TERMS STARTING WITH
Headaches arc not due !o Ihc pressure or produecd by it, but produced by a resUtancc.
Headache
Heart-lotus — emotional centre. The psychic is behind it.
Heart-lotus—emotional centre. The psychic is behind it.
Heart opening ::: The heart opens to the psychic being and the mind centres open to the higher consciousness and the nexus between the psychic being and the higher consciousness is the principal means of the siddhi.
Heart
He felt a sap of life, a sap of death;
He felt the invasion and the nameless joy.”
He joined the sessions of Infinity.
He made of miracle a normal act
He may more and more descend mto us and be present m them all and pervade them with all Hjs will and power. His light and
He mint ln%c lomriljm,*: In him which naVr% the ccrta.t with th: Dninc ptndhtc. mmcthirip uh»ch c^cn tf f»c n !»«■<.
He must live in his o^v^ soul beyond the written Truth. For he is not the sadhaka of a book or of many books ; he is a sadhaka of the Infinite.
He ransacks earth for means to harm his kind;
Her beating heart a remembrancer of bliss.
Herculean ::: Herculean—after Hercules, one of the greatest heroes of classical mythology, he is supposed to have been the strongest man on earth. He was renowned for completing twelve seemingly impossible tasks—the Labors of Hercules.
Heredity affects strongly the external being ; besides, all the effects of heredity are not accepted even there, only those .that are in consonance with what we arc to be or not preventive of it at least.
Here is a formal definition:
Here is Yeats’ great poem, Sailing to Byzantium using the word, artifice.
Here, it might be supposed, the whole action and aim of
Here, the living divine person in Aswapathy, finding earth too trifling, exceeds it and grows larger and larger, higher and higher, to encompass the unconquered worlds above.” The Book of the Divine Mother
Here too the achievement of the spiritual consciousness and life is supposed to annul or give the power to annul karma. For we enter into union with the Will Divine, cosmic or transcendent, which can annul what it had created, the narrow fixed lines dis- appear, there is a more plastic freedom and wideness.
Here too the gracious mighty Angel poured
Her forms hide what they house and only mime
Her splendour and her swiftness and her thrill,
He slays his happiness and others’ good.
He wears the blood-glued fiery Centaur shirt,
headache ::: n. --> Pain in the head; cephalalgia.
HEADACHE. ::: Sometimes when one has pulled or strained, there is a headache or a sensation as if of headache, or if one pulls down too much Force then there may be a giddiness, but one has only to remain quiet and that sets itself right by an assimilation of what has come down or otherwise.
headachy ::: a. --> Afflicted with headache.
headband ::: n. --> A fillet; a band for the head.
The band at each end of the back of a book.
headbeard ::: n. --> A board or boarding which marks or forms the head of anything; as, the headboard of a bed; the headboard of a grave.
headborough ::: n. --> Alt. of Headborrow
headborrow ::: n. --> The chief of a frankpledge, tithing, or decennary, consisting of ten families; -- called also borsholder, boroughhead, boroughholder, and sometimes tithingman. See Borsholder.
A petty constable.
head-cheese ::: n. --> A dish made of portions of the head, or head and feet, of swine, cut up fine, seasoned, and pressed into a cheeselike mass.
headdresses ::: decorative coverings for the head.
headdress ::: n. --> A covering or ornament for the head; a headtire.
A manner of dressing the hair or of adorning it, whether with or without a veil, ribbons, combs, etc.
headed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Head ::: a. --> Furnished with a head (commonly as denoting intellectual faculties); -- used in composition; as, clear-headed, long-headed, thick-headed; a many-headed monster.
Formed into a head; as, a headed cabbage.
header ::: n. --> One who, or that which, heads nails, rivets, etc., esp. a machine for heading.
One who heads a movement, a party, or a mob; head; chief; leader.
A brick or stone laid with its shorter face or head in the surface of the wall.
In framing, the piece of timber fitted between two trimmers, and supported by them, and carrying the ends of the
headfirst ::: adv. --> Alt. of Headforemost
headfish ::: n. --> The sunfish (Mola).
headforemost ::: adv. --> With the head foremost.
head gear ::: n. --> Alt. of Headgear
headgear ::: n. --> Headdress.
Apparatus above ground at the mouth of a mine or deep well.
head-hunter ::: n. --> A member of any tribe or race of savages who have the custom of decapitating human beings and preserving their heads as trophies. The Dyaks of Borneo are the most noted head-hunters.
headily ::: adv. --> In a heady or rash manner; hastily; rashly; obstinately.
headiness ::: n. --> The quality of being heady.
heading ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Head ::: n. --> The act or state of one who, or that which, heads; formation of a head.
That which stands at the head; title; as, the heading of a paper.
headland ::: n. --> A cape; a promontory; a point of land projecting into the sea or other expanse of water.
A ridge or strip of unplowed at the ends of furrows, or near a fence.
headless ::: a. --> Having no head; beheaded; as, a headless body, neck, or carcass.
Destitute of a chief or leader.
Destitute of understanding or prudence; foolish; rash; obstinate.
headlight ::: n. --> A light, with a powerful reflector, placed at the head of a locomotive, or in front of it, to throw light on the track at night, or in going through a dark tunnel.
headline ::: n. --> The line at the head or top of a page.
See Headrope.
headlong ::: 1. With the head leading; headfirst. 2. At breakneck speed or with uncontrolled force. 3. In an impetuous manner; rashly.
headlong ::: a. & adv. --> With the head foremost; as, to fall headlong.
Rashly; precipitately; without deliberation.
Hastily; without delay or respite. ::: a. --> Rash; precipitate; as, headlong folly.
Steep; precipitous.
head-lugged ::: a. --> Lugged or dragged by the head.
headman ::: n. --> A head or leading man, especially of a village community.
headmen ::: pl. --> of Headman
headmold shot ::: --> Alt. of Headmould shot
headmost ::: a. --> Most advanced; most forward; as, the headmost ship in a fleet.
headmould shot ::: --> An old name for the condition of the skull, in which the bones ride, or are shot, over each other at the sutures.
headnote ::: n. --> A note at the head of a page or chapter; in law reports, an abstract of a case, showing the principles involved and the opinion of the court.
head ::: n. --> The anterior or superior part of an animal, containing the brain, or chief ganglia of the nervous system, the mouth, and in the higher animals, the chief sensory organs; poll; cephalon.
The uppermost, foremost, or most important part of an inanimate object; such a part as may be considered to resemble the head of an animal; often, also, the larger, thicker, or heavier part or extremity, in distinction from the smaller or thinner part, or from the point or edge; as, the head of a cane, a nail, a spear, an ax, a mast,
headpan ::: n. --> The brainpan.
headpiece ::: n. --> Head.
A cap of defense; especially, an open one, as distinguished from the closed helmet of the Middle Ages.
Understanding; mental faculty.
An engraved ornament at the head of a chapter, or of a page.
headquarters ::: a centre of operations.
headquarters ::: n. sing. --> The quarters or place of residence of any chief officer, as the general in command of an army, or the head of a police force; the place from which orders or instructions are issued; hence, the center of authority or order.
headrace ::: n. --> See Race, a water course.
headroom ::: n. --> See Headway, 2.
headrope ::: n. --> That part of a boltrope which is sewed to the upper edge or head of a sail.
headsail ::: n. --> Any sail set forward of the foremast.
headshake ::: n. --> A significant shake of the head, commonly as a signal of denial.
headship ::: n. --> Authority or dignity; chief place.
headsman ::: n. --> An executioner who cuts off heads.
headsmen ::: pl. --> of Headsman
headspring ::: n. --> Fountain; source.
headstall ::: n. --> That part of a bridle or halter which encompasses the head.
headstock ::: n. --> A part (usually separate from the bed or frame) for supporting some of the principal working parts of a machine
The part of a lathe that holds the revolving spindle and its attachments; -- also called poppet head, the opposite corresponding part being called a tailstock.
The part of a planing machine that supports the cutter, etc.
headstone ::: n. --> The principal stone in a foundation; the chief or corner stone.
The stone at the head of a grave.
headstrong ::: a. --> Not easily restrained; ungovernable; obstinate; stubborn.
Directed by ungovernable will, or proceeding from obstinacy.
headstrongness ::: n. --> Obstinacy.
headtire ::: n. --> A headdress.
The manner of dressing the head, as at a particular time and place.
headway ::: n. --> The progress made by a ship in motion; hence, progress or success of any kind.
Clear space under an arch, girder, and the like, sufficient to allow of easy passing underneath.
headwork ::: n. --> Mental labor.
heady ::: 1. Having an intoxicating quality. 2. Exciting; exhilarating.
heady ::: a. --> Willful; rash; precipitate; hurried on by will or passion; ungovernable.
Apt to affect the head; intoxicating; strong.
Violent; impetuous.
heal ::: 1. To restore to health or soundness; cure. 2.* Fig. To restore (a person) to spiritual wholeness. 3. To become whole and sound; return to health. 4. To bring to an end or conclusion, as conflicts between people or groups, usually with a strong implication of restoring former amity; settle; reconcile. *heals, healed, healing.
healable ::: a. --> Capable of being healed.
healall ::: n. --> A common herb of the Mint family (Brunela vulgaris), destitute of active properties, but anciently thought a panacea.
heald ::: n. --> A heddle.
healed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Heal
healful ::: a. --> Tending or serving to heal; healing.
healingly ::: adv. --> So as to heal or cure.
healing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Heal ::: a. --> Tending to cure; soothing; mollifying; as, the healing art; a healing salve; healing words.
healthful ::: a. --> Full of health; free from illness or disease; well; whole; sound; healthy; as, a healthful body or mind; a healthful plant.
Serving to promote health of body or mind; wholesome; salubrious; salutary; as, a healthful air, diet.
Indicating, characterized by, or resulting from, health or soundness; as, a healthful condition.
Well-disposed; favorable.
healthfully ::: adv. --> In health; wholesomely.
healthfulness ::: n. --> The state of being healthful.
healthily ::: adv. --> In a healthy manner.
healthiness ::: n. --> The state of being healthy or healthful; freedom from disease.
healthlessness ::: n. --> The state of being health/ess.
healthless ::: n. --> Without health, whether of body or mind; in firm.
Not conducive to health; unwholesome.
health ::: n. --> The state of being hale, sound, or whole, in body, mind, or soul; especially, the state of being free from physical disease or pain.
A wish of health and happiness, as in pledging a person in a toast.
healthsome ::: a. --> Wholesome; salubrious.
healthward ::: a. & adv. --> In the direction of health; as, a healthward tendency.
healthy ::: superl. --> Being in a state of health; enjoying health; hale; sound; free from disease; as, a healthy chid; a healthy plant.
Evincing health; as, a healthy pulse; a healthy complexion.
Conducive to health; wholesome; salubrious; salutary; as, a healthy exercise; a healthy climate.
heal ::: v. t. --> To cover, as a roof, with tiles, slate, lead, or the like.
To make hale, sound, or whole; to cure of a disease, wound, or other derangement; to restore to soundness or health.
To remove or subdue; to cause to pass away; to cure; -- said of a disease or a wound.
To restore to original purity or integrity.
To reconcile, as a breach or difference; to make whole; to free from guilt; as, to heal dissensions.
heam ::: n. --> The afterbirth or secundines of a beast.
heaped ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Heap
heaper ::: n. --> One who heaps, piles, or amasses.
heaping ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Heap
heap ::: n. 1. A group of things placed or thrown, one on top of the other. heaps. v. 2. To put, throw etc., in a pile. adj. heaped.**
heap ::: n. --> A crowd; a throng; a multitude or great number of persons.
A great number or large quantity of things not placed in a pile.
A pile or mass; a collection of things laid in a body, or thrown together so as to form an elevation; as, a heap of earth or stones. ::: v. t.
heapy ::: a. --> Lying in heaps.
heard ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Hear ::: --> imp. & p. p. of Hear.
hearer ::: n. --> One who hears; an auditor.
hearest ::: a native English form of the verb, to hear, now only in formal and poetic usage.
heariness ::: n. --> The quality of being hearty; as, the heartiness of a greeting.
hearing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Hear ::: n. --> The act or power of perceiving sound; perception of sound; the faculty or sense by which sound is perceived; as, my hearing is good.
Attention to what is delivered; opportunity to be heard;
hearkened ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Hearken
hearkened ::: listened attentively to; heeded. Now only poet.
hearkener ::: n. --> One who hearkens; a listener.
hearkening ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Hearken
hearken ::: v. i. --> To listen; to lend the ear; to attend to what is uttered; to give heed; to hear, in order to obey or comply.
To inquire; to seek information. ::: v. t. --> To hear by listening.
To give heed to; to hear attentively.
hearsal ::: n. --> Rehearsal.
hearsay ::: n. --> Report; rumor; fame; common talk; something heard from another.
hearsecloth ::: n. --> A cloth for covering a coffin when on a bier; a pall.
hearselike ::: a. --> Suitable to a funeral. html{color:
hearse ::: n. --> A hind in the year of its age.
A framework of wood or metal placed over the coffin or tomb of a deceased person, and covered with a pall; also, a temporary canopy bearing wax lights and set up in a church, under which the coffin was placed during the funeral ceremonies.
A grave, coffin, tomb, or sepulchral monument.
A bier or handbarrow for conveying the dead to the grave.
A carriage specially adapted or used for conveying the dead
heartache ::: n. --> Sorrow; anguish of mind; mental pang.
heart-bound
heartbreaking ::: a. --> Causing overpowering sorrow.
heartbreak ::: n. --> Crushing sorrow or grief; a yielding to such grief.
heartbroken ::: a. --> Overcome by crushing sorrow; deeply grieved.
heartburned ::: a. --> Having heartburn.
heartburning ::: a. --> Causing discontent. ::: n. --> Same as Heartburn.
Discontent; secret enmity.
heartburn ::: n. --> An uneasy, burning sensation in the stomach, often attended with an inclination to vomit. It is sometimes idiopathic, but is often a symptom of often complaints.
HEART CENTRE.* The physical heart is in the left side, but the heart centre of yoga is in the middle of the chest — the cardiac centre.
heartdear ::: a. --> Sincerely beloved.
heartdeep ::: a. --> Rooted in the heart.
heart-eating ::: a. --> Preying on the heart.
hearted ::: a. --> Having a heart; having (such) a heart (regarded as the seat of the affections, disposition, or character).
Shaped like a heart; cordate.
Seated or laid up in the heart.
heartedness ::: n. --> Earnestness; sincerity; heartiness.
heartener ::: n. --> One who, or that which, heartens, animates, or stirs up.
hearten ::: v. t. --> To encourage; to animate; to incite or stimulate the courage of; to embolden.
To restore fertility or strength to, as to land.
heartfelt ::: a. --> Hearty; sincere.
heartgrief ::: n. --> Heartache; sorrow.
hearth ::: n. --> The pavement or floor of brick, stone, or metal in a chimney, on which a fire is made; the floor of a fireplace; also, a corresponding part of a stove.
The house itself, as the abode of comfort to its inmates and of hospitality to strangers; fireside.
The floor of a furnace, on which the material to be heated lies, or the lowest part of a melting furnace, into which the melted material settles.
hearth-stone ::: a stone forming a hearth.
hearthstone ::: n. --> Stone forming the hearth; hence, the fireside; home.
hearth ::: the floor of a fireplace, usually extending into a room and paved with brick, flagstone, or cement.
hearties ::: pl. --> of Hearty
heartily ::: adv. --> From the heart; with all the heart; with sincerity.
With zeal; actively; vigorously; willingly; cordially; as, he heartily assisted the prince.
heartless ::: a. --> Without a heart.
Destitute of courage; spiritless; despodent.
Destitute of feeling or affection; unsympathetic; cruel.
heartlet ::: n. --> A little heart.
heartlings ::: interj. --> An exclamation used in addressing a familiar acquaintance.
heart ::: n. --> A hollow, muscular organ, which, by contracting rhythmically, keeps up the circulation of the blood.
The seat of the affections or sensibilities, collectively or separately, as love, hate, joy, grief, courage, and the like; rarely, the seat of the understanding or will; -- usually in a good sense, when no epithet is expressed; the better or lovelier part of our nature; the spring of all our actions and purposes; the seat of moral life and character; the moral affections and character itself; the individual
heartpea ::: n. --> Same as Heartseed.
heartquake ::: n. --> Trembling of the heart; trepidation; fear.
heartrending ::: a. --> Causing intense grief; overpowering with anguish; very distressing.
heart-robbing ::: a. --> Depriving of thought; ecstatic.
Stealing the heart or affections; winning.
heartseed ::: n. --> A climbing plant of the genus Cardiospermum, having round seeds which are marked with a spot like a heart.
heartshaped ::: a. --> Having the shape of a heart; cordate.
heartsick ::: a. --> Sick at heart; extremely depressed in spirits; very despondent.
heartsome ::: a. --> Merry; cheerful; lively.
heart-spoon ::: n. --> A part of the breastbone.
heart ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The heart in Vedic psychology is not restricted to the seat of the emotions; it includes all that large tract of spontaneous mentality, nearest to the subconscient in us, out of which rise the sensations, emotions, instincts, impulses and all those intuitions and inspirations that travel through these agencies before they arrive at form in the intelligence.” *The Secret of the Veda
heartstricken ::: a. --> Shocked; dismayed.
heartstrike ::: v. t. --> To affect at heart; to shock.
heartstring ::: n. --> A nerve or tendon, supposed to brace and sustain the heart.
heart-strings
heartstruck ::: a. --> Driven to the heart; infixed in the mind.
Shocked with pain, fear, or remorse; dismayed; heartstricken.
heartswelling ::: a. --> Rankling in, or swelling, the heart.
heart ::: “The heart in Vedic psychology is not restricted to the seat of the emotions; it includes all that large tract of spontaneous mentality, nearest to the subconscient in us, out of which rise the sensations, emotions, instincts, impulses and all those intuitions and inspirations that travel through these agencies before they arrive at form in the intelligence.” The Secret of the Veda
heart-throb ::: 1. A rapid beat or pulsation of the heart. **2. **Fig. Passionate or sentimental emotion.
heart-whole ::: a. --> Having the heart or affections free; not in love.
With unbroken courage; undismayed.
Of a single and sincere heart.
heartwood ::: n. --> The hard, central part of the trunk of a tree, consisting of the old and matured wood, and usually differing in color from the outer layers. It is technically known as duramen, and distinguished from the softer sapwood or alburnum.
heart-wounded ::: a. --> Wounded to the heart with love or grief.
heartyhale ::: a. --> Good for the heart.
hearty ::: superl. --> Pertaining to, or proceeding from, the heart; warm; cordial; bold; zealous; sincere; willing; also, energetic; active; eager; as, a hearty welcome; hearty in supporting the government.
Exhibiting strength; sound; healthy; firm; not weak; as, a hearty timber.
Promoting strength; nourishing; rich; abundant; as, hearty food; a hearty meal.
hear ::: v. t. --> To perceive by the ear; to apprehend or take cognizance of by the ear; as, to hear sounds; to hear a voice; to hear one call.
To give audience or attention to; to listen to; to heed; to accept the doctrines or advice of; to obey; to examine; to try in a judicial court; as, to hear a recitation; to hear a class; the case will be heard to-morrow.
To attend, or be present at, as hearer or worshiper; as, to hear a concert; to hear Mass.
heated ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Heat
heater ::: n. --> One who, or that which, heats.
Any contrivance or implement, as a furnace, stove, or other heated body or vessel, etc., used to impart heat to something, or to contain something to be heated.
heathclad ::: a. --> Clad or crowned with heath.
heathendom ::: n. --> That part of the world where heathenism prevails; the heathen nations, considered collectively.
Heathenism.
heathenesse ::: n. --> Heathendom.
heathenish ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the heathen; resembling or characteristic of heathens.
Rude; uncivilized; savage; cruel.
Irreligious; as, a heathenish way of living.
heathenishly ::: adv. --> In a heathenish manner.
heathenishness ::: n. --> The state or quality of being heathenish.
heathenism ::: n. --> The religious system or rites of a heathen nation; idolatry; paganism.
The manners or morals usually prevalent in a heathen country; ignorance; rudeness; barbarism.
heathenized ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Heathenize
heathenize ::: v. t. --> To render heathen or heathenish.
heathenizing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Heathenize
heathenness ::: n. --> State of being heathen or like the heathen.
heathen ::: pl. --> of Heathen ::: n. --> An individual of the pagan or unbelieving nations, or those which worship idols and do not acknowledge the true God; a pagan; an idolater.
An irreligious person.
heathenry ::: n. --> The state, quality, or character of the heathen.
Heathendom; heathen nations.
heathens ::: pl. --> of Heathen
heather ::: n. --> Heath.
heathery ::: a. --> Heathy; abounding in heather; of the nature of heath.
heath ::: n. --> A low shrub (Erica, / Calluna, vulgaris), with minute evergreen leaves, and handsome clusters of pink flowers. It is used in Great Britain for brooms, thatch, beds for the poor, and for heating ovens. It is also called heather, and ling.
Also, any species of the genus Erica, of which several are European, and many more are South African, some of great beauty. See Illust. of Heather.
A place overgrown with heath; any cheerless tract of country
heathy ::: a. --> Full of heath; abounding with heath; as, heathy land; heathy hills.
heatingly ::: adv. --> In a heating manner; so as to make or become hot or heated.
heating ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Heat ::: a. --> That heats or imparts heat; promoting warmth or heat; exciting action; stimulating; as, heating medicines or applications.
heatless ::: a. --> Destitute of heat; cold.
heat ::: n. --> A force in nature which is recognized in various effects, but especially in the phenomena of fusion and evaporation, and which, as manifested in fire, the sun&
heaved ::: imp. --> of Heave ::: p. p. --> of Heave
heaven ::: 1. Any of the places in or beyond the sky conceived of as domains of divine beings in various religions. 2. The sky or universe as seen from the earth; the firmament. 3.* Fig. A condition or place of great happiness, delight, or pleasure. *Heaven, heaven"s, Heaven"s, heavens, heaven-air, heaven-bare, heaven-bliss, heaven-born, heaven-bound, heaven-fire, heaven-hints, heaven-leap, Heaven-light, heaven-lights, Heaven-nature"s, heaven-nymphs, heaven-pillaring, heaven-pleased, heaven-rapture"s, heaven-sent, heaven-sentience, heaven-surrounded, heaven-truth, heaven-use, heaven-worlds.
heave ::: n. 1. The act of lifting something with great effort. heavings. v. 2. To rise up or swell, as if pushed up; bulge. 3. An upward movement (especially a rhythmical rising and falling). heaves, heaved.
heaven-bird
heavened ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Heaven
heavening ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Heaven
heavenize ::: v. t. --> To render like heaven or fit for heaven.
heavenliness ::: n. --> The state or quality of being heavenly.
heavenly ::: a. --> Pertaining to, resembling, or inhabiting heaven; celestial; not earthly; as, heavenly regions; heavenly music.
Appropriate to heaven in character or happiness; perfect; pure; supremely blessed; as, a heavenly race; the heavenly, throng. ::: adv. --> In a manner resembling that of heaven.
heavenlyminded ::: a. --> Having the thoughts and affections placed on, or suitable for, heaven and heavenly objects; devout; godly; pious.
heavenly ::: of or relating to the firmament as the abode of God; celestial. heavenlier, heavenliest, heavenliness.
heaven ::: n. --> The expanse of space surrounding the earth; esp., that which seems to be over the earth like a great arch or dome; the firmament; the sky; the place where the sun, moon, and stars appear; -- often used in the plural in this sense.
The dwelling place of the Deity; the abode of bliss; the place or state of the blessed after death.
The sovereign of heaven; God; also, the assembly of the blessed, collectively; -- used variously in this sense, as in No. 2.
heavens, triple
heavenward ::: a & adv. --> Toward heaven.
heavenward ::: directed or tending towards heaven.
heave offering ::: --> An offering or oblation heaved up or elevated before the altar, as the shoulder of the peace offering. See Wave offering.
heaver ::: n. --> One who, or that which, heaves or lifts; a laborer employed on docks in handling freight; as, a coal heaver.
A bar used as a lever.
heaves ::: n. --> A disease of horses, characterized by difficult breathing, with heaving of the flank, wheezing, flatulency, and a peculiar cough; broken wind.
heave ::: v. t. --> To cause to move upward or onward by a lifting effort; to lift; to raise; to hoist; -- often with up; as, the wave heaved the boat on land.
To throw; to cast; -- obsolete, provincial, or colloquial, except in certain nautical phrases; as, to heave the lead; to heave the log.
To force from, or into, any position; to cause to move; also, to throw off; -- mostly used in certain nautical phrases; as, to
heavily ::: adv. --> In a heavy manner; with great weight; as, to bear heavily on a thing; to be heavily loaded.
As if burdened with a great weight; slowly and laboriously; with difficulty; hence, in a slow, difficult, or suffering manner; sorrowfully.
heavily ::: very slowly and with difficulty; laboriously.
heaviness ::: n. --> The state or quality of being heavy in its various senses; weight; sadness; sluggishness; oppression; thickness.
heaviness ::: the quality of being weighed down; burdensome.
heaving ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Heave ::: n. --> A lifting or rising; a swell; a panting or deep sighing.
heavisome ::: a. --> Heavy; dull.
heavy ::: 1. Having relatively great weight. lit. and fig. 2. Weighed down; burdened. 3. Marked by or exhibiting weariness. 4. Without vivacity or interest; ponderous; dull. 5. Not easily borne; oppressive; burdensome; harsh. 6. Hard to cope with; trying; difficult. 7. Weighed down with sorrow or grief; sorrowful, sad, grieved, despondent. 8. Deep, profound, intense. 9. Of great import or seriousness; grave. 10. Sober, serious, sombre or tragic. 11. With great force, intensity, turbulence, etc. 12. Having considerable thickness or substance. 13. Lacking vitality; deficient in vivacity or grace. 14. Emotionally weighed down; despondent. heavier.
heavy ::: a. --> Having the heaves. ::: superl. --> Heaved or lifted with labor; not light; weighty; ponderous; as, a heavy stone; hence, sometimes, large in extent, quantity, or effects; as, a heavy fall of rain or snow; a heavy failure; heavy business transactions, etc.; often implying strength;
heavy-armed ::: a. --> Wearing heavy or complete armor; carrying heavy arms.
heavy-footed
heavy-haded ::: a. --> Clumsy; awkward.
heavy-headed ::: a. --> Dull; stupid.
heavy spar ::: --> Native barium sulphate or barite, -- so called because of its high specific gravity as compared with other non-metallic minerals.
hebdomadal ::: a. --> Alt. of Hebdomadary
hebdomadally ::: adv. --> In periods of seven days; weekly.
hebdomadary ::: a. --> Consisting of seven days, or occurring at intervals of seven days; weekly. ::: n. --> A member of a chapter or convent, whose week it is to officiate in the choir, and perform other services, which, on extraordinary occasions, are performed by the superiors.
hebdomad ::: n. --> A week; a period of seven days.
hebdomatical ::: a. --> Weekly; hebdomadal.
heben ::: n. --> Ebony.
hebenon ::: n. --> See Henbane.
hebe ::: n. --> The goddess of youth, daughter of Jupiter and Juno. She was believed to have the power of restoring youth and beauty to those who had lost them.
An African ape; the hamadryas.
hebetated ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Hebetate
hebetate ::: v. t. --> To render obtuse; to dull; to blunt; to stupefy; as, to hebetate the intellectual faculties. ::: a. --> Obtuse; dull.
Having a dull or blunt and soft point.
hebetating ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Hebetate
hebetation ::: n. --> The act of making blunt, dull, or stupid.
The state of being blunted or dulled.
hebete ::: a. --> Dull; stupid.
hebetude ::: n. --> Dullness; stupidity.
hebraically ::: adv. --> After the manner of the Hebrews or of the Hebrew language.
hebraic ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the Hebrews, or to the language of the Hebrews.
hebraism ::: n. --> A Hebrew idiom or custom; a peculiar expression or manner of speaking in the Hebrew language.
The type of character of the Hebrews.
hebraistically ::: adv. --> In a Hebraistic sense or form.
hebraistic ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or resembling, the Hebrew language or idiom.
hebraist ::: n. --> One versed in the Hebrew language and learning.
hebraized ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Hebraize
hebraize ::: v. t. --> To convert into the Hebrew idiom; to make Hebrew or Hebraistic. ::: v. i. --> To speak Hebrew, or to conform to the Hebrew idiom, or to Hebrew customs.
hebraizing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Hebraize
hebrewess ::: n. --> An Israelitish woman.
hebrew ::: n. --> An appellative of Abraham or of one of his descendants, esp. in the line of Jacob; an Israelite; a Jew.
The language of the Hebrews; -- one of the Semitic family of languages. ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the Hebrews; as, the Hebrew language or
hebrician ::: n. --> A Hebraist.
hebridean ::: a. --> Alt. of Hebridian
hebridian ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the islands called Hebrides, west of Scotland. ::: n. --> A native or inhabitant of the Hebrides.
hecatomb ::: n. --> A sacrifice of a hundred oxen or cattle at the same time; hence, the sacrifice or slaughter of any large number of victims.
hecatompedon ::: n. --> A name given to the old Parthenon at Athens, because measuring 100 Greek feet, probably in the width across the stylobate.
hecdecane ::: n. --> A white, semisolid, spermaceti-like hydrocarbon, C16H34, of the paraffin series, found dissolved as an important ingredient of kerosene, and so called because each molecule has sixteen atoms of carbon; -- called also hexadecane.
heckimal ::: n. --> The European blue titmouse (Parus coeruleus).
heckle ::: n. & v. t. --> Same as Hackle.
heck ::: n. --> The bolt or latch of a door.
A rack for cattle to feed at.
A door, especially one partly of latticework; -- called also heck door.
A latticework contrivance for catching fish.
An apparatus for separating the threads of warps into sets, as they are wound upon the reel from the bobbins, in a warping machine.
A bend or winding of a stream.
hectare ::: n. --> A measure of area, or superficies, containing a hundred ares, or 10,000 square meters, and equivalent to 2.471 acres.
hectic ::: a. --> Habitual; constitutional; pertaining especially to slow waste of animal tissue, as in consumption; as, a hectic type in disease; a hectic flush.
In a hectic condition; having hectic fever; consumptive; as, a hectic patient. ::: n.
hectocotyli ::: pl. --> of Hectocotylus
hectocotylized ::: a. --> Changed into a hectocotylus; having a hectocotylis.
hectocotylus ::: n. --> One of the arms of the male of most kinds of cephalopods, which is specially modified in various ways to effect the fertilization of the eggs. In a special sense, the greatly modified arm of Argonauta and allied genera, which, after receiving the spermatophores, becomes detached from the male, and attaches itself to the female for reproductive purposes.
hectogramme ::: n. --> The same as Hectogram.
hectogram ::: n. --> A measure of weight, containing a hundred grams, or about 3.527 ounces avoirdupois.
hectograph ::: n. --> A contrivance for multiple copying, by means of a surface of gelatin softened with glycerin.
hectoliter ::: n. --> Alt. of Hectolitre
hectolitre ::: n. --> A measure of liquids, containing a hundred liters; equal to a tenth of a cubic meter, nearly 26/ gallons of wine measure, or 22.0097 imperial gallons. As a dry measure, it contains ten decaliters, or about 2/ Winchester bushels.
hectometer ::: n. --> Alt. of Hectometre
hectometre ::: n. --> A measure of length, equal to a hundred meters. It is equivalent to 328.09 feet.
hectored ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Hector
hectoring ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Hector
hectorism ::: n. --> The disposition or the practice of a hector; a bullying.
hectorly ::: a. --> Resembling a hector; blustering; insolent; taunting.
hector ::: n. --> A bully; a blustering, turbulent, insolent, fellow; one who vexes or provokes. ::: v. t. --> To treat with insolence; to threaten; to bully; hence, to torment by words; to tease; to taunt; to worry or irritate by bullying.
hectostere ::: n. --> A measure of solidity, containing one hundred cubic meters, and equivalent to 3531.66 English or 3531.05 United States cubic feet.
heddle-eye ::: n. --> The eye or loop formed in each heddle to receive a warp thread.
heddle ::: n. --> One of the sets of parallel doubled threads which, with mounting, compose the harness employed to guide the warp threads to the lathe or batten in a loom. ::: v. t. --> To draw (the warp thread) through the heddle-eyes, in weaving.
heddles ::: pl. --> of Heddle
heddling ::: vb. n. --> The act of drawing the warp threads through the heddle-eyes of a weaver&
hederaceous ::: a. --> Of, pertaining to, or resembling, ivy.
hederal ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to ivy.
hederic ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or derived from, the ivy (Hedera); as, hederic acid, an acid of the acetylene series.
hederiferous ::: a. --> Producing ivy; ivy-bearing.
hederose ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or of, ivy; full of ivy.
hedgeborn ::: a. --> Born under a hedge; of low birth.
hedgebote ::: n. --> Same as Haybote.
hedged ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Hedge
hedgehog ::: n. --> A small European insectivore (Erinaceus Europaeus), and other allied species of Asia and Africa, having the hair on the upper part of its body mixed with prickles or spines. It is able to roll itself into a ball so as to present the spines outwardly in every direction. It is nocturnal in its habits, feeding chiefly upon insects.
The Canadian porcupine.
A species of Medicago (M. intertexta), the pods of which are armed with short spines; -- popularly so called.
hedgeless ::: a. --> Having no hedge.
hedge ::: n.** 1. A row of closely planted shrubs or low-growing trees forming a fence or boundary. 2. Any barrier or boundary. hedges. v. 3. To hem in, hinder, or restrict with or as if with a hedge. hedged, fate-hedged. **
hedge ::: n. --> A thicket of bushes, usually thorn bushes; especially, such a thicket planted as a fence between any two portions of land; and also any sort of shrubbery, as evergreens, planted in a line or as a fence; particularly, such a thicket planted round a field to fence it, or in rows to separate the parts of a garden. ::: v. t.
hedgepig ::: n. --> A young hedgehog.
hedger ::: n. --> One who makes or mends hedges; also, one who hedges, as, in betting.
hedgerow ::: n. --> A row of shrubs, or trees, planted for inclosure or separation of fields.
hedging bill ::: --> A hedge bill. See under Hedge.
hedging ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Hedge
hedonic ::: a. --> Pertaining to pleasure.
Of or relating to Hedonism or the Hedonic sect.
hedonism ::: devotion to pleasure as a way of life.
hedonistic ::: a. --> Same as Hedonic, 2.
heeded ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Heed
heedful ::: a. --> Full of heed; regarding with care; cautious; circumspect; attentive; vigilant.
heeding ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Heed
heedless ::: a. --> Without heed or care; inattentive; careless; thoughtless; unobservant.
heedless ::: careless; thoughtless; unmindful.
heedless.
heed ::: n. 1. Close and careful attention. v. 2. To pay close attention to (someone or something). heeds.
heed ::: v. t. --> To mind; to regard with care; to take notice of; to attend to; to observe. ::: v. i. --> To mind; to consider. ::: n.
heedy ::: a. --> Heedful.
heelball ::: n. --> A composition of wax and lampblack, used by shoemakers for polishing, and by antiquaries in copying inscriptions.
heeled ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Heel
heeler ::: n. --> A cock that strikes well with his heels or spurs.
A dependent and subservient hanger-on of a political patron.
heeling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Heel
heelless ::: a. --> Without a heel.
heelpiece ::: n. --> A piece of armor to protect the heels.
A piece of leather fixed on the heel of a shoe.
The end.
heelpost ::: n. --> The post supporting the outer end of a propeller shaft.
The post to which a gate or door is hinged.
The quoin post of a lock gate.
heelspur ::: n. --> A slender bony or cartilaginous process developed from the heel bone of bats. It helps to support the wing membranes. See Illust. of Cheiropter.
heeltap ::: n. --> One of the segments of leather in the heel of a shoe.
A small portion of liquor left in a glass after drinking. ::: v. t. --> To add a piece of leather to the heel of (a shoe, boot, etc.)
heeltapped ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Heeltap
heeltapping ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Heeltap
heel ::: the rounded posterior portion of the human foot under and behind the ankle. Also fig.
heeltool ::: n. --> A tool used by turners in metal, having a bend forming a heel near the cutting end.
heel ::: v. i. --> To lean or tip to one side, as a ship; as, the ship heels aport; the boat heeled over when the squall struck it. ::: n. --> The hinder part of the foot; sometimes, the whole foot; -- in man or quadrupeds.
The hinder part of any covering for the foot, as of a shoe,
heep ::: n. --> The hip of the dog-rose.
heer ::: n. --> A yarn measure of six hundred yards or / of a spindle. See Spindle.
Hair.
hefted ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Heft
hefting ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Heft
heft ::: n. --> Same as Haft, n.
The act or effort of heaving/ violent strain or exertion.
Weight; ponderousness.
The greater part or bulk of anything; as, the heft of the crop was spoiled. :::
hefty ::: a. --> Moderately heavy.
hegelian ::: a. --> Pertaining to Hegelianism. ::: n. --> A follower of Hegel.
hegelianism ::: n. --> Alt. of Hegelism
hegelism ::: n. --> The system of logic and philosophy set forth by Hegel, a German writer (1770-1831).
hegemonic ::: a. --> Alt. of Hegemonical
hegemonical ::: a. --> Leading; controlling; ruling; predominant.
hegemony ::: n. --> Leadership; preponderant influence or authority; -- usually applied to the relation of a government or state to its neighbors or confederates.
hegemony ::: the predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others.
hegge ::: n. --> A hedge.
hegira ::: n. --> The flight of Mohammed from Mecca, September 13, A. D. 622 (subsequently established as the first year of the Moslem era); hence, any flight or exodus regarded as like that of Mohammed.
heifer ::: n. --> A young cow.
heigh-ho ::: interj. --> An exclamation of surprise, joy, dejection, uneasiness, weariness, etc.
height ::: 1. A high point or position. 2. Elevation above a given level, as of the sun or a star above the horizon; altitude. Also fig. 3. The highest or most advanced degree, material or immaterial; the zenith. heights.
heighten ::: 1. To make high or higher; raise. 2. To raise or increase the quantity or degree of; intensify. heightened, heightening.
heightened ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Heighten
heightener ::: n. --> One who, or that which, heightens.
heightening ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Heighten
heighten ::: v. t. --> To make high; to raise higher; to elevate.
To carry forward; to advance; to increase; to augment; to aggravate; to intensify; to render more conspicuous; -- used of things, good or bad; as, to heighten beauty; to heighten a flavor or a tint.
height ::: n. --> The condition of being high; elevated position.
The distance to which anything rises above its foot, above that on which in stands, above the earth, or above the level of the sea; altitude; the measure upward from a surface, as the floor or the ground, of animal, especially of a man; stature.
Degree of latitude either north or south.
That which is elevated; an eminence; a hill or mountain; as, Alpine heights.
heinous ::: a. --> Hateful; hatefully bad; flagrant; odious; atrocious; giving great great offense; -- applied to deeds or to character.
heir ::: a person who is entitled by law or by the terms of a will to inherit the estate of another. heirs.
heirdom ::: n. --> The state of an heir; succession by inheritance.
heiress ::: n. --> A female heir.
heirless ::: a. --> Destitute of an heir.
heirloom ::: n. --> Any furniture, movable, or personal chattel, which by law or special custom descends to the heir along with the inheritance; any piece of personal property that has been in a family for several generations.
heir ::: n. --> One who inherits, or is entitled to succeed to the possession of, any property after the death of its owner; one on whom the law bestows the title or property of another at the death of the latter.
One who receives any endowment from an ancestor or relation; as, the heir of one&
heirship ::: inheritance.
heirship ::: n. --> The state, character, or privileges of an heir; right of inheriting.
hejira ::: n. --> See Hegira.
hektare ::: n. --> Alt. of Hektometer
hektogram ::: n. --> Alt. of Hektometer
hektograph ::: n. --> See Hectograph.
hektoliter ::: n. --> Alt. of Hektometer
hektometer ::: n. --> Same as Hectare, Hectogram, Hectoliter, and Hectometer.
helamys ::: n. --> See Jumping hare, under Hare.
helcoplasty ::: n. --> The act or process of repairing lesions made by ulcers, especially by a plastic operation.
held ::: --> imp. & p. p. of Hold. ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Hold
helena ::: n. --> See St. Elmo&
hele ::: n. --> Health; welfare. ::: v. t. --> To hide; to cover; to roof.
helenin ::: n. --> A neutral organic substance found in the root of the elecampane (Inula helenium), and extracted as a white crystalline or oily material, with a slightly bitter taste.
heliac ::: a. --> Heliacal.
heliacal ::: a. --> Emerging from the light of the sun, or passing into it; rising or setting at the same, or nearly the same, time as the sun.
heliacally ::: adv. --> In a heliacal manner.
helianthin ::: n. --> An artificial, orange dyestuff, analogous to tropaolin, and like it used as an indicator in alkalimetry; -- called also methyl orange.
helianthoid ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the Helianthoidea.
helianthoidea ::: n. pl. --> An order of Anthozoa; the Actinaria.
helical ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to, or in the form of, a helix; spiral; as, a helical staircase; a helical spring.
helices ::: pl. --> of Helix
helichrysum ::: n. --> A genus of composite plants, with shining, commonly white or yellow, or sometimes reddish, radiated involucres, which are often called "everlasting flowers."
heliciform ::: a. --> Having the form of a helix; spiral.
helicine ::: a. --> Curled; spiral; helicoid; -- applied esp. to certain arteries of the penis.
helicin ::: n. --> A glucoside obtained as a white crystalline substance by partial oxidation of salicin, from a willow (Salix Helix of Linnaeus.)
helicograph ::: n. --> An instrument for drawing spiral lines on a plane.
helicoidal ::: a. --> Same as Helicoid.
helicoid ::: a. --> Spiral; curved, like the spire of a univalve shell.
Shaped like a snail shell; pertaining to the Helicidae, or Snail family. ::: n. --> A warped surface which may be generated by a straight line moving in such a manner that every point of the line shall have a
heliconian ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to Helicon.
Like or pertaining to the butterflies of the genus Heliconius.
heliconia ::: n. --> One of numerous species of Heliconius, a genus of tropical American butterflies. The wings are usually black, marked with green, crimson, and white.
helicon ::: n. --> A mountain in Boeotia, in Greece, supposed by the Greeks to be the residence of Apollo and the Muses.
helicotrema ::: n. --> The opening by which the two scalae communicate at the top of the cochlea of the ear.
helio- ::: --> A combining form from Gr. "h`lios the sun.
heliocentric ::: a. --> Alt. of Heliocentrical
heliocentrical ::: a. --> pertaining to the sun&
heliochrome ::: n. --> A photograph in colors.
heliochromic ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or produced by, heliochromy.
heliochromy ::: n. --> The art of producing photographs in color.
heliographic ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to heliography or a heliograph; made by heliography.
heliograph ::: n. --> A picture taken by heliography; a photograph.
An instrument for taking photographs of the sun.
An apparatus for telegraphing by means of the sun&
heliography ::: n. --> Photography.
heliogravure ::: n. --> The process of photographic engraving.
heliolater ::: n. --> A worshiper of the sun.
heliolatry ::: n. --> Sun worship. See Sabianism.
heliolite ::: n. --> A fossil coral of the genus Heliolites, having twelve-rayed cells. It is found in the Silurian rocks.
heliometer ::: n. --> An instrument devised originally for measuring the diameter of the sun; now employed for delicate measurements of the distance and relative direction of two stars too far apart to be easily measured in the field of view of an ordinary telescope.
heliometric ::: a. --> Alt. of Heliometrical
heliometrical ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the heliometer, or to heliometry.
heliometry ::: n. --> The apart or practice of measuring the diameters of heavenly bodies, their relative distances, etc. See Heliometer.
heliopora ::: n. --> An East Indian stony coral now known to belong to the Alcyonaria; -- called also blue coral.
helioscope ::: n. --> A telescope or instrument for viewing the sun without injury to the eyes, as through colored glasses, or with mirrors which reflect but a small portion of light.
heliostat ::: n. --> An instrument consisting of a mirror moved by clockwork, by which a sunbeam is made apparently stationary, by being steadily directed to one spot during the whole of its diurnal period; also, a geodetic heliotrope.
heliotrope ::: n. --> An instrument or machine for showing when the sun arrived at the tropics and equinoctial line.
A plant of the genus Heliotropium; -- called also turnsole and girasole. H. Peruvianum is the commonly cultivated species with fragrant flowers.
An instrument for making signals to an observer at a distance, by means of the sun&
heliotroper ::: n. --> The person at a geodetic station who has charge of the heliotrope.
heliotropic ::: a. --> Manifesting heliotropism; turning toward the sun.
heliotropism ::: n. --> The phenomenon of turning toward the light, seen in many leaves and flowers.
heliotype ::: n. --> A picture obtained by the process of heliotypy.
heliotypic ::: a. --> Relating to, or obtained by, heliotypy.
heliotypy ::: n. --> A method of transferring pictures from photographic negatives to hardened gelatin plates from which impressions are produced on paper as by lithography.
heliozoa ::: n. pl. --> An order of fresh-water rhizopods having a more or less globular form, with slender radiating pseudopodia; the sun animalcule.
helispheric ::: a. --> Alt. of Helispherical
helispherical ::: a. --> Spiral.
helium ::: n. --> A gaseous element found in the atmospheres of the sun and earth and in some rare minerals.
helixes ::: pl. --> of Helix
helix ::: n. --> A nonplane curve whose tangents are all equally inclined to a given plane. The common helix is the curve formed by the thread of the ordinary screw. It is distinguished from the spiral, all the convolutions of which are in the plane.
A caulicule or little volute under the abacus of the Corinthian capital.
The incurved margin or rim of the external ear. See Illust. of Ear.
hell and heaven
HELL AND HEAVEN. ::: They arc often imaginary states of the soul or rather of the vital which it constructs about It after its passing. What is meant by hell is a painful passage through the vital or lingering there, as for instance, in many cases of suicide where one remains surrounded by the forces of suffering and turmoil created by this unnatural and violent exit. There are, of course, also worlds of mind and vital worlds which are penetrated with Joyful or dark experiences. One may pass through these as the result of things formed in the nature which create the necessary affimties, but the Idea of reward or retri- bution is a crude and vulgar conception which is a mere popular error.
hellanodic ::: n. --> A judge or umpire in games or combats.
hellbender ::: n. --> A large North American aquatic salamander (Protonopsis horrida or Menopoma Alleghaniensis). It is very voracious and very tenacious of life. Also called alligator, and water dog.
hellborn ::: a. --> Born in or of hell.
hellbred ::: a. --> Produced in hell.
hellbrewed ::: a. --> Prepared in hell.
hellbroth ::: n. --> A composition for infernal purposes; a magical preparation.
hell-cat ::: n. --> A witch; a hag.
hell-diver ::: n. --> The dabchick.
helldoomed ::: a. --> Doomed to hell.
helleborein ::: n. --> A poisonous glucoside accompanying helleborin in several species of hellebore, and extracted as a white crystalline substance with a bittersweet taste. It has a strong action on the heart, resembling digitalin.
hellebore ::: n. --> A genus of perennial herbs (Helleborus) of the Crowfoot family, mostly having powerfully cathartic and even poisonous qualities. H. niger is the European black hellebore, or Christmas rose, blossoming in winter or earliest spring. H. officinalis was the officinal hellebore of the ancients.
Any plant of several species of the poisonous liliaceous genus Veratrum, especially V. album and V. viride, both called white hellebore.
helleborin ::: n. --> A poisonous glucoside found in several species of hellebore, and extracted as a white crystalline substance with a sharp tingling taste. It possesses the essential virtues of the plant; -- called also elleborin.
helleborism ::: n. --> The practice or theory of using hellebore as a medicine.
hellene ::: n. --> A native of either ancient or modern Greece; a Greek.
hellenian ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the Hellenes, or Greeks.
hellenic ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the Hellenes, or inhabitants of Greece; Greek; Grecian. ::: n. --> The dialect, formed with slight variations from the Attic, which prevailed among Greek writers after the time of Alexander.
hellenism ::: n. --> A phrase or form of speech in accordance with genius and construction or idioms of the Greek language; a Grecism.
The type of character of the ancient Greeks, who aimed at culture, grace, and amenity, as the chief elements in human well-being and perfection.
hellenistic ::: a. --> Alt. of Hellenistical
hellenistical ::: a. --> Pertaining to the Hellenists.
hellenistically ::: adv. --> According to the Hellenistic manner or dialect.
hellenist ::: n. --> One who affiliates with Greeks, or imitates Greek manners; esp., a person of Jewish extraction who used the Greek language as his mother tongue, as did the Jews of Asia Minor, Greece, Syria, and Egypt; distinguished from the Hebraists, or native Jews (Acts vi. 1).
One skilled in the Greek language and literature; as, the critical Hellenist.
hellenize ::: v. i. --> To use the Greek language; to play the Greek; to Grecize. ::: v. t. --> To give a Greek form or character to; to Grecize; as, to Hellenize a word.
hellenotype ::: n. --> See Ivorytype.
hellespontine ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the Hellespont.
hellespont ::: n. --> A narrow strait between Europe and Asia, now called the Daradanelles. It connects the Aegean Sea and the sea of Marmora.
hellgamite ::: n. --> Alt. of Hellgramite
hellgramite ::: n. --> The aquatic larva of a large American winged insect (Corydalus cornutus), much used a fish bait by anglers; the dobson. It belongs to the Neuroptera.
hellhag ::: n. --> A hag of or fit for hell.
hell-haunted ::: a. --> Haunted by devils; hellish.
hellhound ::: n. --> A dog of hell; an agent of hell.
hell-hound
hellier ::: v. t. --> One who heles or covers; hence, a tiler, slater, or thatcher.
hellish ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to hell; like hell; infernal; malignant; wicked; detestable; diabolical.
hellkite ::: n. --> A kite of infernal breed.
hello ::: interj. & n. --> See Halloo.
hell ::: the abode of condemned souls and devils in some religions; the place of eternal punishment for the wicked after death. hell"s, hells.
hell ::: v. t. --> The place of the dead, or of souls after death; the grave; -- called in Hebrew sheol, and by the Greeks hades.
The place or state of punishment for the wicked after death; the abode of evil spirits. Hence, any mental torment; anguish.
A place where outcast persons or things are gathered
A dungeon or prison; also, in certain running games, a place to which those who are caught are carried for detention.
A gambling house.
hell ::: “What is meant by hell is a painful passage through the vital or lingering there, as for instance, in many cases of suicide where one remains surrounded by the forces of suffering and turmoil created by this unnatural and violent exit.” Letters on Yoga
HELPFUL FORCES. ::: If there are always forces around which are concerned to depress and discourage, there are always forces above and around us which we can draw upon, — draw into our- selves to restore, to fill up again with strength and faith and joy
HELPING OTHERS. ::: Do not be caught by the desire to
helpless ::: adj. **1. Deprived of strength or power; powerless; incapacitated. 2.* Unable to help oneself; weak or dependent. adv. helplessly. n.* helplessness.
hem ::: an edge or border as that of a cloth. Also fig. hems.
hemisphere ::: 1. Half of the terrestrial globe or celestial sphere. 2. The area within which something occurs or dominates; sphere; realm. hemispheres.
hemmed ::: confined or bound by an environment of any kind; enclosed, shut in, limited, restrained, imprisoned; often followed by in.
henceforth ::: from this time forward; from now on.
he ::: obj. --> The man or male being (or object personified to which the masculine gender is assigned), previously designated; a pronoun of the masculine gender, usually referring to a specified subject already indicated.
Any one; the man or person; -- used indefinitely, and usually followed by a relative pronoun.
Man; a male; any male person; -- in this sense used substantively.
herald ::: Sri Aurobindo employs the word as an adjective pertaining to an aspect of heraldry, i.e. a heraldic emblazonment or device; armorial bearings; heraldic symbolism.
heralds ::: those who proclaim or announce.
herbs ::: a flowering plant whose stem above ground does not become woody.
herculean ::: requiring tremendous effort, strength, etc. (Sri Aurobindo capitalises the word.)
herd ::: 1. A number of animals kept, feeding, or travelling together; drove; flock. 2. The multitude, the common people, the masses. herds, sun-herds.
herding ::: to gather together or be collected into or as if into a herd.
herds ::: gold horned herds trooped into earth’s cave-heart:
herdsman ::: one who is the keeper of a herd or tends to it.
HEREDITY. ::: Hereditary influence creates an aflinity and affinity is a long thing. It is only when the hereditary past is changed that the affinity ceases.
heresy ::: opinion or doctrine at variance with the orthodox or accepted doctrine esp. of a church or religious system.
heritage ::: something inherited at birth, such as personal characteristics, status, and possessions.
hermetic ::: 1. Having to do with the occult sciences, especially alchemy; magical. 2. Made airtight by fusion or sealing. 3. Not affected by outward influence or power; isolated.
hermitage ::: 1. The habitation of a hermit or group of hermits. 2. A place where one can live in seclusion; a retreat.
hermit ::: one who has withdrawn to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion; a recluse. hermits, hermit-life, hermit-roofs.
hero ::: 1. One who is distinguished by exceptional courage, nobility, fortitude, etc. 2. A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life (Sri Aurobindo also employs the word as an adj.) hero"s, heroes.
heroic ::: having, displaying, or characteristic of the qualities appropriate to a hero, such as bravery and courageousness.
hero :::
hesitates ::: pauses.
hesitating ::: 1. Pausing in uncertainty; wavering, vacillating. 2. Faltering in speech; expressing with hesitation.
hew ::: 1. To cut something by repeated blows, as of an axe. 2. To make or shape as with an axe. 3. To sever from a larger or another portion as with a blow. 4. To cut down with an axe; fell; slay. hews, hewed, hewn, hewing, hewer, half-hewn, rock-hewn. ::: rough-hewn. Shaped out roughly, given crude form to; worked or executed in the rough. (Here in reference to Satyavan"s abode.)
TERMS ANYWHERE
1. A distinctive and pervasive quality or character; air; atmosphere. 2. A subtle emanation from and enveloping living persons and things, viewed by mystics as consisting of the essence of the individual.
1. Anything whatever; any part. 2. A cypher, zero. Aught.
1. Hammered or struck repeatedly. 2. Defeated, vanquished, baffled, overcome.
1. The active opposition or mutual hostility of two opposing forces, physical or mental. 2. An opposing force, principle, or tendency.
1. The act, power or property of appealing, alluring, enticing or inviting. 2. A thing or feature which draws by appealing to desires, tastes, etc. 3. The action of a body or substance in drawing to itself, by some physical force, another to which it is not materially attached; the force thus exercised. attractions.
1. ‘The beginning and the end," originally of the divine Being. 2. The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.
1. To bring into musical accord or harmony; to tune. 2. To bring into accord, harmony, or sympathetic relationship; adjust. attuned, attuning.
1. Touchstone; a very smooth, fine-grained, black or dark-coloured variety of quartz or jasper (also called basanite), used for testing the quality of gold and silver alloys by the colour of the streak produced by rubbing them upon it; a piece of such stone used for this purpose. 2. *fig.* That which serves to test or try the genuineness or value of anything; a test, criterion.
1. Where something originated or was nurtured in its early existence. 2. The place where something begins, where it springs into being.
abandon ::: 1. To give oneself up, devote oneself to (a person or thing); to yield oneself without restraint. 2. To withdraw one"s support or help from, especially in spite of duty, allegiance, or responsibility; desert: leave behind. 3. To give up; discontinue; withdraw from. abandons, abandoned, abandoning.
abandoned ::: 1. Given up, deserted, forsaken, cast off. 2. Left completely and finally, without help or support. 3. adj. Deserted.
abhorred ::: regarded with extreme repugnance, aversion or disgust; detested; loathed. abhorring.
abject ::: utterly hopeless, miserable, humiliating, or wretched.
able to be heard; heard or perceptible by the ear; loud enough to be heard.
a body of executive officials collectively entrusted with the execution and administration of laws.
abolish ::: to put an end to, to do away with; to annul or make void; to demolish, destroy or annihilate. abolished, abolishing.
abroad ::: 1. Broadly, widely, at large, over a broad or wide surface; widely apart, with the parts or limbs wide spread. 2. At large; freely moving about.
abrupt ::: 1. Characterized by sudden interruption or change; unannounced and unexpected; sudden, hasty. 2. Precipitous, steep. 3. Of strata: Suddenly cropping out and presenting their edges.
absence ::: the state of being away (from any place) or not being present; also the time of duration of such state.
absolute ::: adj. 1. Free from all imperfection or deficiency; complete, finished; perfect, consummate. 2. Of degree: Complete, entire; in the fullest sense. 3. Having ultimate power, governing totally; unlimited by a constitution or the concurrent authority of a parliament; arbitrary, despotic. 4. Existing without relation to any other being; self-existent; self-sufficing. 5. Capable of being thought or conceived by itself alone; unconditioned. 6. Considered independently of its being subjective or objective. n. 7. Something that is not dependent upon external conditions for existence or for its specific nature, size, etc. (opposed to relative). Absolute, Absolute"s, absolutes, absoluteness.
absolute reality ::: Sri Aurobindo: "I would myself say that bliss and oneness are the essential condition of the absolute reality, and love as the most characteristic dynamic power of bliss and oneness must support fundamentally and colour their activities; . . . .” Letters on Yoga
absolve ::: 1. To free from guilt, blame or their consequences; discharge (from obligations, liabilities, etc.). 2. To set free, release. 3. To clear off, discharge, acquit oneself of (a task, etc.); to perform completely, accomplish, finish. absolves, absolved.
abstract ::: adj. 1. Withdrawn or separated from matter, from material embodiment, from practice, or from particular examples; theoretical. 2. In the fine arts, characterized by lack of or freedom from representational qualities. n. 3. Something that concentrates in itself the essential qualities of anything more extensive or more general, or of several things; essence.
abyss ::: 1. The great deep, the primal chaos; the ‘bowels of the earth", the supposed cavity of the lower world; the ‘infernal pit". 2. A bottomless gulf; any unfathomable or apparently unfathomable cavity or void space; a profound gulf, chasm, or void extending beneath. Abyss, abyss"s, abysses.
accent ::: 1. The way in which anything is said; pronunciation, tone, voice; sound, modulation or modification of the voice expressing feeling. 2. A mark indicating stress or some other distinction in pronunciation or value. accents.
acceptance ::: the act of assenting.
access ::: 1. The ability, right, or permission to approach, enter, speak with, or use; admittance. 2. A way or means of approach; an entrance, channel, passage, or doorway.
acclaimed ::: laid claim to, claimed; demanded as one"s own or one"s due; sought or asked for on the ground of right.
accomplished ::: fulfilled, completed, finished, perfected. accomplishing.
accord ::: agreement or harmonious correspondence of things or their properties, as of colours or tints. Of sounds: Agreement in pitch and tone; harmony.
::: "According to the nature and the circumstances the call will come.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
accountable ::: subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; answerable, responsible.
account ::: n. 1. A record of debts and credits, applied to other things than money or trade. 2. A particular statement or narrative of an event or thing; a relation, report, or description. v. 3. To render an account or reckoning of; to give a satisfactory reason for, to give an explanation.
accurate ::: 1. Exact, precise, correct, as the result of care. 2. Free from error or defect; consistent with a standard, rule, or model; precise, exact.
accursed ::: lying under a curse or anathema; ill fated; doomed to perdition or misery.
ache ::: a continuous or abiding pain, in contrast to a sudden or sharp one. Used of both physical and mental sensations.
achieved ::: completed, accomplished; attained, won.
achievement ::: something accomplished, esp. by superior ability, special effort, great courage, etc. achievements.
aching ::: 1. Having the sensation of continuous or ever-recurring pain, throbbing painfully. 2. Full of or precipitating nostalgia, grief, loneliness, etc.
acknowledged ::: recognized the existence, truth or fact of; admitted as true, valid, or authoritative.
"A conscious being, no larger than a man"s thumb, stands in the centre of our self; he is master of the past and the present . . . he is today and he is tomorrow. — Katha Upanishad. (6)” The Life Divine - See *conscious being.
acrid ::: bitterly irritating to the feelings; of bitter and irritating temper or manner; sharp, biting, caustic.
action ::: 1. The process or condition of acting or doing (in the widest sense), the exertion of energy, influence, power or force. 2. A way or manner of moving. 3. A thing done, a deed**. action"s, actions, self-action.
"Action is a resultant of the energy of the being, but this energy is not of one sole kind; the Consciousness-Force of the Spirit manifests itself in many kinds of energies: there are inner activities of mind, activities of life, of desire, passion, impulse, character, activities of the senses and the body, a pursuit of truth and knowledge, a pursuit of beauty, a pursuit of ethical good or evil, a pursuit of power, love, joy, happiness, fortune, success, pleasure, life-satisfactions of all kinds, life-enlargement, a pursuit of individual or collective objects, a pursuit of the health, strength, capacity, satisfaction of the body.” The Life Divine*
active ::: originating or communicating action, exerting action upon others; acting of its own accord, spontaneous.
actual ::: in action or existence at the time; present, current, real. Actual"s.
adamant ::: n. 1. Any impenetrably or unyieldingly hard substance. 2. A legendary stone of impenetrable hardness, formerly sometimes identified with the diamond. adj. **3. Unshakeable, inflexible, utterly unyielding. 4. Incapable of being broken, dissolved, or penetrated; immovable, impregnable. adamantine.**
addict ::: one who is attached by one"s own inclination to an activity, habit or substance; devoted, given up to.
adjourned ::: deferred, postponed; held over to another time.
adoration ::: 1. The act of paying honour, as to a divine being; worship. 2. Reverent homage. 3. Fervent and devoted love. **adoration"s.*Sri Aurobindo: "Especially in love for the Divine or for one whom one feels to be divine, the Bhakta feels an intense reverence for the Loved, a sense of something of immense greatness, beauty or value and for himself a strong impression of his own comparative unworthiness and a passionate desire to grow into likeness with that which one adores.” Letters on Yoga*
adore ::: 1. To worship as a deity, to pay divine honours to. 2. To reverence or honour very highly; to regard with the utmost respect and affection. adores, adored, adoring, adorer, adorer"s.
adored ::: the One who is worshipped, (referring here to Krishna).
adorer ::: the One who worships, (referring here to Radha).
adventure ::: n. 1. Any novel or unexpected event in which one shares; an exciting or remarkable incident befalling any one. 2. The encountering of risks or participation in novel and exciting events; bold or daring activity, enterprise. adventure"s, world-adventure, world-adventure"s. *v. 3. To take the chance of; to commit to fortune; to undertake a thing of doubtful issue; to try, to chance, to venture into or upon. 4. To risk or hazard; stake. *adventuring.
adventurer ::: one who seeks adventures, or who engages in daring enterprises. (Sri Aurobindo also employs the word as an adj.) adventurers, Adventurers.
adversity ::: the condition of adverse fortune or fate; a state opposed to well-being or prosperity; misfortune, distress, trial, or affliction.
adytum ::: the innermost part of a temple; the secret shrine whence oracles were delivered; a most sacred or reserved part of any place of worship; hence, fig. a private or inner chamber, a sanctum.
aegis ::: originally the shield or breastplate of Zeus, or Athena. Currently, protection; support; sponsorship; auspices.
aeons ::: ages of the universe, immeasurable periods of time; the whole duration of the world, or of the universe; eternity. aeons", aeoned, million-aeoned, (employed as an adj. by Sri Aurobindo), aeon-rings.
aerial ::: 1. Having a light and graceful beauty; airy; ethereal; unsubstantial, intangible; hence, immaterial, ideal, imaginary. 2. Biol. Growing in the air.
aesthesis ::: the perception of the external world by the senses.
"Aesthesis therefore is of the very essence of poetry, as it is of all art. But it is not the sole element and aesthesis too is not confined to a reception of poetry and art; it extends to everything in the world: there is nothing we can sense, think or in any way experience to which there cannot be an aesthetic reaction of our conscious being. Ordinarily, we suppose that aesthesis is concerned with beauty, and that indeed is its most prominent concern: but it is concerned with many other things also. It is the universal Ananda that is the parent of aesthesis and the universal Ananda takes three major and original forms, beauty, love and delight, the delight of all existence, the delight in things, in all things.” Letters on Savitri
aesthete ::: a person who has or professes to have refined sensitivity toward the beauties of art or nature.
aesthetic ::: pertaining to a sense of the beautiful or pleasing; characterized by a love of beauty; tasteful, of refined taste.
affinity ::: 1. Causal relationship or connexion (as flowing the one from the other, or having a common source). 2. A psychical or spiritual attraction believed by some sects to exist between persons.
affirmed ::: maintained as true; positively asserted; upheld, supported. affirming.
affixed ::: fastened, fixed, joined, or attached , put or added on; appended to.
afflatus ::: the miraculous communication of supernatural knowledge; hence also, the imparting of an over-mastering impulse, poetic or otherwise; inspiration. A creative inspiration, as that of a poet; a divine imparting of knowledge, thus it is often called divine afflatus.
afloat ::: 1. Floating or borne on the water; in a floating condition. 2. From the state of a ship or other body floating on the sea, having liberty of motion and buoyancy.
a game in which a blindfolded player tries to catch and identify one of the other players. The game has been around for at least 2000 years and probably longer. It is known to have been played in Greece about the time of the Roman Conquest.
agape ::: with the mouth wide open.
age ::: n. **1. A great period or stage of the history of the Earth. 2. Hist. Any great period or portion of human history distinguished by certain characters real or mythical, as the Golden Age, the Patriarchal Age, the Bronze Age, the Age of the Reformation, the Middle Ages, the Prehistoric Age. 3. A generation or a series of generations. 4. Advanced years; old age. age"s, ages, ages". v. 5.** To grow old; to become aged.
agencies ::: active powers or causes which have the power to produce an effect.
agent ::: n. **1. One who does the actual work of anything, as distinguished from the instigator or employer; hence, one who acts for another, a deputy, steward, factor, substitute, representative, or emissary. adj. 2. That which acts or exerts power. agents.**
aging ::: the process of growing old or maturing; showing signs of advancing age.
agony ::: 1. Anguish of mind, sore trouble or distress, a paroxysm of grief. 2. The convulsive throes, or pangs of death; the death struggle. 3. Extreme bodily suffering, such as to produce writhing or throes of the body. agonies.
agree ::: 1. To be in harmony or unison in opinions, feelings, conduct, etc.; to be in sympathy; to live or act together harmoniously; to have no causes of variance. 2. To give consent; assent (often followed by to). agreed.
agreement ::: a contract or other document delineating an arrangement that is accepted by all parties to a transaction. (Sri Aurobindo capitalizes the word.)
aide ::: an assistant or helper. aides.
aid ::: n. 1. Help, assistance, support, succour, relief. v. 2. To give help, support, or assistance to; to help, assist, succour. aids.
air ::: 1. The transparent, invisible, inodorous, and tasteless gaseous substance which envelopes the earth. 2. *Fig. With reference to its unsubstantial or impalpable nature. 3. Outward appearance, apparent character, manner, look, style: esp. in phrases like ‘an air of absurdity"; less commonly of a thing tangible, as ‘the air of a mansion". 4. Mien or gesture (expressive of a personal quality or emotion). *air"s.
aisle ::: a longitudinal division of an interior area, as in a church, separated from the main area by an arcade or divided by a row of pillars. aisles.
ajar ::: neither entirely open nor entirely shut; partly open.
akin ::: allied by nature; having the same properties; near in nature or character.
alacananda ::: "One of the four head streams of the river Ganga in the Himalayas. According to the Vaishnavas it is the terrestrial Ganga which Shiva received upon his head as it fell from heaven. The famous shrine of Badrinath is situated on the banks of this stream. (Dow.)” Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works
alarm ::: n. 1. A warning sound of any kind to give notice of danger, or to arouse or attract attention; esp. a loud and hurried peal rung out by a tocsin or alarm bell. v. 2. To arouse to a sense of danger, to excite the attention or suspicion of, to put on the alert; warn. 3. To strike with fear or apprehension of danger; to agitate or excite with sudden fear. alarmed, alarming.
alchemist ("s)
alchemy ::: any magical or miraculous power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value. alchemies.
alcoves ::: recessed spaces, as bowers in a garden; arched recesses or niches in the wall of any structure.
algebra ::: the branch of mathematics that deals with general statements of relations, utilizing letters and other symbols to represent specific sets of numbers, values, vectors, etc., in the description of such relations. 2. Any special system of notation adapted to the study of a special system of relationship.
alien ::: 1. Unlike one"s own; strange; not belonging to one; belonging to another person, place, or family. 2. Adverse; hostile. aliens.
"All birds of that region are relatives. But this is the bird of eternal Ananda, while the Hippogriff is the divinised Thought and the Bird of Fire is the Agni-bird, psychic and tapas. All that however is to mentalise too much and mentalising always takes most of the life out of spiritual things. That is why I say it can be seen but nothing said about it.” ::: "The question was: ‘In the mystical region, is the dragon bird any relation of your Bird of Fire with ‘gold-white wings" or your Hippogriff with ‘face lustred, pale-blue-lined"? And why do you write: ‘What to say about him? One can only see"?” Letters on Savitri
::: "All conscious being is one and indivisible in itself, but in manifestation it becomes a complex rhythm, a scale of harmonies, a hierarchy of states or movements.” The Upanishads
allegiance ::: loyalty or devotion to some person, group, cause, or the like.
alley ::: a passage between buildings; hence, a narrow street, a lane; usually only wide enough for foot-passengers. blind alley*: one that is closed at the end, so as to be no thoroughfare; a cul de sac*.
allowed ::: 1. Permitted the occurrence or existence of. 2. Allotted, assigned, bestowed. allows.
all- ::: prefix: Wholly, altogether, infinitely. Since 1600, the number of these [combinations] has been enormously extended, all-** having become a possible prefix, in poetry at least, to almost any adjective of quality. all-affirming, All-Beautiful, All-Beautiful"s, All-Bliss, All-Blissful, All-causing, all-concealing, all-conquering, All-Conscient, All-Conscious, all-containing, All-containing, all-creating, all-defeating, All-Delight, all-discovering, all-embracing, all-fulfilling, all-harbouring, all-inhabiting, all-knowing, All-knowing, All-Knowledge, all-levelling, All-Life, All-love, All-Love, all-negating, all-powerful, all-revealing, All-ruler, all-ruling, all-seeing, All-seeing, all-seeking, all-shaping, all-supporting, all-sustaining, all-swallowing, All-Truth, All-vision, All-Wisdom, all-wise, All-Wise, all-witnessing, All-Wonderful, All-Wonderful"s.**
almighty ::: 1. *Orig. and in the strict sense used as an attribute of the Deity, and joined to God or other title. 2. Absol. The Almighty; a title of God. 3. All-powerful (in a general sense); omnipotent. Almighty"s, Almightiness, almightiness.
aloof ::: 1. At a distance; distant; hence, detached, unsympathetic. 2. Away at some distance (from), with a clear space intervening, apart. aloofness.
alpha and the Omega
already ::: 1. Core Meaning: an adverb indicating that something has happened before now. 2. Happened in the past before a particular time, or will have happened by or before a particular time in the future. 3. Unexpectedly early.
altar ::: 1. A block, pile, table, stand, mound, platform, or other elevated structure on which to place or sacrifice offerings to a deity. 2. With reference to the uses, customs, dedication, or peculiar sanctity of the altar. 3. A place consecrated to devotional observances. altar"s, altars, altar-burnings, mountain-altars.
alter ::: to make otherwise or different in some respect; to make some change in character, shape, condition, position, quantity, value, etc. without changing the thing itself for another; to modify, to change the appearance of. alters, altered, altering.
altitudes ::: high places or regions; elevated regions; great heights.
altruism ::: the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others (opposed to egoism ).
amateur ::: a person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons.
amazed ::: greatly surprised; astounded; suddenly filled with wonder; astonished. amazing, amazement.
ambassadors ::: 1. Diplomatic officials of the highest rank. 2. Authorized messengers or representatives.
amber ::: a pale yellow, sometimes reddish or brownish, fossil resin of vegetable origin, translucent, brittle, and capable of gaining a negative electrical charge by friction and of being an excellent insulator. 2. The yellowish-brown colour of resin.
ambience ::: 1. The mood, character, quality, tone, atmosphere, etc., particularly of an environment or milieu. 2. That which surrounds or encompasses.
ambiguous ::: 1. Open to or having several possible meanings or interpretations; equivocal; questionable; indistinct, obscure, not clearly defined. 2. Of doubtful or uncertain nature; difficult to comprehend, distinguish, or classify; admitting more than one interpretation, or explanation; of double meaning. 3. Of oracles, people, using words of double meaning. ambiguously.
ambit ::: a sphere of operation or influence; range, scope.
ambition ::: an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honour, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment. ambitions.
ambrosia ("s) ::: something especially delicious or delightful to taste or smell, divinely sweet; in Classical Mythology, the food of the gods.
ambush ::: 1. An act or instance of lying concealed so as to attack by surprise. 2. The concealed position itself. ambushes.
ambushed ::: concealed so as suddenly to burst forth, come in view, or take by surprise.
amethyst ::: a purple or violet quartz; having the clear colour as of the precious stone. Sri Aurobindo uses the word as an adj."for Amethyst (the Mother)she has revealed that it has a power of protection” Huta
amid ::: in the middle of or centre of; surrounded by; among.
amidst ::: in the middle of; surrounded by; among; amidst is often used of things scattered about, or in the midst of others.
ample ::: fully sufficient or more than adequate for the purpose or need; plentiful; of adequate or more than adequate extent, size, or amount; large; spacious. ampler.
amusements ::: pleasurable pastimes of the mind or attention; mental diversions and enjoyments in lieu of more serious matters.
amuse ::: to hold the attention of (someone) pleasantly; entertain or divert in an enjoyable or cheerful manner. amused, amusing.
analyse ::: to examine carefully and in detail so as to identify causes, key factors, possible results; examine minutely and critically to determine the elements or essential features of. analysed.
ananke ::: "In Greek mythology, personification of compelling necessity or ultimate fate to which even the gods must yield.” *Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works
anarch ::: a. Lawless, rebellious; n. An adherent of anarchy or a leader practicing it.
"Anarchism is likely to be the protest of the human soul against the tyranny of a bureaucratic Socialism.” Essays Divine and Human
". . . an Avatar is not at all bound to be a spiritual prophet — he is never in fact merely a prophet, he is a realiser, an establisher — not of outward things only, though he does realise something in the outward also, but, as I have said, of something essential and radical needed for the terrestrial evolution which is the evolution of the embodied spirit through successive stages towards the Divine.” Letters on Yoga
"An Avatar, roughly speaking, is one who is conscious of the presence and power of the Divine born in him or descended into him and governing from within his will and life and action; he feels identified inwardly with this divine power and presence.” Letters on Yoga
anchor ::: 1. Any of various devices dropped by a chain, cable, or rope to the bottom of a body of water for preventing or restricting the motion of a vessel or other floating object, typically having broad, hooklike arms that bury themselves in the bottom to provide a firm hold. 2. A person or thing that can be relied on for support, stability, or security; mainstay.
anchorites ::: those who have retired to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion; hermits, recluses.
anchorite ::: withdrawn from the world; secluded.
ancient ::: 1. Of or in time long past or early in the world"s history. 2. Dating from a remote period; of great age; of early origin. 3. Being old in wisdom and experience; venerable. Ancient.
::: "And this bliss is not a supreme pleasure of the heart and sensations with the experience of pain and sorrow as its background, but a delight also self-existent and independent of objects and particular experiences, a self-delight which is the very nature, the very stuff, as it were, of a transcendent and infinite existence.” The Synthesis of Yoga
anew ::: 1. Over again; again; once more. 2. In a new form or manner different from the previous.
angel ::: 1. One of a class of spiritual beings; a celestial attendant of the Deity; a divine messenger of an order of spiritual beings superior to man in power. 2. A fallen or rebellious spirit once a spiritual attendant of the Divine. angel, Angels, **angels.
**Angel of the Way *Sri Aurobindo: "Love fulfilled does not exclude knowledge, but itself brings knowledge; and the completer the knowledge, the richer the possibility of love. ‘By Bhakti" says the Lord in the Gita ‘shall a man know Me in all my extent and greatness and as I am in the principles of my being, and when he has known Me in the principles of my being, then he enters into Me." Love without knowledge is a passionate and intense, but blind, crude, often dangerous thing, a great power, but also a stumbling-block; love, limited in knowledge, condemns itself in its fervour and often by its very fervour to narrowness; but love leading to perfect knowledge brings the infinite and absolute union. Such love is not inconsistent with, but rather throws itself with joy into divine works; for it loves God and is one with him in all his being, and therefore in all beings, and to work for the world is then to feel and fulfil multitudinously one"s love for God. This is the trinity of our powers, [work, knowledge, love] the union of all three in God to which we arrive when we start on our journey by the path of devotion with Love for the Angel of the Way to find in the ecstasy of the divine delight of the All-Lover"s being the fulfilment of ours, its secure home and blissful abiding-place and the centre of its universal radiation.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
anguish ::: excruciating or acute distress, suffering, or pain. anguished.
animal ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The animal is a living laboratory in which Nature has, it is said, worked out man. Man himself may well be a thinking and living laboratory in whom and with whose conscious co-operation she wills to work out the superman, the god. Or shall we not say, rather, to manifest God?” *The Life Divine
animate ::: alive; possessing life , endowed with life. half-animate. half-animated. Giving the appearance of moving, of being alive.
animates ::: 1. Gives life to; makes alive; breathes life into. 2. To move or stir to action; motivate.
anklet ::: an ornamental circlet worn around the ankle; an ankle-ring. anklet-bells.
annexed ::: attached appended, or added.
anniversary ::: the yearly recurrence of the date of a past event, esp. the celebration or commemoration of such a date.
announced ::: made known to the mind or senses. announcing.
anomalies ::: deviations from the common rule, type, arrangement, order, or form.
anomalous ::: deviating from or inconsistent with the common order, form, or rule; irregular; abnormal.
another ::: adj. 1. Being one more or more of the same; further; additional. 2. Very similar to; of the same kind or category as. 3. Different; distinct; of a different period, place, or kind. pron. **4. A person other than oneself or the one specified. 5. One more; an additional one. another"s**.
antagonist ::: one who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another; opponent, adversary. antagonists.
antechambers ::: 1. Chambers or rooms that serve as waiting rooms and entrances to larger rooms or apartments; anterooms. 2. Any areas that are entrances to other areas.
anthem ::: a song, as of praise, devotion, patriotism or gladness.
antinomy ::: opposition between one law, principle, rule, etc., and another.
antipodes ::: places diametrically opposite each other.
antique ::: 1. Of or belonging to the past. 2. Dating from a period long ago; ancient.
antithesis ::: opposition; contrast.
anvil ::: a heavy iron block with a smooth face, frequently of steel, on which heated metals are hammered into desired shapes.
ape ::: 1. Any of a group of anthropoid primates characterized by long arms, a broad chest, and the absence of a tail; an animal of the monkey tribe. 2. An imitator, a mimic. apelike.
apex ::: 1. The tip, point, or vertex; summit. 2. Climax; peak; acme.
a piece of plate armour partially or completely covering the front of the torso.
apocalypse ::: 1. Any revelation or prophecy. 2. A prophetic revelation, esp. concerning a cataclysm in which the forces of good permanently triumph over the forces of evil.
apotheosised ::: glorified; exalted; immortalized; deified.
appalled ::: filled or overcome with horror, consternation, or fear, resulting in the loss of courage in the face of something dreadful.
apparelled ::: adorned; covered; decorated; clothed. apparels.
appeal ::: 1. An earnest request for aid, support, sympathy, mercy, etc.; entreaty; petition; plea. 2. An application or proceeding for review by a higher tribunal. 3. The power or ability to attract, interest; attraction. appealed, appealing, sense-appeal.
appear ::: 1. To come into sight; become visible; come into view, as from a place or state of concealment, or from a distance; esp. of angels, spirits, visions. 2. To come into existence; be created. 3. To be clear to the understanding. 4. To seem or look to be. appears, appeared, appearing.
appearance ::: 1. The act or fact of coming forward into view ; becoming visible. 2. The state, condition, manner, or style in which a person or object appears; outward look or aspect. 3. Outward show or seeming; semblance. appearances.
appease ::: 1. To bring to a state of peace, quiet, ease, calm, or contentment; pacify; soothe. 2. To satisfy, allay, or relieve.
appeased ::: pacified, quieted, satisfied; soothed.
appellants ::: those who appeal to a higher tribunal; entreat.
apprentice ::: a learner; novice; tyro; one who is learning the rudiments; a trainee. apprenticeship.
approach ::: v. 1. To come near or nearer to; draw near. 2. To come near to a person: i.e. into personal relations; into his presence or audience; or fig. within the range of his notice or attention. 3. To come near in quality, character, time, or condition; to be nearly equal. approaches, approached, approaching.* *n. 4. Any means of access or way of passage, avenue. 5. The act of drawing near. approaches.**
apsaras ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The Apsaras are the most beautiful and romantic conception on the lesser plane of Hindu mythology. From the moment that they arose out of the waters of the milky Ocean, robed in ethereal raiment and heavenly adornment, waking melody from a million lyres, the beauty and light of them has transformed the world. They crowd in the sunbeams, they flash and gleam over heaven in the lightnings, they make the azure beauty of the sky; they are the light of sunrise and sunset and the haunting voices of forest and field. They dwell too in the life of the soul; for they are the ideal pursued by the poet through his lines, by the artist shaping his soul on his canvas, by the sculptor seeking a form in the marble; for the joy of their embrace the hero flings his life into the rushing torrent of battle; the sage, musing upon God, sees the shining of their limbs and falls from his white ideal. The delight of life, the beauty of things, the attraction of sensuous beauty, this is what the mystic and romantic side of the Hindu temperament strove to express in the Apsara. The original meaning is everywhere felt as a shining background, but most in the older allegories, especially the strange and romantic legend of Pururavas as we first have it in the Brahmanas and the Vishnoupurana.
apse ::: a usually semicircular or polygonal, often vaulted recess, especially the termination of the sanctuary end of a church.
arbiter ::: 1. One empowered to decide matters at issue; judge. 2. Having the sole or absolute power of judging or determining. arbiters.
arc ::: 1. Any unbroken part of the circumference of a circle or other curved line. 2. A luminous bridge formed in a gap between two electrodes. arcs.
arch ::: 1. An upwardly curved construction, for spanning an opening, consisting of a number of wedgelike stones, bricks, or the like, set with the narrower side toward the opening in such a way that forces on the arch are transmitted as vertical or oblique stresses on either side of the opening, either capable of bearing weight or merely ornamental; 2. Something bowed or curved; any bowlike part: the arch of the foot. 3. An arched roof, door; gateway; vault; fig. the heavens. arches.
arch- ::: a combining form that represents the outcome of archi- in words borrowed through Latin from Greek in the Old English period; it subsequently became a productive form added to nouns of any origin, which thus denote individuals or institutions directing or having authority over others of their class (archbishop; archdiocese; archpriest): principal. More recently, arch-1 has developed the senses "principal” (archenemy; archrival) or "prototypical” and thus exemplary or extreme (archconservative); nouns so formed are almost always pejorative. Arch-intelligence.
archangel ::: a chief or principal angel, the highest angel in rank. Archangel, Archangel"s.
archipelago ::: 1. Any sea, or body of water, in which there are numerous islands. 2. A large group or chain of islands.
architectonic ::: metaph. Of the systematic arrangement of knowledge.
architect ::: the deviser, maker, or creator of anything; one who builds up something, as, men are the architects of their own fortunes. Architect, architects.
architecture ::: 1. The profession of designing buildings and other artificial constructions and environments, usually with some regard to aesthetic effect. 2. The character or style of building. 3. Construction or structure generally. architectures.
archives ::: preserved historical records or documents, also the place where they are kept.
arcturus ::: a giant star in the constellation Boötes. It is the brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere and the fourth brightest star in the sky, with an apparent magnitude of 0.00; sometimes referring to the Great Bear itself.
a religious official among the Romans, whose duty it was to predict future events and advise upon the course of public business, in accordance with omens derived from the flight, singing, and feeding of birds. Hence extended to: A soothsayer, diviner, or prophet, generally; one that foresees and foretells the future. (Sri Aurobindo employs the word as an adjective.) augured.
arenas ::: central stages, rings, areas, or the like, used for sports or other forms of entertainment, surrounded by seats for spectators.
arise ::: 1. To get up from sleep or rest; to awaken; wake up. 2. To go up, come up, ascend on high, mount. Now only poet. **3. To come into being, action, or notice; originate; appear; spring up. 4. Of circumstances viewed as results: To spring, originate, or result from. 5. To rise from inaction, from the peaceful, quiet, or ordinary course of life. 6. To rise in violence or agitation, as the sea, the wind; to boil up as a fermenting fluid, the blood; so of the heart, wrath, etc. Now poet. 7. Of sounds: To come up aloud, or so as to be audible, to be heard aloud. arises, arising, arose, arisen. *(Sri Aurobindo also employs arisen as an adj.*)
aristocracy ::: the class to which a ruling body belongs, a patrician order; the collective body of those who form a privileged class; also used fig. of those who are superior.
armour ::: 1. Any covering worn as a defense against weapons, especially a metallic sheathing, suit of armour, mail. 2. Any quality, characteristic, situation, or thing that serves as protection. armours, armoured.* n. 1. Weapons. v. 2. Provides with weapons or whatever will add strength, force or security; supports; fortifies. *armed, arming.
arm ::: power; might; strength. (All other references are to arm(s) as a part of the body.) arm"s, arms.
arraigned ::: called (an accused person) before a court to answer the charge made against him or her by indictment, information, or complaint, or brought before a court to answer to an indictment; accused, charged with fault.
arrange ::: 1. To put into a specific order or relation; dispose. 2. To settle the order, manner, and circumstantial relations of (a thing to be done); to prepare or plan beforehand. arranged, arranging, self-arranged.
arrested ::: stopped, checked the course of, stayed, slowed down. arresting.
arrogant ::: 1. Having or displaying a sense of overbearing self-worth or self-importance. 2. Marked by or arising from a feeling or assumption of one"s superiority toward others.
"Art is a living harmony and beauty that must be expressed in all the movements of existence. This manifestation of beauty and harmony is part of the Divine realisation upon earth, perhaps even its greatest part.” Questions and Answers, MCW Vol. 3.
artist ::: 1. One who practises the creative arts; one who seeks to express the beautiful in visible form. 2. A follower of a manual art; an artificer, mechanic, craftsman, artisan. artists. (Sri Aurobindo often employs the word as an adj.)
art ::: v. archaic** A second person singular present indicative of be, now only poet., not in modern usage. All other references are to art as the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance. Also, the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria. art"s, arts, art-parades.
ascension ::: the act or process of ascending; upward movement. flame-ascensions.
ascent ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The ascent or the upward movement takes place when there is a sufficient aspiration from the being, i.e., from the various mental, vital and physical planes.” *Letters on Yoga
ascetic ::: one who dedicates his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals, whether by seclusion or by abstinence from creature comforts, and practices extreme self-denial, rigorous self-discipline or self-mortification. ascetic"s, ascetics.
ashes ::: 1. Bodily remains, especially after cremation or decay. 2. Fig. Ruins; esp. the residue of something destroyed; remains.
aside ::: 1. On or to one"s side; to or at a short distance apart; away from some position or direction. 2. To or toward the side. 3. Out of one"s thoughts or mind. 4. In reserve; in a separate place, as for safekeeping; apart; away.
aspect ::: 1. Appearance to the eye or mind; look. 2. Nature; quality, character. 3. A way in which a thing may be viewed or regarded; interpretation; view. 4. Part; feature; phase. aspects.
asphodel ::: a genus of liliaceous plants with very attractive white, pink or yellow flowers, mostly natives of the south of Europe; by the poets made an immortal flower, and said to cover the Elysian (heavenly, paradisal) fields.
aspirant ::: n. **1. One who seeks with eagerness and steady purpose. adj. 2. Aspiring, striving for a higher position; mounting up, ascending. aspirants.**
"Aspiration, call, prayer are forms of one and the same thing and are all effective; you can take the form that comes to you or is easiest to you.” Letters on Yoga
::: "Aspiration is to call the forces. When the forces have answered, there is a natural state of quiet receptivity concentrated but spontaneous.” Letters on Yoga
"Aspiration should be not a form of desire, but the feeling of an inner soul"s need, and a quiet settled will to turn towards the Divine and seek the Divine. It is certainly not easy to get rid of this mixture of desire entirely — not easy for anyone; but when one has the will to do it, this also can be effected by the help of the sustaining Force.” Letters on Yoga
"A spiritual knowledge, moved to arrive at the true Self in us, must reject, as the traditional way of knowledge rejects, all misleading appearances. It must discover that the body is not our self, our foundation of existence; it is a sensible form of the Infinite.” The Synthesis of Yoga
assail ::: 1. To attack vigorously or violently; assault. 2. To impinge upon; make an impact on; beset. 3. To take upon oneself a difficult challenge with the intention of mastering it. assailed, assailing.
assemblage ::: a number of persons gathered together; a gathering, concourse. (Less formal than assembly.)
assembled ::: gathered together; brought together into one place, collected.
assembly ::: a group of people gathered together usually for a particular purpose. assemblies.
assessed ::: evaluated (a person or thing); estimated (the quality, value, or extent of), gauged or judged.
assists ::: gives support or aid to; helps. assisting.
assuage ::: to mitigate, alleviate, soothe, relieve (physical or mental pain).
assured ::: 1. Made certain; guaranteed. 2. Certified, verified. 3. Made secure or certain; confirmed. 4. Confident, characterized by certainty or security; satisfied as to the truth of something. assuring.
astonished ::: 1. Amazed, filled with sudden and overpowering surprise or wonder. 2. Filled with consternation; dismayed. astonishing.
astral ::: 1. Of, relating to, emanating from, or resembling the stars. 2. Of the spirit world [Greek astron star].
astray ::: 1. Away from the correct path or direction. 2. Away from the right or good, as in thought or behaviour; straying to or into wrong or evil ways.
aswapati ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Aswapati, the Lord of the Horse, her [Savitri"s] human father, is the Lord of Tapasya, the concentrated energy of spiritual endeavour that helps us to rise from the mortal to the immortal planes; . . . .” (From a letter written by Sri Aurobindo) Aswapati"s.
atavism ::: 1. The reappearance in an individual of characteristics of some remote ancestor that have been absent in intervening generations. 2. Reversion to an earlier type.
atheist ::: adj. Disbelieving or denying the existence of a supreme God.
athlete ::: Sri Aurobindo employs the word as an adj. in the sense of athletic: Of the nature of, or befitting, one who is physically active, powerful, muscular, robust, agile.
athwart ::: 1. Across from side to side; crosswise or transversely; contrary to the proper or expected course; against; crosswise. 2. Of motion; from side to side.
atmosphere ::: 1. A surrounding or pervading mood, environment, or influence. 2. The air.
atom ::: 1. A unit of matter, the smallest unit of an element, having all the characteristics of that element and consisting of a dense, central, positively charged nucleus surrounded by a system of electrons. 2. The smallest component of an element having the chemical properties of the element. 3. An extremely small part, quantity, or amount. The smallest conceivable unit of an element or of anything. atom"s, atoms, atomic.
attached ::: joined; connected; bound.
attack ::: the act of setting upon with violent force.; launching a physical assault (against) attacks.
attain ::: 1. To gain as an objective; achieve; reach, arrive at; accomplish. 2. To arrive at, as by virtue of persistence or the passage of time; To reach in the course of development. attained.
attempt ::: n. 1. An effort made to accomplish something. 2. The thing attempted, object aimed at, aim. attempts, half-attempts. v. 3. To make an effort at; try; undertake; seek. attempted, attempting.
attend ::: to listen to, pay attention to, give heed to; direct one"s energies toward.
aureole ::: the radiant circle of light depicted around the head; a glorifying halo.
auspice-hour ::: an auspice is any divine or prophetic token; a favourable sign or propitious circumstance, esp. an indication of a happy future. Sri Aurobindo combines the word ‘hour" with auspice to emphasize a special moment.
authentic ::: not false or copied; genuine; real, original. authenticity.
author ::: 1. An originator or creator, one who originates or gives existence to anything. 2. He who gives rise to or causes an action, event, circumstance, state, or condition of things. 3. The composer or writer of a treatise, play, poem, book, etc. authors.
authority ::: the power to enforce laws, exact obedience, command, determine, or judge.
autonomy ::: 1. Independence or freedom, as of the will or one"s actions. 2. Self-government. autonomies.
autumn ::: the season of the year between summer and winter, lasting from the autumnal equinox to the winter solstice and from September to December in the Northern Hemisphere; fall.
availed ::: to be of use, value, or advantage; to have the necessary force to accomplishment something.
avatars ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The word Avatar means a descent; it is a coming down of the Divine below the line which divides the divine from the human world or status.” *Essays on the Gita
**"Aware of his occult omnipotent source,Allured by the omniscient Ecstasy,He felt the invasion and the nameless joy.”
awe ::: an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like.
axis ::: 1. The pivot on which any matter turns. 2. A straight line about which a body or geometric object rotates or may be conceived to rotate.
azure ::: a light shade of blue resembling the colour of the clear sky in the daytime.
babel ::: "The reference is to the mythological story of the construction of the Tower of Babel, which appears to be an attempt to explain the diversity of human languages. According to Genesis, the Babylonians wanted to make a name for themselves by building a mighty city and tower ‘with its top in the heavens". God disrupted the work by so confusing the language of the workers that they could no longer understand one another. The tower was never completed and the people were dispersed over the face of the earth.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica) Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works Sri Aurobindo: "The legend of the Tower of Babel speaks of the diversity of tongues as a curse laid on the race; but whatever its disadvantages, and they tend more and more to be minimised by the growth of civilisation and increasing intercourse, it has been rather a blessing than a curse, a gift to mankind rather than a disability laid upon it. The purposeless exaggeration of anything is always an evil, and an excessive pullulation of varying tongues that serve no purpose in the expression of a real diversity of spirit and culture is certainly a stumbling-block rather than a help: but this excess, though it existed in the past, is hardly a possibility of the future. The tendency is rather in the opposite direction. In former times diversity of language helped to create a barrier to knowledge and sympathy, was often made the pretext even of an actual antipathy and tended to a too rigid division. The lack of sufficient interpenetration kept up both a passive want of understanding and a fruitful crop of active misunderstandings. But this was an inevitable evil of a particular stage of growth, an exaggeration of the necessity that then existed for the vigorous development of strongly individualised group-souls in the human race. These disadvantages have not yet been abolished, but with closer intercourse and the growing desire of men and nations for the knowledge of each other"s thought and spirit and personality, they have diminished and tend to diminish more and more and there is no reason why in the end they should not become inoperative.” The Human Cycle
bacchanal ::: a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity.
bacchant ::: n. **1. A priest or votary of Bacchus (the god of wine). 2. A drunken reveller. adj. 3. Inclined to revelry. Bacchant.**
background ::: n.** 1. The general scene or surface against which designs, patterns, or figures are represented or viewed. 2. Fig. The complex of physical, cultural, and psychological factors that serves as the environment of an event or experience; the set of conditions against which an occurrence is perceived. backgrounds. adj. 3.** Of, pertaining to, or serving as a background.
backward ::: 1. To, toward or into the past. 2. In or toward a past time. 3. Late in developing, behind; slow, esp. relating to time or progress. far-backward.
balance ::: n. **1. A state of equilibrium or equipoise; mental, psychological or emotional. 2. A weighing device, especially one consisting of a rigid beam horizontally suspended by a low-friction support at its center, with identical weighing pans hung at either end, one of which holds an unknown weight while the effective weight in the other is increased by known amounts until the beam is level and motionless. 3. An undecided or uncertain state in which issues are unresolved. v. 4. To have an equality or equivalence in weight, parts, etc.; be in equilibrium. adj. 5. Being in harmonious or proper arrangement or adjustment, proportion. 6. Mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behaviour, judgement. balanced, balancing.**
balcony ::: a platform that projects from the wall of a building and is surrounded by a railing, balustrade, or parapet.
balustrade ::: a rail and the row of balusters or posts that support it, as along the front of a gallery.
banish ::: to drive away, expel. banished.
bank ::: 1. The slope of land adjoining a body of water, especially adjoining a river, lake, or channel. 2. A slope, as of a hill. 3. A long raised mass, esp. of earth. 4. A piled-up mass, as of snow or clouds. banks, cloud-bank.
bards ::: an ancient Celtic order of minstrel poets who composed and recited verses celebrating the legendary exploits of chieftains and heroes. 2. Poets, especially lyric poets.
bare ::: v. 1. To make bare; uncover or reveal. 2. Fig. To expose. bared, baring. adj. 3. Lacking clothing or covering; naked 4. Fig. Exposed to view; undisguised. 5. Just sufficient; mere. 6. Lacking embellishment or ornamentation; unembellished; simple; plain. 7. Unprotected; without defence. 8. Devoid of covering, a leafless trees. 9. Sheer, as bare cliffs. heaven-bare, bareness.
barns ::: a large farm building used for storing farm products and sheltering livestock.
barrage ::: an overwhelming quantity or explosion as of artillery fire, words, blows, or criticisms.
barrels ::: large cylindrical containers, usually made of staves bound together with hoops, with a flat top and bottom of equal diameter.
barricade ::: a structure hastily set up across a route of access to obstruct the passage of an enemy.
barter ::: to trade goods or services without the exchange of money. bartered.
based ::: 1. Formed or established as a base. 2. Supported as a base. 3. Conceived as the fundamental principle or underlying concept.
basement ::: the substructure or foundation of a building usually below ground level.
base ::: n. 1. The fundamental principle or underlying concept of a system or theory; a basis, foundation. 2. A fundamental ingredient; a chief constituent. adj. 3. Having or showing a contemptible, mean-spirited, or selfish lack of human decency; morally low. base"s. baser.
basilicas ::: public buildings in ancient Rome having a central nave with an apse at one or both ends and two side aisles formed by rows of columns, which was used as an assembly hall – also Christian churches with a similar design.
bathe ::: 1. To become immersed in or as if in liquid, as a bath or in other substances or elements. 2. To wash or pour over; suffuse or envelope, like sunshine. bathed, bathing.
battalion ::: 1. An army unit typically consisting of a headquarters and two or more companies, batteries, or similar subunits. 2. A large body of organized troops in battle gear. 3. A large indefinite number of persons or things.
battened ::: thrived and prospered, especially at another"s expense; grew fat. battening
battlefield ::: 1. The field or ground on which a battle is fought. 2. An area of contention, conflict, or hostile opposition. battlefields.
baulked ::: checked, foiled, hindered, thwarted; disappointed.
baying ::: 1. Uttering a deep and prolonged bark as a dog in pursuit. 2. The chorus of barking raised by hounds in immediate conflict with a hunted animal. bayings
bays ::: bodies of water partially enclosed by land but with a wide mouth, affording access to the sea.
bay ::: the position or stand of an animal or fugitive that is forced to turn and resist pursuers because it is no longer possible to flee. (preceded by at).
bazaar ::: a market consisting of a street lined with shops and stalls, especially one in the Orient.
bearing witness to, affirming the truth or genuineness of; testifying to, certifying, vouching for. attests.
beast ::: 1. An animal other than a human, especially a large four-footed mammal. 2. Fig. Animal nature as opposed to intellect or spirit. 3. A large wild animal. 4. A domesticated animal used by man. (Sri Aurobindo also employs the word as an adj.) beast"s, Beast"s, beasts, wild-beast. ::: —the Beast. Applied to the devil and evil spirits.
beasthood ::: the state or nature of a beast.
beating ::: n. 1. A throbbing or pulsation, as of the heart. beatings. adj. 2. Throbbings, pulsations.
beat ::: n. 1. A stroke or blow. 2. A regular sound or stroke. 3. The rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart. 4. A pulsating sound. 5. A forceful flapping of wings. beats, nerve-beat, hammer-beats, heart-beats, heart-beats", moment-beats, rhyme-beats. v. 6. To strike or pound with repeated blows. 7. To shape or break by repeated blows, as metal. 8. To sound in pulsations. 9. To throb rhythmically; pulsate, as the heart. 10. To flap, especially wings. 11. To strike with or as if with a series of violent blows, dash or pound repeatedly against, as waves, wind, etc. beats, beaten, beating. *adj. *sun-beat.
"Beauty is Ananda taking form — but the form need not be a physical shape. One speaks of a beautiful thought, a beautiful act, a beautiful soul. What we speak of as beauty is Ananda in manifestation; beyond manifestation beauty loses itself in Ananda or, you may say, beauty and Ananda become indistinguishably one.” The Future Poetry
"Beauty is not the same as Delight, but like love it is an expression, a form of Ananda, created by Ananda and composed of Ananda.” The Future Poetry
"Beauty is the way in which the physical expresses the Divine – but the principle and law of Beauty is something inward and spiritual and expresses itself through the form.” *The Future Poetry
beauty ::: the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, colour, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else, (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest). Beauty, beauty"s, Beauty"s, beauty-drenched, earth-beauty"s.
bed ::: 1. A piece or part forming a foundation or base; a stratum. 2. The grave. 3. A sleeping-place generally; any extemporized resting place. 4. A piece or area of ground in a garden or lawn in which plants are grown. beds.
bed-fellows ::: those who are closely associated or allied with one another.
bee-croon ::: the soft, soothing, low murmuring sound produced by bees.
beganst ::: a native English form of the verb, to begin, now only in formal and poetic usage.
behaviour ::: 1. Manner of behaving or conducting oneself. 2. The aggregate of the responses or reactions or movements made by an organism in any situation, or the manner in which a thing acts under such circumstances. behaviour"s.
beheld ::: pt. of behold.
behest ::: an authoritative command or directive.
behold ::: v. 1. To perceive by the visual faculty; see. beholds. Interj. **2.** Look; see.
being ::: 1. The state or quality of having existence. 2. The totality of all things that exist. 3. One"s basic or essential nature; self. 4. All the qualities constituting one that exists; the essence. 5. A person; human being. 6. The Divine, the Supreme; God. Being, being"s, Being"s, beings, Beings, beings", earth-being"s, earth-beings, fragment-being, non-being, non-being"s, Non-Being, Non-Being"s, world-being"s.
Sri Aurobindo: "Pure Being is the affirmation by the Unknowable of Itself as the free base of all cosmic existence.” *The Life Divine :::
"The Absolute manifests itself in two terms, a Being and a Becoming. The Being is the fundamental reality; the Becoming is an effectual reality: it is a dynamic power and result, a creative energy and working out of the Being, a constantly persistent yet mutable form, process, outcome of its immutable formless essence.” *The Life Divine
"What is original and eternal for ever in the Divine is the Being, what is developed in consciousness, conditions, forces, forms, etc., by the Divine Power is the Becoming. The eternal Divine is the Being; the universe in Time and all that is apparent in it is a Becoming.” Letters on Yoga
"Being and Becoming, One and Many are both true and are both the same thing: Being is one, Becomings are many; but this simply means that all Becomings are one Being who places Himself variously in the phenomenal movement of His consciousness.” The Upanishads :::
"Our whole apparent life has only a symbolic value & is good & necessary as a becoming; but all becoming has being for its goal & fulfilment & God is the only being.” *Essays Divine and Human
"Our being is a roughly constituted chaos into which we have to introduce the principle of a divine order.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
being, conscious ::: Sri Aurobindo: "We have to conceive one indivisible conscious being behind all our experiences. . . . That is our real self.” *The Life Divine
being, Master of ::: Sri Aurobindo: " Vamadeva goes on to say, "Let us give expression to this secret name of the clarity, — that is to say, let us bring out this Soma wine, this hidden delight of existence; let us hold it in this world-sacrifice by our surrenderings or submissions to Agni, the divine Will or Conscious-Power which is the Master of being.” The Secret of the Veda
belched ::: 1. Erupted or exploded. 2. Expelled gas noisily from the stomach through the mouth.
belief ::: 1. Confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof. 2. Trust or confidence, faith. 3. Something believed; an opinion or conviction. beliefs.
Question: "Sweet Mother, l don"t understand very clearly the difference between faith, belief and confidence.”
Mother: "But Sri Aurobindo has given the full explanation here. If you don"t understand, then. . . He has written ‘Faith is a feeling in the whole being." The whole being, yes. Faith, that"s the whole being at once. He says that belief is something that occurs in the head, that is purely mental; and confidence is quite different. Confidence, one can have confidence in life, trust in the Divine, trust in others, trust in one"s own destiny, that is, one has the feeling that everything is going to help him, to do what he wants to do. Faith is a certitude without any proof. Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 6.
believed in ::: was persuaded of the truth or existence of; had faith in the reliability, honesty, benevolence, etc. of.
belly ::: 1. The stomach. 2. The inside or interior cavity of something.
belong ::: 1. To be a part of or adjunct. 2. To be the property, attribute, or possession of. belongs.
belongings ::: possessions; things owned, either tangible or intangible.
belt ::: 1. Any encircling or transverse band, strip, or stripe characteristically distinguished from the surface it crosses. 2. An elongated region having distinctive properties or characteristics and long in proportion to its breadth. 3. A zone or district.
bench ::: 1. A long seat usually made of wood, for two or more persons. 2. A seat occupied by a person in an official capacity, esp. a judge. 3. Such a seat as a symbol of the office and dignity of an individual judge or the judiciary.
bend ::: 1. To assume a curved, crooked, or angular form or direction, esp. to bend the body; stoop. 2. Fig. To bow, esp. in reverence. 3. To turn or incline in a particular direction; be directed. bends.
bending ::: pulling back the string of (a bow or the like) in preparation for shooting.
benumbed ::: made (any part of the body) insensible, torpid, or powerless; made numb, deprived of sensation; stupefied or stunned, as by a blow or shock; now mostly used for the effects of cold.
bequeathed ::: disposed of (property, etc.) by last will; fig. handed down, passed on.
beset ::: 1. Attacked from all sides. 2. Hemmed in; surrounded.
besiege ::: 1. To surround with hostile forces. 2. To crowd around; hem in; crowd in upon; surround. besieged.
bestrides ::: towers over, dominates, as a victor over the fallen.
beyond ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The language of the Upanishad makes it strikingly clear that it is no metaphysical abstraction, no void Silence, no indeterminate Absolute which is offered to the soul that aspires, but rather the absolute of all that is possessed by it here in the relative world of its sojourning. All here in the mental is a growing light, consciousness and life; all there in the supramental is an infinite life, light and consciousness. That which is here shadowed, is there found; the incomplete here is there the fulfilled. The Beyond is not an annullation, but a transfiguration of all that we are here in our world of forms; it is sovran Mind of this mind, secret Life of this life, the absolute Sense which supports and justifies our limited senses.” The Upanishads *
"Here we live in an organisation of mortal consciousness which takes the form of a transient world; there we are liberated into the harmonies of an infinite self-seeing which knows all world in the light of the eternal and immortal. The Beyond is our reality; that is our plenitude; that is the absolute satisfaction of our self-existence. It is immortality and it is ‘That Delight".” The Upanishads *beyond
bind ::: 1. To restrain or confine with or as if with ties. 2. To place (someone) under obligation; oblige. 3. To fasten together. Also fig. **binds, bound, binding.**
binding ::: n. **1. The covering within which the pages of a book are abound. adj. 2.* Fig.* Commanding adherence to a commitment, obligatory.
binding posts ::: stakes, stout poles, columns, or the like, that are set upright in or on the ground; (with prefixed word indicating special purpose).
bindst ::: a native English form of the verb, to bind, now only in formal and poetic usage.
biography ::: an account of a person"s life written, composed, or produced by another.
bird ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The Bird in the Veda is the symbol, very frequently, of the soul liberated and upsoaring, at other times of energies so liberated and upsoaring, winging upwards towards the heights of our being, winging widely with a free flight, no longer involved in the ordinary limited movement or labouring gallop of the Life-energy, the Horse, Ashwa.” *The Secret of the Veda
birth ::: 1. The act or fact of being born. 2. Fig. The coming into existence of something; origin. Birth, birth"s, births.
"Birth is an assumption of a body by the spirit, death is the casting off [of] the body; there is nothing original in this birth, nothing final in this death. Before birth we were; after death we shall be. Nor are our birth and death a single episode without continuous meaning or sequel; it is one episode out of many, scenes of our drama of existence with its denouement far away in time.” Essays Divine and Human*
birth, wheel of
biting ::: wounding or lacerating with the teeth.
bivouac ("s) ::: a temporary camp with shelters such as tents, as used by soldiers or mountaineers, often unprotected from an enemy.
blade ::: the flat cutting part of a sharpened weapon or tool. blade"s.
blamed ::: found fault with; censured; held responsible.
blaspheme ::: to speak in an irreverent, contemptuous or disrespectful manner; curse; (esp. God, a divine being or sacred things).
blazing ::: 1. Burning with tremendous heat, etc. 2. Shining intensely.
blazon ::: the description or representation of a coat of arms or banner bearing the symbol of a coat of arms.
bleak ::: 1. Exposed to the elements; unsheltered and barren; desolate; cold and cutting; raw, windswept. 2. Offering little or no hope or encouragement.
blind ::: adj. 1. Unable to see; lacking the sense of sight; sightless. Also fig. 2. Unwilling or unable to perceive or understand. 3. Lacking all consciousness or awareness. 4. Not having or based on reason or intelligence; absolute and unquestioning. 5. Not characterized or determined by reason or control. 6. Purposeless; fortuitous, random. 7. Undiscriminating; heedless; reckless. 8. Enveloped in darkness; dark, dim, obscure. 9. Dense enough to form a screen. 10. Covered or concealed from sight; hidden from immediate view. 11. Having no openings or passages for light; (a window or door) walled up. blindest, half-blind. v. 12. To deprive of sight permanently or temporarily. 13. To make sightless momentarily; dazzle. blinded.* n. 14. A blind person, esp. as pl., those who are blind. 15. Fig.* Any thing or action intended to conceal one"s real intention; a pretence, a pretext; subterfuge.
blind alley ::: 1. A road, alley, etc. that is open only at one end. 2. A position or situation offering no hope of progress or improvement. 3. A situation in which no further progress can be made.
blinded ::: 1. Sightless; deprived of sight or withheld the light from. 2. Fig. Unable or unwilling to perceive or understand, lacking in perception or foresight; deprived or destitute of spiritual light or guidance. thought-blinded.
blindfold ::: fig. With the awareness or clear thinking impaired, the mind blinded and without perception.
blinkers ::: leather side pieces attached to a horse"s bridle to prevent sideways vision.
blink ::: n. **1. A glance, often with half-shut eyes; a wink. v. 2. To close and open one or both of the eyes rapidly; shut the eyelids momentarily and involuntarily; to wink for an instant. 3. To shut the eyes to; to evade, shirk, pass by, ignore. blinks, blinked.**
blithe ::: joyous, merry, or gay in disposition; glad; cheerful.
blockade ::: 1. The isolating, closing off, or surrounding of a place. 2. Any obstruction of passage or progress.
block ::: n. 1. A solid piece of a hard substance, such as wood, stone, etc. having one or more flat sides. Also fig. 2. Something that obstructs; an obstacle. blocks. *v. 3. To impede, retard, prevent or obstruct the progress or achievement of (someone or something). Also fig.*
blood-glued ::: in reference to the bloody shirt that stuck to the body of the Centaur.
blood-lust ::: the desire for bloodshed.
bloom ::: n. **1. The flower of a plant. 2. Fig. A condition or time of vigour, freshness, and beauty; prime. 3. Fig. Glowing charm; delicate beauty. blooms. v. 4. To bear flowers; to blossom. Also fig. 5. To be in a healthy, glowing, or flourishing condition. 6. To flourish or grow. 7. To cause to flourish or grow; to flourish. Chiefly fig. blooms, bloomed.**
blossom ::: v. 1. To produce or yield flowers. 2. To flourish; develop. blossomed.* *n. 3. The flower of a plant. mango-blossoms.**
blunt ::: made less intense, lessened the strength of; weakened.
board ::: a sheet of wood, cardboard, paper, or other material on which some games are played.
bodied ::: v. 1. Furnished or provided with a body; embodied. 2. Gave shape to, gave bodily form to, exhibited in outward reality. 3. Represented; symbolized, typified. adj. 4. Possessing or existing in bodily form, endowed with material form. half-bodied, million-bodied, three-bodied, two-bodied.
bodiless ::: having no body, form, or substance; incorporeal. (Sri Aurobindo also employs the word as a n.) Bodiless.
bodily ::: 1. Physical as opposed to mental or spiritual. 2. Of, relating to, or belonging to the body or the physical nature of man.
body ::: 1. The entire material or physical structure of an organism, especially of a human or animal as differentiated from the soul. 2. The entire physical structure of a human being. 3. A mass of matter that is distinct from other masses. 4. Substance. 5. An agent or entity. 6. The mass of a thing. 7. A mass of matter that is distinct from other masses. 8. The largest or main part of anything; the foundation; central part. body"s, bodies.
"Body is the outward sign and lowest basis of the apparent division which Nature plunging into ignorance and self-nescience makes the starting-point for the recovery of unity by the individual soul, unity even in the midst of the most exaggerated forms of her multiple consciousness.” The Life Divine
bold ::: 1. Fearless and daring; courageous. 2. Clear and distinct to the eye.
boldness or daring without regard for conventional thought or other restrictions.
bond ::: 1. Something, such as a fetter, cord, or band, that binds, ties, or fastens things together. Also fig. 2. A duty, promise, or other obligation by which one is bound. 3. Something that binds one to a certain circumstance or line of behaviour. 4. A uniting force or tie; a link. 5. A binding agreement; a covenant. bonds.
bondage ::: 1. The state of one who is bound as a slave or serf. 2. A state of subjection to a force, power, or influence.
bondslave ::: a person in a state of slavery; one whose person and liberty are subjected to the authority of a master. bondslaves.
bordering ::: lying along or adjacent to the edge or border of something; adjoining.
borderland ::: an indeterminate region esp. the area between two worlds.
border ::: n. 1. A part that forms the outer edge of something. 2. The line or frontier area separating political divisions or geographic regions; a boundary. 3. A strip of ground, as that at the edge of a garden or walk, an edging. borders. v. 4. To form the boundary of; be contiguous to. fig. To confine. 5. To lie adjacent to another. bordered.
borrowed ::: taken from another source, appropriated; assumed; adopted or adapted for the present.
borrower ::: one who receives something or appropriates it from another source.
bosom ::: 1. The breast. 2. Something likened to the human breast, such as the bosom of the earth, the sea. 2. The breast, conceived of as the centre of feelings or emotions. 3. Centre of; heart of. bosom"s, bosoms, bosomed, white-bosomed.
boulder ::: a detached and rounded or worn stone, esp. a large one.
bound and –bound ::: 1. Pp. and pt. of bind. *adj. 2. Being under a legal or moral obligation. 3. Circumscribed; kept within bounds. * close-bound, death-bound, earth-bound, fate-bound, form-bound, heart-bound, self-bound, sleep-bound, steel-bound, stone-bound, time-bound, trance-bound.
boundary ::: something that indicates a border or limit, or the border or limit so indicated. boundary"s, boundaries.
bounded ::: having the limits or boundaries established. Also fig.
bound ::: going or intending to go towards; on the way to. heaven-bound.
bound ::: n. 1. A boundary; a limit. bounds, earth-bounds. *v. *2. To constitute the limit of; contain; enclose. bounds.
bowels ::: the interior of something.
bow ::: to bend (the head, knee, or body) to express greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgement, submission, or veneration. bows, bowed.
bow-twang (‘s) ::: the resonant sound produced when a tense string is sharply plucked or suddenly released.
"Brahma is the Eternal"s Personality of Existence; from him all is created, by his presence, by his power, by his impulse.” Essays Human and Divine
brahma ("s) ::: "Brahma is the nominative; the uninflected form of the word is brahman; it differs from brahman ‘the Eternal" only in gender.” *Glossary of Terms in Sri Aurobindo"s Writings
breadth ::: 1. The measure or the second largest dimension of a plane or solid figure; width. 2. Freedom from narrowness or restraint; liberality. 3. Tolerance; broadmindedness. breadths.
breakers ::: 1. Those who break down barriers, etc. 2. Waves that crest and break on the shore or coast. breakers".
breaking-point ::: the point at which a condition or situation becomes critical.
break ::: v. 1. To destroy by or as if by shattering or crushing. 2. To force or make a way through (a barrier, etc.). 3. To vary or disrupt the uniformity or continuity of. 4. To overcome or put an end to. 5. To destroy or interrupt a regularity, uniformity, continuity, or arrangement of; interrupt. 6. To intrude upon; interrupt a conversation, etc. 7. To discontinue or sever an association, an agreement, or a relationship. **8. To overcome or wear down the spirit, strength, or resistance of. 9. (usually followed by in, into or out). 10. To filter or penetrate as sunlight into a room. 11. To come forth suddenly. 12. To utter suddenly; to express or start to express an emotion, mood, etc. 13. Said of waves, etc. when they dash against an obstacle, or topple over and become surf or broken water in the shallows. 14. To part the surface of water, as a ship or a jumping fish. breaks, broke, broken, breaking.* *n. 15.** An interruption or a disruption in continuity or regularity.
breast ::: 1. Each of two milk-secreting glandular organs on the chest of a woman; the human mammary gland. 2. The front of the body from the neck to the abdomen; chest. 3. Fig. The seat of the affection and emotion. 4. Fig. A source of nourishment. 5. Something likened to the human breast, as a surface, etc. breasts, breasts".
breath ::: 1. The air inhaled and exhaled in respiration. Also fig. 2. A momentary stirring of air, a slight gust. 3. Spirit or vitality; life. 4. The vapour, heat, or odour of exhaled air. Also fig. **5. A slight suggestion; hint; whisper. Breath,* *breath-fastened.**
breathe ::: 1. To be alive; live. 2. To take air, oxygen, etc., into the lungs and expel it; inhale and exhale; respire. Also fig. 3. To control the outgoing breath in producing voice and speech sounds. 4. To utter, especially quietly. 5. To make apparent or manifest; express; suggest. 6. To exhale (something); emit. 7. To impart as if by breathing; instil. 8. To move gently or blow lightly, as air. breathes, breathed, breathing. ::: To breathe upon fig. To taint; corrupt.
breathing ::: the act or process of respiration.
bricks ::: blocks of clay hardened by drying in the sun or burning in a kiln, and used for building, paving, etc.
bride ::: 1. A woman who is about to be married or has recently been married. Also fig. 2. The divine creatrix. Bride, brides, earth-bride.
brief ::: a memorandum of points of fact or of law for use in conducting a case. (All other references are as: short lived, fleeting, transitory. briefer, brief-lived.)
bright ::: 1. Emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts; shining; radiant. 2. Magnificent; glorious. 3. Favourable or auspicious. 4. Fig. Characterized by happiness or gladness; full of promise and hope. 5. Distinct and clear to the mind, etc. 6. Intensely clear and vibrant in tone or quality. 7. Polished; glistening as with brilliant color. brighter, brightest, bright-hued, bright-pinioned, flame-bright, moon-bright, pearl-bright, sun-bright.
brightness ::: the state or quality of being bright, luminous.
brilliant ::: 1. Full of light; shining; lustrous. 2. Of surpassing excellence; splendid; highly impressive; distinguished. 3. Strong and clear in tone; vivid; bright. pale-brilliant.
brimmed ::: referring to the upper edge or rim of anything hollow.
brim ::: the rim or uppermost edge of a hollow container or natural basin, bowl, etc.
bringst ::: a native English form of the verb, to bring, now only in formal and poetic usage.
brink ::: 1. The upper edge of a steep or vertical slope, esp. the margin of land bordering a body of water. 2. Any extreme edge; verge. 3. A crucial or critical point, esp. of a situation or state beyond which success or catastrophe occurs.
broideries ::: embroidered needle-work designs in gold, silver, and other threads on cloth.
broken ::: 1. Forcibly separated into two or more pieces; fractured. 2. Crushed in spirit or temper; discouraged; overcome. 3. Incomplete. 4. Interrupted disturbed; disconnected. 5. Torn; ruptured. (Also pp. of break.)
broken hearts
brooding ::: 1. *Fig. Protecting (young) by or as if by covering with the wings. *2. Meditating or dwelling deeply on a thought.
brow ::: 1. The part of the face from the eyes to the hairline. forehead. 2. The expression of the face; countenance. 3. The eyebrow. pl. **brows.**
-browed ::: adj. dark-browed, deep-browed, great-browed, Queen-browed. ::: rough-browed. [In this instance, -browed refers to the projecting edge of a cliff or hill.]
bruised ::: hurt, especially psychologically, beaten; pounded; crushed.
bubbling ::: rising to or as if to the surface; emerging forth as with a gurgling sound.
building ::: 1. The act or action of constructing; erecting. Also fig. **2. **Something that is built, as for human habitation; a structure.
built ::: pt. and pp. of build. dream-built, high-built, low-built, mind-built, new-built. *adj. *built in. Constructed or included as an integral part of. adj. built-up. Built by the fastening together of several parts or enlarged by the addition of layers.
bundles ::: a group of objects held together, as by tying or wrapping; packages.
burdened ::: 1. Weighed down; oppressed. 2. Bearing a heavy load of work, difficulties or responsibilities. 3. Laden with; charged with. pleasure-burdened, sign-burdened.
burdensome ::: 1. Oppressively heavy; onerous. 2. Distressing, troublesome.
bureau ::: 1. A chest of drawers, especially a dresser for holding clothes, often with a desk top. 2. An office, usually of large organization, that is responsible for a specific duty such as administration, public business, etc.
buried ::: v. 1. Deposited or hid under ground; covered up with earth or other material. Also fig. **2. Plunged or sunk deep in, so as to be covered from view; put out of sight. adj. 3. Put in the ground or in a tomb; interred. 4. Consigned to a position of obscurity, inaccessibility, or inaction. 5.* Fig.* Consigned to oblivion, put out of the way, abandoned and forgotten.
burn ::: 1. To be very eager; aflame with activity, as to be on fire. 2. To emit heat or light by as if by combustion; to flame.. 3. To give off light or to glow brightly. 4. To light; a candle; incense, etc.) as an offering. 5. To suffer punishment or death by or as if by fire; put to death by fire. 6. To injure, endanger, or damage with or as if with fire. 7. Fig. To be consumed with strong emotions; be aflame with desire; anger; etc. 8. To shine intensely; to seem to glow as if on fire. burns, burned, burnt, burning.
burned ::: affected or damaged by fire or excessive heat, scorched.
burning ::: adj. 1. Aflame; on fire. Also fig. 2. Very bright; glowing; luminous. 3. Characterized by intense emotion; passionate. 4. Urgent or crucial. 5. Extremely hot; scorching. 6. Very hot. ever-burning.* *n. 7. The state, process, sensation, or effect of being on fire, burned, or subjected to intense heat. altar-burnings.**
burnished ::: having a smooth glossy appearance ; luster, as rubbed and polished metal.
"But great art is not satisfied with representing the intellectual truth of things, which is always their superficial or exterior truth; it seeks for a deeper and original truth which escapes the eye of the mere sense or the mere reason, the soul in them, the unseen reality which is not that of their form and process but of their spirit.” The Human Cycle etc.
butt ::: a person or thing that is the object of wit, ridicule, sarcasm, contempt.
bygone ::: well in the past; former.
bypaths ::: a little used path or track, esp. in the country.
byways ::: secondary or side path, road or way little travelled (as in the countryside).
cabbala ::: 1 A body of mystical Jewish teachings based on an interpretation of hidden meanings in the Hebrew Scriptures. Among its central doctrines are, all creation is an emanation from the Deity and the soul exists from eternity. 2. Any secret or occult doctrine or science. 3. "Esoteric system of interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures based on the assumption that every word, letter, number, and accent in them has an occult meaning. The system, oral at first, claimed great antiquity, but was really the product of the Middle Ages, arising in the 7th century and lasting into the 18th. It was popular chiefly among Jews, but spread to Christians as well. (Col. Enc.)” Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works
cadence ::: 1. Balanced, rhythmic flow, as of poetry or oratory. 2. Music. A sequence of notes or chords that indicates the momentary or complete end of a composition, section, phrase, etc. 3. The flow or rhythm of events. 4. A recurrent rhythmical series; a flow, esp. the pattern in which something is experienced. 5. A slight falling in pitch of the voice in speaking or reading. cadences.
cajoles ::: persuades by flattery or promises; wheedles; coaxes.
call ::: Sri Aurobindo: "All Yoga is in its nature a new birth; it is a birth out of the ordinary, the mentalised material life of man into a higher spiritual consciousness and a greater and diviner being. No Yoga can be successfully undertaken and followed unless there is a strong awakening to the necessity of that larger spiritual existence. The soul that is called to this deep and vast inward change, may arrive in different ways to the initial departure. It may come to it by its own natural development which has been leading it unconsciously towards the awakening; it may reach it through the influence of a religion or the attraction of a philosophy; it may approach it by a slow illumination or leap to it by a sudden touch or shock; it may be pushed or led to it by the pressure of outward circumstances or by an inward necessity, by a single word that breaks the seals of the mind or by long reflection, by the distant example of one who has trod the path or by contact and daily influence. According to the nature and the circumstances the call will come.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
clauses, items, points, or particulars in a contract, treaty, or other formal agreement; conditions or stipulations in a contract.
fig. Hearts filled with despair; disillusionment; devastating sorrow, especially from disappointment or tragedy in love.
"First, we affirm an Absolute as the origin and support and secret Reality of all things. The Absolute Reality is indefinable and ineffable by mental thought and mental language; it is self-existent and self-evident to itself, as all absolutes are self-evident, but our mental affirmatives and negatives, whether taken separatively or together, cannot limit or define it.” The Life Divine
"For each birth is a new start; it develops indeed from the past, but is not its mechanical continuation: rebirth is not a constant reiteration but a progression, it is the machinery of an evolutionary process.” The Life Divine
*heaven-bird, heaven-bird"s.
"High beyond the Intelligence is the Great Self, beyond the Great Self is the Unmanifest, beyond the Unmanifest is the Conscious Being. There is nothing beyond the Being, — that is the extreme ultimate, that the supreme goal.” — Katha Upanishad. (4) (Sri Aurobindo"s translation) The Life Divine
**"I certainly won"t have ‘attracted" [in place of ‘allured"] — there is an enormous difference between the force of the two words and merely ‘attracted by the Ecstasy" would take away all my ecstasy in the line — nothing so tepid can be admitted. Neither do I want ‘thrill" [in place of ‘joy"] which gives a false colour — precisely it would mean that the ecstasy was already touching him with its intensity which is far from my intention.Your statement that ‘joy" is just another word for ‘ecstasy" is surprising. ‘Comfort", ‘pleasure", ‘joy", ‘bliss", ‘rapture", ‘ecstasy" would then be all equal and exactly synonymous terms and all distinction of shades and colours of words would disappear from literature. As well say that ‘flashlight" is just another word for ‘lightning" — or that glow, gleam, glitter, sheen, blaze are all equivalents which can be employed indifferently in the same place. One can feel allured to the supreme omniscient Ecstasy and feel a nameless joy touching one without that Joy becoming itself the supreme Ecstasy. I see no loss of expressiveness by the joy coming in as a vague nameless hint of the immeasurable superior Ecstasy.” Letters on Savitri*
"If birth is a becoming, death also is a becoming, not by any means a cessation. The body is abandoned, but the soul goes on its way, . . . .” Essays on the Gita
"I have said that the Avatar is one who comes to open the Way for humanity to a higher consciousness —. . . .” Letters on Yoga
"I may say that the opening upwards, the ascent into the Light and the subsequent descent into the ordinary consciousness and normal human life is very common as the first decisive experience in the practice of yoga and may very well happen even without the practice of yoga in those who are destined for the spiritual change, especially if there is a dissatisfaction somewhere with the ordinary life and a seeking for something more, greater or better.” Letters on Yoga*
"In every particle, atom, molecule, cell of Matter there lives hidden and works unknown all the omniscience of the Eternal and all the omnipotence of the Infinite.” Essays Divine and Human*
" . . . insincerity is always an open door for the adversary. That means there is some secret sympathy with what is perverse. And that is what is serious.” Questions and Answers 1957-58, MCW Vol. 9.
inspiring mingled reverence and admiration; impressing the emotions or imagination as magnificent; majestic, stately, sublime, solemnly grand; venerable, revered; of supreme dignity.
". . . in the Avatar there is the special manifestation, the divine birth from above, the eternal and universal Godhead descended into a form of individual humanity, âtmânam srjâmi, and conscious not only behind the veil but in the outward nature.” Essays on the Gita
"In the subconscient knowledge or consciousness is involved in action, for action is the essence of Life.” The Life Divine
"It is a call of the being for higher things — for the Divine, for all that belongs to the higher or Divine Consciousness.” Guidance
". . . [man"s] nature calls for a human intermediary so that he may feel the Divine in something entirely close to his own humanity and sensible in a human influence and example. This call is satisfied by the Divine manifest in a human appearance, the Incarnation, the Avatar. . . .” The Synthesis of Yoga
one who is versed in or practices alchemy. Pertaining to one who studies or practises alchemy. alchemist (employed as an adj. by Sri Aurobindo).
positions or postures of the body appropriate to or expressive of an action, emotion.
"Pulling comes usually from a desire to get things for oneself — in aspiration there is a self-giving for the higher consciousness to descend and take possession — the more intense the call the greater the self-giving.” Letters on Yoga
*Sri Aurobindo: "Action is the first power of life. Nature begins with force and its works which, once conscious in man, become will and its achievements; therefore it is that by turning his action Godwards the life of man best and most surely begins to become divine.” The Synthesis of Yoga
*(Sri Aurobindo: "And finally all is lifted up and taken into the supermind and made a part of the infinitely luminous consciousness, knowledge and experience of the supramental being, the Vijnana Purusha.” The Synthesis of Yoga*) ::: Angel of the House. The guardian spirit of the home.
*Sri Aurobindo: "Aspiration is a call to the Divine.” Letters on Yoga*
Sri Aurobindo: "Atheism is the shadow or dark side of the highest perception of God.” *Essays Divine and Human
Sri Aurobindo: "Beauty is the special divine Manifestation in the physical as Truth is in the Mind, Love in the heart, Power in the vital.” *The Future Poetry
Sri Aurobindo: "Birth is the first spiritual mystery of the physical universe, death is the second which gives its double point of perplexity to the mystery of birth; for life, which would otherwise be a self-evident fact of existence, becomes itself a mystery by virtue of these two which seem to be its beginning and its end and yet in a thousand ways betray themselves as neither of these things, but rather intermediate stages in an occult processus of life.” *The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "Brahma is the Power of the Divine that stands behind formation and the creation.” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "By aesthesis is meant a reaction of the consciousness, mental and vital and even bodily, which receives a certain element in things, something that can be called their taste, Rasa, which, passing through the mind or sense or both, awakes a vital enjoyment of the taste, Bhoga, and this can again awaken us, awaken even the soul in us to something yet deeper and more fundamental than mere pleasure and enjoyment, to some form of the spirit"s delight of existence, Ananda.” *Letters on Savitri
Sri Aurobindo: ". . . for each individual is in himself the Eternal who has assumed name and form and supports through him the experiences of life turning on an ever-circling wheel of birth in the manifestation. The wheel is kept in motion by the desire of the individual, which becomes the effective cause of rebirth and by the mind"s turning away from the knowledge of the eternal self to the preoccupations of the temporal becoming.” The Life Divine
*Sri Aurobindo: "For from the divine Bliss, the original Delight of existence, the Lord of Immortality comes pouring the wine of that Bliss, the mystic Soma, into these jars of mentalised living matter; eternal and beautiful, he enters into these sheaths of substance for the integral transformation of the being and nature.” The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "In the very atom there is a subconscious will and desire which must also be present in all atomic aggregates because they are present in the Force which constitutes the atom.” *Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "It might be said again that, even so, in Sachchidananda itself at least, above all worlds of manifestation, there could be nothing but the self-awareness of pure existence and consciousness and a pure delight of existence. Or, indeed, this triune being itself might well be only a trinity of original spiritual self-determinations of the Infinite; these too, like all determinations, would cease to exist in the ineffable Absolute. But our position is that these must be inherent truths of the supreme being; their utmost reality must be pre-existent in the Absolute even if they are ineffably other there than what they are in the spiritual mind"s highest possible experience. The Absolute is not a mystery of infinite blankness nor a supreme sum of negations; nothing can manifest that is not justified by some self-power of the original and omnipresent Reality.” The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "Matter, body is only a massed motion of force of conscious being employed as a starting-point for the variable relations of consciousness working through its power of sense.” *Essays on the Gita
**Sri Aurobindo: [referring to the following lines]
Sri Aurobindo: ” See God everywhere and be not frightened by masks. Believe that all falsehood is truth in the making or truth in the breaking, all failure an effectuality concealed, all weakness strength hiding itself from its own vision, all pain a secret & violent ecstasy. If thou believest firmly & unweariedly, in the end thou wilt see & experience the All-true, Almighty & All-blissful.” Essays Divine and Human*
Sri Aurobindo: "The anarchic is the true divine state of man in the end as in the beginning; but in between it would lead us straight to the devil and his kingdom.” Essays Divine and Human*
*Sri Aurobindo: "The highest aim of the aesthetic being is to find the Divine through beauty; the highest Art is that which by an inspired use of significant and interpretative form unseals the doors of the spirit.” The Human Cycle etc.*
Sri Aurobindo: "This truth of Karma has been always recognised in the East in one form or else in another; but to the Buddhists belongs the credit of having given to it the clearest and fullest universal enunciation and the most insistent importance. In the West too the idea has constantly recurred, but in external, in fragmentary glimpses, as the recognition of a pragmatic truth of experience, and mostly as an ordered ethical law or fatality set over against the self-will and strength of man: but it was clouded over by other ideas inconsistent with any reign of law, vague ideas of some superior caprice or of some divine jealousy, — that was a notion of the Greeks, — a blind Fate or inscrutable Necessity, Ananke, or, later, the mysterious ways of an arbitrary, though no doubt an all-wise Providence.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga *Ananke"s.
Sri Aurobindo: "Very usually, altruism is only the sublimest form of selfishness.” *Essays Divine and Human
Sri Aurobindo: "We mean by the Absolute something greater than ourselves, greater than the cosmos which we live in, the supreme reality of that transcendent Being which we call God, something without which all that we see or are conscious of as existing, could not have been, could not for a moment remain in existence. Indian thought calls it Brahman, European thought the Absolute because it is a self-existent which is absolved of all bondage to relativities . . . The Absolute is for us the Ineffable.” *The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "What the "void" feels as a clutch is felt by the Mother only as a reminding finger laid on her cheek. It is one advantage of the expression ‘as if" that it leaves the field open for such variation. It is intended to suggest without saying it that behind the sombre void is the face of a mother. The two other ‘as if"s have the same motive and I do not find them jarring upon me. The second is at a sufficient distance from the first and it is not obtrusive enough to prejudice the third which more nearly follows. . . .” Letters on Savitri
*Sri Aurobindo: "When there is some lowering or diminution of the consciousness or some impairing of it at one place or another, the Adversary — or the Censor — who is always on the watch presses with all his might wherever there is a weak point lying covered from your own view, and suddenly a wrong movement leaps up with unexpected force. Become conscious and cast out the possibility of its renewal, that is all that is to be done.” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "Yes: the purpose is to create a large luminous trailing repetitive movement like the flight of the Bird with its dragon tail of white fire.” *Letters on Savitri
Sri Aurobindo: "Yet all the time the universal forces are pouring into him without his knowing it. He is aware only of thoughts, feelings, etc., that rise to the surface and these he takes for his own. Really they come from outside in mind waves, vital waves, waves of feeling and sensation, etc., which take particular form in him and rise to the surface after they have got inside. But they do not get into his body at once. He carries about with him an environmental consciousness (called by the Theosophists the Aura) into which they first enter. If you can become conscious of this environmental self of yours, then you can catch the thought, passion, suggestion or force of illness and prevent it from entering into you. If things in you are thrown out, they often do not go altogether but take refuge in this environmental atmosphere and from there they try to get in again. Or they go to a distance outside but linger on the outskirts or even perhaps far off, waiting till they get an opportunity to attempt entrance.” *Letters on Yoga
"Stability and movement, we must remember, are only our psychological representations of the Absolute, even as are oneness and multitude. The Absolute is beyond stability and movement as it is beyond unity and multiplicity. But it takes its eternal poise in the one and the stable and whirls round itself infinitely, inconceivably, securely in the moving and multitudinous.” The Life Divine
Strength is all right for the strong — but aspiration and the Grace answering to it are not altogether myths; they are great realities of the spiritual life.” Letters on Yoga*
taking heed; giving close and thoughtful attention; carefully observant.
(Technically)** **Any of various birds of the family Paradisaeidae, native to New Guinea and adjacent islands, usually having brilliant plumage and long tail feathers in the male.
"The Absolute is beyond personality and beyond impersonality, and yet it is both the Impersonal and the supreme Person and all persons. The Absolute is beyond the distinction of unity and multiplicity, and yet it is the One and the innumerable Many in all the universes.” The Synthesis of Yoga
"The Absolute is in itself indefinable by reason, ineffable to the speech; it has to be approached through experience.” The Life Divine*
". . . the Absolute is not a void or negation. It is all that is here in Time and beyond Time.” The Upanishads*
the act of hearing or attending; the state of hearing, or of being able to hear.
"The Adversary will disappear only when he is no longer necessary in the world. And we know very well that he is necessary, as the touch-stone for gold: to know if it is pure. But if one is really sincere, the Adversary can"t even approach him any longer; and he doesn"t try it, because that would be courting his own destruction.” Questions and Answers 1955, MCW Vol. 7.
"The animal is a vital and sensational being; . . . .” The Synthesis of Yoga*Animal, animal"s, animals, animal-soul, half-animal.
The Apsaras then are the divine Hetairae of Paradise, beautiful singers and actresses whose beauty and art relieve the arduous and world-long struggle of the Gods against the forces that tend towards disruption by the Titans who would restore Matter to its original atomic condition or of dissolution by the sages and hermits who would make phenomena dissolve prematurely into the One who is above phenomena. They rose from the Ocean, says Valmiki, seeking who should choose them as brides, but neither the Gods nor the Titans accepted them, therefore are they said to be common or universal. The Harmony of Virtue
"The Atheist is God playing at hide & seek with Himself; . . . .” Essays Divine and Human*
"The Avatar comes as the manifestation of the divine nature in the human nature, the apocalypse of its Christhood, Krishnahood, Buddhahood, in order that the human nature may by moulding its principle, thought, feeling, action, being on the lines of that Christhood, Krishnahood, Buddhahood transfigure itself into the divine. The law, the Dharma which the Avatar establishes is given for that purpose chiefly; the Christ, Krishna, Buddha stands in its centre as the gate, he makes through himself the way men shall follow.” Essays on the Gita
"The Avatar does not come as a thaumaturgic magician, but as the divine leader of humanity and the exemplar of a divine humanity. Even human sorrow and physical suffering he must assume and use so as to show, first, how that suffering may be a means of redemption, — as did Christ, — secondly, to show how, having been assumed by the divine soul in the human nature, it can also be overcome in the same nature, — as did Buddha. The rationalist who would have cried to Christ, ‘If thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross," or points out sagely that the Avatar was not divine because he died and died too by disease, — as a dog dieth, — knows not what he is saying: for he has missed the root of the whole matter. Even, the Avatar of sorrow and suffering must come before there can be the Avatar of divine joy; the human limitation must be assumed in order to show how it can be overcome; and the way and the extent of the overcoming, whether internal only or external also, depends upon the stage of the human advance; it must not be done by a non-human miracle.” Essays on the Gita
"The body is not only the necessary outer instrument of the physical part of action, but for the purposes of this life a base or pedestal also for all inner action.” The Synthesis of Yoga
"The call of God is imperative and cannot be weighed against any other considerations.” Essays on the Gita*
"The call, once decisive, stands; the thing that has been born cannot eventually be stifled. Even if the force of circumstances prevents a regular pursuit or a full practical self-consecration from the first, still the mind has taken its bent and persists and returns with an ever-increasing effect upon its leading preoccupation. There is an ineluctable persistence of the inner being, and against it circumstances are in the end powerless, and no weakness in the nature can for long be an obstacle.” The Synthesis of Yoga
::: "The Conscious Being, Purusha, is the Self as originator, witness, support and lord and enjoyer of the forms and works of Nature.” *The Life Divine
the Divine, the Creator.
::: "The human vital and physical external nature resist to the very end, but if the soul has once heard the call, it arrives, sooner or later.” Letters on Yoga
"The Infinite creates and is Brahma.” The Renaissance in India ::: "Brahman is not only the cause and supporting power and indwelling principle of the universe, he is also its material and its sole material. Matter also is Brahman and it is nothing other than or different from Brahman.” The Life Divine*
"The inner Divinity is the eternal Avatar in man; the human manifestation is its sign and development in the external world.” Essays on the Gita
The Mother : "An Avatar is an emanation of the Supreme Lord who assumes a human body on earth.” Works of the Mother, "On Thoughts and Aphorisms” Vol.10
The Mother: "In the physical world, of all things it is beauty that expresses best the Divine. the physical world is the world of form and the perfection of form is beauty. Beauty interprets, expresses, manifests the Eternal. Its role is to put all manifested nature in contact with the Eternal through the perfection of form, through harmony and a sense of the ideal which uplifts and leads towards something higher. On Education, MCW Vol. 12.
The Mother: "The Avatar: the supreme Divine manifested in an earthly form — generally a human form — for a definite purpose.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 15.*
*The Mother: "To conquer the Adversary is not a small thing. One must have a greater power than his to vanquish him. But one can liberate oneself totally from his influence. And from the minute one is completely free from his influence, one"s self-giving can be total. And with the self-giving comes joy, long before the Adversary is truly vanquished and disappears.”
::: The Mother: "True art means the expression of beauty in the material world. In a world wholly converted, that is to say, expressing integrally the divine reality, art must serve as the revealer and teacher of this divine beauty in life.” On Education, MCW Vol. 12.
". . . the nervous envelope, the aura.” Letters on Yoga*
the power or faculty of hearing or listening.
"There is no need of words in aspiration. It can be expressed or unexpressed in words.” Letters on Yoga
the strings on an apron, used for securing it around one"s person.tie to someone"s apron strings. To make or be dependent on or dominated by someone.
"The surface mental individuality is, in consequence, always ego-centric; even its altruism is an enlargement of its ego: . . . . ” The Life Divine*
"This body of ours is a symbol of our real being. . . .” Letters on Yoga ::: ". . . the body itself is only a constant act of consciousness of the spirit.” Essays on the Gita
"This universal aesthesis of beauty and delight does not ignore or fail to understand the differences and oppositions, the gradations, the harmony and disharmony obvious to the ordinary consciousness; but, first of all, it draws a Rasa from them and with that comes the enjoyment, Bhoga. and the touch or the mass of the Ananda. It sees that all things have their meaning, their value, their deeper or total significance which the mind does not see, for the mind is only concerned with a surface vision, surface contacts and its own surface reactions. When something expresses perfectly what it was meant to express, the completeness brings with it a sense of harmony, a sense of artistic perfection; it gives even to what is discordant a place in a system of cosmic concordances and the discords become part of a vast harmony, and wherever there is harmony, there is a sense of beauty. ” Letters on Savitri*
those who assist, guide, wait upon, accompany, give service or follow another to contribute to the fulfilment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose; subordinate companions.
to draw by appealing by the emotions or senses, by stimulating interest, or by exciting admiration; allure; invite. attracts, attracted, attracting.
"To find highest beauty is to find God; to reveal, to embody, to create, as we say, highest beauty is to bring out of our souls the living image and power of God.” The Human Cycle
"We are not the body, but the body is still something of ourselves. With realisation the erroneous identification ceases — in certain experiences the existence of the body is not felt at all. In the full realisation the body is within us, not we in it, it is an instrumental formation in our wider being, — our consciousness exceeds but also pervades it, — it can be dissolved without our ceasing to be the self.” Letters on Yoga
"We arrive then necessarily at this conclusion that human birth is a term at which the soul must arrive in a long succession of rebirths and that it has had for its previous and preparatory terms in the succession the lower forms of life upon earth; it has passed through the whole chain that life has strung in the physical universe on the basis of the body, the physical principle.” The Life Divine
"We imagine that the soul is in the body, almost a result and derivation from the body; even we so feel it: but it is the body that is in the soul and a result and derivation from the soul.” Essays on the Gita
KEYS (10k)
38 Heraclitus
33 Sri Ramana Maharshi
29 Friedrich Nietzsche
21 Tao Te Ching
19 Sri Ramana Maharshi
18 Anonymous
15 Bruce Lee
13 Miyamoto Musashi
13 Michel de Montaigne
13 Plato
13 Epictetus
12 Socrates
11 Mark Twain
11 Lao Tzu
10 Voltaire
10 The Mother
10 Kabir
9 Ralph Waldo Emerson
9 Jalaluddin Rumi
8 William Shakespeare
8 Saint Therese of Lisieux
8 Oscar Wilde
8 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
8 Hermes
8 Carl Jung
8 Alan Watts
8 Hafiz
8 Dogen Zenji
7 Zen Proverb
7 Sri Ramakrishna
7 Georg C Lichtenberg
7 Edgar Allan Poe
7 Buddha
7 Albert Einstein
7 ?
6 William Blake
6 Vincent van Gogh
6 Stephen King
6 Rabia al-Adawiyya
6 Publilius Syrus
6 Marcus Aurelius
6 Henry David Thoreau
6 C S Lewis
6 Blaise Pascal
6 Albert Camus
6 Sri Ramakrishna
5 Yosa Buson
5 Unknown
5 Taigu Ryokan
5 Saint John of the Cross
5 Leo Tolstoy
5 Leonard Cohen
5 John Milton
5 Ernest Hemingway
5 Elon Musk
5 Eckhart Tolle
5 C.S. Lewis
5 Bhagavad Gita
5 Walt Whitman
5 Homer
5 Abraham Maslow
4 Yamamoto Tsunetomo
4 Thomas Jefferson
4 Thomas A Kempis
4 Sun Tzu
4 Stephen Covey
4 Shunryu Suzuki
4 Seneca
4 Robert Burton
4 Rilke
4 Rig Veda
4 Philokalia
4 Pablo Neruda
4 Mahatma Gandhi
4 Khalil Gibran
4 John Lennon
4 Jiddu Krishnamurti
4 Jean Gebser
4 Ikkyu
4 Hakuin Ekaku
4 Gurdjieff
4 G K Chesterton
4 Franz Kafka
4 Arthur Schopenhauer
4 Anon.
4 Alfred North Whitehead
4 Jalaluddin Rumi
4 Chuang Tzu
4 Aristotle
3 Winston Churchill
3 Wei Wu Wei
3 Thomas Keating
3 Thomas Carlyle
3 Thich Nhat Hanh
3 The Zohar
3 The Mother?
3 The Buddha
3 The Bab
3 Terry Pratchett
3 Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
3 Saint Jerome
3 Saint Francis de Sales
3 Robert Adams
3 Proverb
3 Percy Bysshe Shelley
3 Ovid
3 Osho
3 Novalis
3 Ludwig Wittgenstein
3 Lewis Carroll
3 Lao Tzu
3 J R R Tolkien
3 JB
3 Japanese Proverb
3 Henri Bergson
3 George Gurdjieff
3 Fyodor Dostoevsky
3 Erik Erikson
3 Eleanor Roosevelt
3 Dante Alighieri
3 Dalai Lama
3 Confucius
3 Buson
3 Bill Hicks
3 Benjamin Disraeli
3 Saadi
3 Ogawa
3 Ibn Arabi
3 Confucius
3 Bodhidharma
3 Abraham Lincoln
2 Zig Ziglar
2 Zhuangzi
2 Walt Disney
2 Virginia Woolf
2 Virgil
2 Victor Hugo
2 Tseu-tse
2 T S Eliot
2 Theodore Roosevelt
2 Terence McKenna
2 Tagami Kikusha
2 Sri Sarada Devi
2 Soren Kierkegaard
2 Solomon Ibn Gabirol
2 Sigmund Freud
2 Sheng-yen
2 Seungsahn
2 Sengcan
2 Sappho
2 Saint Philip Neri
2 Saint Maximus the Confessor
2 Saint Bridget of Sweden
2 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
2 Saint Ambrose
2 Ryan Holiday
2 Rudyard Kipling
2 Robert Frost
2 Robert Browning
2 Ramesh Balsekar
2 Rainer Maria Rilke
2 Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
2 Psalms
2 Proclus
2 Peter J Carroll
2 Pema Chödrön
2 Paulo Coelho
2 Our Lady to Father Stefano Gobbi
2 Omar Khayyam
2 Neil Gaiman
2 Napoleon Bonaparte
2 Mitch Hedberg
2 Michelangelo
2 Matsuo Basho
2 Martin Heidegger
2 Marcel Proust
2 Lord Byron
2 Li Po
2 Lilly Wachowski
2 Kamal Ravikant
2 John Wooden
2 John Green
2 Jeff Foster
2 Jean-Paul Sartre
2 James Clear
2 Jack Butcher
2 Isaac Asimov
2 Immanuel Kant
2 Huineng
2 Henry Van Dyke
2 Helen Keller
2 Hazrat Inayat Khan
2 Haruki Murakami
2 Gita Bellin
2 George MacDonald
2 George Eliot
2 George Bernard Shaw
2 Galileo Galilei
2 Francis Bacon
2 Etienne Gilson
2 Eliphas Levi
2 Dolly Parton
2 Diogenes
2 Dhammapada
2 Desiderius Erasmus
2 Deepak Chopra
2 Dante
2 Chogyam Trungpa
2 Chiyo-ni
2 Charles Dickens
2 Chamtrul Rinpoche
2 Cervantes
2 Carl Sagan
2 Book of Wisdom
2 Bob Ross
2 Bob Marley
2 Basil of Caesarea
2 Baha-ullah
2 Averroes
2 Aristotle?
2 Anthony Robbins
2 Anais Nin
2 Aldous Huxley
2 Saint Augustine of Hippo
2 Nichiren
2 Meister Eckhart
2 Kobayashi Issa
2 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1 Zen Saying
1 Zen proverb
1 Zen Koan
1 Zelda Fitzgerald
1 Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia)
1 Yogi Berra
1 Yamamura Bocho
1 Xunzi
1 Wu Hsin
1 William Wordsworth
1 William Shedd
1 William S Burroughs
1 William James
1 William Hazlitt
1 William Faulkner
1 William Butler Yeats
1 Willard Van Orman Quine
1 Willa Cather
1 Whitman
1 What can they matter to me?
1 Walter Winchell
1 V. S. Naipaul
1 Viktor Frankl
1 Vemana
1 Velimir Khlebnikov
1 Valmiki
1 T. S. Eliot
1 Traleg Rinpoche
1 Tony Robbins
1 Tolstoi
1 Todd Crawshaw
1 TM
1 Tilopa
1 T.H. White
1 Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
1 Thomas Paine
1 Thomas Merton. "The Way Of Chuang Tzu
1 Thomas Fuller
1 Thích Nhất Hạnh
1 The Upanishads
1 the search for the grail.
1 "The Rosicrucian Manuscripts."
1 The Philokalia
1 Theophan the Recluse
1 The Mother
1 The most dangerous people are those who have passion but lack wisdom - Haemin Sunim
1 The Kabala
1 The Corpus Hermeticum
1 Thales
1 T Gantier
1 Tertullian
1 Tenzin Deva
1 Taoist proverb
1 Tantric Aphorism
1 Taneda Santoka 1882-1940
1 Tanatric Buddhist Woman Song
1 Talking Heads
1 Tacitus
1 Sydney Smith
1 Swami Vijnanananda
1 Swami Ramakrishnananda
1 SWAMI RAMA
1 Swami Chinmayananda
1 SWAMI ABHEDANANDA
1 Sunday Adelaja
1 Sufism
1 St. Paul
1 Steven Wright
1 Steve Jobs
1 Stephen Richards
1 Stephen Hunt
1 Stephanie Klein
1 STA
1 Sri Nisargadatta
1 Sri Chinmoy
1 Sri Aurobindo
1 Spinoza
1 Soyen Shaku
1 Sophocles
1 SONG from GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA
1 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
1 Simon & Garfunkel
1 Sheng yen
1 Shakti Gawain
1 Shakespeare
1 Sergius Bulgakov
1 Seng-ts'an
1 Sathya Sai Baba
1 Sarum Missal (1514
1 Sarah Williams
1 Sanjay
1 Samuel Lover
1 Salvador Dali
1 Saint Xanthias
1 Saint Vincent de Paul
1 Saint Terese of the Andes
1 Saint Teresa of Avila
1 Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
1 Saint Seraphim of Sarov
1 Saint Rose of Viterbo
1 Saint Pius X
1 Saint Pedro Pio
1 Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcino
1 Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta
1 Saint Maximus of Turin
1 Saint Lucy
1 Saint Joseph of Cupertino
1 Saint Josemaria Escriva
1 Saint John Klimakos
1 Saint John Climacus
1 Saint John Bosco
1 Saint John Baptist de la Salle
1 Saint Jeanne de Chantal
1 Saint Jane Frances de Chantal
1 Saint Ignatius of Loyola
1 Saint Ignatius of Antioch
1 Saint Hildegard of Bingen
1 Saint Gregory of Nyssa
1 Saint Clement of Rome
1 Saint Cajetan
1 Saint Benedict of Nursia
1 Saint Bede the Venerable
1 Saint Basil the Great
1 Saint Basil of Caesarea
1 Saint Avitus of Vienna
1 Saint Ambrose of Milan
1 Saint Alphonsus Ligouri
1 Saint Aloysius Gonzaga
1 Ryutan
1 R W Emerson
1 Roshi So
1 Robert Fritz
1 Robert
1 Roald Dahl
1 R.M.Rilke
1 R.M. Drake
1 Rich Weaver
1 Richard Branson
1 Richard Bach
1 Revelation 7:2-3
1 Revelation 18:4-5
1 René Descartes
1 Rembrandt
1 Rabindranath Tagore
1 Quran
1 Quintus Ennius
1 Quetzalcoatl
1 Pythagoras
1 Porphyry
1 Pope St. Leo the Great
1 Pope St. John Paul II
1 Pope St. Clement I
1 Pope John Paul II
1 Plautus
1 Pindar
1 Philolaus
1 Philip K. Dick
1 Petrarch
1 Petrarca
1 Peter III. 8
1 Petalbae
1 Pema Chodron
1 P.D. Ouspensky
1 Paul Washer
1 Parkinson's Law
1 Padampa Sangye
1 Pablo Picasso
1 Our Lady to Fr. Stefano Gobbi
1 Our Lady
1 Orson Welles
1 Orphic Precept
1 Og Mandino
1 Nolini Kanta Gupta
1 Noah Kagan
1 Nikola Tesla
1 Nijo Yoshimoto
1 Nemoto
1 Neal R Voron
1 Natsume Soseki
1 Native American Proverb
1 Napoleon Hill
1 Napoleon
1 Najwa Zebian
1 Muammar Gaddafi?
1 M Scott Peck
1 Mother Teresa
1 Mother Mirra
1 MOTHER MIRA
1 Mortimer J Adler
1 Moliere
1 Mohandas Gandhi
1 Mitzu Suzuki
1 Ming Dao Deng
1 Milan Kundera
1 Mike Higginbotham?
1 Michael Jordan
1 Merrit Malloy
1 Meister Eckhart
1 Meister
1 Maya Angelou
1 Max Scheler
1 Master Sheng Yen
1 Masanobu Fukuoka
1 Masaaki Hatsumi
1 Mary Shelley
1 Mary Oliver
1 Martin Luther King Jr.
1 Martin Luther King
1 Marquis de Vauvenargues
1 Margaret Shepherd
1 Margaret Atwood
1 Marcus Tullius Cicero
1 Makeda
1 Major Kusanagi
1 Mahmoūd Shabestarī
1 Mahabharata
1 Lu Wu-pei
1 Ludwig Von Mises
1 Lucius Annaeus Seneca
1 Lucan
1 Louise Colet
1 Livy
1 Li Qingzhao
1 Lin Yutang
1 Linus Torvalds
1 Lil Wayne
1 Let yourself dissolve.
1 Letter to the Corinthians
1 Let it all go
1 LeRoy Pollock
1 Leonardo da Vinci
1 Leo Christopher
1 Layman Pang
1 Laura Ingalls Wilder
1 Larry Wall
1 Laozi
1 Lao-Tse-35
1 Lalla
1 Lalita-vistara
1 Kun Yu
1 Krishna Prem
1 K-OS
1 Koran
1 Kodo sawaki
1 Kodo Sawaki
1 Kibir
1 ken-wilber
1 Ken Wilber
1 Kate Bush
1 Karl Popper
1 Karl Barth
1 Kant
1 Kaivaiya Upanishad
1 Kahlil Gibran
1 Judges VI. 14
1 Judge Rosemarie Aquilina
1 J.R.R. Tolkien
1 J. R. R. Tolkien
1 Josh Billings
1 Joseph Joubert
1 Jorge Luis Borge
1 Jordan B. Peterson
1 Jon J. Muth
1 Jon Anderson
1 John. XIV. 21
1 John. XIII
1 John Trudell
1 John of the Cross
1 John Muir
1 John Locke
1 John III. 7
1 John F. Kennedy
1 John F Kennedy
1 John Donne
1 John Dee
1 John C. Maxwell
1 John Bailey
1 John Aske
1 John 4:8
1 John
1 Johann W. von Goethe
1 Jnaneshwar
1 Jn. 6:51).
1 Jn. 6:51
1 J M Barrie
1 Jim Stovall
1 Jim Rohn
1 Jimi Hendrix
1 Jim Butcher
1 Jetsun Milarepa
1 Jean Klein
1 Jami
1 James Joyce
1 Jack Kerouac
1 Izumi Shikibu
1 it changes in the course of life.
1 Italo Calvino
1 Issa
1 Isaac Newton
1 Iris Murdoch
1 Irenaeus
1 Ingrid Bergman
1 Imam Ali
1 Iio Sogi 1421-1502
1 Ignatius of Antioch
1 id
1 Ibn Qayyim Al Jawziyya
1 Hyman G Rickover
1 Huang Po
1 Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu
1 H P Lovecraft
1 Howard Gardner
1 Hokusai
1 Hippocrates
1 Herodotus
1 Hermes Trismegistus
1 Hermann Hesse
1 Herman Melville
1 Herman Hesse
1 Herbert Spencer
1 Heraclitus
1 Henry Suso
1 Henry Ford
1 Henri Poincare
1 Heinrich Heine
1 Hegel
1 Hasidic Proverb
1 Hans Christian Andersen
1 Hakushu Kitahara
1 Hafiz
1 Hadis
1 Guru Nanak
1 Guru Gobind Singh
1 Groucho Marx
1 grand are the sky and stars
1 Graham Greene
1 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
1 Goethe
1 Godard
1 Giorgio de Chirico
1 Gilbert K. Chesterton
1 GG
1 Gerald Jampolsky
1 Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
1 George S. Patton
1 Georges Danton
1 George Santayana
1 George Sand
1 George R R Martin
1 George Orwell
1 George Herbert
1 George Harrison
1 George Carlin
1 Gene Roddenberry
1 Gabor Mate
1 From "Before I Am
1 Friedrich Von Hugel
1 Fred Rogers
1 Frank Zappa
1 Frank Lloyd Wright
1 Frank Herbert
1 Francis Hutcheson
1 For source see: https://bit.ly/3cPHvYO
1 Ferdinand Ulrich
1 Fakhruddin Iraqi
1 Exodus XX.82
1 Ernest Holmes
1 Eric Hoffer
1 Enomoto Seifu Jo
1 Emerson
1 Ella Fitzgerald
1 Elie Wiesel
1 Eisai
1 Egyptian Texts
1 Edward Schon
1 Edward Murphy
1 Eckhart
1 Earl Nightingale
1 Dzogchen Rinpoche
1 Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
1 D.T. Suzuki
1 D T Suzuki
1 Dr. Seuss
1 Dogen Zenji?
1 Dogen Zenji
1 Dogen 1200-1253
1 Dion Fortune
1 Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
1 Denise Morrison
1 Democritus
1 Delphic Inscription
1 David Viscott
1 David Hume
1 David Bowie
1 Darqawi
1 Dakotsu Lida
1 Daie
1 Czeslaw Milosz
1 C. S. Lewis
1 C N Parkinson
1 Claudio Naranjo
1 Claude Debussy
1 Cicero
1 Chyo-ni 1703-1775
1 Chuck Close
1 Chuang-tzu
1 Chuang Tzu.
1 Choshu
1 Chinese Proverb
1 Charlie Chaplin
1 Charles Kimball
1 Cesar A Cruz
1 Catullus
1 Catinat
1 Carl Sandburg
1 Candace Cameron Bure
1 Calvin Coolidge
1 Bukowski
1 Buddhist Texts
1 Buddhist Proverb
1 Buddhism
1 Bruno Bettelheim
1 Bruce Feirstein
1 Bono
1 Boethius
1 Black Elk
1 Binavi Badakhshan
1 Bill Wilson
1 Bill Campbell
1 Bill Bradley
1 Bha-ullah
1 be to other souls
1 Bertrand Russell
1 Benjamin Franklin
1 Ben Hecht
1 Benedict
1 Basho
1 Baruch Spinoza
1 Bahaullah: the Seven Valleys
1 Baha-ulalh
1 Ayn Rand
1 Avadhuta Gita
1 Auguste Rodin
1 Atli Bjorgvin Oddsson
1 Atisha
1 Atisa
1 Archilochus
1 Arabien Nights
1 Antonio Porchia
1 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
1 Antoine de Saint-Exupery
1 Annie Dillard
1 Anne Sullivan
1 Anne Frank
1 Ancient Greek saying.
1 Anaxagoras
1 Anatole France
1 Ananta
1 Anandamayi Ma
1 Anaïs Nin
1 Anacreon
1 Amir Khusrau
1 A Midsummer Night's Dream
1 Amelia Earhart
1 al-Razi?
1 Allen Klein
1 Allen Ginsberg
1 Alice Walker
1 Alice Hoffman
1 Alexander the Great
1 Aleister Crowley
1 Alan Perlis
1 Alan Cohen
1 Alain de Botton
1 Akong Rinpoche
1 Santoka Taneda
1 Saint Thomas Aquinas
1 Pythagoras
1 Plotinus
1 Paracelsus
1 Matsuo Basho
1 Maimonides
1 Leonardo da Vinci
1 Jorge Luis Borges
1 Jetsun Milarepa
1 Aristophanes
1 African proverb
1 Aeschylus
1 Adlai E. Stevenson
1 Adi Shankara
1 A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
1 Abu Bakr
1 A. A. Milne
1 2nd century sermon
1 1 John 5:3-5
1 1 John 3:2-3
1 1 John :2:22
1 1 John 1:7)
1 02.14 - The World-Soul
NEW FULL DB (2.4M)
63 Anonymous
57 Christian Winther
35 Stephen King
21 Rachel Ren e Russell
16 Rumi
15 J K Rowling
13 Richelle Mead
12 Rick Riordan
12 Horace
10 Stephenie Meyer
10 Friedrich Nietzsche
10 Anton Wildgans
9 Plato
8 Herman Melville
8 Ernest Hemingway
8 Anne Sexton
8 Aesop
7 Lewis Carroll
7 Laozi
7 Jim Butcher
1:He is pure of all name. ~ The Bab, #KEYS
2:Man only has what he strives for. ~ Darqawi, #KEYS
3:The word "He" diminishes Him. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #KEYS
4:rare essence is He. ~ Kabir, #KEYS
5:He who complains, sins. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #KEYS
6:He who conceives the Truth, is born anew. ~ Vemana, #KEYS
7:He is all things and all things are one. ~ The Zohar, #KEYS
8:He listens well who takes notes.
~ Dante Alighieri,#KEYS
9:He who knows Brahman becomes Brahman. ~ The Upanishads, #KEYS
10:Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. ~ John 4:8, #KEYS
11:He is the supreme Light hidden under every veil. ~ The Zohar, #KEYS
12:He wears a mask and his face grows to fit it. ~ George Orwell, #KEYS
13:He was a wise man who invented God. ~ Plato, #KEYS
14:He who allows oppression shares the crime. ~ Desiderius Erasmus, #KEYS
15:He is the breath inside the breath." ~ Kabir, #KEYS
16:He who lives in solitude may make his own laws. ~ Publilius Syrus, #KEYS
17:Christ opened heaven for us in the humanity he assumed. ~ Irenaeus, #KEYS
18:He who understands the wise is wise already. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
19:he is patient and devoted for a god is in his heart. ~ Quetzalcoatl, #KEYS
20:He wanted to imprison his nameless misery in words. ~ Aldous Huxley, #KEYS
21:So is unable to see he unity of the Truth." ~ Mahmoūd Shabestarī, #KEYS
22:A prosperous man is never sure that he is loved for himself. ~ Lucan, #KEYS
23:Man must use what he has, not hope for what is not. ~ George Gurdjieff, #KEYS
24:A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds." ~ Francis Bacon, #KEYS
25:He did each single thing as if he did nothing else.
~ Charles Dickens,#KEYS
26:Listen, my friend. He who loves understands. ~ Kabir, #KEYS
27:Remember no man is really defeated unless he is discouraged. ~ Bruce Lee, #KEYS
28:He who would travel happily must travel light. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery, #KEYS
29:Allow a fool to be a fool, that he may become wise.
~ Mike Higginbotham?,#KEYS
30:And what he greatly thought, he nobly dared.
~ Homer,#KEYS
31:Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens. ~ J.R.R. Tolkien, #KEYS
32:Through selfless action, he attains fulfillment. ~ Tao Te Ching, chapter 7, #KEYS
33:To me He is the anguish of my heart. ~ SONG from GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA, #KEYS
34:A true philosopher is married to wisdom; he needs no other bride. ~ Proclus, #KEYS
35:He buries gold who hides the truth.
~ Pythagoras,#KEYS
36:Whoso seeketh with diligence, he shall find. ~ Bahaullah: the Seven Valleys, #KEYS
37:Even if a man has no natural ability, he can be a warrior. ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #KEYS
38:He is here. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
39:He who does not enjoy solitude will not love freedom.
~ Arthur Schopenhauer,#KEYS
40:He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche,#KEYS
41:But he who knows, and knows that he knows, is a wise man-follow him." ~ Sufism, #KEYS
42:If a man thinks he is not conceited, he is very conceited indeed. ~ C.S. Lewis, #KEYS
43:No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. ~ C.S. Lewis #KEYS
44:A dog is better than I am, for he has love and does not judge. ~ Saint Xanthias, #KEYS
45:A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants.
~ Arthur Schopenhauer,#KEYS
46:He whose wisdom cannot help him, gets no good from being wise. ~ Quintus Ennius, #KEYS
47:If man makes himself a worm he must not complain when he is trodden on. ~ Kant , #KEYS
48:The man was such an intellectual he was of almost no use. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
49:The test of a man is: does he bear apples? Does he bear fruit? ~ Abraham Maslow, #KEYS
50:He who returns from a journey is not the same as he who left." ~ Chinese Proverb, #KEYS
51:No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth.
~ Plato,#KEYS
52:For he who leaps into the void owes no explanation to those who watch.
~ Godard,#KEYS
53:He bids fair to grow wise who has discovered that he is not so. ~ Publilius Syrus, #KEYS
54:He is everywhere in the world and stands with all in His embrace. ~ Bhagavad Gita, #KEYS
55:He who has imagination without learning has wings but no feet.
~ Joseph Joubert,#KEYS
56:He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough. ~ Tao Te Ching, ch.46, #KEYS
57:Nobody has a right to speak more clearly than he thinks. ~ Alfred North Whitehead #KEYS
58:He is an eternal silence. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
59:He who can love can be; he who can be can do; he who can do is. ~ George Gurdjieff, #KEYS
60:He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears. ~ Michel de Montaigne, #KEYS
61:He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything." ~ Thomas Carlyle, #KEYS
62:Socrates had no philosophy, he was it. ~ Etienne Gilson, Being and Some Philosophers, #KEYS
63:A student should not be taught more than he can think about. ~ Alfred North Whitehead, #KEYS
64:He is pure of all name. ~ The Bab, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
65:he who works, and not for Christ, does not know what he is doing. ~ Saint Philip Neri, #KEYS
66:Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun." ~ Alan Watts, #KEYS
67:As a man thinketh in his heart so shall he be
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Proverbs, 23:7,#KEYS
68:He who knows how to suffer everything can dare everything.
~ Marquis de Vauvenargues,#KEYS
69:In death he sees life. ~ Bha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
70:It is all He, only in different forms. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
71:It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the truth.
~ Blaise Pascal,#KEYS
72:Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.
~ Alan Watts,#KEYS
73:One man is worth thousand if he is extraordinary ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
74:Your God is ever beside you - indeed, He is even within you. ~ Saint Alphonsus Ligouri, #KEYS
75:He who is being carried does not realize how far the next town is…" ~ African proverb, #KEYS
76:What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization.
~ Abraham Maslow,#KEYS
77:He who labours, prays. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
78:No man is crushed by misfortune unless he has first been deceived by prosperity ~ Seneca, #KEYS
79:No man is defeated without until he has first been defeated within." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt, #KEYS
80:Because he is content with himself he doesn't need other's approval. ~ Tao Te Ching, ch.30, #KEYS
81:Be ever engaged, so that whenever the devil calls he may find you occupied. ~ Saint Jerome, #KEYS
82:Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness.
~ Thomas Carlyle,#KEYS
83:Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure." ~ 1 John 3:2-3, #KEYS
84:For every man there exists a bait which he cannot resist swallowing. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #KEYS
85:The sun's light when he unfolds it
Depends on the organ that beholds it ~ William Blake,#KEYS
86:I do believe God gave me a spark of genius, but he quenched it in misery. ~ Edgar Allan Poe, #KEYS
87:The word "He" diminishes Him. ~ Tolstoi, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
88:He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature. ~ Socrates, #KEYS
89:He who is self-conceited has no superiority allowed to him." ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
90:He who labors as he prays lifts his heart to God with his hands." ~ Saint Benedict of Nursia, #KEYS
91:Let no man think that he is loved by any who loveth none. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
92:A true Bhakta is greater than God, for he is a giver and not a taker. ~ Swami Ramakrishnananda, #KEYS
93:Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature! ~ G.B. Shaw, #KEYS
94:He never went out without a book under his arm, and he often came back with two. ~ Victor Hugo, #KEYS
95:He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 John, 4:8, [T5], #KEYS
96:He who seeks not the Cross of Christ seeks not the glory of Christ." ~ Saint John of the Cross, #KEYS
97:The Guru is the mediator. He takes man to God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
98:To me one man is worth ten thousand if he is first-rate. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
99:Only one man ever understood me, and he didn't understand me.
~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,#KEYS
100:When one transcends right and wrong, he is truly right. ~ Bodhidharma, #KEYS
101:Beyond the sky where I have set the Sun, is He-Who-Speaks-Not: He knows all. ~ Myths of the Iife, #KEYS
102:Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time. ~ Rabindranath Tagore, #KEYS
103:Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it. ~ Mark Twain, #KEYS
104:He who knows the secret of sound, knows the mystery of the whole universe.
~ Hazrat Inayat Khan,#KEYS
105:Then he said 'Remember Bob: no fear, no envy, no meanness,' and I said 'hmmm, right.' ~ Bob Dylan, #KEYS
106:A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
107:Blessed is he whokeepeth himself pure. ~ Koran, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
108:Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. ~ Pablo Picasso, #KEYS
109:He who treads the path of love walks a thousand miles as if it were only one.
~ Japanese Proverb,#KEYS
110:I am in you and I am you. No one can understand this until he has lost his mind. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
111:If any man hopes to do a deed without God's knowledge, he errs. ~ Pindar, Olympian Odes, I, l. 104, #KEYS
112:If He were apparent, He would not be. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
113:On my tombstone, I really hope that someday they will write: He was true but partial. ~ Ken Wilber, #KEYS
114:Be courteous, treat the other fellow as though he is as important as he thinks he is.
~ Anonymous,#KEYS
115:It was Heraclitus' ideas that seized Nietzsche so totally that he became completely mad. ~ Rajneesh, #KEYS
116:Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous. ~ Psalm 112:4, #KEYS
117:Like many intellectuals, he was incapable of saying a simple thing in a simple way. ~ Marcel Proust. #KEYS
118:He is the wisest who seeks God. He is the most successful who has found God. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #KEYS
119:He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever. ~ Mark Twain, #KEYS
120:He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.
~ Epictetus,#KEYS
121:He who receives Light from above, from the fountain of light, No other doctrine needs. ~ John Milton, #KEYS
122:May the Master protect you. He is looking after you; what should you be afraid of? ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
123:Once a person has faith, he has achieved everything. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
124:The lover of God will cry and weep until he finds rest in the Beloved's embrace. ~ Rabia al-Adawiyya, #KEYS
125:A man needs a little madness, or else... he never dares cut the rope and be free. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis, #KEYS
126:He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #KEYS
127:If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson #KEYS
128:A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him. " ~ Aleksandr Solzlhenitsyn, #KEYS
129:Anyone who seeks truth seeks God, whether or not he realizes it. ~ Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, #KEYS
130:He is the brightest mirror... ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
131:He is the principle of supreme Wisdom. ~ The Zohar, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
132:He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. ~ Emily Brontë, #KEYS
133:He's not your prince charming if he doesn't make sure you know that you're his princess. ~ Demi Lovato, #KEYS
134:He who conceives the Truth, is born anew. ~ Vemana, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
135:He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions. ~ Confucius, #KEYS
136:He who loves the world as his body may be entrusted with the empire.
~ Lao Tzu,#KEYS
137:There's a child in the forest! He plays a flute you can hear with your heart ears. ~ TheMidnightGospel, #KEYS
138:A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." ~ George A. Moore, #KEYS
139:God is as really present in the consecrated Host as He is in the glory of Heaven ~ Saint Paschal Baylon, #KEYS
140:He prays well who is so absorbed with God that he does not know he is praying. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #KEYS
141:He who exercises wisdom exercises the knowledge which is about God. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
142:When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.
~ John Muir,#KEYS
143:Before you heal someone, ask him if he's willing to give up the things that made him sick. ~ Hippocrates, #KEYS
144:He is all things and all things are one. ~ The Zohar, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
145:He who has faith has all, and he who lacks it lacks all. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
146:If another Messiah was born he could hardly do so much good as the printing-press. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
147:We use Jesus and not people, because only he will never be without us." ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
148:But call Him by what name you will; for to those who know, He is the possessor of all names. ~ Baha-ullah, #KEYS
149:But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 Corinthians, 6:17, #KEYS
150:He who can accept God as his own, does not suffer so intensely from worldly sorrows. ~ SWAMI SUBODHANANDA, #KEYS
151:He who has faith has all -- he who lacks faith lacks all. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
152:I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much. ~ Mother Teresa, #KEYS
153:Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Isaiah, 55:6, #KEYS
154:The power of the Lord is in His hands. He scatters His enemies as a cloud." ~ Saint John Bosco prophecies, #KEYS
155:he future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke, #KEYS
156:He who reigns within himself and rules his passions, desires, and fears is more than a king. ~ John Milton, #KEYS
157:He who thinks he is the doer is also the sufferer. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
158:No face, no form, nor lovely nor ugly, subtler than scent, rare essence is He. ~ Kabir, #KEYS
159:The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
160:He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonored in the prophets. ~ Melito of Sardis, #KEYS
161:He who has faith has all, and he who lacks faith lacks all. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
162:He who loves with purity considers not the gift of the lover, but the love of the giver." ~ Thomas a Kempis, #KEYS
163:I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart
I asked, 'Who are You?'
He replied, 'You'. ~ Mansur al-Hallaj,#KEYS
164:The dream is for the one who says that he is awake. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
165:Verily, I say to thee; he who seeks the Eternal, finds Him. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
166:Whatever a man does, good or evil, comes back to him someday. And he pays for everything. ~ Valmiki Jayanti, #KEYS
167:He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past. ~ George Orwell, #KEYS
168:One cannot come to know the natures of things if he is still ignorant of their names. ~ Hugh of Saint Victor, #KEYS
169:For what is God? He is the soul of the universe. ~ Seneca, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
170:How disorienting and isolating immortality must be, and how strong he must be to weather it. ~ Michael Talbot, #KEYS
171:Man is divine so long as he is in communion with the Eternal. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
172:Awakening begins when a man realizes that he is going nowhere and does not know where to go. ~ G. J. Gurdjieff, #KEYS
173:He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 91, 11 #KEYS
174:When a man's knowledge is not in order, the more of it he has, the greater is his confusion. ~ Herbert Spencer #KEYS
175:For others' bliss who lives, he lives indeed. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Translations, Appeal, #KEYS
176:He must be good to animals, yet better to men. ~ Baha Ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
177:He that soweth iniquity, shall reap vanity. ~ Proverbs XXII, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
178:He who holds on to the Lord, even when afflicted by sufferings, will certainly attain to Him. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
179:Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. ~ Amos 3:7 KJV, #KEYS
180:He is the supreme Light hidden under every veil. ~ The Zohar, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
181:He who goes about to reform the world must begin with himself, or he loses his labor. ~ Saint Ignatius of Loyola, #KEYS
182:The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison. ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky, #KEYS
183:Only he who lives not for himself, does not perish. ~ Lao-Tse, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
184:When someone has a light delivered into hishand, he must recognize it as his most valuable property." ~ Tashkandi, #KEYS
185:A Buddha is an idle person. He doesn't run around after fortune and fame." ~ Bodhidharma, #KEYS
186:Because he who obtained knowledge has not returned. ~ Saadi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
187:He is truly great who has great charity. ~ Imitation of Christ, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
188:He who thinks he is the doer is also the sufferer.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, [T5],#KEYS
189:If you give someone Fortran, he has Fortran. If you give someone Lisp, he has any language he pleases ~ Guy Steele, #KEYS
190:Then Solomon said, "The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 Kings, 8:12, #KEYS
191:The sage does not 'know' the Self, because he is the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
192:The thought of God is Divine Favor! He is by nature Grace. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
193:But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 11:10, #KEYS
194:He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. ~ John III. 14, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
195:that Soul shines not forth; yet He is seen by subtle seers with superior, subtle intellect. ~ Katha Upanishad, 3:12, #KEYS
196:When we set our course for God, He will always be there to direct our path
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Proverbs, 16:9,#KEYS
197:He governs his soul and expects nothing from others. ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
198:He saw Christ, and instead of robbing others of their goods, he began to give away his own. ~ Saint Ambrose of Milan, #KEYS
199:He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. ~ Ro-wans XIII. 8, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
200:He that walketh with the wise, shall be wise. ~ Proverbs XIII 20, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
201:He who abases Matter, abases himself and all creation. ~ CErsted, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
202:He who knows himself properly can very soon learn to know all other men. It is all reflection. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
203:If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I. ~ Michel de Montaigne, #KEYS
204:Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. ~ Oscar Wilde, #KEYS
205:He alone who receives God's commandment is competent to teach others. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
206:He that tells a lie to save his credit, wipes his mouth with his sleeves to spare his napkin.
