Faith and Sincerity are the twin agents of success.
The Mother – On Education: CWM, Vol. 12, p. 115
I break the ignorant pride of human mind
And lead the thought to the wideness of the Truth;
I rend man’s narrow and successful life
And force his sorrowful eyes to gaze at the sun
That he may die to earth and live in his soul.
Sri Aurobindo – Savitri: CWSA, Vol. 34, Book Seven, p. 510
You must keep your aspiration steady and be patient in your endeavour―and you are sure of success.
The Mother – Words of the Mother – II : CWM, Vol. 14, p. 160
All success depends upon the measure of your truth.
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Success depends entirely on the sincerity.
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Success in supramental works: the result of patient labour and a perfect consecration.
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Spiritual success is the conscious union with the Divine.
The Mother – Words of the Mother – III : CWM, Vol. 15, p. 80
It is the human mind that has the conception of success and failure. It is the human mind that wants one thing and does not want another. In the divine plan each thing has its place and its importance. So it is not success that matters. What matters is to be a docile and if possible a conscious instrument of the Divine Will.
To be and to do what the Divine wants, this is the truly important thing.
The Mother – Some Answers from the Mother : CWM, Vol. 16, p. 389
…. Life always has a meaning whether in success or in difficulty so long as it is turned towards the Divine. Protection will be given, but depression must be put aside so that you may be able to receive and use the help and the force.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – IV : CWSA, Vol. 31, p. 188
Success is a harder ordeal to pass through than misfortune.
It is in the hour of success that one must be especially vigilant to rise above oneself.
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As soon as you think that you have succeeded in a certain thing, the adverse forces make it a point to attack and spoil it. Moreover, when you think of success, you relax your aspiration and the slightest relaxation is sufficient to spoil the game. The best thing is not to think of it but to go on doing your duty. But sometimes when you go on thinking of your short-comings and failures and you get depressed, then you have to put the success before your nose and say, “Look at this.”
The Mother – Words of the Mother – III : CWM, Vol. 15, pp. 80-81
…. Human nature is weak and is always missing the divine opportunities; but if the spirit is willing, the weakness of the nature is obliged eventually to yield to its will. Renew that will always, so that failure as well as success may become an opportunity and an incentive for farther progress.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – IV : CWSA, Vol. 31, p. 715
My blessings are very dangerous. They cannot be for this one or for that one or against this person or against that thing. It is for… or, well, I will put it in a mystic way:
It is for the Will of the Lord to be done, with full force and power. So it is not necessary that there should always be a success. There might be a failure also, if such is the Will of the Lord. And the Will is for the progress, I mean the inner progress. So whatever will happen will be for the best.
The Mother – Words of the Mother – I : CWM, Vol. 13, pp. 60-61
For the sadhak outward struggles, troubles, calamities are only a means of surmounting ego and rajasic desire and attaining to complete surrender. So long as one insists on success, one is doing the work partly at least for the ego; difficulties and outward failures come to warn one that it is so and to bring complete equality. This does not mean that the power of victory is not to be acquired; but it is not success in the immediate work that is all-important; it is the power to receive and transmit a greater and greater correct vision and inner Force that has to be developed and this must be done quite coolly and patiently without being elated or disturbed by immediate victory or failure.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – II : CWSA, Vol. 29, p. 241
Difficulties are sent to us exclusively to make the realization more perfect.
Each time we try to realize something and we encounter a resistance or an obstacle, or even a failure—what appears to be a failure—we should know, we should NEVER forget, that it is exclusively, absolutely, to make the realization more perfect.
So this habit of cringing, of being discouraged or even feeling ill at ease or abusing oneself, saying, ‘There, I’ve done it again …’ All this is absolute foolishness.
Rather, simply say, ‘We do not know how to do things as they should be done, well then, let them be done for us and come what may!’ If we could only see how everything that looks like a difficulty, an error, a failure or an obstacle is simply there to help us make the realization more perfect.
Once we know this, everything becomes easy.
The Mother – Agenda, Vol. 1, p. 207
Sri Aurobindo tells us that for human beings the degree of success in physical life depends on the degree of harmony between the individual and universal physical Nature.
Some people have a will which is spontaneously in tune with the will of Nature, and they succeed in everything they undertake; others, on the contrary, have a will which is more or less totally out of tune with the will of cosmic Nature and they fail in everything they do or try to do.
…. On the whole, it is certain that the experience of a life of failure and defeat is just as useful to the soul’s growth as the experience of a life of success and victory; even more so, no doubt, than the experience of an uneventful life, as human existence usually is, in which success and failure, satisfaction and disappointment, pleasure and pain mingle and follow one another—a life that seems “natural” and does not require any great effort.
Mother – On Thoughts and Aphorisms : CWM, Vol. 10, p. 56
“34—O Misfortune, blessed be thou; for through thee I have seen the face of my Lover.”
If through misfortune one sees the face of God, then it is no longer misfortune, is it?
Obviously, far from being a misfortune, it is a blessing. And this is precisely what Sri Aurobindo means.
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But ultimately the true attitude, the sign and proof that we are near the goal, is a perfect equality which enables us to accept success and failure, fortune and misfortune, happiness and sorrow with the same tranquil joy; for all these things become marvellous gifts that the Lord in his infinite solicitude showers upon us.
Mother – On Thoughts and Aphorisms : CWM, Vol. 10, p. 58
“212—Poets make much of death and external afflictions; but the only tragedies are the soul’s failures and the only epic man’s triumphant ascent towards godhead.”
Usually man is not afflicted with the only thing truly tragic, the failure to find one’s soul and to live according to its law.
In truth, the only thing that is truly tragic is not to become conscious of one’s soul, the psychic being, and not to be entirely guided by it in one’s life.
To die before having found one’s soul and lived according to its law, that is the true failure.
And the true epic, the true glory is to find the Divine in oneself and to live according to His law.
Mother – On Thoughts and Aphorisms : CWM, Vol. 10, p. 277
Spiritual Success
Spiritual success is conscious union with the Divine.
Hiptage benghalensis
Small fragrant white flower with prominent curved stamens and pistil, and five irregularly folded, twisted and fringed petals; the central petals are blotched with yellow; borne in compact terminal clusters. A rampant vine that can be pruned into a large shrub.
The Mother – Spiritual significance of flowers
