On Thoughts and Aphorisms

Aphorism - 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 420

414—To fear God really is to remove oneself to a distance from Him, but to fear Him in play gives an edge to utter delightfulness.

Page 330

415—The Jew invented the God-fearing man; India the God-knower and God-lover.

416—The servant of God was born in Judaea, but he came to maturity among the Arabs. India's joy is in the servant-lover.

417—Perfect love casts out fear; but still keep thou some tender shadow and memory of the exile and it will make the perfection more perfect.

418—Thy soul has not tasted God's entire delight, if it has never had the joy of being His enemy, opposing His designs and engaging with Him in mortal combat.

419—If you cannot make God love you, make Him fight you. If He will not give you the embrace of the lover, compel Him to give you the embrace of the wrestler.

420—My soul is the captive of God, taken by Him in battle; it still remembers the war, though so far from it, with delight and alarm and wonder.

What does Sri Aurobindo mean by "the joy of being His enemy"?

Here too I have to say that I do not know exactly, because he never told me.

But I can tell you about my own experience. Until the age of about twenty-five, all I knew was the God of religions, God as men have created him, and I did not want him at any price. I denied his existence but with the certitude that if such a God did exist, I detested him.

When I was about twenty-five I discovered the inner God

Page 331

and at the same time I learned that the God described by most Western religions is none other than the Great Adversary.

When I came to India, in 1914, and became acquainted with Sri Aurobindo's teaching, everything became very clear.

24 March 1970