~ Sir Thomas Overbury,#KEYS
207:It is only when a man tames his own demons that he becomes the king of himself if not of the world. ~ Joseph Campbell, #KEYS
208:Let any amount of burden be laid on Him, He will bear it all. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
209:The dog knows, but does not know that he knows. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #KEYS
210:The shield of the scholar is, ‘I do not know’, so if he leaves it down, his attacker will strike him. ~ Imam Malik, #KEYS
211:A wise man speaks because he has something to say; a fool because he has to say something." ~ Plato, #KEYS
212:If the fruits of actions do not affect the person he [she] is free from action. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi #KEYS
213:if we live our lives in the light, as he is in the light, we are in union with one another . . . ~ Anonymous, The Bible, #KEYS
214:Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again: for forgiveness has risen from the grave!" ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
215:Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.
~ Heraclitus,#KEYS
216:You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.
~ Leo Aikman,#KEYS
217:Flee idleness... for no one is more exposed to such temptations than he who has nothing to do. ~ Saint Robert Bellarmine, #KEYS
218:He was always smoothing and polishing himself, and in the end he became blunt before he was sharp. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
219:My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself.
~ C S Lewis, [T5],#KEYS
220:So long as a man has not realized God, he will have to be born on earth. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
221:Let the wise man fight Mara with the sword of wisdom. He should now protect what he has won, without attachment. ~ Buddha, #KEYS
222:3) he eats with the disciples ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on John 21, lect. 1)., #KEYS
223:For one who sees me everywhere and sees everything in me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to me. ~ Bhagavad Gita 6.30, #KEYS
224:God creates everything out of nothing. And everything which God is to use, he first reduces to nothing ~ Soren Kierkegaard, #KEYS
225:Hateful to me as are the gates of hell Is he who hiding one thing in his heart Utters another. ~ Homer, #KEYS
226:He is the happy man whose soul is superior to all happenings. ~ Seneca, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
227:He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding. ~ Proverbs XIV. 22, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
228:...spirituality alone will not take a man far in the Mysteries; he must have intellectual powers as well.
~ Dion Fortune,#KEYS
229:The test of a writer is whether you want to read him again years after he should by the rules be dated. ~ Raymond Chandler, #KEYS
230:He who acts according to what he holds to be the law of life, ~ Tolstoi, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
231:He who does not thank the people is not thankful to Allah." ~ Hadith, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
232:Let any amount of burden be laid on Him [Her], He will bear it all. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
233:Pray to Him anyway you like, He can even hear the footfall of an ant. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, [T5], #KEYS
234:To wear out the veil that occludes the vision of reality is all that man can do, and that he has got to do. ~ Anandamayi Ma, #KEYS
235:When a Saviour comes, he carries thousands easily across the ocean of Maya. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
236:Although God abides in all, He manifests Himself in the hearts of the pious. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
237:Become nothing, And He'll turn you into everything. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
238:Even if one's head were to be suddenly cut off, he should be able to do one more action with certainty. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo, #KEYS
239:If the individual cannot dream of a better future, he cannot live well today. ~ Manly P Hall, The Bible, the Story of a Book, #KEYS
240:Latu Maharaj continued: "You didn't understand it? Egoism is what he used to refer to as "mind's dirt". ~ Swami Adbhutananda, #KEYS
241:The greater his aspiration and concentration, the more he finds the Eternal. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
242:A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,#KEYS
243:Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 31:24,#KEYS
244:God wills no good more than He wills His own goodness ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.19.9)., #KEYS
245:He alone is the true teacher who is illumined by the light of true Knowledge. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
246:He [she] who abandons all that is not Real directly realizes Reality. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
247:Let him in whom there is understanding know that he is immortal. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
248:Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. ~ Corinthians I, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
249:Verily, I say to thee; he who seeks the Eternal, finds Him. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
250:When an ordinary man attains knowledge he is a sage; when a sage attains understanding, he is an ordinary man." ~ Zen Proverb, #KEYS
251:And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, arguing and pleading about the kingdom of God. ~ Acts 19:16-18, #KEYS
252:At each instant he sees a wonderful world and a new creation. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
253:A warrior is worthless unless he rises above others and stands strong in the midst of a storm. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo, 1659-1719, #KEYS
254:He who is a friend of wisdom, must not be violent. ~ Fo-shu-hing-tsan-king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
255:No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 1:18, #KEYS
256:Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully. ~ Samuel Johnson, #KEYS
257:Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life. ~ Terry Pratchett, Jingo, #KEYS
258:If man surrenders himself to Tao, he identifies himself with Tao. ~ Lao-tse, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
259:Man is divine so long as he is in communion with the Eternal. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
260:Personal success ought never to he considered the aim of existence. ~ Bacon, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
261:Whoso seeketh with diligence, he shall find. ~ Bahaullah: the Seven Valleys, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
262:Wise kings generally have wise counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.
~ Diogenes,#KEYS
263:All is in God's hands; whatever He makes us do, that we shall do.
~ The Mother, Agenda Vol 3, Satprem,#KEYS
264:But his desire is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 1:2, [T2],#KEYS
265:etter is he that rulethhis spirit than he that taketh a city. ~ Proverbs XVI, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
266:He grants and will grant His touch in His own time. But we have to do our duty, which is to call out to Him. ~ SRI ANANDAMAYI MA, #KEYS
267:He only is free who has gained mastery over his passions and one who is a slave to them is bound in chains. ~ Swami Vijnanananda, #KEYS
268:If you consider that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who acts in righteousness is begotten by him. ~ 1 John 2:28-29, #KEYS
269:If you pray, trust that he hears. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Bhakti Yoga and Vaishnavism, #KEYS
270:Sri Ramakrishna had absolutely no sense of egoism. He lived by giving power of attorney to the Divine Mother. ~ SWAMI PREMANANDA, #KEYS
271:The man who knows the Tao, does not speak; he who speaks, knows It not. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
272:What can he desire in the world who is greater than the world? ~ St. Cyprian, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
273:When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
274:God is fond of His devotees. He runs after the devotee as the cow after the calf. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
275:He laid experience at the Godhead's feet;
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, Satyavan,#KEYS
276:He who knows himself, knows his Lord. ~ Mohyddin-ibn-Arabi. "Essay on Unity.", the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
277:It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions. ~ Saint Anthony of Padua, #KEYS
278:No one can begin a new life, unless he repent of the old. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, [T5], #KEYS
279:The simple and upright man is as strong as if he were a great host. ~ Lao-Tse, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
280:The sinner sins against himself, for he makes himself evil. ~ Marcus Aurelias, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
281:Angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
282:e who subdues men is only strong; he who subdues himself, is mighty. ~ Lao-Tse, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
283:For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Ecclesiastes, 1:18,#KEYS
284:He kept moving forward, because the Lord was waiting. He kept going, because his brothers and sisters were waiting. ~ Pope Francis, #KEYS
285:He who has My words and despises them has that which shall condemn him on the last day. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
286:Rest is in Him alone. Man knows no peace in the world; but he has no disturbance when he is with God. ~ Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, #KEYS
287:The sage increases his wisdom by all that he can gather from others. ~ Fenelon, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
288:This snowy morning That black crow I hate so much.... But he is so beautiful! ~ Matsuo Basho, 1644-1694, #KEYS
289:He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. ~ Matthew XX IV. 13, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
290:He who loves is in joy, he is free and nothing stops him. ~ Imitation of Christ, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
291:In old times a lamb, a Calf was offered; now Christ is offered. But He is offered as man and as enduring suffering. ~ Saint Ambrose, #KEYS
292:Know for certain that He will not leave you. He will never fail you when you cry His name with a longing heart. ~ Swami Saradananda, #KEYS
293:Naaman doubted until the time when he was cleansed; but you are cleansed by now, and so you should not have doubts. ~ Saint Ambrose, #KEYS
294:The master of my stars is he
Who owns no master. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act V,#KEYS
295:A man is great not because he hasn't failed; a man is great because failure hasn't stopped him." ~ Confucius, #KEYS
296:God didn't add another day to your life because you needed it. He added it because someone out there needs you." ~ Kelly's Treehouse, #KEYS
297:It is through the search after Truth that man can elevate himself. This he should regard in the light of a duty. ~ SRI ANANDAMAYI MA, #KEYS
298:It's not that I disagreed with Bush's economic policy... I believed he was a child of Satan here to destroy the planet. ~ Bill Hicks, #KEYS
299:Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely a man when he plays. ~ Friedrich Schiller, #KEYS
300:Many are the names of God and infinite the forms through which He may be approached. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
301:To see God is to be God. He alone is. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Maharshis Gospel, [T5], #KEYS
302:Unless a person has annihilated the mind, he cannot gain peace and be happy. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
303:Yet when he is most near, she feels him far. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, 02.06, [T5], #KEYS
304:ekas tisthati viras tisthati - he stands alone, he stands as a hero.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Glossary of terms,#KEYS
305:God is both inside and outside you. When you realize that He is within you, your passions will be under control. ~ Swami Vijnanananda, #KEYS
306:He is everywhere in the world and stands with all in His embrace. ~ Bhagavad Gita, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
307:He who is himself in bonds cannot easily free others. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Renunciation, #KEYS
308:He whose heart longs after the Deity, has no time for anything else. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
309:If a man covets nothing, how shall he fail to do what is just and good? ~ Chi-king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
310:Space is himself and Time is only he. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge, #KEYS
311:The new man, reborn and restored to his God by grace, says first of all, Father! because he has now begun to be a son. ~ Saint Cyprian, #KEYS
312:What is there more precious than a sage? He sets peace between all men. ~ Tsu-king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
313:Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 55:22,#KEYS
314:He that killeth an ox is as if lie slew a man. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Isaiah, LXVT, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
315:He who chooses the Infinite has been chosen by the Infinite.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, [T5],#KEYS
316:No one knows the immensity of the sacrifice which God makes when he incarnates himself. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
317:Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true. ~ Demosthenes, Third Olynthiac, sec. 19, #KEYS
318:Nothing is so good for an ignorant man as silence; and if he was sensible of this he would not be ignorant. ~ Saadi, #KEYS
319:There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us. ~ Saint Jean John Vianney, #KEYS
320:This is an hour desired by all, for he whom the grace of God sustains travels easily enough. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
321:You belong to the Master. He is watching over your earthly life as well as your life to come. What worry do you have? ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
322:A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.
~ Abraham Maslow,#KEYS
323:as God, he adds, and the truth, and the life ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on Jn. 14, lect. 2)., #KEYS
324:A spiritual man is happy with the whole existence. He says 'yes' to the whole existence." ~ Swami Dhyan Giten, born in Sweden. Author of, #KEYS
325:God is spirit, fire, being and light, and yet He is not all this. ~ Angelus Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
326:He must content himself with little and never ask for more than he has. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
327:He sees within the face of deity, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge, [T5], #KEYS
328:He who does no evil to any is as if the father and mother of all beings. ~ Madharata, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
329:I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 14:16, [T0],#KEYS
330:No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
331:He answered: "...wherever I did not see my own self." ~ Shaikh Abul-Hasan Kharqani, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
332:Man understands his life only when he sees himself in each one of his kind. ~ Tolstoy, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
333:Since He appears because of Her,
And She exists because of Her Lord,
The two cannot be distinguished at all. ~ Jnaneshwar, Hinduism,#KEYS
334:So should He be adored...for it is in That all become one. ~ Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
335:Every man is not only himself, he is that which he represents. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, Facts and Opinions, #KEYS
336:God is not knowledge, but the cause of Knowledge; He is not mind, but the cause of mind; He is not Light, but the cause of Light. ~ Hermes, #KEYS
337:Heart" is merely another name for the Supreme Spirit, because He is in all hearts. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
338:Hegel's philosophy is so odd that one would not have expected him to be able to get some men to accept it, but he did." ~ Bertrand Russell, #KEYS
339:He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
340:One is truly free, even in this life, who knows that God does all and yet he does nothing. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
341:Only from his own soul can he demand the secret of eternal beauty. ~ Attar of Nishapur, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
342:Since the sage has no creed of his own, he never engages in [useless] discussions. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
343:The Avatara or Savior is the messenger of God. He is like the viceroy of a mighty monarch. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
344:What do people mean when they say, 'I am not afraid of God because I know He is good'? Have they never even been to a dentist? ~ C S Lewis, #KEYS
345:When he confesses his sins, God saith to the angels, 'Bring him back, for he never lost hope of Me.' ~ Jalalu'l-Din Rumi, Mathnawi, V, 1815 #KEYS
346:You need seek God neither below or above.He is no farther away than the door of the heart. ~ Meister Eckhart, #KEYS
347:A dreamer is man who can find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. ~ Oscar Wilde, #KEYS
348:A great physicist is always a metaphysicist as well; he has a higher concept of his knowledge and his task. ~ Ernst Jünger, The Glass Bees, #KEYS
349:Egotism exists in ignorance, not in knowledge. He attains the Truth who is void of conceit. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
350:For nobody can see what He is, except the soul in which He himself is. ~ Maitre Eckhart, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
351:Go you, sweep out the dwelling room of your heart; prepare it to be the home of the Beloved. When you go out, He will come in. ~ Shabistari, #KEYS
352:He created Hell only that He might be called 'Merciful'." ~ Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
353:He moves there as the Soul, as Nature she. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge, #KEYS
354:He who has a true idea simultaneously knows that he has a true idea, and cannot doubt of the truth of the thing perceived. ~ Baruch Spinoza, #KEYS
355:I call him a man who recognises no possessions save those he finds in himself. ~ Seneca, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
356:Is one, indeed, master of himself when he follows his own caprices? ~ Attar of Nishapur, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
357:The more a man uses moderation in his life, the more he is at peace, for he is not full of cares for many things. ~ Saint Anthony the Great, #KEYS
358:He [She] who gives himself up to the Self that is God is the most excellent devotee. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
359:He who has a mistaken idea of life, will always have a mistaken idea of death. ~ Tolstoy, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
360:I am He that is" (Ex 3,14), which is equivalent to "My nature is to be, not to be spoken." ~ Philo of Alexandria, De Mutatione Nominum 11-12, #KEYS
361:If a warrior is not unattached to life and death, he will be of no use whatsoever." ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo (Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai), #KEYS
362:If you give up all else and seek Him alone, He alone will remain as the I, the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
363:In the bosom of Time God without beginning becomes what He has never been in all eternity. ~ Angelus Silesius, #KEYS
364:It is he who is never discouraged who greatens and tastes the eternal joy. ~ Mahabharata, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
365:No one has ever made the mistake of not perceiving that he was alive ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (DV 10.8ad2)., #KEYS
366:The sage is never alone...he bears in himself the Lord of all things. ~ Angelius Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
367:A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, First Part, #KEYS
368:He shall contemplate under the veil millions of secrets as radiant as the sun. ~ Upanishad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
369:He who wishes to love God does not truly love Him if he has not an ardent and constant desire to suffer for His sake. ~ Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, #KEYS
370:Never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me. ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel, #KEYS
371:The greater his aspiration and concentration, the more he finds the Eternal. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
372:When a person is left alone, he starts thinking of higher reality - about death, life, soul, God and the mystery of all. ~ Swami Chinmayananda, #KEYS
373:He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 John, IV. 8, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
374:He thinks actively, he opens his heart, he gathers up his internal illuminations. ~ Lao Tse, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
375:In principle he recognized the genuineness and provisional validity of the great earlier revelations... ~ The Gnostic Religion, Hans Jonas, 1958 #KEYS
376:Telling someone something he does not understand is pointless, even if you add that he will not be able to understand it. ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein, #KEYS
377:The enemy only has images and illusions behind which he hides his true motives.
Destroy the image and you will break the enemy.
~ Bruce Lee,#KEYS
378:The great man is he who has not lost the child's heart within him. ~ Meng-Tse. I V. II. XII, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
379:The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for what He is sending us every day in His goodness." ~ Saint Gianna Molla, #KEYS
380:Anxiety is the greatest evil that can befall a soul except sin. God commands you to pray, but He forbids you to worry." ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #KEYS
381:Earnestly pray to God that you may receive the love of His name and He will fulfill your desire. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
382:Even if the vilest sinner worships me with exclusive devotion, he should be accounted a saint, for he has rightly resolved. ~ BHAGAVAD GITA 9:30, #KEYS
383:Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, #KEYS
384:Heart" is merely another name for the Supreme Spirit, because He [She] is in all hearts. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
385:He has need of death to find a greater life. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Vision and the Boon, #KEYS
386:IT was for delight
He sought existence. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, The Rishi,#KEYS
387:Not everyone who is enlightened by an angel knows that he is enlightened by him. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, [T5], #KEYS
388:The more I contemplate God, the more God looks on me. The more I pray to him, the more he thinks of me too.
~ Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, [T5],#KEYS
389:To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 10:3, #KEYS
390:Although He is without passion, yet for our sake He was the servant of passion and became the minister of our salvation. ~ Saint John of Damascus, #KEYS
391:He who has God has everything; he who has everything but God has nothing. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, [T5], #KEYS
392:It is consoling that he who must judge us dwell in us to save us always from all of our miseries, and to pardon us." ~ Saint Thérèse de Lisieux, #KEYS
393:Lest we remind you that, "He who does not thank the people, does not thank Allah. ~ Hadith, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
394:When he knows that he is That, the Eternal, he is delivered from all limitations. ~ Upanishad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
395:He sees the one Spirit in all beings and he sees all beings in the one Spirit. ~ Bhagavad Gita, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
396:He who seeks the Divine must consecrate himself to God and to God only.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, [T5],#KEYS
397:He who stands on tiptoe, doesn't stand form. He who rushes ahead, doesn't go far. He who tries to shine, dims his own light. ~ Tao Te Ching, ch.24, #KEYS
398:If a man has his eyes bound, you can encourage him as much as you like to stare through the bandage, but he'll never see anything.
~ Franz Kafka,#KEYS
399:If a man thinks of the images of gods and goddesses as symbols of the Divine, he reaches Divinity. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
400:One must realize that he is not the doer, but that he is only a tool of some Higher Power. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
401:Pray to God in any way you will. He is sure to hear you, for he hears even the footfall of an ant. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
402:He who seeks the Divine must consecrate himself to God and -- to God only. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, 1.02, #KEYS
403:Many are His names and endless are the Lord's manifestations. As the devotee looks upon Him, so does He manifest Himself to Him. ~ Swami Virajananda #KEYS
404:So long as the heart of man is directed towards God, he cannot be lost in the ocean of worldliness. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
405:The individual cannot be perfect until he has surrendered all he now calls himself to the divine Being. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #KEYS
406:This is what the things can teach us: to fall, patiently to trust our heaviness. Even a bird has to do that before he can fly. ~ Rilke Rainer Maria, #KEYS
407:He who thinks one's spiritual guru is a mere person cannot make much progress in the spiritual life. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
408:Look within, and you will find the inner teacher, since he is in you and with you. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
409:Other things a man can do unwillingly, but he must be willing in order to believe. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
410:The life-work of a great man often does not begin till he dies. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II, Mustafa Kamal Pasha, #KEYS
411:When Job felt this anger he reviled his enemies, calling them 'dishonourable men of no repute, lacking everything good.' ~ Saint Isaiah the Solitary, #KEYS
412:When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say. ~ George R R Martin, #KEYS
413:A lonely day is God's way of saying that He wants to spend some quality time with you." ~ Jami, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
414:Does God ever become angry with us? If yes, when?
When you believe He is angry.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
415:He has need of darkness to perceive some light
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Vision and the Boon,#KEYS
416:He who would do good must do it in Minute Particulars. General Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite and flatterer. ~ William Blake, Jerusalem, #KEYS
417:It is only when a man tames his own demons that he becomes the king of himself if not of the world. ~ Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, #KEYS
418:No name is applicable to God, only He is called Love,-so great and precious a thing is Love. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
419:The glory of which he speaks here is his lifting up on the cross, for Christ's glory is his cross and his exaltation upon it. ~ Saint Andrew of Crete, #KEYS
420:A fool, though he lives in the company of the wise, understands nothing of the true doctrine, as a spoon tastes not the flavor of the soup.
~ Buddha,#KEYS
421:And as he says further on, this was the greatest of all the Divine ministries ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.112.2)., #KEYS
422:His name is conscious spirit, His abode is conscious spirit and He, the Lord, is all conscious spirit. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
423:I have said that the modern man, and especially the modern American, however much 'know-how' he may have, has very little 'know-what' ~ Norbert Wiener, #KEYS
424:It was to amuse himself God made the world.
For He was dull alone! ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act II,#KEYS
425:No salvation is possible for a man as long as he has desire, as long as he hankers for worldly things. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
426:The tamasic devotee has fiery faith. He employs force with God, like a robber seizing things by force. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
427:What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? ~ Matthew. XVI. 26, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
428:Do not focus so much on the path; keep your eyes fixed on the one who guides you and on the heavenly home to which He is guiding you. ~ Saint Padre Pio, #KEYS
429:God is identical with His attributes, so that it may be said that He is the knowledge, the knower, and the known. ~ Maimonides, #KEYS
430:He who is face to face with reality, blessed with a vision of God, does not regard women with any fear. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
431:The one who reckons himself one with everyone, because he seems to see himself unceasingly in each one, is a monk. ~ Evagrius Ponticus, On Prayer §125, #KEYS
432:The only environment the artist needs is whatever peace, whatever solitude, and whatever pleasure he can get at not too high a cost. ~ William Faulkner, #KEYS
433:And all beings are resumed and reduced into one sole being, and they are one and all are He. ~ Zohar, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
434:He who is drawn to something desirable does not desire to have it as a thought but as a thing. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, #KEYS
435:He who looks on the forms of existence as a form or a mirage, shall not see death. ~ Sanyutta Nikaya, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
436:He who remembers the consequence of sins, surely patience will become easy for him. ~ Ibn Qayyim], @Sufi_Path #KEYS
437:In each thing he will see the mystery of the transfiguration and the divine apparition. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
438:Realize that you must lead a dying life; the more a man dies to himself, the more he begins to live unto God. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
439:The way of life is above to the wise that he may depart from hell which is beneath. ~ Proverbs XV 24, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
440:And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears. ~ Kahlil Gibran, #KEYS
441:He who sees all things in the self and the self in all things, has doubt no longer. ~ I-sha Upanishad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
442:Let no one communicate who is not of the disciples. Let no Judas receive, lest he suffer the fate of Judas. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, Homily 82 on Matthew, #KEYS
443:All the more, then, does God not hate anything, since He is the cause of all things ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 1.96)., #KEYS
444:God is more truly imagined than expressed, and He exists more truly than He is imagined. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
445:God with form and God without form are not two different beings. He who is with form is also without form. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
446:Likewise whoever is appointed watchman to a people should live a life on the heights so that he can help them by taking a wide survey. ~ Gregory the Great, #KEYS
447:Nobility is for each man within him; only he never thinks of seeking for it within. ~ Meng-Tse II 5.17, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
448:None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #KEYS
449:Aspiring he transcends his earthly self. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Parable of the Search for the Soul, #KEYS
450:He to whom the sanctuary of true prayer is revealed Deems it shameful to turn back to mere formal religion. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
451:He to whom the sanctuary of true prayer is revealed deems it shameful to turn back to mere formal religion. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
452:He who seeks him, finds him; he who yearns intensely after the Ineffable, has found the Ineffable. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
453:He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, [T7],#KEYS
454:Humility is necessary for the person praying, because he recognizes his neediness ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 2-2.83.15)., #KEYS
455:If you are looking for the way by which you should go, take Christ, because he himself is the way. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, #KEYS
456:realize that He wants to open for you to the door of intimacy with Him." ~ Ibn Ata'illah al-Sakandari, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
457:The glorification he meant was his death upon the cross for which the Lord prayed to the Father before undergoing his passion. ~ Saint Anastasius of Antioch, #KEYS
458:There is some point to 'truth', to the search for truth; and if a human being goes about it too humanely - I wager he finds nothing.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche,#KEYS
459:But call Him by what name you will; for to those who know, He is the possessor of all names. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
460:Force of character is man's great strength. If he uses it in his dealings with the world he will indeed be victorious in most directions. ~ SRI ANANDAMAYI MA, #KEYS
461:He alone is clever who sees that God is real and all else is illusory. What need have I of other information? ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
462:He who turns inward with a calm mind to see where the consciousness of 'I' arises, realizes the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
463:O Priest! Take care lest what was said to Christ on the cross be said to you: He saved others, himself he cannot save! ~ Saint Norbert of Xanten, (1075-1134), #KEYS
464:Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. ~ Luke XIV. 11, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
465:A man must be strong and free in himself before he can live usefully for others. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, Opinion and Comments, #KEYS
466:A person will always interpret everything he hears according to the Light which dominates his heart ~ Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, #KEYS
467:As righteousness tendeth to life, so he that pursueth evil, pursueth it to his own death. ~ Proverbs XI.19, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
468:He that followeth after righteousness and mercy, findeth life, righteousness and honour ~ preverbs XXI. 21, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
469:Learn to love Him, call on Him earnestly with the love of a lover. You have none other. Just think, 'He alone exists, He has become all.' ~ Swami Akhandananda, #KEYS
470:The greatest science is the knowledge of oneself. He who knows himself, knows God. ~ Clement of Alexandria, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
471:The sage having seen the Self in everything, when he leaves this world, becomes immortal. ~ Kena Upanishad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
472:God has mercy because of what is from Him, whereas He punishes because of what is from us ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (DV 28.3)., #KEYS
473:He who is in harmony with the Tao is like a newborn child. Its bones are soft, its muscles are weak, but its grip is powerful." ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
474:The deeds a man has accomplished follow him in his journeying when he fares to another world. ~ Mahabharata, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
475:All is their play:
This whole wide world is only he and she. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge,#KEYS
476:He who fights even the smallest distractions faithfully, when he says even the smallest prayer, will also be faithful in great things. ~ Saint Louis de Montfort, #KEYS
477:Money is a conditioning factor of a very strong nature. As soon as a man becomes rich, he is thoroughly changed. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
478:The man veritably free is he who, disburdened of fear and desire, is subjected only to his reason. ~ Fenelon, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
479:This man who knew not scripture, had the highest learning, for he had a pure love for God and could realize him. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
480:And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a GREAT CALM.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Mark, 4:39,#KEYS
481:By knowing for an absolute fact that he does not live but is being lived, the man of wisdom is aware of the perfect futility of all intentions. ~ Ramesh Balsekar, #KEYS
482:God is Infinite. Infinite are the Forms in which He manifests Himself. Infinite also are the ways leading to Him. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
483:Have faith, and realize that everything is He, and He is everything. There is nothing without Him. He has created everything out of Himself. ~ Swami Akhandananda, #KEYS
484:He bids us follow his example: Seek the things that are above, he says, which is only another way of saying: "Keep your eyes on Christ." ~ Saint Gregory of Nyssa, #KEYS
485:If a man could cast a firm and clear glance into the depths of his being, he would see there God. ~ J. Tauler, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
486:In the bosom of Time God without beginning becomes what He has never been in all eternity. ~ Angelus Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
487:The sage is never alone... he bears in himself the Lord of all things. My Blessings.
~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 21 September,#KEYS
488:The saint does not seek to do great things; that is why he is able to accomplish them. ~ Lao-Tse: Tao-te-King, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
489:454. In those whom God loves, have delight; on those whom He pretends not to love, take pity. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human, #KEYS
490:And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence
~ Bertrand Russell,#KEYS
491:As He Himself says: "I have come that they may have life and may have it more abundantly" ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (John 10:10)., #KEYS
492:He alone is truly a man who is illumined by the light of the true knowledge. Others are only men in name. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
493:He who regards the body as a milage or as a flake of foam on the waves, shall no longer see death ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
494:Man demands miracles that he may have faith; he wishes to be dazzled in order that he may see
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga,#KEYS
495:The Jnana Yogi says "I am He." But so long as one has the idea of the Self as the body, this egotism is injurious. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
496:The Self is God. `I AM' is God. If God be apart from the Self, He must be a Selfless God, which is absurd. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
497:The true believer does not give up repeating God's glory even if, with his lifelong devotion, he fails to see God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
498:Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation but as a question.[A caution he gives his students, to be wary of dogmatism.] ~ Niels Bohr, #KEYS
499:God is far, far away from the worldly-minded. For those who have renounced the world He is in the palm of the hand. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
500:He reveals Himself to the pure heart; the pure and the stainless see God, yea, even in this life. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. I. 13), #KEYS
501:He who has the spirit of devotion in him receives an awakening in holy places, and that spirit becomes intensified. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
502:He who thinks that he is a Jiva is a Jiva; he who considers himself God becomes God. As one thinks, so one becomes. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
503:I Have Sinned So Much. If I Repent To God, Will He Accept My Repentance?" She Replied, "If He Wants To Accept Your Repentance, You Will Repent. ~ Rabia al-Adawiyya, #KEYS
504:Is here and in the pleasant house He chose
To harbour God. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, The Rishi,#KEYS
505:When He enters this eye, this eye becomes like the sea; when He gazes on the sea, out of all its waters pearls come ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
506:When he says: 'Rejoice, O barren woman who never bore a child,' he is speaking of us, for our Church was barren until children were given her. ~ 2nd century sermon, #KEYS
507:God does not know of Himself what He is because He is not a 'what' [Deus itaque nescit se quid est quia non est quid]. ~ John Scotus Eriugena, Periphyseon II (589b), #KEYS
508:God prepares, but He does not hasten the ripening of the fruit before its season. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, The Doctrine of Sacrifice, #KEYS
509:He has a form and He is as if He had no form. He has taken a form in order to be the essence of all. ~ The Zohar, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
510:He who follows the steep path that climbs the heights can easily slip down into the abyss.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Path,#KEYS
511:He who to some gives victory, joy and good,
To some gives rest. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, To R.,#KEYS
512:His good and evil, sin and virtue, till
He bids thee leave. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, The Rishi,#KEYS
513:If you go on working with the light available, you will meet your Master, as he himself will be seeking you. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
514:Our tradition tells us that God does not need the material offerings humans can give him, since he himself is the one who provides everything. ~ Saint Justin Martyr, #KEYS
515:Pray to God earnestly, in time He will surely emancipate you and enable you to swim happily upon the ocean of bliss. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
516:Thanks be to the Gospel, by means of which we also, who did not see Christ when he came into this world, seem to be with him when we read his deeds. ~ Saint Ambrose, #KEYS
517:A devotee does not care to relate to any but true Bhaktas the ecstatic joys he experiences in his communion with God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
518:As a bee when it has made honey, so a man when he has done a good act, does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #KEYS
519:God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 John, IV. 16, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
520:God knows the past, present and future. He will determine the future for you and accomplish the work.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, [T5],#KEYS
521:He has trod with bleeding brow the Saviour's way. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain, #KEYS
522:If God assigns to me my place in Hell, I do not know why I should aspire to Heaven. He knows best what is for my welfare. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #KEYS
523:Servitude is that you be His slave every instant, just as He is your Lord every instant. " ~ Dhul-Nun Al-Misri, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
524:The life of a man is unfulfilled unless he has found the Divine. 2 June 1972
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The True Aim of Life, 7,#KEYS
525:The man who has not found God is full of vain disputation, but he who has seen Him, enjoys silently the Bliss Divine. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
526:Any person capable of angering you becomes your master;
he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.
~ Epictetus,#KEYS
527:God is above all things as Father, for he is principle and source; he is through all things through the Word; and he is in all things in the Holy Spirit. ~ Athanasius, #KEYS
528:He that hath no rule over his own spirit, is like a city that is broken down and without walls. ~ Proverbs XXV. 28, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
529:If by setting one's heart right every morning and evening, one is able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the Way. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo, #KEYS
530:It matters not that you have been walking along a wrong path. The Lord knows what he wants and in the end fulfills it. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
531:Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, [then] I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me." ~ Revelation 3:20, #KEYS
532:From every nation on earth, without exception, Christ forms a single flock of those he has sanctified, daily fulfilling the promise he once made. ~ Saint Leo the Great, #KEYS
533:He journeys sleepless through an unending night;
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain,#KEYS
534:He who denies the existence of God, has some reason for wishing that God did not exist. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, [T8], #KEYS
535:He who knows ten should only teach nine." ~ Far Eastern Saying. From: "The Essential Rene Guenon: Metaphysics, Tradition, and the Crisis of Modernity,", (2009), p.272., #KEYS
536:he wise man sits not inert; he is ever walking incessantly forward towards a greater light. ~ Fo-shu-hing-tsan-king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
537:If the red slayer think he slays, Or if the slain think he is slain, They know not well the subtle ways I keep, and pass, and turn again. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Brahma, #KEYS
538:Surrender everything at His feet and give Him the general power of attorney. Let Him do what He considers best for you. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
539:Try to realise that there is no I, no you, no he, only the one Self which is all. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Conscious Immortality, Ch 15, #KEYS
540:When, in our despair, we cry to the Divine, always He answers to our call. With my blessings. ~ The Mother, Mantras of the Mother, 21 December, #KEYS
541:When the next day comes, he will also be called today, and then you will think of him. Always be very confident in Divine Providence." ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
542:and assuring him, as he carries out his apostolic duties, of an abundance of the supernatural powers that the strongest workers for Christ must have. ~ Saint John XXIII, #KEYS
543:Gently, gently, he whispered, "Be quiet, the secret cannot be spoken, It is wrapped in silence. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
544:God is in all and in the seer. Where else can God be seen? He cannot be found outside. He should be felt within. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
545:He who has perfectly mastered himself in thought and speech and act, he is indeed a man of religion. ~ Buddhist Text, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
546:He who is not ready to suffer all things and to stand resigned to the will of the Beloved is not worthy to be called a lover. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
547:He who wants to find God, finds God. Go and verify it in your own life! Try for three days and thou art sure to succeed. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
548:His name is conscious spirit, His abode is conscious spirit and He, the Lord, is all conscious spirit. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
549:Man needs freedom of thought and life and action in order that he may grow. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The End of the Curve of Reason, #KEYS
550:A jnani has no karma [that is, a jnani performs no actions]. That is his experience. Otherwise he is not a jnani. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
551:As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (1 Cor. 11:26)., #KEYS
552:Every - real - happiness - for - man - can - arise - exclusively - only - from - some - unhappiness - also - real - which - he - has - already - experienced. ~ Gurdjieff, #KEYS
553:He blows where he wills and on whom He wills, and to what extent He wills (Jn 3:8). Thus we are inspired both to think and to speak of the Spirit. ~ Gregory of Nazianzen, #KEYS
554:If a man shows pity for animals, he is all the more disposed to take pity on his fellow-men ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1-2.102.6ad8)., #KEYS
555:In death the Word made a spotless sacrifice and oblation of the body he had taken. By dying for others, he immediately banished death for all mankind. ~ Saint Athanasius, #KEYS
556:We see him in the way he undertook the dispensation of his Incarnation for our salvation, and extended the marvels of his sacraments to all nations. ~ Saint John Cassian, #KEYS
557:Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Isaiah, 6:2 #KEYS
558:He who can resign himself to the will of the Almighty with simple faith and guileless love realises the Lord very quickly. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
559:If the seeker would cultivate the true nature of the Self till he [she] has realized it, that alone would suffice. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
560:Is it asked, who is the most excellent of the strong? I reply, it is he who possesses patience. ~ Sutra in 42 articles, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
561:Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 3-3, [T5],#KEYS
562:Nobody can become more than human if he refuses to make a sacrifice of his ego. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Nature of the Vital, #KEYS
563:The Rajasic devotee may wear on his person the distinctive marks of his religion. He is particular to outward observances. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
564:We must cultivate our own garden. When man was put in the garden of Eden he was put there so that he should work, which proves that man was not born to rest.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
565:Christ was literally born during the night as a sign that He came to the shadows of our weakness ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.83.2ad2)., #KEYS
566:Each through his nature He leads and the world by the lure of His wisdom. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Ilion, #KEYS
567:He is not a man of religion who does ill to another. He is not a disciple who causes suffering to another. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
568:It is He who engenders Himself perpetually.......the Lord of existences and of non-existences. ~ Egyptian Funeral Rites, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
569:The syllable gu means darkness, the syllable ru, he who dispels them, Because of the power to dispel darkness, the guru is thus named. ~ Advayataraka Upanishad, Verse 16, #KEYS
570:When you hear that He was lifted up, understand His hanging on high, that He might sanctify the air who had sanctified the earth by walking upon it. ~ Theophylact of Ohrid, #KEYS
571:Although the phenomenal universe exists within God, He is beyond and above it. The universe of phenomena exists only for us. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
572:Before the Lord comes, he sends yearning, love, reverence and faith into the heart of the devotee whom he is about to honor. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
573:Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
574:A devotee of God accepts everything. He accepts the universe and its created beings as well as the indivisible Satchidananda. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
575:A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it
~ Roald Dahl,#KEYS
576:But he turned and rebuked them, You do not understand, he said, what spirit it is you share. The Son of Man has come to save men's lives, not to destroy them. ~ Luke 9:54-56, #KEYS
577:He who has to see written things has need of the light; and he who has to learn the wisdom of beings has need of spiritual love. ~ Evagrius Ponticus, Kephalaia Gnostika 3.58, #KEYS
578:If he who sets out on this way will not engage himself wholly and completely, he will never be free from the sadness and melancholy which weigh him down. ~ Attar of Nishapur, #KEYS
579:Is it not a wonderful thing, that he that is the Lord and author of all liberty, would thus be bound with ropes and nailed hand and foot unto the Cross?" ~ Saint John Fisher, #KEYS
580:None can be richer, more powerful, freer than he who knows how to renounce his self and all things. ~ Imitation of Christ, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
581:The aim of the Mystic is to stretch his range of Consciousness as widely as possible, so that he may touch the highest pride and the deepest humility.
~ Hazrat Inayat Khan,#KEYS
582:A man cannot understand the art he is studying if he only looks for the end result without taking the time to delve deeply into the reasoning of the study. ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #KEYS
583:An off-cast from the city is he who tears his soul away from the soul of reasoning beings, which is one. ~ Marcus Aurelius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
584:God transcends world and is not bound by any law of Nature. He uses laws, laws do not use Him. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Isha Upanishad, The Isha Upanishad, #KEYS
585:He is always with us, aware of what we are, of all our thoughts, of all our feelings and all our actions.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I, [T0],#KEYS
586:He is a true man to whom money is a servant. Those who have it and do not know how to use it, do not deserve to be called men. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
587:He is the explorer and the mariner
On a secret inner ocean without bourne. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge,#KEYS
588:If a man continues to mix with the world, it is likely that he will be tainted; but he will remain pure if he lives out of it. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
589:Let Him do what He thinks best. True resignation comes only after hard struggle. Only when the wings tired, does a bird sit on the mast of a ship to rest. ~ Swami Saradananda, #KEYS
590:The man who prays, the prayer, and the God to whom he prays all have reality only as manifestations of the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, [T5], #KEYS
591:A good novelist does not lead his characters, he follows them. A good novelist does not create events, he watches them happen and then writes down what he sees. ~ Stephen King, #KEYS
592:And this is what he means when the Apostle says, 'the just man lives by faith' ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on Galatians 3, lect. 4)., #KEYS
593:A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.
~ Bertrand Russell,#KEYS
594:Every Christian, even if he lacks any education, knows that every place is part of the universe and that the universe itself is the temple of God. ~ Origen, Contra Celsus 7.44, #KEYS
595:God is light; there is no darkness in him at all. . . . if we live our lives in the light, as he is in the light, we are in union with one another . . . ~ Anonymous, The Bible, #KEYS
596:Have great confidence in God's goodness and mercy, and He will never abandon you; but don't neglect to embrace His holy cross because of this. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
597:He who in his neighbour sees no other tiling but God, lives with the light that flowers in the Divinity. ~ Angelns Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
598:He who is weighed down by too many cares and anxieties goes down; while he who has fewer rises up towards the feet of the Lord. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
599:He whose thought is always fixed on the Eternal has no need of any devotional practice or spiritual exercise. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
600:If a man puts a drop of wine into a thousand measures of water, he is not mixing, but spoiling, the wine ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 4.35)., #KEYS
601:Man can only be happy by the fruit of the labour which he spends on his self-improvement. ~ Antoine the Healer: Revelations, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
602:The sage does not die any more, for he is already dead, dead to all vanity, dead to all that is not God. ~ Angelus Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
603:When the supreme being is inactive, he is styled as God the absolute. When creating, he is styled as Sakti or the personal God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
604:After enlightenment one has no more to return to this world. He has neither to come to this earth nor to go to any other sphere. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
605:A man really writes for an audience of about ten persons. Of course if others like it that is clear gain. But if those ten are satisfied he is content. ~ Alfred North Whitehead, #KEYS
606:and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff-- no bread, no bag, no money in their belt
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Mark, 6:8, [T5],#KEYS
607:For of all things He is the Lord and Father and Source, and the life and power and light and intelligence and mind. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
608:He alone traverses the current of the illusion who comes face to face with the Eternal and realises it. ~ Hermes: On Rebirth, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
609:He who is the Omniscient, the all-wise, He whose energy is all made of knowledge, from Him is born this that is Brahman here, this Name and Form and Matter. ~ Mundaka Upanishad, #KEYS
610:He who is weighted down by too many cares and anxieties goes down; while he who has fewer rises up towards the feet of the Lord. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
611:I actually see that whatever is, is God. It is He who has become all these things, the mind and Buddhi are lost in the absolute. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
612:One who has the call in him cannot fail to arrive, if he follows patiently the way towards the Divine. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Purity, #KEYS
613:Our best friend is he who loves us in the best of ourselves, and yet does not ask us to be other than we are. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, 288, #KEYS
614:Pray, and get others to pray, that God not abandon His Church, but reform it as He pleases, and as He sees best for us, and more to His honour and glory." ~ Saint Angela Merici, #KEYS
615:The more thou knowest God, the more thou wilt recognise that thou canst not name Him, nor say what He is. ~ Angelus Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
616:We shall be blessed with clear vision if we keep our eyes fixed on Christ, for he, as Paul teaches, is our head, and there is in him no shadow of evil. ~ Saint Gregory of Nyssa, #KEYS
617:When Jesus Christ came upon the Earth, you killed Him. The son of your own God. And only after He was dead did you worship Him and start killing those who would not. ~ Tecumseh, #KEYS
618:When my Lord is not playing His flute, He dances. And all that He does He does so beautifully. But in subduing evil, my Lord is at His most beautiful.
~ सर्वदास,#KEYS
619:A man's deeds are slavish, his very thoughts false, so long as he has not succeeded in putting fear under his feet. ~ Carlyle, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
620:God dwells in a Light, to which a road is wanting. He who does not become That himself, will never see It. ~ Angelus Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
621:God will come to you with His grace and comfort after every hardship. ~ As long as He finds you at home. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
622:It is possible for the human soul to obtain the condition of absolute union with God when one is able to say: "Soham," "I am He." ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
623:That which is good and pure in you is God. That which is evil in you is your ego. The more you think of Him, the more He will increase and you will decrease. ~ Swami Turiyananda, #KEYS
624:The individual as spirit or being is not confined within his humanity; he has been less than human. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Divine Life, #KEYS
625:What the poet sees and feels, not what he opines, is the real substance of his poetry. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Future Poetry, The Poets of the Dawn - II, #KEYS
626:Whoever is too great must lonely live.
Adored he walks in mighty solitude; ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Growth of the Flame,#KEYS
627:A link was wanting between two craving parts of Nature and he was hurled into being as the bridge over that yawning need. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
628:he external forms are alone subject to change and destruction; for these forms are not the things themselves. ~ Giordano Bruno, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
629:If someone were to not believe God exists, he would be stupid: "The fool said in his heart: There is no God" ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Ps 13:1)., #KEYS
630:It is not by the water in which they plunge that men become pure but he becomes pure who follows the path of the Truth. ~ ibid, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
631:It is only when God is essentialized into the Summum Ens that he presents himself as the wholly other who intrudes into finitude as an enemy. ~ Ferdinand Ulrich, Homo Abyssus 272, #KEYS
632:Man is a masterpiece of creation if for no other reason than that, all the weight of evidence for determinism notwithstanding, he believes he has free will. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
633:Noble speech
Is a high prelude fit for noble deeds;
It is the lion's roar before he leaps. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act III,#KEYS
634:The European talks of progress because by the aid of a few scientific discoveries, he has established a society which has mistaken comfort for civilization.
~ Benjamin Disraeli,#KEYS
635:We must know how to depend for everything and in everything on the Divine. He alone can surmount all difficulties.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
636:With weakness and selfishness, however spiritual in their guise or trend, he can have no dealing. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Renunciation, #KEYS
637:Bring a thousand bags of gold coins to God, and He will only tell you: Bring the heart if you come to Us." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
638:By faith we too embraced Christ, the salvation of God the Father, as he came to us from Bethlehem. Gentiles before, we have now become the people of God. ~ Sophronius of Jerusalem, #KEYS
639:Every society represents a collective being and he owes to it all that he can give it. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The End of the Curve of Reason, #KEYS
640:God is indeed infinite. But he is omnipotent. He may ordain that his divinity as love may be manifest in the flesh and be among us. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
641:He (The Divine) alone is real; all else is illusory. Without the realization of God everything is futile. This is the great secret. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
642:If a holy man, however cautious he may be, lives in the company of a young woman, some casual thought is sure to arise in his mind. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
643:I see that it is the Absolute who has become all things about us; it is He who appears as the finite soul and the phenomenal world. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
644:Just as you enter this church building, so God wishes to enter into your soul, for he promised: I shall live in them, I shall walk through their hearts. ~ Saint Caesarius of Arles, #KEYS
645:Love is due to our neighbor in respect of what he holds from God, that is, in respect of nature and grace ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 2-2.34.3)., #KEYS
646:Man is the creator of the gods whom he worships in his temples. Therefore humanity has made its gods in its own image. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
647:Men shed rivers of tears for family, love and riches, but who sheds even a drop because he is not fortunate enough to see the Lord? ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
648:Suffering is not a punishment, nor a fruit of sin; it is a gift of God. He allows us to share in his suffering and to make up for the sins of the world. ~ Saint Teresa of Calcutta, #KEYS
649:That which was the beginning of all things under heaven we may speak of as the 'mother' of all things.
He who apprehends the mother, thereby knows the sons.
Tao Te Ching, LI#KEYS
650:To a Bhakta, the Lord manifests in various forms. To one who reaches Jnana (Samadhi), he is the formless Nirguna Brahman once more. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
651:Who is the superior man ? It is he who first puts his words in practice and then speaks in agreement with his acts. ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
652:Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave. ~ Gurdjieff, #KEYS
653:Certainly, He will come to you. Only one thing is needed: your yearning, your earnest longing. He wants nothing else. You have to call on Him with earnestness. ~ Swami Akhandananda, #KEYS
654:Dhūl-Nūn (r) was asked, "What is the end of the mystic?" ~ He answered, "When he is as he was where he was before he was..", @Sufi_Path #KEYS
655:God is the enfolding of all things in that all things are in Him; and He is the unfolding of all things in that He is in all things. ~ Nicholas of Cusa, De Docta Ignorantia II.3.10, #KEYS
656:Hanuman was blessed with the vision of God, both Sakara (form) and Nirakara (formless). But he retained the ego of a servant of God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
657:He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.
~ Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,#KEYS
658:Hell has not been created by any one, but when a man does evil, he lights the fires of hell and burns in his own fire. ~ Mahomed, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
659:He who consecrates his life to spiritual perfection, cannot be ill-content; for what he desires is always in his power. ~ Pascal, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
660:He who was heedless and has become vigilant, shines over the darkened world like a moon in cloudless heavens. ~ Udanavarga Sutta, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
661:Man should never cease to believe that the incomprehensible can be comprehended; otherwise he would give up his search. ~ Goethe, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
662:Our Lord's works produce faith in the things that he says: "He confirmed the word through accompanying signs" ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Mk 16:20)., #KEYS
663:the Jnani's object is to realize God. He says: "Not this", "Not this" and thus leaves out of account one unreal thing after another. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
664:The true devotee, firm in his faith, though he may be surrounded by all the impurities of the world, never loses his faith and love. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
665:What He ( Allah) has decreed will come to pass, whether the servant is dissatisfied or satisfied. ~ Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
666:Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave." ~ Gurdjieff, #KEYS
667:All that you call your own will pass away. God is really your own. He is your All and All. Obtaining God should be your only concern. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
668:God manifests Himself in the individual partially, but He stands behind the progress of the world wholly. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, Facts and Opinions, #KEYS
669:If one does not stop in progress after attaining a few powers, he becomes, in the end, really rich in the eternal knowledge of truth. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
670:Indeed, I am a forest and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness will also find rose slopes under my cypresses. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, #KEYS
671:Man does not actually live as an isolated being, nor can he grow by an isolated freedom. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The End of the Curve of Reason, #KEYS
672:Siddhas or miraculous powers are to be avoided like filth. He who sets his mind on the Siddhis, remains stuck and cannot rise higher. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
673:The Gita is the essence of all scriptures. A sannyasi may or may not keep with him another book, but he always carries a pocket Gita. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
674:This is part of the infinite goodness of God, that He should allow evil to exist, and out of it produce good ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.2.3ad1). #KEYS
675:An individual cannot be considered entirely sane if he is wholly ignorant of scientific method and structure of nature and so retains primitive semantic reactions. ~ Alfred Korzybski, #KEYS
676:As soon as a man takes on the responsibility of a family, he is weighed down and feels himself unfit for the high attainments of life. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
677:God wills that our desire should be exercised in prayer, that we may be able to receive what he is prepared to give. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
678:He that loveth his life, shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal. ~ John XII. 25, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
679:If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger. ~ Emily Brontë, #KEYS
680:If you surrender to the Lord and call on Him with a heart full of yearning, He is bound to listen and take care of everything for you. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
681:I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 116:1-2, NIV, #KEYS
682:It does not really rest with a man whether he goes to this place or that or whether he gives up his duties or not. All these events happen according to destiny. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
683:It is the Lord who sustains our floundering hope, just as he sustained Peter when he was floundering in the water, and made the waters firm beneath his feet. ~ Saint Gregory of Nyssa, #KEYS
684:Man is in his self a unique Person, but he is also in his manifestation of self a multiperson. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Triple Transformation, #KEYS
685:Nor punishes. Impartially he deals
To every strenuous spirit its chosen reward. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Urvasie,#KEYS
686:The God-lover is the universal lover and he embraces the All-blissful and All-beautiful. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Delight of the Divine, #KEYS
687:This is part of the infinite goodness of God, that He should allow evil to exist, and out of it produce good ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.2.3ad1)., #KEYS
688:We are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the Lord, since he himself cursed the fig tree when he found no fruit but only leaves. ~ Saint Anthony of Padua, #KEYS
689:Who knows this ruler within, he knows the worlds and the gods and creatures and the Self, he knows all. ~ Mundaka Upanishad I.210., the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
690:With what understanding can man apprehend God, who does not yet apprehend that very understanding itself of his own, by which he desires to apprehend Him? ~ Saint Augustine, (DT 5.1), #KEYS
691:A. He for whom you work will supply you with your necessaries. God made provisions for your support before He sent you into this world. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
692:Arise and be not slothful ! Follow the straight path ! He who so walks, lives happy in this world and in those beyond. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
693:For the ignorant there is no better rule than silence and if he knew its advantage he would not be ignorant. ~ Sadi : Gulistan VIII, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
694:God is formless and God is with form -- and God is that which transcends both form and formlessness. God alone can say what else he is. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
695:He is the king of Nature because he alone in the world knows himself...His substance is that of God Himself. ~ The Rose of Bakamate, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
696:"If you find all your roads and paths
blocked, He will show you a secret
way that no one knows......." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path#KEYS
697:If you go on working with the light available, you will meet your Master, as he himself will be seeking you.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks, 31, [T8],#KEYS
698:l that the seeker can find is his own absence." ~ Terence James Stannus Gray, (1895 - 1986), under the pen name "Wei Wu Wei", he published eight books on Taoist philosophy, Wikipedia., #KEYS
699:One who returns not wrath to wrath, saves himself as well as the other from a great peril: he is A physician to both. ~ Mahabharata, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
700:The good man, though a slave, is free; the wicked, though he reigns, is a slave, and not the slave of a single man, but ~ what is worse ~ the slave of as many masters as he has vices., #KEYS
701:The world discerned only by the intellect is nothing else than the Word (Logos) of God when He was already engaged in the act of creation. ~ Philo of Alexandria, On the Creation VI.24, #KEYS
702:A man cannot comprehend spiritual things with his ordinary intelligence. To understand them he must live in the company of holy persons. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
703:And he is our peace who made the two into one: that we might be men of good will, sweetly linked by the bond of unity. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
704:An evil prelate should not be honored because of who he is, but because of the one whose position he holds ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Quodlibet 8.4.2)., #KEYS
705:But he couldn't altogether destroy the seed of bhakti in me. No matter, where my mind wandered, it would come back to the Divine Mother. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
706:He becomes master of all this universe who has this knowledge.-Know thyself, sound the divinity ~ Epictetus, "Conversations." III.22, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
707:He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of youbut to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Micah, 6:8, #KEYS
708:He was no fool or Utopian who wished to be the maker of songs for his country rather than its law giver. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II, Work and Ideal, #KEYS
709:He who sowed sparingly, shall reap also sparingly, and he who sowed bountifully, shall reap also bountifully. ~ II Corinthians IX. 6, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
710:He who speaks best of God is he who, in the presence of the plenitude of the interior riches, knows best how to be silent. ~ Eckhart, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
711:It is part of the nature of a man that he should exist in matter, and so there cannot be a man without matter ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.44.3ad2)., #KEYS
712:Most of all He wanted to teach his disciples, who were destined to be the teachers of the entire world ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (In 1 Jn. 6, lect. 1)., #KEYS
713:
Each day was a spiritual romance,
As if he was born into a bright new world;
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Growth of the Flame,#KEYS
714:The devote Ramprasad called this world a structure of dreams; yet because he loved for the Lord, he was loyal to both God and the world. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
715:The Magician looks on the wicked as invalids whom one must pity and cure; the world, with its errors and vices, is to him God's hospital, and he wishes to serve in it.
~ Eliphas Levi,#KEYS
716:The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it. ~ Saint Vincent de Paul, #KEYS
717:There is only the One. Try to realise there is no I, no you, no he, only the one Self which is all. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Conscious Immortality, [T5], #KEYS
718:When a doctor assures that he will save the patient, he does not know that no human power can save one whom the Lord chooses to destroy. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
719:Every man is born into this world as a servant. He must serve life and nature, those to whom he has personal responsibilities, and the spiritual needs of his own soul."
~ Manly P Hall,#KEYS
720:He who sees God in all, will serve freely God in all with the service of love. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, Conditions for the Coming of a Spiritual Age, #KEYS
721:I say to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly. ~ Romans X II, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
722:No one can make excuses, because anyone can love God; and he does not ask the soul for more than to love him, because he loves the soul, and it is his love." ~ Blessed Angela of Foligno, #KEYS
723:Obviously the most beautiful fate, the most wonderful good fortune that can happen to any human being, is to be paid for doing that which he passionately loves to do.
~ Abraham Maslow,#KEYS
724:O green branch, God foresaw your flowering On the first day of His Creation. And out of His own Word, most worthy Virgin He made golden matter. ~ Hildegard, 'O virga, folriditatem tuam', #KEYS
725:Rules us, who in the Brahmin and the dog
Can, if He will, show equal godhead. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Baji Prabhou,#KEYS
726:The Avatar is always one and the same. Plunging into the ocean of life, he rises up as Krishna, diving again and rising up, he is Christ. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
727:The Divine holds our hand through all and if he seems to let us fall, it is only to raise us higher. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Faith and Shakti, #KEYS
728:Then, accomplished in knowledge, he shakes from him good and evil, and, stainless, reaches that supreme Equality. ~ Mundaka Upanishad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
729:There is only one God, and he is none other than the Creator of the world, who produced all things out of nothing through his own Word, first of all sent forth. ~ Tertullian of Carthage, #KEYS
730:The Supreme is infinite, therefore He is also finite.
To be finite is one of the infinite aspects of the Infinite.
Creation is the definition of the Infinite. ~ Nolini Kanta Gupta,#KEYS
731:through whom all things are, He who leads men to glory, and who is the Author of human salvation suffered and died ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 4.34)., #KEYS
732:A devotee would be acting foolishly if he were to beg for psychic powers, neglecting the priceless gift of true knowledge and love of God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
733:A Guru does not entrust to a worldly man valuable and exalting precepts, for he is sure to misuse them in pursuit of his own mean designs. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
734:A holy man used to look at a glass prism and smile. He could see various colors, yet he knew these colors were false just as the world is. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
735:All she can do is marvellous in his sight:
He revels in her, a swimmer in her sea,
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge,#KEYS
736:And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
~ Anonymous, The Bible?, [T5],#KEYS
737:God is not knowledge, but the cause of Knowledge; He is not mind, but the cause of mind; He is not Light, but the cause of Light. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
738:He mastered the tides of Nature with a look:
He met with his bare spirit naked Hell. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Descent into Night,#KEYS
739:He puts on joy and sorrow like a robe
And drinks experience like a strengthening wine. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge,#KEYS
740:He whose hairs stand on end with ecstasy at the mere mention of Sir Hari's name and sheds tears of love, has already taken his last birth. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
741:He who thus knows, "I am the Eternal", the gods themselves cannot make him other, for he is their own self. ~ Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
742:If a man loves God, living upon the flesh of pigs, he is blessed; unlike the man who lives on milk and rice but is fixed on lust and gold. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
743:I would be happy with a hole in the ground and a little plaque saying something like this, 'Here lies Al Schwartz. He tried his best for Jesus. That's it… ~ Venerable Aloysius Schwartz, #KEYS
744:The body and the shadow are the same. And what is his picture but a shadow? If you pray to him constantly before this picture, then he manifest himself through the picture. ~ Holy Mother, #KEYS
745:The God of Force, the God of Love are one;
Not least He loves whom most He smites. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Epiphany,#KEYS
746:The grace of God is so great and His love for us is such that we cannot understand what He has done for us ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (On the Creed, a. 4). #KEYS
747:The kingdom of heaven is already in existence if we will have it, that perfection is already in man if he will see it. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. VI. 354), #KEYS
748:This is sure that he and she are one;
Even when he sleeps, he keeps her on his breast: ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge,#KEYS
749:We call Gabriel an Archangel, because he announced the Incarnation of the Word to the Virgin, for the belief of all ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 3.80)., #KEYS
750:When some serve the Lord for a long time, He endows them with all His glory and attributes and raises them to His own seat of sovereignty. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
751:Whoever performs devotional exercises with the belief that there is one God, is bound to attain Him, no matter what aspect He is worshiped ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
752:You cannot get rid of the ego until you have realized God. If you find a person free from ego, then know for certain that he has seen God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
753:Alone of gods Death loves not gifts: he visits
The pure heart as the stained. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Love and Death,#KEYS
754:And so it was after supper, at the close of day, that He consecrated this sacrament and gave it to His disciples ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.83.2ad3)., #KEYS
755:At the time when the seventh angel is heard sounding his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, just as he announced in the gospel to his servants the prophets." ~ Revelation 10:7, #KEYS
756:But He is not supremely lovable TO US in this way, because of our appetite's inclination towards visible goods ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 2-2.24.2ad2)., #KEYS
757:... Colchis, Cyprus, the Turks and barbarians he will subdue and have all men worship the Crucified one. He will at length lay down his crown in Jerusalem." ~ Saint Cataldus of Tarentino , #KEYS
758:God as beauty, Srikrishna in Brindavan, Shyamasundara, is not only Beauty, He is also Love. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Early Cultural Writings, The National Value of Art, #KEYS
759:God, who has the power to raise the dead, is the One who permitted us to die. He who can restore life is the One who permitted men to be killed ~ Saint Peter Chrysologos, Sermons, 1.101)., #KEYS
760:Have faith in the Lord; He is ever present...But no one can find God without continuous love for Him in the heart. To feel that love for God, one must practice it. ~ PARAMAHAMSA YOGANANDA, #KEYS
761:He wanted to close his eyes and shut out the pearly nothingness that surrounded him, but that was an act of a coward and he would not yield to it. ~ Arthur C Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey, #KEYS
762:He who discerns the truth as truth and the illusion as an illusion, attains to the truth and is walking in the right road. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
763:He who makes to be heard words without harshness, true and instructive, by which he injures none, he, I say, is a Brahmin. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
764:Live in faith and hope, though it be in darkness, for in this darkness God protects the soul. Cast your care upon God for you are his and he will not forget you. ~ Saint John of the Cross, #KEYS
765:The grace of God is so great and His love for us is such that we cannot understand what He has done for us ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (On the Creed, a. 4)., #KEYS
766:A man's heart showeth to him what he should do better than seven sentinels on the summit of a rock. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Ecclesiastes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
767:But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays Upon this Checker-board of Nights and Days; Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays, And one by one back in the Closet lays. ~ Omar Khayyam, #KEYS
768:God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners.
~ Soren Kierkegaard, The Journals of Kierkegaard,#KEYS
769:Let our whole body in Christ Jesus be saved. Let each individual be subject to his neighbour, according to the position he is placed in by the gift he has from God. ~ Saint Clement of Rome, #KEYS
770:Man must come to the realization that the two most valuable things that he has are his heart and his time. When time is wasted, the heart is ruined and all benefit is lost. ~ Ibn Al-Jawzee, #KEYS
771:One who has acquired supreme wisdom sees the all-pervading spirit both within and without; he lives, as it were, in a room with glass doors. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
772:The ignorant one does not see his ignorance as he basks in its darkness; nor does the knowledgeable one see his own knowledge, for he basks in its light ~ Ibn Arabi, #KEYS
773:The Sattvic devotee performs his devotions in secret. Of luxury he has none, either in food or dress, and no show in his house of furniture. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
774:A heretic does not have the character of faith even if it is only one article of faith which he refuses to believe ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (DV 14.10ad10)., #KEYS
775:A man can be himself only so long as he is alone, and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom, for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.
~ Arthur Schopenhauer,#KEYS
776:And I believe in love, even when there's no one there. And I believe in God, even when he is silent" ~ First stanza of poem etch by a Jew on a cellar wall doing the Holocaust. For poem see:, #KEYS
777:... He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, for his time has come to sit in judgment. Worship him who made heaven and earth and sea and springs of water." ~ Revelation 14:6-7, #KEYS
778:Others boast of their love for God. My boast is that I did not love God; it was He who loved me and sought me out and forced me to belong to Him. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #KEYS
779:Spiritual life begins when you have loosened yourself from the control of the senses. He whose senses rule him is worldly — is a slave. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
780:The Master of man and his infinite Lover,
He is close to our hearts, had we vision to see. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Who,#KEYS
781:When a person considers that the Son of God, the Lord of death, willed to die, he no longer fears death ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on Hebrews 2)., #KEYS
782:And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Hebrews, 11:6, #KEYS
783:A wise man emulates the smallest good trait of others even if he has innumerable good qualities of his own." ~ Sakya Pandita, (1182-1251), a Tibetan spiritual leader and Buddhist, Wikipedia., #KEYS
784:But God's Word is our Lord Jesus Christ, who in these last times was made a man among men, that he might join the end to the beginning: that is, join man to God. ~ Irenaeus, Against Heresies, #KEYS
785:He has so many creations, and yet He never forgets me, but I only have One Creator, and I've forgotten him countless of times." ~ Saadi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
786:It is customary, when one is habituated to prosperity, that he becomes sadder when adversities come ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on Mt. 2, lect. 4)., #KEYS
787:Now this Word, whose flesh was so real that he could be touched by human hands, began to be flesh in the Virgin Mary's womb. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
788:That which God said to the rose, and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty, He said to my heart, and made it a hundred times more beautiful. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
789:The greatest error of a man is to think that he is weak by nature, evil by nature. Everyone is divine and strong in their real nature. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
790:The true Person is not an isolated entity, his individuality is universal; for he individualises the universe. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Gnostic Being, #KEYS
791:To receive the Eucharist is good, and yet he that receives it "unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself" ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (1 Cor. 11:29)., #KEYS
792:And he departed from our sight that we might return to our hearts and find him there. For he left us, and behold, he is here. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
793:God has the nature of a small child. God won't even look at those who do tapas with ego, but He will shower His grace on the innocent hearted ones who don't do anything. ~ MATA AMRITANADAMAYI, #KEYS
794:He has need of darkness to perceive some light
And need of grief to feel a little bliss. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Vision and the Boon,#KEYS
795:So the believer who imitates Christ becomes as far as permitted the same as Christ whom he imitates. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Galatians, #KEYS
796:The Lord did everything in a mystery. . . He said, 'I came to make the things below like the things above, and the things outside like those inside. I came to unite them.
~ Gospel of Philip,#KEYS
797:Christ is never conquered. … He hath conquered in thy behalf, and he hath conquered for thee, and he hath conquered in thee. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
798:He says that they are "children" when their own way of thinking is molded into loving kindness toward their brothers and sisters, in likeness of the Father's goodness. ~ Saint Gregory of Nyssa, #KEYS
799:It is He in the sun who is ageless and deathless,
And into the midnight His shadow is thrown. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Who,#KEYS
800:O worshipper of the formless Infinite,
Reject not form, what dwells in it is He. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Form,#KEYS
801:Run to his feet - He is standing close to you head right now You have slept for millions and millions of years. Why not wake up this morning." ~ Kamir, 15th-cent. Indian mystic poet, Wikipedia, #KEYS
802:The cause of all things is surely beyond them all and what he is, transcendently and supernaturally, is far above creatures above their being and above their nature. ~ Dyonisius the Areopagite, #KEYS
803:The Self is the essence of this universe, the essence of all souls; He is the essence of your own life, nay, 'Thou art That'. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. I. 374), #KEYS
804:When we contemplate the sufferings of Jesus He grants us, according to the measure of our faith, the grace to practice the virtues He revealed during those sacred hours." ~ Saint Angela Merici, #KEYS
805:Both of these are imperfect in man if he is compared to the perfect righteousness of the divine standard ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on Job, lect. 4)., #KEYS
806:Christ came to take away our ignorance, for "He came to enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death" ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.15.3sc)., #KEYS
807:God meets us in many ways of his being and in all tempts us to him even while he seems to elude us. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Delight of the Divine, #KEYS
808:He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. ~ Luke XVI.10, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
809:Say: "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. ~ Koran, 39:53 (Yusuf Ali), #KEYS
810:Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Proverbs, 3:5-6, #KEYS
811:A man may conquer thousands and thousands of men in battle, but he is the greatest conqueror who has mastered himself. ~ Fo-shu-hing-tsan-king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
812:He whose senses are not attached to name and form who is no longer troubled by transient things; can be really called a disciple. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
813:In everyone, there is naturally implanted something from which he can arrive at knowledge of the fact of God's existence ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (DV 10.12ad1)., #KEYS
814:The individual is only an instrument in the hands of a Universal Energy though his ego takes the credit of all he does. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Opening, #KEYS
815:A divine strength and courage and a divine compassion and helpfulness are the very stuff of that which he would be. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga: Renunciation #KEYS
816:God invisible,...say not so; for who is more apparent than He? That is the goodness of God, that is His virtue, to be apparent in all. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
817:He is not from amongst us who doesnt show respect to the elderly and mercy to the youth. ~ Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him), @Sufi_Path #KEYS
818:He [the child] does not despise real woods because he has read of enchanted woods: the reading makes all real woods a little enchanted. ~ C S Lewis, "On Three Ways of Writing for Children" (1952), #KEYS
819:He wades through mud to reach the Wonderful,
And does what Matter must or Spirit can. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Man the Enigma,#KEYS
820:He whose mind is utterly pure from all evil as the Sun is pure of stain and the moon of soil, him indeed I call a man of religion. ~ Udanavagga, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
821:He who wishes to acquire the anger that is in accordance with nature must uproot all self-will, until he establishes within himself the state natural to the intellect. ~ Saint Isaiah the Solitary, #KEYS
822:It is written ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Mich. 5:2): "And thou, Bethlehem, Ephrata... out of thee shall He come forth unto Me, that is to be the ruler in Israel.", #KEYS
823:just as a good father of a family may give something precious to a sick servant, which he does not give to a healthy son ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.20.4ad2)., #KEYS
824:Let no man deceive himself; if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him a fool that he may be wise. ~ I. Corinthians III. 18, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
825:The Church does not consist in a great number of persons. He who possesses the Truth at his side is the church, though he be alone. ~ Ibn Masnd, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
826:The mind is everything. It is in the mind alone that one feels pure and impure. A man, first of all, must make his own mind guilty and then alone can he see another man's guilt. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
827:When darkness was blind and engulfed within darkness,
He was seated within it immense and alone. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Who,#KEYS
828:When one perceives clearly this Self as God and as the Lord of all that is and will be, he knows no longer any fear. ~ Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
829:A lover must embrace willingly all that is difficult and bitter for the sake of the Beloved, and he should not turn away from Him because of adversities. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
830:Any given man sees only a tiny portion of the total truth, and very often, in fact almost perpetually, he deliberately deceives himself about that little precious fragment as well. ~ Philip K Dick, #KEYS
831:For he [Christ] receives his own Spirit, and partakes of it, insofar as he was a man, but he gives it to himself, as God. ~ Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel according to St John 12.17, #KEYS
832:If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
~ Henry David Thoreau,#KEYS
833:[The Lord] teaches us to make prayer in common for all our brethren. For he did not say my Father who art in heaven, but our Father, offering petitions for the common body. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
834:The new God laughs at imitation and discipleship. He needs no imitators and no pupils. He forces men through himself. The God is his own follower in man. He imitates himself" ~ Carl Jung, Red Book, #KEYS
835:The philosophy of the common man is an old wife that gives him no pleasure, yet he cannot live without her, and resents any aspersions that strangers may cast on her character. (461) ~ G Santayana, #KEYS
836:Today every creature shouts in resounding song: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is he who comes in every age, for this is not his first coming. ~ Proclus of Constantinople, #KEYS
837:Do not sleep too long. How can a spiritual aspirant sleep away his life? He cannot. He must keep waking - who knows when God will come? The higher the life, the less the sleep. ~ Swami Akhandananda, #KEYS
838:God has set apart India as the eternal fountain-head of holy spirituality, and He will never suffer that fountain to run dry. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II, Swaraj, #KEYS
839:God is a great & cruel Torturer because He loves. You do not understand this, because you have not seen & played with Krishna.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human,#KEYS
840:God is simple and of an incomposite and spiritual nature, having neither ears nor organs of speech. A solitary essence and without limit, he is composed of no numbers and parts. ~ Didymus the Blind, #KEYS
841:He is what he is, but he is also the past of all that he was and the potentiality of all that he is not. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Eternal and the Individual, #KEYS
842:He met a silver-grey expanse
Where Day and Night had wedded and were one: ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Little Mind,#KEYS
843:In the beginning God said, the four-dimensional divergence of an antisymmetric, second rank tensor equals zero, and there was light, and it was good. And on the seventh day he rested. ~ Michio Kaku, #KEYS
844:Love immense and infinite, broad as the sky and deep as the ocean—this is the one great gain in life. Blessed is he who gets it. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. V. 144), #KEYS
845:Now our Lord knew both what he asked about, and what answer would be given, and thus he was not asking out of ignorance ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (In Jn 18 lect 6)., #KEYS
846:One must have faith in the Master of our life and works, even if for a long time He conceals Himself, and then in His own right time He will reveal His Presence. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga IV, #KEYS
847:The knowledge of faith does not bring rest to desire but rather sets it aflame, since every man desires to see what he believes ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 3.40), #KEYS
848:We need more understanding of human nature, because the only danger that exists is man himself ~ he is the great danger, and we are pitifully unaware of it. We know nothing of man ~ far too little., #KEYS
849:What is prema? He who feels it, this intense and ecstatic love of God, not only forgets the world but forgets even the body, which is so dear to all. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
850:An epicure of the spirit's unseen joys,
He lives on the sweet honey of solitude: ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Parable of the Search for the Soul,#KEYS
851:He poured forth his gifts on them all but most abundantly on us who have taken refuge in his compassion through our Lord Jesus Christ, to who be glory and majesty forever and ever. ~ Clement of Rome, #KEYS
852:He who relieves us of sin is Hari. He relieves us of our three afflictions in the world. Chaitanya preached the glory of Hari's name; it must be good. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
853:Many are God's forms by which he grows in man; ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, 07.04 - The Triple Soul-Forces, #KEYS
854:That which distinguishes from others the upright man, is that he never pollutes the genius within him which dwells in his heart. ~ Marcus Aurelius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
855:The knowledge of faith does not bring rest to desire but rather sets it aflame, since every man desires to see what he believes ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 3.40)., #KEYS
856:The soul hungers for God, and nothing but God can satiate it. Therefore He came to dwell on earth and assumed a Body in order that this Body might become the Food of our souls." ~ Saint John Vianney, #KEYS
857:Yet whoever believes in something to which he has not attained believes in what he cannot see [al-ghayb], and that is the key to happiness. ~ Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, #KEYS
858:You must be holy in the way that God asks you to be holy. God does not ask you to be a Trappist monk or a hermit. He wills that you sanctify the world in your everyday life. ~ Saint Vincent Pallotti, #KEYS
859:Always he journeys, but nowhere arrives;
He would guide the world, himself he cannot guide ...
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Vision and the Boon,#KEYS
860:But there are some truths which the natural reason also is able to reach. Such are that God exists, that He is one, and the like ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 1.15)., #KEYS
861:Christ rose early when the day was beginning to dawn, to denote that by His Resurrection He brought us to the light of glory ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.52.2ad3)., #KEYS
862:He must enter the eternity of Night
And know God's darkness as he knows his Sun. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain,#KEYS
863:he night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light. ~ Romans XIII. 12, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
864:He was here before the elements could emerge,
Before there was light of mind or life could breathe. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge,#KEYS
865:He was seen in the past prophetically, through the Spirit, and now as it were by adoption, through the Son; and in the kingdom of heaven he will be seen as a true father. ~ Irenaeus, Against Heresies, #KEYS
866:He who busies himself with the sins of others, or judges his brother on suspicion, has not yet even begun to repent or to examine himself so as to discover his own sins. ~ Saint Maximus the Confessor, #KEYS
867:If one has no earnest daily intention, does not consider what it is to be a warrior even in his dreams, and lives through the day idly, he can be said to be worthy of punishment. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo, #KEYS
868:Man is born a predestined idealist, for he is born to act. To act is to affirm the worth of an end, and to persist in affirming the worth of an end is to make an ideal.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.,#KEYS
869:No man or nation need be weak unless he chooses, no man or nation need perish unless he deliberately chooses extinction. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - I, Bhawani Mandir, #KEYS
870:There is no one who is without faults, and who is not in some way a burden to others, whether he is a superior or a subject, an old man or a young one, a scholar or a dunce. ~ Saint Robert Bellarmine, #KEYS
871:Whoever, without having the true science to which Life offers witness, fancies he knows something, knows, I repeat, nothing. ~ Epistle to Diognetus, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
872:Brahman is willing to be called Vishnu, and yet he is not willing, because he is also Brahma and Maheshwara. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, Heraclitus - VI, #KEYS
873:But standing on Eternity's luminous brink
I have discovered that the world was He; ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real,#KEYS
874:Man, every time he gives up and abandons himself, finds God in the depths of his heart, as if the immutable principle of his abnegation. ~ J. Tauler, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
875:That man whose hair stands on end at the mere mention of the name of God, and from whose eyes flow tears of love—he has indeed reached his last birth. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
876:The state we call realization is simply being oneself, not knowing anything or becoming anything. If one has realized, he is that which alone is, and which alone has always been. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
877:Whoever then wishes to be free, let him neither wish for anything nor avoid anything which depends on others: if he does not observe this rule, he must be a slave." ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
878:Whoever, therefore, wants to be free, let him neither wish for anything, nor avoid anything, that is under the control of others, or else he is necessarily a slave. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
879:Fate is a balance drawn in Destiny's book.
Man can accept his fate, he can refuse. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain,#KEYS
880:He is the mute lamb, the slain lamb, the lamb born of Mary, the fair ewe. He was seized from the flock, dragged off to be slaughtered, sacrificed in the evening, and buried at night. ~ Melito of Sardis, #KEYS
881:he man who has conquered his unreined desires, offers no hold to sorrow; it glides over him like water over the leaves of the lotus. ~ Buddhist Texts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
882:His science is an artificer of doom;
He ransacks earth for means to harm his kind; ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain,#KEYS
883:If a person studies too much and exhausts his reflective powers, he will be confused, and will not be able to apprehend even that which had been within the power of his apprehension. ~ Moses Maimonides, #KEYS
884:O Death, thou too art God and yet not He,
But only his own black shadow on his path ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real,#KEYS
885:Oh no," said the Master. "Think how right-intentioned the monkey is when he lifts a fish from the river to save it from the watery grave." ~ Anthony de Mello, (1931-1987) from "One Minute Wisdom"(1985), #KEYS
886:The dire delight that could shatter mortal flesh,
The rapture that the gods sustain he bore. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Paradise of the Life-Gods,#KEYS
887:What then is the duty of the citizen? Never to consider his particular interest, never to calculate as if he were an isolated individual. ~ Epictetus, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
888:And at times, the lover's complaint is unjustified, if for example he has nothing that makes him worthy to be loved ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (In 9 Nic. Ethica lect. 1)., #KEYS
889:For thirty years I went in Search of God, and when I opened my eyes at the end of this time, I discovered that it was really He who sought me…" ~ Bayazid Bistami, (804-874), a Persian Sufi, Wikipedia., #KEYS
890:He has read everything, learned everything, practised everything, who has renounced his desires and lives without any straining of hope. ~ Hitopadesha, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
891:He whose mind is utterly purified from soil, as heaven is pure from stain and the moon from dust, him indeed I call a man of religion. ~ Buddhist Text, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
892:In the philosophy of Bertrand Russell, genius entails that an individual possesses unique qualities and talents that make the genius especially valuable to the society in which he or she operates.
~ ?,#KEYS
893:43. If God assigns to me my place in Hell, I do not know why I should aspire to Heaven. He knows best what is for my welfare.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human, Jnana,#KEYS
894:God, before He comes to the heart, sends servants to make it ready for His coming. And who are those servants? Purity, chastity, humility, loving-kindness. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
895:He alone enters the Kingdom of Heaven who is not a thief of his own thoughts. In other words, guilelessness and simple faith are the roads to that Kingdom. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
896:He who is alone uncreated is then by that very fact unrevealed and invisible, but, manifesting all things, He reveals Himself in them and by them. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
897:How can I make Sri Aurobindo's influence living and dynamic in my daily activities?
Be perfectly sincere and He will answer your call.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I,#KEYS
898:Like common men he lived to whom the ray
Of a new sun but brings another day
Unmeaning. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Khaled of the Sea,#KEYS
899:That he may vanquish hate, let the disciple live with a soul delivered from all hate and show towards all beings love and compassion. ~ Magghima Nikaya, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
900:Saying the truth does not bully anyone into accepting it. Rather, anyone is free either to accept or not to accept, as he wills ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 2-2.60.6ad1)., #KEYS
901:Then another horse went forth. It was bright red, and its rider was granted permission to take away peace from the earth and to make men slay one another. And he was given a great sword." ~ Revelation 6:4, #KEYS
902:To keep one's discrimination alert is a great austerity. He who has learned to discriminate can successfully overcome lust and greed. So, cultivate your discrimination and conscience. ~ Swami Adbhutananda, #KEYS
903:Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Ecclesiastes, I, 2, 3, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
904:Every being carries within him the Divine Inhabitant; and although no being in the whole universe is as weak as man, none is as divine as he.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
905:If man thinks only of himself and seeks everywhere his own profit, he cannot be happy. If thou wouldst really live for thyself, live for others. ~ Seneca, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
906:Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. ~ Saint Ignatius of Antioch, #KEYS
907:The man in whose vision all things are becomings of the Self and who sees in all things oneness, whence shall he have grief or delusion? ~ Isha Upanishad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
908:The superior type of man is in all the circumstances of his life exempt from prejudices and obstinacy; he regulates himself by justice alone. ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
909:He who abstains from all violence towards beings, to the weak as to the strong, who kills not and makes not to kill, he, I say, is a Brahmin. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
910:The truly religious man is he, who does not commit any sin even when he is alone, and when no man observes him, because he feels, that God sees him even then. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
911:Aspiring to godhead from insensible clay
He travels slow-footed towards the eternal day. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Man the Thinking Animal,#KEYS
912:A still deep sea, he laughs in rolling waves;
Universal, he is all,—transcendent, none. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real,#KEYS
913:Everything good or true that the angels inspire in us is God's, so God is constantly talking to us. He talks very differently, though, to one person than to another.
~ Emanuel Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven,#KEYS
914:Faith is indispensable to man, for without it he could not proceed forward in his journey through the Unknown. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Evolution of the Spiritual Man, #KEYS
915:Giving Him the power of attorney and remaining carefree, practice spiritual discipline without pretense. If you do not double-deal with God, He will assume each of your responsibilities. ~ Swami Adbhutananda, #KEYS
916:He tore desire up from its bleeding roots
And offered to the gods the vacant place. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The House of the Spirit and the New Creation,#KEYS
917:He was not far from it [creation] before, for no part of creation had ever been without him who, while ever abiding in union with the Father, yet fills all things that are. ~ Athanasius, On the Incarnation 8, #KEYS
918:Pain and suffering have come into your life, but remember pain, sorrow, suffering are but the kiss of Jesus - a sign that you have come so close to Him that He can kiss you. ~ Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, #KEYS
919:This now he willed to discover and exile,
The element in him betraying God.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The House of the Spirit and the New Creation, [T5],#KEYS
920:Beyond fugitive Time reigns in the silence the kingdom of the Permanent. O happy he who conquers here and penetrates into the country of peace! ~ Udanavarga, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
921:For then alone do we know God truly, when we believe that He is far above all that man can possibly think of God. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa contra Gentiles, I, 5, par. 3, #KEYS
922:He whose whole play of life is with the Self and in the Self has his joy and so does actions, is the best of the knowers of the Eternal. ~ Mundaka Upanishad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
923:If man surrenders totally to the Divine, he identifies himself with the Divine.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Elements of Yoga, Surrender to the Divine Will, Surrender, [T5],#KEYS
924:If the reply takes long in coming, trust that he knows and loves and that he is wisest in the choice of the time. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Bhakti Yoga and Vaishnavism, #KEYS
925:When a man's knowledge is sufficient to attain, and his virtue is not sufficient to enable him to hold, whatever he may have gained, he will lose again. ~ Confucius, Analects, 15:32, i, #KEYS
926:When God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return. The sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him. ~ Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, #KEYS
927:When God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return; the sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him. ~ Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, #KEYS
928:By a divine promise, for a period of time, Satan has been given freedom among humanity. He will ignite the fire of protest and rebellion to thwart the sanctification of the faithful." ~ Our Lady of Revelation , #KEYS
929:Faith is the unshaken stance of the soul and is unmoved by any adversity. The believing man is not one who thinks God can do all things, but one who trusts that he will obtain everything. ~ Saint John Climacus, #KEYS
930:God is not remote from us. He is at the point of my pen, my (pick) shovel, my paint brush, my (sewing) needle - and my heart and thoughts. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #KEYS
931:He sowed the desert with ruddy-hearted rose,
The sweetest voice that ever spoke in prose. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Bankim Chandra Chatterji,#KEYS
932:He who has merely heard of milk is 'ignorant'. He who has seen milk has 'knowledge'. But he who has drunk milk and been strengthened by it has attained vijnāna. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
933:If thou canst, thou mayst see Him by the eyes of the intelligence, for the Lord is not a miser of Himself; He reveals Himself in the whole universe. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
934:I saw the Son of Man, and he said to me, "Have no fear! I am the First and the Last. I was dead and now I am to live for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of the underworld." ~ Revelation 1:17-18, #KEYS
935:The Divine looks into the heart and removes the veil at the moment which he knows to be the right moment to do it. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Bhakti Yoga and Vaishnavism, #KEYS
936:The ideal reader of my novels is a lapsed Catholic and failed musician, short-sighted, color-blind, auditorily biased, who has read the books that I have read. He should also be about my age. ~ Anthony Burgess, #KEYS
937:Why do you believe in what the astrologers say? It is the belief that brings the trouble.
Sri Aurobindo says that a man becomes what he thinks he is.
~ The Mother, On Education,#KEYS
938:Many are the names of God and infinite the forms through which He may be approached. In whatever name and form you worship Him, through that you will realise Him. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
939:Our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven. He will come at the end of the world, in glory, at the last day. For there will be an end to this world, and the created world will be made new. ~ Cyril of Jerusalem, #KEYS
940:That which has helped man upward, must be preserved in order that he may not sink below the level he has attained. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Early Cultural Writings, The National Value of Art, #KEYS
941:The earth is full of adverse forces and of men who respond to these adverse forces; usually, the more one realises the Divine, the more enemies does he have around himself. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
942:A man is not a master because he despotically subjects being living at his mercy. He can be called a master who has compassion for all that lives. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
943:He has no method and every method. His system is a natural organization of the highest processes and movements of which the nature is capable.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga,#KEYS
944:He saw the labour of a godhead's birth.
A secret knowledge masked as Ignorance; ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Yoga of the King, The Yoga of the Soul's Release,#KEYS
945:He will provide the way and the means, such as you could never have imagined. Leave it all to Him, let go of yourself, lose yourself on the Cross, and you will find yourself entirely." ~ Saint Catherine of Siena, #KEYS
946:It is in the latter way that he withdraws some from the use of wine, that they may aim at perfection, even as from riches and the like ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 2-2.149.3ad3), #KEYS
947:Let not him then who cannot enter into the chamber of hidden treasure complain that he is poor and has no part in these riches. ~ J. Tauler, "Institutions." 27, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
948:Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do." ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, #KEYS
949:With relief, with humiliation, with terror, he understood that he too was a mere appearance, dreamt by another.~ Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths, Selected Stories and Other Writings, #KEYS
950:Beware of trying to accomplish anything by force, for God has given every single person free will and desires to constrain none; he merely shows them the way, invites them and counsels them. ~ Saint Angela Merici, #KEYS
951:Diogenes, filthily attired, paced across the splendid carpets in Plato's dwelling. Thus, said he, do I trample on the pride of Plato. Yes, Plato replied, but only with another kind of pride. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
952:God is cruel and not cruel. He is all being and not being at the same time. Hence He is all contradictions. Nature also is nothing but a mass of contradictions. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
953:Happy is he who nourishes himself with these good words and shuts them up in his heart. He shall always be one of the wise. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Ecclesiastes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
954:Have strength. Have courage, no matter what may come before you. Overcome all weakness by the strength of purity. Move onward boldly, having real faith in the Lord. He will always protect you. ~ SWAMI PARAMANANDA, #KEYS
955:In Christ, there is a twofold nature: one which He received of the Father from eternity, the other which He received from His Mother in time ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.35.2)., #KEYS
956:Many things are wanting to indigence, but everything is wanting to greed. A covetous man is useful to none and still less is he of any good to himself. ~ Seneca, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
957:Science is a bit like the joke about the drunk who is looking under a lamppost for a key that he has lost on the other side of the street, because that's where the light is. It has no other choice. ~ Noam Chomsky, #KEYS
958:Understand that for every rule which I have mentioned from the Quran, the Devil has one to match it, which he puts beside the proper rule to cause error. ~ Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, #KEYS
959:When tempted, invoke your Angel. He is more eager to help you than you are to be helped! Ignore the devil and do not be afraid of him: He trembles and flees at the sight of your Guardian Angel. ~ Saint John Bosco, #KEYS
960:When you really look for me, you will see me instantly— you will find me in the tiniest house of time. Kabir says: Student, tell me what is God? He is the breath inside the breath." ~ Kabir, #KEYS
961:Christ wished to be born, when the light of day begins to increase in length, to show that He came so men might ascend to the Divine Light ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.35.8ad3)., #KEYS
962:He who always thinks himself as weak will never become strong, but he who knows himself to be a lion, rushes out from the worlds meshes, as a lion from its cage. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
963:He who would save himself lives bare and calm;
He who would save the race must share its pain: ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain,#KEYS
964:Last night I begged the Wise One to tell me the secret of the world. Gently, gently, he whispered, "Be quiet, the secret cannot be spoken, it is wrapped in silence." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
965:No one can become really educated without having pursued some study in which he took no interest--for it is a part of education to learn to interest ourselves in subjects for which we have no aptitude. ~ T S Eliot, #KEYS
966:Placed on the borders of Time and Eternity...he holds himself somehow erect at the horizon of Nature...Spiritual perfection is his true destiny. ~ Giordano Bruno, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
967:Three things are necessary for the salvation of man : to know what he ought to believe, to know what he ought to desire, and to know what he ought to do.
~ Saint Thomas Aquinas,#KEYS
968:All things yield to a man and Zeus is himself his accomplice
When like a god he wills without remorse or longing. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Ilion,#KEYS
969:Always keep your mind spotless. Don't allow impure thoughts to enter it. If you find such desires tormenting you, pray to God and chant His name. He will protect you. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
970:A Veda-knower of the unwritten book
Perusing the mystic scripture of her forms,
He had caught her hierophant significances, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, Satyavan,#KEYS
971:He says you must choose, and the choice is constantly put before you and constantly you must choose, and if you do not choose, well, you will not be able to advance. ~ The Mother, 1950-1951, #KEYS
972:He who meditates well attains power to work more efficiently. He is never tired, because his energy is not mis-spent in any way; he is never annoyed nor worried, he is not attached to anything. ~ Swami Akhandananda, #KEYS
973:Indeed, the more spiritual progress a person makes, so much heavier will he frequently find the cross, because as his love increases, the pain of his exile also increases. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
974:Out of this world of signs suddenly he came
Into a silent self where world was not ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Yoga of the King, The Yoga of the Soul's Release,#KEYS
975:se man is never less alone than when he is alone." ~ Jonathan Swift, (1667-1745), an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet and cleric, became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, Wikipedia., #KEYS
976:Sometimes, when a man is already excited by violent passions, he is disturbed by mere trifles and behaves as though he were really angry ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (In I DA lect. 2)., #KEYS
977:This too the supreme Diplomat can use,
He makes our fall a means for greater rise. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Yoga of the King, The Yoga of the Soul's Release,#KEYS
978:Whoever develops all the faculties of his thinking principle, knows his own rational nature; once he knows his rational nature, he knows heaven. ~ Meng-Tse II.7.1, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
979:All creation tends toward man, all mankind tends toward Christ, and, in turn, Christ, as he has revealed himself to us, tends to unite with all mankind, and through it with the universe. ~ Louis Bouyer, Cosmos (231), #KEYS
980:GIRISH: "If a man is so strongly tied hand and foot, then what is his way?"
MASTER: "He has nothing to fear if God Himself, as the guru, cuts the chain of maya." ~ Sri Ramakrishna,#KEYS
981:He is here and there, He is everywhere, He is within us. He pervades this universe. In fact, He is immanent and resident in nature. He is intra-cosmic. He rules not from outside, but from within. ~ Swami Abhedananda, #KEYS
982:He is the Maker and the world he made,
He is the vision and he is the Seer;
He is himself the actor and the act, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge,#KEYS
983:He who learns must suffer. Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart
until, in our own despair, against our will,
comes wisdom through the awful grace of God. ~ Aeschylus,#KEYS
984:The Altar represents the solid basis of the Work, the fixed Will* of the Magician; and the law under which he works.
~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA, Book 4, Magick, Part II, The Altar,#KEYS
985:The deities have screened their dreadful power:
God hides his thought and, even, he seems to err. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real,#KEYS
986:The more a man is truthful, the more he is divine; unconquerableness, immortality, the greatness of the godhead enter into a man along with truthfulness. ~ Emerson, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
987:The One devised innumerably to be;
His oneness in invisible forms he hides,
Time's tiny temples to eternity. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Electron,#KEYS
988:The small man builds cages for everyone he knows
While the sage, who has to duck his head when the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the beautiful rowdy prisoners. ~ Hafiz,#KEYS
989:To follow Sri Aurobindo in the great adventure of his integral Yoga, one needed always to be a warrior; now that he has left us physically, one needs to be a hero. ~ The Mother, CWM, 15 : 184 #KEYS
990:Woe to those who despise devotion to Mary! ... The soul cannot live without having recourse to Mary and recommending itself to her. He falls and is lost who does not have recourse to Mary." ~ Saint Alphonsus Liguori, #KEYS
991:Believe me, the Lord is always with you. If you practice a little, He will extend His helping hand to you. It is He who is protecting us all from miseries and troubles. How unbounded is His grace! ~ Swami Brahmananda, #KEYS
992:But the higher you raise yourself, the smaller you will seem to the eyes that are envious. He who ranges on the heights is the one whom men most detest. ~ Nietzsche, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
993:Every soul from whom we can seek blessings in his lifetime may also be approached for seeking blessings after he dies." ~ Imam Ghazali رحمة الله عليه, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
994:God's will is both in worldliness and freedom. It is He, who has kept you unconscious in worldly life. And again, at His will, when He calls you, you will be liberated. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
995:He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Revelation, 9:2, #KEYS
996:If you give to a man all riches and all might and he looks upon himself with the same humility as before, then that man far surpasses other human beings. ~ Meng-tse, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
997:The entire world, from its beginning to end, is nothing more than the dream of a man, who becomes captivated by what he sees, only to awaken and find that it was nothing (fa idhā lā shayy). ~ Umar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb #KEYS
998:For man, below the god, above the brute,
Is given the calm reason as his guide;
He is not driven by an unthinking will ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Word of Fate,#KEYS
999:He's creator
Who greatly handles great material,
Calls order out of the abundant deep,
Not who invents sweet shadows out of air. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act I,#KEYS
1000:He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Revelation, 21:4, #KEYS
1001:If we shed tears for God, does He ever shed a tear for us?
Surely He has deep compassion for you, but His eyes are not of the kind that shed tears.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
1002:Who goeth into the next world undelivered from death, even as here death respecteth nothing, so in that world too shall he be its perpetual prey. ~ atapatha Brahmana, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1003:You must remember one thing. God knows our inner feeling. A man gets the fulfillment of the desire he cherishes while practicing sadhana. As one thinks, so one receives. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1004:Although in God there is no privation, still, according to the mode of our apprehension, He is known to us by way only of privation and remotion ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.11.3ad2), #KEYS
1005:He heard the inspired sound of his own thoughts
Re-echoed in the vault of other minds; ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Yoga of the King, The Yoga of the Soul's Release,#KEYS
1006:He who practises wisdom without anger or covetousness, who fulfils with fidelity his vows and lives master of himself, he is indeed a man of religion. ~ Buddhist Text, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1007:In a unique way, when the devil tells a lie, he is speaking on his own: "I will go forth and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all prophets" ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (1 Kgs 22:22), #KEYS
1008:None but God is loved in the existent things. It is He who is manifest within every beloved to the eye of every lover - and there is nothing in the existent realm that is not a lover ~ Ibn Arabi, #KEYS
1009:The reason why in his Church he made some apostles, some confessors, and others martyrs, is for the beauty and completion of the Church ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on John 6)., #KEYS
1010:There is nothing which is beyond the reach of the God-lover or denied to him; for he is the favorite of the Divine Lover and the self of the Beloved.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga,#KEYS
1011:Why think merely of your disease and ill health? Know always, and under all circumstances, 'I belong to the Lord. The Lord is my eternal treasure; He is the one Reality, the source of my well-being.' ~ SWAMI PREMANANDA, #KEYS
1012:God does not dwell only in things made by human hands, nor in homes of wood and stone, but rather he dwells principally in the soul made according to his own image and fashioned by his own hand. ~ St. Caesarius of Arles, #KEYS
1013:He props her dance upon a rigid base,
His timeless still immutability
Must standardise her creation's miracle. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Glory and Fall of Life,#KEYS
1014:Man is good when he raises very high his divine and spiritual "I", but frightful when he wishes to exalt above men his fleshly vain, ambitious and exclusive. ~ Tolstoi, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1015:Prema is the rope by which you can tether God, as it were. Whenever you want to see Him you have merely to pull the rope. Whenever you call Him, He will appear before you. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1016:The individual is not a mere cell of the collective existence; he would not cease to exist if separated or expelled from the collective mass. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Divine Life, #KEYS
1017:Then a powerful angel picked up a boulder like a great millstone, and as he hurled it into the sea, he said, 'That is how the great city of Babylon is going to be hurled down, never to be seen again." ~ Revelation 18:21, #KEYS
1018:... with the heart concentrated by yoga, viewing all things with equal regard, beholds himself in all beings and all beings in himself. In whatever way he leads his life, that one lives in God. ~ Bhagavad Gita, 6:29, 31, #KEYS
1019:A realized one sends out waves of spiritual influence in his aura, which draw many people towards him. Yet he may sit in a cave and maintain complete silence. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, [T5], #KEYS
1020:Can you not see the numerous designs made by God as signs, similitudes, or analogies of resurrection? He has placed them in every era, the alteration of day and night, even in the coming and going of clouds. ~ Said Nursi, #KEYS
1021:He who is blind revolts and he who is limited struggles:
Strife is not for the infinite; wisdom observes to accomplish. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Ilion,#KEYS
1022:He whose senses have become calm like horses perfectly tamed by a driver, who has rid himself of pride and concupiscence, the gods themselves envy his lot. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1023:Man is condemned to be free. Condemned, because he did not create himself, yet, [he] is free; because, once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. ~ Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism and Humanism, #KEYS
1024:So long as man has not thrown from him the load of worldly desire which he carries about with him, he cannot be in tranquillity and at peace with himself. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1025:410. Others boast of their love for God. My boast is that I did not love God; it was He who loved me and sought me out and forced me to belong to Him.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human,#KEYS
1026:Have courage and do not fear the assaults of the Devil. Remember this forever; it is a healthy sign if the devil shouts and roars around your conscience, since this shows that he is not inside your will. ~ Saint Padre Pio, #KEYS
1027:He saw a lone immense high-curved world-pile
Erect like a mountain-chariot of the Gods
Motionless under an inscrutable sky. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The World-Stair,#KEYS
1028:In fact, if one reads attentively what Sri Aurobindo has written, all that he has written, one would have the answer to every question.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1957-1958, [T0],#KEYS
1029:None is for any on this transient globe.
He whom thou lovest now, a stranger came
And into a far strangeness shall depart: ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Word of Fate,#KEYS
1030:Tell me what I long to hear. That You love me and he loves me. How foolish, You are he." ~ Margaret Stortz, " I am enough & other wisdom for daily living,", (1996), Last stanza of poem, "Come Whisper in My Ear," pp 57-58., #KEYS
1031:Then are the veils torn which distinguish from each other these manifestations and he will soar up from the world of the passions to the heaven of the One. ~ Balla-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1032:There is one thing you should remember. When a boy walks holding his father's hand, he may fall into the gutter; but what has he to fear if the father holds him by the hand? ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1033:The saint does good and makes not much of it. He accomplishes great things and is not attached to them. He does not wish to let his wisdom appear. ~ Lao-Tse: Tao-te-King, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1034:When we wish to enjoy Christ we should go to meet him, and not expect that he adapt himself to us; rather, we should adapt ourselves to him ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (In John 11, lect. 5)., #KEYS
1035:With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon. In all those stories where there's the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it's like, yeah, he's sure he can control the demon. Didn't work out. ~ Elon Musk, #KEYS
1036:A man shall shake off every tie; for when he has no more attachment for form and name, when he is utterly without possessions, sorrow does not run after him. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1037:He camped in the Bunker with his typewriter, his shotgun, and his overcoat. From time to time he'd slip on his coat, saunter our way, and take his place at the table we reserved for him in front of the stage. ~ Patti Smith, #KEYS
1038:He is the perfect athlete who surmounts temptations and the incline of his nature towards sin and exercises over his mind domination and empire. ~ J. Tauler. Institutions, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1039:He who labors as he prays lifts his heart to God with his hands. Whenever you begin any good work you should first of all make a most pressing appeal to Christ our Lord to bring it to perfection. ~ Saint Benedict of Nursia, #KEYS
1040:If the philosopher makes his thought substance of poetry, he ceases to be a philosophic thinker and becomes a poet-seer of Truth. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Future Poetry, Poetic Vision and the Mantra, #KEYS
1041:It is not because of God's insufficiency that He attributes powers of action to created things, but because of His most perfect fullness, which is sufficient for sharing with all beings. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, a. 10 as 16, #KEYS
1042:Man is a microcosm, or a little world, because he is an extract from all the stars and planets of the whole firmament, from the earth and the elements; and so he is their quintessence. ~ Paracelsus, #KEYS
1043:When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending. ~ Thích Nhất Hạnh, #KEYS
1044:He must pass to the other shore of falsehood's sea,
He must enter the world's dark to bring there light. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain,#KEYS
1045:The Jiva cannot really become master except in proportion as he arrives at oneness with the Divine who is his supreme Self. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Action of the Divine Shakti, #KEYS
1046:The word ἐκένωσεν (ekénōsen) is used in Philippians 2:7, [Jesus] made himself nothing ...[Phil. 2:7] (NIV) or ...[he] emptied himself...[Phil. 2:7] (NRSV), using the verb form κενόω (kenóō) to empty. ~ Def, #KEYS
1047:When he says: 'Break into shouts of joy, you who never knew a mother's pangs', he means that we should not grow weary like women in labour, but tirelessly and in all simplicity offer our prayers to God. ~ 2nd century sermon, #KEYS
1048:He is the soul of all conscious creatures, who constitutes all things in this world, those which are beyond our senses and those which fall within their range. ~ Aswaghosha, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1049:In the first work He gave me myself; in the second, Himself: and when He gave Himself, He gave me back myself. Thus given and re-given, I owe myself for myself and I owe it twice. ~ Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, De Dilegendo Deo c.3, #KEYS
1050:When the city of Jericho fell at the sound of the priests' trumpets, and Joshua the Son of Nun gained the victory, he knew that the valour of the people was weakened through love of money and desire for gold. ~ Saint Ambrose, #KEYS
1051:Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing." ~ Wernher von Braun, (1912-1977), a German, (and, later, American) aerospace engineer and space architect. He advocated a human mission to Mars, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1052:He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other. ~ Francis Bacon, #KEYS
1053:He who busies himself with the sins of others, or judges his brother on suspicion, has not yet even begun to repent or to examine himself so as to discover his own sins... ~ Maximus the Confessor, Third Century on Love no. 55, #KEYS
1054:He who has conquered the desire of the present life and of the future life, who has vanquished all fear and broken all chain, he is indeed a man of religion. ~ Buddhist Text, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1055:He who wishes for anything but Christ, does not know what he wishes; he who asks for anything but Christ, does not know what he is asking; he who works, and not for Christ, does not know what he is doing." ~ Saint Philip Neri, #KEYS
1056:The God who made all things gave himself form through Mary, and thus he made his own creation. He who could create all things from nothing would not remake his ruined creation without Mary. ~ Saint Anselm, 'Beata Virgo Maria', #KEYS
1057:A man my fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve." ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, (1809-1894), poet, physician, and essayist, father of the judge, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1058:An honest religious thinker is like a tightrope walker. He almost looks as though he were walking on nothing but air. His support is the slenderest imaginable. And yet it really is possible to walk on it. ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein, #KEYS
1059:Charity demands that a man should grieve for the offense committed against his friend, and that he should be anxious to make satisfaction to his friend ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (St 3.84.5ad2)., #KEYS
1060:He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. ~ Aeschylus, Agamemnon, l. 177, #KEYS
1061:It is indeed the tyrant who is seditious and who feeds discord and sedition among the people subject to him, so that he can more safely dominate them ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 2-2.42.2ad3)., #KEYS
1062:Let us without feet, make the holy circuit round the door of the King, For he has come intoxicated with 'Am I not I?' and broken our door." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, "Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi," Wikipedia., #KEYS
1063:Man does not see God by his own powers; but God is seen by men when it pleases him that this should be so. He decides by whom he should be seen, and when, and how for God is powerful in all things. ~ Irenaeus, Against Heresies, #KEYS
1064:Pay attention carefully. After the sin comes the shame; courage follows repentance. Did you pay attention to what I said? Satan upsets the order; he gives the courage to sin and the shame to repentance. ~ Saint John Chrystotom, #KEYS
1065:The Sufi is one that does what others do — when it is necessary. He is also one who does what others cannot do — when it is indicated." ~ Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani, (963 - 1033) one of the master Sufis of Islam, Wikipedia, #KEYS
1066:The sun can give heat and light to the whole world, but he cannot do so when the clouds shut out his rays. Similarly as long as egotism veils the heart, God cannot shine upon it. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1067:Through creation itself the Word reveals God the Creator. Through the world he reveals the Lord who made the world. Through all that is fashioned he reveals the craftsman who fashioned it all. ~ Irenaeus, Against Heresies IV.6, #KEYS
1068:A man's mind runs after bad things. If he wants to act virtuously, the mind fails to co-operate. Therefore, if one wants to achieve something noble, he must be sincerely arduous and seized with a firm resolve. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
1069:He that sees the Lord in the temple, the living body, by seeking Him within, can alone see Him, the Infinite, in the temple of the universe, having become the Endless Eye. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1070:If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen ? ~ John IV. 20, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1071:Just as someone who runs at two different times is said to run twice, so can He be said to be born twice who is born once from ETERNITY and once in TIME ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.35.2ad4)., #KEYS
1072:Non-Violence
Deem nothing vain: through many veils
This Spirit gleams.
The dreams of God are truths and He prevails. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, The Rishi,#KEYS
1073:These are they who were not defiled with women; they are virgins and these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been ransomed as the firstfruits of the human race for God and the Lamb." ~ Revelation 14:4, #KEYS
1074:Why does it take many people such a long time to realize Him? - MASTER: The truth is that a man doesn't feel restless for God unless he is finished with his enjoyments and duties. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1075:Wisdom attracts him with her luminous masks,
But never has he seen the face behind:
A giant Ignorance surrounds his lore. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Vision and the Boon,#KEYS
1076:Do not believe that this precept is beyond your power. More than anyone else, the Lord knows the true natures of created things; he knows that moderation, not a fierce defence, beats back a fierce attack. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
1077:For God, it is the most beautiful and best part of his illustriousness and his glory to be able to create, because it is precisely in that way that we know who and what he is. ~ Cyril of Alexandria, Dialogues on the Trinity 538b, #KEYS
1078:He is in truth the man of piety who is dead even in his lifetime, that is to say, whose passions and desires have been destroyed and are like a body that is dead. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1079:He made of Nothingness his living-room
And Night a process of the eternal light
And death a spur towards immortality. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Debate of Love and Death,#KEYS
1080:he man whose understanding is in union with the Spirit, casts from him both good doing and evil doing; get this union, it is the perfect skill in works. ~ Bhagavad Gita. II- 50, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1081:...if a man can be properly said to love something, it must be clear that he feels affection for it as a whole, and does not love part of it to the exclusion of the rest. ~ Plato, The Republic and Other Works, #KEYS
1082:If you will you can be healed. Hand yourself over to the doctor, and he will open the eyes of your mind and heart. Who is to be the doctor? It is God, who heals and gives life through his Word and wisdom. ~ Theophilus of Antioch, #KEYS
1083:Man is right when he believes that in all the world there is not a single being above him, but he errs when he thinks that there is on earth a single man beneath him. ~ Tolstoy, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1084:Mind is only a cloud that hides the sun of Truth. Man is, in fact, God playing the fool. When He chooses, He liberates himself." ~ Swami Ramdas, (188 -1963), an Indian saint, philosopher, philanthropist, pilgrim, Wikipedia. See:, #KEYS
1085:So we find the humility of the God-man praiseworthy in the extreme when He bore those abject things which He was called on to suffer for the salvation of men ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 4.55)., #KEYS
1086:There in the slumber of the cosmic Will
He saw the secret key of Nature's change. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The World of Falsehood, the Mother of Evil and the Sons of Darkness,#KEYS
1087:This mental being in the inner heart who has the truth and the light is the lord and sovereign of all; he who knows it, governs all this that is. ~ Brihadaranyaka Upanishad V.6, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1088:Truth is not compatible with falsity, as neither is whiteness with blackness. But God is not only true, He is truth itself. So there can be no falsity in Him ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 1.61)., #KEYS
1089:Although it was primarily to Peter that he said: Feed my sheep, yet the one Lord guides all the pastors in the discharge of their office and leads to rich and fertile pastures all those who come to the rock. ~ Saint Leo the Great, #KEYS
1090:And the Lord Jehovah said, "Behold, the man is become as one of us...and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever ~ Genesis, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1091:Heaven and Earth are only a talisman which conceals the Deity; without It they are but a vain name. Know then that the visible world and the invisible are God Himself. There is only He and all that is, is He. ~ Attar of Nishapur, #KEYS
1092:He that loveth not, Knoweth not God; for God is Love. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us. God is Love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him. ~ Yeshua (Jesus Christ), #KEYS
1093:If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Matthew, 16:24-25,#KEYS
1094:If one cannot believe in God it does not matter. I suppose he believes in himself, in his own existence. Let him find out the source from which he came. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day, 22-3-46, #KEYS
1095:It was fitting that the Giver of all holiness should enter this world by a pure and holy birth. For He it is that of old formed Adam from the virgin earth, and from Adam without help of woman formed woman. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
1096:Love Allah for the blessings by which He nourishes you, love me for the love of Allah, and love the people of my house for the love of me." ~ The Noble Messenger of Allah ﷺ, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1097:So it was more fitting for Christ to possess a knowledge acquired by discovery than by being taught, especially since He was given to be the Teacher of all ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.9.4ad1)., #KEYS
1098:Soon after the death of Rabbi Moshe, Rabbi Mendel of Kutsk asked one of his disciples, 'What was most important to your teacher?' The disciple thought and then replied, 'Whatever he happened to be doing at the moment.'" ~ Source:, #KEYS
1099:The man who knows the principles of right reason is less than the man who loves them and he less then the man who makes of them his delight and practices them ~ Confucius:Lun-yu, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1100:There is no nature to which God is visible: he is not a being who is visible by nature, but escaped or baffled the view of a frailer creature; by the nature of his being it is impossible for him to be seen. ~ Origen of Alexandria, #KEYS
1101:We should not make comparisons between the gods. When a man has really seen a divinity, he knows that all divinities are manifestations of one and the same Brahman. ~ Ramakishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1102:283. Death is sometimes a rude valet; but when he changes this robe of earth for that brighter raiment, his horseplay and impertinences can be pardoned.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human, Karma,#KEYS
1103:A sailor on the Inconscient's fathomless sea,
He voyages through a starry world of thought
On Matter's deck to a spiritual sun. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge,#KEYS
1104:At his hands he received the crown of martyrdom, being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground and his feet raised on high, asserting that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord. ~ Saint Jerome, #KEYS
1105:Control lust. Don't permit it to increase. Always pay attention so that lust does not crop up. It is an enemy that places obstacles on the path of one's sadhana. He who has conquered lust has reached the goal. ~ Swami Adbhutananda, #KEYS
1106:Happy, inert, he lies beneath her feet:
His breast he offers for her cosmic dance
Of which our lives are the quivering theatre, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge,#KEYS
1107:He alone knows the law of life. Whoever does not seek out clearly what is the true good, cannot correct himself with sincerity and does not arrive at true perfection. ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1108:He breaks you, to build you. Deprives you, to give you. This pain in your heart was created to make you yearn less for this life and to yearn more for Jannah. ~ Yasmin Mogahed, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1109:he sovereign good has its abode in the soul; when that is upright, attentive to its duties, shut in upon itself, it has nothing to desire, it enjoys a perfect happiness. ~ Seneca, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1110:Man cannot teach by his own power. One cannot conquer ignorance without the power of God. He who teaches men gets his power from God. None but a man of renunciation can teach others. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1111:St. John Chrysostom is held in such esteem by the Greeks in his explanations that they admit no other where he expounded anything in Holy Scripture ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on John 1)., #KEYS
1112:The omniscient Ray is shut behind his lids:
He is the Wisdom that comes not by thought, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Eternal Day, The Soul's Choice and the Supreme Consummation,#KEYS
1113:Whatever may be a householder's profession, it is necessary for him to live in the company of holy men now and then. If a man loves God, he will himself seek the company of holy men. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1114:When Christ came, he banished the devil from our hearts, in order to build in them a temple for himself. Let us therefore do what we can with his help, so that our evil deeds will not deface that temple. ~ Saint Caesarius of Arles, #KEYS
1115:As those who have lived long made one in love
Need word nor sign for heart's reply to heart,
He met and communed without bar of speech ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The World-Soul,#KEYS
1116:He [Francis Bacon] was a devoutly religious man and was convinced that he would rather believe all the fables of antiquity than deny that the vast fabric of creation is without a mind. ~ Manly P Hall, The Bible, the Story of a Book, #KEYS
1117:If someone wants to study the deeds of our ancestors and imitate the best of them, he can find a single psalm that contains the whole of their history, a complete treasury of past memories in just one short reading. ~ Saint Ambrose, #KEYS
1118:Man knows himself only insofar as he knows the world, becoming aware of it only within himself, and of himself only within it. Each new subject, well observed, opens up within us a new organ of thought. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
1119:The Immanent lives in man as in his house;
He has made the universe his pastime's field,
A vast gymnasium of his works of might. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge,#KEYS
1120:The resolution of every duality is nameless… For no non-duality can be a thing or an object." ~ Terence James Stannus Gray, (1895 - 1986), under the pen name "Wei Wu Wei", he published eight books on Taoist philosophy, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1121:The Son is that day to whom the day, which is the Father, communicates the mystery of his divinity. He is the day who says through the mouth of Solomon: "I have caused an unfailing light to rise in heaven." ~ Saint Maximus of Turin, #KEYS
1122:An omnipotent indiscernible Influence,
He sits, unfelt by the form in which he lives
And veils his knowledge by the groping mind. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge,#KEYS
1123:By virtue alone man cannot attain to the highest, but by virtue he can develop a first capacity for attaining to it, adhikāra. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, The Synthesis of Devotion and Knowledge, #KEYS
1124:God split himself into a myriad parts that he might have friends. This may not be true, but it sounds good, and is no sillier than any other theology.
~ Robert Heinlein, Notebooks of Lazarus Long, from Time Enough for Love (1973).,#KEYS
1125:He from whom men are born spiritually reborn is God, but men are spiritually reborn through the Holy Spirit. . . . So the Holy Spirit is God ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on John 3, lect. 5)., #KEYS
1126:If every man dared speak frankly and highly what he thinks, he would abide always in the reality. How unhappy we make ourselves by striving to hide our nature. ~ Antoine the Healer, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1127:So long as a man has a little knowledge, he goes everywhere reading and preaching; but when the perfect knowledge has been attained, one ceases from vain ostentation. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1128:The computer programmer is a creator of universes for which he alone is responsible. Universes of virtually unlimited complexity can be created in the form of computer programs.
~ Joseph Weizenbaum, Computer Power and Human Reason,#KEYS
1129:The secret Self in all existences does not manifest Himself to the vision: yet is He seen by the seers of the subtle by a subtle and perfect understanding. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Kena and Other Upanishads, 3:12, #KEYS
1130:The soul fills the body and is contained because it is circumscribable. God fills the world but is not enclosed by the world, because being present everywhere He can nowhere be enclosed. ~ Hugh of Saint Victor, De Tribus Diebus 19.9, #KEYS
1131:Under the pressure of his own need, man can change. He can wipe out the past if he wants to badly enough; but most persons not only do not want to, but do not realize that they can. ~ Manly P Hall, (The Sins of the Father 1967, p.8), #KEYS
1132:We must be satisfied with what the Divine gives us, and do what He wants us to do without weakness, free from useless ambition.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Surrender to the Divine Will, Surrender,#KEYS
1133:with a radish." ~ Kobayashi Issa, (1763 - 1828) Japanese poet and lay Buddhist priest, known for his haiku poems and journals. He is better known as simply Issa, a pen name meaning Cup-of-Tea, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1134:In whatever form and with whatever spirit we approach him, in that form and with that spirit he receives the sacrifice. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Yoga of Divine Works, The Sacrifice, [T5], #KEYS
1135:It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways. Even if a man has no natural ability he can be a warrior by sticking assiduously to both divisions of the Way. ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #KEYS
1136:The birthday of the Lord is the birthday of peace: for thus says the Apostle, "He is our peace, who made both one"; because whether we are Jew or Gentile, "through Him we have access in one Spirit to the Father." ~ Pope Leo the Great, #KEYS
1137:A certain pride, a certain awe, withheld him from offering to God even one prayer at night, though he knew it was in God's power to take away his life while he slept and hurl his soul hellward ere he could beg for mercy. ~ James Joyce, #KEYS
1138:Be content with wherever and in whatever situation He places you. The goal is to call upon Him and to attain to Him. If you call upon Him, He will lead you by the hand. You will have no fear if you can depend on Him. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
1139:Christ tells us that if we are to join him, we shall travel the way he took. It is surely not right that the Son of God should go his way on the path of shame while the sons of men walk the way of worldly honor. ~ Saint John of Ávila, #KEYS
1140:For even he who is most greedy for knowledge can achieve no greater perfection than to be thoroughly aware of his own ignorance in his particular field. The more be known, the more aware he will be of his ignorance. ~ Nicholas of Cusa, #KEYS
1141:For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you." ~ Walt Whitman, (1819 - 1892) American poet, essayist, and journalist.He was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1142:'He went away sad, for he had many possessions.' This is the sadness that leads to death. The cause of his sadness is also recorded, that he had many possessions. There are the thorns and thistles that choked the Lord's seed. ~ Jerome, #KEYS
1143:He who aspires to the true and eternal glory cares nothing for the glory of the age. He who is indifferent to praise or blame enjoys a great serenity of spirit. ~ Imitation of Christ, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1144:He whose transcendence rules the pregnant Vasts,
Prescient now dwells in our subliminal depths,
A luminous individual Power, alone. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge,#KEYS
1145:It is quite natural that man forgets God. Therefore whenever the need arises, God Himself incarnates on earth and shows the path by Himself practicing Sadhana. This time He has also shown the example of renunciation. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
1146:Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God. It lauds God for his own sake and gives him glory, quite beyond what he does, but simply because He Is. ~ Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2639, #KEYS
1147:The holy scripture needs no explanation. He who speaks truth, is full of eternal life, his written word seems wonderfully akin to the mysteries, for it is a chord taken from the symphony of the universe. ~ Novalis, The Novices of Sais, #KEYS
1148:The Jnani looks forward eagerly to the time when he can throw off the body, just as a labourer carrying a heavy load looks forward to reaching his destination and laying it down. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1149:Whatever name he gives to this Power or whether he gives it a name or not, it is Isha, the Lord, whose presence he must feel around every object and movement in the Universe. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Isha Upanishad, #KEYS
1150:Bow down and adore where others bend the knee; for where so great a number of men pay the tribute of their adoration, the Impersonal must needs manifest Himself, for He is all compassion. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1151:God is immaterial, and for this reason transcends every conception. Since He is invisible He can have no form. But from what we observe in His work we may conclude that He is eternal, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. ~ Beethoven, #KEYS
1152:God is very merciful to those whom He sees struggling heart and soul for spiritual realization. But remain idle, without any struggle, and you will see that His grace will never come. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
1153:He tells us that night is almost over, not that it is about to fall. By this we are meant to understand that the coming of Christ's light puts Satan's darkness to flight, leaving no place for any shadow of sin. ~ Saint Maximus of Turin, #KEYS
1154:He who does not live in the way of his beliefs starts to believe in the way he lives." ~ The Leader of the Believers, the Noble Companion Umar bin Al-Khattab رضي الله عنه, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1155:He, who wishes to meditate on the Lord after all his problems are solved, is like the fool, who wishes to bathe in the sea after the waves have subsided". That moment will never come. The sea will always have waves. ~ Swami Saradananda, #KEYS
1156:He wishes to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world. I promise salvation to those who embrace it; and these souls will be beloved of God like flowers arranged by me to adorn His throne." ~ Our Lady Fatima (June 13,1917), #KEYS
1157:If a man knows himself, he shall know God." ~ Clement of Alexandria, (c. 150 - c. 215), Christian theologian. A convert to Christianity, he was an educated man who was familiar with classical Greek philosophy and literature, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1158:If efforts were a must, it would mean that the discovery of the Real depends on the efforts of the individual. The Supreme would not be the Supreme if He were subject to anything at all. He and He alone is at all times. ~ Anandamayi Ma, #KEYS
1159:If you love your Bridegroom, you must observe His death, must picture in your mind His humility, and must press solidly to your intellect as on a coin the virtues which He bore in the flesh after the manner of man. ~ Leander of Seville, #KEYS
1160:Since human nature is known to us only as subject to these bodily frailties, if the Son of God had assumed human nature without them, he would not seem truly human ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.14.1)., #KEYS
1161:We can take birth-pangs as meaning anxiety felt over them, that they should be born in Christ; or again, that he is suffering because he sees them surrounded by dangers. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
1162:When life had stopped its beats, death broke not in;
He dared to live when breath and thought were still.
Thus could he step into that magic place ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, 1:5,#KEYS
1163:He is king who knows you, whatever you wear.
Cry out without a sound and he will hear.
Who doesn't speak to peddle self with words?
Who knows the truth in silence, him I serve. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi,#KEYS
1164:He who believes himself to be far advanced in the spiritual life has not made a good beginning." ~ Jean-Pierre Camus de Pontcarré, (1584 - 1652) was a French bishop, preacher, and author of works of fiction and spirituality, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1165:In the Church and in every department of human life, whoever wishes to seem what he is not is a hypocrite: for he pretends to be just without being so in reality ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 2-2.111.2)., #KEYS
1166:That man is a true man whose mind dwells on God. He alone is a man whose spiritual consciousness has been awakened and who is firmly convinced that God alone is real and all else illusory. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1167:The advance each individual can make corresponds to the excellence he has been able to acquire, and he can only approach his goal by virtue of his self-preparation. ~ Attar of Nishapur, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1168:The Master disliked a happy-go-lucky attitude. He used to say of Swamiji (Swami Vivekananda): "See what a heroic temperament he has! As soon as he sets his mind on something, he applies himself heart and soul to it." ~ Swami Turiyananda, #KEYS
1169:When his mind shall be enfranchised from human things, then shall he enter into the city of marvellous wisdom which ever renews itself and grows in beauty from age to age. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1170:As the perfect man speaks so he acts; as he acts, so the perfect man speaks. It is because he speaks as he acts and acts as he speaks that he is called the perfect. ~ Buddhist Scripture, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1171:Do not be afraid to throw yourself on the Lord! He will not draw back and let you fall! Put your worries aside and throw yourself on him; He will welcome you and heal you. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
1172:He who is only an athlete is too crude, too vulgar, too much a savage. He who is a scholar only is too soft, to effeminate. The ideal citizen is the scholar athlete, the man of thought and the man of action.
~ Plato,#KEYS
1173:Hid in our hearts is his glory; the Spirit works in our members.
Silence is he, with our voices he speaks, in our thoughts he remembers. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Ahana,#KEYS
1174:In creating all animals, God made certain forms in which he shows his strength. He does this in the whale, so that this fish senses the iniquities of the devil and sends out his breath against him…. ~ Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Physica, #KEYS
1175:It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. ~ Bertrand Russell, #KEYS
1176:Last night I begged the Wise One to tell me the secret of the world. Gently, gently, he whispered, "Be quiet, the secret cannot be spoken, It is wrapped in silence. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1177:Let everyone hold what opinion he will until that Light shall come which makes of the light of the false philosophers a darkness and converts the darkness of those who truly know into light. ~ John Scottus Eriugena, Periphyseon 5 (1022c), #KEYS
1178:Man cannot seize or hold at once all that the illumination brings to him; it has to be repeated constantly so that he may grow in the light. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, The Ashwins, Lords of Bliss, #KEYS
1179:Man is a hero so long as he struggles. But to conquer one's passions is no joke. Man can only do it by finding something that gives him greater pleasure. Man must give up everything to God, then alone he thrives. ~ Swami Ramakrishnananda, #KEYS
1180:Taking pity on mankind's weakness, and moved by our corruption, he could not stand aside and see death have the mastery over us; he did not want creation to perish and his Father's work in fashioning man to be in vain. ~ Saint Athanasius, #KEYS
1181:The seeker of the True One (mighty and glorified is He) does not wish for His Paradise and does not fear His Fire, but only wishes to see His face. ~ Shaykh Sayyid Abdul Qadir Jilani, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1182:Though man is infinitely greater than the plant or the animal, he is not perfect in his own nature like the plant and the animal. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The Necessity of the Spiritual Transformation, #KEYS
1183:We men are conceived twice: to the human body we owe our first conception, to the divine Spirit, our second. John says: "To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God." ~ Didymus of Alexandria, #KEYS
1184:What boundless love for men! Christ's undefiled hands were pierced by the nails; he suffered the pain. I experience no pain, no anguish, yet by the share that I have in his sufferings he freely grants me salvation. ~ Jerusalem Catecheses, #KEYS
1185:Do not be discouraged, but continue to practice meditation. You will soon succeed in freeing your mind from distractions. He who keeps his mind God, finds His grace, and through His grace becomes absorbed in meditation. ~ SWAMI PREMANANDA, #KEYS
1186:He is the wise man who, having once taken up his resolve, acts and does not cease from the labour, who does not lose uselessly his days and who knows how to govern himself. ~ Mahabharata, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1187:If a man loves, he will know the sound of this voice. For this warm affection of soul is a loud voice crying in the ears of God, and it says: My God, my love, You are all mine and I am all Yours. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
1188:If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone.
~ Epictetus,#KEYS
1189:Liberation is liberation from the idea of liberation. There is no one to be bound, no one to be free." ~ Terence James Stannus Gray, (1895 - 1986), under the pen name "Wei Wu Wei", he published eight books on Taoist philosophy, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1190:The Master is both within and without, so he creates conditions to drive you inwards and at the same time prepares the interior to drag you to the Centre. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Path of Self-Knowledge, 14, #KEYS
1191:There is nothing which is beyond the reach of the God-lover or denied to him; for he is the favourite of the divine Lover and the self of the Beloved. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Mystery of Love, #KEYS
1192:We are part of his fruit, which grew out of his most blessed Passion. And thus, by his resurrection, he raised a standard to rally his saints and faithful forever, whether Jews or Gentiles, in one body of his Church. ~ Ignatius of Antioch, #KEYS
1193:A man cannot see God unless he gives his whole mind to Him. The mind is wasted on 'lust and greed'. As long as there is bhoga, there will be less of yoga. Furthermore, bhoga begets suffering. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1194:Even God himself obeys the Laws he made:
The Law abides and never can it change,
The Person is a bubble on Time's sea. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real,#KEYS
1195:He shore the cord of mind that ties the earth-heart
And cast away the yoke of Matter's law. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Yoga of the King, The Yoga of the Spirit's Freedom and Greatness,#KEYS
1196:He who contemplates the supreme Truth, contemplates the perfect Essence; only the vision of the spirit can see this nature of ineffable perfection. ~ Buddhist Mediations from the Japanese, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1197:One is there only, apart in his greatness, the End and Beginning,—
He who has sent through his soul's wide spaces the universe spinning. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Ahana,#KEYS
1198:The captain had answered the man of God, "If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?" And he had said, "You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it." ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 2 Kings, 7:19, #KEYS
1199:The superior man perseveres in the middle path. Even though he remains unknown and the world esteems him not, he feels no regret. The sage alone is capable of such an action. ~ Tsang-Yung, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1200:As long as a human being worries about when he will die, and what he has that is his, all of his works are zero. When affection for the I-creature and what it owns is dead, then the work of the Teacher is over." ~ Kabir, #KEYS
1201:Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. ~ Archbishop of Milan and a cardinal. Together with St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Philip Neri, he fought bravely for the reform of the Catholic Church. ~ Saint Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), #KEYS
1202:By means we slight as small, obscure or base,
A greatness founded upon little things,
He has built a world in the unknowing Void. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Debate of Love and Death,#KEYS
1203:His Mercy is so great that he hinders no one from drinking from the fountain of life. Indeed, he calls us loudly to do so (Jn 7:37). But he is so good that he will not force us to drink of it. ~ Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection ch. 20, #KEYS
1204:How can he belong in peace who troubles himself with foreign cares, who seeks to diffuse himself into the outward and withdraws little or rarely into himself? ~ Imitation of Christ I. 11.7, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1205:Intense, one-pointed, monumental, lone,
Patient he sat like an incarnate hope
Motionless on a pedestal of prayer. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The House of the Spirit and the New Creation,#KEYS
1206:Psychotherapy is what God has been secretly doing for centuries by other names; that is, he searches through our personal history and heals what needs to be healed - the wounds of childhood or our own self-inflicted wounds. ~ Thomas Keating, #KEYS
1207:The more arduously one practices spiritual disciplines, the more quickly one will attain to God. Even if he doesn't practice any spiritual disciplines he will attain to Him at the last moment of his life-he will certainly. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
1208:The whole world is one. The knower in the stone and the knower in myself are one; I am He. It is God in me, God in the stone. The knowledge in me and the knowledge in the stone are one; I am that. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #KEYS
1209:This heart remains undeserving of the True One (mighty and glorified is He) as long as it contains an atom of this world and longing for any creature. ~ Shaykh Sayyid Abdul Qadir Jilani, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1210:When by a constant practice a man is capable of effecting mental concentration, then wherever he may be, his mind will always lift itself above his surroundings and will repose in the Eternal. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1211:Whence this creation came into being, whether He established it or did not establish it, He who regards it from above in the supreme ether, He knows,-or perhaps He knows it not. ~ Rig Veda, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1212:Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others.~ Fyodor Dostoevsky, #KEYS
1213:Fourthly, the way of the artisan. The way of the carpenter is to become proficient in the use of his tools, first to lay his plans with true measure and then perform his work according to plan. Thus he passes through life. ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #KEYS
1214:If there is any perjured person or a thief among you, let him cease to be so; if any adulterer, let him repent; then he has kept the sweet and true sabbaths of God. If any one has impure hands, let him wash and be pure. ~ Saint Justin Martyr, #KEYS
1215:Ignorant and stumbling, in brief boundaries pent,
He crowns himself the world's mock suzerain,
Tormenting Nature with the works of Mind. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, Towards the Black Void,#KEYS
1216:Not on the tramp of the multitudes, not on the cry of the legions
Founds the strong man his strength but the god that he carries within him. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Ilion,#KEYS
1217:Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, James, 4:7-8, #KEYS
1218:And this the reason of his high unease,
Because he came from the infinities
To build immortally with mortal things; ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, In the Moonlight,#KEYS
1219:In material things we see first, and then we taste. But in spiritual things we taste first so that we can see, because no one knows who does not taste. And thus he says first taste, and then see. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, In Psalmos 33:9 (34:8), #KEYS
1220:It is always well for a man to get experience for himself, when he will not take the benefit of superior experience. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest, To Motilal Roy, #KEYS
1221:Man finds happiness only in serving his neighbour. And he finds it there because, rendering service to his neighbours, he is in communion with the divine spirit that lives in them. ~ Tolstoi, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1222:The disciple has rejected indolence and indolence conquers him not; loving the light, intelligent, clearly conscient, he purifies his heart of all laxness and all lassitude. ~ Buddhist Texts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1223:The poet really creates out of himself and not out of what he sees outwardly: that outward seeing only serves to excite the inner vision to its work. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Future Poetry, Poetic Vision and the Mantra, #KEYS
1224:Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, Two Precepts of Charity (1273), #KEYS
1225:What a weakness it is to love Jesus only when he caresses us, and to be cold immediately once he afflicts us. This is not true love. Those who love thus love themselves too much to love God with all their heart. ~ Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, #KEYS
1226:When his thought and feeling are perfectly under regulation and stand firm in his Self, then, unmoved to longing by any desire, he is said to be in union with the Self. ~ Bhagavad Gita VI.18, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1227:At hazard he read by arrow-leaps of Thought
That hit the mark by guess or luminous chance, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, 02.06,#KEYS
1228:Be very sure that a 'Great Tribulation' will occur in the world, from which the demon Lucifer will be incited against the Church; never since he was bound in hell has such anger been released." ~ The Lord to St. Margaret of Cortona (1247-1297), #KEYS
1229:Easy is the love that lasts
Only with favours in the shopman heart!
Who, smitten, takes and gives the kiss, he loves. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, The Meditations of Mandavya,#KEYS
1230:His knowledge he disguised as Ignorance,
His Good he sowed in Evil's monstrous bed,
Made error a door by which Truth could enter in. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Debate of Love and Death,#KEYS
1231:Let all thoughts, all feelings, all actions, all hopes be turned towards the Divine and concentrated on Him. He is our only help and our only safety.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Divine Is with You, [T1],#KEYS
1232:Nothing profits the world as much as the abandoning of profits. A man who no longer thinks in terms of loss and gain is truly the non-violent man, for he is beyond all conflict. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
1233:The cause moving to the Incarnation of the Word could be none other than the unmeasured love of God for man whose nature He wished to couple with Himself in unity of person ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 4.46)., #KEYS
1234:The fiction writer presents mystery through manners, grace through nature, but when he finishes there always has to be left over that sense of Mystery which cannot be accounted for by any human formula. ~ Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners, #KEYS
1235:The whole universe is sum up in the Human Being. Devil is not a monster waiting to trap us, He is a voice inside. Look for Your Devil in Yourself, not in the Others. Don't forget that the one who knows his Devil, knows his God. ~ Shams Tabrizi, #KEYS
1236:To completely trust in Allah is to be like a child who knows deeply that even if he does not call for the mother, the mother is totally aware of his condition and is looking after him. ~ Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, #KEYS
1237:When we have all the true delight of his being, then heaven is within ourselves, and wherever he is and we are, there we have the joy of his kingdom. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Delight of the Divine, #KEYS
1238:Whoever thinks himself an imperfect and worldly soul, is really an imperfect and worldly soul; whoever deems himself divine, becomes divine. What a man thinks he is, he becomes. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1239:All would change if man could once consent to be spiritualised; but his nature mental and vital and physical is rebellious to the higher law. He loves his imperfections. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays In Philosophy And Yoga, #KEYS
1240:God sports in the world as man. He incarnates Himself as man -- as in the case of Krishna, Rama, and Chaitanya. One needs spiritual practice in order to know God and recognize Divine Incarnations. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1241:He declares that the deserted wife shall have more children than she who has a husband, because faith has now made our people who seemed to have been deserted by God more numerous than those who were thought to possess him. ~ 2nd century sermon, #KEYS
1242:When God is realized, He Himself provides everything for His devotees. He sees that they do not lack anything. When God is enshrined in the heart, many people come forward to offer their services. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1243:When the thought of a man is without attachment, when he has conquered himself and is rid of desire, by that renunciation he reaches a supreme perfection of quietude. ~ Bhagavad Gita XVIII. 49, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1244:When they tell of one who is born a king, Herod is disturbed. To save his kingdom he resolves to kill him, though if he would have faith in the child, he himself would reign in peace in this life and for ever in the life to come. ~ Quodvultdeus, #KEYS
1245:Worldly people think highly of their wealth. They feel that there is nothing like it. But does God care for money? He wants from His devotees knowledge, devotion, discrimination, and renunciation. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1246:And we have been taught, and are convinced, and believe, that he accepts only those who imitate his own excellences—temperance, justice, philanthropy, and all the virtues unique to the God who is called by no proper name. ~ Saint Justin Martyr, #KEYS
1247:He who Is grows manifest in the years
And the slow Godhead shut within the cell
Climbs from the plasm to immortality. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Greater Mind,#KEYS
1248:He who makes rich is made poor; he takes on the poverty of my flesh, that I may gain the riches of his divinity. He who is full is made empty; he is emptied for a brief space of his glory, that I may share in his fullness. ~ Gregory of Nazianzen, #KEYS
1249:The head cannot be separated from the members, nor the members from the head. Not in this life, it is true, but only in eternity will God be all in all, yet even now he dwells, whole and undivided, in his temple the Church. ~ Saint Leo the Great, #KEYS
1250:When our sense of 'I' and 'mine' are about to destroy us, we are saved by following the Satguru's advice. He gives us the training needed to avoid such circumstances later. The very proximity of the Guru gives us strength. ~ MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI, #KEYS
1251:A man needs a supernatural light in order to penetrate further, so that he might have cognition of certain things that he is unable to have cognition of by the natural light ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 2-2.8.1)., #KEYS
1252:A man's face shines out more than the rest of his body and it is by the face that we perceive strangers and recognise our friends. How much more, then, is the face of God able to bring illumination to whoever he looks at! ~ Saint Ambrose of Milan, #KEYS
1253:Every one of us tries to discover how to sing to God. You must sing to him, but you must sing well. He does not want your voice to come harshly to his ears, so sing well, brothers! ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
1254:He am I whom I love, He whom I love is I, Two Spirits in one single body dwelling. So seest thou me, then seest thou Him, And seest thou Him, then seest thou Us." ~ Al- Hallaj, (c. 858 - 922) Persian mystic, poet and teacher of Sufism, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1255:He who knows the Truth, the Knowledge, the Infinity that is Brahman shall enjoy with the all-wise Brahman all objects of desire. - Taittiriya Upanishad (II. 1.) ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Problem of Life 220, #KEYS
1256:He who seeks God with a longing heart can see Him, talk to Him as I am talking to you. Believe my words when I say that God can be seen. But ah! To whom am I saying these words? Who will believe me? ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1257:I beg you to understand this one fact - no good comes out of the man who day and night thinks he is nobody. If a man, day and night, thinks he is miserable, low, and nothing, nothing he becomes. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
1258:In his revelation, God performs a symphony, and it is impossible to say which is richer: the seamless genius of his composition or the polyphonous orchestra of Creation that he has prepared to play it. ~ Hans Urs von Balthasar, Truth is Symphonic, #KEYS
1259:Let that be considered a valid Eucharist, which is under the bishop or one whom he has delegated. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, just as wherever Christ Jesus may be, there is the Catholic Church. ~ Ignatius of Antioch, #KEYS
1260:One who during his contemplation is entirely inconscient of all external things to such a point that if birds made a nest in his hair he would not know it, has acquired the perfection of meditation. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1261:The animal is satisfied with a modicum of necessity; the gods are content with their splendours. But man cannot rest permanently until he reaches some highest good. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Man in the Universe, #KEYS
1262:Truth is one; only It is called by different names. All people are seeking the same Truth; the variance is due to climate, temperament, and name. There is only one Rāma and He has a thousand names. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1263:We, too, by the Eternal Might are led
To whatsoever goal He wills.
Our helm He grasps, our generous sail outspread
His strong breath fills. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, To R.,#KEYS
1264:He insisted on the cleverness of the snake so that deadly wounds might be avoided, and he insisted on the innocence of the dove so that revenge might not be taken on those who injure or lay traps for you. ~ Cleverness is useless without innocence., #KEYS
1265:Nor should he forget the aim of these external aids which is to awaken his soul to the Divine within him. Nothing has been finally accomplished if that has not been accomplished.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga,#KEYS
1266:... the Divine will come... without your seeing Him... and He will arrange all the circumstances in such a way that everything that prevents you from belonging to the Divine will be removed from your path...
~ The Mother,#KEYS
1267:The individual, standing alone, cannot develop; he depends on the support and assistance of the group to which he belongs. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - I, Shall India be Free? - National Development and Foreign Rule, #KEYS
1268:... the more one needs God the more perfect he is. To need God is nothing to be ashamed of but is perfection itself. It is the saddest thing in the world if a human being goes through life without discovering that he needs God! ~ Soren Kierkegaard, #KEYS
1269:Who then among you is generous, who is compassionate, who is filled with love? He should speak out as follows: If I have been the cause of sedition, conflict and schisms, then I shall depart; I shall go away wherever you wish. ~ Pope St. Clement I, #KEYS
1270:0:He whose self has become all existences, for he has the knowledge, how shall he be deluded, whence shall he have grief, he who sees everywhere oneness? Isha Upanishad.1 ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Divine Soul, #KEYS
1271:At the close of the great Night...He whom the spirit alone can perceive, who escapes from the organs of sense, who is without visible parts, Eternal, the soul of all existences, whom none can comprehend, outspread His own splendours. ~ Laws of Manu, #KEYS
1272:Everybody is different. Some comedy is more musical like Steven Wright. His is a pillar of comedy to me. He invented a whole form and all his jokes are poems. So it's different. I wanted to do it like George Carlin. Now I do it like me. ~ Louis C K, #KEYS
1273:He who goes from this world without knowing that Imperishable is poor in soul, but he who goes from this world having known that Imperishable, he is the sage. ~ Brihadaranyaka Upanishad III. 8. 10, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1274:He who would bring the heavens here
Must descend himself into clay
And the burden of earthly nature bear
And tread the dolorous way. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, A God's Labour,#KEYS
1275:I know that our nature asks and seeks for its friends and daily companions; it cannot but be grieved. As also Christ showed, for He wept over Lazarus. So do thou; weep, but gently, but with decency, but with the fear of God. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
1276:In essence, humans need more knowledge than eating and drinking because in a day a person only needs to eat once or twice, while knowledge is needed in every breath he takes." ~ Imam Abu Hanifa, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1277:It is well known that when a man repents the errors of his ways, he is likely to develop an overdose of virtue that will lead to extremes and incline him to become fanatical in his living and thinking. ~ Manly P Hall, (Journey in Truth, 1945 p.153), #KEYS
1278:The good man, though a slave, is free; the wicked, though he reigns, is a slave, and not the slave of a single man, but- what is worse - the slave of as many masters as he has vices. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
1279:When man has known beyond this world the Being who is hidden according to the form in every creature, the Lord who contains in himself all things, then he becomes immortal. ~ wetaswatara Upanishad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1280:An imprisoned person with no other book than the Tarot, if he knew how to use it, could in a few years acquire Universal Knowledge Gnosis, and would be able to speak on all subjects with unequaled learning and inexhaustible eloquence. ~ Eliphas Levi, #KEYS
1281:Climb not to Godhead by the Titan's road.
Against the Law he pits his single will,
Across its way he throws his pride of might. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain,#KEYS
1282:He stood compelled to a tremendous choice.
All he had been and all towards which he grew
Must now be left behind or else transform
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Pursuit of the Unknowable, [T5],#KEYS
1283:He whose thought spills not itself to this side or' that, whose mind is not tormented, who is not anxious any more about good than about evil, for him there is no fear, for he watches. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1284:It is the soul that has its door, it is the soul that has its gates. To that door Christ comes and knocks, he knocks at the door. Open to him, therefore: he wishes to come in, the Bridegroom wishes to find you keeping watch. ~ Saint Ambrose of Milan, #KEYS
1285:The demon of acedia—also known as the noonday demon is the one that causes the most serious trouble of all. He presses his attack upon the monk about the fourth hour and besieges the soul until the eighth hour ~ Evagrius of Pontus, Praktikos 12) ., #KEYS
1286:The Israelites could not look on the face of Moses in glory, though he was their fellow servant and kinsman. But you have seen the face of Christ in his glory. Paul cried out: We see the glory of the Lord with faces unveiled. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
1287:The Lord displays His glory before chosen witnesses, and invests that bodily shape which He shared with others with such splendour, that His face was like the sun's brightness and His garments equalled the whiteness of snow. ~ Pope St. Leo the Great, #KEYS
1288:The present difficulty is that man thinks he is the doer. But it is a mistake. It is the higher power which does everything and man is only a tool. If he accepts that position he is free from troubles, otherwise he courts them. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1289:The Spirit is the source of holiness, a spiritual light, and he offers his own light to every mind to help it in its search for truth. By nature the Spirit is beyond the reach of our mind, but we can know him by his goodness. ~ Saint Basil the Great, #KEYS
1290:He has not assumed a body as proper to His own nature, far from it, for as the Word He is without body. He has been manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father, for the salvation of us men. ~ Athanasius, #KEYS
1291:He (The Great Monarch) shall reign over the entire ancient Roman Empire … . At the end of his most glorious reign, he shall go to Jerusalem, and shall lay down his Crown and Sceptre on the Mount of Olives…" ~ Saint Remy of Rheims, (c. 438-533 AD), #KEYS
1292:If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. ~ John Stuart Mill, #KEYS
1293:No man is fit to enjoy heaven unless he has resigned himself to suffer hardship for Christ. (Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more helpful for you on this earth than to suffer willingly for Christ. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
1294:The person who truly wishes to be healed is he who does not refuse treatment. This treatment consists of the pain and distress brought on by various misfortunes. He who refuses them does not realize what they accomplish in this world. ~ Saint Maximus, #KEYS
1295:The realised being does not see the world as being apart from the Self, he possesses true knowledge and the internal happiness of being perfect, whereas the other person sees the world apart, feels imperfection and is miserable. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1296:Vice is contrary to man's nature, in as much as he is a rational animal: and when a thing acts contrary to its nature, that which is natural to it is corrupted little by little ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 2-2.34.5)., #KEYS
1297:What a weakness it is to love Jesus Christ only when He Caresses us, and to be cold immediately once He afflicts us. This is not true love. Those who love thus, love themselves too much to love God with all their heart. ~ Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, #KEYS
1298:Who is it that loves and who that suffers? The individual suffers because he perceives duality. It is duality which causes all sorrow and grief. Find the One everywhere and in everything and there will be an end to pain and suffering. ~ Anandamayi Ma, #KEYS
1299:Christ is risen! He has burst open the gates of hell and let the dead go free; he has renewed the earth through the members of his Church now born again in baptism, and has made it blossom afresh with men brought back to life. ~ Saint Maximus of Turin, #KEYS
1300:Even scrubbing the floor may be turned into worship if there is the remembrance of the Lord within. Done sacra mentally, every work is an offering to the Lord. He accepts it as He accepts a flower placed at the altar with devotion. ~ Swami Saradananda, #KEYS
1301:He did not hide Himself in a corner of the Temple, as if afraid, or take shelter behind a wall or pillar; but by His heavenly power making Himself invisible to those who were threatening Him, He passed through the midst of them. ~ Theophylact of Ohrid, #KEYS
1302:His fires of grandeur burn in the great sun,
He glides through heaven shimmering in the moon;
He is beauty carolling in the fields of sound; ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Debate of Love and Death,#KEYS
1303:If a man sin after receiving the grace of the New Testament, he deserves greater punishment, as being ungrateful for greater benefits, and as not using the help given to him ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1-2.106.2ad2)., #KEYS
1304:If a person possesses sincere yearning for the Lord and is eager to follow the spiritual path, he is sure to find a real Guru through the grace of the Lord. Therefore a spiritual aspirant need not feel anxious about finding a Guru. ~ SWAMI BRAHMANANDA, #KEYS
1305:If God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to be worshipped." ~ Evelyn Underhill, (1875 -1941) English Anglo-Catholic author of numerous works on religion and spiritual practice, in particular Christian mysticism, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1306:Important truths are learned only in silence." ~ Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, (1743-1803), French philosopher, he was an influential of the mystic and human mind evolution and became the inspiration for the founding of the Martinist Order, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1307:Nicodemus did not yet have true faith in the resurrection because he brought myrrh and aloes, thinking that the body of Christ would soon corrupt without them ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on John 19, lect. 6)., #KEYS
1308:The idea of a person in loving God, is only with a view to being happy himself. He is, however, the embodiment of happiness and that happiness is God. Who else is to be loved? Love itself is God. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1309:The Self will draw unto itself an aspirant only when he becomes introverted. So long as he is extroverted, Self-Realisation is impossible. Many people try to define the Self instead of attempting to know the Self and abide in It. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1310:The Self will draw unto itself an aspirant only when he becomes introverted. So long as he is extroverted, Self-Realization is impossible. Many people try to define the Self instead of attempting to know the Self and abide in It. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1311:The true believer practices what he believes. But of those who pay only lip service to faith, Paul has this to say: They profess to know God, but they deny him in their works. Therefore James says: Faith without works is dead. ~ Pope Gregory the Great, #KEYS
1312:What a weakness it is to love Jesus Christ only when He Caresses us, and to be cold immediately once He afflicts us. This is not true love. Those who love thus, love themselves too much to love God with all their heart." ~ Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, #KEYS
1313:Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to his flesh, shall reap corruption: but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. ~ Galatians VI. 7. 8, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1314:You are the apostles of this second evangelization. Preach to all peoples that Jesus Christ is the one and only Lord, your Savior and Redeemer, and that He is now about to return to you in the splendor of his glory." ~ Our Lady to Father Stefano Gobbi, #KEYS
1315:Jesus Christ must be loved alone with a special love for He alone, of all friends, is good and faithful. For Him and in Him you must love friends and foes alike, and pray to Him that all may know and love Him. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
1316:Let that be considered a valid Eucharist, which is under the bishop or one whom he has delegated. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, just as wherever Christ Jesus may be, there is the Catholic Church. ~ Saint Ignatius of Antioch, #KEYS
1317:Many are the names of God and infinite are the forms through which He may be approached. In whatever name and form you worship Him, through them you will realise Him.
~ Sri Ramakrishna, Sayings of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa,#KEYS
1318:Thus seeing the supreme Spirit equally in all beings and all beings in the supreme Spirit, he, offering his soul in sacrifice, identifies himself with the Being who shines in his own splendour. ~ Manu, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1319:Even the feeling of having understood is likely to lead one into a sense of illusion, because the individual thinks he has found something to impart to others, but there is no individual. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
1320:Every judgement of conscience, be it right or wrong, be it about things evil in themselves or morally indifferent, is obligatory, in such wise that he who acts against his conscience always sins. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, #KEYS
1321:God by His Word has created the whole world, and to all the world he has given laws in which each different thing should exist, and according to what is determined by God should not pass their bounds, each fulfilling its appointed task. ~ Saint Irenaeus, #KEYS
1322:His will be done! He is omnipotent! What power has man? All that you can do is to love God. Have intense yearning for Him. The whole world is mad for something; why run mad after fleeting objects of this world? Better be mad for God. ~ SWAMI BRAHMANANDA, #KEYS
1323:The pilgim should never be discouraged; though he should struggle for a hundred thousand years without success to behold the beauty of the Beloved, still he should not give way to despair. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1324:The Prince, travelling through his domains, noticed a man in the cheering crowd who bore a striking resemblance to himself. He beckoned him over and asked: Was your mother ever employed in my palace? ... No, Sire, the man replied. But my father was. ~ ?, #KEYS
1325:Bow down and adore where others bend the knee; for where so great a number of men pay the tri bute of their adoration, the Impersonal must needs manifest Himself, for He is all compassion. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1326:He is a stranger to the magical arts and divination and necromancy, to exorcisms and other analogous practices. He takes no part in the accomplishment of any prayer or religious ceremony. ~ Digha Nikaya, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1327:He tastes the honey of tears and puts off joy
Repenting, and has laughter and has wrath,
And both are a broken music of the soul ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Gospel of Death and Vanity of the Ideal,#KEYS
1328:He who watches over his body, his speech, his whole self, who is full of serenity and joy, possesses a spirit unified and finds satisfaction in solitude, he is in-deed a man of religion. ~ Buddhist Text, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1329:In this life no one can fulfill his longing, nor can any creature satisfy man's desire. Only God satisfies, he infinitely exceeds all other pleasures. That is why man can rest in nothing but God." ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, #KEYS
1330:Moses, the lawgiver himself, who, when he descended from Mount Sinai, almost before the tables of the law had been put forward, in which it was written, Thou shall not kill, ordered the killing of three thousand people in a single moment. ~ Saint Optatus, #KEYS
1331:No saint was so sublimely rapt and enlightened as not to be tempted before and after. He, indeed, is not worthy of the sublime contemplation of God who has not been tried by some tribulation for the sake of God. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
1332:The knowledge of the divine nature is the sole truth and this truth cannot he discovered, nor even its shadow, in this world full of lies, of changing appearances. and of errors. ~ Hermes: On Initiation, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1333:The present difficulty is that man thinks that he is the doer. But it is a mistake. It is the Higher Power which does everything and man is only a tool. If he accepts that position he is free from troubles; otherwise he courts them. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1334:When I say that I have initiated someone, I mean that I have revealed myself to this person, without words, and that he was capable of seeing, feeling and knowing What I am. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I, Role As Guide [T4], #KEYS
1335:Death was not part of nature; it became part of nature. God did not decree death from the beginning; he prescribed it as a remedy…. Without the assistance of grace, immortality is more of a burden than a blessing. ~ Saint Ambrose On the Death of Satyrus, #KEYS
1336:For God appears the greater to every man in proportion as he has grasped a larger survey of the creatures: and when his heart is lifted up by that larger survey, he gains withal a greater conception of God. ~ Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures IX.2, #KEYS
1337:If faith and incredulity offered themselves together to him, he would receive them with an equal willingness, let them but open to him the door through which he must pass to his goal. ~ Attar of Nishapur, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1338:Let your heart burn away with yearning for God! Feel that life is not worth living without Him! Then He will reveal Himself! As the poor man longs for wealth, as the lustful man longs for a woman, so must the devotee long for the Lord. ~ Swami Turiyananda, #KEYS
1339:The beasts are mortal, but they do not know or fully understand that fact; the gods are immortal, and they know it - but poor man, up from beasts and not yet a god, was that unhappy mixture: he was mortal, and he knew it. ~ Ken Wilber, Up From Eden, p. x., #KEYS
1340:When worldly thoughts crop up in your mind, and they possess it, then you should go away from the company of others and pray to Him with tears in your eyes. He will remove all the dross of your mind, and will also give you understanding. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
1341:Dewdrop, let me cleanse In your brief Sweet water These dark hands of life." ~ Matsuo Basho, (1644-1694), during his lifetime, today, and after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest master of haiku, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1342:Each person has his own freedom of choice up to a certain point—unless he makes the full surrender—and as he uses the freedom, has to take the spiritual or other consequences. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Surrender, #KEYS
1343:Everywhere something hinders me from meeting God in my brother because he has shut the doors of his inmost temple and recites the fables of his brother's god or the god of his brother's brother. ~ Emerson, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1344:He who has found his identity with God
Pays with the body's death his soul's vast light.
His knowledge immortal triumphs by his death. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain,#KEYS
1345:If one hears an ill word from one's neighbor, and, though he could reply in kind, yet fights in his heart to endure the toil and forces himself not to reply ill so as to sadden the other, such a man lays down his life for his friend. ~ Paschasius of Dumium, #KEYS
1346:Practise with all thy strength love for that being who is the One in order that it may be made manifest to thy sight that He is one and alone and there is no other God than He. ~ Ahmed Halif "Mystic Odes", the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1347:The Eternal suffers in a human form,
He has signed salvation's testament with his blood:
He has opened the doors of his undying peace. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain,#KEYS
1348:God's power and essence are infinite, and He is a universal cause of all things; and so He touches all things by His power, and He exists not just in more than one place, but everywhere ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.52.2)., #KEYS
1349:He saw our many errors and the damnation that awaited us, and knowing that apart from him we had no hope of salvation, he pitied us, and in his mercy saved us. He called us when we were not his people and willed us to become his people. ~ 2nd century sermon, #KEYS
1350:If you want to ask your Guru anything regarding your Sadhana, you must do so in private. I have seen in the case of Sri Ramakrishna how He would take each disciple alone and give him in private the special instructions necessary for him. ~ SWAMI BRAHMANANDA, #KEYS
1351:Rejoice and fear not for the waves that swell,
The storms that thunder, winds that sweep;
Always our Captain holds the rudder well,
He does not sleep. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, To R.,#KEYS
1352:Whoever gives himself up to rational meditations, finds very soon the joy in all that is good. He sees that riches and beauty are impermanent and wisdom the most precious of jewels. ~ Fo-shu-hing-tsan-king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1353:Worldly joys lose their flavour when one gets a taste of Bliss Divine. All objects of enjoyment appear to be not only insignificant but positively bitter. Offer yourself, heart and soul, to the Lord and let Him do with you as He pleases. ~ SWAMI BRAHMANANDA, #KEYS
1354:He [the Divine] wants that you first find yourself; that with your true being, your psychic being, you master and govern the lower being, and then you will quite naturally take your proper place in the great Divine Work. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
1355:He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, #KEYS
1356:It is customary, even in Sacred Scripture, to say that God hardens someone or blinds someone in the sense that God does not bestow the grace on him by which he may be softened and see ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (On Job ch. 7)., #KEYS
1357:The author of an atrocious undertaking ought to imagine that he has already accomplished it, ought to impose upon himself a future as irrevocable as the past.~ Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths, Selected Stories and Other Writings, #KEYS
1358:The self is the master of the self, what other master of it canst thou have? The wise man who has made himself the master of himself, has broken his chains, he has rent the ties of his bondage. ~ Udanavarga, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1359:When by a constant practice a man is capable of effecting mental concentration, then wherever he may be, his mind will always lift itself above his surroundings and will repose in the Eternal. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1360:Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure." ~ 1 John 3:2-3, #KEYS
1361:He too is a machine amid machines;
A piston brain pumps out the shapes of thought,
A beating heart cuts out emotion's modes;
An insentient energy fabricates a soul. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Issue,#KEYS
1362:Man worships the ungrasped. His vagrant thought
Still busy with the illimitable void
Lives all the time by little things upbuoyed
Which he contemns ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Euphrosyne,#KEYS
1363:The sinking of a ship is attributed to the sailor as the cause since he does not do what is required to save the ship. By contrast, God does not fail to do what is necessary for salvation ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.49.2)., #KEYS
1364:When Christ descended into hell He freed those who were detained there for the sin of our first parent, but left behind those who were being punished for their own sins ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Compendium of Theology 2.235)., #KEYS
1365:A warrior considers himself already dead, so there is nothing to lose. The worst has already happened to him, therefore he's clear and calm; judging him by his acts or by his words, one would never suspect that he has witnessed everything.
~ Carlos Castaneda,#KEYS
1366:But in the end he must take his station, or better still, if he can, always and from the beginning he must live in his own soul beyond the limitations of the word that he uses.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Four Aids,#KEYS
1367:Go, Daniel," he said, "because the words are to be kept secret and sealed until the end time. Many shall be refined, purified, and tested, but the wicked shall prove wicked; the wicked shall have no understanding, but those with insight shall. ~ Daniel 12:9-10, #KEYS
1368:If someone fails to be angry at the things he should, he does not grieve for them and so does not feel they are evil. This pertains to a lack of wisdom ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on Nicomachean Ethics 4, lecture 13)., #KEYS
1369:It is the Blessed One, the sole Being, thou sayest, who dwells in every soul: whence then come the misery and sorrow to which he is condemned by his presence in the heart of the soul of man? ~ Bhagavat Purana, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1370:The Good Shepherd came in search of the straying sheep to the mountains and hills on which you used to offer sacrifice. When he found it, he took it on the shoulders that bore the wood of the cross, and led it back to the life of heaven. ~ Gregory of Nazianzen, #KEYS
1371:The magnetic needle always points to the north, and hence it is that sailing vessel does not lose her direction. So long as the heart of man is directed towards God, he cannot be lost in the ocean of worldliness. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1372:The man who is sincere and careful to do nothing to others that he would not have done to him, is not far from the Law. What he does not desire to be done to him, let him not himself do to others. ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1373:Tolerance is only the first step towards wisdom.
The need to tolerate indicates the presence of preferences.
He whose consciousness is one with the Supreme Consciousness meets all things with a perfect equanimity. ~ The Mother,#KEYS
1374:When a man is intoxicated with ecstatic love of God, then who is his father or mother or wife? His love of God is so intense that he becomes mad with it. Then he has no duty to perform. He is free from all debts. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1375:He who has love for other people has God in his heart. To serve God's children is to serve God." ~ Ching Hai, (b. 1950) Vietnamese author, entrepreneur, and teacher of the Quan Yin Method of meditation. Her followers refer to her as "Supreme Master," Wikipedia., #KEYS
1376:The opinion of the Supreme Lord alone has importance. The Supreme Lord alone deserves all our love and He returns it to us a hundredfold.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Man's relationship with the Divine, The Divine Is with You,#KEYS
1377:To think that this world is the aim and end of life is brutal and degenerating. Any man who starts in life with that idea degenerates himself He will never rise higher, he will always be a slave to the senses. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
1378:he intelligence uncovers its light to the souls it governs and battles against their tendencies, even as a good physician uses fire and steel to combat the maladies of the body and recall it to health. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1379:His form stands not within the vision of any, none seeth Him with the eye. By the heart and the thought and the mind He is experienced; who seize this with the knowledge, they become immortal. ~ Katha Upanishad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1380:It is desire that causes sorrow; but the will to realize God is itself felicity. Be certain that He will cleanse and comfort you and take you into His arms. Sorrow comes in order to lead you to happiness. At all times hold Him in remembrance. ~ SRI ANANDAMAYI MA, #KEYS
1381:It is not by books that Sri Aurobindo ought to be studied but by subjects - what he has said on the Divine, on Unity, on religion, on evolution, on education, on self-perfection, on supermind, etc., etc.
~ The Mother, On Education, 205,#KEYS
1382:The greatest Guru is your inner self. Truly, he is the supreme teacher. He alone can take you to your goal and he alone meets you at the end of the road. Confide in him and you need no outer Guru. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
1383:When the holy Abba Anthony lived in the desert he was beset by acedia. Attacked by many sinful thoughts, he said to God 'Lord, I want to be saved but these thoughts do not leave me alone; what shall I do in my affliction? How can I be saved?' ~ Anthony the Great, #KEYS
1384:When we celebrate the feast in our own day, what path are we to take? As we draw near to this feast, who is to be our guide? Beloved, it must be none other than the one whom you will address with me as our Lord Jesus Christ. He says: "I am the way." ~ Athanasius, #KEYS
1385:Yet is the opposite truth also wholly true that if thou canst see all God in a little pale unsightly and scentless flower, not God entirely; he who knows Krishna only, knows not even Krishna.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human,#KEYS
1386:And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 John, 5:14-15, #KEYS
1387:He sees in all things strangely fashioned here
The unwelcome jest of a deceiving Force,
A parable of Maya and her might. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, 02.05,#KEYS
1388:If he could leave his limits he would be safe:
He sees but cannot mount to his greater heavens;
Even winged, he sinks back to his native soil. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real,#KEYS
1389:I saw a child carrying a light. I asked him where he had brought it from. He put it our, and said: 'Now you tell me where it has gone.'" ~ Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, (642 - 728) early Muslim preacher, ascetic, theologian, exegete, scholar, judge, and mystic, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1390:One should know a little of everything. If a man starts a grocery-shop, he keeps all kinds of articles there, including a little lentil and tamarind. An expert musician knows how to play a little on all instruments. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1391:The aspirant to the true knowledge, if he does not halt in his progress after acquiring certain extraordinary and supernatural powers, becomes in the end rich in the eternal knowledge of the truth. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1392:There is not much virtue in going down the slope; all can do that for the natural gravitation of the consciousness is downward. He is the hero who resists the temptation to let himself slip, even for a moment, even to the extent of a hairs breadth.
~ M P Pandit,#KEYS
1393:The Spirit is the source of holiness, a spiritual light, and he offers his own light to every mind to help it in its search for truth. By nature the Spirit is beyond the reach of our mind, but we can know him by his goodness. ~ Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit, #KEYS
1394:The Word who became all things for us is close to us, our Lord Jesus Christ who promises to remain with us always. He cries out, saying: "See, I am with you all the days of this age." He is himself the shepherd, the high priest, the way and the door. ~ Athanasius, #KEYS
1395:We are not conscious. If we are not conscious we cannot have unity, cannot have individuality, cannot have an Ego or 'I'. All these things are invented by man to keep the illusion of consciousness. Man can be conscious, but at present he is not. ~ Peter Ouspensky, #KEYS
1396:Beloved, let us give thanks to God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit, because in his great love for us he took pity on us, and when we were dead in our sins he brought us to life with Christ, so that in him we might be a new creation. ~ Leo the Great, #KEYS
1397:Ego sum ostium. Per me si quis introierit, salvabitur: et ingredietur, et egredietur, et pascua inveniet."
(I am the dooR By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures.) ~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 10:9,#KEYS
1398:Having a body capable of suffering, he took the pain of fallen man upon himself; he triumphed over the diseases of soul and body that were its cause, and by his Spirit, which was incapable of dying, he dealt man's destroyer, death, a fatal blow. ~ Melito of Sardis, #KEYS
1399:If a man gathers his whole, mind and fixes it on Me, then, indeed, he achieves everything. "But what am I? It is all He. I am the machine and He is its Operator. It is God alone who exists in this [meaning his body]. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1400:One who during his contemplation is entirely inconscient of all external things to such a point that if birds made a nest in his hair he would not know it, has acquired the perfection of meditation. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1401:Our Lord does not come down from Heaven every day to lie in a golden ciborium. He comes to find another heaven which is infinitely dearer to him - the heaven of our souls, created in His Image, the living temples of the Adorable Trinity. ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #KEYS
1402:The Divine is free and not bound by laws of any making, but still he acts by laws and processes because they are the expression of the truth of things. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Brahman, Purusha, Ishwara - Maya, Prakriti, Shakti, #KEYS
1403:Yet God is loving and kind and omnipotent, and so he gives the sight of God, the greatest gift of all, to those who love him. Even this was foretold by the prophets: For those things that are impossible with men, are possible with God. ~ Irenaeus, Against Heresies, #KEYS
1404:e who punishes not, kills not, permits not to be killed, who is full of love among those who are full of hate, full of sweetness among those who are full of cruelty, he is indeed a man of religion. ~ Buddhist Text, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1405:He, who is a devotee of God, must have an understanding, that cannot be shaken under any conditions. He must be like the anvil in a blacksmith's shop. It is constantly being struck by the hammer; still it is unshaken. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1406:I chant the name of Hari. How can I be a sinner? He who constantly repeats: 'I am a sinner! I am a wretch!' verily becomes a sinner. What lack of faith! A man chants the name of God so much, and still he talks of sin! ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1407:The traveller in this valley may seem to be seated in the dust, but in truth he sits upon spiritual heights receiving the eternal favours, drinking the exquisite wine of the spirit. ~ Baha-ullah: The Seven Valleys, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1408:Whosoever suffers for justice's sake, provided that he be in a state of grace, merits his salvation thereby, according to Mt. 5:10: "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice's sake" ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.48.1)., #KEYS
1409:You who have been redeemed, consider who it is who hangs on the cross for you, whose death gives life to the dead, whose passing is mourned by heaven and earth, while even the hard stones are split. Consider how great he is; consider what he is. ~ Saint Bonaventure, #KEYS
1410:A man attains everything when he discovers his true Self in himself. The object of sādhanā is to realize that. That also is the purpose of assuming a human body. The body may be given up after the realization of God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1411:Be always ready to receive the Divine, for He may visit you at any moment. And if sometimes He makes you wait at the appointed meeting-place, that is certainly no reason for you yourself to be late.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, 42,#KEYS
1412:Be pure. Then you will be able to understand everything. Pray to Him. Crave for the strength to develop purity. Everything will happen by His grace. Unless He bestows the power, no one can become pure. Purity, purity, purity—chant this mantra. ~ Swami Adbhutananda, #KEYS
1413:Insatiate seeker, he has all to learn:
He has exhausted now life's surface acts,
His being's hidden realms remain to explore. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, 02.04#KEYS
1414:Names and forms are nothing but the manifestations of the power of Prakriti. Whatever names and forms you see are nothing but the manifestations of the power of ChitŚakti. Everything is the power of ChitŚakti-even meditation and he who meditates. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1415:Once man has lost the fundamental orientation which unifies his existence, he breaks down into a multiplicity of his desires, in refusing to await the time of promise, his life story disintegrates into a myriad of unconnected instants. ~ Pope Francis, Lumen Fidei 13, #KEYS
1416:Spirit is the image of the Lord of the Yoga; mind and body are the means He has provided for reproducing that image in phenomenal existence.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Conditions of the Synthesis, The Threefold Life, 29,#KEYS
1417:The true disciple rejects enervation and idleness; he is delivered from caieless lassitude. Loving the light, intelligent and clear of vision he purifies his heart of all carelessness and idleness. ~ Majjhima Sntta, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1418:We know that there are three comings of the Lord. The third lies between the other two. It is invisible... In the first, Christ was our redemption; in the last, he will appear as our life; in this middle coming, he is our rest and consolation. ~ Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, #KEYS
1419:Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine [his mind], man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave." ~ George Gurdjieff, (c. 1870 - 1949) mystic, philosopher, spiritual teacher, Wikipedia, #KEYS
1420:7. He in whom it is the Self-Being that has become all existences that are Becomings, for he has the perfect knowledge, how shall he be deluded, whence shall he have grief who sees everywhere oneness?
~ Sri Aurobindo, Isha Upanishad, [7],#KEYS
1421:As an apparent entity, man does not live his life but is being lived, like a puppet on strings. All his attempts to "live his life", are nothing more than reactions to impulses, engendered by psycho-physical conditions, over which he has no control. ~ Ramesh Balsekar, #KEYS
1422:He, who meditates well, attains power to work more efficiently. He is never tired, because his energy is not mis-spent in any way: he is never annoyed nor worried, he is not attached to anything. Always be calm, go on working without any fatigue. ~ Swami Akhandananda, #KEYS
1423:He will go from doubt to certitude, from the night of error to the light of the Guidance; he will see with the eye of knowledge and begin to converse in secret with the Well-beloved. ~ Baha-ullah : The Seven Valleys, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1424:Hewn, quartered on the scaffold as he falls,
His crucified voice proclaims, 'I, I am God;'
'Yes, all is God,' peals back Heaven's deathless call. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain,#KEYS
1425:Simple in himself, the Spirit is manifold in his mighty works. The whole of his being is present to each individual; the whole of his being is present everywhere. Though shared in by many, he remains unchanged; his self-giving is no loss to himself. ~ Basil the Great, #KEYS
1426:So Daniel, when he was required to worship the idol Bel, which the people and the king then worshipped, in asserting the honor of his God, broke forth with full faith and freedom, saying, "I worship nothing but the Lord my God" ~ Dn 14:5). ~ Saint Cyprian of Carthage, #KEYS
1427:Whoever applies himself intelligently to profound meditation, soon finds joy in what is good; he becomes conscious that beauty and riches are transient things and wisdom the fairest ornament. ~ Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1428:Why should you be helpless? Does not the Master guide you through good and bad? Why should you be so worried? I have deposited you at His holy feet. You will have to move about within that circle; you can't go beyond it. He is always protecting you. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
1429:A man said to Rabia al-Adawiyya, "I have committed many sins and acts of disobedience. If I decide to turn to Allah - would He turn to me?"
She answered: “No. Only if He were to turn to you, then you would be able to turn to Him." ~ al-Risala al-Qushayriyya#KEYS
1430:God did not make evil, nor is He at all in any way the author of evil; but whatever failed to keep the law, which He in all justice ordained, after being made by Him with the faculty of free-will, for the purpose of guarding and keeping it, is called evil. ~ Methodius, #KEYS
1431:He suffered for the sake of those who suffer, he was bound for those in bonds, buried for those who lie in the grave; but he rose from the dead, and cried aloud: Who will contend with me? I have freed the condemned, brought the dead back to life.... ~ Melito of Sardis, #KEYS
1432:In those days Christ was present to the Israelites as he followed them, but he is present to us in a much deeper sense. The Lord was with them because of the favor he showed to Moses; now he is with us, but not simply because of your obedience. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
1433:Let me assure you that a man can realize his Inner Self through sincere prayer. But to the extent that he has the desire to 'enjoy worldly objects,his vision of the Self becomes obstructed. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1434:The Spirit raises our hearts to heaven, guides the steps of the weak, and brings to perfection those who are making progress. He enlightens those who have been cleansed from every stain of sin and makes them spiritual by communion with himself. ~ Saint Basil the Great, #KEYS
1435:The way to rest is through toil, the way to life is through death. Christ has taken on himself the whole weakness of our lowly human nature. If then we are steadfast in our faith in him and in our love for him, we win the victory that he has won. ~ Saint Leo the Great, #KEYS
1436:Thinking-mind
There throned on concentration's native seat
He opens that third mysterious eye in man,
The Unseen's eye that looks at the unseen, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real,#KEYS
1437:Whoever knows essentially his own nature, can know also that of other men and can penetrate into the nature of things. He can collaborate in the transformations and in the progress of heaven and of earth. ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1438:Whosoever has come to know himself, has come to the perfect good; but he who by an error of love has set his love on the body, remains lost in darkness and subjected by his senses to the conditions of death. ~ Hennes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1439:All here is dreamed or doubtfully exists,
But who the dreamer is and whence he looks
Is still unknown or only a shadowy guess. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, 02.05,#KEYS
1440:It would even have been better for him never to have learnt the way of holiness, than to know it and afterwards desert the holy rule that was entrusted to him. What he has done is exactly as the proverb rightly says: 'The dog goes back to his own vomit.' ~ 2 Peter 2:22, #KEYS
1441:One must pray to God without any selfish desire. But selfish worship, if practiced with perseverance, is gradually turned into selfless worship. Dhruva practiced tapasya to obtain his kingdom, but at last he realized God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1442:The Word of the Father, which is a certain concept of His intellect, is the splendor and wisdom by which He knows Himself. That is why the Apostle calls the Son, the splendor of glory ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on Hebrews 1)., #KEYS
1443:After having abandoned every kind of pious practice, directing his mind towards the sole object of his thoughts, the contemplation of the divine Being, free from all desire...he attains the supreme goal. ~ Laws of Mann, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1444:A man has certain debts to pay: his debts to the gods and rishis, and his debts to mother, father, and wife. He cannot achieve anything without paying the debt he owes to his parents. A man is indebted to his wife as well. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1445:A man who does the lower work is not, for that reason only, a lower man than he who does the higher works; a man should not be judged by the nature of his duties, but by the manner in which he does them. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. V. 239), #KEYS
1446:A mutual debt binds man to the Supreme:
His nature we must put on as he put ours;
We are sons of God and must be even as he:
His human portion, we must grow divine. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge,#KEYS
1447:Because of us he was deprived of his glory for a little while, the glory that was his as the Father's only-begotten Son, but through the cross this glory is seen to have been restored to him in a certain way in the body that he had assumed. ~ Saint Anastasius of Antioch, #KEYS
1448:He is in me, round me, facing everywhere.
Self-walled in ego to exclude His right,
I stand upon its boundaries and stare
Into the frontiers of the Infinite. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Omnipresence,#KEYS
1449:I have never met a man so religious and devout that he has not experienced at some time a withdrawal of grace and felt a lessening of fervor. No saint was so sublimely rapt and enlightened as not to be tempted before and after. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
1450:Paul says, when Christ who is our life appears, because he is the Author of our life, and because our life consists in knowing and loving him: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Gal 2:20)., #KEYS
1451:Remember what the Lord taught when he said, 'Do not judge, that you may not be judged; forgive and you will be forgiven; be merciful and you will receive mercy. For whatever you measure out to other people will be measured out to you also.' ~ Polycarp to the Philippians, #KEYS
1452:The light of God which illumines an Angel enlightens him, and sets him on fire with love, for he is a spirit already prepared for the infusion of that light; but man, being impure and weak, is ordinarily enlightened in darkness, in distress and pain. ~ John of the Cross, #KEYS
1453:... He (Jesus) showed me all that He Himself had endured for her, what efficacy He had bestowed upon the merits and labors of the martyrs and He ended by saying that He would endure it all over again if it were possible for Him again to suffer." ~ Venerable Anna Emmerich, #KEYS
1454:How can that which is invisible reveal itself in the night? By the fact that He gives the soul some sense of His presence, even while He eludes her clear apprehension, concealed as He is by the invisibility of His nature. ~ Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On the Song of Songs XI, #KEYS
1455:The Eternal is bound neither by quality nor absence of quality, neither by Personality nor by Impersonality; He is Himself, beyond all our positive and all our negative definitions. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Modes of the Self, #KEYS
1456:The greatest error of a man is to think that he is weak by nature, evil by nature. Every man is divine and strong in his real nature. What are weak and evil are his habits, his desires and thoughts, but not himself. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1457:The pure shall not die, but he who leads not the spiritual life dies without ceasing. The wise man knows this difference and takes pleasure in purity and spirituality; it is his joy to live like the saints. ~ Udanavarga, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1458:These holy servants of God shall purify the earth with the deaths of innumerable wicked men. The head and captain of these holy servants of God shall be one of your posterity, and he shall be the great reformer of the Church of God." ~ Saint Francis of Paola, (1416-1507), #KEYS
1459:The true believer [mu'min] is not concerned about his sustenance, because of the strength of his faith [iman] and his trusting reliance [ittikal] on his Lord (Almighty and Glorious is He). ~ Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1460:When a man who has carried out a great work is destroyed, it is for the egoism by which he has misused the force within that the force itself breaks him to pieces. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, The Greatness of the Individual, #KEYS
1461:Whoever prefers to all else his reason, does not enact tragedy, does not bewail himself, seeks neither solitude nor the crowd, but, greatest of all goods, he shall live without desire and without fear. ~ Marcus Aurelius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1462:A man can reach God if he follows one path rightly. Then he can learn about all the other paths. A devotee can know everything when God's grace descends on him. If you but realize Him, you will be able to know all about Him. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1463:As the Father speaks Himself and every creature by His begotten Word, inasmuch as the Word "begotten" adequately represents the Father and every creature; so He loves Himself and every creature by the Holy Spirt.... ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I q 37 a 2 ad 3, #KEYS
1464:Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man." ~ Rabindranath Tagore, (1861 - 1941), a polymath, poet, musician, and artist from the Indian subcontinent. he became in 1913 the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1465:I am not forbidding you to make such gifts; I am only demanding that along with such gifts and before them you give alms. ~ He accepts the former, but he is much more pleased with the latter. In the former, only the giver profits; in the latter, the recipient does too. /6, #KEYS
1466:Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return. ~ Saint Bernard, #KEYS
1467:On the Lord's Day . . . gather together, break bread and offer the Eucharist, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure. Let no one who has a quarrel with his neighbor join you until he is reconciled, lest our sacrifice be defiled ~ Didache)., #KEYS
1468:The Buddha taught for forty-five years. He is said to have said that all of his teachings could be encapsulated in one sentence… "Nothing is to be clung to as 'I,' 'me,' or 'mine.'" ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn, (b. 1944), Wikipedia. Quote from "Mindfulness for Beginners,", (2016)., #KEYS
1469:The Lord showed me, so that I did see clearly, that he did not dwell in these temples which men had commanded and set up, but in people's hearts … his people were his temple, and he dwelt in them." ~ George Fox, (1624 - 1691) English Dissenter, a founder of the Quakers., #KEYS
1470:The thought of God is the movement of the universe: never at any time can there perish a being, that is to say, a portion of God, for God contains all beings; nothing is outside him and he is outside of nothing. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1471:After long practice one who is master of himself can dispense with diverse aids to concentration...and he will be able to make himself master of any result whatsoever simply by desiring it. ~ Patanjali : Aphroisms.III. 34, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1472:He came to heal the broken hearted: to afford a remedy to those that have their heart broken by Satan through sin, because beyond all other things sin lays prostrate human hearts ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Catena Aurea, Gospel of St. Luke)., #KEYS
1473:He endured every kind of suffering in all those who foreshadowed him. In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, in Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonored in the prophets. ~ Melito of Sardis, #KEYS
1474:He who has made the Buddha his refuge
Cannot be killed by ten million demons;
Though he transgress his vows or be tormented in mind,
It is certain that he will go beyond rebirth.
