TERMS STARTING WITH
And adamantine is the evolving Law;
And again, in Book II, Canto VIII, The World of Falsehood, the Mother of Evil and the Sons of Darkness,
And again, in Book X, Canto II, The Gospel of Death and Vanity of the Ideal we find these lines:
Andaja (Sanskrit) Aṇḍaja [from aṇḍa egg + ja, from the verbal root jan to be born] Egg-born, oviparous; the mode of reproduction of birds, reptiles, and fish. In theosophical writings the androgynous human creatures of the early and middle third root-race reproduced themselves by means of huge eggs dropped from the parent-body during the proper season of the year; and that these eggs after a period of incubation in the open air broke, thus freeing the human young, much after the fashion that prevails today among birds and certain reptiles.
Anda-kataha (Sanskrit) Aṇḍa-kaṭāha [from aṇḍa egg + kaṭāha cauldron, semi-spheroidal container, from the verbal root kaṭ to rain, encompass] Shell of an egg; in the Vishnu-Purana (2:4, 7) used for the encompassing shell of the world egg.
Andarah [possibly Sanskrit andhakāra darkness, blindness from andha blind, dark, turbid from the verbal root andh to make blind + kāra making from the verbal root kṛ to do, make; or possibly Sanskrit antarāla midway, intermediate space from antar internal, intermediate + āla probably for ālaya dwelling, asylum] Possibly darkness or intermediate space; used in The Mahatma Letters: “(remember the Hindu allegory of the Fallen Devas hurled by Siva into Andarah who are allowed by Parabrahm to consider it as an intermediate state where they may prepare themselves by a series of rebirths in that sphere for a higher state — a new regeneration) . . .” (p. 87).
Anda (Sanskrit) Aṇḍa An egg; a name of Siva, because of his connection and identification with brahmanda, the egg or world of Brahma. Just as a bird’s egg contains the seed of the chick to be, just so a globe, planet, universe, or any other brahmanda is the world egg containing the seeds of what later in cosmic time will develop forth its essential life powers, whether as a planetary chain, solar system, galaxy, or cluster of galaxies. Each is an anda of Brahma.
And as a power! Not only as a symbol, but as a power.
Andas—in occult writings, Andas is repre¬
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
And do you want to know why he is always represented as a child? It is because he is in constant progression. To the extent that the world is perfected, his play is also perfected—what was the play of yesterday will no longer be the play of tomorrow; his play will become more and more harmonious, benign and joyful to the extent that the world becomes capable of responding to it and enjoying it with the Divine.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 15.
ANDF {Architecture Neutral Distribution Format}
And fastened to a dying animal
And find her in the idols they adore;
And flame-wrapt outbursts of the immortal Word
And following this another sentence.
And further: “the older Horus was the Idea of the world remaining in the demiurgic mind ‘born in Darkness before the creation of the world’; the second Horus was the same Idea going forth from the Logos, becoming clothed with matter and assuming an actual existence” (SD 1:366).
AndhakA. In PAli, "Those from Andhra," a collective designation used by BUDDHAGHOSA, in the introduction to his commentary to the KATHAVATTHU, to refer to the RAjagirīya, SiddhArthika, PuRVAsAILA, and Aparasaila MAINSTREAM BUDDHIST SCHOOLS, which seem to have been related to the CAITYA [alt. Caitiya] school, a collateral line of the MAHASAMGHIKA school.
Andhakara. See ANDARAH
Andhakā
And hopes as dear as could the heart employ
Andhra. In Sanskrit, "Those from Andhra," a Telegu-speaking region in central India now incorporated into the modern state of Andhra Pradesh. See ANDHAKA.
And if it is Paul who thus exhorts us in Hebrews (a book once reputedly his), one might ask: is
And in and through the same, to transmit your
And, in Book II, Canto X, The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Little Mind
And in Book VI, Canto II, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain, Sri Aurobindo speaks to us again of man’s science:
And in the moments of your transient sun
And I saw the seven angels who stand before God;
And it is the repeated and constant descent of the Divine Cons- ciousness and its Force that is the means for the transformation of the whole being and (he whole nature. Once this descent becomes habitual, the Divine Force, the Power of the Mother, begins to work, no longer from above only or from behind the veil, but consciously in the udhara itself, and deals with its diffi- culties and possibilities and carries the Yoga
And it must be a surrender and an opening to the Divine alone and to no other. For it is possible for an obscure mind or an impure life-force in us to surrender to undivme and hostile forces and even to mistake them for the Divine There can be no more calamitous error. Therefore our surrender must be no blind and inert passivity to all influences or any influencei but sincere, conscious, vigilant, pointed to the One and the Highest alone.
AND "logic" (Or "conjunction") The {Boolean} function which is true only if all its arguments are true. The {truth table} for the two argument AND function is: A | B | A AND B --+---+--------- F | F | F F | T | F T | F | F T | T | T AND is often written as an inverted "V" in texts on logic. In the {C} programming language it is represented by the && (logical and) {operator}. (1997-11-15)
AND ::: (logic) (Or conjunction) The Boolean function which is true only if all its arguments are true. The truth table for the two argument AND function is: A | B | A AND B--+---+--------- programming language it is represented by the && (logical and) operator. (1997-11-15)
And made her body the room of his delight,
And now, without interruption, a roster of those many others who, over the years, in greater or
Andorra-I "language" A {parallel} {logic programming} language with the {OR-parallelism} of {Aurora} and the {AND-parallelism} of {Parlog}. ["Andorra-I: A Parallel Prolog System that Transparently Exploits both And- and Or-Parallelism", V.S Costa et al, SIGPLAN Notices 26(7):83-93 (July 1991)]. [Imperial College? Who?] (1995-11-24)
Andorra-I ::: (language) A parallel logic programming language with the OR-parallelism of Aurora and the AND-parallelism of Parlog.[Andorra-I: A Parallel Prolog System that Transparently Exploits both And- and Or-Parallelism, V.S Costa et al, SIGPLAN Notices 26(7):83-93 (July 1991)].[Imperial College? Who?] (1995-11-24)
Andorra Kernel Language ::: (language) (AKL) The successor to KAP by S. Janson .A prototype implementation is available from the author.[Programming Paradigms of the Andorra Kernel Language, S. Janson et al in Logic Programming: Proc 1991 Intl Symp, MIT Press 1991]. (1994-11-24)
Andorra Kernel Language "language" (AKL) The successor to {KAP} by S. Janson "sverker@sics.se". A prototype implementation is available from the author. ["Programming Paradigms of the Andorra Kernel Language", S. Janson et al in Logic Programming: Proc 1991 Intl Symp, MIT Press 1991]. (1994-11-24)
Andorra-Prolog "language" ["Andorra-Prolog: An Integration of Prolog and Committed Choice Languages", S. Haridi et al, Intl Conf Fifth Gen Comp Sys 1988, ICOT 1988]. (1995-11-24)
Andorra-Prolog ::: (language)[Andorra-Prolog: An Integration of Prolog and Committed Choice Languages, S. Haridi et al, Intl Conf Fifth Gen Comp Sys 1988, ICOT 1988]. (1995-11-24)
And perfect sincerity comes when at the centre of the being there is the consciousness of the divine Presence, the consciousness of the divine Will, and when the entire being, like a luminous, clear, transparent whole, expresses this in all its details. This indeed is true sincerity. CWMCE Questions and Answers Vol. 6*
And perfect sincerity comes when at the centre of the being there is the consciousness of the divine Presence, the consciousness of the divine Will, and when the entire being, like a luminous, clear, transparent whole, expresses this in all its details. This indeed is true sincerity. CWMCE Questions and Answers Vol. 6
Andrei Markov "person" 1856-1922. The Russian mathematician, after who {Markov chains} were named. {Biography (http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Markov.html)}. [Other contributions?] (1995-10-06)
Andrei Markov ::: (person) 1856-1922. The Russian mathematician, after who Markov chains were named. .[Other contributions?] (1995-10-06)
Andrew File System ::: (operating system, storage) (AFS) The distributed file system of the Andrew Project, adopted by the OSF as part of their Distributed Computing Environment. . (1994-11-24)
Andrew File System "operating system, storage" (AFS) The distributed {file system} of the {Andrew Project}, adopted by the {OSF} as part of their {Distributed Computing Environment}. {Frequently Asked Questions (http://transarc.com/Product/AFS/FAQ/faq.html)}. (1994-11-24)
Andrew Fluegelman ::: (person) A successful attorney, editor of PC World Magazine, and author of the MS-DOS communications program PC-TALK III, written in 1982. He once owned the trademark freeware but it wasn't enforced after his disappearance.In 1985, Fluegelman was diagnosed with cancer. He was last seen a week later, on 1985-07-06, when he left his Marin County home to go to his office in Tiburon. He called his wife later that day and has not been heard from since. His car was found at Vista Point on the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge.[San Francisco Examiner Sunday Magazine, October 1985]. . . .(2003-07-25)
Andrew Fluegelman "person" A successful attorney, editor of {PC World Magazine}, and author of the {MS-DOS} communications program {PC-TALK III}, written in 1982. He once owned the trademark "{freeware}" but it wasn't enforced after his disappearance. In 1985, Fluegelman was diagnosed with cancer. He was last seen a week later, on 1985-07-06, when he left his Marin County home to go to his office in Tiburon. He called his wife later that day and has not been heard from since. His car was found at Vista Point on the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. [San Francisco Examiner Sunday Magazine, October 1985]. {Shareware history (http://paulspicks.com/history.asp)}. {NEWSBYTES article (http://textfiles.fisher.hu/news/freeware.txt)}. {(http://doenetwork.bravepages.com/579dmca.html)}. (2003-07-25)
Andrew Message System "messaging" A {multimedia} interface to {electronic mail} and {bulletin boards}, developed as part of the {Andrew Project}. (1994-11-24)
Andrew Message System ::: (messaging) A multimedia interface to electronic mail and bulletin boards, developed as part of the Andrew Project. (1994-11-24)
Andrew Project "project" A distributed system project for support of educational and research computing at {Carnegie Mellon University}, named after Andrew Carnegie, an American philanthropist who provided money to establish CMU. See also {Andrew File System}, {Andrew Message System}, {Andrew Toolkit}, {class}. {Home FTP (ftp://emsworth.andrew.cmu.edu)}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.soft-sys.andrew}. [More detail?] (1997-11-17)
Andrew Project ::: (project) A distributed system project for support of educational and research computing at Carnegie Mellon University, named after Andrew Carnegie, an American philanthropist who provided money to establish CMU.See also Andrew File System, Andrew Message System, Andrew Toolkit, class. .Usenet newsgroup: comp.soft-sys.andrew.[More detail?] (1997-11-17)
Andrew S. Tanenbaum {Andrew Tanenbaum}
Andrew Tanenbaum "person" Professor Andrew S. Tanenbaum (1941-) of the {Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam} in The Netherlands. Tanenbaum is famous for his work and books on computer architecture, {operating systems} and {networks}. He wrote the textbook "Computer Networks", Second Edition, Prentice-Hall, 1981, which describes the {International Standards Organisation}, {Open Systems Interconnection} (ISO-OSI) network model. See {Amoeba}, {Mac-1}, {Mic-1}, {Mic-2}, {Micro Assembly Language}, {MINIX}, {MicroProgramming Language}, {standard}. [Home page?] (1996-04-23)
Andrew Tanenbaum ::: (person) Professor Andrew S. Tanenbaum (1941-) of the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam in The Netherlands. Tanenbaum is famous for his work and books on computer architecture, operating systems and networks.He wrote the textbook Computer Networks, Second Edition, Prentice-Hall, 1981, which describes the International Standards Organisation, Open Systems Interconnection (ISO-OSI) network model.See Amoeba, Mac-1, Mic-1, Mic-2, Micro Assembly Language, MINIX, MicroProgramming Language, standard.[Home page?] (1996-04-23)
Andrew Toolkit "tool" (ATK) A {portable} {user interface} toolkit developed as part of the {Andrew project}, running on the {X Window System} and distributed with {X11R5}. (1995-11-24)
Andrew Toolkit ::: (tool) (ATK) A portable user interface toolkit developed as part of the Andrew project, running on the X Window System and distributed with X11R5. (1995-11-24)
Androgyne [from Greek androgynos man-woman] Hermaphrodite; applied to a dual principle containing both the active and passive powers of nature, as the androgyne ray, the Second Logos, Purusha-prakriti, spirit-matter; to a race, such as the second root-race, whose members are physiologically of both sexes; and in biology to certain animals which have dual sex. Bipolarity, the contrast and interaction between the energic and formative sides of nature, is universally prevalent. Sex is merely a particular and, evolutionally speaking, passing phase of this universal law, and its terms are often used in a purely symbolic sense to define these two sides of nature. We should be careful not to take the symbols literally and ascribe physiological attributes to higher powers.
Androgyne Ray An expression for the second stage of manifestation — the Second Logos in the system of emanations of the logoi; the Father-Mother in the cosmic conception adopted by Blavatsky; and the Sanskrit Brahma-prakriti or Purusha-prakriti. Each is the producing cause of manifestation through its son, the manifested Third Logos, which in a planetary chain is designated as the primordial or originate in Manu Svayambhuva. “These two, Brahma and Prakriti, are really one, yet they are also the two aspects of the one Life-ray acting and reacting upon itself” (OG 97).
Android: A human being produced by means other than natural conception and birth.
And seeming shapes of seeming Energy.
And she being with child cried, travailing in birth,
And still we can recognise at once in the Overmind the original cosmic Maya, not a Maya of Ignorance but a Maya of Knowledge, yet a Power which has made the Ignorance possible, even inevitable. For if each principle loosed into action must follow its independent line and carry out its complete consequences, the principle of separation must also be allowed its complete course and arrive at its absolute consequence; this is Overmind in its descent reaches a line which divides the cosmic Truth from the cosmic Ignorance; it is the line at which it becomes possible for Consciousness-Force, emphasising the separateness of each independent movement created by Overmind and hiding or darkening their unity, to divide Mind by an exclusive concentration from the overmental source. There has already been a similar separation of Overmind from its supramental source, but with a transparency in the veil which allows a conscious transmission and maintains a certain luminous kinship; but here the veil is opaque and the transmission of the Overmind motives to the Mind is occult and obscure. Mind separated acts as if it were an independent principle, and each mental being, each basic mental idea, power, force stands similarly on its separate self; if it communicates with or combines or contacts others, it is not with the catholic universality of the overmind movement, on a basis of underlying oneness, but as independent units joining to form a separate constructed whole. It is by this movement that we pass from the cosmic Truth into the cosmic Ignorance. The cosmic Mind on this level, no doubt, comprehends its own unity, but it is not aware of its own source and foundation in the Spirit or can only comprehend it by the intelligence, not in any enduring experience; it acts in itself as if by its own right and works out what it receives as material without direct communication with the source from which it receives it. Its units also act in ignorance of each other and of the cosmic whole except for the knowledge that they can get by contact and communication,—the basic sense of identity and the mutual penetration and understanding that comes from it are no longer there. All the actions of this Mind Energy proceed on the opposite basis of the Ignorance and its divisions and, although they are the results of a certain conscious knowledge, it is a partial knowledge, not a true and integral self-knowledge, nor a true and integral world-knowledge. This character persists in Life and in subtle Matter and reappears in the gross material universe which arises from the final lapse into the Inconscience. …
And the hushed heart hears the unuttered Word
And the hyperbolic function relate to the corresponding circular function thus.
And the mighty output of a nation’s toil.
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
And these are in fact always acting upon our subliminal selves unknown to our vvaking mind and with considerable effect on our life and nature. The physical mind is only a little part of us and there is much more considerable range of our being in which the presence, infiuence and powers of the other planes are active upon us and help to shape our external being and its activities. The awakening of the psychical consciousness enables us fb become aware of these powers, presences and influences in and around us ; and while in the impure or yet ignorant and imperfect mind this unveiled contact has its dangers, it enables us too, if lightly used and directed, to be no longer their subject but their master and to coroe into conscious and seJf-confroJled possession of the inner secrets of our nature. The psychical consciousness reveals this interaction between the inner and the outer planes, this world and others, partly by an awareness, which may be very constant, vast and vivid, of their impacts, suggestions, communications to our inner thought and conscious being and a capacity of reaction upon them there, partly ako through many kinds of symbolic, transcriptive or representative images presented to the different psychical senses. But also
And to them were given seven trumpets.
And, turned to a common part of divine works,
And until the transfer is complete which always takes time, there must always be as personal contribution, a constant consent to the true Force, a constant rejection of any lower mixture.
AND USE OF A MAGIC CARPET
Andvari (Icelandic) [from and spirit + vari watcher, guardian] In Norse mythology, a dwarf, owner of the treasure around which center the complex events related in the Nibelungen cycle. This gold has a twofold meaning and a markedly twofold effect on the various protagonists who covet it. See also FAFNIR
And yet even there the exactness is only apparent ; the very fact of translation into another substance and another rhythm of manifestation makes a difTcrencc. It is something new that has manifested and it is that that makes the creation worth while.
Andy Tanenbaum {Andrew Tanenbaum}
and 100 inferior spirits. [Rf. Waite, The Leme-
and 3rd sefiroth (q.v.). [R/l Runes, The Wisdom of
andabatism ::: n. --> Doubt; uncertainty.
and Abednego. In conjuring rites, Emmanuel is
and absent from the Second Temple. The Zohar
and according to Levi, Transcendental Magic, the
and according to Rabbi Jochanan commenting on
and according to the testimony of Beliar the devil
and Adramelek
and affably, now, without delay, to manifest that
and after describing Michael’s wings as “of the
and Aker, Arphugitonos, Beburos, Zebuleon.
and Alchemy, p. 128.] In the latter work, Abaddon
and Alchemy, p. 342.
and Alchemy, p. 48.
and all disciples of Christ; he is also one of the 72
and all evil spirit.” [Rf. Thompson, Semitic Magic,
and all the rivers brought forth frogs, and they
and all things that are therein, in virtue of the
and: A logical connective that captures the meaning of our understanding of the everyday word "and". It is used on 2 propositions (say, a and b) therefore it can be considered a binary operation. The proposition a^b (also written a&b - considered as a single proposition) is only true when both of its component propositions are true.
andalusite ::: n. --> A silicate of aluminium, occurring usually in thick rhombic prisms, nearly square, of a grayish or pale reddish tint. It was first discovered in Andalusia, Spain.
and Anael the 6th). Along with Phaniel, Rahabiel,
and an aide to Raphael in the curing of disease, is at the same time a rebel angel in charge of pun¬
and angelic guard of the 5th Heaven. He serves
andante ::: a. --> Moving moderately slow, but distinct and flowing; quicker than larghetto, and slower than allegretto. ::: n. --> A movement or piece in andante time.
andantino ::: a. --> Rather quicker than andante; between that allegretto.
and a principal character in the mystery play by
andarac ::: n. --> Red orpiment.
and a resident of the 5th Heaven. He is invoked
and a series is considered convergent if the sequence of the partial sums of the series convergent.
and, as far as we know, has only one head. The
and as Iofiel). He is credited with having taught 70
and, as punishment, was cast down into the abyss.
and as such is said to have been one of the 3 angels
and Assyrians. See Taylor, Thomas.
and Assyria.]
and as winged and clothed. If an angel is in the
and authorities, the preeminence of the seraphim.”
and avatars. I felt somewhat like Dante, in the opening canto of The Divine Comedy, when,
and Azael on the body of the evil Naamah,
and Azza being the other 2), inhabitants of the
and benevolent angel and is asked to share with
and Blake’s engraving “Behemoth and Levia¬
and Blessed God.”
and brimstone.” 41 Present also, it is reported, were hosts of “angels and seraphim, singing songs
and brother of Og ( q.v .). [Rf. Jung, Fallen Angels
and by Muslims generally (who claim it was Arabic). St. Basil thought it was Syriac. 20 On the
and—by St. Paul—as Satan. Talmud calls Sar
and by the most terrible words: Soab, Sother,
and by the name Elion, which Moses named, and
and by Zanchy, Opera Omnia Theologica. [Rf
and Caesars.” [Rf. Mathers, The Greater Key of
and called forth, it being therefore absolutely
and Camael. [Rf. Conybeare, The Testament of
and chief of invisibility.” An adept must usually
and chief of the order of dominations (equated
and chief of the porters and seal-bearers of the 7
and Christianity. London: Sheldon Press, 1937.
and Clara Winston. New York: Knopf, 1956.
and closely associated with the female Leviathan.
and come at the end of the 4 ages to destroy the
and commands 20 legions of spirits. Spence,
and commands this primordial spirit to be
and ::: conj. --> A particle which expresses the relation of connection or addition. It is used to conjoin a word with a word, a clause with a clause, or a sentence with a sentence.
In order to; -- used instead of the infinitival to, especially after try, come, go.
It is sometimes, in old songs, a mere expletive.
If; though. See An, conj.
and conjure thee, Spirit Alymon, by the most
and constantly bemoaning his apostasy, is called
and constrains the souls of the dead to appear
and Conversion of a Penitent Woman. London: William
and corresponds to netzach (victory). See Blake’s
and creeping things. [Rf. M. Gaster, The Sword of
and Demons According to Lactantius. The passage
and demons. There is a tradition that the great
and desire, without wile or falsehood. Otherwise
and devils are bearing away the souls of the blessed and/or damned, or fighting for possession of
and devils are shown withdrawing the souls of the dead or dying (left) while in the air seraphim
and discoveries of the fallen angels. After the
and distinct “vessels of iniquity,” showing Abaddon with tawny hair and Roman nose, Apollyon with russet beard
and divine. In his earthly incarnation he was the
and dread. [Rf 3 Enoch', Muller, History of Jewish
and Duma. The fate of Rahab we know: he was drowned, along with the Egyptian horsemen.
andean ::: a. --> Pertaining to the Andes.
and Early Christianity, p. 43.]
and Early Christianity, p. 43, who claims the name
and earthly creatures, do not reproduce their kind.
and Edem), told in the Alphabet of Ben Sira, God
and Enoch lore.]
and enter before the glory of the Lord.”
and entrusted with the hidden things reserved for
and equated likewise with the cherubim, are under
and equated with the prince of the presence; also
andEschiel, all these angels’ names being set down
and Esdras IV. This would place Zerachiel in the
andesine ::: n. --> A kind of triclinic feldspar found in the Andes.
andesite ::: n. --> An eruptive rock allied to trachyte, consisting essentially of a triclinic feldspar, with pyroxene, hornblende, or hypersthene.
and eternity and time.” The term has also been
and Eusebius, there occurs this passage: “He who
and Eve; as the “sociable archangel” (Paradise
and Eve and in Armenian MSS. as The Book of Adam).
and Eve from the top of a high mountain, where
and Eve in embrace (lower right) and Satan in
and even before, names many angels (and demons),
and Eve with Satan. See Conybeare; Malan.
and Evil.]
and expelling him from the divine presence.”
and extent, despite every effort at rooting them out. The responsibility is solely mine. I cheerfully
and fire. Mahadeo also has (or had) 5 heads. [Rf.
and “first-born in the highest Heaven of supreme
and forbids them “to come before the Lord of
and for itself: (Ger. an und für sich) An sich is the given primary, latent, undeveloped immediacy. The bare intrinsic and inherent essence of an object. Für sich is a greater, developed intensity of immediacy; an object genuinely independent either of consciousness or of other things; something for itself. In and for itself belongs to the Absolute alone. Its asserted independence is the developed result of its nature and as a system of internal relations it is independent of external relations. -- H.H.
and, for Talmudic sources, Ginzberg, The Legends
and for the best results, it is advisable to recite a
and Gabriel.” As for the size or height of Meta¬
and generally also in Jewish lore. The seraphim
and Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews V, 70, 273,
and God, a kind of ur-Satan (since Ahriman antedates by 1,000 years theJudaeo-Christian image
and goetic texts, the angels of the planet Mercury
and governor of the 2nd day of the month.
and habit. The practice of'rcjcction prevails in the end; but with persona! effort only, it may take a long time. If you can feel the Drt-inc Power working in you, then it should become easier.
and Hagiga 13b.
andham tamah ::: a blind darkness. [Isa 9.12]
andham tamah pravisanti ye avidyam upasate, tato bhuya iva te tamo ya u vidyayam ratah ::: into a blind darkness they enter who follow after the Ignorance, they as if into a greater darkness who devote themselves to the Knowledge alone. [Isa 9]
and has been so pictured (with wings) in The
and head of the order of archangels. [Rf. Christian,
and “heavenly Son of Man” who accompanied
and he has charge of the souls that come up for
and here given, would indicate that “winds” (at
and his angels were cast out with him.” Enoch I
and his colleagues were hurled to the bottom of
and honorable angel, ruler of the 1st legion.” His
and hooked beak.
and “Hymne of Heavenly Love.” In The Complete
and identified or equated with aeons. Shamshiel
and ihe working it is most important not to rely entirely on oneself, but to rely on the guidance of the Guru and to refer all that happens to his judgment and arbitration and decision.
and implacable Shepherd” and “one of the holy
and in 3 Enoch. Sabrael is chief of the order of
and in Budge, Amulets and Talismans. Cukbiel
and in Cordovero’s Pardes Rimmonim (Orchard of
and indulgence, I am happy to record my gratitude to the editorial and production staffs of The Free
andine ::: a. --> Andean; as, Andine flora.
and in Jude. In the latter only, however, is Michael
and in magical rites he could be invoked by any of them.
and in Schmidt. Koptisch-Gnostische Schriften.
and in Targum Yerushalmi, we learn that the language God used at Creation and in the Garden
and Intelligences
and in The Book of the Angel Raziel, ch. 11.
and invention; also one of the 7 planetary spirits.
andiron ::: n. --> A utensil for supporting wood when burning in a fireplace, one being placed on each side; a firedog; as, a pair of andirons.
and is another name for Nathaniel. [Rf. The Sixth
and is “Earth’s great Lord.” Jewish mystics used
and is equated with the personalized angel
and Islamic writings, that angels reached from
and is one of the 12 marquises of the infernal
and is one of the 72 angels bearing the name of
and is the dwelling place of divine wisdom.
and IV) Belzebuth is not an angel but a demon,
and James; also Lightfoot.
and Japhet).
and Jeduthun) were transformed into maestro-
and jesting angel “knocking sense into the head of
and keepers of the celestial records, the cherubim
and kill [N ] because I wish it. Amen,
and “king of the demonic locusts” or “grass¬
and known as ardat lili. The rabbis read Lilith into
and, later, in upper Paradise, as charioteers of God (after Ezekiel encountered them at the River
and leader of the fallen angels in Arabic lore.
and librarians. His corresponding angel is Ater-
and Lilith.” To Cabell, Samael belongs to the
and magician.
and may be invoked ritually by those bom in that
and Mandaean sources we find Liwet and Anael
and Michael were. Iyar is cited in Hyde, Historia
and mind as the light of that activity"; it "uses life and mind characteristically for physical experience, ::: all else being regarded as a
and must be summoned from the north. He is one
and Nakir (q.v.). Another black angel, unnamed,
and Nathanel (Zathael). Now, since the angels of
and not by an opening of themselves to a superior Povver or by the way of surrender ; for the Impersonal is not something that guides and helps, but something to be attained, and it leaves each man to attain it according to the way an^ capacity of his naturc.
and occult works Uriel has been equated or
and Ofaniel for Ofanim; 3. Cherubiel for Cherubim; 4. Zedekiel (Zadkiel) and Gabriel for Shinnanim; 5. Tarshiel
and of course by Metatron, who is the tallest
and of fire that “chant only one hymn and ex¬
and of Pacts (p. 108); and The Lemegeton.
and of Pacts, p. 166. According to legend, Agares
and of Pacts, p. 182.
and of Pacts, p. 184.
and of Pacts, p. 186. In De Plancy, Dictionnaire
and of Pacts.]
and of the order of powers, Amy is now “a great
and of wisdom. Dina is also known as Yefefiah
and one of the 7 angels with dominion over the
and one of the governors of the 12 signs of the
and/or Beliar in The Book of Jubilees and The Book of Adam and Eve. He is Sammael in Baruch III,
and other celestial masters of song. Hermesiel is
and other devils (the angels in the play, good or
and other Jewish apocrypha, and was familiar
and other matter are missing, their absence is not due to oversight but to incompleteness of title-
and others. Cerviel is the preceptor angel of David.
and others) is ascribed, by some writers, the act of
and other spellbinding angels. However, accord¬
and other spellbinding angels. [Rf. The Book of
and pained to be delivered” (Revelation 12:1-2).
and partly of the order of angels)
and partly of the order of powers)
and personified in the angel Raziel (q.v.).
and Powers-, Doresse, The Sacred Books of the
and Powers, p. 11.] Dionysius placed the powers
and power thereof, whereby you are governed
and Practice of Magic 1,318.]
and Practice of Magic I, 303, says: “the genii of the
and Practice of Magic II, 440.] With Uriel, Anael is
and Practice of Magic I.]
and Pravuil, and is associated or identified with
and pre-Christian days, the term angel and daimon
and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament.]
and put water in his belly, I shall send against you
and Rafarel (for Raphael). [R/. Brotz, The Black
and Rahtiel (qq.v.). [Rf Ginzberg, The Legends of
and Ramiel. Urakabarameel was one of the
andranatomy ::: n. --> The dissection of a human body, especially of a male; androtomy.
andra tejas (chandra tejas) ::: lunar (i.e., reflected, indirect) light and energy..Candra Vamsa
and referred to in 3 Enoch. Myriads of these shina¬
and refers to the latter as an angel sent by Satan
and remained for a while outside the heavenly
and reputed author of The Book of the Angel
and restore it to Adam—which Rahab obediently
and Rivals of Christianity II, p. 70.] In the canvases
androcentric: Literally meaning 'man-centred'. Androcentric literature is primarily concerned with man. This is an alternative term for phallocentric.
androcentrism: refers to the tendency of some theories to offer an interpretation of women based on an understanding of the lives of men (see also alpha/beta bias).
androecium ::: n. --> The stamens of a flower taken collectively.
androgen insensitivity syndrome ::: A condition in which, due to a defect in the gene that codes for the androgen receptor, testosterone cannot act on its target tissues.
androgens: hormones whose functions are related to masculine characteristics; the most important is testosterone.
androgynal ::: a. --> Uniting both sexes in one, or having the characteristics of both; being in nature both male and female; hermaphroditic.
Bearing both staminiferous and pistilliferous flowers in the same cluster.
androgyne ::: n. --> An hermaphrodite.
An androgynous plant.
androgynism ::: n. --> Union of both sexes in one individual; hermaphroditism.
androgynous ::: a. --> Alt. of Androgynal
androgyny: gender role identity where an individual possesses both male and female (personality) characteristics.
androgyny ::: n. --> Alt. of Androgynism
androides ::: n. --> A machine or automaton in the form of a human being.
android ::: n. --> Alt. of Androides ::: a. --> Resembling a man.
andromeda ::: n. --> A northern constellation, supposed to represent the mythical Andromeda.
A genus of ericaceous flowering plants of northern climates, of which the original species was found growing on a rock surrounded by water.
andron ::: n. --> The apartment appropriated for the males. This was in the lower part of the house.
andropetalous ::: a. --> Produced by the conversion of the stamens into petals, as double flowers, like the garden ranunculus.
androphagi ::: n. pl. --> Cannibals; man-eaters; anthropophagi.
androphagous ::: a. --> Anthropophagous.
androphore ::: n. --> A support or column on which stamens are raised.
The part which in some Siphonophora bears the male gonophores.
androsphinx ::: n. --> A man sphinx; a sphinx having the head of a man and the body of a lion.
androspore ::: n. --> A spore of some algae, which has male functions.
androtomous ::: a. --> Having the filaments of the stamens divided into two parts.
androtomy ::: n. --> Dissection of the human body, as distinguished from zootomy; anthropotomy.
androus ::: --> A terminal combining form: Having a stamen or stamens; staminate; as, monandrous, with one stamen; polyandrous, with many stamens.
and ruler of the Lord’s Day. Sapiel is a guardian
and Sabath (by night); 7. Araboth, ruled over by
and Sabriel for Tarshishim; 6. Zephaniel for Ishim; 7. Hashmal for Hashmallim; 8. Uzziel for Malakim; 9. Hofniel
and Sammangeloph, Sennoi was dispatched by
and Sarmiel.
and Satan). Center, the beast with the 7 crowned heads. Right, a beast with horns like a lamb, and
and Satans.” On these 4 angels devolves the duty
and saw Akathriel Jah, the Lord of Hosts, seated
and scnsaiion etc. which iahe‘ particular form In him and rise to the surface after they hai-e fot inside.
and secret name of God, or a great luminary whom
and Seraphim, and with unceasing voice I cry,
and serpent’s tail, as he is pictured in De Plancy,
and Seventh Books of Moses are Ebuhuel and
and Seventh Books of Moses (pp. 127-130).]
and Seventh Books of Moses.] Seruf is also credited
and Seventh Books of Moses.
and Seventh Books of Moses.]
and S is half of the sum of the three angles.
and Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,
and sometimes admitted to the presence of God,
and St.John the Divine.
and strong.” The chief intelligences (i.e., angels)
and subject to the East Wind. Hyniel is to be
and Succubi. Latin-English texts. Paris: Isidore Liseux,
and Sun. [Rf. Enoch I, 82:15.]
and Superstition.] In Sefer Raziel (The Book of
and Superstition, or in any of Gershom Scholem’s
and Superstition.]
ands upon thousands of angels appeared, many of
and Symbols.]
and Talismans', Lenormant, Chaldean Magic.]
and Talismans, p. 225.]
and Talismans, p. 389. In this work one finds Och
and Talismans.]
and Talismans ) the rebel angels fell for 9 days.
and talking and going about their business—the Lord’s business—the way men do. 30 Angels in
and Talmudic Tradition.] In The Zohar, Yofiel is a
and Talmudic Tradition, p. 63.]
and Talmudic Tradition, p. 95, believes that Akra-
and Targum, according to Voltaire, “Of Angels,
and terror in the hearts of all who behold them.”
and Texts in Folklore.
and that among the angels were 3 named Time,
and that Belphegor was accredited to France.
and that, hence, Heaven and Hell were very close to each other, at least witmn speaking distance. Purgatory, it will
and that “Paradise was on the right side of God, Hell on the left." In a commentary on Ecclesi¬
and the 12 supernal hayyoth.” Elsewhere in The
and the angel of death (both unnamed). They are
and the angels of peace), not complying with the
and the Avenging Angel.”
and the Burning Bush.”
and the celestial Ephemerae. In his poem “Sandal-
and the Dead Sea Sect. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration
and the dead. There are two Sofriels: Sofriel
and the equivalent of Sar ha-Panim, “prince of the
and the evil genius who governs the month of
and the future. Under his sway, and ready to do
and the Grace will recede from you. Detect first what is false or obscure in you and persistently reject it, then alone can you rightly call for the divine Power to transform you.
and the hair of his head like the pure wool; his
and the infinity of the End; the infinity of the
and the invocation or exorcism of the Salt. [Rf.
and Their Mission-, Doresse, The Secret Books of the
and Their Remains, p. 88, Suriel, along with Erata-
and the Lamas of India.)
and The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran associate the
and the most distinguished of men being caught
and then transmits the prayers to the 7th Heaven
and the power that perseveres and conquers. It is really a habit that one has to get of opening to these helpful forces and either passively receiving them or actively drawing upon them — for one can do either. It is easier if you have the conception of them above and around you and the faith and the will to receive them ; for that brings the experience and concrete sense of them and the capacity to receive at need or at will. It is a question of habituating your consciousness to get into touch and keep in touch with these helpful forces ; and for that you must accustom yourself to reject the impressions forced on you by the others, depression, self-distrust, repining and all similar disturbances.
and there I saw Sammael and his hosts, and there
and the same body; they may find themselves
and the secrets of wisdom.”
and the seraphim by Talmudists as a high order of
and the Son of Man, or the lord of spirits.
and the sun stayed his course; and by the name
and the words “He hath given his angels charge
and they were invoked frequently at the time of
and three subordinate sarim: Jagniel, Rabacyel, and
and to mate with her (Genesis 38). [See Angel of
and “took Moses’ soul with a kiss” (Jude 9). The legend goes on to say that God then buried Moses, but “in a spot
and took over. [Rf. Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam,
and “to whom is given to hurt the earth and the
and two other notorious female spirits of evil
and unbroken adamant of the brazen gates of
and used as an amulet, or for incantation. In the
and Vau, which Adam heard and spoke; and by
and vegetables. [Rf M. Gaster, The Sword of
and vengeance; ruling prince of the first
and Warren, 1930.
and was saved from it by climbing to the roof of
and when may other calamities were visited upon the Jewish people.
and which influenced or colored the accounts in
and “while his feet are under the 7th earth, his
and who, in Tobit, slew the 7 bridegrooms of the
and who revealed himself as “the captain of the
and worshipped by minor kings of the earth. Center (top), angel drops great millstone into the sea.
and wrath in the 7th Heaven. He finds these angels
and writings (where the authors of Isaiah and Eze¬
and Yoma 37a, Raphael is one of the 3 angels that
and Zahrun, conjured down from Heaven to aid
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. Spirited and original; daring; bold. 2. Fearlessly, often recklessly daring; bold; defiant; insolent; brazen; unrestrained by convention or propriety.
1. ‘The beginning and the end," originally of the divine Being. 2. The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.
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.
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.
abide ::: 1. To wait, stay, remain. 2. To remain in residence; to sojourn, reside, dwell. 3. To remain with; to stand firm by, to hold to, remain true to. 4. To continue in existence, endure, stand firm or sure. abides, abode, abiding.
a body of executive officials collectively entrusted with the execution and administration of laws.
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.
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
absolutism ::: an absolute standard or principle.
abstractions ::: things which have no independent existence, which exist only in idea; visionary and unrealistic.
abstruse ::: 1. Concealed, hidden, secret. 2. Hard to understand; difficult, recondite.
accept ::: 1. To take or receive (a thing offered) willingly, or with consenting mind; to receive (a thing or person) with favour or approval. 2. To take formally (what is offered) with contemplation of its consequences and obligations; to take upon oneself, to undertake as a responsibility. 3. To agree or consent to. 4. To regard as true or sound; believe. accepts, accepted, accepting.
acclaimed ::: laid claim to, claimed; demanded as one"s own or one"s due; sought or asked for on the ground of right.
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
accountant ::: one who inspects and audits accounts.
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.
ache ::: a continuous or abiding pain, in contrast to a sudden or sharp one. Used of both physical and mental sensations.
" . . . a compromise is not a solution; it only salves over the difficulty and in the end increases the complexity of the problem and multiplies its issues.” The Synthesis of Yoga
"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.
::: "A cosmic Will and Wisdom observant of the ascending march of the soul"s consciousness and experience as it emerges out of subconscient Matter and climbs to its own luminous divinity fixes the norm and constantly enlarges the lines of the law — or, let us say, since law is a too mechanical conception, — the truth of Karma.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
"A cosmos or universe is always a harmony, otherwise it could not exist, it would fly to pieces. But as there are musical harmonies which are built out of discords partly or even predominantly, so this universe (the material) is disharmonious in its separate elements — the individual elements are at discord with each other to a large extent; it is only owing to the sustaining Divine Will behind that the whole is still a harmony to those who look at it with the cosmic vision. But it is a harmony in evolution in progress — that is, all is combined to strive towards a goal which is not yet reached, and the object of our yoga is to hasten the arrival to this goal. When it is reached, there will be a harmony of harmonies substituted for the present harmony built up on discords. This is the explanation of the present appearance of things.” Letters on Yoga
acres ::: extensive lands.
acrid ::: bitterly irritating to the feelings; of bitter and irritating temper or manner; sharp, biting, caustic.
"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*
A Dictionary of Words and Terms in Sri Aurobindo"s SavitriLexicon of an Infinite MindNarad (Richard Eggenberger)
"Adjustment for practical purposes of rival courses of action, systems, or theories, conflicting opinions or principles, by the sacrifice or surrender of a part of each. . . .” Essays Divine and Human*
admires ::: 1. Regards with pleased surprise, or with wonder mingled with esteem, approbation, or affection; and in modern usage, gazed on with pleasure. admired, admiring. adj. 2. Regarded with admiration; wondered at; contemplated with wonder mingled with esteem, etc.
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.
advent ::: any important or epoch-making arrival. In modern usage applied poetically or grandiloquently to any arrival. advent"s, advents.
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.
aerial ::: 1. Having a light and graceful beauty; airy; ethereal; unsubstantial, intangible; hence, immaterial, ideal, imaginary. 2. Biol. Growing in the air.
"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
"A fabulous tribe of wild, beastlike monsters, having the upper part of a human being and the lower part of a horse. They live in the woods or mountains of Elis, Arcadia, and Thessaly. They are representative of wild life, animal desires and barbarism. (M.I.) Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works.*
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.
aggrandise ::: to make (something) appear greater; to widen in scope ,magnify. aggrandising.
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.
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.
alert ::: fully aware and attentive; wide-awake; vigilant, watchful.
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.
"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 birth is a progressive self-finding, a means of self-realisation.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
::: "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
alloy ::: 1. A substance composed of two or more metals, or of a metal or metals with a nonmetal, intimately mixed, as by fusion or electrodeposition; a less costly metal mixed with a more valuable one, such as that which is added to gold and silver coinage. 2. Admixture, as with good with evil.
"All the limitlessly wise immortals desired and found the Child within us who is everywhere around us.” The Secret of the Veda
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.
alpha and the Omega
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.
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.
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.
amusements ::: pleasurable pastimes of the mind or attention; mental diversions and enjoyments in lieu of more serious matters.
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
"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
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
::: "An executive cosmic force shapes us and dictates through our temperament and environment and mentality so shaped, through our individualised formulation of the cosmic energies, our actions and their results. Truly, we do not think, will or act but thought occurs in us, will occurs in us, impulse and act occur in us; our ego-sense gathers around itself, refers to itself all this flow of natural activities. It is cosmic Force, it is Nature that forms the thought, imposes the will, imparts the impulse. Our body, mind and ego are a wave of that sea of force in action and do not govern it, but by it are governed and directed.” The Synthesis of Yoga —**cosmic forces.**
**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*
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
announcers ::: those who present, give notice and/or tell news.
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.
antinomy ::: opposition between one law, principle, rule, etc., and another.
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.
"A philosophy of change?(1) But what is change? In ordinary parlance change means passage from one condition to another and that would seem to imply passage from one status to another status. The shoot changes into a tree, passes from the status of shoot to the status of tree and there it stops; man passes from the status of young man to the status of old man and the only farther change possible to him is death or dissolution of his status. So it would seem that change is not something isolated which is the sole original and eternal reality, but it is something dependent on status, and if status were non-existent, change also could not exist. For we have to ask, when you speak of change as alone real, change of what, from what, to what? Without this ‘what" change could not be. ::: —Change is evidently the change of some form or state of existence from one condition to another condition.” Essays Divine and Human
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.
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.
apt ::: 1. Having a natural tendency; inclined; disposed. 2. Unusually intelligent; able to learn quickly and easily. 3. Exactly suitable; appropriate.
arabesques ::: 1. Any ornaments or ornamental objects such as rugs or mosaics, in which flowers, foliage, fruits, vases, animals, and figures are represented in a fancifully combined pattern. 2. *Fine Arts.* A sinuous, spiraling, undulating, or serpentine line or linear motif.
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.
archipelago ::: 1. Any sea, or body of water, in which there are numerous islands. 2. A large group or chain of islands.
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.
arc-lamps ::: general term for a class of lamps in which light is produced by a voltaic arc, a luminous arc between two electrodes typically made of tungsten or carbon and barely separated.
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.
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.
"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.
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.
asoca ::: bot.: Saraca indica , Asoka, Sorrowless tree. A small flowering tree native to India with glowing clusters of orange and yellow flowers. asocas.
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 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
"As there is a cosmic Self and Spirit pervading and upholding the universe and its beings, so too there is a cosmic Force that moves all things, and on this original cosmic Force depend and act many cosmic Forces that are its powers or arise as forms of its universal action.” The Life Divine
astonished ::: 1. Amazed, filled with sudden and overpowering surprise or wonder. 2. Filled with consternation; dismayed. astonishing.
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.
austere ::: 1. Severe in manner or appearance; uncompromising; strict; forbidding; stark. 2. Rigorously self-disciplined and severely moral; ascetic; abstinent. 3. Grave; sober; solemn; serious. 4. Without excess, luxury, or ease; severely simple; without ornament. austerity.
authority ::: the power to enforce laws, exact obedience, command, determine, or judge.
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.
**"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.
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.
bacchic ::: of or relating to Bacchus; drunken and carousing; riotously intoxicated.
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.
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.
bald ::: lacking natural growth or covering as bare trees, landscape, etc.
balustrade ::: a rail and the row of balusters or posts that support it, as along the front of a gallery.
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.
banquet ::: a ceremonial meal; a feast; a lavish and sumptuous meal.
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.
barns ::: a large farm building used for storing farm products and sheltering livestock.
barrels ::: large cylindrical containers, usually made of staves bound together with hoops, with a flat top and bottom of equal diameter.
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.
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
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.
banded ::: united, allied as a group.
bear ::: 1. To carry. Also fig. 2. To hold up, support. Also fig. 3. To have a tolerance for; endure something with tolerance and patience. 5. To possess, as a quality or characteristic; have in or on. 6. To tend in a course or direction; move; go. 7. To render; afford; give. 8. To produce by natural growth. bears, bore, borne bearing.
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.
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
beganst ::: a native English form of the verb, to begin, now only in formal and poetic usage.
behest ::: an authoritative command or directive.
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*
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.
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.
benignancies ::: qualities of kindness, gentleness and benevolence.
bequeathed ::: disposed of (property, etc.) by last will; fig. handed down, passed on.
"Be thyself, immortal, and put not thy faith in death; for death is not of thyself, but of thy body. For the Spirit is immortality.” Essays Divine and Human
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 *
bid ::: 1. To invite to attend; summon. 2. To issue a command to; direct. bids.
bidding ::: an order; command.
binding ::: n. **1. The covering within which the pages of a book are abound. adj. 2.* Fig.* Commanding adherence to a commitment, obligatory.
bindst ::: a native English form of the verb, to bind, now only in formal and poetic usage.
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 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*
bitter ::: 1. Having or being a taste that is sharp, acrid, and unpleasant. 2. Difficult or distasteful to accept, admit; bear or endure. 3. Proceeding from or exhibiting strong animosity. 4. Causing a sharply unpleasant, painful, or stinging sensation; harsh; severe. bitterness.
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.
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.
blindly ::: 1. Without seeing or looking or without preparation or reflection. 2. Without understanding, reservation, or objection; unthinkingly.
blinkered ::: subjective and limited, as in viewpoint or perception.
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.**
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.**
blow ::: 1. A sudden, hard stroke with a hand, fist, or weapon; a stroke. 2. A sudden attack or drastic action. 3. Fig. A sudden shock, calamity, severe disaster experienced by someone. blows.
"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
boisterous ::: rough and noisy; noisily jolly or rowdy; clamorous; unrestrained, excessively exuberant.
bold ::: 1. Fearless and daring; courageous. 2. Clear and distinct to the eye.
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.
bondslave ::: a person in a state of slavery; one whose person and liberty are subjected to the authority of a master. bondslaves.
borderland ::: an indeterminate region esp. the area between two worlds.
borrowed light ::: light reflected and falling on something else. Also fig.
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.
bound ::: n. **1. A leap; a jump. v. 2.** To spring; leap; to advance with leaps or springs: said both of inanimate and animate objects.
bourne ::: 1. A boundary; a limit. 2. A destination; a goal. Also fig. and poetic.
bow ::: a weapon consisting of a curved, flexible strip of material, especially wood, strung taut from end to end and used to launch arrows.
"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
brazen ::: shameless and bold; marked by flagrant and insolent audacity.
breakers ::: 1. Those who break down barriers, etc. 2. Waves that crest and break on the shore or coast. breakers".
breaks out or from ::: bursts or springs out from restraint, confinement, or concealment. Said of persons and things material, also of fire, light, etc.
breaks up. ::: 1. Breaks into many parts; divides or become divided into pieces. 2. Dissolves, disbands, puts an end to, gives up; breaks up a house, household, etc.
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.
breeds ::: a group of organisms within a species, esp. a group of domestic animals, originated and maintained by man and having a clearly defined set of characteristics.
bricks ::: blocks of clay hardened by drying in the sun or burning in a kiln, and used for building, paving, etc.
bridge ::: n. 1. A structure spanning and providing passage over a gap or barrier, such as a river or roadway. bridges, bridge-like. v. 2. To build or provide a bridge over something; span. Also fig. 3. To join by or as if by a bridge; link, connect. bridged, bridging.
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.
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.
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.
broad ::: 1. Wide in extent from side to side; of great breadth. 2. Of vast extent; spacious. 3. Broad in scope; extensive. 4. Clear and open; full; (said of daylight, etc.). broad-based, broad-flung.
broadened ::: v. 1. Became broad or broader; widened. adj. 2. Extended; expanded; in scope or range.
broideries ::: embroidered needle-work designs in gold, silver, and other threads on cloth.
bronze ::: 1. Any of various alloys of copper and tin in various proportions. 2. A moderate yellowish to olive brown color.
build ::: 1. To construct; erect; lit. and fig. (sometimes with up). 2. To mould, form, create. 3. To found, form or construct (a plan, system, etc.) on a basis. 4. To develop or give form to according to a plant or process; create; construct (something immaterial). builds, built, building.
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.
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.
burnished ::: having a smooth glossy appearance ; luster, as rubbed and polished metal.
burnt ::: pt. and pp. of burn.
burst ::: 1. Exploded, flew apart with sudden violence. 2. Came forth suddenly and powerfully as if by pressure or internal force. 3. To emerge, come forth, or arrive suddenly. bursting.
"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.
"But in the path of knowledge as it is practised in India concentration is used in a special and more limited sense. It means that removal of the thought from all distracting activities of the mind and that concentration of it on the idea of the One by which the soul rises out of the phenomenal into the one reality.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
bystander ::: one who is present at an event without participating in it; onlooker; spectator.
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
calledst ::: a native English form of the verb, to call, now only in formal and poetic usage.
callest ::: a native English form of the verb, to call, now only in formal and poetic usage.
calligraphy ::: 1. The art of fine handwriting. 2. An artistic and highly decorative form of handwriting, as with a great many flourishes.
callings ::: 1. (i.e. an animal or bird) that calls. 2. Things or voices that announce or address in a clear and often authoritative voice.
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
callst ::: a native English form of the verb, to call, now only in formal and poetic usage.
calm ::: n. 1. Serenity; tranquillity; peace. 2. Nearly or completely motionless as a condition of no wind. Calm, Calm"s, calms, calmness. adj. 3. Not excited or agitated; composed; tranquil; 4. Without rough motion; still or nearly still. calmer, calm-lipped, stone-calm. *adv. calmly.
Sri Aurobindo: "Calm is a still unmoved condition which no disturbance can affect — it is a less negative condition than quiet.” Letters on Yoga*
"Calm is a positive tranquillity which can exist in spite of superficial disturbances.” *Letters on Yoga
"Calm is a strong and positive quietude, firm and solid — ordinary quietude is mere negation, simply the absence of disturbance.” *Letters on Yoga
"But more powerful still is the giving up of the fruit of one"s works, because that immediately destroys all causes of disturbance and brings and preserves automatically an inner calm and peace, and calm and peace are the foundation on which all else becomes perfect and secure in possession by the tranquil spirit.” Essays on the Gita
The Mother: "Calm is self-possessed strength, quiet and conscious energy, mastery of the impulses, control over the unconscious reflexes.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 14*.
calyx ::: the outermost group of floral parts enclosing the bud and surrounding the base of a flower; the sepals.
camest ::: a native English form of the verb, to come, now only in formal and poetic usage.
camp ::: n. 1. A place where tents, huts, or other temporary shelters are set up, as by soldiers, nomads, or travelers. 2. The people using such shelters. 3. Temporary living quarters for soldiers or prisoners. v. 4. To make or set up a camp. or to live temporarily in or as if in a camp or outdoors. 5. To settle down securely and comfortably; become ensconced. camps, camped.
cam"st ::: a native English contracted form of the verb, to come, now only in formal and poetic usage.
canticle ::: a song, poem, or hymn, esp. one that is religious and praiseful in character.
capable ::: having the capacity or ability; efficient and able.
cape ::: a sleeveless outer garment fastened at the throat and worn hanging over the shoulders.
captain ::: 1. One who commands, leads, or guides others. 2. The officer in command of a ship, an aircraft, or a spacecraft.
captive ::: n. 1. One, such as a prisoner of war, who is forcibly confined, subjugated, or enslaved. captives. v. 2. Those taken and held as a prisoners. captived. adj. 3. Kept under restraint or control; confined. 4. Enraptured, as by beauty; captivated.
carefree ::: free of worries and responsibilities.
carolling ::: singing loudly and joyously.
cart ::: a two-wheeled vehicle drawn by an animal and used in farm work and for transporting goods.
casket ::: a small and often ornate box for holding jewels or other valuables.
caste-mark ::: (In India) a mark, usually on the forehead, symbolising and identifying caste membership.
casual ::: 1. Occurring by chance; accidental. 2. Occurring offhand; not premeditated. 3. Occurring at irregular or infrequent intervals; occasional. 4. Without definite or serious intention; careless or offhand; passing.
catch ::: n. 1. A concealed, unexpected, or unforeseen drawback or handicap. 2. Anything that is caught, esp. something worth catching. v. **3. To take, seize, or capture, esp. after pursuit. 4. To become cognizant or aware of suddenly. 5. To receive. 6. catches, caught, catching.**
cathedral ::: 1. A large and important church of imposing architectural beauty. 2. Of, relating to, or resembling a cathedral.
caught ::: pt. and pp. of catch.
causeway ::: 1. A raised roadway, as across water or marshland. 2. A paved highway.
candid ::: 1. Characterized by openness and sincerity of expression; unreservedly straightforward. 2. Free from prejudice; impartial. 3. Clear or pure 4. Not posed or rehearsed.
candidate ::: a person or thing regarded as suitable or likely for a particular fate or position.
cell ::: biology: The smallest structural unit of an organism that is capable of independent functioning, consisting of one or more nuclei, cytoplasm, and various organelles, all surrounded by a semipermeable cell membrane. cells.
centaur ::: greek Mythology, one of a race of monsters having the head, arms, and trunk of a man and the body and legs of a horse. centaur"s, Centaur, Centaur"s.** ::: *
centurion ::: the commander of a century (100 men) in the Roman army.
chain-work ::: handiwork in which parts are looped or woven together like the links of a chain.
challenge ::: 1. A call or summons to engage in a contest, fight, or competition. 2. A demand for explanation or justification; a calling into question. v. **3. To invite; arouse; stimulate; provoke. challenges, challenged, challenging.**
chameleon ::: any of numerous Old World lizards of the family Chamaeleontidae, characterized by the ability to change the colour of their skin, very slow locomotion, and a projectile tongue.
chapel ::: a place of worship that is smaller than and subordinate to a church.
characters ::: 1. The combination of qualities, features and traits that distinguishes one person, group, or thing from another. 2. The marks or symbols used in writing systems such as the letters of the alphabet.
charade ::: a game in which each syllable of a word, and then the whole word, is acted and the audience has to guess the word.
charge ::: 1. An assigned duty or task; a responsibility given to one. 2. Care; custody. 3. An order, an impetuous onset or attack, command, or injunction. 4. The quantity of anything that a receptacle is intended to hold. v. 5. *Fig. To load to capacity; fill. *charged.
charlatan ::: one who makes elaborate, fraudulent, and often voluble claims to skill or knowledge; a quack or fraud; a flamboyant deceiver.
charmed ::: 1. Delighted or fascinated. 2. Marked by good fortune or privilege. 3. Protected from evil and harm as by a magical power vested in an amulet, etc. 4. Filled with wonder and delight.
chaste ::: pure in thought and conduct.
cheaply ::: in a cheap or stingy manner; at little cost; lit. and fig.
chemic ::: chemical. ::: cheque ::: a written order, usually on a standard printed form, directing a bank to pay money to a person or designated bearer. cheques.
chequerboard ::: a board on which chess and checkers are played, divided into 64 squares of two alternating colours.
chequered ::: 1. Marked by numerous and various shifts and changes. 2. Marked by dubious episodes; suspect in character or quality. 3. Diversified in colour, variegated.
cherish ::: 1. To hold great love for someone; feel love for one. 2. To care for, protect and love —(a person). 3. To cling fondly to (a hope, idea, etc.); nurse. cherished.
cherished ::: treated with affection and tenderness; held dear.
chiaroscuro ::: 1. The arrangement of light and dark elements in a pictorial work of art. 2. *Poetic*: Contrasting sense as in, darkness and light, ‘joy and gloom", ‘praise and blame," etc.
child ::: 1. A person between birth and full growth. 2. A baby or infant. 3. A person who has not attained maturity. 4. One who is childish or immature. 5. An individual regarded as strongly affected by another or by a specified time, place, or circumstance. 6. Any person or thing regarded as the product or result of particular agencies, influences, etc. Child, child"s, children, Children, children"s, child-god, Child-Godhead, child-heart, child-heart"s, child-laughter, child-soul, child-sovereign, child-thought, flame-child, foster-child, God-child, King-children.
childlike ::: like or befitting a child, as in innocence, trustfulness, or candour.
chimaera ::: 1. A mythological, fire-breathing monster, commonly represented with a lion"s head, a goat"s body, and a serpent"s tail. 2. A horrible or unreal creature of the imagination. chimaeras.
chiselled ::: shaped or cut as with a chisel, a metal tool with a sharp bevelled edge, used to cut and shape stone, wood, or metal. chisels.
choose ::: 1. To select from a number of possible alternatives; decide on and pick out. 2. To determine or decide. chooses, chose, chosen, choosing, choosest.
choosest ::: a native English form of the verb, to choose, now only in formal and poetic usage.
chrysolites ::: brown or yellow-green olivine found in igneous and metamorphic rocks and used as gemstones such as topaz, etc.
circean ::: relating to or resembling Circe, the fabled enchantress described by Homer. She was supposed to possess great knowledge of magic and venomous herbs which she offered as a drink to her charmed and fascinated victims who then changed into swine; hence, pleasing, but harmful; fascinating, but degrading.
circuit ::: 1. The act of following a curved or circular route or one that lies around an object. 2. A complete route or course, esp. one that is curved or circular and begins and ends at the point of departure. 3. The boundary line encompassing an area or object. 4. A regular or accustomed course from place to place. circuits.
circumstance ::: 1. A condition, fact or detail attending an event and having some bearing on it; a determining or modifying factor. 2. A particular incident or occurrence. Circumstance.
citadel ::: **A fortress that commands a city and is used in the control of the inhabitants and in defence during attack or siege. citadels.**
citizen ::: a person owing loyalty to and entitled by birth or naturalization to the protection of a state or nation. citizens.
claimest ::: a native English form of the verb, to claim, now only in formal and poetic usage.
claim ::: n. 1. A demand for something as rightful or due. 2. Something claimed in a formal or legal manner as a right or title. claims. *v. *3. To demand, ask for, assert, or take as one"s own or one"s due. 4. To state to be true, especially when open to question; assert or maintain. claims, claimed, claiming, claimest, claimst, death-claimed, trance-claimed.
claimst ::: a native English form of the verb, to claim, now only in formal and poetic usage.
clambers ::: climbs, using both feet and hands; climbs with effort or difficulty; scrambles on all fours. clambered, clambering.
clamorous ::: 1. Full of, marked by, or of the nature of clamour; shouting; noisy, loud. 2. Insistently demanding attention; importunate.
clamour ::: 1. A loud uproar, as from a crowd of people. 2. A vehement expression of collective feeling or outrage. 3. A loud and persistent noise. clamours. clamouring.
clamouring ::: 1. Raising an outcry for; seeking, demanding, or calling importunately for, or to do a thing. 2. Making a clamour; shouting, or uttering loud and continued cries or calls; raising an outcry, making a noise or din of speech.
clarity ::: 1. Clearness or lucidity as to perception or understanding; freedom from indistinctness or ambiguity. 2. The state or quality of being clear or transparent to the eye; pellucidity; brightness, splendour.
clasp ::: n. 1. A grip or grasp of the hand, also reciprocal. 2. Union. 3. An embrace or hug. Also fig. v. 4. To seize, grasp, or grip with the hand. **5. To hold in a tight embrace. clasps, clasped, clasping.**
clear-cut ::: not ambiguous; clear and obvious.
clearing ::: a tract of land, as in a forest, that contains no trees or bushes.
climbst ::: a native English form of the verb, to climb, now only in formal and poetic usage.
climes ::: 1. Poetic: Regions or their climates; atmospheres. 2. The prevailing attitudes, standards or conditions of a group, period, or place.
cling ::: 1. To come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation 2. To hold fast or adhere to as if by embracing. 3. To be emotionally or intellectually attached or remain close to. 4. To hold on tightly or tenaciously to. 5. To remain attached as to an idea, hope, memory, etc. clings, clung, clinging.
clock-work ::: with machinelike regularity and precision; perfectly.
coast ::: 1. The land next to the sea; the seashore. 2. Fig. The frontier or border of a country. coasts.
code ::: 1. A system of symbols, letters, or words given certain arbitrary meanings, used for transmitting messages requiring secrecy or brevity. 2. A systematic collection of regulations and rules of procedure or conduct. codes.
coilas ::: (Most often spelled Kailas.) "One of the highest and most rugged mountains of the Himalayan range, located in the southwestern part of China. It is an important holy site both to the Hindus, who identify it with the paradise of Shiva and also regard it as the abode of Kubera, and to the Tibetan Buddhists, who identify it with Mount Sumeru, cosmic centre of the universe.” Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works
coin ::: 1. A small piece of metal, usually flat and circular, authorized by a government for use as money. 2. A mode of expression considered standard, a symbol; token.
collapse ::: 1. To fall or cave in; crumble suddenly. 2. Fig. To break down suddenly in strength or health and thereby cease to function. collapsed, collapsing.
colonist ::: a person who settles in a new colony or moves into and helps found a colony or new country.
colourful ::: 1. Having striking colour; full of colour. 2. Striking in variety and interest.
coma ::: a state of deep, often prolonged unconsciousness, usually the result of injury, disease, or poison, in which an individual is incapable of sensing or responding to external stimuli and internal needs.
combs ::: a structure of hexagonal, thin-walled cells constructed from beeswax by honeybees to hold honey and larvae.
comest ::: a native English form of the verb, to come, now only in formal and poetic usage.
comet ::: a celestial body that travels around the sun, usually in a highly elliptical orbit: thought to consist of a solid frozen nucleus part of which vaporizes on approaching the sun to form a gaseous luminous coma and a long luminous tail.
comforts ::: a condition or feeling of pleasurable ease, well-being, and contentment.
commandment (‘s) ::: a divine command; an edict.
command ::: n. 1. An order; mandate. 2. The possession or exercise of controlling authority. Command. v. 3. To direct with specific authority or prerogative; order. 4. To give orders. 5. To have or exercise authority or control over; be master of; have at one"s bidding or disposal. commands, commanded.
commerce ::: 1. The buying and selling of goods, especially on a large scale, as between cities or nations. 2. Intellectual exchange or social interaction. 3. Intellectual or spiritual interchange; communion.
commonness ::: the quality of being commonplace and ordinary; undistinguished.
communality ::: a feeling or spirit of cooperation and belonging arising from common interests and goals.
compassion ::: a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. compassion"s.
complainst ::: a native English form of the verb, to complain, now only in formal and poetic usage.
complements ::: 1. Things that complete, make up a whole, or bring to perfection. 2. Things that complete each other when combined and complete the whole.
com"st ::: a native English contracted form of the verb, to come, now only in formal and poetic usage.
conceive ::: 1. To form or hold an idea. 2. To begin, originate, or found (something) in a particular way (usually used in the passive). 3. To apprehend mentally; understand. 4. To be created or formed in the womb; to be engendered; begotten. conceives, conceived, self-conceived.
"Concentration means fixing the consciousness in one place or on one object and in a single condition.” Letters on Yoga
cone ::: 1. A solid whose surface is generated by a straight line, the generator, passing through a fixed point, the vertex, and moving along a fixed curve, the directrix. 2. Anything that tapers from a circular section to a point.
confidante ::: a woman to whom secrets are confided or with whom private matters and problems are discussed.
confused ::: 1. Lacking logical order or sense. 2. *adj. Disordered and difficult to understand or make sense of. *3. Chaotic; jumbled.
conscience ::: that part of one"s mind which holds one"s knowledge or sense of right and wrong; inner knowledge. half-conscience.
conscious ::: 1. Having an awareness of one"s environment and one"s own existence, sensations, and thoughts. 2. Conscious implies being awake or awakened to an inner realization of a fact, a truth, a condition. half-conscious, half-consciously.
*consciousforce. ::: Sri Aurobindo: "In actual fact Mind measures Time by event and Space by Matter; but it is possible in pure mentality to disregard the movement of event and the disposition of substance and realise the pure movement of Conscious-Force which constitutes Space and Time; these two are then merely two aspects of the universal force of Consciousness which in their intertwined interaction comprehend the warp and woof of its action upon itself. And to a consciousness higher than Mind which should regard our past, present and future in one view, containing and not contained in them, not situated at a particular moment of Time for its point of prospection, Time might well offer itself as an eternal present. And to the same consciousness not situated at any particular point of Space, but containing all points and regions in itself, Space also might well offer itself as a subjective and indivisible extension, — no less subjective than Time.” The Life Divine
::: "Consciousness is not only power of awareness of self and things, it is or has also a dynamic and creative energy. It can determine its own reactions or abstain from reactions; it can not only answer to forces, but create or put out from itself forces. Consciousness is Chit but also Chit Shakti.” Letters on Yoga
::: "Consciousness is usually identified with mind, but mental consciousness is only the human range which no more exhausts all the possible ranges of consciousness than human sight exhausts all the gradations of colour or human hearing all the gradations of sound — for there is much above or below that is to man invisible and inaudible. So there are ranges of consciousness above and below the human range, with which the normal human has no contact and they seem to it unconscious, — supramental or overmental and submental ranges.” *Letters on Yoga
::: ‘Consecration" generally has a more mystical sense but this is not absolute. A total consecration signifies a total giving of one"s self; hence it is the equivalent of the word ``surrender"", not of the word (soumission} which always gives the impression that one accepts'' passively. You feel a flame in the wordconsecration"", a flame even greater than in the word offering''. To consecrate oneself isto give oneself to an action""; hence, in the yogic sense, it is to give oneself to some divine work with the idea of accomplishing the divine work.” Questions and Answers, MCW Vol. 4*.
consigned ::: handed over or given into the care or charge of another; entrusted.
consonant ::: a speech sound produced by a partial or complete obstruction of the air stream by any of various constrictions of the speech organs, such as (p), (f), (r), (w), and (h).
constancy ::: the quality of being enduring and free from change or variation.
constellations ::: any of the 88 groups of stars as seen from the earth and the solar system, many of which were named by the ancient Greeks after animals, objects, or mythological persons.
context ::: 1. The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning. 2. The set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, etc.
continent ::: 1. Mainland as opposed to islands. 2. A continuous extent of land. Also fig. continents.
contract ::: an agreement between two or more parties, especially one that is written and enforceable by law.
contrivance ::: 1. The act or faculty of devising or adapting; inventive skill or ability esp. in a negative sense. 2. The act or manner of contriving; the faculty or power of contriving. inventing or making with thought and skill; invention.
contrivings ::: clever and ingenious designs, plans, schemes.
control ::: n. 1. Power to direct, determine or command. 2. A means of regulation or restraint; curb; check. v. 3. To exercise authoritative control or power over. 4. To hold in restraint; check, esp. one"s emotions. controls, controlled, controlling.
converse ::: spoken interchange of thoughts and feelings; conversation.
cope ::: to contend or strive with difficulties and act to overcome them.
cord ::: 1. An influence, feeling, or force that binds or restrains; a bond or tie. 2. Fig. Like a thin rope made of several strands woven together to hold the parts of anything. cords, heart-cords.
corner ::: 1. The position at which two lines, surfaces, or edges meet and form an angle. 2. The area enclosed or bounded by an angle formed in this manner. 3. A region, part, quarter. 4. A remote, secluded, or secret place. corners, corner-Mind.
cosmic force ::: Sri Aurobindo: ". . . universal force and universal consciousness are one, — cosmic force is the operation of cosmic consciousness.” *The Life Divine
cosmic mind ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Nevertheless, the fact of this intervention from above, the fact that behind all our original thinking or authentic perception of things there is a veiled, a half-veiled or a swift unveiled intuitive element is enough to establish a connection between mind and what is above it; it opens a passage of communication and of entry into the superior spirit-ranges. There is also the reaching out of mind to exceed the personal ego limitation, to see things in a certain impersonality and universality. Impersonality is the first character of cosmic self; universality, non-limitation by the single or limiting point of view, is the character of cosmic perception and knowledge: this tendency is therefore a widening, however rudimentary, of these restricted mind areas towards cosmicity, towards a quality which is the very character of the higher mental planes, — towards that superconscient cosmic Mind which, we have suggested, must in the nature of things be the original mind-action of which ours is only a derivative and inferior process.” *The Life Divine
"If we accept the Vedic image of the Sun of Truth, . . . we may compare the action of the Higher Mind to a composed and steady sunshine, the energy of the Illumined Mind beyond it to an outpouring of massive lightnings of flaming sun-stuff. Still beyond can be met a yet greater power of the Truth-Force, an intimate and exact Truth-vision, Truth-thought, Truth-sense, Truth-feeling, Truth-action, to which we can give in a special sense the name of Intuition; . . . At the source of this Intuition we discover a superconscient cosmic Mind in direct contact with the supramental Truth-Consciousness, an original intensity determinant of all movements below it and all mental energies, — not Mind as we know it, but an Overmind that covers as with the wide wings of some creative Oversoul this whole lower hemisphere of Knowledge-Ignorance, links it with that greater Truth-Consciousness while yet at the same time with its brilliant golden Lid it veils the face of the greater Truth from our sight, intervening with its flood of infinite possibilities as at once an obstacle and a passage in our seeking of the spiritual law of our existence, its highest aim, its secret Reality.” The Life Divine
"There is one cosmic Mind, one cosmic Life, one cosmic Body. All the attempt of man to arrive at universal sympathy, universal love and the understanding and knowledge of the inner soul of other existences is an attempt to beat thin, breach and eventually break down by the power of the enlarging mind and heart the walls of the ego and arrive nearer to a cosmic oneness.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
"[The results of the opening to the cosmic Mind:] One is aware of the cosmic Mind and the mental forces that move there and how they work on one"s mind and that of others and one is able to deal with one"s own mind with a greater knowledge and effective power. There are many other results, but this is the fundamental one.” Letters on Yoga
"The cosmic consciousness has many levels — the cosmic physical, the cosmic vital, the cosmic Mind, and above the higher planes of cosmic Mind there is the Intuition and above that the overmind and still above that the supermind where the Transcendental begins. In order to live in the Intuition plane (not merely to receive intuitions), one has to live in the cosmic consciousness because there the cosmic and individual run into each other as it were, and the mental separation between them is already broken down, so nobody can reach there who is still in the separative ego.” Letters on Yoga*
cosmic ::: of or pertaining to the cosmos and characteristic of its phenomena as forming a part of the material universe; infinite.
cosmic Self ::: Sri Aurobindo: "When one has the cosmic consciousness, one can feel the cosmic Self as one"s own self, one can feel one with other beings in the cosmos, one can feel all the forces of Nature as moving in oneself, all selves as one"s own self. There is no why except that it is so, since all is the One.” Letters on Yoga (See also Cosmic Spirit)
"Impersonality is the first character of cosmic self; . . . .” *The Life Divine
"An eternal infinite self-existence is the supreme reality, but the supreme transcendent eternal Being, Self and Spirit, — an infinite Person, we may say, because his being is the essence and source of all personality, — is the reality and meaning of self-existence: so too the cosmic Self, Spirit, Being, Person is the reality and meaning of cosmic existence; the same Self, Spirit, Being or Person manifesting its multiplicity is the reality and meaning of individual existence.” The Life Divine
"But this cosmic self is spiritual in essence and in experience; it must not be confused with the collective existence, with any group soul or the life and body of a human society or even of all mankind.” The Synthesis of Yoga
"It is the Cosmic Self and Spirit that is in and behind all things and beings, from which and in which all is manifested in the universe — although it is now a manifestation in the Ignorance.” Letters on Yoga*
cosmic Spirit ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The Cosmic Spirit or Self contains everything in the cosmos — it upholds cosmic Mind, universal Life, universal Matter as well as the overmind. The Self is more than all these things which are its formulations in Nature.” *Letters on Yoga
"[The Divine in one of its three aspects] . . . is the Cosmic Self and Spirit that is in and behind all things and beings, from which and in which all is manifested in the universe - although it is now a manifestation in the Ignorance.” Letters on Yoga
". . . the cosmic spirit, the one self inhabiting the universe, . . . .” *The Life Divine
"For the cosmic Spirit inhabits each and all, but is more than all; . . . .”The Life Divine
cosmic Truth ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The Cosmic Truth is the view on things of a cosmic consciousness in which things are seen in their true essence and their true relation to the Divine and to each other.” *Letters on Yoga
cosmic Will ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Agni is the Deva, the All-Seer, manifested as conscious-force or, as it would be called in modern language, Divine or Cosmic Will, first hidden and building up the eternal worlds, then manifest, ``born"", building up in man the Truth and the Immortality.” *The Secret of the Veda
cosmogonic ::: relating to a theory or story of the origin and development of the universe, the solar system, or the earth-moon system.
cosmologist ::: one who studies the physical universe considered as a totality of phenomena in time and space.
costume ::: n. A style of dress, including garments, accessories, and hairstyle, especially as characteristic of a particular country, period, or people. costumes. *v. 2. To furnish with a mode of attire, set of garments; dress. *costuming.
couchant ::: 1. Lying down; crouching, with the head raised. 2. (Of an animal) Lying on the stomach with head raised and legs pointed forward.
counterpart ::: one of two parts that fit and complete each another. counterparts.
courage ::: the state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger, fear, or vicissitudes with self-possession, confidence, and resolution; bravery.
court ::: 1. The room or building in which a tribunal sits and justice is administered. 2. A judicial tribunal duly constituted for the hearing and determination of legal cases.
crabbed ::: 1. Difficult to understand; complicated; obscure. 2. Difficult to read; cramped; as crabbed handwriting.
cradle ::: n. 1. A small low bed for an infant, often furnished with rockers. 2. Where something originated or was nurtured in its early existence. cradles v. 2.* *To hold gently and carefully as in a cradle. 3. To hold gently or protectively. cradles, cradled.**
craftily ::: done skillfully in underhand or evil schemes; cunningly; deceitfully; slyly.
crane ::: any of various large wading birds of the family Gruidae, having a long neck, long legs, and a long bill.
crash ::: v. 1. To break violently or noisily; smash; shatter into pieces. crashed, crashing.* n. 2. A sudden loud noise, as of an object breaking. 3. *An act or instance of breaking and falling to pieces.
crawl ::: n. 1. The action of moving slowly on the hands or knees or dragging the body along the ground. 2. A very slow movement or progress. v. 3. To move slowly, either by dragging the body along the ground or on the hands and knees. 4. To advance slowly, feebly, laboriously, or with frequent stops. crawls, crawled, crawling.
creep ::: 1. To move with the body close to the ground, as on hands and knees. 2. To go or approach stealthily or furtively. 3. To move slowly, quietly, or cautiously. creeps, crept.
crept ::: pt. and pp. of creep.
cricket ::: any of several jumping insects with long antennae, known for their squeaking and chirping sounds. crickets".
criedst ::: a native English form of the verb, to cry, now only in formal and poetic usage.
criest ::: a native English form of the verb, to cry, now only in formal and poetic usage.
critic ::: one who forms and expresses judgments of the merits, faults, value, or truth of a matter; esp. one who finds fault.
crookedness ::: fig. The quality of being deceitful and underhanded.
cross ::: 1. A structure consisting essentially of an upright and a transverse piece, upon which persons were formerly put to a cruel and ignominious death by being nailed or otherwise fastened to it by their extremities. 2. A representation or delineation of a cross on any surface, varying in elaborateness from two lines crossing each other to an ornamental design painted, embroidered, carved, etc.; used as a sacred mark, symbol, badge, or the like. 3. A trouble, vexation, annoyance; misfortune, adversity; sometimes anything that thwarts or crosses. v. 4. To go or extend across; pass from one side of to the other: pass over. 5. To extend or pass through or over; intersect. 6. To encounter in passing. crosses, crossed, crossing.
cross ::: Sri Aurobindo: ". . . the cross is the sign of the Divine Descent barred and marred by the transversal line of a cosmic deformation which turns it into a stake of suffering and misfortune. Only by the ascent to the original Truth can the deformation be healed and all the works of love, as too all the works of knowledge and of life, be restored to a divine significance and become part of an integral spiritual existence.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
crown ::: n. **1. An ornament worn on the head by kings and those having sovereign power, often made of precious metal and ornamented with gems. 2. A wreath or garland for the head, awarded as a sign of victory, success, honour, etc. 3. The distinction that comes from a great achievement; reward, honour. 4. The top or summit of something, esp. of a rounded object. etc. 5. The highest or more nearly perfect state of anything. 6. An exalting or chief attribute. 7. The acme or supreme source of honour, excellence, beauty, etc. v. 8. To put a crown on the head of, symbolically vesting with royal title, powers, etc. 9. To place something on or over the head or top of. crowns, crowned.**
cruelty ::: the quality or characteristic of being cruel and delighting in the deliberate infliction of pain or suffering. cruelties.
cult ::: 1. Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing. 2. A specific system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and deity. 3. A group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal. cults.
cup ::: 1. A small open container, usually with a flat bottom and a handle, used for drinking, or something resembling it. cup"s 2. *Fig.* Something that one must endure; one"s lot to be experienced or endured with pain or happiness, as these lines in Savitri:
cupbearers ::: servants who fill and serve wine in cups, as in a royal palace or at an elaborate banquet.
customs-line ::: an area (or line) where a governmental agency checks baggage or merchandise for contraband and goods subject to duty.
cynic ::: 1. A person who believes all people are motivated by selfishness and whose outlook is scornfully and often habitually negative. 2. *adj. *Bitterly or sneeringly distrustful, contemptuous, or pessimistic.
daemon ::: 1. A guardian spirit. 2. *Mythology: A mythological being that is part-god and part-human. *3. A demigod.
dagger ("s) ::: a short, sword like weapon with a pointed blade and a handle, used for thrusting and stabbing.
dank ::: unpleasantly moist or humid; damp and often chilly.
dare ::: 1. To have the boldness and courage to try; venture; hazard; risk. 2. To meet defiantly; face courageously. dares, dared, daring.
dark ::: adj. 1. Lacking or having very little light. 2. Concealed or secret; mysterious. 3. Difficult to understand; obscure. 4. Characterized by gloom; dismal. 5. Fig. Sinister; evil; absent moral or spiritual values. 6. (used of color) Having a dark hue; almost black. 7. Showing a brooding ill humor. 8. Having a complexion that is not fair; swarthy. darker, darkest, dark-browed, dark-robed.* n. 9. Absence of light; dark state or condition; darkness, esp. that of night. 10. A dark place: a place of darkness. 11. The condition of being hidden from view, obscure, or unknown; obscurity. *in the dark: in concealment or secrecy.
darkened ::: 1. Became or made dark by lack of light; lit. and fig. **2.* Fig.* Made dark or obscure in meaning or intelligibility.
dart ::: n. 1. A small, slender missile that is pointed at one end and usually feathered at the other and is propelled by hand, as in the game of darts, or by a blowgun when used as a weapon. 2. Something similar in function to such a missile, as the stinging member of an insect. *v. 2. To thrust or move suddenly or rapidly.* darts.
date ::: 1. A particular month, day, and year at which some event happened or will happen. 2. The time or period to which any event or thing belongs; period in general. 3. The time during which something lasts; duration. dates
day and night
dear ::: 1. Precious in one"s regard; cherished. 2. Loved and cherished: Highly esteemed or regarded. 3. Heartfelt; earnest. dearer, dearest.
"Death has no reality except as a process of life. Disintegration of substance and renewal of substance, maintenance of form and change of form are the constant process of life; death is merely a rapid disintegration subservient to life"s necessity of change and variation of formal experience. Even in the death of the body there is no cessation of Life, only the material of one form of life is broken up to serve as material for other forms of life.” The Life Divine
::: "Death is the question Nature puts continually to Life and her reminder to it that it has not yet found itself. If there were no siege of death, the creature would be bound for ever in the form of an imperfect living. Pursued by death he awakes to the idea of perfect life and seeks out its means and its possibility.” *Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
"Death is there because the being in the body is not yet developed enough to go on growing in the same body without the need of change and the body itself is not sufficiently conscious. If the mind and vital and the body itself were more conscious and plastic, death would not be necessary.” Letters on Yoga
death ::: Sri Aurobindo: "For the spiritual seeker death is only a passage from one form of life to another, and none is dead but only departed.” *Letters on Yoga
debate ::: 1. A discussion involving opposing points; an argument. 2. A formal contest in which the affirmative and negative sides of a proposition are advocated by opposing speakers.
decree ::: n. **1. A formal and authoritative order, esp. one having the force of law. 2. A judicial decision or order. 3. Theol. One of the eternal purposes of God by which events are foreordained. v. 4. To command, ordain, decide by decree. Decree, decrees, decreed, decreeing.**
deep ::: n. 1. A vast extent, as of space or time; an abyss. 2. Fig. Difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge; as an unfathomable thought, idea, esp. poetic. Deep, deep"s, deeps. adj. 3. Extending far downward below a surface. 4. Having great spatial extension or penetration downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or laterally or outward from a center; sometimes used in combination. 5. Coming from or penetrating to a great depth. 6. Situated far down, in, or back. 7. Lying below the surface; not superficial; profound. 8. Of great intensity; as extreme deep happiness, deep trouble. 9. Absorbing; engrossing. 10. Grave or serious. 11. Profoundly or intensely. 12. Mysterious; obscure; difficult to penetrate or understand. 13. Low in pitch or tone. 14. Profoundly cunning, crafty or artful. 15. The central and most intense or profound part; "in the deep of night”; "in the deep of winter”. deeper, deepest, deep-browed, deep-caved, deep-concealed, deep-etched, deep-fraught, deep-guarded, deep-hid, deep-honied, deep-pooled, deep-thoughted. *adv. *16. to a great depth psychologically or profoundly.
defended ::: guarded and protected against attack, assault or injury, etc. star-defended.
defied ::: opposed or resisted with boldness and assurance; unaffected by; resisted or withstood. defying.
deliberate ::: 1. Carefully weighed or considered; studied; intentional. 2. Leisurely and steady in movement or action; slow and even; unhurried.
delicate ::: 1. Distinguishing subtle differences. 2. Of instruments: precise, skilled, or sensitive in action or operation. 3. Marked by sensitivity of discrimination and skillful in expression, technique, etc. 4. Exquisitely or beautifully fine in texture, construction, or finish. 5. Exquisite, fine, or subtle in quality, character, construction, etc. 6. (of colour, tone, taste, etc.) Pleasantly subtle, soft, or faint.
delighted ::: greatly pleased, filled with wonder and delight.
::: "Delight is the secret. Learn of pure delight and thou shalt learn of God.” *Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
delivery ::: the carrying and turning over of letters, goods, etc. to a designated recipient.
delved ::: carried an intensive and thorough research for data, information, or the like; investigated. delves.
demand ::: n. 1. A formal claim. 2. An urgent requirement or need. demands. v. 3. To ask urgently or peremptorily, to claim as just or due. 4. To require as useful, just, proper, or necessary; call for. demands, demanded, demanding.
demigod ::: a mythological being who is partly divine and partly human; an inferior deity. demigod"s, demigods.
demiurges ::: 1. A Platonic deity who orders or fashions the material world out of chaos. 2. (in Gnostic and some other philosophies) The creator of the universe, supernatural but subordinate to the Supreme Being. ::: Demiurges.
denizens ::: inhabitants; occupants; residents, especially of plants or animals and people established in a place to which they are not native.
derelict ::: deserted by an owner or keeper; abandoned; deserted.
desert ::: 1. A region so arid because of little rainfall that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation or no vegetation at all. 2. Any area in which few forms of life can exist because of lack of water, permanent frost, or absence of soil. 3. Any place lacking in something; desolate, barren. deserts.
desert ::: v. To withdraw from, especially in spite of a responsibility or duty; forsake; abandon. deserting.
design ::: n. 1. Purpose, aim, intention, especially with reference to a Divine Creator. 2. Plan or scheme. 3. A combination of details or features; pattern or motif. design"s, designs. *v. 4. To work out the structure or form of (something). 5. To plan and make (something) artistically or skilfully. *designed, designing.
::: "Even Science believes that one day death may be conquered by physical means and its reasonings are perfectly sound. There is no reason why the supramental Force should not do it. Forms on earth do not last (they do in other planes) because these forms are too rigid to grow expressing the progress of the spirit. If they become plastic enough to do that there is no reason why they should not last.” Letters on Yoga
"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 the essence of consciousness is the power to be aware of itself and its objects, . . . .” The Life Divine
"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
**"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 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*
"Indian devotion has especially seized upon the most intimate human relations and made them stepping-stones to the supra-human. God the Guru, God the Master, God the Friend, God the Mother, God the Child, God the Self, each of these experiences — for to us they are more than merely ideas, — it has carried to its extreme possibilities.” Essays in Philosophy and 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 such a view, the word consciousness changes its meaning. It is no longer synonymous with mentality but indicates a self-aware force of existence of which mentality is a middle term; below mentality it sinks into vital and material movements which are for us subconscient; above, it rises into the supramental which is for us the superconscient. But in all it is one and the same thing organising itself differently. This is, once more, the Indian conception of Chit which, as energy, creates the worlds.” *The Life Divine
". . . 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
"It [death] has no separate existence by itself, it is only a result of the principle of decay in the body and that principle is there already — it is part of the physical nature. At the same time it is not inevitable; if one could have the necessary consciousness and force, decay and death is not inevitable. But to bring that consciousness and force into the whole of the material nature is the most difficult thing of all — at any rate, in such a way as to annul the decay principle.” Letters on Yoga
"It is not possible for the individual mind, so long as it remains shut up in its personality, to understand the workings of the Cosmic Will, for the standards made by the personal consciousness are not applicable to them. A cell in the body, if conscious, might also think that the human being and its actions are only the resultant of the relations and workings of a number of cells like itself and not the action of a unified self. It is only if one enters into the Cosmic Consciousness that one begins to see the forces at work and the lines on which they work and get a glimpse of the Cosmic Self and the Cosmic Mind and Will.” Letters on Yoga
"It [the Cosmic Spirit] uses Truth and Falsehood, Knowledge and Ignorance and all the other dualities as elements in the manifestation and works out what has to be worked out till all is ready for a higher working.” Letters on Yoga*
"Man, born into the world, revolves between world and world in the action of Prakriti and Karma. Purusha in Prakriti is his formula: what the soul in him thinks, contemplates and acts, that always he becomes. All that he had been, determined his present birth; and all that he is, thinks, does in this life up to the moment of his death, determines what he will become in the worlds beyond and in lives yet to be. If birth is a becoming, death also is a becoming, not by any means a cessation.” Essays on the Gita
". . . [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
"Mind, life and body, the soul in the succession of Time, the conscient, subconscient and superconscient, — these in their various relations and the result of their relations are cosmos and are Nature.” The Life Divine
"Moreover we see that this cosmic action or any cosmic action is impossible without the play of an infinite Force of Existence which produces and regulates all these forms and movements; and that Force equally presupposes or is the action of an infinite Consciousness, because it is in its nature a cosmic Will determining all relations and apprehending them by its own mode of awareness, and it could not so determine and apprehend them if there were no comprehensive Consciousness behind that mode of cosmic awareness to originate as well as to hold, fix and reflect through it the relations of Being in the developing formation or becoming of itself which we call a universe.” The Life Divine
"Of course, that is the real fact — death is only a shedding of the body, not a cessation of the personal existence. A man is not dead because he goes into another country and changes his clothes to suit that climate.” Letters on Yoga
"Ordinarily we mean by it [consciousness] our first obvious idea of a mental waking consciousness such as is possessed by the human being during the major part of his bodily existence, when he is not asleep, stunned or otherwise deprived of his physical and superficial methods of sensation. In this sense it is plain enough that consciousness is the exception and not the rule in the order of the material universe. We ourselves do not always possess it. But this vulgar and shallow idea of the nature of consciousness, though it still colours our ordinary thought and associations, must now definitely disappear out of philosophical thinking. For we know that there is something in us which is conscious when we sleep, when we are stunned or drugged or in a swoon, in all apparently unconscious states of our physical being. Not only so, but we may now be sure that the old thinkers were right when they declared that even in our waking state what we call then our consciousness is only a small selection from our entire conscious being. It is a superficies, it is not even the whole of our mentality. Behind it, much vaster than it, there is a subliminal or subconscient mind which is the greater part of ourselves and contains heights and profundities which no man has yet measured or fathomed.” Letters on Yoga
"O son of Immortality, live not thou according to Nature, but according to God; and compel her also to live according to the deity within thee.” Essays Divine and Human*
"Perishable and transitory delight is always the symbol of the eternal Ananda, revealed and rapidly concealed, which seeks by increasing recurrence to attach itself to some typal form of experience in material consciousness. When the particular form has been perfected to express God in the type, its delight will no longer be perishable but an eternally recurrent possession of mental beings in matter manifest in their periods & often in their moments of felicity.” Essays Divine and Human*
"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: "As there are Powers of Knowledge or Forces of the Light, so there are Powers of Ignorance and tenebrous Forces of the Darkness whose work is to prolong the reign of Ignorance and Inconscience. As there are Forces of Truth, so there are Forces that live by the Falsehood and support it and work for its victory; as there are powers whose life is intimately bound up with the existence, the idea and the impulse of Good, so there are Forces whose life is bound up with the existence and the idea and the impulse of Evil. It is this truth of the cosmic Invisible that was symbolised in the ancient belief of a struggle between the powers of Light and Darkness, Good and Evil for the possession of the world and the government of the life of man; — this was the significance of the contest between the Vedic Gods and their opponents, sons of Darkness and Division, figured in a later tradition as Titan and Giant and Demon, Asura, Rakshasa, Pisacha; the same tradition is found in the Zoroastrian Double Principle and the later Semitic opposition of God and his Angels on the one side and Satan and his hosts on the other, — invisible Personalities and Powers that draw man to the divine Light and Truth and Good or lure him into subjection to the undivine principle of Darkness and Falsehood and Evil.” The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "Atheism is the shadow or dark side of the highest perception of God.” *Essays Divine and Human
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: "But if the individual is a persistent reality, an eternal portion or power of the Eternal, if his growth of consciousness is the means by which the Spirit in things discloses its being, the cosmos reveals itself as a conditioned manifestation of the play of the eternal One in the being of Sachchidananda with the eternal Many.” *The Life Divine
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: "Chance is not *in this universe; the idea of illusion is itself an illusion. There was never illusion yet in the human mind that was not the concealing [?shape] and disfigurement of a truth.” Essays Divine and Human
Sri Aurobindo: "Concentration is a gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g., the Divine; there can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point. In meditation it is not indispensable to gather like this, one can simply remain with a quiet mind thinking of one subject or observing what comes in the consciousness and dealing with it.” *Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "Consciousness is a fundamental thing, the fundamental thing in existence — it is the energy, the motion, the movement of consciousness that creates the universe and all that is in it — not only the macrocosm but the microcosm is nothing but consciousness arranging itself.” *Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "Consecration becomes in its fullness a devoting of all our being to the Divine; therefore also of all our thoughts and our works.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
*Sri Aurobindo: "Creation is not a making of something out of nothing or of one thing out of another, but a self-projection of Brahman into the conditions of Space and Time. Creation is not a making, but a becoming in terms and forms of conscious existence.” The Upanishads*
*Sri Aurobindo: "Dawn always means an opening of some kind — the coming of something that is not yet fully there.” Letters on Yoga ::: "As the Sun is image and godhead of the golden Light of the divine Truth, so Dawn is image and godhead of the opening out of the supreme illumination on the night of our human ignorance. Dawn daughter of Heaven and Night her sister are obverse and reverse sides of the same eternal Infinite.” The Secret of the Veda
Sri Aurobindo: "Day and Night, – the latter the state of Ignorance that belongs to our material Nature, the former the state of illumined Knowledge that belongs to the divine Mind of which our mentality is a pale and dulled reflection.” The Secret of the Veda
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: "If thou think defeat is the end of thee, then go not forth to fight, even though thou be the stronger. For Fate is not purchased by any man nor is Power bound over to her possessors. But defeat is not the end, it is only a gate or a beginning.” Essays Human and 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: "I suppose the golden child is the Truth-Soul which follows after the silver light of the spiritual. When it plunges into the black waters of the subconscient, it releases from it the spiritual light and the sevenfold streams of the Divine Energy and, clearing itself of the stains of the subconscient, it prepares its flight towards the supreme Divine (the Mother).” (Reply to a question in the chapter Visions and Symbols.) Letters on 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: " Karma is nothing but the will of the Spirit in action, consequence nothing but the creation of will. What is in the will of being, expresses itself in karma and consequence. When the will is limited in mind, karma appears as a bondage and a limitation, consequence as a reaction or an imposition. But when the will of the being is infinite in the spirit, karma and consequence become instead the joy of the creative spirit, the construction of the eternal mechanist, the word and drama of the eternal poet, the harmony of the eternal musician, the play of the eternal child.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "Our sense by its incapacity has invented darkness. In truth there is nothing but Light, only it is a power of light either above or below our poor human vision"s limited range.” *Essays Divine and Human
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: "Spiritual force has its own concreteness; it can take a form (like a stream, for instance) of which one is aware and can send it quite concretely on whatever object one chooses. This is a statement of fact about the power inherent in spiritual consciousness. But there is also such a thing as a willed use of any subtle force — it may be spiritual, mental or vital — to secure a particular result at some point in the world. Just as there are waves of unseen physical forces (cosmic waves etc.) or currents of electricity, so there are mind-waves, thought-currents, waves of emotion, — for example, anger, sorrow, etc., — which go out and affect others without their knowing whence they come or that they come at all, they only feel the result. One who has the occult or inner senses awake can feel them coming and invading him.” Letters on Yoga
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 centres or Chakras are seven in number: ::: The thousand-petalled lotus on the top of the head.
Sri Aurobindo: "The cosmic consciousness is that of the universe, of the cosmic spirit and cosmic Nature with all the beings and forces within it. All that is as much conscious as a whole as the individual separately is, though in a different way. The consciousness of the individual is part of this, but a part feeling itself as a separate being. Yet all the time most of what he is comes into him from the cosmic consciousness. But there is a wall of separative ignorance between. Once it breaks down he becomes aware of the cosmic Self, of the consciousness of the cosmic Nature, of the forces playing in it, etc. He feels all that as he now feels physical things and impacts. He finds it all to be one with his larger or universal self.” *Letters on Yoga
*Sri Aurobindo: ". . . the divine Ananda, the principle of Bliss [is that] from which, in the Vedic conception, the existence of Man, this mental being, is drawn. A secret Delight is the base of existence, its sustaining atmosphere and almost its substance. This Ananda is spoken of in the Taittiriya Upanishad as the ethereal atmosphere of bliss without which nothing could remain in being. In the Aitareya Upanishad Soma, as the lunar deity, is born from the sense-mind in the universal Purusha and, when man is produced, expresses himself again as sense-mentality in the human being. For delight is the raison d"être of sensation, or, we may say, sensation is an attempt to translate the secret delight of existence into the terms of physical consciousness.” The Secret of the Veda
*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: "There are some who often or almost invariably have the contact whenever they worship, the Deity may become living to them in the picture or other image they worship, may move and act through it; others may feel him always present, outwardly, subtle-physically, abiding with them where they live or in the very room, but sometimes this is only for a period. Or they may feel the Presence with them, see it frequently in a body (but not materially except sometimes), feel its touch or embrace, converse with it constantly — that is also a kind of milana. The greatest milana is one in which one is constantly aware of the Deity abiding in oneself, in everything in the world, holding all the world in him, identical with existence and yet supremely beyond the world — but in the world too one sees, hears, feels nothing but him, so that the very senses bear witness to him alone — . . . .” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "There is no difference between the terms ‘universal" and ‘cosmic" except that ‘universal" can be used in a freer way than ‘cosmic". Universal may mean ‘of the universe", cosmic in that general sense. But it may also mean ‘common to all", e.g., ‘This is a universal weakness" — but you cannot say ‘This is a cosmic weakness".” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "There is no ignorance that is not part of the Cosmic Ignorance, only in the individual it becomes a limited formation and movement, while the Cosmic Ignorance is the whole movement of world consciousness separated from the supreme Truth and acting in an inferior motion in which the Truth is perverted, diminished, mixed and clouded with falsehood and error.” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "There is no necessity in the essential nature of mind, sense, life that they should be so limited: for the physical sense-organs are not the creators of sense-perceptions, but themselves the creation, the instruments and here a necessary convenience of the cosmic sense; the nervous system and vital organs are not the creators of life"s action and reaction, but themselves the creation, the instruments and here a necessary convenience of the cosmic Life-force; the brain is not the creator of thought, but itself the creation, the instrument and here a necessary convenience of the cosmic Mind. The necessity then is not absolute, but teleological; it is the result of a divine cosmic Will in the material universe which intends to posit here a physical relation between sense and its object, establishes here a material formula and law of Conscious-Force and creates by it physical images of Conscious-Being to serve as the initial, dominating and determining fact of the world in which we live. It is not a fundamental law of being, but a constructive principle necessitated by the intention of the Spirit to evolve in a world of Matter.” The Life Divine
*Sri Aurobindo: "The typal worlds do not change. In his own world a god is always a god, the Asura always an Asura, the demon always a demon. To change they must either migrate into an evolutionary body or else die entirely to themselves that they may be new born into other Nature.” Essays Divine and Human*
Sri Aurobindo: "The word ‘descend" has various meanings according to the context — I used it here in the sense of the psychic being coming down into the human consciousness and body ready for it.” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "This descent is felt as a pouring in of calm and peace, of force and power, of light, of joy and ecstasy, of wideness and freedom and knowledge, of a Divine Being or a Presence — sometimes one of these, sometimes several of them or all together.” Letters on Yoga
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: "What is God after all? An eternal child playing an eternal game in an eternal garden.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
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: "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 not a void or negation. It is all that is here in Time and beyond Time.” The Upanishads*
"The Absolute neither creates nor is created, — in the current sense of making or being made; we can speak of creation only in the sense of the Being becoming in form and movement what it already is in substance and status.” *The Life Divine
"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 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 cosmic consciousness is that in which the limits of ego, personal mind and body disappear and one becomes aware of a cosmic vastness which is or filled by a cosmic spirit and aware also of the direct play of cosmic forces, universal mind forces, universal life forces, universal energies of Matter, universal overmind forces. But one does not become aware of all these together; the opening of the cosmic consciousness is usually progressive. It is not that the ego, the body, the personal mind disappear, but one feels them as only a small part of oneself. One begins to feel others too as part of oneself or varied repetitions of oneself, the same self modified by Nature in other bodies. Or, at the least, as living in the larger universal self which is henceforth one"s own greater reality. All things in fact begin to change their nature and appearance; one"s whole experience of the world is radically different from that of those who are shut up in their personal selves. One begins to know things by a different kind of experience, more direct, not depending on the external mind and the senses. It is not that the possibility of error disappears, for that cannot be so long as mind of any kind is one"s instrument for transcribing knowledge, but there is a new, vast and deep way of experiencing, seeing, knowing, contacting things; and the confines of knowledge can be rolled back to an almost unmeasurable degree. The thing one has to be on guard against in the cosmic consciousness is the play of a magnified ego, the vaster attacks of the hostile forces — for they too are part of the cosmic consciousness — and the attempt of the cosmic Illusion (Ignorance, Avidya) to prevent the growth of the soul into the cosmic Truth. These are things that one has to learn from experience; mental teaching or explanation is quite insufficient. To enter safely into the cosmic consciousness and to pass safely through it, it is necessary to have a strong central unegoistic sincerity and to have the psychic being, with its divination of truth and unfaltering orientation towards the Divine, already in front in ::: —the nature.” Letters on Yoga*
". . . the cosmic Force, masked as a material Energy, hides from our view by its insistent materiality of process the occult fact that the working of the Inconscient is really the expression of a vast universal Life, a veiled universal Mind, a hooded Gnosis, and without these origins of itself it could have no power of action, no organising coherence.” The Life Divine
"The cosmic Truth is the truth of things as they are at present expressed in the universe. The Divine Truth is independent of the universe, above it and originates it.” Letters on Yoga
"The Cosmic Will is not, to our ordinary consciousness, something that acts as an independent power doing whatever it chooses; it works through all these beings, through the forces at play in the world and the law of these forces and their results — it is only when we open ourselves and get out of the ordinary consciousness that we can feel it intervening as an independent power and overriding the ordinary play of the forces." Letters on Yoga
"The Cross is in Yoga the symbol of the soul & nature in their strong & perfect union, but because of our fall into the impurities of ignorance it has become the symbol of suffering and purification.” Essays Divine and Human*
"The freedom of the Gita is that of the freeman, the true freedom of the birth into the higher nature, self-existent in its divinity. Whatever he does and however he lives, the free soul lives in the Divine; he is the privileged child of the mansion, bâlavat, who cannot err or fall because all he is and does is full of the Perfect, the All-blissful, the All-loving, the All-beautiful. The kingdom which he enjoys, râjyam samrddham, is a sweet and happy dominion of which it may be said, in the pregnant phrase of the Greek thinker, ``The kingdom is of the child."" Essays on the Gita
"The general power of Delight is love and the special mould which the joy of love takes is the vision of beauty.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
::: "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: "Consciousness is the faculty of becoming aware of anything through identification. The Divine Consciousness is not only aware but knows and effects.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol.15*. Consciousness.
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 (to a young person): "It is very simple, as you will see. 1) The Infinite is the inexhaustible storehouse of forces. The individual is a battery, a storage cell which runs down after use. Consecration is the wire that connects the individual battery to the infinite reserve of forces. Or 2) The Infinite is the river that flows without cease; the individual is the little pond that dries up slowly in the sun. Consecration is the canal that connects the river to the pond and prevents the pond from drying up.” Some Answers from the Mother, MCW *Vol. 16.
*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.
