Preparing for the Miraculous

theodicy: “nature does not make mistakes” 217writes Sri Aurobindo. “But this is a knowledge for whichmankind is not ready.” 3 “Delight is existence, Delight is thesecret of creation; Delight is the root of birth, Delight is thecause of remaining in existence, Delight is the end of birthand that into which creation ceases. ‘From Ananda,’ saysthe Upanishad, ‘all existences are born, by Ananda they remainin being and increase, to Ananda they depart.’” 4 Andthe Mother said: “It is Joy that has created, it is Joy that willaccomplish.” 5“Absoluteness of conscious existence is illimitable blissof conscious existence; the two are only different phrasesfor the same thing. All illimitableness, all infinity, all absolutenessis pure delight.” 6 But then: “This ancient Vedantictheory of cosmic origin is immediately confrontedin the human mind by two powerful contradictions, theemotional and sensational consciousness of pain and theethical problem of evil. For if the world be an expressionof Sachchidananda, not only of existence that is consciousforce – for that can easily be admitted – but of existencethat is also infinite self-delight, how are we to account forthe universal presence of grief, of suffering, of pain?” asksSri Aurobindo in The Life Divine. “All being Sacchidananda,how can pain and suffering at all exist?” 7He approaches the problem from four angles. The firstone, quite revelatory, is that we are not consciously awareof “the pleasure of existence” by which we are carriedthrough all our life experiences, negative as well as positive.In fact “we shall find that the sum of the pleasure of3 Sri Aurobindo: Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, p. 63.4 Sri Aurobindo: The Life Divine, p. 101.5 The Mother: Entretiens 1955, p. 454.6 Sri Aurobindo: The Life Divine, p. 91.7 Id., pp. 92-93.