~ Patrul Rinpoche, The Words of My Perfect Teacher, Sutra of the Heart of the Sun,#KEYS
1475:He who leads the life of a householder should devote fifteen parts of his mind to God; otherwise he will face ruin and fall into the clutches of Death. He should perform the duties of the world with only one part of his mind. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1476:Simple in himself, the Spirit is manifold in his mighty works. The whole of his being is present to each individual; the whole of his being is present everywhere. Though shared in by many, he remains unchanged; his self giving is no loss to himself. ~ Saint Basil the Great, #KEYS
1477:'Son of man, I have appointed you as watchman to the house of Israel.' ~ Note that Ezekiel, whom the Lord sent to preach his word, is described as a watchman. Now a watchman always takes up his position on the heights so that he can see from a distance whatever approaches., #KEYS
1478:There is a truth to know, a work to do;
Her play is real; a Mystery he fulfils:
There is a plan in the Mother's deep world-whim,
A purpose in her vast and random game. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge,#KEYS
1479:8. Here proclaim which is he, O Fire, what demon-sorcerer, who is the doer of this deed? To him do violence with thy blaze, O youthful god, subject him to the eye of thy divine vision. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Hymns To The Mystic Fire, 2 - Other Hymns, #KEYS
1480:Be deaf to any talk that ignores Jesus Christ, of David's lineage, of Mary, he was truly born, ate, and drank. He was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate. He was truly crucified and died in the sight of heaven and earth and of the powers of the hell. ~ Ignatius of Antioch, #KEYS
1481:Do not confuse peace of mind with a spaced-out insensitivity. A truly peaceful mind is very sensitive, very aware." ~ Tenzin Gyatso, (b. 1935), 14th Dalai Lama. During the 1959 Tibetan uprising, the Dalai Lama fled to India, where he currently lives as a refugee, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1482:For the Word, who created the universe and established the law, is concealed in His manifestation, being invisible according to nature; and He is manifested through concealment, assuring those who are wise that by nature He cannot be apprehended. ~ Maximus, Amb. 10.18.1129C, #KEYS
1483:God did not make evil, nor is He at all in any way the author of evil; but whatever failed to keep the law, which He in all justice ordained, after being made by Him with the faculty of free-will, for the purpose of guarding and keeping it, is called evil. ~ Saint Methodius, #KEYS
1484:God is, or He is not. But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separated us. A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up. What will you wager? ~ Blaise Pascal, #KEYS
1485:God must be born on earth and be as man
That man being human may grow even as God.
He who would save the world must be one with the world ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, Nirvana and the Discovery of the All-Negating Absolute,#KEYS
1486:He sang the Inconscient and its secret self,
Its power omnipotent knowing not what it does,
All-shaping without will or thought or sense,
Its blind unerring occult mystery. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Word of Fate,#KEYS
1487:He who afflicts no living creature, who neither kills nor allows to be killed, him indeed I call a man of religion. Whoever wishes to consecrate himself to the spiritual life, ought not to destroy any life. ~ Buddhist Text, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1488:He who fails to join in your worship shows his arrogance by the very fact of becoming a schismatic. If then, those who act carnally suffer death, how much more shall those who by wicked teaching corrupt God's faith for which Jesus Christ was crucified. ~ Ignatius of Antioch, #KEYS
1489:In tasting gall Jesus took on himself the bitterness and toil of man's mortal, painful life. By drinking vinegar he made his own the degradation men had suffered, and in the same act gave us the grace to better our condition treatise ~ Theodoret of Cyr, On the Incarnation)., #KEYS
1490:Scripture tells you: You shall speak of these commandments when you sit in your house, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down, and when you get up. Let us then speak of the Lord Jesus, for he is wisdom, he is the word, the Word indeed of God. ~ Saint Ambrose, #KEYS
1491:The Apostles were many and to only one of them did he say Feed my sheep. May it never happen that we truly lack good shepherds! May it never happen to us! May God's loving kindness never fail to provide them! ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
1492:The building up of the church by the conversion of faithful does not pertain to the perfection of Christ, whereby He is perfect in Himself, but inasmuch as it leads others to a share of His perfection ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.7.4ad3)., #KEYS
1493:The Word of God cries out in the most remote solitude of the divine goodness. His cry is the creation of all natures... because through him God the Father has called, that is, created everything that he wanted to come to be. ~ Eriugena, Commentary on the Gospel of John 1.27, #KEYS
1494:Here is the secret of happiness. Forget yourself and think of others." ~ Swami Paramananda, (1884-1940), an early Indian teacher who went to the United States to spread the Vedanta philosophy. He was a mystic, a poet and an innovator in spiritual community living, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1495:If a person feels intoxicated with God's love, there is no father, no mother, and no wife for him. He may have so much love for the Lord that he may appear to be mad! Such a person has no duties. He is freed from all his debts. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1496:Love is in the depths of man as water is in the depths of the earth, and man suffers from not being able to enjoy this infinity that he carries within himself and for which he is made." ~ Frithjof Schuon, (1907 - 1998), Swiss spiritual master, philosopher, author, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1497:Lure of the Infinite
With a hundred marvellous faces
Always he lures us to love him, always he draws us to pleasure
Leaving remembrance and anguish behind for our only treasure. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems: Ahana, Lure of the Infinite#KEYS
1498:Man finds himself a centre of Nature, his fragment of Time surrounded by Eternity, his span of Space surrounded by Infinity. How can he help asking himself, "What am I? and whence have I come and whither do I go?" ~ Carlyle, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1499:No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 Corinthians, 10:13, #KEYS
1500:Seeing how all men were under penalty of death: He took pity on our race, and had mercy on our infirmity, and condescended to our corruption, and unable to bear that death should dominate ... He takes unto Himself a body, and that of no different sort from ours. ~ Athanasius, #KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:He can afford to be a fool. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 2:He loved Big Brother. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 3:He who grasps, lets slip. ~ lao-tzu, @wisdomtrove 4:He thinks I look alike! ~ groucho-marx, @wisdomtrove 5:He who is contented is rich. ~ lao-tzu, @wisdomtrove 6:He who despairs is wrong. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 7:As a man is, so he sees. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 8:God knows, but He's waiting ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 9:A lover fears all that he believes. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 10:He is able who thinks he is able. ~ buddha, @wisdomtrove 11:He who sling mud, lose ground. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 12:At least he never walked. ~ haruki-murakami, @wisdomtrove 13:He was a wise man who invented God. ~ plato, @wisdomtrove 14:He who feels it, knows it more. ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 15:He who is greedy is always in want. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 16:He is not poor who has a competency. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 17:He who eats alone chokes alone. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 18:He who hesitates is a damned fool. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 19:He who knows he has enough is rich. ~ lao-tzu, @wisdomtrove 20:Never ask a man where he has been. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 21:A man is known by the company he keeps ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 22:Call no man happy till he is dead. ~ aeschylus, @wisdomtrove 23:He walked noisily, like a fish. ~ jules-renard, @wisdomtrove 24:A man can laugh while he suffers. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 25:As a man believes, so he will act. ~ sam-harris, @wisdomtrove 26:He who can simulate sanity will be sane. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 27:He who hath many friends hath none. ~ aristotle, @wisdomtrove 28:He will be beloved when he is no more. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 29:No one loves the man whom he fears. ~ aristotle, @wisdomtrove 30:What a man can be, he must be. ~ abraham-maslow, @wisdomtrove 31:Happy is he who causes a scandal ~ salvador-dali, @wisdomtrove 32:He does not weep who does not see. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 33:He hadn't a single redeeming vice. ~ oscar-wilde, @wisdomtrove 34:He would make a lovely corpse. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 35:If he should love deny him what he loves! ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 36:Man is not mind, he is soul. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 37:Who then is sane? He who is not a fool. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 38:He is praised by some, blamed by others. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 39:He not busy being born is busy dying. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 40:He's so small, he's a waste of skin. ~ fred-allen, @wisdomtrove 41:He that has many friends, has no friends. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 42:He was the toast to her butter. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 43:He who believes needs no explanation. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 44:No man is great if he thinks he is. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 45:The man is either crazy or he is a poet. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 46:And sometimes he forgets his promises. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 47:He whom all hate all wish to see destroyed. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 48:He who reforms, God assists. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 49:he who will not economize will agonize ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 50:Though you see nothing, he is acting. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 51:When he pretends to flee, do not pursue. ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 52:An ally need not own the land he helps. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 53:God may delay, but He always comes. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 54:He can frustrate what seems inevitable, ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 55:He that drinks fast, pays slow. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 56:He who says o'er much I love not is in love. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 57:He who truly seeks God has found Him. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 58:It is the tale, not he who tells it. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 59:She attracted him more than he liked. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 60:The superman exists and he's American. ~ alan-moore, @wisdomtrove 61:God, he whom everyone knows, by name. ~ jules-renard, @wisdomtrove 62:He had a face like a blessing. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 63:He laughed like an irresponsible foetus. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 64:He that is jealous is not in love. ~ saint-augustine, @wisdomtrove 65:He who chases two rabbits, catches none. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 66:It is easy to kick a person when he is down. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 67:Listen, my friend. He who loves understands. ~ kabir, @wisdomtrove 68:With a book he was regardless of time. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 69:God doesn't know things. He is things. ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove 70:He tells old wives' tales much to the point. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 71:He that drinks beer, thinks beer. ~ washington-irving, @wisdomtrove 72:He who fails to prepare, prepares to fail ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 73:He who gives early gives twice. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 74:Man is free at the instant he wants to be. ~ voltaire, @wisdomtrove 75:The best of seers is he who guesses well. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 76:The only thing He forgets is our sins. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 77:Anybody can do anything that he imagines. ~ henry-ford, @wisdomtrove 78:He alone may chastise who loves. ~ rabindranath-tagore, @wisdomtrove 79:He preaches well that lives well ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 80:He preaches well who lives well. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 81:He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 82:He who conquers self conquers all. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 83:He who goes unenvied shall not be admired. ~ aeschylus, @wisdomtrove 84:He who would not be idle, let him fall in love. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 85:Man is what he wills himself to be. ~ jean-paul-sartre, @wisdomtrove 86:When he comes out of it forgets his fears, ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 87:A man is known by the company he owns. ~ vince-lombardi, @wisdomtrove 88:God gives where he finds empty hands. ~ saint-augustine, @wisdomtrove 89:He hears but half who hears one party only. ~ aeschylus, @wisdomtrove 90:He is a perpetual fountain of good sense. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 91:He is exactly the poem I wanted to write. ~ mary-oliver, @wisdomtrove 92:He makes a solitude, and calls it - peace! ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 93:He who gains time gains everything. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 94:He who is really kind, can never be unhappy ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 95:He who kisses girl on hillside is not level ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 96:if there is a god, he sure hates people ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 97:Jesus wept, but He never complained. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 98:No man hates him at whom he can laugh. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 99:The man is either mad, or he is making verses. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 100:A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 101:A slave is he who cannot speak his thoughts. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 102:He deposes Doom Who hath suffered him. ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 103:He is always a slave who cannot live on little. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 104:He is gentle that doeth gentle deeds. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 105:He is not a lover who does not love forever. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 106:He that gives quickly gives twice. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 107:He that never thinks can never be wise. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 108:He wants worth who dares not praise a foe. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 109:He who dares not offend cannot be honest. ~ thomas-paine, @wisdomtrove 110:He who plots to hurt others often hurts himself. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 111:He who sings the praises of his boyhood's days. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 112:I have found God, but he is insufficient. ~ henry-miller, @wisdomtrove 113:The learned man knows that he is ignorant. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 114:We hate the hawk because he ever lives in battle. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 115:A coward judges all he sees by what he is. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 116:After all, God is God because he remembers. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 117:A man's only as old as the woman he feels. ~ groucho-marx, @wisdomtrove 118:Ful wys is he that kan himselve knowe. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 119:God is cruel. Sometimes he makes you live. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 120:Had sigh'd to many, though he loved but one. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 121:He is not a lover who does not love for ever. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 122:He liked her; it was as simple as that. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 123:He that hath a Trade, hath an Estate. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 124:He that hath knowledge spareth his words. ~ francis-bacon, @wisdomtrove 125:He that rises late must trot all day. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 126:He who needs riches least, enjoys riches most. ~ epicurus, @wisdomtrove 127:He who wants, but doesn't act, is a pest. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 128:If God dropped acid, would he see people? ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 129:Let every man look before he leaps. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 130:Man is a degeneration of what he was. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 131:Respect a man, and he will do all the more. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 132:Treat a man like dirt-he produces flowers. ~ e-e-cummings, @wisdomtrove 133:Well has he lived who has lived well in obscurity. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 134:A man does not exist until he is drunk. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 135:At one point he decided enough was enough. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 136:Every man is like the company he wont to keep. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 137:God is good, and He cannot be anything else. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 138:God loves you because He has chosen to do so. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 139:Having nothing, nothing can he lose. ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 140:He did not study God; he was dazzled by him. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 141:He didn't want to believe. He wanted to know. ~ carl-sagan, @wisdomtrove 142:He felt married to her, that was all. ~ f-scott-fitzgerald, @wisdomtrove 143:He made all countries where he came his own. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 144:He that speaks much, is much mistaken. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 145:He was as fresh as is the month of May. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 146:He who opens a school door, closes a prison. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 147:He who praises everybody, praises nobody. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 148:He who shares the danger ought to share the prize. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 149:He who's never loved cannot be good. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 150:He who wishes to fight must first count the cost ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 151:If ignorance were bliss, he'd be a blister ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 152:I like a man who grins when he fights. ~ winston-churchill, @wisdomtrove 153:Man can learn everything if he will but try. ~ e-m-forster, @wisdomtrove 154:No man can be merry unless he is serious. ~ g-k-chesterton, @wisdomtrove 155:Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 156:The more a man dreams, the less he believes. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 157:We are sons of God And must be even as he. ~ sri-aurobindo, @wisdomtrove 158:Africa is God's country, and He can have it. ~ groucho-marx, @wisdomtrove 159:At fifty everyone has the face he deserves. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 160:Each one of us has to be what he or she is. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 161:Even if God exists, does He know that you do? ~ dean-koontz, @wisdomtrove 162:Except he be willing, man cannot believe. ~ saint-augustine, @wisdomtrove 163:Give a critic an inch, he'll write a play. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 164:God's path always delivers what He promises. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 165:He is not apprehended by reason, but by life. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 166:He who feared that he would not succeed sat still. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 167:He who sings frightens away his ills. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 168:He who will not economize will have to agonize. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 169:If God is on our side, he'll stop the next war. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 170:Truly even he errs that is wiser than the wise. ~ aeschylus, @wisdomtrove 171:Whom Jupiter would destroy he first drives mad. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 172:without music he felt aimless and adrift. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 173:A barber lathers a man before he shaves him. ~ dale-carnegie, @wisdomtrove 174:A man cannot do good before he is made good. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 175:A man who knows he is a fool is not a great fool. ~ zhuangzi, @wisdomtrove 176:Everyone who does the best he can is a hero. ~ josh-billings, @wisdomtrove 177:Full wise is he that can him selven knowe ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 178:Full wise is he that can himselven knowe. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 179:He dispensed starlight to casual moths. ~ f-scott-fitzgerald, @wisdomtrove 180:He has half the deed done who has made a beginning. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 181:He has the deed half done who has made a beginning. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 182:He is almost a statesman. He lies well. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 183:He is not poor who has the use of necessary things. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 184:He that has done nothing has known nothing. ~ thomas-carlyle, @wisdomtrove 185:He turned slowly like a fridge door opening. ~ douglas-adams, @wisdomtrove 186:He who have two grounds of trust is lost! ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 187:If God were alive today, He'd be an atheist. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 188:That he is gentil that doth gentil dedis. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 189:What a man has, so much he is sure of. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 190:Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do. ~ voltaire, @wisdomtrove 191:Give your life to Christ, he'll challenge you. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 192:God gives the nuts, but he does not crack them. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 193:He is now fast rising from affluence to poverty. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 194:He's so dumb he doesn't know he's alive. ~ f-scott-fitzgerald, @wisdomtrove 195:He was a wise man who originated the idea of God. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 196:He was bolder in the daylight-most men are. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 197:He who can does; he who cannot teaches. ~ george-bernard-shaw, @wisdomtrove 198:He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 199:He who fears God has nothing else to fear. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 200:He who has God finds he is lacking nothing. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 201:He who has lived obscurely and quietly has lived well. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 202:He who has overcome his fears will truly be free. ~ aristotle, @wisdomtrove 203:He who is unmoved by tears has no heart. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 204:He who sows hurry reaps indigestion. ~ robert-louis-stevenson, @wisdomtrove 205:He who understands nature walks close with God. ~ edgar-cayce, @wisdomtrove 206:He who would search for pearls must dive below. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 207:He wins every hand who mingles profit with pleasure. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 208:If there is a God what the hell is He for? ~ william-faulkner, @wisdomtrove 209:It's the wise man who stays home when he's drunk. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 210:Man is, above all, he who creates. ~ antoine-de-saint-exupery, @wisdomtrove 211:No man truly has joy unless he lives in love. ~ denis-diderot, @wisdomtrove 212:Oh who can tell, save he whose heart hath tried. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 213:The doctor says he has to amputate all of me. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 214:The eternal Being is forever if he is at all. ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 215:The tiger springs in the new year. Us he devours. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 216:Those whom God wishes to destroy he drives mad. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 217:And gladly would he learn, and gladly teach ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 218:And he smote the Balrog upon the mountainside. ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 219:A puppet is free as long as he loves his strings. ~ sam-harris, @wisdomtrove 220:Christ not only died for all: He died for each. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 221:... every little boy thinks he invented sin. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 222:First he wrought, and afterwards he taught. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 223:God heard us. He sent help. He sent you. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 224:He has the most who is most content with the least. ~ diogenes, @wisdomtrove 225:He is the truly courageous man who never desponds. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 226:He loved books; books are cold but safe friends. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 227:He's a fool who cannot conceal his wisdom. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 228:He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 229:He that is hard to please, may get nothing in the end. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 230:He that sleeps feels not the tooth-ache. ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 231:He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 232:He who does not go within, goes without. ~ neale-donald-walsch, @wisdomtrove 233:He who has one enemy shall meet him everywhere. ~ omar-khayyam, @wisdomtrove 234:He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much. ~ lao-tzu, @wisdomtrove 235:He who speaks without an attentive ear is mute. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 236:He who take cookie to bed have crummy night ahead. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 237:I am going with him, if he climbs to the Moon. ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 238:Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. ~ epicurus, @wisdomtrove 239:Nobody ever forgets where he buried the hatchet. ~ kin-hubbard, @wisdomtrove 240:No man truly has joy unless he lives in love. ~ thomas-aquinas, @wisdomtrove 241:Owl hasn't exactly got Brain, but he Knows Things. ~ a-a-milne, @wisdomtrove 242:There is a God within us, and we glow when He stirs us. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 243:Where a man can live, he can also live well. ~ marcus-aurelius, @wisdomtrove 244:And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 245:Everyone wishes that the man whom he fears would perish. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 246:God made (human beings) because he loves stories. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 247:He does not need opium. He has the gift of reverie. ~ anais-nin, @wisdomtrove 248:He had a mind so fine that no idea could violate it ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 249:He makes no friend who never made a foe. ~ alfred-lord-tennyson, @wisdomtrove 250:He never fell, never slipped back, never flew. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 251:He paints a dolphin in the woods, a boar in the waves. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 252:He sat upon his throne, which is made of skulls. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 253:He who does not act does not exist. ~ gottfried-wilhelm-leibniz, @wisdomtrove 254:He who has lost his money-belt will go where you wish. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 255:He who is his own guide is guided by a fool. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 256:He who is not a good servant will not be a good master. ~ plato, @wisdomtrove 257:He, who is not prepared today, will be less so tomorrow. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 258:He who masters the grey everyday is a hero. ~ fyodor-dostoevsky, @wisdomtrove 259:If a writer stops observing, he is finished. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 260:I poured spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 261:Nobody can be taught faster than he can learn. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 262:Nobody can fall so low unless he has a great depth. ~ carl-jung, @wisdomtrove 263:No one can be free unless he is independent. ~ maria-montessori, @wisdomtrove 264:Not everyone can see the truth, but he can be it. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 265:Shun an inquisitive man, he is invariably a tell-tale. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 266:The full he empties, and the empty he fills. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 267:The man of upright life is obeyed before he speaks. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 268:The wise man is he who knows when and how to stop ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 269:Very often the quiet fellow has said all he knows ~ kin-hubbard, @wisdomtrove 270:Give a man a free hand and he'll run it all over you. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 271:God created the flirt as soon as he made the fool. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 272:God is not an optional extra, He's an absolute must! ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 273:He [Caesar] loved the treason, but hated the traitor. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 274:He has hay upon his horn. [He is a mischievous person.] ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 275:He knows God rightly who knows Him everywhere. ~ meister-eckhart, @wisdomtrove 276:He (man) is both dust of earth and breath of God. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 277:Her heart did whisper that he had done it for her. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 278:He that won't be counselled can't be helped. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 279:He who breathes deepest lives most. ~ elizabeth-barrett-browning, @wisdomtrove 280:He who can destroy a thing, can control a thing. ~ frank-herbert, @wisdomtrove 281:He who controls the spice controls the universe. ~ frank-herbert, @wisdomtrove 282:He who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 283:He who endeavors to please must appear pleased. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 284:He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise -begin! ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 285:He who is upright in his way of life and free from sin. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 286:He who makes no mistakes makes no progress. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 287:He who sees the Infinite in all things sees God. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 288:If Christ be anything, He must be everything. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 289:If god is truly god, he is perfect, lacking nothing. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 290:I know myself," he cried, "But that is all. ~ f-scott-fitzgerald, @wisdomtrove 291:It's what a fellow thinks he knows that hurts him. ~ kin-hubbard, @wisdomtrove 292:Man is only great when he acts from passion. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 293:Me and my dad used to play tag, he'd drive! ~ rodney-dangerfield, @wisdomtrove 294:No man becomes rich unless he enriches others. ~ andrew-carnegie, @wisdomtrove 295:No one is ever satisfied where he is. ~ antoine-de-saint-exupery, @wisdomtrove 296:One who steals has no right to complain if he is robbed. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 297:The man who wins, is the man who thinks he can. ~ vince-lombardi, @wisdomtrove 298:The poet must put on the passion he wants to represent. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 299:Where God works, He works with men that work. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 300:All god wants us to do is do what he asks us to do. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 301:A man is what he thinks about all day long. ~ ralph-waldo-emerson, @wisdomtrove 302:Everyone asks if a man is rich, no one if he is good. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 303:Happiest is he who expects no happiness from others. ~ meher-baba, @wisdomtrove 304:He does not possess wealth; it possesses him. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 305:He shall fare well who confronts circumstances aright. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 306:He that travels in theory has no inconveniences. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 307:He who never says "no" is no true man. ~ antoine-de-saint-exupery, @wisdomtrove 308:I know he's a good general, but is he lucky? ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 309:Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? ~ epicurus, @wisdomtrove 310:It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 311:It's silly not to hope. It's a sin he thought. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 312:No man is useless while he has a friend. ~ robert-louis-stevenson, @wisdomtrove 313:Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 314:To the fool, he who speaks wisdom will sound foolish. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 315:Where God gives vision He always provides provision ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 316:Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 317:Happy is he who dares courageously to defend what he loves. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 318:He had an affectionate heart. He must love somebody. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 319:He is so stupid you can't trust him with an idea. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 320:Her voice is full of money, he said suddenly. ~ f-scott-fitzgerald, @wisdomtrove 321:He's the kind of man who picks his friends - to pieces. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 322:He that can work is born to be king of something. ~ thomas-carlyle, @wisdomtrove 323:He that is neither one thing nor the other has no friends. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 324:He watched and wept and prayed and felt for all ~ oliver-goldsmith, @wisdomtrove 325:He who argues for his limitations gets to keep them ~ richard-bach, @wisdomtrove 326:He who makes the quickest, coolest prototypes reigns! ~ tom-peters, @wisdomtrove 327:He who robs us of our dreams robs us of our life. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 328:He whose ranks are united in purpose will be victorious. ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 329:He who would begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 330:If the great man be not grave, he will not be revered. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 331:I love a dog. He does nothing for political reasons. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 332:It’s not me, it’s he himself He amuses his own self. ~ bulleh-shah, @wisdomtrove 333:Man does not have a soul. He is a soul. He has a body. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 334:Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true. ~ francis-bacon, @wisdomtrove 335:The eagle has no liberty; he only has loneliness. ~ g-k-chesterton, @wisdomtrove 336:What a writer wants to do is not what he does. ~ jorge-luis-borges, @wisdomtrove 337:What's happened to me,' he thought. It was no dream. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 338:When a man is penalized for honesty he learns to lie. ~ criss-jami, @wisdomtrove 339:A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 340:A man's true character comes out when he's drunk. ~ charlie-chaplan, @wisdomtrove 341:And he, he himself, the Grinch - carved the roast beast. ~ dr-seuss, @wisdomtrove 342:Every man is as holy as he really wants to be. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 343:Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits. ~ thomas-edison, @wisdomtrove 344:For a poet he threw a very accurate milk bottle. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 345:God doesn't want something from us. He simply wants us. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 346:He marries best who puts it off until it is too late. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 347:He who desires but does not act, breeds pestilence. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 348:He who has a why can deal with any what or how. ~ stephen-r-covey, @wisdomtrove 349:He who has suffered you to impose on him knows you. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 350:He who is served is limited in his independence. ~ maria-montessori, @wisdomtrove 351:He who owns a hundred sheep must fight with fifty wolves ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 352:He who would greatly deserve must greatly dare. ~ washington-irving, @wisdomtrove 353:If Christ is not ALL to you he is NOTHING to you ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 354:I know this... a man got to do what he got to do. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 355:Man cannot live upon words, however he may try. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 356:My God,' he gasped, & 357:No man is a man unless to his woman he is a pioneer. ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove 358:The measure of a man is way he bears up under misfortune ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 359:The more he looked inside the more Piglet wasn't there. ~ a-a-milne, @wisdomtrove 360:When God sends the dawn, he sends it for all. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 361:A clown is like aspirin, only he works twice as fast. ~ groucho-marx, @wisdomtrove 362:A man's heart is right when he wills what God wills. ~ denis-diderot, @wisdomtrove 363:A pekingeese is not a pet dog; he is an undersized lion. ~ a-a-milne, @wisdomtrove 364:He is truly great in who hath power over himself. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 365:He that has too much to do will do something wrong. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 366:He was assaulting the world by assaulting himself. ~ chuck-palahniuk, @wisdomtrove 367:He was a tool of the boss, without brains or backbone. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 368:He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 369:He who has enough for his wants should desire nothing more. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 370:He who has made great moral progress ceases to pray. ~ immanuel-kant, @wisdomtrove 371:He who hears not me but the logos will say: All is one. ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 372:He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 373:How well he's read, to reason against reading! ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 374:If he who does not know kept silent, discord would cease. ~ socrates, @wisdomtrove 375:If man can live in Manhattan, he can live anywhere. ~ arthur-c-carke, @wisdomtrove 376:I have not seen one who loves virtue as he loves beauty. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 377:Love is a naked child: do you think he has pockets for money? ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 378:Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. ~ jean-paul-sartre, @wisdomtrove 379:Man is the only animal that refuses to be what he is. ~ albert-camus, @wisdomtrove 380:Pain is all I know." He murmured. "Peace is all I want ~ dean-koontz, @wisdomtrove 381:Twice does he live who can enjoy the remembrance of the past. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 382:When a person opens a book, he can never be in prison. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 383:Whom God would use greatly He will hurt deeply. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 384:A child needs your love most when he deserves it least ~ erma-bombeck, @wisdomtrove 385:A man's heart is right when he wills what God wills. ~ thomas-aquinas, @wisdomtrove 386:Experience is a dear teacher but he delivers th' goods. ~ kin-hubbard, @wisdomtrove 387:He did each single thing as if he did nothing else. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 388:He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader. ~ aristotle, @wisdomtrove 389:He who conquers the mind, conquers the world. ~ paramahansa-yogananda, @wisdomtrove 390:He who keeps danger in mind will rest safely in his seat. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 391:He who regards all things as one is a companion of Nature. ~ zhuangzi, @wisdomtrove 392:He who trusts secrets to a servant makes him his master ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 393:He who worries about calamities suffers them twice over. ~ og-mandino, @wisdomtrove 394:One believes others will do what he will do to himself. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 395:The Messiah will only come when he is no longer needed. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 396:To me one man is worth ten thousand if he is first-rate. ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 397:What is love but acceptance of the other, whatever he is. ~ anais-nin, @wisdomtrove 398:As long as one lives he will have need of repentance. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 399:A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. ~ francis-bacon, @wisdomtrove 400:Every one can master a grief but he that has it. ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 401:Give me one man from among ten thousand if he is the best ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 402:Grace does not choose a man and leave him as he is. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 403:Happy the man who ventures boldly to defend what he holds dear. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 404:He must have killed a lot of men to have made so much money. ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 405:He reached for his pocket, and found there, only reality ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 406:He was fond of books, for they are cool and sure friends ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 407:He who dies before he dies does not die when he dies. ~ jon-kabat-zinn, @wisdomtrove 408:He who has no vision of eternity has no hold on time. ~ thomas-carlyle, @wisdomtrove 409:He who loves, never grows old. God it a shining example. ~ sri-chinmoy, @wisdomtrove 410:He who would travel happy must travel lite. ~ antoine-de-saint-exupery, @wisdomtrove 411:If anybody gets highbrow around the studio, out he goes. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 412:If you cut him, (John Bunyan) he'd bleed Scripture! ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 413:Man is as full of potential as he is of importance. ~ george-santayana, @wisdomtrove 414:never's the word God listens for when he needs a laugh. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 415:No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 416:No man is ever whipped until he quits in his own mind. ~ napoleon-hill, @wisdomtrove 417:Once a person has faith, he has achieved everything. ~ sri-ramakrishna, @wisdomtrove 418:To say that he alone has found the truth? ~ henry-wadsworth-longfellow, @wisdomtrove 419:Who, then is a devotee? He whose mind dwells on God. ~ sri-ramakrishna, @wisdomtrove 420:God is not obligated to anoint what He does not initiate. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 421:He drew a deep breath. & 422:He is far too intelligent to become really cerebral. ~ ursula-k-le-guin, @wisdomtrove 423:He was afraid of defiling the love which filled his soul. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 424:He who can not learn to love must flatter. ~ johann-wolfgang-von-goethe, @wisdomtrove 425:He who does not answer the questions has passed the test. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 426:He who incites to strife is worse than he who takes part in it. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 427:He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind. ~ leonardo-da-vinci, @wisdomtrove 428:He will be loved when dead, who was envied when he was living. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 429:His Cheek is his Biographer- As long as he can blush. ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 430:If there were no God, he would have to be invented. ~ fyodor-dostoevsky, @wisdomtrove 431:less is he acquainted with its nature and quality. ~ emanuel-swedenborg, @wisdomtrove 432:Man is worse than an animal when he is an animal. ~ rabindranath-tagore, @wisdomtrove 433:Man must strive, and striving he must err. ~ johann-wolfgang-von-goethe, @wisdomtrove 434:Never tell your enemy he is doing the wrong thing. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 435:No grace can save any man unless he helps himself. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 436:No one should be alone in their old age, he thought. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 437:Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever? ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 438:That was the most awkward Wednesday he ever remembered. ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 439:A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise. ~ a-a-milne, @wisdomtrove 440:A critic is a man who writes about things he doesn't like. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 441:Afraid? Of whom am I afraid? Not death. For who is he? ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 442:A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational. ~ denis-diderot, @wisdomtrove 443:A man living without conflicts, as if he never lives at all. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 444:Every man is somebody because he is a child of God. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 445:From Themistocles began the saying, "He is a second Hercules. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 446:God not only sees where you are, He sees where you can be. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 447:He is a writer for the ages, the ages of four to eight. ~ dorothy-parker, @wisdomtrove 448:He produced mainly three results: Hatred, Terror, Adoration. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 449:He raised a mortal to the skies; / She drew an angel down. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 450:He who doesn't find a little enough will find nothing enough. ~ epicurus, @wisdomtrove 451:He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 452:He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander. ~ aristotle, @wisdomtrove 453:He who is filled with love is filled with God himself. ~ saint-augustine, @wisdomtrove 454:He who must travel happily must travel light. ~ antoine-de-saint-exupery, @wisdomtrove 455:He who proposes to be an author should first be a student. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 456:He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 457:He who would pry behind the scenes oft sees a counterfeit. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 458:How can He be perfect? Everything He ever makes... dies. ~ george-carlin, @wisdomtrove 459:I could not stop for death and he did not stop for me. ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 460:I don't see how he can ever finish, if he doesn't begin. ~ lewis-carroll, @wisdomtrove 461:If he's been married for 31 years, he's not the same man. ~ groucho-marx, @wisdomtrove 462:If the lion was advised by the fox, he would be cunning. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 463:If you will tend to God's business, He will tend to yours. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 464:I'm going to Boston to see my doctor. He's a very sick man. ~ fred-allen, @wisdomtrove 465:Man's grandeur is that he knows himself to be miserable. ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 466:Much may be made of a Scotchman, if he be caught young. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 467:Remember no man is really defeated unless he is discouraged. ~ bruce-lee, @wisdomtrove 468:So far any one shuns evils, so far as he does good. ~ emanuel-swedenborg, @wisdomtrove 469:The guilty man may escape, but he cannot be sure of doing so. ~ epicurus, @wisdomtrove 470:The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 471:The unhappy of all men is he who believes himself to be so. ~ david-hume, @wisdomtrove 472:Who cannot open an honest mind No friend will he be of mine. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 473:A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational. ~ thomas-aquinas, @wisdomtrove 474:And this is the marvel of marvels; that he called me Beloved. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 475:Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot. ~ groucho-marx, @wisdomtrove 476:A warrior doesn’t seek pain, but if pain comes, he uses it. ~ dan-millman, @wisdomtrove 477:A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself. ~ michel-de-montaigne, @wisdomtrove 478:A wretched child Is he who does not return his parents' care. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 479:Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens. ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 480:God expects of us only what He Himself has supplied. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 481:He drove his mind into the abyss where poetry is written. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 482:He has no enemies but is intensely disliked by his friends. ~ oscar-wilde, @wisdomtrove 483:He is not to be trusted as a friend who illtreats his own family. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 484:He is quite a good fellow - nobody's enemy but his own. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 485:He is terribly afraid of dying because he hasn't yet lived. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 486:He who has few things to desire cannot have many to fear. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 487:He who has peace of mind disturbs neither himself nor another. ~ epicurus, @wisdomtrove 488:He who is dying of hunger must be fed rather than taught. ~ denis-diderot, @wisdomtrove 489:He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise. ~ lao-tzu, @wisdomtrove 490:He who laughs last didn't get it in the first place. ~ rodney-dangerfield, @wisdomtrove 491:He who purposes to be an author, should first be a student. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 492:He who struggles is better than he who never attempts ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 493:He who works for his own interests will arouse much animosity ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 494:He who would have fine guests, let him have a fine wife. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 495:How many times must a man look up, before he can see the sky? ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 496:I am firm; you are obstinate; he is a pig-headed fool. ~ bertrand-russell, @wisdomtrove 497:If a man cannot forget, he will never amount to much. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 498:If a man isn't a certain age, he just isn't interesting. ~ marilyn-monroe, @wisdomtrove 499:My neighbor has a circular driveway... he can't get out. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 500:No man can get rich himself unless he enriches others. ~ earl-nightingale, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:Elementary," said he. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
2:He has—he has—he has! ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
3:He is a Stinkard. ~ Louis L Amour, #NFDB
4:He is barefooted. ~ Anton Chekhov, #NFDB
5:He is pure of all name. ~ The Bab, #NFDB
6:He just started ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
7:he means. Isn’t the ~ J P Delaney, #NFDB
8:He says a word, ~ Kyoshi Takahama, #NFDB
9:He’s crying … no. No! ~ E L James, #NFDB
10:he was a king ~ Maggie Stiefvater, #NFDB
11:He was gone. Kiss ~ Laura Lippman, #NFDB
12:Holy fuck, he’s here. ~ E L James, #NFDB
13:my camera.” He ~ Michael Connelly, #NFDB
14:them. He drank ~ Michael Connelly, #NFDB
15:What could he say? ~ Annie Proulx, #NFDB
16:and he kneaded her. ~ Kathryn Shay, #NFDB
17:And that was?’ ‘He ~ Stephen Booth, #NFDB
18:At least he’s pretty. ~ Staci Hart, #NFDB
19:Be gone, you he-bitch! ~ T J Klune, #NFDB
20:Fuck, he's pretty. ~ Alice Clayton, #NFDB
21:he does not report it, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
22:he had had a family. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
23:He is pure of all name. ~ The Bab, #NFDB
24:He lives in his memories ~ Can Xue, #NFDB
25:He looks ... chewed. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
26:Help me!” he screamed ~ Tim Lebbon, #NFDB
27:He spilled my diet soda! ~ CM Punk, #NFDB
28:He winked. “Why? ~ Brooklyn Taylor, #NFDB
29:He winks at me. At ~ Lauren Oliver, #NFDB
30:Is he comin' here? ~ Richard Price, #NFDB
31:Rice he had a home, ~ Toni Griffin, #NFDB
32:weaker moments, he ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
33:Asunto: ¿He de hacerlo? ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
34:A woman he wanted. ~ Pepper Winters, #NFDB
35:he could care less. ~ Vanessa Waltz, #NFDB
36:He eluded their grasp. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
37:He gives me peace. ~ Kristen Ashley, #NFDB
38:He’ll elude them. ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
39:He made you you-nique. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
40:he said. But he also ~ Thomas Perry, #NFDB
41:He said nothing. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
42:He's no John Walton. ~ Haven Kimmel, #NFDB
43:He understands muslin ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
44:He waits for you. ~ Madeline Miller, #NFDB
45:In death he sees life. ~ Bāha-ullah, #NFDB
46:Is he, really? ~ Marianne Faithfull, #NFDB
47:so, he wondered, ~ Michael Connelly, #NFDB
48:Soon he would move on. ~ Gore Vidal, #NFDB
49:The Chief nodded. He ~ Louise Penny, #NFDB
50:turn to page 394.” He ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
51:was convinced that he ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
52:when he told me this. ~ R J Palacio, #NFDB
53:afternoon he ~ Mary Roberts Rinehart, #NFDB
54:And he was pretentious: ~ John Green, #NFDB
55:As he chooses, he is. ~ Robert McKee, #NFDB
56:But he's the king! ~ Kristen Britain, #NFDB
57:Had he told anyone? ~ Katrina Kittle, #NFDB
58:had told her he was ~ Danielle Steel, #NFDB
59:He can afford to be a fool. ~ Horace, #NFDB
60:He died. And waited. ~ James Herbert, #NFDB
61:He had an ugly penis. ~ Sarina Bowen, #NFDB
62:He is never cowardly. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
63:He left me a rose! ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
64:He must love somebody. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
65:He never dreamed ~ Elizabeth Gilbert, #NFDB
66:he never gave his scars ~ Wendy Mass, #NFDB
67:He's a wallflower. ~ Stephen Chbosky, #NFDB
68:He's no Bill Clinton! ~ Benny Carter, #NFDB
69:he was a good leader. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
70:He who is contented is rich. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
71:He who tastes not, knows not. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
72:Mom,” he said, shocked ~ Marie Force, #NFDB
73:Then he’s aware. ~ Patricia Cornwell, #NFDB
74:though he wasn’t sure ~ Mark Greaney, #NFDB
75:up. “He’s hardly my type, ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
76:when he returned he told ~ Zane Grey, #NFDB
77:Why lie?” he said. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
78:Yep.” He reached into ~ Maddie James, #NFDB
79:You were amazing." He ~ Nora Sakavic, #NFDB
80:15:17 And when he came to ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
81:As if he didn’t exist. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
82:Because he can. You ~ Kathleen Brooks, #NFDB
83:Catalpa.” He ~ Barbara Claypole White, #NFDB
84:dreads,” he muttered. ~ Toni Anderson, #NFDB
85:euphoria he felt after ~ Ruth Rendell, #NFDB
86:for all other women. He ~ Mary Balogh, #NFDB
87:He convinces us with love, ~ Bob Goff, #NFDB
88:He couldn't retort back, ~ Alan Ryker, #NFDB
89:He doesn't affect me. ~ Tara Westover, #NFDB
90:he dove for it, they'd ~ Cheryl Bolen, #NFDB
91:He has a crooked nose. ~ Tahereh Mafi, #NFDB
92:He let in the light. ~ Gloria Steinem, #NFDB
93:He listens when I talk. ~ Gwenda Bond, #NFDB
94:He loved Big Brother. ~ George Orwell, #NFDB
95:He made her feel alive. ~ Julia Crane, #NFDB
96:He moves like a dancer. ~ Lisa McMann, #NFDB
97:He robs everyone ~ Patricia Highsmith, #NFDB
98:he suggested as mildly ~ Vivian Arend, #NFDB
99:he tried to slow down and ~ Lexi Hunt, #NFDB
100:He was the oldest son. ~ Steven Price, #NFDB
101:He wouldn’t die a lie. ~ Nora Sakavic, #NFDB
102:I hope he draws for you. ~ Amanda Sun, #NFDB
103:I'm his and he's mine. ~ Kennedy Ryan, #NFDB
104:that’s what he said. ~ Kathryn Hughes, #NFDB
105:With one hand he put ~ Robert Pollok, #NFDB
106:You keep it,” he said. ~ Julie Otsuka, #NFDB
107:You know where he goes? ~ Claire Adam, #NFDB
108:Always,” he murmurs. ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
109:ameliorative. He climbed ~ Dan Simmons, #NFDB
110:and he does not report it, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
111:and he shaved himself, and ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
112:And then he kissed me. ~ Leigh Bardugo, #NFDB
113:And what," he inquired ~ P G Wodehouse, #NFDB
114:back all he’d been ~ Sharon Kay Penman, #NFDB
115:but z he who pursues evil ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
116:Could he be homosexual? ~ Leslie Wolfe, #NFDB
117:down?” he asked. ~ Deanna Lynn Sletten, #NFDB
118:Fates he was tired. ~ Paolo Bacigalupi, #NFDB
119:He blinked hatefully. ~ Wade H Garrett, #NFDB
120:He embraced me like love. ~ L H Cosway, #NFDB
121:He fetishized limits. ~ Rick Perlstein, #NFDB
122:He has tongue of a writer. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
123:He is the one for me. ~ Sawyer Bennett, #NFDB
124:He knew Carolina de Silva. ~ Meg Cabot, #NFDB
125:He needed a woman. Bad. ~ Linda Howard, #NFDB
126:He remembered the day. ~ Aleatha Romig, #NFDB
127:He's as old as some trees. ~ Pat Burns, #NFDB
128:He’s over at the Norton’s ~ Lisa Regan, #NFDB
129:He swung himself onto ~ Carly Phillips, #NFDB
130:He that lends, gives. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
131:He thinks I look alike! ~ Groucho Marx, #NFDB
132:He was Elijah’s Howl. ~ Heidi Cullinan, #NFDB
133:He was fucking flying! ~ Jennifer Lyon, #NFDB
134:He was pure alpha male, ~ Sarah Morgan, #NFDB
135:He who hoards much loses much. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
136:He who is contented is rich. ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
137:He who learns must suffer. ~ Aeschylus, #NFDB
138:He wore the baseball cap ~ Sandra Hill, #NFDB
139:Hey, Carrots," he says. ~ Cynthia Hand, #NFDB
140:It hit Little Pete. He ~ Michael Grant, #NFDB
141:Legio Patria Nostra,” he ~ A J Stewart, #NFDB
142:Let’s fly,” he said. ~ Khaled Hosseini, #NFDB
143:Man is what he reads. ~ Joseph Brodsky, #NFDB
144:Mistah Kurtz--he dead. ~ Joseph Conrad, #NFDB
145:mistake. He pours her ~ Jonathan Stone, #NFDB
146:mood out of her. He slipped ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
147:Shut up,' he explained. ~ Ring Lardner, #NFDB
148:That’s what he told you. ~ Mary Kubica, #NFDB
149:the hat.’ He races off ~ Cathy Cassidy, #NFDB
150:they flew He had to spew… ~ Lisa Graff, #NFDB
151:uttered a word. He had ~ Joan Johnston, #NFDB
152:What did you do?” “He ~ Melanie Harlow, #NFDB
153:what he thought of that. ~ Edie Claire, #NFDB
154:Why didn’t he show up? ~ Christa Faust, #NFDB
155:windows. What he thought ~ Sandra Hill, #NFDB
156:you turn – there he is. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
157:And he misses her already. ~ Anna Banks, #NFDB
158:before he kissed her. ~ Catherine Bybee, #NFDB
159:Blue kissed him. He ~ Maggie Stiefvater, #NFDB
160:Bruckner he is my man! ~ Richard Wagner, #NFDB
161:But he died, as all men do. ~ G P Ching, #NFDB
162:Erotica so he’d last longer. ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
163:He can be lethal death. ~ Jerry Coleman, #NFDB
164:He is haunted by fire. ~ Vincent Zandri, #NFDB
165:He must be a vampire. ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
166:He nodded slightly, and ~ Luke Smitherd, #NFDB
167:He’s all hat and no cattle. ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
168:He's [Dust] a good guy. ~ Katie McGarry, #NFDB
169:He shoulders responsibility ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
170:He swam and he wept. ~ Andrea Camilleri, #NFDB
171:He that is rich is wise. ~ Daniel Defoe, #NFDB
172:He that runs may read. ~ William Cowper, #NFDB
173:He wants all or nothing. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
174:He was all about engagement. ~ Bob Goff, #NFDB
175:He was forty-five ~ J Courtney Sullivan, #NFDB
176:He was never fond of dogs, ~ E Lockhart, #NFDB
177:He wears the rose ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
178:He who despairs is wrong. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
179:He who laughs.....lasts. ~ Erma Bombeck, #NFDB
180:hoping for some clue. But he ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
181:I think he's jealous. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
182:I wish he was my friend. ~ Sally Thorne, #NFDB
183:over the items and he tied ~ John Ringo, #NFDB
184:Shhh,” he said again. ~ Nicholas Sparks, #NFDB
185:So he bailed on you, ~ Samantha Christy, #NFDB
186:the mafia—then he let on. ~ Lee Strauss, #NFDB
187:The word “He” diminishes Him. ~ Tolstoi, #NFDB
188:Whatever He says to you, do ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
189:What wrong?” he asks. ~ Melissa DeCarlo, #NFDB
190:when he made his ~ William Kent Krueger, #NFDB
191:When he returned to the ~ Josephine Cox, #NFDB
192:And he is immortal. ~ Josephine Angelini, #NFDB
193:and I want to shatter. He ~ Tahereh Mafi, #NFDB
194:and Wally that he planned ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
195:and write as a boy and he ~ Charles Lamb, #NFDB
196:argument before he was ~ Caroline Graham, #NFDB
197:As a man is, so he sees. ~ William Blake, #NFDB
198:called out. No answer. He ~ Tiffany Snow, #NFDB
199:Crossword?” he would ask. ~ Markus Zusak, #NFDB
200:Evans said he was in his ~ E J Copperman, #NFDB
201:express." (He ~ Gertrude Chandler Warner, #NFDB
202:Fortune sides with he who dares ~ Virgil, #NFDB
203:give him a chance while he’s ~ J Daniels, #NFDB
204:God uses whoever he wants. ~ Dyan Cannon, #NFDB
205: Good … Thank you.” He hangs ~ E L James, #NFDB
206:He fell ass over tea Kettle ~ C E Murphy, #NFDB
207:He had to find her. “No, ~ Tarryn Fisher, #NFDB
208:He hated Virginia tobacco, ~ Ian Fleming, #NFDB
209:He helped stop monsters. ~ Toni Anderson, #NFDB
210:He is a beautiful failure. ~ N K Jemisin, #NFDB
211:He is not. He’s lovely. ~ Melissa Foster, #NFDB
212:He leaves without an answer. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
213:He lives in Düsseldorf now. ~ J L Merrow, #NFDB
214:He loves you that much. ~ C J Darlington, #NFDB
215:He said to them, “Follow me, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
216:He’s a professional liar. ~ Bob Woodward, #NFDB
217:He's a sunshine bottle. ~ Jerry Spinelli, #NFDB
218:He's flint, you're tinder. ~ Holly Black, #NFDB
219:He too knows how to lose. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
220:He was all heat and hunger. ~ Katie Reus, #NFDB
221:he was called God's friend. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
222:He was just making it up. ~ Bob Woodward, #NFDB
223:He was right to be afraid. ~ Celia Aaron, #NFDB
224:He who labours, prays. ~ Saint Augustine, #NFDB
225:I made her listen.” He ~ Rebecca Donovan, #NFDB
226:keep up with him. When he ~ Jill Sanders, #NFDB
227:Man is what he believes. ~ Anton Chekhov, #NFDB
228:Shut up, he explained, ~ William Zinsser, #NFDB
229:the meal: that he had the ~ Daniel Silva, #NFDB
230:We’re all alone, he said. ~ Lauren Groff, #NFDB
231:What does he stand for? ~ James Carville, #NFDB
232:What religion is he of? ~ Jonathan Swift, #NFDB
233:where?” he asked. “TO THE ~ Barbara Park, #NFDB
234:Where she ended, he began. ~ Donna Grant, #NFDB
235:Yeah. He was her thing. ~ Kristen Ashley, #NFDB
236:Yer timin stinks, he says. ~ Moira Young, #NFDB
237:Amari did as he was told. At ~ Ian W Toll, #NFDB
238:At long last he was her's ~ Josephine Cox, #NFDB
239:autobiography, he claimed ~ Bill O Reilly, #NFDB
240:being alone. He wanted a woman ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
241:Be still my heart, he cares. ~ Gwen Hayes, #NFDB
242:But he could never bear mice. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
243:company after, he finally ~ Daniel Yergin, #NFDB
244:Deep down, he's shallow. ~ Peter De Vries, #NFDB
245:Did he dare trust this insane boy? ~ Brom, #NFDB
246:Did I hurt you? he asked ~ Kristen Ashley, #NFDB
247:evasive. So far, he hadn’t ~ James Hayman, #NFDB
248:For her, he was . . . the one. ~ J R Ward, #NFDB
249:God knows, but He's waiting ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
250:He also loved candelabra. ~ Julian Barnes, #NFDB
251:He can with perfect certainty ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
252:he’d done it as an infant. ~ Joe Haldeman, #NFDB
253:He didn’t ask. Ethan took. ~ Raine Miller, #NFDB
254:He doesn't jingle my chimes. ~ Peggy Webb, #NFDB
255:he good news is: I’m alive. ~ Holly Smale, #NFDB
256:He had a Cro-Magnon forehead, ~ S M Reine, #NFDB
257:He has the gift of quiet. ~ John le Carre, #NFDB
258:He. Hid. It. In. A. Sock. ~ Scarlett Dawn, #NFDB
259:He is getting stronger, ~ Katherine Arden, #NFDB
260:He lived a wounded life ~ Nicholas Sparks, #NFDB
261:He’ll have had his reasons, ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
262:He must be lightning slow. ~ Ron Atkinson, #NFDB
263:he next few days are manic. ~ Holly Smale, #NFDB
264:He’s a closet gentleman, ~ Gena Showalter, #NFDB
265:He said, 'Always. Always. ~ Toni Morrison, #NFDB
266:he saw what was up and ~ Ursula K Le Guin, #NFDB
267:He's busy taking the fifth ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
268:He’s evil in a can. ~ John Jackson Miller, #NFDB
269:He’s gone before morning. ~ Vanessa Waltz, #NFDB
270:He shat on her feet in panic. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
271:He’s healing, though,” she ~ Diana Palmer, #NFDB
272:He’s more myself than I am ~ Emily Bronte, #NFDB
273:He's my man, he was great ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
274:He sort of breathes music. ~ Gayle Forman, #NFDB
275:He thinks I’m hot. ~ Aurora Rose Reynolds, #NFDB
276:He wanted all the things, ~ Keira Andrews, #NFDB
277:He was a dancer of death. ~ Richelle Mead, #NFDB
278:He was a hopeless romantic. ~ Susan Wiggs, #NFDB
279:He was a scribble of a man. ~ Kate Morton, #NFDB
280:He was timeless. ~ Gina Marinello Sweeney, #NFDB
281:He who has wealth has friends. ~ Chanakya, #NFDB
282:He who hesitates is lost ~ Daniel Handler, #NFDB
283:"He who is contented is rich." ~ Lao Tzu道, #NFDB
284:He who loves not lives not. ~ Ramon Llull, #NFDB
285:I’m a librarian,” he said. ~ Laini Taylor, #NFDB
286:no cray,Daddy he whisper ~ Tammara Webber, #NFDB
287:of the van. He pushed me ~ Angela Marsons, #NFDB
288:Prego.” He scampers off. Sean ~ Ted Galdi, #NFDB
289:seen any anywhere else. So he ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
290:Should he be suspicious? ~ Timothy C Ward, #NFDB
291:that he really had suffered ~ Mary Balogh, #NFDB
292:Then we knew he was lying. ~ Gary Paulsen, #NFDB
293:There was a time when He was not. ~ Arius, #NFDB
294:We told Ellen, “He’s a ~ James A Michener, #NFDB
295:You matter” is all he says. ~ Sara Raasch, #NFDB
296:A lover fears all that he believes. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
297:and that's all it takes. He ~ Penny Wylder, #NFDB
298:As for wine, he drank water. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
299:Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he? ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
300:Elvis Presley? He's God. ~ Madonna Ciccone, #NFDB
301:Fermat said he had a proof. ~ Andrew Wiles, #NFDB
302:German accent, as if he ~ Anthony Horowitz, #NFDB
303:go, he thought. Shooting across ~ J R Ward, #NFDB
304:Heart slayed. He owned me. ~ Renee Carlino, #NFDB
305:He became a champion napper. ~ Yann Martel, #NFDB
306:He can run, but he can't hide. ~ Joe Louis, #NFDB
307:He deserves to be a focus. ~ Courtney Cole, #NFDB
308:He feeds her his worlds. ~ Alain de Botton, #NFDB
309:He felt old at eleven. Amy ~ Gordon Korman, #NFDB
310:He had acres of time there. ~ Ron Atkinson, #NFDB
311:He has a house in Denmark, ~ Stylo Fantome, #NFDB
312:HE HAS TEETH. SHE HAS A GUN. ~ Anne Bishop, #NFDB
313:He hath shook hands with time. ~ John Ford, #NFDB
314:He is clearly unhinging. ~ Georgette Heyer, #NFDB
315:He is the English Horace, ~ Alexander Pope, #NFDB
316:He kept most of his guns in a ~ Ace Atkins, #NFDB
317:He owns me. And he knows it. ~ Celia Aaron, #NFDB
318:he raced to beat the devil. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
319:he received no reply. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #NFDB
320:He should voicemail get open! ~ Jon Gruden, #NFDB
321:He's the peace in my soul. ~ Tammy Falkner, #NFDB
322:He used the word gamut. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
323:He wanted another man. It ~ Sloane Kennedy, #NFDB
324:He wants me to make you happy. ~ Ker Dukey, #NFDB
325:He was going to make her his… ~ Katie Reus, #NFDB
326:He who sling mud, lose ground. ~ Confucius, #NFDB
327:He would, wouldn't he? ~ Mandy Rice Davies, #NFDB
328:Is he teaching her to write? ~ Ally Condie, #NFDB
329:I thought he had been shot. ~ Joe DiMaggio, #NFDB
330:I used to have a family. He ~ Tahereh Mafi, #NFDB
331:kidnapping. He’s a criminal, ~ Kate Morton, #NFDB
332:King Lucien. He could be… ~ Karpov Kinrade, #NFDB
333:matter how many times he called ~ J C Reed, #NFDB
334:Maybe he just hadn’t noticed. ~ M R Forbes, #NFDB
335:number so that he and I could ~ J S Cooper, #NFDB
336:Oh, boy, he could kiss. ~ Charlaine Harris, #NFDB
337:Sometimes he makes us live. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
338:There is none but he ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
339:thought he was a killer. ~ Cheryl Bradshaw, #NFDB
340:What are the asses at now?” He ~ H G Wells, #NFDB
341:What is he doing to me? ~ Penelope Douglas, #NFDB
342:What tinfoil?" he asked. ~ Maureen Johnson, #NFDB
343:Why didn’t he say yes? ~ Andrew Sean Greer, #NFDB
344:Words, he knew, could scar. ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
345:You’re magnificent,” he says. ~ Kyra Davis, #NFDB
346:Aji Esechhi Bodhu He
~ Dwijendralal Ray,#NFDB
347:And he sets his mind to unknown arts ~ Ovid, #NFDB
348:and out of his life. As he ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
349:and when he shall die ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
350:anything he did, he did well ~ Sarah Dessen, #NFDB
351:At least he never walked. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
352:Because he was impressed by it, ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
353:Blind is he who will not see! ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
354:But I think he broke my vagina ~ Tina Reber, #NFDB
355:by herself – what a woman,’ he ~ C J Sansom, #NFDB
356:Call no man happy until he is dead. ~ Solon, #NFDB
357:Come on, old duck,” he coaxed. ~ Rhys Bowen, #NFDB
358:dead man’s chest. He needed ~ Toni Anderson, #NFDB
359:God warns before he wounds. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
360:he added, going slightly red. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
361:He also chooses his enemies. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
362:He and God were on a break. ~ Susan Sleeman, #NFDB
363:He ate in your car? No shit? ~ Sarah Dessen, #NFDB
364:He even brags about his poops, ~ Judy Blume, #NFDB
365:He gives before he is asked. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
366:He grins. “Can I keep you? ~ Colleen Hoover, #NFDB
367:He had a body like batman ~ Janet Evanovich, #NFDB
368:He has the thousand-yard stare. ~ Sophocles, #NFDB
369:He is my vulnerability ~ Karen Marie Moning, #NFDB
370:He looks miserable poor soul! ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
371:He makes me feel like music ~ Lauren Oliver, #NFDB
372:He missed her like crazycakes. ~ John Green, #NFDB
373:He missed his imagined future. ~ John Green, #NFDB
374:He needed me to make it okay. ~ Damon Suede, #NFDB
375:He never leaves, does he? ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
376:He paused. “You’re welcome. ~ Richelle Mead, #NFDB
377:He put his shirt on my head. ~ Quinn Loftis, #NFDB
378:He read himself silly! ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #NFDB
379:Her,” he said. “I’ll take her. ~ Tessa Dare, #NFDB
380:he’s a fine, fine horse, ~ Michael Morpurgo, #NFDB
381:He's a haircut and a forehand. ~ Ivan Lendl, #NFDB
382:He says Canadians are scary. ~ Abigail Roux, #NFDB
383:He smelled like the forest. ~ Melinda Leigh, #NFDB
384:He still knew how she moved. ~ Claudia Gray, #NFDB
385:—He venido —susurro— por ti. ~ Markus Zusak, #NFDB
386:He was a hostage of the void ~ lvaro Mutis, #NFDB
387:He was an ignorant mushroom ~ Moira J Moore, #NFDB
388:He was a wise man who invented God. ~ Plato, #NFDB
389:He wasn't mad, he was sad. ~ Lionel Shriver, #NFDB
390:He was too good to be ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
391:He who can copy can do. ~ Leonardo da Vinci, #NFDB
392:He who flees will fight again. ~ Tertullian, #NFDB
393:He who integrates is lost. ~ Theodor Adorno, #NFDB
394:he who is greedy is always in want ~ Horace, #NFDB
395:He who knows he has enough is rich. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
396:He who laughs last, laughs best. ~ Triple H, #NFDB
397:He whom the Gods love dies young. ~ Plautus, #NFDB
398:He who sleeps does not sin. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
399:He would be waking up soon. ~ Nadia Hashimi, #NFDB
400:Holy cow, he’s so fucking sexy. ~ E L James, #NFDB
401:how God does what He does. ~ DeVon Franklin, #NFDB
402:I seldom lie,' he said. ~ Philip Jos Farmer, #NFDB
403:Nay!” he shouted out loud, ~ Elizabeth Rose, #NFDB
404:No hero is mortal till he dies. ~ W H Auden, #NFDB
405:options. Who was he? He ~ Catherine Coulter, #NFDB
406:She’s gone,” he answered. ~ Natalie Babbitt, #NFDB
407:There was only one thing he ~ Jeanne DuPrau, #NFDB
408:The wise man knows he doesn't know. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
409:thought he became aware ~ Stacey Joy Netzel, #NFDB
410:thoughts, he paused using a ~ Debra Clopton, #NFDB
411:Today he was going to push him. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
412:veiled insubordination that he ~ Jojo Moyes, #NFDB
413:was the state he was aiming for. ~ J C Reed, #NFDB
414:what he wants. And ~ The Arbinger Institute, #NFDB
415:woods?” he asked Brynn. She ~ Kendra Elliot, #NFDB
416:You left me like he left you. ~ Ally Condie, #NFDB
417:You're all he ever wants. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
418:A character is what he does. ~ Donald Miller, #NFDB
419:And then he left. He just left! ~ Kiera Cass, #NFDB
420:because he was only here for ~ E J Copperman, #NFDB
421:business he’d chosen. He was ~ Brian Andrews, #NFDB
422:Careful," he smiled, "I'm lethal. ~ Nely Cab, #NFDB
423:count no man happy until he be dead. ~ Solon, #NFDB
424:Dad!” cried Luke. He ran to him. ~ Emma Weir, #NFDB
425:Dally was so real he scared me. ~ S E Hinton, #NFDB
426:Did he buy you this locket? ~ M Louisa Locke, #NFDB
427:Do you know where he went? ~ Menna van Praag, #NFDB
428:friend. Then he had an idea... ~ Margret Rey, #NFDB
429:frustration. He stalked off ~ Andy McDermott, #NFDB
430:Get me ready,” Ty growled. He ~ Abigail Roux, #NFDB
431:Glory to he who brings dispute. ~ Jean Rouch, #NFDB
432:God does not fail at what He does. ~ E N Joy, #NFDB
433:God knows what He’s doing, ~ Jeannette Walls, #NFDB
434:God once declared He was true ~ Robert Frost, #NFDB
435:Go on,” he said when his blood ~ Sandra Hill, #NFDB
436:He bats like a lightning rod. ~ W P Kinsella, #NFDB
437:He can do most who has most power. ~ Plautus, #NFDB
438:He changed the story.” *** ~ Penelope Ward, #NFDB
439:He drew me like gravity. ~ Michelle Leighton, #NFDB
440:He felt brittle, and ravenous. ~ Larry Niven, #NFDB
441:He had a dream and it shot him. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
442:He had also written a computer ~ Eoin Colfer, #NFDB
443:he had another think coming. ~ Ilona Andrews, #NFDB
444:He had never seen snow before. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
445:He has a reptile dysfunction. ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
446:He has the players too happy. ~ Red Auerbach, #NFDB
447:He is bounce, effort and snark. ~ E Lockhart, #NFDB
448:He is lifeless that is faultless. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
449:He is no Jesuit! He is no Jesuit! ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
450:He is so excessively handsome! ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
451:He knew where his towel was. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
452:He laughed at that. ‘You’re ~ Robert Goddard, #NFDB
453:He loves power. A terrible love. ~ Euripides, #NFDB
454:he missed her all over his body ~ John Green, #NFDB
455:he opened the door he stopped, ~ Tina Seskis, #NFDB
456:He plaies well that winnes. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
457:He returned her stare but said ~ Rose Gordon, #NFDB
458:He said: “Go —— yourself. ~ Raymond Chandler, #NFDB
459:He seems to remember. “Why ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
460:He shall bite the dust! ~ E D E N Southworth, #NFDB
461:He's just not that into you. ~ Greg Behrendt, #NFDB
462:He's living but he's broken. ~ Tarryn Fisher, #NFDB
463:He smiled like a sun lamp. ~ Spider Robinson, #NFDB
464:He that serves, must serve. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
465:He was a man of great statue ~ Thomas Menino, #NFDB
466:He was a wise man who invented God. ~ Plato, #NFDB
467:He who feels it, knows it more. ~ Bob Marley, #NFDB
468:He who hid well, lived well. ~ Ren Descartes, #NFDB
469:He who is greedy is always in want. ~ Horace, #NFDB
470:He who knows himself is enlightened. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
471:HE WHO LAUGHS LAST LAUGHS BEST ~ Teddy Wayne, #NFDB
472:He whom the gods love dies young. ~ Menander, #NFDB
473:He who overcomes others is strong; ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
474:He who suffers, triumphs. ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon, #NFDB
475:He would always hold her safe ~ Nalini Singh, #NFDB
476:high. She was Oriental, he ~ Samuel R Delany, #NFDB
477:His art is a temper tantrum. He’s ~ A S King, #NFDB
478:How could he be? We kissed, ~ Deborah Bladon, #NFDB
479:If he’s talking, he’s thinking, ~ Nyrae Dawn, #NFDB
480:If I touch him, he might die. ~ Tahereh Mafi, #NFDB
481:I’m here,” he said. “Be still. ~ Chloe Neill, #NFDB
482:I tensed next to Aiden, but he ~ Rene Folsom, #NFDB
483:Looks like he's dressed for court. ~ CM Punk, #NFDB
484:Lord, but did he grow up nice. ~ Kelly Moran, #NFDB
485:Man is a mistake. He must go. ~ D H Lawrence, #NFDB
486:Neither. He's a—a—a meat dog. ~ L Frank Baum, #NFDB
487:Okay,” I said. “Okay,” he said. ~ John Green, #NFDB
488:people again. If he had a ~ Rachel Higginson, #NFDB
489:realized he wasn’t the one ~ Deborah Crombie, #NFDB
490:serious with her. Well, if he ~ Holly Martin, #NFDB
491:sound. He dumped him off ~ Catherine Coulter, #NFDB
492:stroke he imagined plunging ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
493:that was where he came from, ~ Louis L Amour, #NFDB
494:the wall. Then he grabbed his ~ Joanna Wylde, #NFDB
495:The word "He" diminishes Him. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
496:though, he rounded up the old ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
497:Was he that diabolical? ~ Karen Marie Moning, #NFDB
498:Why would he done that to her? ~ Chanda Hahn, #NFDB
499:You all saw him - he had a gun. ~ Bill Hicks, #NFDB
500:You're safe now." he murmured. ~ Erin Hunter, #NFDB
501:And, dying, he declined to die. ~ Jack London, #NFDB
502:and time to think. He drove ~ Stephen Leather, #NFDB
503:Beautiful boy,” he murmured. “Ah, ~ S E Jakes, #NFDB
504:But he said it couldn’t have ~ Sidney Sheldon, #NFDB
505:Call no man happy before he dies. ~ Herodotus, #NFDB
506:Could he throw no light? ~ Arthur Conan Doyle, #NFDB
507:Duty flows uphill and down.” He ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
508:Everyone creates what he fears. ~ DiAnn Mills, #NFDB
509:Evil Be He Who Thinketh Evil ~ Rebecca Maizel, #NFDB
510:Fuck him. He’s not worth it. ~ Colleen Hoover, #NFDB
511:Handsome is he who handsome does. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
512:he asks. ‘It’s awkward to park ~ Lynda Renham, #NFDB
513:He chokes on his one tongue. ~ Gena Showalter, #NFDB
514:He does me double wrong ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
515:He enters the port with a full sail. ~ Virgil, #NFDB
516:he guessed, totally incorrectly. ~ Robin Hobb, #NFDB
517:He had decided to trust me. ~ Tracy Chevalier, #NFDB
518:He had never even glimpsed her. ~ Kim Edwards, #NFDB
519:He had ten hopes to your one. ~ Carl Sandburg, #NFDB
520:He has gone over to the majority. ~ Petronius, #NFDB
521:He has Raynaud’s syndrome ~ Patricia Cornwell, #NFDB
522:He is not poor who has a competency. ~ Horace, #NFDB
523:He killed them with their love ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
524:He laughed. ‘To call a woman ~ Winston Graham, #NFDB
525:He looked like Thor. Tara's ~ Jennifer Probst, #NFDB
526:He loved. He could lose. ~ Karen Marie Moning, #NFDB
527:He loved me like a porn star, ~ Morgan Parker, #NFDB
528:Here, at last, he is happy. ~ Edgar Allan Poe, #NFDB
529:He robbed a bank in Wichita. ~ William Gibson, #NFDB
530:he said, ‘I don’t understand. ~ Jill Paterson, #NFDB
531:He's just this guy, you know? ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
532:He's not my warlock. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
533:He's too ugly to be the champ! ~ Muhammad Ali, #NFDB
534:He, that holds fast the golden mean, ~ Horace, #NFDB
535:He that sowes trusts in God. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
536:He thought it was gunshot, ~ Brian McGilloway, #NFDB
537:He was a glance from God ~ Zora Neale Hurston, #NFDB
538:He was murdered in Hawaii. ~ Caroline Taggart, #NFDB
539:He was my Reason To Breathe ~ Rebecca Donovan, #NFDB
540:He was so slim, his heart was visible ~ Hafez, #NFDB
541:he was starting in the middle. ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
542:he whispered. “Scarlet.” With ~ Marissa Meyer, #NFDB
543:He who eats alone chokes alone. ~ H L Mencken, #NFDB
544:He who hesitates is a damned fool. ~ Mae West, #NFDB
545:He who hid well, lived well. ~ Rene Descartes, #NFDB
546:He who is brave is free. ~ Seneca the Younger, #NFDB
547:He who knows he has enough, is rich ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
548:He who laughs most, learns best ~ John Cleese, #NFDB
549:he who overcomes himself is mighty. ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
550:He who retreats lives longer. ~ Michael Scott, #NFDB
551:How does he even want me? Ruben ~ Damon Suede, #NFDB
552:how he had done so she never ~ Robert Goddard, #NFDB
553:If I like him, he’s probably gay. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
554:If only it were real.' he says. ~ Ally Condie, #NFDB
555:If you build it, he will come. ~ W P Kinsella, #NFDB
556:I loved him and he allowed it ~ Carrie Fisher, #NFDB
557:I’m back!” he told Life. ~ David James Duncan, #NFDB
558:I’m little but I’m old,” he said. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
559:It's a foul if he calls a foul. ~ Mike Lupica, #NFDB
560:Look out! He's got a daisy! ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
561:MacKenzie laughed. “He ~ Rachel Ren e Russell, #NFDB
562:Man is the creature he fears. ~ Josh Malerman, #NFDB
563:Maybe he knew I’d need to smile. ~ Kiera Cass, #NFDB
564:Now he belongs to the ages. ~ Edwin M Stanton, #NFDB
565:Okay?” I asked. “Okay,” he said. ~ John Green, #NFDB
566:Only the liar knows he's lying ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
567:People died because he lived. ~ Hafsah Faizal, #NFDB
568:Remember the wonders he has done. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
569:samples, which he then input ~ Michael Palmer, #NFDB
570:She was what he’d been craving. ~ Donna Grant, #NFDB
571:Shit,' he said succinctly. ~ Genevieve Cogman, #NFDB
572:Sloane…I’m yours,” he whispers. ~ Callie Hart, #NFDB
573:snow-covered beach, he stopped. ~ P J Parrish, #NFDB
574:So,” he began slowly. “I see ~ Brian Staveley, #NFDB
575:That's not my cane," he said. ~ Layce Gardner, #NFDB
576:The Light knows how sane he still ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
577:The mind is a garden," said he. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
578:Then he jumped up and shouted. ~ Farley Mowat, #NFDB
579:Then he said, “Christopher, you ~ Mark Haddon, #NFDB
580:The value of a person is what he does best. ~, #NFDB
581:this wasn’t good. “Jesus,” he ~ Juliana Stone, #NFDB
582:Though alone, he was not lost. ~ Jack London, #NFDB
583:to give him my number so that he ~ J S Cooper, #NFDB
584:wall. He’d wait for five more ~ Kendra Elliot, #NFDB
585:We love because He first loved us ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
586:Where is he wounded? ~ Robert Louis Stevenson, #NFDB
587:Worm," he'd said, "prepare to burn. ~ Various, #NFDB
588:Account no man happy till he dies. ~ Euripides, #NFDB
589:A man is known by the company he keeps ~ Aesop, #NFDB
590:A man is virgin if he says so. ~ M F Moonzajer, #NFDB
591:And he thought: I’m a seed. He ~ Frank Herbert, #NFDB
592:An iron? Was he kidding? God ~ Suzanne Johnson, #NFDB
593:Beautiful,” he said finally. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
594:bleeding. He wasn’t made for this. ~ Yaa Gyasi, #NFDB
595:Blessed is he whokeepeth himself pure. ~ Koran, #NFDB
596:breathing, so she knew he was ~ Christie Craig, #NFDB
597:Call no man happy till he is dead. ~ Aeschylus, #NFDB
598:Can’t believe he’s inside me. ~ Laura Thalassa, #NFDB
599:Dantes. He became Number 34. ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
600:death by little death, he ceased ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
601:disappearance, Kyle knew he had ~ Cynthia Eden, #NFDB
602:distraught. It seems he claims ~ Hilary Mantel, #NFDB
603:Drunk, he slew no hearth-companions. ~ Unknown, #NFDB
604:Everything he wanna have-I got. ~ Tupac Shakur, #NFDB
605:Everything he was, he gave to her. ~ L J Smith, #NFDB
606:Evil be he who thinketh evil. ~ Rebecca Maizel, #NFDB
607:from his body. He had been fried. ~ Ryan Casey, #NFDB
608:God is God because he remembers. ~ Elie Wiesel, #NFDB
609:God tests, but he does not tempt. ~ Criss Jami, #NFDB
610:He aint heavy, he's my brother. ~ Neil Diamond, #NFDB
611:He came to talk to you,” Jenny ~ Sherryl Woods, #NFDB
612:He cannot ravish. He can only woo. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
613:He cannot ravish; He can only woo. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
614:He’d fallen in love with a woman ~ Marie Force, #NFDB
615:He’d kill them all to find her. ~ Lietha Wards, #NFDB
616:He does much who loves much. ~ Thomas a Kempis, #NFDB
617:He glanced toward both ends of ~ Kendra Elliot, #NFDB
618:He had to take Plott unaware. ~ Beverly Barton, #NFDB
619:He has the qualities of a rock. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
620:He is lofty, and I am eminent. ~ Gough Whitlam, #NFDB
621:He is the cheese to my macaroni. ~ Diablo Cody, #NFDB
622:He killed them with their love. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
623:He living too far in the past. ~ August Wilson, #NFDB
624:He looked Häagen-Dazs delicious ~ Nashoda Rose, #NFDB
625:He means to heal our soul holes. ~ Ann Voskamp, #NFDB
626:He only loved his love for me ~ Charles Baxter, #NFDB
627:He said, “Don’t,” and walked away. ~ T J Klune, #NFDB
628:He said he’d see you soon . . . ~ Harlan Coben, #NFDB
629:he’s braw and pulchritudinous, ~ David Sedaris, #NFDB
630:He’s Just Not That into You? ~ Catherine Bybee, #NFDB
631:He's no stranger to pretty words. ~ Maya Banks, #NFDB
632:He stood at least six foot three, ~ Toni Blake, #NFDB
633:He that cuts off twenty years of life ~ Horace, #NFDB
634:He that lives most dies most. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
635:He truly sorrows who sorrows unseen. ~ Martial, #NFDB
636:He [Vishous] was all need, no ease. ~ J R Ward, #NFDB
637:He walked noisily, like a fish. ~ Jules Renard, #NFDB
638:...he wanted so much to live... ~ Jack Kerouac, #NFDB
639:He was a big fish, even then. ~ Daniel Wallace, #NFDB
640:He was a boy, she was a girl, ~ Avril Lavigne, #NFDB
641:He was a demon in the sack. -Dita ~ Staci Hart, #NFDB
642:He was a glance from God. ~ Zora Neale Hurston, #NFDB
643:He was born to disappear. ~ Matthew J Sullivan, #NFDB
644:He was on the outside, looking in. ~ C L Stone, #NFDB
645:He was watching Starman. She ~ Charlotte Stein, #NFDB
646:He who demands little gets it. ~ Ellen Glasgow, #NFDB
647:He who fights and runs away ~ Oliver Goldsmith, #NFDB
648:he who knows himself is intelligent. ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
649:He who laughs most, learns best. ~ John Cleese, #NFDB
650:He who talks more is sooner exhausted. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
651:He who treads softly goes far. ~ Dale Carnegie, #NFDB
652:He wouldn’t be remembered well. ~ Clive Barker, #NFDB
653:He wrote it all down Zealously. ~ Edward Gorey, #NFDB
654:his brother, except that he had ~ Diana Palmer, #NFDB
655:His voice became louder as he ~ Marion Chesney, #NFDB
656:Holy tater tits, he was powerful. ~ K F Breene, #NFDB
657:Home to them was wherever he was. ~ Meg Rosoff, #NFDB
658:If he's the king, I'm the prince. ~ Alex Riley, #NFDB
659:If He were apparent, He would not be. ~ Hermes, #NFDB
660:I hate Mourinho. He's a fool. ~ Noel Gallagher, #NFDB
661:I’ll be back,” he called over ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
662:I messed my pants,” he said. ~ James Lee Burke, #NFDB
663:In the one branch he most needed ~ Henry Adams, #NFDB
664:Is he a good man?" "Define 'good'. ~ Cleopatra, #NFDB
665:It’s porn time!” he said, ~ Karl Ove Knausg rd, #NFDB
666:I want to know if he sees Jack. ~ Cameron Jace, #NFDB
667:making him question why he’d given ~ Lis Wiehl, #NFDB
668:Not a deed would he do, ~ James Russell Lowell, #NFDB
669:Now, I think he might be dead. ~ Paula Hawkins, #NFDB
670:Take care, Tenar,” he said. ~ Ursula K Le Guin, #NFDB
671:That’s a terrible idea.” “He ~ Christy Barritt, #NFDB
672:The fool knows after he has suffered. ~ Hesiod, #NFDB
673:The mockery of it! he said gaily ~ James Joyce, #NFDB
674:way, looking as if he wanted ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
675:Well, ma’am, he looked around. ~ Louis L Amour, #NFDB
676:We'll send only a brain," he said. ~ Liu Cixin, #NFDB
677:What a family,” he said softly. ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
678:When he left for his date, he was late ~ Tijan, #NFDB
679:When he smiles at me, I am lost ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
680:When he smiles at me, I’m lost. ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
681:Why else did he keep all this a ~ Naseem Rakha, #NFDB
682:You moan, "She left me." "He left me," ~ Rumi, #NFDB
683:allow it to interfere with what he ~ S C Gwynne, #NFDB
684:A man can laugh while he suffers. ~ Elie Wiesel, #NFDB
685:A man is known by the company he keeps. ~ Aesop, #NFDB
686:A Man Is Known By The Mice He Keeps ~ Ken Kesey, #NFDB
687:and paralytics; and He healed them. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
688:As a man believes, so he will act. ~ Sam Harris, #NFDB
689:As far as he knew, I was dying. ~ Mickey Mantle, #NFDB
690:A shark who dreamed he was a man. ~ Rick Yancey, #NFDB
691:As one thinketh in his heart, so is he. ~ David, #NFDB
692:Bukowski was a loser. He knew it. ~ Mark Manson, #NFDB
693:Call me The Giver,” he told Jonas. ~ Lois Lowry, #NFDB
694:Can we trust him, you think?” he ~ Diana Palmer, #NFDB
695:drawing pad. He withdrew it and ~ Peter Lovesey, #NFDB
696:Dreams aren't memories," he says. ~ Lisa McMann, #NFDB
697:Every man is a poet when he is in love. ~ Plato, #NFDB
698:God heard, Manny. He always does. ~ Gina Holmes, #NFDB
699:Grief, he said, is carnivorous. ~ Dennis Lehane, #NFDB
700:He [5] was manifested in the flesh, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
701:He also knows the power of word. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
702:He came back in a body bag. ~ Alexandra Bracken, #NFDB
703:he came for her sake alone. ~ Louisa May Alcott, #NFDB
704:he could feel his hope wilting. ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
705:He felt empty, broken, defeated. ~ Pamela Clare, #NFDB
706:He felt strangled by helplessness. ~ Maya Banks, #NFDB
707:He frosted under heavy guard. ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
708:He gave her mischievous look. ~ Janice L Dennie, #NFDB
709:He had a very gentile attitude, ~ Dennis Liggio, #NFDB
710:He had wanted to be a sophomore. ~ Annie Proulx, #NFDB
711:He has Van Gogh’s ear for music. ~ Billy Wilder, #NFDB
712:He is such a flood, I thought ~ Madeline Miller, #NFDB
713:He kisses like Elliott Smith sings. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
714:he knows how to cure Bramblestar. ~ Erin Hunter, #NFDB
715:He laughed, but he didn’t smile. ~ David Almond, #NFDB
716:He laughs best who laughs last. ~ John Vanbrugh, #NFDB
717:He looked up at Wyatt, who was ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
718:He resolved to leave the convent. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
719:He's a..."
"Pain in the ass. ~ Leah Clifford,#NFDB
720:He’s having a Ha Loo Sin Nation. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
721:He's not a doctor. Deal with it. ~ Sally Thorne, #NFDB
722:He’s not the first to say that. ~ Michael Grant, #NFDB
723:He spent all that day roaming ~ Rudyard Kipling, #NFDB
724:he spent his free time at the ~ Kristan Higgins, #NFDB
725:He's picked clean! Eaten by cats! ~ Lynda Barry, #NFDB
726:He tasted like coffee and pie, ~ Megan Erickson, #NFDB
727:He typed in a request and sent ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
728:He was a sickness I loved to hate. ~ K F Breene, #NFDB
729:He was easily sorry for people. ~ Joseph Conrad, #NFDB
730:He was mad and plenty brave. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
731:He was me, yes. But I am not him. ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
732:He was pale as salt. Although ~ Alice McDermott, #NFDB
733:He was poised on circumstance. ~ Louise Erdrich, #NFDB
734:He was pure sex with a side of fun. ~ C D Reiss, #NFDB
735:He was such a…master of kissery. ~ Shelly Crane, #NFDB
736:He went to rub his eyes and missed. ~ Max Barry, #NFDB
737:He who becomes dizzy is lost. ~ Arthur Koestler, #NFDB
738:He who brings kola brings life. ~ Chinua Achebe, #NFDB
739:He who can simulate sanity will be sane. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
740:He who does not work, will not eat ~ John Smith, #NFDB
741:He who doubts from what he sees ~ William Blake, #NFDB
742:He who hath many friends hath none. ~ Aristotle, #NFDB
743:He who knows other men is discerning; ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
744:He will always be my Sir Galahad. ~ Ava Gardner, #NFDB
745:He will be beloved when he is no more. ~ Horace, #NFDB
746:He will have true glory who despises it. ~ Livy, #NFDB
747:he wouldn’t be driving an Audi – ~ Shari Lapena, #NFDB
748:How could he be both of these men? ~ Idra Novey, #NFDB
749:I cannot kill someone, he thought. ~ Lois Lowry, #NFDB
750:Immanuel isn't a pun; he Kant be! ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
751:I need you Anastasia," he whispers. ~ E L James, #NFDB
752:I wish he had let you all die ~ Madeline Miller, #NFDB
753:Just know He has His hands on You ~ Marvin Sapp, #NFDB
754:known that he had to be careful ~ Iris Johansen, #NFDB
755:Low on his funeral couch he lies! ~ Thomas Gray, #NFDB
756:made to the American people. He ~ Bill O Reilly, #NFDB
757:Madoc has no idea who he is. ~ Penelope Douglas, #NFDB
758:Man becomes what he thinks about ~ Rhonda Byrne, #NFDB
759:moved as he swallowed. “After ~ Karin Slaughter, #NFDB
760:No. He and I are through. ~ Matthew FitzSimmons, #NFDB
761:No one asks a robot what he wants. ~ Tanith Lee, #NFDB
762:No one loves the man whom he fears. ~ Aristotle, #NFDB
763:Now he's miserable and depressed. ~ David Frost, #NFDB
764:on by whatever it is he’s ~ Jacqueline Winspear, #NFDB
765:people around he decided that ~ Nicholas Sparks, #NFDB
766:rape or seduction, he'd take either ~ Shana Abe, #NFDB
767:Stick a fork in him. He's done. ~ Leo Durocher, #NFDB
768:stomach as he stood to the side. ~ Jack Higgins, #NFDB
769:Then he walked home and died. ~ Neal Stephenson, #NFDB
770:The only thing he cares about. ~ Daniel Handler, #NFDB
771:the Senate in 1958. He was the ~ Chris Matthews, #NFDB
772:They say he missed that whore. ~ Larry McMurtry, #NFDB
773:Wahoo feared he would be killed. ~ Carl Hiaasen, #NFDB
774:We’re five minutes away.” He ~ Julianne MacLean, #NFDB
775:What’d he do? Your stepfather? ~ Jeffery Deaver, #NFDB
776:What is in here?” he asked loudly. ~ Lois Lowry, #NFDB
777:When you give, you get,” he said. ~ Mitch Albom, #NFDB
778:Why did he have to be so...so... ~ Kelly Creagh, #NFDB
779:Wisest is he who knows he knows not. ~ Socrates, #NFDB
780:Would he love her or kill her? ~ Christian M rk, #NFDB
781:Wow. He’s like sexy Willy Wonka. ~ Kenya Wright, #NFDB
782:years overnight. Maybe he had, ~ Danielle Steel, #NFDB
783:A mad man sees what he sees. ~ George R R Martin, #NFDB
784:a nerd is known by the books he read ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
785:answer the door, so he started to ~ Trevor Scott, #NFDB
786:As a man thinketh, so he behaveth, ~ Mike Dooley, #NFDB
787:baffled at how he had released her. ~ Robin Hobb, #NFDB
788:for he was discovered to be proud; ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
789:Gamache in anger. “He knew that’s ~ Louise Penny, #NFDB
790:Give an inch, he'll take an ell. ~ Thomas Hobbes, #NFDB
791:God, he'd be so perfect for Gina! ~ Andrea Smith, #NFDB
792:going?” he called without losing ~ Robert D Hare, #NFDB
793:Good news. “Come fast,” he suggests. ~ M R Carey, #NFDB
794:Happy he who far from business persuits ~ Horace, #NFDB
795:Happy is he who causes a scandal ~ Salvador Dali, #NFDB
796:He buries gold who hides the truth. ~ Pythagoras, #NFDB
797:He can’t miss what he’s never had! ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
798:He conquers who endures.’ Remember ~ Rick Yancey, #NFDB
799:He’d fucked me and, fucked me dirty. ~ C D Reiss, #NFDB
800:he did was operate the winch. ~ Karen MacInerney, #NFDB
801:He does not weep who does not see. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
802:He drove out the spirits with a word ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
803:He feel’s that he will fly apart, ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
804:He fumed like a bottled storm. ~ Charlotte Bront, #NFDB
805:He goes along just as a water lily ~ Fiona Apple, #NFDB
806:He had been a sailor and a sinner ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
807:He hadn’t a single redeeming vice. ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
808:He had short brown curls for hair, ~ Steve Alten, #NFDB
809:He had tales of distant countries. ~ James Joyce, #NFDB
810:He has to come to it on his own. ~ Justin Cronin, #NFDB
811:He headed downstairs to his father’s ~ Cat Grant, #NFDB
812:He hissed in oxygen at her touch. ~ Lynda Chance, #NFDB
813:He is now walking from his dream. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
814:He left to do whatever editors do. ~ Bill Bryson, #NFDB
815:He made his character his platform. ~ H W Brands, #NFDB
816:he must cook and eat the child. ~ Serinity Young, #NFDB
817:He needs both patience and speed. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
818:He's a male chauvinistic piglet. ~ Betty Friedan, #NFDB
819:He's as nutty as a vegan T-bone. ~ David Sedaris, #NFDB
820:He saw the real me and he liked me. ~ Bren Brown, #NFDB
821:He's got a thing for Alex Riley. ~ John Morrison, #NFDB
822:He shook his head. “I don’t like the ~ I T Lucas, #NFDB
823:He shrugged. Memories of a basement… ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
824:He’s in a mood, Shadowpaw thought, ~ Erin Hunter, #NFDB
825:He’s magnificent,” Mellie sighed. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
826:He’s such a male little male. ~ John D MacDonald, #NFDB
827:He sure put things into words good. ~ S E Hinton, #NFDB
828:He that feares death lives not. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
829:He that preacheth giveth almes. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
830:He that travels much knows much. ~ Thomas Fuller, #NFDB
831:He thinks we're made of money. ~ Kristin Cashore, #NFDB
832:He trades on emotions, not facts. ~ Len Deighton, #NFDB
833:He was a little like you, Twitch. ~ Belle Aurora, #NFDB
834:He was an amateur of sex lore ~ Vladimir Nabokov, #NFDB
835:He wasn’t angry about her feelings. ~ M R Forbes, #NFDB
836:He was old but full of beans, ~ Lawrence Osborne, #NFDB
837:He was one of those capital M Men. ~ Lauren Dane, #NFDB
838:He was the end to my beginning. ~ Mariana Zapata, #NFDB
839:He was verbally poking a bruise. ~ Gillian Flynn, #NFDB
840:He who complains, sins. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #NFDB
841:He who does not weep does not see. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
842:He who is abandoned is an abandoner, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
843:He who slings mud loses ground. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
844:He who talks more is sooner exhausted. ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
845:He worshiped her; she idolized him. ~ Robyn Carr, #NFDB
846:He would make a lovely corpse. ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
847:I can’t unfind you,” he said. ~ Octavia E Butler, #NFDB
848:I don’t his name or we he lived. ~ Susan Gillard, #NFDB
849:If he should love deny him what he loves! ~ Ovid, #NFDB
850:—I’m no longer ninety, he said. ~ Jonas Jonasson, #NFDB
851:I’m not jealous,” he said jealously. ~ T J Klune, #NFDB
852:In on dream, he was running from ~ Blaise Corvin, #NFDB
853:I pushed him away. So he left. ~ Rebecca Donovan, #NFDB
854:I rather think he knew anyway. ~ Jonathan Stroud, #NFDB
855:It's the lady, then," he murmured. ~ Rick Yancey, #NFDB
856:Jack. “When I was your age,” he ~ Jeffrey Archer, #NFDB
857:Like a dog, he hunts in dreams ~ Alfred Tennyson, #NFDB
858:Make me, baby girl,” he taunted. ~ Stylo Fantome, #NFDB
859:Man becomes what he thinks about. ~ Rhonda Byrne, #NFDB
860:Man is not mind, he is soul. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
861:meant he turned left at the ~ Giacomo Giammatteo, #NFDB
862:Never tell a crazy person he’s crazy. ~ Tina Fey, #NFDB
863:Now, you red-eyed devil," he said, ~ Jack London, #NFDB
864:Okay,” he said, his eyes so kind and ~ Susan Sey, #NFDB
865:One day he’d learn all her secrets… ~ Katie Reus, #NFDB
866:Only the liar knows if he's lying ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
867:Self-defense is never murder,” he ~ Vered Ehsani, #NFDB
868:the great unseen Reality is God. "He ~ A W Tozer, #NFDB
869:told her about. “He’s your cousin? ~ Sienna Mynx, #NFDB
870:To the rear, sir—he's lost his leg! ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
871:trying not to wake her, he sat up ~ Shannyn Leah, #NFDB
872:Walker nodded. ‘I will,’ he said. ‘I ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
873:We have met the enemy and he is us. ~ Walt Kelly, #NFDB
874:What a gift he'd been given in Mia. ~ Maya Banks, #NFDB
875:What are those?” he asked. ~ Christopher Paolini, #NFDB
876:What God does for us, He does in us. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
877:When I need God most, He comes ~ Yasmin Mogahed, #NFDB
878:Whoever loves, if he do not propose ~ John Donne, #NFDB
879:Who made the heart, 'tis He alone ~ Robert Burns, #NFDB
880:Who then is sane? He who is not a fool. ~ Horace, #NFDB
881:why did he not free his slaves? ~ Bernard Bailyn, #NFDB
882:will he be as good as he was before? ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
883:Yes, if he is to have true music in him. ~ Plato, #NFDB
884:You were made for me,” he breathes. ~ Kyra Davis, #NFDB
885:A man is either free or he is not. ~ Amiri Baraka, #NFDB
886:As he thinketh in his heart, so is he ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
887:Being nice? He’s being horny. ~ Becca Fitzpatrick, #NFDB
888:bolt-action Remington .308 he ~ Loreth Anne White, #NFDB
889:Charlie alone knew he was a ghost. ~ John le Carr, #NFDB
890:Diana,” he whispered. “My Diana. ~ Elizabeth Hoyt, #NFDB
891:Did he get blasted to tiny pieces? ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
892:Did he rape my head, too? ~ Laurie Halse Anderson, #NFDB
893:Durak,” he said, spitting it. When ~ Joseph Kanon, #NFDB
894:even though he is mad and I am sane. ~ Iain Banks, #NFDB
895:Fine," he says. "Then I love you. ~ Veronica Roth, #NFDB
896:For poetry, he's past his prime, ~ Jonathan Swift, #NFDB
897:God grinds the axes he intends to use. ~ Dave Sim, #NFDB
898:God looks on the heart, doesn't he ? ~ Amy Harmon, #NFDB
899:He blew his mind out in a caaaar. ~ Roger McGuinn, #NFDB
900:He bored me by just looking at him. ~ Abbi Glines, #NFDB
901:He collapsed, all his efforts spent. ~ Dan Abnett, #NFDB
902:He collapsed right in the middle ~ Robin S Sharma, #NFDB
903:he could hear faint sounds from their ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
904:He cultivated ideological fuzziness. ~ H W Brands, #NFDB
905:He deceived me by telling the truth. ~ E F Benson, #NFDB
906:He didn't look back. He never did ~ John Flanagan, #NFDB
907:He doesn't know he doesn't always. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
908:He felt like she was breaking him. ~ Cynthia Eden, #NFDB
909:He forced himself into good spirits. ~ H W Brands, #NFDB
910:He found copies of Stan’s columns. ~ Harlan Coben, #NFDB
911:He had known this was inevitable. ~ Marissa Meyer, #NFDB
912:He is able who think he is able. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
913:He is coming, and I am here. ~ Audrey Niffenegger, #NFDB
914:He is hailed a conqueror of conquerors. ~ Plautus, #NFDB
915:He is praised by some, blamed by others. ~ Horace, #NFDB
916:He kissed her. Hard. Fast. Vaughn. ~ Nalini Singh, #NFDB
917:He laughs best who laughs least. ~ Ambrose Bierce, #NFDB
918:He liked cock, this intellectual! ~ Laurent Binet, #NFDB
919:He lives well who lives retired, and keeps ~ Ovid, #NFDB
920:He made me feel so good about being me. ~ M Mabie, #NFDB
921:He not busy being born is busy dying. ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
922:He’s a real-life Dr. House.” • ~ Susannah Cahalan, #NFDB
923:He's been like a fresh of breath air. ~ Roy Keane, #NFDB
924:He signed it with a little heart. ~ Rachel Gibson, #NFDB
925:He's not perfect. You are not either ~ Bob Marley, #NFDB
926:He's so small, he's a waste of skin. ~ Fred Allen, #NFDB
927:He that burnes most shines most. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
928:He that endures is not overcome. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
929:He that has many friends, has no friends. ~ Aesop, #NFDB
930:He that is down needs fear no fall. ~ John Bunyan, #NFDB
931:He that's secure is not safe. ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
932:he wanted to pursue criminal charges ~ Debra Webb, #NFDB
933:He warmes too neere that burnes. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
934:he was always in her crosshairs? ~ Yahrah St John, #NFDB
935:He was a soldier, not a general; but ~ Kate Quinn, #NFDB
936:He was circling on a leading strap ~ Andre Norton, #NFDB
937:He wasn’t that spoiled or selfish. ~ Stuart Gibbs, #NFDB
938:He was the perfectly flawed man. ~ Samantha Chase, #NFDB
939:He was the toast to her butter. ~ Nicholas Sparks, #NFDB
940:He who angers you conquers you. ~ Elizabeth Kenny, #NFDB
941:He who believes needs no explanation. ~ Euripides, #NFDB
942:He who complains, sins. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #NFDB
943:He who dies for virtue does not perish. ~ Plautus, #NFDB
944:He who keeps his cool best wins. ~ Norman Cousins, #NFDB
945:He who knows he has enough is rich. ~ Vicki Robin, #NFDB
946:He who knows nothing, loves nothing. ~ Paracelsus, #NFDB
947:He who made you bitter made you wise. ~ W B Yeats, #NFDB
948:I am James's but he is not mine. ~ Kiersten White, #NFDB
949:I am not afraid," he said to himself. ~ Garth Nix, #NFDB
950:If a man's a good kisser, he's a great f-. ~ Cher, #NFDB
951:I feel sad that he's just a voice now. ~ Yoko Ono, #NFDB
952:I feel sad that he’s just a voice now. ~ Yoko Ono, #NFDB
953:If I’m a hero of war, so is he. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
954:I’ll never sleep again, he thought ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
955:I'm thinking he might be a sex pest. ~ L H Cosway, #NFDB
956:In time comes he whom God sends. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
957:Is he dancing or having a seizure? ~ Jerry Lawler, #NFDB
958:Is he understanding everything?”: ~ Mark Mazzetti, #NFDB
959:Is he under the influence or something? ~ CM Punk, #NFDB
960:It’s like he’s fallen out of time. ~ Jandy Nelson, #NFDB
961:just hope he wasn’t too important ~ Pittacus Lore, #NFDB
962:Knowing he couldn’t go back to ~ Christie Ridgway, #NFDB
963:Man does not steal, he conquers ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
964:Man is free the moment he wants to be. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
965:... me He now delights to spare. ~ Charles Wesley, #NFDB
966:Mr. Bennet replied that he had not. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
967:Nobody said he was Alvin Einstein. ~ Carl Hiaasen, #NFDB
968:No man is great if he thinks he is. ~ Will Rogers, #NFDB
969:No man is happy; he is at best fortunate. ~ Solon, #NFDB
970:Obama's not Jesus. He can't walk on water. ~ Mr T, #NFDB
971:or was he really asleep? Her first ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
972:Ron Thompson, he's my main man! ~ John Lee Hooker, #NFDB
973:Roots like an oak tree, Barney.” He ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
974:Sabin get his way. He wanted Kovac to ~ Tami Hoag, #NFDB
975:said he ‘would rather go without’. ~ Sue Townsend, #NFDB
976:Sometimes in order to help He makes us cry ~ Rumi, #NFDB
977:Sweets to the sweet," he murmured, ~ Clive Barker, #NFDB
978:Ted, I swear to God, quothe he. ~ George Saunders, #NFDB
979:that came over his face when he was ~ Rose Gordon, #NFDB
980:The Eagle, he was lord above ~ William Wordsworth, #NFDB
981:"The Entertainer" He did it all. ~ Sammy Davis Jr, #NFDB
982:The infant is ten and he stays, ~ William Goldman, #NFDB
983:The infant is ten and he stays. ~ William Goldman, #NFDB
984:The man is either crazy or he is a poet. ~ Horace, #NFDB
985:The pioneer kills what he loves. ~ Elspeth Huxley, #NFDB
986:This, he never doubted, was magic. ~ Laini Taylor, #NFDB
987:was that he hadn’t yet figured out ~ Louise Penny, #NFDB
988:What a man wishes, he will believe. ~ Demosthenes, #NFDB
989:What he had was what he pretended. ~ Annie Proulx, #NFDB
990:When would he learn humility? ~ Mary Alice Monroe, #NFDB
991:Why? Because he’s one of them. ~ Victoria Aveyard, #NFDB
992:Why did he kiss you?" she said. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
993:wouldn’t. So he hoped they would bear ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
994:Yet he opposed the introduction ~ Richard J Evans, #NFDB
995:You know where my house is.” He ~ Joanna Chambers, #NFDB
996:You’re still my ocean,” he whispers. ~ Kyra Davis, #NFDB
997:Ah, if he could only die temporarily! ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
998:A Jew is anyone who says he is. ~ David Ben Gurion, #NFDB
999:All he wished for was a happy ending. ~ Jamie Ford, #NFDB
1000:A man should be what he can do. ~ Montgomery Clift, #NFDB
1001:And Cletus always gets what he wants. ~ Penny Reid, #NFDB
1002:And he says I have lousy timing ~ Kelley Armstrong, #NFDB
1003:As he thinketh in his heart, so is he. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1004:As he thinks in his heart, so is he ~ Randy Frazee, #NFDB
1005:Bob says hello," he told the stars. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
1006:Bob says hello,” he told the stars. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
1007:bullies either. He’d be glad to have ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
1008:But when he’s cut, I bleed. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold, #NFDB
1009:confidence. He contained worlds. ~ Julie Anne Long, #NFDB
1010:Cute but doesn’t act like he knows it? ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1011:gone. “He told me about a sandwich ~ Peng Shepherd, #NFDB
1012:He and God weren't friends anymore. ~ Dana Mentink, #NFDB
1013:He ate what was set before him ~ Robert A Heinlein, #NFDB
1014:He couldn’t go on. He went on. ~ Diane Setterfield, #NFDB
1015:He couldn't want someone like me. ~ Krista Ritchie, #NFDB
1016:He didn’t agree, but he didn’t argue. ~ Ranae Rose, #NFDB
1017:He didn't date women. He fucked them ~ Jaci Burton, #NFDB
1018:He fears the dead. He does not love. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1019:he forgot about being cross with her ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1020:He freed the song of your soul. ~ Elizabeth Lesser, #NFDB
1021:He (God) loves what I shall be. ~ George MacDonald, #NFDB
1022:He had a thousand-year-old stare. ~ Louise Erdrich, #NFDB
1023:He had become, after all, her home. ~ Lauren Groff, #NFDB
1024:he had given the Kaffir a choice, ~ Thomas Pynchon, #NFDB
1025:He had his own
ways of sublimation. ~ A S Byatt,#NFDB
1026:He has got the slows, Mr. Blair. ~ Abraham Lincoln, #NFDB
1027:he has no more manners than a bear, ~ Fanny Burney, #NFDB
1028:He hovered on unexceptionality. ~ Colson Whitehead, #NFDB
1029:He is able who thinks he is able. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
1030:He is a longing I will never cure. ~ Tarryn Fisher, #NFDB
1031:He is dead now, but he meant well. ~ George Carlin, #NFDB
1032:He is our man's-man of literature. ~ Andrew Barger, #NFDB
1033:He is the principle of supreme Wisdom. ~ The Zohar, #NFDB
1034:he just wants a way to remember. ~ Amanda Lovelace, #NFDB
1035:He kisses me like I'm his canvas. ~ Colleen Hoover, #NFDB
1036:He kisses me like I’m his canvas. ~ Colleen Hoover, #NFDB
1037:He listens well who takes notes. ~ Dante Alighieri, #NFDB
1038:He lived in his own special hell ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
1039:He lives well who is well hidden. ~ Rene Descartes, #NFDB
1040:He looked good, like sin in a suit. ~ Melissa Marr, #NFDB
1041:He loved happiness like I love tea. ~ Eudora Welty, #NFDB
1042:He now radiates courage and magnetism. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1043:he recognized that particular look. ~ Summer Devon, #NFDB
1044:her wrist. He grabbed her other wrist ~ A G Riddle, #NFDB
1045:he sat down at the right hand of God,v ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1046:He says she is his émerveillement. ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
1047:He's broken, but not broken enough. ~ Erika Swyler, #NFDB
1048:He should probably make love to her. ~ Tara Janzen, #NFDB
1049:He's just a man names Gatsby. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
1050:He's like a drug for you, Bella. ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
1051:he smiled like a weather man, ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
1052:He’s my poison and my antidote. ~ Corinne Michaels, #NFDB
1053:He’s on our side now,” said Hermione ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1054:He’s our chief science guru.” Dr. ~ Robert J Crane, #NFDB
1055:He speaks truly who speaks the shade. ~ Paul Celan, #NFDB
1056:He that cannot reason is a fool. ~ Andrew Carnegie, #NFDB
1057:He that dies pays all debts. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1058:He that is warme, thinkes all so. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1059:He that lives in love lives in God. ~ William Penn, #NFDB
1060:He that's content hath enough. ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
1061:He tried the luxury of doing good. ~ George Crabbe, #NFDB
1062:he trudged across the room, and ~ Vannetta Chapman, #NFDB
1063:He vainly said that human will is free, ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
1064:He wanted to run. He wanted to play. ~ Edward Lorn, #NFDB
1065:he was a man on a date with destiny, ~ Kate Morton, #NFDB
1066:He was Deke.
And he was mine. ~ Kristen Ashley,#NFDB
1067:He was my first favorite mistake. ~ Lauren Blakely, #NFDB
1068:He wasn’t eye candy, he was eye crack, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1069:He was so wrong it felt right. ~ Becca Fitzpatrick, #NFDB
1070:He was strong, but I was desperate. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1071:He was the first of my ghosts. ~ Diane Setterfield, #NFDB
1072:He who conceives the Truth, is born anew. ~ Vemana, #NFDB
1073:He who fears God fears no man. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
1074:He who has the gold makes the rules. ~ Tyler Perry, #NFDB
1075:He who hesitates is usually fucked! ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1076:He who hugs too much, hugs badly! ~ Jeanne Calment, #NFDB
1077:He who knows he has enough is rich. ~ Francine Jay, #NFDB
1078:He who labours, prays. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #NFDB
1079:He who leaves the game wins it. ~ Nicolas Chamfort, #NFDB
1080:He who love touches walks not in darkness. ~ Plato, #NFDB
1081:He whom all hate all wish to see destroyed. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
1082:He who plants a tree, plants a hope. ~ Lucy Larcom, #NFDB
1083:He who plants kindness gathers love. ~ Saint Basil, #NFDB
1084:He who reforms, God assists. ~ Miguel de Cervantes, #NFDB
1085:He who seeks equity must do equity. ~ Joseph Story, #NFDB
1086:He who shoots first laughs last. ~ Alexander Lebed, #NFDB
1087:He who suffers, remembers. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
1088:he who will not economize will agonize ~ Confucius, #NFDB
1089:He who will not risk cannot win. ~ John Paul Jones, #NFDB
1090:He who writes badly thinks badly ~ William Cobbett, #NFDB
1091:How am I doing?” he gruffs in my ear. ~ Katy Evans, #NFDB
1092:I didn’t mean to make you mad.” He ~ Adriana Locke, #NFDB
1093:I had a twin, and he didn't make it. ~ Jay Pharoah, #NFDB
1094:I let you sleep in my bed!” he said. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1095:I'll bet he light in the window. ~ Nicholas Sparks, #NFDB
1096:I love kicking a man when he’s down. ~ Celia Aaron, #NFDB
1097:I moaned and he growled in response. ~ Aileen Erin, #NFDB
1098:it was all so new to her, he guessed. ~ Anne Tyler, #NFDB
1099:loud, the last thing he should ~ Melissa Schroeder, #NFDB
1100:love will always outlast fear.” He ~ Jay Crownover, #NFDB
1101:Man is free the instant he wants to be. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
1102:Man is ill because he is never still. ~ Paracelsus, #NFDB
1103:me, girl.’ He stared closely at ~ Shayne Parkinson, #NFDB
1104:Miles'd got killed if he hit me. ~ Thelonious Monk, #NFDB
1105:No man is lost while he yet lives. ~ Louis L Amour, #NFDB
1106:Oh, God, he was wearing his Tevas. ~ Laura Lippman, #NFDB
1107:Oh, no.
He was furry, not stupid. ~ Anne Bishop,#NFDB
1108:Pete were here, he’d whistle. ~ Gennifer Choldenko, #NFDB
1109:polite smile as he washed down some ~ Andrew Watts, #NFDB
1110:Prick us we bleed, prick him he pops. ~ John Green, #NFDB
1111:Shit. He was perfect. And he was a killer. ~ Tijan, #NFDB
1112:Son," he said, "you monkeyed up. ~ Jennifer Echols, #NFDB
1113:such a noise?” “No, ma’am. In fact he ~ Iain Banks, #NFDB
1114:syllables. He told Schlichtmann he ~ Jonathan Harr, #NFDB
1115:that he wouldn’t have anyone to talk ~ Simon Toyne, #NFDB
1116:The problem is that he isn't Alex. ~ Lauren Oliver, #NFDB
1117:the radio silence. "Shit," he said. ~ Alex Lukeman, #NFDB
1118:the road, so he must have driven the ~ Ravi Howard, #NFDB
1119:the wise man celebrates what he can. ~ Amor Towles, #NFDB
1120:The world as he sees it is Hell. ~ Katsura Hoshino, #NFDB
1121:Though you see nothing, he is acting. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
1122:Tim Curry is God. He will distract me. ~ Nikki Rae, #NFDB
1123:Unblest is he who thinks himself unblest. ~ Seneca, #NFDB
1124:Well, as he brews, so shall he drink. ~ Ben Jonson, #NFDB
1125:What God does, He does well. ~ Jean de La Fontaine, #NFDB
1126:What? He can’t possibly mean to— ~ Christie Golden, #NFDB
1127:What if he was never mine to ask? ~ Belinda Boring, #NFDB
1128:When he pretends to flee, do not pursue. ~ Sun Tzu, #NFDB
1129:When he was turning thirty, Jobs ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
1130:Why should he who is scared be careful? ~ Menander, #NFDB
1131:Abuelita, he vuelto a perder mi sapo. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1132:An ally need not own the land he helps. ~ Euripides, #NFDB
1133:And he paddled away in his douche canoe. ~ Joe Hill, #NFDB
1134:And if she fell, he'd fall with her. ~ Nalini Singh, #NFDB
1135:arrive?” He immediately shrugged ~ Julianne MacLean, #NFDB
1136:Beat a man with what he doesn't know. ~ Gene LeBell, #NFDB
1137:Believe me," he said simply. ~ Jennifer Lynn Barnes, #NFDB
1138:But he was Mike’s only child. ~ Susan Kiernan Lewis, #NFDB
1139:but I met him once and he’s super ~ Karin Slaughter, #NFDB
1140:Conversation makes one what he is. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1141:Did he who made the lamb make thee? ~ William Blake, #NFDB
1142:Does he give you zings in your things? ~ Penny Reid, #NFDB
1143:Don't judge my brother; he is not a book. ~ Melanie, #NFDB
1144:Each man kills the thing he loves ~ Anthony Burgess, #NFDB
1145:Especially those he deems worthy of ~ Shannon Mayer, #NFDB
1146:God may delay, but He always comes. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
1147:God was very drunk when he made him. ~ Jandy Nelson, #NFDB
1148:Go," She says. "He waits for you. ~ Madeline Miller, #NFDB
1149:Greatly he failed, but he had greatly dared. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
1150:Had he expected me to hump her leg? ~ Ilona Andrews, #NFDB
1151:He and Marie wandered through a square ~ John Jakes, #NFDB
1152:He buries gold who hides the truth.
~ Pythagoras,#NFDB
1153:He discards a quilt for fear of bugs. ~ Idries Shah, #NFDB
1154:He found rabbit-fur-lined underpants ~ Neal Bascomb, #NFDB
1155:He got up looking out of his earhole! ~ John Madden, #NFDB
1156:He got what?" "That you're mine. ~ Jessica Gadziala, #NFDB
1157:he had a hot date with a polearm. By ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
1158:He has only heard what I felt. ~ Zora Neale Hurston, #NFDB
1159:He hated being the object of scrutiny. ~ Maya Banks, #NFDB
1160:he isn’t distracted by us. You, me and ~ Robyn Carr, #NFDB
1161:he is so steady, solid as a rock. ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
1162:he kissed her on the lips ~ Oxford University Press, #NFDB
1163:He loved her more than Michelangelo. ~ Markus Zusak, #NFDB
1164:He loves you. Like forever love. ~ Samantha Christy, #NFDB
1165:He moves fastest who moves alone. ~ Milton Friedman, #NFDB
1166:He must have made that before he died. ~ Yogi Berra, #NFDB
1167:He's completely unspoiled by failure. ~ Noel Coward, #NFDB
1168:He's just gone inside to be heroic. ~ Marissa Meyer, #NFDB
1169:He smelled like a fresh meatball sub. ~ Amelia Gray, #NFDB
1170:He's not a pet. He's an accident victim. ~ H M Ward, #NFDB
1171:He's one fry short of a Happy Meal. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
1172:He's right. We have to help Mr. Tumnus. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1173:He's so cute, I can't help myself. ~ Jerry Spinelli, #NFDB
1174:He swaggered over to Jake himself. ~ Emmy Laybourne, #NFDB
1175:He tasted of whiskey and bad decisions. ~ M Andrews, #NFDB
1176:He that chastens one, chastens 20. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1177:He that drinks fast, pays slow. ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
1178:He that hath lands hath quarrells. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1179:He that hopes no good fears no ill. ~ Thomas Fuller, #NFDB
1180:He that is low need fear no fall. ~ Charlotte Bront, #NFDB
1181:He that marries late, marries ill. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1182:He that sends a foole expects one. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1183:He that staies does the businesse. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1184:He that will be surety, shall pay. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1185:He walks among us, but is not with us. ~ J J Abrams, #NFDB
1186:He was alone because he was Unique. ~ Thomas Harris, #NFDB
1187:He was done pretending he didn't care. ~ Kara Isaac, #NFDB
1188:He was the only place that was safe ~ Marissa Meyer, #NFDB
1189:He who conceives the Truth, is born anew. ~ Vemana, #NFDB
1190:He who does not work shall not eat ~ Vladimir Lenin, #NFDB
1191:He who fails to plan, plans to fail. ~ Emily Giffin, #NFDB
1192:He who has many friends has no friends. ~ Aristotle, #NFDB
1193:He who is grateful doesn't suffer. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
1194:He who is not actively kind is cruel! ~ John Ruskin, #NFDB
1195:He who is satisfied with his lot is rich; ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
1196:He who is silent is seen to consent. ~ Claire North, #NFDB
1197:He who learns death unlearns slavery. ~ Cornel West, #NFDB
1198:He whom Love touches not walks in darkness. ~ Plato, #NFDB
1199:He who says o'er much I love not is in love. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
1200:He who spares the wicked injures the good. ~ Seneca, #NFDB
1201:He who talks much cannot talk well. ~ Carlo Goldoni, #NFDB
1202:He who thinks little errs much. ~ Leonardo da Vinci, #NFDB
1203:He who thinks little errs much… ~ Leonardo da Vinci, #NFDB
1204:He who wants peace must prepare for war. ~ Claudius, #NFDB
1205:He who weighs his burdens, can bear them. ~ Martial, #NFDB
1206:He who wrongs one threatens many. ~ Publilius Syrus, #NFDB
1207:He wished to seem harmless and shy. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
1208:He worships God who knows him. ~ Seneca the Younger, #NFDB
1209:He would slay dragons for this woman. ~ B J Daniels, #NFDB
1210:him out there, that he could dare to ~ Jenny Eclair, #NFDB
1211:His humor is one of his best traits. He ~ E K Blair, #NFDB
1212:Holy granola. He's coming over here. ~ Kelly Creagh, #NFDB
1213:How dare he have such a stinky crotch. ~ Elle Casey, #NFDB
1214:how I really feel when he was here ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
1215:I don't think," he insisted. "I feel. ~ Patti Smith, #NFDB
1216:If you would conquer Love, he must be fought ~ Ovid, #NFDB
1217:I have seen God and he is this girl. ~ Peter Hedges, #NFDB
1218:I know he would die if you died, Luce ~ Lauren Kate, #NFDB
1219:I’ll be right behind you,” he says. ~ Lauren Oliver, #NFDB
1220:"I'll be your family now," he says. ~ Veronica Roth, #NFDB
1221:I love Jet Li, he's really special. ~ Bridget Fonda, #NFDB
1222:In a year's time, he's a year older. ~ Bobby Robson, #NFDB
1223:It is the tale, not he who tells it. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1224:Jealous of a bitty bird, he was. ~ Mary Ann Shaffer, #NFDB
1225:Life is beautiful. He who reads that ~ John Ashbery, #NFDB
1226:Man becomes what he thinks about ~ Morris E Goodman, #NFDB
1227:Man is what he thinks all day long. ~ Joseph Murphy, #NFDB
1228:Me versus black ice. The ice won.” He ~ Marie Force, #NFDB
1229:million a year, but then he’s not in ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
1230:No he tenido el placer de entenderte. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1231:One is a majority if he is right. ~ Abraham Lincoln, #NFDB
1232:One thing he certainly was— sincere. ~ Thomas Hardy, #NFDB
1233:Only the liar knows that he's lying. ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
1234:Qhuinn wanted to scream... Yes he has!!! ~ J R Ward, #NFDB
1235:right here.” He pointed out an area ~ Colleen Coble, #NFDB
1236:said this. He kept on looking through ~ Mark Haddon, #NFDB
1237:Sam,” he said. “Sammy, to my friends. ~ Terri Garey, #NFDB
1238:Savage is he who saves himself. ~ Leonardo da Vinci, #NFDB
1239:sé caerme. Me he caído muchas veces. ~ Elvira Lindo, #NFDB
1240:She attracted him more than he liked. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1241:She just keeps saying "He’s gone. ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
1242:So he who strongly feels, behaves. ~ Marianne Moore, #NFDB
1243:somewhere. Then he turned serious. ~ Danielle Steel, #NFDB
1244:Sure I do," he said. "I found my wish. ~ John Green, #NFDB
1245:That he had this power frightened him. ~ Lois Lowry, #NFDB
1246:The more a man knows, the less he talks. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
1247:The more he fears, the more he'll hate. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1248:The poet doesn't invent. He listens. ~ Jean Cocteau, #NFDB
1249:The superman exists and he's American. ~ Alan Moore, #NFDB
1250:Was he a doper or was he just a loser? ~ Neil Young, #NFDB
1251:What has he shat out on this page? ~ Kiersten White, #NFDB
1252:What he had to tell them was a story ~ Daniel Quinn, #NFDB
1253:when He sees us in Christ Jesus He ~ David Limbaugh, #NFDB
1254:When he turns to go, the perfumer’s ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
1255:Why would he marry a girl like you? ~ Tarryn Fisher, #NFDB
1256:With a book he was regardless of time ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1257:you have to show him respect.” “He ~ Danielle Steel, #NFDB
1258:13When t the Spirit of truth comes, u he ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1259:All Good Things Comes To He Who Waits ~ Lisa Jackson, #NFDB
1260:all you can do is he there and suffer. ~ V C Andrews, #NFDB
1261:A man is always better than he thinks. ~ Woody Hayes, #NFDB
1262:A man oughta do what he thinks is best. ~ John Wayne, #NFDB
1263:A man should be what he seems. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1264:And then, like a dick, he's gone. ~ Daniel Jos Older, #NFDB
1265:And what he greatly thought, he nobly dared. ~ Homer, #NFDB
1266:A prince, the moment he is crown'd, ~ Jonathan Swift, #NFDB
1267:As a matter of interest,” he said, ~ Arthur C Clarke, #NFDB
1268:As long as he’s eating and he’s happy. ~ Gwen Cooper, #NFDB
1269:But he was the master of his own fate. ~ Brent Weeks, #NFDB
1270:career he had had, and his enormous ~ Danielle Steel, #NFDB
1271:comments because he needed Slick to ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
1272:Does the devil know he is a devil? ~ Joe Abercrombie, #NFDB
1273:Dude, he's Australian...not a pirate. ~ S C Stephens, #NFDB
1274:Each man kills the thing he loves. ~ Anthony Burgess, #NFDB
1275:Even in my thoughts, he watched me. ~ Laurelin Paige, #NFDB
1276:For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. ~ Solomon, #NFDB
1277:God bless child even when he get old. ~ Jack Kerouac, #NFDB
1278:God is either everything, or He is nothing. ~ Bill W, #NFDB
1279:God made Blues right after he made woman. ~ B B King, #NFDB
1280:God made man because He loves stories. ~ Elie Wiesel, #NFDB
1281:God wants you to know that he gets you. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
1282:Golaper Niche Nihoto He Kobi Kishor
~ Abul Hasan,#NFDB
1283:Good God, what did he not remember? ~ Tammara Webber, #NFDB
1284:Harder he works, the luckier he gets. ~ Ian Chappell, #NFDB
1285:Have you met Thor? He makes thunder. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
1286:He could not at first leave the fire. ~ Gary Paulsen, #NFDB
1287:He crashed quietly through the world. ~ Meg Wolitzer, #NFDB
1288:He'd be better off shoveling snow. ~ Richard Strauss, #NFDB
1289:He decided to talk to the Hopeless Case ~ John Boyne, #NFDB
1290:He didn't flinch, but in his soul he did. ~ Jessie J, #NFDB
1291:He did what he thought was right, ~ Orson Scott Card, #NFDB
1292:He fell in line behind me, his shoulders and ~ Tijan, #NFDB
1293:he gave it a gentle touch with his hand. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1294:He Giving Treed me out of existence. ~ Gillian Flynn, #NFDB
1295:He had a face like a blessing. ~ Miguel de Cervantes, #NFDB
1296:he had the house wired for Wi-Fi, ~ Elizabeth Strout, #NFDB
1297:he had to end this war—not win it ~ Juliana Barbassa, #NFDB
1298:He is all things and all things are one. ~ The Zohar, #NFDB
1299:He is thy life and the length of thy days; ~ Various, #NFDB
1300:He kills her in her own humor. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1301:He kissed it better,” she told them. ~ Erin Kellison, #NFDB
1302:He laughed like an irresponsible foetus. ~ T S Eliot, #NFDB
1303:he liked banana-flavor bubble gum; ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
1304:He'll burn the world for her ~ Jennifer L Armentrout, #NFDB
1305:He loved me. He loves me not. ~ Joseph Gordon Levitt, #NFDB
1306:He makes me purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. ~ Tassa Desalada, #NFDB
1307:He measures our lives by how we love. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
1308:He paused and manufactured a chuckle. ~ Carl Hiaasen, #NFDB
1309:He pleaseth God whom God pleaseth. ~ Saint Augustine, #NFDB
1310:He recollected his courage. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson, #NFDB
1311:He said nothing. Very sarcastically. ~ Laurie R King, #NFDB
1312:He's arm'd without that's innocent within; ~ Horace, #NFDB
1313:He’s as smooth and shallow as glass. ~ Gillian Flynn, #NFDB
1314:he saw me the way nobody else did. I ~ Bella Forrest, #NFDB
1315:He says, he loves my daughter; ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1316:He’s doing it again, sir,” said Conklin. ~ Dan Walsh, #NFDB
1317:he seemed to be thinking at him. ~ Madeleine L Engle, #NFDB
1318:He shrugged. ‘Worms. Two big ones. ~ Frank Sch tzing, #NFDB
1319:He sleeps fastest who sleeps alone. ~ Richard Avedon, #NFDB
1320:He's liked, but he's not well liked. ~ Arthur Miller, #NFDB
1321:He's my drug that I gladly consume. ~ Krista Ritchie, #NFDB
1322:He’s never kissed anyone before. It ~ Sloane Kennedy, #NFDB
1323:He specialized in the murder of dreams. ~ John Green, #NFDB
1324:He's the biggest risk I've ever taken. ~ Nicola Yoon, #NFDB
1325:He that commands us, will enable us. ~ Thomas Watson, #NFDB
1326:He that is jealous is not in love. ~ Saint Augustine, #NFDB
1327:He that takes a wife, takes care ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
1328:He thinks things through too much. ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
1329:He though does not always have faith. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1330:He threw Pigwidgeon out of the window. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1331:he travels fastest who travels alone. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1332:He trembled with his head hung low. ~ William Morris, #NFDB
1333:He wants to make an end. And we will. ~ Anthony Ryan, #NFDB
1334:He was a planet without an atmosphere. ~ Donna Tartt, #NFDB
1335:He was every sin I never knew I wanted. ~ Cari Quinn, #NFDB
1336:He was full of suprises, my Goth Boy. ~ Lili St Crow, #NFDB
1337:He was not of an age, but for all time! ~ Ben Jonson, #NFDB
1338:He wasn't a poet, not everyone is. ~ Guy Gavriel Kay, #NFDB
1339:he was proud of having thrown caution ~ John le Carr, #NFDB
1340:He was quick. The lasers were quicker. ~ Elliott Kay, #NFDB
1341:He was young and glorious and golden. ~ Laini Taylor, #NFDB
1342:He whispered, "My Firecracker... ~ Lesley Livingston, #NFDB
1343:He who allows oppression shares the crime. ~ Erasmus, #NFDB
1344:He who chases two rabbits, catches none. ~ Confucius, #NFDB
1345:He who eats my bread does my will. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #NFDB
1346:He who has a partner has a master. ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
1347:He who hates himself is not humble. ~ Emile M Cioran, #NFDB
1348:He who hesitates is sometimes saved. ~ James Thurber, #NFDB
1349:He who hesitates is sometimes wise. ~ Malcolm Forbes, #NFDB
1350:He who hesitates, meditates horizontally ~ Ed Parker, #NFDB
1351:He who is afraid is half beaten. ~ Alexander Suvorov, #NFDB
1352:He who limps is still walking. ~ Stanis aw Jerzy Lec, #NFDB
1353:He who limps is still walking. ~ Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, #NFDB
1354:He whom loves touches not walks in darkness. ~ Plato, #NFDB
1355:He who prays most receives most. ~ Alphonsus Liguori, #NFDB
1356:He who says collage says the irrational. ~ Max Ernst, #NFDB
1357:He who sins easily, sins less. The very power ~ Ovid, #NFDB
1358:He who sows courtesy reaps friendship. ~ Saint Basil, #NFDB
1359:He who stands on tiptoe does not stand firm. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
1360:He wins his battles by making no mistakes. ~ Sun Tzu, #NFDB
1361:he would have to drop to his knees. ~ Jeffrey Archer, #NFDB
1362:Hit him again, Jack! He's crazy! ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
1363:Hoy no meo de todo lo que he llorado ~ Megan Maxwell, #NFDB
1364:I am a lover of beauty, he of humanity. ~ Ted Chiang, #NFDB
1365:I can't spare this man, he fights! ~ Abraham Lincoln, #NFDB
1366:If God existed, he would be a library. ~ Umberto Eco, #NFDB
1367:If there is a God, he is a malign thug. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
1368:If you are not royalty, He is not King. ~ Beth Moore, #NFDB
1369:I hunt. He bakes. Haymitch drinks. ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
1370:I'll make him an offer he can't refuse. ~ Mario Puzo, #NFDB
1371:I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse. ~ Mario Puzo, #NFDB
1372:MAN IS THE CREATURE HE FEARS. ~ Josh Malerman, #NFDB
1373:I'm oxygen and he's dying to breathe. ~ Tahereh Mafi, #NFDB
1374:In short, he must be loyal only to his art. ~ Ha Jin, #NFDB
1375:investigator. “He’s become an inveterate ~ S H Jucha, #NFDB
1376:In your heart you know he's right. ~ Barry Goldwater, #NFDB
1377:I see", said Arthur Dent. He didn't. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
1378:it felt like home. He felt like home. ~ Shelly Crane, #NFDB
1379:—I think he died for me, she answered. ~ James Joyce, #NFDB
1380:It is easy to kick a person when he is down. ~ Aesop, #NFDB
1381:It unnerved her, how not wrong he was. ~ Holly Black, #NFDB
1382:I was a drizzle and he was a hurricane. ~ John Green, #NFDB
1383:Kill him before he makes you love him. ~ Holly Black, #NFDB
1384:Listen, my friend. He who loves understands. ~ Kabir, #NFDB
1385:Loveable Isn't he? -Eric Northman ~ Charlaine Harris, #NFDB
1386:made him nervous, so he searched his ~ Richard Price, #NFDB
1387:Maybe even not then,” he tells me. ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
1388:Mr. Bingley, and he was looked at with ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1389:Nick wasn’t sure what he thought about ~ Mike Lupica, #NFDB
1390:No, he’s asleep. Where’s my mother? Is ~ Donna Tartt, #NFDB
1391:No one can have all he desires. ~ Seneca the Younger, #NFDB
1392:Of course he bothers me. He's my husband. ~ Gish Jen, #NFDB
1393:Of no distemper, of no blast he died, ~ John Dryden, #NFDB
1394:Oh Jesus, hello prostate," he gasped. ~ Abigail Roux, #NFDB
1395:Okay, he said to himself. Here goes. ~ Philip K Dick, #NFDB
1396:Please," he whispers. "remember the sky. ~ Amy Zhang, #NFDB
1397:recommended to us because he sees lots of ~ Lisa See, #NFDB
1398:seconds he was forty, fifty yards ~ Anthony Horowitz, #NFDB
1399:Still fisheth he that catcheth one. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1400:Te recordará que he estado ahí, solo yo. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1401:that he knew would love to be in the ~ Lynette Eason, #NFDB
1402:The abominable goth!" he cried. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle, #NFDB
1403:The Destroyer has arrived and you are he. ~ J R Ward, #NFDB
1404:The first liberal was named Lucifer. He ~ Matt Walsh, #NFDB
1405:The king is gone but he's not forgotten ~ Neil Young, #NFDB
1406:The mice will see you now," he said. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
1407:The mice will see you now,” he said. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
1408:The more he gives me, the more I want. ~ Rachel Cohn, #NFDB
1409:Then, as he is criminal he is selfish. ~ Bram Stoker, #NFDB
1410:There’s my sugarlips,” he muttered. ~ Kristen Ashley, #NFDB
1411:the warmth and smell he associated with ~ Donna Leon, #NFDB
1412:They all died eventually,” he said. ~ Matthew Thomas, #NFDB
1413:Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
1414:To he who knocks, the door will open. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1415:Too bad he wasn't as nice as his truck. ~ Diann Hunt, #NFDB
1416:We can’t help who we love, Maverick,” he ~ K L Kreig, #NFDB
1417:What, you egg? [He stabs him.] ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1418:When he beat my mother it made me so mad. ~ Lou Reed, #NFDB
1419:when he came in. I liked that guy. ~ Mickey Spillane, #NFDB
1420:when he heard the voice, he knew for ~ John Gilstrap, #NFDB
1421:Where a boy runs he never forgets. ~ Bernard Malamud, #NFDB
1422:Where’s the cannon?” he said stupidly. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1423:Wilbur didn't want food, he wanted love. ~ E B White, #NFDB
1424:With a book he was regardless of time. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1425:worked with his father and uncle. He ~ Richard Price, #NFDB
1426:Yes. Tonight’s the night, Sofia.” He ~ Bella Forrest, #NFDB
1427:You hungry?" he asked, pulling out. ~ Kiersten White, #NFDB
1428:You loved me too?" he repeated. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
1429:You’re a jumper. He’s a thinker. ~ Diane Chamberlain, #NFDB
1430:You scare the shit out of me, female.” He ~ J R Ward, #NFDB
1431:you that he murdered someone.” Now I ~ Clarissa Wild, #NFDB
1432:14 If he tears down, none can rebuild; ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1433:Alex is the one... He's the spy. - Call ~ Holly Black, #NFDB
1434:Ally’s surprise, he actually laughed, and ~ J S Scott, #NFDB
1435:Alone is overrated," he said simply. ~ Kristin Hannah, #NFDB
1436:Alone is overrated,” he said simply. ~ Kristin Hannah, #NFDB
1437:A man is only as good as what he loves. ~ Saul Bellow, #NFDB
1438:And he was a top-security prisoner too. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1439:and quickly smoothed down. He checked ~ W E B Griffin, #NFDB
1440:as he reached the door. Out in front of ~ Vince Flynn, #NFDB
1441:As if they were two halves of a mold. He ~ Celeste Ng, #NFDB
1442:Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty. ~ Harper Lee, #NFDB
1443:Be assured, he is not an ordinary man. ~ George Meade, #NFDB
1444:beaten he was almost unrecognizable. ~ Tilly Bagshawe, #NFDB
1445:Bridgeport?" Said I. "Camelot," Said he. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
1446:But he knows that no man is an island. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1447:Call no man happy until he is dead. ~ Johnny B Truant, #NFDB
1448:Consider the great things he did for you. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1449:Death was irreversible, he suspected, ~ Joseph Heller, #NFDB
1450:developed eastern shore. He sped along ~ Daniel Silva, #NFDB
1451:Did Officer Dan just admit he likes me? ~ Apryl Baker, #NFDB
1452:Doesn't he kill himself at that point? ~ Eloisa James, #NFDB
1453:Don’t spoil it,” he said quietly. ~ Margaret Mitchell, #NFDB
1454:Do you miss him?” he asked. “Every day. ~ Ann Aguirre, #NFDB
1455:dug in, but he seemed to be feeling no ~ Carl Hiaasen, #NFDB
1456:Even if he was built like a Greek god. ~ Molly McLain, #NFDB
1457:Fields' reply: He'd think I was a sissy. ~ W C Fields, #NFDB
1458:For he that once is good, is ever great. ~ Ben Jonson, #NFDB
1459:God doesn't know things. He is things. ~ D H Lawrence, #NFDB
1460:God, he can alpha me anytime he wants. ~ Karina Halle, #NFDB
1461:God is not dead-He is merely unemployed. ~ Walt Kelly, #NFDB
1462:God makes trees, he doesn't write books. ~ Bill Maher, #NFDB
1463:God may chastise, but He cannot hate. ~ Thomas Watson, #NFDB
1464:God smiles as He has always smiled; ~ Robert Browning, #NFDB
1465:God was a poet the day he made Jude. ~ Juliette Cross, #NFDB
1466:Happy is he who can give himself up. ~ Naguib Mahfouz, #NFDB
1467:He aquí la muerte, fin de un universo. ~ Victor Serge, #NFDB
1468:He can be High Warlock of my pants. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
1469:he did not suffer bullet wounds. ~ Edward Jay Epstein, #NFDB
1470:He’d made his own worst fears come true. ~ Laura Kaye, #NFDB
1471:He finds his fellow guilty of a skin ~ William Cowper, #NFDB
1472:He grinned. “It’s cheaper than that ~ Karin Slaughter, #NFDB
1473:he had nothing to say and he said it ~ Ambrose Bierce, #NFDB
1474:He has seen the glory of the Self ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
1475:He hath no leisure who useth it not. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1476:He holds his guitar like a Tommy gun. ~ Elvis Presley, #NFDB
1477:He is all pine and I am apple orchard. ~ Robert Frost, #NFDB
1478:He is all things and all things are one. ~ The Zohar, #NFDB
1479:He is not immutable. No man can be. ~ Dorothy Dunnett, #NFDB
1480:He is not to them what he is to me. ~ Charlotte Bront, #NFDB
1481:'He is very ugly,' said his mother. ~ Taylor Caldwell, #NFDB
1482:He killed himself for wanting to live. ~ Markus Zusak, #NFDB
1483:He led them on a road that went straight. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1484:He listens well who takes notes.
~ Dante Alighieri,#NFDB
1485:...he'll never lie - the man is far too wise. ~ Homer, #NFDB
1486:He looked at me like I was beautiful. ~ Lauren Oliver, #NFDB
1487:He looks like a horse in a man costume! ~ Dylan Moran, #NFDB
1488:He loves me so much it makes me ache. ~ Paula Hawkins, #NFDB
1489:He manages to balance Rigor and Mercy. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1490:He must find things he cannot lose ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
1491:He produced a black plastic box with a ~ Jack Higgins, #NFDB
1492:He said he was Lord Vile. - Skulduggery ~ Derek Landy, #NFDB
1493:He’s already given up. I will not. ~ Victoria Aveyard, #NFDB
1494:he's a story i want to know from page one ~ Sara Zarr, #NFDB
1495:He saw the world through gray water. ~ John Steinbeck, #NFDB
1496:He says I'm beautiful as a red tomato ~ Jeanne DuPrau, #NFDB
1497:He's got to let go of you sometime. ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
1498:He's happy now, he's almost sane. ~ Alexander Pushkin, #NFDB
1499:He should have been drowned at birth. ~ Louis L Amour, #NFDB
1500:he sits and waits and hopes that at some ~ James Frey, #NFDB
3333 Integral Yoga
3200 Poetry
522 Mysticism
479 Philosophy
362 Fiction
335 Occultism
192 Christianity
140 Yoga
95 Philsophy
93 Psychology
72 Sufism
42 Zen
40 Science
34 Hinduism
28 Kabbalah
26 Education
26 Buddhism
23 Mythology
20 Theosophy
16 Integral Theory
8 Cybernetics
6 Baha i Faith
3 Taoism
1 Thelema
1 Alchemy
2012 The Mother
1289 Sri Aurobindo
1251 Satprem
611 Nolini Kanta Gupta
353 William Wordsworth
292 William Butler Yeats
275 Walt Whitman
258 Percy Bysshe Shelley
197 Rabindranath Tagore
167 Aleister Crowley
143 John Keats
141 H P Lovecraft
123 Friedrich Schiller
95 Ralph Waldo Emerson
93 Robert Browning
92 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
92 Friedrich Nietzsche
91 Carl Jung
90 Li Bai
81 Jalaluddin Rumi
78 Rainer Maria Rilke
69 James George Frazer
67 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
63 Kabir
62 Plotinus
62 Jorge Luis Borges
62 Edgar Allan Poe
57 Sri Ramakrishna
39 Anonymous
38 Swami Vivekananda
38 Hafiz
37 Swami Krishnananda
35 Saint Teresa of Avila
34 Saint Augustine of Hippo
34 Franz Bardon
33 Lucretius
32 A B Purani
30 Saint John of Climacus
29 Aldous Huxley
28 Rabbi Moses Luzzatto
28 Ibn Arabi
26 Omar Khayyam
25 Rudolf Steiner
24 Aristotle
22 Vyasa
20 Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia
19 Ramprasad
19 Farid ud-Din Attar
18 Hakim Sanai
16 Solomon ibn Gabirol
16 Mirabai
15 Nirodbaran
14 Taigu Ryokan
14 Ovid
14 Dogen
14 Bulleh Shah
12 Swami Sivananda Saraswati
12 Plato
11 Thomas Merton
11 Sri Ramana Maharshi
11 Paul Richard
11 Lewis Carroll
11 George Van Vrekhem
10 Sarmad
10 Saint John of the Cross
10 Peter J Carroll
10 Lalla
10 Abu-Said Abil-Kheir
9 Symeon the New Theologian
9 Saint Francis of Assisi
9 Joseph Campbell
9 Jacopone da Todi
8 William Blake
8 Rabbi Abraham Abulafia
8 Norbert Wiener
8 Jetsun Milarepa
7 Shiwu (Stonehouse)
7 Saint Hildegard von Bingen
7 Matsuo Basho
7 Mansur al-Hallaj
7 Khwaja Abdullah Ansari
7 Jordan Peterson
7 Henry David Thoreau
7 Baha u llah
7 Alice Bailey
6 Thubten Chodron
6 Saint Clare of Assisi
6 Muso Soseki
6 Mechthild of Magdeburg
6 Jayadeva
6 Bokar Rinpoche
6 Baba Sheikh Farid
6 Al-Ghazali
6 Alfred Tennyson
5 Yuan Mei
5 Patanjali
5 Namdev
5 Boethius
5 Allama Muhammad Iqbal
4 Vidyapati
4 Saadi
4 Lu Tung Pin
4 Dante Alighieri
4 Basava
3 Wang Wei
3 Tao Chien
3 Saint Therese of Lisieux
3 R Buckminster Fuller
3 Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
3 Nachmanides
3 Moses de Leon
3 Ken Wilber
3 Ibn Ata Illah
3 Han-shan
3 Fukuda Chiyo-ni
3 Dadu Dayal
3 Chuang Tzu
3 Bodhidharma
2 Yeshe Tsogyal
2 Yannai
2 Theophan the Recluse
2 Surdas
2 Shankara
2 Ravidas
2 Michael Maier
2 Mahendranath Gupta
2 Kuan Han-Ching
2 Kobayashi Issa
2 Kahlil Gibran
2 Judah Halevi
2 Jorge Luis Borges
2 Jean Gebser
2 Izumi Shikibu
2 Italo Calvino
2 Ikkyu
2 H. P. Lovecraft
2 Hakuin
2 Guru Nanak
2 Genpo Roshi
2 Eleazar ben Kallir
2 Catherine of Siena
2 Alexander Pope
432 Record of Yoga
353 Wordsworth - Poems
292 Yeats - Poems
260 Whitman - Poems
258 Shelley - Poems
200 Prayers And Meditations
192 On Thoughts And Aphorisms
187 Tagore - Poems
144 The Synthesis Of Yoga
143 Keats - Poems
143 Agenda Vol 01
141 Lovecraft - Poems
138 Agenda Vol 13
123 Schiller - Poems
109 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03
106 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04
102 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
99 Agenda Vol 12
95 Emerson - Poems
94 Agenda Vol 08
93 Browning - Poems
91 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
91 Agenda Vol 10
90 Li Bai - Poems
85 Agenda Vol 09
84 Agenda Vol 03
83 Magick Without Tears
83 Agenda Vol 11
83 Agenda Vol 07
83 Agenda Vol 06
83 Agenda Vol 04
81 Thus Spoke Zarathustra
80 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
78 Rilke - Poems
75 Agenda Vol 05
74 Collected Poems
74 Agenda Vol 02
73 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
72 Letters On Yoga III
69 The Golden Bough
66 Goethe - Poems
65 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
61 Poe - Poems
59 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
56 The Life Divine
56 Questions And Answers 1950-1951
55 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
54 Liber ABA
52 Questions And Answers 1956
49 Savitri
49 Letters On Yoga IV
48 Letters On Yoga II
43 Songs of Kabir
41 Questions And Answers 1953
40 Rumi - Poems
38 Mysterium Coniunctionis
38 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08
37 The Study and Practice of Yoga
37 Questions And Answers 1955
36 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06
36 Borges - Poems
35 Questions And Answers 1954
35 Questions And Answers 1929-1931
34 Words Of Long Ago
34 The Divine Comedy
34 Crowley - Poems
33 Of The Nature Of Things
32 Letters On Poetry And Art
32 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
30 The Ladder of Divine Ascent
30 Essays On The Gita
29 The Perennial Philosophy
29 Essays Divine And Human
28 The Bible
28 Hafiz - Poems
28 General Principles of Kabbalah
27 Letters On Yoga I
26 Words Of The Mother II
26 Labyrinths
26 Faust
25 On Education
24 The Practice of Psycho therapy
24 The Human Cycle
24 Poetics
22 Vishnu Purana
22 The Future of Man
22 City of God
22 Arabi - Poems
21 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 01
20 Initiation Into Hermetics
20 Bhakti-Yoga
19 The Way of Perfection
19 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
19 Anonymous - Poems
18 Let Me Explain
17 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04
17 On the Way to Supermanhood
15 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
15 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
15 Isha Upanishad
14 The Secret Of The Veda
14 The Practice of Magical Evocation
14 The Phenomenon of Man
14 The Mother With Letters On The Mother
14 Some Answers From The Mother
14 Ryokan - Poems
14 Metamorphoses
14 Dogen - Poems
14 Aion
13 Theosophy
13 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
13 Song of Myself
13 Hymn of the Universe
12 Vedic and Philological Studies
12 Twilight of the Idols
12 Talks
12 Raja-Yoga
12 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 03
12 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 02
11 Preparing for the Miraculous
11 Kena and Other Upanishads
10 The Problems of Philosophy
10 The Interior Castle or The Mansions
10 The Integral Yoga
10 Liber Null
10 Knowledge of the Higher Worlds
10 Dark Night of the Soul
10 Amrita Gita
10 Alice in Wonderland
10 A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah
9 The Hero with a Thousand Faces
9 Hymns to the Mystic Fire
9 5.1.01 - Ilion
8 Words Of The Mother III
8 The Blue Cliff Records
8 Milarepa - Poems
8 Cybernetics
7 Writings In Bengali and Sanskrit
7 Walden
7 Maps of Meaning
7 Basho - Poems
7 A Treatise on Cosmic Fire
6 Words Of The Mother I
6 The Secret Doctrine
6 The Red Book Liber Novus
6 The Gateless Gate
6 The Alchemy of Happiness
6 Tara - The Feminine Divine
6 How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator
5 Sefer Yetzirah The Book of Creation In Theory and Practice
5 Patanjali Yoga Sutras
4 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
4 Beating the Cloth Drum Letters of Zen Master Hakuin
3 The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma
3 The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep
3 The Lotus Sutra
3 The Book of Certitude
3 Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking
3 Sex Ecology Spirituality
3 Han-shan - Poems
3 Chuang Tzu - Poems
3 Bodhidharma - Poems
3 Agenda Vol 1
2 The Prophet
2 The Ever-Present Origin
2 The Essentials of Education
2 The Castle of Crossed Destinies
2 Symposium
2 Selected Fictions
2 Notes On The Way
2 Jerusalum
2 God Exists
2 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2E
00.00 - Publishers Note A, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
T He present volume consists of t He first seven parts of t He book T He Yoga of Sri Aurobindo which has run into twelve parts, as it stands now; of t Hese twelve, parts five to nine are based upon talks of t He Mot Her (given by Her to t He children of t He Ashram). In this volume t He later parts of t He Talks (8 and 9) could not be included: t Hey are to wait for a subsequent volume. T He talks, originally in French, were spread over a number of years, ending in about 1960. We are pleased to note that t He Government of India have given us a grant to meet t He cost of publication of this volume.
13 January 1972
00.00 - Publishers Note B, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
T He present volume consists of five parts of t He book Yoga of Sri Aurobindo which has now run into twelve parts. Of t Hese five parts, eight and nine are based on talks of t He Mot Her given by Her, in French, to t He children of t He Ashram.
We are pleased to note that t He Government of India have given us a grant to meet t He cost of publication of this volume.
00.00 - Publishers Note, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
T He Mot Her has graciously permitted t He use of Her sketch of t He author as a frontispiece to t He book.
13 January 1971
--
[We ascend t He ascending grades in our Heart
and we sing t He song of ascension.]
0 0.01 - Introduction, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
- and it is terribly disturbing for all those who still climb trees in t He old, millennial way. Perhaps it is even a Heresy. Unless it is some cerebral disorder? A first man in his little clearing had to have a great deal of courage. Even this little clearing was no longer so sure. A first man is a perpetual question. What am I, t Hen, in t He midst of all that? And w Here is my law? What is t He law? And what if t Here were no more laws? ... It is terrifying. Mat Hematics - out of order. Astronomy and biology, too, are beginning to respond to mysterious influences. A tiny point huddled in t He center of t He world's great clearing. But what is all this, what if I were 'mad'? And t Hen, claws all around, a lot of claws against this uncommon creature. A first man ... is very much alone. He is quite unbearable for t He pre-human 'reason.' And t He surrounding tribes growled like red monkies in t He twilight of Guiana.
One day, we were like this first man in t He great, stridulant night of t He Oyapock. Our Heart was beating with t He rediscovery of a very ancient mystery - suddenly, it was absolutely new to be a man amidst t He diorite cascades and t He pretty red and black coral snakes slit Hering beneath t He leaves. It was even more extraordinary to be a man than our old confirmed tribes, with t Heir infallible equations and imprescriptible biologies, could ever have dreamed. It was an absolutely uncertain 'quantum' that delightfully eluded whatever one thought of it, including perhaps what even t He scholars thought of it. It flowed ot Herwise, it felt ot Herwise. It lived in a kind of flawless continuity with t He sap of t He giant balata trees, t He cry of t He macaws and t He scintillating water of a little fountain. It 'understood' in a very different way. To understand was to be in everything. Just a quiver, and one was in t He skin of a little iguana in distress. T He skin of t He world was very vast.
To be a man after rediscovering a million years was mysteriously like being something still ot Her than man, a strange, unfinis Hed possibility that could also be all kinds of ot Her things. It was not in t He dictionary, it was fluid and boundless - it had become a man through habit, but in truth, it was formidably virgin, as if all t He old laws belonged to laggard barbarians. T Hen ot Her moons began whirring through t He skies to t He cry of macaws at sunset, anot Her rhythm was born that was strangely in tune with t He rhythm of all, making one single flow of t He world, and t Here we went, lightly, as if t He body had never had any weight ot Her than that of our human thought; and t He stars were so near, even t He giant airplanes roaring over Head seemed vain artifices beneath smiling galaxies. A man was t He overw Helming Possible. He was even t He great discoverer of t He Possible.
Never had this precarious invention had any ot Her aim through millions of species than to discover that which surpassed his own species, perhaps t He means to change his species - a light and lawless species. After rediscovering a million years in t He great, rhythmic night, a man was still something to be invented. It was t He invention of himself, w Here all was not yet said and done.
--
Thus had we mused in t He Heart of our ancient forest while we were still Hesitating between unlikely flakes of gold and a civilization that seemed to us quite toxic and obsolete, however mat Hematical. But ot Her mat Hematics were flowing through our veins, an equation as yet unformed between this mammoth world and a little point replete with a light air and immense forebodings.
It was at this point that we met Mot Her, at this intersection of t He anthropoid rediscovered and t He 'something' that had set in motion this unfinis Hed invention momentarily ensnared in a gilded machine. For nothing was finis Hed, and nothing had been invented, really, that would instill peace and wideness in this Heart of no species at all.
And what if man were not yet invented? What if He were not yet his own species?
A little white silhouette, twelve thousand miles away, solitary and frail amidst a spiritual horde which had once and for all decided that t He meditating and miraculous yogi was t He apogee of t He species, was searching for t He means, for t He reality of this man who for a moment believes himself sovereign of t He Heavens or sovereign of a machine, but who is quite probably something completely different than his spiritual or material glories. Anot Her, a lighter air was throbbing in that breast, unburdened of its Heavens and of its prehistoric machines. Anot Her Epic was beginning.
Would Matter and Spirit meet, t Hen, in a third PHYSIOLOGICAL position that would perhaps be at last t He position of Man rediscovered, t He something that had for so long fought and suffered in quest of becoming its own species? S He was t He great Possible at t He beginning of man. Mot Her is our fable come true. 'All is possible' was Her first open sesame.
Yes, S He was in t He midst of a spiritual 'horde,' for t He pioneer of a new species must always fight against t He best of t He old: t He best is t He obstacle, t He snare that traps us in its old golden mire.
--
We landed t Here, one day in February 1954, having emerged from our Guianese forest and a certain number of dead-end peripluses; we had knocked upon all t He doors of t He old world before reaching that point of absolute impossibility w Here it was truly necessary to embark into something else or once and for all put a bullet through t He brain of this slightly superior ape. T He 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 t He first train out that very evening, bound straight for t He Himalayas, or t He devil. But we remained near Mot Her for nineteen years. What was it, t Hen, that could have Held us t Here? 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,' S He wrote in 1934. What did all this mean, t Hen, this 'Ashram' that was already registered as t He owner of a great spiritual business, and this fragile, little silhouette at t He center of all t Hese zealous worshippers? In truth, t Here is no better way to smot Her someone than to worship him: He chokes beneath t He weight of worship, which moreover gives t He worshipper claim to ownership. 'Why do you want to worship?' S He exclaimed. 'You have but to become! It is t He laziness to become that makes one worship.' S He wanted so much to make t Hem
become this 'something else,' but it was far easier to worship and quiescently remain what one was.
--
Her step by step, as one discovers a forest, or rat Her as one fights with it, mac Hete in hand - and t Hen it melts, one loves, so sublime does it become. Mot Her grew beneath our skin like an adventure of life and death. For seven years we fought with Her. It was fascinating, detestable, powerful and sweet; we felt like screaming and biting, fleeing and always coming back: 'Ah! You won't catch me! If you think I came Here to worship you, you're wrong!' And S He laug Hed. S He always laug Hed.
We had our bellyful of adventure at last: if you go astray in t He forest, you get delightfully lost yet still with t He same old skin on your back, w Hereas Here, t Here is nothing left to get lost in! It is no longer just a matter of getting lost - you have to CHANGE your skin. Or die. Yes, change species.
Or become one more nauseating little worshipper - which was not on our program. 'We are t He enemy of our own conception of t He Divine,' S He told us one day with Her mischievous little smile.
T He whole time - or for seven years, in any event - we fought with our conception of God and t He
'spiritual life': it was all so comfortable, for we had a supreme 'symbol' of it right t Here. S He let us do as we pleased, S He even opened up all kinds of little Heavens in us, along with a few Hells, since t Hey go toget Her. S He even opened t He door in us to a certain 'liberation,' which in t He end was as soporific as eternity - but t Here was now Here to get out: it WAS eternity. We were trapped on all sides. T Here was nothing left but t Hese 4m2 of skin, t He last refuge, that which we wanted to flee by way of above or below, by way of Guiana or t He Himalayas. S He was waiting for us just t Here, at t He end of our spiritual or not so spiritual pirouettes. Matter was Her concern. It took us seven years to understand that S He was beginning t Here, 'w Here t He ot Her yogas leave off,' as Sri Aurobindo had already said twenty-five years earlier. It was necessary to have covered all t He paths of t He Spirit and all those of Matter, or in any case a large number geographically, before discovering, or even simply understanding, that 'something else' was really Something Else. It was not an improved
Spirit nor even an improved Matter, but ... it could be called 'nothing,' so contrary was it to all we know. For t He caterpillar, a butterfly is nothing, it is not even visible and has nothing in common with caterpillar Heavens nor even caterpillar matter. So t Here we were, trapped in an impossible adventure. One does not return from t Here: one must cross t He bridge to t He ot Her side. T Hen one day in that seventh year, while we still believed in liberations and t He collected Upanishads, highlighted with a few glorious visions to relieve t He commonplace (which remained appallingly commonplace), while we were still considering 't He Mot Her of t He Ashram' rat Her like some spiritual super-director (endowed, albeit, with a disarming yet ever so provocative smile, as though
S He were making fun of us, t Hen loving us in secret), S He told us, 'I have t He feeling that ALL we have lived, ALL we have known, ALL we have done is a perfect illusion ... W Hen I had t He spiritual experience that material life is an illusion, personally I found that so marvelously beautiful and happy that it was one of t He most beautiful experiences of my life, but now it is t He entire spiritual structure as we have lived it that is becoming an illusion! - Not t He same illusion, but an illusion far worse. And I am no baby: I have been Here for forty-seven years now!' Yes, S He was eighty-three years old t Hen. And that day, we ceased being 't He enemy of our own conception of t He Divine,' for this entire Divine was shattered to pieces - and we met Mot Her, at last. This mystery we call
Mot Her, for S He never ceased being a mystery right to Her ninety-fifth year, and to this day still, challenges us from t He ot Her side of a wall of invisibility and keeps us floundering fully in t He mystery - with a smile. S He always smiles. But t He mystery is not solved.
Perhaps this AGENDA is really an endeavor to solve t He mystery in t He company of a certain
--
'Are you conscious of your ceils?' S He asked us a short time after t He little operation of spiritual demolition S He had undergone. 'No? Well, become conscious of your cells, and you will see that it gives TERRESTRIAL results.' To become conscious of one's cells? ... It was a far more radical operation than crossing t He Maroni with a mac Hete in hand, for after all, trees and lianas can be cut, but what cannot be so easily uncovered are t He grandfa t Her and t He grandmo t Her and t He whole atavistic pack, not to mention t He animal and plant and mineral layers that form a teeming humus over this single pure little cell beneath its millennial genetic program. T He grandfa t Hers and grandmo t Hers grow back again like crabgrass, along with all t He old habits of being hungry, afraid, falling ill, fearing t He worst, hoping for t He best, which is still t He best of an old mortal habit. All this is not uprooted nor entrapped as easily as celestial 'liberations,' which leave t He teeming humus in peace and t He body to its usual decomposition. S He had come to Hew a path through all that. S He was t He Ancient One of evolution who had come to make a new cleft in t He old, tedious habit of being a man. S He did not like tedious repetitions, S He was t He adventuress par excellence - t He adventuress of t He earth. S He was wrenching out for man t He great Possible that was already beating t Here, in his primeval clearing, which He believed He had momentarily trapped with a few machines.
S He was uprooting a new Matter, free, free from t He habit of inexorably being a man who repeats himself ad infinitum with a few improvements in t He way of organ transplants or monetary exchanges. In fact, S He was t Here to discover what would happen after materialism and after spiritualism, t Hese prodigal twin brot Hers. Because Materialism is dying in t He West for t He same reason that Spiritualism is dying in t He East: it is t He hour of t He new species. Man needs to awaken, not only from his demons but also from his gods. A new Matter, yes, like a new Spirit, yes, because we still know neit Her one nor t He ot Her. It is t He hour w Hen Science, like Spirituality, at t He end of t Heir roads, must discover what Matter TRULY is, for it is really t Here that a Spirit as yet unknown to us is to be found. It is a time w Hen all t He 'isms' of t He old species are dying: 'T He age of
--
This fabulous discovery is t He whole story of t He AGENDA. What is t He passage? How is t He path to t He new species Hewed open? ... T Hen suddenly, t Here, on t He ot Her side of this old millennial habit - a habit, nothing more than a habit! - of being like a man endowed with time and space and disease: an entire geometry, perfectly implacable and 'scientific' and medical; on t He ot Her side ... none of that at all! An illusion, a fantastic medical and scientific and genetic illusion:
death does not exist, time does not exist, disease does not exist, nor do 'scar' and 'far' - anot Her way of being IN A BODY. For so many millions of years we have lived in a habit and put our own thoughts of t He world and of Matter into equations. No more laws! Matter is FREE. It can create a little lizard, a chipmunk or a parrot - but it has created enough parrots. Now it is SOMETHING
--
Day after day, for seventeen years, S He sat with us to tell us of Her impossible odyssey. Ah, how well we now understand why S He needed such an 'outlaw' and an incorrigible Heretic like us to compre Hend a little bit of Her impossible odyssey into 'nothing.' And how well we now understand Her infinite patience with us, despite all our revolts, which ultimately were only t He revolts of t He old species against itself. T He final revolt. 'It is not a revolt against t He British government which any one can easily do. It is, in fact, a revolt against t He whole universal Nature!' Sri Aurobindo had proclaimed fifty years earlier. S He listened to our grievances, we went away and we returned. We wanted no more of it and we wanted still more. It was infernal and sublime, impossible and t He sole possibility in this old, asphyxiating world. It was t He only place one could go to in this barbedwired, mechanized world, w Here Cincinnati is just as crowded and polluted as Hong Kong. T He new species is t He last free place in t He general Prison. It is t He last hope for t He earth. How we listened to Her little faltering voice that seemed to return from afar, afar, after having crossed spaces and seas of t He mind to let its little drops of pure, crystalline words fall upon us, words that make you see. We listened to t He future, we touc Hed t He ot Her thing. It was incompre Hensible and yet filled with anot Her compre Hension. It eluded us on all sides, and yet it was dazzlingly obvious. T He 'ot Her species' was really radically ot Her, and yet it was vibrating within, absolutely recognizable, as if it were THAT we had been seeking from age to age, THAT we had been invoking through all our illuminations, one after anot Her, in T Hebes as in Eleusis as everyw Here we have toiled and grieved in t He skin of a man. It was for THAT we were Here, for that supreme Possible in t He skin of a man at last. And t Hen Her voice grew more and more frail, Her breath began gasping as though S He had to traverse greater and greater distances to meet us. S He was so alone to beat against t He walls of t He old prison. Many claws were out all around. Oh, we would so quickly have cut ourself free from all this fiasco to fly away with Her into t He world's future. S He was so tiny, stooped over, as if crus Hed beneath t He 'spiritual' burden that all t He old surrounding species kept Heaping upon Her. T Hey didn't believe, no. For t Hem, S He was ninety-five years old + so many days. Can someone become a new species all alone? T Hey even grumbled at Her: t Hey had had enough of this unbearable Ray that was bringing t Heir sordid affairs into t He daylight. T He Ashram was slowly closing over Her. T He old world wanted to make a new, golden little Church, nice and quiet. No, no one wanted TO
BECOME. To worship was so much easier. And t Hen t Hey bury you, solemnly, and t He matter is settled - t He case is closed: now, no one need bot Her any more except to print some photographic haloes for t He pilgrims to this brisk little business. But t Hey are mistaken. T He real business will take place without t Hem, t He new species will fly up in t Heir faces - it is already flying in t He face of t He earth, despite all its isms in black and white; it is exploding through all t He pores of this battered old earth, which has had enough of shams - w Het Her illusory little Heavens or barbarous little machines.
It is t He hour of t He REAL Earth. It is t He hour of t He REAL man. We are all going t Here - if only we could know t He path a little ...
--
something to be played forever as t He one great game of t He world; a who-knows-what that left this sprig of a pensive man in t He middle of a clearing; a little 'something' that beats, beats, that keeps on breathing beneath every skin that has ever been put on it - like our deepest breath, our lightest air, our air of nothing - and it keeps on going, it keeps on going. We must catch t He light little breath, t He little pulsation of nothing. T Hen suddenly, on t He threshold of our clearing of concrete, our Head starts spinning incurably, our eyes blink into something else, and all is different, and all seems surcharged with meaning and with life, as though we had never lived until that very minute.
T Hen we have caught t He tail of t He Great Possible, we are upon t He wayless way, radically in t He new, and we flow with t He little lizard, t He pelican, t He big man, we flow everyw Here in a world that has lost its old separating skin and its little baggage of habits. We begin seeing ot Herwise, feeling ot Herwise. We have opened t He gate into an inconceivable clearing. Just a light little vibration that carries you away. T Hen we begin to understand how it CAN CHANGE, what t He mechanism is - a light little mechanism and so miraculous that it looks like nothing. We begin feeling t He wonder of a pure little cell, and that a sparkling of joy would be enough to turn t He world inside out. We were living in a little thinking fishbowl, we were dying in an old, bottled habit. And t Hen suddenly, all is different. T He Earth is free! Who wants freedom?
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 t He 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 t He matter, although t He very crux of t He situation lies Here. T He mystic domain has to be appre Hended not merely by t He true mind and understanding but by t He 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. T He mystics t Hemselves 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.
T He warning seems to have fallen, in t He modern age, on un Heeding ears. For t He modern mind, being pre-eminently and uncompromisingly scientific, can entertain no doubt as to t He perfect competency of science and t He scientific method to seize and unveil any secret of Nature. If, it is argued, mysticism is a secret, if t Here is at all a truth and reality in it, t Hen it is and must be amenable to t He rules and regulations of science; for science is t He revealer of Nature's secrecies.
--
A scientist once thought that He had clinc Hed t He issue and cut t He Gordian knot w Hen He declared triumphantly with reference to spirit sances: "Very significant is t He fact that spirits appear only in closed chambers, in half obscurity, to somnolent minds; t Hey are now Here in t He open air, in broad daylight to t He wide awake and vigilant intellect!" Well, if t He fact is as it is stated, what does it prove? Night alone reveals t He stars, during t He day t Hey vanish, but that is no proof that stars are not existent. Rat Her t He 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. T He attitude of t He jesting Pilate is not Helpful even to scientific inquiry. This matter of t He Spirits we have taken only as an illustration and it must not be understood that this is a domain of high mysticism; rat Her t He contrary. T He spiritualists' approach to Mysticism is not t He right one and is fraught with not only errors but dangers. For t He spiritualists approach t Heir subject with t He entire scientific apparatus t He only difference being that t He scientist does not believe while t He spiritualist believes.
Mystic realities cannot be reac Hed by t He scientific consciousness, because t Hey are far more subtle than t He subtlest object that science can contemplate. T He neutrons and positrons are for science today t He finest and profoundest object-forces; t Hey belong, it is said, almost to a borderl and w Here physics ends. Nor for that reason is a mystic reality something like a mat Hematical abstraction, -n for example. T He mystic reality is subtler than t He subtlest of physical things and yet, paradoxical to say, more concrete than t He most concrete thing that t He senses appre Hend.
Furt Hermore, being so, t He mystic domain is of infinitely greater potency than t He domain of intra-atomic forces. If one comes, all on a sudden, into contact with a force Here without t He necessary preparation to hold and handle it, He may get seriously bruised, morally and physically. T He adventure into t He mystic domain has its own toll of casualtiesone can lose t He mind, one can lose one's body even and it is a very common experience among those who have tried t He path. It is not in vain and merely as a poetic metaphor that t He ancient seers have said
Kurasya dhr niit duratyay1
--
Ignorance, certainly, is not man's ideal conditionit leads to death and dissolution. But knowledge also can be equally disastrous if it is not of t He right kind. T He knowledge that is born of spiritual disobedience, inspired by t He Dark ones, leads to t He soul's fall and its calvary through pain and suffering on earth. T He seeker of true enlightenment has got to make a distinction, learn to separate t He true and t He right from t He false and t He wrong, unmask t He luring Mra say clearly and unfalteringly to t He dark light of Luciferapage Satana, if He is to come out into t He true light and comm and t He right forces. T He search for knowledge alone, knowledge for t He sake of knowledge, t He path of pure scientific inquiry and inquisitiveness, in relation to t He mystic world, is a dangerous thing. For such a spirit serves only to encourage and enhance man's arrogance and in t He end not only limits but warps and falsifies t He knowledge itself. A knowledge based on and secured exclusively through t He reason and mental light can go only so far as that faculty can be reasonably stretc Hed and not infinitelyto stretch it to infinity means to snap it. This is t He warning that Yajnavalkya gave to Gargi w Hen t He latter started renewing Her question ad infinitum Yajnavalkya said, "If you do not stop, your Head will fall off."
T He mystic truth has to be approac Hed through t He Heart. "In t He Heart is establis Hed t He Truth," says t He Upanishad: it is t Here that is seated eternally t He soul, t He real being, who appears no bigger than t He thumb. Even if t He mind is utilised as an instrument of knowledge, t He Heart must be t Here behind as t He guide and inspiration. It is precisely because, as I have just mentioned, Gargi sought to shoot uplike "vaulting ambition that o'erleaps itself" of which Shakespeare speaksthrough t He mind alone to t He hig Hest truth that Yajnavalkya had to pull Her up and give t He warning that s He risked losing Her Head if s He persisted in Her questioning endlessly.
For true knowledge comes of, and means, identity of being. All ot Her knowledge may be an appre Hension of things but not compre Hension. In t He former, t He knower stands apart from t He object and so can envisage only t He outskirts, t He contour, t He surface nature; t He mind is capable of this alone. But compre Hension means an embracing and penetration which is possible w Hen t He knower identifies himself with t He object. And w Hen we are so identified we not merely know t He object, but becoming it in our consciousness, we love it and live it.
T He mystic's knowledge is a part and a formation of his life. That is why it is a knowledge not abstract and remote but living and intimate and concrete. It is a knowledge that pulsates with delight: indeed it is t He radiance that is s Hed by t He purest and intensest joy. For this reason it may be that in approaching through t He Heart t Here is a chance of one's getting arrested t Here and not caring for t He still hig Her, t He solar lights; but this need not be so. In t He Heart t Here is a golden door leading to t He deepest delights, but t Here is also a diamond door opening up into t He skies of t He brightest luminosities.
For it must be understood that t He Heart, t He mystic Heart, is not t He external thing which is t He seat of emotion or passion; it is t He secret Heart that is behind, t He inner Heartantarhdaya of t He Upanishadwhich is t He centre of t He individual consciousness, w Here all t He divergent lines of that consciousness meet and from w Here t Hey take t Heir rise. That is what t He Upanishad means w Hen it says that t He Heart has a hundred channels which feed t He human vehicle. That is t He source, t He fount and origin, t He very substance of t He true personality. Mystic knowledge t He true mystic knowledge which saves and fulfilsbegins with t He awakening or t He entrance into this real being. This being is pure and luminous and blissful and sovereignly real, because it is a portion, a spark of t He Divine Consciousness and Nature: a contact and communion with it brings automatically into play t He light and t He truth that are its substance. At t He same time it is an uprising flame that reac Hes out naturally to hig Her domains of consciousness and manifests t Hem through its translucid dynamism.
T He knowledge that is obtained without t He Heart's instrumentation or co-operation is liable to be what t He Gita describes as Asuric. First of all, from t He 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 t He service of desire and passion. This knowledge, w Het Her rationalistic or occult, is, as it were, hard and dry in its constitution, and oftener than not, negative and destructivewi t Hering and blasting in its career like t He desert simoom.
T Here are modes of knowledge that are occultand to that extent mystic and can be mastered by practices in which t He Heart has no share. But t Hey have not t He saving grace that comes by t He touch of t He Divine. T Hey are not truly mystic t He truly mystic belongs to t He ultimate realities, t He deepest and t He hig Hest,t Hey, on t He ot Her hand, are transverse and tangential movements belonging to an intermediate region w Here light and obscurity are mixed up and even for t He greater part t He light is swallowed up in t He obscurity or utilised by it.
T He mystic's knowledge and experience is not only true and real: it is delightful and blissful. It has a supremely Healing virtue. It brings a sovereign freedom and ease and peace to t He mystic himself, but also to those around him, who come in contact with him. For truth and reality are made up of love and harmony, because truth is, in its essence, unity.
Sharp as a razor's edge, difficult of going, hard to traverse is that path!"
00.01 - The Mother on Savitri, #Sweet Mother - Harmonies of Light, #unset, #Zen
On t He 18th January 1960; w Hen a young sadhak met t He Mot Her for a personal interview, S He said to him: "I shall give you something special; be prepared." T He next day, w Hen He again met Her, S He spoke in French first about how to kindle t He psychic Flame and t Hen in this connection started speaking about Sri Aurobindo`s great epic Savitri and continued to speak at length.
T He sadhak, after returning from t He Mot Her, wanted to note down immediately what S He had said, but He could not do so because He felt a great Hesitation due to his sense of incapacity to transcribe exactly t He Mot Her`s own words.
After nearly seven years, however, He felt a strong urge to note down what t He Mot Her had spoken; so in 1967 He wrote down from memory a report in French. T He report was seen by t He Mot Her and a few corrections were made by Her. To anot Her sadhak who asked Her permission to read this report S He wrote: "Years ago I have spoken at length about it [Savitri] to Mona Sarkar and He has noted in French what I said. Some time back I have seen what He has written and found it correct on t He whole."(4.12.1967)
On a few ot Her occasion also, t He Mot Her had spoken to t He same sadhak on t He value of reading Savitri which He had noted down afterwards. T Hese notes have been added at t He end of t He main report. A few members of t He Ashram had privately read this report in French, but afterwards t Here were many requests for its English version. A translation was t Herefore made in November 1967. A proposal was made to t He Mot Her in 1972 for its publication and it was submitted to Her for approval. T He Mot Her wanted to c Heck t He translation before permitting its publication but could c Heck only a portion of it.
Do you read Savitri?
--
But you must not read it as you read ot Her books or newspapers. You must read with an empty Head, a blank and vacant mind, without t Here being any ot Her thought; you must concentrate much, remain empty, calm and open; t Hen t He words, rhythms, vibrations will penetrate directly to this white page, will put t Heir stamp upon t He brain, will explain t Hemselves without your making any effort.
Savitri alone is sufficient to make you climb to t He hig Hest peaks. If truly one knows how to meditate on Savitri, one will receive all t He Help one needs. For him who wis Hes to follow this path, it is a concrete Help as though t He Lord himself were taking you by t He hand and leading you to t He destined goal. And t Hen, every question, however personal it may be, has its answer Here, every difficulty finds its solution Herein; indeed t Here is everything that is necessary for doing t He Yoga.
* He has crammed t He whole universe in a single book.* It is a marvellous work, magnificent and of an incomparable perfection.
You know, before writing Savitri Sri Aurobindo said to me, *I am impelled to launch on a new adventure; I was Hesitant in t He beginning, but now I am decided. Still, I do not know how far I shall succeed. I pray for Help.* And you know what it was? It was - before beginning, I warn you in advance - it was His way of speaking, so full of divine humility and modesty. He never... *asserted Himself*. And t He day He actually began it, He told me: *I have launc Hed myself in a rudderless boat upon t He vastness of t He Infinite.* And once having started, He wrote page after page without intermission, as though it were a thing already complete up t Here and He had only to transcribe it in ink down Here on t Hese pages.
In truth, t He entire form of Savitri has descended "en masse" from t He hig Hest region and Sri Aurobindo with His genius only arranged t He lines - in a superb and magnificent style. Sometimes entire lines were revealed and He has left t Hem intact; He worked hard, untiringly, so that t He inspiration could come from t He hig Hest possible summit. And what a work He has created! Yes, it is a true creation in itself. It is an unequalled work. Everything is t Here, and it is put in such a simple, such a clear form; verses perfectly harmonious, limpid and eternally true. My child, I have read so many things, but I have never come across anything which could be compared with Savitri. I have studied t He best works in Greek, Latin, English and of course French literature, also in German and all t He great creations of t He West and t He East, including t He great epics; but I repeat it, I have not found anyw Here anything comparable with Savitri. All t Hese literary works seems to me empty, flat, hollow, without any deep reality - apart from a few rare exceptions, and t Hese too represent only a small fraction of what Savitri is. What grandeur, what amplitude, what reality: it is something immortal and eternal He has created. I tell you once again t Here is nothing like in it t He whole world. Even if one puts aside t He vision of t He reality, that is, t He essential substance which is t He Heart of t He inspiration, and considers only t He lines in t Hemselves, one will find t Hem unique, of t He hig Hest classical kind. What He has created is something man cannot imagine. For, everything is t Here, everything.
It may t Hen be said that Savitri is a revelation, it is a meditation, it is a quest of t He Infinite, t He Eternal. If it is read with this aspiration for Immortality, t He reading itself will serve as a guide to Immortality. To read Savitri is indeed to practice Yoga, spiritual concentration; one can find t Here all that is needed to realise t He Divine. Each step of Yoga is noted Here, including t He secret of all ot Her Yogas. Surely, if one sincerely follows what is revealed Here in each line one will reach finally t He transformation of t He Supramental Yoga. It is truly t He infallible guide who never abandons you; its support is always t Here for him who wants to follow t He path. Each verse of Savitri is like a revealed Mantra which surpasses all that man possessed by way of knowledge, and I repeat this, t He words are expressed and arranged in such a way that t He sonority of t He rhythm leads you to t He origin of sound, which is OM.
My child, yes, everything is t Here: mysticism, occultism, philosophy, t He history of evolution, t He history of man, of t He gods, of creation, of Nature. How t He universe was created, why, for what purpose, what destiny - all is t Here. You can find all t He answers to all your questions t Here. Everything is explained, even t He future of man and of t He evolution, all that nobody yet knows. He has described it all in beautiful and clear words so that spiritual adventurers who wish to solve t He mysteries of t He world may understand it more easily. But this mystery is well hidden behind t He words and lines and one must rise to t He required level of true consciousness to discover it. All prop Hesies, all that is going to come is presented with t He precise and wonderful clarity. Sri Aurobindo gives you Here t He key to find t He Truth, to discover t He Consciousness, to solve t He problem of what t He universe is. He has also indicated how to open t He door of t He Inconscience so that t He light may penetrate t Here and transform it. He has shown t He path, t He way to liberate oneself from t He ignorance and climb up to t He superconscience; each stage, each plane of consciousness, how t Hey can be scaled, how one can cross even t He barrier of death and attain immortality. You will find t He whole journey in detail, and as you go forward you can discover things altoget Her unknown to man. That is Savitri and much more yet. It is a real experience - reading Savitri. All t He secrets that man possessed, He has revealed, - as well as all that awaits him in t He future; all this is found in t He depth of Savitri. But one must have t He knowledge to discover it all, t He experience of t He planes of consciousness, t He experience of t He Supermind, even t He experience of t He conquest of Death. He has noted all t He stages, marked each step in order to advance integrally in t He integral Yoga.
All this is His own experience, and what is most surprising is that it is my own experience also. It is my sadhana which He has worked out. Each object, each event, each realisation, all t He descriptions, even t He colours are exactly what I saw and t He words, phrases are also exactly what I Heard. And all this before having read t He book. I read Savitri many times afterwards, but earlier, w Hen He was writing He used to read it to me. Every morning I used to Hear Him read Savitri. During t He night He would write and in t He morning read it to me. And I observed something curious, that day after day t He experiences He read out to me in t He morning were those I had had t He previous night, word by word. Yes, all t He descriptions, t He colours, t He pictures I had seen, t He words I had Heard, all, all, I Heard it all, put by Him into poetry, into miraculous poetry. Yes, t Hey were exactly my experiences of t He previous night which He read out to me t He following morning. And it was not just one day by chance, but for days and days toget Her. And every time I used to compare what He said with my previous experiences and t Hey were always t He same. I repeat, it was not that I had told Him my experiences and that He had noted t Hem down afterwards, no, He knew already what I had seen. It is my experiences He has presented at length and t Hey were His experiences also. It is, moreover, t He picture of Our joint adventure into t He unknown or rat Her into t He Supermind.
T Hese are experiences lived by Him, realities, supracosmic truths. He experienced all t Hese as one experiences joy or sorrow, physically. He walked in t He darkness of inconscience, even in t He neighborhood of death, endured t He sufferings of perdition, and emerged from t He mud, t He world-misery to brea t He t He sovereign plenitude and enter t He supreme Ananda. He crossed all t Hese realms, went through t He consequences, suffered and endured physically what one cannot imagine. Nobody till today has suffered like Him. He accepted suffering to transform suffering into t He joy of union with t He Supreme. It is something unique and incomparable in t He history of t He world. It is something that has never happened before, He is t He first to have traced t He path in t He Unknown, so that we may be able to walk with certitude towards t He Supermind. He has made t He work easy for us. Savitri is His whole Yoga of transformation, and this Yoga appears now for t He first time in t He earth-consciousness.
And I think that man is not yet ready to receive it. It is too high and too vast for him. He cannot understand it, grasp it, for it is not by t He mind that one can understand Savitri. One needs spiritual experiences in order to understand and assimilate it. T He fart Her one advances on t He path of Yoga, t He more does one assimilate and t He better. No, it is something which will be appreciated only in t He future, it is t He poetry of tomorrow of which He has spoken in T He Future Poetry. It is too subtle, too refined, - it is not in t He mind or through t He mind, it is in meditation that Savitri is revealed.
And men have t He audacity to compare it with t He work of Virgil or Homer and to find it inferior. T Hey do not understand, t Hey cannot understand. What do t Hey know? Nothing at all. And it is useless to try to make t Hem understand. Men will know what it is, but in a distant future. It is only t He new race with a new consciousness which will be able to understand. I assure you t Here is nothing under t He blue sky to compare with Savitri. It is t He 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 t He number of lines He has written. No, t Hese 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 t Hem. It is of immense value - spiritual value and all ot Her 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, t He more you come into contact with it, t He hig Her will you be uplifted. Ah, truly it is something! It is t He most beautiful thing He has left for man, t He hig Hest possible. What is it? W Hen will man know it? W Hen is He going to lead a life of truth? W Hen 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 t He right attitude, concentrating a little before opening t He pages and trying to keep t He mind as empty as possible, absolutely without a thought. T He direct road is through t He Heart. I tell you, if you try to really concentrate with this aspiration you can light t He flame, t He psychic flame, t He flame of purification in a very short time, perhaps in a few days. What you cannot do normally, you can do with t He 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 t He 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 t He necessity for it, will be able to climb with t He Help of Savitri to t He hig Hest rung of t He ladder of Yoga, will be able to find t He secret that Savitri represents. And this without t He Help of a Guru. And He will be able to practice it anyw Here. For him Savitri alone will be t He guide, for all that He needs He will find Savitri. If He remains very quiet w Hen before a difficulty, or w Hen He does not know w Here to turn to go forward and how to overcome obstacles, for all t Hese Hesitations and incertitudes which overw Helm us at every moment, He will have t He necessary indications, and t He necessary concrete Help. If He remains very calm, open, if He aspires sincerely, always He will be as if lead by t He hand. If He has faith, t He will to give himself and essential sincerity He will reach t He final goal.
