul knows
that it does not give itself to God in vain; claiming nothing, it yet receives the
infinite riches of the divine Power and Presence.
CWSA 23: 109 Sri Aurobindo

All India Magazine, July 2025 5