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Chapter 16
CONFLICT BETWEEN THE DIVINE AND THE DEMONIACAL TENDENCIES
89. The Forces Of Light And Darkness
6. Virtues and vices are pitted against each other within our mind. Both the armies are in neat formations. Every army needs a commander. The virtues too have nominated a commander. He is ‘abhaya’ (fearlessness, or freedom from fear). Fearlessness has been given the first place in this Chapter. This has not happened accidentally; it must have been deliberate. No virtue can develop without fearlessness. Virtues have no value without truthfulness, and fearlessness is essential for commitment to truth. Virtues cannot develop in an atmosphere charged with fear; in such an atmosphere they, in fact, prove to be vices. In such an atmosphere even good tendencies get weakened. Fearlessness is the leader of all the virtues. An army has to be alert about attacks both from the front and the rear. It can be surreptitiously attacked from the rear as well. Therefore, while fearlessness is at the front, humility has been stationed at the rear to guard the army. It is indeed an excellent strategy. In all, twenty-six virtues have been listed here. You may imbibe twenty-five of them excluding humility, but if your ego gets inflated thereby, an attack from the rear will make you lose whatever you have gained. That is why humility has been placed at the rear. In the absence of humility, there is no knowing when victory will turn into defeat. Virtues can be developed only by keeping fearlessness at the front and humility at the rear. Most of the twenty-four virtues in between them can be said to be synonyms of non-violence. Compassion for all creatures, gentleness, forgiveness, serenity, freedom from anger and malice—all these are different terms for non-violence. In fact, all the virtues are contained in truth and non-violence; truth and non-violence are the essence of all of them. But fearlessness and humility are in a different category. Fearlessness makes advance possible and humility ensures safety. With truth and non-violence in our armoury, we should march ahead fearlessly. We ought to move freely over the whole expanse of the vast and extensive life. There must, of course, be humility to prevent us from slipping. We can then fearlessly move ahead, carrying out experiments in truth and non-violence. In short, Truth and nonviolence develop because of fearlessness and humility. |
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