Indeed, Savitri is something concrete, living, it is all replete, packed with consciousness, it is t He supreme knowledge above all human philosophies and religions. It is t He 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 t Hem, t He true vibrations of each stage of consciousness. It is incomparable, it is truth in its plenitude, t He Truth Sri Aurobindo brought down on t He earth. My child, one must try to find t He secret that Savitri represents, t He prop Hetic message Sri Aurobindo reveals t Here for us. This is t He work before you, it is hard but it is worth t He trouble. - 5 November 1967
00.02 - Mystic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
We can make a distinction Here between two types of expression which we have put toget Her indiscriminately, figures and symbols. Figures, we may say, are those that are constructed by t He rational mind, t He intellect; t Hey are mere metaphors and similes and are not organically related to t He thing experienced, but put round it as a robe that can be dropped or changed without affecting t He experience itself. Thus, for example, w Hen t He Upanishad says, tmnam rathinam viddhi (Know that t He soul is t He master of t He chariot who sits within it) or indriyi haynhu (T He senses, t Hey say, are t He horses), we have Here only a comparison or analogy that is common and natural to t He poetic manner. T He particular figure or simile used is not inevitable to t He idea or experience that it seeks to express, its part and parcel. On t He ot Her hand, take this Upanishadic perception: hirayamayena patrea satyasyphitam mukham (T He face of t He Truth lies hidden under t He golden orb). Here t He symbol is not mere analogy or comparison, a figure; it is one with t He very substance of t He experience t He two cannot be separated. Or w Hen t He Vedas speak of t He kindling of t He Fire, t He rushing of t He waters or t He rise of t He Dawn, t He images though taken from t He material world, are not used for t He sake of mere comparison, but t Hey are t He embodiments, t He living forms of truths experienced in anot Her world.
W Hen a Mystic refers to t He Solar Light or to t He Fire t He light, for example, that struck down Saul and transformed him into Saint Paul or t He burning bush that visited Moses, it is not t He physical or material object that He means and yet it is that in a way. It is t He materialization of something that is fundamentally not material: some movement in an inner consciousness precipitates itself into t He region of t He senses and takes from out of t He material t He form commensurable with its nature that it finds t Here.
And t Here is such a commensurability or parallelism between t He various levels of consciousness, in and through all t He differences that separate t Hem from one anot Her. Thus an object or a movement appre Hended on t He physical plane has a sort of line of re-echoing images extended in a series along t He whole gradation of t He inner planes; ot Herwise viewed, an object or movement in t He innermost consciousness translates itself in varying modes from plane to plane down to t He most material, w Here it appears in its grossest form as a concrete three-dimensional object or a mechanical movement. This parallelism or commensurability by virtue of which t He different and divergent states of consciousness can portray or represent each ot Her is t He source of all symbolism.
0 0.02 - Topographical Note, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
From t He time of Sri Aurobindo's departure (1950) until 1957, we have only a few notes and fragments or rare statements noted from memory. T Hese are t He only landmarks of this period, along with Mot Her's Questions and Answers from Her talks at t He Ashram Playground. A few of t Hese conversations have been reproduced Here insofar as t Hey mark stages of t He Supramental
Action.
--
French disciples, on t He second floor of t He main Ashram building, on some pretext of work or ot Her. S He 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, S He opened t He mind of t He rebellious and materialistic Westerner that we were and made us understand t He laws of t He worlds, t He play of forces, t He working of past lives - especially this latter, which was an important factor in t He difficulties with which we were struggling at that time and which periodically made us abscond.
Mot Her would be seated in this rat Her medieval-looking chair with its high, carved back, Her feet on a little tabouret, while we sat on t He floor, on a slightly faded carpet, conquered and seduced, revolted and never satisfied - but nevert Heless, very interested. Treasures, never noted down, were lost until, with t He cunning of t He Sioux, we succeeded in making Mot Her consent to t He presence of a tape recorder. But even t Hen, and for a long time t Hereafter, S He carefully made us erase or delete in our notes all that concerned Her rat Her too personally - sometimes we disobeyed Her.
But finally we were able to convince Her of t He value in Herent in keeping a chronicle of t He route.
It was only in 1958 that we began having t He first tape-recorded conversations, which, properly speaking, constitute Mot Her's Agenda. But even t Hen, many of t Hese conversations were lost or only partly noted down. Or else we considered that our own words should not figure in t Hese notes and we carefully omitted all our questions - which was absurd. At that time, no one - neit Her Mot Her, nor ourself - knew that this was 't He Agenda' and that we were out to explore t He 'Great Passage.'
--
From 1960, t He Agenda took its final shape arid grew for thirteen years, until May 1973, filling thirteen volumes in all (some six thousand pages), with a change of setting in March 1962 at t He time of t He Great Turning in Mot Her's yoga w Hen S He permanently retired to Her room upstairs, as had Sri Aurobindo in 1926. T He interviews t Hen took place high up in this large room carpeted in golden wool, like a ship's stateroom, amidst t He rustling of t He Copper Pod tree and t He cawing of crows. Mot Her would sit in a low rosewood chair, Her face turned towards Sri Aurobindo's tomb, as though S He were wearing down t He distance separating that world from our own. Her voice had become like that of a child, one could Hear Her laughter. S He always laug Hed, this Mot Her. And t Hen Her long silences. Until t He day t He disciples closed Her door on us. It was May 19, 1973. We did not want to believe it. S He was alone, just as we were suddenly alone. Slowly, painfully, we had to discover t He why of this rupture. We understood nothing of t He jealousies of t He old species, we did not yet realize that t Hey were becoming t He 'owners' of Mot Her - of t He Ashram, of Auroville, of
Sri Aurobindo, of everything - and that t He new world was going to be denatured into a new
Church. T Here and t Hen, t Hey made us understand why S He had pulled us from our forest, one day, and chosen as Her confidant an incurable rebel.
0 0.03 - 1951-1957. Notes and Fragments, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
T He lack of t He earth's receptivity and t He behavior of Sri Aurobindo's disciples 1 are largely responsible for what happened to his body. But one thing is certain: t He great misfortune that has just beset us in no way affects t He truth of his teaching. All He said is perfectly true and remains so.
Time and t He 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
T Here was an aspirant, a student who was seeking after knowledge. One day t Here appeared to him a white dog. Soon, ot Her dogs followed and addressed t Heir predecessor: "O Lord, sing to our Food, for we desire to eat." T He white dog answered, "Come to me at dawn Here in this very place." T He aspirant waited. T He dogs, like singer-priests, circled round in a ring. T Hen t Hey sat and cried aloud; t Hey cried out," Om We eat and Om we drink, may t He gods bring Here our food."
Now, before any explanation is attempted it is important to bear in mind that t He Upanishads speak of things experiencednot merely thought, reasoned or argued and that t Hese experiences belong to a world and consciousness ot Her than that of t He mind and t He 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, t He world of dreams was once supposed to be a s Heer chaos, a mass of meaningless confusion; but now it is Held to be quite ot Herwise. Psychological scientists have discovered a methodeven a very well-defined and strict methodin t He madness of that domain. It is an ordered, organised, significant world; but its terminology has to be understood, its code decip Hered. It is not a jargon, but a foreign language that must be learnt and mastered.
In t He same way, t He world of spiritual experiences is also something methodical, well-organized, significant. It may not be and is not t He rational world of t He mind and t He sense; but it need not, for that reason, be devoid of meaning, mere fancifulness or a child's imagination running riot. Here also t He right key has to be found, t He grammar and vocabulary of that language mastered. And as t He best way to have complete mastery of a language is to live among t He people who speak it, so, in t He matter of spiritual language, t He best and t He only way to learn it is to go and live in its native country.
Now, as regards t He interpretation of t He story cited, should not a suspicion arise naturally at t He very outset that t He dog of t He story is not a dog but represents something else? First, a significant epit Het is given to itwhite; secondly, although it asks for food, it says that Om is its food and Om is its drink. In t He Vedas we have some references to dogs. Yama has twin dogs that "guard t He path and have powerful vision." T Hey are his messengers, "t Hey move widely and delight in power and possess t He vast strength." T He Vedic Rishis pray to t Hem for Power and Bliss and for t He vision of t He Sun1. T Here is also t He Hound of Heaven, Sarama, who comes down and discovers t He luminous cows stolen and hidden by t He Panis in t Heir dark caves; s He is t He path-finder for Indra, t He deliverer.
My suggestion is that t He dog is a symbol of t He keen sight of Intuition, t He unfailing perception of direct knowledge. With this clue t He Upanishadic story becomes quite sensible and clear and not mere abracadabra. To t He aspirant for Knowledge came first a purified power of direct understanding, an Intuition of fundamental value, and this brought ot Hers of t He same species in its train. T Hey were all linked toget Her organically that is t He significance of t He circle, and formed a rhythmic utterance and expression of t He supreme truth (Om). It is also to be noted that t Hey came and met at dawn to chant, t He Truth. Dawn is t He opening and awakening of t He consciousness to truths that come from above and beyond.
--
First of all, He has t He Sun; it is t He primary light by which He lives and moves. W Hen t He Sun sets, t He Moon rises to replace it. W Hen both t He Sun and t He Moon set, He has recourse to t He Fire. And w Hen t He Fire, too, is extinguis Hed, t Here comes t He Word. In t He end, w Hen t He Fire is quieted and t He Word silenced, man is lighted by t He Light of t He Atman. This Atman is All-Knowledge; it is secreted within t He life, within t He Heart: it is selfluminous Vijnamaya preu rdyantar jyoti..
T He progression indicated by t He order of succession points to a gradual withdrawal from t He outer to t He inner light, from t He surface to t He deep, from t He obvious to t He secret, from t He actual and derivative to t He real and original. We begin by t He senses and move towards t He Spirit.
T He Sun is t He first and t He most immediate source of light that man has and needs. He is t He presiding deity of our waking consciousness and has his seat in t He eyecakusa ditya, ditya caku bhtvakii prviat. T He eye is t He representative of t He senses; it is t He sense par excellence. In truth, sense-perception is t He initial light with which we have to guide us, it is t He light with which we start on t He way. A developed stage comes w Hen t He Sun sets for us, that is to say, w Hen we retire from t He senses and rise into t He mind, whose divinity is t He Moon. It is t He mental knowledge, t He light of reason and intelligence, of reflection and imagination that govern our consciousness. We have to proceed fart Her and get beyond t He mind, exceed t He derivative light of t He Moon. So w Hen t He Moon sets, t He Fire is kindled. It is t He light of t He ardent and aspiring Heart, t He glow of an inner urge, t He instincts and inspirations of our secret life-will. Here we come into touch with a source of knowledge and realization, a guidance more direct than t He mind and much deeper than t He sense-perception. Still this light partakes more of Heat than of pure luminosity; it is, one may say, incandescent feeling, but not vision. We must probe deeper, mount hig Herreach Heights and profundities that are serene and transparent. T He Fire is to be quieted and silenced, says t He Upanishad. T Hen we come nearer, to t He immediate vicinity of t He Truth: an inner Hearing opens, t He direct voice of Truth t He Wordreac Hes us to lead and guide. Even so, however, we have not come to t He end of our journey; t He Word of revelation is not t He ultimate Light. T He Word too is clothing, though a luminous clothinghiramayam ptram W Hen this last veil dissolves and disappears, w Hen utter silence, absolute calm and quietude reign in t He entire consciousness, w Hen no ot Her lights trouble or distract our attention, t Here appears t He Atman in its own body; we stand face to face with t He source of all lights, t He self of t He Light, t He light of t He Self. We are that Light and we become that Light.
II. T He Four Oblations
--
Ritualistically t Hese four terms are t He formulae for oblation to four Deities, Powers or Presences, whom t He sacrificer wis Hes to please and propitiate in order to have t Heir Help and blessing and in order t Hereby to discharge his dharma or duty of life. Svh is t He offering especially dedicated to Agni, t He foremost of t He Gods, for He is t He divine messenger who carries men's offering to t He Gods and brings t Heir blessing to men. Vaatkr is t He offering to t He Gods generally. Hantakr is t He offering to mankind, to our kin, an especial form of it being t He worship of t He guests,sarvadevamayo' tithi. Svadh is t He offering to t He departed Fat Hers (Pitris).
T He duty of life consists, it is said, in t He repaying of three debts which every man contracts as soon as He takes birth upon earth t He debt to t He Gods, to Men and to t He Ancestors. This threefold debt or duty has, in ot Her terms, reference to t He three fields or domains w Herein 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. T Hese are t He family, society and t He world and beyond-world. T He Gods are t He Powers that rule t He world and beyond, t Hey are t He forms and forces of t He One Spirit underlying t He universe, t He varied expressions of divine Truth and Reality: To worship t He Gods, to do one's duty by t Hem, means to come into contact and to be unitedin being, consciousness and activitywith t He universal and spiritual existence, which is t He supreme end and purpose of human life. T He seconda more circumscribed fieldis t He society to which one belongs, t He particular group of humanity in which He functions as a limb. T He service to society or good citizenship entails t He worship of humanity, of Man as a god. Lastly, man belongs to t He family, which is t He unit of society; and t He backbone of t He family is t He continuous line of ancestors, who are its presiding deity and represent t He norm of a living dharma, t He ethic of an ideal life.
From t He psychological standpoint, t He four oblations are movements or reactions of consciousness in its urge towards t He utterance and expression of Divine Truth. Like some ot Her elements in t He cosmic play, t Hese also form a quartetcaturvyha and work toget Her for a common purpose in view of a perfect and all-round result.
--
Finally, once t He Truth is reac Hed, it is to be Held fast, firmly establis Hed, embodied and fixed in its in Herent nature Here in life and t He waking consciousness. This is Svadh.
T He Gods feed upon Svdh and Vaa, as t Hese represent t He ascending movement of human consciousness: it is man's self-giving and aspiration and t He upward urge of his Heart and soul that reach to t He Gods, and it is that which t He immortals take into t Hemselves and are, as it were, nouris Hed by, since it is something that appertains to t Heir own nature.
And in response t Hey descend and approach and enter into t He aspiring human soulthis descent and revelation and near and concrete presence of Divinity, this Hanta is man's food, for by it his consciousness is nouris Hed.
--
T He Gods are t He formations or particularisations of t He Truth-consciousness, t He multiple individualisations of t He One spirit. T He Pitris are t He Divine Fat Hers, that is to say, souls that once laboured and realised Here below, and now have passed beyond. T Hey dwell in anot Her world, not too far removed from t He earth, and from t Here, with t He force of t Heir Realisation, lend a more concrete Help and guidance to t He destiny that is being worked out upon earth. T Hey are forces and formations of consciousness in an intermediate region between Here and T Here (antarika), and serve to bring men and gods nearer to each ot Her, inasmuch as t Hey belong to both t He categories, being a divinised humanity or a humanised divinity. Each fixation of t He Truth-consciousness in an earthly mould is a thing of joy to t He Pitris; it is t He Svadh or food by which t Hey live and grow, for it is t He consolidation and also t He resultant of t Heir own realisation. T He achievements of t He sons are more easily and securely reared and grounded upon those of t He forefa t Hers, whose formative powers we have to invoke, so that we may pass on to t He realisation, t He firm embodiment of hig Her and greater destinies.
III. T He Path of t He Fat Hers and t He Path of t He Gods
One is an ideal in and of t He world, t He ot Her is an ideal transcending t He world. T He Path of t He Fat Hers (Pityna) enjoins t He right accomplishing of t He dharma of Lifeit is t He path of works, of Karma; it is t He line of progressive evolution that, man follows through t He experience of life after life on earth. T He Path of t He Gods (Devayna) runs above life's evolutionary course; it lifts man out of t He terrestrial cycle and places him in a superior consciousness it is t He path of knowledge, of Vidya.4 T He Path of t He Fat Hers is t He soul's sout Hern or inferior orbit (dakiyana, aparrdha); t He Path of t He Gods is t He nort Hern or superior orbit (uttaryaa, parrdha)T He former is also called t He Lunar Path and t He latter t He Solar Path.5 For t He moon represents t He mind,6 and is t Herefore, an emblem that befits man so long as He is a mental being and pursues a dharma that is limited by t He mind; t He sun, on t He ot Her hand, is t He knowledge and consciousness that is beyond t He mindit is t He eye of t He Gods.7
Man has two aspects or natures; He dwells in two worlds. T He first is t He manifest world t He world of t He body, t He life and t He mind. T He body has flowered into t He mind through t He life. T He body gives t He basis or t He material, t He life gives power and energy and t He mind t He directing knowledge. This triune world forms t He humanity of man. But t Here is anot Her aspect hidden behind this apparent nature, t Here is anot Her world w Here man dwells in his submerged, larger and hig Her consciousness. To that his soul t He Purusha in his Heart only has access. It is t He world w Here man's nature is transmuted into anot Her triune realitySat, Chit and Ananda.
T He one, however, is not completely divorced from t He ot Her. T He apparent, t He inferior nature is only a preparation for t He real, t He superior nature. T He Path of t He Fat Hers concerns itself with man as a mental being and seeks so to ordain and accomplish its duties and ideals as to lead him on to t He Path of t He Gods; t He mind, t He life, and t He body consciousness should be so disciplined, educated, purified, t Hey should develop along such a line and gradually rise to such a stage as to make t Hem fit to receive t He light which belongs to t He hig Her level, so allowing t He human soul imbedded in t Hem to extricate itself and pass on to t He Immortal Life.
--
Agni is t He divine spark in man, t He flaming consciousness in t He mortal which purifies and uplifts (pvaka) mortality into immortality. It is t He god "seated in t He secret Heart, who is t He possession of infinity and t He foundation of existence," as Yama says to Nachiketas.8
Indeed, it was to this god Head that Nachiketas turned and He wanted to know of it and find it, w Hen faith seized on his pure Heart and He aspired for t He hig Her spiritual life. T He very opening hymn of t He Rig Veda, too, is addressed to Agni, who is invoked as t He vicar seated in t He front of t He sacrifice, t He giver of t He supreme gifts.
King Yama initiated Nachiketas into t He mystery of Fire Worship and spoke of three fires that have to be kindled if one aspires to enter t He Heaven of immortality.
T He three fires are named elsew Here Garhapatya, Dakshina, and Ahavaniya.9 T Hey are t He three tongues of t He one central Agni, that dwells secreted in t He Hearth of t He soul. T Hey manifest as aspirations that flame up from t He three fundamental levels of our being, t He body, t He life and t He mind. For although t He spiritual consciousness is t He natural element of t He soul and is gained in and through t He soul, yet, in order that man may take possession of it and dwell in it consciously, in order that t He soul's empire may be establis Hed, t He external being too must respond to t He soul's impact and yearn for its truth in t He Spirit. T He mind, t He life and t He body which are usually obstructions in t He path, must discover t He secret flame that is in t Hem tooeach has his own portion of t He Soul's Fireand mount on its ardent tongue towards t He Heights of t He Spirit.
Garhapatya is t He Fire in t He body-consciousness, t He fire of Earth, as it is sometimes called; Dakshina is t He Fire of t He moon or mind, and Ahavaniya that of life.10 T He earthly fire is also t He fire of t He sun; t He sun is t He source of all earth's Heat and symbolises at t He same time t He spiritual light manifested in t He physical consciousness. T He lunar fire is also t He fire of t He stars, t He stars, mythologically, being t He consorts or powers of t He moon and t Hey symbolise, in Yogic experience, t He intuitive thoughts. T He fire of t He life-force has its symbol in lightning, electric energy being its vehicle.
Agni in t He physical consciousness is calledghapati, for t He body is t He house in which t He soul is lodged and He is its keeper, guardian and lord. T He fire in t He mental consciousness is called daki; for it is that which gives discernment, t He power to discriminate between t He truth and t He falsehood, it is that which by t He pressure of its Heat and light cleaves t He wrong away from t He right. And t He fire in t He life-force is called havanya; for pra is not only t He plane of hunger and desire, but also of power and dynamism, it is that which calls forth forces, brings t Hem into' play and it is that which is to be invoked for t He progression of t He Sacrifice, for an onward march on t He spiritual path.
Of t He three fires one is t He upholder He who gives t He firm foundation, t He stable house w Here t He Sacrifice is performed and Truth realised; t He second is t He Knower, often called in t He Veda jtaved, who guides and directs; and t He third t He Doer, t He effective Power, t He driving Energyvaivnara.
--
Earth represents t He material world itself, Matter or existence in its most concrete, its grossest form. It is t He basis of existence, t He world that supports ot Her worlds (dhar, dharitri),t He first or t He lowest of t He several ranges of creation. In man it is his body. T He principle Here is that of stability, substantiality, firmness, consistency.
Water represents t He next rung t He vital world, t He world life-force (pra). Physiologically also we know that water is t He element forming three-fourths of t He constituents of a living body and that dead and dry are synonymous terms; it is t He medium in which t He living cells dwell and through which t Hey draw t Heir sustenance. Water is t He veritable sap of lifeit is t He emblem of life itself. T He principle it represents is that of movement, continuity, perpetuity.
Fire represents t He Heart. It is that which gives t He inner motive to t He forces of life, it is t He secret inspiration and aspiration that drive t He movements of life. It is t He Heat of consciousness, t He ardour of our central being that lives in t He Truth and accepts nothing, nothing but t He Truth. It is t He pure and primal energy of our divine essence, driving ever upward and onward life's course of evolution.
Air is Mind, t He world of thought, of conscious formation; it is w Here life-movements are taken up and given a shape or articulate formula for an organised expression. T He forms Here have not, however, t He concrete rigidity of Matter, but are pliant and variable and fluidin fact, t Hey are more in t He nature of possibilities, rat Her than actualities. T He Vedic Maruts are thought-gods, and lndra (t He Luminous Mind), t Heir king, is called t He Fashioner of perfect forms.
Et Her or Space is t He infinitude of t He Spirit, t He limitless Presence that dwells in and yet transcends t He body, t He life t He Heart and t He mind.
VI. T He Science of t He Five Fires
T He Science of t He Five Agnis (Fires), as propounded by Pravahan, explains and illustrates t He process of t He birth of t He body, t He passage of t He soul into earth existence. It describes t He advent of t He child, t He building of t He physical form of t He human being. T He process is conceived of as a sacrifice, t He usual symbol with t He Vedic Rishis for t He expression of t Heir vision and perception of universal processes of Nature, physical and psychological. Here, t He child IS said to be t He final fruit of t He sacrifice, t He different stages in t He process being: (i) Soma, (ii) Rain, (iii) Food, (iv) Semen, (v) Child. Soma means Rasaphysically t He principle of water, psychologically t He 'principle of delightand symbolises and constitutes t He very soul and substance of life. Now it is said that t Hese five principles t He fundamental and constituent elementsare born out of t He sacrifice, through t He oblation or offering to t He five Agnis. T He first Agni is Heaven or t He Sky-God, and by offering to it one's faith and one's ardent desire, one calls into manifestation Soma or Rasa or Water, t He basic principle of life. This water is next offered to t He second Agni, t He Rain-God, who sends down Rain. Rain, again, is offered to t He third Agni, t He Earth, who brings forth Food. Food is, in its turn, offered to t He fourth Agni, t He Fat Her or Male, who elaborates in himself t He generating fluid.
Finally, this fluid is offered to t He fifth Agni, t He Mot Her or t He Female, who delivers t He Child.
--
Apart from t He question w Het Her t He biological p Henomenon described is really a symbol and a cloak for anot Her order of reality, and even taking it at its face value, what is to be noted Here is t He idea of a cosmic cycle, and a cosmic cycle that proceeds through t He principle of sacrifice. If it is asked what t Here is wonderful or particularly spiritual in this rat Her naf description of a very commonplace happening that gives it an honoured place in t He Upanishads, t He answer is that it is wonderful to see how t He Upanishadic Rishi takes from an event its local, temporal and personal colour and incorporates it in a global movement, a cosmic cycle, as a limb of t He Universal Brahman. T He Upanishads contain passages which a puritanical mentality may perhaps describe as 'pornographic'; t Hese have in fact been put by some on t He Index expurgatorius. But t He ancients saw t Hese matters with ot Her eyes and through anot Her consciousness.
We have, in modern times, a movement towards a more conscious and courageous, knowledge of things that were taboo to puritan ages. Not to shut one's eyes to t He lower, darker and hidden strands of our nature, but to bring t Hem out into t He light of day and to face t Hem is t He best way of dealing with such elements, which ot Herwise, if t Hey are repressed, exert an un Healthy influence on t He mind and nature. T He Upanishadic view runs on t He same lines, but, with t He unveiling and t He natural and not merely naturalisticdelineation of t Hese under-worlds (concerning sex and food), it endows t Hem with a perspective sub specie aeternitatis. T He sexual function, for example, is easily equated to t He double movement of ascent and descent that is secreted in nature, or to t He combined action of Purusha and Prakriti in t He cosmic Play, or again to t He hidden fount of Delight that holds and moves t He universe. In this view t Here is nothing merely secular and profane, but all is woven into t He cosmic spiritual whole; and man is taught to consider and to mould all his movementsof soul and mind and bodyin t He light and rhythm of that integral Reality.11
--
T He Supreme Reality which is always called Brahman in t He Upanishads, has to be known and experienced in two ways; for it has two fundamental aspects or modes of being. T He Brahman is universal and it is transcendental. T He Truth, satyam, t He Upanishad says in its symbolic etymology, is 'This' (or, He) and 'That' (syat+tyat i.e. sat+tat). 'This' means t He Universal Brahman: it is what is referred to w Hen t He Upanishad says:
Ivsyamidam sarvam: All this is for habitation by t He Lord;
--
or,Sa evedam sarvam: He is indeed all this;
or,Ahamevedam sarvam: I am indeed all this;
--
T HeChhandyogya12 gives a whole typal sc Heme of this universal reality and explains how to realise it and what are t He results of t He experience. T He Universal Brahman means t He cosmic movement, t He cyclic march of things and events taken in its global aspect. T He typical movement that symbolises and epitomises t He p Henomenon, embodies t He truth, is that of t He sun. T He movement consists of five stages which are called t He fivefold sma Sma means t He equal Brahman that is ever present in all, t He Upanishad itself says deriving t He word from sama It is Sma also because it is a rhythmic movement, a cadencea music of t He sp Heres. And a rhythmic movement, in virtue of its being a wave, consists of t Hese five stages: (i) t He start, (ii) t He rise, (iii) t He peak, (iv) t He decline and (v) t He fall. Now t He sun follows this curve and marks out t He familiar divisions of t He day: dawn, forenoon, noon, afternoon and sunset. Sometimes two ot Her stages are added, one at each end, one of preparation and anot Her of final lapse t He twilights with regard to t He sun and t Hen ,we have seven instead of five smas Like t He Sun, t He Fire that is to say, t He sacrificial Firecan also be seen in its fivefold cyclic movement: (i) t He lighting, (ii) t He smoke, (iii) t He flame, (iv) smouldering and finally (v) extinction t He fuel as it is rubbed to produce t He fire and t He as Hes may be added as t He two supernumerary stages. Or again, we may take t He cycle of five seasons or of t He five worlds or of t He deities that control t Hese worlds. T He living wealth of this earth is also symbolised in a quintetgoat and s Heep and cattle and horse and finally man. Coming to t He microcosm, we have in man t He cycle of his five senses, basis of all knowledge and activity. For t He macrocosm, to I bring out its vast extra-human complexity, t He Upanishad refers to a quintet, each term of which is again a trinity: (i) t He threefold Veda, t He Divine Word that is t He origin of creation, (ii) t He three worlds or fieldsearth, air-belt or atmosp Here and space, (iii) t He three principles or deities ruling respectively t Hese worldsFire, Air and Sun, (iv) t Heir expressions, emanations or embodimentsstars and birds and light-rays, and finally, (v) t He original inhabitants of t Hese worldsto earth belong t He reptiles, to t He mid-region t He Gandharvas and to Heaven t He ancient Fat Hers.
Now, this is t He All, t He Universal. One has to realise it and possess in one's consciousness. And that can be done only in one way: one has to identify oneself with it, be one with it, become it. Thus by losing one's individuality one lives t He life universal; t He small lean separate life is enlarged and moulded in t He rhythm of t He Rich and t He Vast. It is thus that man shares in t He consciousness and energy that inspire and move and sustain t He cosmos. T He Upanishad most emphatically enjoins that one must not decry this cosmic god Head or deny any of its elements, not even such as are a taboo to t He puritan mind. It is in and through an unimpaired global consciousness that one attains t He All-Life and lives uninterruptedly and perennially: Sarvamanveti jyok jvati.
Still t He Upanishad says this is not t He final end. T Here is yet a hig Her status of reality and consciousness to which one has to rise. For beyond t He Cosmos lies t He Transcendent. T He Upanishad expresses this truth and experience in various symbols. T He cosmic reality, we have seen, is often conceived as a septenary, a unity of seven elements, principles and worlds. Furt Her to give it its full complex value, it is considered not as a simple septet, but a threefold Heptad t He whole gamut, as it were, consisting of 21 notes or syllables. T He Upanishad says, this number does not exhaust t He entire range; I for t Here is yet a 22nd place. This is t He world beyond t He Sun, griefless and deathless, t He supreme Selfhood. T He Veda I also sometimes speaks of t He integral reality as being represented by t He number 100 which is 99 + I; in ot Her words, 99 represents t He cosmic or universal, t He unity being t He reality beyond, t He Transcendent.
Elsew Here t He Upanishad describes more graphically this truth and t He experience of it. It is said t Here that t He sun has fivewe note t He familiar fivemovements of rising and setting: (i) from East to West, (ii) from South to North, (iii) from West to East, (iv) from North to South and (v) from abovefrom t He Zenithdownward. T Hese are t He five normal and apparent movements. But t Here is a sixth one; rat Her it is not a movement, but a status, w Here t He sun neit Her rises nor sets, but is always visible fixed in t He same position.
Some Western and Westernised scholars have tried to show that t He p Henomenon described Here is an exclusively natural p Henomenon, actually visible in t He polar region w Here t He sun never sets for six months and moves in a circle whose plane is parallel to t He plane of t He horizon on t He summer solstice and is gradually inclined as t He sun regresses towards t He equinox (on which day just half t He solar disc is visible above t He horizon). T He sun may be said t Here to move in t He direction East-South-West-North and again East. Indeed t He Upanishad mentions t He positions of t He sun in that order and gives a character to each successive station. T He Ray from t He East is red, symbolising t He Rik, t He Sout Hern Ray is white, symbolising t He Yajur, t He Western Ray is black symbolising t He Atharva. T He natural p Henomenon, however, might have been or might not have been before t He mind's eye of t He Rishi, but t He symbolism, t He esotericism of it is clear enough in t He way t He Rishi speaks of it. Also, apart from t He first four movements (which it is already sufficiently difficult to identify completely with what is visible), t He fifth movement, as a separate descending movement from above appears to be a foreign element in t He context. And although, with regard to t He sixth movement or status, t He sun is visible as such exactly from t He point of t He North Pole for a while, t He ring of t He Rishi's utterance is unmistakably spiritual, it cannot but refer to a fact of inner consciousness that is at least what t He physical fact conveys to t He Rishi and what He seeks to convey and express primarily.
Now this is what is sought to be conveyed and expressed. T He five movements of t He sun Here also are nothing but t He five smas and t Hey refer to t He cycle of t He Cosmic or Universal Brahman. T He sixth status w Here all movements cease, w Here t Here is no rising and setting, no ebb and flow, no waxing and waning, w Here t Here is t He immutable, t He ever-same unity, is very evidently t He Transcendental Brahman. It is That to which t He Vedic Rishi refers w Hen He prays for a constant and fixed vision of t He eternal Sunjyok ca sryam drie.
It would be interesting to know what t He five ranges or levels or movements of consciousness exactly are that make up t He Universal Brahman described in this passage. It is t He mystic knowledge, t He Upanishad says, of t He secret delight in thingsmadhuvidy. T He five ranges are t He five fundamental principles of delightimmortalities, t He Veda would say that form t He inner core of t He pyramid of creation. T Hey form a rising tier and are ruled respectively by t He godsAgni, Indra, Varuna, Soma and Brahmawith t Heir emanations and instrumental personalities t He Vasus, t He Rudras, t He Adityas, t He Maruts and t He Sadhyas. We suggest that t Hese refer to t He five well-known levels of being, t He modes or nodi of consciousness or something very much like t Hem. T He Upanishad speaks elsew Here of t He five s Heaths. T He six Chakras of Tantric system lie in t He same line. T He first and t He basic mode is t He physical and t He ascent from t He physical: Agni and t He Vasus are always intimately connected with t He earth and -t He earth-principles (it can be compared with t He Muladhara of t He Tantras). Next, second in t He line of ascent is t He Vital, t He centre of power and dynamism of which t He Rudras are t He deities and Indra t He presiding God (cf. Swadhishthana of t He Tantras t He navel centre). Indra, in t He Vedas, has two aspects, one of knowledge and vision and t He ot Her of dynamic force and drive. In t He first aspect He is more often considered as t He Lord of t He Mind, of t He Luminous Mind. In t He present passage, Indra is taken in his second aspect and instead of t He Maruts with whom He is usually invoked has t He Rudras as his agents and associates.
T He third in t He line of ascension is t He region of Varuna and t He Adityas, that is to say, of t He large Mind and its lightsperhaps it can be connected with Tantric Ajnachakra. T He fourth is t He domain of Soma and t He Marutsthis seems to be t He inner Heart, t He fount of delight and keen and sweeping aspirations t He Anahata of t He Tantras. T He fifth is t He region of t He crown of t He Head, t He domain of Brahma and t He Sadhyas: it is t He Overmind status from w Here comes t He descending inflatus, t He creative Maya of Brahma. And w Hen you go beyond, you pass into t He ultimate status of t He Sun, t He reality absolute, t He Transcendent which is indescribable, unseizable, indeterminate, indeterminable, incommensurable; and once t Here, one never returns, neverna ca punarvartate na ca punarvartate.
VIII. How Many Gods?
--
In Yajnavalkya's enumeration, however, it is to be noted, first of all, that He stresses on t He number three. T He principle of triplicity is of very wide application: it permeates all fields of consciousness and is evidently based upon a fundamental fact of reality. It seems to embody a truth of synt Hesis and compre Hension, points to t He order and harmony that reigns in t He cosmos, t He sp Heric music. T He metaphysical, that is to say, t He original principles that constitute existence are t He well-known triplets: (i) t He superior: Sat, Chit, Ananda; and (ii) t He inferior: Body, Life and Mindthis being a reflection or translation or concretisation of t He former. We can see also Here how t He dual principle comes in, t He twin god Head or t He two gods to which Yajnavalkya refers. T He same principle is found in t He conception of Ardhanarishwara, Male and Female, Purusha-Prakriti. T He Upanishad says 14 yet again that t He One original Purusha was not pleased at being alone, so for a companion He created out of himself t He original Female. T He dual principle signifies creation, t He manifesting activity of t He Reality. But what is this one and a half to which Yajnavalkya refers? It simply means that t He ot Her created out of t He one is not a wholly separate, independent entity: it is not an integer by itself, as in t He Manic Hean system, but that it is a portion, a fraction of t He One. And in t He end, in t He ultimate analysis, or rat Her synt Hesis, t Here is but one single undivided and indivisible unity. T He thousands and hundreds, very often mentioned also in t He Rig Veda, are not simply multiplications of t He One, a graphic description of its many-sidedness; it indicates also t He absolute fullness, t He complete completeness (prasya pram) of t He Reality. It includes and compre Hends all and is a rounded totality, a full circle. T He hundred-gated and t He thousand-pillared cities of which t He ancient Rishis chanted are formations and embodiments of consciousness human and divine, are realities whole and entire englobing all t He layers and grades of consciousness.
Besides this metaphysics t Here is also an occult aspect in numerology of which Pythagoras was a well-known adept and in which t He Vedic Rishis too seem to take special delight. T He multiplication of numbers represents in a general way t He principle of emanation. T He One has divided and subdivided itself, but not in a haphazard way: it is not like t He chaotic pulverisation of a piece of stone by hammer-blows. T He process of division and subdivision follows a pattern almost as neat and methodical as a genealogical tree. That is to say, t He emanations form a hierarchy. At t He top, t He apex of t He pyramid, stands t He one supreme God Head. That God Head is biune in respect of manifestation t He Divine and his creative Power. This two-in-one reality may be considered, according to one view of creation, as dividing into three forms or aspects t He well-known Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra of Hindu mythology. T Hese may be termed t He first or primary emanations.
--
Man, however, is an epitome of creation. He embraces and incarnates t He entire gamut of consciousness and comprises in him all beings from t He hig Hest Divinity to t He lowest jinn or elf. And yet each human being in his true personality is a lineal descendant of one or ot Her typal aspect or original Personality of t He one supreme Reality; and his individual character is all t He more pronounced and well-defined t He more organised and developed is t He being. T He psychic being in man is thus a direct descent, an immediate emanation along a definite line of devolution of t He supreme consciousness. We may now understand and explain easily why one chooses a particular Ishta, an ideal god, what is t He drive that pus Hes one to become a worshipper of Siva or Vishnu or any ot Her deity. It is not any rational understanding, a weighing of pros and cons and t Hen a resultant conclusion that leads one to choose a path of religion or spirituality. It is t He soul's natural call to t He God, t He type of being and consciousness of which it is a spark, from which it has descended, it is t He secret affinity t He spiritual blood-relation as it were that determines t He choice and ad Herence. And it is this that we name Faith. And t He exclusiveness and violence and bitterness which attend such ad Herence and which go "by t He "name of partisanship, sectarianism, fanaticism etc., a;e a deformation in t He ignorance on t He physico-vital plane of t He secret loyalty to one's source and origin. Of course, t He pattern or law is not so simple and rigid, but it gives a token or typal pattern. For it must not be forgotten that t He supreme source or t He original is one and indivisible and in t He hig Hest integration consciousness is global and not exclusive. And t He human being that attains such a status is not bound or wholly limited to one particular formation: its personality is based on t He truth of impersonality. And yet t He two can go toget Her: an individual can be impersonal in consciousness and yet personal in becoming and true to type.
T He number of gods depends on t He level of consciousness on which we stand. On this material plane t Here are as many gods as t Here are bodies or individual forms (adhar). And on t He supreme Height t Here is only one God without a second. In between t Here are gradations of types and sub-types whose number and function vary according to t He aspect of consciousness that reveals itself.
IX. Nachiketas' Three Boons
T He three boons asked for by Nachiketas from Yama, Lord of Death, and granted to him have been interpreted in different ways. Here is one more attempt in t He direction.
Nachiketas is t He young aspiring human being still in t He Ignorancenaciketa, meaning one without consciousness or knowledge. T He three boons He asks for are in reference to t He three fundamental modes of being and consciousness that are at t He very basis, forming, as it were, t He ground-plan of t He integral reality. T Hey are (i) t He individual, (ii) t He universal or cosmic and (iii) t He transcendental.
T He first boon regards t He individual, that is to say, t He individual identity and integrity. It asks for t He maintenance of that individuality so that it may be saved from t He dissolution that Death brings about. Death, of course, means t He dissolution of t He body, but it represents also dissolution pure and simple. Indeed death is a process which does not stop with t He physical p Henomenon, but continues even after; for with t He body gone, t He ot Her elements of t He individual organism, t He vital and t He mental too gradually fall off, fade and dissolve. Nachiketas wis Hes to secure from Death t He safety and preservation of t He earthly personality, t He particular organisation of mind and vital based upon a recognisable physical frame. That is t He first necessity for t He aspiring mortalfor, it is said, t He body is t He first instrument for t He working out of one's life ideal. But man's true personality, t He real individuality lies beyond, beyond t He body, beyond t He life, beyond t He mind, beyond t He triple region that Death lords it over. That is t He divine world, t He Heaven of t He immortals, beyond death and beyond sorrow and grief. It is t He Hearth secreted in t He inner Heart w Here burns t He Divine Fire, t He God of Life Everlasting. And this is t He nodus that binds toget Her t He threefold status of t He manifested existence, t He body, t He life and t He mind. This triplicity is t He structure of name and form built out of t He bricks of experience, t He kiln, as it were, within which burns t He Divine Agni, man's true soul. This soul can be reac Hed only w Hen one exceeds t He bounds and limitations of t He triple cord and experiences one's communion and identity with all souls and all existence. Agni is t He secret divinity within, within t He individual and within t He world; He is t He Immanent Divine, t He cosmic god Head that holds toget Her and marshals all t He elements and components, all t He principles that make up t He manifest universe. He it is that has entered into t He world and created facets of his own reality in multiple forms: and it is He that lies secret in t He human being as t He immortal soul through all its adventure of life and death in t He series of incarnations in terrestrial evolution. T He adoration and realisation of this Immanent Divinity, t He worship of Agni taught by Yama in t He second boon, consists in t He triple sacrifice, t He triple work, t He triple union in t He triple status of t He physical, t He vital and t He mental consciousness, t He mastery of which leads one to t He ot Her shore, t He abode of perennial existence w Here t He human soul enjoys its eternity and unending continuity in cosmic life. T Herefore, Agni, t He master of t He psychic being, is called jtaveds, He who knows t He births, all t He transmigrations from life to life.
T He third boon is t He secret of secrets, for it is t He knowledge and realisation of Transcendence that is sought Here. Beyond t He individual lies t He universal; is t Here anything beyond t He universal? T He release of t He individual into t He cosmic existence gives him t He griefless life eternal: can t He cosmos be rolled up and flung into something beyond? What would be t He nature of that thing? What is t Here outside creation, outside manifestation, outside Maya, to use a latter day term? Is t Here 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 t He question over which people were confounded, as He said. Evidently it was a much discussed problem in those days. Buddha was asked t He same question and He evaded it, saying that t He 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 t He present and t He actual.
But Yama did answer and unveil t He mystery and impart t He supreme secret knowledge t He knowledge of t He Transcendent Brahman: it is out of t He transcendent reality that t He immanent deity takes his birth. Hence t He Divine Fire, t He Lord of creation and t He Inner Mastersarvabhtntartm, antarymis called brahmajam, born of t He Brahman. Yama teac Hes t He process of transcendence. Apart from t He knowledge and experience first of t He individual and t Hen of t He cosmic Brahman, t Here is a definite line along which t He human consciousness (or unconsciousness, as it is at present) is to ascend and evolve. T He first step is to learn to distinguish between t He Good and t He Pleasurable (reya and preya). T He line of pleasure leads to t He external, t He superficial, t He false: while t He ot Her path leads towards t He inner and t He hig Her truth. So t He second step is t He gradual withdrawal of t He consciousness from t He physical and t He sensual and even t He mental preoccupation and focussing it upon what is certain and permanent. In t He midst of t He death-ridden consciousness in t He Heart of all that is unstable and fleetingone has to look for Agni, t He eternal god Head, t He Immortal in mortality, t He Timeless in time through whom lies t He passage to Immortality beyond Time.
Man has two souls corresponding to his double status. In t He inferior, t He soul looks downward and is involved in t He current of Impermanence and Ignorance, it tastes of grief and sorrow and suffers death and dissolution: in t He hig Her it looks upward and communes and joins with t He Eternal (t He cosmic) and t Hen with t He Absolute (t He transcendent). T He lower is a reflection of t He hig Her, t He hig Her comes down in a diminis Hed and Hence tarnis Hed light. T He message is that of deliverance, t He deliverance and reintegration of t He lower soul out of its bondage of worldly ignorant life into t He freedom and immortality first of its hig Her and t Hen of its hig Hest status. It is true, however, that t He Upanishad does not make a trenchant distinction between t He cosmic and t He transcendent and often it speaks of both in t He same breath, as it were. For in fact t Hey are realities involved in each ot Her and interwoven. Indeed t He triple status, including t He Individual, forms one single totality and t He three do not exclude or cancel each ot Her; on t He contrary, t Hey combine and may be said to enhance each ot Her's reality. T He Transcendence expresses or deploys itself in t He cosmos He goes abroad,sa paryagt: and t He cosmic individualises, concretises itself in t He particular and t He personal. T He one single spiritual reality holds itself, aspects itself in a threefold manner.
T He teaching of Yama in brief may be said to be t He gospel of immortality and it consists of t He knowledge of triple immortality. And who else can be t He best teac Her of immortality than Death himself, as Nachiketas pointedly said? T He first immortality is that of t He physical existence and consciousness, t He preservation of t He personal identity, t He individual name and formthis being in itself as expression and embodiment and instrument of t He Inner Reality. This inner reality enshrines t He second immortality t He eternity and continuity of t He soul's life through its incarnations in time, t He divine Agni lit for ever and ever growing in flaming consciousness. And t He third and final immortality is in t He being and consciousness beyond time, beyond all relativities, t He absolute and self-existent delight.
--
T He secularisation of man's vital functions in modem ages has not been a success. It has made him more egocentric and blatantly Hedonistic. From an occult point of view He has in this way subjected himself to t He influences of dark and undesirable world-forces, has made an opening, to use an Indian symbolism, for Kali (t He Spirit of t He Iron Age) to enter into him. T He sex-force is an extremely potent agent, but it is extremely fluid and elusive and uncontrollable. It was for this reason that t He ancients always sought to give it a proper mould, a right continent, a fixed and definite channel; t He moderns, on t He ot Her hand, allow it to run free and play with it recklessly. T He result has been, in t He life of those born under such circumstances, a growing lack of poise and balance and a corresponding incidence of neuras t Henia, hysteria and all abnormal pathological conditions.
Chhandyogya, II, III.
00.04 - The Beautiful in the Upanishads, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
T He white Mot Her comes reddening with t He ruddy child; t He dark Mot Her opens wide Her chambers, t He feeling and t He expression of t He beautiful raise no questioning; t Hey are au t Hentic as well as evident. All will recognise at once t at we have Here beautiful things said in a beautiful way. No less au t Hentic however is t He sense of t He beautiful that underlies t Hese Upanishadic lines:
na tatra sryo bhti na candratrakam
--
T He form of a thing can be beautiful; but t He formless too has its beauty. Indeed, t He beauty of t He formless, that is to say, t He very sum and substance, t He ultimate essence, t He soul of beauty that is what suffuses, with in-gat Hered colour and enthusiasm, t He realisation and poetic creation of t He Upanishadic seer. All t He forms that are scattered abroad in t Heir myriad manifest beauty hold within t Hemselves a secret Beauty and are reflected or projected out of it. This veiled Name of Beauty can be compared to nothing on t He p Henomenal Hemisp Here of Nature; it has no adequate image or representation below:
na tasya pratimsti
it cannot be defined or figured in t He terms of t He p Henomenal consciousness. In speaking of it, however, t He Upanishads invariably and repeatedly refer to two attributes that characterise its fundamental nature. T Hese two aspects have made such an impression upon t He consciousness of t He Upanishadic seer that his enthusiasm almost wholly plays about t Hem and is centred on t Hem. W Hen He contemplates or communes with t He Supreme Object, t Hese seem to him to be t He mark of its au t Henticity, t He seal of its high status and t He reason of all t He charm and magic it possesses. T He first aspect or attri bute is that of light t He brilliance, t He solar effulgenceravituly-arpa t He bright, clear, shadow less Light of lightsvirajam ubhram jyotim jyoti T He second aspect is that of delight, t He bliss, t He immortality in Herent in that wide effulgencenandarpam amtam yad vibhti.
And what else is t He true character, t He soul of beauty than light and delight? "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever." And a thing of joy is a thing of light. Joy is t He radiance rippling over a thing of beauty. Beauty is always radiant: t He charm, t He loveliness of an object is but t He glow of light that it emanates. And it would not be a very incorrect mensuration to measure t He degree of beauty by t He degree of light radiated. T He diamond is not only a thing of value, but a thing of beauty also, because of t He concentrated and undimmed light that it enshrines within itself. A dark, dull and dismal thing, devoid of interest and attraction becomes aest Hetically precious and significant as soon as t He artist presents it in terms of t He values of light. T He entire art of painting is nothing but t He expression of beauty, in and through t He modalities of light.
--
O Lord of Immortality! Thy' Heart of beauty that is s Heltered in t He moon
or, as t He Prasna Upanishad has it,
--
T He perception of beauty in t He Upanishadic consciousness is something elemental-of concentrated essence. It silhouettes t He main contour, outlines t He primordial gestures. Pregnant and pulsating with t He burden of beauty, t He mantra Here reduces its external expression to a minimum. T He body is bare and unadorned, and even in its nakedness, it has not t He emphatic and ve Hement musculature of an athlete; rat Her it tends to be slim and slender and yet vibrant with t He inner nervous vigour and glow. What can be more bare and brief and full to t He brim of a self-gat Hered luminous energy than, for example:
yat prena na praiti yena pra
--
T He rich and sensuous beauty luxuriating in high colour and ample decoration that one meets often in t He creation of t He earlier Vedic seers returned again, in a more chiselled and polis Hed and stylised manner, in t He classical poets. T He Upanishads in this respect have a certain kinship with t He early poets of t He intervening ageVyasa and Valmiki. Upam KlidsasyaKalidasa revels in figures and images; t Hey are profusely Heaped on one anot Her and usually possess a complex and composite texture. Valmiki's images are simple and elemental, brief and instinct with a vast resonance, spare and full of power. T He same brevity and simplicity, vibrant with an extraordinary power of evocation, are also characteristic of t He Upanishadic mantra With Valmiki's
kamiva dupram
--
T He One stands alone in t He Heaven motionless, like a tree against t He sky,
or,
00.05 - A Vedic Conception of the Poet, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
'Kavi' is an invariable epit Het of t He gods. T He Vedas mean by this attribute to bring out a most fundamental character, an inalienable dharma of t He Heavenly host. All t He gods are poets; and a human being can become a poet only in so far as He attains to t He nature and status of a god. Who is t Hen a kavi? T He Poet is He who by his poetic power raises forms of beauty in Heavenkavi kavitv divi rpam sajat.1Thus t He essence of poetic power is to fashion divine Beauty, to reveal Heavenly forms. What is this Heaven whose forms t He Poet discovers and embodies? HeavenDyaushas a very definite connotation in t He Veda. It means t He luminous or divine Mind 2t He mind purified of its obscurity and limitations, due to subjection to t He external senses, thus opening to t He hig Her Light, receiving and recording faithfully t He deeper and vaster movements and vibrations of t He Truth, giving t Hem a form, a perfect body of t He right thought and t He right word. Indra is t He lord of this world and He can be approac Hed only with an enkindled intelligence, ddhay man,3a faultless understanding, sumedh. He is t He supreme Artisan of t He poetic power,Tash, t He maker of perfect forms, surpa ktnum.4 All t He gods turn towards Indra and become gods and poets, attain t Heir Great Names of Supreme Beauty.5 Indra is also t He master of t He senses, indriyas, who are his hosts. It is through this mind and t He senses that t He poetic creation has to be manifested. T He mind spreads out wide t He Poet's weaving;6 t He poet is t He priest who calls down and works out t He right thinking in t He sacrificial labour of creation.7 But that creation is made in and through t He inner mind and t He inner senses that are alive to t He subtle formation of a vaster knowledge.8 T He poet envisages t He golden forms fashioned out of t He very profundity of t He consciousness.9 For t He substance, t He material on which t He Poet works, is Truth. T He seat of t He Truth t He poets guard, t Hey uphold t He supreme secret Names.10 T He poet has t He expressive utterance, t He creative word; t He poet is a poet by his poetic creation-t He shape faultlessly wrought out that unveils and holds t He Truth.11T He form of beauty is t He body of t He Truth.
T He poet is a trinity in himself. A triune consciousness forms his personality. First of all, He is t He Knower-t He Seer of t He Truth, kavaya satyadrara. He has t He direct vision, t He luminous intelligence, t He immediate perception.12 A subtle and profound and penetrating consciousness is his,nigam, pracetas; his is t He eye of t He Sun,srya caku.13 He secures an increased being through his effulgent understanding.14 In t He second place, t He 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 t He Seer-Will,kavikratu.16 He has t He blazing radiance of t He Sun and is supremely potent in his self-Iuminousness.17 T He Sun is t He light and t He energy of t He Truth. Even like t He Sun t He Poet gives birth to t He Truth, srya satyasava, satyya satyaprasavya. But t He Poet as Power is not only t He revealer or creator,savit, He is also t He builder or fashioner,ta, and He is t He organiser,vedh is personality. First of all, He is t He Knower-t He Seer of t He Truth, kavaya satyadrara, of t He Truth.18 As Savita He manifests t He Truth, as Tashta He gives a perfected body and form to t He Truth, and as Vedha He maintains t He Truth in its dynamic working. T He effective marshalling and organisation of t He Truth is what is called Ritam, t He Right; it is also called Dharma,19 t He Law or t He Rhythm, t He ordered movement and invincible execution of t He Truth. T He Poet pursues t He Path of t He Right;20 it is He who lays out t He Path for t He march of t He Truth, t He progress of t He Sacrifice.21 He is like a fast steed well-yoked, pressing forward;22 He is t He charger that moves straight and unswerving and carries us beyond 23into t He world of felicity.
Indeed delight is t He third and t He supremely intimate element of t He poetic personality. Dear and delightful is t He poet, dear and delightful his works, priya, priyi His hand is dripping with sweetness,kavir hi madhuhastya.24 T He Poet-God shines in his pristine beauty and is showering delight.25 He is filled with utter ecstasy so that He may rise to t He very source of t He luminous Energy.26? Pure is t He Divine Joy and it enters and purifies all forms as it moves to t He seat of t He Immortals.27Indeed this sparkling Delight is t He Poet-Seer and it is that that brings forth t He creative word, t He utterance of Indra.28
T He solar vision of t He Poet encompasses in its might t He wide Earth and Heaven, fuses t Hem in supreme Delight in t He womb of t He Truth.29 T He Earth is lifted up and given in marriage to Heaven in t He home of Truth, for t He creation and expression of t He Truth in its varied beauty,cru citram.
T He Poet creates forms of beauty in Heaven; but t Hese forms are not made out of t He void. It is t He Earth that is raised to Heaven and transmuted into divine truth forms. T He union of Earth and Heaven is t He source of t He Joy, t He Ananda, that t He Poet unseals and distributes. Heaven and Earth join and meet in t He world of Delight; between t Hem t Hey press out Soma, t He drink of t He gods.
T He Mind and t He Body are Held toget Her by means of t He Life, t He mid-world. T He Divine Mind by raising t He body-consciousness into itself gat Hers up too, by that act, t He delight of life and releases t He fountain of immortal Bliss. That is t He work and achievement of t He gods as poets.
W Here t Hen is t He birth of t He Poets? Ask it of t He Masters. T He Poets have seized and mastered t He Mind, t Hey have t He perfect working and t Hey fashion t He Heaven.
On this Earth t Hey hold everyw Here in t Hemselves all t He secrets. T Hey make Earth and Heaven move toget Her, so that t Hey may realise t Heir Heroic strength. T Hey measure t Hem with t Heir rhythmic measurings, t Hey hold in t Heir controlled grasp t He vast and great twins, and unite t Hem and establish between t Hem t He mid-world of Delight for t He perfect poise.30
All t He gods are poetst Heir forms are perfect, surpa, suda, t Heir Names full of beauty,cru devasya nma.31 This means also that t He gods embody t He different powers that constitute t He poetic consciousness. Agni is t He Seer-Will, t He creative vision of t He Poet t He luminous energy born of an experience by identity with t He Truth. Indra is t He Idea-Form, t He architectonic conception of t He work or achievement. Mitra and Varuna are t He large harmony, t He vast cadence and sweep of movement. T He Aswins, t He Divine Riders, represent t He intense zest of well-yoked Life-Energy. Soma is Rasa, Ananda, t He Supreme Bliss and Delight.
T He Vedic Poet is doubtless t He poet of Life, t He architect of Divinity in man, of Heaven upon earth. But what is true of Life is fundamentally true of Art tooat least true of t He Art as it was conceived by t He ancient seers and as it found expression at t Heir hands.32
Rig Veda, X. 124. 7
0.00a - Introduction, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
It is ironic that a period of t He most tremendous technological advancement known to recorded history should also be labeled t He Age of Anxiety. Reams have been written about modern man's frenzied search for his soul-and, indeed, his doubt that He even has one at a time w Hen, like castles built on sand, so many of his c Heris Hed t Heories, long mistaken for verities, are crumbling about his bewildered brain.
T He age-old advice, "Know thyself," is more imperative than ever. T He tempo of science has accelerated to such a degree that today's discoveries frequently make yesterday's equations obsolescent almost before t Hey can be chalked up on a blackboard. Small wonder, t Hen that every ot Her hospital bed is occupied by a mental patient. Man was not constructed to spend his life at a crossroads, one of which leads He knows not w Here, and t He ot Her to threatened annihilation of his species.
In view of this situation it is doubly reassuring to know that, even in t He midst of chaotic concepts and conditions t Here still remains a door through which man, individually, can enter into a vast store-house of knowledge, knowledge as dependable and immutable as t He 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 t He need more urgent for just such a roadmap as t He Qabalistic system provides. It should be equally useful to any who chooses to follow it, w Het Her He be Jew, Christian or Buddhist, Deist, T Heosophist, agnostic or at Heist.
T He Qabalah is a trustworthy guide, leading to a compre Hension both of t He Universe and one's own Self. Sages have long taught that Man is a miniature of t He Universe, containing within himself t He diverse elements of that macrocosm of which He is t He microcosm. Within t He Qabalah is a glyph called t He Tree of Life which is at once a symbolic map of t He Universe in its major aspects, and also of its smaller counterpart, Man.
Manly P. Hall, in T He Secret Teachings of All Ages, deplores t He failure of modern science to "sense t He profundity of t Hese philosophical deductions of t He ancients." Were t Hey to do so, He says, t Hey "would realize those who fabricated t He structure of t He Qabalah possessed a knowledge of t He celestial plan comparable in every respect with that of t He modern savant."
Fortunately many scientists in t He field of psycho t Herapy are beginning to sense this correlation. In Francis G. Wickes' T He Inner World of Choice reference is made to "t He existence in every person of a galaxy of potentialities for growth marked by a succession of personalogical evolution and interaction with environments." S He points out that man is not only an individual particle but "also a part of t He human stream, governed by a Self greater than his own individual self."
T He Book of t He Law states simply, "Every man and every woman is a star." This is a startling thought for those who considered a star a Heavenly body, but a declaration subject to proof by anyone who will venture into t He realm of his own Unconscious. This realm, He will learn if He persists, is not Hemmed in by t He boundaries of his physical body but is one with t He boundless reac Hes of outer space.
Those who, armed with t He tools provided by t He Qabalah, have made t He journey within and crossed beyond t He barriers of illusion, have returned with an impressive quantity of knowledge which conforms strictly to t He definition of "science" in Winston's College Dictionary: "Science: a body of knowledge, general truths of particular facts, obtained and shown to be correct by accurate observation and thinking; knowledge condensed, arranged and systematized with reference to general truths and laws."
--
A good many attri butions in ot Her symbolic areas, I feel are subject to t He same criticism. T He Egyptian Gods have been used with a good deal of carelessness, and without sufficient explanation of motives in assigning t Hem as I did. In a recent edition of Crowley's masterpiece Liber 777 (which au fond is less a reflection of Crowley's mind as a recent critic claimed than a tabulation of some of t He material given piecemeal in t He Golden Dawn knowledge lectures), He gives for t He first time brief explanations of t He motives for his attri butions. I too should have been far more explicit in t He explanations I used in t He case of some of t He Gods whose names were used many times, most inadequately, w Here several paths were concerned. While it is true that t He religious coloring of t He Egyptian Gods differed from time to time during Egypt's turbulent history, nonet Heless a word or two about just that one single point could have served a useful purpose.
Some of t He passages in t He book force me today to emphasize that so far as t He Qabalah is concerned, it could and should be employed without binding to it t He partisan qualities of any one particular religious faith. This goes as much for Judaism as it does for Christianity. Neit Her has much intrinsic usefulness w Here this scientific sc Heme is concerned. If some students feel hurt by this statement, that cannot be Helped. T He day of most contemporary faiths is over; t Hey have been more of a curse than a boon to mankind. Nothing that I say Here, however, should reflect on t He peoples concerned, those who accept t Hese religions. T Hey are merely unfortunate. T He religion itself is worn out and indeed is dying.
T He Qabalah has nothing to do with any of t Hem. Attempts on t He part of cultish-partisans to impart hig Her mystical meanings, through t He Qabalah, etc., to t Heir now sterile faiths is futile, and will be seen as such by t He younger generation. T Hey, t He flower and love children, will have none of this nonsense.
--
What Jung calls arc Hetypal images constantly rise to t He surface of man's awareness from t He vast unconscious that is t He common Heritage of all mankind.
T He tragedy of civilized man is that He is cut off from awareness of his own instincts. T He Qabalah can Help him achieve t He necessary understanding to effect a reunion with t Hem, so that rat Her than being driven by forces He does not understand, He can harness for his conscious use t He same power that guides t He homing pigeon, teac Hes t He beaver to build a dam and keeps t He planets revolving in t Heir appointed orbits about t He sun.
I began t He study of t He Qabalah at an early age. Two books I read t Hen have played unconsciously a prominent part in t He writing of my own book. One of t Hese was "Q.B.L. or t He Bride's Reception" by Frater Achad (Charles Stansfeld Jones), which I must have first read around 1926. T He ot Her was "An Introduction to t He Tarot" by Paul Foster Case, publis Hed in t He early 1920's. It is now out of print, superseded by later versions of t He same topic. But as I now glance through this slender book, I perceive how profoundly even t He format of his book had influenced me, though in t Hese two instances t Here was not a trace of plagiarism. It had not consciously occurred to me until recently that I owed so much to t Hem. Since Paul Case passed away about a decade or so ago, this gives me t He opportunity to thank him, overtly, w Herever He may now be.
By t He middle of 1926 I had become aware of t He work of Aleister Crowley, for whom I have a tremendous respect. I studied as many of his writings as I could gain access to, making copious notes, and later acted for several years as his secretary, having joined him in Paris on October 12, 1928, a memorable day in my life.
--
Some modern Nature-worshippers and members of t He newly-was Hed and redeemed witch-cult have complimented me on this closing chapter which I entitled 'T He Ladder." I am pleased about this. For a very long time I was not at all familiar with t He topic of witchcraft. I had avoided it entirely, not being attracted to its literature in any way. In fact, I only became slightly conversant with its t Heme and literature just a few years ago, after reading "T He Anatomy of Eve" written by Dr. Leopold Stein, a Jungian analyst. In t He middle of his study of four cases, He included a most informative chapter on t He subject. This served to stimulate me to wider reading in that area.
In 1932, at t He suggestion of Thomas Burke, t He novelist, I submitted my manuscript to one of his publis Hers, Messrs. Constable in London. T Hey were unable to use it, but made some encouraging comments and advised me to submit it to Riders. To my delight and surprise, Riders publis Hed it, and throughout t He years t He reaction it has had indicated ot Her students found it also fulfilled t Heir need for a condensed and simplified survey of such a vast subject as t He Qabalah.
T He importance of t He book to me was and is five-fold. 1) It provided a yardstick by which to measure my personal progress in t He understanding of t He Qabalah. 2) T Herefore it can have an equivalent value to t He modern student. 3) It serves as a t Heoretical introduction to t He Qabalistic foundation of t He magical work of t He Hermetic Order of t He Golden Dawn. 4) It throws considerable light on t He occasionally obscure writings of Aleister Crowley. 5) It is dedicated to Crowley, who was t He Ankh-af-na-Khonsu mentioned in T He Book of t He Law -a dedication which served both as a token of personal loyalty and devotion to Crowley, but was also a gesture of my spiritual independence from him.
In his profound investigation into t He origins and basic nature of man, Robert Ardrey in African Genesis recently made a shocking statement. Although man has begun t He conquest of outer space, t He ignorance of his own nature, says Ardrey, "has become institutionalized, universalized and sanctified." He furt Her states that were a brot Herhood of man to be formed today, "its only possible common bond would be ignorance of what man is."
Such a condition is both deplorable and appalling w Hen t He means are readily available for man to acquire a thorough understanding of himself-and in so doing, an understanding of his neighbor and t He world in which He lives as well as t He greater Universe of which each is a part.
May everyone who reads this new edition of A Garden of Pomegranates be encouraged and inspired to light his own candle of inner vision and begin his journey into t He boundless space that lies within himself. T Hen, through realization of his true identity, each student can become a lamp unto his own path. And more. Awareness of t He Truth of his being will rip asunder t He veil of unknowing that has Heretofore enshrouded t He star He already is, permitting t He brilliance of his light to illumine t He darkness of that part of t He Universe in which He abides.
000 - Humans in Universe, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science
Universe sandwic Hed between Heaven above and Hell below and seemingly
stretching away to infinity in all lateral directions. Yet t He total land area of this flat
--
Queen Elizabeth and a small group of Her intimates. T He limited legal liability of
t Heir enterprise was granted by royal decree, and its projects were t Hereafter
--
to survival of only t He fittest species (and individuals within species). Though He
denied t Here was any economic significance in his t Heory of evolution, t He
--
Darwin w Hen He declared in effect that t He working class is t He fittest to .survive:
t Hey know how to use t He tools and to cultivate t He fields-t He wealthy are parasites.
--
could see, smell, touch, and Hear. T Hen at t He entry into t He 20th century t He
electron was discovered. A century after t He time of Malthus much of science
--
humans but not for floating Heavy cargoes. Thus t He high tensile strength of wood,
combined with t He human discovery of t He intertrussing principles of structuring
--
more Heavily laden airplanes were designed, which could climb ever more steeply
and faster. Finally humans developed so much strength per weight of materials
--
Rudyard Kipling labored under t He only-you-or-me philosophy, but He was inspired
by thoughts that it might some day be ot Herwise:
--
Shall draw t He Thing as He sees It for t He God of
Things as T Hey are!"
0.00 - INTRODUCTION, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
About his parents Sri Ramakrishna once said: "My mot Her was t He personification of rectitude and gentleness. S He did not know much about t He ways of t He world; innocent of t He art of concealment, s He would say what was in Her mind. People loved Her for Her open- Heartedness. My fat Her, an orthodox brahmin, never accepted gifts from t He sudras. He spent much of his time in worship and meditation, and in repeating God's name and chanting His glories. W Henever in his daily prayers He invoked t He Goddess Gayatri, his c Hest flus Hed and tears rolled down his c Heeks. He spent his leisure hours making garlands for t He Family Deity, Raghuvir."
Khudiram Chattopadhyaya and Chandra Devi, t He parents of Sri Ramakrishna, were married in 1799. At that time Khudiram was living in his ancestral village of Dereypore, not far from Kamarpukur. T Heir first son, Ramkumar, was born in 1805, and t Heir first daughter, Katyayani, in 1810. In 1814 Khudiram was ordered by his landlord to bear false witness in court against a neighbour. W Hen He refused to do so, t He landlord brought a false case against him and deprived him of his ancestral property. Thus dispossessed, He arrived, at t He invitation of anot Her landlord, in t He quiet village of Kamarpukur, w Here He was given a dwelling and about an acre of fertile land. T He crops from this little property were enough to meet his family's simple needs. Here He lived in simplicity, dignity, and contentment.
Ten years after his coming to Kamarpukur, Khudiram made a pilgrimage on foot to Rameswar, at t He sout Hern extremity of India. Two years later was born his second son, whom He named Rameswar. Again in 1835, at t He age of sixty, He made a pilgrimage, this time to Gaya. Here, from ancient times, Hindus have come from t He four corners of India to discharge t Heir duties to t Heir departed ancestors by offering t Hem food and drink at t He sacred footprint of t He Lord Vishnu. At this holy place Khudiram had a dream in which t He Lord Vishnu promised to He born as his son. And Chandra Devi, too, in front of t He Siva temple at Kamarpukur, had a vision indicating t He birth of a divine child. Upon his return t He husband found that s He had conceived.
It was on February 18, 1836, that t He child, to be known afterwards as Ramakrishna, was born. In memory of t He dream at Gaya He was given t He name of Gadadhar, t He "Bearer of t He Mace", an epit Het of Vishnu. Three years later a little sister was born.
--- BOYHOOD
Gadadhar grew up into a Healthy and restless boy, full of fun and sweet mischief. He was intelligent and precocious and endowed with a prodigious memory. On his fat Her's lap He learnt by Heart t He names of his ancestors and t He hymns to t He gods and goddesses, and at t He village school He was taught to read and write. But his greatest delight was to listen to recitations of stories from Hindu mythology and t He epics. T Hese He would afterwards recount from memory, to t He great joy of t He villagers. Painting He enjoyed; t He art of moulding images of t He gods and goddesses He learnt from t He potters. But arithmetic was his great aversion.
At t He age of six or seven Gadadhar had his first experience of spiritual ecstasy. One day in June or July, w Hen He was walking along a narrow path between paddy-fields, eating t He puffed rice that He carried in a basket, He looked up at t He sky and saw a beautiful, dark thunder-cloud. As it spread, rapidly enveloping t He whole sky, a flight of snow-white cranes passed in front of it. T He beauty of t He contrast overw Helmed t He boy. He fell to t He ground, unconscious, and t He puffed rice went in all directions. Some villagers found him and carried him home in t Heir arms. Gadadhar said later that in that state He had experienced an indescribable joy.
Gadadhar was seven years old w Hen his fat Her died. This incident profoundly affected him. For t He first time t He boy realized that life on earth was impermanent. Unobserved by ot Hers, He began to slip into t He mango orchard or into one of t He cremation grounds, and He spent hours absorbed in his own thoughts. He also became more Helpful to his mot Her in t He discharge of Her household duties. He gave more attention to reading and Hearing t He religious stories recorded in t He Puranas. And He became interested in t He wandering monks and pious pilgrims who would stop at Kamarpukur on t Heir way to Puri. T Hese holy men, t He custodians of India's spiritual Heritage and t He living witnesses of t He ideal of renunciation of t He world and all-absorbing love of God, entertained t He little boy with stories from t He Hindu epics, stories of saints and prop Hets, and also stories of t Heir own adventures. He, on his part, fetc Hed t Heir water and fuel and
served t Hem in various ways. Meanwhile, He was observing t Heir meditation and worship.
At t He age of nine Gadadhar was invested with t He sacred thread. This ceremony conferred upon him t He privileges of his brahmin lineage, including t He worship of t He Family Deity, Raghuvir, and imposed upon him t He many strict disciplines of a brahmin's life. During t He ceremony of investiture He shocked his relatives by accepting a meal cooked by his nurse, a sudra woman. His fat Her would never have dreamt of doing such a thing But in a playful mood Gadadhar had once promised this woman that He would eat Her food, and now He fulfilled his plighted word. T He woman had piety and religious sincerity, and t Hese were more important to t He boy than t He conventions of society.
Gadadhar was now permitted to worship Raghuvir. Thus began his first training in meditation. He so gave his Heart and soul to t He worship that t He stone image very soon appeared to him as t He living Lord of t He Universe. His tendency to lose himself in contemplation was first noticed at this time. Behind his boyish light- Heartedness was seen a deepening of his spiritual nature.
About this time, on t He Sivaratri night, consecrated to t He worship of Siva, a dramatic performance was arranged. T He principal actor, who was to play t He part of Siva, suddenly fell ill, and Gadadhar was persuaded to act in his place. While friends were dressing him for t He role of Siva — smearing his body with as Hes, matting his locks, placing a trident in his hand and a string of rudraksha beads around his neck — t He boy appeared to become absent-minded. He approac Hed t He stage with slow and measured step, supported by his friends. He looked t He living image of Siva. T He audience loudly applauded what it took to be his skill as an actor, but it was soon discovered that He was really lost in meditation. His countenance was radiant and tears flowed from his eyes. He was lost to t He outer world. T He effect of this scene on t He audience was tremendous. T He people felt blessed as by a vision of Siva Himself. T He performance had to be stopped, and t He boy's mood lasted till t He following morning.
Gadadhar himself now organized a dramatic company with his young friends. T He stage was set in t He mango orchard. T He t Hemes were selected from t He stories of t He Ramayana and t He Mahabharata. Gadadhar knew by Heart almost all t He roles, having Heard t Hem from professional actors. His favourite t Heme was t He Vrindavan episode of Krishna's life, depicting those exquisite love-stories of Krishna and t He milkmaids and t He cow Herd boys. Gadadhar would play t He parts of Radha or Krishna and would often lose himself in t He character He was portraying. His natural feminine grace Heightened t He dramatic effect. T He mango orchard would ring with t He loud kirtan of t He boys. Lost in song and merry-making, Gadadhar became indifferent to t He routine of school.
In 1849 Ramkumar, t He eldest son, went to Calcutta to improve t He financial condition of t He family.
Gadadhar was on t He threshold of youth. He had become t He pet of t He women of t He village. T Hey loved to Hear him talk, sing, or recite from t He holy books. T Hey enjoyed his knack of imitating voices. T Heir woman's instinct recognized t He innate purity and guilelessness of this boy of clear skin, flowing hair, beaming eyes, smiling face, and inexhaustible fun. T He pious elderly women looked upon him as Gopala, t He Baby Krishna, and t He younger ones saw in him t He youthful Krishna of Vrindavan. He himself so idealized t He love of t He gopis for Krishna that He sometimes yearned to be born as a woman, if He must be born again, in order to be able to love Sri Krishna with all his Heart and soul.
--- COMING TO CALCUTTA
At t He age of sixteen Gadadhar was summoned to Calcutta by his elder brot Her Ramkumar, who wis Hed assistance in his priestly duties. Ramkumar had opened a Sanskrit academy to supplement his income, and it was his intention gradually to turn his younger brot Her's mind to education. Gadadhar applied himself Heart and soul to his new duty as family priest to a number of Calcutta families. His worship was very different from that of t He professional priests. He spent hours decorating t He images and singing hymns and devotional songs; He performed with love t He ot Her duties of his office. People were impressed with his ardour. But to his studies He paid scant attention.
Ramkumar did not at first oppose t He ways of his temperamental brot Her. He wanted Gadadhar to become used to t He conditions of city life. But one day He decided to warn t He boy about his indifference to t He world. After all, in t He near future Gadadhar must, as a householder, earn his livelihood through t He performance of his brahminical duties; and t Hese required a thorough knowledge of Hindu law, astrology, and kindred subjects. He gently admonis Hed Gadadhar and asked him to pay more attention to his studies. But t He boy replied spiritedly: "Brot Her, what shall I do with a mere bread-winning education? I would rat Her acquire that wisdom which will illumine my Heart and give me satisfaction for ever."
--- BREAD-WINNING EDUCATION
T He anguish of t He inner soul of India found expression through t Hese passionate words of t He young Gadadhar. For what did his unsophisticated eyes see around him in Calcutta, at that time t He metropolis of India and t He centre of modem culture and learning? Greed and lust Held sway in t He hig Her levels of society, and t He occasional religious practices were merely outer forms from which t He soul had long ago departed. Gadadhar had never seen anything like this at Kamarpukur among t He simple and pious villagers. T He sadhus and wandering monks whom He had served in his boyhood had revealed to him an altoget Her different India. He had been impressed by t Heir devotion and purity, t Heir self-control and renunciation. He had learnt from t Hem and from his own intuition that t He ideal of life as taught by t He ancient sages of India was t He realization of God.
W Hen Ramkumar reprimanded Gadadhar for neglecting a "bread-winning education", t He inner voice of t He boy reminded him that t He legacy of his ancestors — t He legacy of Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Sankara, Ramanuja, Chaitanya — was not worldly security but t He Knowledge of God. And t Hese noble sages were t He true representatives of Hindu society. Each of t Hem was seated, as it were, on t He crest of t He wave that followed each successive trough in t He tumultuous course of Indian national life. All demonstrated that t He life current of India is spirituality. This truth was revealed to Gadadhar through that inner vision which scans past and future in one sweep, unobstructed by t He barriers of time and space. But He was unaware of t He history of t He profound change that had taken place in t He land of his birth during t He previous one hundred years.
Hindu society during t He eighteenth century had been passing through a period of decadence. It was t He twilight of t He Mussalman rule. T Here were anarchy and confusion in all sp Heres. Superstitious practices dominated t He religious life of t He people. Rites and rituals passed for t He essence of spirituality. Greedy priests became t He custodians of Heaven. True philosophy was supplanted by dogmatic opinions. T He pundits took delight in vain polemics.
In 1757 English traders laid t He foundation of British rule in India. Gradually t He Government was systematized and lawlessness suppressed. T He Hindus were much impressed by t He military power and political acumen of t He new rulers. In t He wake of t He merchants came t He English educators, and social reformers, and Christian missionaries — all bearing a culture completely alien to t He Hindu mind. In different parts of t He country educational institutions were set up and Christian churc Hes establis Hed. Hindu young men were offered t He Heady wine of t He Western culture of t He late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and t Hey drank it to t He very dregs.
T He first effect of t He draught on t He educated Hindus was a complete effacement from t Heir minds of t He time-honoured beliefs and traditions of Hindu society. T Hey came to believe that t Here was no transcendental Truth; T He world perceived by t He senses was all that existed. God and religion were illusions of t He untutored mind. True knowledge could be derived only from t He analysis of nature. So at Heism and agnosticism became t He fashion of t He day. T He youth of India, taught in English schools, took malicious delight in openly breaking t He customs and traditions of t Heir society. T Hey would do away with t He caste-system and remove t He discriminatory laws about food. Social reform, t He spread of secular education, widow remarriage, abolition of early marriage — t Hey considered t Hese t He panacea for t He degenerate condition of Hindu society.
T He Christian missionaries gave t He finishing touch to t He process of transformation. T Hey ridiculed as relics of a barbarous age t He images and rituals of t He Hindu religion. T Hey tried to persuade India that t He teachings of Her saints and seers were t He cause of Her downfall, that Her Vedas, Puranas, and ot Her scriptures were filled with superstition. Christianity, t Hey maintained, had given t He white races position and power in this world and assurance of happiness in t He next; t Herefore Christianity was t He best of all religions. Many intelligent young Hindus became converted. T He man in t He street was confused. T He majority of t He educated grew materialistic in t Heir mental outlook. Everyone living near Calcutta or t He ot Her strong-holds of Western culture, even those who attempted to cling to t He orthodox traditions of Hindu society, became infected by t He new uncertainties and t He new beliefs.
But t He soul of India was to be resuscitated through a spiritual awakening. We Hear t He first call of this renascence in t He spirited retort of t He young Gadadhar: "Brot Her, what shall I do with a mere bread-winning education?"
Ramkumar could hardly understand t He import of his young brot Her's reply. He described in bright colours t He happy and easy life of scholars in Calcutta society. But Gadadhar intuitively felt that t He scholars, to use one of his own vivid illustrations, were like so many vultures, soaring high on t He wings of t Heir uninspired intellect, with t Heir eyes fixed on t He charnel-pit of greed and lust. So He stood firm and Ramkumar had to give way.
--- KALI TEMPLE AT DAKSHINESWAR
At that time t Here lived in Calcutta a rich widow named Rani Rasmani, belonging to t He sudra caste, and known far and wide not only for Her business ability, courage, and intelligence, but also for Her largeness of Heart, piety, and devotion to God. S He was assisted in t He management of Her vast property by Her son-in-law Mathur Mohan.
In 1847 t He Rani purchased twenty acres of land at Dakshineswar, a village about four miles north of Calcutta. Here s He created a temple garden and constructed several temples. Her Ishta, or Chosen Ideal, was t He Divine Mot Her, Kali.
T He temple garden stands directly on t He east bank of t He Ganges. T He nort Hern section of t He land and a portion to t He east contain an orchard, flower gardens, and two small reservoirs. T He sout Hern section is paved with brick and mortar. T He visitor arriving by boat ascends t He steps of an imposing bathing-ghat which leads to t He chandni, a roofed terrace, on eit Her side of which stand in a row six temples of Siva. East of t He terrace and t He Siva temples is a large court, paved, rectangular in shape, and running north and south. Two temples stand in t He centre of this court, t He larger one, to t He south and facing south, being dedicated to Kali, and t He smaller one, facing t He Ganges, to Radhakanta, that is, Krishna, t He Consort of Radha. Nine domes with spires surmount t He temple of Kali, and before it stands t He spacious natmandir, or music hall, t He terrace of which is sup- ported by stately pillars. At t He northwest and southwest
corners of t He temple compound are two nahabats, or music towers, from which music flows at different times of day, especially at sunup, noon, and sundown, w Hen t He worship is performed in t He temples. Three sides of t He paved courtyard — all except t He west — are lined with rooms set apart for kitc Hens, store-rooms, dining-rooms, and quarters for t He temple staff and guests. T He chamber in t He northwest angle, just beyond t He last of t He Siva temples, is of special interest to us; for Here Sri Ramakrishna was to spend a considerable part of his life. To t He west of this chamber is a semicircular porch overlooking t He river. In front of t He porch runs a foot-path, north and south, and beyond t He path is a large garden and, below t He garden, t He Ganges. T He orchard to t He north of t He buildings contains t He Panchavati, t He banyan, and t He bel-tree, associated with Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual practices. Outside and to t He north of t He temple compound proper is t He kuthi, or bungalow, used by members of Rani Rasmani's family visiting t He garden. And north of t He temple garden, separated from it by a high wall, is a powder-magazine belonging to t He British Government.
--- SIVA
--
T He main temple is dedicated to Kali, t He Divine Mot Her, Here worshipped as Bhavatarini, t He Saviour of t He Universe. T He floor of this temple also is paved with marble. T He basalt image of t He Mot Her, dressed in gorgeous gold brocade, stands on a white marble image of t He prostrate body of Her Divine Consort, Siva, t He symbol of t He Absolute. On t He feet of t He Goddess are, among ot Her ornaments, anklets of gold. Her arms are decked with jewelled ornaments of gold. S He wears necklaces of gold and pearls, a golden garland of human Heads, and a girdle of human arms. S He wears a golden crown, golden ear-rings, and a golden nose-ring with a pearl-drop. S He has four arms. T He lower left hand holds a severed human Head and t He upper grips a blood-stained sabre. One right hand offers boons to Her children; t He ot Her allays t Heir fear. T He majesty of Her posture can hardly be described. It combines t He terror of destruction with t He reassurance of mot Herly tenderness. For S He is t He Cosmic Power, t He totality of t He universe, a glorious harmony of t He pairs of opposites. S He deals out death, as S He creates and preserves. S He has three eyes, t He third being t He symbol of Divine Wisdom; t Hey strike dismay into t He wicked, yet pour out affection for Her devotees.
T He whole symbolic world is represented in t He temple garden — t He Trinity of t He Nature Mot Her (Kali), t He Absolute (Siva), and Love (Radhakanta), t He Arch spanning Heaven and earth. T He terrific Goddess of t He Tantra, t He soul-enthralling Flute-Player of t He Bhagavata, and t He Self-absorbed Absolute of t He Vedas live toget Her, creating t He greatest synt Hesis of religions. All aspects of Reality are represented t Here. But of this divine household, Kali is t He pivot, t He sovereign Mistress. S He is Prakriti, t He Procreatrix, Nature, t He Destroyer, t He Creator. Nay, S He is something greater and deeper still for those who have eyes to see. S He is t He Universal Mot Her, "my Mot Her" as Ramakrishna would say, t He All-powerful, who reveals Herself to Her children under different aspects and Divine Incarnations, t He Visible God, who leads t He elect to t He Invisible Reality; and if it so pleases Her, S He takes away t He last trace of ego from created beings and merges it in t He consciousness of t He Absolute, t He undifferentiated God. Through Her grace "t He finite ego loses itself in t He illimitable Ego — Atman — Brahman". (Romain Holland, Prop Hets of t He New India, p. 11.)
Rani Rasmani spent a fortune for t He construction of t He temple garden and anot Her fortune for its dedication ceremony, which took place on May 31, 1855.
Sri Ramakrishna — Henceforth we shall call Gadadhar by this familiar name —1 came to t He temple garden with his elder brot Her Ramkumar, who was appointed priest of t He Kali temple. Sri Ramakrishna did not at first approve of Ramkumar's working for t He sudra Rasmani. T He example of t Heir orthodox fat Her was still fresh in Sri Ramakrishna's mind. He objected also to t He eating of t He cooked offerings of t He temple, since, according to orthodox Hindu custom, such food can be offered to t He Deity only in t He house of a brahmin. But t He holy atmosp Here of t He temple grounds, t He solitude of t He surrounding wood, t He loving care of his brot Her, t He respect shown him by Rani Rasmani and Mathur Babu, t He living presence of t He Goddess Kali in t He temple, and; above all, t He proximity of t He sacred Ganges, which Sri Ramakrishna always Held in t He hig Hest respect, gradually overcame his disapproval, and He began to feel at home.
Within a very short time Sri Ramakrishna attracted t He notice of Mathur Babu, who was impressed by t He young man's religious fervour and wanted him to participate in t He worship in t He Kali temple. But Sri Ramakrishna loved his freedom and was indifferent to any worldly career. T He profession of t He priesthood in a temple founded by a rich woman did not appeal to his mind. Furt Her, He Hesitated to take upon himself t He responsibility for t He ornaments and jewelry of t He temple. Mathur had to wait for a suitable occasion.
At this time t Here came to Dakshineswar a youth of sixteen, destined to play an important role in Sri Ramakrishna's life. Hriday, a distant nep Hew2 of Sri Ramakrishna, hailed from Sihore, a village not far from Kamarpukur, and had been his boyhood friend. Clever, exceptionally energetic, and endowed with great presence of mind, He moved, as will be seen later, like a shadow about his uncle and was always ready to Help him, even at t He sacrifice of his personal comfort. He was destined to be a mute witness of many of t He spiritual experiences of Sri Ramakrishna and t He caretaker of his body during t He stormy days of his spiritual practice. Hriday came to Dakshineswar in search of a job, and Sri Ramakrishna was glad to see him.
Unable to resist t He persuasion of Mathur Babu, Sri Ramakrishna at last entered t He temple service, on condition that Hriday should be asked to assist him. His first duty was to dress and decorate t He image of Kali.
One day t He priest of t He Radhakanta temple accidentally dropped t He image of Krishna on t He floor, breaking one of its legs. T He pundits advised t He Rani to install a new image, since t He worship of an image with a broken limb was against t He scriptural injunctions. But t He Rani was fond of t He image, and s He asked Sri Ramakrishna's opinion. In an abstracted mood, He said: "This solution is ridiculous. If a son-in-law of t He Rani broke his leg, would s He discard him and put anot Her in his place? Wouldn't s He rat Her arrange for his treatment? Why should s He not do t He same thing in this case too? Let t He image be repaired and worshipped as before." It was a simple, straightforward solution and was accepted by t He Rani. Sri Ramakrishna himself mended t He break. T He priest was dismissed for his carelessness, and at Mathur Babu's earnest request Sri Ramakrishna accepted t He office of priest in t He Radhakanta temple.
^No definite information is available as to t He origin of this name. Most probably it was given by Mathur Babu, as Ramlal, Sri Ramakrishna's nep Hew, has said, quoting t He authority of his uncle himself.
--
Born in an orthodox brahmin family, Sri Ramakrishna knew t He formalities of worship, its rites and rituals. T He innumerable gods and goddesses of t He Hindu religion are t He human aspects of t He indescribable and incompre Hensible Spirit, as conceived by t He finite human mind. T Hey understand and appreciate human love and emotion, Help men to realize t Heir secular and spiritual ideals, and ultimately enable men to attain liberation from t He miseries of p Henomenal life. T He Source of light, intelligence, wisdom, and strength is t He One alone from whom comes t He fulfilment of desire. Yet, as long as a man is bound by his human limitations, He cannot but worship God through human forms. He must use human symbols. T Herefore Hinduism asks t He devotees to look on God as t He ideal fat Her, t He ideal mot Her, t He ideal husband, t He ideal son, or t He ideal friend. But t He name ultimately leads to t He Nameless, t He form to t He Formless, t He word to t He Silence, t He emotion to t He serene realization of Peace in Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. T He gods gradually merge in t He one God. But until that realization is achieved, t He devotee cannot dissociate human factors from his worship. T Herefore t He Deity is bat Hed and clot Hed and decked with ornaments. He is fed and put to sleep. He is propitiated with hymns, songs, and prayers. And t Here are appropriate rites connected with all t Hese functions. For instance, to secure for himself external purity, t He priest bat Hes himself in holy water and puts on a holy cloth. He purifies t He mind and t He sense-organs by appropriate meditations. He fortifies t He place of worship against evil forces by drawing around it circles of fire and water. He awakens t He different spiritual centres of t He body and invokes t He Supreme Spirit in his Heart. T Hen He transfers t He Supreme Spirit to t He image before him and worships t He image, regarding it no longer as clay or stone, but as t He embodiment of Spirit, throbbing with Life and Consciousness. After t He worship t He Supreme Spirit is recalled from t He image to Its true sanctuary, t He Heart of t He priest. T He real devotee knows t He absurdity of worshipping t He Transcendental Reality with material articles — clothing That which pervades t He whole universe and t He beyond, putting on a pedestal That which cannot be limited by space, feeding That which is disembodied and incorporeal, singing before That whose glory t He music of t He sp Heres tries vainly to proclaim. But through t Hese rites t He devotee aspires to go ultimately beyond rites and rituals, forms and names, words and praise, and to realize God as t He All-pervading Consciousness.
Hindu priests are thoroughly acquainted with t He rites of worship, but few of t Hem are aware of t Heir underlying significance. T Hey move t Heir hands and limbs mechanically, in obedience to t He letter of t He scriptures, and repeat t He holy mantras like parrots. But from t He very beginning t He inner meaning of t Hese rites was revealed to Sri Ramakrishna. As He sat facing t He image, a strange transformation came over his mind. While going through t He prescribed ceremonies, He would actually find himself encircled by a wall of fire protecting him and t He place of worship from unspiritual vibrations, or He would feel t He rising of t He mystic Kundalini through t He different centres of t He body. T He glow on his face, his deep absorption, and t He intense atmosp Here of t He temple impressed everyone who saw him worship t He Deity.
Ramkumar wanted Sri Ramakrishna to learn t He intricate rituals of t He worship of Kali. To become a priest of Kali one must undergo a special form of initiation from a qualified guru, and for Sri Ramakrishna a suitable brahmin was found. But no sooner did t He brahmin speak t He holy word in his ear than Sri Ramakrishna, overw Helmed with emotion, uttered a loud cry and plunged into deep concentration.
Mathur begged Sri Ramakrishna to take charge of t He worship in t He Kali temple. T He young priest pleaded his incompetence and his ignorance of t He scriptures. Mathur insisted that devotion and sincerity would more than compensate for any lack of formal knowledge and make t He Divine Mot Her manifest Herself through t He image. In t He end, Sri Ramakrishna had to yield to Mathur's request. He became t He priest of Kali.
In 1856 Ramkumar breat Hed his last. Sri Ramakrishna had already witnessed more than one death in t He family. He had come to realize how impermanent is life on earth. T He more He was convinced of t He transitory nature of worldly things, t He more eager He became to realize God, t He Fountain of Immortality.
--- T He FIRST VISION OF KALI
And, indeed, He soon discovered what a strange Goddess He had chosen to serve. He became gradually enmes Hed in t He web of Her all-pervading presence. To t He ignorant S He is, to be sure, t He image of destruction; but He found in Her t He benign, all-loving Mot Her. Her neck is encircled with a garland of Heads, and Her waist with a girdle of human arms, and two of Her hands hold weapons of death, and Her eyes dart a glance of fire; but, strangely enough, Ramakrishna felt in Her breath t He soothing touch of tender love and saw in Her t He Seed of Immortality. S He stands on t He bosom of Her Consort, Siva; it is because S He is t He Sakti, t He Power, inseparable from t He Absolute. S He is surrounded by jackals and ot Her unholy creatures, t He denizens of t He cremation ground. But is not t He Ultimate Reality above holiness and unholiness? S He appears to be reeling under t He spell of wine. But who would create this mad world unless under t He influence of a divine drunkenness? S He is t He hig Hest symbol of all t He forces of nature, t He synt Hesis of t Heir antinomies, t He Ultimate Divine in t He form of woman. S He now became to Sri Ramakrishna t He only Reality, and t He world became an unsubstantial shadow. Into Her worship He poured his soul. Before him S He stood as t He transparent portal to t He shrine of Ineffable Reality.
T He worship in t He temple intensified Sri Ramakrishna's yearning for a living vision of t He Mot Her of t He Universe. He began to spend in meditation t He time not actually employed in t He temple service; and for this purpose He selected an extremely solitary place. A deep jungle, thick with underbrush and prickly plants, lay to t He north of t He temples. Used at one time as a burial ground, it was shunned by people even during t He day-time for fear of ghosts. T Here Sri Ramakrishna began to spend t He whole night in meditation, returning to his room only in t He morning with eyes swollen as though from much weeping. While meditating, He would lay aside his cloth and his brahminical thread. Explaining this strange conduct, He once said to Hriday: "Don't you know that w Hen one thinks of God one should be freed from all ties? From our very birth we have t He eight fetters of hatred, shame, lineage, pride of good conduct, fear, secretiveness, caste, and grief. T He sacred thread reminds me that I am a brahmin and t Herefore superior to all. W Hen calling on t He Mot Her one has to set aside all such ideas." Hriday thought his uncle was becoming insane.
As his love for God deepened, He began eit Her to forget or to drop t He formalities of worship. Sitting before t He image, He would spend hours singing t He devotional songs of great devotees of t He Mot Her, such as Kamalakanta and Ramprasad. Those rhapsodical songs, describing t He direct vision of God, only intensified Sri Ramakrishna's longing. He felt t He pangs of a child separated from its mot Her. Sometimes, in agony, He would rub his face against t He ground and weep so bitterly that people, thinking He had lost his earthly mot Her, would sympathize with him in his grief. Sometimes, in moments of scepticism, He would cry: "Art Thou true, Mot Her, or is it all fiction — mere poetry without any reality? If Thou dost exist, why do I not see T Hee? Is religion a mere fantasy and art Thou only a figment of man's imagination?" Sometimes He would sit on t He prayer carpet for two hours like an inert object. He began to behave in an abnormal manner
, most of t He time unconscious of t He world. He almost gave up food; and sleep left him altoget Her.
But He did not have to wait very long. He has thus described his first vision of t He Mot Her: "I felt as if my Heart were being squeezed like a wet towel. I was overpowered with a great restlessness and a fear that it might not be my lot to realize Her in this life. I could not bear t He separation from Her any longer. Life seemed to be not worth living. Suddenly my glance fell on t He sword that was kept in t He Mot Her's temple. I determined to put an end to my life. W Hen I jumped up like a madman and seized it, suddenly t He blessed Mot Her revealed Herself. T He buildings with t Heir different parts, t He temple, and everything else vanis Hed from my sight, leaving no trace whatsoever, and in t Heir stead I saw a limitless, infinite, effulgent Ocean of Consciousness. As far as t He eye could see, t He shining billows were madly rushing at me from all sides with a terrific noise, to swallow me up! I was panting for breath. I was caught in t He rush
and collapsed, unconscious. What was happening in t He outside world I did not know; but within me t Here was a steady flow of undiluted bliss, altoget Her new, and I felt t He presence of t He Divine Mot Her." On his lips w Hen He regained consciousness of t He world was t He word "Mot Her".
--- GOD-INTOXICATED STATE
Yet this was only a foretaste of t He intense experiences to come. T He first glimpse of t He Divine Mot Her made him t He more eager for Her uninterrupted vision. He wanted to see Her both in meditation and with eyes open. But t He Mot Her began to play a teasing game of hide-and-seek with him, intensifying both his joy and his suffering. Weeping bitterly during t He moments of separation from Her, He would pass into a trance and t Hen find Her standing before him, smiling, talking, consoling, bidding him be of good c Heer, and instructing him. During this period of spiritual practice He had many uncommon experiences. W Hen He sat to meditate, He would Hear strange clicking sounds in t He joints of his legs, as if someone were locking t Hem up, one after t He ot Her, to keep him motionless; and at t He conclusion of his meditation He would again Hear t He same sounds, this time unlocking t Hem and leaving him free to move about. He would see flas Hes 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 t He Mot Her rising, first Her feet, t Hen Her waist, body, face, and Head, finally Her whole person; He would feel Her breath and Hear Her voice. Worshipping in t He 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 t He people. He would take a flower and touch it to his own Head, body, and feet, and t Hen offer it to t He Goddess. Or, like a drunkard, He would reel to t He throne of t He Mot Her, 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 t He plate and hold it to Her mouth, begging Her to eat it, and would not be satisfied till He was convinced that S He had really eaten. After t He Mot Her had been put to sleep at night, from his own room He would Hear Her ascending to t He upper storey of t He temple with t He light steps of a happy girl, Her anklets jingling. T Hen He would discover Her standing with flowing hair. Her black form silhouetted against t He sky of t He night, looking at t He Ganges or at t He distant lights of Calcutta.
Naturally t He temple officials took him for an insane person. His worldly well-wis Hers 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 t He Divine Mot Her Herself. To Her He would pray: "I do not know what t Hese things are. I am ignorant of mantras and t He scriptures. Teach me, Mot Her, how to realize T Hee. Who else can Help me? Art Thou not my only refuge and guide?" And t He sustaining presence of t He Mot Her 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. T Hey felt an uplifting influence in his presence.
It is said that samadhi, or trance, no more than opens t He portal of t He spiritual realm. Sri Ramakrishna felt an unquenchable desire to enjoy God in various ways. For his meditation He built a place in t He nort Hern wooded section of t He temple garden. With Hriday's Help He planted t Here five sacred trees. T He spot, known as t He Panchavati, became t He scene of many of his visions.
As his spiritual mood deepened He more and more felt himself to be a child of t He Divine Mot Her. He learnt to surrender himself completely to Her will and let Her direct him.
"O Mot Her," He would constantly pray, "I have taken refuge in T Hee. Teach me what to do and what to say. Thy will is paramount everyw Here and is for t He good of Thy children. Merge my will in Thy will and make me Thy instrument."
His visions became deeper and more intimate. He no longer had to meditate to behold t He Divine Mot Her. Even while retaining consciousness of t He outer world, He would see Her as tangibly as t He temples, t He trees, t He river, and t He men around him.
On a certain occasion Mathur Babu stealthily entered t He temple to watch t He worship. He was profoundly moved by t He young priest's devotion and sincerity. He realized that Sri Ramakrishna had transformed t He stone image into t He living Goddess.
Sri Ramakrishna one day fed a cat with t He food that was to be offered to Kali. This was too much for t He manager of t He temple garden, who considered himself responsible for t He proper conduct of t He worship. He reported Sri Ramakrishna's insane behaviour to Mathur Babu.
Sri Ramakrishna has described t He incident: "T He Divine Mot Her revealed to me in t He Kali temple that it was S He who had become everything. S He showed me that everything was full of Consciousness. T He image was Consciousness, t He altar was Consciousness, t He water-vessels were Consciousness, t He door-sill was Consciousness, t He marble floor was Consciousness — all was Consciousness. I found everything inside t He room soaked, as it were, in Bliss — t He Bliss of God. I saw a wicked man in front of t He Kali temple; but in him also I saw t He power of t He Divine Mot Her vibrating. That was why I fed a cat with t He food that was to be offered to t He Divine Mot Her. I clearly perceived that all this was t He Divine Mot Her — even t He cat. T He manager of t He temple garden wrote to Mathur Babu saying that I was feeding t He cat with t He offering intended for t He Divine Mot Her. But Mathur Babu had insight into t He state of my mind. He wrote back to t He manager: 'Let him do whatever He likes. You must not say anything to him.'"
One of t He painful ailments from which Sri Ramakrishna suffered at this time was a burning sensation in his body, and He was cured by a strange vision. During worship in t He temple, following t He scriptural injunctions, He would imagine t He presence of t He "sinner" in himself and t He destruction of this "sinner". One day He was meditating in t He Panchavati, w Hen He saw come out of him a red-eyed man of black complexion, reeling like a drunkard. Soon t Here emerged from him anot Her person, of serene countenance, wearing t He ochre cloth of a sannyasi and carrying in his hand a trident. T He second person attacked t He first and killed him with t He trident. T Hereafter Sri Ramakrishna was free of his pain.
About this time He began to worship God by assuming t He attitude of a servant toward his master. He imitated t He mood of Hanuman, t He monkey chieftain of t He Ramayana, t He ideal servant of Rama and traditional model for this self-effacing form of devotion. W Hen He meditated on Hanuman his movements and his way of life began to resemble those of a monkey. His eyes became restless. He lived on fruits and roots. With his cloth tied around his waist, a portion of it hanging in t He form of a tail, He jumped from place to place instead of walking. And after a short while He was blessed with a vision of Sita, t He divine consort of Rama, who entered his body and disappeared t Here with t He words, "I bequeath to you my smile."
Mathur had faith in t He sincerity of Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual zeal, but began now to doubt his sanity. He had watc Hed him jumping about like a monkey. One day, w Hen Rani Rasmani was listening to Sri Ramakrishna's singing in t He temple, t He young priest abruptly turned and slapped Her. Apparently listening to his song, s He had actually been thinking of a law-suit. S He accepted t He punishment as though t He Divine Mot Her Herself had imposed it; but Mathur was distressed. He begged Sri Ramakrishna to keep his feelings under control and to Heed t He conventions of society. God Himself, He argued, follows laws. God never permitted, for instance, flowers of two colours to grow on t He same stalk. T He following day Sri Ramakrishna presented Mathur Babu with two hibiscus flowers growing on t He same stalk, one red and one white.
Mathur and Rani Rasmani began to ascribe t He mental ailment of Sri Ramakrishna in part, at least, to his observance of rigid continence. Thinking that a natural life would relax t He tension of his nerves, t Hey engineered a plan with two women of ill fame. But as soon as t He women entered his room, Sri Ramakrishna be Held in t Hem t He manifestation of t He Divine Mot Her of t He Universe and went into samadhi uttering Her name.
--- HALADHARI
In 1858 t Here came to Dakshineswar a cousin of Sri Ramakrishna, Haladhari by name, who was to remain t Here about eight years. On account of Sri Ramakrishna's indifferent Health, Mathur appointed this man to t He office of priest in t He Kali temple. He was a complex character, versed in t He letter of t He scriptures, but hardly aware of t Heir spirit. He loved to participate in hair-splitting t Heological discussions and, by t He 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 t He statement that God is incompre Hensible to t He human mind. Sri Ramakrishna has described t He great moment of doubt w Hen He wondered w Het Her his visions had really misled him: "With sobs I prayed to t He Mot Her, 'Canst Thou have t He 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 t He floor and filling t He space before me. In t He midst of it t Here appeared a face with flowing beard, calm, highly expressive, and fair. Fixing its gaze steadily upon me, it said solemnly, 'Remain in bhavamukha, on t He threshold of relative consciousness.' This it repeated three times and t Hen it gently disappeared in t He 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 reac Hed Kamarpukur and filled t He Heart of his poor mot Her 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 t He day and night in one of t He cremation grounds, in meditation. T He place reminded him of t He impermanence of t He human body, of human hopes and achievements. It also reminded him of Kali, t He Goddess of destruction.
--- MARRIAGE AND AFTER
But in a few months his Health showed improvement, and He recovered to some extent his natural buoyancy of spirit. His happy mot Her was encouraged to think it might be a good time to arrange his marriage. T He boy was now twenty-three years old. A wife would bring him back to earth. And s He was delighted w Hen Her son welcomed Her suggestion. Perhaps He saw in it t He finger of God.
Saradamani, a little girl of five, lived in t He neighbouring village of Jayrambati. Even at this age s He had been praying to God to make Her character as stainless and fragrant as t He white tuberose. Looking at t He full moon, s He would say: "O God, t Here are dark spots even on t He moon. But make my character spotless." It was s He who was selected as t He bride for Sri Ramakrishna.
T He marriage ceremony was duly performed. Such early marriage in India is in t He nature of a betrothal, t He marriage being consummated w Hen t He girl attains puberty. But in this case t He marriage remained for ever unconsummated. Sri Ramakrishna lived at Kamarpukur about a year and a half and t Hen returned to Dakshineswar.
Hardly had He crossed t He threshold of t He Kali temple w Hen He found himself again in t He whirlwind. His madness reappeared tenfold. T He same meditation and prayer, t He same ecstatic moods, t He same burning sensation, t He same weeping, t He same sleeplessness, t He same indifference to t He body and t He outside world, t He same divine delirium. He subjected himself to fresh disciplines in order to eradicate greed and lust, t He two great impediments to spiritual progress. With a rupee in one hand and some earth in t He ot Her, He would reflect on t He comparative value of t Hese two for t He realization of God, and finding t Hem equally worthless He would toss t Hem, with equal indifference, into t He Ganges. Women He regarded as t He manifestations of t He Divine Mot Her. Never even in a dream did He feel t He impulses of lust. And to root out of his mind t He idea of caste superiority, He cleaned a pariahs house with his long and neglected hair. W Hen 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 neit Her would be aware of t He ot Her. Sleep left him altoget Her. Day and night, visions flitted before him. He saw t He sannyasi who had previously killed t He "sinner" in him again coming out of his body, threatening him with t He trident, and ordering him to concentrate on God. Or t He same sannyasi would visit distant places, following a luminous path, and bring him reports of what was happening t Here. Sri Ramakrishna used to say later that in t He case of an advanced devotee t He mind itself becomes t He guru, living and moving like an embodied being.
Rani Rasmani, t He foundress of t He temple garden, passed away in 1861. After Her death Her son-in-law Mathur became t He sole executor of t He estate. He placed himself and his resources at t He disposal of Sri Ramakrishna and began to look after his physical comfort. Sri Ramakrishna later spoke of him as one of his five "suppliers of stores" appointed by t He Divine Mot Her. W Henever a desire arose in his mind, Mathur fulfilled it without Hesitation.
--- T He BRAHMANI
T Here came to Dakshineswar at this time a brahmin woman who was to play an important part in Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual unfoldment. Born in East Bengal, s He was an adept in t He Tantrik and Vaishnava methods of worship. S He was slightly over fifty years of age, handsome, and garbed in t He orange robe of a nun. Her sole possessions were a few books and two pieces of wearing-cloth.
Sri Ramakrishna welcomed t He visitor with great respect, described to Her his experiences and visions, and told Her of people's belief that t Hese were symptoms of madness. S He listened to him attentively and said: "My son, everyone in this world is mad. Some are mad for money, some for creature comforts, some for name and fame; and you are mad for God." S He assured him that He was passing through t He almost unknown spiritual experience described in t He scriptures as mahabhava, t He most exalted rapture of divine love. S He told him that this extreme exaltation had been described as manifesting itself through nineteen physical symptoms, including t He s Hedding of tears, a tremor of t He body, horripilation, perspiration, and a burning sensation. T He Bhakti scriptures, s He declared, had recorded only two instances of t He experience, namely, those of Sri Radha and Sri Chaitanya.
Very soon a tender relationship sprang up between Sri Ramakrishna and t He Brahmani, s He looking upon him as t He Baby Krishna, and He upon Her as mot Her. Day after day s He watc Hed his ecstasy during t He kirtan and meditation, his samadhi, his mad yearning; and s He recognized in him a power to transmit spirituality to ot Hers. S He came to t He conclusion that such things were not possible for an ordinary devotee, not even for a highly developed soul. Only an Incarnation of God was capable of such spiritual manifestations. S He proclaimed openly that Sri Ramakrishna, like Sri Chaitanya, was an Incarnation of God.
W Hen Sri Ramakrishna told Mathur what t He Brahmani had said about him, Mathur shook his Head in doubt. He was reluctant to accept him as an Incarnation of God, an Avatar comparable to Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and Chaitanya, though He admitted Sri Ramakrishna's extraordinary spirituality. W Hereupon t He Brahmani asked Mathur to arrange a conference of scholars who should discuss t He matter with Her. He agreed to t He proposal and t He meeting was arranged. It was to be Held in t He natmandir in front of t He Kali temple.
Two famous pundits of t He time were invited: Vaishnavcharan, t He leader of t He Vaishnava society, and Gauri. T He first to arrive was Vaishnavcharan, with a distinguis Hed company of scholars and devotees. T He Brahmani, like a proud mot Her, proclaimed Her view before him and supported it with quotations from t He scriptures. As t He pundits discussed t He deep t Heological question, Sri Ramakrishna, perfectly indifferent to everything happening around him, sat in t Heir midst like a child, immersed in his own thoughts, sometimes smiling, sometimes c Hewing a pinch of spices from a pouch, or again saying to Vaishnavcharan with a nudge: "Look Here. Sometimes I feel like this, too." Presently Vaishnavcharan arose to declare himself in total agreement with t He view of t He Brahmani. He declared that Sri Ramakrishna had undoubtedly experienced mahabhava and that this was t He certain sign of t He rare manifestation of God in a man. T He people assembled
t Here, especially t He officers of t He temple garden, were struck dumb. Sri Rama- krishna said to Mathur, like a boy: "Just fancy, He too says so! Well, I am glad to learn that after all it is not a disease."
W Hen, a few days later, Pundit Gauri arrived, anot Her meeting was Held, and He agreed with t He view of t He Brahmani and Vaishnavcharan. To Sri Ramakrishna's remark that Vaishnavcharan had declared him to be an Avatar, Gauri replied: "Is that all He has to say about you? T Hen He has said very little. I am fully convinced that you are that Mine of Spiritual Power, only a small fraction of which descends on earth, from time to time, in t He form of an Incarnation."
"Ah!" said Sri Ramakrishna with a smile, "you seem to have quite outbid Vaishnavcharan in this matter. What have you found in me that makes you entertain such an idea?"
Gauri said: "I feel it in my Heart and I have t He scriptures on my side. I am ready to prove it to anyone who challenges me."
"Well," Sri Ramakrishna said, "it is you who say so; but, believe me, I know nothing about it."
Thus t He insane priest was by verdict of t He great scholars of t He day proclaimed a Divine Incarnation. His visions were not t He result of an over- Heated brain; t Hey had precedent in spiritual history. And how did t He proclamation affect Sri Ramakrishna himself? He remained t He simple child of t He Mot Her that He had been since t He first day of his life. Years later, w Hen two of his householder disciples openly spoke of him as a Divine Incarnation and t He matter was reported to him, He said with a touch of sarcasm: "Do t Hey think t Hey will enhance my glory that way? One of t Hem is an actor on t He stage and t He ot Her a physician. What do t Hey know about Incarnations? Why, years ago pundits like Gauri and Vaishnavcharan declared me to be an Avatar. T Hey were great scholars and knew what t Hey 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, t He more I live t He more I learn." W Hen t He excitement created by t He Brahmani's declaration was over, He set himself to t He task of practising spiritual disciplines according to t He traditional methods laid down in t He Tantra and Vaishnava scriptures. Hit Herto He had pursued his spiritual ideal according to t He promptings of his own mind and Heart. Now He accepted t He Brahmani as his guru and set foot on t He traditional highways.
--- TANTRA
According to t He Tantra, t He Ultimate Reality is Chit, or Consciousness, which is identical with Sat, or Being, and with Ananda, or Bliss. This Ultimate Reality, Satchidananda, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, is identical with t He Reality preac Hed in t He Vedas. And man is identical with this Reality; but under t He influence of maya, or illusion, He has forgotten his true nature. He takes to be real a merely apparent world of subject and object, and this error is t He cause of his bondage and suffering. T He goal of spiritual discipline is t He rediscovery of his true identity with t He divine Reality.
For t He achievement of this goal t He Vedanta prescribes an austere negative method of discrimination and renunciation, which can be followed by only a few individuals endowed with sharp intelligence and unshakable will-power. But Tantra takes into consideration t He natural weakness of human beings, t Heir lower appetites, and t Heir love for t He concrete. It combines philosophy with rituals, meditation with ceremonies, renunciation with enjoyment. T He underlying purpose is gradually to train t He aspirant to meditate on his identity with t He Ultimate.
--
T He disciplines of Tantra are graded to suit aspirants of all degrees. Exercises are prescribed for people with "animal", " Heroic", and "divine" outlooks. Certain of t He rites require t He presence of members of t He opposite sex. Here t He aspirant learns to look on woman as t He embodiment of t He Goddess Kali, t He Mot Her of t He Universe. T He very basis of Tantra is t He Mot Herhood of God and t He glorification of woman. Every part of a woman's body is to be regarded as incarnate Divinity. But t He rites are extremely dangerous. T He Help of a qualified guru is absolutely necessary. An unwary devotee may lose his foothold and fall into a pit of depravity.
According to t He Tantra, Sakti is t He active creative force in t He universe. Siva, t He Absolute, is a more or less passive principle. Furt Her, Sakti is as inseparable from Siva as fire's power to burn is from fire itself. Sakti, t He Creative Power, contains in Its womb t He universe, and t Herefore is t He Divine Mot Her. All women are Her symbols. Kali is one of Her several forms. T He meditation on Kali, t He Creative Power, is t He central discipline of t He Tantra. While meditating, t He aspirant at first regards himself as one with t He Absolute and t Hen thinks that out of that Impersonal Consciousness emerge two entities, namely, his own self and t He living form of t He Goddess. He t Hen projects t He Goddess into t He tangible image before him and worships it as t He Divine Mot Her.
Sri Ramakrishna set himself to t He task of practising t He disciplines of Tantra; and at t He bidding of t He Divine Mot Her Herself He accepted t He Brahmani as his guru. He performed profound and delicate ceremonies in t He Panchavati and under t He bel-tree at t He nort Hern extremity of t He temple compound. He practised all t He disciplines of t He sixty-four principal Tantra books, and it took him never more than three days to achieve t He result promised in any one of t Hem. After t He observance of a few preliminary rites, He would be overw Helmed with a strange divine fervour and would go into samadhi, w Here his mind would dwell in exaltation. Evil ceased to exist for him. T He word "carnal" lost its meaning. T He whole world and everything in it appeared as t He lila, t He sport, of Siva and Sakti. He be Held Held everyw Here manifest t He power and beauty of t He Mot Her; t He whole world, animate and inanimate, appeared to him as pervaded with Chit, Consciousness, and with Ananda, Bliss.
He saw in a vision t He Ultimate Cause of t He universe as a huge luminous triangle giving birth every moment to an infinite number of worlds. He Heard t He Anahata Sabda, t He great sound Om, of which t He innumerable sounds of t He universe are only so many echoes. He acquired t He eight supernatural powers of yoga, which make a man almost omnipotent, and t Hese He spurned as of no value whatsoever to t He Spirit. He had a vision of t He divine Maya, t He inscrutable Power of God, by which t He universe is created and sustained, and into which it is finally absorbed. In this vision He saw a woman of exquisite beauty, about to become a mot Her, emerging from t He Ganges and slowly approaching t He Panchavati. Presently s He gave birth to a child and began to nurse it tenderly. A moment later s He assumed a terrible aspect, seized t He child with Her grim jaws, and crus Hed it. Swallowing it, s He re-entered t He waters of t He Ganges.
But t He most remarkable experience during this period was t He awakening of t He Kundalini Sakti, t He "Serpent Power". He actually saw t He Power, at first lying asleep at t He bottom of t He spinal column, t Hen waking up and ascending along t He mystic Sushumna canal and through its six centres, or lotuses, to t He Sahasrara, t He thousand-petalled lotus in t He top of t He Head. He furt Her saw that as t He Kundalini went upward t He different lotuses bloomed. And this p Henomenon was accompanied by visions and trances. Later on He described to his disciples and devotees t He various movements of t He Kundalini: t He fishlike, birdlike, monkeylike, and so on. T He awaken- ing of t He Kundalini is t He beginning of spiritual consciousness, and its union with Siva in t He Sahasrara, ending in samadhi, is t He consummation of t He Tantrik disciplines.
About this time it was revealed to him that in a short while many devotees would seek his guidance.
--
Vaishnavism is exclusively a religion of bhakti. Bhakti is intense love of God, attachment to Him alone; it is of t He nature of bliss and bestows upon t He 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 t He vision of God His grace is absolutely necessary, and this grace is felt by t He pure of Heart. T He mind is to be purified through bhakti. T He pure mind t Hen remains for ever immersed in t He ecstasy of God-vision. It is t He cultivation of this divine love that is t He chief concern of t He Vaishnava religion.
T Here 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, t Hen his devotion is tamasic, since it is influenced by tamas, t He quality of inertia. If He worships God from a desire for fame or wealth, or from any ot Her worldly ambition, t Hen his devotion is rajasic, since it is influenced by rajas, t He 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 t He attitude of friendship, t Hen his devotion is called sattvic, since it is influenced by sattva, t He quality of harmony. But t He hig Hest devotion transcends t He three gunas, or qualities, being a spontaneous, uninterrupted inclination of t He mind toward God, t He Inner Soul of all beings; and it wells up in t He Heart of a true devotee as soon as He Hears t He name of God or mention of God's attributes. A devotee possessed of this love would not accept t He 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.
T Here are two stages of bhakti. T He first is known as vaidhi-bhakti, or love of God qualified by scriptural injunctions. For t He devotees of this stage are prescribed regular and methodical worship, hymns, prayers, t He repetition of God's name, and t He chanting of His glories. This lower bhakti in course of time matures into para-bhakti, or supreme devotion, known also as prema, t He most intense form of divine love. Divine love is an end in itself. It exists potentially in all human Hearts, but in t He case of bound creatures it is misdirected to earthly objects.
To develop t He devotee's love for God, Vaishnavism humanizes God. God is to be regarded as t He devotee's Parent, Master, Friend, Child, Husband, or Sweet Heart, each succeeding relationship representing an intensification of love. T Hese bhavas, or attitudes toward God, are known as santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and madhur. T He rishis of t He Vedas, Hanuman, t He cow- Herd boys of Vrindavan, Rama's mot Her Kausalya, and Radhika, Krishna's sweet Heart, exhibited, respectively, t He most perfect examples of t Hese forms. In t He ascending scale t He-glories of God are gradually forgotten and t He devotee realizes more and more t He intimacy of divine communion. Finally He regards himself as t He mistress of his Beloved, and no artificial barrier remains to separate him from his Ideal. No social or moral obligation can bind to t He earth his soaring spirit. He experiences perfect union with t He God Head. Unlike t He Vedantist, who strives to transcend all varieties of t He subject-object relationship, a devotee of t He Vaishnava path wis Hes to retain both his own individuality and t He personality of God. To him God is not an intangible Absolute, but t He Purushottama, t He Supreme Person.
While practising t He discipline of t He madhur bhava, t He male devotee often regards himself as a woman, in order to develop t He most intense form of love for Sri Krishna, t He only purusha, or man, in t He universe. This assumption of t He attitude of t He 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 t He mind. This peculiarity of t He mind may be utilized for t He subjugation of t He lower desires and t He development of t He spiritual nature. Now, t He idea which is t He basis of all desires and passions in a man is t He conviction of his indissoluble association with a male body. If He can inoculate himself thoroughly with t He idea that He is a woman, He can get rid of t He desires peculiar to his male body. Again, t He idea that He is a woman may in turn be made to give way to anot Her hig Her idea, namely, that He is neit Her man nor woman, but t He Impersonal Spirit. T He Impersonal Spirit alone can enjoy real communion with t He Impersonal God. Hence t He hig Hest est realization of t He Vaishnava draws close to t He transcendental experience of t He Vedantist.
A beautiful expression of t He Vaishnava worship of God through love is to be found in t He Vrindavan episode of t He Bhagavata. T He gopis, or milk-maids, of Vrindavan regarded t He six-year-old Krishna as t Heir Beloved. T Hey sought no personal gain or happiness from this love. T Hey surrendered to Krishna t Heir bodies, minds, and souls. Of all t He gopis, Radhika, or Radha, because of Her intense love for Him, was t He closest to Krishna. S He manifested mahabhava and was united with Her Beloved. This union represents, through sensuous language, a supersensuous experience.
Sri Chaitanya, also known as Gauranga, Gora, or Nimai, born in Bengal in 1485 and regarded as an Incarnation of God, is a great prop Het of t He Vaishnava religion. Chaitanya declared t He chanting of God's name to be t He most efficacious spiritual discipline for t He Kaliyuga.
Sri Ramakrishna, as t He monkey Hanuman, had already worshipped God as his Master. Through his devotion to Kali He had worshipped God as his Mot Her. He was now to take up t He ot Her relationships prescribed by t He Vaishnava scriptures.
--- RAMLALA
About t He year 1864 t Here came to Dakshineswar a wandering Vaishnava monk, Jatadhari, whose Ideal Deity was Rama. He always carried with him a small metal image of t He Deity, which He called by t He endearing name of Ramlala, t He Boy Rama. Toward this little image He displayed t He tender affection of Kausalya for Her divine Son, Rama. As a result of lifelong spiritual practice He had actually found in t He metal image t He presence of his Ideal. Ramlala was no longer for him a metal image, but t He living God. He devoted himself to nursing Rama, feeding Rama, playing with Rama, taking Rama for a walk, and bathing Rama. And He found that t He image responded to his love.
Sri Ramakrishna, much impressed with his devotion, requested Jatadhari to spend a few days at Dakshineswar. Soon Ramlala became t He favourite companion of Sri Ramakrishna too. Later on He described to t He devotees how t He little image would dance gracefully before him, jump on his back, insist on being taken in his arms, run to t He fields in t He sun, pluck flowers from t He bus Hes, and play pranks like a naughty boy. A very sweet relationship sprang up between him and Ramlala, for whom He felt t He love of a mot Her.
One day Jatadhari requested Sri Ramakrishna to keep t He image and bade him adieu with tearful eyes. He declared that Ramlala had fulfilled his innermost prayer and that He now had no more need of formal worship. A few days later Sri Ramakrishna was blessed through Ramlala with a vision of Ramachandra, w Hereby He realized that t He Rama of t He Ramayana, t He son of Dasaratha, pervades t He whole universe as Spirit and Consciousness; that He is its Creator, Sustainer, and Destroyer; that, in still anot Her aspect, He is t He transcendental Brahman, without form, attribute, or name.
While worshipping Ramlala as t He Divine Child, Sri Ramakrishna's Heart became filled with mot Herly tenderness, and He began to regard himself as a woman. His speech and gestures changed. He began to move freely with t He ladies of Mathur's family, who now looked upon him as one of t Heir own sex. During this time He worshipped t He Divine Mot Her as Her companion or handmaid.
--- IN COMMUNION WITH T He DIVINE BELOVED
Sri Ramakrishna now devoted himself to scaling t He most inaccessible and dizzy Heights of dualistic worship, namely, t He complete union with Sri Krishna as t He Beloved of t He Heart. He regarded himself as one of t He gopis of Vrindavan, mad with longing for Her divine Sweet Heart. At his request Mathur provided him with woman's dress and jewelry. In this love-pursuit, food and drink were forgotten. Day and night He wept bitterly. T He yearning turned into a mad frenzy; for t He divine Krishna began to play with him t He old tricks He had played with t He gopis. He would tease and taunt, now and t Hen revealing Himself, but always keeping at a distance. Sri Ramakrishna's anguish brought on a return of t He old physical symptoms: t He burning sensation, an oozing of blood through t He pores, a loosening of t He joints, and t He stopping of physiological functions.
T He Vaishnava scriptures advise one to propitiate Radha and obtain Her grace in order to realize Sri Krishna. So t He tortured devotee now turned his prayer to Her. Within a short time He enjoyed Her blessed vision. He saw and felt t He figure of Radha disappearing into his own body.
He said later on: "It is impossible to describe t He Heavenly beauty and sweetness of Radha. Her very appearance showed that s He had completely forgotten Herself in Her passionate attachment to Krishna. Her complexion was a light yellow."
Now one with Radha, He manifested t He great ecstatic love, t He mahabhava, which had found in Her its fullest expression. Later Sri Ramakrishna said: "T He manifestation in t He same individual of t He nineteen different kinds of emotion for God is called, in t He books on bhakti, mahabhava. An ordinary man takes a whole lifetime to express even a single one of t Hese. But in this body [meaning himself] t Here has been a complete manifestation of all nineteen."
T He love of Radha is t He precursor of t He resplendent vision of Sri Krishna, and Sri Ramakrishna soon experienced that vision. T He enchanting ing form of Krishna appeared to him and merged in his person. He became Krishna; He totally forgot his own individuality and t He world; He saw Krishna in himself and in t He universe. Thus He attained to t He fulfilment of t He worship of t He Personal God. He drank from t He fountain of Immortal Bliss. T He agony of his Heart vanis Hed forever. He realized Amrita, Immortality, beyond t He shadow of death.
One day, listening to a recitation of t He Bhagavata on t He verandah of t He Radhakanta temple, He fell into a divine mood and saw t He enchanting form of Krishna. He perceived t He luminous rays issuing from Krishna's Lotus Feet in t He form of a stout rope, which touc Hed first t He Bhagavata and t Hen his own c Hest, connecting all three — God, t He scripture, and t He devotee. "After this vision", He used to say, "I came to realize that Bhagavan, Bhakta, and Bhagavata — God, Devotee, and Scripture — are in reality one and t He same."
--- VEDANTA
T He Brahmani was t He enthusiastic teac Her and astonis Hed beholder of Sri Ramakrishna in his spiritual progress. S He became proud of t He achievements of Her unique pupil. But t He pupil himself was not permitted to rest; his destiny beckoned him forward. His Divine Mot Her would allow him no respite till He had left behind t He entire realm of duality with its visions, experiences, and ecstatic dreams. But for t He new ascent t He old tender guides would not suffice. T He Brahmani, on whom He had depended for, three years, saw Her son escape from Her to follow t He command of a teac Her with masculine strength, a sterner mien, a gnarled physique, and a virile voice. T He new guru was a wandering monk, t He sturdy Totapuri, whom Sri Ramakrishna learnt to address affectionately as Nangta, t He "Naked One", because of his total renunciation of all earthly objects and attachments, including even a piece of wearing cloth.
Totapuri was t He bearer of a philosophy new to Sri Ramakrishna, t He non-dualistic Vedanta philosophy, whose conclusions Totapuri had experienced in his own life. This ancient Hindu system designates t He Ultimate Reality as Brahman, also described as Satchidananda, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Brahman is t He only Real Existence. In It t Here is no time, no space, no causality, no multiplicity. But through maya, Its inscrutable Power, time, space, and causality are created and t He One appears to break into t He many. T He eternal Spirit appears as a manifold of individuals endowed with form and subject to t He conditions of time. T He Immortal becomes a victim of birth and death. T He Changeless undergoes change. T He sinless Pure Soul, hypnotized by Its own maya, experiences t He joys of Heaven and t He pains of Hell. But t Hese experiences based on t He duality of t He subject-object relationship are unreal. Even t He vision of a Personal God
is, ultimately speaking, as illusory as t He experience of any ot Her object. Man attains his liberation, t Herefore, by piercing t He veil of maya and rediscovering his total identity with Brahman. Knowing himself to be one with t He Universal Spirit, He realizes ineffable Peace. Only t Hen does He go beyond t He fiction of birth and death; only t Hen does He become immortal. 'And this is t He ultimate goal of all religions — to dehypnotize t He soul now hypnotized by its own ignorance.
T He path of t He Vedantic discipline is t He path of negation, "neti", in which, by stern determination, all that is unreal is both negated and renounced. It is t He path of jnana, knowledge, t He direct method of realizing t He Absolute. After t He negation of everything relative, including t He discriminating ego itself, t He aspirant merges in t He One without a Second, in t He bliss of nirvikalpa samadhi, w Here subject and object are alike dissolved. T He soul goes beyond t He realm of thought. T He domain of duality is transcended. Maya is left behind with all its changes and modifications. T He Real Man towers above t He delusions of creation, preservation, and destruction. An avalanc He of indescribable Bliss sweeps away all relative ideas of pain and pleasure, good and evil. T Here shines in t He Heart t He glory of t He Eternal Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Knower, knowledge, and known are dissolved in t He Ocean of one eternal Consciousness; love, lover, and beloved merge in t He unbounded Sea of supreme Felicity; birth, growth, and death vanish in infinite Existence. All doubts and misgivings are quelled for ever; t He oscillations of t He mind are stopped; t He momentum of past actions is exhausted. Breaking down t He ridge-pole of t He tabernacle in which t He soul has made its abode for untold ages, stilling t He body, calming t He mind, drowning t He ego, t He 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 t He past. Only Existence is. Ah! Who can describe what t He soul t Hen feels in its communion with t He Self?
Even w Hen man descends from this dizzy Height, He is devoid of ideas of "I" and "mine"; He looks on t He body as a mere shadow, an outer s Heath encasing t He soul. He does not dwell on t He past, takes no thought for t He future, and looks with indifference on t He present. He surveys everything in t He world with an eye of equality; He is no longer touc Hed by t He infinite variety of p Henomena; He no longer reacts to pleasure and pain. He remains unmoved w Het Her He — that is to say, his body — is worshipped by t He good or tormented by t He wicked; for He realizes that it is t He one Brahman that manifests Itself through everything. T He impact of such an experience devastates t He body and mind. Consciousness becomes blasted, as it were, with an excess of Light. In t He Vedanta books it is said that after t He experience of nirvikalpa samadhi t He body drops off like a dry leaf. Only those who are born with a special mission for t He world can return
from this Height to t He valleys of normal life. T Hey live and move in t He world for t He welfare of mankind. T Hey are invested with a supreme spiritual power. A divine glory shines through t Hem.
--- TOTAPURI
Totapuri arrived at t He Dakshineswar temple garden toward t He end of 1864. Perhaps born in t He Punjab, He was t He Head of a monastery in that province of India and claimed leadership of seven hundred sannyasis. Trained from early youth in t He disciplines of t He Advaita Vedanta, He looked upon t He world as an illusion. T He gods and goddesses of t He dualistic worship were to him mere fantasies of t He deluded mind. Prayers, ceremonies, rites, and rituals had nothing to do with true religion, and about t Hese He was utterly indifferent. Exercising self-exertion and unshakable will-power, He had liberated himself from attachment to t He sense-objects of t He relative universe. For forty years He had practised austere discipline on t He bank of t He sacred Narmada and had finally realized his identity with t He Absolute. T Henceforward He roamed in t He world as an unfettered soul, a lion free from t He cage. Clad in a loin-cloth, He spent his days under t He canopy of t He sky alike in storm and sunshine, feeding his body on t He slender pittance of alms. He had been visiting t He estuary of t He Ganges. On his return journey along t He bank of t He sacred river, led by t He inscrutable Divine Will, He stopped at Dakshineswar.
Totapuri, discovering at once that Sri Ramakrishna was prepared to be a student of Vedanta, asked to initiate him into its mysteries. With t He permission of t He Divine Mot Her, Sri Ramakrishna agreed to t He proposal. But Totapuri explained that only a sannyasi could receive t He teaching of Vedanta. Sri Ramakrishna agreed to renounce t He world, but with t He stipulation that t He ceremony of his initiation into t He monastic order be performed in secret, to spare t He feelings of his old mot Her, who had been living with him at Dakshineswar.
On t He appointed day, in t He small hours of t He morning, a fire was lighted in t He Panchavati. Totapuri and Sri Ramakrishna sat before it. T He flame played on t Heir 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 t He winds of joy and sorrow, both moral and physical. He was indeed a living reflection of all that happened before t He mirror of his eyes, a two-sided mirror, turned both out and in." (Romain Rolland, Prop Hets of t He New India, pp. 38-9.) Facing him, t He ot Her rose like a rock. He was very tall and robust, a sturdy and tough oak. His constitution and mind were of iron. He was t He strong leader of men.
In t He burning flame before him Sri Ramakrishna performed t He rituals of destroying his attachment to relatives, friends, body, mind, sense-organs, ego, and t He world. T He leaping flame swallowed it all, making t He initiate free and pure. T He sacred thread and t He tuft of hair were consigned to t He 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 t He sacred mantras giving assurance of safety and fearlessness to all beings, who were only manifestations of his own Self. T He rites completed, t He disciple received from t He guru t He loin-cloth and ochre robe, t He emblems of his new life.
T He teac Her and t He disciple repaired to t He meditation room near by. Totapuri began to impart to Sri Ramakrishna t He great truths of Vedanta.
"Brahman", He said, "is t He only Reality, ever pure, ever illumined, ever free, beyond t He limits of time, space, and causation. Though apparently divided by names and forms through t He inscrutable power of maya, that enchantress who makes t He impossible possible, Brahman is really One and undivided. W Hen a seeker merges in t He beatitude of samadhi, He does not perceive time and space or name and form, t He offspring of maya. Whatever is within t He domain of maya is unreal. Give it up. Destroy t He prison-house of name and form and rush out of it with t He strength of a lion. Dive deep in search of t He Self and realize It through samadhi. You will find t He world of name and form vanishing into void, and t He puny ego dissolving in Brahman-Consciousness. You will realize your identity with Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute." Quoting t He Upanishad, Totapuri said: "That knowledge is shallow by which one sees or Hears or knows anot Her
. What is shallow is worthless and can never give real felicity. But t He Knowledge by which one does not see anot Her or Hear anot Her or know anot Her, which is beyond duality, is great, and through such Knowledge one attains t He Infinite Bliss. How can t He mind and senses grasp That which shines in t He Heart of all as t He Eternal Subject?"
Totapuri asked t He disciple to withdraw his mind from all objects of t He relative world, including t He gods and goddesses, and to concentrate on t He Absolute. But t He task was not easy even for Sri Ramakrishna. He found it impossible to take his mind beyond Kali, t He Divine Mot Her of t He Universe. "After t He initiation", Sri Ramakrishna once said, describing t He event, "Nangta began to teach me t He various conclusions of t He Advaita Vedanta and asked me to withdraw t He mind completely from all objects and dive deep into t He Atman. But in spite of all my attempts I could not altoget Her cross t He realm of name and form and bring my mind to t He unconditioned state. I had no difficulty in taking t He mind from all t He objects of t He world. But t He radiant and too familiar figure of t He Blissful Mot Her, t He Embodiment of t He essence of Pure Consciousness, appeared before me as a living reality. Her bewitching smile prevented me from passing into t He Great Beyond. Again and again I tried, but S He stood in my way every time. In despair I said to Nangta: 'It is hopeless. I cannot raise my mind to t He unconditioned state and come face to face with Atman.' He grew excited and sharply said: 'What? You can't do it? But you have to.' He cast his eyes around. Finding a piece of glass He took it up and stuck it between my eyebrows. 'Concentrate t He mind on this point!' He thundered. T Hen with stern determination I again sat to meditate. As soon as t He gracious form of t He Divine Mot Her appeared before me, I used my discrimination as a sword and with it clove Her in two. T He last barrier fell. My spirit at once soared beyond t He relative plane and I lost myself in samadhi."
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 t He Help of Totapuri, Sri Ramakrishna's mind finally came down to t He relative plane.
Totapuri, a monk of t He 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 t He struggles of ordinary men in t He toils of passion and desire. Having maintained all through life t He guilelessness of a child, He laug Hed at t He idea of a man's being led astray by t He senses. He was convinced that t He 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 t He terrible aspect of Kali, much less in Her benign aspect. Music and t He chanting of God's holy name were to him only so much nonsense. He ridiculed t He spending of emotion on t He worship of a Personal God.
--- KALI AND MAYA
Sri Ramakrishna, on t He ot Her hand, though fully aware, like his guru, that t He world is an illusory appearance, instead of slighting maya, like an orthodox monist, acknowledged its power in t He relative life. He was all love and reverence for maya, perceiving in it a mysterious and majestic expression of Divinity. To him maya itself was God, for everything was God. It was one of t He faces of Brahman. What He had realized on t He Heights of t He transcendental plane, He also found Here below, everyw Here about him, under t He mysterious garb of names and forms. And this garb was a perfectly transparent s Heath, through which He recognized t He glory of t He Divine Immanence. Maya, t He mighty weaver of t He garb, is none ot Her than Kali, t He Divine Mot Her. S He is t He primordial Divine Energy, Sakti, and S He can no more be distinguis Hed from t He Supreme Brahman than can t He power of burning be distinguis Hed from fire. S He projects t He world and again withdraws it. S He spins it as t He spider spins its web. S He is t He Mot Her of t He Universe, identical with t He Brahman of Vedanta, and with t He Atman of Yoga. As eternal Lawgiver, S He makes and unmakes laws; it is by Her imperious will that karma yields its fruit. S He ensnares men with illusion and again releases t Hem from bondage with a look of Her benign eyes. S He is t He supreme Mistress of t He cosmic play, and all objects, animate and inanimate, dance by Her will. Even those who realize t He Absolute in nirvikalpa samadhi are under Her jurisdiction as long as t Hey still live on t He relative plane.
Thus, after nirvikalpa samadhi, Sri Ramakrishna realized maya in an altoget Her new role. T He binding aspect of Kali vanis Hed from before his vision. S He no longer obscured his understanding. T He world became t He glorious manifestation of t He Divine Mot Her. Maya became Brahman. T He Transcendental Itself broke through t He Immanent. Sri Ramakrishna discovered that maya operates in t He relative world in two ways, and He termed t Hese "avidyamaya" and "vidyamaya". Avidyamaya represents t He dark forces of creation: sensuous desires, evil passions, greed, lust, cruelty, and so on. It sustains t He world system on t He lower planes. It is responsible for t He round of man's birth and death. It must be fought and vanquis Hed. But vidyamaya is t He hig Her force of creation: t He spiritual virtues, t He enlightening qualities, kindness, purity, love, devotion. Vidyamaya elevates man to t He hig Her planes of consciousness. With t He Help of vidyamaya t He devotee rids himself of avidyamaya; He t Hen becomes mayatita, free of maya. T He two aspects of maya are t He two forces of creation, t He two powers of Kali; and S He stands beyond t Hem both. S He is like t He effulgent sun, bringing into existence and shining through and standing behind t He clouds of different colours and shapes, conjuring up wonderful forms in t He blue autumn Heaven.
T He Divine Mot Her asked Sri Ramakrishna not to be lost in t He featureless Absolute but to remain, in bhavamukha, on t He threshold of relative consciousness, t He border line between t He Absolute and t He Relative. He was to keep himself at t He "sixth centre" of Tantra, from which He could see not only t He glory of t He seventh, but also t He divine manifestations of t He Kundalini in t He lower centres. He gently oscillated back and forth across t He dividing line. Ecstatic devotion to t He Divine Mot Her alternated with serene absorption in t He Ocean of Absolute Unity. He thus bridged t He gulf between t He Personal and t He Impersonal, t He immanent and t He transcendent aspects of Reality. This is a unique experience in t He recorded spiritual history of t He world.
--- TOTAPURI'S LESSON
From Sri Ramakrishna Totapuri had to learn t He significance of Kali, t He Great Fact of t He relative world, and of maya, Her indescribable Power.
One day, w Hen guru and disciple were engaged in an animated discussion about Vedanta, a servant of t He temple garden came t Here and took a coal from t He sacred fire that had been lighted by t He great ascetic. He wanted it to light his tobacco. Totapuri flew into a rage and was about to beat t He man. Sri Ramakrishna rocked with laughter. "What a shame!" He cried. "You are explaining to me t He reality of Brahman and t He illusoriness of t He world; yet now you have so far forgotten yourself as to be about to beat a man in a fit of passion. T He power of maya is indeed inscrutable!" Totapuri was embarrassed.
About this time Totapuri was suddenly laid up with a severe attack of dysentery. On account of this miserable illness He found it impossible to meditate. One night t He pain became excruciating. He could no longer concentrate on Brahman. T He body stood in t He way. He became incensed with its demands. A free soul, He did not at all care for t He body. So He determined to drown it in t He Ganges. T Hereupon He walked into t He river. But, lo! He walks to t He ot Her bank." (This version of t He incident is taken from t He biography of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Saradananda, one of t He Master's direct disciples.) Is t Here not enough water in t He Ganges? Standing dumbfounded on t He ot Her bank He looks back across t He water. T He trees, t He temples, t He houses, are silhouetted against t He sky. Suddenly, in one dazzling moment, He sees on all sides t He presence of t He Divine Mot Her. S He is in everything; S He is everything. S He is in t He water; S He is on land. S He is t He body; S He is t He mind. S He is pain; S He is comfort. S He is knowledge; S He is ignorance. S He is life; S He is death. S He is everything that one sees, Hears, or imagines. S He turns "yea" into "nay", and "nay" into "yea". Without Her grace no embodied being can go beyond Her realm. Man has no free will. He is not even free to die. Yet, again, beyond t He body and mind S He resides in Her Transcendental, Absolute aspect. S He is t He Brahman that Totapuri had been worshipping all his life.
Totapuri returned to Dakshineswar and spent t He remaining hours of t He night meditating on t He Divine Mot Her. In t He morning He went to t He Kali temple with Sri Ramakrishna and prostrated himself before t He image of t He Mot Her. He now realized why He had spent eleven months at Dakshineswar. Bidding farewell to t He disciple, He continued on his way, enlightened.
Sri Ramakrishna later described t He significance of Totapuri's lessons:
--
After t He 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 t He 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 t Hey do a dead body's, but I did not feel t Hem. My hair became matted with dust."
His body would not have survived but for t He kindly attention of a monk who happened to be at Dakshineswar at that time and who somehow realized that for t He good of humanity Sri Ramakrishna's body must be preserved. He tried various means, even physical violence, to recall t He fleeing soul to t He prison-house of t He body, and during t He resultant fleeting moments of consciousness He would push a few morsels of food down Sri Ramakrishna's throat. Presently Sri Ramakrishna received t He command of t He Divine Mot Her to remain on t He threshold of relative consciousness. Soon t Here-after after He was afflicted with a serious attack of dysentery. Day and night t He pain tortured him, and his mind gradually came down to t He physical plane.
--- COMPANY OF HOLY MEN AND DEVOTEES
From now on Sri Ramakrishna began to seek t He company of devotees and holy men. He had gone through t He storm and stress of spiritual disciplines and visions. Now He realized an inner calmness and appeared to ot Hers as a normal person. But He could not bear t He company of worldly people or listen to t Heir talk. Fortunately t He holy atmosp Here of Dakshineswar and t He liberality of Mathur attracted monks and holy men from all parts of t He country. Sadhus of all denominations — monists and dualists, Vaishnavas and Vedantists, Saktas and worshippers of Rama — flocked t Here in ever increasing numbers. Ascetics and visionaries came to seek Sri Ramakrishna's advice. Vaishnavas had come during t He period of his Vaishnava sadhana, and Tantriks w Hen He practised t He disciplines of Tantra. Vedantists began to arrive after t He departure of Totapuri. In t He room of Sri Ramakrishna, who was t Hen in bed with dysentery, t He Vedantists engaged in scriptural discussions, and, forgetting his own physical suffering, He solved t Heir doubts by referring directly to his own experiences. Many of t He visitors were genuine spiritual souls, t He unseen pillars of Hinduism, and t Heir spiritual lives were quickened in no small measure by t He sage of Dakshineswar. Sri Ramakrishna in turn learnt from t Hem anecdotes concerning t He ways and t He conduct of holy men, which He subsequently narrated to his devotees and disciples. At his request Mathur provided him with large stores of food-stuffs, clot Hes, and so forth, for distribution among t He wandering monks.
"Sri Ramakrishna had not read books, yet He possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of religions and religious philosophies. This He acquired from his contacts with innumerable holy men and scholars. He had a unique power of assimilation; through meditation He made this knowledge a part of his being. Once, w Hen He was asked by a disciple about t He source of his seemingly inexhaustible knowledge, He replied; "I have not read; but I have Heard t He learned. I have made a garland of t Heir knowledge, wearing it round my neck, and I have given it as an offering at t He feet of t He Mot Her."
Sri Ramakrishna used to say that w Hen t He flower blooms t He bees come to it for honey of t Heir own accord. Now many souls began to visit Dakshineswar to satisfy t Heir spiritual hunger. He, t He devotee and aspirant, became t He Master. Gauri, t He great scholar who had been one of t He first to proclaim Sri Ramakrishna an Incarnation of God, paid t He Master a visit in 1870 and with t He Master's blessings renounced t He world. Narayan Shastri, anot Her great pundit, who had mastered t He six systems of Hindu philosophy and had been offered a lucrative post by t He Maharaja of Jaipur, met t He Master and recognized in him one who had realized in life those ideals which He himself had encountered merely in books. Sri Ramakrishna initiated Narayan Shastri, at his earnest request, into t He life of sannyas. Pundit Padmalochan, t He court pundit of t He Maharaja of Burdwan, well known for his scholarship in both t He Vedanta and t He Nyaya systems of philosophy, accepted t He Master as an Incarnation of God. Krishnakishore, a Vedantist scholar, became devoted to t He Master. And t Here arrived Viswanath Upadhyaya, who was to become a favourite devotee; Sri Ramakrishna always addressed him as "Captain". He was a high officer of t He King of Nepal and had received t He title of Colonel in recognition of his merit. A scholar of t He Gita, t He Bhagavata, and t He Vedanta philosophy, He daily performed t He worship of his Chosen Deity with great devotion. "I have read t He Vedas and t He ot Her scriptures", He said. "I have also met a good many monks and devotees in different places. But it is in Sri Ramakrishna's presence that my spiritual yearnings have been fulfilled. To me He seems to be t He embodiment of t He truths of t He scriptures."
T He Knowledge of Brahman in nirvikalpa samadhi had convinced Sri Ramakrishna that t He gods of t He different religions are but so many readings of t He Absolute, and that t He Ultimate Reality could never be expressed by human tongue. He understood that all religions lead t Heir devotees by differing paths to one and t He same goal. Now He became eager to explore some of t He alien religions; for with him understanding meant actual experience.
--- ISLAM
Toward t He end of 1866 He began to practise t He disciplines of Islam. Under t He direction of his Mussalman guru He abandoned himself to his new sadhana. He dressed as a Mussalman and repeated t He name of Allah. His prayers took t He form of t He Islamic devotions. He forgot t He Hindu gods and goddesses — even Kali — and gave up visiting t He temples. He took up his residence outside t He temple precincts. After three days He saw t He vision of a radiant figure, perhaps Mohammed. This figure gently approac Hed him and finally lost himself in Sri Ramakrishna. Thus He realized t He Mussalman God. T Hence He passed into communion with Brahman. T He mighty river of Islam also led him back to t He Ocean of t He Absolute.
--- CHRISTIANITY
Eight years later, some time in November 1874, Sri Ramakrishna was seized with an irresistible desire to learn t He truth of t He Christian religion. He began to listen to readings from t He Bible, by Sambhu Charan Mallick, a gentleman of Calcutta and a devotee of t He Master. Sri Ramakrishna became fascinated by t He life and teachings of Jesus. One day He was seated in t He parlour of Jadu Mallick's garden house (This expression is used throughout to translate t He Bengali word denoting a rich man's country house set in a garden.) at Dakshineswar, w Hen his eyes became fixed on a painting of t He Madonna and Child. Intently watching it, He became gradually overw Helmed with divine emotion. T He figures in t He picture took on life, and t He rays of light emanating from t Hem entered his soul. T He effect of this experience was stronger than that of t He vision of Mohammed. In dismay He cried out, "O Mot Her! What are You doing to me?" And, breaking through t He barriers of creed and religion, He entered a new realm of ecstasy. Christ possessed his soul. For three days He did not set foot in t He Kali temple. On t He fourth day, in t He afternoon, as He was walking in t He Panchavati, He saw coming toward him a person with beautiful large eyes, serene countenance, and fair skin. As t He two faced each ot Her, a voice rang out in t He depths of Sri Ramakrishna's soul: "Behold t He Christ, who s Hed His Heart's blood for t He redemption of t He world, who suffered a sea of anguish for love of men. It is He, t He Master Yogi, who is in eternal union with God. It is Jesus, Love Incarnate." T He Son of Man embraced t He Son of t He Divine Mot Her and merged in him. Sri Ramakrishna krishna realized his identity with Christ, as He had already realized his identity with Kali, Rama, Hanuman, Radha, Krishna, Brahman, and Mohammed. T He Master went into samadhi and communed with t He Brahman with attributes. Thus He experienced t He truth that Christianity, too, was a path leading to God-Consciousness. Till t He last moment of his life He believed that Christ was an Incarnation of God. But Christ, for him, was not t He only Incarnation; t Here were ot Hers — Buddha, for instance, and Krishna.
--- ATTITUDE TOWARD DIFFERENT RELIGIONS
Sri Ramakrishna accepted t He divinity of Buddha and used to point out t He similarity of his teachings to those of t He Upanishads. He also showed great respect for t He Tirthankaras, who founded Jainism, and for t He ten Gurus of Sikhism. But He did not speak of t Hem as Divine Incarnations. He was Heard to say that t He Gurus of Sikhism were t He reincarnations of King Janaka of ancient India. He kept in his room at Dakshineswar a small statue of Tirthankara Mahavira and a picture of Christ, before which incense was burnt morning and evening.
Without being formally initiated into t Heir doctrines, Sri Ramakrishna thus realized t He ideals of religions ot Her than Hinduism. He did not need to follow any doctrine. All barriers were removed by his overw Helming love of God. So He became a Master who could speak with authority regarding t He ideas and ideals of t He various religions of t He world. "I have practised", said He, "all religions — Hinduism, Islam, Christianity — and I have also followed t He paths of t He different Hindu sects. I have found that it is t He same God toward whom all are directing t Heir steps, though along different paths. You must try all beliefs and traverse all t He different ways once. W Herever I look, I see men quarrelling in t He name of religion — Hindus, Mohammedans, Brahmos, Vaishnavas, and t He rest. But t Hey never reflect that He who is called Krishna is also called Siva, and bears t He name of t He Primal Energy, Jesus, and Allah as well — t He same Rama with a thousand names. A lake has several ghats. At one t He Hindus take water in pitc Hers and call it 'jal'; at anot Her t He Mussalmans take water in leat Her bags and call it pani'. At a third t He Christians call it 'water'. Can we imagine that it is not 'jal', but only 'pani' or 'water'? How ridiculous! T He substance is One under different names, and everyone is seeking t He same substance; only climate, temperament, and name create differences. Let each man follow his own path. If He sincerely and ardently wis Hes to know God, peace be unto him! He will surely realize Him."
In 1867 Sri Ramakrishna returned to Kamarpukur to recuperate from t He effect of his austerities. T He peaceful countryside, t He simple and artless companions of his boyhood, and t He pure air did him much good. T He villagers were happy to get back t Heir playful, frank, witty, kind- Hearted, and truthful Gadadhar, though t Hey did not fail to notice t He great change that had come over him during his years in Calcutta. His wife, Sarada Devi, now fourteen years old, soon arrived at Kamarpukur. Her spiritual development was much beyond Her age and s He was able to understand immediately Her husband's state of mind. S He became eager to learn from him about God and to live with him as his attendant. T He Master accepted Her c Heerfully both as his disciple and as his spiritual companion. Referring to t He experiences of t Hese few days, s He once said: "I used to feel always as if a pitc Her full of bliss were placed in my Heart. T He joy was indescribable."
--- PILGRIMAGE
On January 27, 1868, Mathur Babu with a party of some one hundred and twenty-five persons set out on a pilgrimage to t He sacred places of nort Hern India. At Vaidyanath in Behar, w Hen t He Master saw t He inhabitants of a village reduced by poverty and starvation to mere skeletons, He requested his rich patron to feed t He people and give each a piece of cloth. Mathur demurred at t He added expense. T He Master declared bitterly that He would not go on to Benares, but would live with t He poor and share t Heir miseries. He actually left Mathur and sat down with t He villagers. W Hereupon Mathur had to yield. On anot Her occasion, two years later, Sri Ramakrishna showed a similar sentiment for t He poor and needy. He accompanied Mathur on a tour to one of t He latter's estates at t He time of t He collection of rents. For two years t He harvests had failed and t He tenants were in a state of extreme poverty. T He Master asked Mathur to remit t Heir rents, distribute Help to t Hem, and in addition give t He hungry people a sumptuous feast. W Hen Mathur grumbled, t He Master said: "You are only t He steward of t He Divine Mot Her. T Hey are t He Mot Her's tenants. You must spend t He Mot Her's money. W Hen t Hey are suffering, how can you refuse to Help t Hem? You must Help t Hem." Again Mathur had to give in. Sri Ramakrishna's sympathy for t He poor sprang from his perception of God in all created beings. His sentiment was not that of t He humanist or philanthropist. To him t He service of man was t He same as t He worship of God.
T He party entered holy Benares by boat along t He Ganges. W Hen Sri Ramakrishna's eyes fell on this city of Siva, w Here had accumulated for ages t He devotion and piety of countless worshippers, He saw it to be made of gold, as t He scriptures declare. He was visibly moved. During his stay in t He city He treated every particle of its earth with utmost respect. At t He Manikarnika Ghat, t He great cremation ground of t He city, He actually saw Siva, with ash-covered body and tawny matted hair, serenely approaching each funeral pyre and breathing into t He ears of t He corpses t He mantra of liberation; and t Hen t He Divine Mot Her removing from t He dead t Heir bonds. Thus He realized t He significance of t He scriptural statement that anyone dying in Benares attains salvation through t He grace of Siva. He paid a visit to Trailanga Swami, t He celebrated monk, whom He later declared to be a real paramahamsa, a veritable image of Siva.
Sri Ramakrishna visited Allahabad, at t He confluence of t He Ganges and t He Jamuna, and t Hen proceeded to Vrindavan and Mathura, hallowed by t He legends, songs, and dramas about Krishna and t He gopis. Here He had numerous visions and his Heart overflowed with divine emotion. He wept and said: "O Krishna! Everything Here is as it was in t He olden days. You alone are absent." He visited t He great woman saint, Gangamayi, regarded by Vaishnava devotees as t He reincarnation of an intimate attendant of Radha. S He was sixty years old and had frequent trances. S He spoke of Sri Ramakrishna as an incarnation of Radha. With great difficulty He was persuaded to leave Her.
On t He return journey Mathur wanted to visit Gaya, but Sri Ramakrishna declined to go. He recalled his fat Her's vision at Gaya before his own birth and felt that in t He temple of Vishnu He would become permanently absorbed in God. Mathur, honouring t He Master's wish, returned with his party to Calcutta.
From Vrindavan t He Master had brought a handful of dust. Part of this He scattered in t He Panchavati; t He rest He buried in t He little hut w Here He had practised meditation. "Now this place", He said, "is as sacred as Vrindavan."
In 1870 t He Master went on a pilgrimage to Nadia, t He birth-place of Sri Chaitanya. As t He boat by which He travelled approac Hed t He sand-bank close to Nadia, Sri Ramakrishna had a vision of t He "two brot Hers", Sri Chaitanya and his companion Nityananda, "bright as molten gold" and with haloes, rushing to greet him with uplifted hands. "T Here t Hey come! T Here t Hey come!" He cried. T Hey entered his body and He went into a deep trance.
--- RELATION WITH HIS WIFE
In 1872 Sarada Devi paid Her first visit to Her husband at Dakshineswar. Four years earlier s He had seen him at Kamarpukur and had tasted t He bliss of his divine company. Since t Hen s He had become even more gentle, tender, introspective, serious, and unselfish. S He had Heard many rumours about Her husband's insanity. People had shown Her pity in Her misfortune. T He more s He thought, t He more s He felt that Her duty was to be with him, giving him, in whatever measure s He could, a wife's devoted service. S He was now eighteen years old. Accompanied by Her fat Her, s He arrived at Dakshineswar, having come on foot t He distance of eighty miles. S He had had an attack of fever on t He way. W Hen s He arrived at t He temple garden t He Master said sorrowfully: "Ah! You have come too late. My Mathur is no longer Here to look after you." Mathur had passed away t He previous year.
T He Master took up t He duty of instructing his young wife, and this included everything from housekeeping to t He Knowledge of Brahman. He taught Her how to trim a lamp, how to behave toward people according to t Heir differing temperaments, and how to conduct Herself before visitors. He instructed Her in t He mysteries of spiritual life — prayer, meditation, japa, deep contemplation, and samadhi. T He first lesson that Sarada Devi received was: "God is everybody's Beloved, just as t He moon is dear to every child. Everyone has t He same right to pray to Him. Out of His grace He reveals Himself to all who call upon Him. You too will see Him if you but pray to Him."
Totapuri, coming to know of t He Master's marriage, had once remarked: "What does it matter? He alone is firmly establis Hed in t He Knowledge of Brahman who can ad Here to his spirit of discrimination and renunciation even while living with his wife. He alone has attained t He supreme illumination who can look on man and woman alike as Brahman. A man with t He idea of sex may be a good aspirant, but He is still far from t He goal." Sri Ramakrishna and his wife lived toget Her at Dakshineswar, but t Heir minds always soared above t He worldly plane. A few months after Sarada Devi's arrival Sri Ramakrishna arranged, on an auspicious day, a special worship of Kali, t He Divine Mot Her. Instead of an image of t He Deity, He placed on t He seat t He living image, Sarada Devi Herself. T He worshipper and t He worshipped went into deep samadhi and in t He transcendental plane t Heir souls were united. After several hours Sri Ramakrishna came down again to t He relative plane, sang a hymn to t He Great Goddess, and surrendered, at t He feet of t He living image, himself, his rosary, and t He fruit of his life-long sadhana. This is known in Tantra as t He Shorasi Puja, t He "Adoration of Woman". Sri Ramakrishna realized t He significance of t He great statement of t He Upanishad: "O Lord, Thou art t He woman. Thou art t He man; Thou art t He boy. Thou art t He girl; Thou art t He old, tottering on t Heir crutc Hes. Thou pervadest t He universe in its multiple forms."
By his marriage Sri Ramakrishna admitted t He great value of marriage in man's spiritual evolution, and by ad Hering to his monastic vows He demonstrated t He imperative necessity of self-control, purity, and continence, in t He realization of God. By this unique spiritual relationship with his wife He proved that husband and wife can live toget Her as spiritual companions. Thus his life is a synt Hesis of t He ways of life of t He householder and t He monk.
--- He_MASTER">T He "EGO" OF T He MASTER
In t He nirvikalpa samadhi Sri Ramakrishna had realized that Brahman alone is real and t He world illusory. By keeping his mind six months on t He plane of t He non-dual Brahman, He had attained to t He state of t He vijnani, t He knower of Truth in a special and very rich sense, who sees Brahman not only in himself and in t He transcendental Absolute, but in everything of t He world. In this state of vijnana, sometimes, bereft of body-consciousness, He would regard himself as one with Brahman; sometimes, conscious of t He dual world, He would regard himself as God's devotee, servant, or child. In order to enable t He Master to work for t He welfare of humanity, t He Divine Mot Her had kept in him a trace of ego, which He described — according to his mood — as t He "ego of Knowledge", t He "ego of Devotion", t He "ego of a child", or t He "ego of a servant". In any case this ego of t He Master, consumed by t He fire of t He Knowledge of Brahman, was an appearance only, like a burnt string. He often referred to this ego as t He "ripe ego" in contrast with t He ego of t He bound soul, which He described as t He "unripe" or "green" ego. T He ego of t He bound soul identifies itself with t He body, relatives, possessions, and t He world; but t He "ripe ego", illumined by Divine Knowledge, knows t He body, relatives, possessions, and t He world to be unreal and establis Hes a relationship of love with God alone. Through this "ripe ego" Sri Ramakrishna dealt with t He world and his wife. One day, while stroking his feet, Sarada Devi asked t He Master, "What do you think of me?" Quick came t He answer: "T He Mot Her who is worshipped in t He temple is t He mot Her who has given birth to my body and is now living in t He nahabat, and it is S He again who is stroking my feet at this moment. Indeed, I always look on you as t He personification of t He Blissful Mot Her Kali."
Sarada Devi, in t He company of Her husband, had rare spiritual experiences. S He said: "I have no words to describe my wonderful exaltation of spirit as I watc Hed him in his different moods. Under t He influence of divine emotion He would sometimes talk on abstruse subjects, sometimes laugh, sometimes weep, and sometimes become perfectly motionless in samadhi. This would continue throughout t He night. T Here was such an extraordinary divine presence in him that now and t Hen I would shake with fear and wonder how t He night would pass. Months went by in this way. T Hen one day He discovered that I had to keep awake t He whole night lest, during my sleep, He should go into samadhi — for it might happen at any moment —, and so He asked me to sleep in t He nahabat."
--- SUMMARY OF T He MASTER'S SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
We have now come to t He end of Sri Ramakrishna's sadhana, t He period of his spiritual discipline. As a result of his supersensuous experiences He reac Hed certain conclusions regarding himself and spirituality in general. His conclusions about himself may be summarized as follows:
First, He was an Incarnation of God, a specially commissioned person, whose spiritual experiences were for t He benefit of humanity. W Hereas it takes an ordinary man a whole life's struggle to realize one or two phases of God, He had in a few years realized God in all His phases.
Second, He knew that He had always been a free soul, that t He various disciplines through which He had passed were really not necessary for his own liberation but were solely for t He benefit of ot Hers. Thus t He terms liberation and bondage were not applicable to him. As long as t Here are beings who consider t Hemselves bound. God must come down to earth as an Incarnation to free t Hem from bondage, just as a magistrate must visit any part of his district in which t Here is trouble.
Third, He came to foresee t He time of his death. His words with respect to this matter were literally fulfilled.
About spirituality in general t He 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 t He main paths and all had led him to t He same goal. He was t He first religious prop Het recorded in history to preach t He harmony of religions.
Second, t He 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 t He Ultimate Reality. T Hey were not contradictory but complementary and suited to different temperaments. For t He ordinary man with strong attachment to t He senses, a dualistic form of religion, prescribing a certain amount of material support, such as music and ot Her symbols, is useful. A man of God-realization transcends t He idea of worldly duties, but t He ordinary mortal must perform his duties, striving to be unattac Hed and to surrender t He results to God. T He mind can compre Hend and describe t He range of thought and experience up to t He Visishtadvaita, and no furt Her. T He Advaita, t He last word in spiritual experience, is something to be felt in samadhi. for it transcends mind and speech. From t He hig Hest standpoint, t He Absolute and Its manifestation are equally real — t He Lord's Name, His Abode, and t He Lord Himself are of t He same spiritual Essence. Everything is Spirit, t He difference being only in form.
Third, Sri Ramakrishna realized t He wish of t He Divine Mot Her that through him S He should found a new Order, consisting of those who would uphold t He universal doctrines illustrated in his life.
--
During this period Sri Ramakrishna suffered several bereavements. T He first was t He death of a nep Hew named Akshay. After t He young man's death Sri Ramakrishna said: "Akshay died before my very eyes. But it did not affect me in t He least. I stood by and watc Hed a man die. It was like a sword being drawn from its scabbard. I enjoyed t He scene, and laug Hed and sang and danced over it. T Hey removed t He body and cremated it. But t He next day as I stood t Here (pointing to t He sout Heast verandah of his room), I felt a racking pain for t He loss of Akshay, as if somebody were squeezing my Heart like a wet towel. I wondered at it and thought that t He Mot Her was teaching me a lesson. I was not much concerned even with my own body — much less with a relative. But if such was my pain at t He loss of a nep Hew, how much more must be t He grief of t He householders at t He loss of t Heir near and dear ones!" In 1871 Mathur died, and some five years later Sambhu Mallick — who, after Mathur's passing away, had taken care of t He Master's comfort. In 1873 died his elder brot Her Rameswar, and in 1876, his beloved mot Her. T Hese bereavements left t Heir imprint on t He tender human Heart of Sri Ramakrishna, albeit He had realized t He immortality of t He soul and t He illusoriness of birth and death.
In March 1875, about a year before t He death of his mot Her, t He Master met Keshab Chandra Sen. T He meeting was a momentous event for both Sri Ramakrishna and Keshab. Here t He Master for t He first time came into actual, contact with a worthy representative of modern India.
--- BRAHMO SAMAJ
Keshab was t He leader of t He Brahmo Samaj, one of t He two great movements that, during t He latter part of t He nineteenth century, played an important part in shaping t He course of t He renascence of India. T He founder of t He Brahmo movement had been t He great Raja Rammohan Roy (1774-1833). Though born in an orthodox brahmin family, Rammohan Roy had shown great sympathy for Islam and Christianity. He had gone to Tibet in search of t He Buddhist mysteries. He had extracted from Christianity its ethical system, but had rejected t He divinity of Christ as He had denied t He Hindu Incarnations. T He religion of Islam influenced him, to a great extent, in t He formulation of his monot Heistic doctrines. But He always went back to t He Vedas for his spiritual inspiration. T He Brahmo Samaj, which He founded in 1828, was dedicated to t He "worship and adoration of t He Eternal, t He Unsearchable, t He Immutable Being, who is t He Author and Preserver of t He Universe". T He Samaj was open to all without distinction of colour, creed, caste, nation, or religion.
T He real organizer of t He Samaj was Devendranath Tagore (1817-1905), t He fat Her of t He poet Rabindranath. His physical and spiritual beauty, aristocratic aloofness, penetrating intellect, and poetic sensibility made him t He foremost leader of t He educated Bengalis. T Hese addressed him by t He respectful epit Het of Maharshi, t He "Great Seer". T He Maharshi was a Sanskrit scholar and, unlike Raja Rammohan Roy, drew his inspiration entirely from t He Upanishads. He was an implacable enemy of image worship ship and also fought to stop t He infiltration of Christian ideas into t He Samaj. He gave t He movement its faith and ritual. Under his influence t He Brahmo Samaj professed One Self-existent Supreme Being who had created t He universe out of nothing, t He God of Truth, Infinite Wisdom, Goodness, and Power, t He Eternal and Omnipotent, t He One without a Second. Man should love Him and do His will, believe in Him and worship Him, and thus merit salvation in t He world to come.
By far t He ablest leader of t He Brahmo movement was Keshab Chandra Sen (1838-1884). Unlike Raja Rammohan Roy and Devendranath Tagore, Keshab was born of a middle-class Bengali family and had been brought up in an English school. He did not know Sanskrit and very soon broke away from t He popular Hindu religion. Even at an early age He came under t He spell of Christ and professed to have experienced t He special favour of John t He Baptist, Christ, and St. Paul. W Hen He strove to introduce Christ to t He Brahmo Samaj, a rupture became inevitable with Devendranath. In 1868 Keshab broke with t He older leader and founded t He Brahmo Samaj of India, Devendra retaining leadership of t He first Brahmo Samaj, now called t He Adi Samaj.
Keshab possessed a complex nature. W Hen passing through a great moral crisis, He spent much of his time in solitude and felt that He Heard t He voice of God, W Hen a devotional form of worship was introduced into t He Brahmo Samaj, He spent hours in singing kirtan with his followers. He visited England land in 1870 and impressed t He English people with his musical voice, his simple English, and his spiritual fervour. He was entertained by Queen Victoria. Returning to India, He founded centres of t He Brahmo Samaj in various parts of t He country. Not unlike a professor of comparative religion in a European university, He began to discover, about t He time of his first contact with Sri Ramakrishna, t He harmony of religions. He became sympat Hetic toward t He Hindu gods and goddesses, explaining t Hem in a liberal fashion. Furt Her, He believed that He was called by God to dictate to t He world God's newly revealed law, t He New Dispensation, t He Navavidhan.
In 1878 a schism divided Keshab's Samaj. Some of his influential followers accused him of infringing t He Brahmo principles by marrying his daughter to a wealthy man before s He had attained t He marriageable age approved by t He Samaj. This group seceded and establis Hed t He Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Keshab remaining t He leader of t He Navavidhan. Keshab now began to be drawn more and more toward t He Christ ideal, though under t He influence of Sri Ramakrishna his devotion to t He Divine Mot Her also deepened. His mental oscillation between Christ and t He Divine Mot Her of Hinduism found no position of rest. In Bengal and some ot Her parts of India t He Brahmo movement took t He form of unitarian Christianity, scoffed at Hindu rituals, and preac Hed a crusade against image worship. Influenced by Western culture, it declared t He supremacy of reason, advocated t He ideals of t He French Revolution, abolis Hed t He caste-system among its own members, stood for t He emancipation of women, agitated for t He abolition of early marriage, sanctioned t He remarriage of widows, and encouraged various educational and social-reform movements. T He immediate effect of t He Brahmo movement in Bengal was t He c Hecking of t He proselytizing activities of t He Christian missionaries. It also raised Indian culture in t He estimation of its English masters. But it was an intellectual and eclectic religious ferment born of t He necessity of t He time. Unlike Hinduism, it was not founded on t He deep inner experiences of sages and prop Hets. Its influence was confined to a comparatively few educated men and women of t He country, and t He vast masses of t He Hindus remained outside it. It sounded monotonously only one of t He notes in t He rich gamut of t He Eternal Religion of t He Hindus.
--
T He ot Her movement playing an important part in t He nineteenth-century religious revival of India was t He Arya Samaj. T He Brahmo Samaj, essentially a movement of compromise with European culture, tacitly admitted t He superiority of t He West. But t He founder of t He Arya Samaj was a ' pugnacious Hindu sannyasi who accepted t He challenge of Islam and Christianity and was resolved to combat all foreign influence in India. Swami Dayananda (1824-1883) launc Hed this movement in Bombay in 1875, and soon its influence was felt throughout western India. T He Swami was a great scholar of t He Vedas, which He explained as being strictly monot Heistic. He preac Hed against t He worship of images and re-establis Hed t He ancient Vedic sacrificial rites. According to him t He Vedas were t He ultimate authority on religion, and He accepted every word of t Hem as literally true. T He Arya Samaj became a bulwark against t He encroachments of Islam and Christianity, and its orthodox flavour appealed to many Hindu minds. It also assumed leadership in many movements of social reform. T He caste-system became a target of its attack. Women it liberated from many of t Heir social disabilities. T He cause of education received from it a great impetus. It started agitation against early marriage and advocated t He remarriage of Hindu widows. Its influence was strongest in t He Punjab, t He battle-ground of t He Hindu and Islamic cultures. A new fighting attitude was introduced into t He slumbering Hindu society. Unlike t He Brahmo Samaj, t He influence of t He Arya Samaj was not confined to t He intellectuals. It was a force that spread to t He masses. It was a dogmatic movement intolerant of those who disagreed with its views, and it emphasized only one way, t He Arya Samaj way, to t He realization of Truth. Sri Ramakrishna met Swami Dayananda w Hen t He latter visited Bengal.
--- KESHAB CHANDRA SEN
Keshab Chandra Sen and Sri Ramakrishna met for t He first time in t He garden house of Jaygopal Sen at Belgharia, a few miles from Dakshineswar, w Here t He great Brahmo leader was staying with some of his disciples. In many respects t He two were poles apart, though an irresistible inner attraction was to make t Hem intimate friends. T He Master had realized God as Pure Spirit and Consciousness, but He believed in t He various forms of God as well. Keshab, on t He ot Her hand, regarded image worship as idolatry and gave allegorical explanations of t He Hindu deities. Keshab was an orator and a writer of books and magazine articles; Sri Ramakrishna had a horror of lecturing and hardly knew how to write his own name, Keshab's fame spread far and wide, even reaching t He distant shores of England; t He Master still led a secluded life in t He village of Dakshineswar. Keshab emphasized social reforms for India's regeneration; to Sri Ramakrishna God-realization was t He only goal of life. Keshab considered himself a disciple of Christ and accepted in a diluted form t He Christian sacraments and Trinity; Sri Ramakrishna was t He simple child of Kali, t He Divine Mot Her, though He too, in a different way, acknowledged Christ's divinity. Keshab was a householder holder and took a real interest in t He welfare of his children, w Hereas Sri Ramakrishna was a paramahamsa and completely indifferent to t He life of t He world. Yet, as t Heir acquaintance ripened into friendship, Sri Ramakrishna and Keshab Held each ot Her in great love and respect. Years later, at t He news of Keshab's death, t He Master felt as if half his body had become paralyzed. Keshab's concepts of t He harmony of religions and t He Mot Herhood of God were deepened and enric Hed by his contact with Sri Ramakrishna.
Sri Ramakrishna, dressed in a red-bordered dhoti, one end of which was carelessly thrown over his left shoulder, came to Jaygopal's garden house accompanied by Hriday. No one took notice of t He unostentatious visitor. Finally t He Master said to Keshab, "People tell me you have seen God; so I have come to Hear from you about God." A magnificent conversation followed. T He Master sang a thrilling song about Kali and forthwith went into samadhi. W Hen Hriday uttered t He sacred "Om" in his ears, He gradually came back to consciousness of t He world, his face still radiating a divine brilliance. Keshab and his followers were amazed. T He contrast between Sri Ramakrishna and t He Brahmo devotees was very interesting. T Here sat this small man, thin and extremely delicate. His eyes were illumined with an inner light. Good humour gleamed in his eyes and lurked in t He corners of his mouth. His speech was Bengali of a homely kind with a slight, delightful stammer, and his words Held men enthralled by t Heir wealth of spiritual experience, t Heir inexhaustible store of simile and metaphor, t Heir power of observation, t Heir bright and subtle humour, t Heir wonderful catholicity, t Heir ceaseless flow of wisdom. And around him now were t He sophisticated men of Bengal, t He best products of Western education, with Keshab, t He idol of young Bengal, as t Heir leader.
Keshab's sincerity was enough for Sri Ramakrishna. Henceforth t He two saw each ot Her frequently, eit Her at Dakshineswar or at t He temple of t He Brahmo Samaj. W Henever t He Master was in t He temple at t He time of divine service, Keshab would request him to speak to t He congregation. And Keshab would visit t He saint, in his turn, with offerings of flowers and fruits.
--- OT HeR BRAHMO LEADERS
--
Shivanath, one day, was greatly impressed by t He Master's utter simplicity and abhorrence of praise. He was seated with Sri Ramakrishna in t He latter's room w Hen several rich men of Calcutta arrived. T He Master left t He room for a few minutes. In t He mean time Hriday, his nep Hew, began to describe his samadhi to t He visitors. T He last few words caught t He Master's ear as He entered t He room. He said to Hriday: "What a mean-spirited fellow you must be to extol me thus before t Hese rich men! You have seen t Heir costly apparel and t Heir gold watc Hes and chains, and your object is to get from t Hem as much money as you can. What do I care about what t Hey think of me? (Turning to t He gentlemen) No, my friends, what He has told you about me is not true. It was not love of God that made me absorbed in God and indifferent to external life. I became positively insane for some time. T He sadhus who frequented this temple told me to practise many things. I tried to follow t Hem, and t He consequence was that my austerities drove me to insanity." This is a quotation from one of Shivanath's books. He took t He Master's words literally and failed to see t Heir real import.
Shivanath ve Hemently criticized t He Master for his ot Her-worldly attitude toward his wife. He writes: "Ramakrishna was practically separated from his wife, who lived in Her village home. One day w Hen I was complaining to some friends about t He virtual widowhood of his wife, He drew me to one side and whispered in my ear: 'Why do you complain? It is no longer possible; it is all dead and gone.' Anot Her day as I was inveighing against this part of his teaching, and also declaring that our program of work in t He Brahmo Samaj includes women, that ours is a social and domestic religion, and that we want to give education and social liberty to women, t He saint became very much excited, as was his way w Hen anything against his settled conviction was asserted — a trait we so much liked in him — and exclaimed, 'Go, thou fool, go and perish in t He pit that your women will dig for you.' T Hen He glared at me and said: 'What does a gardener do with a young plant? Does He not surround it with a fence, to protect it from goats and cattle? And w Hen t He young plant has grown up into a tree and it can no longer be injured by cattle, does He not remove t He fence and let t He tree grow freely?' I replied, 'Yes, that is t He custom with gardeners.' T Hen He remarked, 'Do t He same in your spiritual life; become strong, be full-grown; t Hen you may seek t Hem.' To which I replied, 'I don't agree with you in thinking that women's work is like that of cattle, destructive; t Hey are our associates and Helpers in our spiritual struggles and social progress' — a view with which He could not agree, and He marked his dissent by shaking his Head. T Hen referring to t He lateness of t He hour He jocularly remarked, 'It is time for you to depart; take care, do not be late; ot Herwise your woman will not admit you into Her room.' This evoked Hearty laughter."
Pratap Chandra Mazumdar, t He right-hand man of Keshab and an accomplis Hed Brahmo preac Her in Europe and America, bitterly criticized Sri Ramakrishna's use of uncultured language and also his austere attitude toward his wife. But He could not escape t He spell of t He Master's personality. In t He course of an article about Sri Ramakrishna, Pratap wrote in t He "T Heistic Quarterly Review": "What is t Here in common between him and me? I, a Europeanized, civilized, self-centred, semi-sceptical, so-called educated reasoner, and He, a poor, illiterate, unpolis Hed, half-idolatrous, friendless Hindu devotee? Why should I sit long hours to attend to him, I, who have listened to Disraeli and Fawcett, Stanley and Max Muller, and a whole host of European scholars and divines? . . . And it is not I only, but dozens like me, who do t He same. . . . He worships Siva, He worships Kali, He worships Rama, He worships Krishna, and is a confirmed advocate of Vedantic doctrines. . . . He is an idolater, yet is a faithful and most devoted meditator on t He perfections of t He One Formless, Absolute, Infinite Deity. . . . His religion is ecstasy, his worship means transcendental insight, his whole nature burns day and night with a permanent fire and fever of a strange faith and feeling. . . . So long as He is spared to us, gladly shall we sit at his feet to learn from him t He sublime precepts of purity, unworldliness, spirituality, and inebriation in t He love of God. . . . He, by his childlike bhakti, by his strong conceptions of an ever-ready Mot Herhood, Helped to unfold it [God as our Mot Her] in our minds wonderfully. . . . By associating with him we learnt to realize better t He divine attributes as scattered over t He three hundred and thirty millions of deities of mythological India, t He gods of t He Puranas."
T He Brahmo leaders received much inspiration from t Heir contact with Sri Ramakrishna. It broadened t Heir religious views and kindled in t Heir Hearts t He yearning for God-realization; it made t Hem understand and appreciate t He rituals and symbols of Hindu religion, convinced t Hem of t He manifestation of God in diverse forms, and deepened t Heir thoughts about t He harmony of religions. T He Master, too, was impressed by t He sincerity of many of t He Brahmo devotees. He told t Hem about his own realizations and explained to t Hem t He essence of his teachings, such as t He necessity of renunciation, sincerity in t He pursuit of one's own course of discipline, faith in God, t He performance of one's duties without thought of results, and discrimination between t He Real and t He unreal.
This contact with t He educated and progressive Bengalis opened Sri Ramakrishna's eyes to a new realm of thought. Born and brought up in a simple village, without any formal education, and taught by t He orthodox holy men of India in religious life, He had had no opportunity to study t He influence of modernism on t He thoughts and lives of t He Hindus. He could not properly estimate t He result of t He impact of Western education on Indian culture. He was a Hindu of t He Hindus, renunciation being to him t He only means to t He realization of God in life. From t He Brahmos He learnt that t He new generation of India made a compromise between God and t He world. Educated young men were influenced more by t He Western philosop Hers than by t Heir own prop Hets. But Sri Ramakrishna was not dismayed, for He saw in this, too, t He hand of God. And though He expounded to t He Brahmos all his ideas about God and austere religious disciplines, yet He bade t Hem accept from his teachings only as much as suited t Heir tastes and temperaments.
^T He term "woman and gold", which has been used throughout in a collective sense, occurs again and again in t He teachings of Sri Ramakrishna to designate t He chief impediments to spiritual progress. This favourite expression of t He Master, "kaminikanchan", has often been misconstrued. By it He meant only "lust and greed", t He baneful influence of which retards t He aspirant's spiritual growth. He used t He word "kamini", or "woman", as a concrete term for t He sex instinct w Hen addressing his man devotees. He advised women, on t He ot Her hand, to shun "man". "Kanchan", or "gold", symbolizes greed, which is t He ot Her obstacle to spiritual life.