::: "Then too we can see that even in the play of the forces and in spite of their distortions the Cosmic Will is working towards the eventual realisation of the Will of the Transcendent Divine.” *Letters on Yoga
::: "The perfect cosmic vision & cosmic sentiment is the cure of all error & suffering; but most men succeed only in enlarging the range of their ego.” Essays Divine and Human
"There is no such thing as death, for it is the body that dies and the body is not the man. That which really is, cannot go out of existence, though it may change the forms through which it appears, just as that which is non-existent cannot come into being. The soul is and cannot cease to be. This opposition of is and is not, this balance of being and becoming which is the mind"s view of existence, finds its end in the realisation of the soul as the one imperishable self by whom all this universe has been extended. Finite bodies have an end, but that which possesses and uses the body, is infinite, illimitable, eternal, indestructible. It casts away old and takes up new bodies as a man changes worn-out raiment for new; and what is there in this to grieve at and recoil and shrink? This is not born, nor does it die, nor is it a thing that comes into being once and passing away will never come into being again. It is unborn, ancient, sempiternal; it is not slain with the slaying of the body. Who can slay the immortal spirit? Weapons cannot cleave it, nor the fire burn, nor do the waters drench it, nor the wind dry. Eternally stable, immobile, all-pervading, it is for ever and for ever. Not manifested like the body, but greater than all manifestation, not to be analysed by the thought, but greater than all mind, not capable of change and modification like the life and its organs and their objects, but beyond the changes of mind and life and body, it is yet the Reality which all these strive to figure.” Essays on the Gita
"The spiritual change is the established descent of the peace, light, knowledge, power, bliss from above, the awareness of the Self and the Divine and of a higher cosmic consciousness and the change of the whole consciousness to that.” Letters on Yoga
"This Divine may lead us often through darkness, because the darkness is there in us and around us, but it is to the Light he is leading and not to anything else.” Letters on Yoga*
"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*
"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
"To me, for instance, consciousness is the very stuff of existence and I can feel it everywhere enveloping and penetrating the stone as much as man or the animal. A movement, a flow of consciousness is not to me an image but a fact. If I wrote "His anger climbed against me in a stream", it would be to the general reader a mere image, not something that was felt by me in a sensible experience; yet I would only be describing in exact terms what actually happened once, a stream of anger, a sensible and violent current of it rising up from downstairs and rushing upon me as I sat in the veranda of the Guest-House, the truth of it being confirmed afterwards by the confession of the person who had the movement. This is only one instance, but all that is spiritual or psychological in Savitri is of that character. What is to be done under these circumstances? The mystical poet can only describe what he has felt, seen in himself or others or in the world just as he has felt or seen it or experienced through exact vision, close contact or identity and leave it to the general reader to understand or not understand or misunderstand according to his capacity. A new kind of poetry demands a new mentality in the recipient as well as in the writer.” Letters on Savitri
::: "Two are joined together, powers of Truth, powers of Maya, — they have built the Child and given him birth and they nourish his growth.” The Life Divine
"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 have to face the future"s offer of death as well as its offer of life, and it need not alarm us, for it is by constant death to our old names and forms that we shall live most vitally in greater and newer forms and names.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
"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
"What we call Chance is a play of the possibilities of the Infinite; . . . .” Essays Divine and Human*
"Yet there is still the unknown underlying Oneness which compels us to strive slowly towards some form of harmony, of interdependence, of concording of discords, of a difficult unity. But it is only by the evolution in us of the concealed superconscient powers of cosmic Truth and of the Reality in which they are one that the harmony and unity we strive for can be dynamically realised in the very fibre of our being and all its self-expression and not merely in imperfect attempts, incomplete constructions, ever-changing approximations.” The Life Divine*
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1 Scandinavian saying
1 Saul Williams
1 Sarum Missal (1514
1 Sartre
1 Samuel Lover
1 Sam Keen
1 Salvador Dali
1 Sakya Pandita
1 Saint Xanthias
1 Saint Vincent de Paul
1 Saint Thomas Aquinas
1 Saint Terese of the Andes
1 Saint Teresa of the Andes
1 Saint Teresa of Ávila
1 Saint Teresa of Avila
1 Saint Senanus
1 Saint Rose of Viterbo
1 Saint Pius X
1 Saint Pedro Pio
1 Saint Maximus the Confessor
1 Saint Maximus of Turin
1 Saint Mark the Ascetic
1 Saint John Eudes
1 Saint John Bosco prophecies
1 Saint Jerome
1 Saint Isaiah the Solitary
1 Saint Irenaeus of Lyon
1 Saint Ignatius of Loyola
1 Saint Gregory of Nyssa
1 Saint Francis Xavier
1 Saint Francis de Sales
1 Saint Francis
1 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton
1 Saint Columba
1 Saint Clement of Rome
1 Saint Clement
1 Saint Clare of Assisi
1 Saint Charbel
1 Saint Catherine of Siena
1 Saint Bruno
1 Saint Bonaventure
1 Saint Benedict of Nursia
1 Saint Basil the Great
1 Saint Basil of Caesarea
1 Saint Arnold Janssen
1 Saint Anthony the Abbot
1 Saint Anthony of Padua
1 Saint Ambrose of Milan
1 Saint Alphonsus Liguori
1 R W Emerson
1 Roshi So
1 Rosa Parks
1 Romans XII. II
1 Romans XIII
1 Roger Zelazny
1 Robert Louis Stevenson
1 Robert Heinlein
1 Robert A. F. Thurman
1 Robert Adams
1 Roald Dahl
1 Richard Feynman
1 Rhonda Byrne
1 Revelations III. 1
1 Revelation I. 18
1 Revelation 7:9-10
1 Revelation 18:4-5
1 Revelation 18:21
1 Rembrandt
1 Raymond Chandler
1 Randy M.
1 Ramesh Balsekar
1 Rajneesh
1 Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto
1 Quran
1 Publilius Syrus
1 Psalms XXXVII. 27
1 Psalm 112:4
1 Proverbs XXIV. 16
1 Proverbs XVII. 27
1 Proverbs XIV. 22
1 Proverbs IX. 6
1 Plutarch
1 Pinocchio
1 Philip K Dick
1 Persian Proverb
1 Percy Bysshe Shelley
1 Paul Washer
1 Parkinson's Law
1 PARAMAHAMSA YOGANANDA
1 Padmasambhava
1 Padampa Sangye
1 Ovid
1 Our Lady to Father Stefano Gobbi
1 Our Lady how this thread
1 Orson Scott Card
1 Orphic Hymns
1 ol IV.8
1 Old Testament
1 Old Latin palindrome
1 Norwegian Proverb.
1 Nolini Kanta Gupta
1 Nikos Kazantzakis
1 Nikola Tesla
1 Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol
1 Nigerian Proverb
1 Nicene Creed
1 Neil Gaiman
1 Naval Ravikant
1 Native American Proverb
1 Nathaniel Branden
1 Narada Sutra
1 Nagarjuna
1 "Mystic Wisdom: Rosicrucian Order AMORC"
1 Muro Saisei 1889-1962
1 Muammar Gaddafi?
1 M. Scott Peck
1 Mother Angelica
1 Mooji
1 Mohandas Gandhi
1 Mme Jeanne Roland
1 MITs motto
1 Minnie Aumonier
1 Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
1 Michio Kaku
1 Michelangelo
1 Michael Talbot
1 Melessus
1 Mehmet Murat ildan
1 Meher Baba
1 Maurice Blondel
1 Matthew XX
1 Matthew X. 16
1 Matthew VII. 7
1 MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI
1 Masashi Kishimoto
1 Masaoka Shiki 1867-1902
1 Masanobu Fukuoka
1 Mary Shelley
1 Martin Luther King
1 Martin Heidegger
1 Martin Buber
1 Marshall McLuhan
1 Mark 8
1 Mark 11:24
1 Mario Quintana/Unknown
1 Mario Quintana
1 Marcus Aurelius
1 Manapurush Swami Shivananda
1 Makeda
1 Ma Jaya
1 Mahabharata
1 Madeleine L'Engle
1 Macrobius
1 Machig Labdron
1 Lun-Yu
1 Ludwig Wittgenstein
1 Ludwig Feuerbach
1 Lucretius
1 Lord Byron
1 Lodro Rinzler
1 Li Po
1 Li-ki
1 Li Bai
1 Lewis Carroll
1 Lewis B Smedes
1 Let yourself dissolve.
1 Leo the Great
1 Leonardo da Vinci
1 Laws of Mann
1 Lao-Tsu-Te
1 Lama Surya Das
1 Lalla
1 Kristen Nygaard
1 Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa
1 Kodo Sawaki
1 Kobe Bryant
1 Khandro Rinpoche
1 Khalil Gibran.
1 Khail Gibran
1 Kevin Systrom
1 Katha Upanishad
1 Karen Maezen Miller
1 Kamal Ravikant
1 Kaivaiya Upanishad
1 Judge Rosemarie Aquilina
1 Joshua I. 9
1 Joseph Roux
1 Jon von Neumann
1 Jon J. Muth
1 Jon Anderson
1 John. XV. 17
1 John Steinbeck
1 John Scotus Eriugena
1 John Lennon
1 John Keats
1 John Harrigan
1 John Green
1 John Florio
1 John Donne
1 John Dee
1 John Bradshaw
1 John Aske
1 John 4:8
1 John 20:27-29
1 Job
1 J. Michael Straczynski
1 J.K. Rowling
1 Jien
1 Jerusalem Catecheses
1 Jean Baudrillard
1 JB
1 Japanese Proverb
1 James V. 12
1 James K Bowers
1 Israel Regardie
1 Ishikawa Takuboku
1 Isavasya Upanishad
1 Isaac Newton
1 Irenaeus
1 Inca Texts
1 Immanuel Kant
1 Imitation of Christ
1 Ibn Ata 'illah al- Iskandari
1 IbnArabi
1 Iamblichus
1 Hunter S. Thompson
1 Hunt
1 Huang Po
1 Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu
1 Hosea VIII
1 Horace Mann
1 H. Jackson Brown Jr.
1 H. G. Wells
1 H G Wells
1 Herodotus
1 Hermes I. "Poimandres"
1 Henry Ward Beecher
1 Henry Vaughan
1 Hegel
1 Hasidic Proverb
1 Hans Urs von Balthasar
1 Han-Shan
1 Hans Georg Gadamer
1 Hal Borland
1 Hafiz
1 Hadis
1 Guru Nanak
1 Groucho Marx
1 grand are the sky and stars
1 Gottfried Leibniz
1 Gospel of Thomas
1 Gospel of Philip
1 Goenka
1 Gnostic Gospel of Thomas
1 G. J. Gurdjieff
1 Gilbert K. Chesterton
1 Gerald G. Jampolsky
1 Georges Danton
1 George Sand
1 George Orwell
1 George MacDonald
1 George A. Moore
1 Genesis III.19
1 Gary Vaynerchuk
1 Galen
1 Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1 Gabor Mate
1 Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1 Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king.-
1 Ferdinand Ulrich
1 Farley Mowat
1 Ezra Pound
1 Everard and Morris
1 Euripides
1 Etienne Gilson
1 Erik Erikson
1 Erelesiastieus
1 Epictetus 33. 2
1 Ephrem the Syrian
1 Emily Brontë
1 Emerson
1 Elizabeth I
1 Elizabeth Barrett Browning
1 Eleanor Roosevelt
1 Edward M Forster
1 Eckhart
1 D.T. Suzuki
1 Dr. Seuss [Theodor Seuss Geisel]
1 Dōgen Zenji
1 Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
1 Didache
1 Dhammapada
1 Deuteronomy XXXI. 6
1 Desire only your own awareness.
1 Denise Morrison
1 Deepak Chopra
1 David Viscott
1 David Frost
1 David
1 Daniel Goleman
1 Dan Brown
1 Dalai Lama
1 Czeslaw Milosz
1 C. S. Lewis
1 Corinthians XVI. 13
1 Corinthians I
1 Clint Eastwood
1 Clement of Rome
1 Chu-King
1 Chuck Close
1 Christ
1 Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche
1 Chogyam Trungpa
1 Chinese Texts
1 Chinese Proverb
1 Chi-king
1 Cheng Yen
1 Charles Williams
1 Charles R. Swindoll
1 Charles Darwin
1 Cesar A Cruz
1 CErsted
1 Catherine of Siena
1 Cassandra Clare
1 Carl Sandburg
1 Carl Sagan
1 Carlos Castaneda
1 Candace Cameron Bure
1 Byron Katie
1 Bukowski
1 Buddhist Text
1 Buddhist Proverb
1 Buddhism
1 Buckminster Fuller
1 Bruce Feirstein
1 Brian Tracy
1 Brian Eno
1 Bob Ross
1 Bob Dylan
1 Bl. Humbert of Romans
1 Black Elk
1 Binavi Badakhshani 13th century(?) Sufi poet.
1 Bhagavat Purana
1 Bhagavad Gita 6.30
1 Benoît Mandelbrot
1 Ben Jonson
1 Ben Hecht
1 Belva Davis
1 Bede the Venerable
1 Baha-ulalh
1 Ayush Jaiswal
1 Ayn Rand
1 Attack On Titan
1 Asoka
1 Arthur C Clarke
1 Aristotle?
1 Arabian Nights
1 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
1 Anthony Bourdain
1 Anselm
1 Anon. 1600's
1 Anne Frank
1 And so forth. See Sufi Symbolism:
1 And so forth. See "Sufi Symbolism":
1 André Malraux
1 Andrei Tarkovsky
1 André Gide
1 Anaxagoras
1 Anaïs Nin
1 Anais Nin
1 Anacreon
1 Amit Singhal
1 Amelia Earhart
1 al-Kabīr al-Tabrānī
1 Al-Jilani
1 Al-Hallaj
1 Alfred Korzybski
1 Alexander von Humboldt
1 Alexander the Great
1 Alexander Bloch. Source: https://bit.ly/3grLVbh
1 Aleksandr Solzlhenitsyn
1 Alejandro Jodorowsky
1 Aleister Crowley
1 Aldous Huxley
1 Alcineon
1 Albert Camus
1 Saint Teresa of Avila
1 Pythagoras
1 Plotinus
1 Paracelsus
1 Ibn Arabi
1 Aristotle
1 Advaita Bodha Deepika
1 Acts 19:16-18
1 A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
1 Abu Bakr
1 Abraham Lincoln
1 Abraham-ibn-Ezra
1 Abd al-Rahman al-Majdhüb
1 2nd century sermon
1 1 John :2:22
1 1 John 2:16-17
NEW FULL DB (2.4M)
70 Cassandra Clare
51 Anonymous
28 Gertrude Chandler Warner
16 Mahatma Gandhi
13 Ayn Rand
12 Rumi
12 Andy Warhol
11 Laozi
11 John Sandford
11 Alexandre Dumas
10 J K Rowling
9 Rick Riordan
9 John Green
9 Andr Aciman
9 Adam Oehlenschläger
8 William Shakespeare
8 Stephen King
8 Jandy Nelson
8 Ilona Andrews
8 Cynthia Hand
1:being and so distorts you. ~ Rilke, #KEYS
2:and enjoy it. ~ Swami Satchidananda, #KEYS
3:and in our speechless heart. ~ Rilke, #KEYS
4:And there can be no leaving. ~ Anon. , #KEYS
5:And Eternity in an hour. ~ William Blake, #KEYS
6:and leave your self behind. ~ Wei Wu Wei, #KEYS
7:Learn what you are and be such. ~ Pindar, #KEYS
8:And if there is no dust shake it off. ~ Ovid, #KEYS
9:Further up and further in. ~ C S Lewis, [T5], #KEYS
10:Existence precedes and rules essence. ~ Sartre, #KEYS
11:The body and the mind. ~ Let yourself dissolve., #KEYS
12:Wisdom sails with wind and time." ~ John Florio, #KEYS
13:Fantasy and reality often overlap. ~ Walt Disney, #KEYS
14:And justify the ways of God to men. ~ John Milton, #KEYS
15:Quiet the mind and the soul will speak." ~ Buddha, #KEYS
16:And fly with more affection." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke, #KEYS
17:and God remembers her crimes." ~ Revelation 18:4-5, #KEYS
18:I purify earth and heaven by the Truth. ~ Rig Veda, #KEYS
19:It is that which is and that which is not. ~ Hermes, #KEYS
20:Proceed with humility and sacrifice. ~ Quetzalcoatl, #KEYS
21:Zen is an effort to become alert and awake." ~ Osho, #KEYS
22:Be patient and devoted to your self. ~ Robert Burton, #KEYS
23:He is all things and all things are one. ~ The Zohar, #KEYS
24:I and other humans no difference. ~ Ikkyu, 1384-1481, #KEYS
25:Remember yourself always and everywhere. ~ Gurdjieff, #KEYS
26:to be filled with light, and to shine. ~ Mary Oliver, #KEYS
27:And empty words are evil. ~ Homer, #KEYS
28:And the world will live as one ~ John Lennon, Imagine, #KEYS
29:Discipline is wisdom and vice versa." ~ M. Scott Peck, #KEYS
30:I turned around, and there God was inside me. ~ Lalla, #KEYS
31:And all I loved,
I loved alone.
~ Edgar Allan Poe,#KEYS
32:Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup ~ Omar Khayyam, #KEYS
33:Come live in my heart, and pay no rent. ~ Samuel Lover, #KEYS
34:Mens et Manus which means Mind and Hand
~ MITs motto,#KEYS
35:that inbound urge and urge of waves.... ~ Walt Whitman, #KEYS
36:There is no Part and no Whole - Transcendence. ~ Anon., #KEYS
37:The sea drinks the air and the sun the sea. ~ Anacreon, #KEYS
38:Ideas too are a life and a world. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
39:Practice and enlightenment are not two." ~ Dōgen Zenji, #KEYS
40:I regret picking and not picking violets. ~ Anon. 1600's, #KEYS
41:Life is a balance between rest and movement." ~ Rajneesh, #KEYS
42:Make your mistakes, next year and forever. ~ Neil Gaiman, #KEYS
43:~ Swami Saradananda, Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play #KEYS
44:And when I breathed, my breath was lightning. ~ Black Elk, #KEYS
45:Serene and unperturbed. ~ Desire only your own awareness., #KEYS
46:Don't be afraid to just sit and watch." ~ Anthony Bourdain, #KEYS
47:Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. ~ John 4:8, #KEYS
48:Find what you love and let it kill you. ~ Charles Bukowski, #KEYS
49:in secret, between the shadow and the soul. ~ Pablo Neruda, #KEYS
50:in unbroken consciousness and bliss. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
51:A warrior balances solitude and dependence." ~ Paulo Coelho, #KEYS
52:Hope and fear cannot alter the seasons.
~ Chogyam Trungpa,#KEYS
53:I gave in, and admitted that God was God. ~ C S Lewis, [T5], #KEYS
54:Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you. ~ Carl Jung, #KEYS
55:Stop thinking, and end your problems. ~ Tao te Ching, ch.20, #KEYS
56:To dare, and again dare, and forever dare! ~ Georges Danton, #KEYS
57:And simpler than the infancy of truth. ~ William Shakespeare, #KEYS
58:I hold a beast, an angel, and a madman in me. ~ Dylan Thomas, #KEYS
59:Kiss me, and you will see how important I am. ~ Sylvia Plath, #KEYS
60:Because we say one thing and do another. ~ 2nd century sermon, #KEYS
61:He wears a mask and his face grows to fit it. ~ George Orwell, #KEYS
62:My imagination is a monastery, and I am its monk ~ John Keats, #KEYS
63:Sincerity ::: Open and genuine; not deceitful
~ The Mother?,#KEYS
64:We are all students and should be forever
~ Israel Regardie,#KEYS
65:Both light and shadow are the dance of Love. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
66:Cut the mind at its root and rest in naked awareness. ~ Tilopa, #KEYS
67:The road goes ever on and on.
~ J R R Tolkien, Bilbo Baggins,#KEYS
68:I keep, and pass, and turn again. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Brahma, #KEYS
69:Be on guard and strengthen yourself by prayer. ~ Saint Pedro Pio, #KEYS
70:In the world of the Unity heaven and earth are one. ~ Baha-ullah, #KEYS
71:We being speechless, Love spoke loud and plain. ~ Arabian Nights, #KEYS
72:We joke and laugh otherwise we would start screaming. ~ Bukowski, #KEYS
73:Endure and you will conquer, The Lord is with you. ~ Mother Mirra, #KEYS
74:Faith is the union of God and the soul. ~ Saint John of the Cross, #KEYS
75:Grand is the seen, the light, to me ~ grand are the sky and stars, #KEYS
76:I dream of painting and then I paint my dream. ~ Vincent van Gogh, #KEYS
77:in its own delight and glory and oddity and light. ~ Dylan Thomas, #KEYS
78:Time is a circus, always packing up and moving away." ~ Ben Hecht, #KEYS
79:To be honest to oneself, and that is very hard to do. ~ Bruce Lee, #KEYS
80:Whatever is worth doing is worth evaluating.
~ Wynn and Guditus,#KEYS
81:And yet you stop at every little pain. ~ Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, #KEYS
82:If you would be loved, love, and be loveable." ~ Benjamin Franklin, #KEYS
83:What I aspired to be and was not, comforts me.
~ Robert Browning,#KEYS
84:Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.
~ Mary Shelley,#KEYS
85:he is patient and devoted for a god is in his heart. ~ Quetzalcoatl, #KEYS
86:Rest and be kind, you don't have to prove anything." ~ Jack Kerouac, #KEYS
87:The master is himself an animal and needs a master. ~ Immanuel Kant, #KEYS
88:The world’s thy ship and not thy home. ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #KEYS
89:Truth leads to righteousness and righteousness to heaven.
~ Hadis,#KEYS
90:A dry soul is wisest and best. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
91:and with great affection. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
92:By your work you show what you love and what you know. ~ Saint Bruno, #KEYS
93:Leave all your elaborate plans and tactics for knowing God. ~ Hafiz , #KEYS
94:Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #KEYS
95:let your words teach and your actions speak. ~ Saint Anthony of Padua, #KEYS
96:The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.
~ Leo Tolstoy,#KEYS
97:We're all kind of weird and twisted and drowning.
~ Haruki Murakami,#KEYS
98:What you should avoid is gossip and worldly talk. ~ Swami Saradananda, #KEYS
99:Knowledge is the conformity of the object and the intellect ~ Averroes, #KEYS
100:Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world." ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #KEYS
101:Time is three eyes and eight elbows. ~ Dogen Zenji, #KEYS
102:All is riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddle. ~ R W Emerson, #KEYS
103:Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to heaven. ~ Saint Pius X, #KEYS
104:Ignorance, the root and stem of every evil. ~ Plato, #KEYS
105:I'm just trying to think about the future and not be sad.
~ Elon Musk,#KEYS
106:I return from flames of fire; tried and pure and white. ~ William Blake, #KEYS
107:Search for Jesus and in Him you'll find me. ~ Saint Terese of the Andes, #KEYS
108:Success means doing something sincerely and wholeheartedly. ~ Bruce Lee, #KEYS
109:The disciple returned after a week and said, "No one has bound me." ~ ?, #KEYS
110:With words, music, dance, and every sign. ~ Czeslaw Milosz, "Either-Or", #KEYS
111:His creation never had a beginning and will never have an end. ~ The Bab, #KEYS
112:Look at everything, and think, how would I program this? ~ Andrew Kanegi, #KEYS
113:There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.
~ Socrates,#KEYS
114:The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred. ~ Dalai Lama, #KEYS
115:The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. ~ Walt Disney, #KEYS
116:Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy. ~ Anne Frank, #KEYS
117:To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides. ~ David Viscott, #KEYS
118:Touch the hole in your life, and there flowers will bloom. ~ Zen Proverb, #KEYS
119:Truly, those who are good people are thankful and grateful. ~ The Buddha, #KEYS
120:Wisdom is full of light and her beauty is not withered. ~ Book of Wisdom, #KEYS
121:and the conflict is eternal between a man's self and God. ~ William Blake, #KEYS
122:Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak." ~ Sun Tzu, #KEYS
123:Be lowly wise: Think only what concerns thee and thy being. ~ John Milton, #KEYS
124:God be in my head,
And in my understanding.
~ Sarum Missal (1514,),#KEYS
125:Practice and enlightenment are not two. ~ Dogen Zenji, #KEYS
126:The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil. ~ Cicero, #KEYS
127:The future is a race between education and catastrophe. ~ Claudio Naranjo, #KEYS
128:The universe is comprised of sixes and fours. ~ Plato, #KEYS
129:To find our real being and know it truly is to acquire wisdom. ~ Porphyry, #KEYS
130:What's the difference between yes and no? ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
131:and the heart to comprehend.. ~ Makeda, Queen of Sheba. For full poem see:, #KEYS
132:And what he greatly thought, he nobly dared.
~ Homer,#KEYS
133:Be who you really are and go the whole way ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
134:Education serves to keep people idiotic and manipulable. ~ Claudio Naranjo, #KEYS
135:Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
136:Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one. ~ Martin Heidegger, #KEYS
137:God is all and all is God. ~ Meister Eckhart, #KEYS
138:If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. ~ Cicero, #KEYS
139:Intoxication means religious ecstasy." ~ And so forth. See Sufi Symbolism:, #KEYS
140:My fear is my substance, and probably the best part of me.
~ Franz Kafka,#KEYS
141:What do you say we lighten things up and talk about abortion? ~ Bill Hicks, #KEYS
142:With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt, #KEYS
143:A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men. ~ Anonymous, #KEYS
144:A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men." ~ Roald Dahl, #KEYS
145:ALL. ~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA, Part III: Magick in Theory and Practice, #KEYS
146:and being inspired by the least of his virtues. ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux , #KEYS
147:Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see. ~ Edgar Allan Poe, #KEYS
148:I found myself, a mere suggestion sensed in past and future ages. ~ Novalis, #KEYS
149:I had evoked - and the book was indeed all I had suspected. ~ H P Lovecraft, #KEYS
150:In the myriad universes of thought and creation, I alone Am. ~ Robert Adams, #KEYS
151:Knowledge and ability were tools, not things to show off. ~ Haruki Murakami, #KEYS
152:look inside, and seek That. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
153:We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect. ~ Anaïs Nin, #KEYS
154:Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. ~ Cesar A Cruz, #KEYS
155:Be faithful to the Divine and you will enjoy a constant peace. ~ MOTHER MIRA, #KEYS
156:Confuse them with your silence, and amaze them with your actions." ~ Unknown, #KEYS
157:Here it is - right now. Start thinking about it and you miss it." ~ Huang Po, #KEYS
158:If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.
~ Cicero,#KEYS
159:In meditation, silently and serenely, all words are transcended. ~ Sheng yen, #KEYS
160:Intoxication means religious ecstasy." ~ And so forth. See "Sufi Symbolism":, #KEYS
161:I see the world through Irish eyes, and they are smiling." ~ Denise Morrison, #KEYS
162:One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple. ~ Jack Kerouac, #KEYS
163:The first and best victory is to conquer self.
~ Plato,#KEYS
164:The New Man Jesus Christ is Son of man and Son of God. ~ Ignatius of Antioch, #KEYS
165:Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." ~ Napoleon Hill, #KEYS
166:When we are born we cry and weep, when we die we should smile. ~ Jean Gebser, #KEYS
167:As if mending socks, I repair my mind and live on. ~ Yoshino Yoshiko, b 1915., #KEYS
168:Consider me as one who loves poetry and persimmons. ~ Masaoka Shiki 1867-1902, #KEYS
169:I know who I am and who I may be, if I choose. ~ Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, #KEYS
170:Thinking in isolation and with pride ends in being an idiot. ~ G K Chesterton, #KEYS
171:We just let it happen… and that's the beauty of this technique." ~ Bob Ross, #KEYS
172:All excellence involves discipline and tenacity of purpose.
~ Howard Gardner,#KEYS
173:And the need to win, drains his power. ~ Thomas Merton. "The Way Of Chuang Tzu, #KEYS
174:Be the master of your will and the slave of your conscience. ~ Hasidic Proverb, #KEYS
175:But he who knows, and knows that he knows, is a wise man-follow him." ~ Sufism, #KEYS
176:Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. ~ John F. Kennedy, #KEYS
177:Don't wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it. ~ Mark Twain, #KEYS
178:I know what thou desirest and I'm with thee everywhere ~ The Corpus Hermeticum, #KEYS
179:No word matters. But man forgets reality and remembers words." ~ Roger Zelazny, #KEYS
180:We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains. ~ Li Po, #KEYS
181:Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist." ~ 1 John :2:22, #KEYS
182:A dog is better than I am, for he has love and does not judge. ~ Saint Xanthias, #KEYS
183:A little I can read. ~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, act 1 scene 2, #KEYS
184:And once you are awake, you shall remain awake eternally. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #KEYS
185:Guard the threshold and prevent troops of fantasies from entering.
~ Petrarch,#KEYS
186:I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.
~ Michelangelo,#KEYS
187:Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground." ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #KEYS
188:Live in My Deepest Hell and from There I cannot Fall Any Further.
~ Carl Jung,#KEYS
189:One loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them." ~ Masanobu Fukuoka, #KEYS
190:One road leads home and a thousand roads lead into the wilderness. ~ C.S. Lewis, #KEYS
191:Only awakening and what leads to awakening has a value in reality." ~ Gurdjieff, #KEYS
192:Set the mind right and not attempt to right the world. ~ Swami Ramakrishnananda, #KEYS
193:Stop loving yourself and you will love God. ~ Philokalia, Maximos the Confessor, #KEYS
194:The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise. ~ Tacitus #KEYS
195:The path up and down is one and the same. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
196:Truth in philosophy means that concept and external reality correspond. ~ Hegel, #KEYS
197:God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble. ~ Anonymous, #KEYS
198:I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it. ~ William Shakespeare, #KEYS
199:Unhappiness and rain just drift by and are gone, they are visitors." ~ John Aske, #KEYS
200:A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. ~ John F. Kennedy, #KEYS
201:And God said, Love your Enemy so I Obeyed Him and Loved Myself.
~ Khalil Gibran,#KEYS
202:Buddhism may be summed up in two phrases: 'Let go!' and 'Walk on!' " ~ Alan Watts, #KEYS
203:He is everywhere in the world and stands with all in His embrace. ~ Bhagavad Gita, #KEYS
204:Mind and matter co-exist. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
205:Smooth and smiling faces everywhere, but ruin in their eyes.
~ Jean-Paul Sartre,#KEYS
206:The phases of fire are craving and satiety. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
207:You are a miracle, and everything you touch could be a miracle. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #KEYS
208:God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
209:Go into yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows. ~ Rilke, #KEYS
210:I'm in love with cities I've never been to and people I've never met. ~ John Green, #KEYS
211:Recognize what is before you and what is hidden shall be revealed to you. ~ Christ, #KEYS
212:Remain with Me and you will find peace. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
213:Tell me what occupies your mind and I will tell you who your God is. ~ Paul Washer, #KEYS
214:There is no river at all, and no boat, and no boatman. ~ Kabir, #KEYS
215:You can, you should, and if you're brave enough to start, you will. ~ Stephen King, #KEYS
216:you can, you should, and if you're brave enough to start, you will. ~ Stephen King, #KEYS
217:God dwells within you, and there you should dwell with Him. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #KEYS
218:Have faith and go on. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, #KEYS
219:He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything." ~ Thomas Carlyle, #KEYS
220:In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.
~ Deepak Chopra,#KEYS
221:In truth there is no difference between the word of God and the world. ~ Baha-ulalh, #KEYS
222:Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." ~ Charles R. Swindoll, #KEYS
223:Look after the present and the future will look after itself. ~ Swami Chinmayananda, #KEYS
224:Love and desire are the spirit's wings to great deeds. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
225:Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true.
~ Blaise Pascal,#KEYS
226:And if she had appeared, would I have dared to speak to her?
~ Marcel Proust, [T5],#KEYS
227:And then forget that you are there. ~ Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu, #KEYS
228:Being that can be understood is language. ~ Hans Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method 474, #KEYS
229:Come, sleep and death; you promise nothing, you hold everything. ~ Soren Kierkegaard, #KEYS
230:Give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the man. ~ Aristotle? #KEYS
231:Having only wisdom and talent is the lowest tier of usefulness. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo, #KEYS
232:I and my Father are one. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, The Gospel According to John, 10:30, #KEYS
233:Socrates had no philosophy, he was it. ~ Etienne Gilson, Being and Some Philosophers, #KEYS
234:The end and the beginning both grow sweet when a god urges on a man's work. ~ Pindar, #KEYS
235:But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange. ~ William Shakespeare,#KEYS
236:Curving back within myself I create again and again.
~ Anonymous, The Bhagavad Gita,#KEYS
237:Friends and acquaintances are the surest passport to fortune.
~ Arthur Schopenhauer,#KEYS
238:God and Nature are one. ~ Spinoza, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
239:Have the fearless attitude of a hero, and the loving heart of a child." ~ Soyen Shaku, #KEYS
240:he who works, and not for Christ, does not know what he is doing. ~ Saint Philip Neri, #KEYS
241:I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 15:1, #KEYS
242:Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." ~ Mark Twain, #KEYS
243:The darkest place I've ever seen was inside me, and nothing scared me more. ~ Unknown, #KEYS
244:Too little liberty brings stagnation, and too much brings chaos.
~ Bertrand Russell,#KEYS
245:Unless you're ashamed of yourself now and then, you're not honest. ~ William Faulkner, #KEYS
246:We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. ~ Saint Clare of Assisi, #KEYS
247:When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew. ~ William Shakespeare, #KEYS
248:An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my vehicle and vanished. ~ Abraham Maslow, #KEYS
249:Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner. ~ Tao Te Ching, chapter 9, #KEYS
250:Every moment of light and dark is a miracle. ~ Walt Whitman, #KEYS
251:Humility is nothing but truth, and pride is nothing but lying. ~ Saint Vincent de Paul, #KEYS
252:It is the consumers who make poor people rich and rich people poor. ~ Ludwig Von Mises, #KEYS
253:... Persecution will cease and justice shall rule." ~ Venerable Barthalomew Holzhauser, #KEYS
254:They will create the viruses themselves and sell you the antidotes. ~ Muammar Gaddafi?, #KEYS
255:Where the press is free, and everyone is able to read, all is safe. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #KEYS
256:Acceptive and at ease, distilling the present hour, whatever, wherever it is. ~ Whitman, #KEYS
257:A politician divides mankind into two classes: tools and enemies. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #KEYS
258:Atman alone exists and is real. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
259:Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.
~ Seneca, [T5],#KEYS
260:Do not say hypothesis, and even less theory: say way of thinking. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
261:Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life." ~ Mark Twain, #KEYS
262:I am who I am and I have the need to be. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince, #KEYS
263:Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change." ~ Confucius, #KEYS
264:People come and go all the time; the world has always been in movement. ~ V. S. Naipaul, #KEYS
265:Perhaps it is everywhere - on water and land. ~ Walt Whitman, #KEYS
266:The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough. ~ Rabindranath Tagore, #KEYS
267:The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success. ~ Bruce Feirstein #KEYS
268:To be still is not to think.
Know, and not think, is the word. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi,#KEYS
269:wildflower growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day." ~ Native American Proverb, #KEYS
270:Wisdom consists in speaking and acting the truth. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
271:All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret. ~ Gabriel Garcia Marquez, #KEYS
272:All reflects Him in His shining and by His light all this is luminous. ~ Katha Upanishad, #KEYS
273:Do what you will, this world's a fiction and is made up of contradiction ~ William Blake, #KEYS
274:God is all and all is God. ~ Eckhart, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
275:Hasten slowly and you shall soon arrive. ~ Jetsun Milarepa, #KEYS
276:Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike. ~ J.K. Rowling, #KEYS
277:Inspiration is for amateurs ~ the rest of us just show up and get to work. ~ Chuck Close, #KEYS
278:Leave your pain here. Go out and do your magnificent things." ~ Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, #KEYS
279:One ought not to act and speak like people asleep. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
280:One scientific epoch ended and another began with James Clerk Maxwell. ~ Albert Einstein, #KEYS
281:Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. ~ Maya Angelou, #KEYS
282:Surrender, and all will be well. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
283:The name of the Ancient and most Holy is unknowable to all and inaccessible. ~ The Zohar, #KEYS
284:The true icon of the divinity is his name. ~ Sergius Bulgakov, Icons and the Name of God, #KEYS
285:the uniting of man and God, the two sides of the transformation. Effort and Grace.
~ ?,#KEYS
286:To God all things are beautiful and good and just. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
287:To understand a program, you must become both the machine and the program. ~ Alan Perlis, #KEYS
288:A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. ~ Tao Te Ching, ch.27, #KEYS
289:I'm alone and nobody is in the mirror ~ Jorge Luis Borges, #KEYS
290:It is easy to believe we are each waves, and forget we are also the ocean." ~ Jon J. Muth, #KEYS
291:Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair." ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton, #KEYS
292:Love has no boundary, and will never cease to grow as we add light to light. ~ Philokalia, #KEYS
293:No man ever wrote more eloquently and luminously [than Heraclitus]. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #KEYS
294:Perhaps the shortest and most powerful prayer in human language is help. ~ Thomas Keating, #KEYS
295:The formula 'Two and two make five' is not without its attractions.
~ Fyodor Dostoevsky,#KEYS
296:The gods are immortal men, and men are mortal gods. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
297:We circle in the night and we are devoured by fire. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
298:We should be excited about the future and striving to go beyond the horizon." ~ Elon Musk, #KEYS
299:Your own self is lying, unbelieving. Tame it through efforts and of struggle. ~ Al-Jilani, #KEYS
300:All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
301:and gives them a foretaste of the calm bliss of our heavenly home. ~ Saint Rose of Viterbo, #KEYS
302:And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke, #KEYS
303:Detachment is necessary for peace, and peace is necessary for happiness." ~ Naval Ravikant, #KEYS
304:Do not listen to those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious ~ Og Mandino, #KEYS
305:Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers.
~ Marshall McLuhan,#KEYS
306:Genius lives only one story above madness, ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, Parerga and Paralipomena, #KEYS
307:How joyful to look upon the awakened and to keep company with the wise. ~ Buddhist Proverb, #KEYS
308:It is Itself that which was and that which is yet to be, the Eternal. ~ Kaivaiya Upanishad, #KEYS
309:Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friends. ~ John Lennon, #KEYS
310:Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light. ~ John Milton, Paradise Lost, #KEYS
311:Only memories of Father and Mother come to my mind in late autumn. ~ Yosa Buson, 1716-1784, #KEYS
312:Thinking is a sacred disease and sight is deceptive. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
313:You bear God within you, poor wretch, and know it not. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
314:And burn my thorn. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
315:and never in this life of delusion. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
316:Dead yesterdays and unborn tomorrows, why fret about it, if today be sweet." ~ Omar Khayyam, #KEYS
317:Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again." ~ Richard Branson, #KEYS
318:In a very real sense we have two minds, one that thinks and one that feels ~ Daniel Goleman, #KEYS
319:Just let things be in their own way, and there will be neither coming nor going." ~ Sengcan, #KEYS
320:Silence is not confined to the tongue but concerns the heart and all the limbs." ~ Abu Bakr, #KEYS
321:Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." ~ Benjamin Franklin, #KEYS
322:The ego is a veil between humans and God.
~ Jalaluddin Rumi,#KEYS
323:The most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved.
~ Mother Teresa,#KEYS
324:The Self alone is and nothing else. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
325:The struggle of what one likes and what one dislikes is the disease of the mind." ~ Sengcan, #KEYS
326:They wanted to be nouns, but they were, and eternally must be, mere adjectives. ~ C S Lewis, #KEYS
327:A goddess of black veils and dark prophesies, a goddess of night sighs. ~ Velimir Khlebnikov, #KEYS
328:Both light and shadow are the dance of Love. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
329:Both read the Bible day and night, but thou read black where I read white.
~ William Blake,#KEYS
330:Everyone's life is a warfare, and that long and various. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
331:First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
332:Follow my tracks in the sand that lead Beyond thought and space. ~ Hafiz, #KEYS
333:Take care of the kingdom of the heart, and the rest will come in addition. ~ Claudio Naranjo, #KEYS
334:The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him.
~ Socrates,#KEYS
335:The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet." ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #KEYS
336:The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times. ~ Paulo Coelho, #KEYS
337:Those who love her discover her easily and those that seek her do find her. ~ Book of Wisdom, #KEYS
338:To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.~ Lewis B Smedes, #KEYS
339:When you reach the end of your rope - tie a knot in it and hang on." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt, #KEYS
340:Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use." ~ Thomas J. Watson, #KEYS
341:You are Self here and now. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
342:And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. ~ Old Testament, #KEYS
343:Faithfulness is the antidote to bitterness and confusion. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
344:God, Guru and the Self are identical. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
345:I saw Eternity the other night Like a great ring of pure and endless light.
~ Henry Vaughan,#KEYS
346:Mankind is poised midway between the gods and the beasts.
~ Plotinus,#KEYS
347:Man, like a light in the night, is kindled and put out. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
348:Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry. ~ Cassandra Clare, #KEYS
349:Seek and ye, shall find. ~ Matthew VII. 7, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
350:Sometimes the title IS the story, and the rest is just an explanation. ~ James K Bowers, [T5], #KEYS
351:The knowledge of an effect depends on and involves the knowledge of a cause. ~ Baruch Spinoza, #KEYS
352:and common affection ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.28.3ad5), #KEYS
353:And if you are not a bird, then beware of coming to rest above an abyss. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #KEYS
354:And when they played they really played. And when they worked they really worked." ~ Dr. Seuss, #KEYS
355:A true Bhakta is greater than God, for he is a giver and not a taker. ~ Swami Ramakrishnananda, #KEYS
356:Be humble and peaceful, and Jesus will be with you. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
357:But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? ~ Job, 28:12, #KEYS
358:Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. ~ Maimonides, #KEYS
359:He never went out without a book under his arm, and he often came back with two. ~ Victor Hugo, #KEYS
360:I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today. ~ William Allen White, #KEYS
361:In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and the foolish build dams. ~ Nigerian Proverb, #KEYS
362:Love the truth and peace. ~ Zacharias VIII, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
363:Our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away." ~ Zhuangzi, #KEYS
364:Recognize what is before you and what is hidden shall be revealed to you.
~ Gospel of Thomas,#KEYS
365:Tell him to live by yes and no - yes to everything good, no to everything bad. ~ William James, #KEYS
366:There is nothing in the desert and no man needs nothing. ~ David, Prometheus, Aliens: Covenant, #KEYS
367:The sole difference between myself and a madman is the fact that I am not mad. ~ Salvador Dali, #KEYS
368:Time and space cannot affect the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
369:Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 119:105, #KEYS
370:A lily or a rose never pretends, and its beauty is that it is what it is." ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #KEYS
371:And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, #KEYS
372:As the ancient myth makers knew, we are children equally of the earth and the sky. ~ Carl Sagan, #KEYS
373:forgetfulness woke up and found myself asleep." ~ Binavi Badakhshani 13th century(?) Sufi poet., #KEYS
374:God and the world are all in the Heart. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
375:Home is where you reminisce when you are far away and sing with sorrow. ~ Muro Saisei 1889-1962, #KEYS
376:Hridaya (Heart) is the alpha and omega. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
377:Lose yourself wholly; and the more you lose, the more you will find. ~ Saint Catherine of Siena, #KEYS
378:Love is Religion, and The Universe is The Book. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
379:Love light and not darkness. ~ Orphic Hymns, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
380:Only one man ever understood me, and he didn't understand me.
~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,#KEYS
381:People do not wander around and then find themselves at the top of Mount Everest." ~ Zig Ziglar, #KEYS
382:Practise love and only love. ~ Narada Sutra, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
383:Preparing food is not just about yourself and others. It's about everything!
~ Shunryu Suzuki,#KEYS
384:The love of God is the root and foundation of Plato's philosophy. ~ Simone Weil, 'God in Plato', #KEYS
385:The worst pain a man can suffer is to have insight into much and power over nothing ~ Herodotus, #KEYS
386:When one transcends right and wrong, he is truly right. ~ Bodhidharma, #KEYS
387:You cannot realize God unless you are perfectly and transparently sincere. ~ Swami Vijnanananda, #KEYS
388:You carry heaven and hell within you.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi,#KEYS
389:You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your life." ~ Whitman, #KEYS
390:You see this and that. Why not see God? ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
391:A fool is known by his speech; and a wise man by silence." ~ Pythagoras, #KEYS
392:And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 1:16, #KEYS
393:As Meander says, "For our mind is God;" and as Heraclitus, "Man's genius is a deity." ~ Plutarch, #KEYS
394:But I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything.
~ Charles Darwin,#KEYS
395:Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger. ~ J R R Tolkien, #KEYS
396:I am the number one Ninja and I have killed all the Shoguns in front of me.
~ Shaquille O'Neal,#KEYS
397:It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little.
~ Diogenes,#KEYS
398:Liars are the cause of all the sins and crimes in the world. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
399:Life is a balance of holding on and letting go." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
400:Life is a piece of music, and you're supposed to be dancing. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
401:My religion is to live and die without regret.
~ Jetsun Milarepa,#KEYS
402:The path of Truth is narrower than the needle's eye and as sharp as a razor's edge. ~ SWAMI RAMA, #KEYS
403:Tolle, lege: take up and read. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
404:When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything.
~ Shunryu Suzuki,#KEYS
405:You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water. ~ Rabindranath Tagore, [T5], #KEYS
406:You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life." ~ Zig Ziglar, #KEYS
407:All that is one and one that is all. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
408:Always tell only the truth, and all the truth, and do so promptly right now. ~ Buckminster Fuller, #KEYS
409:A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it. ~ Edgar Allan Poe, #KEYS
410:Dew and fallen leaves swept up together. ~ Santoka Taneda, 1882-1940, #KEYS
411:Forget the years, forget distinctions. Leap into the boundless and make it your home." ~ Zhuangzi, #KEYS
412:Just stay at the center of the circle and let all things take their course. ~ Tao Te Ching, ch.19, #KEYS
413:Love God, and do what you like. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
414:Make a new beginning from today, assisted by the hand of God. ~ Philokalia, Barsanuphius and John, #KEYS
415:Obey the nature of things (your own nature), and you will walk freely and undisturbed." ~ Sengcan, #KEYS
416:See again the brighter ancient covered aboveworld streams and the worlds in which they live. ~ JB, #KEYS
417:Success comes from curiosity, concentration, perseverance and self criticism.
~ Albert Einstein,#KEYS
418:That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons death may die.
~ H P Lovecraft,#KEYS
419:Then he said 'Remember Bob: no fear, no envy, no meanness,' and I said 'hmmm, right.' ~ Bob Dylan, #KEYS
420:There is only one Jnani and you are THAT. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
421:Time and space are only concepts of mind. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
422:We are shaped and determined not only by today and yesterday, but tomorrow as well. ~ Jean Gebser, #KEYS
423:We behold what we are, and we are what we behold.
~ Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, The Bhagavad Gita,#KEYS
424:When you over value compliments you become vulnerable to insults and judgment." ~ Gary Vaynerchuk, #KEYS
425:Your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #KEYS
426:Be pure and free within, unentangled with any creature. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
427:Be strong and of a good courage. ~ Joshua I. 9, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
428:I am in you and I am you. No one can understand this until he has lost his mind. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
429:It is wonderful what tricks our dreams play us, and how conveniently we can imagine. ~ Bram Stoker, #KEYS
430:Jealousy and quarreling have destroyed great cities and uprooted mighty nations. ~ Clement of Rome, #KEYS
431:Life itself is not a thing-. . . but an act and process. ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Theory of Life, #KEYS
432:Love is a mystic path on which two distant souls meet and become one." ~ Yash Thakur, more quotes:, #KEYS
433:o not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #KEYS
434:Pain doesn't last. And when it's gone, we have something to show for it. Growth." ~ Kamal Ravikant, #KEYS
435:Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb." ~ Revelation 7:9-10, #KEYS
436:Sometimes there is nothing you can do but let it rain, and wait for the sunshine." ~ Ayush Jaiswal, #KEYS
437:The body is transitory [and hence unreal]. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
438:The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Exodus, 14:14, #KEYS
439:The Master is God Himself. Practice spiritual disciplines and you shall see Him. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
440:The while amazed between His Beauty and His Majesty I stood in silent ecstasy. ~ Rabia al-Adawiyya, #KEYS
441:We have forgotten the age-old fact that God speaks chiefly through dreams and visions. ~ Carl Jung, #KEYS
442:Who Are You? What do you want? Where Are You Going? Who do you serve and who do you trust? ~ Galen, #KEYS
443:A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.
~ Lao Tzu,#KEYS
444:Be content and live within your heart-deep inside - it is the only way to have peace. ~ MOTHER MIRA, #KEYS
445:Be thy own torch; rise up and become wise. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
446:For the two of us, home isn't a place. It is a person. And we are finally home. ~ Stephanie Perkins, #KEYS
447:Have faith in the Lord's mercy and all can and will change.
~ The Mother,#KEYS
448:I was no longer the centre of my life and therefore I could see God in everything. ~ Venerable Bede, #KEYS
449:Leap and the net will appear. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
450:Learn how to read the love letters send by the wind and rain, the snow and moon. ~ Ikkyu, 1394-1481, #KEYS
451:Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world. ~ Voltaire, #KEYS
452:Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous. ~ Psalm 112:4, #KEYS
453:„Prove yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish, and someday, you will be a real boy." ~ Pinocchio, #KEYS
454:Purity and peace make men upright. ~ Lao-Tsu-Te, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
455:she weighs so little that I start crying and can't walk three steps. ~ Ishikawa Takuboku, 1885-1912, #KEYS
456:The more fear you confront and conquer, the greater the courage you will possess.
~ Chin-Ning Chu,#KEYS
457:The purpose of study is preaching, and of preaching the salvation of souls. ~ Bl. Humbert of Romans, #KEYS
458:The Real Self is continuous and unaffected. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
459:There is no me, no you, no manifold world; All is the Self, and the Self alone. ~ The Avadhuta Gita, #KEYS
460:The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.
~ Ernest Hemingway,#KEYS
461:... When the Church and the world are one, then those days are at hand." ~ Saint Anthony the Abbot, #KEYS
462:Wisdom is a thing vast and grand. She demands all the time that one can consecrate to her. ~ Seneca, #KEYS
463:you can't extort from her with levers and with screws. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust I.672-75, #KEYS
464:All the ways of this world are as fickle and unstable as a sudden storm at sea. ~ Bede the Venerable, #KEYS
465:All things come out of the one, and the one out of all things. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
466:Do not cling to the experience of emptiness, and appearances will purify themselves. ~ Yeshe Tsogyal, #KEYS
467:Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear? ~ Tao Te Ching, ch.15, #KEYS
468:Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them." ~ Marcus Aurelius, #KEYS
469:Ecclesiastes shows that man without God is in total ignorance and inevitable misery. ~ Blaise Pascal, #KEYS
470:God illumines the mind and shines within it. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
471:I am the mother of pure love and of science and of sacred hope. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Ecclesiastes, #KEYS
472:Knowledge leads to unity and ignorance to diversity. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
473:Learn to use them and fly." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
474:The fire divine burns indivisible and ineffable and fills all the abysses of the world. ~ Iamblichus, #KEYS
475:The good man remains calm and serene. ~ Chi-king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
476:The lover of God will cry and weep until he finds rest in the Beloved's embrace. ~ Rabia al-Adawiyya, #KEYS
477:there is nothing else I can do;
I walk on and on ~ Santoka Taneda,#KEYS
478:Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings - always darker, emptier and simpler. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #KEYS
479:True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends - but in the worth and choice." ~ Ben Jonson, #KEYS
480:Understanding is a three edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth. ~ J. Michael Straczynski, #KEYS
481:Under the comb, the tangle and the straight path are the same. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
482:We are born from a quiet sleep and we die to a calm awakening. ~ Chuang Tzu, #KEYS
483:We use what we are and have, to know; and what we know, to be and have still more. ~ Maurice Blondel, #KEYS
484:When the heart is at peace, "for" and "against" are forgotten. ~ Chuang Tzu, #KEYS
485:When the right causes and conditions come together, anything can appear.
~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche,#KEYS
486:When the world wearies, and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the Garden. ~ Minnie Aumonier, #KEYS
487:Where there are humans, you'll find flies and Buddhas. ~ Kobayashi Issa, #KEYS
488:Your mind is the cycle of births and deaths. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
489:You shall confess your sins in the church and not go to your prayer with a bad conscience. ~ Didache, #KEYS
490:A man needs a little madness, or else... he never dares cut the rope and be free. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis, #KEYS
491:And so the Apostle says that this mystical wisdom is revealed by the Holy Spirit. ~ Saint Bonaventure, #KEYS
492:A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes." ~ Wade Boggs, #KEYS
493:Children are natural Zen masters; their world is brand new in each and every moment." ~ John Bradshaw, #KEYS
494:Forsake your ignorance and live. ~ Proverbs IX. 6, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
495:Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
496:Look at you, you madman! Screaming you are thirsty and dying in a desert, ~ Kabir, #KEYS
497:Make a bad beginning and you'll contend with troubles ever after. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
498:No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.
~ Buddha,#KEYS
499:Self-enquiry and Self-surrender are the same. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
500:Self is here and now and you are that always. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
501:We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible. ~ Nicene Creed, #KEYS
502:What pleases the Deity is virtue and sincerity, not any number of material offerings ~ Shinto-Gobusho, #KEYS
503:With God ruling in us, let us be immersed in the blessings of regeneration and resurrection. ~ Origen, #KEYS
504:A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him. " ~ Aleksandr Solzlhenitsyn, #KEYS
505:and at its deepest level, God itself." ~ "Mystic Wisdom: Rosicrucian Order AMORC", (Last edition 2015), #KEYS
506:And seeing ignorance is the curse of God, Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. ~ Shakespeare, #KEYS
507:Dive deep in the Heart and remain as the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
508:Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain.
~ William Faulkner,#KEYS
509:Give the mind to studies and the heart to God. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
510:He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. ~ Emily Brontë, #KEYS
511:In order to be effective truth must penetrate like an arrow - and that is likely to hurt. ~ Wei Wu Wei, #KEYS
512:In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is. ~ Yogi Berra, #KEYS
513:I was you, and never knew it. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
514:Life is a temporary loan and this world is nothing but a sketchy imitation of Reality. ~ Shams Tabrizi, #KEYS
515:Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within the reach of every hand. ~ Saint Teresa of Calcutta, #KEYS
516:Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand. ~ Plato, #KEYS
517:Regard as true only the eternal and the just. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
518:The glory of God is the living man, and the life of man is the vision of God. ~ Saint Irenaeus of Lyon, #KEYS
519:The more you talk and think about it,
the further astray you wander from the truth. ~ Seng-Ts'an,#KEYS
520:The whole universe is life, force and action. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
521:We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another. ~ Lucretius, #KEYS
522:You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." ~ Winnie the Pooh, #KEYS
523:A Buddha is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad." ~ Bodhidharma, #KEYS
524:All is truth for the intellect and reason. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
525:All men are born with a nose and five fingers, but no one is born with a knowledge of God.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
526:A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." ~ George A. Moore, #KEYS
527:And, first, ordinarily be silent. ~ Epictetus 33. 2, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
528:Bondage is of the mind and freedom is also of the mind. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
529:Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy. ~ Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, #KEYS
530:Education worthy of the name is essentially education of character. ~ Martin Buber, Between Man and Man, #KEYS
531:For you and I both have in our lives some people whom we find it pretty hard to love. ~ Mother Angelica, #KEYS
532:Found not thy glory on power and riches. ~ Theognis, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
533:Goodness in the form of Truth, and Truth in the power of Goodness, is Wisdom. ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge, #KEYS
534:Habits are like a cable. We weave a strand of it everyday and soon it cannot be broken.
~ Horace Mann,#KEYS
535:Heaven and earth do nothing. Yet there is nothing they do not do. ~ Chuang Tzu, #KEYS
536:How rueful, this world." ~ Jien, (1155-1225), a Japanese poet, historian, and Buddhist monk, Wikipedia., #KEYS
537:If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles." ~ Sun Tzu, #KEYS
538:It is that which is and that which is not. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
539:Keep a cool head, strong and very quiet nerves, and a complete trust in the Divine grace. ~ MOTHER MIRA, #KEYS
540:Never look for your work in one place and your progress in another. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
541:Our true glory and true riches are within. ~ Seneca, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
542:Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple." ~ Dr. Seuss [Theodor Seuss Geisel], #KEYS
543:Teach thy tongue to say 'I do not know,' and thou shalt progress. ~ Maimonides, #KEYS
544:The difference between insanity and genius is measured only by success and failure. ~ Masashi Kishimoto, #KEYS
545:There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor." ~ Charles Dickens, #KEYS
546:There is only one Master, and that is the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
547:The risk of not deciding is often the greatest of all risks to the organization.
~ Everard and Morris,#KEYS
548:The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world's joy." ~ Henry Ward Beecher, #KEYS
549:When you are deluded and full of doubt, even a thousand books of scripture are not enough ~ Zen proverb, #KEYS
550:You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over." ~ Richard Branson, #KEYS
551:Your duty is to Be, and not to be this or that. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
552:Abandon all memories and expectations. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
553:All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.
~ Albert Einstein, Relativity,#KEYS
554:For those who allow their mind to wander here and there, everything will go wrong. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
555:Good, better, best. Never let it rest. 'Til your good is better and your better is best." ~ Saint Jerome, #KEYS
556:He is all things and all things are one. ~ The Zohar, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
557:He who has faith has all, and he who lacks it lacks all. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
558:However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at." ~ Stephen Hawking, #KEYS
559:I will no longer mutilate and destroy myself in order to find a secret behind the ruins. ~ Hermann Hesse, #KEYS
560:Let your yea be yea and your nay, nay. ~ James V. 12, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
561:Remain sheltered in my arms, enveloped by my love and blessings.
~ The Mother,#KEYS
562:Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning.
~ Benjamin Disraeli,#KEYS
563:Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes and grass grows by itself.
~ Tōyō Eichō, Zenrin Kushû,#KEYS
564:The more a thing is perfect, the more it feels pleasure and pain.
~ Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy,#KEYS
565:The path is one and the realization is only one. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
566:True depth of understanding is wide and steady. Shallow understanding is lazy and wandering." ~ Zhuangzi, #KEYS
567:We use Jesus and not people, because only he will never be without us." ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
568:Whoever wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ~ Mark 8, 34, #KEYS
569:You exist even in the absence of time and space. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
570:A lovely face is the solace of wounded hearts and the key of locked-up gates. ~ Saadi, #KEYS
571:But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, James, 1:22, #KEYS
572:Countless words count less than the silent balance between yin and yang." ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
573:Gentleness and simple faith are the roads to the kingdom. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
574:God made the illusion look Real and the Real an illusion! ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
575:O saki, arise and give the cup. Strew dust on the head of the grieve of days. ~ Hafiz, #KEYS
576:Our duty is to fall down and adore where others only bow. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
577:Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out,
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Acts, 3:19,#KEYS
578:Speak always the truth and cultivate harmony- ~ Li-ki, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
579:The Idea is cause and end of things. ~ Giordano Bruno, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
580:The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 1:5, #KEYS
581:The man of taste will read only what is good; but the statesman will permit both bad and good. ~ Voltaire, #KEYS
582:The Self is here and now and you are that always. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
583:This world is like the shore and the World to Come like the ocean ~ Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, (RaMCHaL), #KEYS
584:Unrest and uncertainty are our lot. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
585:Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. ~ Carl Jung, #KEYS
586:We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. ~ C S Lewis, The Abolition of Man (1943), #KEYS
587:What is it that exists now and troubles you? It is 'I'. Get rid of it and be happy. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
588:Wisdom is the oneness of mind that guides and permeates all things. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
589:With each and every breath, I dwell upon You; I shall never forget You.
~ Guru Nanak, Guru Granth Sahib,#KEYS
590:And Elohim said, 'Let there be Light.' and there was Light." (Kether) ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Genesis, 1:3, #KEYS
591:and waters them with self-doubt." ~ Ma Jaya, (1940-2012), Wikipedia. From "The 11 Karmic Spaces,", (2012)., #KEYS
592:Between two worlds life hovers like a star, twixt night and morn, upon the horizon's verge.
~ Lord Byron,#KEYS
593:Colors are light's suffering and joy ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
594:Compassion and love, behold the true religion! ~ Asoka, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
595:Cultivate love and devotion for God and so pass your days. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
596:Every man is divine and strong in his real nature. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
597:Everything is soul and flowering. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
598:Happiness and distress are only modes of the mind. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
599:He who reigns within himself and rules his passions, desires, and fears is more than a king. ~ John Milton, #KEYS
600:If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.
~ Epictetus,#KEYS
601:I have suggested that behind almost all myth lies the mono-plot of the game of hide-and-seek. ~ Alan Watts, #KEYS
602:I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Proverbs, 8:17, #KEYS
603:Imān (Faith) is not accepted without deeds, and deeds (are not accepted without) ~ al-Kabīr al-Tabrānī, #KEYS
604:Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., #KEYS
605:O seeing Flame, thou carriest man of the crooked ways into the abiding truth and the knowledge. ~ Rig Veda, #KEYS
606:Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 Chronicles, 16:11, #KEYS
607:Sex appeal is fifty percent what you've got and fifty percent what people think you've got. ~ Sophia Loren, #KEYS
608:So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Romans, 10:17, #KEYS
609:The difficulties are for the strong, and help to make them stronger. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
610:The longer and more carefully we look at a funny story, the sadder it becomes. ~ Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, #KEYS
611:There is no difference between God, Guru and Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
612:There is no reason why the same man should like the same books at eighteen and at forty-eight ~ Ezra Pound #KEYS
613:There is only one thing in life that never changes, and it is change." ~ Confucius, #KEYS
614:The snow as I watch keeps falling and falling.... ~ Santoka Taneda, 1882-1940, #KEYS
615:The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. ~ Albert Camus, The Plague, #KEYS
616:The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are perpetuated by quotations.
~ Benjamin Disraeli,#KEYS
617:Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth." ~ Confucius, #KEYS
618:You have seen the imagination in its very unreality, and you have returned from it to reality. ~ Al-Hallaj, #KEYS
619:A fine quotation is a diamond in the hand of a man of wit and a pebble in the hand of a fool. ~ Joseph Roux, #KEYS
620:All the goodness and the heroisms will rise up again, then be cut down again and rise up." ~ John Steinbeck, #KEYS
621:And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Matthew, 21:22, #KEYS
622:Good and bad I bid farewell to the departing year. ~ Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1828, #KEYS
623:He who has faith has all, and he who lacks faith lacks all. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
624:I must keep silent. Silent. And let Love describe itself.
~ Jalaluddin Rumi,#KEYS
625:I remember your name in the night, O Lord, and keep your law. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 119:55, #KEYS
626:I study my mind and therefore all appearances are my texts. ~ Jetsun Milarepa, #KEYS
627:It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.
~ Napoleon Hill,#KEYS
628:Learn to see, and then you'll know that there is no end to the new worlds of our vision. ~ Carlos Castaneda, #KEYS
629:So I keep 7 o'clock in the bank and gain interest in the hour of God
~ Saul Williams, Penny for a Thought,#KEYS
630:Spiritual progress is a far cry in the midst of selfishness and narrow-mindedness. ~ SWAMI TRIGUNATITANANDA, #KEYS
631:That which is was always and always will be. ~ Melessus, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
632:The lover only minds the welfare of the beloved and does not care for his own sufferings. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
633:Theoretical knowledge has no end. Take to heart and practice what you have learned. ~ Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, #KEYS
634:There is no second and therefore no cause for fear. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
635:We do not learn; and what we call learning is only a process of recollection.
~ Plato,#KEYS
636:We must be humble and reverent when face to face with the source of enlightenment. ~ Chinese Texts, I Ching, #KEYS
637:Whatever a man does, good or evil, comes back to him someday. And he pays for everything. ~ Valmiki Jayanti, #KEYS
638:Whenever a harsh word opens a door, anger enters in, and on the heels of anger, injury. ~ Ephrem the Syrian, #KEYS
639:... Women will abandon feelings of delicacy, and cohabit with men out of wedlock." ~ Saint Senanus, Ireland #KEYS
640:You are always that Self and nothing but that Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
641:... Your body, a temple of the Spirit, is being degraded and profaned." ~ Our Lady to Father Stefano Gobbi , #KEYS
642:Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.
~ William S Burroughs,#KEYS
643:A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.
~ Ludwig Wittgenstein,#KEYS
644:Beside each believer stands an Angel as protector and shepherd, leading him to life. ~ Saint Basil the Great, #KEYS
645:Be yourself on stage. Nobody else can be you and you have the law of supply and demand covered. ~ Bill Hicks, #KEYS
646:Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Luke, 10:4, #KEYS
647:Closeness to the Divine will always grow with the growth of consciousness, equanimity and love. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
648:Come out of the circle of time, and into the circle of love. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
649:Do not hate the evil-hearted, the jealous and the selfish. It is they who promote your Mok ~ Swami Sivananda, #KEYS
650:First see God, and then talk of lectures and social reforms. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
651:I desire and love nothing that is not of the light. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
652:If they're on fire and you have water, then you can sell it to them. ~ Jordan Peterson, Personality Lectures, #KEYS
653:It is by loving and not by being loved that one can come nearest to the soul of another." ~ George MacDonald, #KEYS
654:Learn to call me in your dreams - and you will see the result.
~ The Mother, [T5],#KEYS
655:Let go. Let Be. See through everything and be free, complete, luminous, at home—at ease." ~ Lama Surya Das, #KEYS
656:Midway between illumination and abandonment lies the experience of trial. ~ Philokalia, Diadochos of Photiki, #KEYS
657:Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem, in my opinion, to characterize our age.
~ Albert Einstein,#KEYS
658:Rich people have small TVs and big libraries, and poor people have small libraries and big TVs. ~ Zig Ziglar, #KEYS
659:The Good is not Being, but is beyond Being in rank and power. ~ Plato, Republic 509b8-10, #KEYS
660:There is but one cause of human failure. And that is man's lack of faith in his true Self.
~ William James,#KEYS
661:The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. ~ Mark Twain, #KEYS
662:To rest in God is the enlightenment and sanctification of everything. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, De Potentia iv, #KEYS
663:We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning.
~ Jean Baudrillard,#KEYS
664:Where your talents and the needs of the world cross lies your calling.
~ Aristotle,#KEYS
665:Whether we like it or not, change comes, and the greater the resistance, the greater the pain." ~ Alan Watts, #KEYS
666:Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror." ~ Khail Gibran, #KEYS
667:bloomed for ever dies." ~ Omar Khayyam, (1048 - 1131) Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet, Wikipedia., #KEYS
668:Borrow eyes of the beloved, look through them and you'll see the beloved's face everywhere. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
669:Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #KEYS
670:Don't waste your time chasing butterflies. Mend your garden, and the butterflies will come." ~ Mario Quintana, #KEYS
671:Each question is three thousand questions, and a good question provides more questions. ~ Taigen Dan Leighton, #KEYS
672:How disorienting and isolating immortality must be, and how strong he must be to weather it. ~ Michael Talbot, #KEYS
673:Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hatred, and hatred leads to violence. This is the equation. ~ Averroes, #KEYS
674:Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower." ~ Hans Christian Andersen, #KEYS
675:Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." ~ Blaise Pascal, #KEYS
676:No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books. ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning #KEYS
677:Open your heart and see the world through the eyes of the true Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi #KEYS
678:Read Sri Aurobindo and follow his discipline. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother - I, #KEYS
679:Repeat the holy Name, meditate upon it, keep good company, and subdue the ego by all means. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
680:Science and religion are not at odds. Science is simply too young to understand. ~ Dan Brown, Angels & Demons #KEYS
681:Secrecy, censorship, dishonesty, and blocking of communication threaten all the basic needs. ~ Abraham Maslow, #KEYS
682:See and realize that this world is not permanent. Neither late nor early flowers will remain." ~ Taigu Ryokan, #KEYS
683:The Lord was completely one with the Father and never acted independently of him. ~ Saint Ignatius of Antioch, #KEYS
684:There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.
~ Lilly Wachowski, The Matrix, Morpheus,#KEYS
685:The rose and thorn, the treasure and dragon, joy and sorrow, all mingle into one. ~ Saadi, #KEYS
686:The universe and I are of the same root. The myriad things and I are one body. That is zazen.
~ Kodo Sawaki,#KEYS
687:To begin is the most important part of any quest and by far the most courageous." ~ Plato, #KEYS
688:To the servant of God, every place is the right place, and every time is the right time. ~ Catherine of Siena, #KEYS
689:You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
690:All the gods and goddesses are only varied aspects of the One. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
691:All things too great end soon. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act I, #KEYS
692:Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.
~ Stephen King, On Writing,#KEYS
693:Awakening begins when a man realizes that he is going nowhere and does not know where to go. ~ G. J. Gurdjieff, #KEYS
694:Be pure, be simple and hold always a just mean. ~ Chu-King, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
695:Don't make a big distinction between fiction and non-fiction. These are arbitrary distinctions. ~ Farley Mowat, #KEYS
696:It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
697:Let's go out to see the snow view where we slip and fall. ~ Matsuo Basho, 1644-1694, #KEYS
698:Life and death have been lacking in my life.
~ Jorge Luis Borges, On Writing,#KEYS
699:Now it is time to work instead of living in uncertainty and passing one's time heedlessly. ~ Attar of Nishapur, #KEYS
700:On the last day of your life when you wake-up, you will see this is all illusion and imagination. ~ Shabistari, #KEYS
701:The desire to know God and to love Him cannot be considered a desire in the ordinary sense. ~ SWAMI PREMANANDA, #KEYS
702:The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Job, 33:4, #KEYS
703:What I really wanted was every kind of life, and the writer's life seemed the most inclusive.
~ Susan Sontag,#KEYS
704:With such force will Babylon the great city be thrown down, and will never be found again." ~ Revelation 18:21, #KEYS
705:You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. ~ C S Lewis, #KEYS
706:Act as if everyday were the last of your life, and each action the last you perform." ~ Saint Alphonsus Liguori, #KEYS
707:All you have to do then is to comm and yourselves. ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
708:Be ye wise as serpents and simple as doves. ~ Matthew X. 16, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
709:Change yourself and the circumstances will change. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I, #KEYS
710:First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
~ Epictetus,#KEYS
711:Give me chastity and continence, but not yet. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
712:God is love, and it is proper for love to love and to expand in love. ~ Sergius Bulgakov, The Lamb of God (120), #KEYS
713:If I say, if I talk about, 'I want to be enlightened.', it implies a future. And there isn't any. ~ Byron Katie, #KEYS
714:Love the Lord full-heartedly and all will be well.
In Love eternal. ~ The Mother,#KEYS
715:Meditation and spiritual practices give you the power and the courage to smile at death. ~ MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI, #KEYS
716:Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
~ Thomas A Edison,#KEYS
717:Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world. ~ Helen Keller, #KEYS
718:The firmness of the entire building depends on the foundation and the ceiling! ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
719:The plants and flowers
I raised about my hut
I now surrender
To the will
Of the wind ~ Taigu Ryokan,#KEYS
720:There is a state when words cease and silence prevails. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
721:There is nothing mind can do that cannot be better done in the minds immobility and thought-free stillness. ~ ?, #KEYS
722:To find god you must offer to Him your body, mind, and riches.. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
723:To let the mind become vast and open like the sky, is the key instruction for enhancing practice. ~ Shri Singha, #KEYS
724:We are our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves. ~ Tom Robbins, #KEYS
725:We come to God by love and not by navigation. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
726:We spend our lives waiting for our book and it never comes. ~ Jorge Luis Borges, #KEYS
727:Within the armor is the butterfly and within the butterfly - is the signal from another star.
~ Philip K Dick,#KEYS
728:You are always in the Self and there is no reaching it. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
729:All things were together, infinite both in number and in smallness; for the small too was infinite. ~ Anaxagoras, #KEYS
730:A man who prays lives out the mystery of existence, and a man who does not pray scarcely exists. ~ Saint Charbel, #KEYS
731:Any innovation in matters of faith is extremely pernicious and utterly damnable! ~ Saint John Eudes, (1601-1680), #KEYS
732:before they embark on the journey. ~ Sam Keen, "To Love and Be Loved,", (1997), First 2 of 7 stanzas. Wikipedia., #KEYS
733:Blessed be the key that turned in my heart and let loose my soul and freed it from so heavy a chain." ~ Petrarch, #KEYS
734:Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
~ Confucius,#KEYS
735:Do not think of what you have been, think only of what you want to be and you are sure to progress. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
736:Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?" ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
737:Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well." ~ Jack Kornfield, #KEYS
738:First say to yourself what you would be;
and then do what you have to do. ~ Epictetus,#KEYS
739:Give me chastity and continence, but not yet." ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
740:God who is no other thing but love has not created anything other than love. ~ Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace 36, #KEYS
741:Happiness is the seed. Happiness shared is the flower." ~ John Harrigan, English author. Wrote "Belly and Guts.", #KEYS
742:I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and was and is to come--the Almighty." ~ Revelation 1:8, #KEYS
743:I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul. ~ Pablo Neruda,#KEYS
744:In contemplation, one's mind should be stable and unmoving, like a wall. ~ Bodhidharma, #KEYS
745:Let us be kind to one another after the pattern of the tender mercy and goodness of our Creator. ~ Saint Clement, #KEYS
746:Right now I'm having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before. ~ Steven Wright, #KEYS
747:Sacrifice that causes pain is no sacrifice at all. True sacrifice is joy-giving and uplifting." ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #KEYS
748:Since the object of our love is infinite, we can always love more and more perfectly. ~ Saint Ignatius of Loyola, #KEYS
749:Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences. ~ Brian Eno, #KEYS
750:The consciousness of each of us is evolution looking at itself and reflecting upon itself. ~ Teilhard de Chardin, #KEYS
751:The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. ~ Albert Einstein, #KEYS
752:The egos are many, whereas the Self is one and only one. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
753:The Essence of all things is one and identical. ~ Aswaghosha, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
754:The meditator must develop both awareness and equanimity together in order to advance along the path.
~ Goenka,#KEYS
755:The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible." ~ Winston Churchill, #KEYS
756:There is no right or wrong behavior. The only meaningful choice is between fear and love." ~ Gerald G. Jampolsky, #KEYS
757:The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
~ Dogen Zenji,#KEYS
758:To educate educators! But the first ones must educate themselves! And for these I write.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche,#KEYS
759:What is your definition of Greatness? JP: The capacity to utter and abide by beautiful truths. ~ Jordan Peterson, #KEYS
760:When men take up arms to set other men free, there is something sacred and holy in the warfare. ~ Woodrow Wilson, #KEYS
761:Abide in the heart and surrender your acts to the Divine. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
762:All men have the capacity of knowing themselves and acting with moderation. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
763:And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the sense?
~ Edgar Allan Poe,#KEYS
764:Diamonds are to be found only in the darkness of the earth, and truth in the darkness of the mind. ~ Vicktor Hugo, #KEYS
765:Good will for all and good will from all is the basis of peace and harmony. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
766:Holiness consists simply in doing God's will, and being just what God wants us to be." ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #KEYS
767:If you try to change it, you will ruin it. Try to hold it, and you will lose it." ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
768:Little by little, through patience and repeated effort, the mind will become stilled in the Self. ~ Bhagavad Gita, #KEYS
769:Love thy neighbour and be faithful unto him. ~ Erelesiastieus, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
770:Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." ~ Helen Keller, #KEYS
771:The devotee often hides their real nature and assumes some other. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
772:The enemy of faith is doubt. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Faith and Shakti, #KEYS
773:There is no darkness, we only close our eyes and shut out the Light.
~ Nolini Kanta Gupta, To The Heights, [T6],#KEYS
774:This, then, is the function of death—the complete separation of body and soul ~ Tertullian, On the Soul, 52.1)., #KEYS
775:Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 37:3, #KEYS
776:Will and intellect are the same in God ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.22.1ad3)., #KEYS
777:You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending." ~ C. S. Lewis, #KEYS
778:Zealous and not slothful; fervent in spirit. ~ Romans XII. II, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
779:A beginning and end are necessary to conceive of the middle point. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
780:A Buddha is an idle person. He doesn't run around after fortune and fame." ~ Bodhidharma, #KEYS
781:And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 1:5, [T5],#KEYS
782:and the Prophet Muhammad is Kamal [Perfection]." ~ IbnArabi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
783:I climb the road that never ends. Who can break from the snares of the world and join me in the clouds? ~ Han-Shan, #KEYS
784:Keep it simple, and focus on what matters. Don't let yourself be overwhelmed." ~ Confucius, #KEYS
785:Less and less do you need to force things, until finally you arrive at non-action. ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
786:Live the life in front of you, be the life you are, and see what you find out for yourself." ~ Karen Maezen Miller, #KEYS
787:... Love the Divine alone and the Divine will always be with you. ~ The Mother, WOTM2, 1:1 #KEYS
788:Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence. ~ Henry David Thoreau, #KEYS
789:Tears and sighs naturally lessen sadness ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1-2.38.2)., #KEYS
790:The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool. ~ Richard P Feynman, #KEYS
791:The knower of Brahman becomes fearless. The knower of Brahman transcends delusion and sorrow. ~ Isavasya Upanishad, #KEYS
792:There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain. ~ Plato, #KEYS
793:There is only one thing to be feared and that is sin. Everything else is beside the point. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
794:The road to continuous improvement is and must be an appropriately tailored, optimized, and personal one.
~ Hunt,#KEYS
795:Time and space are within us. You are always in your Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
796:To the persevering and the firm nothing is difficult. ~ Lun-Yu, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
797:True friendship consists in mutually perfecting one another and drawing closer to God. ~ Saint Teresa of the Andes, #KEYS
798:What makes us heroic? Confronting simultaenously our supreme suffering and our supreme hope. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #KEYS
799:When I get a little money, I buy books. If any is left, I buy food and clothes. ~ Desiderius Erasmus, (16th cent.), #KEYS
800:Absence is a house so vast that inside you will pass through its walls and hang pictures on the air. ~ Pablo Neruda, #KEYS
801:And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
~ Nelson Mandela,#KEYS
802:Anything is possible. The point is to keep your heart and mind open to the likelihood of change. ~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche, #KEYS
803:A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Proverbs, 24:5,#KEYS
804:Christ-consciousness and Self-Realization are all the same. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
805:Comprehend then the light and know it. ~ Hermes I. "Poimandres", the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
806:Constant remembrance of God and ultimate reliance upon Him under all circumstances is Sadhana. ~ Swami Akhandananda, #KEYS
807:Dust thou art and unto dust shall thou return. ~ Genesis III.19, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
808:Examine all things and hold fast that which is good. ~ St. Paul, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
809:God, whose love and joy are present everywhere, can't come to visit you unless you aren't there. ~ Angelus Silesius, #KEYS
810:How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! ~ Proverbs, #KEYS
811:I felt in need of a great pilgrimage, so I sat still for three days and God came to me. ~ Kabir, #KEYS
812:I hope that real love and truth are stronger in the end than any evil or misfortune in the world. ~ Charles Dickens, #KEYS
813:In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni - We circle in the night and are consumed by the fire ~ Old Latin palindrome, #KEYS
814:In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 1:1,#KEYS
815:Mikasa Ackerman. A master of all subjects and widely considered one of the best in our history.
~ Attack On Titan,#KEYS
816:The best course for you is to renounce desire, and work unattached. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
817:The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.
~ Aldous Huxley,#KEYS
818:There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance. ~ Hippocrates, #KEYS
819:To forget God is to miss the whole point of existence. Learn to feel God, and to enjoy Him. ~ PARAMAHAMSA YOGANANDA, #KEYS
820:To see everything in God and to see God in everything normally takes a lifetime of practice. ~ Thomas Keating, [T5], #KEYS
821:Weep for God, and the tears will wash away the dirt from your mind. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
822:What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #KEYS
823:Who is whose Guru? God alone is the guide and Guru of the universe. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
824:Words are vehicles of ideas, and unless they are understood properly misunderstanding is inevitable. ~ Manly P Hall, #KEYS
825:Young love is wild and outrageous, laughing at moderation, and blinding us to common sense." ~ H. Jackson Brown Jr., #KEYS
826:Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware. It does not teach, it points." ~ D.T. Suzuki, #KEYS
827:All things come into being through opposition and all are in flux like a river ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
828:Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
~ Albert Einstein,#KEYS
829:Be a true representative of the goodness in your heart, and don't expect it to be easy or even noticed. ~ Adyashanti, #KEYS
830:Be strong and of a good courage; fear not. ~ Deuteronomy XXXI. 6, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
831:Don't be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so. ~ Belva Davis, #KEYS
832:He governs his soul and expects nothing from others. ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
833:He saw Christ, and instead of robbing others of their goods, he began to give away his own. ~ Saint Ambrose of Milan, #KEYS
834:He who abases Matter, abases himself and all creation. ~ CErsted, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
835:If I tell you something, you will stick to it and limit your own capacity to find out for yourself. ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #KEYS
836: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
837:In the world of the Unity heaven and earth are one. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
838:It is an absolute and virtually divine perfection to know how to enjoy our being rightfully.
~ Michel de Montaigne,#KEYS
839:It is impossible to find a saint who did not take the two P's" seriously: prayer and penance. ~ Saint Francis Xavier, #KEYS
840:It is only with total humility, and in absolute stillness of mind that we can know what indeed we are." ~ Wei Wu Wei, #KEYS
841:Know thyself, and thou shalt know all the mysteries of the gods and the universe.
~ the Temple of Apollo at Delphi,#KEYS
842: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
843:My name is Ozymandias, king of kings; Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias,#KEYS
844:Never forget the goal. Never stop aspiring. Never halt in your progress, and you are sure to succeed. ~ Mother Mirra, #KEYS
845:The first step is perfect calm and equanimity.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Calm,#KEYS
846:The soul is perfected by knowledge and virtue ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 2.79)., #KEYS
847:The taste for quotations (and for the juxtaposition of incongruous quotations) is a Surrealist taste. ~ Susan Sontag, #KEYS
848:To me, every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle." ~ Walt Whitman, #KEYS
849:Truly there is no cause for you to be miserable and unhappy. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
850:We become more and more nervous as we live less and less intelligently. ~ Manly P Hall, Horizon Fall-Winter 1944 p.3, #KEYS
851:We share one Intelligence with heaven and the stars. ~ Macrobius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
852:Wisdom seems to dawn, though it is natural and ever present. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
853:You must ask for God's help. … After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again." ~ C.S. Lewis, #KEYS
854:You put your lips upon my forehead, and lit a Holy lamp inside my heart.
~ Hafiz, [T5],#KEYS
855:You will have to subjugate your passions and hold fast to the faith that God exists everywhere. ~ Swami Vijnanananda, #KEYS
856:and the LOWER FACULTIES are ordered to REASON ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 3.121)., #KEYS
857:Anyone who has once called on the Master, with sincere faith and devotion has nothing more to fear. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
858:As Aurobindo and Teilhard de Chardin knew, the future of humankind is God-consciousness.
~ Ken Wilber, Up From Eden,#KEYS
859:A world of dew and within every dewdrop a world of struggle. ~ Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1828, #KEYS
860:Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
861:Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world. ~ George Bernard Shaw, #KEYS
862:Dare greatly and thou shalt be great. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act I, #KEYS
863:Dispassion alone is good. God alone is real and all else is illusory. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
864:Finish the few duties you have at hand, and then you will have peace. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
865:Grace is in the beginning, middle and end. Grace is the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
866:Human existence is so fragile a thing and exposed to such dangers that I cannot love without trembling. ~ Simone Weil, #KEYS
867:I am a stranger in this world, and there is a severe solitude and painful lonesomeness in my exile.
~ Khalil Gibran,#KEYS
868:If anything could stand still, it would be crushed and dissipated by the torrent it resisted.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,#KEYS
869:If the stars should appear but one night every thousand years how man would marvel and adore.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,#KEYS
870:In true courage there is no impatience and no rashness. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, #KEYS
871:It is the duty of the priest or the cleric to be of use if possible to all and to be harmful to none. ~ Saint Ambrose, #KEYS
872:LISP programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing. ~ Alan Perlis, ,(take on an Oscar Wilde quote), #KEYS
873:Love is the root and cause of every emotion ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1-2.62.2)., #KEYS
874:Matter and Spirit are one since the first beginning. ~ Aswaghosha, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
875:Our plans may fail, God's purpose cannot. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, Facts and Opinions, #KEYS
876:Physics is the most fundamental, and least significant, of the sciences. ~ Ken Wilber, Sex Ecology Spirituality, p.93, #KEYS
877:Seeing visions and so forth, are obstacles to the realization of God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
878:So... all of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will ~ where do you want to start? ~ Steven Moffat, #KEYS
879:Swift is the passage of time and the end comes alarmingly fast. Nothing is more urgent than Presence. ~ Robert Burton, #KEYS
880:The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned." ~ Maya Angelou, #KEYS
881:The best is heart to heart speech and heart to heart hearing. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
882:The bestower of bliss must be Bliss itself and also Infinite. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
883:The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
~ Mahatma Gandhi,#KEYS
884:The Higher Power knows what to do and how to do it. Trust it. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
885:Their jobs are location-independent[9] such as IT, writing, teaching, and handicraft.[10]
~ Wikipedia, Global Nomad,#KEYS
886:There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
~ Buddha,#KEYS
887:To know how to wait is to put time on one's side.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1953,#KEYS
888:Work without ideals is a false gospel. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II: Work and Ideal #KEYS
889:Yet the world and its enticement are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever. ~ 1 John 2:16-17, #KEYS
890:You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! ~ Anonymous, The Bible, James, 2:19, #KEYS
891:A mind that worries about the past is distracted, and a mind that worries about the future is delusional." ~ Cheng Yen, #KEYS
892:And come you now, O Lord my God, teach my heart where and how it may seek you, where and how it may find you. ~ Anselm, #KEYS
893:An intelligent, discreet, and pious young woman is worth more than all the money in the world. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
894:Don't waste your time chasing butterflies. Mend your garden, and the butterflies will come.
~ Mario Quintana/Unknown,#KEYS
895:God is the only guru and my Divine Mother is the sole doer of actions. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
896:'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. ~ Revelation 1:8, #KEYS
897:If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think, in terms of energy, frequency and vibrations." ~ Nikola Tesla, #KEYS
898:I guess the moral of today's story is that you ask for what you want. And ask and you shall receive.
~ Andrew Kanegi,#KEYS
899:Jesus Christ, our Lord, gave his blood for us, his flesh for our flesh, and his life for ours. ~ Saint Clement of Rome, #KEYS
900:Knowledge without the idea of the good is just a matter of vanity and curiosity. ~ Simone Weil, Lectures on Philosophy, #KEYS
901:Lift the veil that obscures the heart, and there you will find what you are looking for.
~ Kabir,#KEYS
902:Like day, I bring an end to myself, and in joy I start all over again. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
903:Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them. ~ Henry David Thoreau, Walden #KEYS
904:No matter what suffering may befall you now, do not give in to it but develop courage again and again. ~ Padmasambhava, #KEYS
905:The difference between passion and addiction is that between a divine spark and a flame that incinerates. ~ Gabor Mate, #KEYS
906:The intellect is a thing, and truth its end ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.82.3ad1)., #KEYS
907:There is no difference between God, Guru and Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks, 198, #KEYS
908:There's no value in digging shallow wells in a hundred places. Decide on one place and dig deep. ~ Swami Satchidananda, #KEYS
909:The thoughts change but not you. Let go the passing thoughts and hold on to the unchanging Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
910:The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
~ Bertrand Russell,#KEYS
911:This thing I comm and you that ye love one another. ~ John. XV. 17, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
912:To learn is good, To become is better.
~ The Mother, On Thoughts And Aphorisms, Nov 25 1969,#KEYS
913:True love and consecration lead much quicker to the Divine than arduous Tapasya. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
914:Whatever exists, has being according to a perfect law and cannot receive a better being. ~ Saint Maximus the Confessor, #KEYS
915:What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." ~ Mark 11:24, (KJV), #KEYS
916:When, by practice, the mind stands still, all illusions of samsara disappear, root and branch. ~ Advaita Bodha Deepika, #KEYS
917:Work without ideals is a false gospel. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II, Work and Ideal, #KEYS
918:Adore and what you adore attempt to be. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act V, #KEYS
919:Beyond my window snow piles everywhere and the world is white. ~ Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1828, #KEYS
920:Blessed is the man who consumes his lion, and cursed is the man who is consumed by his lion. ~ Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, #KEYS
921:Concentration has to be made in the heart, which is cool and refreshing. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi #KEYS
922:Daily torn and tattered
turning to shreds
my robe for travelling ~ Santoka Taneda,#KEYS
923:Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #KEYS
924:Focusing on one thing and doing it really, really well can get you very far.
~ Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram,#KEYS
925:Is there one faith for moderns and ancients ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (i.e. the Jews)?, #KEYS
926:I was dead and, behold, I am alive for evermore. ~ Revelation I. 18, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
927:Knowledge is power and mastery. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Ego and the Dualities, #KEYS
928:Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again: for forgiveness has risen from the grave!" ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
929:Maya is like magic and we have to see the magician. But then the path beyond Maya is through Maya. ~ Swami Akhandananda, #KEYS
930:Renounce without hesitation faith and unbelief. ~ Attar of Nishapur, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
931:The dreaming deities look beyond the seen
And fashion in their thoughts the ideal worlds ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri,#KEYS
932:The new year arrived in utter simplicity- and a deep blue sky. ~ Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1828, #KEYS
933:The painful secret of gods and kings is that men are free... You know it and they do not. ~ Jean-Paul Sartre, The Flies, #KEYS
934:There is the Truth where Love and Righteousness are ~ Buddhist Text, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
935:Think before you desire a thing. There is every possibility that it will be fulfilled, and then you will suffer. ~ Osho, #KEYS
936:To aspire and to call for help are quite indispensable.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
937:Unity is a means and not an end in itself. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II, About Unity, #KEYS
938:When you suffer, you yourself are the cause. Please do not imagine much, and you will be free. ~ SWAMI TRIGUNATITANANDA, #KEYS
939:Abraham offered to God his mortal son who did not die, and God gave up his immortal Son who died for all of us. ~ Origen, #KEYS
940:A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power. ~ Brian Tracy, #KEYS
941:Another year is gone; and I still wear straw hat and straw sandals. ~ Matsuo Basho, 1644-1694, #KEYS
942:By the will art thou lost, by the will art thou found, by the will art thou free, captive, and bound. ~ Angelus Silesius, #KEYS
943:Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Matthew, 11:28,#KEYS
944:Do you pay regular visits to yourself? Don't argue or answer rationally. Let us die, and dying, reply. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
945:Drop your self-concept and there is only God meeting God. Enlightenment is the restoration of cosmic humor. ~ Adyashanti, #KEYS
946:He was always smoothing and polishing himself, and in the end he became blunt before he was sharp. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
947:I have of ten admired the mystical way of Pythagoras, and the secret magic of numbers. ~ Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, i #KEYS
948:Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you." ~ Walt Whitman, #KEYS
949:Let's hold hands and get drunk near the sun and sing sweet songs to God. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
950:Man is fortunately inconsistent. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, Materialism, #KEYS
951:Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Quotations and Originality,#KEYS
952:Practice not doing. When action is pure and selfless everything settles into its own perfect place. ~ Tao Te Ching, ch.2, #KEYS
953:See God everywhere and be not frightened by masks
~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human,#KEYS
954:Seek only the intimacy of God and of His angels, and avoid the notice of men. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
955:Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus, and there gaze on the Infinite Beauty." ~ Kabir, #KEYS
956:The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G K Chesterton, #KEYS
957:The enquiry 'Who am I?' turns the mind inward and makes it calm. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
958:The frontier between hell and heaven is only the difference between two ways of looking at things. ~ George Bernard Shaw, #KEYS
959:The universe is a living thing and all lives in it. ~ Giordano Bruno, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
960:Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me. ~ Vincent van Gogh, #KEYS
961:Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead. ~ Revelations III. 1, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
962:Wherever you find movement, there you find life and a soul. ~ Thales, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
963:Wicked thoughts and worthless efforts gradually set their mark on the face, especially the eyes.
~ Arthur Schopenhauer,#KEYS
964:Yearning hurts,
and what release
may come of it
feels much like death. ~ Heraclitus,#KEYS
965:You learn at your best when you have something you care about and can get pleasure in being engaged in. ~ Howard Gardner, #KEYS
966:And builds to hope her altars of despair, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, 4:3, #KEYS
967:Approach what you find repulsive, help the ones you think you cannot help, and go places that scare you. ~ Machig Labdron, #KEYS
968:Blessed is one who is before coming into being. For whoever is, was and will be. ~ Gospel of Philip, Nag Hammadi, 64:9-12, #KEYS
969:Constantly observe sincerity and fidelity and good faith. ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
970:God sleeps in the rock, dreams in the plant, stirs in the animal, and awakens in man. ~ Ibn Arabi, #KEYS
971:How beautiful the world was when one looked at it without searching, just looked, simply and innocently." ~ Hermann Hesse, #KEYS
972:I am a child of Divine Mother - the source of all power and strength. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
973:If even then we make mistakes, yet God makes none.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human,#KEYS
974:In the garden of literature, the highest and the most charismatic flowers are always the quotations. ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #KEYS
975:More heavenly and those flashing stars the endless eyes seem, which Night opens up in us. ~ Novalis, Hymns to the Night 1, #KEYS
976:My face became all eyes, and my eyes all hands." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
977:Root out in thee all love of thyself and all egoism. ~ Buddhist Texts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
978:The name of Jesus, pronounced with reverence and affection, has a kind of power to soften the heart." ~ Saint Philip Neri, #KEYS
979:There are no partitions between ourselves and the Infinite. ~ Emerson, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
980:The wise is one only. It is unwilling and willing to be called by the name of Zeus. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
981:Thou art my sister", and call understanding thy kinswoman. ~ Proverbs, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
982:Without God, man cannot, and without man, God will not. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
983:A little Japa and meditation will awaken Kundalini . Does it wake up on its own? Do Japa and meditation. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
984:And together we shall rejoice through all seasons" ~ Khalil Gibran., @Sufi_Path #KEYS
985:A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees." ~ Amelia Earhart, #KEYS
986:Can anything new appear without that which is eternal and perfect? ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
987:Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 Corinthians, 3:16, #KEYS
988: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
989:God creates everything out of nothing. And everything which God is to use, he first reduces to nothing ~ Soren Kierkegaard, #KEYS
990:Gods suppressed become devils, and often it is these devils whom we first encounter when we turn inward. ~ Joseph Campbell, #KEYS
991:Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." ~ John 20:27-29, #KEYS
992:hen the spirit has comm and over the soul, that is strength. ~ Lao-tse, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
993:Honor both spirit and form -- the sentiment within and the symbol without. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
994:I left in love, in laughter, and in truth, and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit. ~ Bill Hicks, #KEYS
995:In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
996:I will trust and not be afraid. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Isaiah, XII. 2, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
997:Let not worldly thoughts and anxieties disturb the mind. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
998:Let us return to our hero Moses, and to loftier deeds, to show they were both superior as well as earlier. ~ Saint Ambrose, #KEYS
999:Life is given that we may learn to die well, and we never think of it! To die well we must live well. ~ Saint John Vianney, #KEYS
1000:Love is the answer and you know that for sure. Love is a flower, you got to let it ~ you got to let it grow. ~ John Lennon, #KEYS
1001:One age has seen the dreams another lives. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act I, #KEYS
1002:Pronouns no longer apply in the tavern’s mud-world of excited confusion and half-articulated wantings. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
1003:Scrape the surface of language, and you will behold interstellar space and the skin that encloses it. ~ Velimir Khlebnikov, #KEYS
1004:Silence is the language of the Self and the most perfect teaching. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1005:Someday perhaps the inner light will shine forth from us, and then we'll need no other light. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
1006:The noble-minded are calm and steady. Little people are forever fussing and fretting." ~ Confucius, #KEYS
1007:The soul immersed in God sees the all-pervading spirit within and without. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1008:They that plough iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same. ~ ol IV.8, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1009:Three roots of evil: desire, disliking and ignorance. ~ Buddhist Texts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1010:To a magician there is very little difference between a mirror and a door. ~ Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, #KEYS
1011:To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual. ~ Oscar Wilde, #KEYS
1012:To them is entrusted a special task during the period of the trial and the great chastisement." ~ Our Lady how this thread, #KEYS
1013:When scientific power outruns spiritual power, we end up with guided missles and misguided men.
~ Martin Luther King Jr.,#KEYS
1014:When the aspirant thinks only of Brahman and remains calm and free from sorrows his egoity dies of itself. ~ Yoga Vasistha, #KEYS
1015:Whoever wants God intensely, finds Him. Go and verify it in your own life. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1016:A just man falleth seven times and riseth up again. ~ Proverbs XXIV. 16, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1017:And all night long we have not stirred,
And yet God has not said a word! ~ Robert Browning, Porphyria's Lover, (1842),#KEYS
1018:And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 50:25, #KEYS
1019:Death is a mirror in which the entire meaning of life is reflected. ~ Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, #KEYS
1020:Everything will come right if you are pure and sincere. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. VI. 281), #KEYS
1021:His everlasting radiance dispels the dark clouds of the past and checks the hidden growth of vice. ~ Saint Maximus of Turin, #KEYS
1022:How can you achieve the goal without practicing Japa and meditation? One must practice these disciplines. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
1023:Indolence is an infirmity and continual idleness a soil. ~ Uttama Sutta, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1024:It is a painful thing to look at your own trouble and know that you yourself and no one else has made it. ~ Sophocles, Ajax, #KEYS
1025:Leave hereafter iniquity and accomplish righteousness. ~ Buddhist Texts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1026:Make your God transparent to the transcendent, and it doesn't matter what his name is. ~ Joseph Campbell, Pathways to Bliss, #KEYS
1027:Patience from a Buddhist perspective is not a "wait and see" attitude, but rather one of 'just be there.' " ~ Lodro Rinzler, #KEYS
1028:Renounce pleasure and renounce wrath and observe justice. ~ Mahabharata, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1029:Sorcery has been called Magic: but Magic is Wisdom, and there is no wisdom in Sorcery ~ Paracelsus, #KEYS
1030:Sorrow if indulged becomes a habit. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Jainism and Buddhism, #KEYS
1031:Spiritually there is nothing big or small. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Work and Yoga, #KEYS
1032:Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write.
~ H G Wells,#KEYS
1033:The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
~ Albert Einstein,#KEYS
1034:The Knowledge brings also the Power and the Joy.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, [T5],#KEYS
1035:The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do." ~ Kobe Bryant, #KEYS
1036:The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Proverbs, 18:10, #KEYS
1037:The path to cheerfulness is to sit cheerfully and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there.
~ William James,#KEYS
1038:The richest and fullest lives attempt to achieve an inner balance between three realms: work, love and play. ~ Erik Erikson, #KEYS
1039:They have all withdrawn, deserting shrine and altar, the gods by who this realm once stood firm. ~ Virgil, Aeneid II.351-52, #KEYS
1040:They have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind. ~ Hosea VIII, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1041:Thou who hast come to this transcient and unhappy world, turn to Me. ~ Sri Aurobindo, TLD, Gita, #KEYS
1042: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
1043:Truth is being insofar as it has been unveiled, and in its unveiling grasped. ~ Hans Urs von Balthasar, Theo-Logic I, p. 43, #KEYS
1044:Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and they will come forth, later, in uglier ways."~ Sigmund Freud, #KEYS
1045:What might have been and what has been Point to one end, which is always present. ~ TS Eliot, 'Burnt Norton,' Five Quartets, #KEYS
1046:When we have our body and mind in order, everything else will exist in the right place, in the right way." ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #KEYS
1047:Where God may place you at any time and under whatever circumstances, remember that it is all for the best. ~ Anandamayi Ma, #KEYS
1048:Work Purifies the heart and so leads to Vidya (wisdom). ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. VII. 39), #KEYS
1049:You have left Your Beloved and are thinking of others:
and this is why your work is in vain. ~ Kabir,#KEYS
1050:All days are nights to see, till I see thee, And nights, bright days, when dreams do show thee me." ~ Shakespeare, Sonnet 43, #KEYS
1051:Become nothing, And He'll turn you into everything. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1052:Depart from evil and do good and dwell for evermore. ~ Psalms XXXVII. 27, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1053:Discover your difference-the asynchrony with which you have been blessed or cursed-and make the most of it. ~ Howard Gardner, #KEYS
1054:Don't aim for success if you want it. Just do what you love and believe in and it will come to you naturally." ~ David Frost, #KEYS
1055:His creation never had a beginning and will never have an end. ~ The Bab, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1056:I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once. ~ C S Lewis, Letter to Arthur Greeves (February 1932), #KEYS
1057:Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be, and becoming that person." ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #KEYS
1058:Learn to distinguish what should be done and what not; The clever soul will always select his opportunity. ~ Nagarjuna, [T5], #KEYS
1059:Let not worldly thoughts and anxieties trouble your minds. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1060:Many who are self-taught far excel the doctors, Masters, and Bachelors of the most renowned Universities. ~ Ludwig Von Mises, #KEYS
1061:The greater his aspiration and concentration, the more he finds the Eternal. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1062:The world is full of marvels and the greatest marvel is man. ~ Sophocles, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1063:To convert somebody, go and take them by the hand and guide them." ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, #KEYS
1064:Truth must be repeated again and again, because error is constantly being preached round about. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
1065:Wisdom is full of light and her beauty is not withered. ~ Book of Wisdom, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1066:Without love the acquisition of knowledge only increases confusion and leads to self-destruction. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, [T5], #KEYS
1067:And it is inaccessible, unknowable and beyond comprehension for all. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1068:Be always faithful to your faith and you will feel no sorrow.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
1069:Be not self-seeking; try to be desire-less, and take your refuge in the Lord, who is the doer of all good. ~ SWAMI PREMANANDA, #KEYS
1070:Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 31:24,#KEYS
1071:Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. ~ Henry David Thoreau, Walden #KEYS
1072:Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, James, 1:22 NIV, [T5],#KEYS
1073:do not turn away; bow down in worship and draw near. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1074:God and his devotee are to be regarded as one, that is one in the same light. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1075:good advice never satiates the wise." ~ Sakya Pandita, (1182-1251), Tibetan spiritual leader and Buddhist scholar, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1076:Grace is needed most. Let us take the plunge, within, and "Be Still". ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1077:Hold in horror dissimilation and all hypocrisy. ~ Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king.-, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1078:Hope not to hear truth often in royal courts. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act I, #KEYS
1079: If you ain't down with fractals, I feel bad for you, son I've got 99 problems, and 99 smaller problems inside of each one ~ ? #KEYS
1080:I wonder
if the blossoms
are soft and fluffy
~ Sora, @BashoSociety#KEYS
1081:Keep the mind quiet. That is enough. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Surpassing Love and Grace, Ch 9, #KEYS
1082:Let us walk, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness. ~ Romans XIII, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1083:Men perish because they cannot join the beginning and the end. ~ Alcineon, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1084:My children, the three acts of faith, hope, and charity contain all the happiness of man upon the earth. ~ Saint John Vianney, #KEYS
1085:Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, #KEYS
1086:Renounce your desires and you shall taste of peace. ~ Imitation of Christ, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1087:Self-sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all the reported miracles grew.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Society and Solitude,#KEYS
1088:Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
~ Saint Francis of Assisi,#KEYS
1089:Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
1090:That which comes from satan begins with calmness and ends in storm, indifference and apathy. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
1091:The only evil is inattention. It is the father of stupidity and the grandfather of the twins, suffering and sorrow. ~ Wu Hsin, #KEYS
1092:The past cannot bind the future. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, The Call and the Capacity, #KEYS
1093:The Self is here and now and you are that always. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day, 3-7-46, #KEYS
1094:The soul spiritual should have comm and over the soul of sense. ~ Lao-tse, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1095:The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins.
~ Soren Kierkegaard, The Journals of Kierkegaard,#KEYS
1096:To find our real being and know it truly is to acquire wisdom. ~ Porphyry, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1097:With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes satin. ~ Persian Proverb, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1098:You are complete here and now, you need absolutely nothing. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
1099:You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry, don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way." ~ Walter Hagen, #KEYS
1100:And always the shadow of nameless fear hung about the sealed trap-doors and the dark, windowless elder towers. ~ H P Lovecraft, #KEYS
1101:And do good. Indeed, Allah loves the doers of good" Quran 2:195 ~ Quran, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1102:And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, arguing and pleading about the kingdom of God. ~ Acts 19:16-18, #KEYS
1103:At each instant he sees a wonderful world and a new creation. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1104:A warrior is worthless unless he rises above others and stands strong in the midst of a storm. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo, 1659-1719, #KEYS
1105:A Yogi must avoid the two extremes of luxury and austerity. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. I. 136), #KEYS
1106:Come to my Divine Mother and you will receive not only Bhakti, but also Jnana. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1107:Devotion is the key which opens the door to liberation.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human,#KEYS
1108:Do not interrupt life's natural flow by damming its river at every bend with sticks of analysis and definition. ~ Omar Khayyam, #KEYS
1109:Existence is the same as happiness and happiness is the same as being. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1110:Experience comes through many errors. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The Spiritual Aim and Life, #KEYS
1111:First Bhakti, then work. Work, apart from Bhakti is helpless and cannot stand. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1112:God is at once impersonal and personal. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, The Secret of Secrets, #KEYS
1113:I am with you and I will take you to the goal. Have an unshakable faith and all will go well. Blessings.
~ The Mother?, [T2],#KEYS
1114:Inner happiness can only come by right living. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, Deva and Asura, #KEYS
1115:In some sense, gravity does not exist; what moves the planets and the stars is the distortion of space and time. ~ Michio Kaku, #KEYS
1116:Know the Self which is here and now; you will be steady and not waver. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1117:Man out of Nature wakes to God's complexities, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act I, #KEYS
1118:Money can win for you bread only. Do not consider it as your sole end and aim. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1119:One immersed in worldliness one cannot attain to divine knowledge and see God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1120:One infinite pure and holy – beyond thought beyond qualities I bow down to thee ~ Swami Vivekananda, Chicago, September 1893, #KEYS
1121:The difficulty is to try and teach the multitude that something can be true and untrue at the same time. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, #KEYS
1122:The mind, the forest, and the quiet place are the three places for meditation. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1123:There is one body and one Spirit. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Ephesians, IV, 4, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1124:The Self is always Itself, and there is no such thing as realizing It. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1125:What a blessing it would be if we could open and shut our ears...as easily as we open and shut our eyes. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
1126:What devours must also be devoured. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Death, Desire and Incapacity, #KEYS
1127:When the past is always with you, it may as well be present; and if it is present, it will be future as well. ~ William Gibson, #KEYS
1128:Why analyze and see the evil? Move toward the Lord! Through His grace you will be freed from all passions. ~ Swami Turiyananda, #KEYS
1129:All is in the One in power and the One is in all in act. ~ Abraham-ibn-Ezra, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1130:All women are portions of the Blessed One and should be looked upon as mothers. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1131:A real work of art destroys, in the consciousness of the receiver, the separation between himself and the artist. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #KEYS
1132:But at the same time God is great and unspeakably glorious, so that no man shall see God and live. ~ Irenaeus, Against Heresies, #KEYS
1133:Confession leads the way and brings us to salvation; baptism follows, setting the seal on our assent. ~ Saint Basil of Caesarea, #KEYS
1134:Cry unto the Lord with a longing and yearning heart, and then you shall see Him ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1135:Death fosters life that life may suckle death. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act II, #KEYS
1136:First Bhakti, then work. Work, apart from Bhakti, is helpless and cannot stand. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1137: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
1138:God does not remain petrified and dead; the very stones cry out and raise themselves to Spirit. ~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, #KEYS
1139:God is love and we are in our weakness imperfect gods. ~ Antoine the Healer, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1140:Human language could not express what only sovereign and redeemed human nature could bear. ~ Charles Williams, All Hallows' Eve, #KEYS
1141:I have never been awake before. ~ Stephen LaBerge, Lucid Dreaming: A Concise Guide to Awakening in Your Dreams and in Your Life, #KEYS
1142:It is God's grace alone that enables an aspirant to stop the waves of the mind and dissolve the intellect. ~ Swami Adbhutananda, #KEYS
1143:Just as money brings benefit, it can in the same way bring harm. Lust and greed are the cause of all ruin. ~ Swami Adbhutananda, #KEYS
1144:Keep a cool head, strong and very quiet nerves, and a complete trust in the Divine grace. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
1145:Knowledge is incomplete without action. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Isha Upanishad, Action and the Divine Will, #KEYS
1146:Let this light from within and without illuminate our inner vision and guide us through darkness in time of chaos. ~ Inca Texts, #KEYS
1147:Let us always be terrified of mortal sin and never stop walking on the road of holy eternity." ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
1148:Look into thy heart and thou shalt see there His image. ~ Attar of Nishapur, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1149:Love is due first to God, and then to our neighbor ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 2-2.34.6ad2)., #KEYS
1150:One should read Sri Aurobindo and know the answer.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I, [T0],#KEYS
1151:Our names are the light that glows on the sea waves at night and then dies without leaving its signature. ~ Rabindranath Tagore, #KEYS
1152:Pray for knowledge and light, every other prayer is selfish. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. I. 146), #KEYS
1153:Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything ... ~ George Bernard Shaw, #KEYS
1154:Pure knowledge and pure love of God are ultimately one. There is no difference. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1155:Put always in the first rank uprightness of heart and fidelity. ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1156:Quality and quantity differ, the self is equal. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Pure Existent, #KEYS
1157:Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible." ~ Saint Francis of Assisi, #KEYS
1158:Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." ~ Saint Francis of Assisi, #KEYS
1159:Surmount the desires of which gods and men are the subjects. ~ Uttana Sutta, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1160:The intellectual ages sing less easily. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Future Poetry, The Form and the Spirit, #KEYS
1161:The perfect man is a divine child! ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, Heraclitus - VII, #KEYS
1162:The simple approach means trust. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Bhakti Yoga and Vaishnavism, #KEYS
1163:The spirit and the form; sentiment within and symbol without. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1164:Trust yourself and live in the way to bring all your powers towards the only thing: the appearance of God in you. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #KEYS
1165:Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is, and you must bend to its power or live a lie.
~ Miyamoto Musashi, [T5],#KEYS
1166:Truth is the secret of life and power. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, Civilisation and Barbarism, #KEYS
1167:turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return. ~ Leonardo da Vinci, #KEYS
1168:Understanding how to surmount pain, doubt, and failure is an important aspect of the game of winning at life.
~ Chin-Ning Chu,#KEYS
1169:When you have seen your aim, hold to it, firm and unshakeable. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1170:Wise kings generally have wise counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.
~ Diogenes,#KEYS
1171:With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things. ~ William Wordsworth, #KEYS
1172:With Reality on the one hand and Illusion on the other, I constantly experience as it were, a pull on either side. ~ Meher Baba, #KEYS
1173:11:The destiny of [Google's search engine] is to become that Star Trek computer, and that's what we are building. ~ Amit Singhal, #KEYS
1174:Action solves the difficulties which action creates. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, Facts and Opinions, #KEYS
1175:Activate yourself to duty by remembering your position, who you are, and what you have obliged yourself to be. ~ Thomas a Kempis, #KEYS
1176:All the gods and goddesses are only varied aspects of the One. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1177:All your burdens are borne by God. Be convinced of this and ever try to abide in sincerity and cheerfulness. ~ SRI ANANDAMAYI MA, #KEYS
1178:An angel is an essential intellectual motion about God and the causes of things.... ~ John Scotus Eriugena, Periphyseon I (444b), #KEYS
1179:Beloved, all that is harsh and difficult I want for myself, and all that is gentle and sweet for thee. ~ Saint John of the Cross, #KEYS
1180:Be out of sync with your times for just one day, and you will see how much eternity you contain within you. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke, #KEYS
1181: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
1182:charity and humility will be laughed to scorn, and the common people will believe in false ideas." ~ Saint Columba, (521-597 AD), #KEYS
1183:Christ's mind is the controlling influence that inspires us to moderation and goodness in our behavior. ~ Saint Gregory of Nyssa, #KEYS
1184:Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God's kingdom. ~ Leo the Great, #KEYS
1185:Do not let the past disturb you, just leave everything in the Sacred Heart and begin again with joy." ~ Saint Teresa of Calcutta, #KEYS
1186:Every morning we glow and in the evening we glow again. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1187: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
1188: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
1189:I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book. ~ Groucho Marx, #KEYS
1190:If you pray, trust that he hears. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Bhakti Yoga and Vaishnavism, #KEYS
1191:I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
1192:Imagination grows by exercise and contrary to common belief is more powerful in the mature than in the young. ~ Ursula K Le Guin, #KEYS
1193:late autumn
rain and clouds
start in the east
~ Buson, @BashoSociety#KEYS
1194:Let all involuntary suffering teach you to remember God, and you will not lack occasion for repentance. ~ Saint Mark the Ascetic, #KEYS
1195:Men have made kings that folly might have food. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act II, #KEYS
1196:One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
1197:Practice and detachment are necessary to bring one-pointedness to the naturally restless and out-going mind. ~ Swami Saradananda, #KEYS
1198:Settle yourself in solitude, and you will come upon God in yourself. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #KEYS
1199:Sight is the essential poetic gift. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Future Poetry, Poetic Vision and the Mantra, #KEYS
1200:The idea of thou and I is a fruit of the soul's ignorance. ~ Bhagavat Purana, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1201:The jiva resides in the heart like iron and the Atman in the head like a magnet. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1202:The Mind creates the chain and not the body. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Isha Upanishad, Conclusion and Summary, #KEYS
1203::The peace you are looking for, you already 'are'. Be still and know this." ~ Mooji, From "Before I Am,", (2nd ed. 2017), Mooji., #KEYS
1204:There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights.
