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SIMILAR TITLES
KEYS (10k)
12 Sri Aurobindo
9 Aleister Crowley
3 Peter J Carroll
1 Yogani
1 Wikipedia
1 Tenzin Palmo
1 Swami Brahmananda
1 Sri Ramana Maharshi
1 Sri Aurobindo
1 Satprem
1 Saint John Bosco
1 Saint Ambrose of Optina
1 Noam Chomsky
1 JohnyTex
1 John Keats
1 John Donne
1 Israel Regardie
1 Integral Yoga; Sri Aurobindo's Teaching and Method of Practice
1 Hazrat Inayat K
1 G K Chesterton
1 E. W. Dijkstra
1 Donald Knuth
1 Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
1 Carl Sagan
1 Bill Hicks
1 Anonymous
1 Alan Moor
1 Sri Ramana Maharshi
1 Sri Ramakrishna
1 Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
1 ?
NEW FULL DB (2.4M)
47 Albert Samain
44 Charmaine Pauls
38 Germaine Greer
32 Anonymous
22 Romain Gary
18 Sri Ramana Maharshi
17 Romain Rolland
8 Simon Mainwaring
8 Joyce Meyer
7 Laozi
7 Albert Einstein
6 Samuel Beckett
6 Paulo Coelho
6 Jermain Defoe
6 Friedrich Nietzsche
6 Coco Chanel
5 Rumi
5 Romain Duris
5 Napoleon Bonaparte
5 Mehmet Murat ildan
1:Whatever you do, think of the Glory of God as your main goal. ~ Saint John Bosco, #KEYS
2:No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
~ John Donne,#KEYS
3:The computing scientist's main challenge is not to get confused by the complexities of his own making. ~ E. W. Dijkstra, #KEYS
4:Distraction is the main problem for us all - what the Buddha called the monkey mind. We need to tame this monkey mind." ~ Tenzin Palmo, #KEYS
5:You must not be greatly troubled about many things, but you should care for the main thing — preparing yourself for death. ~ Saint Ambrose of Optina, #KEYS
6:The main business of the heart, its true function is love. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Power of the Instruments, #KEYS
7:[What is the main reason that humans are not making more spiritual progress?] "The sense of beauty is being sacrificed to commercialism…" ~ Hazrat Inayat K, #KEYS
8:The vain main of intellect is busy finding out the why and wherefore of creation, while the humble man acquaints himself with the creator. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
9:Renunciation is always in the mind, not in going to forests or solitary places or giving up one's duties. The main thing is to see that the mind does not turn outward but inward. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
10:The main factor in meditation is to keep the mind active in its own pursuit without taking in external impressions or thinking of other matters. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
11:Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty — that is all you know on earth, and all you need to know." ~ John Keats, (1795 - 1821), English Romantic poet, one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, Wikipedia., #KEYS
12:The kind of work that should be the main part of life is the kind of work you would want to do if you weren't being paid for it. It's work that comes out of your own internal needs, interests and concerns. ~ Noam Chomsky, #KEYS
13:There are three main parts to the actual practice of Guru Yoga: first there is the visualization, next the fervent prayer to the guru, and lastly the receiving of the four empowerments.
~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Guru Yoga, [T2],#KEYS
14:Let us change our traditional attitude to the construction of programs. Instead of imagining that our main task is to instruct a computer what to do, let us concentrate rather on explaining to human beings what we want a computer to do. ~ Donald Knuth, #KEYS
15:To discover the spiritual being in himself is the main business of the spiritual man and to help others towards the same evolution is his real service to the race. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Evolution of the Spiritual Man, #KEYS
16:You are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints, and part of God's household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Ephesians, 2:19-20)., #KEYS
17:The main point to grasp is that you have projected onto yourself a world of your own imagination, based on memories, on desires and fears, and that you have imprisoned yourself in it. Break the spell and be free. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
18:Tapasya lies in three things:1) You must be very truthful. Truth is the pillar, to which you must always hold. Every inch of you must be truthful. 2) You must get rid of lust. 3) You must gain control over your Vasanas. These are the main things to be observed. ~ Swami Brahmananda, #KEYS
19:How then is the will to be trained? All these wishes, whims, caprices, inclinations, tendencies, appetites, must be detected, examined, judged by the standard of whether they help or hinder the main purpose, and treated accordingly.
~ Aleister Crowley, [T5],#KEYS
20:There is a single main definition of the object of all magical Ritual. It is the uniting of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm. The Supreme and Complete Ritual is therefore the Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel; or, in the language of Mysticism, Union with God. ~ Aleister Crowley, #KEYS
21:The occult priest should be capable of instructing anyone in the procedures of emotional engineering. The main methods are the gnostic ones of casting oneself into a frenzied ecstacy, stilling the mind to a point of absolute quiescence, and evoking the laughter of the gods by combining laughter with the contemplation of paradox.
~ Peter J Carroll, Liber Null,#KEYS
22:There is a myth about such highs: the user has an illusion of great insight, but it does not survive scrutiny in the morning. I am convinced that this is an error, and that the devastating insights achieved when high are real insights; the main problem is putting these insights in a form acceptable to the quite different self that we are when we're down the next day. ~ Carl Sagan, #KEYS
23:The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory, is that conspiracy theorists believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is actually chaotic. The truth is that it is not The Iluminati, or The Jewish Banking Conspiracy, or the Gray Alien Theory. The truth is far more frightening - Nobody is in control. The world is rudderless." ~ Alan Moor, #KEYS
24:The main difficulty in the sadhana consists in the movements of the lower nature, ideas of the mind, desires and attractions of the vital, habits of the body consciousness that stand in the way of the growth of the higher consciousness - there are other difficulties, but these make the bulk of the opposition.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path,#KEYS
25:The principle of Yoga is the turning of one or of all powers of our human existence into a means of reaching the divine Being. In an ordinary Yoga one main power of being or one group of its powers is made the means, vehicle, path. In a synthetic Yoga all powers will be combined and included in the transmuting instrumentation.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Principle of the Integral Yoga, 609 [yoga is:],#KEYS
26:the four standards of spiritual conduct :::
There are four main standards of human conduct that make an ascending scale. The first is personal need, preference and desire; the second is the law and good of the collectivity; the third is an ideal ethic; the last is the highest divine law of the nature.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Yoga of Divine Works, Standards of Conduct and Spiritual Freedom [193],#KEYS
27:The object of the theoretical (as separate from the practical) Qabalah, insofar as this thesis is concerned, is to enable the student to do three main things: First, to analyze every idea in terms of the Tree of Life. Second, to trace a necessary connection and relation between every and any class of ideas by referring them to this standard of comparison. Third, to translate any unknown system of symbolism into terms of any known one by its means.
~ Israel Regardie, A Garden Of Pomegranates: Skrying On The Tree Of Life,#KEYS
28:I was in Nashville, Tennesee last year. After the show I went to a Waffle House. I'm not proud of it, I was hungry. And I'm alone, I'm eating and I'm reading a book, right? Waitress walks over to me: 'Hey, whatcha readin' for?' Isn't that the weirdest fuckin' question you've ever heard? Not what am I reading, but what am I reading FOR? Well, godammit, ya stumped me! Why do I read? Well . . . hmmm . . . I dunno . . . I guess I read for a lot of reasons and the main one is so I don't end up being a fuckin' waffle waitress. ~ Bill Hicks, #KEYS
29:The fundamental realisations of this yoga are: 1. The psychic change so that a compete devotion can be the main motive of the heart and the ruler of the thought, life and action in constant union with the Mother and in her Presence. 2. The descent of the Peace, Power, Light, etc. of the Higher Consciousness through the head and heart into the whole being, occupying the very cells of the body. 3. The perception of the One and Divine infinitely everywhere, the Mother everywhere and living in that infinite consciousness.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - IV,#KEYS
30:If the magician wishes to put himself into or out of any emotional state, then he should be provided with the techniques to accomplish this. The process requires no justification
- that he wills it is sufficient. One cannot escape emotional experience in a human incarnation, and it is preferable to adopt a master rather than a slave relationship to it. The occult priest should be capable of instructing anyone in the procedures of emotional engineering. The main methods are the gnostic ones of casting oneself into a frenzied ecstacy, stilling the mind to a point of absolute quiescence, and evoking the laughter of the gods by combining laughter with the contemplation of paradox. ~ Peter J Carroll, Liber Null,#KEYS
31:The truth is that Tolstoy, with his immense genius, with his colossal faith, with his vast fearlessness and vast knowledge of life, is deficient in one faculty and one faculty alone. He is not a mystic; and therefore he has a tendency to go mad. Men talk of the extravagances and frenzies that have been produced by mysticism; they are a mere drop in the bucket. In the main, and from the beginning of time, mysticism has kept men sane. The thing that has driven them mad was logic. ...The only thing that has kept the race of men from the mad extremes of the convent and the pirate-galley, the night-club and the lethal chamber, has been mysticism - the belief that logic is misleading, and that things are not what they seem. ~ G K Chesterton, Tolstoy, #KEYS
32:The art of using it consists principally in referring all our ideas to it, discovering thus the common nature of certain things and the essential differences between others, so that ultimately one obtains a simple view of the incalculably vast complexity of the Universe.
The whole subject must be studied in the Book 777, and the main attributions committed to memory: then when by constant use the system is at last understood—as opposed to being merely memorised—the student will find fresh light break in on him at every turn as he continues to measure every item of new knowledge that he attains by this Standard. For to him the Universe will then begin to appear as a coherent and a necessary Whole. ~ Aleister Crowley, Little Essays Towards Truth, "Man",#KEYS
33:With many people custom and habit of which ethics is but the social expression are the things most difficult to give up: and it is a useful practice to break any habit just to get into the way of being free from that form of slavery. Hence we have practices for breaking up sleep, for putting our bodies into strained and unnatural positions, for doing difficult exercises of breathing -- all these, apart from any special merit they may have in themselves for any particular purpose, have the main merit that the man forces himself todo them despite any conditions that may exist. Having conquered internal resistance one may conquer external resistance more easily. In a steam boat the engine must first overcome its own inertia before it can attack the resistance of the water.
~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA, Book 4, Magick, Part 2, The Wand,#KEYS
34:Therefore, we can attain the overmental consciousness in many different ways: through religious passion, through poetic, intellectual, artistic, or heroic zeal, or through anything that helps man to exceed himself. - Sri Aurobindo assigned a special place to art, which he considered one of the major means of spiritual progress. Unfortunately, artists and creators too often have a considerable ego standing in the way, which is their main difficulty. The religious man, who has worked to dissolve his ego, finds it easier, but he rarely attains universality through his own individual efforts, leaping instead beyond the individual without bothering to develop all the intermediate rungs of the personal consciousness, and when he reaches the top he no longer has a ladder to come down, or he does not want to come down, or there is no individual self left to express what he sees, or else his old individual self tries its best to express his new consciousness, provided he feels the need to express anything at all.
~ Satprem,#KEYS
35:fruits of the release :::
For even before complete purification, if the strings of the egoistic heart and mind are already sufficiently frayed and loosened, the Jiva can by a sudden snapping of the main cords escape, ascending like a bird freed into the spaces or widening like a liberated flood into the One and Infinite. There is first a sudden sense of a cosmic consciousness, a casting of oneself into the universal; from that universality one can aspire more easily to the Transcendent. There is a pushing back and rending or a rushing down of the walls that imprisoned our conscious being; there is a loss of all sense of individuality and personality, of all placement in ego, a person definite and definable, but only consciousness, only existence, only peace or bliss; one becomes immortatlity, becomes eternity, becomes infinity. All that is left of the personal soul is a hymn of peace and freedom and bliss vibrating somewhere in the Eternal.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Release from the Ego, 363,#KEYS
36:Four Powers Of The Mother
In talking about the four powers of the Mother, it helps to know that in India, traditionally, the evolutionary principle of creation is approached, and adored, as the great Mother. Sri Aurobindo distinguishes four main powers and personalities through which this evolutionary force manifests.
Maheshwari - One is her personality of calm wideness and comprehending wisdom and tranquil benignity and inexhaustible compassion and sovereign and surpassing majesty and all-ruling greatness.
Mahakali - Another embodies her power of splendid strength and irresistible passion, her warrior mood, her overwhelming will, her impetuous swiftness and world-shaking force.
Mahalakshmi - A third is vivid and sweet and wonderful with her deep secret of beauty and harmony and fine rhythm, her intricate and subtle opulence, her compelling attraction and captivating grace.
Mahasaraswati - The fourth is equipped with her close and profound capacity of intimate knowledge and careful flawless work and quiet and exact perfection in all things.
~ ?, https://www.auroville.com/silver-ring-mother-s-symbol.html,#KEYS
37:The triple way takes for its chosen instruments the three main powers of the mental soul-life of the human being. Knowledge selects the reason and the mental vision and it makes them by purification, concentration and a certain discipline of a Goddirected seeking its means for the greatest knowledge and the greatest vision of all, God-knowledge and God-vision. Its aim is to see, know and be the Divine. Works, action selects for its instrument the will of the doer of works; it makes life an offering of sacrifice to the Godhead and by purification, concentration and a certain discipline of subjection to the divine Will a means for contact and increasing unity of the soul of man with the divine Master of the universe. Devotion selects the emotional and aesthetic powers of the soul and by turning them all Godward in a perfect purity, intensity, infinite passion of seeking makes them a means of God-possession in one or many relations of unity with the Divine Being. All aim in their own way at a union or unity of the human soul with the supreme Spirit.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Principle of the Integral Yoga, 610 [T3],#KEYS
38:Why Ubuntu: If I were you I'd just install Ubuntu into a dual-boot partition (the Ubuntu website has instructions for this) and learn as you go. Ubuntu is similar enough to Windows that you should be able to start using it right away without much difficulty.
For running your Python scripts you'll want to drop into the shell (Ctrl + Alt + T If memory serves me right). As you become more comfortable with Ubuntu, you can start using the shell more and more. The shell is what gives you access to the power of Unix; every time you need to do something tedious and repetitive, try to find out how to do it through the shell.
Eventually you will find yourself using the shell constantly. You'll wonder how you ever managed without it, and deride other operating systems for their lack of sensible programming tools. One day you'll realise that desktop window managers are a needless distraction. You start using xmonad or awesomewm. Eventually you realise that this, too, is a bastardisaton of the Unix vision and start using tmux exclusively. Then suddenly it hits you - every computer, every operating system, no matter how insignificant or user-friendly, has the Unix nature. All of them are merely streams from where you can ssh back into the ocean of Unix. Having achieved enlightenment you are equally content using an iPad as your main work computer, using powershell in Windows or SSH into a Digital Ocean droplet from your parent's computer. This is the Zen of Unix.
~ JohnyTex, https://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/comments/38zytg/is_it_worth_my_time_to_learn_linux_while_learning,#KEYS
39:the vital
the life-nature made up of desires, sensations, feelings, passions, energies of action, will of desire, reactions of the desire-soul of man and of all that play of possessive and other related instincts, anger, greed, lust, etc., that belong to this field of nature. The vital part of man is a true instrument only when its feelings and tendencies have been purified by the psychic touch and governed by the spiritual light and power. The vital has three main parts:
higher vital
the mental vital and emotional vital taken together. The mental vital gives a mental expression by thought, speech or otherwise to the emotions, desires, passions, sensations or other movements of the vital being; the emotional vital is the seat of various feelings, such as love, joy, sorrow, hatred and the rest.
central vital or vital proper
dynamic, sensational and passionate, it is the seat of the stronger vital longings and reactions, such as ambition, pride, fear, love of fame, attractions and repulsions, desires and passion of various kinds and the field of many vital energies.
lower vital
made up of the smaller movements of human life-desire and life-reactions, it is occupied with small desires and feelings, such as food desire, sexual desire, small likings, dislikings, vanity, quarrels, love of praise, anger at blame, little wishes of all kinds, etc. The material vital is that part of the lower vital turned entirely upon physical things, full of desires and greeds and seekings for pleasure on the physical plane. ~ Integral Yoga; Sri Aurobindo's Teaching and Method of Practice,#KEYS
40:... The first opening is effected by a concentration in the heart, a call to the Divine to manifest within us and through the psychic to take up and lead the whole nature. Aspiration, prayer, bhakti, love, surrender are the main supports of this part of the sadhana - accompanied by a rejection of all that stands in the way of what we aspire for. The second opening is effected by a concentration of the consciousness in the head (afterwards, above it) and an aspiration and call and a sustained will for the descent of the divine Peace, Power, Light, Knowledge, Ananda into the being - the Peace first or the Peace and Force together. Some indeed receive Light first or Ananda first or some sudden pouring down of knowledge. With some there is first an opening which reveals to them a vast infinite Silence, Force, Light or Bliss above them and afterwards either they ascend to that or these things begin to descend into the lower nature. With others there is either the descent, first into the head, then down to the heart level, then to the navel and below and through the whole body, or else an inexplicable opening - without any sense of descent - of peace, light, wideness or power or else a horizontal opening into the cosmic consciousness or, in a suddenly widened mind, an outburst of knowledge. Whatever comes has to be welcomed - for there is no absolute rule for all, - but if the peace has not come first, care must be taken not to swell oneself in exultation or lose the balance. The capital movement however is when the Divine Force or Shakti, the power of the Mother comes down and takes hold, for then the organisation of the consciousness begins and the larger foundation of the Yoga.
The result of the concentration is not usually immediate - though to some there comes a swift and sudden outflowering; but with most there is a time longer or shorter of adaptation or preparation, especially if the nature has not been prepared already to some extent by aspiration and tapasya. ... ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother,#KEYS
41:The general characteristics and attributions of these Grades are indicated by their correspondences on the Tree of Life, as may be studied in detail in the Book 777.
Student. -- His business is to acquire a general intellectual knowledge of all systems of attainment, as declared in the prescribed books. (See curriculum in Appendix I.) {231}
Probationer. -- His principal business is to begin such practices as he my prefer, and to write a careful record of the same for one year.
Neophyte. -- Has to acquire perfect control of the Astral Plane.
Zelator. -- His main work is to achieve complete success in Asana and Pranayama. He also begins to study the formula of the Rosy Cross.
Practicus. -- Is expected to complete his intellectual training, and in particular to study the Qabalah.
Philosophus. -- Is expected to complete his moral training. He is tested in Devotion to the Order.
Dominus Liminis. -- Is expected to show mastery of Pratyahara and Dharana.
Adeptus (without). -- is expected to perform the Great Work and to attain the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.
Adeptus (within). -- Is admitted to the practice of the formula of the Rosy Cross on entering the College of the Holy Ghost.
Adeptus (Major). -- Obtains a general mastery of practical Magick, though without comprehension.
Adeptus (Exemptus). -- Completes in perfection all these matters. He then either ("a") becomes a Brother of the Left Hand Path or, ("b") is stripped of all his attainments and of himself as well, even of his Holy Guardian Angel, and becomes a babe of the Abyss, who, having transcended the Reason, does nothing but grow in the womb of its mother. It then finds itself a
Magister Templi. -- (Master of the Temple): whose functions are fully described in Liber 418, as is this whole initiation from Adeptus Exemptus. See also "Aha!". His principal business is to tend his "garden" of disciples, and to obtain a perfect understanding of the Universe. He is a Master of Samadhi. {232}
Magus. -- Attains to wisdom, declares his law (See Liber I, vel Magi) and is a Master of all Magick in its greatest and highest sense.
Ipsissimus. -- Is beyond all this and beyond all comprehension of those of lower degrees. ~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA,#KEYS
42:The Godhead, the spirit manifested in Nature appears in a sea of infinite quality, Ananta-guna. But the executive or mechanical prakriti is of the threefold Guna, Sattwa, Rajas, Tamas, and the Ananta-guna, the spiritual play of infinite quality, modifies itself in this mechanical nature into the type of these three gunas. And in the soul-force in man this Godhead in Nature represents itself as a fourfold effective Power, caturvyuha , a Power for knowledge, a Power for strength, a Power for mutuality and active and productive relation and interchange, a Power for works and labour and service, and its presence casts all human life into a nexus and inner and outer operation of these four things. The ancient thought of India conscious of this fourfold type of active human personality and nature, built out of it the four types of the Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra, each with its spiritual turn, ethical ideal, suitable upbringing, fixed function in society and place in the evolutionary scale of the spirit. As always tends to be the case when we too much externalise and mechanise the more subtle truths of our nature, this became a hard and fast system inconsistent with the freedom and variability and complexity of the finer developing spirit in man. Nevertheless the truth behind it exists and is one of some considerable importance in the perfection of our power of nature; but we have to take it in its inner aspects, first, personality, character, temperament, soul-type, then the soul-force which lies behind them and wears these forms, and lastly the play of the free spiritual shakti in which they find their culmination and unity beyond all modes. For the crude external idea that a man is born as a Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Sudra and that alone, is not a psychological truth of our being. The psychological fact is that there are these four active powers and tendencies of the Spirit and its executive shakti within us and the predominance of one or the other in the more well-formed part of our personality gives us our main tendencies, dominant qualities and capacities, effective turn in action and life. But they are more or less present in an men, here manifest, there latent, here developed, there subdued and depressed or subordinate, and in the perfect man will be raised up to a fullness and harmony which in the spiritual freedom will burst out into the free play of the infinite quality of the spirit in the inner and outer life and in the self-enjoying creative play of the Purusha with his and the world's Nature-Power. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, 4:15 - Soul-Force and the Fourfold Personality, #KEYS
43: Ekajaṭī or Ekajaṭā, (Sanskrit: "One Plait Woman"; Wylie: ral gcig ma: one who has one knot of hair),[1] also known as Māhacīnatārā,[2] is one of the 21 Taras. Ekajati is, along with Palden Lhamo deity, one of the most powerful and fierce goddesses of Vajrayana Buddhist mythology.[1][3] According to Tibetan legends, her right eye was pierced by the tantric master Padmasambhava so that she could much more effectively help him subjugate Tibetan demons.
Ekajati is also known as "Blue Tara", Vajra Tara or "Ugra Tara".[1][3] She is generally considered one of the three principal protectors of the Nyingma school along with Rāhula and Vajrasādhu (Wylie: rdo rje legs pa).
Often Ekajati appears as liberator in the mandala of the Green Tara. Along with that, her ascribed powers are removing the fear of enemies, spreading joy, and removing personal hindrances on the path to enlightenment.
Ekajati is the protector of secret mantras and "as the mother of the mothers of all the Buddhas" represents the ultimate unity. As such, her own mantra is also secret. She is the most important protector of the Vajrayana teachings, especially the Inner Tantras and termas. As the protector of mantra, she supports the practitioner in deciphering symbolic dakini codes and properly determines appropriate times and circumstances for revealing tantric teachings. Because she completely realizes the texts and mantras under her care, she reminds the practitioner of their preciousness and secrecy.[4] Düsum Khyenpa, 1st Karmapa Lama meditated upon her in early childhood.
According to Namkhai Norbu, Ekajati is the principal guardian of the Dzogchen teachings and is "a personification of the essentially non-dual nature of primordial energy."[5]
Dzogchen is the most closely guarded teaching in Tibetan Buddhism, of which Ekajati is a main guardian as mentioned above. It is said that Sri Singha (Sanskrit: Śrī Siṃha) himself entrusted the "Heart Essence" (Wylie: snying thig) teachings to her care. To the great master Longchenpa, who initiated the dissemination of certain Dzogchen teachings, Ekajati offered uncharacteristically personal guidance. In his thirty-second year, Ekajati appeared to Longchenpa, supervising every ritual detail of the Heart Essence of the Dakinis empowerment, insisting on the use of a peacock feather and removing unnecessary basin. When Longchenpa performed the ritual, she nodded her head in approval but corrected his pronunciation. When he recited the mantra, Ekajati admonished him, saying, "Imitate me," and sang it in a strange, harmonious melody in the dakini's language. Later she appeared at the gathering and joyously danced, proclaiming the approval of Padmasambhava and the dakinis.[6] ~ Wikipedia,#KEYS
44:Concentration is a gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g., the Divine; there can be also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point. In meditation it is not indispensable to gather like this, one can simply remain with a quiet mind thinking of one subject or observing what comes in the consciousness and dealing with it. ... Of this true consciousness other than the superficial there are two main centres, one in the heart (not the physical heart, but the cardiac centre in the middle of the chest), one in the head. The concentration in the heart opens within and by following this inward opening and going deep one becomes aware of the soul or psychic being, the divine element in the individual. This being unveiled begins to come forward, to govern the nature, to turn it and all its movements towards the Truth, towards the Divine, and to call down into it all that is above. It brings the consciousness of the Presence, the dedication of the being to the Highest and invites the descent into our nature of a greater Force and Consciousness which is waiting above us. To concentrate in the heart centre with the offering of oneself to the Divine and the aspiration for this inward opening and for the Presence in the heart is the first way and, if it can be done, the natural beginning; for its result once obtained makes the spiritual path far more easy and safe than if one begins the other ways.
That other way is the concentration in the head, in the mental centre. This, if it brings about the silence of the surface mind, opens up an inner, larger, deeper mind within which is more capable of receiving spiritual experience and spiritual knowledge. But once concentrated here one must open the silent mental consciousness upward and in the end it rises beyond the lid which has so long kept it tied in the body and finds a centre above the head where it is liberated into the Infinite. There it begins to come into contact with the universal Self, the Divine Peace, Light, Power, Knowledge, Bliss, to enter into that and become that, to feel the descent of these things into the nature. To concentrate in the head with the aspiration for quietude in the mind and the realisation of the Self and Divine above is the second way of concentration. It is important, however, to remember that the concentration of the consciousness in the head in only a preparation for its rising to the centre above; otherwise, one may get shut up in one's own mind and its experiences or at best attain only to a reflection of the Truth above instead of rising into the spiritual transcendence to live there. For some the mental concentration is easier, for some the concentration in the heart centre; some are capable of doing both alternatively - but to begin with the heart centre, if one can do it, is the most desirable.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,#KEYS
45:SLEIGHT OF MIND IN ILLUMINATION
Only those forms of illumination which lead to useful behaviour changes deserve to be known as such. When I hear the word "spirituality", I tend to reach for a loaded wand. Most professionally spiritual people are vile and untrustworthy when off duty, simply because their beliefs conflict with basic drives and only manage to distort their natural behaviour temporarily. The demons then come screaming up out of the cellar at unexpected moments.
When selecting objectives for illumination, the magician should choose forms of self improvement which can be precisely specified and measured and which effect changes of behaviour in his entire existence. Invocation is the main tool in illumination, although enchantment where spells are cast upon oneselves and divination to seek objectives for illumination may also find some application.
Evocation can sometimes be used with care, but there is no point in simply creating an entity that is the repository of what one wishes were true for oneself in general. This is a frequent mistake in religion. Forms of worship which create only entities in the subconscious are inferior to more wholehearted worship, which, at its best, is pure invocation. The Jesuits "Imitation of Christ" is more effective than merely praying to Jesus for example.
Illumination proceeds in the same general manner as invocation, except that the magician is striving to effect specific changes to his everyday behaviour, rather than to create enhanced facilities that can be drawn upon for particular purposes. The basic technique remains the same, the required beliefs are identified and then implanted in the subconscious by ritual or other acts. Such acts force the subconscious acquisition of the beliefs they imply.
Modest and realistic objectives are preferable to grandiose schemes in illumination.
One modifies the behaviour and beliefs of others by beginning with only the most trivial demands. The same applies to oneselves. The magician should beware of implanting beliefs whose expression cannot be sustained by the human body or the environment. For example it is possible to implant the belief that flight can be achieved without an aircraft. However it has rarely proved possible to implant this belief deeply enough to ensure that such flights were not of exceedingly short duration. Nevertheless such feats as fire-walking and obliviousness to extreme pain are sometimes achieved by this mechanism.
The sleight of mind which implants belief through ritual action is more powerful than any other weapon that humanity possesses, yet its influence is so pervasive that we seldom notice it. It makes religions, wars, cults and cultures possible. It has killed countless millions and created our personal and social realities. Those who understand how to use it on others can be messiahs or dictators, depending on their degree of personal myopia. Those who understand how to apply it to themselves have a jewel beyond price if they use it wisely; otherwise they tend to rapidly invoke their own Nemesis with it. ~ Peter J Carroll, Liber Kaos,#KEYS
46:THE WAND
THE Magical Will is in its essence twofold, for it presupposes a beginning and an end; to will to be a thing is to admit that you are not that thing.
Hence to will anything but the supreme thing, is to wander still further from it - any will but that to give up the self to the Beloved is Black Magick - yet this surrender is so simple an act that to our complex minds it is the most difficult of all acts; and hence training is necessary. Further, the Self surrendered must not be less than the All-Self; one must not come before the altar of the Most High with an impure or an imperfect offering. As it is written in Liber LXV, "To await Thee is the end, not the beginning."
This training may lead through all sorts of complications, varying according to the nature of the student, and hence it may be necessary for him at any moment to will all sorts of things which to others might seem unconnected with the goal. Thus it is not "a priori" obvious why a billiard player should need a file.
Since, then, we may want "anything," let us see to it that our will is strong enough to obtain anything we want without loss of time.
It is therefore necessary to develop the will to its highest point, even though the last task but one is the total surrender of this will. Partial surrender of an imperfect will is of no account in Magick.
The will being a lever, a fulcrum is necessary; this fulcrum is the main aspiration of the student to attain. All wills which are not dependent upon this principal will are so many leakages; they are like fat to the athlete.
The majority of the people in this world are ataxic; they cannot coordinate their mental muscles to make a purposed movement. They have no real will, only a set of wishes, many of which contradict others. The victim wobbles from one to the other (and it is no less wobbling because the movements may occasionally be very violent) and at the end of life the movements cancel each other out. Nothing has been achieved; except the one thing of which the victim is not conscious: the destruction of his own character, the confirming of indecision. Such an one is torn limb from limb by Choronzon.
How then is the will to be trained? All these wishes, whims, caprices, inclinations, tendencies, appetites, must be detected, examined, judged by the standard of whether they help or hinder the main purpose, and treated accordingly.
Vigilance and courage are obviously required. I was about to add self-denial, in deference to conventional speech; but how could I call that self-denial which is merely denial of those things which hamper the self? It is not suicide to kill the germs of malaria in one's blood.
Now there are very great difficulties to be overcome in the training of the mind. Perhaps the greatest is forgetfulness, which is probably the worst form of what the Buddhists call ignorance. Special practices for training the memory may be of some use as a preliminary for persons whose memory is naturally poor. In any case the Magical Record prescribed for Probationers of the A.'.A.'. is useful and necessary.
Above all the practices of Liber III must be done again and again, for these practices develop not only vigilance but those inhibiting centres in the brain which are, according to some psychologists, the mainspring of the mechanism by which civilized man has raised himself above the savage.
So far it has been spoken, as it were, in the negative. Aaron's rod has become a serpent, and swallowed the serpents of the other Magicians; it is now necessary to turn it once more into a rod.
~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA, Book 4, The Wand,#KEYS
47:The principle of Yoga is the turning of one or of all powers of our human existence into a means of reaching the divine Being. In an ordinary Yoga one main power of being or one group of its powers is made the means, vehicle, path. In a synthetic Yoga all powers will be combined and included in the transmuting instrumentation.
In Hathayoga the instrument is the body and life. All the power of the body is stilled, collected, purified, heightened, concentrated to its utmost limits or beyond any limits by Asana and other physical processes; the power of the life too is similarly purified, heightened, concentrated by Asana and Pranayama. This concentration of powers is then directed towards that physical centre in which the divine consciousness sits concealed in the human body. The power of Life, Nature-power, coiled up with all its secret forces asleep in the lowest nervous plexus of the earth-being,-for only so much escapes into waking action in our normal operations as is sufficient for the limited uses of human life,-rises awakened through centre after centre and awakens, too, in its ascent and passage the forces of each successive nodus of our being, the nervous life, the heart of emotion and ordinary mentality, the speech, sight, will, the higher knowledge, till through and above the brain it meets with and it becomes one with the divine consciousness.
In Rajayoga the chosen instrument is the mind. our ordinary mentality is first disciplined, purified and directed towards the divine Being, then by a summary process of Asana and Pranayama the physical force of our being is stilled and concentrated, the life-force released into a rhythmic movement capable of cessation and concentrated into a higher power of its upward action, the mind, supported and strengthened by this greater action and concentration of the body and life upon which it rests, is itself purified of all its unrest and emotion and its habitual thought-waves, liberated from distraction and dispersion, given its highest force of concentration, gathered up into a trance of absorption. Two objects, the one temporal, the other eternal,are gained by this discipline. Mind-power develops in another concentrated action abnormal capacities of knowledge, effective will, deep light of reception, powerful light of thought-radiation which are altogether beyond the narrow range of our normal mentality; it arrives at the Yogic or occult powers around which there has been woven so much quite dispensable and yet perhaps salutary mystery. But the one final end and the one all-important gain is that the mind, stilled and cast into a concentrated trance, can lose itself in the divine consciousness and the soul be made free to unite with the divine Being.
The triple way takes for its chosen instruments the three main powers of the mental soul-life of the human being. Knowledge selects the reason and the mental vision and it makes them by purification, concentration and a certain discipline of a Goddirected seeking its means for the greatest knowledge and the greatest vision of all, God-knowledge and God-vision. Its aim is to see, know and be the Divine. Works, action selects for its instrument the will of the doer of works; it makes life an offering of sacrifice to the Godhead and by purification, concentration and a certain discipline of subjection to the divine Will a means for contact and increasing unity of the soul of man with the divine Master of the universe. Devotion selects the emotional and aesthetic powers of the soul and by turning them all Godward in a perfect purity, intensity, infinite passion of seeking makes them a means of God-possession in one or many relations of unity with the Divine Being. All aim in their own way at a union or unity of the human soul with the supreme Spirit.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Yoga of Self-Perfection, The Principle of the Integral Yoga, 609,#KEYS
48:PRATYAHARA
PRATYAHARA is the first process in the mental part of our task. The previous practices, Asana, Pranayama, Yama, and Niyama, are all acts of the body, while mantra is connected with speech: Pratyahara is purely mental.
And what is Pratyahara? This word is used by different authors in different senses. The same word is employed to designate both the practice and the result. It means for our present purpose a process rather strategical than practical; it is introspection, a sort of general examination of the contents of the mind which we wish to control: Asana having been mastered, all immediate exciting causes have been removed, and we are free to think what we are thinking about.
A very similar experience to that of Asana is in store for us. At first we shall very likely flatter ourselves that our minds are pretty calm; this is a defect of observation. Just as the European standing for the first time on the edge of the desert will see nothing there, while his Arab can tell him the family history of each of the fifty persons in view, because he has learnt how to look, so with practice the thoughts will become more numerous and more insistent.
As soon as the body was accurately observed it was found to be terribly restless and painful; now that we observe the mind it is seen to be more restless and painful still. (See diagram opposite.)
A similar curve might be plotted for the real and apparent painfulness of Asana. Conscious of this fact, we begin to try to control it: "Not quite so many thoughts, please!" "Don't think quite so fast, please!" "No more of that kind of thought, please!" It is only then that we discover that what we thought was a school of playful porpoises is really the convolutions of the sea-serpent. The attempt to repress has the effect of exciting.
When the unsuspecting pupil first approaches his holy but wily Guru, and demands magical powers, that Wise One replies that he will confer them, points out with much caution and secrecy some particular spot on the pupil's body which has never previously attracted his attention, and says: "In order to obtain this magical power which you seek, all that is necessary is to wash seven times in the Ganges during seven days, being particularly careful to avoid thinking of that one spot." Of course the unhappy youth spends a disgusted week in thinking of little else.
It is positively amazing with what persistence a thought, even a whole train of thoughts, returns again and again to the charge. It becomes a positive nightmare. It is intensely annoying, too, to find that one does not become conscious that one has got on to the forbidden subject until one has gone right through with it. However, one continues day after day investigating thoughts and trying to check them; and sooner or later one proceeds to the next stage, Dharana, the attempt to restrain the mind to a single object.
Before we go on to this, however, we must consider what is meant by success in Pratyahara. This is a very extensive subject, and different authors take widely divergent views. One writer means an analysis so acute that every thought is resolved into a number of elements (see "The Psychology of Hashish," Section V, in Equinox II).
Others take the view that success in the practice is something like the experience which Sir Humphrey Davy had as a result of taking nitrous oxide, in which he exclaimed: "The universe is composed exclusively of ideas."
Others say that it gives Hamlet's feeling: "There's nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so," interpreted as literally as was done by Mrs. Eddy.
However, the main point is to acquire some sort of inhibitory power over the thoughts. Fortunately there is an unfailing method of acquiring this power. It is given in Liber III. If Sections 1 and 2 are practised (if necessary with the assistance of another person to aid your vigilance) you will soon be able to master the final section. ~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA,#KEYS
49:CHAPTER XIII
OF THE BANISHINGS: AND OF THE PURIFICATIONS.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness, and had better come first. Purity means singleness. God is one. The wand is not a wand if it has something sticking to it which is not an essential part of itself. If you wish to invoke Venus, you do not succeed if there are traces of Saturn mixed up with it.
That is a mere logical commonplace: in magick one must go much farther than this. One finds one's analogy in electricity. If insulation is imperfect, the whole current goes back to earth. It is useless to plead that in all those miles of wire there is only one-hundredth of an inch unprotected. It is no good building a ship if the water can enter, through however small a hole.
That first task of the Magician in every ceremony is therefore to render his Circle absolutely impregnable.
If one littlest thought intrude upon the mind of the Mystic, his concentration is absolutely destroyed; and his consciousness remains on exactly the same level as the Stockbroker's. Even the smallest baby is incompatible with the virginity of its mother. If you leave even a single spirit within the circle, the effect of the conjuration will be entirely absorbed by it.> {101}
The Magician must therefore take the utmost care in the matter of purification, "firstly", of himself, "secondly", of his instruments, "thirdly", of the place of working. Ancient Magicians recommended a preliminary purification of from three days to many months. During this period of training they took the utmost pains with diet. They avoided animal food, lest the elemental spirit of the animal should get into their atmosphere. They practised sexual abstinence, lest they should be influenced in any way by the spirit of the wife. Even in regard to the excrements of the body they were equally careful; in trimming the hair and nails, they ceremonially destroyed> the severed portion. They fasted, so that the body itself might destroy anything extraneous to the bare necessity of its existence. They purified the mind by special prayers and conservations. They avoided the contamination of social intercourse, especially the conjugal kind; and their servitors were disciples specially chosen and consecrated for the work.
In modern times our superior understanding of the essentials of this process enables us to dispense to some extent with its external rigours; but the internal purification must be even more carefully performed. We may eat meat, provided that in doing so we affirm that we eat it in order to strengthen us for the special purpose of our proposed invocation.> {102}
By thus avoiding those actions which might excite the comment of our neighbours we avoid the graver dangers of falling into spiritual pride.
We have understood the saying: "To the pure all things are pure", and we have learnt how to act up to it. We can analyse the mind far more acutely than could the ancients, and we can therefore distinguish the real and right feeling from its imitations. A man may eat meat from self-indulgence, or in order to avoid the dangers of asceticism. We must constantly examine ourselves, and assure ourselves that every action is really subservient to the One Purpose.
It is ceremonially desirable to seal and affirm this mental purity by Ritual, and accordingly the first operation in any actual ceremony is bathing and robing, with appropriate words. The bath signifies the removal of all things extraneous to antagonistic to the one thought. The putting on of the robe is the positive side of the same operation. It is the assumption of the fame of mind suitable to that one thought.
A similar operation takes place in the preparation of every instrument, as has been seen in the Chapter devoted to that subject. In the preparation of theplace of working, the same considerations apply. We first remove from that place all objects; and we then put into it those objects, and only those {103} objects, which are necessary. During many days we occupy ourselves in this process of cleansing and consecration; and this again is confirmed in the actual ceremony.
The cleansed and consecrated Magician takes his cleansed and consecrated instruments into that cleansed and consecrated place, and there proceeds to repeat that double ceremony in the ceremony itself, which has these same two main parts. The first part of every ceremony is the banishing; the second, the invoking. The same formula is repeated even in the ceremony of banishing itself, for in the banishing ritual of the pentagram we not only command the demons to depart, but invoke the Archangels and their hosts to act as guardians of the Circle during our pre-occupation with the ceremony proper.
In more elaborate ceremonies it is usual to banish everything by name. Each element, each planet, and each sign, perhaps even the Sephiroth themselves; all are removed, including the very one which we wished to invoke, for that force ... ~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA,#KEYS
50:Chapter LXXXII: Epistola Penultima: The Two Ways to Reality
Cara Soror,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
How very sensible of you, though I admit somewhat exacting!
You write-Will you tell me exactly why I should devote so much of my valuable time to subjects like Magick and Yoga.
That is all very well. But you ask me to put it in syllogistic form. I have no doubt this can be done, though the task seems somewhat complicated. I think I will leave it to you to construct your series of syllogisms yourself from the arguments of this letter.
In your main question the operative word is "valuable. Why, I ask, in my turn, should you consider your time valuable? It certainly is not valuable unless the universe has a meaning, and what is more, unless you know what that meaning is-at least roughly-it is millions to one that you will find yourself barking up the wrong tree.
First of all let us consider this question of the meaning of the universe. It is its own evidence to design, and that design intelligent design. There is no question of any moral significance-"one man's meat is another man's poison" and so on. But there can be no possible doubt about the existence of some kind of intelligence, and that kind is far superior to anything of which we know as human.
How then are we to explore, and finally to interpret this intelligence?
It seems to me that there are two ways and only two. Imagine for a moment that you are an orphan in charge of a guardian, inconceivably learned from your point of view.
Suppose therefore that you are puzzled by some problem suitable to your childish nature, your obvious and most simple way is to approach your guardian and ask him to enlighten you. It is clearly part of his function as guardian to do his best to help you. Very good, that is the first method, and close parallel with what we understand by the word Magick.
We are bothered by some difficulty about one of the elements-say Fire-it is therefore natural to evoke a Salamander to instruct you on the difficult point. But you must remember that your Holy Guardian Angel is not only far more fully instructed than yourself on every point that you can conceive, but you may go so far as to say that it is definitely his work, or part of his work; remembering always that he inhabits a sphere or plane which is entirely different from anything of which you are normally aware.
To attain to the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel is consequently without doubt by far the simplest way by which you can yourself approach that higher order of being.
That, then, is a clearly intelligible method of procedure. We call it Magick.
It is of course possible to strengthen the link between him and yourself so that in course of time you became capable of moving and, generally speaking, operating on that plane which is his natural habitat.
There is however one other way, and one only, as far as I can see, of reaching this state.
It is at least theoretically possible to exalt the whole of your own consciousness until it becomes as free to move on that exalted plane as it is for him. You should note, by the way, that in this case the postulation of another being is not necessary. There is no way of refuting the solipsism if you feel like that. Personally I cannot accede to its axiom. The evidence for an external universe appears to me perfectly adequate.
Still there is no extra charge for thinking on those lines if you so wish.
I have paid a great deal of attention in the course of my life to the method of exalting the human consciousness in this way; and it is really quite legitimate to identify my teaching with that of the Yogis.
I must however point out that in the course of my instruction I have given continual warnings as to the dangers of this line of research. For one thing there is no means of checking your results in the ordinary scientific sense. It is always perfectly easy to find a subjective explanation of any phenomenon; and when one considers that the greatest of all the dangers in any line of research arise from egocentric vanity, I do not think I have exceeded my duty in anything that I have said to deter students from undertaking so dangerous a course as Yoga.
It is, of course, much safer if you are in a position to pursue in the Indian Jungles, provided that your health will stand the climate and also, I must say, unless you have a really sound teacher on whom you can safely rely. But then, if we once introduce a teacher, why not go to the Fountain-head and press towards the Knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel?
In any case your Indian teacher will ultimately direct you to seek guidance from that source, so it seems to me that you have gone to a great deal of extra trouble and incurred a great deal of unnecessary danger by not leaving yourself in the first place in the hands of the Holy Guardian Angel.
In any case there are the two methods which stand as alternatives. I do not know of any third one which can be of any use whatever. Logically, since you have asked me to be logical, there is certainly no third way; there is the external way of Magick, and the internal way of Yoga: there you have your alternatives, and there they cease.
Love is the law, love under will.
Fraternally,
666 ~ Aleister Crowley, Magick Without Tears,#KEYS
51:summary of the entire process of psychic awakening :::
You have asked what is the discipline to be followed in order to convert the mental seeking into a living spiritual experience. The first necessity is the practice of concentration of your consciousness within yourself. The ordinary human mind has an activity on the surface which veils the real Self. But there is another, a hidden consciousness within behind the surface one in which we can become aware of the real Self and of a larger deeper truth of nature, can realise the Self and liberate and transform the nature. To quiet the surface mind and begin to live within is the object of this concentration. Of this true consciousness other then the superficial there are two main centres, one in the heart (not the physical heart, but the cardiac centre in the middle of the chest), one in the head. The concentration in the heart opens within and by following this inward opening and going deep one becomes aware of the soul or psychic being, the divine element in the individual. This being unveiled begins to come forward, to govern the nature, to turn it an d all its movements towards the Truth, towards the Divine, and to call down into it all that is above. It brings the consciousness of the Presence, the dedication of the being to the Highest and invites the descent into our nature of a greater Force and Consciousness which is waiting above us. To concentrate in the heart centre with the offering of oneself to the Divine and the aspiration for this inward opening and for the Presence in the heart is the first way and, if it can be done, the natural beginning; for its result once obtained makes the spiritual path far more easy and safe than if one begins the other way.
That other way is the concentration in the head, in the mental centre. This, if it brings about the silence of the surface mind, opens up an inner, larger, deeper mind within which is more capable of receiving spiritual experience and spiritual knowledge. But once concentrated here one must open the silent mental consciousness upward to all that is above mind. After a time one feels the consciousness rising upward and it the end it rises beyond the lid which has so long kept it tied in the body and finds a centre above the head where it is liberated into the Infinite. There it behind to come into contact with the universal Self, the Divine Peace, Light, Power, Knowledge, Bliss, to enter into that and become that, to feel the descent of these things into the nature. To concentrate in the head with the aspiration for quietude in the mind and the realisation of the Self and Divine above is the second way of concentration. It is important, however, to remember that the concentration of the consciousness in the head is only a preparation for its rising to the centre above; otherwise, one may get shut up in one's own mind and its experiences or at best attain only to a reflection of the Truth above instead of rising into the spiritual transcendence to live there. For some the mental consciousness is easier, for some the concentration in the heart centre; some are capable of doing both alternatively - but to begin with the heart centre, if one can do it, is the more desirable.
The other side of the discipline is with regard to the activities of the nature, of the mind, of the life-self or vital, of the physical being. Here the principle is to accord the nature with the inner realisation so that one may not be divided into two discordant parts. There are here several disciplines or processes possible. One is to offer all the activities to the Divine and call for the inner guidance and the taking up of one's nature by a Higher Power. If there is the inward soul-opening, if the psychic being comes forward, then there is no great difficulty - there comes with it a psychic discrimination, a constant intimation, finally a governance which discloses and quietly and patiently removes all imperfections, bring the right mental and vital movements and reshapes the physical consciousness also. Another method is to stand back detached from the movements of the mind, life, physical being, to regard their activities as only a habitual formation of general Nature in the individual imposed on us by past workings, not as any part of our real being; in proportion as one succeeds in this, becomes detached, sees mind and its activities as not oneself, life and its activities as not oneself, the body and its activities as not oneself, one becomes aware of an inner Being within us - inner mental, inner vital, inner physical - silent, calm, unbound, unattached which reflects the true Self above and can be its direct representative; from this inner silent Being proceeds a rejection of all that is to be rejected, an acceptance only of what can be kept and transformed, an inmost Will to perfection or a call to the Divine Power to do at each step what is necessary for the change of the Nature. It can also open mind, life and body to the inmost psychic entity and its guiding influence or its direct guidance. In most cases these two methods emerge and work together and finally fuse into one. But one can being with either, the one that one feels most natural and easy to follow.
Finally, in all difficulties where personal effort is hampered, the help of the Teacher can intervene and bring above what is needed for the realisation or for the immediate step that is necessary.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, 6, {871},#KEYS
52:How to Meditate
Deep meditation is a mental procedure that utilizes the nature of the mind to systematically bring the mind to rest. If the mind is given the opportunity, it will go to rest with no effort. That is how the mind works.
Indeed, effort is opposed to the natural process of deep meditation. The mind always seeks the path of least resistance to express itself. Most of the time this is by making more and more thoughts. But it is also possible to create a situation in the mind that turns the path of least resistance into one leading to fewer and fewer thoughts. And, very soon, no thoughts at all. This is done by using a particular thought in a particular way. The thought is called a mantra.
For our practice of deep meditation, we will use the thought - I AM. This will be our mantra.
It is for the sound that we will use I AM, not for the meaning of it.
The meaning has an obvious significance in English, and I AM has a religious meaning in the English Bible as well. But we will not use I AM for the meaning - only for the sound. We can also spell it AYAM. No meaning there, is there? Only the sound. That is what we want. If your first language is not English, you may spell the sound phonetically in your own language if you wish. No matter how we spell it, it will be the same sound. The power of the sound ...I AM... is great when thought inside. But only if we use a particular procedure. Knowing this procedure is the key to successful meditation. It is very simple. So simple that we will devote many pages here to discussing how to keep it simple, because we all have a tendency to make things more complicated. Maintaining simplicity is the key to right meditation.
Here is the procedure of deep meditation: While sitting comfortably with eyes closed, we'll just relax. We will notice thoughts, streams of thoughts. That is fine. We just let them go by without minding them. After about a minute, we gently introduce the mantra, ...I AM...
We think the mantra in a repetition very easily inside. The speed of repetition may vary, and we do not mind it. We do not intone the mantra out loud. We do not deliberately locate the mantra in any particular part of the body. Whenever we realize we are not thinking the mantra inside anymore, we come back to it easily. This may happen many times in a sitting, or only once or twice. It doesn't matter. We follow this procedure of easily coming back to the mantra when we realize we are off it for the predetermined time of our meditation session. That's it.
Very simple.
Typically, the way we will find ourselves off the mantra will be in a stream of other thoughts. This is normal. The mind is a thought machine, remember? Making thoughts is what it does. But, if we are meditating, as soon as we realize we are off into a stream of thoughts, no matter how mundane or profound, we just easily go back to the mantra.
Like that. We don't make a struggle of it. The idea is not that we have to be on the mantra all the time. That is not the objective. The objective is to easily go back to it when we realize we are off it. We just favor the mantra with our attention when we notice we are not thinking it. If we are back into a stream of other thoughts five seconds later, we don't try and force the thoughts out. Thoughts are a normal part of the deep meditation process. We just ease back to the mantra again. We favor it.
Deep meditation is a going toward, not a pushing away from. We do that every single time with the mantra when we realize we are off it - just easily favoring it. It is a gentle persuasion. No struggle. No fuss. No iron willpower or mental heroics are necessary for this practice. All such efforts are away from the simplicity of deep meditation and will reduce its effectiveness.
As we do this simple process of deep meditation, we will at some point notice a change in the character of our inner experience. The mantra may become very refined and fuzzy. This is normal. It is perfectly all right to think the mantra in a very refined and fuzzy way if this is the easiest. It should always be easy - never a struggle. Other times, we may lose track of where we are for a while, having no mantra, or stream of thoughts either. This is fine too. When we realize we have been off somewhere, we just ease back to the mantra again. If we have been very settled with the mantra being barely recognizable, we can go back to that fuzzy level of it, if it is the easiest. As the mantra refines, we are riding it inward with our attention to progressively deeper levels of inner silence in the mind. So it is normal for the mantra to become very faint and fuzzy. We cannot force this to happen. It will happen naturally as our nervous system goes through its many cycles ofinner purification stimulated by deep meditation. When the mantra refines, we just go with it. And when the mantra does not refine, we just be with it at whatever level is easy. No struggle. There is no objective to attain, except to continue the simple procedure we are describing here.
When and Where to Meditate
How long and how often do we meditate? For most people, twenty minutes is the best duration for a meditation session. It is done twice per day, once before the morning meal and day's activity, and then again before the evening meal and evening's activity.
Try to avoid meditating right after eating or right before bed.
Before meal and activity is the ideal time. It will be most effective and refreshing then. Deep meditation is a preparation for activity, and our results over time will be best if we are active between our meditation sessions. Also, meditation is not a substitute for sleep. The ideal situation is a good balance between meditation, daily activity and normal sleep at night. If we do this, our inner experience will grow naturally over time, and our outer life will become enriched by our growing inner silence.
A word on how to sit in meditation: The first priority is comfort. It is not desirable to sit in a way that distracts us from the easy procedure of meditation. So sitting in a comfortable chair with back support is a good way to meditate. Later on, or if we are already familiar, there can be an advantage to sitting with legs crossed, also with back support. But always with comfort and least distraction being the priority. If, for whatever reason, crossed legs are not feasible for us, we will do just fine meditating in our comfortable chair. There will be no loss of the benefits.
Due to commitments we may have, the ideal routine of meditation sessions will not always be possible. That is okay. Do the best you can and do not stress over it. Due to circumstances beyond our control, sometimes the only time we will have to meditate will be right after a meal, or even later in the evening near bedtime. If meditating at these times causes a little disruption in our system, we will know it soon enough and make the necessary adjustments. The main thing is that we do our best to do two meditations every day, even if it is only a short session between our commitments. Later on, we will look at the options we have to make adjustments to address varying outer circumstances, as well as inner experiences that can come up.
Before we go on, you should try a meditation. Find a comfortable place to sit where you are not likely to be interrupted and do a short meditation, say ten minutes, and see how it goes. It is a toe in the water.
Make sure to take a couple of minutes at the end sitting easily without doing the procedure of meditation. Then open your eyes slowly. Then read on here.
As you will see, the simple procedure of deep meditation and it's resulting experiences will raise some questions. We will cover many of them here.
So, now we will move into the practical aspects of deep meditation - your own experiences and initial symptoms of the growth of your own inner silence. ~ Yogani, Deep Meditation,#KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:Victory is the main object in war. ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 2:Self-command is the main elegance. ~ ralph-waldo-emerson, @wisdomtrove 3:Truthfulness is the main element of character. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove 4:Colors express the main psychic functions of man. ~ carl-jung, @wisdomtrove 5:The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 6:The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. ~ stephen-r-covey, @wisdomtrove 7:Why resist change when it's the main source of your growth? ~ robin-sharma, @wisdomtrove 8:My main object in life is to see what will happen next. ~ ashleigh-brilliant, @wisdomtrove 9:Tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 10:My main concern is with the anxiety that has settled upon America. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 11:One of the main faults of a fool is that he never changes his mind. ~ sri-chinmoy, @wisdomtrove 12:Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life. ~ viktor-frankl, @wisdomtrove 13:Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge. ~ plato, @wisdomtrove 14:It is piracy, not overt online music stores, which is our main competitor. ~ steve-jobs, @wisdomtrove 15:I know what's what, and have always taken care of the main chance. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 16:The main facts in human life are five: birth, food, sleep, love and death. ~ e-m-forster, @wisdomtrove 17:This thing of being a hero, about the main thing to it is to know when to die. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 18:Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing. ~ albert-schweitzer, @wisdomtrove 19:Opera in English is, in the main, just about as sensible as baseball in Italian. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 20:The main requirement for spiritual growth: A yearning to know who you really are. ~ adyashanti, @wisdomtrove 21:Freedom is to be free of attachments, and the main attachment is to the & 22:The main thing in one's own private world is to try to laugh as much as you cry. ~ maya-angelou, @wisdomtrove 23:Whatever happens, do not lose hold of the two main ropes of life - hope and faith. ~ zig-ziglar, @wisdomtrove 24:The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live. ~ george-carlin, @wisdomtrove 25:Get hold of the main thing that the world and the self are one and perfect. ~ sri-nisargadatta-maharaj, @wisdomtrove 26:Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means. ~ albert-einstein, @wisdomtrove 27:I guess when you turn off the main road, you have to be prepared to see some funny houses. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 28:The main quality of leadership... ... ... .is courage ! If you can dream it, you can do it! ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 29:I suppose that the main drive is to find the edge of something and then throw myself over it. ~ alan-moore, @wisdomtrove 30:My main purpose in life is to make money so I can afford to go on creating more inventions. ~ thomas-edison, @wisdomtrove 31:Every human is an artist. And this is the main art that we have: the creation of our story. ~ don-miguel-ruiz, @wisdomtrove 32:The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. ~ g-k-chesterton, @wisdomtrove 33:A lot of people don't enjoy their jobs, and it's one of the main things we like to complain about. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 34:The group consisting of mother, father and child is the main educational agency of mankind. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 35:Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. ~ dale-carnegie, @wisdomtrove 36:Man’s main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life. ~ viktor-frankl, @wisdomtrove 37:One of the main functions of organized religion is to protect people against a direct experience of God. ~ carl-jung, @wisdomtrove 38: What makes us progress? M. Silence is the main factor. In peace and silence, you grow. ~ sri-nisargadatta-maharaj, @wisdomtrove 39:In the main, there are two sorts of books: those that no one reads and those that no one ought to read. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 40:The main object of teaching is not to give explanations, but to knock at the doors of the mind. ~ rabindranath-tagore, @wisdomtrove 41:In the main it will be found that a power over a man's support [salary] is a power over his will. ~ alexander-hamilton, @wisdomtrove 42:This is what I am learning, at 82 years old: the main thing is to be in love with the search for truth. ~ maya-angelou, @wisdomtrove 43:A good artist ought never to allow impatience to overcome his sense of the main end of art – perfection. ~ michelangelo, @wisdomtrove 44:Propriety of manners, and consideration for others, are the two main characteristics of a gentleman. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 45:The main conclusion here arrived at ... is that man is descended from some less highly organized form. ~ charles-darwin, @wisdomtrove 46:Physics has in the main contented itself with studying the abridged edition of the book of nature. ~ sir-arthur-eddington, @wisdomtrove 47:Adults need more complex narratives. They have their own narratives. The main characters are themselves. ~ haruki-murakami, @wisdomtrove 48:The main object of conciliation lies in reaching a solution to a case based upon morals and with a warm heart. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 49:Self-approval and self-acceptance in the now are the main keys to positive changes in every area of our lives. ~ louise-hay, @wisdomtrove 50:The main feature should be the teaching of principles through stories. Don't make it metaphysical at all. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 51:Don't worry about losing. If it is right, it happens - The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 52:In general she had found that the main drawback in being a man was that conversations were less interesting. ~ ursula-k-le-guin, @wisdomtrove 53:The main question is not, how can we hide our wounds... but how can we put our woundedness in service to others. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 54:The main message of it is to not get stagnant and that God wants us to continue to grow and become a better person. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 55:With me, my main vision for life was to avoid as many people as possible. The less people I saw the better I felt. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 56:Soul-winning is the chief business of the Christian minister; it should be the main pursuit of every true believer. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 57:In the main, and from the beginning of time, mysticism has kept men sane. The thing that has driven them mad was logic. ~ g-k-chesterton, @wisdomtrove 58:The same way that you are the main character of your story, you are only a secondary character in everybody else's story. ~ don-miguel-ruiz, @wisdomtrove 59:Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. ~ bertrand-russell, @wisdomtrove 60:Thanks to their decreased brainpower, people aren't diverted from the main business of life by the hobgoblins of opinion anymore. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 61:My core message is that God has got a good plan for your lives, and we must trust Him, and let go of the past. That's my main message. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 62:Our enemy, the devil, wants to control us, and his target is our will. The main way he tries to influence our will is through lying to us. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 63:Poe was the first writer to write about main characters who were bad guys or who were mad guys, and those are some of my favorite stories. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 64:Each nation has a main current in life; in India it is religion. Make it strong and the waters on either side must move along with it. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 65:I read annual reports of the company I'm looking at and I read the annual reports of the competitors - that is the main source of material. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 66:Today the main source of wealth is knowledge. And whereas you can conquer oil fields through war, you cannot acquire knowledge that way. ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove 67:Here’s all you have to know about men and women: women are crazy, men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid.” ~ george-carlin, @wisdomtrove 68:I still need more healthy rest in order to work at my best. My health is the main capital I have and I want to administer it intelligently. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 69:Information is the manager's main tool, indeed the manager's capital, and it is he who must decide what information he needs and how to use it. ~ peter-drucker, @wisdomtrove 70:Over the years, people I've met have often asked me what I'm working on, and I've usually replied that the main thing was a book about Dresden. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 71:The main event has never been the manifestation, the main event has always been the way you feel, moment by moment, because that's what life is. ~ esther-hicks, @wisdomtrove 72:One of the main tasks of theology is to find words that do not divide but unite, that do not create conflict but unity, that do not hurt but heal. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 73:I remain convinced that obstinate addiction to ordinary language in our private thoughts is one of the main obstacles to progress in philosophy. ~ bertrand-russell, @wisdomtrove 74:The main motive for nonattachment is a desire to escape from the pain of living, and above all from love, which, sexual or non-sexual, is hard work. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 75:When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story, he said. ‚When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 76:An arrogant person considers himself perfect. This is the chief harm of arrogance. It interferes with a person's main task in life becoming a better person. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 77:But I always liked side-paths, little dark back-alleys behind the main road- there one finds adventures and surprises, and precious metal in the dirt. ~ fyodor-dostoevsky, @wisdomtrove 78:When a study was made a few years ago on runaway wives, what do you think was discovered to be the main reason wives ran away? It was lack of appreciation. ~ dale-carnegie, @wisdomtrove 79:Words are but the bannerets of a great army, a few bits of waving color here and there; thoughts are the main body of the footman that march unseen below. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 80:The main of life is composed of small incidents and petty occurrences; of wishes for objects not remote, and grief for disappointments of no fatal consequence. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 81:Although much remains obscure, and will long remain obscure, ... I am convinced that Natural Selection has been the main but not exclusive means of modification. ~ charles-darwin, @wisdomtrove 82:Creativity has a lot to do with the main idea. Inspiration is what comes when you are dealing with the idea. But inspiration won't invite what's not there to begin with. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 83:Religion has nothing to do with compassion; it is our love for God that is the main thing because we have all been created for the sole purpose to love and be loved. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 84:All for each, and each for all, is a good motto; but only on condition that each works with might and main to so maintain himself as not to be a burden to others. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 85:The two main ideas that run through all of my writing, whether it be literary criticism or political polemic are these: I am strong in favor of liberty and I hate fraud. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 86:I hope the people on Wall Street will pay attention to the people on Main Street. If they do, they will see there is a rising tide of confidence in the future of America. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 87:The main rule to me is to honor God with your life. To live a life of integrity. Not be selfish. You know, help others. But that's really the essence of the Christian faith. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 88:Trillian had come to suspect that the main reason [Zaphood] had had such a wild and successful life was that he never really understood the significance of anything he did. ~ douglas-adams, @wisdomtrove 89:It is the main earthly business of a human being to make his home, and the immediate surroundings of his home, as symbolic and significant to his own imagination as he can. ~ g-k-chesterton, @wisdomtrove 90:The public health authorities never mention the main reason many Americans have for smoking heavily, which is that smoking is a fairly sure, fairly honorable form of suicide. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 91:Man is born passionate of body, but with an innate though secret tendency to the love of Good in his main-spring of Mind. But God help us all! It is at present a sad jar of atoms. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 92:To wisely live your life, you don't need to know much Just rememeber two main rules for the beginning: You better starve, than eat whatever And better be alone, than with whoever. ~ omar-khayyam, @wisdomtrove 93:Most songs have bridges in them, to distract listeners from the main verses of a song so they don't get bored. My songs don't have a lot of bridges because lyric poetry never had them. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 94:You know, I think the main purpose of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps is to get poor Americans into clean, pressed, unpatched clothes, so rich Americans can stand to look at them. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 95:We're important, but not essential; valuable, but not indispensable. We have a part in the play, but we are not the main act. A song to sing, but we are not the featured voice. God is. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 96:The main reason people fail is they become attached to others who hold them back. Letting go of others and going forward may seem like a lonely and impossible task, but I assure you it is not. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove 97:Begin with bodhicitta, do the main practice without concepts, Conclude by dedicating the merit. These, together and complete, Are the three vital supports for progressing on the path to liberation. ~ longchenpa, @wisdomtrove 98:What we called love down there was mostly the craving to be loved. In the main I loved you for my own sake: because I needed you... We shall have no need for one another now: we can begin to love truly. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 99:Now this brings me to my main topic - our military strength - more specifically, how to stay strong against threat from outside, without undermining the economic health that supports our security. ~ dwight-eisenhower, @wisdomtrove 100:Logotherapy . . . considers man as a being whose main concern consists in fulfilling a meaning and in actualizing values, rather than in the mere gratification and satisfaction of drives and instincts. ~ viktor-frankl, @wisdomtrove 101:One of the main reasons that we lose our enthusiasm in life is because we become ungrateful..we let what was once a miracle become common to us. We get so accustomed to his goodness it becomes a routine. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 102:The idea of lying on a beach as my main thing just sounds like the worst. It sounds horrible to me. I would go bonkers. I would have to be on serious drugs. I'd be super-duper bored. I like high intensity. ~ elon-musk, @wisdomtrove 103:I don't know what it means to manage the human imagination, but I do know that imagination is the main source of value in the new economy. And I know we'd better figure out the answer to my question-quick. ~ tom-peters, @wisdomtrove 104:Honesty is the best policy, I will stick to that. The good shall have my hand and heart, but the bad neither foot nor fellowship. And in my mind, the main point of governing, is to make a good beginning. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 105:I just want to continue to grow and be open to what God wants to do. I guess my main goal is just to continue to reach people the best I can, hopefully help impact their lives and just change culture for better. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 106:There are in Europe many good generals, but they see too many things at once. I see one thing, namely the enemy's main body. I try to crush it, confident that secondary matters will then settle themselves. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 107:Most people say their main fault is a lack of discipline. On deeper thought, I believe that is not the case. The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds. ~ stephen-r-covey, @wisdomtrove 108:I believe that the main thing in beginning a novel is to feel, not that you can write it, but that it exists on the far side of a gulf, which words can't cross: that it's to be pulled through only in a breathless anguish. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 109:Main Street, U.S.A. is America at the turn of the century& 110:Don't you think that's the main reason people find [writing] so difficult? If they can write complete sentences and can use a dictionary, isn't that the only reason they find writing hard: they don't know or care about anything? ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 111:The good life consists in deriving happiness by using your signature strengths every day in the main realms of living. The meaningful life adds one more component: using these same strengths to forward knowledge, power or goodness. ~ martin-seligman, @wisdomtrove 112:If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all the other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 113:In our production-oriented society, being busy, having an occupation, has become one of the main ways, if not the main way, of identifying ourselves. Without an occupation, not just our economic security but our very identity is endangered. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 114:& 115:I am actually weary of telling people that I do not pretend to adduce [direct] evidence of one species changing into another, but I believe that this view is in the main correct, because so many phenomena can thus be grouped end explained. ~ charles-darwin, @wisdomtrove 116:The main conclusion arrived at in this work, namely that man is descended from some lowly-organised form, will, I regret to think, be highly distasteful to many persons. But there can hardly be a doubt that we are descended from barbarians. ~ charles-darwin, @wisdomtrove 117:The main mark of modern governments is that we do not know who governs, de facto any more than de jure. We see the politician and not his backer; still less the backer of the backer; or, what is most important of all, the banker of the backer. ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 118:The main thing is this: we should never blame anyone or anything for our defeats. No matter how evil their intentions may be, they are altogether unable to harm us until we begin to blame them and use them as excuses for our own unbelief. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 119:The American people aren't overtaxed. The government in Washington is overfed. The main difference between ourselves and the other side is: we see an America where every day is the Fourth of July. They see an America where every day is April 15. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 120:I don't care for the applause one gets by saying what others are thinking; I want actually to change people's thoughts. Power over people's minds is the main personal desire of my life; and this sort of power is not acquired by saying popular things. ~ bertrand-russell, @wisdomtrove 121:The things you need in life are those that will help you to fulfill your dominant purpose. Things you may want but not need may lead you aside from that purpose. It is only by making everything serve your main objective that success is attained. ~ paramahansa-yogananda, @wisdomtrove 122:I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 123:My main point about films is that I don't like the adaptation process, and I particularly don't like the modern way of comic book-film adaptations, where, essentially, the central characters are just franchises that can be worked endlessly to no apparent point. ~ alan-moore, @wisdomtrove 124:When you allow yourself to begin to dream big dreams, creatively abandon the activities that are taking up too much of your time, and focus your inward energies on alleviating your main constraints, you start to feel an incredible sense of power and confidence. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove 125:The main trouble with despair is that it is self-fulfilling. People who fear the worst tend to invite it. Heads that are down can't scan the horizon for new openings. Bursts of energy do not spring from a spirit of defeat. Ultimately, helplessness leads to hopelessness. ~ norman-cousins, @wisdomtrove 126:Young people want to learn, they are thirsty for knowledge, they want to understand and remember. The main thing is to teach them where not to go. Oppression, not to go; dictatorship, not to go; racism and prejudice, absolutely not to go. This is a moral plan [for society]. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 127:Knowledge is the raw material of production and value in this age. It used to be that the main difference between people in our society was between those who have more and those who have less. Today, however, the difference is between those who know more and those who know less. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove 128:It's true that at the time I was fond of Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan, and it was from them that I learned about this kind of simple, swift-paced style, but the main reason for the style of my first novel is that I simply did not have the time to write sustained prose. ~ haruki-murakami, @wisdomtrove 129:There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 130:False hope is clung to with all one's might and main, till a day comes when it has sucked the heart dry and it forcibly breaks through its bonds and departs. After that comes the misery of awakening, and then once again the longing to get back into the maze of the same mistakes. ~ rabindranath-tagore, @wisdomtrove 131:But why,... if you have a serious comment to make on the real life of men, must you do it by talking about a phantasmagoric never-never land of your own? Because, I take it, one of the main things the author wants to say is that the real life of men is of that mythical and heroic quality. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 132:It is selfishness, due to a self-identification with the body, that is the main problem and the cause of all other problems. And selfishness cannot be removed by effort, only by clear insight into its causes and effects. Effort is a sign of conflict between incompatible desires. ~ sri-nisargadatta-maharaj, @wisdomtrove 133:What we will be seeking ... for the rest of our lives will be large, stable communities of like-minded people, which is to say relatives. They no longer exist. The lack of them is not only the main cause, but probably the only cause of our shapeless discontent in the midst of such prosperity. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 134:I believe the main goal of time management is to give you the power to make your life as juicy as you want it to be. By getting clear about what you want and then developing a collection of habits that allow you to efficiently achieve your goals, you'll enjoy a much richer, more fulfilling life. ~ steve-pavlina, @wisdomtrove 135:That was the trouble with being a writer, that was the main trouble‚Äîleisure time, excessive leisure time. You had to wait around for the buildup until you could write and while you were waiting you went crazy, and while you were going crazy you drank and the more you drank the crazier you got. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 136:As for me, my literary theory, like my politics, is based chiefly upon one main idea, to wit, the idea of freedom. I am, in brief, a libertarian of the most extreme variety, and know of no human right that is one-tenth as valuable as the simple right to utter what seems (at the moment) to be the truth ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 137:Well, I think the main message is there is more to your story. There is more than what happens between the crib and the grave, and that is what I am really trying to speak to, this idea that all of life is this life and that there is nothing more than what we see and experience right here on this earth. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 138:Emotions are classes in the Earth school. Some classes are about fear, and some are about love. The Universe is your tutor, and your classroom is your life. The main course in the Earth school, Authentic Power, is the same for everyone, but different students need different courses in order to complete it. ~ gary-zukav, @wisdomtrove 139:In order to be successful in any undertaking, I think the main thing is for one to grow to the point where he completely forgets himself; that is, to lose himself in a great cause. In proportion as one loses himself in this way, in the same degree does he get the highest happiness out of his work. ~ booker-t-washington, @wisdomtrove 140:The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 141:If I look at my own experience Tim is clearly the hero of the life story. He’s the star of the show. Other people come and go, but Tim is in every scene. His wife, Debbie, plays romantic love interest. His best mate, Pete, plays comic sidekick. There’s a whole load of extras who figure now and then. But Tim’s the main man. ~ tim-freke, @wisdomtrove 142:The good life consists in deriving happiness by using your signature strengths every day in the main realms of living. The meaningful life adds one more component: using these same strengths to forward knowledge, power, or goodness. A life that does this is pregnant with meaning, and if God comes at the end, such a life is sacred. ~ martin-seligman, @wisdomtrove 143:It's all about finding and hiring people smarter than you. Getting them to join your business. And giving them good work. Then getting out of their way. And trusting them. You have to get out of the way so YOU can focus on the bigger vision. That's important. And here's the main thing... .you must make them see their work as a MISSION. ~ richard-branson, @wisdomtrove 144:A stiff letter galls one like a stiff shirt collar - whilst a sheet garnished here and there with a careless blot - and here and there a dash - but in the main full of excellent matter, is like a clever fellow in a dirty shirt whom we value for the good humour he brings with him and not for the garb he wears. ~ henry-wadsworth-longfellow, @wisdomtrove 145:There are two main human sins from which all the others derive: impatience and indolence. It was because of impatience that they were expelled from Paradise; it is because of indolence that they do not return. Yet perhaps there is only one major sin: impatience. Because of impatience they were expelled, because of impatience they do not return. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 146:Be the first to seize intersecting ground, that is ground which lies the intersections of borders or intersections of main thoroughfares of commerce and travel. Your occupation of it gives you access to all who border it and all who would covet it. On intersecting ground, if you establish alliances you are safe, if you lose alliances you are in peril. ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 147:Traditionally, life has been divided into two main parts: a period of learning followed by a period of working. Very soon this traditional model will become utterly obsolete, and the only way for humans to stay in the game will be to keep learning throughout their lives, and to reinvent themselves repeatedly. Many if not most humans may be unable to do so. ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove 148:Connection is why we're here; it is what gives purpose and meaning to our lives. The power that connection holds in our lives was confirmed when the main concern about connection emerged as the fear of disconnection; the fear that something we have done or failed to do, something about who we are or where we come from, has made us unlovable and unworthy of connection. ~ brene-brown, @wisdomtrove 149:By God and upon my conscience, said the devil, I never observed it, for my mind is occupied with so many different things that I was forgetting the main thing I came about. This demon must be an honest fellow and a good Christian, said Sancho; for if he wasn't he wouldn't swear by God and his conscience; I feel sure now there must be good souls even in hell itself. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 150:The stream will not permanently rise higher than the main source; and the main source of national power and national greatness is found in the average citizenship of the nation. Therefore it behooves us to do our best to see that the standard of the average citizen is kept high; and the average cannot be kept high unless the standard of the leaders is very much higher. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 151:Let's start with Jesus' answer: "Look for the kingdom first and all else will come together." Life is fragmenting, fragmented. I have a thousands things to do, others do too. We can live our life as if the main question is, "How can keep it together? How do I juggle all the balls? But the real question is, "How can I stay home - interiorly home - while I do these many things? ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 152:The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory, is that conspiracy theorists believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is actually chaotic. The truth is that it is not The Iluminati, or The Jewish Banking Conspiracy, or the Gray Alien Theory. The truth is far more frightening - Nobody is in control. The world is rudderless. ~ alan-moore, @wisdomtrove 153:Pain is inevitable as long as you are identified with your mind, which is to say as long as you are unconscious, physically speaking. I am talking here primarily of emotional pain, which is also the main cause of physical pain and physical disease. Resentment, hatred, self-pity, guilt, anger, depression, jealousy, and so on, even the slightest irritation, are all forms of pain. ~ eckhart-tolle, @wisdomtrove 154:I know different ways of looking at things. I have my stockholders, and I feel a very keen responsibility to the shareholders, but I feel that the main responsibility I have to them is to have the stock appreciate. And you only have it appreciate by reinvesting as much as you can back in the business. And that's what we've done... and that has been my philosophy on running the business. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 155:I've no objection to the term & 156:Nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not, & 157:If you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious reading and churchgoing are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 158:If I had my way, I would build a lethal chamber as big as the Crystal Palace, with a military band playing softly, and a Cinematograph working brightly; then I'd go out in the back streets and main streets and bring them in, all the sick, the halt, and the maimed; I would lead them gently, and they would smile me a weary thanks; and the band would softly bubble out the & 159:Life consists not of a series of illustrious actions or elegant enjoyments. The greater part of our time passes in compliance with necessities, in the performance of daily duties, in the removal of small inconveniences, in the procurement of petty pleasures; and we are well or ill at ease, as the main stream of life glides on smoothly, or is ruffled by small obstacles and frequent interruption. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 160:Many people genuinely do not wish to be saints, and it is probable that some who achieve or aspire to sainthood have never felt much temptation to be human beings. If one could follow it to its psychological roots, one would, I believe, find that the main motive for "non-attachment" is a desire to escape from the pain of living, and above all from love, which, sexual or non-sexual, is hard work. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 161:The main thing that every political campaign in the United States demonstrates is that the politicians of all parties, despite their superficial enmities, are really members of one great brotherhood. Their principal, and indeed their sole, object is to collar public office, with all the privileges and profits that go therewith. They achieve this collaring by buying votes with other people's money. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 162:I am a wicked man... But do you know, gentlemen, what was the main point about my wickedness? The whole thing, precisely was, the greatest nastiness precisely lay in my being shamefully conscious every moment, even in moments of the greatest bile, that I was not only not a wicked man but was not even an embittered man, that I was simply frightening sparrows in vain, and pleasing myself with it. ~ fyodor-dostoevsky, @wisdomtrove 163:I don't think he was knowable. I mean, when most people talk about knowing somebody a lot or a little, they're talking about the secrets they've been told or haven't been told. They're talking about intimate things, family things, love things," that nice old lady said to me. "Mr. Hoenikker had all those things in his life, the way every living person has to, but they weren't the main things with him. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 164:I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which & 165:To do Mohammed justice, his main attack was against the idolatries of Asia. Only he thought, just as the Arians did and just as the Unitarians do, that he could attack them better with a greater approximation to plain theism. What distinguishes his heresy from anything like an Arian or Albigensian heresy is that, as it sprang up on the borders of Christendom, it could spread outwards to a barbaric world. ~ g-k-chesterton, @wisdomtrove 166:One of George Washington's main concerns was to make sure that his soldiers had adequate supplies of meat: A part of the army has been a week without any kind of flesh, and the rest three or four days. Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery, that they have not been ere this excited by their suffering to a general mutiny and dispersion. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 167:There are two cardinal human sins out of which all others derive, deviate, and dissipate: impatience and lassitude (or perhaps nonchalance). On account of impatience they are driven out of paradise; on account of lassitude or nonchalance they do not return. Perhaps, however, only one main sense of sin is given: impatience. On account of impatience they are driven out, on account of impatience they do not turn back. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 168:Expulsion from Paradise is in its main aspect eternal: that is to say, although expulsion from Paradise is final, and life in theworld unavoidable, the eternity of the process (or, expressed in temporal terms, the eternal repetition of the process) nevertheless makes it possible not only that we might remain in Paradise permanently, but that we may in fact be there permanently, no matter whether we know it here or not. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 169:It's not about you, it's about the next person. The single best use of a business book is to help someone else. Sharing what you read, handing the book to a person who needs it... pushing those around you to get in sync and to take action-that's the main reason it's a book, not a video or a seminar. A book is a souvenir and a container and a motivator and an easily leveraged tool. Hoarding books makes them worth less, not more. ~ seth-godin, @wisdomtrove 170:The main thing is to have a soul that loves the truth and harbours it where he finds it. And another thing: truth requires constant repetition, because error is being preached about us all the time, and not only by isolated individuals but by the masses. In the newspapers and encyclopaedias, in schools and universities, everywhere error rides high and basks in the consciousness of having the majority on its side. ~ johann-wolfgang-von-goethe, @wisdomtrove 171:I think a lot of people believe that they have to be poor to serve God, that they can't have anything. They don't really even know how to give. And one of the main principles in the Bible is you'll reap what you sew, and that if you give into the lives of others, that it shall be given back to you, good measure, pressed down and shaken together. If you go plant one tomato seed, you don't get back one tomato; you get a vine of tomatoes. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 172:Each nation has a main current in life; in India it is religion. Make it strong and the waters on either side must move along with it. This is one phase of my line of thought. In time, I hope to bring them all out, but at present I find I have a mission in this country also. Moreover, I expect help in this country and from here alone. But up to date I could not do anything except spreading my ideas. Now I want that a similar attempt be made in India. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 173:We have two main instruments: the mind and the heart. The mind finds it difficult to be happy, precisely because the mind consciously enjoys the sense of separativity. It is always judging and doubting the reality in others. This is the human mind, the ordinary physical mind, the earth-bound mind. But we also have the aspiring heart, the loving heart. This loving heart is free from insecurity, for it has already established its oneness with the rest of the world. ~ sri-chinmoy, @wisdomtrove 174:One of the main purposes of laws in a democratic society is to put burdens upon intelligence and reduce it to impotence. Ostensibly, their aim is to penalize anti-social acts; actually their aim is to penalize heretical opinions. At least ninety-five Americans out of every 100 believe that this process is honest and even laudable; it is practically impossible to convince them that there is anything evil in it. In other words, they cannot grasp the concept of liberty. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 175:Compassion- which means, literally, "to suffer with"- is the way to the truth that we are most ourselves, not when we differ from others, but when we are the same. Indeed the main spiritual question is not, "What difference do you make?" but "What do you have in common?" It is not "excelling" but "serving" that makes us most human. It is not proving ourselves to be better than others but confessing to be just like others that is the way to healing and reconciliation. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 176:To many of us now, computers, silicon chips, data processing, cybernetics, and all the other innovations of the dawning high technology age are as mystifying as the workings of the combustion engine must have been when that first Model T rattled down Main Street, U.S.A. But as surely as America's pioneer spirit made us the industrial giant of the 20th century, the same pioneer spirit today is opening up on another vast front of opportunity, the frontier of high technology. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 177:One hundred and fifty years ago the vacant lands of the West were opened to private use. One hundred years ago the Congress passed the Homestead Act, probably the single greatest stimulus to national development ever enacted. Under the impetus of that Act and other laws, more than 1.1 billion acres of the original public main have been transferred to private and non-federal public ownership. The 768 million acres remaining in federal ownership are a valuable national asset. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 178:Sinclair Lewis is the perfect example of the false sense of time of the newspaper world... . [ellipsis in source] He was always dominated by an artificial time when he wrote Main Street... . He did not create actual human beings at any time. That is what makes it newspaper. Sinclair Lewis is the typical newspaperman and everything he says is newspaper. The difference between a thinker and a newspaperman is that a thinker enters right into things, a newspaperman is superficial. ~ gertrude-stein, @wisdomtrove 179:The prevailing tendency to regard all the marked distinctions of human character as innate, and in the main indelible, and to ignore the irresistible proofs that by far the greater part of those differences, whether between individuals, races, or sexes are such as not only might but naturally would be produced by differences in circumstances, is one of the chief hinderances to the rational treatment of great social questions, and one of the greatest stumbling blocks to human improvement. ~ john-stuart-mill, @wisdomtrove 180:Seeking approval is one of the main way people lose the awareness of it. Seeking is always stressful. It puts your happiness in other people's hands. When you question the thoughts that cause your seeking, like "My mother doesn't love me." or "I should be thinner," you begin to find your own approval. It just appears. And when you have that awareness, it's easy to approve of other people. This is the way to be truly happy. We are 100% responsible for our own happiness. This is very good news! ~ byron-katie, @wisdomtrove 181:A sentence begins quite simply, then it undulates and expands, parentheses intervene like quick-set hedges, the flowers of comparison bloom, and three fields off, like a wounded partridge, crouches the principal verb, making one wonder as one picks it up, poor little thing, whether after all it was worth such a tramp, so many guns, and such expensive dogs, and what, after all, is its relation to the main subject, potted so gaily half a page back, and proving finally to have been in the accusative case. ~ e-m-forster, @wisdomtrove 182:My main professional interest during the 1970s has been in the dramatic change of concepts and ideas that has occurred in physics during the first three decades of the century, and that is still being elaborated in our current theories of matter. The new concepts in physics have brought about a profound change in our world view; from the mechanistic conception of Descartes and Newton to a holistic and ecological view, a view which I have found to be similar to the views of mystics of all ages and traditions. ~ fritjof-capra, @wisdomtrove 183:We were to found a University magazine. A pair of little, active brothers-Livingstone by name, great skippers on the foot, great rubbers of the hands, who kept a book-shop over against the University building-had been debauched to play the part of publishers. We four were to be conjuct editors and, what was the main point of the concern, to print our own works; while, by every rule of arithmetic-that flatterer of credulity-the adventure must succeed and bring great profit. Well, well: it was a bright vision. ~ robert-louis-stevenson, @wisdomtrove 184:Gaia's main problems are not industrialization, ozone depletion, overpopulation, or resource depletion. Gaia's main problem is the lack of mutual understanding and mutual agreement in the noosphere about how to proceed with those problems. We cannot rein in industry if we cannot reach mutual understanding and mutual agreement based on a worldcentric moral perspective concerning the global commons. And we reach the worldcentric moral perspective through a difficult and laborious process of interior growth and transcendence. ~ ken-wilber, @wisdomtrove 185:The difference between [socialism and fascism] is superficial and purely formal, but it is significant psychologically: it brings the authoritarian nature of a planned economy crudely into the open. The main characteristic of socialism (and of communism) is public ownership of the means of production, and, therefore, the abolition of private property. The right to property is the right of use and disposal. Under fascism, men retain the semblance or pretense of private property, but the government holds total power over its use and disposal. ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 186:The main qualities that had earned him this universal respect in the service were, first, an extreme indulgence towards people, based on his awareness of his own shortcomings; second, a perfect liberalism, not the sort he read about in the newspapers, but the sort he had in his blood, which made him treat all people, whatever their rank or status, in a perfectly equal and identical way; and, third - most important - a perfect indifference to the business he was occupied with, owing to which he never got carried away and never made mistakes. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 187:Another thing I noticed was that I do not need to make an effort; the deed follows the thought, without delay and friction. I have also found that thoughts become self-fulfilling; things would fall in place smoothly and rightly. The main change was in the mind; it became motionless and silent, responding quickly, but not perpetuating the response. Spontaneity became a way of life, the real became natural and the natural became real. And above all, infinite affection, love, dark and quiet, radiating in all directions, embracing all, making all interesting and beautiful, significant and auspicious. ~ sri-nisargadatta-maharaj, @wisdomtrove 188:At the moment you become angry, you tend to believe that your misery has been created by another person. You blame him or her for all your suffering. But by looking deeply, you may realize that the seed of anger in you is the main cause of your suffering. Many other people, confronted with the same situation, would not get angry like you. They hear the same words, they see the same situation, and yet they are able to stay calm and not be carried away. Why do you get angry so easily? You may get angry very easily because your seed of anger is too strong. And because you have not practiced the methods for taking good care of your anger, the seed of anger has been watered too often in the past. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 189:By equating the human experience with data patterns, Dataism undermines our main source of authority and meaning, and heralds a tremendous religious revolution, the like of which has not been seen since the eighteenth century. In the days of Locke, Hume and Voltaire humanists argued that ‘God is a product of the human imagination’. Dataism now gives humanists a taste of their own medicine, and tells them: ‘Yes, God is a product of the human imagination, but human imagination in turn is the product of biochemical algorithms.’ In the eighteenth century, humanism sidelined God by shifting from a deo-centric to a homo-centric world view. In the twenty-first century, Dataism may sideline humans by shifting from a homo-centric to a data-centric view. ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:EntrepreneurYogi.com ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
2:the Main Enemy. ~ Antonio J M ndez, #NFDB
3:The main idea is to win. ~ John McGraw, #NFDB
4:The main thing is to win. ~ John McGraw, #NFDB
5:Sun To Sahi Jahan Main
~ Anwar Masood,#NFDB
6:A good life is a main argument. ~ Ben Jonson, #NFDB
7:Victory is the main object in war. ~ Sun Tzu, #NFDB
8:Dil Ajab Gumbad K Jis Main
~ Adeem Hashmi,#NFDB
9:Validation is my main bitch. ~ Melissa Broder, #NFDB
10:Main Street is almost alright. ~ Robert Venturi, #NFDB
11:main gate of Fort Huachuca. I turned ~ J A Jance, #NFDB
12:I live, which is the main point. ~ Heinrich Heine, #NFDB
13:Ron Thompson, he's my main man! ~ John Lee Hooker, #NFDB
14:The main reason for healing is love. ~ Paracelsus, #NFDB
15:I'm the main rapper of B2ST, Yang Yoseob! ~ Yoseob, #NFDB
16:Yaad Main Teri Jahan Ko
~ Agha Hashar Kashmiri,#NFDB
17:Attention is a main asset in marketing. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
18:Curiosity is the main energy. ~ Robert Rauschenberg, #NFDB
19:Keep your eye on the main event. ~ Martha Griffiths, #NFDB
20:Chanting is the main thing in my life. ~ Krishna Das, #NFDB
21:Confusion is the main cause of worry ~ Dale Carnegie, #NFDB
22:Everybody is a main chracter to someone ~ Amy Harmon, #NFDB
23:Yoga happens in the last 1% of a pose. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
24:As CEO, my main job is editor-in-chief. ~ Jack Dorsey, #NFDB
25:My main thing is music; it's what I do. ~ Vanilla Ice, #NFDB
26:snow. Tumbleweeds blew straight down Main ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
27:taking in a main mast, shortening the ~ Fern Michaels, #NFDB
28:The main thing is not to be dead. ~ Robert Motherwell, #NFDB
29:Tumhein Main Kis Tarah Dekhon
~ Amjad Islam Amjad,#NFDB
30:view from everyone on the main floor. My ~ Sylvia Day, #NFDB
31:Everybody is a main character to someone, ~ Amy Harmon, #NFDB
32:Everybody is a main character to someone. ~ Amy Harmon, #NFDB
33:For gold the merchant ploughs the main, ~ Robert Burns, #NFDB
34:husband’s main account was virtually ~ Dinah Jefferies, #NFDB
35:Kanupriyaa Itihas: Setu - Main
~ Dharamvir Bharati,#NFDB
36:My main concern is with the world order ~ George Soros, #NFDB
37:Work, work, work, is the main thing. ~ Abraham Lincoln, #NFDB
38:Love is one of my main inspirations. ~ Enrique Iglesias, #NFDB
39:Sirf Ashq-O-Tabassum Main Uljhe Rahe
~ Ehsan Danish,#NFDB
40:The main thing I believe in is freedom. ~ Charles Evers, #NFDB
41:Everybody is a main character to someone... ~ Amy Harmon, #NFDB
42:Lorsque Ta Main Confie, Un Soir...