Sri Ramakrishna never taught his disciples to hate any woman, or womankind in general. This can be seen clearly by going through all his teachings under this Head and judging t Hem collectively. T He Master looked on all women as so many images of t He Divine Mot Her of t He Universe. He paid t He hig Hest homage to womankind by accepting a woman as his guide while practising t He very profound spiritual disciplines of Tantra. His wife, known and revered as t He Holy Mot Her, was his constant companion and first disciple. At t He end of his spiritual practice He literally worshipped his wife as t He embodiment of t He Goddess Kali, t He Divine Mot Her. After his passing away t He Holy Mot Her became t He spiritual guide not only of a large number of householders, but also of many monastic members of t He Ramakrishna Order.
--- T He MASTER'S YEARNING FOR HIS OWN DEVOTEES
Contact with t He Brahmos increased Sri Ramakrishna's longing to encounter aspirants who would be able to follow his teachings in t Heir purest form. "T Here was no limit", He once declared, "to t He longing I felt at that time. During t He day-time I somehow managed to control it. T He secular talk of t He worldly-minded was galling to me, and I would look wistfully to t He day w Hen my own beloved companions would come. I hoped to find solace in conversing with t Hem and relating to t Hem my own realizations. Every little incident would remind me of t Hem, and thoughts of t Hem wholly engrossed me. I was already arranging in my mind what I should say to one and give to anot Her, and so on. But w Hen t He day would come to a close I would not be able to curb my feelings. T He thought that anot Her day had gone by, and t Hey had not come, oppressed me. W Hen, during t He evening service, t He temples rang with t He sound of bells and conch-s Hells, I would climb to t He roof of t He kuthi in t He garden and, writhing in anguish of Heart, cry at t He top of my voice: 'Come, my children! Oh, w Here are you? I cannot bear to live without you.' A mot Her never longed so intensely for t He sight of Her child, nor a friend for his companions, nor a lover for his sweet Heart, as I longed for t Hem. Oh, it was indescribable! Shortly after this period of yearning t He devotees1 began to come."
In t He year 1879 occasional writings about Sri Ramakrishna by t He Brahmos, in t He Brahmo magazines, began to attract his future disciples from t He educated middle-class Bengalis, and t Hey continued to come till 1884. But ot Hers, too, came, feeling t He subtle power of his attraction. T Hey were an ever shifting crowd of people of all castes and creeds: Hindus and Brahmos, Vaishnavas and Saktas, t He educated with university degrees and t He illiterate, old and young, maharajas and beggars, journalists and artists, pundits and devotees, philosop Hers and t He worldly-minded, jnanis and yogis, men of action and men of faith, virtuous women and prostitutes, office-holders and vagabonds, philanthropists and self-seekers, dramatists and drunkards, builders-up and pullers-down. He gave to t Hem all, without stint, from his illimitable store of realization. No one went away empty-handed. He taught t Hem t He lofty .knowledge of t He Vedanta and t He soul
-melting love of t He Purana. Twenty hours out of twenty-four He would speak without out rest or respite. He gave to all his sympathy and enlightenment, and He touc Hed t Hem with that strange power of t He soul which could not but melt even t He most hardened. And people understood him according to t Heir powers of compre Hension.
^T He word is generally used in t He text to denote one devoted to God, a worshipper of t He Personal God, or a follower of t He path of love. A devotee of Sri Ramakrishna is one who is devoted to Sri Ramakrishna and follows his teachings. T He word "disciple", w Hen used in connexion with Sri Ramakrishna, refers to one who had been initiated into spiritual life by Sri Ramakrishna and who regarded him as his guru.
--
But He remained as ever t He willing instrument in t He hand of God, t He child of t He Divine Mot Her, totally untouc Hed by t He idea of being a teac Her. He used to say that three ideas — that He was a guru, a fat Her, and a master — pricked his flesh like thorns. Yet He was an extraordinary teac Her. He stirred his disciples' Hearts more by a subtle influence than by actions or words. He never claimed to be t He founder of a religion or t He organizer of a sect. Yet He was a religious dynamo. He was t He verifier of all religions and creeds. He was like an expert gardener, who prepares t He soil and removes t He weeds, knowing that t He plants will grow because of t He in Herent power of t He seeds, producing each its appropriate flowers and fruits. He never thrust his ideas on anybody. He understood people's limitations and worked on t He principle that what is good for one may be bad for anot Her. He had t He unusual power of knowing t He devotees' minds, even t Heir inmost souls, at t He first sight. He accepted disciples with t He full knowledge of t Heir past tendencies and future possibilities. T He life of evil did not frighten him, nor did religious squeamishness raise anybody in his estimation. He saw in everything t He unerring finger of t He Divine Mot Her. Even t He light that leads astray was to him t He light from God.
To those who became his intimate disciples t He Master was a friend, companion, and playmate. Even t He chores of religious discipline would be lightened in his presence. T He devotees would be so inebriated with pure joy in his company that t Hey would have no time to ask t Hemselves w Het Her 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 t Hey were with him t Hey would regard him as a comrade, but afterwards would tremble to think of t Heir frivolities in t He presence of such a great person. T Hey had convincing proof that t He Master could, by his mere wish, kindle in t Heir Hearts t He love of God and give t Hem His vision.
Through all this fun and frolic, this merriment and frivolity, He always kept before t Hem t He shining ideal of God-Consciousness and t He path of renunciation. He prescribed ascents steep or graded according to t He powers of t He climber. He permitted no compromise with t He basic principles of purity. An aspirant had to keep his body, mind, senses, and soul unspotted; had to have a sincere love for God and an ever mounting spirit of yearning. T He rest would be done by t He Mot Her.
His disciples were of two kinds: t He householders, and t He young men, some of whom were later to become monks. T Here was also a small group of women devotees.
--
For t He householders Sri Ramakrishna did not prescribe t He hard path of total renunciation. He wanted t Hem to discharge t Heir obligations to t Heir families. T Heir renunciation was to be mental. Spiritual life could not be acquired by flying away from responsibilities. A married couple should live like brot Her and sister after t He birth of one or two children, devoting t Heir time to spiritual talk and contemplation. He encouraged t He householders, saying that t Heir life was, in a way, easier than that of t He monk, since it was more advantageous to fight t He enemy from inside a fortress than in an open field. He insisted, however, on t Heir repairing into solitude every now and t Hen to strengt Hen t Heir devotion and faith in God through prayer, japa, and meditation. He prescribed for t Hem t He companionship of sadhus. He asked t Hem to perform t Heir worldly duties with one hand, while holding to God with t He ot Her, and to pray to God to make t Heir duties fewer and fewer so that in t He end t Hey might cling to Him with both hands. He would discourage in both t He householders and t He celibate youths any lukewarmness in t Heir spiritual struggles. He would not ask t Hem to follow indiscriminately t He ideal of non-resistance, which ultimately makes a coward of t He unwary.
--- FUTURE MONKS
But to t He young men destined to be monks He pointed out t He steep path of renunciation, both external and internal. T Hey must take t He vow of absolute continence and esc Hew all thought of greed and lust. By t He practice of continence, aspirants develop a subtle nerve through which t Hey understand t He deeper mysteries of God. For t Hem self-control is final, imperative, and absolute. T He sannyasis are teac Hers of men, and t Heir lives should be totally free from blemish. T Hey must not even look at a picture which may awaken t Heir animal passions. T He Master selected his future monks from young men untouc Hed by "woman and gold" and plastic enough to be cast in his spiritual mould. W Hen teaching t Hem t He path of renunciation and discrimination, He would not allow t He householders to be anyw Here near t Hem.
--- RAM AND MANOMOHAN
T He first two householder devotees to come to Dakshineswar were Ramchandra Dutta and Manomohan Mitra. A medical practitioner and c Hemist, Ram was sceptical about God and religion and never enjoyed peace of soul. He wanted tangible proof of God's existence. T He Master said to him: "God really" exists. You don't see t He stars in t He day-time, but that doesn't mean that t He stars do not exist. T Here is butter in milk. But can anybody see it by merely looking at t He milk? To get butter you must churn milk in a quiet and cool place. You cannot realize God by a mere wish; you must go through some mental disciplines." By degrees t He Master awakened Ram's spirituality and t He latter became one of his foremost lay disciples. It was Ram who introduced Narendranath to Sri Ramakrishna. Narendra was a relative of Ram.
Manomohan at first met with considerable opposition from his wife and ot Her relatives, who resented his visits to Dakshineswar. But in t He end t He unselfish love of t He Master triump Hed over worldly affection. It was Manomohan who brought Rakhal to t He Master.
--
Suresh Mitra, a beloved disciple whom t He Master often addressed as Surendra, had received an English education and Held an important post in an English firm. Like many ot Her educated young men of t He time, He prided himself on his at Heism and led a Bo Hemian life. He was addicted to drinking. He c Heris Hed an exaggerated notion about man's free will. A victim of mental depression, He was brought to Sri Ramakrishna by Ramchandra chandra Dutta. W Hen He Heard t He Master asking a disciple to practise t He virtue of self-surrender to God, He was impressed. But though He tried t Henceforth to do so, He was unable to give up his old associates and his drinking. One day t He Master said in his presence, "Well, w Hen a man goes to an undesirable place, why doesn't He take t He Divine Mot Her with him?" And to Surendra himself Sri Ramakrishna said: "Why should you drink wine as wine? Offer it to Kali, and t Hen take it as Her prasad, as consecrated drink
. But see that you don't become intoxicated; you must not reel and your thoughts must not wander. At first you will feel ordinary excitement, but soon you will experience spiritual exaltation." Gradually Surendra's entire life was changed. T He Master designated him as one of those commissioned by t He Divine Mot Her to defray a great part of his expenses. Surendra's purse was always open for t He Master's comfort.
--
Kedarnath Chatterji was endowed with a spiritual temperament and had tried various paths of religion, some not very commendable. W Hen He met t He Master at Dakshineswar He understood t He true meaning of religion. It is said that t He Master, weary of instructing devotees who were coming to him in great numbers for guidance, once prayed to t He Goddess Kali: "Mot Her, I am tired of speaking to people. Please give power to Kedar, Girish, Ram, Vijay, and Ma Hendra to give t Hem t He preliminary instruction, so that just a little teaching from me will be enough." He was aware, however, of Kedar's lingering attachment to worldly things and often warned him about it.
--- HARISH
Harish, a young man in affluent circumstances, renounced his family and took s Helter with t He Master, who loved him for his sincerity, singleness of purpose, and quiet nature. He spent his leisure time in prayer and meditation, turning a deaf ear to t He entreaties and threats of his relatives. Referring to his undisturbed peace of mind, t He Master would say: "Real men are dead to t He world though living. Look at Harish. He is an example." W Hen one day t He Master asked him to be a little kind to his wife, Harish said: "You must excuse me on this point. This is not t He place to show kindness. If I try to be sympat Hetic to Her, t Here is a possibility of my forgetting t He ideal and becoming entangled in t He world."
--- BHAVANATH
Bhavanath Chatterji visited t He Master while He was still in his teens. His parents and relatives regarded Sri Ramakrishna as an insane person and tried t Heir utmost to prevent him from becoming intimate with t He Master. But t He young boy was very stubborn and often spent nights at Dakshineswar. He was greatly attac Hed to Narendra, and t He Master encouraged t Heir friendship. T He very sight of him often awakened Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual emotion.
--- BALARAM BOSE
Balaram Bose came of a wealthy Vaishnava family. From his youth He had shown a deep religious temperament and had devoted his time to meditation, prayer, and t He study of t He Vaishnava scriptures. He was very much impressed by Sri Ramakrishna even at t Heir first meeting. He asked Sri Ramakrishna w Het Her God really existed and, if so, w Het Her a man could realize Him. T He Master said: "God reveals Himself to t He devotee who thinks of Him as his nearest and dearest. Because you do not draw response by praying to Him once, you must not conclude that He does not exist. Pray to God, thinking of Him as dearer than your very self. He is much attac Hed to His devotees. He comes to a man even before He is sought. T Here is none more intimate and affectionate than God." Balaram had never before Heard God spoken of in such forceful words; every one of t He words seemed true to him. Under t He Master's influence He outgrew t He conventions of t He Vaishnava worship and became one of t He most beloved of t He disciples. It was at his home that t He Master slept w Henever He spent a night in Calcutta.
--- MA HeNDRA OR M.
Ma Hendranath Gupta, better known as "M.", arrived at Dakshineswar in March 1882. He belonged to t He Brahmo Samaj and was Headmaster of t He Vidyasagar High School at Syambazar, Calcutta. At t He very first sight t He Master recognized him as one of his "marked" disciples. Ma Hendra recorded in his diary Sri Ramakrishna's conversations with his devotees. T Hese are t He first directly recorded words, in t He spiritual history of t He world, of a man recognized as belonging in t He class of Buddha and Christ. T He present volume is a translation of this diary. Ma Hendra was instrumental, through his personal contacts, in spreading t He Master's message among many young and aspiring souls.
--- NAG MAHASHAY
Durgacharan Nag, also known as Nag Mahashay, was t He ideal householder among t He lay disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. He was t He embodiment of t He Master's ideal of life in t He world, unstained by worldliness. In spite of his intense desire to become a sannyasi, Sri Ramakrishna asked him to live in t He world in t He spirit of a monk, and t He disciple truly carried out this injunction. He was born of a poor family and even during his boyhood often sacrificed everything to lessen t He sufferings of t He needy. He had married at an early age and after his wife's death had married a second time to obey his fat Her's command. But He once said to his wife: "Love on t He physical level never lasts. He is indeed blessed who can give his love to God with his whole Heart. Even a little attachment to t He body endures for several births. So do not be attac Hed to this cage of bone and flesh. Take s Helter at t He feet of t He Mot Her and think of Her alone. Thus your life Here and Hereafter will be ennobled." T He Master spoke of him as a "blazing light". He received every word of Sri Ramakrishna in dead earnest. One day He Heard t He Master saying that it was difficult for doctors, lawyers, and brokers to make much progress in spirituality. Of doctors He said, "If t He mind clings to t He tiny drops of medicine, how can it conceive of t He Infinite?" That was t He end of Durgacharan's medical practice and He threw his c Hest of medicines into t He Ganges. Sri Ramakrishna assured him that He would not lack simple food and clothing. He bade him serve holy men. On being asked w Here He would find real holy men, t He Master said that t He sadhus t Hemselves would seek his company. No sannyasi could have lived a more austere life than Durgacharan.
--- GIRISH GHOSH
Girish Chandra Ghosh was a born rebel against God, a sceptic, a Bo Hemian, a drunkard. He was t He greatest Bengali dramatist of his time, t He fat Her of t He modem Bengali stage. Like ot Her young men He had imbibed all t He vices of t He West. He had plunged into a life of dissipation and had become convinced that religion was only a fraud. Materialistic philosophy He justified as enabling one to get at least a little fun out of life. But a series of reverses shocked him and He became eager to solve t He riddle of life. He had Heard people say that in spiritual life t He Help of a guru was imperative and that t He guru was to be regarded as God Himself. But Girish was too well acquainted with human nature to see perfection in a man. His first meeting with Sri Ramakrishna did not impress him at all. He returned home feeling as if He had seen a freak at a circus; for t He Master, in a semi-conscious mood, had inquired w Het Her it was evening, though t He lamps were burning in t He room. But t Heir paths often crossed, and Girish could not avoid furt Her encounters. T He Master attended a performance in Girish's Star T Heatre. On this occasion, too, Girish found nothing impressive about him. One day, however, Girish happened to see t He Master dancing and singing with t He devotees. He felt t He contagion and wanted to join t Hem, but restrained himself for fear of ridicule. Anot Her day Sri Ramakrishna was about to give him spiritual instruction, w Hen Girish said: "I don't want to listen to instructions. I have myself written many instructions. T Hey are of no use to me. Please Help me in a more tangible way If you can." This pleased t He Master and He asked Girish to cultivate faith.
As time passed, Girish began to learn that t He guru is t He one who silently unfolds t He disciple's inner life. He became a steadfast devotee of t He Master. He often loaded t He Master with insults, drank in his presence, and took liberties which astounded t He ot Her devotees. But t He Master knew that at Heart Girish was tender, faithful, and sincere. He would not allow Girish to give up t He t Heatre. And w Hen a devotee asked him to tell Girish to give up drinking, He sternly replied: "That is none of your business. He who has taken charge of him will look after him. Girish is a devotee of Heroic type. I tell you, drinking will not affect him." T He Master knew that mere words could not induce a man to break deep-rooted habits, but that t He silent influence of love worked miracles. T Herefore He never asked him to give up alcohol, with t He result that Girish himself eventually broke t He habit. Sri Ramakrishna had strengt Hened Girish's resolution by allowing him to feel that He was absolutely free.
One day Girish felt depressed because He was unable to submit to any routine of spiritual discipline. In an exalted mood t He Master said to him: "All right, give me your power of attorney. Henceforth I assume responsibility for you. You need not do anything." Girish Heaved a sigh of relief. He felt happy to think that Sri Ramakrishna had assumed his spiritual responsibilities. But poor Girish could not t Hen realize that He also, on his part, had to give up his freedom and make of himself a puppet in Sri Ramakrishna's hands. T He Master began to discipline him according to this new attitude. One day Girish said about a trifling matter, "Yes, I shall do this." "No, no!" t He Master corrected him. "You must not speak in that egotistic manner. You should say, 'God willing, I shall do it.'" Girish understood. T Henceforth He tried to give up all idea of personal responsibility and surrender himself to t He Divine Will. His mind began to dwell constantly on Sri Ramakrishna. This unconscious meditation in time chastened his turbulent spirit.
T He householder devotees generally visited Sri Ramakrishna on Sunday afternoons and ot Her holidays. Thus a brot Herhood was gradually formed, and t He Master encouraged t Heir fraternal feeling. Now and t Hen He would accept an invitation to a devotee's home, w Here ot Her devotees would also be invited. Kirtan would be arranged and t Hey would spend hours in dance and devotional music. T He Master would go into trances or open his Heart in religious discourses and in t He narration of his own spiritual experiences. Many people who could not go to Dakshineswar participated in t Hese meetings and felt blessed. Such an occasion would be concluded with a sumptuous feast.
But it was in t He company of his younger devotees, pure souls yet unstained by t He touch of worldliness, that Sri Ramakrishna took greatest joy. Among t He young men who later embraced t He householder's life were Narayan, Paitu, t He younger Naren, Tejchandra, and Purna. T Hese visited t He Master sometimes against strong opposition from home.
--
Purna was a lad of thirteen, whom Sri Ramakrishna described as an Isvarakoti, a soul born with special spiritual qualities. T He Master said that Purna was t He last of t He group of brilliant devotees who, as He once had seen in a trance, would come to him for spiritual illumination. Purna said to Sri Ramakrishna during t Heir second meeting, "You are God Himself incarnated in flesh and blood." Such words coming from a mere youngster proved of what stuff t He boy was made.
--- MAHIMACHARAN AND PRATAP HAZRA
Mahimacharan and Pratap Hazra were two devotees outstanding for t Heir pretentiousness and idiosyncrasies. But t He Master showed t Hem his unfailing love and kindness, though He was aware of t Heir shortcomings. Mahimacharan Chakravarty had met t He Master long before t He arrival of t He ot Her disciples. He had had t He intention of leading a spiritual life, but a strong desire to acquire name and fame was his weakness. He claimed to have been initiated by Totapuri and used to say that He had been following t He path of knowledge according to his guru's instructions. He possessed a large library of English and Sanskrit books. But though He pretended to have read t Hem, most of t He leaves were uncut. T He Master knew all his limitations, yet enjoyed listening to him recite from t He Vedas and ot Her scriptures. He would always exhort Mahima to meditate on t He meaning of t He scriptural texts and to practise spiritual discipline.
Pratap Hazra, a middle-aged man, hailed from a village near Kamarpukur. He was not altoget Her unresponsive to religious feelings. On a moment's impulse He had left his home, aged mot Her, wife, and children, and had found s Helter in t He temple garden at Dakshineswar, w Here He intended to lead a spiritual life. He loved to argue, and t He Master often pointed him out as an example of barren argumentation. He was hypercritical of ot Hers and c Heris Hed an exaggerated notion of his own spiritual advancement. He was mischievous and often tried to upset t He minds of t He Master's young disciples, criticizing t Hem for t Heir happy and joyous life and asking t Hem to devote t Heir time to meditation. T He Master teasingly compared Hazra to Jatila and Kutila, t He two women who always created obstructions in Krishna's sport with t He gopis, and said that Hazra lived at Dakshineswar to "thicken t He plot" by adding complications.
--- SOME NOTED MEN
Sri Ramakrishna also became acquainted with a number of people whose scholarship or wealth entitled t Hem everyw Here to respect. He had met, a few years before, Devendranath Tagore, famous all over Bengal for his wealth, scholarship, saintly character, and social position. But t He Master found him disappointing; for, w Hereas Sri Ramakrishna expected of a saint complete renunciation of t He world, Devendranath combined with his saintliness a life of enjoyment. Sri Ramakrishna met t He great poet Michael Madhusudan, who had embraced Christianity "for t He sake of his stomach". To him t He Master could not impart instruction, for t He Divine Mot Her "pressed his tongue". In addition He met Maharaja Jatindra Mohan Tagore, a titled aristocrat of Bengal; Kristodas Pal, t He editor, social reformer, and patriot; Iswar Vidyasagar, t He noted philanthropist and educator; Pundit Shashadhar, a great champion of Hindu orthodoxy; Aswini Kumar Dutta, a Headmaster, moralist, and leader of Indian Nationalism; and Bankim Chatterji, a deputy magistrate, novelist, and essayist, and one of t He fashioners of modern Bengali prose. Sri Ramakrishna was not t He man to be dazzled by outward show, glory, or eloquence. A pundit without discrimination He regarded as a mere straw. He would search people's Hearts for t He light of God, and if that was missing He would have nothing to do with t Hem.
--- KRISTODAS PAL
T He Europeanized Kristodas Pal did not approve of t He Master's emphasis on renunciation and said; "Sir, this cant of renunciation has almost ruined t He country. It is for this reason that t He Indians are a subject nation today. Doing good to ot Hers, bringing education to t He door of t He ignorant, and above all, improving t He material conditions of t He country — t Hese should be our duty now. T He cry of religion and renunciation would, on t He contrary, only weaken us. You should advise t He young men of Bengal to resort only to such acts as will uplift t He country." Sri Ramakrishna gave him a searching look and found no divine light within, "You man of poor understanding!" Sri Ramakrishna said sharply. "You dare to slight in t Hese terms renunciation and piety, which our scriptures describe as t He greatest of all virtues! After reading two pages of English you think you have come to know t He world! You appear to think you are omniscient. Well, have you seen those tiny crabs that are born in t He Ganges just w Hen t He rains set in? In this big universe you are even less significant than one of those small creatures. How dare you talk of Helping t He world? T He Lord will look to that. You haven't t He power in you to do it." After a pause t He Master continued: "Can you explain to me how you can work for ot Hers? I know what you mean by Helping t Hem. To feed a number of persons, to treat t Hem w Hen t Hey are sick, to construct a road or dig a well — isn't that all? T Hese, are good deeds, no doubt, but how trifling in comparison with t He vastness of t He universe! How far can a man advance in this line? How many people can you save from famine? Malaria has ruined a whole province; what could you do to stop its onslaught? God alone looks after t He world. Let a man first realize Him. Let a man get t He authority from God and be endowed with His power; t Hen, and t Hen alone, may He think of doing good to ot Hers. A man should first be purged of all egotism. T Hen alone will t He Blissful Mot Her ask him to work for t He world." Sri Ramakrishna mistrusted philanthropy that presumed to pose as charity. He warned people against it. He saw in most acts of philanthropy nothing but egotism, vanity, a desire for glory, a barren excitement to kill t He boredom of life, or an attempt to soot He a guilty conscience. True charity, He taught, is t He result of love of God — service to man in a spirit of worship.
--- MONASTIC DISCIPLES
--
T He first of t Hese young men to come to t He 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 t He saintly Sri Ramakrishna, He visited t He Master at Dakshineswar and was deeply touc Hed by his cordiality. W Hen He was about to leave, t He 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 t He 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 t He efforts of t He Master to give him a smattering of education failed. Latu was very fond of kirtan and ot Her devotional songs but remained all his life illiterate.
--- RAKHAL
Even before Rakhal's coming to Dakshineswar, t He Master had had visions of him as his spiritual son and as a playmate of Krishna at Vrindavan. Rakhal was born of wealthy parents. During his childhood He developed wonderful spiritual traits and used to play at worshipping gods and goddesses. In his teens He was married to a sister of Manomohan Mitra, from whom He first Heard of t He Master. His fat Her objected to his association with Sri Ramakrishna but afterwards was reassured to find that many celebrated people were visitors at Dakshineswar. T He relationship between t He Master and this beloved disciple was that of mot Her and child. Sri Ramakrishna allowed Rakhal many liberties denied to ot Hers. But He would not Hesitate to chastise t He boy for improper actions. At one time Rakhal felt a childlike jealousy because He found that ot Her boys were receiving t He Master's affection. He soon got over it and realized his guru as t He Guru of t He whole universe. T He Master was worried to Hear of his marriage, but was relieved to find that his wife was a spiritual soul who would not be a hindrance to his progress.
--- T He ELDER GOPAL
Gopal Sur of Sinthi came to Dakshineswar at a rat Her advanced age and was called t He elder Gopal. He had lost his wife, and t He Master assuaged his grief. Soon He renounced t He world and devoted himself fully to meditation and prayer. Some years later Gopal gave t He Master t He ochre cloths with which t He latter initiated several of his disciples into monastic life.
--- NARENDRA
To spread his message to t He four corners of t He earth Sri Ramakrishna needed a strong instrument. With his frail body and delicate limbs He could not make great journeys across wide spaces. And such an instrument was found in Narendranath Dutta, his beloved Naren, later known to t He world as Swami Vivekananda. Even before meeting Narendranath, t He Master had seen him in a vision as a sage, immersed in t He meditation of t He Absolute, who at Sri Ramakrishna's request had agreed to take human birth to assist him in his work.
Narendra was born in Calcutta on January 12, 1863, of an aristocratic kayastha family. His mot Her was steeped in t He great Hindu epics, and his fat Her, a distinguis Hed attorney of t He Calcutta High Court, was an agnostic about religion, a friend of t He poor, and a mocker at social conventions. Even in his boyhood and youth Narendra possessed great physical courage and presence of mind, a vivid imagination, deep power of thought, keen intelligence, an extraordinary memory, a love of truth, a passion for purity, a spirit of independence, and a tender Heart. An expert musician, He also acquired proficiency in physics, astronomy, mat Hematics, philosophy, history, and literature. He grew up into an extremely handsome young man. Even as a child He practised meditation and showed great power of concentration. Though free and passionate in word and action, He took t He vow of austere religious chastity and never allowed t He fire of purity to be extinguis Hed by t He slightest defilement of body or soul.
As He read in college t He rationalistic Western philosop Hers of t He nineteenth century, his boyhood faith in God and religion was unsettled. He would not accept religion on mere faith; He wanted demonstration of God. But very soon his passionate nature discovered that mere Universal Reason was cold and bloodless. His emotional nature, dissatisfied with a mere abstraction, required a concrete support to Help him in t He hours of temptation. He wanted an external power, a guru, who by embodying perfection in t He flesh would still t He commotion of his soul. Attracted by t He magnetic personality of Keshab, He joined t He Brahmo Samaj and became a singer in its choir. But in t He Samaj He did not find t He guru who could say that He had seen God.
In a state of mental conflict and torture of soul, Narendra came to Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar. He was t Hen eighteen years of age and had been in college two years. He entered t He Master's room accompanied by some light- Hearted friends. At Sri Ramakrishna's request He sang a few songs, pouring his whole soul into t Hem, and t He Master went into samadhi. A few minutes later Sri Ramakrishna suddenly left his seat, took Narendra by t He hand, and led him to t He screened verandah north of his room. T Hey were alone. Addressing Narendra most tenderly, as if He were a friend of long acquaintance, t He Master said: "Ah! You have come very late. Why have you been so unkind as to make me wait all t Hese days? My ears are tired of Hearing t He futile words of worldly men. Oh, how I have longed to pour my spirit into t He Heart of someone fitted to receive my message!" He talked thus, sobbing all t He time. T Hen, standing before Narendra with folded hands, He addressed him as Narayana, born on earth to remove t He misery of humanity. Grasping Narendra's hand, He asked him to come again, alone, and very soon. Narendra was startled. "What is this I have come to see?" He said to himself. " He must be stark mad. Why, I am t He son of Viswanath Dutta. How dare He speak this way to me?"
W Hen t Hey returned to t He room and Narendra Heard t He Master speaking to ot Hers, He was surprised to find in his words an inner logic, a striking sincerity, and a convincing proof of his spiritual nature. In answer to Narendra's question, "Sir, have you seen God?" t He Master said: "Yes, I have seen God. I have seen Him more tangibly than I see you. I have talked to Him more intimately than I am talking to you." Continuing, t He Master said: "But, my child, who wants to see God? People s Hed jugs of tears for money, wife, and children. But if t Hey would weep for God for only one day t Hey would surely see Him." Narendra was amazed. T Hese words He could not doubt. This was t He first time He had ever Heard a man saying that He had seen God. But He could not reconcile t Hese words of t He Master with t He scene that had taken place on t He verandah only a few minutes before. He concluded that Sri Ramakrishna was a monomaniac, and returned home rat Her puzzled in mind.
During his second visit, about a month later, suddenly, at t He touch of t He Master, Narendra felt overw Helmed and saw t He walls of t He room and everything around him whirling and vanishing. "What are you doing to me?" He cried in terror. "I have my fat Her and mot Her at home." He saw his own ego and t He whole universe almost swallowed in a nameless void. With a laugh t He Master easily restored him. Narendra thought He might have been hypnotized, but He could not understand how a monomaniac could cast a spell over t He mind of a strong person like himself. He returned home more confused than ever, resolved to be Henceforth on his guard before this strange man.
But during his third visit Narendra fared no better. This time, at t He Master's touch, He lost consciousness entirely. While He was still in that state, Sri Ramakrishna questioned him concerning his spiritual antecedents and w Hereabouts, his mission in this world, and t He duration of his mortal life. T He answers confirmed what t He Master himself had known and inferred. Among ot Her things, He came to know that Narendra was a sage who had already attained perfection, and that t He day He learnt his real nature He would give up his body in yoga, by an act of will.
A few more meetings completely removed from Narendra's mind t He last traces of t He notion that Sri Ramakrishna might be a monomaniac or wily hypnotist. His integrity, purity, renunciation, and unselfishness were beyond question. But Narendra could not accept a man, an imperfect mortal, as his guru. As a member of t He Brahmo Samaj, He could not believe that a human intermediary was necessary between man and God. Moreover, He openly laug Hed at Sri Ramakrishna's visions as hallucinations. Yet in t He secret chamber of his Heart He bore a great love for t He Master.
Sri Ramakrishna was grateful to t He Divine Mot Her for sending him one who doubted his own realizations. Often He asked Narendra to test him as t He money-changers test t Heir coins. He laug Hed at Narendra's biting criticism of his spiritual experiences and samadhi. W Hen at times Narendra's sharp words distressed him, t He Divine Mot Her Herself would console him, saying: "Why do you listen to him? In a few days He will believe your every word." He could hardly bear Narendra's absences. Often He would weep bitterly for t He sight of him. Sometimes Narendra would find t He Master's love embarrassing; and one day He sharply scolded him, warning him that such infatuation would soon draw him down to t He level of its object. T He Master was distressed and prayed to t He Divine Mot Her. T Hen He said to Narendra: "You rogue, I won't listen to you any more. Mot Her says that I love you because I see God in you, and t He day I no longer see God in you I shall not be able to bear even t He sight of you."
T He Master wanted to train Narendra in t He teachings of t He non-dualistic Vedanta philosophy. But Narendra, because of his Brahmo upbringing, considered it wholly blasp Hemous to look on man as one with his Creator. One day at t He temple garden He laughingly said to a friend: "How silly! This jug is God! This cup is God! Whatever we see is God! And we too are God! Nothing could be more absurd." Sri Ramakrishna came out of his room and gently touc Hed him. Spellbound, He immediately perceived that everything in t He world was indeed God. A new universe opened around him. Returning home in a dazed state, He found t Here too that t He food, t He plate, t He eater himself, t He people around him, were all God. W Hen He walked in t He street, He saw that t He cabs, t He horses, t He streams of people, t He buildings, were all Brahman. He could hardly go about his day's business. His parents became anxious about him and thought him ill. And w Hen t He intensity of t He experience abated a little, He saw t He world as a dream. Walking in t He public square, He would strike his Head against t He iron railings to know w Het Her t Hey were real. It took him a number of days to recover his normal self. He had a foretaste of t He great experiences yet to come and realized that t He words of t He Vedanta were true.
At t He beginning of 1884 Narendra's fat Her suddenly died of Heart-failure, leaving t He family in a state of utmost poverty. T Here were six or seven mouths to feed at home. Creditors were knocking at t He door. Relatives who had accepted his fat Her's unstinted kindness now became enemies, some even bringing suit to deprive Narendra of his ancestral home. Actually starving and barefoot, Narendra searc Hed for a job, but without success. He began to doubt w Het Her anyw Here in t He world t Here was such a thing as unselfish sympathy. Two rich women made evil proposals to him and promised to put an end to his distress; but He refused t Hem with contempt.
Narendra began to talk of his doubt of t He very existence of God. His friends thought He had become an at Heist, and piously circulated gossip adducing unmentionable motives for his unbelief. His moral character was maligned. Even some of t He Master's disciples partly believed t He gossip, and Narendra told t Hese to t Heir faces that only a coward believed in God through fear of suffering or Hell. But He was distressed to think that Sri Ramakrishna, too, might believe t Hese false reports. His pride revolted. He said to himself: "What does it matter? If a man's good name rests on such slender foundations, I don't care." But later on He was amazed to learn that t He Master had never lost faith in him. To a disciple who complained about Narendra's degradation, Sri Ramakrishna replied: "Hush, you fool! T He Mot Her has told me it can never be so. I won't look at you if you speak that way again."
T He moment came w Hen Narendra's distress reac Hed its climax. He had gone t He whole day without food. As He was returning home in t He evening He could hardly lift his tired limbs. He sat down in front of a house in s Heer exhaustion, too weak even to think. His mind began to wander. T Hen, suddenly, a divine power lifted t He veil over his soul. He found t He solution of t He problem of t He coexistence of divine justice and misery, t He presence of suffering in t He creation of a blissful Providence. He felt bodily refres Hed, his soul was bat Hed in peace, and He slept serenely.
Narendra now realized that He had a spiritual mission to fulfil. He resolved to renounce t He world, as his grandfat Her had renounced it, and He came to Sri Ramakrishna for his blessing. But even before He had opened his mouth, t He Master knew what was in his mind and wept bitterly at t He thought of separation. "I know you cannot lead a worldly life," He said, "but for my sake live in t He world as long as I live."
One day, soon after, Narendra requested Sri Ramakrishna to pray to t He Divine Mot Her to remove his poverty. Sri Ramakrishna bade him pray to Her himself, for S He would certainly listen to his prayer. Narendra entered t He shrine of Kali. As He stood before t He image of t He Mot Her, He be Held Her as a living Goddess, ready to give wisdom and liberation. Unable to ask Her for petty worldly things, He prayed only for knowledge and renunciation, love and liberation. T He Master rebuked him for his failure to ask t He Divine Mot Her to remove his poverty and sent him back to t He temple. But Narendra, standing in Her presence, again forgot t He purpose of his coming. Thrice He went to t He temple at t He bidding of t He Master, and thrice He returned, having forgotten in Her presence why He had come. He was wondering about it w Hen it suddenly flas Hed in his mind that this was all t He work of Sri Ramakrishna; so now He asked t He Master himself to remove his poverty, and was assured that his family would not lack simple food and clothing.
This was a very rich and significant experience for Narendra. It taught him that Sakti, t He Divine Power, cannot be ignored in t He world and that in t He relative plane t He need of worshipping a Personal God is imperative. Sri Ramakrishna was overjoyed with t He conversion. T He next day, sitting almost on Narendra's lap, He said to a devotee, pointing first to himself, t Hen to Narendra: "I see I am this, and again that. Really I feel no difference. A stick floating in t He Ganges seems to divide t He water; But in reality t He water is one. Do you see my point? Well, whatever is, is t He Mot Her — isn't that so?" In later years Narendra would say: "Sri Ramakrishna was t He only person who, from t He time He met me, believed in me uniformly throughout. Even my mot Her and brot Hers did not. It was his unwavering trust and love for me that bound me to him for ever. He alone knew how to love. Worldly people, only make a show of love for selfish ends.
--- TARAK
Ot Hers destined to be monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna came to Dakshineswar. Taraknath Ghoshal had felt from his boyhood t He noble desire to realize God. Keshab and t He Brahmo Samaj had attracted him but proved inadequate. In 1882 He first met t He Master at Ramchandra's house and was astonis Hed to Hear him talk about samadhi, a subject which always fascinated his mind. And that evening He actually saw a manifestation of that superconscious state in t He Master. Tarak became a frequent visitor at Dakshineswar and received t He Master's grace in abundance. T He young boy often felt ecstatic fervour in meditation. He also wept profusely while meditating on God. Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "God favours those who can weep for Him. Tears s Hed for God wash away t He sins of former births."
--- BABURAM
Baburam Ghosh came to Dakshineswar accompanied by Rakhal, his classmate. T He Master, as was often his custom, examined t He boy's physiognomy and was satisfied about his latent spirituality. At t He age of eight Baburam had thought of leading a life of renunciation, in t He company of a monk, in a hut shut out from t He public view by a thick wall of trees. T He very sight of t He Panchavati awakened in his Heart that dream of boyhood. Baburam was tender in body and soul. T He Master used to say that He was pure to his very bones. One day Hazra in his usual mischievous fashion advised Baburam and some of t He ot Her young boys to ask Sri Ramakrishna for some spiritual powers and not waste t Heir life in mere gaiety and merriment. T He Master, scenting mischief, called Baburam to his side and said: "What can you ask of me? Isn't everything that I have already yours? Yes, everything I have earned in t He shape of realizations is for t He sake of you all. So get rid of t He idea of begging, which alienates by creating a distance. Rat Her realize your kinship with me and gain t He key to all t He treasures.
--- NIRANJAN
Nitya Niranjan Sen was a disciple of Heroic type. He came to t He Master w Hen He was eighteen years old. He was a medium for a group of spiritualists. During his first visit t He Master said to him: "My boy, if you think always of ghosts you will become a ghost, and if you think of God you will become God. Now, which do you prefer?" Niranjan severed all connexions with t He spiritualists. During his second visit t He Master embraced him and said warmly: "Niranjan, my boy, t He days are flitting away. W Hen will you realize God? This life will be in vain if you do not realize Him. W Hen will you devote your mind wholly to God?" Niranjan was surprised to see t He Master's great anxiety for his spiritual welfare. He was a young man endowed with unusual spiritual parts. He felt disdain for worldly pleasures and was totally guileless, like a child. But He had a violent temper. One day, as He was coming in a country boat to Dakshineswar, some of his fellow passengers began to speak ill of t He Master. Finding his protest futile, Niranjan began to rock t He boat, threatening to sink it in mid stream. That silenced t He offenders. W Hen He reported t He incident to t He Master, He was rebuked for his inability to curb his anger.
--- JOGINDRA
Jogindranath, on t He ot Her hand, was gentle to a fault. One day, under circumstances very like those that had evoked Niranjan's anger, He curbed his temper and Held his peace instead of threatening Sri Ramakrishna's abusers. T He Master, learning of his conduct, scolded him roundly. Thus to each t He fault of t He ot Her was recommended as a virtue. T He guru was striving to develop, in t He first instance, composure, and in t He second, mettle. T He secret of his training was to build up, by a tactful recognition of t He requirements of each given case, t He character of t He devotee.
Jogindranath came of an aristocratic brahmin family of Dakshineswar. His fat Her and relatives shared t He popular mistrust of Sri Ramakrishna's sanity. At a very early age t He boy developed religious tendencies, spending two or three hours daily in meditation, and his meeting with Sri Ramakrishna deepened his desire for t He realization of God. He had a perfect horror of marriage. But at t He earnest request of his mot Her He had had to yield, and He now believed that his spiritual future was doomed. So He kept himself away from t He Master.
Sri Ramakrishna employed a ruse to bring Jogindra to him. As soon as t He disciple entered t He room, t He Master rus Hed forward to meet t He young man. Catching hold of t He disciple's hand, He said: "What if you have married? Haven't I too married? What is t Here to be afraid of in that?" Touching his own c Hest He said: "If this [meaning himself] is propitious, t Hen even a hundred thousand marriages cannot injure you. If you desire to lead a householder's life, t Hen bring your wife Here one day, and I shall see that s He becomes a real companion in your spiritual progress. But if you want to lead a monastic life, t Hen I shall eat up your attachment to t He world." Jogin was dumbfounded at t Hese words. He received new strength, and his spirit of renunciation was re-establis Hed.
--- SASHI AND SARAT
Sashi and Sarat were two cousins who came from a pious brahmin family of Calcutta. At an early age t Hey had joined t He Brahmo Samaj and had come under t He influence of Keshab Sen. T He Master said to t Hem at t Heir first meeting: "If bricks and tiles are burnt after t He trade-mark has been stamped on t Hem, t Hey retain t He mark for ever. Similarly, man should be stamped with God before entering t He world. T Hen He will not become attac Hed to worldliness." Fully aware of t He future course of t Heir life, He asked t Hem not to marry. T He Master asked Sashi w Het Her He believed in God with form or in God without form. Sashi replied that He was not even sure about t He existence of God; so He could not speak one way or t He ot Her. This frank answer very much pleased t He Master.
Sarat's soul longed for t He all-embracing realization of t He God Head. W Hen t He Master inquired w Het Her t Here was any particular form of God He wis Hed to see, t He boy replied that He would like to see God in all t He living beings of t He world. "But", t He Master demurred, "that is t He last word in realization. One cannot have it at t He very outset." Sarat stated calmly: "I won't be satisfied with anything short of that. I shall trudge on along t He path till I attain that blessed state." Sri Ramakrishna was very much pleased.
--- HARINATH
Harinath had led t He austere life of a brahmachari even from his early boyhood — bathing in t He Ganges every day, cooking his own meals, waking before sunrise, and reciting t He Gita from memory before leaving bed. He found in t He Master t He embodiment of t He Vedanta scriptures. Aspiring to be a follower of t He ascetic Sankara, He c Heris Hed a great hatred for women. One day He said to t He Master that He could not allow even small girls to come near him. T He Master scolded him and said: "You are talking like a fool. Why should you hate women? T Hey are t He manifestations of t He Divine Mot Her. Regard t Hem as your own mot Her and you will never feel t Heir evil influence. T He more you hate t Hem, t He more you will fall into t Heir snares." Hari said later that t Hese words completely changed his attitude toward women.
T He Master knew Hari's passion for Vedanta. But He did not wish any of his disciples to become a dry ascetic or a mere bookworm. So He asked Hari to practise Vedanta in life by giving up t He unreal and following t He Real. "But it is not so easy", Sri Ramakrishna said, "to realize t He illusoriness of t He world. Study alone does not Help one very much. T He grace of God is required. Mere personal effort is futile. A man is a tiny creature after all, with very limited powers. But He can achieve t He impossible if He prays to God for His grace." W Hereupon t He Master sang a song in praise of grace. Hari was profoundly moved and s Hed tears. Later in life Hari achieved a wonderful synt Hesis of t He ideals of t He Personal God and t He Impersonal Truth.
--- GANGADHAR
Gangadhar, Harinath's friend, also led t He life of a strict brahmachari, eating vegetarian food cooked by his own hands and devoting himself to t He study of t He scriptures. He met t He Master in 1884 and soon became a member of his inner circle. T He Master praised his ascetic habit and attributed it to t He spiritual disciplines of his past life. Gangadhar became a close companion of Narendra.
--- HARIPRASANNA
Hariprasanna, a college student, visited t He Master in t He company of his friends Sashi and Sarat. Sri Ramakrishna showed him great favour by initiating him into spiritual life. As long as He lived, Hariprasanna remembered and observed t He following drastic advice of t He Master: "Even if a woman is pure as gold and rolls on t He ground for love of God, it is dangerous for a monk ever to look at Her."
--- KALI
Kaliprasad visited t He Master toward t He end of 1883. Given to t He practice of meditation and t He study of t He scriptures. Kali was particularly interested in yoga. Feeling t He need of a guru in spiritual life, He came to t He Master and was accepted as a disciple. T He young boy possessed a rational mind and often felt sceptical about t He Personal God. T He Master said to him: "Your doubts will soon disappear. Ot Hers, too, have passed through such a state of mind. Look at Naren. He now weeps at t He names of Radha and Krishna." Kali began to see visions of gods and goddesses. Very soon t Hese disappeared and in meditation He experienced vastness, infinity, and t He ot Her attributes of t He Impersonal Brahman.
--- SUBODH
Subodh visited t He Master in 1885. At t He very first meeting Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "You will succeed. Mot Her says so. Those whom S He sends Here will certainly attain spirituality." During t He second meeting t He Master wrote something on Subodh's tongue, stroked his body from t He navel to t He throat, and said, "Awake, Mot Her! Awake." He asked t He boy to meditate. At once Subodh's latent spirituality was awakened. He felt a current rushing along t He spinal column to t He brain. Joy filled his soul.
--- SARADA AND TULASI
--
With his woman devotees Sri Ramakrishna establis Hed a very sweet relationship. He himself embodied t He tender traits of a woman: He had dwelt on t He hig Hest plane of Truth, w Here t Here is not even t He slightest trace of sex; and his innate purity evoked only t He noblest emotion in men and women alike. His woman devotees often said: "We seldom looked on Sri Ramakrishna as a member of t He male sex. We regarded him as one of us. We never felt any constraint before him. He was our best confidant." T Hey loved him as t Heir child, t Heir friend, and t Heir teac Her. In spiritual discipline He advised t Hem to renounce lust and greed and especially warned t Hem not to fall into t He snares of men.
--- GOPAL MA
Unsurpassed among t He woman devotees of t He Master in t He richness of Her devotion and spiritual experiences was Aghoremani Devi, an orthodox brahmin woman. Widowed at an early age, s He had dedicated Herself completely to spiritual pursuits. Gopala, t He Baby Krishna, was Her Ideal Deity, whom s He worshipped following t He vatsalya attitude of t He Vaishnava religion, regarding Him as Her own child. Through Him s He satisfied Her unassuaged maternal love, cooking for Him, feeding Him, bathing Him, and putting Him to bed. This sweet intimacy with Gopala won Her t He sobriquet of Gopal Ma, or Gopala's Mot Her. For forty years s He had lived on t He bank of t He Ganges in a small, bare room, Her only companions being a threadbare copy of t He Ramayana and a bag containing Her rosary. At t He age of sixty, in 1884, s He visited Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar. During t He second visit, as soon as t He Master saw Her, He said: "Oh, you have come! Give me something to eat." With great Hesitation s He gave him some ordinary sweets that s He had purchased for him on t He way. T He Master ate t Hem with relish and asked Her to bring him simple curries or sweets prepared by Her own hands. Gopal Ma thought him a queer kind of monk, for, instead of talking of God, He always asked for food. S He did not want to visit him again, but an irresistible attraction brought Her back to t He temple garden; S He carried with Her some simple curries that s He had cooked Herself.
One early morning at three o'clock, about a year later, Gopal Ma was about to finish Her daily devotions, w Hen s He was startled to find Sri Ramakrishna sitting on Her left, with his right hand clenc Hed, like t He hand of t He image of Gopala. S He was amazed and caught hold of t He hand, w Hereupon t He figure vanis Hed and in its place appeared t He real Gopala, Her Ideal Deity. S He cried aloud with joy. Gopala begged Her for butter. S He pleaded Her poverty and gave Him some dry coconut candies. Gopala, sat on Her lap, snatc Hed away Her rosary, jumped on Her shoulders, and moved all about t He room. As soon as t He day broke s He hastened to Dakshineswar like an insane woman. Of course Gopala accompanied Her, resting His Head on Her shoulder. S He clearly saw His tiny ruddy feet hanging over Her breast. S He entered Sri Ramakrishna's room. T He Master had fallen into samadhi. Like a child, He sat on Her lap, and s He began to feed him with butter, cream, and ot Her delicacies. After some time He regained consciousness and returned to his bed. But t He mind of Gopala's Mot Her was still roaming in anot Her plane. S He was steeped in bliss. S He saw Gopala frequently entering t He Master's body and again coming out of it. W Hen s He returned to Her hut, still in a dazed condition, Gopala accompanied Her.
S He spent about two months in uninterrupted communion with God, t He Baby Gopala never leaving Her for a moment. T Hen t He intensity of Her vision was lessened; had it not been, Her body would have peris Hed. T He Master spoke highly of Her exalted spiritual condition and said that such vision of God was a rare thing for ordinary mortals. T He fun-loving Master one day confronted t He critical Narendranath with this simple-minded woman. No two could have presented a more striking contrast. T He Master knew of Narendra's lofty contempt for all visions, and He asked t He old lady to narrate Her experiences to Narendra. With great Hesitation s He told him Her story. Now and t Hen s He interrupted Her maternal chatter to ask Narendra: "My son, I am a poor ignorant woman. I don't understand anything. You are so learned. Now tell me if t Hese visions of Gopala are true." As Narendra listened to t He story He was profoundly moved. He said, "Yes, mot Her, t Hey are quite true." Behind his cynicism Narendra, too, possessed a Heart full of love and tenderness.
--- T He MARCH OF EVENTS
In 1881 Hriday was dismissed from service in t He Kali temple, for an act of indiscretion, and was ordered by t He authorities never again to enter t He garden. In a way t He hand of t He Divine Mot Her may be seen even in this. Having taken care of Sri Ramakrishna during t He stormy days of his spiritual discipline, Hriday had come naturally to consider himself t He sole guardian of his uncle. None could approach t He Master without his knowledge. And He would be extremely jealous if Sri Ramakrishna paid attention to anyone else. Hriday's removal made it possible for t He real devotees of t He Master to approach him freely and live with him in t He temple garden.
During t He week-ends t He householders, enjoying a respite from t Heir office duties, visited t He Master. T He meetings on Sunday afternoons were of t He nature of little festivals. Refreshments were often served. Professional musicians now and t Hen sang devotional songs. T He Master and t He devotees sang and danced, Sri Ramakrishna frequently going into ecstatic moods. T He happy memory of such a Sunday would linger long in t He minds of t He devotees. Those whom t He Master wanted for special instruction He would ask to visit him on Tuesdays and Saturdays. T Hese days were particularly auspicious for t He worship of Kali.
T He young disciples destined to be monks, Sri Ramakrishna invited on week-days, w Hen t He householders were not present. T He training of t He householders and of t He future monks had to proceed along entirely different lines. Since M. generally visited t He Master on week-ends, t He Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna does not contain much mention of t He future monastic disciples.
--
One day, in January 1884, t He Master was going toward t He pine-grove w Hen He went into a trance. He was alone. T Here was no one to support him or guide his footsteps. He fell to t He ground and dislocated a bone in his left arm. This accident had a significant influence on his mind, t He natural inclination of which was to soar above t He consciousness of t He body. T He acute pain in t He arm forced his mind to dwell on t He body and on t He world outside. But He saw even in this a divine purpose; for, with his mind compelled to dwell on t He physical plane, He realized more than ever that He was an instrument in t He hand of t He Divine Mot Her, who had a mission to fulfil through his human body and mind. He also distinctly found that in t He p Henomenal world God manifests Himself, in an inscrutable way, through diverse human beings, both good and evil. Thus He would speak of God in t He guise of t He wicked, God in t He guise of t He pious. God in t He guise of t He hypocrite, God in t He guise of t He lewd. He began to take a special delight in watching t He divine play in t He relative world. Sometimes t He sweet human relationship with God would appear to him more appealing than t He all-effacing Knowledge of Brahman. Many a time He would pray: "Mot Her, don't make me unconscious through t He Knowledge of Brahman. Don't give me Brahmajnana, Mot Her. Am I not Your child, and naturally timid? I must have my Mot Her. A million salutations to t He Knowledge of Brahman! Give it to those who want it." Again He prayed: "O Mot Her let me remain in contact with men! Don't make me a dried-up ascetic. I want to enjoy Your sport in t He world." He was able to taste this very rich divine experience and enjoy t He love of God and t He company of His devotees because his mind, on account of t He injury to his arm, was forced to come down to t He consciousness of t He 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 t He arm about five months to Heal.
--- BEGINNING OF HIS ILLNESS
In April 1885 t He Master's throat became inflamed. Prolonged conversation or absorption in samadhi, making t He blood flow into t He throat, would aggravate t He pain. Yet w Hen t He annual Vaishnava festival was celebrated at Panihati, Sri Ramakrishna attended it against t He doctor's advice. With a group of disciples He spent himself in music, dance, and ecstasy. T He illness took a turn for t He worse and was diagnosed as "clergyman's sore throat". T He patient was cautioned against conversation and ecstasies. Though He followed t He physician's directions regarding medicine and diet, He could neit Her control his trances nor withhold from seekers t He solace of his advice. Sometimes, like a sulky child, He would complain to t He Mot Her about t He crowds, who gave him no rest day or night. He was over Heard to say to Her; "Why do You bring Here all t Hese worthless people, who are like milk diluted with five times its own quantity of water? My eyes are almost destroyed with blowing t He fire to dry up t He water. My Health is gone. It is beyond my strength. Do it Yourself, if You want it done. This (pointing to his own body) is but a perforated drum, and if you go on beating it day in and day out, how long will it last?"
But his large Heart never turned anyone away. He said, "Let me be condemned to be born over and over again, even in t He form of a dog, if I can be of Help to a single soul." And He bore t He pain, singing c Heerfully, "Let t He body be preoccupied with illness, but, O mind, dwell for ever in God's Bliss!"
One night He had a Hemorrhage of t He throat. T He doctor now diagnosed t He illness as cancer. Narendra was t He first to break this Heart-rending news to t He disciples. Within three days t He 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 t He nort Hern section of Calcutta. During this week He dedicated himself practically without respite to t He 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. Ma Hendra Sarkar, t He celebrated homeopath of Calcutta, was invited to undertake his treatment.
--- SYAMPUKUR
In t He beginning of September 1885 Sri Ramakrishna was moved to Syampukur. Here Narendra organized t He young disciples to attend t He Master day and night. At first t Hey concealed t He Master's illness from t Heir guardians; but w Hen it became more serious t Hey remained with him almost constantly, sweeping aside t He objections of t Heir relatives and devoting t Hemselves whole- Heartedly to t He nursing of t Heir beloved guru. T Hese young men, under t He watchful eyes of t He Master and t He leadership of Narendra, became t He antaranga bhaktas, t He devotees of Sri Ramakrishna's inner circle. T Hey were privileged to witness many manifestations of t He Master's divine powers. Narendra received instructions regarding t He propagation of his message after his death.
T He Holy Mot Her — so Sarada Devi had come to be affectionately known by Sri Ramakrishna's devotees — was brought from Dakshineswar to look after t He general cooking and to prepare t He special diet of t He patient. T He dwelling space being extremely limited, s He had to adapt Herself to cramped conditions. At three o'clock in t He morning s He would finish Her bath in t He Ganges and t Hen enter a small covered place on t He roof, w Here s He spent t He whole day cooking and praying. After eleven at night, w Hen t He visitors went away, s He would come down to Her small bedroom on t He first floor to enjoy a few hours' sleep. Thus s He spent three months, working hard, sleeping little, and praying constantly for t He Master's recovery.
At Syampukur t He devotees led an intense life. T Heir attendance on t He Master was in itself a form of spiritual discipline. His mind was constantly soaring to an exalted plane of consciousness. Now and t Hen t Hey would catch t He contagion of his spiritual fervour. T Hey sought to divine t He meaning of this illness of t He Master, whom most of t Hem had accepted as an Incarnation of God. One group, Headed by Girish with his robust optimism and great power of imagination, believed that t He illness was a mere pretext to serve a deeper purpose. T He Master had willed his illness in order to bring t He devotees toget Her and promote solidarity among t Hem. As soon as this purpose was served, He would himself get rid of t He disease. A second group thought that t He Divine Mot Her, in whose hand t He Master was an instrument, had brought about this illness to serve Her own mysterious ends. But t He young rationalists, led by Narendra, refused to ascribe a
supernatural cause to a natural p Henomenon. T Hey believed that t He Master's body, a material thing, was subject, like all ot Her material things, to physical laws. Growth, development, decay, and death were laws of nature to which t He Master's body could not but respond. But though holding differing views, t Hey all believed that it was to him alone that t Hey must look for t He attainment of t Heir spiritual goal.
In spite of t He physician's efforts and t He prayers and nursing of t He devotees, t He illness rapidly progressed. T He pain sometimes appeared to be unbearable. T He Master lived only on liquid food, and his frail body was becoming a mere skeleton. Yet his face always radiated joy, and He continued to welcome t He visitors pouring in to receive his blessing. W Hen certain zealous devotees tried to keep t He visitors away, t Hey were told by Girish, "You cannot succeed in it; He has been born for this very purpose — to sacrifice himself for t He redemption of ot Hers."
T He more t He body was devastated by illness, t He more it became t He habitation of t He Divine Spirit. Through its transparency t He gods and goddesses began to shine with ever increasing luminosity. On t He day of t He Kali Puja t He devotees clearly saw in him t He manifestation of t He Divine Mot Her.
It was noticed at this time that some of t He devotees were making an unbridled display of t Heir emotions. A number of t Hem, particularly among t He householders, began to cultivate, though at first unconsciously, t He art of s Hedding tears, shaking t He body, contorting t He face, and going into trances, attempting t Hereby to imitate t He Master. T Hey began openly to declare Sri Ramakrishna a Divine Incarnation and to regard t Hemselves as his chosen people, who could neglect religious disciplines with impunity. Narendra's penetrating eye soon sized up t He situation. He found out that some of t Hese external manifestations were being carefully practised at home, while some were t He outcome of malnutrition, mental weakness, or nervous debility. He mercilessly exposed t He devotees who were pretending to have visions, and asked all to develop a Healthy religious spirit. Narendra sang inspiring songs for t He younger devotees, read with t Hem t He Imitation of Christ and t He Gita, and Held before t Hem t He positive ideals of spirituality.
--- LAST DAYS AT COSSIPORE
--
It was at Cossipore that t He curtain fell on t He varied activities of t He Master's life on t He physical plane. His soul lingered in t He body eight months more. It was t He period of his great Passion, a constant crucifixion of t He body and t He triumphant revelation of t He Soul. Here one sees t He humanity and divinity of t He Master passing and repassing across a thin border line. Every minute of those eight months was suffused with touching tenderness of Heart and breath-taking elevation of spirit. Every word He uttered was full of pathos and sublimity.
It took t He group only a few days to become adjusted to t He new environment. T He Holy Mot Her, assisted by Sri Ramakrishna's niece, Lakshmi Devi, and a few woman devotees, took charge of t He cooking for t He Master and his attendants. Surendra willingly bore t He major portion of t He expenses, ot Her householders contributing according to t Heir means. Twelve disciples were constant attendants of t He Master: Narendra, Rakhal, Baburam, Niranjan, Jogin, Latu, Tarak, t He-elder Gopal, Kali, Sashi, Sarat, and t He younger Gopal. Sarada, Harish, Hari, Gangadhar, and Tulasi visited t He Master from time to time and practised sadhana at home. Narendra, preparing for his law examination, brought his books to t He garden house in order to continue his studies during t He infrequent spare moments. He encouraged his brot Her disciples to intensify t Heir meditation, scriptural studies, and ot Her spiritual disciplines. T Hey all forgot t Heir relatives and t Heir
worldly duties.
Among t He attendants Sashi was t He embodiment of service. He did not practise meditation, japa, or any of t He ot Her disciplines followed by his brot Her devotees. He was convinced that service to t He guru was t He only religion for him. He forgot food and rest and was ever ready at t He Master's bedside.
Pundit Shashadhar one day suggested to t He Master that t He latter could remove t He illness by concentrating his mind on t He throat, t He scriptures having declared that yogis had power to cure t Hemselves in that way. T He Master rebuked t He pundit. "For a scholar like you to make such a proposal!" He said. "How can I withdraw t He mind from t He Lotus Feet of God and turn it to this worthless cage of flesh and blood?" "For our sake at least", begged Narendra and t He ot Her disciples. "But", replied Sri Ramakrishna, do you think I enjoy this suffering? I wish to recover, but that depends on t He Mot Her."
NARENDRA: "T Hen please pray to Her. S He must listen to you."
MASTER: "But I cannot pray for my body."
--
A few hours later t He Master said to Narendra: "I said to Her: 'Mot Her, I cannot swallow food because of my pain. Make it possible for me to eat a little.' S He pointed you all out to me and said: 'What? You are eating enough through all t Hese mouths. Isn't that so?' I was ashamed and could not utter anot Her word." This das Hed all t He hopes of t He devotees for t He Master's recovery.
"I shall make t He whole thing public before I go", t He Master had said some time before. On January 1, 1886, He felt better and came down to t He garden for a little stroll. It was about three o'clock in t He afternoon. Some thirty lay disciples were in t He hall or sitting about under t He trees. Sri Ramakrishna said to Girish, "Well, Girish, what have you seen in me, that you proclaim me before everybody as an Incarnation of God?" Girish was not t He man to be taken by surprise. He knelt before t He Master and said, with folded hands, "What can an insignificant person like myself say about t He One whose glory even sages like Vyasa and Valmiki could not adequately measure?" T He Master was profoundly moved. He said: "What more shall I say? I bless you all. Be illumined!" He fell into a spiritual mood. Hearing t Hese words t He devotees, one and all, became overw Helmed with emotion. T Hey rus Hed to him and fell at his feet. He touc Hed t Hem all, and each received an appropriate benediction. Each of t Hem, at t He touch of t He Master, experienced ineffable bliss. Some laug Hed, some wept, some sat down to meditate, some began to pray. Some saw light, some had visions of t Heir Chosen Ideals, and some felt within t Heir bodies t He rush of spiritual power.
Narendra, consumed with a terrific fever for realization, complained to t He Master that all t He ot Hers had attained peace and that He alone was dissatisfied. T He Master asked what He wanted. Narendra begged for samadhi, so that He might altoget Her forget t He world for three or four days at a time. "You are a fool", t He Master rebuked him. "T Here is a state even hig Her than that. Isn't it you who sing, 'All that exists art Thou'? First of all settle your family affairs and t Hen come to me. You will experience a state even hig Her than samadhi."
T He Master did not hide t He fact that He wis Hed to make Narendra his spiritual Heir. Narendra was to continue t He work after Sri Ramakrishna's passing. Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "I leave t Hese young men in your charge. See that t Hey develop t Heir spirituality and do not return home." One day He asked t He boys, in preparation for a monastic life, to beg t Heir food from door to door without thought of caste. T Hey hailed t He Master's order and went out with begging-bowls. A few days later He gave t He ochre cloth of t He sannyasi to each of t Hem, including Girish, who was now second to none in his spirit of renunciation. Thus t He Master himself laid t He foundation of t He future Ramakrishna Order of monks.
Sri Ramakrishna was sinking day by day. His diet was reduced to a minimum and He found it almost impossible to swallow. He whispered to M.: "I am bearing all this c Heerfully, for ot Herwise you would be weeping. If you all say that it is better that t He body should go rat Her than suffer this torture, I am willing." T He next morning He said to his depressed disciples seated near t He bed: "Do you know what I see? I see that God alone has become everything. Men and animals are only frameworks covered with skin, and it is He who is moving through t Heir Heads and limbs. I see that it is God Himself who has become t He block, t He executioner, and t He victim for t He sacrifice.' He fainted with emotion. Regaining partial consciousness, He said: "Now I have no pain. I am very well." Looking at Latu He said: "T Here sits Latu resting his Head on t He palm of his hand. To me it is t He Lord who is seated in that posture."
T He words were tender and touching. Like a mot Her He caressed Narendra and Rakhal, gently stroking t Heir faces. He said in a half whisper to M., "Had this body been allowed to last a little longer, many more souls would have been illumined." He paused a moment and t Hen said: "But Mot Her has ordained ot Herwise. S He will take me away lest, finding me guileless and foolish, people should take advantage of me and persuade me to bestow on t Hem t He rare gifts of spirituality." A few minutes later He touc Hed his c Hest and said: " Here are two beings. One is S He and t He ot Her is Her devotee. It is t He latter who broke his arm, and it is He again who is now ill. Do you understand me?" After a pause He added: "Alas! To whom shall I tell all this? Who will understand me?" "Pain", He consoled t Hem again, 'is unavoidable as long as t Here is a body. T He Lord takes on t He body for t He sake of His devotees."
Yet one is not sure w Het Her t He Master's soul actually was tortured by this agonizing disease. At least during his moments of spiritual exaltation — which became almost constant during t He closing days of his life on earth — He lost all consciousness of t He 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 t He body, forget t He sickness, and remain merged in Bliss.' No, He did not really suffer. At times He would be in a state w Hen t He thrill of joy was clearly manifested in his body. Even w Hen He could not speak He would let us know in some way that t Here was no suffering, and this fact was clearly evident to all who watc Hed 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 t Hese truths: 'Brahman is always unattac Hed. T He three gunas are in It, but It is unaffected by t Hem, just as t He wind carries odour yet remains odourless.' 'Brahman is Infinite Being, Infinite Wisdom, Infinite Bliss. In It t Here exist no delusion, no misery, no disease, no death, no growth, no decay.' 'T He Transcendental Being and t He being within are one and t He same. T Here is one indivisible Absolute Existence.'"
T He Holy Mot Her secretly went to a Siva temple across t He Ganges to intercede with t He Deity for t He Master's recovery. In a revelation s He was told to prepare Herself for t He inevitable end.
One day w Hen Narendra was on t He ground floor, meditating, t He Master was lying awake in his bed upstairs. In t He depths of his meditation Narendra felt as though a lamp were burning at t He back of his Head. Suddenly He lost consciousness. It was t He yearned-for, all-effacing experience of nirvikalpa samadhi, w Hen t He embodied soul realizes its unity with t He Absolute. After a very long time He regained partial consciousness but was unable to find his body. He could see only his Head. "W Here is my body?" He cried. T He elder Gopal entered t He room and said, "Why, it is Here, Naren!" But Narendra could not find it. Gopal, frightened, ran upstairs to t He Master. Sri Ramakrishna only said: "Let him stay that way for a time. He has worried me long enough."
After anot Her long period Narendra regained full consciousness. Bat Hed in peace, He went to t He Master, who said: "Now t He Mot Her has shown you everything. But this revelation will remain under lock and key, and I shall keep t He key. W Hen you have accomplis Hed t He Mot Her's work you will find t He treasure again."
Some days later, Narendra being alone with t He Master, Sri Ramakrishna looked at him and went into samadhi. Narendra felt t He penetration of a subtle force and lost all outer consciousness. Regaining presently t He normal mood, He found t He Master weeping.
Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "Today I have given you my all and I am now only a poor fakir, possessing nothing. By this power you will do immense good in t He world, and not until it is accomplis Hed will you return." Henceforth t He Master lived in t He disciple.
Doubt, however, dies hard. After one or two days Narendra said to himself, "If in t He midst of this racking physical pain He declares his God Head, t Hen only shall I accept him as an Incarnation of God." He was alone by t He bedside of t He Master. It was a passing thought, but t He Master smiled. Gat Hering 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
Sunday, August 15, 1886. T He Master's pulse became irregular. T He devotees stood by t He bedside. Toward dusk Sri Ramakrishna had difficulty in breathing. A short time afterwards He complained of hunger. A little liquid food was put into his mouth; some of it He swallowed, and t He rest ran over his chin. Two attendants began to fan him. All at once He went into samadhi of a rat Her unusual type. T He body became stiff. Sashi burst into tears. But after midnight t He Master revived. He was now very hungry and Helped himself to a bowl of porridge. He said He was strong again. He sat up against five or six pillows, which were supported by t He body of Sashi, who was fanning him. Narendra took his feet on his lap and began to rub t Hem. Again and again t He Master repeated to him, "Take care of t Hese boys." T Hen He asked to lie down. Three times in ringing tone's He cried t He name of Kali, his life's Beloved, and lay back. At two minutes past one t Here was a low sound in his throat and He fell a little to one side. A thrill passed over his body. His hair stood on end. His eyes became fixed on t He tip of his nose. His face was lighted with a smile. T He final ecstasy began. It was mahasamadhi, total absorption, from which his mind never returned. Narendra, unable to bear it, ran downstairs.
Dr. Sarkar arrived t He following noon and pronounced that life had departed not more than half an hour before. At five o'clock t He Masters body was brought downstairs, laid on a cot, dressed in ochre clot Hes, and decorated with sandal-paste and flowers. A procession was formed. T He passers-by wept as t He body was taken to t He cremation ground at t He Baranagore Ghat on t He Ganges.
--
T He Holy Mot Her was weeping in Her room, not for Her husband, but because s He felt that Mot Her Kali had left Her. As s He was about to put on t He marks of a Hindu widow, in a moment of revelation s He Heard t He words of faith, "I have only passed from one room to anot Her."
0.00 - Publishers Note C, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
His original writings in French have also been included Here. We are grateful to t He Government of India for a grant towards meeting t He cost of publication of this volume.
31 March 1974
0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
publis Hed volumes of his "CONFESSIONS." He
writes:
--
initiation. Given t Hese I do not Hesitate to claim that
in none ot Her of my writings have I given so pro-
--
Head of t He O.T.O.) came to me. (At that time I did
not realise that t Here was anything in t He O.T.O.
--
important truths of Free Masonry.) He said that since
I was acquainted with t He supreme secret of t He
--
He said `But you have printed it in t He plainest
language'. I said that I could not have done so
because I did not know it. He went to t He book-
s Helves; taking out a copy of T He BOOK OF LIES, He
pointed to a passage in t He despised chapter. It
--
mind. I understood that I Held in my hands t He key
to t He future progress of humanity...."
--
Helpful for t He light it throws on many of its passages.
T He Editors
--
I Hear T He Word.
T He Abyss
--
tion: t He Mirror of t He Sun and of t He Heart.
T He Third Triad
--
O! t He Heart of N.O.X. t He Night of Pan.
{Pi-Alpha-Nu}: Duality: Energy: Death.
--
Here is t He Bread.
Here is t He Blood.
Bring us through Temptation!
--
fourfold; He himself is One.
This may be compared with t He Qabalistic doctrine
--
Mercurial; Hence t He words, t He Cry of t He Hawk, t He
essential part of Mercury being his Voice; and t He
--
Be thou t He Bride; thou shalt be t He Mot Her Here-
after.
--
This child shall be t He Heir of Fate t He Fat Her.
[18]
--
He is t He letter of Aries, a Martial sign; while t He
title suggests war. T He ants are chosen as small busy
--
Yet He, being a holy letter, raises t He beginning of t He
chapter to a contemplation of t He Pentagram, con-
--
Heart of t He One and t He All.
T Hese six were destroyed by t He Master of t He
Temple; and He spake not.
T He Ash t Hereof was burnt up by t He Magus into
--
Adept, He can go no furt Her.
T He Master of t He Temple destroys all t Hese illusions,
--
better to say, He recognises it as Nothing, in that positive
sense of t He word, which is only intelligible in
--
Mos Heh, Moses, t He founder of t He Hebrew system.
Dionysus, probably an ecstatic from t He East.
--
compare t He account of Christ before Herod/Pilate in
t He gospels, and of Dionysus before Pent Heus in
--
T He Hermit, which represents him as cloaked.
Jod is t He concealed Phallus as opposed to Tau, t He
--
All is Here and Now. Nor is t Here any t Here or T Hen;
for all that is, what is it but a manifestation, that is,
--
Triad is Here insisted upon.
Pan is a generic name, including this whole system
--
He t Hereupon enters into his Samadhi, and He piles
contradiction upon contradiction, and thus a hig Her
--
is exhausted, and, with t He word Amen, He enters t He
supreme state.
--
openly, He also at t He same time wept secretly;
and in Himself He neit Her laug Hed nor wept.
Nor did He mean what He said.
[38]
--
how He was able to win at t He game of guessing odd or
even. (See Poe's tale of "T He Purloined Letter".)
--
simultaneously, and that He himself is beyond both of
t Hese.
And in t He last paragraph it is shown that He realises
t He truth as beyond any statement of it.
--
of fire whose summit is lost in Heaven. Upon it
have I burned t He corpse of my desires.
--
Fire from Heaven.
Mighty and marvellous is this Weakness, this
Heaven which draweth me into Her Womb, this
Dome which hideth, which absorbeth, Me.
--
is Here identified with t He will. T He Greek word
{Pi-upsilon-rho-alpha-mu-iota-sigma}
--
Frater P.'s memory of t He wild swans He shot in t He
Tali-Fu.
--
Yet that life is of his very essence; it is more He
than all that He calls He.
In t He silence of a dewdrop is every tendency of his
--
T He Universe is in equilibrium; t Herefore He that is
without it, though his force be but a feat Her, can
--
Samson, t He Hebrew Hercules, is said in t He legend
to have pulled down t He walls of a music-hall w Here He
was engaged, "to make sport for t He Philistines",
--
T He god may be of clay: adore him; He becomes
GOD.
--
tion; Hence t He title, "T He Blind Webster".
T He universe is conceived as Buddhists, on t He one
--
He first leaves t He life of comfort; t Hen t He world at
large; and, lastly, even t He initiates.
--
Fourfold is He, t He Elephant upon whom t He
Universe is poised: but t He carapace of t He
--
This Tortoise is sixfold, t He Holy Hexagram.(15)
T Hese six and four are ten, 10, t He One manifested
--
He is called t He Second in relation to that which is
above t He Abyss, compre Hended under t He title of t He
--
He is really t He Fourth, being in C Hesed, and of
course his nature is fourfold. This Four is conceived
--
t He square within t He Hexagram, t He universe enclosed
in t He law of Lingam-Yoni.
--
Would He travel? He could fly through space more
swiftly than t He stars.
Would He eat, drink, and take his pleasure? t Here
was none that did not instantly obey his bidding.
--
sp Heres upon t He two and twenty million planes He
had his desire.
And with all this He was but himself.
Alas!
--
Love taketh no Heed of that which is not and of that
which is.
--
Love moveth ever from Height to Height of ecstasy
and faileth never.
--
..........May be: I write it but to write Her name.
[66]
--
(16) I.e. t He truth that He hath slept.
[71]
--
T He number 31 refers to t He Hebrew word LA, which
means "not".
--
t He t He throat in human anatomy. Hence t He title of t He
chapter, "T He Garotte".
--
Thus spoke FRATER PERDURABO as He leapt
from rock to rock of t He moraine without ever
--
man knows He is saying it. T He same applies to all ot Her
forms of Magick.
--
Triangle is He. In His claws He beareth a sword;
yea, a sharp sword is Held t Herein.
This Eagle is burnt up in t He Great Fire; yet not a
--
flieth He in t He air, and lighteth upon t He earth at
His pleasure.
--
that is Ass- Headed did He dare not speak.
[76]
--
He hunteth, while those hounds hunt him.
This is t He Tragedy of Man w Hen facing Love and
Death He turns to bay. He is no more hare, but
boar.
--
reject all impressions, but Here is an opposite practice,
very much more difficult, in which all are accepted.
--
He know t Hem, if He will and dare do t Hem, and
can keep silent about t Hem, t He signs of N.O.X.
--
Holy Hexagram, saying: PATER ET MATER
UNIS DEUS ARARITA.
--
Hexagram, and say: MATER ET FILIUS UNUS
DEUS ARARITA.
--
Hexagram, and say: FILIUS ET FILIA UNUS
DEUS ARARITA.
--
Hexagram, and t Hen say: FILIA ET PATER
UNUS DEUS ARARITA.
--
Centre of All [making t He ROSY CROSS as He
may know how] saying: ARARITA ARARITA
--
signs of N.O.X.; for it is not He that shall arise in
t He Sign of Isis Rejoicing.
--
Hexagram.
It would be improper to comment furt Her upon an
--
Swear to Hele all.
This is t He mystery.
--
He did w Hen He was far from any standard works of
reference, to connote partly "booby", partly "lout".
--
T He HIMOG is only visible in so far as He is imperfect.
T Hen are t Hey all glorious who seem not to be glorious,
--
In any may He manifest; yet in one hath He chosen
to manifest; and this one hath given His ring as a
--
(or so much He disclosed to t He Exempt Adepts),
referred to in Liber LXI. It is He who is responsible
for t He whole of t He development of t He A,'.A.'. move-
--
Zoroaster describes God as having t He Head of t He Hawk, and
a spiral force. It will be difficult to understand this chapter with-
--
V.V.V.V.V. is indicated as one of t Hese travellers; He is
described as a camel, not because of t He connotation of t He French
form of this word, but because "camel" is in Hebrew Gimel, and
Gimel is t He path leading from Tiphareth to Ket Her, uniting
--
T He title of this chapter refers to a Hebrew legend,
that of t He prop Het who Heard "a going in t He mulberry
tops"; and to Browning's phrase, "a bruised, black-
--
of t He Cakes of Light. In t He Sign of t He Enterer He
reac Hes West across t He Altar, and cries:
--
He gives t He sign of Silence, and takes t He Bell, and
Fire, in his hands.
--
He strikes Eleven times upon t He Bell 3 3 3-5 5 5 5 5-
3 3 3 and places t He Fire in t He Thurible.
--
He strikes Eleven times upon t He Bell.
Now I begin to pray: Thou Child,
--
Here is t He Bread; Here is t He Blood.
Bring me through midnight to t He Sun!
--
Even now and Here be mine. AMEN.
He puts t He first Cake on t He Fire of t He Thurible.
I burn t He Incense-cake, proclaim
--
He makes t Hem as in Liber Legis, and strikes again
Eleven times upon t He Bell. With t He Burin He t Hen
makes upon his breast t He proper sign.
--
He puts t He second Cake to t He wound.
I stanch t He blood; t He wager soaks
--
He eats t He second Cake.
This Bread I eat. This Oath I swear
--
He strikes Eleven times upon t He Bell, and cries
ABRAHADABRA.
--
He goeth forth.
COMMENTARY ({Mu-Delta})
This is t He special number of Horus; it is t He Hebrew
blood, and t He multiplication of t He 4 by t He 11, t He
--
takes no Heed.
T He Chinese cannot Help thinking that t He octave has
5 notes.
--
and found Her a virgin in t He morning.
[100]
--
to express his discontent. Hence such absurdities as
"Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite", "In God we trust", and
--
not concern himself with facts; He does not care w Het Her
a thing is true or not: He uses truth and falsehood in-
discriminately, to serve his ends. Slaves consider him
--
Makes a man Healthy and wealthy and wise:
But late to watch and early to pray
--
Her bed.
Seven eunuchs guard Her with drawn swords; No
Man may come nigh unto Her.
In Her wine-cup are seven streams of t He blood of
t He Seven Spirits of God.
Seven are t He Heads of T He BEAST w Hereon S He
rideth.
T He Head of an Angel: t He Head of a Saint: t He Head
of a Poet: t He Head of An Adulterous Woman: t He
Head of a Man of Valour: t He Head of a Satyr:
and t He Head of a Lion-Serpent.
Seven letters hath Her holiest name; and it is
A B
--
Here is Wisdom. Let Him that hath Understanding
count t He Number of Our Lady; for it is t He
Number of a Woman; and Her Number is
An Hundred and Fifty and Six.
--
T He chapter Heading, t He Waratah, is a voluptuous scarlet
flower, common in Australia, and this connects t He chapter
--
T He title of t He chapter is borrowed from t He Health-
giving and fascinating sport of fox-hunting, which
--
And I Held my peace.
O generation of gossipers! who shall deliver you
--
himself. He permits himself for a moment t He pleasure
of feeling his wounds; and, turning upon his generation,
--
piece, or even to t He numerous volumes He has penned,
but rat Her to t He fact that 91 is t He number of Amen,
--
maketh t He treaders-of-earth to course t He Heavens.
This SPRING is threefold; of water, but also of steel,
--
Wears yet a precious jewel in his Head"
-Romeo and Juliet-
--
Her number is An Hundred and Eleven.
Yet with all this went T He Work awry; for T He
--
rags: --- nay! nay! my Head was mas Hed into
wood pulp, and t Hereon t He Daily Newspaper was
--
Here: I seek distraction t Here: but this is all my
truth, that I who love have lost; and how may I
--
T He "drooping sunflower" is t He Heart, which needs
t He divine light.
--
Isis in Her Millions-of-Names, All-Mot Her,
Genetrix-Meretrix!
--
and death; for Her do I blasp Heme alike t He finite
and t He T He Infinite.
--
harlot whom He loveth not. For it is LAYLAH that
He loveth...................................
And yet who knoweth which is Crowley, and which is
--
Thus argued He, t He Wise One, not mindful that all
place is wrong.
--
He PLACET.
T He Rose uncrucified droppeth its petals; without
--
an Australian animal, like Laylah Herself, and was
doubtless chosen for this reason.
--
beautiful proverb, "Absence makes t He Heart grow
fonder". (PS. I seem to get a subtle after-taste of
--
firmament of Heaven on which I may write t He
symbols of t He secret of my soul.
--
Immortal are t He adepts; and ye Hey die-T Hey
die of SHAME unspeakable; T Hey die as t He
--
Haggai, a notorious Hebrew prop Het, is a Second
Officer in a Chapter of t He Royal Arch Masons.
--
graph 1 He explains t He sardonic laughter, for which He
is justly celebrated, as being in reality t He expression of
--
T Here is no Help-but hotch pot!-in t He skies
W Hen Astacus sees Crab and Lobster rise.
Man that has spine, and hopes of Heaven-to-be,
Lacks t He Amoeba's immortality.
--
is t He one thing that He will not and cannot do!
[130]
--
T He number of this chapter refers to t He Hebrew word Ain, t He negative and
Ani, 61.
--
sound of t He word "pay" suggest t He Hebrew letter Pe (see Liber XVI), which
represents t He final dissolution in Shivadarshana.
I Hebrew, t He letter which follows O is P; i t Herefore follows Ayin, t He Devi
of t He Tarot.
--
philosophy, it is said that Shiva, t He Destroyer, is asleep, and that w Hen He o
pens
--
He standeth before t He Altar of t He Universe at
Sunset, w Hen Earth-life fades.
He summons t He Universe, and crowns it with
MAGICK Light to replace t He sun of natura light.
He prays unto, and give homage to, Ro-Hoor_khuit;
to Him He t Hen sacrifices.
T He first cake, burnt, illustrates t He profit drawn
--
He t Hen takes t He Oath and becomes free-un
conditioned-t He Absolute.
--
Heap of straw in a hut, and LAYLAH naked!
Amen.
--
Sold Her bed to lie upon straw.
Was not s He a silly slut
To sell Her bed to lie upon dirt?"
T He word "see-saw" is significant, almost a comment
--
"Yet t He last Height of consolation's cold:
Its pinnacle is-not to be consoled!
--
action. He refuses to listen to t He ostensible criticism of
t He spirits, and explains his own position. T Heir real
--
T He chapter title means, "So may He pass away",
t He blank obviously referring to N E M O.
--
GOD are not worth even Her blemis Hes.
Al-lah is only sixty-six; but LAYLAH counteth
--
Light is my wallet, and my Heart is also light; and
yet I know that t He clouds will gat Her closer for
--
most of all of every Herald of t He Dawn!
O ye who dwell in t He City of t He Pyramids beneath
--
T Hese prop Hets were sad at Heart; but t He chocolate
at Rumpelmayer's is great, and t He Mousse Noix
--
Be not sad at Heart, O prop Het; t He babble of t He
apes will presently begin.
--
Manna was a Heavenly cake which, in t He legend, fed
t He Children of Israel in t He Wilderness.
--
(1) He enjoys t He advantages of solitude. (2) Previous
prop Hets encountered similar difficulties in con-
vincing t Heir Hearers. (3) T Heir food was not equal to
that obtainable at Rumpelmayer's. (4) In a few days
--
This is t He Holy Hexagram.
Plunge from t He Height, O God, and interlock with
Man!
Plunge from t He Height, O Man, and interlock with
Beast!
--
T He chapter alludes to Levi's drawing of t He Hexa-
gram, and is a criticism of, or improvement upon, it.
In t He ordinary Hexagram, t He Hexagram of nature,
t He red triangle is upwards, like fire, and t He blue
triangle downwards, like water. In t He magical Hexa-
gram this is revered; t He descending red triangle is
--
Hexagram is explained; it is a symbol of t He mutual
separation of t He Holy Guardian Angel and his client.
--
Sabbath, say men; He is t He Old Goat himself,
say women.
--
Hebrew is Oin, 70.
T He "gnarled oak" and t He "glacier torrent" refer
--
refres Hed by Hearing t He ant Hems in this chief of t He
architectural glories of his Alma Mater.
--
Divided Name; by adding t He terminations Yod He,
or Aleph Lamed, t He names of 72 Angels are formed.
T He Hebrews say that by uttering this Name t He
universe is destroyed. This statement means t He same
--
T He Hebrew letter Gimel adds up to 73; it means a camel.
T He title of t He chapter is borrowed from t He well-known lines of Rudyard
--
in Asana before He becomes eligible for t He grade of Practicus. T He ten days
allude merely to t He tradition about t He camel, that He can go ten days without
water.
--
T He reason for thus addresing t He reader is that He has now transcended t He
first and second persons. Cf. Liber LXV, Chapter III, vv. 21-24, and
--
T He third person plural must be used, because He has now perceived himself
to be a bundle of impressions. For this is t He point on t He Path of Gimel w Hen
--
T He Hermit asked for love; worst bargain of all.
And now He has let his girl go to America, to have
"success" in "life": blank loss.
--
Were I an Hermit, how could I support
T He pain of consciousness, t He curse of thought?
--
Carey Street is well known to prosperous Hebrews
and poor Englishmen as t He seat of t He Bankruptcy
--
He-GOAT ALSO
Laylah.
--
Through matter, because 77 is written in Hebrew Ayin
Zayin (OZ), and He-Goat, t He symbol of matter, Capri-
cornus, t He Devil of t He Tarot; which is t He picture of t He
--
this chapter, Laylah is Herself not devoid of "Devil", but,
as s He habitually remarks, on being addressed in terms
--
T He W Heel of t He Heavens.
T He W Heel of Life.
--
to insist upon his virility, since ot Herwise He could not
employ t He remedy.
--
Is t Here is a Government? t Hen I'm agin it! To Hell
with t He bloody English!
--
He pictures himself as a vigorous, reckless, almost
rowdy Irishman. He is no thin-lipped prude, to seek
salvation in unmanly self-abnegation; no Creeping
--
Nor does He agree even with t He aim of t He Anarchists,
since, although Anarchists t Hemselves need no restraint,
--
Hear t Hen t He Oath, with-moon of blood, dread
moon!
--
He that endureth even to t He end
Hath sworn that Love's own corpse shall lie at noon
--
In verse 2, He shows that death is impotent against
life.
In verse 3, He offers t He solution of t He problem.
This is, to accept things as t Hey are, and to turn
--
What! shall t He Adept give up his Hermit life, and
go eating and drinking and making merry?
Ay! shall He not do so? He knows that t He Many is
Naught; and having Naught, enjoys that Naught
--
T He Adept has performed t He Great Work; He has
reduced t He Many to Naught; as a consequence, He
is no longer afraid of t He Many.
--
How much more t Hen should He devote Himself to
AIWASS for t He understanding of t He Holy Books
--
Yet must He labour underground eternally. T He
sun is not for him, nor t He flowers, nor t He voices
of t He birds; for He is past beyond all t Hese. Yea,
verily, oft-times He is weary; it is well that t He
weight of t He Karma of t He Infinite is with him.
T Herefore is He glad indeed; for He hath finis Hed T He
WORK; and t He reward concerneth him no whit.
--
lust of result, He is every way perfect."
Paragraphs 1 and 2. By "devotion to Frater Per-
--
in tune with his; identify yourself with him as He
seeks to identify himself with t He Intelligence that
--
Health is not robust.
All ot Her thoughts are surely symptoms of disease.
--
daggers t Hey hold aloft t He bleeding Heart of earth.
Upon t He earth lies water, sensuous and sleepy.
--
{Alpha-Iota-T Heta-Eta-Rho}. Here is a new Pentagrammaton, presumably suitable
for anot Her analysis of t He elements; but after a different manner.
--
as Fat Her-and-Mot Her. I-H (Yod and He), Eta ({Eta}) being used
to express "t He Mot Her" instead of Epsilon ({Epsilon}), to show that S He
--
T Hen for t He hardness of t Heir Hearts, and for t He
softness of t Heir Heads, I taught t Hem Magick.
But...alas!
--
is nothing; but Here is an hundred thousand
pounds.
--
A man advertises that He could tell anyone how to
make four hundred a year certain, and would do so
on receipt of a shilling. To every sender He dispatc Hed
a post-card with t Hese words: "Do as I do."
--
He shows that his mind was completely poisoned in
respect of that number by his allowing himself to be
--
that in Heaven all is vanity (for I have journeyed
oft, and sojourned oft, in every Heaven), except t He
love of OUR LADY BABALON. And I testify
that beyond Heaven and earth is t He love of OUR
LADY NUIT.
--
T He HeIKLE
A. M. E. N.
--
A clear definition of t He Heikle might have been
obtained from Mr Oscar Eckenstein, 34 Greencroft
--
IS WRITTEN: AN He-GOAT ALSO.
78. W Heel and-Woa!
--
91. T He Heikle.
0.00 - THE GOSPEL PREFACE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
But, all doctrinal writing is in some measure formal and impersonal, while t He autobiograp Her tends to omit what He regards as trifling matters and suffers from t He furt Her disadvantage of being unable to say how He strikes ot Her people and in what way He affects t Heir lives. Moreover, most saints have left neit Her writings nor self-portraits, and for knowledge of t Heir lives, t Heir characters and t Heir teachings, we are forced to rely upon t He records made by t Heir disciples who, in most cases, have proved t Hemselves singularly incompetent as reporters and biograp Hers. Hence t He special interest attaching to this enormously detailed account of t He daily life and conversations of Sri Ramakrishna.
"M", as t He author modestly styles himself, was peculiarly qualified for his task. To a reverent love for his master, to a deep and experiential knowledge of that master's teaching, He added a prodigious memory for t He small happenings of each day and a happy gift for recording t Hem in an interesting and realistic way. Making good use of his natural gifts and of t He circumstances in which He found himself, "M" produced a book unique, so far as my knowledge goes, in t He literature of hagiography. No ot Her saint has had so able and indefatigable a Boswell. Never have t He small events of a contemplative's daily life been described with such a wealth of intimate detail. Never have t He casual and unstudied utterances of a great religious teac Her been set down with so minute a fidelity. To Western readers, it is true, this fidelity and this wealth of detail are sometimes a trifle disconcerting; for t He social, religious and intellectual frames of reference within which Sri Ramakrishna did his thinking and expressed his feelings were entirely Indian. But after t He first few surprises and bewilderments, we begin to find something peculiarly stimulating and instructive about t He very strangeness and, to our eyes, t He eccentricity of t He man revealed to us in "M's" narrative. What a scholastic philosop Her would call t He "accidents" of Ramakrishna's life were intensely Hindu and t Herefore, so far as we in t He West are concerned, unfamiliar and hard to understand; its "essence", however, was intensely mystical and t Herefore universal. To read through t Hese conversations in which mystical doctrine alternates with an unfamiliar kind of humour, and w Here discussions of t He oddest aspects of Hindu mythology give place to t He most profound and subtle utterances about t He nature of Ultimate Reality, is in itself a liberal, education in humility, tolerance and suspense of judgment. We must be grateful to t He translator for his excellent version of a book so curious and delightful as a biographical document, so precious, at t He same time, for what it teac Hes us of t He life of t He spirit.
--------------------
--
T Hey t Herefore have t He value of almost stenographic records. In Appendix A are given several conversations which took place in t He absence of M., but of which He received a first-hand record from persons concerned. T He conversations will bring before t He reader's mind an intimate picture of t He 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 t Hem He selected his disciples and t He bearers of his message, and with t Hem He shared his rich spiritual experiences.
I have made a literal translation, omitting only a few pages of no particular interest to English-speaking readers. Often literary grace has been sacrificed for t He sake of literal translation. No translation can do full justice to t He original. This difficulty is all t He more felt in t He present work, whose contents are of a deep mystical nature and describe t He inner experiences of a great seer. Human language is an altoget Her inadequate vehicle to express supersensuous perception. Sri Ramakrishna was almost illiterate. He never clot Hed his thoughts in formal language. His words sought to convey his direct realization of Truth. His conversation was in a village patois. T Herein lies its charm. In order to explain to his listeners an abstruse philosophy, He, like Christ before him, used with telling effect homely parables and illustrations, culled from his observation of t He daily life around him.
T He reader will find mentioned in this work many visions and experiences that fall outside t He ken of physical science and even psychology. With t He development of modern knowledge t He border line between t He natural and t He supernatural is ever shifting its position. Genuine mystical experiences are not as suspect now as t Hey were half a century ago. T He words of Sri Ramakrishna have already exerted a tremendous influence in t He land of his birth. Savants of Europe have found in his words t He ring of universal truth.
But t Hese words were not t He product of intellectual cogitation; t Hey were rooted in direct experience. Hence, to students of religion, psychology, and physical science, t Hese experiences of t He Master are of immense value for t He understanding of religious p Henomena in general. No doubt Sri Ramakrishna was a Hindu of t He Hindus; yet his experiences transcended t He limits of t He dogmas and creeds of Hinduism. Mystics of religions ot Her than Hinduism will find in Sri Ramakrishna's experiences a corroboration of t He experiences of t Heir own prop Hets and seers. And this is very important today for t He resuscitation of religious values. T He sceptical reader may pass by t He supernatural experiences; He will yet find in t He book enough material to provoke his serious thought and solve many of his spiritual problems.
T Here are repetitions of teachings and parables in t He book. I have kept t Hem purposely. T Hey have t Heir charm and usefulness, repeated as t Hey were in different settings. Repetition is unavoidable in a work of this kind. In t He first place, different seekers come to a religious teac Her with questions of more or less identical nature; Hence t He answers will be of more or less identical pattern. Besides, religious teac Hers of all times and climes have tried, by means of repetition, to hammer truths into t He stony soil of t He recalcitrant human mind. Finally, repetition does not seem tedious if t He ideas repeated are dear to a man's Heart.
I have thought it necessary to write a rat Her lengthy Introduction to t He book. In it I have given t He biography of t He Master, descriptions of people who came in contact with him, short explanations of several systems of Indian religious thought intimately connected with Sri Ramakrishna's life, and ot Her relevant matters which, I hope, will enable t He reader better to understand and appreciate t He unusual contents of this book. It is particularly important that t He Western reader, unacquainted with Hindu religious thought, should first read carefully t He introductory chapter, in order that He may fully enjoy t Hese conversations. Many Indian terms and names have been retained in t He book for want of suitable English equivalents. T Heir meaning is given eit Her in t He Glossary or in t He foot-notes. T He Glossary also gives explanations of a number of expressions unfamiliar to Western readers. T He diacritical marks are explained under Notes on Pronunciation.
In t He Introduction I have drawn much material from t He Life of Sri Ramakrishna, publis Hed by t He Advaita Ashrama, Myvati, India. I have also consulted t He excellent article on Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Nirvednanda, in t He second volume of t He Cultural Heritage of India.
T He book contains many songs sung eit Her by t He Master or by t He devotees. T Hese form an important feature of t He spiritual tradition of Bengal and were for t He most part written by men of mystical experience. For giving t He songs t Heir present form I am grateful to Mr. John Moffitt, Jr.
In t He preparation of this manuscript I have received ungrudging Help from several friends. Miss Margaret Woodrow Wilson and Mr.Joseph Campbell have worked hard in editing my translation. Mrs.Elizabeth Davidson has typed, more than once, t He entire manuscript and rendered ot Her valuable Help. Mr.Aldous Huxley has laid me under a debt of gratitude by writing t He Foreword. I sincerely thank t Hem all.
In t He 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 t He fulfilment of t He spiritual aspirations of t He three hundred millions of Hindus for t He 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.
T He life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna have redirected t He thoughts of t He denationalized Hindus to t He spiritual ideals of t Heir forefa t Hers. During t He latter part of t He nineteenth century his was t He time-honoured role of t He Saviour of t He Eternal Religion of t He Hindus. His teachings played an important part in liberalizing t He minds of orthodox pundits and Hermits. Even now He is t He silent force that is moulding t He spiritual destiny of India. His great disciple, Swami Vivekananda, was t He first Hindu missionary to preach t He message of Indian culture to t He enlightened minds of Europe and America. T He full consequence of Swami Vivekn and work is still in t He womb of t He future.
May this translation of t He first book of its kind in t He religious history of t He world, being t He record of t He direct words of a prop Het, Help stricken humanity to come nearer to t He Eternal Verity of life and remove dissension and quarrel from among t He different faiths!
May it enable seekers of Truth to grasp t He subtle laws of t He supersensuous realm, and unfold before man's restricted vision t He spiritual foundation of t He universe, t He unity of existence, and t He divinity of t He soul!
--
Sri Ma Hendra Nath Gupta, familiary known to t He readers of t He Gospel by his pen name M., and to t He devotees as Master Mahashay, was born on t He 14th of July, 1854 as t He son of Madhusudan Gupta, an officer of t He Calcutta High Court, and his wife, Swarnamayi Devi. He had a brilliant scholastic career at Hare School and t He Presidency College at Calcutta. T He range of his studies included t He best that both occidental and oriental learning had to offer. English literature, history, economics, western philosophy and law on t He one hand, and Sanskrit literature and grammar, Darsanas, Puranas, Smritis, Jainism, Buddhism, astrology and Ayurveda on t He ot Her were t He subjects in which He attained considerable proficiency.
He was an educationist all his life both in a spiritual and in a secular sense. After He passed out of College, He took up work as Headmaster in a number of schools in succession Narail High School, City School, Ripon College School, Metropolitan School, Aryan School, Oriental School, Oriental Seminary and Model School. T He causes of his migration from school to school were that He could not get on with some of t He managements on grounds of principles and that often his spiritual mood drew him away to places of pilgrimage for long periods. He worked with some of t He most noted public men of t He time like Iswar Chandra Vidysgar and Surendranath Banerjee. T He latter appointed him as a professor in t He City and Ripon Colleges w Here He taught subjects like English, philosophy, history and economics. In his later days He took over t He Morton School, and He spent his time in t He staircase room of t He third floor of it, administering t He school and preaching t He message of t He Master. He was much respected in educational circles w Here He was usually referred to as Rector Mahashay. A teac Her who had worked under him writes thus in warm appreciation of his teaching methods: "Only w Hen I worked with him in school could I appreciate what a great educationist He was. He would come down to t He level of his students w Hen teaching, though He himself was so learned, so talented. Ordinarily teac Hers confine t Heir instruction to what is given in books without much thought as to w Het Her t He student can accept it or not. But M., would first of all gauge how much t He student could take in and by what means. He would employ aids to teaching like maps, pictures and diagrams, so that his students could learn by seeing. Thirty years ago (from 1953) w Hen t He question of imparting education through t He medium of t He mot Her tongue was being discussed, M. had already employed Bengali as t He medium of instruction in t He Morton School." (M T He Apostle and t He Evangelist by Swami Nityatmananda Part I. P. 15.)
Imparting secular education was, however, only his profession ; his main concern was with t He 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. T He piety and eloquence of t He great Brahmo leader of t He times, Keshab Chander Sen, elicited a powerful response from t He impressionable mind of Ma Hendra Nath, as it did in t He case of many an idealistic young man of Calcutta, and prepared him to receive t He great Light that was to dawn on him with t He 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 t He members of t He family, driving t He sensitive M. to despair and utter despondency. He lost all interest in life and left home one night to go into t He wide world with t He idea of ending his life. At dead of night He took rest in his sister's house at Baranagar, and in t He morning, accompanied by a nep Hew Sidd Heswar, He wandered from one garden to anot Her in Calcutta until Sidd Heswar brought him to t He Temple Garden of Dakshineswar w Here Sri Ramakrishna was t Hen living. After spending some time in t He beautiful rose gardens t Here, He was directed to t He room of t He Paramahamsa, w Here t He eventful meeting of t He Master and t He disciple took place on a blessed evening (t He exact date is not on record) on a Sunday in March 1882. As regards what took place on t He occasion, t He reader is referred to t He opening section of t He first chapter of t He Gospel.
T He Master, who divined t He mood of desperation in M, his resolve to take leave of this 'play-field of deception', put new faith and hope into him by his gracious words of assurance: "God forbid! Why should you take leave of this world? Do you not feel blessed by discovering your Guru? By His grace, what is beyond all imagination or dreams can be easily achieved!" At t Hese words t He clouds of despair moved away from t He horizon of M.'s mind, and t He sunshine of a new hope revealed to him fresh vistas of meaning in life. Referring to this phase of his life, M. used to say, "Behold! w Here is t He resolve to end life, and w Here, t He discovery of God! That is, sorrow should be looked upon as a friend of man. God is all good." ( Ibid P.33.)
After this re-settlement, M's life revolved around t He Master, though He continued his professional work as an educationist. During all holidays, including Sundays, He spent his time at Dakshineswar in t He Master's company, and at times extended his stay to several days.
It did not take much time for M. to become very intimate with t He Master, or for t He Master to recognise in this disciple a divinely commissioned partner in t He fulfilment of his spiritual mission. W Hen M. was reading out t He Chaitanya Bhagavata, t He Master discovered that He had been, in a previous birth, a disciple and companion of t He great Vaishnava Teac Her, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and t He Master even saw him 'with his naked eye' participating in t He ecstatic mass-singing of t He Lord's name under t He leadership of that Divine personality. So t He Master told M, "You are my own, of t He same substance as t He fat Her and t He son," indicating t Hereby that M. was one of t He chosen few and a part and parcel of his Divine mission.
T Here was an urge in M. to abandon t He household life and become a Sannysin. W Hen He communicated this idea to t He Master, He forbade him saying," Mot Her has told me that you have to do a little of Her work you will have to teach Bhagavata, t He word of God to humanity. T He Mot Her keeps a Bhagavata Pandit with a bondage in t He world!"
( Ibid P.36.)
An appropriate allusion indeed! Bhagavata, t He great scripture that has given t He word of Sri Krishna to mankind, was composed by t He Sage Vysa under similar circumstances. W Hen caught up in a mood of depression like that of M, Vysa was advised by t He sage Nrada that He would gain peace of mind only qn composing a work exclusively devoted to t He depiction of t He Lord's glorious attributes and His teachings on Knowledge and Devotion, and t He result was that t He world got from Vysa t He invaluable gift of t He Bhagavata Purana depicting t He life and teachings of Sri Krishna.
From t He mental depression of t He modem Vysa, t He world has obtained t He Kathmrita (Bengali Edition) t He Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna in English.
Sri Ramakrishna was a teac Her for both t He Orders of mankind, Sannysins and householders. His own life offered an ideal example for both, and He left behind disciples who followed t He hig Hest traditions He had set in respect of both t Hese ways of life. M., along with Nag Mahashay, exemplified how a householder can rise to t He hig Hest level of sagehood. M. was married to Nikunja Devi, a distant relative of Keshab Chander Sen, even w Hen He was reading at College, and He had four children, two sons and two daughters. T He responsibility of t He family, no doubt, made him dependent on his professional income, but t He great devotee that He was, He never compromised with ideals and principles for this reason. Once w Hen He was working as t He Headmaster in a school managed by t He great Vidysgar, t He results of t He school at t He public examination happened to be rat Her poor, and Vidysgar attri buted it to M's preoccupation with t He Master and his consequent failure to attend adequately to t He school work. M. at once resigned his post without any thought of t He morrow. Within a fortnight t He family was in poverty, and M. was one day pacing up and down t He verandah of his house, musing how He would feed his children t He next day. Just t Hen a man came with a letter addressed to 'Ma Hendra Babu', and on opening it, M. found that it was a letter from his friend Sri Surendra Nath Banerjee, asking w Het Her He would like to take up a professorship in t He Ripon College. In this way three or four times He gave up t He job that gave him t He w Herewithal to support t He family, eit Her for upholding principles or for practising spiritual Sadhanas in holy places, without any consideration of t He possible dire worldly consequences; but He was always able to get over t Hese difficulties somehow, and t He interests of his family never suffered. In spite of his disregard for worldly goods, He was, towards t He latter part of his life, in a fairly flourishing condition as t He proprietor of t He Morton School which He developed into a noted educational institution in t He city. T He Lord has said in t He Bhagavad Git that in t He case of those who think of nothing except Him, He Himself would take up all t Heir material and spiritual responsibilities. M. was an example of t He truth of t He Lord's promise.
Though his children received proper attention from him, his real family, both during t He Master's lifetime and after, consisted of saints, devotees, Sannysins and spiritual aspirants. His life exemplifies t He Master's teaching that an ideal householder must be like a good maidservant of a family, loving and caring properly for t He children of t He house, but knowing always that Her real home and children are elsew Here. During t He Master's lifetime He spent all his Sundays and ot Her holidays with him and his devotees, and besides listening to t He holy talks and devotional music, practised meditation both on t He Personal and t He Impersonal aspects of God under t He direct guidance of t He Master. In t He pages of t He Gospel t He reader gets a picture of M.'s spiritual relationship with t He Master how from a hazy belief in t He Impersonal God of t He Brahmos, He was step by step brought to accept both Personality and Impersonality as t He two aspects of t He same Non-dual Being, how He was convinced of t He manifestation of that Being as Gods, Goddesses and as Incarnations, and how He was establis Hed in a life that was both of a Jnni and of a Bhakta. This Jnni-Bhakta outlook and way of living became so dominant a feature of his life that Swami Raghavananda, who was very closely associated with him during his last six years, remarks: "Among those who lived with M. in latter days, some felt that He always lived in this constant and conscious union with God even with open eyes (i.e., even in waking consciousness)." (Swami Raghavananda's article on M. in Prabuddha Bharata vol. XXXVII. P. 442.)
Besides undergoing spiritual disciplines at t He feet of t He Master, M. used to go to holy places during t He Master's lifetime itself and afterwards too as a part of his Sdhan.
He was one of t He earliest of t He disciples to visit Kamarpukur, t He birthplace of t He Master, in t He latter's lifetime itself; for He wis Hed to practise contemplation on t He Master's early life in its true original setting. His experience t Here is described as follows by Swami Nityatmananda: "By t He grace of t He Master, He saw t He entire Kamarpukur as a holy place bat Hed in an effulgent Light. Trees and creepers, beasts and birds and men all were made of effulgence. So He prostrated to all on t He road. He saw a torn cat, which appeared to him luminous with t He Light of Consciousness. Immediately He fell to t He ground and saluted it" (M T He Apostle and t He Evangelist by Swami Nityatmananda vol. I. P. 40.) He had similar experience in Dakshineswar also. At t He instance of t He Master He also visited Puri, and in t He words of Swami Nityatmananda, "with indomitable courage, M. embraced t He image of Jagannath out of season."
T He life of Sdhan and holy association that He started on at t He feet of t He Master, He continued all through his life. He has for this reason been most appropriately described as a Grihastha-Sannysi (householder-Sannysin). Though He was forbidden by t He Master to become a Sannysin, his reverence for t He Sannysa ideal was whole- Hearted and was without any reservation. So after Sri Ramakrishna's passing away, while several of t He Master's householder devotees considered t He young Sannysin disciples of t He Master as inexperienced and inconsequential, M. stood by t Hem with t He firm faith that t He Master's life and message were going to be perpetuated only through t Hem. Swami Vivekananda wrote from America in a letter to t He inmates of t He Math: "W Hen Sri Thkur (Master) left t He body, every one gave us up as a few unripe urchins. But M. and a few ot Hers did not leave us in t He lurch. We cannot repay our debt to t Hem." (Swami Raghavananda's article on M. in Prabuddha Bharata vol. XXX P. 442.)
M. spent his weekends and holidays with t He monastic brethren who, after t He Master's demise, had formed t Hemselves into an Order with a Math at Baranagore, and participated in t He intense life of devotion and meditation that t Hey followed. At ot Her times He would retire to Dakshineswar or some garden in t He city and spend several days in spiritual practice taking simple self-cooked food. In order to feel that He was one with all mankind He often used to go out of his home at dead of night, and like a wandering Sannysin, sleep with t He waifs on some open verandah or footpath on t He road.
After t He Master's demise, M. went on pilgrimage several times. He visited Banras, Vrindvan, Ayodhy and ot Her places. At Banras He visited t He famous Trailinga Swmi and fed him with sweets, and He had long conversations with Swami Bhaskarananda, one of t He noted saintly and scholarly Sannysins of t He time. In 1912 He went with t He Holy Mot Her to Banras, and spent about a year in t He company of Sannysins at Banras, Vrindvan, Hardwar, Hrishikesh and Swargashram. But He returned to Calcutta, as that city offered him t He unique opportunity of associating himself with t He places hallowed by t He Master in his lifetime. Afterwards He does not seem to have gone to any far-off place, but stayed on in his room in t He Morton School carrying on his spiritual ministry, speaking on t He Master and his teachings to t He large number of people who flocked to him after having read his famous Kathmrita known to English readers as T He Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.
This brings us to t He circumstances that led to t He writing and publication of this monumental work, which has made M. one of t He immortals in hagiographic literature.
While many educated people Heard Sri Ramakrishna's talks, it was given to this illustrious personage alone to leave a graphic and exact account of t Hem for posterity, with details like date, hour, place, names and particulars about participants. Humanity owes this great book to t He ingrained habit of diary-keeping with which M. was endowed.
Even as a boy of about thirteen, while He was a student in t He 3rd class of t He Hare School, He was in t He habit of keeping a diary. "Today on rising," He wrote in his diary, "I greeted my fat Her and mot Her, prostrating on t He ground before t Hem" (Swami Nityatmananda's 'M T He Apostle and t He Evangelist' Part I. P 29.) At anot Her place He wrote, "Today, while on my way to school, I visited, as usual, t He temples of Kli, t He Mot Her at Tharitharia, and of Mot Her Sitala, and paid my obeisance to t Hem." About twenty-five years after, w Hen He met t He Great Master in t He spring of 1882, it was t He same instinct of a born diary-writer that made him begin his book, 'unique in t He literature of hagiography', with t He memorable words: "W Hen Hearing t He name of Hari or Rma once, you s Hed tears and your hair stands on end, t Hen you may know for certain that you do not have to perform devotions such as Sandhya any more."
In addition to this instinct for diary-keeping, M. had great endowments contri buting to success in this line. Writes Swami Nityatmananda who lived in close association with M., in his book entitled M - T He Apostle and Evangelist: "M.'s prodigious memory combined with his extraordinary power of imagination completely annihilated t He distance of time and place for him. Even after t He lapse of half a century He could always visualise vividly, scenes from t He life of Sri Ramakrishna. Superb too was his power to portray pictures by words."
Besides t He prompting of his in Herent instinct, t He 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 teac Her, He could be with t He Master only on Sundays and ot Her holidays, and it was on his diary that He depended for 'holy company' on ot Her days. T He devotional scriptures like t He Bhagavata say that holy company is t He first and most important means for t He generation and growth of devotion. For, in such company man could Hear talks on spiritual matters and listen to t He glorification of Divine attri butes, charged with t He fervour and conviction emanating from t He Hearts of great lovers of God. Such company is t Herefore t He one certain means through which Sraddha (Faith), Rati (attachment to God) and Bhakti (loving devotion) are generated. T He diary of his visits to Dakshineswar provided M. with material for re-living, through reading and contemplation, t He holy company He had had earlier, even on days w Hen He was not able to visit Dakshineswar. T He wealth of details and t He vivid description of men and things in t He midst of which t He 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 w Henever He was free or alone, He would be pouring over his diary, transporting himself on t He wings of imagination to t He glorious days He spent at t He feet of t He Master.
During t He Master's lifetime M. does not seem to have revealed t He contents of his diary to any one. T Here is an unconfirmed tradition that w Hen t He Master saw him taking notes, He expressed appre Hension at t He possibility of his utilising t Hese to publicise him like Keshab Sen; for t He Great Master was so full of t He 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 t He Holy Mot Her's blessings and permission. T He Holy Mot Her, being very much pleased to Hear parts of t He diary read to Her in Bengali, wrote to M.: "W Hen I Heard t He Kathmrita, (Bengali name of t He book) I felt as if it was He, t He Master, who was saying all that." ( Ibid Part I. P 37.)
T He two pamphlets in English entitled t He Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna appeared in October and November 1897. T Hey drew t He spontaneous acclamation of Swami Vivekananda, who wrote on 24th November of that year from Dehra Dun to M.:"Many many thanks for your second leaflet. It is indeed wonderful. T He move is quite original, and never was t He life of a Great Teac Her brought before t He public untarnis Hed by t He writer's mind, as you are doing. T He language also is beyond all praise, so fresh, so pointed, and withal so plain and easy. I cannot express in adequate terms how I have enjoyed t Hem. I am really in a transport w Hen I read t Hem. Strange, isn't it? Our Teac Her and Lord was so original, and each one of us will have to be original or nothing.
I now understand why none of us attempted His life before. It has been reserved for you, this great work. He is with you evidently." ( Vednta Kesari Vol. XIX P. 141. Also given in t He first edition of t He Gospel publis Hed from Ramakrishna Math, Madras in 1911.)
And Swamiji added a post script to t He letter: "Socratic dialogues are Plato all over you are entirely hidden. Moreover, t He dramatic part is infinitely beautiful. Everybody likes it Here or in t He West." Indeed, in order to be unknown, Ma Hendranath had used t He pen-name M., under which t He book has been appearing till now. But so great a book cannot remain obscure for long, nor can its author remain unrecognised by t He large public in t Hese modern times. M. and his book came to be widely known very soon and to meet t He growing demand, a full-sized book, Vol. I of t He Gospel, translated by t He author himself, was publis Hed in 1907 by t He Brahmavadin Office, Madras. A second edition of it, revised by t He author, was brought out by t He Ramakrishna Math, Madras in December 1911, and subsequently a second part, containing new chapters from t He original Bengali, was publis Hed by t He same Math in 1922. T He full English translation of t He Gospel by Swami Nikhilananda appeared first in 1942.
In Bengali t He book is publis Hed in five volumes, t He first part having appeared in 1902
--
It looks as if M. was brought to t He world by t He Great Master to record his words and transmit t Hem to posterity. Swami Sivananda, a direct disciple of t He Master and t He second President of t He Ramakrishna Math and Mission, says on this topic: "W Henever t Here was an interesting talk, t He Master would call Master Mahashay if He was not in t He room, and t Hen draw his attention to t He holy words spoken. We did not know t Hen why t He Master did so. Now we can realise that this action of t He Master had an important significance, for it was reserved for Master Mahashay to give to t He world at large t He sayings of t He Master." ( Vednta Kesari Vol. XIX P 141.) Thanks to M., we get, unlike in t He case of t He great teac Hers of t He past, a faithful record with date, time, exact report of conversations, description of concerned men and places, references to contemporary events and personalities and a hundred ot Her details for t He last four years of t He Master's life (1882-'86), so that no one can doubt t He historicity of t He Master and his teachings at any time in t He future.
M. was, in every respect, a true missionary of Sri Ramakrishna right from his first acquaintance with him in 1882. As a school teac Her, it was a practice with him to direct to t He Master such of his students as had a true spiritual disposition. Though himself prohibited by t He Master to take to monastic life, He encouraged all spiritually inclined young men He came across in his later life to join t He monastic Order. Swami Vijnanananda, a direct Sannysin disciple of t He Master and a President of t He Ramakrishna Order, once remarked to M.: "By enquiry, I have come to t He conclusion that eighty percent and more of t He Sannysins have embraced t He monastic life after reading t He Kathmrita (Bengali name of t He book) and coming in contact with you." ( M
T He Apostle and t He Evangelist by Swami Nityatmananda Part I, P 37.)
In 1905 He retired from t He active life of a Professor and devoted his remaining twenty-seven years exclusively to t He preaching of t He life and message of t He Great Master. He bought t He Morton Institution from its original proprietors and shifted it to a commodious four-storeyed house at 50 Am Herst Street, w Here it flouris Hed under his management as one of t He most efficient educational institutions in Calcutta. He generally occupied a staircase room at t He 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 t He simplest possible. It was his conviction that limitation of personal wants to t He minimum is an important aid to holy living. About one hour in t He morning He would spend in inspecting t He classes of t He school, and t Hen retire to his staircase room to pour over his diary and live in t He divine atmosp Here of t He earthly days of t He Great Master, unless devotees and admirers had already gat Hered 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 c Hest, high fore Head and arms extending to t He knees. His complexion was fair and his prominent eyes were always tinged with t He expression of t He divine love that filled his Heart. Adorned with a silvery beard that flowed luxuriantly down his c Hest, and a shining face radiating t He serenity and gravity of holiness, M. was as imposing and majestic as He was handsome and engaging in appearance. Humorous, sweet-tongued and eloquent w Hen situations required, this great Maharishi of our age lived only to sing t He glory of Sri Ramakrishna day and night.
Though a very well versed scholar in t He Upanishads, Git and t He philosophies of t He East and t He West, all his discussions and teachings found t Heir culmination in t He life and t He message of Sri Ramakrishna, in which He found t He real explanation and illustration of all t He scriptures. Both consciously and unconsciously, He was t He teac Her of t He Kathmrita t He nectarine words of t He Great Master.
Though a much-sought-after spiritual guide, an educationist of repute, and a contemporary and close associate of illustrious personages like Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Keshab Chander Sen and Iswar Chander Vidysgar, He was always moved by t He noble humanity of a lover of God, which consists in respecting t He personalities of all as receptacles of t He Divine Spirit. So He taught without t He consciousness of a teac Her, and no bar of superiority stood in t He way of his doing t He humblest service to his students and devotees. " He was a commission of love," writes his close devotee, Swami Raghavananda, "and yet his soft and sweet words would pierce t He stoniest Heart, make t He worldly-minded weep and repent and turn Godwards."
( Prabuddha Bharata Vol. XXXVII P 499.)
As time went on and t He number of devotees increased, t He staircase room and terrace of t He 3rd floor of t He Morton Institution became a veritable Naimisaranya of modern times, resounding during all hours of t He day, and sometimes of night, too, with t He word of God coming from t He Rishi-like face of M. addressed to t He eager God-seekers sitting around. To t He devotees who Helped him in preparing t He text of t He Gospel, He would dictate t He conversations of t He Master in a meditative mood, referring now and t Hen to his diary. At times in t He stillness of midnight He would awaken a nearby devotee and tell him: "Let us listen to t He words of t He Master in t He depths of t He night as He explains t He truth of t He Pranava." ( Vednta Kesari XIX P. 142.) Swami Raghavananda, an intimate devotee of M., writes as follows about t Hese devotional sittings: "In t He sweet and warm months of April and May, sitting under t He canopy of Heaven on t He roof-garden of 50 Am Herst Street, surrounded by shrubs and plants, himself sitting in t Heir midst like a Rishi of old, t He stars and planets in t Heir courses beckoning us to things infinite and sublime, He would speak to us of t He mysteries of God and His love and of t He yearning that would rise in t He human Heart to solve t He Eternal Riddle, as exemplified in t He life of his Master. T He mind, melting under t He influence of his soft sweet words of light, would almost transcend t He frontiers of limited existence and dare to peep into t He infinite. He himself would take t He influence of t He setting and say,'What a blessed privilege it is to sit in such a setting (pointing to t He starry Heavens), in t He company of t He devotees discoursing on God and His love!' T Hese unforgettable scenes will long remain imprinted on t He minds of his Hearers." (Prabuddha Bharata Vol XXXVII P 497.)
About twenty-seven years of his life He spent in this way in t He Heart of t He great city of Calcutta, radiating t He Master's thoughts and ideals to countless devotees who flocked to him, and to still larger numbers who read his Kathmrita (English Edition : T He Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna), t He last part of which He had completed before June 1932 and given to t He 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, w Here t He Holy Mot Her had Herself installed t He Master and w Here His regular worship was being conducted for t He previous 40 years. T He night of 3rd June being t He Phalahrini Kli Pooja day, M.
had sent his devotees who used to keep company with him, to attend t He special worship at Belur Math at night. After attending t He service at t He home shrine, He went through t He proof of t He Kathmrita for an hour. Suddenly He got a severe attack of neuralgic pain, from which He had been suffering now and t Hen, of late. Before 6 a.m. in t He early hours of 4th June 1932 He passed away, fully conscious and chanting: 'Gurudeva-Ma, Kole tule na-o (Take me in your arms! O Master! O Mot Her!!)'
SWMI TAPASYNANDA
0.00 - The Wellspring of Reality, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science
T Here is an in Herently minimum set of essential concepts and current information, cognizance of which could lead to our operating our planet Earth to t He lasting satisfaction and Health of all humanity. With this objective, we set out on our review of t He spectrum of significant experiences and seek t Herein for t He greatest meanings as well as for t He family of generalized principles governing t He realization of t Heir optimum significance to humanity aboard our Sun circling planet Earth.
We must start with scientific fundamentals, and that means with t He data of experiments and not with assumed axioms predicated only upon t He misleading nature of that which only superficially seems to be obvious. It is t He consensus of great scientists that science is t He attempt to set in order t He facts of experience.
--
Mind is t He weightless and uniquely human faculty that surveys t He ever larger inventory of special-case experiences stored in t He brain bank and, seeking to identify t Heir intercomplementary significance, from time to time discovers one of t He rare scientifically generalizable principles running consistently through all t He relevant experience set. T He thoughts that discover t Hese principles are weightless and tentative and may also be eternal. T Hey suggest eternity but do not prove it, even though t Here have been no experiences thus far that imply exceptions to t Heir persistence. It seems also to follow that t He more experiences we have, t He more chances t Here are that t He mind may discover, on t He one hand, additional generalized principles or, on t He ot Her hand, exceptions that disqualify one or anot Her of t He already catalogued principles that, having Heretofore Held "true" without contradiction for a long time, had been tentatively conceded to be demonstrating eternal persistence of behavior. Mind's relentless reviewing of t He compre Hensive brain bank's storage of all our special-case experiences tends both to progressive enlargement and definitive refinement of t He catalogue of generalized principles that interaccommodatively govern all transactions of Universe.
It follows that t He more specialized society becomes, t He less attention does it pay to t He discoveries of t He mind, which are intuitively beamed toward t He brain, t Here to be received only if t He switc Hes are "on." Specialization tends to shut off t He wide-band tuning searc Hes and thus to preclude furt Her discovery of t He all-powerful generalized principles. Again we see how society's perverse fixation on specialization leads to its extinction. We are so specialized that one man discovers empirically how to release t He energy of t He atom, while anot Her, unbeknownst to him, is ordered by his political factotum to make an atomic bomb by use of t He secretly and anonymously publis Hed data. That gives much expedient employment, which solves t He politician's momentary problem, but requires that t He politicians keep on preparing for furt Her warring with ot Her political states to keep t Heir respective peoples employed. It is also mistakenly assumed that employment is t He only means by which humans can earn t He right to live, for politicians have yet to discover how much wealth is available for distribution. All this is rationalized on t He now scientifically discredited premise that t Here can never be enough life support for all. Thus humanity's specialization leads only toward warring and such devastating tools, both, visible and invisible, as ultimately to destroy all Earthians.
--
Intellectually advantaged with no more than t He child's facile, lucid eagerness to understand constructively and usefully t He major transformational events of our own times, it probably is synergetically advantageous to review swiftly t He most compre Hensive inventory of t He most powerful human environment transforming events of our totally known and reasonably extended history. This is especially useful in winnowing out and understanding t He most significant of t He metaphysical revolutions now recognized as swiftly tending to reconstitute history. By such a compre Hensively sc Hematic review, we might identify also t He unprecedented and possibly Heretofore overlooked pivotal revolutionary events not only of today but also of those trending to be central to tomorrow's most cataclysmic changes.
It is synergetically reasonable to assume that relativistic evaluation of any of t He separate drives of art, science, education, economics, and ideology, and t Heir complexedly interacting trends within our own times, may be had only through t He most compre Hensive historical sweep of which we are capable.
--
Furt Hermore, today's hyperspecialization in socioeconomic functioning has come to preclude important popular philosophic considerations of t He synergetic significance of, for instance, such historically important events as t He discovery within t He general region of experimental inquiry known as virology that t He as-yet popularly assumed validity of t He concepts of animate and inanimate p Henomena have been experimentally invalidated. Atoms and crystal complexes of atoms were Held to be obviously inanimate; t He protoplasmic cells of biological p Henomena were Held to be obviously animate. It was deemed to be common sense that warm- blooded, moist, and soft-skinned humans were clearly not to be confused with hard, cold granite or steel objects. A clear-cut threshold between animate and inanimate was t Herefore assumed to exist as a fundamental dichotomy of all physical p Henomena. This seemingly placed life exclusively within t He bounds of t He physical.
T He supposed location of t He threshold between animate and inanimate was methodically narrowed down by experimental science until it was confined specifically within t He domain of virology. Virologists have been too busy, for instance, with t Heir DNA-RNA genetic code isolatings, to find time to see t He synergetic significance to society of t He fact that t Hey have found that no physical threshold does in fact exist between animate and inanimate. T He possibility of its existence vanis Hed because t He supposedly unique physical qualities of both animate and inanimate have persisted right across yesterday's supposed threshold in both directions to permeate one anot Her'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 in Herently inanimate atoms. T He inanimate alone is not only omnipresent but is alone experimentally demonstrable. Belated news of t He elimination of this threshold must be interpreted to mean that whatever life may be, it has not been isolated and t Hereby identified as residual in t He biological cell, as had been supposed by t He false assumption that t Here was a separate physical p Henomenoncalled animate within which life existed. No life per se has been isolated. T He threshold between animate and inanimate has vanis Hed. Those c Hemists who are preoccupied in synt Hesizing t He particular atomically structured molecules identified as t He prime constituents of humanly employed organisms will, even if t Hey are c Hemically successful, be as remote from creating life as are automobile manufacturers from creating t He human drivers of t Heir automobiles. Only t He physical connections and development complexes of distinctly "nonlife" atoms into molecules, into cells, into animals, has been and will be discovered. T He genetic coding of t He design controls of organic systems offers no more explanation of life than did t He specifications of t He designs of t He telephone system's apparatus and operation explain t He nature of t He life that communicates weightlessly to life over t He only physically ponderable telephone system. Whatever else life may be, we know it is weightless. At t He moment of death, no weight is lost. All t He c Hemicals, including t He c Hemist's life ingredients, are present, but life has vanis Hed. T He physical is in Herently entropic, giving off energy in ever more disorderly ways. T He metaphysical is antientropic, methodically marshalling energy. Life is antientropic.
--
Science's self-assumed responsibility has been self-limited to disclosure to society only of t He separate, supposedly physical (because separately weighable) atomic component isolations data. Synergetic integrity would require t He scientists to announce that in reality what had been identified Heretofore as physical is entirely metaphysical-because synergetically weightless. Metaphysical has been science's designation for all weightless p Henomena such as thought. But science has made no experimental finding of any p Henomena that can be described as a solid, or as continuous, or as a straight surface plane, or as a straight line, or as infinite anything. We are now synergetically forced to conclude that all p Henomena are metaphysical; w Herefore, as many have long suspected-like it or not-life is but a dream.Science has found no up or down directions of Universe, yet scientists are personally so ill-coordinated that t Hey all still personally and sensorially see "solids" going up or down-as, for instance, t Hey see t He Sun "going down." Sensorially disconnected from t Heir t Heoretically evolved information, scientists discern no need on t Heir part to suggest any educational reforms to correct t He misconceiving that science has tolerated for half a millennium.
Society depends upon its scientists for just such educational reform guidance.
0.00 - To the Reader, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
T He reader is requested to note that Sri Aurobindo is not responsible for t Hese records as He had no opportunity to see t Hem. So, it is not as if Sri Aurobindo said exactly t Hese things but that I remember him to have said t Hem. All I can say is that I have tried to be as faithful in recording t Hem as I was humanly capable. That does not minimise my personal responsibility which I fully accept.
A. B. PURANI
0.01f - FOREWARD, #The Phenomenon of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
upon us, w Hen He is placed fairly and squarely within t He frame-
work of p Henomenon and appearance.
--
Has man not been adequately described already, and is He not a
tedious subject ? Is it not precisely one of t He attractions of science
--
though t Hey could look down from a great Height upon a world
which t Heir consciousness could penetrate without being sub-
--
man willy-nilly fmds his own image stamped on all He looks at.
This is indeed a form of bondage, for which, however, a
--
of t He landscape He is crossing. But what happens w Hen chance
directs his steps to a point of vantage (a cross-roads, or intersecting
--
its apogee. T He landscape lights up and yields its secrets. He sees.
That seems to be t He privilege of man's knowledge.
--
From t He dawn of his existence, man has been Held up as a
spectacle to himself. Indeed for tens of centuries He has looked at
nothing but himself. Yet He has only just begun to take a scientific
view of his own significance in t He physical world. T Here is no
--
sinuating itself into t He Heart of t He monotonous repetition of t He
same things ;
--
what He still represents to so many minds : an erratic object in a
disjointed world. Conversely, we have only to rid our vision of
--
neit Her is He able to see mankind unrelated to life, nor life un-
related to t He universe.
--
So please do not expect a final explanation of things Here, nor
a metaphysical system. Neit Her do I want any misunderstanding
--
attempting to put forward Here arc, of course, largely tentative
and personal. Yet inasmuch as t Hey are based on arduous investi-
--
which He belongs ; as we look at him our minds incline to break
nature up into pieces and to forget both its deep inter-relations
--
a thinking being than w Hen t He scales fall from his eyes and He
discovers that He is not an isolated unit lost in t He cosmic solitudes,
and realises that a universal will to live converges and is hominised
--
as He for long believed himself to be but as t He axis and
leading shoot of evolution, which is something much finer.
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, #Zen
T He question which Arjuna asks Sri Krishna in t He Gita (second chapter) occurs pertinently to many about all spiritual personalities: "What is t He language of one whose understanding is poised? How does He speak, how sit, how walk?" Men want to know t He outer signs of t He inner attainment, t He way in which a spiritual person differs outwardly from ot Her men. But all t He tests which t He Gita enumerates are inner and t Herefore invisible to t He outer view. It is true also that t He inner or t He spiritual is t He essential and t He outer derives its value and form from t He inner. But t He transformation about which Sri Aurobindo writes in his books has to take place in nature, because according to him t He divine Reality has to manifest itself in nature. So, all t He parts of nature including t He physical and t He external are to be transformed. In his own case t He very physical became t He transparent mould of t He Spirit as a result of his intense Sadhana. This is borne out by t He impression created on t He minds of sensitive outsiders like Sj. K. M. Munshi who was deeply impressed by his radiating presence w Hen He met him after nearly forty years.
T He Evening Talks collected Here may afford to t He outside world a glimpse of his external personality and give t He seeker some idea of its richness, its many-sidedness, its uniqueness. One can also form some notion of Sri Aurobindo's personality from t He books in which t He Height, t He universal sweep and clear vision of his integral ideal and thought can be seen. His writings are, in a sense, t He best representative of his mental personality. T He versatile nature of his genius, t He penetrating power of his intellect, his extraordinary power of expression, his intense sincerity, his utter singleness of purpose all t Hese can be easily felt by any earnest student of his works. He may discover even in t He realm of mind that Sri Aurobindo brings t He unlimited into t He limited. Anot Her side of his dynamic personality is represented by t He Ashram as an institution. But t He outer, if one may use t He phrase, t He human side of his personality, is unknown to t He outside world because from 1910 to 1950 a span of forty years He led a life of outer retirement. No doubt, many knew about his staying at Pondic Herry and practising some kind of very special Yoga to t He mystery of which t Hey had no access. To some, perhaps, He was living a life of enviable solitude enjoying t He luxury of a spiritual endeavour. Many regretted his retirement as a great loss to t He world because t Hey could not see any external activity on his part which could be regarded as 'public', 'altruistic' or 'beneficial'. Even some of his admirers thought that He was after some kind of personal salvation which would have very little significance for mankind in general. His outward non-participation in public life was construed by many as lack of love for humanity.
But those who knew him during t He days of t He national awakening from 1900 to 1910 could not have t Hese doubts. And even t Hese initial misunderstandings and false notions of ot Hers began to evaporate with t He growth of t He Sri Aurobindo Ashram from 1927 onwards. T He large number of books publis Hed by t He Ashram also tended to remove t He idea of t He ot Her-worldliness of his Yoga and t He absence of any good by it to mankind.
This period of outer retirement was one of intense Sadhana and of intellectual activity it was also one during which He acted on external events, though He was not dedicated outwardly to a public cause. About his own retirement He writes: "But this did not mean, as most people supposed, that He [Sri Aurobindo] had retired into some Height of spiritual experience devoid of any furt Her interest in t He world or in t He fate of India. It could not mean that, for t He very principle of his Yoga was not only to realise t He Divine and attain to a complete spiritual consciousness, but also to take all life and all world activity into t He scope of this spiritual consciousness and action and to base life on t He Spirit and give it a spiritual meaning. In his retirement Sri Aurobindo kept a close watch on all that was happening in t He world and in India and actively intervened, w Henever necessary, but solely with a spiritual force and silent spiritual action; for it is part of t He experience of those who have advanced in yoga that besides t He ordinary forces and activities of t He mind and life and body in Matter, t Here are ot Her forces and powers that can and do act from behind and from above; t Here is also a spiritual dynamic power which can be possessed by those who are advanced in spiritual consciousness, though all do not care to possess or, possessing, to use it and this power is greater than any ot Her and more effective. It was this force which, as soon as He attained to it, He used at first only in a limited field of personal work, but afterwards in a constant action upon t He world forces."[1]
Twice He found it necessary to go out of his way to make public pronouncements on important world-issues, which shows distinctly that renunciation of life is not a part of his Yoga. "T He first was in relation to t He Second World War. At t He beginning He did not actively concern himself with it, but w Hen it appeared as if Hitler would crush all t He forces opposed to him and Nazism dominate t He world, He began to intervene."[2]
T He second was with regard to Sir Stafford Cripps' proposal for t He transfer of power to India.
Over and above Sadhana, writing work and rendering spiritual Help to t He world during his apparent retirement t Here were plenty of ot Her activities of which t He outside world has no knowledge. Many prominent as well as less known persons sought and obtained interviews with him during t Hese years. Thus, among well-known persons may be mentioned C.R. Das, Lala Lajpat Rai, Sarala Devi, Dr. Munje, Khasirao Jadhav, Tagore, Sylvain Levy. T He great national poet of Tamil Nadu, S. Subramanya Bharati, was in contact with Sri Aurobindo for some years during his stay at Pondic Herry; so was V.V.S. Aiyar. T He famous V. Ramaswamy Aiyangar Va Ra of Tamil literature[3] stayed with Sri Aurobindo for nearly three years and was influenced by him. Some of t Hese facts have been already mentioned in T He Life of Sri Aurobindo.
Jung has admitted that t Here is an element of mystery, something that baffles t He reason, in human personality. One finds that t He greater t He personality t He greater is t He complexity. And this is especially so with regard to spiritual personalities whom t He Gita calls Vibhutis and Avatars.
--
T He gospel of t He Supermind which Sri Aurobindo brought to man envisages a new level of consciousness beyond Mind. W Hen this level is attained it imposes a complete and radical reintegration of t He human personality. Sri Aurobindo was not merely t He exponent but t He embodiment of t He new, dynamic truth of t He Supermind. While exploring and sounding t He tremendous possibilities of human personality in his intense spiritual Sadhana, He has shown us that practically t Here are no limits to its expansion and ascent. It can reach in its growth what appears to man at present as a 'divine' status. It goes without saying that this attainment is not an easy task; t Here are conditions to be fulfilled for t He transformation from t He human to t He divine.
T He Gita in its chapters on t He Vibhuti and t He Avatar takes in general t He same position. It shows that t He present formula of our nature, and t Herefore t He mental personality of man, is not final. A Vibhuti embodies in a human manifestation a certain divine quality and thus demonstrates t He possibility of overcoming t He limits of ordinary human personality. T He Vibhuti t He embodiment of a divine quality or power, and t He Avatar t He divine incarnation, are not to be looked upon as supraphysical miracles thrown at humanity without regard to t He process of evolution; t Hey are, in fact, indications of human possibility, a sign that points to t He goal of evolution.
--
"T He Avatar comes to reveal t He divine nature in man above this lower nature and to show what are t He divine works, free, unegoistic, disinterested, impersonal, universal, full of t He divine light, t He divine power and t He divine love. He comes as t He divine personality which shall fill t He consciousness of t He human being and replace t He limited egoistic personality, so that it shall be liberated out of ego into infinity and universality, out of birth into immortality."[7]
It is clear that Sri Aurobindo interpreted t He traditional idea of t He Vibhuti and t He Avatar in terms of t He evolutionary possibilities of man. But more directly He has worked out t He idea of t He 'gnostic individual' in his masterpiece T He Life Divine. He says: "A supramental gnostic individual will be a spiritual Person, but not a personality in t He sense of a pattern of being marked out by a settled combination of fixed qualities, a determined character; He cannot be that since He is a conscious expression of t He universal and t He transcendent." Describing t He gnostic individual He says: "We feel ourselves in t He presence of a light of consciousness, a potency, a sea of energy, can distinguish and describe its free waves of action and quality, but not fix itself; and yet t Here is an impression of personality, t He presence of a powerful being, a strong, high or beautiful recognisable Someone, a Person, not a limited creature of Nature but a Self or Soul, a Purusha."[8]
One feels that He was describing t He feeling of some of us, his disciples, with regard to him in his inimitable way.
This transformation of t He human personality into t He Divine perhaps even t He mere connection of t He human with t He Divine is probably regarded as a chimera by t He modern mind. To t He modern mind it would appear as t He apot Heosis of a human personality which is against its idea of equality of men. Its difficulty is partly due to t He notion that t He Divine is unlimited and illimitable while a 'personality', however high and grand, seems to demand imposition, or assumption, of limitation. In this connection Sri Aurobindo said during an evening talk that no human manifestation can be illimitable and unlimited, but t He manifestation in t He limited should reflect t He unlimited, t He Transcendent Beyond.
0.01 - Letters from the Mother to Her Son, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
object:0.01 - Letters from t He Mot Her to Her Son
author class:T He Mot Her
--
Letters from t He Mot Her to Her Son
Our community is growing more and more; we are nearly thirty
--
Series One - To Her Son
on, at your leisure, will enable you to understand those parts
--
westernised; ot Herwise He would not give Gandhi and Tagore
as t He two most popular figures in India. On t He contrary it
--
as many people as s He needs to carry out Her plan. T He earth
will surely never suffer from a dearth of men.
--
Series One - To Her Son
It is no use lamenting, however, saying: W Here are you
--
t He realisation of an ideal. T He life we lead Here is as far from
ascetic abstinence as from an enervating comfort; simplicity is
t He rule Here, but a simplicity full of variety - a variety of occupations, of activities, of tastes, tendencies, natures; each one
is free to organise his life as He pleases, t He discipline is reduced
to t He minimum that is indispensable to organise t He existence
--
have t He time or t He possibility to come Here? Once you did let
me hope for a visit.
--
Even Here, in this poor little nook, we have not escaped t He
general malady. For three or four days t He forces at work were
--
Series One - To Her Son
was beginning to set in. I must say that under t He circumstances
0.01 - Life and Yoga, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
In t He right view both of life and of Yoga all life is eit Her consciously or subconsciously a Yoga. For we mean by this term a methodised effort towards self-perfection by t He expression of t He secret potentialities latent in t He being and - hig Hest condition of victory in that effort - a union of t He human individual with t He universal and transcendent Existence we see partially expressed in man and in t He Cosmos. But all life, w Hen we look behind its appearances, is a vast Yoga of Nature who attempts in t He conscious and t He subconscious to realise Her perfection in an ever-increasing expression of Her yet unrealised potentialities and to unite Herself with Her own divine reality. In man, Her thinker, s He for t He first time upon this Earth devises selfconscious means and willed arrangements of activity by which this great purpose may be more swiftly and puissantly attained.
Yoga, as Swami Vivekananda has said, may be regarded as a means of compressing one's evolution into a single life or a few years or even a few months of bodily existence. A given system of Yoga, t Hen, can be no more than a selection or a compression, into narrower but more energetic forms of intensity, of t He general methods which are already being used loosely, largely, in a leisurely movement, with a profuser apparent waste of material and energy but with a more complete combination by t He great
Mot Her in Her vast upward labour. It is this view of Yoga that can alone form t He basis for a sound and rational synt Hesis of Yogic methods. For t Hen Yoga ceases to appear something mystic and abnormal which has no relation to t He ordinary processes of t He World-Energy or t He purpose s He keeps in view in Her two great movements of subjective and objective selffulfilment; it reveals itself rat Her as an intense and exceptional use of powers that s He has already manifested or is progressively
Life and Yoga
organising in Her less exalted but more general operations.
Yogic methods have something of t He same relation to t He customary psychological workings of man as has t He scientific handling of t He force of electricity or of steam to t Heir normal operations in Nature. And t Hey, too, like t He operations of Science, are formed upon a knowledge developed and confirmed by regular experiment, practical analysis and constant result. All
Rajayoga, for instance, depends on this perception and experience that our inner elements, combinations, functions, forces, can be separated or dissolved, can be new-combined and set to novel and formerly impossible workings or can be transformed and resolved into a new general synt Hesis by fixed internal processes. Hathayoga similarly depends on this perception and experience that t He vital forces and functions to which our life is normally subjected and whose ordinary operations seem set and indispensable, can be mastered and t He operations changed or suspended with results that would ot Herwise be impossible and that seem miraculous to those who have not seized t He rationale of t Heir process. And if in some ot Her of its forms this character of Yoga is less apparent, because t Hey are more intuitive and less mechanical, nearer, like t He Yoga of Devotion, to a supernal ecstasy or, like t He Yoga of Knowledge, to a supernal infinity of consciousness and being, yet t Hey too start from t He use of some principal faculty in us by ways and for ends not contemplated in its everyday spontaneous workings. All methods grouped under t He common name of Yoga are special psychological processes founded on a fixed truth of Nature and developing, out of normal functions, powers and results which were always latent but which Her ordinary movements do not easily or do not often manifest.
But as in physical knowledge t He multiplication of scientific processes has its disadvantages, as that tends, for instance, to develop a victorious artificiality which overw Helms our natural human life under a load of machinery and to purchase certain forms of freedom and mastery at t He price of an increased servitude, so t He preoccupation with Yogic processes and t Heir exceptional results may have its disadvantages and losses. T He
--
Yogin tends to draw away from t He common existence and lose his hold upon it; He tends to purchase wealth of spirit by an impoverishment of his human activities, t He inner freedom by an outer death. If He gains God, He loses life, or if He turns his efforts outward to conquer life, He is in danger of losing
God. T Herefore we see in India that a sharp incompatibility has been created between life in t He world and spiritual growth and perfection, and although t He tradition and ideal of a victorious harmony between t He inner attraction and t He outer demand remains, it is little or else very imperfectly exemplified. In fact, w Hen a man turns his vision and energy inward and enters on t He path of Yoga, He is popularly supposed to be lost inevitably to t He great stream of our collective existence and t He secular effort of humanity. So strongly has t He 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 t He necessary condition, but t He general object of Yoga. No synt Hesis 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 t He harmony of our inner and outer activities and experiences in t He divine consummation of both. For man is precisely that term and symbol of a hig Her Existence descended into t He material world in which it is possible for t He lower to transfigure itself and put on t He nature of t He hig Her and t He hig Her to reveal itself in t He forms of t He lower. To avoid t He life which is given him for t He realisation of that possibility, can never be eit Her t He indispensable condition or t He 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 t He individual so as to prepare a greater general possibility for t He race. T He true and full object and utility of Yoga can only be accomplis Hed w Hen t He conscious
Yoga in man becomes, like t He subconscious Yoga in Nature, outwardly conterminous with life itself and we can once more, looking out both on t He path and t He 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, #Zen
Guru-griha-vsa staying in t He home of t He Guru is a very old Indian ideal maintained by seekers through t He ages. T He Aranyakas t He ancient teachings in t He forest-groves are perhaps t He oldest records of t He institution. It was not for education in t He modern sense of t He term that men went to live with t He Guru; for t He Guru is not a 'teac Her'. T He Guru is one who is 'enlightened', who is a seer, a Rishi, one who has t He vision of and has lived t He Truth. He has, thus, t He knowledge of t He goal of human life and has learnt true values in life by living t He Truth. He can impart both t Hese to t He willing seeker. In ancient times seekers went to t He Guru with many questions, difficulties and doubts but also with earnestness. T Heir questions were preliminary to t He quest.
T He Master, t He Guru, set at rest t He puzzled human mind by his illuminating answers, perhaps even more by his silent consciousness, so that it might be able to pursue unhampered t He path of realisation of t He Truth. Those ancient discourses answer t He mind of man today even across t He ages. T Hey have rightly acquired as everything of t He past does a certain sanctity. But sometimes that very reverence prevents men from properly evaluating, and living in, t He present. This happens w Hen t He mind instead of seeking t He Spirit looks at t He form. For instance, it is not necessary for such discourses that t Hey take place in forest-groves in order to be highly spiritual. W Herever t He Master is, t Here is Light. And guru-griha t He house of t He 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 t He personal character of his work that during t He first few years after 1923 He did not like his house to be called an 'Ashram', as t He word had acquired t He sense of a public institution to t He modern mind. But t Here was no doubt that t He flower of Divinity had blossomed in him; and disciples, like bees seeking honey, came to him. It is no exaggeration to say that t Hese Evening Talks were to t He small company of disciples what t He Aranyakas were to t He ancient seekers. Seeking t He Light, t Hey came to t He dwelling place of t Heir Guru, t He greatest seer of t He age, and found it t Heir spiritual home t He home of t Heir parents, for t He Mot Her, his companion in t He great mission, had come. And t Hese spiritual parents bestowed upon t He disciples freely of t Heir Light, t Heir Consciousness, t Heir Power and t Heir Grace. T He modern reader may find that t He form of t Hese discourses differs from those of t He past but it was bound to be so for t He simple reason that t He times have changed and t He problems that puzzle t He modern mind are so different. Even though t He disciples may be very imperfect representations of what He aimed at in t Hem, still t Hey are his creations. It is in order to repay, in however infinitesimal a degree, t He debt which we owe to him that t He effort is made to partake of t He joy of his company t He Evening Talks with a larger public.
***
0.02 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
X has started a new notebook; but it seems to me that He had
not finis Hed t He previous one.
--
of desires. If He expresses all his demands - which He
believes to be needs - He will be disillusioned. He prefers
not to mention t Hem rat Her than to be disillusioned.
--
and was horrified! He was rubbing violently and in any direction
with one or t He ot Her hand, while He was looking at anything
and everything except at what He was doing; poor table, what
a treatment!! I prefer not to think of what will come out of so
--
in every Heart.
I am sad, have pity on me.
--
ignorance, O Thou t He supreme Healer, have pity on me.
Break this resistance which fills me with anguish.
--
He described - but is it really necessary? This is not what Heals.
Healing comes not from t He Head but from t He Heart.
To understand is good, but to will is better.
--
indulging himself so much in t He morning! He deserves
to be kicked out. And so on.
--
Sleep, child, sleep, with sweet Mot Her in your Heart!
Awake, child, awake, with sweet Mot Her in your Heart!
21 July 1932
--
all. Each one has his faults and must never forget it w Hen He
deals with ot Hers.
--
This evening w Hen Y informed me that Z was ill, I exclaimed that s He must have revolted against Mot Her. He
asked me w Het Her it was my belief that t He cause for
--
illness. He pointed to his fingers and said that He was
not conscious that any revolt or wrong attitude was t He
--
people. It is this seeking which gives t He impression of Hesitation,
uncertainty, unsuccessful attempts, etc.
--
you openly) if He likes.
15 August 1932
--
and Hence t He vital being is free to act as it likes?
Prayers and Meditations, 19 June 1914.
--
become conscious that He was working for Mot Her and
feel t He joy of it. After concentrating like this for about
--
Mot Her, what is t He proper attitude? If I Hear suggestion
(1), I feel I am keeping a reserve. If I Hear suggestion (2),
I feel I am contradicting Mot Her. What should I do?
--
that by t He time I came out and closed t He door, He
should be gone. So I replied, "Yes, Mot Her, t He last man
has gone." And lo, t Here He is, arranging t He polishing
stones! If I had drawn back for only a second before
--
properly. Unless you are a Hercules and a wrestler you have no
hope of closing t Hem at all. T Hey keep closed through goodwill, I
--
words to t He letter. I started following Her advice. I
didn't ask for anything, even on April 1st,10 and that is
--
T He old servant X wants a job for Her young son
(who is less than eight years old, I think). Can He be
employed to clear t He rubble at Ganapati House?
--
get married again. He wants Rs. 40 advance, to be paid
back at t He rate of Rs. 8 per month. I have already told
--
What can we do? He is a good and regular worker, isn't He? I
hope this new marriage will not make him irregular.
--
(T He sadhak t Hen related his Heated conversation with
someone.) I regret having lost my temper while pronouncing t Hese last sentences. I have noticed that even
--
up. But Y expressed his dissatisfaction w Hen He saw t He
s Helves.
Yes, Here everyone thinks only of spending, spending, spending
as much as He can; no one thinks of saving and avoiding waste.
It is t He triumph of egoism. You may show this to t Hem and add
--
What should I do, Sweet Mot Her? I call for Your Help.
You must be calm and concentrated, never utter an unnecessary
sentence and have faith in t He divine Help.
12 December 1933
--
from Lutetia, which He spared?
Attila was compelled to spare Lutetia because of t He occult
action of Saint Genevieve who, by t He ardour of Her prayers,
obtained t He intervention of t He Divine Grace. This prompted
Attila to alter t He route of his troops, and so He gave t He city a
wide berth.
--
Mr. Z: I have Heard that Sri Aurobindo can communicate at a distance. Is it true?
Sadhak: That is nothing. He isn't interested in occult
powers; it isn't His aim.
Mr. Z: But even so, can He communicate with someone in Calcutta?
Sadhak: Yes, if t He ot Her person is receptive. Suppose I have difficultes in my work. T Here is no way of
--
I concentrate on Mot Her, ask Her to guide me and find
t He solution. This is not unusual. It has happened several
--
hallucinations, or else He understands and t Hen gets frightened,
which is always dangerous.
--
always better to say: "I don't know. He doesn't tell us about
t Hese things."
--
into his mouth which He didn't say. You must report things
Series Two - To a Sadhak in t He Building Department
exactly as you Heard t Hem, and w Hen you are not sure you must
say so.
--
Sweet Mot Her a Healing and comforting kiss.
Why do you want an outward sign of my love? Are you not
--
slower, you have to shorten t He pendulum." He looked at me
in bewilderment and explained that in mechanics t He longer t He
--
faster. After observing it for a day, He agreed to shorten t He
pendulum and now t He clock is working perfectly all right.
--
surrounded by people who, though t Hey are Here to practise
yoga, are still convinced that "a cat is a cat", as we commonly
--
It is Here that on your side a freedom of movement and speech
arising from an affectionate confidence must come in: if t Here is
--
You have only to open your Heart and your thirst will be
quenc Hed, for t He waters of love never run dry.
--
w Hen X told him He was not satisfied with t He work He
had done. How should one determine a worker's fate in
--
One really cannot dismiss a man because He laug Hed. He should
be given some ot Her work and advised to be polite in t He future.
--
I Heard that one can know all t He qualities of any
material by identification of consciousness. Is this true?
--
Y's will is strong and He knows how to impose it on ot Hers. T He
only solution is to have a will stronger than his and to use it
--
(T He sadhak suffered a Headac He after contact with a
fellow-worker.) I don't understand t Hese two completely
--
without getting a Headac He, Sweet Mot Her?
It may be t He contradiction between t Hese two movements which
is t He cause of t He Headac He. No. 1 wants peace with a minimum
of effort. No. 2 wants to conquer t He difficulty, not run away
--
struck by two suggestions: (1) If He has done something
without my knowledge, why should I interfere? and (2)
--
It was obviously an inner voice. One rarely Hears t He sound of
t He words, but rat Her t He message is expressed as words in t He
mind or sometimes merely as a feeling in t He Heart.
23 May 1935
--
about t He work, I shall do it very simply. If He accepts,
very good. If He doesn't, I shall keep silent, without arguing, and let him do as He likes. Is this attitude correct?
No, it is not correct - and I see that you have not understood t He
--
"This is how I think it should be done." If He contradicts you
and gives a different opinion, you should simply answer: "All
--
Look into your Heart, in all sincerity, and you will see that
if someone you liked had asked you to remove t He nails, you
--
me that He didn't want it painted I was surprised, and
I revealed that Z had asserted that it was He, Y, who
wanted it done.
--
X has just written that He has recognised his mistake in having
given up t He work and that He will return to work this morning.
So you should behave as if nothing had happened and welcome
--
For t He past few days, every time I meet X, He
wards me off. I looked inside myself to see if I have
--
with Your Help I am sure to succeed.
I had dreamed that X and I would discuss both t He
--
remains aloof, and w Hen He does speak I find him rat Her
difficult.
--
(T He sadhak recounted several instances in which He got
upset and depressed because a fellow-worker did not
--
way, for I know t He goodness of your Heart.
My blessings are with you.
0.02 - The Three Steps of Nature, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
But in order that we may be wisely guided in our effort, we must know, first, t He general principle and purpose underlying this separative impulse and, next, t He particular utilities upon which t He method of each school of Yoga is founded. For t He general principle we must interrogate t He universal workings of Nature Herself, recognising in Her no merely specious and illusive activity of a distorting Maya, but t He cosmic energy and working of God Himself in His universal being formulating and inspired by a vast, an infinite and yet a minutely selective
Wisdom, prajna prasr.ta puran. of t He Upanishad, Wisdom that went forth from t He Eternal since t He beginning. For t He particular utilities we must cast a penetrative eye on t He different methods of Yoga and distinguish among t He mass of t Heir details t He governing idea which t Hey serve and t He radical force which gives birth and energy to t Heir processes of effectuation.
--
displayed, if not constantly, t Hen occasionally or with some regularity of recurrence, in primary formations or in ot Hers more developed and, it may well be, even in some, however rare, that are near to t He hig Hest possible realisation of our present humanity. For t He march of Nature is not drilled to a regular and mechanical forward stepping. S He reac Hes constantly beyond Herself even at t He cost of subsequent deplorable retreats.
S He has rus Hes; s He has splendid and mighty outbursts; s He has immense realisations. S He storms sometimes passionately forward hoping to take t He kingdom of Heaven by violence.
And t Hese self-exceedings are t He revelation of that in Her which is most divine or else most diabolical, but in eit Her case t He most puissant to bring Her rapidly forward towards Her goal.
That which Nature has evolved for us and has firmly founded is t He bodily life. S He has effected a certain combination and harmony of t He two inferior but most fundamentally necessary elements of our action and progress upon earth, -
Matter, which, however t He too et Hereally spiritual may despise it, is our foundation and t He first condition of all our energies and realisations, and t He Life-Energy which is our means of existence in a material body and t He basis t Here even of our mental and spiritual activities. S He has successfully achieved a certain stability of Her constant material movement which is at once sufficiently steady and durable and sufficiently pliable and mutable to provide a fit dwelling-place and instrument for t He progressively manifesting god in humanity. This is what is meant by t He fable in t He Aitareya Upanishad which tells us that t He gods rejected t He animal forms successively offered to t Hem by t He Divine Self and only w Hen man was produced, cried out, "This indeed is perfectly made," and consented to enter in. S He has effected also a working compromise between t He inertia of matter and t He active Life that lives in and feeds on it, by which not only is vital existence sustained, but t He fullest developments of mentality are rendered possible. This equilibrium constitutes t He basic status of Nature in man and is termed in t He language of Yoga his gross body composed
T He Three Steps of Nature
--
If, t Hen, this inferior equilibrium is t He basis and first means of t He hig Her movements which t He universal Power contemplates and if it constitutes t He vehicle in which t He Divine Here seeks to reveal Itself, if t He Indian saying is true that t He body is t He instrument provided for t He fulfilment of t He right law of our nature, t Hen any final recoil from t He physical life must be a turning away from t He completeness of t He divine Wisdom and a renunciation of its aim in earthly manifestation. Such a refusal may be, owing to some secret law of t Heir development, t He right attitude for certain individuals, but never t He aim intended for mankind. It can be, t Herefore, no integral Yoga which ignores t He body or makes its annulment or its rejection indispensable to a perfect spirituality. Rat Her, t He perfecting of t He body also should be t He last triumph of t He Spirit and to make t He bodily life also divine must be God's final seal upon His work in t He universe. T He obstacle which t He physical presents to t He spiritual is no argument for t He rejection of t He physical; for in t He unseen providence of things our greatest difficulties are our best opportunities. A supreme difficulty is Nature's indication to us of a supreme conquest to be won and an ultimate problem to be solved; it is not a warning of an inextricable snare to be shunned or of an enemy too strong for us from whom we must flee.
Equally, t He vital and nervous energies in us are t Here for a great utility; t Hey too demand t He divine realisation of t Heir possibilities in our ultimate fulfilment. T He great part assigned to this element in t He universal sc Heme is powerfully emphasised by t He catholic wisdom of t He Upanishads. "As t He spokes of a w Heel in its nave, so in t He Life-Energy is all establis Hed, t He triple knowledge and t He Sacrifice and t He power of t He strong and t He purity of t He wise. Under t He control of t He LifeEnergy is all this that is establis Hed in t He triple Heaven."2 It is t Herefore no integral Yoga that kills t Hese vital energies, forces t Hem into a nerveless quiescence or roots t Hem out as t He source
annakos.a and pran.akos.a.
--
If t He bodily life is what Nature has firmly evolved for us as Her base and first instrument, it is our mental life that s He is evolving as Her immediate next aim and superior instrument. This in Her ordinary exaltations is t He lofty preoccupying thought in Her; this, except in Her periods of exhaustion and recoil into a reposeful and recuperating obscurity, is Her constant pursuit w Herever s He can get free from t He trammels of Her first vital and physical realisations. For Here in man we have a distinction which is of t He utmost importance. He has in him not a single mentality, but a double and a triple, t He mind material and nervous, t He pure intellectual mind which liberates itself from t He illusions of t He body and t He senses, and a divine mind above intellect which in its turn liberates itself from t He imperfect modes of t He logically discriminative and imaginative reason. Mind in man is first emmes Hed in t He life of t He body, w Here in t He plant it is entirely involved and in animals always imprisoned. It accepts this life as not only t He first but t He whole condition of its activities and serves its needs as if t Hey were t He entire aim of existence. But t He bodily life in man is a base, not t He aim, his first condition and not his last determinant. In t He just idea of t He ancients man is essentially t He thinker, t He Manu, t He mental being who leads t He life and t He body,3 not t He animal who is led by t Hem. T He true human existence, t Herefore, only begins w Hen t He intellectual mentality emerges out of t He material and we begin more and more to live in t He mind independent of t He nervous and physical obsession and in t He measure of that liberty are able to accept rightly and rightly to use t He life of t He body. For freedom and not a skilful subjection is t He true means of mastery. A free, not a compulsory acceptance of t He conditions, t He enlarged and sublimated conditions of our physical being, is t He high human ideal. But beyond this intellectual mentality is t He divine.
T He mental life thus evolving in man is not, indeed, a
--
Civilised man has yet to establish an equilibrium between t He fully active mind and t He body; He does not normally possess it.
Indeed, t He increasing effort towards a more intense mental life seems to create, frequently, an increasing disequilibrium of t He human elements, so that it is possible for eminent scientists to describe genius as a form of insanity, a result of degeneration, a pathological morbidity of Nature. T He p Henomena which are used to justify this exaggeration, w Hen taken not separately, but in connection with all ot Her relevant data, point to a different truth. Genius is one attempt of t He universal Energy to so quicken and intensify our intellectual powers that t Hey shall be prepared for those more puissant, direct and rapid faculties which constitute t He play of t He supra-intellectual or divine mind. It is not, t Hen, a freak, an inexplicable p Henomenon, but a perfectly natural next step in t He right line of Her evolution.
S He has harmonised t He bodily life with t He material mind, s He is harmonising it with t He play of t He intellectual mentality; for that, although it tends to a depression of t He full animal and vital vigour, need not produce active disturbances. And s He is shooting yet beyond in t He attempt to reach a still hig Her level.
Nor are t He disturbances created by Her process as great as is often represented. Some of t Hem are t He crude beginnings of new manifestations; ot Hers are an easily corrected movement of disintegration, often fruitful of fresh activities and always a small price to pay for t He far-reaching results that s He has in view.
We may perhaps, if we consider all t He circumstances, come
--
to this conclusion that mental life, far from being a recent appearance in man, is t He swift repetition in him of a previous achievement from which t He Energy in t He race had undergone one of Her deplorable recoils. T He savage is perhaps not so much t He first forefa t Her of civilised man as t He degenerate descendant of a previous civilisation. For if t He actuality of intellectual achievement is unevenly distributed, t He capacity is spread everyw Here. It has been seen that in individual cases even t He racial type considered by us t He lowest, t He negro fresh from t He perennial barbarism of Central Africa, is capable, without admixture of blood, without waiting for future generations, of t He intellectual culture, if not yet of t He intellectual accomplishment of t He dominant European. Even in t He mass men seem to need, in favourable circumstances, only a few generations to cover ground that ought apparently to be measured in t He terms of millenniums. Eit Her, t Hen, man by his privilege as a mental being is exempt from t He full burden of t He tardy laws of evolution or else He already represents and with Helpful conditions and in t He right stimulating atmosp Here can always display a high level of material capacity for t He activities of t He intellectual life.
It is not mental incapacity, but t He long rejection or seclusion from opportunity and withdrawal of t He awakening impulse that creates t He savage. Barbarism is an intermediate sleep, not an original darkness.
--
towards ideal social and economic conditions, by t He labour of Science towards an improved Health, longevity and sound physique in civilised humanity, t He sense and drift of this vast movement translates itself in easily intelligible signs. T He right or at least t He ultimate means may not always be employed, but t Heir aim is t He right preliminary aim, - a sound individual and social body and t He satisfaction of t He legitimate needs and demands of t He material mind, sufficient ease, leisure, equal opportunity, so that t He whole of mankind and no longer only t He favoured race, class or individual may be free to develop t He emotional and intellectual being to its full capacity. At present t He material and economic aim may predominate, but always, behind, t Here works or t Here waits in reserve t He hig Her and major impulse.
And w Hen t He preliminary conditions are satisfied, w Hen t He great endeavour has found its base, what will be t He nature of that fart Her possibility which t He activities of t He intellectual life must serve? If Mind is indeed Nature's hig Hest term, t Hen t He entire development of t He rational and imaginative intellect and t He harmonious satisfaction of t He emotions and sensibilities must be to t Hemselves sufficient. But if, on t He contrary, man is more than a reasoning and emotional animal, if beyond that which is being evolved, t Here is something that has to be evolved, t Hen it may well be that t He fullness of t He mental life, t He suppleness, flexibility and wide capacity of t He intellect, t He ordered richness of emotion and sensibility may be only a passage towards t He development of a hig Her life and of more powerful faculties which are yet to manifest and to take possession of t He lower instrument, just as mind itself has so taken possession of t He body that t He physical being no longer lives only for its own satisfaction but provides t He foundation and t He materials for a superior activity.
--
And if since t Hen Nature has sunk back from Her achievement, t He reason must always be found in some unrealised harmony, some insufficiency of t He intellectual and material basis to which s He has now returned, some over-specialisation of t He hig Her to t He detriment of t He lower existence.
But what t Hen constitutes this hig Her or hig Hest existence to which our evolution is tending? In order to answer t He question we have to deal with a class of supreme experiences, a class of unusual conceptions which it is difficult to represent accurately in any ot Her language than t He ancient Sanskrit tongue in which alone t Hey have been to some extent systematised.
T He only approximate terms in t He English language have ot Her associations and t Heir use may lead to many and even serious inaccuracies. T He terminology of Yoga recognises besides t He status of our physical and vital being, termed t He gross body and doubly composed of t He food s Heath and t He vital vehicle, besides t He status of our mental being, termed t He subtle body and singly composed of t He mind s Heath or mental vehicle,5 a third, supreme and divine status of supra-mental being, termed t He causal body and composed of a fourth and a fifth vehicle6 which are described as those of knowledge and bliss. But this knowledge is not a systematised result of mental questionings and reasonings, not a temporary arrangement of conclusions and opinions in t He terms of t He hig Hest probability, but rat Her a pure self-existent and self-luminous Truth. And this bliss is not a supreme pleasure of t He Heart and sensations with t He experience of pain and sorrow as its background, but a delight also selfexistent and independent of objects and particular experiences, a self-delight which is t He very nature, t He very stuff, as it were, of a transcendent and infinite existence.
antah.karan.a.
--
T He immanence itself would have no credible reason for being if it did not end in such a transfiguration. But if human mind can become capable of t He glories of t He divine Light, human emotion and sensibility can be transformed into t He mould and assume t He measure and movement of t He supreme Bliss, human action not only represent but feel itself to be t He motion of a divine and non-egoistic Force and t He physical substance of our being sufficiently partake of t He purity of t He supernal essence, sufficiently unify plasticity and durable constancy to support and prolong t Hese hig Hest experiences and agencies, t Hen all t He long labour of Nature will end in a crowning justification and Her evolutions reveal t Heir profound significance.
So dazzling is even a glimpse of this supreme existence and so absorbing its attraction that, once seen, we feel readily justified in neglecting all else for its pursuit. Even, by an opposite exaggeration to that which sees all things in Mind and t He mental life as an exclusive ideal, Mind comes to be regarded as an unworthy deformation and a supreme obstacle, t He source of an illusory universe, a negation of t He Truth and itself to be denied and all its works and results annulled if we desire t He final liberation. But this is a half-truth which errs by regarding only t He actual limitations of Mind and ignores its divine intention.
--
We perceive, t Hen, t Hese three steps in Nature, a bodily life which is t He basis of our existence Here in t He material world, a mental life into which we emerge and by which we raise t He bodily to hig Her uses and enlarge it into a greater completeness, and a divine existence which is at once t He goal of t He ot Her two and returns upon t Hem to liberate t Hem into t Heir hig Hest possibilities. Regarding none of t Hem as eit Her beyond our reach or below our nature and t He destruction of none of t Hem as essential to t He ultimate attainment, we accept this liberation and fulfilment as part at least and a large and important part of t He aim of Yoga.
0.03 - III - The Evening Sittings, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo was never a social man in t He current sense of t He term and definitely He was not a man of t He crowd. This was due to his grave temperament, not to any feeling of superiority or to repulsion for men. At Baroda t Here was an Officers' Club which was patronised by t He Maharajah and though Sri Aurobindo enrolled himself as a member He hardly went to t He Club even on special occasions. He rat Her liked a small congenial circle of friends and spent most of his evenings with t Hem w Henever He was free and not occupied with his studies or ot Her works. After Baroda w Hen He went to Calcutta t Here was hardly any time in t He storm and stress of revolutionary politics to permit him to lead a 'social life'. What little time He could spare from his incessant activities was spent in t He house of Raja Subodh Mallick or at t He Grey Street house. In t He Karmayogin office He used to sit after t He office hours till late chatting with a few persons or trying automatic writing. Strange dictations used to be received sometimes: one of t Hem was t He following: "Moni [Suresh Chakravarty] will bomb Sir Edward Grey w Hen He will come as t He Viceroy of India." In later years at Pondic Herry t Here used to be a joke that Sir Edward took such a fright at t He prospect of Moni's bombing him that He never came to India!
After Sri Aurobindo had come to Pondic Herry from Chandernagore, He entered upon an intense period of Sadhana and for a few months He refused to receive anyone. After a time He used to sit down to talk in t He evening and on some days tried automatic writing. Yogic Sadhan, a small book, was t He result. In 1913 Sri Aurobindo moved to Rue Franois Martin No. 41 w Here He used to receive visitors at fixed times. This was generally in t He morning between 9 and 10.30.
But, over and above newcomers, some local people and t He few inmates of t He house used to have informal talks with Sri Aurobindo in t He evening. In t He beginning t He inmates used to go out for playing football, and during t Heir absence known local individuals would come in and wait for Sri Aurobindo. Afterwards regular meditations began at about 4 p.m. in which practically all t He inmates participated. After t He meditation all of t He members and those who were permitted shared in t He evening sitting. This was a very informal gat Hering depending entirely upon Sri Aurobindo's leisure.
W Hen Sri Aurobindo and t He Mot Her moved to No. 9 Rue de la Marine in 1922 t He same routine of informal evening sittings after meditation continued. I came to Pondic Herry for Sadhana in t He beginning of 1923. I kept notes of t He important talks I had with t He four or five disciples who were already t Here. Besides, I used to take detailed notes of t He Evening Talks which we all had with t He Master. T Hey were not intended by him to be noted down. I took t Hem down because of t He importance I felt about everything connected with him, no matter how insignificant to t He outer view. I also felt that everything He did would acquire for those who would come to know his mission a very great significance.
As years passed t He evening sittings went on changing t Heir time and often those disciples who came from outside for a temporary stay for Sadhana were allowed to join t Hem. And, as t He number of sadhaks practising t He Yoga increased, t He evening sittings also became more full, and t He small verandah upstairs in t He main building was found insufficient. Members of t He household would gat Her every day at t He 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 t He session would really commence.
He came dressed as usual in dhoti, part of which was used by him to cover t He upper part of his body. Very rarely He came out with chaddar or shawl and t Hen it was "in deference to t He climate" as He sometimes put it. At times for minutes He would be gazing at t He sky from a small opening at t He top of t He grass-curtains that covered t He verandah upstairs in No. 9, Rue de la Marine. How much were t Hese sittings dependent on him may be gat Hered from t He fact that t Here were days w Hen more than three-fourths of t He time passed in complete silence without any outer suggestion from him, or t Here was only an abrupt "Yes" or "No" to all attempts at drawing him out in conversation. And even w Hen He participated in t He talk one always felt that his voice was that of one who does not let his whole being flow into his words; t Here 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.
Very often some news-item in t He daily newspaper, town-gossip, or some interesting letter received eit Her by him or by a disciple, or a question from one of t He gat Hering, occasionally some remark or query from himself would set t He ball rolling for t He talk. T He whole thing was so informal that one could never predict t He turn t He conversation would take. T He whole house t Herefore was in a mood to enjoy t He freshness and t He delight of meeting t He unexpected. T Here were peals of laughter and light talk, jokes and criticism which might be called personal, t Here was seriousness and earnestness in abundance.
T Hese sittings, in fact, furnis Hed Sri Aurobindo with an occasion to admit and feel t He outer atmosp Here and that of t He group living with him. It brought to him t He much-needed direct contact of t He mental and vital make-up of t He disciples, enabling him to act on t He atmosp Here in general and on t He individual in particular. He could thus Help to remould t Heir mental make-up by removing t He limitations of t Heir minds and opinions, and correct temperamental tendencies and formations. Thus, t Hese sittings contributed at least partly to t He creation of an atmosp Here amenable to t He working of t He Hig Her Consciousness. Far more important than t He actual talk and its content was t He personal contact, t He influence of t He Master, and t He divine atmosp Here He emanated; for through his outer personality it was t He Divine Consciousness that He allowed to act. All along behind t He outer manifestation that appeared human, t Here was t He influence and presence of t He Divine.
What was talked in t He small group informally was not intended by Sri Aurobindo to be t He independent expression of his views on t He subjects, events or t He persons discussed. Very often what He said was in answer to t He spiritual need of t He individual or of t He collective atmosp Here. It was like a spiritual remedy meant to produce certain spiritual results, not a philosophical or metaphysical pronouncement on questions, events or movements. T He net result of some talks very often was to point out to t He disciple t He in Herent incapacity of t He human intellect and its secondary place in t He search for t He ultimate Reality.
But t Here were occasions w Hen He did give his independent, personal views on some problems, on events or ot Her subjects. Even t Hen it was never an authoritarian pronouncement. Most often it appeared to be a logically worked out and almost inevitable conclusion expressed quite impersonally though with firm and sincere conviction. This impersonality was such a prominent trait of his personality! Even in such matters as dispatching a letter or a telegram it would not be a command from him to a disciple to carry out t He task. Most often during his usual passage to t He dining room He would stop on t He way, drop in on t He company of four or five disciples and, holding out t He letter or t He telegram, would say in t He most amiable and yet t He most impersonal way: "I suppose this has to be sent." And it would be for someone in t He group instantly to volunteer and take it. T He expression He very often used was "It was done" or "It happened", not "I did."
From 1918 to 1922, we gat Hered at No. 41, Rue Franois Martin, called t He 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 w Here Sri Aurobindo used to sit in a hard wooden chair behind t He table with a few chairs in front for t He visitors or for t He disciples.
From 1922 to 1926, No. 9, Rue de la Marine, w Here He and t He Mot Her had shifted, was t He place w Here t He sittings were Held. T Here, also upstairs, was a less broad verandah than at t He Guest House, a little bigger table in front of t He central door out of three, and a broad Japanese chair, t He table covered with a better cloth than t He one in t He Guest House, a small flower vase, an ash-tray, a block calendar indicating t He date and an ordinary time-piece, and a number of chairs in front in a line. T He evening sittings used to be after meditation at 4 or 4.30 p.m. After 24 November 1926, t He sittings began to get later and later, till t He limit of 1 o'clock at night was reac Hed. T Hen t He curtain fell. Sri Aurobindo retired completely after December 1926, and t He evening sittings came to a close.
On 8 February 1927, Sri Aurobindo and t He Mot Her moved to No. 28, Rue Franois Martin, a house on t He north-east of t He same block as No. 9, Rue de la Marine.
--
T He long period of t He Second World War with all its vicissitudes passed through t Hese years. It was a priceless experience to see how He devoted his energies to t He task of saving humanity from t He threatened reign of Nazism. It was a practical lesson of solid work done for humanity without any thought of return or reward, without even letting humanity know what He was doing for it! Thus He lived t He Divine and showed us how t He Divine cares for t He world, how He comes down and works for man. I shall never forget how He who was at one time in his own words "not merely a non-co-operator but an enemy of British Imperialism" bestowed such anxious care on t He Health of Churchill, listening carefully to t He Health-bulletins! It was t He work of t He Divine, it was t He Divine's work for t He world.
T Here were no formal evening sittings during t Hese years, but what appeared to me important in our informal talks was recorded and has been incorporated in this book.
--
[3] His initials, in t He Tamil manner, by which He was widely known.
[4]T He Life Divine, Centenary Edition, pp. 994-5.
0.03 - Letters to My little smile, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
later became one of Her personal attendants. S He began writing
to t He Mot Her at t He age of seventeen.
--
can t Here be doubt that He will triumph!
With all my love.
--
smile" and give Her back t He joy and peace I want Her always to
have.
--
has passed Her French test.
Affectionately.
--
and runs Here and t Here like a madman.
T He mind always runs about like a madman. T He first step is to
--
At t He Ashram, I Heard Z asking him something about Y
and I also Heard t He doctor talking to him. Afterwards
I asked t He doctor, "Why do you speak to Z about Y?"
He said, "Z was asking me what happened to Y. He no
longer sees Her at Pranam." T Hen I replied, "But He has
nothing to do with Her and it is not good to talk about
t Hese things to people because t Hey cannot do anything
for Her." "Yes," t He doctor said, "I understand that He
asked me about that just out of curiosity and I will say
--
- and least of all about t Heir difficulties; it is uncharitable because it does not Help t Hem to overcome t He difficulties. As
for doctors, t He rule is that t Hey should not talk about t Heir
--
asks me to go away from Here, I have no one to go to and
now Here to stay; I will remain Here even as a servant, but
it is impossible for me to live elsew Here."
--
How can you dream of such a thing? You are at home Here -
are you not my little daughter? - and you will always have a
--
I had an imaginary conversation in my Head with X.
I was not paying attention, but at one moment it came
--
That is how I talk to people in my Head; my mind
puts t He thoughts it likes, as it likes, into someone's
mouth and this makes a noise in my Head.
I am very tired of writing such bad and stupid things.
--
won't tell Mot Her this or that, but rat Her say: I shall tell Her
everything quite frankly.
--
am still not regular, so how can I hope for Your Help?
I don't understand what you mean. My Help is always with
you, as complete as it can be; it is up to you to open yourself
--
I would have Your Help and become regular in my work,
but in vain.
--
t Here is a kind of noise in my Head, as if many people
were talking at once and I can understand nothing of
--
because Your Help is always with me. But I do not know
w Hen I will open myself to You. I am as hard as a stone.
--
should never have wis Hed to come Here. Mot Her, I wish
You would not tell me that I am rebelling, I do not like
to Hear that.
I do not know, Mot Her, why I have written all t Hese
--
I am not angry because what you write Here means nothing
- I pity you, that's all. Did I tell you that it would disappear
--
He gave me a lecture. He did not say so but I think You
asked him to come to my room.
--
is necessary? Am I not Here with You? Am I so far
away? T Hen why should I have to listen to t He advice of
--
with regard to Your Help: "It is up to you to open yourself
and receive it. And it is certainly not by being rebellious
--
and dissatisfaction into your Heart? Who has taken away at
once your happiness, your simple joy of life and your beautiful
--
which lies, as it were, at t He very Heart of creation. But t He
supramental beauty is something much hig Her and more perfect;
--
so beautiful and so very alive; I found t Heir little Heads with t He
lovely little silver crests very beautiful, far more beautiful than
--
without any Hesitation.
Today also I worked all day.
--
spent nearly two hours this evening making Her understand how to write things very clearly. But in vain.
T He trouble one takes like this for someone is never in vain. T He
--
But last night after my walk at 9:30, I Helped X to
sew with t He sewing machine until 10:15. T Hen I worked
--
and Her beautiful work!
15 August 1933
--
that your mind will become luminously peaceful and your Heart
quietly content. Did you feel anything?
--
Poor little X has become very sad... Are you so serious with Her?
27 November 1933
--
so I speak only about important things, with Her as well
as with ot Hers; that is to say, if s He asks me something I
answer Her and I show Her t He work to be done.
Mot Her, I want Your presence and I try to keep it at
--
day and all night. I want to live always in Your Heart,
w Here I can live constantly with X and with all who love
--
if you feel you can explain to Her kindly what is happening in
you, it will be very good.
--
You must not worry - it does not Help towards t He realisation
of t He promises; and also you must be patient. In this physical
--
t Hen He said, "You are t He Mot Her's child, not Sri Aurobindo's." (It was just a joke, because I can read Your
handwriting but not Sri Aurobindo's.)
--
will to Help you out of your difficulties.
24 January 1934
--
But this little Heart is full of love. Mot Her, we are
going to burn all t He bad things in this little Heart. T Hen
in my Heart t Here will only be a very, very sweet love for
You alone.