~ Bram Stoker, [T5],#KEYS
1205:Tomorrow morning, if you think of it, grab your zither and come again." ~ Li Bai, (aka Li Po, 701-762), Chinese poet, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1206:Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent. ~ Saint John of the Cross, #KEYS
1207:When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
1208:Within the immensity of space floats a tiny atom of consciousness and in it the entire universe is contained. ~ Sri Nisargadatta, #KEYS
1209:You are here to learn something. Don't try to figure out what it is. This can be frustrating and unproductive." ~ Steven L. Peck, #KEYS
1210:You ought to make every effort to free yourselves even from venial sin, and to do what is most perfect. ~ Saint Teresa of Ávila, #KEYS
1211:all of these and their like are evil in themselves ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (In 2 NE, lect. 7)., #KEYS
1212:Always live under the eyes of the Good Shepherd and you will be immune to contaminated pastures. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
1213:And then passed the night at ease in my state. ~ Abd al-Rahman al-Majdhüb, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1214:At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want. ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
1215:Each of you was asked, "Do you believe in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit?" ~ Jerusalem Catecheses, #KEYS
1216:Even a soul submerged in sleep
is hard at work and helps
make something of the world. ~ Heraclitus,#KEYS
1217:I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself. I will be rich by myself, and not by borrowing. ~ Alfred Korzybski, #KEYS
1218:In the divine consciousness there is no ego. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Ego and Its Forms, #KEYS
1219:Less and less is done until non-action is achieved. When nothing is done, nothing is left undone. ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
1220:One cannot demand or compel grace. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Bhakti Yoga and Vaishnavism, #KEYS
1221:Stop and look around you. Allow yourself to reorient so that you are no longer pulled along by the stream of events. ~ Zen Master, #KEYS
1222:The company of saints and sages is one of the chief agents of spiritual progress. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1223:The heart is wiser than the thought. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Love and the Triple Path, #KEYS
1224:The mind pre-eminently is man; ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, Perfection of the Body, #KEYS
1225:The moments are Fate's thoughts
Watching me. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act III,#KEYS
1226:The simple and upright man is as strong as if he were a great host. ~ Lao-Tse, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1227:To every declarative sentence you hear, read, think or utter, add "or not' to it and you'll never encounter a falsehood." ~ Anon., #KEYS
1228:To transform death and make of it a means of victory and triumph. ~ Nietzsche, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1229:Who is the enemy? Lack of energy. ~ The Jewel-wreath of Questions and Answers, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1230:Words are but ghosts unless they speak the heart. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act I, #KEYS
1231:Worthy is the Lamb that was sacrificed to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and blessing." ~ Revelation 5:12, #KEYS
1232:You don't forget Bhagavan and Bhagavan won't forget you ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day, [T5], #KEYS
1233:And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Mark, 15:33, #KEYS
1234:And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. ~ John VIII. 32, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1235:Angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
1236:At the center of your being, you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want. ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
1237:At the centre of your being, you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want. ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
1238:Being in general and the true in general cannot be hated ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1-2.29.5)., #KEYS
1239:Characteristics which define beauty are wholeness, harmony and radiance. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, #KEYS
1240:Day after day our aspiration will grow and our faith will intensify. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, #KEYS
1241:For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Ecclesiastes, 1:18,#KEYS
1242:God has His own plans and all these go on according to that. No one need worry as to what happens. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk 552, #KEYS
1243:He kept moving forward, because the Lord was waiting. He kept going, because his brothers and sisters were waiting. ~ Pope Francis, #KEYS
1244: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
1245:In Islam
All men are equal underneath the King. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act I,#KEYS
1246:In the first place, our life here and now depends upon food. It is Annagata Prana. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1247:Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile. ~ Psalms XXXIV. 13, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1248:Love is the hoop of the gods
Hearts to combine. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act I,#KEYS
1249:Love itself is sweet enough
Though unreturned. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act II,#KEYS
1250:Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works. ~ Carl Sagan , #KEYS
1251:Simply look at whatever happens and know that you are beyond it. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
1252:Tell your vital not to judge on appearances and to collaborate. All is well in the long run. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
1253:The doors of kings are locked and guarded by their henchmen, but Your door is open to those who call upon You. ~ Rabia al-Adawiyya, #KEYS
1254:The gods love what is mysterious and dislike what is evident." ~ "The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, (about 700 BC) a treatise on Ātma, #KEYS
1255:The name of Jesus is as ointment poured forth; It nourishes, and illumines, and stills the anguish of the soul. ~ Angelus Silesius, #KEYS
1256:Time and space are in the mind, but one's true state lies beyond the mind. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1257:When nothing whatsoever is conceptualized, how could you possibly go astray? Dissolve your conceptions, and rest. ~ Machig Labdron, #KEYS
1258:Where ignorance shat, violence and horror fed the beasts of chaos." ~ Aberjhani, quote from "The River of Winged Dreams.", (2005)., #KEYS
1259:You think you are the mind and, therefore, ask how it is to be controlled. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1260:All doubts will cease only when the doubter and his source have been found. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1261:All that is necessary, is to realize the falsehood of the ego and by inference, the falseness of all its demands. ~ Ramesh Balsekar, #KEYS
1262:And what help will all creatures be able to give you if you are deserted by the Creator? ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
1263:Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern. ~ Alfred North Whitehead #KEYS
1264:Bhava, the higher form of Bahkti, one becomes speechless and the breath is stilled. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1265:Break what must be broken, once for all, that's all, and take the suffering on oneself.
~ Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment,#KEYS
1266:But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? ~ Job, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1267:Do not try to explain. They will only understand you as much as they see and hear.. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
1268:Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food, and medicine for the soul." ~ Luther Burbank, #KEYS
1269:God is love and beauty as well as purity. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, Religion as the Law of Life, #KEYS
1270:Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise. ~ Proverbs XVII. 6, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1271:Happy is the man whose senses are purified and utterly under curb. ~ Udanavarga, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1272:He who loves is in joy, he is free and nothing stops him. ~ Imitation of Christ, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1273:How few are they who can attain samadhi and rid themselves of this aham, this self! ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1274:I am not, I will not be.
I have not, I will not have.
This frightens all children,
And kills fear in the wise. ~ Nagarjuna,#KEYS
1275: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
1276:I think it's very healthy to spend time alone. You need to know how to be alone and not be defined by another person. ~ Oscar Wilde, #KEYS
1277:It is by the path of love, which is charity, that God draws near to man, and man to God. ~ Saint Albert the Great, (c. 1200 - 1280), #KEYS
1278:Karma done unselfishly purifies the mind and helps to fix it in meditation. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1279:Liberation is self-possession, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, Involution and Evolution, #KEYS
1280:May Jesus always reign supreme in his heart and make him more and more worthy of his divine gifts. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
1281: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
1282:No compromises; to live resolutely in integrity, plenitude and beauty. ~ Goethe, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1283:Pressed her body to his body, Laughed; and plunging down Forgot in cruel happiness That even lovers drown." ~ William Butler Yeats, #KEYS
1284:Realisations are the essence of knowledge. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Thought and Knowledge, #KEYS
1285:Sadly I part from you; like a clam torn from its shell I go, and autumn too. ~ Matsuo basho. 1644-1694. Narrow road to the interior, #KEYS
1286:Sri Aurobindo's Savitri is a vast ocean and one may, upon reflection, go in pursuit of the choicest of pearls. ~ Daniel Albuquerque, #KEYS
1287:That man to me seems equal to the gods,
the man who sits opposite you
and close by listens
to your sweet voice ~ Sappho,#KEYS
1288:The knowers of God sometimes live and appear like lunatics, drunkards, or children. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1289:The master of my stars is he
Who owns no master. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act V,#KEYS
1290:The occult is a part of existence. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Reality and the Integral Knowledge, #KEYS
1291:The Self shines as everything yet nothing, within, without, and everywhere. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1292:The world has seen thousands of prophets, and the world has yet to see millions ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
1293:They rest from their labours and their works follow them. ~ Revelations XIV. 13, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1294:Time is immaterial for the Path of Knowledge. But some of these rules and disciplines are good for beginners. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1295:Want what you have, and then you can have what you want." ~ Frederick Dodson, from his book, " Parallel Universes of Self,", (2017), #KEYS
1296:What do love and hate matter when I'm here alone, listening to the sound of the rain late in this autumn evening. ~ Dogen 1200-1253, #KEYS
1297:What good are ceremonies without attuning your body, speech and mind to the Dharma? ~ Jetsun Milarepa, #KEYS
1298:When you love unseemly conversation, you prepare a feast for demons and sell your soul for their fodder. ~ Saint Ephraem the Syrian, #KEYS
1299:With patience one arrives always.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Will and Perserverance, Patience,#KEYS
1300:You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #KEYS
1301:All things Vary to keep the secret witness pleased. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act II, #KEYS
1302:As long as there is a mind, so long will there be such questions and doubts. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1303:Avidya-Maya consists of lust, anger, avarice, inordinate attachment, pride and envy. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1304:Discovering your "nobodyness" opens the door to awakening as beingness, and beyond that to the source of all beingness. ~ Adyashanti, #KEYS
1305:Dusk rain
the moon peeking
in and out the clouds
~ Ikkyu, @BashoSociety#KEYS
1306:Faith is like pure eyes that enable us to see a pure and perfect world beyond the suffering world of samsara. ~ Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, #KEYS
1307:If you knew what the Gods have in store for you, you would run naked and dance on the beach.
~ Vikings, The Seer to Rollo, Vikings,#KEYS
1308:If you know the Self, there will be no darkness, no ignorance and no misery. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1309:If you try to locate the mind, the mind vanishes and the Self alone remains. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1310:It is the essentials alone that matter. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, The Call and the Capacity, #KEYS
1311:Learn to see God in everything about you. Smear God over everything, and your mind will think of Him alone. ~ SWAMI TRIGUNATITANANDA, #KEYS
1312: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
1313:Many are the names of God and infinite the forms through which He may be approached. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1314:Moksha is to know that you were not born. "Be still and know that I am God." ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1315:Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange. ~ William Shakespeare, The Tempest,#KEYS
1316:Such as the love is, such is the wisdom, consequently such is the man (n. 368) (Divine Love and Wisdom, 1763)
~ Emanuel Swedenborg,#KEYS
1317:Take no notice of the ego and its activities, but see only the light behind. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1318:The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large." ~ Confucius, #KEYS
1319:The most damning revelation you can make about yourself is that you do not know what is interesting and what is not. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #KEYS
1320:There should be no big I, not even a small one. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Ego and Its Forms, #KEYS
1321:The true purpose is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes." ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #KEYS
1322:They say, "God told me", or "God replied to me". And yet most of the time they are talking to themselves." ~ Saint John of the Cross, #KEYS
1323:Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son ~ who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever., #KEYS
1324:Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it. ~ Blaise Pascal, #KEYS
1325:Unless a person has annihilated the mind, he cannot gain peace and be happy. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1326:We think according to what we are. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Poetry and Art, Russell, Eddington, Jeans, #KEYS
1327:You can follow the meanderings of innumerable reincarnations or choose the steep and rapid path of intensive "sadhana". ~ The Mother, #KEYS
1328:A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Proverbs, 22:1, #KEYS
1329:All evil is in travail of the eternal good. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Divine and the Undivine, #KEYS
1330:All great poetic utterance is discovery. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Future Poetry, Poetic Vision and the Mantra, #KEYS
1331:Amazing, isn't it, that most people find the same religion that their parents have. And naturally this is the true religion." ~ Anon., #KEYS
1332:As you become more and more deeply rooted in witnessing, thoughts start disappearing. You are, but the mind is utterly empty." ~ Osho, #KEYS
1333:Be perfectly sincere and no victory will be denied to you.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Sincerity,#KEYS
1334:Dost thou not know that thou hast become God and art the son of the One? ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1335:Entire resignation and absolute faith in God are at the root of all miraculous deeds. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1336:God is both inside and outside you. When you realize that He is within you, your passions will be under control. ~ Swami Vijnanananda, #KEYS
1337:He is everywhere in the world and stands with all in His embrace. ~ Bhagavad Gita, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1338:If a person has ten habits out of which nine are good and one bad, that bad one will destroy the good ones. ~ Hazrat Umar ibn Khattab, #KEYS
1339:If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 15:7, #KEYS
1340:If you have true faith and longing, you will get everything by the Grace of the Lord. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1341:If you practise meditation and prayer it will make me happy. I look on you as my own. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1342:If you want to assist at Mass, with devotion and with fruit, think of the sorrowful Mother at the feet of Calvary." ~ Saint Padre Pio, #KEYS
1343:Knowledge is not complete without works. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Love and the Triple Path, #KEYS
1344:Let us respect men, and not only men of worth, but the public in general ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1345:May the Divine's love dwell as the sovereign Master of our hearts and the Divine's knowledge never leave our thoughts. ~ Mother Mirra, #KEYS
1346:Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases, and its toll on success and happiness is heavy." ~ Wayne Gretzky, #KEYS
1347:That's what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.
~ Simone de Beauvoir,#KEYS
1348:The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. ~ Mark Twain, #KEYS
1349:The name of the Ancient and most Holy is unknowable to all and inaccessible. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1350:Time is a manifestation of the Eternal. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Reality and the Cosmic Illusion, #KEYS
1351:To God belong the East and the West; whithersoever you turn, there is the Face of God; God is All-embracing, All-knowing. ~ The Quran, #KEYS
1352:When the struggle is at last over and samadhi attained, then indeed the ego vanishes. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1353:With the sense of possession comes selfishness, and selfishness brings on misery. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
1354:Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom." ~ D.T. Suzuki, #KEYS
1355:Accord and concord are the true normality of the spirit. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Divine Life, #KEYS
1356:A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #KEYS
1357:All evil shall perforce change itself into good. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Gnosis and Ananda, #KEYS
1358:Be but trustees and guardians of your children, whose real father is the Lord Himself. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1359:Being free of desires it is tranquil. And the world will be at peace of it's own accord. ~ Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, #KEYS
1360:By endeavor, diligence, discipline, and self-mastery, let the wise man make of himself an island that no flood can overwhelm. ~ Buddha, #KEYS
1361:Doubt is the mind's persistent assailant. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Patience and Perseverance, #KEYS
1362:Ego is the reason of the difficulty in everybody. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Ego and Its Forms, #KEYS
1363:Even fall has its perverted joy ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Glory and Fall of Life, #KEYS
1364:Happy is his portion who knows and performs and has knowledge of the ways. ~ Labor, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1365:Honor Mary as much as possible. She is your good and loving mother. She will never fail to watch over you. ~ Saint Teresa of the Andes, #KEYS
1366:If a man covets nothing, how shall he fail to do what is just and good? ~ Chi-king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1367:I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's, I will not reason and compare, my business is to create. ~ William Blake, [T5], #KEYS
1368:In human actions and passions, example moves more than words ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1-2.34.1)., #KEYS
1369:In order for love to be experienced, both the lover and the beloved must vanish." ~ Rupert Spria, "Being Aware of Being Aware", (2017), #KEYS
1370:In silence there is eloquence.
Stop weaving and see
how the pattern improves. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi,#KEYS
1371:It reveals itself rather than is learned. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Eternal and the Individual, #KEYS
1372:Know and believe that you are of immense power and the power will come to you at last. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1373:Know yourself before you seek to decide about the nature of God and the world. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1374:Let your one delight and refreshment be to pass from one service to the community to another, with God ever in mind. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #KEYS
1375:Look within. See the Self! There will be an end of the world and its miseries. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1376:Love and devotion towards the Guru makes the disciple's life beautiful, filled with light and divinely fragrant. ~ MATA AMRITANANDAMYI, #KEYS
1377:Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Proverbs, 20:13,#KEYS
1378:My son, give me thy heart and let thine eyes observe my ways. ~ Proverbs XXIII. 26, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1379:Our sweet Jesus, through the excess of His love and liberality, has left Himself to us in the Most Holy Sacrament. ~ Saint Philip Neri, #KEYS
1380:Space is himself and Time is only he. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Secret Knowledge, #KEYS
1381:Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.
~ Richard P Feynman, [T5],#KEYS
1382:Successful assimilation depends on mastery. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine and Human, On Original Thinking, #KEYS
1383:The instant does not have time; and time is made from the movement of the instant. ~ Leonardo da Vinci, #KEYS
1384: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
1385:The pathless path is the path always under our feet. And since that path is always beneath us, if we miss it, how stupid! ~ Longchenpa, #KEYS
1386:There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice." ~ Baron de Montesquieu, #KEYS
1387:This turning to God is made evident in different degrees, and like any other gift, must be renewed. ~ Philokalia, Theophan the Recluse, #KEYS
1388:Truth that is naked is the most beautiful, and the simpler its expression the deeper is the impression it makes. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, #KEYS
1389:Unbeing dead isn't being alive." ~ e. e. cummings, (1894 - 1962), American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1390:Unite always to a great exactitude uprightness and simplicity of heart. ~ Chu-King, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1391:We are free here and now. It is only the mind that imagines bondage. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
1392:We are generalists. You can't draw neat lines around planet-wide problems. Planetology is a cut-and-fit science. ~ Frank Herbert, Dune, #KEYS
1393:We must live as a nation before we can live in humanity. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, Opinion and Comments, #KEYS
1394:Why do you so earnestly seek the truth in distant places? Look for delusion and truth in the bottom of your own heart." ~ Taigu Ryokan, #KEYS
1395:You will not be good teachers if you focus only on what you do and not upon who you are. ~ Rudolf Steiner, #KEYS
1396:A dire duality is our way to be. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Glory and Fall of Life, #KEYS
1397:Advice is like snow - the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind." ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge, #KEYS
1398:All things are ordered to one good as their end, and that is God ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 3.17)., #KEYS
1399:Anger is a passion composed of sorrow and the desire of revenge ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.15.9)., #KEYS
1400: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
1401:Cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words, and following after speech. ~ Dogen Zenji, #KEYS
1402:Cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words, and following after speech." ~ Dogen Zenji, #KEYS
1403:Die for love: lay down your life, and life with you will stay. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1404:Drop the craving for self, for permanence, for particular circumstances, and go straight ahead with the movement of life." ~ Alan Watts, #KEYS
1405:Everything is a poise of contrary energies. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, Heraclitus - IV, #KEYS
1406:Fastings signify abstinence from all evils whatsoever, both in action and in word, and in thought itself. ~ Saint Clement of Alexandria, #KEYS
1407:Had you entered the world after obtaining God, what peace and joy you would have found! ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1408:Ignorance is a self-oblivion of Being. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Reality and the Integral Knowledge, #KEYS
1409:In both waking and dream states thoughts, names and forms occur simultaneously. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1410:In the aether I appear in fiery forms, And in the aer I sit in a silvery chariot; earth reigns in my black brood of puppies. ~ Porphyry, #KEYS
1411:In truth there is no difference between the word of God and the world. ~ Baha-ulalh, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1412:I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. ~ Rabindranath Tagore, #KEYS
1413:I stand on the end platform of the tram and am completely unsure of my footing in this world, in this town, in my family. ~ Franz Kafka, #KEYS
1414:man carries the seed of the divine life in himself ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Faith and Shakti, #KEYS
1415:Nothing is so good for an ignorant man as silence; and if he was sensible of this he would not be ignorant. ~ Saadi, #KEYS
1416:Praise cannot make me any betteR Blame cannot make me any worse. I am what I am before my conscience and God.
~ Paramahansa Yogananda,#KEYS
1417:Success is the child of drudgery and perseverance. It cannot be coaxed or bribed; pay the price and it is yours." ~ Orison Swett Marden, #KEYS
1418:Swift and easy is the downward path. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Descent into Night, #KEYS
1419:The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanations of complex facts. ... Seek simplicity and distrust it. ~ Alfred North Whitehead, #KEYS
1420:There is never a moment when the Self is not; It is ever-present, here and now. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1421:The Self cannot be the doer. Find out who is the doer and the Self is revealed. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1422:They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price. ~ Khalil Gibran, #KEYS
1423:Things that happen during the wakeful, dream and sleep states do not affect you at all; you remain your own Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1424:This small mind covers the whole universe and prevents Reality from being seen. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1425:Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind. ~ Henry James, #KEYS
1426:To be equal is to be infinite and universal. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Action of Equality, #KEYS
1427:To travel this road, self-sincerity is necessary - and to be sincere with oneself is more difficult than you think. ~ Attar of Nishapur, #KEYS
1428:To travel this road, self-sincerity is necessary—and to be sincere with oneself is more difficult than you think. ~ Attar of Nishapur, #KEYS
1429:Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 16:24, #KEYS
1430:When the mind and speech unite in earnest, asking for a thing, that prayer is answered. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1431:When you know yourself, your 'I'ness vanishes and you know that you and Allah are one and the same. ~ Ibn Arabi, #KEYS
1432:You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Job, 22:28, #KEYS
1433:All awareness is power and all power conceals awareness. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, RV I.1.1, #KEYS
1434:And I would tell myself that the realm beyond the wall was not more lasting merely, but more lovely and radiant as well. ~ H P Lovecraft, #KEYS
1435:as God, he adds, and the truth, and the life ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on Jn. 14, lect. 2)., #KEYS
1436:Desire, the troubled seed of things. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Vision and the Boon, #KEYS
1437:Eternal wisdom builds: I shall be her palace when she finds repose in me and I in her. ~ Angelus Silesius, #KEYS
1438:Faith guides even us and we follow its sure light on the way which conducts us to God and His homeland. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
1439:Find the source. The false 'I' will disappear and the real 'I' will be realized. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1440:for love and hate
I swat a fly and
offer it to an ant
~ Shiki, @BashoSociety#KEYS
1441:For those who have an intense urge for Spirit and wisdom, it sits near them, waiting.
~ Patañjali, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, [T5],#KEYS
1442:God is spirit, fire, being and light, and yet He is not all this. ~ Angelus Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1443:He must content himself with little and never ask for more than he has. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1444:He who does no evil to any is as if the father and mother of all beings. ~ Madharata, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1445:In this immense ocean the world is an atom and the atom a world. ~ Attar of Nishapur, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1446:It is only the coward who appeals always to destiny and never to courage. ~ Ramayana, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1447: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
1448:Keep watch over yourselves! Struggle to improve yourselves and do not try to reform others. Stick to your own ideal! ~ Swami Turiyananda, #KEYS
1449:Let the man [woman] find out his undying Self and die and be immortal and happy. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1450:Limited and divided being is ignorance. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, The Doctrine of the Mystics, #KEYS
1451: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
1452:Nowhere and in no situation is the sage dissatisfied with his condition. ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1453: one and single direction is needed which will conduct us to a one sole end. ~ Philo, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1454:Our allegiance is to the principles always, and not to the persons. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. III. 280), #KEYS
1455:Philosophy begins in wonder. And, at the end, when philosophic thought has done its best, the wonder remains.
~ Alfred North Whitehead,#KEYS
1456:Retire into thyself as into an island and set thyself to the work. ~ Dhammapada. 236, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1457:Struggle to pierce that darkness above you with the dart of longing love, and do not give up, whatever happens. ~ Anonymous English Monk, #KEYS
1458:Students learn best not by reading the Great Books in a closed room but by opening the doors and windows of experience. ~ Thomas Ehrlich, #KEYS
1459:That which rises and sets is the ego; that which remains changeless is the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1460:The conclusion is always the same: love is still the most powerful and still the most unknown energy of the world. ~ Teilhard de Chardin, #KEYS
1461:The gnostic soul is the child, but the king-child. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Gnosis and Ananda, #KEYS
1462:The jar when it is filled makes no noise, and so one who has realized God does not talk. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1463:The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
~ H P Lovecraft,#KEYS
1464:The Self is all shining and only pure jnana. So there is no ajnana in his sight. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1465:The Self is the one Reality that always exists, and it is by the light of the Self that all other things are seen. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1466:The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools. ~ Thucydides, #KEYS
1467:The supreme faith is that which sees God in all. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, The Way and the Bhakta, #KEYS
1468:To enter into the soul of each and allow each to enter into thine. ~ Marcus Aurelius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1469:Upright and sincere is the virtue of the man who directs well his mind. ~ Lao-Tsu-Te, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1470:Walk always and only on good and take a step forward each day on the vertical line, from the bottom up. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
1471:We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Acts, 5:32 #KEYS
1472:Who am I?
The Divine under many disguises.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, "The Divine" and "Man",#KEYS
1473:Zen teaches that if we can open up to the inevitability of our demise, we can begin to transform and lighten up about it." ~ Allen Klein, #KEYS
1474:A gossiping spirit is always an obstacle. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Himself and the Ashram, Avoiding Gossip, #KEYS
1475:All doubts will cease only when the doubter and his [her] source have been found. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1476:And in her bosom nursed a greater dawn
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Return to Earth,#KEYS
1477:a night of flowing flowers
and flowing water
fragrant
~ Ikkyu, @BashoSociety#KEYS
1478:Awareness is jnana. Jnana is eternal and natural, ajnana is unnatural and unreal. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1479:Being with you and not being with you is the only way I have to measure time.
~ Jorge Luis Borges, [T1],#KEYS
1480:But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Matthew, 6:33, #KEYS
1481:Devote yourself here and now to the search for the Truth that is ever within you. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1482:Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. ~ Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, #KEYS
1483:Guilt, regret, resentment, sadness and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past and not enough presence." ~ Eckhart Tolle, #KEYS
1484:Happiness is letting go of what you think your life is supposed to look like, and celebrating it for everything that it is." ~ Mandy Hale, #KEYS
1485:Happy the man who has tamed the senses and is utterly their master. ~ Buddhist Maxims, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1486:It is in the absolute surrender of all conditions and requirements that liberation is discovered to be who and what you are. ~ Adyashanti, #KEYS
1487:It was Aomame's firm belief that the human body was a temple, to be kept as strong and beautiful and clean as possible. ~ Haruki Murakami, #KEYS
1488:I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 32:8, #KEYS
1489:Let Him choose for thee a king's palace or the bowl of the beggar.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human,#KEYS
1490:One first creates out of his mind and then sees what his mind itself has created. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1491:Since He appears because of Her,
And She exists because of Her Lord,
The two cannot be distinguished at all. ~ Jnaneshwar, Hinduism,#KEYS
1492:Stir up your soul in eagerness to travel uninterruptedly, day and night, in order to reach what your soul is expecting. ~ Babai the Great, #KEYS
1493:The farther away you are from the truth, the more the hateful and pleasurable states will arise." ~ Bodhidharma, #KEYS
1494:The important thing is the mind. Bondage is of the mind, and freedom also is of the mind. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1495:The inner silence is self-surrender. And that is living without the sense of ego. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1496:The knot of the Ignorance is egoism. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Isha Upanishad: The Inhabiting Godhead, Life and Action, #KEYS
1497:The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology. ~ E O Wilson, #KEYS
1498:The Self remains ever the same, here and now. There is nothing more to be gained. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1499:To the soul and Shakti in man nothing is impossible. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Faith and Shakti, #KEYS
1500:Unity the race moves towards and must one day realise. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, Diversity in Oneness, #KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:Go on and wonder. ~ william-faulkner, @wisdomtrove 2:Trust. and Pixie Dust. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 3:For Narnia and for Aslan! ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 4:Further up and further in! ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 5:Mind your P's and Q's. ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 6:Much wants more and loses all. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 7:And plenty makes us poor. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 8:Curiouser and curiouser. ~ lewis-carroll, @wisdomtrove 9:Fortune and love favor the brave. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 10:Over hill and under hill ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 11:Pray, and let God worry. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 12:And death what men call life? ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 13:Fortune and love favour the brave. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 14:I am a wild and crazy guy! ~ steve-martin, @wisdomtrove 15:Life is fragile and absurd. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 16:Time, motion and wine cause sleep. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 17:And so the Universe ended. ~ douglas-adams, @wisdomtrove 18:Be fruitful, and multiply. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 19:Compassion and love, that's all. ~ ram-das, @wisdomtrove 20:History! Read it and weep! ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 21:I want to live, and die with you. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 22:Love and do as you will. ~ saint-augustine, @wisdomtrove 23:Reason speaks and feeling bites ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 24:A dry soul is wisest and best. ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 25:And then the world exploded. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 26:Joy and woe are woven fine. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 27:Know the enemy and know yourself. ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 28:Know your gifts and share them. ~ les-brown, @wisdomtrove 29:Music and dance are all you need. ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 30:Withdraw into yourself and look. ~ plotinus, @wisdomtrove 31:Yoga is a means and an end. ~ b-k-s-iyengar, @wisdomtrove 32:Brains first and then Hard Work. ~ a-a-milne, @wisdomtrove 33:Don’t rush, go slowly, and be. ~ leo-babauta, @wisdomtrove 34:I've been things and seen places. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 35:Long days and pleasant nights ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 36:Love, and a cough, are not concealed. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 37:People can and do change. ~ earl-nightingale, @wisdomtrove 38:Pray to God and say the lines. ~ bette-davis, @wisdomtrove 39:Teach us to care and not to care ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 40:The road goes ever on and on ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 41:The same is thinking and being. ~ parmenides, @wisdomtrove 42:Time is three eyes and eight elbows. ~ dogen, @wisdomtrove 43:A man of refined taste and judgment. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 44:And I say to my heart: rave on. ~ mary-oliver, @wisdomtrove 45:Books and marriage go ill together. ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 46:Could you be loved and be loved? ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 47:divine art of subtlety and secrecy! ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 48:I am myself and I am here. ~ jean-paul-sartre, @wisdomtrove 49:Nonsense, now and then, is pleasant. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 50:Please all, and you will please none. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 51:Seek His face and not His hand. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 52:Time takes all and gives all ~ giordano-bruno, @wisdomtrove 53:We are a nation of sheep, and ~ george-carlin, @wisdomtrove 54:All shall love me and despair. ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 55:And where does she find them? ~ dorothy-parker, @wisdomtrove 56:And where love ends, hate begins ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 57:Be good and you will be lonesome. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 58:Be open. And then the truth follows. ~ gangaji, @wisdomtrove 59:I like Fidel Castro and his beard. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 60:Life is about being and becoming ~ carl-rogers, @wisdomtrove 61:Love and dignity do not dwell together. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 62:They Open A Door And Enter A World ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 63:Think and wonder, wonder and think. ~ dr-seuss, @wisdomtrove 64:Think, Believe, Dream, and Dare. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 65:Your faith and hope are in god. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 66:Begin, be bold and venture to be wise. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 67:Being, be bold and venture to be wise. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 68:Come my, heart, up and away! ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 69:Either is both, and Both is neither. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 70:Fair and softly goes far. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 71:Go slowly, breathe and smile. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 72:I don't mind, and you don't matter." ~ dr-seuss, @wisdomtrove 73:I love who I am and all that I do. ~ louise-hay, @wisdomtrove 74:I've been born, and once is enough. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 75:Land of lost gods and godlike men. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 76:Love surrounds me and protects me. ~ louise-hay, @wisdomtrove 77:My future is bright and beautiful. ~ louise-hay, @wisdomtrove 78:Often a silent face has voice and words. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 79:Practice and enlightenment are not two. ~ dogen, @wisdomtrove 80:Stop thinking, and end your problems. ~ lao-tzu, @wisdomtrove 81:Stop worrying and start living. ~ dale-carnegie, @wisdomtrove 82:To Zen, time and eternity are one. ~ d-t-suzuki, @wisdomtrove 83:War is the father and king of all. ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 84:And we must think no further of you. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 85:Be Good to Yourself and each Other ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 86:Deference and intimacy live far apart. ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 87:Everything flows and nothing stays. ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 88:Exercise humility and restraint. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 89:Fantasy and reality often overlap. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 90:I learn to love it more and more. ~ jules-renard, @wisdomtrove 91:In love, one and one are one. ~ jean-paul-sartre, @wisdomtrove 92:I wanna grow up and be a critic. ~ richard-pryor, @wisdomtrove 93:Nietzsche was stupid and abnormal. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 94:Paint what you like and die happy ~ henry-miller, @wisdomtrove 95:Scratch a king and find a fool! ~ dorothy-parker, @wisdomtrove 96:Smile always - and live the smile! ~ edgar-cayce, @wisdomtrove 97:Stop and sink into this timeless moment! ~ mooji, @wisdomtrove 98:Tell the truth and not the facts. ~ maya-angelou, @wisdomtrove 99:The same can be learned and can be. ~ parmenides, @wisdomtrove 100:The sun is within me and so is the moon. ~ kabir, @wisdomtrove 101:What have I to forgive and whom? ~ sri-aurobindo, @wisdomtrove 102:With a heavy load and a long journey ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 103:Words of wisdom are precise and clear ~ zhuangzi, @wisdomtrove 104:You can't be pitiful AND powerful. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 105:And all I loved, I loved alone. ~ edgar-allan-poe, @wisdomtrove 106:And maybe, just maybe, it will. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 107:Cruelty is easy, cheap and rampant. ~ brene-brown, @wisdomtrove 108:Despair makes priests and friars. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 109:Everything flows and nothing abides. ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 110:First be the best and then be first ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 111:Give it all up and you can have it all. ~ ram-das, @wisdomtrove 112:Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil. ~ plato, @wisdomtrove 113:I loved my country, and I hated him. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 114:In times of stress, be bold and valiant. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 115:I’ve been things and I've seen places. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 116:Love and say it with your life. ~ saint-augustine, @wisdomtrove 117:Love God, and do what you like. ~ saint-augustine, @wisdomtrove 118:Nature and wisdom never are at strife. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 119:Need nothing and then see what happens. ~ gangaji, @wisdomtrove 120:Question the mind and peace happens ~ byron-katie, @wisdomtrove 121:Rise and take your stance once again ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 122:Scratch a lover, and find a foe. ~ dorothy-parker, @wisdomtrove 123:Stop and consider! life is but a day ~ john-keats, @wisdomtrove 124:Stubbornness and stupidity are twins. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 125:Success is 20% skills and 80% strategy ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 126:Taste has no system and no proofs. ~ susan-sontag, @wisdomtrove 127:Teach French and unteach sincerity. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 128:Time and tide wait for no man. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 129:All that matters is love and work. ~ sigmund-freud, @wisdomtrove 130:And I fell violently on my face. ~ edgar-allan-poe, @wisdomtrove 131:and is, and will be everlasting fire, ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 132:And sometimes he forgets his promises. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 133:Be quick to learn and wise to know. ~ george-burns, @wisdomtrove 134:Boasts are wind and deeds are hard. ~ isaac-asimov, @wisdomtrove 135:Come, live with me and you'll know me. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 136:Eternity is a ham and two people. ~ dorothy-parker, @wisdomtrove 137:Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 138:Give me a museum and I'll fill it. ~ pablo-picasso, @wisdomtrove 139:Grief brims itself and flows away in tears. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 140:Holiness sincerity, and faith. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 141:I am free and that is why I am lost. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 142:I hate, and yet must love the thing I hate. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 143:Life And Death, Suffering, Important ~ bodhidharma, @wisdomtrove 144:Life is continuous, and is Infinite. ~ edgar-cayce, @wisdomtrove 145:Love gives life purpose and meaning. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 146:Make fair agreements and stick to them ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 147:Nothing is distinct and separate. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove 148:One and all have to face reality now. ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 149:Ring the bells for the blind and deaf. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 150:Success is beautiful and dangerous. ~ robin-sharma, @wisdomtrove 151:Take away leisure and Cupid's bow is broken ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 152:The Ego is a veil between humans and God. ~ rumi, @wisdomtrove 153:We are so conceited and so unproud. ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove 154:What are men to rocks and mountains? ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 155:Wiles and deceit are female qualities. ~ aeschylus, @wisdomtrove 156:Women and elephants never forget. ~ dorothy-parker, @wisdomtrove 157:All is one . . . and I am that oneness. ~ tim-freke, @wisdomtrove 158:A man is nothing but breath and shadow. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 159:An enemy's gift is ruinous and no gift. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 160:Are not beauty and delicacy the same? ~ e-m-forster, @wisdomtrove 161:Be virtuous and you will be eccentric. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 162:Cherish your species and your planet." ~ carl-sagan, @wisdomtrove 163:Children: a torment and nothing more. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 164:Congress is deadlocked and can’t act. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 165:Feel the fear... and do it anyway. ~ susan-jeffers, @wisdomtrove 166:Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 167:..flowers that fly and all but sing. ~ robert-frost, @wisdomtrove 168:Go, and never darken my towels again ~ groucho-marx, @wisdomtrove 169:God and Nature met in light. ~ alfred-lord-tennyson, @wisdomtrove 170:I flee who chases me and chase who flees me. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 171:I speak two languages, Body and English. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 172:It is good to live and learn. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 173:Love breaks my bones and I laugh ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 174:Love is the whole and more than all. ~ e-e-cummings, @wisdomtrove 175:Numb the dark and you numb the light. ~ brene-brown, @wisdomtrove 176:One can be well-bred and write bad poetry ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 177:Rivalry and envy are Siamese twins. ~ josh-billings, @wisdomtrove 178:Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 179:Ruth and I are happily incompatible. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 180:Society is our extended mind and body. ~ alan-watts, @wisdomtrove 181:Success and rest don't sleep together. ~ og-mandino, @wisdomtrove 182:The good and the wise lead quiet lives. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 183:The superman exists and he's American. ~ alan-moore, @wisdomtrove 184:To know and not do, is to not yet know. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 185:Victory is by nature superb and insulting. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 186:A fool and his money are soon elected. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 187:A human being is only breath and shadow. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 188:And her joy was nearly like sorrow. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 189:And hold up to the sun my little taper. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 190:And how do you know that you're mad? ~ lewis-carroll, @wisdomtrove 191:And thus the child imposes on the man. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 192:Be the sun and all will see you. ~ fyodor-dostoevsky, @wisdomtrove 193:Blood was its Avatar and its seal. ~ edgar-allan-poe, @wisdomtrove 194:Destroy our leisure and you break love's bow. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 195:Do your best and then relax. ~ paramahansa-yogananda, @wisdomtrove 196:Faithfulness and sincerity first of all. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 197:Fear follows crime and is its punishment. ~ voltaire, @wisdomtrove 198:Gin and drugs, dear lady, gin and drugs. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 199:Hold your pen and spare your voice. ~ dorothy-parker, @wisdomtrove 200:I celebrate myself, and sing myself. ~ walt-whitman, @wisdomtrove 201:In love there are two evils: war and peace. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 202:It isn't possible to love and to part. ~ e-m-forster, @wisdomtrove 203:I was born to enjoy life. And so it is. ~ louise-hay, @wisdomtrove 204:Joy rul'd the day, and Love the night. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 205:Just show up and things will happen. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 206:Leap and grow your wings on the way down ~ les-brown, @wisdomtrove 207:Life responds to deserve and not to need. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 208:Love and dignity cannot share the same abode. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 209:Misery and shame are nearly allied. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 210:Reason can wrestle and overthrow terror. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 211:Take it easy, and remember easy is right. ~ rajneesh, @wisdomtrove 212:The body and mind are dependent. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 213:The mountains are calling and I must go. ~ john-muir, @wisdomtrove 214:There will be time to murder and create. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 215:The strong and the weak cannot keep company. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 216:Till Human voices wake us, and we drown. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 217:To be and to have meaning are the same. ~ parmenides, @wisdomtrove 218:Truthful, adj. Dumb and illiterate. ~ ambrose-bierce, @wisdomtrove 219:We haven't any and you're too young. ~ lewis-carroll, @wisdomtrove 220:Worry and faith just don't mix. ~ charles-r-swindoll, @wisdomtrove 221:You cannot feel fat and attract thin. ~ esther-hicks, @wisdomtrove 222:Age and illness made one a dualist ~ ursula-k-le-guin, @wisdomtrove 223:A hair divides what is false and true. ~ omar-khayyam, @wisdomtrove 224:And seek for truth in the groves of Academe. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 225:And what would you do if you met a jibboo? ~ dr-seuss, @wisdomtrove 226:Associations are both subtle and powerful. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 227:Black is the Color and none is the number ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 228:Change and everything will change for you. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 229:Courage and fear were one thing too. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 230:Despair and Genius are too oft connected ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 231:Evil is easy, and has infinite forms. ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 232:For to be aware and to be are the same. ~ parmenides, @wisdomtrove 233:God is pure, and the same to all. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 234:I am certainly an ought and not a must. ~ e-m-forster, @wisdomtrove 235:I am in love and out of it I will not go. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 236:I came like Water, and like Wind I go. ~ omar-khayyam, @wisdomtrove 237:If not us, who? And if not now, when? ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 238:I gave in, and admitted that God was God. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 239:I like to work and am a focused person. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 240:I'm hello, and I'd like to say myself. ~ steve-martin, @wisdomtrove 241:In a crisis, give help first and then advice. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 242:I take sounds and change them into words. ~ brian-eno, @wisdomtrove 243:Let me listen to me and not to them. ~ gertrude-stein, @wisdomtrove 244:Let's not be narrow, nasty, and negative. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 245:Life did not stop, and one had to live. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 246:My heart is, and always will be, yours. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 247:Nature, red in tooth and claw. ~ alfred-lord-tennyson, @wisdomtrove 248:Never complain and never explain. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 249:One more drink and I'll be under the host. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 250:Patience and shuffle the cards. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 251:Shut your mouth; open your eyes and ears. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 252:So long, and thanks for all the fish. ~ douglas-adams, @wisdomtrove 253:Soul of fibre and heart of oak. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 254:The world is finite, harmonious, and good. ~ plotinus, @wisdomtrove 255:Wealth accumulates, and men decay. ~ oliver-goldsmith, @wisdomtrove 256:We die only once, and for such a long time. ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 257:We live in a world of cause and effect. ~ t-harv-eker, @wisdomtrove 258:You had no faith to lose and you know it. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 259:Ada! sole daughter of my house and heart. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 260:Alas! when passion is both meek and wild! ~ john-keats, @wisdomtrove 261:And learn the luxury of doing good. ~ oliver-goldsmith, @wisdomtrove 262:And will you succeed? Yes, you will indeed! ~ dr-seuss, @wisdomtrove 263:Anything is better than lies and deceit! ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 264:Be bold, take courage... and be strong of soul ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 265:Be slow to correct and quick to commend. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 266:Between urine and filth we are born. ~ saint-augustine, @wisdomtrove 267:Country, Phones, Questions And Answers ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 268:Create and stir other people to create. ~ robert-frost, @wisdomtrove 269:Dine on little, and sup on less. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 270:Do it for joy and you can do it forever ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 271:Enemies gifts are no gifts and do no good. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 272:Forensics is eloquence and reduction. ~ gertrude-stein, @wisdomtrove 273:God means movement, and not explanation. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 274:Gone! ... And you and I quite crestfallen. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 275:Great is the strife between beauty and modesty. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 276:Growth – the need to develop and expand ~ tony-robbins, @wisdomtrove 277:I have read your book, and I disapprove. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 278:I must have flowers, always and always. ~ claude-monet, @wisdomtrove 279:I struggle to be brief, and I become obscure. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 280:It is terrible to speak well and be wrong. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 281:Love yourself and you can heal your life. ~ louise-hay, @wisdomtrove 282:Mind your till, and till your mind. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 283:Money is the seal and stamp of success. ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove 284:No, but you're wrong now, and always will be. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 285:One law for lion and ox is oppression. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 286:Only time conquers time and its burdens. ~ dean-koontz, @wisdomtrove 287:Presents, believe me, seduce both men and gods. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 288:Racism is a doctrine of, by and for brutes. ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 289:Say what you believe and see who follows. ~ seth-godin, @wisdomtrove 290:she smiled at him, and at her own fears. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 291:Stand a little less between me and the sun. ~ diogenes, @wisdomtrove 292:Take someone NEW AND WEIRD to lunch today ~ tom-peters, @wisdomtrove 293:The oil and wine of merry meeting. ~ washington-irving, @wisdomtrove 294:The path up and down is one and the same. ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 295:To love and to labor is the sum of living. ~ anais-nin, @wisdomtrove 296:Trust the universe and respekt your hair. ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 297:We are all mortals, and each is for himself. ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 298:Went to church and fasted all day. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 299:Wherever I am, there is joy and laughter! ~ louise-hay, @wisdomtrove 300:You can and you must expect suffering. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 301:Your success and happiness lie in you. ~ hellen-keller, @wisdomtrove 302:A book which people praise and don't read. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 303:A fool and his money are soon partying. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 304:And wealth abides not, it is but for a day. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 305:Be consistent and live what you believe ~ caroline-myss, @wisdomtrove 306:Be kind to all and severe to thyself. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 307:Believe in love and you will have love. ~ napoleon-hill, @wisdomtrove 308:Believe in wealth and you will be rich. ~ napoleon-hill, @wisdomtrove 309:Christ moves along the pots and pans. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 310:Dream, diversify-and never miss an angle. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 311:Dying is a wild night and a new road. ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 312:Earn the right to be proud and confident. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 313:Excess and deficiency are equally at fault. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 314:Faith slips - and laughs, and rallies ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 315:Felds hath eyen, and wode have eres. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 316:He makes a solitude, and calls it - peace! ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 317:I am no prophet-and here's no great matter. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 318:I am young and beautiful... at every age. ~ louise-hay, @wisdomtrove 319:Ice and iron cannot be welded. ~ robert-louis-stevenson, @wisdomtrove 320:I live and love in God's peculiar light. ~ michelangelo, @wisdomtrove 321:I meant what I said and I said what I meant. ~ dr-seuss, @wisdomtrove 322:Inspiration and genius -one and the same. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 323:Knowledge is love and light and vision. ~ hellen-keller, @wisdomtrove 324:Learn to hide your need and show your skill. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 325:Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 326:Love is a thing that is full of cares and fears. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 327:Love who and what you are and what you do. ~ louise-hay, @wisdomtrove 328:My altars are the mountains and the ocean. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 329:My art and profession is to live. ~ michel-de-montaigne, @wisdomtrove 330:My God is love and sweetly suffers all. ~ sri-aurobindo, @wisdomtrove 331:Never tire to study. And to teach to others ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 332:Onward and Upward! To Narnia and the North! ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 333:out of the frying pan and into the fire ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 334:Ponder and deliberate before you make a move. ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 335:Proverty and wealth are comparative sins. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 336:Pure and simple, balance is happiness. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove 337:Reason and truth will prevail at last. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 338:Resolve and thou art free. ~ henry-wadsworth-longfellow, @wisdomtrove 339:Shallow understanding is lazy and wandering, ~ zhuangzi, @wisdomtrove 340:She had bullets in her eyes and they fired. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 341:Some folks are wise and some otherwise. ~ josh-billings, @wisdomtrove 342:Spring is the time of plans and projects. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 343:Then fair is foul and all hell's let loose. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 344:The world is knowable, harmonious, and good. ~ plotinus, @wisdomtrove 345:You have your ideology and I have mine. ~ kahlil-gibran, @wisdomtrove 346:Your success and happiness start with you. ~ zig-ziglar, @wisdomtrove 347:A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou. ~ omar-khayyam, @wisdomtrove 348:... and down they forgot as up they grew. ~ e-e-cummings, @wisdomtrove 349:And I will capture your minds with sweet novelty. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 350:And with privilege goes responsibility. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 351:Beauty and folly are old companions. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 352:Be for something and against nothing. ~ michael-beckwith, @wisdomtrove 353:By Time and Age full many things are taught. ~ aeschylus, @wisdomtrove 354:Complain and remain. Praise and be raised. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 355:Don't wait to buy land, buy land and wait. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 356:Do you cherish your humble and silky life? ~ mary-oliver, @wisdomtrove 357:Even play has ended in fierce strife and anger. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 358:Existence precedes and rules essence. ~ jean-paul-sartre, @wisdomtrove 359:Familiarity breeds contempt - and children. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 360:Forget grammar and think about potatoes ~ gertrude-stein, @wisdomtrove 361:For sight is woman-like and shuns the old. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 362:Great and small suffer the same mishaps. ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 363:Happiness is health and a short memory! ~ audrey-hepburn, @wisdomtrove 364:I am no artist - please come and help me. ~ michelangelo, @wisdomtrove 365:I believe in divine forces and energies. ~ richard-pryor, @wisdomtrove 366:I disbelieve all holy men and holy books. ~ thomas-paine, @wisdomtrove 367:In the faces of men and women, I see God. ~ walt-whitman, @wisdomtrove 368:It is impossible to love and to be wise. ~ francis-bacon, @wisdomtrove 369:I took one look and fell, hook and tumble. ~ mary-oliver, @wisdomtrove 370:It's hard to love a woman and do anything. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 371:Life is made up of marble and mud. ~ nathaniel-hawthorne, @wisdomtrove 372:Life isn't all fricasseed frogs and eel pie. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 373:Man appoints, and God disappoints. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 374:Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. ~ edgar-allan-poe, @wisdomtrove 375:Move onward and carry into practice. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 376:My heart in passion, and my head on rhymes. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 377:Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight. ~ phyllis-diller, @wisdomtrove 378:No one can pray and worry at the same time. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 379:Oh, beauty, ever ancient and ever new. ~ saint-augustine, @wisdomtrove 380:One can fall in love and still hate. ~ fyodor-dostoevsky, @wisdomtrove 381:Restless at home, and ever prone to range. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 382:See deep enough, and you see musically. ~ thomas-carlyle, @wisdomtrove 383:Sell your cleverness and purchase bewilderment. ~ rumi, @wisdomtrove 384:The pay is good and I can walk to work. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 385:The phases of fire are craving and satiety. ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 386:There are lies, damned lies and statistics. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 387:There are too many stars and too few actors. ~ bruce-lee, @wisdomtrove 388:The word is the Verb, and the Verb is God. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 389:The world is me and I am the world. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 390:Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time. ~ john-keats, @wisdomtrove 391:Walk and touch happiness every moment. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 392:We are all connected, and we are all One. ~ rhonda-byrne, @wisdomtrove 393:We think too much and feel too little. ~ charlie-chaplan, @wisdomtrove 394:What passion cannot music raise and quell! ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 395:Why drink and drive if I can smoke and fly? ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 396:You and I have a rendevous with destiny. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 397:You get a canoe later and I'll paddle you ~ groucho-marx, @wisdomtrove 398:Add little to little and there will be a big pile. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 399:All entities move and nothing remains still. ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 400:All is change; all yields its place and goes. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 401:A multitude of people and yet solitude. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 402:And love's the noblest frailty of the mind. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 403:and love was lightning and remembrance ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 404:And take back ill-polished stanzas to the anvil. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 405:And what is the greatest number? Number one. ~ david-hume, @wisdomtrove 406:And your very flesh shall be a great poem. ~ walt-whitman, @wisdomtrove 407:Be slow of tongue and quick of eye. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 408:Change the mind, and you can change the body. ~ sivananda, @wisdomtrove 409:dogs and angels are not very far apart ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 410:Every moment had its pleasure and its hope. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 411:Everyone doin' and they're doing their best! ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 412:Everything changes and nothing stands still. ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 413:Feelings are just visitors, let them come and go. ~ mooji, @wisdomtrove 414:Find joy and peace in this very moment. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 415:God alone is real, and all else is illusion. ~ meher-baba, @wisdomtrove 416:God's mercy is fresh and new every morning. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 417:Grammar has qualities, shapes and forms. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove 418:Health and cheerfulness make beauty ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 419:Help means ruin and saving means slaying. ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 420:I am here and I'm alive. That's enough. ~ don-miguel-ruiz, @wisdomtrove 421:I awoke one morning and found myself famous. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 422:I believe in intuition and inspiration. ~ albert-einstein, @wisdomtrove 423:I deserve the best and I accept the best now ~ louise-hay, @wisdomtrove 424:I love my son and am proud of my son. ~ robert-h-schuller, @wisdomtrove 425:Inspired to make new and different choices; ~ brene-brown, @wisdomtrove 426:I see and approve better things, but follow worse. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 427:It's a large as life and twice as natural ~ lewis-carroll, @wisdomtrove 428:I will clamber through the clouds and exist. ~ john-keats, @wisdomtrove 429:Learn the art of the pitch and of messaging. ~ tim-ferris, @wisdomtrove 430:Learn to labour and to wait. ~ henry-wadsworth-longfellow, @wisdomtrove 431:Let us forget and forgive injuries. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 432:My creed is love and you are its only tenet. ~ john-keats, @wisdomtrove 433:None are so busy as the fool and the knave. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 434:None can hold fortune still and make it last. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 435:Nonsense and beauty have close connections. ~ e-m-forster, @wisdomtrove 436:One Law for the Lion and Ox is Oppression ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 437:Pray for us now and at the hour of our birth. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 438:Respect a man, and he will do all the more. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 439:Respect yourself and others will respect you. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 440:Saint: A dead sinner revised and edited. ~ ambrose-bierce, @wisdomtrove 441:Science grows and Beauty dwindles. ~ alfred-lord-tennyson, @wisdomtrove 442:Spare when young, and spend when old. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 443:Speak of a wolf and you see his tail! ~ fyodor-dostoevsky, @wisdomtrove 444:Strike at a great man, and you will not miss. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 445:Sweet and glorious it is to die for our country. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 446:The absent feel and fear every ill. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 447:The dead don't die. They look on and help. ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove 448:The earth is heavy and opaque without dreams. ~ anais-nin, @wisdomtrove 449:The heart and the mind, what an enigma. ~ charlie-chaplan, @wisdomtrove 450:The lamp burns bright when wick and oil are clean. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 451:There is one and the same soul in many bodies. ~ plotinus, @wisdomtrove 452:To live at ease, and not be bound to think. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 453:Walk and be Happy, Walk and be Healthy. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 454:We do what we are and we are what we do. ~ abraham-maslow, @wisdomtrove 455:We must follow nonviolence and love. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 456:Who are the rabble and who are the ruled? ~ frank-herbert, @wisdomtrove 457:Wisdom and eloquence are not always united. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 458:Write hard and clear about what hurts. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 459:You are different from me and yet we are one. ~ tim-freke, @wisdomtrove 460:You are my sun, my moon, and all my stars. ~ e-e-cummings, @wisdomtrove 461:You have my soul and I have your money ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 462:A baby is an inestimable blessing and bother. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 463:Act as if you are, and you will become such. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 464:All great and precious things are lonely. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 465:And for to see, and eek for to be seie. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 466:And she was fair as is the rose in May. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 467:and then woe is you, Pauly. Woe to the max. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 468:And torture one poor word ten thousand ways. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 469:An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 470:As I grow to understand life less and less, ~ jules-renard, @wisdomtrove 471:Being alone is and nothing is altogether not. ~ parmenides, @wisdomtrove 472:Be prepared to go mad with fixed rule and method. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 473:Black as night and as beautiful as forever. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 474:Catastrophe and creation are twins. ~ barbara-marx-hubbard, @wisdomtrove 475:Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice ~ henry-ford, @wisdomtrove 476:Coloring requires a pure and clear background. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 477:Concentrate your energy and hoard your strength. ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 478:Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 479:David was catnip and kryptonite to me. ~ elizabeth-gilbert, @wisdomtrove 480:Death is a mystery, and burial is a secret. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 481:Discipline weighs ounces and regret weighs tons ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 482:Do not hesitate to love and to love deeply. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 483:Every moment has its pleasures and its hope. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 484:Everything gives way and nothing stays fixed. ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 485:Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 486:Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget... ~ john-keats, @wisdomtrove 487:Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 488:Find what you love and let it kill you. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 489:Fish and visitors stink in three days. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 490:God is good, and He cannot be anything else. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 491:Happiness and love are just a choice away. ~ leo-buscaglia, @wisdomtrove 492:Hate is a bottomless cup; I will pour and pour ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 493:Have fun do good and the money will come ~ richard-branson, @wisdomtrove 494:I had lost my mind and fallen into my heart. ~ dan-millman, @wisdomtrove 495:I have a great love of animals and laughter. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 496:Infinite strength is religion and God. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 497:Is due to truths being in and out of favor. ~ robert-frost, @wisdomtrove 498:It might be good to open our eyes and see. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 499:I too am not powerless, and my weapons strike hard. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 500:Let us then, be up and doing. ~ henry-wadsworth-longfellow, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:and always coming ~ Kathryn Croft, #NFDB
2:and began to munch. ~ Mary Daheim, #NFDB
3:And children know, ~ Walter Scott, #NFDB
4:And empty words are evil. ~ Homer, #NFDB
5:and had safely passed ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
6:And if she ruins me? ~ Staci Hart, #NFDB
7:And I'm sorry for us ~ Thom Yorke, #NFDB
8:and I punched him. ~ Chris Colfer, #NFDB
9:and it mightn’t be ~ Marian Keyes, #NFDB
10:And our dreams, ~ Denise Levertov, #NFDB
11:And so it goes... ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
12:And then Priam wept. ~ Kate Quinn, #NFDB
13:and they believe not. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
14:and they went out on ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
15:Be simple and reliable ~ Jan Koum, #NFDB
16:Christ and Buddha, ~ Joe Haldeman, #NFDB
17:Craziness, indeed. And ~ J R Ward, #NFDB
18:depositions—and ~ Nicholas Sparks, #NFDB
19:Dervish and Banges, ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
20:Forever and a day. ~ Gayle Forman, #NFDB
21:Four and Six,” I say. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
22:God and Nature are one. ~ Spinoza, #NFDB
23:I burn, and I hope. ~ Jesmyn Ward, #NFDB
24:I desire
And I crave. ~ Sappho,#NFDB
25:Let go, and let God. ~ Nikki Sixx, #NFDB
26:Live and let live, ~ Brenda Novak, #NFDB
27:of work and love, a ~ Mary Oliver, #NFDB
28:Okay. Computer and ~ Kathy Reichs, #NFDB
29:Onward and upward. ~ Lev Grossman, #NFDB
30:Shut up and write. ~ Chuck Wendig, #NFDB
31:Silenus or Nymphs and ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
32:Sleep and fail. ~ Rachel E Carter, #NFDB
33:Snakes and bastards! ~ M C Beaton, #NFDB
34:Stephanie and Tony ~ Randall Wood, #NFDB
35:study, and cleanse ~ Bruce Feiler, #NFDB
36:The here-and-now mountain ~ Rumi, #NFDB
37:This is new and exciting. ~ Tijan, #NFDB
38:Thunder and turf! ~ Julie Klassen, #NFDB
39:too, rolled and ~ Margo Jefferson, #NFDB
40:Trust no one!” And ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
41:voice. And maybe ~ Kristin Hannah, #NFDB
42:Wake up and be awesome. ~ Unknown, #NFDB
43:You and me, always. ~ M R Merrick, #NFDB
44:And all now is war ~ Charles Olson, #NFDB
45:And all was well. ~ Cornelia Funke, #NFDB
46:and confused, ~ Catherine Anderson, #NFDB
47:and down his spine. ~ Lisa Jackson, #NFDB
48:And empty words are evil. ~ Homer, #NFDB
49:and he kneaded her. ~ Kathryn Shay, #NFDB
50:And life hurts. ~ Sibella Giorello, #NFDB
51:And my life continued ~ John Green, #NFDB
52:And she never has. ~ Wendy Markham, #NFDB
53:And she’s not wrong. ~ Nicola Yoon, #NFDB
54:And that was?’ ‘He ~ Stephen Booth, #NFDB
55:And then she’s gone. ~ Sabaa Tahir, #NFDB
56:And within the house ~ Anne Sexton, #NFDB
57:Ash? Get bent and die. ~ L J Smith, #NFDB
58:being stopped and ~ Margaret Maron, #NFDB
59:Come up and be a kite, ~ Kate Bush, #NFDB
60:desultory, and ~ Washington Irving, #NFDB
61:Forever and One day ~ Gayle Forman, #NFDB
62:his touch and her ~ Terry Bolryder, #NFDB
63:I am at rest and remaining. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
64:I am single and happy. ~ E G Daily, #NFDB
65:I see. And have you ~ Ariel Lawhon, #NFDB
66:Jorinda and Jorindel ~ Jacob Grimm, #NFDB
67:KAMU: Kiss and make up ~ Bart King, #NFDB
68:kept in touch and ~ Gerald Durrell, #NFDB
69:Let peace and beauty reign. ~ Moby, #NFDB
70:Loki and Pop-Tarts; ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
71:Never and always, ~ Daniel Arenson, #NFDB
72:palace and the ~ Eugene H Peterson, #NFDB
73:pig and an elephant ~ Jon Scieszka, #NFDB
74:Shake and shake ~ Richard Armour, #NFDB
75:So much and too fast. ~ L H Cosway, #NFDB
76:stuff and nonsense ~ Lewis Carroll, #NFDB
77:Sweet By and By, ~ Caroline Fraser, #NFDB
78:Take It and Like It ~ Jonathan Coe, #NFDB
79:That and loneliness. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
80:The North Wind and the Sun ~ Aesop, #NFDB
81:Think and let think. ~ John Wesley, #NFDB
82:Touch me and you bleed, ~ P A Ross, #NFDB
83:Upward and Onward ~ Stephen Zimmer, #NFDB
84:When Caro and her ~ Cynthia Wright, #NFDB
85:Why? Why you and me? ~ Celia Aaron, #NFDB
86:Work at it night and day. ~ Horace, #NFDB
87: 26 And it came ~ Joseph Smith Jr, #NFDB
88:And even though we both fly ~ Q Tip, #NFDB
89:and Gisele Blake? ~ Nick Stephenson, #NFDB
90:And I hope that you die ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
91:And I’m Hermione from— ~ Judy Blume, #NFDB
92:And I'm lost behind ~ Chris Cornell, #NFDB
93:And in that hour, ~ William Cowper, #NFDB
94:And madness freed me ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
95:and realization. ~ Michael Connelly, #NFDB
96:and said, “Yes, ma’am. ~ Ace Atkins, #NFDB
97:and talking quietly, ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
98:And the guelder rose ~ Jean Ingelow, #NFDB
99:And we all died. How ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
100:And why? Because ~ Malcolm Gladwell, #NFDB
101:and you will can then ~ Ken D Berry, #NFDB
102:Billions and billions. ~ Carl Sagan, #NFDB
103:calm and collective ~ J A Redmerski, #NFDB
104:cases and stretched ~ Julia Golding, #NFDB
105:compact and meaningful ~ Brad Stone, #NFDB
106:created, and ~ Benjamin Carter Hett, #NFDB
107:drawn and safety off. It ~ J R Rain, #NFDB
108:Eat Well and Stay Well, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
109:Fingers and Thumbs ~ David Walliams, #NFDB
110:Go now and do no harm. ~ Amy Harmon, #NFDB
111:have, and what ~ Jean Shinoda Bolen, #NFDB
112:Have courage and be kind. ~ Unknown, #NFDB
113:Have nuts and be nuts. ~ Criss Jami, #NFDB
114:His vision blurred, and ~ S D Smith, #NFDB
115:I'm crap and a fatty. ~ Tony Bellew, #NFDB
116:King and Country! ~ Elinor Florence, #NFDB
117:kissed her cheek and ~ Addison Cole, #NFDB
118:Look, and it can't be seen. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
119:overheard her.” “And ~ Lisa Jackson, #NFDB
120:People come and go. ~ Cecelia Ahern, #NFDB
121:Renounce and rejoice! ~ Roger Walsh, #NFDB
122:Seek and ye shall find. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
123:sex crimes and a man ~ T J Brearton, #NFDB
124:ship would not and could ~ Ted Bell, #NFDB
125:" – Stop and Think !" ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
126:though, and viruses ~ Carey Heywood, #NFDB
127:thousand miles away and ~ Tim Pratt, #NFDB
128:Times and USA ~ Denise Grover Swank, #NFDB
129:tolerant smile and ~ Angela Marsons, #NFDB
130:We, Andrew. You and ~ Fern Michaels, #NFDB
131:We bury our seeds and wait, ~ Rumi, #NFDB
132:We can't cut and run. ~ John McCain, #NFDB
133:You dirty so and so. ~ Duff McKagan, #NFDB
134:Act, and God will act. ~ Joan of Arc, #NFDB
135:And charge it please. ~ Kay Thompson, #NFDB
136:and congratulations. ~ Melinda Leigh, #NFDB
137:And he was pretentious: ~ John Green, #NFDB
138:And, his sir name, ~ Kathryn C Kelly, #NFDB
139:And I begin to learn. ~ Franz Wright, #NFDB
140:And I don’t know why. ~ Tahereh Mafi, #NFDB
141:And I want you. I want ~ Edie Claire, #NFDB
142:and lay with her father; ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
143:and respect. ~ Christopher G Nuttall, #NFDB
144:And, she was ravenous! ~ P G Allison, #NFDB
145:And so I walked on. ~ Cheryl Strayed, #NFDB
146:And soon the dogs were ~ Anna Sewell, #NFDB
147:And so there is magic. ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
148:and start west ~ William S Burroughs, #NFDB
149:And this too shall pass. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
150:And unofficially? ~ Elizabeth Lowell, #NFDB
151:and with temperatures ~ Marc Headley, #NFDB
152:Better to die, and sleep ~ Sophocles, #NFDB
153:Blood! Blast! And Fire ~ Stuart Hill, #NFDB
154:breath and caught the ~ John le Carr, #NFDB
155:Breathe and let be. ~ Jon Kabat Zinn, #NFDB
156:cigarettes and alcohol. ~ N R Walker, #NFDB
157:Come mothers and fathers ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
158:Conform and be dull. ~ J Frank Dobie, #NFDB
159:Energy and Good Health ~ Mary Pipher, #NFDB
160:FAME AND FORTUNE; ~ Horatio Alger Jr, #NFDB
161:flaccid weakness, and ~ Jeff Lindsay, #NFDB
162:Go and be happy. ~ Rosamunde Pilcher, #NFDB
163:God is all and all is God. ~ Eckhart, #NFDB
164:Hairy and the Maidens. ~ Edie Claire, #NFDB
165:harbinger, and ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
166:He died. And waited. ~ James Herbert, #NFDB
167:Here and there robins sang ~ Various, #NFDB
168:Hope elevates, and joy ~ John Milton, #NFDB
169:husband got pneumonia and ~ Lisa See, #NFDB
170:I am fat and I don't care. ~ CM Punk, #NFDB
171:I'm a hot..and cool guy. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
172:Intimacy and Generosity ~ Todd Henry, #NFDB
173:Jet ski and wild noises. ~ DJ Khaled, #NFDB
174:Job and January, ~ Carrie Anne Noble, #NFDB
175:language and attitude ~ Marcia Clark, #NFDB
176:Lords and ladies, ~ Kathryne Kennedy, #NFDB
177:Love and gelato. ~ Jenna Evans Welch, #NFDB
178:Love is serene and calm ~ Erica Jong, #NFDB
179:Make something, and die. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
180:Me and nature are two. ~ Woody Allen, #NFDB
181:murdered, and that a ~ John Sandford, #NFDB
182:No care and no sorrow, ~ Jacob Grimm, #NFDB
183:nose and a straight brow ~ Tami Hoag, #NFDB
184:One and one is eleven. ~ Frank Zappa, #NFDB
185:proceeds and walking ~ Richard Grant, #NFDB
186:Publish and be damned. ~ H L Mencken, #NFDB
187:recent college grad and ~ Kate White, #NFDB
188:Some drill and bore ~ William Cowper, #NFDB
189:strength and honor ~ Marcus Aurelius, #NFDB
190:tergiversation and ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
191:They come and go ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
192:time is dear and the ~ Jon L Bentley, #NFDB
193:To summer, and to us. ~ Sarah Dessen, #NFDB
194:Turn and burn, baby. ~ Lorelei James, #NFDB
195:WAR AND PEACE EPILOGUE ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
196:Zero G and I feel fine. ~ John Glenn, #NFDB
197:15:17 And when he came to ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
198:Ambition and Initiative ~ Mary Pipher, #NFDB
199:And Aaron held his peace. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
200:and get him.” There ~ Kristan Higgins, #NFDB
201:and her interests spanned ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
202:And if I die before I wake ~ Kid Cudi, #NFDB
203:And I look back. Alex ~ Lauren Oliver, #NFDB
204:And insanity is catching. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
205:And it was a lie. ~ Maggie Stiefvater, #NFDB
206:And one eye-witness weighs ~ Plautus, #NFDB
207:and so it goes with God ~ Yann Martel, #NFDB
208:And some cease feeling ~ Wilfred Owen, #NFDB
209:And so on, and so on... ~ Slavoj i ek, #NFDB
210:And so on to infinity ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
211:And then it was over ~ David Nicholls, #NFDB
212:And to the rest of the world ~ Eminem, #NFDB
213:and your family ~ William W Johnstone, #NFDB
214:Ask, and It Will Be Given ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
215:Between always and never ~ Paul Celan, #NFDB
216:Beyond speech and mind, ~ Sri Chinmoy, #NFDB
217:Book Two AND SO IT BEGINS ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
218:butter, and showing those ~ Susan Sey, #NFDB
219:Cake and tea or death? ~ Eddie Izzard, #NFDB
220:Detective Legs and Boobs. ~ Elise Sax, #NFDB
221:For Narnia and for Aslan! ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
222:Friends and neighbors, ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
223:Further up and further in ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
224:go forth and thrash! ~ Thurston Moore, #NFDB
225:Hannah and her sisters ~ Joanne Fluke, #NFDB
226:have gambled and stalled. ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
227:have mercy on me and hear ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
228:he tried to slow down and ~ Lexi Hunt, #NFDB
229:I am me and not me. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
230:I'm his and he's mine. ~ Kennedy Ryan, #NFDB
231:In headaches and in worry ~ W H Auden, #NFDB
232:I promote peace and positivity. ~ T I, #NFDB
233:I see, and say nothing. ~ Elizabeth I, #NFDB
234:Jesus and worship Him. ~ James W Goll, #NFDB
235:Jesus, Mary and Joseph ~ Markus Zusak, #NFDB
236:just him and I. ~ Mimi Jean Pamfiloff, #NFDB
237:Keep calm and carry on! ~ R J Palacio, #NFDB
238:Laziness and complacency. ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
239:Learn by trial and error. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
240:lipstick and high heels. ~ H D Gordon, #NFDB
241:Live Long and Prosper ~ Leonard Nimoy, #NFDB
242:Live,love and learn ~ Leo F Buscaglia, #NFDB
243:Love more and openly. ~ Ruthie Foster, #NFDB
244:Money talks and I listen. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
245:Mr. Drew and his wife ~ Carolyn Keene, #NFDB
246:of wretchedness and need, ~ A W Tozer, #NFDB
247:physical pain and do yet ~ Dale Mayer, #NFDB
248:professionally and ~ Malcolm Gladwell, #NFDB
249:relax and release, ~ Michael A Singer, #NFDB
250:Release early and often. ~ Kevin Rose, #NFDB
251:Right is just and true. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
252:Rise and shine, asshole, ~ Eve Jagger, #NFDB
253:scheme. And life and food ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
254:Shake it off and move on. ~ Tom Hanks, #NFDB
255:Shaken and not stirred. ~ Ian Fleming, #NFDB
256:Shut your eyes and see. ~ James Joyce, #NFDB
257:some orange juice and ~ E J Copperman, #NFDB
258:Take the money and run. ~ Woody Allen, #NFDB
259:THE BOY AND THE LADY ~ Nnedi Okorafor, #NFDB
260:THE DOG AND THE SPARROW ~ Jacob Grimm, #NFDB
261:throb-and-sob idol ~ Vladimir Nabokov, #NFDB
262:through her friend’s and ~ Rhys Bowen, #NFDB
263:Time and fevers burn away ~ W H Auden, #NFDB
264:Tom did play hookey, and ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
265:Took a vow to protect and serve, ~ Ka, #NFDB
266:ubiquitous in Yangon, and ~ Mick Bose, #NFDB
267:Vereinigte Stahlwerke and ~ Jim Marrs, #NFDB
268:walked hand and hand ~ Dakota Cassidy, #NFDB
269:We must live and learn. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
270:window. Stopped and stared ~ L T Ryan, #NFDB
271:worked, and she scrunched ~ Seth King, #NFDB
272:you and I have a score to ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
273:8. Love is chemistry and ~ Paul Levine, #NFDB
274:And Bharadvája, nothing slow ~ Valmiki, #NFDB
275:And can you not learn? ~ Leigh Bardugo, #NFDB
276:And did you love me? ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
277:and he does not report it, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
278:and he shaved himself, and ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
279:And his was so beautiful. ~ Kiera Cass, #NFDB
280:And I ate the cheesecake. ~ Jojo Moyes, #NFDB
281:and so it goes with God. ~ Yann Martel, #NFDB
282:and the doors to Mid-World, ~ Joe Hill, #NFDB
283:And then he kissed me. ~ Leigh Bardugo, #NFDB
284:…and then what happened? ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
285:And what," he inquired ~ P G Wodehouse, #NFDB
286:...and what is truth? ~ John Steinbeck, #NFDB
287:and when I looked out, ~ Emilie Autumn, #NFDB
288:And you dropt, lost, ~ Emily Dickinson, #NFDB
289:Begin with loss and see ~ Lynn Emanuel, #NFDB
290:Bend and you will be straight. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
291:Beth nodded and tapped ~ Melinda Leigh, #NFDB
292:by leaps and bounds. ~ Esm Weijun Wang, #NFDB
293:Dukes and their problems. ~ Tessa Dare, #NFDB
294:elegance and euphoria ~ Jennifer Niven, #NFDB
295:February 4, and 10 p.m. ET ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
296:Flesh and blood, ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
297:For Calo, Galdo, and Bug ~ Scott Lynch, #NFDB
298:Forever and ever, ~ Josephine Angelini, #NFDB
299:Further up and further in! ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
300:fussiness, and his ~ Margery Allingham, #NFDB
301:hair, oiled and satiny, ~ Ruth Rendell, #NFDB
302:Harry, Ron, and Hermione ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
303:Haste is blind and improvident. ~ Livy, #NFDB
304:I and my pupil dined ~ Charlotte Bront, #NFDB
305:I just go out and play. ~ Johnny Damon, #NFDB
306:I'm a wizard and I know it. ~ Kid Cudi, #NFDB
307:I'm The Miz and I'm awesome! ~ The Miz, #NFDB
308:I pray, and I obey. ~ David Yonggi Cho, #NFDB
309:I sleep and unsleep. ~ Fernando Pessoa, #NFDB
310:It's Only Rock and Roll. ~ Mick Jagger, #NFDB
311:I was you
and never knew it ~ Rumi,#NFDB
312:Keep on the watch and pray ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
313:Larry, Moe, and Curly. ~ Craig Alanson, #NFDB
314:Life and death are one thread, ~ Laozi, #NFDB
315:Life and death are one thread. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
316:Life and love go on. ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
317:Live and Love the Fantasy ~ C E Wilson, #NFDB
318:Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
319:mind, and sealed my valve. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
320:Mind your P's and Q's. ~ J R R Tolkien, #NFDB
321:Much wants more and loses all. ~ Aesop, #NFDB
322:My and Ben’s birthday. ~ Bella Forrest, #NFDB
323:Names come and names go. ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
324:Needs must, and so on. ~ Kate Atkinson, #NFDB
325:Neil, Jessica and David, ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
326:often you crash and burn. ~ Bill Walsh, #NFDB
327:One finger up, and I'm out ~ Lil Wayne, #NFDB
328:Onward and upward. ~ Maggie Stiefvater, #NFDB
329:PAST CLAWS AND EFFECT ~ Rita Mae Brown, #NFDB
330:"Relax, right now, and rest." ~ Tilopa, #NFDB
331:Revolution, and this is— ~ Belva Plain, #NFDB
332:Sex is nature, and I ~ Marilyn Monroe, #NFDB
333:Slow and steady wins the race. ~ Aesop, #NFDB
334:So much silk and lace. ~ Tara Westover, #NFDB
335:Start slow and taper off. ~ Walt Stack, #NFDB
336:Sweet tea and bourbon? ~ Tiffany Reisz, #NFDB
337:Them-and-us-attitude ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
338:Then let us go and be terrible. ~ Brom, #NFDB
339:Vote early and vote often. ~ Al Capone, #NFDB
340:WAR AND PEACE BOOK THREE ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
341:We get blows and return them. ~ Horace, #NFDB
342:Well! And hallo you! ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
343:Wine and women bring misery. ~ Martial, #NFDB
344:You and I are lifemates. ~ Chanda Hahn, #NFDB
345:2. Stay lean and flexible ~ Peter Thiel, #NFDB
346:All invincible and stuff ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
347:And ar'n't I a woman? ~ Sojourner Truth, #NFDB
348:And he misses her already. ~ Anna Banks, #NFDB
349:And if I perish, I perish ~ Hans Finzel, #NFDB
350:And in short, I was afraid. ~ T S Eliot, #NFDB
351:And I woslike: O wow. ~ George Saunders, #NFDB
352:And last of all comes death. ~ Anacreon, #NFDB
353:And out the door she flew ~ Don Freeman, #NFDB
354:And plenty makes us poor. ~ John Dryden, #NFDB
355:And still I am learning. ~ Michelangelo, #NFDB
356:And the game begins anew. ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
357:And to thy husband's will ~ John Milton, #NFDB
358:And y'all scared I can tell ~ Jadakiss, #NFDB
359:And yes,I was fabulous. ~ Joanne Harris, #NFDB
360:And you say I’m a calamity. ~ Ker Dukey, #NFDB
361:Believe and be confirmed. ~ John Milton, #NFDB
362:breaks with and persistence ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
363:Cause I'm Black and I'm proud ~ Chuck D, #NFDB
364:Cinderella and the prince ~ Anne Sexton, #NFDB
365:Come and trip it as ye go ~ John Milton, #NFDB
366:constructions, and I ~ Elizabeth Strout, #NFDB
367:Drawing and Drinking Coffe ~ Gerard Way, #NFDB
368:Dream big and love bigger. ~ Inbar Lavi, #NFDB
369:from all parts and were ~ Stephen Crane, #NFDB
370:Get It and Go with It It ~ Nick Vujicic, #NFDB
371:Get this and get gone. ~ Kristen Ashley, #NFDB
372:Give and ye shall receive. ~ Bram Cohen, #NFDB
373:Glory and gore go hand in hand. ~ Lorde, #NFDB
374:Have Courage and Be Kind. ~ Jacob Grimm, #NFDB
375:Heckler and Koch 416 rifle. ~ Mick Bose, #NFDB
376:He nodded slightly, and ~ Luke Smitherd, #NFDB
377:here you are in Bath, and ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
378:her to me and asked if I ~ Dick Francis, #NFDB
379:He’s all hat and no cattle. ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
380:He swam and he wept. ~ Andrea Camilleri, #NFDB
381:Hurry and ketchup, tomato. ~ Lori Wilde, #NFDB
382:I am I, and wish I wasn't"; ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
383:I am me and I am okay. ~ Virginia Satir, #NFDB
384:I feel infinite.” And ~ Stephen Chbosky, #NFDB
385:IT’S LATE AND I feel fuzzy. ~ E L James, #NFDB
386:jimi & and me ~ Adolfo Bioy Casares, #NFDB
387:Just wait and be hopeful. ~ Andr Aciman, #NFDB
388:Life is suffering--and yet. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
389:Look into my eyes and deny me. ~ Poppet, #NFDB
390:Marriage and Money ~ William Hjortsberg, #NFDB
391:merchant” and “Corsa. ~ Kristen Britain, #NFDB
392:over the items and he tied ~ John Ringo, #NFDB
393:Pebble Beach. Jeff and ~ Danielle Steel, #NFDB
394:Praise and disgrace cause fear. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
395:PROLETARIANS AND COMMUNISTS ~ Karl Marx, #NFDB
396:quieter and more intense ~ Lev Grossman, #NFDB
397:schnockered and ~ Pamela Fagan Hutchins, #NFDB
398:Seek beauty and miss love. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
399:Sex, Lies, and Superspies ~ Lila Monroe, #NFDB
400:Show irony and pity. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
401:Shut up and say something. ~ Moe Howard, #NFDB
402:Some kneel and lie to God. ~ Elton John, #NFDB
403:Something like that. And ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
404:sounds of pussy and mouth ~ Selena Kitt, #NFDB
405:so we began and will never cease ~ Rumi, #NFDB
406:Stars and stripes, Zane. ~ Abigail Roux, #NFDB
407:steak-and-kidney pudding. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
408:Step to this and get shanked up ~ Big L, #NFDB
409:The moved and the shaken. ~ Peter Watts, #NFDB
410:the right slit—and since ~ Brian Greene, #NFDB
411:They curtsied and giggled. ~ Kiera Cass, #NFDB
412:They paid their money and ~ Enid Blyton, #NFDB
413:underage and everyone knew ~ Robyn Carr, #NFDB
414:up and down like ~ Patricia B McConnell, #NFDB
415:Whining and panting beneath ~ E L James, #NFDB
416:wine and emptied it in ~ Oliver P tzsch, #NFDB
417:You can sit there and ~ Olen Steinhauer, #NFDB
418:30 The Father and I are one. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
419:Abso-fucking-lutely.” “And ~ R J Lewis, #NFDB
420:Acting is very start and stop. ~ Estelle, #NFDB
421:Ah, to be young and in love. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
422:All-American and all sex ~ Stylo Fantome, #NFDB
423:All this and heaven too. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
424:And each year now ~ Christopher Buckley, #NFDB
425:And he is immortal. ~ Josephine Angelini, #NFDB
426:and his lips touch mine. ~ Julie Buxbaum, #NFDB
427:And it is Fern’s fault. ~ Siobhan Vivian, #NFDB
428:and I want to shatter. He ~ Tahereh Mafi, #NFDB
429:and sharp, and without ~ Jennifer Probst, #NFDB
430:and the Daughter. ~ Donna Woolfolk Cross, #NFDB
431:And they fell. Together. ~ Susan Dennard, #NFDB
432:and Wally that he planned ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
433:and write as a boy and he ~ Charles Lamb, #NFDB
434:And you, sir, are an idiot. ~ Kiera Cass, #NFDB
435:Ask, and it shall be given you. ~ Origen, #NFDB
436:Be a doer and not a critic. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
437:Belding hesitated and looked ~ Zane Grey, #NFDB
438:Bergen, and Oldfield. The ~ James Ellroy, #NFDB
439:Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
440:blue vervain and chamomile, ~ Lois Lowry, #NFDB
441:Buggeration and Fuckery ~ Andy McDermott, #NFDB
442:Built by pain and drive. ~ Ellen Hopkins, #NFDB
443:By and by never comes. ~ Saint Augustine, #NFDB
444:capable woman you are and ~ Rachel Hauck, #NFDB
445:clearing and into the ~ Susanna Kearsley, #NFDB
446:conversations, and not ~ Karin Slaughter, #NFDB
447:Curiouser and curiouser! ~ Lewis Carroll, #NFDB
448:Curiouser and curiouser. ~ Lewis Carroll, #NFDB
449:Eager for bread and love. ~ Jack Kerouac, #NFDB
450:empty cup and let Him pour. ~ Beth Moore, #NFDB
451:Enter Dogberry and ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
452:Everything is soul and flowering. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
453:Focus on the now and kick ass! ~ A R Von, #NFDB
454:Fold and live to fold again. ~ Stu Ungar, #NFDB
455:followed her and, ~ Kathleen E Woodiwiss, #NFDB
456:Forever and forever and forever ~ Li Bai, #NFDB
457:Fortune and love favor the brave. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
458:freckle-and-red man ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
459:free now; roll over and ~ Winston Graham, #NFDB
460:Get ticked and get going. ~ Gloria Feldt, #NFDB
461:Go and fetch him, at once! ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
462:Goats and monkies! ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
463:Golf and dating don't mix. ~ Larry David, #NFDB
464:gossip, rumors, and lies, ~ Michael Lopp, #NFDB
465:her bedroom and picked up ~ Mia Caldwell, #NFDB
466:here in my bathrobe and this ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
467:He was all heat and hunger. ~ Katie Reus, #NFDB
468:High and low rest on each other. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
469:Hope and keep busy', ~ Louisa May Alcott, #NFDB
470:Hymies." And "Hymietown. ~ Jesse Jackson, #NFDB
471:I am mad, and I embrace it. ~ A G Howard, #NFDB
472:I eat well, and I exercise. ~ Seth Rogen, #NFDB
473:I giveth, and I taketh away. ~ Eva Chase, #NFDB
474:I love horror and sci-fi. ~ Ivan Reitman, #NFDB
475:I love you and I like you. ~ Amy Poehler, #NFDB
476:including and not limited to ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
477:into another identity. And I ~ Greg Iles, #NFDB
478:is the Way and the Truth. ~ Kevin Hearne, #NFDB
479:It stank of shit and piss ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
480:I used to say I and Me ~ Michael Jackson, #NFDB
481:I was the law and order. ~ Frank Gifford, #NFDB
482:JEALOUSY, AND RIDICULE. ~ Iyanla Vanzant, #NFDB
483:Keep calm and consult Jack, ~ Harper Lee, #NFDB
484:Keep it straight and simple. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
485:Learn what you are and be such. ~ Pindar, #NFDB
486:Life and love go on... ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
487:Like a shadow, I am and I am not. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
488:Loki, time travel and more! ~ C J Archer, #NFDB
489:LOVE and LOVER live in Eternity. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
490:Love truth, and pardon error. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
491:Man and wife make one fool. ~ Ben Jonson, #NFDB
492:Man believes and lives. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
493:Man plans and God laughs, ~ Harlan Coben, #NFDB
494:My mom and I are very close. ~ Lady Gaga, #NFDB
495:Never hurry and never worry! ~ E B White, #NFDB
496:Not brother. And never again. ~ J R Ward, #NFDB
497:Okay then, smile and... ~ David Nicholls, #NFDB
498:Opportunities and choices. ~ Anne Bishop, #NFDB
499:Over hill and under hill ~ J R R Tolkien, #NFDB
500:Peace, love and maki rolls ~ J D Estrada, #NFDB
501:pear and Camembert tarts, ~ Faith Martin, #NFDB
502:phone and warn her I’d ~ Janet Evanovich, #NFDB
503:Pray, and let God worry. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
504:reared up over her and then ~ K L Slater, #NFDB
505:Seek and you’ll find. ~ Rachel Van Dyken, #NFDB
506:She retched and felt better. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
507:Sun, moon and stars ~ Karen Marie Moning, #NFDB
508:Thanks, man.” “And Maggie ~ Stormy Glenn, #NFDB
509:Thank you and happy reading! ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
510:the beaver and bear nearly ~ Bill Bryson, #NFDB
511:The intent and not the deed ~ John Brown, #NFDB
512:There are cats and cats. ~ Denis Diderot, #NFDB
513:The Shepherds and the Angels ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
514:the Swedes and Brazilians ~ Sarai Walker, #NFDB
515:The wind and the sun are free. ~ Al Gore, #NFDB
516:Turn and face the strange. ~ David Bowie, #NFDB
517:was sharp and shiny. Clean. ~ Amy Harmon, #NFDB
518:Wolf! Right here and now! ~ Peter Straub, #NFDB
519:Work first, and then rest. ~ John Ruskin, #NFDB
520:Yeah right, and I’m Zeus. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
521:Zeal and duty are not slow ~ John Milton, #NFDB
522:5 Let the wise hear and e ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
523:aide and sent me out to ~ Elizabeth LaBan, #NFDB
524:And flash him!” Annabeth’s ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
525:And, Freedom, was I free? ~ Richard Adams, #NFDB
526:and French-braided hair, ~ Danielle Steel, #NFDB
527:and grinned. “The lady ~ Susan May Warren, #NFDB
528:And I don't regret the rain ~ Lila McCann, #NFDB
529:And I for no woman. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
530:And if you can, die laughing. ~ Tite Kubo, #NFDB
531:And I got to choose him back. ~ T J Klune, #NFDB
532:And it's very, very funny ~ Anna Russell, #NFDB
533:and Jimmy had made it all ~ Fern Michaels, #NFDB
534:And Matt started crying? ~ John Lescroart, #NFDB
535:And my girl actin like a brat ~ Lil Wayne, #NFDB
536:And now, haste, haste, haste. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
537:And now must lose them. ~ George Saunders, #NFDB
538:and plunge his death. ~ Jonathan Moeller, #NFDB
539:and pulled . . . like taffy. ~ Amy Harmon, #NFDB
540:And so forth and so on. ~ Robert B Parker, #NFDB
541:And so it came to be. ~ Jussi Adler Olsen, #NFDB
542:and spinach from the pan ~ Emeril Lagasse, #NFDB
543:And tell them all is well. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
544:And that, said John, is that. ~ A A Milne, #NFDB
545:And then--a Day as huge ~ Emily Dickinson, #NFDB
546:And then it will rain. ~ Kelley Armstrong, #NFDB
547:And then Will got pneumonia. ~ Jojo Moyes, #NFDB
548:arranged, and cut and ~ Rosamunde Pilcher, #NFDB
549:breaths. “I was running and ~ Marie Force, #NFDB
550:But being busy for God and ~ Sheila Walsh, #NFDB
551:Churches and trains ~ Gregory Alan Isakov, #NFDB
552:Conner’s face and gave him ~ Chris Colfer, #NFDB
553:crowded the floor and hung ~ Alan Russell, #NFDB
554:death was fresh and new. I ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
555:Divide and Conquer. ~ Gaius Julius Caesar, #NFDB
556:do a typing and shorthand ~ Kate Atkinson, #NFDB
557:Do not worry, and worry. ~ Marilyn Monroe, #NFDB
558:Don't talk. Shut up and feel. ~ Sara Ryan, #NFDB
559:Ezekiel and Linda Emanuel, ~ Atul Gawande, #NFDB
560:Find the good—and praise it. ~ Alex Haley, #NFDB
561:First and last follow each other. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
562:Florida and figure it out. ~ Louise Penny, #NFDB
563:Fortune and love favour the brave. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
564:Girls are soft and pretty. ~ Adam Sandler, #NFDB
565:Go away and never come back. ~ D L Carter, #NFDB
566:God kills, and so shall we... ~ Anne Rice, #NFDB
567:Good to be merie and wise. ~ John Heywood, #NFDB
568:Go slowly, breathe and smile. ~ Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
569:heart-shaped porcelain face and ~ C J Box, #NFDB
570:he saw what was up and ~ Ursula K Le Guin, #NFDB
571:Homo Sapiens and their guns. ~ Jack Kirby, #NFDB
572:I am a wild and crazy guy! ~ Steve Martin, #NFDB
573:I and other humans no difference. ~ Ikkyu, #NFDB
574:I can jump ship and swim-- ~ Ani DiFranco, #NFDB
575:I felt dead and sick inside. ~ Susan Hill, #NFDB
576:I had it all and blew it. ~ Mickey Mantle, #NFDB
577:I lived and languished. ~ Andrei Platonov, #NFDB
578:i love purple and blue!!!!! ~ Alyson Noel, #NFDB
579:I'm a goofball and a comedian. ~ Kid Cudi, #NFDB
580:I'm married. And pregnant. ~ Edan Lepucki, #NFDB
581:in darkness and in hedges ~ W D Snodgrass, #NFDB
582:Intelligence and genius ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
583:In truth, everything and everyone ~ Rumi, #NFDB
584:I start to think, and then I sink ~ Rakim, #NFDB
585:I try, and I made it! ~ William Kamkwamba, #NFDB
586:It’s just me and her. We ~ Krista Ritchie, #NFDB
587:It’s us. And it’s perfect. ~ Sarina Bowen, #NFDB
588:I’ve died and gone to heaven ~ Sylvia Day, #NFDB
589:I will be as callous and ~ Steve Lonegan, #NFDB
590:Just be, and enjoy being. ~ Eckhart Tolle, #NFDB
591:King Zello and his daughter ~ Tony Abbott, #NFDB
592:Latitudes and Departures ~ Thomas Pynchon, #NFDB
593:Learn what you are and be such. ~ Pindar, #NFDB
594:legs through her arms and ~ Melinda Leigh, #NFDB
595:Levin scowled and was dumb. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
596:Life Changes, and so can you! ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
597:Life is fragile and absurd. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
598:Life is love, heartache and strain, ~ O C, #NFDB
599:Live long and prosper ~ Theodore Sturgeon, #NFDB
600:Love and be silent. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
601:Love can heal. And forgive. ~ Donna Grant, #NFDB
602:love, happiness and God. ~ Krista Ritchie, #NFDB
603:Love, Peace, and taco grease! ~ Guy Fieri, #NFDB
604:Lovers may come and go, ~ Hilda Doolittle, #NFDB
605:Men and women are not equal. ~ Mel Gibson, #NFDB
606:Moms were psychic and evil. ~ Gwenda Bond, #NFDB
607:Never give up and never conform. ~ G Eazy, #NFDB
608:once all the Slytherins and ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
609:on my rump and pushed me ~ Annie Nicholas, #NFDB
610:on the outside, and all of ~ Faith Martin, #NFDB
611:otherworldly storm and the ~ Randy Alcorn, #NFDB
612:over and out.” “You obviously ~ E L James, #NFDB
613:Parking lots and chaos. ~ Neal Stephenson, #NFDB
614:Peace and love are eternal. ~ John Lennon, #NFDB
615:Peace and quiet govern the world. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
616:Persevere in virtue and diligence. ~ Livy, #NFDB
617:put on her dress and prepare ~ Eowyn Ivey, #NFDB
618:Put on your adidas and step off. ~ Ed O G, #NFDB
619:Rock and Roll can never die. ~ Neil Young, #NFDB
620:Rosa. Rick and Graham were ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
621:Rubes came and rubes went. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
622:Sect and error are synonymous. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
623:Seek and ye, shall find. ~ Matthew VII. 7, #NFDB
624:share books and other digital ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
625:Shivering from fury and ~ Wendy Lindstrom, #NFDB
626:Sin is in, and so we begin. ~ Denis Leary, #NFDB
627:Smile, breathe and go slowly. ~ Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
628:Someday our souls will be one and ~ Rumi, #NFDB
629:strange and imported foods. ~ Tamar Myers, #NFDB
630:studio and the junkyards ~ Jeffery Deaver, #NFDB
631:suddenly up and died. Really. ~ Meg Cabot, #NFDB
632:Tears may come and go, ~ Clarence Clemons, #NFDB
633:Tell Me what you want, and ~ Bob Proctor, #NFDB
634:The lot of man-to suffer and die. ~ Homer, #NFDB
635:Think globally and act locally. ~ C J Box, #NFDB
636:This and this and this. ~ Madeline Miller, #NFDB
637:Time, motion and wine cause sleep. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
638:Time to stand and be true. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
639:vegetable garden, and some ~ Alan Russell, #NFDB
640:vital few and trivial many. ~ Gary Keller, #NFDB
641:War is all and king of all ~ Janet Morris, #NFDB
642:We are dust and shadows ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
643:white swan’s-down hood and ~ Lucy Worsley, #NFDB
644:Alex’s T-shirt is red, and ~ Lauren Oliver, #NFDB
645:am I me and you are you ~ Bernhard Schlink, #NFDB
646:And boom goes the dynamite. ~ Dannika Dark, #NFDB
647:And by another year, ~ Henry David Thoreau, #NFDB
648:and fish dripping blood ~ Anthony Horowitz, #NFDB
649:And God got bored again. ~ Masaji Ishikawa, #NFDB
650:and handjobs on crows. ~ Elizabeth Kolbert, #NFDB
651:And I feel just like Jesus' son ~ Lou Reed, #NFDB
652:And I’m not just saying that ~ Marie Force, #NFDB
653:And I ordered the cheesecake. ~ Jojo Moyes, #NFDB
654:And it’s Cuckoo Kid Killer ~ Fred Anderson, #NFDB
655:and kisses me softly on the ~ Karina Halle, #NFDB
656:and she asked to be released. ~ Lois Lowry, #NFDB
657:and she said, “Beast. ~ Alexandra Sokoloff, #NFDB
658:And so the Universe ended. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
659:and that's all it takes. He ~ Penny Wylder, #NFDB
660:And the breath of all mankind? ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
661:and there. Sometimes she gave ~ Robyn Carr, #NFDB
662:And there was her miracle. ~ Gordon Korman, #NFDB
663:And they prayed for him. ~ Jerry B Jenkins, #NFDB
664:Be big, fast and flexible. ~ Reed Hastings, #NFDB
665:Be fruitful, and multiply. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
666:Believe it and achieve it. ~ Napoleon Hill, #NFDB
667:Be lovely and do no harm. ~ Louise Erdrich, #NFDB
668:Be merciful, moderate, and modest. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
669:Be natural and use your head. ~ Dai Vernon, #NFDB
670:Bend over and I’ll show you, ~ Ann Charles, #NFDB
671:Bring me an axe and spade, ~ William Blake, #NFDB
672:But if i sit here and weep ~ Laura Marling, #NFDB
673:Buy cheap and sell dear. ~ Benjamin Graham, #NFDB
674:Cheating’s cheap and it’s lazy. ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
675:door, covered in flour. “And ~ Tarah Scott, #NFDB
676:dressed and leaving this ~ Allyson Jeleyne, #NFDB
677:Drinks, fans and snow - heaven ~ Wretch 32, #NFDB
678:dynamic and dead sexy. ~ Jacqueline Wilson, #NFDB
679:Easy is tasteless and bland ~ Kim Harrison, #NFDB
680:Effort is between you and you. ~ Ray Lewis, #NFDB
681:Everyone in the heavens and on ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
682:Find love and bring it here, ~ A L Jackson, #NFDB
683:Find the good, and praise it. ~ Alex Haley, #NFDB
684:Firm and irrevocable ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
685:Forever will be you and me. ~ Salvador Dal, #NFDB
686:Give me women, wine and snuff ~ John Keats, #NFDB
687:God is truth and light his shadow. ~ Plato, #NFDB
688:Go forth and mutilate fish. ~ Janice Hardy, #NFDB
689:Go have fun and make money ~ James Victore, #NFDB
690:He owns me. And he knows it. ~ Celia Aaron, #NFDB
691:his nose in the door and ~ Mercedes Lackey, #NFDB
692:History! Read it and weep! ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
693:hyperbolic discounting, and, ~ Peter Watts, #NFDB
694:I adore food and always have. ~ Jane Asher, #NFDB
695:I am alone, and I am a Mask. ~ Sabaa Tahir, #NFDB
696:I am hidden and I am not. ~ Arthur Rimbaud, #NFDB
697:I am you and what I see is me ~ Pink Floyd, #NFDB
698:I have 14 nieces and nephews. ~ Aaron Paul, #NFDB
699:I like meat and carbohydrates. ~ Gabrielle, #NFDB
700:I loafe and invite my soul. ~ Walt Whitman, #NFDB
701:I'm eighteen and I like it. ~ Alice Cooper, #NFDB
702:Infections and Inequalities ~ Tracy Kidder, #NFDB
703:I observe and remain silent. ~ Elizabeth I, #NFDB
704:Is that Nutella and bacon? ~ Lisi Harrison, #NFDB
705:It's Quinn and I love you ~ Donna Fletcher, #NFDB
706:It was over, and I knew that. ~ Kiera Cass, #NFDB
707:I want to live, and die with you. ~ Horace, #NFDB
708:Just pray and God gone make a way ~ Webbie, #NFDB
709:Just you and me and forever. ~ A L Jackson, #NFDB
710:Laugh and grow strong ~ Ignatius of Loyola, #NFDB
711:Leap, and the net appears. ~ Julia Cameron, #NFDB
712:life is all about people. And ~ Kim Holden, #NFDB
713:Life is struggle and sleep. ~ Mason Cooley, #NFDB
714:Lincoln and I were twins. ~ J T Geissinger, #NFDB
715:Listen more and speak less, ~ Wayne W Dyer, #NFDB
716:Live fully and without fear ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
717:Love and be loved - Always. ~ Truth Devour, #NFDB
718:Love, and be silent. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
719:Love and do as you will. ~ Saint Augustine, #NFDB
720:Love and do what you will, ~ Eckhart Tolle, #NFDB
721:Love awoke, and so did life. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
722:love in grace and truth. ~ Karen Kingsbury, #NFDB
723:Love the truth and peace. ~ Zacharias VIII, #NFDB
724:My beloved is mine and I am his. ~ Solomon, #NFDB
725:my freedom. And So It Is! ~ Iyanla Vanzant, #NFDB
726:My lifes a wreck, and I love it. ~ Bo Bice, #NFDB
727:myself as an officer and a ~ W E B Griffin, #NFDB
728:number so that he and I could ~ J S Cooper, #NFDB
729:of Andy and Natalie there. ~ Emily Bleeker, #NFDB
730:one sentence and the next. ~ Anne Youngson, #NFDB
731:Open your eyes and live. ~ Rebecca Donovan, #NFDB
732:others and the world, ~ Frederick C Beiser, #NFDB
733:Oz, the Great and Terrible. ~ L Frank Baum, #NFDB
734:Pachube, Exosite, and Yaler. 1 ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
735:patched red and white, ~ Margery Allingham, #NFDB
736:perfectly clear. To me, and to ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
737:Peter Pears and Ian Bostridge. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
738:Pleasure and revenge ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
739:Precious and spacious ~ Sri Chinmoy, #NFDB
740:Pretend and it will be true. ~ Ally Carter, #NFDB
741:Pride and a Daily Marathon, ~ Oliver Sacks, #NFDB
742:quietly and sedately, ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #NFDB
743:Reaching and reached. Cassia ~ Ally Condie, #NFDB
744:Reason speaks and feeling bites ~ Plutarch, #NFDB
745:red and pink and orange, ~ Natalie Babbitt, #NFDB
746:Rest and be thankful. ~ William Wordsworth, #NFDB
747:Scent of jasmine and tears ~ Cathy Cassidy, #NFDB
748:She has spoken and survived. ~ Deb Caletti, #NFDB
749:sherbet lemons and wine gums ~ Flynn Berry, #NFDB
750:situation and to decide ~ Michael Connelly, #NFDB
751:Smart and hot. Dammit. ~ Michelle Leighton, #NFDB
752:Speak less and say more ~ Isobelle Carmody, #NFDB
753:Suffer all, and conquer all. ~ John Wesley, #NFDB
754:Sun, moon, and stars. ~ Karen Marie Moning, #NFDB
755:Take a stand and make a mark. ~ John Jakes, #NFDB
756:Tell Me I can't and I will ~ Donald Miller, #NFDB
757:that Noah and Snow could worry ~ R R Banks, #NFDB
758:The Best and the Brightest ~ Michael Wolff, #NFDB
759:The Flame and the Flower, ~ Kristin Hannah, #NFDB
760:The leaders in business and ~ Bob Proctor, #NFDB
761:The men ate and hydrated, ~ Ryan W Aslesen, #NFDB
762:THE OLD MAN AND HIS GRANDSON ~ Jacob Grimm, #NFDB
763:They were tougher and ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
764:Understate and over-prove. ~ Frank Bettger, #NFDB
765:Undine and Sintram for ~ Louisa May Alcott, #NFDB
766:We are dust and shadows. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
767:You'd better hope and pray ~ Siobhan Fahey, #NFDB
768:Acting and theatrics are my forte. ~ LeCrae, #NFDB
769:A dry soul is wisest and best. ~ Heraclitus, #NFDB
770:All I refuse and thee I choose. ~ L J Smith, #NFDB
771:And anyway, life's too short. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
772:And Burford needs a momma. ~ Kristen Ashley, #NFDB
773:And he sets his mind to unknown arts ~ Ovid, #NFDB
774:And I'm a woman made of sorrow. ~ Euripides, #NFDB
775:And it can be a way of healing. ~ Jan Karon, #NFDB
776:And just like that, it's over ~ T Greenwood, #NFDB
777:and mentally aberrant type. ~ H P Lovecraft, #NFDB
778:And, of course, Kevin Smith. ~ Ernest Cline, #NFDB
779:and out of his life. As he ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
780:and sheep and chickens. ~ Mary Pope Osborne, #NFDB
781:And she was in love. ~ Jonathan Safran Foer, #NFDB
782:And so I choose to breathe. ~ Amy MacKinnon, #NFDB
783:And starting with Extra Large. ~ Roni Loren, #NFDB
784:and strode toward the barn. ~ Melinda Leigh, #NFDB
785:And that's the way it is. ~ Walter Cronkite, #NFDB
786:And then Donald Trump won. ~ Michael McFaul, #NFDB
787:And then there were none. ~ Agatha Christie, #NFDB
788:And then the world exploded. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
789:And the storyteller began. ~ Alwyn Hamilton, #NFDB
790:and thought of Peter and the ~ Dick Francis, #NFDB
791:And we're finally home. ~ Stephanie Perkins, #NFDB
792:And what is beauty?” “Terror. ~ Donna Tartt, #NFDB
793:and when he shall die ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
794:And who was my godly parent? ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
795:And with love, ambitions! ~ Thomas Keneally, #NFDB
796:as head-girl of the form, and ~ Enid Blyton, #NFDB
797:Beautiful and sublime. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #NFDB
798:Be good and you'll be lonesome ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
799:Be just and merciful and brave. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
800:Be still and know that I am God ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
801:blanket and asked Julie if ~ Danielle Steel, #NFDB
802:Blood and death. That moves me. ~ Ikue Mori, #NFDB
803:Brooklyn, New York, and ~ Michael J Tougias, #NFDB
804:Buy me stuff and I'll be nicer ~ Jim Benton, #NFDB
805:Christian takes my hand, and we ~ E L James, #NFDB
806:Compassion and love, that's all. ~ Ram Dass, #NFDB
807:definitely scandalous and ~ Johanna Lindsey, #NFDB
808:Earth and heaven are in us ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
809:Everything flows and nothing stays. ~ Homer, #NFDB
810:Faith. Trust. and Pixie Dust. ~ Walt Disney, #NFDB
811:Fashion should be stylish and fun. ~ Twiggy, #NFDB
812:Fear God and work hard. ~ David Livingstone, #NFDB
813:female-and-jasmine scent. ~ Mark T Sullivan, #NFDB
814:Forever will be you and me. ~ Salvador Dali, #NFDB
815:Fuck your royalties and die. ~ Robin Benway, #NFDB
816:Go on and try to tear me down ~ Demi Lovato, #NFDB
817:got angry at the Wizard, and ~ L Frank Baum, #NFDB
818:hanging files—and a shallow ~ Annelise Ryan, #NFDB
819:Health and mony goe farre. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
820:He and God were on a break. ~ Susan Sleeman, #NFDB
821:He's a haircut and a forehand. ~ Ivan Lendl, #NFDB
822:His voice was low and manly, ~ Cheryl Bolen, #NFDB
823:How did you and Lautner meet? ~ Jewel E Ann, #NFDB
824:I am human and I make mistakes. ~ Cat Power, #NFDB
825:I am where I am and it's ok. ~ Esther Hicks, #NFDB
826:I am who I am and that's it! ~ Jen Calonita, #NFDB
827:I ask and wish not to appear ~ Charles Lamb, #NFDB
828:I laugh and the stars watch. ~ Markus Zusak, #NFDB
829:I loved and lost and survived. ~ Rae Carson, #NFDB
830:I love food and I love living. ~ Ali Landry, #NFDB
831:I love order and organization. ~ Kate Spade, #NFDB
832:I'm curvy and wholesome. ~ Charlotte Church, #NFDB
833:I'm full of dust and guitars. ~ Syd Barrett, #NFDB
834:I'm seventeen and I'm crazy. ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
835:I regret nothing and fear less. ~ John Cena, #NFDB
836:It broke me and I broke us. ~ Paula Hawkins, #NFDB
837:It's no good giving my heart and my ~ Rumi, #NFDB
838:I was born and raised Catholic. ~ Tom Araya, #NFDB
839:Jazz is rhythm and meaning. ~ Henri Matisse, #NFDB
840:Joy and woe are woven fine, ~ William Blake, #NFDB