~ Emile Verhaeren,#NFDB
43:Self-command is the main elegance. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
44:The main obligation is to amuse yourself. ~ S J Perelman, #NFDB
45:And the live show is still our main thing. ~ Jerry Garcia, #NFDB
46:A novel is a mirror carried along a main road. ~ Stendhal, #NFDB
47:A novel is a mirror walking along a main road. ~ Stendhal, #NFDB
48:My main fight is for freedom and equality. ~ Muhammad Ali, #NFDB
49:The will was the main target of bitterness ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
50:Un doigt coupé afin de sauver une main. ~ Khaled Hosseini, #NFDB
51:Character is the main object for education, ~ David Brooks, #NFDB
52:Man’s main task is to give birth to himself. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
53:As a pastor our main ministry is exhortation. ~ Johnny Hunt, #NFDB
54:Ibadaton Ki Tarah Main Ye Kaam Kart A Hun
~ Bashir Badr,#NFDB
55:Man’s main task is to give birth to himself. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
56:My main thing is not eating processed food. ~ Marisa Miller, #NFDB
57:The showstopper! The icon! The main event! ~ Shawn Michaels, #NFDB
58:Abhi Is Taraf Na Nigaah Kar Main Ghazal Ki
~ Bashir Badr,#NFDB
59:Dayar-E-Gair Main Koi Jahan Na Apana Ho
~ Akhtar ul Iman,#NFDB
60:kin, not ancestors. Our main difference from ~ Ronald Wright, #NFDB
61:Truthfulness is the main element of character. ~ Brian Tracy, #NFDB
62:Colors express the main psychic functions of man. ~ Carl Jung, #NFDB
63:The leader's main job is to make themselves obsolete. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
64:the main road? Beyond the narrow break in the ~ Melinda Leigh, #NFDB
65:The main thing in a cup tie is to get through. ~ Walter Smith, #NFDB
66:Time isn't the main thing. It's the only thing. ~ Miles Davis, #NFDB
67:My main hope for myself is to be where I am. ~ Woody Harrelson, #NFDB
68:That's the main thing you have to have... trust. ~ Elle Fanning, #NFDB
69:The main thing I need to know about God is I'm not. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
70:The main thing in life is to know your own mind. ~ Tove Jansson, #NFDB
71:Tumhare Lahaje Main Jo Garmi-O-Halavat Hai
~ Akhtar ul Iman,#NFDB
72:Aggression, the writer's main source of energy. ~ Ted Solotaroff, #NFDB
73:Books, books and more books. Her main indulgence. ~ Cherrie Lynn, #NFDB
74:Les "cœurs sur la main" n'ont pas d'histoire; ~ Fran ois Mauriac, #NFDB
75:And the main fight will be over water, not oil. ~ William Shatner, #NFDB
76:God had become the new rulers’ main enemy. ~ Armando Lucas Correa, #NFDB
77:Jab Usay Chaha To Chaha Her Tarah Ke Haal Main
~ Adeem Hashmi,#NFDB
78:Texas’s main exports are cotton, oil, and preachers. ~ Sam Torode, #NFDB
79:you're just a side dish not the main course! ~ Eric Jerome Dickey, #NFDB
80:glanced back out to the mall's main section. I saw ~ Richelle Mead, #NFDB
81:Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
82:My main success was an attitude. Always an attitude. ~ Don Rickles, #NFDB
83:A sense of humor is the main measure of sanity. ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
84:Exercise is the main thing that helped me lose weight. ~ Drew Carey, #NFDB
85:I like a girl who laughs a lot. That's my main thing. ~ Cody Linley, #NFDB
86:strongly recommend folding as the main storage method. ~ Marie Kond, #NFDB
87:The main boy—the one who was calling the shots—pushed ~ Susan Wiggs, #NFDB
88:hundred yards from the north end of Main Street. Further ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
89:I am not an encore, not a pudding, I am the main dish. ~ Joseph Roth, #NFDB
90:My main income came from failed movie and TV options. ~ W P Kinsella, #NFDB
91:My main memories of my father are of his illness. ~ Daniel Day Lewis, #NFDB
92:The main social responsibility for a company is to win. ~ Jack Welch, #NFDB
93:The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. ~ Pam Grout, #NFDB
94:The main thing is to make the main thing the main thing. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
95:Twitter is my main tool for ensuring news balance. ~ Ethan Zuckerman, #NFDB
96:As an actor, your main goal is to tell the truth. ~ Johnathon Schaech, #NFDB
97:i find people confusing.
this is for 2 main reasons. ~ Mark Haddon,#NFDB
98:Texas’s main exports are cotton, oil, and preachers. Why ~ Sam Torode, #NFDB
99:The main character of any living system is openness. ~ Ilya Prigogine, #NFDB
100:The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team. ~ John Wooden, #NFDB
101:the main thing is to make history not to write it ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
102:We lost, and that's the main thing that went wrong. ~ Mike Krzyzewski, #NFDB
103:The main thing is to make history, not to write it ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
104:You get what you concentrate upon. There is no other main rule. ~ Seth, #NFDB
105:A main cause of employee disengagement is poor leadership, ~ W Chan Kim, #NFDB
106:and wild deeds and places on the Spanish Main. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson, #NFDB
107:By 2026, Google’s main product will not be search but AI. ~ Kevin Kelly, #NFDB
108:Ek Lamhe Ko Thehar, Main Tujhe Pathar Laa Doon
~ Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi,#NFDB
109:Get the few main lines and see what lines they call out. ~ Robert Henri, #NFDB
110:The main thing is to make history, not to write it. ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
111:As you get to thirty, the main thing is to not be sensible. ~ Mark Steel, #NFDB
112:I think, for me, the main thing is feeling comfortable. ~ Sophie Cookson, #NFDB
113:Jab Bayaan Karo Ge Tum Hum Bayaan Main Niklain
Ge
~ Adeem Hashmi,#NFDB
114:The main reason women are crazy, is that men are stupid. ~ George Carlin, #NFDB
115:The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. ~ Stephen Covey, #NFDB
116:thumbnail sketch of his life would include two main facts: ~ Clive James, #NFDB
117:Child-rearing is my main interest now. I'm a hands-on father. ~ Sean Penn, #NFDB
118:Let God Himself be the main attraction at church again. ~ James MacDonald, #NFDB
119:My country's main exports are stolen cars and sadness. ~ Aleksandar Hemon, #NFDB
120:The engine of the tank is a weapon just as the main-gun. ~ Heinz Guderian, #NFDB
121:The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human. ~ Aaron Carter, #NFDB
122:The main thing we were made for is to work with others. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #NFDB
123:If truth is the main casualty in war, ambiguity is another. ~ Paul Fussell, #NFDB
124:My main concern is to protect people from detriment. ~ Jean Claude Juncker, #NFDB
125:One has to choose. The main thing is to know what one wants... ~ Andr Gide, #NFDB
126:Save the Trees? Trees are the main cause of Forest Fires! ~ Billy Connolly, #NFDB
127:The language of the heart is mankind's main common language. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
128:The main task of the spirit is to free man from his ego. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
129:The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. ~ Stephen R Covey, #NFDB
130:The wind-shak'd surge, with high and monstrous main, ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
131:Why resist change when it's the main source of your growth? ~ Robin Sharma, #NFDB
132:A prison cell, however tastefully decorated, is still a cage. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
133:Figure 6 The science of secret writing and its main branches. ~ Simon Singh, #NFDB
134:Fortunately, for me, my main asset is speed. Plain and simple. ~ David Haye, #NFDB
135:For when all else is done, only words remain. Words endure. ~ Kate Mosse, #NFDB
136:His main problem, he knew, would be controlling the press. ~ Sidney Sheldon, #NFDB
137:In essence, life is a buffet and love is the main course. ~ Felix Alexander, #NFDB
138:My other Main Man is Muhamed Ali, for the obvious reasons. ~ Randy Castillo, #NFDB
139:My people,” she began formally. “Main Jhansi nahin doongi! ~ Michelle Moran, #NFDB
140:Stand-up comedy and poverty. Those were my two main endeavors. ~ Dave Foley, #NFDB
141:the main lesson of history is: humans don’t learn from history. ~ Matt Haig, #NFDB
142:The main thing is to have a gutsy approach and use your head. ~ Julia Child, #NFDB
143:The main thing needed to make men happy is intelligence. ~ Bertrand Russell, #NFDB
144:With any job the main thing that makes the job is the people. ~ Nell Hudson, #NFDB
145:And 5:25 when the screaming started outside the main gate. ~ William Goldman, #NFDB
146:I'm one of the blind alleys off the main road of procreation. ~ Evelyn Waugh, #NFDB
147:I think the main thing that has to end is men's defensiveness. ~ Jon Stewart, #NFDB
148:My main teachers were my father and my mother and my brother. ~ Jeff Bridges, #NFDB
149:…mysticism –perhaps the main aberration of the human mind. ~ Arthur C Clarke, #NFDB
150:Never make someone else the main character in your own story. ~ J M Darhower, #NFDB
151:Our own happiness ought not to be our main objective in life. ~ John Lubbock, #NFDB
152:Suffering is the main condition of the artistic experience. ~ Samuel Beckett, #NFDB
153:The hardest part of any yoga practice is rolling out your mat. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
154:The main thing about directing is: photograph the people's eyes. ~ John Ford, #NFDB
155:Well, I just want him to grow up happy. That's the main thing. ~ John Lennon, #NFDB
156:I'll always do the guitar parts since it's my main instrument. ~ Trevor Rabin, #NFDB
157:In the works of Nature, purpose, not accident, is the main thing. ~ Aristotle, #NFDB
158:Tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country. ~ George Orwell, #NFDB
159:The main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of its youth ~ Erasmus, #NFDB
160:...the main lesson of history is humans don't learn from history. ~ Matt Haig, #NFDB
161:The main piece of technology in the green economy is a caulk gun. ~ Van Jones, #NFDB
162:The main thing was being alive. That was the main thing. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke, #NFDB
163:The main trouble with despair is that it is self-fulfilling. ~ Norman Cousins, #NFDB
164:you just had to be still and have faith, that was the main thing. ~ Jim Dodge, #NFDB
165:I'm going to the main event of Wrestlemania! Where're you going? ~ Randy Orton, #NFDB
166:My main objective was finding my individuality as a vocalist. ~ Juliette Lewis, #NFDB
167:The main obstacle is the entrenched power of the legacy polluters. ~ Van Jones, #NFDB
168:The main thing was to be living. That was the main thing. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke, #NFDB
169:When one felt like a wasp, one’s main inclination was to sting. ~ Lisa Kleypas, #NFDB
170:You get what you concentrate on…there is no other main rule. ~ Trish MacGregor, #NFDB
171:Gunners, shift to APs but hold your fire. Main lasers, defocus and ~ B V Larson, #NFDB
172:In the end, the actor's main power is the power to say, 'No.' ~ Viggo Mortensen, #NFDB
173:My main concern is with the anxiety that has settled upon America. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
174:Yeah, one of the main ways is for songs that make me want to move. ~ Joe Cocker, #NFDB
175:Don’t settle for anything you don’t want. That’s the main thing. ~ Maddie Dawson, #NFDB
176:Look at your life as your main career and your divine classroom. ~ Judith Orloff, #NFDB
177:Most of the places I've been, I've been a main piece of the puzzle. ~ Eric Davis, #NFDB
178:My main focus in sobriety has been to replace fear with faith or love. ~ Steve O, #NFDB
179:My main purpose is to pray five times a day. And that's not easy. ~ Muhammad Ali, #NFDB
180:The main riff for 'SandMan' was just something I wrote one night. ~ Kirk Hammett, #NFDB
181:The main thing I am interested in is my experience as a teacher. ~ Frank McCourt, #NFDB
182:The main thing to do is relax and let your talent do the work. ~ Charles Barkley, #NFDB
183:Whatever you do, think of the Glory of God as your main goal. ~ Saint John Bosco, #NFDB
184:Fun can be the dessert of our lives but never its main course. ~ Harold S Kushner, #NFDB
185:Government today, far from protecting property, is its main threat. ~ Roger Pilon, #NFDB
186:In all education the main cause of failure is staleness. ~ Alfred North Whitehead, #NFDB
187:It is no use running; to set out betimes is the main point. ~ Jean de La Fontaine, #NFDB
188:My main recollection is of the work I had to do in order to eat ~ Clifton Fadiman, #NFDB
189:Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing. ~ Seneca the Younger, #NFDB
190:One of the main faults of a fool is that he never changes his mind. ~ Sri Chinmoy, #NFDB
191:The main cause of poverty is self-inflicted fear and ignorance. ~ Robert Kiyosaki, #NFDB
192:To me the interesting main character is never the one without flaws. ~ J J Abrams, #NFDB
193:Whatever you do, think of the Glory of God as your main goal. ~ Saint John Bosco, #NFDB
194:A lot can be told from what happens in between the main moments. ~ Annie Leibovitz, #NFDB
195:Books are still the main yardstick by which I measure true wealth. ~ Tamora Pierce, #NFDB
196:I am the showstopper. The main event. The Icon that can still go. ~ Shawn Michaels, #NFDB
197:In a way, the main fault of all books is that they are too long. ~ Luc de Clapiers, #NFDB
198:Most pleasures are best as a seasoning, not the main course. p. 374 ~ Brandon Mull, #NFDB
199:Move fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large companies. ~ Sam Altman, #NFDB
200:The main thing is, believe in yourself. Reach out and go after it. ~ Joanna Garcia, #NFDB
201:The main thing on film is you want to be innocent to the moment. ~ Richard Jenkins, #NFDB
202:The manly part is to do with might and main what you can do. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
203:Thinking without awareness is the main dilemma of human existence. ~ Eckhart Tolle, #NFDB
204:Acting is my first love, and that's my main career, it really is. ~ Danica McKellar, #NFDB
205:Awards, they come and go. The main thing is it's all about team. ~ Seimone Augustus, #NFDB
206:Intolerance of mediocrity has been the main prop of my independence. ~ Elsa Maxwell, #NFDB
207:No particular reason for anything. I'm free - that's the main thing. ~ Henry Miller, #NFDB
208:The main thing was that I didn’t want to feel the way I was feeling. ~ Tayari Jones, #NFDB
209:Writers are the main landmarks of the past. ~ Edward Bulwer Lytton 1st Baron Lytton, #NFDB
210:All people live in a fantasy in which they are the main character. ~ Keiichi Sigsawa, #NFDB
211:I have no plans to use the Internet as the main subject of a novel. ~ Nelson DeMille, #NFDB
212:I think with chess as with everything, marketing is the main issue. ~ Magnus Carlsen, #NFDB
213:Palm Strike's main superpower is the stupidity of his enemies. ~ Charlie Jane Anders, #NFDB
214:The main benefit of optimism is resilience in the face of setback. ~ Daniel Kahneman, #NFDB
215:The main thing is to know something and to say it. ~ Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, #NFDB
216:three main mental poisons, which are ignorance, desire, and hatred. ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #NFDB
217:To see and know the worst is to take from Fear her main advantage. ~ Charlotte Bront, #NFDB
218:Enemy images are the main reason conflicts don't get resolved. ~ Marshall B Rosenberg, #NFDB
219:Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge. ~ Plato, #NFDB
220:I think the main thing, don't you, is to keep the show on the road. ~ Elizabeth Bowen, #NFDB
221:My main goal is to be a self-made man and have control over what's mine. ~ Kevin Hart, #NFDB
222:My main place is in Switzerland, but I live on a plane, really. ~ Christopher Lambert, #NFDB
223:Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
224:People bullshit and fakeness are the main reasons why I like to be alone. ~ Megan Fox, #NFDB
225:The aphorism wants to be at the same time both main line and off beat. ~ Mason Cooley, #NFDB
226:The main benefit of optimism is resilience in the face of setbacks. ~ Daniel Kahneman, #NFDB
227:The main target for the next years should be growth and job creation. ~ Mariano Rajoy, #NFDB
228:There are two main drivers of asset class returns - inflation and growth. ~ Ray Dalio, #NFDB
229:To see and know the worst is to take from Fear her main advantage. ~ Charlotte Bronte, #NFDB
230:Writing is one of the main ways that I process the experience. ~ Jennifer Pharr Davis, #NFDB
231:any identity, any label, should not be before my main identity in Christ. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
232:Ground the main character in stupidity. Hire a good cast and a good crew. ~ Jon Glaser, #NFDB
233:Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge. ~ Plato, #NFDB
234:My main ambition in life is to be on the Devil's most wanted list. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
235:My prediction: By 2026, Google’s main product will not be search but AI. ~ Kevin Kelly, #NFDB
236:Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate for India's main opposition ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
237:Tak ada satupun permainan yang bisa dimenangkan dengan main-main, kan? ~ Fahd Pahdepie, #NFDB
238:That's one of the main thing with the lyrics - not giving any answers. ~ Mark Tremonti, #NFDB
239:The main priority of the Socialist Party is education". ~ Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, #NFDB
240:The main thing I despise about America now is driving on the freeways. ~ Jesse Ventura, #NFDB
241:Your main character not only needs a goal, she need an inner desire. ~ Jill Williamson, #NFDB
242:Ia sebenarnya waras bukan main, yang gila adalah dunia yang dihadapinya ~ Eka Kurniawan, #NFDB
243:I guess the main source of stress for me is the stress I put on myself. ~ Thomas Keller, #NFDB
244:It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. ~ Ren Descartes, #NFDB
245:It is piracy, not overt online music stores, which is our main competitor. ~ Steve Jobs, #NFDB
246:The main aim is to up my game at every possible turn without compromise. ~ Nicky Romero, #NFDB
247:The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States. ~ George Soros, #NFDB
248:The world is populated in the main by people who should not exist ~ George Bernard Shaw, #NFDB
249:You know, my main goal in life is trying not to end up in a straightjacket. ~ Tom Upton, #NFDB
250:Err Houston, we've had a problem. [pause] We've had a main B bus undervolt. ~ Jim Lovell, #NFDB
251:I know what's what, and have always taken care of the main chance. ~ Miguel de Cervantes, #NFDB
252:In low-income countries, the main problems you have is infectious diseases. ~ Bill Gates, #NFDB
253:It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well. ~ Rene Descartes, #NFDB
254:My main goal now is waking up healthy every day and going on with life. ~ Prince Fielder, #NFDB
255:Of all wit's uses, the main one is to live well with who has none. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
256:The main business of humanity is to do a good job of being human beings, ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
257:The main facts in human life are five: birth, food, sleep, love and death. ~ E M Forster, #NFDB
258:The main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of its youth ~ Desiderius Erasmus, #NFDB
259:The main thing in my life...is that I really need to go home and practice. ~ Pat Metheny, #NFDB
260:Freedom is to be free of attachments, and the main attachment is to the 'I'-self. ~ Mooji, #NFDB
261:I don't have any intention to stop. Rock 'n' roll is my main concern. ~ John Britt Daniel, #NFDB
262:I'm a sensualist. My two main indulgences are dark chocolate and massages. ~ Carla Gugino, #NFDB
263:It was like he’d just discovered fire, and she was the main ingredient. ~ Debra Anastasia, #NFDB
264:My main goal in life is to be as good of a person my dogs already think I am. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
265:Spiritual practice lives at the corner of self-respect and self-discipline. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
266:The main professional responsibility of a person in business is business. ~ Lee R Raymond, #NFDB
267:the movie of life was always fascinating when you were the main character. ~ Perrin Briar, #NFDB
268:The music is the main thing and it's just as easy to write acceptable words. ~ Bill Haley, #NFDB
269:Humankind’s main motivation is to seek and experience Personal Freedom. ~ Brendon Burchard, #NFDB
270:I love to laugh, it's my main thing. I love to abuse the English language. ~ Dan Fogelberg, #NFDB
271:My main reader was my wife Sheila, and I haven't written a lot since she died. ~ Dan Chaon, #NFDB
272:Singing is my main goal, and I think philosophy will help me write songs. ~ Jackie Evancho, #NFDB
273:Spirituality was the main issue. Connection with God was the main issue. ~ Daniel Berrigan, #NFDB
274:Sports are one of the main cultural activities on the face of the earth. ~ Jack Kent Cooke, #NFDB
275:The coach's main job is 20 percent technical and 80 percent inspirational. ~ Franz Stampfl, #NFDB
276:The main goal of the future is to stop violence. The world is addicted to it. ~ Bill Cosby, #NFDB
277:Doubt is faith in the main: but faith, on the whole, is doubt; ~ Algernon Charles Swinburne, #NFDB
278:The fire is the main comfort of the camp, whether in summer or winter ~ Henry David Thoreau, #NFDB
279:the main character saying things like “In my world, chocolate is a vegetable. ~ Susan Wiggs, #NFDB
280:Got through it without fluffing, that's the main thing any actor can hope for. ~ John Leeson, #NFDB
281:I guess my main influences are Jesus, rock n roll and ex-wives. In that order. ~ Sam Kinison, #NFDB
282:Recognizing who you are is not the subtext of a life. It's the main point. ~ Kiana Davenport, #NFDB
283:The main problem in a person's life is never his suffering; it's his sin. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
284:The main thing I want to do is make people feel more connected and more active. ~ Dan Deacon, #NFDB
285:The main thing you got to remember is that everything in the world is a hustle. ~ Alex Haley, #NFDB
286:The Peace Corps is a sort of Howard Johnson's on the main drag into maturity. ~ Paul Theroux, #NFDB
287:The study of the past is the main portal through which culture is acquired. ~ Joseph Epstein, #NFDB
288:Whatever you do in dangerous situations, the main thing is to do it quickly. ~ Mark Lawrence, #NFDB
289:A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
290:RBG’s main concession to hitting her late seventies was to give up waterskiing. ~ Irin Carmon, #NFDB
291:Songwriting is my main thing. I know that I'll do that for the rest of my life. ~ Emeli Sande, #NFDB
292:Surprise, unpredictability: these are the main materials of creativity. ~ Gueorgui Pinkhassov, #NFDB
293:The main problem in a person's life is never his suffering; it's his sin.. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
294:The main problem with medicating your grief with drugs is that it doesn’t help. ~ Liam Pieper, #NFDB
295:The main way to reduce stress in the workplace is by picking the right people. ~ Jesse Schell, #NFDB
296:The nature of our two main political parties has changed in the United States. ~ Roger Mahony, #NFDB
297:Tobacco, UV rays, viruses, heredity, and age are the main causes of cancer. ~ Harold E Varmus, #NFDB
298:Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing. ~ Albert Schweitzer, #NFDB
299:Opera in English is, in the main, just about as sensible as baseball in Italian. ~ H L Mencken, #NFDB
300:The main business of humanity is to do a good job of being human beings,” said ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
301:The main requirement for spiritual growth: A yearning to know who you really are. ~ Adyashanti, #NFDB
302:With any character, the main objective is to bring authenticity to the role. ~ Jesse McCartney, #NFDB
303:Hugh Grant is the main man. He's the number one romantic comedy man in the world. ~ Sam Elliott, #NFDB
304:I just love making music. I always stay in the studio. Making music is my main focus. ~ Juicy J, #NFDB
305:I think leadership's always been about two main things: imagination and courage. ~ Paul Keating, #NFDB
306:My main concern when travelling around the world is finding a place to skateboard! ~ Ben Harper, #NFDB
307:My main form of exercise is my bike. I dont have a car, so I cycle everywhere. ~ Sophie Okonedo, #NFDB
308:The main health hazard in the world today is people who don't love themselves. ~ Kinky Friedman, #NFDB
309:The main symptom of falling in love is that you lose your intellectual prowess. ~ Fran Lebowitz, #NFDB
310:The main thing in one's own private world is to try to laugh as much as you cry. ~ Maya Angelou, #NFDB
311:Example is not the main thing in influencing others . . . it is the only thing. ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
312:If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
313:Maybe I could. Maybe I couldn’t. I wasn’t going to, and that was the main thing. ~ Mark Lawrence, #NFDB
314:Such things were just details, and details came long after the main body of a plan. ~ R J Ellory, #NFDB
315:The main cause of suffering is egoistic desire for one's own comfort and happiness. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
316:The main message of Jesus, I believed, is that mercy trumps justice every time. ~ Paul Kalanithi, #NFDB
317:The main reason nerds are unpopular is that they have other things to think about. ~ Paul Graham, #NFDB
318:The main trouble with being an honest man was that it lost you all your illusions. ~ James Jones, #NFDB
319:As far as I can tell, most actors' main motivation is self-doubt and neuroses. ~ Daniel Radcliffe, #NFDB
320:Attachment is the main thing that is blocking your path towards enlightenment. ~ Garchen Rinpoche, #NFDB
321:But it is the main question at the moment: which side one’s on—obscurantism or Order. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
322:Don't teach too many postures; just the main ones, and hold them for a long time. ~ Dharma Mittra, #NFDB
323:J'ai en main les avirons.
Je ne puis revenir en arrière.
Je suis déjà en avant. ~ Anonymous,#NFDB
324:One of my main goals is to become a sports broadcaster. That is the ultimate for me. ~ Phife Dawg, #NFDB
325:One of the main purveyors of violence in this world has been this country America. ~ Danny Glover, #NFDB
326:The main thing I say on war is that we need to obey the law and formally declare war. ~ Rand Paul, #NFDB
327:A good painter is to paint two main things, men and the working of man's mind. ~ Leonardo da Vinci, #NFDB
328:Life is more than sunglasses and hit movies. Reality - that's the main event. ~ Sylvester Stallone, #NFDB
329:Shakespeare's work is like a good song: you never really forget the main lines. ~ Michelle Dockery, #NFDB
330:Simplicity helps you keep the main thing the main thing and "things" unimportant. ~ Hayley DiMarco, #NFDB
331:The main thing in our design is that we have to make things intuitively obvious. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
332:The main trouble with women is that they will just not put the seat back up again. ~ Martin Clunes, #NFDB
333:I consider myself to be respectful, and I believe this is a main value for sports. ~ Tommy Hilfiger, #NFDB
334:Man is about the same, in the main, whether with despotism, or whether with freedom. ~ Walt Whitman, #NFDB
335:The bottom line is a by-product of taking care of your main product - your customers. ~ Ron Kaufman, #NFDB
336:The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live. ~ George Carlin, #NFDB
337:A good painter has two main objects to paint, man and the intention of his soul. ~ Leonardo da Vinci, #NFDB
338:Eventually, alas, I realized the main purpose of buying cocaine is to run out of it. ~ George Carlin, #NFDB
339:Getting distracted by trifles is the easiest thing in the world… Focus on your main duty ~ Epictetus, #NFDB
340:I only want to be associated with music that is high quality. That's my main criteria. ~ John Legend, #NFDB
341:One of my main regrets in life is giving considerable thought to inconsiderate people. ~ Jarod Kintz, #NFDB
342:Preaching is the pastor's main work, and preaching is heart work, not just mental work. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
343:Private property was the original source of freedom. It still is its main bulwark. ~ Walter Lippmann, #NFDB
344:the construction of a communist society would be completed 'in the main' by 1980 ~ Nikita Khrushchev, #NFDB
345:The fit is my main focus, I want the fit to be great and that's the focal point for me. ~ Beth Ditto, #NFDB
346:The great paradox of life is that to fully live, we must let a piece of ourselves die. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
347:The main problem of living in the city that never sleeps that neither did I. ~ Maria Dahvana Headley, #NFDB
348:The main purpose of the stock market is to make fools of as many men as possible. ~ Bernard M Baruch, #NFDB
349:The main thing about money, Bud, is that it makes you do things you don't want to do. ~ Hal Holbrook, #NFDB
350:The main thing known about secrets is that keeping them is unhealthy for the brain. ~ David Eagleman, #NFDB
351:We don't see many films in which someone with schizophrenia is the main character. ~ Brian Lindstrom, #NFDB
352:You have good days, you have bad days. But the main thing is to grow mentally. ~ Floyd Mayweather Jr, #NFDB
353:A camera is a camera, a shot is a shot, how you tell the story is the main thing. ~ Christopher Nolan, #NFDB
354:Chess is a sport. The main object in the game of chess remains the achievement of victory. ~ Max Euwe, #NFDB
355:in mortal war anger must be subordinated to defeating the main immediate enemy. ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
356:Streets and their sidewalks-the main public places of a city-are its most vital organs. ~ Jane Jacobs, #NFDB
357:The loss of the culture is one of the main reasons Ciro Guerra wanted to tell their story. ~ Tom Cole, #NFDB
358:The main division in the world is between democratic and undemocratic countries. ~ Michael Mandelbaum, #NFDB
359:The main thing I worry about in public is maybe people can tell I’m a survivor. ~ Chuck Palahniuk, #NFDB
360:The main thing to understand is that we are imprisoned in some kind of work of art. ~ Terence McKenna, #NFDB
361:To me, one of the main things that a director does is create the tone of his movie. ~ Peter Sarsgaard, #NFDB
362:Not a wasted word. This has been a main point to my literary thinking all my life. ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
363:The extras are a nice bonus feature, but the main incentive is the musical experience. ~ Aaron Neville, #NFDB
364:The main objection to killing people as a punishment...is that killing people is wrong ~ Auberon Waugh, #NFDB
365:The main quality of leadership..........is courage ! If you can dream it, you can do it! ~ Walt Disney, #NFDB
366:The main thing I learned doing love scenes with a woman was, if it's there, it's there. ~ Laura Prepon, #NFDB
367:The main thing is that everything become simple, easy enough for a child to understand. ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
368:Yoga gives you the freedom to choose, but it does not guarantee you will choose freedom. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
369:You can't talk about peace nor agreement while terror is used as the main argument. ~ Alberto Fujimori, #NFDB
370:You never truly need what you want. That is the main and thoroughgoing key to serenity. ~ Albert Ellis, #NFDB
371:Easter is the main even; if you don't believe in the resurrection, you're not a believer. ~ John Irving, #NFDB
372:how to structure a speech: introduction, three main points, peroration, and conclusion. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
373:I learned that one of the main reasons we’re here on Earth is simple: to love. That’s it. ~ Nancy Rynes, #NFDB
374:It is easy to forget that in the main we die only seven times more slowly than our dogs. ~ Jim Harrison, #NFDB
375:Meditation alone cannot heal the world, but it can and does speed up the healing process. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
376:Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others, it is the only means. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
377:She was snatched back from a dream of far countries, and found herself on Main Street. ~ Sinclair Lewis, #NFDB
378:The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything... or nothing. ~ Nancy Astor, #NFDB
379:The main difference between men and women is that men are lunatics and women are idiots. ~ Rebecca West, #NFDB
380:The main object of religion is not to get a man into heaven, but to get heaven into him. ~ Thomas Hardy, #NFDB
381:The main questions of everyday life are too enormous to answer in any definitive sense. ~ Joshua Ferris, #NFDB
382:Human behavior, says Plato, flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge. ~ Will Durant, #NFDB
383:I have done almost every human activity inside a taxi which does not require main drainage. ~ Alan Brien, #NFDB
384:I view my own body as a petting zoo. I am the main attraction... And the only customer. ~ Craig Ferguson, #NFDB
385:Let's begin to cover the main street of America... just to see what the heck occurs on it. ~ Roy Stryker, #NFDB
386:Main purpose of PowerPoint is to slow communication down so the ideas are easier to catch. ~ Scott Meyer, #NFDB
387:Oakley and Burton have been my main sponsors since '87. I've been riding for both of them. ~ Craig Kelly, #NFDB
388:One of the main reasons and excuses behind every religious failure is a” FALSE PROMISE”. ~ M F Moonzajer, #NFDB
389:Russia's main weaknesses are inflexibility and dependence on energy resources ~ Christopher A Pissarides, #NFDB
390:The main insight learned from interdisciplinary studies is the return to specialization ~ George Stigler, #NFDB
391:The main thing is to care. Care very hard, even if it is only a game you are playing. ~ Billie Jean King, #NFDB
392:He lied with a smile that paralyzed reason." [Abby Chandlis - main character of The List] ~ Steve Martini, #NFDB
393:I guess when you turn off the main road, you have to be prepared to see some funny houses. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
394:I mean if politics was my main motivation I would be doing politics. But I'm a filmmaker. ~ Michael Moore, #NFDB
395:Sex is the main way we exist on the planet. It's an essential part of life. ~ Gilberto Hernandez Guerrero, #NFDB
396:Sometimes when I make a movie, my main goal is to show the movie to one particular director. ~ Gaspar Noe, #NFDB
397:The main function of consciousness is to maximize flexibility and context sensitivity. ~ Thomas Metzinger, #NFDB
398:The main thing that I learned from my horrible job experiences was how horrible they were. ~ Adam Carolla, #NFDB
399:There's no great movie where you haven't been emotionally connected to the main character. ~ Harald Zwart, #NFDB
400:When Life comes to feed, make sure you are not the main course. - Metaphysical Minute ~ Dannye Williamsen, #NFDB
401:You need to control the country, and the main thing is not to ruin people's lives. ~ Alexander Lukashenko, #NFDB
402:Ads represent the main channel of intellectual and artistic effort in the modern world. ~ Marshall McLuhan, #NFDB
403:America has but one main problem -- the character of the men and women it shall produce. ~ Calvin Coolidge, #NFDB
404:As a Christian, my main concern is not to downgrade others’ beliefs but to examine my own. ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
405:Avec ma main brûlée j'ai le droit maintenant d'écrire des phrases sur la nature du feu. ~ Gustave Flaubert, #NFDB
406:Basketball was not my main sport in grade school, or even the first year of high school. ~ Mike Krzyzewski, #NFDB
407:Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing. —ALBERT SCHWEITZER ~ Alan Cohen, #NFDB
408:I am absolutely convinced that religion is the main source of hatred in this world. ~ Christopher Hitchens, #NFDB
409:I like food, like any other guy, but it is not the main thing in my life. I can do without it. ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
410:I suppose that the main drive is to find the edge of something and then throw myself over it. ~ Alan Moore, #NFDB
411:My main source of reading is scripts, which doesn't leave a whole lot of room for books. ~ Josh Hutcherson, #NFDB
412:One of the big things in television these days is there's no main title sequence anymore. ~ Peter M Lenkov, #NFDB
413:Sometimes we win; sometimes we lose. The main thing is that we always, we always go on. ~ Philippa Gregory, #NFDB
414:The lack of fiscal responsibility is one of the main reasons I finally left my old Party. ~ Lincoln Chafee, #NFDB
415:The main reception foyer was almost empty but Ford nevertheless weaved his way through it. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
416:The main thing those Americans who really knew about Vietnam knew was how little they knew. ~ Max Hastings, #NFDB
417:Without finding out the little right paths, you cannot reach to your main right path! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
418:A lot of things inspire me, but I would have to say the main thing that drives me is music. ~ Witney Carson, #NFDB
419:and the main reason he was so easily forgotten is that a Gestapo officer blew his brains out. ~ Clive James, #NFDB
420:I think the main reason my marriages failed is that I always loved too well but never wisely. ~ Ava Gardner, #NFDB
421:I've done illustration on the side. But other than that, comics have been my main things. ~ Jaime Hernandez, #NFDB
422:My main job is to go and have fun. When I do that, everything just seems to fall into place. ~ Rashad Evans, #NFDB
423:Raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip cookies are the main reason I have trust issues. ~ Woody Paige, #NFDB
424:The first thing, the main thing, about how I work is I need to understand the character. ~ Marion Cotillard, #NFDB
425:The main thing between you and God is not so much your sins; it's your damnable good works. ~ John Gerstner, #NFDB
426:"The main thing is to play your heart out and whatever helps you to do that is the right way". ~ Mike Stern, #NFDB
427:Unteachable from infancy to tomb — There is the first & main characteristic of mankind. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
428:from natural selection’s point of view, status assistance is the main purpose of friendship. ~ Robert Wright, #NFDB
429:I never listened to the people who said I should give it up, which is the main advice I got. ~ Michael Caine, #NFDB
430:I think the main thing to remember when writing a novel is to stay true to the characters. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
431:Just like in Greece, the main topic of Finland’s national election, in April, will be austerity. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
432:Let's make math fun and sexy and glamorous. Smart is sexy, that's one of my main messages. ~ Danica McKellar, #NFDB
433:One main factor in the upward trend of animal life has been the power of wandering. ~ Alfred North Whitehead, #NFDB
434:The main advantage of working at home is that you get to find out what cats really do all day. ~ Lynne Truss, #NFDB
435:The main measure of your devotion to God is not your devotional life. It is simply your life. ~ John Ortberg, #NFDB
436:The main thing is not a matter of wanting to win; the main thing is being scared to lose. ~ Billie Jean King, #NFDB
437:The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear. ~ E B White, #NFDB
438:The need to raise itself above humanity is humanity's main characteristic. ~ Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, #NFDB
439:There's always someone telling you not to do something. The main thing is just to ignore them. ~ Tim Robbins, #NFDB
440:To succeed, always remember that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. ~ Brendon Burchard, #NFDB
441:What's the main thing that makes magic magic? The fact that no one believes that it's possible. ~ Kanye West, #NFDB
442:1: something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body ~ Malcolm Gladwell, #NFDB
443:I don't relax. My main relaxation is meeting illustrators and publishers in restaurants and bars. ~ Tony Ross, #NFDB
444:I think the fact that we allow guns in our country is the main problem with school shootings. ~ Josh Hartnett, #NFDB
445:It takes a huge amount of culture to normalize "crazy", and of course that's its main focus ~ Stefan Molyneux, #NFDB
446:Lack of rule of law is the main reason Pakistan could not join the ranks of progressive nations. ~ Imran Khan, #NFDB
447:My main purpose in life is to make money so I can afford to go on creating more inventions. ~ Thomas A Edison, #NFDB
448:The Holy Spirit's main ministry is not to give thrills but to create in us Christlike character. ~ J I Packer, #NFDB
449:The main accomplishment of almost all organized protests is to annoy people who are not in them. ~ Dave Barry, #NFDB
450:Unteachable from infancy to tomb—There is the first and main characteristic of mankind. ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
451:We used to have a main female vocalist. But she had a baby. Now we do the singing ourselves. ~ Bernie Worrell, #NFDB
452:and I passed an Arby’s and The Store before my GPS told me to turn right off the main street. ~ Bentley Little, #NFDB
453:As a main ingredient to the show, it has to have truth, represent truth, or else it won't last. ~ Adolph Green, #NFDB
454:I came from a very poor family and my main dream in life was to break out of this poverty. ~ Viktor Yanukovych, #NFDB
455:I'd done about 10 movies before I decided I wanted to make acting the main thrust of my career. ~ Jeff Bridges, #NFDB
456:I'm at peace with myself. The main thing is not letting people dictate what I do or what I am. ~ Magic Johnson, #NFDB
457:No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. ~ John Donne, #NFDB
458:The main fun of being an actor is that you get to bounce around to a lot of different worlds. ~ Gillian Jacobs, #NFDB
459:The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. ~ G K Chesterton, #NFDB
460:the main source of profitableness of established banking is the smallness of requisite capital.”4 ~ Vivek Kaul, #NFDB
461:The main thing was not the speed or distance so much as running every day, without taking a break. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
462:The truth is that every invention leads men to say: can I use it to kill, to main, to terrify? ~ David Gemmell, #NFDB
463:The US’s main clandestine objective in Mexico was to keep tabs on the country’s drug cartels. A ~ Luke Harding, #NFDB
464:They say that adultery is the main thing that can damage a marriage, but it's not. It's boredom. ~ Barry Cryer, #NFDB
465:Two main definitions of a true leader; His presence is noticed and his absence is felt...! ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
466:A coach's main job is to reawaken a spirit in which the players can blend together effortlessly. ~ Phil Jackson, #NFDB
467:Empathy is the main thing, putting yourself in somebody else's shoes and trying not to judge. ~ Keira Knightley, #NFDB
468:Every human is an artist. And this is the main art that we have: the creation of our story. ~ Miguel Angel Ruiz, #NFDB
469:In fact, if our kids are successful in every normal way, they can still miss God's main mark. ~ Craig Groeschel, #NFDB
470:I think the main message is that world rugby needs New Zealand and New Zealand needs world rugby. ~ Mike Miller, #NFDB
471:It's funny because my main awkwardness around writing the song had little to do with the method. ~ Erin McKeown, #NFDB
472:La porte claqua derrière lui avec le bruit d’une main nue sur une fesse nue… Ça le fit tressaillir… ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
473:No compromise with the main purpose; no peace till victory; no pact with unrepentant wrong. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
474:The narrow edge between comfort and discomfort is to a yogi what a grain of sand is to an oyster. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
475:The structure of your practice is the main reason for your success or lack of success as a coach ~ Bobby Knight, #NFDB
476:Usually, the main problem with life conundrums is that we don't bring to them enough imagination ~ Thomas Moore, #NFDB
477:A printer consists of three main parts: the case, the jammed paper tray and the blinking red light. ~ Dave Barry, #NFDB
478:Ask me my three main priorities for government, and I tell you: education, education and education. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
479:Castle Face Records, run by The Oh Sees main man, Johnny Dwyer is always worth checking in with. ~ Henry Rollins, #NFDB
480:His main principles were indeed as follows: everything it is possible to imagine can also exist. ~ Angela Carter, #NFDB
481:I'm sure some cynical people would point to that as the main reason for doing it for a lot of people. ~ Jo Brand, #NFDB
482:I think our main priority is to make people happy and try to take them out of all that for a second. ~ Joe Jonas, #NFDB
483:Multipotentialites tend to struggle with three main areas: work, productivity, and self-esteem. ~ Emilie Wapnick, #NFDB
484:My main concern is quality and I think there is quality to be found in all categories of filmmaking. ~ Brad Pitt, #NFDB
485:My main message to folks who love animals is that you can do something every day to help them. ~ Alison Eastwood, #NFDB
486:One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
487:One of the main secrets of success is the ability to foresee the situation a few steps forward. ~ Sahara Sanders, #NFDB
488:That is the conviction we must come to in our meditation, that the darkness cannot quench the light. ~ John Main, #NFDB
489:The main thing on Caleb Walker’s mind as he sat at the table in the kitchen that morning was tits. ~ Bryan Smith, #NFDB
490:The public doesn't want new music; the main thing it demands of a composer is that he be dead. ~ Arthur Honegger, #NFDB
491:The welfare of our children is our main concern, and their best interests are our first priority. ~ Eddie Murphy, #NFDB
492:writing is not only for proclaiming opinions, but the main tool to achieve insight worth sharing. ~ S nke Ahrens, #NFDB
493:I am convinced that natural selection has been the main but not exclusive means of modification. ~ Charles Darwin, #NFDB
494:In those days, the main requirement to be on the Food Network was being able to get there by subway. ~ Bobby Flay, #NFDB
495:Jesus seems to make it clear that the god of money is often God’s main competition for our hearts. ~ Kyle Idleman, #NFDB
496:Judging from the main portions of the history of the world, so far, justice is always in jeopardy. ~ Walt Whitman, #NFDB
497:Main thing is just to remember that hard work got me here and only hard work will keep me here. ~ Brandon Stanton, #NFDB
498:No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
~ John Donne,#NFDB
499:One of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man's familiarity with the word 'impossible. ~ Napoleon Hill, #NFDB
500:Some people prefer eating dessert to the main course. These people have never been really hungry. ~ Vera Nazarian, #NFDB
501:The main benefit of memory for past events may be that it allows us to imagine future events. ~ Thomas Suddendorf, #NFDB
502:... the main concern of the fiction writer is with mystery as it is incarnated in human life. ~ Flannery O Connor, #NFDB
503:The third aspect was that Hindu society has always been divided into four main castes—the varnas. ~ Romila Thapar, #NFDB
504:According to the mate, there were three main jobs that needed to be done to ensure their survival. ~ Gordon Korman, #NFDB
505:Fear of living without a map is the main reason people are so insistent that we tell them what to do. ~ Seth Godin, #NFDB
506:I think the main thing I would say is, don't settle. Don't settle for something that's not great. ~ Michael Franti, #NFDB
507:My main skills are talking and cooking biscuits,' Augustus said. 'And getting drunk on the porch. ~ Larry McMurtry, #NFDB
508:My main skills are talking and cooking biscuits,” Augustus said. “And getting drunk on the porch. ~ Larry McMurtry, #NFDB
509:My performances may have elements that some may find entertaining, but that's not my main purpose. ~ Vaginal Davis, #NFDB
510:The main difference between a fighter pilot and God is that God doesn’t think he is a fighter pilot, ~ Evan Currie, #NFDB
511:The main force used in the evolving world of humanity has hitherto been applied in the form of war. ~ Arthur Keith, #NFDB
512:The main interest in life and work is to become someone else that you were not in the beginning. ~ Michel Foucault, #NFDB
513:The main message of this movie [Let It Shine] that everyone will take away is to believe in yourself. ~ Coco Jones, #NFDB
514:The main obstacle to further progress on the resource curse is China, and to a lesser extent India. ~ George Soros, #NFDB
515:Yes he was, M-O-O-N, that spells my main man. I miss him awful. But I’m going to see him in heaven. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
516:Add some dhania and hari mirch. That's the main reason I buy vegetable from you,' the man said. ~ Minakshi Chaudhry, #NFDB
517:Donnez-moi la main! I see we worship the same God, in the same spirit, though by different rites. ~ Charlotte Bront, #NFDB
518:I feel that working environmentalists are, in the main, happier than armchair environmentalists. ~ Jonathan Franzen, #NFDB
519:I walked into the main entrance of the White House, and I said to myself, "This is sort of amazing." ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
520:Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. ~ Dale Carnegie, #NFDB
521:People who are tired of K Street corruption and Wall Street greed are ready for Main Street Values. ~ Mike Huckabee, #NFDB
522:probably end up reduce your risk of diabetes because blood sugar fluctuations are its main cause. ~ Mary Anderson, #NFDB
523:The group consisting of mother, father and child is the main educational agency of mankind. ~ Martin Luther King Jr, #NFDB
524:The industry should take comfort in knowing that WinStar is my main focus after my faith and family. ~ Kenny Troutt, #NFDB
525:The main difference between a fighter pilot and God is that God doesn't think he was a fighter pilot. ~ Evan Currie, #NFDB
526:The main enemy of the open society, I believe, is no longer the communist but the capitalist threat. ~ George Soros, #NFDB
527:The main purpose of prayer is not to make life easier, nor to gain magical powers, but to know God. ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
528:The main task of Socialism - the organization of Socialist production - remains still in the future. ~ Leon Trotsky, #NFDB
529:The useful type of successful teacher is one whose main interest is the children, not the subject. ~ Walter Raleigh, #NFDB
530:Well, my main instrument is violin, but I think of myself as a songwriter who happens to play violin. ~ Andrew Bird, #NFDB
531:We wanted to make sure that the film covered the main issues of his life. Musicianship, appearance. ~ Martin Bashir, #NFDB
532:Abraham Lincoln said, “Example is not the main thing in influencing other people; it’s the only thing. ~ Chris Brady, #NFDB
533:A good novel is a conjunction of many factors, the main of which is without a doubt, hard work. ~ Mario Vargas Llosa, #NFDB
534:Au final, le musée s'en tire avec une facture de 120 000 euros de réparation, hors main-d'œuvre interne. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
535:I'm not an evangelical, because that means that I exclude the Catholics and main-liners, and Orthodox. ~ Bill Bright, #NFDB
536:It is a sign of a medium's immaturity when one of the main topics of discussion is the medium itself. ~ Tom Standage, #NFDB
537:My main focus is on becoming a new mom and giving the best of myself to my husband and growing baby. ~ Stacy Keibler, #NFDB
538:Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. ~ Thomas Carlyle, #NFDB
539:Several people have told me that my inability to suffer fools gladly is one of my main weaknesses. ~ Edsger Dijkstra, #NFDB
540:the main difference between twenty-one and fifty-one, he decided, the sheer volume of regret. ~ Emily St John Mandel, #NFDB
541:The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. ~ Gilbert K Chesterton, #NFDB
542:The main thing was not the speed or distance so much as running every day, without taking a break. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
543:Undoubtedly the desire for food has been and still is one of the main causes of political events. ~ Bertrand Russell, #NFDB
544:Emotions infuse everything with meaning and are the main inspiration of cognition, also in our lives. ~ Frans de Waal, #NFDB
545:In the main, there are two sorts of books: those that no one reads and those that no one ought to read. ~ H L Mencken, #NFDB
546:I played baseball up until my freshman year of high school. That was my main sport. I played third base. ~ Macklemore, #NFDB
547:J’aime les gens qui prennent leur vie en main, moi ! Je n’aime pas les feignants qui se font plaindre. ~ Anna Gavalda, #NFDB
548:Joy. That is one of the main blessings of the All-Powerful. If we are happy, we are on the right road. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
549:My main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
550:One of the main functions of formalized religion is to protect people against a direct experience of God. ~ Carl Jung, #NFDB
551:Question for God every morning: What is the main event today? What do you want me to focus on today? ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
552:Sculpting the future and healing the past can only happen through mindful action in the present moment. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
553:So many missionaries, intent on doing something, forget that His main work is to make something of them. ~ Jim Elliot, #NFDB
554:The main lesson Rollan had learned in training was that Meilin was dangerous with a handkerchief. ~ Maggie Stiefvater, #NFDB
555:The main object of teaching is not to give explanations, but to knock at the doors of the mind. ~ Rabindranath Tagore, #NFDB
556:...the main point of parental authority is to authorize children to do things, not to block them. ~ Pamela Druckerman, #NFDB
557:Yes, I do feel the world revolves around me. After all, I am the main character of my own life. ~ Stefanie Schneider, #NFDB
558:A good artist ought never to allow impatience to overcome his sense of the main end of art - perfection ~ Michelangelo, #NFDB
559:[Bashar] Assad is one of the main reasons why ISIS even exists to begin with. Assad is a puppet of Iran. ~ Marco Rubio, #NFDB
560:Education reform has as its main purpose to make sure that the education delivered is of quality. ~ Enrique Pena Nieto, #NFDB
561:I am often reminded that the wellspring of Vermont liberty flows from Main Street, not State Street. ~ James H Douglas, #NFDB
562:I'd love to do theater. I've done so many plays in my life. I still think of that as my main thing. ~ Taylor Schilling, #NFDB
563:If poor people can vote, one of the main things they vote for is to redistribute money to themselves. ~ Scott Aaronson, #NFDB
564:I grew up in San Francisco and moved to L.A. about 20 years ago, and now my main home is in Hollywood. ~ Roman Coppola, #NFDB
565:In the main it will be found that a power over a man's support [salary] is a power over his will. ~ Alexander Hamilton, #NFDB
566:In the world of art, as in the whole of creation, freedom and progress are the main objectives. ~ Ludwig van Beethoven, #NFDB
567:Man’s main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
568:man's main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
569:My main area of activism is the death penalty, and it will continue to be once this crisis is over with. ~ Steve Earle, #NFDB
570:My main interest in being a director, and the most important thing to me, is that world with the actors. ~ Matt Reeves, #NFDB
571:One of the main causes of our artistic decline lies beyond doubt in the separation of art and science. ~ Gino Severini, #NFDB
572:“One of the main functions of organized religion is to protect people against a direct experience of God.” ~ Carl Jung, #NFDB
573:Talent isn't the main requisite for capable writing - discipline is. And a little good luck. ~ William Least Heat Moon, #NFDB
574:That's the main thing that attracts me - characters who have big journeys. I like playing those people. ~ James McAvoy, #NFDB
575:The faculty of being acquainted with things other than itself is the main characteristic of a mind. ~ Bertrand Russell, #NFDB
576:The main forces for convergence are the diffusion of knowledge and investment in training and skills. ~ Thomas Piketty, #NFDB
577:The main thing I do now is I coach kids, and all of these stories along the way are based in reality. ~ Craig Johnston, #NFDB
578:The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live. Be a man before being an artist! ~ Auguste Rodin, #NFDB
579:This is what I am learning, at 82 years old: the main thing is to be in love with the search for truth. ~ Maya Angelou, #NFDB
580:With everything else that would swirl around me when I got involved in it, tennis was my main concern. ~ Jimmy Connors, #NFDB
581:And as was often the case during those first months in office, his main job was to clean up a mess, in ~ Michelle Obama, #NFDB
582:Baseball was my main sport, but I peaked when I reached high school and so my baseball career stopped. ~ George Winston, #NFDB
583:God uniquely highlights marriage as one of the main ways we know who he is and how he relates to us. ~ Jefferson Bethke, #NFDB
584:I'm often criticised for what I wear. That's my main label in the press now: disastrous dresser! ~ Helena Bonham Carter, #NFDB
585:Larry wants his dick to see some action tonight and I'm apparently the main attraction in that circus. ~ Deborah Bladon, #NFDB
586:The main conclusion here arrived at ... is that man is descended from some less highly organized form. ~ Charles Darwin, #NFDB
587:The main purpose of a significance test is to inhibit the natural enthusiasm of the investigator. ~ Frederick Mosteller, #NFDB
588:The wolf never kills for fun, which is probably one of the main differences distinguishing him from man. ~ Farley Mowat, #NFDB
589:Books don't need to be published," Lars Högström said. "The main thing is that they should be written. ~ Torgny Lindgren, #NFDB
590:Drawing general conclusions about your main weaknesses can provide a great stimulus to further growth. ~ Alexander Kotov, #NFDB
591:I was always the one in the background or the donkey. I was never a star, I never got to be the main part. ~ Joanna Page, #NFDB
592:Love is the main generator of all good writing... Love, passion, compassion, are all welded together. ~ Carson McCullers, #NFDB
593:Markus came back on the air. “Jiro and Dinah, you must be ready to fire the main propulsion at apogee— ~ Neal Stephenson, #NFDB
594:Propriety of manners, and consideration for others, are the two main characteristics of a gentleman. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
595:Storming was one of her main modes of transportation." In reference to teenager Heather in "Carry The One ~ Carol Anshaw, #NFDB
596:The computing scientist's main challenge is not to get confused by the complexities of his own making. ~ Edsger Dijkstra, #NFDB
597:The false self lives mainly through memory and anticipation. Past and future are its main preoccupation. ~ Eckhart Tolle, #NFDB
598:The main thing is to remain oneself, under any circumstances; that was and is our common purpose. ~ Madeleine K Albright, #NFDB
599:Writing is still my main career, but I would love, for instance, to serve in the New York State Assembly. ~ Mark Helprin, #NFDB
600:Yes, I love to play drums and bass and guitar and piano. Those are the main instruments I play. That is it. ~ Jeff Lynne, #NFDB
601:I can resist anything except temptation." Ren, main character in Sherrilyn Kenyon's novel Time Untime. ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon, #NFDB
602:If you're making a movie about the effects of time, you kind of have to engage time as the main character. ~ Ryan Gosling, #NFDB
603:One of the main functions of a push-up bra is to lower the number of mothers who seem like mothers. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana, #NFDB
604:Remember, the main job of the leader is thinking. And the best preparation for leadership is thinking. ~ David J Schwartz, #NFDB
605:Adults need more complex narratives. They have their own narratives. The main characters are themselves. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
606:I am a Communist, a convinced Communist! For some that may be a fantasy. But to me it is my main goal. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev, #NFDB
607:No plan of operations extends with certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy’s main strength, ~ Philip E Tetlock, #NFDB
608:The computing scientist’s main challenge is not to get confused by the complexities of his own making. ~ Edsger W Dijkstra, #NFDB
609:The Internet feeds off the main press, and the main press feeds off the Internet. They're working in tandem. ~ Matt Drudge, #NFDB
610:The main object of conciliation lies in reaching a solution to a case based upon morals and with a warm heart. ~ Confucius, #NFDB
611:Chasing the sensation. Whether it was drugs or sex or whatever. Those things had become my main focus in life. ~ Rick Allen, #NFDB
612:If I have even just a little sense, I will walk on the main road and my only fear will be of straying from it. ~ Alan Cohen, #NFDB
613:Imtihaan yeh kaisa humari zindagani mein,
Woh bheeg rahi hai aag mein
Aur main jal raha hun paani mein. ~ Faraaz Kazi,#NFDB
614:In the history of battles and wars, the massacres of civilians were the main reason of revolutions success. ~ M F Moonzajer, #NFDB
615:Mets la main sure mon coeur, Et vois comme il se trouble au nom de son vainqueur, Comme il le reconnait. ~ Pierre Corneille, #NFDB
616:Our revolution's main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam, the Mahdi. ~ Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, #NFDB
617:People are too durable, that's their main trouble. They can do too much to themselves, they last too long. ~ Bertolt Brecht, #NFDB
618:Self-approval and self-acceptance in the now are the main keys to positive changes in every area of our lives. ~ Louise Hay, #NFDB
619:Serbia will neither allow a revision of history, nor will it forget who are the main culprits in World War I. ~ Ivica Dacic, #NFDB
620:Skybright was left alone on the empty main street with only the sound of Zhen Ni’s screams ringing in her ears. ~ Cindy Pon, #NFDB
621:Social media's greatest assets - anonymity, 'virality,' interconnectedness - are also its main weaknesses. ~ Evgeny Morozov, #NFDB
622:The main purpose of science is simplicity and as we understand more things, everything is becoming simpler. ~ Edward Teller, #NFDB
623:The main subject in the Bible from the beginning of Genesis through Revelation is none other than Jesus. ~ Charles E Fuller, #NFDB
624:The main way I start to allocate color is that it comes from the comics. That's where it all starts from. ~ Alexandra Byrne, #NFDB
625:Whining about your own, others', or the world's failings is a main element in what we usually call neurosis. ~ Albert Ellis, #NFDB
626:Zionism offered itself as the solution to anti-Semitism, but became the main reason for its continued presence. ~ Ilan Papp, #NFDB
627:Esso has been the main one in America spreading the disinformation that there is no global warming problem. ~ James Lovelock, #NFDB
628:I know it's simple, but my main inspiration is just my love of music. I know that sounds overly naive. But it's true. ~ Moby, #NFDB
629:I write any sort of rubbish which will cover the main outlines of the story, then I can begin to see it. ~ Flannery O Connor, #NFDB
630:Let us remember that the main purpose of American aid is not to help other nations, but to help ourselves. ~ Richard M Nixon, #NFDB
631:Question for God every morning:
What is the main event today? What do you want me to focus on today? ~ John C Maxwell,#NFDB
632:The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart. ~ Yann Martel, #NFDB
633:The main battlefield of good is not the open ground of the publis arena, but the small clearing of each heart. ~ Yann Martel, #NFDB
634:This, it would turn out, is the main thing we had in common: a susceptibility to the brassy escapism of myth. ~ Steve Almond, #NFDB
635:Alone among businesses, the fossil-fuel industry is allowed to dump its main waste, carbon dioxide, for free. ~ Bill McKibben, #NFDB
636:A ship is a bit of terra firma cut off from the main; it is a state in itself; and the captain is its king. ~ Herman Melville, #NFDB
637:Available energy is the main object at stake in the struggle for existence and the evolution of the world. ~ Ludwig Boltzmann, #NFDB
638:Fear is the main factor in Arab politics... There is no Arab who is not harmed by Jews' entry into Palestine. ~ Moshe Sharett, #NFDB
639:Happiness and suffering are states of mind, and so their main causes cannot be found outside the mind. ~ Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, #NFDB
640:Hearing the faraway sounds of children at recess makes me understand that I am no longer life's main character. ~ Alec Sulkin, #NFDB
641:If you don't care about the main character in a novel, then you probably won't care about the story either. ~ Giuseppe Bianco, #NFDB
642:My job driving the ambulance was not very severe, you did what you were supposed to do. That was my main job. ~ Frank Buckles, #NFDB
643:My main graduate training was received at the University of Chicago from which I received the Ph.D. in 1938. ~ George Stigler, #NFDB
644:My main thing is constantly looking forward and trying to make music that I couldn't have made at any other time. ~ DJ Shadow, #NFDB
645:Self-approval and self-acceptance in the now are the main keys to positive changes in every area of our lives. ~ Louise L Hay, #NFDB
646:The main feature should be the teaching of principles through stories. Don't make it metaphysical at all. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
647:The main message we want to get out there is that climate change is caused by the rotten economic system. ~ Vivienne Westwood, #NFDB
648:The man ignorant of mathematics will be increasingly limited in his grasp of the main forces of civilization. ~ John G Kemeny, #NFDB
649:The Mona Lisa is a great piece of art, but you would view it as a weapon if you were hit over the head with it. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
650:These are all elements, but the main thing we can do in the Middle East is encourage the reformist elements. ~ Frank Carlucci, #NFDB
651:The Zionists'...main preoccupation is not to save Jews alive out of Europe but to get Jews into Palestine. ~ Richard Crossman, #NFDB
652:You know what they say about Southern cooking—butter’s the main course—everything else is just a side dish. Why ~ Amy Patrick, #NFDB
653:But the main things about a man are his eyes and his feet. He should be able to see the world and go after it. ~ Alfred Doblin, #NFDB
654:Earl turned off Main Street in Verona onto Carson Street and followed Frank’s order to park close to the corner. ~ S W Hubbard, #NFDB
655:History is simply a piece of paper covered with print: the main thing is to make history, not to write it. ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
656:Honestly, I haven't the time to read contemporary writers. I know this is awful, but in the main it is true. ~ William Golding, #NFDB
657:It is often possible to decide the issue of a battle merely by making an unexpected shift of one's main weight. ~ Erwin Rommel, #NFDB
658:Jesus called fishermen, not graduates of rabbinical schools. The main requirement was to be natural and sincere. ~ Jim Cymbala, #NFDB
659:One of the main reasons people fail to reach their full potential is because they are unwilling to risk anything. ~ Zig Ziglar, #NFDB
660:One of the main things about Cockney is, you speak at twice the speed as Americans. Americans speak very slow. ~ Michael Caine, #NFDB
661:Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.” Forty-two ~ Dale Carnegie, #NFDB
662:Some men never master anything other than the details of a job. Others master the main idea back of the job. ~ William Feather, #NFDB
663:The earth becomes heaven when you release your fear. The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human. ~ Pablo Casals, #NFDB
664:The main fuel to speed the world’s progress is our stock of knowledge, and the brake is our lack of imagination.”8 ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
665:The main question is not, how can we hide our wounds...but how can we put our woundedness in service to others. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
666:The main thing I need to do is create, hopefully, exquisitely beautiful, desirable objects for my customer. ~ Stella McCartney, #NFDB
667:Don't worry about losing. If it is right, it happens - The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away. ~ John Steinbeck, #NFDB
668:I always have a lot of personal goals, but primarily my main goal each year is to obviously win a Super Bowl. ~ Michael Strahan, #NFDB
669:I endeavor to keep their attention fixed on the main objects of all science, the freedom & happiness of man. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
670:If your main goal is to show that your heart is in the right place, then your heart is not in the right place. ~ David Schmidtz, #NFDB
671:In general she had found that the main drawback in being a man was that conversations were less interesting. ~ Ursula K Le Guin, #NFDB
672:I realize every specific thing I worry about is nothing compared to the main worry I have which never has an object. ~ Sam Pink, #NFDB
673:I spent an important part of my life participating in conflicts. But for me, conflict was not the main principle. ~ Donald Tusk, #NFDB
674:It’s just funny, isn’t it? How the main characters never know about the adventures they’re about to go on. ~ Brittainy C Cherry, #NFDB
675:One of the main functions of System 2 is to monitor and control thoughts and actions “suggested” by System 1, ~ Daniel Kahneman, #NFDB
676:One of the main reasons people are not rich is that they worry too much about things that might never happen. ~ Robert Kiyosaki, #NFDB
677:One of the main strategies of the successful is that they constantly seek guidance from experts in their field. ~ Jack Canfield, #NFDB
678:Sometimes I’m afraid the main reason I spend half of my life outdoors is simply because there aren’t any mirrors. ~ Pam Houston, #NFDB
679:that I realized that the blind old man who played the accordion on Main Street wasn’t there anymore. He was gone. ~ R J Palacio, #NFDB
680:The main fuel to speed the world's progress is our stock of knowledge, and the brake is our lack of imagination. ~ Julian Simon, #NFDB
681:The main problem is that the Hollywood system has already made the film before the director shoots a single frame. ~ Mike Leigh, #NFDB
682:The main thing experience has taught me is that one has to sort of hone their relationship to time, you know. ~ John Frusciante, #NFDB
683:The main thing is winning. Stats aren't that important, but I think in the end things will work themselves out. ~ John Harbaugh, #NFDB
684:Valence passa une main sur ses yeux et quitta la fenêtre.
