Humility is one of the twelve attributes of the Mother’s symbol.
To be humble means for the mind, the vital and the body never to forget that without the Divine they know nothing, are nothing and can do nothing; without the Divine they are nothing but ignorance, chaos and impotence. The Divine alone is Truth, Life, Power, Love, Felicity.
Therefore the mind, the vital, and the body must learn and feel, once and for all, that they are wholly incapable of understanding and judging the Divine, not only in his essence but also in his action and manifestation.
This is the only true humility and with it come quiet and peace.
This is also the surest shield against all hostile attack. Indeed, in the human being it is always the door of pride at which the Adversary knocks, for it is this door which opens to let him enter.
The Mother – Words of the Mother: CWM, Vol. 14, pp 152-53
…. Humility is that state of consciousness in which, whatever the realisation, you know the infinite is still in front of you….
The Mother – Questions and Answers: CWM, Vol. 3, p175
Perhaps one could say that it [spiritual humility] is to be aware of the relativity of what has been done compared with what is still to be done—and also to be conscious of one’s being nothing without the Divine Grace.
Sri Aurobindo – Letter On Yoga: CWSA, Vol. 28, p432
All was abolished save her naked self
And the prostrate yearning of her surrendered heart:
There was no strength in her, no pride of force;
The lofty burning of desire had sunk
Ashamed, a vanity of separate self,
The hope of spiritual greatness fled,
Salvation she asked not nor a heavenly crown:
Humility seemed now too proud a state.
Sri Aurobindo – Savitri : CWSA, Vol. 34, Book Seven, p522
To receive the divine grace, not only must one have a great aspiration, but also a sincere humility and an absolute trust.
The Mother – Some Answers from the Mother: CWM, Vol. 16, p250
What is the right and the wrong way of being humble?
It is very simple, when people are told “be humble”, they think immediately of “being humble before other men” and that humility is wrong. True humility is humility before the Divine, that is, a precise, exact, living sense that one is nothing, one can do nothing, understand nothing without the Divine, that even if one is exceptionally intelligent and capable, this is nothing in comparison with the divine Consciousness, and this sense one must always keep, because then one always has the true attitude of receptivity—a humble receptivity that does not put personal pretensions in opposition to the Divine.
The Mother – Questions and Answers: CWM, Vol. 5, p45
A true and sincere humility is our safeguard―it is the surest way to the indispensable dissolution of the ego.
The Mother – Words of the Mother: CWM, Vol. 14, p153
Humility and sincerity are the best safeguards. Without them each step is a danger; with them the victory is certain.
The Mother – Words of the Mother: CWM, Vol. 14, p153
Do not think yourself big or small, very important or very unimportant; for we are nothing in ourselves. We must only live to become what the Divine wills of us.
***
True humility consists in knowing that the Supreme Consciousness, the Supreme Will alone exists and that the I is not.
The Mother – Words of the Mother: CWM, Vol. 14, p152
An excessive depreciation is no better than an excessive praise. True humility lies in not judging oneself and in letting the Divine determine our real worth.
The Mother – Some Answers from the Mother: CWM, Vol.16, p176
…. There is one thing that has always been said, but always misunderstood, it is the necessity of humility. It is taken in the wrong way, wrongly understood and wrongly used. Be humble, if you can be so in the right way; above all, do not be so in the wrong way, for that leads you nowhere. But there is one thing: if you can pull out from yourself this weed called vanity, then indeed you will have done something. But if you knew how difficult it is! You cannot do a thing well, cannot have a fine idea, cannot have a right movement, cannot make a little progress without getting puffed up inside (even without being aware of it), with a self-satisfaction full of vanity. And you are obliged then to hammer it hard to break it. And still broken bits remain and these begin to germinate. One must work the whole of one’s life and never forget to work in order to uproot this weed that springs up again and again and again so insidiously that you believe it is gone and you feel very modest and say: “It is not I who have done it, I feel it is the Divine, I am nothing if He is not there”, and then the next minute, you are so satisfied with yourself simply for having thought that!
The Mother – Questions and Answers: CWM, Vol.5, pp 44-45
Humility, a perfect humility, is the condition for all realization. The mind is so cocksure. It thinks it knows everything, understands everything. And if ever it acts through idealism to serve a cause that appears noble to it, it becomes even more arrogant more intransigent, and it is almost impossible to make it see that there might be something still higher beyond its noble conceptions and its great altruistic or other ideals. Humility is the only remedy. True humility consists in constantly referring oneself to the Lord, in placing all before Him. When I receive a blow (and there are quite a few of them in my sadhana), my immediate, spontaneous reaction, like a spring, is to throw myself before Him and to say, ‘Thou, Lord.’ Without this humility, I would never have been able to realize anything. And I say ‘I’ only to make myself understood, but in fact ‘I’ means the Lord through this body, his instrument. When you begin living THIS kind of humility, it means you are drawing nearer to the realization. It is the condition, the starting point.
The Mother – Agenda: Vol. 1, pp 125-26
A spiritual humility within is very necessary, but I do not think an outward one is very advisable (absence of pride or arrogance or vanity is indispensable of course in one’s outer dealings with others)—it often creates pride, becomes formal or becomes ineffective after a time. I have seen people doing it to cure their pride, but I have not found it producing a lasting result.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga: CWSA, Vol. 28, p429
The three images of total self-giving to the Divine:
1) To prostrate oneself at His feet in a surrender of all pride, with a perfect HUMILITY.
2) To unfold one’s being before Him, to open entirely one’s body from head to toe, as one opens a book, spreading open one’s centers so as to make all their movements visible in a total SINCERITY that allows nothing to remain hidden.
3) To nestle in His arms, to melt in Him in a tender and absolute CONFIDENCE.
These movements may be accompanied by three formulas, or any one of them, depending upon the case:
1) May Your Will be done and not mine.
2) As You will, as You will …
3) I am Yours for eternity.
Generally, when these movements are made in the right way, they are followed by a perfect identification, a dissolution of the ego, bringing about a sublime felicity.
The Mother – Agenda: Vol. 1, p55
HUMILITY
[Humility is] the recognition that one does not know, that one knows nothing, and that there may be something beyond what presently appears to us as being truest, noblest, most disinterested. True humility consists in referring oneself constantly to the Lord, in placing everything before Him.
THE MOTHER
It is very simple: when you tell people, “Be humble”, they immediately think of being humble before other men, and that humility is bad. True humility is humility before the Divine – that is, the precise, exact, living sense that one is nothing, can do nothing, understands nothing without the Divine, that even if one is an exceptionally intelligent and capable person, one is nothing in comparison with the Divine Consciousness. And one has to keep that always, because always one has the true attitude of receptivity, a humble receptivity which does not put personal pretension in the way of the Divine.
THE MOTHER
Humility
Adorable in its simplicity.
Agrostis nebulosa [Sporobolus capillaris]
Dropseed
Erect airy panicles of branching spikelets bearing minute flowers that open pale greenish white and change to maroon as they mature. An annual grass.
