Page 9 - All India Magazine Jul-2020

Divine exists, that there is something in the universe which
is the Divine, that it is not just the monstrosity we see, that
there is the Divine, the Divine exists. And each time that the
least thing puts you either directly or indirectly in contact
with this sublime Reality of divine existence, the heart is
filled with so intense, so marvellous a joy, such a gratitude
as of all things has the most delightful taste.
There is nothing which gives you a joy equal to that of
gratitude. One hears a bird sing, sees a lovely flower, looks at
a little child, observes an act of generosity, reads a beautiful
sentence, looks at the setting sun, no matter what, suddenly
this comes upon you, this kind of emotion — indeed so deep,
so intense — that the world manifests the Divine, that there
is something behind the world which is the Divine.
So I find that devotion without gratitude is quite incom-
plete, gratitude must come with devotion.

Aspiration or courage
I remember that once we spoke of courage as one of the
perfections; I remember having written it down once in a list.
But this courage means having a taste for the supreme ad-
venture. And this taste for supreme adventure is aspiration —
an aspiration which takes hold of you completely and flings
you, without calculation and without reserve and without
a possibility of withdrawal, into the great adventure of the
divine discovery, the great adventure of the divine meet-
ing, the yet greater adventure of the divine Realisation; you
throw yourself into the adventure without looking back and
without asking for a single minute, “What’s going to hap-
pen?” For if you ask what is going to happen, you never start,
you always remain stuck there, rooted to the spot, afraid to
lose something, to lose your balance.

All India Magazine, July 2020 9