-L'alcool est là, lui dit Néron en tendant les bras. ~ Fred Vargas,#NFDB
685:With men, as with women, the main struggle is between vanity and comfort; but with men, comfort often wins. ~ Mignon McLaughlin, #NFDB
686:Writers ever since writing began have had problems, and the main problem narrows down to just one word - life. ~ William Styron, #NFDB
687:Aft here, ye sons of bachelors," he cried, as the sailors lingered at the main-mast. "Mr. Starbuck, drive aft. ~ Herman Melville, #NFDB
688:If you are self-published, can you adapt your outliers to fit with the main thrust of your new and improved brand? ~ Emlyn Chand, #NFDB
689:I'm a really, really optimistic and really, really positive person. My main thing is, 'Enjoy life. Celebrate life.' ~ Luke Bryan, #NFDB
690:In the main, it counsels yielding to celibacy, which is exactly as sensible as advising a dog to forget its fleas. ~ H L Mencken, #NFDB
691:It is important to see that the main point of any spiritual practice is to step out of the bureaucracy of ego. ~ Ch gyam Trungpa, #NFDB
692:People who praise a leader even when he is doing the wrong things are the main reasons why his fall is near. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
693:Presidents come and go, and even parties come to and away from power. But the main policy tack does not change. ~ Vladimir Putin, #NFDB
694:Reality can be entered through the main door or it can be slipped into through a window, which is much more fun. ~ Gianni Rodari, #NFDB
695:Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan. ~ Tom Landry, #NFDB
696:The main business of the heart, its true function is love. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Power of the Instruments, #NFDB
697:the main difference between introverts and extroverts is how often they need time alone to recharge their batteries. ~ S J Scott, #NFDB
698:The meditation session divides into three—preparatory practices, the main practice, and the concluding practice. ~ Thupten Jinpa, #NFDB
699:There are no perfectly honorable men; but every true man has one main point of honor and a few minor ones. ~ George Bernard Shaw, #NFDB
700:And don't worry about losing. If i is right, it happens - the main thing is not to hurry.Nothing good gets away. ~ John Steinbeck, #NFDB
701:Be a vegetarian. That was the best advice I ever took. It means I'm not involved in killing, that's the main thing. ~ Martin Shaw, #NFDB
702:But I think the main reason tidying has this effect is because through this process people come to know contentment. ~ Marie Kond, #NFDB
703:But the main problem was that we failed to allow for what Donald Rumsfeld famously called the “unknown unknowns ~ Daniel Kahneman, #NFDB
704:Is this the main thing that painters of portraits care about? The person on the verge of becoming someone else? ~ Gregory Maguire, #NFDB
705:Nature is my main source of inspiration - I will never stop taking hints from what I call 'the greatest artist' ~ Roberto Cavalli, #NFDB
706:one of the main features of human existence is the capacity to rise above such conditions, to grow beyond them. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
707:Poor villager comes and throws a plastic bag; that’s not the main issue now. The issue is with the affluent, isn’t it? ~ Sadhguru, #NFDB
708:The main failure of education is that it has not prepared people to comprehend matters concerning human destiny. ~ Norman Cousins, #NFDB
709:The main thing going on around intimacy is that we've developed a lot of strategies so we'll be a desirable package. ~ Tara Brach, #NFDB
710:There are 2 main things I've learned about following the Holy Spirit: It will never be easy. It will never be boring. ~ Mark Hart, #NFDB
711:The writer's job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them. ~ Vladimir Nabokov, #NFDB
712:The writer’s job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them. ~ Vladimir Nabokov, #NFDB
713:Back in the day, a pair of tight jeans was enough to earn a girl a bad reputation. Now slutty has gone Main Street. ~ Linda Chavez, #NFDB
714:Civilian notions about unreasonable search and seizure and warrants and probable cause stop at an army post main gate. ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
715:Flourishing is properly the main human end, and flourishing is activity of soul that succeeds in accord with virtue. ~ Ernest Sosa, #NFDB
716:French philosopher Voltaire once famously pointed out, the main problem with common sense is that it is not so common. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
717:Go vegetable heavy. Reverse the psychology of your plate by making meat the side dish and vegetables the main course. ~ Bobby Flay, #NFDB
718:It takes both spouses to say, "My self-centeredness is the main problem in my marriage" to have a great marriage. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
719:I understood that if I wanted to work, the saxophone was the main instrument. The clarinet was what we call a double. ~ Lee Konitz, #NFDB
720:One of the main reasons I don't like leaving the house is because I might find myself face to face with a Canadian. ~ Maria Semple, #NFDB
721:Our main problem is a lack of understanding of what it means to be human and that we are not separate from nature. ~ Jacque Fresco, #NFDB
722:The main idea behind complex systems is that the ensemble behaves in ways not predicted by its components. ~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb, #NFDB
723:The main reason why great leaders are rare is because books on leadership far outsell those on followership. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana, #NFDB
724:to become conscious of what one is doing to earn his feeling of heroism is the main self-analytic problem of life. ~ Ernest Becker, #NFDB
725:A heart full of love and compassion is the main source of inner strength, willpower, happiness, and mental tranquility ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
726:Faith was a gift of God whose main function was to create in man a certain knowledge of God’s goodness toward us. The ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
727:Harmy is a class bowler and I think he's one of the main reasons why England have improved over the last 18 months. ~ Glenn McGrath, #NFDB
728:If your main character has a secret to hide, your novel will get more tension, and possibly more drama and depth, too. ~ Rayne Hall, #NFDB
729:In any case, you must remember, my dearest, that the main strength of innocence is innocence itself. farewell. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #NFDB
730:It is generally useless to carry out details without having seen the main connection, or having made a sort of plan. ~ George P lya, #NFDB
731:Many a death was precipitated by the food, the job, or the medication whose main function was to postpone it. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana, #NFDB
732:Most people I work with are older than me and the main thing I've learnt is that everyone is a dumb as an 18-year-old. ~ Seth Rogen, #NFDB
733:The main character and the most important character are not always the same person - you have to know the difference. ~ John Irving, #NFDB
734:The main effect of turning a partnership into a corporation was to transfer the financial risk to the shareholders. ~ Michael Lewis, #NFDB
735:The main point of enlightenment is man's release from his self-caused immaturity, primarily in matters of religion. ~ Immanuel Kant, #NFDB
736:The main reason for rewriting is not to achieve a smooth surface, but to discover the inner truth of your characters. ~ Saul Bellow, #NFDB
737:The main thing (about the organization) is to enjoy motorcycles, ..and have a good relationship with the community. ~ Brian Johnson, #NFDB
738:The maybe-groupie put her hands in the air. She wore, God help her, a T-shirt that read, “Ten-A-Fly’s Main Ho!” Pops ~ Harlan Coben, #NFDB
739:The two men shook hands, then the cowboy walked through the main gate to an anonymous Buick and drove away. Watching ~ Robert Crais, #NFDB
740:They argued that women of the prophet’s era had ridden camels, the main mode of transportation of their day. The ~ Geraldine Brooks, #NFDB
741:Today the main, over-riding purpose of the European Union is different: not to win peace, but to secure prosperity. ~ David Cameron, #NFDB
742:You're the main character of your life," Jacie said. "You're too important to die. That's how everybody feels. ~ Jodi Lynn Anderson, #NFDB
743:After all, that was a main purpose of science: to make things of all kinds happen sooner than they otherwise would. ~ Robert Aickman, #NFDB
744:All the pundits and D.C. insiders thought I'd never be standing on the main stage. I am and I'm going to stay there. ~ Carly Fiorina, #NFDB
745:I think the main thing over time is that you gain confidence and are able to tell your story better and stronger. ~ Roksanda Ilincic, #NFDB
746:I think your main draws are instinct, intuition and empathy... those things that you can't really practice. ~ Scarlett Alice Johnson, #NFDB
747:No gangster is ever happy when he's at peace. The main reason he's in the business is to eliminate his enemies. ~ Lorenzo Carcaterra, #NFDB
748:The dirty little secret, folks, is Obama is not only for occupying Wall Street. He also wants to occupy Main Street. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
749:The main fuel to speed the world’s progress is our stock of knowledge, and the brake is our lack of imagination. ~ Erik Brynjolfsson, #NFDB
750:The main reason I wanted to be successful was to get out of the ghetto. My parents helped direct my path. ~ Florence Griffith Joyner, #NFDB
751:the main source of competition in society may not be among individuals but rather among cooperating groups of peers. ~ Alex Pentland, #NFDB
752:The main substantive achievement of neoliberalism has been to redistribute rather than to generate wealth and income. ~ David Harvey, #NFDB
753:The main thing that prevents us from understanding the Bible aright is not a lack of hermeneutical skills but our sin. ~ Tim Chester, #NFDB
754:The main trouble with this civilized world isn't that we adventure too much, but that we fail to adventure enough. ~ Cornelia Parker, #NFDB
755:Where are we going?" I asked. "The main road leads to all of the major kingdoms."
"Not all of them," said Amar. ~ Roshani Chokshi,#NFDB
756:Cette force irrésistible de la main du sort qui nous porte toujours malgré nous où ses loix veulent que nous soyons ~ Marquis de Sade, #NFDB
757:Distraction is the main problem for us all - what the Buddha called the monkey mind. We need to tame this monkey mind. ~ Tenzin Palmo, #NFDB
758:Energies expended on sideshows, never on the main event. Where the hell was the main event? Was there a main event? ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
759:Haven't got a girl, but I can wish. So I'll take me down to Main Street and that's where I'll select my imaginary dish. ~ Dean Martin, #NFDB
760:I just think it's sad that the main places in our culture that we designate to meet new people are bars and nightclubs. ~ Aziz Ansari, #NFDB
761:il a participé à des soirées libertines où les partenaires passent de main en main comme du guacamole pendant l’apéritif. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
762:I think I should be on the main stage. I don't think I'm an undercard candidate. I think the others should drop out. ~ Renee Montagne, #NFDB
763:Make sure your main characters are likeable. They can be flawed, but your readers need to be able to root for them. ~ Janet Evanovich, #NFDB
764:Meditation simplifies us, simplifies us to the point where we can receive the fullness of truth and the fullness of love. ~ John Main, #NFDB
765:My main goal, when I started acting, was to show as much versatility as possible because I like playing diverse roles. ~ Daniela Ruah, #NFDB
766:No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force. ~ Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, #NFDB
767:Once there the main man, the bearded preacher, bridles and jabs, spasms and gurns like a pre-ejaculatory James Brown. ~ Russell Brand, #NFDB
768:out·li·er \-,l()r\ noun 1: something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body ~ Malcolm Gladwell, #NFDB
769:Professor Osterweis taught us how to structure a speech: introduction, three main points, peroration, and conclusion. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
770:The main dividing line is still race. This is the issue that must be focused upon in all working class organizations. ~ Michael Yates, #NFDB
771:The main part of the tree is the root, and the root is always beneath the ground. It never is brought out into the light. ~ Malcolm X, #NFDB
772:The main source of my income is through the commissions of the large-scale works and big sculptures, the projects. ~ Andy Goldsworthy, #NFDB
773:"The purely biological or scientific standpoint falls short in psychology because it is, in the main, intellectual only." ~ Carl Jung, #NFDB
774:Troubadours travelled from town to town. They didn't really sing too good, which is the main reason they kept going. ~ Art Linkletter, #NFDB
775:With me, my main vision for life was to avoid as many people as possible. The less people I saw the better I felt. ~ Charles Bukowski, #NFDB
776:Aggressiveness is not the main trouble with the human species, but rather an excess capacity for fanatical devotion. ~ Arthur Koestler, #NFDB
777:I climbed on my bike and headed down Main Street, noticing that puddles were already starting to form on the pavement. ~ Morgan Matson, #NFDB
778:In the main, ghosts are said to be forlorn and generally miserable, if not downright depressed. The jolly ghost is rare. ~ Dick Cavett, #NFDB
779:Most people will leave you with the impression that the main function of our emotions is to cloud our judgement. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana, #NFDB
780:My goal was for acting to become my main income. I would say to myself, 'I'm good enough'. That became my mantra. ~ Michael Fassbender, #NFDB
781:No matter how compelling or beautiful they may be, words appeal in the main to the linear, thinking mind that thinks in words. ~ D gen, #NFDB
782:Soul-winning is the chief business of the Christian minister; it should be the main pursuit of every true believer. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
783:That ability to stay focused in the midst of a crisis stands as one of Musk’s main advantages over other executives and ~ Ashlee Vance, #NFDB
784:The day wears on. The light fades. It snows harder with each passing hour. Up and down Main, Christmas lights wink on. ~ Blake Crouch, #NFDB
785:This was actually the main difference between twenty-one and fifty-one, he decided, the sheer volume of regret. ~ Emily St John Mandel, #NFDB
786:When infused with compassion, even the most useless snake oils have the power to heal broken hearts and shattered souls. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
787:Whiskeyjack’s eyes widened as a crowd of excited guests poured out from the main chamber and gathered on the terrace. ~ Steven Erikson, #NFDB
788:A merciful God must surely close his eyes in anguish against the barbaric will of man to main and butcher one another ~ Linda Goodnight, #NFDB
789:And the main thing was that I wanted to live in south Florida. That's why I left the Cowboys; to live in south Florida. ~ Jimmy Johnson, #NFDB
790:Any civilization where the main symbol of religious veneration is a tool of execution is a bad place to have children. ~ Charles Stross, #NFDB
791:Become major, Paul. Live like a hero. That's what the classics teach us. Be a main character. Otherwise what is life for? ~ J M Coetzee, #NFDB
792:Boundaries are actually the main factor in space, just as the present, another boundary, is the main factor in time. ~ Eduardo Chillida, #NFDB
793:can remember when a dog could go to sleep all day in the middle of Main Street and nothing come along to disturb him. ~ Thornton Wilder, #NFDB
794:Generally I wouldn't accept work on projects where I didn't agree with the sensibilities behind the main character. ~ Rhianna Pratchett, #NFDB
795:Human beings may be miserable specimens, in the main, but we can learn, and, through learning, become decent people. ~ Orson Scott Card, #NFDB
796:In order to see him it is necessary to meet him in seclusion, far from the main activity of the business scene. ~ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, #NFDB
797:La main du temps s’était appesantie sur cet homme autrefois si énergique. Il ne parut plus à Julien que l’ombre de lui-même. ~ Stendhal, #NFDB
798:One of the main reasons for the conflict in Syria, and the terrorism that it's spawned, is climate change and drought. ~ Prince Charles, #NFDB
799:The main cause of poverty or financial struggle is fear and ignorance, not the economy or the government or the rich. ~ Robert Kiyosaki, #NFDB
800:The main discomfort in being a middle-of-the-roader is that you get sideswiped by partisans going in both directions. ~ Sydney J Harris, #NFDB
801:The main market share is once again children; 1 in 8 of whom are now consuming 22 cans of cola each week – yes 22 cans! As ~ Jason Vale, #NFDB
802:The main point is that it’s the speaker’s responsibility to bring energy to the audience and to work to activate them. ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
803:The main problem with solar on the Earth's surface is that it is so intermittent, and we don't have decent storage yet. ~ Stewart Brand, #NFDB
804:The main reason people want to pay for Spotify is really portability. People are saying, 'I want to have my music with me.' ~ Daniel Ek, #NFDB
805:The main thing is to be satisfied with your work yourself. It's useless to have an audience happy if you are not happy. ~ Aaron Copland, #NFDB
806:The main thing I’ve noticed, however, is how unreasonable, self-absorbed and permanently outraged caffeine has made me. ~ Caitlin Moran, #NFDB
807:And, since birds are a main predator of forest insects, their dwindling is already affecting the health of our forests. ~ The New Yorker, #NFDB
808:Being alone, out somewhere in a remote or semiremote spot on Mother Earth, is the main ingredient of a Vision Quest Ceremony. ~ Ed McGaa, #NFDB
809:Drosophila has long been our main workhorse in genetics, yielding insight in the relation between chromosomes and genes. ~ Frans de Waal, #NFDB
810:In the courtyard before them grew a clump of bright green bamboo, while by the main doorway stood a row of dark pine-trees. ~ Cao Xueqin, #NFDB
811:It is my inner conviction that the development of science seeks in the main to satisfy the longing for pure knowledge. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
812:Marx's main interest was in economic relationships since in his view they shape everything that we are and can become. ~ Nigel Warburton, #NFDB
813:Maybe the grand gestures don’t matter nearly as much as all the inconsequential things between the two main characters. ~ Colleen Hoover, #NFDB
814:Moral progress has consisted in the main of protest against cruel customs, and of attempts to enlarge human sympathy. ~ Bertrand Russell, #NFDB
815:My main problem with cops is that they do what they're told. They say 'Sorry mate, I'm just doing my job' all the fucking time. ~ Banksy, #NFDB
816:Over a long period of time, the main force in favor of greater equality has been the diffusion of knowledge and skills. ~ Thomas Piketty, #NFDB
817:So long as war is the main business of nations, temporary despotism - despotism during the campaign - is indispensable. ~ Walter Bagehot, #NFDB
818:That which is within a man, not that which lies beyond his vision, is the main factor in what is about to befall him: ~ George MacDonald, #NFDB
819:the eight main “dialects” of Chinese are so vastly different that they are, under any analysis, separate languages. The ~ John McWhorter, #NFDB
820:The main purpose of my work is to provoke people into using their imagination and make their surroundings more exciting. ~ Verner Panton, #NFDB
821:The main thing is that the 'C' is silent, so it kind of starts with a 'Z.' Z-O-O-K-RIE. It's Ukrainian, on my dad's side. ~ Matt Czuchry, #NFDB
822:The main thing I've learned is that we're better together and that our society needs inclusion - right? - not exclusion. ~ Keith Ellison, #NFDB
823:The main thing that prevents us from understanding the Bible aright is not a lack of hermeneutical skills but our sin. Our ~ Tim Chester, #NFDB
824:The music that filled the House of Seven was eerie, full of haunting notes as Liv descended the stairs to the main floor. ~ Sarah Noffke, #NFDB
825:If I were to be asked: What now constitutes the main and fundamental feature of your existence? I would answer: Insomnia. ~ Anton Chekhov, #NFDB
826:Intellectual capital is the main determining factor and the base for economic and social development to any country. ~ Talal Abu Ghazaleh, #NFDB
827:I think that that the main problem with a lot of social media stuff in terms of ratings is it's a very skewed motivation. ~ Michael Schur, #NFDB
828:My father treated them with respect and kindness, his main philosophical and spiritual position being: Don’t be an asshole. ~ Anne Lamott, #NFDB
829:Objective journalism is one of the main reasons that American politics has been allowed to be so corrupt for so long. ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
830:The main difference between service and manufacturing is the service department doesn't know that they have a product. ~ W Edwards Deming, #NFDB
831:The main emotion of the adult American who has had all the advantages of wealth, education, and culture is disappointment. ~ John Cheever, #NFDB
832:The main thing about the novel that is totally fascinating: It's not possessed by the writer; it's possessed by the reader. ~ Jane Smiley, #NFDB
833:Je reste des heures entières debout au même endroit, presque sans bouger (j’ai même vu le vent s’arrêter dans ma main) ~ Richard Brautigan, #NFDB
834:la vérité déchira le voile qu'étendait la main de l'erreur sur le miroir de la vie, et je m'y vis enfin tel que j'étais. ~ Marquis de Sade, #NFDB
835:My main ambition as a gardener is to water my orange trees with gin, then all I have to do is squeeze the juice into a glass. ~ W C Fields, #NFDB
836:My relationship with my readers is somewhat theatrical. One of the main things I try to do in my work is delight my readers. ~ Mark Leyner, #NFDB
837:Only after about 20 years did Edison reluctantly concede that the main use of his phonograph was to record and play music. ~ Jared Diamond, #NFDB
838:The main hall of the palace was an intimidating place when empty, because it had been designed for exactly that purpose. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
839:WESTON, COLORADO, was a small ranch town with dusty streets, too many cowboy hats, and a main drag that had been built to ~ Melissa Foster, #NFDB
840:[…] what haunts the heart will, when it is found, leap foremost, blinding the eye and leaving the main of Life in darkness. ~ Mervyn Peake, #NFDB
841:You know that feeling when you wake up in the morning and you're excited for the day? That's one of my main goals in life. ~ Kirsten Dunst, #NFDB
842:Almost every band has somebody who's the main songwriter and who has a vision, a very clear idea of how a song should be. ~ Stephen Malkmus, #NFDB
843:A main cause of philosophical disease-an unbalanced diet: one nourishes one's thinking with only one kind of example. ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein, #NFDB
844:Beauty is the main positive form of the aesthetic assimilation of reality, in which aesthetic ideal finds it direct expression. ~ Karl Marx, #NFDB
845:I think Delhiites know how to party, but Kolkata has people who know how to celebrate. I think that's the main difference. ~ Gautam Gambhir, #NFDB
846:J'étais dans la mort; tu m'as remise dans la vie. Toi là, c'est le ciel à côté de moi. Donne-moi ta main, que je touche Dieu! ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
847:main thesis was that in a world where everything is constantly changing, we suffer because we cling to things that won’t last. ~ Dan Harris, #NFDB
848:My main focus is to try to give myself time to heal...Forgiveness takes time. It is the last step of the grieving process. ~ Elin Nordegren, #NFDB
849:One of the main things we have been looking at is, how can we get a robot to think about situations it's never seen before? ~ Judy Woodruff, #NFDB
850:Secular conservatism is like trying to use your pocket handkerchief to slow you down after the main chute has failed. This ~ Douglas Wilson, #NFDB
851:The main advantage of books over life is that they can be redrafted and redrafted, whereas life, alas, is always a first draft. ~ Matt Haig, #NFDB
852:To most people in a bureaucracy, the main thing is that they've got a steady paycheck, because who ever lays off a bureaucrat? ~ John Ringo, #NFDB
853:Welbeck will be the main man and I have no doubt he will flourish. Imagine the pace Arsenal will have when everyone is fit. ~ Rio Ferdinand, #NFDB
854:If there is a rotten government in a democracy, the main reason for this is that there is a rotten majority over there! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
855:One of Buddhism’s main practices is understanding and experiencing compassion, and how that ultimately is a road to happiness. ~ Goldie Hawn, #NFDB
856:The main reason I did 'Captain America' was because I wanted to get out of my own head and stop taking my work so seriously. ~ Hayley Atwell, #NFDB
857:The main thing is not to be afraid of that, to get to a place where you'll go gracefully, not screaming and kicking up a fuss. ~ Ringo Starr, #NFDB
858:The main way people waste time is by complaining of their past wasted time. Leaders respond even if it seems to be late. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
859:There are three main types of cyberattacks today: attacks on a network’s confidentiality, availability, and integrity. Attacks ~ Alec J Ross, #NFDB
860:A piece of art really works when you see yourself in the main characters and you see a glimpse of yourself in the villains ~ Colson Whitehead, #NFDB
861:Colour can be the true main thing in art that is widely valued – even valued by the maker of the art – for other meanings. ~ Matthew Collings, #NFDB
862:Ek Main Aur Ek Tu was a very special film for me. Imran and we complement each other very well. He is sugar, and I am spice. ~ Kareena Kapoor, #NFDB
863:If Donald Trump's main claim to be president of the United States is your business, then I think we should talk about that. ~ Hillary Clinton, #NFDB
864:It's without doubt my main subject. The way masculinity can go wrong. And I'm something of a gynocrat in a utopian kind of way. ~ Martin Amis, #NFDB
865:My curiosity and my appetite for evolving as an actor is one of the main components of me still working today in the business. ~ Kim Cattrall, #NFDB
866:One of the main reasons I remain a Christian is because I love knowing that my sins are not only forgiven, but also forgotten! ~ Tony Campolo, #NFDB
867:The main secret of his progress, the secret of all wisdom, was, that with him action was the beginning and end of thought. ~ George MacDonald, #NFDB
868:The main thing that excites me and makes me want to get out of bed is the thought of being able to go into my studio to work on music. ~ Moby, #NFDB
869:The main thrust of the Social Security reform was to get the benefit structure in line with the realities of the Trust Funds. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
870:The same way that you are the main character of your story, you are only a secondary character in everybody else’s story. ~ Miguel Angel Ruiz, #NFDB
871:Ultimately there is no dividing line between Main Street and Wall Street. We will rise or we will fall together as one nation. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
872:Yes, but the main thing is that greatness is doable. Greatness is many, many individual feats, and each of them is doable. ~ Angela Duckworth, #NFDB
873:In general, there are four main causes of market failures: information asymmetry, externalities, monopoly power, and risk. ~ Geoffrey G Parker, #NFDB
874:In the main, and from the beginning of time, mysticism has kept men sane. The thing that has driven them mad was logic. ~ Gilbert K Chesterton, #NFDB
875:I suppose I could have called in the whole of the Army, but what was the use? All I had to do was call in Main Street itself. ~ Herbert Hoover, #NFDB
876:My ideal city would be one long main street with no cross streets or side streets to jam up traffic. Just a long one-way street. ~ Andy Warhol, #NFDB
877:My main inspirations are the people around me, heartbreaks, frustration and everything that makes you feel stronger than you should. ~ Tove Lo, #NFDB
878:That's the main thing, looking for interesting characters, good directors, and experiences where you're growing and learning. ~ Nicholas Hoult, #NFDB
879:The Hubble Law is one of the great discoveries in science; it is one of the main supports of the scientific story of Genesis. ~ Robert Jastrow, #NFDB
880:The main evolutionary significance of humor is that it gets us from the closed mode to the open mode quicker than anything else. ~ John Cleese, #NFDB
881:the main reason they don't use seeing eye cats is because you will end up with the cat, and the blind person, stuck up a tree ~ Haresh Daswani, #NFDB
882:To defeat the aggressors is not enough to make peace durable. The main thing is to discard the ideology that generates war. ~ Ludwig von Mises, #NFDB
883:With the death of Robert Mapplethorpe, I had lost my main collaborator in taking photographs. So I didn't know who to work with. ~ Patti Smith, #NFDB
884:Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. ~ Bertrand Russell, #NFDB
885:I feel that my main responsibility as a teacher isn’t to convey facts, but to rekindle that lost enthusiasm for asking questions. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
886:It'll die down like every other genre, but horror has always been one of the four or five main genres that will never go away. ~ Bruce Campbell, #NFDB
887:Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy . . . Your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products. ~ Jack Welch, #NFDB
888:The crime which bankrupts men and nations is that of turning aside from one's main purpose to serve a job here and there. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
889:The main factor in a penalty shootout is luck again. You need to stay calm and focussed but the biggest thing you need is luck. ~ Peter Shilton, #NFDB
890:The main function of the museum has been to serve as a pedestal upon which a clique of socialites pose as patrons of the arts ~ Albert C Barnes, #NFDB
891:The main reason for the colossal objects is the obvious one, to expand and intensify the presence of the vessel - the object. ~ Claes Oldenburg, #NFDB
892:The main thing is that whether dead or alive, people should be treated with dignity.” A life with dignity, with head held high. ~ Rashmi Bansal, #NFDB
893:The problem is not the unhappiness and disappointment you feel at harvest time; the problem is the seeds you planted last spring. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
894:Walter Murch, the sound editor and film director, said, “Music was the main poetic metaphor for that which could not be preserved ~ David Byrne, #NFDB
895:As long as your ideology identifies the main source of the world's ills as a definable group, it opens the world up to genocide. ~ Steven Pinker, #NFDB
896:Descartes left as one of his main philosophical legacies a myth which continues to distort the continental geography of the subject. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
897:Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry that is not only fueled by main street, but it also ruled by Wall Street... ~ Asa Don Brown, #NFDB
898:I let her ask the questions. Predictably, the main questions she had were 'What?' and 'Am I going to be on the menu?' Oh, and 'What? ~ Lia Habel, #NFDB
899:Lack of true friends is often the main complaint of people confronting an emotional crisis in the second half of life. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #NFDB
900:My main influences have always been the classic jazz players who sang, like Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole and Jack Teagarden. ~ Mose Allison, #NFDB
901:My main thing is to chill with my kids. My daughter loves to work, as well-she loves to record and stuff-so I like to work with her. ~ Lil Wayne, #NFDB
902:The main concern of all great religions has been to fight a certain weariness and heaviness grown to epidemic proportions. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
903:The main object of a revolution is the liberation of man... not the interpretation and application of some transcendental ideology. ~ Jean Genet, #NFDB
904:The main thing is that he be willing to believe in a Power greater than himself and that he live by spiritual principles. ~ Alcoholics Anonymous, #NFDB
905:There is a crowd outside the main door, talking softly about the death as if they don’t want the dead man to know that he is gone. ~ Manu Joseph, #NFDB
906:This helps me ‘keep the main thing, the main thing,’ since I am so easily distracted.” You may want to do something similar, or ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
907:Weaknesses of Voluntary Bodies 22.23 … The main weaknesses of such bodies are that they are hard to launch, liable to disintegrate ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
908:You do what you can with what you have. You have to work the edges whatever they are. The main thing is keeping your integrity. ~ Nikki Giovanni, #NFDB
909:But what we called love down there was mostly the craving to be loved. In the main I loved you for my own sake: because I needed you. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
910:...every literature, in its main lines, reflects the chief characteristics of the people for whom, and about whom, it is written. ~ Edith Wharton, #NFDB
911:Jazz comes from a tradition where it swings. Swing was the main ingredient of jazz. And once it loses the swing...well, that's it. ~ Van Morrison, #NFDB
912:Our greatest duty and our main responsibility is to help others. But please, if you can't help them, would you please not hurt them. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
913:Thanks to their decreased brainpower, people aren't diverted from the main business of life by the hobgoblins of opinion anymore. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
914:The refrigerator was one of the main things my mother prayed to. She said that a cold beer could make you love a refrigerator. ~ Jennifer Clement, #NFDB
915:There were some things Reagan liked that I liked. The main component was that people have to talk to each other and help themselves. ~ Neil Young, #NFDB
916:But I'm more interested in why people are frightened by Jaws and why Jaws was such a hit than saying Spielberg's my main influence. ~ Damien Hirst, #NFDB
917:For he is superstitious grown of late,
Quite from the main opinion he held once
Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies. ~ William Shakespeare,#NFDB
918:In reality, the main thing that keeps me awake at night is probably the destruction of the planet that's what gets me pretty upset. ~ Rachel Weisz, #NFDB
919:My hobby is gardening, I love it, it's my main hobby. I like being at home and I'm very happy being in my house, I love cooking. ~ Susan Hampshire, #NFDB
920:My main concern is making the connection with my listeners and making records that the whole world can sing. That's what makes me happy. ~ Ab Soul, #NFDB
921:My main goal is to try to make fun for everyone. And to see my fans responding to it and to see them having fun is really rewarding. ~ Troye Sivan, #NFDB
922:My main interests right now are to publish, to write, to explicate various views which I hope have an impact on thinking people. ~ Murray Bookchin, #NFDB
923:One of the main techniques I used was focusing on the goal and visualising myself competing in the race before the race started. ~ Michael Johnson, #NFDB
924:People who love our record love us even more when they hear us live?playing live is what it is all about and that is our main focus. ~ Jeff Martin, #NFDB
925:The main thing history can teach us is that human actions have consequences, and that certain choices, once made, cannot be undone. ~ Gerda Lerner, #NFDB
926:The main thing that I want to say is that I don't think women are at their most beautiful in their adolescence or in their early 20s. ~ Nan Goldin, #NFDB
927:Throughout America, Main Street has run to the suburbs and hidden in the malls, but New York still wears Christmas on its sleeve. ~ The New Yorker, #NFDB
928:We’re not messing around tonight, I informed him as we reached the main road.
I never mess around. I’m all business in the sack. ~ Cara McKenna,#NFDB
929:Writing a new film about cereal killers. Not serial killers, cereal killers. The main character can eat two, three boxes at a time. ~ Dov Davidoff, #NFDB
930:Any power structure one of whose main goals was to prevent humans from fucking each other at will had to be extremely formidable. ~ Neal Stephenson, #NFDB
931:I'm not one of those guys that focuses much on individual stats because my main goal is to be at my best physically and mentally. ~ Giovani Bernard, #NFDB
932:I think that the main thing that you can learn from watching 'The Spectacular Now' is just learning about growing up and moving on. ~ Kaitlyn Dever, #NFDB
933:I write to try to find out who I am. One of my main themes is manliness. I think I'm trying to figure out what manliness really is. ~ Ernest Gaines, #NFDB
934:Let the main object... to seek and to find a method of instruction, by which teachers may teach less, but learners learn more. ~ John Amos Comenius, #NFDB
935:Modern architecture does not mean the use of immature new materials; the main thing is to refine materials in a more human direction. ~ Alvar Aalto, #NFDB
936:That ability to stay focused in the midst of a crisis stands as one of Musk’s main advantages over other executives and competitors. ~ Ashlee Vance, #NFDB
937:The main question ... is not what motive inspired the law, but what it will be possible for men of bad motive to do with the law. ~ Benjamin Tucker, #NFDB
938:the main reason he had had such a wild and successful life was that he never really understood the significance of anything he did. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
939:The main reason why God gave us imaginations is to allow us to have a specific power that can help us make realistic decisions. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
940:The nature of life is to be a study of contrasts: joy/sadness, full/empty. The Main Thing is to Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing. ~ Stephen Covey, #NFDB
941:Servants were the main topic of conversation in St. Mary Mead, so it was not difficult to lead the conversation in that direction. ~ Agatha Christie, #NFDB
942:the main form of family interaction was playing cards and board games, at which it was assumed that everyone was trying to cheat. ~ Jonathan Franzen, #NFDB
943:The main theme of the Bible is the restoration of humanity and, through humanity, of the whole of creation to its original harmony. ~ Bede Griffiths, #NFDB
944:This was his main therapeutic tool: his conviction, invariably imparted to the patient, that his services were not really required. ~ Anita Brookner, #NFDB
945:Wall Street can never be allowed to threaten main street again. No bank can be too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail. ~ Hillary Clinton, #NFDB
946:Who hit you?"
"Clara."
"Clara!"
"She whaled me one in return for upsetting you. Well, at least, that was the main reason. ~ Kristin Cashore,#NFDB
947:You can stick a fork in Barack Obama. Politically, he's done. The main way we can screw this up is if we choose the wrong Republican. ~ Tim Pawlenty, #NFDB
948:Your motivation should be sincere and your life should be of benefit to some people. That is the main thing. Don't care after my death. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
949:You've got to stay current and up with the competition. The main thing, though, is finding the greatest songs you can possibly find. ~ Reba McEntire, #NFDB
950:everything living has a mouth. Mouths bite and swallow; they talk; they taste. They kiss. A mouth is the main tool for living. ~ Catherynne M Valente, #NFDB
951:Health inequalities and the social determinants of health are not a footnote to the determinants of health. They are the main issue. ~ Michael Marmot, #NFDB
952:If football had always been my main goal then I would have gone to some scholarship school; I could have gotten more exposure there. ~ Michael Corbat, #NFDB
953:I think the main issue is that a lot of the stars today are very addicted, and they simply feel more comfortable smoking as they act. ~ Joe Eszterhas, #NFDB
954:It’s such a confidence trick, writing a novel. The main person you have to trick into confidence is yourself. This is hard to do alone. ~ Zadie Smith, #NFDB
955:It was like talking to Diego had cleared my head. For the first time in three months, blood was not the main thing in there. ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
956:My main interest is just to work with people who have beautiful, interesting, emotive voices; I'm not too concerned whether someone is famous. ~ Moby, #NFDB
957:One of the main things that's appealing about games is that you know a game can be won. It's an unusual game that's impossible to win. ~ Jesse Schell, #NFDB
958:The car, the furniture, the wife, the children - everything has to be disposable. Because you see the main thing today is - shopping. ~ Arthur Miller, #NFDB
959:The physician knows that his little black bag can carry him only so far and that the body's own healing system is the main resource. ~ Norman Cousins, #NFDB
960:Whether it be a reggae song, rock song, a love song, the main thing was just to, whatever I was feeling, to try to capture that emotion. ~ Bruno Mars, #NFDB
961:By keeping my hand in that, it's the way I keep learning. The main way you learn in medicine is by practicing and working with patients. ~ Andrew Weil, #NFDB
962:Eh, it’s not that great a book. I’ve read it. She’ll thank me for saving her five hours of her life. The main character dies in the end. ~ Chanda Hahn, #NFDB
963:For the main character, I suggest you specify a trait which will encourage him to get into trouble –‘curious’ or ‘courageous’ are useful. ~ Rayne Hall, #NFDB
964:I'm not a policy maker. I'm not even a very great activist. My main thing is to make things that speak for the culture that I live in. ~ Wangechi Mutu, #NFDB
965:I see a sequence of seven main phases: creation,revolution or exodus (Israel in Egypt), law, wisdom, prophecy, gospel, and apocalypse. ~ Northrop Frye, #NFDB
966:I thought of reaching out for progressive Israelis, progressive Americans, progressive American Jews - this was probably my main mission. ~ Ari Shavit, #NFDB
967:It's a big responsibility to be the main part of a film because if you don't like me, you have a problem for two-and-a-half hours. ~ Carice van Houten, #NFDB
968:I've been asked repeatedly what the 'key' to acting is, and as far as I'm concerned, the main thing is to keep the audience awake. ~ Maureen Stapleton, #NFDB
969:Nous avons échangé des civilités. Mi-scénario hollywodien, mi-bonne société. Elle a commencé à hurler, puis essayé de me mordre la main. ~ Hugh Laurie, #NFDB
970:out·li·er \-,l()r\ noun 1: something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body 2: a statistical ~ Malcolm Gladwell, #NFDB
971:Snarkicist. S-n-a-r-k-i-c-i-s-t. It’s someone who uses snark as a main form of communication, often in a passive-aggressive way. ~ Aimee Nicole Walker, #NFDB
972:The main problem I always have with multiplayer is that human beings are grabby, entitled, selfish, ugly, stupid, evil cockstoppers. ~ Yahtzee Croshaw, #NFDB
973:The main problem was I don’t like people in general and people my age in particular, and people my age are the ones who go to college. ~ Peter Cameron, #NFDB
974:Here's the main page of motivational quotes, if you want a different topic. Gossip is what no one claims to like, but everybody enjoys. ~ Joseph Conrad, #NFDB
975:I'm not wedded to covering the markets. I'm intrigued by the markets. If I can connect Main Street with Wall Street, then I've succeeded. ~ Neil Cavuto, #NFDB
976:Letting go of things and not being afraid of being ridiculous or over the top - I think that's the main thing for me to work on. ~ Charlotte Gainsbourg, #NFDB
977:My models, my human figures, are never like extras in an interior. They are the main theme of my work. I depend absolutely on my model. ~ Henri Matisse, #NFDB
978:One of the main goals of self-education is to eradicate that vanity in us without which we would never have been educated. ~ Marie von Ebner Eschenbach, #NFDB
979:The main differences between prostitution and most relationships are the lengths of the relationships and the methods of payment. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana, #NFDB
980:The main problem is that we, as an Earth civilization, have not come to understand ourselves - see ourselves in a cosmic sense at all. ~ Edgar Mitchell, #NFDB
981:the main reason most people are not rich is because they are terrified of losing. Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. ~ Robert T Kiyosaki, #NFDB
982:The private area of the White House occupies about twenty thousand square feet on the top two stories of the main historical structure ~ Michelle Obama, #NFDB
983:As the company grows and about this 25 or so employee size, your main job shifts from building a great product to building a great company. ~ Sam Altman, #NFDB
984:I have seen these pieces so often that I may recognize them sooner than some people, but my main job is just to get them on the table. ~ Gavin de Becker, #NFDB
985:Our main task is not to see that people of great wealth add to it, but that those without much money have a greater chance to earn some. ~ Mitch Daniels, #NFDB
986:that below the main stage were unknown others on which different dramas played out, secretly affecting the lives of everyone upstairs? She ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
987:the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss put it, ancient writing’s main function was “to facilitate the enslavement of other human beings. ~ Jared Diamond, #NFDB
988:The Big Bang Theory: When geeky scientists can be main characters in a hit prime time series, you know there's hope for the world. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson, #NFDB
989:the Buddha’s main thesis was that in a world where everything is constantly changing, we suffer because we cling to things that won’t last. ~ Dan Harris, #NFDB
990:The main thing is to get what little happiness there is out of life in this wartorn world because ‘these are the good old days’ now. ~ Clare Boothe Luce, #NFDB
991:The main vice of capitalism is the uneven distribution of prosperity. The main vice of socialism is the even distribution of misery. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
992:The only place healing can occur, wisdom can be realized, compassion can be extended, and peace can be experienced, is the present moment. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
993:Think of every character as a main character. They believe they're the main characters in their stories. No one should just be an obstacle. ~ Ben Edlund, #NFDB
994:What are we doing, burying bodies?" Admittedly, this would be a lace to do it. Isolated, off any main roads.
"Nope. We're going to war. ~ Kelley York,#NFDB
995:At this point, a spaceship could land on Main Street and Elvis could saunter out singing "Love Me Tender," and I wouldn't be surprised ~ Michele Bardsley, #NFDB
996:I’m calling to ask you to please pick up your bike before closing hours. I would hate for you to lose your main form of transportation. ~ Theodora Taylor, #NFDB
997:I'm not a sympathetic main character. My quirks are not lovable. I am not clumsy. I am not overwhelmed by life. I am not unlucky in love. ~ Rahul Kanakia, #NFDB
998:My father mainly liked writers. His friends were writers. He wanted to find the writing. That was his main frustration I think. ~ Stephen Humphrey Bogart, #NFDB
999:One of the main reasons that it is so easy to march men off to war is that each of them feels sorry for the man next to him who will die. ~ Ernest Becker, #NFDB
1000:Poe was the first writer to write about main characters who were bad guys or who were mad guys, and those are some of my favorite stories. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1001:Some people are mistaken, they think birds need feed to survive, but they don't. The main reason to feed birds is to enjoy them. ~ Maggie Elizabeth Jones, #NFDB
1002:The main goal in any criminal statute is to produce what's best for the victim. And sometimes, a mandatory minimum doesn't accomplish that. ~ Paul Martin, #NFDB
1003:The main motivations were to try to leverage Google's expertise with large computer systems and to try to give something back to science ~ Susan Wojcicki, #NFDB
1004:The main part of the house is a deep red and I have butterscotch carpet. And I have a bathroom with leopard skin floor, wallpaper and toilet. ~ Macy Gray, #NFDB
1005:The main problem in developing a deep prayer life is by far the failure to live the radicality of the Gospel, hour by hour and day by day. ~ Thomas Dubay, #NFDB
1006:The main reason I want someone to read a story of mine is so they can enjoy it and feel like they got something interesting out of it. ~ Paolo Bacigalupi, #NFDB
1007:Yet, the main issue is not the shaping of the minds by explicit messages in the media, but the absence of a given content in the media. ~ Manuel Castells, #NFDB
1008:A main focus of Bullet Journaling is to get better at hearing the world around us as well as the one within so we can begin to understand. ~ Ryder Carroll, #NFDB
1009:Desire is the root of all sorrows, the cause of repeated births and deaths, and the main obstacle on the path of liberation. ~ Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, #NFDB
1010:Dialogue that's distinctive, funny, peculiar, and specific is the main thing that makes me want to get involved with a film to begin with. ~ Terry Zwigoff, #NFDB
1011:Each nation has a main current in life; in India it is religion. Make it strong and the waters on either side must move along with it. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
1012:"Enlightenment consciously chosen means to relinquish your attachment to past and future and to make the Now the main focus of your life." ~ Eckhart Tolle, #NFDB
1013:Here’s all you have to know about men and women. Women are crazy, men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid. ~ Mark Nolan, #NFDB
1014:In most books, the I, of first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference. ~ Henry David Thoreau, #NFDB
1015:In most books, the I, or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference. ~ Henry David Thoreau, #NFDB
1016:Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest. ~ Wendell Berry, #NFDB
1017:I think the thing that interests most actors these days is the strength and the quality of the writing. I think that's the main thing. ~ Philip Baker Hall, #NFDB
1018:Jacques avait dévoré les livres qui lui tombaient sous la main et les avalait avec la même avidité qu’il mettait à vivre, à jouer, à rêver. ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
1019:My biggest concern and main engagement with UNEP is focused on endangered species and illegal wildlife trade - mostly elephants, rhinos, etc. ~ Yaya Toure, #NFDB
1020:Prayer is the only entryway into genuine self-knowledge. It is also the main way we experience deep change—the reordering of our loves. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1021:The great wisdom traditions of the world all recognize that the main impediment to living a life of meaning is being self-absorbed. ~ Barbara Brown Taylor, #NFDB
1022:The main purpose of life is to live rightly, think rightly, act rightly. The soul must languish when we give all our thought to the body. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1023:The main thing going on in the 20th century is a dissolving of boundaries, all the boundaries that historical civilization put in place. ~ Terence McKenna, #NFDB
1024:The outsider is not sure who he is. He has found an “I”, but it is not his true “I”.’ His main business is to find his way back to himself. ~ Colin Wilson, #NFDB
1025:As a writer, my main objective is to tell the story urgently - as if whispering it into one ear - and to know the characters intimately. ~ Julianna Baggott, #NFDB
1026:As the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss put it, ancient writing’s main function was “to facilitate the enslavement of other human beings. ~ Jared Diamond, #NFDB
1027:For me, the main inspiration to write a story or novel is the voice of its central character, or the narrative voice of the story itself. ~ Scott Bradfield, #NFDB
1028:From start to finish, this movie is obviously about God. He is the main character. How is is possible that we live as though it is about us? ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
1029:I'd like to have younger people around me and that I'll be involved with them a lot more now, as opposed to me being the main focal point. ~ Bootsy Collins, #NFDB
1030:I wanted to prove that I could do something, so I made a short film. That was in fact my main concern, to be able to show that I could do one. ~ Luc Besson, #NFDB
1031:My main strength as a young writer was that I had no fear of making mistakes. I knew I would and I knew I could and would learn from them. ~ Nikki Giovanni, #NFDB
1032:One of the beauties of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is the very delicate and strange relationship between the two main characters. ~ Stellan Skarsgard, #NFDB
1033:One of the main causes of trouble in the world is dogmatic and fanatical belief in some doctrine for which there is no adequate evidence ~ Bertrand Russell, #NFDB
1034:One of the main pitfalls of any theoretically "niche" show is that you spend too much time on the "niche" and not enough time on the "show." ~ Brad Falchuk, #NFDB
1035:The main benefit of controlling a modern bureaucratic state is not the power to persecute the innocent. It is the power to protect the guilty. ~ David Frum, #NFDB
1036:The main thing I don't like about myself is an absurd level of self-consciousness that makes any sort of social encounter an ordeal for me. ~ Jarvis Cocker, #NFDB
1037:The power of every dictator has two main sources: His psychopathic mind and the support of the very easily deceivable ignorant masses! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
1038:Vain are the thousand creeds That move men's hearts, unutterably vain; Worthless as withered weeds, Or idlest froth amid the boundless main. ~ Emily Bronte, #NFDB
1039:and green, a sign that whatever message Daisy was about to deliver was not a catastrophe. If a water main had burst or the air-conditioning ~ Patrick Carman, #NFDB
1040:A rill in a barnyard and the Grand Canyon represent, in the main, stages of valley erosion that began some millions of years apart. ~ George Gaylord Simpson, #NFDB
1041:Get hold of the main thing: That the world and the self are one and perfect. Only your attitude is faulty and needs readjustment. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #NFDB
1042:I always had a great appreciation for jazz, but I'm a very pedestrian musician. I get by. I like to think that my main instrument is vocabulary. ~ Tom Waits, #NFDB
1043:Independent of others and in concert with others, your main task in life is to do what you can best do and become what you can potentially be. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
1044:I read annual reports of the company I'm looking at and I read the annual reports of the competitors - that is the main source of material. ~ Warren Buffett, #NFDB
1045:Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord. ~ J I Packer, #NFDB
1046:Sometimes there are no gigs, but the main thing is the music. You can't take that away. The only person who can take that away from you is you. ~ Mike Stern, #NFDB
1047:Standing at the end of a diving board looking at the water never made the water warmer, but it will make taking the plunge unnecessarily hard. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
1048:The main point is to first get the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) before you figure out where to drive it. The ~ James C Collins, #NFDB
1049:The main reason I have come here is to shuffle Death back to the place where it belong. That won't happen if I don't get to tangle with it. ~ Susan Meissner, #NFDB
1050:There are two main jobs in acting - the first one is to be a good actor, and the second one is to convince everyone that you're a good actor. ~ Laurence Fox, #NFDB
1051:T’inquiète pas, Papa. Les gens passent leur temps à se pointer des pistolets au visage, ici. C’est presque comme se serrer la main. (Jesper) ~ Leigh Bardugo, #NFDB
1052:What would any man do with a soggy girl who can't assert herself, who has a weak voice, and whose main personality component is helplessness? ~ Steve Martin, #NFDB
1053:When you write a story you're telling yourself the story. When you rewrite your main job is taking out all the things that are NOT the story. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1054:Here's all you have to know about men and women: women are crazy, men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid. ~ George Carlin, #NFDB
1055:I have a two year old. Just turned two a couple weeks ago, and he is my main man, he is my shadow. Every spare second, I am hanging with him. ~ Rodney Atkins, #NFDB
1056:Life is a great gift, and as we reach years of discretion, most of us naturally ask ourselves what should be the main object of our existence. ~ John Lubbock, #NFDB
1057:My main source for faith-based stuff is mostly the Bible, and a childhood with a much, much higher-than-median exposure to theological thought. ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
1058:One of the main reasons I paint is because I think nature is so wonderful. I want to try to get my feelings of that down on canvas, if possible. ~ E J Hughes, #NFDB
1059:Our main work is, by the spirit of God, with the Word of God, to portray the glories of God as more beautiful and more satisfying than anything. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
1060:Teaching is the perpetual end and office of all things. Teaching, instruction is the main design that shines through the sky and earth. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1061:The main human problems often are that we misidentify what will make us happy; and we ask people and things to save us beyond their ability. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
1062:What I used to play was rhythm guitar before I saw Jack Bruce. I said, That's what I want to do in life. He was definitely the main influence ~ Geezer Butler, #NFDB
1063:Women are their own worst enemies. And guilt is the main weapon of self-torture…Show me a woman who doesn’t feel guilty and I’ll show you a man. ~ Erica Jong, #NFDB
1064:History is full of really good stories. That's the main reason I got into this racket: I want to make the argument that history is interesting. ~ Sarah Vowell, #NFDB
1065:I guess the main thing is, you unconsciously take things for granted, and you think the audience is with you, because you're with yourself. ~ Robert Downey Jr, #NFDB
1066:I still need more healthy rest in order to work at my best. My health is the main capital I have and I want to administer it intelligently. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
1067:I've decided to make my main priority for the next two years not playing the violin, but training for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. ~ Vanessa Mae, #NFDB
1068:L’intervention des deux hommes avait peut-être été superflue, mais tout le monde savait que les dieux aidaient ceux qui se prenaient en main. Il ~ Dave Duncan, #NFDB
1069:My main dream - and I'm trying to get 'Living TV' to do it - is to go into prison and interview serial killers, rapists, murderers, psychopaths. ~ Katie Price, #NFDB
1070:My main mistake was to have made an ancient people advance by forced marches toward independence, health, culture, affluence, comfort. ~ Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, #NFDB
1071:Slaves were among the main commodities traded during this era, which preceded the era of European territorial conquests in sub-Saharan Africa. ~ Thomas Sowell, #NFDB
1072:The main event has never been the manifestation; the main event has always been the way you feel moment by moment, because that's what life is. ~ Esther Hicks, #NFDB
1073:The main thing for inner contentment is to be in a state of grace. And there is an artistic state of grace, for art is a kind of religion. ~ Georges Rodenbach, #NFDB
1074:Th' first thing to have in a libry is a shelf. Fr'm time to time this can be decorated with lithrachure. But th' shelf is th' main thing. ~ Finley Peter Dunne, #NFDB
1075:We all wish to be of importance in one way or another. The child coughs with might and main, since it has no other claim on the company. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1076:When you write a story, you're telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1077:A lot of guys come up talking about The Waterboy. I get a lot of that. Misery, Delores Claiborne and The Waterboy, those are the main ones I get. ~ Kathy Bates, #NFDB
1078:He found some dignity in the back pocket of his newly acquired pants and walked up into the main apartment, only tripping once. Or twice. ~ Charlie Jane Anders, #NFDB
1079:Information is the manager's main tool, indeed the manager's capital, and it is he who must decide what information he needs and how to use it. ~ Peter Drucker, #NFDB
1080:I think when you make a movie, one of your main focuses as a director is to inspire everyone else to give their best. Like manipulation. ~ Nicolas Winding Refn, #NFDB
1081:My main focus is ball. I know what butters my toast. I know what my job is and what is expected of me, and that's what's first and foremost. ~ Larry Fitzgerald, #NFDB
1082:One of the main discoveries of meditation is seeing how we continually run away from the present moment, how we avoid being here just as we are. ~ Pema Ch dr n, #NFDB
1083:One of the main points about travelling is to develop in us a feeling of solidarity, of that oneness without which no better world is possible. ~ Ella Maillart, #NFDB
1084:The main principle of this book is that for both optimal health and weight loss, you must consume a diet with a high nutrient-per-calorie ratio. ~ Joel Fuhrman, #NFDB
1085:The main reason that over 90 percent of the American public struggles financially is because they play not to lose. They don’t play to win. ~ Robert T Kiyosaki, #NFDB
1086:The main thing about aliens is that they are alien. They feel no responsibility for fulfilling any of your expectations. (Dark City Lights) ~ Robert Silverberg, #NFDB
1087:The wedding is tomorrow, but as the groom I don’t seem to have too many responsibilities. Be there; that’s the main item on my To Do list. ~ Audrey Niffenegger, #NFDB
1088:We were mugged by some senior citizens on the way from the chopper to the main gate, but no great harm done; they were using vintage revolvers. ~ Alfred Bester, #NFDB
1089:But perhaps the main reason I was not ground down by Irene’s rage was that I always knew that it masked her profound sadness, despair, and fear. ~ Irvin D Yalom, #NFDB
1090:Daily Mojo: Your main competitors are not others in your industry. Your main competitors are distractions. Don't let them beat you - stay focused ~ Darren Hardy, #NFDB
1091:Especially as it was safer for the main team if Wyatt didn’t go with them, what with his sudden but inevitable betrayal still yet to occur. Plus, ~ K B Spangler, #NFDB
1092:I like Macron a lot and I very much welcome him - particularly the fact that he made Europe one of the main topics of the election debate. ~ Jean Claude Juncker, #NFDB
1093:In Romanticism, the main determinant is the mood, the atmosphere. And in that regard, you could also describe Schubert as a Romantic. ~ Dietrich Fischer Dieskau, #NFDB
1094:I studied other singers, so I would learn how to phrase, and learn how to breathe. And the main thing was, I learned how to inhabit my song. ~ Bruce Springsteen, #NFDB
1095:My old man was a walking, talking master class. But in the end, the main thing I learned—the best thing—was never to bring a knife to a gunfight. ~ Teresa Toten, #NFDB
1096:Religion has at one time or another been thought to fill four main roles in human life: explanation, exhortation, consolation and inspiration. ~ Richard Dawkins, #NFDB
1097:The main claim to fame, I think, of Bernie Sanders - who I've never met; I'm sure he's a pleasant guy - [is that] he's certainly not stupid. ~ Michael Bloomberg, #NFDB
1098:The main reason why we look constantly to the Gita is that, whenever we need help, we may get it from the Gita. And, indeed, we always do get it. ~ Vinoba Bhave, #NFDB
1099:Woman's mind Oft' shifts her passions, like th'inconstant wind; Sudden she rages, like the troubled main, Now sinks the storm, and all is calm again. ~ John Gay, #NFDB
1100:And the main thing is," he continued, "that I know, and know for certain, that the enjoyment of doing this good is the only sure happiness in life. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
1101:But than again (and here is one of my main complaints about human consciousness): once you think a thought, it is extremely difficult to unthink it. ~ John Green, #NFDB
1102:Daughters of the South were to their mothers what tributaries were to the main rivers they flowed into: their source of immovable strength. ~ Sarah Addison Allen, #NFDB
1103:Do not be in a hurry to rush into the pleasures of the world like the young antelope who danced herself lame when the main dance was yet to come. ~ Chinua Achebe, #NFDB
1104:Economics deals with society's fundamental problems; it concerns everyone and belongs to all. It is the main and proper study of every citizen. ~ Robert P Murphy, #NFDB
1105:If the main pillar of the system is living a lie,” wrote Havel, “then it is not surprising that the fundamental threat to it is living in truth. ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
1106:I have got you together to hear what I have written down. I do not wish your advice about the main matterfor that I have determined for myself. ~ Abraham Lincoln, #NFDB
1107:In a film score, the last thing you want to do is take people out of the movie. The music is secondary. In opera, the music is the main event. ~ Stewart Copeland, #NFDB
1108:Learning to inhibit unwanted contractions of muscles that function without, or in spite of, our will, is the main task in coordinated action. ~ Moshe Feldenkrais, #NFDB
1109:My main reason for adopting literature as a profession was that, as the author is never seen by his clients, he need not dress respectably. ~ George Bernard Shaw, #NFDB
1110:One of the main purpose of art has ever been that of making its indispensable contribution to the growth of entropy of the universal stupidity. ~ William C Brown, #NFDB
1111:One of the main tasks of theology is to find words that do not divide but unite, that do not create conflict but unity, that do not hurt but heal. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
1112:plot is how the dramatic events (action) in a story change and/or transform the main character (emotion) over time in a meaningful way (theme). ~ Martha Alderson, #NFDB
1113:She saw stormtroopers running down the metal steps to the main floor. And now she looked directly into the terrifying eyes of Count Vidian. ~ John Jackson Miller, #NFDB
1114:So she planned up something that lots of people would see her do. Making a great alibi right in front of all those folks on Main Street. Brilliant. ~ Delia Owens, #NFDB
1115:Spielberg was very young and starting up when we did Sugarland Express and I loved that, but the main thing was that I really loved his talent. ~ Vilmos Zsigmond, #NFDB
1116:Tel était le sens de ma vocation ~ Simone de Beauvoiradulte, je reprendrais en main mon enfance et j'en ferais un chef-d'oeuvre sans faille. ~ Simone de Beauvoir, #NFDB
1117:The main aspect of meditation is, as you become more meditative, you become the boss, your mind becomes the slave, and that is how it should always be. ~ Sadguru, #NFDB
1118:Who would know but ten years ago that kids would be texting each other all the time, that that would be one of their main forms of communication. ~ Amy Klobuchar, #NFDB
1119:A person cannot make another happy, but he can make him unhappy. This is the main reason why there is more unhappiness than happiness in the world. ~ Thomas Szasz, #NFDB
1120:He proposed a steam-powered pneumatic tube system to carry telegraph forms the short distance from the Stock Exchange to the main telegraph office. ~ Tom Standage, #NFDB
1121:I had one life. And what did I do? Wasted it in some palooka preliminaries in Spain, just before Hitler and Chamberlain warm up for the main event. ~ Billy Wilder, #NFDB
1122:I love your arms,’ she sang, as James carried her the long way around the outside of the main building. ‘Big manly arms, carrying little Kerry. ~ Robert Muchamore, #NFDB
1123:In my view, the right to bear arms is in the Constitution for three main reasons: self-protection, community protection, and protection from tyrrany. ~ Glenn Beck, #NFDB
1124:I see no harm in telling young people to prepare for failure rather than success, since failure is the main thing that is going to happen to them. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
1125:I've always been a relaxed person on set, but I think the main thing is I think about it from an editing point of view way more than I did before. ~ Taika Waititi, #NFDB
1126:The main dry storage room of Sin du Jour is filled with a light unseen on Earth since a time of abject innocence.
And that was long ago, indeed. ~ Matt Wallace,#NFDB
1127:The main thing is to be philanthropic in your everyday life. You don't have to have money to do that. You can do it with your time and your energy. ~ Eva Longoria, #NFDB
1128:Walking is my main method of relaxation. I don't go over my lines or try to solve the world's problems, I just enjoy the scenery and the wildlife. ~ Kevin Whately, #NFDB
1129:Don’t embrace mediocrity; its main charm is to make you fall in love with failure. Speed off… Excellence awaits you at the end of your journey! ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
1130:Don't follow the mind. Don't follow the body. Follow the Conscience. That is the main principle of this text. So we should follow our Conscience. ~ Sathya Sai Baba, #NFDB
1131:Do you have any ambitions outside racing? My main ambition at the moment, whether inside or outside racing, is to become Formula 1 World Champion. ~ Kimi Raikkonen, #NFDB
1132:How she can be innocent even if she has no intention of harming me; her sweetness and loveliness is the main source of all my pains and sufferings. ~ M F Moonzajer, #NFDB
1133:I remain convinced that obstinate addiction to ordinary language in our private thoughts is one of the main obstacles to progress in philosophy. ~ Bertrand Russell, #NFDB
1134:I still need some more healthy rest in order to work at my best. My health is the main capital I have and I want to administer it intelligently. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
1135:L'amour c'est comme du mercure dans la main. Garde-là ouverte, il te restera dans la paume ; resserre ton étreinte, il te filera entre les doigts. ~ Dorothy Parker, #NFDB
1136:Once you're imagining being the main character, and you're having the conversations and actually being there, the magic in fiction writing takes over. ~ Will Hobbs, #NFDB
1137:One of the main reasons that it is so easy to march men off to war is that deep down each of them feels sorry for the man next to him who will die. ~ Ernest Becker, #NFDB
1138:People are human, not some machine we can control. Main rule-nya: jangan jadiin differences itu alasan untuk ngeluarin emosi dan starting a conflict. ~ Ika Natassa, #NFDB
1139:the assistance given by the ordinary man and woman was simply marvellous and was responsible in the main for the success of our fighting services. ~ Tim Pat Coogan, #NFDB
1140:The main problem is that many support the United Russia Party without even agreeing with its ideology - or even having an ideology of their own. ~ Vladislav Surkov, #NFDB
1141:very often the main problem we face in making a good decision is not the lack of information but our limited capability to process that information ~ Ha Joon Chang, #NFDB
1142:Wah, orang itu kalau sudah fanatik agama kejamnya bukan main. Kejam atas nama Tuhan, kan kontradiksi yang aneh sekali, tetapi begitulah manusia. ~ Y B Mangunwijaya, #NFDB
1143:We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee, we don't take trips on LSD. We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street, we like living right and free. ~ Merle Haggard, #NFDB
1144:We're not mere spectators, or a cosmic accident, or some sideshow, or the Greek chorus to the main event. The human experience IS the main event. ~ Terence McKenna, #NFDB
1145:Women are their own worst enemies. And guilt is the main weapon of self-torture . . . Show me a woman who doesn't feel guilty and I'll show you a man. ~ Erica Jong, #NFDB
1146:But then again (and this is one of my main complaints about the human consciousness): once you think a thought it is extremely difficult to unthank it. ~ John Green, #NFDB
1147:He said to tell you that when you’re up to your ass in alligators, it’s a little difficult to remember that your main objective was to drain the swamp. ~ Kay Hooper, #NFDB
1148:If you go out there and your main purpose is to get a sponsor, then it's not gonna work. Just go out there and have fun. That's how I got sponsored. ~ Ryan Sheckler, #NFDB
1149:I'm not unaware of the fact that probably my biggest audience is lesbians, and is probably the main reason why I've attained the success that I have. ~ Sharon Gless, #NFDB
1150:I said to the president's wife, Vietnam is the main reason we are having trouble with the youth of America. It is a war without explanation or reason. ~ Eartha Kitt, #NFDB
1151:Life is not a set campaign, but an irregular work, and the main forces in it are not overt resolutions, but latent and half-involuntary promptings. ~ Walter Bagehot, #NFDB
1152:Longfellow has his popularity, in the main, because he tells his story or his idea so that one needs nothing but his verses to understand it. ~ William Butler Yeats, #NFDB
1153:Once again, Rylann tried to catch the eye of the female bartender working Firelight’s main bar.