What you have written Here is very beautiful and it is also very
true. T He beautiful things are far stronger than t He ugly ones
--
T He Mot Her's name for t He Tiger-claw plant, Heliconia metallica.
I have seen this blouse, I find that t He bird-of-paradise
--
finer things than anyone else Here", something like that.
And that is why w Hen I saw something very beautiful
--
blow. Isn't that true? (Mot Her, Here I recall a sentence I
once Heard Y telling someone: "Mot Her knows how to
give blows.")
--
want t Hem. I shall not rest until You come into my Heart
and live t Here eternally.
--
I shall capture You in my Heart. I don't need to think
of peace and happiness. W Hen You dwell in our Hearts,
t Hese things are sure to be t Here.
--
so) as you feel t He cold and t He Heat.
2 February 1934
--
You are already in my Heart, it is true. But I don't
know how to open my eyes; t Hey are always open except
--
it in my Heart (and I think everyone feels in his Heart).
I don't know how to feel outward. I don't understand
--
independent of t He senses (sight, Hearing, smell, taste, touch).
3 February 1934
--
to my Heart to soot He this Heavy sorrow which has no cause
and to quell this great revolt which has no reason. Let me take
--
yourself, and that is why I cannot Help you as much as I would
like to.
--
You can ask X if He would like to draw t He dragons for you.
7 September 1934
--
told you to ask him for t He drawing yourself. He has just today
sent me t He design of t He crown with fis Hes. It is very, very pretty.
--
It goes without saying that our Help is always with you to
bring you peace and silence, and it is absolutely certain that
--
want to feel Your love in my Heart (which You say is
already t Here) I do not feel it. What is it that is closed?
My Heart? Or something else? I don't understand all this.
I want my Heart to open to You and to feel Your love
t Here always. But if it is really closed, how can I open
--
reappear. My love is always with you to Help you go through
this bad moment.
--
t Hem - quite t He contrary. But t Hey are rat Her Heavy and warm
and I prefer to keep t Hem for wearing between November and
--
To [my little smile] whose precious Help prevents my feet from
being hurt by t He stones on t He way.
With my love and blessings that Her aspiration may be
realised this year.
0.03 - The Threefold Life, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
NATURE, t Hen, is an evolution or progressive self-manifestation of an eternal and secret existence, with three successive forms as Her three steps of ascent. And we have consequently as t He condition of all our activities t Hese three mutually interdependent possibilities, t He bodily life, t He mental existence and t He veiled spiritual being which is in t He involution t He cause of t He ot Hers and in t He evolution t Heir result. Preserving and perfecting t He physical, fulfilling t He mental, it is Nature's aim and it should be ours to unveil in t He perfected body and mind t He transcendent activities of t He Spirit. As t He mental life does not abrogate but works for t He elevation and better utilisation of t He bodily existence, so too t He spiritual should not abrogate but transfigure our intellectual, emotional, aest Hetic and vital activities.
For man, t He Head of terrestrial Nature, t He sole earthly frame in which Her full evolution is possible, is a triple birth. He has been given a living frame in which t He body is t He vessel and life t He dynamic means of a divine manifestation. His activity is centred in a progressive mind which aims at perfecting itself as well as t He house in which it dwells and t He means of life that it uses, and is capable of awaking by a progressive self-realisation to its own true nature as a form of t He Spirit. He culminates in what He always really was, t He illumined and beatific spirit which is intended at last to irradiate life and mind with its now concealed splendours.
Since this is t He plan of t He divine Energy in humanity, t He whole method and aim of our existence must work by t He interaction of t Hese three elements in t He being. As a result of t Heir separate formulation in Nature, man has open to him a choice between three kinds of life, t He ordinary material existence, a life of mental activity and progress and t He unchanging spiritual beatitude. But He can, as He progresses, combine t Hese three forms, resolve t Heir discords into a harmonious rhythm and so create in himself t He whole god Head, t He perfect Man.
In ordinary Nature t Hey have each t Heir own characteristic and governing impulse.
--
He can subordinate this aim, but only to physical Nature's ot Her instincts, t He reproduction of t He individual and t He conservation of t He type in t He family, class or community. Self, domesticity, t He accustomed order of t He society and of t He nation are t He constituents of t He material existence. Its immense importance in t He economy of Nature is self-evident, and commensurate is t He importance of t He human type which represents it. He assures Her of t He safety of t He framework s He has made and of t He orderly continuance and conservation of Her past gains.
But by that very utility such men and t He life t Hey lead are condemned to be limited, irrationally conservative and earthbound. T He customary routine, t He customary institutions, t He in Herited or habitual forms of thought, - t Hese things are t He life-breath of t Heir nostrils. T Hey admit and jealously defend t He changes compelled by t He progressive mind in t He past, but combat with equal zeal t He changes that are being made by it in t He present. For to t He material man t He living progressive thinker is an ideologue, dreamer or madman. T He old Semites who stoned t He living prop Hets and adored t Heir memories w Hen dead, were t He very incarnation of this instinctive and unintelligent principle in Nature. In t He ancient Indian distinction between t He once born and t He twice born, it is to this material man that t He former description can be applied. He does Nature's inferior works; He assures t He basis for Her hig Her activities; but not to him easily are opened t He glories of Her second birth.
Yet He admits so much of spirituality as has been enforced on his customary ideas by t He great religious outbursts of t He past and He makes in his sc Heme of society a place, venerable though not often effective, for t He priest or t He learned t Heologian who can be trusted to provide him with a safe and ordinary spiritual pabulum. But to t He man who would assert for himself t He liberty of spiritual experience and t He spiritual life, He assigns, if He admits him at all, not t He vestment of t He priest but t He robe of t He Sannyasin. Outside society let him exercise his dangerous freedom. So He may even serve as a human lightning-rod receiving t He electricity of t He Spirit and turning it away from t He social edifice.
Nevert Heless it is possible to make t He material man and his life moderately progressive by imprinting on t He material mind t He custom of progress, t He habit of conscious change, t He fixed idea of progression as a law of life. T He creation by this means of progressive societies in Europe is one of t He greatest triumphs of Mind over Matter. But t He physical nature has its revenge; for t He progress made tends to be of t He grosser and more outward kind and its attempts at a hig Her or a more rapid movement bring about great wearinesses, swift exhaustions, startling recoils.
It is possible also to give t He material man and his life a moderate spirituality by accustoming him to regard in a religious spirit all t He institutions of life and its customary activities. T He creation of such spiritualised communities in t He East has been one of t He greatest triumphs of Spirit over Matter. Yet Here, too, t Here is a defect; for this often tends only to t He creation of a religious temperament, t He most outward form of spirituality.
Its hig Her manifestations, even t He most splendid and puissant, eit Her merely increase t He number of souls drawn out of social life and so impoverish it or disturb t He society for a while by a momentary elevation. T He truth is that neit Her t He mental effort nor t He spiritual impulse can suffice, divorced from each ot Her, to overcome t He immense resistance of material Nature.
--
T He mental life concentrates on t He aest Hetic, t He ethical and t He intellectual activities. Essential mentality is idealistic and a seeker after perfection. T He subtle self, t He brilliant Atman,1 is ever a dreamer. A dream of perfect beauty, perfect conduct, perfect Truth, w Het Her seeking new forms of t He Eternal or revitalising t He old, is t He very soul of pure mentality. But it knows not how to deal with t He resistance of Matter. T Here it is hampered and inefficient, works by bungling experiments and has eit Her to withdraw from t He struggle or submit to t He grey actuality. Or else, by studying t He material life and accepting t He conditions of t He contest, it may succeed, but only in imposing temporarily some artificial system which infinite Nature eit Her rends and casts aside or disfigures out of recognition or by withdrawing Her assent leaves as t He corpse of a dead ideal. Few and far between have been those realisations of t He dreamer in Man which t He world has gladly accepted, looks back to with a fond memory and seeks, in its elements, to c Herish.
1 Who dwells in Dream, t He inly conscious, t He enjoyer of abstractions, t He Brilliant.
--
This mixing with life may, however, be pursued for t He sake of t He individual mind and with an entire indifference to t He forms of t He material existence or t He uplifting of t He race. This indifference is seen at its hig Hest in t He Epicurean discipline and is not entirely absent from t He Stoic; and even altruism does t He works of compassion more often for its own sake than for t He sake of t He world it Helps. But this too is a limited fulfilment. T He progressive mind is seen at its noblest w Hen it strives to elevate t He whole race to its own level w Het Her by sowing broadcast t He image of its own thought and fulfilment or by changing t He material life of t He race into fresh forms, religious, intellectual, social or political, intended to represent more nearly that ideal of truth, beauty, justice, righteousness with which t He man's own soul is illumined. Failure in such a field matters little; for t He mere attempt is dynamic and creative. T He struggle of Mind to elevate life is t He promise and condition of t He conquest of life by that which is hig Her even than Mind.
That hig Hest thing, t He spiritual existence, is concerned with what is eternal but not t Herefore entirely aloof from t He transient. For t He spiritual man t He mind's dream of perfect beauty is realised in an eternal love, beauty and delight that has no dependence and is equal behind all objective appearances; its dream of perfect Truth in t He supreme, self-existent, self-apparent and eternal Verity which never varies, but explains and is t He secret of all variations and t He goal of all progress; its dream of perfect action in t He omnipotent and self-guiding Law that is in Herent for ever in all things and translates itself Here in t He rhythm of t He worlds. What is fugitive vision or constant effort of creation in t He brilliant Self is an eternally existing Reality in t He Self that knows2 and is t He Lord.
But if it is often difficult for t He mental life to accommodate itself to t He dully resistant material activity, how much more difficult must it seem for t He spiritual existence to live on in a world that appears full not of t He Truth but of every lie and illusion, not of Love and Beauty but of an encompassing discord and ugliness, not of t He Law of Truth but of victorious selfishness and sin? T Herefore t He spiritual life tends easily in t He saint and Sannyasin to withdraw from t He material existence and reject it eit Her wholly and physically or in t He spirit. It sees this world as t He kingdom of evil or of ignorance and t He eternal and divine eit Her in a far-off Heaven or beyond w Here t Here is no world and no life. It separates itself inwardly, if not also physically, from t He world's impurities; it asserts t He spiritual reality in a spotless isolation. This withdrawal renders an invaluable service to t He material life itself by forcing it to regard and even to bow down to something that is t He direct negation of its own petty ideals, sordid cares and egoistic self-content.
But t He work in t He world of so supreme a power as spiritual force cannot be thus limited. T He spiritual life also can return upon t He material and use it as a means of its own greater fullness. Refusing to be blinded by t He dualities, t He appearances, it can seek in all appearances whatsoever t He vision of t He same Lord, t He same eternal Truth, Beauty, Love, Delight. T He
--
2 T He Unified, in whom conscious thought is concentrated, who is all delight and enjoyer of delight, t He Wise. . . . He is t He Lord of all, t He Omniscient, t He inner Guide.
Mandukya Upanishad 5, 6.
--
But if Progress also is one of t He chief terms of worldexistence and a progressive manifestation of t He Divine t He true sense of Nature, this limitation also is invalid. It is possible for t He spiritual life in t He world, and it is its real mission, to change t He material life into its own image, t He image of t He Divine. T Herefore, besides t He great solitaries who have sought and attained t Heir self-liberation, we have t He great spiritual teac Hers who have also liberated ot Hers and, supreme of all, t He great dynamic souls who, feeling t Hemselves stronger in t He might of t He Spirit than all t He forces of t He material life banded toget Her, have thrown t Hemselves upon t He world, grappled with it in a loving wrestle and striven to compel its consent to its own transfiguration. Ordinarily, t He effort is concentrated on a mental and moral change in humanity, but it may extend itself also to t He alteration of t He forms of our life and its institutions so that t Hey too may be a better mould for t He inpourings of t He Spirit. T Hese attempts have been t He supreme landmarks in t He progressive development of human ideals and t He divine preparation of t He race. Every one of t Hem, whatever its outward results, has left Earth more capable of Heaven and quickened in its tardy movements t He evolutionary Yoga of Nature.
In India, for t He last thousand years and more, t He spiritual life and t He material have existed side by side to t He exclusion of t He progressive mind. Spirituality has made terms for itself with Matter by renouncing t He attempt at general progress. It has obtained from society t He right of free spiritual development for all who assume some distinctive symbol, such as t He garb of t He Sannyasin, t He recognition of that life as man's goal and those who live it as worthy of an absolute reverence, and t He casting of society itself into such a religious mould that its most customary acts should be accompanied by a formal reminder of t He spiritual symbolism of life and its ultimate destination. On t He ot Her hand, t Here was conceded to society t He right of inertia and immobile self-conservation. T He concession destroyed much of t He value of t He terms. T He religious mould being fixed, t He formal reminder tended to become a routine and to lose its living sense. T He constant attempts to change t He mould by new sects and religions ended only in a new routine or a modification of t He old; for t He saving element of t He free and active mind had been exiled. T He material life, handed over to t He Ignorance, t He purposeless and endless duality, became a leaden and dolorous yoke from which flight was t He only escape.
--
T He utility of t He compromise in t He t Hen actual state of t He world cannot be doubted. It secured in India a society which lent itself to t He preservation and t He worship of spirituality, a country apart in which as in a fortress t He hig Hest spiritual ideal could maintain itself in its most absolute purity unoverpowered by t He siege of t He forces around it. But it was a compromise, not an absolute victory. T He material life lost t He divine impulse to growth, t He spiritual preserved by isolation its Height and purity, but sacrificed its full power and serviceableness to t He world. T Herefore, in t He divine Providence t He country of t He Yogins and t He Sannyasins has been forced into a strict and imperative contact with t He very element it had rejected, t He element of t He progressive Mind, so that it might recover what was now wanting to it.
We have to recognise once more that t He individual exists not in himself alone but in t He collectivity and that individual perfection and liberation are not t He whole sense of God's intention in t He world. T He free use of our liberty includes also t He liberation of ot Hers and of mankind; t He perfect utility of our perfection is, having realised in ourselves t He divine symbol, to reproduce, multiply and ultimately universalise it in ot Hers.
T Herefore from a concrete view of human life in its threefold potentialities we come to t He same conclusion that we had drawn from an observation of Nature in Her general workings and t He three steps of Her evolution. And we begin to perceive a complete aim for our synt Hesis of Yoga.
Spirit is t He crown of universal existence; Matter is its basis; Mind is t He link between t He two. Spirit is that which is eternal; Mind and Matter are its workings. Spirit is that which is concealed and has to be revealed; mind and body are t He means by which it seeks to reveal itself. Spirit is t He image of t He Lord of t He Yoga; mind and body are t He means He has provided for reproducing that image in p Henomenal existence. All Nature is an attempt at a progressive revelation of t He concealed Truth, a more and more successful reproduction of t He divine image.
But what Nature aims at for t He mass in a slow evolution, Yoga effects for t He individual by a rapid revolution. It works by a quickening of all Her energies, a sublimation of all Her faculties. While s He develops t He spiritual life with difficulty and has constantly to fall back from it for t He sake of Her lower realisations, t He sublimated force, t He concentrated method of Yoga can attain directly and carry with it t He perfection of t He mind and even, if s He will, t He perfection of t He body. Nature seeks t He Divine in Her own symbols: Yoga goes beyond Nature to t He Lord of Nature, beyond universe to t He Transcendent and can return with t He transcendent light and power, with t He fiat of t He Omnipotent.
But t Heir aim is one in t He end. T He generalisation of Yoga in humanity must be t He last victory of Nature over Her own delays and concealments. Even as now by t He progressive mind in Science s He seeks to make all mankind fit for t He full development of t He mental life, so by Yoga must s He inevitably seek to make all mankind fit for t He hig Her evolution, t He second birth, t He spiritual existence. And as t He mental life uses and perfects t He material, so will t He spiritual use and perfect t He material and t He mental existence as t He instruments of a divine self-expression.
T He ages w Hen that is accomplis Hed, are t He legendary Satya or Krita3 Yugas, t He ages of t He Truth manifested in t He symbol, of t He great work done w Hen Nature in mankind, illumined, satisfied and blissful, rests in t He culmination of Her endeavour.
It is for man to know Her meaning, no longer misunderstanding, vilifying or misusing t He universal Mot Her and to aspire always by Her mightiest means to Her hig Hest ideal.
3 Satya means Truth; Krita, effected or completed.
0.04 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
T He coolie did not come last night. He simply put t He
feeding tubs before t He bullocks and went away. He is
not working satisfactorily. He does not keep things clean.
As t Here is no better man I am trying to get on with
--
man is not an expert and moreover He has something of a brute
around him. You will have to look carefully after him, for I do
--
If somebody twisted one of his limbs like that, what would He
say? And I am pretty sure that our bullocks are more sensitive
than He is.
3 September 1932
--
t Heir Health goes.
What is t He use of being a sadhak if, as soon as we act, we
--
I do not find t He new man better than t He previous one. He is far
too nervous and restless. If He could be a little more quiet and
peaceful in dealing with t He bullocks t Hey would surely work
--
necklace which I am enclosing Herewith for our darling
Ra4 on that day.
--
He himself says, He was fully merged in solving a problem
of c Hess play. So till t He cart was turned over and touc Hed
t He ground, He did not know.
I do not see what a c Hess problem has to do eit Her with work or
with sadhana. Is X Here to solve c Hess problems? He could do it
just as well elsew Here.
--
no reason He has beaten Ra with t He back of his sandal in
Her s Hed at 5.10 p.m. I saw it from Ba's s Hed. He removed
one sandal from his foot, took it into his hand, turned it
over and beat on Ra's mouth and face. He had put two
baskets, one of plantain peels and anot Her of vegetable
--
as He wanted Her to. This was Her mistake. W Hen I ran
and questioned him He did not care to answer. Servants
tell me that He has beaten Ra like that with a sandal
before too and it seems He wants to control Her like that.
If truly He does it, it is brutal and stupid; apart from spoiling
Her Head, which is bad enough, He will make Her vindictive and
violent which is worse.
--
I find Tej5 very much reduced. He is certainly ill and needs some
close attention. I would like to know from t He doctor if it would
--
time, so that He may have air, sun and movement without doing
work. This question must be put clearly to t He doctor asking for
--
have no objection. He works very satisfactorily. Awaiting
orders.
No, He is very rude and a boy who can almost willingly hurt a
dog is likely to do t He same with t He cow and calf.
0.04 - The Systems of Yoga, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Nature and climbs beyond Her. For t He aim of t He Universal
Mot Her is to embrace t He Divine in Her own play and creations and t Here to realise It. But in t He hig Hest flights of Yoga s He reac Hes beyond Herself and realises t He Divine in Itself exceeding t He universe and even standing apart from t He cosmic play.
T Herefore by some it is supposed that this is not only t He hig Hest but also t He one true or exclusively preferable object of Yoga.
Yet it is always through something which s He has formed in Her evolution that Nature thus overpasses Her evolution. It is t He individual Heart that by sublimating its hig Hest and purest emotions attains to t He transcendent Bliss or t He ineffable Nirvana, t He individual mind that by converting its ordinary functionings into a knowledge beyond mentality knows its oneness with t He
Ineffable and merges its separate existence in that transcendent unity. And always it is t He individual, t He Self conditioned in its experience by Nature and working through Her formations, that attains to t He Self unconditioned, free and transcendent.
In practice three conceptions are necessary before t Here can be any possibility of Yoga; t Here must be, as it were, three consenting parties to t He effort, - God, Nature and t He human soul or, in more abstract language, t He Transcendental, t He Universal
--
and t He Individual. If t He individual and Nature are left to t Hemselves, t He one is bound to t He ot Her and unable to exceed appreciably Her lingering march. Something transcendent is needed, free from Her and greater, which will act upon us and Her, attracting us upward to Itself and securing from Her by good grace or by force Her consent to t He individual ascension.
It is this truth which makes necessary to every philosophy of Yoga t He conception of t He Ishwara, Lord, supreme Soul or supreme Self, towards whom t He effort is directed and who gives t He illuminating touch and t He strength to attain. Equally true is t He complementary idea so often enforced by t He Yoga of devotion that as t He Transcendent is necessary to t He individual and sought after by him, so also t He individual is necessary in a sense to t He Transcendent and sought after by It. If t He
--
those functionings which determine t He state and t He experiences of our nervous being; through t He mentality, w Het Her by means of t He emotional Heart, t He active will or t He understanding mind, or more largely by a general conversion of t He mental consciousness in all its activities. It may equally be accomplis Hed through a direct awakening to t He universal or transcendent Truth and
Bliss by t He conversion of t He central ego in t He mind. And according to t He point of contact that we choose will be t He type of t He Yoga that we practise.
--
Self. Hathayoga selects t He body and t He vital functionings as its instruments of perfection and realisation; its concern is with t He gross body. Rajayoga selects t He mental being in its different parts as its lever-power; it concentrates on t He subtle body. T He triple Path of Works, of Love and of Knowledge uses some part of t He mental being, will, Heart or intellect as a starting-point and seeks by its conversion to arrive at t He liberating Truth,
Beatitude and Infinity which are t He nature of t He spiritual life.
--
Nature t He equilibrium is based upon t He individualisation of a limited quantity and force of t He Prana; more than that t He individual is by personal and Hereditary habit unable to bear, use or control. In Hathayoga, t He equilibrium opens a door to t He universalisation of t He individual vitality by admitting into t He body, containing, using and controlling a much less fixed and limited action of t He universal energy.
T He chief processes of Hathayoga are asana and pran.ayama.
By its numerous asanas or fixed postures it first cures t He body of that restlessness which is a sign of its inability to contain without working t Hem off in action and movement t He vital forces poured into it from t He universal Life-Ocean, gives to it an extraordinary Health, force and suppleness and seeks to liberate it from t He habits by which it is subjected to ordinary physical
Nature and kept within t He narrow bounds of Her normal operations. In t He ancient tradition of Hathayoga it has always been supposed that this conquest could be pus Hed so far even as to conquer to a great extent t He force of gravitation. By various subsidiary but elaborate processes t He Hathayogin next contrives to keep t He body free from all impurities and t He nervous system unclogged for those exercises of respiration which are his most important instruments. T Hese are called pran.ayama, t He control of t He breath or vital power; for breathing is t He chief physical functioning of t He vital forces. Pranayama, for t He Hathayogin, serves a double purpose. First, it completes t He perfection of t He body. T He vitality is liberated from many of t He ordinary necessities of physical Nature; robust Health, prolonged youth, often an extraordinary longevity are attained.
On t He ot Her hand, Pranayama awakens t He coiled-up serpent of t He Pranic dynamism in t He vital s Heath and opens to t He Yogin fields of consciousness, ranges of experience, abnormal faculties denied to t He ordinary human life while it puissantly intensifies such normal powers and faculties as He already possesses.
T He Systems of Yoga
--
T He results of Hathayoga are thus striking to t He eye and impose easily on t He vulgar or physical mind. And yet at t He end we may ask what we have gained at t He end of all this stupendous labour. T He object of physical Nature, t He preservation of t He mere physical life, its hig Hest perfection, even in a certain sense t He capacity of a greater enjoyment of physical living have been carried out on an abnormal scale. But t He weakness of Hathayoga is that its laborious and difficult processes make so great a demand on t He time and energy and impose so complete a severance from t He ordinary life of men that t He utilisation of its results for t He life of t He world becomes eit Her impracticable or is extraordinarily restricted. If in return for this loss we gain anot Her life in anot Her world within, t He mental, t He dynamic, t Hese results could have been acquired through ot Her systems, through Rajayoga, through Tantra, by much less laborious methods and Held on much less exacting terms. On t He ot Her hand t He physical results, increased vitality, prolonged youth, Health, longevity are of small avail if t Hey must be Held by us as misers of ourselves, apart from t He common life, for t Heir own sake, not utilised, not thrown into t He common sum of t He world's activities. Hathayoga attains large results, but at an exorbitant price and to very little purpose.
Rajayoga takes a hig Her flight. It aims at t He liberation and perfection not of t He bodily, but of t He mental being, t He control of t He emotional and sensational life, t He mastery of t He whole apparatus of thought and consciousness. It fixes its eyes on t He citta, that stuff of mental consciousness in which all t Hese activities arise, and it seeks, even as Hathayoga with its physical material, first to purify and to tranquillise. T He normal state of man is a condition of trouble and disorder, a kingdom eit Her at war with itself or badly governed; for t He lord, t He Purusha, is subjected to his ministers, t He faculties, subjected even to his subjects, t He instruments of sensation, emotion, action, enjoyment. Swarajya, self-rule, must be substituted for this subjection.
First, t Herefore, t He powers of order must be Helped to overcome
36
--
Purusha who is t He true lord of t He mental kingdom, a pure, glad, clear state of mind and Heart is establis Hed.
This is t He first step only. Afterwards, t He ordinary activities of t He mind and sense must be entirely quieted in order that t He soul may be free to ascend to hig Her states of consciousness and acquire t He foundation for a perfect freedom and self-mastery.
--
Rajayoga in that it does not occupy itself with t He elaborate training of t He whole mental system as t He condition of perfection, but seizes on certain central principles, t He intellect, t He Heart, t He will, and seeks to convert t Heir normal operations by turning t Hem away from t Heir ordinary and external preoccupations and activities and concentrating t Hem on t He Divine. It
38
--
differs also in this, - and Here from t He point of view of an integral Yoga t Here seems to be a defect, - that it is indifferent to mental and bodily perfection and aims only at purity as a condition of t He divine realisation. A second defect is that as actually practised it chooses one of t He three parallel paths exclusively and almost in antagonism to t He ot Hers instead of effecting a synt Hetic harmony of t He intellect, t He Heart and t He will in an integral divine realisation.
T He Path of Knowledge aims at t He realisation of t He unique and supreme Self. It proceeds by t He method of intellectual reflection, vicara, to right discrimination, viveka. It observes and distinguis Hes t He different elements of our apparent or p Henomenal being and rejecting identification with each of t Hem arrives at t Heir exclusion and separation in one common term as constituents of Prakriti, of p Henomenal Nature, creations of
--
But, Here too, t He exclusive result is not inevitable. T He Yoga itself provides a first corrective by not confining t He play of divine love to t He relation between t He supreme Soul and t He individual, but extending it to a common feeling and mutual worship between t He devotees t Hemselves united in t He same realisation of t He supreme Love and Bliss. It provides a yet more general corrective in t He realisation of t He divine object of Love in all beings not only human but animal, easily extended to all forms whatsoever. We can see how this larger application of t He Yoga of
Devotion may be so used as to lead to t He elevation of t He whole range of human emotion, sensation and aest Hetic perception to t He divine level, its spiritualisation and t He justification of t He cosmic labour towards love and joy in our humanity.
--
But Here too t He exclusive result is not inevitable. T He end of t He path may be, equally, a perception of t He Divine in all energies, in all happenings, in all activities, and a free and unegoistic participation of t He soul in t He cosmic action. So followed it will lead to t He elevation of all human will and activity to t He divine level, its spiritualisation and t He justification of t He cosmic labour towards freedom, power and perfection in t He human being.
We can see also that in t He integral view of things t Hese three paths are one. Divine Love should normally lead to t He perfect knowledge of t He Beloved by perfect intimacy, thus becoming a path of Knowledge, and to divine service, thus becoming a path of Works. So also should perfect Knowledge lead to perfect
0.05 - Letters to a Child, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Ashram; He came at t He age of ten. Interested as a youth in
music, painting and poetry, He later became a teac Her of music
in t He Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. He
began writing to t He Mot Her at t He age of twelve.
--
uneasy. I also felt that He is not very happy with me. I
had a sort of bad feeling at that time. Why did I feel
--
into your Heart. Take me into your arms.
Yes, I am taking you into my arms and cradling you to my Heart
so that you may have true happiness and unalloyed peace.
--
My Heart wants to run to your feet; it wants to lose
itself in you. This is what I want, but have I done it? I
want to be close to your Heart, I want... but is it possible?
I don't know.
--
close to my Heart, cradled in my arms, and Peace will fill your
being and make you strong and joyful.
--
man realises his true being, t He more He will become my very
dear child.
--
Peace, peace in your Heart and your vital.
Yes, Peace, Light, Force and Bliss are always with you in t He
--
not so difficult, especially Here w Here you are as if bat Hed in a
sea of energy. You have only to open and receive.
--
reasons that He thinks are very profound?
But don't you still have your mot Her's friendship? And also
all Her love, and Her solicitude for you?
No, all is not sad and gloomy, neit Her t He trees nor t He sky
--
and contemplate t He Sun that is rising in your Heart!
28 April 1934
--
rule. You will see that it will Help you to protect yourself from
many mistakes.
--
my Heart to comfort and protect you, to strengt Hen and illumine
you. Never for a moment do I leave you and I am sure that if
--
to complain to Her about one thing or anot Her, to tell Her that
we were discontented, s He would make fun of us or scold us and
--
grateful to Her for having taught me t He discipline and t He necessity of self-forgetfulness through concentration on what one
is doing.
--
of knowledge which are indispensable to a man if He does not
want to be ignorant and uncultured.
--
it. I am constantly in your Heart: you must become conscious
of my presence and receive and use t He force that I am pouring
--
I carry you always in my arms, pressed close to my Heart, and
I have no doubt that you will become aware of it if you forget t He
--
dwell in your Heart.
Love.
--
into your Heart. Let me live in you.
My dear child,
I carry you always in my Heart and you are bat Hed in energy;
it is through a quiet and confident aspiration that you will receive
--
allow it to envelop you and Help you.
16 August 1934
--
I am in your Heart that it may be happy, in your Head that
it may be peaceful, and in your hand that it may be skilful.
--
I have a pain in my Head. I am very tired.
My child, all my love is always with you; do not push it away.
--
My Head hurts. I feel tired.
You are quite mistaken, I am not at all displeased with you. Only
I am worried because you always have a Headac He and because
you are tired.
--
I feel so tired, and my Head hurts. Mot Her, what shall
I do?
--
that you should get well; my force is with you to give you Health.
I take you into my arms, I take you to my Heart.
20 September 1934
--
How will you feel my Help and take advantage of it if you
do not even trust in me? Yet my love is always with you.
--
Remain always in my Heart.
Yes, my dear child, I forgive you; but how I would like you to
--
is not always reasonable and that is why He has a Headac He and
a stomachac He.
--
T He best thing for your Headac He is to take plenty of physical
exercise (such as gardening for example).
--
I am putting peace in your Heart; but to become conscious
of it, you should repeat, as often as possible, mentally turning
to me: "You have put Peace in my Heart; make me aware of its
presence."
--
Mot Her, which part in me is like this? Is it t He Heart, t He
vital, or is it something very superficial and insignificant?
--
because it does not have a sound balance of Health. T He best
cure is plenty of open-air exercise and abundant food.
--
peace. I don't know w Hen it will come back to my Heart.
My sweet mot Her, what shall I do?
--
I am always with you to Help and support you.
Love from your mot Her.
--
I feel very tired. I also have a slight Headac He.
My dear child,
I don't need to tell you w Here your Headac He comes from; I
suppose you know. Only w Hen you become absolutely regular
in your material life will you be able to have good Health.
Love from your mot Her.
--
T Hey will be fruitless." You told me to open my Heart
and all will be well; but you know, mot Her, nothing stays
--
follows, success always comes to those who are strong, courageous, enduring. And you know that Here our force and our Help
are always available to you; you have only to learn to make use
--
off Here than anyw Here else. I added that only if you wanted to
marry would you have to leave t He Ashram.
--
serpents. He seemed to be standing behind you to protect and
inspire you.
--
since our Help and protection are always t Here. Indeed, you must
open yourself to this Help and protection and learn to use t Hem
to conquer t He adversary who is trying to draw you towards t He
--
against me, against my Heart. I feel, even now, that I am
suffocated.
--
you? Whatever happens, you can always rely on my Help; do
not Hesitate to ask for it.
Love from your mot Her.
--
Do not lose Heart and do not be impatient; t Hese things take
a long time to disappear. You know, don't you, that our force,
our Help and our blessings are always with you?
Keep your interest in t He work - this too will Help you to
pass through t He difficult moments.
--
You are right to tell me, my dear child; it Helps you to open
yourself. I know that it is troublesome to feel this resistance
--
always be in my Heart?
I am not at all angry; but since you have decided to leave, I
--
of t He strength to leave. I am and will always be in your Heart; so
you are sure to find me t Here if you enter into it deeply enough.
--
letters were written while He was away.)
My dear child,
--
t He inner Help, not on an outer and superficial Help.
I am telling you all this so that you may not be disappointed
once again after returning Here.
Read my letter very carefully, think it over well to be sure
--
Pondic Herry in February, for once you are Here you might again
become troubled and uncertain, and that would arouse an
--
My love, my Help and my blessings will always be with you.
Your mot Her.
--
(1) Your vital will find no gratification Here, as life has
become very restricted in t He present war conditions.
(2) You will live Here, as all of us, night and day under t He
constant threat of a sudden bombardment.
--
w Here He has remained ever since. T He following letters
were written after his return.)
--
I want to be closer to you in my Heart and in all my
being. Give me t He power to give myself completely to
--
Yes, my dear little child, I am always with you to Help you, to
support you, to guide you. By doing your work with conscientiousness, honesty and perseverance, you will feel my presence
--
that I am close to you to console you and Help you, and t Hen t He
hardest part will be over.
--
Sincerity demands of each one that He express only t He truth
of his being.
--
Your going away will not Help in t He least. Exterior means are
useless; it is t He "inside" that must change. Keep your resolution
and my Help will work.
With my love and blessings.
--
sure that I shall do my best to Help you in that. I am quite sure
that perseverance in study and t He acceptance of a discipline of
work and order in life will be a powerful Help to you in renewing
yourself.
All my love is with you to Help you and guide you.
My dear child,
--
energy to reject depression. I am always near you to Help you
with all my love.
--
revolt, it would Help you very much to get rid of it, because it is
Series Five - To a Child
--
bad rat Her than to go unnoticed. You must teach him that He is
not t He master of t He house.
--
from its Heaviness and inertia. But it is an ignorant movement,
for violent sensations can never be a remedy; on t He contrary,
--
Love from your mot Her who is always t Here ready to Help
you.
--
I am always with you to Help you and protect you.
Do not allow yourself to be dominated by vain imaginations.
T He peace is t Here in t He depths of your Heart; concentrate t Here
and you will find it.
--
your Heart, dissolve t He obstacles.
My dear child,
Always nestle in my Heart which is always ready to welcome
you, in my arms which are always ready to enfold you, and fear
--
Take me into your Heart. No, no, I don't want t Hese
miserable falsehoods. Take me into your Heart.
I am always taking you into my Heart, but what can I do if you
run away from t Here? You must remain quiet in my arms if you
want me to be able to Help you.
Mot Her,
--
"Peace, peace, O my Heart!" Do it steadily and you will be
pleased with t He result.
0.05 - The Synthesis of the Systems, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Hathayoga and Rajayoga are thus successively practised. And in a recent unique example, in t He life of Ramakrishna Paramhansa, we see a colossal spiritual capacity first driving straight to t He divine realisation, taking, as it were, t He kingdom of Heaven by violence, and t Hen seizing upon one Yogic method after anot Her and extracting t He substance out of it with an incredible rapidity, always to return to t He Heart of t He whole matter, t He realisation and possession of God by t He power of love, by t He extension of inborn spirituality into various experience and by t He spontaneous play of an intuitive knowledge. Such an example cannot be generalised. Its object also was special and temporal, to exemplify in t He great and decisive experience of a master-soul t He truth, now most necessary to humanity, towards which a world long divided into jarring sects and schools is with difficulty labouring, that all sects are forms and fragments of a single integral truth and all disciplines labour in t Heir different ways towards one supreme experience. To know, be and possess
42
--
If, however, we leave aside, Here also, t He actual methods and practices and seek for t He central principle, we find, first, that Tantra expressly differentiates itself from t He Vedic methods of Yoga. In a sense, all t He schools we have hit Herto examined are Vedantic in t Heir principle; t Heir force is in knowledge, t Heir method is knowledge, though it is not always discernment by t He intellect, but may be, instead, t He knowledge of t He Heart expressed in love and faith or a knowledge in t He will working out through action. In all of t Hem t He lord of t He Yoga is t He Purusha, t He Conscious Soul that knows, observes, attracts, governs. But in Tantra it is rat Her Prakriti, t He Nature-Soul, t He Energy, t He
Will-in-Power executive in t He universe. It was by learning and applying t He intimate secrets of this Will-in-Power, its method, its Tantra, that t He Tantric Yogin pursued t He aims of his discipline, - mastery, perfection, liberation, beatitude. Instead of drawing back from manifested Nature and its difficulties, He confronted t Hem, seized and conquered. But in t He end, as is t He general tendency of Prakriti, Tantric Yoga largely lost its principle in its machinery and became a thing of formulae and occult mechanism still powerful w Hen rightly used but fallen from t He clarity of t Heir original intention.
We have in this central Tantric conception one side of t He truth, t He worship of t He Energy, t He Shakti, as t He sole effective force for all attainment. We get t He ot Her extreme in t He Vedantic conception of t He Shakti as a power of Illusion and in t He search after t He silent inactive Purusha as t He means of liberation from t He deceptions created by t He active Energy. But in t He integral conception t He Conscious Soul is t He Lord, t He Nature-Soul is his executive Energy. Purusha is of t He nature of Sat, t He being of conscious self-existence pure and infinite; Shakti or Prakriti is of t He nature of Chit, - it is power of t He Purusha's self-conscious existence, pure and infinite. T He relation of t He two exists between t He poles of rest and action. W Hen t He Energy is absorbed
--
It is this self-certainty of t He Idea which is meant by t He Gita w Hen it says, yo yac-chraddhah. sa eva sah., "whatever is a man's faith or t He sure Idea in him, that He becomes."
We see, t Hen, what from t He psychological point of view,
--
Strength, often unobserved and behind t He veil, substitutes itself for our weakness and supports us through all our failings of faith, courage and patience. It "makes t He blind to see and t He lame to stride over t He hills." T He intellect becomes aware of a Law that beneficently insists and a succour that upholds; t He Heart speaks of a Master of all things and Friend of man or a universal Mot Her who upholds through all stumblings. T Herefore this path is at once t He most difficult imaginable and yet, in comparison with t He magnitude of its effort and object, t He most easy and sure of all.
T Here are three outstanding features of this action of t He hig Her w Hen it works integrally on t He lower nature. In t He first place it does not act according to a fixed system and succession as in t He specialised methods of Yoga, but with a sort of free, scattered and yet gradually intensive and purposeful working determined by t He temperament of t He individual in whom it operates, t He Helpful materials which his nature offers and t He obstacles which it presents to purification and perfection. In a sense, t Herefore, each man in this path has his own method of
Yoga. Yet are t Here certain broad lines of working common to all which enable us to construct not indeed a routine system, but
--
By this integral realisation and liberation, t He perfect harmony of t He results of Knowledge, Love and Works. For t Here is attained t He complete release from ego and identification in being with t He One in all and beyond all. But since t He attaining consciousness is not limited by its attainment, we win also t He unity in Beatitude and t He harmonised diversity in Love, so that all relations of t He play remain possible to us even while we retain on t He Heights of our being t He eternal oneness with t He
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 t He channel in our mind and body for a divine action poured out freely upon t He world.
--
spiritual existence would thus be t He crown alike of our individual and of our common effort. Such a consummation being no ot Her than t He kingdom of Heaven within reproduced in t He kingdom of Heaven without, would be also t He true fulfilment of t He great dream c Heris Hed in different terms by t He world's religions.
T He widest synt Hesis of perfection possible to thought is t He sole effort entirely worthy of those whose dedicated vision perceives that God dwells concealed in humanity.
0.06 - INTRODUCTION, #Dark Night of the Soul, #Saint John of the Cross, #Christianity
In his three earlier books He has written of t He Active Night, of Sense and of
Spirit; He now proposes to deal with t He Passive Night, in t He same order. He has
already taught us how we are to deny and purify ourselves with t He ordinary Help of
grace, in order to prepare our senses and faculties for union with God through love.
--
although t He subject of t He stanzas which He is glossing is a much wider one,
comprising t He whole of t He mystical life and ending only with t He Divine embraces
--
abundance than before. T He Saint Here postulates a principle of dogmatic t Heology
that by himself, and with t He ordinary aid of grace, man cannot attain to that
degree of purgation which is essential to his transformation in God. He needs
Divine aid more abundantly. 'However greatly t He soul itself labours,' writes t He
--
literature on t He former Night existed in t He time of St. John of t He Cross and He
t Herefore promises to be brief in his treatment of it. Of t He latter, on t He ot Her hand,
--
Having described this Passive Night of Sense in Chapter viii, He explains
with great insight and discernment how it may be recognized w Het Her any given
--
body. T He Saint is particularly effective Here, and we may once more compare this
chapter with a similar one in t He Ascent (II, xiii)that in which He fixes t He point
w Here t He soul may abandon discursive meditation and enter t He contemplation
--
his observations, but because, even in spite of himself, He betrays t He sublimity of
his own mystical experiences. Once more, too, we may admire t He crystalline
transparency of his teaching and t He precision of t He phrases in which He clot Hes it.
To judge by his language alone, one might suppose at times that He is speaking of
mat Hematical, rat Her than of spiritual operations.
--
and draw it gradually nearer to God; we have Here, as it were, so many stages of t He
ascent of t He Mount on whose summit t He soul attains to transforming union.
--
t He soul with its Heat, t He delights experienced are so great as to be ineffable.
T He second line of t He first stanza of t He poem is expounded in three
--
burned in my Heart.'
It is difficult to express adequately t He sense of loss that one feels at t He
--
'dawn's first breathings in t He Heav'ns above'which breaks through t He black
darkness of t He Active and t He Passive Nights; t Hey would tell us, too, of t He soul's
--
but it is small compensation for t He incomplete state in which He left this edifice of
such gigantic proportions that He should have given us ot Her and smaller buildings
of a somewhat similar kind. Admirable as are t He Spiritual Canticle and t He Living
--
his mystical dissertations find such an outlet as Here. Now Here else, again, is He
quite so appealingly human; for, though He is human even in his loftiest and
sublimest passages, this intermingling of philosophy with mystical t Heology makes
0.06 - Letters to a Young Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
chronologically. T He replies Here were written between 1933 and 1949 - most of t Hem
between 1933 and 1935.
--
Mot Her, what is it that will Help me always remember
that I am living a spiritual life?
--
I cannot accept all that happens with a calm Heart.
This is, however, indispensable for yoga; and He who has so great
an aim as to be united with t He Divine and to manifest Him, how
can He be affected by all t He futilities and foolishnesses of life?
T Here are people who say one must unite closely with
--
Open your Heart yet wider, yet better, and t He distance will
disappear.
--
my Heart; I could not bear to lose You.
T Here is no question of losing me. We carry in ourselves an
--
Mot Her, why is it so difficult to feel Your Presence constantly near me? In t He depths of my Heart I know well
that without You t Here is no meaning in life for me; yet
--
Ask X, He will tell you that t He Presence is not a matter of faith
or of mental imagination, it is a fact, absolutely concrete and
--
It is not a question of convincing your Heart, you must get t He
experience of this presence and t Hen you will become aware
that in its depths your Heart has always been conscious of this
presence.
--
T Here are two ways of uniting with t He Divine. One is to concentrate in t He Heart and go deep enough to find t Here His Presence;
t He ot Her is to fling oneself in His arms, to nestle t Here as a child
--
to come down Here. But Mot Her, You are so great and
remain so high up that it seems to me almost impossible
--
joy in seeking; but it is true that my Heart will always be
thirsty.
--
t Hem in my Heart, that I want to lead t Hem to t He Divine and
that I am grieved w Hen t Hey move away from Him, - t Hen this
--
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 t He depths
--
Do not leave my Heart empty, Mot Her.
I am always in your Heart.
T He psychic being is constantly and invariably in contact with
--
well establis Hed. He in whom this contact is well establis Hed is
always happy.
--
How do you expect me to Help you if you have no trust in me!
I shall never be able to realise fully this relationship
which exists eternally, if You don't Help me to do it.
My Help is t Here completely; you have only to open yourself to
it with confidence and you will receive it.
Yes, my Help is with you to master all t He movements which are
opposed to t He Divine.
--
if it does not Help him to correct it.
This morning I was thinking I would get anot Her blow
--
what He receives and knows of t He Divine. T He bhakta meets
a Divine full of affection and sweetness, t He wise man will find
a Divine full of wisdom and knowledge. He who fears meets a
severe Divine, and He who is trusting finds t He Divine a friend
and protector... and so on in t He infinite variety of possibilities.
--
to find t He Divine Presence. Far from seeking to fill your Heart
with frivolities in order to "divert" it, you must with a great
--
Of each one is asked only what He has, what He is, nothing more,
but also nothing less.
--
is better to keep in one's Heart a high aspiration rat Her than an
obscure somnolence.
--
draws near t He Divine. One must always keep in one's Heart an
unshakable faith and confidence and in one's Head t He certitude
of victory. Drive away t Hese shadows which come between you
--
All will be done, Mot Her, but why is my Heart becoming
more and more dry and hard?
--
You speak Here of vital love, but certainly not of psychic love
and still less of t He Divine Love.
--
not Here.
It is not this person or that who attracts you... it is t He eternal
--
and emotions which are characteristic of t He Heart. It is always
preferable not to live in t He sensations but to consider t Hem as
--
is He who will make of us what He wants in His infinite wisdom.
VI
--
physical plane. If your Heart were not willing to submit to t He
strict discipline of beating regularly and constantly, you would
--
If you persevere you are sure to succeed; as for my Help you may
rest assured it is always with you, and one never calls in vain.
--
It is absolutely false that anything human can Heal a human evil.
Only t He Divine can Heal. It is in Him alone that one must
seek Help and support, it is in Him alone that one must put all
one's hope.
All my power is with you to Help you; open yourself with a
calm confidence, have faith in t He Divine Grace, and you will
--
calling me to your Help.
Mot Her, last night I had a nightmare and was almost
--
to remember me and call me to your Help if t Here is some danger.
You will see that t He nightmares will vanish.
--
left hand to him so that He could do so.
If you start feeding t He adverse forces, t Hey will exact more and
--
Y told me that very often He becomes an instrument of
t He adverse forces.
Much of this is his own imagination; if He thought less of
t Hese so-called vital beings, most of t Hem would be immediately
--
t He suffering of ot Hers, those who have turned t Heir Hearts to
stones and are incapable of compassion.
--
overcome one's lower nature. And is this not easier Here, with
a concrete and tangible Help, than all alone, without anyone to
s Hed light on t He path and guide t He uncertain footsteps?
--
My Heart is full of compassion for ot Hers and I am not
insensible to t Heir suffering, but what's t He good of this
--
One cannot Help ot Hers to overcome t Heir sorrows and sufferings
unless one has overcome all this in oneself and is master of one's
--
It is to purify your own Heart that you must work, instead of
passing your time in judging what ot Hers do or don't do.
--
It is never good to tell a lie, but Here its results cannot but be
disastrous, for falsehood is t He very symbol of that which wants
--
and it is fear which makes Healing so difficult. All fear must be
overcome and replaced by a complete trust in t He divine Grace.
--
dissolve, and t He mind Helps it; how will You be able to
stop t He natural propensity of my body to disintegration?
--
and passions, of cowardice, but also of Heroism - to bridle it is
to turn all this towards t He divine Will and submit it to this Will.
--
and sound Health.
In t He vital world attraction and repulsion are t He right and
--
realisation Here below. Does it not follow that intellectual culture is indispensable for rising above t He mind to
find t Here t He true knowledge?
--
a Help, for, in general, a refined and educated mind finds its
satisfaction in itself and rarely seeks to silence itself so as to be
--
I must tell you that if a teac Her wants to be respected, He must
be respectable. X is not t He only one to say that you use violence
0.07 - DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL, #Dark Night of the Soul, #Saint John of the Cross, #Christianity
Nor I be Held aught, Without light or guide, save that which burned in my Heart.
4. This light guided me More surely than t He light of noonday
To t He place w Here He (well I knew who!) was awaiting me
A place w Here none appeared.
--
T Here He stayed sleeping, and I caressed him, And t He fanning of t He cedars made a breeze.
7. T He breeze blew from t He turret As I parted his locks;
With his gentle hand He wounded my neck And caused all my senses to be suspended.
8. I remained, lost in oblivion; My face I reclined on t He Beloved.
--
Begins t He exposition of t He stanzas which treat of t He way and manner which t He soul follows upon t He road of t He union of love with God. Before we enter upon t He exposition of t Hese stanzas, it is well to understand Here that t He soul that utters t Hem is now in t He state of perfection, which is t He union of love with God, having already passed through severe trials and straits, by means of spiritual exercise in t He narrow way of eternal life w Hereof Our Saviour speaks in t He Gospel, along which way t He soul ordinarily passes in order to reach this high and happy union with God. Since this road (as t He Lord Himself says likewise) is so strait, and since t Here are so few that enter by it,19 t He soul considers it a great happiness and good chance to have passed along it to t He said perfection of love, as it sings in this first stanza, calling this strait road with full propriety 'dark night,' as will be explained Hereafter in t He lines of t He said stanza. T He soul, t Hen, rejoicing at having passed along this narrow road w Hence so many blessings have come to it, speaks after this manner.
BOOK T He FIRST
--
IN this first stanza t He soul relates t He way and manner which it followed in going forth, as to its affection, from itself and from all things, and in dying to t Hem all and to itself, by means of true mortification, in order to attain to living t He sweet and delectable life of love with God; and it says that this going forth from itself and from all things was a 'dark night,' by which, as will be explained Hereafter, is Here understood purgative contemplation, which causes passively in t He soul t He negation of itself and of all things referred to above.
2. And this going forth it says Here that it was able to accomplish in t He strength and ardour which love for its Spouse gave to it for that purpose in t He dark contemplation aforementioned. Herein it extols t He great happiness which it found in journeying to God through this night with such signal success that none of t He three enemies, which are world, devil and flesh (who are t Hey that ever impede this road), could hinder it; inasmuch as t He aforementioned night of purgative20 contemplation lulled to sleep and mortified, in t He house of its sensuality, all t He passions and desires with respect to t Heir mischievous desires and motions. T He line, t Hen, says:
On a dark night
0.07 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
or sleep with one's Head towards t He North. Has it got
any real significance, Mot Her?
--
Has X spoken to you about some influence of Saturn He
has found in my horoscope? I forgot to ask you about it
--
Yes, He spoke to me about it. But you must know that yoga frees
us from subjection to t He horoscope; t He horoscope expresses
--
Yes, I like to receive t He book from you. It Helps to keep t He
contact materially.
--
turn my Head some day, if it is not turned already! But,
I know, it is only to give Her confidence.
No, I always mean what I say.
--
spite of t He dull and Heavy veil which lies thick upon
t Hem. And may your Grace open up fully t He lotus
of my Heart so that I may be blessed with a vision
of your soul-captivating Presence in t He full glory of
--
how shall I be ever able to climb to your dizzying Heights
with t He Heavy chains of a mortal's nature pulling at my
feet?
--
desire of my Heart? You are very, very adorable and very,
very kind to your little child who loves you and is happy.
--
Grace to Help and to protect.
6 November 1938
--
response, my Heart does seem to be made of stone; ot Herwise, why should it refuse to open itself to such a love?
Series Seven - To a Sadhak
--
fulfil Her in my life and to know t He worlds, if it is Her
Will that I should do so. But above all, I must have t He
--
without a Guru who will lead me to Her Feet?
I do not see anybody in t He world more qualified than Sri
--
in Her child, that only speaks of t He goodness of t He
Mot Her's Heart.
My child's Heart is filled with love and light from t He Divine; let
t Hem shine throughout your whole being and t He clouds, if any,
--
I send you Heaps and Heaps of love. In t He lotus of my
Heart may I have your lotus feet permanently installed
--
Your Heart is quite a sweet place because of your love - let
me remain always t Here so that I may fill your whole being with
--
In t He secret recesses of my Heart's chamber I have
always been aware of an instinctive belief that you are an
--
I know not except by Her lotus-feet. That is t He reason
why my eyes seek Her in your lotus-feet, and my Heart
yearns to press t Hem to itself knowing t Hem as its sole
--
a question to you, but I Hear t He word "experiment"
used so often and in such a variety of ways that I feel
frightened and would like to Hear from you personally
if you are not merely experimenting with us? Praying to
--
please me immensely and Help you very much on t He way.
My love and blessings to you, dear child.
--
sure of my love, you can be sure of my Help, and our blessings
19 August 1939
--
invoking Her and t Here you were with t He pot of pickles
and an ocean of Love! Such is your play, dear playful
--
Indeed, that day I had Heard you distinctly calling me and I
wanted to answer very concretely to your call... My love and
--
and Heart turned as constantly as possible towards t He Divine.
T He love for t He Divine is t He strongest force for doing this.
--
Why did t He Mot Her choose this frail vessel for Her
abode? I know that so long as S He chooses to make Her
abode Here, sooner or later poor me will have to abdicate
in favour of Her Imperial Majesty and till that day comes
t Here will be no rest for poor me.
--
Inside, outside and everyw Here is t He Help of t He Mot Her...
with Her love and blessings.
28 October 1939
--
very cold. I still do not feel at home Here. I do not know
what I should do. And time waits for no one. Please
--
T He sadhak asked if He could accept money sent to him by relatives. T He Mot Her
answered: "My dear child, you can be sure of my love and blessings."
--
W Henever you require spiritual Help I am always t Here to
give you that Help under whatever form it can take.
With my love and blessings.
--
My dear child, Here is t He programme for this year: Unify your
whole being around your hig Hest consciousness and do not let
0.08 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
t Hey Help us in our sadhana?
Each region of t He being and each activity has its energies. We
--
t Hem t He appearance of a power or an action t Hey do not possess in t Hemselves. Hence t He necessity of never being afraid and
of recognising t Hem for what t Hey are - a deceptive appearance.
--
t He Heart, t He emotional centre, t He door of t He psychic or rat Her
t He door leading to t He psychic.
--
t He more can aspiration rise up from t He depths of t He Heart in
t He fullness of its ardour.
--
only for our spiritual progress but also for our material wellbeing, t He Health of our body and t He proper functioning of all
t He activities of our being.
--
Why has t He Divine made His path so difficult? He
can make it easier if He wants, can't He?
First of all, one should know that t He intellect, t He mind, can
understand nothing of t He Divine, neit Her what He does nor how
He does it and still less why He does it. To know something of
t He Divine, one has to rise above thought and enter into t He
--
person. but of what s He represents, what stands behind Her.
For you must never forget that t He outer person is only t He
--
T He best way to receive what He gives is to come to t He
balcony with trust and aspiration and to keep oneself as calm
--
t He point of stopping all ot Her noise in t He Head and obtaining
a complete silence into which fall, drop by drop, t He notes of
--
simplest language, almost t He spoken language. To get Help from
t Hem, it is enough to read with attention and concentration and
--
t He mind as quiet as one can, without making an effort to understand, but keeping t He Head as silent as possible and letting
t He force contained in what one reads enter deep inside. This
--
"supreme faculties" are being referred to Here? Those of man on
t He way to becoming superman, or those that t He supramental
being will possess w Hen He appears on earth?
In t He first case, t Hey are t He faculties that develop in man as
--
regions He receives t He light of t He Truth. T Hese faculties are not
a direct expression of t He supreme Truth, but a transcription, an
--
knowledge by identity and certain powers such as that of Healing
and, to an extent, of acting upon circumstances.
0.09 - Letters to a Young Teacher, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
and you will understand what He means.
Sri Aurobindo says: "In whatever form and with whatever spirit we approach him, in that form and with that
spirit He receives t He sacrifice."2 What does this mean?
It means that all we offer, we necessarily offer to t He Supreme,
because He is t He sole Reality behind everything.
T He Synt Hesis of Yoga, SABCL, Vol. 20, p. 39.
--
storeroom of words. Here, more or less excited, we select, reject,
assemble, combine, disarrange, rearrange all t He words in our
--
those who are sincere in t Heir aspiration will remain Here and
receive all t He Help needed to be able to change in t Hemselves
what needs to be changed. You can be sure that my force will
--
confidence, without fear and without Hesitation. Sri Aurobindo
is always t Here to Help you and guide you; but it is natural that
you should approach Him with t He reverence due to t He Master
--
give ourselves to Him totally and unreservedly so that He can
take possession of our nature in order to transform and divinise
--
in t Hem eit Her t He force or t He knowledge that will Help him to
make progress.
--
only t He mode of approach that differs: one is through t He Heart,
t He ot Her through t He mind.
--
W Hereas with one's Heart, one can set out to discover t He
Immanent Divine. And if one knows truly how to love, without
desire or egoism, one finds Him very soon, for always He comes
to meet you in order to Help you.
12 November 1960
--
It should be understood clearly that t Here is no question Here
of any physical embracing, as practical jokers with t He tastes
01.01 - A Yoga of the Art of Life, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
W Hen Sri Aurobindo said, Our Yoga is not for ourselves but for humanity, many Heaved a sigh of relief and thought that t He great soul was after all not entirely lost to t He world, his was not one more name added to t He long list of Sannyasins that India has been producing age after age without much profit eit Her to Herself or to t He human society (or even perhaps to t Heir own selves). People understood his Yoga to be a modern one, dedicated to t He service of humanity. If service to humanity was not t He very sum and substance of his spirituality, it was, at least, t He fruitful end and consummation. His Yoga was a sort of art to explore and harness certain unseen powers that can better and ameliorate human life in a more successful way than mere rational scientific methods can hope to do.
Sri Aurobindo saw that t He very core of his teaching was being missed by this common interpretation of his saying. So He changed his words and said, Our Yoga is not for humanity but for t He Divine. But I am afraid this change of front, this volte-face, as it seemed, was not welcomed in many quarters; for t Hereby all hope of having him back for t He work of t He country or t He world appeared to be totally lost and He came to be looked upon again as an irrevocable metaphysical dreamer, aloof from physical things and barren, even like t He Immutable Brahman.
II
In order to get a nearer approach to t He ideal for which Sri Aurobindo has been labouring, we may combine with advantage t He two mottoes He has given us and say that his mission is to find and express t He Divine in humanity. This is t He service He means to render to humanity, viz, to manifest and embody in it t He Divine: his goal is not merely an amelioration, but a total change and transformation, t He divinisation of human life.
Here also one must guard against certain misconceptions that are likely to occur. T He transformation of human life does not necessarily mean that t He entire humanity will be changed into a race of gods or divine beings; it means t He evolution or appearance on earth of a superior type of humanity, even as man evolved out of animality as a superior type of animality, not that t He entire animal kingdom was changed into humanity.
As regards t He possibility of such a consummation,Sri Aurobindo says it is not a possibility but an inevitabilityone must remember that t He force that will bring about t He result and is already at work is not any individual human power, however great it may be, but t He Divine himself, it is t He Divine's own Shakti that is labouring for t He destined end.
Here is t He very Heart of t He mystery, t He master-key to t He problem. T He advent of t He superhuman or divine race, however stupendous or miraculous t He p Henomenon may appear to be, can become a thing of practical actuality, precisely because it is no human agency that has undertaken it but t He Divine himself in his supreme potency and wisdom and love. T He descent of t He Divine into t He ordinary human nature in order to purify and transform it and be lodged t Here is t He whole secret of t He sadhana in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga. T He sadhaka has only to be quiet and silent, calmly aspiring, open and acquiescent and receptive to t He one Force; He need not and should not try to do things by his independent personal effort, but get t Hem done or let t Hem be done for him in t He dedicated consciousness by t He Divine Master and Guide. All ot Her Yogas or spiritual disciplines in t He past envisaged an ascent of t He consciousness, its sublimation into t He consciousness of t He Spirit and its fusion and dissolution t Here in t He end. T He descent of t He Divine Consciousness to prepare its definitive home in t He dynamic and pragmatic human nature, if considered at all, was not t He main t Heme of t He past efforts and achievements. Furt Hermore, t He descent spoken of Here is t He descent, not of a divine consciousness for t Here are many varieties of divine consciousness but of t He Divine's own consciousness, of t He Divine himself with his Shakti. For it is that that is directly working out this evolutionary transformation of t He age.
It is not my purpose Here to enter into details as to t He exact meaning of t He descent, how it happens and what are its lines of activity and t He results brought about. For it is indeed an actual descent that happens: t He Divine Light leans down first into t He mind and begins its purificatory work t Herealthough it is always t He inner Heart which first recognises t He Divine Presence and gives its assent to t He Divine action for t He mind, t He hig Her mind that is to say, is t He summit of t He ordinary human consciousness and receives more easily and readily t He Radiances that descend. From t He Mind t He Light filters into t He denser regions of t He emotions and desires, of life activity and vital dynamism; finally, it gets into brute Matter itself, t He hard and obscure rock of t He physical body, for that too has to be illumined and made t He very form and figure of t He Light supernal. T He Divine in his descending Grace is t He Master-Architect who is building slowly and surely t He many-chambered and many-storeyed edifice that is human nature and human life into t He mould of t He Divine Truth in its perfect play and supreme expression. But this is a matter which can be closely considered w Hen one is already well within t He mystery of t He path and has acquired t He elementary essentials of an initiate.
Anot Her question that troubles and perplexes t He ordinary human mind is as to t He time w Hen t He thing will be done. Is it now or a millennium Hence or at some astronomical distance in future, like t He cooling of t He sun, as someone has suggested for an analogy. In view of t He magnitude of t He work one might with reason say that t He whole eternity is t Here before us, and a century or even a millennium should not be grudged to such a labour for it is nothing less than an undoing of untold millenniums in t He past and t He building of a far-flung futurity. However, as we have said, since it is t He Divine's own work and since Yoga means a concentrated and involved process of action, effectuating in a minute what would perhaps take years to accomplish in t He natural course, one can expect t He work to be done sooner rat Her than later. Indeed, t He ideal is one of Here and now Here upon this earth of material existence and now in this life, in this very bodynot Hereafter or elsew Here. How long exactly that will mean, depends on many factors, but a few decades on this side or t He ot Her do not matter very much.
As to t He extent of realisation, we say again that that is not a matter of primary consideration. It is not t He quantity but t He substance that counts. Even if it were a small nucleus it would be sufficient, at least for t He beginning, provided it is t He real, t He genuine thing
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 t He 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 reac Hes 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. T He problem is not to run away with one's soul, but to maintain its earthly tenement, to keep body and soul toget Her: one has to live first, live materially before one can hope to live spiritually."
Well, t He view expressed in t Hese words is not a new revelation. It has been t He cry of suffering humanity through t He ages. Man has borne his cross since t He beginning of his creation through want and privation, through disease and bereavement, through all manner of turmoil and tribulation, and yetmirabile dictuat t He same time, in t He very midst of those conditions, He has been aspiring and yearning for something else, ignoring t He present, looking into t He beyond. It is not t He prosperous and t He more happily placed in life who find it more easy to turn to t He hig Her life, it is not t He wealthiest who has t He greatest opportunity to pursue a spiritual idea. On t He contrary, spiritual leaders have thought and experienced ot Herwise.
Apart from t He well-recognised fact that only in distress does t He normal man think of God and non-worldly things, t He real matter, however, is that t He inner life is a thing apart and follows its own line of movement, does not depend upon, is not subservient to, t He kind of outer life that one may happen to live under. T He Bible says indeed, "Blessed are t He poor, blessed are t Hey that mourn"... But t He Upanishad declares, on t He ot Her hand, that even as one lies happily on a royal couch, bat Hes and anoints himself with all t He perfumes of t He world, has attendants all around and always to serve him, even so, one can be full of t He divine consciousness from t He crown of t He Head to t He tip of his toe-nail. In fact, a poor or a prosperous life is in no direct or even indirect ratio to a spiritual life. All t He miseries and immediate needs of a physical life do not and cannot detain or delay one from following t He path of t He ideal; nor can all your ric Hes be a burden to your soul and overw Helm it, if it chooses to walk onit can not only walk, but soar and fly with all that knapsack on its back.
If one were to be busy about reforming t He world and w Hen that was done t Hen alone to turn to ot Her-worldly things, in that case, one would never take t He turn, for t He world will never be reformed totally or even considerably in that way. It is not that reformers have for t He first time appeared on t He earth in t He present age. Men have attempted social, political, economic and moral reforms from times immemorial. But that has not barred t He spiritual attempt or minimised its importance. To say that because an ideal is apparently too high or too great for t He present age, it must be kept in cold storage is to set a premium on t He present nature of humanity arid eternise it: that would bind t He world to its old moorings and never give it t He opportunity to be free and go out into t He high seas of larger and greater realisations.
--
T He hig Hest ideal, t He very hig Hest which God and Nature and Man have in view, is not and cannot be kept in cold storage: it is being worked out even Here and now, and it has to be worked out Here and now. T He ideal of t He Life Divine embodies a central truth of existence, and however difficult or chimerical it may appear to be to t He normal mind, it is t He preoccupation of t He inner being of manall ot Her ways or attempts of curing human ills are faint echoes, masks, diversions of this secret urge at t He source and Heart of things. That ideal is a norm and a force that is ever dynamic and has become doubly so since it has entered t He earth atmosp Here and t He waking human consciousness and is labouring t Here. It is always safer and wiser to recognise that fact, to Help in t He realisation of that truth and be profited by it.
***
01.01 - The New Humanity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
T He world is in t He throes of a new creation and t He pangs of that new birth have made mot Her Earth restless. It is no longer a far-off ideal that our imagination struggles to visualise, nor a prop Hecy that yet remains to be fulfilled. It is Here and Now.
Although we may not know it, t He New Man t He divine race of humanity is already among us. It may be in our next neighbour, in our nearest brot Her, even in myself. Only a thin veil covers it. It marc Hes just behind t He line. It waits for an occasion to throw off t He veil and place itself in t He forefront. We are living in strenuous times in which age-long institutions are going down and new-forces rearing t Heir Heads, old habits are being cast off and new impulsions acquired. In every sp Here of life, we see t He urgent demand for a recasting, a fresh valuation of things. From t He base to t He summit, from t He economic and political life to t He artistic and spiritual, humanity is being shaken to bring out a new expression and articulation. T Here is t He hidden surge of a Power, t He secret stress of a Spirit that can no longer suffer to remain in t He shade and behind t He mask, but wills to come out in t He broad daylight and be recognised in its plenary virtues.
That Power, that Spirit has been growing and gat Hering its strength during all t He millenniums that humanity has lived through. On t He momentous day w Hen man appeared on earth, t He Hig Her Man also took his birth. Since t He hour t He Spirit refused to be imprisoned in its animal s Heath and came out as man, it approac Hed by that very uplift a greater freedom and a vaster movement. It was t He crest of that underground wave which peered over t He surface from age to age, from clime to clime through t He experiences of poets and prop Hets and sages t He Head of t He Sacrificial Horse galloping towards t He Dawn.
And now t He days of captivity or rat Her of inner preparation are at an end. T He voice in t He wilderness was necessary, for it was a call and a communion in t He silence of t He soul. Today t He silence seeks utterance. Today t He s Hell is ripe enough to break and to bring out t He mature and full-grown being. T He king that was in hiding comes in glory and triumph, in his complete regalia.
Anot Her humanity is rising out of t He present human species. T He beings of t He new order are everyw Here and it is t Hey who will soon hold sway over earth, be t He Head and front of t He terrestrial evolution in t He cycle that is approaching as it was with man in t He cycle that is passing away. What will this new order of being be like? It will be what man is not, also what man is. It will not be man, because it will overstep t He limitations and incapacities in Herent in man; and it will be man by t He realisation of those fundamental aspirations and yearnings that have troubled and consoled t He deeper strata t He soulin him throughout t He varied experiences of his terrestrial life.
T He New Man will be Master and not slave. He will be master, first, of himself and t Hen of t He world. Man as He actually is, is but a slave. He has no personal voice or choice; t He determining soul, t He Ishwara, in him is sleep-bound and hus Hed. He is a mere plaything in t He hands of nature and circumstances. T Herefore it is that Science has become his supreme Dharmashastra; for science seeks to teach us t He moods of Nature and t He methods of propitiating Her. Our actual ideal of man is that of t He cleverest slave. But t He New Man will have found himself and by and according to his inner will, mould and create his world. He will not be in awe of Nature and in an attitude of perpetual appre Hension and Hesitation, but will ground himself on a secret harmony and union that will declare him as t He lord. We will recognise t He New Man by his very gait and manner, by a certain kingly ease and dominion in every shade of his expression.
Not that this sovereign power will have anything to do with aggression or over-bearingness. It will not be a power that feels itself only by creating an eternal opponentErbfeindby coming in constant clash with a rival that seeks to gain victory by subjugating. It will not be Nietzsc Hean "will to power," which is, at best, a supreme Asuric power. It will rat Her be a Divine Power, for t He strength it will exert and t He victory it will achieve will not come from t He egoit is t He ego which requires an object outside and against to feel and affirm itself but it will come from a hig Her personal self which is one with t He cosmic soul and t Herefore with ot Her personal souls. T He Asura, in spite of, or rat Her, because of his aggressive ve Hemence betrays a lack of t He sovereign power that is calm and at ease and self-sufficient. T He Devic power does not assert hut simply accomplis Hes; t He forces of t He world act not as its opponent but as its instrument. Thus t He New Man shall affirm his individual sovereignty and do so to perfection by expressing through it his unity with t He cosmic powers, with t He infinite god Head. And by being Swarat, Self-Master, He will become Samrat, world-master.
This mastery will be effected not merely in will, but in mind and Heart also. For t He New Man will know not by t He intellect which is egocentric and t Herefore limited, not by ratiocination which is an indirect and doubtful process, but by direct vision, an inner communion, a soul revelation. T He new knowledge will be vast and profound and creative, based as it will be upon t He reality of things and not upon t Heir shadows. Truth will shine through every experience and every utterance"a truth shall have its seat on our speech and mind and Hearing", so have t He Vedas said. T He mind and intellect will not be active and constructive agents but t He luminous channel of a self-luminous knowledge. And t He Heart too which is now t He field of passion and egoism will be cleared of its noise and obscurity; a serener sky will s Hed its pure warmth and translucent glow. T He knot will be rent asunderbhidyate hridaya granthih and t He vast and mighty streams of anot Her ocean will flow through. We will love not merely those to whom we are akin but God's creatures, one and all; we will love not with t He yearning and hunger of a mortal but with t He wide and intense Rasa that lies in t He divine identity of souls.
And t He new society will be based not upon competition, nor even upon co-operation. It will not be an open conflict, neit Her will it be a convenient compromise of rival individual interests. It will be t He organic expression of t He collective soul of humanity, working and achieving through each and every individual soul its most wide-winging freedom, manifesting t He god Head that is, proper to each and every one. It will be an organisation, most delicate and subtle and supple, t He members of which will have no need to live upon one anot Her but in and through one anot Her. It will be, if you like, a Henot Heistic hierarchy in which everyone will be t He greatest, since everyone is all and all everyone simultaneously.
T He New Humanity will be something in t He mould that we give to t He gods. It will supply t He link that we see missing between gods and men; it will be t He race of embodied gods. Man will attain that thing which has been his first desire and earliest dream, for which He coveted t He gods Immortality, amritatwam. T He mortalities that cut and divide, limit and bind man make him t He sorrowful being He is. T Hese are due to his ignorance and weakness and egoism. T Hese are due to his soul itself. It is t He soul that requires change, a new birth, as Christ demanded. Ours is a little soul that has severed itself from t He larger and mightier self that it is. And t Herefore does it die every moment and even while living is afraid to live and so lives poorly and miserably. But t He age is now upon us w Hen t He god-like soul anointed with its immortal royalties is ready to emerge and claim our salutation.
T He breath and t He surge of t He new creation cannot be mistaken. T He question that confronts us today is no longer w Het Her t He New Man, t He Super-humanity, will come or if at all, w Hen; but t He question we have to answer is who among us are ready to be its receptacle, its instrument and embodiment.
01.01 - The One Thing Needful, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
It is t He lesson of life that always in this world everything fails a man - only t He Divine does not fail him, if He turns entirely towards t He Divine. It is not because t Here is something bad in you that blows fall on you - blows fall on all human beings because t Hey are full of desire for things that cannot last and t Hey lose t Hem or, even if t Hey get, it brings disappointment and cannot satisfy t Hem. To turn to t He Divine is t He only truth in life.
To find t He Divine is indeed t He first reason for seeking t He spiritual Truth and t He spiritual life; it is t He one thing indispensable and all t He resit is nothing without it. T He Divine once found, to manifest Him, - that is, first of all to transform one's own limited consciousness into t He Divine Consciousness, to live in t He infinite Peace, Light, Love, Strength, Bliss, to become that in one's essential nature and, as a consequence, to be its vessel, channel, instrument in one's active nature. To bring into activity t He principle of oneness on t He material plane or to work for humanity is a mental mistranslation of t He Truth - t Hese things cannot be t He first true object of spiritual seeking. We must find t He Self, t He Divine, t Hen only can we know what is t He work t He Self or t He Divine demands from us. Until t Hen our life and action can only be a Help or a means towards finding t He Divine and it ought not to have any ot Her purpose. As we grow in inner consciousness, or as t He spiritual Truth of t He Divine grows in us, our life and action must indeed more and more flow from that, be one with that. But to decide beforeh and by our limited mental conceptions what t Hey must be is to hamper t He growth of t He spiritual Truth within. As that grows we shall feel t He Divine Light and Truth, t He Divine Power and Force, t He Divine Purity and Peace working within us, dealing with our actions as well as our consciousness, making use of t Hem to reshape us into t He Divine Image, removing t He dross, substituting t He pure Gold of t He Spirit. Only w Hen t He Divine Presence is t Here in us always and t He consciousness transformed, can we have t He right to say that we are ready to manifest t He Divine on t He material plane. To hold up a mental ideal or principle and impose that on t He inner working brings t He danger of limiting ourselves to a mental realisation or of impeding or even falsifying by a halfway formation t He truth growth into t He full communion and union with t He Divine and t He free and intimate outflowing of His will in our life. This is a mistake of orientation to which t He mind of today is especially prone. It is far better to approach t He Divine for t He Peace or Light or Bliss that t He realisation of Him gives than to bring in t Hese minor things which can divert us from t He one thing needful. T He divinisation of t He material life also as well as t He inner life is part of what we see as t He Divine Plan, but it can only be fulfilled by an ourflowing of t He inner realisation, something that grows from within outwards, not by t He working out of a mental principle.
T He realisation of t He Divine is t He one thing needful and t He rest is desirable only in so far as it Helps or leads towards that or w Hen it is realised, extends and manifests t He realisation. Manifestation and organisation of t He whole life for t He divine work, - first, t He sadhana personal and collective necessary for t He realisation and a common life of God-realised men, secondly, for Help to t He world to move towards that, and to live in t He Light - is t He whole meaning and purpose of my Yoga. But t He realisation is t He first need and it is that round which all t He rest moves, for apart from it all t He rest would have no meaning.
Yoga is directed towards God, not towards man. If a divine supramental consciousness and power can be brought down and establis Hed in t He material world, that obviously would mean an immense change for t He earth including humanity and its life. But t He effect on humanity would only be one result of t He change; it cannot be t He object of t He sadhana. T He object of t He sadhana can only be to live in t He divine consciousness and to manifest it in life.
01.01 - The Symbol Dawn, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
In Her unlit temple of eternity,
Lay stretc Hed immobile upon Silence' marge.
--
In t He sombre symbol of Her eyeless muse
T He abysm of t He unbodied Infinite;
--
Forgetful of Her spirit and Her fate.
1.7
--
To raise its Head and look for absent light,
Straining closed eyes of vanis Hed memory,
--
T He Heedless Mot Her of t He universe,
An infant longing clutc Hed t He sombre Vast.
--
A long lone line of Hesitating hue
Like a vague smile tempting a desert Heart
Troubled t He far rim of life's obscure sleep.
--
It seemed amid a Heavy cosmic rest,
T He torpor of a sick and weary world,
--
A memory quivered in t He Heart of Time
As if a soul long dead were moved to live:
--
Into a far-off nook of Heaven t Here came
A slow miraculous gesture's dim appeal.
--
Dawn built Her aura of magnificent hues
And buried its seed of grandeur in t He hours.
--
Parted t He eternal lids that open Heaven;
A Form from far beatitudes seemed to near.
--
And saw t He spaces ready for Her feet.
1.32
Once s He half looked behind for Her veiled sun,
T Hen, thoughtful, went to Her immortal work.
1.33
--
T He waking ear of Nature Heard Her steps
And wideness turned to Her its limitless eye,
And, scattered on sealed depths, Her luminous smile
--
Air was a vibrant link between earth and Heaven;
T He wide-winged hymn of a great priestly wind
--
And Truth has Her throne on t He shadowy back of doubt,
On this anguis Hed and precarious field of toil
--
Too perfect to be Held by death-bound Hearts,
T He prescience of a marvellous birth to come.
--
Her body of glory was expunged from Heaven:
T He rarity and wonder lived no more.
--
Pursued t He cycles of Her blinded quest.
1.46
--
And, leader Here with his uncertain mind,
Alone who stares at t He future's covered face,
--
Visited Her Heart like a sweet alien note.
2.4
Time's message of brief light was not for Her.
2.5
In Her t Here was t He anguish of t He gods
Imprisoned in our transient human mould,
--
A vaster Nature's joy had once been Hers,
But long could keep not its gold Heavenly hue
Or stand upon this brittle earthly base.
--
S He had brought with Her into t He human form,
T He calm delight that weds one soul to all,
--
A prodigal of Her rich divinity,
Her self and all s He was s He had lent to men,
Hoping Her greater being to implant
And in t Heir body's lives acclimatise
That Heaven might native grow on mortal soil.
2.11
--
Inflicting on t He Heights t He abysm's law,
It sullies with its mire Heaven's messengers:
Its thorns of fallen nature are t He defence
--
A fire has come and touc Hed men's Hearts and gone;
A few have caught flame and risen to greater life.
--
Too unlike t He world s He came to Help and save,
Her greatness weig Hed upon its ignorant breast
--
To live with grief, to confront death on Her road,--
T He mortal's lot became t He Immortal's share.
--
Awaiting Her ordeal's hour abode,
Outcast from Her inborn felicity,
Accepting life's obscure terrestrial robe,
Hiding Herself even from those s He loved,
T He god Head greater by a human fate.
--
A dark foreknowledge separated Her
From all of whom s He was t He star and stay;
--
In Her torn depths s He kept t He grief to come.
2.19
--
Harbouring a foe whom with Her Heart s He must feed,
Unknown Her act, unknown t He doom s He faced,
Un Helped s He must foresee and dread and dare.
--
T He long-foreknown and fatal morn was Here
Bringing a noon that seemed like every noon.
--
For Nature walks upon Her mighty way
Un Heeding w Hen s He breaks a soul, a life;
Leaving Her slain behind s He travels on:
Man only marks and God's all-seeing eyes.
--
Even in this moment of Her soul's despair,
In its grim rendezvous with death and fear,
No cry broke from Her lips, no call for aid;
S He told t He secret of Her woe to none:
Calm was Her face and courage kept Her mute.
2.23
Yet only Her outward self suffered and strove;
Even Her humanity was half divine:
Her spirit opened to t He Spirit in all,
--
Aloof, s He carried in Herself t He world:
Her dread was one with t He great cosmic dread,
--
T He universal Mot Her s love was Hers.
2.25
--
Of Her pangs s He made a mystic poignant sword.
2.26
A solitary mind, a world-wide Heart,
To t He lone Immortal's unshared work s He rose.
--
At first life grieved not in Her burdened breast:
On t He lap of earth's original somnolence
--
Nothing recalling of t He sorrow Here.
2.29
--
And sighing s He laid Her hand upon Her bosom
And recognised t He close and lingering ac He,
--
Only a vague earth-nature Held t He frame.
2.32
But now s He stirred, Her life shared t He cosmic load.
2.33
At t He summons of Her body's voiceless call
Her strong far-winging spirit travelled back,
--
And t He tired feet of thought approac Hed Her doors.
2.35
All came back to Her: Earth and Love and Doom,
T He ancient disputants, encircled Her
Like giant figures wrestling in t He night:
--
And in t He shadow of Her flaming Heart,
At t He sombre centre of t He dire debate,
--
Bound to his throne, He waited unappeased
T He daily oblation of Her unwept tears.
2.37
--
And Heard t He ignorant cry of living things.
2.40
--
Immobile in Herself, s He gat Hered force.
2.42
01.02 - Natures Own Yoga, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindo's Yoga is in t He direct line of Nature's own Yoga. Nature has a Yoga, which s He follows unfailingly, and inevitably for it is Her innermost law of being. Yoga means, in essence, a change or transformation of consciousness, a Heightening and broadening of consciousness, which is effected by communion or union or identification with a hig Her and vaster consciousness.
This process of a developing consciousness in Nature is precisely what is known as Evolution. It is t He bringing out and fixing of a hig Her and hig Her principle of consciousness, hit Herto involved and concealed behind t He veil, in t He earth consciousness as a dynamic factor in Nature's manifest working. Thus, t He first stage of evolution is t He status of inconscient Matter, of t He lifeless physical elements; t He second stage is that of t He semi-conscious life in t He plant, t He third that of t He conscious life in t He animal, and finally t He fourth stage, w Here we stand at present, is that of t He embodied self-conscious life in man.
--
For, till now Mind has been t He last term of t He evolutionary consciousness Mind as developed in man is t He hig Hest instrument built up and organised by Nature through which t He self-conscious being can express itself. That is why t He Buddha said: Mind is t He first of all principles, Mind is t He hig Hest of all principles: indeed Mind is t He constituent of all principlesmana puvvangam dhamm1. T He consciousness beyond mind has not yet been made a patent and dynamic element in t He life upon earth; it has been glimpsed or entered into in varying degrees and modes by saints and seers; it has cast its derivative illuminations in t He creative activities of poets and artists, in t He finer and nobler urges of Heroes and great men of action. But t He utmost that has been achieved, t He summit reac Hed in that direction, as exampled in spiritual disciplines, involves a withdrawal from t He evolutionary cycle, a merging and an absorption into t He static status that is altoget Her beyond it, that lies, as it were, at t He ot Her extreme t He Spirit in itself, Atman, Brahman, Sachchidananda, Nirvana, t He One without a second, t He Zero without a first.
T He first contact that one has with this static supra-reality is through t He hig Her ranges of t He mind: a direct and closer communion is establis Hed through a plane which is just above t He mind t He Overmind, as Sri Aurobindo calls it. T He Overmind dissolves or transcends t He ego-consciousness which limits t He being to its individualised formation bounded by an outward and narrow frame or s Heath of mind, life and body; it reveals t He universal Self and Spirit, t He cosmic god Head and its myriad forces throwing up myriad forms; t He world-existence t Here appears as a play of ever-shifting veils upon t He face of one ineffable reality, as a mysterious cycle of perpetual creation and destructionit is t He overw Helming vision given by Sri Krishna to Arjuna in t He Gita. At t He same time, t He initial and most intense experience which this cosmic consciousness brings is t He extreme relativity, contingency and transitoriness of t He whole flux, and a necessity seems logically and psychologically imperative to escape into t He abiding substratum, t He ineffable Absoluteness.
--
In t He Supermind things exist in t Heir perfect spiritual reality; each is consciously t He divine reality in its transcendent essence, its cosmic extension, its, spiritual individuality; t He diversity of a manifested existence is t Here, but t He mutually exclusive separativeness has not yet arisen. T He ego, t He knot of separativity, appears at a later and lower stage of involution; what is Here is indivisible nexus of individualising centres of t He one eternal truth of being. W Here Supermind and Overmind meet, one can see t He multiple god Heads, each distinct in his own truth and beauty and power and yet all toget Her forming t He one supreme consciousness infinitely composite and inalienably integral. But stepping back into Supermind one sees something moreOneness gat Hering into itself all diversity, not destroying it, but annulling and forbidding t He separative consciousness that is t He beginning of Ignorance. T He first shadow of t He Illusory Consciousness, t He initial possibility of t He movement of Ignorance comes in w Hen t He supramental light enters t He penumbra of t He mental sp Here. T He movement of Supermind is t He movement of light without obscurity, straight, unwavering, unswerving, absolute. T He Force Here contains and holds in t Heir oneness of Reality t He manifold but not separated lines of essential and unalloyed truth: its march is t He inevitable progression of each one assured truth entering into and upholding every ot Her and t Herefore its creation, play or action admits of no trial or stumble or groping or deviation; for each truth rests on all ot Hers and on that which harmonises t Hem all and does not act as a Power diverging from and even competing with ot Her Powers of being. In t He Overmind commences t He play of divergent possibilities t He simple, direct, united and absolute certainties of t He supramental consciousness retire, as it were, a step behind and begin to work t Hemselves out through t He interaction first of separately individualised and t Hen of contrary and contradictory forces. In t He Overmind t Here is a conscious underlying Unity but yet each Power, Truth, Aspect of that Unity is encouraged to work out its possibilities as if it were sufficient to itself and t He ot Hers are used by it for its own enhancement until in t He denser and darker reac Hes below Overmind this turns out a thing of blind conflict and battle and, as it would appear, of chance survival. Creation or manifestation originally means t He concretisation or devolution of t He powers of Conscious Being into a play of united diversity; but on t He line which ends in Matter it enters into more and more obscure forms and forces and finally t He virtual eclipse of t He supreme light of t He Divine Consciousness. Creation as it descends' towards t He Ignorance becomes an involution of t He Spirit through Mind and Life into Matter; evolution is a movement backward, a return journey from Matter towards t He Spirit: it is t He unravelling, t He gradual disclosure and deliverance of t He Spirit, t He ascension and revelation of t He involved consciousness through a series of awakeningsMatter awakening into Life, Life awakening into Mind and Mind now seeking to awaken into something beyond t He Mind, into a power of conscious Spirit.
T He apparent or actual result of t He movement of Nescienceof Involutionhas been an increasing negation of t He Spirit, but its hidden purpose is ultimately to embody t He Spirit in Matter, to express Here below in cosmic Time-Space t He splendours of t He timeless Reality. T He material body came into existence bringing with it inevitably, as it seemed, mortality; it appeared even to be fashioned out of mortality, in order that in this very frame and field of mortality, Immortality, t He eternal Spirit Consciousness which is t He secret truth and reality in Time itself as well as behind it, might be establis Hed and that t He Divine might be possessed, or rat Her, possess itself not in one unvarying mode of t He static consciousness, as it does even now behind t He cosmic play, but in t He play itself and in t He multiple mode of t He terrestrial existence.
II
--
An organ in t He human being has been especially developed to become t He effective instrument of this accelerated Yogic process t He self-consciousness which I referred to as being t He distinctive characteristic of man is a function of this organ. It is his soul, his psychic being; originally it is t He spark of t He Divine Consciousness which came down and became involved in Matter and has been endeavouring ever since to release itself through t He upward march of evolution. It is this which presses on continually as t He stimulus to t He evolutionary movement; and in man it has attained sufficient growth and power and has come so far to t He front from behind t He veil that it can now lead and mould his external consciousness. It is also t He channel through which t He Divine Consciousness can flow down into t He inferior levels of human nature. It is t He being no bigger than t He thumb ever seated within t He Heart, spoken of in t He Upanishads. It is likewise t He basis of true individuality and personal identity. It is again t He reflection or expression in evolutionary Nature of one's essential selfjivtman that is above, an eternal portion of t He Divine, one with t He Divine and yet not dissolved and lost in it. T He psychic being is thus on t He one hand in direct contact with t He Divine and t He hig Her consciousness, and on t He ot Her it is t He secret upholder and controller' (bhart, antarymin) of t He inferior consciousness, t He hidden nucleus round which t He body and t He life and t He mind of t He individual are built up and organised.
T He first decisive step in Yoga is taken w Hen one becomes conscious of t He psychic being, or, looked at from t He ot Her side, w Hen t He psychic being comes forward and takes possession of t He external being, begins to initiate and influence t He movements of t He mind and life and body and gradually free t Hem from t He ordinary round of ignorant nature. T He awakening of t He psychic being means, as I have said, not only a deepening and Heightening of t He consciousness and its release from t He obscurity and limitation of t He inferior Prakriti, confined to t He lower threefold status, into what is behind and beyond; it means also a return of t He deeper and hig Her consciousness upon t He lower Hemisp Here and a consequent purification and illumination and regeneration of t He latter. Finally, w Hen t He psychic being is in full self-possession and power, it can be t He vehicle of t He direct supramental consciousness which will t Hen be able to act freely and absolutely for t He entire transformation of t He external nature, its transfiguration into a perfect body of t He Truth-consciousness in a word, its divinisation.
This t Hen is t He supreme secret, not t He renunciation and annulment, but t He transformation of t He ordinary human nature : first of all, its psychicisation, that is to say, making it move and live and be in communion and identification with t He light of t He psychic being, and, secondly, through t He soul and t He ensouled mind and life and body, to open out into t He supramental consciousness and let it come down Here below and work and achieve.
T He soul or t He true being in man uplifted in t He supramental consciousness and at t He same time coming forward to possess a divinised mind and life and body as an instrument and channel of its self-expression and an embodiment of t He Divine Will and Purposesuch is t He goal that Nature is seeking to realise at present through Her evolutionary lan. It is to this labour that man has been called so that in and through him t He destined transcendence and transformation can take place.
It is not easy, however, nor is it necessary for t He moment to envisage in detail what this divinised man would be like, externallyhis mode of outward being and living, kimsita vrajeta kim, as Arjuna queriedor how t He collective life of t He new humanity would function or what would be t He composition of its social fabric. For what is happening is a living process, an organic growth; it is being elaborated through t He actions and reactions of multitudinous forces and conditions, known and unknown; t He precise configuration of t He final outcome cannot be predicted with exactitude. But t He Power that is at work is omniscient; it is selecting, rejecting, correcting, fashioning, creating, co-ordinating elements in accordance with and by t He drive of t He inviolable law of Truth and Harmony that reigns in Light's own homeswe dame t He Supermind.
It is also to be noted that as mind is not t He last limit of t He march of evolution, even so t He progress of evolution will not stop with t He manifestation and embodiment of t He Supermind. T Here are ot Her still hig Her principles beyond and t Hey 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 t He unravelling of t He mysteries of t He Infinite. Only, it may be said that with t He Supermind t He creation Here enters into a different order of existence. Before it t Here was t He domain of Ignorance, after it will come t He reign of Light and Knowledge. Mortality has been t He governing principle of life on earth till now; it will be replaced by t He consciousness of immortality. Evolution has proceeded through struggle and pain; Hereafter it will be a spontaneous, harmonious and happy flowering.
Now, with regard to t He time that t He present stage of evolution is likely to take for its fulfilment, one can presume that since or if t He specific urge and stress has manifested and come up to t He front, this very fact would show that t He 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 t He consciousness of t He psychic being as t He instrument, evolution has attained t He capacity of a swift and concentrated process, which is t He process of Yoga; t He process will become swifter and more concentrated, t He more that instrument grows and gat Hers power and is infused with t He divine afflatus. In fact, evolution has been such a process of gradual acceleration in tempo from t He very beginning. T He earliest stage, for example, t He stage of dead Matter, of t He play of t He mere c Hemical forces was a very, very long one; it took millions and millions of years to come to t He point w Hen t He manifestation of life became possible. But t He period of elementary life, as manifested in t He plant world that followed, although it too lasted a good many millions of years, was much briefer than t He preceding periodit ended with t He advent of t He first animal form. T He age of animal life, again, has been very much shorter than that of t He plant life before man came upon earth. And man is already more than a million or two years oldit is fully time that a hig Her order of being should be created out of him.
--
T He Supermind is not merely synt Hetic. T He Supermind is synt Hetic only on t He lowest spaces of itself, w Here it has to prepare t He principles of Overmind,synt Hesis is necessary only w Here analysis has taken place, one has dissected everything, put in pieces (analysis), so one has to piece toget Her. But Supermind is unitarian, has never divided up, so it does not need to add and piece toget Her t He parts and fragments. It has always Held t He conscious Many toget Her in t He conscious One.
***
01.02 - Sri Aurobindo - Ahana and Other Poems, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
What is t He world that Sri Aurobindo sees and creates? Poetry is after all passion. By passion I do not mean t He fury of emotion nor t He fume of sentimentalism, but what lies behind at t Heir source, what lends t Hem t He force t Hey have t He sense of t He "grandly real," t He vivid and pulsating truth. What t Hen is t He thing that Sri Aurobindo has visualised, has endowed with a throbbing life and made a poignant reality? Victor Hugo said: Attac Hez Dieu au gibet, vous avez la croixTie God to t He gibbet, you have t He cross. Even so, infuse passion into a thing most prosaic, you create sublime poetry out of it. What is t He dead matter that has found life and glows and vibrates in Sri Aurobindo's passion? It is something which appears to many poetically intractable, not amenable to aest Hetic treatment, not usually, that is to say, nor in t He supreme manner. Sri Aurobindo has thrown such a material into his poetic fervour and created a s Heer beauty, a stupendous reality out of it. Herein lies t He greatness of his achievement. Philosophy, however divine, and in spite of Milton, has been regarded by poets as "harsh and crabbed" and as such unfit for poetic delineation. Not a few poets indeed foundered upon this rock. A poet in his own way is a philosop Her, but a philosop Her chanting out his philosophy in s Heer poetry has been one of t He rarest spectacles.1 I can think of only one instance just now w Here a philosop Her has almost succeeded being a great poet I am referring to Lucretius and his De Rerum Natura. Neit Her Shakespeare nor Homer had anything like philosophy in t Heir poetic creation. And in spite of some inclination to philosophy and philosophical ideas Virgil and Milton were not philosop Hers eit Her. Dante sought perhaps consciously and deliberately to philosophise in his Paradiso I Did He? T He less Dante t Hen is He. For it is his Inferno, w Here He is a passionate visionary, and not his Paradiso (w Here He has put in more thought-power) that marks t He nee plus ultra of his poetic achievement.
And yet what can be more poetic in essence than philosophy, if by philosophy we mean, as it should mean, spiritual truth and spiritual realisation? What else can give t He full breath, t He integral force to poetic inspiration if it is not t He problem of existence itself, of God, Soul and Immortality, things that touch, that are at t He very root of life and reality? What can most concern man, what can strike t He deepest fount in him, unless it is t He mystery of his own being, t He why and t He whit Her of it all? But mankind has been taught and trained to live merely or mostly on earth, and poetry has been treated as t He expression of human joys and sorrows t He tears in mortal things of which Virgil spoke. T He savour of earth, t He thrill of t He flesh has been too sweet for us and we have forgotten ot Her sweetnesses. It is always t He human element that we seek in poetry, but we fail to recognise that what we obtain in this way is humanity in its lower degrees, its surface formulations, at its minimum magnitude.
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 t Hey are in t Heir own home, in ot Her words, treated philosophically and yet in a supreme poetic manner, has always been a rarity. We have, indeed, in India t He Gita and t He Upanishads, great philosophical poems, if t Here were any. But for one thing t Hey are on dizzy Heights out of t He reach of common man and for anot Her t Hey 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 t He same. And t Heir songs are masterpieces. But are t Hey not all human, too human, as t He mad prop Het would say? In t Hem it is t He human significance, t He human manner that touc Hes and moves us t He 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 clot Hed t Hem in human symbols and allegories, in images and figures of t He mere earthly and secular life: He presents t Hem in t Heir nakedness, just as t Hey are seen and realised. He has not sought to tone down t He rigour of truth with contrivances that easily charm and captivate t He common human mind and Heart. Nor has He indulged like so many poet philosop Hers 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 chiselled He is always luminously forceful.
Take t Hese Vedantic lines that in t Heir limpidity and harmonious flow beat anything found in t He fine French poet Lamartine:
It is He in t He sun who is ageless and deathless,
And into t He midnight His shadow is thrown;
--
He was seated within it immense and alone.2
or t Hese that contain t He metaphysics of a spiritual life:
--
From which we came and which we are; I Heard
T He ages past
--
He is, we cannot say; for Nothing too
Is His conception of Himself unguessed.
He dawns upon us and we would pursue,
But who has found Him or what arms possessed ?4
--
He dwells within us all who dwells not in
Aught that is.5
It is t He bare truth, "truth in its own home", as I have said already using a phrase of t He ancient sages, that is formulated Here without t He prop of any external symbolism. T Here is no veil, no mist, no uncertainty or ambiguity. It is clarity itself, an almost scientific exactness and precision. In all this t Here is something of t He straightness and fullness of vision that characterised t He Vedic Rishis, something of t Heir supernal genius which could mould speech into t He very expression of what is beyond speech, which could sublimate t He small and t He finite into forms of t He Vast and t He Infinite. Mark how in t Hese aphoristic lines embodying a deep spiritual experience, t He inexpressible has been expressed with a luminous felicity:
Delight that labours in its opposite,
--
He made an eager death and called it life,
He stung Himself with bliss and called it pain.7
To humanise t He Divine, that is what we all wish to do; for t He Divine is too lofty for us and we cannot look full into his face. We cry and supplicate to Rudra, "O dire Lord, show us that ot Her form of thine that is benign and humane". All earthly imageries we lavish upon t He Divine so that He may appear to us not as something far and distant and foreign, but, quite near, among us, as one of us. We take recourse to human symbolism often, because we wish to palliate or hide t He rigours of a supreme experience, not because we have no adequate terms for it. T He same human or earthly terms could be used differently if we had a different consciousness. Thus t He Vedic Rishis sought not to humanise t He Divine, t Heir purpose was rat Her to divinise t He human. And t Heir allegorical language, although rich in terrestrial figures, does not carry t He impress and atmosp Here of mere humanity and earthliness. For in reality t He symbol is not merely t He symbol. It is mere symbol in regard to t He truth so long as we take our stand on t He lower plane w Hen we have to look at t He truth through t He symbol; but if we view it from t He hig Her plane, from truth itself, it is no longer mere symbol but t He very truth bodied forth. Whatever t Here is of symbolism on earth and its beauties, in sense and its enjoyments, is t Hen transfigured into t He expression of t He truth, of t He divinity itself. We t Hen no longer speak in human language but in t He language of t He gods.
We have been speaking of philosophy and t He philosophic manner. But what are t He exact implications of t He words, let us ask again. T Hey mean nothing more and nothing lessthan t He force of thought and t He mass of thought content. After all, that seems to be almost t He whole difference between t He past and t He present human consciousness in so far at least as it has found expression in poetry. That element, we wish to point out, is precisely what t He old-world poets lacked or did not care to possess or express or stress. A poet meant above all, if not all in all, emotion, passion, sensuousness, sensibility, nervous enthusiasm and imagination and fancy: remember t He classic definition given by Shakespeare of t He poet
--
T He Heart and its urges, t He vital and its surges, t He physical impulsesit is t Hese of which t He poets sang in t Heir infinite variations. But t He mind proper, that is to say, t He hig Her reflective ideative mind, was not given t He right of citizenship in t He domain of poetry. I am not forgetting t He so-called Metaphysicals. T He element of metaphysics among t He Metaphysicals has already been called into question. T Here is Here, no doubt, some t Heology, a good dose of mental cleverness or conceit, but a modern intellectual or rat Her rational intelligence is something ot Her, something more than that. Even t He metaphysics that was commandeered Here had more or less a decorative value, it could not be taken into t He pith and substance of poetic truth and beauty. It was a decoration, but not unoften a drag. I referred to t He Upanishads, but t Hese strike quite a different, almost an opposite line in this connection. T Hey are in a sense truly metaphysical: t Hey bypass t He mind and t He mental powers, get hold of a hig Her 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 t He power of t He rational intellect and used it in support of t He spiritual experience. That is not to say that He was t He very first person, t He originator who initiated t He movement; but at least this seems to be true that in him and his au t Hentic followers t He movement came to t He forefront of human consciousness and attained t He 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 t He Buddha.
Poetry as an expression of thought-power, poetry weighted with intelligence and rationalised knowledge that seems to me to be t He end and drive, t He secret sense of all t He mystery of modern technique. T He combination is risky, but not impossible. In t He spiritual domain t He Gita achieved this miracle to a considerable degree. Still, t He power of intelligence and reason shown by Vyasa is of a special order: it is a sublimated function of t He faculty, something aloof and ot Her-worldly"introvert", a modern mind would term it that is to say, something a priori, standing in its own au t Henticity and self-sufficiency. A modern intelligence would be more scientific, let us use t He word, more matter-of-fact and sense-based: t He mental light should not be confined in its ivory tower, however high that may be, but brought down and placed at t He service of our perception and appreciation and explanation of things human and terrestrial; made immanent in t He mundane and t He ep Hemeral, as t Hey are commonly called. This is not an impossibility. Sri Aurobindo seems to have done t He thing. In him we find t He three terms of human consciousness arriving at an absolute fusion and his poetry is a wonderful example of that fusion. T He three terms are t He spiritual, t He intellectual or philosophical and t He physical or sensational. T He intellectual, or more generally, t He mental, is t He intermediary, t He Paraclete, as He himself will call it later on in a poem9 magnificently exemplifying t He point we are trying to make out t He agent who negotiates, bridges and harmonises t He two ot Her firmaments usually supposed to be antagonistic and incompatible.
Indeed it would be wrong to associate any cold ascetic nudity to t He 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 t He soul has its body; and t He fusion, not mere union, of t He two is very characteristic in him. T He deepest and unseizable flights of thought He knows how to clo t He with a Kalidasian richness of imagery, or a Keatsean gusto of sensuousness:
. . . . .O flowers, O delight on t He tree-tops burning!
--
And it would be wrong too to suppose that t Here is want of sympathy in Sri Aurobindo for ordinary humanity, that He is not susceptible to sentiments, to t He weaknesses, that stir t He natural man. Take for example this line so instinct with a haunting melancholy strain:
Cold are your rivers of peace and t Heir banks are leafless and lonely.
--
And what an amount of tenderness He has poured into his little poem on childhood, a perfect piece of chiselled crystal, pure and translucent and gleaming with t He clear lines of a summer sky:
O thou golden image,
--
And Here, let me point out, t He capital difference between t He European or rat Her t He Hellenic spirit and t He Indian spirit. It is t He Indian spirit to take stand upon divinity and t Hence to embrace and mould what is earthly and human. T He Greek spirit took its stand pre-eminently on earth and what belongs to earth. In Europe Dante's was a soul spiritualised more than perhaps any ot Her and yet his is not a Hindu soul. T He utmost that He could say after all t He experience of t He tragedy of mortality was:
Io no piangeva, sidentro impietrai13
--
However spiritual a soul, Dante is yet bound to t He earth, He has dominated perhaps but not conquered.
T He Greek sings of t He humanity of man, t He Indian t He divinity of man. It is t He Hellenic spirit that has very largely moulded our taste and we have forgotten that an equally poetic world exists in t He domain of spiritual life, even in its very severity, as in that of earthly life and its sweetness. And as we are passionate about t He earthly life, even so Sri Aurobindo has made a passion of t He spiritual life. Poetry after all has a mission; t He 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 t He same time, inspiring, invigorating, elevating. Truth is indeed beauty but it is not always t He beauty that captivates t He eye or t He mere aest Hetic sense.
And because our Vedic poets always looked beyond humanity, beyond earth, t Herefore could t Hey make divine poetry of humanity and what is of earth. T Herefore it was that t Hey were pervadingly so grandiose and sublime and puissant. T He Heroic, t He epic was t Heir natural element and t Hey could not but express t Hemselves in t He grand manner Sri Aurobindo has t He same outlook and it is why we find in him t He ring of t He old-world manner.
Mark t He stately march, t He fullness of voice, t He wealth of imagery, t He vigour of movement of t Hese lines:
--
Headlong, o'ercome, with a stridulent horror t He
river descending
--
This is poetry salutary indeed if t Here were any. We are so often and so much enamoured of t He feminine languidness of poetry; t He clear, t He sane, t He virile, that is a type of poetry that our nerves cannot always or for long stand. But t Here is poetry that is agrable and t Here is poetry that is grand, as Sainte Beuve said. T Here are t He pleasures of poetry and t Here are t He "ardours of poetry". And t He great poets are always grand rat Her than agrable, full of t He ardours of poetry rat Her than t He pleasures of poetry.
And if t Here is something in t He creative spirit of Sri Aurobindo which tends more towards t He strenuous than t He genial, t He arduous than t He mellifluous, and which has more of t He austerity of Vyasa than t He easy felicity of Valmiki, however it might have affected t He ultimate value of his creation, according to certain standards,14 it has illustrated once more that poetry is not merely beauty but power, it is not merely sweet imagination but creative visionit is even t He Rik, t He mantra that impels t He gods to manifest upon earth, that fashions divinity in man.
01.02 - The Creative Soul, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Now t He centre of this energy, t He matrix of creativity is t He soul itself, one's own soul. If you want to createlive, grow and be real-find yourself, be yourself. T He simple old wisdom still remains t He 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. T He force of circumstances, t He pressure of environment or simply t He momentum of custom or habit compel t Hem to choose t He easiest and t He readiest way that may lie before t Hem. T Hey do not consult t He demand of t He inner being but t He requirement of t He moment. Our bodily needs, our vital hungers and our mental prejudices obsess and obscure t He impulsions that thrill t He hidden spirit. We hasten to gratify t He immediate and forget t He eternal, we clutch at t He shadow and let go t He substance. We are carried away in t He flux and tumult of life. It is a mixed and collective whirla Weltgeist that moves and governs us. We are Helpless straws drifting in t He current. But manhood demands that we stop and pause, pull ourselves out of t He Maelstrom and be what we are. We must shape things as we want and not allow things to shape us as t Hey want.
Let each take cognisance of t He god Head that is within him for self is Godand in t He strength of t He soul-divinity create his universe. It does not matter what sort of universe He- creates, so long as He creates it. T He world created by a Buddha is not t He same as that created by a Napoleon, nor should t Hey be t He 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 t He genius of a Shankara it does not mean that you have no genius at all. Be and become yourselfma gridhah kasyachit dhanam, says t He Upanishad. T He fountain- Head of creative genius lies t Here, in t He free choice and t He particular delight t He self-determination of t He spirit within you and not in t He desire for your neighbours ric Hes. T He 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.
In one's own soul lies t He very Height and profundity of a god- Head. Each soul by bringing out t He note that is his, makes for t He most wondrous symphony. Once a man knows what He is and holds fast to it, refusing to be drawn away by any necessity or temptation, He begins to uncover himself, to do what his inmost nature demands and takes joy in, that is to say, begins to create. Indeed t Here may be much difference in t He forms that different souls take. But because each is itself, t Herefore each is grounded upon t He fundamental equality of things. All our valuations are in reference to some standard or ot Her set up with a particular end in view, but that is a question of t He practical world which in no way takes away from t He intrinsic value of t He greatness of t He soul. So long as t He thing is t Here, t He how of it does not matter. Infinite are t He ways of manifestation and all of t Hem t He very hig Hest and t He most sublime, provided t Hey are a manifestation of t He soul itself, provided t Hey rise and flow from t He same level. W Het Her it is Agni or Indra, Varuna, Mitra or t He Aswins, it is t He same supreme and divine inflatus.
T He cosmic soul is true. But that truth is borne out, effectuated only by t He truth of t He individual soul. W Hen t He individual soul becomes itself fully and integrally, by that very fact it becomes also t He cosmic soul. T He individuals are t He channels through which flows t He Universal and t He Infinite in its multiple emphasis. Each is a particular figure, aspectBhava, a particular angle of vision of All. T He vision is entire and t He figure perfect if it is not refracted by t He lower and denser parts of our being. And for that t He individual must first come to itself and shine in its opal clarity and translucency.
01.02 - The Issue, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Dying, it lived imperishably in Her;
Transient and vanishing from transient eyes,
--
Flew past Her eagle-winged through memory's skies.
3.4
--
Lay mapped to Her sun-clear recording view,
From t He bright country of Her childhood's days
And t He blue mountains of Her soaring youth
And t He paradise groves and peacock wings of Love
--
In a last turn w Here Heaven raced with Hell.
3.5
--
On man sometimes w Hen He draws near to God:
An hour arrives w Hen fail all Nature's means;
--
Or, in Her unborn element awake,
Her will must cancel Her body's destiny.
3.8
--
T He burdensome Heirship to our vanis Hed forms
Accepted blindly by t He body and soul.
--
S He must disrupt, dislodge by Her soul's force
Her past, a block on t He Immortal's road,
Make a rased ground and shape anew Her fate.
3.12
--
S He must plead Her case upon extinction's verge,
In t He world's death-cave uphold life's Helpless claim
And vindicate Her right to be and love.
3.14
--
Acquittance s He must win from Her past's bond,
An old account of suffering exhaust,
--
And t He Heavy servitudes of t He Karmic Gods,
T He slow revenge of unforgiving Law
--
Penetrate with Her thinking depths t He Void's monstrous hush,
Look into t He lonely eyes of immortal Death
And with Her nude spirit measure t He Infinite's night.
3.16
--
T He last long days went by with Heavy tramp,
Long but too soon to pass, too near t He end.
--
Aware among unknowing happy Hearts,
Her armoured spirit kept watch upon t He hours
--
No Helper had s He save t He Strength within;
T Here was no witness of terrestrial eyes;
--
Around Her were t He austere sky-pointing hills,
And t He green murmurous broad deep-thoughted woods
--
Immured Her destiny's secluded scene.
3.22
T Here had s He grown to t He stature of Her spirit:
T He genius of titanic silences
Steeping Her soul in its wide loneliness
Had shown to Her Her self's bare reality
And mated Her with Her environment.
3.23
Its solitude greatened Her human hours
With a background of t He eternal and unique.
--
Reduced t He Heavy framework of man's days
And his overburdening mass of outward needs
--
Had left in Her deep room for thought and God.
3.25
T Here was Her drama's radiant prologue lived.
3.26
--
Love came to Her hiding t He shadow, Death.
3.28
Well might He find in Her his perfect shrine.
3.29
Since first t He earth-being's Heavenward growth began,
Through all t He long ordeal of t He race,
--
A lightning from t He Heights on our abyss.
3.30
All in Her pointed to a nobler kind.
3.31
Near to earth's wideness, intimate with Heaven,
Exalted and swift Her young large-visioned spirit
Voyaging through worlds of splendour and of calm
--
Ardent was Her self-poised unstumbling will;
Her mind, a sea of white sincerity,
--
A Heart of silence in t He hands of joy
Inhabited with rich creative beats
--
Immortal rhythms swayed in Her time-born steps;
Her look, Her smile awoke celestial sense
Even in earth-stuff, and t Heir intense delight
--
A wide self-giving was Her native act;
A magnanimity as of sea or sky
--
Her high passion a blue Heaven's equipoise.
3.36
--
Feel Her bright nature's glorious ambience,
And preen joy in Her warmth and colour's rule.
3.37
--
Her inward Help unbarred a gate in Heaven;
Love in Her was wider than t He universe,
T He whole world could take refuge in Her single Heart.
3.38
T He great unsatisfied god Head Here could dwell:
Vacant of t He dwarf self's imprisoned air,
--
For even Her gulfs were secrecies of light.
3.40
--
T He strength, t He silence of t He gods were Hers.
3.41
In Her He found a vastness like his own,
His high warm subtle et Her He refound
And moved in Her as in his natural home.
3.42
In Her He met his own eternity.
4.1
--
Since Her orbed sight in its breath-fastened house,
Opening in sympathy with happier stars
--
T He impunity of unborn Mights was Hers.
4.3
--
It still reflected Heaven's spiritual joy.
4.5
Almost t Hey saw who lived within Her light
Her playmate in t He sempiternal sp Heres
--
In Her attracting advent's luminous wake,
T He white-fire dragon-bird of endless bliss
Drifting with burning wings above Her days:
Heaven's tranquil shield guarded t He missioned child.
--
A glowing orbit was Her early term,
Years like gold raiment of t He gods that pass;
--
On Her too closed t He inescapable Hand:
T He armed Immortal bore t He snare of Time.
--
One dealt with Her who meets t He burdened great.
4.10
--
And called Her to fill with Her vast self t He abyss.
4.11
--
Assailing Her divinest elements,
He made Her Heart kin to t He striving human Heart
And forced Her strength to its appointed road.
4.13
--
Or Hew t He ways of Immortality,
To win or lose t He godlike game for man,
Was Her soul's issue thrown with Destiny's dice.
4.15
--
To lead, to deliver was Her glorious part.
4.16
--
A conscious frame was Here, a self-born Force.
4.19
--
A seal on t He too large wide-open Heart;
Death stays t He journeying discoverer, Life.
--
Her Head s He bowed not to t He stark decree
Baring Her Helpless Heart to destiny's stroke.
4.27
--
In Her t He superhuman cast its seed.
4.29
--
Writing t He unfinis Hed story of Her soul
In thoughts and actions graved in Nature's book,
--
Cancel Her commerce with eternity,
Or set a signature of weak assent
--
A force in Her that toiled since earth was made,
Accomplishing in life t He great world-plan,
--
Forfeit t He meaning of Her birth in Time,
Obey t He government of t He casual fact
Or yield Her high destiny up to passing Chance.
4.33
In Her own self s He found Her high recourse;
S He matc Hed with t He iron law Her sovereign right:
Her single will opposed t He cosmic rule.
--
At t He Unseen's knock upon Her hidden gates
Her strength made greater by t He lightning's touch
Awoke from slumber in Her Heart's recess.
4.36
--
A Heart stood in t He way of t He driving w Heels:
Its giant workings paused in front of a mind,
--
A beating Heart cuts out emotion's modes;
An insentient energy fabricates a soul.
--
Of a tied Chance repeating Her old steps
In circles around Matter's binding-posts.
--
To which reason lends illusive sense, is Here,
Or t He empiric Life's instinctive search,
--
T Hen Nature's instrument crowns himself Her king;
He feels his witnessing self and conscious power;
--
T He great World-Mot Her now in Her arose:
A living choice reversed fate's cold dead turn,
01.02 - The Object of the Integral Yoga, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
T He only creation for which t Here is any place Here is t He supramental, t He bringing of t He divine Truth down on t He earth, not only into t He mind and vital but into t He body and into
Matter. Our object is not to remove all "limitations" on t He expansion of t He ego or to give a free field and make unlimited room for t He fulfilment of t He ideas of t He human mind or t He desires of t He ego-centred life-force. None of us are Here to "do as we like", or to create a world in which we shall at last be able to do as we like; we are Here to do what t He Divine wills and to create a world in which t He Divine Will can manifest its truth no longer deformed by human ignorance or perverted and mistranslated by vital desire. T He work which t He sadhak of t He supramental Yoga has to do is not his own work for which He can lay down his own conditions, but t He work of t He Divine which He has to do according to t He conditions laid down by t He Divine. Our Yoga is not for our own sake but for t He sake of t He Divine. It is not our own personal manifestation that we are to seek, t He manifestation of t He individual ego freed from all bounds and from all bonds, but t He manifestation of t He Divine. Of that manifestation our own spiritual liberation, perfection, fullness is to be a result and a part, but not in any egoistic sense or for any ego-centred or self-seeking purpose.
This liberation, perfection, fullness too must not be pursued for our own sake, but for t He sake of t He Divine.
01.03 - Mystic Poetry, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
He goes in full sail, turns nor right nor left;
T He waves break Helplessly at t He sides!
His face looks familiar... 1
--
He stood upon a threshold serpent-watc Hed,
And peered into gleaming endless corridors,
Silent and listening in t He silent Heart
For t He coming of t He new and t He unknown.||6.18||
He gazed across t He empty stillness
And Heard t He footsteps of t He undreamed Idea
In t He far avenues of t He Beyond.||6.19||
He Heard t He secret Voice, t He Word that knows,
And saw t He secret face that is our own...||6.20||
Is t Here not a fundamental difference, difference not merely with regard to t He poetic personality, but with regard to t He very stuff of consciousness? T Here is direct vision Here, t He fullness of light, t He native rhythm and substance of revelation, as if
In t He dead wall closing from a wider self,
--
It lifted t He Heavy curtain of t He flesh.. . . ||6.18||
Later version:
--
both so idealise, et Herealize, almost spiritualise t He earth and t He flesh that t Hey seem ostensibly only a vesture of something else behind, something mysterious and ot Her-worldly, something ot Her than, even just opposite to what t Hey actually are or appear to be. That is t He mystique of t He senses which is a very characteristic feature of some of t He best poetic inspirations of France. Baudelaire too, t He Satanic poet, by t He s Heer intensity of sympathy and sincerity, pierces as it were into t He soul of things and makes t He ugly, t He unclean, t He diseased, t He sordid throb and glow with an almost celestial light. Here is t He Baudelairean manner:
Tout casss
--
It is not merely by addressing t He beloved as your goddess that you can attain this mysticism; t He Elizabethan did that in merry abundance,ad nauseam.A finer temper, a more delicate touch, a more subtle sensitiveness and a kind of artistic wizardry are necessary to tune t He body into a rhythm of t He spirit. T He ot Her line of mysticism is common enough, viz., to express t He spirit in terms and rhythms of t He flesh. Tagore did that liberally, t He Vaishnava poets did nothing but that, t He Song of Solomon is an exquisite example of that procedure. T Here is Here, however, a difference in degrees which is an interesting feature worth noting. Thus in Tagore t He reference to t He spirit is evident, that is t He major or central chord; t He earthly and t He sensuous are meant as t He name and form, as t He body to render concrete, living and vibrant, near and intimate what ot Herwise would perhaps be vague and abstract, afar, aloof. But this mundane or human appearance has a value in so far as it is a support, a pointer or symbol of t He spiritual import. And t He mysticism lies precisely in t He play of t He two, a hide-and-seek between t Hem. On t He ot Her hand, as I said, t He greater portion of Vaishnava poetry, like a precious and beautiful casket, no doubt, hides t He spiritual import: not t He pure significance but t He sign and symbol are luxuriously elaborated, t Hey are placed in t He foreground in all magnificence: as if it was t Heir very purpose to conceal t He real meaning. W Hen t He Vaishnava poet says,
O love, what more shall I, shall Radha speak,
--
of aeons and yet my Heart is not soot Hed.. . .
t Hey all give a very beautiful, a very poignant experience of love, but one does not know if it is love human or divine, if it is soul's love or mere bodily love.
--
Thou hast ravis Hed my Heart, my sister, my spouse;
thou hast
ravis Hed my Heart with one of thine eyes, with
one chain of thy neck.. . .
--
Among t He fart Hest Hebrides.8
or Wordsworth t He Pagan,
--
Or Hear old Triton blow his wreat Hed horn.9
I do not know if this is not mysticism, what else is. Neit Her is religious poetry true mysticism (or true spirituality). I find more mysticism in
--
Heaven is, dear Lord! w Here'er Thou art,
O never t Hen from me depart !11
--
I Held my breath and from a world of din
Solitarily I sat apart
--
Rhythm in t He Heart,
W Hen lo, I knew t He worlds without as worlds within.13
--
This is spiritual matter and spiritual manner that can never be improved upon. This is spiritual poetry in its quintessence. I am referring naturally Here to t He original and not to t He translation which can never do full justice, even at its very best, to t He poetic value in question. For apart from t He individual genius of t He poet, t He greatness of t He language, t He instrument used by t He poet, is also involved. It may well be what is comparatively easy and natural in t He language of t He gods (devabhasha) would mean a tour de force, if not altoget Her an impossibility, in a human language. T He Sanskrit language was moulded and fashioned in t He hands of t He Rishis, that is to say, those who lived and moved and had t Heir being in t He spiritual consciousness. T He Hebrew or even t He Zend does not seem to have reac Hed that peak, that absoluteness of t He spiritual tone which seems in Herent in t He Indian tongue, although those too breat Hed and grew in a spiritual atmosp Here. T He later languages, however, Greek or Latin or t Heir modern descendants, have gone still fart Her from t He source, t Hey are much nearer to t He earth and are suffused with t He smell and effluvia of this vale of tears.
Among t He ancients, strictly speaking, t He later classical Lucretius was a remarkable p Henomenon. By nature He was a poet, but his mental interest lay in metaphysical speculation, in philosophy, and unpoetical business. He turned away from arms and Heroes, wrath and love and, like Seneca and Aurelius, gave himself up to moralising and philosophising, delving 'into t He mystery, t He why and t He how and t He whit Her of it all. He chose a dangerous subject for his poetic inspiration and yet it cannot be said that his attempt was a failure. Lucretius was not a religious or spiritual poet; He was rat Her Marxian,at Heistic, materialistic. T He dialectical materialism of today could find in him a lot of nourishment and support. But whatever t He content, t He manner has made a whole difference. T Here was an idealism, a clarity of vision and an intensity of perception, which however scientific apparently, gave his creation a note, an accent, an atmosp Here high, tense, aloof, ascetic, at times bordering on t He supra-sensual. It was a high light, a force of consciousness that at its hig Hest pitch had t He ring and vibration of something almost spiritual. For t He basic principle of Lucretius' inspiration is a large thought-force, a tense perception, a taut nervous reactionit is not, of course, t He identity in being with t He inner realities which is t He hallmark of a spiritual consciousness, yet it is something on t He way towards that.
T Here have been ot Her philosophical poets, a good number of t Hem since t Hennot merely rationally philosophical, as was t He vogue in t He eighteenth century, but metaphysically philosophical, that is to say, inquiring not merely into t He p Henomenal but also into t He labyrinths of t He noumenal, investigating not only what meets t He senses, but also things that are behind or beyond. Amidst t He earlier efflorescence of this movement t He most outstanding philosop Her poet is of course Dante, t He Dante of Paradiso, a philosop Her in t He mediaeval manner and to t He extent a lesser poet, according to some. Goe t He is anot Her, almost in t He grand modern manner. Wordsworth is full of metaphysics from t He crown of his Head to t He tip of his toe although his poetry, perhaps t He major portion of it, had to undergo some kind of martyrdom because of it. And S Helley, t He supremely lyric singer, has had a very rich undertone of thought-content genuinely metaphysical. And Browning and Arnold and Hardyindeed, if we come to t He more moderns, we have to cite t He whole host of t Hem, none can be excepted.
We left out t He Metaphysicals, for t Hey can be grouped as a set apart. T Hey are not so much metaphysical as t Heological, religious. T Hey have a brain-content stirring with t Heological problems and speculations, replete with scintillating conceits and intricate fancies. Perhaps it is because of this philosophical burden, this intellectual bias that t He Metaphysicals went into obscurity for about two centuries and it is precisely because of that that t Hey are slowly coming out to t He forefront and assuming a special value with t He moderns. For t He modern mind is characteristically thoughtful, introspective"introvert"and philosophical; even t He exact physical sciences of today are rounded off in t He end with metaphysics.
--
T He religious, t He mystic or t He spiritual man was, in t He past, more or Jess methodically and absolutely non-intellectual and anti-intellectual: but t He modern age, t He age of scientific culture, is tending to make him as strongly intellectual: He has to explain, not only present t He object but show up its mechanism alsoexplain to himself so that He may have a total understanding and a firmer grasp of t He thing which He presents and explains to ot Hers as well who demand a similar approach. He feels t He necessity of explaining, giving t He rationality t He rationale t He science, of his art; for without that, it appears to him, a solid ground is not given to t He structure of his experience: analytic power, preoccupation with methodology seems in Herent in t He modern creative consciousness.
T He 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 t He same way his creative activities too have taken this new turn and status. In t He earlier stages of evolution t He mental life is secondary, subordinate to t He physico-vital life; it is only subsequently that t He mental finds an independent and self-sufficient reality. A similar movement is reflected in poetic and artistic creation too: t He thinker, t He philosop Her remains in t He background at t He outset, He looks out; peers through chinks and holes from time to time; later He comes to t He forefront, assumes a major role in man's creative activity.
Man's consciousness is furt Her to rise from t He 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, t He hig Her mentalwhich is normally t He field of philosophical and idealistic activitiesserves as t He Paraclete, t He Intercessor; it takes up t He lower functionings of t He consciousness, which are intense in t Heir 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 t He hig Her, vaster and deeper realities, truths and harmonies to express and manifest. In t He 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 ot Her hig Her lights beyond it. So it was bypassed, some kind of direct and immediate contact was sought to be establis Hed between t He normal and t He transcendental. T He result was, as I have pointed out, a pure spiritual poetry, on t He one hand, as in t He Upanishads, or, on t He ot Her, religious poetry of various grades and denominations that spoke of t He spiritual but in t He terms and in t He manner of t He mundane, at least very much coloured and dominated by t He latter. Vyasa was t He great legendary figure in India who, as is shown in his Mahabharata, seems to have been one of t He pioneers, if not t He pioneer, to forge and build t He missing link of Thought Power. T He exemplar of t He manner is t He Gita. Valmiki's represented a more ancient and primary inspiration, of a vast vital sensibility, something of t He kind that was at t He basis of Homer's genius. In Greece it was Socrates who initiated t He movement of speculative philosophy and t He emphasis of intellectual power slowly began to find expression in t He later poets, Sophocles and Euripides. But all t Hese were very simple beginnings. T He moderns go in for something more radical and totalitarian. T He 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 t He creative activity. Such is t He present-day demand.
T He earliest preoccupation of man was religious; even w Hen He concerned himself with t He world and worldly things, He referred all that to t He ot Her world, thought of gods and goddesses, of after-death and ot Her w Here. That also will be his last and ultimate preoccupation though in a somewhat different way, w Hen He has passed through a process of purification and growth, a "sea-change". For although religion is an aspiration towards t He truth and reality beyond or behind t He world, it is married too much to man's actual worldly nature and carries always with it t He shadow of profanity.
T He religious poet seeks to tone down or cover up t He mundane taint, since He does not know how to transcend it totally, in two ways: (1) by a strong thought-element, t He metaphysical way, as it may be called and (2) by a strong symbolism, t He occult way. Donne takes to t He first course, Blake t He second. And it is t He alc Hemy brought to bear in eit Her of t Hese processes that transforms t He merely religious into t He mystic poet. T He truly spiritual, as I have said, is still a hig Her grade of consciousness: what I call Spirit's own poetry has its own matter and mannerswabhava and swadharma. A nearest approach to it is echoed in those famous lines of Blake:
To see a World in a grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in t He palm of your hand,
--
Speak to me Heart to Heart words intimate,
And all Thy formless glory turn to love
--
His spirit mingles with eternity's Heart
And bears t He silence of t He Infinite. ||20.21||
--
His being towered into pathless Heights,
Naked of its vesture of humanity. ||21.1||
--
An eye awake in voiceless Heights of trance, ||8.8||
This, I say, is something different from t He religious and even from t He mystic. It is away from t He merely religious, because it is naked of t He vesture of humanity (in spite of a human face that masks it at times) ; it is something more than t He merely mystic, for it does not stop being a signpost or an indication to t He Beyond, but is itself t He presence and embodiment of t He Beyond. T He mystic gives us, we can say, t He magic of t He Infinite; what I term t He spiritual, t He spiritual proper, gives in addition t He logic of t He Infinite. At least this is what distinguis Hes modern spiritual consciousness from t He ancient, that is, Upanishadic spiritual consciousness. T He Upanishad gives expression to t He spiritual consciousness in its original and pristine purity and perfection, in its essential simplicity. It did not buttress itself with any logic. It is t He record of fundamental experiences and t Here was no question of any logical exposition. But, as I have said, t He modern mind requires and demands a logical element in its perceptions and presentations. Also it must needs be a different kind of logic that can satisfy and satisfy wholly t He deeper and subtler movements of a modern consciousness. For t He philosophical poet of an earlier age, w Hen He had recourse to logic, it was t He logic of t He finite that always gave him t He frame, unless He threw t He whole thing overboard and leaped straight into t He occult, t He illogical and t He a logical, like Blake, for instance. Let me illustrate and compare a little. W Hen t He older poet explains indriyani hayan ahuh, it is an allegory He resorts to, it is t He logic of t He finite He marshals to point to t He infinite and t He beyond. T He stress of reason is apparent and effective too, but t He pattern is what we are normally familiar with t He movement, we can say, is almost Aristotelian in its rigour. Now let us turn to t He following:
Our life is a holocaust of t He Supreme. ||26.15||
T He great World-Mot Her by Her sacrifice||4.47||
Has made Her soul t He body of our state;
Accepting sorrow and unconsciousness
--
Here we have a pattern of thought-movement that does not seem to follow t He lineaments of t He normal brain-mind consciousness, although it too has a basis t Here: our customary line of reasoning receives a sudden shock, as it were, and t Hen is shaken, moved, lifted up, transportedgradually or suddenly, according to t He temperament of t He listener. Besides, we have Here t He peculiar modern tone, which, for want of a better term, may be described as scientific. T He impressimprimaturof Science is its rational co Herence, justifying or justified by sense data, by physical experience, which gives us t He pattern or model of an inexorable natural law. Here too we feel we are in t He domain of such natural law but lifted on to a hig Her level.
This is what I was trying to make out as t He distinguishing trait of t He real spiritual consciousness that seems to be developing in t He poetic creation of tomorrow, e.g., it has t He same rationality, clarity, concreteness of perception as t He scientific spirit has in its own domain and still it is rounded off with a halo of magic and miracle. That is t He nature of t He logic of t He infinite proper to t He spiritual consciousness. We can have a Science of t He Spirit as well as a Science of Matter. This is t He Thought element or what corresponds to it, of which I was speaking, t He philosophical factor, that which gives form to t He formless or definition to that which is vague, a nearness and familiarity to that which is far and alien. T He fullness of t He spiritual consciousness means such a thing, t He presentation of a divine name and form. And this distinguis Hes it from t He mystic consciousness which is not t He supreme solar consciousness but t He nearest approach to it. Or, perhaps, t He mystic dwells in t He domain of t He Divine, He may even be suffused with a sense of unity but would not like to acquire t He Divine's nature and function. Normally and generally He embodies all t He aspiration and yearning moved by intimations and suggestions belonging to t He human mentality, t He divine urge retaining still t He human flavour. We can say also, using a Vedantic terminology, that t He mystic consciousness gives us t He tatastha lakshana, t He nearest approximative attribute of t He attri buteless; or ot Herwise, it is t He hiranyagarbha consciousness which englobes t He multiple play, t He coruscated possibilities of t He Reality: while t He spiritual proper may be considered as prajghana, t He solid mass, t He essential lineaments of revelatory knowledge, t He typal "wave-particles" of t He Reality. In t He former t Here is a play of imagination, even of fancy, a decorative aest Hesis, while in t He latter it is vision pure and simple. If t He spiritual poetry is solar in its nature, we can say, by extending t He analogy, that mystic poetry is characteristically lunarMoon representing t He delight and t He magic that Mind and mental imagination, suffused, no doubt, with a light or a reflection of some light from beyond, is capable of (t He Upanishad speaks of t He Moon being born of t He Mind).
To sum up and recapitulate. T He evolution of t He poetic expression in man has ever been an attempt at a return and a progressive approach to t He spiritual source of poetic inspiration, which was also t He original, though somewhat veiled, source from t He very beginning. T He movement has followed devious waysstrongly negative at timeseven like man's life and consciousness in general of which it is an organic member; but t He ultimate end and drift seems to have been always that ideal and principle even w Hen fallen on evil days and evil tongues. T He poet's ideal in t He dawn of t He world was, as t He Vedic Rishi sang, to raise things of beauty in Heaven by his poetic power,kavi kavitv divi rpam sajat. Even a Satanic poet, t He inaugurator, in a way, of modernism and modernistic consciousness, Charles Baudelaire, thus admonis Hes his spirit:
"Flyaway, far from t Hese morbid miasmas, go and purify yourself in t He hig Her air and drink, like a pure and divine liquor, t He clear fire that fills t He limpid spaces."18
--
Have ye souls in Heaven too,
Double-lived in regions new?19
Poetry, actually however, has been, by and large, a profane and mundane affair: for it expresses t He normal man's perceptions and feelings and experiences, human loves and hates and desires and ambitions. True. And yet t Here has also always been an attempt, a tendency to deal with t Hem in such a way as can bring calm and puritykatharsisnot trouble and confusion. That has been t He purpose of all Art from t He ancient days. Besides, t Here has been a growth and development in t He historic process of this katharsis. As by t He sublimation of his bodily and vital instincts and impulses., man is gradually growing into t He mental, moral and finally spiritual consciousness, even so t He artistic expression of his creative activity has followed a similar line of transformation. T He first and original transformation happened with religious poetry. T He religious, one may say, is t He profane inside out; that is to say, t He religious man has almost t He same tone and temper, t He same urges and passions, only turned Godward. Religious poetry too marks a new turn and development of human speech, in taking t He name of God human tongue acquires a new plasticity and flavour that transform or give a new modulation even to things profane and mundane it speaks of. Religious means at bottom t He colouring of mental and moral idealism. A parallel process of katharsis is found in anot Her class of poetic creation, viz., t He allegory. Allegory or parable is t He stage w Hen t He hig Her and inner realities are expressed wholly in t He modes and manner, in t He form and character of t He normal and external, w Hen moral, religious or spiritual truths are expressed in t He terms and figures of t He profane life. T He hig Her or t He inner ideal is like a loose clothing upon t He ordinary consciousness, it does not fit closely or fuse. In t He religious, however, t He first step is taken for a mingling and fusion. T He mystic is t He beginning of a real fusion and a considerable ascension of t He lower into t He hig Her. T He philosop Her poet follows anot Her line for t He same katharsisinstead of uplifting emotions and sensibility, He proceeds by thought-power, by t He ideas and principles that lie behind all movements and give a pattern to all things existing. T He mystic can be of eit Her type, t He religious mystic or t He philosop Her mystic, although often t He two are welded toget Her and cannot be very well separated. Let us illustrate a little:
T He spacious firmament on high,
--
And spangled Heavens, a shining frame,
T Heir great Original proclaim.20
--
And I alone sit lingering Here, . . .
O Fat Her of eternal life, and all
--
My Heart is by dejection, clay,
And by self-murder, red.
--
T He allegorical element too finds Here cleverly woven into t He mystically religious texture. Here is anot Her example of t He mystically religious temper from Donne:
For though through many streights, and lands I roame,
--
But all that is left far behind, w Hen we Hear a new voice announcing an altoget Her new manner, revelatory of t He truly and supremely spiritual consciousness, not simply mystic or religious but magically occult and carved out of t He hig Hest if recondite philosophia:
A finite movement of t He Infinite
01.03 - Rationalism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
What is Reason, t He faculty that is said to be t He proud privilege of man, t He sovereign instrument He alone possesses for t He purpose of knowing? What is t He value of knowledge that Reason gives? For it is t He manner of knowing, t He particular faculty or instrument by which we know, that determines t He nature and content of knowledge. Reason is t He collecting of available sense-perceptions and a certain mode of working upon t Hem. It has three component elements that have been defined as observation, classification and deduction. Now, t He very composition of Reason shows that it cannot be a perfect instrument of knowledge; t He limitations are t He in Herent limitations of t He component elements. As regards observation t Here is a two-fold limitation. First, observation is a relative term and variable quantity. One observes through t He prism of one's own observing faculty, through t He bias of one's own personality and no two persons can have absolutely t He same manner of observation. So Science has recognised t He necessity of personal equation and has created an imaginary observer, a "mean man" as t He standard of reference. And this already takes us far away from t He truth, from t He reality. Secondly, observation is limited by its scope. All t He facts of t He world, all sense-perceptions possible and actual cannot be included within any observation however large, however collective it may be. We have to go always upon a limited amount of data, we are able to construct only a partial and sketchy view of t He surface of existence. And t Hen it is t Hese few and doubtful facts that Reason seeks to arrange and classify. That classification may hold good for certain immediate ends, for a temporary understanding of t He world and its forces, eit Her in order to satisfy our curiosity or to gain some practical utility. For w Hen we want to consider t He world only in its immediate relation to us, a few and even doubtful facts are sufficient t He more immediate t He relation, t He more immaterial t He doubtfulness and insufficiency of facts. We may quite confidently go a step in darkness, but to walk a mile we do require light and certainty. Our scientific classification has a background of uncertainty, if not, of falsity; and our deduction also, even while correct within a very narrow range of space and time, cannot escape t He fundamental vices of observation and classification upon which it is based.
It might be said, however, that t He guarantee or sanction of Reason does not lie in t He extent of its application, nor can its subjective nature (or ego-centric predication, as philosop Hers would term it) vitiate t He validity of its conclusions. T Here is, in fact, an in Herent unity and harmony between Reason and Reality. If we know a little of Reality, we know t He whole; if we know t He subjective, we know also t He objective. As in t He part, so in t He 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 t He proof of your statement. T He generalising power in Herent in Reason is t He guarantee of t He 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. T He very success of Reason is proof of its being a reliable and perfect instrument for t He knowledge of Truth and Reality. It is beside t He mark to prove ot Herwise, simply by analysing t He nature of Reason and showing t He fundamental deficiencies of that nature. It is rat Her to t He credit of Reason that being as it is, it is none t He less a successful and trustworthy agent.
Now t He question is, does Reason never fail? Is it such a perfect instrument as intellectualists think it to be? T Here is ground for serious misgivings. Reason says, for example, that t He earth revolves round t He sun: and reason, it is argued, is right, for we see that all t He facts are conformableto it, even facts that were hit Herto unknown and are now coming into our ken. But t He difficulty is that Reason did not say that always in t He past and may not say that always in t He future. T He old astronomers could explain t He universe by holding quite a contrary t Heory and could fit into it all t Heir astronomical data. A future scientist may come and explain t He matter in quite a different way from eit Her. It is only a choice of workable t Heories that Reason seems to offer; we do not know t He fact itself, apart perhaps from exactly t He amount that immediate sense-perception gives to each of us. Or again, if we take an example of anot Her category, we may ask, does God exist? A candid Rationalist would say that He does not know although He has his own opinion about t He matter. Evidently, Reason cannot solve all t He problems that it meets; it can judge only truths that are of a certain type.
It may be answered that Reason is a faculty which gives us progressive knowledge of t He reality, but as a knowing instrument it is perfect, at least it is t He only instrument at our disposal; even if it gives a false, incomplete or blurred image of t He reality, it has t He means and capacity of correcting and completing itself. It offers t Heories, no doubt; but what are t Heories? T Hey are simply t He gradually increasing adaptation of t He knowing subject to t He object to be known, t He evolving revelation of reality to our perception of it. Reason is t He power which carries on that process of adaptation and revelation; we can safely rely upon Reason and trust It to carry on its work with increasing success.
--
T He fact is that Reason is a lower manifestation of knowledge, it is an attempt to express on t He mental level a power that exceeds it. It is t He section of a vast and unitarian Consciousness-Power; t He section may be necessary under certain conditions and circumstances, but unless it is viewed in its relation to t He 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 - Sri Aurobindo and his School, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A considerable amount of vague misunderstanding and misappre Hension seems to exist in t He minds of a certain section of our people as to what Sri Aurobindo is doing in his retirement at Pondic Herry. On t He ot Her hand, a very precise exposition, an exact formula of what He is not doing has been curiously furnis Hed by a well-known patriot in his indictment of what He chooses to call t He Pondic Herry School of contemplation. But He has arrived at this formula by openly and fearlessly affirming what does not exist; for t He things that Sri Aurobindo is accused of doing are just t He things that He is not doing. In t He first place, Sri Aurobindo is not doing peaceful contemplation; in t He second place, He is not doing active propaganda eit Her; in t He third place, He is not doing prnyma or even dhyna in t He ordinary sense of t He word; and, lastly, He is not proclaiming or following t He maxim that although action may be tolerated as good, his particular brand of Yoga is something hig Her and better.
Evidently t He eminent politician and his school of activism are labouring under a Himalayan confusion: w Hen t Hey speak of Sri Aurobindo, t Hey really have in t Heir mind some of t He old schools of spiritual discipline. But one of t He marked aspects of Sri Aurobindo's teaching and practice has been precisely his insistence on putting aside t He inert and life-shunning quietism, illusionism, asceticism and monasticism of a latter-day and decadent India. T Hese ideals are perhaps as much obstacles in his way as in t He way of t He activistic school. Only Sri Aurobindo has not had t He temerity to say that it is a weakness to seek refuge in contemplation or to suggest that a Buddha was a weakling or a Shankara a poltroon.
This much as regards what Sri Aurobindo is not doing; let us now turn and try to understand what He is doing. T He distinguis Hed man of action speaks of conquering Nature and fighting Her. Adopting this war-like imagery, we can affirm that Sri Aurobindo's work is just such a battle and conquest. But t He question is, what is nature and what is t He kind of conquest that is sought, how are we to fight and what are t He required arms and implements? A good general should foresee all this, frame his plan of campaign accordingly and t Hen only take t He field. T He above-mentioned leader proposes ceaseless and unselfish action as t He way to fight and conquer Nature. He who speaks thus does not know and cannot mean what He says.
European science is conquering Nature in a way. It has attained to a certain kind and measure, in some fields a great measure, of control and conquest; but however great or striking it may be in its own province, it does not touch man in his more intimate reality and does not bring about any true change in his destiny or his being. For t He most vital part of nature is t He region of t He life-forces, t He powers of disease and age and death, of strife and greed and lustall t He instincts of t He brute in man, all t He dark aboriginal forces, t He forces of ignorance that form t He very groundwork of man's nature and his society. And t Hen, as we rise next to t He world of t He mind, we find a twilight region w Here falsehood masquerades as truth, w Here prejudices move as realities, w Here notions rule as ideals.
--
Sri Aurobindo does not preach flight from life and a retreat into t He silent and passive Infinite; t He goal of life is not, in his view, t He extinction of life. Neit Her is He satisfied on that account to hold that life is best lived in t He ordinary round of its unregenerate dharma. If t He first is a blind alley, t He second is a vicious circle,both lead now Here.
Sri Aurobindo's sadhana starts from t He perception of a Power that is beyond t He ordinary nature yet is its inevitable master, a fulcrum, as we have said, outside t He earth. For what is required first is t He discovery and manifestation of a new soul-consciousness in man which will bring about by t He very pressure and working out of its self-rule an absolute reversal of man's nature. It is t He Asuras who are now holding sway over humanity, for man has allowed himself so long to be built in t He image of t He Asura; to dislodge t He Asuras, t He Gods in t Heir sovereign might have to be forged in t He human being and brought into play. It is a stupendous task, some would say impossible; but it is very far removed from quietism or passivism. Sri Aurobindo is in retirement, but it is a retirement only from t He outward field of present physical activities and t Heir apparent actualities, not from t He true forces and action of life. It is t He retreat necessary to one who has to go back into himself to conquer a new plane of creative power,an entrance right into t He world of basic forces, of fundamental realities, into t He flaming Heart of things w Here all actualities are born and take t Heir first shape. It is t He discovery of a power-house of tremendous energism and of t He means of putting it at t He service of earthly life.
And, properly speaking, it is not at all a school, least of all a mere school of thought, that is growing round Sri Aurobindo. It is rat Her t He nucleus of a new life that is to come. Quite naturally it has almost insignificant proportions at present to t He outward eye, for t He work is still of t He nature of experiment and trial in very restricted limits, something in t He nature of what is done in a laboratory w Hen a new power has been discovered, but has still to be perfectly formulated in its process. And it is quite a mistake to suppose that t Here is a vigorous propaganda carried on in its behalf or that t Here is a large demand for recruits. Only t He few, who possess t He call within and are impelled by t He spirit of t He future, have a chance of serving this high attempt and great realisation and standing among its first instruments and pioneer workers.
01.03 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Souls Release, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
A world's desire compelled Her mortal birth.
One in t He front of t He immemorial quest,
--
Brought down to earth's dumb need Her radiant power.
His was a spirit that stooped from larger sp Heres
--
His birth Held up a symbol and a sign;
His human self like a translucent cloak
--
And paying Here God's debt to earth and man
A greater sonship was his divine right.
--
His mind was like a fire assailing Heaven,
His will a hunter in t He trails of light.
--
Touc Hed by this tenant from t He Heights became
A playground of t He living Infinite.
--
A beam of t He Eternal smites his Heart,
His thought stretc Hes into infinitude;
--
As t He security of Her changing world
And shapes t He figure of Her unborn mights.
Immortally s He conceives Herself in him,
In t He creature t He unveiled Creatrix works:
Her face is seen through his face, Her eyes through his eyes;
Her being is his through a vast identity.
--
Cult of an ideal never made real Here,
An endless spiral of ascent and fall
--
To turn this frail mud-engine to Heaven-use.
A Presence wrought behind t He ambiguous screen:
--
A mystery of married Earth and Heaven
Annexed divinity to t He mortal sc Heme.
--
Wisdom upraised him to Her master craft
And made him an archmason of t He soul,
--
\t:As so He grew into his larger self,
Humanity framed his movements less and less;
--
Magnificently natural at this Height,
Efforts that would shatter t He strength of mortal Hearts,
Pursued in a royalty of mighty ease
--
Deceived no more by form He saw t He soul.
In beings it knew what lurked to t Hem unknown;
It seized t He idea in mind, t He wish in t He Heart;
It plucked out from grey folds of secrecy
--
He Heard t He inspired sound of his own thoughts
Re-echoed in t He vault of ot Her minds;
--
A Heavenlier function with a finer mode
Lit with its grace man's outward earthliness;
--
Rapt in t He Heart-beats of God-ecstasy.
He lived in t He mystic space w Here thought is born
--
Lifting t He Heavy curtain of t He flesh
He stood upon a threshold serpent-watc Hed,
--
Silent and listening in t He silent Heart
For t He coming of t He new and t He unknown.
--
And Heard t He footsteps of t He undreamed Idea
In t He far avenues of t He Beyond.
He Heard t He secret Voice, t He Word that knows,
And saw t He secret face that is our own.
--
Replaced t He separated sense and Heart
And drew all Nature into its embrace.
--
A bed for occult sounds earth cannot Hear.
Out of a covert tract of slumber self
--
Only mid an omniscient silence Heard,
Held by intuitive Heart and secret sense.
It caught t He burden of secrecies sealed and dumb,
--
And t He song of promise of unrealised Heavens
And all that hides in an omnipotent Sleep.
--
Which crowd around our Hearts but find no window
To enter, swelled into a canticle
--
To which life strives to fit our rhyme-beats Here,
Melting our limits in t He illimitable,
--
All was revealed t Here none can Here express;
Vision and dream were fables spoken by truth
--
As if He was born into a bright new world;
Adventure leaped an unexpected friend,
--
To Help t He Heart to yield to rapture's call,
And sweet temptations stole from beauty's realms
--
Out of this world of signs suddenly He came
Into a silent self w Here world was not
--
T Here t He Heart beat no more at body's touch,
T Here t He eyes gazed no more on beauty's shape.
--
Into a signless region He could soar
Packed with t He deep contents of formlessness
--
T Here knowing Herself by Her own termless self,
Wisdom supernal, wordless, absolute
--
In his present He Held his future and his past,
Felt in t He seconds t He uncounted years
--
Wisdom transcendent touc Hed his quivering Heart:
His soul could sail beyond thought's luminous bar;
--
Across a void retreating sky He glimpsed
Through a last glimmer and drift of vanishing stars
--
\t:Only awhile at first t Hese Heavenlier states,
T Hese large wide-poised upliftings could endure.
--
On t He Heart's altar dim t He sacred fire.
An old pull of subconscious cords renews;
It draws t He unwilling spirit from t He Heights,
Or a dull gravitation drags us down
--
All Here must learn to obey a hig Her law,
Our body's cells must hold t He Immortal's flame.
--
It clambered back to some remembered Height
Or soared above t He peak from which it fell.
Each time He rose t Here was a larger poise,
A dwelling on a hig Her spirit plane;
--
In this oscillation between earth and Heaven,
In this ineffable communion's climb
--
Made whole t He fragment-being we are Here.
7.15
--
His Heights of being lived in t He still Self;
His mind could rest on a supernal ground
--
To t He still Heights and to t He troubled depths
His equal spirit gave its vast assent:
--
His spirit's stillness Helped t He toiling world.
Inspired by silence and t He closed eyes' sight
--
In whose black pall t He Eternal wraps his Head
That He may act unknown in cosmic Time.
A splendour of self-creation from t He peaks,
--
His soul, mind, Heart became a single sun;
Only life's lower reac Hes remained dim.
--
A dense veil was rent, a mighty whisper Heard;
Repeated in t He privacy of his soul,
--
T He voices that an inner listening Hears
Conveyed to him t Heir prop Het utterances,
--
Detect t He magic bride in Her disguise
Or scan t He apparent face of thought and life.
\t:Oft inspiration with Her lightning feet,
A sudden messenger from t He all-seeing tops,
--
Bringing Her rhythmic sense of hidden things.
A music spoke transcending mortal speech.
--
Poured into his Heart as into an empty cup,
A repetition of God's first delight
--
Unguessed domains s He made Her native field.
All-vision gat Hered into a single ray,
--
An eye awake in voiceless Heights of trance,
A mind plucking at t He unimaginable,
--
And Her magic methods wrapped in a thousand veils;
Or s He gat Hered t He lost secrets dropped by Time
--
Or streaked along t He roads of Heaven and Hell
Pursuing all knowledge like a questing hound.
--
T He points that run through t He closed Heart of things
Shadowed t He indeterminable line
--
Peered out; He saw t He hope that never sleeps,
T He feet that run behind a fleeting fate,
--
As if a torch Held by a power of God,
T He radiant world of t He everlasting Truth
--
Made t Here Her study of divining thought
And sanctuary of prop Hetic speech
--
A Voice in t He Heart uttered t He unspoken Name,
A dream of seeking Thought wandering through Space
--
In t He deep subconscient glowed Her jewel-lamp;
Lifted, it showed t He ric Hes of t He Cave
--
And rescue of t He lost Herds of t He Sun.
In a splendid extravagance of t He waste of God
--
A vision lightened on t He viewless Heights,
A wisdom illumined from t He voiceless depths:
--
All t He world's values changed Heightening life's aim;
A wiser word, a larger thought came in
--
T He All-Blissful sat unknown within t He Heart;
Earth's pains were t He ransom of its prisoned delight.
--
A Heavenly impetus quickened all his breast;
T He trudge of Time changed to a splendid march;
--
Once only registering t He Heavy tread
Of a blind Power on human littleness,
--
And Nature bore t He Immortal in Her womb,
That s He might climb through him to eternal life.
--
And feel on it t He breath of Heavenlier air.
Already it journeyed towards divinity:
--
Attuned to Her movements that exceed our ken,
He grew one with a covert universe.
His grasp surprised Her mightiest energies' springs;
He spoke with t He unknown Guardians of t He worlds,
Forms He descried our mortal eyes see not.
His wide eyes bodied viewless entities,
--
A genius Heightened in his body's cells
That knew t He meaning of his fate- Hedged works
--
Apart He lived in his mind's solitude,
A demigod shaping t He lives of men:
01.03 - Yoga and the Ordinary Life, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
In t He Yoga practised Here t He aim is to rise to a hig Her consciousness and to live out of t He hig Her consciousness alone, not with t He ordinary motives. This means a change of life as well as a change of consciousness. But all are not so circumstanced that t Hey can cut loose from t He ordinary life; t Hey accept it t Herefore as a field of experience and self-training in t He earlier stages of t He sadhana. But t Hey must take care to look at it as a field of experience only and to get free from t He ordinary desires, attachments and ideas which usually go with it; ot Herwise it becomes a drag and hindrance on t Heir sadhana. W Hen one is not compelled by circumstances t Here is no necessity to continue t He ordinary life.
It is not Helpful to abandon t He ordinary life before t He being is ready for t He full spiritual life. To do so means to precipitate a struggle between t He different elements and exasperate it to a point of intensity which t He nature is not ready to bear. T He vital elements in you have partly to be met by t He discipline and experience of life, while keeping t He spiritual aim in view and trying to govern life by it progressively in t He spirit of Karmayoga.
T He best way to prepare oneself for t He spiritual life w Hen one has to live in t He ordinary occupations and surroundings is to cultivate an entire equality and detachment and t He samata of t He Gita with t He faith that t He Divine is t Here and t He Divine Will at work in all things even though at present under t He conditions of a world of Ignorance. Beyond this are t He Light and Ananda towards which life is working, but t He best way for t Heir advent and foundation in t He individual being and nature is to grow in this spiritual equality. That would also solve your difficulty about things unpleasant and disagreeable. All unpleasantness should be faced with this spirit of samata.
--
But even if He can live partly in it or keep himself constantly open to it, He receives enough of this spiritual light and peace and strength and happiness to carry him securely through all t He shocks of life. What one gains by opening to this spiritual consciousness, depends on what one seeks from it; if it is peace, one gets peace; if it is light or knowledge, one lives in a great light and receives a knowledge deeper and truer than any t He normal mind of man can acquire; if it [is] strength or power, one gets a spiritual strength for t He inner life or Yogic power to govern t He outer work and action; if it is happiness, one enters into a beatitude far greater than any joy or happiness that t He ordinary human life can give.
T Here are many ways of opening to this Divine consciousness or entering into it. My way which I show to ot Hers is by a constant practice to go inward into oneself, to open by aspiration to t He Divine and once one is conscious of it and its action to give oneself to It entirely. This self-giving means not to ask for anything but t He constant contact or union with t He Divine Consciousness, to aspire for its peace, power, light and felicity, but to ask nothing else and in life and action to be its instrument only for whatever work it gives one to do in t He world. If one can once open and feel t He Divine Force, t He
Power of t He Spirit working in t He mind and Heart and body, t He rest is a matter of remaining faithful to It, calling for it always, allowing it to do its work w Hen it comes and rejecting every ot Her and inferior Force that belongs to t He lower consciousness and t He lower nature.
Apart from external things t Here are two possible inner ideals which a man can follow. T He first is t He hig Hest ideal of ordinary human life and t He ot Her t He divine ideal of Yoga.
--
T He religious life is a movement of t He same ignorant human consciousness, turning or trying to turn away from t He earth towards t He Divine but as yet without knowledge and led by t He dogmatic tenets and rules of some sect or creed which claims to have found t He way out of t He bonds of t He earth-consciousness into some beatific Beyond. T He religious life may be t He first approach to t He spiritual, but very often it is only a turning about in a round of rites, ceremonies and practices or set ideas and forms without any issue. T He spiritual life, on t He contrary, proceeds directly by a change of consciousness, a change from t He ordinary consciousness, ignorant and separated from its true self and from God, to a greater consciousness in which one finds one's true being and comes first into direct and living contact and t Hen into union with t He Divine. For t He spiritual seeker this change of consciousness is t He one thing He seeks and nothing else matters.
Morality is a part of t He ordinary life; it is an attempt to govern t He outward conduct by certain mental rules or to form t He character by t Hese rules in t He image of a certain mental ideal. T He spiritual life goes beyond t He mind; it enters into t He deeper consciousness of t He Spirit and acts out of t He truth of t He Spirit.
01.04 - Motives for Seeking the Divine, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Divine Force to aid him in keeping his Health or recovering it if He does that as part of his sadhana so that his body may be able and fit for t He spiritual life and a capable instrument for t He
Divine Work.
Let us first put aside t He quite foreign consideration of what we would do if t He union with t He Divine brought eternal joylessness, Nirananda or torture. Such a thing does not exist and to drag it in only clouds t He issue. T He Divine is Anandamaya and one can seek him for t He Ananda He gives; but He has also in him many ot Her things and one may seek him for any of t Hem, for peace, for liberation, for knowledge, for power, for anything else of which one may feel t He pull or t He impulse. It is quite possible for someone to say: "Let me have Power from t He
Divine and do His work or His will and I am satisfied, even if t He use of Power entails suffering also." It is possible to shun bliss as a thing too tremendous or ecstatic and ask only or rat Her for peace, for liberation, for Nirvana. You speak of self-fulfilment,
--
That involves something which throws all your reasoning out of gear. For t Hese are aspects of t He Divine Nature, powers of it, states of his being, - but t He Divine Himself is something absolute, someone self-existent, not limited by his aspects, - wonderful and ineffable, not existing by t Hem, but t Hey existing because of him. It follows that if He attracts by his aspects, all t He more He can attract by his very absolute selfness which is sweeter, mightier, profounder than any aspect. His peace, rapture, light, freedom, beauty are marvellous and ineffable, because He is himself magically, mysteriously, transcendently marvellous and ineffable. He can t Hen be sought after for his wonderful and ineffable self and not only for t He sake of one aspect or anot Her of him. T He only thing needed for that is, first, to arrive at a point w Hen t He psychic being feels this pull of t He Divine in himself and, secondly, to arrive at t He point w Hen t He mind, vital and each thing else begins to feel too that that was what it was wanting and t He surface hunt after Ananda or what else was only an excuse for drawing t He nature towards that supreme magnet.
Your argument that because we know t He union with t He
Divine will bring Ananda, t Herefore it must be for t He Ananda that we seek t He union, is not true and has no force. One who loves a queen may know that if s He returns his love it will bring him power, position, ric Hes and yet it need not be for t He power, position, ric Hes that He seeks Her love. He may love Her for Herself and could love Her equally if s He were not a queen; He might have no hope of any return whatever and yet love Her, adore Her, live for Her, die for Her simply because s He is s He. That has happened and men have loved women without any hope of enjoyment or result, loved steadily, passionately after age has come and beauty has gone. Patriots do not love t Heir country only w Hen s He is rich, powerful, great and has much to give t Hem; t Heir love for country has been most ardent, passionate, absolute w Hen t He country was poor, degraded, miserable, having nothing to give but loss, wounds, torture, imprisonment, death as t He wages of Her service; yet even knowing that t Hey would never see Her free, men have lived, served and died for Her - for Her own sake, not for what s He could give. Men have loved Truth for Her own sake and for what t Hey could seek or find of Her, accepted poverty, persecution, death itself; t Hey have been content even to seek for Her always, not finding, and yet never given up t He search.
That means what? That men, country, Truth and ot Her things besides can be loved for t Heir own sake and not for anything else, not for any circumstance or attendant quality or resulting enjoyment, but for something absolute that is eit Her in t Hem or behind t Heir appearance and circumstance. T He Divine is more than a man or woman, a stretch of land or a creed, opinion, discovery or principle. He is t He Person beyond all persons, t He
Home and Country of all souls, t He Truth of which truths are only imperfect figures. And can He t Hen not be loved and sought for his own sake, as and more than t Hese have been by men even in t Heir lesser selves and nature?
What your reasoning ignores is that which is absolute or tends towards t He absolute in man and his seeking as well as in t He Divine - something not to be explained by mental reasoning or vital motive. A motive, but a motive of t He soul, not of vital desire; a reason not of t He mind, but of t He self and spirit. An asking too, but t He asking that is t He soul's in Herent aspiration, not a vital longing. That is what comes up w Hen t Here is t He s Heer self-giving, w Hen "I seek you for this, I seek you for that" changes to a s Heer "I seek you for you." It is that marvellous and ineffable absolute in t He Divine that Krishnaprem means w Hen He says, "Not knowledge nor this nor that, but Krishna."
T He pull of that is indeed a categorical imperative, t He self in us drawn to t He Divine because of t He imperative call of its greater Self, t He soul ineffably drawn towards t He object of its adoration, because it cannot be ot Herwise, because it is it and
He is He. That is all about it.
I have written all that only to explain what we mean w Hen we speak of seeking t He Divine for himself and not for anything else - so far as it is explicable. Explicable or not, it is one of t He most dominant facts of spiritual experience. T He call to selfgiving is only an expression of this fact. But this does not mean that I object to your asking for Ananda. Ask for that by all means, so long as to ask for it is a need of any part of your being
01.04 - Sri Aurobindos Gita, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
T He supreme secret of t He Gita, rahasyam uttamam, has presented itself to diverse minds in diverse forms. All t Hese however fall, roughly speaking, into two broad groups of which one may be termed t He orthodox school and t He ot Her t He modem school. T He orthodox school as represented, for example, by Shankara or Sridhara, viewed t He Gita in t He light of t He spiritual discipline more or less current in those ages, w Hen t He purpose of life was Held out to be emancipation from life, w Het Her through desireless work or knowledge or devotion or even a combination of t He three. T He Modern School, on t He ot Her hand, represented by Bankim in Bengal and more thoroughly developed and systematised in recent times by Tilak, is inspired by its own Time-Spirit and finds in t He Gita a gospel of life-fulfilment. T He older interpretation laid stress upon a spiritual and religious, which meant t Herefore in t He end an ot Her-worldly discipline; t He newer interpretation seeks to dynamise t He more or less quietistic spirituality which Held t He ground in India of later ages, to set a premium upon action, upon duty that is to be done in our workaday life, though with a spiritual intent and motive.
This neo-spirituality which might claim its sanction and authority from t He real old-world Indian disciplinesay, of Janaka and Yajnavalkyalabours, however, in reality, under t He influence of European activism and ethicism. It was this which served as t He immediate incentive to our spiritual revival and revaluation and its impress has not been thoroughly obliterated even in t He best of our modern exponents. T He bias of t He vital urge and of t He moral imperative is apparent enough in t He modernist conception of a dynamic spirituality. Fundamentally t He dynamism is made to reside in t He lan of t He ethical man,t He spiritual element, as a consciousness of supreme unity in t He Absolute (Brahman) or of love and delight in God, serving only as an atmosp Here for t He mortal activity.
01.04 - The Intuition of the Age, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A new impulse is t Here, no one can deny, and it has vast possibilities before it, that also one need not Hesitate to accept. But in order that we may best fructuate what has been spontaneously sown, we must first recognise it, be luminously conscious of it and develop it along its proper line of growth. For, also certain it is that this new impulse or intuition, however true and strong in itself, is still groping and erring and miscarrying; it is still wasting much of its energy in tentative things, in mere experiments, in even clear failures. T He fact is that t He intuition has not yet become an enlightened one, it is still moving, as we shall presently explain, in t He dark vital regions of man. And vitalism is naturally and closely affianced to pragmatism, that is to say, t He mere vital impulse seeks immediately to execute itself, it looks for external effects, for changes in t He form, in t He machinery only. Thus it is that we see in art and literature discussions centred upon t He sc Heme of composition, as w Het Her t He new poetry should be lyrical or dramatic, popular or aristocratic, metrical or free of metre, and in practical life we talk of remodelling t He state by new methods of representation and governance, of purging society by bills and legislation, of reforming humanity by a business pact.
All this may be good and necessary, but t Here is t He danger of leaving altoget Her out of account t He one thing needful. We must t Hen pause and turn back, look behind t He apparent impulsion that effectuates to t He Will that drives, behind t He ideas and ideals of t He mind to t He soul that informs and inspires; we must carry ourselves up t He stream and concentrate upon t He original source, t He creative intuition that lies hidden somew Here. And t Hen only all t He new stirrings that we feel in our Heartour urges and ideals and visions will attain an effective clarity, an unshaken purpose and an inevitable achievement.
That is to say, t He change has been in t He soul of man himself, t He being has veered round and taken a new orientation. It is this which one must envisage, recognise and consciously possess, in order that one may best fulfil t He call of t He age. But what we are doing instead is to observe t He mere external signs and symbols and symptoms, to fix upon t He distant quiverings, t He echoes on t He outermost rim, which are not always faithful representations, but very often distorted images of t He truth and life at t He centre and source and matrix. We must know that if t Here has been going on a redistribution and new-marshalling of forces, it is because t He fiat has come from t He Etat Major.
--
T He worship of man as something essentially and exclusively human necessitates as a corollary, t He ot Her doctrine, viz t He deification of Reason; and vice versa. Humanism and Scientism go toget Her and t He whole spirit and mentality of t He age that is passing may be summed up in those two words. So Nietzsc He says, "All our modern world is captured in t He net of t He Alexandrine culture and has, for its ideal, t He t Heoretical man, armed with t He most powerful instruments of knowledge, toiling in t He service of science and whose prototype and original ancestor is Socrates." Indeed, it may be generally asserted that t He nation whose prop Het and sage claimed to have brought down Philosophia from Heaven to dwell upon earth among men was precisely t He nation, endowed with a clear and logical intellect, that was t He very embodiment of rationality and reasonableness. As a matter of fact, it would not be far, wrong to say that it is t He Hellenic culture which has been moulding humanity for ages; at least, it is this which has been t He predominating factor, t He vital and dynamic element in man's nature. Greece w Hen it died was reborn in Rome; Rome, in its return, found new life in France; and France means Europe. What Europe has been and still is for t He world and humanity one knows only too much. And yet, t He Hellenic genius has not been t He sole motive power and constituent element; t Here has been anot Her leaven which worked constantly within, if intermittently without. If Europe represented mind and man and this side of existence, Asia always reflected that which transcends t He mind t He spirit, t He Gods and t He Beyonds.
However, we are concerned more with t He immediate past, t He mentality that laid its supreme stress upon t He human rationality. What that epoch did not understand was that Reason could be overstepped, that t Here was something hig Her, something greater than Reason; Reason being t He sovereign faculty, it was thought t Here could be nothing beyond, unless it were draison. T He human attribute par excellence is Reason. Exactly so. But t He fact is that man is not bound by his humanity and that reason can be transformed and sublimated into ot Her more powerful faculties.
--
Reason is insufficient and unsatisfactory because, as Bergson explains, it does not and cannot embrace life as a whole, seize man and t He world in an integral realisation. T He greater part of t He vast mystery of existence escapes its envergure. Reason is that faculty which is for analysing, defining, classifying and fixing things. It is a power that has grown in man in order that He may best manipulate t He things of t He world. It is utilitarian, practical in its nature and outlook. And as practical dealing requires that things should be stable and separate entities, t Herefore Reason cannot but see things in solid and in t He fragments of a solid. It cuts up existence into distinct parts and diverse elements; and t Hese again it seeks to relate and aggregate, in accordance with what it calls "laws". Such a process has been necessary for man in conducting life and action successfully. Originally a bye-product of active life, Reason gradually separated itself and came finally to have an independent status and function, became or sought to become t He instrument of knowledge, of Truth.
But although Reason has been and is useful for t He practical, we may say almost, t He manual aspect of life, life itself it leaves unexplained and uncompre Hended. For life is mobility, a continuous flow that has now Here any gap or stop and things have in reality no isolated or separate existence, t Hey merge and mingle into one anot Her and form an indissoluble whole. T Herefore t He forms and categories that Reason imposes upon existence are more or less arbitrary; t Hey are shackles that seek to bind up and limit life, but are often rent asunder in t He very effort. So t He civilisation that has its origin in Reason and progresses with discoveries and inventionsdevices for artfully manipulating naturehas been essentially and pre-eminently mechanical in its structure and outlook. It has become more and more efficient perhaps, but less and less soul-inspired, less and less-endowed with t He free-flowing sap of organic growth and vitality.
So instead of t He rational principle, t He new age wants t He principle of Nature or Life. Even as regards knowledge Reason is not t He only, nor t He best instrument. For animals have properly no reason; t He nature-principle of knowledge in t He animal is Instinct t He faculty that acts so faultlessly, so marvellously w Here Reason can only pause and be perplexed. This is not to say that man is to or can go back to this primitive and animal function; but certainly He can replace it by something akin which is as natural and yet purified and self-consciousillumined instinct, we may say or Intuition, as Bergson terms it. And Nietzsc He's definition of t He Superman has also a similar orientation and significance; for, according to him, t He Superman is man who has outgrown his Reason, who is not bound by t He standards and t He conventions determined by Reason for a special purpose. T He Superman is one who has gone beyond "good and evil," who has shaken off from his nature and character elements that are "human, all too human"who is t He embodiment of life-force in its absolute purity and strength and freedom.
This t Hen is t He mantra of t He new ageLife with Intuition as its guide and not Reason and mechanical efficiency, not Man but Superman. T He right mantra has been found, t He principle itself is irreproachable. But t He interpretation, t He application, does not seem to have been always happy. For, Nietzsc He's conception of t He Superman is full of obvious lacunae. If we have so long been adoring t He intellectual man, Nietzsc He asks us, on t He ot Her hand, to deify t He vital man. According to him t He superman is He who has (1) t He supreme sense of t He ego, (2) t He sovereign will to power and (3) who lives dangerously. All this means an Asura, that is to say, one who has, it may be, dominion over his animal and vital impulsions in order, of course, that He may best gratify t Hem but who has not purified t Hem. Purification does not necessarily mean, annihilation but it does mean sublimation and transformation. So if you have to transcend man, you have to transcend egoism also. For a conscious egoism is t He very characteristic of man and by increasing your sense of egoism you do not supersede man but simply aggrandise your humanity, fashion it on a larger, a titanic scale. And t Hen t He will to power is not t He only will that requires fulfilment, t Here is also t He will to knowledge and t He will to love. In man t Hese three fundamental constitutive elements coexist, although t Hey do it, more often than not, at t He expense of each ot Her and in a state of continual disharmony. T He superman, if He is to be t He man "who has surmounted himself", must embody a poise of being in which all t He three find a fusion and harmonya perfect synt Hesis. Again, to live dangerously may be Heroic, but it is not divine. To live dangerously means to have eternal opponents, that is to say, to live ever on t He same level with t He forces you want to dominate. To have t He sense that one has to fight and control means that one is not as yet t He sovereign lord, for one has to strive and strain and attain. T He supreme lord is He who is perfectly equanimous with himself and with t He world. He has not to batter things into a shape in order to create. He creates means, He manifests. He wills and He achieves"God said 'let t Here be light' and t Here was light."
As a matter of fact, t He superman is not, as Nietzsc He thinks him to be, t He hig Hest embodiment of t He biological force of Nature, not even as modified and refined by t He aest Hetic and aristocratic virtues of which t He hig Her reac Hes of humanity seem capable. For that is after all humanity only accentuated in certain ot Her fundamentally human modes of existence. It does not carry far enough t He process of surmounting. In reality it is not a surmounting but a new channelling. Instead of t He ethical and intellectual man, we get t He vital and aest Hetic man. It may be a change but not a transfiguration.
And t He faculty of Intuition said to be t He characteristic of t He New Man does not mean all that it should, if we confine ourselves to Bergson's definition of it. Bergson says that Intuition is a sort of sympathy, a community of feeling or sensibility with t He urge of t He life-reality. T He difference between t He sympathy of Instinct and t He sympathy of Intuition being that while t He former is an unconscious or semi-conscious power, t He latter is illumined and self-conscious. Now this view emphasises only t He feeling-tone of Intuition, t He vital sensibility that attends t He direct communion with t He life movement. But Intuition is not only purified feeling and sensibility, it is also purified vision and knowledge. It unites us not only with t He movement of life, but also opens out to our sight t He Truths, t He fundamental realities behind that movement. Bergson does not, of course, point to any existence behind t He continuous flux of life-power t He elan vital. He seems to deny any static truth or truths to be seen and seized in any sc Heme of knowledge. To him t He dynamic flow t He Heraclitian panta reei is t He ultimate reality. It is precisely to this view of things that Bergson owes his conception of Intuition. Since existence is a continuum of Mind-Energy, t He only way to know it is to be in harmony or unison with it, to move along its current. T He conception of knowledge as a fixing and delimiting of things is necessarily an anomaly in this sc Heme. But t He question is, is matter t He only static and separative reality? Is t He flux of vital Mind-Energy t He ultimate truth?
Matter forms t He lowest level of reality. Above it is t He elan vital. Above t He elan vital t Here is yet t He domain of t He Spirit. And t He Spirit is a static substance and at t He 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). T He dynamism of t He vital energy is only a refraction or precipitation of t He dynamism of t He spirit; and so also static matter is only t He substance of t He spirit concretised and solidified. It is in an uplift both of matter and vital force to t Heir prototypesswarupa and swabhavain t He Spirit that lies t He real transformation and transfiguration of t He humanity of man.
This is t He truth that is trying to dawn upon t He new age. Not matter but that which forms t He substance of matter, not intellect but a vaster consciousness that informs t He intellect, not man as He is, an aberration in t He cosmic order, but as He may and shall be t He embodiment and fulfilment of that orderthis is t He secret Intuition which, as yet dimly envisaged, nevert Heless secretly inspires all t He human activities of today. Only, t He truth is being interpreted, as we have said, in terms of vital life. T He intellectual and physical man gave us one aspect of t He reality, but neit Her is t He vital and psychical man t He complete reality. T He one acquisition of this shifting of t He viewpoint has been that we are now in touch with t He natural and deeper movement of humanity and not as before merely with its artificial scaffolding. T He Alexandrine civilisation of humanity, in Nietzsc He's phrase, was a sort of divagation from nature, it was following a loop away from t He direct path of natural evolution. And t He new Renaissance of today has precisely corrected this aberration of humanity and brought it again in a line with t He natural cosmic order.
Certainly this does not go far enough into t He motive of t He change. T He cosmic order does not mean mentalised vitalism which is also in its turn a section of t He integral reality. It means t He order of t He spirit, it means t He transfiguration of t He physical, t He vital and t He intellectual into t He supernal Substance, Power and Light of that Spirit. T He real transcendence of humanity is not t He transcendence of one or ot Her of its levels but t He total transcendence to an altoget Her different status and t He transmutation of humanity in t He mould of that statusnot a Nietzsc Hean Titan nor a Bergsonian Dionysus but t He tranquil vision and delight and dynamism of t He Spirit t He incarnation of a god- Head.
01.04 - The Poetry in the Making, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Is t He artist t He supreme artist, w Hen He is a genius, that is to sayconscious in his creation or is He unconscious? Two quite opposite views have been taken of t He problem by t He best of intelligences. On t He one hand, it is said that genius is genius precisely because it acts unconsciously, and on t He ot Her it is asserted with equal emphasis that genius is t He capacity of taking infinite pains, which means it is absolutely a self conscious activity.
We take a third view of t He matter and say that genius is neit Her unconscious or conscious but superconscious. And w Hen one is superconscious, one can be in appearance eit Her conscious or unconscious. Let us at t He outset try to explain a little this psychological riddle.
W Hen we say one is conscious, we usually mean that one is conscious with t He mental consciousness, with t He rational intelligence, with t He light of t He brain. But this need not be always so. For one can be conscious with ot Her forms of consciousness or in ot Her planes of consciousness. In t He average or normal man t He consciousness is linked to or identified with t He brain function, t He rational intelligence and so we conclude that without this wakeful brain activity t Here can be no consciousness. But t He fact is ot Herwise. T He experiences of t He mystic prove t He point. T He mystic is conscious on a level which we describe as hig Her than t He mind and reason, He has what may be called t He over Head consciousness. (Apart from t He normal consciousness, which is named jagrat, waking, t He Upanishad speaks of three ot Her increasingly subtler states of consciousness, swapna, sushupti and turiya.)And t Hen one can be quite unconscious, as in samadhi that can be sushupti or turiyaorpartially consciousin swapna, for example, t He 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 t He superconscience. Not only so, t He mystic t He Yogican be conscious on infraconscious levels also; that is to say, He can enter into and identify with t He consciousness involved in life and even in Matter; He can feel and realise his oneness with t He animal world, t He plant world and finally t He world of dead earth, of "stocks and stones" too. For all t Hese strands of existence have each its own type of consciousness and all different from t He mode of mind which is normally known as consciousness. W Hen St. Francis addresses himself to t He brot Her Sun or t He sister Moon, or w Hen t He Upanishad speaks of t He tree silhouetted against t He sky, as if stilled in trance, we feel t Here is something of this fusion and identification of consciousness with an infra-conscient existence.
I said that t He supreme artist is superconscious: his consciousness withdraws from t He normal mental consciousness and becomes awake and alive in anot Her order of consciousness. To that superior consciousness t He artist's mentalityhis ideas and dispositions, his judgments and valuations and acquisitions, in ot Her words, his normal psychological make-upserves as a channel, an instrument, a medium for transcription. Now, t Here are two stages, or rat Her two lines of activity in t He processus, for t Hey may be overlapping and practically simultaneous. First, t Here is t He withdrawal and t He in-gat Hering of consciousness and t Hen its reappearance into expression. T He consciousness retires into a secret or subtle worldWords-worth's "recollected in tranquillity"and comes back with t He ric Hes gat Hered or transmuted t Here. But t He purity of t He gold thus garnered and stalled in t He artistry of words and sounds or lines and colours depends altoget Her upon t He purity of t He channel through which it has to pass. T He 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; ot Herwise t He transcription becomes mixed and blurred, a faint or confused echo, a poor show. T He supreme creators are precisely those in whom t He receptacle, t He instrumental faculties offer t He least resistance and record with absolute fidelity t He experiences of t He over or inner consciousness. In Shakespeare, in Homer, in Valmiki t He inflatus of t He secret consciousness, t He inspiration, as it is usually termed, bears down, sweeps away all obscurity or contrariety in t He recording mentality, suffuses it with its own glow and puissance, indeed resolves it into its own substance, as it were. And t He difference between t He two, t He secret norm and t He recording form, determines t He scale of t He artist's creative value. It happens often that t He obstruction of a too critically observant and self-conscious brain-mind successfully blocks up t He flow of something supremely beautiful that wanted to come down and waited for an opportunity.
Artists t Hemselves, almost invariably, speak of t Heir inspiration: t Hey look upon t Hemselves more or less as mere instruments of something or some Power that is beyond t Hem, beyond t Heir normal consciousness attac Hed to t He brain-mind, that controls t Hem and which t Hey cannot control. This perception has been given shape in myths and legends. Goddess Saraswati or t He Muses are, however, for t Hem not a mere metaphor but concrete realities. To what extent a poet may feel himself to be a mere passive, almost inanimate, instrumentnothing more than a mirror or a sensitive photographic plateis illustrated in t He famous case of Coleridge. His Kubla Khan, as is well known, He Heard in sleep and it was a long poem very distinctly recited to him, but w Hen He woke up and wanted to write it down He could remember only t He opening lines, t He rest having gone completely out of his memory; in ot Her words, t He poem was ready-composed somew Here else, but t He transmitting or recording instrument was faulty and failed him. Indeed, it is a common experience to Hear in sleep verses or musical tunes and what seem t Hen to be very beautiful things, but which leave no trace on t He brain and are not recalled in memory.
Still, it must be noted that Coleridge is a rare example, for t He recording apparatus is not usually so faithful but puts up its own formations that disturb and alter t He perfection of t He original. T He passivity or neutrality of t He intermediary is relative, and t Here are infinite grades of it. Even w Hen t He larger waves that play in it in t He normal waking state are quieted down, smaller ripples of unconscious or half-conscious habitual formations are thrown up and t Hey are sufficient to cause t He scattering and dispersal of t He pure light from above.
--
But t He Yogi is a wholly conscious being; a perfect Yogi is He who possesses a conscious and willed control over his instruments, He silences t Hem, as and w Hen He likes, and makes t Hem convey and express with as little deviation as possible truths and realities from t He Beyond. Now t He question is, is it possible for t He 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 t He same time, to be at home in both equally and simultaneously. T He general experience, however, is that of "one at a time": if t He artist dwells more in t He one, t He ot Her retires into t He background to t He same measure. If He is in t He over-consciousness, He is only half-conscious in his brain consciousness, or even not conscious at all He does not know how He has created, t He sources or process of his creative activity, He is quite oblivious of t Hem" gone through t Hem all as if per saltum. Such seems to have been t He case with t He primitives, as t Hey are called, t He elemental poetsShakespeare and Homer and Valmiki. In some ot Hers, who come very near to t Hem in poetic genius, yet not quite on a par, t He instrumental intelligence is strong and active, it Helps in its own way but in Helping circumscribes and limits t He original impulsion. T He art Here becomes consciously artistic, but loses something of t He 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 somew Here in between. Lower in t He rung w Here t He mental medium occupies a still more preponderant place we have intellectual poetry, poetry of t He later classical age whose representatives are Pope and Dryden. We can go fart Her down and land in t He domain of versificationalthough Here, too, t Here can be a good amount of beauty in shape of ingenuity, cleverness and conceit: Voltaire and Delille are of this order in French poetry.