841:Joy and woe are woven fine. ~ William Blake, #NFDB
842:"Just be, and enjoy being." ~ Eckhart Tolle, #NFDB
843:karma's a bitch, and so am I ~ Rachel Caine, #NFDB
844:Keep calm and carry on. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
845:Keep going and never stop. ~ Julie Bertagna, #NFDB
846:Know the enemy and know yourself. ~ Sun Tzu, #NFDB
847:last breath of daylight—and ~ Sierra Simone, #NFDB
848:Laugh and grow strong. ~ Ignatius of Loyola, #NFDB
849:lawn and flowering dogwood ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
850:Like a shadow,
I am and I am not. ~ Rumi,#NFDB
851:Like roses and mustard gas. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
852:Live fully and without fear. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
853:...live hard and die grateful. ~ N D Wilson, #NFDB
854:Love and honesty don't mix. ~ Miguel Syjuco, #NFDB
855:Love and honesty don’t mix. ~ Miguel Syjuco, #NFDB
856:Love is a verb and verbs show action ~ Mr T, #NFDB
857:Love light and not darkness. ~ Orphic Hymns, #NFDB
858:Mediocrity is expensive—and ~ Daniel H Pink, #NFDB
859:... mixing
Memory and desire ~ T S Eliot,#NFDB
860:Morality binds and blinds. ~ Jonathan Haidt, #NFDB
861:Music and dance are all you need. ~ Moliere, #NFDB
862:Oh, and welcome to the Three. ~ Erin Hunter, #NFDB
863:One for all and whatever else ~ James Riley, #NFDB
864:Only conflict is news, and ~ Gloria Steinem, #NFDB
865:Practise love and only love. ~ Narada Sutra, #NFDB
866:Pray in church and sin at home. ~ L A Meyer, #NFDB
867:Preach 90% Law and 10% grace. ~ John Wesley, #NFDB
868:Psalms 1, 42, 73, 90, and 107. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
869:Publish and be damned. ~ Duke of Wellington, #NFDB
870:Rejoice and love yourself today ~ Lady Gaga, #NFDB
871:retried beans and rice. ~ Stephen J Cannell, #NFDB
872:Revisit and revise, ace." -Eva ~ Sylvia Day, #NFDB
873:Rise, Shine and Eat Protein New ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
874:Rock and roll is here to stay. ~ Neil Young, #NFDB
875:safety and pull the trigger. ~ Daniel Silva, #NFDB
876:Sex and drugs and rock and roll. ~ Ian Dury, #NFDB
877:She is mine, and I am hers. ~ Richelle Mead, #NFDB
878:She suffers and she laughs. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
879:She's using me. And I like it. ~ Alex Flinn, #NFDB
880:Shoot first and never miss. ~ Bat Masterson, #NFDB
881:Shut Up and Play your Guitar. ~ Frank Zappa, #NFDB
882:Soft and faire goes farre. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
883:someone who is puffed up and ~ David Brooks, #NFDB
884:some soup and worked on mail. ~ Jon Meacham, #NFDB
885:Souls of poets dead and gone, ~ John Keats, #NFDB
886:Stop, collaborate and listen. ~ Vanilla Ice, #NFDB
887:Tabernacles. 17 And it shall be ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
888:taboret itself was small and ~ Ellery Queen, #NFDB
889:Take a deep breath and give up ~ Bo Burnham, #NFDB
890:Take it and be thankful. ~ Robin Jones Gunn, #NFDB
891:tape and handed her the water ~ Mary Burton, #NFDB
892:telling him they were rare and ~ Eowyn Ivey, #NFDB
893:The hard and stiff will be broken. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
894:There is truth in wine and children ~ Plato, #NFDB
895:Time and place elide ... ~ Martin Langfield, #NFDB
896:Time and tide wait for no man. ~ Robin Hobb, #NFDB
897:To produce things and to rear them, ~ Laozi, #NFDB
898:To rise. And rise alone. ~ Victoria Aveyard, #NFDB
899:To sing is to love and affirm, ~ Joan Baez, #NFDB
900:Try and Fail, But Don't Fail to Try ~ Sagar, #NFDB
901:Wake up and smell the coffee. ~ Ann Landers, #NFDB
902:was dark and no more inviting ~ Jean M Auel, #NFDB
903:Water, Plants, and Sunlight. ~ Amber Argyle, #NFDB
904:We die, and we do not die. ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #NFDB
905:We live and breathe words ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
906:We live and breath words. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
907:Well, au revoir, one and all. ~ P L Travers, #NFDB
908:Well, we must live and learn. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
909:We may faint and we may sink ~ Jeremy Camp, #NFDB
910:We're lucky just to be alive. ~ Natsumi And, #NFDB
911:We shall be better, braver, and ~ Socrates, #NFDB
912:what he wants. And ~ The Arbinger Institute, #NFDB
913:What is it with girls and rain? ~ Jenny Han, #NFDB
914:What motivates you, and why? ~ Patrick King, #NFDB
915:Who guides below, and rules above, ~ Horace, #NFDB
916:Withdraw into yourself and look. ~ Plotinus, #NFDB
917:Ye gods and little fishes. ~ Grace Burrowes, #NFDB
918:Yoga is a means and an end. ~ B K S Iyengar, #NFDB
919:You and me? Inevitable. ~ Alexandra Bracken, #NFDB
920:Act like a VIP and become a VIP ~ Bill Walsh, #NFDB
921:A dry soul is wisest and best. ~ Heraclitus, #NFDB
922:A fusion of nature and soul. ~ B K S Iyengar, #NFDB
923:A Gentle Man and a Gentleman. ~ Jack Dempsey, #NFDB
924:Ain't no choice in love and life ~ Matt Haig, #NFDB
925:All is but illusion and disaster. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
926:all i want...is mac and cheese ~ Kurt Cobain, #NFDB
927:All love shifts and changes. ~ Julie Andrews, #NFDB
928:All piety and no sense... ~ Mary Ann Shaffer, #NFDB
929:and all the people who were ~ Danielle Steel, #NFDB
930:And anything worth dying for ~ Joseph Heller, #NFDB
931:And as to being in a fright, ~ Lewis Carroll, #NFDB
932:And don’t forget the fox dung. ~ Erin Hunter, #NFDB
933:And I must bear ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, #NFDB
934:and increased energy) ~ Kay Redfield Jamison, #NFDB
935:And make death proud to take us. ~ Cleopatra, #NFDB
936:And man will go on. Man, not men. ~ Ayn Rand, #NFDB
937:And most important, listen. ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
938:and no one hurts my family. ~ Sarah A Denzil, #NFDB
939:(and not in my poo corner), ~ Betty G Birney, #NFDB
940:And now, you till come, ~ Robert Hugh Benson, #NFDB
941:And, oh, my God, it's over. ~ John Steinbeck, #NFDB
942:And she's fair I love. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
943:and shined the flashlight up ~ Pippa DaCosta, #NFDB
944:And the Dragon Guard was born… ~ Julia Mills, #NFDB
945:And then he left. He just left! ~ Kiera Cass, #NFDB
946:And they spoke so fast! ~ Cristina Henriquez, #NFDB
947:And when my own Mark Antony ~ Robert Southey, #NFDB
948:Appetite for food and sex is nature. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
949:Art and accident are one. ~ Frederick Sommer, #NFDB
950:Been about ya and I'm still about ya ~ Drake, #NFDB
951:Be good and you will be lonely. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
952:Behave simply and hold on to purity. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
953:Be just, and fear not. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
954:Be still and know that I am God! ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
955:Be still and know that I am God. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
956:Be who you are and own that shit ~ B L Berry, #NFDB
957:be you and not someone else ~ Anne McCaffrey, #NFDB
958:Brains first and then Hard Work. ~ A A Milne, #NFDB
959:Brownies and a condom. ~ Jill Shalvis, #NFDB
960:Build up virtue, and you master all. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
961:But she's a nut, and nuts win. ~ Saul Bellow, #NFDB
962:Civilization and Its Discontents ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
963:Combine science and humanities. ~ Steve Jobs, #NFDB
964:come and get it, you dumbass ~ Iris Johansen, #NFDB
965:Confess and be hanged. ~ Christopher Marlowe, #NFDB
966:day. You lost your man and ~ Tracie Peterson, #NFDB
967:Don't get stuck and don't worry. ~ Daphne Oz, #NFDB
968:Do thine own work, and know thyself. ~ Plato, #NFDB
969:Dying's a bitch, and I would know. ~ Kyoko M, #NFDB
970:Easy-peasy, George-and-Weezy. ~ Chuck Wendig, #NFDB
971:Everything is new and doomed. ~ Tommy Orange, #NFDB
972:Every wolf's and lion's howl ~ William Blake, #NFDB
973:Flowers are born, and they wither... ~ Shaka, #NFDB
974:Funny, clever and exciting!!! ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
975:Goal setting and visualization ~ Diane Capri, #NFDB
976:God is God, and I'm not. ~ Stephen Mansfield, #NFDB
977:Gold is money and nothing else. ~ J P Morgan, #NFDB
978:gone and couldn’t protect her, ~ Selena Kitt, #NFDB
979:Good night, and good luck. ~ Edward R Murrow, #NFDB
980:Go sit down and look pale. ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
981:Hear, see, and be silent. ~ Baltasar Gracian, #NFDB
982:Heart and mind overcome all. ~ Dan Henderson, #NFDB
983:He felt brittle, and ravenous. ~ Larry Niven, #NFDB
984:He had a dream and it shot him. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
985:He is bounce, effort and snark. ~ E Lockhart, #NFDB
986:higher and kicked him. ~ Catherine Ryan Hyde, #NFDB
987:Horace Walpole and “Monk” Lewis. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
988:hugged him tightly and then ~ Kristin Hannah, #NFDB
989:Hunger is insolent, and will be fed. ~ Homer, #NFDB
990:I believe and therefore I am. ~ Truth Devour, #NFDB
991:I burn'd
And ached for wings ~ John Keats,#NFDB
992:Ignorance breeds fear and hatred. ~ P C Cast, #NFDB
993:I harden my glare and my heart. ~ A G Howard, #NFDB
994:I kiss him, and I am reborn ~ Kiersten White, #NFDB
995:I loaf and invite my soul. ~ Christian Wiman, #NFDB
996:I love you, Emmy, scars and all. ~ L D Davis, #NFDB
997:I'm dying and I'm having fun. ~ Randy Pausch, #NFDB
998:I'm gay, and I was born this way. ~ Cat Cora, #NFDB
999:I’m tired of sackcloth and ~ James Lee Burke, #NFDB
1000:Include and grow. Include and expand. ~ Osho, #NFDB
1001:In search of love and music ~ Joni Mitchell, #NFDB
1002:Integrity is praised, and starves. ~ Juvenal, #NFDB
1003:I tell it stories now and then ~ Anne Sexton, #NFDB
1004:It's always just you and me. ~ Leigh Bardugo, #NFDB
1005:It’s you and I against our world ~ Ker Dukey, #NFDB
1006:It was a dark and stormy night. ~ Alan Gratz, #NFDB
1007:it was only and ever love. ~ Nayyirah Waheed, #NFDB
1008:I've been things and seen places. ~ Mae West, #NFDB
1009:I was my pain and nothing else ~ C J Roberts, #NFDB
1010:I work hard and fight easy. ~ Conor McGregor, #NFDB
1011:I wrote it ugly and in pieces. ~ Amy Poehler, #NFDB
1012:Jump and the net will appear. ~ Mick Ebeling, #NFDB
1013:Just relax and trust the process. ~ Ram Dass, #NFDB
1014:Karma’s a bitch, and so am I. ~ Rachel Caine, #NFDB
1015:Ka speaks and the wind blows! ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1016:Keep Calm and Carry On ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
1017:let ourselves be seen and known ~ Bren Brown, #NFDB
1018:Let your soul and spirit fly. ~ Van Morrison, #NFDB
1019:Life's a bitch and so am I. ~ Pete Townshend, #NFDB
1020:Live for Him and live with purpose. ~ LeCrae, #NFDB
1021:Live loath'd and long, ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1022:Long days and pleasant nights ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1023:Love and abuse cannot co-exist. ~ bell hooks, #NFDB
1024:Love, and a cough, are not concealed. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
1025:Love people and serve them. ~ Henry J Kaiser, #NFDB
1026:Lovers are rude and selfish. ~ Emmanuel Bove, #NFDB
1027:Make the small big and the few many. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
1028:Man proposes and God disposes. ~ Ron Chernow, #NFDB
1029:million, and 30 percent of the ~ Bill Dedman, #NFDB
1030:mixture to cool slightly and ~ Dinah Bucholz, #NFDB
1031:Money is gold, and nothing else ~ J P Morgan, #NFDB
1032:My fist so rocky and and wrist so icy, ~ T I, #NFDB
1033:My sister and I need to talk. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
1034:My sun, moon and stars. ~ Karen Marie Moning, #NFDB
1035:Night and day you are the one, ~ Cole Porter, #NFDB
1036:nightmares of earthquakes, and ~ Jean M Auel, #NFDB
1037:One dollar and eighty-seven cents. ~ O Henry, #NFDB
1038:Own Your Faults and Weaknesses ~ Henry Cloud, #NFDB
1039:paranormal powers and wished their ~ Unknown, #NFDB
1040:Pigpen and Dust lent a hand. ~ Katie McGarry, #NFDB
1041:Pray to God and say the lines. ~ Bette Davis, #NFDB
1042:Put me on stage and I'm happy. ~ Mick Ralphs, #NFDB
1043:Rats. Rats, mice, and rodents. ~ Jean Ferris, #NFDB
1044:Read everything and be kind. ~ Penn Jillette, #NFDB
1045:Reality is blocked by form and image. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
1046:Recess and lunch are the best. ~ Ty Simpkins, #NFDB
1047:Remote and ineffectual don. ~ Hilaire Belloc, #NFDB
1048:Run away. Me and Monty Python. ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
1049:See the truth, and you will see me. ~ Buddha, #NFDB
1050:She’d make a rude noise—and ~ Courtney Milan, #NFDB
1051:she felt reckless and giddy. ~ Laura L Smith, #NFDB
1052:She makes bread and she has guts ~ Beth Macy, #NFDB
1053:She needs me. And I need her. ~ Pamela Ribon, #NFDB
1054:She set down the phone and ~ Barbara Freethy, #NFDB
1055:Shotguns and children don't mix. ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
1056:Sign this... and I'll show you ~ A J Hartley, #NFDB
1057:Smoke that herb and clear your mind. ~ Nelly, #NFDB
1058:Sombre and rich, the skies; ~ Lionel Johnson, #NFDB
1059:speaker and shout. ‘Mary, ~ Michael Connelly, #NFDB
1060:Start small and dream big. ~ Robert Kiyosaki, #NFDB
1061:Stop bitching and try again. ~ Richelle Mead, #NFDB
1062:Stop worrying and start arguing. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1063:Study broadly and without fear. ~ John Green, #NFDB
1064:Sun, silence, and happiness. ~ Nancy Mitford, #NFDB
1065:swashing and a martial ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1066:Sweet. And you're a photographer? ~ Zoe Sugg, #NFDB
1067:Take thou thy arms and come with me, ~ Homer, #NFDB
1068:tamales with rice and beans—and ~ Kasie West, #NFDB
1069:Teach us to care and not to care ~ T S Eliot, #NFDB
1070:Tea (green, black, and white) ~ Jonny Bowden, #NFDB
1071:Tell troth and shame the devil. ~ Ben Jonson, #NFDB
1072:THE “HAVE’S” AND THE “BE’S ~ Stephen R Covey, #NFDB
1073:The hotel door then opened, and Kian ~ Tijan, #NFDB
1074:themselves and their own ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
1075:Then God spoke to me and said: ~ Anne Sexton, #NFDB
1076:The real is empty and the empty real ~ Laozi, #NFDB
1077:there something you know and ~ Fern Michaels, #NFDB
1078:The road goes ever on and on ~ J R R Tolkien, #NFDB
1079:The stallion and his mare, ~ Hilda Doolittle, #NFDB
1080:the suggestions, strategies, and ~ John Gray, #NFDB
1081:through Mike and pumped more ~ Melinda Leigh, #NFDB
1082:time and tide wait for no man. ~ Amor Towles, #NFDB
1083:Time is three eyes and eight elbows. ~ Dogen, #NFDB
1084:Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming ~ Neil Young, #NFDB
1085:To be young, gifted and black! ~ Nina Simone, #NFDB
1086:Ty it well, and let it goe. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1087:unencumbered, and focused utterly ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
1088:Wade and Clara Quinn,” Hawk ~ Patrick Carman, #NFDB
1089:WEALTH AND HOW TO ACHIEVE IT: ~ Edward Abbey, #NFDB
1090:We knock on the door and wait ~ Lisa Wingate, #NFDB
1091:We live and breathe words. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
1092:Well I sup and well I dine, ~ Robert Herrick, #NFDB
1093:We must love one another and die ~ W H Auden, #NFDB
1094:When women and girls rise, ~ Michelle Obama, #NFDB
1095:Wine give strenght to weary men. and ~ Homer, #NFDB
1096:without alarming anyone, and ~ Terry Mancour, #NFDB
1097:Wonder. Go on and wonder. ~ William Faulkner, #NFDB
1098:Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun ~ Clay Shirky, #NFDB
1099:You are so pure in mind and heart, ~ Martial, #NFDB
1100:You can't be a victim and heal. ~ A J Langer, #NFDB
1101:You got your God and so do I. ~ Jimi Hendrix, #NFDB
1102:You have to act and act now. ~ Larry Ellison, #NFDB
1103:You look beautiful and fuckable ~ Sylvia Day, #NFDB
1104:#3 pencils and quadrille pads. ~ Seymour Cray, #NFDB
1105:Abraham Lincoln got shot and died, ~ Too hort, #NFDB
1106:aid of wha t has been written and ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1107:All is beautiful and unceasing, ~ Jose Marti, #NFDB
1108:All is fair in love and war, ~ Barbara Devlin, #NFDB
1109:All that is one and one that is all. ~ Hermes, #NFDB
1110:Always think and be positive. ~ Dominick Cruz, #NFDB
1111:A man of refined taste and judgment. ~ Horace, #NFDB
1112:American Girls and American Guys ~ Toby Keith, #NFDB
1113:And besides, we lovers fear everything ~ Ovid, #NFDB
1114:And Clare, always Clare. ~ Audrey Niffenegger, #NFDB
1115:And, dying, he declined to die. ~ Jack London, #NFDB
1116:And fairy month of waking mirth ~ John Clare, #NFDB
1117:And I love shooting football. ~ David Fincher, #NFDB
1118:And I say to my heart: rave on. ~ Mary Oliver, #NFDB
1119:and Karen discovered their son, ~ Harvey Karp, #NFDB
1120:And kissing. Always kissing. ~ Lauren Blakely, #NFDB
1121:And last but not the least ~ Robert Downey Jr, #NFDB
1122:And now I just want to not exist. ~ Jenny Han, #NFDB
1123:And our dreams are who we are. ~ Barbara Sher, #NFDB
1124:and returned. To Duane the outlaw ~ Zane Grey, #NFDB
1125:and scattering onto the floor. ~ Lisa Jackson, #NFDB
1126:And then Evan Walker kisses me. ~ Rick Yancey, #NFDB
1127:and then everyone was dead. ~ Jacob Grimm, #NFDB
1128:And then there was Ray Charles. ~ Elijah Wald, #NFDB
1129:And there’s nobody there. But ~ Carla Cassidy, #NFDB
1130:and the rest is silence ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1131:And this too shall pass. Though ~ Alyson Noel, #NFDB
1132:And though the years before I die ~ Ibn Hazm, #NFDB
1133:and time to think. He drove ~ Stephen Leather, #NFDB
1134:And what fate befalls mutineers? ~ Blackbeard, #NFDB
1135:And yet, she knew she could be. ~ Ally Carter, #NFDB
1136:And you need to be alert to ~ Gilly Macmillan, #NFDB
1137:A quick glance left and right. ~ Blake Crouch, #NFDB
1138:Art is my life and my life is art. ~ Yoko Ono, #NFDB
1139:Away, and bring us napkins! ~ Herman Melville, #NFDB
1140:Beauty and Love are as body and soul. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
1141:Being and Nothingness by Sartre. ~ E Lockhart, #NFDB
1142:Be just, and fear not. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1143:Be positive, patient and persistent. ~ Banksy, #NFDB
1144:Be still and know that I am God a ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1145:Be still, and know that I am God. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1146:Be who you are, and go the whole way. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
1147:Books and marriage go ill together. ~ Moliere, #NFDB
1148:breath, and all it had gotten was ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
1149:Children and fools cannot lie. ~ John Heywood, #NFDB
1150:choose less and feel better. ~ Barry Schwartz, #NFDB
1151:clever mouth on hers and a hand ~ Jo Beverley, #NFDB
1152:Clunk all wound up and ready to go! ~ RaeLynn, #NFDB
1153:Continue to grow and evolve. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1154:Could you be loved and be loved? ~ Bob Marley, #NFDB
1155:crushed and broken stems. Reaching ~ Lori Roy, #NFDB
1156:Curses and foul language! ~ Chris Grabenstein, #NFDB
1157:Dammit All To Hell and Back Again! ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
1158:Deduce is absurd and dangerous ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1159:dispensed unheeded advice, and ~ Daniel Silva, #NFDB
1160:Disrupt, and you will be saved. ~ Jill Lepore, #NFDB
1161:Don't panic and carry a towel ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
1162:Don't punk out and don't quit. ~ Ben Horowitz, #NFDB
1163:Drop desiring and bliss will be yours. ~ Osho, #NFDB
1164:Duty flows uphill and down.” He ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
1165:Endless suffering and circle ~ Dorothea Lasky, #NFDB
1166:Everything has a place and time. ~ Kabir Bedi, #NFDB
1167:Excuse me, I must go and putt ~ P G Wodehouse, #NFDB
1168:Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, ~ Countee Cullen, #NFDB
1169:Fear and guilt are sisters; ~ Shirley Jackson, #NFDB
1170:Fear is cruel and mean. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1171:Feed me hip-hop and I start tremblin' ~ Rakim, #NFDB
1172:Films are all luck and anarchy. ~ Martin Amis, #NFDB
1173:Find a client and get a job. ~ Bruce Sterling, #NFDB
1174:Further up and further in. ~ C S Lewis, [T5], #NFDB
1175:Get on your bikes and ride! ~ Freddie Mercury, #NFDB
1176:Gimme some of that you and me, ~ Jason Aldean, #NFDB
1177:Go and get my lost Makua bride. ~ Heidi Baker, #NFDB
1178:God and Hell both damn it, ~ Lilith Saintcrow, #NFDB
1179:God and His acts are not in time. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1180:God is all and all is God. ~ Meister Eckhart, #NFDB
1181:Go, do not be afraid and serve ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1182:Good-by and good riddance! ~ Franklin W Dixon, #NFDB
1183:hand and raced down the stairs. ~ Alexa Grace, #NFDB
1184:Hire slowly and fire quickly. ~ Edward D Hess, #NFDB
1185:I am 32 flavors and then some. ~ Ani DiFranco, #NFDB
1186:I am I, and I wish I weren't. ~ Aldous Huxley, #NFDB
1187:I am myself and I am here. ~ Jean Paul Sartre, #NFDB
1188:I am well and truly messed up. ~ Andrew Pyper, #NFDB
1189:I fear nothing and I regret less. ~ John Cena, #NFDB
1190:I have no enemies and no hatred. ~ Liu Xiaobo, #NFDB
1191:I just want to be rich and famous. ~ Ian Hart, #NFDB
1192:I like honesty and fair play. ~ Marcus Garvey, #NFDB
1193:I loved him and he allowed it ~ Carrie Fisher, #NFDB
1194:I love jazz music and sad music. ~ Fred Durst, #NFDB
1195:I love vintage and prints. ~ Georgina Chapman, #NFDB
1196:I love you and I'm here for you. ~ Will Smith, #NFDB
1197:I'm cheap, and I'm proud of it! ~ Wyclef Jean, #NFDB
1198:I’m no one, and I’m nothing. ~ Katherine Howe, #NFDB
1199:In between trash and treasure. ~ Raditya Dika, #NFDB
1200:I see too deep and too much. ~ Henri Barbusse, #NFDB
1201:I shall arise and go to Innisfree ~ W B Yeats, #NFDB
1202:It as non-existent (and not named). ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
1203:I think and I think and I think. ~ John Green, #NFDB
1204:It is a glory and a torment. ~ Patrick deWitt, #NFDB
1205:I try to say goodbye and I choke ~ Macy Gray, #NFDB
1206:It’s cause and effect, Vernon, ~ D B C Pierre, #NFDB
1207:It's just me and my control freak ~ E L James, #NFDB
1208:It tasted like salt and failure. ~ E Lockhart, #NFDB
1209:I wanted to be a Poet and a Poem. ~ A S Byatt, #NFDB
1210:I want this. You and me. Us. ~ Helena Hunting, #NFDB
1211:I want to go outside and play. ~ Jenna Elfman, #NFDB
1212:I was always taught my do's and don'ts: ~ GZA, #NFDB
1213:Jack nodded and smiled. ~ Christopher Greyson, #NFDB
1214:Keep calm and carry on. ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
1215:Keep calm and go to the library ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1216:large numbers of reporters and ~ Harry Truman, #NFDB
1217:Leap and the net will appear ~ John Burroughs, #NFDB
1218:Leap and the net will appear. ~ Julia Cameron, #NFDB
1219:Learn the way and find your own way. ~ Jet Li, #NFDB
1220:life—and that of her child. ~ Debbie Macomber, #NFDB
1221:Life is endings and beginnings. ~ Amy Poehler, #NFDB
1222:Life is hard, and then you die. ~ Erik Naggum, #NFDB
1223:Life is in the here and now. ~ Vimala Thakar, #NFDB
1224:Life is life, and kind is kind ~ Jack Kerouac, #NFDB
1225:Life is love and love is life ~ Elvis Presley, #NFDB
1226:Life is short and the art long. ~ Hippocrates, #NFDB
1227:Like you’re hungry and I’m a cake ~ Ker Dukey, #NFDB
1228:Long days and pleasant nights. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1229:Look, ten or two hundred and ~ Dakota Cassidy, #NFDB
1230:Look up . . . and see them. ~ Dorothy Dunnett, #NFDB
1231:Love and respect go hand in hand. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1232:Love is a healer and I love you. ~ Neil Young, #NFDB
1233:Love is life and life is good ~ Ryan Winfield, #NFDB
1234:Lust weakens both body and mind. ~ Pythagoras, #NFDB
1235:Maybe, with my Southern drawl and ~ J D Vance, #NFDB
1236:Me and God we don't get along. ~ Lana Del Rey, #NFDB
1237:Mexico—and I’m sure identifying ~ Luanne Rice, #NFDB
1238:mind and hurtful of the heart. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1239:Mindless, beautiful, and deadly... ~ P C Cast, #NFDB
1240:Mr. Tall, Blonde and Lightning ~ Kevin Hearne, #NFDB
1241:Music and Wine are one. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1242:My baby love and I are ENGAGED!!! ~ Evan Ross, #NFDB
1243:new blog to hear the latest and ~ Marie Force, #NFDB
1244:Night and day, you are the one. ~ Cole Porter, #NFDB
1245:Now I love,and will love. ~ Elizabeth Gaskell, #NFDB
1246:Pain both ways and what is worse? ~ Aeschylus, #NFDB
1247:Passion and strife bow down the mind ~ Virgil, #NFDB
1248:Peace and love, peace and love! ~ Ringo Starr, #NFDB
1249:Pennies saved one and two at a time ~ O Henry, #NFDB
1250:Please all, and you will please none. ~ Aesop, #NFDB
1251:Poetry was alive and dangerous. ~ Terry Jones, #NFDB
1252:rainbows and starfish. ~ Laurie Faria Stolarz, #NFDB
1253:Red beans and ricely yours. ~ Louis Armstrong, #NFDB
1254:Rise and shine, porcupines! ~ Maureen Johnson, #NFDB
1255:Rock and menopause do not mix. ~ Stevie Nicks, #NFDB
1256:Rock and Roll is instant coffee. ~ Bob Geldof, #NFDB
1257:Rock and roll is my religion. ~ Ozzy Osbourne, #NFDB
1258:Sabrina and me wasn’t being ~ Johanna Lindsey, #NFDB
1259:screwed blued and tattooed ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon, #NFDB
1260:Seek His face and not His hand. ~ Joyce Meyer, #NFDB
1261:Send the haters all my love. X and O. ~ Drake, #NFDB
1262:She was all venom and claws now. ~ R Scarlett, #NFDB
1263:"Sit, be still and listen." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #NFDB
1264:Skating is now retro and hip. ~ Robin Cousins, #NFDB
1265:Slow down, simplify and be kind. ~ Naomi Judd, #NFDB
1266:Smoke, drink and never think. ~ Rebecca Wells, #NFDB
1267:Soup's on and I got a coupon. ~ Daniel Dumile, #NFDB
1268:Spies and parents never sleep. ~ Linda Gerber, #NFDB
1269:spit and gutkha being emptied ~ Chetan Bhagat, #NFDB
1270:Spread your love and fly. ~ Sugar Ray Leonard, #NFDB
1271:Steak is delicious and cows are stupid. ~ Joe, #NFDB
1272:Steel and temper, daughter. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
1273:Stop blaming and start being! ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
1274:Stop stressin' and be a blessin'. ~ T F Hodge, #NFDB
1275:Stop talking and take me to beer. ~ Kate Leth, #NFDB
1276:Stop thinking, and end your problems. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
1277:surrender, and say, “My God, have ~ F B Meyer, #NFDB
1278:Syntactic Structures and LSLT. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
1279:Take one fresh and tender kiss ~ Johnny Cash, #NFDB
1280:The Great and Terrible Humbug, ~ L Frank Baum, #NFDB
1281:The greatest sin is fear and giving up. ~ Nas, #NFDB
1282:The left knows this is war. And ~ Ben Shapiro, #NFDB
1283:Then he jumped up and shouted. ~ Farley Mowat, #NFDB
1284:the scythers, Time and Death, ~ Robert Lowell, #NFDB
1285:thin and elegant as a mantis ~ William Gibson, #NFDB
1286:through town and returned to the ~ Renee Ryan, #NFDB
1287:Time and tide wait for no man. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1288:Time takes all and gives all ~ Giordano Bruno, #NFDB
1289:To be famous and broke is hard. ~ David Spade, #NFDB
1290:To be immortal and then die ~ Jean Luc Godard, #NFDB
1291:Trials and half a dozen smaller ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
1292:Vyshinsky: And your occupation? ~ Amor Towles, #NFDB
1293:We are all dust and shadows ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
1294:We trust in God, and go on. ~ Joseph Smith Jr, #NFDB
1295:what is that betwixt me and thee? ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1296:Whoever's calm and sensible is insane! ~ Rumi, #NFDB
1297:with green beans and rice. ~ Charlaine Harris, #NFDB
1298:Write, drink and be merry! ~ Maureen A Miller, #NFDB
1299:You are human and fallible. ~ Charlotte Bront, #NFDB
1300:Young, dumb, and full of cum. ~ Ilona Andrews, #NFDB
1301:You're the only one and only ~ George Strait, #NFDB
1302:You’re thunder and I’m lightning? ~ R J Lewis, #NFDB
1303:A friend understands and sympathizes ~ E N Joy, #NFDB
1304:Ah love is bitter and sweet, ~ Hilda Doolittle, #NFDB
1305:All for one and one for all. ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
1306:All for owls and owls for all! ~ Kathryn Lasky, #NFDB
1307:All I wanted was humor and wisdom. ~ Ana s Nin, #NFDB
1308:All shall love me and despair. ~ J R R Tolkien, #NFDB
1309:and a Dr. Brown’s celery soda. ~ Laura Lippman, #NFDB
1310:And anyway, life's too short.... ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1311:...and a suitcase of memories. ~ Cecelia Ahern, #NFDB
1312:...and claws of creeping foxes. ~ Sarah Waters, #NFDB
1313:And delight reigned. ~ Frances Hodgson Burnett, #NFDB
1314:... and her name was Freedom. ~ Pam Mu oz Ryan, #NFDB
1315:And he thought: I’m a seed. He ~ Frank Herbert, #NFDB
1316:And I can see Russia from my house. ~ Tina Fey, #NFDB
1317:And if I can can, you can can. ~ Maysoon Zayid, #NFDB
1318:And if it feels good... Feel it! ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
1319:And I have asked to be ~ Gerard Manley Hopkins, #NFDB
1320:And I’ll see Sirius again. . . . ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1321:And in stories, endings matter. ~ Atul Gawande, #NFDB
1322:And in thy own sermon, thou ~ George MacDonald, #NFDB
1323:And, is not Virtue in Mankind ~ Jonathan Swift, #NFDB
1324:And I wear my sunglasses at night ~ Corey Hart, #NFDB
1325:And just dance a little. ~ Mary Anne Radmacher, #NFDB
1326:And no one gossips like men. ~ Justina Ireland, #NFDB
1327:and the bananas are overdone. ~ Simone Elkeles, #NFDB
1328:And the Lord added to their number ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1329:And then the screaming begins. ~ Veronica Roth, #NFDB
1330:and the poet, Longfellow. ~ Patricia Wentworth, #NFDB
1331:and thin, with the slight stoop ~ William Boyd, #NFDB
1332:And this is how the ending starts. ~ L J Smith, #NFDB
1333:And waste perfectly good beetles? ~ Will Wight, #NFDB
1334:... and what good is a baby? ~ Michael Faraday, #NFDB
1335:And where does she find them? ~ Dorothy Parker, #NFDB
1336:And where love ends, hate begins ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
1337:And wilderness is paradise now. ~ Megan Bannen, #NFDB
1338:And yet Nothing here is certain; ~ Mark Strand, #NFDB
1339:And you became like coffee, ~ Mahmoud Darwish, #NFDB
1340:Another day gone and no jokes. ~ Flann O Brien, #NFDB
1341:are my light and you gide my way ~ Erin Hunter, #NFDB
1342:around her folds, and tasted ~ Sharon Hamilton, #NFDB
1343:Art is pain. And so is life. ~ Robyn Schneider, #NFDB
1344:As I grow older and older, ~ Dorothy L Sayers, #NFDB
1345:Ask with urgency and passion. ~ Arthur Balfour, #NFDB
1346:Ave Atque Vale
Hail and farewell ~ Catullus,#NFDB
1347:Bacon is the way and the truth. ~ Kevin Hearne, #NFDB
1348:Be good and you will be lonesome. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
1349:Be open. And then the truth follows. ~ Gangaji, #NFDB
1350:Be still and know that I am God. ~ Sarah Young, #NFDB
1351:Be strong and of a good courage. ~ Joshua I. 9, #NFDB
1352:Be wild and crazy and drunk with Love, ~ Rumi, #NFDB
1353:Books are the best messages and gifts. ~ Disha, #NFDB
1354:Bring anger and pride under your feet, ~ Rumi, #NFDB
1355:Buy calmly and with meaning. ~ Sophie Kinsella, #NFDB
1356:CHAPTER VIII—BILLOWS AND SHADOWS ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
1357:Children and fooles cannot lye. ~ John Heywood, #NFDB
1358:Choose a self and stand by it. ~ William James, #NFDB
1359:close and then started to put ~ Danielle Steel, #NFDB
1360:Come on and take your medicine! ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1361:common words of spark and heart. ~ Don DeLillo, #NFDB
1362:Cover me with kisses and lies ~ George Michael, #NFDB
1363:Creeds and schools in abeyance, ~ Walt Whitman, #NFDB
1364:Dark and Dangerous. And all mine. ~ Sylvia Day, #NFDB
1365:Death and life were not ~ William Butler Yeats, #NFDB
1366:Destiny and history are untidy. ~ Djuna Barnes, #NFDB
1367:discovery and defense of the new. ~ Ed Catmull, #NFDB
1368:emperor and the attitude of a ~ J T Geissinger, #NFDB
1369:Explore and Master Chrome DevTools ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1370:Feel good, be good, and do good. ~ Yogi Bhajan, #NFDB
1371:Fermented Soy (tempeh and miso) ~ Jonny Bowden, #NFDB
1372:Find a need and fill it. ~ Ruth Stafford Peale, #NFDB
1373:Forget the brother and resume the man. ~ Homer, #NFDB
1374:Get in first and shape the terms. ~ Ian McEwan, #NFDB
1375:Go and do, don't sit and stew. ~ John Bytheway, #NFDB
1376:Good and evil lay side by side. ~ Jimi Hendrix, #NFDB
1377:Good and quickly seldom meet. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1378:Good-bye and hello, as always. ~ Roger Zelazny, #NFDB
1379:Go out hard and finish harder. ~ Dean Karnazes, #NFDB
1380:had become friends and met often ~ Erik Larson, #NFDB
1381:happy life and merciful death ~ Jeremy Bentham, #NFDB
1382:Hare Krishna, Peace and Love ~ George Harrison, #NFDB
1383:Heckle and Jeckle again ~ Rita Williams Garcia, #NFDB
1384:He is lofty, and I am eminent. ~ Gough Whitlam, #NFDB
1385:her teethe comb her hair, and ~ Christie Craig, #NFDB
1386:He said, “Don’t,” and walked away. ~ T J Klune, #NFDB
1387:he’s braw and pulchritudinous, ~ David Sedaris, #NFDB
1388:He who fights and runs away ~ Oliver Goldsmith, #NFDB
1389:highlight and drag your ========== ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1390:him and peer over the titles on ~ Lynsay Sands, #NFDB
1391:Hold fast to life and youth. ~ Elizabeth Arden, #NFDB
1392:horny and horrified all at once. ~ Pippa Grant, #NFDB
1393:Hurt him. Hurt him and save him ~ Baz Luhrmann, #NFDB
1394:I am just carbon and bad timing ~ Neil Hilborn, #NFDB
1395:I am lucky in marriage and in dogs. ~ Jon Katz, #NFDB
1396:I am part animal and part God. ~ Dennis Prager, #NFDB
1397:I am powerful and I am loving. ~ Susan Jeffers, #NFDB
1398:I am the son of chaos and death, ~ N K Jemisin, #NFDB
1399:I and this mystery here we stand. ~ John Green, #NFDB
1400:I bend and do not break. ~ Jean de La Fontaine, #NFDB
1401:Guy between boyfriends #6 and #7
,#NFDB
1402:I hate myself, and I want to die ~ Kurt Cobain, #NFDB
1403:I know my role and I play it well. ~ Lil Wayne, #NFDB
1404:I like big books and I cannot lie. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1405:I like Fidel Castro and his beard. ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
1406:I like to travel and connect. ~ Richard Powers, #NFDB
1407:I live for you, and you alone. ~ Sherry Thomas, #NFDB
1408:I love music, and I love singing. ~ Ben Barnes, #NFDB
1409:I love music and I love to dance. ~ Jami Gertz, #NFDB
1410:i love you, too...and miss you. ~ Kahlen Aymes, #NFDB
1411:I'm a complete and utter busker. ~ Bryan Adams, #NFDB
1412:I'm an actress, and I am Latina. ~ Rita Moreno, #NFDB
1413:Imitate Jesus and Socrates ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
1414:I'm me, and I'm like nobody else. ~ Lena Horne, #NFDB
1415:I'm not about hair and makeup. ~ Sienna Miller, #NFDB
1416:I'm very practical and realistic. ~ Debby Ryan, #NFDB
1417:I really love fashion and style. ~ Victor Cruz, #NFDB
1418:I see you now and I can't look away ~ Amy Daws, #NFDB
1419:I sing a bit and play guitar. ~ Jesse Metcalfe, #NFDB
1420:I sing of arms and of a man: his fate ~ Virgil, #NFDB
1421:I smiled, feeling dazed and high. ~ Sylvia Day, #NFDB
1422:it, for numbers of Rooks and starlings ~ Aesop, #NFDB
1423:It's a sad and beautiful world. ~ Jim Jarmusch, #NFDB
1424:It's a thin line between paper and hate, ~ Nas, #NFDB
1425:I've got soul and I'm super bad. ~ James Brown, #NFDB
1426:I was aborted and did not die. ~ Gianna Jessen, #NFDB
1427:Keep a cool head and a warm heart. ~ Mike Love, #NFDB
1428:Keep your head up and be patient. ~ A J McLean, #NFDB
1429:Know what you want - and get it ~ Sushmita Sen, #NFDB
1430:Know your mind and see your nature. ~ Red Pine, #NFDB
1431:Leap, and the net will appear. ~ Julia Cameron, #NFDB
1432:Life is life, and kind is kind. ~ Jack Kerouac, #NFDB
1433:Life's a pitch, and then you buy. ~ Billy Mays, #NFDB
1434:Live your dream and never wake up ~ Liam Payne, #NFDB
1435:Long as me and my team in here, ~ Wiz Khalifa, #NFDB
1436:loss and 22d loss in 29 games away ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1437:Love and dignity do not dwell together. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
1438:Love and hope can conquer hate. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
1439:Love and meekness, lord, ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1440:love, beauty, and peace. To ~ Vincent Bugliosi, #NFDB
1441:love must master good and evil. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1442:Madesimo and can’t ski?” “My ~ Mark T Sullivan, #NFDB
1443:Me and my dog are best friends. ~ Daniel Johns, #NFDB
1444:Memento mori and obey the Lord. ~ Robert Frost, #NFDB
1445:Men die and they are not happy. ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
1446:Men die:and they are not happy. ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
1447:Men die; and they are not happy ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
1448:Michael Cole loves me and I love it! ~ The Miz, #NFDB
1449:might have died an hour ago. And ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
1450:Money and art are far apart. ~ Langston Hughes, #NFDB
1451:"Move and the way will open." ~ Taoist proverb, #NFDB
1452:m young and fit to toil long ~ Paullina Simons, #NFDB
1453:Never mix the grain and the grape. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1454:Never the time and the place ~ Robert Browning, #NFDB
1455:Nick seems very well and gay ~ Agatha Christie, #NFDB
1456:No self-indulgence and no desire. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
1457:Nothing cures like time and love. ~ Laura Nyro, #NFDB
1458:of plans and hasty departure. ~ Helen MacInnes, #NFDB
1459:ora et labora, prayer and work. ~ Peter Kreeft, #NFDB
1460:oxys, roxys, morphine and Dilaudid ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1461:Patience and gentleness is power. ~ Leigh Hunt, #NFDB
1462:Payday came and with it beer ~ Rudyard Kipling, #NFDB
1463:peaceful and strangely euphoric. ~ Nicola Yoon, #NFDB
1464:Peace Love Rock and Roll!!! ~ Carrie Underwood, #NFDB
1465:People always grow and mature. ~ Jesse Jackson, #NFDB
1466:People have good and bad days. ~ Anna Chlumsky, #NFDB
1467:People scream and run for coyer. ~ Dan Simmons, #NFDB
1468:Politics and football don't mix. ~ Ruud Gullit, #NFDB
1469:Pretty lies and devastating truths. ~ L J Shen, #NFDB
1470:Racing and hunting madden our minds. ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
1471:Racism and hatred are synonymous. ~ Alex Haley, #NFDB
1472:Reality had run and got Sanity. ~ Marian Keyes, #NFDB
1473:Run from a knife and rush a gun. ~ Jimmy Hoffa, #NFDB
1474:she burned flames and drowned oceans ~ R H Sin, #NFDB
1475:She took a leap of faith and ~ David Brinkley, #NFDB
1476:She was all rose and honey. ~ Vladimir Nabokov, #NFDB
1477:Show me a mall, and I'm happy. ~ Julia Roberts, #NFDB
1478:silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1479:Size 8 women’s, and a men’s 10. ~ Kim Harrison, #NFDB
1480:(Slaughter) means blood and iron. ~ Quintilian, #NFDB
1481:Slice and Dice, Slice and Dice ~ Michael Grant, #NFDB
1482:Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. ~ Brad Thor, #NFDB
1483:Smell the sea and feel the sky. ~ Van Morrison, #NFDB
1484:Smile and the world smiles back. ~ Andr Aciman, #NFDB
1485:Some Sleep, and Wake Up the G.D.P. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1486:Stay positive and love your life. ~ Nick Hexum, #NFDB
1487:Stay wise and the mind is untouchable. ~ Rakim, #NFDB
1488:Subterrenes and Strange Dreams ~ Ryan Winfield, #NFDB
1489:Table the label and wear your own name. ~ Mr T, #NFDB
1490:Tail winds and happy landings. ~ Beryl Markham, #NFDB
1491:Tell the truth and make it rhyme ~ John Lennon, #NFDB
1492:that my life was with you now. And ~ E L James, #NFDB
1493:The care and feeding of my fey. ~ Kresley Cole, #NFDB
1494:The good and wise lead quite lives ~ Euripides, #NFDB
1495:The hollows are heavy and dank ~ Bayard Taylor, #NFDB
1496:their bikes and playing kick ~ Nicholas Sparks, #NFDB
1497:There's no religion but sex and music. ~ Sting, #NFDB
1498:These are only hints and guesses, ~ T S Eliot, #NFDB
1499:The song and the land are one. ~ Bruce Chatwin, #NFDB
1500:the vet and the wound ~ Alexander McCall Smith, #NFDB
4049 Integral Yoga
3745 Poetry
583 Mysticism
510 Philosophy
389 Fiction
339 Occultism
196 Christianity
140 Yoga
112 Islam
109 Philsophy
92 Psychology
73 Sufism
51 Zen
40 Science
34 Hinduism
33 Buddhism
30 Kabbalah
28 Education
22 Mythology
20 Theosophy
16 Integral Theory
8 Cybernetics
6 Baha i Faith
4 Taoism
1 Thelema
1 Alchemy
2309 The Mother
1712 Sri Aurobindo
1338 Satprem
648 Nolini Kanta Gupta
381 Walt Whitman
364 William Wordsworth
326 William Butler Yeats
286 Percy Bysshe Shelley
225 Rabindranath Tagore
169 Aleister Crowley
157 John Keats
156 H P Lovecraft
133 Friedrich Schiller
112 Muhammad
109 Ralph Waldo Emerson
108 Jalaluddin Rumi
95 Robert Browning
95 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
94 Rainer Maria Rilke
94 Friedrich Nietzsche
91 Li Bai
91 Carl Jung
76 Kabir
72 Omar Khayyam
69 James George Frazer
67 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
67 Edgar Allan Poe
66 Plotinus
66 Jorge Luis Borges
57 Sri Ramakrishna
51 Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia
46 Hafiz
41 Anonymous
40 Swami Vivekananda
37 Swami Krishnananda
34 Saint Teresa of Avila
34 Saint Augustine of Hippo
34 Franz Bardon
33 Lucretius
31 A B Purani
30 Saint John of Climacus
30 Rabbi Moses Luzzatto
30 Lalla
29 Aldous Huxley
26 Taigu Ryokan
26 Ibn Arabi
25 Rudolf Steiner
25 Aristotle
24 Hakim Sanai
24 Farid ud-Din Attar
22 Vyasa
19 Ramprasad
19 Mirabai
18 Bulleh Shah
16 Solomon ibn Gabirol
15 Nirodbaran
14 Ovid
12 Thomas Merton
12 Swami Sivananda Saraswati
12 Plato
12 Peter J Carroll
12 Paul Richard
12 Kobayashi Issa
11 Sri Ramana Maharshi
11 Saint Hildegard von Bingen
11 Lewis Carroll
11 George Van Vrekhem
11 Abu-Said Abil-Kheir
10 Symeon the New Theologian
10 Saint Francis of Assisi
10 Muso Soseki
10 Matsuo Basho
10 Mansur al-Hallaj
10 Jetsun Milarepa
10 Jacopone da Todi
9 William Blake
9 Wang Wei
9 Saint John of the Cross
9 Dogen
8 Sarmad
8 Rabbi Abraham Abulafia
8 Norbert Wiener
8 Khwaja Abdullah Ansari
8 Joseph Campbell
8 Ikkyu
7 Shiwu (Stonehouse)
7 Saint Clare of Assisi
7 Mechthild of Magdeburg
7 Jordan Peterson
7 Henry David Thoreau
7 Baha u llah
7 Baba Sheikh Farid
7 Alice Bailey
7 Alfred Tennyson
6 Thubten Chodron
6 Tao Chien
6 Sun Buer
6 Ravidas
6 Jayadeva
6 Bokar Rinpoche
6 Basava
6 Allama Muhammad Iqbal
6 Al-Ghazali
5 Yuan Mei
5 Vidyapati
5 Patanjali
5 Hakuin
5 Guru Nanak
5 Boethius
4 Yosa Buson
4 Shankara
4 Namdev
4 Dante Alighieri
4 Chuang Tzu
3 Yeshe Tsogyal
3 Saint Therese of Lisieux
3 Saadi
3 R Buckminster Fuller
3 Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
3 Po Chu-i
3 Naropa
3 Nachmanides
3 Moses de Leon
3 Ken Wilber
3 Dadu Dayal
3 Bodhidharma
2 Yannai
2 Wumen Huikai
2 Surdas
2 Shih-te
2 Michael Maier
2 Masahide
2 Mahendranath Gupta
2 Lu Tung Pin
2 Kahlil Gibran
2 Judah Halevi
2 Jorge Luis Borges
2 Jean Gebser
2 Italo Calvino
2 Ibn Ata Illah
2 H. P. Lovecraft
2 Genpo Roshi
2 Fukuda Chiyo-ni
2 Eleazar ben Kallir
2 Dionysius the Areopagite
2 Catherine of Siena
2 Alexander Pope
800 Record of Yoga
364 Wordsworth - Poems
361 Whitman - Poems
326 Yeats - Poems
315 Prayers And Meditations
286 Shelley - Poems
275 On Thoughts And Aphorisms
212 Tagore - Poems
172 Agenda Vol 01
157 Keats - Poems
156 Lovecraft - Poems
149 Agenda Vol 13
144 The Synthesis Of Yoga
133 Schiller - Poems
125 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03
118 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04
112 Quran
109 Emerson - Poems
102 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
102 Agenda Vol 12
101 Agenda Vol 08
97 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
97 Letters On Yoga III
95 Browning - Poems
94 Rilke - Poems
93 Agenda Vol 10
93 Agenda Vol 09
91 Li Bai - Poems
89 Agenda Vol 06
87 Agenda Vol 11
87 Agenda Vol 07
86 Agenda Vol 04
86 Agenda Vol 03
85 Magick Without Tears
82 Thus Spoke Zarathustra
82 Collected Poems
81 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
80 Agenda Vol 05
77 Agenda Vol 02
73 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
69 The Golden Bough
68 Goethe - Poems
66 Poe - Poems
65 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
60 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
59 Rumi - Poems
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
49 Letters On Yoga II
48 Letters On Poetry And Art
45 Songs of Kabir
42 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08
41 Questions And Answers 1953
40 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06
40 Borges - Poems
39 Words Of Long Ago
38 Mysterium Coniunctionis
37 The Study and Practice of Yoga
37 Questions And Answers 1955
36 Questions And Answers 1929-1931
35 Questions And Answers 1954
34 The Divine Comedy
34 Crowley - Poems
33 Of The Nature Of Things
33 Hafiz - Poems
32 Essays Divine And Human
31 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
30 The Ladder of Divine Ascent
30 General Principles of Kabbalah
30 Essays On The Gita
29 The Perennial Philosophy
28 Words Of The Mother II
28 The Bible
27 Letters On Yoga I
27 Faust
26 Ryokan - Poems
26 On Education
26 Labyrinths
25 Poetics
24 The Practice of Psycho therapy
24 The Human Cycle
22 Vishnu Purana
22 The Future of Man
22 City of God
21 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04
21 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 01
21 Anonymous - Poems
20 Initiation Into Hermetics
20 Bhakti-Yoga
19 The Way of Perfection
19 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
19 Arabi - Poems
18 Let Me Explain
17 On the Way to Supermanhood
15 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
15 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
15 Song of Myself
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 Metamorphoses
14 Aion
13 Vedic and Philological Studies
13 Twilight of the Idols
13 Theosophy
13 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
13 Hymn of the Universe
12 Talks
12 Raja-Yoga
12 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 03
12 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 02
12 Liber Null
11 Preparing for the Miraculous
11 Kena and Other Upanishads
11 Dark Night of the Soul
10 The Problems of Philosophy
10 The Interior Castle or The Mansions
10 The Integral Yoga
10 Milarepa - Poems
10 Knowledge of the Higher Worlds
10 Basho - Poems
10 Amrita Gita
10 Alice in Wonderland
10 A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah
9 Hymns to the Mystic Fire
9 Dogen - Poems
9 5.1.01 - Ilion
8 Words Of The Mother III
8 The Hero with a Thousand Faces
8 The Blue Cliff Records
8 Cybernetics
7 Writings In Bengali and Sanskrit
7 Words Of The Mother I
7 Walden
7 Maps of Meaning
7 A Treatise on Cosmic Fire
6 The Secret Doctrine
6 The Red Book Liber Novus
6 The Alchemy of Happiness
6 Tara - The Feminine Divine
6 How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator
5 The Gateless Gate
5 Sefer Yetzirah The Book of Creation In Theory and Practice
5 Patanjali Yoga Sutras
4 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
4 Jerusalum
4 Chuang Tzu - Poems
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 Naropa - 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 Mansur al-Hallaj - Poems
2 Huikai - Poems
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
The present volume consists of the first seven parts of the book The Yoga of Sri Aurobindo which has run into twelve parts, as it st ands now; of these twelve, parts five to nine are based upon talks of the Mother (given by Her to the children of the Ashram). In this volume the later parts of the Talks (8 and 9) could not be included: they are to wait for a subsequent volume. The talks, originally in French, were spread over a number of years, ending in about 1960. We are pleased to note that the Government of India have given us a grant to meet the 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
The present volume consists of five parts of the book Yoga of Sri Aurobindo which has now run into twelve parts. Of these five parts, eight and nine are based on talks of the Mother given by Her, in French, to the children of the Ashram.
We are pleased to note that the Government of India have given us a grant to meet the cost of publication of this volume.
00.00 - Publishers Note, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
We have pleasure in presenting the Second Volume of the Collected Works of Sri Nolini Kanta Gupta. The six books in this volume were originally published separately. The Essays are mainly concerned with Mysticism and Poetry.
We are happy to note that the Government of India have given to our Centre of Education a grant to meet the cost of publication of this volume.
--
and we sing the song of ascension.]
***
0 0.01 - Introduction, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This AGENDA ... One day, another species among men will pore over this fabulous document as over the tumultuous drama that must have surrounded the birth of the first man among the hostile hordes of a great, delirious Paleozoic. A first man is the dangerous contradiction of a certain simian logic, a threat to the established order that so genteelly ran about amid the high, indefeasible ferns - and to begin with, it does not even know that it is a man. It wonders, indeed, what it is. Even to itself it is strange, distressing. It does not even know how to climb trees any longer in its usual way
- and it is terribly disturbing for all those who still climb trees in the 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, then, in the midst of all that? and where is my law? What is the law? and what if there were no more laws? ... It is terrifying. Mathematics - out of order. Astronomy and biology, too, are beginning to respond to mysterious influences. A tiny point huddled in the center of the world's great clearing. But what is all this, what if I were 'mad'? and then, claws all around, a lot of claws against this uncommon creature. A first man ... is very much alone. He is quite unbearable for the pre-human 'reason.' and the surrounding tribes growled like red monkies in the twilight of Guiana.
One day, we were like this first man in the great, stridulant night of the Oyapock. Our heart was beating with the rediscovery of a very ancient mystery - suddenly, it was absolutely new to be a man amidst the diorite cascades and the pretty red and black coral snakes slithering beneath the leaves. It was even more extraordinary to be a man than our old confirmed tribes, with their 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 the scholars thought of it. It flowed otherwise, it felt otherwise. It lived in a kind of flawless continuity with the sap of the giant balata trees, the cry of the macaws and the scintillating water of a little fountain. It 'understood' in a very different way. To underst and was to be in everything. Just a quiver, and one was in the skin of a little iguana in distress. The skin of the world was very vast.
To be a man after rediscovering a million years was mysteriously like being something still other than man, a strange, unfinished possibility that could also be all kinds of other things. It was not in the dictionary, it was fluid and boundless - it had become a man through habit, but in truth, it was formidably virgin, as if all the old laws belonged to laggard barbarians. Then other moons began whirring through the skies to the cry of macaws at sunset, another rhythm was born that was strangely in tune with the rhythm of all, making one single flow of the world, and there we went, lightly, as if the body had never had any weight other than that of our human thought; and the stars were so near, even the giant airplanes roaring overhead seemed vain artifices beneath smiling galaxies. A man was the overwhelming Possible. He was even the great discoverer of the Possible.
Never had this precarious invention had any other aim through millions of species than to discover that which surpassed his own species, perhaps the means to change his species - a light and lawless species. After rediscovering a million years in the great, rhythmic night, a man was still something to be invented. It was the invention of himself, where all was not yet said and done.
and then, and then ... a singular air, an incurable lightness, was beginning to fill his lungs. and what if we were a fable? and what are the means?
and what if this lightness itself were the means?
A great and solemn good riddance to all our barbarous solemnities.
Thus had we mused in the 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 mathematical. But other mathematics 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 Mother, at this intersection of the anthropoid rediscovered and the 'something' that had set in motion this unfinished invention momentarily ensnared in a gilded machine. For nothing was finished, 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 thous and miles away, solitary and frail amidst a spiritual horde which had once and for all decided that the meditating and miraculous yogi was the apogee of the species, was searching for the means, for the reality of this man who for a moment believes himself sovereign of the heavens or sovereign of a machine, but who is quite probably something completely different than his spiritual or material glories. Another, a lighter air was throbbing in that breast, unburdened of its heavens and of its prehistoric machines. Another Epic was beginning.
Would Matter and Spirit meet, then, in a third PHYSIOLOGICAL position that would perhaps be at last the position of Man rediscovered, the something that had for so long fought and suffered in quest of becoming its own species? She was the great Possible at the beginning of man. Mother is our fable come true. 'All is possible' was her first open sesame.
Yes, She was in the midst of a spiritual 'horde,' for the pioneer of a new species must always fight against the best of the old: the best is the obstacle, the snare that traps us in its old golden mire.
--
'Something else' is ominous, perilous, disrupting - it is quite unbearable for all those who resemble the old beast. The story of the Pondicherry 'Ashram' is the story of an old clan ferociously clinging to its 'spiritual' privileges, as others clung to the muscles that had made them kings among the great apes. It is armed with all the piousness and all the reasonableness that had made logical man so 'infallible' among his less cerebral brothers. The spiritual brain is probably the worst obstacle to the new species, as were the muscles of the old orangutan for this fragile stranger who no longer climbed so well in the trees and sat, pensive, at the center of a little, uncertain clearing.
There is nothing more pious than the old species. There is nothing more legal. Mother was searching for the path of the new species as much against all the virtues of the old as against all its vices or laws. For, in truth, 'Something Else' ... is something else.
We l anded there, one day in February 1954, having emerged from our Guianese forest and a certain number of dead-end peripluses; we had knocked upon all the doors of the old world before reaching that point of absolute impossibility where it was truly necessary to embark into something else or once and for all put a bullet through the brain of this slightly superior ape. The first thing that struck us was this exotic Notre Dame with its burning incense sticks, its effigies and its prostrations in immaculate white: a Church. We nearly jumped into the first train out that very evening, bound straight for the Himalayas, or the devil. But we remained near Mother for nineteen years. What was it, then, that could have held us there? We had not left Guiana to become a little saint in white or to enter some new religion. 'I did not come upon earth to found an ashram; that would have been a poor aim indeed,' She wrote in 1934. What did all this mean, then, this 'Ashram' that was already registered as the owner of a great spiritual business, and this fragile, little silhouette at the center of all these zealous worshippers? In truth, there is no better way to smother someone than to worship him: he chokes beneath the weight of worship, which moreover gives the worshipper claim to ownership. 'Why do you want to worship?' She exclaimed. 'You have but to become! It is the laziness to become that makes one worship.' She wanted so much to make them
become this 'something else,' but it was far easier to worship and quiescently remain what one was.
She spoke to deaf ears. She was very alone in this 'ashram.' Little by little, the disciples fill up the place, then they say: it is ours. It is 'the Ashram.' We are 'the disciples.' In Pondicherry as in Rome as in Mecca. 'I do not want a religion! An end to religions!' She exclaimed. She struggled and fought in their midst - was She therefore to leave this Earth like one more saint or yogi, buried beneath haloes, the 'continuatrice' of a great spiritual lineage? She was seventy-six years old when we l anded there, a knife in our belt and a ready curse on our lips.
She adored defiance and did not detest irreverence.
No, She was not the 'Mother of the Pondicherry Ashram.' Then who was She? ... We discovered
Her step by step, as one discovers a forest, or rather as one fights with it, machete in h and - and then it melts, one loves, so sublime does it become. Mother 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 She laughed. She always laughed.
We had our bellyful of adventure at last: if you go astray in the forest, you get delightfully lost yet still with the same old skin on your back, whereas here, there 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.
--
The whole time - or for seven years, in any event - we fought with our conception of God and the
'spiritual life': it was all so comfortable, for we had a supreme 'symbol' of it right there. She let us do as we pleased, She even opened up all kinds of little heavens in us, along with a few hells, since they go together. She even opened the door in us to a certain 'liberation,' which in the end was as soporific as eternity - but there was nowhere to get out: it WAS eternity. We were trapped on all sides. There was nothing left but these 4m2 of skin, the last refuge, that which we wanted to flee by way of above or below, by way of Guiana or the Himalayas. She was waiting for us just there, at the end of our spiritual or not so spiritual pirouettes. Matter was her concern. It took us seven years to underst and that She was beginning there, 'where the other yogas leave off,' as Sri Aurobindo had already said twenty-five years earlier. It was necessary to have covered all the paths of the Spirit and all those of Matter, or in any case a large number geographically, before discovering, or even simply underst anding, 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 the caterpillar, a butterfly is nothing, it is not even visible and has nothing in common with caterpillar heavens nor even caterpillar matter. So there we were, trapped in an impossible adventure. One does not return from there: one must cross the bridge to the other side. Then one day in that seventh year, while we still believed in liberations and the collected Upanishads, highlighted with a few glorious visions to relieve the commonplace (which remained appallingly commonplace), while we were still considering 'the Mother of the Ashram' rather like some spiritual super-director (endowed, albeit, with a disarming yet ever so provocative smile, as though
She were making fun of us, then loving us in secret), She told us, 'I have the feeling that ALL we have lived, ALL we have known, ALL we have done is a perfect illusion ... When I had the spiritual experience that material life is an illusion, personally I found that so marvelously beautiful and happy that it was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life, but now it is the entire spiritual structure as we have lived it that is becoming an illusion! - Not the same illusion, but an illusion far worse. and I am no baby: I have been here for forty-seven years now!' Yes, She was eighty-three years old then. and that day, we ceased being 'the enemy of our own conception of the Divine,' for this entire Divine was shattered to pieces - and we met Mother, at last. This mystery we call
Mother, for She never ceased being a mystery right to her ninety-fifth year, and to this day still, challenges us from the other side of a wall of invisibility and keeps us floundering fully in the mystery - with a smile. She always smiles. But the mystery is not solved.
Perhaps this AGENDA is really an endeavor to solve the mystery in the company of a certain
--
Where, then, was 'the Mother of the Ashram' in all this? What is even 'the Ashram,' if not a spiritual museum of the resistances to Something Else. They were always - and still today - reciting their catechism beneath a little flag: they are the owners of the new truth. But the new truth is laughing in their faces and leaving them high and dry at the edge of their little stagnant pond. They are under the illusion that Mother and Sri Aurobindo, twenty-seven or four years after their respective departures, could keep on repeating themselves - but then they would not be Mother and
Sri Aurobindo! They would be fossils. The truth is always on the move. It is with those who dare, who have courage, and above all the courage to shatter all the effigies, to de-mystify, and to go
TRULY to the conquest of the new. The 'new' is painful, discouraging, it resembles nothing we know! We cannot hoist the flag of an unconquered country - but this is what is so marvelous: it does not yet exist. We must MAKE IT EXIST. The adventure has not been carved out: it is to be carved out. Truth is not entrapped and fossilized, 'spiritualized': it is to be discovered. We are in a nothing that we must force to become a something. We are in the adventure of the new species. A new species is obviously contradictory to the old species and to the little flags of the alreadyknown. It has nothing in common with the spiritual summits of the old world, nor even with its abysms - which might be delightfully tempting for those who have had enough of the summits, but everything is the same, in black or white, it is fraternal above and below. SOMETHING ELSE is needed.
'Are you conscious of your ceils?' She asked us a short time after the little operation of spiritual demolition She 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 the Maroni with a machete in h and, for after all, trees and lianas can be cut, but what cannot be so easily uncovered are the gr andfa ther and the gr andmo ther and the whole atavistic pack, not to mention the animal and plant and mineral layers that form a teeming humus over this single pure little cell beneath its millennial genetic program. The gr andfa thers and gr andmo thers grow back again like crabgrass, along with all the old habits of being hungry, afraid, falling ill, fearing the worst, hoping for the best, which is still the best of an old mortal habit. All this is not uprooted nor entrapped as easily as celestial 'liberations,' which leave the teeming humus in peace and the body to its usual decomposition. She had come to hew a path through all that. She was the Ancient One of evolution who had come to make a new cleft in the old, tedious habit of being a man. She did not like tedious repetitions, She was the adventuress par excellence - the adventuress of the earth. She was wrenching out for man the great Possible that was already beating there, in his primeval clearing, which he believed he had momentarily trapped with a few machines.
She was uprooting a new Matter, free, free from the habit of inexorably being a man who repeats himself ad infinitum with a few improvements in the way of organ transplants or monetary exchanges. In fact, She was there to discover what would happen after materialism and after spiritualism, these prodigal twin brothers. Because Materialism is dying in the West for the same reason that Spiritualism is dying in the East: it is the hour of the 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 neither one nor the other. It is the hour when Science, like Spirituality, at the end of their roads, must discover what Matter TRULY is, for it is really there that a Spirit as yet unknown to us is to be found. It is a time when all the 'isms' of the old species are dying: 'The age of
Capitalism and business is drawing to its close. But the age of Communism too will pass ... 'It is the hour of a pure little cell THAT WILL HAVE TERRESTRIAL REPERCUSSIONS, infinitely more radical than all our political and scientific or spiritualistic panaceas.
This fabulous discovery is the whole story of the AGENDA. What is the passage? How is the path to the new species hewed open? ... Then suddenly, there, on the other 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 the other 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' - another way of being IN A BODY. For so many millions of years we have lived in a habit and put our own thoughts of the 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
ELSE ... if we want it.
Mother is the story of the free Earth. Free from its spiritual and scientific parrots. Free from its little ashrams as well - for there is nothing more persistent than those particular parrots.
Day after day, for seventeen years, She sat with us to tell us of her impossible odyssey. Ah, how well we now underst and why She needed such an 'outlaw' and an incorrigible heretic like us to comprehend a little bit of her impossible odyssey into 'nothing.' and how well we now underst and her infinite patience with us, despite all our revolts, which ultimately were only the revolts of the old species against itself. The final revolt. 'It is not a revolt against the British government which any one can easily do. It is, in fact, a revolt against the whole universal Nature!' Sri Aurobindo had proclaimed fifty years earlier. She 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 the sole possibility in this old, asphyxiating world. It was the only place one could go to in this barbedwired, mechanized world, where Cincinnati is just as crowded and polluted as Hong Kong. The new species is the last free place in the general Prison. It is the last hope for the earth. How we listened to her little faltering voice that seemed to return from afar, afar, after having crossed spaces and seas of the mind to let its little drops of pure, crystalline words fall upon us, words that make you see. We listened to the future, we touched the other thing. It was incomprehensible and yet filled with another comprehension. It eluded us on all sides, and yet it was dazzlingly obvious. The 'other species' was really radically other, 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 another, in Thebes as in Eleusis as everywhere we have toiled and grieved in the skin of a man. It was for THAT we were here, for that supreme Possible in the skin of a man at last. and then her voice grew more and more frail, her breath began gasping as though She had to traverse greater and greater distances to meet us. She was so alone to beat against the walls of the 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 the world's future. She was so tiny, stooped over, as if crushed beneath the 'spiritual' burden that all the old surrounding species kept heaping upon her. They didn't believe, no. For them, She was ninety-five years old + so many days. Can someone become a new species all alone? They even grumbled at Her: they had had enough of this unbearable Ray that was bringing their sordid affairs into the daylight. The Ashram was slowly closing over Her. The 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 then they bury you, solemnly, and the matter is settled - the case is closed: now, no one need bother any more except to print some photographic haloes for the pilgrims to this brisk little business. But they are mistaken. The real business will take place without them, the new species will fly up in their faces - it is already flying in the face of the earth, despite all its isms in black and white; it is exploding through all the pores of this battered old earth, which has had enough of shams - whether illusory little heavens or barbarous little machines.
It is the hour of the REAL Earth. It is the hour of the REAL man. We are all going there - if only we could know the path a little ...
This AGENDA is not even a path: it is a light little vibration that seizes you at any turning - and then, there it is, you are IN IT. 'Another world in the world,' She said. One has to catch the light little vibration, one has to flow with it, in a nothing that is like the only something in the midst of this great debacle. At the beginning of things, when still nothing was FIXED, when there was not yet this habit of the pelican or the kangaroo or the chimpanzee or the XXth century biologist, there was a little pulsation that beat and beat - a delightful dizziness, a joy in the world's great adventure; a little never-imprisoned spark that has kept on beating from species to species, but as if it were always eluding us, as if it were always over there, over there - as if it were something to become,
something to be played forever as the one great game of the world; a who-knows-what that left this sprig of a pensive man in the 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 the light little breath, the little pulsation of nothing. Then suddenly, on the 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.
Then we have caught the tail of the Great Possible, we are upon the wayless way, radically in the new, and we flow with the little lizard, the pelican, the big man, we flow everywhere in a world that has lost its old separating skin and its little baggage of habits. We begin seeing otherwise, feeling otherwise. We have opened the gate into an inconceivable clearing. Just a light little vibration that carries you away. Then we begin to underst and how it CAN CHANGE, what the mechanism is - a light little mechanism and so miraculous that it looks like nothing. We begin feeling the wonder of a pure little cell, and that a sparkling of joy would be enough to turn the world inside out. We were living in a little thinking fishbowl, we were dying in an old, bottled habit. and then suddenly, all is different. The Earth is free! Who wants freedom?
It begins in a cell.
00.01 - The Approach to Mysticism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Mysticism is not only a science but also, and in a greater degree, an art. To approach it merely as a science, as the modern mind attempts to do, is to move towards futility, if not to l and in positive disaster. Sufficient stress is not laid on this aspect of the matter, although the very crux of the situation lies here. The mystic domain has to be apprehended not merely by the true mind and underst anding but by the right temperament and character. Mysticism is not merely an object of knowledge, a problem for inquiry and solution, it is an end, an ideal that has to be achieved, a life that has to be lived. The mystics themselves have declared long ago with no uncertain or faltering voice: this cannot be attained by intelligence or much learning, it can be seized only by a purified and clear temperament.
The warning seems to have fallen, in the modern age, on unheeding ears. For the modern mind, being pre-eminently and uncompromisingly scientific, can entertain no doubt as to the perfect competency of science and the scientific method to seize and unveil any secret of Nature. If, it is argued, mysticism is a secret, if there is at all a truth and reality in it, then it is and must be amenable to the rules and regulations of science; for science is the revealer of Nature's secrecies.
But what is not recognised in this view of things is that there are secrecies and secrecies. The material secrecies of Nature are of one category, the mystic secrecies are of another. The two are not only disparate but incommensurable. Any man with a mind and underst anding of average culture can see and h andle the 'scientific' forces, but not the mystic forces.
A scientist once thought that he had clinched the issue and cut the Gordian knot when he declared triumphantly with reference to spirit sances: "Very significant is the fact that spirits appear only in closed chambers, in half obscurity, to somnolent minds; they are nowhere in the open air, in broad daylight to the wide awake and vigilant intellect!" Well, if the fact is as it is stated, what does it prove? Night alone reveals the stars, during the day they vanish, but that is no proof that stars are not existent. Rather the true scientific spirit should seek to know why (or how) it is so, if it is so, and such a fact would exactly serve as a pointer, a significant starting ground. The attitude of the jesting Pilate is not helpful even to scientific inquiry. This matter of the Spirits we have taken only as an illustration and it must not be understood that this is a domain of high mysticism; rather the contrary. The spiritualists' approach to Mysticism is not the right one and is fraught with not only errors but dangers. For the spiritualists approach their subject with the entire scientific apparatus the only difference being that the scientist does not believe while the spiritualist believes.
Mystic realities cannot be reached by the scientific consciousness, because they are far more subtle than the subtlest object that science can contemplate. The neutrons and positrons are for science today the finest and profoundest object-forces; they belong, it is said, almost to a borderl and where physics ends. Nor for that reason is a mystic reality something like a mathematical abstraction, -n for example. The mystic reality is subtler than the subtlest of physical things and yet, paradoxical to say, more concrete than the most concrete thing that the senses apprehend.
Furthermore, being so, the mystic domain is of infinitely greater potency than the domain of intra-atomic forces. If one comes, all on a sudden, into contact with a force here without the necessary preparation to hold and h andle it, he may get seriously bruised, morally and physically. The adventure into the mystic domain has its own toll of casualtiesone can lose the mind, one can lose one's body even and it is a very common experience among those who have tried the path. It is not in vain and merely as a poetic metaphor that the ancient seers have said
Kurasya dhr niit duratyay1
--
The mystic forces are not only of immense potency but of a definite moral disposition and character, that is to say, they are of immense potency either for good or for evil. They are not mechanical and amoral forces like those that physical sciences deal with; they are forces of consciousness and they are conscious forces, they act with an aim and a purpose. The mystic forces are forces either of light or of darkness, either Divine or Titanic. and it is most often the powers of darkness that the naturally ignorant consciousness of man contacts when it seeks to cross the borderline without training or guidance, by the sheer arrogant self-sufficiency of mental scientific reason.
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 the right kind. The knowledge that is born of spiritual disobedience, inspired by the Dark ones, leads to the soul's fall and its calvary through pain and suffering on earth. The seeker of true enlightenment has got to make a distinction, learn to separate the true and the right from the false and the wrong, unmask the luring Mra say clearly and unfalteringly to the dark light of Luciferapage Satana, if he is to come out into the true light and comm and the right forces. The search for knowledge alone, knowledge for the sake of knowledge, the path of pure scientific inquiry and inquisitiveness, in relation to the mystic world, is a dangerous thing. For such a spirit serves only to encourage and enhance man's arrogance and in the end not only limits but warps and falsifies the knowledge itself. A knowledge based on and secured exclusively through the reason and mental light can go only so far as that faculty can be reasonably stretched and not infinitelyto stretch it to infinity means to snap it. This is the warning that Yajnavalkya gave to Gargi when the latter started renewing her question ad infinitum Yajnavalkya said, "If you do not stop, your head will fall off."
The mystic truth has to be approached through the heart. "In the heart is established the Truth," says the Upanishad: it is there that is seated eternally the soul, the real being, who appears no bigger than the thumb. Even if the mind is utilised as an instrument of knowledge, the heart must be there behind as the 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 the mind alone to the highest truth that Yajnavalkya had to pull her up and give the warning that she risked losing her head if she persisted in her questioning endlessly.
For true knowledge comes of, and means, identity of being. All other knowledge may be an apprehension of things but not comprehension. In the former, the knower st ands apart from the object and so can envisage only the outskirts, the contour, the surface nature; the mind is capable of this alone. But comprehension means an embracing and penetration which is possible when the knower identifies himself with the object. and when we are so identified we not merely know the object, but becoming it in our consciousness, we love it and live it.
The 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 the radiance that is shed by the purest and intensest joy. For this reason it may be that in approaching through the heart there is a chance of one's getting arrested there and not caring for the still higher, the solar lights; but this need not be so. In the heart there is a golden door leading to the deepest delights, but there is also a diamond door opening up into the skies of the brightest luminosities.
For it must be understood that the heart, the mystic heart, is not the external thing which is the seat of emotion or passion; it is the secret heart that is behind, the inner heartantarhdaya of the Upanishadwhich is the centre of the individual consciousness, where all the divergent lines of that consciousness meet and from where they take their rise. That is what the Upanishad means when it says that the heart has a hundred channels which feed the human vehicle. That is the source, the fount and origin, the very substance of the true personality. Mystic knowledge the true mystic knowledge which saves and fulfilsbegins with the awakening or the entrance into this real being. This being is pure and luminous and blissful and sovereignly real, because it is a portion, a spark of the Divine Consciousness and Nature: a contact and communion with it brings automatically into play the light and the truth that are its substance. At the same time it is an uprising flame that reaches out naturally to higher domains of consciousness and manifests them through its translucid dynamism.
The knowledge that is obtained without the heart's instrumentation or co-operation is liable to be what the Gita describes as Asuric. First of all, from the point of view of knowledge itself, it would be, as I have already said, egocentric, a product and agent of one's limited and isolated self, easily put at the service of desire and passion. This knowledge, whether rationalistic or occult, is, as it were, hard and dry in its constitution, and oftener than not, negative and destructivewi thering and blasting in its career like the desert simoom.
There are modes of knowledge that are occult and to that extent mystic and can be mastered by practices in which the heart has no share. But they have not the saving grace that comes by the touch of the Divine. They are not truly mystic the truly mystic belongs to the ultimate realities, the deepest and the highest,they, on the other h and, are transverse and tangential movements belonging to an intermediate region where light and obscurity are mixed up and even for the greater part the light is swallowed up in the obscurity or utilised by it.
The 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 the 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 the 18th January 1960; when a young sadhak met the Mother for a personal interview, She said to him: "I shall give you something special; be prepared." The next day, when he again met Her, She spoke in French first about how to kindle the psychic Flame and then in this connection started speaking about Sri Aurobindo`s great epic Savitri and continued to speak at length.
The sadhak, after returning from the Mother, wanted to note down immediately what She had said, but he could not do so because he felt a great hesitation due to his sense of incapacity to transcribe exactly the Mother`s own words.
After nearly seven years, however, he felt a strong urge to note down what the Mother had spoken; so in 1967 he wrote down from memory a report in French. The report was seen by the Mother and a few corrections were made by her. To another sadhak who asked Her permission to read this report She 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 the whole."(4.12.1967)
On a few other occasion also, the Mother had spoken to the same sadhak on the value of reading Savitri which he had noted down afterwards. These notes have been added at the end of the main report. A few members of the Ashram had privately read this report in French, but afterwards there were many requests for its English version. A translation was therefore made in November 1967. A proposal was made to the Mother in 1972 for its publication and it was submitted to Her for approval. The Mother wanted to check the translation before permitting its publication but could check only a portion of it.
Do you read Savitri?
--
It does not matter if you do not underst and it - Savitri, read it always. You will see that every time you read it, something new will be revealed to you. Each time you will get a new glimpse, each time a new experience; things which were not there, things you did not underst and arise and suddenly become clear. Always an unexpected vision comes up through the words and lines. Every time you try to read and underst and, you will see that something is added, something which was hidden behind is revealed clearly and vividly. I tell you the very verses you have read once before, will appear to you in a different light each time you re-read them. This is what happens invariably. Always your experience is enriched, it is a revelation at each step.
But you must not read it as you read other books or newspapers. You must read with an empty head, a blank and vacant mind, without there being any other thought; you must concentrate much, remain empty, calm and open; then the words, rhythms, vibrations will penetrate directly to this white page, will put their stamp upon the brain, will explain themselves without your making any effort.
Savitri alone is sufficient to make you climb to the highest peaks. If truly one knows how to meditate on Savitri, one will receive all the help one needs. For him who wishes to follow this path, it is a concrete help as though the Lord himself were taking you by the h and and leading you to the destined goal. and then, every question, however personal it may be, has its answer here, every difficulty finds its solution herein; indeed there is everything that is necessary for doing the Yoga.
*He has crammed the 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 the 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 the day He actually began it, He told me: *I have launched myself in a rudderless boat upon the vastness of the Infinite.* and once having started, He wrote page after page without intermission, as though it were a thing already complete up there and He had only to transcribe it in ink down here on these pages.
In truth, the entire form of Savitri has descended "en masse" from the highest region and Sri Aurobindo with His genius only arranged the lines - in a superb and magnificent style. Sometimes entire lines were revealed and He has left them intact; He worked hard, untiringly, so that the inspiration could come from the highest possible summit. and what a work He has created! Yes, it is a true creation in itself. It is an unequalled work. Everything is there, 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 the best works in Greek, Latin, English and of course French literature, also in German and all the great creations of the West and the East, including the great epics; but I repeat it, I have not found anywhere anything comparable with Savitri. All these literary works seems to me empty, flat, hollow, without any deep reality - apart from a few rare exceptions, and these too represent only a small fraction of what Savitri is. What gr andeur, what amplitude, what reality: it is something immortal and eternal He has created. I tell you once again there is nothing like in it the whole world. Even if one puts aside the vision of the reality, that is, the essential substance which is the heart of the inspiration, and considers only the lines in themselves, one will find them unique, of the highest classical kind. What He has created is something man cannot imagine. For, everything is there, everything.
It may then be said that Savitri is a revelation, it is a meditation, it is a quest of the Infinite, the Eternal. If it is read with this aspiration for Immortality, the reading itself will serve as a guide to Immortality. To read Savitri is indeed to practice Yoga, spiritual concentration; one can find there all that is needed to realise the Divine. Each step of Yoga is noted here, including the secret of all other Yogas. Surely, if one sincerely follows what is revealed here in each line one will reach finally the transformation of the Supramental Yoga. It is truly the infallible guide who never ab andons you; its support is always there for him who wants to follow the path. Each verse of Savitri is like a revealed Mantra which surpasses all that man possessed by way of knowledge, and I repeat this, the words are expressed and arranged in such a way that the sonority of the rhythm leads you to the origin of sound, which is OM.
My child, yes, everything is there: mysticism, occultism, philosophy, the history of evolution, the history of man, of the gods, of creation, of Nature. How the universe was created, why, for what purpose, what destiny - all is there. You can find all the answers to all your questions there. Everything is explained, even the future of man and of the evolution, all that nobody yet knows. He has described it all in beautiful and clear words so that spiritual adventurers who wish to solve the mysteries of the world may underst and it more easily. But this mystery is well hidden behind the words and lines and one must rise to the required level of true consciousness to discover it. All prophesies, all that is going to come is presented with the precise and wonderful clarity. Sri Aurobindo gives you here the key to find the Truth, to discover the Consciousness, to solve the problem of what the universe is. He has also indicated how to open the door of the Inconscience so that the light may penetrate there and transform it. He has shown the path, the way to liberate oneself from the ignorance and climb up to the superconscience; each stage, each plane of consciousness, how they can be scaled, how one can cross even the barrier of death and attain immortality. You will find the whole journey in detail, and as you go forward you can discover things altogether unknown to man. That is Savitri and much more yet. It is a real experience - reading Savitri. All the secrets that man possessed, He has revealed, - as well as all that awaits him in the future; all this is found in the depth of Savitri. But one must have the knowledge to discover it all, the experience of the planes of consciousness, the experience of the Supermind, even the experience of the conquest of Death. He has noted all the stages, marked each step in order to advance integrally in the 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 the descriptions, even the colours are exactly what I saw and the words, phrases are also exactly what I heard. and all this before having read the book. I read Savitri many times afterwards, but earlier, when He was writing He used to read it to me. Every morning I used to hear Him read Savitri. During the night He would write and in the morning read it to me. and I observed something curious, that day after day the experiences He read out to me in the morning were those I had had the previous night, word by word. Yes, all the descriptions, the colours, the pictures I had seen, the words I had heard, all, all, I heard it all, put by Him into poetry, into miraculous poetry. Yes, they were exactly my experiences of the previous night which He read out to me the following morning. and it was not just one day by chance, but for days and days together. and every time I used to compare what He said with my previous experiences and they were always the same. I repeat, it was not that I had told Him my experiences and that He had noted them down afterwards, no, He knew already what I had seen. It is my experiences He has presented at length and they were His experiences also. It is, moreover, the picture of Our joint adventure into the unknown or rather into the Supermind.
These are experiences lived by Him, realities, supracosmic truths. He experienced all these as one experiences joy or sorrow, physically. He walked in the darkness of inconscience, even in the neighborhood of death, endured the sufferings of perdition, and emerged from the mud, the world-misery to brea the the sovereign plenitude and enter the supreme An anda. He crossed all these realms, went through the consequences, suffered and endured physically what one cannot imagine. Nobody till today has suffered like Him. He accepted suffering to transform suffering into the joy of union with the Supreme. It is something unique and incomparable in the history of the world. It is something that has never happened before, He is the first to have traced the path in the Unknown, so that we may be able to walk with certitude towards the Supermind. He has made the work easy for us. Savitri is His whole Yoga of transformation, and this Yoga appears now for the first time in the 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 underst and it, grasp it, for it is not by the mind that one can underst and Savitri. One needs spiritual experiences in order to underst and and assimilate it. The farther one advances on the path of Yoga, the more does one assimilate and the better. No, it is something which will be appreciated only in the future, it is the poetry of tomorrow of which He has spoken in The Future Poetry. It is too subtle, too refined, - it is not in the mind or through the mind, it is in meditation that Savitri is revealed.
and men have the audacity to compare it with the work of Virgil or Homer and to find it inferior. They do not underst and, they cannot underst and. What do they know? Nothing at all. and it is useless to try to make them underst and. Men will know what it is, but in a distant future. It is only the new race with a new consciousness which will be able to underst and. I assure you there is nothing under the blue sky to compare with Savitri. It is the mystery of mysteries. It is a *super-epic,* it is super-literature, super-poetry, super-vision, it is a super-work even if one considers the number of lines He has written. No, these human words are not adequate to describe Savitri. Yes, one needs superlatives, hyperboles to describe it. It is a hyper-epic. No, words express nothing of what Savitri is, at least I do not find them. It is of immense value - spiritual value and all other values; it is eternal in its subject, and infinite in its appeal, miraculous in its mode and power of execution; it is a unique thing, the more you come into contact with it, the higher will you be uplifted. Ah, truly it is something! It is the most beautiful thing He has left for man, the highest possible. What is it? When will man know it? When is he going to lead a life of truth? When is he going to accept this in his life? This yet remains to be seen.
My child, every day you are going to read Savitri; read properly, with the right attitude, concentrating a little before opening the pages and trying to keep the mind as empty as possible, absolutely without a thought. The direct road is through the heart. I tell you, if you try to really concentrate with this aspiration you can light the flame, the psychic flame, the flame of purification in a very short time, perhaps in a few days. What you cannot do normally, you can do with the help of Savitri. Try and you will see how very different it is, how new, if you read with this attitude, with this something at the back of your consciousness; as though it were an offering to Sri Aurobindo. You know it is charged, fully charged with consciousness; as if Savitri were a being, a real guide. I tell you, whoever, wanting to practice Yoga, tries sincerely and feels the necessity for it, will be able to climb with the help of Savitri to the highest rung of the ladder of Yoga, will be able to find the secret that Savitri represents. and this without the help of a Guru. and he will be able to practice it anywhere. For him Savitri alone will be the guide, for all that he needs he will find Savitri. If he remains very quiet when before a difficulty, or when he does not know where to turn to go forward and how to overcome obstacles, for all these hesitations and incertitudes which overwhelm us at every moment, he will have the necessary indications, and the necessary concrete help. If he remains very calm, open, if he aspires sincerely, always he will be as if lead by the h and. If he has faith, the will to give himself and essential sincerity he will reach the final goal.
Indeed, Savitri is something concrete, living, it is all replete, packed with consciousness, it is the supreme knowledge above all human philosophies and religions. It is the spiritual path, it is Yoga, Tapasya, Sadhana, everything, in its single body. Savitri has an extraordinary power, it gives out vibrations for him who can receive them, the true vibrations of each stage of consciousness. It is incomparable, it is truth in its plenitude, the Truth Sri Aurobindo brought down on the earth. My child, one must try to find the secret that Savitri represents, the prophetic message Sri Aurobindo reveals there for us. This is the work before you, it is hard but it is worth the trouble. - 5 November 1967
~ The Mother Sweet Mother The Mother to Mona Sarkar, [T0]
00.02 - Mystic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The Mystics all over the world and in all ages have clothed their sayings in proverbs and parables, in figures and symbols. To speak in symbols seems to be in their very nature; it is their characteristic manner, their inevitable style. Let us see what is the reason behind it. But first who are the Mystics? They are those who are in touch with supra-sensual things, whose experiences are of a world different from the common physical world, the world of the mind and the senses.
These other worlds are constituted in other ways than ours. Their contents are different and the laws that obtain there are also different. It would be a gross blunder to attempt a chart of any of these other systems, to use an Einsteinian term, with the measures and conventions of the system to which our external waking consciousness belongs. For, there "the sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the stars, neither these lightnings nor this fire." The difficulty is further enhanced by the fact that there are very many unseen worlds and they all differ from the seen and from one another in manner and degree. Thus, for example, the Upanishads speak of the swapna, the suupta, and the turya, domains beyond the jgrat which is that where the rational being with its mind and senses lives and moves. and there are other systems and other ways in which systems exist, and they are practically innumerable.
If, however, we have to speak of these other worlds, then, since we can speak only in the terms of this world, we have to use them in a different sense from those they usually bear; we must employ them as figures and symbols. Even then they may prove inadequate and misleading; so there are Mystics who are averse to all speech and expression they are mauni; in silence they experience the inexpressible and in silence they communicate it to the few who have the capacity to receive in silence.
But those who do speak, how do they choose their figures and symbols? What is their methodology? For it might be said, since the unseen and the seen differ out and out, it does not matter what forms or signs are taken from the latter; for any meaning and significance could be put into anything. But in reality, it does not so happen. For, although there is a great divergence between figures and symbols on the one h and and the things figured and symbolised on the other, still there is also some link, some common measure. and that is why we see not unoften the same or similar figures and symbols representing an identical experience in ages and countries far apart from each other.
We can make a distinction here between two types of expression which we have put together indiscriminately, figures and symbols. Figures, we may say, are those that are constructed by the rational mind, the intellect; they are mere metaphors and similes and are not organically related to the thing experienced, but put round it as a robe that can be dropped or changed without affecting the experience itself. Thus, for example, when the Upanishad says, tmnam rathinam viddhi (Know that the soul is the master of the chariot who sits within it) or indriyi haynhu (The senses, they say, are the horses), we have here only a comparison or analogy that is common and natural to the poetic manner. The particular figure or simile used is not inevitable to the idea or experience that it seeks to express, its part and parcel. On the other h and, take this Upanishadic perception: hirayamayena patrea satyasyphitam mukham (The face of the Truth lies hidden under the golden orb). Here the symbol is not mere analogy or comparison, a figure; it is one with the very substance of the experience the two cannot be separated. Or when the Vedas speak of the kindling of the Fire, the rushing of the waters or the rise of the Dawn, the images though taken from the material world, are not used for the sake of mere comparison, but they are the embodiments, the living forms of truths experienced in another world.
When a Mystic refers to the Solar Light or to the Fire the light, for example, that struck down Saul and transformed him into Saint Paul or the burning bush that visited Moses, it is not the physical or material object that he means and yet it is that in a way. It is the materialization of something that is fundamentally not material: some movement in an inner consciousness precipitates itself into the region of the senses and takes from out of the material the form commensurable with its nature that it finds there.
and there is such a commensurability or parallelism between the various levels of consciousness, in and through all the differences that separate them from one another. Thus an object or a movement apprehended on the physical plane has a sort of line of re-echoing images extended in a series along the whole gradation of the inner planes; otherwise viewed, an object or movement in the innermost consciousness translates itself in varying modes from plane to plane down to the most material, where it appears in its grossest form as a concrete three-dimensional object or a mechanical movement. This parallelism or commensurability by virtue of which the different and divergent states of consciousness can portray or represent each other is the source of all symbolism.
A symbol symbolizes something for this reason that both possess in common a certain identical, at least similar, quality or rhythm or vibration, the symbol possessing it in a grosser or more apparent or sensuous form than the thing symbolized does. Sometimes it may happen that it is more than a certain quality or rhythm or vibration that is common between the two: the symbol in its entirety is the thing symbolized but thrown down on another plane, it is the embodiment of the latter in a more concrete world. The light and the fire that Saint Paul and Moses saw appear to be of this kind.
Thus there is a great diversity of symbols. At the one end is the mere metaphor or simile or allegory ('figure', as we have called it) and at the other end is the symbol identical with the thing symbolized. and upon this inner character of the symbol depends also to a large extent its range and scope. There are symbols which are universal and intimately ingrained in the human consciousness itself. Mankind has used them in all ages and climes almost in the same sense and significance. There are others that are limited to peoples and ages. They are made out of forms that are of local and temporal interest and importance. Their significances vary according to time and place. Finally, there are symbols which are true of the individual consciousness only; they depend on personal peculiarities and idiosyncrasies, on one's environment and upbringing and education.
Man being an embodied soul, his external consciousness (what the Upanishad calls jgrat) is the milieu in which his soul-experiences naturally manifest and find their play. It is the forms and movements of that consciousness which clo the and give a concrete habitation and name to perceptions on the subtler ranges of the inner existence. If the experiences on these planes are to be presented to the conscious memory and to the brain-mind and made communicable to others through speech, this is the inevitable and natural process. Symbols are a translation in mental and sensual ( and vocal) terms of experiences that are beyond the mind and the sense and the speech and yet throw a kind of echoing vibrations upon these lesser levels.
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0 0.02 - Topographical Note, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
From the time of Sri Aurobindo's departure (1950) until 1957, we have only a few notes and fragments or rare statements noted from memory. These are the only l andmarks of this period, along with Mother's Questions and Answers from her talks at the Ashram Playground. A few of these conversations have been reproduced here insofar as they mark stages of the Supramental
Action.
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Algeria and in France or of her current experiences; and gradually, She opened the mind of the rebellious and materialistic Westerner that we were and made us underst and the laws of the worlds, the play of forces, the working of past lives - especially this latter, which was an important factor in the difficulties with which we were struggling at that time and which periodically made us abscond.
Mother would be seated in this rather medieval-looking chair with its high, carved back, her feet on a little tabouret, while we sat on the floor, on a slightly faded carpet, conquered and seduced, revolted and never satisfied - but nevertheless, very interested. Treasures, never noted down, were lost until, with the cunning of the Sioux, we succeeded in making Mother consent to the presence of a tape recorder. But even then, and for a long time thereafter, She carefully made us erase or delete in our notes all that concerned Her rather too personally - sometimes we disobeyed Her.
But finally we were able to convince Her of the value inherent in keeping a chronicle of the route.
It was only in 1958 that we began having the first tape-recorded conversations, which, properly speaking, constitute Mother's Agenda. But even then, many of these conversations were lost or only partly noted down. Or else we considered that our own words should not figure in these notes and we carefully omitted all our questions - which was absurd. At that time, no one - neither Mother, nor ourself - knew that this was 'the Agenda' and that we were out to explore the 'Great Passage.'
Only gradually did we become aware of the true nature of these meetings. Furthermore, we were constantly on the road, so much so that there are sizable gaps in the text. In fact, for seven years,
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From 1960, the Agenda took its final shape arid grew for thirteen years, until May 1973, filling thirteen volumes in all (some six thous and pages), with a change of setting in March 1962 at the time of the Great Turning in Mother's yoga when She permanently retired to her room upstairs, as had Sri Aurobindo in 1926. The interviews then took place high up in this large room carpeted in golden wool, like a ship's stateroom, amidst the rustling of the Copper Pod tree and the cawing of crows. Mother would sit in a low rosewood chair, her face turned towards Sri Aurobindo's tomb, as though She were wearing down the distance separating that world from our own. Her voice had become like that of a child, one could hear her laughter. She always laughed, this Mother. and then her long silences. Until the day the disciples closed her door on us. It was May 19, 1973. We did not want to believe it. She was alone, just as we were suddenly alone. Slowly, painfully, we had to discover the why of this rupture. We understood nothing of the jealousies of the old species, we did not yet realize that they were becoming the 'owners' of Mother - of the Ashram, of Auroville, of
Sri Aurobindo, of everything - and that the new world was going to be denatured into a new
Church. There and then, they made us underst and why She 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
object:0_0.03 - 1951-1957. Notes and Fragments
class:chapter
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Notes and Fragments
February 1951
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The lack of the earth's receptivity and the behavior of Sri Aurobindo's disciples 1 are largely responsible for what happened to his body. But one thing is certain: the great misfortune that has just beset us in no way affects the truth of his teaching. All he said is perfectly true and remains so.
Time and the course of events will make this abundantly clear.
00.03 - Upanishadic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A certain rationalistic critic divides the Upanishadic symbols into three categoriesthose that are rational and can be easily understood by the mind; those that are not understood by the mind and yet do not go against reason, having nothing inherently irrational in them and may be simply called non-rational; those that seem to be quite irrational, for they go frankly against all canons of logic and common sense. As an example of the last, the irrational type, the critic cites a story from the Chhndogya, which may be rendered thus:
There was an aspirant, a student who was seeking after knowledge. One day there appeared to him a white dog. Soon, other dogs followed and addressed their predecessor: "O Lord, sing to our Food, for we desire to eat." The white dog answered, "Come to me at dawn here in this very place." The aspirant waited. The dogs, like singer-priests, circled round in a ring. Then they sat and cried aloud; they cried out," Om We eat and Om we drink, may the gods bring here our food."
Now, before any explanation is attempted it is important to bear in mind that the Upanishads speak of things experiencednot merely thought, reasoned or argued and that these experiences belong to a world and consciousness other than that of the mind and the senses. One should naturally expect here a different language and mode of expression than that which is appropriate to mental and physical things. For example, the world of dreams was once supposed to be a sheer chaos, a mass of meaningless confusion; but now it is held to be quite otherwise. Psychological scientists have discovered a methodeven a very well-defined and strict methodin the madness of that domain. It is an ordered, organised, significant world; but its terminology has to be understood, its code deciphered. It is not a jargon, but a foreign language that must be learnt and mastered.
In the same way, the world of spiritual experiences is also something methodical, well-organized, significant. It may not be and is not the rational world of the mind and the sense; but it need not, for that reason, be devoid of meaning, mere fancifulness or a child's imagination running riot. Here also the right key has to be found, the grammar and vocabulary of that language mastered. and as the best way to have complete mastery of a language is to live among the people who speak it, so, in the matter of spiritual language, the best and the only way to learn it is to go and live in its native country.
Now, as regards the interpretation of the story cited, should not a suspicion arise naturally at the very outset that the dog of the story is not a dog but represents something else? First, a significant epithet is given to itwhite; secondly, although it asks for food, it says that Om is its food and Om is its drink. In the Vedas we have some references to dogs. Yama has twin dogs that "guard the path and have powerful vision." They are his messengers, "they move widely and delight in power and possess the vast strength." The Vedic Rishis pray to them for Power and Bliss and for the vision of the Sun1. There is also the Hound of Heaven, Sarama, who comes down and discovers the luminous cows stolen and hidden by the Panis in their dark caves; she is the path-finder for Indra, the deliverer.
My suggestion is that the dog is a symbol of the keen sight of Intuition, the unfailing perception of direct knowledge. With this clue the Upanishadic story becomes quite sensible and clear and not mere abracadabra. To the aspirant for Knowledge came first a purified power of direct underst anding, an Intuition of fundamental value, and this brought others of the same species in its train. They were all linked together organically that is the significance of the circle, and formed a rhythmic utterance and expression of the supreme truth (Om). It is also to be noted that they came and met at dawn to chant, the Truth. Dawn is the opening and awakening of the consciousness to truths that come from above and beyond.
It may be asked why the dog has been chosen as the symbol of Intuition. In the Vedas, the cow and the horse also play a large part; even the donkey and the frog have their own assigned roles. These objects are taken from the environment of ordinary life, and are those that are most familiar to the external consciousness, through which the inner experiences have to express themselves, if they are to be expressed at all. These material objects represent various kinds of forces and movements and subtle and occult and spiritual dynamisms. Strictly speaking, however, symbols are not chosen in a subtle or spiritual experience, that is to say, they are not arbitrarily selected and constructed by the conscious intelligence. They form part of a dramatization (to use a term of the Freudian psychology of dreams), a psychological alchemy, whose method and process and rationale are very obscure, which can be penetrated only by the vision of a third eye.
I. The Several Lights
The Brihadaranyaka speaks of several lights that man possesses, one in the absence of another, for his illumination and guidance.
First of all, he has the Sun; it is the primary light by which he lives and moves. When the Sun sets, the Moon rises to replace it. When both the Sun and the Moon set, he has recourse to the Fire. and when the Fire, too, is extinguished, there comes the Word. In the end, when the Fire is quieted and the Word silenced, man is lighted by the Light of the Atman. This Atman is All-Knowledge; it is secreted within the life, within the heart: it is selfluminous Vijnamaya preu rdyantar jyoti..
The progression indicated by the order of succession points to a gradual withdrawal from the outer to the inner light, from the surface to the deep, from the obvious to the secret, from the actual and derivative to the real and original. We begin by the senses and move towards the Spirit.
The Sun is the first and the most immediate source of light that man has and needs. He is the presiding deity of our waking consciousness and has his seat in the eyecakusa ditya, ditya caku bhtvakii prviat. The eye is the representative of the senses; it is the sense par excellence. In truth, sense-perception is the initial light with which we have to guide us, it is the light with which we start on the way. A developed stage comes when the Sun sets for us, that is to say, when we retire from the senses and rise into the mind, whose divinity is the Moon. It is the mental knowledge, the light of reason and intelligence, of reflection and imagination that govern our consciousness. We have to proceed farther and get beyond the mind, exceed the derivative light of the Moon. So when the Moon sets, the Fire is kindled. It is the light of the ardent and aspiring heart, the glow of an inner urge, the 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 the mind and much deeper than the sense-perception. Still this light partakes more of heat than of pure luminosity; it is, one may say, inc andescent feeling, but not vision. We must probe deeper, mount higherreach heights and profundities that are serene and transparent. The Fire is to be quieted and silenced, says the Upanishad. Then we come nearer, to the immediate vicinity of the Truth: an inner hearing opens, the direct voice of Truth the Wordreaches us to lead and guide. Even so, however, we have not come to the end of our journey; the Word of revelation is not the ultimate Light. The Word too is clothing, though a luminous clothinghiramayam ptram When this last veil dissolves and disappears, when utter silence, absolute calm and quietude reign in the entire consciousness, when no other lights trouble or distract our attention, there appears the Atman in its own body; we st and face to face with the source of all lights, the self of the Light, the light of the Self. We are that Light and we become that Light.
II. The Four Oblations
The Word has four breasts. The Gods feed on two, SWAHAKAR and VASHATKAR, men upon the third, HANTAKAR, and the Ancestor upon the fourth, SWADHA 2
Ritualistically these four terms are the formulae for oblation to four Deities, Powers or Presences, whom the sacrificer wishes to please and propitiate in order to have their help and blessing and in order thereby to discharge his dharma or duty of life. Svh is the offering especially dedicated to Agni, the foremost of the Gods, for he is the divine messenger who carries men's offering to the Gods and brings their blessing to men. Vaatkr is the offering to the Gods generally. Hantakr is the offering to mankind, to our kin, an especial form of it being the worship of the guests,sarvadevamayo' tithi. Svadh is the offering to the departed Fathers (Pitris).
The duty of life consists, it is said, in the repaying of three debts which every man contracts as soon as he takes birth upon earth the debt to the Gods, to Men and to the Ancestors. This threefold debt or duty has, in other terms, reference to the three fields or domains wherein an embodied being lives and moves and to which he must adjust and react rightly -if he is to secure for his life an integral fulfilment. These are the family, society and the world and beyond-world. The Gods are the Powers that rule the world and beyond, they are the forms and forces of the One Spirit underlying the universe, the varied expressions of divine Truth and Reality: To worship the Gods, to do one's duty by them, means to come into contact and to be unitedin being, consciousness and activitywith the universal and spiritual existence, which is the supreme end and purpose of human life. The seconda more circumscribed fieldis the society to which one belongs, the particular group of humanity in which he functions as a limb. The service to society or good citizenship entails the worship of humanity, of Man as a god. Lastly, man belongs to the family, which is the unit of society; and the backbone of the family is the continuous line of ancestors, who are its presiding deity and represent the norm of a living dharma, the ethic of an ideal life.
From the psychological st andpoint, the four oblations are movements or reactions of consciousness in its urge towards the utterance and expression of Divine Truth. Like some other elements in the cosmic play, these also form a quartetcaturvyha and work together for a common purpose in view of a perfect and all-round result.
Svh is the offering and invocation. One must dedicate everything to the Divine, cast all one has or does into the Fire of Aspiration that blazes up towards the Most High, and through the tongue of that one-pointed flame call on the Divinity.
In doing so, in invoking the Truth and consecrating oneself to it, one begins to ascend to it step by step; and each step means a tearing of another veil and a further opening of the I passage. This graded mounting is vaakra.
Hantakr is the appearance, the manifestation of the Divinity that which makes the worshipper cry in delight, "Hail!" It is the coming of the Dawnahanwhen the night has been traversed and the lid rent open, the appearance of the Divine to a human vision for the human consciousness to seize, almost in a human form.
Finally, once the Truth is reached, it is to be held fast, firmly established, embodied and fixed in its inherent nature here in life and the waking consciousness. This is Svadh.
The Gods feed upon Svdh and Vaa, as these represent the ascending movement of human consciousness: it is man's self-giving and aspiration and the upward urge of his heart and soul that reach to the Gods, and it is that which the immortals take into themselves and are, as it were, nourished by, since it is something that appertains to their own nature.
and in response they descend and approach and enter into the 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 nourished.
This interchange, or mutual giving, the High Covenant between the Gods and Men, to which the Gita too refers
With this sacrifice nourish the Gods, that the Gods may nourish you; thus mutually nourishing ye shall obtain the highest felicity3 is the very secret of the cosmic play, the basis of the spiritual evolution in the universal existence.
The Gods are the formations or particularisations of the Truth-consciousness, the multiple individualisations of the One spirit. The Pitris are the Divine Fathers, that is to say, souls that once laboured and realised here below, and now have passed beyond. They dwell in another world, not too far removed from the earth, and from there, with the force of their Realisation, lend a more concrete help and guidance to the destiny that is being worked out upon earth. They are forces and formations of consciousness in an intermediate region between Here and There (antarika), and serve to bring men and gods nearer to each other, inasmuch as they belong to both the categories, being a divinised humanity or a humanised divinity. Each fixation of the Truth-consciousness in an earthly mould is a thing of joy to the Pitris; it is the Svadh or food by which they live and grow, for it is the consolidation and also the resultant of their own realisation. The achievements of the sons are more easily and securely reared and grounded upon those of the forefa thers, whose formative powers we have to invoke, so that we may pass on to the realisation, the firm embodiment of higher and greater destinies.
III. The Path of the Fathers and the Path of the Gods
One is an ideal in and of the world, the other is an ideal transcending the world. The Path of the Fathers (Pityna) enjoins the right accomplishing of the dharma of Lifeit is the path of works, of Karma; it is the line of progressive evolution that, man follows through the experience of life after life on earth. The Path of the Gods (Devayna) runs above life's evolutionary course; it lifts man out of the terrestrial cycle and places him in a superior consciousness it is the path of knowledge, of Vidya.4 The Path of the Fathers is the soul's southern or inferior orbit (dakiyana, aparrdha); the Path of the Gods is the northern or superior orbit (uttaryaa, parrdha)The former is also called the Lunar Path and the latter the Solar Path.5 For the moon represents the mind,6 and is therefore, an emblem that befits man so long as he is a mental being and pursues a dharma that is limited by the mind; the sun, on the other h and, is the knowledge and consciousness that is beyond the mindit is the eye of the Gods.7
Man has two aspects or natures; he dwells in two worlds. The first is the manifest world the world of the body, the life and the mind. The body has flowered into the mind through the life. The body gives the basis or the material, the life gives power and energy and the mind the directing knowledge. This triune world forms the humanity of man. But there is another aspect hidden behind this apparent nature, there is another world where man dwells in his submerged, larger and higher consciousness. To that his soul the Purusha in his heart only has access. It is the world where man's nature is transmuted into another triune realitySat, Chit and An anda.
The one, however, is not completely divorced from the other. The apparent, the inferior nature is only a preparation for the real, the superior nature. The Path of the Fathers 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 the Path of the Gods; the mind, the life, and the body consciousness should be so disciplined, educated, purified, they should develop along such a line and gradually rise to such a stage as to make them fit to receive the light which belongs to the higher level, so allowing the human soul imbedded in them to extricate itself and pass on to the Immortal Life.
and they who are thus lifted up into the Higher Orbit are freed from the bondage to the cycle of rebirth. They enjoy the supreme Liberation that is of the Spirit; and even when they descend into the Inferior Path, it is to work out as free agents, as vehicles of the Divine, a special purpose, to bring down something of the substance and nature of the Solar reality into the lower world, enlighten and elevate the lower, as far as it is allowed, into the higher.
IV. The Triple Agni
Agni is the divine spark in man, the flaming consciousness in the mortal which purifies and uplifts (pvaka) mortality into immortality. It is the god "seated in the secret heart, who is the possession of infinity and the foundation of existence," as Yama says to Nachiketas.8
Indeed, it was to this godhead that Nachiketas turned and he wanted to know of it and find it, when faith seized on his pure heart and he aspired for the higher spiritual life. The very opening hymn of the Rig Veda, too, is addressed to Agni, who is invoked as the vicar seated in the front of the sacrifice, the giver of the supreme gifts.
King Yama initiated Nachiketas into the mystery of Fire Worship and spoke of three fires that have to be kindled if one aspires to enter the heaven of immortality.
The three fires are named elsewhere Garhapatya, Dakshina, and Ahavaniya.9 They are the three tongues of the one central Agni, that dwells secreted in the hearth of the soul. They manifest as aspirations that flame up from the three fundamental levels of our being, the body, the life and the mind. For although the spiritual consciousness is the natural element of the soul and is gained in and through the soul, yet, in order that man may take possession of it and dwell in it consciously, in order that the soul's empire may be established, the external being too must respond to the soul's impact and yearn for its truth in the Spirit. The mind, the life and the body which are usually obstructions in the path, must discover the secret flame that is in them tooeach has his own portion of the Soul's Fire and mount on its ardent tongue towards the heights of the Spirit.
Garhapatya is the Fire in the body-consciousness, the fire of Earth, as it is sometimes called; Dakshina is the Fire of the moon or mind, and Ahavaniya that of life.10 The earthly fire is also the fire of the sun; the sun is the source of all earth's heat and symbolises at the same time the spiritual light manifested in the physical consciousness. The lunar fire is also the fire of the stars, the stars, mythologically, being the consorts or powers of the moon and they symbolise, in Yogic experience, the intuitive thoughts. The fire of the life-force has its symbol in lightning, electric energy being its vehicle.
Agni in the physical consciousness is calledghapati, for the body is the house in which the soul is lodged and he is its keeper, guardian and lord. The fire in the mental consciousness is called daki; for it is that which gives discernment, the power to discriminate between the truth and the falsehood, it is that which by the pressure of its heat and light cleaves the wrong away from the right. and the fire in the life-force is called havanya; for pra is not only the plane of hunger and desire, but also of power and dynamism, it is that which calls forth forces, brings them into' play and it is that which is to be invoked for the progression of the Sacrifice, for an onward march on the spiritual path.
Of the three fires one is the upholderhe who gives the firm foundation, the stable house where the Sacrifice is performed and Truth realised; the second is the Knower, often called in the Veda jtaved, who guides and directs; and the third the Doer, the effective Power, the driving Energyvaivnara.
V. The Five Great Elements
The five elements of the ancientsearth, water, fire, air and ether or spaceare symbols taken from the physical world to represent other worlds that are in it and behind it. Each one is a principle that constitutes the fundamental nature of a particular plane of existence.
Earth represents the material world itself, Matter or existence in its most concrete, its grossest form. It is the basis of existence, the world that supports other worlds (dhar, dharitri),the first or the lowest of the several ranges of creation. In man it is his body. The principle here is that of stability, substantiality, firmness, consistency.
Water represents the next rung the vital world, the world life-force (pra). Physiologically also we know that water is the element forming three-fourths of the constituents of a living body and that dead and dry are synonymous terms; it is the medium in which the living cells dwell and through which they draw their sustenance. Water is the veritable sap of lifeit is the emblem of life itself. The principle it represents is that of movement, continuity, perpetuity.
Fire represents the Heart. It is that which gives the inner motive to the forces of life, it is the secret inspiration and aspiration that drive the movements of life. It is the heat of consciousness, the ardour of our central being that lives in the Truth and accepts nothing, nothing but the Truth. It is the pure and primal energy of our divine essence, driving ever upward and onward life's course of evolution.
