Becoming Aware of Our Faults Is the First Step Toward Overcoming Them

It is difficult for an individual to see his own shortcomings or faults. Many times we see them reflected in others and we exte
alise them to such a degree that we take exception to the other person, not recognising that we are seeing our own faults displayed in front of us. If we have a confrontation with someone they may point out these faults, but we are generally less receptive to hearing it when it comes from a perceived opponent or enemy. People who are close to us, who are our friends and relatives are frequently reticent to discuss these things with us, particularly if we have a habit of negative reaction or argument which they have seen displayed in the past. Thus, we remain usually cut off from learning the lesson and moving beyond these shortcomings under most circumstances.

Thus it is an enormous benefit to a seeker to have a person whom we respect and honor for their wisdom take up the opportunity to expose our faults for us. This is a means of real progress and opens the door to new insights and inner, spiritual growth.

A verse from the Dhammapada: “We should seek the company of the sage who shows our faults, as if he were showing us a hidden treasure.”

The Mother notes: “In all Scriptures meant to help mankind to progress, it is always said that you must be very grateful to those who show you your faults and so you must seek their company; but the form used here is particularly felicitous: if a fault is shown to you it is as if a treasure were shown to you; that is to say, each time that you discover in yourself a fault, incapacity, lack of understanding, weakness, insincerity, all that prevents you from making a progress, it is as if you discovered a wonderful treasure.”

“Instead of growing sad and telling yourself, ‘Oh, there is still another defect’, you should, on the contrary, rejoice as if you had made a wonderful acquisition, because you have just caught hold of one of those things that prevented you from progressing. And once you have caught hold of it, pull it out! For those who practice a yogic discipline consider that the moment you know that a thing should not be, you have the power to remove it, discard it, destroy it.”

“To discover a fault is an acquisition. It is as though a flood of light had come to replace the little speck of obscurity which has just been driven out.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 2, Looking at Oneself and Others, pg. 37