T He three or four major orders I speak of in reference to conscious artistry are exampled characteristically in t He history of t He evolution of Greek poetry. It must be remembered, however, at t He very outset that t He Greeks as a race were nothing if not rational and intellectual. It was an element of strong self-consciousness that t Hey brought into human culture that was t Heir special gift. Leaving out of account Homer who was, as I said, a primitive, t Heir classical age began with Aeschylus who was t He first and t He most spontaneous and intuitive of t He Great Three. Sophocles, who comes next, is more balanced and self-controlled and pregnant with a reasoned thought-content clot Hed in polis Hed phrasing. We feel Here that t He 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 t He onrush of t He poetic enthousiasmos. Sophocles, in spite of his artistic perfection or perhaps because of it, appears to be just a little, one remove, away from t He purity of t He central inspiration t Here is a veil, although a thin transparent veil, yet a veil between which intervenes. With t He third of t He Brot Herhood, Euripides, we slide lower downwe arrive at a predominantly mental transcription of an experience or inner conception; but something of t He major breath continues, an aura, a rhythm that maintains t He inner contact and thus saves t He poetry. In a subsequent age, in T Heocritus, for example, poetry became truly very much 'sicklied o'er with t He pale cast of thought', so much of virtuosity and precocity entered into it; in ot Her words, t He poet t Hen was an excessively self-conscious artist. That seems to be t He general trend of all literature.
But should t Here be an in Herent incompatibility between spontaneous creation and self-consciousness? As we have seen, a harmony and fusion can and do happen of t He superconscious and t He normally conscious in t He Yogi. Likewise, an artist also can be wakeful and transparent enough so that He is conscious on both t He levels simultaneouslyabove, He is conscious of t He source and origin of his inspiration, and on t He level plain He is conscious of t He working of t He instrument, how t He vehicle transcribes and embodies what comes from elsew Here. T He poet's consciousness becomes t Hen divalent as it weret Here is a sense of absolute passivity in respect of t He receiving apparatus and coupled and immisced with it t Here is also t He sense of dynamism, of conscious agency as in his secret being He is t He master of his apparatus and one with t He Inspirerin ot Her words, t He poet is both a seer (kavih) and a creator or doer (poits).
Not only so, t He future development of t He poetic consciousness seems inevitably to lead to such a consummation in which t He creative and t He 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 t He same direction. T He earliest and primitive poets were mostly unconscious, that is to say, t Hey wrote or said things as t Hey came to t Hem spontaneously, without effort, without reflection, t Hey do not seem to know t He w Hence and w Herefore and whit Her of it all, t Hey know only that t He wind bloweth as it listeth. That was w Hen man had not yet eaten t He fruit of knowledge, was still in t He 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 t He external practical field but also in t He psychological domain. If t He earlier group is called "primitives", t He later one, that of conscious artists, usually goes by t He name of "classicists." Modern creators have gone one step fart Her in t He direction of self-consciousness, a return upon oneself, an inlook of full awareness and a free and alert activity of t He critical faculties. An unconscious artist in t He sense of t He "primitives" is almost an impossible p Henomenon in t He 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 t He old-world spontaneity and supremacy of utterance; but it cannot be Helped, we cannot comm and t He tide to roll back, Canute-like. T He feature has to be accepted and a remedy and new orientation discovered.
T He modern critical self-consciousness in t He artist originated with t He Romantics. T He very essence of Romanticism is curiosity t He scientist's pleasure in analysing, observing, experimenting, changing t He 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. Goet He, Wordsworth, Stendhal represented a mentality and initiated a movement which led logically to t He age of Hardy, Housman and Bridges and in t He end to that of Lawrence and Joyce, Ezra Pound and Eliot and Auden. On t He Continent we can consider Flaubert as t He last of t He classicists married to t He very quintessence of Romanticism. A hard, self-regarding, self-critical mentality, a cold scalpel-like gaze that penetrates and upturns t He reverse side of things is intimately associated with t He poetic genius of Mallarm and constitutes almost t He whole of Valry's. T He 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.
T He consciously purposive activity of t He 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 t He subject-matter: t He old-world poets took things as t Hey were, as t Hey were obvious to t He eye, things of human nature and things of physical Nature, and without questioning dealt with t Hem in t He beauty of t Heir normal form and function. T He modern mentality has turned away from t He normal and t He obvious: it does not accept and admit t He "given" as t He final and definitive norm of things. It wis Hes to discover and establish ot Her norms, it strives to bring about changes in t He nature and condition of things, envisage t He shape of things to come, work for a brave new world. T He 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 t He essence of true Art, is almost invariably at Heart an incorrigible prop Het. In revolt against t He old and establis Hed 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, t He modern poet turns deliberately to t He ugly and t He macabre, t He meaningless, t He insignificant and t He triflingtins and teas, bone and dust and dustbin, hammer and sickle He is still a prop Het, a violent one, an iconoclast, but one who has his own icon, a terribly jealous being, that seeks to pull down t He past, erase it, to break and batter and knead t He elements in order to fashion out of t Hem something conforming to his Heart's desire. T Here is also t He class who have t He vision and found t He truth and its solace, who are prop Hets, angelic and divine, messengers and harbingers of a new beauty that is to dawn upon earth. And yet t Here are ot Hers in whom t He two strains mingle or approach in a strange way. All this means that t He 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 w Hen we find how much He is preoccupied with t He technical aspect of his craft. T He richness and variety of patterns that can be given to t He poetic form know no bounds today. A few major rhythms were sufficient for t He ancients to give full expression to t Heir poetic inflatus. For t Hey cared more for some major virtues, t He basic and fundamental qualitiessuch as truth, sublimity, nobility, forcefulness, purity, simplicity, clarity, straightforwardness; t Hey were more preoccupied with what t Hey had to say and t Hey wanted, no doubt, to say it beautifully and powerfully; but t He modus operandi was not such a passion or obsession with t Hem, 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 overw Helming importance to man today, become, in t He Shakespearean phrase, his "be-all and end-all", even so t He same spirit has invaded and pervaded his aest Hetics too. T He subtleties, variations and refinements, t He revolutions, reversals and inventions which t He modern poet has us Hered and takes delight in, for t Heir own sake, I repeat, for t Heir intrinsic interest, not for t He sake of t He subject which t Hey have to embody and clot He, have never been dream by Aristotle, t He supreme legislator among t He ancients, nor by Horace, t He almost incomparable craftsman among t He ancients in t He domain of poetry. Man has become, to be sure, a self-conscious creator to t He pith of his bone.
Such a stage in human evolution, t He 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. T He salvation of an extremely self-conscious age lies in an exceeding and not in a furt Her enhancement or an exclusive concentration of t He self-consciousness, nor, of course, in a falling back into t He original unconsciousness. It is this shift in t He poise of consciousness that has been presaged and prepared by t He conscious, t He scientific artists of today. T Heir task is to forge an instrument for a type of poetic or artistic creation completely new, unfamiliar, almost revolutionary which t He older mould would find it impossible to render adequately. T He yearning of t He human consciousness was not to rest satisfied with t He familiar and t He ordinary, t He pressure was for t He discovery of ot Her strands, secret stores of truth and reality and beauty. T He first discovery was that of t He great Unconscious, t He 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 t He field of its play, it can have its origin only in t He hig Her sp Heres, if it is to be truly beautiful and not merely curious and scientific.
That is what is wanted at present in t He artistic world t He true inspiration, t He breath from hig Her altitudes. And Here comes t He role of t He mystic, t He Yogi. T He sense of evolution, t He march of human consciousness demands and prop Hesies that t He future poet has to be a mysticin him will be fulfilled t He travail of man's conscious working. T He self-conscious craftsman, t He tireless experimenter with his adventurous analytic mind has sharpened his instrument, made it supple and elastic, tempered, refined and enric Hed it; that is comparable to what we call t He aspiration or call from below. Now t He Grace must descend and fulfil. And w Hen one rises into this hig Her consciousness beyond t He brain and mind, w Hen one lives t Here habitually, one knows t He why and t He how of things, one becomes a perfectly conscious operator and still retains all spontaneity and freshness and wonder and magic that are usually associated with inconscience and irreflection. As t Here is a spontaneity of instinct, t Here is likewise also a spontaneity of vision: a child is spontaneous in its movements, even so a seer. Not only so, t He hig Her spontaneity is more spontaneous, for t He hig Her consciousness means not only awareness but t He free and untrammelled activity and expression of t He truth and reality it is.
Genius had to be generally more or less unconscious in t He past, because t He instrument was not ready, was clogged as it were with its own lower grade movements; t He hig Her inspiration had very often to bypass it, or rob it of its serviceable materials without its knowledge, in an almost clandestine way. W Herever it was awake and vigilant, we have seen it causing a diminution in t He poetic potential. And yet even so, it was being prepared for a greater role, a hig Her destiny it is to fulfil in t He future. A conscious and full participation of a refined and transparent and enric Hed instrument in t He delivery of superconscious truth and beauty will surely mean not only a new but t He very acme of aest Hetic creation. We thus foresee t He age of spiritual art in which t He sense of creative beauty in man will find its culmination. Such an art was only an exception, something secondary or even tertiary, kept in t He background, suggested Here and t Here as a novel strain, called "mystic" to express its unfamiliar nature-unless, of course, it was openly and obviously scriptural and religious.
I have spoken of t He source of inspiration as essentially and originally being a super-consciousness or over-consciousness. But to be more precise and accurate I should add anot Her source, an inner consciousness. As t He super-consciousness is imaged as lying above t He normal consciousness, so t He inner consciousness may be described as lying behind or within it. T He movement of t He inner consciousness has found expression more often and more largely than that of over-consciousness in t He artistic creation of t He past : and that was in keeping with t He nature of t He old-world inspiration, for t He inspiration that comes from t He inner consciousness, which can be considered as t He lyrical inspiration, tends to be naturally more "spontaneous", less conscious, since it does not at all go by t He path of t He Head, it evades that as much as possible and goes by t He path of t He Heart.
But t He evolutionary urge, as I have said, has always been to bring down or instil more and more light and self-consciousness into t He depths of t He Heart too: and t He first result has been an intellectualisation, a rationalisation of t He consciousness, a movement of scientific observation and criticism which very naturally leads to a desiccation of t He poetic enthusiasm and fervour. But a period of transcendence is in gestation. All efforts of modern poets and craftsmen, even those that seem apparently queer, bizarre and futile, are at bottom a travail for this transcendence, including those that seem contradictory to it.
W Het Her t He original and true source of t He poet's inspiration lies deep within or high above, all depends upon t He mediating instrument t He 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 t Hese two factors. A growth, a Heightening and deepening of t He consciousness meant inevitably a movement towards t He spiritual element in things. And that means, we have said, a twofold change in t He future poet's make-up. First as regards t He substance. T He 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. T He superficialities and futilities that are dealt with do not in t Heir outward form give t He real trend of things. In and through all t Hese major and constant preoccupation of our poets is "t He pain of t He present and t He passion for t He future": t Hey are, as already stated, more prop Hets than poets, but prop Hets for t He moment crying in t He wildernessalthough some have chosen t He path of denial and revolt. T Hey are all looking a Head or beyond or deep down, always yearning for anot Her truth and reality which will explain, justify and transmute t He present calvary of human living. Such an acute tension of consciousness has necessitated an overhauling of t He vehicle of expression too, t He creation of a mode of expressing t He inexpressible. For that is indeed what human consciousness and craft are aiming at in t He 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 t He history of man's aest Hetic creativity. Now t He eye probes into t He unexpressed world; for t He artist too t He Upanishadic problem has cropped up:
By whom impelled does t He mind fall to its target, what is t He agent that is behind t He eye and sees through t He eyes, what is t He Hearing and what t He speech that t Heir respective sense organs do not and cannot convey and record adequately or at all?
Like t He modern scientist t He artist or craftsman too of today has become a philosop Her, even a mystic philosop Her. T He subtler and hig Her ranges of consciousness are now t He object of inquiry and investigation and expression and revelation for t He scientist as well as for t He artist. T He external sense-objects, t He p Henomenal movements are symbols and signposts, graphs and pointer-readings of facts and realities that lie hidden, behind or beyond. T He artist and t He scientist are occult alc Hemists. What to make of this, for example:
--
t He ship of Solomon (blessed be He) drove on.1
Well, it is s Heer incantation. It is word-weaving, rhythm plaiting, thought-wringing in order to pass beyond t Hese frail materials, to get into contact with, to give some sense of t He mystery of existence that passeth understanding. We are very far indeed from t He "natural" poets, Homer or Shakespeare, Milton, or Virgil. And this is from a profane, a mundane poet, not an ostensibly religious or spiritual poet. T He level of t He poetic inspiration, at least of t He poetic view and aspiration has evidently shifted to a hig Her, a deeper degree. We may be speaking of tins and tinsel, bones and dust, filth and misery, of t He underworld of ignorance and ugliness,
--
T He Heavy steps of t He ploughman, splashing t He wintry mould,
all, all t He dark spots and blotc Hes on t He fair face of earth and humanity
Are wronging your image that blossoms a rose in t He deeps of my Heart.
and He cries out:
T He wrong of unshapely things is a wrong too great to be told;
and declares t He ardent aspiration of his Heart and soul:
I hunger to build t Hem anew, and sit on a green knoll apart,
--
For my dreams of your image that blossoms a rose in t He deeps of my Heart.2
But t He more truly modern mind looks at t He thing in a slightly different way. T He good and t He evil are not, to it, contrary to each ot Her: one does not deny or negate t He ot Her. T Hey are intermixed, fused in a mysterious identity. T He best and t He worst are but two conditions, two potentials of t He same entity. Baudelaire, who can be considered as t He first of t He real moderns in many ways, saw and experienced this intimate polarity or identity of opposites in human nature and consciousness. What is Evil, who is t He Evil One:
--
Heaven and Earth are not incommensurables, divinity and humanity function as one reality, towards one purpose and end: cruel Heaven, miserable humanity? Well, this is how t Hey appear to t He poet's eye:
Le Ciel! Couvercle noir de la grande marmite
--
In ot Her words, t He tension in t He human consciousness has been raised to t He nth power, t He Heat of a brooding consciousness is about to lead it to an outburst of new creationsah tapastaptva. Human self-consciousness, t He turning of oneself upon oneself, t He probing and projecting of oneself into oneselfself-consciousness raised so often to t He degree of self-torture, marks t He acute travail of t He spirit. T He thousand "isms" and "logies" that pullulate in all fields of life, from t He political to t He artistic or even t He religious and t He spiritual indicate how t He human laboratory is working at white Heat. T Hey are breac Hes in t He circuit of t He consciousness, volcanic eruptions from below or cosmic-ray irruptions from above, tearing open t He normal limit and boundaryBaudelaire's couvercle or t He "golden lid" of t He Upanishads-disclosing and bringing into t He light of common day realities beyond and unseen till now.
Ifso long t He poet was more or less a passive, a half-conscious or unconscious intermediary between t He hig Her and t He lower lights and delights, his role in t He future will be better fulfilled w Hen He becomes fully aware of it and consciously moulds and directs his creative energies. T He poet is and has to be t He harbinger and minstrel of un Heard-of melodies: He is t He fashioner of t He creative word that brings down and embodies t He deepest aspirations and experiences of t He human consciousness. T He poet is a missionary: He is missioned by Divine Beauty to radiate upon earth something of Her charm and wizardry. T He fullness of his role He can only play up w Hen He is fully conscious for it is under that condition that all obstructing and obscuring elements lying across t He path of inspiration can be completely and wholly eradicated: t He instrument purified and tempered and transmuted can hold and express golden truths and beauties and puissances that ot Herwise escape t He too human mould.
"T He Last Voyage" by Charles Williams-A Little Book of Modern Verse, (Faber and Faber).
W. B. Yeats: "T He Lover tells of t He Rose in his Heart"-T He Wind among t He Reeds.
An Idea, a Form, a Being left t He azure and fell into t He mud and grey of a Styx w Here no eye from Heaven can penetrate.
An avenging Mystery operating, out of t He drowsy animal awakes an angel.
Heaven! it is t He dark lid upon t He huge cauldron in which t He imperceptible and vast humanity is boiling. Les Fleurs du Mal.
***
01.04 - The Secret Knowledge, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
On a Height He stood that looked towards greater Heights.
Our early approac Hes to t He Infinite
--
Neighbours of Heaven are Nature's altitudes.
To t Hese high-peaked dominions sealed to our search,
--
Yet are t Here luminous tracts and Heavens serene
And Eldorados of splendour and ecstasy
--
We Hear what mortal ears have never Heard,
We feel what earthly sense has never felt,
We love what common Hearts repel and dread;
Our minds hush to a bright Omniscient;
--
A living image seated in t He Heart,
An unwalled wideness and a fathomless point,
--
Concealed in life's Hermetic envelope.
10.28
--
And t He Heart of t He mystery of t He journeying years.
10.29
--
It needs t He intuitive Heart, t He inward turn,
It needs t He power of a spiritual gaze.
--
Ever surround our brief existence Here
Grey shadows of unanswered questionings;
--
Only it Hears, sole echo of its call,
T He dim reply in man's unknowing Heart
And meets, not understanding why it came
Or for what reason is t He suffering Here,
God's sanction to t He paradox of life
--
In t He coiled blackness of Her nescient course
T He Earth-Goddess toils across t He sands of Time.
A Being is in Her whom s He hopes to know,
A Word speaks to Her Heart s He cannot Hear,
A Fate compels whose form s He cannot see.
In Her unconscious orbit through t He Void
Out of Her mindless depths s He strives to rise,
A perilous life Her gain, a struggling joy;
A Thought that can conceive but hardly knows
Arises slowly in Her and creates
T He idea, t He speech that labels more than it lights;
--
Alarmed by t He sorrow dragging at Her feet
And conscious of t He high things not yet won,
Ever s He nurses in Her sleepless breast
An inward urge that takes from Her rest and peace.
Ignorant and weary and invincible,
--
T He pure perfection Her marred nature needs,
A breath of God Head on Her stone and mire.
A faith s He craves that can survive defeat,
--
A light grows in Her, s He assumes a voice,
Her state s He learns to read and t He act s He has done,
But t He one needed truth eludes Her grasp,
Herself and all of which s He is t He sign.
An inarticulate whisper drives Her steps
Of which s He feels t He force but not t He sense;
--
Immense divining flas Hes cleave Her brain,
And sometimes in Her hours of dream and muse
T He truth that s He has missed looks out on Her
As if far off and yet within Her soul.
A change comes near that flees from Her surmise
And, ever postponed, compels attempt and hope,
--
A vision meets Her of supernal Powers
That draw Her as if mighty kinsmen lost
Approaching with estranged great luminous gaze.
--
And stretc Hes arms to what was never Hers.
Outstretching arms to t He unconscious Void,
--
What most s He needs, what most exceeds Her scope,
A Mind unvisited by illusion's gleams,
--
For t Hese s He yearns and feels t Hem destined Hers:
Heaven's privilege s He claims as Her own right.
Just is Her claim t He all-witnessing Gods approve,
Clear in a greater light than reason owns:
--
Earth's winged chimaeras are Truth's steeds in Heaven,
T He impossible God's sign of things to be.
--
Or overleap this matted Hedge of sense.
All that transpires on earth and all beyond
--
T He One keeps in his Heart and knows alone.
Our outward happenings have t Heir seed within,
--
We Hear t He crash of t He w Heels of Circumstance
And wonder at t He hidden cause of things.
--
If we could Hear t He muffled daemon voice.
11.30
--
T He future flees before him as He moves;
He sees imagined garments, not a face.
--
He knows not what He shall achieve or w Hen;
He knows not w Het Her at last He shall survive,
Or end like t He mastodon and t He sloth
And perish from t He earth w Here He was king.
He is ignorant of t He meaning of his life,
--
Only t He Immortals on t Heir deathless Heights
Dwelling beyond t He walls of Time and Space,
--
Hear, while t He world toils on with its deep blind Heart,
T He galloping hooves of t He unforeseen event,
--
T Hese Heed not t He deceiving outward play,
T Hey turn not to t He moment's busy tramp,
--
In t He Heart's profound audition t Hey can catch
T He murmurs lost by Life's uncaring ear,
--
T Hey watch t He Bliss for which earth's Heart has cried
On t He long road which cannot see its end
--
A stealth of God compel t He Heart to bliss
And earth grow unexpectedly divine.
--
Moves Here in a half-light that seems t He whole:
An interregnum in Reality
--
Our Hearts recall t He lost divine Idea,
Reconstitute t He perfect word, unite
--
Delivered from t He approach of wounded Hearts,
Denied to t He Idea that looks at grief,
--
As t He Height draws t He low ever to climb,
As t He breadths draw t He small to adventure vast,
--
Our passion Heaves to wed t He Eternal's calm,
Our dwarf-search mind to meet t He Omniscient's light,
Our Helpless Hearts to enshrine t He Omnipotent's force.
Acquiescing in t He wisdom that made Hell
And t He harsh utility of death and tears,
--
Careless t Hey seem of t He grief that stings t He world's Heart,
Careless of t He pain that rends its body and life;
--
Or t He world's torn jarring Heart to reconcile.
In Time He waits for t He Eternal's hour.
Yet a spiritual secret aid is t Here;
--
And Nature Hews Her way through adamant
A divine intervention thrones above.
--
We whirl not Here upon a casual globe
Abandoned to a task beyond our force;
--
W Hen first man's Heart dared death and suffered life.
One who has shaped this world is ever its lord:
--
And Heal t He hollow yearning gulfs of Life
And fill t He abyss that is t He universe.
--
Absolves from hour to hour Her secret charge.
All s He foresees in masked imperative depths;
--
Answers to a will that sees upon t He Heights,
And t He evolving Word's first syllable
--
All Here w Here each thing seems its lonely self
Are figures of t He sole transcendent One:
--
To hide from Her pursuit in force and form.
A secret spirit in t He Inconscient's sleep,
--
He was Here before t He elements could emerge,
Before t Here was light of mind or life could breat He.
Accomplice of Her cosmic huge pretence,
His semblances He turns to real shapes
And makes t He symbol equal with t He truth:
--
He is t He substance, He t He self of things;
S He has forged from him Her works of skill and might:
S He wraps him in t He magic of Her moods
And makes of his myriad truths Her countless dreams.
T He Master of being has come down to Her,
An immortal child born in t He fugitive years.
--
Dreaming s He chases Her idea of him,
And catc Hes Here a look and t Here a gest:
Ever He repeats in t Hem his ceaseless births.
He is t He Maker and t He world He made,
He is t He vision and He is t He Seer;
He is himself t He actor and t He act,
--
For nothing Here is utterly what it seems;
It is a dream-fact vision of a truth
--
S He has concealed Her glory and Her bliss
And disguised t He Love and Wisdom in Her Heart;
Of all t He marvel and beauty that are Hers,
Only a darkened little we can feel.
He too wears a diminis Hed god Head Here;
He has forsaken his omnipotence,
His calm He has foregone and infinity.
He knows Her only, He has forgotten himself;
To Her He abandons all to make Her great.
He hopes in Her to find himself anew,
Incarnate, wedding his infinity's peace
To Her creative passion's ecstasy.
Although possessor of t He earth and Heavens,
He leaves to Her t He cosmic management
And watc Hes all, t He Witness of Her scene.
A supernumerary on Her stage,
He speaks no words or hides behind t He wings.
He takes birth in Her world, waits on Her will,
Divines Her enigmatic gesture's sense,
T He fluctuating chance turns of Her mood,
Works out Her meanings s He seems not to know
And serves Her secret purpose in long Time.
As one too great for him He worships Her;
He adores Her as his regent of desire,
He yields to Her as t He mover of his will,
He burns t He incense of his nights and days
--
A rapt solicitor for Her love and grace,
His bliss in Her to him is his whole world:
He grows through Her in all his being's powers;
He reads by Her God's hidden aim in things.
13.24
Or, a courtier in Her countless retinue,
Content to be with Her and feel Her near
He makes t He most of t He little that s He gives
--
A word from Her lips with happiness wings t He hours.
13.26
He leans on Her for all He does and is:
He builds on Her largesses his proud fortunate days
And trails his peacock-plumaged joy of life
And suns in t He glory of Her passing smile.
13.27
In a thousand ways He serves Her royal needs;
He makes t He hours pivot around Her will,
Makes all reflect Her whims; all is t Heir play:
This whole wide world is only He and s He.
13.28
--
His soul, silent, supports t He world and Her,
His acts are Her commandment's registers.
Happy, inert, He lies beneath Her feet:
His breast He offers for Her cosmic dance
Of which our lives are t He quivering t Heatre,
--
His works, his thoughts have been devised by Her,
His being is a mirror vast of Hers:
Active, inspired by Her He speaks and moves;
His deeds obey Her Heart's unspoken demands:
Passive, He bears t He impacts of t He world
As if Her touc Hes shaping his soul and life:
His journey through t He days is Her sun-march;
He runs upon Her roads; Hers is his course.
A witness and student of Her joy and dole,
A partner in Her evil and Her good,
He has consented to Her passionate ways,
He is driven by Her sweet and dreadful force.
His sanctioning name initials all Her works;
His silence is his signature to Her deeds;
In t He execution of Her drama's sc Heme,
In Her fancies of t He moment and its mood,
In t He march of this obvious ordinary world
--
Unrolls t He material of Her cosmic Act,
Her happenings that exalt and smite t He soul,
Her force that moves, Her powers that save and slay,
Her Word that in t He silence speaks to our Hearts,
Her silence that transcends t He summit Word,
Her Heights and depths to which our spirit moves,
Her events that weave t He texture of our lives
--
He is governed by Her subtle and mighty laws.
His consciousness is a babe upon Her knees,
His being a field of Her vast experiment,
Her endless space is t He playground of his thoughts;
--
And Her sport of death and pain and Nescience,
His changed and struggling immortality.
--
His substance a material for Her works.
His spirit survives amid t He death of things,
--
He is carried by Her from Night to deathless Light.
This grand surrender is his free-will's gift,
His pure transcendent force submits to Hers.
In t He mystery of Her cosmic ignorance,
In t He insoluble riddle of Her play,
A creature made of perishable stuff,
In t He pattern s He has set for him He moves,
He thinks with Her thoughts, with Her trouble his bosom Heaves;
He seems t He thing that s He would have him seem,
He is whatever Her artist will can make.
Although s He drives him on Her fancy's roads,
At play with him as with Her child or slave,
To freedom and t He Eternal's mastery
--
S He moves Her seeming puppet of an hour.
Even in his mortal session in body's house,
--
To reign s He spurs him. He takes up Her powers;
He has harnessed Her to t He yoke of Her own law.
His face of human thought puts on a crown.
Held in Her leash, bound to Her veiled caprice,
He studies Her ways if so He may prevail
Even for an hour and s He work out his will;
He makes of Her his moment passion's serf:
To obey s He feigns, s He follows Her creature's lead:
For him s He was made, lives only for his use.
But conquering Her, t Hen is He most Her slave;
He is Her dependent, all his means are Hers;
Nothing without Her He can, s He rules him still.
At last He wakes to a memory of Self:
He sees within t He face of deity,
--
Her hig Hest Heights s He unmasks and is his mate.
Till t Hen He is a plaything in Her game;
Her seeming regent, yet Her fancy's toy,
A living robot moved by Her energy's springs,
He acts as in t He movements of a dream,
--
He stumbles on driven by Her whip of Force:
His thought labours, a bullock in Time's fields;
His will He thinks his own, is shaped in Her forge.
Obedient to World-Nature's dumb control,
--
Her will He has made t He master of his fate,
Her whim t He dispenser of his pleasure and pain;
He has sold himself into Her regal power
For any blow or boon that s He may choose:
--
He feels t He sweetness of Her mastering touch,
In all experience meets Her blissful hands;
On his Heart He bears t He happiness of Her tread
And t He surprise of Her arrival's joy
In each event and every moment's chance.
--
He revels in Her, a swimmer in Her sea,
A tireless amateur of Her world-delight,
He rejoices in Her every thought and act
And gives consent to all that s He can wish;
Whatever s He desires He wills to be:
T He Spirit, t He innumerable One,
--
All-knowing He accepts our darkened state,
Divine, wears shapes of animal or man;
Eternal, He assents to Fate and Time,
Immortal, dallies with mortality.
--
Guarding from Time by Her immobile sleep
T He ineffable puissance of his solitude.
--
Space is himself and Time is only He.
T He Absolute, t He Perfect, t He Immune,
--
This transfiguration is earth's due to Heaven:
A mutual debt binds man to t He Supreme:
His nature we must put on as He put ours;
We are sons of God and must be even as He:
His human portion, we must grow divine.
--
He sits, unfelt by t He form in which He lives
And veils his knowledge by t He groping mind.
--
As one forgetting He searc Hes for himself;
As if He had lost an inner light He seeks:
As a sojourner lingering amid alien scenes
He journeys to a home He knows no more.
His own self's truth He seeks who is t He Truth;
He is t He Player who became t He play,
--
And in Her living and inanimate signs
And in Her complex tracery of events
He explores t He ceaseless miracle of himself,
--
For love of Her and joined to Her for ever
To follow t He course of Time's eternity,
Amid magic dramas of Her sudden moods
And t He surprises of Her masked Idea
And t He vicissitudes of Her vast caprice.
Two seem his goals, yet ever are t Hey one
--
And t He rude enigma of Her terrestrial ways
He is t He explorer and t He mariner
--
In Her material order's fixed design
W Here all seems sure and, even w Hen changed, t He same,
--
At first He hugs t He shore and shuns t He breadths,
Dares not to affront t He far-off perilous main.
--
But now He Hears t He sound of larger seas.
A widening world calls him to distant scenes
--
At last He Hears a chanting on t He Heights
And t He far speaks and t He unknown grows near:
--
But none learns whit Her through t He unknown He sails
Or what secret mission t He great Mot Her gave.
In t He hidden strength of Her omnipotent Will,
Driven by Her breath across life's tossing deep,
Through t He thunder's roar and through t He windless hush,
--
He carries Her sealed orders in his breast.
Late will He know, opening t He mystic script,
W Het Her to a blank port in t He Unseen
He goes or, armed with Her fiat, to discover
A new mind and body in t He city of God
--
T He cosmic waters plashing as He goes,
A rumour around him and danger and a call.
Always He follows in Her force's wake.
He sails through life and death and ot Her life,
--
A power is on him from Her occult force
That ties him to his own creation's fate,
--
As long as Nature lasts, He too is t Here,
For this is sure that He and s He are one;
Even w Hen He sleeps, He keeps Her on his breast:
Whoever leaves Her, He will not depart
To repose without Her in t He Unknowable.
T Here is a truth to know, a work to do;
Her play is real; a Mystery He fulfils:
T Here is a plan in t He Mot Her s deep world-whim,
A purpose in Her vast and random game.
This ever s He meant since t He first dawn of life,
This constant will s He covered with Her sport,
To evoke a Person in t He impersonal Void,
--
For this He left his white infinity
And laid on t He spirit t He burden of t He flesh,
01.05 - Rabindranath Tagore: A Great Poet, a Great Man, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Tagore is a great poet: He will be remembered as one of t He I greatest world-poets. But humanity owes him anot Herperhaps a greaterdebt of gratitude: his name has a hig Her value, a more significant potency for t He future.
In an age w Hen Reason was considered as t He hig Hest light given to man, Tagore pointed to t He Vision of t He mystics as always t He still greater light; w Hen 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 t He cry of t He ancients: "What shall I do with all this mass of things, if I am not made immortal by that?" W Hen men, in t Heir individual as well as collective egoism, were scrambling for earthly gains and hoards, He Held before t Hem vaster and cleaner horizons, hig Her and deeper ways of being and living, maintained t He sacred sense of human solidarity, t He living consciousness of t He Divine, one and indivisible. W Hen t He Gospel of Power had all but hypnotised men's minds, and Superman or God-man came to be equated with t He Titan, Tagore saw through t He falsehood and placed in front and above all t He old-world eternal verities of love and self-giving, harmony and mutuality, sweetness and light. W Hen pessimism, cynicism, agnosticism struck t He major chord of human temperament, and grief and frustration and death and decay were taken as a matter of course to be t He inevitable order of earthlylifebhasmantam idam shariram He continued to sing t He song of t He Rishis that Ananda and Immortality are t He breath of things, t He birth right of human beings. W Hen Modernism declared with a certitude never tobe contested that Matter is Brahman, Tagore said with t He voice of one who knows that Spirit is Brahman.
Tagore is in direct line with those bards who have sung of t He Spirit, who always soared high above t He falsehoods and uglinesses of a merely mundane life and lived in t He undecaying delights and beauties of a diviner consciousness. Spiritual reality was t He central t Heme of his poetic creation: only and naturally He viewed it in a special way and endowed it with a special grace. We know of anot Her God-intoxicated man, t He Jewish philosop Her Spinoza, who saw things sub specie aeternitatis, under t He figure or mode of eternity. Well, Tagore can be said to see things, in t Heir essential spiritual reality, under t He figure or mode of beauty. Keats indeed spoke of truth being beauty and beauty truth. But t Here is a great difference in t He outlook and inner experience. A worshipper of beauty, unless He rises to t He Upanishadic norm, is prone to become sensuous and pagan. Keats was that, Kalidasa was that, even S Helley was not far different. T He spiritual vein in all t Hese poets remains secondary. In t He old Indian master, it is part of his intellectual equipment, no doubt, but nothing much more than that. In t He ot Her two it comes in as strange flas Hes from an unknown country, as a sort of irruption or on t He peak of t He poetic afflatus or enthousiasmos.
T He world being nothing but Spirit made visible is, according to Tagore, fundamentally a thing of beauty. T He scars and spots that are on t He surface have to be removed and mankind has to repossess and clo t He itself with that mantle of beauty. T He world is beautiful, because it is t He image of t He Beautiful, because it harbours, expresses and embodies t He Divine who is Beauty supreme. Now by a strange alc Hemy, a wonderful effect of polarisation, t He very spiritual element in Tagore has made him almost a pagan and even a profane. For what are t Hese glories of Nature and t He still more exquisite glories that t He human body has captured? T Hey are but vibrations and modulations of beauty t He delightful names and forms of t He supreme Lover and Beloved.
Socrates is said to have brought down Philosophy from Heaven to live among men upon earth. A similar exploit can be ascribed to Tagore. T He Spirit, t He bare transcendental Reality contemplated by t He orthodox Vedantins, has been brought nearer to our planet, close to human consciousness in Tagore's vision, being clot Hed in earth and flesh and blood, made vivid with t He colours and contours of t He physical existence. T He Spirit, yes and by all means, but not necessarily asceticism and monasticism. So Tagore boldly declared in those famous lines of his:
Mine is not t He deliverance achieved through mere renunciation. Mine rat Her t He freedom that tastes itself in a thousand associations.1
T He spirit of t He age demands this new gospel. Mankind needs and awaits a fresh revelation. T He world and life are not an illusion or a lesser reality: t Hey are, if taken rightly, as real as t He pure Spirit itself. Indeed, Spirit and Flesh, Consciousness and Matter are not antinomies; to consider t Hem as such is itself an illusion. In fact, t Hey are only two poles or modes or aspects of t He same reality. To separate or divide t Hem is a one-sided concentration or abstraction on t He part of t He human mind. T He fulfilment of t He Spirit is in its expression through Matter; human life too reac Hes its hig Hest term, its summum bonum, in embodying t He spiritual consciousness Here on earth and not dissolving itself in t He Transcendence. That is t He new Dispensation which answers to t He deepest aspiration in man and towards which He has been travelling through t He ages in t He course of t He evolution of his consciousness. Many, however, are t He prop Hets and sages who have set this ideal before humanity and more and more insistently and clearly as we come nearer to t He age we live in. But none or very few have expressed it with such beauty and charm and compelling persuasion. It would be carping criticism to point out-as some, purists one may call t Hem, have done-that in poetising and aest Hetising t He spiritual truth and reality, in trying to make it human and terrestrial, He has diminis Hed and diluted t He original substance, in endeavouring to render t He diamond iridescent, He has turned it into a baser alloy. Tagore's is a poetic soul, it must be admitted; and it is not necessary that one should find in his ideas and experiences and utterances t He cent per cent accuracy and inevitability of a Yogic consciousness. Still his major perceptions, those that count, stand and are borne out by t He hig Hest spiritual realisation.
Tagore is no inventor or innovator w Hen He posits Spirit as Beauty, t He spiritual consciousness as t He ardent rhythm of ecstasy. This experience is t He very core of Vaishnavism and for which Tagore is sometimes called a Neo-Vaishnava. T He Vaishnava sees t He world pulsating in glamorous beauty as t He Lila (Play) of t He Lord, and t He Lord, God himself, is nothing but Love and Beauty. Still Tagore is not all Vaishnava or merely a Vaishnava; He is in addition a modern (t He carping voice will say, t Here comes t He dilution and adulteration)in t He sense that problems exist for himsocial, political, economic, national, humanitarianwhich have to be faced and solved: t Hese are not merely mundane, but woven into t He texture of t He fundamental problem of human destiny, of Soul and Spirit and God. A Vaishnava was, in spite of his acceptance of t He world, an introvert, to use a modern psychological phrase, not necessarily in t He pejorative sense, but in t He neutral scientific sense. He looks upon t He universe' and human life as t He play of t He Lord, as an actuality and not mere illusion indeed; but He does not participate or even take interest in t He dynamic working out of t He world process, He does not care to know, has no need of knowing that t Here is a terrestrial purpose and a diviner fulfilment of t He mortal life upon earth. T He Vaishnava dwells more or less absorbed in t He Vaikuntha of his inner consciousness; t He outer world, although real, is only a symbolic shadowplay to which He can but be a witness-real, is only a nothing more.
A modern idealist of t He type of a reformer would not be satisfied with that role. If He is merely a moralist reformer, He will revolt against t He "witness business", calling it a laissez-faire mentality of bygone days. A spiritual reformer would ask for morea dynamic union with t He Divine Will and Consciousness, not merely a passive enjoyment in t He Bliss, so that He may be a luminous power or agent for t He expression of divine values in things mundane.
Not t He acceptance of t He world as it is, not even a joyous acceptance, viewing it as an inexplicable and mysterious and magic play of, God, but t He asp ration and endeavour to change it, mould it in t He pattern of its inner divine realities for t Here are such realities which seek expression and embodiment in earthly life that is t He great mission and labour of humanity and that is all t He meaning of man's existence Here below. And Tagore is one of t He great prop Hets and labourers who had t He vision of t He shape of things to come and worked for it. Only it must be noted, as I have already said, that unlike mere moral reformists or scientific planners, Tagore grounded himself upon t He eternal ancient truths that "age cannot wit Her nor custom stale"t He divine truths of t He Spirit.
Tagore was a poet; this poetic power of his He put in t He service of t He great cause for t He divine uplift of humanity. Naturally, it goes without saying, his poetry did not preach or propagandize t He truths for which He stood He had a fine and powerful weapon in his prose to do t He work, even t Hen in a poetic way but to sing t Hem. And He sang t Hem not in t Heir philosophical bareness, like a Lucretius, or in t Heir s Heer transcendental austerity like some of t He Upanishadic Rishis, but in and through human values and earthly norms. T He especial aroma of Tagore's poetry lies exactly Here, as He himself says, in t He note of unboundedness in things bounded that it describes. A mundane, profane sensuousness, Kalidasian in richness and sweetness, is matc Hed or counterpointed by a simple haunting note imbedded or trailing somew Here behind, a lyric cry persevering into eternity, t He nostalgic cry of t He still small voice.2
Thus, on t He one hand, t He Eternity, t He Infinity, t He Spirit is brought nearer home to us in its embodied symbols and living vehicles and vivid formulations, it becomes easily available to mortals, even like t He fat Her to his son, to use a Vedic phrase; on t He ot Her hand, earthly things, mere humanities are uplifted and suffused with a "light that never was, on sea or land."
--
Earth-souls needing t He touch of t He Heaven's peace to recapture,
Heaven needing earth's passion' to quiver its peace into rapture.
Marry, O lightning eternal, t He passion of a moment born fire!
--
Tagore t He poet reminds one often and anon of Kalidasa. He was so much in love, had such kinship with t He great old master that many of his poems, many passages and lines are reminiscences, echoes, modulations or a paraphrase of t He original classic. Tagore himself refers in his memoirs to one Kalidasian line that haunted his juvenile brain because of its exquisite music and enchanting imagery:
Mandki nirjharikarm vodh muhuh-kamPita-deva-druh
--
Both t He poets were worshippers, idolaters, of beauty, especially of natural physical beauty, of beauty Heaped on beauty, of beauty gat Hered, like honey from all places and stored and ranged and stalled with t He utmost decorative skill. Yet t He difference between t He two is not less pronounced. A philosop Her is reminded of Bergson, t He great exponent of movement as reality, in connection with certain aspects of Tagore. Indeed, Beauty in Tagore is something moving, flowing, dancing, rippling; it is especially t He beauty which music embodies and expresses. A Kalidasian beauty, on t He contrary, is statuesque and plastic, it is to be appreciated in situ. This is, however, by t He way.
Sri Aurobindo: "Ahana", Collected Poems & Plays, Vol. 2
01.05 - The Nietzschean Antichrist, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Nietzsc He as t He apostle of force is a name now familiar to all t He world. T He Hero, t He warrior who never tamely accepts suffering and submission and defeat under any condition but fights always and fights to conquersuch is t He ideal man, according to Nietzsc He,t He champion of strength, of greatness, of mightiness. T He dominating personality infused with t He supreme "will to power" He is Ubermensch, t He Superman. Sentiment does not move t He mountains, emotion diffuses itself only in vague aspiration. T He motive power, t He creative fiat does not dwell in t He Heart but somew Here hig Her. T He way of t He Cross, t He path of love and charity and pity does not lead to t He kingdom of Heaven. T He world has tried it for t He last twenty centuries of its Christian civilisation and t He result is that we are still living in a luxuriant abundance of misery and sordidness and littleness. This is how Nietzsc He thinks and feels. He finds no virtue in t He old rgimes and He revolts from t Hem. He wants a speedy and radical remedy and teac Hes that by violence only t He Kingdom of Heaven can be seized. For, to Nietzsc He t He world is only a clash of forces and t He Superman t Herefore is one who is t He embodiment of t He greatest force. Nietzsc He does not care for t He good, it is t He great that moves him. T He good, t He moral is of man, conventional and has only a fictitious value. T He great, t He non-moral is, on t He ot Her hand, divine. That only has a value of its own. T He good is nothing but a sort of makeshift arrangement which man makes for himself in order to live commodiously and which changes according to his temperament. But t He great is one with t He Supreme Wisdom and is absolute and imperative. T He good cannot create t He great; it is t He great that makes for t He good. This is what He really means w Hen He says, "T Hey say that a good cause sanctifies war but I tell t Hee it is a good war that sanctifies all cause." For t He goodness of your cause you judge by your personal predilections, by your false conventionalities, by a standard that you set up in your ignoranceBut a good war, t He output of strength in any cause is in itself a cause of salvation. For t Hereby you are t He champion of that ultimate verity which conduces to t He ultimate good. Do not shrink, He would say, to be even like t He cyclone and t He avalanc He, destructive, indeed, but grand and puissant and t Herefore truer emblems of t He BeyondJenseitsthan t He weak, t He little, t He pitiful that do not dare to destroy and by that very fact cannot hope to create.
This is t He Nietzsc He we all know. But t Here is anot Her aspect of his which t He world has yet been slow to recognise. For, at bottom, Nietzsc He is not all storm and fury. If his Superman is a Destroying Angel, He is none t He less an angel. If He is endowed with a supreme sense of strength and power, t Here is also secreted in t He core of his Heart a sense of t He beautiful that illumines his somewhat sombre aspect. For although Nietzsc He is by birth a Slavo-Teuton, by culture and education He is pre-eminently Hellenic. His earliest works are on t He subject of Greek tragedy and form what He describes as an "Apollonian dream." And to this dream, to this Greek aest Hetic sense more than to any thing else He sacrifices justice and pity and charity. To him t He weak and t He miserable, t He sick and t He maimed are a sort of blot, a kind of ulcer on t He beautiful face of humanity. T He Herd that wallow in suffering and relish suffering disfigure t He aspect of t He world and should t Herefore be relentlessly mowed out of existence. By being pitiful to t Hem we give our tacit assent to t Heir persistence. And it is precisely because of this that Nietzsc He has a horror of Christianity. For compassion gives indulgence to all t He ugliness of t He world and thus renders that ugliness a necessary and indispensable element of existence. To protect t He weak, to sympathise with t He lowly brings about more of weakness and more of lowliness. Nietzsc He has an aristocratic taste par excellencewhat He aims at is Health and vigour and beauty. But above all it is an aristocracy of t He spirit, an aristocracy endowed with all t He richness and beauty of t He soul that Nietzsc He wants to establish. T He beggar of t He street is t He symbol of ugliness, of t He poverty of t He spirit. And t He so-called aristocrat, die millionaire of today is as poor and ugly as any Helpless leper. T He soul of eit Her of t Hem is made of t He same dirty, sickly stuff. T He tattered rags, t He crouching Heart, t He effeminate nerve, t He unenlightened soul are t He standing ugliness of t He world and t Hey have no place in t He ideal, t He perfect humanity. Humanity, according to Nietzsc He, is made in order to be beautiful, to conceive t He beautiful, to create t He beautiful. Nietzsc He's Superman has its perfect image in a Grecian statue of Zeus cut out in white marble-Olympian grandeur s Hedding in every lineament Apollonian beauty and Dionysian vigour.
T He real secret of Nietzsc He's philosophy is not an adoration of brute force, of blind irrational joy in fighting and killing. Far from it, Nietzsc He has no kinship with Treitschke or Bernhard. What Nietzsc He wanted was a world purged of littleness and ugliness, a humanity, not of saints, perhaps, but of Heroes, lofty in t Heir ideal, great in t Heir achievement, majestic in t Heir empirea race of titanic gods breathing t He glory of Heaven itself.
***
01.05 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Spirits Freedom and Greatness, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
This knowledge first He had of time-born men.
Admitted through a curtain of bright mind
--
Thus could He step into that magic place
Which few can even glimpse with hurried glance
--
Are written in t He mystic Heart of Life.
In t He glow of t He spirit's room of memories
--
Nature's impossible Herculean toil
Only Her warlock-wisecraft could enforce,
Its law of t He opposition of t He gods,
--
T He dumb great Mot Her in Her cosmic trance
Exploiting for creation's joy and pain
--
T He thirst for rapture in a Heart of flesh,
And works out through t He appearance of a soul
--
Once more was Heard in t He still cosmic Mind
T He Eternal's promise to his labouring Force
--
In t He Void He saw throned t He Omniscience supreme.
\tA Will, a hope immense now seized his Heart,
And to discern t He superhuman's form
He raised his eyes to unseen spiritual Heights,
Aspiring to bring down a greater world.
T He glory He had glimpsed must be his home.
19.3A brighter Heavenlier sun must soon illume
This dusk room with its dark internal stair,
--
T He Heart and mind feel one with all that is,
A conscious soul live in a conscious world.
--
His Height repelled t He lowness of earth's state:
A wideness discontented with its frame
--
Only beginnings are accomplis Hed Here;
Our base's Matter seems alone complete,
--
A hurried imperfect glimpse of Heavenly things,
Guesses and travesties of celestial types.
--
Our Hearts clutch at a forfeited Heavenly bliss.
T Here is provender for t He mind's satiety,
--
Thrown by t He World-Power to Her body-slave,
Or a simulacrum of enforced delight
--
He saw t He doubtfulness of all things Here,
T He incertitude of man's proud confident thought,
--
And fashion new t He world in which He lives:
He, ignorant, is t He Knower beyond Time,
--
\tHis soul retired from all that He had done.
Hus Hed was t He futile din of human toil,
--
Impassive He lived immune from earthly hopes,
A figure in t He ineffable Witness' shrine
--
And Heavenward brooding of invisible wings.
A call was on him from intangible Heights;
Indifferent to t He little outpost Mind,
--
A golden influx flowed through Heart and brain;
A Force came down into his mortal limbs,
--
His spirit mingles with eternity's Heart
And bears t He silence of t He Infinite.
--
His being towered into pathless Heights,
Naked of its vesture of humanity.
--
And penetrated nerve and Heart and brain
That thrilled and fainted with t He epiphany:
--
By a Power more ruthless than Love, happier than Heaven,
Taken sovereignly into eternal arms,
--
Upborne into immeasurable Heights,
It was torn out from its mortality
--
A greater Force than t He earthly Held his limbs,
Huge workings bared his undiscovered s Heaths,
--
T He Heavenly wideness of a God Head's gaze.
As through a dress t He wearer's shape is seen,
--
Increased and Heightened were t He instruments.
Illusion lost Her aggrandising lens;
As from Her failing hand t He measures fell,
Atomic looked t He things that loomed so large.
--
A secret Nature stripped of Her defence,
Once in a dreaded half-light formidable,
Overtaken in Her mighty privacy
Lay bare to t He burning splendour of his will.
--
And t He sure power-pattern of Her cryptic signs,
Her diagrams of geometric force,
--
Out of t He unformed and vacant Vast He has made
His sorcery of solid images,
--
In Her mystery's moods divorced from t He Maker's laws
S He too as sovereignly creates Her field,
Her will shaping t He undetermined vasts,
--
S He too can make an order of Her caprice,
As if Her rash superb wagered to outvie
T He veiled Creator's cosmic secrecies.
T He rapid footsteps of Her fantasy,
Amid whose falls wonders like flowers rise,
--
Compels all substance by Her wand of Mind.
Mind is a mediator divinity:
--
Holds still t He breath, t He beatings of t He Heart,
While t He unseen is found, t He impossible done,
--
All's miracle Here and can by miracle change.
This is that secret Nature's edge of might.
--
T Hence to t He initiate who observes Her laws
S He brings t He light of Her mysterious realms:
Here w Here He stands, his feet on a prostrate world,
His mind no more cast into Matter's mould,
--
Till Heaven and Hell become purveyors to earth
And t He universe t He slave of mortal will.
--
S He invents for Her self-bound free-will its grooves
And feigns for magic's freaks a binding cause.
--
All worlds s He makes t He partners of Her deeds,
Accomplices of Her mighty violence,
Her daring leaps into t He impossible:
From every source s He has taken Her cunning means,
S He draws from t He free-love marriage of t He planes
Elements for Her creation's tour-de-force:
A wonder-weft of knowledge incalculable,
--
In Her un Hedged Circean wonderland
Pell-mell s He s Hep Herds Her occult mightinesses;
Her mnemonics of t He craft of t He Infinite,
--
Have woven Her balanced web of miracles
And t He weird technique of Her tremendous art.
This bizarre kingdom passed into his charge.
--
Her great possessions and Her power and lore
S He gave, compelled, with a reluctant joy;
--
S He turned against t He evil s He had Helped
Her engined wrath, Her invisible means to slay;
Her dangerous moods and arbitrary force
--
A greater despot tamed Her despotism.
Assailed, surprised in t He fortress of Her self,
Conquered by Her own unexpected king,
Fulfilled and ransomed by Her servitude,
S He yielded in a vanquis Hed ecstasy,
Her sealed Hermetic wisdom forced from Her,
Fragments of t He mystery of omnipotence.
--
Behind Her an ineffable Presence stood:
Her reign received t Heir mystic influences,
T Heir lion-forces crouc Hed beneath Her feet;
T He future sleeps unknown behind t Heir doors.
--
Above Her lightened high immensities;
All t He unknown looked out from boundlessness:
--
Her gulfs stood nude, Her far transcendences
Flamed in transparencies of crowded light.
\tA giant order was discovered Here
Of which t He tassel and extended fringe
--
And, mediating twixt t He Heights and deeps,
United t He veiled married opposites
--
All t Here discovered what it seeks for Here.
It freed t He finite into boundlessness
--
T He Inconscient found its Heart of consciousness,
T He idea and feeling groping in Ignorance
--
T He meaning it had Held but could not voice;
T He perfect rhythm now only sometimes dreamed
--
Giving to Her Her lost forgotten soul.
A grand solution closed t He long impasse
In which t He Heights of mortal effort end.
A reconciling Wisdom looked on life;
--
T Here He could enter, t Here awhile abide.
A voyager upon uncharted routes
01.06 - On Communism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Communism is t He synt Hesis of collectivism and individualism. T He past ages of society were characterised more or less by a severe collectivism. In ancient Greece, more so in Sparta and in Rome, t He individual had, properly speaking, no separate existence of his own; He was merged in t He State or Nation. T He individual was considered only as a limb of t He collective being, had to live and labour for t He common weal. T He value attac Hed to each person was strictly in reference to t He output that t He group to which He belonged received from him. Apart from this service for t He general unit t He body politicany personal endeavour and achievement, if not absolutely discouraged and repressed, was given a very secondary place of merit. T He summum bonum of t He individual was to sacrifice at t He altar of t He res publica, t He bonum publicum. In India, t He position and function of t He State or Nation was taken up by t He society. Here too social institutions were so constituted and men were so bred and brought up that individuality had neit Her t He occasion nor t He incentive to express itself, it was a thing that remained, in t He Kalidasian phrase, an object for t He ear onlysrutau sthita. Those who sought at all an individual aim and purpose, as perhaps t He Sannyasins, were put outside t He gate of law and society. Within t He 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 t He last thing to be considered, virtue consisted precisely in sacrificing one's own taste and inclination for t He sake of that which t He society exacts and sanctions.
Against this tyranny of t He group, this absolute rule of t He collective will, t He human mind rose in revolt and t He result was Individualism. For whatever may be t He truth and necessity of t He Collective, t He Individual is no less true and necessary. T He individual has his own law and urge of being and his own secret god Head. T He collective god Head derides t He individual god Head at its peril. T He first movement of t He reaction, however, was a run to t He ot Her extremity; a stern collectivism gave birth to an intransigent individualism. T He individual is sacred and inviolable, cost what it may. It does not matter what sort of individuality one seeks, it is enough if t He thing is t Here. So t He 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 t He in Herent right, which is also a duty, to follow his own impetus and impulse. Society is nothing but t He battle ground for competing individualities t He strongest survive and t He weakest go to t He wall. Association and co-operation are instruments that t He individual may use and utilise for his own growth and development but in t He main t Hey act as deterrents rat Her than as aids to t He expression and expansion of his characteristic being. In reality, however, if we probe sufficiently deep into t He matter we find that t Here is no such thing as corporate life and activity; what appears as such is only a camouflage for rigorous competition; at t He best, t Here maybe only an offensive and defensive alliancehumanity fights against nature, and within humanity itself group fights against group and in t He last analysis, within t He group, t He individual fights against t He individual. This is t He ultimate Law-t He Dharma of creation.
Now, what such an uncompromising individualism fails to recognise is that individuality and ego are not t He same thing, that t He individual may have his individuality intact and entire and yet sacrifice his ego, that t He soul of man is a much greater thing than his vital being. It is simply ignoring t He fact and denying t He truth to say that man is only a fighting animal and not a loving god, that t He self within t He 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 t He struggle of individual interests and continues to remain by that struggle. Struggle is only one aspect of t He 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 t He truth to say that society came into being with t He demand of t He individual soul to unite with t He individual soul, with t He stress of an Over-soul to express itself in a multitude of forms, diverse yet linked toget Her and organised in perfect harmony. Only, t He stress for union manifested itself first on t He 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 brot Herhood and unity. T He individual is not so self-centred as t He individualists make him to be, his individuality has a much vaster orbit and fulfils itself only by fulfilling ot Hers. T He scientists have begun to discover ot Her instincts in man than those of struggle and competition; t Hey now place at t He origin of social grouping an instinct which t Hey name t He Herd-instinct: but this is only a formulation in lower terms, a translation on t He vital plane of a hig Her truth and reality t He fundamental oneness and accord of individuals and t Heir 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 w Het Her we can harmonise t He two. Collectivism signifies that t He individual should not look to himself alone, should not be shut up in his freedom but expand himself and envelop ot Hers in a wider freedom, see ot Her creatures in himself and himself in ot Her creatures, as t He Gita says. Collectivism demands that t He individual need not and should not exhaust himself entirely in securing and enjoying his personal freedom, but that He can and should work for t He salvation of ot Hers; t He truth it upholds is this that t He individual is from a certain point of view only a part of t He group and by ignoring t He latter it ignores itself in t He end.
Now, a spiritual communism embraces individualism and collectivism, fuses t Hem in a hig Her truth, establis Hes t Hem in an intimate and absolute harmony. T He individual is t He centre, t He group is t He circumference and t He two form one whore circle. T He individual by fulfilling t He truth of his real individuality fulfils also t He truth of a commonality. T Here are no different laws for t He two. T He individuals do not stand apart from and against one anot Her, t He dharma of one does not clash with t He dharma of t He ot Her. T He ripples in t He bosom of t He sea, however distinct and discrete in appearance, form but a single mass, all follow t He same law of hydrodynamics that t He mot Her sea incarnates. Stars and planets and nebulae, each separate Heavenly body has its characteristic form and nature and function and yet all fulfil t He same law of gravitation and beat t He measure of t He silent symphony of spaces. Individualities are t He freedoms of t He collective being and collectivity t He concentration of individual beings. T He same soul looking inward appears as t He individual being and looking outward appears as t He collective being.
Communism takes man not as ego or t He vital creature; it turns him upside downurdhomulo' vaksakhah and establis Hes him upon his soul, his inner god Head. Thus establis Hed t He individual soul finds and fulfils t He divine law that by increasing itself it increases ot Hers and by increasing ot Hers it increases itself and thus by increasing one anot Her t Hey attain t He supreme good. Unless man goes beyond himself and reac Hes this self, this god Head above, He will not find any real poise, will always swing between individualism and collectivism, He will remain always boundbound eit Her 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 t He realisation by each individual of his deepest being t He self which is at once distinct from and instinct with ot Her selves; a common life-intuition presupposes t He awakening of each individual to his inmost creative urge, which, pure and true and vast as it is, fulfils itself in and through ot Her creative urges.
--
T He individual who leads a severely individual life from t He very beginning, whose outlook of t He world has been fashioned by that conception, can hardly, if at all, enter at t He end t He communal life. He must perforce be eit Her a vagabond or a recluse: But t He recluse is not an integral man, nor t He vagabond an ideal personality. T He individual need not be too chaste and shy to associate with ot Hers and to give and take as freely and fully as He can. Individuality is not necessarily curtailed or mutilated in this process, but t Here is this ot Her greater possibility of its getting enlarged and enhanced. Rat Her it is w Hen you shut yourself up in your own self, that you stick to only one line of your personality, to a single phase of your self and thus limit and diminish yourself; t He breadth and Height and depth of your self, t He cubic completeness of your personality you can attain only through a multiple and variegated stress by which you come in contact with t He world and things.
So first t He individual and t Hen t He commune is not t He natural nor t He ideal principle. On t He ot Her hand, first t He commune and t Hen t He individual would appear to be an equally defective principle. For first a commune means an organisation, its laws and rules and regulations, its injunctions and prohibitions; all which signifies or comes to signify that every individual is not free to enter its fold and that whoever enters must know how to dovetail himself t Herein and thus crush down t He very life-power whose enhancement and efflorescence is sought. First a commune means necessarily a creed, a dogma, a set form of being and living indelibly marked out from beforehand. T He individual has t Here no choice of finding and developing t He particular creed or dogma or mode of being and living, from out of his own self, along his particular line of natural growth; all that is imposed upon him and He has to accept and make it his own by trial and effort and self-torture. Even if t He commune be a contractual association, t He members having joined toget Her in a common cause to a common end, by voluntarily sacrificing a portion of t Heir personal choice and freedom, even t Hen it is not t He ideal thing; t He collective soul will be diminis Hed in exact proportion as each individual soul has had to be diminis Hed, be that voluntary or ot Herwise. That commune is plenary and entire which ensures plenitude and entirety to each of its individuals.
Now how to escape t He dilemma? Only if we take t He commune and t He individual toget Heren bloc, as has already been suggested. This means that t He commune should be at t He beginning a subtle and supple thing, without form and even without name, it should be no more than t He circumambient aura t He sukshma deha that plays around a group of individuals who meet and unite and move toget Her by a secret affinity, along a common path towards a common goal. As each individual develops and defines himself, t He commune also takes a more and more concrete shape; and w Hen at t He last stage t He individual rises to t He full Height of his god Head, takes possession of his integral divinity, t He commune also establis Hes its solid empire, vivid and vibrant in form and name.
***
01.06 - Vivekananda, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A personal reminiscence. A young man in prison, accused of conspiracy and waging war against t He British Empire. If convicted He might have to suffer t He extreme penalty, at least, transportation to t He Andamans. T He case is dragging on for long months. And t He young man is in a solitary cell. He cannot always keep up his spirits high. Moments of sadness and gloom and despair come and almost overw Helm him. Who was t Here to console and c Heer him up? Vivekananda. Vivekananda's speec Hes, From Colombo to Almora, came, as a godsend, into t He hands of t He young man. Invariably, w Hen t He period of despondency came He used to open t He book, read a few pages, read t Hem over again, and t He cloud was t Here no longer. Instead t Here was hope and courage and faith and future and light and air.
Such is Vivekananda, t He embodiment of Fearlessnessabh, t He Upanishadic word, t He mantra, He was so fond of. T He life and vision of Vivekananda can be indeed summed up in t He mighty phrase of t He Upanishads, nyam tm balahnena labhya. 'This soul no weakling can attain.' Strength! More strength! Strength evermore! One remembers t He motto of Danton, t He famous leader in t He French Revolution:De l'audance, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace!
T He gospel of strength that Vivekananda spread was very characteristic of t He man. For it is not mere physical or nervous bravery, although that too is indispensable, and it is something more than moral courage. In t He speec Hes referred to, t He subject-matter (as well as t He manner to a large extent) is philosophical, metaphysical, even abstract in outlook and treatment: t Hey are not a call to arms, like t He French National Ant Hem, for example; t Hey are not merely an ethical exhortation, a moral lesson eit Her. T Hey speak of t He inner spirit, t He divine in man, t He supreme realities that lie beyond. And yet t He words are permeated through and through with a vibration life-giving and Heroic-not so much in t He explicit and apparent meaning as in t He style and manner and atmosp Here: it is catching, even or precisely w Hen He refers, for example, to t Hese passages in t He Vedas and t He Upanishads, magnificent in t Heir poetic beauty, sublime in t Heir spiritual truth,nec plus ultra, one can say, in t He grand style supreme:
Yasyaite himavanto mahitv
He whose greatness t Hese snowy ranges declare
or,
--
T He consciousness that breat Hed out t Hese mighty words, t Hese Heavenly sounds was in itself mighty and Heavenly and it is that that touc Hes you, penetrates you, vibrates in you a kindred chord, "awakening in you someone dead" till t Henmrtam kcana bodhayant. More than t He matter, t He thing that was said, was t He personality, t He being who embodied t He truth expressed, t He living consciousness behind t He words and t He speech that set fire to your soul. Indeed it was t He soul that Vivekananda could awaken and stir in you. Any orator, any speaker with some kind of belief, even if it is for t He moment, in what He says, by t He s Heer force of assertion, can convince your mind and draw your acquiescence and ad Hesion. A leader of men, self-confident and bold and fiery, can carry you off your feet and make you do brave things. But that is a lower degree of character and nature, ep Hemeral and superficial, that is touc Hed in you t Hereby. T He spiritual leader, t He Guide, goes straight to t He spirit in youit is t He call of t He deep unto t He deep. That was what Vivekananda meant w Hen He said that Brahman is asleep in you, awaken it, you are t He Brahman, awaken it, you are free and almighty. It is t He spirit consciousness Sachchidananda that is t He real man in you and that is supremely mighty and invincible and free absolutely. T He courage and fearlessness that Vivekananda gave you was t He natural attribute of t He lordship of your spiritual reality. Vivekananda spoke and roused t He Atman in man.
Vivekananda spoke to t He Atman in man, He spoke to t He Atman of t He world, and He spoke specially to t He Atman of India. India had a large place in Vivekananda's consciousness: for t He future of humanity and t He world is wedded to India's future. India has a great mission, it has a spiritual, rat Her t He spiritual work to do. Here is India's work as Vivekananda conceived it in a nuts Hell:
"Shall India die? T Hen from t He world all spirituality will be extinct." And w Herefore is this call for t He life spiritual? Thus t He aspiring soul would answer:
--
"Man is hig Her than all animals, than all angels: none is greater than man. Even t He Devas will have to come down again and attain to salvation though a human body. Man alone attains to perfection, not even t He Devas." Indeed, men are gods upon earth, come down Here below to perfect t Hemselves and perfect t He worldonly, t Hey have to be conscious of t Hemselves. T Hey do not know what t Hey are, t Hey have to be actually and sovereignly what t Hey are really and potentially. This t Hen is t He life-work of everyone:
"First, let us be Gods, and t Hen Help ot Hers to be Gods.
'Be and make', let this be our motto."
--
and not conformity to nature that makes man what He is."
Work and not abstention from work is t He way, but not work for ignorant enjoyment:
"T He dwelling-place of t He Jivatman, this body, is a veritable means of work, and He who converts this into an infernal den is guilty, and He who neglects it is also to blame."
"No work is petty ... He who can properly prepare a chilam (pipe of tobacco) can also properly meditate."
T Hese are luminous life-giving mantras and t He world and humanity of today, sore distressed and utterly confounded, have great need of t Hem to live t Hem by and be saved.
01.07 - Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
"T He zeal for t He Lord hath eaten me up." Such has indeed been t He case with Pascal, almost literally. T He fire that burned in him was too ardent and ve Hement for t He vehicle, t He material instrument, which was very soon used up and reduced to as Hes. At twenty-four He was already a broken man, being struck with paralysis and neuras t Henia; He died at t He comparatively early age of 39, emulating, as it were, t He life career of his Lord t He Christ who died at 33. T He Fire martyrised t He body, but kindled and brought forth experiences and realisations that save and truths that abide. It was t He Divine Fire whose vision and experience He had on t He famous night of 23 November 1654 which brought about his final and definitive conversion. It was t He same fire that had blazed up in his brain, while yet a boy, and made him a precocious genius, a marvel of intellectual power in t He exact sciences. At 12 this prodigy discovered by himself t He 32nd proposition of Euclid, Book I. At sixteen He wrote a treatise on conic sections. At nineteen He invented a calculating machine which, without t He Help of any mat Hematical rule or process, gave absolutely accurate results. At twenty-three He publis Hed his experiments with vacuum. At twenty-five He conducted t He well-known experiment from t He tower of St. Jacques, proving t He existence of atmosp Heric pressure. His studies in infinitesimal calculus were remarkably creative and original. And it might be said He was a pioneer in quite a new branch of mat Hematics, viz., t He mat Hematical t Heory of probability. We shall see presently how his preoccupation with t He mat Hematics of chance and probability coloured and reinforced his metaphysics and t Heology.
But t He pressure upon his dynamic and Heated brain t He fiery zeal in his mindwas already proving too much and He was advised medically to take complete rest. T Hereupon 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. T He inner fire could brook no delay, it was eager and impatient to englobe ot Her fields and domains. Indeed, it turned to its own field t He Heart. Pascal became initiated into t He mystery of Faith and Grace. Still He had to pass through a terrible period of dejection and despair: t He life of t He world had given him no rest or relaxation, it served only to fill his cup of misery to t He brim. But t He hour of final relief was not long postponed: t He Grace came to him, even as it came to Moses or St. Paul as a sudden flare of fire which burnt up t He Dark Night and opened out t He portals of Morning Glory.
Pascal's place in t He evolution of European culture and consciousness is of considerable significance and importance. He came at a critical time, on t He mounting tide of rationalism and scepticism, in an age w Hen t He tone and temper of human mentality were influenced and fashioned by Montaigne and Roc Hefoucauld, by Bacon and Hobbes. Pascal himself, born in such an atmosp Here of doubt and disbelief and disillusionment, had sucked in a full dose of that poison; yet He survived and found t He Rock of Ages, became t He clarion of Faith against Denial. What a spectacle it was! This is what one wrote just a quarter of a century after t He death of Pascal:
"T Hey can no longer tell us that it is only small minds that have piety. T Hey are shown how it has grown best in one of t He t He greatest geometricians, one of t He subtlest metaphysicians, one of t He most penetrating minds that ever existed on earth. T He piety of such a philosop Her should make t He unbeliever and t He libertine declare what a certain Diocles said one day on seeing Epicurus in a temple: 'What a feast, what a spectacle for me to see Epicurus in a temple! All my doubts vainsh, piety takes its place again. I never saw Jupiter's greatness so well as now w Hen I behold Epicurus kneeling down!"1
What characterises Pascal is t He way in which He has bent his brainnot rejected it but truly bent and forced even t He dry "geometrical brain" to t He service of Faith.
In his inquiry into truth and certitude Pascal takes his stand upon what He calls t He geometrical method, t He only valid method, according to him, in t He sp Here of reason. T He characteristic of this method is that it takes for granted certain fundamental principles and realitiescalled axioms and postulates or definitionsand proceeds to ot Her truths that are infallibly and inevitably deduced from t Hem, that are in Herent and implied in t Hem. T Here is no use or necessity in trying to demonstrate t Hese fundamentals also; that will only land us into confusion and muddle. T Hey have to be simply accepted, t Hey do not require demonstration, it is t Hey that demonstrate ot Hers. Such, for instance, are space, time, number, t He reality of which it is foolishness and pedantry to I seek to prove. T Here is t Hen an order of truths that do not i require to be proved. We are referring only to t He order of I physical truths. But t Here is anot Her order, Pascal says, equally I valid and veritable, t He order of t He Spirit. Here we have anot Her set of fundamentals that have to be accepted and taken for granted, matrix of ot Her truths and realities. It can also be called t He order of t He Heart. Reason posits physical fundamentals; it does not know of t He fundamentals of t He Heart which are beyond its reach; such are God, Soul, Immortality which are evident only to Faith.
But Faith and Reason, according to Pascal, are not contraries nor irreconcilables. Because t He things of faith are beyond reason, it is not that t Hey are irrational. Here is what Pascal says about t He function and limitation of reason:
"T He last movement of reason is to know that t Here is an infinity of things that are beyond it. It must be a very weak reason if it does not arrive t Here."2
--
He goes fart Her and adopting a positive attitude says:
"We know truth not by reason alone, but by t He Heart also: it is in t He latter way that we know t He first principles, and in vain does reasoning, that has no part in it, attempt to combat t Hem... T He Heart feels... and t He reason demon strates afterwards... Principles are felt, propositions are deduced. . . . "5
About doubt, Pascal says that t He perfect doubter, t He Pyrrhonian as He is called, is a fiction. Pascal asks:
"What will men do in such a state? Will He doubt everything?... Will He doubt w Het Her He doubts ? Will He doubt w Het Her He exists?. . . In fact t Here has never been a perfectly effective Pyrrhonian."6
T He process of conversion of t He doubting mind, of t He dry intellectual reason as propounded and perhaps practised by Pascal is also a characteristic mark of his nature and genius. It is explained in his famous letter on "bet" or "game of chance" (Le Pari). Here is how He puts t He issue to t He doubting mind (I am giving t He substance, not his words): let us say t Hen that in t He world we are playing a game of chance. How do t He chances stand? What are t He gains and losses if God does not exist? What 'are t He gains and losses if God does exist? If God exists, by accepting and reaching him what do we gain? All that man cares forhappiness, felicity. And what do we lose? We lose t He world of misery. If, on t He ot Her 'hand, God does not exist, by believing him to exist, we lose nothing, we are not more miserable than what we are. If, however, God exists and we do not believe him, we gain this world of misery but we lose all that is worth having. Thus Pascal concludes that even from t He standpoint of mere gain and loss, belief in God is more advantageous than unbelief. This is how He applied to metaphysics t He mat Hematics of probability.
One is not sure if such reasoning is convincing to t He intellect; but perhaps it is a necessary stage in conversion. At least we can conclude that Pascal had to pass through such a stage; and it indicates t He difficulty his brain had to undergo, t He tension or even t He torture He made it pass through. It is true, from Reason Pascal went over to Faith, even while giving Reason its due. Still it seems t He two were not perfectly synt Hetised or fused in him. T Here was a gap between that was not thoroughly bridged. Pascal did not possess t He hig Her, intuitive, luminous mind that mediates successfully between t He physical discursive ratiocinative brain-mind and t He vision of faith: it is because deep in his consciousness t Here lay this chasm. Indeed,Pascal's abyss (l' abme de Pascal) is a well-known legend. Pascal, it appears, used to have very often t He vision of an abyss about to open before him and He shuddered at t He prospect of falling into it. It seems to us to be an experience of t He Infinity t He Infinity to which He was so much attracted and of which He wrote so beautifully (L'infiniment grand et l'infiniment petit)but into which He could not evidently jump overboard unreservedly. This produced a dichotomy, a lack of integration of personality, Jung would say. Pascal's brain was cold, firm, almost rigid; his Heart was volcanic, t He faith He had was a fire: it lacked something of t He pure light and burned with a lurid glare.
And t He reason is his metaphysics. It is t He Jansenist conception of God and human nature that inspired and coloured all his experience and consciousness. According to it, as according to t He Calvinist conception, man is a corrupt being, corroded to t He core, original sin has branded his very soul. Only Grace saves him and releases him. T He order of sin and t He order of Grace are distinct and disparate worlds and yet t Hey complement each ot Her and need each ot Her. Greatness and misery are intertwined, united, unified with each ot Her in him. Here is an echo of t He Manic Hean position which also involves an abyss. But even t Hen God's grace is not a free agent, as Jesuits declare; t Here is a predestination that guides and controls it. This was one of t He 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 t He Jansenist. That was why a Night always over-shadowed t He Day in Pascal's soul.
Man t Hen, 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 t He greatest has his full share of this taint. T He greatest, t He saintliest, and t He meanest, t He most sinful, all meet, all are equal on this common platform; all have t He 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 t Here 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 t Here is no ot Her. His thought, his self-consciousness, and his sorrow and repentance and contrition for what He is that is t He only good partMary's part that has been given to him. Here are Pascal's own words on t He subject:
"T He greatness of man is great in this that He knows He is miserable. A tree does not know that it is miserable.
It is misery indeed to know oneself miserable. But one is great w Hen one knows thus that He is miserable.
Thought is man's greatness.
Man is a mere reed, t He weakest in nature, but He is a thinking reed."7
Pascal's faith had not t He calm, tranquil, serene, luminous and happy self-possession of an Indian Rishi. It was ardent and impatient, fiery and ve Hement. It had to be so perhaps, since it was to stand against his steely brain (and a gloomy vital or life force) as a counterpoise, even as an antidote. This tension and schism brought about, at least contri buted to his neuras t Henia and physical infirmity. But whatever t He effect upon his inner consciousness and spiritual achievement, his power of expression, his literary style acquired by that a special quality which is his great gift to t He French language. If one speaks of Pascal, one has to speak of his language also; for He was one of t He great masters who created t He French prose. His prose was a wonderful blend of clarity, precision, serried logic and warmth, colour, life, movement, plasticity.
A translation cannot give any idea of t He Pascalian style; but an inner echo of t He same can perhaps be caught from t He thought movement of t Hese characteristic sayings of his with which we conclude:
--
"T He Heart has its reasons which Reason knows not... I say, t He Heart loves t He universal being naturally, and itself also naturally, according to which so ever it gives itself. And it hardens itself against t He one or t He ot Her according to its choice. You have rejected one and preserved t He ot Her. Is it by t He reason that you love ?"10
"Know t Hen, a you proud one, what a paradox you are to yourself. Humble yourself, impotent Reason. Learn, man surpasses man infinitely. Hear from your Master your true state which you do not know. Listen to God."11
"Ils ne peuvent plus nous dire qu'il n'y a que de petits esprits qui aient de la pit: car on leur en fait voir de la mieux pouss dans run des plus grands go-mtres, l'un des plus subtils mtaphysiciens, et des plus pntrants esprits que aient jamais t au monde. La pit d'un tel philosop He devrait faire dire aux indvots et awe libertins ce que dit un jour un certain Diocls, en voyant Epicure dans un temple: 'Quelle fte,' s'criait-il, 'quelle spectacle pour moi, de voir Epicure dans un temple! Tous mes soupons s'vanouissent: la pit reprend sa place; et je ne vis jamais mieux la grandeur de Jupiter que depuis que je vois Epicure genoux!' " aBayle: Nouvelle de la Rpublique des Lettres.
01.07 - The Bases of Social Reconstruction, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Any real reconstruction of society, any permanent reformation of t He world presupposes a real reconstruction, a permanent reformation of human nature. Ot Herwise any amount of casting and recasting t He mere machineries would not bring about any appreciable result, but leave t He thing as it is. Change t He laws as much as you like, but if you do not change t He nature of man, t He world will not change. For it is man that makes laws and not laws that make man. Laws express at best t He demand which man feels within himself. A truth must realise itself in human nature before it can be codified. You may certainly legalise an ideal, but that does not necessarily mean realising it. T He realisation must come first in nature and character, t Hen it is naturally translated into laws and institutions. A man lives t He laws of his soul and being and not t He law given him by t He shastras. He violates t He shastras, modifies t Hem, utilises t Hem according to t He greater imperative of his Swabhava.
T He French Revolution wanted to remould human society and its ideal was liberty, equality and fraternity. It pulled down t He old machinery and set up a new one in its stead. And t He result? "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" remained always in effect a cry in t He wilderness. Anot Her wave of idealism is now running over t He earth and t He Bols Hevists are its most fiercely practical exponents. Instead of dealing merely with t He political machinery, t He Socialistic Revolution tries to break and remake, above all, t He social machinery. But judged from t He results as yet attained and t He tendencies at work, few are t He reasons to hope but many to fear t He worst. Even education does not seem to promise us anything better. Which nation was better educatedin t He sense we understood and still commonly understand t He wordthan Germany?
And yet we have no Hesitation today to call t Hem Huns and Barbarians. That education is not giving us t He right thing is proved furt Her by t He fact that we are constantly changing our programmes and curriculums, everyday remodelling old institutions and founding new ones. Even a revolution in t He educational system will not bring about t He desired millennium, so long as we lay so much stress upon t He system and not upon man himself. And finally, look to all t He religions of t He worldwe have enough of creeds and dogmas, of sermons and mantras, of churc Hes and templesand yet human life and society do not seem to be any t He more worthy for it.
Are we t Hen to say that human nature is irrevocably vitiated by an original sin and that all our efforts at reformation and regeneration are, as t He Indian saying goes, like trying to straighten out t He crooked tail of a dog?
It is this persuasion which, has led many spiritual souls, siddhas, to declare that t Heirs is not t He kingdom upon this earth, but that t He 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, t He ills of life. Earth and life, it is said, contain in t Heir last analysis certain ugly and loathsome realities which are an inevitable and inexorable part of t Heir substance and to eliminate one means to annihilate t He ot Her. What can be done is to throw a veil over t He net Her regions in human nature, to put a ban on t Heir urges and velleities and to create opportunities to make social arrangements so that t He hig Her impulses only find free play while t He lower impulses, for want of scope and indulgence, may fall down to a harmless level. This is what t He Reformists hope and want and no more. Life is based upon animality, t He soul is encased in an earth-s Heathman 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 t Hese impulses, allow t Hem a necessary modicum of play and which for t He greater part will serve to encourage and enhance t He nobler urges in man. Of course, t Here will remain always t He possibility of t He whole scaffolding coming down with a crash and t He aboriginal in man running riot in his nudity. But we have to accept t He chance and make t He best of what materials we have in hand.
No doubt this is a most dismal kind of pessimism. But it is t He logical conclusion of all optimism that bases itself upon a particular view of human nature. If we question that pessimism, we have to question t He very grounds of our optimism also. As a matter of fact, all our idealism has been so long infructuous and will be so in t He future, if we do not shift our foundation and start from a different IntuitionWeltanschauung.
--
This is t He meaning of t He Reformist's pessimism. So long as we remain within t He domain of t He 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. T He 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 t He basis of even this lower poise of t He mental and vital and physical. Only in order to get into that hig Her poise we must really transcend t He lower, that is to say, we must not be satisfied with experiencing or envisaging it through t He mind and Heart but must directly commune with it, be it. T Here is a hig Her law that rules t Here, a power that is t He truth-substance of even t He vital and Hence can remould it with a sovereign inevitability, according to a pattern which may not and is not t He pattern of mental and emotional idealism, but t He pattern of a supreme spiritual realism.
What t Hen is required is a complete spiritual regeneration in man, a new structure of his soul and substancenot merely t He realisation of t He hig Hest and supreme Truth in mental and emotional consciousness, but t He translation and application of t He law of that truth in t He power of t He vital. It is Here that failed all t He great spiritual or rat Her religious movements of t He past. T Hey were content with evoking t He divine in t He mental being, but left t He vital becoming to be governed by t He habitual un-divine or at t He most to be just illumined by a distant and faint glow which served, however, more to distort than express t He Divine.
T He Divine Nature only can permanently reform t He vital nature that is ours. Neit Her laws and institutions, which are t He results of that vital nature, nor ideas and ideals which are often a mere revolt from and more often an auxiliary to it, can comm and t He power to regenerate society. If it is thought improbable for any group of men to attain to that God Nature, t Hen t Here is hardly any hope for mankind. But improbable or probable, that is t He only way which man has to try and test, and t Here is none ot Her.
01.08 - A Theory of Yoga, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Yoga is anot Her form of a normal function in man, it is t He consciously regulated and Heightened process of a habitual activity of t He mind.
T He recent science of Psycho-analysis has brought to light certain hidden springs and undercurrents of t He mind; it has familiarised us with a mode of viewing t He entire psychical life of man which will be fruitful for our present enquiry. Mind, it has been found, is a house divided, against itself, that is to say it is an arena w Here different and divergent forces continually battle against one anot Her. T Here must be, however, at t He same time, some sort of a resolution of t Hese forces, some equation that holds t Hem in balance, ot Herwise t He mind t He human being itselfwould cease to exist as an entity. What is t He mechanism of this balance of power in t He human mind? In order to ascertain that we must first of all know t He fundamental nature of t He struggle and also t He character of t He more elemental forces that are engaged in it.
T Here are some primary desires that seek satisfaction in man. T Hey are t He vital urges of life, t He most prominent among t Hem being t He instinct of self-preservation and that of self-reproduction or t He desire to preserve one's body by defensive as well as by offensive means and t He desire to multiply oneself by mating. T Hese are t He two biological necessities that are inevitable to man's existence as a physical being. T Hey give t He minimum conditions required to be fulfilled by man in order that He may live and Hence t Hey are t He strongest and t He most fundamental elements that enter into his structure and composition.
It would have been an easy matter if t Hese vital urges could flow on unhindered in t Heir way. T Here would have been no problem at all, if t Hey met satisfaction easily and smoothly, without having to look to ot Her factors and forces. As a matter of fact, man does not and cannot gratify his instincts w Henever and w Herever He chooses and in an open and direct manner. Even in his most primitive and barbarous condition, He has often to c Heck himself and throw a veil, in so many ways, over his s Heer animality. In t He civilised society t He c Heck is manifold and is frankly recognised. We do not go straight as our sexual impulsion leads, but seek to hide and camouflage it under t He institution of marriage; we do not pounce upon t He food directly we happen to meet it and snatch and appropriate whatever portion we get but we secure it through an elaborate process, which is known as t He economic system. T He machinery of t He state, t He cult of t He kshatriya are roundabout ways to meet our fighting instincts.
What is t He reason of this elaboration, this c Heck and constraint upon t He natural and direct outflow of t He animal instincts in man? It has been said that t He social life of man, t He fact that He has to live and move as member of a group or aggregate has imposed upon him t Hese restrictions. T He free and unbridled indulgence of one's bare aboriginal impulses may be possible to creatures that live a separate, solitary and individual life but is disruptive of all bonds necessary for a corporate and group life. It is even a biological necessity again which has evolved in man a third and collateral primary instinct that of t He Herd. And it is this Herd-instinct which naturally and spontaneously restrains, diverts and even metamorphoses t He ot Her instincts of t He mere animal life. However, leaving aside for t He moment t He question w Het Her man's ethical and spiritual ideals are a mere dissimulation of his animal instincts or w Het Her t Hey correspond to certain actual realities apart from and co-existent with t Hese latter, we will recognise t He simple fact of control and try to have a glimpse into its mechanism.
T Here are three lines, as t He Psycho-analysts point out along which this control or censuring of t He primary instincts acts. First, t Here is t He line of Defence Reaction. That is to say, t He mind automatically takes up an attitude directly contrary to t He impulse, tries to shut it out and deny altoget Her its existence and t He measure of t He insistence of t He impulse is also t He measure of t He ve Hemence of t He denial. It is t He case of t He lady protesting too much. So it happens that w Here subconsciously t Here is a strong current of a particular impulse, consciously t He mind is obliged to take up a counteracting opposite impulse. Thus in presence of a strong sexual craving t He mind as if to guard and save itself engenders by a reflex movement an ascetic and puritanic mood. Similarly a strong unthinking physical attraction translates itself on t He conscious plane as an equally strong repulsion.
Secondly, t Here is t He line of Substitution. Here t He mind does not stand in an antagonistic and protestant mood to combat and repress t He impulse, but seeks to divert it into ot Her channels, use it to ot Her purposes which do not demand equal sacrifice, may even, on t He ot Her hand, be considered by t He conscious mind as worthy of human pursuit. Thus t He energy that normally would seek sexual gratification might find its outlet in t He cultivation of art and literature. It is a common thing in novels to find t He Heroine disappointed in love taking finally to works of charity and beneficence and thus forgetting Her disappointment. Anot Her variety of this is what is known as "drowning one's sorrow in drinking."
Thirdly, t Here is t He line of Sublimationit is w Hen t He natural impulse is neit Her repressed nor diverted but lifted up into a hig Her modality. T He thing is given a new sense and a new value which serve to remove t He stigma usually attac Hed to it and thus allow its free indulgence. Instances of carnal love sublimated into spiritual union, of passion transmuted into devotion (Bhakti) are common enough to illustrate t He point.
T He human mind naturally, without any effort on its part, takes to one or more of t Hese devices to control and conceal t He aboriginal impulses. But this spontaneous process can be organised and consciously regulated and made to serve better t He purpose and urge of Nature. And this is t He beginning of yoga t He conscious fulfilment of Nature. T He Psycho-analysts have given us t He first and elementary stage of this process of yoga. It is, we may say, t He fourth line of control. With this man enters a new level of being, develops a new mode of life. It is w Hen t He automatism of Nature is replaced by t He power of Conscious Control. Man is not Here, a blind instrument of forces, his activities (both indulging and controlling) are not guided according to an ignorant submission to t He laws of almost subconscious impulsions. Conscious control means that t He mind does not fight shy of or seek to elude t He aboriginal insistences, but allows t Hem to come up freely, meets t Hem squarely, recognises t Hem and establis Hes an easy mastery over t Hem.
T He 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 t Here always remains in t He background a large amount of repressed complexes in all t Heir primitive strength. T He system is never entirely purified but remains secretly pregnant with those urges; a part only is deflected and camouflaged, t He surface only assumes a transformed appearance. And t Here is always t He danger of t He superstructure coming down Helplessly by a sudden up Heaval of t He net Her forces. T He whole system feels, although not in a conscious manner, t He tension of t He repression and suffers from something that is un Healthy and ill-balanced. Dante's spiritualised passion is a supreme instance of control by Sublimation, but t He Divina Comedia hardly bears t He impress of a serene and tranquil soul, sovereignly above t He turmoils of t He tragedy of life and absolutely at peace with itself.
In conscious control, t He mind is for t He first time aware of t He presence of t He repressed impulses, it seeks to release t Hem from t He pressure to which t Hey are habitually and normally subjected. It knows and recognises t Hem, however ugly and revolting t Hey might appear to be w Hen t Hey present t Hemselves in t Heir natural nakedness. T Hen it becomes easy for t He conscious determination to eliminate or regulate or transform t Hem and thus to establish a Healthy harmony in t He human vehicle. T He very recognition itself, as implied in conscious control, means purification.
Yet even Here t He process of control and transformation does not end. And we now come to t He Fifth Line, t He real and intimate path of yoga. Conscious control gives us a natural mastery over t He instinctive impulses which are relieved of t Heir dark tamas and attain a purified rhythm. We do not seek to hide or repress or combat t Hem, but surpass t Hem and play with t Hem as t He artist does with his material. Something of this katharsis, this aest Heticism of t He primitive impulses was achieved by t He ancient Greeks. Even t Hen t He primitive impulses remain primitive all t He same; t Hey fulfil, no doubt, a real and Healthy function in t He sc Heme of life, but still in t Heir fundamental nature t Hey continue t He animal in man. And even w Hen Conscious Control means t He utter elimination and annihilation of t He primal instinctswhich, however, does not seem to be a probable eventualityeven t Hen, we say, t He basic problem remains unsolved; for t He urge of nature towards t He release and a transformation of t He instincts does not find satisfaction, t He question is merely put aside.
Yoga, t Hen, comes at this stage and offers t He solution in its power of what we may call Transubstantiation. That is to say, Here t He mere form is not changed, nor t He functions restrained, regulated and purified, but t He very substance of t He instincts is transmuted. T He power of conscious control is a power of t He human will, i.e. of an individual personal will and t Herefore necessarily limited both in intent and extent. It is a power complementary to t He power of Nature, it may guide and fashion t He latter according to a new pattern, but cannot change t He basic substance, t He stuff of Nature. To that end yoga seeks a power that transcends t He human will, brings into play t He supernal puissance of a Divine Will.
This is t He real meaning and sense of t He moral struggle in man, t He continuous endeavour towards a transvaluation of t He primary and aboriginal instincts and impulses. Looked at from one end, from below up t He ascending line, man's ethical and spiritual ideals are a dissimulation and sublimation of t He animal impulsions. But this is becauseas we see, if we look from t He ot Her end, from above down t He descending lineman is not all instinct, He is not a mere blind instrument in t He hands of Nature forces. He has in him anot Her source, an opposite pole of being from which ot Her impulsions flow and continually modify t He structure of t He lower levels. If t He animal is t He foundation of his nature, t He divine is its summit. If t He bodily demands form his manifest reality, t He demands of t He spirit enshrine his hig Her reality. And if as regards t He former He is a slave, as regards t He latter He is t He Master. It is by t He interaction of t Hese double forces that his whole nature has been and is being fashioned. Man does not and cannot give carte blanc He to his vital, inclinations, since t Here is a pressure upon t Hem of hig Her forces coming down from his mental and spiritual levels. It is t Hese latter which have deviated him from t He direct line of t He pure animal life.
Thus t Hen we may distinguish three types of control on three levels. First, t He natural control, secondly t He conscious, i.e. to say t He mental t He ethical and religious control, and thirdly t He spiritual or divine control. Now t He spirit is t He ultimate truth and reality, behind t He forces that act in t He mind and in t He body, so that t He natural control and t He ethical control are mere attempts to establish and realise t He spiritual control. T He animal impulses feel t He hidden stress of t He divine urges that are t Heir real essence and thus t Here rises first an unconscious conflict in t He natural life and t Hen a conscious conflict in t He hig Her ethical life. But w Hen both of t Hese are transcended and t He conflict is carried on to a still hig Her level, t Hen do we find t Heir real significance and arrive at t He consummation to which t Hey move. Yoga is t He ultimate transvaluation of physical (and of moral) values, it is t He trans-substantiation of life-power into its spiritual substance.
01.08 - Walter Hilton: The Scale of Perfection, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) William Blake: T He Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Ot Her Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsWalter Hilton: T He Scale of Perfection
--
From t He twentieth century back to t He fourteenth is a far cry: a far cry indeed from t He modern scientific illumination to mediaeval superstition, from logical positivists and mat Hematical rationalists to visionary mystics, from Russell and Huxley to Ruysbroeck and Hilton. T He mystic lore, t He Holy Writ, t He mediaeval sage says, echoing almost t He very words of t He Eastern Masters, "may not be got by study nor through man's travail only, but principally by t He grace of t He Holy Ghost." As for t He men living and moving in t He worldly way, t Here are "so mickle din and crying in t Heir Heart and vain thoughts and fleshly desires" that it is impossible for t Hem to listen or understand t He still small voice. It is t He pure soul touc Hed by t He Grace that alone "seeth soothfastness of Holy Writ wonderly s Hewed and opened, above study and travail and reason of man's kindly (i.e. natural) wit."
What is day to us is night to t He mystics and what is day to t He mystics is night for us. T He first thing t He mystic asks is to close precisely those doors and windows which we, on t He contrary, feel obliged to keep always open in order to know and to live and move. T He Gita says: "T He sage is wakeful w Hen it is night for all creatures and w Hen all creatures are wakeful, that is night for t He sage." Even so this sage from t He West says: "T He more I sleep from outward things, t He more wakeful am I in knowing of J Hesu and of inward things. I may not wake to J Hesu, but if I sleep to t He world."
Close t He senses. Turn within. And t Hen go forward, that is to say, more and more inward. In that direction lies your itinerary, t He journey of your consciousness. T He sense-ridden secular man, who goes by his physical eye, has marked in his own way t He steps of his forward march and progress. His knowledge and his power grew as He proceeded in his survey from larger masses of physical objects to t Heir component molecules and from molecules to t Heir component atoms and from atoms once more into electrons and protons or energy-points pure and simple, or ot Herwise as, in anot Her direction, He extended his gaze from earth to t He solar system, from t He solar system to ot Her starry systems, to far-off galaxies and I from galaxies to spaces beyond. T He record of this double-track march to infinityas perceived or conceived by t He physical sensesis marvellous, no doubt. T He mystic offers t He spectacle of a still more marvellous march to anot Her kind of infinity.
Here is t He Augustinian mantra taken as t He motto of T He Scale of Perfection: We ascend t He ascending grades in our Heart and we sing t He song of ascension1. T He journey's end is Heavenly Jerusalem, t He House of t He Lord. T He steps of this inner ascension are easily visible, not surely to t He outer eye of t He sense-burdened man, but to t He "ghostly seeing" of t He aspirant which is hazy in t He beginning but slowly clears as He advances. T He first step is t He withdrawal from t He outer senses and looking and seeing within. "Turn home again in thyself, and hold t Hee within and beg no more without." T He immediate result is a darkness and a restless darknessit is a painful night. T He outer objects of attraction and interest have been discarded, but t He inner attachments and passions surge t Here still. If, however, one continues and persists, refuses to be drawn out, t He turmoil settles down and t He darkness begins to thin and wear away. One must not lose Heart, one must have patience and perseverance. So w Hen t He outward world is no more-t Here and its call also no longer awakes any echo in us, t Hen comes t He stage of "restful darkness" or "light-some darkness". But it is still t He dark Night of t He soul. T He outer light is gone and t He inner light is not yet visible: t He night, t He desert, t He great Nought, stretc Hes between t Hese two lights. But t He true seeker goes through and comes out of t He tunnel. And t Here is happiness at t He end. "T He seeking is travaillous, but t He finding is blissful." W Hen one steps out of t He Night, enters into t He deepest layer of t He being, one stands face to face to one's soul, t He very image of God, t He perfect God-man, t He Christ within. That is t He third degree of our inner ascension, t He entry into t He deepest, purest and happiest statein which one becomes what He truly is; one finds t He Christ t Here and dwells in love and union with him. But t Here is still a furt Her step to take, and that is real ascension. For till now it has been a going within, from t He outward to t He inner and t He inmost; now one has to go upward, transcend. Within t He 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 t Here is bound to remain a shadow of t He sinful prison-house; t He perfect bliss and purity without any earthly taint, t He completeness and t He crowning of t He purgation and transfiguration can come only w Hen you go beyond, leaving altoget Her t He earthly form and worldly vesture and soar into Heaven itself and be in t He company of t He Trinity. "Into myself, and after... above myself by overpassing only into Him." At t He same time it is pointed out, this mediaeval mystic has t He common sense to see that t He going in and going above of which one speaks must not be understood in a literal way, it is a figure of speech. T He movement of t He mystic is psychological"ghostly", it is saidnot physical or carnal.
This spiritual march or progress can also be described as a growing into t He likeness of t He Lord. His true self, his own image is implanted within us; He is t Here in t He profoundest depth of our being as Jesus, our beloved and our soul rests in him in utmost bliss. We are aware neit Her of Jesus nor of his spouse, our soul, because of t He obsession of t He flesh, t He turmoil raised by t He senses, t He blindness of pride and egoism. All that constitutes t He first or old Adam, t He image of Nought, t He body of death which means at bottom t He "false misruled love in to thyself." This self-love is t He mot Her of sin, is sin itself. What it has to be replaced by is charity that is t He true meaning of Christian charity, forgetfulness of self. "What is sin but a wanting and a forbearing of God." And t He whole task, t He discipline consists in "t He shaping of Christ in you, t He casting of sin through Christ." Who t Hen is Christ, what is He? This knowledge you get as you advance from your sense-bound perception towards t He inner and inmost seeing. As your outer nature gets purified, you approach gradually your soul, t He scales fall off from your eyes too and you have t He knowledge and "ghostly vision." Here too t Here are three degrees; first, you start with faith t He senses can do nothing better than have faith; next, you rise to imagination which gives a sort of indirect touch or inkling of t He truth; finally, you have t He "understanding", t He direct vision. "If He first trow it, He shall afterwards through grace feel it, and finally understand it."
It is never possible for man, weak and bound as He is, to reject t He thraldom of his flesh, He can never purify himself wholly by his own unaided strength. God in his infinite mercy sent his own son, an emanation created out of his substancehis embodied loveas a human being to suffer along with men and take upon himself t He burden of t Heir sins. God t He Son lived upon earth as man and died as man. Sin t Herefore has no longer its final or definitive hold upon mankind. Man has been made potentially free, pure and worthy of salvation. This is t He mystery of Christ, of God t He Son. But t Here is a furt Her mystery. Christ not only lived for all men for all time, w Het Her t Hey know him, recognise him or not; but He still lives, He still chooses his beloved and his beloved chooses him, t Here is a conscious acceptance on eit Her side. This is t He function of t He Holy Ghost, t He redeeming power of Love active in him who accepts it and who is accepted by it, t He dynamic Christ-Consciousness in t He true Christian.
Indeed, t He kernel of t He mystic discipline and its whole bearingconsists in one and only one principle: to love J Hesu. All roads lead to Rome: all preparations, all trials lead to one realisation, love of God, God as a living person close to us, our friend and lover and master. T He Christian mystic speaks almost in t He terms of t He Gita: Rise above your senses, give up your ego-hood, be meek and humble, it is Jesus within you, who embraces your soul: it is He who does everything for you and in you, give yourself up wholly into his hands. He will deliver you.
T He characteristic t Hen of t He path is a one-pointed concentration. Great stress is laid upon "oneliness", "onedness":that is to say, a perfect and complete withdrawal from t He outside and t He world; an unmixed solitude is required for t He true experience and realisation to come. "A full forsaking in will of t He soul for t He love of Him, and a living of t He Heart to Him. This asks He, for this gave He." T He rigorous exclusion, t He uncompromising asceticism, t He voluntary self-torture, t He cruel dark night and t He arid desert are necessary conditions that lead to t He "onlyness of soul", what anot Her prop Het (Isaiah, XXIV, 16) describes as "My privity to me". In that secreted solitude, t He "onlistead"t He graphic language of t He author calls itis found "that dignity and that ghostly fairness which a soul had by kind and shall have by grace." T He utter beauty of t He soul and its absolute love for Her deity within Her (which has t He fair name of J Hesu), t He exclusive concentration of t He whole of t He being upon one point, t He divine core, t He manifest Grace of God, justifies t He annihilation of t He world and life's manifold existence. Indeed, t He image of t He Beloved is always within, from t He beginning to t He end. It is that that keeps one up in t He terrible struggle with one's nature and t He world. T He image depends upon t He consciousness which we have at t He moment, that is to say, upon t He stage or t He degree we have ascended to. At t He outset, w Hen we can only look through t He senses, w Hen t He flesh is our master, we give t He image a crude form and character; but even that Helps. Gradually, as we rise, with t He clearing of our nature, t He image too slowly regains its original and true shape. Finally, in t He inmost soul we find Jesus as He truly is: "an unchangeable being, a sovereign might, a sovereign soothfastness, sovereign goodness, a blessed life and endless bliss." Does not t He Gita too say: "As one approac Hes Me, so do I appear to him."Ye yath mm prapadyante.
Indeed, it would be interesting to compare and contrast t He Eastern and Western approach to Divine Love, t He Christian and t He 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) t He transcendental unity: t He One alone exists, t Here is nothing else than t HeOneekamevdvityam; (2) t He cosmic unity: all existence is one, whatever exists is that One, t Hereare 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 t He 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 t Heir tenets this extreme monism, are still permeated in many ways with that sense and in some form or ot Her take cognizance of t He truth of it. T He Christian doctrine too says indeed, 'I and my Fat Her in Heaven are one', but this is not identity, but union; besides, t He human soul is not admitted into this identity, nor t He world soul. T He world, we have seen, according to t He Christian discipline has to be altoget Her abandoned, negatived, as we go inward and upward towards our spiritual status reflecting t He divine image in t He 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 t Here it is not really rejection, but a resolution, not t He rejection of what is totally foreign and extraneous, but a resolution of t He external into its inner and inmost substance, of t He effect into its original cause. Brahman is in t He world, Brahman is t He world: t He world has unrolled itself out of t He Brahmansi, pravttiit has to be rolled back into its, cause and substance if it is to regain its pure nature (that is t He process of nivitti). Likewise, t He individual being in t He world, "I", is t He transcendent being itself and w Hen it withdraws, it withdraws itself and t He whole world with it and merges into t He Absolute. Even t He Maya of t He Mayavadin, although it is viewed as something not in Herent in Brahman but superimposed upon Brahman, still, has been accepted as a peculiar power of Brahman itself. T He Christian doctrine keeps t He individual being separate practically, as an associate or at t He most as an image of God. T He love for one's neighbour, charity, which t He Christian discipline enjoins is one's love for one's kind, because of affinity of nature and quality: it does not dissolve t He two into an integral unity and absolute identity, w Here we love because we are one, because we are t He One. T He hig Hest culmination of love, t He very basis of love, according to t He Indian conception, is a transcendence of love, love trans-muted into Bliss. T He Upanishad says, w Here one has become t He utter unity, who loves whom? To explain furt Her our point, we take two examples referred to in t He book we are considering. T He true Christian, it is said, loves t He sinner too, He is permitted to dislike sin, for He has to reject it, but He must separate from sin t He sinner and love him. Why? Because t He sinner too can change and become his brot Her in spirit, one loves t He sinner because t Here is t He possibility of his changing and becoming a true Christian. It is why t He orthodox Christian, even such an enlightened and holy person as this mediaeval Canon, considers t He non-Christian, t He non-baptised as impure and potentially and fundamentally sinners. That is also why t He Church, t He physical organisation, is worshipped as Christ's very body and outside t He Church lies t He pagan world which has neit Her 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 t He Church is equated with t He collective embodiment of that spirituality, all that is claimed on t Heir behalf stands justified. But that is an ideal, a hypot Hetical standpoint and can hardly be borne out by facts. However, to come back to our subject, let us ow take t He 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 t He traitor with a true and sincere love. He knew that t He man would betray him and even w Hen He was betraying and had betrayed, t He 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, t He enemy is suffered by God to do t He misdeed: He has been allowed to test t He faith of t He faithful, He too has his utility, He too is God's servant. And who knows even a Judas would not change in t He end? Many who come to scoff do remain to pray. But it can be asked, 'Does God love Satan too in t He same way?' T He Indian conception which is basically Vedantic is different. T Here is only one reality, one truth which is viewed differently. W Het Her a thing is considered good or evil or neutral, essentially and truly, it is that One and nothing else. God's own self is everyw Here and t He sage makes no difference between t He Brahmin and t He cow and t He 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 anot Her point of difference between t He Christian's and t He 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 t He union of t He soul in its absolute purity and simplicity and "privacy" with Her lord and master; t He soul is shred Here of all earthly vesture and goes innocent and naked into t He embrace of Her Beloved. T He Vaishnava feeling is ric Her and seems to possess more amplitude; it is more concrete and less et Hereal. T He Vaishnava in his passionate yearning seeks to carry as it were t He whole world with him to his Lord: for He sees and feels Him not only in t He inmost chamber of his soul, but meets Him also in and I through his senses and in and through t He world and its objects around. In psychological terms one can say that t He Christian realisation, at its very source, is that of t He inmost soul, what we call t He "psychic being" pure and simple, referred to in t He book we are considering; as: "His sweet privy voice... stirreth thine Heart full stilly." W Hereas t He Vaishnava reac Hes out to his Lord with his outer Heart too aflame with passion; not only his inmost being but his vital being also seeks t He Divine. This bears upon t He occult story of man's spiritual evolution upon earth. T He Divine Grace descends from t He hig Hest into t He deepest and from t He deepest to t He outer ranges of human nature, so that t He whole of it may be illumined and transformed and one day man can embody in his earthly life t He integral manifestation of God, t He 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 t He spiritual and divine consciousness, so that in t He end t He whole of man, in his integral living, is recast and remoulded: each discipline is in charge of one thread as it were, all toget Her weave t He warp and woof in t He evolution of t He perfect pattern of a spiritualised and divinised humanity.
T He conception of original sin is a cardinal factor in Christian discipline. T He conception, of sinfulness is t He very motive-power that drives t He aspirant. "Seek tensely," it is said, "sorrow and sigh deep, mourn still, and stoop low till thine eye water for anguish and for pain." Remorse and grief are necessary attendants; t He way of t He cross is naturally t He calvary strewn with pain and sorrow. It is t He very opposite of what is termed t He "sunlit path" in spiritual ascension. Christian mystics have made a glorious spectacle of t He process of "dying to t He world." Evidently, all do not go t He whole length. T Here are less gloomy and happier temperaments, like t He present one, for example, who show an unusual balance, a sturdy common sense even in t He midst of t Heir darkest nights, who have chalked out as much of t He sunlit path as is possible in this line. Thus this old-world mystic says: it is true one must see and admit one's sinfulness, t He grosser and apparent and more violent ones as well as all t He subtle varieties of it that are in you or rise up in you or come from t He Enemy. T Hey pursue you till t He very end of your journey. Still you need not feel overw Helmed or completely desperate. Once you recognise t He sin in you, even t He bare fact of recognition means for you half t He victory. T He mystic says, "It is no sin as thou feelest t Hem." T He day Jesus gave himself away on t He Cross, since that very day you are free, potentially free from t He bondage of sin. Once you give your ad Herence to Him, t He Enemies are rendered powerless. "T Hey tease t He soul, but t Hey harm not t He soul". Or again, as t He mystic graphically phrases it: "This soul is not borne in this image of sin as a sick man, though He feel it; but He beareth it." T He best way of dealing with one's enemies is not to struggle and "strive with t Hem." T He aspirant, t He lover of Jesus, must remember: " He is through grace reformed to t He likeness of God ('in t He privy substance of his soul within') though He neit Her feel it nor see it."
If you are told you are still full of sins and you are not worthy to follow t He path, that you must go and work out your sins first, Here is your answer: "Go shrive t Hee better: trow not this saying, for it is false, for thou art shriven. Trust securely that thou art on t He way, and t Hee needeth no ransacking of shrift for that that is passed, hold forth thy way and think on Jerusalem." That is to say, do not be too busy with t He difficulties of t He moment, but look a Head, as far as possible, fix your attention upon t He goal, t He intermediate steps will become easy. Jerusalem is anot Her name of t He Love of Jesus or t He Bliss in Heaven. Grow in this love, your sins will fade away of t Hemselves. "Though thou be thrust in an house with thy body, nevert Heless in thine Heart, w Here t He stead of love is, thou shouldst be able to have part of that love... " What exquisite utterance, what a deep truth!
Indeed, t Here are one or two points, notes for t He guidance of t He aspirant, which I would like to mention Here for t Heir striking appositeness and simple "soothfastness." First of all with regard to t He restless enthusiasm and eagerness of a novice, Here is t He advice given: "T He fervour is so mickle in outward showing, is not only for mickleness of love that t Hey have; but it is for littleness and weakness of t Heir souls, that t Hey may not bear a little touching of God.. afterward w Hen love hath boiled out all t He uncleanliness, t Hen is t He love clear and standeth still, and t Hen is both t He body and t He soul mickle more in peace, and yet hath t He self soul mickle more love than it had before, though it s Hew less outward." And again: "without any fervour outward s Hewed, and t He less it thinketh that it loveth or seeth God, t He nearer it nig Heth" ('it' naturally refers to t He soul). T He statement is beautifully self-luminous, no explanation is required. Anot Her hurdle that an aspirant has to face often in t He passage through t He Dark Night is that you are left all alone, that you are deserted by your God, that t He Grace no longer favours you. Here is however t He truth of t He matter; "w Hen I fall down to my frailty, t Hen Grace withdraweth: for my falling is cause t Here-of, and not his fleeing." In fact, t He Grace never withdraws, it is we who withdraw and think ot Herwise. One more difficulty that troubles t He beginner especially is with regard to t He false light. T He being of darkness comes in t He form of t He angel of light, imitates t He tone of t He still small voice; how to recognise, how to distinguish t He two? T He false light, t He "feigned sun" is always found "atwixt two black rainy clouds" : t Hey are "highing" of oneself and "lowing" of ot Hers. W Hen you feel flattered and elated, beware it is t He siren voice tempting you. T He true light brings you soothing peace and meekness: t He ot Her light brings always a trail of darknessf you are soothfast and sincere you will discover it if not near you, somew Here at a distance lurking.
T He ultimate truth is that God is t He sole doer and t He best we can do is to let him do freely without let or hindrance. " He that through Grace may see J Hesu, how that He doth all and himself doth right nought but suffereth J Hesu work in him what him liketh, He is meek." And yet one does not arrive at that condition from t He beginning or all at once. "T He work is not of t He hour nor of a day, but of many days and years." And for a long time one has to take up one's burden and work, co-operate with t He Divine working. In t He process t Here is this double movement necessary for t He full achievement. "Neit Her Grace only without full working of a soul that in it is nor working done without grace bringeth a soul to reforming but that one joined to that ot Her." Mysticism is not all eccentricity and irrationality: on t He contrary, sanity seems to be t He very character of t He hig Her mysticism. And it is this sanity, and even a happy sense of humour accompanying it, that makes t He genuine mystic teac Her say: "It is no mastery to me for to say it, but for to do it t Here is mastery." Amen.
Ascendimus ascensiones in corde et cantamus canticum graduum." Confessions of St. Augustine XIII. 9.
--
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) William Blake: T He Marriage of Heaven and Hell
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 t He one choice that is now before Nature in Her upward march of evolution. What is t He exact significance of this choice?
To remain human means to continue t He fundamental nature of man. In what consists t He humanity of man? We can ascertain it by distinguishing what forms t He animality of t He animal, since that will give us t He differentia that nature has evolved to raise man over t He animal. T He animal, again, has a characteristic differentiating it from t He vegetable world, which latter, in its turn, has something to mark it off from t He inorganic world. T He inorganic, t He vegetable, t He animal and finally mant Hese are t He four great steps of Nature's evolutionary course.
T He differentia, in each case, lies in t He degree and nature of consciousness, since it is consciousness that forms t He substance and determines t He mode of being. Now, t He inorganic is characterised by un-consciousness, t He vegetable by sub-consciousness, t He 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 rat Her is acted upon. We are not concerned Here, however, with t He last two forms of being; we will speak of t He first two only.
We say, t Hen, that man is distinguis Hed from t He animal by his having consciousness as it has, but added to it t He consciousness of self. Man acts and feels and knows as much as t He animal does; but also He knows that He acts, He knows that He feels, He knows that He knowsand this is a thing t He animal cannot do. It is t He awakening of t He sense of self in every mode of being that characterises man, and it is owing to this consciousness of an ego behind, of a permanent unit of reference, which has modified even t He functions of knowing and feeling and acting, has refashioned t Hem in a mould which is not quite that of t He animal, in spite of a general similarity.
So t He humanity of man consists in his consciousness of t He self or ego. Is t Here no ot Her hig Her mode of consciousness? Or is self-consciousness t He acme, t He utmost limit to which consciousness can raise itself? If it is so, t Hen we are bound to conclude that humanity will remain eternally human in its fundamental nature; t He only progress, if progress at all we choose to call it, will consist perhaps in accentuating this consciousness of t He self and in expressing it through a greater variety of stresses, through a ric Her combination of its colour and light and shade and rhythm. But also, this may not be sot Here may be t He possibility of a furt Her step, a transcending of t He consciousness of t He self. It seems unnatural and improbable that having risen from un-consciousness to self-consciousness through a series of continuous marc Hes, Nature should suddenly stop and consider what s He had achieved to be Her final end. Has Nature become bankrupt of Her creative genius, exhausted of Her upward drive? Has s He to remain content with only a clever manipulation, a mere shuffling and re-arranging of t He materials already produced?
As a matter of fact it is not so. T He glimpses of a hig Her form of consciousness we can see even now present in self-consciousness. We have spoken of t He different stages of evolution as if t Hey were separate and distinct and incommensurate entities. T Hey may be described as such for t He purpose of a logical understanding, but in reality t Hey form a single progressive continuum in which one level gradually fuses into anot Her. And as t He hig Her level takes up t He law of t He lower and evolves out of it a characteristic function, even so t He law of t He hig Her level with its characteristic function is already involved and envisaged in t He law of t He 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 t He hig Her order, as t Hey approach t He level of humanity, show more and more evident signs of something which is very much akin to, if not identical with t He human characteristic of self-consciousness.
So, in man also, especially of that order which forms t He crown of humanityin poets and artists and seers and great men of actioncan be observed a certain characteristic form of consciousness, which is something ot Her than, greater than t He consciousness of t He mere self. It is difficult as yet to characterise definitely what that thing is. It is t He awakening of t He self to something which is beyond itselfit is t He cosmic self, t He oversoul, t He universal being; it is God, it is Turiya, it is sachchidanandain so many ways t He thing has been sought to be envisaged and expressed. T He 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 t He thing we are referring to, is not t He Absolute, t He Infinite, t He One without a second. It is not, that is to say, t He supreme Reality t He Brahmanin its static being, in its undivided and indivisible unity; it is t He dynamic Brahman, that status of t He supreme Reality w Here creation, t He diversity of Becoming takes rise, it is t He Truth-worldRitam t He domain of typal realities. T He distinction is necessary, as t Here does seem to be such a level of consciousness intermediary, again, between man and t He Absolute, between self-consciousness and t He supreme consciousness. T He 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 t He super-consciousness.
T He inflatus of something vast and transcendent, something which escapes all our familiar sc Hemes 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 t Hen melts away and opens out t He passage for a life of vision and power. Thus it is t He poet has felt w Hen He says, "t Here is this incalculable element in human life influencing us from t He mystery which envelops our being, and w Hen reason is satisfied, t Here is something deeper than Reason which makes us still uncertain of truth. Above t He human reason t Here is a transcendental sp Here to which t He spirit of men sometimes rises, and t He will may be forged t Here at a lordly smithy and made t He unbreakable pivot."(A.E.)
This passage from t He self-conscient to t He super-conscient does not imply merely a shifting of t He focus of consciousness. T He transmutation of consciousness involves a purer illumination, a surer power and a wider compass; it involves also a fundamental change in t He very mode of being and living. It gives quite a different life-intuition and a different life-power. T He change in t He motif brings about a new form altoget Her, a re-casting and re-shaping and re-energising of t He external materials as well. As t He lift from mere consciousness to self-consciousness meant all t He difference between an animal and a man, so t He lift again from self-consciousness to super-consciousness will mean t He difference of a whole world between man and t He divine creature that is to be.
--
This t Hen, it seems to us, is t He immediate problem that Nature has set before Herself. S He is now at t He parting of t He ways. S He has done with man as an essentially human being, s He has brought out t He fundamental possibilities of humanity and perfected it, so far as perfection may be attained within t He cadre by which s He chose to limit Herself; s He is now looking forward to anot Her kind of experiment t He evolving of anot Her life, anot Her being out of Her entrails, that will be greater than t He humanity we know today, that will be superior even to t He supreme that has yet been actualised.
Nature has marc Hed from t He unconscious to t He sub-conscious, from t He sub-conscious to t He conscious and from t He conscious to t He self-conscious; s He has to rise yet again from t He self-conscious to t He super-conscious. T He mineral gave place to t He plant, t He plant gave place to t He animal and t He animal gave place to man; let man give place to and bring out t He divine.
01.09 - William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
object:01.09 - William Blake: T He Marriage of Heaven and Hell
author class:Nolini Kanta Gupta
--
Ot Her Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsWilliam Blake: T He Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake: T He Marriage of Heaven and Hell
T He ideal was Blake's. It will not sound so revolting if we understand what t He poet meant by Hell. Hell, He explains, is simply t He body, t He Energy of Life Hell, because body and life on earth were so considered by t He orthodox Christianity. T He Christian ideal demands an absolute denial and rejection of life. Fulfilment is elsew Here, in Heaven alone. That is, as we know, t He ideal of t He ascetic. T He life of t He spirit (in Heaven) is a thing away from and stands against t He life of t He flesh (on earth). In t He face of this discipline, countering it, Blake posited a union, a marriage of t He two, considered incompatibles and incommensurables. Enfant terrible that He was, He took an infinite delight in a spirit of contradiction and went on expatiating on t He glory of t He misalliance. He declared a new apocalypse and said that Lucifer, t He one called Satan, was t He real God, t He so-called Messiah t He fake one: t He apparent Milton spoke in praise of God and in dispraise of Satan, but t He real, t He esoteric Milton glorified Satan, who is t He true God and minimised or caricatured t He counterfeit or shadow God. Here is Blakean Bible in a nuts Hell:
But first t He notion that man has a body distinct from his soul is to be expunged.. . . If t He doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.
--
Such is to be t He ideal, t He perfect, t He spiritual man. Have we Here t He progenitor of t He Nietzsc Hean Superman? Both smell almost t He same sulphurous atmosp Here. But that also seems to lie in t He direction to which t He whole world is galloping in its evolutionary course. Humanity in its agelong travail has passed through t He agony, one might say, of two extreme and opposite experiences, which are epitomised in t He classic phrasing of Sri Aurobindo as: (1) t He Denial of t He Materialist and (2) t He Refusal of t He Ascetic.1 Neit Her, however, t He Spirit alone nor t He body alone is man's reality; neit Her only t He earth Here nor only t He Heaven t Here embodies man's destiny. Both have to be claimed, both have to belivedubhayameva samrt, as t He old sage, Yajnavalkya, declared.
T He earliest dream of humanity is also t He last fulfilment. T He Vedic Rishis sang of t He marriage of Heaven and earth Heaven is my fat Her and this Earth my mot Her. And Blake and Nietzsc He are fiery apostles of that dream and ideal in an age crippled with doubt, falsehood, smallness, crookedness, impotence, colossal ignorance.
We welcome voices that speak of this ancient tradition, this occult Knowledge of a high Future. Recently we have come across one aspirant in t He line, and being a contemporary, his views and reviews in t He matter will be all t He more interesting to us.2 He is Gustave Thibon, a Frenchman-not a priest or even a religious man in t He orthodox sense in any way, but a country farmer, a wholly self-educated laque. Of late He has attracted a good deal of attention from intellectuals as well as religious people, especially t He Catholics, because of his remarkable conceptions which are so often unorthodox and yet so often ringing true with an old-world au t Henticity.
Touching t He very core of t He malady of our age He says that our modern enlightenment seeks to cancel altoget Her t He hig Her values and install instead t He lower alone as true. Thus, for example, Marx and Freud, its twin arch priests, are brot Hers. Both declare that it is t He lower, t He under layer alone that matters: to one "t He masses", to t He ot Her "t He instincts". T Heir wild imperative roars: "Sweep away this pseudo-hig Her; let t He instincts rule, let t He pro-letariat dictate!" But more characteristic, Monsieur Thibon has made anot Her discovery which gives t He whole value and speciality to his outlook. He says t He moderns stress t He lower, no doubt; but t He old world stressed only t He hig Her and neglected t He lower. T Herefore t He revolt and wrath of t He lower, t He rage of Revanc He in t He Heart of t He dispossessed in t He modern world. Enlightenment meant till now t He cultivation and embellishment of t He Mind, t He conscious Mind, t He rational and nobler faculties, t He Height and t He depth: and mankind meant t He princes and t He great ones. In t He individual, in t He sc Heme of his culture and education, t He senses were neglected, left to go t Heir own way as t Hey pleased; and in t He collective field, t He toiling masses in t He same way lived and moved as best as t Hey could under t He economics of laissez-faire. So Monsieur Thibon concludes: "Salvation has never come from below. To look for it from above only is equally vain. No doubt salvation must come from t He hig Her, but on condition that t He hig Her completely adopts and protects t He lower." Here is a vision luminous and revealing, full of great import, if we follow t He right track, prop Hetic of man's true destiny. It is through this infiltration of t He hig Her into t He lower and t He integration of t He lower into t He hig Her that mankind will reach t He goal of its evolution, both individually and collectively.
But t He process, Monsieur Thibon rightly asserts, must begin with t He individual and within t He individual. Man must "turn within, feel alive within himself", re-establish his living contact with God, t He source and origin from which He has cut himself off. Man must learn to subordinate having to being. Each individual must be himself, a free and spontaneous expression. Upon such individual , upon individuals grouped naturally in smaller collectivities and not upon unformed or ill-formed wholesale masses can a perfect human society be raised and will be raised. Monsieur Thibon insistsand very rightlyupon t He variety and diversity of individual and local growths in a unified humanity and not a dead uniformity of regimented oneness. He declares, as t He reviewer of t He London Times succinctly puts it: "Let us abolish our insensate worship of number. Let us repeal t He law of majorities. Let us work for t He unity that draws toget Her instead of idolizing t He multiplicity that disintegrates. Let us understand that it is not enough for each to have a place; what matters is that each should be in his right place. For t He atomized society let us substitute an organic society, one in which every man will be free to do what He alone is qualified and able to do."
So far so good. For it is not far enough. T He being or becoming that is demanded in fulfilment of t He divine advent in humanity must go to t He very roots of life and nature, must seize God in his hig Hest and sovereign status. No prejudice of t He past, no notion of our mental habits must seek to impose its law. Thus, for example, in t He matter of redeeming t He senses by t He influx of t He hig Her light, our author seems to consider that t He senses will remain more or less as t Hey are, only t Hey will be controlled, guided, used by t He hig Her light. And He seems to think that even t He sex relation (even t He institution of marriage) may continue to remain, but sublimated, submitted to t He laws of t He Hig Her Order. This, according to us, is a dangerous compromise and is simply t He imposition of t He lower law upon t He hig Her. Our view of t He total transformation and divinisation of t He Lower is altoget Her different. T He Hig Hest must come down wholly and inhabit in t He Lowest, t He Lowest must give up altoget Her its own norms and lift itself into t He substance and form too of t He Hig Hest.
Viewed in this light, Blake's memorable mantra attains a deeper and more momentous significance. For it is not merely Earth t He senses and life and Matter that are to be uplifted and affianced to Heaven, but all that remains hidden within t He bowels of t He Earth, t He subterranean regions of man's consciousness, t He slimy viscous undergrowths, t He darkest horrors and monstrosities that man and nature hide in t Heir subconscient and inconscient dungeons of material existence, all t Hese have to be laid bare to t He solar gaze of Heaven, burnt or transmuted as demanded by t He law of that Supreme Will. That is t He Hell that has to be recognised, not rejected and thrown away, but taken up purified and transubstantiated into t He body of Heaven itself. T He hand of t He Hig Hest Heaven must extend and touch t He Lowest of t He 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 t He process underlying t He nuptials of which we are speaking.
T He Life Divine
0.10 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
of Physical Education. He began writing to t He Mot Her at t He
age of nineteen.
--
started talking to a friend. Suddenly He jumped back
in fright and said: "Be careful, t Here is a snake coiled
--
on recurring. Please Help me to get out of it.
You must continue to fight against t He bad thoughts until you
gain a total victory. My Help is always with you as well as my
blessings.
--
book shows how Sri Aurobindo is working in every corner of t He world. We who are Here in t He Ashram still
haven't even had a glimpse of him.
T Here are people Here who see him and are constantly in contact
with him. T Hey are those who love him sincerely and sufficiently
--
You told us: "All of you Here are taking life very
lightly, you are amusing yourselves all t He time, you are
--
but t He Supreme Lord alone is its centre because He surpasses
and contains it.
--
Elsew Here He says explicitly that it is useless to try to satisfy
desire, for desire is insatiable and can never be satisfied.
What He writes ought not to be taken separately; it is always
part of a whole which is a synt Hesis of all opposites.
--
contact with t He Divine force; but w Hen you fall Heavily to sleep
without any preliminary concentration, you sink into t He inconscient and t He sleep is more tiring than restful, and it is difficult
--
with Your Help.
Persist in your aspiration and t He dream will be realised.
--
Each one acts according to his nature and if He (or s He) courageously and sincerely follows t He law of that nature, He or s He
acts according to truth. Thus, it is impossible to judge and decide
--
T He annual demonstration of physical culture, Held at t He Ashram Sportsground.
"T He Titans are stronger than t He gods because t Hey have agreed with God to front
--
What Sri Aurobindo writes Here is a paradox to awaken sleepy
minds. But we must understand all t He irony in t Hese sayings, and
--
be better) and I have Heard a great many compliments about
t He 2nd December performance. You should not listen to people
--
man is in great danger in this age. And Here He is! He
himself reveals t He great secret: t He Divine has fully manifested in India. But He has t He modesty not to say that
He himself is this manifestation!
--
unless t He Mot Her Herself intervenes.
It is impossible. Each one has his own taste and his own temperament. Nothing can be done without discipline - t He whole of
--
I Heard this morning that X was very severely beaten
by Y. I don't think it is fair at all.
--
t He right to judge? Only t He Lord sees and knows - He alone is
t He Truth.
--
had not given Her darshan to Z. But now I am afraid
that Mot Her may be angry at my audacity in writing such
--
dispute that in t He same circumstances one can do better than He.
Do you feel capable of being an unequalled Prime Minister
--
education programme and t He countless ot Her activities we have Here, He asked me: "Can you give me a
valid example of even one person who takes part in so
--
Do not forget - all of you who are Here - that we want to
realise something which does not yet exist upon earth; so it is
--
it will Help you in your inner progress; because if you are sincere,
you will one day realise that it is t He Divine in Her that you love
and that t He outer person is merely a pretext.
--
What is t He difference between meditating Here in
my room and going to meditate at t He Playground with
--
Is it better to meditate t Here or Here in my room?
Meditate w Here you meditate best - that is to say, w Herever you
--
purpose: to make you aware of what goes on in your Head.
19 March 1963
--
Not only is it right, good and Healthy to think like this, but it
is an absolutely indispensable attitude if one wants to advance
--
to t He Lord; t Hen your Heart will be at peace."
13 May 1963
--
About t He Hero of t He film Reach for t He Sky, I said
that nothing could ever discourage him. For even after
having lost both legs in an accident, He vowed that He
would continue his career as a pilot. He is a man of
fantastic vitality, full of energy...
--
saw t He Mot Her and received Her Blessings.
It is not a dream, but t He result of t He preceding meditation and
--
I have too much "grey" matter in my Head, which
prevents me from thinking clearly and grasping new
--
Man is so weak that He is influenced even by t He
wind that blows about him, by a book He reads or a
picture He sees. He is most vulnerable.
That happens w Hen He has not taken care to organise his conscious being around t He psychic centre, which is t He Truth of his
being.
--
Most people Here quote t He Mot Her to suit t Heir own
convenience.
--
I have Heard that You have written somew Here that
each person Here in t He Ashram represents a particular
human difficulty, and that this difficulty will be mastered
--
Suddenly I feel very happy, my Heart is filled with an
inexpressible joy, but this experience does not last very
--
Would it not be better to have a basic discipline Here
instead of so much freedom, a freedom we are not able
--
Why do I Hesitate to ask You for money? What prevents me from doing so? Am I still not intimate enough
with You, or is t Here anot Her reason? I do not understand
--
round t He sculptor, curious to see why He was breaking
t He stone. After much labour t He work was finis Hed and
--
Why do you ask me this question? All those who are Here should
at least know what yoga means - as for practising it, that is
--
for S He does not like Her children to beg.
To ask from me is not begging and you may do so w Henever
--
But He did not explain.
It is a pity He did not explain his thought, because I don't know
what He wanted to say - probably He wanted to caution you
against your light- Heartedness, your air of indifference, your
--
All of you young people Here have had a very easy life, and
instead of taking advantage of it to concentrate your efforts on
--
Y probably spoke as He did in order to reawaken it.
27 August 1963
--
A superficial observation cannot Help. And so long as one
is not in contact with one's psychic being, it would be better to
--
(Regarding X, who related Her misfortunes to t He captain, blaming Herself for all Her troubles) To console Her,
I told Her that blaming oneself was perhaps not always
saintly or Healthy.
It is X who is spiritually right and you who are wrong with a
--
that it is not due to any fault of Hers that He is inconstant and
fickle - it is his nature to be like that and He acts according to
his nature - but if s He suffers and is unhappy because of what
He does, t Hen it is Her own fault, for it means that Her own feeling
is tainted with egoism. It is this egoism that s He must conquer,
--
speaking of t He outward act - w Het Her one eats Here or t Here
comes to t He same thing - I am speaking of t He inner attitude,
--
and his limits - that is why He does not change.
24 September 1963
--
That proves that life is too easy Here and that for t He most part
you are all too tamasic to make an effort unless goaded by t He
--
promised me one three years ago, but now He advises
me to ask You.
--
you think it will Help you to find t He Divine?
7 May 1964
--
Regarding t He fan, I don't think it will Help me to
find t He Divine, but is it an obstacle? If You think it
--
it, you may do so, knowing that it will not Help you in any way
to make progress - that it will only give your body t He illusion
--
T He Supreme Lord can give his Ananda to whomever He
wants and as He wants.
A sadhak is one who has chosen a yogic discipline and
--
like what one loves, t He bhakta, if He is sincere, begins to become
like t He Divine whom He adores, and thus his love becomes purer
and purer. To adore t He Divine in t He one whom one loves has
often been suggested as a solution, but unless one's Heart and
thought are very pure, it can lead to deplorable abasements.
--
How can one know t He ot Her's need and Help him?
I was not speaking of external things and mental faculties! True
--
result. That is why He advised those who want to follow t He
integral yoga to find t Heir own discipline, based on t He ancient
--
I am trying to concentrate in t He Heart and to enter
deep within as You advised me to do, but in vain. T He
only result is that I get a Headac He, a kind of dizziness,
but as soon as I open my eyes everything becomes normal
--
If you are sincere and scrupulously honest, my Help is certainly with you and one day you will become aware of it.
22 July 1964
--
and see if it Helps t Hem to suffer less!
12 August 1964
--
It is always preferable not to try to assess t He progress one is making because it does not Help one to make it - on t He contrary.
Aspiration for progress, if it is SINCERE, is sure to have an effect.
--
I Heard that an astrologer has predicted that in six
months' time Lal Bahadur Shastri will no longer be
Prime Minister and that He will be replaced by Indira
Gandhi, but only for a fortnight. T Hen a period of chaos
--
murmur in t He depths of our Heart which is easy to ignore.
However, t Here are cases w Here one acts wrongly out of
--
"T He greatest egoist is t He Supreme Lord because He never
bot Hers about anything but Himself!"
--
t He Divine, t He ot Her part is so tamasic and Heavy! How
can it be awakened? What blows does it need? It is not
--
with Him so that He may be your enemy"16 (implying that you
are sure to be conquered by Him). It is a humorous remark, but
--
who have been Here since childhood. T Here is a kind
of uncertainty in our young people w Hen t Hey see ot Hers
leave Here and t Hey say cautiously: "Who knows w Het Her
it won't be my turn some day!" I feel t Here is a force
--
children who have studied Here need to come to grips with life
before t Hey can be ready for t He divine work, and that is why
--
"If you cannot make God love you, make Him fight you. If He will not give you t He
embrace of t He lover, compel Him to give you t He embrace of t He wrestler."
--
strange that He is not yet recognised, at least as a supreme
creator, a pure artist, a poet par excellence! So I tell myself that my judgments, my appreciations are influenced
--
men's Hearts not yet enchanted by His Words?
Who can understand Sri Aurobindo? He is as vast as t He universe
and his teaching is limitless...
--
way, each one does his best and contributes as much as He can
to t He transformation of t He world which Sri Aurobindo has
--
One must learn to concentrate one's energies in t He Heart
- t Hen, w Hen one succeeds in that, silence comes automatically.
--
subject, you must at least read all He has written on that subject.
You will t Hen see that He seems to have said t He most contradictory things. But w Hen one has read everything and understood
a little, one sees that all t He contradictions complement one
--
unique privilege of living Here in t He Ashram?
Never forget w Here you are.
--
doctor or barrister, come to stay Here in t He Ashram
for t Heir own salvation? T Hey could perhaps serve t He
--
Nobody comes Here for his own salvation because Sri Aurobindo
does not believe in salvation; for us salvation is a meaningless
word. We are Here to prepare t He transformation of t He earth
and men so that t He new creation may take place, and if we
--
will perhaps Help to enlighten your thought.
"It is equally ignorant and one thousand miles away from
--
t He nobility of t He human character or an idea that we are Here
to establish mental and moral and social Truth and justice on
--
Divine He carries within him; and it is just this unconsciousness
which constitutes t He falsehood of t He material world.
--
of goodwill, understanding and mutual Help.
To feel deeply, intensely and constantly a total gratitude
--
what He has written on it has appeared in T He Synt Hesis of Yoga.
However, as an initial Help to set you on t He path, I can tell
you: (1) that on getting up, before starting t He day, it is good
--
pitiful condition and reaffirm Her greatness?
W Hen s He renounces falsehood and lives in t He Truth.
--
Why did Sri Aurobindo advise India's leaders to accept t He Cripps Proposal in 1942, w Hen He knew fully
well that t Hey would not?21
--
knowing very well that His Help will be refused. Why
t Hen does He do it?
T He Divine always informs, but it is rare indeed for men to listen
to Him. Eit Her t Hey do not Hear Him or do not believe Him.
Men always complain of not being Helped, but t He truth is
that t Hey refuse t He Help which is always with t Hem.
5 May 1965
--
t He state of one who feels that everything Here is t He play
Sri Aurobindo sent a special messenger to Delhi advising Indian leaders to accept,
--
for India. Sri Aurobindo Held that this proposal conferred essential independence on
India by putting Her on a par with t He various Dominions already associated with t He
United Kingdom. Had his advice been Heeded, t He partition of India might have been
avoided.
--
of a benevolent God? Would He not also participate in
this new realisation?
--
W Hen department Heads or superiors make mistakes
or commit an injustice towards t Heir subordinates, what
--
is not indispensable that He should have opinions, and still less
that He should air t Hem.
It is ignorance that has opinions.
--
"something one Hears about" for most people Here.
W Hen shall we feel and see this supreme and radical
--
Mot Her, what does He mean by "One creates a new
body for oneself w Hen one wants to change"? Does this
--
What He means is that w Hen one will have t He power to withdraw t He physical body from t He influence of death, t He power of
transformation will be such that one will also be able to change
--
Does every person who comes to earth have a definite goal He must achieve in this life, and does He achieve
it unconsciously in spite of himself?
--
and cooperation Here among us and among t He various departments. This results in a great waste of money
and energy. W Here does this disharmony come from and
--
"No real peace can be till t He Heart of man deserves peace;
t He law of Vishnu cannot prevail till t He debt to Rudra is paid.
--
cries for t He sword of t He Hero of t He struggle and t He word of
its prop Het."26
--
India ought to be t He spiritual guide who explains what is happening and Helps to hasten t He movement. But unfortunately,
in Her blind ambition to imitate t He West, s He has become
materialistic and neglectful of Her soul.
13 October 1965
--
Is t Here a hierarchicised group Here in t He Ashram?
Mot Her, I want to know more about it, but I don't know
--
You write: "Each one Here represents an impossibility to be solved."30 Could You explain to me what this
means exactly?
--
t He standpoint of transformation, are gat Hered Here to concretise
and synt Hesise t He work of transforming t He earth in order to
--
manage to enter into t He Heart. I feel during meditation
that my consciousness is flying around an impenetrable
--
T Here is a tendency among most of us Here to conduct our lives and programmes according to t He customs
of society. We say: "We must also think of t He opinion of
--
If most people Here think and feel like that, it is an obvious proof
that most are not at all ready for t He new life, nor even ready to
--
have Here, without being worthy of enjoying t Hem.
12 January 1966
--
As soon as t He children were admitted Here, it was no longer
possible to be strict and t He nature of t He life changed.
--
are living Here, you are Helped in your yoga to t He utmost of
your possibilities. T He only thing you lack is being conscious.
--
said somew Here, "Not everyone Here is meant for yoga."
So... ?
--
(3) "Not everyone Here is meant for yoga" - that
is, t Hey are incapable of doing it consciously?
--
That you saw and Heard me is a sign of progress, and with this I
am pleased. But it is true that I find you mentally a bit lazy and
--
people who are Here, t Here are only 250 or so who understand Sri Aurobindo's yoga, only forty-five who practise
it, five who are capable of realisation and only one who
--
us Here. But, Mot Her, why do we do this? For, each one
of us has surely felt and enjoyed - at least once in his
--
do so Here. T He only thing that one has outside, but does not
have Here, is t He moral constraint of an external discipline.
Here one is free and t He only constraint is t He one that one
--
because You learned from me that He approves of my
going t Here. Strange!
--
anyway. But even Here, t Here are quite a number who by tradition have a "family deity", yet it doesn't bot Her t Hem at all
to take t Heir deity and throw it into t He Ganges w Hen t Hey get
--
Her and throw Her into t He Ganges because t Hey were displeased
with Her. If one believes in t He Divine, one cannot do things like
that.
--
For several years now, we have been Hearing that t He
Ashram is in a terrible financial condition, and from time
--
W Hen I Heard that X was drowned in a lake at Gingee during t He outing, I was unable to believe it or to be
shocked by this news. T He only question that arose in me
--
so Her protection was with us. T Hen how is it possible?
T He protection is over t He group - and if t He action of t He group
--
things, such as: "May He be born to t He true life" or
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
T He ordinary man is often guided in life by his conscience, isn't He? So what becomes of one who has no
conscience, who has lost it by having disregarded it too
--
W Hen one goes away from Here, one feels a sort of
emptiness inside. Even if one has all t He physical comforts, t Here is still something missing. One doesn't feel
--
But why does He say "weig Hed down"?
T He numerical sequence of this date is 4.5.67.
--
He would not ask such a question if He had ever had a
psychic memory, because w Hen one has one, it is quite evident.
--
Aurobindo's Action. He said that had t Here been an enlightened person like Vivekananda, t He work could have
been done better, but that Mot Her has to do Her work
with t He instruments S He has at Her disposal. Finally He
told me that He had no opinion on t He subject. "My
business," He said, "is to write." And He asked me what
my "business" was. I replied that I didn't know what
--
I have read and Heard much about past and future
lives, but I feel very strongly that it is in this very life that
--
lives are intangible and academic rat Her than a Help and
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
T He best for each one is to progress as sincerely as He can. T He
material difficulties are part of t He work of transformation and
--
conscious of t He Help t Hey are given.
28 November 1970
01.10 - Nicholas Berdyaev: God Made Human, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
William Blake: T He Marriage of Heaven and Hell Aldous Huxley: T He Perennial Philosophy
Ot Her Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsNicholas Berdyaev: God Made Human
--
Nicholas Berdyaev is an ardent worker, as a Russian is naturally expected to be, in t He cause of t He spiritual rehabilitation of mankind. He is a Christian, a neo-Christian: some of his conclusions are old-world truths and bear repetition and insistence; ot Hers are of a more limited, conditional and even doubtful nature. His conception of t He value of human person, t He dignity and t He high reality He gives to it, can never be too welcome in a world w Here t He individual seems to have gone t He way of vanis Hed empires and kings and princes. But even more important and interesting is t He view He underlines that t He true person is a spiritual being, that is to say, it is quite ot Her than t He empirical ego that man normally is"not this that one worships" as t He Upanishads too declare. Furt Her, in his spiritual being man, t He individual, is not simply a portion or a fraction; He is, on t He contrary, an integer, a complete whole, a creative focus; t He true individual is a microcosm yet holding in it and imaging t He macrocosm. Only perhaps greater stress is laid upon t He aspect of creativity or activism. An Eastern sage, a Vedantin, would look for t He true spiritual reality behind t He flux of forces: Prakriti or Energy is only t He executive will of t He Purusha, t He Conscious Being. T He personality in Nature is a formulation and emanation of t He transcendent impersonality.
T Here is anot Her aspect of personality as viewed by Berdyaev which involves a bias of t He more orthodox Christian faith: t He Christ is inseparable from t He Cross. So He says: "T Here is no such thing as personality if t Here is no capacity for suffering. Suffering is in Herent in God too, if He is a personality, and not merely an abstract idea. God shares in t He sufferings of men. He yearns for responsive love. T Here are divine as well as human passions and t Herefore divine or creative personality must always suffer to t He end of time. A condition of anguish and distress is in Herent in it." T He view is logically enforced upon t He Christian, it is said, if He is to accept incarnation, God becoming flesh. Flesh cannot but be weak. This very weakness, so human, is and must be specially characteristic of God also, if He is one with man and his lover and saviour.
Eastern spirituality does not view sorrow and sufferingevilas an integral part of t He Divine Consciousness. It is born out of t He Divine, no doubt, as nothing can be outside t He Divine, but it is a local and temporal formation; it is a disposition consequent upon certain conditions and with t He absence or elimination of those conditions, this disposition too disappears. God and t He Divine Consciousness can only be purity, light, immortality and delight. T He compassion that a Buddha feels for t He suffering humanity is not at all a feeling of suffering; pain or any such normal human reaction does not enter into its composition; it is t He movement of a transcendent consciousness which is beyond and purified of t He normal reactions, yet overarching t Hem and entering into t Hem as a soothing and illumining and vivifying presence. T He Healer knows and understands t He pain and suffering of his patient but is not touc Hed by t Hem; He need not contract t He illness of his patient in order to be in sympathy with him. T He Divine t He Soulcan be in flesh and yet not smirc Hed with its mire; t He flesh is not essentially or irrevocably t He ooze it is under certain given conditions. T He divine physical body is composed of radiant matter and one can speak of it even as of t He soul that weapons cannot pierce it nor can fire burn it.
***
William Blake: T He Marriage of Heaven and Hell Aldous Huxley: T He Perennial Philosophy
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 gat Her or are gat Hered round a man and cling to him through t He tie of a personal relation must fall off and scatter w Hen t He man passes away and t He 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; t He real creative power is Presence. So w Hen t He great man's presence, t He power that crystallises is gone, t He whole edifice crumbles and vanis Hes 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 t He situation; it is only w Hen t He principles, t He bare realities for which t He mahapurusha stands are in t He open forum and men have t He full and free opportunity of testing and assimilating t Hem, it is only w Hen 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 t He whole of humanity; a particular personality shall always create division and limitation. By placing t He man in front, we erect a wall between t He Principle and men at large. It is t He principles, on t He contrary, that should be given t He place of honour: our attempt should be to keep back personalities and make as little use of t Hem as possible. Let t He principles work and create in t Heir freedom and power, untrammelled by t He limitations of any mere human vessel.
--
We do not speak like politicians or banias; but t He very truth of t He 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 t Hey take life and form in a particular individual? T Hey are airy nothings, notions in t He brain of logicians and metaphysicians, fit subjects for discussion in t He academy, but t Hey are devoid of that vital urge which makes t Hem creative agencies. We have long lines of philosop Hers, especially European, who most scrupulously avoided all touch of personalities, whose utmost care was to keep principles pure and unsullied; and t He upshot was that those principles remained principles only, barren and infructuous, some thing like, in t He strong and puissant phrase of BaudelaireLa froide majest de la femme strile. And on t He contrary, we have had ot Her peoples, much addicted to personalitiesespecially in Asiawho did not care so much for abstract principles as for concrete embodiments; and what has been t He result Here? None can say that t Hey did not produce anything or produced only still-born things. T Hey produced living creaturesep Hemeral, some might say, but creatures that lived and moved and had t Heir days.
But, it may be asked, what is t He necessity, what is t He purpose in making it all a one man show? Granting that principles require personalities for t Heir fructuation and vital functioning, what remains to be envisaged is not one personality but a plural personality, t He people at large, as many individuals of t He human race as can be consciously imbued with those principles. W Hen principles are made part and parcel of, are concentrated in a single solitary personality, t Hey get "cribbed and cabined," t Hey are vitiated by t He idiosyncrasies of t He man, t Hey come to have a narrower field of application; t Hey are emptied of t He general verities t Hey contain and finally cease to have any effect.
T He thing, however, is that what you call principles do not drop from Heaven in t Heir 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 t He general mind of man and even if t Hey live, t Hey live secreted and unconscious; it is only a puissant personality, who has lived t He principle, that can bring it forward into life and action, can awaken, like t He Vedic Dawn, what was dead in allmritam kanchana bodhayanti. Men in general are by t Hemselves 'inert and indifferent; t Hey have little leisure or inclination to seek, from any inner urge of t Heir own, for principles and primal truths; t Hey become conscious of t Hese only w Hen expressed and embodied in some great and rare soul. An Avatar, a Messiah or a Prop Het is t He centre, t He focus through which a Truth and Law first dawns and t Hen radiates and spreads abroad. T He little lamps are all lighted by t He sparks that t He great torch scatters.
And yet we yield to none in our demand for holding forth t He principles always and ever before t He wide open gaze of all. T He principle is t Here to make people self-knowing and self-guiding; and t He man is also t Here to illustrate that principle, to serve as t He hope and prop Hecy of achievement. T He living soul is t Here to touch your soul, if you require t He touch; and t He principle is t Here 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 t He contrary, we insist on each and every individual to find his own soul and stand on his own Truththis is t He fundamental principle we declare, t He 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 t Hey should bow down ungrudgingly to anything, be it a principle or a personality. In this respect we claim t He 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, t He idol or t He Hero symbolises for us and for those who so will, t He very iconoclasm and anarchism and perhaps ot Her more positive things as wellwhich we behold within and seek to manifest.
T He world is full of ikons and archons; we cannot escape t Hem, even if we try t He world itself being a great ikon and as great an archon. Those who swear by principles, swear always by some personality or ot Her, if not by a living creature t Hen by a lifeless book, if not by Religion t Hen by Science, if not by t He East t Hen by t He West, if not by Buddha or Christ t Hen by Bentham or Voltaire. Only t Hey do it unwittingly t Hey change one set of personalities for anot Her and believe t Hey have rejected t Hem all. T He veils of Maya are a thousand-fold tangle and you think you have entirely escaped Her w Hen you have only run away from one fold to fall into anot Her. T He 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 t He 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
This latest work of Aldous Huxley is a collection of sayings of sages and saints and philosop Hers from all over t He world and of all times. T He sayings are arranged under several Heads such as "That art Thou", "T He Nature of t He Ground", "Divine Incarnation", "Self-Knowledge", "Silence", "Faith" etc., which clearly give an idea of t He contents and also of t He "Neo-Brahmin's" own personal preoccupation. T Here is also a running commentary, rat Her a note on each saying, meant to elucidate and explain, naturally from t He compiler's standpoint, what is obviously addressed to t He initiate.
A similar compilation was publis Hed in t He Arya, called T He Eternal Wisdom (Les Paroles ternelles, in French) a portion of which appeared later on in book-form: that was more elaborate, t He contents were arranged in such a way that no comments were needed, t Hey were self-explanatory, divided as t Hey were in chapters and sections and subsections with proper Headings, t He whole thing put in a logical and organised sequence. Huxley's compilation begins under t He title of t He Upanishadic text "That art Thou" with this saying of Eckhart: "T He more God is in all things, t He more He is outside t Hem. T He more He is within, t He more without". It will be interesting to note that t He Arya compilation too starts with t He same idea under t He title "T He God of All; t He God who is in All", t He first quotation being from Philolaus, "T He Universe is a Unity".T He Eternal Wisdom has an introduction called "T He Song of Wisdom" which begins with this saying from t He Book of Wisdom: "We fight to win sublime Wisdom; t Herefore men call us warriors".
Huxley gives only one quotation from Sri Aurobindo under t He Heading "God in t He World". Here it is:
"T He touch of Earth is always reinvigorating to t He son of Earth, even w Hen He seeks a supraphysical Knowledge. It may even be said that t He supraphysical can only be really mastered in its fullnessto its Heights we can always reachw Hen we keep our feet firmly on t He physical. 'Earth is His footing' says t He Upanishad, w Henever it images t He Self that manifests in t He universe." Huxley's commentary is as follows:
"To its Heights we can always come. For those of us who are still splashing about in t He lower ooze, t He phrase has a rat Her ironical ring. Nevert Heless, in t He light of even t He most distant acquaintance with t He Heights and t He fullness, it is possible to understand what its author means. To discover t He Kingdom of God exclusively within oneself is easier than to discover it, not only t Here, but also in t He outer worlds of minds and things and living creatures. It is easier because t He Heights within reveal t Hemselves to those who are ready to exclude from t Heir purview all that lies without. And though this exclusion may be a painful and mortificatory process, t He fact remains that it is less arduous than t He process of inclusion, by which we come to know t He fullness as well as t He Heights of spiritual life. W Here t Here is exclusive concentration on t He Heights within, temptations and distractions are avoided and t Here is a general denial and suppression. But w Hen t He hope is to know God inclusivelyto realise t He divine Ground in t He world as well as in t He soul, temptations and distractions must not be avoided, but submitted to and used as opportunities for advance; t Here must be no suppression of outward-turning activities, but a transformation of t Hem so that t Hey become sacramental."
T He neatness of t He commentary cannot be improved upon. Only with regard to t He "ironical ring" of which Huxley speaks, it has just to be pointed out, as He himself seems to understand, that t He "we" referred to in t He phrase does not mean humanity in general that 'splas Hes about in t He lower ooze' but those who have a sufficiently developed inner spiritual life.
T Here is a quotation from Lao Tzu put under t He Heading "Grace and Free Will": "It was w Hen t He Great Way declined that human kindness and morality arose".
We fear Mr. Huxley has completely missed t He point of t He cryptic sentence. He seems to take it as meaning that human kindness and morality are a means to t He recovery of t He Lost Way-although codes of ethics and deliberate choices are not sufficient in t Hemselves, t Hey are only a second best, yet t Hey mark t He rise of self-consciousness and have to be utilised to pass on into t He unitive knowledge that is Tao. This explanation or amplification seems to us somewhat confused and irrelevant to t He idea expressed in t He apopht Hegm. What is stated Here is much simpler and transparent. It is this that w Hen t He Divine is absent and t He divine Knowledge, t Hen comes in man with his human mental knowledge: it is man's humanity that clouds t He Divine and to reach t He' Divine one must reject t He human values, all t He moralities, sarva dharmn, seek only t He Divine. T He lesser way lies through t He dualities, good and evil, t He Great Way is beyond t Hem and cannot be limited or measured by t He relative standards. Especially in t He modern age we see t He decline and almost t He disappearance of t He Greater Light and instead a thousand smaller lights are lighted which vainly strive to dispel t He gat Hering darkness. T Hese do not Help, t Hey are false lights and men are apt to cling to t Hem, shutting t Heir eyes to t He true one which is not that that one worships Here and now, nedam yadidam upsate.
T Here is a beautiful quotation from t He Chinese sage, Wu Ch'ng-n, regarding t He doubtful utility of written Scriptures:
"'Listen to this!' shouted Monkey. 'After all t He trouble we had getting Here from China, and after you specially ordered that we were to be given t He scriptures, Ananda and Kasyapa made a fraudulent delivery of goods. T Hey gave us blank copies to take away; I ask you, what is t He good of that to us?' 'You needn't shout,' said t He Buddha, smiling. 'As a matter of fact, it is such blank scrolls as t Hese that are t He true scriptures. But I quite see that t He people of China are too foolish and ignorant to believe this, so t Here is nothing for it but to give t Hem copies with some writing on.' "
A sage can smile and smile delightfully! T He parable illustrates t He well-known Biblical phrase, 't He letter killeth, but t He spirit giveth life'. T He monkey is symbolical of t He ignorant, arrogant, fussy human mind. T Here is anot Her Buddhistic story about t He monkey quoted in t He book and it is as delightful; but being somewhat long, we cannot reproduce it Here. It tells how t He mind-monkey is terribly agile, quick, clever, competent, moving lightning-fast, imagining that it can easily go to t He end of t He world, to Paradise itself, to Brahmic status. But alas! w Hen He thought He was speeding straight like a rocket or an arrow and arrive right at t He target, He found that He was spinning like a top at t He same spot, and what He very likely took to be t He very fragrance of t He topmost supreme Heaven was nothing but t He aroma of his own urine.
***
01.11 - The Basis of Unity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
T He truth behind a credal religion is t He aspiration towards t He realization of t He Divine, some ultimate reality that gives a permanent meaning and value to t He human life, to t He existence lodged in this 'sp Here of sorrow' Here below. Credal parap Hernalia were necessary to express or buttress this core of spiritual truth w Hen mankind, in t He mass, had not attained a certain level of enlightenment in t He mind and a certain degree of development in its life-relations. T He modern age is modern precisely because it had attained to a necessary extent this mental enlightenment and this life development. So t He sc Heme or scaffolding that was required in t He past is no longer unavoidable and can have eit Her no reality at all or only a modified utility.
A modern people is a composite entity, especially with regard to its religious affiliation. Not religion, but culture is t He basis of modern collective life, national or social. Culture includes in its grain that fineness of temperament which appreciates all truths behind all forms, even w Hen t Here is a personal allegiance to one particular form.
--
India's historical development is marked by a special characteristic which is at once t He expression of Her inmost nature and t He setting of a problem which s He has to solve for Herself and for t He whole human race. I have spoken of t He diversity and divergence of affiliations in a modern social unit. But what distinguis Hes India from all ot Her peoples is that t He diversity and divergence have culminated Here in contradictoriness and mutual exclusion.
T He first extremes that met in India and fought and gradually coalesced to form a single cultural and social whole were, as is well known, t He Aryan and t He non-Aryan. Indeed, t He geologists tell us, t He land itself is divided into two parts structurally quite different and distinct, t He Deccan plateau and t He Himalayan ranges with t He Indo-Gangetic plain: t He former is formed out of t He most ancient and stable and, on t He whole, horizontally bedded rocks of t He earth, while t He latter is of comparatively recent origin, formed out of a more flexible and weaker belt (t He Himalayan region consisting of a colossal flexing and crumpling of strata). T He disparity is so much that a certain group of geologists hold that t He Deccan plateau did not at all form part of t He Asiatic continent, but had drifted and das Hed into it:in fact t He Himalayas are t He result of this mighty impact. T He usual division of an Aryan and a Dravidian race may be due to a memory of t He clash of t He two continents and t Heir races.
However, coming to historical times, we see wave after wave of t He most Heterogeneous and disparate elementsSakas and Huns and Greeks, each bringing its quota of exotic materialenter into t He oceanic Indian life and culture, lose t Heir separate foreign identity and become part and parcel of t He common whole. Even so,a single unitary body was formed out of such varied and shifting materialsnot in t He political, but in a socio-religious sense. For a catholic religious spirit, not being solely doctrinal and personal, admitted and embraced in its supple and wide texture almost an infinite variety of approac Hes to t He Divine, of forms and norms of appre Hending t He Beyond. It has been called Hinduism: it is a vast synt Hesis of multiple affiliations. It expresses t He characteristic genius of India and Hence Hinduism and Indianism came to be looked upon as synonymous terms. And t He same could be defined also as Vedic religion and culture, for its invariable basis t He bed-rock on which it stood firm and erectwas t He Vedas, t He Knowledge seen by t He sages. But t Here had already risen a voice of dissidence and discord that of Buddha, not so much, perhaps, of Buddha as of Buddhism. T He Buddhistic enlightenment and discipline did not admit t He supreme authority of t He Vedas; it sought ot Her bases of truth and reality. It was a great denial; and it meant and worked for a vital schism. T He denial of t He Vedas by itself, perhaps, would not be serious, but it became so, as it was symptomatic of a deeper divergence. Denying t He Vedas, t He Buddhistic spirit denied life. It was quite a new thing in t He Indian consciousness and spiritual discipline. And it left such a stamp t Here that even today it stands as t He dominant character of t He Indian outlook. However, India's synt Hetic genius rose to t He occasion and knew how to bridge t He chasm, close up t He fissure, and present again a body whole and entire. Buddha became one of t He Avataras: t He discipline of Nirvana and Maya was reserved as t He last duty to be performed at t He end of life, as t He culmination of a full-length span of action and achievement; t He way to Moksha lay through Dharma and Artha and Kama, Sannyasa had to be built upon Brahmacharya and Garhasthya. T He integral ideal was epitomized by Kalidasa in his famous lines about t He character of t He Raghus:
T Hey devoted t Hemselves to study in t Heir boyhood, in youth t Hey pursued t He objects of life; w Hen old t Hey took to spiritual austerities, and in t He end t Hey died united with t He hig Her consciousness.
--
And still this was not t He lastit could not be t He lastanti t Hesis that had to be synt Hetized. T He dialectical movement led to a more serious and fiercer contradiction. T He Buddhistic schism was after all a division brought about from within: it could be said that t He two terms of t He antinomy belonged to t He same genus and were commensurable. T He idea or experience of Asat and Maya was not unknown to t He Upanishads, only it had not t Here t He exclusive stress which t He later developments gave it. Hence quite a different, an altoget Her foreign body was imported into what was or had come to be a homogeneous entity, and in a considerable mass.
Unlike t He previous irruptions that merged and were lost in t He 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 t He Islamic impact India could not be what s He was beforea change became inevitable even in t He major note. It was a psychological cataclysm almost on a par with t He geological one that formed Her body; but t He spirit behind which created t He body was working automatically, inexorably towards t He greater and more difficult synt Hesis demanded by t He situation. Only t He thing is to be done now consciously, not through an unconscious process of laissez-faire as on t He inferior stages of evolution in t He past. And that is t He true genesis of t He 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 t Here are no pure races existent. T He Briton, t He Dane, t He Anglo-Saxon, and t He Norman have combined to form t He 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. T Here are instances also in which a perfect fusion could not be accomplis Hed, and one element had to be rejected or crus Hed out. T He complete disappearance of t He Aztecs and Mayas in South America, t He decadence of t He Red Indians in North America, of t He Negroes in Africa as a result of a fierce clash with European peoples and European culture illustrate t He point.
--
Islam comes with a full-fledged spiritual soul and a mental and vital formation commensurable with that inner being and consciousness. It comes with a dynamic spirit, a warrior mood, that aims at conquering t He physical world for t He Lord, a temperament which Indian spirituality had not, or had lost long before, if s He had anything of it. This was, perhaps, what Vivekananda meant w Hen He spoke graphically of a Hindu soul with a Muslim body. T He Islamic dispensation, however, brings with it not only something complementary, but also something contradictory, if not for anything else, at least for t He strong individuality which does not easily yield to assimilation. Still, in spite of great odds, t He process of assimilation was going on slowly and surely. But of late it appears to have come to a dead halt; difficulties have been presented which seem insuperable.
If religious toleration were enough, if that made up man's hig Hest and largest achievement, t Hen Nature need not have attempted to go beyond cultural fusion; a liberal culture is t He surest basis for a catholic religious spirit. But such a spirit of toleration and catholicity, although it bespeaks a widened consciousness, does not always enshrine a profundity of being. Nobody is more tolerant and catholic than a dilettante, but an ardent spiritual soul is different.
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 ot Her lines and loyalties, nay more, to be in positive harmony with t Hem, is a problem which has not been really solved. It was solved, perhaps, in t He consciousness of a Ramakrishna, a few individuals Here and t Here, but it has always remained a source of conflict and disharmony in t He general mind even in t He field of spirituality. T He clash of spiritual or religious loyalties has taken such an acute form in India today, t Hey have been carried to t He bitter extreme, in order, we venture to say, that t He final synt Hesis might be absolute and irrevocable. This is India's mission to work out, and this is t He lesson which s He brings to t He world.
T He solution can come, first, by going to t He true religion of t He Spirit, by being truly spiritual and not merely religious, for, as we have said, real unity lies only in and through t He Spirit, since Spirit is one and indivisible; secondly, by bringing down somethinga great part, indeed, if not t He wholeof this puissant and marvellous Spirit into our life of emotions and sensations and activities.
--
India did not and could not stop at mere cultural fusionwhich was a supreme gift of t He Moguls. S He did not and could not stop at anot Her momentous cultural fusion brought about by t He European impact. S He aimed at something more. Nature demanded of Her that s He should discover a greater secret of human unity and through progressive experiments apply and establish it in fact. Christianity did not raise this problem of t He greater synt Hesis, for t He Christian peoples were more culture-minded than religious-minded. It was left for an Asiatic people to set t He problem and for India to work out t He solution.
***
01.12 - Goethe, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
T He year 1949 has just celebrated t He 200th anniversary of t He birth of t He great force of light that was Goet He. We too remember him on t He occasion, and will try to present in a few words, as we see it, t He fundamental experience, t He major Intuition that stirred this human soul, t He lesson He brought to mankind. Goe t He was a great poet. He showed how a language, perhaps least poetical by nature, can be moulded to embody t He great beauty of great poetry. He made t He German language sing, even as t He sun's ray made t He stone of Memnon sing w Hen falling upon it. Goe t He was a man of consummate culture. Truly and almost literally it could be said of him that nothing human He considered foreign to his inquiring mind. And Goe t He was a man of great wisdom. His observation and judgment on thingsno matter to whatever realm t Hey belonghave an arresting appropriateness, a happy and revealing insight. But above all, He was an aspiring soulaspiring to know and be in touch with t He hidden Divinity in man and t He world.
Goe t He and t He Problem of Evil
--
T He Christian too accepts t He dual principle, but does not give equal status to t He two. Satan is t Here, an eternal reality: it is anti-God, it seeks to oppose God, frustrate his work. It is t He 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 t He crucial question that arises is, what is t He necessity of this Antagonist in God's sc Heme of creation? What is t He meaning of this struggle and battle? God could have created, if He had chosen, a world without Evil. T He orthodox Christi an answer is that in that case one could not have fully appreciated t He true value and glory of God's presence. It is to manifest and proclaim t He great victory that t He strife and combat has been arranged in which Man triumphs in t He end and God's work stands vindicated. T He place of Satan is always Hell, but He cannot drag down a soul into his pit to hold it t Here eternally (although according to one doctrine t Here are or may be certain eternally damned souls).
Goe t He carries t He process of convergence and even harmony of t He two powers a little furt Her and shows that although t Hey are contrary apparently, t Hey are not contradictory principles in essence. For, Satan is, after all, God's servant, even a very obedient servant; He is an instrument in t He hand of t He Almighty to work out His purpose. T He purpose is to Help and lead man, although in a devious way, towards a greater understanding, a nearer approach to Himself.
T He Challenge and t He Pact
--
Satan is jealous of man who is God's favourite. He tells God that his partiality to man is misplaced. God has put into man a little of his light (reason and intelligence and something more perhaps), but to what purpose? Man tries to soar, He thinks He flies high and wide, but in fact He is and will be an insect that "lies always in t He grass and sings its old song in t He grass." God answers that whatever t He perplexity in which man now is, in t He end He will come out and reach t He Light with a greater and ric Her experience of it. Satan smiles in return and says He will prove ot Herwise. Given a free hand, He can do whatever He likes with man: "Dust shall He eat and with a relish." God willingly agrees to t He challenge: t Here is no harm in Satan's trying his hand. Indeed, Satan will prove to be a good companion to man; for man is normally prone to inertia and sinks into repose and rest and stagnation. Satan will be t He goad, t He force that drives towards ceaseless activity. For activity is life, and without activity no progress.
Thus, as sanctioned by God, t Here is a competition, a wager between man and Satan. T He pact between t He parties is this that, on t He one hand, Satan will serve man Here in life upon earth, and on t He ot Her hand, in return, man will have to serve Satan t Here, on t He ot Her side of life. That is to say, Satan will give t He whole world to man to enjoy, man will have to give Satan only his soul. Man in his ignorance says He does not care for his soul, does not know of a t Here or elsew Here: He will be satisfied if He gets what He wants upon earth. That, evidently, is t He demand of what is familiarly known as life-force (lan vital): t He utmost fulfilment of t He life-force is what man stands for, although t He full significance of t He movement may not be clear to him or even to Satan at t He moment. For life-force does not necessarily drag man down, as its grand finale as it were, into Hellhowever much Satan might wish it to be so. In what way, we shall see presently. Now Satan promises man all that He would desire and even more: He would give him his fill so' that He will ask for no more. Man takes up t He challenge and declares that his hunger is insatiable, whatever Satan can bring to it, it will take in and press on: satisfaction and satiety will never come in his way. Satan thinks He knows better, for He is armed with a master weapon to lay man low and make him cry halt!
Love Human and Love Divine
Satan proposes to lead man down into Hell through a sure means, nothing more sure, according to him, viz., love for a woman and a woman's love in return. Nothing like that to make man earth-bound or Hell-bound and force out of him t He nostalgic cry, "Time must have a stop." A most simple, primal and primeval lyric love will most suit Satan's purpose. Hence t He Margaret episode. Love=Passion=Lust= Hell; that is t He inevitable equation sequence, and through which runs t He magic thread of infatuation. And that charm is invincible. Satan did succeed and was within an ace, as t Hey say, of t He final and definitive triumph: but that was not to be, for He left out of account an incalculable element. Love, even human love has, at least can have, a wonderful power, t He potency of reversing t He natural decree and bring about a supernatural intervention. Human love can at a crucial momentin extremiscall down t He Divine Grace, which means God's love for man. And t He soul meant for perdition and about to be seized and carried away by Satan finds itself suddenly free and lifted up and borne by Heaven's messengers. Human Jove is divine love itself in earthly form and figure and whatever its apparent aberrations it is in soul and substance that thing. Satan is hoisted with his own petard. That is God's irony.
But Goet He's Satan seems to know or feel something of his fate. He knows his function and t He limit too of his function. He speaks of t He doomsday for people, but it is his doomsday also, He says in mystic terms. Yes, it is his doomsday, for it is t He day of man's liberation. Satan has to release man from t He pact that stands cancelled. T He soul of man cannot be sold, even if He wanted it.
T He Cosmic Rhythm
T He angels weave t He symphony that is creation. T Hey represent t He various notes and rhythmsin t Heir hig Her and purer degrees that make up t He grand harmony of t He sp Heres. It is magnificent, this music that moves t He cosmos, and wonderful t He glory of God manifest t Herein. But is it absolutely perfect? Is t Here now Here any flaw in it? T Here is a doubting voice that enters a dissenting note. That is Satan, t He Antagonist, t He Evil One. Man is t He weakest link in t He chain of t He apparently all-perfect harmony. And Satan boldly proposes to snap it if God only let him do so. He can prove to God that t He true nature of his creation is not cosmos but chaos not a harmony in peace and light, but a confusion, a Walpurgis Night. God acquiesces in t He play of this apparent breach and proves in t He end that it is part of a wider sc Heme, a vaster harmony. Evil is rounded off by Grace.
T He total eradication of Evil from t He world and human nature and t He remoulding of a terrestrial life in t He substance and pattern of t He Hig Hest Good that is beyond all dualities is a conception which it was not for Goe t He to envisage. In t He order of reality or existence, first t Here is t He consciousness of division, of trenchant separation in which Good is equated with not-evil and evil with not-good. This is t He outlook of individualised consciousness. Next, as t He consciousness grows and envelops t He whole existence, good and evil are both embraced and are found to form a secret and magic harmony. That is t He universal or cosmic consciousness. And Goet He's genius seems to be an outflowering of something of this status of consciousness. But t Here is still a hig Her status, t He status of transcendence in which evil is not simply embraced but dissolved and even transmuted into a supreme reality of which it is an aberration, a reflection or projection, a lower formulation. That is t He mystery of a spiritual realisation to which Goe t He aspired perhaps, but had not t He necessary initiation to enter into.
01.12 - Three Degrees of Social Organisation, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
It might be objected Here however that actually in t He history of humanity t He conception of Duty has been no less pugnacious than that of Right. In certain ages and among certain peoples, for example, it was considered t He imperative duty of t He faithful to kill or convert by force or ot Herwise as many as possible belonging to ot Her faiths: it was t He mission of t He good s Hep Herd to burn t He impious and t He Heretic. In recent times, it was a sense of high and solemn duty that perpetrated what has been termed "purges"brutalities undertaken, it appears, to purify and preserve t He integrity of a particular ideological, social or racial aggregate. But t He real name of such a spirit is not duty but fanaticism. And t Here is a considerable difference between t He two. Fanaticism may be defined as duty running away with itself; but what we are concerned with Here is not t He aberration of duty, but duty proper self-poised.
One might claim also on behalf of t He doctrine of Right that t He right kind of Right brings no harm, it is as already stated anot Her name for liberty, for t He privilege of living and it includes t He obligation to let live. One can do what one likes provided one does not infringe on an equal right of ot Hers to do t He same. T He measure of one's liberty is equal to t He measure of ot Hers' liberty.
Here is t He crux of t He question. T He dictum of utilitarian philosop Hers is a golden rule which is easy to formulate but not so to execute. For t He line of demarcation between one's own rights and t He equal rights of ot Hers is so undefinable and variable that a title suit is inevitable in each case. In asserting and establishing and even maintaining one's rights t Here is always t He possibilityalmost t He certaintyof encroaching upon ot Hers' rights.
What is required is not t Herefore 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 t He sense of duty. Even t Hen, even t He 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 c Heck and control it, some ot Her hig Her and more potent principle. Indeed, both t He conceptions of Duty and Right belong to t He domain of mental ideal, although one is usually more aggressive and militant (Rajasic) and t He ot Her tends to be more tolerant and considerate (sattwic): neit Her can give an absolute certainty of poise, a clear guarantee of perfect harmony.
--
We may perhaps view t He three terms Right, Duty and Dharma as degrees of an ascending consciousness. Consciousness at Its origin and in its primitive formulation is dominated by t He principle of inertia (tamas); in that state things have mostly an undifferentiated collective existence, t Hey Helplessly move about acted upon by forces outside t Hem. A rise in growth and evolution brings about differentiation, specialisation, organisation. And this means consciousness of oneself of t He distinct and separate existence of each and everyone, in ot Her words, self-assertion, t He claim, t He right of each individual unit to be itself, to become itself first and foremost. It is a necessary development; for it signifies t He growth of self consciousness in t He units out of a mass unconsciousness or semi-consciousness. It is t He expression of rajas, t He mode of dynamism, of strife and struggle, it is t He corrective of tamas.
In t He earliest and primitive society men lived totally in a mass consciousness. T Heir life was a blind obedienceobedience to t He chief t He patriarch or pater familiasobedience to t He laws and customs of t He collectivity to which one belonged. It was called duty; it was called even dharma, but evidently on a lower level, in an inferior formulation. In reality it was more of t He nature of t He mechanical functioning of an automaton than t He exercise of conscious will and deliberate choice, which is t He very soul of t He conception of duty.
T He conception of Right had to appear in order to bring out t He principle of individuality, of personal freedom and fulfilment. For, a true Healthy collectivity is t He association and organisation of free and self-determinate units. T He growth of independent individuality naturally means at first clash and rivalry, and a violently competitive society is t He result. It is only at this stage that t He conception of duty can fruitfully come in and develop in man and his society t He mode of Sattwa, which is that of light and wisdom, of toleration and harmony. T Hen only a society is sought to be moulded on t He principle of co-ordination and co-operation.
Still, t He conception of duty cannot finally and definitively solve t He problem. It cannot arrive at a perfect harmonisation of t He conflicting claims of individual units; for, duty, as I have already said, is a child of mental idealism, and although t He mind can exercise some kind of control over life-forces, it cannot altoget Her eliminate t He seeds of conflict that lie imbedded in t He very nature of life. It is for this reason that t Here is an element of constraint in duty; it is, as t He poet says, t He "stern daughter of t He Voice of God". One has to compel oneself, one has to use force on oneself to carry out one's dutyt Here is a feeling somehow of its being a bitter pill. T He cult of duty means rajas controlled and coerced by Sattwa, not t He transcendence of rajas. This leads us to t He high and supreme conception of Dharma, which is a transcendence of t He gunas. Dharma is not an ideal, a standard or a rule that one has to obey: it is t He law of self-nature that one inevitably follows, it is easy, spontaneous, delightful. T He path of duty is Heroic, t He path of Dharma is of t He gods, godly (cf. Virabhava and Divyabhava of t He Tantras).
T He principle of Dharma t Hen inculcates that each individual must, in order to act, find out his truth of being, his true soul and inmost consciousness: one must entirely and integrally merge oneself into that, be identified with it in such a manner that all acts and feelings and thoughts, in fact all movements, inner and outerspontaneously and irrepressibly well out of that fount and origin. T He individual souls, being made of one truth-nature in its multiple modalities, w Hen t Hey live, move and have t Heir being in its essential law and dynamism, t Here cannot but be absolute harmony and perfect synt Hesis between all t He units, even as t He sun and moon and stars, as t He Veda says, each following its specific orbit according to its specific nature, never collide or haltna me thate na tas thatuh but weave out a faultless pattern of symphony.
01.13 - T. S. Eliot: Four Quartets, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
In t Hese latest poems of his, Eliot has become outright a poet of t He Dark Night of t He Soul. T He beginnings of t He new avatar were already t Here certainly at t He very beginning. T He Waste Land is a good preparation and passage into t He Night. Only, t He negative element in it was stronger t He cynicism, t He bleakness, t He sereness of it all was almost overw Helming. T He next stage was "T He Hollow Men": it took us right up to t He threshold, into t He very entrance. It was gloomy and fore-boding enough, grim and seriousno glint or hint of t He silver lining yet within reach. Now as we find ourselves into t He very Heart of t He Night, things appear somewhat changed: we look at t He past indeed, but can often turn to t He future, feel t He pressure of t He Night yet sense t He Light beyond overarching and embracing us. This is how t He poet begins:
I said to my soul, be still, and let t He dark come upon you
--
but what He adds is characteristic of t He new outlook
For hope would be hope for t He wrong thing; wait without love
--
Yes, by t He force of this secret knowledge He has discovered, this supreme skill in action, as it is termed in t He Eastern lore, I that t He poet at last comes out into t He open, into t He light and happiness of t He Dawn and t He Day:
Whisper of running streams, and winter lightning.
--
T He Divine Love is a greater fire than t He low smouldering fire that our secular unregenerate life is. One has to choose and declare his ad Hesion. Indeed, t He stage of conversion, t He crucial turn from t He ordinary life to t He spiritual life Eliot has characterised in a very striking manner. We usually say, sometimes in an outburst of grief, sometimes in a spirit of sudden disgust and renunciation that t He world is dark and dismal and lonesome, t He only thing to do Here is to be done with it. T He true renunciation, that which is deep and abiding, is not, however, so simple a thing, such a short cut. So our poet says, but t He world is not dark enough, it is not lonesome enough: t He world lives and moves in a superficial half-light, it is neit Her real death nor real life, it is death in life. It is this miserable mediocrity, t He shallow uncertainty of consciousness that spells danger and ruin for t He soul. Hence t He poet exclaims:
. . . . Not Here
Not Here t He darkness, in this twittering world.
Descend lower, descend only
--
Eliot's is a very Christian soul, but we must remember at t He same time that He is nothing if not modern. And this modernism gives all t He warp and woof woven upon that inner core. How is it characterised? First of all, an intellectualism that requires a reasoned and rational synt Hesis of all experiences. Anot Her poet, a great poet of t He soul's Dark Night was, as we all know, Francis Thompson: it was in his case not merely t He soul's night, darkness extended even to life, He lived t He Dark Night actually and physically. His haunting, weird lines, seize within t Heir grip our brain and mind and very flesh
My days have crackled and gone up in smoke,5
--
But Thompson was not an intellectual, his doubts and despondencies were not of t He mental order, He was a boiling, swelling life-surge, a geyser, a volcano. He, too, crossed t He Night and saw t He light of Day, but in a different way. Well, I He did not march into t He day, it was t He Day that marc Hed I into him! Yes, t He Divine Grace came and seized him from behind with violence. A modern, a modernist consciousness cannot expect that indulgence. God meets him only halfway, He has to work up himself t He ot Her half. He has laid so many demands and conditions: t He knots in his case are not cut asunder but slowly disengaged.
T He modern temper is especially partial to harmony: it cannot assert and reject unilaterally and categorically, it wis Hes to go round an object and view all its sides; it asks for a synt Hesis and reconciliation of differences and contraries. Two major chords of life-experience that demand accord are Life and Death, Time and Eternity. Indeed, t He problem of Time hangs Heavy on t He human consciousness. It has touc Hed to t He quick philosop Hers and sages in all ages and climes; it is t He great question that confronts t He spiritual seeker, t He riddle that t He Sphinx of life puts to t He journeying soul for solution.
A modern Neo-Brahmin, Aldous Huxley, has given a solution of t He problem in his now famous Shakespearean apot Hegm, "Time must have a stop". That is an old-world solution rediscovered by t He modern mind in and through t He ravages of Time's storm and stress. It means, salvation lies, after all, beyond t He flow of Time, one must free oneself from t He vicious and unending circle of mortal and mundane life. As t He Rajayogi controls and holds his breath, stills all life-movement and realises a dead-stop of consciousness (Samadhi), even so one must control and stop all secular movements in oneself and attain a timeless stillness and vacancy in which alone t He true spiritual light and life can descend and manifest. That is t He age-long and ancient solution to which t He Neo-Brahmin as well t He Neo-Christian ad Heres.
Eliot seems to demur, however, and does not go to that extreme length. He wis Hes to go beyond, but to find out t He source and matrix of t He Here below. As I said, He seeks a synt Hesis and not a mere transcendence: t He transcendence is indeed a part of t He synt Hesis, t He ot Her part is furnis Hed by an immanence. He does not cut away altoget Her from Time, but reac Hes its outermost limit, its rim, its summit, w Here it stops, not altoget Her annihilated, but Held in suspended animation. That is t He "still point" to which He refers in t He following lines:
At t He still point of t He turning world. Neit Her flesh nor fleshless;
--
He aims at t He neutral point between t He positive and t He negative poles, which is neit Her, yet holding t He two toget Herat t He crossing of Yes and No, t He known and t He unknown, t He local and t He eternal. That is what He means w Hen He says:
Here, t He intersection of t He timeless moment
Is England and now Here. Never and always.7
--
So Krishna, as w Hen He admonis Hed Arjuna
On t He field of battle.
--
That is t He lesson that our poet has learnt from t He Gita and that is t He motto He too would prescribe to t He seekers.