Air is Mind, the world of thought, of conscious formation; it is where life-movements are taken up and given a shape or articulate formula for an organised expression. The forms here have not, however, the concrete rigidity of Matter, but are pliant and variable and fluidin fact, they are more in the nature of possibilities, rather than actualities. The Vedic Maruts are thought-gods, and lndra (the Luminous Mind), their king, is called the Fashioner of perfect forms.
Ether or Space is the infinitude of the Spirit, the limitless Presence that dwells in and yet transcends the body, the life the heart and the mind.
VI. The Science of the Five Fires
The Science of the Five Agnis (Fires), as propounded by Pravahan, explains and illustrates the process of the birth of the body, the passage of the soul into earth existence. It describes the advent of the child, the building of the physical form of the human being. The process is conceived of as a sacrifice, the usual symbol with the Vedic Rishis for the expression of their vision and perception of universal processes of Nature, physical and psychological. Here, the child IS said to be the final fruit of the sacrifice, the different stages in the process being: (i) Soma, (ii) Rain, (iii) Food, (iv) Semen, (v) Child. Soma means Rasaphysically the principle of water, psychologically the 'principle of delight and symbolises and constitutes the very soul and substance of life. Now it is said that these five principles the fundamental and constituent elementsare born out of the sacrifice, through the oblation or offering to the five Agnis. The first Agni is Heaven or the Sky-God, and by offering to it one's faith and one's ardent desire, one calls into manifestation Soma or Rasa or Water, the basic principle of life. This water is next offered to the second Agni, the Rain-God, who sends down Rain. Rain, again, is offered to the third Agni, the Earth, who brings forth Food. Food is, in its turn, offered to the fourth Agni, the Father or Male, who elaborates in himself the generating fluid.
Finally, this fluid is offered to the fifth Agni, the Mother or the Female, who delivers the Child.
The biological process, described in what may seem to be crude and mediaeval terms, really reflects or echoes a more subtle and psychological process. The images used form perhaps part of the current popular notion about the matter, but the esoteric sense goes beyond the outer symbols. The sky seems to be the far and tenuous region where the soul rests and awaits its next birthit is the region of Soma, the own Home of Bliss and Immortality. Now when the time or call comes, the soul stirs and journeys down that is the Rain. Next, it enters the earth atmosphere and clothes itself with the earth consciousness. Then it waits and calls for the formation of the material body, first by the contri bution of the father and then by that of the mother; when these two unite and the material body is formed, the soul incarnates.
Apart from the question whether the biological phenomenon described is really a symbol and a cloak for another order of reality, and even taking it at its face value, what is to be noted here is the idea of a cosmic cycle, and a cosmic cycle that proceeds through the principle of sacrifice. If it is asked what there is wonderful or particularly spiritual in this rather naf description of a very commonplace happening that gives it an honoured place in the Upanishads, the answer is that it is wonderful to see how the 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 the Universal Brahman. The Upanishads contain passages which a puritanical mentality may perhaps describe as 'pornographic'; these have in fact been put by some on the Index expurgatorius. But the ancients saw these matters with other eyes and through another 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 the lower, darker and hidden str ands of our nature, but to bring them out into the light of day and to face them is the best way of dealing with such elements, which otherwise, if they are repressed, exert an unhealthy influence on the mind and nature. The Upanishadic view runs on the same lines, but, with the unveiling and the natural and not merely naturalisticdelineation of these under-worlds (concerning sex and food), it endows them with a perspective sub specie aeternitatis. The sexual function, for example, is easily equated to the double movement of ascent and descent that is secreted in nature, or to the combined action of Purusha and Prakriti in the cosmic Play, or again to the hidden fount of Delight that holds and moves the universe. In this view there is nothing merely secular and profane, but all is woven into the cosmic spiritual whole; and man is taught to consider and to mould all his movementsof soul and mind and bodyin the light and rhythm of that integral Reality.11
The central secret of the transfigured consciousness lies, as we have already indicated, in the mystic rite or law of Sacrifice. It is the one basic, fundamental, universal Law that upholds and explains the cosmic movement, conformity to which brings to the thrice-bound human being release and freedom. Sacrifice consists essentially of two elements or processes: (i) The offering or self giving of the lower reality to the higher, and, as a consequence, an answering movement of (ii) the descent of the higher into the lower. The lower offered to the higher means the lower sublimated and integrated into the higher; and the descent of the higher into the lower means the incarnation of the former and the fulfilment of the latter. The Gita elaborates the same idea when it says that by Sacrifice men increase the gods and the gods increase men and by so increasing each other they attain the supreme Good. Nothing is, nothing is done, for its own sake, for an egocentric satisfaction; all, even movements relating to food and to sex should be dedicated to the Cosmic BeingVisva Purusha and that alone received which comes from Him.
VII. The Cosmic and the Transcendental
The Supreme Reality which is always called Brahman in the Upanishads, has to be known and experienced in two ways; for it has two fundamental aspects or modes of being. The Brahman is universal and it is transcendental. The Truth, satyam, the Upanishad says in its symbolic etymology, is 'This' (or, He) and 'That' (syat+tyat i.e. sat+tat). 'This' means the Universal Brahman: it is what is referred to when the Upanishad says:
Ivsyamidam sarvam: All this is for habitation by the Lord;
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TheChh andyogya12 gives a whole typal scheme of this universal reality and explains how to realise it and what are the results of the experience. The Universal Brahman means the cosmic movement, the cyclic march of things and events taken in its global aspect. The typical movement that symbolises and epitomises the phenomenon, embodies the truth, is that of the sun. The movement consists of five stages which are called the fivefold sma Sma means the equal Brahman that is ever present in all, the Upanishad itself says deriving the word from sama It is Sma also because it is a rhythmic movement, a cadencea music of the spheres. and a rhythmic movement, in virtue of its being a wave, consists of these five stages: (i) the start, (ii) the rise, (iii) the peak, (iv) the decline and (v) the fall. Now the sun follows this curve and marks out the familiar divisions of the day: dawn, forenoon, noon, afternoon and sunset. Sometimes two other stages are added, one at each end, one of preparation and another of final lapse the twilights with regard to the sun and then ,we have seven instead of five smas Like the Sun, the Fire that is to say, the sacrificial Firecan also be seen in its fivefold cyclic movement: (i) the lighting, (ii) the smoke, (iii) the flame, (iv) smouldering and finally (v) extinction the fuel as it is rubbed to produce the fire and the ashes may be added as the two supernumerary stages. Or again, we may take the cycle of five seasons or of the five worlds or of the deities that control these worlds. The living wealth of this earth is also symbolised in a quintetgoat and sheep and cattle and horse and finally man. Coming to the microcosm, we have in man the cycle of his five senses, basis of all knowledge and activity. For the macrocosm, to I bring out its vast extra-human complexity, the Upanishad refers to a quintet, each term of which is again a trinity: (i) the threefold Veda, the Divine Word that is the origin of creation, (ii) the three worlds or fieldsearth, air-belt or atmosphere and space, (iii) the three principles or deities ruling respectively these worldsFire, Air and Sun, (iv) their expressions, emanations or embodimentsstars and birds and light-rays, and finally, (v) the original inhabitants of these worldsto earth belong the reptiles, to the mid-region the G andharvas and to heaven the ancient Fathers.
Now, this is the All, the 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 the life universal; the small lean separate life is enlarged and moulded in the rhythm of the Rich and the Vast. It is thus that man shares in the consciousness and energy that inspire and move and sustain the cosmos. The Upanishad most emphatically enjoins that one must not decry this cosmic godhead or deny any of its elements, not even such as are a taboo to the puritan mind. It is in and through an unimpaired global consciousness that one attains the All-Life and lives uninterruptedly and perennially: Sarvamanveti jyok jvati.
Still the Upanishad says this is not the final end. There is yet a higher status of reality and consciousness to which one has to rise. For beyond the Cosmos lies the Transcendent. The Upanishad expresses this truth and experience in various symbols. The cosmic reality, we have seen, is often conceived as a septenary, a unity of seven elements, principles and worlds. Further to give it its full complex value, it is considered not as a simple septet, but a threefold heptad the whole gamut, as it were, consisting of 21 notes or syllables. The Upanishad says, this number does not exhaust the entire range; I for there is yet a 22nd place. This is the world beyond the Sun, griefless and deathless, the supreme Selfhood. The Veda I also sometimes speaks of the integral reality as being represented by the number 100 which is 99 + I; in other words, 99 represents the cosmic or universal, the unity being the reality beyond, the Transcendent.
Elsewhere the Upanishad describes more graphically this truth and the experience of it. It is said there that the sun has fivewe note the 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 the Zenithdownward. These are the five normal and apparent movements. But there is a sixth one; rather it is not a movement, but a status, where the sun neither rises nor sets, but is always visible fixed in the same position.
Some Western and Westernised scholars have tried to show that the phenomenon described here is an exclusively natural phenomenon, actually visible in the polar region where the sun never sets for six months and moves in a circle whose plane is parallel to the plane of the horizon on the summer solstice and is gradually inclined as the sun regresses towards the equinox (on which day just half the solar disc is visible above the horizon). The sun may be said there to move in the direction East-South-West-North and again East. Indeed the Upanishad mentions the positions of the sun in that order and gives a character to each successive station. The Ray from the East is red, symbolising the Rik, the Southern Ray is white, symbolising the Yajur, the Western Ray is black symbolising the Atharva. The natural phenomenon, however, might have been or might not have been before the mind's eye of the Rishi, but the symbolism, the esotericism of it is clear enough in the way the Rishi speaks of it. Also, apart from the first four movements (which it is already sufficiently difficult to identify completely with what is visible), the fifth movement, as a separate descending movement from above appears to be a foreign element in the context. and although, with regard to the sixth movement or status, the sun is visible as such exactly from the point of the North Pole for a while, the ring of the Rishi's utterance is unmistakably spiritual, it cannot but refer to a fact of inner consciousness that is at least what the physical fact conveys to the Rishi and what he seeks to convey and express primarily.
Now this is what is sought to be conveyed and expressed. The five movements of the sun here also are nothing but the five smas and they refer to the cycle of the Cosmic or Universal Brahman. The sixth status where all movements cease, where there is no rising and setting, no ebb and flow, no waxing and waning, where there is the immutable, the ever-same unity, is very evidently the Transcendental Brahman. It is That to which the Vedic Rishi refers when he prays for a constant and fixed vision of the eternal Sunjyok ca sryam drie.
It would be interesting to know what the five ranges or levels or movements of consciousness exactly are that make up the Universal Brahman described in this passage. It is the mystic knowledge, the Upanishad says, of the secret delight in thingsmadhuvidy. The five ranges are the five fundamental principles of delightimmortalities, the Veda would say that form the inner core of the pyramid of creation. They form a rising tier and are ruled respectively by the godsAgni, Indra, Varuna, Soma and Brahmawith their emanations and instrumental personalities the Vasus, the Rudras, the Adityas, the Maruts and the Sadhyas. We suggest that these refer to the five well-known levels of being, the modes or nodi of consciousness or something very much like them. The Upanishad speaks elsewhere of the five sheaths. The six Chakras of Tantric system lie in the same line. The first and the basic mode is the physical and the ascent from the physical: Agni and the Vasus are always intimately connected with the earth and -the earth-principles (it can be compared with the Muladhara of the Tantras). Next, second in the line of ascent is the Vital, the centre of power and dynamism of which the Rudras are the deities and Indra the presiding God (cf. Swadhishthana of the Tantras the navel centre). Indra, in the Vedas, has two aspects, one of knowledge and vision and the other of dynamic force and drive. In the first aspect he is more often considered as the Lord of the Mind, of the Luminous Mind. In the present passage, Indra is taken in his second aspect and instead of the Maruts with whom he is usually invoked has the Rudras as his agents and associates.
The third in the line of ascension is the region of Varuna and the Adityas, that is to say, of the large Mind and its lightsperhaps it can be connected with Tantric Ajnachakra. The fourth is the domain of Soma and the Marutsthis seems to be the inner heart, the fount of delight and keen and sweeping aspirations the Anahata of the Tantras. The fifth is the region of the crown of the head, the domain of Brahma and the Sadhyas: it is the Overmind status from where comes the descending inflatus, the creative Maya of Brahma. and when you go beyond, you pass into the ultimate status of the Sun, the reality absolute, the Transcendent which is indescribable, unseizable, indeterminate, indeterminable, incommensurable; and once there, one never returns, neverna ca punarvartate na ca punarvartate.
VIII. How Many Gods?
"How many Gods are there?" Yajnavalkya was once asked.13 The Rishi answered, they say there are three thous and and three of them, or three hundred and three, or again, thirty-three; it may be said too there are six or three or two or one and a half or one finally. Indeed as the Upanishad says elsewhere, it is the One Unique who wished to be many: and all the gods are the various glories (mahim) or emanations of the One Divine. The ancient of ancient Rishis had declared long long ago, in the earliest Veda, that there is one indivisible Reality, the seers name it in various ways.
In Yajnavalkya's enumeration, however, it is to be noted, first of all, that he stresses on the number three. The 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 synthesis and comprehension, points to the order and harmony that reigns in the cosmos, the spheric music. The metaphysical, that is to say, the original principles that constitute existence are the well-known triplets: (i) the superior: Sat, Chit, An anda; and (ii) the inferior: Body, Life and Mindthis being a reflection or translation or concretisation of the former. We can see also here how the dual principle comes in, the twin godhead or the two gods to which Yajnavalkya refers. The same principle is found in the conception of Ardhanarishwara, Male and Female, Purusha-Prakriti. The Upanishad says 14 yet again that the One original Purusha was not pleased at being alone, so for a companion he created out of himself the original Female. The dual principle signifies creation, the manifesting activity of the Reality. But what is this one and a half to which Yajnavalkya refers? It simply means that the other created out of the one is not a wholly separate, independent entity: it is not an integer by itself, as in the Manichean system, but that it is a portion, a fraction of the One. and in the end, in the ultimate analysis, or rather synthesis, there is but one single undivided and indivisible unity. The thous ands and hundreds, very often mentioned also in the Rig Veda, are not simply multiplications of the One, a graphic description of its many-sidedness; it indicates also the absolute fullness, the complete completeness (prasya pram) of the Reality. It includes and comprehends all and is a rounded totality, a full circle. The hundred-gated and the thous and-pillared cities of which the ancient Rishis chanted are formations and embodiments of consciousness human and divine, are realities whole and entire englobing all the layers and grades of consciousness.
Besides this metaphysics there is also an occult aspect in numerology of which Pythagoras was a well-known adept and in which the Vedic Rishis too seem to take special delight. The multiplication of numbers represents in a general way the principle of emanation. The One has divided and subdivided itself, but not in a haphazard way: it is not like the chaotic pulverisation of a piece of stone by hammer-blows. The process of division and subdivision follows a pattern almost as neat and methodical as a genealogical tree. That is to say, the emanations form a hierarchy. At the top, the apex of the pyramid, st ands the one supreme Godhead. That Godhead is biune in respect of manifestation the 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 the well-known Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra of Hindu mythology. These may be termed the first or primary emanations.
Now, each one of them in its turn has its own emanations the eleven Rudriyas are familiar. These are secondary and there are tertiary and other graded emanations the last ones touch the earth and embody physico-vital forces. The lowest formations or beings can trace their origin to one or other of the primaries and their nature and function partake of or are an echo of their first ancestor.
Man, however, is an epitome of creation. He embraces and incarnates the entire gamut of consciousness and comprises in him all beings from the highest Divinity to the lowest jinn or elf. and yet each human being in his true personality is a lineal descendant of one or other typal aspect or original Personality of the one supreme Reality; and his individual character is all the more pronounced and well-defined the more organised and developed is the being. The psychic being in man is thus a direct descent, an immediate emanation along a definite line of devolution of the supreme consciousness. We may now underst and and explain easily why one chooses a particular Ishta, an ideal god, what is the drive that pushes one to become a worshipper of Siva or Vishnu or any other deity. It is not any rational underst anding, a weighing of pros and cons and then a resultant conclusion that leads one to choose a path of religion or spirituality. It is the soul's natural call to the God, the type of being and consciousness of which it is a spark, from which it has descended, it is the secret affinity the spiritual blood-relation as it were that determines the choice and adherence. and it is this that we name Faith. and the exclusiveness and violence and bitterness which attend such adherence and which go "by the "name of partisanship, sectarianism, fanaticism etc., a;e a deformation in the ignorance on the physico-vital plane of the secret loyalty to one's source and origin. Of course, the pattern or law is not so simple and rigid, but it gives a token or typal pattern. For it must not be forgotten that the supreme source or the original is one and indivisible and in the highest integration consciousness is global and not exclusive. and the human being that attains such a status is not bound or wholly limited to one particular formation: its personality is based on the truth of impersonality. and yet the two can go together: an individual can be impersonal in consciousness and yet personal in becoming and true to type.
The number of gods depends on the level of consciousness on which we st and. On this material plane there are as many gods as there are bodies or individual forms (adhar). and on the supreme height there is only one God without a second. In between there are gradations of types and sub-types whose number and function vary according to the aspect of consciousness that reveals itself.
IX. Nachiketas' Three Boons
The 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 the direction.
Nachiketas is the young aspiring human being still in the Ignorancenaciketa, meaning one without consciousness or knowledge. The three boons he asks for are in reference to the three fundamental modes of being and consciousness that are at the very basis, forming, as it were, the ground-plan of the integral reality. They are (i) the individual, (ii) the universal or cosmic and (iii) the transcendental.
The first boon regards the individual, that is to say, the individual identity and integrity. It asks for the maintenance of that individuality so that it may be saved from the dissolution that Death brings about. Death, of course, means the dissolution of the body, but it represents also dissolution pure and simple. Indeed death is a process which does not stop with the physical phenomenon, but continues even after; for with the body gone, the other elements of the individual organism, the vital and the mental too gradually fall off, fade and dissolve. Nachiketas wishes to secure from Death the safety and preservation of the earthly personality, the particular organisation of mind and vital based upon a recognisable physical frame. That is the first necessity for the aspiring mortalfor, it is said, the body is the first instrument for the working out of one's life ideal. But man's true personality, the real individuality lies beyond, beyond the body, beyond the life, beyond the mind, beyond the triple region that Death lords it over. That is the divine world, the Heaven of the immortals, beyond death and beyond sorrow and grief. It is the hearth secreted in the inner heart where burns the Divine Fire, the God of Life Everlasting. and this is the nodus that binds together the threefold status of the manifested existence, the body, the life and the mind. This triplicity is the structure of name and form built out of the bricks of experience, the kiln, as it were, within which burns the Divine Agni, man's true soul. This soul can be reached only when one exceeds the bounds and limitations of the triple cord and experiences one's communion and identity with all souls and all existence. Agni is the secret divinity within, within the individual and within the world; he is the Immanent Divine, the cosmic godhead that holds together and marshals all the elements and components, all the principles that make up the manifest universe. He it is that has entered into the world and created facets of his own reality in multiple forms: and it is he that lies secret in the human being as the immortal soul through all its adventure of life and death in the series of incarnations in terrestrial evolution. The adoration and realisation of this Immanent Divinity, the worship of Agni taught by Yama in the second boon, consists in the triple sacrifice, the triple work, the triple union in the triple status of the physical, the vital and the mental consciousness, the mastery of which leads one to the other shore, the abode of perennial existence where the human soul enjoys its eternity and unending continuity in cosmic life. Therefore, Agni, the master of the psychic being, is called jtaveds, he who knows the births, all the transmigrations from life to life.
The third boon is the secret of secrets, for it is the knowledge and realisation of Transcendence that is sought here. Beyond the individual lies the universal; is there anything beyond the universal? The release of the individual into the cosmic existence gives him the griefless life eternal: can the cosmos be rolled up and flung into something beyond? What would be the nature of that thing? What is there outside creation, outside manifestation, outside Maya, to use a latter day term? Is there existence or non-existence (utter dissolution or extinctionDeath in his supreme and absolute status)? King Yama did not choose to answer immediately and even endeavoured to dissuade Nachiketas from pursuing the question over which people were confounded, as he said. Evidently it was a much discussed problem in those days. Buddha was asked the same question and he evaded it, saying that the pragmatic man should attend to practical and immediate realities and not, waste time and energy in discussing things ultimate and beyond that have hardly any relation to the present and the actual.
But Yama did answer and unveil the mystery and impart the supreme secret knowledge the knowledge of the Transcendent Brahman: it is out of the transcendent reality that the immanent deity takes his birth. Hence the Divine Fire, the Lord of creation and the Inner Mastersarvabhtntartm, antarymis called brahmajam, born of the Brahman. Yama teaches the process of transcendence. Apart from the knowledge and experience first of the individual and then of the cosmic Brahman, there is a definite line along which the human consciousness (or unconsciousness, as it is at present) is to ascend and evolve. The first step is to learn to distinguish between the Good and the Pleasurable (reya and preya). The line of pleasure leads to the external, the superficial, the false: while the other path leads towards the inner and the higher truth. So the second step is the gradual withdrawal of the consciousness from the physical and the sensual and even the mental preoccupation and focussing it upon what is certain and permanent. In the midst of the death-ridden consciousness in the heart of all that is unstable and fleetingone has to look for Agni, the eternal godhead, the Immortal in mortality, the Timeless in time through whom lies the passage to Immortality beyond Time.
Man has two souls corresponding to his double status. In the inferior, the soul looks downward and is involved in the current of Impermanence and Ignorance, it tastes of grief and sorrow and suffers death and dissolution: in the higher it looks upward and communes and joins with the Eternal (the cosmic) and then with the Absolute (the transcendent). The lower is a reflection of the higher, the higher comes down in a diminished and hence tarnished light. The message is that of deliverance, the deliverance and reintegration of the lower soul out of its bondage of worldly ignorant life into the freedom and immortality first of its higher and then of its highest status. It is true, however, that the Upanishad does not make a trenchant distinction between the cosmic and the transcendent and often it speaks of both in the same breath, as it were. For in fact they are realities involved in each other and interwoven. Indeed the triple status, including the Individual, forms one single totality and the three do not exclude or cancel each other; on the contrary, they combine and may be said to enhance each other's reality. The Transcendence expresses or deploys itself in the cosmoshe goes abroad,sa paryagt: and the cosmic individualises, concretises itself in the particular and the personal. The one single spiritual reality holds itself, aspects itself in a threefold manner.
The teaching of Yama in brief may be said to be the gospel of immortality and it consists of the knowledge of triple immortality. and who else can be the best teacher of immortality than Death himself, as Nachiketas pointedly said? The first immortality is that of the physical existence and consciousness, the preservation of the personal identity, the individual name and formthis being in itself as expression and embodiment and instrument of the Inner Reality. This inner reality enshrines the second immortality the eternity and continuity of the soul's life through its incarnations in time, the divine Agni lit for ever and ever growing in flaming consciousness. and the third and final immortality is in the being and consciousness beyond time, beyond all relativities, the absolute and self-existent delight.
Rig Veda, X. 14-11, 12.
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The 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 the influences of dark and undesirable world-forces, has made an opening, to use an Indian symbolism, for Kali (the Spirit of the Iron Age) to enter into him. The sex-force is an extremely potent agent, but it is extremely fluid and elusive and uncontrollable. It was for this reason that the ancients always sought to give it a proper mould, a right continent, a fixed and definite channel; the moderns, on the other h and, allow it to run free and play with it recklessly. The result has been, in the life of those born under such circumstances, a growing lack of poise and balance and a corresponding incidence of neuras thenia, hysteria and all abnormal pathological conditions.
Chh andyogya, II, III.
00.04 - The Beautiful in the Upanishads, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The white Mother comes reddening with the ruddy child; the dark Mother opens wide her chambers, the feeling and the expression of the beautiful raise no questioning; they are au thentic as well as evident. All will recognise at once t at we have here beautiful things said in a beautiful way. No less au thentic however is the sense of the beautiful that underlies these Upanishadic lines:
na tatra sryo bhti na c andratrakam
--
There the sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the stars; these lightnings too there shine not; how then this fire! That shines and therefore all shine in its wake; by the sheen of That, all this shines.
Only, to some perhaps the beauty may not appear as evident and apparent. The Spirit of beauty that resides in the Upanishadic consciousness is more retiring and reticent. It dwells in its own privacy, in its own home, as it were, and therefore chooses to be bare and austere, simple and sheer. Beauty means usually the beauty of form, even if it be not always the decorative, ornamental and sumptuous form. The early Vedas aimed at the perfect form (surpaktnum), the faultless expression, the integral and complete embodiment; the gods they envisaged and invoked were gleaming powers carved out of harmony and beauty and figured close to our modes of apprehension (spyan). But the Upanishads came to lay stress upon what is beyond the form, what the eye cannot see nor the vision reflect:
na s andi tihati rpamasya
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The form of a thing can be beautiful; but the formless too has its beauty. Indeed, the beauty of the formless, that is to say, the very sum and substance, the ultimate essence, the soul of beauty that is what suffuses, with in-gathered colour and enthusiasm, the realisation and poetic creation of the Upanishadic seer. All the forms that are scattered abroad in their myriad manifest beauty hold within themselves a secret Beauty and are reflected or projected out of it. This veiled Name of Beauty can be compared to nothing on the phenomenal hemisphere of Nature; it has no adequate image or representation below:
na tasya pratimsti
it cannot be defined or figured in the terms of the phenomenal consciousness. In speaking of it, however, the Upanishads invariably and repeatedly refer to two attributes that characterise its fundamental nature. These two aspects have made such an impression upon the consciousness of the Upanishadic seer that his enthusiasm almost wholly plays about them and is centred on them. When he contemplates or communes with the Supreme Object, these seem to him to be the mark of its au thenticity, the seal of its high status and the reason of all the charm and magic it possesses. The first aspect or attri bute is that of light the brilliance, the solar effulgenceravituly-arpa the bright, clear, shadow less Light of lightsvirajam ubhram jyotim jyoti The second aspect is that of delight, the bliss, the immortality inherent in that wide effulgencen andarpam amtam yad vibhti.
and what else is the true character, the 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 the radiance rippling over a thing of beauty. Beauty is always radiant: the charm, the loveliness of an object is but the glow of light that it emanates. and it would not be a very incorrect mensuration to measure the degree of beauty by the degree of light radiated. The diamond is not only a thing of value, but a thing of beauty also, because of the concentrated and undimmed light that it enshrines within itself. A dark, dull and dismal thing, devoid of interest and attraction becomes aesthetically precious and significant as soon as the artist presents it in terms of the values of light. The entire art of painting is nothing but the expression of beauty, in and through the modalities of light.
and where there is light, there is cheer and joy. Rasamaya and jyotirmayaare thus the two conjoint characteristics fundamental to the nature of the ultimate reality. Sometimes these two are named as the 'solar and the lunar aspect. The solar aspect refers obviously to the Light, that is to say, to the Truth; the lunar aspect refers to the rasa (Soma), to Immortality, to Beauty proper,
yatte suamam hdayam adhi c andramasi ritam
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The Moon means Delight... and Delight means the created form.
The perception of beauty in the Upanishadic consciousness is something elemental-of concentrated essence. It silhouettes the main contour, outlines the primordial gestures. Pregnant and pulsating with the burden of beauty, the mantra here reduces its external expression to a minimum. The body is bare and unadorned, and even in its nakedness, it has not the emphatic and vehement musculature of an athlete; rather it tends to be slim and slender and yet vibrant with the inner nervous vigour and glow. What can be more bare and brief and full to the brim of a self-gathered luminous energy than, for example:
yat prena na praiti yena pra
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The rich and sensuous beauty luxuriating in high colour and ample decoration that one meets often in the creation of the earlier Vedic seers returned again, in a more chiselled and polished and stylised manner, in the classical poets. The Upanishads in this respect have a certain kinship with the early poets of the intervening ageVyasa and Valmiki. Upam KlidsasyaKalidasa revels in figures and images; they are profusely heaped on one another 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. The same brevity and simplicity, vibrant with an extraordinary power of evocation, are also characteristic of the Upanishadic mantra With Valmiki's
kamiva dupram
--
can be compared, in respect of vivid and graphic terseness and pointedness and suggestive reverberation, the Upanishadic
vka iva stabdho divi tihatyeka
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Art at its highest tends to become also the simplest and the most unconventional; and it is then the highest art, precisely because it does not aim at being artistic. The aesthetic motive is totally absent in the Upanishads; the sense of beauty is there, but it is attendant upon and involved in a deeper str and of consciousness. That consciousness seeks consciousness itself, the fullness of consciousness, the awareness and possession of the Truth and Reality,the one thing which, if known, gives the knowledge of all else. and this consciousness of the Truth is also Delight, the perfect Bliss, the Immortality where the whole universe resolves itself into its original state of rasa, that is to say, of essential and inalienable harmony and beauty.
***
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 epithet of the gods. The Vedas mean by this attribute to bring out a most fundamental character, an inalienable dharma of the heavenly host. All the gods are poets; and a human being can become a poet only in so far as he attains to the nature and status of a god. Who is then a kavi? The Poet is he who by his poetic power raises forms of beauty in heavenkavi kavitv divi rpam sajat.1Thus the essence of poetic power is to fashion divine Beauty, to reveal heavenly forms. What is this Heaven whose forms the Poet discovers and embodies? HeavenDyaushas a very definite connotation in the Veda. It means the luminous or divine Mind 2the mind purified of its obscurity and limitations, due to subjection to the external senses, thus opening to the higher Light, receiving and recording faithfully the deeper and vaster movements and vibrations of the Truth, giving them a form, a perfect body of the right thought and the right word. Indra is the lord of this world and he can be approached only with an enkindled intelligence, ddhay man,3a faultless underst anding, sumedh. He is the supreme Artisan of the poetic power,Tash, the maker of perfect forms, surpa ktnum.4 All the gods turn towards Indra and become gods and poets, attain their Great Names of Supreme Beauty.5 Indra is also the master of the senses, indriyas, who are his hosts. It is through this mind and the senses that the poetic creation has to be manifested. The mind spreads out wide the Poet's weaving;6 the poet is the priest who calls down and works out the right thinking in the sacrificial labour of creation.7 But that creation is made in and through the inner mind and the inner senses that are alive to the subtle formation of a vaster knowledge.8 The poet envisages the golden forms fashioned out of the very profundity of the consciousness.9 For the substance, the material on which the Poet works, is Truth. The seat of the Truth the poets guard, they uphold the supreme secret Names.10 The poet has the expressive utterance, the creative word; the poet is a poet by his poetic creation-the shape faultlessly wrought out that unveils and holds the Truth.11The form of beauty is the body of the Truth.
The poet is a trinity in himself. A triune consciousness forms his personality. First of all, he is the Knower-the Seer of the Truth, kavaya satyadrara. He has the direct vision, the luminous intelligence, the immediate perception.12 A subtle and profound and penetrating consciousness is his,nigam, pracetas; his is the eye of the Sun,srya caku.13 He secures an increased being through his effulgent underst anding.14 In the second place, the Poet is not only Seer but Doer; he is knower as well as creator. He has a dynamic knowledge and his vision itself is power, ncak;15 he is the Seer-Will,kavikratu.16 He has the blazing radiance of the Sun and is supremely potent in his self-Iuminousness.17 The Sun is the light and the energy of the Truth. Even like the Sun the Poet gives birth to the Truth, srya satyasava, satyya satyaprasavya. But the Poet as Power is not only the revealer or creator,savit, he is also the builder or fashioner,ta, and he is the organiser,vedh is personality. First of all, he is the Knower-the Seer of the Truth, kavaya satyadrara, of the Truth.18 As Savita he manifests the Truth, as Tashta he gives a perfected body and form to the Truth, and as Vedha he maintains the Truth in its dynamic working. The effective marshalling and organisation of the Truth is what is called Ritam, the Right; it is also called Dharma,19 the Law or the Rhythm, the ordered movement and invincible execution of the Truth. The Poet pursues the Path of the Right;20 it is he who lays out the Path for the march of the Truth, the progress of the Sacrifice.21 He is like a fast steed well-yoked, pressing forward;22 he is the charger that moves straight and unswerving and carries us beyond 23into the world of felicity.
Indeed delight is the third and the supremely intimate element of the poetic personality. Dear and delightful is the poet, dear and delightful his works, priya, priyi His h and is dripping with sweetness,kavir hi madhuhastya.24 The Poet-God shines in his pristine beauty and is showering delight.25 He is filled with utter ecstasy so that he may rise to the very source of the luminous Energy.26? Pure is the Divine Joy and it enters and purifies all forms as it moves to the seat of the Immortals.27Indeed this sparkling Delight is the Poet-Seer and it is that that brings forth the creative word, the utterance of Indra.28
The solar vision of the Poet encompasses in its might the wide Earth and Heaven, fuses them in supreme Delight in the womb of the Truth.29 The Earth is lifted up and given in marriage to Heaven in the home of Truth, for the creation and expression of the Truth in its varied beauty,cru citram.
The Poet creates forms of beauty in Heaven; but these forms are not made out of the void. It is the Earth that is raised to Heaven and transmuted into divine truth forms. The union of Earth and Heaven is the source of the Joy, the An anda, that the Poet unseals and distributes. Heaven and Earth join and meet in the world of Delight; between them they press out Soma, the drink of the gods.
The Mind and the Body are held together by means of the Life, the mid-world. The Divine Mind by raising the body-consciousness into itself gathers up too, by that act, the delight of life and releases the fountain of immortal Bliss. That is the work and achievement of the gods as poets.
Where then is the birth of the Poets? Ask it of the Masters. The Poets have seized and mastered the Mind, they have the perfect working and they fashion the Heaven.
On this Earth they hold everywhere in themselves all the secrets. They make Earth and Heaven move together, so that they may realise their heroic strength. They measure them with their rhythmic measurings, they hold in their controlled grasp the vast and great twins, and unite them and establish between them the mid-world of Delight for the perfect poise.30
All the gods are poetstheir forms are perfect, surpa, suda, their Names full of beauty,cru devasya nma.31 This means also that the gods embody the different powers that constitute the poetic consciousness. Agni is the Seer-Will, the creative vision of the Poet the luminous energy born of an experience by identity with the Truth. Indra is the Idea-Form, the architectonic conception of the work or achievement. Mitra and Varuna are the large harmony, the vast cadence and sweep of movement. The Aswins, the Divine Riders, represent the intense zest of well-yoked Life-Energy. Soma is Rasa, An anda, the Supreme Bliss and Delight.
The Vedic Poet is doubtless the poet of Life, the architect of Divinity in man, of Heaven upon earth. But what is true of Life is fundamentally true of Art tooat least true of the Art as it was conceived by the ancient seers and as it found expression at their h ands.32
Rig Veda, X. 124. 7
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The Vedic term Kavi means literally 'a seer', 'one who has the vision', as the word 'poet' means etymologically 'a doer', 'a creator'. I have combined the two senses to equate the terms and bring out the meaning involved in their more current acceptation.
***
0.00a - Introduction, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
The age-old advice, "Know thyself," is more imperative than ever. The tempo of science has accelerated to such a degree that today's discoveries frequently make yesterday's equations obsolescent almost before they can be chalked up on a blackboard. Small wonder, then that every other 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 where, and the other to threatened annihilation of his species.
In view of this situation it is doubly reassuring to know that, even in the midst of chaotic concepts and conditions there still remains a door through which man, individually, can enter into a vast store-house of knowledge, knowledge as dependable and immutable as the measured tread of Eternity.
For this reason I am especially pleased to be writing an introduction to a new edition of A Garden of Pomegranates. I feel that never, perhaps, was the need more urgent for just such a roadmap as the Qabalistic system provides. It should be equally useful to any who chooses to follow it, whether he be Jew, Christian or Buddhist, Deist, Theosophist, agnostic or atheist.
The Qabalah is a trustworthy guide, leading to a comprehension both of the Universe and one's own Self. Sages have long taught that Man is a miniature of the Universe, containing within himself the diverse elements of that macrocosm of which he is the microcosm. Within the Qabalah is a glyph called the Tree of Life which is at once a symbolic map of the Universe in its major aspects, and also of its smaller counterpart, Man.
Manly P. Hall, in The Secret Teachings of All Ages, deplores the failure of modern science to "sense the profundity of these philosophical deductions of the ancients." Were they to do so, he says, they "would realize those who fabricated the structure of the Qabalah possessed a knowledge of the celestial plan comparable in every respect with that of the modern savant."
Fortunately many scientists in the field of psycho therapy are beginning to sense this correlation. In Francis G. Wickes' The Inner World of Choice reference is made to "the existence in every person of a galaxy of potentialities for growth marked by a succession of personalogical evolution and interaction with environments." She points out that man is not only an individual particle but "also a part of the human stream, governed by a Self greater than his own individual self."
The Book of the 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 the realm of his own Unconscious. This realm, he will learn if he persists, is not hemmed in by the boundaries of his physical body but is one with the boundless reaches of outer space.
Those who, armed with the tools provided by the Qabalah, have made the journey within and crossed beyond the barriers of illusion, have returned with an impressive quantity of knowledge which conforms strictly to the 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."
Over and over their findings have been confirmed, proving the Qabalah contains within it not only the elements of the science itself but the method with which to pursue it.
When planning to visit a foreign country, the wise traveler will first familiarize himself with its language. In studying music, chemistry or calculus, a specific terminology is essential to the underst anding of each subject. So a new set of symbols is necessary when undertaking a study of the Universe, whether within or without. The Qabalah provides such a set in unexcelled fashion.
But the Qabalah is more. It also lays the foundation on which rests another archaic science- Magic. Not to be confused with the conjurer's sleight-of-h and, Magic has been defined by Aleister Crowley as "the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will." Dion Fortune qualifies this nicely with an added clause, "changes in consciousness."
The Qabalah reveals the nature of certain physical and psychological phenomena. Once these are apprehended, understood and correlated, the student can use the principles of Magic to exercise control over life's conditions and circumstances not otherwise possible. In short. Magic provides the practical application of the theories supplied by the Qabalah.
It serves yet another vital function. In addition to the advantages to be gained from its philosophical application, the ancients discovered a very practical use for the literal Qabalah.
Each letter of the Qabalistic alphabet has a number, color, many symbols and a Tarot card attributed to it. The Qabalah not only aids in an underst anding of the Tarot, but teaches the student how to classify and organize all such ideas, numbers and symbols. Just as a knowledge of Latin will give insight into the meaning of an unfamiliar English word with a Latin root, so the knowledge of the Qabalah with the various attri butions to each character in its alphabet will enable the student to underst and and correlate ideas and concepts which otherwise would have no apparent relation.
A simple example is the concept of the Trinity in the Christian religion. The student is frequently amazed to learn through a study of the Qabalah that Egyptian mythology followed a similar concept with its trinity of gods, Osiris the father, Isis the virgin-mother, and Horus the son. The Qabalah indicates similar correspondences in the pantheon of Roman and Greek deities, proving the father-mother (Holy Spirit) - son principles of deity are primordial archetypes of man's psyche, rather than being, as is frequently and erroneously supposed a development peculiar to the Christian era.
At this juncture let me call attention to one set of attri butions by Rittangelius usually found as an appendix attached to the Sepher Yetzirah. It lists a series of "Intelligences" for each one of the ten Sephiros and the twenty-two Paths of the Tree of Life. It seems to me, after prolonged meditation, that the common attri butions of these Intelligences is altogether arbitrary and lacking in serious meaning.
For example, Keser is called "The Admirable or the Hidden Intelligence; it is the Primal Glory, for no created being can attain to its essence." This seems perfectly all right; the meaning at first sight seems to fit the significance of Keser as the first emanation from Ain Soph. But there are half a dozen other similar attri butions that would have served equally well. For instance, it could have been called the "Occult Intelligence" usually attri buted to the seventh Path or Sephirah, for surely Keser is secret in a way to be said of no other Sephirah. and what about the "Absolute or Perfect Intelligence." That would have been even more explicit and appropriate, being applicable to Keser far more than to any other of the Paths. Similarly, there is one attri buted to the 16th Path and called "The Eternal or Triumphant Intelligence," so-called because it is the pleasure of the Glory, beyond which is no Glory like to it, and it is called also the Paradise prepared for the Righteous." Any of these several would have done equally well. Much is true of so many of the other attri butions in this particular area-that is the so-called Intelligences of the Sepher Yetzirah. I do not think that their use or current arbitrary usage st ands up to serious examination or criticism.
A good many attri butions in other symbolic areas, I feel are subject to the same criticism. The Egyptian Gods have been used with a good deal of carelessness, and without sufficient explanation of motives in assigning them 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 the material given piecemeal in the Golden Dawn knowledge lectures), he gives for the first time brief explanations of the motives for his attri butions. I too should have been far more explicit in the explanations I used in the case of some of the Gods whose names were used many times, most inadequately, where several paths were concerned. While it is true that the religious coloring of the Egyptian Gods differed from time to time during Egypt's turbulent history, nonetheless a word or two about just that one single point could have served a useful purpose.
Some of the passages in the book force me today to emphasize that so far as the Qabalah is concerned, it could and should be employed without binding to it the partisan qualities of any one particular religious faith. This goes as much for Judaism as it does for Christianity. Neither has much intrinsic usefulness where this scientific scheme is concerned. If some students feel hurt by this statement, that cannot be helped. The day of most contemporary faiths is over; they have been more of a curse than a boon to mankind. Nothing that I say here, however, should reflect on the peoples concerned, those who accept these religions. They are merely unfortunate. The religion itself is worn out and indeed is dying.
The Qabalah has nothing to do with any of them. Attempts on the part of cultish-partisans to impart higher mystical meanings, through the Qabalah, etc., to their now sterile faiths is futile, and will be seen as such by the younger generation. They, the flower and love children, will have none of this nonsense.
I felt this a long time ago, as I still do, but even more so. The only way to explain the partisan Jewish attitude demonstrated in some small sections of the book can readily be explained. I had been reading some writings of Arthur Edward Waite, and some of his pomposity and turgidity stuck to my mantle. I disliked his patronising Christian attitude, and so swung all the way over to the other side of the pendulum. Actually, neither faith is particularly important in this day and age. I must be careful never to read Waite again before embarking upon literary work of my own.
Much knowledge obtained by the ancients through the use of the Qabalah has been supported by discoveries of modern scientists- anthropologists, astronomers, psychiatrists, et al. Learned Qabalists for hundreds of years have been aware of what the psychiatrist has only discovered in the last few decades-that man's concept of himself, his deities and the Universe is a constantly evolving process, changing as man himself evolves on a higher spiral. But the roots of his concepts are buried in a race-consciousness that antedated Ne anderthal man by uncounted aeons of time.
What Jung calls archetypal images constantly rise to the surface of man's awareness from the vast unconscious that is the common heritage of all mankind.
The tragedy of civilized man is that he is cut off from awareness of his own instincts. The Qabalah can help him achieve the necessary underst anding to effect a reunion with them, so that rather than being driven by forces he does not underst and, he can harness for his conscious use the same power that guides the homing pigeon, teaches the beaver to build a dam and keeps the planets revolving in their appointed orbits about the sun.
I began the study of the Qabalah at an early age. Two books I read then have played unconsciously a prominent part in the writing of my own book. One of these was "Q.B.L. or the Bride's Reception" by Frater Achad (Charles Stansfeld Jones), which I must have first read around 1926. The other was "An Introduction to the Tarot" by Paul Foster Case, published in the early 1920's. It is now out of print, superseded by later versions of the same topic. But as I now glance through this slender book, I perceive how profoundly even the format of his book had influenced me, though in these two instances there was not a trace of plagiarism. It had not consciously occurred to me until recently that I owed so much to them. Since Paul Case passed away about a decade or so ago, this gives me the opportunity to thank him, overtly, wherever he may now be.
By the middle of 1926 I had become aware of the 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.
All sorts of books have been written on the Qabalah, some poor, some few others extremely good. But I came to feel the need for what might be called a sort of Berlitz h andbook, a concise but comprehensive introduction, studded with diagrams and tables of easily understood definitions and correspondences to simplify the student's grasp of so complicated and abstruse a subject.
During a short retirement in North Devon in 1931, I began to amalgamate my notes. It was out of these that A Garden of Pomegranates gradually emerged. I unashamedly admit that my book contains many direct plagiarisms from Crowley, Waite, Eliphas Levi, and D. H. Lawrence. I had incorporated numerous fragments from their works into my notebooks without citing individual references to the various sources from which I condensed my notes.
Prior to the closing down of the M andrake Press in London about 1930-31, I was employed as company secretary for a while. Along with several Crowley books, the M andrake Press published a lovely little monogram by D. H. Lawrence entitled "Apropos of Lady Chatterley's Lover." My own copy accompanied me on my travels for long years. Only recently did I discover that it had been lost. I hope that any one of my former patients who had borrowed it will see fit to return it to me forthwith.
--
Some modern Nature-worshippers and members of the newly-washed and redeemed witch-cult have complimented me on this closing chapter which I entitled 'The Ladder." I am pleased about this. For a very long time I was not at all familiar with the 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 theme and literature just a few years ago, after reading "The Anatomy of Eve" written by Dr. Leopold Stein, a Jungian analyst. In the middle of his study of four cases, he included a most informative chapter on the subject. This served to stimulate me to wider reading in that area.
In 1932, at the suggestion of Thomas Burke, the novelist, I submitted my manuscript to one of his publishers, Messrs. Constable in London. They were unable to use it, but made some encouraging comments and advised me to submit it to Riders. To my delight and surprise, Riders published it, and throughout the years the reaction it has had indicated other students found it also fulfilled their need for a condensed and simplified survey of such a vast subject as the Qabalah.
The importance of the book to me was and is five-fold. 1) It provided a yardstick by which to measure my personal progress in the underst anding of the Qabalah. 2) Therefore it can have an equivalent value to the modern student. 3) It serves as a theoretical introduction to the Qabalistic foundation of the magical work of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. 4) It throws considerable light on the occasionally obscure writings of Aleister Crowley. 5) It is dedicated to Crowley, who was the Ankh-af-na-Khonsu mentioned in The Book of the 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 the origins and basic nature of man, Robert Ardrey in African Genesis recently made a shocking statement. Although man has begun the conquest of outer space, the ignorance of his own nature, says Ardrey, "has become institutionalized, universalized and sanctified." He further states that were a brotherhood 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 when the means are readily available for man to acquire a thorough underst anding of himself- and in so doing, an underst anding of his neighbor and the world in which he lives as well as the 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 c andle of inner vision and begin his journey into the boundless space that lies within himself. Then, through realization of his true identity, each student can become a lamp unto his own path. and more. Awareness of the Truth of his being will rip asunder the veil of unknowing that has heretofore enshrouded the star he already is, permitting the brilliance of his light to illumine the darkness of that part of the Universe in which he abides.
000 - Humans in Universe, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science
000.101 The combined l and areas of Africa, Europe, and Asia embrace within
their perimeters the Mediterranean, Black, Caspian, Aral, China, Arabian, Red,
Baltic, and North seas: altogether their area was historically thought of only as a flat
Universe s andwiched between heaven above and hell below and seemingly
stretching away to infinity in all lateral directions. Yet the total l and area of this flat
--
1500 lay well within that "known" flat world: it was and as yet remains the
spontaneous theater of popular historical conceptioning.
--
4,000 years ago in Babylon and Mesopotamia, it is already a very sophisticated
science. Mathematics may well have had its beginnings much earlier in India or
Indochina, as it is an art and science that has traveled consistently westward. Over
3,000 years ago the Greeks made further magnificent contributions to geometry,
algebra, and calculation. Then about 2,000 years ago the Roman Empire all but
obliterated mathematics. A little more than 1,000 years ago Arabs and Hindus
traveling through North Africa began to restore some of the ancient mathematics to
--
facilitated division and multiplication. Imagine trying to multiply or divide with
Roman numerals . . . impossible! The Renaissance began with the new calculating
--
work of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton, but it also brought about
Columbus' revised concepts of terrestrial navigation. It went on to instrument the
mechanical and leverage calculation capabilities of Leonardo; and in the art of shipdesign the cipher gave birth to structural and mechanical engineering, which made
possible the intertensioning and compressioning calculations of the ribbed structural
strength of a sailing vessel as well as that of its vast wind-energy-driven complex of
compression and tension spars, sails, and rigging-replacing the trial- and-error
guesswork that had previously been used in naval and l and architecture. This
capability in mathematical multiplication and division opened up a whole new field
of safely anticipated structural engineering and navigation.
000.105 This new anticipatory science made large engineering projects possible,
but it became known to, and then was employed by, only the world's richest
schemers, monarchs, nations, and pirate enterprisers. No others could afford to buy
great ships. With more powerfully engineered ships, humans emerged westward
--
and the Pacific by water, and to circumnavigate the globe. Thus it became public
knowledge that the old open-edged, infinite world system had closed back on itself
--
monarchs and merchants realized that, within that closed system, whoever
comm anded the line of most efficient high seas supply would become the masters
--
Queen Elizabeth and a small group of her intimates. The limited legal liability of
their enterprise was granted by royal decree, and its projects were thereafter
militarily sustained and protected by Great Britain's Royal Navy and colonial
troops. In Engl and the East India Company College was established to train the
officers of the enterprise for their world-wide deployment; that college and its
h andsome campus are still in operation as of 1979. The British Empire became the
--
production at only an arithmetic (linear) rate of gain. and since the Earth is a finite,
closed-system sphere, it apparently became scientifically manifest that there is a
--
survival as well. Karl Marx accepted the scientific viewpoints of both Malthus and
Darwin when he declared in effect that the working class is the fittest to .survive:
they know how to use the tools and to cultivate the fields-the wealthy are parasites.
This inaugurated the supranational concept of two world-wide political classes and
two competing theories of political organization.
000.109 As a consequence of the discoveries of Malthus and Darwin all the great
political ideologies have since adopted a prime philosophy that says: "You may not
--
logical, and ingenious method of coping with the inherent inadequacy of terrestrial
life support, but since there are others who disagree diametrically about the best
--
science and technology. The military took comm and of all the highest performance
materials, brains, instruments, and tools of production.
000.110 Mutually assumed survival-only-of-the-fittest is the reason why the
United States and the USSR have for the past 30 years appropriated 200 billion
dollars annually to buy ever more effective weapons of potential destruction. The
great political and industrial power structures have all become supranational
comprehensivists, while the people have been passport-chained to their respective
--
could see, smell, touch, and hear. Then at the entry into the 20th century the
electron was discovered. A century after the time of Malthus much of science
--
and atomics. These invisible micro- and macro-exploring cosmic instruments
provided for rearrangements of atomic interpositioning whose metallic alloying and
chemical structuring produces ever more powerful and incisive performances perpound of physical matter employed.
000.112 Structures are complexes of visible or invisible physical events
--
Universe outside the structural system (macrocosm) and all Universe inside the
structural system (microcosm). Newton's discovery of mass interattraction showed
--
exponentially as the interdistances decrease arithmetically, and vice versa: halve the
interdistance and make fourfold the interattractive integrity of the remotely bodied
structural system. That is the law of gravity. Symmetrical, noncontacting,
--
000.114 All structural systems are comprised of tension and compression
components. Stone masonry has a high compression-resisting strength of 50,000
--
strength (averaging approximately 10,000 p.s.i.) and of relatively low compression-
resistive capability (also approximately 10,000 p.s.i.). Wood floated on water and
could move useful loads horizontally; wood made good rafts for transporting
--
design and fabricate air-enclosing wooden vessels whose structure and space
enclosure combined to produce highly successful wooden vessels of the sea that
--
iron, carbon, and manganese having a tensile strength of 50,000 p.s.i. as well as a
compression-resisting capability of 50.000 p.s.i. Steel has the same compression-
--
capability than masonry and five times the tensile or compressive strength of wood.
Steel brought mankind a structural-tension capability to match stone's previous
--
opening of the 20th century- and aluminum alloys and stainless steel by the 1930s.
These new materials made it possible to design and build engine-powered all-metal
airplanes (structural vessels), which could pull themselves angularly above the
horizontal and ever more steeply aloft. With the advent of successively higher
strength-to-weight ratios of metal alloys and glass-reinforced plastic materials, ever
more heavily laden airplanes were designed, which could climb ever more steeply
--
capability that they accomplished "vertol" jet plane flight and vertical space-vehicle
blastoffs. Since then human scientists developing ever greater strength per weight
--
structuring capability of 600,000 p.s.i. The means of accomplishing this new and
overwhelming structural strength has become entirely invisible. Fully 99 percent of
--
interatomic proximity of atoms and electrons of electromagnetic events, they can
witness the ever more vertical takeoff-angle capabilities manifesting human
comprehension of the fundamental structuring principles and their military
developments and profitable commercial uses. But only vast money investments or
vast governments can afford to exploit the increased technical advantages.
--
bootstraps." Today we are lifting ever lighter and stronger structural vessel "selves"by ever less effort of our scientific know-how bootstraps. No economist knows this.
It is the most highly classified of military and private enterprise secrets. Industry
now converts the ever-increasing work capacity per pound of materials invested
--
advances of the 20th century, and employing only well-proven technologies and
already mined and ever more copiously recirculating materials, it is now technically
feasible to retool and redirect world industry in such a manner that within 10 years
we can have all of humanity enjoying a sustainably higher st andard of living-with
--
fuels and atomic energy, since the retooled world industry and individual energy
needs will have become completely supplied by our combined harvests of
electromagnetic, photosynthetic, chemical, and biological products of the daily
energy income initially produced by Sun and gravity. Industry, retooled from
weapons production to livingry production, will rehouse the deployed phases of
--
moon-crater cities that will be energy-harvesting and -exporting centers rather than
energy sinkholes.
--
there is a sustainable abundance of life support and accommodation for all, it
follows that all politics and warring are obsolete and invalid. We no longer need to
rationalize selfishness. No one need ever again "earn a living." Further living for all
--
through taxation and would have no way of putting meters between the people and
their directly received individual cosmic incomes. So too, private enterprise should
--
they are organized for and sustained by the problems imposed by the assumption of
fundamental inadequacies of life support.
--
threatening both in terms of modern weaponry and as job-eliminating competition
for their life-sustaining opportunities to "earn a living." Ergo, humanity thinks it is
against technology and thinks itself averse to exercising its option.
000.125 The fact that 99 percent of humanity does not underst and nature is the
--
discovery and comprehension of nature is the obscurity of the mathematical
language of science. Fortunately, however, nature is not using the strictly
imaginary, awkward, and unrealistic coordinate system adopted by and taught by
present-day academic science.
--
parallel. She operates in radiational divergence and gravitational convergence. She
grows outwardly by omniintertriangulated structuring from nuclei.
000.127 Nature is inherently eight-dimensional, and the first four of these
dimensions are the four planes of symmetry of the minimum structure of Universe-
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triangulated cube 3, the octahedron 4, the rhombic triacontahedron 5, and the
rhombic dodecahedron 6. When the size information is introduced, it occurs only asfrequency of modular subdivision of each unit vector structuring of the primitive
family's respective 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-tetravolumes. Frequency to the third
power, F 3 , values then multiply the primitive, already-four-dimensional volumetric
--
since each system is inherently independent in Universe and therefore has
spinnability, one more dimensional factor is required, making a total of eight
--
environment of each and every system requires several more intercovarying system
dimensions-planetary, solar, galactic, intergalactic. Because of the six positive and
six negative degrees of freedom governing systems-within-systems
--
spontaneously attractive and can be used to teach all the world's people nature's
coordinating system- and can do so in time to make it possible for all humanity to
favorably comprehend and to exercise its option to attain universal physical
success, thereby eliminating forevermore all world politics and competition for the
right to live. The hydrogen atom does not have to compromise its function potential
--
included in this cosmic design as local Universe information-gatherers and local
problem-solvers in support of the integrity of the eternal, 100-percent-efficient, self-
--
were given their minds with which to discover and employ the generalized laws
governing all physical and metaphysical, omniinteraccommodative, ceaseless
intertransformings of Universe.
--
Malthusian concept of the fundamental inadequacy of life support, and so they have
misused their minds to develop only personal and partisan advantages, intellectual
cunning, and selfishness. Intellectual cunning has concentrated on how to divorcemoney from true life-support wealth; second, cunning has learned how to make
money with money by making it scarce. As of the 1970s muscle, guns, and
intellectual cunning are ruling world affairs and keeping them competitive by
continuing the false premise of universal inadequacy of life support. If mind comes
--
revolution and will enter a new and-lasting epoch of physical success for all. If not,
it will be curtains for all humanity within this century.
000.131 In complement with Synergetics 1 and 2 the posters at color plates 1-10
may clarify for everyone the few scientific conceptions and mathematical tools
necessary for universal comprehension and individual use of nature's synergetic
geometrical intertransformings.
--
and no one will work for money and no one will
work for fame
But each for the joy of working, and each in his
separate star,
0.00 - INTRODUCTION, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
MARRIAGE and AFTER
THE BRAHMANI
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KALI and MAYA
TOTAPURI'S LESSON
COMPANY OF HOLY MEN and DEVOTEES
ISLAM
--
RAM and MANOMOHAN
SURENDRA
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MAHIMACHARAN and PRATAP HAZRA
SOME NOTED MEN
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SASHI and SARAT
HARINATH
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SARADA and TULASI
WOMAN DEVOTEES
--
SRI RAMAKRISHNA, the God-man of modern India, was born at Kamarpukur. This village in the Hooghly District preserved during the last century the idyllic simplicity of the rural areas of Bengal. Situated far from the railway, it was untouched by the glamour of the city. It contained rice-fields, tall palms, royal banyans, a few lakes, and two cremation grounds. South of the village a stream took its leisurely course. A mango orchard dedicated by a neighbouring zemindar to the public use was frequented by the boys for their noonday sports. A highway passed through the village to the great temple of Jagannath at Puri, and the villagers, most of whom were farmers and craftsmen, entertained many passing holy men and pilgrims. The dull round of the rural life was broken by lively festivals, the observance of sacred days, religious singing, and other innocent pleasures.
About his parents Sri Ramakrishna once said: "My mother was the personification of rectitude and gentleness. She did not know much about the ways of the world; innocent of the art of concealment, she would say what was in her mind. People loved her for her open-heartedness. My father, an orthodox brahmin, never accepted gifts from the sudras. He spent much of his time in worship and meditation, and in repeating God's name and chanting His glories. Whenever in his daily prayers he invoked the Goddess Gayatri, his chest flushed and tears rolled down his cheeks. He spent his leisure hours making garl ands for the Family Deity, Raghuvir."
Khudiram Chattopadhyaya and Ch andra Devi, the parents of Sri Ramakrishna, were married in 1799. At that time Khudiram was living in his ancestral village of Dereypore, not far from Kamarpukur. Their first son, Ramkumar, was born in 1805, and their first daughter, Katyayani, in 1810. In 1814 Khudiram was ordered by his l andlord to bear false witness in court against a neighbour. When he refused to do so, the l andlord brought a false case against him and deprived him of his ancestral property. Thus dispossessed, he arrived, at the invitation of another l andlord, in the quiet village of Kamarpukur, where he was given a dwelling and about an acre of fertile l and. The 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 the southern extremity of India. Two years later was born his second son, whom he named Rameswar. Again in 1835, at the age of sixty, he made a pilgrimage, this time to Gaya. Here, from ancient times, Hindus have come from the four corners of India to discharge their duties to their departed ancestors by offering them food and drink at the sacred footprint of the Lord Vishnu. At this holy place Khudiram had a dream in which the Lord Vishnu promised to he born as his son. and Ch andra Devi, too, in front of the Siva temple at Kamarpukur, had a vision indicating the birth of a divine child. Upon his return the husb and found that she had conceived.
It was on February 18, 1836, that the child, to be known afterwards as Ramakrishna, was born. In memory of the dream at Gaya he was given the name of Gadadhar, the "Bearer of the Mace", an epithet of Vishnu. Three years later a little sister was born.
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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 father's lap he learnt by heart the names of his ancestors and the hymns to the gods and goddesses, and at the village school he was taught to read and write. But his greatest delight was to listen to recitations of stories from Hindu mythology and the epics. These he would afterwards recount from memory, to the great joy of the villagers. Painting he enjoyed; the art of moulding images of the gods and goddesses he learnt from the potters. But arithmetic was his great aversion.
At the age of six or seven Gadadhar had his first experience of spiritual ecstasy. One day in June or July, when he was walking along a narrow path between paddy-fields, eating the puffed rice that he carried in a basket, he looked up at the sky and saw a beautiful, dark thunder-cloud. As it spread, rapidly enveloping the whole sky, a flight of snow-white cranes passed in front of it. The beauty of the contrast overwhelmed the boy. He fell to the ground, unconscious, and the puffed rice went in all directions. Some villagers found him and carried him home in their arms. Gadadhar said later that in that state he had experienced an indescribable joy.
Gadadhar was seven years old when his father died. This incident profoundly affected him. For the first time the boy realized that life on earth was impermanent. Unobserved by others, he began to slip into the mango orchard or into one of the cremation grounds, and he spent hours absorbed in his own thoughts. He also became more helpful to his mother in the discharge of her household duties. He gave more attention to reading and hearing the religious stories recorded in the Puranas. and he became interested in the w andering monks and pious pilgrims who would stop at Kamarpukur on their way to Puri. These holy men, the custodians of India's spiritual heritage and the living witnesses of the ideal of renunciation of the world and all-absorbing love of God, entertained the little boy with stories from the Hindu epics, stories of saints and prophets, and also stories of their own adventures. He, on his part, fetched their water and fuel and
served them in various ways. Meanwhile, he was observing their meditation and worship.
At the age of nine Gadadhar was invested with the sacred thread. This ceremony conferred upon him the privileges of his brahmin lineage, including the worship of the Family Deity, Raghuvir, and imposed upon him the many strict disciplines of a brahmin's life. During the ceremony of investiture he shocked his relatives by accepting a meal cooked by his nurse, a sudra woman. His father 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. The woman had piety and religious sincerity, and these were more important to the boy than the 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 the worship that the stone image very soon appeared to him as the living Lord of the 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 the Sivaratri night, consecrated to the worship of Siva, a dramatic performance was arranged. The principal actor, who was to play the part of Siva, suddenly fell ill, and Gadadhar was persuaded to act in his place. While friends were dressing him for the role of Siva — smearing his body with ashes, matting his locks, placing a trident in his h and and a string of rudraksha beads around his neck — the boy appeared to become absent-minded. He approached the stage with slow and measured step, supported by his friends. He looked the living image of Siva. The 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 the outer world. The effect of this scene on the audience was tremendous. The people felt blessed as by a vision of Siva Himself. The performance had to be stopped, and the boy's mood lasted till the following morning.
Gadadhar himself now organized a dramatic company with his young friends. The stage was set in the mango orchard. The themes were selected from the stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Gadadhar knew by heart almost all the roles, having heard them from professional actors. His favourite theme was the Vrindavan episode of Krishna's life, depicting those exquisite love-stories of Krishna and the milkmaids and the cowherd boys. Gadadhar would play the parts of Radha or Krishna and would often lose himself in the character he was portraying. His natural feminine grace heightened the dramatic effect. The mango orchard would ring with the loud kirtan of the boys. Lost in song and merry-making, Gadadhar became indifferent to the routine of school.
In 1849 Ramkumar, the eldest son, went to Calcutta to improve the financial condition of the family.
Gadadhar was on the threshold of youth. He had become the pet of the women of the village. They loved to hear him talk, sing, or recite from the holy books. They enjoyed his knack of imitating voices. Their woman's instinct recognized the innate purity and guilelessness of this boy of clear skin, flowing hair, beaming eyes, smiling face, and inexhaustible fun. The pious elderly women looked upon him as Gopala, the Baby Krishna, and the younger ones saw in him the youthful Krishna of Vrindavan. He himself so idealized the love of the 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 the age of sixteen Gadadhar was summoned to Calcutta by his elder brother Ramkumar, who wished 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 brother'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 the professional priests. He spent hours decorating the images and singing hymns and devotional songs; he performed with love the other duties of his office. People were impressed with his ardour. But to his studies he paid scant attention.
Ramkumar did not at first oppose the ways of his temperamental brother. He wanted Gadadhar to become used to the conditions of city life. But one day he decided to warn the boy about his indifference to the world. After all, in the near future Gadadhar must, as a householder, earn his livelihood through the performance of his brahminical duties; and these required a thorough knowledge of Hindu law, astrology, and kindred subjects. He gently admonished Gadadhar and asked him to pay more attention to his studies. But the boy replied spiritedly: "Brother, what shall I do with a mere bread-winning education? I would rather acquire that wisdom which will illumine my heart and give me satisfaction for ever."
--- BREAD-WINNING EDUCATION
The anguish of the inner soul of India found expression through these passionate words of the young Gadadhar. For what did his unsophisticated eyes see around him in Calcutta, at that time the metropolis of India and the centre of modem culture and learning? Greed and lust held sway in the higher levels of society, and the occasional religious practices were merely outer forms from which the soul had long ago departed. Gadadhar had never seen anything like this at Kamarpukur among the simple and pious villagers. The sadhus and w andering monks whom he had served in his boyhood had revealed to him an altogether different India. He had been impressed by their devotion and purity, their self-control and renunciation. He had learnt from them and from his own intuition that the ideal of life as taught by the ancient sages of India was the realization of God.
When Ramkumar reprim anded Gadadhar for neglecting a "bread-winning education", the inner voice of the boy reminded him that the legacy of his ancestors — the legacy of Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Sankara, Ramanuja, Chaitanya — was not worldly security but the Knowledge of God. and these noble sages were the true representatives of Hindu society. Each of them was seated, as it were, on the crest of the wave that followed each successive trough in the tumultuous course of Indian national life. All demonstrated that the 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 the barriers of time and space. But he was unaware of the history of the profound change that had taken place in the l and of his birth during the previous one hundred years.
Hindu society during the eighteenth century had been passing through a period of decadence. It was the twilight of the Mussalman rule. There were anarchy and confusion in all spheres. Superstitious practices dominated the religious life of the people. Rites and rituals passed for the essence of spirituality. Greedy priests became the custodians of heaven. True philosophy was supplanted by dogmatic opinions. The pundits took delight in vain polemics.
In 1757 English traders laid the foundation of British rule in India. Gradually the Government was systematized and lawlessness suppressed. The Hindus were much impressed by the military power and political acumen of the new rulers. In the wake of the merchants came the English educators, and social reformers, and Christian missionaries — all bearing a culture completely alien to the Hindu mind. In different parts of the country educational institutions were set up and Christian churches established. Hindu young men were offered the heady wine of the Western culture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and they drank it to the very dregs.
The first effect of the draught on the educated Hindus was a complete effacement from their minds of the time-honoured beliefs and traditions of Hindu society. They came to believe that there was no transcendental Truth; The world perceived by the senses was all that existed. God and religion were illusions of the untutored mind. True knowledge could be derived only from the analysis of nature. So atheism and agnosticism became the fashion of the day. The youth of India, taught in English schools, took malicious delight in openly breaking the customs and traditions of their society. They would do away with the caste-system and remove the discriminatory laws about food. Social reform, the spread of secular education, widow remarriage, abolition of early marriage — they considered these the panacea for the degenerate condition of Hindu society.
The Christian missionaries gave the finishing touch to the process of transformation. They ridiculed as relics of a barbarous age the images and rituals of the Hindu religion. They tried to persuade India that the teachings of her saints and seers were the cause of her downfall, that her Vedas, Puranas, and other scriptures were filled with superstition. Christianity, they maintained, had given the white races position and power in this world and assurance of happiness in the next; therefore Christianity was the best of all religions. Many intelligent young Hindus became converted. The man in the street was confused. The majority of the educated grew materialistic in their mental outlook. Everyone living near Calcutta or the other strong-holds of Western culture, even those who attempted to cling to the orthodox traditions of Hindu society, became infected by the new uncertainties and the new beliefs.
But the soul of India was to be resuscitated through a spiritual awakening. We hear the first call of this renascence in the spirited retort of the young Gadadhar: "Brother, what shall I do with a mere bread-winning education?"
Ramkumar could hardly underst and the import of his young brother's reply. He described in bright colours the happy and easy life of scholars in Calcutta society. But Gadadhar intuitively felt that the scholars, to use one of his own vivid illustrations, were like so many vultures, soaring high on the wings of their uninspired intellect, with their eyes fixed on the charnel-pit of greed and lust. So he stood firm and Ramkumar had to give way.
--- KALI TEMPLE AT DAKSHINESWAR
At that time there lived in Calcutta a rich widow named Rani Rasmani, belonging to the 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. She was assisted in the management of her vast property by her son-in-law Mathur Mohan.
In 1847 the Rani purchased twenty acres of l and at Dakshineswar, a village about four miles north of Calcutta. Here she created a temple garden and constructed several temples. Her Ishta, or Chosen Ideal, was the Divine Mother, Kali.
The temple garden st ands directly on the east bank of the Ganges. The northern section of the l and and a portion to the east contain an orchard, flower gardens, and two small reservoirs. The southern section is paved with brick and mortar. The visitor arriving by boat ascends the steps of an imposing bathing-ghat which leads to the ch andni, a roofed terrace, on either side of which st and in a row six temples of Siva. East of the terrace and the Siva temples is a large court, paved, rectangular in shape, and running north and south. Two temples st and in the centre of this court, the larger one, to the south and facing south, being dedicated to Kali, and the smaller one, facing the Ganges, to Radhakanta, that is, Krishna, the Consort of Radha. Nine domes with spires surmount the temple of Kali, and before it st ands the spacious natm andir, or music hall, the terrace of which is sup- ported by stately pillars. At the northwest and southwest
corners of the temple compound are two nahabats, or music towers, from which music flows at different times of day, especially at sunup, noon, and sundown, when the worship is performed in the temples. Three sides of the paved courtyard — all except the west — are lined with rooms set apart for kitchens, store-rooms, dining-rooms, and quarters for the temple staff and guests. The chamber in the northwest angle, just beyond the last of the Siva temples, is of special interest to us; for here Sri Ramakrishna was to spend a considerable part of his life. To the west of this chamber is a semicircular porch overlooking the river. In front of the porch runs a foot-path, north and south, and beyond the path is a large garden and, below the garden, the Ganges. The orchard to the north of the buildings contains the Panchavati, the banyan, and the bel-tree, associated with Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual practices. Outside and to the north of the temple compound proper is the kuthi, or bungalow, used by members of Rani Rasmani's family visiting the garden. and north of the temple garden, separated from it by a high wall, is a powder-magazine belonging to the British Government.
--- SIVA
In the twelve Siva temples are installed the emblems of the Great God of renunciation in His various aspects, worshipped daily with proper rites. Siva requires few articles of worship. White flowers and bel-leaves and a little Ganges water offered with devotion are enough to satisfy the benign Deity and win from Him the boon of liberation.
--- RADHAKANTA
The temple of Radhakanta, also known as the temple of Vishnu, contains the images of Radha and Krishna, the symbol of union with God through ecstatic love. The two images st and on a pedestal facing the west. The floor is paved with marble. From the ceiling of the porch hang ch andeliers protected from dust by coverings of red cloth. Canvas screens shield the images from the rays of the setting sun. Close to the threshold of the inner shrine is a small brass cup containing holy water. Devoted visitors reverently drink a few drops from the vessel.
--- KALI
The main temple is dedicated to Kali, the Divine Mother, here worshipped as Bhavatarini, the Saviour of the Universe. The floor of this temple also is paved with marble. The basalt image of the Mother, dressed in gorgeous gold brocade, st ands on a white marble image of the prostrate body of Her Divine Consort, Siva, the symbol of the Absolute. On the feet of the Goddess are, among other ornaments, anklets of gold. Her arms are decked with jewelled ornaments of gold. She wears necklaces of gold and pearls, a golden garl and of human heads, and a girdle of human arms. She wears a golden crown, golden ear-rings, and a golden nose-ring with a pearl-drop. She has four arms. The lower left h and holds a severed human head and the upper grips a blood-stained sabre. One right h and offers boons to Her children; the other allays their fear. The majesty of Her posture can hardly be described. It combines the terror of destruction with the reassurance of motherly tenderness. For She is the Cosmic Power, the totality of the universe, a glorious harmony of the pairs of opposites. She deals out death, as She creates and preserves. She has three eyes, the third being the symbol of Divine Wisdom; they strike dismay into the wicked, yet pour out affection for Her devotees.
The whole symbolic world is represented in the temple garden — the Trinity of the Nature Mother (Kali), the Absolute (Siva), and Love (Radhakanta), the Arch spanning heaven and earth. The terrific Goddess of the Tantra, the soul-enthralling Flute-Player of the Bhagavata, and the Self-absorbed Absolute of the Vedas live together, creating the greatest synthesis of religions. All aspects of Reality are represented there. But of this divine household, Kali is the pivot, the sovereign Mistress. She is Prakriti, the Procreatrix, Nature, the Destroyer, the Creator. Nay, She is something greater and deeper still for those who have eyes to see. She is the Universal Mother, "my Mother" as Ramakrishna would say, the All-powerful, who reveals Herself to Her children under different aspects and Divine Incarnations, the Visible God, who leads the elect to the Invisible Reality; and if it so pleases Her, She takes away the last trace of ego from created beings and merges it in the consciousness of the Absolute, the undifferentiated God. Through Her grace "the finite ego loses itself in the illimitable Ego — Atman — Brahman". (Romain Holl and, Prophets of the New India, p. 11.)
Rani Rasmani spent a fortune for the construction of the temple garden and another fortune for its dedication ceremony, which took place on May 31, 1855.
Sri Ramakrishna — henceforth we shall call Gadadhar by this familiar name —1 came to the temple garden with his elder brother Ramkumar, who was appointed priest of the Kali temple. Sri Ramakrishna did not at first approve of Ramkumar's working for the sudra Rasmani. The example of their orthodox father was still fresh in Sri Ramakrishna's mind. He objected also to the eating of the cooked offerings of the temple, since, according to orthodox Hindu custom, such food can be offered to the Deity only in the house of a brahmin. But the holy atmosphere of the temple grounds, the solitude of the surrounding wood, the loving care of his brother, the respect shown him by Rani Rasmani and Mathur Babu, the living presence of the Goddess Kali in the temple, and; above all, the proximity of the sacred Ganges, which Sri Ramakrishna always held in the highest respect, gradually overcame his disapproval, and he began to feel at home.
Within a very short time Sri Ramakrishna attracted the notice of Mathur Babu, who was impressed by the young man's religious fervour and wanted him to participate in the worship in the Kali temple. But Sri Ramakrishna loved his freedom and was indifferent to any worldly career. The profession of the priesthood in a temple founded by a rich woman did not appeal to his mind. Further, he hesitated to take upon himself the responsibility for the ornaments and jewelry of the temple. Mathur had to wait for a suitable occasion.
At this time there came to Dakshineswar a youth of sixteen, destined to play an important role in Sri Ramakrishna's life. Hriday, a distant nephew2 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 the sacrifice of his personal comfort. He was destined to be a mute witness of many of the spiritual experiences of Sri Ramakrishna and the caretaker of his body during the 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 the persuasion of Mathur Babu, Sri Ramakrishna at last entered the temple service, on condition that Hriday should be asked to assist him. His first duty was to dress and decorate the image of Kali.
One day the priest of the Radhakanta temple accidentally dropped the image of Krishna on the floor, breaking one of its legs. The pundits advised the Rani to install a new image, since the worship of an image with a broken limb was against the scriptural injunctions. But the Rani was fond of the image, and she asked Sri Ramakrishna's opinion. In an abstracted mood, he said: "This solution is ridiculous. If a son-in-law of the Rani broke his leg, would she discard him and put another in his place? Wouldn't she rather arrange for his treatment? Why should she not do the same thing in this case too? Let the image be repaired and worshipped as before." It was a simple, straightforward solution and was accepted by the Rani. Sri Ramakrishna himself mended the break. The priest was dismissed for his carelessness, and at Mathur Babu's earnest request Sri Ramakrishna accepted the office of priest in the Radhakanta temple.
^No definite information is available as to the origin of this name. Most probably it was given by Mathur Babu, as Ramlal, Sri Ramakrishna's nephew, has said, quoting the authority of his uncle himself.
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Born in an orthodox brahmin family, Sri Ramakrishna knew the formalities of worship, its rites and rituals. The innumerable gods and goddesses of the Hindu religion are the human aspects of the indescribable and incomprehensible Spirit, as conceived by the finite human mind. They underst and and appreciate human love and emotion, help men to realize their secular and spiritual ideals, and ultimately enable men to attain liberation from the miseries of phenomenal life. The Source of light, intelligence, wisdom, and strength is the One alone from whom comes the 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. Therefore Hinduism asks the devotees to look on God as the ideal father, the ideal mother, the ideal husb and, the ideal son, or the ideal friend. But the name ultimately leads to the Nameless, the form to the Formless, the word to the Silence, the emotion to the serene realization of Peace in Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. The gods gradually merge in the one God. But until that realization is achieved, the devotee cannot dissociate human factors from his worship. Therefore the Deity is bathed and clothed and decked with ornaments. He is fed and put to sleep. He is propitiated with hymns, songs, and prayers. and there are appropriate rites connected with all these functions. For instance, to secure for himself external purity, the priest bathes himself in holy water and puts on a holy cloth. He purifies the mind and the sense-organs by appropriate meditations. He fortifies the place of worship against evil forces by drawing around it circles of fire and water. He awakens the different spiritual centres of the body and invokes the Supreme Spirit in his heart. Then he transfers the Supreme Spirit to the image before him and worships the image, regarding it no longer as clay or stone, but as the embodiment of Spirit, throbbing with Life and Consciousness. After the worship the Supreme Spirit is recalled from the image to Its true sanctuary, the heart of the priest. The real devotee knows the absurdity of worshipping the Transcendental Reality with material articles — clothing That which pervades the whole universe and the beyond, putting on a pedestal That which cannot be limited by space, feeding That which is disembodied and incorporeal, singing before That whose glory the music of the spheres tries vainly to proclaim. But through these rites the devotee aspires to go ultimately beyond rites and rituals, forms and names, words and praise, and to realize God as the All-pervading Consciousness.
Hindu priests are thoroughly acquainted with the rites of worship, but few of them are aware of their underlying significance. They move their h ands and limbs mechanically, in obedience to the letter of the scriptures, and repeat the holy mantras like parrots. But from the very beginning the inner meaning of these rites was revealed to Sri Ramakrishna. As he sat facing the image, a strange transformation came over his mind. While going through the prescribed ceremonies, he would actually find himself encircled by a wall of fire protecting him and the place of worship from unspiritual vibrations, or he would feel the rising of the mystic Kundalini through the different centres of the body. The glow on his face, his deep absorption, and the intense atmosphere of the temple impressed everyone who saw him worship the Deity.
Ramkumar wanted Sri Ramakrishna to learn the intricate rituals of the 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 the brahmin speak the holy word in his ear than Sri Ramakrishna, overwhelmed with emotion, uttered a loud cry and plunged into deep concentration.
Mathur begged Sri Ramakrishna to take charge of the worship in the Kali temple. The young priest pleaded his incompetence and his ignorance of the scriptures. Mathur insisted that devotion and sincerity would more than compensate for any lack of formal knowledge and make the Divine Mother manifest Herself through the image. In the end, Sri Ramakrishna had to yield to Mathur's request. He became the priest of Kali.
In 1856 Ramkumar breathed his last. Sri Ramakrishna had already witnessed more than one death in the family. He had come to realize how impermanent is life on earth. The more he was convinced of the transitory nature of worldly things, the more eager he became to realize God, the Fountain of Immortality.
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and, indeed, he soon discovered what a strange Goddess he had chosen to serve. He became gradually enmeshed in the web of Her all-pervading presence. To the ignorant She is, to be sure, the image of destruction; but he found in Her the benign, all-loving Mother. Her neck is encircled with a garl and of heads, and Her waist with a girdle of human arms, and two of Her h ands hold weapons of death, and Her eyes dart a glance of fire; but, strangely enough, Ramakrishna felt in Her breath the soothing touch of tender love and saw in Her the Seed of Immortality. She st ands on the bosom of Her Consort, Siva; it is because She is the Sakti, the Power, inseparable from the Absolute. She is surrounded by jackals and other unholy creatures, the denizens of the cremation ground. But is not the Ultimate Reality above holiness and unholiness? She appears to be reeling under the spell of wine. But who would create this mad world unless under the influence of a divine drunkenness? She is the highest symbol of all the forces of nature, the synthesis of their antinomies, the Ultimate Divine in the form of woman. She now became to Sri Ramakrishna the only Reality, and the world became an unsubstantial shadow. Into Her worship he poured his soul. Before him She stood as the transparent portal to the shrine of Ineffable Reality.
The worship in the temple intensified Sri Ramakrishna's yearning for a living vision of the Mother of the Universe. He began to spend in meditation the time not actually employed in the temple service; and for this purpose he selected an extremely solitary place. A deep jungle, thick with underbrush and prickly plants, lay to the north of the temples. Used at one time as a burial ground, it was shunned by people even during the day-time for fear of ghosts. There Sri Ramakrishna began to spend the whole night in meditation, returning to his room only in the 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 when one thinks of God one should be freed from all ties? From our very birth we have the eight fetters of hatred, shame, lineage, pride of good conduct, fear, secretiveness, caste, and grief. The sacred thread reminds me that I am a brahmin and therefore superior to all. When calling on the Mother one has to set aside all such ideas." Hriday thought his uncle was becoming insane.
As his love for God deepened, he began either to forget or to drop the formalities of worship. Sitting before the image, he would spend hours singing the devotional songs of great devotees of the Mother, such as Kamalakanta and Ramprasad. Those rhapsodical songs, describing the direct vision of God, only intensified Sri Ramakrishna's longing. He felt the pangs of a child separated from its mother. Sometimes, in agony, he would rub his face against the ground and weep so bitterly that people, thinking he had lost his earthly mother, would sympathize with him in his grief. Sometimes, in moments of scepticism, he would cry: "Art Thou true, Mother, or is it all fiction — mere poetry without any reality? If Thou dost exist, why do I not see Thee? Is religion a mere fantasy and art Thou only a figment of man's imagination?" Sometimes he would sit on the prayer carpet for two hours like an inert object. He began to behave in an abnormal manner
, most of the time unconscious of the world. He almost gave up food; and sleep left him altogether.
But he did not have to wait very long. He has thus described his first vision of the Mother: "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 the separation from Her any longer. Life seemed to be not worth living. Suddenly my glance fell on the sword that was kept in the Mother's temple. I determined to put an end to my life. When I jumped up like a madman and seized it, suddenly the blessed Mother revealed Herself. The buildings with their different parts, the temple, and everything else vanished from my sight, leaving no trace whatsoever, and in their stead I saw a limitless, infinite, effulgent Ocean of Consciousness. As far as the eye could see, the 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 the rush
and collapsed, unconscious. What was happening in the outside world I did not know; but within me there was a steady flow of undiluted bliss, altogether new, and I felt the presence of the Divine Mother." On his lips when he regained consciousness of the world was the word "Mother".
--- GOD-INTOXICATED STATE
Yet this was only a foretaste of the intense experiences to come. The first glimpse of the Divine Mother made him the more eager for Her uninterrupted vision. He wanted to see Her both in meditation and with eyes open. But the Mother began to play a teasing game of hide- and-seek with him, intensifying both his joy and his suffering. Weeping bitterly during the moments of separation from Her, he would pass into a trance and then find Her st anding before him, smiling, talking, consoling, bidding him be of good cheer, and instructing him. During this period of spiritual practice he had many uncommon experiences. When he sat to meditate, he would hear strange clicking sounds in the joints of his legs, as if someone were locking them up, one after the other, to keep him motionless; and at the conclusion of his meditation he would again hear the same sounds, this time unlocking them and leaving him free to move about. He would see flashes like a swarm of fire-flies floating before his eyes, or a sea of deep mist around him, with luminous waves of molten silver. Again, from a sea of translucent mist he would behold the Mother rising, first Her feet, then Her waist, body, face, and head, finally Her whole person; he would feel Her breath and hear Her voice. Worshipping in the temple, sometimes he would become exalted, sometimes he would remain motionless as stone, sometimes he would almost collapse from excessive emotion. Many of his actions, contrary to all tradition, seemed sacrilegious to the people. He would take a flower and touch it to his own head, body, and feet, and then offer it to the Goddess. Or, like a drunkard, he would reel to the throne of the Mother, touch Her chin by way of showing his affection for Her, and sing, talk, joke, laugh, and dance. Or he would take a morsel of food from the plate and hold it to Her mouth, begging Her to eat it, and would not be satisfied till he was convinced that She had really eaten. After the Mother had been put to sleep at night, from his own room he would hear Her ascending to the upper storey of the temple with the light steps of a happy girl, Her anklets jingling. Then he would discover Her st anding with flowing hair. Her black form silhouetted against the sky of the night, looking at the Ganges or at the distant lights of Calcutta.
Naturally the temple officials took him for an insane person. His worldly well-wishers brought him to skilled physicians; but no-medicine could cure his malady. Many a time he doubted his sanity himself. For he had been sailing across an uncharted sea, with no earthly guide to direct him. His only haven of security was the Divine Mother Herself. To Her he would pray: "I do not know what these things are. I am ignorant of mantras and the scriptures. Teach me, Mother, how to realize Thee. Who else can help me? Art Thou not my only refuge and guide?" and the sustaining presence of the Mother never failed him in his distress or doubt. Even those who criticized his conduct were greatly impressed with his purity, guilelessness, truthfulness, integrity, and holiness. They felt an uplifting influence in his presence.
It is said that samadhi, or trance, no more than opens the portal of the spiritual realm. Sri Ramakrishna felt an unquenchable desire to enjoy God in various ways. For his meditation he built a place in the northern wooded section of the temple garden. With Hriday's help he planted there five sacred trees. The spot, known as the Panchavati, became the scene of many of his visions.
As his spiritual mood deepened he more and more felt himself to be a child of the Divine Mother. He learnt to surrender himself completely to Her will and let Her direct him.
"O Mother," he would constantly pray, "I have taken refuge in Thee. Teach me what to do and what to say. Thy will is paramount everywhere and is for the 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 the Divine Mother. Even while retaining consciousness of the outer world, he would see Her as tangibly as the temples, the trees, the river, and the men around him.
On a certain occasion Mathur Babu stealthily entered the temple to watch the worship. He was profoundly moved by the young priest's devotion and sincerity. He realized that Sri Ramakrishna had transformed the stone image into the living Goddess.
Sri Ramakrishna one day fed a cat with the food that was to be offered to Kali. This was too much for the manager of the temple garden, who considered himself responsible for the proper conduct of the worship. He reported Sri Ramakrishna's insane behaviour to Mathur Babu.
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One of the 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 the temple, following the scriptural injunctions, he would imagine the presence of the "sinner" in himself and the destruction of this "sinner". One day he was meditating in the Panchavati, when he saw come out of him a red-eyed man of black complexion, reeling like a drunkard. Soon there emerged from him another person, of serene countenance, wearing the ochre cloth of a sannyasi and carrying in his h and a trident. The second person attacked the first and killed him with the trident. Thereafter Sri Ramakrishna was free of his pain.
About this time he began to worship God by assuming the attitude of a servant toward his master. He imitated the mood of Hanuman, the monkey chieftain of the Ramayana, the ideal servant of Rama and traditional model for this self-effacing form of devotion. When 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 the 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, the divine consort of Rama, who entered his body and disappeared there with the words, "I bequeath to you my smile."
Mathur had faith in the sincerity of Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual zeal, but began now to doubt his sanity. He had watched him jumping about like a monkey. One day, when Rani Rasmani was listening to Sri Ramakrishna's singing in the temple, the young priest abruptly turned and slapped her. Apparently listening to his song, she had actually been thinking of a law-suit. She accepted the punishment as though the Divine Mother Herself had imposed it; but Mathur was distressed. He begged Sri Ramakrishna to keep his feelings under control and to heed the conventions of society. God Himself, he argued, follows laws. God never permitted, for instance, flowers of two colours to grow on the same stalk. The following day Sri Ramakrishna presented Mathur Babu with two hibiscus flowers growing on the same stalk, one red and one white.
Mathur and Rani Rasmani began to ascribe the mental ailment of Sri Ramakrishna in part, at least, to his observance of rigid continence. Thinking that a natural life would relax the tension of his nerves, they engineered a plan with two women of ill fame. But as soon as the women entered his room, Sri Ramakrishna beheld in them the manifestation of the Divine Mother of the Universe and went into samadhi uttering Her name.
--- HALADHARI
In 1858 there came to Dakshineswar a cousin of Sri Ramakrishna, Haladhari by name, who was to remain there about eight years. On account of Sri Ramakrishna's indifferent health, Mathur appointed this man to the office of priest in the Kali temple. He was a complex character, versed in the letter of the scriptures, but hardly aware of their spirit. He loved to participate in hair-splitting theological discussions and, by the measure of his own erudition, he proceeded to gauge Sri Ramakrishna. An orthodox brahmin, he thoroughly disapproved of his cousin's unorthodox actions, but he was not unimpressed by Sri Ramakrishna's purity of life, ecstatic love of God, and yearning for realization.
One day Haladhari upset Sri Ramakrishna with the statement that God is incomprehensible to the human mind. Sri Ramakrishna has described the great moment of doubt when he wondered whether his visions had really misled him: "With sobs I prayed to the Mother, 'Canst Thou have the heart to deceive me like this because I am a fool?' A stream of tears flowed from my eyes. Shortly afterwards I saw a volume of mist rising from the floor and filling the space before me. In the midst of it there appeared a face with flowing beard, calm, highly expressive, and fair. Fixing its gaze steadily upon me, it said solemnly, 'Remain in bhavamukha, on the threshold of relative consciousness.' This it repeated three times and then it gently disappeared in the mist, which itself dissolved. This vision reassured me."
A garbled report of Sri Ramakrishna's failing health, indifference to worldly life, and various abnormal activities reached Kamarpukur and filled the heart of his poor mother with anguish. At her repeated request he returned to his village for a change of air. But his boyhood friends did not interest him any more. A divine fever was consuming him. He spent a great part of the day and night in one of the cremation grounds, in meditation. The place reminded him of the impermanence of the human body, of human hopes and achievements. It also reminded him of Kali, the Goddess of destruction.
--- 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 mother was encouraged to think it might be a good time to arrange his marriage. The boy was now twenty-three years old. A wife would bring him back to earth. and she was delighted when her son welcomed her suggestion. Perhaps he saw in it the finger of God.
Saradamani, a little girl of five, lived in the neighbouring village of Jayrambati. Even at this age she had been praying to God to make her character as stainless and fragrant as the white tuberose. Looking at the full moon, she would say: "O God, there are dark spots even on the moon. But make my character spotless." It was she who was selected as the bride for Sri Ramakrishna.
The marriage ceremony was duly performed. Such early marriage in India is in the nature of a betrothal, the marriage being consummated when the girl attains puberty. But in this case the marriage remained for ever unconsummated. Sri Ramakrishna lived at Kamarpukur about a year and a half and then returned to Dakshineswar.
Hardly had he crossed the threshold of the Kali temple when he found himself again in the whirlwind. His madness reappeared tenfold. The same meditation and prayer, the same ecstatic moods, the same burning sensation, the same weeping, the same sleeplessness, the same indifference to the body and the outside world, the same divine delirium. He subjected himself to fresh disciplines in order to eradicate greed and lust, the two great impediments to spiritual progress. With a rupee in one h and and some earth in the other, he would reflect on the comparative value of these two for the realization of God, and finding them equally worthless he would toss them, with equal indifference, into the Ganges. Women he regarded as the manifestations of the Divine Mother. Never even in a dream did he feel the impulses of lust. and to root out of his mind the idea of caste superiority, he cleaned a pariahs house with his long and neglected hair. When he would sit in meditation, birds would perch on his head and peck in his hair for grains of food. Snakes would crawl over his body, and neither would be aware of the other. Sleep left him altogether. Day and night, visions flitted before him. He saw the sannyasi who had previously killed the "sinner" in him again coming out of his body, threatening him with the trident, and ordering him to concentrate on God. Or the same sannyasi would visit distant places, following a luminous path, and bring him reports of what was happening there. Sri Ramakrishna used to say later that in the case of an advanced devotee the mind itself becomes the guru, living and moving like an embodied being.
Rani Rasmani, the foundress of the temple garden, passed away in 1861. After her death her son-in-law Mathur became the sole executor of the estate. He placed himself and his resources at the 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 the Divine Mother. Whenever a desire arose in his mind, Mathur fulfilled it without hesitation.
--- THE BRAHMANI
There 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, she was an adept in the Tantrik and Vaishnava methods of worship. She was slightly over fifty years of age, h andsome, and garbed in the orange robe of a nun. Her sole possessions were a few books and two pieces of wearing-cloth.
Sri Ramakrishna welcomed the visitor with great respect, described to her his experiences and visions, and told her of people's belief that these were symptoms of madness. She 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." She assured him that he was passing through the almost unknown spiritual experience described in the scriptures as mahabhava, the most exalted rapture of divine love. She told him that this extreme exaltation had been described as manifesting itself through nineteen physical symptoms, including the shedding of tears, a tremor of the body, horripilation, perspiration, and a burning sensation. The Bhakti scriptures, she declared, had recorded only two instances of the experience, namely, those of Sri Radha and Sri Chaitanya.
Very soon a tender relationship sprang up between Sri Ramakrishna and the Brahmani, she looking upon him as the Baby Krishna, and he upon her as mother. Day after day she watched his ecstasy during the kirtan and meditation, his samadhi, his mad yearning; and she recognized in him a power to transmit spirituality to others. She came to the 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. She proclaimed openly that Sri Ramakrishna, like Sri Chaitanya, was an Incarnation of God.
When Sri Ramakrishna told Mathur what the 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. Whereupon the Brahmani asked Mathur to arrange a conference of scholars who should discuss the matter with her. He agreed to the proposal and the meeting was arranged. It was to be held in the natm andir in front of the Kali temple.
Two famous pundits of the time were invited: Vaishnavcharan, the leader of the Vaishnava society, and Gauri. The first to arrive was Vaishnavcharan, with a distinguished company of scholars and devotees. The Brahmani, like a proud mother, proclaimed her view before him and supported it with quotations from the scriptures. As the pundits discussed the deep theological question, Sri Ramakrishna, perfectly indifferent to everything happening around him, sat in their midst like a child, immersed in his own thoughts, sometimes smiling, sometimes chewing 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 the view of the Brahmani. He declared that Sri Ramakrishna had undoubtedly experienced mahabhava and that this was the certain sign of the rare manifestation of God in a man. The people assembled
there, especially the officers of the 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."
When, a few days later, Pundit Gauri arrived, another meeting was held, and he agreed with the view of the 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? Then 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 the 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 the 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 the insane priest was by verdict of the great scholars of the day proclaimed a Divine Incarnation. His visions were not the result of an over-heated brain; they had precedent in spiritual history. and how did the proclamation affect Sri Ramakrishna himself? He remained the simple child of the Mother that he had been since the first day of his life. Years later, when two of his householder disciples openly spoke of him as a Divine Incarnation and the matter was reported to him, he said with a touch of sarcasm: "Do they think they will enhance my glory that way? One of them is an actor on the stage and the other a physician. What do they know about Incarnations? Why, years ago pundits like Gauri and Vaishnavcharan declared me to be an Avatar. They were great scholars and knew what they said. But that did not make any change in my mind."
Sri Ramakrishna was a learner all his life. He often used to quote a proverb to his disciples: "Friend, the more I live the more I learn." When the excitement created by the Brahmani's declaration was over, he set himself to the task of practising spiritual disciplines according to the traditional methods laid down in the Tantra and Vaishnava scriptures. Hitherto he had pursued his spiritual ideal according to the promptings of his own mind and heart. Now he accepted the Brahmani as his guru and set foot on the traditional highways.
--- TANTRA
According to the Tantra, the Ultimate Reality is Chit, or Consciousness, which is identical with Sat, or Being, and with An anda, or Bliss. This Ultimate Reality, Satchidan anda, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, is identical with the Reality preached in the Vedas. and man is identical with this Reality; but under the 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 the cause of his bondage and suffering. The goal of spiritual discipline is the rediscovery of his true identity with the divine Reality.
For the achievement of this goal the 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 the natural weakness of human beings, their lower appetites, and their love for the concrete. It combines philosophy with rituals, meditation with ceremonies, renunciation with enjoyment. The underlying purpose is gradually to train the aspirant to meditate on his identity with the Ultimate.
The average man wishes to enjoy the material objects of the world. Tantra bids him enjoy these, but at the same time discover in them the presence of God. Mystical rites are prescribed by which, slowly, the sense-objects become spiritualized and sense attraction is transformed into a love of God. So the very "bonds" of man are turned into "releasers". The very poison that kills is transmuted into the elixir of life. Outward renunciation is not necessary. Thus the aim of Tantra is to sublimate bhoga, or enjoyment into yoga, or union with Consciousness. For, according to this philosophy, the world with all its manifestations is nothing but the sport of Siva and Sakti, the Absolute and Its inscrutable Power.
The disciplines of Tantra are graded to suit aspirants of all degrees. Exercises are prescribed for people with "animal", "heroic", and "divine" outlooks. Certain of the rites require the presence of members of the opposite sex. Here the aspirant learns to look on woman as the embodiment of the Goddess Kali, the Mother of the Universe. The very basis of Tantra is the Motherhood of God and the glorification of woman. Every part of a woman's body is to be regarded as incarnate Divinity. But the rites are extremely dangerous. The help of a qualified guru is absolutely necessary. An unwary devotee may lose his foothold and fall into a pit of depravity.
According to the Tantra, Sakti is the active creative force in the universe. Siva, the Absolute, is a more or less passive principle. Further, Sakti is as inseparable from Siva as fire's power to burn is from fire itself. Sakti, the Creative Power, contains in Its womb the universe, and therefore is the Divine Mother. All women are Her symbols. Kali is one of Her several forms. The meditation on Kali, the Creative Power, is the central discipline of the Tantra. While meditating, the aspirant at first regards himself as one with the Absolute and then thinks that out of that Impersonal Consciousness emerge two entities, namely, his own self and the living form of the Goddess. He then projects the Goddess into the tangible image before him and worships it as the Divine Mother.
Sri Ramakrishna set himself to the task of practising the disciplines of Tantra; and at the bidding of the Divine Mother Herself he accepted the Brahmani as his guru. He performed profound and delicate ceremonies in the Panchavati and under the bel-tree at the northern extremity of the temple compound. He practised all the disciplines of the sixty-four principal Tantra books, and it took him never more than three days to achieve the result promised in any one of them. After the observance of a few preliminary rites, he would be overwhelmed with a strange divine fervour and would go into samadhi, where his mind would dwell in exaltation. Evil ceased to exist for him. The word "carnal" lost its meaning. The whole world and everything in it appeared as the lila, the sport, of Siva and Sakti. He beheld held everywhere manifest the power and beauty of the Mother; the whole world, animate and inanimate, appeared to him as pervaded with Chit, Consciousness, and with An anda, Bliss.
He saw in a vision the Ultimate Cause of the universe as a huge luminous triangle giving birth every moment to an infinite number of worlds. He heard the Anahata Sabda, the great sound Om, of which the innumerable sounds of the universe are only so many echoes. He acquired the eight supernatural powers of yoga, which make a man almost omnipotent, and these he spurned as of no value whatsoever to the Spirit. He had a vision of the divine Maya, the inscrutable Power of God, by which the 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 mother, emerging from the Ganges and slowly approaching the Panchavati. Presently she gave birth to a child and began to nurse it tenderly. A moment later she assumed a terrible aspect, seized the child with her grim jaws, and crushed it. Swallowing it, she re-entered the waters of the Ganges.
But the most remarkable experience during this period was the awakening of the Kundalini Sakti, the "Serpent Power". He actually saw the Power, at first lying asleep at the bottom of the spinal column, then waking up and ascending along the mystic Sushumna canal and through its six centres, or lotuses, to the Sahasrara, the thous and-petalled lotus in the top of the head. He further saw that as the Kundalini went upward the different lotuses bloomed. and this phenomenon was accompanied by visions and trances. Later on he described to his disciples and devotees the various movements of the Kundalini: the fishlike, birdlike, monkeylike, and so on. The awaken- ing of the Kundalini is the beginning of spiritual consciousness, and its union with Siva in the Sahasrara, ending in samadhi, is the consummation of the Tantrik disciplines.
About this time it was revealed to him that in a short while many devotees would seek his guidance.
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After completing the Tantrik sadhana Sri Ramakrishna followed the Brahmani in the disciplines of Vaishnavism. The Vaishnavas are worshippers of Vishnu, the "All-pervading", the Supreme God, who is also known as Hari and Narayana. Of Vishnu's various Incarnations the two with the largest number of followers are Rama and Krishna.
Vaishnavism is exclusively a religion of bhakti. Bhakti is intense love of God, attachment to Him alone; it is of the nature of bliss and bestows upon the lover immortality and liberation. God, according to Vaishnavism, cannot be realized through logic or reason; and, without bhakti, all penances, austerities and rites are futile. Man cannot realize God by self-exertion alone. For the vision of God His grace is absolutely necessary, and this grace is felt by the pure of heart. The mind is to be purified through bhakti. The pure mind then remains for ever immersed in the ecstasy of God-vision. It is the cultivation of this divine love that is the chief concern of the Vaishnava religion.
There are three kinds of formal devotion: tamasic, rajasic, and sattvic. If a person, while showing devotion, to God, is actuated by malevolence, arrogance, jealousy, or anger, then his devotion is tamasic, since it is influenced by tamas, the quality of inertia. If he worships God from a desire for fame or wealth, or from any other worldly ambition, then his devotion is rajasic, since it is influenced by rajas, the quality of activity. But if a person loves God without any thought of material gain, if he performs his duties to please God alone and maintains toward all created beings the attitude of friendship, then his devotion is called sattvic, since it is influenced by sattva, the quality of harmony. But the highest devotion transcends the three gunas, or qualities, being a spontaneous, uninterrupted inclination of the mind toward God, the Inner Soul of all beings; and it wells up in the heart of a true devotee as soon as he hears the name of God or mention of God's attributes. A devotee possessed of this love would not accept the happiness of heaven if it were offered him. His one desire is to love God under all conditions — in pleasure and pain, life and death, honour and dishonour, prosperity and adversity.
There are two stages of bhakti. The first is known as vaidhi-bhakti, or love of God qualified by scriptural injunctions. For the devotees of this stage are prescribed regular and methodical worship, hymns, prayers, the repetition of God's name, and the chanting of His glories. This lower bhakti in course of time matures into para-bhakti, or supreme devotion, known also as prema, the most intense form of divine love. Divine love is an end in itself. It exists potentially in all human hearts, but in the case of bound creatures it is misdirected to earthly objects.
To develop the devotee's love for God, Vaishnavism humanizes God. God is to be regarded as the devotee's Parent, Master, Friend, Child, Husb and, or Sweetheart, each succeeding relationship representing an intensification of love. These bhavas, or attitudes toward God, are known as santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and madhur. The rishis of the Vedas, Hanuman, the cow-herd boys of Vrindavan, Rama's mother Kausalya, and Radhika, Krishna's sweetheart, exhibited, respectively, the most perfect examples of these forms. In the ascending scale the-glories of God are gradually forgotten and the devotee realizes more and more the intimacy of divine communion. Finally he regards himself as the mistress of his Beloved, and no artificial barrier remains to separate him from his Ideal. No social or moral obligation can bind to the earth his soaring spirit. He experiences perfect union with the Godhead. Unlike the Vedantist, who strives to transcend all varieties of the subject-object relationship, a devotee of the Vaishnava path wishes to retain both his own individuality and the personality of God. To him God is not an intangible Absolute, but the Purushottama, the Supreme Person.
While practising the discipline of the madhur bhava, the male devotee often regards himself as a woman, in order to develop the most intense form of love for Sri Krishna, the only purusha, or man, in the universe. This assumption of the attitude of the opposite sex has a deep psychological significance. It is a matter of common experience that an idea may be cultivated to such an intense degree that every idea alien to it is driven from the mind. This peculiarity of the mind may be utilized for the subjugation of the lower desires and the development of the spiritual nature. Now, the idea which is the basis of all desires and passions in a man is the conviction of his indissoluble association with a male body. If he can inoculate himself thoroughly with the idea that he is a woman, he can get rid of the desires peculiar to his male body. Again, the idea that he is a woman may in turn be made to give way to another higher idea, namely, that he is neither man nor woman, but the Impersonal Spirit. The Impersonal Spirit alone can enjoy real communion with the Impersonal God. Hence the highest est realization of the Vaishnava draws close to the transcendental experience of the Vedantist.
A beautiful expression of the Vaishnava worship of God through love is to be found in the Vrindavan episode of the Bhagavata. The gopis, or milk-maids, of Vrindavan regarded the six-year-old Krishna as their Beloved. They sought no personal gain or happiness from this love. They surrendered to Krishna their bodies, minds, and souls. Of all the gopis, Radhika, or Radha, because of her intense love for Him, was the closest to Krishna. She 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 prophet of the Vaishnava religion. Chaitanya declared the chanting of God's name to be the most efficacious spiritual discipline for the Kaliyuga.
Sri Ramakrishna, as the monkey Hanuman, had already worshipped God as his Master. Through his devotion to Kali he had worshipped God as his Mother. He was now to take up the other relationships prescribed by the Vaishnava scriptures.
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About the year 1864 there came to Dakshineswar a w andering Vaishnava monk, Jatadhari, whose Ideal Deity was Rama. He always carried with him a small metal image of the Deity, which he called by the endearing name of Ramlala, the Boy Rama. Toward this little image he displayed the tender affection of Kausalya for her divine Son, Rama. As a result of lifelong spiritual practice he had actually found in the metal image the presence of his Ideal. Ramlala was no longer for him a metal image, but the 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 the image responded to his love.
Sri Ramakrishna, much impressed with his devotion, requested Jatadhari to spend a few days at Dakshineswar. Soon Ramlala became the favourite companion of Sri Ramakrishna too. Later on he described to the devotees how the little image would dance gracefully before him, jump on his back, insist on being taken in his arms, run to the fields in the sun, pluck flowers from the bushes, and play pranks like a naughty boy. A very sweet relationship sprang up between him and Ramlala, for whom he felt the love of a mother.
One day Jatadhari requested Sri Ramakrishna to keep the 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 Ramach andra, whereby he realized that the Rama of the Ramayana, the son of Dasaratha, pervades the whole universe as Spirit and Consciousness; that He is its Creator, Sustainer, and Destroyer; that, in still another aspect, He is the transcendental Brahman, without form, attribute, or name.
While worshipping Ramlala as the Divine Child, Sri Ramakrishna's heart became filled with motherly tenderness, and he began to regard himself as a woman. His speech and gestures changed. He began to move freely with the ladies of Mathur's family, who now looked upon him as one of their own sex. During this time he worshipped the Divine Mother as Her companion or h andmaid.
--- IN COMMUNION WITH THE DIVINE BELOVED
Sri Ramakrishna now devoted himself to scaling the most inaccessible and dizzy heights of dualistic worship, namely, the complete union with Sri Krishna as the Beloved of the heart. He regarded himself as one of the gopis of Vrindavan, mad with longing for her divine Sweetheart. 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. The yearning turned into a mad frenzy; for the divine Krishna began to play with him the old tricks He had played with the gopis. He would tease and taunt, now and then revealing Himself, but always keeping at a distance. Sri Ramakrishna's anguish brought on a return of the old physical symptoms: the burning sensation, an oozing of blood through the pores, a loosening of the joints, and the stopping of physiological functions.
The Vaishnava scriptures advise one to propitiate Radha and obtain her grace in order to realize Sri Krishna. So the tortured devotee now turned his prayer to her. Within a short time he enjoyed her blessed vision. He saw and felt the figure of Radha disappearing into his own body.
He said later on: "It is impossible to describe the heavenly beauty and sweetness of Radha. Her very appearance showed that she had completely forgotten herself in her passionate attachment to Krishna. Her complexion was a light yellow."
Now one with Radha, he manifested the great ecstatic love, the mahabhava, which had found in her its fullest expression. Later Sri Ramakrishna said: "The manifestation in the same individual of the nineteen different kinds of emotion for God is called, in the books on bhakti, mahabhava. An ordinary man takes a whole lifetime to express even a single one of these. But in this body [meaning himself] there has been a complete manifestation of all nineteen."
The love of Radha is the precursor of the resplendent vision of Sri Krishna, and Sri Ramakrishna soon experienced that vision. The enchanting ing form of Krishna appeared to him and merged in his person. He became Krishna; he totally forgot his own individuality and the world; he saw Krishna in himself and in the universe. Thus he attained to the fulfilment of the worship of the Personal God. He drank from the fountain of Immortal Bliss. The agony of his heart vanished forever. He realized Amrita, Immortality, beyond the shadow of death.
One day, listening to a recitation of the Bhagavata on the ver andah of the Radhakanta temple, he fell into a divine mood and saw the enchanting form of Krishna. He perceived the luminous rays issuing from Krishna's Lotus Feet in the form of a stout rope, which touched first the Bhagavata and then his own chest, connecting all three — God, the scripture, and the 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 the same."