“One of the few times I’ve ever wished for a penis, ~ Julie James,#NFDB
1154:Only God can see the main road and the back road at the same time—which means that only God can know if you made the right choice or the wrong choice. ~ Paul Auster, #NFDB
1155:The main characteristic of play - whether of child or adult - is not it content but its mode. Play is an approach to action, not a form of activity. ~ Jerome Bruner, #NFDB
1156:The main motive for nonattachment is a desire to escape from the pain of living, and above all from love, which, sexual or non-sexual, is hard work. ~ George Orwell, #NFDB
1157:The main question is, are we living in a way that adds further aggression and self-centeredness to the mix, or are we adding some much-needed sanity? ~ Pema Ch dr n, #NFDB
1158:The main thing a musician would like to do is to give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things he knows of and senses in the universe. ~ John Coltrane, #NFDB
1159:The main thing known about secrets is that keeping them is unhealthy for the brain.46 Psychologist James Pennebaker and his colleagues studied what ~ David Eagleman, #NFDB
1160:You see, you’ve asked why and you’re willing to listen to me. That shows true psychology! But the main thing is not to interrupt me with questions ~ Sholom Aleichem, #NFDB
1161:Being put in this situation, where it's myself, Kyle O'Reilly and a Jay Lethal, I think it's the best main event you can have right now in Ring of Honor. ~ Adam Cole, #NFDB
1162:Four Decisions, which emphasizes the main categories of decisions that all companies must get right. They are: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. ~ Verne Harnish, #NFDB
1163:I love a sandwich that you can barely fit in your mouth because there's so much stuff on it. The bread should not be the main thing on a sandwich. ~ Adrianne Palicki, #NFDB
1164:Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
1165:My hatred of crowds, the obviousness of crowds, of anything en masse. Is this why I like little-known books? A general desire to escape the main world. ~ John Fowles, #NFDB
1166:One of the main things that I read about it that appealed to me was in Islam a man is honored as a human being and not measured by the color of his skin. ~ Malcolm X, #NFDB
1167:religion to other religions. Then he came to his main point: the essence of Christianity is not about religion at all, but about the person of Christ. ~ Eric Metaxas, #NFDB
1168:The main point that nullification addresses is that a government allowed to determine the scope of its own powers cannot remain limited for long. ~ Thomas E Woods Jr, #NFDB
1169:The main thing isn't knowing whether you're right or wrong. That really doesn't matter. The main thing is to keep people from bothering you. ~ Louis Ferdinand C line, #NFDB
1170:When I first started, my main goal was to not be bartending anymore, and to not be working at the bank anymore. I just wanted acting to be my job. ~ Tracy Spiridakos, #NFDB
1171:When I started drama school, theatre was the main draw. I never had any movie star notions. Not that there were family ties to the theatre, either. ~ Anne Marie Duff, #NFDB
1172:Elvis Presley is the main founding father of rock music. He was an unheralded genius behind a new music that changed western civilization for all time. ~ Peter Noone, #NFDB
1173:If hard work is the source of happiness, then we can conclude that the main job of procrastination is to delay that happiness for excuses to kill. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
1174:I'm a big State Fair person, and my main goal is to eat as much food as possible, but I tend not to do the foods on a stick. But I like Big Fat Bacon. ~ Alison McGhee, #NFDB
1175:May I introduce you all to the main course?" Morpheus spreads out an arm with a dramatic flare. "Dinner, meet your worthy adversaries, the hungry guests. ~ A G Howard, #NFDB
1176:Steven Pinker puts it, “The main lesson of thirty-five years of AI research is that the hard problems are easy and the easy problems are hard. . . ~ Erik Brynjolfsson, #NFDB
1177:That's a big battle to win, to be able to do a main title sequence and a theme song these days. That's not something network television does anymore. ~ Peter M Lenkov, #NFDB
1178:The main concern of the frame is that money be kept in the common wealth (or the hands of the government) in order to be used for the common good. HOW ~ George Lakoff, #NFDB
1179:The main factor in meditation is to keep the mind active in its own pursuit without taking in external impressions or thinking of other matters. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
1180:The main problem with the Democrats is their utter negativity. They're made up of schumucks and hypocrites. They also have higher levels of immorality. ~ Jackie Mason, #NFDB
1181:The main thing is that you have a good editor - one that believes in you and who will give you the feedback that you need to produce a good book. ~ Christopher Darden, #NFDB
1182:The main thing you can change is how you perceive yourself. Stop looking in the mirror and realize that youre living for yourself, not other people. ~ Amanda Seyfried, #NFDB
1183:True power—not to be confused with worldly power—is found at that beautiful
and sacred spot where will and surrender merge into an unstoppable force. ~ Darren Main,#NFDB
1184:Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
Bertrand Russell ~ Bertrand Russell,#NFDB
1185:Graham thought that the main problem with the All Night Folding Room was that there was no one around to make fun of the All Night Folding Room with. ~ Katherine Heiny, #NFDB
1186:Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord. J.I. Packer ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1187:The main factor in meditation is to keep the mind active in its own pursuit without taking in external impressions or thinking of other matters. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
1188:The main point for me is moral; animals are sentient beings. I know for some this is a hard argument to accept, but we're not built to eat a lot of meat. ~ Grace Slick, #NFDB
1189:There is one ray of hope. It seems to me that today the responsible leaders of the several peoples have, in the main, the honest will to abolish war. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
1190:To be honest, I don't think of any of my characters as minor characters - they're all the main characters in a story that I don't necessarily get to tell. ~ Robin Hobb, #NFDB
1191:We must begin to create a revolutionary, multiracial women’s movement that seriously addresses the main issues affecting poor and working-class women. ~ Angela Y Davis, #NFDB
1192:When leaders fail to empower others, it is usually due to three main reasons: 1. Desire for Job Security 2. Resistance to Change 3. Lack of Self-Worth ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
1193:But I think the main thing is motivation—to have a sincere motivation to help. Then you just do the best you can, and you don’t have to worry about it. ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #NFDB
1194:If the main pillar of the system is living a lie,” wrote Havel, “then it is not surprising that the fundamental threat to it is living in truth.” Since ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
1195:I have made the Bhagwad Gita as the main source of my inspiration and guide for the purpose of scientific investigations and formation of my theories. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
1196:imagined how great it would feel to jump into the water to cool off. Sure, she could just go inside the main cabin and freeze in the air conditioning. But ~ Kaira Rouda, #NFDB
1197:In my case, performance is part of the medium. Sometimes I feel that it's my main medium, and that the presentation of my poems on the page is secondary. ~ James Arthur, #NFDB
1198:It is neither cowardice nor betrayal to insist that the Enlightenment's main lesson is to be mindful of how much it has left its inheritors to figure out. ~ Samuel Moyn, #NFDB
1199:It is one of the basic tenets of logotherapy that man’s main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
1200:I've met Jon Glaser who has a show on Adult Swim call Delocated and he's the main writer we hired for the show. That's really my brand of humor, I would say. ~ Joe Buck, #NFDB
1201:Jane will be quite an old main soon,I declare. She is almost three-and-twenty! Lord, how ashamed I should be of not being married before three-and-twenty! ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1202:Making a film is so hard that if you don't have your main actors going along with the ride with the rest of the crew it can make your life very difficult. ~ Alan Parker, #NFDB
1203:My one main secret I did right after my pageants days, is I only wash my hair once a week. I tell everyone, 'You have to stop washing your hair so much!' ~ Joyce Giraud, #NFDB
1204:One of my main techniques for acting is I try to know almost nothing beyond the words that I have to say, because that's my zone of control. ~ Kristin Bauer van Straten, #NFDB
1205:Others said May was best, that sweet green time when lilacs bloomed and gardens along Main Street were filled with sugary pink peonies and Dutch tulips. ~ Alice Hoffman, #NFDB
1206:Religious people split into three main groups when faced with science. I shall label them the "know-nothings", the "know-alls", and the "no-contests." ~ Richard Dawkins, #NFDB
1207:The main business of humanity is to do a good job of being human beings," said Paul, "not to serve as appendages to machines, institutions, and systems. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
1208:The main problem, when an organization wants to map the future of x, is that it too often defines x far too narrowly, using the old market research paradigm. ~ Amy Webb, #NFDB
1209:The main reason God has given us minds is that we might seek out and find all the reasons that exist for treasuring him in all things and above all things. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
1210:the main reason God has given us minds is that we might seek out and find all the reasons that exist for treasuring him in all things and above all things. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
1211:The uses of travel are occasional, and short; but the best fruit it finds, when it finds it, is conversation; and this is a main function of life. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1212:At the beginning of the road into the swamp they put up a sign that said MACONDO and another larger one on the main street that said GOD EXISTS. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez, #NFDB
1213:But what does a Ministry of Magic do?” “Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there’s still witches an’ wizards up an’ down the country. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1214:Each of us seems to have a main focus, a particular idea of practicality - a concept of 'what we want out of life' against which we judge our experiences. ~ Jane Roberts, #NFDB
1215:Emerging onto the main level, Mappo and Fiddler were accosted with the harsh echo of a shouting voice, bouncing down the hallway from the altar chamber. ~ Steven Erikson, #NFDB
1216:How does this affect the rest of your team? How on board are the people not on this call? What do your colleagues see as their main challenges in this area? ~ Chris Voss, #NFDB
1217:I acted in junior high in the junior high school group, and then when I got into senior high I was, you know, the main actor of the senior high school. ~ Richard Foreman, #NFDB
1218:It was raining in the small, mountainous country of Llamedos. It was always raining in Llamedos. Rain was the country's main export. It had rain mines. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
1219:The most important thing is that it's much more fun to play in a band than to be in an audience in a club. That's the main thing I think, that you can do it. ~ Ikue Mori, #NFDB
1220:To define success or failure for a platform, and to identify how to improve it, there are three main metrics: liquidity, matching quality, and trust. ~ Geoffrey G Parker, #NFDB
1221:When you write a story, you're telling yourself the story,' he said. 'When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1222:When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story,’ he said. ‘When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1223:When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story,” he said. “When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1224:Withholding things in a story is no good if you aren't building to something substantial. It becomes foreplay without the main event, and no one wants that. ~ J J Abrams, #NFDB
1225:You discover that the main cause of your suffering is the seed of anger in you, because it has been watered too often, by yourself and by other people. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
1226:An arrogant person considers himself perfect. This is the chief harm of arrogance. It interferes with a person's main task in life—becoming a better person. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
1227:And I realize now that the two main themes of my novels were stated by my siblings: 'Here I am, cleaning shit off of practically everything' and 'No pain. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
1228:But I always liked side-paths, little dark back-alleys behind the main road- there one finds adventures and surprises, and precious metal in the dirt. ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky, #NFDB
1229:By the ancients, courage was regarded as practically the main part of virtue; by us, though I hope we are not less brave, purity is so regarded now. ~ Julius Charles Hare, #NFDB
1230:I dont want to be labeled one thing. My main thing I care about is being able to create the things I want to do with my friends, whatever platform that is. ~ Derek Waters, #NFDB
1231:I'm mad emotional. But my emotions are - I don't really get just like sad, I get hyper, and I be like mad, and I get hungry - that's like my main emotion. ~ Vince Staples, #NFDB
1232:The enemy must be annihilated before he reaches our main battlefield. We must stop him in the water, destroying all his equipment while it is still afloat! ~ Erwin Rommel, #NFDB
1233:The main challenge Not For Sale is big and it is modern day slavery, which is a $32billion dollar industry second to the illegal trade of drugs and arms. ~ David Batstone, #NFDB
1234:The main difference for the history of the world if I had been shot rather than Kennedy is that Onassis probably wouldn't have married Mrs Khrushchev. ~ Nikita Khrushchev, #NFDB
1235:The main thing right now is just going out and having fun. I know what I want to do. If I go out and have fun and relax, then all my goals should come true. ~ Ryan Howard, #NFDB
1236:The main witness, Harper, the state trooper i was supposed to have shot, testified he had told an “untruth” on direct examination but denied it was a lie. ~ Assata Shakur, #NFDB
1237:We're all watching each other, so there's no chance for censorship. The main problem is the idiot TV. If you watch local news, your head will turn to mush. ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
1238:We rounded the corner to the door of the building, and I came to a dead stop. Lounging on a bench beside the main entry to the Psychology building was Holden. ~ Ivy Layne, #NFDB
1239:When my first wife & I began the school, we had one main idea: to make the school fit the child - instead of making the child fit the school. ~ Alexander Sutherland Neill, #NFDB
1240:Your mother just carried you literally. The one who really gave you to her is the one who really knows about the main problem you were meant to solve! ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
1241:But I always liked side-paths, little dark back-alleys behind the main road- there one finds adventures and surprises, and precious metal in the dirt. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #NFDB
1242:Des fois, je donnerais ma main à couper pour devenir tout de suite un homme et d'autres fois il me semble que je ne voudrais pas survivre à ma jeunesse. ~ Jean Paul Sartre, #NFDB
1243:For the NA market the focus tends to be on actions by game characters while for the Japanese market their characterization is more likely to be the main focus. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1244:Hidden within the main conflict were dozens of other, more local wars, which had different flavours and different motivations in each country and each region. ~ Keith Lowe, #NFDB
1245:I don’t drink tea. I hate it. It’s mud. Moreover it’s one of the main reasons for the downfall of the British Empire. Be a good girl and make me some coffee. ~ Ian Fleming, #NFDB
1246:If two spouses each say, “I’m going to treat my self-centeredness as the main problem in the marriage,” you have the prospect of a truly great marriage. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1247:I heard the main reason the Israelites spent forty years wandering in the desert looking for the Promised Land was because Moses refused to ask directions. ~ Mary Connealy, #NFDB
1248:I'm always fascinated by losers. Also, in my "Foucault's Pendulum," the main characters, who are in a way losers, they are more interesting than the winners. ~ Umberto Eco, #NFDB
1249:It [piano lessons] wasn't a priority, but it was an interest and through that I became acquainted with classical music, which was a main interest at the time. ~ Paul Smith, #NFDB
1250:Just because your story had a few chapters where I wasn’t the main lead doesn’t make me any less the love of your life. And you’re mine. This is it. This is us. ~ L J Shen, #NFDB
1251:Let the main thing that we prize in God’s house be, not the outward ornaments of it, or a high seat in it, but the word of God and his ordinances in it. ~ Jonathan Edwards, #NFDB
1252:Mastery of design, empathy, play, and other seemingly “soft” aptitudes is now the main way for individuals and firms to stand out in a crowded marketplace. ~ Daniel H Pink, #NFDB
1253:My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people. Of course, I had to pull out some weeds, too. ~ Jack Welch, #NFDB
1254:The main thing is to feel your presence—hear you humming or yawning, see your combs & brushes lying around, worry about which dress you should put on, etc. ~ Ana s Nin, #NFDB
1255:The objects that we have known in better days are the main props that sustain the weight of our affections, and give us strength to await our future lot. ~ William Hazlitt, #NFDB
1256:the real reason I had wanted to grow up, the main reason I had been willing to even consider becoming an adult, was so I could have as many pets as I wanted. ~ Betsy Byars, #NFDB
1257:There are now electrical appliances with the main unit so sealed in that it cannot be got at for repair. There have always been human beings like that. ~ Mignon McLaughlin, #NFDB
1258:The study of acting consists in the main of getting out of one’s own way, and in learning to deal with uncertainty and being comfortable being uncomfortable. ~ David Mamet, #NFDB
1259:Though times have changed, it's a nice surprise to see that youthful feeling of anti-war sentiment returning once more to the cobbled main streets of Europe. ~ Cat Stevens, #NFDB
1260:But the perception of life as an organic unity is a slow achievement, and depends for its growth on a people's entry into the main current of world-events. ~ Muhammad Iqbal, #NFDB
1261:For me, the main principle for broadcasters has to be that if people stand to benefit from an interview, they should be prepared to face some downside as well. ~ Evan Davis, #NFDB
1262:From the masthead one can see a few patches of open water in different directions, but the main outlook is the same scene of desolate hummocky pack. ~ Apsley Cherry Garrard, #NFDB
1263:had come to suspect that the main reason he had had such a wild and successful life was that he never really understood the significance of anything he did. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
1264:I found that one of the main reasons happy couples are so happy is because they always try to assume that their spouses have good intentions toward them. ~ Shaunti Feldhahn, #NFDB
1265:If we're going to be an effective, efficient economy, we need to have all part of that engine running well, and that includes Wall Street and Main Street. ~ Hillary Clinton, #NFDB
1266:I think I'm in a really nice position, where I'm sure I could do another show if I wanted to do one, but right now the main thing in my mind is writing songs. ~ Chris Isaak, #NFDB
1267:My brother. Are you ready?” “Yes,” the other replied. “You realize I’m going to use your computer to hack pm.gov.tn?” “OK,” the main replied. “Tell me what to ~ Parmy Olson, #NFDB
1268:My dad calls me 'Mac' a lot, from 'Mike Tyson's Punch Out' - Little Mac is the main character. I was obsessed. I can still beat Mike Tyson on 'Punch Out.' ~ Mayer Hawthorne, #NFDB
1269:My main life lesson from investing: self-interest is the most powerful force on earth, and can get people to embrace and defend almost anything. ~ Jesse Lauriston Livermore, #NFDB
1270:One of the main ways we move from abstract knowledge about God to a personal encounter with him as a living reality is through the furnace of affliction. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1271:There are two traditions in Northern Ireland. There are two main religious denominations. But there is only one true moral denomination. And it wants peace. ~ David Trimble, #NFDB
1272:When a study was made a few years ago on runaway wives, what do you think was discovered to be the main reason wives ran away? It was “lack of appreciation. ~ Dale Carnegie, #NFDB
1273:Capitalism is, in Mao's language, the main contradiction in the world today and so our efforts have to be focused on ending this system and making a new one. ~ Michael Yates, #NFDB
1274:Eva knew that her mom hadn’t gotten the vegan sorbet because it was too expensive. In their home, cost was the main reason why something good didn’t happen. ~ J Ryan Stradal, #NFDB
1275:Greece is a particular worry for regulators as Athens says deferred tax assets represent 30-40 per cent of the core tier one capital in the country’s main banks. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1276:Herein lies the main objective of portraiture and also its main difficulty. The photographer probes for the innermost. The lens sees only the surface... . ~ Philippe Halsman, #NFDB
1277:I could live without acting.... Acting is a gift I've received. And I'm grateful for it and I enjoy it. But it's not the main point of my life. It never was. ~ Jeanne Moreau, #NFDB
1278:In 2016 we are faced with a particularly bizarre and unappetizing choice as regards the two main political parties' presidential candidates, in my opinion. ~ Viggo Mortensen, #NFDB
1279:I think it's one of the main negative emotional ingredients that fuels show business, because there's so much at stake and the fear of failure looms large. ~ Garry Shandling, #NFDB
1280:I think the main reason a lot of child stars don't make it is that it's hard to see someone as cute and then all of a sudden see them as having more depth. ~ Christina Ricci, #NFDB
1281:It keeps us ever mindful of life, how it streams by in an awful rush if one is not careful to stop and listen...and honestly see. (Main character Annie Zook) ~ Beverly Lewis, #NFDB
1282:I've never been keen on open adoption. It doesn't seem to solve the main problem with adoption, which is that somebody feels she was abandoned by someone else. ~ Joan Didion, #NFDB
1283:Just after nightfall, a warrant arrived at the city’s main women’s prison for the execution of Sajida al-Rishawi. The instructions had come from King Abdullah ~ Joby Warrick, #NFDB
1284:Literature does not exist in a vacuum. Writers as such have a definite social function exactly proportional to their ability as writers. This is their main use. ~ Ezra Pound, #NFDB
1285:My main concern is meeting with public because my main commitment, main interest is promotion of human value, human affection, compassion and religious harmony. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
1286:My main objective with a home studio - I could get into doing full band demos - but my first objective is to cut things like guitar tracks and solos at home. ~ John Petrucci, #NFDB
1287:One of Netscape's main attractions to customers from Day One is that we provide alternatives. And that's cherished by many customers - certainly not all. ~ James L Barksdale, #NFDB
1288:She would expect explanations from her Main Man, and while I had invented mansplaining and was its foremost practitioner, I had no answers to give her. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
1289:system, as the advanced economic sector which directly shapes a growing multitude of image-objects, the spectacle is the main production of present-day society. ~ Guy Debord, #NFDB
1290:The answer is that each element corresponds to one solution of the main equation of quantum mechanics. The whole of chemistry emerges from a single equation. ~ Carlo Rovelli, #NFDB
1291:The main activity of programming is not the origination of new independent programs, but in the integration, modification, and explanation of existing ones. ~ Terry Winograd, #NFDB
1292:The main effect of turning a partnership into a corporation was to transfer the financial risk to the shareholders. “When things go wrong it’s their problem, ~ Michael Lewis, #NFDB
1293:The main thing that 99designs is about is choice. Its a fantastic model that eliminates risk for small business owners and puts designers on equal footing. ~ Matt Mickiewicz, #NFDB
1294:The two main hazards of psychoanalysis: that it might fail, and that if it succeeds, you'll never be able to forgive yourself for all those wasted years. ~ Mignon McLaughlin, #NFDB
1295:Civil disobedience's main goal typically is to try to arouse and inspire others to join and do something. Well, sometimes that is a good tactic, sometimes not. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
1296:Discoveries are often made by not following instructions, by going off the main road, by trying the untried. —FRANK TYGER, POLITICAL CARTOONIST AND COLUMNIST I ~ Josh Kaufman, #NFDB
1297:[...] et déjà je ne souhaitais plus rien au-delà de son sourire, et que de marcher avec elle, ainsi, dans un tiède chemin bordé de fleurs, en lui donnant la main. ~ Andr Gide, #NFDB
1298:I don't really usually push an agenda, and I don't feel that my main job is to persuade people of something. My main job is to help them think about something. ~ Louis Menand, #NFDB
1299:If I were Satan and my ultimate goal was to thwart God's kingdom and purposes, one of my main strategies would be to get churchgoers to ignore the Holy Spirit. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
1300:I have one main reader, Miriam Gomez, my wife. She reads everything I write - I have not finished writing something and she is already reading it. ~ Guillermo Cabrera Infante, #NFDB
1301:In principle, there are only three main components of spending that much matter to monetary policy: consumer spending, business investment and exports and trade. ~ Evan Davis, #NFDB
1302:Kindle is not only just an E book reader. Apart from that, it supports many features to give users a great Experience. The main features are, • 1. TTS stands for ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1303:Socrate. Tiens-tu quelque chose ?
Strepsiade. Non, par Zeus, non certes.
Socrate. Rien du tout ?
Strepsiade. Rien... que ma verge dans ma main droite. ~ Aristophanes,#NFDB
1304:The fear of creative destruction is the main reason why there was no sustained increase in living standards between the Neolithic and Industrial revolutions. ~ Daron Acemo lu, #NFDB
1305:This is, in fact, our main part to play in God’s Story: to trust him even when common sense makes us scratch our head and wonder what in the world is going on. ~ Randy Frazee, #NFDB
1306:You don't want to take the world over with a whole hamper full of dirty clothes. That's the main thing people overlook. And take a shower, take a bath every day. ~ J B Smoove, #NFDB
1307:I don't feel that it is necessary to know exactly what I am. The main interest in life and work is to become someone else that you were not in the beginning. ~ Michel Foucault, #NFDB
1308:I studied theater in college, and I really wanted to be an actress and play a lot of different roles. Then I made landing on a television comedy my main focus. ~ Jenna Fischer, #NFDB
1309:Main characters never die in books. If they did, the story would be ruined, or over.”
“Everybody is a main character to someone. There are no minor characters. ~ Amy Harmon,#NFDB
1310:My main problem is that over and over again, I try to get all my characters to say stuff that I think is so witty or erudite you know, so that everybody will go. ~ Anne Lamott, #NFDB
1311:One of the main lessons I had learned is that exfiltrations are almost ninety percent logistics - just making sure everything is lined up as it needs to be. ~ Antonio J M ndez, #NFDB
1312:The main mistake most marketers make is to use Twitter primarily as an extension of their blog, a place to push a link to content they have posted elsewhere. ~ Gary Vaynerchuk, #NFDB
1313:The main thing that's missing in energy is an incentive to create things that are zero-CO2-emitting and that have the right scale and reliability characteristics. ~ Bill Gates, #NFDB
1314:They read in an airline magazine that they can manage their whole supply chain in the cloud for $499 per year, and suddenly that’s the main company initiative. When ~ Gene Kim, #NFDB
1315:We have a freer world because of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the changes in China. Those two have been the main contributors to freedom in our time. ~ Milton Friedman, #NFDB
1316:We're here to get to know and study ourselves. The path, the way to do that, our main vehicle, is going to be meditation, and some sense of general wakefulness. ~ Pema Ch dr n, #NFDB
1317:Whenever people say they didn't like the main character of a book, they mean they didn't like the book. The main character has to be a friend? I don't get that. ~ Melissa Bank, #NFDB
1318:With Alibaba’s operation of U.S. marketplace 11 Main and investment in Prime-mimicker Shop Runner, outfits like Tech Armor will have more choices of where to sell. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1319:Words are but the bannerets of a great army, a few bits of waving color here and there; thoughts are the main body of the footman that march unseen below. ~ Henry Ward Beecher, #NFDB
1320:Almost as though the painting itself becomes the embodiment of a type of struggle for visibility, and this might be considered the main subject of the painting. ~ Kehinde Wiley, #NFDB
1321:Asana, with its soothing, stretching and relaxing action, is the main physical exercise for balancing the doshas. It calms Vata, cools Pitta and releases Kapha. ~ David Frawley, #NFDB
1322:But let’s be real: feminism has mostly worked hard for those things for white women, and that is one of the main reasons why it gets its wig snatched so often. A ~ Luvvie Ajayi, #NFDB
1323:Dreaming, in short, is one of the devices we employ to circumvent repression, one of the main methods of what may be called indirect representation in the mind. ~ Sigmund Freud, #NFDB
1324:Forcing Your body into a yoga pose is like brushing your teeth with a wire brush. You may get rid of the plaque but gingivitis will be the least of your concerns. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
1325:Horror films are very functional like comedies. The main thing with a comedy, the big question is "is it funny?" And with horror the question is "is it scary?" ~ Leigh Whannell, #NFDB
1326:I describe System 1 as effortlessly originating impressions and feelings that are the main sources of the explicit beliefs and deliberate choices of System 2. ~ Daniel Kahneman, #NFDB
1327:I'd read things, like people criticizing me. But no one likes to read stuff about that, and probably the main thing that was getting to me was me mum's illness. ~ Jack Osbourne, #NFDB
1328:In his school, Bertrand Russell thought it was better if they had the sex, so they could give their undivided attention to mathematics, which was the main thing. ~ Paul Goodman, #NFDB
1329:I set out to be a cross between Lenny Bruce and Robert the Bruce - my main thrust was the body and its functions and malfunctions - the absurdity of the thing. ~ Billy Connolly, #NFDB
1330:My main thing is I'm gonna go out there every night and give it all I got and just try to put on the best show I can. That's just the way I'm programmed and wired. ~ Luke Bryan, #NFDB
1331:Puis ce fut la ronde de l'amour: la peur qui donne la main au désir, la tendresse et la rage, et cette souffrance brutale qui suivait, triomphant, le plaisir. ~ Fran oise Sagan, #NFDB
1332:The main difference between illustration and comics is that comics are much, much more work. Every comics page is the equivalent of six to nine illustrations. ~ Molly Crabapple, #NFDB
1333:The main of life is composed of small incidents and petty occurrences; of wishes for objects not remote, and grief for disappointments of no fatal consequence. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
1334:The main problem with this great obsession for saving time is very simple: you can't save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly. ~ Benjamin Hoff, #NFDB
1335:The main problem with this great obsession for saving time is very simple: you can't save time, you can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly. ~ Benjamin Hoff, #NFDB
1336:The main selling appeal of NAFTA to US corporations is that it gives them an advantage in the North American market over their European and Japanese competitors. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
1337:There are tree main bulwarks of defence against new thoughts: to pay no heed, to give no credence, and finally to assert that it had already long existed. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, #NFDB
1338:There is a young and impressionable mind out there that is hungry for information. It has latched on to an electronic tube as its main source of nourishment. ~ Joan Ganz Cooney, #NFDB
1339:"We're here to get to know and study ourselves. The path, the way to do that, our main vehicle,is going to be meditation, and some sense of general wakefulness." ~ Pema Chödrön, #NFDB
1340:What most likely caused the second event was the rupture of a main steam line, carrying steam under extreme pressure. This was Turner’s theory from the beginning. ~ Erik Larson, #NFDB
1341:When we free ourselves from the false promise of reward, we often find that the thing we were seeking happiness from was the main source of our misery." p.129 ~ Kelly McGonigal, #NFDB
1342:When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story,” he said. “When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.” Gould ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1343:away from or classed differently from a main or related body 2: a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample 1. ~ Malcolm Gladwell, #NFDB
1344:Consider that as a principle of love is the main principle in the heart of a real Christian, so the labor of love, is the main business of the Christian life. ~ Jonathan Edwards, #NFDB
1345:First, there was 2 Stupid Dogs. Then, Dexters Laboratory. And now, Powerpuff Girls. There were a lot of little things in between, but those were the main ones. ~ Craig McCracken, #NFDB
1346:He main retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp. Dostoevsky said once, 'There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings'. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
1347:If I don't understand you, I may be angry at you, all the time. We are not capable of understanding each other, and that is the main source of human suffering. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
1348:In the second of Road’s main innovations, Vogt summed up the relationship between humanity and this global environment with a single concept: carrying capacity. ~ Charles C Mann, #NFDB
1349:Like Art, Tea has its periods and its schools. Its evolution may be roughly divided into three main stages: the Boiled Tea, the Whipped Tea, and the Steeped Tea. ~ Kakuz Okakura, #NFDB
1350:My kids are my main hobby but, now theyve gotten older, theyve forced me to do things without them. I do a lot of things with my boat. My wife and I enjoy boating. ~ Ric Flair, #NFDB
1351:New Year's Day probably is not going to work. And one of the main reasons it's not going to work is that the Rose Bowl is on New Year's Day, and it's not moving. ~ Audie Cornish, #NFDB
1352:One thing you don't want to do as a host is be running around all evening. Do as much as you can ahead of time, so all you have to do is grill the main ingredients. ~ Bobby Flay, #NFDB
1353:Relationship with another is like gazing into a still pond. You will either see your own face reflected or the depth of the water, but never both at the same time. ~ Darren Main, #NFDB
1354:The main international problem facing America is our lack of - our loss of influence in the world and our lack of an ability to define what U.S. interests really are. ~ Bob Barr, #NFDB
1355:The main thing is to write for the joy of it. Cultivate a work-lust that imagines its haven like your hands at night dreaming the sun in the sunspot of a breast. ~ Seamus Heaney, #NFDB
1356:The orders come direct from the Führer, so there can be no argument. Several other camps will take some of the load, but Auschwitz is to be a main disposal center. ~ Herman Wouk, #NFDB
1357:…This remains the great deficiency of literature: its imitation of nature cannot prepare you for the main events. For the main events, only experience will answer. ~ Martin Amis, #NFDB
1358:Although much remains obscure, and will long remain obscure, ... I am convinced that Natural Selection has been the main but not exclusive means of modification. ~ Charles Darwin, #NFDB
1359:But the main lesson we can extract from biology is that it’s better to cultivate a team of populations that attack the problem in different, overlapping manners. ~ David Eagleman, #NFDB
1360:Conservative Denyers and Delayers are the main reason America lacks the consensus and the political will to take up the fight against catastrophic climate change. ~ Joseph J Romm, #NFDB
1361:[he brend] gotta be with my fashion I gotta be comfortable with it and want to wear it more than anyone else. So that's really my main objective when it comes to that. ~ Lil Herb, #NFDB
1362:in the book i'm reading (The Principal) the main chareter best friend has to go to a differnt school. I can picture them waiting at the bus stop together crying. ~ Jerry Spinelli, #NFDB
1363:My books are based on emotions, feelings, relationships. In these areas women are experts, so it's not strange that the main characters of my novels are females. ~ Isabel Allende, #NFDB
1364:No matter where we come from, a little sugar is what everybody demands in life, what everybody needs in life. It's perhaps the main ingredient that keeps us alive. ~ Merce Cardus, #NFDB
1365:Revelation 6–16 is the main section of the Bible that describes the end-times Tribulation. These eleven chapters focus upon the awful judgments of the end times. ~ Mark Hitchcock, #NFDB
1366:The main reason guys will never admit to having even the teeniest clue about what women really want is because if they did, they'd have to do something about it. ~ Barbara Graham, #NFDB
1367:The main thing a childhood in the Church did for me, I think, was set up the universe as a moral system. Once you've seen it that way, it always seems that way. ~ George Saunders, #NFDB
1368:The main thing I've learned is that we all have to learn to work with - and appreciate - the brain we've been given, and not waste time wishing things were easier. ~ Laini Taylor, #NFDB
1369:The main thing you need to know about instructions is that no one is going to read them—at least not until after repeated attempts at “muddling through” have failed. ~ Steve Krug, #NFDB
1370:Yeah, the main goal when I'm writing [movie scripts] is to entertain myself. It's supposed to be funny, but then a funny idea can be turned into something else. ~ Quentin Dupieux, #NFDB
1371:You want to be in a movie where your part works. That's the main thing. No matter how you beat yourself working on the thing, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. ~ Jeff Goldblum, #NFDB
1372:But the main thing I had to do in 1928 was watch my step. Play along with the farce. Brush my teeth. Comb my hair. At all costs, stifle my natural hideous laughter. ~ J D Salinger, #NFDB
1373:Checking a gauge, Maddox saw that he was supersonic. Now, he kept a close eye on his height meter. “Get ready to deploy your main parachute,” Galyan said shortly. ~ Vaughn Heppner, #NFDB
1374:My main intention was to not only create collections that defined myself and style, but to also create things that my fans identify with me and feel a belonging to. ~ Ashley Purdy, #NFDB
1375:The main peculiarity which distinguishes man from other animals is the means of his support - the power which he possesses of very greatly increasing these means. ~ Thomas Malthus, #NFDB
1376:The 'Main Street' retailers ... see customers come to the store to locate items ... only to leave and order the items over the Internet just to escape the sales tax. ~ John McCain, #NFDB
1377:We have to dedicate our efforts to better the life, the time passed by the worker in the industrial plant. That will be one of our main efforts during the next year. ~ Che Guevara, #NFDB
1378:We rebelled by criminal methods against the joyfulness of the new life.” —LESZEK KOLAKOWSKI QUOTING BUKHARIN AT HIS TRIAL, IN MAIN CURRENTS OF MARXISM, VOL. 3, P. 82 ~ Clive James, #NFDB
1379:What the photos make clear is that the main factor that affects how people live is not their religion, their culture, or the country they live in, but their income. ~ Hans Rosling, #NFDB
1380:You have to remember that I played longer than anybody else on the main tour; I played until I was 40, and then played another six years or so on the seniors tour. ~ Jimmy Connors, #NFDB
1381:and he would probably not agree with my conviction that a sense of humor is the main measure of sanity. But who can say for sure? Humor is a very private thing. ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
1382:As a Southerner I would have to say that one of the main importances of the War is that Southerners have a sense of defeat which none of the rest of the country has. ~ Shelby Foote, #NFDB
1383:As for my career, I always said to my kids, 'You don't cry because it's over, you're happy because it happened.' That's the main thing. I'm very happy that it happened. ~ Pat Burns, #NFDB
1384:Canada was settled, in the main, by people with a lower middle-class outlook, and a respect, rather than an affectionate familiarity, for the things of the mind. ~ Robertson Davies, #NFDB
1385:Every action is seen to fall into one of three main categories, guarding, hitting, or moving. Here, then, are the elements of combat, whether in war or pugilism. ~ B H Liddell Hart, #NFDB
1386:If a Tory does not believe that private property is one of the main bulwarks of individual freedom, then he had better become a socialist and have done with it. ~ Margaret Thatcher, #NFDB
1387:I hope my work has inspired young artists. I have always tried to maintain my freedom as an artist and I feel it is one of the main reasons I have been successful. ~ Frank Frazetta, #NFDB
1388:I'm really trying not to feel I'm getting spoiled, because the way I look at it, since I'm not a main character of any of the movies, I realize just how fortunate I am. ~ Ken Jeong, #NFDB
1389:Islam is a religion of success. Unlike Christianity, which has as its main image, in the west at least, a man dying in a devastating, disgraceful, helpless death. ~ Karen Armstrong, #NFDB
1390:I think if you use Twitter and social media as your main source of information you are an idiot, but I think most people who use it know better, so I kind of enjoy it. ~ Dave Barry, #NFDB
1391:Main Street has too much debt already. It is simply a bonanza for speculators who can borrow the overnight money and then buy something that they can speculate on. ~ David Stockman, #NFDB
1392:Meine Wissenschaft gibt mir Wachträume, die andere nicht einmal im Schlafen haben."
Peter Handke: Langsame Heimkehr. Erzählung. Frankfurt am Main 1994, S. 63. ~ Peter Handke,#NFDB
1393:Prana... is the spirit of mantra. Mantra in turn is the expression of prana. Whatever most engages our prana or vital energy becomes the main subject of our speech. ~ David Frawley, #NFDB
1394:The main business of religions is to purify, control, and restrain that excessive and exclusive taste for well-being which men acquire in times of equality. ~ Alexis de Tocqueville, #NFDB
1395:The main factor in any form of creativeness is the life of a human spirit, that of the actor and his part, their joint feelings and subconscious creation. ~ Constantin Stanislavski, #NFDB
1396:The main thing Karate offers to me is a philosophy of life. The philosophy of Karate is respect and discipline. You give 100% of whatever you do, in every activity. ~ Lyoto Machida, #NFDB
1397:There's something in psychology called the narrative paradigm, which essentially means that we think of our lives as stories in which we are the main characters. ~ Aleksandar Hemon, #NFDB
1398:This may sound somewhat obvious but, as the French philosopher Voltaire once famously pointed out, the main problem with common sense is that it is not so common. ~ Richard Wiseman, #NFDB
1399:Behind a leader there must be followers, but they should always be on the lookout for the main chance and ready to change sides if the current leader doesn't deliver. ~ Mary Douglas, #NFDB
1400:But books–they’re different. When you watch a film, you’re sort of an outsider looking in. With a book–you’re right there. You are inside. You are the main character. ~ Alice Oseman, #NFDB
1401:Creativity has a lot to do with the main idea. Inspiration is what comes when you are dealing with the idea. But inspiration won't invite what's not there to begin with. ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
1402:Even in parts of the showcase capital of Pyongyang, you can stroll down the middle of a main street at night without being able to see the buildings on either side. ~ Barbara Demick, #NFDB
1403:from Thomas Carlyle that helped him lead a life free from worry: “Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. ~ Dale Carnegie, #NFDB
1404:He felt a mixture of fear and excitement, but his main concerns were not dying, making his mentors proud, and not making a fool of himself, in that order of importance. ~ Wesley Chu, #NFDB
1405:His name was Sir William Osler, and these are the words he read: “Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. ~ Robert Morgan, #NFDB
1406:I am not a pacifist. The main lesson I have learned in my dealings with Hitler is that one simply can’t play poker with a gangster if one has no cards in one’s hand. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1407:I didn't grow up a theatre kid, going to theatre camps. I played sports, and that was my main direction. But luckily, I never had to choose between sports and theatre. ~ Aaron Tveit, #NFDB
1408:I made mistakes. My supporters and I failed to prevent a main like [Mikhail] Saakashvili from acquiring absolute power. I should have criticized him earlier on. ~ Irakli Okruashvili, #NFDB
1409:Once we acknowledge that God is the main character, only then can we even begin to get to that place where we’re no longer tempted to let our emotions drive us. We ~ Craig Groeschel, #NFDB
1410:One of the main point of contention is whether or not Keith Scott was in possession of a gun. We still don`t know. Police say he did have a gun. The gun was recovered. ~ Chris Hayes, #NFDB
1411:Religion has nothing to do with compassion; it is our love for God that is the main thing because we have all been created for the sole purpose to love and be loved. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
1412:The main affliction of our modern civilization is that we don’t know how to handle the suffering inside us and we try to cover it up with all kinds of consumption. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
1413:The Sabbath, as now recognized and enforced, is one of the main pillars of Priestcraft and Superstition, and the stronghold of a merely ceremonial Religion. ~ William Lloyd Garrison, #NFDB
1414:The successful leader may be the person who recognizes that we all have talents and who thus sees her or his main job as encouraging mindfulness in those being led. ~ Ellen J Langer, #NFDB
1415:Tony Plummer brilliantly pointed out in his book, Forecasting Financial Markets, the main leader of the market is price. Price is the leader of the market crowd. Traders ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1416:Trillian had come to suspect that the main reason he had had such a wild and successful life was that he never really understood the significance of anything he did. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
1417:Trustworthiness is the thing that you need the most going to a presidential election. Honest and trustworthy is one of the main questions in any presidential election. ~ Dana Perino, #NFDB
1418:What I found was a moment where the main character has to figuratively look at himself, as in the mirror. He is confronted with a disturbing truth: change or die. ~ James Scott Bell, #NFDB
1419:When I get called in for stuff for Hollywood, I get to be the best friend of the Caucasian leadIf I want to play the main guy, I have found, I have to write it. ~ Lin Manuel Miranda, #NFDB
1420:With fiction, the works of women are often over-interpreted as autobiography, especially when the main character is a woman, especially if she is seen as privileged. ~ Kate Zambreno, #NFDB
1421:Beware 'good' main characters who have a limited repertory of culturally acceptable feelings, while your evil bastards have a full range of vivid, passionate feelings. ~ Bill Johnson, #NFDB
1422:But the main reason Scanners are different from others, and the reason they get noticed for not sticking to anything, is because they learn faster than almost anybody. ~ Barbara Sher, #NFDB
1423:I am now convinced that the Great Pyramid of Giza was built to also celebrate the Spring equinox -in its own way- as the Mayan main pyramid at Chichen Itza, Mexico. ~ Ibrahim Ibrahim, #NFDB
1424:I do not accept reading tips from strangers, especially from indecisive men whose shirt collars are a dramatically different color from the main portion of the garment. ~ Joe Queenan, #NFDB
1425:If you say in advance there is going to be a main candidate and then that doesn't count later, then that's going to be a highly problematic occurrence in a democracy. ~ Martin Schulz, #NFDB
1426:It is strange that the tactile sense, which is so infinitely less precious to men than sight, becomes at critical moments our main, if not only, handle to reality. ~ Vladimir Nabokov, #NFDB
1427:It's always hard to predict what's coming up next. My main guess is that content creators will increasingly start using BitTorrent to distribute their own work directly. ~ Bram Cohen, #NFDB
1428:Like all born politicians, their eye was for the main chance rather than for the argument, and they found it easier to forswear a conviction than to forego a comfort. ~ Ellen Glasgow, #NFDB
1429:Muhabbat apni marzi se khulay pinjray main totay ki tarha bethnay ki salaahiyat hai. Muhabbat is ghulami ka toq hai jo insaan khud apnay ekhtyar se galay main dalta hai ~ Bano Qudsia, #NFDB
1430:Physically I feel pretty good; that's the main key, is just making sure your body is ready to play every night since you play so many games and I feel like I'm there. ~ Stephen Curry, #NFDB
1431:The ego mind is like a plant growing in a very small pot. While the pot may be
attractive and ornate, its size doesn’t allow the plant to express its full potential. ~ Darren Main,#NFDB
1432:The journalist, whose main duty is speed, is likely sometimes to get an advantage over the diplomatist whose main object is accuracy. ~ George Curzon 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, #NFDB
1433:The main focus for me is not trying to find duet partners. It's about just making great songs. I want most of my album to be in my voice, because it's my point of view. ~ John Legend, #NFDB
1434:Trilllian had come to suspect that the main reason he had had such a wild and successful life was that he never really understood the significance of anything he did. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
1435:All for each, and each for all, is a good motto; but only on condition that each works with might and main to so maintain himself as not to be a burden to others. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #NFDB
1436:And why do the main characters always have to hate each other at the beginning of the movie? Like, hello, red flag. It’s so obvious they’re going to get together. ~ Catherine McKenzie, #NFDB
1437:Anybody can direct a picture once they know the fundamentals. Directing is not a mystery, it's not an art. The main thing about directing is: photograph the people's eyes. ~ John Ford, #NFDB
1438:As she left the church, shaking her head, she heard Cole saying Kyle’s name again and again. It was like he’d just discovered fire, and Kyle was the main ingredient. ~ Debra Anastasia, #NFDB
1439:Here’s all you have to know about men and women: women are crazy, men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid.” ~ Jewel E AnnGeorge Carlin ~ Jewel E Ann, #NFDB
1440:I made a conscious effort that I just wanted to work with people that were going to make me better and that was the main thing - writers, directors, in whatever medium. ~ Josh Duhamel, #NFDB
1441:I never wanted to be a filmmaker. I still, sometimes, think I got sidetracked by this, like this is a tangent. My main thing was painting; I was just going to do that. ~ Taika Waititi, #NFDB
1442:In fact, my main conclusion after spending ten years of my life working on the TEX project is that software is hard. It's harder than anything else I've ever had to do. ~ Donald Knuth, #NFDB
1443:My main expertise is in the past, but if I have to extrapolate into the future, I would say: no good news any time soon and an obvious exit strategy is not apparent to me. ~ Juan Cole, #NFDB
1444:The main efforts of investigators have been in papering over contradictions in the big bang theory, to build up an idea which has become ever more complex and cumbersome. ~ Fred Hoyle, #NFDB
1445:The two main ideas that run through all of my writing, whether it be literary criticism or political polemic are these: I am strong in favor of liberty and I hate fraud. ~ H L Mencken, #NFDB
1446:I still play jazz, and I've always got that trumpet very handy, but I'm coming to feel the classical venues are where my main focus is, in the realm of symphonic pops. ~ Doc Severinsen, #NFDB
1447:It is only in romances that people undergo a sudden metamorphosis. In real life, even after the most terrible experiences, the main character remains exactly the same. ~ Isadora Duncan, #NFDB
1448:The airlock on the main deck began to open. Riff hissed and drew his gun. "We're being boarded." Steel frowned and drew his sword. Midnight let qi gather in her palms. ~ Daniel Arenson, #NFDB
1449:The film [Stalker] needs to be slower and duller at the start so that the viewers who walked into the wrong theatre have time to leave before the main action starts. ~ Andrei Tarkovsky, #NFDB
1450:The main problem with all these newly developed fats and fat replacers coming out of food company laboratories is that their effects on health have barely been studied. ~ Nina Teicholz, #NFDB
1451:The main thing is to stop struggling and nourish yourself. When you nourish yourself, your creative energy is renewed. You are able to pick up your lyre again and sing. ~ Sue Monk Kidd, #NFDB
1452:The main things are to commit to some simple behaviors—meditating, exercising, getting enough sleep—and to practice altruism.… And nurture your social connections.” If ~ Jon Kabat Zinn, #NFDB
1453:The second stage set in ten or fifteen days after the bombing. The main symptom was falling hair. Diarrhoea and fever, which in some cases went as high as 106, came next. ~ John Hersey, #NFDB
1454:Well, I have a farm in Vermont that's my main residence, where I do lots of digging and mowing, and ride tractors - just so you don't get the wrong idea that I'm too girlie! ~ Tim Daly, #NFDB
1455:Born in a house where the door's shut tight
Shadowy fingers on the curtains at night
Cherry tree blossom head high snow
A busy main road where I wasn't to go ~ Robin Williamson,#NFDB
1456:I think education is power. I think that being able to communicate with people is power. One of my main goals on the planet is to encourage people to empower themselves. ~ Oprah Winfrey, #NFDB
1457:John's time and effort were, in the main, spent on pretty honorable stuff. As for the other side, well, nobody's perfect, nobody's Jesus. And look what they did to him. ~ Paul McCartney, #NFDB
1458:Let God direct your steps. The main reason why many steps fail is that people know God is an expert in directing steps, but they don’t want to give him the contract. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
1459:Life is sentimental. Why should I be cold and hard about it? That's the main content. The biggest thing in people's lives is their loves and dreams and visions, you know. ~ Jim Harrison, #NFDB
1460:The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God's Word. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
1461:Through the ages, man's main concern was life after death. Today, for the first time, we find we must ask questions about whether there will be life before death. ~ Albert Szent Gyorgyi, #NFDB
1462:Alright next question: I saw someone walking a guinea pig on a leash down Main Street of the town I live in Is this normal behavior I should copy?” “Oh gosh. No. Tell them NO! ~ K M Shea, #NFDB
1463:Among mathematicians in general, three main categories may be distinguished; and perhaps the names logicians, formalists, and intuitionists may serve to characterize them. ~ Felix Klein, #NFDB
1464:As The Book of the SubGenius (the main text of a hilarious faux religion based in Dallas—get The Book of the SubGenius) says, “Fuck ’em if they can’t take a joke,” right? ~ Nick Offerman, #NFDB
1465:How does this affect the rest of your team?” or “How on board are the people not on this call?” or simply “What do your colleagues see as their main challenges in this area? ~ Chris Voss, #NFDB
1466:If the question is do people (in the Liberal Party) believe that human beings are the main cause of the planet warming, then I'd say a majority don't accept that position. ~ Nick Minchin, #NFDB
1467:I hope the people on Wall Street will pay attention to the people on Main Street. If they do, they will see there is a rising tide of confidence in the future of America. ~ Ronald Reagan, #NFDB
1468:In losing her he lost not merely his main source of companionship but also his primary adviser, whose observations he had found so useful in helping shape his own thinking. ~ Erik Larson, #NFDB
1469:It surprised me because she put it as well (or better) than I could have and made a simple point she didn’t even intend: being disabled wasn’t the main thing about her. ~ Cammie McGovern, #NFDB
1470:My main worry is that after a certain point you become so identified with a character and a series that you might not be able to get work when your show goes off the air. ~ Martin Milner, #NFDB
1471:One of the main reasons for the existence of philosophy is not that it enables you to find truth (it can never do that) but that it does provide you a refuge for definitions. ~ T E Hulme, #NFDB
1472:People here just can't wait to die, it seems. It's the main event. The only reason we're not all snuffed at birth is because that would reduce our suffering by a lifetime. ~ Miriam Toews, #NFDB
1473:The doctrine of the Kingdom of Heaven, which was the main teaching of Jesus, is certainly one of the most revolutionary doctrines that ever stirred and changed human thought. ~ H G Wells, #NFDB
1474:The first period of excitement, which began with the Dartmouth meeting, was later described by John McCarthy (the event’s main organizer) as the “Look, Ma, no hands!” era. ~ Nick Bostrom, #NFDB
1475:The main reason for the people who support a dictator is that their character perfectly match with the character of that dictator! They both have a mean personality! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
1476:The main thing is knowing how to see,
To know how to see without thinking,
To know how to see when you see,
And not think when you see
Or see when you think. ~ Alberto Caeiro,#NFDB
1477:The main thing is realizing that even if you feel terrible for a while, that’s not how you’re going to feel the whole time. . . . Things change if you just keep moving. ~ Gary Vaynerchuk, #NFDB
1478:The main thing is to pay attention. Pay close attention to everything, notice what no one else notices. Then you’ll know what no one else knows, and that’s always useful. ~ Jeanne DuPrau, #NFDB
1479:When the audience understands that the main character has a very serious need to change his own heart and mind, the hook is set, and the audience is irrevocably invested. ~ Libbie Hawker, #NFDB
1480:Above all, TRIBES is fun, and even kind of sexy... in that every round features an Opportunity for Reproduction, which is the main aim of the game, as it is in most of Nature ~ David Brin, #NFDB
1481:As a scholar I am interested in the philosophy of language, semiotics, call it what you want, and one of the main features of the human language is the possibility of lying. ~ Umberto Eco, #NFDB
1482:If I have even just a little sense, I will walk on the main road and my only fear will be of straying from it. Keeping to the main road is easy, But people love to be sidetracked. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
1483:If you watch animals objectively for any length of time, you're driven to the conclusion that their main aim in life is to pass on their genes to the next generation. ~ David Attenborough, #NFDB
1484:Often for hors d'oeuvres, I serve room temperature vegetables, something like that, so that the main course might be quite rich but the first course has balanced it out. ~ Sally Schneider, #NFDB
1485:the main difference between writing JavaScript code like the average Joe (or Jill) and writing it like a JavaScript ninja is understanding JavaScript as a functional language. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1486:The main problem in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep implications of the gospel, we have not 'used' the gospel in and on all parts of our life. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
1487:The Pauli exclusion principle keeps electrons from getting too close to each other. This effect is one of the main reasons that your laptop doesn’t fall through your lap. ~ Randall Munroe, #NFDB
1488:They're monsters."
"That's what Edward thought."
"Oh, yeah? He a friend of yours?"
"No, Miss Librarian. Just a main character in a wildly popular vampire series. ~ Shannon Delany,#NFDB
1489:You can hope all you want for a happy ending, but sometimes, like it or not, the guy writing your story is working on a tragedy; you may not even be the main character. ~ Shalom Auslander, #NFDB
1490:Ab mera ishq dhamalon se kahin agay hy
Ab zaruri hy main wajd main laoon tujhko
Tu nahi manta matti ka dhuaan ho jana!!!...
To abhi raqs karun?? Ho k dikhaoon tujhko?? ~ Anonymous,#NFDB
1491:Evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart. ~ Yann Martel, #NFDB
1492:If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and there isn't any limit to what you can do with your business and your life. Ideas are any man's greatest asset. ~ Harvey S Firestone, #NFDB
1493:Our main purpose in this universe is to exist here on earth or somewhere beyond the earth. All other purposes don’t amount to a hill of beans beside this main purpose! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
1494:Personally, I believe “Young Adult” to be an arbitrary title that means the book "Can be enjoyed by anyone/Has a main character who’s not quite an adult/Isn’t really boring. ~ Shannon Hale, #NFDB
1495:The brush is a more powerful and rapid tool than the point or the stump... the main thing that the brush secures is the instant grasp of the grand construction of a figure. ~ Thomas Eakins, #NFDB
1496:The main difference between me and other people who have amassed this kind of money is that I am primarily interested in ideas, and I don't have much personal use for money. ~ George Soros, #NFDB
1497:The main jobs would be The New Yorker, The Village Voice, The Washington Post and - I'm thinking of The Reporter when Max Askeli was there, but I got fired from The Reporter. ~ Nat Hentoff, #NFDB
1498:The main theme remains constant: man owes it to himself to reject despair; better to rely on miracles than opt for resignation. By changing himself, man can change the world. ~ Elie Wiesel, #NFDB
1499:These narrative structures have to be thought out beforehand, you see--strategized, methodically according to content. Because a story, in the main, dictates its own telling. ~ Gemma Files, #NFDB
1500:Trillian had come to suspect that the main reason [Zaphood] had had such a wild and successful life was that he never really understood the significance of anything he did. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
1873 Integral Yoga
540 Poetry
208 Occultism
194 Philosophy
173 Christianity
130 Fiction
108 Yoga
79 Psychology
42 Mysticism
38 Science
21 Mythology
19 Kabbalah
18 Hinduism
17 Education
16 Theosophy
15 Sufism
14 Philsophy
14 Integral Theory
10 Buddhism
8 Cybernetics
6 Baha i Faith
3 Zen
1 Thelema
1 Taoism
1 Alchemy
988 The Mother
877 Sri Aurobindo
648 Satprem
352 Nolini Kanta Gupta
86 H P Lovecraft
82 William Wordsworth
79 Carl Jung
74 Aleister Crowley
61 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
60 James George Frazer
58 Plotinus
56 Sri Ramakrishna
53 Percy Bysshe Shelley
53 John Keats
46 Walt Whitman
37 Friedrich Nietzsche
34 Robert Browning
33 Saint Augustine of Hippo
30 Lucretius
29 Swami Krishnananda
28 A B Purani
27 Aldous Huxley
25 Friedrich Schiller
23 Swami Vivekananda
22 Rudolf Steiner
19 William Butler Yeats
19 Rabbi Moses Luzzatto
18 Rabindranath Tagore
16 Saint Teresa of Avila
16 Saint John of Climacus
15 Franz Bardon
15 Anonymous
14 Ralph Waldo Emerson
14 Ovid
14 Nirodbaran
14 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
13 Jorge Luis Borges
12 Plato
11 Paul Richard
11 George Van Vrekhem
9 Sri Ramana Maharshi
9 Rainer Maria Rilke
8 Vyasa
8 Norbert Wiener
7 Kabir
7 Joseph Campbell
7 Jordan Peterson
7 Baha u llah
7 Aristotle
6 Jalaluddin Rumi
6 Henry David Thoreau
6 Edgar Allan Poe
6 Al-Ghazali
5 Peter J Carroll
5 Patanjali
5 Bokar Rinpoche
5 Alice Bailey
4 Thubten Chodron
4 Li Bai
3 Swami Sivananda Saraswati
3 R Buckminster Fuller
3 Mansur al-Hallaj
3 Ken Wilber
3 Jetsun Milarepa
3 Ibn Arabi
3 Hafiz
3 Farid ud-Din Attar
3 Boethius
2 Thomas Merton
2 Saint John of the Cross
2 Mechthild of Magdeburg
2 Matsuo Basho
2 Mahendranath Gupta
2 Lewis Carroll
2 Jorge Luis Borges
2 Italo Calvino
2 Hakim Sanai
2 Bulleh Shah
2 Allama Muhammad Iqbal
335 Record of Yoga
123 The Synthesis Of Yoga
86 Lovecraft - Poems
82 Wordsworth - Poems
73 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03
67 Agenda Vol 01
63 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04
62 Agenda Vol 10
61 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
60 The Golden Bough
58 Agenda Vol 09
55 Agenda Vol 08
54 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
53 Shelley - Poems
53 Keats - Poems
53 Agenda Vol 13
52 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
50 The Life Divine
48 On Thoughts And Aphorisms
47 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
47 Agenda Vol 02
46 Whitman - Poems
46 Magick Without Tears
46 Letters On Yoga IV
44 Letters On Yoga II
44 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
43 Questions And Answers 1950-1951
42 Agenda Vol 11
42 Agenda Vol 07
42 Agenda Vol 06
42 Agenda Vol 04
42 Agenda Vol 03
35 Questions And Answers 1956
35 Agenda Vol 12
34 Questions And Answers 1953
34 Browning - Poems
33 Questions And Answers 1955
33 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
33 Agenda Vol 05
32 Questions And Answers 1954
32 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
31 Mysterium Coniunctionis
31 Liber ABA
31 Letters On Yoga III
30 Prayers And Meditations
30 Of The Nature Of Things
29 Thus Spoke Zarathustra
29 The Study and Practice of Yoga
28 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
27 The Perennial Philosophy
25 Schiller - Poems
25 Savitri
25 Questions And Answers 1929-1931
25 Essays On The Gita
24 Words Of Long Ago
22 The Future of Man
22 City of God
21 The Practice of Psycho therapy
20 The Divine Comedy
20 The Bible
19 Yeats - Poems
19 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 01
19 General Principles of Kabbalah
18 On Education
18 Letters On Yoga I
17 Tagore - Poems
17 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
16 The Ladder of Divine Ascent
16 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04
16 Let Me Explain
16 Essays Divine And Human
15 The Human Cycle
15 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08
14 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
14 Metamorphoses
14 Emerson - Poems
14 Aion
13 The Phenomenon of Man
13 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
13 Some Answers From The Mother
12 Words Of The Mother II
12 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
12 Talks
12 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 02
11 Theosophy
11 Preparing for the Miraculous
11 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 03
11 On the Way to Supermanhood
11 Letters On Poetry And Art
11 Labyrinths
10 The Way of Perfection
10 Raja-Yoga
10 Knowledge of the Higher Worlds
10 Hymn of the Universe
10 Goethe - Poems
10 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06
10 A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah
9 The Secret Of The Veda
9 The Practice of Magical Evocation
9 The Mother With Letters On The Mother
9 Rilke - Poems
8 Vishnu Purana
8 Twilight of the Idols
8 The Problems of Philosophy
8 Cybernetics
8 Bhakti-Yoga
7 Vedic and Philological Studies
7 The Hero with a Thousand Faces
7 Poetics
7 Maps of Meaning
7 Kena and Other Upanishads
7 Isha Upanishad
7 Collected Poems
6 Walden
6 The Secret Doctrine
6 The Interior Castle or The Mansions
6 The Alchemy of Happiness
6 Songs of Kabir
6 Initiation Into Hermetics
5 The Integral Yoga
5 Tara - The Feminine Divine
5 Rumi - Poems
5 Poe - Poems
5 Patanjali Yoga Sutras
5 Liber Null
5 A Treatise on Cosmic Fire
4 Words Of The Mother III
4 The Blue Cliff Records
4 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
4 Li Bai - Poems
4 Hymns to the Mystic Fire
4 How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator
4 Faust
4 Dark Night of the Soul
3 The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma
3 The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep
3 The Red Book Liber Novus
3 The Lotus Sutra
3 The Book of Certitude
3 Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking
3 Sex Ecology Spirituality
3 Milarepa - Poems
3 Arabi - Poems
3 Anonymous - Poems
3 Agenda Vol 1
2 Words Of The Mother I
2 The Castle of Crossed Destinies
2 Symposium
2 Selected Fictions
2 Hafiz - Poems
2 God Exists
2 Borges - Poems
2 Beating the Cloth Drum Letters of Zen Master Hakuin
2 Basho - Poems
2 Alice in Wonderland
2 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2E
2 5.1.01 - Ilion
00.00 - Publishers Note, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
We have pleasure in presenting the Second Volume of the Collected Works of Sri Nolini Kanta Gupta. The six books in this volume were originally published separately. The Essays are Mainly concerned with Mysticism and Poetry.
We are happy to note that the Government of India have given to our Centre of Education a grant to meet the cost of publication of this volume.
0 0.01 - Introduction, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
We landed there, one day in February 1954, having emerged from our Guianese forest and a certain number of dead-end peripluses; we had knocked upon all the doors of the old world before reaching that point of absolute impossibility where it was truly necessary to embark into something else or once and for all put a bullet through the brain of this slightly superior ape. The first thing that struck us was this exotic Notre Dame with its burning incense sticks, its effigies and its prostrations in immaculate white: a Church. We nearly jumped into the first train out that very evening, bound straight for the Himalayas, or the devil. But we reMained near Mother for nineteen years. What was it, then, that could have held us there? We had not left Guiana to become a little saint in white or to enter some new religion. 'I did not come upon earth to found an ashram; that would have been a poor aim indeed,' She wrote in 1934. What did all this mean, then, this 'Ashram' that was already registered as the owner of a great spiritual business, and this fragile, little silhouette at the center of all these zealous worshippers? In truth, there is no better way to smother someone than to worship him: he chokes beneath the weight of worship, which moreover gives the worshipper claim to ownership. 'Why do you want to worship?' She exclaimed. 'You have but to become! It is the laziness to become that makes one worship.' She wanted so much to make them
become this 'something else,' but it was far easier to worship and quiescently reMain what one was.
She spoke to deaf ears. She was very alone in this 'ashram.' Little by little, the disciples fill up the place, then they say: it is ours. It is 'the Ashram.' We are 'the disciples.' In Pondicherry as in Rome as in Mecca. 'I do not want a religion! An end to religions!' She exclaimed. She struggled and fought in their midst - was She therefore to leave this Earth like one more saint or yogi, buried beneath haloes, the 'continuatrice' of a great spiritual lineage? She was seventy-six years old when we landed there, a knife in our belt and a ready curse on our lips.
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Spirit nor even an improved Matter, but ... it could be called 'nothing,' so contrary was it to all we know. For the caterpillar, a butterfly is nothing, it is not even visible and has nothing in common with caterpillar heavens nor even caterpillar matter. So there we were, trapped in an impossible adventure. One does not return from there: one must cross the bridge to the other side. Then one day in that seventh year, while we still believed in liberations and the collected Upanishads, highlighted with a few glorious visions to relieve the commonplace (which reMained appallingly commonplace), while we were still considering 'the Mother of the Ashram' rather like some spiritual super-director (endowed, albeit, with a disarming yet ever so provocative smile, as though
She were making fun of us, then loving us in secret), She told us, 'I have the feeling that ALL we have lived, ALL we have known, ALL we have done is a perfect illusion ... When I had the spiritual experience that material life is an illusion, personally I found that so marvelously beautiful and happy that it was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life, but now it is the entire spiritual structure as we have lived it that is becoming an illusion! - Not the same illusion, but an illusion far worse. And I am no baby: I have been here for forty-seven years now!' Yes, She was eighty-three years old then. And that day, we ceased being 'the enemy of our own conception of the Divine,' for this entire Divine was shattered to pieces - and we met Mother, at last. This mystery we call
00.01 - The Approach to Mysticism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Mysticism is not only a science but also, and in a greater degree, an art. To approach it merely as a science, as the modern mind attempts to do, is to move towards futility, if not to land in positive disaster. Sufficient stress is not laid on this aspect of the matter, although the very crux of the situation lies here. The mystic doMain has to be apprehended not merely by the true mind and understanding but by the right temperament and character. Mysticism is not merely an object of knowledge, a problem for inquiry and solution, it is an end, an ideal that has to be achieved, a life that has to be lived. The mystics themselves have declared long ago with no uncertain or faltering voice: this cannot be attained by intelligence or much learning, it can be seized only by a purified and clear temperament.
The warning seems to have fallen, in the modern age, on unheeding ears. For the modern mind, being pre-eminently and uncompromisingly scientific, can entertain no doubt as to the perfect competency of science and the scientific method to seize and unveil any secret of Nature. If, it is argued, mysticism is a secret, if there is at all a truth and reality in it, then it is and must be amenable to the rules and regulations of science; for science is the revealer of Nature's secrecies.
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A scientist once thought that he had clinched the issue and cut the Gordian knot when he declared triumphantly with reference to spirit sances: "Very significant is the fact that spirits appear only in closed chambers, in half obscurity, to somnolent minds; they are nowhere in the open air, in broad daylight to the wide awake and vigilant intellect!" Well, if the fact is as it is stated, what does it prove? Night alone reveals the stars, during the day they vanish, but that is no proof that stars are not existent. Rather the true scientific spirit should seek to know why (or how) it is so, if it is so, and such a fact would exactly serve as a pointer, a significant starting ground. The attitude of the jesting Pilate is not helpful even to scientific inquiry. This matter of the Spirits we have taken only as an illustration and it must not be understood that this is a doMain of high mysticism; rather the contrary. The spiritualists' approach to Mysticism is not the right one and is fraught with not only errors but dangers. For the spiritualists approach their subject with the entire scientific apparatus the only difference being that the scientist does not believe while the spiritualist believes.
Mystic realities cannot be reached by the scientific consciousness, because they are far more subtle than the subtlest object that science can contemplate. The neutrons and positrons are for science today the finest and profoundest object-forces; they belong, it is said, almost to a borderl and where physics ends. Nor for that reason is a mystic reality something like a mathematical abstraction, -n for example. The mystic reality is subtler than the subtlest of physical things and yet, paradoxical to say, more concrete than the most concrete thing that the senses apprehend.
Furthermore, being so, the mystic doMain is of infinitely greater potency than the doMain of intra-atomic forces. If one comes, all on a sudden, into contact with a force here without the necessary preparation to hold and handle it, he may get seriously bruised, morally and physically. The adventure into the mystic doMain has its own toll of casualtiesone can lose the mind, one can lose one's body even and it is a very common experience among those who have tried the path. It is not in vain and merely as a poetic metaphor that the ancient seers have said
Kurasya dhr niit duratyay1
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For it must be understood that the heart, the mystic heart, is not the external thing which is the seat of emotion or passion; it is the secret heart that is behind, the inner heartantarhdaya of the Upanishadwhich is the centre of the individual consciousness, where all the divergent lines of that consciousness meet and from where they take their rise. That is what the Upanishad means when it says that the heart has a hundred channels which feed the human vehicle. That is the source, the fount and origin, the very substance of the true personality. Mystic knowledge the true mystic knowledge which saves and fulfilsbegins with the awakening or the entrance into this real being. This being is pure and luminous and blissful and sovereignly real, because it is a portion, a spark of the Divine Consciousness and Nature: a contact and communion with it brings automatically into play the light and the truth that are its substance. At the same time it is an uprising flame that reaches out naturally to higher doMains of consciousness and manifests them through its translucid dynamism.
The knowledge that is obtained without the heart's instrumentation or co-operation is liable to be what the Gita describes as Asuric. First of all, from the point of view of knowledge itself, it would be, as I have already said, egocentric, a product and agent of one's limited and isolated self, easily put at the service of desire and passion. This knowledge, whether rationalistic or occult, is, as it were, hard and dry in its constitution, and oftener than not, negative and destructivewi thering and blasting in its career like the desert simoom.
00.01 - The Mother on Savitri, #Sweet Mother - Harmonies of Light, #unset, #Integral Yoga
On a few other occasion also, the Mother had spoken to the same sadhak on the value of reading Savitri which he had noted down afterwards. These notes have been added at the end of the Main report. A few members of the Ashram had privately read this report in French, but afterwards there were many requests for its English version. A translation was therefore made in November 1967. A proposal was made to the Mother in 1972 for its publication and it was submitted to Her for approval. The Mother wanted to check the translation before permitting its publication but could check only a portion of it.
Do you read Savitri?
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But you must not read it as you read other books or newspapers. You must read with an empty head, a blank and vacant mind, without there being any other thought; you must concentrate much, reMain empty, calm and open; then the words, rhythms, vibrations will penetrate directly to this white page, will put their stamp upon the brain, will explain themselves without your making any effort.
Savitri alone is sufficient to make you climb to the highest peaks. If truly one knows how to meditate on Savitri, one will receive all the help one needs. For him who wishes to follow this path, it is a concrete help as though the Lord himself were taking you by the hand and leading you to the destined goal. And then, every question, however personal it may be, has its answer here, every difficulty finds its solution herein; indeed there is everything that is necessary for doing the Yoga.
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And men have the audacity to compare it with the work of Virgil or Homer and to find it inferior. They do not understand, they cannot understand. What do they know? Nothing at all. And it is useless to try to make them understand. Men will know what it is, but in a distant future. It is only the new race with a new consciousness which will be able to understand. I assure you there is nothing under the blue sky to compare with Savitri. It is the mystery of mysteries. It is a *super-epic,* it is super-literature, super-poetry, super-vision, it is a super-work even if one considers the number of lines He has written. No, these human words are not adequate to describe Savitri. Yes, one needs superlatives, hyperboles to describe it. It is a hyper-epic. No, words express nothing of what Savitri is, at least I do not find them. It is of immense value - spiritual value and all other values; it is eternal in its subject, and infinite in its appeal, miraculous in its mode and power of execution; it is a unique thing, the more you come into contact with it, the higher will you be uplifted. Ah, truly it is something! It is the most beautiful thing He has left for man, the highest possible. What is it? When will man know it? When is he going to lead a life of truth? When is he going to accept this in his life? This yet reMains to be seen.
My child, every day you are going to read Savitri; read properly, with the right attitude, concentrating a little before opening the pages and trying to keep the mind as empty as possible, absolutely without a thought. The direct road is through the heart. I tell you, if you try to really concentrate with this aspiration you can light the flame, the psychic flame, the flame of purification in a very short time, perhaps in a few days. What you cannot do normally, you can do with the help of Savitri. Try and you will see how very different it is, how new, if you read with this attitude, with this something at the back of your consciousness; as though it were an offering to Sri Aurobindo. You know it is charged, fully charged with consciousness; as if Savitri were a being, a real guide. I tell you, whoever, wanting to practice Yoga, tries sincerely and feels the necessity for it, will be able to climb with the help of Savitri to the highest rung of the ladder of Yoga, will be able to find the secret that Savitri represents. And this without the help of a Guru. And he will be able to practice it anywhere. For him Savitri alone will be the guide, for all that he needs he will find Savitri. If he reMains very quiet when before a difficulty, or when he does not know where to turn to go forward and how to overcome obstacles, for all these hesitations and incertitudes which overwhelm us at every moment, he will have the necessary indications, and the necessary concrete help. If he reMains very calm, open, if he aspires sincerely, always he will be as if lead by the hand. If he has faith, the will to give himself and essential sincerity he will reach the final goal.
Indeed, Savitri is something concrete, living, it is all replete, packed with consciousness, it is the supreme knowledge above all human philosophies and religions. It is the spiritual path, it is Yoga, Tapasya, Sadhana, everything, in its single body. Savitri has an extraordinary power, it gives out vibrations for him who can receive them, the true vibrations of each stage of consciousness. It is incomparable, it is truth in its plenitude, the Truth Sri Aurobindo brought down on the earth. My child, one must try to find the secret that Savitri represents, the prophetic message Sri Aurobindo reveals there for us. This is the work before you, it is hard but it is worth the trouble. - 5 November 1967
00.02 - Mystic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
These other worlds are constituted in other ways than ours. Their contents are different and the laws that obtain there are also different. It would be a gross blunder to attempt a chart of any of these other systems, to use an Einsteinian term, with the measures and conventions of the system to which our external waking consciousness belongs. For, there "the sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the stars, neither these lightnings nor this fire." The difficulty is further enhanced by the fact that there are very many unseen worlds and they all differ from the seen and from one another in manner and degree. Thus, for example, the Upanishads speak of the swapna, the suupta, and the turya, doMains beyond the jgrat which is that where the rational being with its mind and senses lives and moves. And there are other systems and other ways in which systems exist, and they are practically innumerable.
If, however, we have to speak of these other worlds, then, since we can speak only in the terms of this world, we have to use them in a different sense from those they usually bear; we must employ them as figures and symbols. Even then they may prove inadequate and misleading; so there are Mystics who are averse to all speech and expression they are mauni; in silence they experience the inexpressible and in silence they communicate it to the few who have the capacity to receive in silence.