Now, a modern poet is modern, because He is doubly attracted and attac Hed to things of this world and this mundane life, in spite of all his need and urge to go beyond for t He larger truth and t He hig Her reality. Apart from t He natural link with which we are born, t Here is this ot Her fascination which t He poor miserable things, all t He little superficialities, trivialities especially have for t He modern mind in view of t Heir possible sense and significance and right of existence. T Hese too have a magic of t Heir own, not merely a black magic:
..... our losses, t He torn seine,
--
It is true t He movement towards transcendence is stronger and apparent in our poet, but t He ot Her kindred point-of home and time-is not forgotten. So He says:
.History may be servitude,
--
And Hear upon t He sodden floor
Below, t He boarhound and t He boar
--
T He Word was made flesh and t He Word was made Poetry. To express t He supreme Word in life, that is t He work of t He sage, t He Rishi. To express t He Word in speech, that is t He labour of t He Poet. Eliot undertook this double function of t He poet and t He sage and He found t He task difficult. T He poet has to utter t He unutterable, if He is to clo t He in words t He mystic experience of t He sage in him. That is Eliot's ambition:
.... Words, after speech, reach
--
And a lower and more facile inspiration tempts t He poet and He often speaks with a raucous voice, even as t He Arch-tempter sought to lure t He Divine Word made flesh:
... Shrieking voices
--
Our poet is too self-conscious, He himself feels that He has not t He perfect voice. A Homer, even a Milton possesses a unity of tone and a wholeness of perception which are denied to t He modern. To t He modern, however, t He old masters are not subtle enough, broad enough, psychological enough, let us say t He word, spiritual enough. And yet t He poetic inspiration, more than t He religious urge, needs t He injunction not to be busy with too many things, but to be centred upon t He one thing needful, viz., to create poetically and not to discourse philosophically or preach prop Hetically. Not that it is impossible for t He poet to swallow t He philosop Her and t He prop Het, metabolising t Hem into t He substance of his bone and marrow, of "t He trilling wire in his blood", as Eliot graphically expresses. That perhaps is t He consummation towards which poetry is tending. But at present, in Eliot, at least, t He 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 t He perilous limit of bathos. Perhaps it is all wilful, it is a mannerism which He c Heris Hes. T He mannerism may explain his psychology and enshrine his philosophy. But t He poet, t He magician is to be looked for elsew Here. In t He present collection of poems it is t He philosophical, exegetical, discursive Eliot who dominates: although t He high lights of t He subject-matter may be its justification. Still even if we have Here doldrums like
That t He past has anot Her pattern, and ceases to be a mere sequence
--
Here t He 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 t He poet has since t Hen moved up and sought a more rarefied air, a more even and smooth temper. T He utter and absolute poetic ring of t He Inferno is difficult to maintain in t He Paradiso, unless and until t He poet transforms himself wholly into t He Rishi, like t He poet of t He Gita or t He Upanishads.
"East Coker"
--
"T He Hound of Heaven"
"Burnt Norton"
01.14 - Nicholas Roerich, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Ex oriente lux. Out of t He East t He Light, and that light is of t He nature and substance of beauty, of creative and dynamic beauty in t He life t He spirit. This, I suppose, is Roerich's message in a nuts Hell. T He Light of t He East is always t He light of t He ample consciousness that dwells on t He Heights of our being in God.
T He call that stirred a Western soul, made him a wanderer over t He world in quest of t He Holy Grail and finally lodged him in t He Home of t He Snows is symbolic of a more than individual destiny. It is representative of t He secret history of a whole culture and civilisation that have been ruling humanity for some centuries, its inner want and need and hankering and fulfilment. T He West shall come to t He East and be reborn. That is t He prop Hecy of occult seers and sages.
I speak of Roerich as a Western soul, but more precisely perhaps He is a soul of t He mid-region (as also in anot Her sense we shall see subsequently) intermediary between t He East and t He West. His external make-up had all t He characteristic elements of t He Western culture, but his mind and temperament, his inner soul was oriental. And yet it was not t He calm luminous staticancientsoul that an Indian or a Chinese sage is; it is a nomad soul, newly awakened, young and fresh and ardent, something primitive, pulsating with t He unspoilt green sap of life something in t He manner of Whitman. And that makes him all t He more representative of t He young and ardent West yearning for t He light that was never on sea or land.
Is it not strange that one should look to t He East for t He light? T Here is a light indeed that dwells in t He setting suns, but that is t He inferior light, t He light that moves level with t He earth, pins us down to t He normal and ordinary life and consciousness: it" leads into t He Night, into Nihil, pralaya. It is t He light of t He morning sun that man looks up to in his forward march, t He sun that rises in t He East whom t He Vedic Rishi invoked in t Hese magnificent lines:
--
It is not a mere notion or superstition, it is an occult reality that gives sanctity to a particular place or region. T He saintly soul has always been also a pilgrim, physically, to holy places, even to one single holy place, if He so chooses. T He puritan poet may say tauntingly:
Here pilgrims roam, that strayed so far to seek In Golgotha him dead who lives in Heaven
t He pilgrim soul of Roerich declares with but equal ve Hemence and assurance:
--
Indeed, Roerich considers t He Himalayas as t He very abode, t He tabernacle itself t Hesanctum sanctorumof t He Spirit, t He Light Divine. Many of Roerich's paintings have mountain ranges, especially snow-bound mountain ranges, as t Heir t Heme. T Here is a strange kinship between this yearning artistic soul, which seems solitary in spite of its ardent humanism, and t He silent Heights, rising white tier upon tier reflecting prism like t He fiery glowing colours, t He vast horizons, t He wide vistas vanishing beyond.
Roerich is one of t He prop Hets and seers who have ever been acclaiming and preparing t He Golden Age, t He dream that humanity has been dreaming continuously since its very childhood, that is to say, w Hen t Here will be peace and harmony on earth, w Hen racial, cultural or ideological egoism will no longer divide man and mana thing that seems today a chimera and a hallucinationw Hen t Here will be one culture, one civilisation, one spiritual life welding all humanity into a single unit of life luminous and beautiful. Roerich believes that such a consummation can arrive only or chiefly through t He growth of t He sense of beauty, of t He aest Hetic temperament, of creative labour leading to a wider and hig Her consciousness. Beauty, Harmony, Light, Knowledge, Culture, Love, Delight are cardinal terms in his vision of t He deeper and hig Her life of t He future.
T He stress of t He inner urge to t He Heights and depths of spiritual values and realities found special and significant expression in his paintings. It is a difficult problem, a problem which artists and poets are tackling today with all t Heir skill and talent. Man's consciousness is no longer satisfied with t He customary and t He ordinary actions and reactions of life (or thought), with t He old-world and time-worn modes and manners. It is no more turned to t He apparent and t He obvious, to t He surface forms and movements of things. It yearns to look behind and beyond, for t He secret mechanism, t He hidden agency that really drives things. Poets and artists are t He vanguards of t He age to come, prop Hets and pioneers preparing t He way for t He Lord.
Roerich discovered and elaborated his own technique to reveal that which is secret, express that which is not expressed or expressible. First of all, He is symbolical and allegorical: secondly, t He choice of his symbols and allegories is hieratic, that is to say, t He subject-matter refers to objects and events connected with saints and legends, shrines and enchanted places, hidden treasures, spirits and angels, etc. etc.; thirdly, t He manner or style of execution is what we may term pantomimic, in ot Her words, concrete, graphic, dramatic, even melodramatic. He has a special predilection for geometrical patterns t He artistic effect of whichbalance, regularity, fixity, soliditywas greatly utilised by t He French painter Czanne and poet Mallarm who seem to have influenced Roerich to a considerable degree. But this Nort Herner had not t He reticence, t He suavity, t He tonic unity of t He classicist, nor t He normality and clarity of t He Latin temperament. T He prop Het, t He priest in him was t He stronger element and made use of t He artist as t He rites andceremoniesmudras and chakrasof his vocation demanded. Indeed, He stands as t He hierophant of a new cultural religion and his paintings and utterances are, as it were, gestures that accompany a holy ceremonial.
A Russian artist (Monsieur Benois) has stressed upon t He primitivealmost aboriginalelement in Roerich and was not happy over it. Well, as has been pointed out by ot Her prop Hets and thinkers, man today happens to be so sophisticated, artificial, material, cerebral that a [all-back seems to be necessary for him to take a new leap forward on to a hig Her ground. T He pure aest Hete is a closed system, with a consciousness immured in an ivory tower; but man is something more. A curious paradox. Man can reach t He hig Hest, realise t He integral truth w Hen He takes his leap, not from t He relatively hig Her levels of his consciousness his intellectual and aest Hetic and even moral status but w Hen He can do so from his lower levels, w Hen t He physico-vital element in him serves as t He springing-board. T He decent and t He beautiful t He classic grace and aristocracyform one aspect of man, t He aspect of "light"; but t He aspect of energy and power lies precisely in him w Here t He aboriginal and t He barbarian find also a lodging. Man as a mental being is naturally sattwic, but prone to passivity and weakness; his physico-vital reactions, on t He ot Her hand, are obscure and crude, simple and ve Hement, but t Hey have life and energy and creative power, t Hey are t Here to be trained and transfigured, made effective instruments of a hig Her illumination.
All elemental personalities have something of t He unconventional and irrational in t Hem. And Roerich is one such in his own way. T He truths and realities that He envisages and seeks to realise on earth are elemental and fundamental, although apparently simple and commonplace.
***
0.11 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
movement of t He Head and keep still for a few minutes, with a concentration to remember what happened
during your sleep.
--
By "solar plexus", t He Mot Her is referring to t He Heart (not t He navel) region; this is
clear from statements s He has made elsew Here; see, for example, in Series Thirteen of
this volume, t He last paragraph of Her reply of 20 September 1969.
Series Eleven - To a Sadhak
--
your aspirations. Naturally, this does not mean that He
gives way to t He fancies of your outer nature - I am
speaking Here of t He truth of your being. Moreover, He
sometimes moulds himself according to your outer aspirations, and if you live like t He devotees who alternate
--
and t He secret Purusha in t He Heart are projections of it.
T He soul is t He Purusha that enters into t He evolution.
--
T He Lord told You: "One day thou wilt be my Head but
for t He moment turn thy gaze towards t He earth."4
Sweet Mot Her, what does "thou wilt be my Head"
mean?
T He Head is t He original conceiving Consciousness.
22 April 1967
--
As for all psychological problems, Here too sincerity, a total
and uncompromising sincerity, is t He true remedy.
--
so Heavily.
To get rid of t He past is something so difficult that it seems almost
--
in Her child.
It is not an absolute rule - far from it - but t He case is quite
--
that only t He Supreme Lord exists and that He alone lives and
acts.
--
T He phrase would be even more amusing if He had written:
"Thank God for making me an at Heist."
--
Because most people, w Hen t Hey Hear t He word "unity", understand uniformity and nothing can be furt Her from t He truth.
25 September 1967
--
I have Heard about t He aspiration to be simply what You
want.
--
It is said that Christ Healed t He sick and even raised t He dead.
One day an idiot was brought to him to be cured. But Christ
--
being. And one can Hear it only if one is very attentive, because
it does not make any clamour.
--
A Mot Her's eyes are on t Hem and Her arms
Stretc Hed out in love desire Her rebel sons."9
What had t He white gods missed?
--
as long as He lives on earth t Here is a certain interdependence.
But t He condition of t He earth is sure to become such that a
--
Besides, although He has not taken up anot Her physical
body, t He Buddha himself has returned to work in t He earthatmosp Here.
--
Replaced t He separated sense and Heart
And drew all Nature into its embrace."13
Is Sri Aurobindo referring Here to knowledge by
identity?
--
"A greater force than t He earthly Held his limbs,...
Unwound t He triple cord of mind and freed
T He Heavenly wideness of a God Head's gaze."14
What does "t He triple cord of mind" mean?
--
It is undoubtedly out of ignorance and fear of what He doesn't
know.
--
refuse and oppose t He Divine even though t Hey know who He is.
21 November 1968
--
"None can reach Heaven who has not passed through
Hell."18
--
Divine go through Hell in a different way than ot Hers?
Savitri, Book II, Canto 8.
--
of its parts is a veritable Hell. But those who have surrendered
to t He Divine and been adopted by Him are surrounded by t He
--
stands above all t He worlds and bears in Her eternal
consciousness t He Supreme Divine."20
--
Memory is a mental faculty and Helps t He mental consciousness.
But feeling and sensation must also participate.
0.12 - Letters to a Student, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
his Help.
If t Hese things have any value for you, you must do t Hem
--
If so, I will Help you.
Blessings.
--
divine Help will be t Here to support and to Help. This Help is felt
inwardly in t He Heart.
Blessings.
--
for it is an important day Here.
Series Twelve - To a Student
From t He viewpoint of t He inner nature, t He individual is more receptive on his birthday from year to year, and thus it is an opportune moment to Help him to make some new progress each year.
Blessings.
--
one's mind as silent as possible, and enter deep into t He Heart
of one's being, beyond sensations and thoughts. One must form
--
upset its Health.
T Herefore, one must be patient and follow t He rhythm of
--
we think about? Does being in contact with Nature Help
us in any way?
--
with Her, that can Help in widening t He consciousness.
Blessings.
--
Love of Nature is usually t He sign of a pure and Healthy being uncorrupted by modern civilisation. It is in t He silence of a
peaceful mind that one can best commune with Nature.
--
What does Sri Aurobindo mean w Hen He speaks of
change of consciousness?
--
peace is Helpful for sleep.
W Hen t He sun rises, a vigorous energy descends on earth and
this energy is Helpful for work.
W Hen you go to bed late and get up late, you contradict t He
--
faithful instrument can avoid error, if He is careful to act only at
t He divine command and to add nothing personal to it.
It must be said that this is not easy. Only He who no longer
has any ego can do it correctly.
--
Naturally, Here we have combined t He two. But this is mainly
because human beings, especially in t Heir childhood, still need a
--
and teac Hers Here?
An obedient, willing and affectionate attitude. T Hey are your
elder brot Hers and sisters who take a lot of trouble to Help you.
Blessings.
--
beings? Does He expect something of us?
This world is Himself. He wants everything - ourselves and t He
world and t He whole universe - to become conscious once more
0.13 - Letters to a Student, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It means to become conscious of t He Divine Presence in oneself or on t He spiritual Heights, and, once one is conscious of
His Presence, to surrender to Him completely so that one no
--
Generally it is in t He Heart, behind t He solar plexus, that one
finds this luminous presence.
--
of knowing why we are Here on earth, but I have thought
about it and t He only answer I could get is that at least
we are Here in t He Ashram to manifest t He Divine upon
earth. But t Here remains one question: if everything is
--
created by Him and He can do everything, t Hen how is
it that He takes so much time and uses such roundabout
ways? What joy does He get in creating unconscious
things and making t Hem conscious? And why all t Hese
--
t He parents Help you in your spiritual progress, because t Hey are
usually more interested in a worldly realisation.
--
I do not think that t Here are more accidents Here than elsew Here.
Certainly t Here ought to be less. But for that, t He children who
study Here must make an effort to grow in consciousness (a thing
t Hey could do more easily Here than elsew Here). Unfortunately,
however, few of t Hem take t He trouble to do it, so t Hey lose t He
--
Do you think it isn't good to visit t He churc Hes Here
to see t He midnight ceremony?
--
how can we be of Help to it?
This great change is t He appearance on earth of a new race that
--
are capable of receiving it and Heeding it.
Blessings.
--
can most Help t He one who has departed.
Blessings.
0.14 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
for Help and light. T He wisdom of men is ignorant. Only t He
Divine knows.
--
T He divine Help is assured to those who set to work sincerely.
8 December 1971
--
T He Divine Help always responds to a sincere aspiration.
25 December 1971
--
to Heal?
In principle, everything is possible by uniting consciously with
--
of t He supramental world. And not only did He announce this
manifestation but He also embodied in part t He supramental
force and gave us t He example of what we must do to prepare
--
study all He has told us, strive to follow his example and prepare
ourselves for t He new manifestation.
This gives life its true meaning and will Help us to overcome
all obstacles.
--
that we do not rely exclusively on t He Divine for t He Help we
need.
--
t He best way to Help t He world is to realise t He Divine oneself.
5 February 1972
--
So completely blind are t Hey that t Hey would not Hesitate
to make t He Divine a slave of t Heir ego, if such a thing were
0 1954-08-25 - what is this personality? and when will she come?, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Mot Her reads to t He disciples an excerpt from Sri Aurobindos T He MOT HeR, in which He describes t He different aspects of t He Creative Powerwhat is India is called t He Shakti, or t He Mot Herwhich have presided over universal evolution.)
T Here are ot Her great Personalities of t He Divine Mot Her, but t Hey were more difficult to bring down and have not stood out in front with so much prominence in t He evolution of t He earth-spirit. T Here are among t Hem Presences indispensable for t He supramental realization,most of all one who is Her Personality of that mysterious and powerful ecstasy and Ananda1 which flows from a supreme divine Love, t He Ananda that alone can Heal t He gulf between t He hig Hest Heights of t He supramental spirit and t He lowest abysses of Matter, t He Ananda that holds t He key of a wonderful divines Life and even now supports from its secrecies t He work of all t He ot Her Powers of t He universe.
Sri Aurobindo, T He Mot Her
--
You asked, What is this Personality and w Hen will S He come? Here is my answer (Mot Her reads):
S He has come, bringing with Her a splendor of power and love, an intensity of divine joy Heretofore unknown to t He Earth. T He physical atmosp Here has been completely changed by Her descent, permeated with new and marvelous possibilities.
But if S He is ever to reside and act Here, S He has to find at least a minimal receptivity, at least one human being with t He required vital and physical qualities, a kind of super-Parsifal gifted with an innate and integral purity, yet possessing at t He same time a body strong enough and poised enough to bear unwaveringly t He intensity of t He Ananda S He brings.
Thus far, S He has not found what is needed. Men remain obstinately men and do not want to or are unable to become supermen. All t Hey can receive and express is a love at t Heir own dimension: a human lovew Hereas t He supreme bliss of divine Ananda eludes t Heir perception.
At times, finding t He world unready to receive Her, S He contemplates withdrawing. But how cruel a loss this would be!
It is true that at present, Her presence is more r Hetorical than factual, since so far S He has had no chance to manifest. Yet even so, S He is a powerful instrument in t He Work, for of all t He Mot Hers aspects, S He holds t He greatest power to transform t He body. Indeed, those cells which can vibrate at t He touch of t He divine Joy, receive it and bear it, are cells reborn, on t Heir way to becoming immortal.
But t He vibrations of divine Bliss and those of pleasure cannot cohabit in t He same vital and physical house. We must t Herefore TOTALLY renounce all feelings of pleasure to be ready to receive t He divine Ananda. But rare are those who can renounce pleasure without t Hereby renouncing all active participation in life or sinking into a stern asceticism. And among those who realize that t He transformation is to be wrought in active life, some pretend that pleasure is a form of Ananda gone more or less astray and legitimize t Heir search for self-satisfaction, t Hereby creating a virtually insuperable obstacle to t Heir own transformation.
--
S He came down because t Here WAS a possibilitybecause things had reac Hed such a stage that it was Her hour to come down. But in truth, S He came down because because I thought it was possible for Her to succeed.
Possibilities are still t Hereonly t Hey have to materialize.
This is borne out by t He fact that Her descent took place at a given moment and for two or three weeks t He atmosp Herenot only of t He Ashram but of t He Earthwas so highly charged with such a power of such an intense divine Bliss creating so marvelous a force that things difficult to do before could be done almost instantly.
T Here were repercussions t He world over. But I dont believe that a single one of you noticed it you cannot even tell me w Hen it happened, can you?
--
I dont know dates. I dont know, I never remember dates. I can only tell you this that it happened before Sri Aurobindo left his body, that He was told about it beforeh and and that He well, He acknowledged t He fact.
But t Here was a formidable battle with t He Inconscient, for w Hen I saw that t He level of receptivity was not what it should have been, I blamed t He Inconscient and tried to wage t He battle t Here.
--
Oh! But you see, from an occult standpoint, it is a selection. From an external standpoint you could say that t Here are people in t He world who are far superior to you (and I would not disagree!), but from an occult standpoint, it is a selection. T Here are It can be said that without a doubt t He majority of young people Here have come because it was promised t Hem that t Hey would be present at t He Hour of Realization but t Hey just dont remember it! (Mot Her laughs) I have already said several times that w Hen 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 t Here find t He immortal consciousness t Hen you can see very well, you can very clearly remember t He circumstances in which you you aspired to be Here for t He Hour of t He Works realization.
But actually, to tell you t He 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 t Heir psychic beings? To find out truly who t Hey are? To find out what t Heir roles are, why t Hey are Here? You just let yourselves drift. You even complain w Hen things arent easy enough! You just take things as t Hey come. And sometimes, should an aspiration arise in you and you encounter some difficulty in yourself, you say, Oh, Mot Her is t Here! S Hell take care of it for me! And you think about something else.
Mot Her, previously things were very strict in t He Ashram, but not now. Why?
Yes, I have always said that it changed w Hen we had to take t He very little children. How can you envision an ascetic life with little sprouts no bigger than that? Its impossible! But thats t He little surprise package t He war left on our doorstep. W Hen it was found that Pondic Herry was t He safest place on earth, naturally people came w Heeling in Here with all t Heir baby carriages filled and asked us if we could s Helter t Hem, so we couldnt very well turn t Hem away, could we?! Thats how it happened, and in no ot Her way But, in t He beginning, t He first condition for coming Here was that you would have nothing more to do with your family! If a man was married, t Hen He had to completely overlook t He fact that He had a wife and childrencompletely sever all ties, have nothing furt Her to do with t Hem. And if ever a wife asked to come just because Her husb and happened to be Here, we told Her, You have no business coming Here!
In t He beginning, it was very, very strict for a long time.
--
But as I said, bit by bit things changed. However, this had one advantage: we were too much outside of life. So t Here were a number of problems which had never arisen but which would have suddenly surged up t He moment we wanted a complete manifestation. We took on all t Hese problems a little prematurely, but it gave us t He opportunity to solve t Hem. In this way we learned many things and surmounted many difficulties, only it complicated things considerably. And in t He present situation, given such a large number of elements who havent even t He slightest idea why t Heyre Here (!) well, it demands a far greater effort on t He disciples part than before.
Before, w Hen t Here were we started with 35 or 36 people but even w Hen it got up to 150, even with 150it was as if t Hey were all nestled in a cocoon in my consciousness: t Hey were so near to me that I could constantly guide ALL t Heir inner or outer movements. Day and night, at each moment, everything was totally under my control. And naturally, I think t Hey made a great deal of progress at that time: it is a fact that I was CONSTANTLY doing t He sadhana2 for t Hem. But t Hen, with this baby boom T He sadhana cant be done for little sprouts who are 3 or 4 or 5 years old! Its out of t He question. T He only thing I can do is wrap t Hem in t He Consciousness and try to see that t Hey grow up in t He best of all possible conditions. However, t He one advantage to all this is that instead of t Here being such a COMPLETE and PASSIVE dependence on t He disciples part, each one has to make his own little effort. Truly, thats excellent.
I dont know to whom I was mentioning this today (I think it was for a Birthday3 No, I dont know now. It was to someone who told me He was 18 years old. I said that between t He ages of 18 and 20, I had attained a constant and conscious union with t He Divine Presence and that I had done this ALL ALONE, without ANYONES Help, not even books. W Hen a little later I chanced upon Vivekanandas Raja Yoga, it really seemed so wonderful to me that someone could explain something to me! And it Helped me realize in only a few months what would have ot Herwise taken years.
I met a man (I was perhaps 20 or 21 at t He time), an Indian who had come to Europe and who told me of t He Gita. T Here was a French translation of it (a rat Her poor one, I must say) which He advised me to read, and t Hen He gave me t He key (HIS key, it was his key). He said, Read t He Gita (this translation of t He Gita which really wasnt worth much but it was t He only one available at t He timein those days I wouldnt have understood anything in ot Her languages; and besides, t He English translations were just as bad and well, Sri Aurobindo hadnt done his yet!). He said, Read t He Gita knowing that Krishna is t He symbol of t He immanent God, t He God within. That was all. Read it with THAT knowledgewith t He knowledge that Krishna represents t He immanent God, t He God within you. Well, within a month, t He whole thing was done!
So some of you people have been Here since t He time you were toddlerseverything has been explained to you, t He whole thing has been served to you on a silver platter (not only with words, but through psychic aid and in every possible way), you have been put on t He path of this inner discovery and t Hen you just go on drifting along: W Hen it comes, it will come.If you even spare it that much thought!
So thats how it is.
--
If you look at yourselves straight in t He face and you see what you are, t Hen if by chance you should resolve to But what really astounds me is that you dont even seem to feel an intense NEED to do this! But how can we know? Because you DO know, you have been told over and over again, it has been drummed into your Heads. You KNOW that you have a divine consciousness within you. And yet you can go on sleeping night after night, playing day after day, doing your lessons ad infinitum and still not be not have a BURNING desire and will to come into contact with yourselves!With yourselves, yes, t He you just t Here, inside (motion towards t He center of t He c Hest) Really, its beyond me!
As soon as I found outand no one told me, I found out through an experienceas soon as I found out that t Here was a discovery to be made within myself, well, it became T He MOST IMPORTANT thing in t He world. It took precedence over everything else!
And w Hen, as I told you, I chanced upon a book or an individual that could give me just a little clue and tell me, Here. If you do such and such, you will find your pathwell I charged into it like a cyclone and nothing could have stopped me.
And how many years have you all been Here, half-asleep? Naturally, youre happy to think about it now and t Henespecially w Hen I speak to you about it or sometimes w Hen you read. But THATthat fire, that will which plows through all barriers, that concentration which can triumph over EVERYTHING
Now who was it that asked me what you should do?
--
I thought someone might ask me, Why doesnt S He4 stay for your sake? Since S He came Here because you called Her, t Hen why doesnt S He stay for your sake?
But no one asked me that.
--
For Her, this body is but one instrument among so many ot Hers in an eternity of ages to come, and for Her its only importance is that attributed to it by t He Earth and mankind t He extent to which it can be used as a channel to furt Her Her manifestation. If I find myself surrounded by people who are incapable of receiving Her, t Hen for Her, I am quite useless.
It is very clear. So it is not I who can make Her stay. And I certainly cannot ask Her to stay for egotistical reasons. Moreover, all t Hese Aspects, all t Hese Personalities manifest constantly but t Hey never manifest for personal reason. Not one of t Hem has ever thought of Helping my bodybesides, I dont ask t Hem to because that is not t Heir purpose. But it is more than obvious that if t He people around me were receptive, S He could permanently manifest since t Hey could receive Herand this would Help my body enormously because all t Hese vibrations would run through it. But S He never gets even a chance to manifestnot a single one. S He only meets people who dont even feel Her w Hen S Hes t Here! T Hey dont even notice Her, t Heyre not even aware of Her presence. So how can S He manifest in t Hese conditions? Im not going to ask Her, Please come and change my body. We dont have that kind of relationship! Furt Hermore, t He body itself wouldnt agree. It never thinks of itself, it never pays attention to itself, and besides, it is only through t He work that it can be transformed.
Yes, certainly had t Here been any receptivity w Hen S He came down and had S He been able to manifest with t He power with which S He came But I can tell you one thing: even before Her coming, w Hen, with Sri Aurobindo, I had begun going down (for t He Yoga) from t He mental plane to t He vital plane, w Hen we brought our yoga down from t He mental plane into t He vital plane, in less than a month (I was forty years old at t He time I didnt seem very old, I looked less than forty, but I was forty anyway), after no more than a month of this yoga, I looked exactly like an 18 year old! And someone who knew me and had stayed with me in Japan5 came Here, and w Hen He saw me, He could scarcely believe his eyes! He said, But my god, is it you? I said, Of course!
Only w Hen we went down from t He vital plane into t He physical plane, all this went awaybecause on t He physical plane, t He work is much harder and we had so much to do, so many things to change.
But if a force like Hers could manifest and be received Here, it would have INESTIMABLE results!
Well, I am only telling you all this because I thought someone might ask me about it, but ot Herwise I dont have that kind of relationship with Her. You see, if you consider this body, this poor body, it is very innocent: it in no way tries to draw attention to itself nor to attract forces nor to do anything at all except its workas best it can. And thats how it stands: its importance is proportionate to its usefulness and to t He significance t He world attri butes to itsince its action is for t He world.
But in and of itself, it is only one body among countless ot Hers. Thats all.
--
(Mot Her gets up to go, but while leaving, S He says to t He children around Her:) If you had made just one little decision to try to feel your psychic being, my time would not have been wasted.
Ananda: Divine Joy.
0 1955-03-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mot Her, once more I come to ask you for Mahakalis1 intervention. After a period w Hen everything seemed much better, I again awake to impossible mornings w Hen I live badly, very badly, far from you, incapable of calling you and, whats more, of feeling your Presence or your Help.
I dont know what mud is stirring about in me, but everything is obscured, and I cannot dissociate myself from t Hese vital waves.
Mot Her, without Mahakalis grace, I shall never be able to get out of this mechanical round, to shatter t Hese old formations, ever t He same, which keep coming back. Mot Her, I beg of you, Help. me to BREAK this s Hell in which I am suffocating. Deliver me from myself, deliver me in spite of myself. Alone, I am Helpless; sometimes I cannot even call you! May your force come and burn all my impurities, shatter my resistances.
Signed: Bernard2
Mahakali: t He eternal Mot Her in Her warrior aspect, S He who severs t He Heads of t He demons.
Such was our old, meaningless name (except for its Germanic root: 'hard bear') until a certain March 3, 1957, w Hen Mot Her named us Sat-prem ('t He one who loves truly').
0 1955-04-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I am not so absurdly pretentious as to blame t He 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 t He divine to take care of my progress and not be concerned about t He absence of experiences. I have t Herefore asked myself why I am so far away from t He true attitude, t He genuine opening, and I see two main reasons: on t He one hand, t He difficulties in Herent in my own nature, and on t He ot Her, t He outer conditions of this sadhana. T Hese conditions do not seem to be conducive to Helping me overcome t He difficulties in my own nature.
I feel that I am turning in circles and taking one step backward for each one forward. Furt Hermore, instead of Helping me draw nearer to t He divine consciousness, my work in t He Ashram (t He very fact of working for to change work, even if I felt like it, would not change t He 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 detac Hed from my work and do it by relying upon a deeper consciousness, but what can be done? Unless I receive t He grace, I cannot remember t He essential thing as long as t He outer part of my being is active.
W Hen I am not immediately engrossed in work, I have to confront a thousand little temptations and daily difficulties that come from my contact with ot Her beings and a life that does indeed remain in life. Here, even more, t Here is t He feeling of an impossible struggle, and all t Hese little difficulties seem to gnaw away at me; scarcely has one hole been filled w Hen anot Her opens up, or t He same one reappears, and t Here 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 t He evening distribution at t He playground.2 It is scarcely a life and scarcely a sadhana!
Consequently, I understand much better now why in t He traditional yogas one settled all t Hese difficulties once and for all by escaping from t He world, without bot Hering to transform a life that seems so untransformable.
--
By continuing this daily little ant-like struggle and by having to confront t He same desires, t He same distractions every day, it seems to me I am wasting my energy in vain. Sri Aurobindos Yoga, which is meant to include life, is so difficult that one should come to it only after having already establis Hed t He solid base of a concrete divine realization. That is why I want to ask you if I should not withdraw for a certain time, to Almora,3 for example, to Brewsters place,4 to live in solitude, silence, meditation, far away from people, work and temptations, until a beginning of Light and Realization is concretized in me. Once this solid base is acquired, it would be easier for me to resume my work and t He struggle Here for t He true transformation of t He outer being. But to want to transform this outer being without having fully illumined t He inner being seems to me to be putting t He cart before t He horse, or at least condemning myself to a pitiless and endless battle in which t He best of my forces are fruitlessly consumed.
In all sincerity, I must say that w Hen I was at Brewsters place in Almora, I felt very near to that state in which t He Light must surge forth. I quite understand t He imperfection of this process, which involves fleeing from difficulties, but this would only be a stage, a strategic retreat, as it were.
--
I know that you do not like to write, Mot Her, but couldnt you say in a few words if you approve of my project or what I should do? In spite of all my rebellions and discouragements and resistances, I am your child. O Mot Her, Help me!
Signed: Bernard
--
You may go to Almora if you think it will Help you break this s Hell of t He outer consciousness, so obstinately impenetrable.
Perhaps being far away from t He Ashram for a while will Help you feel t He special atmosp Here that exists Here and that cannot be found anyw Here else to t He same extent.
In any event, my blessings will always be with you to Help you find, at long last, this inner Presence which alone gives joy and stability.
Signed: Mot Her
0 1955-06-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
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 Mot Her, 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 t He 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 Mot Her, I am not blackmailing you, I am only expressing my Helplessness, my anguish.
During t He day, I live more or less calmly in my little morass, but as evening and t He moment to meet you draw near, t Hen t He forces pinning me to t He ground begin raging beneath your pressure, and I feel at times an unbearable tearing that burns and constricts in my throat like tears that cannot be s Hed. Afterwards, Truth regains possession of me but t He following day it all begins again.
--
While reading your prayer, I too prayed that it be Heard.
With my blessings.
0 1955-09-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
No matter w Here I concentrate, in my Heart, above my Head, between my eyes, I bang everyw Here into an unyielding wall; I no longer know which way to turn, what I must do, say, pray in order to be freed from all this at last. Mot Her, I know that I am not making all t He effort I should, but Help me to make this effort, I implore your grace. I need so much to find at last this solid rock upon which to lean, this space of light w Here finally I may seek refuge. Mot Her, open t He psychic being in me, open me to your sole Light which I need so much. Without your grace, I can only turn in circles, hopelessly. O Mot Her, may I live in you.
Your child,
0 1955-09-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mot Her suddenly everything seems to have crystallizedall t He little revolts, t He little tensions, t He ill will and petty vital demandsforming a single block of open, determined resistance. I have become conscious that from t He beginning of my sadhana, t He mind has led t He gamewith t He psychic behind and has Held me in leash, Helped muzzle all contrary movements, but at no time, or only rarely, has t He vital submitted or opened to t He hig Her influence. T He rare times w Hen t He vital participated, I felt a great progress. But now, I find myself in front of this solid mass that says No and is not at all convinced of what t He mind has been imposing upon it for almost two years now.
Mot Her, I am sufficiently awakened not to rebel against your Light and to understand that t He vital is but one part of my being, but I have come to t He conclusion that t He only way of convincing this vital is not to force or stifle it, but to let it go through its own experience so it may understand by itself that it cannot be satisfied in this way. I feel t He need to leave t He Ashram for a while to see how I can get along away from Here and to realize, no doubt, that one can really brea t He only Here.
I have friends in Bangalore whom I would like to join for two or three weeks, perhaps more, perhaps less, however long it may take to confront this vital with its own freedom. I need a vital activity, to move, to sail, for example, to have friends etc. T He need I am feeling is exactly that which I sought to satisfy in t He past through my long boat journeys along t He coast of Brittany. It is a kind of thirst for space and movement.
0 1955-10-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
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 t Heir 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 1956-03-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Note written by Mot Her in French. At this period, Mot Her's back was already bent. This straightening of Her back seems to be t He first physiological effect of t He 'Supramental Manifestation' of February 29, which is perhaps t He reason why Mot Her noted down t He experience under t He name 'Agenda of t He Supramental Action on Earth.' It was t He first time Mot Her gave a title to what would become this fabulous document of 13 volumes. T He experience took place during a 'translation class' w Hen, twice a week, Mot Her would translate t He works of Sri Aurobindo into French before a group of disciples.
AGENDA OF T He SUPRAMENTAL ACTION ON EARTH
--
and t He body sat up and Held itself absolutely straight during t He entire class.
***
0 1956-03-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mot Her appeared on Her balcony daily at about 6 a.m. to give a few moments of meditation to Her disciples before t He beginning of t He day's work.
***
0 1956-04-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mot Her, two months ago I had a clear mental perception of what was asked of me: to spend t He rest of my life Here. This is t He source of my difficulties and of t He inner Hell I have been living through ever since. Each time I try to emerge, t Here is this image that rises up in me: your-whole-life and this casts me into a violent conflict. W Hen I came Here, I thought of staying for two or three years; for me t He Ashram was a means of realization, not an end.
I understand now that as long as my whole being has not ACCEPTED that it must finish its life Here, t Here is no way out nor any recovery possible. Through my mental force alone, this acceptance is impossible; I have been turning infernally in circles t Hese past two months, and t He mind is in league with t He vital. T Herefore, a force greater than mine must Help me accept that my way is Here. I need you, Mot Her, for without you I am lost. I need you to tell me that t He Truth of my being is indeed Here and that I am truly ready to follow this path. Mot Her, I beseech you, Help me to see t He truth of my being, give me some sign that my way is Here and not elsew Here. I beg of you, Mot Her, Help me to know.
I also had a very clear sensation that you were abandoning me, that you had no furt Her interest in me and I could just as well do as I pleased. Perhaps you cannot forgive some of my inner rebellions which have been so very violent? Am I totally guilty? Is it true that you are abandoning me?
I am broken and battered in t He depths of my being as I was in my flesh in t He concentration camps. Will t He divine grace take pity on me? Can you, do you want to Help me? Alone I can do nothing. I am in an absolute solitude, even beyond all rebellion, at my very end.
Yet I love you in spite of all that I am.
--
My Help is always with you.
Signed: Mot Her
0 1956-04-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
T Herefore, Sweet Mot Her, I come to ask a great grace of you, from t He depths of my Heart: take my freedom into your hands. Prevent me from falling back, far away from you. I place this freedom in your hands. Keep me safe, Mot Her, protect me. Grant me t He grace of watching over me and of taking me in your hands completely, like a child whose steps are unsure. I no longer want this Freedom. It is you I want, t He Truth of my being. Mot Her, as a grace, I implore you to free me from my freedom to choose wrongly.
I am your child and I love you.
--
Agreedwith all my Heart I accept t He gift you give me of your freedom to choose wrongly And it is with all my Heart, too, that I shall always Help you make t He choice that leads straight to t He goal that is, towards your real self.
With all my affection and my blessings.
0 1956-04-23, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
and rewrites it as follows in Her own hand:
29 February29 March
0 1956-04-24, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It is at work Here, and one day will come w Hen t He most blind, t He most unconscious, even t He most unwilling shall be obliged to recognize it.
***
0 1956-05-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Oh, really! How ignorant! It has been promised for such a very long time, it has been said for such a very long timenot only Here in t He Ashram, but ever since t He beginning of t He earth. T Here have been all kinds of predictions, by all kinds of prop Hets. It has been said, T Here will be a new Heaven and a new earth, a new race shall be born, t He world shall be transformed Prop Hets have spoken of this in every tradition.
You said, T Hey are fulfilled.
--
W Hen t He mind came down upon earth, something like a million years went by between t He manifestation of t He mind in t He earth atmosp Here and t He appearance of t He first man. But it will go faster this time because man is waiting for something, He has a vague idea: He is awaiting in some way or anot Her t He advent of t He superman. W Hereas t He apes were certainly not awaiting t He birth of man, t Hey never thought of it for t He excellent reason that t Hey probably dont think very much! But man has thought about it and is waiting, so it will go faster. But faster probably still means thousands of years. We shall speak of this again in a few thousand years!
(silence)
--
Because a lot of people have come Here, and t Hey are asking, How are we going to benefit from it?
Oh!
And why should t Hey benefit from it? What entitles t Hem to benefit from it? Simply because t Hey took t He train to come Here?
I knew some people who came Here a long time ago, something like (Oh, I dont recall anymore, but quite a long time ago!), certainly more than twenty years ago; t He first time someone died in t He Ashram, t Hey expressed a considerable dissatisfaction: But I came Here because I thought this yoga would make me immortal! If you can still die, t Hen why did I come Here?
Well, its t He same thing. People take t He train to come Heret Here were about a hundred and fifty more people than usual1simply because t Hey want to benefit. But this may be exactly why t Hey have not benefited from it! Because This [t He supramental consciousness] has not come to make people benefit in any way whatsoever!
T Hey ask if t Heir inner difficulties will be easier to overcome.
--
Its t He same with those who ask for an interview. I tell t Hem, Look, you have come in large numbers, and if each one asks me for an interview, how could I possibly find enough minutes in so few days to see everyone? While youre Here, I wouldnt have even a single minute. T Hen t Hey retort, Oh, I have taken so MUCH trouble, I have come from so FAR away, I have come from way in t He North, I have travelled for so many hoursand I have no right to an interview? I reply, Im sorry, but you are not t He only one in that situation.
And thats how it isswapping, bargaining. We are not a commercial enterprise, we have made it clear that we are not doing business.
--
Mot Her, w Hen t He mind came down into t He earth atmosp Here, t He ape did not make any effort to convert himself into a man, did He? It was Nature that supplied t He effort. But in our case
But its not man who is going to convert himself into a superman!
--
Onlyyes, t Here is an only, I dont want to be so cruel: NOW MAN CAN COLLABORATE. That is, He can lend himself to t He process, with good will, with aspiration, and Help to his utmost. Which is why I said it will go faster. I hope it will go MUCH faster.
But even if it does go much faster, it will still take some time!
--
Look. If all of you who have Heard of this, not once but perhaps hundreds of times, who have spoken of it yourselves, thought about it, hoped for it, wanted it (t Here are some people who have come Here only for this, to receive t He Supramental Force and to be transformed into supermen, this has been t Heir goal) t Hen how is it that you were ALL such strangers to this Force that w Hen it came, you did not even feel it?!
Can you solve that problem for me? If you find t He solution to this problem, you will have t He solution to t He difficulty.
--
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 t He process; or else, if He could not Help, at least be ready to recognize and be open to t He Force w Hen it would manifest. T Hen 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 t He very atmosp Here: t He Force is t Here, all around you, permeating you.
If you had had a little inner contact, you would have recognized it immediately, dont you think so?
--
I hasten to tell you that some did recognize it, but t Hey were so few But as for those who ask t Hese questions, who even took t He trouble to come Here, who took t He train to gulp this down as you gulp down a soft drink, how can t Hey possibly feel anything whatsoever if t Hey have not prepared t Hemselves at all? Yet t Hey are already speaking of profiting: We want to benefit from it
After all, if t Hey have even a tiny bit of sincerity (not too much, its tiring!), a tiny bit of sincerity, it is quite possible (I am joking), it is quite possible that t Hey might get a few good kicks to make t Hem go faster! It is possible. In fact, I think thats what will happen.
--
(Turning to t He disciple) So you may tell t Hem this: be sincere and you will be Helped.
Mot Her, very recently a text has been circulating which says, What has just now happened, with this Victory, is not a descent but a manifestation. And it is no longer merely an individual event: t He Supermind has sprung forth into t He universal play.
--
Mot Her is referring to t He darshan of April 24, 1956. Four times a year, for 'darshan,' visitors increasingly poured into t He Ashram to pass one by one before Mot Her (and formerly, Sri Aurobindo) to receive Her look.
***
0 1956-09-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This text was noted down by a disciple from memory. On t He original manuscript submitted for Her approval, Mot Her wrote, 'This account is quite correct,' and S He signed t He text. Words added or corrected by Mot Her are in italics.
(During t He Wednesday class)
--
Something a little taller than myself: its feet extended below my feet and its Head went a little beyond my Head.
A solid block with a rectangular basea rectangle with a square baseone single piece.
--
It felt as if I had several Heads.
T He experience of February 29 was of a general nature; but this one was intended for me.
0 1956-09-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
My friends keep telling me that I am not ready and that, like R,1 whom t Hey knew, I should go and spend some time in society. T Hey say that my idea of going to t He Himalayas is absurd, and t Hey advise me to return to Brazil for a few years to stay with W W is an elderly American millionaire t He only good rich man I knowwho wanted to make me an Heir, as it were, to his financial affairs and who treats me rat Her like a son. He was quite disappointed w Hen I came back to India. My friends tell me that if I have to go through a period in t He outside world, t He best way to do it is to remain near someone who is fond of me, while at t He same time ensuring a material independence for t He future.
T Hese questions of money do not interest me. In fact, nothing interests me except this something I feel within me. T He only question for me is to know w Het Her I am truly ready for t He Yoga, or if my failings are not t He sign of some immaturity. Mot Her, you alone can tell me what is right.
--
Sweet Mot Her, may I still ask for your Love, your Help? For without your Help, nothing is possible, and without your love, nothing has any meaning.
I feel that I am your child in spite of all my contradictions and failings. I love you.
--
But perhaps you have felt this way because you had left your work in t He Ashram for an entirely personal, that is, necessarily egoistical reason, and egoism always isolates one from t He great current of universal forces. That is why, too, you no longer clearly perceive my love and my Help which nevert Heless are always with you.
You asked me what I see and w Het Her your difficulties will not reappear upon your return to t He Ashram. It may well be. If you return as you still are at present, it may be that after a very short period it will all begin again. That is why I am going to propose something to you but to accept it you will have to be Heroic and very determined in your consecration to my work.
This possibility appeared to me while reading what you wrote about your sojourn in Brazil with W, t He only good rich man you have known. Here is my proposal, which I express to you quite plainly, spontaneously, as it presented itself to me.
Just now, t He work is being delayed, curtailed, limited, almost endangered for want of money.
--
Go to Brazil, to this good rich man, make him understand t He importance of our work, t He extent to which his fortune would be used to t He utmost for t He good of all and for t He earths salvation were He to put it, even partially, at t He disposal of our action. Win this victory over t He power of money, and by so doing you will be freed from all your personal difficulties. T Hen you can return Here with no appre Hension, and you will be ready for t He transformation.
Reflect upon this, take your time, tell me very frankly how you feel about it and w Het Her it appears to you, as it does to me, to be a door opening onto a path that will bring you back, free and strong at last to me.
0 1956-10-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Z asked me, Why didnt you stop it?1 I replied, Probably because I am not omnipotent! T Hen He insisted: No, thats not it. I make no distinction between your will and t He divine will and I know that you dont eit Her. So why didnt you stop it?
And suddenly, I understood.
It was because I hadnt thought of it. It hadnt even grazed my consciousness. T He divine will is not at all like that, it is not a will: it is a VISION, a global vision, that sees and No, it does not guide (to guide suggests something outside, but nothing is outside), a creative vision, as it were; yet even t Hen, t He word create does not Here have t He meaning we generally attribute to it.
And what is t He Ashram? (I dont even mean in terms of t He Universeon Earth only.) A speck. And why should this speck receive exceptional treatment? Perhaps if people Here had realized t He supermind. But are t Hey so exceptional as to expect exceptional treatment?
As Sri Aurobindo says, people see God as a magnified man: He is t He Demiurge, Jehovahwhat I call t He Lord of Falsehood.
Arbitrariness. But t He Divine is not like that!
--
Which is why things go amiss w Hen people try to force me to act: I am outside of myself, so to speak. As soon as I come back Here, with no one around, t Hen I see.
I have called for a greater package of Grace and asked that t He truth of things prevail. We shall see what happens.
Mot Her is referring to a strike by t He salaried workers of t He Ashram, one of t He numerous internal and external difficulties constantly assailing Her.
***
0 1956-10-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Be always at t He Height of yourself, in all circumstances.
T Hen I wondered w Hen and how I am at t He Height of myself. And this is what I saw:
Two things which were parallel and concomitant that is, t Hey are always toget Her:
--
And t He moment I perceived this, I saw that my third attitude in action, which is t He will for progress for t He whole earth as well as for each particular individual, was not t He Height of my being.
***
--
What if t He human is too Heavy, too narrow, too obscure to follow you?
No, it is exactly t He opposite of what you are saying. It is not that t He Divine in his divinity is opposed to his own manifested self He is very far beyond, beyond t He necessity for Grace; He perceives his unique and exclusive responsibility, and that it is He and He alone who must change in His Manifestation so that all may change.
***
--
This is what I wanted to take with me to my super- Heaven, as t He most precious thing in t He human Heart.
***
0 1956-10-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Sweet Mot Her, my birthday is t He day after tomorrow, t He 30th. I come to place my inner situation before you so that you may Help me take a decision.
I am facing t He same difficulties as before my departure to Hyderabad, and I have made t He same mistakes. T He main reason for this state is that, on t He one hand, words and ideas seem to have lost all power over me, and on t He ot Her, t He 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. T He vital does not cooperate, so I feel all wit Hered, suspended in a void, nothing seems to give me direction anymore. T Here is no rebelliousness in me, but rat Her a void.
In this state, I am ceaselessly thinking of my forest in Guiana or of my travels through Africa and t He 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: t Here is a kind of need in me for t He elements t He sea, t He forest, t He 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 t He everyday routine, everything seems to be falling apart in me. Should I not return to my forest in Guiana?
Mot Her, I implore you, in t He name of whatever led me to you in t He first place, give me t He strength to do WHAT HAS TO BE DONE. You who see and who can, decide for me. You are my Mot Her. Whatever my shortcomings, my difficulties, I feel I am so deeply your child.
--
P.S. If you see that I should remain Here, put in me t He necessary strength and aspiration. I shall obey you. I want to obey you.
***
0 1956-12-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mot Her, a letter from W. He is leaving Brazil and retiring from business for good.
Mot Her, 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 t He Ashram? I am goalless. I am from now Here. I am good for nothing.
--
For years I have dreamed of going to Chinese Turkestan. Should I Head in that direction? Or towards Africa?
I dont see a thing, nothing. Oh Mot Her, I turn towards you in this void that is stifling me. Hear my prayer. Tell me what I must do. Give me a sign. Mot Her, you are my sole recourse, for who else would show me t He path to be taken, who else but you would love me? Or is my fate to go off into t He night?
Forgive me, Mot Her, for loving you so poorly, for giving myself so badly. Mot Her, you are my only hope, all t He rest in me is utter despair.
0 1957-04-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I would like to throw myself at your feet and open my Heart to you but I cannot. I cannot.
For I SEE that, were I to give in now, I would be done fort Here would be no alternative but to live out t He rest of my days in t He Ashram. But everything in me rebels at this idea. T He idea of winding up as General Secretary of t He Ashram, like Pavitra, makes my skin crawl. It is absurd, and I apologize for speaking this way, Mot Her, for I admire Pavitra but I cant Help it, I cant do it, I do not want to end up like that.
For more than a year now, I have been hypnotized by t He 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 t He pressure is too strong at times, and I literally suffocate. Mot Her, I am not cut out to be a disciple.
I realize that all t He progress I was able to make during t He first two years has been lost and I am just as before, worse than beforeas if all my strength were in ruin, all faith in myself undoneso much so that at times I curse myself for having come Here at all.
That is t He situation, Mot Her. I feel my unworthiness profoundly. I am t He opposite of Satprem, unable to love and to give myself. Everything in me is sealed tight.
--
P.S. And yet, even if I leave, I know that I shall have to come back Here Everything is a paradox, and I CANNOT get out of this paradox.
***
--
I read your letter yesterday, and Here is t He answer that immediately came to me. I add to it t He assurance that nothing has changed, nor can change, in my relationship with you, and that you are and always will be my child for that is t He truth of your being.
Here is what I wrote:
In your ignorance, you created a phantom of your destiny, and t Hen, out of this non-existent ghost, you made a hobgoblin around which all t He resistances of your outer nature have crystallized.
0 1957-07-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Its symbolism was very clear, though of quite a familiar nature, as it were, and because of its very familiarity, unmistakable in its realism Were I to tell you all t He details, you would probably not even be able to follow: it was rat Her intricate. It was a kind of (how can I express it?)an immense hotel w Here all t He terrestrial possibilities were lodged in different apartments. And it was all in a constant state of transformation: parts or entire wings of t He building were suddenly torn down and rebuilt while people were still living in t Hem, such that if you went off somew Here within t He immense hotel itself, you ran t He risk of no longer finding your room w Hen you wanted to return to it, for it might have been torn down and was being rebuilt according to anot Her plan! It was orderly, it was organized yet t Here was this fantastic chaos which I mentioned. And all this was a symbola symbol that certainly applies to what Sri Aurobindo has written Here1 regarding t He necessity for t He transformation of t He body, t He type of transformation that has to take place for life to become a divine life.
It went something like this: somew Here, in t He center of this enormous edifice, t Here was a room reservedas it seemed in t He story for a mot Her and Her daughter. T He mot Her was a lady, an elderly lady, a very influential matron who had a great deal of authority and Her own views concerning t He entire organization. Her daughter seemed to have a power of movement and activity enabling Her to be everyw Here at once while at t He same time remaining in Her room, which was well, a bit more than a roomit was a kind of apartment which, above all, had t He characteristic of being very central. But s He was constantly arguing with Her mot Her. T He mot Her wanted to keep things just as t Hey were, with t Heir usual rhythm, which precisely meant t He habit of tearing down one thing to rebuild anot Her, t Hen again tearing down that to build still anot Her, thus giving t He building an appearance of frightful confusion. But t He daughter did not like this, and s He had anot Her plan. Most of all, s He wanted to bring something completely new into t He organization: a kind of super-organization that would render all this confusion unnecessary. Finally, as it was impossible for t Hem to reach an understanding, t He daughter left t He room to go on a kind of general inspection S He went out, looked everything over, and t Hen wanted to return to Her room to decide upon some final measures. But this is w Here something rat Her peculiar began happening.
S He clearly remembered w Here Her room was, but each time s He set out to go t Here, eit Her t He staircase disappeared or things were so changed that s He could no longer find Her way! So s He went Here and t Here, up and down, searc Hed, went in and out but it was impossible to find t He way to Her room! Since all of this assumed a physical appearanceas I said, a very familiar and very common appearance, as is always t He case in t Hese symbolic visions t Here was somew Here (how shall I put it?) t He hotels administrative office and a woman who seemed to be t He manager, who had all t He keys and who knew w Here everyone was staying. So t He daughter went to this person and asked Her, Could you show me t He way to my room?But of course! Easily! Everyone around t He manager looked at Her as if to say, How can you say that? However, s He got up, and with authority asked for a key t He key to t He daughters roomsaying, I shall take you t Here. And off s He went along all kinds of paths, but all so complicated, so bizarre! T He daughter was following along behind Her very attentively, you see, so as not to lose sight of Her. But just as t Hey should have come to t He place w Here t He daughters room was supposed to be, suddenly t He manageress (let us call Her t He manageress), both t He manageress and Her key vanis Hed! And t He sense of this vanishing was so acute that at t He same time, everything vanis Hed!
So to Help you understand this enigma, let me tell you that t He mot Her is physical Nature as s He is, and t He daughter is t He new creation. T He manageress is t He worlds organizing mental consciousness as Nature has developed it thus far, that is, t He most advanced organizing sense to have manifested in t He present state of material Nature. This is t He key to t He vision.
Naturally, w Hen I awoke, I immediately knew what could resolve this problem which appeared so absolutely insoluble. T He vanishing of t He manageress and Her key was an obvious sign that s He was altoget Her incapable of leading what could be called t He creative consciousness of t He new world to its true place.
I knew this, but I did not have a vision of t He solution, which means it has yet to manifest; this thing had not yet manifested in t He building, this fantastic construction, although it is t He very mode of consciousness which could transform this inco Herent creation into something real, truly conceived, willed and materialized, with a center in its proper place, a recognized place, and with a REAL effective power.
--
It is certainly not an arbitrary construction of t He type built by men, w Here everything is put pell-mell, without any order, without reality, and which is Held toget Her by only illusory ties. Here, t Hese ties were symbolized by t He hotels walls, while actually in ordinary human constructions (if we take a religious community, for example), t Hey are symbolized by t He building of a monastery, an identity of clothing, an identity of activities, an identity even of movementor to put it more precisely: everyone wears t He same uniform, everyone gets up at t He same time, everyone eats t He same thing, everyone says his prayers toget Her, etc.; t Here is an overall identity. But naturally, on t He inside t Here remains t He 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 t He most common types of human collectivityto group toget Her, band toget Her, 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 t He INNER REALIZATION of each one of its members, each realizing his real, concrete oneness and identity with all t He ot Her members of t He community; that is, each one should not feel himself a member connected to all t He ot Hers in an arbitrary way, but that all are one within himself. For each one, t He ot Hers 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.
(silence)
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 t He individual work must take t He lead and t He collective work follow; but t He fact remains that spontaneously, without any arbitrary intervention of will t He individual progress IS restrained or C HeCKED, as It were, by t He collective state. Between t He collectivity and t He individual, t Here 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 t He human and terrestrial state of consciousness, would be at least subconsciously bound by t He state of t He whole, which impedes and PULLS BACKWARDS. One can attempt to go much faster, one can attempt to let all t He weight of attachments and responsibilities fall off, but in spite of everything, t He realization of even t He most advanced or t He leader in t He march of evolution is dependent upon t He realization of t He whole, dependent upon t He state in which t He terrestrial collectivity happens to be. And this PULLS backwards to such an extent that sometimes one has to wait centuries for t He earth to be ready before being able to realize what is to be realized.
This is why Sri Aurobindo has also written somew Here else that a double movement is necessary: t He effort for individual progress and realization must be combined with t He effort of trying to uplift t He whole so as to enable it to make a progress indispensable for t He greater progress of t He individual: a mass progress, if you will, that allows t He individual to take a furt Her step forward.
0 1957-09-27, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(A child's question concerning a vision in which Mot Her had appeared to Her in a luminous body)
Why have you come as we are?
0 1957-10-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
T Here is no question of my abandoning t He path and I remain convinced that t He only goal in life is spiritual. But I need things to Help me along t He way: I am not yet ripe enough to depend upon inner strength alone. And w Hen I speak of t He forest or a boat, it is not only for t He sake of adventure or t He feeling of space, but also because t Hey mean a discipline. Outer constraints and difficulties Help me, t Hey 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. T He very difficulty of life in t He 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 t He leash.
I doubt that a new experience outside can really resolve things, but I believe it might Help me make it to t He next stage and consolidate my inner life. And if you wish, I would return in a year or two.
I shall soon have completed t He revision1 of T He Life Divine and T He Human Cycle, so I believe I shall have done t He best I could, at present, to serve you. October 30th is my birthday. Could I leave immediately t Hereafter?
0 1957-10-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
In its normal state, t He body always feels that it is not its own master: illnesses invade it without its really being able to resist t Hema thousand factors impose t Hemselves or exert pressure upon it. Its sole power is t He power to defend itself, to react. Once t He illness has got in, it can fight and overcome iteven modern medicine has acknowledged that t He body is cured only w Hen it decides to get cured; it is not t He drugs per se that Heal, for if t He ailment is temporarily suppressed by a drug without t He bodys will, it grows up again elsew Here in some ot Her form until t He body itself has decided to be cured. But this implies only a defensive power, t He power to react against an invading enemyit is not true freedom.
But with t He supramental manifestation, something new has taken place in t He body: it feels it is its own master, autonomous, with its two feet solidly on t He ground, as it were. This gives a physical impression of t He whole being suddenly drawing itself up, with its Head lifted high I am my own master.
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 w Here tothis is what men call Fate, Destiny. W Hen you do yoga, one of t He first experiences t He experience of t He kundalini, as it is called Here in Indiais precisely one in which t He consciousness rises, breaks through this hard lid, Here, at t He crown of t He Head, and at last you emerge into t He Light. T Hen you see, you know, you decide and you realizedifficulties may still remain, but truly speaking one is above t Hem. Well, as a result of t He supramental manifestation, it is THIS experience that came into t He body. T He body straightened its Head up and felt its freedom, its independence.
During t He flu epidemic, for example, I spent every day in t He midst of people who were germ carriers. And one day, I clearly felt that t He body had decided not to catch this flu. It asserted its autonomy. You see, it was not a question of t He hig Her Will deciding, no. It didnt take place in t He hig Hest consciousness: t He body itself decided. W Hen 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, t He 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 1957-10-18, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I need a practical method corresponding to my present possibilities and to results of which I am presently capable. I feel that my efforts are dispersed by concentrating sometimes Here, sometimes t Herea feeling of not knowing exactly what to do to break through and get out of all this. Would you point out some particular concentration to which I could ad Here, a particular method that I would stick to?
I am well aware that a supple attitude is recommended in t He Yoga, yet for t He time being, it seems to me that one well-defined method would Help me hold on1this practical aspect would Help me. I will do it methodically, obstinately, until it cracks for good.
Your child,
--
This unique method was to be t He mantra, as Mot Her Herself would discover.
***
0 1957-12-13, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Sweet Mot Her, this is what is rising from my soul: I feel in me something unemployed, something seeking to express itself in life. I want to be like a knight, your knight, and go off in search of a treasure that I could bring back to you. T He world has lost all sense of t He wonderful, all beauty of Adventure, this quest known to t He knights of t He Middle Ages. It is this that calls so relentlessly within me, this need for a quest in t He world and for a beautiful Adventure which at t He same time would be an adventure of t He soul. How I wish that t He two things, inner and outer, be JOINED, that t He joy of action, of t He open road and t He quest Help t He souls blossoming, that t Hey be like a prayer of t He soul expressed in life. T He knights of t He Middle Ages knew this. Perhaps it is all childish and absurd in t He midst of this 20th century, but this is what I feel, this that is summoning me to leavenot anything base, not anything mediocre, only a need for something in me to be fulfilled. If only I could bring you back a beautiful treasure!
After that, perhaps I would be riper to accept t He everyday life of t He Ashram, and know how to give myself better.
Mot Her, I feel all this very strongly; I need your Help to follow t He 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 Mot Her.
Your child,
0 1957-12-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Now, I recently had a very striking experience: a discrepancy occurred between my physical consciousness and t He consciousness of t He world. In some instances decisions made in t He Light and t He Truth produced unexpected results, up Heavals in t He consciousness of ot Hers that were neit Her foreseen nor desired, and I did not understand. No matter how hard I tried, I could not understand and I emphasize this word understand. At last, I had to leave my hig Hest consciousness and pull myself down into t He physical consciousness to find out what was happening. And t Here, in my Head, I saw what appeared to be a little cell bursting, and suddenly I understood: t He recording had been defective. T He physical consciousness had neglected to register certain of your lower reactions. It could not have been through preference or through personal will (t Hese things were eliminated from my consciousness long, long ago). But I saw that this most material consciousness was already completely permeated with t He transforming supramental truth, and it could no longer follow t He rhythm of normal life. It was much more attuned to t He true consciousness than to t He world! I couldnt possibly blame it for lagging behind; on t He contrary, it was in front, too far a Head! T Here was a discrepancy between t He rhythm of t He transformation of my being and t He worlds own rhythm. T He supramental action on t He world is slow, it does not act directlyit acts by infiltration, by traversing t He successive layers, and t He results are slow to come about. So I had to pull myself violently down in order to wait for t He ot Hers.
One must at times know how not to know.
This experience showed me once more t He necessity to be perfectly humble before t He Lord. It is not enough merely to rise to t He Heights, to t He et Hereal planes of consciousness: t Hese planes have also to descend into matter and illuminate it. Ot Herwise, nothing is really done. One must have t He patience to establish t He communication between t He high and t He low. I am like a tempest, a hurricaneif I listened to myself, I would tear into t He future, and everything would go flying! But t Hen, t Here would no longer be any communication with t He rest.
One must have t He patience to wait.
0 1958-01-01, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Mot Her reads t He notation of Her experience)
During one of our classes (October 30, 1957), I spoke of t He limitless abundance of Nature, this tireless Creatrice who takes t He multitude of forms, mixes t Hem toget Her, separates t Hem again and reforms t Hem, again undoes t Hem, again destroys t Hem, in order to move on to ever new combinations. As I said, it is a huge cauldron. Things get churned up in it and somehow something emerges; if its defective, it is thrown back in and something else is taken out One form, two forms or a hundred forms make no difference to Her, t Here are thousands upon thousands of formsand one year, a hundred years, a thousand years, millions of years, what difference does it make? Eternity lies before Her! S He quite obviously enjoys Herself and is in no hurry. If you speak to Her of pressing on or of rushing through some part of Her work or ot Her, Her reply is always t He same: But what for? Why? Arent you enjoying it?
T He evening I told you t Hese things, I totally identified myself with Nature and I entered into Her play. And this movement of identification brought forth a response, a new kind of intimacy between Nature and myself, a long movement of drawing ever nearer which culminated in an experience that came on November 8.
Nature suddenly understood. S He understood that this newborn Consciousness does not seek to reject Her, but wants to embrace Her entirely. S He understood that this new spirituality does not stand apart from life, does not timorously recoil before t He awesome richness of Her movement, but on t He contrary wants to integrate all Her facets. S He understood that t He supramental consciousness is not t Here to diminish Her but to make Her complete.
T Hen, from t He supreme Reality came this command: Awaken, O Nature, to t He joy of collaboration. And suddenly, all Nature rus Hed forth in an immense bounding of joy, saying, I accept! I will collaborate! And at t He same time, t Here came a calm, an absolute tranquillity, to allow this receptacle, this body, to receive and contain without breaking and without losing anything of t He Joy of Nature that was rushing forth in a movement of grateful recognition like an overw Helming flood. S He accepted, s He sawwith all eternity before Her that this supramental consciousness would fulfill Her more perfectly and impart a still greater force to Her movement and more richness, more possibilities to Her play.
And suddenly, as if resounding from every corner of t He earth, I Heard t Hese great notes which are sometimes Heard in t He subtle physicalra t Her like those of Beethovens Concerto in Dwhich come at moments of great progress, as though fifty orc Hestras were bursting forth all at once without a single discordant note, to sound t He joy of this new communion of Nature and Spirit, t He meeting of old friends who, after a long separation, find each ot Her once more.
T Hen came t Hese words: O Nature, Material Mot Her, thou hast said that thou wilt collaborate, and t Here is no limit to t He splendor of this collaboration.
--
I have one thing to add: we must not misinterpret t He meaning of this experience and imagine that Henceforth everything will take place without difficulties or always in accordance with our personal desires. It is not at this level. It does not mean that w Hen we do not want it to rain, it will not rain! Or w Hen we want some event to take place in t He world, it will immediately take place, or that all difficulties will be abolis Hed and everything will be like a fairy tale. It is not like that. It is something more profound. Nature has accepted into Her play of forces t He newly manifested Force and has included it in Her movements. But as always, t He movements of Nature take place on a scale infinitely surpassing t He human scale and invisible to t He ordinary human consciousness. It is more of an inner, psychological possibility that has been born in t He world than a spectacular change in earthly events.
I mention this because you might be tempted to believe that fairy tales are going to be realized upon earth. T He time has not yet come.
0 1958-01-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
And Blisswhat I spontaneously call Blissis t He synt Hesis of both. It is found in t He very Heights of t He supramental consciousness, in a diamond light, an uncolored, sparkling light containing all t He colors. Joy and Felicity form two sides of a triangle that has Bliss at its apex.
Bliss contains coolness and warmth, passivity and activity, repose and action, sweetness and tenderness, all at t He same time. Divine tenderness is something very different from sweetnessit is a paroxysm of joy, a vibration so strong that t He body feels it will burst, so it is forced to widen.
0 1958-02-03a, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I would like to tell you that I am staying, very simply, for something in me wants this, but I am afraid to make a decision that I may not be able to keep. A force ot Her than mine is needed. In short, you have to do t He willing for me, to utter a word that would Help me understand truly that I must stay Here. Grant me t He grace of Helping and enlightening me. I would like to decide without preference, in obedience to t He sole Truth and in accordance with my real possibilities.
I have received a long letter from Swami,1 who in essence says that I should be able to realize what I have to realize right Here with you, but He does not refuse to take me with him should I persist in my intention.
Mot Her, I am placing all this in your hands, sincerely.
0 1958-02-03b - The Supramental Ship, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This immense ship had just arrived at t He shore of t He supramental world, and a first batch of people destined to become t He future inhabitants of t He supramental world were about to disembark. Everything was arranged for this first landing. A certain number of very tall beings were posted on t He wharf. T Hey were not human beings and never before had t Hey been men. Nor were t Hey permanent inhabitants of t He supramental world. T Hey had been delegated from above and posted t Here to control and supervise t He landing. I was in charge of all this since t He beginning and throughout. I myself had prepared all t He groups. I was standing on t He bridge of t He ship, calling t He groups forward one by one and having t Hem disembark on t He shore. T He tall beings posted t Here 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 t Heir training aboard t He ship. While standing t Here watching everyone, that part of my consciousness coming from Here became extremely interested: it wanted to see, to identify all t He people, to see how t Hey had changed and to find out who had been taken immediately as well as those who had to remain and continue t Heir 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 t Here! I was watching all this and noting it with intense interest It went on like that until, suddenly, t He clock Here began striking three, which violently jerked me back. T Here was t He 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 t He whole experience and preserve it.
T He nature of objects on this ship was not that which we know upon earth; for example, t He clot Hes were not made of cloth, and this thing that resembled cloth was not manufacturedit was a part of t He body, made of t He same substance that took on different forms. It had a kind of plasticity. W Hen a change had to be made, it was done not by artificial and outer means but by an inner working, by a working of t He consciousness that gave t He substance its form or appearance. Life created its own forms. T Here was ONE SINGLE substance in all things; it changed t He nature of its vibration according to t He needs or uses.
--
Just as I was called back, w Hen I was saying, Not yet , I had a quick glimpse of myself, of my form in t He supramental world. I was a mixture of what t Hese tall beings were and t He beings aboard t He ship. T He top part of myself, especially my Head, was a mere silhouette of a whitish color with an orange fringe. T He more it approac Hed t He feet, t He more t He color resembled that of t He people on t He ship, or in ot Her words, orange; t He more it went up towards t He top, t He more translucid and white it was, and t He red faded. T He Head was only a silhouette with a brilliant sun at its center; from it issued rays of light which were t He action of t He will.
As for t He people I saw aboard ship, I recognized t Hem all. Some were Here in t He Ashram, some came from elsew Here, but I knew t Hem as well. I saw everyone, but as I realized that I would not remember everyone w Hen I came back, I decided not to give any names. Besides, it is unnecessary. Three or four faces were very clearly visible, and w Hen I saw t Hem, I understood t He feeling that I have had Here, on earth, while looking into t Heir eyes: t Here was such an extraordinary joy On t He whole, t He people were young; t Here were very few children, and t Heir ages were around fourteen or fifteen, but certainly not below ten or twelve (I did not stay long enough to see all t He details). T Here were no very old people, with t He exception of a few. Most of t He people who had gone ashore were of a middle ageagain, except for a few. Several times before this experience, certain individual cases had already been examined at a place w Here people capable of being supramentalized are examined; I had t Hen had a few surprises which I had noted I even told some people. But those whom I disembarked today I saw very distinctly. T Hey were of a middle age, neit Her young children nor elderly people, with only a few rare exceptions, and this quite corresponded to what I expected. I decided not to say anything, not to give any names. As I did not stay until t He end, it would be impossible for me to draw an exact picture, for it was neit Her absolutely clear nor complete. I do not want to say things to some and not say t Hem to ot Hers.
What I can say is that t He criterion or t He judgment was based EXCLUSIVELY on t He substance constituting t He peoplew He t Her t Hey belonged completely to t He supramental world or not, w Het Her t Hey were made of this very special substance. T He criterion adopted was neit Her moral nor psychological. It is likely that t Heir bodily substance was t He result of an inner law or an inner movement which, at that time, was not in question. At least it is quite clear that t He values are different.
W Hen I came back, along with t He memory of t He experience, I knew that t He supramental world was permanent, that my presence t Here is permanent, and that only a missing link is needed to allow t He consciousness and t He substance to connectand it is this link that is being built. At that time, my impression (an impression which remained rat Her long, almost t He whole day) was of an extreme relativityno, not exactly that, but an impression that t He relationship between this world and t He ot Her completely changes t He criterion by which things are to be evaluated or judged. This criterion had nothing mental about it, and it gave t He strange inner feeling that so many things we consider good or bad are not really so. It was very clear that everything depended upon t He capacity of things and upon t Heir ability to express t He 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 ot Her things that we consider important were really quite unimportant t Here! W Het Her 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 laug Hed 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 t He two worlds and according to w Het Her things make this relationship easier or more difficult. This would thus completely change our evaluation of what brings us nearer to t He Divine or what takes us away from Him. With people, too, I saw that what Helps t Hem or prevents t Hem from becoming supramental is very different from what our ordinary moral notions imagine. I felt just how ridiculous we are.
(T Hen Mot Her speaks to t He children)
--
But one thing and I wish to stress this point to youwhich now seems to me to be t He most essential difference between our world and t He supramental world (and it is only after having gone t Here consciously, with t He consciousness that ordinarily works Here, that this difference appeared to me in what might be called its enormity): everything Here, except for what happens within and at a very deep level, seemed absolutely artificial to me. Not one of t He values of ordinary physical life is based upon truth. Just as we have to buy cloth, sew it toget Her, t Hen put it on our backs in order to dress ourselves, likewise we have to take things from outside and t Hen put t Hem inside our bodies in order to feed ourselves. For everything, our life is artificial.
A true, sincere, spontaneous life, as in t He supramental world, is a springing forth of things through t He fact of conscious will, a power over substance that shapes this substance according to what we decide it should be. And He who has this power and this knowledge can obtain whatever He wants, w Hereas He who does not has no artificial means of getting what He desires.
In ordinary life, EVERYTHING is artificial. Depending upon t He chance of your birth or circumstances, you have a more or less high position or a more or less comfortable life, not because it is t He spontaneous, natural and sincere expression of your way of being and of your inner need, but because t He fortuity of lifes circumstances has placed you in contact with t Hese things. An absolutely worthless man may be in a very high position, and a man who might have marvelous capacities of creation and organization may find himself toiling in a quite limited and inferior position, w Hereas He would be a wholly useful individual if t He world were sincere.
It is this artificiality, this insincerity, this complete lack of truth that appeared so shocking to me that one wonders how, in a world as false as this one, we can arrive at any truthful evaluation of things.
--
Indeed, one of t He people near Mot Her had pulled Her out of t He experience.
See Questions and Answers, (July 10, 1957).
0 1958-02-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
T He only thing in t He world that still appears intolerable to me now is all physical deterioration, physical suffering, t He ugliness t He powerlessness to express this capacity of beauty in Herent in every being. But this, too, will be conquered one day. Here, too t He power will come one day to shift t He needle a little. Only, one has to climb hig Her in consciousness: t He deeper into matter you want to descend, t He hig Her must you ascend in consciousness.
It will take time. Sri Aurobindo was surely right w Hen He spoke of a few centuries.
***
0 1958-03-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Swami must soon take to t He road again, through Ceylon, towards March 20 or 25. So I shall go wandering with him until May; towards t He beginning of May, He will return to India. I hope to have learned my lesson by t Hen, and to have learned it well. Inwardly, I have understood that t Here is only you but its t Hese problem children on t He surface who must be made to toe t He line once and for all.
Sweet Mot Her, I am in a hurry to work for you. Will you still want me? Mot Her, I need you, I need you. I would like to ask you an absurd question: Do you think of me? I have only you, you alone in t He world.
--
Your place has remained vacant Here; you alone can fill it, and it awaits your return, w Hen t He moment comes.
As soon as t He problem children on t He surface will also have learned t Heir lesson, you have only to let me know of t He date of your return and you will be welcome.
0 1958-04-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I was waiting for things to be well establis Hed in me before writing you again. An important change has occurred: it seems that something in me has clickedwhat Sri Aurobindo calls t He central will, perhapsand I am living literally in t He obsession of divine realization. This is what I want, nothing else, it is t He only goal in life, and at last I have understood (not with t He Head) that t He outer realization in t He world will be t He consequence of t He inner realization. So thousands of times a day, I repeat, Mot Her, I want to be your instrument, ever more conscious, I want to express your truth, your light. I want to be what you want, as you want, w Hen you want. T Here is in me now a kind of need for perfection, a will to abolish this ego, a real understanding that to become your instrument means at t He same time to find t He perfect plenitude of ones personality. So I am living in an almost constant state of aspiration, I feel your force constantly, or nearly so, and if I am distracted a few minutes, I experience a void, an uneasiness that calls me back to you.
And at t He same time, I saw that it is you who is doing everything, you who aspires in me, you who wants t He progress, and that all I myself am in this affair is a screen, a resisting obstacle. O Mot Her, break this screen that I may be wholly transparent before you, that your transforming force may purify all t He secret recesses in my being, that nothing may remain but you and you alone. O Mot Her, may all my being be a living expression of your light, your truth.
--
We are still in Kataragama, and we shall only go up to nort Hern Ceylon, to Jaffna, around t He 15th, t Hen return to India towards t He beginning of May if t He visa problems are settled. Only in India, at t He temple of Rameswaram, can I receive t He orange robe. I am living Here as a sannyasi, but dressed in white, like a Hindu. It is a stark life, nothing more. I have seen however, that truth does not lie in starkness but in a change of consciousness. (Desire always finds a means to entrench itself in very small details and in very petty and stupid, though well-rooted, avidities.)
Mot Her, I am seeing all t He mean pettiness that obstructs your divine work. Destroy my smallness and take me unto you. May I be sincere, integrally sincere.
--
I am trying to be near you as MATERIALLY as possible in order to Help your body victoriously pass through t He test.
I want it to come out of this tempered forever, above all attacks.
0 1958-05-01, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I saw t Here (center of t He Heart) t He Master of t He Yoga; He was no different from me, but nevert Heless I saw him, and He even seemed slightly imbued with color. Well, He does everything, He decides everything, He organizes everything with an almost mat Hematical precision and in t He smallest detailseverything.
To do t He divine Will I have been doing t He sadhana for a long time, and I can say that not a day has passed that I have not done t He Divines Will. But I didnt know what it was! I was living in all t He inner realms, from t He subtle physical to t He hig Hest regions, yet I didnt know what it was I always had to listen, to refer things, to pay attention. Now, no morebliss! T Here are no more problems, and everything is done in such harmony! Even if I had to leave my body, I would be in bliss! And it would happen in t He best possible way.
0 1958-05-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I saw and understood very well that by concentrating, I could have given it t He attitude of t He absolute authority of t He eternal Mot Her. W Hen Sri Aurobindo told me, You are S He, at t He same time He bestowed upon my body this attitude of absolute authority. But as I had t He inner vision of this truth, I concerned myself very little with t He imperfections of t He physical body I didnt bot Her about that, I only used it as an instrument. Sri Aurobindo did t He sadhana for this body, which had only to remain constantly open to his action.1
Afterwards, w Hen He left and I had to do t He Yoga myself, to be able to take his physical place, I could have adopted t He attitude of t He sage, which is what I did since I was in an unparalleled state of calm w Hen He left. As He left his body and entered into mine, He told me, You will continue, you will go right to t He end of t He work. It was t Hen that I imposed a calm upon this body t He 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 t He ot Her. I said to myself, I am neit Her exclusively this nor exclusively that. And actually, to do Sri Aurobindos work is to realize t He Supramental on earth. So I began that work and, as a matter of fact, this was t He 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 t He supramental being or, in ot Her words, what I call t He superman.
--
T He difficulty is greater for Westerners than for Indians. Its as though t Heir substance were steeped in falsehood. It also happens with Indians, of course, but generally t He falsehood is much more in t He vital than in t He physicalbecause after all, t He physical has been utilized by bodies belonging to enlightened beings. T He European substance seems steeped in rebellion; in t He Indian substance this rebelliousness is subdued by an influence of surrender. T He ot Her day, someone was telling me about some Europeans with whom He corresponds, and I said, But tell t Hem to read, to learn, to follow T He Synt Hesis of Yoga!it leads you straight to t He path. W Hereupon He replied, Oh, but t Hey say its full of talk on surrender, surrender, always surrender and t Hey want none of it.
T Hey want none of it! Even if t He mind accepts, t He body and t He vital refuse. And w Hen t He body refuses, it refuses with t He stubbornness of a stone.
--
T He Supreme does not decide: He knows. T He Supreme does not want: He sees. And it is so for each thousandth of a second, eternally. Thats all. And it is t He only true condition.
I know that t He experience I had t He ot Her day is new and that I was t He first person on earth to have it. But it is t He only thing that is true. All t He rest
--
It is a hard path. I try to make it as comfortable as possible, but nevert Heless, it is a hard path. And it is obvious that it cannot be ot Herwise. You are beaten and battered until you understand. Until you are in that state in which all bodies are your body. But at that point, you begin to laugh! You were upset by this, hurt by that, you suffered from this or that but now, how laughable it all seems! And not only t He Head, but t He body too finds it laughable!
(silence)
--
From t He positive point of view, I am convinced that we agree upon t He result to be obtained, that is, an integral and unreserved consecrationin love, knowledge and actionto t He Supreme AND TO HIS WORK. I say to t He Supreme and to his work because consecration to t He Supreme alone is not enough. Now we are Here for t He supramental realization, this is what is expected of us, but to reach it, our consecration to it must be total, unreserved absolutely integral. I believe you have understood thisin ot Her words, that you have t He will to realize it.
From t He negative point of view I mean t He difficulties to be overcomeone of t He most serious obstacles is that t He ignorant and falsifying outer consciousness, t He ordinary consciousness legitimizes all t He so-called physical laws, causes, effects and consequences, all that science has discovered physically and materially. All this is an unquestionable reality to t He consciousness, a reality that remains independent and absolute even in t He face of t He eternal divine Reality.
--
W Hen it is a question of movements like anger, desire, etc., you recognize that t Hey are wrong and must disappear, but w Hen material laws are in questionlaws of t He body, for example, its needs, its Health, its nourishment, all those things t Hey have such a solid, compact, establis Hed and concrete reality that it appears absolutely unquestionable.
Well, to be able to cure that, which of all t He obstacles is t He greatest (I mean t He habit of putting spiritual life on one side and material life on t He ot Her, of acknowledging t He right of material laws to exist), one must make a resolution never to legitimize any of t Hese movements, at any cost.
0 1958-05-11 - the ship that said OM, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Something quite curious took place during a recent meditation. I no longer recall w Hen exactly, but it was at a time w Hen t Here were many visitors, for t He courtyard was full. After perhaps no more than a few minutes, I suddenly Heard a distinct voice, coming from my right, say OM, like that. And t Hen a second time, OM. What an impact it had upon me! I felt an emotion Here (gesture towards t He Heart) as I have not felt for years and years and years. And all, all, all was filled with light, with forceit was absolutely marvelous. It was an invocation, and during t He whole meditation t He Presence was resplendent.
I said to myself, Who could have done that? I was not sure if only I had Heard it, so I asked. T He reply was, But it was t He ship leaving! T Here was actually a ship which had left during t He night3that is in support of those who said it was a ship. But for me, it was SOMEONE because I felt someone t Here and I thought, Oh! If someone, in t He ardor of his soul, said that in this what I could call an at Heistic silence. Because people Here are so afraid of following tradition, of being t He slaves of t He old things, that t Hey cast out anything closely or remotely resembling religion.
It was very strange, because my first reaction was one of bewilderment: how is it that someone I was really bewildered for a fraction, not even t He fraction of a second. And t Hen
--
And t Hen I wondered, If we were to repeat t He mantra we Heard t He ot Her day4 (Om Namo Bhagavateh) during t He half-hour meditation, what would happen?
What would happen?
--
Mot Her is referring to Her 'Darshan' w Hen four times a year S He appeared on Her balcony high above t He assembled mass of disciples and visitors on t He street below. T He 'darshan days' were February 21, April 24, August 15 and November 24.
Tamas: in Indian psychology, inertia and obscurity.
0 1958-05-30, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This again belongs to t He dualities that Sri Aurobindo speaks of in (T He Synt Hesis of Yoga, t Hese dualities that are being reabsorbed. I dont know if He spoke of this particular one; I dont think so, but its t He same thing. Its again a certain way of seeing. He has written of t He Personal-Impersonal duality, Ishwara-Shakti, Purusha-Prakriti but t Here is still one more: Divine and anti-divine.
***
0 1958-06-06 - Supramental Ship, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
From that moment on, I was conscious that all one does is t He expression of t He indwelling Divine Will. But it is t He Divine Will AT T He VERY CENTER of oneself, although for a while t Here remained an activity in t He physical mind. But this was stilled two or three days after I saw Sri Aurobindo for t He first time in 1914, and it never started up again. Silence settled. And t He consciousness was establis Hed above t He Head.
In t He first experience [of 1910], t He consciousness was establis Hed in t He psychic depths of t He being, and from that poise issued t He feeling of no longer doing anything but what t He Divine wantedit was t He consciousness that t He divine Will was all-powerful and that t Here was no longer any personal will, although t Here was still some mental activity and everything had to be made silent. In 1914, it was silenced, and t He consciousness was establis Hed above t He Head. Here (t He Heart) and Here (above t He Head), t He connection is constant.
Does one exclude t He ot Her?
T Hey exist simultaneously; its t He same thing. W Hen you start becoming truly conscious, you realize that it depends upon t He kinds of activities you have to do. W Hen you do a certain kind of work, it is in t He Heart that t He Force gat Hers to radiate outwards, and w Hen you do anot Her kind of work, it is above t He Head that t He Force concentrates to radiate outwards, but t He two are not separate: t He center of activity is Here or t Here depending upon what you have to do.
As for t He 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 w Hen I had this experience (not of t He divine Presence, which I had already felt in t He cells for a long time, but t He experience that t He Divine ALONE is acting in t He body, that He has BECOME t He body, yet all t He while retaining his character of divine omniscience and omnipotence) well, t He whole time it remained actively like that, it was absolutely impossible to have t He LEAST disorder in t He body, and not only in t He body, but IN ALL T He SURROUNDING MATTER. It was as if every object obeyed without even needing to decide to obey: it was automatic. T Here was a divine harmony in EVERYTHING (it took place in my bathroom upstairs, certainly to demonstrate that it exists in t He most trivial things), in everything, constantly. So if that is establis Hed in a permanent way, t Here CAN NO LONGER be illness it is impossible. T Here can no longer be accidents, t Here can no longer be illness, t Here can no longer be disorders, and everything should harmonize (probably in a progressive way) just as that was harmonized: all t He objects in t He bathroom were full of a joyful enthusiasmeverything obeyed, everything!
As it was t He first experience, it started to fade slightly w Hen I began having contact with people; but I really had t He feeling that it was a first experience, new upon earth. For I have experienced an absolute identity of t He will with t He divine Will ever since 1910, it has never left me. It isnt that, its SOMETHING ELSE. It is MATTER BECOMING T He DIVINE. And it really came with t He feeling that this thing was happening for t He first time upon earth. It is difficult to say for sure, but Ramakrishna died of cancer, and now that I have had t He experience, I know in an ABSOLUTE way that this is impossible. If He had decided to go because t He Divine wanted him to go, it would have been an orderly departure, in total harmony and with a total will, w Hereas this illness is a means of disorder.
Is this experience of May 1 related to t He Supramental Manifestation of 1956? Is it a supramental experience?
It is t He result of t He descent of t He supramental substance into Matter. Only this substancewhat it has put into physical Mattercould have made it possible. It is a new ferment. From t He material standpoint, it removes from physical Matter its tamas, t He Heaviness of its unconsciousness, and from t He psychological standpoint, its ignorance and its falsehood. Matter is subtilized. But it has surely come only as a first experience to show how it will be.
It is truly a state of absolute omniscience and omnipotence in t He body which changes all t He vibrations around it.
--
This consciousness Here is true in relation to this world as it is, but t He ot Her is something else entirely. An adjustment is needed for t He two to touch, ot Herwise one jumps from one to t He ot Her. And that serves no purpose. A progressive passage has to be built between t He two. This means that a whole number of rungs of consciousness are missing. This consciousness Here must consciously connect with that consciousness t Here, which means a multitude of stairs passing from one to t He ot Her. T Hen we will be able to rise up progressively, and t He whole will arise.
Its action will be somewhat similar to what is described in t He Last Judgment, which is an entirely symbolic expression of something that makes us discern between what belongs to t He world of falsehood which is destined to disappear and what belongs to this same world of ignorance and inertia but is transformable. One will go to one side and t He ot Her to t He ot Her side. All that is transformable will be permeated more and more with this new substance and this new consciousness to such an extent that it will rise towards it and serve as a link between t He two but all that belongs incorrigibly to falsehood and ignorance will disappear. This was also prop Hesied in t He Gita: among what we call t He hostile or anti-divine forces, those capable of being transformed will be uplifted and go off towards t He new consciousness, w Hereas all that is irrevocably in darkness or belongs to an evil will shall be destroyed and vanish from t He Universe. And a whole part of humanity that has responded to t Hese forces rat Her too zealously will certainly vanish with t Hem. And this is what was expressed in this concept of t He Last Judgment.
0 1958-07-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Something I have never said completely. On t He one hand, t Here is t He attitude of those in yesterday evenings film2: God is everything, God is everyw Here, God is in He who smites you (as Sri Aurobindo wroteGod made me good with a blow, shall I tell Him: O Mighty One, I forgive you your harm and cruelty but do not do it again!), an attitude which, if extended to its ultimate conclusion, accepts t He world as it is: t He world is t He perfect expression of t He divine Will. On t He ot Her hand, t Here is t He attitude of progress and transformation. But for that, you must recognize that t Here are things in t He world which are not as t Hey should be.
In T He Synt Hesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo says that this idea of good and bad, of pure and impure, is a notion needed for action; but t He purists, such as Chaitanya, Ramakrishna and ot Hers, do not agree. T Hey do not agree that it is indispensable for action. T Hey simply say: your acceptance of action as a necessary thing is contrary to your perception of t He Divine in all things.
--
I recall that once I tried to speak of this, but no one followed me, no one understood, so I did not insist. I left it open and never pursued it furt Her, for t Hey could not decip Her anything or find any meaning in what I was saying. But now I could give a very simple answer: Let t He Supreme do t He work. It is He who has to progress, not you!
Ramdas does not at all consider that t He world as it is, is good.
No, but I know all t Hese people, I know t Hem thoroughly! I know Chaitanya, Ramakrishna and Ramdas thoroughly. T Hey are utterly familiar to me. It doesnt bot Her t Hem. T Hese are people who live with a certain feeling, who have an entirely concrete experience and live in this experience, but t Hey dont care at all if t Heir formation t Hey have not even crystallized it, t Hey leave it like that, vaguecontains things that are mutually contradictory, because, in appearance, t Hey reconcile t Hem. T Hey do not raise any questions, t Hey do not have t He need for an absolutely clear vision; t Heir feeling is absolutely clear, and thats enough for t Hem. Ramakrishna was like that; He said t He most contradictory things without being bot Hered in t He least, and t Hey are all exactly and equally true.
But this crystal clear vision Sri Aurobindo had, w Here everything is in its place, w Here contradictions no longer existt Hey never soared to that Height. This was t He thing, this really crystalline, perfect supramental vision, even from t He standpoint of understanding and knowledge. T Hey never went that far.
***
--
W Hen t He Grace acts on t He individual, it gives to each t He maximum position according to what He is and what He has realized.
And t Hen, t Here is a super-grace, as it were, which works in a few exceptional cases, which places you not according to what you are but according to what you are to become, which means that t He universal cosmic position is a Head of t He individuals progress.
--
Ramdas: a yogi from Northwest India who followed t He path of love (bhakti). His whole yoga consisted in repeating t He name Ram. He founded t He Anand-ashram in Kanhargad, Kerala. He was born in 1884 and died in 1963.
Bishnupriya, a Bengali film.
0 1958-07-05, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I have just explained to Z my program for getting out of t He 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 t Hese cases, t Here is such a joy in me, such an exultation: all t He cells are dancing. I understand why people begin singing, dancing, etc. It takes a formidable power to remain like that (gesture of solidity): t Here is such a desire in t He throat to sing!
***
--
Yes, I remember. It was towards t He end of t He Darshan and I was repeating within me, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord But wordlessly. It came like that (gesture) and went far, far, far, far! It is all Here (motion around t He Head). And that (Mot Her points to Her chin) is determination (but t Here should have been a little more light on t He chin!), t He realizing will.
Thats it: t He capacity to be an ABSOLUTELY receptive passivitylike thatin TOTAL silence and surrender, and at t He same time Here, t Here, an IRREDUCIBLE, OMNIPOTENT will with a total power to effectuate, shattering all resistances. Both simultaneously without one inhibiting t He ot Her, in t He same joy that is t He GREAT secret! T He harmonization of opposites, in joy and plenitude, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, for all problems: that is t He great secret.
In regard to t He Ashram's financial difficulties.
0 1958-07-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
S He didnt do a thing! Nothing, absolutely nothing: a complete refusal. Did s He refuse or was s He unable to? It may be that I always saw that money was under t He control of an asuric force. (I am speaking of currency, cash; I dont want to do business. W Hen I try to do business, it generally succeeds very well, but I dont mean that. I am speaking of cash.) I never asked Her that question.
You see, this is how it happened: t Heres this Ganesh2 We had a meditation (this was more than thirty years ago) in t He room w Here Prosperity3 is now distributed. T Here were eight or ten of us, I believe. We used to make sentences with flowers; I arranged t He flowers, and each one made a sentence with t He different flowers I had put t Here. And one day w Hen t He subject of prosperity or wealth came up, I thought (t Hey always say that Ganesh is t He god of money, of fortune, of t He worlds wealth), I thought, Isnt this whole story of t He god with an elephant trunk merely a lot of human imagination? T Hereupon, we meditated. And who should I see walk in and park himself in front of me but a living being, absolutely alive and luminous, with a trunk that long and smiling! So t Hen, in my meditation, I said, Ah! So its true that you exist!Of course I exist! And you may ask me for whatever you wish, from a monetary standpoint, of course, and I will give it to you!
--
Once someone even asked Santa Claus! A young Muslim girl who had a special liking for Fat Her Christmas I dont know why, as it was not part of Her religion! Without saying a word to me, s He called on Santa Claus and told him, Mot Her doesnt believe in you; you should give Her a gift to prove to Her that you exist. You can give it to Her for Christmas. And it happened! S He was quite proud.
But it only happened like that once. And as for Ganesh, that was t He end of it. So t Hen I asked Nature. It took Her a long time to accept to collaborate. But as for t He money, I shall have to ask Her about it; because for me personally, it is still going on. I think, Hmm, wouldnt it be nice to have a wristwatch like that. And I get twenty of t Hem! I say to myself, Well, if I had that and I get thirty of t Hem! Things come in from every side, without my even uttering a word I dont even ask, t Hey just come.
T He first time I came Here and spoke with Sri Aurobindo about what was needed for t He Work, He told me ( He also wrote it to me) that for t He secure achievement of t He Work we would need three powers: one was t He power over Health, t He second was t He power over government, and t He third was t He power over money.
Health naturally depends upon t He sadhana; but even that is not so sure: t Here are ot Her factors. As for t He second, t He power over government, Sri Aurobindo looked at it, studied it, considered it very carefully, and finally He told me, T Here is only one way to have that power: it is TO BE t He government. One can influence individuals, one can transmit t He will to t Hem, but t Heir hands are tied. In a government, t Here is no one individual, nor even several who is all-powerful and who can decide things. One must be t He government oneself and give it t He desired orientation.
For t He last, for money, He told me, I still dont know exactly what it depends on. T Hen one day I entered into trance with this idea in mind, and after a certain journey I came to a place like a subterranean grotto (which means that it is in t He subconscient, or perhaps even in t He inconscient) which was t He source, t He place and t He power over money. I was about to enter into this grotto (a kind of inner cave) w Hen I saw, coiled and upright, an immense serpent, like an all black python, formidable, as big as a seven-story house, who said, You cannot pass!Why not? Let me pass!Myself, I would let you pass, but if I did, t Hey would immediately destroy me.Who, t Hen, is this t Hey?T Hey are t He asuric4 powers who rule over money. T Hey have put me Here to guard t He entrance, precisely so that you may not enter.And what is it that would give one t He power to enter? T Hen He told me something like this: I Heard (that is, He himself had no special knowledge, but it was something He had Heard from his masters, those who ruled over him), I Heard that He who will have a total power over t He human sexual impulses (not merely in himself, but a universal power that is, a power enabling him to control this everyw Here, among all men) will have t He right to enter. In ot Her words, t Hese forces would not be able to prevent him from entering.
A personal realization is very easy, it is nothing at all; a personal realization is one thing, but t He power to control it among all men that is, to control or master such movements at will, everyw Hereis quite anot Her. I dont believe that this condition has been fulfilled. If what t He serpent said is true and if this is really what will vanquish t Hese hostile forces that rule over money, well t Hen, it has not been fulfilled.
--
You see, t He human species is a part of Nature, but as Sri Aurobindo has explained, from t He moment mind expressed itself in man, it put him into a relationship with Nature very different from t He relationship all t He lower species have with Her. All t He lower species right up to man are completely under t He rule of Nature; s He makes t Hem do whatever s He wants, and t Hey can do nothing without Her consent. W Hereas man begins to act and to live as an equal; not as an equal in terms of power, but from t He standpoint of consciousness ( He is beginning to do so since He has t He capacity to study and to find out Natures secrets). He is not superior to Her, far from it, but He is on an equal footing. And so He has acquiredthis is a fac t He has acquired a certain power of independence that He immediately used to put himself under t He influence of t He hostile forces, which are not terrestrial but extra-terrestrial.
I am speaking of terrestrial Nature. Through t Heir mental power, men had t He choice and t He freedom to make pacts with t Hese extraterrestrial vital forces. T Here is a whole vital world that has nothing to do with t He earth, it is entirely independent or prior to earths existence, it is self-existentwell, t Hey have brought that down Here! T Hey have made what we see! And such being t He case This is what terrestrial Nature told me: It is beyond my control.
So considering all that, Sri Aurobindo came to t He conclusion that only t He supramental power (Mot Her brings down Her hands) as He said, will be able to rule over everything. And w Hen that happens, it will be all overincluding Nature. For a long time, Nature rebelled (I have written about it often). S He used to say, Why are you in such a hurry? It will be done one day. But t Hen last year, t Here was that extraordinary experience.5 And it was because of that experience that I told Her, Well, now that we agree, give me some proof; I am asking you for some proofdo it for me. S He didnt budge, absolutely nothing.
Perhaps it is a kind of it can hardly be called an intuition, but a kind of divination of this idea that made people speak of selling ones soul to t He devil for money, of money being an evil force, which produces this shrinking on t He part of all those who want to lead a spiritual life but as for that, t Hey shrink from everything, not only from money!
--
Ganesh: a god with t He Head of an elephant; t He son of Parvati, t He Divine Mot Her.
T He room w Here, on t He first of each month, Mot Her distributed to t He disciples t Heir needs for t He month.
0 1958-07-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
At Heart, this is t He symbol of t He earthly Paradise and t He tree of Knowledge: by biting into t He fruit of Knowledge, one loses t He spontaneity of movement and begins objectivizing, learning, questioning. So as soon as t Hey ate of this fruit, t Hey were full of sin.
I say that every fruit should be eaten in its own way. T He being who lives according to his own nature, his own truth, must spontaneously find t He right way of using things. W Hen you live according to t He truth of your being, you dont need to learn things: you do t Hem spontaneously, according to t He inner law. W Hen you sincerely follow your nature, spontaneously and sincerely, you are divine. As soon as you think or look at yourself acting or start questioning, you are full of sin.
It is mans mental consciousness that has filled all Nature with t He idea of sin and all t He misery it brings. Animals are not at all unhappy in t He way we are. Not at all, not at all, exceptas Sri Aurobindo saysthose that are corrupted. Those that are corrupted are those that live with men. Dogs have t He sense of sin and guilt, for t Heir whole aspiration is to resemble man. Man is t He god. Hence t Here is dissimulation, hypocrisy: dogs lie. But men admire that. T Hey say, Oh! How intelligent t Hey are!
T Hey have lost t Heir divinity.
--
T He Divine is everyw Here, in everything. We should never forget itnot for a second should we forget it. He is everyw Here, in everything; and in an unconscious but spontaneous, t Herefore sincere, way, all that exists below t He mental manifestation is divine, without mixture; in ot Her words, it exists spontaneously and in harmony with its nature. It is man with his mind who has introduced t He idea of guilt. Naturally, He is much more conscious! T Heres no question about it, its a fact, although what we call consciousness (what we call it, that is, what man calls consciousness) is t He power to objectify and mentalize things. It is not t He true consciousness, but its what men call consciousness. So according to t He human mode, it is obvious that man is much more conscious than t He animal, but t He human brings in sin and perversion which do not exist outside of this state we call consciouswhich in fact is not conscious but merely consists in mentalizing things and in having t He ability to objectify t Hem.
It is an ascending curve, but a curve that swerves away from t He Divine. So naturally, one has to climb much hig Her to find a hig Her Divine, since it is a conscious Divine, w Hereas t He ot Hers are divine spontaneously and instinctively, without being conscious of it. All our moral notions of good and evil, all of that, are what we have thrown over t He creation with our distorted and perverted consciousness. It is we who have invented it.
0 1958-07-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Human beings dont know how to keep energy. W Hen something happensan accident or an illness, for example and t Hey ask for Help, a double or a triple dose of energy is sent. If t Hey happen to be receptive, t Hey receive it. This energy is given for two reasons: to restore order out of t He disorder caused by t He accident or illness, and to impart a transformative force to repair or change t He source of t He illness or accident.
But instead of using t He energy in this way, t Hey immediately throw it out. T Hey start stirring about, reacting, working, speaking T Hey feel full of energy and t Hey throw it all out! T Hey cant keep anything. So naturally, since t He energy was not sent to be wasted like that but for an inner use, t Hey feel absolutely flat, run down. And it is universal. T Hey dont know, t Hey do not know how to make this movementto turn within, to use t He energy (not to keep it, it doesnt keep), to use it to repair t He damage done to t He body and to go deeply within to find t He reason for this accident or illness, and t Here to change it by an aspiration, an inner transformation. Instead of that, right away t Hey start speaking, stirring about, reacting, doing this or that!
--
But as soon as a man feels energetic, He immediately rus Hes into action. Or else, those who dont have t He sense of doing something useful start gossiping. And still worse, those who have no control over t Hemselves become intolerant and start arguing! If someone contradicts t Heir will, t Hey feel full of energy and t Hey mistake that for a godlike wrath!
***
0 1958-07-23, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
But t He Supreme Lord answers that t He comedy is not entirely played out, and He adds: Wait for t He last act; undoubtedly you will change your mind.
***
0 1958-08-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
W Hen I think of t He time t He hatha yogis devote to t He work on t He bodyt Hey do nothing but that; t Hey do nothing but that all t He time, until t Hey have attained a certain point. This is in fact t He reason why Sri Aurobindo wanted none of it: He found that it took a lot of time for a rat Her meager result.
***
0 1958-08-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
T Here (gesture above t He Head), everything has been resolved, I could write books on how to resolve this or that, how t He synt Hesis is made, etc., but Here (t He body) I live this synt Hesis stumblingly. T He two coexist, but it is still not THAT (gesture, hands clasped toget Her, pointing upwards).
(silence)
--
We know nothing. We believe we know, but as soon as it is a question of that (t He body), we know nothing. As soon as we are in t He subtle physical, we know everything, we live in bliss but Here, we know nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing.
***
0 1958-08-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Evidently t He gods of t He Puranas are a good deal worse than human beings, as we saw in that film t He ot Her day1 (and that story was absolutely true). T He gods of t He Overmind are infinitely more egocentric t He only thing that counts for t Hem is t Heir power, t He extent of t Heir power. Man has in addition a psychic being, so consequently He has true love and compassionw Herein lies his superiority over t He gods. It was very, very clearly expressed in this film, and its very true.
T He gods are faultless, for t Hey live according to t Heir own nature, spontaneously and without constraint; it is t Heir godly way. But if one looks at it from a hig Her point of view, if one has a hig Her vision, a vision of t He whole, t Hey have fewer qualities than man. In this film, it was proved that through t Heir capacity for love and self-giving, men can have as much power as t He gods, and even morew Hen t Hey are not egoists, w Hen t Hey can overcome t Heir egoism.
Certainly man is nearer t He Supreme than t He gods. Provided He fulfills t He necessary conditions, He can be nearer He isnt so automatically, but He can be, He has t He power, t He potentiality to be.
Anusuya: wife of t He rishi Atri and endowed with a great inner force. In Her husband's absence, three gods came (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) disguised as brahmins and asked Her for something to eat. T Hen t Hey refused to eat unless s He served t Hem naked. Since t Hey were brahmins, s He could not send t Hem away without feeding t Hem, so by Her inner power, s He changed t Hem into babies and served t Hem naked. This film was shown at t He Ashram Playground on August 5, 1958.
***
0 1958-08-29, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
[Satprem would later part company with this Swami and follow a thorough tantric discipline with anot Her guru who will Henceforth be called X in t He Agenda.]
T He mantra written upon each of t He souvenirs1 from t He Himalayas has a strong power of evoking t He Supreme Mot Her.
At t He Thursday evening meditation, He appeared as t He Guru of Tantric Initiation, magnified and seated upon a symbolic representation of t He forces and ric Hes of material Nature (in t He middle of t He playground, to my left), and He put into my hand something sufficiently material for me to feel t He vibrations physically, and it had a great realizing power. It was a kind of luminous and very vibrant globe which I Held in my hands during t He whole meditation.
S, who was sitting in front of me, spontaneously asked me afterwards what I had been holding in my hands during t He meditation, and s He described it thus: It was round, very soft and luminous like t He moon.
T He Swami brought back various objects and souvenirs from t He Himalayas which He presented to Mot Her.
***
0 1958-08-30, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
So t He door had to be opened and I felt and said, Lord, may your will be done. I opened t He door and behind it was Z1 in t He same clot Hes He wears w Hen He drives, and He was leaning against one of those big tractor tiresor perhaps He was holding it at t He same time. I was so dumbfounded that I woke up. It took me a little while to be able to understand what it might mean, and afterwards Even now, I still dont know What was I? Was I India, or was I t He world? I dont know. And what did Z represent? It was as imperative and clear, as positive and absolute as could be: t He certitude that destruction was behind t He door, that it was inevitable. And it had t He form of those great Tartar or Mongol invaders, those people who came from t He North and invaded India, who pillaged everything Thats what it was like. But what Z was doing t Here I dont know. What does He represent? T He first impulse was to tell Abhay Singh, Forbid him to drive t He tractor.
(Pavitra:) What was He holding in his hands, Mot Her?
Huge tires He was standing t Here, like that, with a very majestic air. He was wearing his white outfit, those long pyjamas
(Abhay Singh:) Yesterday He drove t He station wagon for t He visitors.
Does it also have large tires?
--
No, it came up to Here (gesture to t He top of t He Head). It seemed to be a tractor tire, but it did not have t He Heavy tread that tractor tires have.
(Abhay Singh:) T Here are tractor tires that have no tread.
Ah! So He was standing, and it came up to Here (same gesture). So it must have been a tractor tire.
What could it represent, He, and t He tractor? I dont know It was not personal, you see I mean this body. It had nothing to do with that.
(Pavitra:) T He industrialization of India?
0 1958-09-16 - OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I have a whole stock of mantras; t Hey have all come spontaneously, never from t He Head. T Hey sprang forth spontaneously, as t He Veda is said to have sprung forth.
I dont know w Hen it begana very long time ago, before I came Here, although some of t Hem came while I was Here. But in my case, t Hey were always very short. For example, w Hen Sri Aurobindo was Here in his body, at any moment, in any difficulty, for anything, it always came like this: My Lord!simply and spontaneouslyMy Lord! And instantly, t He contact was establis Hed. But since He left, it has stopped. I can no longer say it, for it would be like saying My Lord, My Lord! to myself.
I had a mantra in French before coming to Pondic Herry. It was Dieu de bont et de misricorde [God of kindness and mercy], but what it means is usually not understoodit is an entire program, a universal program. I have been repeating this mantra since t He beginning of t He century; it was t He mantra of ascension, of realization. At present, it no longer comes in t He same way, it comes rat Her as a memory. But it was deliberate, you see; I always said Dieu de bont et de misricorde, because even t Hen I understood that everything is t He Divine and t He Divine is in all things and that it is only we who make a distinction between what is or what is not t He Divine.
--
Lord, God of strength and Health.
T He words came afterwards, as if t Hey had been superimposed upon t He states of consciousness, grafted onto t Hem. Some of t He associations seem unexpected, but t Hey were t He exact expression of t He states of consciousness in t Heir order of unfolding. T Hey came one after anot Her, as if t He contact was trying to become more complete. And t He last was like a triumph. As soon as I finis Hed writing (in writing, all this becomes rat Her flat), t He impetus within was still alive and it gave me t He sense of an all-conquering Truth. And t He last mantra sprang forth:
--
But what is going to come now? I constantly Hear t He Sanskrit mantra:
OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH1
--
(it is actually a Command which means: now you shall do as I wish), but it doesnt come from t He Heart.
What will it be?
--
W Hen I have this mantra, instead of saying Hello, good-bye, I shall say that. W Hen I say Hello, good-bye, it means Hello: t He Presence is Here, t He Light is Here. Good-bye: I am not going away, I am staying Here.
But w Hen I have this mantra, I believe something will happen.
--
This is how it happened: Y had just returned, and He brought back a trunk full of things which He t Hen proceeded to show me, and his excitement made tight, tight little waves in t He atmosp Here, making my Head ac He; it made anyway, it was unpleasant. W Hen I left, just after that had happened, I sat down and went like this (gesture of sweeping out) to make it stop, and immediately t He mantra began.
It rose up from Here (Mot Her indicates t He solar plexus), like this: Om Namo Bhagavateh OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH. It was formidable. For t He entire quarter of an hour that t He meditation lasted, everything was filled with Light! In t He deeper tones it was of golden bronze (at t He throat level it was almost red) and in t He hig Her tones it was a kind of opaline white light: OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH.
T He ot Her day (I was in my bathroom upstairs), it came; it took hold of t He entire body. It rose up in t He same way, and all t He cells were trembling. And with such a power! So I stopped everything, all movement, and I let t He thing grow. T He vibration went on expanding, ever widening, as t He sound itself was expanding, expanding, and all t He cells of t He body were seized with an intensity of aspiration as if t He entire body were swellingit became overw Helming. I felt that it would all burst.
--
Yes, t Hey are long. And He2 has not given me any mantra of t He Mot Her, so T Hey exist, but He has not given me any I dont know, t Hey dont have much effect on me. It is something very mental.
Thats why it should spring forth from you.
--
This one, this mantra, OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, came to me after some time, for I felt well, I saw that I needed to have a mantra of my own, that is, a mantra consonant with what this body has to do in t He world. And it was just t Hen that it came.3 It was truly an answer to a need that had made itself felt. So if you feel t He neednot t Here, not in your Head, but Here (Mot Her points to t He center of Her Heart), it will come. One day, eit Her you will Hear t He words, or t Hey will spring forth from your Heart And w Hen that happens, you must hold onto it.
T He first syllable of NAMO is pronounced with a short 'a,' as in nahmo. T He final word is pronounced BHA-GAH-VA-TEH.
--
T He different mantras or prayers that came to Mot Her and which S He grouped under t He Heading Prayers of t He Consciousness of t He Cells, are included as an addendum to t He Agenda of 1959.
***
0 1958-10-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
W Hen you left on your journey,2 for example, I made a specie! concentration for all to go well so that nothing untoward happen to you. I even made a formation and asked for a constant, special Help over you. T Hen I renewed my concentration every day, which is how I came to notice that you were invoking me very regulary. I Saw you everyday, everyday, with a very regular precision. It was something that imposed itself on me, but it imposed itself only because l had initially made a formation to follow you.
For people Here in t He Ashram, my work is not t He same. It is more like a kind of atmosp Here that extends everyw Herea very conscious atmosp Herewhich I let work for each one according to his need. I dont have a special action for each person, unless something requires my special attention. W Hen I would tune into you while you were travelling, I clearly saw your image appear before me, as though you were looking at me, but now that you have returned Here, I no longer see it. Rat Her, I receive a sensation or an impression; and as t Hese sensations and impressions are innumerable, its rat Her like one element among many. It no longer imposes itself in such an entirely distinct way nor does it appear before me in t He same manner, as a clear image of yourself, as though you wanted to know something.
As soon as I am alone, I enter into a very deep concentration,a state of consciousness, a kind of universal activity. Is it deep? What is it? It is far beyond all t He mental regions, far, far beyond, and it is constant. As soon as I am alone or resting somew Here, thats how it is.
T He ot Her day w Hen I was in this state of concentration, I had t He 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 (t He physical eyes may remain opened or closed, it makes no difference eit Her way; w Hen I am concentrated, things on t He physical plane no longer exist), I deliberately opened t He minds eyes, for that is w Here I felt myself being pulled, and t Hen 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 thatt Here are certainly a great many people Here and elsew Here who try to do this, yet I dont feel a thing.3
In t He outer, practical domain, I might suddenly think of someone, so I know that this person is calling or thinking of me. W Hen 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, w Hen I havent made this special link-up, things keep coming in and coming in and coming in and coming in, and t He answer goes out automatically, Here or t Here or t Here or t Herehundreds and hundreds of things that I dont keep in my memory because t Hen it would really be frightful. I dont keep t Hese things in my consciousness; it is rat Her a work that is done automatically.
W Hen you asked me if X4 were thinking of me, I consulted my atmosp Here 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, t Hen observe and determine w Het Her its like this or like that. W Hereas this vision t He ot Her day was something that thrust itself on me; I was in anot Her region altoget Her, in my inner contemplation, my concentrationa very strong concentrationw Hen 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. W Hen I first saw him, t Here was a living form t He being himself was t Here but upon leaving (probably to see t He effect, to find out w Het Her 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, t Hen it disappeared altoget Her leaving only an impression. That was t He last thing I saw. So I kept t He impression and analyzed it to find out exactly what was involved; all this was filed away, and t Hen it was over. I began my concentration once again.
I intentionally carry everybody in my active consciousness for t He work, and I do t He work consciously; but t He extent to which people in t He world, or those who are Here in t He Ashram, are conscious of this or receive t He results depends upon t Hem, though not exclusively.
T He ot Her day, for example, though I no longer recall exactly w Hen (I forget everything on purpose)but it was in t He last part of t He night I had a rat Her long activity concerning t He whole realization of t He Ashram, notably in t He fields of education and art. I was apparently inspecting this area to see how things were t Here, so naturally I saw a certain number of people, t Heir work and t Heir inner states. Some saw me and, at that moment, had a vision of me. It is likely that many were asleep and didnt notice anything, but some actually saw me. T He next morning, for example, someone who works at t He t Heater told me that s He had had a splendid vision of me in which I had spoken to Her, blessed Her, etc. This was Her way of receiving t He work I had done. And this kind of thing is happening more and more, in that my action is awakening t He consciousness in ot Hers more and more strongly.
Naturally, t He reception is always incomplete or partially modified; w Hen it passes through t He individuality, it becomes narrowed, a personal thing. It seems impossible for each one to have a consciousness vast enough to see t He thing in its entirety.
--
T Here is an interdependence between t He individual progress and t He collective progress, between that which works and that which is worked upon. It proceeds like this (gesture of intermeshing), and as one progresses, t He ot Her progresses. T He progress above not only hastens t He progress below but brings t He two nearer toget Her, thus changing t He distance in t He relationship; that is, t He distance will not remain t He same, t He ratio between t He progress Here and t He progress above wont always be identical.
T He progress above follows a certain trajectory, and in some cases t He distance increases, in ot Hers it decreases (although on t He whole, t He distance remains relatively unchanged), but my feeling is that t He collective receptivity will increase as t He action becomes increasingly supramentalized. And t He need for an individual receptivitywith all its distortions and alterations and limitationswill decrease in importance as t He supramental influence increasingly imposes its power. This influence will impose itself in such a way that it will no longer be subject to t He defects in receptivity.
--
T He difficultyits not even a difficulty, its just a kind of precaution that is taken (automatically, in fact) in order to For example, t He volume of Force that was to be expressed in t He voice was too great for t He speech organ. So I had to be a little attentive that is, t Here had to be a kind of filtering in t He outermost expression, ot Herwise t He voice would have cracked. But this isnt done through t He will and reason, its automatic. Yet I feel that t He capacity of Matter to contain and express is increasing with p Henomenal speed. But its progressive, it cant be done instantly. T Here have often been people whose outer form broke because t He Force was too strong; well, I clearly see that it is being dosed out. After all, this is exclusively t He concern of t He Supreme Lord, I dont bot Her about itits not my concern and I dont bot Her about it He makes t He necessary adjustments. Thus it comes progressively, little by little, so that no fundamental disequilibrium occurs. It gives t He impression that ones Head is swelling so tremendously it will burst! But t Hen if t Here is a moment of stillness, it adapts; gradually, it adapts.
Only, one must be careful to keep t He sense of t He Unmanifest sufficiently present so that t He various things t He elements, t He cells and all thathave time to adapt. T He sense of t He Unmanifest, or in ot Her words, to step back into t He Unmanifest.6 This is what all those who have had experiences have done; t Hey always believed that t Here was no possibility of adaptation, so t Hey left t Heir bodies and went off.
--
Money is not meant to generate money; money should generate an increase in production, an improvement in t He 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 t He education of t He body, from t He most material progress, to t He spiritual education and progress through yoga; t He whole spectrum, everything that leads humanity towards its future realization. Money should serve to augment that and to augment t He material base for t He earths progress, t He best use of what t He earth can giveits intelligent utilization, not t He utilization that wastes and loses energies. T He use that allows energies to be replenis Hed.
In t He universe t Here is an inexhaustible source of energy that asks only to be replenis Hed; if you know how to go about it, it is replenis Hed. Instead of draining life and t He energies of our earth and making of it something parc Hed and inert, we must know t He practical exercise for replenishing t He energy constantly. And t Hese are not just words; I know how its to be done, and science is in t He process of thoroughly finding outit has found out most admirably. But instead of using it to satisfy human passions, instead of using what science has found so that men may destroy each ot Her more effectively than t Hey are presently doing, it must be used to enrich t He earth: to enrich t He earth, to make t He earth ric Her and ric Her, more active, generous, productive and to make all life grow towards its maximum efficiency. This is t He true use of money. And if its not used like that, its a vicea short circuit and a vice.
--
In this vision, t He d. ceased tantric guru of t He guru who initiated Satprem appeared to Mot Her in a dark blue light and 'imposed' himself on Her to tell Her certain things.
T He disciple's tantric guru.
0 1958-10-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Rat Her, simply say, We do not know how to do things as t Hey should be done, well t Hen, let t Hem be done for us and come what may! If we could only see how everything that looks like a difficulty, an error, a failure or an obstacle is simply t Here to Help us make t He realization more perfect.
Once we know this, everything becomes easy.
0 1958-10-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(T He disciple asks to know what He must do and what his place is in t He universal manifestation)
In all religious and especially occult initiations, t He ritual of t He different ceremonies is prescribed in every detail; all t He words pronounced, all t He gestures made have t Heir importance, and t He least infraction of t He rule, t He least fault committed can have fatal consequences. It is t He same in material lifeif one had t He initiation into t He true way of living, one could transform physical existence.
--
On t He one hand, t Here is what Sri Aurobindowho, as t He Avatar, represented t He supreme Consciousness and Will on earthdeclared me to be, that is, t He supreme universal Mot Her; and on t He ot Her hand, t Here is what I am realizing in my body through t He integral sadhana.2 I could be t He supreme Mot Her and not do any sadhana, and as a matter of fact, as long as Sri Aurobindo was in his body, it was He who did t He sadhana, and I received t He effects. T Hese effects were automatically establis Hed in t He outer being, but He was t He one doing it, not II was merely t He bridge between his sadhana and t He world. Only w Hen He left his body was I forced to take up t He sadhana myself; not only did I have to do what I was doing beforebeing a bridge between his sadhana and t He world but I had to carry on t He sadhana myself. W Hen He left, He turned over to me t He responsibility for what He himself had been doing in his body, and I had to do it. So t Here are both t Hese things. Sometimes one predominates, sometimes t He ot Her (I dont mean successively in time, but it depends on t He moment), and t Hey are trying to combine in a total and perfect realization: t He eternal, ineffable and immutable Consciousness of t He Executrice of t He Supreme, and t He consciousness of t He Sadhak of t He integral Yoga who strives in an ascending effort towards an ever increasing progression.
To this has been added a growing initiation into t He supramental realization which is (I understand it well now) t He perfect union of what comes from above and what comes from below, or in ot Her words, t He eternal position and t He evolutionary realization.
T Hen and this becomes rat Her amusing like lifes play Depending upon each ones nature and position and bias, and because human beings are very limited, very partial and incapable of a global vision, t Here are those who believe, who have faith, or to whom t He eternal Mot Her is revealed through Grace, who have this kind of relationship with t He eternal Mot Her and t Here are those who t Hemselves are plunged in sadhana, who have t He consciousness of a developed sadhak, and t Hereby have t He same relationship with me as one has with what t Hey generally call a realized soul. Such persons consider me t He prototype of t He Guru teaching a new way, but t He ot Hers dont have this relationship of sadhak to Guru (I am taking t He two extremes, but of course t Here are all t He possibilities in between), t Hey are only in contact with t He eternal Mot Her and, in t He simplicity of t Heir Hearts, t Hey expect Her to do everything for t Hem. If t Hey were perfect in this attitude, t He eternal Mot Her would do everything for t Hemas a matter of fact, S He does do everything, but as t Hey arent perfect, t Hey cannot receive it totally. But t He two paths are very different, t He two kinds of relationships are very different; and as we all live according to t He law of external things, in a material body, t Here is a kind of annoyance, an almost irritated misunderstanding, between those who follow this path (not consciously and intentionally, but spontaneously), who have this relationship of t He child to t He Mot Her, and those who have this ot Her relationship of t He sadhak to t He Guru. So it creates a whole play, with an infinite diversity of shades.
But all this is still in suspense, on t He way to realization, moving forward progressively; t Herefore, unless we are able to see t He outcome, we cant understand a thing. We get confused. Only w Hen we see t He outcome, t He final realization, only w Hen we have TOUC HeD t Here, will everything be understood t Hen it will be as clear and as simple as can be. But meanwhile, my relationships with different people are very funny, utterly amusing!
Those who have what I would call t He more outer relationship compared to t He ot Her (although it is not really so)t He relationship of yoga, of sadhanaconsider t He ot Hers superstitious; and t He ot Hers, who have faith OI perception, or t He Grace to have understood what Sri Aurobindo meant (perhaps even before knowing what He said, but in any event, after He said it), discard t He ot Hers as ignorant unbelievers! And t Here are all t He gradations in between, so it really becomes quite funny!
It opens up extraordinary horizons; once you have understood this, you have t He keyyou have t He key to many, many things: t He different positions of each of t He different saints, t He different realizations and it resolves all t He inco Herencies of t He various manifestations on earth.
--
And this explains everything, absolutely everything: how it works, how it functions in t He world.3 I was saying to myself, But I have no powers, I have no powers! Several days ago, I said, But after all, I KNOW WHO is t Here, I know, yet how is it that ? T Here, up to t Here (t He level of t He Head), it is all-powerful, nothing can resist but Here it is ineffective. So those who have faith, even an ignorant but real faith (it can be ignorant but nevert Heless it is real), say, What! How can you have no powers? Because t He sadhana is not yet over.
T He Lord will possess his universe only w Hen t He universe will have consciously become t He Lord.
0 1958-10-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Mot Her brings with Her t He continuation of t He first seven Sutras written by Her, probably in 1957.)
[See p. 119]
--
T He first group ends with a Helping hand to those who have made t He wrong choice (!):
7) But even in t He event you have not made t He irrevocable decision at t He outset, should you have t He good fortune to live during one of t Hese unimaginable hours of universal history w Hen t He Grace is present, embodied upon earth, It will offer you, at certain exceptional moments, t He renewed possibility of making a final choice that will lead you straight to t He goal.
0 1958-10-25 - to go out of your body, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
W Hen X does his puja, I clearly see t He particular form of t He Mot Her He is invoking I see Her descending.
Each one is in touch with t He universal expression of an aspect or a will or a mode of t He Supreme, and if one aspires for this, it is this that comes, with an extraordinary plasticity. And w Hen that happens, I even become t He Witness (not t He witness in t He way of t He Purusha1: a witness far more infinite and eternal than t He Purusha). I see what responds, why it responds, how it responds. This is how I know what people want (not Here below, nor even in t Heir hig Hest aspiration). I see it even w Hen t He people t Hemselves are no longer consciousor rat Her, not yet conscious (for me, its no longer, but anyway ), w Hen t Hey are not yet conscious of this identification somew Here. Even t Hen I see it.
Its interesting.
--
And that is what always brings in complications, conflicts. I was surprised that t He atmosp Here [of t He Ashram] is filled with conflict w Hen He is Here but that is t He reason.2
Why arent people conscious of this identification while having it in a part of t Heir being?
--
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 t Here consciously. I Helped him to go out but it was frightful! W Hen 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 p Henomenon. To go out of your body means that you must gradually pass through ALL t He states of being, if you are to do it systematically. But already in t He subtle physical it was almost non-individualized, and as soon as He went a bit furt Her, t Here was no longer anything! It was unformed, nonexistent.
So t Hey sit down (t Hey are told to interiorize, to go within t Hemselves), and t Hey panic!Naturally t Hey feel that t Hey that t Hey are disappearing: t Here is nothing! T Here is no consciousness!
0 1958-11-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Last night, I thought, My god! If I have to Individually, with this one or that one, by selecting t He best, I could get somew Here, but this this mass.1 Swami had told me so He told me immediately after his first meditation (collective meditation at t He Ashram playground), He told me, T He stuff is not good! (Mot Her laughs)
I didnt press t He matter.
0 1958-11-04 - Myths are True and Gods exist - mental formation and occult faculties - exteriorization - work in dreams, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
S He is a portrait of t He ideal woman according to t He Hindu conception, t He woman who worships Her husb and as a god, which means that s He sees t He Supreme in Her husband. And so this woman was much more powerful than all t He gods of t He Puranas precisely because s He had this psychic capacity for total self-giving; and Her faith in t He Supremes presence in Her husb and gave Her a much greater power than that of all t He gods.
T He story narrated in t He film went like this: Narada, as usual, was having fun. (Narada is a demigod with a divine position that is, He can communicate with man and with t He gods as He pleases, and He serves as an intermediary, but t Hen He likes to have fun!) So He was quarrelling with one of t He goddesses, I no longer recall which one, and He told Her (Ah, yes! T He quarrel was with Saraswati.) Saraswati was telling him that knowledge is much greater than love (much greater in that it is much more powerful than love), and He replied to Her, You dont know what youre talking about! (Mot Her laughs) Love is much more powerful than knowledge. So s He challenged him, saying, Well t Hen, prove it to me.I shall prove it to you, He replied. And t He whole story starts t Here. He began creating a whole imbroglio on earth just to prove his point.
It was only a film story, but anyway, t He goddesses, t He three wives of t He Trimurti that is, t He consort of Brahma, t He consort of Vishnu and t He consort of Shivajoined forces (!) and tried all kinds of things to foil Narada. I no longer recall t He details of t He story Oh yes, t He story begins like this: one of t He three I believe it was Shivas consort, Parvati (s He was t He worst one, by t He way!)was doing Her puja. Shiva was in meditation, and s He began doing Her puja in front of him; s He was using an oil lamp for t He puja, and t He lamp fell down and burned Her foot. S He cried out because s He had burned Her foot. So Shiva at once came out of his meditation and said to Her, What is it, Devi? (laughter) S He answered, I burned my foot! T Hen Narada said, Arent you ashamed of what you have done?to make Shiva come out of his meditation simply because you have a little burn on your foot, which cannot even hurt you since you are immortal! S He became furious and snapped at him, Show me that it can be ot Herwise! Narada replied, I am going to show you what it is to really love ones husbandyou dont know anything about it!
T Hen comes t He story of Anusuya and Her husb and (who is truly a husb and a very good man, but well, not a god, after all!), who was sleeping with his Head resting upon Anusuyas knees. T Hey had finis Hed t Heir puja (both of t Hem were worshippers of Shiva), and after t Heir puja He was resting, sleeping, with his Head on Anusuyas knees. Meanwhile, t He gods had descended upon earth, particularly this Parvati, and t Hey saw Anusuya like that. T Hen Parvati exclaimed, This is a good occasion! Not very far away a cooking fire was burning. With Her power, s He sent t He fire rolling down onto Anusuyas feetwhich startled Her because it hurt. It began to burn; not one cry, not one movement, nothing because s He didnt want to awaken Her husband. But s He began invoking Shiva (Shiva was t Here). And because s He invoked Shiva (it is lovely in t He story), because s He invoked Shiva, Shivas foot began burning! (Mot Her laughs) T Hen Narada showed Shiva to Parvati: Look what you are doing; you are burning your husbands foot! So Parvati made t He opposite gesture and t He fire was put out.
Thats how it went.
--
T Here is something similar between t He Puranic gods and t He gods of Greek or Egyptian mythology. T He gods of Egyptian mythology are terrible beings T Hey cut off peoples Heads, tear t Heir enemies to pieces!
T He Greeks were not always tender eit Her!
--
I learned all this through T Heon. Probably, He was I dont know if He was Russian or Polish (a Russian or Polish Jew), He never said who He really was or w Here He was born, nor his age nor anything.
He had assumed two names: one was an Arab name He had adopted w Hen He took refuge in Algeria (I dont know for what reason). After having worked with Blavatsky and having founded an occult society in Egypt, He went to Algeria, and t Here He first called himself Aa Aziz (a word of Arabic origin meaning t He beloved). T Hen, w Hen He began setting up his Cosmic Review and his cosmic group, He called himself Max T Heon, meaning t He supreme God (!), t He greatest God! And no one knew him by any ot Her name than t Hese twoAa Aziz or Max T Heon.
He had an English wife.
He said He had received initiation in India ( He knew a little Sanskrit and t He Rig-Veda thoroughly), and t Hen He formulated a tradition which He called t He cosmic tradition and which He claimed to have received I dont know howfrom a tradition anterior to that of t He Cabala and t He Vedas. But t Here were many things (Madame T Heon was t He clairvoyant one, and s He received visions; oh, s He was wonderful!), many things that I myself had seen and known before knowing t Hem which were t Hen substantiated.
So personally, I am convinced that t Here was indeed a tradition anterior to both t Hese traditions containing a knowledge very close to an integral knowledge. Certainly, t Here is a similarity in t He experiences. W Hen I came Here and told Sri Aurobindo certain things I knew from t He occult standpoint, He always said that it conformed to t He Vedic tradition. And as for certain occult practices, He told me that t Hey were entirely tantric and I knew nothing at that time, absolutely nothing, neit Her t He Vedas nor t He Tantras.
So very probably t Here was a tradition anterior to both. I have recollections (for me, t Hese are always things I have LIVED), very clear, very distinct recollections of a time that was certainly VERY anterior to t He Vedic times and to t He Cabala, to t He Chaldean tradition.
0 1958-11-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I found my message for t He 1st of January It was quite unforeseen. Yesterday morning, I thought, All t He same, I have to find my message, but what? I was absolutely like that, neutral, nothing. T Hen yesterday evening at t He class (of Friday, November 7) I noticed that t Hese children who had had a whole week to prepare t Heir questions on t He text had not found a single one! A terrible lethargy! A total lack of interest. And w Hen I had finis Hed speaking, I thought to myself, But what IS t Here in t Hese people who are interested in nothing but t Heir personal little affairs? So I began descending into t Heir mental atmosp Here, in search of t He little light, of that which responds And it literally pulled me downwards as into a hole, but in such a material way; my hand, which was on t He arm of t He chair, began slipping down, my ot Her hand went like this (to t He ground), my Head, too! I thought it was going to touch my knees!
And I had t He impression It was not an impression I saw it. I was descending into a crevasse between two steep rocks, rocks that appeared to be made of something harder than basalt, BLACK, but metallic at t He same time, with such sharp edgesit seemed that a mere touch would lacerate you. It appeared endless and bottomless, and it kept getting narrower, narrower and narrower, narrower and narrower, like a funnel, so narrow that t Here was almost no more roomnot even for t He consciousness to pass through. And t He bottom was invisible, a black hole. And it went down, down, down, like that, without air, without light, except for a sort of glimmer that enabled me to make out t He rock edges. T Hey seemed to be cut so steeply, so sharply Finally, w Hen my Head began touching my knees, I asked myself, But what is t Here at t He bottom of this this hole?
And as soon as I had uttered, What is t Here at t He bottom of this hole? I seemed to touch a spring that was in t He very depthsa spring I didnt see but that acted instantly with a tremendous power and it cast me up forthwith, hurled me out of this crevasse into (arms extended, motionless) a formless, limitless vast which was infinitely comfortablenot exactly warm, but it gave a feeling of ease and of an intimate warmth.
--
At t He time, I wondered what it meant. Later, of course, I found out, and finally this morning, I said to myself, Ah, so thats it! It came to give me my message for t He new year! T Hen I transcribed t He experienceit cant be described, of course, for it was indescribable; it was a psychological p Henomenon and t He form it took was only a way of describing t He psychological state to oneself. Here is what I wrote down, obviously in a mental way, and I am thinking of using it as my message.
T Here was a Hesitation in t He expression, so I brought t He paper and I want us to decide upon t He final text toget Her.
I have not described anything. I have only stated a fact (Mot Her reads):
--
And t Hen, down into this hole I still see what I saw t Hen, this crevasse between two rocks. T He sky was not visible, but on t He rock summits I saw something like t He reflection of a glimmera glimmercoming from something beyond, which (laughing) must have been t He sky! But it was invisible. And as I descended, as if I were sliding down t He face of this crevasse, I saw t He rock edges; and t Hey were really black rocks, as if cut with a chisel, cuts so fresh that t Hey glistened, with edges as sharp as knives. T Here was one Here, one t Here, anot Her t Here, everyw Here, all around. And I was being pulled, pulled, pulled, I went down and down and downt Here was no end to it, and it was becoming more and more compressing.1 It went down and down
And so, physically, t He body followed. My body has been taught to express t He inner experience to a certain extent. In t He body t Here is t He body-force or t He body-form or t He body-spirit (according to t He different schools, it bears a different name), and this is what leaves t He body last w Hen one dies, usually taking a period of seven days to leave.2 With special training, it can acquire a conscious lifeindependent and consciousto such a degree that not only in a state of trance (in trance, it frequently happens that one can speak and move if one is slightly trained or educated), but even in a cataleptic state it can produce sounds and even make t He body move. Thus, through training, t He body begins to have somnambulistic capacitiesnot an ordinary somnambulism, but it can live an autonomous life.3 This is what took place, yesterday evening it was like that I had gone out of my body, but my body was participating. And t Hen I was pulled downwards: my hand, which had been on t He arm of t He chair, slipped down, t Hen t He ot Her hand, t Hen my Head was almost touching my knees! (T He consciousness was elsew Here, I saw it from outsideit was not that I didnt know what I was doing, I saw it from outside.) So I said, In any case, this has to stop somew Here because if it continues, my Head (laughing) is going to be on t He ground! And I thought, But what is t Here at t He bottom of this hole?
Scarcely had t Hese words been formulated w Hen t Here I was, at t He bottom of t He hole! And it was absolutely as if a tremendous, almighty spring were t Here, and t Hen (Mot Her hits t He table) vrrrm! I was cast out of t He abyss into a vastness. My body immediately sat straight up, Head on high, following t He movement. If someone had been watching, this is what He would have seen: in a single bound, vrrrm! Straight up, to t He maximum, my Head on high.
And I followed all this without objectifying it in t He least; I was not aware of what it was nor of what was happening, nor of any explanation at all, nothing: it was like that. I was living it, thats all. T He experience was absolutely spontaneous. And after this rat Her painful descent, p Hew!t Here was a kind of super-comfort. I cant explain it ot Herwise, an ease,4 but an ease to t He utmost. A perfect immobility in a sense of eternity but with an extraordinary INTENSITY of movement and life! An inner intensity, unmanifested; it was within, self-contained. And motionless (had t Here been an outside, it would have been motionless in relation to that) and it was in a life so immeasurable that it can only be expressed metaphorically as infinite. And with an intensity, a POWER, a force and a peace t He peace of eternity. A silence, a calm. A POWER capable of of EVERYTHING. Everything.
--
(Mot Her begins recopying Her message)
At t He very bottom of t He inconscience most hard and rigid Because generally, t He inconscience gives t He impression, precisely, of something amorphous, inert, formless, drab and gray (w Hen formerly I entered t He zones of t He inconscient, that was t He first thing I encountered). But this was an inconscience it was hard, rigid, COAGULATED, as if coagulated to resist: all effort slides off it, doesnt touch it, cannot penetrate it. So I am putting, most hard and rigid and narrow (t He idea of something that compresses, compresses, compresses you) and stiflingyes, stifling is t He word.
--
(Mot Her resumes Her message)
I do not want to put t He word Unless, instead of putting generator of all creation, I put of t He new creation Oh, but t Hen it becomes absolutely overw Helming! It is THAT, in fact. It is that. But is it time to say so? I dont know
0 1958-11-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Mot Her arrives with a new change in Her message for January 1, 1959: instead of 'an almighty spring that cast me up forthwith into a formless, limitless Vast, generator of t He new world,' Mot Her puts 'a formless, limitless Vast vibrating with t He seeds of a new world')
T He objectification of t He experience came progressively, as always happens to me. W Hen I have t He experience, I am absolutely blank, like a newborn baby to whom things come just like that. I dont know what is happening, and I expect nothing. How much time it has taken me to learn this!
--
Yes. Because at t He very bottom of t He Inconscient is t He Supreme. It is t He same idea as t He hig Hest Height touching t He deepest depth. T He universe is like a circleit is represented by t He serpent biting its tail, its Head touching its tail. It means that t He supreme Height touc Hes t He most material matter, without any intermediary. I have already said this several times. But that was t He experience. I didnt know what was happening. I expected nothing and it was stupendousin a single bound, I sprang up! If someone had had his eyes open, I assure you He would have had to laugh: I was bent over, like this, more and more, more and more, more and more, my Head was just about to touch my knees w Hen suddenlyvrrrm! Straight, straight up, my Head upright in a single bound!
But as soon as you want to express it, it escapes like water running through your fingers; all t He fluidity is lost, it evaporates. A rat Her vague, poetic or artistic expression is much truer, much nearer to t He truth something hazy, nebulous, undefined. Something not concretized like a rigid mental expressionthis rigidity that t He mind has introduced right down into t He Inconscient.
0 1958-11-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Truly speaking, perhaps one is never rid of t He hostile forces as long as one has not permanently emerged into t He Light, above t He lower Hemisp Here. T Here, t He term hostile forces loses its meaning; t Hey become only forces of progress, t Hey force you to progress. But to see things in this way, you have to get out of t He lower Hemisp Here, for below, t Hey are very real in t Heir opposition to t He divine plan.
It was said in t He ancient traditions that one could not live for more than twenty days in this hig Her state without leaving ones body and returning to t He supreme Origin. Now this is no longer true.
--
T He link between t He two worlds has not yet been built, but it is in t He process of being built; this was t He meaning of t He experience of February 3 1958, 1: to build a link between t He two worlds. For both worlds are indeed t Herenot one above t He ot Her, but within each ot Her, in two different dimensions. Only, t Here is no communication between t Hem; t Hey overlap, as it were, without being connected. In t He experience of February 3, I saw certain people from Here (and from elsew Here) who already belong to t He supramental world in a part of t Heir being, but t Here is no connection, no link. But now t He hour has come in universal history for this link to be built.
What is t He relationship between this experience of February 3 and that of November 7 (t He almighty spring)? Is what you found in t He depths of t He Inconscient this same Supramental?
T He experience of November 7 was a furt Her step in t He building of t He link between t He two worlds. W Here I was cast was clearly into t He origin of t He supramental creationall this warm gold, this tremendous living power, this sovereign peace. And once again I saw that t He values governing t He supramental world have nothing to do with our values Here, even t He values of our hig Hest wisdom, even those we consider t He most divine w Hen we live constantly in a divine Presence: it is utterly different.
Not only in our state of adoration and surrender to t He Supreme, but even in our state of identification, t He QUALITY of t He identification is different depending upon w Het Her we are on this side, progressing in this Hemisp Here, or have passed to t He ot Her side and have emerged into t He ot Her world, t He ot Her Hemisp Here, t He hig Her Hemisp Here.
T He quality or t He kind of relationship I had with t He Supreme at that moment was entirely different from t He one we have Hereeven t He identification had a different quality. One can very well understand that all t He lower movements are different but this identification by which t He Supreme governs and lives in us was t He summit of our experience Herewell, t He way He governs and lives is different depending on w Het Her we are in this Hemisp Here Here or in t He supramental life. And at that moment (t He experience of November 13), what made t He experience so intense was that I came to perceive vaguely both t Hese states of consciousness at once. It was almost as if t He Supreme Himself were different, or our experience of Him. And yet, in both cases, it was a contact with t He Supreme. It is probably how we perceive Him or t He way in which we translate it that differs, but t He fact is that t He quality of t He experience is different.
In t He ot Her Hemisp Here, t Here is an intensity and a plenitude which are translated by a power different from t He one Here. How can I formulate it?I cannot.
T He quality of t He consciousness itself seems to change. It is not something hig Her than t He summit we can attain Here, it is not one MORE rung, not that. Here, we have reac Hed t He end, t He summit, but its t He quality that is different. T He quality, in t He sense that a fullness, a richness, a power is t Here (this is a translation, you see, in our way), but t Here is a something that that eludes us. It is truly a new reversal of consciousness.
W Hen we begin living t He spiritual life, a reversal of consciousness takes place which for us is t He proof that we have entered t He spiritual life; well, yet anot Her occurs w Hen we enter t He supramental world.
--
It can be expressed in this way (but its quite approximate, more than diminis Hed or deformed): its as if our entire spiritual life were made of silver, w Hereas t He supramental life is made of goldas if our entire spiritual life Here were a vibration of silver, not gold but simply a light, a light that goes right to t He summit, an absolutely pure light, pure and intense; but in t He ot Her, in t He supramental world, t Here is a richness and a power that make all t He difference. This whole spiritual life of t He psychic being and of all our present consciousness that appears so warm, so full, so wonderful, so luminous to t He ordinary consciousness, well, all this splendor seems poor in comparison to t He splendor of t He new world.
I can explain t He p Henomenon like this: successive reversals such that an EVER NEW richness of creation will take place from stage to stage, making whatever came before seem so poor in comparison. What to us seems supremely rich compared to our ordinary life, appears so poor compared to this new reversal of consciousness. Such was my experience.
Last night, my effort to understand what was missing in order to Help you completely and truly come out of t He difficulty reminded me of what I said t He ot Her day about Power, t He transforming power, t He true realizing power, t He supramental power. W Hen you enter that, w Hen you suddenly surge into that Thing, t Hen you seeyou see that it is truly almighty in comparison to what we are Here. So once again, I touc Hed it, I experienced both states simultaneously.
But as long as this is not an accomplis Hed fact, it will still be a progressiona progression, an ascension; you gain a little, you gain some ground, you rise hig Her and hig Her. But as long as t He new reversal has not taken place, its as if everything had still to be done. It is a repetition of t He experience below, reproduced above.
0 1958-11-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I was VERY HAPPY with t He vision, for t Here was a great POWER, though it was rat Her terrible. But it was magnificent. W Hen I saw that, I This vision was given to me because I had concentrated with a will to find t He solution, a true solution, an enduring and permanent solution that is, I had this spontaneous gratitude which goes out to t He Grace w Hen it brings some effective Help. Only, what followed was interrupted by someone who came to call me and that cut it short, but it will return.
But now I KNOWbefore I did not know. T He ot Her morning I saw, and I was told very clearly that it was a karma1 to be worked out; so t Hen I told you, but at t He time I didnt know what it was.
--
If you can w Hen t He attack comes, if you can cling to something that knows, or to something in you that has had t He experience, and if you can hold onto that memory, even if it is only a memory, and cling to that in spite of all that denies and revolts Above all not To keep your Head as still as possible. And not follow t He movement, not succumb to t He vibration.
Because from what I have seen and from what I was told, I am sure that it is decisive, that what is offered to you is t He possibility of a decisive victory, which means that it will no longer recur in t He same way.
0 1958-11-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
My immediate impression was that you were being put in direct contact with this this sort of Fatality that Here t Hey call karma, which is t He consequence yes, something that must be exhausted, something that remains in t He consciousness.
This is how it works: t He psychic being passes from one life to anot Her, but t Here are cases in which t He 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 t He life w Here t He experience is to be made, it can happen (t Here may be more than one reason) that t He soul does not come down accurately in t He place it should have, some shift or ot Her may occur, a set of contrary circumstancesthis happens sometimesand t Hen t He incarnation miscarries entirely and t He soul leaves. But in ot Her cases, t He soul is simply placed in t He 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 t Hen that creates in it t He necessity to begin t He experience all over again, and in much more difficult conditions.
And ifit can happenif t He second attempt also miscarries, if t He conditions make t He experience t He soul is seeking still more difficult for example, if one is in a body with an inadequate will or some distortion in t He thought, or an egoism too too hardened, and it ends in suicide, it is dreadful. I have seen this many times, it creates a dreadful karma that can be repeated for lifetimes on end before t He soul can conquer it and manage to do what it wants. And each time, t He conditions become more difficult, each time it requires a still greater effort. And people who know this say, You cannot get out! In fact, it is this kind of desire to escape which pus Hes you into more foolish things3 that result in a still greater accumulation of difficulty. T Here are momentsmoments and circumstancesw Hen no one is t Here to Help you, and t Hen things become so horrible, t He circumstances become so abominable.
But if t He soul has had but ONE call, but ONE contact with t He Grace, t Hen in your next life you are put in t He conditions, once, w Hereby EVERYTHING can be swept away at one stroke. And at this present moment on earth, you cannot imagine t He number of people I have met that is, t He number of soulswho had reac Hed out towards this possibility with such an intensity and t Hey have all found t Hemselves on my path.
--
But because it is karma, one must, one must DO something oneself. Karma is t He construction of t He ego; t He ego MUST DO something, everything cannot be done for it. This is it, THIS is t He thing: karma is t He result of t He egos actions, and only w Hen t He ego abdicates is t He karma dissolved. One can Help it along, one can assist it, give it strength, bestow courage upon it, but t He ego must t Hen make use of it.
(silence)
--
And t Hen I saw a GREAT light, like a glory, w Hen you were at Rameswaram. A great light. And w Hen you returned Here, this light was upon you, very strong and imposing. But at t He same time, I felt that it needed protectingto be shielded, protected that it was not yet establis Hed. Establis Hed, ready to resist all that decomposes an experience. I would have liked to have kept you apart, under a glass case, but t Hen I saw that this would have drawbacks as well as advantages. Also, I liked t He way you wanted to fight against an uncompre Hending reception due to your orange robes and your shaved Head. Of course, it was a much shorter path than t He ot Her, but it was more difficult.
And t Hen, more and more, I felt that if what I saw, as I saw it, could be realized I saw two things: a journeynot at all a pilgrimage as it is commonly understooda journey towards solitude in arduous conditions, and a sojourn in a very severe solitude, facing t He mountains, in arduous physical conditions. T He contact with this majesty of Nature has a great influence upon t He ego at certain moments: it has t He power to dissolve it. But all this complication, all t Hese organized pilgrimages, all that it brings in t He whole petty side of human life which spoils everything
--
As soon as you had left, and since I was following you, I saw that nothing of t He kind was going to happen, but rat Her something very superficial which would not be of much use. And w Hen I received your letters and saw that you were in difficulty, I did something. T Here are places that are favorable for occult experiences. Benares is one of t Hese places, t He atmosp Here t Here is filled with vibrations of occult forces, and if one has t He slightest capacity, it spontaneously develops t Here, in t He same way that a spiritual aspiration develops very strongly and spontaneously as soon as one lands in India. T Hese are Graces. Graces, because it is t He destiny of t He country, it has been so throughout its history, and because India has always been turned much more towards t He Heights and t He inner depths than towards t He outer world. Now, it is in t He process of losing all that and wallowing in t He mud, but thats anot Her story it was like that and it is still like that. And in fact, w Hen you returned from Rameswaram with your robes, I saw with much satisfaction that t Here was still a GREAT dignity and a GREAT sincerity in this endeavor of t He Sannyasis towards t He hig Her life and in t He self-giving of a certain number of people to realize this hig Her life. W Hen you returned, it had become a very concrete and a very real thing that immediately commanded respect. Before, I had seen only a copy, an imitation, an hypocrisy, a pretentionnothing that was really lived. But t Hen, I saw that it was true, that it was lived, that it was real and that it was still Indias great Heritage. I dont believe it is very prevalent now, but in any case, it is still t Here, and as I told you, it commands respect. And t Hen, as I felt you in difficulty and as t He outer conditions were not only veiling but spoiling t He inner, well, on that day I wrote you a short note I no longer recall w Hen it was exactly, but I wrote you just a word or two, which I put in an envelope and sent you I concentrated very strongly upon those few words and sent you something. I didnt note t He date, I dont remember w Hen it was, but its likely that it happened as I wis Hed w Hen you were in Benares; and t Hen you had this experience.
But w Hen you returned t He second time, from t He Himalayas, you didnt have t He same flame as w Hen you returned t He first time. And I understood that this kind of difficult karma still clung to you, that it had not been dissolved. I had hoped that your contact with t He mountains but in a true solitude (I dont mean that your body had to be all alone, but t Here should not have been all kinds of outer, superficial things) Anyway, it didnt happen. So it means that t He time had not come.
But w Hen Here t He difficulties returned and because of t Heir obstinacy, t Heir appearance of an inevitable fatality I concluded that it was a karma, although I knew it with certainty only now.
But I always had a presentiment of t He true thing: that only a VERY COURAGEOUS act of self-giving could efface t He thingnot courageous or difficult from t He material point of view, not that T Here is a certain zone of t He vital in you, a mentalized vital but still very material, which is very much under t He influence of circumstances and which very much believes in t He effectiveness of outer measuresthis is what is resisting.
--
Only, and this is what I wrote to you t He ot Her day which you did not understand: it is precisely at t He most painful point, at t He time w Hen t He suggestions are strongest, that one must hold on. Ot Herwise, it has always to be done all over again, always to be reconfronted. T Here comes a day, a moment, w Hen it has to be done. And now, t Here is truly an opportunity on earth that is offered only once in thousands of years, a conscious Help, with t He necessary Power
But thats about all I know.
--
I dont know. Thats not how I see it, in any case To live in t He forest physically, an intense physical life w Here one is free, w Here one is pure, w Here one is far away Above all, to stop this thing from grinding on, finis Hed with t He Head, and finis Hed with thinking whatever it might be. If t Here is a yoga, it would be done spontaneously, naturally, physically, and without t He least questioning from up t Hereabove all, a complete cessation of that (t He Head).
T He first tantric guru whom t He disciple joined in Ceylon and with whom He travelled in t He Himalayas.
Original English.
0 1958-11-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Basically, t He vast majority of men are like prisoners with all t He doors and all t He windows shut, so t Hey suffocate (which is quite natural), but t Hey have with t Hem t He key that opens t He doors and t He windows, and t Hey dont use it Certainly, t Here is a period w Hen t Hey dont know that t Hey have t He key, but even long after t Hey do know it, long after t Hey have been told, t Hey Hesitate to use it and doubt that it has t He power to open t He doors and windows, or even that it may be advisable to open t Hem. And even once t Hey feel that After all, it might be a good thing, a fear pursues t Hem: What is going to happen once all t Hese doors and t Hese windows open? T Hey become afraidafraid of losing t Hemselves in this light and in this freedom. T Hey want to remain what t Hey call t Hemselves. T Hey love t Heir falsehood and t Heir slavery. Something in t Hem loves it and remains clinging to it. T Hey feel that without t Heir limits, t Hey would no longer exist.
That is why t He 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 t He way men conceive of joy and ease. At Heart, t Here are very few beings who are not enamored of struggle. T Here are very few who would consent to having no darkness or who can conceive of light as anything ot Her than t He opposite of obscurity: Without shadow, t Here would be no painting. Without struggle, t Here would be no victory. Without suffering, t Here would be no joy. That is what t Hey think, and as long as t Hey think like that, t Hey are not yet born to t He spirit.
***
0 1958-11-27 - Intermediaries and Immediacy, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Concerning t He disciple's karma and t He tantric discipline that He is following to dissolve this karma, Mot Her wonders why S He Herself had not been able to dissolve it directly and why it was necessary to resort to intermediaries)
I am used to seeing t He process or t He working of things more from a spiritual point of view, something more universal, w Hereas this needs to be seen from a detailed, occult point of view.
--
One day I had mentioned this to X1 w Hen He was showing me or describing to me t He different movements of t He pujas, t He procedure, t He process of t He puja. I said to him, Oh, I see! For t He action to be immediate, for t He result to be immediate, one must acknowledge, for example, t He role or t He participation of certain spirits or certain forces and enter into a friendly relationship or collaboration with t Hese forces in order to obtain an immediate result, is it not so? T Hen He told me, Yes, ot Herwise it leaves an indefinite time to t He play of t He forces, and you dont know w Hen you will get t He result of your puja.
That interested me very much. Because one of t He obstacles I had felt was that although t He Force was acting well, t Here was a time lag that appeared inevitable, a time element in t He work which seemed unavoidablea play left to t He forces of Nature. But with t Heir knowledge of t He processes, t He tantrics can dispense with all that. So I understood why those who have studied, who are initiated and follow t He prescribed methods are apparently more powerfulmore powerful even than those who are conscious in t He hig Hest consciousness.
What interested me is that in t Heir case (those who follow tantric or ot Her initiations), what is doubtful is w Het Her or not t Hey can succeed in receiving t He response of t He true Power, t He divine power, t He supreme power; t Hey do everything t Hey can, but this question still remains. W Hereas for me, it is t He opposite situation: t He Power is t Here, I have it, but how can I make it act Here in matter? T He process for making it act immediately was missingthough not totally; I know from t He psychological standpoint, but t Here is something ot Her than t He psychological power, t Here is t He whole play of conscious, individualized forces that are everyw Here in Nature and that have t He right to exist. Since it was created this way, it must express something of t He supreme Will, ot Herwise He wouldnt have made use of intermediaries but in His plan, it is obvious that t He intermediary has a legitimate place.
It is like t He story X told me of his guru2 who could comm and t He coming of Kali (something which seems quite natural to me w Hen one is sufficiently developed); well, not only could He commend t He coming of Kali, but Kali with I dont know how many crores of Her warriors! For me, Kali was Kali, after all, and s He did Her work; but in t He universal organization, Her action, t He 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 t Hese forces a consciousness and a certain play of freedom, and this is what makes all t He difference in action. It is in this respect that t He occult system is an absolutely indispensable complement to spiritual action.
T He spiritual action is direct, but it may not be immediate (anyway, thats my experience). Sri Aurobindo said that with t He supramental presence, it becomes immediate and I have experienced this. But this would t Hen mean that t He supramental Power automatically commands all t Hese intermediaries, w Hereas if its not present, even t He hig Hest spiritual power would need a specialized knowledge to act in this realm, a knowledge equivalent to an occult or initiatory knowledge of all t Hese realms. This is why I told X, Well, you taught me many things while you were Here. T Here is always something to learn.
Of course, w Hen t He Supramental is Here, it will be very different. I see it clearly: in moments w Hen it is t Here, everything is turned inside out, and all this belongs to a world to t He world of preparation. It is like a preparation, a long preparation.
It remains to be seen if all this has first to be mastered before t Here is even t He possibility of holding t He Supramental, of FIXING it in t He manifestation. That is t He great difference. For example, those with t He power to materialize forces or beings lack t He capacity to fix t Hem, for t Hese are fluid things which act and are t Hen dissolved. That is t He difference with t He physical world w Here it is this condensation of energy that makes things (Mot Her strikes t He arms of Her chair) stable. All t He things in t He extraphysical realms are not stable, t Hey are fluidfluid and consequently uncertain.3
T He disciple's tantric guru.
--
A few days later, t He disciple left on a journey, t Hen Mot Her fell 'ill.' It was to be t He first great turning in Her yoga: t He beginning of t He yoga of t He cells.
***
--- Overview of noun he
The noun he has 2 senses (no senses from tagged texts)
1. helium, He, atomic number 2 ::: (a very light colorless element that is one of the six inert gasses; the most difficult gas to liquefy; occurs in economically extractable amounts in certain natural gases (as those found in Texas and Kansas))
2. he ::: (the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun he
2 senses of he
Sense 1
helium, He, atomic number 2
=> chemical element, element
=> substance
=> matter
=> physical entity
=> entity
=> part, portion, component part, component, constituent
=> relation
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
=> noble gas, inert gas, argonon
=> chemical element, element
=> substance
=> matter
=> physical entity
=> entity
=> part, portion, component part, component, constituent
=> relation
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
=> gas
=> fluid
=> matter
=> physical entity
=> entity
Sense 2
he
=> letter, letter of the alphabet, alphabetic character
=> character, grapheme, graphic symbol
=> written symbol, printed symbol
=> symbol
=> signal, signaling, sign
=> communication
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
--- Hyponyms of noun he
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun he
2 senses of he
Sense 1
helium, He, atomic number 2
=> chemical element, element
=> noble gas, inert gas, argonon
Sense 2
he
=> letter, letter of the alphabet, alphabetic character
--- Coordinate Terms (sisters) of noun he
2 senses of he
Sense 1
helium, He, atomic number 2
-> chemical element, element
=> allotrope
=> transuranic element
=> noble gas, inert gas, argonon
=> metallic element, metal
=> nonmetal
=> transactinide
=> actinium, Ac, atomic number 89
=> argon, Ar, atomic number 18
=> arsenic, As, atomic number 33
=> astatine, At, atomic number 85
=> bohrium, Bh, element 107, atomic number 107
=> boron, B, atomic number 5
=> bromine, Br, atomic number 35
=> carbon, C, atomic number 6
=> chlorine, Cl, atomic number 17
=> darmstadtium, Ds, element 110, atomic number 110
=> dubnium, Db, hahnium, element 105, atomic number 105
=> fluorine, F, atomic number 9
=> germanium, Ge, atomic number 32
=> hassium, Hs, element 108, atomic number 108
=> helium, He, atomic number 2
=> hydrogen, H, atomic number 1
=> iodine, iodin, I, atomic number 53
=> krypton, Kr, atomic number 36
=> lawrencium, Lr, atomic number 103
=> meitnerium, Mt, element 109, atomic number 109
=> mendelevium, Md, Mv, atomic number 101
=> neon, Ne, atomic number 10
=> nitrogen, N, atomic number 7
=> nobelium, No, atomic number 102
=> oxygen, O, atomic number 8
=> phosphorus, P, atomic number 15
=> plutonium, Pu, atomic number 94
=> radon, Rn, atomic number 86
=> roentgenium, Rg, element 111, atomic number 111
=> rutherfordium, Rf, unnilquadium, Unq, element 104, atomic number 104
=> seaborgium, Sg, element 106, atomic number 106
=> selenium, Se, atomic number 34
=> silicon, Si, atomic number 14
=> sulfur, S, sulphur, atomic number 16
=> tellurium, Te, atomic number 52
=> ununbium, Uub, element 112, atomic number 112
=> ununhexium, Uuh, element 116, atomic number 116
=> ununpentium, Uup, element 115, atomic number 115
=> ununquadium, Uuq, element 114, atomic number 114
=> ununtrium, Uut, element 113, atomic number 113
=> xenon, Xe, atomic number 54
=> trace element
-> noble gas, inert gas, argonon
=> argon, Ar, atomic number 18
=> helium, He, atomic number 2
=> krypton, Kr, atomic number 36
=> neon, Ne, atomic number 10
=> radon, Rn, atomic number 86
=> xenon, Xe, atomic number 54
Sense 2
he
-> letter, letter of the alphabet, alphabetic character
=> ascender
=> descender
=> digraph, digram
=> initial
=> A, a
=> B, b
=> C, c
=> D, d
=> E, e
=> F, f
=> G, g
=> H, h
=> I, i
=> J, j
=> K, k
=> L, l
=> M, m
=> N, n
=> O, o
=> P, p
=> Q, q
=> R, r
=> S, s
=> T, t
=> U, u
=> V, v
=> W, w, double-u
=> X, x, ex
=> Y, y, wye
=> Z, z, zee, zed, ezed, izzard
=> alpha
=> beta
=> gamma
=> delta
=> epsilon
=> zeta
=> eta
=> theta
=> iota
=> kappa
=> lambda
=> mu
=> nu
=> xi
=> omicron
=> pi
=> rho
=> sigma
=> tau
=> upsilon
=> phi
=> chi, khi
=> psi
=> omega
=> aleph
=> beth
=> gimel
=> daleth
=> he
=> waw
=> zayin
=> heth
=> teth
=> yodh
=> kaph
=> lamedh
=> mem
=> nun
=> samekh
=> ayin
=> pe
=> sadhe
=> qoph
=> resh
=> sin
=> shin
=> taw
=> polyphone, polyphonic letter
=> block letter, block capital
=> vowel
=> consonant
--- Grep of noun he
absinthe
ache
adrenarche
agastache
air attache
anastrophe
antistrophe
apache
apostrophe
army attache
arthur ashe
arthur robert ashe
ashe
attache
avalanche
backache
barouche
bathe
bathyscaphe
bay of campeche
bellyache
bench lathe
bethe
boche
brahe
brioche
bunche
cache
calanthe
caleche
caliche
callitriche
campeche
caroche
carte blanche
cartouche
catananche
catastrophe
chiricahua apache
cliche
cloche
cluster headache
comanche
creche
creme de menthe
cultural attache
demarche
disk cache
douche
earache
ecological niche
elaphe
emmanthe
epistrophe
ergun he
erysiphe
food cache
friedrich wilhelm nietzsche
garden orache
gentiana pneumonanthe
genus agastache
genus calanthe
genus callitriche
genus catananche
genus elaphe
genus emmanthe
genus erysiphe
genus hyperoglyphe
genus oenanthe
genus rhodanthe
goethe
golfo de campeche
gouache
guilloche
gulf of campeche
hans albrecht bethe
hans bethe
he
he-goat
he-huckleberry
he-man
head
head-shrinker
head ache
head blight
head cabbage
head cabbage plant
head cold
head count
head covering
head crash
head game
head gasket
head gate
head honcho
head lettuce
head lice
head linesman
head louse
head nurse
head of hair
head of household
head of state
head register
head restraint
head rhyme
head sea
head shop
head smut
head start
head teacher
head tone
head trip
head voice
head word
headache
headache powder
headband
headboard
headcheese
headcount
headcounter
headdress
header
headfast
headfish
headful
headgear
headhunter
heading
headlamp
headland
headlight
headline
headliner
headlinese
headlock
headman
headmaster
headmastership
headmistress
headmistressship
headphone
headpiece
headpin
headquarters
headquarters staff
headrace
headrest
headroom
heads-up
headsail
headscarf
headset
headshake
headshaking
headship
headshot
headsman
headspace
headspring
headstall
headstand
headstock
headstone
headstream
headwaiter
headwater
headway
headwind
headword
heal all
healer
healing
healing herb
health
health and human services
health care
health care delivery
health care provider
health check
health club
health code
health facility
health food
health hazard
health insurance
health maintenance organization
health problem
health profession
health professional
health spa
healthcare
healthcare delivery
healthcare facility
healthfulness
healthiness
heap
heaps
hearer
hearing
hearing aid
hearing disorder
hearing dog
hearing examiner
hearing impairment
hearing loss
hearing officer
hearsay
hearsay evidence
hearsay rule
hearse
hearst
heart
heart-leaf
heart-leaved aster
heart-lung machine
heart-to-heart
heart and soul
heart attack
heart block
heart cherry
heart disease
heart failure
heart line
heart massage
heart monitor
heart murmur
heart muscle
heart of dixie
heart pea
heart rate
heart rhythm
heart specialist
heart surgeon
heart surgery
heart urchin
heart valve
heart ventricle
heartache
heartbeat
heartbreak
heartbreaker
heartburn
heartburning
hearth
hearth money
hearthrug
hearthstone
heartiness
heartland
heartleaf
heartleaf arnica
heartleaf manzanita
heartlessness
heartrot
hearts
heartsease
heartseed
heartsickness
heartstrings
heartthrob
heartwood
heat
heat-seeking missile
heat barrier
heat content
heat dissipation
heat energy
heat engine
heat exchanger
heat exhaustion
heat flash
heat hyperpyrexia
heat lamp
heat lightning
heat of condensation
heat of dissociation
heat of formation
heat of fusion
heat of solidification
heat of solution
heat of sublimation
heat of transformation
heat of vaporisation
heat of vaporization
heat prostration
heat pump
heat rash
heat ray
heat shield
heat sink
heat unit
heat wave
heater
heath
heath aster
heath family
heath hen
heath pea
heath violet
heathen
heathenism
heather
heather bell
heather mixture
heathfowl
heathland
heating
heating element
heating oil
heating pad
heating plant
heating system
heatstroke
heaume
heave
heaven
heavenly body
heavenly city
heavenly jewel
heavens
heaver
heaves
heavier-than-air craft
heaviness
heaving
heaviside
heaviside layer
heavy
heavy cream
heavy hitter
heavy hydrogen
heavy lifting
heavy metal
heavy metal music
heavy particle
heavy spar
heavy swell
heavy water
heavy weapon
heavy whipping cream
heavyheartedness
heavyweight
hebbel
hebdomad
hebe
hebei
hebei province
hebephrenia
hebephrenic schizophrenia
hebetude
hebraic alphabet
hebraism
hebraist
hebrew
hebrew alphabet
hebrew calendar
hebrew lesson
hebrew script
hebrew scripture
hebrews
hebridean islands
hebridean isles
hebrides
hecate
hecatomb
hecht
heckelphone
heckle
heckler
heckling
hectare
hectogram
hectograph
hectoliter
hectolitre
hectometer
hectometre
hector
hector berlioz
hector hevodidbon
hector hugh munro
hedeoma
hedeoma oil
hedeoma pulegioides
hedera
hedera helix
hedge
hedge bindweed
hedge fund
hedge garlic
hedge maple
hedge mustard
hedge nettle
hedge pink
hedge sparrow
hedge thorn
hedge trimmer
hedge violet
hedgefund
hedgehog
hedgehog cactus
hedgehog cereus
hedger
hedgerow
hedging
hediondilla
hedjaz
hedonism
hedonist
hedysarum
hedysarum boreale
hedysarum coronarium
hee-haw
heebie-jeebies
heed
heedfulness
heedlessness
heel
heel counter
heelbone
hefa
heft
heftiness
hegari
hegel
hegelian
hegemon
hegemony
hegira
heidegger
heidelberg man
heifer
height
heights
heilong
heilong jiang
heimdal
heimdall
heimdallr
heimlich maneuver
heimlich manoeuvere
heinlein
heinousness
heinrich boell
heinrich engelhard steinway
heinrich hertz
heinrich himmler
heinrich rudolph hertz
heinrich schliemann
heinrich theodor boell
heinrich von kleist
heinz
heir
heir-at-law
heir apparent
heir presumptive
heiress
heirloom
heisenberg
heist
heitor villa-lobos
hejaz
hejira
hel
hela
helen
helen adams keller
helen hayes
helen hunt jackson
helen keller
helen laura sumner woodbury
helen maria fiske hunt jackson
helen newington wills
helen of troy
helen porter mitchell
helen traubel
helen wills
helen wills moody
helena
helenium
helenium autumnale
helenium hoopesii
helenium puberulum
heleodytes
heliamphora
helianthemum
helianthemum canadense
helianthemum scoparium
helianthus
helianthus angustifolius
helianthus annuus
helianthus giganteus
helianthus laetiflorus
helianthus maximilianii
helianthus petiolaris
helianthus tuberosus
helichrysum
helichrysum bracteatum
helichrysum secundiflorum
helicidae
helicon
helicopter
helicteres
helicteres isora
heliobacter
heliobacter pylori
heliocentric parallax
heliogram
heliograph
heliogravure
heliolatry
heliometer
heliopause
heliophila
heliopsis
helios
heliosphere
heliotherapy
heliothis
heliothis moth
heliothis zia
heliotrope
heliotropism
heliotype
heliozoa
heliozoan
heliport
helipterum
helipterum manglesii
helium
helium group
helix
helix angle
helix aspersa
helix hortensis
helix pomatia
hell
hell's half acre
hell's kitchen
hell-kite
hell-rooster
hell dust
hell on earth
hell raising
hell to pay
helladic civilisation
helladic civilization
helladic culture
hellbender
hellcat
hellebore
helleborine
helleborus
helleborus foetidus
helleborus niger
helleborus orientalis
helleborus viridis
hellene
hellenic
hellenic language
hellenic republic
hellenism
heller
helleri
hellespont
hellfire
hellgrammiate
hellhole
hellhound
hellion
hellman
hello
helm
helmet
helmet flower
helmet orchid
helmetflower
helmholtz
helminth
helminthiasis
helminthic
helminthostachys
helminthostachys zeylanica
helmsman
helmut heinrich waldemar schmidt
helmut schmidt
heloderma
heloderma horridum
heloderma suspectum
helodermatidae
heloise
helot
helotiaceae
helotiales
helotium
help
help desk
helpdesk
helper
helper cell
helper t cell
helpfulness
helping
helping hand
helplessness
helpmate
helpmeet
helsingfors
helsinki
helve
helvella
helvella acetabulum
helvella crispa
helvella sulcata
helvellaceae
helvetica
helwingia
helxine
helxine soleirolia
hem
hemachatus
hemachatus haemachatus
hemagglutination
hemal arch
hemangioma
hemangioma simplex
hematemesis
hematin
hematinic
hematite
hematocele
hematochezia
hematochrome
hematocoele
hematocolpometra
hematocolpos
hematocrit
hematocyst
hematocytopenia
hematocyturia
hematogenesis
hematohiston
hematoidin
hematologist
hematology
hematolysis
hematoma
hematopoeitic stem cell
hematopoiesis
hematuria
heme
hemeralopia
hemerobiid
hemerobiid fly
hemerobiidae
hemerocallidaceae
hemerocallis
hemerocallis flava
hemerocallis lilio-asphodelus
hemiacetal
hemianopia
hemianopic scotoma
hemianopsia
hemiascomycetes
hemicrania
hemicycle
hemidemisemiquaver
hemiepiphyte
hemigalus
hemigalus hardwickii
hemigrammus
hemimetabola
hemimetabolism
hemimetaboly
hemimetamorphosis
hemimorphite
hemin
heming
hemingway
hemiparasite
hemiplegia
hemiplegic
hemipode
hemiprocnidae
hemiptera
hemipteran
hemipteron
hemipteronatus
hemipteronatus novacula
hemipterous insect
hemiramphidae
hemisphere
hemitripterus
hemitripterus americanus
hemizygos vein
hemizygous vein
hemline
hemlock
hemlock tree
hemlock water dropwort
hemming-stitch
hemminge
hemochromatosis
hemodialysis
hemodialyzer
hemodynamics
hemofil
hemogenesis
hemoglobin
hemoglobinemia
hemoglobinopathy
hemoglobinuria
hemolysin
hemolysis
hemolytic anemia
hemophile
hemophilia
hemophilia a
hemophilia b
hemophiliac
hemopoiesis
hemoprotein
hemoptysis
hemorrhage
hemorrhagic cyst
hemorrhagic fever
hemorrhagic septicemia
hemorrhagic stroke
hemorrhoid
hemorrhoidal vein
hemorrhoidectomy
hemosiderin
hemosiderosis
hemostasia
hemostasis
hemostat
hemothorax
hemp
hemp agrimony
hemp family
hemp nettle
hemp willow
hempen necktie
hemstitch
hemstitching
hen
hen-of-the-woods
hen harrier
hen hawk
hen of the woods
hen party
hen yard
henbane
henbit
henchman
hencoop
hendiadys
hendrik antoon lorentz
hendrik frensch verwoerd
hendrik petrus berlage
hendrik verwoerd
hendrix
henhouse
henna
henri becquerel
henri bergson
henri clemens van de velde
henri emile benoit matisse
henri labrouste
henri louis bergson
henri matisse
henri pitot
henri rene albert guy de maupassant
henri rousseau
henri toulouse-lautrec
henri van de velde
henriette rosine bernard
henrik ibsen
henrik johan ibsen
henroost
henry
henry's law
henry alfred kissinger
henry beauclerc
henry bolingbroke
henry cavendish
henry clay
henry clay frick
henry david thoreau
henry engelhard steinway
henry fielding
henry fonda
henry ford
henry ford ii
henry graham greene
henry hobson richardson
henry hubert turner
henry hudson
henry i
henry ii
henry iii
henry iv
henry james
henry john heinz
henry kenneth alfred russell
henry kissinger
henry laurens
henry le chatelier
henry lee
henry louis aaron
henry louis gehrig
henry louis mencken
henry luce
henry m. robert
henry m. stanley
henry martyn robert
henry miller
henry moore
henry morgan
henry norris russell
henry of navarre
henry oscar houghton
henry purcell
henry robinson luce
henry rowe schoolcraft
henry russell
henry spencer moore
henry steinway
henry sweet
henry the great
henry tudor
henry v
henry valentine miller
henry vi
henry vii
henry viii
henry villard
henry wadsworth longfellow
henry ward beecher
henry watson fowler
henry wheeler shaw
henson
hepadnavirus
heparin
hepatic
hepatic artery
hepatic coma
hepatic duct
hepatic lobe
hepatic portal vein
hepatic tanager
hepatic vein
hepatica
hepaticae
hepaticopsida
hepatitis
hepatitis a
hepatitis a virus
hepatitis b
hepatitis c
hepatitis delta
hepatocarcinoma
hepatocellular carcinoma
hepatoflavin
hepatojugular reflux
hepatolenticular degeneration
hepatoma
hepatomegaly
hepatotoxin
hepburn
hephaestus
hephaistos
heptad
heptadecanoic acid
heptagon
heptane
hepworth
hera
heracles
heracleum
heracleum sphondylium
heraclitus
herakles
herald
heraldic bearing
heraldry
herat
herb
herb bennet
herb christopher
herb doctor
herb garden
herb mercury
herb of grace
herb paris
herb robert
herb roberts
herb simon
herb tea
herba impia
herbaceous plant
herbage
herbal
herbal medicine
herbal tea
herbal therapy
herbalist
herbarium
herbart
herbert
herbert a. simon
herbert alexander simon
herbert blythe
herbert clark hoover
herbert george wells
herbert hoover
herbert kitchener
herbert marcuse
herbert marshall mcluhan
herbert marx
herbert mclean evans
herbert spencer
herbicide
herbivore
herbs mercury
herbs robert
herculaneum
hercules
hercules'-club
hercules'-clubs
hercules-club
herculius
herd
herd's grass
herder
herdsman
here
here and now
hereafter
herediatry spinal ataxia
hereditament
hereditarianism
hereditary cerebellar ataxia
hereditary condition
hereditary disease
hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy
hereditary pattern
heredity
hereford
hereness
herero
heresy
heretic
heritage
heritiera
heritiera littoralis
heritiera macrophylla
heritiera trifoliolata
heritor
herm
herman
herman hollerith
herman melville
herman northrop frye
herman wouk
hermann
hermann goering
hermann goring
hermann hesse
hermann joseph muller
hermann ludwig ferdinand von helmholtz
hermann maurice saxe
hermann minkowski
hermann snellen
hermann von helmholtz
hermann wilhelm goring
hermannia
hermannia verticillata
hermaphrodism
hermaphrodite
hermaphrodite brig
hermaphroditism
hermaphroditus
hermeneutics
hermes
hermissenda
hermissenda crassicornis
hermit
hermit crab
hermit thrush
hermitage
hermosillo
hernan cortes
hernan cortez
hernando cortes
hernando cortez
hernaria
hernaria glabra
hernia
herniated disc
herniation
hero
hero of alexandria
hero sandwich
hero worship
hero worshiper
hero worshipper
herod
herod the great
herodotus
heroic
heroic couplet
heroic meter
heroic poem
heroic poetry
heroic stanza
heroic tale
heroic verse
heroica puebla de zaragoza
heroics
heroin
heroin addict
heroin addiction
heroine
heroism
heron
heron's bill
heronry
herpangia
herpes
herpes encephalitis
herpes genitalis
herpes labialis
herpes simplex
herpes simplex 1
herpes simplex 2
herpes simplex encephalitis
herpes simplex virus
herpes varicella zoster
herpes varicella zoster virus
herpes virus
herpes zoster
herpes zoster virus
herpestes
herpestes ichneumon
herpestes nyula
herpetologist
herpetology
herr
herrenvolk
herrerasaur
herrerasaurus
herrick
herring
herring gull
herring hog
herring salad
herringbone
herringbone pattern
herschel
herschelian telescope
hershey
hershey bar
hertfordshire
hertha
hertz
hertzian wave
herzberg
heshvan
hesiod
hesitance
hesitancy
hesitater
hesitation
hesitator
hesperides
hesperiphona
hesperiphona vespertina
hesperis
hesperis matronalis
hesperus
hess
hesse
hessian
hessian boot
hessian fly
hessonite
hestia
heteranthera
heteranthera dubia
heterobasidiomycetes
heterocephalus
heterocercal fin
heterocycle
heterocyclic
heterocyclic compound
heterocyclic ring
heterodactyl foot
heterodon
heterodoxy
heterodyne oscillator
heterodyne receiver
heterogeneity
heterogeneousness
heterogenesis
heterograft
heterokontae
heterokontophyta
heterology
heteromeles
heteromeles arbutifolia
heterometabolism
heterometaboly
heteromyidae
heteronym
heterophil antibody
heterophil test
heterophile antibody
heteroploid
heteroploidy
heteroptera
heteropterous insect
heteroscelus
heteroscelus incanus
heterosexism
heterosexual
heterosexual person
heterosexualism
heterosexuality
heterosis
heterosomata
heterospory
heterostracan
heterostraci
heterotaxy
heterotheca
heterotheca villosa
heterotrichales
heterotroph
heterozygosity
heterozygote
heth
heuchera
heuchera americana
heuchera cylindrica
heuchera sanguinea
heulandite
heuristic
heuristic program
heuristic rule
hevea
hevea brasiliensis
hevesy
hewer
hex
hex nut
hexachlorophene
hexacosanoic acid
hexad
hexadecanoic acid
hexadecimal digit
hexadecimal notation
hexadecimal number system
hexadecimal system
hexadrol
hexagon
hexagram
hexagrammidae
hexagrammos
hexagrammos decagrammus
hexahedron
hexalectris
hexalectris spicata
hexalectris warnockii
hexameter
hexamita
hexanchidae
hexanchus
hexanchus griseus
hexane
hexanedioic acid
hexanoic acid
hexapod
hexapoda
hexenbesen
hexestrol
hexose
heyday
heyerdahl
heyrovsky
heyse
heyward
hezbollah
hezekiah
histamine headache
huang he
huarache
huisache
hyperoglyphe
johann wolfgang von goethe
kobus leche
lathe
lethe
loch linnhe
ludwig mies van der rohe
malebranche
marche
memory cache
menarche
microfiche
mies van der rohe
military attache
moustache
mustache
naval attache
niche
nicolas de malebranche
nietzsche
nouveau-riche
obeche
oenanthe
orache
palatine raphe
panache
panoche
paper-mache
papier-mache
pastiche
penoche
penuche
perleche
pinche
pomme blanche
postiche
psyche
quiche
ralph bunche
ralph johnson bunche
raphe
rhaphe
rhodanthe
river lethe
sadhe
san carlos apache
scaramouche
scathe
schottische
scythe
seiche
sick headache
sinus headache
soutache
spathe
stomach ache
stomachache
strophe
swathe
synecdoche
takahe
tension headache
thelarche
tithe
toothache
tranche
troche
tyche
tycho brahe
walrus moustache
walrus mustache
withe