Preparing for the Miraculous

238 eleven talks“An Avatar or Vibhuti have the knowledge that is necessaryfor their work, they need not have more,” wrote SriAurobindo. “There was absolutely no reason why Buddhashould know what was going on in Rome. An Avatar evendoes not manifest all the Divine omniscience and omnipotence;he has not come for any such unnecessary display;all that is behind him but not in the front of the consciousness.”8 “My own idea of the matter is that the Avatar’s lifeand actions are not miracles. If they were, his existencewould be perfectly useless, a mere superfluous freak of Nature.He accepts the terrestrial conditions, he uses means,he shows the way to humanity as well as helps it.” 9“We know whatever we have to know for our work,”said Sri Aurobindo to the disciples gathered around him afterthe accident with his leg. 10 And to a disciple who wrote:“We consider you omniscient,” he answered with a touchof irony: “You do not expect me, surely, to know how manyfishes the fishermen of Pondicherry have caught, or howmuch money they have made of it? [On another occasion hechose as an example of his ignorance what Lloyd George, afamous British politician at the time, had had for breakfast.]Because [the Divine] chooses to limit or determine his actionby conditions, it does not make him less omnipotent.His self-limitation is itself an act of omnipotence.” 11Another topic in the 3rd and 4th century theologicalcontroversies was the constitution of Christ, the God-Man.The standpoint, for instance, of the “heretic” sect of theSabellians, was that Christ was fully and effectively God,also when in his human body, and that consequently, beingGod, he could not suffer.8 Sri Aurobindo: op. cit., p. 410.9 Sri Aurobindo: On Himself, p. 149.10 Nirodbaran: Talks with Sri Aurobindo, vol. I, p. 41.11 Sri Aurobindo: Letters on Yoga, p. 411.