0 0.02 - Topographical Note, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
French disciples, on the second floor of the Main Ashram building, on some pretext of work or other. She listened to our queries, spoke to us at length of yoga, occultism, her past experiences in
Algeria and in France or of her current experiences; and gradually, She opened the mind of the rebellious and materialistic Westerner that we were and made us understand the laws of the worlds, the play of forces, the working of past lives - especially this latter, which was an important factor in the difficulties with which we were struggling at that time and which periodically made us abscond.
0 0.03 - 1951-1957. Notes and Fragments, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The lack of the earth's receptivity and the behavior of Sri Aurobindo's disciples 1 are largely responsible for what happened to his body. But one thing is certain: the great misfortune that has just beset us in no way affects the truth of his teaching. All he said is perfectly true and reMains so.
Time and the course of events will make this abundantly clear.
00.03 - Upanishadic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Now, before any explanation is attempted it is important to bear in mind that the Upanishads speak of things experiencednot merely thought, reasoned or argued and that these experiences belong to a world and consciousness other than that of the mind and the senses. One should naturally expect here a different language and mode of expression than that which is appropriate to mental and physical things. For example, the world of dreams was once supposed to be a sheer chaos, a mass of meaningless confusion; but now it is held to be quite otherwise. Psychological scientists have discovered a methodeven a very well-defined and strict methodin the madness of that doMain. It is an ordered, organised, significant world; but its terminology has to be understood, its code deciphered. It is not a jargon, but a foreign language that must be learnt and mastered.
In the same way, the world of spiritual experiences is also something methodical, well-organized, significant. It may not be and is not the rational world of the mind and the sense; but it need not, for that reason, be devoid of meaning, mere fancifulness or a child's imagination running riot. Here also the right key has to be found, the grammar and vocabulary of that language mastered. And as the best way to have complete mastery of a language is to live among the people who speak it, so, in the matter of spiritual language, the best and the only way to learn it is to go and live in its native country.
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The duty of life consists, it is said, in the repaying of three debts which every man contracts as soon as he takes birth upon earth the debt to the Gods, to Men and to the Ancestors. This threefold debt or duty has, in other terms, reference to the three fields or doMains wherein an embodied being lives and moves and to which he must adjust and react rightly -if he is to secure for his life an integral fulfilment. These are the family, society and the world and beyond-world. The Gods are the Powers that rule the world and beyond, they are the forms and forces of the One Spirit underlying the universe, the varied expressions of divine Truth and Reality: To worship the Gods, to do one's duty by them, means to come into contact and to be unitedin being, consciousness and activitywith the universal and spiritual existence, which is the supreme end and purpose of human life. The seconda more circumscribed fieldis the society to which one belongs, the particular group of humanity in which he functions as a limb. The service to society or good citizenship entails the worship of humanity, of Man as a god. Lastly, man belongs to the family, which is the unit of society; and the backbone of the family is the continuous line of ancestors, who are its presiding deity and represent the norm of a living dharma, the ethic of an ideal life.
From the psychological standpoint, the four oblations are movements or reactions of consciousness in its urge towards the utterance and expression of Divine Truth. Like some other elements in the cosmic play, these also form a quartetcaturvyha and work together for a common purpose in view of a perfect and all-round result.
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The third in the line of ascension is the region of Varuna and the Adityas, that is to say, of the large Mind and its lightsperhaps it can be connected with Tantric Ajnachakra. The fourth is the doMain of Soma and the Marutsthis seems to be the inner heart, the fount of delight and keen and sweeping aspirations the Anahata of the Tantras. The fifth is the region of the crown of the head, the doMain of Brahma and the Sadhyas: it is the Overmind status from where comes the descending inflatus, the creative Maya of Brahma. And when you go beyond, you pass into the ultimate status of the Sun, the reality absolute, the Transcendent which is indescribable, unseizable, indeterminate, indeterminable, incommensurable; and once there, one never returns, neverna ca punarvartate na ca punarvartate.
VIII. How Many Gods?
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The first boon regards the individual, that is to say, the individual identity and integrity. It asks for the Maintenance of that individuality so that it may be saved from the dissolution that Death brings about. Death, of course, means the dissolution of the body, but it represents also dissolution pure and simple. Indeed death is a process which does not stop with the physical phenomenon, but continues even after; for with the body gone, the other elements of the individual organism, the vital and the mental too gradually fall off, fade and dissolve. Nachiketas wishes to secure from Death the safety and preservation of the earthly personality, the particular organisation of mind and vital based upon a recognisable physical frame. That is the first necessity for the aspiring mortalfor, it is said, the body is the first instrument for the working out of one's life ideal. But man's true personality, the real individuality lies beyond, beyond the body, beyond the life, beyond the mind, beyond the triple region that Death lords it over. That is the divine world, the Heaven of the immortals, beyond death and beyond sorrow and grief. It is the hearth secreted in the inner heart where burns the Divine Fire, the God of Life Everlasting. And this is the nodus that binds together the threefold status of the manifested existence, the body, the life and the mind. This triplicity is the structure of name and form built out of the bricks of experience, the kiln, as it were, within which burns the Divine Agni, man's true soul. This soul can be reached only when one exceeds the bounds and limitations of the triple cord and experiences one's communion and identity with all souls and all existence. Agni is the secret divinity within, within the individual and within the world; he is the Immanent Divine, the cosmic godhead that holds together and marshals all the elements and components, all the principles that make up the manifest universe. He it is that has entered into the world and created facets of his own reality in multiple forms: and it is he that lies secret in the human being as the immortal soul through all its adventure of life and death in the series of incarnations in terrestrial evolution. The adoration and realisation of this Immanent Divinity, the worship of Agni taught by Yama in the second boon, consists in the triple sacrifice, the triple work, the triple union in the triple status of the physical, the vital and the mental consciousness, the mastery of which leads one to the other shore, the abode of perennial existence where the human soul enjoys its eternity and unending continuity in cosmic life. Therefore, Agni, the master of the psychic being, is called jtaveds, he who knows the births, all the transmigrations from life to life.
The third boon is the secret of secrets, for it is the knowledge and realisation of Transcendence that is sought here. Beyond the individual lies the universal; is there anything beyond the universal? The release of the individual into the cosmic existence gives him the griefless life eternal: can the cosmos be rolled up and flung into something beyond? What would be the nature of that thing? What is there outside creation, outside manifestation, outside Maya, to use a latter day term? Is there existence or non-existence (utter dissolution or extinctionDeath in his supreme and absolute status)? King Yama did not choose to answer immediately and even endeavoured to dissuade Nachiketas from pursuing the question over which people were confounded, as he said. Evidently it was a much discussed problem in those days. Buddha was asked the same question and he evaded it, saying that the pragmatic man should attend to practical and immediate realities and not, waste time and energy in discussing things ultimate and beyond that have hardly any relation to the present and the actual.
00.04 - The Beautiful in the Upanishads, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The perception of beauty in the Upanishadic consciousness is something elemental-of concentrated essence. It silhouettes the Main contour, outlines the primordial gestures. Pregnant and pulsating with the burden of beauty, the mantra here reduces its external expression to a minimum. The body is bare and unadorned, and even in its nakedness, it has not the emphatic and vehement musculature of an athlete; rather it tends to be slim and slender and yet vibrant with the inner nervous vigour and glow. What can be more bare and brief and full to the brim of a self-gathered luminous energy than, for example:
yat prena na praiti yena pra
00.05 - A Vedic Conception of the Poet, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The poet is a trinity in himself. A triune consciousness forms his personality. First of all, he is the Knower-the Seer of the Truth, kavaya satyadrara. He has the direct vision, the luminous intelligence, the immediate perception.12 A subtle and profound and penetrating consciousness is his,nigam, pracetas; his is the eye of the Sun,srya caku.13 He secures an increased being through his effulgent understanding.14 In the second place, the Poet is not only Seer but Doer; he is knower as well as creator. He has a dynamic knowledge and his vision itself is power, ncak;15 he is the Seer-Will,kavikratu.16 He has the blazing radiance of the Sun and is supremely potent in his self-Iuminousness.17 The Sun is the light and the energy of the Truth. Even like the Sun the Poet gives birth to the Truth, srya satyasava, satyya satyaprasavya. But the Poet as Power is not only the revealer or creator,savit, he is also the builder or fashioner,ta, and he is the organiser,vedh is personality. First of all, he is the Knower-the Seer of the Truth, kavaya satyadrara, of the Truth.18 As Savita he manifests the Truth, as Tashta he gives a perfected body and form to the Truth, and as Vedha he Maintains the Truth in its dynamic working. The effective marshalling and organisation of the Truth is what is called Ritam, the Right; it is also called Dharma,19 the Law or the Rhythm, the ordered movement and invincible execution of the Truth. The Poet pursues the Path of the Right;20 it is he who lays out the Path for the march of the Truth, the progress of the Sacrifice.21 He is like a fast steed well-yoked, pressing forward;22 he is the charger that moves straight and unswerving and carries us beyond 23into the world of felicity.
Indeed delight is the third and the supremely intimate element of the poetic personality. Dear and delightful is the poet, dear and delightful his works, priya, priyi His hand is dripping with sweetness,kavir hi madhuhastya.24 The Poet-God shines in his pristine beauty and is showering delight.25 He is filled with utter ecstasy so that he may rise to the very source of the luminous Energy.26? Pure is the Divine Joy and it enters and purifies all forms as it moves to the seat of the Immortals.27Indeed this sparkling Delight is the Poet-Seer and it is that that brings forth the creative word, the utterance of Indra.28
0.00a - Introduction, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
In view of this situation it is doubly reassuring to know that, even in the midst of chaotic concepts and conditions there still reMains a door through which man, individually, can enter into a vast store-house of knowledge, knowledge as dependable and immutable as the measured tread of Eternity.
For this reason I am especially pleased to be writing an introduction to a new edition of A Garden of Pomegranates. I feel that never, perhaps, was the need more urgent for just such a roadmap as the Qabalistic system provides. It should be equally useful to any who chooses to follow it, whether he be Jew, Christian or Buddhist, Deist, Theosophist, agnostic or atheist.
000 - Humans in Universe, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science
1500 lay well within that "known" flat world: it was and as yet reMains the
spontaneous theater of popular historical conceptioning.
0.00 - INTRODUCTION, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
The Christian missionaries gave the finishing touch to the process of transformation. They ridiculed as relics of a barbarous age the images and rituals of the Hindu religion. They tried to persuade India that the teachings of her saints and seers were the cause of her downfall, that her Vedas, Puranas, and other scriptures were filled with superstition. Christianity, they Maintained, had given the white races position and power in this world and assurance of happiness in the next; therefore Christianity was the best of all religions. Many intelligent young Hindus became converted. The man in the street was confused. The majority of the educated grew materialistic in their mental outlook. Everyone living near Calcutta or the other strong-holds of Western culture, even those who attempted to cling to the orthodox traditions of Hindu society, became infected by the new uncertainties and the new beliefs.
But the soul of India was to be resuscitated through a spiritual awakening. We hear the first call of this renascence in the spirited retort of the young Gadadhar: "Brother, what shall I do with a mere bread-winning education?"
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The Main temple is dedicated to Kali, the Divine Mother, here worshipped as Bhavatarini, the Saviour of the Universe. The floor of this temple also is paved with marble. The basalt image of the Mother, dressed in gorgeous gold brocade, stands on a white marble image of the prostrate body of Her Divine Consort, Siva, the symbol of the Absolute. On the feet of the Goddess are, among other ornaments, anklets of gold. Her arms are decked with jewelled ornaments of gold. She wears necklaces of gold and pearls, a golden garland of human heads, and a girdle of human arms. She wears a golden crown, golden ear-rings, and a golden nose-ring with a pearl-drop. She has four arms. The lower left hand holds a severed human head and the upper grips a blood-stained sabre. One right hand offers boons to Her children; the other allays their fear. The majesty of Her posture can hardly be described. It combines the terror of destruction with the reassurance of motherly tenderness. For She is the Cosmic Power, the totality of the universe, a glorious harmony of the pairs of opposites. She deals out death, as She creates and preserves. She has three eyes, the third being the symbol of Divine Wisdom; they strike dismay into the wicked, yet pour out affection for Her devotees.
The whole symbolic world is represented in the temple garden — the Trinity of the Nature Mother (Kali), the Absolute (Siva), and Love (Radhakanta), the Arch spanning heaven and earth. The terrific Goddess of the Tantra, the soul-enthralling Flute-Player of the Bhagavata, and the Self-absorbed Absolute of the Vedas live together, creating the greatest synthesis of religions. All aspects of Reality are represented there. But of this divine household, Kali is the pivot, the sovereign Mistress. She is Prakriti, the Procreatrix, Nature, the Destroyer, the Creator. Nay, She is something greater and deeper still for those who have eyes to see. She is the Universal Mother, "my Mother" as Ramakrishna would say, the All-powerful, who reveals Herself to Her children under different aspects and Divine Incarnations, the Visible God, who leads the elect to the Invisible Reality; and if it so pleases Her, She takes away the last trace of ego from created beings and merges it in the consciousness of the Absolute, the undifferentiated God. Through Her grace "the finite ego loses itself in the illimitable Ego — Atman — Brahman". (RoMain Holland, Prophets of the New India, p. 11.)
Rani Rasmani spent a fortune for the construction of the temple garden and another fortune for its dedication ceremony, which took place on May 31, 1855.
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Yet this was only a foretaste of the intense experiences to come. The first glimpse of the Divine Mother made him the more eager for Her uninterrupted vision. He wanted to see Her both in meditation and with eyes open. But the Mother began to play a teasing game of hide-and-seek with him, intensifying both his joy and his suffering. Weeping bitterly during the moments of separation from Her, he would pass into a trance and then find Her standing before him, smiling, talking, consoling, bidding him be of good cheer, and instructing him. During this period of spiritual practice he had many uncommon experiences. When he sat to meditate, he would hear strange clicking sounds in the joints of his legs, as if someone were locking them up, one after the other, to keep him motionless; and at the conclusion of his meditation he would again hear the same sounds, this time unlocking them and leaving him free to move about. He would see flashes like a swarm of fire-flies floating before his eyes, or a sea of deep mist around him, with luminous waves of molten silver. Again, from a sea of translucent mist he would behold the Mother rising, first Her feet, then Her waist, body, face, and head, finally Her whole person; he would feel Her breath and hear Her voice. Worshipping in the temple, sometimes he would become exalted, sometimes he would reMain motionless as stone, sometimes he would almost collapse from excessive emotion. Many of his actions, contrary to all tradition, seemed sacrilegious to the people. He would take a flower and touch it to his own head, body, and feet, and then offer it to the Goddess. Or, like a drunkard, he would reel to the throne of the Mother, touch Her chin by way of showing his affection for Her, and sing, talk, joke, laugh, and dance. Or he would take a morsel of food from the plate and hold it to Her mouth, begging Her to eat it, and would not be satisfied till he was convinced that She had really eaten. After the Mother had been put to sleep at night, from his own room he would hear Her ascending to the upper storey of the temple with the light steps of a happy girl, Her anklets jingling. Then he would discover Her standing with flowing hair. Her black form silhouetted against the sky of the night, looking at the Ganges or at the distant lights of Calcutta.
Naturally the temple officials took him for an insane person. His worldly well-wishers brought him to skilled physicians; but no-medicine could cure his malady. Many a time he doubted his sanity himself. For he had been sailing across an uncharted sea, with no earthly guide to direct him. His only haven of security was the Divine Mother Herself. To Her he would pray: "I do not know what these things are. I am ignorant of mantras and the scriptures. Teach me, Mother, how to realize Thee. Who else can help me? Art Thou not my only refuge and guide?" And the sustaining presence of the Mother never failed him in his distress or doubt. Even those who criticized his conduct were greatly impressed with his purity, guilelessness, truthfulness, integrity, and holiness. They felt an uplifting influence in his presence.
--
In 1858 there came to Dakshineswar a cousin of Sri Ramakrishna, Haladhari by name, who was to reMain there about eight years. On account of Sri Ramakrishna's indifferent health, Mathur appointed this man to the office of priest in the Kali temple. He was a complex character, versed in the letter of the scriptures, but hardly aware of their spirit. He loved to participate in hair-splitting theological discussions and, by the measure of his own erudition, he proceeded to gauge Sri Ramakrishna. An orthodox brahmin, he thoroughly disapproved of his cousin's unorthodox actions, but he was not unimpressed by Sri Ramakrishna's purity of life, ecstatic love of God, and yearning for realization.
One day Haladhari upset Sri Ramakrishna with the statement that God is incomprehensible to the human mind. Sri Ramakrishna has described the great moment of doubt when he wondered whether his visions had really misled him: "With sobs I prayed to the Mother, 'Canst Thou have the heart to deceive me like this because I am a fool?' A stream of tears flowed from my eyes. Shortly afterwards I saw a volume of mist rising from the floor and filling the space before me. In the midst of it there appeared a face with flowing beard, calm, highly expressive, and fair. Fixing its gaze steadily upon me, it said solemnly, 'ReMain in bhavamukha, on the threshold of relative consciousness.' This it repeated three times and then it gently disappeared in the mist, which itself dissolved. This vision reassured me."
A garbled report of Sri Ramakrishna's failing health, indifference to worldly life, and various abnormal activities reached Kamarpukur and filled the heart of his poor mother with anguish. At her repeated request he returned to his village for a change of air. But his boyhood friends did not interest him any more. A divine fever was consuming him. He spent a great part of the day and night in one of the cremation grounds, in meditation. The place reminded him of the impermanence of the human body, of human hopes and achievements. It also reminded him of Kali, the Goddess of destruction.
--
The marriage ceremony was duly performed. Such early marriage in India is in the nature of a betrothal, the marriage being consummated when the girl attains puberty. But in this case the marriage reMained for ever unconsummated. Sri Ramakrishna lived at Kamarpukur about a year and a half and then returned to Dakshineswar.
Hardly had he crossed the threshold of the Kali temple when he found himself again in the whirlwind. His madness reappeared tenfold. The same meditation and prayer, the same ecstatic moods, the same burning sensation, the same weeping, the same sleeplessness, the same indifference to the body and the outside world, the same divine delirium. He subjected himself to fresh disciplines in order to eradicate greed and lust, the two great impediments to spiritual progress. With a rupee in one hand and some earth in the other, he would reflect on the comparative value of these two for the realization of God, and finding them equally worthless he would toss them, with equal indifference, into the Ganges. Women he regarded as the manifestations of the Divine Mother. Never even in a dream did he feel the impulses of lust. And to root out of his mind the idea of caste superiority, he cleaned a pariahs house with his long and neglected hair. When he would sit in meditation, birds would perch on his head and peck in his hair for grains of food. Snakes would crawl over his body, and neither would be aware of the other. Sleep left him altogether. Day and night, visions flitted before him. He saw the sannyasi who had previously killed the "sinner" in him again coming out of his body, threatening him with the trident, and ordering him to concentrate on God. Or the same sannyasi would visit distant places, following a luminous path, and bring him reports of what was happening there. Sri Ramakrishna used to say later that in the case of an advanced devotee the mind itself becomes the guru, living and moving like an embodied being.
--
Thus the insane priest was by verdict of the great scholars of the day proclaimed a Divine Incarnation. His visions were not the result of an over-heated brain; they had precedent in spiritual history. And how did the proclamation affect Sri Ramakrishna himself? He reMained the simple child of the Mother that he had been since the first day of his life. Years later, when two of his householder disciples openly spoke of him as a Divine Incarnation and the matter was reported to him, he said with a touch of sarcasm: "Do they think they will enhance my glory that way? One of them is an actor on the stage and the other a physician. What do they know about Incarnations? Why, years ago pundits like Gauri and Vaishnavcharan declared me to be an Avatar. They were great scholars and knew what they said. But that did not make any change in my mind."
Sri Ramakrishna was a learner all his life. He often used to quote a proverb to his disciples: "Friend, the more I live the more I learn." When the excitement created by the Brahmani's declaration was over, he set himself to the task of practising spiritual disciplines according to the traditional methods laid down in the Tantra and Vaishnava scriptures. Hitherto he had pursued his spiritual ideal according to the promptings of his own mind and heart. Now he accepted the Brahmani as his guru and set foot on the traditional highways.
--
Vaishnavism is exclusively a religion of bhakti. Bhakti is intense love of God, attachment to Him alone; it is of the nature of bliss and bestows upon the lover immortality and liberation. God, according to Vaishnavism, cannot be realized through logic or reason; and, without bhakti, all penances, austerities and rites are futile. Man cannot realize God by self-exertion alone. For the vision of God His grace is absolutely necessary, and this grace is felt by the pure of heart. The mind is to be purified through bhakti. The pure mind then reMains for ever immersed in the ecstasy of God-vision. It is the cultivation of this divine love that is the chief concern of the Vaishnava religion.
There are three kinds of formal devotion: tamasic, rajasic, and sattvic. If a person, while showing devotion, to God, is actuated by malevolence, arrogance, jealousy, or anger, then his devotion is tamasic, since it is influenced by tamas, the quality of inertia. If he worships God from a desire for fame or wealth, or from any other worldly ambition, then his devotion is rajasic, since it is influenced by rajas, the quality of activity. But if a person loves God without any thought of material gain, if he performs his duties to please God alone and Maintains toward all created beings the attitude of friendship, then his devotion is called sattvic, since it is influenced by sattva, the quality of harmony. But the highest devotion transcends the three gunas, or qualities, being a spontaneous, uninterrupted inclination of the mind toward God, the Inner Soul of all beings; and it wells up in the heart of a true devotee as soon as he hears the name of God or mention of God's attributes. A devotee possessed of this love would not accept the happiness of heaven if it were offered him. His one desire is to love God under all conditions — in pleasure and pain, life and death, honour and dishonour, prosperity and adversity.
There are two stages of bhakti. The first is known as vaidhi-bhakti, or love of God qualified by scriptural injunctions. For the devotees of this stage are prescribed regular and methodical worship, hymns, prayers, the repetition of God's name, and the chanting of His glories. This lower bhakti in course of time matures into para-bhakti, or supreme devotion, known also as prema, the most intense form of divine love. Divine love is an end in itself. It exists potentially in all human hearts, but in the case of bound creatures it is misdirected to earthly objects.
To develop the devotee's love for God, Vaishnavism humanizes God. God is to be regarded as the devotee's Parent, Master, Friend, Child, Husband, or Sweetheart, each succeeding relationship representing an intensification of love. These bhavas, or attitudes toward God, are known as santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and madhur. The rishis of the Vedas, Hanuman, the cow-herd boys of Vrindavan, Rama's mother Kausalya, and Radhika, Krishna's sweetheart, exhibited, respectively, the most perfect examples of these forms. In the ascending scale the-glories of God are gradually forgotten and the devotee realizes more and more the intimacy of divine communion. Finally he regards himself as the mistress of his Beloved, and no artificial barrier reMains to separate him from his Ideal. No social or moral obligation can bind to the earth his soaring spirit. He experiences perfect union with the Godhead. Unlike the Vedantist, who strives to transcend all varieties of the subject-object relationship, a devotee of the Vaishnava path wishes to retain both his own individuality and the personality of God. To him God is not an intangible Absolute, but the Purushottama, the Supreme Person.
While practising the discipline of the madhur bhava, the male devotee often regards himself as a woman, in order to develop the most intense form of love for Sri Krishna, the only purusha, or man, in the universe. This assumption of the attitude of the opposite sex has a deep psychological significance. It is a matter of common experience that an idea may be cultivated to such an intense degree that every idea alien to it is driven from the mind. This peculiarity of the mind may be utilized for the subjugation of the lower desires and the development of the spiritual nature. Now, the idea which is the basis of all desires and passions in a man is the conviction of his indissoluble association with a male body. If he can inoculate himself thoroughly with the idea that he is a woman, he can get rid of the desires peculiar to his male body. Again, the idea that he is a woman may in turn be made to give way to another higher idea, namely, that he is neither man nor woman, but the Impersonal Spirit. The Impersonal Spirit alone can enjoy real communion with the Impersonal God. Hence the highest est realization of the Vaishnava draws close to the transcendental experience of the Vedantist.
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The path of the Vedantic discipline is the path of negation, "neti", in which, by stern determination, all that is unreal is both negated and renounced. It is the path of jnana, knowledge, the direct method of realizing the Absolute. After the negation of everything relative, including the discriminating ego itself, the aspirant merges in the One without a Second, in the bliss of nirvikalpa samadhi, where subject and object are alike dissolved. The soul goes beyond the realm of thought. The doMain of duality is transcended. Maya is left behind with all its changes and modifications. The Real Man towers above the delusions of creation, preservation, and destruction. An avalanche of indescribable Bliss sweeps away all relative ideas of pain and pleasure, good and evil. There shines in the heart the glory of the Eternal Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Knower, knowledge, and known are dissolved in the Ocean of one eternal Consciousness; love, lover, and beloved merge in the unbounded Sea of supreme Felicity; birth, growth, and death vanish in infinite Existence. All doubts and misgivings are quelled for ever; the oscillations of the mind are stopped; the momentum of past actions is exhausted. Breaking down the ridge-pole of the tabernacle in which the soul has made its abode for untold ages, stilling the body, calming the mind, drowning the ego, the sweet joy of Brahman wells up in that superconscious state. Space disappears into nothingness, time is swallowed in eternity, and causation becomes a dream of the past. Only Existence is. Ah! Who can describe what the soul then feels in its communion with the Self?
Even when man descends from this dizzy height, he is devoid of ideas of "I" and "mine"; he looks on the body as a mere shadow, an outer sheath encasing the soul. He does not dwell on the past, takes no thought for the future, and looks with indifference on the present. He surveys everything in the world with an eye of equality; he is no longer touched by the infinite variety of phenomena; he no longer reacts to pleasure and pain. He reMains unmoved whether he — that is to say, his body — is worshipped by the good or tormented by the wicked; for he realizes that it is the one Brahman that manifests Itself through everything. The impact of such an experience devastates the body and mind. Consciousness becomes blasted, as it were, with an excess of Light. In the Vedanta books it is said that after the experience of nirvikalpa samadhi the body drops off like a dry leaf. Only those who are born with a special mission for the world can return
from this height to the valleys of normal life. They live and move in the world for the welfare of mankind. They are invested with a supreme spiritual power. A divine glory shines through them.
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On the appointed day, in the small hours of the morning, a fire was lighted in the Panchavati. Totapuri and Sri Ramakrishna sat before it. The flame played on their faces. "Ramakrishna was a small brown man with a short beard and beautiful eyes, long dark eyes, full of light, obliquely set and slightly veiled, never very wide open, but seeing half-closed a great distance both outwardly and inwardly. His mouth was open over his white teeth in a bewitching smile, at once affectionate and mischievous. Of medium height, he was thin to emaciation and extremely delicate. His temperament was high-strung, for he was supersensitive to all the winds of joy and sorrow, both moral and physical. He was indeed a living reflection of all that happened before the mirror of his eyes, a two-sided mirror, turned both out and in." (RoMain Rolland, Prophets of the New India, pp. 38-9.) Facing him, the other rose like a rock. He was very tall and robust, a sturdy and tough oak. His constitution and mind were of iron. He was the strong leader of men.
In the burning flame before him Sri Ramakrishna performed the rituals of destroying his attachment to relatives, friends, body, mind, sense-organs, ego, and the world. The leaping flame swallowed it all, making the initiate free and pure. The sacred thread and the tuft of hair were consigned to the fire, completing his severance from caste, sex, and society. Last of all he burnt in that fire, with all that is holy as his witness, his desire for enjoyment here and hereafter. He uttered the sacred mantras giving assurance of safety and fearlessness to all beings, who were only manifestations of his own Self. The rites completed, the disciple received from the guru the loin-cloth and ochre robe, the emblems of his new life.
--
"Brahman", he said, "is the only Reality, ever pure, ever illumined, ever free, beyond the limits of time, space, and causation. Though apparently divided by names and forms through the inscrutable power of maya, that enchantress who makes the impossible possible, Brahman is really One and undivided. When a seeker merges in the beatitude of samadhi, he does not perceive time and space or name and form, the offspring of maya. Whatever is within the doMain of maya is unreal. Give it up. Destroy the prison-house of name and form and rush out of it with the strength of a lion. Dive deep in search of the Self and realize It through samadhi. You will find the world of name and form vanishing into void, and the puny ego dissolving in Brahman-Consciousness. You will realize your identity with Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute." Quoting the Upanishad, Totapuri said: "That knowledge is shallow by which one sees or hears or knows another
. What is shallow is worthless and can never give real felicity. But the Knowledge by which one does not see another or hear another or know another, which is beyond duality, is great, and through such Knowledge one attains the Infinite Bliss. How can the mind and senses grasp That which shines in the heart of all as the Eternal Subject?"
--
Sri Ramakrishna reMained completely absorbed in samadhi for three days. "Is it really true?" Totapuri cried out in astonishment. "Is it possible that he has attained in a single day what it took me forty years of strenuous practice to achieve? Great God! It is nothing short of a miracle!" With the help of Totapuri, Sri Ramakrishna's mind finally came down to the relative plane.
Totapuri, a monk of the most orthodox type, never stayed at a place more than three days. But he reMained at Dakshineswar eleven months. He too had something to learn.
Totapuri had no idea of the struggles of ordinary men in the toils of passion and desire. Having Maintained all through life the guilelessness of a child, he laughed at the idea of a man's being led astray by the senses. He was convinced that the world was maya and had only to be denounced to vanish for ever. A born non-dualist, he had no faith in a Personal God. He did not believe in the terrible aspect of Kali, much less in Her benign aspect. Music and the chanting of God's holy name were to him only so much nonsense. He ridiculed the spending of emotion on the worship of a Personal God.
--- KALI AND MAYA
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The Divine Mother asked Sri Ramakrishna not to be lost in the featureless Absolute but to reMain, in bhavamukha, on the threshold of relative consciousness, the border line between the Absolute and the Relative. He was to keep himself at the "sixth centre" of Tantra, from which he could see not only the glory of the seventh, but also the divine manifestations of the Kundalini in the lower centres. He gently oscillated back and forth across the dividing line. Ecstatic devotion to the Divine Mother alternated with serene absorption in the Ocean of Absolute Unity. He thus bridged the gulf between the Personal and the Impersonal, the immanent and the transcendent aspects of Reality. This is a unique experience in the recorded spiritual history of the world.
--- TOTAPURI'S LESSON
--
Totapuri returned to Dakshineswar and spent the reMaining hours of the night meditating on the Divine Mother. In the morning he went to the Kali temple with Sri Ramakrishna and prostrated himself before the image of the Mother. He now realized why he had spent eleven months at Dakshineswar. Bidding farewell to the disciple, he continued on his way, enlightened.
Sri Ramakrishna later described the significance of Totapuri's lessons:
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After the departure of Totapuri, Sri Ramakrishna reMained for six months in a state of absolute identity with Brahman. "For six months at a stretch", he said, "I reMained in that state from which ordinary men can never return; generally the body falls off, after three weeks, like a sere leaf. I was not conscious of day and night. Flies would enter my mouth and nostrils just as they do a dead body's, but I did not feel them. My hair became matted with dust."
His body would not have survived but for the kindly attention of a monk who happened to be at Dakshineswar at that time and who somehow realized that for the good of humanity Sri Ramakrishna's body must be preserved. He tried various means, even physical violence, to recall the fleeing soul to the prison-house of the body, and during the resultant fleeting moments of consciousness he would push a few morsels of food down Sri Ramakrishna's throat. Presently Sri Ramakrishna received the command of the Divine Mother to reMain on the threshold of relative consciousness. Soon there-after after he was afflicted with a serious attack of dysentery. Day and night the pain tortured him, and his mind gradually came down to the physical plane.
--- COMPANY OF HOLY MEN AND DEVOTEES
--
About spirituality in general the following were his conclusions: First, he was firmly convinced that all religions are true, that every doctrinal system represents a path to God. He had followed all the Main paths and all had led him to the same goal. He was the first religious prophet recorded in history to preach the harmony of religions.
Second, the three great systems of thought known as Dualism, Qualified Non-dualism, and Absolute Non-dualism — Dvaita, Visishtadvaita, and Advaita — he perceived to represent three stages in man's progress toward the Ultimate Reality. They were not contradictory but complementary and suited to different temperaments. For the ordinary man with strong attachment to the senses, a dualistic form of religion, prescribing a certain amount of material support, such as music and other symbols, is useful. A man of God-realization transcends the idea of worldly duties, but the ordinary mortal must perform his duties, striving to be unattached and to surrender the results to God. The mind can comprehend and describe the range of thought and experience up to the Visishtadvaita, and no further. The Advaita, the last word in spiritual experience, is something to be felt in samadhi. for it transcends mind and speech. From the highest standpoint, the Absolute and Its manifestation are equally real — the Lord's Name, His Abode, and the Lord Himself are of the same spiritual Essence. Everything is Spirit, the difference being only in form.
--
In 1878 a schism divided Keshab's Samaj. Some of his influential followers accused him of infringing the Brahmo principles by marrying his daughter to a wealthy man before she had attained the marriageable age approved by the Samaj. This group seceded and established the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Keshab reMaining the leader of the Navavidhan. Keshab now began to be drawn more and more toward the Christ ideal, though under the influence of Sri Ramakrishna his devotion to the Divine Mother also deepened. His mental oscillation between Christ and the Divine Mother of Hinduism found no position of rest. In Bengal and some other parts of India the Brahmo movement took the form of unitarian Christianity, scoffed at Hindu rituals, and preached a crusade against image worship. Influenced by Western culture, it declared the supremacy of reason, advocated the ideals of the French Revolution, abolished the caste-system among its own members, stood for the emancipation of women, agitated for the abolition of early marriage, sanctioned the remarriage of widows, and encouraged various educational and social-reform movements. The immediate effect of the Brahmo movement in Bengal was the checking of the proselytizing activities of the Christian missionaries. It also raised Indian culture in the estimation of its English masters. But it was an intellectual and eclectic religious ferment born of the necessity of the time. Unlike Hinduism, it was not founded on the deep inner experiences of sages and prophets. Its influence was confined to a comparatively few educated men and women of the country, and the vast masses of the Hindus reMained outside it. It sounded monotonously only one of the notes in the rich gamut of the Eternal Religion of the Hindus.
--- ARYA SAMAJ
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But he reMained as ever the willing instrument in the hand of God, the child of the Divine Mother, totally untouched by the idea of being a teacher. He used to say that three ideas — that he was a guru, a father, and a master — pricked his flesh like thorns. Yet he was an extraordinary teacher. He stirred his disciples' hearts more by a subtle influence than by actions or words. He never claimed to be the founder of a religion or the organizer of a sect. Yet he was a religious dynamo. He was the verifier of all religions and creeds. He was like an expert gardener, who prepares the soil and removes the weeds, knowing that the plants will grow because of the inherent power of the seeds, producing each its appropriate flowers and fruits. He never thrust his ideas on anybody. He understood people's limitations and worked on the principle that what is good for one may be bad for another. He had the unusual power of knowing the devotees' minds, even their inmost souls, at the first sight. He accepted disciples with the full knowledge of their past tendencies and future possibilities. The life of evil did not frighten him, nor did religious squeamishness raise anybody in his estimation. He saw in everything the unerring finger of the Divine Mother. Even the light that leads astray was to him the light from God.
To those who became his intimate disciples the Master was a friend, companion, and playmate. Even the chores of religious discipline would be lightened in his presence. The devotees would be so inebriated with pure joy in his company that they would have no time to ask themselves whether he was an Incarnation, a perfect soul, or a yogi. His very presence was a great teaching; words were superfluous. In later years his disciples remarked that while they were with him they would regard him as a comrade, but afterwards would tremble to think of their frivolities in the presence of such a great person. They had convincing proof that the Master could, by his mere wish, kindle in their hearts the love of God and give them His vision.
--
The first of these young men to come to the Master was Latu. Born of obscure parents, in Behar, he came to Calcutta in search of work and was engaged by Ramchandra Dutta as house-boy. Learning of the saintly Sri Ramakrishna, he visited the Master at Dakshineswar and was deeply touched by his cordiality. When he was about to leave, the Master asked him to take some money and return home in a boat or carriage. But Latu declared he had a few pennies and jingled the coins in his pocket. Sri Ramakrishna later requested Ram to allow Latu to stay with him permanently. Under Sri Ramakrishna's guidance Latu made great progress in meditation and was blessed with ecstatic visions, but all the efforts of the Master to give him a smattering of education failed. Latu was very fond of kirtan and other devotional songs but reMained all his life illiterate.
--- RAKHAL
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One day, in January 1884, the Master was going toward the pine-grove when he went into a trance. He was alone. There was no one to support him or guide his footsteps. He fell to the ground and dislocated a bone in his left arm. This accident had a significant influence on his mind, the natural inclination of which was to soar above the consciousness of the body. The acute pain in the arm forced his mind to dwell on the body and on the world outside. But he saw even in this a divine purpose; for, with his mind compelled to dwell on the physical plane, he realized more than ever that he was an instrument in the hand of the Divine Mother, who had a mission to fulfil through his human body and mind. He also distinctly found that in the phenomenal world God manifests Himself, in an inscrutable way, through diverse human beings, both good and evil. Thus he would speak of God in the guise of the wicked, God in the guise of the pious. God in the guise of the hypocrite, God in the guise of the lewd. He began to take a special delight in watching the divine play in the relative world. Sometimes the sweet human relationship with God would appear to him more appealing than the all-effacing Knowledge of Brahman. Many a time he would pray: "Mother, don't make me unconscious through the Knowledge of Brahman. Don't give me Brahmajnana, Mother. Am I not Your child, and naturally timid? I must have my Mother. A million salutations to the Knowledge of Brahman! Give it to those who want it." Again he prayed: "O Mother let me reMain in contact with men! Don't make me a dried-up ascetic. I want to enjoy Your sport in the world." He was able to taste this very rich divine experience and enjoy the love of God and the company of His devotees because his mind, on account of the injury to his arm, was forced to come down to the consciousness of the body. Again, he would make fun of people who proclaimed him as a Divine Incarnation, by pointing to his broken arm. He would say, "Have you ever heard of God breaking His arm?" It took the arm about five months to heal.
--- BEGINNING OF HIS ILLNESS
--
One night he had a hemorrhage of the throat. The doctor now diagnosed the illness as cancer. Narendra was the first to break this heart-rending news to the disciples. Within three days the Master was removed to Calcutta for better treatment. At Balaram's house he reMained a week until a suitable place could be found at Syampukur, in the northern section of Calcutta. During this week he dedicated himself practically without respite to the instruction of those beloved devotees who had been unable to visit him oftener at Dakshineswar. Discourses incessantly flowed from his tongue, and he often went into samadhi. Dr. Mahendra Sarkar, the celebrated homeopath of Calcutta, was invited to undertake his treatment.
--- SYAMPUKUR
In the beginning of September 1885 Sri Ramakrishna was moved to Syampukur. Here Narendra organized the young disciples to attend the Master day and night. At first they concealed the Master's illness from their guardians; but when it became more serious they reMained with him almost constantly, sweeping aside the objections of their relatives and devoting themselves whole-heartedly to the nursing of their beloved guru. These young men, under the watchful eyes of the Master and the leadership of Narendra, became the antaranga bhaktas, the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna's inner circle. They were privileged to witness many manifestations of the Master's divine powers. Narendra received instructions regarding the propagation of his message after his death.
The Holy Mother — so Sarada Devi had come to be affectionately known by Sri Ramakrishna's devotees — was brought from Dakshineswar to look after the general cooking and to prepare the special diet of the patient. The dwelling space being extremely limited, she had to adapt herself to cramped conditions. At three o'clock in the morning she would finish her bath in the Ganges and then enter a small covered place on the roof, where she spent the whole day cooking and praying. After eleven at night, when the visitors went away, she would come down to her small bedroom on the first floor to enjoy a few hours' sleep. Thus she spent three months, working hard, sleeping little, and praying constantly for the Master's recovery.
--
Yet one is not sure whether the Master's soul actually was tortured by this agonizing disease. At least during his moments of spiritual exaltation — which became almost constant during the closing days of his life on earth — he lost all consciousness of the body, of illness and suffering. One of his attendants (Latu, later known as Swami Adbhutananda.) said later on: "While Sri Ramakrishna lay sick he never actually suffered pain. He would often say: 'O mind! Forget the body, forget the sickness, and reMain merged in Bliss.' No, he did not really suffer. At times he would be in a state when the thrill of joy was clearly manifested in his body. Even when he could not speak he would let us know in some way that there was no suffering, and this fact was clearly evident to all who watched him. People who did not understand him thought that his suffering was very great. What spiritual joy he transmitted to us at that time! Could such a thing have been possible if he had 'been suffering physically? It was during this period that he taught us again these truths: 'Brahman is always unattached. The three gunas are in It, but It is unaffected by them, just as the wind carries odour yet reMains odourless.' 'Brahman is Infinite Being, Infinite Wisdom, Infinite Bliss. In It there exist no delusion, no misery, no disease, no death, no growth, no decay.' 'The Transcendental Being and the being within are one and the same. There is one indivisible Absolute Existence.'"
The Holy Mother secretly went to a Siva temple across the Ganges to intercede with the Deity for the Master's recovery. In a revelation she was told to prepare herself for the inevitable end.
--
After another long period Narendra regained full consciousness. Bathed in peace, he went to the Master, who said: "Now the Mother has shown you everything. But this revelation will reMain under lock and key, and I shall keep the key. When you have accomplished the Mother's work you will find the treasure again."
Some days later, Narendra being alone with the Master, Sri Ramakrishna looked at him and went into samadhi. Narendra felt the penetration of a subtle force and lost all outer consciousness. Regaining presently the normal mood, he found the Master weeping.
--
Doubt, however, dies hard. After one or two days Narendra said to himself, "If in the midst of this racking physical pain he declares his Godhead, then only shall I accept him as an Incarnation of God." He was alone by the bedside of the Master. It was a passing thought, but the Master smiled. Gathering his reMaining strength, he distinctly said, "He who was Rama and Krishna is now, in this body, Ramakrishna — but not in your Vedantic sense." Narendra was stricken with shame.
--- MAHASAMADHI
0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
but reMains silent. See the description of his functions
in the Equinox, Liber 418 and elsewhere.
--
The fact reMains that in vice, as in everything else,
some things satiate, others refresh. Any game in which
--
The reMaining paragraphs continue the Gallic
symbolism.
0.00 - THE GOSPEL PREFACE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
M., one of the intimate disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, was present during all the conversations recorded in the Main body of the book and noted them down in his diary.
They therefore have the value of almost stenographic records. In Appendix A are given several conversations which took place in the absence of M., but of which he received a first-hand record from persons concerned. The conversations will bring before the reader's mind an intimate picture of the Master's eventful life from March 1882 to April 24, 1886, only a few months before his passing away. During this period he came in contact chiefly with English-educated Benglis; from among them he selected his disciples and the bearers of his message, and with them he shared his rich spiritual experiences.
--
In the spiritual firmament Sri Ramakrishna is a waxing crescent. Within one hundred years of his birth and fifty years of his death his message has spread across land and sea. RoMain Rolland has described him as the fulfilment of the spiritual aspirations of the three hundred millions of Hindus for the last two thousand years. Mahatma Gandhi has written: "His life enables us to see God face to face. . . . Ramakrishna was a living embodiment of godliness." He is being recognized as a compeer of Krishna, Buddha, and Christ.
The life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna have redirected the thoughts of the denationalized Hindus to the spiritual ideals of their forefa thers. During the latter part of the nineteenth century his was the time-honoured role of the Saviour of the Eternal Religion of the Hindus. His teachings played an important part in liberalizing the minds of orthodox pundits and hermits. Even now he is the silent force that is moulding the spiritual destiny of India. His great disciple, Swami Vivekananda, was the first Hindu missionary to preach the message of Indian culture to the enlightened minds of Europe and America. The full consequence of Swami Vivekn and work is still in the womb of the future.
--
Imparting secular education was, however, only his profession ; his Main concern was with the spiritual regeneration of man a calling for which Destiny seems to have chosen him. From his childhood he was deeply pious, and he used to be moved very much by Sdhus, temples and Durga Puja celebrations. The piety and eloquence of the great Brahmo leader of the times, Keshab Chander Sen, elicited a powerful response from the impressionable mind of Mahendra Nath, as it did in the case of many an idealistic young man of Calcutta, and prepared him to receive the great Light that was to dawn on him with the coming of Sri Ramakrishna into his life.
This epoch-making event of his life came about in a very strange way. M. belonged to a joint family with several collateral members. Some ten years after he began his career as an educationist, bitter quarrels broke out among the members of the family, driving the sensitive M. to despair and utter despondency. He lost all interest in life and left home one night to go into the wide world with the idea of ending his life. At dead of night he took rest in his sister's house at Baranagar, and in the morning, accompanied by a nephew Siddheswar, he wandered from one garden to another in Calcutta until Siddheswar brought him to the Temple Garden of Dakshineswar where Sri Ramakrishna was then living. After spending some time in the beautiful rose gardens there, he was directed to the room of the Paramahamsa, where the eventful meeting of the Master and the disciple took place on a blessed evening (the exact date is not on record) on a Sunday in March 1882. As regards what took place on the occasion, the reader is referred to the opening section of the first chapter of the Gospel.
--
Besides the prompting of his inherent instinct, the Main inducement for M. to keep this diary of his experiences at Dakshineswar was his desire to provide himself with a means for living in holy company at all times. Being a school teacher, he could be with the Master only on Sundays and other holidays, and it was on his diary that he depended for 'holy company' on other days. The devotional scriptures like the Bhagavata say that holy company is the first and most important means for the generation and growth of devotion. For, in such company man could hear talks on spiritual matters and listen to the glorification of Divine attri butes, charged with the fervour and conviction emanating from the hearts of great lovers of God. Such company is therefore the one certain means through which Sraddha (Faith), Rati (attachment to God) and Bhakti (loving devotion) are generated. The diary of his visits to Dakshineswar provided M. with material for re-living, through reading and contemplation, the holy company he had had earlier, even on days when he was not able to visit Dakshineswar. The wealth of details and the vivid description of men and things in the midst of which the sublime conversations are set, provide excellent material to re-live those experiences for any one with imaginative powers. It was observed by M.'s disciples and admirers that in later life also whenever he was free or alone, he would be pouring over his diary, transporting himself on the wings of imagination to the glorious days he spent at the feet of the Master.
During the Master's lifetime M. does not seem to have revealed the contents of his diary to any one. There is an unconfirmed tradition that when the Master saw him taking notes, he expressed apprehension at the possibility of his utilising these to publicise him like Keshab Sen; for the Great Master was so full of the spirit of renunciation and humility that he disliked being lionised. It must be for this reason that no one knew about this precious diary of M. for a decade until he brought out selections from it as a pamphlet in English in 1897 with the Holy Mother's blessings and permission. The Holy Mother, being very much pleased to hear parts of the diary read to her in Bengali, wrote to M.: "When I heard the Kathmrita, (Bengali name of the book) I felt as if it was he, the Master, who was saying all that." ( Ibid Part I. P 37.)
--
And Swamiji added a post script to the letter: "Socratic dialogues are Plato all over you are entirely hidden. Moreover, the dramatic part is infinitely beautiful. Everybody likes it here or in the West." Indeed, in order to be unknown, Mahendranath had used the pen-name M., under which the book has been appearing till now. But so great a book cannot reMain obscure for long, nor can its author reMain unrecognised by the large public in these modern times. M. and his book came to be widely known very soon and to meet the growing demand, a full-sized book, Vol. I of the Gospel, translated by the author himself, was published in 1907 by the Brahmavadin Office, Madras. A second edition of it, revised by the author, was brought out by the Ramakrishna Math, Madras in December 1911, and subsequently a second part, containing new chapters from the original Bengali, was published by the same Math in 1922. The full English translation of the Gospel by Swami Nikhilananda appeared first in 1942.
In Bengali the book is published in five volumes, the first part having appeared in 1902
--
In 1905 he retired from the active life of a Professor and devoted his reMaining twenty-seven years exclusively to the preaching of the life and message of the Great Master. He bought the Morton Institution from its original proprietors and shifted it to a commodious four-storeyed house at 50 Amherst Street, where it flourished under his management as one of the most efficient educational institutions in Calcutta. He generally occupied a staircase room at the top of it, cooking his own meal which consisted only of milk and rice without variation, and attended to all his personal needs himself. His dress also was the simplest possible. It was his conviction that limitation of personal wants to the minimum is an important aid to holy living. About one hour in the morning he would spend in inspecting the classes of the school, and then retire to his staircase room to pour over his diary and live in the divine atmosphere of the earthly days of the Great Master, unless devotees and admirers had already gathered in his room seeking his holy company.
In appearance, M. looked a Vedic Rishi. Tall and stately in bearing, he had a strong and well-built body, an unusually broad chest, high forehead and arms extending to the knees. His complexion was fair and his prominent eyes were always tinged with the expression of the divine love that filled his heart. Adorned with a silvery beard that flowed luxuriantly down his chest, and a shining face radiating the serenity and gravity of holiness, M. was as imposing and majestic as he was handsome and engaging in appearance. Humorous, sweet-tongued and eloquent when situations required, this great Maharishi of our age lived only to sing the glory of Sri Ramakrishna day and night.
--
As time went on and the number of devotees increased, the staircase room and terrace of the 3rd floor of the Morton Institution became a veritable Naimisaranya of modern times, resounding during all hours of the day, and sometimes of night, too, with the word of God coming from the Rishi-like face of M. addressed to the eager God-seekers sitting around. To the devotees who helped him in preparing the text of the Gospel, he would dictate the conversations of the Master in a meditative mood, referring now and then to his diary. At times in the stillness of midnight he would awaken a nearby devotee and tell him: "Let us listen to the words of the Master in the depths of the night as he explains the truth of the Pranava." ( Vednta Kesari XIX P. 142.) Swami Raghavananda, an intimate devotee of M., writes as follows about these devotional sittings: "In the sweet and warm months of April and May, sitting under the canopy of heaven on the roof-garden of 50 Amherst Street, surrounded by shrubs and plants, himself sitting in their midst like a Rishi of old, the stars and planets in their courses beckoning us to things infinite and sublime, he would speak to us of the mysteries of God and His love and of the yearning that would rise in the human heart to solve the Eternal Riddle, as exemplified in the life of his Master. The mind, melting under the influence of his soft sweet words of light, would almost transcend the frontiers of limited existence and dare to peep into the infinite. He himself would take the influence of the setting and say,'What a blessed privilege it is to sit in such a setting (pointing to the starry heavens), in the company of the devotees discoursing on God and His love!' These unforgettable scenes will long reMain imprinted on the minds of his hearers." (Prabuddha Bharata Vol XXXVII P 497.)
About twenty-seven years of his life he spent in this way in the heart of the great city of Calcutta, radiating the Master's thoughts and ideals to countless devotees who flocked to him, and to still larger numbers who read his Kathmrita (English Edition : The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna), the last part of which he had completed before June 1932 and given to the press. And miraculously, as it were, his end also came immediately after he had completed his life's mission. About three months earlier he had come to stay at his home at 13/2 Gurdasprasad Chaudhuary Lane at Thakur Bari, where the Holy Mother had herself installed the Master and where His regular worship was being conducted for the previous 40 years. The night of 3rd June being the Phalahrini Kli Pooja day, M.
0.00 - The Wellspring of Reality, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science
Only a comprehensive switch from the narrowing specialization and toward an evermore inclusive and refining comprehension by all humanity-regarding all the factors governing omnicontinuing life aboard our spaceship Earth-can bring about reorientation from the self-extinction-bound human trending, and do so within the critical time reMaining before we have passed the point of chemical process irretrievability.
Quite clearly, our task is predominantly metaphysical, for it is how to get all of humanity to educate itself swiftly enough to generate spontaneous social behaviors that will avoid extinction.
--
The supposed location of the threshold between animate and inanimate was methodically narrowed down by experimental science until it was confined specifically within the doMain of virology. Virologists have been too busy, for instance, with their DNA-RNA genetic code isolatings, to find time to see the synergetic significance to society of the fact that they have found that no physical threshold does in fact exist between animate and inanimate. The possibility of its existence vanished because the supposedly unique physical qualities of both animate and inanimate have persisted right across yesterday's supposed threshold in both directions to permeate one another's-previously perceived to be exclusive- doMains. Subsequently, what was animate has become foggier and foggier, and what is inanimate clearer and clearer. All organisms consist physically and in entirety of inherently inanimate atoms. The inanimate alone is not only omnipresent but is alone experimentally demonstrable. Belated news of the elimination of this threshold must be interpreted to mean that whatever life may be, it has not been isolated and thereby identified as residual in the biological cell, as had been supposed by the false assumption that there was a separate physical phenomenoncalled animate within which life existed. No life per se has been isolated. The threshold between animate and inanimate has vanished. Those chemists who are preoccupied in synthesizing the particular atomically structured molecules identified as the prime constituents of humanly employed organisms will, even if they are chemically successful, be as remote from creating life as are automobile manufacturers from creating the human drivers of their automobiles. Only the physical connections and development complexes of distinctly "nonlife" atoms into molecules, into cells, into animals, has been and will be discovered. The genetic coding of the design controls of organic systems offers no more explanation of life than did the specifications of the designs of the telephone system's apparatus and operation explain the nature of the life that communicates weightlessly to life over the only physically ponderable telephone system. Whatever else life may be, we know it is weightless. At the moment of death, no weight is lost. All the chemicals, including the chemist's life ingredients, are present, but life has vanished. The physical is inherently entropic, giving off energy in ever more disorderly ways. The metaphysical is antientropic, methodically marshalling energy. Life is antientropic.
It is spontaneously inquisitive. It sorts out and endeavors to understand.
0.01f - FOREWARD, #The Phenomenon of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
reMain indefinitely for us whatever is done to make us see
what he still represents to so many minds : an erratic object in a
--
universe even a positivist one reMains unsatisfying unless it
35
0.01 - I - Sri Aurobindos personality, his outer retirement - outside contacts after 1910 - spiritual personalities- Vibhutis and Avatars - transformtion of human personality, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Greatness is magnetic and in a sense contagious. Wherever manifested, greatness is claimed by humanity as something that reveals the possibility of the race. The highest utility of greatness is not merely to attract us but to inspire us to follow it and rise to our own highest spiritual stature. To the majority of men Truth reMains abstract, impersonal and far unless it is seen and felt concretely in a human personality. A man never knows a truth actively except through a person and by embodying it in his own personality. Some glimpse of the Truth-Consciousness which Sri Aurobindo embodied may be caught in these Evening Talks.
***
0.01 - Letters from the Mother to Her Son, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
and total immobility, while the consciousness reMains perfectly
awake; or else I enter into an internal activity of one or more
--
they may be divided into two Main opposing tendencies: those
that work for the fulfilment of the Divine work upon earth,
0.01 - Life and Yoga, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
God. Therefore we see in India that a sharp incompatibility has been created between life in the world and spiritual growth and perfection, and although the tradition and ideal of a victorious harmony between the inner attraction and the outer demand reMains, it is little or else very imperfectly exemplified. In fact, when a man turns his vision and energy inward and enters on the path of Yoga, he is popularly supposed to be lost inevitably to the great stream of our collective existence and the secular effort of humanity. So strongly has the idea prevailed, so much has it been emphasised by prevalent philosophies and religions that to escape from life is now commonly considered as not only the necessary condition, but the general object of Yoga. No synthesis of Yoga can be satisfying which does not, in its aim, reunite God and Nature in a liberated and perfected human life or, in its method, not only permit but favour the harmony of our inner and outer activities and experiences in the divine consummation of both. For man is precisely that term and symbol of a higher Existence descended into the material world in which it is possible for the lower to transfigure itself and put on the nature of the higher and the higher to reveal itself in the forms of the lower. To avoid the life which is given him for the realisation of that possibility, can never be either the indispensable condition or the whole and ultimate object of his supreme endeavour or of his most powerful means of self-fulfilment. It can only be a temporary necessity under certain conditions or a specialised extreme effort imposed on the individual so as to prepare a greater general possibility for the race. The true and full object and utility of Yoga can only be accomplished when the conscious
Yoga in man becomes, like the subconscious Yoga in Nature, outwardly conterminous with life itself and we can once more, looking out both on the path and the achievement, say in a more perfect and luminous sense: "All life is Yoga."
0.02 - II - The Home of the Guru, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Guru-griha-vsa staying in the home of the Guru is a very old Indian ideal Maintained by seekers through the ages. The Aranyakas the ancient teachings in the forest-groves are perhaps the oldest records of the institution. It was not for education in the modern sense of the term that men went to live with the Guru; for the Guru is not a 'teacher'. The Guru is one who is 'enlightened', who is a seer, a Rishi, one who has the vision of and has lived the Truth. He has, thus, the knowledge of the goal of human life and has learnt true values in life by living the Truth. He can impart both these to the willing seeker. In ancient times seekers went to the Guru with many questions, difficulties and doubts but also with earnestness. Their questions were preliminary to the quest.
The Master, the Guru, set at rest the puzzled human mind by his illuminating answers, perhaps even more by his silent consciousness, so that it might be able to pursue unhampered the path of realisation of the Truth. Those ancient discourses answer the mind of man today even across the ages. They have rightly acquired as everything of the past does a certain sanctity. But sometimes that very reverence prevents men from properly evaluating, and living in, the present. This happens when the mind instead of seeking the Spirit looks at the form. For instance, it is not necessary for such discourses that they take place in forest-groves in order to be highly spiritual. Wherever the Master is, there is Light. And guru-griha the house of the Master can be his private dwelling place. So much was this feeling a part of Sri Aurobindo's nature and so particular was he to Maintain the personal character of his work that during the first few years after 1923 he did not like his house to be called an 'Ashram', as the word had acquired the sense of a public institution to the modern mind. But there was no doubt that the flower of Divinity had blossomed in him; and disciples, like bees seeking honey, came to him. It is no exaggeration to say that these Evening Talks were to the small company of disciples what the Aranyakas were to the ancient seekers. Seeking the Light, they came to the dwelling place of their Guru, the greatest seer of the age, and found it their spiritual home the home of their parents, for the Mother, his companion in the great mission, had come. And these spiritual parents bestowed upon the disciples freely of their Light, their Consciousness, their Power and their Grace. The modern reader may find that the form of these discourses differs from those of the past but it was bound to be so for the simple reason that the times have changed and the problems that puzzle the modern mind are so different. Even though the disciples may be very imperfect representations of what he aimed at in them, still they are his creations. It is in order to repay, in however infinitesimal a degree, the debt which we owe to him that the effort is made to partake of the joy of his company the Evening Talks with a larger public.
***
0.02 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding the misuse of "gris entretien", Maintenance
grey paint) A stool used by the Mother has been painted
--
heart towards You: "May this day bring me an opportunity to reMain calm even in the face of provocation." It
was a very spontaneous prayer.
--
Since I know all about it, I cannot reMain indifferent; I
must tell him that it is not right. I followed the second
--
The Main door of your being is open, but certain other doors
are still not open. You must open them all, for I am there and I
--
reMains aloof, and when he does speak I find him rather
difficult.
--
and the efforts I make to reMain peaceful and calm seem
beyond my capacity.
0.03 - III - The Evening Sittings, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Integral Yoga
As years passed the evening sittings went on changing their time and often those disciples who came from outside for a temporary stay for Sadhana were allowed to join them. And, as the number of sadhaks practising the Yoga increased, the evening sittings also became more full, and the small verandah upstairs in the Main building was found insufficient. Members of the household would gather every day at the fixed time with some sense of expectancy and start chatting in low tones. Sri Aurobindo used to come last and it was after his coming that the session would really commence.
He came dressed as usual in dhoti, part of which was used by him to cover the upper part of his body. Very rarely he came out with chaddar or shawl and then it was "in deference to the climate" as he sometimes put it. At times for minutes he would be gazing at the sky from a small opening at the top of the grass-curtains that covered the verandah upstairs in No. 9, Rue de la Marine. How much were these sittings dependent on him may be gathered from the fact that there were days when more than three-fourths of the time passed in complete silence without any outer suggestion from him, or there was only an abrupt "Yes" or "No" to all attempts at drawing him out in conversation. And even when he participated in the talk one always felt that his voice was that of one who does not let his whole being flow into his words; there was a reserve and what was left unsaid was perhaps more than what was spoken. What was spoken was what he felt necessary to speak.
--
From 1918 to 1922, we gathered at No. 41, Rue Franois Martin, called the Guest House, upstairs, on a broad verandah into which four rooms opened and whose Main piece of furniture was a small table 3' x 1' covered with a blue cotton cloth. That is where Sri Aurobindo used to sit in a hard wooden chair behind the table with a few chairs in front for the visitors or for the disciples.
From 1922 to 1926, No. 9, Rue de la Marine, where he and the Mother had shifted, was the place where the sittings were held. There, also upstairs, was a less broad verandah than at the Guest House, a little bigger table in front of the central door out of three, and a broad Japanese chair, the table covered with a better cloth than the one in the Guest House, a small flower vase, an ash-tray, a block calendar indicating the date and an ordinary time-piece, and a number of chairs in front in a line. The evening sittings used to be after meditation at 4 or 4.30 p.m. After 24 November 1926, the sittings began to get later and later, till the limit of 1 o'clock at night was reached. Then the curtain fell. Sri Aurobindo retired completely after December 1926, and the evening sittings came to a close.
0.03 - Letters to My little smile, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
not frightened by what happened to Y. ReMain very calm, very
quiet, and everything will be all right.
--
nowhere to stay; I will reMain here even as a servant, but
it is impossible for me to live elsewhere."
--
own doMain.
18 December 1932
--
If You want these imaginations to reMain in me, let
them reMain, but if You don't want that, root them out.
Once again, do not worry; what should disappear will disappear;
only what is good will reMain.
25 December 1932
--
to reMain confident and cheerful.
27 December 1932
--
is good will reMain."
You wrote this one day in my notebook. But all the
--
good too. Because they have reMained in me, they have
not disappeared. And the smile and working regularly
--
so much trouble? It would be better to reMain quiet because "what should disappear will disappear; only what
is good will reMain. "
Mother, I know that You will not like all these things
--
In the psychological doMain, only the patients who do not want
to recover, do not recover. Perhaps it is the same for physical
--
help thinking that if I reMain in this condition all the time
and if I can't ever be happy, it will soon be impossible
--
receiving Sri Aurobindo's blessing, it is better to reMain concentrated and to keep one's joy locked inside oneself rather than to
throw it out by mixing and talking with others. The experiences
--
It is very good to reMain silent and concentrated in your aspiration; and I am sure that if you keep a deep affection for X in your
heart, she will feel it and will no longer be sad. But, of course,
--
steadier. ReMain confident, do not torment yourself - in this
way you will hasten its coming.
0.03 - The Threefold Life, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
But the spiritual life, like the mental, may thus make use of this outward existence for the benefit of the individual with a perfect indifference to any collective uplifting of the merely symbolic world which it uses. Since the Eternal is for ever the same in all things and all things the same to the Eternal, since the exact mode of action and the result are of no importance compared with the working out in oneself of the one great realisation, this spiritual indifference accepts no matter what environment, no matter what action, dispassionately, prepared to retire as soon as its own supreme end is realised. It is so that many have understood the ideal of the Gita. Or else the inner love and bliss may pour itself out on the world in good deeds, in service, in compassion, the inner Truth in the giving of knowledge, without therefore attempting the transformation of a world which must by its inalienable nature reMain a battlefield of the dualities, of sin and virtue, of truth and error, of joy and suffering.
But if Progress also is one of the chief terms of worldexistence and a progressive manifestation of the Divine the true sense of Nature, this limitation also is invalid. It is possible for the spiritual life in the world, and it is its real mission, to change the material life into its own image, the image of the Divine. Therefore, besides the great solitaries who have sought and attained their self-liberation, we have the great spiritual teachers who have also liberated others and, supreme of all, the great dynamic souls who, feeling themselves stronger in the might of the Spirit than all the forces of the material life banded together, have thrown themselves upon the world, grappled with it in a loving wrestle and striven to compel its consent to its own transfiguration. Ordinarily, the effort is concentrated on a mental and moral change in humanity, but it may extend itself also to the alteration of the forms of our life and its institutions so that they too may be a better mould for the inpourings of the Spirit. These attempts have been the supreme landmarks in the progressive development of human ideals and the divine preparation of the race. Every one of them, whatever its outward results, has left Earth more capable of Heaven and quickened in its tardy movements the evolutionary Yoga of Nature.
--
The schools of Indian Yoga lent themselves to the compromise. Individual perfection or liberation was made the aim, seclusion of some kind from the ordinary activities the condition, the renunciation of life the culmination. The teacher gave his knowledge only to a small circle of disciples. Or if a wider movement was attempted, it was still the release of the individual soul that reMained the aim. The pact with an immobile society was, for the most part, observed.
The utility of the compromise in the then actual state of the world cannot be doubted. It secured in India a society which lent itself to the preservation and the worship of spirituality, a country apart in which as in a fortress the highest spiritual ideal could Maintain itself in its most absolute purity unoverpowered by the siege of the forces around it. But it was a compromise, not an absolute victory. The material life lost the divine impulse to growth, the spiritual preserved by isolation its height and purity, but sacrificed its full power and serviceableness to the world. Therefore, in the divine Providence the country of the Yogins and the Sannyasins has been forced into a strict and imperative contact with the very element it had rejected, the element of the progressive Mind, so that it might recover what was now wanting to it.
We have to recognise once more that the individual exists not in himself alone but in the collectivity and that individual perfection and liberation are not the whole sense of God's intention in the world. The free use of our liberty includes also the liberation of others and of mankind; the perfect utility of our perfection is, having realised in ourselves the divine symbol, to reproduce, multiply and ultimately universalise it in others.
0.04 - The Systems of Yoga, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Rajayoga aimed not only at Swarajya, self-rule or subjective empire, the entire control by the subjective consciousness of all the states and activities proper to its own doMain, but included
Samrajya as well, outward empire, the control by the subjective consciousness of its outer activities and environment.
We perceive that as Hathayoga, dealing with the life and body, aims at the supernormal perfection of the physical life and its capacities and goes beyond it into the doMain of the mental life, so Rajayoga, operating with the mind, aims at a supernormal perfection and enlargement of the capacities of the mental life and goes beyond it into the doMain of the spiritual existence.
But the weakness of the system lies in its excessive reliance on abnormal states of trance. This limitation leads first to a certain aloofness from the physical life which is our foundation and the sphere into which we have to bring our mental and spiritual gains. Especially is the spiritual life, in this system, too much associated with the state of Samadhi. Our object is to make the spiritual life and its experiences fully active and fully utilisable in the waking state and even in the normal use of the functions.
0.05 - Letters to a Child, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Think of something else. Keep yourself busy; don't reMain idle,
doing nothing.
--
You are everywhere. ReMain with me always.
My dear child,
--
the best thing is to reMain always cradled in my arms, protected
by my love which never leaves you.
--
ReMain always in my heart.
Yes, my dear child, I forgive you; but how I would like you to
--
where he has reMained ever since. The following letters
were written after his return.)
--
Do not torment yourself, my child, and reMain as quiet as you
can; do not yield to the temptation to give up the struggle and let
--
run away from there? You must reMain quiet in my arms if you
want me to be able to help you.
0.05 - The Synthesis of the Systems, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Nature, that which we know and are and must reMain so long as the faith in us is not changed, acts through limitation and division, is of the nature of Ignorance and culminates in the life of the ego; but the higher Nature, that to which we aspire, acts by unification and transcendence of limitation, is of the nature of Knowledge and culminates in the life divine. The passage from the lower to the higher is the aim of Yoga; and this passage
The Synthesis of the Systems
--
By this integral realisation and liberation, the perfect harmony of the results of Knowledge, Love and Works. For there is attained the complete release from ego and identification in being with the One in all and beyond all. But since the attaining consciousness is not limited by its attainment, we win also the unity in Beatitude and the harmonised diversity in Love, so that all relations of the play reMain possible to us even while we retain on the heights of our being the eternal oneness with the
Beloved. And by a similar wideness, being capable of a freedom in spirit that embraces life and does not depend upon withdrawal from life, we are able to become without egoism, bondage or reaction the channel in our mind and body for a divine action poured out freely upon the world.
0.06 - INTRODUCTION, #Dark Night of the Soul, #Saint John of the Cross, #Christianity
consists in 'allowing the soul to reMain in peace and quietness,' content 'with a
4Op. cit., Bk. I, chap. i, 1.
--
reMaining. We then embark upon the second stanza, which describes the soul's
8Dark Night, Bk. I, chap. x, 4.
--
that the Saint proposed to treat in his commentary on the five reMaining stanzas.
As far as we know, this commentary was never written. We have only the briefest
0.06 - Letters to a Young Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
the being which reMain attached to their old activities and refuse
to change. They will have to yield and be transformed one day
--
It is quite incorrect that I wish to reMain far from you; but
to be near me you must climb up close beside me, and not expect
--
reMain so high up that it seems to me almost impossible
to climb up there. There is a world of difference between
--
me is a big mistake; for the vital being reMains what it is, whether
the body be alive or dead, and if the vital being is, during one's
--
but I can't reMain at Your feet for more than a few
seconds; how can I live?
--
ReMain very quiet, open your mind and your heart to Sri Aurobindo's influence and mine, withdraw deep into an inner silence
(which may be had in all circumstances), call me from the depths
--
reMain very calm without bothering about what happens
to me.
--
for the Divine reMains.
Series Six - To a Young Sadhak
--
Sensations belong to the vital doMain and to that part of it which
is expressed through the nerves of the body. It is sentiments
--
that we have done nothing in comparison with what reMains to
be done.
--
of reMaining quiet.
Have faith in the Divine Grace and the hour of liberation will
--
If I can reMain peaceful in the face of all circumstances,
I can be sure that the hostile force is far from me.
0.07 - DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL, #Dark Night of the Soul, #Saint John of the Cross, #Christianity
8. I reMained, lost in oblivion; My face I reclined on the Beloved.
All ceased and I abandoned myself, Leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies.
0.07 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
me reMain always there so that I may fill your whole being with
light and love and joy.
--
called me" and that I reMain convinced that it will be solved
successfully....
0.08 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
care to become inwardly calm and reMain so always as far as
possible, to cultivate a perfect sincerity in all the activities of
--
How can one silence the mind, reMain quiet, and
at the same time have an aspiration, an intensity or a
--
dreams, then gradually you reMain more and more conscious
during your sleep, and not only can you control your dreams
--
What is meant by the "silence of the physical consciousness"2 and how can one reMain in this silence?
The physical consciousness is not only the consciousness of our
--
of noise), immutable so long as it reMains, a silence one can
experience even in the outer tumult of a hurricane or battlefield.
--
the music whose sound alone reMains; and with the sound all
the feelings, all the movements of emotion can be captured,
--
"dreams", what doMain it is that one "dreams" in, and what the
nature of that activity is. In his letters, Sri Aurobindo has given
--
are developed that one becomes conscious of those doMains.
This consciousness is double, at first psychological and subjective, within oneself, expressing itself through thoughts, feelings,
--
nor even in a year. This mastery, in whatever doMain it may be,
vital, mental, overmental, demands assiduous effort and a great
0.09 - Letters to a Young Teacher, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
have understood it. Talk little, reMain quiet and concentrated,
and speak only when it is indispensable.
--
bright room, and there, if we reMain very quiet, one or more
visitors come to call on us; some are tall, others small, some
--
And yet if we were wiser, we would reMain up above, at
the summit of the tower, quite calm, in joyful contemplation.
--
those who are sincere in their aspiration will reMain here and
receive all the help needed to be able to change in themselves
01.01 - A Yoga of the Art of Life, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Here is the very heart of the mystery, the master-key to the problem. The advent of the superhuman or divine race, however stupendous or miraculous the phenomenon may appear to be, can become a thing of practical actuality, precisely because it is no human agency that has undertaken it but the Divine himself in his supreme potency and wisdom and love. The descent of the Divine into the ordinary human nature in order to purify and transform it and be lodged there is the whole secret of the sadhana in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga. The sadhaka has only to be quiet and silent, calmly aspiring, open and acquiescent and receptive to the one Force; he need not and should not try to do things by his independent personal effort, but get them done or let them be done for him in the dedicated consciousness by the Divine Master and Guide. All other Yogas or spiritual disciplines in the past envisaged an ascent of the consciousness, its sublimation into the consciousness of the Spirit and its fusion and dissolution there in the end. The descent of the Divine Consciousness to prepare its definitive home in the dynamic and pragmatic human nature, if considered at all, was not the Main theme of the past efforts and achievements. Furthermore, the descent spoken of here is the descent, not of a divine consciousness for there are many varieties of divine consciousness but of the Divine's own consciousness, of the Divine himself with his Shakti. For it is that that is directly working out this evolutionary transformation of the age.
