The Thousands

 

Better than a thousand words devoid of meaning is a single meaningful word which can bring tranquillity to one who hears it.

 

Better than a thousand verses devoid of meaning is a single meaningful verse which can bring tranquillity to one who hears it.

 

Better than the repetition of a hundred verses devoid of meaning is the repetition of a single verse of the Teaching which can bring tranquillity to one who hears it.

 

The greatest conqueror is not he who is victorious over thousands of men in battle, but he who is victorious over himself.

 

The victory that one wins over oneself is of more value than victory over all the peoples.

 

No god, no Gandharva,¹ nor Mara nor Brahma² can change that victory to defeat.

 

If, month after month, for a hundred years one offers sacrifices by the thousand, and if for a single instant one offers homage to a being full of wisdom, that single homage is worth more than all those countless sacrifices.

 

If for a hundred years a man tends the flame on Agni's altar, and if, for a single instant, he renders homage to a man who has mastered his nature, this brief  homage has more value than all his long devotions.  

 

¹Celestial musician.

²The creator of the universe. 

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Whatever the sacrifices and oblations a man in this world may offer throughout a whole year in order to acquire merit, that is not worth even a quarter of the homage offered to a just man.

 

For one who is respectful to his elders, four things increase: long life, beauty, happiness and strength.

 

A single day spent in good conduct and meditation is worth more than a hundred years spent in immorality and dissipation.

 

A single day of wisdom and meditation is worth more than a hundred years spent in foolishness and dissipation.

 

A single day of strength and energy is worth more than a hundred years spent in indolence and inertia.

 

A single day lived in the perception that all things appear and disappear is worth more than a hundred years spent not knowing that they appear and disappear.

 

A single day spent in contemplation of the path of immortality is worth more than a hundred years lived in ignorance of the path of immortality.

 

A single day spent in contemplation of the supreme Truth is worth more than a hundred years lived in ignorance of the supreme Truth.

 

 All kinds of different things are gathered here under the same heading. It is an association of words more than an association  

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of ideas. But the central trend is this, that it is preferable to have one moment of sincerity rather than a long life of apparent devotion and that a psychological and spiritual victory over oneself is more important than all external victories.

There is also an interesting reflection, that a victory over oneself is the only victory which is truly safe from the intervention of any god or power of Nature or any instrument of evil. If you have gained self-mastery on one point, that goes beyond the reach of any intervention even from the very highest powers, whether they are gods of the Overmind or any anti-divine powers in the world.

The opening text says that a single word that gives you peace is worth more than thousands of words that have no meaning  this anybody can understand  but it is also said that the word that gives you peace is worth more than thousands of words that can satisfy the mental activity but have no psychological effect on your being.

Indeed, when you have found something which has the power to help you in gaining a victory over your unconsciousness and inertia, you must, till you reach the final result, exhaust all the effects produced by that word or phrase before you look for others.

It is more important to pursue to its end the practice of the effect produced by an idea that one has met somehow, than to try to accumulate in the head a large number of ideas. Ideas may all be very useful in their own time, if they are allowed in at the opportune moment, particularly if you carry to the extreme limit the result of one of those dynamic ideas that are capable of making you win an inner victory. That is to say, one should have for one's chief, if not only aim the practice of what one knows rather than the accumulation in oneself of a knowledge which remains purely theoretical.

So one could sum up: put into practice integrally what you know, only then can you usefully increase your theoretical knowledge.  

11 April 1958 

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