--- VEDANTA
The Brahmani was the enthusiastic teacher and astonished beholder of Sri Ramakrishna in his spiritual progress. She became proud of the achievements of her unique pupil. But the pupil himself was not permitted to rest; his destiny beckoned him forward. His Divine Mother would allow him no respite till he had left behind the entire realm of duality with its visions, experiences, and ecstatic dreams. But for the new ascent the old tender guides would not suffice. The Brahmani, on whom he had depended for, three years, saw her son escape from her to follow the comm and of a teacher with masculine strength, a sterner mien, a gnarled physique, and a virile voice. The new guru was a w andering monk, the sturdy Totapuri, whom Sri Ramakrishna learnt to address affectionately as Nangta, the "Naked One", because of his total renunciation of all earthly objects and attachments, including even a piece of wearing cloth.
Totapuri was the bearer of a philosophy new to Sri Ramakrishna, the non-dualistic Vedanta philosophy, whose conclusions Totapuri had experienced in his own life. This ancient Hindu system designates the Ultimate Reality as Brahman, also described as Satchidan anda, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Brahman is the only Real Existence. In It there is no time, no space, no causality, no multiplicity. But through maya, Its inscrutable Power, time, space, and causality are created and the One appears to break into the many. The eternal Spirit appears as a manifold of individuals endowed with form and subject to the conditions of time. The Immortal becomes a victim of birth and death. The Changeless undergoes change. The sinless Pure Soul, hypnotized by Its own maya, experiences the joys of heaven and the pains of hell. But these experiences based on the duality of the subject-object relationship are unreal. Even the vision of a Personal God
is, ultimately speaking, as illusory as the experience of any other object. Man attains his liberation, therefore, by piercing the veil of maya and rediscovering his total identity with Brahman. Knowing himself to be one with the Universal Spirit, he realizes ineffable Peace. Only then does he go beyond the fiction of birth and death; only then does he become immortal. ' and this is the ultimate goal of all religions — to dehypnotize the soul now hypnotized by its own ignorance.
The path of the Vedantic discipline is the path of negation, "neti", in which, by stern determination, all that is unreal is both negated and renounced. It is the path of jnana, knowledge, the direct method of realizing the Absolute. After the negation of everything relative, including the discriminating ego itself, the aspirant merges in the One without a Second, in the bliss of nirvikalpa samadhi, where subject and object are alike dissolved. The soul goes beyond the realm of thought. The domain of duality is transcended. Maya is left behind with all its changes and modifications. The Real Man towers above the delusions of creation, preservation, and destruction. An avalanche of indescribable Bliss sweeps away all relative ideas of pain and pleasure, good and evil. There shines in the heart the glory of the Eternal Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Knower, knowledge, and known are dissolved in the Ocean of one eternal Consciousness; love, lover, and beloved merge in the unbounded Sea of supreme Felicity; birth, growth, and death vanish in infinite Existence. All doubts and misgivings are quelled for ever; the oscillations of the mind are stopped; the momentum of past actions is exhausted. Breaking down the ridge-pole of the tabernacle in which the soul has made its abode for untold ages, stilling the body, calming the mind, drowning the ego, the sweet joy of Brahman wells up in that superconscious state. Space disappears into nothingness, time is swallowed in eternity, and causation becomes a dream of the past. Only Existence is. Ah! Who can describe what the soul then feels in its communion with the Self?
Even when man descends from this dizzy height, he is devoid of ideas of "I" and "mine"; he looks on the body as a mere shadow, an outer sheath encasing the soul. He does not dwell on the past, takes no thought for the future, and looks with indifference on the present. He surveys everything in the world with an eye of equality; he is no longer touched by the infinite variety of phenomena; he no longer reacts to pleasure and pain. He remains unmoved whether he — that is to say, his body — is worshipped by the good or tormented by the wicked; for he realizes that it is the one Brahman that manifests Itself through everything. The impact of such an experience devastates the body and mind. Consciousness becomes blasted, as it were, with an excess of Light. In the Vedanta books it is said that after the experience of nirvikalpa samadhi the body drops off like a dry leaf. Only those who are born with a special mission for the world can return
from this height to the valleys of normal life. They live and move in the world for the welfare of mankind. They are invested with a supreme spiritual power. A divine glory shines through them.
--- TOTAPURI
Totapuri arrived at the Dakshineswar temple garden toward the end of 1864. Perhaps born in the Punjab, he was the head of a monastery in that province of India and claimed leadership of seven hundred sannyasis. Trained from early youth in the disciplines of the Advaita Vedanta, he looked upon the world as an illusion. The gods and goddesses of the dualistic worship were to him mere fantasies of the deluded mind. Prayers, ceremonies, rites, and rituals had nothing to do with true religion, and about these he was utterly indifferent. Exercising self-exertion and unshakable will-power, he had liberated himself from attachment to the sense-objects of the relative universe. For forty years he had practised austere discipline on the bank of the sacred Narmada and had finally realized his identity with the Absolute. Thenceforward he roamed in the world as an unfettered soul, a lion free from the cage. Clad in a loin-cloth, he spent his days under the canopy of the sky alike in storm and sunshine, feeding his body on the slender pittance of alms. He had been visiting the estuary of the Ganges. On his return journey along the bank of the sacred river, led by the 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 the permission of the Divine Mother, Sri Ramakrishna agreed to the proposal. But Totapuri explained that only a sannyasi could receive the teaching of Vedanta. Sri Ramakrishna agreed to renounce the world, but with the stipulation that the ceremony of his initiation into the monastic order be performed in secret, to spare the feelings of his old mother, who had been living with him at Dakshineswar.
On the appointed day, in the small hours of the morning, a fire was lighted in the Panchavati. Totapuri and Sri Ramakrishna sat before it. The flame played on their faces. "Ramakrishna was a small brown man with a short beard and beautiful eyes, long dark eyes, full of light, obliquely set and slightly veiled, never very wide open, but seeing half-closed a great distance both outwardly and inwardly. His mouth was open over his white teeth in a bewitching smile, at once affectionate and mischievous. Of medium height, he was thin to emaciation and extremely delicate. His temperament was high-strung, for he was supersensitive to all the winds of joy and sorrow, both moral and physical. He was indeed a living reflection of all that happened before the mirror of his eyes, a two-sided mirror, turned both out and in." (Romain Roll and, Prophets of the New India, pp. 38-9.) Facing him, the other rose like a rock. He was very tall and robust, a sturdy and tough oak. His constitution and mind were of iron. He was the strong leader of men.
In the burning flame before him Sri Ramakrishna performed the rituals of destroying his attachment to relatives, friends, body, mind, sense-organs, ego, and the world. The leaping flame swallowed it all, making the initiate free and pure. The sacred thread and the tuft of hair were consigned to the fire, completing his severance from caste, sex, and society. Last of all he burnt in that fire, with all that is holy as his witness, his desire for enjoyment here and hereafter. He uttered the sacred mantras giving assurance of safety and fearlessness to all beings, who were only manifestations of his own Self. The rites completed, the disciple received from the guru the loin-cloth and ochre robe, the emblems of his new life.
The teacher and the disciple repaired to the meditation room near by. Totapuri began to impart to Sri Ramakrishna the great truths of Vedanta.
"Brahman", he said, "is the only Reality, ever pure, ever illumined, ever free, beyond the limits of time, space, and causation. Though apparently divided by names and forms through the inscrutable power of maya, that enchantress who makes the impossible possible, Brahman is really One and undivided. When a seeker merges in the beatitude of samadhi, he does not perceive time and space or name and form, the offspring of maya. Whatever is within the domain of maya is unreal. Give it up. Destroy the prison-house of name and form and rush out of it with the strength of a lion. Dive deep in search of the Self and realize It through samadhi. You will find the world of name and form vanishing into void, and the puny ego dissolving in Brahman-Consciousness. You will realize your identity with Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute." Quoting the Upanishad, Totapuri said: "That knowledge is shallow by which one sees or hears or knows another
. What is shallow is worthless and can never give real felicity. But the Knowledge by which one does not see another or hear another or know another, which is beyond duality, is great, and through such Knowledge one attains the Infinite Bliss. How can the mind and senses grasp That which shines in the heart of all as the Eternal Subject?"
Totapuri asked the disciple to withdraw his mind from all objects of the relative world, including the gods and goddesses, and to concentrate on the Absolute. But the task was not easy even for Sri Ramakrishna. He found it impossible to take his mind beyond Kali, the Divine Mother of the Universe. "After the initiation", Sri Ramakrishna once said, describing the event, "Nangta began to teach me the various conclusions of the Advaita Vedanta and asked me to withdraw the mind completely from all objects and dive deep into the Atman. But in spite of all my attempts I could not altogether cross the realm of name and form and bring my mind to the unconditioned state. I had no difficulty in taking the mind from all the objects of the world. But the radiant and too familiar figure of the Blissful Mother, the Embodiment of the essence of Pure Consciousness, appeared before me as a living reality. Her bewitching smile prevented me from passing into the Great Beyond. Again and again I tried, but She stood in my way every time. In despair I said to Nangta: 'It is hopeless. I cannot raise my mind to the 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 the mind on this point!' he thundered. Then with stern determination I again sat to meditate. As soon as the gracious form of the Divine Mother appeared before me, I used my discrimination as a sword and with it clove Her in two. The last barrier fell. My spirit at once soared beyond the 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 the help of Totapuri, Sri Ramakrishna's mind finally came down to the relative plane.
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Totapuri had no idea of the struggles of ordinary men in the toils of passion and desire. Having maintained all through life the guilelessness of a child, he laughed at the idea of a man's being led astray by the senses. He was convinced that the world was maya and had only to be denounced to vanish for ever. A born non-dualist, he had no faith in a Personal God. He did not believe in the terrible aspect of Kali, much less in Her benign aspect. Music and the chanting of God's holy name were to him only so much nonsense. He ridiculed the spending of emotion on the worship of a Personal God.
--- KALI and MAYA
Sri Ramakrishna, on the other h and, though fully aware, like his guru, that the world is an illusory appearance, instead of slighting maya, like an orthodox monist, acknowledged its power in the 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 the faces of Brahman. What he had realized on the heights of the transcendental plane, he also found here below, everywhere about him, under the mysterious garb of names and forms. and this garb was a perfectly transparent sheath, through which he recognized the glory of the Divine Immanence. Maya, the mighty weaver of the garb, is none other than Kali, the Divine Mother. She is the primordial Divine Energy, Sakti, and She can no more be distinguished from the Supreme Brahman than can the power of burning be distinguished from fire. She projects the world and again withdraws it. She spins it as the spider spins its web. She is the Mother of the Universe, identical with the Brahman of Vedanta, and with the Atman of Yoga. As eternal Lawgiver, She makes and unmakes laws; it is by Her imperious will that karma yields its fruit. She ensnares men with illusion and again releases them from bondage with a look of Her benign eyes. She is the supreme Mistress of the cosmic play, and all objects, animate and inanimate, dance by Her will. Even those who realize the Absolute in nirvikalpa samadhi are under Her jurisdiction as long as they still live on the relative plane.
Thus, after nirvikalpa samadhi, Sri Ramakrishna realized maya in an altogether new role. The binding aspect of Kali vanished from before his vision. She no longer obscured his underst anding. The world became the glorious manifestation of the Divine Mother. Maya became Brahman. The Transcendental Itself broke through the Immanent. Sri Ramakrishna discovered that maya operates in the relative world in two ways, and he termed these "avidyamaya" and "vidyamaya". Avidyamaya represents the dark forces of creation: sensuous desires, evil passions, greed, lust, cruelty, and so on. It sustains the world system on the lower planes. It is responsible for the round of man's birth and death. It must be fought and vanquished. But vidyamaya is the higher force of creation: the spiritual virtues, the enlightening qualities, kindness, purity, love, devotion. Vidyamaya elevates man to the higher planes of consciousness. With the help of vidyamaya the devotee rids himself of avidyamaya; he then becomes mayatita, free of maya. The two aspects of maya are the two forces of creation, the two powers of Kali; and She st ands beyond them both. She is like the effulgent sun, bringing into existence and shining through and st anding behind the clouds of different colours and shapes, conjuring up wonderful forms in the blue autumn heaven.
The Divine Mother asked Sri Ramakrishna not to be lost in the featureless Absolute but to remain, in bhavamukha, on the threshold of relative consciousness, the border line between the Absolute and the Relative. He was to keep himself at the "sixth centre" of Tantra, from which he could see not only the glory of the seventh, but also the divine manifestations of the Kundalini in the lower centres. He gently oscillated back and forth across the dividing line. Ecstatic devotion to the Divine Mother alternated with serene absorption in the Ocean of Absolute Unity. He thus bridged the gulf between the Personal and the Impersonal, the immanent and the transcendent aspects of Reality. This is a unique experience in the recorded spiritual history of the world.
--- TOTAPURI'S LESSON
From Sri Ramakrishna Totapuri had to learn the significance of Kali, the Great Fact of the relative world, and of maya, Her indescribable Power.
One day, when guru and disciple were engaged in an animated discussion about Vedanta, a servant of the temple garden came there and took a coal from the sacred fire that had been lighted by the great ascetic. He wanted it to light his tobacco. Totapuri flew into a rage and was about to beat the man. Sri Ramakrishna rocked with laughter. "What a shame!" he cried. "You are explaining to me the reality of Brahman and the illusoriness of the world; yet now you have so far forgotten yourself as to be about to beat a man in a fit of passion. The 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 the pain became excruciating. He could no longer concentrate on Brahman. The body stood in the way. He became incensed with its dem ands. A free soul, he did not at all care for the body. So he determined to drown it in the Ganges. Thereupon he walked into the river. But, lo! He walks to the other bank." (This version of the incident is taken from the biography of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Saradan anda, one of the Master's direct disciples.) Is there not enough water in the Ganges? St anding dumbfounded on the other bank he looks back across the water. The trees, the temples, the houses, are silhouetted against the sky. Suddenly, in one dazzling moment, he sees on all sides the presence of the Divine Mother. She is in everything; She is everything. She is in the water; She is on l and. She is the body; She is the mind. She is pain; She is comfort. She is knowledge; She is ignorance. She is life; She is death. She is everything that one sees, hears, or imagines. She 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 the body and mind She resides in Her Transcendental, Absolute aspect. She is the Brahman that Totapuri had been worshipping all his life.
Totapuri returned to Dakshineswar and spent the remaining hours of the night meditating on the Divine Mother. In the morning he went to the Kali temple with Sri Ramakrishna and prostrated himself before the image of the Mother. He now realized why he had spent eleven months at Dakshineswar. Bidding farewell to the disciple, he continued on his way, enlightened.
Sri Ramakrishna later described the significance of Totapuri's lessons:
"When I think of the Supreme Being as inactive — neither creating nor preserving nor destroying —, I call Him Brahman or Purusha, the Impersonal God. When I think of Him as active — creating, preserving, and destroying —, I call Him Sakti or Maya or Prakriti, the Personal God. But the distinction between them does not mean a difference. The Personal and the Impersonal are the same thing, like milk and its whiteness, the diamond and its lustre, the snake and its wriggling motion. It is impossible to conceive of the one without the other. The Divine Mother and Brahman are one."
After the departure of Totapuri, Sri Ramakrishna remained for six months in a state of absolute identity with Brahman. "For six months at a stretch", he said, "I remained in that state from which ordinary men can never return; generally the body falls off, after three weeks, like a sere leaf. I was not conscious of day and night. Flies would enter my mouth and nostrils just as they do a dead body's, but I did not feel them. My hair became matted with dust."
His body would not have survived but for the kindly attention of a monk who happened to be at Dakshineswar at that time and who somehow realized that for the good of humanity Sri Ramakrishna's body must be preserved. He tried various means, even physical violence, to recall the fleeing soul to the prison-house of the body, and during the resultant fleeting moments of consciousness he would push a few morsels of food down Sri Ramakrishna's throat. Presently Sri Ramakrishna received the comm and of the Divine Mother to remain on the threshold of relative consciousness. Soon there-after after he was afflicted with a serious attack of dysentery. Day and night the pain tortured him, and his mind gradually came down to the physical plane.
--- COMPANY OF HOLY MEN and DEVOTEES
From now on Sri Ramakrishna began to seek the company of devotees and holy men. He had gone through the storm and stress of spiritual disciplines and visions. Now he realized an inner calmness and appeared to others as a normal person. But he could not bear the company of worldly people or listen to their talk. Fortunately the holy atmosphere of Dakshineswar and the liberality of Mathur attracted monks and holy men from all parts of the country. Sadhus of all denominations — monists and dualists, Vaishnavas and Vedantists, Saktas and worshippers of Rama — flocked there in ever increasing numbers. Ascetics and visionaries came to seek Sri Ramakrishna's advice. Vaishnavas had come during the period of his Vaishnava sadhana, and Tantriks when he practised the disciplines of Tantra. Vedantists began to arrive after the departure of Totapuri. In the room of Sri Ramakrishna, who was then in bed with dysentery, the Vedantists engaged in scriptural discussions, and, forgetting his own physical suffering, he solved their doubts by referring directly to his own experiences. Many of the visitors were genuine spiritual souls, the unseen pillars of Hinduism, and their spiritual lives were quickened in no small measure by the sage of Dakshineswar. Sri Ramakrishna in turn learnt from them anecdotes concerning the ways and the 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, clothes, and so forth, for distribution among the w andering 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, when he was asked by a disciple about the source of his seemingly inexhaustible knowledge, he replied; "I have not read; but I have heard the learned. I have made a garl and of their knowledge, wearing it round my neck, and I have given it as an offering at the feet of the Mother."
Sri Ramakrishna used to say that when the flower blooms the bees come to it for honey of their own accord. Now many souls began to visit Dakshineswar to satisfy their spiritual hunger. He, the devotee and aspirant, became the Master. Gauri, the great scholar who had been one of the first to proclaim Sri Ramakrishna an Incarnation of God, paid the Master a visit in 1870 and with the Master's blessings renounced the world. Narayan Shastri, another great pundit, who had mastered the six systems of Hindu philosophy and had been offered a lucrative post by the Maharaja of Jaipur, met the 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 the life of sannyas. Pundit Padmalochan, the court pundit of the Maharaja of Burdwan, well known for his scholarship in both the Vedanta and the Nyaya systems of philosophy, accepted the Master as an Incarnation of God. Krishnakishore, a Vedantist scholar, became devoted to the Master. and there arrived Viswanath Upadhyaya, who was to become a favourite devotee; Sri Ramakrishna always addressed him as "Captain". He was a high officer of the King of Nepal and had received the title of Colonel in recognition of his merit. A scholar of the Gita, the Bhagavata, and the Vedanta philosophy, he daily performed the worship of his Chosen Deity with great devotion. "I have read the Vedas and the other 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 the embodiment of the truths of the scriptures."
The Knowledge of Brahman in nirvikalpa samadhi had convinced Sri Ramakrishna that the gods of the different religions are but so many readings of the Absolute, and that the Ultimate Reality could never be expressed by human tongue. He understood that all religions lead their devotees by differing paths to one and the same goal. Now he became eager to explore some of the alien religions; for with him underst anding meant actual experience.
--- ISLAM
Toward the end of 1866 he began to practise the disciplines of Islam. Under the direction of his Mussalman guru he ab andoned himself to his new sadhana. He dressed as a Mussalman and repeated the name of Allah. His prayers took the form of the Islamic devotions. He forgot the Hindu gods and goddesses — even Kali — and gave up visiting the temples. He took up his residence outside the temple precincts. After three days he saw the vision of a radiant figure, perhaps Mohammed. This figure gently approached him and finally lost himself in Sri Ramakrishna. Thus he realized the Mussalman God. Thence he passed into communion with Brahman. The mighty river of Islam also led him back to the Ocean of the Absolute.
--- CHRISTIANITY
Eight years later, some time in November 1874, Sri Ramakrishna was seized with an irresistible desire to learn the truth of the Christian religion. He began to listen to readings from the Bible, by Sambhu Charan Mallick, a gentleman of Calcutta and a devotee of the Master. Sri Ramakrishna became fascinated by the life and teachings of Jesus. One day he was seated in the parlour of Jadu Mallick's garden house (This expression is used throughout to translate the Bengali word denoting a rich man's country house set in a garden.) at Dakshineswar, when his eyes became fixed on a painting of the Madonna and Child. Intently watching it, he became gradually overwhelmed with divine emotion. The figures in the picture took on life, and the rays of light emanating from them entered his soul. The effect of this experience was stronger than that of the vision of Mohammed. In dismay he cried out, "O Mother! What are You doing to me?" and, breaking through the 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 the Kali temple. On the fourth day, in the afternoon, as he was walking in the Panchavati, he saw coming toward him a person with beautiful large eyes, serene countenance, and fair skin. As the two faced each other, a voice rang out in the depths of Sri Ramakrishna's soul: "Behold the Christ, who shed His heart's blood for the redemption of the world, who suffered a sea of anguish for love of men. It is He, the Master Yogi, who is in eternal union with God. It is Jesus, Love Incarnate." The Son of Man embraced the Son of the Divine Mother 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. The Master went into samadhi and communed with the Brahman with attributes. Thus he experienced the truth that Christianity, too, was a path leading to God-Consciousness. Till the last moment of his life he believed that Christ was an Incarnation of God. But Christ, for him, was not the only Incarnation; there were others — Buddha, for instance, and Krishna.
--- ATTITUDE TOWARD DIFFERENT RELIGIONS
Sri Ramakrishna accepted the divinity of Buddha and used to point out the similarity of his teachings to those of the Upanishads. He also showed great respect for the Tirthankaras, who founded Jainism, and for the ten Gurus of Sikhism. But he did not speak of them as Divine Incarnations. He was heard to say that the Gurus of Sikhism were the 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 their doctrines, Sri Ramakrishna thus realized the ideals of religions other than Hinduism. He did not need to follow any doctrine. All barriers were removed by his overwhelming love of God. So he became a Master who could speak with authority regarding the ideas and ideals of the various religions of the world. "I have practised", said he, "all religions — Hinduism, Islam, Christianity — and I have also followed the paths of the different Hindu sects. I have found that it is the same God toward whom all are directing their steps, though along different paths. You must try all beliefs and traverse all the different ways once. Wherever I look, I see men quarrelling in the name of religion — Hindus, Mohammedans, Brahmos, Vaishnavas, and the rest. But they never reflect that He who is called Krishna is also called Siva, and bears the name of the Primal Energy, Jesus, and Allah as well — the same Rama with a thous and names. A lake has several ghats. At one the Hindus take water in pitchers and call it 'jal'; at another the Mussalmans take water in leather bags and call it pani'. At a third the Christians call it 'water'. Can we imagine that it is not 'jal', but only 'pani' or 'water'? How ridiculous! The substance is One under different names, and everyone is seeking the same substance; only climate, temperament, and name create differences. Let each man follow his own path. If he sincerely and ardently wishes to know God, peace be unto him! He will surely realize Him."
In 1867 Sri Ramakrishna returned to Kamarpukur to recuperate from the effect of his austerities. The peaceful countryside, the simple and artless companions of his boyhood, and the pure air did him much good. The villagers were happy to get back their playful, frank, witty, kind-hearted, and truthful Gadadhar, though they did not fail to notice the 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 she was able to underst and immediately her husb and's state of mind. She became eager to learn from him about God and to live with him as his attendant. The Master accepted her cheerfully both as his disciple and as his spiritual companion. Referring to the experiences of these few days, she once said: "I used to feel always as if a pitcher full of bliss were placed in my heart. The 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 the sacred places of northern India. At Vaidyanath in Behar, when the Master saw the inhabitants of a village reduced by poverty and starvation to mere skeletons, he requested his rich patron to feed the people and give each a piece of cloth. Mathur demurred at the added expense. The Master declared bitterly that he would not go on to Benares, but would live with the poor and share their miseries. He actually left Mathur and sat down with the villagers. Whereupon Mathur had to yield. On another occasion, two years later, Sri Ramakrishna showed a similar sentiment for the poor and needy. He accompanied Mathur on a tour to one of the latter's estates at the time of the collection of rents. For two years the harvests had failed and the tenants were in a state of extreme poverty. The Master asked Mathur to remit their rents, distribute help to them, and in addition give the hungry people a sumptuous feast. When Mathur grumbled, the Master said: "You are only the steward of the Divine Mother. They are the Mother's tenants. You must spend the Mother's money. When they are suffering, how can you refuse to help them? You must help them." Again Mathur had to give in. Sri Ramakrishna's sympathy for the poor sprang from his perception of God in all created beings. His sentiment was not that of the humanist or philanthropist. To him the service of man was the same as the worship of God.
The party entered holy Benares by boat along the Ganges. When Sri Ramakrishna's eyes fell on this city of Siva, where had accumulated for ages the devotion and piety of countless worshippers, he saw it to be made of gold, as the scriptures declare. He was visibly moved. During his stay in the city he treated every particle of its earth with utmost respect. At the Manikarnika Ghat, the great cremation ground of the city, he actually saw Siva, with ash-covered body and tawny matted hair, serenely approaching each funeral pyre and breathing into the ears of the corpses the mantra of liberation; and then the Divine Mother removing from the dead their bonds. Thus he realized the significance of the scriptural statement that anyone dying in Benares attains salvation through the grace of Siva. He paid a visit to Trailanga Swami, the celebrated monk, whom he later declared to be a real paramahamsa, a veritable image of Siva.
Sri Ramakrishna visited Allahabad, at the confluence of the Ganges and the Jamuna, and then proceeded to Vrindavan and Mathura, hallowed by the legends, songs, and dramas about Krishna and the 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 the olden days. You alone are absent." He visited the great woman saint, Gangamayi, regarded by Vaishnava devotees as the reincarnation of an intimate attendant of Radha. She was sixty years old and had frequent trances. She spoke of Sri Ramakrishna as an incarnation of Radha. With great difficulty he was persuaded to leave her.
On the return journey Mathur wanted to visit Gaya, but Sri Ramakrishna declined to go. He recalled his father's vision at Gaya before his own birth and felt that in the temple of Vishnu he would become permanently absorbed in God. Mathur, honouring the Master's wish, returned with his party to Calcutta.
From Vrindavan the Master had brought a h andful of dust. Part of this he scattered in the Panchavati; the rest he buried in the little hut where he had practised meditation. "Now this place", he said, "is as sacred as Vrindavan."
In 1870 the Master went on a pilgrimage to Nadia, the birth-place of Sri Chaitanya. As the boat by which he travelled approached the s and-bank close to Nadia, Sri Ramakrishna had a vision of the "two brothers", Sri Chaitanya and his companion Nityan anda, "bright as molten gold" and with haloes, rushing to greet him with uplifted h ands. "There they come! There they come!" he cried. They entered his body and he went into a deep trance.
--- RELATION WITH HIS WIFE
In 1872 Sarada Devi paid her first visit to her husb and at Dakshineswar. Four years earlier she had seen him at Kamarpukur and had tasted the bliss of his divine company. Since then she had become even more gentle, tender, introspective, serious, and unselfish. She had heard many rumours about her husb and's insanity. People had shown her pity in her misfortune. The more she thought, the more she felt that her duty was to be with him, giving him, in whatever measure she could, a wife's devoted service. She was now eighteen years old. Accompanied by her father, she arrived at Dakshineswar, having come on foot the distance of eighty miles. She had had an attack of fever on the way. When she arrived at the temple garden the Master said sorrowfully: "Ah! You have come too late. My Mathur is no longer here to look after you." Mathur had passed away the previous year.
The Master took up the duty of instructing his young wife, and this included everything from housekeeping to the Knowledge of Brahman. He taught her how to trim a lamp, how to behave toward people according to their differing temperaments, and how to conduct herself before visitors. He instructed her in the mysteries of spiritual life — prayer, meditation, japa, deep contemplation, and samadhi. The first lesson that Sarada Devi received was: "God is everybody's Beloved, just as the moon is dear to every child. Everyone has the 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 the Master's marriage, had once remarked: "What does it matter? He alone is firmly established in the Knowledge of Brahman who can adhere to his spirit of discrimination and renunciation even while living with his wife. He alone has attained the supreme illumination who can look on man and woman alike as Brahman. A man with the idea of sex may be a good aspirant, but he is still far from the goal." Sri Ramakrishna and his wife lived together at Dakshineswar, but their minds always soared above the worldly plane. A few months after Sarada Devi's arrival Sri Ramakrishna arranged, on an auspicious day, a special worship of Kali, the Divine Mother. Instead of an image of the Deity, he placed on the seat the living image, Sarada Devi herself. The worshipper and the worshipped went into deep samadhi and in the transcendental plane their souls were united. After several hours Sri Ramakrishna came down again to the relative plane, sang a hymn to the Great Goddess, and surrendered, at the feet of the living image, himself, his rosary, and the fruit of his life-long sadhana. This is known in Tantra as the Shorasi Puja, the "Adoration of Woman". Sri Ramakrishna realized the significance of the great statement of the Upanishad: "O Lord, Thou art the woman. Thou art the man; Thou art the boy. Thou art the girl; Thou art the old, tottering on their crutches. Thou pervadest the universe in its multiple forms."
By his marriage Sri Ramakrishna admitted the great value of marriage in man's spiritual evolution, and by adhering to his monastic vows he demonstrated the imperative necessity of self-control, purity, and continence, in the realization of God. By this unique spiritual relationship with his wife he proved that husb and and wife can live together as spiritual companions. Thus his life is a synthesis of the ways of life of the householder and the monk.
--- THE "EGO" OF THE MASTER
In the nirvikalpa samadhi Sri Ramakrishna had realized that Brahman alone is real and the world illusory. By keeping his mind six months on the plane of the non-dual Brahman, he had attained to the state of the vijnani, the knower of Truth in a special and very rich sense, who sees Brahman not only in himself and in the transcendental Absolute, but in everything of the world. In this state of vijnana, sometimes, bereft of body-consciousness, he would regard himself as one with Brahman; sometimes, conscious of the dual world, he would regard himself as God's devotee, servant, or child. In order to enable the Master to work for the welfare of humanity, the Divine Mother had kept in him a trace of ego, which he described — according to his mood — as the "ego of Knowledge", the "ego of Devotion", the "ego of a child", or the "ego of a servant". In any case this ego of the Master, consumed by the fire of the Knowledge of Brahman, was an appearance only, like a burnt string. He often referred to this ego as the "ripe ego" in contrast with the ego of the bound soul, which he described as the "unripe" or "green" ego. The ego of the bound soul identifies itself with the body, relatives, possessions, and the world; but the "ripe ego", illumined by Divine Knowledge, knows the body, relatives, possessions, and the world to be unreal and establishes a relationship of love with God alone. Through this "ripe ego" Sri Ramakrishna dealt with the world and his wife. One day, while stroking his feet, Sarada Devi asked the Master, "What do you think of me?" Quick came the answer: "The Mother who is worshipped in the temple is the mother who has given birth to my body and is now living in the nahabat, and it is She again who is stroking my feet at this moment. Indeed, I always look on you as the personification of the Blissful Mother Kali."
Sarada Devi, in the company of her husb and, had rare spiritual experiences. She said: "I have no words to describe my wonderful exaltation of spirit as I watched him in his different moods. Under the 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 the night. There was such an extraordinary divine presence in him that now and then I would shake with fear and wonder how the night would pass. Months went by in this way. Then one day he discovered that I had to keep awake the 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 the nahabat."
--- SUMMARY OF THE MASTER'S SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
We have now come to the end of Sri Ramakrishna's sadhana, the period of his spiritual discipline. As a result of his supersensuous experiences he reached 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 the benefit of humanity. Whereas 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 the various disciplines through which he had passed were really not necessary for his own liberation but were solely for the benefit of others. Thus the terms liberation and bondage were not applicable to him. As long as there are beings who consider themselves bound. God must come down to earth as an Incarnation to free them from bondage, just as a magistrate must visit any part of his district in which there is trouble.
Third, he came to foresee the time of his death. His words with respect to this matter were literally fulfilled.
About spirituality in general the following were his conclusions: First, he was firmly convinced that all religions are true, that every doctrinal system represents a path to God. He had followed all the main paths and all had led him to the same goal. He was the first religious prophet recorded in history to preach the harmony of religions.
Second, the three great systems of thought known as Dualism, Qualified Non-dualism, and Absolute Non-dualism — Dvaita, Visishtadvaita, and Advaita — he perceived to represent three stages in man's progress toward the Ultimate Reality. They were not contradictory but complementary and suited to different temperaments. For the ordinary man with strong attachment to the senses, a dualistic form of religion, prescribing a certain amount of material support, such as music and other symbols, is useful. A man of God-realization transcends the idea of worldly duties, but the ordinary mortal must perform his duties, striving to be unattached and to surrender the results to God. The mind can comprehend and describe the range of thought and experience up to the Visishtadvaita, and no further. The Advaita, the last word in spiritual experience, is something to be felt in samadhi. for it transcends mind and speech. From the highest st andpoint, the Absolute and Its manifestation are equally real — the Lord's Name, His Abode, and the Lord Himself are of the same spiritual Essence. Everything is Spirit, the difference being only in form.
Third, Sri Ramakrishna realized the wish of the Divine Mother that through him She should found a new Order, consisting of those who would uphold the universal doctrines illustrated in his life.
Fourth, his spiritual insight told him that those who were having their last birth on the mortal plane of existence and those who had sincerely called on the Lord even once in their lives must come to him.
During this period Sri Ramakrishna suffered several bereavements. The first was the death of a nephew named Akshay. After the young man's death Sri Ramakrishna said: "Akshay died before my very eyes. But it did not affect me in the least. I stood by and watched a man die. It was like a sword being drawn from its scabbard. I enjoyed the scene, and laughed and sang and danced over it. They removed the body and cremated it. But the next day as I stood there (pointing to the southeast ver andah of his room), I felt a racking pain for the loss of Akshay, as if somebody were squeezing my heart like a wet towel. I wondered at it and thought that the Mother 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 the loss of a nephew, how much more must be the grief of the householders at the loss of their 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 the Master's comfort. In 1873 died his elder brother Rameswar, and in 1876, his beloved mother. These bereavements left their imprint on the tender human heart of Sri Ramakrishna, albeit he had realized the immortality of the soul and the illusoriness of birth and death.
In March 1875, about a year before the death of his mother, the Master met Keshab Ch andra Sen. The meeting was a momentous event for both Sri Ramakrishna and Keshab. Here the Master for the first time came into actual, contact with a worthy representative of modern India.
--- BRAHMO SAMAJ
Keshab was the leader of the Brahmo Samaj, one of the two great movements that, during the latter part of the nineteenth century, played an important part in shaping the course of the renascence of India. The founder of the Brahmo movement had been the 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 the Buddhist mysteries. He had extracted from Christianity its ethical system, but had rejected the divinity of Christ as he had denied the Hindu Incarnations. The religion of Islam influenced him, to a great extent, in the formulation of his monotheistic doctrines. But he always went back to the Vedas for his spiritual inspiration. The Brahmo Samaj, which he founded in 1828, was dedicated to the "worship and adoration of the Eternal, the Unsearchable, the Immutable Being, who is the Author and Preserver of the Universe". The Samaj was open to all without distinction of colour, creed, caste, nation, or religion.
The real organizer of the Samaj was Devendranath Tagore (1817-1905), the father of the poet Rabindranath. His physical and spiritual beauty, aristocratic aloofness, penetrating intellect, and poetic sensibility made him the foremost leader of the educated Bengalis. These addressed him by the respectful epithet of Maharshi, the "Great Seer". The Maharshi was a Sanskrit scholar and, unlike Raja Rammohan Roy, drew his inspiration entirely from the Upanishads. He was an implacable enemy of image worship ship and also fought to stop the infiltration of Christian ideas into the Samaj. He gave the movement its faith and ritual. Under his influence the Brahmo Samaj professed One Self-existent Supreme Being who had created the universe out of nothing, the God of Truth, Infinite Wisdom, Goodness, and Power, the Eternal and Omnipotent, the One without a Second. Man should love Him and do His will, believe in Him and worship Him, and thus merit salvation in the world to come.
By far the ablest leader of the Brahmo movement was Keshab Ch andra 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 the popular Hindu religion. Even at an early age he came under the spell of Christ and professed to have experienced the special favour of John the Baptist, Christ, and St. Paul. When he strove to introduce Christ to the Brahmo Samaj, a rupture became inevitable with Devendranath. In 1868 Keshab broke with the older leader and founded the Brahmo Samaj of India, Devendra retaining leadership of the first Brahmo Samaj, now called the Adi Samaj.
Keshab possessed a complex nature. When passing through a great moral crisis, he spent much of his time in solitude and felt that he heard the voice of God, When a devotional form of worship was introduced into the Brahmo Samaj, he spent hours in singing kirtan with his followers. He visited Engl and l and in 1870 and impressed the 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 the Brahmo Samaj in various parts of the country. Not unlike a professor of comparative religion in a European university, he began to discover, about the time of his first contact with Sri Ramakrishna, the harmony of religions. He became sympathetic toward the Hindu gods and goddesses, explaining them in a liberal fashion. Further, he believed that he was called by God to dictate to the world God's newly revealed law, the New Dispensation, the Navavidhan.
In 1878 a schism divided Keshab's Samaj. Some of his influential followers accused him of infringing the Brahmo principles by marrying his daughter to a wealthy man before she had attained the marriageable age approved by the Samaj. This group seceded and established the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Keshab remaining the leader of the Navavidhan. Keshab now began to be drawn more and more toward the Christ ideal, though under the influence of Sri Ramakrishna his devotion to the Divine Mother also deepened. His mental oscillation between Christ and the Divine Mother of Hinduism found no position of rest. In Bengal and some other parts of India the Brahmo movement took the form of unitarian Christianity, scoffed at Hindu rituals, and preached a crusade against image worship. Influenced by Western culture, it declared the supremacy of reason, advocated the ideals of the French Revolution, abolished the caste-system among its own members, stood for the emancipation of women, agitated for the abolition of early marriage, sanctioned the remarriage of widows, and encouraged various educational and social-reform movements. The immediate effect of the Brahmo movement in Bengal was the checking of the proselytizing activities of the Christian missionaries. It also raised Indian culture in the estimation of its English masters. But it was an intellectual and eclectic religious ferment born of the necessity of the time. Unlike Hinduism, it was not founded on the deep inner experiences of sages and prophets. Its influence was confined to a comparatively few educated men and women of the country, and the vast masses of the Hindus remained outside it. It sounded monotonously only one of the notes in the rich gamut of the Eternal Religion of the Hindus.
--- ARYA SAMAJ
The other movement playing an important part in the nineteenth-century religious revival of India was the Arya Samaj. The Brahmo Samaj, essentially a movement of compromise with European culture, tacitly admitted the superiority of the West. But the founder of the Arya Samaj was a ' pugnacious Hindu sannyasi who accepted the challenge of Islam and Christianity and was resolved to combat all foreign influence in India. Swami Dayan anda (1824-1883) launched this movement in Bombay in 1875, and soon its influence was felt throughout western India. The Swami was a great scholar of the Vedas, which he explained as being strictly monotheistic. He preached against the worship of images and re-established the ancient Vedic sacrificial rites. According to him the Vedas were the ultimate authority on religion, and he accepted every word of them as literally true. The Arya Samaj became a bulwark against the encroachments of Islam and Christianity, and its orthodox flavour appealed to many Hindu minds. It also assumed leadership in many movements of social reform. The caste-system became a target of its attack. Women it liberated from many of their social disabilities. The cause of education received from it a great impetus. It started agitation against early marriage and advocated the remarriage of Hindu widows. Its influence was strongest in the Punjab, the battle-ground of the Hindu and Islamic cultures. A new fighting attitude was introduced into the slumbering Hindu society. Unlike the Brahmo Samaj, the influence of the Arya Samaj was not confined to the intellectuals. It was a force that spread to the masses. It was a dogmatic movement intolerant of those who disagreed with its views, and it emphasized only one way, the Arya Samaj way, to the realization of Truth. Sri Ramakrishna met Swami Dayan anda when the latter visited Bengal.
--- KESHAB CH andRA SEN
Keshab Ch andra Sen and Sri Ramakrishna met for the first time in the garden house of Jaygopal Sen at Belgharia, a few miles from Dakshineswar, where the great Brahmo leader was staying with some of his disciples. In many respects the two were poles apart, though an irresistible inner attraction was to make them intimate friends. The Master had realized God as Pure Spirit and Consciousness, but he believed in the various forms of God as well. Keshab, on the other h and, regarded image worship as idolatry and gave allegorical explanations of the 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 the distant shores of Engl and; the Master still led a secluded life in the village of Dakshineswar. Keshab emphasized social reforms for India's regeneration; to Sri Ramakrishna God-realization was the only goal of life. Keshab considered himself a disciple of Christ and accepted in a diluted form the Christian sacraments and Trinity; Sri Ramakrishna was the simple child of Kali, the Divine Mother, though he too, in a different way, acknowledged Christ's divinity. Keshab was a householder holder and took a real interest in the welfare of his children, whereas Sri Ramakrishna was a paramahamsa and completely indifferent to the life of the world. Yet, as their acquaintance ripened into friendship, Sri Ramakrishna and Keshab held each other in great love and respect. Years later, at the news of Keshab's death, the Master felt as if half his body had become paralyzed. Keshab's concepts of the harmony of religions and the Motherhood of God were deepened and enriched 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 the unostentatious visitor. Finally the 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. The Master sang a thrilling song about Kali and forthwith went into samadhi. When Hriday uttered the sacred "Om" in his ears, he gradually came back to consciousness of the world, his face still radiating a divine brilliance. Keshab and his followers were amazed. The contrast between Sri Ramakrishna and the Brahmo devotees was very interesting. There 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 the corners of his mouth. His speech was Bengali of a homely kind with a slight, delightful stammer, and his words held men enthralled by their wealth of spiritual experience, their inexhaustible store of simile and metaphor, their power of observation, their bright and subtle humour, their wonderful catholicity, their ceaseless flow of wisdom. and around him now were the sophisticated men of Bengal, the best products of Western education, with Keshab, the idol of young Bengal, as their leader.
Keshab's sincerity was enough for Sri Ramakrishna. Henceforth the two saw each other frequently, either at Dakshineswar or at the temple of the Brahmo Samaj. Whenever the Master was in the temple at the time of divine service, Keshab would request him to speak to the congregation. and Keshab would visit the saint, in his turn, with offerings of flowers and fruits.
--- OTHER BRAHMO LEADERS
Gradually other Brahmo leaders began to feel Sri Ramakrishna's influence. But they were by no means uncritical admirers of the Master. They particularly disapproved of his ascetic renunciation and condemnation of "woman and gold".1 They measured him according to their own ideals of the householder's life. Some could not underst and his samadhi and described it as a nervous malady. Yet they could not resist his magnetic personality.
Among the Brahmo leaders who knew the Master closely were Pratap Ch andra Mazumdar, Vijaykrishna Goswami, Trailokyanath Sannyal, and Shivanath Shastri.
Shivanath, one day, was greatly impressed by the Master's utter simplicity and abhorrence of praise. He was seated with Sri Ramakrishna in the latter's room when several rich men of Calcutta arrived. The Master left the room for a few minutes. In the mean time Hriday, his nephew, began to describe his samadhi to the visitors. The last few words caught the Master's ear as he entered the room. He said to Hriday: "What a mean-spirited fellow you must be to extol me thus before these rich men! You have seen their costly apparel and their gold watches and chains, and your object is to get from them as much money as you can. What do I care about what they think of me? (Turning to the 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. The sadhus who frequented this temple told me to practise many things. I tried to follow them, and the consequence was that my austerities drove me to insanity." This is a quotation from one of Shivanath's books. He took the Master's words literally and failed to see their real import.
Shivanath vehemently criticized the Master for his other-worldly attitude toward his wife. He writes: "Ramakrishna was practically separated from his wife, who lived in her village home. One day when I was complaining to some friends about the 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.' Another day as I was inveighing against this part of his teaching, and also declaring that our program of work in the Brahmo Samaj includes women, that ours is a social and domestic religion, and that we want to give education and social liberty to women, the saint became very much excited, as was his way when anything against his settled conviction was asserted — a trait we so much liked in him — and exclaimed, 'Go, thou fool, go and perish in the pit that your women will dig for you.' Then 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 when the young plant has grown up into a tree and it can no longer be injured by cattle, does he not remove the fence and let the tree grow freely?' I replied, 'Yes, that is the custom with gardeners.' Then he remarked, 'Do the same in your spiritual life; become strong, be full-grown; then you may seek them.' To which I replied, 'I don't agree with you in thinking that women's work is like that of cattle, destructive; they 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. Then referring to the lateness of the hour he jocularly remarked, 'It is time for you to depart; take care, do not be late; otherwise your woman will not admit you into her room.' This evoked hearty laughter."
Pratap Ch andra Mazumdar, the right-h and man of Keshab and an accomplished Brahmo preacher 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 the spell of the Master's personality. In the course of an article about Sri Ramakrishna, Pratap wrote in the "Theistic Quarterly Review": "What is there in common between him and me? I, a Europeanized, civilized, self-centred, semi-sceptical, so-called educated reasoner, and he, a poor, illiterate, unpolished, 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 the 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 the perfections of the 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 the sublime precepts of purity, unworldliness, spirituality, and inebriation in the love of God. . . . He, by his childlike bhakti, by his strong conceptions of an ever-ready Motherhood, helped to unfold it [God as our Mother] in our minds wonderfully. . . . By associating with him we learnt to realize better the divine attributes as scattered over the three hundred and thirty millions of deities of mythological India, the gods of the Puranas."
The Brahmo leaders received much inspiration from their contact with Sri Ramakrishna. It broadened their religious views and kindled in their hearts the yearning for God-realization; it made them underst and and appreciate the rituals and symbols of Hindu religion, convinced them of the manifestation of God in diverse forms, and deepened their thoughts about the harmony of religions. The Master, too, was impressed by the sincerity of many of the Brahmo devotees. He told them about his own realizations and explained to them the essence of his teachings, such as the necessity of renunciation, sincerity in the pursuit of one's own course of discipline, faith in God, the performance of one's duties without thought of results, and discrimination between the Real and the unreal.
This contact with the 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 the orthodox holy men of India in religious life, he had had no opportunity to study the influence of modernism on the thoughts and lives of the Hindus. He could not properly estimate the result of the impact of Western education on Indian culture. He was a Hindu of the Hindus, renunciation being to him the only means to the realization of God in life. From the Brahmos he learnt that the new generation of India made a compromise between God and the world. Educated young men were influenced more by the Western philosophers than by their own prophets. But Sri Ramakrishna was not dismayed, for he saw in this, too, the h and of God. and though he expounded to the Brahmos all his ideas about God and austere religious disciplines, yet he bade them accept from his teachings only as much as suited their tastes and temperaments.
^The term "woman and gold", which has been used throughout in a collective sense, occurs again and again in the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna to designate the chief impediments to spiritual progress. This favourite expression of the Master, "kaminikanchan", has often been misconstrued. By it he meant only "lust and greed", the baneful influence of which retards the aspirant's spiritual growth. He used the word "kamini", or "woman", as a concrete term for the sex instinct when addressing his man devotees. He advised women, on the other h and, to shun "man". "Kanchan", or "gold", symbolizes greed, which is the other 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 them collectively. The Master looked on all women as so many images of the Divine Mother of the Universe. He paid the highest homage to womankind by accepting a woman as his guide while practising the very profound spiritual disciplines of Tantra. His wife, known and revered as the Holy Mother, was his constant companion and first disciple. At the end of his spiritual practice he literally worshipped his wife as the embodiment of the Goddess Kali, the Divine Mother. After his passing away the Holy Mother became the spiritual guide not only of a large number of householders, but also of many monastic members of the Ramakrishna Order.
--- THE MASTER'S YEARNING FOR HIS OWN DEVOTEES
Contact with the Brahmos increased Sri Ramakrishna's longing to encounter aspirants who would be able to follow his teachings in their purest form. "There was no limit", he once declared, "to the longing I felt at that time. During the day-time I somehow managed to control it. The secular talk of the worldly-minded was galling to me, and I would look wistfully to the day when my own beloved companions would come. I hoped to find solace in conversing with them and relating to them my own realizations. Every little incident would remind me of them, and thoughts of them wholly engrossed me. I was already arranging in my mind what I should say to one and give to another, and so on. But when the day would come to a close I would not be able to curb my feelings. The thought that another day had gone by, and they had not come, oppressed me. When, during the evening service, the temples rang with the sound of bells and conch-shells, I would climb to the roof of the kuthi in the garden and, writhing in anguish of heart, cry at the top of my voice: 'Come, my children! Oh, where are you? I cannot bear to live without you.' A mother never longed so intensely for the sight of her child, nor a friend for his companions, nor a lover for his sweetheart, as I longed for them. Oh, it was indescribable! Shortly after this period of yearning the devotees1 began to come."
In the year 1879 occasional writings about Sri Ramakrishna by the Brahmos, in the Brahmo magazines, began to attract his future disciples from the educated middle-class Bengalis, and they continued to come till 1884. But others, too, came, feeling the subtle power of his attraction. They were an ever shifting crowd of people of all castes and creeds: Hindus and Brahmos, Vaishnavas and Saktas, the educated with university degrees and the illiterate, old and young, maharajas and beggars, journalists and artists, pundits and devotees, philosophers and the 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 them all, without stint, from his illimitable store of realization. No one went away empty-h anded. He taught them the lofty .knowledge of the Vedanta and the soul
-melting love of the 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 touched them with that strange power of the soul which could not but melt even the most hardened. and people understood him according to their powers of comprehension.
^The word is generally used in the text to denote one devoted to God, a worshipper of the Personal God, or a follower of the path of love. A devotee of Sri Ramakrishna is one who is devoted to Sri Ramakrishna and follows his teachings. The word "disciple", when 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.
--- THE MASTER'S METHOD OF TEACHING
But he remained as ever the willing instrument in the h and of God, the child of the Divine Mother, totally untouched by the idea of being a teacher. He used to say that three ideas — that he was a guru, a father, and a master — pricked his flesh like thorns. Yet he was an extraordinary teacher. He stirred his disciples' hearts more by a subtle influence than by actions or words. He never claimed to be the founder of a religion or the organizer of a sect. Yet he was a religious dynamo. He was the verifier of all religions and creeds. He was like an expert gardener, who prepares the soil and removes the weeds, knowing that the plants will grow because of the inherent power of the seeds, producing each its appropriate flowers and fruits. He never thrust his ideas on anybody. He understood people's limitations and worked on the principle that what is good for one may be bad for another. He had the unusual power of knowing the devotees' minds, even their inmost souls, at the first sight. He accepted disciples with the full knowledge of their past tendencies and future possibilities. The life of evil did not frighten him, nor did religious squeamishness raise anybody in his estimation. He saw in everything the unerring finger of the Divine Mother. Even the light that leads astray was to him the light from God.
To those who became his intimate disciples the Master was a friend, companion, and playmate. Even the chores of religious discipline would be lightened in his presence. The devotees would be so inebriated with pure joy in his company that they would have no time to ask themselves whether he was an Incarnation, a perfect soul, or a yogi. His very presence was a great teaching; words were superfluous. In later years his disciples remarked that while they were with him they would regard him as a comrade, but afterwards would tremble to think of their frivolities in the presence of such a great person. They had convincing proof that the Master could, by his mere wish, kindle in their hearts the love of God and give them His vision.
Through all this fun and frolic, this merriment and frivolity, he always kept before them the shining ideal of God-Consciousness and the path of renunciation. He prescribed ascents steep or graded according to the powers of the climber. He permitted no compromise with the 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. The rest would be done by the Mother.
His disciples were of two kinds: the householders, and the young men, some of whom were later to become monks. There was also a small group of women devotees.
--- HOUSEHOLDER DEVOTEES
For the householders Sri Ramakrishna did not prescribe the hard path of total renunciation. He wanted them to discharge their obligations to their families. Their renunciation was to be mental. Spiritual life could not be acquired by flying away from responsibilities. A married couple should live like brother and sister after the birth of one or two children, devoting their time to spiritual talk and contemplation. He encouraged the householders, saying that their life was, in a way, easier than that of the monk, since it was more advantageous to fight the enemy from inside a fortress than in an open field. He insisted, however, on their repairing into solitude every now and then to strengthen their devotion and faith in God through prayer, japa, and meditation. He prescribed for them the companionship of sadhus. He asked them to perform their worldly duties with one h and, while holding to God with the other, and to pray to God to make their duties fewer and fewer so that in the end they might cling to Him with both h ands. He would discourage in both the householders and the celibate youths any lukewarmness in their spiritual struggles. He would not ask them to follow indiscriminately the ideal of non-resistance, which ultimately makes a coward of the unwary.
--- FUTURE MONKS
But to the young men destined to be monks he pointed out the steep path of renunciation, both external and internal. They must take the vow of absolute continence and eschew all thought of greed and lust. By the practice of continence, aspirants develop a subtle nerve through which they underst and the deeper mysteries of God. For them self-control is final, imperative, and absolute. The sannyasis are teachers of men, and their lives should be totally free from blemish. They must not even look at a picture which may awaken their animal passions. The Master selected his future monks from young men untouched by "woman and gold" and plastic enough to be cast in his spiritual mould. When teaching them the path of renunciation and discrimination, he would not allow the householders to be anywhere near them.
--- RAM and MANOMOHAN
The first two householder devotees to come to Dakshineswar were Ramch andra Dutta and Manomohan Mitra. A medical practitioner and chemist, Ram was sceptical about God and religion and never enjoyed peace of soul. He wanted tangible proof of God's existence. The Master said to him: "God really" exists. You don't see the stars in the day-time, but that doesn't mean that the stars do not exist. There is butter in milk. But can anybody see it by merely looking at the 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 the Master awakened Ram's spirituality and the 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 other relatives, who resented his visits to Dakshineswar. But in the end the unselfish love of the Master triumphed over worldly affection. It was Manomohan who brought Rakhal to the Master.
--- SURENDRA
Suresh Mitra, a beloved disciple whom the Master often addressed as Surendra, had received an English education and held an important post in an English firm. Like many other educated young men of the time, he prided himself on his atheism and led a Bohemian life. He was addicted to drinking. He cherished an exaggerated notion about man's free will. A victim of mental depression, he was brought to Sri Ramakrishna by Ramch andra ch andra Dutta. When he heard the Master asking a disciple to practise the virtue of self-surrender to God, he was impressed. But though he tried thenceforth to do so, he was unable to give up his old associates and his drinking. One day the Master said in his presence, "Well, when a man goes to an undesirable place, why doesn't he take the Divine Mother with him?" and to Surendra himself Sri Ramakrishna said: "Why should you drink wine as wine? Offer it to Kali, and then 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 w ander. At first you will feel ordinary excitement, but soon you will experience spiritual exaltation." Gradually Surendra's entire life was changed. The Master designated him as one of those commissioned by the Divine Mother to defray a great part of his expenses. Surendra's purse was always open for the Master's comfort.
--- KEDAR
Kedarnath Chatterji was endowed with a spiritual temperament and had tried various paths of religion, some not very commendable. When he met the Master at Dakshineswar he understood the true meaning of religion. It is said that the Master, weary of instructing devotees who were coming to him in great numbers for guidance, once prayed to the Goddess Kali: "Mother, I am tired of speaking to people. Please give power to Kedar, Girish, Ram, Vijay, and Mahendra to give them the 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 shelter with the 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 the entreaties and threats of his relatives. Referring to his undisturbed peace of mind, the Master would say: "Real men are dead to the world though living. Look at Harish. He is an example." When one day the Master asked him to be a little kind to his wife, Harish said: "You must excuse me on this point. This is not the place to show kindness. If I try to be sympathetic to her, there is a possibility of my forgetting the ideal and becoming entangled in the world."
--- BHAVANATH
Bhavanath Chatterji visited the Master while he was still in his teens. His parents and relatives regarded Sri Ramakrishna as an insane person and tried their utmost to prevent him from becoming intimate with the Master. But the young boy was very stubborn and often spent nights at Dakshineswar. He was greatly attached to Narendra, and the Master encouraged their friendship. The 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 the study of the Vaishnava scriptures. He was very much impressed by Sri Ramakrishna even at their first meeting. He asked Sri Ramakrishna whether God really existed and, if so, whether a man could realize Him. The Master said: "God reveals Himself to the 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 attached to His devotees. He comes to a man even before He is sought. There is none more intimate and affectionate than God." Balaram had never before heard God spoken of in such forceful words; every one of the words seemed true to him. Under the Master's influence he outgrew the conventions of the Vaishnava worship and became one of the most beloved of the disciples. It was at his home that the Master slept whenever he spent a night in Calcutta.
--- MAHENDRA OR M.
Mahendranath Gupta, better known as "M.", arrived at Dakshineswar in March 1882. He belonged to the Brahmo Samaj and was headmaster of the Vidyasagar High School at Syambazar, Calcutta. At the very first sight the Master recognized him as one of his "marked" disciples. Mahendra recorded in his diary Sri Ramakrishna's conversations with his devotees. These are the first directly recorded words, in the spiritual history of the world, of a man recognized as belonging in the class of Buddha and Christ. The present volume is a translation of this diary. Mahendra was instrumental, through his personal contacts, in spreading the Master's message among many young and aspiring souls.
--- NAG MAHASHAY
Durgacharan Nag, also known as Nag Mahashay, was the ideal householder among the lay disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. He was the embodiment of the Master's ideal of life in the world, unstained by worldliness. In spite of his intense desire to become a sannyasi, Sri Ramakrishna asked him to live in the world in the spirit of a monk, and the disciple truly carried out this injunction. He was born of a poor family and even during his boyhood often sacrificed everything to lessen the sufferings of the needy. He had married at an early age and after his wife's death had married a second time to obey his father's comm and. But he once said to his wife: "Love on the physical level never lasts. He is indeed blessed who can give his love to God with his whole heart. Even a little attachment to the body endures for several births. So do not be attached to this cage of bone and flesh. Take shelter at the feet of the Mother and think of Her alone. Thus your life here and hereafter will be ennobled." The Master spoke of him as a "blazing light". He received every word of Sri Ramakrishna in dead earnest. One day he heard the Master saying that it was difficult for doctors, lawyers, and brokers to make much progress in spirituality. Of doctors he said, "If the mind clings to the tiny drops of medicine, how can it conceive of the Infinite?" That was the end of Durgacharan's medical practice and he threw his chest of medicines into the Ganges. Sri Ramakrishna assured him that he would not lack simple food and clothing. He bade him serve holy men. On being asked where he would find real holy men, the Master said that the sadhus themselves would seek his company. No sannyasi could have lived a more austere life than Durgacharan.
--- GIRISH GHOSH
Girish Ch andra Ghosh was a born rebel against God, a sceptic, a Bohemian, a drunkard. He was the greatest Bengali dramatist of his time, the father of the modem Bengali stage. Like other young men he had imbibed all the vices of the 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 the riddle of life. He had heard people say that in spiritual life the help of a guru was imperative and that the 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 the Master, in a semi-conscious mood, had inquired whether it was evening, though the lamps were burning in the room. But their paths often crossed, and Girish could not avoid further encounters. The Master attended a performance in Girish's Star Theatre. On this occasion, too, Girish found nothing impressive about him. One day, however, Girish happened to see the Master dancing and singing with the devotees. He felt the contagion and wanted to join them, but restrained himself for fear of ridicule. Another day Sri Ramakrishna was about to give him spiritual instruction, when Girish said: "I don't want to listen to instructions. I have myself written many instructions. They are of no use to me. Please help me in a more tangible way If you can." This pleased the Master and he asked Girish to cultivate faith.
As time passed, Girish began to learn that the guru is the one who silently unfolds the disciple's inner life. He became a steadfast devotee of the Master. He often loaded the Master with insults, drank in his presence, and took liberties which astounded the other devotees. But the Master knew that at heart Girish was tender, faithful, and sincere. He would not allow Girish to give up the theatre. and when 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." The Master knew that mere words could not induce a man to break deep-rooted habits, but that the silent influence of love worked miracles. Therefore he never asked him to give up alcohol, with the result that Girish himself eventually broke the habit. Sri Ramakrishna had strengthened 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 the 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 then realize that He also, on his part, had to give up his freedom and make of himself a puppet in Sri Ramakrishna's h ands. The 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!" the Master corrected him. "You must not speak in that egotistic manner. You should say, 'God willing, I shall do it.'" Girish understood. Thenceforth he tried to give up all idea of personal responsibility and surrender himself to the Divine Will. His mind began to dwell constantly on Sri Ramakrishna. This unconscious meditation in time chastened his turbulent spirit.
The householder devotees generally visited Sri Ramakrishna on Sunday afternoons and other holidays. Thus a brotherhood was gradually formed, and the Master encouraged their fraternal feeling. Now and then he would accept an invitation to a devotee's home, where other devotees would also be invited. Kirtan would be arranged and they would spend hours in dance and devotional music. The Master would go into trances or open his heart in religious discourses and in the narration of his own spiritual experiences. Many people who could not go to Dakshineswar participated in these meetings and felt blessed. Such an occasion would be concluded with a sumptuous feast.
But it was in the company of his younger devotees, pure souls yet unstained by the touch of worldliness, that Sri Ramakrishna took greatest joy. Among the young men who later embraced the householder's life were Narayan, Paitu, the younger Naren, Tejch andra, and Purna. These visited the Master sometimes against strong opposition from home.
--- PURNA
Purna was a lad of thirteen, whom Sri Ramakrishna described as an Isvarakoti, a soul born with special spiritual qualities. The Master said that Purna was the last of the 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 their second meeting, "You are God Himself incarnated in flesh and blood." Such words coming from a mere youngster proved of what stuff the boy was made.
--- MAHIMACHARAN and PRATAP HAZRA
Mahimacharan and Pratap Hazra were two devotees outst anding for their pretentiousness and idiosyncrasies. But the Master showed them his unfailing love and kindness, though he was aware of their shortcomings. Mahimacharan Chakravarty had met the Master long before the arrival of the other disciples. He had had the 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 the 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 them, most of the leaves were uncut. The Master knew all his limitations, yet enjoyed listening to him recite from the Vedas and other scriptures. He would always exhort Mahima to meditate on the meaning of the scriptural texts and to practise spiritual discipline.
Pratap Hazra, a middle-aged man, hailed from a village near Kamarpukur. He was not altogether unresponsive to religious feelings. On a moment's impulse he had left his home, aged mother, wife, and children, and had found shelter in the temple garden at Dakshineswar, where he intended to lead a spiritual life. He loved to argue, and the Master often pointed him out as an example of barren argumentation. He was hypercritical of others and cherished an exaggerated notion of his own spiritual advancement. He was mischievous and often tried to upset the minds of the Master's young disciples, criticizing them for their happy and joyous life and asking them to devote their time to meditation. The Master teasingly compared Hazra to Jatila and Kutila, the two women who always created obstructions in Krishna's sport with the gopis, and said that Hazra lived at Dakshineswar to "thicken the plot" by adding complications.
--- SOME NOTED MEN
Sri Ramakrishna also became acquainted with a number of people whose scholarship or wealth entitled them everywhere 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 the Master found him disappointing; for, whereas Sri Ramakrishna expected of a saint complete renunciation of the world, Devendranath combined with his saintliness a life of enjoyment. Sri Ramakrishna met the great poet Michael Madhusudan, who had embraced Christianity "for the sake of his stomach". To him the Master could not impart instruction, for the Divine Mother "pressed his tongue". In addition he met Maharaja Jatindra Mohan Tagore, a titled aristocrat of Bengal; Kristodas Pal, the editor, social reformer, and patriot; Iswar Vidyasagar, the 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 the fashioners of modern Bengali prose. Sri Ramakrishna was not the 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 the light of God, and if that was missing he would have nothing to do with them.
--- KRISTODAS PAL
The Europeanized Kristodas Pal did not approve of the Master's emphasis on renunciation and said; "Sir, this cant of renunciation has almost ruined the country. It is for this reason that the Indians are a subject nation today. Doing good to others, bringing education to the door of the ignorant, and above all, improving the material conditions of the country — these should be our duty now. The cry of religion and renunciation would, on the contrary, only weaken us. You should advise the young men of Bengal to resort only to such acts as will uplift the country." Sri Ramakrishna gave him a searching look and found no divine light within, "You man of poor underst anding!" Sri Ramakrishna said sharply. "You dare to slight in these terms renunciation and piety, which our scriptures describe as the greatest of all virtues! After reading two pages of English you think you have come to know the world! You appear to think you are omniscient. Well, have you seen those tiny crabs that are born in the Ganges just when the rains set in? In this big universe you are even less significant than one of those small creatures. How dare you talk of helping the world? The Lord will look to that. You haven't the power in you to do it." After a pause the Master continued: "Can you explain to me how you can work for others? I know what you mean by helping them. To feed a number of persons, to treat them when they are sick, to construct a road or dig a well — isn't that all? These, are good deeds, no doubt, but how trifling in comparison with the vastness of the 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 the world. Let a man first realize Him. Let a man get the authority from God and be endowed with His power; then, and then alone, may he think of doing good to others. A man should first be purged of all egotism. Then alone will the Blissful Mother ask him to work for the 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 the boredom of life, or an attempt to soothe a guilty conscience. True charity, he taught, is the result of love of God — service to man in a spirit of worship.
--- MONASTIC DISCIPLES
--
The first of these young men to come to the Master was Latu. Born of obscure parents, in Behar, he came to Calcutta in search of work and was engaged by Ramch andra Dutta as house-boy. Learning of the saintly Sri Ramakrishna, he visited the Master at Dakshineswar and was deeply touched by his cordiality. When he was about to leave, the Master asked him to take some money and return home in a boat or carriage. But Latu declared he had a few pennies and jingled the coins in his pocket. Sri Ramakrishna later requested Ram to allow Latu to stay with him permanently. Under Sri Ramakrishna's guidance Latu made great progress in meditation and was blessed with ecstatic visions, but all the efforts of the Master to give him a smattering of education failed. Latu was very fond of kirtan and other devotional songs but remained all his life illiterate.
--- RAKHAL
Even before Rakhal's coming to Dakshineswar, the 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 the Master. His father objected to his association with Sri Ramakrishna but afterwards was reassured to find that many celebrated people were visitors at Dakshineswar. The relationship between the Master and this beloved disciple was that of mother and child. Sri Ramakrishna allowed Rakhal many liberties denied to others. But he would not hesitate to chastise the boy for improper actions. At one time Rakhal felt a childlike jealousy because he found that other boys were receiving the Master's affection. He soon got over it and realized his guru as the Guru of the whole universe. The 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.
--- THE ELDER GOPAL
Gopal Sur of Sinthi came to Dakshineswar at a rather advanced age and was called the elder Gopal. He had lost his wife, and the Master assuaged his grief. Soon he renounced the world and devoted himself fully to meditation and prayer. Some years later Gopal gave the Master the ochre cloths with which the latter initiated several of his disciples into monastic life.
--- NARENDRA
To spread his message to the four corners of the 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 the world as Swami Vivekan anda. Even before meeting Narendranath, the Master had seen him in a vision as a sage, immersed in the meditation of the 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 mother was steeped in the great Hindu epics, and his father, a distinguished attorney of the Calcutta High Court, was an agnostic about religion, a friend of the 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, mathematics, philosophy, history, and literature. He grew up into an extremely h andsome 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 the vow of austere religious chastity and never allowed the fire of purity to be extinguished by the slightest defilement of body or soul.
As he read in college the rationalistic Western philosophers of the 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 the hours of temptation. He wanted an external power, a guru, who by embodying perfection in the flesh would still the commotion of his soul. Attracted by the magnetic personality of Keshab, he joined the Brahmo Samaj and became a singer in its choir. But in the Samaj he did not find the 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 then eighteen years of age and had been in college two years. He entered the Master's room accompanied by some light-hearted friends. At Sri Ramakrishna's request he sang a few songs, pouring his whole soul into them, and the Master went into samadhi. A few minutes later Sri Ramakrishna suddenly left his seat, took Narendra by the h and, and led him to the screened ver andah north of his room. They were alone. Addressing Narendra most tenderly, as if he were a friend of long acquaintance, the Master said: "Ah! You have come very late. Why have you been so unkind as to make me wait all these days? My ears are tired of hearing the futile words of worldly men. Oh, how I have longed to pour my spirit into the heart of someone fitted to receive my message!" He talked thus, sobbing all the time. Then, st anding before Narendra with folded h ands, he addressed him as Narayana, born on earth to remove the misery of humanity. Grasping Narendra's h and, 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 the son of Viswanath Dutta. How dare he speak this way to me?"
When they returned to the room and Narendra heard the Master speaking to others, 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?" the 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, the Master said: "But, my child, who wants to see God? People shed jugs of tears for money, wife, and children. But if they would weep for God for only one day they would surely see Him." Narendra was amazed. These words he could not doubt. This was the first time he had ever heard a man saying that he had seen God. But he could not reconcile these words of the Master with the scene that had taken place on the ver andah only a few minutes before. He concluded that Sri Ramakrishna was a monomaniac, and returned home rather puzzled in mind.
During his second visit, about a month later, suddenly, at the touch of the Master, Narendra felt overwhelmed and saw the walls of the room and everything around him whirling and vanishing. "What are you doing to me?" he cried in terror. "I have my father and mother at home." He saw his own ego and the whole universe almost swallowed in a nameless void. With a laugh the Master easily restored him. Narendra thought he might have been hypnotized, but he could not underst and how a monomaniac could cast a spell over the 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 the Master's touch, he lost consciousness entirely. While he was still in that state, Sri Ramakrishna questioned him concerning his spiritual antecedents and whereabouts, his mission in this world, and the duration of his mortal life. The answers confirmed what the Master himself had known and inferred. Among other things, he came to know that Narendra was a sage who had already attained perfection, and that the 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 the last traces of the 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 the Brahmo Samaj, he could not believe that a human intermediary was necessary between man and God. Moreover, he openly laughed at Sri Ramakrishna's visions as hallucinations. Yet in the secret chamber of his heart he bore a great love for the Master.
Sri Ramakrishna was grateful to the Divine Mother for sending him one who doubted his own realizations. Often he asked Narendra to test him as the money-changers test their coins. He laughed at Narendra's biting criticism of his spiritual experiences and samadhi. When at times Narendra's sharp words distressed him, the Divine Mother 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 the sight of him. Sometimes Narendra would find the Master's love embarrassing; and one day he sharply scolded him, warning him that such infatuation would soon draw him down to the level of its object. The Master was distressed and prayed to the Divine Mother. Then he said to Narendra: "You rogue, I won't listen to you any more. Mother says that I love you because I see God in you, and the day I no longer see God in you I shall not be able to bear even the sight of you."
The Master wanted to train Narendra in the teachings of the non-dualistic Vedanta philosophy. But Narendra, because of his Brahmo upbringing, considered it wholly blasphemous to look on man as one with his Creator. One day at the 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 touched him. Spellbound, he immediately perceived that everything in the world was indeed God. A new universe opened around him. Returning home in a dazed state, he found there too that the food, the plate, the eater himself, the people around him, were all God. When he walked in the street, he saw that the cabs, the horses, the streams of people, the buildings, were all Brahman. He could hardly go about his day's business. His parents became anxious about him and thought him ill. and when the intensity of the experience abated a little, he saw the world as a dream. Walking in the public square, he would strike his head against the iron railings to know whether they were real. It took him a number of days to recover his normal self. He had a foretaste of the great experiences yet to come and realized that the words of the Vedanta were true.
At the beginning of 1884 Narendra's father suddenly died of heart-failure, leaving the family in a state of utmost poverty. There were six or seven mouths to feed at home. Creditors were knocking at the door. Relatives who had accepted his father's unstinted kindness now became enemies, some even bringing suit to deprive Narendra of his ancestral home. Actually starving and barefoot, Narendra searched for a job, but without success. He began to doubt whether anywhere in the world there 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 them with contempt.
Narendra began to talk of his doubt of the very existence of God. His friends thought he had become an atheist, and piously circulated gossip adducing unmentionable motives for his unbelief. His moral character was maligned. Even some of the Master's disciples partly believed the gossip, and Narendra told these to their 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 these 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 the Master had never lost faith in him. To a disciple who complained about Narendra's degradation, Sri Ramakrishna replied: "Hush, you fool! The Mother has told me it can never be so. I won't look at you if you speak that way again."
The moment came when Narendra's distress reached its climax. He had gone the whole day without food. As he was returning home in the evening he could hardly lift his tired limbs. He sat down in front of a house in sheer exhaustion, too weak even to think. His mind began to w ander. Then, suddenly, a divine power lifted the veil over his soul. He found the solution of the problem of the coexistence of divine justice and misery, the presence of suffering in the creation of a blissful Providence. He felt bodily refreshed, his soul was bathed in peace, and he slept serenely.
Narendra now realized that he had a spiritual mission to fulfil. He resolved to renounce the world, as his gr andfather had renounced it, and he came to Sri Ramakrishna for his blessing. But even before he had opened his mouth, the Master knew what was in his mind and wept bitterly at the thought of separation. "I know you cannot lead a worldly life," he said, "but for my sake live in the world as long as I live."
One day, soon after, Narendra requested Sri Ramakrishna to pray to the Divine Mother to remove his poverty. Sri Ramakrishna bade him pray to Her himself, for She would certainly listen to his prayer. Narendra entered the shrine of Kali. As he stood before the image of the Mother, he beheld 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. The Master rebuked him for his failure to ask the Divine Mother to remove his poverty and sent him back to the temple. But Narendra, st anding in Her presence, again forgot the purpose of his coming. Thrice he went to the temple at the bidding of the Master, and thrice he returned, having forgotten in Her presence why he had come. He was wondering about it when it suddenly flashed in his mind that this was all the work of Sri Ramakrishna; so now he asked the 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, the Divine Power, cannot be ignored in the world and that in the relative plane the need of worshipping a Personal God is imperative. Sri Ramakrishna was overjoyed with the conversion. The next day, sitting almost on Narendra's lap, he said to a devotee, pointing first to himself, then to Narendra: "I see I am this, and again that. Really I feel no difference. A stick floating in the Ganges seems to divide the water; But in reality the water is one. Do you see my point? Well, whatever is, is the Mother — isn't that so?" In later years Narendra would say: "Sri Ramakrishna was the only person who, from the time he met me, believed in me uniformly throughout. Even my mother and brothers 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
Others destined to be monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna came to Dakshineswar. Taraknath Ghoshal had felt from his boyhood the noble desire to realize God. Keshab and the Brahmo Samaj had attracted him but proved inadequate. In 1882 he first met the Master at Ramch andra's house and was astonished 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 the Master. Tarak became a frequent visitor at Dakshineswar and received the Master's grace in abundance. The 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 shed for God wash away the sins of former births."
--- BABURAM
Baburam Ghosh came to Dakshineswar accompanied by Rakhal, his classmate. The Master, as was often his custom, examined the boy's physiognomy and was satisfied about his latent spirituality. At the age of eight Baburam had thought of leading a life of renunciation, in the company of a monk, in a hut shut out from the public view by a thick wall of trees. The very sight of the Panchavati awakened in his heart that dream of boyhood. Baburam was tender in body and soul. The 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 the other young boys to ask Sri Ramakrishna for some spiritual powers and not waste their life in mere gaiety and merriment. The 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 the shape of realizations is for the sake of you all. So get rid of the idea of begging, which alienates by creating a distance. Rather realize your kinship with me and gain the key to all the treasures.
--- NIRANJAN
Nitya Niranjan Sen was a disciple of heroic type. He came to the Master when he was eighteen years old. He was a medium for a group of spiritualists. During his first visit the 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 the spiritualists. During his second visit the Master embraced him and said warmly: "Niranjan, my boy, the days are flitting away. When will you realize God? This life will be in vain if you do not realize Him. When will you devote your mind wholly to God?" Niranjan was surprised to see the 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 the Master. Finding his protest futile, Niranjan began to rock the boat, threatening to sink it in mid stream. That silenced the offenders. When he reported the incident to the Master, he was rebuked for his inability to curb his anger.
--- JOGINDRA
Jogindranath, on the other h and, 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. The Master, learning of his conduct, scolded him roundly. Thus to each the fault of the other was recommended as a virtue. The guru was striving to develop, in the first instance, composure, and in the second, mettle. The secret of his training was to build up, by a tactful recognition of the requirements of each given case, the character of the devotee.
Jogindranath came of an aristocratic brahmin family of Dakshineswar. His father and relatives shared the popular mistrust of Sri Ramakrishna's sanity. At a very early age the boy developed religious tendencies, spending two or three hours daily in meditation, and his meeting with Sri Ramakrishna deepened his desire for the realization of God. He had a perfect horror of marriage. But at the earnest request of his mother he had had to yield, and he now believed that his spiritual future was doomed. So he kept himself away from the Master.
Sri Ramakrishna employed a ruse to bring Jogindra to him. As soon as the disciple entered the room, the Master rushed forward to meet the young man. Catching hold of the disciple's h and, he said: "What if you have married? Haven't I too married? What is there to be afraid of in that?" Touching his own chest he said: "If this [meaning himself] is propitious, then even a hundred thous and marriages cannot injure you. If you desire to lead a householder's life, then bring your wife here one day, and I shall see that she becomes a real companion in your spiritual progress. But if you want to lead a monastic life, then I shall eat up your attachment to the world." Jogin was dumbfounded at these words. He received new strength, and his spirit of renunciation was re-established.
--- SASHI and SARAT
Sashi and Sarat were two cousins who came from a pious brahmin family of Calcutta. At an early age they had joined the Brahmo Samaj and had come under the influence of Keshab Sen. The Master said to them at their first meeting: "If bricks and tiles are burnt after the trade-mark has been stamped on them, they retain the mark for ever. Similarly, man should be stamped with God before entering the world. Then he will not become attached to worldliness." Fully aware of the future course of their life, he asked them not to marry. The Master asked Sashi whether he believed in God with form or in God without form. Sashi replied that he was not even sure about the existence of God; so he could not speak one way or the other. This frank answer very much pleased the Master.
Sarat's soul longed for the all-embracing realization of the Godhead. When the Master inquired whether there was any particular form of God he wished to see, the boy replied that he would like to see God in all the living beings of the world. "But", the Master demurred, "that is the last word in realization. One cannot have it at the very outset." Sarat stated calmly: "I won't be satisfied with anything short of that. I shall trudge on along the path till I attain that blessed state." Sri Ramakrishna was very much pleased.
--
Harinath had led the austere life of a brahmachari even from his early boyhood — bathing in the Ganges every day, cooking his own meals, waking before sunrise, and reciting the Gita from memory before leaving bed. He found in the Master the embodiment of the Vedanta scriptures. Aspiring to be a follower of the ascetic Sankara, he cherished a great hatred for women. One day he said to the Master that he could not allow even small girls to come near him. The Master scolded him and said: "You are talking like a fool. Why should you hate women? They are the manifestations of the Divine Mother. Regard them as your own mother and you will never feel their evil influence. The more you hate them, the more you will fall into their snares." Hari said later that these words completely changed his attitude toward women.
The 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 the unreal and following the Real. "But it is not so easy", Sri Ramakrishna said, "to realize the illusoriness of the world. Study alone does not help one very much. The 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 the impossible if he prays to God for His grace." Whereupon the Master sang a song in praise of grace. Hari was profoundly moved and shed tears. Later in life Hari achieved a wonderful synthesis of the ideals of the Personal God and the Impersonal Truth.
--- GANGADHAR
Gangadhar, Harinath's friend, also led the life of a strict brahmachari, eating vegetarian food cooked by his own h ands and devoting himself to the study of the scriptures. He met the Master in 1884 and soon became a member of his inner circle. The Master praised his ascetic habit and attributed it to the spiritual disciplines of his past life. Gangadhar became a close companion of Narendra.
--- HARIPRASANNA
Hariprasanna, a college student, visited the Master in the 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 the following drastic advice of the Master: "Even if a woman is pure as gold and rolls on the ground for love of God, it is dangerous for a monk ever to look at her."
--- KALI
Kaliprasad visited the Master toward the end of 1883. Given to the practice of meditation and the study of the scriptures. Kali was particularly interested in yoga. Feeling the need of a guru in spiritual life, he came to the Master and was accepted as a disciple. The young boy possessed a rational mind and often felt sceptical about the Personal God. The Master said to him: "Your doubts will soon disappear. Others, too, have passed through such a state of mind. Look at Naren. He now weeps at the names of Radha and Krishna." Kali began to see visions of gods and goddesses. Very soon these disappeared and in meditation he experienced vastness, infinity, and the other attributes of the Impersonal Brahman.
--- SUBODH
Subodh visited the Master in 1885. At the very first meeting Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "You will succeed. Mother says so. Those whom She sends here will certainly attain spirituality." During the second meeting the Master wrote something on Subodh's tongue, stroked his body from the navel to the throat, and said, "Awake, Mother! Awake." He asked the boy to meditate. At once Subodh's latent spirituality was awakened. He felt a current rushing along the spinal column to the brain. Joy filled his soul.
--- SARADA and TULASI
Two more young men, Sarada Prasanna and Tulasi, complete the small b and of the Master's disciples later to embrace the life of the w andering monk. With the exception of the elder Gopal, all of them were in their teens or slightly over. They came from middle-class Bengali families, and most of them were students in school or college. Their parents and relatives had envisaged for them bright worldly careers. They came to Sri Ramakrishna with pure bodies, vigorous minds, and uncontaminated souls. All were born with unusual spiritual attributes. Sri Ramakrishna accepted them, even at first sight, as his children, relatives, friends, and companions. His magic touch unfolded them. and later each according to his measure reflected the life of the Master, becoming a torch-bearer of his message across l and and sea.
--- WOMAN DEVOTEES
With his woman devotees Sri Ramakrishna established a very sweet relationship. He himself embodied the tender traits of a woman: he had dwelt on the highest plane of Truth, where there is not even the slightest trace of sex; and his innate purity evoked only the noblest emotion in men and women alike. His woman devotees often said: "We seldom looked on Sri Ramakrishna as a member of the male sex. We regarded him as one of us. We never felt any constraint before him. He was our best confidant." They loved him as their child, their friend, and their teacher. In spiritual discipline he advised them to renounce lust and greed and especially warned them not to fall into the snares of men.
--- GOPAL MA
Unsurpassed among the woman devotees of the Master in the richness of her devotion and spiritual experiences was Aghoremani Devi, an orthodox brahmin woman. Widowed at an early age, she had dedicated herself completely to spiritual pursuits. Gopala, the Baby Krishna, was her Ideal Deity, whom she worshipped following the vatsalya attitude of the Vaishnava religion, regarding Him as her own child. Through Him she satisfied her unassuaged maternal love, cooking for Him, feeding Him, bathing Him, and putting Him to bed. This sweet intimacy with Gopala won her the sobriquet of Gopal Ma, or Gopala's Mother. For forty years she had lived on the bank of the Ganges in a small, bare room, her only companions being a threadbare copy of the Ramayana and a bag containing her rosary. At the age of sixty, in 1884, she visited Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar. During the second visit, as soon as the Master saw her, he said: "Oh, you have come! Give me something to eat." With great hesitation she gave him some ordinary sweets that she had purchased for him on the way. The Master ate them with relish and asked her to bring him simple curries or sweets prepared by her own h ands. Gopal Ma thought him a queer kind of monk, for, instead of talking of God, he always asked for food. She did not want to visit him again, but an irresistible attraction brought her back to the temple garden; She carried with her some simple curries that she had cooked herself.
One early morning at three o'clock, about a year later, Gopal Ma was about to finish her daily devotions, when she was startled to find Sri Ramakrishna sitting on her left, with his right h and clenched, like the h and of the image of Gopala. She was amazed and caught hold of the h and, whereupon the figure vanished and in its place appeared the real Gopala, her Ideal Deity. She cried aloud with joy. Gopala begged her for butter. She pleaded her poverty and gave Him some dry coconut c andies. Gopala, sat on her lap, snatched away her rosary, jumped on her shoulders, and moved all about the room. As soon as the day broke she hastened to Dakshineswar like an insane woman. Of course Gopala accompanied her, resting His head on her shoulder. She clearly saw His tiny ruddy feet hanging over her breast. She entered Sri Ramakrishna's room. The Master had fallen into samadhi. Like a child, he sat on her lap, and she began to feed him with butter, cream, and other delicacies. After some time he regained consciousness and returned to his bed. But the mind of Gopala's Mother was still roaming in another plane. She was steeped in bliss. She saw Gopala frequently entering the Master's body and again coming out of it. When she returned to her hut, still in a dazed condition, Gopala accompanied her.
She spent about two months in uninterrupted communion with God, the Baby Gopala never leaving her for a moment. Then the intensity of her vision was lessened; had it not been, her body would have perished. The Master spoke highly of her exalted spiritual condition and said that such vision of God was a rare thing for ordinary mortals. The fun-loving Master one day confronted the critical Narendranath with this simple-minded woman. No two could have presented a more striking contrast. The Master knew of Narendra's lofty contempt for all visions, and he asked the old lady to narrate her experiences to Narendra. With great hesitation she told him her story. Now and then she interrupted her maternal chatter to ask Narendra: "My son, I am a poor ignorant woman. I don't underst and anything. You are so learned. Now tell me if these visions of Gopala are true." As Narendra listened to the story he was profoundly moved. He said, "Yes, mother, they are quite true." Behind his cynicism Narendra, too, possessed a heart full of love and tenderness.
--- THE MARCH OF EVENTS
In 1881 Hriday was dismissed from service in the Kali temple, for an act of indiscretion, and was ordered by the authorities never again to enter the garden. In a way the h and of the Divine Mother may be seen even in this. Having taken care of Sri Ramakrishna during the stormy days of his spiritual discipline, Hriday had come naturally to consider himself the sole guardian of his uncle. None could approach the 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 the real devotees of the Master to approach him freely and live with him in the temple garden.
During the week-ends the householders, enjoying a respite from their office duties, visited the Master. The meetings on Sunday afternoons were of the nature of little festivals. Refreshments were often served. Professional musicians now and then sang devotional songs. The Master and the devotees sang and danced, Sri Ramakrishna frequently going into ecstatic moods. The happy memory of such a Sunday would linger long in the minds of the devotees. Those whom the Master wanted for special instruction he would ask to visit him on Tuesdays and Saturdays. These days were particularly auspicious for the worship of Kali.
The young disciples destined to be monks, Sri Ramakrishna invited on week-days, when the householders were not present. The training of the householders and of the future monks had to proceed along entirely different lines. Since M. generally visited the Master on week-ends, the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna does not contain much mention of the future monastic disciples.
Finally, there was a h andful of fortunate disciples, householders as well as youngsters, who were privileged to spend nights with the Master in his room. They would see him get up early in the morning and walk up and down the room, singing in his sweet voice and tenderly communing with the Mother.
--- INJURY TO THE MASTER'S ARM
One day, in January 1884, the Master was going toward the pine-grove when he went into a trance. He was alone. There was no one to support him or guide his footsteps. He fell to the ground and dislocated a bone in his left arm. This accident had a significant influence on his mind, the natural inclination of which was to soar above the consciousness of the body. The acute pain in the arm forced his mind to dwell on the body and on the world outside. But he saw even in this a divine purpose; for, with his mind compelled to dwell on the physical plane, he realized more than ever that he was an instrument in the h and of the Divine Mother, who had a mission to fulfil through his human body and mind. He also distinctly found that in the phenomenal world God manifests Himself, in an inscrutable way, through diverse human beings, both good and evil. Thus he would speak of God in the guise of the wicked, God in the guise of the pious. God in the guise of the hypocrite, God in the guise of the lewd. He began to take a special delight in watching the divine play in the relative world. Sometimes the sweet human relationship with God would appear to him more appealing than the all-effacing Knowledge of Brahman. Many a time he would pray: "Mother, don't make me unconscious through the Knowledge of Brahman. Don't give me Brahmajnana, Mother. Am I not Your child, and naturally timid? I must have my Mother. A million salutations to the Knowledge of Brahman! Give it to those who want it." Again he prayed: "O Mother let me remain in contact with men! Don't make me a dried-up ascetic. I want to enjoy Your sport in the world." He was able to taste this very rich divine experience and enjoy the love of God and the company of His devotees because his mind, on account of the injury to his arm, was forced to come down to the consciousness of the body. Again, he would make fun of people who proclaimed him as a Divine Incarnation, by pointing to his broken arm. He would say, "Have you ever heard of God breaking His arm?" It took the arm about five months to heal.
--- BEGINNING OF HIS ILLNESS
In April 1885 the Master's throat became inflamed. Prolonged conversation or absorption in samadhi, making the blood flow into the throat, would aggravate the pain. Yet when the annual Vaishnava festival was celebrated at Panihati, Sri Ramakrishna attended it against the doctor's advice. With a group of disciples he spent himself in music, dance, and ecstasy. The illness took a turn for the worse and was diagnosed as "clergyman's sore throat". The patient was cautioned against conversation and ecstasies. Though he followed the physician's directions regarding medicine and diet, he could neither control his trances nor withhold from seekers the solace of his advice. Sometimes, like a sulky child, he would complain to the Mother about the crowds, who gave him no rest day or night. He was overheard to say to Her; "Why do You bring here all these worthless people, who are like milk diluted with five times its own quantity of water? My eyes are almost destroyed with blowing the fire to dry up the 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 the form of a dog, if I can be of help to a single soul." and he bore the pain, singing cheerfully, "Let the body be preoccupied with illness, but, O mind, dwell for ever in God's Bliss!"
One night he had a hemorrhage of the throat. The doctor now diagnosed the illness as cancer. Narendra was the first to break this heart-rending news to the disciples. Within three days the Master was removed to Calcutta for better treatment. At Balaram's house he remained a week until a suitable place could be found at Syampukur, in the northern section of Calcutta. During this week he dedicated himself practically without respite to the instruction of those beloved devotees who had been unable to visit him oftener at Dakshineswar. Discourses incessantly flowed from his tongue, and he often went into samadhi. Dr. Mahendra Sarkar, the celebrated homeopath of Calcutta, was invited to undertake his treatment.
--- SYAMPUKUR
In the beginning of September 1885 Sri Ramakrishna was moved to Syampukur. Here Narendra organized the young disciples to attend the Master day and night. At first they concealed the Master's illness from their guardians; but when it became more serious they remained with him almost constantly, sweeping aside the objections of their relatives and devoting themselves whole-heartedly to the nursing of their beloved guru. These young men, under the watchful eyes of the Master and the leadership of Narendra, became the antaranga bhaktas, the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna's inner circle. They were privileged to witness many manifestations of the Master's divine powers. Narendra received instructions regarding the propagation of his message after his death.
The Holy Mother — so Sarada Devi had come to be affectionately known by Sri Ramakrishna's devotees — was brought from Dakshineswar to look after the general cooking and to prepare the special diet of the patient. The dwelling space being extremely limited, she had to adapt herself to cramped conditions. At three o'clock in the morning she would finish her bath in the Ganges and then enter a small covered place on the roof, where she spent the whole day cooking and praying. After eleven at night, when the visitors went away, she would come down to her small bedroom on the first floor to enjoy a few hours' sleep. Thus she spent three months, working hard, sleeping little, and praying constantly for the Master's recovery.
At Syampukur the devotees led an intense life. Their attendance on the Master was in itself a form of spiritual discipline. His mind was constantly soaring to an exalted plane of consciousness. Now and then they would catch the contagion of his spiritual fervour. They sought to divine the meaning of this illness of the Master, whom most of them had accepted as an Incarnation of God. One group, headed by Girish with his robust optimism and great power of imagination, believed that the illness was a mere pretext to serve a deeper purpose. The Master had willed his illness in order to bring the devotees together and promote solidarity among them. As soon as this purpose was served, he would himself get rid of the disease. A second group thought that the Divine Mother, in whose h and the Master was an instrument, had brought about this illness to serve Her own mysterious ends. But the young rationalists, led by Narendra, refused to ascribe a
supernatural cause to a natural phenomenon. They believed that the Master's body, a material thing, was subject, like all other material things, to physical laws. Growth, development, decay, and death were laws of nature to which the Master's body could not but respond. But though holding differing views, they all believed that it was to him alone that they must look for the attainment of their spiritual goal.
In spite of the physician's efforts and the prayers and nursing of the devotees, the illness rapidly progressed. The pain sometimes appeared to be unbearable. The 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 the visitors pouring in to receive his blessing. When certain zealous devotees tried to keep the visitors away, they were told by Girish, "You cannot succeed in it; he has been born for this very purpose — to sacrifice himself for the redemption of others."
The more the body was devastated by illness, the more it became the habitation of the Divine Spirit. Through its transparency the gods and goddesses began to shine with ever increasing luminosity. On the day of the Kali Puja the devotees clearly saw in him the manifestation of the Divine Mother.
It was noticed at this time that some of the devotees were making an unbridled display of their emotions. A number of them, particularly among the householders, began to cultivate, though at first unconsciously, the art of shedding tears, shaking the body, contorting the face, and going into trances, attempting thereby to imitate the Master. They began openly to declare Sri Ramakrishna a Divine Incarnation and to regard themselves as his chosen people, who could neglect religious disciplines with impunity. Narendra's penetrating eye soon sized up the situation. He found out that some of these external manifestations were being carefully practised at home, while some were the outcome of malnutrition, mental weakness, or nervous debility. He mercilessly exposed the devotees who were pretending to have visions, and asked all to develop a healthy religious spirit. Narendra sang inspiring songs for the younger devotees, read with them the Imitation of Christ and the Gita, and held before them the positive ideals of spirituality.
--- LAST DAYS AT COSSIPORE
--
It was at Cossipore that the curtain fell on the varied activities of the Master's life on the physical plane. His soul lingered in the body eight months more. It was the period of his great Passion, a constant crucifixion of the body and the triumphant revelation of the Soul. Here one sees the humanity and divinity of the 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 the group only a few days to become adjusted to the new environment. The Holy Mother, assisted by Sri Ramakrishna's niece, Lakshmi Devi, and a few woman devotees, took charge of the cooking for the Master and his attendants. Surendra willingly bore the major portion of the expenses, other householders contributing according to their means. Twelve disciples were constant attendants of the Master: Narendra, Rakhal, Baburam, Niranjan, Jogin, Latu, Tarak, the-elder Gopal, Kali, Sashi, Sarat, and the younger Gopal. Sarada, Harish, Hari, Gangadhar, and Tulasi visited the Master from time to time and practised sadhana at home. Narendra, preparing for his law examination, brought his books to the garden house in order to continue his studies during the infrequent spare moments. He encouraged his brother disciples to intensify their meditation, scriptural studies, and other spiritual disciplines. They all forgot their relatives and their
worldly duties.
Among the attendants Sashi was the embodiment of service. He did not practise meditation, japa, or any of the other disciplines followed by his brother devotees. He was convinced that service to the guru was the only religion for him. He forgot food and rest and was ever ready at the Master's bedside.
Pundit Shashadhar one day suggested to the Master that the latter could remove the illness by concentrating his mind on the throat, the scriptures having declared that yogis had power to cure themselves in that way. The Master rebuked the pundit. "For a scholar like you to make such a proposal!" he said. "How can I withdraw the mind from the Lotus Feet of God and turn it to this worthless cage of flesh and blood?" "For our sake at least", begged Narendra and the other disciples. "But", replied Sri Ramakrishna, do you think I enjoy this suffering? I wish to recover, but that depends on the Mother."
NARENDRA: "Then please pray to Her. She must listen to you."
--
A few hours later the Master said to Narendra: "I said to Her: 'Mother, I cannot swallow food because of my pain. Make it possible for me to eat a little.' She pointed you all out to me and said: 'What? You are eating enough through all these mouths. Isn't that so?' I was ashamed and could not utter another word." This dashed all the hopes of the devotees for the Master's recovery.
"I shall make the whole thing public before I go", the Master had said some time before. On January 1, 1886, he felt better and came down to the garden for a little stroll. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon. Some thirty lay disciples were in the hall or sitting about under the 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 the man to be taken by surprise. He knelt before the Master and said, with folded h ands, "What can an insignificant person like myself say about the One whose glory even sages like Vyasa and Valmiki could not adequately measure?" The Master was profoundly moved. He said: "What more shall I say? I bless you all. Be illumined!" He fell into a spiritual mood. Hearing these words the devotees, one and all, became overwhelmed with emotion. They rushed to him and fell at his feet. He touched them all, and each received an appropriate benediction. Each of them, at the touch of the Master, experienced ineffable bliss. Some laughed, some wept, some sat down to meditate, some began to pray. Some saw light, some had visions of their Chosen Ideals, and some felt within their bodies the rush of spiritual power.
Narendra, consumed with a terrific fever for realization, complained to the Master that all the others had attained peace and that he alone was dissatisfied. The Master asked what he wanted. Narendra begged for samadhi, so that he might altogether forget the world for three or four days at a time. "You are a fool", the Master rebuked him. "There is a state even higher than that. Isn't it you who sing, 'All that exists art Thou'? First of all settle your family affairs and then come to me. You will experience a state even higher than samadhi."
The Master did not hide the fact that he wished to make Narendra his spiritual heir. Narendra was to continue the work after Sri Ramakrishna's passing. Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "I leave these young men in your charge. See that they develop their spirituality and do not return home." One day he asked the boys, in preparation for a monastic life, to beg their food from door to door without thought of caste. They hailed the Master's order and went out with begging-bowls. A few days later he gave the ochre cloth of the sannyasi to each of them, including Girish, who was now second to none in his spirit of renunciation. Thus the Master himself laid the foundation of the 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 cheerfully, for otherwise you would be weeping. If you all say that it is better that the body should go rather than suffer this torture, I am willing." The next morning he said to his depressed disciples seated near the 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 their heads and limbs. I see that it is God Himself who has become the block, the executioner, and the victim for the sacrifice.' He fainted with emotion. Regaining partial consciousness, he said: "Now I have no pain. I am very well." Looking at Latu he said: "There sits Latu resting his head on the palm of his h and. To me it is the Lord who is seated in that posture."
The words were tender and touching. Like a mother he caressed Narendra and Rakhal, gently stroking their 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 then said: "But Mother has ordained otherwise. She will take me away lest, finding me guileless and foolish, people should take advantage of me and persuade me to bestow on them the rare gifts of spirituality." A few minutes later he touched his chest and said: "Here are two beings. One is She and the other is Her devotee. It is the latter who broke his arm, and it is he again who is now ill. Do you underst and me?" After a pause he added: "Alas! To whom shall I tell all this? Who will underst and me?" "Pain", he consoled them again, 'is unavoidable as long as there is a body. The Lord takes on the body for the sake of His devotees."
Yet one is not sure whether the Master's soul actually was tortured by this agonizing disease. At least during his moments of spiritual exaltation — which became almost constant during the closing days of his life on earth — he lost all consciousness of the body, of illness and suffering. One of his attendants (Latu, later known as Swami Adbhutan anda.) said later on: "While Sri Ramakrishna lay sick he never actually suffered pain. He would often say: 'O mind! Forget the body, forget the sickness, and remain merged in Bliss.' No, he did not really suffer. At times he would be in a state when the thrill of joy was clearly manifested in his body. Even when he could not speak he would let us know in some way that there was no suffering, and this fact was clearly evident to all who watched him. People who did not underst and him thought that his suffering was very great. What spiritual joy he transmitted to us at that time! Could such a thing have been possible if he had 'been suffering physically? It was during this period that he taught us again these truths: 'Brahman is always unattached. The three gunas are in It, but It is unaffected by them, just as the wind carries odour yet remains odourless.' 'Brahman is Infinite Being, Infinite Wisdom, Infinite Bliss. In It there exist no delusion, no misery, no disease, no death, no growth, no decay.' 'The Transcendental Being and the being within are one and the same. There is one indivisible Absolute Existence.'"
The Holy Mother secretly went to a Siva temple across the Ganges to intercede with the Deity for the Master's recovery. In a revelation she was told to prepare herself for the inevitable end.
One day when Narendra was on the ground floor, meditating, the Master was lying awake in his bed upstairs. In the depths of his meditation Narendra felt as though a lamp were burning at the back of his head. Suddenly he lost consciousness. It was the yearned-for, all-effacing experience of nirvikalpa samadhi, when the embodied soul realizes its unity with the Absolute. After a very long time he regained partial consciousness but was unable to find his body. He could see only his head. "Where is my body?" he cried. The elder Gopal entered the room and said, "Why, it is here, Naren!" But Narendra could not find it. Gopal, frightened, ran upstairs to the Master. Sri Ramakrishna only said: "Let him stay that way for a time. He has worried me long enough."
After another long period Narendra regained full consciousness. Bathed in peace, he went to the Master, who said: "Now the Mother has shown you everything. But this revelation will remain under lock and key, and I shall keep the key. When you have accomplished the Mother's work you will find the treasure again."
Some days later, Narendra being alone with the Master, Sri Ramakrishna looked at him and went into samadhi. Narendra felt the penetration of a subtle force and lost all outer consciousness. Regaining presently the normal mood, he found the Master weeping.
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 the world, and not until it is accomplished will you return." Henceforth the Master lived in the disciple.
Doubt, however, dies hard. After one or two days Narendra said to himself, "If in the midst of this racking physical pain he declares his Godhead, then only shall I accept him as an Incarnation of God." He was alone by the bedside of the Master. It was a passing thought, but the Master smiled. Gathering his remaining strength, he distinctly said, "He who was Rama and Krishna is now, in this body, Ramakrishna — but not in your Vedantic sense." Narendra was stricken with shame.
--- MAHASAMADHI
Sunday, August 15, 1886. The Master's pulse became irregular. The devotees stood by the 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 the rest ran over his chin. Two attendants began to fan him. All at once he went into samadhi of a rather unusual type. The body became stiff. Sashi burst into tears. But after midnight the 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 the body of Sashi, who was fanning him. Narendra took his feet on his lap and began to rub them. Again and again the Master repeated to him, "Take care of these boys." Then he asked to lie down. Three times in ringing tone's he cried the name of Kali, his life's Beloved, and lay back. At two minutes past one there 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 the tip of his nose. His face was lighted with a smile. The final ecstasy began. It was mahasamadhi, total absorption, from which his mind never returned. Narendra, unable to bear it, ran downstairs.
Dr. Sarkar arrived the following noon and pronounced that life had departed not more than half an hour before. At five o'clock the Masters body was brought downstairs, laid on a cot, dressed in ochre clothes, and decorated with s andal-paste and flowers. A procession was formed. The passers-by wept as the body was taken to the cremation ground at the Baranagore Ghat on the Ganges.
While the devotees were returning to the garden house, carrying the urn with the sacred ashes, a calm resignation came to their souls and they cried, "Victory unto the Guru!"
The Holy Mother was weeping in her room, not for her husb and, but because she felt that Mother Kali had left her. As she was about to put on the marks of a Hindu widow, in a moment of revelation she heard the words of faith, "I have only passed from one room to another."
0.00 - Publishers Note C, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The present volume consists of three books: Light of Lights, Eight Talks and Sweet Mother; there are also translations from Sanskrit, Pali, Bengali and French. These, along with the translations of the Dhammapada and Charyapada, have been mostly serialised in Ashram journals.
His original writings in French have also been included here. We are grateful to the Government of India for a grant towards meeting the cost of publication of this volume.
0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Comments and descriptions are also set off by ().
THE BOOK OF LIES
--
and I would that I could utter
The thoughts that arise in me!"
--
and "Lies".
However, the "one thought is itself untrue", and
therefore its falsifications are relatively true.
--
respectively with a note of interrogation and a mark of
exclamation. The other chapters contain sometimes a
--
77 Laylah, whose name adds to that number; and
80, the number of the letter Pe, referred to Mars, a
--
and straightforward, sometimes its obscure oracles
dem and deep knowledge of the Qabalah for inter-
--
requires infinite study, sympathy, intuition and
initiation. Given these I do not hesitate to claim that
--
found and comprehensive an exposition of my
philosophy on every plane...."
--
study, and that in a way despite itself. A word should
be pertinent with regard to the question of secrecy.
--
tremendous import, and though it is so simple that
I could disclose it...in a short paragraph, I might
--
spirit came over me, and I scribbled the chapter
down by the light of a farthing dip.. When I read it
--
Order, I must be allowed the IX {degree} and obligated in
regard to it. I protested that I knew no such secret.
--
GOD the Father and Mother is concealed in Genera-
tion.
--
tion: the Mirror of the Sun and of the Heart.
The Third Triad
--
The notes of interrogation and exclamation on the previous
pages are the other two veils.
--
Soldier and the Hunchback".
This chapter begins by the letter O, followed by a mark of
--
and SPERMA, and is the exclamation of wonder or ecstasy,
which is the ultimate nature of things.
--
Qabalah, and constitutes a sort of quintessential comment upon
that system.
--
Geburah, Tiphareth, in the Second Triad; Netzach, Hod and
Yesod in the Third Triad, and Malkuth in the Tenth Emanation.
It will be noticed that this cosmogony is very complete; the
manifestation even of God does not appear until Tiphareth; and
the universe itself not until Malkuth.
--
Life and Death are two names of A.
Kill thyself.
--
called N.O.X., and this O is identified with the O in
this word. N is the Tarot symbol, Death; and the X
or Cross is the sign of the Phallus. For a fuller com-
--
duality to unity, and thence to negativity, and is thus
a hieroglyph of the Great Work.
--
Mars, is a hieroglyph of two pillars, and therefore
suggest duality; A, by its shape, is the pentagram,
energy, and N, by its Tarot attribution, is death.
Nox is then further explained, and it is shown that
the ultimate Trinity, O!, is supported, or fed, by the
process of death and begetting, which are the laws of
the universe.
--
names, or phases, Life and Death.
Line 7 balances line 5. It will be notice that the
--
Deliver us from Good and Evil!
That Mine as Thine be the Crown of the Kingdom,
--
There are ten sections in this prayer, and, as the prayer
is attributed to Horus, they are called four, as above
--
essential part of Mercury being his Voice; and the
number of the chapter, B, which is Beth the letter of
--
weapons, and it must be remembered that this card is
numbered 1, again connecting all these symbols with
--
plained, and the universe is exhibited as the interplay
between these two. This also explains the statement in
--
Soft and hollow, how thou dost overcome the hard
and full!
It dies, it gives itself; to Thee is the fruit!
--
Venus, and the title, Peaches, again refers to the Yoni.
The chapter is a counsel to accept all impressions;
--
Aethyr (see The Vision and The Voice).
[19]
--
Father and Son are not really two, but one; their unity
being the Holy Ghost, the semen; the human form is a
--
Kether to Chesed, and Chesed is united to the Supernal
Triad by virtue of its Phallic nature; for not only is
Amoun a Phallic God, and Jupiter the Father of All,
but 4 is Daleth, Venus, and Chesed refers to water,
from which Venus sprang, and which is the symbol of
the Mother in the Tetragrammaton. See Chapter 0,
"God the Father and Mother is concealed in genera-
tion".
--
and lesser countenances, whereas Daath is the false.
Compare the doctrine of the higher and lower Manas in
Theosophy.
--
and therefore the imperfection, of all the lower Sephiroth
in their essence.
--
Of these the reasoner took six, and, preening, said:
This is the One and the All.
These six the Adept harmonised, and said: This is the
Heart of the One and the All.
These six were destroyed by the Master of the
Temple; and he spake not.
The Ash thereof was burnt up by the Magus into
--
prosopus in a crude state, and declares them to be the
universe. This folly is due to the pride of reason.
--
in the Equinox, Liber 418 and elsewhere.
In the next grade, the Word is re-formulated, for the
--
(7) The legend of "Christ" is only a corruption and
perversion of other legends. Especially of Dionysus:
--
the gospels, and of Dionysus before Pentheus in
"The Baccae".
--
a snake is produced, and the snake is the hieroplyphic
representation of semen, particularly in Gnostic and
Egyptian emblems.
--
Time and Space are Adverbs.
Duality begat the Conjunction.
--
powerful symbol, for it is the Scottish, and only known,
apparatus for closing the mouth of a woman.
--
The Abyss of Hallucinations has Law and Reason;
but in Truth there is no bond between the Toys of
--
This Reason and Law is the Bond of the Great Lie.
Truth! Truth! Truth! crieth the Lord of the Abyss
--
This Abyss is also called "Hell", and "The Many".
Its name is "Consciousness", and "The Universe",
among men.
--
of this chapter and its subject.
It does, however, refer to the key of the Tarot called
--
the light of what is said in "Aha!" and in the Temple
of Solomon the King about the reason.
The universe is insane, the law of cause and effect
is an illusion, or so it appears in the Abyss, which is
thus identified with consciousness, the many, and both;
but within this is a secret unity which rejoices; this
--
They are above The Abyss, and contain all con-
tradiction in themselves.
Below them is a seeming duality of Chaos and
Babalon; these are called Father and Mother, but
it is not so. They are called Brother and Sister,
but it is not so. They are called Husb and and
Wife, but it is not so.
--
All is Here and Now. Nor is there any there or Then;
for all that is, what is it but a manifestation, that is,
--
but a lie. For there is no subject, and there is no
predicate; nor is there the contradictory of either
--
illusions; let me play the man, and thrust it from
me! Amen.
--
Eleven is the great number of Magick, and this
chapter indicates a supreme magical method; but it is
--
and perfect cosmogony of Liber Legis.
Chaos and Babalon are Chokmah and Binah, but
they are really one; the essential unity of the supernal
--
He thereupon enters into his Samadhi, and he piles
contradiction upon contradiction, and thus a higher
degree of rapture, with ever sentence, until his armoury
is exhausted, and, with the word Amen, he enters the
supreme state.