It is not my purpose here to enter into details as to the exact meaning of the descent, how it happens and what are its lines of activity and the results brought about. For it is indeed an actual descent that happens: the Divine Light leans down first into the mind and begins its purificatory work therealthough it is always the inner heart which first recognises the Divine Presence and gives its assent to the Divine action for the mind, the higher mind that is to say, is the summit of the ordinary human consciousness and receives more easily and readily the Radiances that descend. From the Mind the Light filters into the denser regions of the emotions and desires, of life activity and vital dynamism; finally, it gets into brute Matter itself, the hard and obscure rock of the physical body, for that too has to be illumined and made the very form and figure of the Light supernal. The Divine in his descending Grace is the Master-Architect who is building slowly and surely the many-chambered and many-storeyed edifice that is human nature and human life into the mould of the Divine Truth in its perfect play and supreme expression. But this is a matter which can be closely considered when one is already well within the mystery of the path and has acquired the elementary essentials of an initiate.
--
I have a word to add finally in justification of the title of this essay. For, it may be asked, how can spirituality be considered as one of the Arts or given an honourable place in their doMain?
From a certain point of view, from the point of view of essentials and inner realities, it would appear that spirituality is, at least, the basis of the arts, if not the highest art. If art is meant to express the soul of things, and since the true soul of things is the divine element in them, then certainly spirituality, the discipline of coming in conscious contact with the Spirit, the Divine, must be accorded the regal seat in the hierarchy of the arts. Also, spirituality is the greatest and the most difficult of the arts; for it is the art of life. To make of life a perfect work of beauty, pure in its lines, faultless in its rhythm, replete with strength, iridescent: with light, vibrant with delightan embodiment of the Divine, in a wordis the highest ideal of spirituality; viewed the spirituality that Sri Aurobindo practisesis the ne plus ultra of artistic creation
01.01 - Sri Aurobindo - The Age of Sri Aurobindo, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Someone has written to this effect: "This is not the age of Sri Aurobindo. His ideal of a divine life upon earth mayor may not be true; at any rate it is not of today or even of tomorrow. Humanity will take some time before it reaches that stage or its possibility. What we are concerned with here and now is something perhaps less great, less spiritual, but more urgent and more practical. The problem is not to run away with one's soul, but to Maintain its earthly tenement, to keep body and soul together: one has to live first, live materially before one can hope to live spiritually."
Well, the view expressed in these words is not a new revelation. It has been the cry of suffering humanity through the ages. Man has borne his cross since the beginning of his creation through want and privation, through disease and bereavement, through all manner of turmoil and tribulation, and yetmirabile dictuat the same time, in the very midst of those conditions, he has been aspiring and yearning for something else, ignoring the present, looking into the beyond. It is not the prosperous and the more happily placed in life who find it more easy to turn to the higher life, it is not the wealthiest who has the greatest opportunity to pursue a spiritual idea. On the contrary, spiritual leaders have thought and experienced otherwise.
01.01 - The New Humanity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The world is in the throes of a new creation and the pangs of that new birth have made mother Earth restless. It is no longer a far-off ideal that our imagination struggles to visualise, nor a prophecy that yet reMains to be fulfilled. It is Here and Now.
Although we may not know it, the New Man the divine race of humanity is already among us. It may be in our next neighbour, in our nearest brother, even in myself. Only a thin veil covers it. It marches just behind the line. It waits for an occasion to throw off the veil and place itself in the forefront. We are living in strenuous times in which age-long institutions are going down and new-forces rearing their heads, old habits are being cast off and new impulsions acquired. In every sphere of life, we see the urgent demand for a recasting, a fresh valuation of things. From the base to the summit, from the economic and political life to the artistic and spiritual, humanity is being shaken to bring out a new expression and articulation. There is the hidden surge of a Power, the secret stress of a Spirit that can no longer suffer to reMain in the shade and behind the mask, but wills to come out in the broad daylight and be recognised in its plenary virtues.
That Power, that Spirit has been growing and gathering its strength during all the millenniums that humanity has lived through. On the momentous day when man appeared on earth, the Higher Man also took his birth. Since the hour the Spirit refused to be imprisoned in its animal sheath and came out as man, it approached by that very uplift a greater freedom and a vaster movement. It was the crest of that underground wave which peered over the surface from age to age, from clime to clime through the experiences of poets and prophets and sages the Head of the Sacrificial Horse galloping towards the Dawn.
01.01 - The One Thing Needful, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Sadhana must be the Main thing and sadhana means the purification of the nature, the consecration of the being, the opening of the psychic and the inner mind and vital, the contact and presence of the Divine, the realisation of the Divine in all things, surrender, devotion, the widening of the consciousness into the cosmic Consciousness, the Self one in all, the psychic and the spiritual transformation of the nature.
... the principle of this Yoga is not perfection of the human nature as it is but a psychic and spiritual transformation of all the parts of the being through the action of an inner consciousness and then of a higher consciousness which works on them, throws out the old movements or changes them into the image of its own and so transmutes lower into higher nature. It is not so much the perfection of the intellect as a transcendence of it, a transformation of the mind, the substitution of a larger greater principle of knowledge - and so with all the rest of the being.
01.02 - Natures Own Yoga, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
But the initial illusory consciousness of the Overmind need not at all lead to the static Brahmic consciousness or Sunyam alone. As a matter of fact, there is in this particular processes of consciousness a hiatus between the two, between Maya and Brahman, as though one has to leap from the one into the other somehow. This hiatus is filled up in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga by the principle of Supermind, not synthetic-analytic2 in knowledge like Overmind and the highest mental intelligence, but inescapably unitarian even in the utmost diversity. Supermind is the Truth-consciousness at once static and dynamic, self-existent and creative: in Supermind the Brahmic consciousness Sachchidanandais ever self-aware and ever manifested and embodied in fundamental truth-powers and truth-forms for the play of creation; it is the plane where the One breaks out into the Many and the Many still reMain one, being and knowing themselves to be but various self-expressions of the One; it develops the spiritual archetypes, the divine names and forms of all individualisations of an evolving existence.
SRI AUROBINDO
--
It is also to be noted that as mind is not the last limit of the march of evolution, even so the progress of evolution will not stop with the manifestation and embodiment of the Supermind. There are other still higher principles beyond and they too presumably await manifestation and embodiment on earth. Creation has no beginning in time (andi) nor has it an end (ananta). It is an eternal process of the unravelling of the mysteries of the Infinite. Only, it may be said that with the Supermind the creation here enters into a different order of existence. Before it there was the doMain of Ignorance, after it will come the reign of Light and Knowledge. Mortality has been the governing principle of life on earth till now; it will be replaced by the consciousness of immortality. Evolution has proceeded through struggle and pain; hereafter it will be a spontaneous, harmonious and happy flowering.
Now, with regard to the time that the present stage of evolution is likely to take for its fulfilment, one can presume that since or if the specific urge and stress has manifested and come up to the front, this very fact would show that the problem has become a problem of actuality, and even that it can be dealt with as if it had to be solved now or never. We have said that in man, with man's self-consciousness or the consciousness of the psychic being as the instrument, evolution has attained the capacity of a swift and concentrated process, which is the process of Yoga; the process will become swifter and more concentrated, the more that instrument grows and gathers power and is infused with the divine afflatus. In fact, evolution has been such a process of gradual acceleration in tempo from the very beginning. The earliest stage, for example, the stage of dead Matter, of the play of the mere chemical forces was a very, very long one; it took millions and millions of years to come to the point when the manifestation of life became possible. But the period of elementary life, as manifested in the plant world that followed, although it too lasted a good many millions of years, was much briefer than the preceding periodit ended with the advent of the first animal form. The age of animal life, again, has been very much shorter than that of the plant life before man came upon earth. And man is already more than a million or two years oldit is fully time that a higher order of being should be created out of him.
01.02 - Sri Aurobindo - Ahana and Other Poems, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
We do not say that poets have never sung of God and Soul and things transcendent. Poets have always done that. But what I say is this that presentation of spiritual truths, as they are in their own home, in other words, treated philosophically and yet in a supreme poetic manner, has always been a rarity. We have, indeed, in India the Gita and the Upanishads, great philosophical poems, if there were any. But for one thing they are on dizzy heights out of the reach of common man and for another they are idolised more as philosophy than as poetry. Doubtless, our Vaishnava poets sang of God and Love Divine; and Rabindranath, in one sense, a typical modern Vaishnava, did the same. And their songs are masterpieces. But are they not all human, too human, as the mad prophet would say? In them it is the human significance, the human manner that touches and moves us the spiritual significance reMains esoteric, is suggested, is a matter of deduction. Sri Aurobindo has dealt with spiritual experiences in a different way. He has not clothed them in human symbols and allegories, in images and figures of the mere earthly and secular life: he presents them in their nakedness, just as they are seen and realised. He has not sought to tone down the rigour of truth with contrivances that easily charm and captivate the common human mind and heart. Nor has he indulged like so many poet philosophers in vague generalisations and colourless or too colourful truisms that do not embody a clear thought or rounded idea, a radiant judgment. Sri Aurobindo has given us in his poetry thoughts that are clear-cut, ideas beautifully chiselledhe is always luminously forceful.
Take these Vedantic lines that in their limpidity and harmonious flow beat anything found in the fine French poet Lamartine:
--
The heart and its urges, the vital and its surges, the physical impulsesit is these of which the poets sang in their infinite variations. But the mind proper, that is to say, the higher reflective ideative mind, was not given the right of citizenship in the doMain of poetry. I am not forgetting the so-called Metaphysicals. The element of metaphysics among the Metaphysicals has already been called into question. There is here, no doubt, some theology, a good dose of mental cleverness or conceit, but a modern intellectual or rather rational intelligence is something other, something more than that. Even the metaphysics that was commandeered here had more or less a decorative value, it could not be taken into the pith and substance of poetic truth and beauty. It was a decoration, but not unoften a drag. I referred to the Upanishads, but these strike quite a different, almost an opposite line in this connection. They are in a sense truly metaphysical: they bypass the mind and the mental powers, get hold of a higher mode of consciousness, make a direct contact with truth and beauty and reality. It was Buddha's credit to have forged this missing link in man's spiritual consciousness, to have brought into play the power of the rational intellect and used it in support of the spiritual experience. That is not to say that he was the very first person, the originator who initiated the movement; but at least this seems to be true that in him and his au thentic followers the movement came to the forefront of human consciousness and attained the proportions of a major member of man's psychological constitution. We may remember here that Socrates, who started a similar movement of rationalisation in his own way in Europe, was almost a contemporary of the Buddha.
Poetry as an expression of thought-power, poetry weighted with intelligence and rationalised knowledge that seems to me to be the end and drive, the secret sense of all the mystery of modern technique. The combination is risky, but not impossible. In the spiritual doMain the Gita achieved this miracle to a considerable degree. Still, the power of intelligence and reason shown by Vyasa is of a special order: it is a sublimated function of the faculty, something aloof and other-worldly"introvert", a modern mind would term it that is to say, something a priori, standing in its own au thenticity and self-sufficiency. A modern intelligence would be more scientific, let us use the word, more matter-of-fact and sense-based: the mental light should not be confined in its ivory tower, however high that may be, but brought down and placed at the service of our perception and appreciation and explanation of things human and terrestrial; made immanent in the mundane and the ephemeral, as they are commonly called. This is not an impossibility. Sri Aurobindo seems to have done the thing. In him we find the three terms of human consciousness arriving at an absolute fusion and his poetry is a wonderful example of that fusion. The three terms are the spiritual, the intellectual or philosophical and the physical or sensational. The intellectual, or more generally, the mental, is the intermediary, the Paraclete, as he himself will call it later on in a poem9 magnificently exemplifying the point we are trying to make out the agent who negotiates, bridges and harmonises the two other firmaments usually supposed to be antagonistic and incompatible.
Indeed it would be wrong to associate any cold ascetic nudity to the spiritual body of Sri Aurobindo. His poetry is philosophic, abstract, no doubt, but every philosophy has its practice, every abstract thing its concrete application,even as the soul has its body; and the fusion, not mere union, of the two is very characteristic in him. The deepest and unseizable flights of thought he knows how to clo the with a Kalidasian richness of imagery, or a Keatsean gusto of sensuousness:
--
The Greek sings of the humanity of man, the Indian the divinity of man. It is the Hellenic spirit that has very largely moulded our taste and we have forgotten that an equally poetic world exists in the doMain of spiritual life, even in its very severity, as in that of earthly life and its sweetness. And as we are passionate about the earthly life, even so Sri Aurobindo has made a passion of the spiritual life. Poetry after all has a mission; the phrase "Art for Art's sake" may be made to mean anything. Poetry is not merely what is pleasing, not even what is merely touching and moving but what is at the same time, inspiring, invigorating, elevating. Truth is indeed beauty but it is not always the beauty that captivates the eye or the mere aesthetic sense.
And because our Vedic poets always looked beyond humanity, beyond earth, therefore could they make divine poetry of humanity and what is of earth. Therefore it was that they were pervadingly so grandiose and sublime and puissant. The heroic, the epic was their natural element and they could not but express themselves in the grand manner Sri Aurobindo has the same outlook and it is why we find in him the ring of the old-world manner.
01.02 - The Creative Soul, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Now the centre of this energy, the matrix of creativity is the soul itself, one's own soul. If you want to createlive, grow and be real-find yourself, be yourself. The simple old wisdom still reMains the eternal wisdom. It is because we fall off from our soul that we wander into side-paths, paths that do not belong to our real nature and hence that lead to imitation and repetition, decay and death. This is what happens to what we call common souls. The force of circumstances, the pressure of environment or simply the momentum of custom or habit compel them to choose the easiest and the readiest way that may lie before them. They do not consult the demand of the inner being but the requirement of the moment. Our bodily needs, our vital hungers and our mental prejudices obsess and obscure the impulsions that thrill the hidden spirit. We hasten to gratify the immediate and forget the eternal, we clutch at the shadow and let go the substance. We are carried away in the flux and tumult of life. It is a mixed and collective whirla Weltgeist that moves and governs us. We are helpless straws drifting in the current. But manhood demands that we stop and pause, pull ourselves out of the Maelstrom and be what we are. We must shape things as we want and not allow things to shape us as they want.
Let each take cognisance of the godhead that is within him for self is Godand in the strength of the soul-divinity create his universe. It does not matter what sort of universe he- creates, so long as he creates it. The world created by a Buddha is not the same as that created by a Napoleon, nor should they be the same. It does not prove anything that I cannot become a Kalidasa; for that matter Kalidasa cannot become what I am. If you have not the genius of a Shankara it does not mean that you have no genius at all. Be and become yourselfma gridhah kasyachit dhanam, says the Upanishad. The fountain-head of creative genius lies there, in the free choice and the particular delight the self-determination of the spirit within you and not in the desire for your neighbours riches. The world has become dull and uniform and mechanical, since everybody endeavours to become not himself, but always somebody else. Imitation is servitude and servitude brings in grief.
01.03 - Mystic Poetry, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
is just on the borderland: it has succeeded in leaving behind the mystic doMain, but has not yet entered the city of the Spiritat the most, it has turned the corner and approached the gate. Listen now,
My soul unhorizoned widens to measureless sight,
--
When the Spirit speaks its own language in its own name, we have spiritual poetry. If, however, the Spirit speaksfrom choice or necessity-an alien language and manner, e.g., that of a profane consciousness, or of the consciousness of another doMain, idealistic or philosophical or even occult, puts on or imitates spirit's language and manner, we have what we propose to call mystic poetry proper. When SaMain sings of the body of the dancer:
Et Pannyre deviant fleur, flamme, papillon! ...
--
one can explain that it is the Christ calling the Church or God appealing to the human soul or one can simply find in it nothing more than a man pining for his woman. Anyhow I would not call it spiritual poetry or even mystic poetry. For in itself it does not carry any double or oblique meaning, there is no suggestion that it is applicable to other fields or doMains of consciousness: it is, as it were, monovalent. An allegory is never mysticism. There is more mysticism in Wordsworth, even in Shelley and Keats, than in Spenser, for example, who stands in this respect on the same ground as Bunyan in his The Pilgrim's Progress. Take Wordsworth as a Nature-worshipper,
Breaking the silence of the seas
--
The philosophical trend in poetry has an interesting history with a significant role: it has acted as a force of purification, of sublimation, of katharsis. As man has risen from his exclusively or predominantly vital nature into an increasing mental poise, in the same way his creative activities too have taken this new turn and status. In the earlier stages of evolution the mental life is secondary, subordinate to the physico-vital life; it is only subsequently that the mental finds an independent and self-sufficient reality. A similar movement is reflected in poetic and artistic creation too: the thinker, the philosopher reMains in the background at the outset, he looks out; peers through chinks and holes from time to time; later he comes to the forefront, assumes a major role in man's creative activity.
Man's consciousness is further to rise from the mental to over-mental regions. Accordingly, his life and activities and along with that his artistic creations too will take on a new tone and rhythm, a new mould and constitution even. For this transition, the higher mentalwhich is normally the field of philosophical and idealistic activitiesserves as the Paraclete, the Intercessor; it takes up the lower functionings of the consciousness, which are intense in their own way, but narrow and turbid, and gives, by purifying and enlarging, a wider frame, a more luminous pattern, a more subtly articulated , form for the higher, vaster and deeper realities, truths and harmonies to express and manifest. In the old-world spiritual and mystic poets, this intervening medium was overlooked for evident reasons, for human reason or even intelligence is a double-edged instrument, it can make as well as mar, it has a light that most often and naturally shuts off other higher lights beyond it. So it was bypassed, some kind of direct and immediate contact was sought to be established between the normal and the transcendental. The result was, as I have pointed out, a pure spiritual poetry, on the one hand, as in the Upanishads, or, on the other, religious poetry of various grades and denominations that spoke of the spiritual but in the terms and in the manner of the mundane, at least very much coloured and dominated by the latter. Vyasa was the great legendary figure in India who, as is shown in his Mahabharata, seems to have been one of the pioneers, if not the pioneer, to forge and build the missing link of Thought Power. The exemplar of the manner is the Gita. Valmiki's represented a more ancient and primary inspiration, of a vast vital sensibility, something of the kind that was at the basis of Homer's genius. In Greece it was Socrates who initiated the movement of speculative philosophy and the emphasis of intellectual power slowly began to find expression in the later poets, Sophocles and Euripides. But all these were very simple beginnings. The moderns go in for something more radical and totalitarian. The rationalising element instead of being an additional or subordinate or contri buting factor, must itself give its norm and form, its own substance and manner to the creative activity. Such is the present-day demand.
--
Here we have a pattern of thought-movement that does not seem to follow the lineaments of the normal brain-mind consciousness, although it too has a basis there: our customary line of reasoning receives a sudden shock, as it were, and then is shaken, moved, lifted up, transportedgradually or suddenly, according to the temperament of the listener. Besides, we have here the peculiar modern tone, which, for want of a better term, may be described as scientific. The impressimprimaturof Science is its rational coherence, justifying or justified by sense data, by physical experience, which gives us the pattern or model of an inexorable natural law. Here too we feel we are in the doMain of such natural law but lifted on to a higher level.
This is what I was trying to make out as the distinguishing trait of the real spiritual consciousness that seems to be developing in the poetic creation of tomorrow, e.g., it has the same rationality, clarity, concreteness of perception as the scientific spirit has in its own doMain and still it is rounded off with a halo of magic and miracle. That is the nature of the logic of the infinite proper to the spiritual consciousness. We can have a Science of the Spirit as well as a Science of Matter. This is the Thought element or what corresponds to it, of which I was speaking, the philosophical factor, that which gives form to the formless or definition to that which is vague, a nearness and familiarity to that which is far and alien. The fullness of the spiritual consciousness means such a thing, the presentation of a divine name and form. And this distinguishes it from the mystic consciousness which is not the supreme solar consciousness but the nearest approach to it. Or, perhaps, the mystic dwells in the doMain of the Divine, he may even be suffused with a sense of unity but would not like to acquire the Divine's nature and function. Normally and generally he embodies all the aspiration and yearning moved by intimations and suggestions belonging to the human mentality, the divine urge retaining still the human flavour. We can say also, using a Vedantic terminology, that the mystic consciousness gives us the tatastha lakshana, the nearest approximative attri bute of the attri buteless; or otherwise, it is the hiranyagarbha consciousness which englobes the multiple play, the coruscated possibilities of the Reality: while the spiritual proper may be considered as prajghana, the solid mass, the essential lineaments of revelatory knowledge, the typal "wave-particles" of the Reality. In the former there is a play of imagination, even of fancy, a decorative aesthesis, while in the latter it is vision pure and simple. If the spiritual poetry is solar in its nature, we can say, by extending the analogy, that mystic poetry is characteristically lunarMoon representing the delight and the magic that Mind and mental imagination, suffused, no doubt, with a light or a reflection of some light from beyond, is capable of (the Upanishad speaks of the Moon being born of the Mind).
To sum up and recapitulate. The evolution of the poetic expression in man has ever been an attempt at a return and a progressive approach to the spiritual source of poetic inspiration, which was also the original, though somewhat veiled, source from the very beginning. The movement has followed devious waysstrongly negative at timeseven like man's life and consciousness in general of which it is an organic member; but the ultimate end and drift seems to have been always that ideal and principle even when fallen on evil days and evil tongues. The poet's ideal in the dawn of the world was, as the Vedic Rishi sang, to raise things of beauty in heaven by his poetic power,kavi kavitv divi rpam sajat. Even a Satanic poet, the inaugurator, in a way, of modernism and modernistic consciousness, Charles Baudelaire, thus admonishes his spirit:
--
Albert SaMain: "Pannyre awe talons d'or"Aux Flancs du Vase. And Pannyre became flower, flame, butterfly.. . . As though through a silky continuity of water In a divine flash showed Pannyre naked.
Mallarme: "Les Fleurs". "Vermilion like the pure toe of the seraph Reddened by the blush of dawns it trampled through."
01.03 - Rationalism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
It might be said, however, that the guarantee or sanction of Reason does not lie in the extent of its application, nor can its subjective nature (or ego-centric predication, as philosophers would term it) vitiate the validity of its conclusions. There is, in fact, an inherent unity and harmony between Reason and Reality. If we know a little of Reality, we know the whole; if we know the subjective, we know also the objective. As in the part, so in the whole; as it is within, so it is without. If you say that I will die, you need not wait for my actual death to have the proof of your statement. The generalising power inherent in Reason is the guarantee of the certitude to which it leads. Reason is valid, as it does not betray us. If it were such as anti-intellectuals make it out to be, we would be making nothing but false steps, would always reMain entangled in contradictions. The very success of Reason is proof of its being a reliable and perfect instrument for the knowledge of Truth and Reality. It is beside the mark to prove otherwise, simply by analysing the nature of Reason and showing the fundamental deficiencies of that nature. It is rather to the credit of Reason that being as it is, it is none the less a successful and trustworthy agent.
Now the question is, does Reason never fail? Is it such a perfect instrument as intellectualists think it to be? There is ground for serious misgivings. Reason says, for example, that the earth revolves round the sun: and reason, it is argued, is right, for we see that all the facts are conformableto it, even facts that were hitherto unknown and are now coming into our ken. But the difficulty is that Reason did not say that always in the past and may not say that always in the future. The old astronomers could explain the universe by holding quite a contrary theory and could fit into it all their astronomical data. A future scientist may come and explain the matter in quite a different way from either. It is only a choice of workable theories that Reason seems to offer; we do not know the fact itself, apart perhaps from exactly the amount that immediate sense-perception gives to each of us. Or again, if we take an example of another category, we may ask, does God exist? A candid Rationalist would say that he does not know although he has his own opinion about the matter. Evidently, Reason cannot solve all the problems that it meets; it can judge only truths that are of a certain type.
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The fact is that Reason is a lower manifestation of knowledge, it is an attempt to express on the mental level a power that exceeds it. It is the section of a vast and unitarian Consciousness-Power; the section may be necessary under certain conditions and circumstances, but unless it is viewed in its relation to the ensemble, unless it gives up its exclusive absolutism, it will be perforce arbitrary and misleading. It would still reMain helpful and useful, but its help and use would be always limited in scope and temporary in effectivity.
***
01.03 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Souls Release, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The Light reMained in him a longer space.
In this oscillation between earth and heaven,
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Only life's lower reaches reMained dim.
But there too, in the uncertain shadow of life,
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Unguessed doMains she made her native field.
All-vision gathered into a single ray,
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Timeless doMains of joy and absolute power
Stretched out surrounded by the eternal hush;
01.03 - Yoga and the Ordinary Life, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Power of the Spirit working in the mind and heart and body, the rest is a matter of reMaining faithful to It, calling for it always, allowing it to do its work when it comes and rejecting every other and inferior Force that belongs to the lower consciousness and the lower nature.
Apart from external things there are two possible inner ideals which a man can follow. The first is the highest ideal of ordinary human life and the other the divine ideal of Yoga.
01.04 - The Intuition of the Age, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Matter forms the lowest level of reality. Above it is the elan vital. Above the elan vital there is yet the doMain of the Spirit. And the Spirit is a static substance and at the same a dynamic creative power. It is Being (Sat) that realises or expresses itself through certain typal nuclei or nodi of consciousness (chit) in a continuous becoming, in a flow of creative activity (ananda). The dynamism of the vital energy is only a refraction or precipitation of the dynamism of the spirit; and so also static matter is only the substance of the spirit concretised and solidified. It is in an uplift both of matter and vital force to their prototypesswarupa and swabhavain the Spirit that lies the real transformation and transfiguration of the humanity of man.
This is the truth that is trying to dawn upon the new age. Not matter but that which forms the substance of matter, not intellect but a vaster consciousness that informs the intellect, not man as he is, an aberration in the cosmic order, but as he may and shall be the embodiment and fulfilment of that orderthis is the secret Intuition which, as yet dimly envisaged, nevertheless secretly inspires all the human activities of today. Only, the truth is being interpreted, as we have said, in terms of vital life. The intellectual and physical man gave us one aspect of the reality, but neither is the vital and psychical man the complete reality. The one acquisition of this shifting of the viewpoint has been that we are now in touch with the natural and deeper movement of humanity and not as before merely with its artificial scaffolding. The Alexandrine civilisation of humanity, in Nietzsche's phrase, was a sort of divagation from nature, it was following a loop away from the direct path of natural evolution. And the new Renaissance of today has precisely corrected this aberration of humanity and brought it again in a line with the natural cosmic order.
01.04 - The Poetry in the Making, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
When we say one is conscious, we usually mean that one is conscious with the mental consciousness, with the rational intelligence, with the light of the brain. But this need not be always so. For one can be conscious with other forms of consciousness or in other planes of consciousness. In the average or normal man the consciousness is linked to or identified with the brain function, the rational intelligence and so we conclude that without this wakeful brain activity there can be no consciousness. But the fact is otherwise. The experiences of the mystic prove the point. The mystic is conscious on a level which we describe as higher than the mind and reason, he has what may be called the overhead consciousness. (Apart from the normal consciousness, which is named jagrat, waking, the Upanishad speaks of three other increasingly subtler states of consciousness, swapna, sushupti and turiya.)And then one can be quite unconscious, as in samadhi that can be sushupti or turiyaorpartially consciousin swapna, for example, the external behaviour may be like that of a child or a lunatic or even a goblin. One can also reMain normally conscious and still be in the superconscience. Not only so, the mystic the Yogican be conscious on infraconscious levels also; that is to say, he can enter into and identify with the consciousness involved in life and even in Matter; he can feel and realise his oneness with the animal world, the plant world and finally the world of dead earth, of "stocks and stones" too. For all these strands of existence have each its own type of consciousness and all different from the mode of mind which is normally known as consciousness. When St. Francis addresses himself to the brother Sun or the sister Moon, or when the Upanishad speaks of the tree silhouetted against the sky, as if stilled in trance, we feel there is something of this fusion and identification of consciousness with an infra-conscient existence.
I said that the supreme artist is superconscious: his consciousness withdraws from the normal mental consciousness and becomes awake and alive in another order of consciousness. To that superior consciousness the artist's mentalityhis ideas and dispositions, his judgments and valuations and acquisitions, in other words, his normal psychological make-upserves as a channel, an instrument, a medium for transcription. Now, there are two stages, or rather two lines of activity in the processus, for they may be overlapping and practically simultaneous. First, there is the withdrawal and the in-gathering of consciousness and then its reappearance into expression. The consciousness retires into a secret or subtle worldWords-worth's "recollected in tranquillity"and comes back with the riches gathered or transmuted there. But the purity of the gold thus garnered and stalled in the artistry of words and sounds or lines and colours depends altogether upon the purity of the channel through which it has to pass. The mental vehicle receives and records and it can do so to perfection if it is perfectly in tune with what it has to receive and record; otherwise the transcription becomes mixed and blurred, a faint or confused echo, a poor show. The supreme creators are precisely those in whom the receptacle, the instrumental faculties offer the least resistance and record with absolute fidelity the experiences of the over or inner consciousness. In Shakespeare, in Homer, in Valmiki the inflatus of the secret consciousness, the inspiration, as it is usually termed, bears down, sweeps away all obscurity or contrariety in the recording mentality, suffuses it with its own glow and puissance, indeed resolves it into its own substance, as it were. And the difference between the two, the secret norm and the recording form, determines the scale of the artist's creative value. It happens often that the obstruction of a too critically observant and self-conscious brain-mind successfully blocks up the flow of something supremely beautiful that wanted to come down and waited for an opportunity.
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But the Yogi is a wholly conscious being; a perfect Yogi is he who possesses a conscious and willed control over his instruments, he silences them, as and when he likes, and makes them convey and express with as little deviation as possible truths and realities from the Beyond. Now the question is, is it possible for the poet also to do something like that, to consciously create and not to be a mere unconscious or helpless channel? Conscious artistry, as we have said, means to be conscious on two levels of consciousness at the same time, to be at home in both equally and simultaneously. The general experience, however, is that of "one at a time": if the artist dwells more in the one, the other retires into the background to the same measure. If he is in the over-consciousness, he is only half-conscious in his brain consciousness, or even not conscious at allhe does not know how he has created, the sources or process of his creative activity, he is quite oblivious of them" gone through them all as if per saltum. Such seems to have been the case with the primitives, as they are called, the elemental poetsShakespeare and Homer and Valmiki. In some others, who come very near to them in poetic genius, yet not quite on a par, the instrumental intelligence is strong and active, it helps in its own way but in helping circumscribes and limits the original impulsion. The art here becomes consciously artistic, but loses something of the initial freshness and spontaneity: it gains in correctness, polish and elegance and has now a style in lieu of Nature's own naturalness. I am thinking of Virgil and Milton and Kalidasa. Dante's place is perhaps somewhere in between. Lower in the rung where the mental medium occupies a still more preponderant place we have intellectual poetry, poetry of the later classical age whose representatives are Pope and Dryden. We can go farther down and land in the doMain of versificationalthough here, too, there can be a good amount of beauty in shape of ingenuity, cleverness and conceit: Voltaire and Delille are of this order in French poetry.
The three or four major orders I speak of in reference to conscious artistry are exampled characteristically in the history of the evolution of Greek poetry. It must be remembered, however, at the very outset that the Greeks as a race were nothing if not rational and intellectual. It was an element of strong self-consciousness that they brought into human culture that was their special gift. Leaving out of account Homer who was, as I said, a primitive, their classical age began with Aeschylus who was the first and the most spontaneous and intuitive of the Great Three. Sophocles, who comes next, is more balanced and self-controlled and pregnant with a reasoned thought-content clothed in polished phrasing. We feel here that the artist knew what he was about and was exercising a conscious control over his instruments and materials, unlike his predecessor who seemed to be completely carried away by the onrush of the poetic enthousiasmos. Sophocles, in spite of his artistic perfection or perhaps because of it, appears to be just a little, one remove, away from the purity of the central inspiration there is a veil, although a thin transparent veil, yet a veil between which intervenes. With the third of the Brotherhood, Euripides, we slide lower downwe arrive at a predominantly mental transcription of an experience or inner conception; but something of the major breath continues, an aura, a rhythm that Maintains the inner contact and thus saves the poetry. In a subsequent age, in Theocritus, for example, poetry became truly very much 'sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought', so much of virtuosity and precocity entered into it; in other words, the poet then was an excessively self-conscious artist. That seems to be the general trend of all literature.
But should there be an inherent incompatibility between spontaneous creation and self-consciousness? As we have seen, a harmony and fusion can and do happen of the superconscious and the normally conscious in the Yogi. Likewise, an artist also can be wakeful and transparent enough so that he is conscious on both the levels simultaneouslyabove, he is conscious of the source and origin of his inspiration, and on the level plain he is conscious of the working of the instrument, how the vehicle transcribes and embodies what comes from elsewhere. The poet's consciousness becomes then divalent as it werethere is a sense of absolute passivity in respect of the receiving apparatus and coupled and immisced with it there is also the sense of dynamism, of conscious agency as in his secret being he is the master of his apparatus and one with the Inspirerin other words, the poet is both a seer (kavih) and a creator or doer (poits).
Not only so, the future development of the poetic consciousness seems inevitably to lead to such a consummation in which the creative and the critical faculties will not be separate but form part of one and indivisible movement. Historically, human consciousness has grown from unconsciousness to consciousness and from consciousness to self-consciousness; man's creative and artistic genius too has moved pari passu in the same direction. The earliest and primitive poets were mostly unconscious, that is to say, they wrote or said things as they came to them spontaneously, without effort, without reflection, they do not seem to know the whence and wherefore and whither of it all, they know only that the wind bloweth as it listeth. That was when man had not yet eaten the fruit of knowledge, was still in the innocence of childhood. But as he grew up and progressed, he became more and more conscious, capable of exerting and exercising a deliberate will and initiating a purposive action, not only in the external practical field but also in the psychological doMain. If the earlier group is called "primitives", the later one, that of conscious artists, usually goes by the name of "classicists." Modern creators have gone one step farther in the direction of self-consciousness, a return upon oneself, an inlook of full awareness and a free and alert activity of the critical faculties. An unconscious artist in the sense of the "primitives" is almost an impossible phenomenon in the modern world. All are scientists: an artist cannot but be consciously critical, deliberate, purposive in what he creates and how he creates. Evidently, this has cost something of the old-world spontaneity and supremacy of utterance; but it cannot be helped, we cannot comm and the tide to roll back, Canute-like. The feature has to be accepted and a remedy and new orientation discovered.
The modern critical self-consciousness in the artist originated with the Romantics. The very essence of Romanticism is curiosity the scientist's pleasure in analysing, observing, experimenting, changing the conditions of our reactions, mental or sentimental or even nervous and physical by way of discovery of new and unforeseen or unexpected modes of "psychoses" or psychological states. Goethe, Wordsworth, Stendhal represented a mentality and initiated a movement which led logically to the age of Hardy, Housman and Bridges and in the end to that of Lawrence and Joyce, Ezra Pound and Eliot and Auden. On the Continent we can consider Flaubert as the last of the classicists married to the very quintessence of Romanticism. A hard, self-regarding, self-critical mentality, a cold scalpel-like gaze that penetrates and upturns the reverse side of things is intimately associated with the poetic genius of Mallarm and constitutes almost the whole of Valry's. The impassioned lines of a very modern poet like Aragon are also characterised by a consummate virtuosity in chiselled artistry, conscious and deliberate and willed at every step and turn.
The consciously purposive activity of the poetic consciousness in fact, of all artistic consciousness has shown itself with a clear and unambiguous emphasis in two directions. First of all with regard to the subject-matter: the old-world poets took things as they were, as they were obvious to the eye, things of human nature and things of physical Nature, and without questioning dealt with them in the beauty of their normal form and function. The modern mentality has turned away from the normal and the obvious: it does not accept and admit the "given" as the final and definitive norm of things. It wishes to discover and establish other norms, it strives to bring about changes in the nature and condition of things, envisage the shape of things to come, work for a brave new world. The poet of today, in spite of all his effort to reMain a pure poet, in spite of Housman's advocacy of nonsense and not-sense being the essence of true Art, is almost invariably at heart an incorrigible prophet. In revolt against the old and established order of truths and customs, against all that is normally considered as beautiful,ideals and emotions and activities of man or aspects and scenes and movements of Natureagainst God or spiritual life, the modern poet turns deliberately to the ugly and the macabre, the meaningless, the insignificant and the triflingtins and teas, bone and dust and dustbin, hammer and sicklehe is still a prophet, a violent one, an iconoclast, but one who has his own icon, a terribly jealous being, that seeks to pull down the past, erase it, to break and batter and knead the elements in order to fashion out of them something conforming to his heart's desire. There is also the class who have the vision and found the truth and its solace, who are prophets, angelic and divine, messengers and harbingers of a new beauty that is to dawn upon earth. And yet there are others in whom the two strains mingle or approach in a strange way. All this means that the artist is far from being a mere receiver, a mechanical executor, a passive unconscious instrument, but that he is supremely' conscious and master of his faculties and implements. This fact is doubly reinforced when we find how much he is preoccupied with the technical aspect of his craft. The richness and variety of patterns that can be given to the poetic form know no bounds today. A few major rhythms were sufficient for the ancients to give full expression to their poetic inflatus. For they cared more for some major virtues, the basic and fundamental qualitiessuch as truth, sublimity, nobility, forcefulness, purity, simplicity, clarity, straightforwardness; they were more preoccupied with what they had to say and they wanted, no doubt, to say it beautifully and powerfully; but the modus operandi was not such a passion or obsession with them, it had not attained that almost absolute value for itself which modern craftsmanship gives it. As technology in practical life has become a thing of overwhelming importance to man today, become, in the Shakespearean phrase, his "be-all and end-all", even so the same spirit has invaded and pervaded his aesthetics too. The subtleties, variations and refinements, the revolutions, reversals and inventions which the modern poet has ushered and takes delight in, for their own sake, I repeat, for their intrinsic interest, not for the sake of the subject which they have to embody and clothe, have never been dream by Aristotle, the supreme legislator among the ancients, nor by Horace, the almost incomparable craftsman among the ancients in the doMain of poetry. Man has become, to be sure, a self-conscious creator to the pith of his bone.
Such a stage in human evolution, the advent of Homo Faber, has been a necessity; it has to serve a purpose and it has done admirably its work. Only we have to put it in its proper place. The salvation of an extremely self-conscious age lies in an exceeding and not in a further enhancement or an exclusive concentration of the self-consciousness, nor, of course, in a falling back into the original unconsciousness. It is this shift in the poise of consciousness that has been presaged and prepared by the conscious, the scientific artists of today. Their task is to forge an instrument for a type of poetic or artistic creation completely new, unfamiliar, almost revolutionary which the older mould would find it impossible to render adequately. The yearning of the human consciousness was not to rest satisfied with the familiar and the ordinary, the pressure was for the discovery of other strands, secret stores of truth and reality and beauty. The first discovery was that of the great Unconscious, the dark and mysterious and all-powerful subconscient. Many of our poets and artists have been influenced by this power, some even sought to enter into that region and become its denizens. But artistic inspiration is an emanation of Light; whatever may be the field of its play, it can have its origin only in the higher spheres, if it is to be truly beautiful and not merely curious and scientific.
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Whether the original and true source of the poet's inspiration lies deep within or high above, all depends upon the mediating instrument the mind (in its most general sense) and speech for a successful transcription. Man's ever-growing consciousness demanded also a conscious development and remoulding of these two factors. A growth, a heightening and deepening of the consciousness meant inevitably a movement towards the spiritual element in things. And that means, we have said, a twofold change in the future poet's make-up. First as regards the substance. The revolutionary shift that we notice in modern poets towards a completely new doMain of subject-matter is a signpost that more is meant than what is expressed. The superficialities and futilities that are dealt with do not in their outward form give the real trend of things. In and through all these major and constant preoccupation of our poets is "the pain of the present and the passion for the future": they are, as already stated, more prophets than poets, but prophets for the moment crying in the wildernessalthough some have chosen the path of denial and revolt. They are all looking ahead or beyond or deep down, always yearning for another truth and reality which will explain, justify and transmute the present calvary of human living. Such an acute tension of consciousness has necessitated an overhauling of the vehicle of expression too, the creation of a mode of expressing the inexpressible. For that is indeed what human consciousness and craft are aiming at in the present stage of man's evolution. For everything, almost everything that can be normally expressed has been expressed and in a variety of ways as much as is possible: that is the history of man's aesthetic creativity. Now the eye probes into the unexpressed world; for the artist too the Upanishadic problem has cropped up:
By whom impelled does the mind fall to its target, what is the agent that is behind the eye and sees through the eyes, what is the hearing and what the speech that their respective sense organs do not and cannot convey and record adequately or at all?
01.04 - The Secret Knowledge, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Dares not to affront the far-off perilous Main.
He in a petty coastal traffic plies,
01.05 - Rabindranath Tagore: A Great Poet, a Great Man, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
In an age when Reason was considered as the highest light given to man, Tagore pointed to the Vision of the mystics as always the still greater light; when man was elated with undreamt-of worldly success, puffed up with incomparable material possessions and powers, Tagore's voice rang clear and emphatic in tune with the cry of the ancients: "What shall I do with all this mass of things, if I am not made immortal by that?" When men, in their individual as well as collective egoism, were scrambling for earthly gains and hoards, he held before them vaster and cleaner horizons, higher and deeper ways of being and living, Maintained the sacred sense of human solidarity, the living consciousness of the Divine, one and indivisible. When the Gospel of Power had all but hypnotised men's minds, and Superman or God-man came to be equated with the Titan, Tagore saw through the falsehood and placed in front and above all the old-world eternal verities of love and self-giving, harmony and mutuality, sweetness and light. When pessimism, cynicism, agnosticism struck the major chord of human temperament, and grief and frustration and death and decay were taken as a matter of course to be the inevitable order of earthlylifebhasmantam idam shariramhe continued to sing the song of the Rishis that Ananda and Immortality are the breath of things, the birth right of human beings. When Modernism declared with a certitude never tobe contested that Matter is Brahman, Tagore said with the voice of one who knows that Spirit is Brahman.
Tagore is in direct line with those bards who have sung of the Spirit, who always soared high above the falsehoods and uglinesses of a merely mundane life and lived in the undecaying delights and beauties of a diviner consciousness. Spiritual reality was the central theme of his poetic creation: only and naturally he viewed it in a special way and endowed it with a special grace. We know of another God-intoxicated man, the Jewish philosopher Spinoza, who saw things sub specie aeternitatis, under the figure or mode of eternity. Well, Tagore can be said to see things, in their essential spiritual reality, under the figure or mode of beauty. Keats indeed spoke of truth being beauty and beauty truth. But there is a great difference in the outlook and inner experience. A worshipper of beauty, unless he rises to the Upanishadic norm, is prone to become sensuous and pagan. Keats was that, Kalidasa was that, even Shelley was not far different. The spiritual vein in all these poets reMains secondary. In the old Indian master, it is part of his intellectual equipment, no doubt, but nothing much more than that. In the other two it comes in as strange flashes from an unknown country, as a sort of irruption or on the peak of the poetic afflatus or enthousiasmos.
The world being nothing but Spirit made visible is, according to Tagore, fundamentally a thing of beauty. The scars and spots that are on the surface have to be removed and mankind has to repossess and clo the itself with that mantle of beauty. The world is beautiful, because it is the image of the Beautiful, because it harbours, expresses and embodies the Divine who is Beauty supreme. Now by a strange alchemy, a wonderful effect of polarisation, the very spiritual element in Tagore has made him almost a pagan and even a profane. For what are these glories of Nature and the still more exquisite glories that the human body has captured? They are but vibrations and modulations of beauty the delightful names and forms of the supreme Lover and Beloved.
01.05 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Spirits Freedom and Greatness, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
A new doMain of normalcy supreme.
An almighty occultist erects in Space
01.06 - On Communism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Communism is the synthesis of collectivism and individualism. The past ages of society were characterised more or less by a severe collectivism. In ancient Greece, more so in Sparta and in Rome, the individual had, properly speaking, no separate existence of his own; he was merged in the State or Nation. The individual was considered only as a limb of the collective being, had to live and labour for the common weal. The value attached to each person was strictly in reference to the output that the group to which he belonged received from him. Apart from this service for the general unit the body politicany personal endeavour and achievement, if not absolutely discouraged and repressed, was given a very secondary place of merit. The summum bonum of the individual was to sacrifice at the altar of the res publica, the bonum publicum. In India, the position and function of the State or Nation was taken up by the society. Here too social institutions were so constituted and men were so bred and brought up that individuality had neither the occasion nor the incentive to express itself, it was a thing that reMained, in the Kalidasian phrase, an object for the ear onlysrutau sthita. Those who sought at all an individual aim and purpose, as perhaps the Sannyasins, were put outside the gate of law and society. Within the society, in actual life and action, it was a sin and a crime or at least a gross imperfection to have any self-regarding motive or impulse; personal preference was the last thing to be considered, virtue consisted precisely in sacrificing one's own taste and inclination for the sake of that which the society exacts and sanctions.
Against this tyranny of the group, this absolute rule of the collective will, the human mind rose in revolt and the result was Individualism. For whatever may be the truth and necessity of the Collective, the Individual is no less true and necessary. The individual has his own law and urge of being and his own secret godhead. The collective godhead derides the individual godhead at its peril. The first movement of the reaction, however, was a run to the other extremity; a stern collectivism gave birth to an intransigent individualism. The individual is sacred and inviolable, cost what it may. It does not matter what sort of individuality one seeks, it is enough if the thing is there. So the doctrine of individualism has come to set a premium on egoism and on forces that are disruptive of all social bonds. Each and every individual has the inherent right, which is also a duty, to follow his own impetus and impulse. Society is nothing but the battle ground for competing individualities the strongest survive and the weakest go to the wall. Association and co-operation are instruments that the individual may use and utilise for his own growth and development but in the Main they act as deterrents rather than as aids to the expression and expansion of his characteristic being. In reality, however, if we probe sufficiently deep into the matter we find that there is no such thing as corporate life and activity; what appears as such is only a camouflage for rigorous competition; at the best, there maybe only an offensive and defensive alliancehumanity fights against nature, and within humanity itself group fights against group and in the last analysis, within the group, the individual fights against the individual. This is the ultimate Law-the Dharma of creation.
Now, what such an uncompromising individualism fails to recognise is that individuality and ego are not the same thing, that the individual may have his individuality intact and entire and yet sacrifice his ego, that the soul of man is a much greater thing than his vital being. It is simply ignoring the fact and denying the truth to say that man is only a fighting animal and not a loving god, that the self within the individual realises itself only through competition and not co-operation. It is an error to conceive of society as a mere parallelogram of forces, to suppose that it has risen simply out of the struggle of individual interests and continues to reMain by that struggle. Struggle is only one aspect of the thing, a particular form at a particular stage, a temporary manifestation due to a particular system and a particular habit and training. It would be nearer the truth to say that society came into being with the demand of the individual soul to unite with the individual soul, with the stress of an Over-soul to express itself in a multitude of forms, diverse yet linked together and organised in perfect harmony. Only, the stress for union manifested itself first on the material plane as struggle: but this is meant to be corrected and transcended and is being continually corrected and transcended by a secret harmony, a real commonality and brotherhood and unity. The individual is not so self-centred as the individualists make him to be, his individuality has a much vaster orbit and fulfils itself only by fulfilling others. The scientists have begun to discover other instincts in man than those of struggle and competition; they now place at the origin of social grouping an instinct which they name the herd-instinct: but this is only a formulation in lower terms, a translation on the vital plane of a higher truth and reality the fundamental oneness and accord of individuals and their spiritual impulsion to unite.
However, individualism has given us a truth and a formula which collectivism ignored. Self-determination is a thing which has come to stay. Each and every individual is free, absolutely free and shall freely follow his own line of growth and development and fulfilment. No extraneous power shall choose and fix what is good or evil for him, nor coerce and exploit him for its own benefit. But that does not necessarily mean that collectivism has no truth in it; collectivism also, as much as individualism, has a lesson for us and we should see whether we can harmonise the two. Collectivism signifies that the individual should not look to himself alone, should not be shut up in his freedom but expand himself and envelop others in a wider freedom, see other creatures in himself and himself in other creatures, as the Gita says. Collectivism demands that the individual need not and should not exhaust himself entirely in securing and enjoying his personal freedom, but that he can and should work for the salvation of others; the truth it upholds is this that the individual is from a certain point of view only a part of the group and by ignoring the latter it ignores itself in the end.
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Communism takes man not as ego or the vital creature; it turns him upside downurdhomulo' vaksakhah and establishes him upon his soul, his inner godhead. Thus established the individual soul finds and fulfils the divine law that by increasing itself it increases others and by increasing others it increases itself and thus by increasing one another they attain the supreme good. Unless man goes beyond himself and reaches this self, this godhead above, he will not find any real poise, will always swing between individualism and collectivism, he will reMain always boundbound either in his freedom or in his bondage.
A commune is a group of individuals having a common self and a common life-intuition. A common self presupposes the realisation by each individual of his deepest being the self which is at once distinct from and instinct with other selves; a common life-intuition presupposes the awakening of each individual to his inmost creative urge, which, pure and true and vast as it is, fulfils itself in and through other creative urges.
01.06 - Vivekananda, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The answer is as old as that of Nachiketas: "These horses and these songs and dances of yours, let them reMain yours, man is not appeased with riches"; or that of Maitreyi, "What am I to do with that which will not bring me immortality?" This is then man's mission upon earth:
"Man is higher than all animals, than all angels: none is greater than man. Even the Devas will have to come down again and attain to salvation though a human body. Man alone attains to perfection, not even the Devas." Indeed, men are gods upon earth, come down here below to perfect themselves and perfect the worldonly, they have to be conscious of themselves. They do not know what they are, they have to be actually and sovereignly what they are really and potentially. This then is the life-work of everyone:
01.07 - Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
But the pressure upon his dynamic and heated brain the fiery zeal in his mindwas already proving too much and he was advised medically to take complete rest. Thereupon followed what was known as Pascal's mundane lifea period of distraction and dissipation; but this did not last long nor was it of a serious nature. The inner fire could brook no delay, it was eager and impatient to englobe other fields and doMains. Indeed, it turned to its own field the heart. Pascal became initiated into the mystery of Faith and Grace. Still he had to pass through a terrible period of dejection and despair: the life of the world had given him no rest or relaxation, it served only to fill his cup of misery to the brim. But the hour of final relief was not long postponed: the Grace came to him, even as it came to Moses or St. Paul as a sudden flare of fire which burnt up the Dark Night and opened out the portals of Morning Glory.
Pascal's place in the evolution of European culture and consciousness is of considerable significance and importance. He came at a critical time, on the mounting tide of rationalism and scepticism, in an age when the tone and temper of human mentality were influenced and fashioned by Montaigne and Rochefoucauld, by Bacon and Hobbes. Pascal himself, born in such an atmosphere of doubt and disbelief and disillusionment, had sucked in a full dose of that poison; yet he survived and found the Rock of Ages, became the clarion of Faith against Denial. What a spectacle it was! This is what one wrote just a quarter of a century after the death of Pascal:
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And the reason is his metaphysics. It is the Jansenist conception of God and human nature that inspired and coloured all his experience and consciousness. According to it, as according to the Calvinist conception, man is a corrupt being, corroded to the core, original sin has branded his very soul. Only Grace saves him and releases him. The order of sin and the order of Grace are distinct and disparate worlds and yet they complement each other and need each other. Greatness and misery are intertwined, united, unified with each other in him. Here is an echo of the Manichean position which also involves an abyss. But even then God's grace is not a free agent, as Jesuits declare; there is a predestination that guides and controls it. This was one of the Main subjects he treated in his famous open letters (Les Provinciales) that brought him renown almost overnight. Eternal hell is a possible prospect that faces the Jansenist. That was why a Night always over-shadowed the Day in Pascal's soul.
Man then, according to Pascal, is by nature a sinful thing. He can lay no claim to noble virtue as his own: all in him is vile, he is a lump of dirt and filth. Even the greatest has his full share of this taint. The greatest, the saintliest, and the meanest, the most sinful, all meet, all are equal on this common platform; all have the same feet of clay. Man is as miserable a creature as a beast, as much a part and product of Nature as a plant. Only there is this difference that an animal or a tree is unconscious, while man knows that he is miserable. This knowledge or perception makes him more miserable, but that is his real and only greatness there is no other. His thought, his self-consciousness, and his sorrow and repentance and contrition for what he is that is the only good partMary's part that has been given to him. Here are Pascal's own words on the subject:
01.07 - The Bases of Social Reconstruction, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The French Revolution wanted to remould human society and its ideal was liberty, equality and fraternity. It pulled down the old machinery and set up a new one in its stead. And the result? "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" reMained always in effect a cry in the wilderness. Another wave of idealism is now running over the earth and the Bolshevists are its most fiercely practical exponents. Instead of dealing merely with the political machinery, the Socialistic Revolution tries to break and remake, above all, the social machinery. But judged from the results as yet attained and the tendencies at work, few are the reasons to hope but many to fear the worst. Even education does not seem to promise us anything better. Which nation was better educatedin the sense we understood and still commonly understand the wordthan Germany?
And yet we have no hesitation today to call them Huns and Barbarians. That education is not giving us the right thing is proved further by the fact that we are constantly changing our programmes and curriculums, everyday remodelling old institutions and founding new ones. Even a revolution in the educational system will not bring about the desired millennium, so long as we lay so much stress upon the system and not upon man himself. And finally, look to all the religions of the worldwe have enough of creeds and dogmas, of sermons and mantras, of churches and templesand yet human life and society do not seem to be any the more worthy for it.
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It is this persuasion which, has led many spiritual souls, siddhas, to declare that theirs is not the kingdom upon this earth, but that the kingdom of Heaven is within. And it is why great lovers of humanity have sought not to eradicate but only to mitigate, as far as possible, the ills of life. Earth and life, it is said, contain in their last analysis certain ugly and loathsome realities which are an inevitable and inexorable part of their substance and to eliminate one means to annihilate the other. What can be done is to throw a veil over the nether regions in human nature, to put a ban on their urges and velleities and to create opportunities to make social arrangements so that the higher impulses only find free play while the lower impulses, for want of scope and indulgence, may fall down to a harmless level. This is what the Reformists hope and want and no more. Life is based upon animality, the soul is encased in an earth-sheathman needs must procreate, man needs must seek food. But what human effort can achieve is to set up barriers and limitations and form channels and openings, which will restrain these impulses, allow them a necessary modicum of play and which for the greater part will serve to encourage and enhance the nobler urges in man. Of course, there will reMain always the possibility of the whole scaffolding coming down with a crash and the aboriginal in man running riot in his nudity. But we have to accept the chance and make the best of what materials we have in hand.
No doubt this is a most dismal kind of pessimism. But it is the logical conclusion of all optimism that bases itself upon a particular view of human nature. If we question that pessimism, we have to question the very grounds of our optimism also. As a matter of fact, all our idealism has been so long infructuous and will be so in the future, if we do not shift our foundation and start from a different IntuitionWeltanschauung.
Our ideals have been mental constructions, rather than spiritual realitiesrealities of the deepest and highest being. And the power by which we sought to realise those ideals was Mainly the insistence of our emotional urges, rather than Nature's Truth-Power. For this must be understood that the mental, the vital and the physical form a nexus of reality which works in its own inexorable law and so long as we are within them we cannot but obey the laws that guide them. Of these three strata which form the human adhara, it is the vital which holds the key to man's nature. It is the executive power, the force that fashions the realities on the physical plane; it is what creates the character. The power of thought and sentiment is often much too exaggerated, even so the power of the body, that of physical and external rules and regulations. The mental or the physical or both together can mould the vital only to a limited extent, to the extent which is allowed by the inherent law of the vital. If the demands of the mental and the physical are stretched too far and are not suffered by the vital, a crash and catastrophe is bound to come in the end.
This is the meaning of the Reformist's pessimism. So long as we reMain within the doMain of the triple nexus, we must always take account of an original sin, an aboriginal irredeemability in human nature. And it, is this fact which a too hasty optimistic idealism is apt to ignore. The point, however, is that man need not be necessarily bound to this triple chord of life. He can go beyond, transcend himself and find a reality which is the basis of even this lower poise of the mental and vital and physical. Only in order to get into that higher poise we must really transcend the lower, that is to say, we must not be satisfied with experiencing or envisaging it through the mind and heart but must directly commune with it, be it. There is a higher law that rules there, a power that is the truth-substance of even the vital and hence can remould it with a sovereign inevitability, according to a pattern which may not and is not the pattern of mental and emotional idealism, but the pattern of a supreme spiritual realism.
What then is required is a complete spiritual regeneration in man, a new structure of his soul and substancenot merely the realisation of the highest and supreme Truth in mental and emotional consciousness, but the translation and application of the law of that truth in the power of the vital. It is here that failed all the great spiritual or rather religious movements of the past. They were content with evoking the divine in the mental being, but left the vital becoming to be governed by the habitual un-divine or at the most to be just illumined by a distant and faint glow which served, however, more to distort than express the Divine.
01.08 - A Theory of Yoga, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The method of unconscious or subconscious nature is fundamentally that of repression. Apart from Defence Reaction which is a thing of pure coercion, even in Substitution and Sublimation there always reMains in the background a large amount of repressed complexes in all their primitive strength. The system is never entirely purified but reMains secretly pregnant with those urges; a part only is deflected and camouflaged, the surface only assumes a transformed appearance. And there is always the danger of the superstructure coming down helplessly by a sudden upheaval of the nether forces. The whole system feels, although not in a conscious manner, the tension of the repression and suffers from something that is unhealthy and ill-balanced. Dante's spiritualised passion is a supreme instance of control by Sublimation, but the Divina Comedia hardly bears the impress of a serene and tranquil soul, sovereignly above the turmoils of the tragedy of life and absolutely at peace with itself.
In conscious control, the mind is for the first time aware of the presence of the repressed impulses, it seeks to release them from the pressure to which they are habitually and normally subjected. It knows and recognises them, however ugly and revolting they might appear to be when they present themselves in their natural nakedness. Then it becomes easy for the conscious determination to eliminate or regulate or transform them and thus to establish a healthy harmony in the human vehicle. The very recognition itself, as implied in conscious control, means purification.
Yet even here the process of control and transformation does not end. And we now come to the Fifth Line, the real and intimate path of yoga. Conscious control gives us a natural mastery over the instinctive impulses which are relieved of their dark tamas and attain a purified rhythm. We do not seek to hide or repress or combat them, but surpass them and play with them as the artist does with his material. Something of this katharsis, this aestheticism of the primitive impulses was achieved by the ancient Greeks. Even then the primitive impulses reMain primitive all the same; they fulfil, no doubt, a real and healthy function in the scheme of life, but still in their fundamental nature they continue the animal in man. And even when Conscious Control means the utter elimination and annihilation of the primal instinctswhich, however, does not seem to be a probable eventualityeven then, we say, the basic problem reMains unsolved; for the urge of nature towards the release and a transformation of the instincts does not find satisfaction, the question is merely put aside.
Yoga, then, comes at this stage and offers the solution in its power of what we may call Transubstantiation. That is to say, here the mere form is not changed, nor the functions restrained, regulated and purified, but the very substance of the instincts is transmuted. The power of conscious control is a power of the human will, i.e. of an individual personal will and therefore necessarily limited both in intent and extent. It is a power complementary to the power of Nature, it may guide and fashion the latter according to a new pattern, but cannot change the basic substance, the stuff of Nature. To that end yoga seeks a power that transcends the human will, brings into play the supernal puissance of a Divine Will.
01.08 - Walter Hilton: The Scale of Perfection, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Here is the Augustinian mantra taken as the motto of The Scale of Perfection: We ascend the ascending grades in our heart and we sing the song of ascension1. The journey's end is heavenly Jerusalem, the House of the Lord. The steps of this inner ascension are easily visible, not surely to the outer eye of the sense-burdened man, but to the "ghostly seeing" of the aspirant which is hazy in the beginning but slowly clears as he advances. The first step is the withdrawal from the outer senses and looking and seeing within. "Turn home again in thyself, and hold thee within and beg no more without." The immediate result is a darkness and a restless darknessit is a painful night. The outer objects of attraction and interest have been discarded, but the inner attachments and passions surge there still. If, however, one continues and persists, refuses to be drawn out, the turmoil settles down and the darkness begins to thin and wear away. One must not lose heart, one must have patience and perseverance. So when the outward world is no more-there and its call also no longer awakes any echo in us, then comes the stage of "restful darkness" or "light-some darkness". But it is still the dark Night of the soul. The outer light is gone and the inner light is not yet visible: the night, the desert, the great Nought, stretches between these two lights. But the true seeker goes through and comes out of the tunnel. And there is happiness at the end. "The seeking is travaillous, but the finding is blissful." When one steps out of the Night, enters into the deepest layer of the being, one stands face to face to one's soul, the very image of God, the perfect God-man, the Christ within. That is the third degree of our inner ascension, the entry into the deepest, purest and happiest statein which one becomes what he truly is; one finds the Christ there and dwells in love and union with him. But there is still a further step to take, and that is real ascension. For till now it has been a going within, from the outward to the inner and the inmost; now one has to go upward, transcend. Within the body, in life, however deep you may go, even if you find your soul and your union with Jesus whose tabernacle is your soul, still there is bound to reMain a shadow of the sinful prison-house; the perfect bliss and purity without any earthly taint, the completeness and the crowning of the purgation and transfiguration can come only when you go beyond, leaving altogether the earthly form and worldly vesture and soar into Heaven itself and be in the company of the Trinity. "Into myself, and after... above myself by overpassing only into Him." At the same time it is pointed out, this mediaeval mystic has the common sense to see that the going in and going above of which one speaks must not be understood in a literal way, it is a figure of speech. The movement of the mystic is psychological"ghostly", it is saidnot physical or carnal.
This spiritual march or progress can also be described as a growing into the likeness of the Lord. His true self, his own image is implanted within us; he is there in the profoundest depth of our being as Jesus, our beloved and our soul rests in him in utmost bliss. We are aware neither of Jesus nor of his spouse, our soul, because of the obsession of the flesh, the turmoil raised by the senses, the blindness of pride and egoism. All that constitutes the first or old Adam, the image of Nought, the body of death which means at bottom the "false misruled love in to thyself." This self-love is the mother of sin, is sin itself. What it has to be replaced by is charity that is the true meaning of Christian charity, forgetfulness of self. "What is sin but a wanting and a forbearing of God." And the whole task, the discipline consists in "the shaping of Christ in you, the casting of sin through Christ." Who then is Christ, what is he? This knowledge you get as you advance from your sense-bound perception towards the inner and inmost seeing. As your outer nature gets purified, you approach gradually your soul, the scales fall off from your eyes too and you have the knowledge and "ghostly vision." Here too there are three degrees; first, you start with faith the senses can do nothing better than have faith; next, you rise to imagination which gives a sort of indirect touch or inkling of the truth; finally, you have the "understanding", the direct vision. "If he first trow it, he shall afterwards through grace feel it, and finally understand it."
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Indeed, it would be interesting to compare and contrast the Eastern and Western approach to Divine Love, the Christian and the Vaishnava, for example. Indian spirituality, whatever its outer form or credal formulation, has always a background of utter unity. This unity, again, is threefold or triune and is expressed in those great Upanishadic phrases,mahvkyas,(1) the transcendental unity: the One alone exists, there is nothing else than theOneekamevdvityam; (2) the cosmic unity: all existence is one, whatever exists is that One, thereare no separate existences:sarvam khalvidam brahma neha nnsti kincaa; (3) That One is I, you too are that One:so' ham, tattvamasi; this may be called the individual unity. As I have said, all spiritual experiences in India, of whatever school or line, take for granted or are fundamentally based upon this sense of absolute unity or identity. Schools of dualism or pluralism, who do not apparently admit in their tenets this extreme monism, are still permeated in many ways with that sense and in some form or other take cognizance of the truth of it. The Christian doctrine too says indeed, 'I and my Father in Heaven are one', but this is not identity, but union; besides, the human soul is not admitted into this identity, nor the world soul. The world, we have seen, according to the Christian discipline has to be altogether abandoned, negatived, as we go inward and upward towards our spiritual status reflecting the divine image in the divine company. It is a complete rejection, a cutting off and casting away of world and life. One extreme Vedantic path seems to follow a similar line, but there it is not really rejection, but a resolution, not the rejection of what is totally foreign and extraneous, but a resolution of the external into its inner and inmost substance, of the effect into its original cause. Brahman is in the world, Brahman is the world: the world has unrolled itself out of the Brahmansi, pravttiit has to be rolled back into its, cause and substance if it is to regain its pure nature (that is the process of nivitti). Likewise, the individual being in the world, "I", is the transcendent being itself and when it withdraws, it withdraws itself and the whole world with it and merges into the Absolute. Even the Maya of the Mayavadin, although it is viewed as something not inherent in Brahman but superimposed upon Brahman, still, has been accepted as a peculiar power of Brahman itself. The Christian doctrine keeps the individual being separate practically, as an associate or at the most as an image of God. The love for one's neighbour, charity, which the Christian discipline enjoins is one's love for one's kind, because of affinity of nature and quality: it does not dissolve the two into an integral unity and absolute identity, where we love because we are one, because we are the One. The highest culmination of love, the very basis of love, according to the Indian conception, is a transcendence of love, love trans-muted into Bliss. The Upanishad says, where one has become the utter unity, who loves whom? To explain further our point, we take two examples referred to in the book we are considering. The true Christian, it is said, loves the sinner too, he is permitted to dislike sin, for he has to reject it, but he must separate from sin the sinner and love him. Why? Because the sinner too can change and become his brother in spirit, one loves the sinner because there is the possibility of his changing and becoming a true Christian. It is why the orthodox Christian, even such an enlightened and holy person as this mediaeval Canon, considers the non-Christian, the non-baptised as impure and potentially and fundamentally sinners. That is also why the Church, the physical organisation, is worshipped as Christ's very body and outside the Church lies the pagan world which has neither religion nor true spirituality nor salvation. Of course, all this may be symbolic and it is symbolic in a sense. If Christianity is taken to mean true spirituality, and the Church is equated with the collective embodiment of that spirituality, all that is claimed on their behalf stands justified. But that is an ideal, a hypothetical standpoint and can hardly be borne out by facts. However, to come back to our subject, let us ow take the second example. Of Christ himself, it is said, he not only did not dislike or had any aversion for Judas, but that he positively loved the traitor with a true and sincere love. He knew that the man would betray him and even when he was betraying and had betrayed, the Son of Man continued to love him. It was no make-believe or sham or pretence. It was genuine, as genuine as anything can be. Now, why did he love his enemy? Because, it is said, the enemy is suffered by God to do the misdeed: he has been allowed to test the faith of the faithful, he too has his utility, he too is God's servant. And who knows even a Judas would not change in the end? Many who come to scoff do reMain to pray. But it can be asked, 'Does God love Satan too in the same way?' The Indian conception which is basically Vedantic is different. There is only one reality, one truth which is viewed differently. Whether a thing is considered good or evil or neutral, essentially and truly, it is that One and nothing else. God's own self is everywhere and the sage makes no difference between the Brahmin and the cow and the elephant. It is his own self he finds in every person and every objectsarvabhtsthitam yo mm bhajati ekatvamsthitah"he has taken his stand upon oneness and loves Me in all beings."2
This will elucidate another point of difference between the Christian's and the Vaishnava's love of God, for both are characterised by an extreme intensity and sweetness and exquisiteness of that divine feeling. This Christian's, however, is the union of the soul in its absolute purity and simplicity and "privacy" with her lord and master; the soul is shred here of all earthly vesture and goes innocent and naked into the embrace of her Beloved. The Vaishnava feeling is richer and seems to possess more amplitude; it is more concrete and less ethereal. The Vaishnava in his passionate yearning seeks to carry as it were the whole world with him to his Lord: for he sees and feels Him not only in the inmost chamber of his soul, but meets Him also in and I through his senses and in and through the world and its objects around. In psychological terms one can say that the Christian realisation, at its very source, is that of the inmost soul, what we call the "psychic being" pure and simple, referred to in the book we are considering; as: "His sweet privy voice... stirreth thine heart full stilly." Whereas the Vaishnava reaches out to his Lord with his outer heart too aflame with passion; not only his inmost being but his vital being also seeks the Divine. This bears upon the occult story of man's spiritual evolution upon earth. The Divine Grace descends from the highest into the deepest and from the deepest to the outer ranges of human nature, so that the whole of it may be illumined and transformed and one day man can embody in his earthly life the integral manifestation of God, the perfect Epiphany. Each religion, each line of spiritual discipline takes up one limb of manone level or mode of his being and consciousness purifies it and suffuses it with the spiritual and divine consciousness, so that in the end the whole of man, in his integral living, is recast and remoulded: each discipline is in charge of one thread as it were, all together weave the warp and woof in the evolution of the perfect pattern of a spiritualised and divinised humanity.
01.09 - The Parting of the Way, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
To be divine or to reMain humanthis is the one choice that is now before Nature in her upward march of evolution. What is the exact significance of this choice?
To reMain human means to continue the fundamental nature of man. In what consists the humanity of man? We can ascertain it by distinguishing what forms the animality of the animal, since that will give us the differentia that nature has evolved to raise man over the animal. The animal, again, has a characteristic differentiating it from the vegetable world, which latter, in its turn, has something to mark it off from the inorganic world. The inorganic, the vegetable, the animal and finally manthese are the four great steps of Nature's evolutionary course.
The differentia, in each case, lies in the degree and nature of consciousness, since it is consciousness that forms the substance and determines the mode of being. Now, the inorganic is characterised by un-consciousness, the vegetable by sub-consciousness, the animal by consciousness and man by self-consciousness. Man knows that he knows, an animal only knows; a plant does not even know, it merely feels or senses; matter cannot do that even, it simply acts or rather is acted upon. We are not concerned here, however, with the last two forms of being; we will speak of the first two only.
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So the humanity of man consists in his consciousness of the self or ego. Is there no other higher mode of consciousness? Or is self-consciousness the acme, the utmost limit to which consciousness can raise itself? If it is so, then we are bound to conclude that humanity will reMain eternally human in its fundamental nature; the only progress, if progress at all we choose to call it, will consist perhaps in accentuating this consciousness of the self and in expressing it through a greater variety of stresses, through a richer combination of its colour and light and shade and rhythm. But also, this may not be sothere may be the possibility of a further step, a transcending of the consciousness of the self. It seems unnatural and improbable that having risen from un-consciousness to self-consciousness through a series of continuous marches, Nature should suddenly stop and consider what she had achieved to be her final end. Has Nature become bankrupt of her creative genius, exhausted of her upward drive? Has she to reMain content with only a clever manipulation, a mere shuffling and re-arranging of the materials already produced?
As a matter of fact it is not so. The glimpses of a higher form of consciousness we can see even now present in self-consciousness. We have spoken of the different stages of evolution as if they were separate and distinct and incommensurate entities. They may be described as such for the purpose of a logical understanding, but in reality they form a single progressive continuum in which one level gradually fuses into another. And as the higher level takes up the law of the lower and evolves out of it a characteristic function, even so the law of the higher level with its characteristic function is already involved and envisaged in the law of the lower level and its characteristic function. It cannot be asserted positively that because man's special virtue is self-consciousness, animals cannot have that quality on any account. We do see, if we care to observe closely and dispassionately, that animals of the higher order, as they approach the level of humanity, show more and more evident signs of something which is very much akin to, if not identical with the human characteristic of self-consciousness.
So, in man also, especially of that order which forms the crown of humanityin poets and artists and seers and great men of actioncan be observed a certain characteristic form of consciousness, which is something other than, greater than the consciousness of the mere self. It is difficult as yet to characterise definitely what that thing is. It is the awakening of the self to something which is beyond itselfit is the cosmic self, the oversoul, the universal being; it is God, it is Turiya, it is sachchidanandain so many ways the thing has been sought to be envisaged and expressed. The consciousness of that level has also a great variety of names given to it Intuition, Revelation, cosmic consciousness, God-consciousness. It is to be noted here, however, that the thing we are referring to, is not the Absolute, the Infinite, the One without a second. It is not, that is to say, the supreme Reality the Brahmanin its static being, in its undivided and indivisible unity; it is the dynamic Brahman, that status of the supreme Reality where creation, the diversity of Becoming takes rise, it is the Truth-worldRitam the doMain of typal realities. The distinction is necessary, as there does seem to be such a level of consciousness intermediary, again, between man and the Absolute, between self-consciousness and the supreme consciousness. The simplest thing would be to give that intermediate level of consciousness a negative namesince being as yet human we cannot foresee exactly its composition and function the super-consciousness.
The inflatus of something vast and transcendent, something which escapes all our familiar schemes of cognisance and yet is insistent with a translucent reality of its own, we do feel sometimes within us invading and enveloping our individuality, lifting up our sense of self and transmuting our personality into a reality which can hardly be called merely human. All this life of ego-bound rationality then melts away and opens out the passage for a life of vision and power. Thus it is the poet has felt when he says, "there is this incalculable element in human life influencing us from the mystery which envelops our being, and when reason is satisfied, there is something deeper than Reason which makes us still uncertain of truth. Above the human reason there is a transcendental sphere to which the spirit of men sometimes rises, and the will may be forged there at a lordly smithy and made the unbreakable pivot."(A.E.)
01.09 - William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
So far so good. For it is not far enough. The being or becoming that is demanded in fulfilment of the divine advent in humanity must go to the very roots of life and nature, must seize God in his highest and sovereign status. No prejudice of the past, no notion of our mental habits must seek to impose its law. Thus, for example, in the matter of redeeming the senses by the influx of the higher light, our author seems to consider that the senses will reMain more or less as they are, only they will be controlled, guided, used by the higher light. And he seems to think that even the sex relation (even the institution of marriage) may continue to reMain, but sublimated, submitted to the laws of the Higher Order. This, according to us, is a dangerous compromise and is simply the imposition of the lower law upon the higher. Our view of the total transformation and divinisation of the Lower is altogether different. The Highest must come down wholly and inhabit in the Lowest, the Lowest must give up altogether its own norms and lift itself into the substance and form too of the Highest.
