Page 9 - All India Magazine Nov-2024

favourable explanations for all that one does, for one’s words, for
one’s acts. That is what happens first. I am not speaking of obvi-
ous things like quarrelling and saying, “It is the other one’s fault”,
I am speaking of the very tiny things of daily life.
I know a child who knocked against a door and he gave a good
kick to the door! It is the same thing. It is always the other one
who is in the wrong, who has committed the mistake. Even when
you have passed the stage of the child, when you have a little
reason, you still give the stupidest of all excuses: “If he had not
done that, I wouldn’t have done this.” But it should be just the
other way round!

Being sincere
This is what I call being sincere. When you are with someone,
if you are sincere, instantaneously your way of reacting should be
to do the right thing, even when you are with someone who does
not do it. Take the most common example of someone who gets
angry: instead of saying things that hurt, you say nothing, you
keep calm and quiet, you do not catch the contagion of the anger.
You have only to look at yourself to see if this is easy. It is quite
an elementary thing, a very small beginning to know whether you
are sincere. And I am not speaking of those who catch every con-
tagion, even that of coarse joking nor of those who commit the
same stupidity as the others.
I tell you: if you look at yourself with sharp eyes, you will catch
in yourself insincerities by the hundred, even though you are try-
ing to be sincere in your general attitude. You will see how difficult
it is.
I tell you: If you are sincere in all the elements of your being,
to the very cells of your body and if your whole being integrally
wants the Divine, you are sure of victory but for nothing less than
that. That is what I call being sincere.
I am not speaking of glaring things like obeying your impuls-

All India Magazine, November 2024 9