--
God of generation, and 13 is 1, the Phallic unity.
Daleth is the Yoni. and 91 is AMN (Amen), a form
of the Phallus made complete through the intervention
of the Yoni. This again connects with the IO and OI
of paragraph 1, and of course IO is the rapture-cry of
the Greeks.
--
effort is no more. Faster and faster dos thou fall;
thy weariness is changed into Ineffable Rest.
--
PERDURABO, and laughed.
But those disciples nearest to him wept, seeing the
--
see the Joke, and those that laughed lest they
should be thought not to see the Joke, and thought
it safe to act like FRATER PERDURABO.
--
and in Himself He neither laughed nor wept.
Nor did He mean what He said.
--
simultaneously, and that he himself is beyond both of
these.
and in the last paragraph it is shown that he realises
the truth as beyond any statement of it.
--
Mighty and erect is this Will of mine, this Pyramid
of fire whose summit is lost in Heaven. Upon it
--
Mighty and erect is this {Phi-alpha-lambda-lambda-omicron-sigma}
of my Will. The
--
from Eternity; and it is lost within the Body of
Our Lady of the Stars.
--
Mighty and marvellous is this Weakness, this
Heaven which draweth me into Her Womb, this
--
Death implies change and individuality if thou be
THAT which hath no person, which is beyond the
--
Love death therefore, and long eagerly for it.
Die Daily.
--
belief, and suppose that in death they are united to the
Deity which they have cultivated during life. This is "a
--
Thus and not otherwise I came to the Temple of the
Graal.
--
In paragraphs 3 and 4 it is, however, recognised that
even Aum is impermanent. There is no meaning in the
--
one point, however mobile, and postulate it a a point
at rest, calculating the motions of all other points
--
the Adept to mankind. Their hate and contempt are
necessary steps to his acquisition of sovereignty over
--
The story of the Gospel, and that of Parsifal, will
occur to the mind.
--
Verily, love is death, and death is life to come.
Man returneth not again; the stream floweth not
--
soul, and of his mind, and of his body; it is the
Quintessence and the Elixir of his being. Therein
are the forces that made him and his father and his
father's father before him.
--
Chapters 1 and 16.
I the penultimate paragraph, Vindu is identified
with Amrita, and in the last paragraph the disciple is
charged to let it have its own way. It has a will of its
--
than that of the man who is its guardian and servant.
[47]
--
THE LEOPARD and THE DEER
The spots of the leopard are the sunlight in the
--
There is a certain universality and adaptability
among its secret power. The chapter is taken from
--
destroying them and himself. Milton founds a poem on
this fable.
--
That which causes us to create is our true father and
mother; we create in our own image, which is theirs.
--
and refers to the letter Tau, the Phallus in manifesta-
tion; hence the title, "The Blind Webster".
--
h and, and Rationalists, on the other, would have us do;
fatal, and without intelligence. Even so, it may be
delightful to the creator.
The moral of this chapter is, therefore, and exposition
of the last paragraph of Chapter 18.
It is the critical spirit which is the Devil, and gives
rise to the appearance of evil.
--
Yet it is true; and they have this insight because
they serve, and because they can have no personal
interest in the affairs of those whom they serve.
An absolute monarch would be absolutely wise and
good.
--
and only therefore, life is good.
[54]
--
Wide is the world and cold.
Get out.
--
For OUT is Love and Wisdom and Power.(12)
Get OUT.
--
and so at last get OUT.
[56]
--
Both "23" and "Skidoo" are American words
meaning "Get out". This chapter describes the Great
--
large; and, lastly, even the initiates.
In the fourth section is shown that there is no return
--
The word OUT is then analysed, and treated as a
noun.
--
T, the Lingam; and U, the Hierophant; the 5th card
of the Tarot, the Pentagram. It is thus practically
--
THE HAWK and THE BLINDWORM
This book would translate Beyond-Reason into the
--
Explain thou snow to them of andaman.
The slaves of reason call this book Abuse-of-
--
Language was made for men to eat and drink, make
love, do barter, die. The wealth of a language con-
--
and the laughter of the Death-rattle is akin.
[58]
--
Chapters 1, 8, 16 and 18.
For the meaning of the word hriliu consult Liber 418.
--
down the h and with a great sweep back and out,
expelling forcibly thy breath, cry: {Alpha-Pi-Omicron
--
With the same forefinger touch thy forehead, and
say {C?-Omicron-Iota}, thy member, and say {Omega-Phi-Alpha-
Lambda-Lambda-Epsilon},(14) thy
right shoulder, and say {Iota-C?-Chi-Upsilon-Rho-Omicron-C?},
thy left
shoulder, and say {Epsilon-Upsilon-Chi-Alpha-Rho-Iota-C?-
Tau-Omicron-C?}; then clasp
thine h ands, locking the fingers, and cry {Iota-Alpha-Omega}.
Advance to the East. Imagine strongly a Pentagram.
--
eyes, fling it forth, making the sign of Horus, and
roar {Chi-Alpha-Omicron-C?}. Retire thine h and in the sign of Hoor
--
Go round to the North and repeat; but scream
{Beta-Alpha-Beta-Alpha-Lambda-Omicron-Nu}.
Go round to the West and repeat; but say {Epsilon-Rho-Omega-C?}.
Go round to the South and repeat; but bellow
{Psi-Upsilon-Chi-Eta}.
--
centre, and raise thy voice in the Paian, with these
words {Iota-Omicron Pi-Alpha-Nu} with the signs of N.O.X.
Extend the arms in the form of a Tau, and say low
but clear: {Pi-Rho-Omicron Mu-Omicron-Upsilon Iota-Upsilon-
--
Repeat the Cross Qabalistic, as above, and end as
thou didst begin.
--
25 is the square of 5, and the Pentagram has the
red colour of Geburah.
The chapter is a new and more elaborate version of
the Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.
--
THE ELEPHANT and THE TORTOISE
The Absolute and the Conditioned together make
The One Absolute.
--
Tortoise supports and covers all.
This Tortoise is sixfold, the Holy Hexagram.(15)
These six and four are ten, 10, the One manifested
that returns into the Naught unmanifest.
--
All-Father, adored by all men and by me
abhorred, be thou accursed, be thou abolished, be
--
creator, and therefore call him The First.
He is really the Fourth, being in Chesed, and of
course his nature is fourfold. This Four is conceived
--
Would he eat, drink, and take his pleasure? there
was none that did not instantly obey his bidding.
--
spheres upon the two and twenty million planes he
had his desire.
and with all this he was but himself.
Alas!
--
love, and the pain of love is but love.
Love taketh no heed of that which is not and of that
which is.
Absence exalteth love, and presence exalteth love.
Love moveth ever from height to height of ecstasy
and faileth never.
The wings of love droop not with time, nor slacken
--
not-self, so that Love breedeth All and None in
One.
--
night, O my love; and there are no stars but thine
eyes.
Dark night, sweet night, so warm and yet so fresh,
so scented yet so holy, cover me, cover me!
--
love in night and night in love.
N.O.X. the night of Pan; and Laylah, the night
before His threshold!
--
and also with those previous chapters in which the
reason is attacked.
--
IT moves from motion into rest, and rests from rest
into motion. These IT does alway, for time is not.
--
Yet ITS doing, which is no-doing, is simple and yet
complex, is neither free nor necessary.
For all these ideas express Relation; and IT, com-
prehending all Relation in ITS simplicity, is out of
--
All this is true and false; and it is true and false to
say that it is true and false.
Strain forth thine Intelligence, O man, O worthy
--
IT, I being the secret, and T being the manifested,
phallus.
--
The idea is that, by forcing the mind to follow, and
as far as possible to realise, the language of Beyond
--
situated, and flood it with the ineffable light.
[73]
--
Practise a thous and times, and it becomes difficult;
a thous and thous and, and it becomes easy; a
thous and thous and times a thous and thous and,
and it is no longer Thou that doeth it, but It that
doeth itself through thee. Not until then is that
--
Chapters 8 and 30.
It is a practical instruction, the gist of which is
--
flieth He in the air, and lighteth upon the earth at
His pleasure.
--
the Gr and Master of the Temple; and of the GOD
that is Ass-headed did he dare not speak.
--
elements, and therefore of the name Tetragrammaton.
Jacobus Burgundus Molensis suffered martyrdom
--
The secrets of his order were, however, not lost, and
are still being communicated to the worthy by his
--
pelican, dove and so on.
NOTE
--
Pillars of the Temple, and add to 52, 13x4, BN, the
Son.
--
Each act of man is the twist and double of an hare.
Love and death are the greyhounds that course him.
God bred the hounds and taketh His pleasure in the
sport.
--
This is the Tragedy of Man when facing Love and
Death he turns to bay. He is no more hare, but
--
love and death live thou and die!
Thus shall His laughter be thrilled through with
--
point of view of life, and recommends a course of action
calculated to rob the creator of his cruel sport.
--
Life is as ugly and necessary as the female body.
Death is as beautiful and necessary as the male
body.
The soul is beyond male and female as it is beyond
Life and Death.
Even as the Lingam and the Yoni are but diverse
developments of One Organ, so also are Life and
Death but two phases of One State. So also the
Absolute and the Conditioned are but forms of
THAT.
--
of paragraphs 1 and 2, it being evident from this
statement that the female body becomes beautiful in so
--
superior form, the absolute, and the conditions forming
the one absolute.
--
he know them, if he will and dare do them, and
can keep silent about them, the signs of N.O.X.
--
Then let him advance to the East, and make the
Holy Hexagram, saying: PATER ET MATER
--
Hexagram, and say: MATER ET FILIUS UNUS
DEUS ARARITA.
--
Hexagram, and say: FILIUS ET FILIA UNUS
DEUS ARARITA.
--
Hexagram, and then say: FILIA ET PATER
UNUS DEUS ARARITA.
Let him then return to the Centre, and so to The
Centre of All [making the ROSY CROSS as he
--
and of Baphomet. Also shall Set appear in the
Circle. Let him drink of the Sacrament and let him
communicate the same.]
--
This chapter gives the real and perfect Ritual of the
Hexagram.
--
The moon and the earth are the non-ego and the
ego: the Sun is THAT.
--
and evil is an exceedingly rare accident; there can be
no night in the whole of the Solar System, except in rare
--
The same is true of moral and spiritual conditions.
[85]
--
Freemasons, and it cannot be explained to others.
[87]
--
Vague and mysterious and all indefinite are the
contents of this new consciousness; yet they are
--
Yet a Looby to thee, and a Booby to me, a Balassius
Ruby to GOD, may be!
--
The word Looby occurs in folklore, and was supposed
to be the author, at the time of writing this book, which
--
in Chapters 11 and 31. This method, however, occurs
throughout the book on numerous occasions, and even
in the chapter itself it is employed in the last paragraphs.
--
How then distinguish the inglorious and perfect
HIMOG from the inglorious man of earth?
--
But thyself Ex-tinguish: HIMOG art thou, and
HIMOG shalt thou be.
--
this, and not criticism of his holy Guru, should be the
occupation of his days and nights.
NOTE
--
to manifest; and this one hath given His ring as a
Seal of Authority to the Work of the A.'.A.'.
--
But this concerns themselves and their administra-
tion; it concerneth none below the grade of
Exempt Adept, and such an one only by com-
m and.
--
seek by experiment, and not by Questionings.
[92]
--
understood in the most ordinary and commonplace
way, without any mystical sense.
--
THE EQUINOX; and His utterance is enshrined in
the sacred writings.
--
to work, and not to ask questions about matters which
in no way concern him.
--
Now and again Travellers cross the desert; they come
from the Great Sea, and to the Great Sea they go.
As they go they spill water; one day they will irrigate
--
418, Liber 500, and the essay on the Qabalah in the Temple of
Solomon the King. This number is said to be all hotch-potch and
accursed.
--
frequently explained, the ideas and words are identical.
In this free-flowing, centreless material arises an eddy; a
--
Zoroaster describes God as having the head of the Hawk, and
a spiral force. It will be difficult to underst and this chapter with-
--
form of this word, but because "camel" is in hebrew Gimel, and
Gimel is the path leading from Tiphareth to Kether, uniting
Microprosopus and Macroprosopus, i.e. performing the Great
Work.
--
Black blood upon the altar! and the rustle of angel
wings above!
--
Death is the veil of Life, and Life of Death; for both
are Gods.
This is that which is written: "A feast for Life, and
a greater feast for Death!" in THE BOOK OF
--
tops"; and to Browning's phrase, "a bruised, black-
blooded mulberry".
--
Scorpion, and also The God-Eater, the reader may
study the efficacy of rape, and the sacrifice of blood, as
magical formulae. Blood and virginity have always
been the most acceptable offerings to all the gods, but
--
on which are his Burin, Bell, Thurible, and two
of the Cakes of Light. In the Sign of the Enterer he
reaches West across the Altar, and cries:
Hail Ra, that goest in Thy bark
--
He gives the sign of Silence, and takes the Bell, and
Fire, in his h ands.
--
With Light and Musick in mine h and!
He strikes Eleven times upon the Bell 3 3 3-5 5 5 5 5-
3 3 3 and places the Fire in the Thurible.
I strike the Bell: I light the flame:
--
holy Thy name and undefiled!
Thy reign is come: Thy will is done.
--
Save me from Evil and from Good!
That Thy one crown of all the Ten.
Even now and here be mine. AMEN.
He puts the first Cake on the Fire of the Thurible.
--
He makes them as in Liber Legis, and strikes again
Eleven times upon the Bell. With the Burin he then
--
It up, and the high priest invokes!
He eats the second Cake.
--
He strikes Eleven times upon the Bell, and cries
ABRAHADABRA.
--
I now go forth, and with thanksgiving,
To do my pleasure on the earth
--
blood, and the multiplication of the 4 by the 11, the
number of Magick, explains 4 in its finest sense. But
--
ideas, though cognate, are not identical, and "Phoenix"
is the more accurate symbol.
--
Proof is only possible in mathematics, and mathe-
matics is only a matter of arbitrary conventions.
and yet doubt is a good servant but a bad master; a
perfect mistress, but a nagging wife.
--
I slept with Faith, and found a corpse in my arms on
awaking; I drank and danced all night with Doubt,
and found her a virgin in the morning.
[100]
--
"Th Soldier and the Hunchback" should be care-
fully studied in this connection. The attitude recom-
--
"Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite", "In God we trust", and
the like. Similarly we find people asserting today that
woman is superior to man, and that all men are born
equal.
--
a thing is true or not: he uses truth and falsehood in-
discriminately, to serve his ends. Slaves consider him
--
In paragraphs 7 and 8 we find a most important
statement, a practical aspect of the fact that all truth
is relative, and in the last paragraph we see how
scepticism keeps the mind fresh, whereas faith dies in
--
BUTTONS and ROSETTES
The cause of sorrow is the desire of the One to the
--
birth is hunger, and its death satiety.
The desire of the moth for the star at least saves him
--
devour the finite, and become the infinite.
Be thou more greedy that the shark, more full of
--
law and nature are but shadows.
[102]
--
ence to Mistinguette and Mayol.
It would be hard to decide, and it is fortunately un-
necessary even to discuss, whether the distinction of
--
ping-pong and diabolo. Those games in which per-
fection is impossible never cease to attract.
--
repugnant; this is an unfailing source of pleasure, and
it has a real further advantage, in destroying the
--
Path; they are modifications of the Ego, and therefore
those things which bar it from the absolute.
--
Yama and Niyama get rid of \ Voluntary
Ethical consciousness. / "Breaks"
--
place and another. It should be regarded as Angostura
Bitters, to brighten the flavour of a discourse which
--
The early bird catches the worm and the twelve-
year-old prostitute attracts the ambassador.
--
early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise:
But late to watch and early to pray
Brings him across The Abyss, they say.
--
This chapter is perfectly simple, and needs no
comment whatsoever.
--
and "rathe" O.E. for early. "The rathe primrose"-
Milton.
--
Seven are the names, and seven are the lamps beside
Her bed.
--
and the head of a Lion-Serpent.
Seven letters hath Her holiest name; and it is
A B
--
finger of IT: and it is the Seal upon the Tombs of
them whom She hath slain.
--
Number of a Woman; and Her Number is
An Hundred and Fifty and Six.
[108]
--
7 is the passive and feminine number.
The chapter should be read in connection with Chapter 31
--
flower, common in Australia, and this connects the chapter
with Chapters 28 and 29; but this is only an allusion, for
the subject of the chapter is OUR LADY BABALON,
--
In paragraphs 5 and 6 the author frankly identifies him-
self with the BEAST referred to in the book, and in the
Apocalypse, and in LIBER LEGIS. In paragraph 6 the
word "angel" may refer to his mission, and the word
"lion-serpent" to the sigil of his ascending decan. (Teth=
Snake=spermatozoon and Leo in the Zodiac, which like
Teth itself has the snake-form. theta first written {Sun} = Lingam-
Yoni and Sol.)
Paragraph 7 explains the theological difficulty referred
--
is a seal upon a ring, and this ring is upon the forefinger
of IT. This identifies further the symbol with itself.
--
"Yea, verily and Amen," said the Stag-beetle, "all
this do I believe, and that devoutly."
"Then why do you not worship Me?"
"Because I am real and your are only imaginary."
But the leaves of the forest rustled with the laughter
--
Said Wind and Wood: "They neither of them know
anything!"
--
Tetragrammaton; God the macrocosm and the micro-
cosm beetle. Both imagine themselves to exist; both say
"you" and "I", and discuss their relative reality.
The things which really exist, the things which have
no Ego, and speak only in the third person, regard
these as ignorant, on account of their assumption of
--
The number 51 means failure and pain, and its
subject is appropriately doubt.
--
giving and fascinating sport of fox-hunting, which
Frater Perdurabo followed in his youth.
--
Soldier and the Hunchback" of which it is in some sort
an epitome.
--
6 and 7 it will be noticed that the identification of the
Soldier with the Hunchback has reached such a pitch
--
Fourscore and eleven books wrote I; in each did I
expound THE GREAT WORK fully, from The
--
and I held my peace.
O generation of gossipers! who shall deliver you
--
Work! and THE GREAT WORK is not so far
beyond!
--
of feeling his wounds; and, turning upon his generation,
gores it with his horns.
--
the red rag" is a phrase for to talk aimlessly and per-
sistently, while it is notorious that a red cloth will excite
--
and of the seasons.
Also this PADDOCK is the Toad that hath the
--
"Ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head"
-Romeo and Juliet-
this jewel being the divine spark in man, and indeed in all
that "lives and moves and has its being". Note this phrase,
which is highly significant; the word "lives" excluding the
--
and the phrase "has its being" the lower animals, including
woman.
This "toad" and "jewel" are further identified with the
Lotus and jewel of the well-known Buddhist phrase and
this seems to suggest that this "toad" is the Yoni; the
--
Five and forty apprentice masons out of work!
Fifteen fellow-craftsmen out of work!
--
was LOVE;(23) and its number is An Hundred and
Eleven.
--
and Eleven.
Each took the Trowel from his LAP,(25) whose number
is AN Hundred and Eleven.
Each called moreover on the Goddess NINA,(26) for
Her number is An Hundred and Eleven.
Yet with all this went The Work awry; for THE
--
and each Fellow-Craft by 3 Apprentices, as if the
Masters were sitting in pentagrams, and the Fellow-
Craftsmen in triangles. This may refer to the number of
--
but {Aleph} is also a number of Samadhi and mysticism, and
the doctrine is therefore that Magick, in that highest
--
wood pulp, and thereon the Daily Newspaper was
printed.
--
truth, that I who love have lost; and how may I
regain?
--
but Daath, instead of being the Child of Chokmah and
Binah, becomes the Abyss, and the Qliphoth arise.
The only sense which abides is that of loss, and the
craving to retrieve it. In paragraph 3 it is seen that this
--
woman, playing by a stream, surrounded by birds and
butterflies. The pole-axe is recommended instead of
--
Holy, holy, holy, unto Five Hundred and Fifty Five
times holy be OUR LADY of the STARS!
Holy, holy, holy, unto One Hundred and Fifty Six
times holy be OUR LADY that rideth upon THE
--
Necessary and Appropriate be OUR LADY
Isis in Her Millions-of-Names, All-Mother,
--
and death; for Her do I blaspheme alike the finite
and the The Infinite.
So wrote not FRATER PERDURABO, but the
--
and yet who knoweth which is Crowley, and which is
FRATER PERDURABO?
--
being again introduced, as in Chapters 28, 29, 49 and
55.
--
in Binah; also "Malkuth is in Kether, and Kether in
Malkuth"; and, to the Ipsissimus, dissolution in the
body of Nuit and a visit to a brothel may be identical.
[123]
--
Worship then the Rosy Cross, and the Mystery of
Two-in-One.
and worship Him that swore by His holy T that One
should not be One except in so far as it is Two.
--
the ornithorhynchus is both bird and beast; it is also
an Australian animal, like Laylah herself, and was
doubtless chosen for this reason.
--
Paragraphs 6 and 7 explain this further; it is
necessary to separate things, in order that they might
--
in common life by a paraphrase of the familiar and
beautiful proverb, "Absence makes the heart grow
--
Haggard am I, an hyaena; I hunger and howl. Men
think it laughter-ha! ha! ha!
--
utmost Caverns and Vaults of Eternity, there is
no word to express even the first whisper of the
--
Immortal are the adepts; and ye hey die-They
die of SHAME unspeakable; They die as the
--
straws in their hair, and think they are Jesus
Christ!
O sublime tragedy and comedy of THE GREAT
WORK!
--
Gethsemane and Golgotha must appear like whitlows.
In paragraph 7 the agony is broken up by the
--
and the final paragraph, in the words of the noblest
simplicity, praises the Great Work; rejoices in its
--
passion and ecstasy which it brings forth. (Note that
the words "passion" and "ecstasy" may be taken as
symbolical of Yoni and Lingam.)
[127]
--
When Astacus sees Crab and Lobster rise.
Man that has spine, and hopes of heaven-to-be,
Lacks the Amoeba's immortality.
--
Matter and sense and mind have had their day:
Nature presents the bill, and all must pay.
If, as I am not, I were free to choose,
--
The crab and the lobster are higher types of crustacae
than the crayfish.
--
and Compensation, but cynically criticises all philo-
sophers, hinting that their view of the universe depends
--
make in the streets and beg his bread!
The new Christ, like the old, it the friend of publicans
and sinners; because his nature is ascetic.
O if everyman did No Matter What, provided that it
is the one thing that he will not and cannot do!
[130]
--
chosen, and carefully trained to fulfill the sacrament of
fatherhood; the shame of sex consists in the usurpation
--
O Fool! begetter of both I and Naught, resolve this
Naught-y Knot!
O! Ay! this I and O-IO!-IAO! For I owe "I"
aye to Nibbana's Oe.(28)
--
The number of this chapter refers to the Hebrew word Ain, the negative and
Ani, 61.
--
The chapter consists of a series of complicated puns on 1 and I, with regard
their shape, sound, and that of the figures which resemble them in shape.
Paragraph 1 calls upon the Fool of the Tarot, who is to be referred to Ipsiss
--
Paragraph 2 shows the Lingam and Yoni as, in conjunction, the foundation of
ecstasy (I)!), and of the complete symbol I A O.
The latter sentence of the paragraph unites the two meanings of giving up the
Lingam to the Yoni, and the Ego to the Absolute.
This idea, "I must give up", I owe, is naturally completed by I pay, and the
sound of the word "pay" suggest the Hebrew letter Pe (see Liber XVI), which
--
Now AIN means nothing, and thus the replacing of AIN by OIN means the
completion of the Yoni by the Lingam, which is followed by the complete dissolu
--
in this case, the Great Work. and they also begin the word "opening". I hindu
philosophy, it is said that Shiva, the Destroyer, is asleep, and that when he o
pens
--
minute and a half. That is how you must know the Qabalah.)
NOTE
--
(32) Death = Nun, the letter before O, means a fish, a symbol of Christ, and
also by its shape the Female principle
--
He summons the Universe, and crowns it with
MAGICK Light to replace the sun of natura light.
He prays unto, and give homage to, Ro-Hoor_khuit;
to Him he then sacrifices.
--
The second, mixt with his life's blood and eaten,
illustrates the use of the lower life to feed the
--
He then takes the Oath and becomes free-un
conditioned-the Absolute.
Burning up i the Flame of his Prayer, and born
again-the Phoenix!
--
Think me not fallen because I love LAYLAH, and
lack LAYLAH.
--
heap of straw in a hut, and LAYLAH naked!
Amen.
--
This chapter returns to the subject of Laylah, and
to the subject already discussed in Chapters 3 and
others, particularly Chapter 56.
--
opposite rules apply. His unity seeks the many, and
the many is again transmuted to the one. Solve et
--
GOD sent to me the angels DIN and DONI.
"An man of spunk," they urged, "would hardly
--
"I eat these oysters and I drink this wine
Solely to drown this misery of mine.
--
" and though I sleep with Janefore and Eleanor
" and Julian only fixes in my mind
--
DONI and DIN, perceiving me inspired,
Conceived their task was finished: they retired.
I turned upon my friend, and, breaking bounds,
Borrowed a trifle of two hundred pounds.
--
64 is the number of Mercury, and of the intelligence
of that planet, Din and Doni.
Th moral of the chapter is that one wants liberty,
--
towards his attitude to complete freedom of speech and
action. He refuses to listen to the ostensible criticism of
the spirits, and explains his own position. Their real
mission was to rouse him to confidence and action.
[139]
--
"At last I lifted up mine eyes, and beheld; and lo!
the flames of violet were become as tendrils of
--
Lily of white and gold. In this Lily is all honey,
in this Lily that flowereth at the midnight. In
--
and it enfolded me."
Thus the disciples that watched found a dead body
--
Angel; see Liber 65, Liber Konx Om Pax, and other
works of reference.
--
and one times a night for one thous and nights and
one did I affirm th Unity.
But "night" only means LAYLAH(34); and Unity and
GOD are not worth even her blemishes.
--
up to Seven and Seventy.(35)
"Yea! the night shall cover all; the night shall cover
--
reasonings given in Chapter 56 and 63. She is
identified with N.O.X. by the quotation from Liber 65.
--
fluence of the Highest, OZ, a goat, and so on.
[143]
--
I have bought pleasant trifles, and thus soothed my
lack of LAYLAH.
Light is my wallet, and my heart is also light; and
yet I know that the clouds will gather closer for
--
I have my choice of place and service; the babble of
the apes will begin soon enough.
--
Sat no Elijah under the Juniper-tree, and wept?
Was not Mohammed forsaken in Mecca, and Jesus
in Gethsemane?
--
at Rumpelmayer's is great, and the Mousse Noix
is like Nepthys for perfection.
Also there are little meringues with cream and
chestnut-pulp, very velvety seductions.
--
Plunge from the height, O God, and interlock with
Man!
Plunge from the height, O Man, and interlock with
Beast!
--
WORK is accomplished in Silence. and behold is
not that Word equal to Cheth, that is Cancer.
--
in the number and the title, the former being intelligible
to all nations who employ Arabic figures, the latter
--
gram, and is a criticism of, or improvement upon, it.
In the ordinary Hexagram, the Hexagram of nature,
the red triangle is upwards, like fire, and the blue
triangle downwards, like water. In the magical hexa-
--
desending upon the altar, and licking up the burnt
offering.) The blue triangle represents the aspiration,
since blue is the colour of devotion, and the triangle,
kinetically considered, is the symbol of directed force.
--
separation of the Holy Guardian Angel and his client.
In the interlocking is indicated the completion of the
--
what we have said above, and the scriptural image of
tongues is introduced.
--
Let us seek the Mystery of the Gnarled Oak, and of
the Glacier Torrent!
--
The "gnarled oak" and the "glacier torrent" refer
to the confessions made by many witches.
--
the obscene and distorted character of much of the
universe is a whim of the Creator.
--
For mind and body alike there is no purgative like
Pranayama, no purgative like Pranayama.
For mind, for body, for mind and body alike-
alike!-there is, there is, there is no purgative, no
--
yama! yea, for mind and body alike there is no
purgative, no purgative, no purgative (for mind
and body alike!) no purgative, purgative, purgative
like Pranayama, no purgative for mind and body
alike, like Pranayama, like Pranayama, like
--
Of that most "high" and that most holy game,
Shemhamphorash!
--
English, and divisions are then made vertically, 72
tri-lateral names are formed, the sum of which is
Tetragrammaton; this is the great and mysterious
Divided Name; by adding the terminations Yod He,
--
the name of Shiva would cause him to awake, and so
destroy the universe.
In Egyptian and Gnostic magick we meet with pylons
and Aeons, which only open on the utterance of the
proper word.
--
and practice; and the whole of Mantra-Yoga has been
built on this foundation.
--
The logician my say, "But white exists, and if
white is destroyed, it leaves black; yet black exists. So
--
The logician and his logic are alike involved in the
universal ruin.
--
puns and colloquialisms of lines 9 and 10.
[155]
--
THE DEVIL, THE OSTRICH, and THE
ORPHAN CHILD
--
Thou humped and stiff-necked one that groanest in
Thine Asana, death will relieve thee!
--
"But the commissariat camel, when all is said and done,
'E's a devil and an awstridge and an orphan-child in one."
Paragraph 1 may imply a dogma of death as the highest form of initiation.
--
on several planes, and is not always conferred on all of these simultaneously.
Intellectual and moral perception of truth often, one might almost say usually,
precedes spiritual and physical perceptions. One would be foolish to claim
initiation unless it were complete on every plane.
--
Asana. there is perhaps a sardonic reference to rigor mortis, and certainly
one conceives the half-humorous attitude of the expert towards the beginner.
--
third person plural of the present tense of Latin words of the Third and
Fourth Conjugations.
--
first and second persons. Cf. Liber LXV, Chapter III, vv. 21-24, and
FitzGerald's Omar Khayyam:
"Some talk there was of Thee and Me
There seemed; and then no more of Thee and Me.")
The third person plural must be used, because he has now perceived himself
--
Paragraph 6 whispers the ultimate and dread secret of initiation into his
ear, identifying the vastness of the Most Holy with the obscene worm that
--
means a Camel) leads from Tiphareth to Kether, and its Tarot trump
is the "High Priestess".
--
and now he has let his girl go to America, to have
"success" in "life": blank loss.
--
Time, Age, and Death? Insufferable fret!
Were I an hermit, how could I support
--
The Abyss that stretches between THAT and
NOT.
--
and poor Englishmen as the seat of the Bankruptcy
buildings.
--
and the rest of the chapter in poetry, the upward.
The first part shows the fall from Nought in four
--
step 3, duality and the rest of it down to Malkuth;
step 4, the stooping of Malkuth to the Qliphoth, and
the consequent ruin of the Tree of Life.
--
surrendered to the spiritual. and so on. This is a
Laylah-chapter, but in it Laylah figures as the mere
--
Spring beans and strawberries are in: goodbye to the
oyster!
--
This wavering is the root of all compromise, and so
of all good sense.
--
years, and lastly peace, and change the intonations
--each time reverse the meaning!
--
insanity. See paragraphs 4 and 5.
Paragraph 6 puts the question, "Then is sanity or
--
of English, simple, austere, and terse, should need a
commentary. But it does so, or my most gifted Chela
and myself would hardly have been at the pains to
write one. It was in response to the impassioned appeals
--
that time and thought which gold could not have bought,
or torture wrested.
--
No = Nihilism; Yes = Monism, and all dogmatic systems; Perhaps =
Pyrrhonism and Agnosticism; O! = The system of Liber Legis. (See Chapter 0.)
Eye = Phallicism (cf. Chapters 61 and 70); I = Fichteanism; Hi! =
Transcendentalism; Y? = Scepticism, and the method of science. No denies
all these and closes the argument.
But all this is a glamour cast by Maya; the real meaning of the prose of this
--
text (Chapter 31). All this is true and false, and it is true and false to say
that
it is true and false.
The prose of this chapter combines, and of course denies, all these meanings,
both singly and in combination. It is intended to stimulate thought to the
point where it explodes with violence and for ever.
A study of this chapter is probably the best short cut to Nibbana.
--
criticism of metaphysics as such, and this is doubtless one of its many sub-
meanings.
--
THE SUBLIME and SUPREME SEPTENARY
IN ITS MATURE MAGICAL MANIFESTATION
--
Zayin (OZ), and He-Goat, the symbol of matter, Capri-
cornus, the Devil of the Tarot; which is the picture of the
--
devils, male and female.
As will be seen from the photogravure inserted opposite
--
and Laylah symbolises redemption to Frater P. The
number 77, also, interpreted as in the title, is the redeeming
--
The ratio of the length of title and text is the key to the
true meaning of the chapter, which is, that Redemption is
--
veils) of truth are obscure and many, the Truth itself plain
and one; but that the latter must be reached through the
former. This chapter is therefore an apology, were one
--
words, it explains the necessity of the book, and offers it-
humbly, yet with confidence-as a means of redemption to
--
WHEEL and--WOA!
The Great Wheel of Samsara.
--
Meditate long and broad and deep, O man, upon this
Wheel, revolving it in thy mind
--
and lo! thou art past through the Abyss.
[166]
--
and woe". It means motion and rest. The moral is the
conventional mystic one; stop thought at its source!
--
and effect. Thence, to discover the cause behind all
causes. Success in this practice qualifies for the grade
--
and find naught but pain and shame.
These then proclaim "The Good Law" unto mankind.
--
but sorrow and evil in the universe.
The Buddhist analysis may be true, but not for
--
and melancholy as existence is, the price is well
worth paying.
--
thinker, and paragraph 6 Frater P.'s suggestion for
replying to such critics.
--
any man with ideals less than Shelley's and self-
discipline less than Loyola's-in short, any man
--
Anarchy, and for Feudalism.
Every "emancipator" has enslaved the free.
--
and the manners and obligations of chivalry.
[173]
--
I take this hazel rod, and st and, and swear
An Oath-beneath this blasted Oak and bare
That rears its agony above the flood
--
Witch-moon of blood, eternal ebb and flow
Of baffled birth, in death still lurks a change;
and all the leopards in thy woods that range,
and all the vampires in their boughs that glow,
Brooding on blood-thirst-these are not so strange
and fierce as life's unfailing shower. These die,
Yet time rebears them through eternity.
--
Let all thy stryges and thy ghouls attend!
He that endureth even to the end
--
Even in the coffin of its hopes, and spend
All the force won by its old woe and stress
In now annihilating Nothingness.
--
and A Punic War.
[174]
--
The title of this chapter, and its two sub-titles, will
need no explanation to readers of the classics.
--
This is, to accept things as they are, and to turn
your whole energies to progress on the Path.
--
What! shall the Adept give up his hermit life, and
go eating and drinking and making merry?
Ay! shall he not do so? he knows that the Many is
Naught; and having Naught, enjoys that Naught
even in the enjoyment of the Many.
--
Any this Many and this Naught are identical; they
are not correlatives or phases of some one deeper
--
to Chapters 79 and 80, the ethics of Adept life.
The Adept has performed the Great Work; He has
--
interpreting, refining away, analysing. Be simple and
lucid and radiant as Frater P.
Paragraph 6. With this commentary there is no
further danger, and the warning becomes superfluous.
NOTE
--
WORK; and the reward concerneth him no whit.
[178]
--
Cohesion and of Gravitation.
It is the sun and its own weight that loosen it.
So, also, is the act of the Adept. "Delivered from the
--
Paragraphs 1 and 2. By "devotion to Frater Per-
durabo" is not meant sycophancy, but intelligent
reference and imaginative sympathy. Put your mind
in tune with his; identify yourself with him as he
--
Paragraphs 3 and 4 are explained by the 13th
Aethyr and the title.
[179]
--
Yet these are often beautiful, and may be true within
the circle of the conditions of the speaker.
--
sleep, and copulate in silence.
What better proof of the fact that all thought is
--
depraved and debauched by our disease.
[180]
--
The chapter is perfectly simple and needs no com-
ment.
--
N. the Fire that twisteth itself and burneth like a
scorpion.
--
H. the interpenetrating Spirit, without and within.
Is not its name ABRAHADABRA?
--
Fierce are the Fires of the Universe, and on their
daggers they hold aloft the bleeding heart of earth.
Upon the earth lies water, sensuous and sleepy.
Above the water hangs air; and above air, but also
below fire- and in all-the fabric of all being
--
Lamed is not satisfactory for Earth, and Yod too spiritualised a
form of Fire. (But see Book 4, part III.)
--
Nihil is taken to affirm that the universe is Nothing, and that is
now to be analysed. The order of the element is that of Jeheshua.
--
and fertile, because Venus, the greenness, fertility, and earthiness
of things is the Lady of Libra, Lamed.
--
of Pentagrammaton, that followed by Dr. Dee, and by the Hindus,
Tibetans, Chinese and Japanese. Fire is the Foundation, the
central core, of things; above this forms a crust, tormented
from below, and upon this condenses the original steam. Around this
flows the air, created by Earth and Water through the action of
vegetation.
--
Alpha ({Alpha}) is Air; Rho ({Rho}) the Sun; these are the Spirit and the
Son of Christian theology. In the midst is the Father, expressed
as Father- and-Mother. I-H (Yod and He), Eta ({Eta}) being used
to express "the Mother" instead of Epsilon ({Epsilon}), to show that She
has been impregnated by the Spirit; it is the rough breathing and
not the soft. The centre of all is Theta ({Theta}), which was originally
--
Sun in the Macrocosm, and in the Microcosm of the Lingam
in conjunction with the Yoni.
--
demonstration of the incorporation of the Solar and Phallic
Mysteries in Christianity.
--
There is a dish of sharks' fins and of sea-slug, well set
in birds' nests...oh!
--
The Sigil is taken from a Gnostic talisman, and
refers to the Sacrament.
--
Then for the hardness of their hearts, and for the
softness of their heads, I taught them Magick.
--
invisible, how to acquire love, and oh! beyond all,
how to make gold.
--
Then said the foremost and most foolish; Master, it
is nothing; but here is an hundred thous and
--
This did I deign to accept, and whispered in his ear
this secret:
--
make four hundred a year certain, and would do so
on receipt of a shilling. To every sender he dispatched
--
the Angel of the Lord of Despair and Cruelty.
Also "Silence" and "Shut Up".
The four meanings completely describe the chapter.)
--
Behold! I have lived many years, and I have travelled
in every l and that is under the dominion of the
Sun, and I have sailed the seas from pole to pole.
Now do I lift up my voice and testify that all is
vanity on earth, except the love of a good woman,
and that good woman LAYLAH. and I testify
that in heaven all is vanity (for I have journeyed
oft, and sojourned oft, in every heaven), except the
love of OUR LADY BABALON. and I testify
that beyond heaven and earth is the love of OUR
LADY NUIT.
and seeing that I am old and well stricken in years,
and that my natural forces fail, therefore do I rise
up i my throne and call upon THE END.
For I am youth eternal and force infinite.
and at THE END is SHE that was LAYLAH, and
BABALON, and NUIT, being...
[190]
--
It is the unification of all symbols and all planes.
The End is expressible.
--
It is a good title for the last chapter of this book, and
it also symbolises the eventual coming out into the light
--
The Soldier and the Hunchback ! and ? The Eqx.
I, i.
--
The Vision and The Voice (Liber 418). The Eqx.,
I, v. Reprint, Barstow, Cal., 1952, with Com-
--
Book 4, part III, same as Magick in Theory and
Practice. Paris, 1929.
--
PRO and CON TENTS
(dots?)
--
19. The Leopard and the Deer.
20. Samson.
--
24. The Hawk and the blindworm.
25. THE STAR RUBY.
26. The Elephant and the Tortoise.
27. The Sorcerer.
--
46. Buttons and Rosettes.
47. Windmill-Words.
--
73. The Devil, the Ostrich, and the Orphan Child.
74. Carey Street.
--
77. THE SUBLIME and SUPREME SEPTEN-
ARY IN ITS MATURE MAGICAL MANI-
--
78. Wheel and-Woa!
79. The Bal bullier.
0.00 - THE GOSPEL PREFACE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission
--------------------
--
IN THE HISTORY of the arts, genius is a thing of very rare occurrence. Rarer still, however, are the competent reporters and recorders of that genius. The world has had many hundreds of admirable poets and philosophers; but of these hundreds only a very few have had the fortune to attract a Boswell or an Eckermann.
When we leave the field of art for that of spiritual religion, the scarcity of competent reporters becomes even more strongly marked. Of the day-to-day life of the great theocentric saints and contemplatives we know, in the great majority of cases, nothing whatever. Many, it is true, have recorded their doctrines in writing, and a few, such as St. Augustine, Suso and St. Teresa, have left us autobiographies of the greatest value.
But, all doctrinal writing is in some measure formal and impersonal, while the autobiographer tends to omit what he regards as trifling matters and suffers from the further disadvantage of being unable to say how he strikes other people and in what way he affects their lives. Moreover, most saints have left neither writings nor self-portraits, and for knowledge of their lives, their characters and their teachings, we are forced to rely upon the records made by their disciples who, in most cases, have proved themselves singularly incompetent as reporters and biographers. Hence the special interest attaching to this enormously detailed account of the daily life and conversations of Sri Ramakrishna.
"M", as the 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 the small happenings of each day and a happy gift for recording them in an interesting and realistic way. Making good use of his natural gifts and of the circumstances in which he found himself, "M" produced a book unique, so far as my knowledge goes, in the literature of hagiography. No other saint has had so able and indefatigable a Boswell. Never have the small events of a contemplative's daily life been described with such a wealth of intimate detail. Never have the casual and unstudied utterances of a great religious teacher 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 the social, religious and intellectual frames of reference within which Sri Ramakrishna did his thinking and expressed his feelings were entirely Indian. But after the first few surprises and bewilderments, we begin to find something peculiarly stimulating and instructive about the very strangeness and, to our eyes, the eccentricity of the man revealed to us in "M's" narrative. What a scholastic philosopher would call the "accidents" of Ramakrishna's life were intensely Hindu and therefore, so far as we in the West are concerned, unfamiliar and hard to underst and; its "essence", however, was intensely mystical and therefore universal. To read through these conversations in which mystical doctrine alternates with an unfamiliar kind of humour, and where discussions of the oddest aspects of Hindu mythology give place to the most profound and subtle utterances about the nature of Ultimate Reality, is in itself a liberal, education in humility, tolerance and suspense of judgment. We must be grateful to the translator for his excellent version of a book so curious and delightful as a biographical document, so precious, at the same time, for what it teaches us of the life of the spirit.
--------------------
--
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is the English translation of the Sri Sri Rmakrishna Kathmrita, the conversations of Sri Ramakrishna with his disciples, devotees, and visitors, recorded by Mahendranth Gupta, who wrote the book under the pseudonym of "M." The conversations in Bengali fill five volumes, the first of which was published in 1897 and the last shortly after M.'s death in 1932. Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, has published in two volumes an English translation of selected chapters from the monumental Bengali work. I have consulted these while preparing my translation.
M., one of the intimate disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, was present during all the conversations recorded in the main body of the book and noted them down in his diary.
They therefore have the value of almost stenographic records. In Appendix A are given several conversations which took place in the absence of M., but of which he received a first-h and record from persons concerned. The conversations will bring before the reader's mind an intimate picture of the Master's eventful life from March 1882 to April 24, 1886, only a few months before his passing away. During this period he came in contact chiefly with English-educated Benglis; from among them he selected his disciples and the bearers of his message, and with them he shared his rich spiritual experiences.
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 the sake of literal translation. No translation can do full justice to the original. This difficulty is all the more felt in the present work, whose contents are of a deep mystical nature and describe the inner experiences of a great seer. Human language is an altogether inadequate vehicle to express supersensuous perception. Sri Ramakrishna was almost illiterate. He never clothed his thoughts in formal language. His words sought to convey his direct realization of Truth. His conversation was in a village patois. Therein 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 the daily life around him.
The reader will find mentioned in this work many visions and experiences that fall outside the ken of physical science and even psychology. With the development of modern knowledge the border line between the natural and the supernatural is ever shifting its position. Genuine mystical experiences are not as suspect now as they were half a century ago. The words of Sri Ramakrishna have already exerted a tremendous influence in the l and of his birth. Savants of Europe have found in his words the ring of universal truth.
But these words were not the product of intellectual cogitation; they were rooted in direct experience. Hence, to students of religion, psychology, and physical science, these experiences of the Master are of immense value for the underst anding of religious phenomena in general. No doubt Sri Ramakrishna was a Hindu of the Hindus; yet his experiences transcended the limits of the dogmas and creeds of Hinduism. Mystics of religions other than Hinduism will find in Sri Ramakrishna's experiences a corroboration of the experiences of their own prophets and seers. and this is very important today for the resuscitation of religious values. The sceptical reader may pass by the supernatural experiences; he will yet find in the book enough material to provoke his serious thought and solve many of his spiritual problems.
There are repetitions of teachings and parables in the book. I have kept them purposely. They have their charm and usefulness, repeated as they were in different settings. Repetition is unavoidable in a work of this kind. In the first place, different seekers come to a religious teacher with questions of more or less identical nature; hence the answers will be of more or less identical pattern. Besides, religious teachers of all times and climes have tried, by means of repetition, to hammer truths into the stony soil of the recalcitrant human mind. Finally, repetition does not seem tedious if the ideas repeated are dear to a man's heart.
I have thought it necessary to write a rather lengthy Introduction to the book. In it I have given the biography of the 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 other relevant matters which, I hope, will enable the reader better to underst and and appreciate the unusual contents of this book. It is particularly important that the Western reader, unacquainted with Hindu religious thought, should first read carefully the introductory chapter, in order that he may fully enjoy these conversations. Many Indian terms and names have been retained in the book for want of suitable English equivalents. Their meaning is given either in the Glossary or in the foot-notes. The Glossary also gives explanations of a number of expressions unfamiliar to Western readers. The diacritical marks are explained under Notes on Pronunciation.
In the Introduction I have drawn much material from the Life of Sri Ramakrishna, published by the Advaita Ashrama, Myvati, India. I have also consulted the excellent article on Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Nirvedn anda, in the second volume of the Cultural Heritage of India.
The book contains many songs sung either by the Master or by the devotees. These form an important feature of the spiritual tradition of Bengal and were for the most part written by men of mystical experience. For giving the songs their present form I am grateful to Mr. John Moffitt, Jr.
In the 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, the entire manuscript and rendered other valuable help. Mr.Aldous Huxley has laid me under a debt of gratitude by writing the Foreword. I sincerely thank them all.
In the spiritual firmament Sri Ramakrishna is a waxing crescent. Within one hundred years of his birth and fifty years of his death his message has spread across l and and sea. Romain Roll and has described him as the fulfilment of the spiritual aspirations of the three hundred millions of Hindus for the last two thous and years. Mahatma G andhi has written: "His life enables us to see God face to face. . . . Ramakrishna was a living embodiment of godliness." He is being recognized as a compeer of Krishna, Buddha, and Christ.
The life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna have redirected the thoughts of the denationalized Hindus to the spiritual ideals of their forefa thers. During the latter part of the nineteenth century his was the time-honoured role of the Saviour of the Eternal Religion of the Hindus. His teachings played an important part in liberalizing the minds of orthodox pundits and hermits. Even now he is the silent force that is moulding the spiritual destiny of India. His great disciple, Swami Vivekan anda, was the first Hindu missionary to preach the message of Indian culture to the enlightened minds of Europe and America. The full consequence of Swami Vivekn and work is still in the womb of the future.
May this translation of the first book of its kind in the religious history of the world, being the record of the direct words of a prophet, help stricken humanity to come nearer to the Eternal Verity of life and remove dissension and quarrel from among the different faiths!
May it enable seekers of Truth to grasp the subtle laws of the supersensuous realm, and unfold before man's restricted vision the spiritual foundation of the universe, the unity of existence, and the divinity of the soul!
- Sw mi Nikhiln anda
--
In the life of the great Saviours and Prophets of the world it is often found that they are accompanied by souls of high spiritual potency who play a conspicuous part in the furtherance of their Master's mission. They become so integral a part of the life and work of these great ones that posterity can think of them only in mutual association. Such is the case with Sri Ramakrishna and M., whose diary has come to be known to the world as the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna in English and as Sri Rmakrishna Kathmrita in the original Bengali version.
Sri Mahendra Nath Gupta, familiary known to the readers of the Gospel by his pen name M., and to the devotees as Master Mahashay, was born on the 14th of July, 1854 as the son of Madhusudan Gupta, an officer of the Calcutta High Court, and his wife, Swarnamayi Devi. He had a brilliant scholastic career at Hare School and the Presidency College at Calcutta. The range of his studies included the best that both occidental and oriental learning had to offer. English literature, history, economics, western philosophy and law on the one h and, and Sanskrit literature and grammar, Darsanas, Puranas, Smritis, Jainism, Buddhism, astrology and Ayurveda on the other were the 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. The causes of his migration from school to school were that he could not get on with some of the 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 the most noted public men of the time like Iswar Ch andra Vidysgar and Surendranath Banerjee. The latter appointed him as a professor in the City and Ripon Colleges where he taught subjects like English, philosophy, history and economics. In his later days he took over the Morton School, and he spent his time in the staircase room of the third floor of it, administering the school and preaching the message of the Master. He was much respected in educational circles where he was usually referred to as Rector Mahashay. A teacher who had worked under him writes thus in warm appreciation of his teaching methods: "Only when I worked with him in school could I appreciate what a great educationist he was. He would come down to the level of his students when teaching, though he himself was so learned, so talented. Ordinarily teachers confine their instruction to what is given in books without much thought as to whether the student can accept it or not. But M., would first of all gauge how much the 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) when the question of imparting education through the medium of the mother tongue was being discussed, M. had already employed Bengali as the medium of instruction in the Morton School." (M The Apostle and the Evangelist by Swami Nityatman anda Part I. P. 15.)
Imparting secular education was, however, only his profession ; his main concern was with the spiritual regeneration of man a calling for which Destiny seems to have chosen him. From his childhood he was deeply pious, and he used to be moved very much by Sdhus, temples and Durga Puja celebrations. The piety and eloquence of the great Brahmo leader of the times, Keshab Ch ander Sen, elicited a powerful response from the impressionable mind of Mahendra Nath, as it did in the case of many an idealistic young man of Calcutta, and prepared him to receive the great Light that was to dawn on him with the coming of Sri Ramakrishna into his life.
This epoch-making event of his life came about in a very strange way. M. belonged to a joint family with several collateral members. Some ten years after he began his career as an educationist, bitter quarrels broke out among the members of the family, driving the sensitive M. to despair and utter despondency. He lost all interest in life and left home one night to go into the wide world with the idea of ending his life. At dead of night he took rest in his sister's house at Baranagar, and in the morning, accompanied by a nephew Siddheswar, he w andered from one garden to another in Calcutta until Siddheswar brought him to the Temple Garden of Dakshineswar where Sri Ramakrishna was then living. After spending some time in the beautiful rose gardens there, he was directed to the room of the Paramahamsa, where the eventful meeting of the Master and the disciple took place on a blessed evening (the exact date is not on record) on a Sunday in March 1882. As regards what took place on the occasion, the reader is referred to the opening section of the first chapter of the Gospel.
The Master, who divined the 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 these words the clouds of despair moved away from the horizon of M.'s mind, and the 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! where is the resolve to end life, and where, the 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 the Master, though he continued his professional work as an educationist. During all holidays, including Sundays, he spent his time at Dakshineswar in the 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 the Master, or for the Master to recognise in this disciple a divinely commissioned partner in the fulfilment of his spiritual mission. When M. was reading out the Chaitanya Bhagavata, the Master discovered that he had been, in a previous birth, a disciple and companion of the great Vaishnava Teacher, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and the Master even saw him 'with his naked eye' participating in the ecstatic mass-singing of the Lord's name under the leadership of that Divine personality. So the Master told M, "You are my own, of the same substance as the father and the son," indicating thereby that M. was one of the chosen few and a part and parcel of his Divine mission.
There was an urge in M. to ab andon the household life and become a Sannysin. When he communicated this idea to the Master, he forbade him saying," Mother has told me that you have to do a little of Her work you will have to teach Bhagavata, the word of God to humanity. The Mother keeps a Bhagavata P andit with a bondage in the world!"
( Ibid P.36.)
An appropriate allusion indeed! Bhagavata, the great scripture that has given the word of Sri Krishna to mankind, was composed by the Sage Vysa under similar circumstances. When caught up in a mood of depression like that of M, Vysa was advised by the sage Nrada that he would gain peace of mind only qn composing a work exclusively devoted to the depiction of the Lord's glorious attributes and His teachings on Knowledge and Devotion, and the result was that the world got from Vysa the invaluable gift of the Bhagavata Purana depicting the life and teachings of Sri Krishna.
From the mental depression of the modem Vysa, the world has obtained the Kathmrita (Bengali Edition) the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna in English.
Sri Ramakrishna was a teacher for both the Orders of mankind, Sannysins and householders. His own life offered an ideal example for both, and he left behind disciples who followed the highest traditions he had set in respect of both these ways of life. M., along with Nag Mahashay, exemplified how a householder can rise to the highest level of sagehood. M. was married to Nikunja Devi, a distant relative of Keshab Ch ander Sen, even when he was reading at College, and he had four children, two sons and two daughters. The responsibility of the family, no doubt, made him dependent on his professional income, but the great devotee that he was, he never compromised with ideals and principles for this reason. Once when he was working as the headmaster in a school managed by the great Vidysgar, the results of the school at the public examination happened to be rather poor, and Vidysgar attri buted it to M's preoccupation with the Master and his consequent failure to attend adequately to the school work. M. at once resigned his post without any thought of the morrow. Within a fortnight the family was in poverty, and M. was one day pacing up and down the ver andah of his house, musing how he would feed his children the next day. Just then a man came with a letter addressed to 'Mahendra Babu', and on opening it, M. found that it was a letter from his friend Sri Surendra Nath Banerjee, asking whether he would like to take up a professorship in the Ripon College. In this way three or four times he gave up the job that gave him the wherewithal to support the family, either for upholding principles or for practising spiritual Sadhanas in holy places, without any consideration of the possible dire worldly consequences; but he was always able to get over these difficulties somehow, and the interests of his family never suffered. In spite of his disregard for worldly goods, he was, towards the latter part of his life, in a fairly flourishing condition as the proprietor of the Morton School which he developed into a noted educational institution in the city. The Lord has said in the Bhagavad Git that in the case of those who think of nothing except Him, He Himself would take up all their material and spiritual responsibilities. M. was an example of the truth of the Lord's promise.
Though his children received proper attention from him, his real family, both during the Master's lifetime and after, consisted of saints, devotees, Sannysins and spiritual aspirants. His life exemplifies the Master's teaching that an ideal householder must be like a good maidservant of a family, loving and caring properly for the children of the house, but knowing always that her real home and children are elsewhere. During the Master's lifetime he spent all his Sundays and other holidays with him and his devotees, and besides listening to the holy talks and devotional music, practised meditation both on the Personal and the Impersonal aspects of God under the direct guidance of the Master. In the pages of the Gospel the reader gets a picture of M.'s spiritual relationship with the Master how from a hazy belief in the Impersonal God of the Brahmos, he was step by step brought to accept both Personality and Impersonality as the two aspects of the same Non-dual Being, how he was convinced of the manifestation of that Being as Gods, Goddesses and as Incarnations, and how he was established 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 Raghavan anda, 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 Raghavan anda's article on M. in Prabuddha Bharata vol. XXXVII. P. 442.)
Besides undergoing spiritual disciplines at the feet of the Master, M. used to go to holy places during the Master's lifetime itself and afterwards too as a part of his Sdhan.
He was one of the earliest of the disciples to visit Kamarpukur, the birthplace of the Master, in the latter's lifetime itself; for he wished to practise contemplation on the Master's early life in its true original setting. His experience there is described as follows by Swami Nityatman anda: "By the grace of the Master, he saw the entire Kamarpukur as a holy place bathed in an effulgent Light. Trees and creepers, beasts and birds and men all were made of effulgence. So he prostrated to all on the road. He saw a torn cat, which appeared to him luminous with the Light of Consciousness. Immediately he fell to the ground and saluted it" (M The Apostle and the Evangelist by Swami Nityatman anda vol. I. P. 40.) He had similar experience in Dakshineswar also. At the instance of the Master he also visited Puri, and in the words of Swami Nityatman anda, "with indomitable courage, M. embraced the image of Jagannath out of season."
The life of Sdhan and holy association that he started on at the feet of the 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 the Master to become a Sannysin, his reverence for the Sannysa ideal was whole-hearted and was without any reservation. So after Sri Ramakrishna's passing away, while several of the Master's householder devotees considered the young Sannysin disciples of the Master as inexperienced and inconsequential, M. stood by them with the firm faith that the Master's life and message were going to be perpetuated only through them. Swami Vivekan anda wrote from America in a letter to the inmates of the Math: "When Sri Thkur (Master) left the body, every one gave us up as a few unripe urchins. But M. and a few others did not leave us in the lurch. We cannot repay our debt to them." (Swami Raghavan anda's article on M. in Prabuddha Bharata vol. XXX P. 442.)
M. spent his weekends and holidays with the monastic brethren who, after the Master's demise, had formed themselves into an Order with a Math at Baranagore, and participated in the intense life of devotion and meditation that they followed. At other times he would retire to Dakshineswar or some garden in the 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 w andering Sannysin, sleep with the waifs on some open ver andah or footpath on the road.
After the Master's demise, M. went on pilgrimage several times. He visited Banras, Vrindvan, Ayodhy and other places. At Banras he visited the famous Trailinga Swmi and fed him with sweets, and he had long conversations with Swami Bhaskaran anda, one of the noted saintly and scholarly Sannysins of the time. In 1912 he went with the Holy Mother to Banras, and spent about a year in the company of Sannysins at Banras, Vrindvan, Hardwar, Hrishikesh and Swargashram. But he returned to Calcutta, as that city offered him the unique opportunity of associating himself with the places hallowed by the Master in his lifetime. Afterwards he does not seem to have gone to any far-off place, but stayed on in his room in the Morton School carrying on his spiritual ministry, speaking on the Master and his teachings to the large number of people who flocked to him after having read his famous Kathmrita known to English readers as The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.
This brings us to the circumstances that led to the writing and publication of this monumental work, which has made M. one of the 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 them for posterity, with details like date, hour, place, names and particulars about participants. Humanity owes this great book to the ingrained habit of diary-keeping with which M. was endowed.
Even as a boy of about thirteen, while he was a student in the 3rd class of the Hare School, he was in the habit of keeping a diary. "Today on rising," he wrote in his diary, "I greeted my father and mother, prostrating on the ground before them" (Swami Nityatman anda's 'M The Apostle and the Evangelist' Part I. P 29.) At another place he wrote, "Today, while on my way to school, I visited, as usual, the temples of Kli, the Mother at Tharitharia, and of Mother Sitala, and paid my obeisance to them." About twenty-five years after, when he met the Great Master in the spring of 1882, it was the same instinct of a born diary-writer that made him begin his book, 'unique in the literature of hagiography', with the memorable words: "When hearing the name of Hari or Rma once, you shed tears and your hair st ands on end, then you may know for certain that you do not have to perform devotions such as S andhya any more."
In addition to this instinct for diary-keeping, M. had great endowments contri buting to success in this line. Writes Swami Nityatman anda who lived in close association with M., in his book entitled M - The Apostle and Evangelist: "M.'s prodigious memory combined with his extraordinary power of imagination completely annihilated the distance of time and place for him. Even after the lapse of half a century he could always visualise vividly, scenes from the life of Sri Ramakrishna. Superb too was his power to portray pictures by words."
Besides the prompting of his inherent instinct, the main inducement for M. to keep this diary of his experiences at Dakshineswar was his desire to provide himself with a means for living in holy company at all times. Being a school teacher, he could be with the Master only on Sundays and other holidays, and it was on his diary that he depended for 'holy company' on other days. The devotional scriptures like the Bhagavata say that holy company is the first and most important means for the generation and growth of devotion. For, in such company man could hear talks on spiritual matters and listen to the glorification of Divine attri butes, charged with the fervour and conviction emanating from the hearts of great lovers of God. Such company is therefore the one certain means through which Sraddha (Faith), Rati (attachment to God) and Bhakti (loving devotion) are generated. The diary of his visits to Dakshineswar provided M. with material for re-living, through reading and contemplation, the holy company he had had earlier, even on days when he was not able to visit Dakshineswar. The wealth of details and the vivid description of men and things in the midst of which the sublime conversations are set, provide excellent material to re-live those experiences for any one with imaginative powers. It was observed by M.'s disciples and admirers that in later life also whenever he was free or alone, he would be pouring over his diary, transporting himself on the wings of imagination to the glorious days he spent at the feet of the Master.
During the Master's lifetime M. does not seem to have revealed the contents of his diary to any one. There is an unconfirmed tradition that when the Master saw him taking notes, he expressed apprehension at the possibility of his utilising these to publicise him like Keshab Sen; for the Great Master was so full of the spirit of renunciation and humility that he disliked being lionised. It must be for this reason that no one knew about this precious diary of M. for a decade until he brought out selections from it as a pamphlet in English in 1897 with the Holy Mother's blessings and permission. The Holy Mother, being very much pleased to hear parts of the diary read to her in Bengali, wrote to M.: "When I heard the Kathmrita, (Bengali name of the book) I felt as if it was he, the Master, who was saying all that." ( Ibid Part I. P 37.)
The two pamphlets in English entitled the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna appeared in October and November 1897. They drew the spontaneous acclamation of Swami Vivekan anda, who wrote on 24th November of that year from Dehra Dun to M.:"Many many thanks for your second leaflet. It is indeed wonderful. The move is quite original, and never was the life of a Great Teacher brought before the public untarnished by the writer's mind, as you are doing. The 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 them. I am really in a transport when I read them. Strange, isn't it? Our Teacher and Lord was so original, and each one of us will have to be original or nothing.
I now underst and 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 the first edition of the Gospel published from Ramakrishna Math, Madras in 1911.)
and Swamiji added a post script to the letter: "Socratic dialogues are Plato all over you are entirely hidden. Moreover, the dramatic part is infinitely beautiful. Everybody likes it here or in the West." Indeed, in order to be unknown, Mahendranath had used the pen-name M., under which the book has been appearing till now. But so great a book cannot remain obscure for long, nor can its author remain unrecognised by the large public in these modern times. M. and his book came to be widely known very soon and to meet the growing dem and, a full-sized book, Vol. I of the Gospel, translated by the author himself, was published in 1907 by the Brahmavadin Office, Madras. A second edition of it, revised by the author, was brought out by the Ramakrishna Math, Madras in December 1911, and subsequently a second part, containing new chapters from the original Bengali, was published by the same Math in 1922. The full English translation of the Gospel by Swami Nikhilan anda appeared first in 1942.
In Bengali the book is published in five volumes, the first part having appeared in 1902
and the others in 1905, 1907, 1910 and 1932 respectively.
It looks as if M. was brought to the world by the Great Master to record his words and transmit them to posterity. Swami Sivan anda, a direct disciple of the Master and the second President of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, says on this topic: "Whenever there was an interesting talk, the Master would call Master Mahashay if he was not in the room, and then draw his attention to the holy words spoken. We did not know then why the Master did so. Now we can realise that this action of the Master had an important significance, for it was reserved for Master Mahashay to give to the world at large the sayings of the Master." ( Vednta Kesari Vol. XIX P 141.) Thanks to M., we get, unlike in the case of the great teachers of the 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 other details for the last four years of the Master's life (1882-'86), so that no one can doubt the historicity of the Master and his teachings at any time in the future.
M. was, in every respect, a true missionary of Sri Ramakrishna right from his first acquaintance with him in 1882. As a school teacher, it was a practice with him to direct to the Master such of his students as had a true spiritual disposition. Though himself prohibited by the Master to take to monastic life, he encouraged all spiritually inclined young men he came across in his later life to join the monastic Order. Swami Vijnanan anda, a direct Sannysin disciple of the Master and a President of the Ramakrishna Order, once remarked to M.: "By enquiry, I have come to the conclusion that eighty percent and more of the Sannysins have embraced the monastic life after reading the Kathmrita (Bengali name of the book) and coming in contact with you." ( M
The Apostle and the Evangelist by Swami Nityatman anda Part I, P 37.)
In 1905 he retired from the active life of a Professor and devoted his remaining twenty-seven years exclusively to the preaching of the life and message of the Great Master. He bought the Morton Institution from its original proprietors and shifted it to a commodious four-storeyed house at 50 Amherst Street, where it flourished under his management as one of the most efficient educational institutions in Calcutta. He generally occupied a staircase room at the top of it, cooking his own meal which consisted only of milk and rice without variation, and attended to all his personal needs himself. His dress also was the simplest possible. It was his conviction that limitation of personal wants to the minimum is an important aid to holy living. About one hour in the morning he would spend in inspecting the classes of the school, and then retire to his staircase room to pour over his diary and live in the divine atmosphere of the earthly days of the Great Master, unless devotees and admirers had already gathered in his room seeking his holy company.
In appearance, M. looked a Vedic Rishi. Tall and stately in bearing, he had a strong and well-built body, an unusually broad chest, high forehead and arms extending to the knees. His complexion was fair and his prominent eyes were always tinged with the expression of the divine love that filled his heart. Adorned with a silvery beard that flowed luxuriantly down his chest, and a shining face radiating the serenity and gravity of holiness, M. was as imposing and majestic as he was h andsome and engaging in appearance. Humorous, sweet-tongued and eloquent when situations required, this great Maharishi of our age lived only to sing the glory of Sri Ramakrishna day and night.
Though a very well versed scholar in the Upanishads, Git and the philosophies of the East and the West, all his discussions and teachings found their culmination in the life and the message of Sri Ramakrishna, in which he found the real explanation and illustration of all the scriptures. Both consciously and unconsciously, he was the teacher of the Kathmrita the nectarine words of the 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 Vivekan anda, Keshab Ch ander Sen and Iswar Ch ander Vidysgar, he was always moved by the noble humanity of a lover of God, which consists in respecting the personalities of all as receptacles of the Divine Spirit. So he taught without the consciousness of a teacher, and no bar of superiority stood in the way of his doing the humblest service to his students and devotees. "He was a commission of love," writes his close devotee, Swami Raghavan anda, " and yet his soft and sweet words would pierce the stoniest heart, make the worldly-minded weep and repent and turn Godwards."
( Prabuddha Bharata Vol. XXXVII P 499.)
As time went on and the number of devotees increased, the staircase room and terrace of the 3rd floor of the Morton Institution became a veritable Naimisaranya of modern times, resounding during all hours of the day, and sometimes of night, too, with the word of God coming from the Rishi-like face of M. addressed to the eager God-seekers sitting around. To the devotees who helped him in preparing the text of the Gospel, he would dictate the conversations of the Master in a meditative mood, referring now and then to his diary. At times in the stillness of midnight he would awaken a nearby devotee and tell him: "Let us listen to the words of the Master in the depths of the night as he explains the truth of the Pranava." ( Vednta Kesari XIX P. 142.) Swami Raghavan anda, an intimate devotee of M., writes as follows about these devotional sittings: "In the sweet and warm months of April and May, sitting under the canopy of heaven on the roof-garden of 50 Amherst Street, surrounded by shrubs and plants, himself sitting in their midst like a Rishi of old, the stars and planets in their courses beckoning us to things infinite and sublime, he would speak to us of the mysteries of God and His love and of the yearning that would rise in the human heart to solve the Eternal Riddle, as exemplified in the life of his Master. The mind, melting under the influence of his soft sweet words of light, would almost transcend the frontiers of limited existence and dare to peep into the infinite. He himself would take the influence of the setting and say,'What a blessed privilege it is to sit in such a setting (pointing to the starry heavens), in the company of the devotees discoursing on God and His love!' These unforgettable scenes will long remain imprinted on the minds of his hearers." (Prabuddha Bharata Vol XXXVII P 497.)
About twenty-seven years of his life he spent in this way in the heart of the great city of Calcutta, radiating the Master's thoughts and ideals to countless devotees who flocked to him, and to still larger numbers who read his Kathmrita (English Edition : The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna), the last part of which he had completed before June 1932 and given to the press. and miraculously, as it were, his end also came immediately after he had completed his life's mission. About three months earlier he had come to stay at his home at 13/2 Gurdasprasad Chaudhuary Lane at Thakur Bari, where the Holy Mother had herself installed the Master and where His regular worship was being conducted for the previous 40 years. The night of 3rd June being the Phalahrini Kli Pooja day, M.
had sent his devotees who used to keep company with him, to attend the special worship at Belur Math at night. After attending the service at the home shrine, he went through the proof of the Kathmrita for an hour. Suddenly he got a severe attack of neuralgic pain, from which he had been suffering now and then, of late. Before 6 a.m. in the 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 Mother!!)'
SWMI TAPASYN andA
0.00 - The Wellspring of Reality, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science
We are in an age that assumes the narrowing trends of specialization to be logical, natural, and desirable. Consequently, society expects all earnestly responsible communication to be crisply brief. Advancing science has now discovered that all the known cases of biological extinction have been caused by overspecialization, whose concentration of only selected genes sacrifices general adaptability. Thus the specialist's brief for pinpointing brevity is dubious. In the meantime, humanity has been deprived of comprehensive underst anding. Specialization has bred feelings of isolation, futility, and confusion in individuals. It has also resulted in the individual's leaving responsibility for thinking and social action to others.
Specialization breeds biases that ultimately aggregate as international and ideological discord, which, in turn, leads to war.
We are not seeking a license to ramble wordily. We are intent only upon being adequately concise. General systems science discloses the existence of minimum sets of variable factors that uniquely govern each and every system. Lack of knowledge concerning all the factors and the failure to include them in our integral imposes false conclusions. Let us not make the error of inadequacy in examining our most comprehensive inventory of experience and thoughts regarding the evoluting affairs of all humanity.
There is an inherently minimum set of essential concepts and current information, cognizance of which could lead to our operating our planet Earth to the lasting satisfaction and health of all humanity. With this objective, we set out on our review of the spectrum of significant experiences and seek therein for the greatest meanings as well as for the family of generalized principles governing the realization of their optimum significance to humanity aboard our Sun circling planet Earth.
We must start with scientific fundamentals, and that means with the data of experiments and not with assumed axioms predicated only upon the misleading nature of that which only superficially seems to be obvious. It is the consensus of great scientists that science is the attempt to set in order the facts of experience.
Holding within their definition, we define Universe as the aggregate of allhumanity's consciously apprehended and communicated, nonsimultaneous, and only partially overlapping experiences. An aggregate of finites is finite. Universe is a finite but nonsimultaneously conceptual scenario.
The human brain is a physical mechanism for storing, retrieving, and re-storing again, each special-case experience. The experience is often a packaged concept.
Such packages consist of complexedly interrelated and not as-yet differentially analyzed phenomena which, as initially unit cognitions, are potentially re-experienceable. A rose, for instance, grows. has thorns, blossoms, and fragrance, but often is stored in the brain only under the single word-rose.
As Korzybski, the founder of general semantics, pointed out, the consequence of its single-tagging is that the rose becomes reflexively considered by man only as a red, white, or pink device for paying tribute to a beautiful girl, a thoughtful hostess, or last night's deceased acquaintance. The tagging of the complex biological process under the single title rose tends to detour human curiosity from further differentiation of its integral organic operations as well as from consideration of its interecological functionings aboard our planet. We don't know what a rose is, nor what may be its essential and unique cosmic function. Thus for long have we inadvertently deferred potential discovery of the essential roles in Universe that are performed complementarily by many, if not most, of the phenomena we experience.
But, goaded by youth, we older ones are now taking second looks at almost everything. and that promises many ultimately favorable surprises. The oldsters do have vast experience banks not available to the youth. Their memory banks, integrated and reviewed, may readily disclose generalized principles of eminent importance.
The word generalization in literature usually means covering too much territory too thinly to be persuasive, let alone convincing. In science, however, a generalization means a principle that has been found to hold true in every special case.
The principle of leverage is a scientific generalization. It makes no difference of what material either the fulcrum or the lever consists-wood, steel, or reinforced concrete. Nor do the special-case sizes of the lever and fulcrum, or of the load pried at one end, or the work applied at the lever's other end in any way alter either the principle or the mathematical regularity of the ratios of physical work advantage that are provided at progressive fulcrum-to-load increments of distance outward from the fulcrum in the opposite direction along the lever's arm at which theoperating effort is applied.
Mind is the weightless and uniquely human faculty that surveys the ever larger inventory of special-case experiences stored in the brain bank and, seeking to identify their intercomplementary significance, from time to time discovers one of the rare scientifically generalizable principles running consistently through all the relevant experience set. The thoughts that discover these principles are weightless and tentative and may also be eternal. They suggest eternity but do not prove it, even though there have been no experiences thus far that imply exceptions to their persistence. It seems also to follow that the more experiences we have, the more chances there are that the mind may discover, on the one h and, additional generalized principles or, on the other h and, exceptions that disqualify one or another of the 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 the comprehensive brain bank's storage of all our special-case experiences tends both to progressive enlargement and definitive refinement of the catalogue of generalized principles that interaccommodatively govern all transactions of Universe.
It follows that the more specialized society becomes, the less attention does it pay to the discoveries of the mind, which are intuitively beamed toward the brain, there to be received only if the switches are "on." Specialization tends to shut off the wide-b and tuning searches and thus to preclude further discovery of the 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 the energy of the atom, while another, unbeknownst to him, is ordered by his political factotum to make an atomic bomb by use of the secretly and anonymously published data. That gives much expedient employment, which solves the politician's momentary problem, but requires that the politicians keep on preparing for further warring with other political states to keep their respective peoples employed. It is also mistakenly assumed that employment is the only means by which humans can earn the right to live, for politicians have yet to discover how much wealth is available for distribution. All this is rationalized on the now scientifically discredited premise that there 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.
Only a comprehensive switch from the narrowing specialization and toward an evermore inclusive and refining comprehension by all humanity-regarding all the factors governing omnicontinuing life aboard our spaceship Earth-can bring about reorientation from the self-extinction-bound human trending, and do so within the critical time remaining before we have passed the point of chemical process irretrievability.
Quite clearly, our task is predominantly metaphysical, for it is how to get all of humanity to educate itself swiftly enough to generate spontaneous social behaviors that will avoid extinction.
Living upon the threshold between yesterday and tomorrow, which threshold we reflexively assumed in some long ago yesterday to constitute an eternal now, we are aware of the daily-occurring, vast multiplication of experience generated information by which we potentially may improve our underst anding of our yesterdays' experiences and therefrom derive our most farsighted preparedness for successive tomorrows.
Anticipating, cooperating with, and employing the forces of nature can be accomplished only by the mind. The wisdom manifest in the omni-interorderliness of the family of generalized principles operative in Universe can be employed only by the highest integrity of engagement of the mind's metaphysical intuiting and formulating capabilities.
We are able to assert that this rationally coordinating system bridge has been established between science and the humanities because we have made adequate experimental testing of it in a computerized world-resource-use-exploration system, which by virtue of the proper inclusion of all the parameters-as guaranteed by the synergetic start with Universe and the progressive differentiation out of all the parts-has demonstrated a number of alternate ways in which it is eminently feasible not only to provide full life support for all humans but also to permit all humans' individual enjoyment of all the Earth without anyone profiting at the expense of another and without any individuals interfering with others.
While it takes but meager search to discover that many well-known concepts are false, it takes considerable search and even more careful examination of one's own personal experiences and inadvertently spontaneous reflexing to discover that there are many popularly and even professionally unknown, yet nonetheless fundamental, concepts to hold true in all cases and that already have been discovered by other as yet obscure individuals. That is to say that many scientific generalizations have been discovered but have not come to the attention of what we call the educated world at large, thereafter to be incorporated tardily within the formal education processes, and even more tardily, in the ongoing political-economic affairs of everyday life. Knowledge of the existence and comprehensive significance of these as yet popularly unrecognized natural laws often is requisite to the solution of many of the as yet unsolved problems now confronting society. Lack of knowledge of the solution's existence often leaves humanity confounded when it need not be.
Intellectually advantaged with no more than the child's facile, lucid eagerness to underst and constructively and usefully the major transformational events of our own times, it probably is synergetically advantageous to review swiftly the most comprehensive inventory of the most powerful human environment transforming events of our totally known and reasonably extended history. This is especially useful in winnowing out and underst anding the most significant of the metaphysical revolutions now recognized as swiftly tending to reconstitute history. By such a comprehensively schematic review, we might identify also the 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 the separate drives of art, science, education, economics, and ideology, and their complexedly interacting trends within our own times, may be had only through the most comprehensive historical sweep of which we are capable.
There could be produced a synergetic underst anding of humanity's cosmic functioning, which, until now, had been both undiscovered and unpredictable due to our deliberate and exclusive preoccupation only with the separate statistics of separate events. As a typical consequence of the latter, we observe our society's persistent increase of educational and employment specialization despite the already mentioned, well-documented scientific disclosure that the extinctions of biological species are always occasioned by overspecialization. Specialization's preoccupation with parts deliberately forfeits the opportunity to apprehend and comprehend what is provided exclusively by synergy.
Today's news consists of aggregates of fragments. Anyone who has taken part in any event that has subsequently appeared in the news is aware of the gross disparity between the actual and the reported events. The insistence by reporters upon having advance "releases" of what, for instance, convocation speakers are supposedly going to say but in fact have not yet said, automatically discredits the value of the largely prefabricated news. We also learn frequently of prefabricated and prevaricated events of a complex nature purportedly undertaken for purposes either of suppressing or rigging the news, which in turn perverts humanity's tactical information resources. All history becomes suspect. Probably our most polluted resource is the tactical information to which humanity spontaneously reflexes.
Furthermore, today's hyperspecialization in socioeconomic functioning has come to preclude important popular philosophic considerations of the synergetic significance of, for instance, such historically important events as the discovery within the general region of experimental inquiry known as virology that the as-yet popularly assumed validity of the concepts of animate and inanimate phenomena have been experimentally invalidated. Atoms and crystal complexes of atoms were held to be obviously inanimate; the protoplasmic cells of biological phenomena 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 therefore assumed to exist as a fundamental dichotomy of all physical phenomena. This seemingly placed life exclusively within the bounds of the physical.
The supposed location of the threshold between animate and inanimate was methodically narrowed down by experimental science until it was confined specifically within the domain of virology. Virologists have been too busy, for instance, with their DNA-RNA genetic code isolatings, to find time to see the synergetic significance to society of the fact that they have found that no physical threshold does in fact exist between animate and inanimate. The possibility of its existence vanished because the supposedly unique physical qualities of both animate and inanimate have persisted right across yesterday's supposed threshold in both directions to permeate one another's-previously perceived to be exclusive- domains. Subsequently, what was animate has become foggier and foggier, and what is inanimate clearer and clearer. All organisms consist physically and in entirety of inherently inanimate atoms. The inanimate alone is not only omnipresent but is alone experimentally demonstrable. Belated news of the elimination of this threshold must be interpreted to mean that whatever life may be, it has not been isolated and thereby identified as residual in the biological cell, as had been supposed by the false assumption that there was a separate physical phenomenoncalled animate within which life existed. No life per se has been isolated. The threshold between animate and inanimate has vanished. Those chemists who are preoccupied in synthesizing the particular atomically structured molecules identified as the prime constituents of humanly employed organisms will, even if they are chemically successful, be as remote from creating life as are automobile manufacturers from creating the human drivers of their automobiles. Only the physical connections and development complexes of distinctly "nonlife" atoms into molecules, into cells, into animals, has been and will be discovered. The genetic coding of the design controls of organic systems offers no more explanation of life than did the specifications of the designs of the telephone system's apparatus and operation explain the nature of the life that communicates weightlessly to life over the only physically ponderable telephone system. Whatever else life may be, we know it is weightless. At the moment of death, no weight is lost. All the chemicals, including the chemist's life ingredients, are present, but life has vanished. The physical is inherently entropic, giving off energy in ever more disorderly ways. The metaphysical is antientropic, methodically marshalling energy. Life is antientropic.
It is spontaneously inquisitive. It sorts out and endeavors to underst and.
The overconcentration on details of hyperspecialization has also been responsible for the lack of recognition by science of its inherently m andatory responsibility to reorient all our educational curricula because of the synergetically disclosed, but popularly uncomprehended, significance of the 1956 Nobel Prize-winning discovery in physics of the experimental invalidation of the concept of "parity" by which science previously had misassumed that positive-negative complementations consisted exclusively of mirror-imaged behaviors of physical phenomena.
Science's self-assumed responsibility has been self-limited to disclosure to society only of the separate, supposedly physical (because separately weighable) atomic component isolations data. Synergetic integrity would require the 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 phenomena such as thought. But science has made no experimental finding of any phenomena 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 phenomena are metaphysical; wherefore, 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 they all still personally and sensorially see "solids" going up or down-as, for instance, they see the Sun "going down." Sensorially disconnected from their theoretically evolved information, scientists discern no need on their part to suggest any educational reforms to correct the misconceiving that science has tolerated for half a millennium.
Society depends upon its scientists for just such educational reform guidance.
--
The youth of humanity all around our planet are intuitively revolting from all sovereignties and political ideologies. The youth of Earth are moving intuitively toward an utterly classless, raceless, omnicooperative, omniworld humanity.
Children freed of the ignorantly founded educational traditions and exposed only to their spontaneously summoned, computer-stored and -distributed outflow of reliable-opinion-purged, experimentally verified data, shall indeed lead society to its happy egress from all misinformedly conceived, fearfully and legally imposed, and physically enforced customs of yesterday. They can lead all humanity into omnisuccessful survival as well as entrance into an utterly new era of human experience in an as-yet and ever-will-be fundamentally mysterious Universe.
and whence will come the wealth with which we may undertake to lead world man into his new and validly hopeful life? From the wealth of the minds of world man-whence comes all wealth. Only mind can discover how to do so much with so little as forever to be able to sustain and physically satisfy all humanity.
0.01f - FOREWARD, #The Phenomenon of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
This work may be summed up as an attempt to see and to make
others see what happens to man, and what conclusions are forced
upon us, when he is placed fairly and squarely within the frame-
work of phenomenon and appearance.
Why should we want to see, and why in particular should we
single out man as our object ?
--
such is the kernel and conclusion of this book. But let us empha-
sise the point : union increases only through an increase in con-
sciousness, that is to say in vision. and that, doubtless, is why the
history of the living world can be summarised as the elaboration
--
by the penetration and synthetic power of their gaze ? To try to
see more and better is not a matter of whim or curiosity or self-
indulgence. To see or to perish is the very condition laid upon
--
gift of existence. and this, in superior measure, is man's condition.
But if it is true that it is so vital and so blessed to know, let us
ask again why we are turning our attention particularly to man.
Has man not been adequately described already, and is he not a
tedious subject ? Is it not precisely one of the attractions of science
--
absence. Instinctively physicists and naturalists went to work as
though they could look down from a great height upon a world
--
the conventions they adopted at the outset and by forms or
habits of thought developed in the course of the growth of
--
reflection of their own thought. and at die same time they
realise that as the result of their discoveries, they are caught body
--
net. A geologist would use the words metamorphism and
endomorphism. Object and subject marry and mutually trans-
form each other in the act of knowledge ; and from now on
man willy-nilly fmds his own image stamped on all he looks at.
--
unique and assured gr andeur provides immediate compensation.
It is tiresome and even humbling for die observer to be thus
fettered, to be obliged to carry with him everywhere the centre
--
the way things are distributed objectively, and perception reaches
its apogee. The l andscape lights up and yields its secrets. He sees.
That seems to be the privilege of man's knowledge.
--
structural. The following pages will do no more than verify and
analyse this phenomenon. By virtue of the quality and the bio-
logical properties of thought, we find ourselves situated at a
--
construction of the universe. and by expediency no less than by
necessity, all science must be referred back to him. If to see is
--
the newly-opened retina. For man to discover man and take his
measure, a whole series of ' senses ' have been necessary, whose
gradual acquisition, as we shall show, covers and punctuates the
whole history of the struggles of the mind :
A sense of spatial immensity, in greatness and smallness, dis-
articulating and spacing out, within a sphere of indefinite radius,
the orbits of the objects which press round us ;
--
series and measureless distances of time, which a sort of sluggish-
ness of mind tends continually to condense for us in a thin layer
--
A sense of number, discovering and grasping unflinchingly
the bewildering multitude of material or living elements involved
--
of physical scale which separates, both in rhythm and dimension,
33
--
nature certain absolute stages of perfection and growth, without
upsetting the physical unity of the world ;
--
A sense, lastly, of the organic, discovering physical links and
structural unity under the superficial juxtaposition of successions
--
the threefold illusion of smallness, plurality and immobility, for
man effordessly to take the central position we prophesied the
--
Thought three events sketching in the past and determining for
the future (Survival) a single and continuing trajectory, the curve
of the phenomenon of man.
--
least partially) within the scope of the requirements and methods
of science ;
--
I repeat that my only aim, and my only vantage-ground in
these pages, is to try to see ; that is to say, to try to develop a
homogeneous and coherent perspective of our general extended
experience of man. A whole which unfolds.
--
placed us. It is a safe and modest method and yet, as we shall see,
it suffices, through symmetry, to bring out ahead of us surprising
--
gation and sustained reflection, they give an idea, by means of
one example, of the way in which the problem of man presents
--
nature up into pieces and to forget both its deep inter-relations
and its measureless horizons : we incline to all that is bad in
anthropocentrism. and it is this that still leads scientists to refuse
to consider man as an object of scientific scrutiny except through
--
possible, and that the preservation of courage and the joy of
action in those of us who wish, and know how, to plumb the
depths of things, depend on it.
--
a thinking being than when the scales fall from his eyes and he
discovers that he is not an isolated unit lost in the cosmic solitudes,
and realises that a universal will to live converges and is hominised
in him.
--
as he for long believed himself to be but as the 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
object:0.01 - I - Sri Aurobindos personality, his outer retirement - outside contacts after 1910 - spiritual personalities- Vibhutis and Avatars - transformtion of human personality
author class:A B Purani
--
The question which Arjuna asks Sri Krishna in the Gita (second chapter) occurs pertinently to many about all spiritual personalities: "What is the language of one whose underst anding is poised? How does he speak, how sit, how walk?" Men want to know the outer signs of the inner attainment, the way in which a spiritual person differs outwardly from other men. But all the tests which the Gita enumerates are inner and therefore invisible to the outer view. It is true also that the inner or the spiritual is the essential and the outer derives its value and form from the inner. But the transformation about which Sri Aurobindo writes in his books has to take place in nature, because according to him the divine Reality has to manifest itself in nature. So, all the parts of nature including the physical and the external are to be transformed. In his own case the very physical became the transparent mould of the Spirit as a result of his intense Sadhana. This is borne out by the impression created on the minds of sensitive outsiders like Sj. K. M. Munshi who was deeply impressed by his radiating presence when he met him after nearly forty years.
The Evening Talks collected here may afford to the outside world a glimpse of his external personality and give the seeker some idea of its richness, its many-sidedness, its uniqueness. One can also form some notion of Sri Aurobindo's personality from the books in which the height, the universal sweep and clear vision of his integral ideal and thought can be seen. His writings are, in a sense, the best representative of his mental personality. The versatile nature of his genius, the penetrating power of his intellect, his extraordinary power of expression, his intense sincerity, his utter singleness of purpose all these can be easily felt by any earnest student of his works. He may discover even in the realm of mind that Sri Aurobindo brings the unlimited into the limited. Another side of his dynamic personality is represented by the Ashram as an institution. But the outer, if one may use the phrase, the human side of his personality, is unknown to the 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 Pondicherry and practising some kind of very special Yoga to the mystery of which they had no access. To some, perhaps, he was living a life of enviable solitude enjoying the luxury of a spiritual endeavour. Many regretted his retirement as a great loss to the world because they 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 the days of the national awakening from 1900 to 1910 could not have these doubts. and even these initial misunderst andings and false notions of others began to evaporate with the growth of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram from 1927 onwards. The large number of books published by the Ashram also tended to remove the idea of the other-worldliness of his Yoga and the 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 further interest in the world or in the fate of India. It could not mean that, for the very principle of his Yoga was not only to realise the Divine and attain to a complete spiritual consciousness, but also to take all life and all world activity into the scope of this spiritual consciousness and action and to base life on the Spirit and give it a spiritual meaning. In his retirement Sri Aurobindo kept a close watch on all that was happening in the world and in India and actively intervened, whenever necessary, but solely with a spiritual force and silent spiritual action; for it is part of the experience of those who have advanced in yoga that besides the ordinary forces and activities of the mind and life and body in Matter, there are other forces and powers that can and do act from behind and from above; there 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 other 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 the 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. "The first was in relation to the Second World War. At the beginning he did not actively concern himself with it, but when it appeared as if Hitler would crush all the forces opposed to him and Nazism dominate the world, he began to intervene."[2]
The second was with regard to Sir Stafford Cripps' proposal for the transfer of power to India.
Over and above Sadhana, writing work and rendering spiritual help to the world during his apparent retirement there were plenty of other activities of which the outside world has no knowledge. Many prominent as well as less known persons sought and obtained interviews with him during these years. Thus, among well-known persons may be mentioned C.R. Das, Lala Lajpat Rai, Sarala Devi, Dr. Munje, Khasirao Jadhav, Tagore, Sylvain Levy. The great national poet of Tamil Nadu, S. Subramanya Bharati, was in contact with Sri Aurobindo for some years during his stay at Pondicherry; so was V.V.S. Aiyar. The 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 these facts have been already mentioned in The Life of Sri Aurobindo.
Jung has admitted that there is an element of mystery, something that baffles the reason, in human personality. One finds that the greater the personality the greater is the complexity. and this is especially so with regard to spiritual personalities whom the Gita calls Vibhutis and Avatars.
Sri Aurobindo has explained the mystery of personality in some of his writings. Ordinarily by personality we mean something which can be described as "a pattern of being marked out by a settled combination of fixed qualities, a determined character.... In one view personality is regarded as a fixed structure of recognisable qualities expressing a power of being"; another idea regards "personality as a flux of self-expressive or sensitive and responsive being.... But flux of nature and fixity of nature" which some call character "are two aspects of being neither of which, nor indeed both together, can be a definition of personality.... But besides this flux and this fixity there is also a third and occult element, the Person behind of whom the personality is a self-expression; the Person puts forward the personality as his role, character, persona, in the present act of his long drama of manifested existence. But the Person is larger than his personality, and it may happen that this inner largeness overflows into the surface formation; the result is a self-expression of being which can no longer be described by fixed qualities, normalities of mood, exact lineaments, or marked out by structural limits."[4]
The gospel of the Supermind which Sri Aurobindo brought to man envisages a new level of consciousness beyond Mind. When this level is attained it imposes a complete and radical reintegration of the human personality. Sri Aurobindo was not merely the exponent but the embodiment of the new, dynamic truth of the Supermind. While exploring and sounding the tremendous possibilities of human personality in his intense spiritual Sadhana, he has shown us that practically there 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; there are conditions to be fulfilled for the transformation from the human to the divine.
The Gita in its chapters on the Vibhuti and the Avatar takes in general the same position. It shows that the present formula of our nature, and therefore the mental personality of man, is not final. A Vibhuti embodies in a human manifestation a certain divine quality and thus demonstrates the possibility of overcoming the limits of ordinary human personality. The Vibhuti the embodiment of a divine quality or power, and the Avatar the divine incarnation, are not to be looked upon as supraphysical miracles thrown at humanity without regard to the process of evolution; they are, in fact, indications of human possibility, a sign that points to the goal of evolution.
In his Essays on the Gita, Sri Aurobindo says about the Avatar: "He may, on the other h and, descend as an incarnation of divine life, the divine personality and power in its characteristic action, for a mission ostensibly social, ethical and political, as is represented in the story of Rama or Krishna; but always then this descent becomes in the soul of the race a permanent power for the inner living and the spiritual rebirth."[5]
"He comes as the divine power and love which calls men to itself, so that they may take refuge in that and no longer in the insufficiency of their human wills and the strife of their human fear, wrath and passion, and liberated from all this unquiet and suffering may live in the calm and bliss of the Divine."[6]
"The Avatar comes to reveal the divine nature in man above this lower nature and to show what are the divine works, free, unegoistic, disinterested, impersonal, universal, full of the divine light, the divine power and the divine love. He comes as the divine personality which shall fill the consciousness of the human being and replace the 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 the traditional idea of the Vibhuti and the Avatar in terms of the evolutionary possibilities of man. But more directly he has worked out the idea of the 'gnostic individual' in his masterpiece The Life Divine. He says: "A supramental gnostic individual will be a spiritual Person, but not a personality in the 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 the universal and the transcendent." Describing the gnostic individual he says: "We feel ourselves in the 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 there is an impression of personality, the 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 the feeling of some of us, his disciples, with regard to him in his inimitable way.
This transformation of the human personality into the Divine perhaps even the mere connection of the human with the Divine is probably regarded as a chimera by the modern mind. To the modern mind it would appear as the apotheosis of a human personality which is against its idea of equality of men. Its difficulty is partly due to the notion that the Divine is unlimited and illimitable while a 'personality', however high and gr and, seems to dem and 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 the manifestation in the limited should reflect the unlimited, the Transcendent Beyond.
This possibility of the human touching and manifesting the Divine has been realised during the course of human history whenever a great spiritual Light has appeared on earth. One of the purposes of this book is to show how Sri Aurobindo himself reflected the unlimited Beyond in his own self.
Greatness is magnetic and in a sense contagious. Wherever manifested, greatness is claimed by humanity as something that reveals the possibility of the race. The highest utility of greatness is not merely to attract us but to inspire us to follow it and rise to our own highest spiritual stature. To the majority of men Truth remains abstract, impersonal and far unless it is seen and felt concretely in a human personality. A man never knows a truth actively except through a person and by embodying it in his own personality. Some glimpse of the Truth-Consciousness which Sri Aurobindo embodied may be caught in these Evening Talks.
***
0.01 - Letters from the Mother to Her Son, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Our community is growing more and more; we are nearly thirty
(not counting those who are scattered all over India); and I
have become responsible for all this; I am at the centre of the
organisation, on the material as well as the spiritual side, and you
can easily imagine what it means. We already occupy five houses,
--
and contains several buildings with courtyards and gardens. We
have just bought, repaired and comfortably furnished one of
these houses and then, just recently, we have settled there, Sri
Aurobindo and myself, as well as five of the closest disciples.
We have joined the houses together with openings in some
of the outer walls and outbuildings, so that I may walk freely in
our little realm without having to go out into the street - this is
rather nice. But I am busier than ever now, and I can say that at
the moment I am writing to you in a hurry.
--
whole being, mental, psychic, vital and physical, enters into a
complete state of rest made of perfect peace, absolute silence
--
twenty-four hours, which thus form an unbroken sequence, and
that I no longer experience ordinary sleep, while still giving my
--
however incomplete and imprecise, of the surroundings in which
I live; in any case they will give a very limited impression, for
--
I am also sending you conversations 14 and 15. I hope that
you have received, in several instalments, the complete series
--
These fifteen "conversations" are published in Questions and Answers 1929 - 1931,
CWM, Vol. 3, pp. 1 - 120.
--
meant to goad and spur on those who are on the way. It is
true that in my answers many aspects of the question have been
--
The Ashram is becoming a more and more interesting institution. We have now acquired our twenty-first house; the number
of paid workers of the Ashram (labourers and servants) has
reached sixty or sixty-five, and the number of Ashram members
(Sri Aurobindo's disciples living in Pondicherry) varies between
eighty-five and a hundred. Five cars, twelve bicycles, four sewing
machines, a dozen typewriters, many garages, an automobile
--
departments (European and Indian tailors, embroideresses, etc.),
a library and reading-room containing several thous and volumes, a photographic service, general stores containing a wide
variety of goods, nearly all imported from France, large gardens
for flowers, vegetables and fruits, a dairy, a bakery, etc., etc.! -
you can see that it is no small affair. and as I am taking care of
all this, I can truly say that I am busy.
--
I have also received the Gr ande Revue3 and I read the article you
mention. I found it rather dull, but apart from that not too bad.
--
outside India (in America, I believe) and has become completely
westernised; otherwise he would not give G andhi and Tagore
as the two most popular figures in India. On the contrary it
is outside India that they are most popular; and for foreigners
these two men seem to be the only ones who represent Indian
genius. This is very far from the truth, and if they are so well
known in Western countries, it is probably because their stature
--
India has far greater geniuses than these and in the most
varied fields, scientific, literary, philosophic, spiritual. It is true
--
young people, they may have more energy and power of action,
but they are imprisoned within the four walls of a few narrow
ideas and a limited mind.
I repeat, there is better, far better in India, but this India
--
state of affairs you mention in your letter of October 9th; and
it is certainly not confined to the small states of central Europe.
--
world: disorder, confusion, wastage and misery.
Series One - To Her Son
--
of the earth; and always, when confusion and destruction seem
to have reached their climax, something happens and a new
balance is established which extends, for a few centuries more,
the life of declining civilisations and human societies in delirium.
Do not start thinking I am a pessimist. I certainly do not
--
to be different, I want them to be more harmonious and more
true. Oh, the horror of falsehood spread everywhere on earth,
--
is vast and the town is very small: a five minute drive and you are
out of it; and, at the centre of it all, the Ashram is a condensation
of dynamic and active peace, so much so that all those who come
from outside feel as if they were in another world. It is indeed
--
of 110 to 120 people and to avoid movements that would be
detrimental to the achievement of our yogic aim.
--
them. I think I have already explained the situation to you and
I want to take advantage of this opportunity to remind you of
it. The Ashram with all its real estate and moveable property
belongs to Sri Aurobindo, it is his money that enables me to
--
of exchange corresponds approximately to 650,000 francs); and
if my name sometimes appears (on bank accounts, purchase of
--
of convenience for the papers and signatures, since it is I who
"manage" everything, but not because I really own them. You
--
Your last letter refers to current events and betrays some anxiety
which is certainly not unfounded. In their ignorant unconsciousness men set moving forces they are not even aware of and soon
these forces get more and more out of their control and bring
about disastrous results. The earth seems to be shaken almost
entirely by a terrible fit of political and social epilepsy through
which the most dangerous forces of destruction do their work.
--
ugly and could justifiably cause anxiety, and a great confusion
Series One - To Her Son
--
the Governor (Solmiac) showed great kindness and resolve at
the same time. His goodwill is beyond all praise. Finally, it all
--
factory is closed, no one knows for how long, and the other one
was burned down.
--
makes us see all the details. From a distance the details fade and
only the principal lines appear, giving a slightly more logical
--
whom one is talking and obtaining as much as one can. Tactics
Published in Words of Long Ago, CWM, Vol. 2, pp. 40 - 46.
--
these forces is very complex and generally eludes the human
consciousness; but for ease of explanation and underst anding,
they may be divided into two main opposing tendencies: those
--
anti-divine forces they have only too many to choose from, and
always they find wills which they enslave and individuals whom
they turn into docile but nearly always unconscious puppets.
--
want violence, upheaval and war, for they know that these things
retard and hamper the action of the divine forces. That is why
disaster was very close even though no human government consciously wanted it. But at any cost there was to be no war and
that is why war has been avoided - for the time being.
0.01 - Life and Yoga, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
object:0.01 - Life and Yoga
author class:Sri Aurobindo
--
Life and Yoga
HERE are two necessities of Nature's workings which seem always to intervene in the greater forms of human activity, whether these belong to our ordinary fields of movement or seek those exceptional spheres and fulfilments which appear to us high and divine. Every such form tends towards a harmonised complexity and totality which again breaks apart into various channels of special effort and tendency, only to unite once more in a larger and more puissant synthesis. Secondly, development into forms is an imperative rule of effective manifestation; yet all truth and practice too strictly formulated becomes old and loses much, if not all, of its virtue; it must be constantly renovated by fresh streams of the spirit revivifying the dead or dying vehicle and changing it, if it is to acquire a new life. To be perpetually reborn is the condition of a material immortality. We are in an age, full of the throes of travail, when all forms of thought and activity that have in themselves any strong power of utility or any secret virtue of persistence are being subjected to a supreme test and given their opportunity of rebirth. The world today presents the aspect of a huge cauldron of Medea in which all things are being cast, shredded into pieces, experimented on, combined and recombined either to perish and provide the scattered material of new forms or to emerge rejuvenated and changed for a fresh term of existence. Indian Yoga, in its essence a special action or formulation of certain great powers of Nature, itself specialised, divided and variously formulated, is potentially one of these dynamic elements of the future life of humanity. The child of immemorial ages, preserved by its vitality and truth into our modern times, it is now emerging from the secret schools and ascetic retreats in which it had taken refuge and is seeking its place in the future sum of living human powers and utilities. But it has first to rediscover itself, bring to the surface
The Conditions of the Synthesis
the profoundest reason of its being in that general truth and that unceasing aim of Nature which it represents, and find by virtue of this new self-knowledge and self-appreciation its own recovered and larger synthesis. Reorganising itself, it will enter more easily and powerfully into the reorganised life of the race which its processes claim to lead within into the most secret penetralia and upward to the highest altitudes of existence and personality.
In the right view both of life and of Yoga all life is either consciously or subconsciously a Yoga. For we mean by this term a methodised effort towards self-perfection by the expression of the secret potentialities latent in the being and - highest condition of victory in that effort - a union of the human individual with the universal and transcendent Existence we see partially expressed in man and in the Cosmos. But all life, when we look behind its appearances, is a vast Yoga of Nature who attempts in the conscious and the 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, she for the 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 Vivekan anda 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, then, can be no more than a selection or a compression, into narrower but more energetic forms of intensity, of the 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 the great
Mother in her vast upward labour. It is this view of Yoga that can alone form the basis for a sound and rational synthesis of Yogic methods. For then Yoga ceases to appear something mystic and abnormal which has no relation to the ordinary processes of the World-Energy or the purpose she keeps in view in her two great movements of subjective and objective selffulfilment; it reveals itself rather as an intense and exceptional use of powers that she has already manifested or is progressively
Life and Yoga
organising in her less exalted but more general operations.
Yogic methods have something of the same relation to the customary psychological workings of man as has the scientific h andling of the force of electricity or of steam to their normal operations in Nature. and they, too, like the 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 synthesis by fixed internal processes. Hathayoga similarly depends on this perception and experience that the vital forces and functions to which our life is normally subjected and whose ordinary operations seem set and indispensable, can be mastered and the operations changed or suspended with results that would otherwise be impossible and that seem miraculous to those who have not seized the rationale of their process. and if in some other of its forms this character of Yoga is less apparent, because they are more intuitive and less mechanical, nearer, like the Yoga of Devotion, to a supernal ecstasy or, like the Yoga of Knowledge, to a supernal infinity of consciousness and being, yet they too start from the use of some principal faculty in us by ways and for ends not contemplated in its everyday spontaneous workings. All methods grouped under the 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 the multiplication of scientific processes has its disadvantages, as that tends, for instance, to develop a victorious artificiality which overwhelms our natural human life under a load of machinery and to purchase certain forms of freedom and mastery at the price of an increased servitude, so the preoccupation with Yogic processes and their exceptional results may have its disadvantages and losses. The
The Conditions of the Synthesis
Yogin tends to draw away from the common existence and lose his hold upon it; he tends to purchase wealth of spirit by an impoverishment of his human activities, the 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. Therefore we see in India that a sharp incompatibility has been created between life in the world and spiritual growth and perfection, and although the tradition and ideal of a victorious harmony between the inner attraction and the outer dem and remains, it is little or else very imperfectly exemplified. In fact, when a man turns his vision and energy inward and enters on the path of Yoga, he is popularly supposed to be lost inevitably to the great stream of our collective existence and the secular effort of humanity. So strongly has the idea prevailed, so much has it been emphasised by prevalent philosophies and religions that to escape from life is now commonly considered as not only the necessary condition, but the general object of Yoga. No synthesis of Yoga can be satisfying which does not, in its aim, reunite God and Nature in a liberated and perfected human life or, in its method, not only permit but favour the harmony of our inner and outer activities and experiences in the divine consummation of both. For man is precisely that term and symbol of a higher Existence descended into the material world in which it is possible for the lower to transfigure itself and put on the nature of the higher and the higher to reveal itself in the forms of the lower. To avoid the life which is given him for the realisation of that possibility, can never be either the indispensable condition or the whole and ultimate object of his supreme endeavour or of his most powerful means of self-fulfilment. It can only be a temporary necessity under certain conditions or a specialised extreme effort imposed on the individual so as to prepare a greater general possibility for the race. The true and full object and utility of Yoga can only be accomplished when the conscious
Yoga in man becomes, like the subconscious Yoga in Nature, outwardly conterminous with life itself and we can once more, looking out both on the path and the achievement, say in a more perfect and luminous sense: "All life is Yoga."
0.02 - II - The Home of the Guru, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Guru-griha-vsa staying in the home of the Guru is a very old Indian ideal maintained by seekers through the ages. The Aranyakas the ancient teachings in the forest-groves are perhaps the oldest records of the institution. It was not for education in the modern sense of the term that men went to live with the Guru; for the Guru is not a 'teacher'. The Guru is one who is 'enlightened', who is a seer, a Rishi, one who has the vision of and has lived the Truth. He has, thus, the knowledge of the goal of human life and has learnt true values in life by living the Truth. He can impart both these to the willing seeker. In ancient times seekers went to the Guru with many questions, difficulties and doubts but also with earnestness. Their questions were preliminary to the quest.
The Master, the Guru, set at rest the puzzled human mind by his illuminating answers, perhaps even more by his silent consciousness, so that it might be able to pursue unhampered the path of realisation of the Truth. Those ancient discourses answer the mind of man today even across the ages. They have rightly acquired as everything of the past does a certain sanctity. But sometimes that very reverence prevents men from properly evaluating, and living in, the present. This happens when the mind instead of seeking the Spirit looks at the form. For instance, it is not necessary for such discourses that they take place in forest-groves in order to be highly spiritual. Wherever the Master is, there is Light. and guru-griha the house of the Master can be his private dwelling place. So much was this feeling a part of Sri Aurobindo's nature and so particular was he to maintain the personal character of his work that during the first few years after 1923 he did not like his house to be called an 'Ashram', as the word had acquired the sense of a public institution to the modern mind. But there was no doubt that the flower of Divinity had blossomed in him; and disciples, like bees seeking honey, came to him. It is no exaggeration to say that these Evening Talks were to the small company of disciples what the Aranyakas were to the ancient seekers. Seeking the Light, they came to the dwelling place of their Guru, the greatest seer of the age, and found it their spiritual home the home of their parents, for the Mother, his companion in the great mission, had come. and these spiritual parents bestowed upon the disciples freely of their Light, their Consciousness, their Power and their Grace. The modern reader may find that the form of these discourses differs from those of the past but it was bound to be so for the simple reason that the times have changed and the problems that puzzle the modern mind are so different. Even though the disciples may be very imperfect representations of what he aimed at in them, still they are his creations. It is in order to repay, in however infinitesimal a degree, the debt which we owe to him that the effort is made to partake of the joy of his company the Evening Talks with a larger public.
***
0.02 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Department during the 1930s and early 1940s.
Sin belongs to the world and not to yoga.
By his way of thinking, feeling, acting, each one emanates vibrations which constitute his own atmosphere and quite naturally
attract vibrations of similar nature and quality.
So long as you are capable of beating somebody, you open the
--
soap, and I have no intention of providing him with washing
soap. Some device must be found to check him; words are of no
--
not, and act accordingly.
In future I will be obliged to ask for the finished notebook
--
formation is at least as strong as yours - and we must never
tempt the adverse forces.
--
I ask you to discard all obstinacy and to be perfectly sincere.
Go and see with no preconceived idea.
Go and see honestly, carefully, all round the place; consider
that thirty people or so are taking their meals there and if anything happened what a horrible thing it would be - and, with
the sense of your full responsibility, come tomorrow morning,
with a final and definite answer - I shall trust your word.
P.S. Naturally I am not expecting you to go tonight but
--
thing may not happen. Do you realise our responsibility and
WHAT IT MEANS if something serious happens?
--
Not exact in all cases and especially not with everybody.
My explanation, based on my own experience, is this:
--
urgency of the needs and the importance attached to their fulfilment. I attach also some value to the power of imagination,
adaptability, utilisation or invention developed by the necessity
--
fact that the "gris entretien" must be kept for the doors and windows in Sri Aurobindo's room only, told to those in charge?(!)
Why was my stool at all painted with gris entretien? I did
--
A rule is a rule and I do not see why my stool escaped the rule,
unless a chit signed by me could be produced.
"To turn towards Thee, unite with Thee, live in Thee and
for Thee, is supreme happiness, unmixed joy, immutable
--
I still wonder why and I can find no answer except that stupidity
rules the world.
--
Extract from the Mother's Prayers and Meditations, 18 June 1913.
It is good sometimes to look backwards for a confirmation of
--
Be plastic and vigilant, attentive and alert - receptive.
18 July 1932
--
and was horrified! He was rubbing violently and in any direction
with one or the other h and, while he was looking at anything
--
much unconsciousness and carelessness.
20 July 1932
Prayers and Meditations, 11 January 1914.
Series Two - To a Sadhak in the Building Department
--
Oh! Let all tears be wiped away, all suffering relieved, all anguish dispelled, and let a calm serenity dwell
in every heart.