Viewed in this light, Blake's memorable mantra attains a deeper and more momentous significance. For it is not merely Earth the senses and life and Matter that are to be uplifted and affianced to Heaven, but all that reMains hidden within the bowels of the Earth, the subterranean regions of man's consciousness, the slimy viscous undergrowths, the darkest horrors and monstrosities that man and nature hide in their subconscient and inconscient dungeons of material existence, all these have to be laid bare to the solar gaze of Heaven, burnt or transmuted as demanded by the law of that Supreme Will. That is the Hell that has to be recognised, not rejected and thrown away, but taken up purified and transubstantiated into the body of Heaven itself. The hand of the Highest Heaven must extend and touch the Lowest of the lowest elements, transmute it and set it in its rightful place of honour. A mortal body reconstituted into an immemorial fossil, a lump of coal revivified into a flashing carat of diamond-that shows something of the process underlying the nuptials of which we are speaking.
The Life Divine
0.10 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
concentrate before sleeping, then in your sleep you reMain in
contact with the Divine force; but when you fall heavily to sleep
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and reMain calm.
24 October 1962
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many activities and Maintains a fairly high standard -
one single person in the whole world?"
--
boys is atavistic, but it reMains to ask You what we captains should do about it. Personally, I think it is better to
close one's eyes to it, but there are others who prefer to
--
Main thing is to have tact and sufficient inner perception to
intervene when necessary or to close one's eyes when it is
--
at most an idea and not an experience, the whole thing reMains
purely mental. But if one makes a sincere and repeated effort, one
--
comes and the longer it reMains.
For each person the way differs in its details, but sincerity
--
you are merely sitting on them - they reMain repressed in the
subconscient until they explode there and cause an upheaval in
--
nature by establishing your consciousness firmly in a doMain
that is free of all desire and attachment because it is under the
--
progress still reMaining to be made is so considerable that there
is no reason to stop on the way to assess the ground one has
--
reMain quiescent until their turn comes. It is only when the
consciousness grows enough to have an overall view that one
--
reasoning, but all the same its effect reMains and makes
me a little sullen and very touchy.
--
always reMain silent, even though as an individual one
is obliged to make decisions and give opinions?
--
Well, all three are true, but on different planes, and to understand something of the problem one has to reach the doMain
where the three complement one another and unite.
--
the whole conversation, but the impression that reMains
is that You are not very pleased with the questions I ask
--
and memories, reMain free?35
But why does he say "weighed down"?
--
what reMains, what lasts. And so with that, one has a perception
- a little vague, a little blurred - of the people who were there,
--
participated - in the event. And that is what reMains.
15 July 1967
01.10 - Principle and Personality, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Man, however great and puissant he may be, is a perishable thing. People who gather or are gathered round a man and cling to him through the tie of a personal relation must fall off and scatter when the man passes away and the personal tie loses its hold. What reMains is a memory, a gradually fading memory. But memory is hardly a creative force, it is a dead, at best, a moribund thing; the real creative power is Presence. So when the great man's presence, the power that crystallises is gone, the whole edifice crumbles and vanishes into air or reMains a mere name.
Love and admiration for a mahapurusha is not enough, even faith in his gospel is of little avail, nor can actual participation, consecrated work and labour in his cause save the situation; it is only when the principles, the bare realities for which the mahapurusha stands are in the open forum and men have the full and free opportunity of testing and assimilating them, it is only when individuals thus become living embodiments of those principles and realities that we do create a thing universal and permanent, as universal and permanent as earthly things may be. Principles only can embrace and unify the whole of humanity; a particular personality shall always create division and limitation. By placing the man in front, we erect a wall between the Principle and men at large. It is the principles, on the contrary, that should be given the place of honour: our attempt should be to keep back personalities and make as little use of them as possible. Let the principles work and create in their freedom and power, untrammelled by the limitations of any mere human vessel.
--
We do not speak like politicians or banias; but the very truth of the matter demands such a policy or line of action. It is very well to talk of principles and principles alone, but what are principles unless they take life and form in a particular individual? They are airy nothings, notions in the brain of logicians and metaphysicians, fit subjects for discussion in the academy, but they are devoid of that vital urge which makes them creative agencies. We have long lines of philosophers, especially European, who most scrupulously avoided all touch of personalities, whose utmost care was to keep principles pure and unsullied; and the upshot was that those principles reMained principles only, barren and infructuous, some thing like, in the strong and puissant phrase of BaudelaireLa froide majest de la femme strile. And on the contrary, we have had other peoples, much addicted to personalitiesespecially in Asiawho did not care so much for abstract principles as for concrete embodiments; and what has been the result here? None can say that they did not produce anything or produced only still-born things. They produced living creaturesephemeral, some might say, but creatures that lived and moved and had their days.
But, it may be asked, what is the necessity, what is the purpose in making it all a one man show? Granting that principles require personalities for their fructuation and vital functioning, what reMains to be envisaged is not one personality but a plural personality, the people at large, as many individuals of the human race as can be consciously imbued with those principles. When principles are made part and parcel of, are concentrated in a single solitary personality, they get "cribbed and cabined," they are vitiated by the idiosyncrasies of the man, they come to have a narrower field of application; they are emptied of the general verities they contain and finally cease to have any effect.
The thing, however, is that what you call principles do not drop from heaven in their virgin purity and all at once lay hold of mankind en masse. It is always through a particular individual that a great principle manifests itself. Principles do not live in the general mind of man and even if they live, they live secreted and unconscious; it is only a puissant personality, who has lived the principle, that can bring it forward into life and action, can awaken, like the Vedic Dawn, what was dead in allmritam kanchana bodhayanti. Men in general are by themselves 'inert and indifferent; they have little leisure or inclination to seek, from any inner urge of their own, for principles and primal truths; they become conscious of these only when expressed and embodied in some great and rare soul. An Avatar, a Messiah or a Prophet is the centre, the focus through which a Truth and Law first dawns and then radiates and spreads abroad. The little lamps are all lighted by the sparks that the great torch scatters.
And yet we yield to none in our demand for holding forth the principles always and ever before the wide open gaze of all. The principle is there to make people self-knowing and self-guiding; and the man is also there to illustrate that principle, to serve as the hope and prophecy of achievement. The living soul is there to touch your soul, if you require the touch; and the principle is there by which to test and testify. For, we do not ask anybody to be a mere automaton, a blind devotee, a soul without individual choice and initiative. On the contrary, we insist on each and every individual to find his own soul and stand on his own Truththis is the fundamental principle we declare, the only creedif creed it be that we ask people to note and freely follow. We ask all people to be fully self-dependent and self-illumined, for only thus can a real and solid reconstruction of human nature and society be possible; we do not wish that they should bow down ungrudgingly to anything, be it a principle or a personality. In this respect we claim the very first rank of iconoclasts and anarchists. And along with that, if we still choose to reMain an idol-lover and a hero-worshipper, it is because we recognise that our mind, human as it is, being not a simple equation but a complex paradox, the idol or the hero symbolises for us and for those who so will, the very iconoclasm and anarchism and perhaps other more positive things as wellwhich we behold within and seek to manifest.
The world is full of ikons and archons; we cannot escape them, even if we try the world itself being a great ikon and as great an archon. Those who swear by principles, swear always by some personality or other, if not by a living creature then by a lifeless book, if not by Religion then by Science, if not by the East then by the West, if not by Buddha or Christ then by Bentham or Voltaire. Only they do it unwittingly they change one set of personalities for another and believe they have rejected them all. The veils of Maya are a thousand-fold tangle and you think you have entirely escaped her when you have only run away from one fold to fall into another. The wise do not attempt to reject and negate Maya, but consciously accept herfreedom lies in a knowing affirmation. So we too have accepted and affirmed an icon, but we have done it consciously and knowingly; we are not bound by our idol, we see the truth of it, and we serve and utilise it as best as we may.
01.11 - Aldous Huxley: The Perennial Philosophy, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
"To its heights we can always come. For those of us who are still splashing about in the lower ooze, the phrase has a rather ironical ring. Nevertheless, in the light of even the most distant acquaintance with the heights and the fullness, it is possible to understand what its author means. To discover the Kingdom of God exclusively within oneself is easier than to discover it, not only there, but also in the outer worlds of minds and things and living creatures. It is easier because the heights within reveal themselves to those who are ready to exclude from their purview all that lies without. And though this exclusion may be a painful and mortificatory process, the fact reMains that it is less arduous than the process of inclusion, by which we come to know the fullness as well as the heights of spiritual life. Where there is exclusive concentration on the heights within, temptations and distractions are avoided and there is a general denial and suppression. But when the hope is to know God inclusivelyto realise the divine Ground in the world as well as in the soul, temptations and distractions must not be avoided, but submitted to and used as opportunities for advance; there must be no suppression of outward-turning activities, but a transformation of them so that they become sacramental."
The neatness of the commentary cannot be improved upon. Only with regard to the "ironical ring" of which Huxley speaks, it has just to be pointed out, as he himself seems to understand, that the "we" referred to in the phrase does not mean humanity in general that 'splashes about in the lower ooze' but those who have a sufficiently developed inner spiritual life.
01.11 - The Basis of Unity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
In Europe such a contingency did not arise, because the religious spirit, rampant in the days of Inquisitions and St. Bartholomews, died away: it died, and (or, because) it was replaced by a spirit that was felt as being equally, if not more, au thentic and, which for the moment, suffused the whole consciousness with a large and high afflatus, commensurate with the amplitude of man's aspiration. I refer, of course, to the spirit of the Renaissance. It was a spirit profane and secular, no doubt, but on that level it brought a catholicity of temper and a richness in varied interesta humanistic culture, as it is calledwhich constituted a living and unifying ideal for Europe. That spirit culminated in the great French Revolution which was the final coup de grace to all that still reMained of mediaevalism, even in its outer structure, political and economical.
In India the spirit of renascence came very late, late almost by three centuries; and even then it could not flood the whole of the continent in all its nooks and corners, psychological and physical. There were any number of pockets (to use a current military phrase) left behind which guarded the spirit of the past and offered persistent and obdurate resistance. Perhaps, such a dispensation was needed in India and inevitable also; inevitable, because the religious spirit is closest to India's soul and is its most direct expression and cannot be uprooted so easily; needed, because India's and the world's future demands it and depends upon it.
--
Unlike the previous irruptions that merged and were lost in the general life and consciousness, Islam entered as a leaven that Maintained its integrity and revolutionized Indian life and culture by infusing into its tone a Semitic accent. After the Islamic impact India could not be what she was beforea change became inevitable even in the major note. It was a psychological cataclysm almost on a par with the geological one that formed her body; but the spirit behind which created the body was working automatically, inexorably towards the greater and more difficult synthesis demanded by the situation. Only the thing is to be done now consciously, not through an unconscious process of laissez-faire as on the inferior stages of evolution in the past. And that is the true genesis of the present conflict.
History abounds in instances of racial and cultural immixture. Indeed, all major human groupings of today are invariably composite formations. Excepting, perhaps, some primitiveaboriginal tribes there are no pure races existent. The Briton, the Dane, the Anglo-Saxon, and the Norman have combined to form the British; a Frenchman has a Gaul, a Roman, a Frank in him; and a Spaniard's blood would show an Iberian, a Latin, a Gothic, a Moorish element in it. And much more than a people, a culture in modern times has been a veritable cockpit of multifarious and even incongruous elements. There are instances also in which a perfect fusion could not be accomplished, and one element had to be rejected or crushed out. The complete disappearance of the Aztecs and Mayas in South America, the decadence of the Red Indians in North America, of the Negroes in Africa as a result of a fierce clash with European peoples and European culture illustrate the point.
--
To be loyal to one's line of self-fulfilment, to follow one's self-law, swadharma, wholly and absolutelywithout this no spiritual life is possible and yet not to come into clash with other lines and loyalties, nay more, to be in positive harmony with them, is a problem which has not been really solved. It was solved, perhaps, in the consciousness of a Ramakrishna, a few individuals here and there, but it has always reMained a source of conflict and disharmony in the general mind even in the field of spirituality. The clash of spiritual or religious loyalties has taken such an acute form in India today, they have been carried to the bitter extreme, in order, we venture to say, that the final synthesis might be absolute and irrevocable. This is India's mission to work out, and this is the lesson which she brings to the world.
The solution can come, first, by going to the true religion of the Spirit, by being truly spiritual and not merely religious, for, as we have said, real unity lies only in and through the Spirit, since Spirit is one and indivisible; secondly, by bringing down somethinga great part, indeed, if not the wholeof this puissant and marvellous Spirit into our life of emotions and sensations and activities.
If it is said that this is an ideal for the few only, not for the mass, our answer to that is the answer of the GitaYad yad acharati sreshthah. Let the few then practise and achieve the ideal: the mass will have to follow as far as it is possible and necessary. It is the very character of the evolutionary system of Nature, as expressed in the principle of symbiosis, that any considerable change in one place (in one species) is accompanied by a corresponding change in the same direction in other contiguous places (in other associated species) in order that the poise and balance of the system may be Maintained.
It is precisely strong nuclei that are needed (even, perhaps, one strong nucleus is sufficient) where the single and integrated spiritual consciousness is an accomplished and established fact: that acts inevitably as a solvent drawing in and assimilating or transforming and re-creating as much, of the surroundings as its own degree and nature of achievement inevitably demand.
01.12 - Goethe, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
One view considers Evil as coeval with Good: the Prince of Evil is God's peer, equal to him in all ways, absolutely separate, independent and self-existent. Light and Darkness are eternal principles living side by side, possessing equal reality. For, although it is permissible to the individual to pass out of the Darkness and enter into Light, the Darkness itself does not disappear: it reMains and Maintains its doMain, and even it is said that some human beings are meant eternally for this doMain. That is the Manichean principle and that also is fundamentally the dualistic conception of chit-achit in some Indian systems (although the principle of chit or light is usually given a higher position and priority of excellence).
The Christian too accepts the dual principle, but does not give equal status to the two. Satan is there, an eternal reality: it is anti-God, it seeks to oppose God, frustrate his work. It is the great tempter whose task it is to persuade, to inspire man to reMain always an earthly creature and never turn to know or live in God. Now the crucial question that arises is, what is the necessity of this Antagonist in God's scheme of creation? What is the meaning of this struggle and battle? God could have created, if he had chosen, a world without Evil. The orthodox Christi an answer is that in that case one could not have fully appreciated the true value and glory of God's presence. It is to manifest and proclaim the great victory that the strife and combat has been arranged in which Man triumphs in the end and God's work stands vindicated. The place of Satan is always Hell, but he cannot drag down a soul into his pit to hold it there eternally (although according to one doctrine there are or may be certain eternally damned souls).
Goe the carries the process of convergence and even harmony of the two powers a little further and shows that although they are contrary apparently, they are not contradictory principles in essence. For, Satan is, after all, God's servant, even a very obedient servant; he is an instrument in the hand of the Almighty to work out His purpose. The purpose is to help and lead man, although in a devious way, towards a greater understanding, a nearer approach to Himself.
01.12 - Three Degrees of Social Organisation, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Here is the crux of the question. The dictum of utilitarian philosophers is a golden rule which is easy to formulate but not so to execute. For the line of demarcation between one's own rights and the equal rights of others is so undefinable and variable that a title suit is inevitable in each case. In asserting and establishing and even Maintaining one's rights there is always the possibilityalmost the certaintyof encroaching upon others' rights.
What is required is not therefore an external delimitation of frontiers between unit and unit, but an inner outlook of nature and a poise of character. And this can be cultivated and brought into action by learning to live by the sense of duty. Even then, even the sense of duty, we have to admit, is not enough. For if it leads or is capable of leading into an aberration, we must have something else to check and control it, some other higher and more potent principle. Indeed, both the conceptions of Duty and Right belong to the doMain of mental ideal, although one is usually more aggressive and militant (Rajasic) and the other tends to be more tolerant and considerate (sattwic): neither can give an absolute certainty of poise, a clear guarantee of perfect harmony.
Indian wisdom has found this other, a fairer terma tertium quid,the mystic factor, sought for by so many philosophers on so many counts. That is the very well- known, the very familiar termDharma. What is Dharma then? How does it accomplish the miracle which to others seems to have proved an impossibility? Dharma is self-law, that is to say, the law of the Self; it is the rhythm and movement of our inner or inmost being, the spontaneous working out of our truth-conscious nature.
01.13 - T. S. Eliot: Four Quartets, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Our poet is too self-conscious, he himself feels that he has not the perfect voice. A Homer, even a Milton possesses a unity of tone and a wholeness of perception which are denied to the modern. To the modern, however, the old masters are not subtle enough, broad enough, psychological enough, let us say the word, spiritual enough. And yet the poetic inspiration, more than the religious urge, needs the injunction not to be busy with too many things, but to be centred upon the one thing needful, viz., to create poetically and not to discourse philosophically or preach prophetically. Not that it is impossible for the poet to swallow the philosopher and the prophet, metabolising them into the substance of his bone and marrow, of "the trilling wire in his blood", as Eliot graphically expresses. That perhaps is the consummation towards which poetry is tending. But at present, in Eliot, at least, the strands reMain distinct, each with its own temper and rhythm, not fused and moulded into a single streamlined form of beauty. Our poet flies high, very high indeed at times, often or often he flies low, not disdaining the perilous limit of bathos. Perhaps it is all wilful, it is a mannerism which he cherishes. The mannerism may explain his psychology and enshrine his philosophy. But the poet, the magician is to be looked for elsewhere. In the present collection of poems it is the philosophical, exegetical, discursive Eliot who dominates: although the high lights of the subject-matter may be its justification. Still even if we have here doldrums like
That the past has another pattern, and ceases to be a mere sequence
--
Here the poet is almost grimly tense, concentrated and has not allowed himself to be dissipated by thinkings and arguments, has confined himself wholly to a living experience. That is because the poet has since then moved up and sought a more rarefied air, a more even and smooth temper. The utter and absolute poetic ring of the Inferno is difficult to Maintain in the Paradiso, unless and until the poet transforms himself wholly into the Rishi, like the poet of the Gita or the Upanishads.
"East Coker"
0.11 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
reMains ignorant - even its aspiration is ignorant and so is its
goodwill; all its movements are ignorant and so they distort and
--
To reMain turned upwards and to live in the true consciousness - the two seem complementary to each other.
Are they not two ways of saying the same thing? - certainly
--
To reMain conscious of it, one must reduce the range of the
subconscient in oneself and thus increase the consciousness.
0.12 - Letters to a Student, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
because it is difficult for it to reMain quiet for a long time; and
that is why most people do not talk.
But your mind seems to reMain in your body, so you must
ask it to reMain perfectly quiet and silent so that your body
can rest properly. A little concentration for that, before going to
--
Physical education means principally all the various exercises for the development and Maintenance of the body.
Naturally, here we have combined the two. But this is Mainly
because human beings, especially in their childhood, still need a
0.13 - Letters to a Student, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
earth. But there reMains one question: if everything is
divine, even the adverse forces, and if everything has been
--
others reMain half conscious like the vast majority of human
beings.
--
Say to the Supreme Lord: "Let Thy Will be done", and reMain
as peaceful as possible.
0.14 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
and stronger while reMaining young and progressive.
30 January 1972
0 1954-08-25 - what is this personality? and when will she come?, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Thus far, She has not found what is needed. Men reMain obstinately men and do not want to or are unable to become supermen. All they can receive and express is a love at their own dimension: a human lovewhereas the supreme bliss of divine Ananda eludes their perception.
At times, finding the world unready to receive Her, She contemplates withdrawing. But how cruel a loss this would be!
--
Oh! But you see, from an occult standpoint, it is a selection. From an external standpoint you could say that there are people in the world who are far superior to you (and I would not disagree!), but from an occult standpoint, it is a selection. There are It can be said that without a doubt the majority of young people here have come because it was promised them that they would be present at the Hour of Realization but they just dont remember it! (Mother laughs) I have already said several times that when you come down on earth, you fall on your head, which leaves you a little dazed! (laughter) Its a pity, but after all, you dont have to reMain dazed all your lives, do you? You should go deep within yourselves and there find the immortal consciousness then you can see very well, you can very clearly remember the circumstances in which you you aspired to be here for the Hour of the Works realization.
But actually, to tell you the truth, I think your lives are so easy that you dont exert yourselves very much! How many among you have truly an INTENSE need to find their psychic beings? To find out truly who they are? To find out what their roles are, why they are here? You just let yourselves drift. You even complain when things arent easy enough! You just take things as they come. And sometimes, should an aspiration arise in you and you encounter some difficulty in yourself, you say, Oh, Mother is there! Shell take care of it for me! And you think about something else.
0 1955-04-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I am not so absurdly pretentious as to blame the divine, nor yourself and I reMain quite convinced that all this is my own fault. Undoubtedly I have not known how to surrender totally in some part of myself, or I do not aspire enough or know how to open myself as needed. Also, I should rely entirely upon the divine to take care of my progress and not be concerned about the absence of experiences. I have therefore asked myself why I am so far away from the true attitude, the genuine opening, and I see two Main reasons: on the one hand, the difficulties inherent in my own nature, and on the other, the outer conditions of this sadhana. These conditions do not seem to be conducive to helping me overcome the difficulties in my own nature.
I feel that I am turning in circles and taking one step backward for each one forward. Furthermore, instead of helping me draw nearer to the divine consciousness, my work in the Ashram (the very fact of working for to change work, even if I felt like it, would not change the overall situation), diverts me from this divine consciousness, or at least keeps me in a superficial consciousness from which I am unable to unglue myself as long as I am busy writing letters, doing translations, corrections or classes.1 I know its my own fault, that I should know how to be detached from my work and do it by relying upon a deeper consciousness, but what can be done? Unless I receive the grace, I cannot remember the essential thing as long as the outer part of my being is active.
When I am not immediately engrossed in work, I have to confront a thousand little temptations and daily difficulties that come from my contact with other beings and a life that does indeed reMain in life. Here, even more, there is the feeling of an impossible struggle, and all these little difficulties seem to gnaw away at me; scarcely has one hole been filled when another opens up, or the same one reappears, and there is never any real victoryone has constantly to begin everything again. Finally, it seems to me that I really live only one hour a day, during the evening distribution at the playground.2 It is scarcely a life and scarcely a sadhana!
Consequently, I understand much better now why in the traditional yogas one settled all these difficulties once and for all by escaping from the world, without bothering to transform a life that seems so untransformable.
0 1955-06-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
If only I could see a distinct error blocking my path which I could clearly attack But I feel that I am not responsible, that it is not my personal fault if I reMain without aspiration, stagnating. I feel like a battlefield of contending forces that are beyond me and against which I can do NOTHING. Oh Mother, it is not an excuse for a lack of will, or at least I dont think so I profoundly feel like a helpless toy, totally helpless.
If the divine force, if your grace, does not intervene to shatter this obscure resistance that is drawing me downwards in spite of myself, I dont know what will become of me Mother, I am not blackmailing you, I am only expressing my helplessness, my anguish.
0 1955-10-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
2) To unfold ones being before Him, to open entirely ones body from head to toe, as one opens a book, spreading open ones centers so as to make all their movements visible in a total SINCERITY that allows nothing to reMain hidden.
3) To nestle in His arms, to melt in Him in a tender and absolute CONFIDENCE.
0 1956-05-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
But they want everything to reMain as it was and, as you say, to be the first to benefit.
Mother, when the mind came down into the earth atmosphere, the ape did not make any effort to convert himself into a man, did he? It was Nature that supplied the effort. But in our case
--
Individually, each ones goal was to make himself ready, to enter into a more or less intimate individual relationship with this Force, so as to help the process; or else, if he could not help, at least be ready to recognize and be open to the Force when it would manifest. Then instead of being an alien element in a world in which your OWN inner capacity reMains unmanifest, you suddenly become THAT, you enter directly, fully, into the very atmosphere: the Force is there, all around you, permeating you.
If you had had a little inner contact, you would have recognized it immediately, dont you think so?
0 1956-09-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
My friends keep telling me that I am not ready and that, like R,1 whom they knew, I should go and spend some time in society. They say that my idea of going to the Himalayas is absurd, and they advise me to return to Brazil for a few years to stay with W W is an elderly American millionaire the only good rich man I knowwho wanted to make me an heir, as it were, to his financial affairs and who treats me rather like a son. He was quite disappointed when I came back to India. My friends tell me that if I have to go through a period in the outside world, the best way to do it is to reMain near someone who is fond of me, while at the same time ensuring a material independence for the future.
These questions of money do not interest me. In fact, nothing interests me except this something I feel within me. The only question for me is to know whether I am truly ready for the Yoga, or if my failings are not the sign of some immaturity. Mother, you alone can tell me what is right.
I feel a bit lost, cut off from you. The idea of going to the Himalayas is absurd and I am abandoning it. My friends tell me that I may reMain with them as long as I wish, but this is hardly a solution; I dont even feel like writing a book any longernothing seems to appeal to me except the trees in this garden and the music that fills a large part of my days. There is no solution other than the Ashram or Brazil. You alone can tell me what to do.
I KNOW that ultimately my place is near you, but is that my place at present, after all these failings? Spontaneously, it is you I want, you alone who represent the light and all that is real in this world; I can love no one but you nor be interested in anything but this thing within me, but will it not all begin again once I have returned to the Ashram? You alone know the stage I am at, what is good for me, what is possible.
0 1956-10-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I used to be different (although I was said to be non-interfering); I acted, if at all, to defend myself But I understood very quickly that even this was a reaction of ignorance and that things would be set right automatically if one reMained in the true consciousness.
A consciousness that sees and makes you see.
0 1956-10-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I am facing the same difficulties as before my departure to Hyderabad, and I have made the same mistakes. The Main reason for this state is that, on the one hand, words and ideas seem to have lost all power over me, and on the other, the vital elan which led me thus far is dead. So upon what shall my faith rest? I still have some faith, of course, but it has become totally ABSTRACT. The vital does not cooperate, so I feel all withered, suspended in a void, nothing seems to give me direction anymore. There is no rebelliousness in me, but rather a void.
In this state, I am ceaselessly thinking of my forest in Guiana or of my travels through Africa and the ardor that filled me with life in those days. I seem to need to have my goal before me and to walk towards it. Outer difficulties also seem to help me resolve my inner problems: there is a kind of need in me for the elements the sea, the forest, the desert for a milieu with which I can wrestle and through which I can grow. Here, I seem to lack a dynamic point of leverage. Here, in the everyday routine, everything seems to be falling apart in me. Should I not return to my forest in Guiana?
--
P.S. If you see that I should reMain here, put in me the necessary strength and aspiration. I shall obey you. I want to obey you.
***
--
One should beware of the charm of memories. What reMains of past experiences is the effect they have had in the development of the consciousness. But when one attempts to relive a memory by placing oneself again in similar circumstances, one realizes quite rapidly how devoid they are of their power and charm, because they have lost their usefulness for progress.
You are now beyond the stage when the virgin forest and the desert can be useful for your growth. They had put you in contact with a life vaster than your own and they widened the limits of your consciousness. But now you need something else.
0 1956-12-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Mother, what can I do with my life? I feel absolutely alone, in a void. What hope reMains since I have not been able to integrate into the Ashram? I am goalless. I am from nowhere. I am good for nothing.
I have wanted to reMain near you, and I love you, but there is something in me that does not accept an Ashram ending. There is a need in me to DO, to act. But what? What? Have I something to do in this life?
For years I have dreamed of going to Chinese Turkestan. Should I head in that direction? Or towards Africa?
0 1957-04-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
For more than a year now, I have been hypnotized by the idea that if I give in, I will be condemned to reMain here. Once more, forgive me for speaking so absurdly, for of course I know it is not a condemnation; and yet a part of me feels that it would be.
Thus I am so tense that I do not even want to close my eyes to meditate for fear of yielding. And I fall into all kinds of errors that horrify me, simply because the pressure is too strong at times, and I literally suffocate. Mother, I am not cut out to be a disciple.
0 1957-07-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
It went something like this: somewhere, in the center of this enormous edifice, there was a room reservedas it seemed in the story for a mother and her daughter. The mother was a lady, an elderly lady, a very influential matron who had a great deal of authority and her own views concerning the entire organization. Her daughter seemed to have a power of movement and activity enabling her to be everywhere at once while at the same time reMaining in her room, which was well, a bit more than a roomit was a kind of apartment which, above all, had the characteristic of being very central. But she was constantly arguing with her mother. The mother wanted to keep things just as they were, with their usual rhythm, which precisely meant the habit of tearing down one thing to rebuild another, then again tearing down that to build still another, thus giving the building an appearance of frightful confusion. But the daughter did not like this, and she had another plan. Most of all, she wanted to bring something completely new into the organization: a kind of super-organization that would render all this confusion unnecessary. Finally, as it was impossible for them to reach an understanding, the daughter left the room to go on a kind of general inspection She went out, looked everything over, and then wanted to return to her room to decide upon some final measures. But this is where something rather peculiar began happening.
She clearly remembered where her room was, but each time she set out to go there, either the staircase disappeared or things were so changed that she could no longer find her way! So she went here and there, up and down, searched, went in and out but it was impossible to find the way to her room! Since all of this assumed a physical appearanceas I said, a very familiar and very common appearance, as is always the case in these symbolic visions there was somewhere (how shall I put it?) the hotels administrative office and a woman who seemed to be the manager, who had all the keys and who knew where everyone was staying. So the daughter went to this person and asked her, Could you show me the way to my room?But of course! Easily! Everyone around the manager looked at her as if to say, How can you say that? However, she got up, and with authority asked for a key the key to the daughters roomsaying, I shall take you there. And off she went along all kinds of paths, but all so complicated, so bizarre! The daughter was following along behind her very attentively, you see, so as not to lose sight of her. But just as they should have come to the place where the daughters room was supposed to be, suddenly the manageress (let us call her the manageress), both the manageress and her key vanished! And the sense of this vanishing was so acute that at the same time, everything vanished!
--
It is certainly not an arbitrary construction of the type built by men, where everything is put pell-mell, without any order, without reality, and which is held together by only illusory ties. Here, these ties were symbolized by the hotels walls, while actually in ordinary human constructions (if we take a religious community, for example), they are symbolized by the building of a monastery, an identity of clothing, an identity of activities, an identity even of movementor to put it more precisely: everyone wears the same uniform, everyone gets up at the same time, everyone eats the same thing, everyone says his prayers together, etc.; there is an overall identity. But naturally, on the inside there reMains the chaos of many disparate consciousnesses, each one following its own mode, for this kind of group identification, which extends right up to an identity of beliefs and dogma, is absolutely illusory.
Yet it is one of the most common types of human collectivityto group together, band together, unite around a common ideal, a common action, a common realization but in an absolutely artificial way. In contrast to this, Sri Aurobindo tells us that a true communitywhat he terms a gnostic or supramental communitycan be based only upon the INNER REALIZATION of each one of its members, each realizing his real, concrete oneness and identity with all the other members of the community; that is, each one should not feel himself a member connected to all the others in an arbitrary way, but that all are one within himself. For each one, the others should be as much himself as his own bodynot in a mental and artificial way, but through a fact of consciousness, by an inner realization.
--
This means that before hoping to realize such a gnostic collectivity, each one must first of all become (or at least start to become) a gnostic being. It is obvious that the individual work must take the lead and the collective work follow; but the fact reMains that spontaneously, without any arbitrary intervention of will the individual progress IS restrained or CHECKED, as It were, by the collective state. Between the collectivity and the individual, there exists an interdependence from which one cannot be totally free, even if one tries. And even he who might try, in his yoga, to free himself totally from the human and terrestrial state of consciousness, would be at least subconsciously bound by the state of the whole, which impedes and PULLS BACKWARDS. One can attempt to go much faster, one can attempt to let all the weight of attachments and responsibilities fall off, but in spite of everything, the realization of even the most advanced or the leader in the march of evolution is dependent upon the realization of the whole, dependent upon the state in which the terrestrial collectivity happens to be. And this PULLS backwards to such an extent that sometimes one has to wait centuries for the earth to be ready before being able to realize what is to be realized.
This is why Sri Aurobindo has also written somewhere else that a double movement is necessary: the effort for individual progress and realization must be combined with the effort of trying to uplift the whole so as to enable it to make a progress indispensable for the greater progress of the individual: a mass progress, if you will, that allows the individual to take a further step forward.
0 1957-10-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
There is no question of my abandoning the path and I reMain convinced that the only goal in life is spiritual. But I need things to help me along the way: I am not yet ripe enough to depend upon inner strength alone. And when I speak of the forest or a boat, it is not only for the sake of adventure or the feeling of space, but also because they mean a discipline. Outer constraints and difficulties help me, they force me to reMain concentrated around that which is best in me. In a sense, life here is too easy. Yet it is also too hard, for one must depend on ones own discipline I do not yet have that strength, I need to be helped by outer circumstances. The very difficulty of life in the outside world helps me to be disciplined, for it forces me to concentrate all my vital strength in effort. Here, this vital part is unemployed, so it acts foolishly, it strains at the leash.
I doubt that a new experience outside can really resolve things, but I believe it might help me make it to the next stage and consolidate my inner life. And if you wish, I would return in a year or two.
0 1957-10-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
We live perennially with a burden on our shoulders, something that bows our heads down, and we feel pulled, led by all kinds of external forces, we dont know by whom or what, nor where tothis is what men call Fate, Destiny. When you do yoga, one of the first experiences the experience of the kundalini, as it is called here in Indiais precisely one in which the consciousness rises, breaks through this hard lid, here, at the crown of the head, and at last you emerge into the Light. Then you see, you know, you decide and you realizedifficulties may still reMain, but truly speaking one is above them. Well, as a result of the supramental manifestation, it is THIS experience that came into the body. The body straightened its head up and felt its freedom, its independence.
During the flu epidemic, for example, I spent every day in the midst of people who were germ carriers. And one day, I clearly felt that the body had decided not to catch this flu. It asserted its autonomy. You see, it was not a question of the higher Will deciding, no. It didnt take place in the highest consciousness: the body itself decided. When you are way above in your consciousness, you see things, you know things; but in actual fact, once you descend again into matter, it is like water running through sand. In this respect, things have changed, the body has a DIRECT power, independent of any outer intervention. Even though it is barely visible, I consider this to be a very important result.
0 1957-12-13, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Mother, I feel all this very strongly; I need your help to follow the true path of my being and fulfill this new outer cycle, should you see that it has to be fulfilled. I feel so strongly that something reMains for me to DO. Guide me, Sweet Mother.
Your child,
0 1958-01-01, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
You first have to be able to follow the methods and the means of the Grace to recognize its action. You first have to be able to reMain unblinded by appearances to see the deeper truth of things.
***
0 1958-02-03b - The Supramental Ship, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Between the beings of the supramental world and men, there exists approximately the same gap as between men and animals. Sometime ago, I had the experience of identification with animal life, and it is a fact that animals do not understand us; their consciousness is so constituted that we elude them almost entirely. And yet I have known domestic animalscats and dogs, but especially catswho made an almost yogic effort of consciousness to understand us. But generally, when they watch us living and acting, they dont understand, they dont SEE US as we are and they suffer because of us. We are a constant enigma to them Only a very tiny part of their consciousness is linked to us. And it is the same for us when we try to look at the supramental world. Only when the link of consciousness has been built shall we see itand even then, only that part of our being which has undergone the transformation will be capable of seeing it as it isotherwise the two worlds would reMain as separate as the animal world and the human world.
The experience I had on February 3 proves this. Before, I had had an individual, subjective contact with the supramental world, whereas on February 3, I went strolling there in a concrete wayas concretely as I used to go strolling in Paris in times pastin a world that EXISTS IN ITSELF, beyond all subjectivity.
--
The supramental world exists in a permanent way, and I am there permanently in a supramental body. I had proof of this today when my earthly consciousness went there and consciously reMained there between two and three oclock in the afternoon: I now know that for the two worlds to join in a constant and conscious relationship what is missing is an intermediate zone between the existing physical world and the supramental world as it exists. This zone has yet to be built, both in the individual consciousness and in the objective world, and it is being built. When formerly I used to speak of the new world that is being created, I was speaking of this intermediate zone. And similarly, when I am on this side that is, in the realm of the physical consciousness and I see the supramental power, the supramental light and substance constantly permeating matter, I am seeing and participating in the construction of this zone.
I found myself upon an immense ship, which is the symbolic representation of the place where this work is being carried out. This ship, as big as a city, is thoroughly organized, and it had certainly already been functioning for quite some time, for its organization was fully developed. It is the place where people destined for the supramental life are being trained. These people (or at least a part of their being) had already undergone a supramental transformation because the ship itself and all that was aboard was neither material nor subtle-physical, neither vital nor mental: it was a supramental substance. This substance itself was of the most material supramental, the supramental substance nearest the physical world, the first to manifest. The light was a blend of red and gold, forming a uniform substance of luminous orange. Everything was like that the light was like that, the people were like thateverything had this color, in varying shades, however, which enabled things to be distinguished from one another. The overall impression was of a shadowless world: there were shades, but no shadows. The atmosphere was full of joy, calm, order; everything worked smoothly and silently. At the same time, I could see all the details of the education, the training in all doMains by which the people on board were being prepared.
This immense ship had just arrived at the shore of the supramental world, and a first batch of people destined to become the future inhabitants of the supramental world were about to disembark. Everything was arranged for this first landing. A certain number of very tall beings were posted on the wharf. They were not human beings and never before had they been men. Nor were they permanent inhabitants of the supramental world. They had been delegated from above and posted there to control and supervise the landing. I was in charge of all this since the beginning and throughout. I myself had prepared all the groups. I was standing on the bridge of the ship, calling the groups forward one by one and having them disembark on the shore. The tall beings posted there seemed to be reviewing those who were disembarking, allowing those who were ready to go ashore and sending back those who were not and who had to continue their training aboard the ship. While standing there watching everyone, that part of my consciousness coming from here became extremely interested: it wanted to see, to identify all the people, to see how they had changed and to find out who had been taken immediately as well as those who had to reMain and continue their training. After awhile, as I was observing, I began to feel pulled backwards and that my body was being awakened by a consciousness or a person from here1and in my consciousness, I protested: No, no, not yet! Not yet! I want to see whos there! I was watching all this and noting it with intense interest It went on like that until, suddenly, the clock here began striking three, which violently jerked me back. There was the sensation of a sudden fall into my body. I came back with a shock, but since I had been called back very suddenly, all my memory was still intact. I reMained quiet and still until I could bring back the whole experience and preserve it.
The nature of objects on this ship was not that which we know upon earth; for example, the clothes were not made of cloth, and this thing that resembled cloth was not manufacturedit was a part of the body, made of the same substance that took on different forms. It had a kind of plasticity. When a change had to be made, it was done not by artificial and outer means but by an inner working, by a working of the consciousness that gave the substance its form or appearance. Life created its own forms. There was ONE SINGLE substance in all things; it changed the nature of its vibration according to the needs or uses.
--
When I came back, along with the memory of the experience, I knew that the supramental world was permanent, that my presence there is permanent, and that only a missing link is needed to allow the consciousness and the substance to connectand it is this link that is being built. At that time, my impression (an impression which reMained rather long, almost the whole day) was of an extreme relativityno, not exactly that, but an impression that the relationship between this world and the other completely changes the criterion by which things are to be evaluated or judged. This criterion had nothing mental about it, and it gave the strange inner feeling that so many things we consider good or bad are not really so. It was very clear that everything depended upon the capacity of things and upon their ability to express the supramental world or be in relationship with it. It was so completely different, at times even so opposite to our ordinary way of looking at things! I recall one little thing that we usually consider bad actually how funny it was to see that it is something excellent! And other things that we consider important were really quite unimportant there! Whether it was like this or like that made no difference. What is very obvious is that our appreciation of what is divine or not divine is incorrect. I even laughed at certain things Our usual feeling about what is anti-divine seems artificial, based upon something untrue, unliving (besides, what we call life here appeared lifeless in comparison with that world); in any event, this feeling should be based upon our relationship between the two worlds and according to whether things make this relationship easier or more difficult. This would thus completely change our evaluation of what brings us nearer to the Divine or what takes us away from Him. With people, too, I saw that what helps them or prevents them from becoming supramental is very different from what our ordinary moral notions imagine. I felt just how ridiculous we are.
(Then Mother speaks to the children)
0 1958-02-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I too have known suffering, but there was always a part of me that knew how to hold itself back and reMain aloof.
The only thing in the world that still appears intolerable to me now is all physical deterioration, physical suffering, the ugliness the powerlessness to express this capacity of beauty inherent in every being. But this, too, will be conquered one day. Here, too the power will come one day to shift the needle a little. Only, one has to climb higher in consciousness: the deeper into matter you want to descend, the higher must you ascend in consciousness.
0 1958-03-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Since my departure, I have been feeling your Force continually, almost constantly. And I feel an infinite gratitude that you are there, and that this thread from you to me keeps me anchored to something in this world. Simply knowing that you exist, that you are there, that I have a goal, a centerfills me with infinite gratitude. On a street in Madras, the day after I left, I suddenly had a poignant experience: I felt that if that were not in me, I would fall to pieces on the sidewalk, I would crumble, nothing would be left, nothing. And this experience reMains. Like a litany, something keeps repeating almost incessantly, I need you, need you, I have only you, you alone in the world. You are all my present, all my future, I have only you Mother, I am living in a state of need, like hunger.
On the way, I stopped at J and Es place. They are living like native fishermen, in loincloths, in a coconut grove by the sea. The place is exceedingly beautiful, and the sea full of rainbow-hued coral. And suddenly, within twenty-four hours, I realized an old dreamor rather, I purged myself of an old and tenacious dream: that of living on a Pacific island as a simple fisherman. And all at once, I saw, in a flash, that this kind of life totally lacks a center. You float in a nowhere. It plunges you into some kind of higher inertia, an illumined inertia, and you lose all true substance.
--
Your place has reMained vacant here; you alone can fill it, and it awaits your return, when the moment comes.
As soon as the problem children on the surface will also have learned their lesson, you have only to let me know of the date of your return and you will be welcome.
0 1958-04-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
And at the same time, I saw that it is you who is doing everything, you who aspires in me, you who wants the progress, and that all I myself am in this affair is a screen, a resisting obstacle. O Mother, break this screen that I may be wholly transparent before you, that your transforming force may purify all the secret recesses in my being, that nothing may reMain but you and you alone. O Mother, may all my being be a living expression of your light, your truth.
Mother, from the depths of my being, I offer you a sole prayer: may I become your more and more perfect instrument, a sword of light in your hands. Oh, to get out of this ego that belittles everything, diminishes everything, to emerge from it! All is falsehood in it.
0 1958-05-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I saw and understood very well that by concentrating, I could have given it the attitude of the absolute authority of the eternal Mother. When Sri Aurobindo told me, You are She, at the same time he bestowed upon my body this attitude of absolute authority. But as I had the inner vision of this truth, I concerned myself very little with the imperfections of the physical body I didnt bother about that, I only used it as an instrument. Sri Aurobindo did the sadhana for this body, which had only to reMain constantly open to his action.1
Afterwards, when he left and I had to do the Yoga myself, to be able to take his physical place, I could have adopted the attitude of the sage, which is what I did since I was in an unparalleled state of calm when he left. As he left his body and entered into mine, he told me, You will continue, you will go right to the end of the work. It was then that I imposed a calm upon this body the calm of total detachment. And I could have reMained like that.
But in a way, absolute calm implies withdrawal from action, so a choice had to be made between one or the other. I said to myself, I am neither exclusively this nor exclusively that. And actually, to do Sri Aurobindos work is to realize the Supramental on earth. So I began that work and, as a matter of fact, this was the only thing I asked of my body. I told it, Now you shall set right everything which is out of order and gradually realize this intermediate supermanhood between man and the supramental being or, in other words, what I call the superman.
--
From the negative point of view I mean the difficulties to be overcomeone of the most serious obstacles is that the ignorant and falsifying outer consciousness, the ordinary consciousness legitimizes all the so-called physical laws, causes, effects and consequences, all that science has discovered physically and materially. All this is an unquestionable reality to the consciousness, a reality that reMains independent and absolute even in the face of the eternal divine Reality.
And it is so automatic that it is unconscious.
--
And the proof I have the proof because I experienced it myselfis that from the minute you are in the other consciousness, the true consciousness, all these things which appear so real, so concrete, change INSTANTLY. There are a number of things, certain material conditions of my bodymaterial that changed instantly. It did not last long enough for everything to change, but some things changed and never returned, they reMained changed. In other words, if that consciousness were kept constantly, it would be a perpetual miracle (what we would call a miracle from our ordinary point of view), a fantastic and perpetual miracle! But from the supramental point of view, it would not be a miracle at all, it would be the most normal of things.
Therefore, if we do not want to oppose the supramental action by an obscure, inert and obstinate resistance, we have to admit once and for all that none of these things should be legitimized.
0 1958-06-06 - Supramental Ship, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Its all the same thing, but the word realization can be reserved for something that is durable, that does not wear off. Because everything on earth fades awayeverything fades away, nothing reMains. In this sense, there has never been any realization, for everything fades away. Nothing is ever permanent. And I know for myself: I am doing the sadhana at a gallop, as it were; never are two experiences identical nor do they recur in the same way. As soon as something is established, the next thing begins immediately. It may appear to fade away, but it doesnt fade away; rather, it is the basis upon which the next thing is built.
***
--
From that moment on, I was conscious that all one does is the expression of the indwelling Divine Will. But it is the Divine Will AT THE VERY CENTER of oneself, although for a while there reMained an activity in the physical mind. But this was stilled two or three days after I saw Sri Aurobindo for the first time in 1914, and it never started up again. Silence settled. And the consciousness was established above the head.
In the first experience [of 1910], the consciousness was established in the psychic depths of the being, and from that poise issued the feeling of no longer doing anything but what the Divine wantedit was the consciousness that the divine Will was all-powerful and that there was no longer any personal will, although there was still some mental activity and everything had to be made silent. In 1914, it was silenced, and the consciousness was established above the head. Here (the heart) and here (above the head), the connection is constant.
--
As for the latest experience,1 I cant say for sure that no one has ever had it, because someone like Ramakrishna, individuals like that, could have had it. But I am not sure, for when I had this experience (not of the divine Presence, which I had already felt in the cells for a long time, but the experience that the Divine ALONE is acting in the body, that He has BECOME the body, yet all the while retaining his character of divine omniscience and omnipotence) well, the whole time it reMained actively like that, it was absolutely impossible to have the LEAST disorder in the body, and not only in the body, but IN ALL THE SURROUNDING MATTER. It was as if every object obeyed without even needing to decide to obey: it was automatic. There was a divine harmony in EVERYTHING (it took place in my bathroom upstairs, certainly to demonstrate that it exists in the most trivial things), in everything, constantly. So if that is established in a permanent way, there CAN NO LONGER be illness it is impossible. There can no longer be accidents, there can no longer be illness, there can no longer be disorders, and everything should harmonize (probably in a progressive way) just as that was harmonized: all the objects in the bathroom were full of a joyful enthusiasmeverything obeyed, everything!
As it was the first experience, it started to fade slightly when I began having contact with people; but I really had the feeling that it was a first experience, new upon earth. For I have experienced an absolute identity of the will with the divine Will ever since 1910, it has never left me. It isnt that, its SOMETHING ELSE. It is MATTER BECOMING THE DIVINE. And it really came with the feeling that this thing was happening for the first time upon earth. It is difficult to say for sure, but Ramakrishna died of cancer, and now that I have had the experience, I know in an ABSOLUTE way that this is impossible. If he had decided to go because the Divine wanted him to go, it would have been an orderly departure, in total harmony and with a total will, whereas this illness is a means of disorder.
0 1958-07-05, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I have just explained to Z my program for getting out of the present difficulties,1 and I think if he has not concluded that I am totally mad, it is because he has an immense respect for me! But as always in these cases, there is such a joy in me, such an exultation: all the cells are dancing. I understand why people begin singing, dancing, etc. It takes a formidable power to reMain like that (gesture of solidity): there is such a desire in the throat to sing!
***
0 1958-07-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
But yesterday, in fact, I was looking (with all these mantras and these prayers and this whole vibration that has descended into the atmosphere, creating a state of constant calling in the atmosphere), and I remembered the old movements and how everything now has changed! I was also thinking of the old disciplines, one of which is to say, I am That.7 People were told to sit in meditation and repeat, I am That, to reach an identification. And it all seemed to me so obsolete, so childish, but at the same time a part of the whole. I looked, and it seemed so absurd to sit in meditation and say, I am That! I, what is this I who is That; what is this I, where is it? I was trying to find it, and I saw a tiny, microscopic point (to see it would almost require some gigantic instrument), a tiny, obscure point in an im-men-sity of Light, and that little point was the body. At the same timeit was absolutely simultaneous I saw the Presence of the Supreme as a very, very, very, VERY immense Being, within which was I in an attitude of (I was only a sensation, you see), an attitude (gesture of surrender) like this. There were no limits, yet at the same time, one felt the joy of being permeated, enveloped and of being able to widen, widen, widen indefinitelyto widen the whole being, from the highest consciousness to the most material consciousness. And then, at the same time, to look at this body and to see every cell, every atom vibrating with a divine, radiant Presence with all its Consciousness, all its Power, all its Will, all its Loveall, all, really and a joy! An extraordinary joy. And one did not disturb the other, nothing was contradictory and everything was felt at the same time. That was when I said, But truly! This body had to have the training it has had for more than seventy years to be able to bear all that without starting to cry out or dance or leap up or whatever it might be! No, it was calm (it was exultant, but it was very calm), and it reMained in control of its movements and its words. In spite of the fact that it was really living in another world, it could apparently act normal due to this strenuous training in self-control by the REASONby the reasonover the whole being, which has tamed it and given it such a great cohesive power that I can BE in the experience, I can LIVE this experience, and at the same time respond with the most amiable of smiles to the most idiotic questions!
And then, it always ends in the same way, by a canticle to the action of the grace: O, Lord! You are truly marvelous! All the experiences I have needed to pass through You have given to me, all the things I needed to do to make this body ready You have made me do, and always with the feeling that it was You who was making me do itand with the universal disapproval of all the right-minded humanity!
0 1958-08-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
What problems come up! If there were a plague or cholera, for example, would the supramental Force in the cells, the supramental realization, be able to restore order out of the disorder that allows the epidemic to be? I dont mean on an individual levelindividually, if you are in a certain consciousness, you can reMain untouched I am not speaking of that, I am speaking impersonally, as it were.
We know nothing. We believe we know, but as soon as it is a question of that (the body), we know nothing. As soon as we are in the subtle physical, we know everything, we live in bliss but here, we know nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing.
0 1958-08-30, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
[The disciple who managed the Ashram 'Atelier': mechanical workshop, Maintenance garage, automobile service, etc.]
It was just at four oclock in the morning, and it woke me up. It was exactly like this I was apparently in my bathroom, and I had to open the door between the bathroom and Sri Aurobindos room; the moment I put my hand on the doorknob, I knew with an absolute certainty that destruction was awaiting me behind the door. It had the form or image of those great invaders of India, those who had swooped down upon India and destroyed everything in their wake But it was only an impression.
0 1958-09-16 - OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
It will simply spring forth in a flash, all of a sudden, and it will be very powerful. Only power can do something. Love vanishes like water running through sand: people reMain beatific and nothing moves! No, power is neededlike Shiva, stirring, churning
When I have this mantra, instead of saying hello, good-bye, I shall say that. When I say hello, good-bye, it means Hello: the Presence is here, the Light is here. Good-bye: I am not going away, I am staying here.
--
Unfortunately, I was unable to continue, because I dont have the time; it was just before the balcony darshan and I was going to be late. Something told me, That is for people who have nothing to do. Then I said, I belong to my work, and I slowly withdrew. I put on the brakes, and the action was cut short. But what reMains is that whenever I repeat this mantra everything starts vibrating.
So each one must find something that acts on himself, individually. I am only speaking of the action on the physical plane, because mentally, vitally, in all the inner parts of the being, the aspiration is always, always spontaneous. I am referring only to the physical plane.
0 1958-09-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Ever since my childhood, I have spent my time veiling myself: one veil over another veil over another veil, so as to reMain invisible. Because to see me without the true attitude is the great sin. Anyway, sin in the sense Sri Aurobindo defines itmeaning that things are no longer in their place.
***
0 1958-10-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
The other day when I was in this state of concentration, I had the vision that I mentioned to you. I felt I was being pulled, that something was pulling me and trying to draw my attention. I felt it very strongly. So I opened my eyes, my mental eyes (the physical eyes may reMain opened or closed, it makes no difference either way; when I am concentrated, things on the physical plane no longer exist), I deliberately opened the minds eyes, for that is where I felt myself being pulled, and then I had this vision I told you of. Someone was trying to draw my attention, to tell me something. It takes someone really quite powerful, with a very great power of concentration, to do thatthere are certainly a great many people here and elsewhere who try to do this, yet I dont feel a thing.3
In the outer, practical doMain, I might suddenly think of someone, so I know that this person is calling or thinking of me. When you left on your trip, I created a special link-up so that if ever, at any moment, you called me for anything, I would know it instantly, and I reMained attentive and alert. But I do that only in exceptional cases. Generally speaking, when I havent made this special link-up, things keep coming in and coming in and coming in and coming in, and the answer goes out automatically, here or there or there or therehundreds and hundreds of things that I dont keep in my memory because then it would really be frightful. I dont keep these things in my consciousness; it is rather a work that is done automatically.
When you asked me if X4 were thinking of me, I consulted my atmosphere and saw that it was true, that even many times a day Xs thoughts were coming. So I know that he is concentrating on me, or something: it simply passes through me, and I answer automatically. But I dont particularly pay attention to X, unless you ask me a question about him, in which case I deliberately tune into him, then observe and determine whether its like this or like that. Whereas this vision the other day was something that thrust itself on me; I was in another region altogether, in my inner contemplation, my concentrationa very strong concentrationwhen I was forced to enter into contact with this being whose vision I had and who was obviously a very powerful being. After telling me what he had to tell me, he went away in a very peculiar way, not at all suddenly as most people appear and disappear, not at all like that. When I first saw him, there was a living form the being himself was there but upon leaving (probably to see the effect, to find out whether he had truly succeeded in making himself understood), he left behind a kind of image of himself. Afterwards, this image blurred and it left only a silhouette, an outline, then it disappeared altogether leaving only an impression. That was the last thing I saw. So I kept the impression and analyzed it to find out exactly what was involved; all this was filed away, and then it was over. I began my concentration once again.
--
There is an interdependence between the individual progress and the collective progress, between that which works and that which is worked upon. It proceeds like this (gesture of intermeshing), and as one progresses, the other progresses. The progress above not only hastens the progress below but brings the two nearer together, thus changing the distance in the relationship; that is, the distance will not reMain the same, the ratio between the progress here and the progress above wont always be identical.
The progress above follows a certain trajectory, and in some cases the distance increases, in others it decreases (although on the whole, the distance reMains relatively unchanged), but my feeling is that the collective receptivity will increase as the action becomes increasingly supramentalized. And the need for an individual receptivitywith all its distortions and alterations and limitationswill decrease in importance as the supramental influence increasingly imposes its power. This influence will impose itself in such a way that it will no longer be subject to the defects in receptivity.
***
--
Money is meant to circulate. What should reMain constant is the progressive movement of an increase in the earths productionan ever-expanding progressive movement to increase the earths production and improve existence on earth. It is the material improvement of terrestrial life and the growth of the earths production that must go on expanding, enlarging, and not this silly paper or this inert metal that is amassed and lifeless.
Money is not meant to generate money; money should generate an increase in production, an improvement in the conditions of life and a progress in human consciousness. This is its true use. What I call an improvement in consciousness, a progress in consciousness, is everything that education in all its forms can providenot as its generally understood, but as we understand it here: education in art, education in from the education of the body, from the most material progress, to the spiritual education and progress through yoga; the whole spectrum, everything that leads humanity towards its future realization. Money should serve to augment that and to augment the material base for the earths progress, the best use of what the earth can giveits intelligent utilization, not the utilization that wastes and loses energies. The use that allows energies to be replenished.
0 1958-10-25 - to go out of your body, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I had a Danish friend, an artist, to whom this happened. He wanted me to teach him how to go out of his body. He had interesting dreams so he thought it might be worthwhile to go there consciously. I helped him to go out but it was frightful! When he dreamed, a part of his mind indeed reMained conscious, active, and a kind of link reMained between this active part and his outer being, so he remembered some of his dreams, but it was only a very partial phenomenon. To go out of your body means that you must gradually pass through ALL the states of being, if you are to do it systematically. But already in the subtle physical it was almost non-individualized, and as soon as he went a bit further, there was no longer anything! It was unformed, nonexistent.
So they sit down (they are told to interiorize, to go within themselves), and they panic!Naturally they feel that they that they are disappearing: there is nothing! There is no consciousness!
0 1958-11-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
This vision of the Inconscient (Mother reMains gazing for a moment) it was the MENTAL Inconscient. Because the starting point was mental. A special Inconscientrigid, hard, resistantwith all that the mind has brought into our consciousness. But it was far worse, far worse than a purely material Inconscient! A mentalized Inconscient, as it were. All this rigidity, this hardness, this narrowness, this fixitya FIXITYcomes from the presence of the mind in creation. When the mind was not manifested, the Inconscient was not like that! It was formless and had the plasticity of something that is formless the plasticity has gone.
It is a terrible image of the Minds action in the Inconscient.
0 1958-11-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I dont have all the information, otherwise certainly Two things made me see I saw them the other day. First of all, when you didnt understand my letter, for I wrote it to a part of you that without any doubt should have understood; I was referring to something other than what is seen and known by this part of you which is this center, this knot of revolt that seems to resist everything, that really reMains knotted, in spite of your experiences and the strides you have made, as well as your openings. And what made me see is especially the fact that it resists experiences, it is not touched by experiences; this was the point that did not understand what I wrote. Because the part of you that had the experience must necessarily understand what I wrote, without the shadow of a doubt.
Time is needed
--
There is such an abyss between what one truly is and what we are that at times it is dizzying. But one must not let oneself become dizzy. One must not yield. One must reMain like a rock until it passes.
Karma: positive (or negative) consequences of actions performed in past lives (every action is endowed with a self-perpetuating dynamism).
0 1958-11-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
My immediate impression was that you were being put in direct contact with this this sort of Fatality that here they call karma, which is the consequence yes, something that must be exhausted, something that reMains in the consciousness.
This is how it works: the psychic being passes from one life to another, but there are cases in which the psychic incarnates in order to to work out2 to pass through a certain experience, to learn a certain thing, to develop a certain thing through a certain experience. And so in this life, in the life where the experience is to be made, it can happen (there may be more than one reason) that the soul does not come down accurately in the place it should have, some shift or other may occur, a set of contrary circumstancesthis happens sometimesand then the incarnation miscarries entirely and the soul leaves. But in other cases, the soul is simply placed in the impossibility of doing exactly what it wants and it finds itself swept away by unfortunate circumstances. Not only unfortunate from an objective standpoint, but unfortunate for its own development, and then that creates in it the necessity to begin the experience all over again, and in much more difficult conditions.
0 1958-11-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Basically, the vast majority of men are like prisoners with all the doors and all the windows shut, so they suffocate (which is quite natural), but they have with them the key that opens the doors and the windows, and they dont use it Certainly, there is a period when they dont know that they have the key, but even long after they do know it, long after they have been told, they hesitate to use it and doubt that it has the power to open the doors and windows, or even that it may be advisable to open them. And even once they feel that After all, it might be a good thing, a fear pursues them: What is going to happen once all these doors and these windows open? They become afraidafraid of losing themselves in this light and in this freedom. They want to reMain what they call themselves. They love their falsehood and their slavery. Something in them loves it and reMains clinging to it. They feel that without their limits, they would no longer exist.
That is why the journey is so long, so difficult. For if one would truly consent no longer to be, everything would become so easy, so swift, so luminous, so joyousthough perhaps not in the way men conceive of joy and ease. At heart, there are very few beings who are not enamored of struggle. There are very few who would consent to having no darkness or who can conceive of light as anything other than the opposite of obscurity: Without shadow, there would be no painting. Without struggle, there would be no victory. Without suffering, there would be no joy. That is what they think, and as long as they think like that, they are not yet born to the spirit.
0 1958-11-27 - Intermediaries and Immediacy, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
What interested me is that in their case (those who follow tantric or other initiations), what is doubtful is whether or not they can succeed in receiving the response of the true Power, the divine power, the supreme power; they do everything they can, but this question still reMains. Whereas for me, it is the opposite situation: the Power is there, I have it, but how can I make it act here in matter? The process for making it act immediately was missingthough not totally; I know from the psychological standpoint, but there is something other than the psychological power, there is the whole play of conscious, individualized forces that are everywhere in Nature and that have the right to exist. Since it was created this way, it must express something of the supreme Will, otherwise He wouldnt have made use of intermediaries but in His plan, it is obvious that the intermediary has a legitimate place.
It is like the story X told me of his guru2 who could comm and the coming of Kali (something which seems quite natural to me when one is sufficiently developed); well, not only could he commend the coming of Kali, but Kali with I dont know how many crores of her warriors! For me, Kali was Kali, after all, and she did her work; but in the universal organization, her action, the innumerable multiplicity of her action, is expressed by an innumerable multitude of conscious entities at work. It is this individualization, as it were, that gives to these forces a consciousness and a certain play of freedom, and this is what makes all the difference in action. It is in this respect that the occult system is an absolutely indispensable complement to spiritual action.
--
It reMains to be seen if all this has first to be mastered before there is even the possibility of holding the Supramental, of FIXING it in the manifestation. That is the great difference. For example, those with the power to materialize forces or beings lack the capacity to fix them, for these are fluid things which act and are then dissolved. That is the difference with the physical world where it is this condensation of energy that makes things (Mother strikes the arms of her chair) stable. All the things in the extraphysical realms are not stable, they are fluidfluid and consequently uncertain.3
The disciple's tantric guru.
0 1958-12-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I do not want to reMain in Hyderabad. This is not the atmosphere I need, although everything is very quiet here.
If you want, I can return to the Ashram and throw myself headlong into the work in order to forget all this. There is a lot of work with Herberts things to correct, the revision of The Synthesis of Yoga, your old Questions and Answers and the Dhammapada, and perhaps you would accept to take up our work together again?
0 1958-12-15 - tantric mantra - 125,000, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I have just received your letter of the 15th. Yes, I know that the hour is critical. It has been grave here as well. I had to stop everything, for the attack upon my body was too violent. Now it is better but I have not yet resumed any of my outer activities, and I reMain in my room upstairs. The battle continues in the invisible and I consider it decisive. You are a very intimate part of this battle. This is to tell you that I am with you in the most integral sense of these words. I know what you are suffering, I feel it but you must hold on. The Grace is there, all-powerful. As soon as it is possible and without going through one minute more than needed to transform that which has to be transformed, the trial will reach its end and we shall emerge into the light and joy. So never forget that I am with youin youand that WE SHALL TRIUMPH:
With all that love can bring of solace and endurance,
0 1958-12-24, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Your last letter was a great comfort to me. If you were not there, with me, everything would be so absurd and impossible. I am again disturbing you because Swami tells me that you are worried and that I should write to you. Not much has changed, except that I am holding on and am confident. Yesterday, I again suffered an agonizing wave, in the temple, and I found just enough strength to repeat your name with each beat of my heart, like someone drowning. I reMained as motionless as a pillar of stone before the sanctuary, with only your name (my mantra would not come out), then it cleared. It was brutal. I am confident that with each wave I am gaining in strength, and I know you are there. But I am aware that if the enemy is so violent it is because something in me responds, or has responded, something that has not made its surrender that is the critical point. Mother, may your grace help me to place everything in your hands, everything, without any shadow. I want so much to emerge into the Light, to be rid of all this once and for all.
I am following Swamis instructions to the letter. Sometimes it all seems to lack warmth and spontaneity, but I am holding on. I might add that we are living right next to the bazaar, amidst a great racket 20 hours a day, which does not make things easier. So I repeat my mantra as one pounds his fists against the walls of a prison. Sometimes it opens a little, you send me a little joy, and then everything becomes better again.
0 1958 12 - Floor 1, young girl, we shall kill the young princess - black tent, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Mother withdrew on December 9. In fact, She had been unwell for already more than a month before withdrawing. On November 26, the last 'Wednesday class' took place at the playground; on November 28 the last 'Friday class', on December 6, the last 'Translation class'; on December 1, the end of Mother's tennis and the last visit to the playground. On December 9, She again went down for the meditation around the Samadhi. From December 10, Mother reMained in her room for one month. A great period had come to an end. Henceforth, She would only go out of the Ashram building on rare occasions.
A disciple
0 1959-01-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I will therefore give you initiation this Friday or Saturday, on the day of the full moon or the day before. This first stage will last three months during which you will have to repeat 1 lakh2 times the mantra that I will give you. At the end of three months, I will come to see you in Pondicherryor you will come here for a fortnight, and as soon as I have received the message from my guru, I will give you the second stage that will last three months as well. At the end of these three months, you will receive the full initiation. X warned me that the first stage I am to receive provokes attacks and tests but that all this disappears with the second stage. Forewarned is forearmed. For what reason I do not know, but X told me that the particular nature of my initiation should reMain secret and that he will say nothing about it to Swami, and he added (in speaking of the speed of the process), But you will not be less than the Swami. (!!) There, I wanted you to knowbesides, you were present in Xs vision. All this happened at a time when I was in the most desperate crisis I have ever known. Sweet Mother, there is no end to expressing my gratitude to you, and yet with the least trial, I am reduced to nothing. Why have you so much grace for me?
I would like very much to return to Pondicherry for the February Darshan and once again begin working for you. Today I am sending a second lot to Pavitra and tomorrow I will start on the Aphorisms, for I do not want to make you wait any longer. I will send a third and final lot to Pavitra by the end of the month, in time for printing. I am very touched, sweet Mother, by your attention and the money you are sending me.
0 1959-05-19 - Ascending and Descending paths, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
In fact, you can immediately see the difference between those who have a mantra and those who dont. With those who have no mantra, even if they have a strong habit of meditation or concentration, something around them reMains hazy and vague. Whereas the japa imparts to those who practice it a kind of precision, a kind of solidity: an armature. They become galvanized, as it were.
Original English.
0 1959-05-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
So there reMains the pure spiritual destiny, pure interiorization. That is what I have been trying to do for the last five years, without much success. There are good periods of collaboration, because one part of my being can be happy in any condition. But in a certain way this achievement reMains truncated, especially when you base spiritual life on a principle of integrality. And these three destinies in me have their own good reasons, which are true: they are not inferior, they are not incidental, they are woven from the very threads that created the spiritual life in me. My error is to open the door to revolt when I feel too poignantly one or the other being stifled.
So you see, all this is insoluble. I have only to bow before these unfortunate circumstances. I perceive an injustice somewhere, but I have only to reMain silent.
And I was also struck when you told me that I wanted to kick up a row. You so clearly implied that I was leaving the Ashram in a shoddy way. So that also froze me. I thought I had done my best and, in order to serve you, repressed as much as I could the others in me.
--
I have read your letter in its entirety and I reMain convinced that one day all the parts of your being, without excluding any, will be fully satisfied. But we shall see about that later.
For the moment, I only want to tell you, from the bottom of my heartwhich is so deeply touchedthank you.
0 1959-06-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
During the second of these last three existences, I was married to the same woman whom I again abandoned under the influence of the same monk, and I again reMained between two worlds wandering here and there. Again my wife came to plead with me and again I pushed her away. She hung herself, and I hung myself in turn.
During my last existence, the monk succeeded in making me a sannyasi, and when my wife came to plead with me, I told her, Too late, now I am a sannyasi. So she threw herself into the void, and horror-stricken by the sudden revelation of all these dramas and of my wifes goodness (for it seems she was a great soul), I threw myself in turn into the void.
0 1959-07-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Well, this time I shall reMain silent.
Adieu, Mother.
0 1959-10-06 - Sri Aurobindos abode, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
And Sri Aurobindo was there, with a majesty, a magnificent beauty. He had all his beautiful hair as before. It was all so concrete, so substantialhe was even being served some kind of food. I reMained there for one hour (I had looked at my watch before and I looked at it afterwards). I spoke to Sri Aurobindo, for I had some important questions to ask him about the way certain things are to be realized. He said nothing. He listened to me quietly and looked at me as if all my words were useless: he understood everything at once. And he answered me with a gesture and two expressions on his face, an unexpected gesture that did not at all correspond to any thought of mine; for example, he picked up three combs that were lying near the mirror (combs similar to those I use here, but larger) and he put them in his hair. He planted one comb in the middle of his head and the two others on each side, as if to gather all his hair over his temples. He was literally COIFFED with these three combs, which gave him a kind of crown. And I immediately understood that by this he meant that he was adopting my conception: You see, I embrace your conception of things, and I coif myself with it; it is my will. Anyway, I reMained there for one hour.
And when I awoke, I didnt have this feeling of returning from afar and of having to re-enter my body, as I usually do. No, it was simply as though I were in this other world, then I took a step backwards and found myself here again. It took me a good half an hour to understand that this world here existed as much as the other and that I was no longer on the other side but here, in the world of falsehood. I had forgotten everythingpeople, things, what I had to do; everything had gone, as if it had no reality at all.
--
I reMained in that state for two full days, two days of absolute felicity. And Sri Aurobindo was with me the whole time, the whole timewhen I walked, he walked with me, when I sat down, he sat next to me. On the day of August 15th, too, he reMained there constantly during the darshan. But who was aware of it? A fewone or twofelt something. But who saw?No one.
And I showed all these people to Sri Aurobindo, this whole field of work, and asked him WHEN this other world, the real one that is there, so near, would come to take the place of our world of falsehood. Not ready. That was all he replied. Not ready.
Sri Aurobindo gave me two days of thistotal bliss. But all the same, by the end of the second day I realized that I could not continue to reMain there, for the work was not advancing. The work must be done in the body; the realization must be attained here in this physical world, for otherwise it is not complete. So I withdrew from that world and set to work here again.
And yet, it would take little, very little, to pass from this world to the other, or for the other to become the real world. A little click would be enough, or rather a little reversal in the inner attitude. How should I put it? It is imperceptible to the ordinary consciousness; a very little inner shift would be enough, a change in quality.
--
In fact, when I walk back and forth in my room, I dont cut myself off from the rest of the worldalthough it would be so much more convenient! All kinds of things come to mesuggestions, wills, aspirations. But automatically I make a movement of offering: things come to me and just as they are about to touch my head, I turn them upwards and offer them to the Light. They dont enter into me. For example, if someone speaks to me while I am saying my japa, I hear quite well what is being said, I may even answer, but the words reMain a little outside, at a certain distance from the head. And yet sometimes, there are things that insist, more defined wills that present themselves to me, so then I have to do a little work, but all that without a pause in the japa. If that happens, there is sometimes a change in the quality of my japa, and instead of being fully the power, fully the light, it is certainly something that produces results, but results more or less sure, more or less long to fructify; it becomes uncertain, as with all things of this physical world. Yet the difference between the two japas is imperceptible; its not a difference between saying the japa in a more or less mechanical way and saying it consciously, because even while I work I reMain fully conscious of the japa I continue to repeat it putting the full meaning into each syllable. But nevertheless, there is a difference. One is the all-powerful japa; the other, an almost ordinary japa There is a difference in the inner attitude. Perhaps for the japa to become true, a kind of joy, an elation, a warmth of enthusiasm has to be added but especially joy. Then everything changes.
Well, it is the same thing, the same imperceptible difference, when it comes to entering the world of Truth. On one side there is the falsehood, and on the other, close by, like the lining of this one, the true life. Only a little difference in the inner quality, a little reversal, is enough to pass to the other side, into the Truth and Light.
0 1959-10-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
7) X wants to send me back to Pondicherry this Sunday (Sunday the 18th, arriving Monday the 19th morning). He says it is useless for me now to reMain here any longer since his house is not ready and he can do nothing. But, he said, I will have you come to my house for 3 months and I shall give you a training by which you can know Past, Present and Future, and have the same qualifications as me!
8) He gave me certain methods to follow, about which I shall speak to you in person.
0 1959-11-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
There is one element that reMains fixed: for each type of atom, the inner organization of the elements is different, which is what creates the difference in their substance. So perhaps similarly, each individual has a different, particular way of organizing the cells of his body, and it is this particular way that persists through all the outer changes. All the rest is undone and redone, but undone in a forward thrust towards the new instead of collapsing backwards into death, and redone in a constant aspiration to follow the progressive movement of the divine Truth.
But for that, the body the body-consciousness must first learn to widen itself. It is indispensable, for otherwise all the cells become a kind of boiling porridge under the pressure of the supramental light.
0 1960-01-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Some difficulties reMained, of course, but they stemmed more from what had to change within.
Actually, difficulties come from very small things; they may seem quite commonplace, totally uninteresting, but they block the way. They come for no earthly reasonsome detail, a word that comes rubbing against a sensitive spot, an illness in someone close to me, anything at all, and suddenly something in me contracts. Then all the work has to be started afresh as though nothing had been done.
