Perseverance is one of the twelve attributes of the Mother.
Perseverance: the decision to go to the very end.
Perseverance is patience in action.
Perseverance breaks down all obstacles.
Persevere and all obstacles will be conquered.
The Mother – Words of the Mother: CWM, Vol. 14, p162
You want to see a very busy man to ask him something. You go to his house. Already many visitors are there and he keeps you waiting a very long time before seeing you. You stay there quietly, perhaps for several hours. You are patient.
Another time, the person you wish to see is not at home when you arrive. You return again the next day, but his door is still closed. You go back a third time, but he is sick and cannot see you. You let a few days go by and then return once more. And if something new again prevents you from meeting him, nevertheless you are not discouraged, but renew the attempt until at last you see him. This kind of patience is called perseverance.
Perseverance is an active patience, a patience that marches on.
The Mother – Words of Long Ago: CWM, Vol. 2, p198
When shall I become a truly strong being, made entirely of courage, energy, valour and calm perseverance; when shall I have forgotten my own person completely enough to be nothing but an instrument moulded solely by the forces it has to manifest? When will my consciousness of unity be no longer tinged with any inertia; when will my feeling of divine love be no longer mixed with any weakness?
The Mother – Prayers and Meditations: CWM, Vol. 1, p119
Persevere in your aspiration and effort, do not allow yourself to be discouraged by setbacks. This always happens in the beginning. But if you continue to fight without paying any attention to them, a day will come when the resistances give way and the difficulties vanish. My help is always with you, but you must learn to use it and to rely on it rather than on your own resources.
The Mother – Words of the Mother: CWM, Vol. 14, p162
What you are not able to do today, you will achieve tomorrow. Persevere and you shall conquer.
It is by persevering that one conquers difficulties, not by running away from them. One who perseveres is sure to triumph. Victory goes to the most enduring. Always do your best and the Lord will take care of the results.
The Mother – Words of the Mother: CWM, Vol. 14, p163
I already told you that my help is with you and will continue to be so―you are sure to reach the goal but you must be very perseverant. To be constantly in contact with the Truth is not easy and needs time and a great sincerity. But you can be sure of my guidance and my force.
The Mother – Words of the Mother: CWM, Vol. 14, p164
You must be sincere in your perseverance; then the things you cannot do today, you will one day be able to do, after regular and persistent efforts.
Give yourself to the Divine absolutely, and the Divine Help will always be with you.
The Mother – More Answers from the Mother: CWM, Vol. 17, p371
…. And the most essential quality is perseverance, endurance, and a… what shall I call it?—a kind of inner good humour which helps you not to get discouraged, not to become sad, and to face all difficulties with a smile….
The Mother – Questions and Answers: CWM, Vol.8, p23
….Peace and opening may come so strongly that it seems all difficulties are gone and can never return—but that is only an indication, a promise. It shows that it will be so when the peace and opening are irrevocably settled in all the nature. For that what is needed is perseverance—to go on without discouragement, recognising that the process of the nature and the action of the Mother’s force is working through the difficulty even and will do all that is needed. Our incapacity does not matter—there is no human being who is not in his parts of nature incapable—but the Divine Force also is there. If one puts one’s trust in that, incapacity will be changed into capacity. Difficulty and struggle themselves then become a means towards the achievement.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga: CWSA, Vol. 31, p727
There are always difficulties and a hampered progress in the early stages and a delay in the opening of the inner doors until the being is ready. If you feel whenever you meditate the quiescence and the flashes of the inner Light and if the inward urge is growing so strong that the external hold is decreasing and the vital disturbances are losing their force, that is already a great progress. The road of Yoga is long, every inch of ground has to be won against much resistance and no quality is more needed by the sadhak than patience and single-minded perseverance with a faith that remains firm through all difficulties, delays and apparent failures.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga: CWSA, Vol.29, p110
In this wide world, there is no lack of noble work to be accomplished, nor is there any lack of good people to undertake it; but what is very often lacking is the perseverance which alone can carry it through to the end.
The Mother – Words of Long Ago: CWM, Vol. 2, p202
How can one transform the vital?
The first step: will. Secondly, sincerity and aspiration. But will and aspiration are almost the same thing, one follows the other. Then, perseverance. Yes, perseverance is necessary in any process, and what is this process?… First, there must be the ability to observe and discern, the ability to find the vital in oneself, else you will be hard put to it to say: “This comes from the vital, this comes from the mind, this from the body.”….
The Mother – Questions and Answers: CWM, Vol. 4, pp 247-48
My sweet Mother,
I want to be closer to you in my heart and in all my being. Give me the power to give myself completely to you. Stay with me always.
Yes, my dear little child, I am always with you to help you, to support you, to guide you. By doing your work with conscientiousness, honesty and perseverance, you will feel my presence closer and closer to you.
The Mother – Some Answers from the Mother : CWM, Vol. 16, p141
For a happy and effective life, the essentials are sincerity, humility, perseverance and an insatiable thirst for progress. Above all, one must be convinced of a limitless possibility of progress. Progress is youth; at a hundred years of age one can be young.
The Mother – On Education: CWM, Vol. 12, p123
When one wants to change something of the material life, whether the character or the functioning of the organs or habits, one must have an unfaltering perseverance, be ready to begin again a hundred times the same thing with the same intensity with which one did it the first time and as though one had never done it before.
People who are touchy cannot do this. But if one can’t do it, one can’t do yoga, in any case not the integral yoga, one can’t change one’s body.
To change one’s body one must be ready to do millions of times the same thing, because the body is a creature of habits and functions by routine, and because to destroy a routine one must persevere for years.
The Mother – Questions and Answers: CWM, Vol.7, p104
It is always the vital being which protests and complains. The psychic being works with perseverance and ardour to make the union an accomplished fact, but it never complains, and knows how to wait for the hour of realisations to come.
The Mother – Some Answers from the Mother : CWM, Vol. 16, p172
The ego was necessary to form the individual being. Its destruction is therefore difficult. There is a much better, though more difficult solution: to transform it and make it an instrument of the Divine.
Egos that are converted and wholly consecrated to the Divine become especially powerful and effective instruments.
The endeavour is difficult and demands an absolute and steadfast sincerity, but for those who have a strong will, an ardent aspiration and an unshakable sincerity, it is well worth undertaking.
The method for each individual is worked out as the activity proceeds, for each ego has its own character and needs a particular method. The only qualities indispensable for all are absolute perseverance and sincerity. The least tendency to deceive oneself makes success impossible.
The Mother – Some Answers from the Mother: CWM, Vol. 16, p 425
Perseverance
The decision to go to the very end.
Calendula officinalis
Ruddles, Common marigold, Scotch marigold, Pot marigold
Medium-sized single or double compositae flower with soft narrow delicately fringed petals in yellow or orange and a dark brown central disc. A popular garden annual.
