Peace Is the True Remedy

As long as we are getting upset or disturbed, the exte
al personality is still reacting to things and we have not attained the true standpoint of the witness consciousness. Thus, we experience difficulties and respond based on the Guna that is predominant at the moment. We may react with happiness if things seem to be working according to our expectation, frustration or anger if we feel like we are not getting what we want, or despondency or depression if we lose hope or feel like our efforts are being rebuffed.

We frequently try to distract ourselves from the difficulties we experience through various means, including immersing ourselves in work, keeping busy so we don’t ‘have time to think’ as we often hear people say. This does not solve the issue, but simply turns the attention away for a period of time.

Wherever we focus our attention, we create a connection that brings the force or energy of that object of attention into our consciousness. If we focus on our spiritual aspiration, we automatically get a response which begins to have its impact, first, by providing a sense of separation from the exte
al nature, thereby bringing peace to the being. From this foundation, the aspiration and tapasya, concentration of conscious force, begin to manifest the next stages of the sadhana.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “Aspire, concentrate in the right spirit and, whatever the difficulties, you are sure to attain the aim you have put before you.”

“It is in the peace behind and that ‘something truer’ in you that you must learn to live and feel it to be yourself. You must regard the rest as not your real self, but only a flux of changing or recurring movements on the surface which are sure to go as the true self emerges.”

“Peace is the true remedy; distraction by hard work is only a temporary relief — although a certain amount of work is necessary for the proper balance of the different parts of the being. To feel the peace above and about your head is a first step; you have to get connected with it and it must descend into you and fill your mind and life and body and surround you so that you live in it — for this peace is the one sign of the Divine’s presence with you, and once you have it all the rest will begin to come.”

“Truth in speech and truth in thought are very important. The more you can feel falsehood as being not part of yourself, as coming on you from outside, the easier it will be to reject and refuse it.”

“Persevere and what is still crooked will be made straight and you will know and feel constantly the truth of the Divine’s presence and your faith will be justified by direct experience.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 1, Calm — Peace — Equality, pp. 10-11