0 1960-05-16, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
If there is one fundamental necessity, it is humility. To be humble. Not humble as it is normally understood, such as merely saying, I am so small, Im nothing at allno, something else Because the pitfalls are innumerable, and the further you progress in yoga, the more subtle they become, and the more the ego masks itself behind marvelous and saintly appearances. So when somebody says, I no longer want to rely on anything but Him. I want to close my eyes and rest in Him alone, this comfortable Him, which is exactly what you want him to be, is the egoor a formidable Asura, or a Titan (depending on each ones capacity). Theyre all over the earth, the earth is their doMain. So the first thing to do is to pocket your egonot preserve it, but get rid of it as soon as possible!
You can be sure that the God youve created is a God of the ego whenever something within you insists, This is what I feel, this is what I think, this is what I see; its my way, my very ownits my way of being, my way of understanding, my relationship with the Divine, etc.
--
I was sick two days ago with a cold and fever. I know whya point to be transformed. The body may have put too much zeal into it, so it teetered a little. But thanks to that, I had an interesting experience. X 1 had put his force on me to speed up the healing. And of course, according to each ones nature, the force gets colored, so to speakit clothes itself in a different color. In me, this was translated by a new physical experience which lasted from 4 in the morning till 6:30, when I had to start speaking with people and deal with outer things. It was a kind of eternity, a kind of absolute PHYSICAL immobility which contained no possibility of illness within itas a matter of fact, nothing reMained in this immobility, it was a sort of nirvana. But it did not keep me from going through all my usual motions of getting dressed.
I spent the whole day yesterday trying to understand this experience.
0 1960-05-24 - supramental flood, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Nothing reMained but the Force, nothing reMained but Sat-Chit-Ananda,1 and not only in the consciousness but in the physical sensation the divine Satchidananda spreading in a constant flood throughout the universe.
These experiences are always absolute, as long as they last; then, through certain signs that I know (I am accustomed to it), I notice that the body consciousness begins closing up again. Or rather, somethingevidently a Supreme Wisdomdecides its sufficient for this time and that the body has had enough. It ought not to break, which is why certain precautions are taken. So this comes in several little stages that I know quite well. The final one is always a bit unpleasant because my body gets into rather peculiar positions as a result of the work. As its only a sort of machine, towards the end I have some difficulty straightening my knees, for example, or opening my fingers I think they even make a noise, like something forced into one position whose life has become purely spontaneous and mechanical. There are plenty of people like that, plenty, who enter into trance and then can no longer get out by themselves; they get themselves into a certain position and someone has to free them. This has never happened to me; I have always managed to extricate myself. But yesterday evening, the experience lasted a very long time. There was even a little cracking at the end, as when people have rheumatism.
And during all this time, approximately three hours, the consciousness was completely, completely different. It was here, however; it was not outside the earth, it was on earth, but it was completely differenteven the body consciousness was different. And what reMained was very mechanical; it was a body, but it could just as well have been anything. All this power of consciousness that for more than seventy years Ive gradually pushed into each of the bodys cells so that each cell could become conscious (and it goes on constantly, constantly), all this seemed to have withdrawn there only reMained one almost lifeless thing. However, I could raise myself up from my bed and even drink a glass of water, but it was all so bizarre. And when I went back to bed, it took nearly forty-five minutes for the body to regain its normal state. Only after I had entered into another type of samadhi2 and again come out of it did my consciousness fully return. It is the first time I have had an experience of this kind.
During those three hours, there was nothing but the Supreme manifesting through the eternal Mother.
--
You see, when something goes beyond thought, a sort of conception of it, or superconception rather, reMains behind. But in this case, in my experience, there was no question of thoughtit was a question of physical sensation. It was not beyond thought, it was beyond sensation. I was LIVING this thing. And there was no more I. There was nothing but this thing, and yet there was a sensation. I cant explain it!
When I went back to bed, the transitional period lasted 45 minutes. During this time, I tried to locate the role of the individual consciousness on earth. In a flash, I understood its purpose. For you see, as long as the experience lasted, I did not feel any necessity at all of an individuality for this supreme flood to manifest. Then I understood, precisely, that the individuality served to put into contact, in this flood, all that reached out towards what is called Ithis individualized representation of the Divinein order to receive help and support from it, and to be put into contact. I did not say put into contact WITH this flood but put into contact IN this flood, for it was not happening outsidenothing was outside this flood, nothing exists outside it.
--
I was reluctant to speak (because of this problem that reMains hanging: to make it permanent, even in the active consciousness), and I said to myself that if I speak, it will create difficulties for me in finding the solution But its all right. I shall simply have to make a still greater effort, because something always evaporates when you speak.
Sat-Chit-Ananda: the three Supreme Principles, Existence (Sat), Consciousness (Chit), and Bliss (Ananda).
0 1960-05-28 - death of K - the death process- the subtle physical, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I think they do it here (apart from entirely sanitary considerations in the case of people who have died from nasty diseases), here in India, Mainly because they are very afraid of all these little entities that come from desires, impulsesthings which are dispersed in the air and which make ghosts and all kinds of things. All desires, all attachments, all those things are like pieces that break off (each one goes its own way, you see), then these pieces gain strength in the surrounding atmosphere, and when they can fasten on to someone, they vampirize him. Then they keep on trying to satisfy their desires.
The world, the terrestrial atmosphere, is full of filth.
--
He reMained there for years.
And whenever we used to have meetings to decide on the construction of something or on repairs to be made, for example, I always felt him there and he influenced those who were present.
0 1960-06-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
This is the Main reason for my japa. Theres a power in the sound itself, and by forcing the body to repeat the sound, you force it to receive the vibration at the same time. But Ive noticed that if something in the bodys working gets disturbed (a pain or disorder, the onset of some illness) and I repeat my mantra in a certain waystill the same words, the same mantra, but said with a certain purpose and above all in a movement of surrender, surrender of the pain, the disorder, and a call, like an openingit has a marvelous effect. The mantra acts in just the right way, in this way and in no other. And after a while everything is put back in order. And simultaneously, of course, the precise knowledge of what lies behind the disorder and what I must do to set it right comes to me. But quite apart from this, the mantra acts directly upon the pain itself.
I also use my mantra to go into trance. After relaxing on the bed and making as total a self-offering as possible of everything, from top to bottom, and after removing as fully as possible all resistance of the ego, I start repeating the mantra.1 After repeating it two or three times, I am in trance (at the beginning it took longer). And from this trance I pass into sleep; the trance lasts as long as necessary and, quite naturally, spontaneously, I pass into sleep. And when I come back, I remember everything. The sleep was like a continuation of the trance. And essentially, the only reason for sleep is to allow the body to assimilate the results of the trance, then to allow these results to be accepted throughout and to let the body do its natural nights work of eliminating toxins. My periods of sleep practically dont exist sometimes they are as short as half an hour or 15 minutes. But in the beginning, I had long periods of sleep, one or even two hours in succession. And when I woke up, I did not feel this residue of heaviness which comes from sleep the effects of the trance continued.
--
You should count on at least three hours for the first part of your sleep; for the last part, one hour is enough. But the first should be a minimum of three hours. In fact, it is best to reMain in bed for at least seven hours; with six, you dont have the time to do much (of course, Im speaking from the standpoint of sadhana, to make the nights useful).
But for years together I only slept 2 hours a night in all. I mean that my night consisted of 2 hours. And I went straight to Sat-Chit-Ananda and then came back: 2 hours were spent like that. But the body was tired. That lasted more than five or six years while Sri Aurobindo was still in his body. And during the day, I was all the time going into trance for the least thing (it was trance, not sleep I was conscious). But I clearly saw that the body was affected, for it had no time to burn its toxins.2
0 1960-07-12 - Mothers Vision - the Voice, the ashram a tiny part of myself, the Mothers Force, sparkling white light compressed - enormous formation of negative vibrations - light in evil, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I heard the Voice and awoke with the feeling of this Power, this Light, this Force of realization concentrated here which sets everything in motion (as always, it is always the same, a Power in motion). It was a dazzling white light. But then, what I found funny was that there I was, quite in my natural state, and this, the Ashram, was a tiny, tiny part of myself. And throughout the whole experience, it reMained like thata very tiny part of myself. Everything else was I cant say deconcentrated, but an entirely general, overall activity, as it normally is every night. And I saw the Ashram quite clearlyit was something special, made for special reasons, but whereas I seemed to have an immense body, that was very small, very small. It went on for an hour. Thats what I found amusing; the other things just happen, and they may be interesting, but this was so spontaneous; I was watching it (I dont know where my head was), I was looking down from above so tiny, so tiny.
What was me was up above, and the Ashram was It began just here (the navel) and went that way (downwards), and it was encircled, to show that it was a special formationencircled in the inconscience of the terrestrial creation. And I was everything else, with the usual vibrations of power and light. And then one current and another current and another were passing into it, into this formation, and they kept going in and in and in, accumulating. They kept going in, and yet they did not come out, they did not leave. It was not an undulatory movement, but rather a pulsating movementit had no beginning, it didnt go out, and yet it kept moving. Its very difficult to describe.
0 1960-07-23 - The Flood and the race - turning back to guide and save amongst the torrents - sadhana vs tamas and destruction - power of giving and offering - Japa, 7 lakhs, 140000 per day, 1 crore takes 20 years, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
What was pleasing, and really quite interesting, was this tremendous speed, like an arrow, and I always arrived in time, just in time, just in time. Once I had crossed over to the other side (I clearly felt that nothing would be left, for it was such a powerful deluge), the danger was finished, there was no longer ANY possibility at all of being touchedthis was the Main feeling. Everything was stopped. Nothing could touch.
I turned around and saw all this water rushing down, and I thought, Now lets see if we can do something here. There was someone behind who interested me, someone or somethingit was still something; it was very likable and had something of the blue color that was here on the other side. Not really individuals, but more like beings representative of something that was following me quite closely. When I was there, it also was there, but it could not keep up, it kept losing groundas my speed increased, its decreased. It could not keep up. But it interested me in a special way. Oh, hes so close (he or it); he might just make it, I thought. And at that moment, I saw that all this destructive will with its instrument of water, symbolically water, had rushed past and was spreading out everywhere. But there was still a chance of saving all those who were along this path. And thats immediately what I thought of, it was my first wish: Lets see if they can still get across, if I can manage to get them across. I remembered some especially dangerous spots (while speeding past, I had remarked, Oh, here we might still be able to do this, there that could still be donemy consciousness moved at the same speed, and I noted everything along the way), and once I was firmly there on the other side, I started sending back messages.
--
I remember wandering about one night some time ago. Its no longer very clear, but one thing has reMained I had gone out of India, and then when I returned to India, I found huge elephants installed EVERYWHEREenormous elephants. At that time I was not at all aware that the Communists in India had adopted the elephant as their symbol; I only learned that later. What does this mean, I said to myself. Does it signify the Indian army? But they did not resemble war elephants. These elephants were like immense mammoths, and they looked like they were settling down with all the power of a tremendous inertia. That was the impression something heavy in an inert and very tamasic way, forever immovable. I did not like this occupation. When I came back, I had a rather painful feeling, and for several days I wondered if it did not mean war. Then by chance, in a conversation, I learned that the Communists had selected the elephant as their symbol whereas the Congress had chosen the bullock In my vision, I was moving (as I always do), I was moving among them, and nothing moved. And if I needed room, some of them even tried to stir a little.
But when human beings are involved, I believe that visions take on a special formits a special image. Not an inundation like this. That was very, very impersonal. They were forces. A feeling of floodgates bursting open, of something being held back, retained or prevented, then suddenly
--
And sometimes things stagnate, they seem so absolutely obscure and stupid. And then, if you simply go like this (gesture of offering), simply, trulydo it, not think itits instantly like a shower of bliss A tiny point, something very small which looks stubbornly stupid and obstinate, if only you do this (and if you want, you can): Take, take! Give it to Him, simply, like this, truly give it to Him: Its You, its Yours, take it, do with it what You want. And instantly, instead of this shrinking and this painful feelingWhat in the world can I do with all this?a shower, it comes like a shower. Truly Ananda. Of course, if you are stupid enough to call back the difficulty, it returns. But if you reMain quiet, if you keep your head quiet, it goesfinished, cured. But there are thousands and thousands and thousands of such points
With my japa, Ive reached about seven lakhs2. I repeat it 1,400 times a day. But you must be much further than I!3
0 1960-08-27, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
We should not allow all this to upset us. There is but one thing to doreMain in a state of constant peace, constant equanimity, for things are not they are not very pleasant. Oh, if you only knew all the letters they write me if you knew, first of all, the tremendous pile of stupidities that need never be written at all; then, added to that, such a display of ignorance, egoism, bad will, total incomprehension and unequalled ingratitude, and all this so candid, my child! They heap all this on me daily, you know, and it comes from the most unexpected quarters.
If this were to affect me (Mother laughs), I would long ago have been who knows where. I dont care at all, not at all, really not at allit doesnt bother me, it makes me smile.
0 1960-09-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Later on, when Sri Aurobindo left his body, I said to myself, If only I knew what he had known, it would be easier! So when Swami and later X came, I thought, I am going to take advantage of this opportunity. I had written to Swami that I was working on transforming the cells of the body and that I had noticed the work was going faster with Xs influence. So it was understood that X would help when he came thats how things began, and this idea has reMained with X. But I have raced on I dont wait. Ive raced on, Ive gone like wildfire. And now the situation is reversed. What I wanted to find out, I found out. I experienced what I wanted to experience, but he is still He is very kind, actually, he wants really to help me. So, when I identified with him the other day during our meditation, I realized that he wanted to give silence, control and perfect peace to the physical mind. My own trick, if you will, is to have as little relationship with the physical mind as possible, to go up above and stay therethis (Mother indicates her forehead), silent, motionless, turned upwards, while That (gesture above the head) sees, acts, knows, decidesall is done from there. Only there can you feel at ease.
Along the way, I once went down into this physical mind for awhile to try to set it right, to organize it a little (it was done rather quickly, I didnt stay there long). So when I went inside X, I saw It was rather curious, for its the opposite of the method we follow. In his material consciousness (physical and vital), he has trained himself to be impersonal, open, limitless, in communication with all the universal forces. In the physical mind, silence, immobility. But in the speculative mind, the one there at the very top of the head what an organization, phew! All the tradition in its most superb organization, but such a ri-gi-dity! And it had a pretty quality of light, a silver blueVERY pretty. Oh, it was very calm, wonderfully calm and quiet and still. But what a ceiling it had!the outer form resembled rigid cubes. Everything inside was beautiful, but that There was a very large cube right at the top, I recall, bordered by a purple line, which is a line of powerall this was quite luminous. It looked like a pyramid; the smaller cubes formed a kind of base, the lower part of which faded into something cloudy, and then this passed imperceptibly downwards to a more material realm, or in other words, the physical mind. The cube on top was the largest and most luminous, and the least yieldingeven inflexible, you could say. The others were somewhat less defined, and at the bottom it was very blurred. But up at the top!thats where I wanted to go, right to the top.
--
I felt better that night because I was concentrated, but my head was still hurting a little. Then the following day I said to myself, or rather I told him inwardly, Whether you like it or not, I am bringing down whats up above; it is the only way I can feel comfortable! And I told you what happenedas soon as I sat down I was so surprised, for he didnt start doing what he had done the day before; I myself did the same thing, I participated, so to speak, in his will (so as to find out), but with the resolve to reMain consciously in contact with the highest consciousness, as always, and to bring it down. And it came in a marvelous flood. He was quite happy, he did not protest! All the pain was gone, there was nothing left, it was perfect. Only towards the end of the meditation did he again want to start doing his little trick of enclosing my physical mind in this construction, but it didnt last I watched all this from above.
And he isnt aware of this, actually, he isnt aware at all. If he were told, he would absolutely deny it for him, its an opening onto Infinity! But in fact, its always like that, we are always shut in, each of useach one is enclosed inside certain limits which he doesnt feel, for should he feel it, he would get out! Oh, I know this feeling very well, for when I was with Sri Aurobindo I was open in this way (gesture towards the heights), and I always had this feeling of Yes, my child He tolerated me the way I was and waited for it to change. Thats truly how things are, you know. And now I feel my limits, which are the limits of the world as it is at present, but beyond that theres an unmanifested immensity, eternity and infinityto which we are closed. It merely seeps init is not the great opening. What I am trying to bring about is the great opening. Only when it has opened wide will there really be the (how should I put it?) the irreducible thing, and all the worlds resistance, all its inertia, even its obscurity will be unable to swallow it up the determining and transforming thing I dont know when it will come.
--
Oh, I had tried for years I had tried to catch silence in my head I never succeeded. I could detach myself from it, but it would keep on turning But at that moment, all the mental constructions, all the mental, speculative structures none of it reMaineda big hole.
And such a peaceful, such a luminous hole!
--
This lasted about half an hour. I quietly reMained there I heard the noise of their conversation, but I wasnt listening. And then when I got up, I no longer knew anything, I no longer thought anything, I no longer had any mental constructioneverything was gone, absolutely gone, blank!as if I had just been born.
***
0 1960-10-02a, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Before going to bed, sometimes I say to myself, I will do what is necessary to spend my night in these great currents of force(because there is a way to do it). And then I think, Oh, what an egotist you are, my girl! So sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesntwhen theres something important to do, it doesnt happen. But all I have to do is concentrate in a certain way before going to sleep to spend my whole night in these very far from here, very far I cant say very far from the earth, for surely its in an intermediate zone between the forces from above and the earths atmosphere. Thats what it Mainly is, in any case. Its a great universal current as well, but Mainly its what descends and comes onto the earth, and it is permeating the earths atmosphere all the time, all the time, and it comes with this wide, overall visionit makes for wonderful nights I no longer bother about people at allat least not as such, but in a more impersonal way.
(silence)
I have been pestered my whole life by something similar to the sense of duty without its stupidity. Sri Aurobindo had told me that it was a censor, that I had with me a considerable one! It was constantly, constantly telling me, No, its not like that, its like this Oh, no! Its wrong to do that; be careful, dont be egotistical; be carefuldo this, do that. He was right, but I sent it away long agoor rather, Sri Aurobindo sent it away. But there reMains the habit of not doing what I like. Rather, of doing what MUST be done, and whether its pleasant or not makes no difference.
This, too, Sri Aurobindo had explained to me. I used to tell him, Yes, you always speak of lifes delight, life for the sake of its delight. But as soon as I had the notion, as soon as I was put in the presence of the Supreme, it was: For Youexclusively what You want. You are the sole, the unique and exclusive reason for being. And that has reMained, and this movement is so strong that even when you see, now I have ecstasy and ananda in abundanceeverything comes, everything. But even then, even when that is there, something in me always turns towards the Supreme and says, Does this TRULY serve You? Is it what You expect of me, what You want from me?
This has protected me from all seeking for pleasure in life. It was a wonderful protection, because pleasure always seemed so futile to meyes, futile; for the sake of your personal satisfaction. Later, I even understood how foolish it is, for you can never be satisfiedthough when youre small you dont yet know that. I never liked it: But is it really useful, does it serve some purpose? And I still have this attitude in regard to my nights. I have this widening of the consciousness, this impersonalization, this wonderful joy of being above all that. But at the same time I also have, Im here in this body, on earth, to do something I mustnt forget it. And this is what I have to do. But probably Im wrong!
0 1960-10-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
But what you are speaking of, this sort of sound-mill, this milling of words interminably repeating the same thing, Ive suddenly caught it two or three times (not very often and with long intervals). It has always seemed fantastic to me! How is it stopped? Always in the same way. Its something that takes place outside, actually; its not insideits outside, on the surface, generally somewhere here (Mother indicates the temples), and the method is to draw your consciousness up above, to go there and reMain therewhite. Always this whiteness, white like a sheet of paper, flat like a plate of glass. An absolutely flat and white and motionless surfacewhite! White like luminous milk, turned upwards. Not transparent: white.
When this mill starts turningusually it comes from this side (Mother indicates the right side of the head)it takes hold of any sound or any word at all, and then it starts turning, harping on the same thing. This has happened to me a dozen times perhaps, but it doesnt come from me; it comes from outside, from someone or something or some particular work. So then you take itas if you were picking it up with pincers, and then (She lifts it upwards), then I hold it there, in this motionless whiteno need to keep it there for long!
0 1960-10-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
There was a considerable library in the studio; one whole end was given over to the librarymore than two thousand books belonging to my brother. There were even the complete works of several classical writers. And I had my entire collection of the Revue Cosmique, and my post card collection (it was down below)Mainly post cards of Algeria, Tlemcen, nearly 200 of them. But there were five years of the Revue Cosmique. And written in such a French! How funny it was!
Theons wife dictated it in English while she was in trance. Another English lady who was there claimed to know French like a Frenchman. Myself, I never use a dictionary, she would say, I dont need a dictionary. But then she would turn out such translations! She made all the classic mistakes of English words that mustnt be translated like that. Then it was sent to me in Paris for correcting. It was literally impossible.
--
For some time now Ive been experiencing a precise moment during my japa when something takes hold of me and I have all the difficulty in the world to keep from entering into trance. Yet I reMain standing. Usually Im walking, but some things I say while leaning up against the windownot a very good place to go into trance! And it grabs me exactly at the same place each time.
Yesterday, I suddenly saw a huge living head of blue lightthis blue light which is the force, the powerful force in material Nature (this is the light the tantrics use). The head was made entirely of this light, and it wore a sort of tiaraa big head, so big (Mother indicates the length of her forearm); its eyes werent closed, but rather lowered, like this. The immobility of eternity, absolutely the repose, the immobility of eternity. A magnificent head, quite similar to the way the gods here are represented, but even better; something between certain heads of the Buddha and (these heads most probably come to the artists). Everything else was lost in a kind of cloud.
--
But I tried to understand what he wanted Its been difficult here in the Ashram for some timeeveryone is seized with a sort of frenzy, a weary restlessness. They are all writing to me, they all want to see me. It makes for such an atmosphere I react as well as I can, but Im not able to pass this on to them to keep them quiet (the more tired and weary you are, the more calm you ought to reMaincertainly not get excited, thats dreadful!). So I understood: this head had come to tell me, This is what you must give them.
But if I were to pass that on to them, theyd all think they were becoming rattle-brained, that they were losing their faculties, that their energy was spent. For they only feel energy when they spend it. They are incapable of feeling energy in immobility they have to be stirring about, they have to be spending it. Or else, it has to be pounded into them.
--
The experience I havewhat I mean by I is this aggregate here (Mother indicates her body), this particular individualityis that the more quiet and calm it is, the more work it can do and the faster the work can be done. What is most disturbing and time consuming are all these agitated vibrations that fall on me (truly speaking, each person who comes throws them on me). And this is what makes the work difficultit stirs up a whirlwind. And you cant do anything in this whirlwind, its impossible. If you try to do something material, your fingers stumble; if you try to do something intellectual, your thoughts get all entangled and you no longer see clearly. Ive had the experience, for example, of wanting to look up a word in the dictionary while this agitation was in the atmosphere, and everything jumps up and down (yet the lighting is the same and Im using the same magnifying glass), I no longer see a thing, its all jumping! I go page by page, but the word simply doesnt exist in the dictionary! Then I reMain quiet, I do this (Mother makes a gesture of bringing down the Peace) and after half a minute I open the dictionary: the very spot, and the word leaps out at me! And I see clearly and distinctly. Consequently I have now the indisputable proof that if you want to do anything properly, you must FIRST be calm but not only be calm yourself; you must either isolate yourself or be capable of imposing a calm on this whirlwind of forces that comes upon you all the time from all around.
All the teachers are wanting to quit the schoolweary! Which means theyll begin the year with half the teachers gone. They live in constant tension, they dont know how to relax thats really what it is. They dont know how to act without agitation.
--
Im going to tell you what I sawits very interesting. First, emanating from here (Mother indicates the chest), a florescence of every color like a peacocks tail spread wide; but it was made of light, and it was very, very delicate, very fine, like this (gesture). Then it rose up and formed what truly seemed like a luminous peacock, up above, and it reMained like that. Then, from here (the chest), what looked like a sword of white light climbed straight up. It went up very high and formed a kind of expanse, a very vast expanse, which was like a callthis lasted the longest. And then, in response, a veritable rain, like (no, it was much finer than drops) a golden lightwhite and goldenwith various shades, at times more towards white, at times more golden, at times with a tinge of pink. And all this was descending, descending into you. And here (the chest), it changed into this same deep blue light, with a powdering of green light inside itemerald green. And at that moment, when it reached here (the level of the heart), a number of little divinities of living golda deep, living goldcame, like this, and then looked at you. And just as they looked at you, there was the image of the Mother right at the very center of younot as she is commonly portrayed but as she is in the Indian consciousness Very serene and pure and luminous. And then that changed into a temple, and inside the temple there seemed to be an image of Sri Aurobindo and an image of me but living images in a powdering of light. Then it grew into a magnificent edifice and settled in with an extraordinary power. And it reMained motionless.
That is the representation of your japa.
0 1960-10-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Sometime later (he doesnt know how long, for until he returned he had no sense of time), he woke up in a rather dark, low-roofed house way out in the country; there were five persons now, not four. They were busy eating, so he was careful not to budge. Mainly they were drinking (they have prohibition there). Four of them were already dead drunk. So he got up to have a look. The fifth one, whom he hadnt seen before (he must have been the chief), was not yet totally drunk; when he saw the boy stirring, he let out a fearful growlso the poor boy threw himself flat in the corner and lay stillhe waited. After awhile, the fifth one (after downing another bottle) was also dead drunk. So now that he saw them all fast asleep, he got up very cautiously and he said he ran for an hour and a half! A boy pummelled as he had been, who hadnt eaten for four days! I think thats a miracle.
After running for an hour and a half, he found himself back at the Poona station, he doesnt know how. He caught a train back to Bombay, scarcely knowing how he managed it.
--
But then there came a frightful reaction. For one day I was nearly as sicknot quiteas two years ago5 (they must have used the same mantra). And, you see, I who never vomit terrible vomitingeverything inside came out! Only now Im a bit more experienced than two years ago (!), so I set it right It happened here, downstairs, in the afternoon. I went right back up to my room (I didnt see anyone that afternoon), and I reMained concentrated to try to find out what had happened. I saw that it came from therea backlash of those people trying to defend themselves.
I did what had to be done.
--
But I was Mainly interested by the fact that I felt the danger these people representednot because they were brigands, but because they had some powerbrigands with a power and from what I saw, it was not merely an hypnotic power. There must have been a tantric force in it, otherwise they would not have been so powerful, and especially so powerful from a distance. I had said to myself, They MUST be caught. Which was why (the Force kept on working, you see). And yesterday, the newspaper said that a gang of five men, eight women and half a dozen children had been arrested by the police in Allahabad for using what the newspaper called mesmeric means to rob people, attack them, etc. (They were operating in Poona, Bombay and Ahmedabad, but they were caught in Allahabad). Probably when they realized that the boy was gone, they got frightened and fled to the North. And they were arrested in Allahabad I had made a very strong formation and had said, They MUST be caught.
As of now, I have no other news Theyve been caught, so they cant do any wrong OUTWARDLY, but still their power is there. Were going to have to be And everyone here says the same thinglike a black veil of unconsciousness that has fallen upon us. Even those who arent accustomed to such things have felt it. Im presently cleaning the whole placeits not easy. Everything is upside down.
--
Only, there is all that comes from outside thats what is most dangerous. Constantly, constantlywhen you eat, you catch it oh, what a mass of vibrations! The vibrations of the thing you eat when it was living (they always reMain), the vibrations of the person who cooked it, vibrations of All the time, all the time, they never stopyou breathe, they enter. Of course, when you start talking to someone or mixing with people, then you become a bit more conscious of what is coming, but even just sitting still, uninvolved with othersit comes! There is an almost total interdependenceisolation is an illusion. By reinforcing your own atmosphere (Mother gestures, as if building a wall around her), you can hold these things off TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, but simply this effort to keep them at a distance creates (Im thinking in English and speaking in French) disturbances.8 Anyway, now all this has been SEEN.
But I know in an absolute way that once this whole mass of the physical mind is mastered and the Brahmic consciousness is brought into it in a continuous way, you CAN you become the MASTER of your health.
0 1960-10-30, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
But then, just before that, there was this powdering of golden light coming down. And as it descended, it was white with a touch of gold (but it was white) and it came down in a column, with such POWER! And then, just at the end, this powdering of gold came and settled into this white light which had reMained there the whole timeoh, it was so abundant. A great power of realization. I had a hard time coming out of it! At the start, I had decided to come out of it at half past, so I came out, but still not completely
So there, my child. And you, what did you feel?
0 1960-11-05, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I have so totally forgotten a whole world of incidents and events that when someone reminds me of something (the people around me have lived with me, so theyve seen things and remember them), I get the feeling that they are speaking of someone or something elseit no longer has any connection with me at all. And its the same with everything, whether near or far, which has brought to my consciousness whatever it had to bring, lost its utility anddisappeared. Only, these memories probably still have some utility for the others, so they reMain. But for me its completely erased, absolutely, as if it had never been.
Its the only way to forget.
0 1960-11-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
So for persons who are severe and grave (there are two such examples here, but its not necessary to name them) There are beings who are grave, so serious, so sincere, who find it hypocritical; and when it borders on certain (how shall I put it?) vital excesses, they call it vice. There are others who have lived their entire lives in a yogic or religious discipline, and they see this as an obstacle, illusion, dirtyness (Mother makes a gesture of rejecting with disgust), but above all, its this terrible illusion that prevents you from nearing the Divine. And when I saw the way these two people here reacted, in fact, I said to myself, but you see, I FELT So strongly that this too is the Divine, it too is a way of getting out of something that has had its place in evolution, and still has a place, individually, for certain individuals. Naturally, if you reMain there, you keep turning in circles; it will always be (not eternally, but indefinitely) the woman of my life, to take that as a symbol. But once youre out of it, you see that this had its place, its utilityit made you emerge from a kind of very animal-like wisdom and quietude that of the herd or of the being who sees no further than his daily round. It was necessary. We mustnt condemn it, we mustnt use harsh words.
The mistake we make is to reMain there too long, for if you spend your whole life in that, well, youll probably need many more lifetimes. But once the chance to get out of it comes, you can look at it with a smile and say, Yes, its really a sort of love for fiction!people love fiction, they want fiction, they need fiction! Otherwise its boring and all much too flat.
All this came to me yesterday. I kept Z with me for more than half an hour, nearly 45 minutes. He told me some very interesting things. What he said was quite good and I encouraged him a great dealsome action on the right lines which will be quite useful, and then a book unfortunately mixed with an influence from that artificial world (but actually, even that can be used as a link to attract people). He must have spoken to you about this. He wants to write a kind of dialogue to introduce Sri Aurobindos ideasits a good idealike the conversations in Les Hommes de Bonne Volont by Jules RoMain. He wants to do it, and I told him it was an excellent idea. And not only one typehe should take all types of people who for the moment are closed to this vision of life, from the Catholic, the fervent believer, right to the utmost materialist, men of science, etc. It could be very interesting.
This is what you see in life, its all like thateach thing has its place and its necessity. This has made me see a whole current of life I was very, very involved with people from this milieu during a whole period of my existence and in fact, its the first approach to Beauty. But it gets mixed.
(Mother reMains silent a moment)
Symbolically, in life, we might think of tamas as the earth (the solid and obdurate earth), and this intervention of the vital is water flowing onto it. But when first it touches the earth, it stirs up mud! Theres no reason to protest, for its like that. And thereby the earth becomes less hard and resistant, and it begins receiving.
--
How strange it is! You have the feeling of ascending, of a progress in consciousness, and everything, all the events and circumstances of life follow one another with an unquestioning logic. You see the Divine Will unfolding with a wonderful logic. Then, from time to time, there appears a little set of circumstances (either isolated or repeated), which are like snags on the way; you cant explain them, so you put them aside for later on. Some such accidents have been quite significant, but they dont seem to follow this ascending line of the present individuality. Theyre scattered along the way, sometimes repeated, sometimes only once, and then they vanish. And when you go through such an experience, you sense that they are things put aside for later on. And then, all of a sudden (especially during these last two years when I have again descended to take all that up), all of a sudden, one after another, all these snags return. And they dont follow the same curve; rather, its as if suddenly you reach a certain state and a certain impersonal breadth that far surpasses the individual, and this new state enters into contact with one of those old accidents that had reMained in the deepest part of the subconscientand that makes it rise up again, the two meet in an explosion of light. Everything is explained, everything is understood, everything is clear! No explanation is needed: it has become OBVIOUS.
This is entirely another way of understandingits not an ascent, not even a descent nor an inspiration it must be what Sri Aurobindo calls a revelation. Its the meeting of this subconscious notationthis something which has reMained buried within, held down so as not to manifest, but which suddenly surges forth to meet the light streaming down from above, this very vast state of consciousness that excludes nothing and from it springs forth a lightoh, a resplendence of light!like a new explanation of the world, or of that part of the world not yet explained.
And this is the true way of knowing.
0 1960-11-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
But I (how can I put this?) I lived their experience, I lived it; and even events which seem quite extraordinary when seen from afar, which is the way they appear to most people, even historical things which have furthered the earths transformation and its upheavals the crucial events, the great works, you might sayare woven from the SAME fabric, they are the SAME thing! When you look at all this from afar, on the whole it can make an impression, but the life of each minute, of each hour, of each second is woven from this SAME fabric, drab, dull, insipid, WITHOUT ANY TRUE LIFEa mere reflection of life, an illusion of lifepowerless, void of any light or anything that resembles joy in the least. Oh! if it has always to reMain like that, then we dont want any of it.
Such is the feeling it gives.
--
It all began the day I received the news of Zs arrival. All right, I thought, heres a chunk of life sent back to me for clarifying. I must work on it. But it didnt stop there Its strange how all this past had been swept clean I could no longer remember dates, I couldnt even remember when Z had been here before, I no longer knew what had happened, it had all been wiped cleanwhich means that it had all been pushed down into the subconscient. I didnt even know how I used to speak to him when I saw him, nothing, it was all gone. All that had reMained alive were one or two movements or facts which were clearly connected to the psychic life, the psychic consciousness but just one or two or three such memories; all the rest was gone.
So a whole slice of my life came back, but it didnt stop there! It keeps extending back further and further, and memories keep on coming, things that go back sixty years now, even beyond, seventy, seventy-five yearsthey are all coming back. And so it all has to be put in order.
--
But that CANNOT be extended as it is, for everything is constantly changing! And to be immortal, you have to follow this perpetual change; otherwise, what will naturally happen is what now happensone day you will die because you can no longer follow the change. But if you can follow it, then all this will fall from you! Understand that what will survive in you is something you dont know very well, but its the only thing that can survive and all the rest will keep falling off all the time Do you still want to be immortal?Not one in ten said yes! Once you are able to make them feel the thing concretely, they tell you, Oh no! Oh no! Since everything else is changing, the body might as well change too! What difference would it make! But what reMains is THAT; THAT is what you must truly hold on to but then you must BE THAT, not this whole agglomeration. What you now call you is not THAT, its a whole collection of things..
Formerly, that was my first stepa long time ago. Now its so very different I wonder how it was possible to have been so totally blind as to call that oneself at any moment in ones life! Its a collection of things. And what was the link by which that could be called oneself? Thats more difficult to find out. Only when you climb above do you come to realize that THAT is at work here, but it could work there as well, or as well here, or here, or here At times there is suddenly a drop of something (Oh, I saw that this morningit was like a drop, a little drop, but with SUCH an intense and perfect light ), and where THAT falls it makes its center and begins radiating out and acting. THAT is what can be called oneselfnothing else. And THAT precisely is what enabled me to live in such dreadfully uninteresting, such nonexistent circumstances. And at the moment when you ARE that, you see how that has lived and how that has used everything, not only in this body but in all bodies and through all time.
0 1960-11-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
(Mother had wanted this personal conversation to be erased and reMain untranscribed, but considering its importance, we thought it better to preserve it.)
Your force cured me in one hour in a spectacular way. I would understand if you had merely cured my flu, for thats something more general, and with a good general vibration it can be removed; but the force acted with an astonishing precision and accuracy: first it wiped out my flu, then it touched a toothache thats been hurting for the last three days, and in five minutes that was gone. Finally, I had a pulled ligament which for three or four years now has periodically given me pain (a thigh ligament where it joins the pelvis, to be precise) and this last week it was hurting so much that I found it difficult to sit cross-legged for meditation. And then I felt the force come and touch just there, exactly at this point, and the pain vanished. And yet the problem was of an organic nature, not some general illness!
(Mother reMains silent a moment, then says:)
Not last night but the night before, I touched at least one of the causes (at that time it felt like THE cause) of a certain powerlessness to act directly on Matter You see, when the Will and the Power come, they are extremely effective everywhere UP TO A CERTAIN REGION (in other words, whether people are receptive or not, open or not, makes no differencewhen the Will is applied it is all-powerful UP TO a certain region) but once it arrives here, at the most material material, its efficacy depends on many thingsand a power which depends on something is no power! For a long, long time I have been searching for the reasons behind this powerlessness. Ive located a few, one after another, and upon these points there was an immediate effect. But some things resisted (oh, quite a number, in a number of ways), for example it had difficulty acting on illnesses, on the cells, on doubt (not mental doubt, but rather the doubt of the physical consciousness which cant accept certain things that seem impossible to itwhat Sri Aurobindo calls disbelief,1 not a mental doubt, but the disbelief of the physical consciousness which cant accept what is contrary to its own nature and its own working). And as for illnesses, sometimes it has an immediate effect, but sometimes it drags on and has to follow its so-called normal course. On all these three points, I clearly felt that something was hampering it. These are the Enemys strongholds; all that doesnt want the Divine seizes upon it and even the working of the Power coming from above is obstructed, for when it must work here in the body, it is stopped or deformed or altered or diminished.
--
So, its very simple. The sickness was due to one part of your being going faster than the rest. A part of the physical consciousness probably reMained behind, and that created this imbalance and triggered the sickness.
It took a huge effort in my dream.
--
He said nothing more. He forbade me to leave my body. Thats all. It is absolutely forbidden. he said. You cant, you must reMain.4
After that (this took place early in 1950), he gradually You see, he let himself fall ill. For he knew quite well that should he say I must go,5 I would not have obeyed him, and I would have gone. For according to the way I felt, he was much more indispensable than I. But he saw the matter from the other side. And he knew that I had the power to leave my body at will. So he didnt say a thing, he didnt say a thing right to the very last minute
0 1960-12-13, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Its what Sri Aurobindo calls disbelief, and its located in the most material physical consciousness it isnt doubt (which Mainly belongs to the mind), it is almost like a refusal to accept the obvious as soon as it doesnt belong to the little daily routine of ordinary sensations and reactionsa sort of incapacity to accept and recognize the exceptional.
This disbelief is the bedrock of the consciousness. And it comes with a (thought is too big a word for such an ordinary thing) a mental-physical activity which makes you (I am forced to use the word) think things and which always foresees, imagines or draws conclusions (depending on the case) in a way which I myself call DEFEATIST. In other words, it automatically leads you to imagine all the bad things that can happen. And this occurs in a realm which is absolutely run-of-the-mill, in the most ordinary, restricted, banal activities of lifesuch as eating, moving in short, the coarsest of things.
0 1960-12-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Nature is a marvelous inventoreverything She does is beautiful. I dont believe that man has succeeded in producing anything so perfect. Later, its true, some new species were developed by him, but nevertheless Nature still reMains the origin.
Yes, ugliness seems to begin with man.
0 1960-12-23, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
(Mother reMains absorbed for a long time)
I sat down shortly before ten oclock for meditation. I was in my normal state and I was interested to see if there would be any difference from earlier times. And really, at first there was no difference at all. Then slowly, slowly, I felt this type of smiling and serene peace that I live in entering into the body. The cells are still not always conscious of it (sometimes they feel a sort of tension of life I dont know what to call it). Theyre conscious of their existence and of what it means and of the Energy that is acting (yes, conscious of the Action and the Energy that acts), but during the meditation THAT descended and there was an extraordinary relaxation. Not the relaxation that comes with surrender,1 which I normally feel before sleeping, but the relaxation that comes from a kind of serene, immutable and eternal joy. At that moment the body felt it could reMain like that forever! Oh, how nice I feel! it said. And as a matter of fact, Im not sure but I think he felt the meditation was over, whereas I was still I felt him stirring, so I stopped.
There was a marked difference.
0 1961-01-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
If one always reMained in this state of consciousness, keeping alive the flame of Agni, the flame of purification and progress, then after some time, not only could one prevent these movements from taking an active form in oneself and becoming expressed physically, but one could act upon the very nature of the movement and transform it. Needless to say, however, that unless one has attained a very high degree of realization it is virtually impossible to keep this state of consciousness for long. Almost immediately one falls back into the egoistic consciousness of the separate self, and all the difficulties return: disgust, the revolt against certain things and the horror they create in us, and so on.
It is probableeven certain that until one is completely transformed these movements of disgust and revolt are necessary to make one do WITHIN ONESELF what is needed to slam the door on them. For after all, the point is to not let them manifest.
--
But if we had the vision of the whole, if we were able to contain past, present and future simultaneously (as it is somewhere up above), then we would see how relative these things are and that its Mainly the progressing evolutionary Force which gives us this will to reject; yet when these things still had their place, they were quite tolerable. However, to have this experience in a practical sense is impossible unless we have a total vision the vision that is the Supremes alone! Therefore, one must first identify with the Supreme, and then, keeping this identification, one can return to a consciousness sufficiently externalized to see things as they really are. But thats the principle, and in so far as we are able to realize it, we reach a state of consciousness where we can look at all things with the smile of a complete certainty that everything is exactly as it should be.
Of course, people who dont think deeply enough will say, Oh, but if we see that things are exactly as they should be, then nothing will budge. But no! There isnt a fraction of a second when things arent moving: theres a continuous and total transformation, a movement that never stops. Only because its difficult for us to feel that way can we imagine that by our entering certain states of consciousness things would not change. Even if we entered into an apparently total inertia, things would continue to change and we along with them!
0 1961-01-22, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But they are furious! There is evidently a whole alignment of forces (they must be vital forces) between here and my doMain. Theyre furious! They set up explosions, demolitions. And I could see all the settings they were quite artificial, nothing real, but dangerous nonetheless.
All in all, it was rather amusing.
--
Yes, I am disrupting their work I know perfectly well that I am disrupting their domination of the world! All these vital beings have taken possession of the whole of Matter (Mother touches her body)life and action and have made it their doMain, this is evident. But they are beings of the lower vital, for they seemed artificial they didnt express any higher form, but an entire range of artificial mechanisms, artificial will, artificial organization, all deriving from their own imagination and not at all from a higher inspiration.1 The symbol was very clear.
And I saw my own doMain through them and through it all; I saw my doMain: I can see it!, I said. But no sooner would I start on my way than the path would be lost, I no longer saw it, I couldnt see anymore where I was going. It became almost impossible to get my bearings there: hundreds and thousands of people, thingsutter confusion. An incoherent immensity and violent, what violence!
I felt something last night.
--
I reMained perfectly tranquil, there was nothing else to do; I knew it meant a battle. I was perfectly tranquil, but I could no longer eat, I could no longer rest, do japa2 or walk, and my head felt as though it would burst. I could only abandon myself (Mother opens her arms in a gesture of surrender), enter into a very, very deep trance, a very deep samadhithis is something one can always do. But that was the only thing left to me. Ideas were just as clear as ever (all that is above and doesnt budge), but my body was in a very bad way. It was a fight, a fight at each second. The least thing, just to walk a step, was a struggle, an awful battle!
Then last night I saw the symbol, the image of the thing. But what was it? It was an element in the most material Matter,3 because it was deep down below; yet despite it all, Mother Nature was in charge there: she was familiar with everything, knew everything and it was all at her disposalabsolutely the most material Nature. And she herself had no light, but was very, very she had a concealed power that was completely invisible.
Each time I set out to leave her doMain and ascend above, it triggered a hurricane. I would pass this way and the storm started up, pass that way, unleash a gale. Finally she approached me and said very gently, very sweetly, in a most unassuming way, No, dont go there, dont go! Dont try to return to your home. They have set up a dreadful hurricane! And artificial: there were explosions like bombs everywhere, and even worse, like thunderbolts. One could see the artificial tricks and electrical effects they were using to create their thunder, but it was on a tremendous scale!
It isnt over.
--
It was only afterwards, a long time after, that I began to see again. It was clearly something that was NOT WILLING. But when will it give in? I cant say. No victory has been won, far from it. And it has reMained like this: status quo.
It will probably have to begin again, but in what manner?
--
You see, personal surrender and devotion is an excellent solution for the individual, but it doesnt work for the collectivity. For example, as soon as I am alone and lying on my bedpeace! (Ah, I forgot! They had invented yet another thing: making my heartbeats irregular. Every three or four beats it would stop; then it would start up again, pounding as if I had been struck. Three, four beats, a faint little beat, then stop then, bang! Blow after blow. One more of their extraordinary inventions!) But, as soon as I stretch out and make a total surrender of all the cellsno more activity, nothingeverything goes well. But I am well aware that this surrender has an effect on the action only to the extent that the Supreme Lord has decided upon the action, and those movements stretch over long periods of time5: all sorts of things may happen before the final Victory is won. Because, for us, the scale is very small; even if it were of terrestrial proportions, it would be a very small scale; but on a universal scale. These forces have their place and their action, their universe, and as long as their place and their action are Maintained, they will be here. So before their action can be exhausted or become useless, many things can happen.
Individually, however, there is almost instantaneous bliss. But this is not a true solution its a solution in the long run, by repercussion. To have true comm and here in this world, all of that must be mastered.
0 1961-01-24, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It lasted the reMainder of the night and all day long I had considerable trouble containing an overwhelming power that spontaneously created reactions utterly disproportionate to a human body and made me speak in a way that. When something was not going well: wham! Such an instantaneous and strong reply that it looked like anger. And I found it difficult to control the movementit had happened already in the morning and it very nearly happened again in the afternoon. That last attack has weakened me terribly! I told myself, I dont have the strength to contain this Power; its difficult to reMain calm and controlled. That was my first thought, so I insisted upon calm.
Then yesterday afternoon, when I went upstairs to walk,1 a couple of things occurrednot personal, but of a general natureconcerning, for instance, certain old-fashioned conventions having to do with women and their particular nature (not psychological, physical)old ideas like that which had always seemed utterly stupid to me suddenly provoked a kind of reprobation completely out of proportion to the fact itself. Then one or two other things2 happened in regard to certain people, certain circumstances (nothing to do with me personally: it came from here and there). Then suddenly, I saw a Force coming (coming, well, manifesting) which was the same as that thing I had felt within me but even bigger; it began whirling upon the earth and within circumstances oh, like a cyclone of compact power moving forward with the intention of changing all this! It had to change. At all costs, it must change!
--
I must say that after this, when I read The Secret of the Veda as I do each evening. In fact, I am in very close contact with the entire Vedic world since Ive been reading that book: I see beings, hear phrases. It comes up in a sort of subliminal consciousness, a lot of things are from the ancient Vedic tradition. (By the way, I have even come to see that the pink marble bathtub I told you about last time, which Nature had offered me, belongs to the Vedic world, to a civilization of that epoch.3) There werethere are alwaysSanskrit words coming up, sentences, bits of dialogue. This is of interest, because I realized that what I had seen the other day (I told you about it) and then what I saw yesterday that whole doMainwas connected to what the Vedas call the dasyus the panis and the dasyus4the enemies of the Light. And this Force that came was very clearly a power like Indras5 (though something far, far greater), and at war with darkness everywhere, like this (Mother sketches in space a whirling force touching points here and there throughout the world), this Force attacked all darkness: ideas, people, movements, events, whatever made stains, patches of shadow. And it kept on going, a formidable power, so great that my hands were like this (Mother clenches her fists). Later when I read (I happened to be reading just the chapter concerning the fight against the dasyus), this proximity to my own experience became interesting, for it was not at all intellectual or mental there was no idea, no thought involved.
The reMainder of the evening passed as usual. I went to bed, and at exactly a quarter to twelve I got up with the feeling that this presence in me had increased even further and really become rather formidable. I had to instill a great deal of peace and confidence into my body, which felt as though it wasnt so easy to bear. So I concentrated, I told my body to be calm and to let itself go completely.
At midnight I was lying in bed. (And I reMained there from midnight until I oclock fully awake. I dont know if my eyes were open or closed, but I was wide awake, NOT IN TRANCEI could hear all the noises, the clocks, and so forth.) Then, lying flat, my entire body (but a slightly enlarged body, exceeding the purely physical form) became ONE vibration, extremely rapid and intense but immobile. I dont know how to explain this, because it did not move in space but was a vibration (that is, it wasnt motionless); yet it was motionless in space. And the exact form of my body was absolutely the most brilliant white Light of the supreme Consciousness, the consciousness OF the Supreme. It was IN the body and it was as though in EACH cell there was a vibration, and it was all part of a single BLOCK of vibration. It extended this much beyond the body (gesture indicating about six centimeters). I was absolutely immobile in my bed. Then, WITHOUT MOVING, without shifting, it began consciously to rise upwithout moving, you understand: I reMained like this (Mother holds her two joined and motionless hands at the level of her forehead, as if her entire body were mounting in prayer)consciously like an ascension of this consciousness6 towards the supreme Consciousness.
The body was stretched out flat.
--
It reMained like that for a certain time (I knew it was a quarter of an hour because the clock chimed), but it was completely outside time. It was an eternity.
Then, with the same precision, the same calm, the same deliberate, clear and concentrated consciousness (absolutely NOTHING MENTAL), I began to come back down. And as I was descending, I realized that all the difficulty I had been fighting the other day and which had created this illness was absolutely ended, ANNULLEDmastered. Actually, it was not even mastery but the non-existence of anything to be mastered: Simply THE vibration from top to bottom; yet there was neither high nor low nor any direction.
And it went on like that. After this, Slowly, Still WITHOUT MOVING, everything went back into each of the different centers of the being. (Ah, let me say parenthetically that it wasnt AT ALL the ascent of a force like the ascent of the Kundalini! It had absolutely nothing to do with the Kundalini movement and the centers, it wasnt that at all.) But while re-descending, it was as though WITHOUT LEAVING THIS STATE, without leaving this state which reMained conscious ALL the time, this supreme Consciousness began to reactivate the different centers: first here (Mother points to the center above the head and then touches the crown of the head, the forehead, throat, chest, etc.) then there, there, there. At each there was a pause while this new realization organized everything. It organized and made the necessary decisions, sometimes down to the most minute details: what had to be done in this case or said in that case; and all of that TOGETHER, at once, not one by one but seen entirely as a whole. It kept on descending I noted many things, it was extremely interestingdown and down, farther and farther, right to the depths. Everything went on at the same time,7 simultaneously, and at the same time this supreme Consciousness was organizing everything separately.8
This descending reorganization ended exactly when the clock struck one. At that moment I knew that I had to go into trance for the work to be perfected, but until then I was wide awake.
--
I came out of this trance two hours later, at 3 a.m. And during these two hours I saw with a new consciousness, a new vision, and above all a NEW POWERI had a vision of the entire Work: all the people, all the things, all the systems, all of it. And it was it was different in appearance (this is only because appearances depend upon the needs of the moment), but Mainly it differed IN POWERA considerable difference. Considerable. The power itself was no longer the same.9
A truly ESSENTIAL change in the body has occurred.
--
Its not at all the same as in the West, in Europe or America, not at all. Basically, the people in those countries are made of the same stuff as we are. But here thats not the case, because for centuries it never changeda Brahmin, for example, always reMained a Brahmin, a Kshatria was always a Kshatria and all his servants were Kshatrias. It stayed in the family, in the sense that in each caste the servantsoften poor relativesbe longed to that same caste. From a social standpoint this might not have been too pleasant, but as far as atmosphere was concerned, it was very good. This was changed, however, first by the Muslim invasion, and then especially by the British.
The British, you see, were served only by pariahs (in fact, its we Europeans who named them that!). But they were not actually pariahs by birth, they became pariahs out of HABIT.
--
I had a woman here with me who was born among these people. She had been adopted by Thomas (the French musician who composed the comic-opera, Mignon). They had come to India and found this little girl who at the time was very young; she was only thirteen, quite pretty and nice. So they took her back to France with them as a nanny and treated her as one of their own children. She was cared for, educated, given everything, treated absolutely like one of the family; she reMained there for twenty years. Moreover, she was gifted with clairvoyance and could tell fortunes by reading palms, which she did remarkably well. She even worked for a while in a caf, the Moulin-Rouge or a similar place, as a Hindu Fortune Teller! What a maharani she was, with her magnificent jewelsand beautiful, as well. In short, she had completely left all her old habits behind.
Then she returned to India and I took her in with me. I continued to treat her almost as a friend and I helped her to develop her gifts. Mon petit,10 how dirty she started to get, lying, stealing, and absolutely needlesslyshe had money, she was well treated, she had everything she needed, she ate what we didthere was absolutely no reason! When I finally asked her, But why, why!? (she was no longer young at this point), she replied, When I came back here, it took hold of me again; its stronger than I am. That was a revelation for me! Those old habits had been impervious to education.
--
There was a time when we had only a minimum of servants here and they always reMained apartwe never had an epidemic. I dont know for how many years it wasyears and years while Sri Aurobindo was herewe never had a single case of an epidemic disease. It began when people started coming here with children; necessarily they brought their servants along with them, who went to the bazaar and even to the movies and here and there. Then everything came in.
But now the situation is bad. There are something like thirty cases of measles, four or five of smallpox and some chickenpox as well. You must be careful. I need you in good health, otherwise well have to stop everything!
--
Later, Mother added: 'All the experiences took place one after the other, but the new experience did not cancel the preceding one. The Consciousness this supreme Unity that I hadreMained all the time, to the very end, even while the other centers were awakening. And each center that awakened was a kind of addition, taking away nothing from what had come before. So at the end it was all simultaneous: a kind of global consciousness total and simultaneousof everything.... You see, while rising up (one is obliged to say "rising" and "descending" for otherwise one would never be understood), while "rising up" to reach this supreme Consciousness, all the rest was annulled, there was only That. When the supreme Consciousness was realized, it reMained ALL the time, continuously, to the very end, it did not move; but meanwhile, the other centers began to awaken one after another. And each awakening center assumed its place but canceled nothing either of what had come before or of what was about to come, so that when I reached the end, all of it together was a simultaneous whole the Supreme Consciousness.' When Satprem asked if this Supreme Consciousness was the 'New Consciousness,' Mother replied, 'Not "new!" One can't say "new"Supreme Consciousness.'
This entire experience and Mother's insistence that it all happened 'without moving,' unlike the experience of the ascent of the Kundalini, suggests that it is the supramental consciousness concealed in the depths of the cells, that somehow emerges and traverses all the layers until the junction is made with the most material body-consciousness.
0 1961-01-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Well, yesterday I saw R. He was asking me questions about his work and particularly about the knowledge of languages (hes a scholar, you know, and very familiar with the old traditions). This put me in contact with that whole world and I began speaking to him a little about what I had already said to you concerning my experience with the Vedas. And all at once, in the same [absolute] way as I told you, when I entered into contact with that world a whole doMain seemed to open up, a whole field of knowledge from the standpoint of languages, of the Word, of the essential Vibration, that vibration which would be able to reproduce the supramental consciousness. It all came, so clear, so clear, luminous, indisputable but unfortunately there was no tape recorder!
It was about the Word, the primal sound. Sri Aurobindo speaks of it in Savitri: the essence of the Word and how it will express itself, how it will bring in the possibility of a supramental expression that will take the place of languages. I began by speaking to him about the different languages, their limitations and possibilities; and I warned him against the deformations imposed on languages with the idea of making them a more flexible means of expressing something else. I told him how completely ridiculous it all was, and that it didnt correspond at all to the truth. Then little by little I began ascending to the Origin. So yesterday again, I had this same experience: a whole world of knowledge, of consciousness and of CERTAINTYprecluding the least possibility of contradiction, discussion, or opposition; the possibility DOES NOT EXIST, it doesnt exist. And the mind was absolutely silent and immobile, listening with obvious pleasure because these things had never before come into my consciousness; I had never been concerned with them in that way. It was completely newnot new in principle but completely new in action.
0 1961-01-Undated, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A moment comesit comes in flashes and doesnt easily reMainwhen its the All who thinks, the All who knows, the All who feels, the All who lives. Theres not evennot even the feeling that you have reached this state.
Then it is good.
0 1961-02-04, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Then after these two incidents, I received a visit one night from the King of Serpents. He was wearing a superb crown on his headsymbolic, of course, but anyway, he was the spirit of the species. He had the appearance of a cobra, and he was wonderful! A formidable beast, and wonderful! He said he had come to make a pact with me: I had demonstrated my power over his species, so he wanted to come to an understanding. All right, I said, what do you propose? I not only promise that serpents wont harm you, he replied, but that they will obey you. But you must promise me something in return: never to kill one of them. I thought it over and said, No, I cant make this promise, because if ever one of yours attacks one of mine (a being that depends upon me), my pact with you could not stop me from protecting him. I can assure you that I have no bad feelings and no intention of killingkilling is not on my program! But I cant commit myself, because it would restrict my freedom of decision. He left without replying, so it reMains status quo.
I have had several experiences demonstrating my power over snakes (not so much as over catswith cats its extraordinary!). Long ago, I often used to take a drive and then stop somewhere for a walk. One day after my walk, as I was getting back into the car to drive away (the door was still open), a very large snake came out, right from the spot I had just left. He was furious and heading straight towards the open door, ready to strike (luckily I was alone, neither the driver nor Pavitra were there, otherwise). When the snake had come quite near, I looked at him closely and said, What do you want? Why have you come here? There was a pause. Then he fell down flat and off he went. I hadnt made a move, only asked him, What do you want? Why have you come here? You know, they have a way of suddenly falling back, going limp, and prrt! Gone!
--
Well, I am going on with the work, and what I would recommend to all those with the capacity and possibility to follow me is to reMain very calm, dont fret, dont be troubled. And if you feel a little depressed, dont pay any attention to it; live quietly from minute to minute, without worrying about anythingit will pass. It will pass.
Naturally, the more calm and confident you are, the more quickly it will pass. Thats all.
0 1961-02-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It has been good for it (not externally, but inwardly, for its state of consciousness: the body-consciousness), it has done the body some good, but. Now its like this (Mother opens her hands in a gesture of total surrender). For each blow it receives (its a bludgeoning, my child!), for each blow, it reMains like this (same gesture). Yesterday, to make it happy, I wrote down something like this (concerning its latest difficulty): If this present difficulty is useful (its the body addressing the Lord, and the Lord. its a perpetual adoration: all the cells vibrate, vibrate with the joy of Love; yet despite that ), if this or that difficulty is useful for Your Workso be it. But if it is an effect of my stupidity (its the body speaking), if its an effect of my own stupidity, then I beseech You to cure me of this stupidity as quickly as possible.
It doesnt ask to be cured of the illness! It doesnt ask, it is ready; All right, it says. As long as I can keep going, I will keep going. As long as I can last, I will last. But thats not what Im asking for: I am asking to be cured of my stupidity. I believe this is what enables it to yes, what gives it the necessary endurance.
0 1961-02-11, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You see, I cant stand up; and these people persistently try to keep me standing. But I cant reMain standing, its all out of order. Anyway, it doesnt matter, it will pass.
Last night I had a dream about you that made a vivid impression on me. Its probably absurd, but it was so real! You had called me because you were going to leave your body: you had decided to leave and you wanted somehow to say good-bye. It was so real! I came to you and for a moment you placed my head on your knees, and I was filled with light; it was very tender. But at the same time, I knew you were saying good-bye, you were going to leave your body, and I wept in my dream. Then I went to sit in a corner because there were other people who probably had come to see you as well. I reMained in that corner, strickenit seemed so real, you understand! Just then, aman I didnt know entered the room (I knew he was French), a stranger dressed all in black, and he started making a loud commotion. He was smoking a pipe,2 a very coarse man, and he wanted to make all the people there, the disciples, get out of the room .3 It was so real! I awoke with a start and almost cried aloud, Ah, its a dream! Its only a dream!
Oh, it was that real!
Yes, it was that real! It was during the first hours of sleep, at 11:40 p.m. It was very, very vivid I awoke with a start, exclaiming to myself, Ah! Its only a dream!But it seemed so TRUE! It left a deep impression on me. I reMained awake for a long time, wondering, What can this mean? You had a tiny, pinched face (you were dressed all in white), such a pinched face, very (how can I express it?) emaciated, as though you were suffering.
(Mother reMains silent for a long while, then replies.) Quite evidently, the adverse forces are not only trying to convince everyone but me too, that this is how its going to turn out.
But I have as yet had no indications.
--
The body doesnt ask (its so docile), it doesnt even ask for its sufferings to stopit adapts to them. Its Mainly my contact with people that makes the thing difficult: when I am all alone upstairs, everything goes well, quite well. But when I spend one or one and a half hours in the afternoon seeing people, afterwards I feel exhausted. That, obviously, is whats making the thing difficult. But the body doesnt complain. It doesnt complain, its ready. The other day when it went back upstairs, it felt a bitwell, at the end of its resources, as though it had pushed itself to the limit. It said to the Lord (and it said this so clearly, as though the consciousness of the cells were speaking; I noted it down): If this (I cant call it an illness there is no illness! Its a condition of general disequilibrium), if this condition is necessary for Your Work, then so be it, let it go on. But if its an effect of my stupidity (you see, its the BODY saying, If its because I dont understand or I am not adapting or not doing what I should or not taking the proper attitude), if it is an effect of my stupidity, then truly I pray that. It asks only to changeto know and to change!
It is attached to nothing: none of its habits, none of its ways of being-nothing. It says in all sincerity, I ask only for the Light, only to change. That is its state. it has never, never said, Oh, Im tired, Ive had enough! Bah! Its not like that. It is attached to nothing for a long, long time it has ceased to have desiresit is attached to nothing at all, to nothing. There isnt a single thing for which it says, Oh, I cant do without that! Not one. It doesnt care-if something comes, it takes it; if it doesnt come, the body doesnt think about it. In other words, its truly good-natured. But if this isnt sufficient, then it doesnt know and it says, If there is something I cant do or I dont know or I am not doing It asks for nothing more than to make the necessary effort!
--
But truly speaking, the minute one completely emerges from the ordinary mind, NO EXTERIOR SIGN IS A PROOF, absolutely none. There is absolutely no standard to go byneither splendid good health nor good equilibrium, nor an almost general disorganizationnone of these. All depends exclusivelyexclusivelyon what the Lord has decided. Exclusively. Consequently, if one reMains very quiet, one is sure to know what He has decided.
When I am perfectly tranquil, I immediately live in a beatific joy where questions dont arisethere are no questions! One asks for nothingone LIVES! One lives happily, and thats all. Theres no, Will it be like this? Will it be like that?how childish! There are no questions, questions dont arise. One is a beatitude manifesting, that is all.
--
You can even receive the answer yourself and know where this dream comes fromsimply turn towards the supreme Truth, reMain like that (immobile) and say, May Your Will be done. It has to go very high, very high, to the highest, to that which is supreme Freedom. And then, if you are absolutely silent, you will have, not a thought or a word, but a kind of feeling, and you will know.
For me, at the moment, your dream does not correspond to a precise fact.
--
A recentand unifying (!)theory postulated by the American Nobel Laureate, Murray Gell-Mann, would reduce this somewhat startling enumeration to more reasonable proportions through the introduction of a unique sub-particle constituting all matter: the quark. Nevertheless, there would still exist several kinds of quarks (e.g., 'strange,' 'charmed,' 'colored' in red, yellow and blue) for accommodating the various qualities of matter. A proton, for example, would consist of three quarks: red, yellow and blue. However, it should be noted that quarks are basically mathematical intermediaries to facilitate the comprehension or interpretation of certain experiments thus far unexplained. Moreover, the simple question still reMains, even if they do exist materially: 'What are quarks made of?'
Nevertheless, a mathematical model resulting from a recent theory that attempts to represent our material universe strangely resembles Mother's perception, for it postulates a milieu consisting entirely of electromagnetic waves of very high frequency. According to this theory, Matter itself is the 'coagulation' of these waves at the moment they exceed a certain frequency threshold; our perception of emptiness, of fullness, of the hard or the transparent, being finally due only to the differences in vibratory frequencies'vibratory modes within the same thing.'
0 1961-02-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Well, thats all. The situation reMains the same.
And your legs?
--
Even mastery can be achievedits quite easy to do from above. But for the transformation one must descend, and that is terrible. Otherwise, the subconscient will never be transformed, it will reMain as it is.
One can even pose as a superman! (Mother laughs) But it reMains like that (gesture in the air), its not the real thing. Its not the new creation, its not the next step in terrestrial evolution.
You might as well say, Why are you in a hurry? Wait for Nature to do it. But Nature would take a few million years and in the process squander away a host of people and things. A few million years are unimportant to hera passing breeze.
--
Anyhow, I was sent here to do this work, so I am trying to do it, thats all. I could have. If it hadnt been for the work, I would have left with Sri Aurobindo; there you have it. I reMained only for the sake of the workbecause it was there to be done and he told me to do it and I am doing it. Otherwise, when one is perfectly conscious, one is far less limited without a body: one can see a hundred people at the same time, in a hundred different places, just as Sri Aurobindo is doing right now.
If I may ask, has Sri Aurobindo reMained quite conscious of material things?
Completely. (Mother reflects a moment) Well, completely material, noonly through me. He is conscious of material things through me, not directly. He is very conscious in the subtle physical, but thats not quite the same, not quite (Mother makes a vague gesture), there is a difference.
To give a rather curious example, there was a kind of spell of illness over the Ashram, stemming Mainly from peoples thoughts, from their way of thinking. It was quite widespread and it was horrible, gloomy, full of fear, pettiness, blind submission, oh! Everyone was in a state of expectation.1 In short, the atmosphere was such that there was an attempt to prevent me from leaving my room I had to sneak out! It was disgusting! Well, on the very night I saw the spell over the Ashram, Sri Aurobindo was lying sick in his bed, just as I had seen him in 1950. Normally, we spend almost every night together, doing this, seeing that, arranging things, talkingits a kind of second life behind this one, and it makes existence pleasant. But that night when I had to sneak out of my room (in my nightgown!), and people were trying to find me to (laughing) force me back into bed, he was lying sick in bedand this struck me hard, for it means these things still affect him in his consciousness. He was in a kind of trance and not at all well. It didnt last, but nonetheless.
Oh, the things that can collect there,2 ugh!
--
If the experience reMained permanently, it would be something very close to omnipotence. I felt at the time that there was no such thing as an impossibility: it was truly the sensation of omnipotence. It is not omnipotence, because there is always a greater Omnipotence (one knows this only in the higher realms). But in terms of the material world, it was clearly something very, very different from all that has ever been seen or heard or told by all extant traditionsit all seems like the babbling of a child in comparison. At that moment itself there was only the Something which sees, decidesand it is done.
(silence)
It did not reMain. It has reMained above, but not here.
It has given the physical consciousness a certain self-confidence in the sense that when I see something now, I am sure of it, there are no hesitations: Is this right or not? Is this true, is this.All that has vanishedwhen I see, there is certainty. That is, there has really been a great change in the material CONSCIOUSNESS; but that formidable power is not there. I tell you, had that power stayed here, had I reMained constantly as I was during those hours that night, well, many things would obviously have changed.
All this must be a preparation; there is a lot to be cleared out before the experience can be firmly established. Thats logical, it is quite natural.
--
Note that a few days earlier [the night of February 12], a disciple had a very symbolic dream in which she saw all the disciples gathered near the Ashram's Main gate with an air of consternation, as though something had happened to Mother.
In the subconscient.
0 1961-02-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The second sign is a sense of ABSOLUTENESS in knowledge. As I have already told you, I had this with my experience of January 24. This state CANNOT be obtained through any region of the mind, even the most illumined and exalted. Its not a certainty, its (Mother lowers both hands like an irresistible block descending), a kind of absoluteness, without even any possibility of hesitation (theres no question of doubt), or anything like that. Without (how to say it ?). All mental knowledge, even the highest, is a conclusive knowledge, as it were: it comes as a conclusion of something elsean intuition, for instance (an intuition gives you a particular knowledge, and this knowledge is like the conclusion of the intuition). Even revelations are conclusions. Theyre all conclusions the word conclusion comes to me, but I dont know how to express it. This isnt the case, however, with the supramental experiencea kind of absolute. The feeling it gives is altogether uniquefar beyond certainty, it is (Mother again makes the same irresistible gesture) it is a FACT, things are FACTS. It is very, very difficult to explain. But with that one naturally has a complete power the two things always go together. (In my reply to this man I didnt speak of power because the power is almost a consequence and I didnt want to speak of consequences.) But the fact reMains: a kind of absoluteness in knowledge springing from identityone is the thing one knows and experiences: one is it. One knows it because one is it.
When these two signs are present (both are necessary, one is incomplete without the other), when a person possesses both, then you can be sure he has been in contact with the Supermind. So people who speak about receiving the Light well, (laughing) its a lot of hot air! But when both signs are present, you can be sure of your perception.12
--
And it results neither from an aspiration nor a seeking nor an effort nor a tapasya nor anything else: it comes, bang! (same irresistible gesture) And when it goes away, something like like an imprint in the sand reMainsin the consciousness. The consciousness is like a layer of sand on which the experience has left an imprint. If you stir about too much, the imprint vanishes; if you reMain very still, it. But its only an imprint. And it cant be imitated. Whats marvelous is that it cant be imitated! All the rest, all the ascetic realizations, for example, can be imitated, but you cant imitate this, it is there is no equivalent.
Its like the extraordinary feeling I had in my experience that night [January 24]the individuality, even in its highest consciousness, even whats known as the atman13 and the soul, had nothing to do with it. For it comes like this (same gesture), with an absoluteness. There is NO individual participationits a decision coming from the Supreme.
0 1961-03-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mon petit, I dont claim to be totally universal, but in any case I am open enough to receive. You see, given the quantity of material I have taken into my consciousness, its quite natural that the body bears the consequences. There is nothing, not one wrong movement, that my body doesnt feel5; generally, though, things are automatically set in order (gesture indicating that Mother automatically purifies and masters the vibrations coming to her). But there are timesespecially when it coincides with a revolt of adverse forces who dont want to give up their doMain and enter into battle with all their mightwhen I must admit its hard. If I had some hours of solitude it would be easier. But particularly during the period of my Playground activities, I was badgered, harassed; I would rush from one thing to the next, one thing to the next, I had no nights to speak ofnights of two and a half or three hours rest, which isnt enough, theres no time to put things in order.
Under those conditions I could only hold the thing like this (same gesture of muzzling the illness or holding it in abeyance).
0 1961-03-14, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There is the sense of all things being organized, concentrated and arranged according to a rhythm, and if one manages to Maintain the equilibrium of this rhythm, something permanent results.
(Mother reMains absorbed within herself) The equilibrium of this rhythm the progressive, ascending equilibrium of this rhythmis what, for Matter, must constitute Immortality.
Yet even so.
0 1961-03-17, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The experience occurred in a place corresponding to ours [the Main Ashram building], but immense: the rooms were ten times bigger, but absolutely one cant say emptythey were barren. Not that there was nothing in them, but nothing was in order, everything was just where it shouldnt be. There wasnt any furniture so things were strewn here and therea dreadful disarray! Things were being put to uses they werent made for, yet nothing needed for a particular purpose could be found. The whole section having to do with education [the Ashram School] was in almost total darkness: the lights were out with no way to switch them on, and people were wandering about and coming to me with incoherent, stupid proposals. I tried to find a comer where I could rest (not because I was tired; I simply wanted to concentrate a little and get a clear vision in the midst of it all), but it was impossible, no one would leave me alone. Finally I put a tottering armchair and a footstool end-to-end and tried to rest; but someone immediately came up (I know who, Im purposely not giving names) and said, Oh! This wont do at all! It CANT be arranged like that! Then he began making noise, commotion, disorderwell, it was awful.
To wind it all up, I went to Sri Aurobindos rooman enormous, enormous room, but in the same state. And he appeared to be in an eternal consciousness, entirely detached from everything yet very clearly aware of our total incapacity.
0 1961-03-21, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I had told N. to knock at the door when he arrived with X, but he didnt do itluckily I heard the door opening. I stood up, still in that state and almost fell over! X must have thought I was having a spell of weakness or something, because I was holding onto the arms of the chair, and when I took his flowers, my hands were trembling I wasnt in my body. And afterwards, ah, what a concentration! We reMained in it for about thirty-five minutes. It was SOLIDan extraordinary solidity! I didnt want to waste time waiting for it to subside before coming here, and you must have seen how I was when I arrived: like a sleepwalker! I said to the people I passed in the corridor, Im coming back, Im coming back! Thats all I could say, like an idiot.
(silence)
--
Z was Satprem's first guru when he became a sannyasi. Then Z tried to exert his control over Satprem and predicted to Mother that he would never reMain in the Ashram. Finally Satprem broke with him and Z went away furious.
Satprem has never believed for a minute that Z practiced black magic against Mother: it must have been something or someone else.
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