--
O Thou who relievest all suffering and dispersest all
ignorance, O Thou the supreme healer, have pity on me.
--
I could give many explanations; the how and the why can easily
he described - but is it really necessary? This is not what heals.
--
Prayers and Meditations,: paragraph one, 29 November 1913; two, 7 January 1914;
four, 8 March 1914; five, 7 April 1914 and 18 April 1914.
But what was this darkness? I could not recognise myself
--
to be kicked out. and so on.
The usual nonsense.
--
I open myself to Thee and I would obey Thee with an absolute
faithfulness.
--
Prayers and Meditations,: first phrases, 16 August 1913; last phrase, 17 August 1913.
Series Two - To a Sadhak in the Building Department
True greatness, true superiority lies in kindness and goodwill.
I trust that X is not truly provoking. I would not like it at
all. Each one has his faults and must never forget it when he
deals with others.
--
as I am not dealing with everybody in the same way, and what
I can say to one I would not say to another.
--
Prayers and Meditations, 29 January 1914.
which led to a subdued revolt in me and consequent
illness. He pointed to his fingers and said that he was
not conscious that any revolt or wrong attitude was the
--
of faith or of receptivity) and then it is very difficult to detect
as it does not correspond to any wrong thought or feeling, the
body consciousness being most often and in almost everybody
subconscious.
--
said as a pure and sincere offering on the altar of Divine Truth
that can have a real value.
--
There was lightness, mirth and joy in Your expressions
this morning, as if to counteract the graveness I was
--
observation about the ways of the world and how it cannot but
misunderst and our own ways, we who are too sincerely seeking
--
It is by the concentration of our will and the intensity of our
aspiration that we can hasten the day of victory.
--
help from an invisible and silent Mother (who never contradicts
you openly) if he likes.
--
Prayers and Meditations, 19 June 1914.
No true and constant control is established in that part as yet.
An experiment: This morning while supervising work,
--
become conscious that he was working for Mother and
feel the joy of it. After concentrating like this for about
an hour, I felt fatigued and imperceptibly the concentration frittered away. What is the cause of this feeling of
fatigue? What is the difficulty in keeping such a concentration for all the 24 hours?
--
take one and a half months to finish the bathroom. I
said Yes. In fact, I expected it to be finished within a
--
will take one and a half months, naturally that should be
correct; there may be some delays I cannot foresee. (2)
--
longer than your estimate and we are pushed on and on week
after week. I like better to count largely and not to be disappointed.
Mother, what is the proper attitude? If I hear suggestion
--
expecting you to be a prophet and that your thought should be
always right.
--
that the carpenter was going, not gone, and I calculated
that by the time I came out and closed the door, he
should be gone. So I replied, "Yes, Mother, the last man
has gone." and lo, there he is, arranging the polishing
stones! If I had drawn back for only a second before
--
Nothing to be uneasy about. The spontaneous answers of the external consciousness are always vague and somewhat incorrect.
It needs a great vigilance to correct that - and a very firm resolution too. This incident may be meant to raise in you the
resolution.
--
results of it. You must, once for all, take the resolution - and
keep it: NEVER LOSE YOUR TEMPER.
--
Because of the sudden rain we wanted to close the windows and
found, with some discomfort, that not a single one is closing
properly. Unless you are a Hercules and a wrestler you have no
hope of closing them at all. They keep closed through goodwill, I
--
see things from above, and thus see them more profoundly.
9 December 1932
--
Prayers and Meditations, 15 June 1914.
Joy lies in having absolute trust in the Divine.
--
the result is unfailing and marvellous!
16 January 1933
--
desire and a need for the work. So this is the method I
have adopted: When I think I need something (anything),
--
Then the desire gets exacerbated and the request is made with a
kind of sour rage.
--
two: ask for nothing at all and see what happens.
Give me an infallible method.
--
didn't ask for anything, even on April 1st,10 and that is
another reason for my perplexity.
--
the "stores", and I was most surprised to see that you did not
ask for anything on the first. You would do well to ask strictly
--
What can we do? He is a good and regular worker, isn't he? I
hope this new marriage will not make him irregular.
--
which protests and rebels because it cannot be fulfilled. These
formations are autonomous entities. That is why, once they are
--
me one, for it would cover me with shame and embarrassment.
Such ignorant and obstinate desires are unworthy of a child of
the Mother."
--
first having spoken to You about it and the accident that
occurred later? When the blacksmith came to see me
--
connection, and when You said that You had doubts
about this type of long frame my uneasiness doubled.
--
These movements spring from desire and ignorance (X's desire
for a frame without any exact knowledge of how the frame has
to be made) and they develop without harmony, in disorder and
confusion, sometimes producing the most unfortunate results as
--
carefully before being carried out and its execution would have
been more harmonious.
--
It is made of wood, and the plank you swing on is suspended
by strong ropes from rings fixed to a bar above. The supporting posts are securely set in the ground. I was thinking that
--
a critical eye and everything goes to prove that in reality I
know nothing, I can do nothing, I am good for nothing.
--
am scornful of others and therefore others treat me
scornfully? I try again and again, but I can't find any
satisfactory explanation.
--
act and react on each other by contagion; the vibrations are
contagious; that is to say, we readily pick up the vibration of
--
it is easy to underst and that someone who carries in and around
himself peace and goodwill, will in a way impose on others
at least something of his peace and goodwill, whereas scorn,
irritability and anger will arouse similar movements in others.
The explanation of many events may be found along this line -
--
when I am conscious, if I open my mouth I lose my selfcontrol. I get angrier and angrier from one sentence to
the next.
--
as much as he can; no one thinks of saving and avoiding waste.
It is the triumph of egoism. You may show this to them and add
that it is I who gave the order to make all possible use of the old
--
ground, so that the vessels can be raised and lowered without
danger.
--
You must be calm and concentrated, never utter an unnecessary
sentence and have faith in the divine help.
12 December 1933
--
Attila to alter the route of his troops, and so he gave the city a
wide berth.
--
I have had a pain in the right side of my chest and in
the left side of my back for the past three or four days.
I decided to be brave and not tell You about it, but the
pain has grown sharper since yesterday.
--
I concentrate on Mother, ask Her to guide me and find
the solution. This is not unusual. It has happened several
--
Sadhak: Each one on his own aspiration, and
Mother guides us. She gives us experiences and revelations.
Mr. Z: You don't say!
--
not underst and at all and takes you for a fool suffering from
hallucinations, or else he underst ands and then gets frightened,
which is always dangerous.
--
exactly as you heard them, and when you are not sure you must
say so.
--
Sweet Mother a healing and comforting kiss.
Why do you want an outward sign of my love? Are you not
--
which I may benefit and come to know you.
I appreciate this attitude and this effort. It proves the sincerity of
your aspiration. But I did not have that particular point in mind
--
your relationships with one another, have much to change and
much to learn.
--
to learn French and I told him No. Others too are in the same
position. In my opinion you should add an English version to
the French and circulate both together.
4 May 1934
--
the evening are paid double, and this seems reasonable.
4 May 1934
--
with contradictions and doubts. I have struggled against
this onslaught desperately, but still I haven't found peace.
--
the expenditures and workers needed for our project, as
well as I could with my short and limited foresight. I
was completely dejected. What should I do?
--
worked everything out and can answer my questions, I shall
call you one morning alone with X into my little room, and we
shall discuss the matter quietly. When will you learn not to lose
courage and confidence at the slightest setback, when things are
not, by my own doing, exactly as you had planned? I think it is
high time you learned this and I find that you give me very little
credit, less perhaps than you would give an ordinary building
contractor who, in your eyes, seems to know his job and have
some common sense.
--
with his workers and work projects.)
All that you say is quite true and there are still many other
things you have not said, but which I know. The trouble might
--
of supervisors, provided, of course, that they are sincere and
honest, which would also be the remedy for No. 3. But perhaps
of all the remedies, this one (I mean being honest, sincere and
conscientious) is the most difficult to achieve.
Several times we have spoken in a general way about reducing the number of workers. I have always said Yes, and I would
be very happy to cut down expenses as much as possible.
--
to dismiss? and according to your answers the difficulty seemed
insurmountable.
--
number), and since they have all been hardworking and faithful,
I am at even more of a loss to make a selection. Therefore I
--
want to keep and tell them that the notice which is going to be
put up is not meant for them and that in any event we want
to retain their services, so they do not have to look for work
--
tried to figure out how to adjust it and found a sort of screw
which is used to lengthen or shorten the pendulum. I looked
at the clock with my inner sight and told Z, "To make it go
slower, you have to shorten the pendulum." He looked at me
in bewilderment and explained that in mechanics the longer the
pendulum is, the slower the movement. (I knew that very well
--
He lengthened the pendulum and the clock started going even
faster. After observing it for a day, he agreed to shorten the
pendulum and now the clock is working perfectly all right.
I believe in the superiority of the inner vision over the outer
vision and this belief is based not merely on theoretical knowledge but on the thous ands of examples I have come across in
the course of a life which is already long. Unfortunately I am
--
say in French, and that one can rely only on one's physical eyes
Series Two - To a Sadhak in the Building Department
for seeing and observing, on one's physical-mental knowledge
for judging and deciding, and that the laws of Nature are laws -
in other words, any exception to them is a miracle. This is false.
--
and reservations. You already know, and I mention it only to
remind you, that an experiment made in a spirit of reserve and
doubt is not an experiment, and that outer circumstances will
always conspire to justify these doubts, and this for a reason
which is very easy to underst and: doubt veils the consciousness
and the subconscious sincerity, and into the action some small
factors creep in which may seem unimportant, but which are
just sufficient to alter all the factors of the problem and to bring
about the result that one had anticipated by doubting.
--
times with the inner eye and I saw this: brush the walls with a
metal brush so that whatever is loose falls off and cover the rest
with a thick layer of distemper which by its very thickness will be
--
to be simple, rapid and fully satisfactory. I put forth all the
necessary force for it to become an effective formation charged
with the power of realisation, and I said that the work could
proceed, adding in a few words how it was to be done. (This was
--
around me is, at least partially and in its limited working, similar
to mine. I shall explain. I know that each of you has a very small
--
limits, I have the illusion that its nature is similar to mine, and
that is why there are many things I do not say, because to me they
--
It is here that on your side a freedom of movement and speech
arising from an affectionate confidence must come in: if there is
--
think you are receptive enough for the formation to act and fulfil
itself without my needing to speak about it, and in fact this often
happens - it is only when the mind and vital get in the way, for
one reason or another, that the working becomes defective.
Read this carefully, study it, and when you come today I will
ask you to read it from the place I have marked with a red cross,
--
You have only to open your heart and your thirst will be
quenched, for the waters of love never run dry.
--
Sleep well and rest yourself beneath the protective shade of my
blessing.
--
the state of things, and that one should not say, "It is nothing"
unless one is ten times sure it is nothing.
--
enough room to keep things in order and separate, the good
things on one side and the bad on the other, it is better to get rid
of the bad things. But this should be done with great care so as
not to go to the other extreme and throw away things that may
be useful.
--
this and similar cases?
One really cannot dismiss a man because he laughed. He should
be given some other work and advised to be polite in the future.
24 October 1934
--
method easier and more certain than the mental process
of reasoning which is based on acquired experience?
--
until all the rest of the world disappears and the object alone
exists; then, by a slight movement of will, one can succeed at
identification. But it is not very easy to do and there are other
means of knowing besides reasoning - intuition, for example
--
Y's will is strong and he knows how to impose it on others. The
only solution is to have a will stronger than his and to use it
with great calm, but also with great determination.
--
avoid all contact with X, direct or indirect, and (2) the
other which sees any harmonious dealings between us
--
subconscious reactions and be very vigilant.
3 May 1935
--
without my knowledge, why should I interfere? and (2)
Since I know all about it, I cannot remain indifferent; I
--
depends on one's choice of words and tone of voice.
15 May 1935
--
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 the
implications of my remark the other day. If you see something
--
right. We shall both submit our views to Mother and she will
decide."
--
him and you. It is only a matter of obedience to me.
6 June 1935
--
You have made me aware of the subconscious movements governing my action. Whenever a similar opportunity arises, will You please make me more and more
aware. Do not withdraw from me when You see me sad.
--
momentary lack of faith, will cease forever and You will
use me even as You use Your feet, O Sweet Mother.
--
of someone's room, and wrote to the Mother explaining
his decision.)
--
questions. If the thing is right and good, one should do it. If not,
one should refrain from doing it.
--
whether a thing is right and good, unless one can see the law of
Truth behind things.
--
it?", I would have replied, "Nothing much." and if You
had said, "What! Removing the nails for nothing and
damaging the wall?", I would have replied, "Senseless."
This is not right. When I ask a question, I ask it in order to get exact and objective information. I have said this many times. I have
no preconceived idea, no preference, no opinion about things.
If I could move about and see everything physically for myself, I
would not need to get information from anyone. But this is not
the case, and this is why I consult the people around me, because
they are able to move about. I do not want them to answer me
--
want them to use their powers of observation and their technical
knowledge to give me as precise and exact information as they
can. and on that information I base my decision.
18 July 1935
--
and that a little scraping and pulling would be enough to ease
them out. After averaging these two interpretations I saw that
--
Look into your heart, in all sincerity, and you will see that
if someone you liked had asked you to remove the nails, you
would not have found it so difficult and you would not have put
it in the same way.
--
not supported by Sweet Mother, and I firmly believe that
nothing whatever can hold true or be effective unless it
--
me, and I still haven't found the answer to this problem.
Enlighten me, Sweet Mother.
--
it no longer holds. Reread what I have written, carefully and
Series Two - To a Sadhak in the Building Department
several times if necessary; ponder every word so that you underst and exactly what I am saying and nothing else.
20 July 1935
--
directly or indirectly, I look and judge for myself without the
intervention of anyone's opinion.
--
me that he didn't want it painted I was surprised, and
I revealed that Z had asserted that it was he, Y, who
--
confusion and increasing the difficulties.
11 December 1936
--
livest in us and through us."11
The main door of your being is open, but certain other doors
are still not open. You must open them all, for I am there and I
am waiting.
--
Prayers and Meditations, 7 March 1914. The sadhak has substituted "my" for "our".
X has just written that he has recognised his mistake in having
given up the work and that he will return to work this morning.
So you should behave as if nothing had happened and welcome
him back. I hope that Y too will not make any unnecessary
--
You must shake all that off and return to a better state of
consciousness.
--
I don't know why I have lost my self-control and
peace.
--
enter into oneself and find calm and quiet.
19 October 1938
--
I would like to take part in all the shuttering and
building work without offending anyone. How should I
--
Once and for all, wash away the feeling that you are "superior" to others - for no one is superior or inferior before the
Divine.
--
that I will make a sincere effort to get rid of them, and
with Your help I am sure to succeed.
I had dreamed that X and I would discuss both the
work in h and and the work to be done and exchange
opinions - I mean, just as Y and I speak together. But
I am sorry to say that X keeps me at a distance and
remains aloof, and when he does speak I find him rather
difficult.
--
and the efforts I make to remain peaceful and calm seem
beyond my capacity.
I am afraid it is a lack of affinity in the vital and even in the
mind. These things are very difficult to overcome, for it requires
--
needs time and a continuous effort of sadhana from both of you.
In the present conditions I think it would be better not to
--
As for the need to exchange your views and opinions about
the work, I am still not convinced of it. My impression is that
one always says far more than is necessary and that it is not with
words that good work gets done.
In any event, calm and patience are absolutely necessary -
and you ought to have them since my blessings are with you.
--
A year of silence and expectation... let us find, O Lord, our entire
support in Thy Grace alone.
--
upset and depressed because a fellow-worker did not
follow his advice.)
The disease: a narrow and egoistic ambition in the mind expressing itself as a strong vanity in the vital, thus distorting your
ideas of things and your reactions.
The remedy: surrender all that to "Sweet Mother" completely and definitively.
With my loving solicitude and my blessings.
5 March 1940
0.02 - The Three Steps of Nature, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Yoga, a specialising and separative tendency which, like all things in Nature, had its justifying and even imperative utility and we seek a synthesis of the specialised aims and methods which have, in consequence, come into being.
But in order that we may be wisely guided in our effort, we must know, first, the general principle and purpose underlying this separative impulse and, next, the particular utilities upon which the method of each school of Yoga is founded. For the general principle we must interrogate the universal workings of Nature herself, recognising in her no merely specious and illusive activity of a distorting Maya, but the 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 the Upanishad, Wisdom that went forth from the Eternal since the beginning. For the particular utilities we must cast a penetrative eye on the different methods of Yoga and distinguish among the mass of their details the governing idea which they serve and the radical force which gives birth and energy to their processes of effectuation.
Afterwards we may more easily find the one common principle and the one common power from which all derive their being and tendency, towards which all subconsciously move and in which, therefore, it is possible for all consciously to unite.
The progressive self-manifestation of Nature in man, termed in modern language his evolution, must necessarily depend upon three successive elements. There is that which is already evolved; there is that which, still imperfect, still partly fluid, is persistently in the stage of conscious evolution; and there is that which is to be evolved and may perhaps be already
The Conditions of the Synthesis
displayed, if not constantly, then occasionally or with some regularity of recurrence, in primary formations or in others more developed and, it may well be, even in some, however rare, that are near to the highest possible realisation of our present humanity. For the march of Nature is not drilled to a regular and mechanical forward stepping. She reaches constantly beyond herself even at the cost of subsequent deplorable retreats.
She has rushes; she has splendid and mighty outbursts; she has immense realisations. She storms sometimes passionately forward hoping to take the kingdom of heaven by violence.
and these self-exceedings are the revelation of that in her which is most divine or else most diabolical, but in either case the most puissant to bring her rapidly forward towards her goal.
That which Nature has evolved for us and has firmly founded is the bodily life. She has effected a certain combination and harmony of the two inferior but most fundamentally necessary elements of our action and progress upon earth, -
Matter, which, however the too ethereally spiritual may despise it, is our foundation and the first condition of all our energies and realisations, and the Life-Energy which is our means of existence in a material body and the basis there even of our mental and spiritual activities. She 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 the progressively manifesting god in humanity. This is what is meant by the fable in the Aitareya Upanishad which tells us that the gods rejected the animal forms successively offered to them by the Divine Self and only when man was produced, cried out, "This indeed is perfectly made," and consented to enter in. She has effected also a working compromise between the inertia of matter and the active Life that lives in and feeds on it, by which not only is vital existence sustained, but the fullest developments of mentality are rendered possible. This equilibrium constitutes the basic status of Nature in man and is termed in the language of Yoga his gross body composed
The Three Steps of Nature
of the material or food sheath and the nervous system or vital vehicle.1
If, then, this inferior equilibrium is the basis and first means of the higher movements which the universal Power contemplates and if it constitutes the vehicle in which the Divine here seeks to reveal Itself, if the Indian saying is true that the body is the instrument provided for the fulfilment of the right law of our nature, then any final recoil from the physical life must be a turning away from the completeness of the divine Wisdom and a renunciation of its aim in earthly manifestation. Such a refusal may be, owing to some secret law of their development, the right attitude for certain individuals, but never the aim intended for mankind. It can be, therefore, no integral Yoga which ignores the body or makes its annulment or its rejection indispensable to a perfect spirituality. Rather, the perfecting of the body also should be the last triumph of the Spirit and to make the bodily life also divine must be God's final seal upon His work in the universe. The obstacle which the physical presents to the spiritual is no argument for the rejection of the physical; for in the 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, the vital and nervous energies in us are there for a great utility; they too dem and the divine realisation of their possibilities in our ultimate fulfilment. The great part assigned to this element in the universal scheme is powerfully emphasised by the catholic wisdom of the Upanishads. "As the spokes of a wheel in its nave, so in the Life-Energy is all established, the triple knowledge and the Sacrifice and the power of the strong and the purity of the wise. Under the control of the LifeEnergy is all this that is established in the triple heaven."2 It is therefore no integral Yoga that kills these vital energies, forces them into a nerveless quiescence or roots them out as the source
annakos.a and pran.akos.a.
Prasna Upanishad II. 6 and 13.
The Conditions of the Synthesis
of noxious activities. Their purification, not their destruction, - their transformation, control and utilisation is the aim in view with which they have been created and developed in us.
If the bodily life is what Nature has firmly evolved for us as her base and first instrument, it is our mental life that she is evolving as her immediate next aim and superior instrument. This in her ordinary exaltations is the lofty preoccupying thought in her; this, except in her periods of exhaustion and recoil into a reposeful and recuperating obscurity, is her constant pursuit wherever she can get free from the trammels of her first vital and physical realisations. For here in man we have a distinction which is of the utmost importance. He has in him not a single mentality, but a double and a triple, the mind material and nervous, the pure intellectual mind which liberates itself from the illusions of the body and the senses, and a divine mind above intellect which in its turn liberates itself from the imperfect modes of the logically discriminative and imaginative reason. Mind in man is first emmeshed in the life of the body, where in the plant it is entirely involved and in animals always imprisoned. It accepts this life as not only the first but the whole condition of its activities and serves its needs as if they were the entire aim of existence. But the bodily life in man is a base, not the aim, his first condition and not his last determinant. In the just idea of the ancients man is essentially the thinker, the Manu, the mental being who leads the life and the body,3 not the animal who is led by them. The true human existence, therefore, only begins when the intellectual mentality emerges out of the material and we begin more and more to live in the mind independent of the nervous and physical obsession and in the measure of that liberty are able to accept rightly and rightly to use the life of the body. For freedom and not a skilful subjection is the true means of mastery. A free, not a compulsory acceptance of the conditions, the enlarged and sublimated conditions of our physical being, is the high human ideal. But beyond this intellectual mentality is the divine.
The mental life thus evolving in man is not, indeed, a
--
common possession. In actual appearance it would seem as if it were only developed to the fullest in individuals and as if there were great numbers and even the majority in whom it is either a small and ill-organised part of their normal nature or not evolved at all or latent and not easily made active.
Certainly, the mental life is not a finished evolution of Nature; it is not yet firmly founded in the human animal. The sign is that the fine and full equilibrium of vitality and matter, the sane, robust, long-lived human body is ordinarily found only in races or classes of men who reject the effort of thought, its disturbances, its tensions, or think only with the material mind.
Civilised man has yet to establish an equilibrium between the fully active mind and the body; he does not normally possess it.
Indeed, the increasing effort towards a more intense mental life seems to create, frequently, an increasing disequilibrium of the 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. The phenomena which are used to justify this exaggeration, when taken not separately, but in connection with all other relevant data, point to a different truth. Genius is one attempt of the universal Energy to so quicken and intensify our intellectual powers that they shall be prepared for those more puissant, direct and rapid faculties which constitute the play of the supra-intellectual or divine mind. It is not, then, a freak, an inexplicable phenomenon, but a perfectly natural next step in the right line of her evolution.
She has harmonised the bodily life with the material mind, she is harmonising it with the play of the intellectual mentality; for that, although it tends to a depression of the full animal and vital vigour, need not produce active disturbances. and she is shooting yet beyond in the attempt to reach a still higher level.
Nor are the disturbances created by her process as great as is often represented. Some of them are the crude beginnings of new manifestations; others are an easily corrected movement of disintegration, often fruitful of fresh activities and always a small price to pay for the far-reaching results that she has in view.
We may perhaps, if we consider all the circumstances, come
--
to this conclusion that mental life, far from being a recent appearance in man, is the swift repetition in him of a previous achievement from which the Energy in the race had undergone one of her deplorable recoils. The savage is perhaps not so much the first forefa ther of civilised man as the degenerate descendant of a previous civilisation. For if the actuality of intellectual achievement is unevenly distributed, the capacity is spread everywhere. It has been seen that in individual cases even the racial type considered by us the lowest, the negro fresh from the perennial barbarism of Central Africa, is capable, without admixture of blood, without waiting for future generations, of the intellectual culture, if not yet of the intellectual accomplishment of the dominant European. Even in the mass men seem to need, in favourable circumstances, only a few generations to cover ground that ought apparently to be measured in the terms of millenniums. Either, then, man by his privilege as a mental being is exempt from the full burden of the tardy laws of evolution or else he already represents and with helpful conditions and in the right stimulating atmosphere can always display a high level of material capacity for the activities of the intellectual life.
It is not mental incapacity, but the long rejection or seclusion from opportunity and withdrawal of the awakening impulse that creates the savage. Barbarism is an intermediate sleep, not an original darkness.
Moreover the whole trend of modern thought and modern endeavour reveals itself to the observant eye as a large conscious effort of Nature in man to effect a general level of intellectual equipment, capacity and farther possibility by universalising the opportunities which modern civilisation affords for the mental life. Even the preoccupation of the European intellect, the protagonist of this tendency, with material Nature and the externalities of existence is a necessary part of the effort. It seeks to prepare a sufficient basis in man's physical being and vital energies and in his material environment for his full mental possibilities. By the spread of education, by the advance of the backward races, by the elevation of depressed classes, by the multiplication of labour-saving appliances, by the movement
The Three Steps of Nature
towards ideal social and economic conditions, by the labour of Science towards an improved health, longevity and sound physique in civilised humanity, the sense and drift of this vast movement translates itself in easily intelligible signs. The right or at least the ultimate means may not always be employed, but their aim is the right preliminary aim, - a sound individual and social body and the satisfaction of the legitimate needs and dem ands of the material mind, sufficient ease, leisure, equal opportunity, so that the whole of mankind and no longer only the favoured race, class or individual may be free to develop the emotional and intellectual being to its full capacity. At present the material and economic aim may predominate, but always, behind, there works or there waits in reserve the higher and major impulse.
and when the preliminary conditions are satisfied, when the great endeavour has found its base, what will be the nature of that farther possibility which the activities of the intellectual life must serve? If Mind is indeed Nature's highest term, then the entire development of the rational and imaginative intellect and the harmonious satisfaction of the emotions and sensibilities must be to themselves sufficient. But if, on the contrary, man is more than a reasoning and emotional animal, if beyond that which is being evolved, there is something that has to be evolved, then it may well be that the fullness of the mental life, the suppleness, flexibility and wide capacity of the intellect, the ordered richness of emotion and sensibility may be only a passage towards the development of a higher life and of more powerful faculties which are yet to manifest and to take possession of the lower instrument, just as mind itself has so taken possession of the body that the physical being no longer lives only for its own satisfaction but provides the foundation and the materials for a superior activity.
The assertion of a higher than the mental life is the whole foundation of Indian philosophy and its acquisition and organisation is the veritable object served by the methods of Yoga.
Mind is not the last term of evolution, not an ultimate aim, but, like body, an instrument. It is even so termed in the language of
--
Yoga, the inner instrument.4 and Indian tradition asserts that this which is to be manifested is not a new term in human experience, but has been developed before and has even governed humanity in certain periods of its development. In any case, in order to be known it must at one time have been partly developed.
and if since then Nature has sunk back from her achievement, the reason must always be found in some unrealised harmony, some insufficiency of the intellectual and material basis to which she has now returned, some over-specialisation of the higher to the detriment of the lower existence.
But what then constitutes this higher or highest existence to which our evolution is tending? In order to answer the 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 other language than the ancient Sanskrit tongue in which alone they have been to some extent systematised.
The only approximate terms in the English language have other associations and their use may lead to many and even serious inaccuracies. The terminology of Yoga recognises besides the status of our physical and vital being, termed the gross body and doubly composed of the food sheath and the vital vehicle, besides the status of our mental being, termed the subtle body and singly composed of the mind sheath or mental vehicle,5 a third, supreme and divine status of supra-mental being, termed the 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 the terms of the highest probability, but rather a pure self-existent and self-luminous Truth. 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 selfexistent 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.
antah.karan.a.
--
vijnanakos.a and an andakos.a.
The Three Steps of Nature
Do such psychological conceptions correspond to anything real and possible? All Yoga asserts them as its ultimate experience and supreme aim. They form the governing principles of our highest possible state of consciousness, our widest possible range of existence. There is, we say, a harmony of supreme faculties, corresponding roughly to the psychological faculties of revelation, inspiration and intuition, yet acting not in the intuitive reason or the divine mind, but on a still higher plane, which see Truth directly face to face, or rather live in the truth of things both universal and transcendent and are its formulation and luminous activity. and these faculties are the light of a conscious existence superseding the egoistic and itself both cosmic and transcendent, the nature of which is Bliss. These are obviously divine and, as man is at present apparently constituted, superhuman states of consciousness and activity. A trinity of transcendent existence, self-awareness and self-delight7 is, indeed, the metaphysical description of the supreme Atman, the self-formulation, to our awakened knowledge, of the Unknowable whether conceived as a pure Impersonality or as a cosmic Personality manifesting the universe. But in Yoga they are regarded also in their psychological aspects as states of subjective existence to which our waking consciousness is now alien, but which dwell in us in a superconscious plane and to which, therefore, we may always ascend.
For, as is indicated by the name, causal body (karan.a), as opposed to the two others which are instruments (karan.a), this crowning manifestation is also the source and effective power of all that in the actual evolution has preceded it. Our mental activities are, indeed, a derivation, selection and, so long as they are divided from the truth that is secretly their source, a deformation of the divine knowledge. Our sensations and emotions have the same relation to the Bliss, our vital forces and actions to the aspect of Will or Force assumed by the divine consciousness, our physical being to the pure essence of that Bliss and
Consciousness. The evolution which we observe and of which
saccidan anda.
--
we are the terrestrial summit may be considered, in a sense, as an inverse manifestation, by which these supreme Powers in their unity and their diversity use, develop and perfect the imperfect substance and activities of Matter, of Life and of Mind so that they, the inferior modes, may express in mutable relativity an increasing harmony of the divine and eternal states from which they are born. If this be the truth of the universe, then the goal of evolution is also its cause, it is that which is immanent in its elements and out of them is liberated. But the liberation is surely imperfect if it is only an escape and there is no return upon the containing substance and activities to exalt and transform them.
The 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 the glories of the divine Light, human emotion and sensibility can be transformed into the mould and assume the measure and movement of the supreme Bliss, human action not only represent but feel itself to be the motion of a divine and non-egoistic Force and the physical substance of our being sufficiently partake of the purity of the supernal essence, sufficiently unify plasticity and durable constancy to support and prolong these highest experiences and agencies, then all the long labour of Nature will end in a crowning justification and her evolutions reveal their 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 the mental life as an exclusive ideal, Mind comes to be regarded as an unworthy deformation and a supreme obstacle, the source of an illusory universe, a negation of the Truth and itself to be denied and all its works and results annulled if we desire the final liberation. But this is a half-truth which errs by regarding only the actual limitations of Mind and ignores its divine intention.
The ultimate knowledge is that which perceives and accepts God in the universe as well as beyond the universe; the integral Yoga is that which, having found the Transcendent, can return upon the universe and possess it, retaining the power freely to descend
The Three Steps of Nature
--
Wisdom exists at all, the faculty of Mind also must have some high use and destiny. That use must depend on its place in the ascent and in the return and that destiny must be a fulfilment and transfiguration, not a rooting out or an annulling.
We perceive, then, these three steps in Nature, a bodily life which is the basis of our existence here in the material world, a mental life into which we emerge and by which we raise the bodily to higher uses and enlarge it into a greater completeness, and a divine existence which is at once the goal of the other two and returns upon them to liberate them into their highest possibilities. Regarding none of them as either beyond our reach or below our nature and the destruction of none of them as essential to the ultimate attainment, we accept this liberation and fulfilment as part at least and a large and important part of the aim of Yoga.
0.03 - III - The Evening Sittings, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo was never a social man in the current sense of the term and definitely he was not a man of the crowd. This was due to his grave temperament, not to any feeling of superiority or to repulsion for men. At Baroda there was an Officers' Club which was patronised by the Maharajah and though Sri Aurobindo enrolled himself as a member he hardly went to the Club even on special occasions. He rather liked a small congenial circle of friends and spent most of his evenings with them whenever he was free and not occupied with his studies or other works. After Baroda when he went to Calcutta there was hardly any time in the 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 the house of Raja Subodh Mallick or at the Grey Street house. In the Karmayogin office he used to sit after the office hours till late chatting with a few persons or trying automatic writing. Strange dictations used to be received sometimes: one of them was the following: "Moni [Suresh Chakravarty] will bomb Sir Edward Grey when he will come as the Viceroy of India." In later years at Pondicherry there used to be a joke that Sir Edward took such a fright at the prospect of Moni's bombing him that he never came to India!
After Sri Aurobindo had come to Pondicherry from Ch andernagore, 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 the evening and on some days tried automatic writing. Yogic Sadhan, a small book, was the result. In 1913 Sri Aurobindo moved to Rue Franois Martin No. 41 where he used to receive visitors at fixed times. This was generally in the morning between 9 and 10.30.
But, over and above newcomers, some local people and the few inmates of the house used to have informal talks with Sri Aurobindo in the evening. In the beginning the inmates used to go out for playing football, and during their 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 the inmates participated. After the meditation all of the members and those who were permitted shared in the evening sitting. This was a very informal gathering depending entirely upon Sri Aurobindo's leisure.
When Sri Aurobindo and the Mother moved to No. 9 Rue de la Marine in 1922 the same routine of informal evening sittings after meditation continued. I came to Pondicherry for Sadhana in the beginning of 1923. I kept notes of the important talks I had with the four or five disciples who were already there. Besides, I used to take detailed notes of the Evening Talks which we all had with the Master. They were not intended by him to be noted down. I took them down because of the importance I felt about everything connected with him, no matter how insignificant to the 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 the evening sittings went on changing their time and often those disciples who came from outside for a temporary stay for Sadhana were allowed to join them. and, as the number of sadhaks practising the Yoga increased, the evening sittings also became more full, and the small ver andah upstairs in the main building was found insufficient. Members of the household would gather every day at the fixed time with some sense of expectancy and start chatting in low tones. Sri Aurobindo used to come last and it was after his coming that the session would really commence.
He came dressed as usual in dhoti, part of which was used by him to cover the upper part of his body. Very rarely he came out with chaddar or shawl and then it was "in deference to the climate" as he sometimes put it. At times for minutes he would be gazing at the sky from a small opening at the top of the grass-curtains that covered the ver andah upstairs in No. 9, Rue de la Marine. How much were these sittings dependent on him may be gathered from the fact that there were days when more than three-fourths of the time passed in complete silence without any outer suggestion from him, or there was only an abrupt "Yes" or "No" to all attempts at drawing him out in conversation. and even when he participated in the talk one always felt that his voice was that of one who does not let his whole being flow into his words; there was a reserve and what was left unsaid was perhaps more than what was spoken. What was spoken was what he felt necessary to speak.
Very often some news-item in the daily newspaper, town-gossip, or some interesting letter received either by him or by a disciple, or a question from one of the gathering, occasionally some remark or query from himself would set the ball rolling for the talk. The whole thing was so informal that one could never predict the turn the conversation would take. The whole house therefore was in a mood to enjoy the freshness and the delight of meeting the unexpected. There were peals of laughter and light talk, jokes and criticism which might be called personal, there was seriousness and earnestness in abundance.
These sittings, in fact, furnished Sri Aurobindo with an occasion to admit and feel the outer atmosphere and that of the group living with him. It brought to him the much-needed direct contact of the mental and vital make-up of the disciples, enabling him to act on the atmosphere in general and on the individual in particular. He could thus help to remould their mental make-up by removing the limitations of their minds and opinions, and correct temperamental tendencies and formations. Thus, these sittings contributed at least partly to the creation of an atmosphere amenable to the working of the Higher Consciousness. Far more important than the actual talk and its content was the personal contact, the influence of the Master, and the divine atmosphere he emanated; for through his outer personality it was the Divine Consciousness that he allowed to act. All along behind the outer manifestation that appeared human, there was the influence and presence of the Divine.
What was talked in the small group informally was not intended by Sri Aurobindo to be the independent expression of his views on the subjects, events or the persons discussed. Very often what he said was in answer to the spiritual need of the individual or of the collective atmosphere. It was like a spiritual remedy meant to produce certain spiritual results, not a philosophical or metaphysical pronouncement on questions, events or movements. The net result of some talks very often was to point out to the disciple the inherent incapacity of the human intellect and its secondary place in the search for the ultimate Reality.
But there were occasions when he did give his independent, personal views on some problems, on events or other subjects. Even then 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 comm and from him to a disciple to carry out the task. Most often during his usual passage to the dining room he would stop on the way, drop in on the company of four or five disciples and, holding out the letter or the telegram, would say in the most amiable and yet the most impersonal way: "I suppose this has to be sent." and it would be for someone in the group instantly to volunteer and take it. The expression he very often used was "It was done" or "It happened", not "I did."
From 1918 to 1922, we gathered at No. 41, Rue Franois Martin, called the Guest House, upstairs, on a broad ver andah into which four rooms opened and whose main piece of furniture was a small table 3' x 1' covered with a blue cotton cloth. That is where Sri Aurobindo used to sit in a hard wooden chair behind the table with a few chairs in front for the visitors or for the disciples.
From 1922 to 1926, No. 9, Rue de la Marine, where he and the Mother had shifted, was the place where the sittings were held. There, also upstairs, was a less broad ver andah than at the Guest House, a little bigger table in front of the central door out of three, and a broad Japanese chair, the table covered with a better cloth than the one in the Guest House, a small flower vase, an ash-tray, a block calendar indicating the date and an ordinary time-piece, and a number of chairs in front in a line. The evening sittings used to be after meditation at 4 or 4.30 p.m. After 24 November 1926, the sittings began to get later and later, till the limit of 1 o'clock at night was reached. Then the curtain fell. Sri Aurobindo retired completely after December 1926, and the evening sittings came to a close.
On 8 February 1927, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother moved to No. 28, Rue Franois Martin, a house on the north-east of the same block as No. 9, Rue de la Marine.
Then, on 23 November 1938, I got up at 2 o'clock to prepare hot water for the Mother's early bath because the 24th was Darshan day. Between 2.20 and 2.30 the Mother rang the bell. I ran up the staircase to be told about an accident that had happened to Sri Aurobindo's thigh and to be asked to fetch the doctor. This accident brought about a change in his complete retirement, and rendered him available to those who had to attend on him. This opened out a long period of 12 years during which his retirement was modified owing to circumstances, inner and outer, that made it possible for him to have direct physical contacts with the world outside.
The long period of the Second World War with all its vicissitudes passed through these years. It was a priceless experience to see how he devoted his energies to the task of saving humanity from the 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 the Divine and showed us how the Divine cares for the 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 the health of Churchill, listening carefully to the health-bulletins! It was the work of the Divine, it was the Divine's work for the world.
There were no formal evening sittings during these years, but what appeared to me important in our informal talks was recorded and has been incorporated in this book.
[1] Sri Aurobindo and His Ashram, 1985, p. 22.
[2]Ibid.
0.03 - Letters to My little smile, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
worked for many years embroidering clothes for the Mother and
later became one of her personal attendants. She began writing
--
changes and progresses. But the state of mental peace you have
known is nothing compared to the one - much deeper and
completer - which you will come to know.
You must keep your aspiration intact and your will to conquer all obstacles; you must have an unshakable faith in the
divine grace and the sure victory.
Sri Aurobindo is working for your transformation - how
--
I simply meant to say that you were happy and confident as a
child or an animal is confident and happy without knowing why.
Now you must learn to be happy and confident while knowing
Silence: the name given by the Mother to the Wild Passion-flower (passiflora incarnata).
why and underst anding the deeper cause of your happiness and
confidence.
--
Also it would be better not to get angry, and if it happens, it
is better to forget your anger quickly; and if that isn't possible,
then you must tell me very simply what has happened so that
--
smile" and give her back the joy and peace I want her always to
have.
--
I have seen the sari embroidered by my little smile and I find it
very pretty, completely successful.
--
I accept the rupee and send to my dear little child, along with
my blessings, my congratulations for the manner in which she
--
life, of its misery and ugliness. For life is not as it is portrayed
in novels; day-to-day existence is full of sufferings great and
small, and it is only by identification with the Divine Consciousness that one can attain and preserve the true unchanging
happiness.
Keep your confidence and your faith, my little smile, and
everything will be all right.
--
I can't work, and even if I do I can't work fast. Today
I spent the whole day in this state of dullness because I
--
shaking off the tamas and thus ridding you of the dullness.
But this is not the only way to get rid of it. Opening to the Light
and Consciousness from above and allowing them to replace the
tamas in the external consciousness, is a much better and surer
way.
--
and runs here and there like a madman.
The mind always runs about like a madman. The first step is to
detach one's consciousness from it and let it run by itself without
running with it. Then it finds this less enjoyable and after some
time it becomes quieter.
--
nothing to do with her and it is not good to talk about
these things to people because they cannot do anything
--
asked me about that just out of curiosity and I will say
nothing to him."
--
Your reply to the doctor was very good and you are perfectly
right. One should never talk about others - it is always useless
- and least of all about their difficulties; it is uncharitable because it does not help them to overcome the difficulties. As
for doctors, the rule is that they should not talk about their
patients, and the doctor ought to know better. I hope you are
not frightened by what happened to Y. Remain very calm, very
quiet, and everything will be all right.
28 November 1932
--
organ for me, and it made me feel proud. I understood,
even at that moment, that it was a wrong feeling and I
didn't want it; but I don't know how to get rid of it.
--
could also feel the pure and simple joy of the music for its own
sake, and that when you are near me, you also feel the simple
and sincere joy of a child near to its mother.
The nature is complex, and always the true and the false,
the good and the bad are mixed together. It is very useful to
see one's faults and weaknesses clearly, but one should not see
only them, for that too would be one-sided. One should also
be aware of what is good and true in the nature and give it all
one's attention, so that this good and true side can grow and
ultimately absorb the rest and transform the nature.
5 December 1932
--
because I have promised to write about my thoughts and
feelings and I don't want to deceive You. I have nothing
good to tell You. I have a hoard of bad, ugly, foolish and
naughty things to tell You. If there is something good, it
--
No, my child, I was not "serious" and I smiled at you as usual;
it was you who had such a sad little face and it is probably your
own sadness that you saw reflected in my eyes. I know life too
--
may think of them. and as soon as you tell me all the things that
are troubling you, you will see that they have disappeared and
you will feel free and happy.
Keep your smile, little child; it is this that gives you your
--
imagines: "Mother tells me that I cannot do yoga and
asks me to go away from here, I have no one to go to and
nowhere to stay; I will remain here even as a servant, but
--
You must not accept depression, never, and still less these
suggestions, so stupid and false, that I could ask you to go away!
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
place by my side, in my love and protection.
9 December 1932
--
to me that I would have to write all this to Mother and
suddenly the conversation stopped.
--
mouth and this makes a noise in my head.
I am very tired of writing such bad and stupid things.
I don't know when this distracted mind will become
--
always, and making up stories (even when one knows that these
stories are not true) is one of the most innocent pursuits of
this restless mind. Of course, it must become calm and quiet
some day in order to receive the light from above; but in the
--
more amusing than silly and they interest me. So don't say: I
won't tell Mother this or that, but rather say: I shall tell her
--
giving yourself more, and you will see that all discontentment
will disappear.
--
and receive it. and it is certainly not by being rebellious and
discontented that you will be able to do so.
So many times I have resolved to work regularly and so
many times I have failed! So I thought that if I told You,
I would have Your help and become regular in my work,
but in vain.
--
You in this state of depression and discontent?
But I don't blame You for this; it is me - I don't
--
Be careful, child, do not open the door to depression, discouragement and revolt - this leads far, far away from consciousness and makes you sink into the depths of obscurity
where happiness can no longer enter. Your great strength was
--
knew how to work with courage and steadiness, and in this
you were exceptional. But you have followed the example of
--
rebellious, depressed, and now you have let your smile slip away,
and with it your faith and confidence in me; in this condition, if
all the divine forces were to concentrate on you, it would be in
--
There is only one remedy, and you must lose no time in
accepting it: recover your smile, regain your faith, become once
--
were talking at once and I can underst and nothing of
what they say. and I feel as if this noise has been going on
all night. It is like a bazaar, there is a lot of noise because
people are all talking at once and one can underst and
nothing of it.
--
... and as for X, now I think, "Why didn't I refuse
him?" But what is the advantage of thinking afterwards!
--
sees more clearly and better underst ands what ought or ought
not to have been done.
--
to remain confident and cheerful.
27 December 1932
--
disappeared. Perhaps they are all good! and perhaps this
revolt, discontent, discouragement and bad temper are
good too. Because they have remained in me, they have
not disappeared. and the smile and working regularly
and having confidence - all of these are bad perhaps.
--
He advised me to reject hostile suggestions and so on.
Series Three - To "My little smile"
--
come and lecture me. Can't You tell me directly what
is necessary? Am I not here with You? Am I so far
--
It is your self-esteem and vanity that are in an exasperated state
and prevent you from seeing affection where it is present.
--
and receive it. and it is certainly not by being rebellious
and discontented that you will be able to do so."
--
that are troubling you, you will see that they have disappeared and you will feel free and happy."
So I tell You that even this revolt and this bad temper
are troubling me.
--
turn your back on your soul, and that simply out of pride!
Mother, rid me of this discouragement and this revolt,
please. Will You not save me from them?
--
do so. To revolt is to reject the Divine Love and only the Divine
Love has the power to save.
--
I don't think you are naughty and I know you are my child.
29 December 1932
--
What is all this about psychological and physical
diseases? I underst and nothing of it.
Psychological diseases are diseases of the thoughts and feelings,
such as depression, revolt, sadness, etc. Physical diseases are
--
nothing from You and that it is impossible for me to live
without You, and this is why, Mother, You like to see me
suffer as much as possible - isn't it so?
--
For the past two days I have felt a great despair and
sadness - so much that I think if it goes on for a few
--
But you must close to them the doors of your thoughts and
feelings as carefully as a prudent man bolts the doors of his
--
These suggestions of sadness, despair and suicide come from
them (the thieves of the vital world), because it is when you are
--
to them - you must reject the wicked suggestions and become
yourself once again, that is to say, my "little smile".
--
You no longer call me "my child"? Am I so bad and
unworthy?
Mother, I believe that I am doing all I can and if I
still cannot be good, what is to be done? Yes, I know I
--
little note I sent you this afternoon. I was in a big hurry and
I wrote as few words as possible. Of course I miss the time
--
when you were truly the eternal little smile, spontaneously and
effortlessly, when you felt satisfied with your work, happy to
be near me, and trusting and simple enough not to put a false
interpretation on all I do. Who has poured this poison of doubt
--
once your happiness, your simple joy of life and your beautiful
smile which was a pleasure to see? I don't ask the question in
--
it is impossible to go backward, you must go forward and
what was merely instinctive must now become conscious and
willed.
--
But now I find nothing to say and I don't know what
to write. As for what I have written: since You told me
that in order to become happy and good, I must want it
with all my will and to work as before, I have started to
do that.
--
at such and such a time after having slept for so many hours; I
got up, washed and dressed, then I ate my breakfast and started
working at such and such a time, etc. etc.). You can tell me
all the people you met and whom you spoke to, what you told
them, etc. It will be a very good exercise in French and at the
same time will create a further intimacy between us.
--
This morning I woke up at 5:45. I washed and
dressed, then went to collect my notebook from X's
--
ate my lunch and rested for ten minutes. At 12:00 I
went back to work; at 12:30 Z came to work and at
about 2:00 she made some lime juice for us. I worked
--
Well, it is a success! It is a good account with hardly any mistakes, and I am glad to know exactly how you spent your day.
It will be good to continue like this.
--
sleep, work and talk. Mother, do You like reading the
same thing every day?
--
to write and mould your style. It seems that at the moment
Series Three - To "My little smile"
--
You are a beautiful and skilful worker, my little smile, and I am
proud of you and your work, which is so lovely. I see that you
have written without making a single mistake!
--
Eleven years ago, in 1922, in the month of February, it was possible to write 2.2.22 and eleven years from now, in the month
of April, it will be possible to write 4.4.44, and so on. It is
interesting, isn't it?
--
supramental beauty is something much higher and more perfect;
it is a beauty untainted by any ugliness and it does not need the
proximity of ugliness in order to look beautiful.
--
them as carefully as one keeps works of art, and that is why I
do not wear them very often.
--
It means the consciousness that is not filled with the activities and influences of ordinary life, but is concentrated in an
aspiration towards the divine light, force, knowledge, joy.
--
the original and which the copy, and it may very well be that
the copy is even more beautiful than the original. You saw that
--
Then use Coué's method5 and repeat, "I am not tired, I cannot
be tired because I am protected!"
--
dreams and nothing makes us stronger and happier!
11 June 1933
--
so beautiful and so very alive; I found their little heads with the
lovely little silver crests very beautiful, far more beautiful than
--
time I ever cut a chemise. X is going to stitch it and when
it is ready, You will wear it and then tell me if it is well
cut or not. Because if it is well cut, I can cut other things
--
because that was already a long stretch and ought not to be
increased.
--
day and do less embroidery for two or three days. Do just as I
tell you and remember that your work depends almost entirely
on your eyes. If your eyes were to get spoiled in any way, it
--
have pain, close your eyes for a few minutes and cover them
with the palms of your h ands (without pressing). You will find
--
After seeing You go up to the terrace, I go and have
my meal. Then I return home and write my letter to You,
and then sometimes I wash our clothes (X's and mine;
sometimes X washes them). Then I walk for an hour,
then I usually prepare my lesson and go to bed.
But last night after my walk at 9:30, I helped X to
--
lesson and at 12:30 I went to bed.
Today I worked on the blouse for three hours.
--
It is not good - you will quickly spoil your eyesight, and that
would be the end of your beautiful embroideries. The nerves
also get tired and then one no longer has the sure h and or the
precise movement, one loses one's patience and calm and the
work one does is no longer neat and trim; everything becomes
an approximation and one has to give up all hope of achieving
any kind of perfection. I don't think this is the result you want
--
- it is truly regal; and as for me, I was proud of my little smile
and her beautiful work!
--
You are very hardworking and painstaking, and if you have
nothing to tell me except news of your work, I have to tell you
--
write in any other way and that is why I write to You "I
worked" instead of "I played".
--
Just a word is enough to keep the contact, and when you have
something interesting to tell me, you must do so.
--
promise that you will be delivered from all your difficulties and
that your mind will become luminously peaceful and your heart
quietly content. Did you feel anything?
--
After the Darshan I was quiet and happy. At the
Ashram I saw X and Y and we talked together happily.
"How are you?" Y asked me. I had nothing to say, so I
--
for a long time" and so on. Then X also said, "This time
I also spent a little more time, two or three minutes."
--
I was first and I took my seat with a place on either side
of me. I thought X would sit on one side and Y on the
other. But then Z came and sat down beside me. I told
her to sit somewhere else and she got angry with me.
At that moment X and Y came and, seeing that Z was
angry with me, they did not sit with me. I was very hurt
--
receiving Sri Aurobindo's blessing, it is better to remain concentrated and to keep one's joy locked inside oneself rather than to
throw it out by mixing and talking with others. The experiences
November 24th, a Darshan day. On the three (later four) Darshan days each year,
the sadhaks went before Sri Aurobindo and the Mother to receive their blessings.
Series Three - To "My little smile"
we talk about evaporate and we lose the benefit they could have
brought us.
--
answer her and I show her the work to be done.
Mother, I want Your presence and I try to keep it at
all times. I aspire towards You. I want You always, all
day and all night. I want to live always in Your heart,
where I can live constantly with X and with all who love
You.
--
rather when I try to concentrate, I cannot smile at anyone and if I try to smile I feel as if I were smiling
superficially.
--
It is very good to remain silent and concentrated in your aspiration; and I am sure that if you keep a deep affection for X in your
heart, she will feel it and will no longer be sad. But, of course,
if you feel you can explain to her kindly what is happening in
--
You keep promising me beautiful things and I keep
resisting them. How then can I ever be happy?
--
of the promises; and also you must be patient. In this physical
world, things take time to get realised.
--
one is at the same time a child of Sri Aurobindo, and viceversa?
16 December 1933
--
Yesterday and today I worked all day on the "iris"
sari. I love to work for You. Mother, I don't know what
--
You are a courageous and energetic child.
Tender love.
--
What can I say? - that I am always with you in your work and
your rest, your sleep and your waking.
Affectionately.
--
Not naughty, poor little one, only a little sad, and that distresses
me, for I would like to see you always full of light and joy.
26 January 1934
--
What you have written here is very beautiful and it is also very
true. The beautiful things are far stronger than the ugly ones
--
the struggle and in the victory.
29 January 1934
--
That is not true; each has its own particular beauty and style.
The bird-of-paradise is a very beautiful sari.
--
ought to be very happy, and all those who love my sweet
Mother will naturally be happy.
--
My Mother, give me purity and constancy in my
aspiration.
--
invite blows from the surrounding circumstances. and it is up
to us to utilise these blows to make further progress.
You are right in wanting all this pettiness and stupidity to
disappear. I am fully with you in this determination and I am
sure that you will triumph.
--
Such is my wish and my blessing.
1 February 1934
--
of peace and happiness. When You dwell in our hearts,
these things are sure to be there.
--
heart and as soon as your eyes are opened you will see me there;
turn your faculty of feeling inward instead of letting it project
outward, and you will feel my presence as concretely (even more
so) as you feel the cold and the heat.
2 February 1934
--
Poor little one, I very gladly take you on my lap and cradle you
to my heart to soothe this heavy sorrow which has no cause
--
you in my arms, bathe you in my love and wipe away even the
Series Three - To "My little smile"
--
pressure I was putting on you in meditation to calm the restlessness of your mind and vital, I thought that it might relieve you
to tell me the cause of your sorrow, and when you didn't reply,
I simply asked whether you wanted to speak, so as not to insist
--
yourself, and that is why I cannot help you as much as I would
like to.
--
images in these visions are always symbolic and should be taken
as such.
The rocks represent the material nature, hard and inflexible
yet concealing in itself the stream of life. Because of the resistance
of matter, this stream of life is freed only with difficulty and can
hardly emerge into the light. But with a little concentration and
insistence, the resistance of matter lessens and the life-forces are
freed. This image applies to almost everyone, but in this case
it concerned you because you were present, and I took it as
a promise that your difficulties would give way and that you
would soon be able to emerge into a luminous, free and happy
consciousness.
--
is, 2 rupees, 9 1/2 annas per yard. This evening X and
I dyed the big ten-yard piece. But it was not successful:
the dyeing is irregular: some places are dark and some
are pale. You will see it tomorrow morning.
--
of water and underline them with a fine gold thread; then it will
look as if it were done deliberately and it will be even lovelier.
Next time I see you, I shall show you exactly what I mean. Don't
--
I would rather start on the green sari with gold and
silver dragons, for 21 February 1935 - if You ask someone to do the drawing. Because the green cloth and the
gold and silver thread are all ready.
I am disappointed, I cannot do the fishes now.
--
You are my little child and you will always be my little child -
that is a sure fact.
--
what I think, it is this: Y has taken a lot of trouble and made
a very beautiful drawing, a beautiful piece of cloth has been
purchased at a cost of Rs. 30, you and Z have taken a great deal
of trouble to dye it, and I tell you that I have found a way of
utilising the irregularities of the dyeing to make a sari far more
beautiful than we had thought, and yet without considering you
write in a fit of bad temper: "I don't want to do this sari any
--
drawing, and if by chance another difficulty crops up, this little
child may once again say: "I am disappointed, I don't want to
do this sari," and X will have worked for nothing. That is why I
told you to ask him for the drawing yourself. He has just today
--
crown - it will set you going on the sari itself; and you will
see that everything will be all right, completely all right. I am
--
come. I shut my eyes and after a moment, in my sleep,
I felt a sort of fear. I opened my eyes, looked at the sky,
--
cloud coming slowly and I opened my eyes...
My dear little smile,
--
you or you have an unpleasant feeling, you must call me and the
thing will disappear. When you are awake, surely you are not
--
Put yourself in my arms without fear and be sure that nothing can harm you. My force and my protection are always with
you.
--
You are absolutely right, and I don't see why, instead of reading interesting things, you should start doing boring exercises.
To learn a language one must read, read, read - and talk as
much as one can.
--
You have described your condition very well and since you
are so conscious of it, I feel that soon you will be able to master it.
--
bring you peace and silence, and it is absolutely certain that
peace and silence will be established in you some day never to
leave you again.
--
and I wear them with affection and joy.
My blessings and my love are always with you.
10 December 1935
--
which isn't open to You and this is why, even when I
want to feel Your love in my heart (which You say is
--
I want my heart to open to You and to feel Your love
there always. But if it is really closed, how can I open
--
open to You and I want to feel happy for ever.
My dear little smile,
--
one opens; the more one opens, the more one receives; and in
the intimacy of this self-giving one can become conscious of the
inner Presence and the joy it brings.
Tender love from your mother.
--
when someone joyfully tells me about his beautiful and
happy experiences that I feel so poor; I feel then that I
--
and I always ask You for silence and peace (as I
told You the other day) because I know that if one can
always keep that silence and peace one never feels poor
for any reason.
--
You have already had this experience of peace and silent joy;
you know what it is and it is sure to come back stronger and
steadier. Remain confident, do not torment yourself - in this
--
but simply aspire with calm and perseverance for the light to
reappear. My love is always with you to help you go through
--
Yes, my dear little child, you have indeed found the cause; and
weren't you a little annoyed that I didn't wear your embroidered
--
them - quite the contrary. But they are rather heavy and warm
and I prefer to keep them for wearing between November and
January - at that time there are many visitors because of the
vacations and I shall then wear the embroidered saris with the
greatest pleasure since the season is a bit cooler.
It is true that you must get rid of these ignorant and petty
movements; but at the same time, you may be sure that I appreciate and love your work immensely. I have great admiration for
your embroidery, and for you, great love.
Your mother.
--
clouds... and if you want the radical remedy it lies in this:
frankness, be absolutely frank; tell me fully all that is going
on in you, and soon the cure will come, a complete and happy
cure.
--
the connection between it and your exterior consciousness. and
I took your laughter for a sign of conversion!
Beware of false pride - it leads only to ruin. and do not
belittle the Divine's love, because without it nothing is worth
--
I know that you are too sensible and sensitive to ignore this
truth.
--
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, then, 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 the condition of all our activities these three mutually interdependent possibilities, the bodily life, the mental existence and the veiled spiritual being which is in the involution the cause of the others and in the evolution their result. Preserving and perfecting the physical, fulfilling the mental, it is Nature's aim and it should be ours to unveil in the perfected body and mind the transcendent activities of the Spirit. As the mental life does not abrogate but works for the elevation and better utilisation of the bodily existence, so too the spiritual should not abrogate but transfigure our intellectual, emotional, aesthetic and vital activities.
For man, the head of terrestrial Nature, the sole earthly frame in which her full evolution is possible, is a triple birth. He has been given a living frame in which the body is the vessel and life the dynamic means of a divine manifestation. His activity is centred in a progressive mind which aims at perfecting itself as well as the house in which it dwells and the 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 the Spirit. He culminates in what he always really was, the illumined and beatific spirit which is intended at last to irradiate life and mind with its now concealed splendours.
Since this is the plan of the divine Energy in humanity, the whole method and aim of our existence must work by the interaction of these three elements in the being. As a result of their separate formulation in Nature, man has open to him a choice between three kinds of life, the ordinary material existence, a life of mental activity and progress and the unchanging spiritual beatitude. But he can, as he progresses, combine these three forms, resolve their discords into a harmonious rhythm and so create in himself the whole godhead, the perfect Man.
In ordinary Nature they have each their own characteristic and governing impulse.
The characteristic energy of bodily Life is not so much in progress as in persistence, not so much in individual selfenlargement as in self-repetition. There is, indeed, in physical Nature a progression from type to type, from the vegetable to the animal, from the animal to man; for even in inanimate Matter Mind is at work. But once a type is marked off physically, the chief immediate preoccupation of the terrestrial Mother seems to be to keep it in being by a constant reproduction. For Life always seeks immortality; but since individual form is impermanent and only the idea of a form is permanent in the consciousness that creates the universe, - for there it does not perish, - such constant reproduction is the only possible material immortality.
Self-preservation, self-repetition, self-multiplication are necessarily, then, the predominant instincts of all material existence.
--
The characteristic energy of pure Mind is change, and the more our mentality acquires elevation and organisation, the more this law of Mind assumes the aspect of a continual enlargement, improvement and better arrangement of its gains and so of a continual passage from a smaller and simpler to a larger and more complex perfection. For Mind, unlike bodily life, is infinite in its field, elastic in its expansion, easily variable in its formations. Change, then, self-enlargement and selfimprovement are its proper instincts. Mind too moves in cycles, but these are ever-enlarging spirals. Its faith is perfectibility, its watchword is progress.
The characteristic law of Spirit is self-existent perfection and immutable infinity. It possesses always and in its own right the immortality which is the aim of Life and the perfection which is the goal of Mind. The attainment of the eternal and the realisation of that which is the same in all things and beyond all things, equally blissful in universe and outside it, untouched by the imperfections and limitations of the forms and activities in which it dwells, are the glory of the spiritual life.
In each of these forms Nature acts both individually and collectively; for the Eternal affirms Himself equally in the single form and in the group-existence, whether family, clan and nation or groupings dependent on less physical principles or the supreme group of all, our collective humanity. Man also may seek his own individual good from any or all of these spheres of activity, or identify himself in them with the collectivity and live for it, or, rising to a truer perception of this complex universe, harmonise the individual realisation with the collective aim. For as it is the right relation of the soul with the Supreme, while it is in the universe, neither to assert egoistically its separate being nor to blot itself out in the Indefinable, but to realise its unity with the Divine and the world and unite them in the individual, so the right relation of the individual with the collectivity is neither to pursue egoistically his own material or mental progress or spiritual salvation without regard to his fellows, nor for the sake of the community to suppress or maim his proper development, but to sum up in himself all its best and completest possibilities and pour them out by thought, action and all other means on his surroundings so that the whole race may approach nearer to the attainment of its supreme personalities.
It follows that the object of the material life must be to fulfil, above all things, the vital aim of Nature. The whole aim of the material man is to live, to pass from birth to death with as much comfort or enjoyment as may be on the way, but anyhow to live.
He can subordinate this aim, but only to physical Nature's other instincts, the reproduction of the individual and the conservation of the type in the family, class or community. Self, domesticity, the accustomed order of the society and of the nation are the constituents of the material existence. Its immense importance in the economy of Nature is self-evident, and commensurate is the importance of the human type which represents it. He assures her of the safety of the framework she has made and of the orderly continuance and conservation of her past gains.
But by that very utility such men and the life they lead are condemned to be limited, irrationally conservative and earthbound. The customary routine, the customary institutions, the inherited or habitual forms of thought, - these things are the life-breath of their nostrils. They admit and jealously defend the changes compelled by the progressive mind in the past, but combat with equal zeal the changes that are being made by it in the present. For to the material man the living progressive thinker is an ideologue, dreamer or madman. The old Semites who stoned the living prophets and adored their memories when dead, were the very incarnation of this instinctive and unintelligent principle in Nature. In the ancient Indian distinction between the once born and the twice born, it is to this material man that the former description can be applied. He does Nature's inferior works; he assures the basis for her higher activities; but not to him easily are opened the glories of her second birth.
Yet he admits so much of spirituality as has been enforced on his customary ideas by the great religious outbursts of the past and he makes in his scheme of society a place, venerable though not often effective, for the priest or the learned theologian who can be trusted to provide him with a safe and ordinary spiritual pabulum. But to the man who would assert for himself the liberty of spiritual experience and the spiritual life, he assigns, if he admits him at all, not the vestment of the priest but the robe of the Sannyasin. Outside society let him exercise his dangerous freedom. So he may even serve as a human lightning-rod receiving the electricity of the Spirit and turning it away from the social edifice.
Nevertheless it is possible to make the material man and his life moderately progressive by imprinting on the material mind the custom of progress, the habit of conscious change, the fixed idea of progression as a law of life. The creation by this means of progressive societies in Europe is one of the greatest triumphs of Mind over Matter. But the physical nature has its revenge; for the progress made tends to be of the grosser and more outward kind and its attempts at a higher or a more rapid movement bring about great wearinesses, swift exhaustions, startling recoils.
It is possible also to give the material man and his life a moderate spirituality by accustoming him to regard in a religious spirit all the institutions of life and its customary activities. The creation of such spiritualised communities in the East has been one of the greatest triumphs of Spirit over Matter. Yet here, too, there is a defect; for this often tends only to the creation of a religious temperament, the most outward form of spirituality.
Its higher manifestations, even the most splendid and puissant, either merely increase the number of souls drawn out of social life and so impoverish it or disturb the society for a while by a momentary elevation. The truth is that neither the mental effort nor the spiritual impulse can suffice, divorced from each other, to overcome the immense resistance of material Nature.
She dem ands their alliance in a complete effort before she will suffer a complete change in humanity. But, usually, these two great agents are unwilling to make to each other the necessary concessions.
The mental life concentrates on the aesthetic, the ethical and the intellectual activities. Essential mentality is idealistic and a seeker after perfection. The subtle self, the brilliant Atman,1 is ever a dreamer. A dream of perfect beauty, perfect conduct, perfect Truth, whether seeking new forms of the Eternal or revitalising the old, is the very soul of pure mentality. But it knows not how to deal with the resistance of Matter. There it is hampered and inefficient, works by bungling experiments and has either to withdraw from the struggle or submit to the grey actuality. Or else, by studying the material life and accepting the conditions of the contest, it may succeed, but only in imposing temporarily some artificial system which infinite Nature either rends and casts aside or disfigures out of recognition or by withdrawing her assent leaves as the corpse of a dead ideal. Few and far between have been those realisations of the dreamer in Man which the world has gladly accepted, looks back to with a fond memory and seeks, in its elements, to cherish.
1 Who dwells in Dream, the inly conscious, the enjoyer of abstractions, the Brilliant.
--
When the gulf between actual life and the temperament of the thinker is too great, we see as the result a sort of withdrawing of the Mind from life in order to act with a greater freedom in its own sphere. The poet living among his brilliant visions, the artist absorbed in his art, the philosopher thinking out the problems of the intellect in his solitary chamber, the scientist, the scholar caring only for their studies and their experiments, were often in former days, are even now not unoften the Sannyasins of the intellect. To the work they have done for humanity, all its past bears record.
But such seclusion is justified only by some special activity.
Mind finds fully its force and action only when it casts itself upon life and accepts equally its possibilities and its resistances as the means of a greater self-perfection. In the struggle with the difficulties of the material world the ethical development of the individual is firmly shaped and the great schools of conduct are formed; by contact with the facts of life Art attains to vitality, Thought assures its abstractions, the generalisations of the philosopher base themselves on a stable foundation of science and experience.
This mixing with life may, however, be pursued for the sake of the individual mind and with an entire indifference to the forms of the material existence or the uplifting of the race. This indifference is seen at its highest in the Epicurean discipline and is not entirely absent from the Stoic; and even altruism does the works of compassion more often for its own sake than for the sake of the world it helps. But this too is a limited fulfilment. The progressive mind is seen at its noblest when it strives to elevate the whole race to its own level whether by sowing broadcast the image of its own thought and fulfilment or by changing the material life of the race into fresh forms, religious, intellectual, social or political, intended to represent more nearly that ideal of truth, beauty, justice, righteousness with which the man's own soul is illumined. Failure in such a field matters little; for the mere attempt is dynamic and creative. The struggle of Mind to elevate life is the promise and condition of the conquest of life by that which is higher even than Mind.
That highest thing, the spiritual existence, is concerned with what is eternal but not therefore entirely aloof from the transient. For the spiritual man the 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 the supreme, self-existent, self-apparent and eternal Verity which never varies, but explains and is the secret of all variations and the goal of all progress; its dream of perfect action in the omnipotent and self-guiding Law that is inherent for ever in all things and translates itself here in the rhythm of the worlds. What is fugitive vision or constant effort of creation in the brilliant Self is an eternally existing Reality in the Self that knows2 and is the Lord.
But if it is often difficult for the mental life to accommodate itself to the dully resistant material activity, how much more difficult must it seem for the spiritual existence to live on in a world that appears full not of the Truth but of every lie and illusion, not of Love and Beauty but of an encompassing discord and ugliness, not of the Law of Truth but of victorious selfishness and sin? Therefore the spiritual life tends easily in the saint and Sannyasin to withdraw from the material existence and reject it either wholly and physically or in the spirit. It sees this world as the kingdom of evil or of ignorance and the eternal and divine either in a far-off heaven or beyond where there is no world and no life. It separates itself inwardly, if not also physically, from the world's impurities; it asserts the spiritual reality in a spotless isolation. This withdrawal renders an invaluable service to the material life itself by forcing it to regard and even to bow down to something that is the direct negation of its own petty ideals, sordid cares and egoistic self-content.
But the work in the world of so supreme a power as spiritual force cannot be thus limited. The spiritual life also can return upon the material and use it as a means of its own greater fullness. Refusing to be blinded by the dualities, the appearances, it can seek in all appearances whatsoever the vision of the same Lord, the same eternal Truth, Beauty, Love, Delight. The
Vedantic formula of the Self in all things, all things in the Self and all things as becomings of the Self is the key to this richer and all-embracing Yoga.
2 The Unified, in whom conscious thought is concentrated, who is all delight and enjoyer of delight, the Wise. . . . He is the Lord of all, the Omniscient, the inner Guide.
M andukya Upanishad 5, 6.
But the spiritual life, like the mental, may thus make use of this outward existence for the benefit of the individual with a perfect indifference to any collective uplifting of the merely symbolic world which it uses. Since the Eternal is for ever the same in all things and all things the same to the Eternal, since the exact mode of action and the result are of no importance compared with the working out in oneself of the one great realisation, this spiritual indifference accepts no matter what environment, no matter what action, dispassionately, prepared to retire as soon as its own supreme end is realised. It is so that many have understood the ideal of the Gita. Or else the inner love and bliss may pour itself out on the world in good deeds, in service, in compassion, the inner Truth in the giving of knowledge, without therefore attempting the transformation of a world which must by its inalienable nature remain a battlefield of the dualities, of sin and virtue, of truth and error, of joy and suffering.
But if Progress also is one of the chief terms of worldexistence and a progressive manifestation of the Divine the true sense of Nature, this limitation also is invalid. It is possible for the spiritual life in the world, and it is its real mission, to change the material life into its own image, the image of the Divine. Therefore, besides the great solitaries who have sought and attained their self-liberation, we have the great spiritual teachers who have also liberated others and, supreme of all, the great dynamic souls who, feeling themselves stronger in the might of the Spirit than all the forces of the material life b anded together, have thrown themselves upon the world, grappled with it in a loving wrestle and striven to compel its consent to its own transfiguration. Ordinarily, the effort is concentrated on a mental and moral change in humanity, but it may extend itself also to the alteration of the forms of our life and its institutions so that they too may be a better mould for the inpourings of the Spirit. These attempts have been the supreme l andmarks in the progressive development of human ideals and the divine preparation of the race. Every one of them, whatever its outward results, has left Earth more capable of Heaven and quickened in its tardy movements the evolutionary Yoga of Nature.
In India, for the last thous and years and more, the spiritual life and the material have existed side by side to the exclusion of the progressive mind. Spirituality has made terms for itself with Matter by renouncing the attempt at general progress. It has obtained from society the right of free spiritual development for all who assume some distinctive symbol, such as the garb of the Sannyasin, the recognition of that life as man's goal and those who live it as worthy of an absolute reverence, and the casting of society itself into such a religious mould that its most customary acts should be accompanied by a formal reminder of the spiritual symbolism of life and its ultimate destination. On the other h and, there was conceded to society the right of inertia and immobile self-conservation. The concession destroyed much of the value of the terms. The religious mould being fixed, the formal reminder tended to become a routine and to lose its living sense. The constant attempts to change the mould by new sects and religions ended only in a new routine or a modification of the old; for the saving element of the free and active mind had been exiled. The material life, h anded over to the Ignorance, the purposeless and endless duality, became a leaden and dolorous yoke from which flight was the only escape.
The schools of Indian Yoga lent themselves to the compromise. Individual perfection or liberation was made the aim, seclusion of some kind from the ordinary activities the condition, the renunciation of life the culmination. The teacher gave his knowledge only to a small circle of disciples. Or if a wider movement was attempted, it was still the release of the individual soul that remained the aim. The pact with an immobile society was, for the most part, observed.
The utility of the compromise in the then actual state of the world cannot be doubted. It secured in India a society which lent itself to the preservation and the worship of spirituality, a country apart in which as in a fortress the highest spiritual ideal could maintain itself in its most absolute purity unoverpowered by the siege of the forces around it. But it was a compromise, not an absolute victory. The material life lost the divine impulse to growth, the spiritual preserved by isolation its height and purity, but sacrificed its full power and serviceableness to the world. Therefore, in the divine Providence the country of the Yogins and the Sannyasins has been forced into a strict and imperative contact with the very element it had rejected, the element of the progressive Mind, so that it might recover what was now wanting to it.
We have to recognise once more that the individual exists not in himself alone but in the collectivity and that individual perfection and liberation are not the whole sense of God's intention in the world. The free use of our liberty includes also the liberation of others and of mankind; the perfect utility of our perfection is, having realised in ourselves the divine symbol, to reproduce, multiply and ultimately universalise it in others.
Therefore from a concrete view of human life in its threefold potentialities we come to the same conclusion that we had drawn from an observation of Nature in her general workings and the three steps of her evolution. and we begin to perceive a complete aim for our synthesis of Yoga.
Spirit is the crown of universal existence; Matter is its basis; Mind is the link between the 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 the means by which it seeks to reveal itself. 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. All Nature is an attempt at a progressive revelation of the concealed Truth, a more and more successful reproduction of the divine image.
But what Nature aims at for the mass in a slow evolution, Yoga effects for the individual by a rapid revolution. It works by a quickening of all her energies, a sublimation of all her faculties. While she develops the spiritual life with difficulty and has constantly to fall back from it for the sake of her lower realisations, the sublimated force, the concentrated method of Yoga can attain directly and carry with it the perfection of the mind and even, if she will, the perfection of the body. Nature seeks the Divine in her own symbols: Yoga goes beyond Nature to the Lord of Nature, beyond universe to the Transcendent and can return with the transcendent light and power, with the fiat of the Omnipotent.
But their aim is one in the end. The generalisation of Yoga in humanity must be the last victory of Nature over her own delays and concealments. Even as now by the progressive mind in Science she seeks to make all mankind fit for the full development of the mental life, so by Yoga must she inevitably seek to make all mankind fit for the higher evolution, the second birth, the spiritual existence. and as the mental life uses and perfects the material, so will the spiritual use and perfect the material and the mental existence as the instruments of a divine self-expression.
The ages when that is accomplished, are the legendary Satya or Krita3 Yugas, the ages of the Truth manifested in the symbol, of the great work done when Nature in mankind, illumined, satisfied and blissful, rests in the culmination of her endeavour.
It is for man to know her meaning, no longer misunderst anding, vilifying or misusing the universal Mother and to aspire always by her mightiest means to her highest ideal.
3 Satya means Truth; Krita, effected or completed.
0.04 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
bullocks and carts during the 1930s.1
Special new ropes for the bullocks have been prepared
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I beg to submit some facts for your gracious consideration. The weakest and smallest of the bullocks used by
X's cart-men are carrying more than 600 Dem of s and.
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have to be very careful when taking to and bringing back the
bullocks from the Agricultural Garden.
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feeding tubs before the bullocks and went away. He is
not working satisfactorily. He does not keep things clean.
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The bullocks seem to like this man and this is the most important
point.
--
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
--
say? and I am pretty sure that our bullocks are more sensitive
than he is.
--
I have watched the thing from the roof, and saw with the inner
sight also. There is absolutely no doubt about what is happening
--
very good and peaceful creatures, but very sensitive - unusually
sensitive perhaps - (of this I am not sure as I have not followed
other bullocks so closely). The truth is that they dislike and distrust the present driver, and not without reason. When they were
working under the previous one they were happy and cheerful
and worked well. Since this one is driving them they are sad and
dejected and work reluctantly. I see no solution but to change
the man and to find a better one.
The proposal to frighten them in order to master them is
--
perhaps, but of the worst kind. The beasts lose more and more
confidence and joy and peace and finally their strength and even
their health goes.
--
yield and obey and I found them quite receptive. To use a quiet,
steady, unwavering conscious will, that is the way, the only true
way really effective and worthy of an aspirant for Divine Life.
I hope that this time I have made myself clear.
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too nervous and restless. If he could be a little more quiet and
peaceful in dealing with the bullocks they would surely work
--
it brings down their vitality because of that, and makes them
become old very soon. That is why I do not wish them to be
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are painted in red and blue colour, no work is given and
so on. I am not submitting all this to have permission
--
the horns; it is so ugly! and I think you must be careful not to
take out Ra in the street that day as usually children run after
the calves and frighten them very much; they even hurt them
sometimes.
--
with the bullocks, I must know and will tolerate none of THESE
MYSTERIES.
--
of chess play. So till the cart was turned over and touched
the ground, he did not know.
--
over and beat on Ra's mouth and face. He had put two
baskets, one of plantain peels and another of vegetable
cuttings, beside the feeding tub. Ra did not take the feed
--
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 the doctor if it would
--
time, so that he may have air, sun and movement without doing
work. This question must be put clearly to the doctor asking for
--
cure for illnesses, whatever they are, than air and sun.
1 February 1934
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All this is absolutely forbidden by the Municipal rules, and if
any of these things were done by us it was a great mistake and I
intend that it should never be renewed.
--
of theft but for some rash dragging of a cart and thus
causing some slight hurt to a dog. So may I keep him as
--
No, he is very rude and a boy who can almost willingly hurt a
dog is likely to do the same with the cow and calf.
This boy has been dismissed by my orders and will not be
given work in the Ashram.
0.04 - The Systems of Yoga, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
HESE relations between the different psychological divisions of the human being and these various utilities and objects of effort founded on them, such as we have seen them in our brief survey of the natural evolution, we shall find repeated in the fundamental principles and methods of the different schools of Yoga. and if we seek to combine and harmonise their central practices and their predominant aims, we shall find that the basis provided by Nature is still our natural basis and the condition of their synthesis.
In one respect Yoga exceeds the normal operation of cosmic
Nature and climbs beyond her. For the aim of the Universal
Mother is to embrace the Divine in her own play and creations and there to realise It. But in the highest flights of Yoga she reaches beyond herself and realises the Divine in Itself exceeding the universe and even st anding apart from the cosmic play.
Therefore by some it is supposed that this is not only the highest but also the one true or exclusively preferable object of Yoga.
Yet it is always through something which she has formed in her evolution that Nature thus overpasses her evolution. It is the individual heart that by sublimating its highest and purest emotions attains to the transcendent Bliss or the ineffable Nirvana, the individual mind that by converting its ordinary functionings into a knowledge beyond mentality knows its oneness with the
Ineffable and merges its separate existence in that transcendent unity. and always it is the individual, the Self conditioned in its experience by Nature and working through her formations, that attains to the Self unconditioned, free and transcendent.
In practice three conceptions are necessary before there can be any possibility of Yoga; there must be, as it were, three consenting parties to the effort, - God, Nature and the human soul or, in more abstract language, the Transcendental, the Universal
The Conditions of the Synthesis
and the Individual. If the individual and Nature are left to themselves, the one is bound to the other 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 the individual ascension.
It is this truth which makes necessary to every philosophy of Yoga the conception of the Ishwara, Lord, supreme Soul or supreme Self, towards whom the effort is directed and who gives the illuminating touch and the strength to attain. Equally true is the complementary idea so often enforced by the Yoga of devotion that as the Transcendent is necessary to the individual and sought after by him, so also the individual is necessary in a sense to the Transcendent and sought after by It. If the
Bhakta seeks and yearns after Bhagavan, Bhagavan also seeks and yearns after the Bhakta.1 There can be no Yoga of knowledge without a human seeker of the knowledge, the supreme subject of knowledge and the divine use by the individual of the universal faculties of knowledge; no Yoga of devotion without the human God-lover, the supreme object of love and delight and the divine use by the individual of the universal faculties of spiritual, emotional and aesthetic enjoyment; no Yoga of works without the human worker, the supreme Will, Master of all works and sacrifices, and the divine use by the individual of the universal faculties of power and action. However Monistic may be our intellectual conception of the highest truth of things, in practice we are compelled to accept this omnipresent Trinity.
For the contact of the human and individual consciousness with the divine is the very essence of Yoga. Yoga is the union of that which has become separated in the play of the universe with its own true self, origin and universality. The contact may take place at any point of the complex and intricately organised consciousness which we call our personality. It may be effected in the physical through the body; in the vital through the action of
Bhakta, the devotee or lover of God; Bhagavan, God, the Lord of Love and Delight.
The third term of the trinity is Bhagavat, the divine revelation of Love.
--
those functionings which determine the state and the experiences of our nervous being; through the mentality, whether by means of the emotional heart, the active will or the underst anding mind, or more largely by a general conversion of the mental consciousness in all its activities. It may equally be accomplished through a direct awakening to the universal or transcendent Truth and
Bliss by the conversion of the central ego in the mind. and according to the point of contact that we choose will be the type of the Yoga that we practise.
For if, leaving aside the complexities of their particular processes, we fix our regard on the central principle of the chief schools of Yoga still prevalent in India, we find that they arrange themselves in an ascending order which starts from the lowest rung of the ladder, the body, and ascends to the direct contact between the individual soul and the transcendent and universal
Self. Hathayoga selects the body and the vital functionings as its instruments of perfection and realisation; its concern is with the gross body. Rajayoga selects the mental being in its different parts as its lever-power; it concentrates on the subtle body. The triple Path of Works, of Love and of Knowledge uses some part of the mental being, will, heart or intellect as a starting-point and seeks by its conversion to arrive at the liberating Truth,
Beatitude and Infinity which are the nature of the spiritual life.
Its method is a direct commerce between the human Purusha in the individual body and the divine Purusha who dwells in every body and yet transcends all form and name.
Hathayoga aims at the conquest of the life and the body whose combination in the food sheath and the vital vehicle constitutes, as we have seen, the gross body and whose equilibrium is the foundation of all Nature's workings in the human being. The equilibrium established by Nature is sufficient for the normal egoistic life; it is insufficient for the purpose of the Hathayogin.
For it is calculated on the amount of vital or dynamic force necessary to drive the physical engine during the normal span of human life and to perform more or less adequately the various workings dem anded of it by the individual life inhabiting this frame and the world-environment by which it is conditioned.
The Conditions of the Synthesis
Hathayoga therefore seeks to rectify Nature and establish another equilibrium by which the physical frame will be able to sustain the inrush of an increasing vital or dynamic force of
Prana indefinite, almost infinite in its quantity or intensity. In
Nature the equilibrium is based upon the individualisation of a limited quantity and force of the Prana; more than that the individual is by personal and hereditary habit unable to bear, use or control. In Hathayoga, the equilibrium opens a door to the universalisation of the individual vitality by admitting into the body, containing, using and controlling a much less fixed and limited action of the universal energy.
The chief processes of Hathayoga are asana and pran.ayama.
By its numerous asanas or fixed postures it first cures the body of that restlessness which is a sign of its inability to contain without working them off in action and movement the vital forces poured into it from the universal Life-Ocean, gives to it an extraordinary health, force and suppleness and seeks to liberate it from the habits by which it is subjected to ordinary physical
Nature and kept within the narrow bounds of her normal operations. In the ancient tradition of Hathayoga it has always been supposed that this conquest could be pushed so far even as to conquer to a great extent the force of gravitation. By various subsidiary but elaborate processes the Hathayogin next contrives to keep the body free from all impurities and the nervous system unclogged for those exercises of respiration which are his most important instruments. These are called pran.ayama, the control of the breath or vital power; for breathing is the chief physical functioning of the vital forces. Pranayama, for the Hathayogin, serves a double purpose. First, it completes the perfection of the body. The vitality is liberated from many of the ordinary necessities of physical Nature; robust health, prolonged youth, often an extraordinary longevity are attained.
On the other h and, Pranayama awakens the coiled-up serpent of the Pranic dynamism in the vital sheath and opens to the Yogin fields of consciousness, ranges of experience, abnormal faculties denied to the ordinary human life while it puissantly intensifies such normal powers and faculties as he already possesses.
The Systems of Yoga
These advantages can be farther secured and emphasised by other subsidiary processes open to the Hathayogin.
The results of Hathayoga are thus striking to the eye and impose easily on the vulgar or physical mind. and yet at the end we may ask what we have gained at the end of all this stupendous labour. The object of physical Nature, the preservation of the mere physical life, its highest perfection, even in a certain sense the capacity of a greater enjoyment of physical living have been carried out on an abnormal scale. But the weakness of Hathayoga is that its laborious and difficult processes make so great a dem and on the time and energy and impose so complete a severance from the ordinary life of men that the utilisation of its results for the life of the world becomes either impracticable or is extraordinarily restricted. If in return for this loss we gain another life in another world within, the mental, the dynamic, these results could have been acquired through other systems, through Rajayoga, through Tantra, by much less laborious methods and held on much less exacting terms. On the other h and the physical results, increased vitality, prolonged youth, health, longevity are of small avail if they must be held by us as misers of ourselves, apart from the common life, for their own sake, not utilised, not thrown into the common sum of the world's activities. Hathayoga attains large results, but at an exorbitant price and to very little purpose.
Rajayoga takes a higher flight. It aims at the liberation and perfection not of the bodily, but of the mental being, the control of the emotional and sensational life, the mastery of the whole apparatus of thought and consciousness. It fixes its eyes on the citta, that stuff of mental consciousness in which all these activities arise, and it seeks, even as Hathayoga with its physical material, first to purify and to tranquillise. The normal state of man is a condition of trouble and disorder, a kingdom either at war with itself or badly governed; for the lord, the Purusha, is subjected to his ministers, the faculties, subjected even to his subjects, the instruments of sensation, emotion, action, enjoyment. Swarajya, self-rule, must be substituted for this subjection.
First, therefore, the powers of order must be helped to overcome
--
the powers of disorder. The preliminary movement of Rajayoga is a careful self-discipline by which good habits of mind are substituted for the lawless movements that indulge the lower nervous being. By the practice of truth, by renunciation of all forms of egoistic seeking, by abstention from injury to others, by purity, by constant meditation and inclination to the divine
Purusha who is the true lord of the mental kingdom, a pure, glad, clear state of mind and heart is established.
This is the first step only. Afterwards, the ordinary activities of the mind and sense must be entirely quieted in order that the soul may be free to ascend to higher states of consciousness and acquire the foundation for a perfect freedom and self-mastery.
But Rajayoga does not forget that the disabilities of the ordinary mind proceed largely from its subjection to the reactions of the nervous system and the body. It adopts therefore from the Hathayogic system its devices of asana and pran.ayama, but reduces their multiple and elaborate forms in each case to one simplest and most directly effective process sufficient for its own immediate object. Thus it gets rid of the Hathayogic complexity and cumbrousness while it utilises the swift and powerful efficacy of its methods for the control of the body and the vital functions and for the awakening of that internal dynamism, full of a latent supernormal faculty, typified in Yogic terminology by the kun.d.alin, the coiled and sleeping serpent of Energy within. This done, the system proceeds to the perfect quieting of the restless mind and its elevation to a higher plane through concentration of mental force by the successive stages which lead to the utmost inner concentration or ingathered state of the consciousness which is called Samadhi.
By Samadhi, in which the mind acquires the capacity of withdrawing from its limited waking activities into freer and higher states of consciousness, Rajayoga serves a double purpose. It compasses a pure mental action liberated from the confusions of the outer consciousness and passes thence to the higher supra-mental planes on which the individual soul enters into its true spiritual existence. But also it acquires the capacity of that free and concentrated energising of consciousness on
The Systems of Yoga
its object which our philosophy asserts as the primary cosmic energy and the method of divine action upon the world. By this capacity the Yogin, already possessed of the highest supracosmic knowledge and experience in the state of trance, is able in the waking state to acquire directly whatever knowledge and exercise whatever mastery may be useful or necessary to his activities in the objective world. For the ancient system of
Rajayoga aimed not only at Swarajya, self-rule or subjective empire, the entire control by the subjective consciousness of all the states and activities proper to its own domain, but included
Samrajya as well, outward empire, the control by the subjective consciousness of its outer activities and environment.
We perceive that as Hathayoga, dealing with the life and body, aims at the supernormal perfection of the physical life and its capacities and goes beyond it into the domain of the mental life, so Rajayoga, operating with the mind, aims at a supernormal perfection and enlargement of the capacities of the mental life and goes beyond it into the domain of the spiritual existence.
But the weakness of the system lies in its excessive reliance on abnormal states of trance. This limitation leads first to a certain aloofness from the physical life which is our foundation and the sphere into which we have to bring our mental and spiritual gains. Especially is the spiritual life, in this system, too much associated with the state of Samadhi. Our object is to make the spiritual life and its experiences fully active and fully utilisable in the waking state and even in the normal use of the functions.
But in Rajayoga it tends to withdraw into a subliminal plane at the back of our normal experiences instead of descending and possessing our whole existence.
The triple Path of devotion, knowledge and works attempts the province which Rajayoga leaves unoccupied. It differs from
Rajayoga in that it does not occupy itself with the elaborate training of the whole mental system as the condition of perfection, but seizes on certain central principles, the intellect, the heart, the will, and seeks to convert their normal operations by turning them away from their ordinary and external preoccupations and activities and concentrating them on the Divine. It
The Conditions of the Synthesis
differs also in this, - and here from the point of view of an integral Yoga there seems to be a defect, - that it is indifferent to mental and bodily perfection and aims only at purity as a condition of the divine realisation. A second defect is that as actually practised it chooses one of the three parallel paths exclusively and almost in antagonism to the others instead of effecting a synthetic harmony of the intellect, the heart and the will in an integral divine realisation.
The Path of Knowledge aims at the realisation of the unique and supreme Self. It proceeds by the method of intellectual reflection, vicara, to right discrimination, viveka. It observes and distinguishes the different elements of our apparent or phenomenal being and rejecting identification with each of them arrives at their exclusion and separation in one common term as constituents of Prakriti, of phenomenal Nature, creations of
Maya, the phenomenal consciousness. So it is able to arrive at its right identification with the pure and unique Self which is not mutable or perishable, not determinable by any phenomenon or combination of phenomena. From this point the path, as ordinarily followed, leads to the rejection of the phenomenal worlds from the consciousness as an illusion and the final immergence without return of the individual soul in the Supreme.
But this exclusive consummation is not the sole or inevitable result of the Path of Knowledge. For, followed more largely and with a less individual aim, the method of Knowledge may lead to an active conquest of the cosmic existence for the Divine no less than to a transcendence. The point of this departure is the realisation of the supreme Self not only in one's own being but in all beings and, finally, the realisation of even the phenomenal aspects of the world as a play of the divine consciousness and not something entirely alien to its true nature. and on the basis of this realisation a yet further enlargement is possible, the conversion of all forms of knowledge, however mundane, into activities of the divine consciousness utilisable for the perception of the one and unique Object of knowledge both in itself and through the play of its forms and symbols. Such a method might well lead to the elevation of the whole range of human intellect
The Systems of Yoga
and perception to the divine level, to its spiritualisation and to the justification of the cosmic travail of knowledge in humanity.
The Path of Devotion aims at the enjoyment of the supreme
Love and Bliss and utilises normally the conception of the supreme Lord in His personality as the divine Lover and enjoyer of the universe. The world is then realised as a play of the
Lord, with our human life as its final stage, pursued through the different phases of self-concealment and self-revelation. The principle of Bhakti Yoga is to utilise all the normal relations of human life into which emotion enters and apply them no longer to transient worldly relations, but to the joy of the All-Loving, the All-Beautiful and the All-Blissful. Worship and meditation are used only for the preparation and increase of intensity of the divine relationship. and this Yoga is catholic in its use of all emotional relations, so that even enmity and opposition to God, considered as an intense, impatient and perverse form of Love, is conceived as a possible means of realisation and salvation.
This path, too, as ordinarily practised, leads away from worldexistence to an absorption, of another kind than the Monist's, in the Transcendent and Supra-cosmic.
But, here too, the exclusive result is not inevitable. The Yoga itself provides a first corrective by not confining the play of divine love to the relation between the supreme Soul and the individual, but extending it to a common feeling and mutual worship between the devotees themselves united in the same realisation of the supreme Love and Bliss. It provides a yet more general corrective in the realisation of the 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 the Yoga of
Devotion may be so used as to lead to the elevation of the whole range of human emotion, sensation and aesthetic perception to the divine level, its spiritualisation and the justification of the cosmic labour towards love and joy in our humanity.
The Path of Works aims at the dedication of every human activity to the supreme Will. It begins by the renunciation of all egoistic aim for our works, all pursuit of action for an interested aim or for the sake of a worldly result. By this renunciation it so
--
purifies the mind and the will that we become easily conscious of the great universal Energy as the true doer of all our actions and the Lord of that Energy as their ruler and director with the individual as only a mask, an excuse, an instrument or, more positively, a conscious centre of action and phenomenal relation. The choice and direction of the act is more and more consciously left to this supreme Will and this universal Energy.
To That our works as well as the results of our works are finally ab andoned. The object is the release of the soul from its bondage to appearances and to the reaction of phenomenal activities.
Karmayoga is used, like the other paths, to lead to liberation from phenomenal existence and a departure into the Supreme.
But here too the exclusive result is not inevitable. The end of the path may be, equally, a perception of the Divine in all energies, in all happenings, in all activities, and a free and unegoistic participation of the soul in the cosmic action. So followed it will lead to the elevation of all human will and activity to the divine level, its spiritualisation and the justification of the cosmic labour towards freedom, power and perfection in the human being.
We can see also that in the integral view of things these three paths are one. Divine Love should normally lead to the perfect knowledge of the 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
Love and Joy and a full acceptance of the works of That which is known; dedicated Works to the entire love of the Master of the Sacrifice and the deepest knowledge of His ways and His being. It is in this triple path that we come most readily to the absolute knowledge, love and service of the One in all beings and in the entire cosmic manifestation.
0.05 - Letters to a Child, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
music, painting and poetry, he later became a teacher of music
in the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. He
--
desire; it takes possession of your mind and your life, and you
become a slave. If you have greed for food you are no longer the
--
this uneasiness? After coming home I felt tired and had
no interest in doing anything. Now I feel that after the
--
because its desires and preferences are not satisfied. All that has
no true reality.
--
I want to feel your touch in each and every one of
my movements. I want to feel your presence everywhere.
--
With love and blessings.
6 March 1934
--
Why this question? You have done nothing wrong and I am
not in the least displeased with you. Did I look very serious
--
With love and blessings.
9 March 1934
--
Yesterday I told you that "we" had painted an envelope. By "we" I mean that there is me and you. I feel
that it is not I who am working, so I say "we". I am
--
That is really nice and I am very pleased. Yes, I am always with
you and even more specially when you are working on your
painting and music. Are you aware that you are making a great
deal of progress? I like the envelopes that both of us are painting
together very much, and that is one more proof that we are doing
them together, because they are nearly always just as I thought
--
Yes, I am taking you into my arms and cradling you to my heart
so that you may have true happiness and unalloyed peace.
Love from your little mother who is always with you.
--
Peace, peace, give me your unalloyed peace and
make me conscious of you.
Peace be with you, my child, the peace of Certitude and of
confidence in my love which never leaves you.
--
you, because they become jealous and their jealousy creates a
bad atmosphere which falls back on you and brings back the
difficulty to you; because you spoke, you opened yourself and
received it, perhaps without even being aware of it.
--
Yes, my dear child, it is entirely possible and since you want
it sincerely, it will come to be so. You will feel yourself always
--
close to my heart, cradled in my arms, and Peace will fill your
being and make you strong and joyful.
Love from your mother.
--
I feel devoid of strength, will and energy. I don't
know what to do. This state must go, but I don't know
--
sickness. It will pass - but you must eat well regularly and sleep
well too, taking care not to go to bed too late.
--
that it is your good and your good alone that I want. I want
to make you a strong and conscious man who is master of
himself - that is, in control of his lower nature and capable of
becoming a true Yogi if that be his aspiration. and the more this
man realises his true being, the more he will become my very
--
Peace, peace in your heart and your vital.
Yes, Peace, Light, Force and Bliss are always with you in the
Consciousness that is constantly by your side, bringing you the
--
Yes, you are and will be more and more a child of the Light.
No obscurity must be allowed to manifest through you.
--
the "plane" from which they come, it is surely the subtle physical, where the memory of all the conceptions and works of art
realised on earth is stored.
--
Very good - then you must acquire energy, and after all, it is
not so difficult, especially here where you are as if bathed in a
sea of energy. You have only to open and receive.
Love from your mother.
--
Give me peace, energy and inspiration.
Learn to drink from the eternal source; it contains everything.
--
But don't you still have your mother's friendship? and also
all her love, and her solicitude for you?
No, all is not sad and gloomy, neither the trees nor the sky
nor the sea; everything is full of the divine Presence and is only
too glad to speak of it to you. Shake off this childish depression
--
love; and I do see how it could be otherwise. You first have to
realise the Divine Consciousness - only then will you be able to
--
Mother, let me open to you and to no one else,
always, always. Give me patience.
--
you away from me in thought and feeling is bad. All that brings
you closer to me and gives you the perception and joy of my
presence is good. You should judge things in the light of this
--
I send you much patience and all my love.
2 May 1934
--
You are always in my arms and always I hold you close to
my heart to comfort and protect you, to strengthen and illumine
you. Never for a moment do I leave you and I am sure that if
you are a little attentive you will very clearly feel the warmth of
--
It seems to me that you are so often sad and depressed
because your nerves are not very strong. You should eat more,
--
Peace, peace, my little child, the sweet peace of inner silence and
outer calm. May it always be with you.
--
who loved us very much - my brother and myself - never allowed us to be ill tempered or discontented or lazy. If we went
to complain to her about one thing or another, to tell her that
we were discontented, she would make fun of us or scold us and
say, "What is this nonsense? Don't be ridiculous. Quick! Off
you go and work, and never mind whether you are in a good or
a bad mood! That is of no interest at all."
My mother was perfectly right and I have always been very
grateful to her for having taught me the discipline and the necessity of self-forgetfulness through concentration on what one
is doing.
--
doing and to do it well (painting or music), to develop your
mind, which is still very uncultivated, and to learn the elements
of knowledge which are indispensable to a man if he does not
want to be ignorant and uncultured.
If you worked regularly eight to nine hours a day, you would
be hungry and you would eat well, you would feel sleepy and
sleep peacefully, and you would have no time to wonder whether
you are in a good or a bad mood.
I am telling you these things with all my affection, and I
hope that you will underst and them.
--
of my presence and receive and use the force that I am pouring
into you to enable you to overcome all difficulties.
--
So you must open yourself to the spiritual force and allow it
to work in you; then you will more and more dwell in constant
peace and joy.
With all my love.
--
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 the
--
world and concentrate on me. By turning your thoughts towards
me you will feel closer and closer to me and peace will come to
dwell in your heart.
--
most useless and foolish of all things; and when you give up this
bad habit of revolt, you will see that suffering too will go away
--
With all my being, I want this progress and this transformation for you.
With love.
--
For you I want consciousness, knowledge, artistic capacity, selfmastery in peace and perfect equality, and the happiness that is
the result of spiritual realisation. Is this too gr and and vast a
programme?
--
This is quite excellent and I approve of it. Without outer and
inner discipline, one can achieve nothing in life, either spiritually
--
being, the being who is free, peaceful, strong and happy always,
independently of all circumstances.
--
Give energy and force to your child. Oh, take me
into your heart. Let me live in you.
--
I carry you always in my heart and you are bathed in energy;
it is through a quiet and confident aspiration that you will receive
it. All my love is with you.
--
by my love as by a protection, and truly my love is always with
you, around you; but you, on your side, must open to it and
allow it to envelop you and help you.
16 August 1934
--
it may be peaceful, and in your h and that it may be skilful.
With all my love.
--
Be sure that you will become strong and quiet, have faith in
a perfect realisation and in the Divine's omnipotence to achieve
it. The Force and Consciousness are always with you, as well as
all my love.
--
regularly, your brain will waste away and you will lose your
intelligence, and then?
It grieves me when you do not eat regularly. Do you want
to grieve your mother who loves you and wants only your own
good?
--
You are a very nice child, and I am very pleased that you
had your meal yesterday evening and that all the clouds have
gone. Now you must not allow them to come back and for that
the best thing is to remain always cradled in my arms, protected
--
I am worried because you always have a headache and because
you are tired.
I want all that to go away and I want you to be perfectly
healthy. For that, you must follow a physical discipline: sleep
regularly, eat regularly, exercise regularly, etc., etc. and unfortunately you refuse all discipline. This makes my task very
difficult.
--
I feel so tired, and my head hurts. Mother, what shall
I do?
--
You know that my love is always with you and my will is
that you should get well; my force is with you to give you health.
--
I don't want you to be ill and always I am with you to
cure you - but you too must want to be cured. Do not torment
yourself and always nestle in my arms so as to receive my love
and force.
--
I fully agree with you that egoism, vanity and jealousy must
disappear; they are indeed ugly, mean and ignorant things that
stop all progress.
My force is with you to conquer these things. and my love
never leaves you.
--
Always, always I am with you and the quieter and happier
you are, the more you will feel it.
--
energetic, courageous, enduring and always good-tempered. I
have no doubt that you can acquire these qualities.
--
I envelop you always in peace and force, but most of the
time you close yourself and refuse what I give you.
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.
--
Yes, I know everything and that is why I know that my little child
is not always reasonable and that is why he has a headache and
a stomachache.
--
I am always with you, bringing you peace and tranquillity,
calm and force. But to feel my presence, you know what you
must do and especially what you must not do.
Love from your mother.
--
little child. Give me a deep and lasting peace.
Series Five - To a Child
--
Do not forget that I am always with you and do only what
you could do in front of me without feeling ashamed. I mean
--
vital, or is it something very superficial and insignificant?
My dear child,
--
cured. It is your body that does not feel very strong and is sad
because it does not have a sound balance of health. The best
cure is plenty of open-air exercise and abundant food.
16 March 1935
--
I don't know why I have lost all my happiness and
peace. I don't know when it will come back to my heart.
--
It is through work and self-mastery that one can find happiness and peace.
23 March 1935
--
finds balance and joy.
I am always with you to help and support you.
Love from your mother.
--
completely lost and lifeless. You know everything, my
mother. Will you tell me what it is?
--
again. But above all you must not believe the suggestions of incapacity and failure; they come from an adverse source and ought
not to be given any credence. Certainly there are difficulties on
--
one, and you should not expect to reap its fruits after only three
or four years. It takes much longer than that. But you are young,
--
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
--
now and then it is good that I remind you that you are free and
that it is for you to make the decision; that's all.
--
playing: "Garuda", and the palace and river. What do
they mean?
The palace and river were the image of a moment from one of
your past lives.
--
serpents. He seemed to be st anding behind you to protect and
inspire you.
--
multiple in its manifestation. There is only one moon and yet
each reflection of the moon is different. This is what I wanted
--
opened to many influences and that is why it is difficult for them
to be steady.
--
the good influences and reject persistently the bad ones.
Love from your mother.
--
and can only be solved with much endurance in the will and
much patience.
--
Divine and take your place in the divine life in the making.
On the other h and you want the satisfactions of ordinary life
--
and effort and that always they go h and in h and with worry and
suffering.
--
since our help and protection are always there. Indeed, you must
open yourself to this help and protection and learn to use them
to conquer the adversary who is trying to draw you towards the
--
I know very well what the true life for you is, and what
your destiny is. But it is you who must become aware of it
--
Do not lose heart and do not be impatient; these 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 the work - this too will help you to
--
This inner condition is getting worse and worse instead of better. You said to be patient, but as it is I am
becoming like a stone, without energy, inert, and more
and more closed . I feel your light and your force around
me, but I cannot receive them. I am not asking you to
--
in yourself; but persist in your will to overcome it and it will
suddenly give way.
--
at work and is it waiting for the descent of a higher
inspiration?
--
round and round in the same forms; something new had to
come.
--
I am always with you, my dear child, and my love never
leaves you.
--
You have my full consent to write poetry, and Sri Aurobindo
says that there is no doubt about your poetic capacity. Today's
--
becomes more and more mental and you lose contact with the
Series Five - To a Child
--
of the strength to leave. I am and will always be in your heart; so
you are sure to find me there if you enter into it deeply enough.
--
I have just received your letter of the 25th and I am glad to
know you have recovered at last.
--
life and all the discipline it entails - in short, the search for and
realisation of the Divine - must be the most important thing to
--
here and cannot see me (for, since Sri Aurobindo's accident, I am
no longer giving any "pranams" or interviews), won't you feel
--
the inner help, not on an outer and superficial help.
I am telling you all this so that you may not be disappointed
--
that you have understood it completely, and when you have seen
very clearly within yourself, write to me again.
My love and blessings are always with you.
Your mother who loves you.
--
I received your letter and I have no objection to your going
to study music for three years at Lucknow, since that is what
--
become troubled and uncertain, and that would arouse an
unnecessary conflict in you.
Go to Lucknow, learn all you can there, and then you will
be able to consider the problem and make a definite decision
concerning your future.
My love, my help and my blessings will always be with you.
Your mother.
--
(2) You will live here, as all of us, night and day under the
constant threat of a sudden bombardment.
--
With my love and blessings.
10 April 1942
--
My love and blessings are with you to guide you on the way.
4 June 1946
--
I want to be closer to you in my heart and in all my
being. Give me the power to give myself completely to
--
support you, to guide you. By doing your work with conscientiousness, honesty and perseverance, you will feel my presence
closer and closer to you.
With my blessings.
--
I am, and I don't know whether there is any chance of
my making any progress. It seems that all the obscurities
and falsehoods are rising up on every side, inside and
outside, and want to swallow me up. There are times
when I cannot distinguish truth from falsehood and I
am then on the verge of losing my mind.
--
My faults are so numerous and so great that I think
I shall fail. On the other h and, I have neither the inclination nor the capacity for the ordinary life. and I
know that I shall never be able to leave this life. This is
my situation right now. The struggle is getting more and
more acute, and worst of all I cannot lie to you. What
should I do?
Do not torment yourself, my child, and remain as quiet as you
can; do not yield to the temptation to give up the struggle and let
yourself fall into darkness. Persist, and one day you will realise
that I am close to you to console you and help you, and then the
hardest part will be over.
With all my love and blessings.
25 September 1947
Be sincere, always sincere, more and more sincere.
Sincerity dem ands of each one that he express only the truth
--
The Mother underlined the words "all will be well" and wrote beside them: "This is
the voice of truth, the one you must listen to."
--
I feel that something is wrong and you are very
displeased with me.
--
discontent and shall try my best to remove it. I cannot
tell you how it pains me to know that you are displeased
--
With my love and blessings.
12 December 1953
--
for what I have done and let me know what mistakes I
have committed.
--
is quite false and imaginary - it may be the result of a bad
conscience, but you must learn once and for all that whatever
mistakes people commit, it cannot vex me nor displease me. If
there is bad will or revolt, Kali may come and chastise but she
always does it with love.
So, throw away all this nonsense and try to be quiet and
happy.
With my love and blessings.
23 March 1954
--
Never forget this promise of Sri Aurobindo and keep
courage in spite of all difficulties. You are sure to reach the goal,
--
With my love and blessings.
26 January 1956
--
between 1932 and 1938 during the sadhak's first stay in
the Ashram.)
Do not torment yourself, my dear child, and fear nothing; my
grace will always be with you and never fail you. Moreover, there
is no reason to believe that you will not succeed in this life; on the
contrary, I see in you the signs of a vocation. and since you have
resolved to be patient, the difficulties will surely be overcome.
--
With my love and blessings.
Series Five - To a Child
--
I shall be so happy when all the clouds and shadows
are dissolved. I want a new life.
--
You are quite right in wanting a new life, and you may be
sure that I shall do my best to help you in that. I am quite sure
that perseverance in study and the 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,
Will and energy can be cultivated just as the muscles are:
by exercise. You must exercise your will to be patient and your
energy to reject depression. I am always near you to help you
--
You need not worry and must continue as you are doing except,
perhaps, that you must not allow your superficial and somewhat
too light exterior being to interfere and spoil your endeavour, as
it does during marching for instance.
--
With my love and blessings.
My mother,
--
painting. Give me a strong energy. I want the inner and
outer silence - peace in all my being, from the innermost
--
cannot express this in proper words and it is becoming
melodramatic. Pardon my mistake.
I don't find your expression melodramatic and there is nothing
to pardon. I know that it is from lack of energy that you cannot
--
to open yourself and receive and you will see that the source is
inexhaustible. It is the same thing for peace and for all the true
things you can aspire for.
--
the resolution to allow my will, and not your own, to govern
your life. As soon as you have understood the need for this,
everything will become easier - and you will at last be able to
acquire the peace you need so much.
I am always with you in this effort and aspiration.
Mother,
--
the obscurity and illumine it.
Mother,
There is a depression. and most often I feel that my
mind is tired. I don't know why. Today, my vital too is
--
SRI AUROBINDO: Do not accept it when it comes and do not
believe what it says. Do not act according to its indications.
--
to do, and the most important if you want to conquer the
difficulty, is to obey.
--
developed and seeks violent sensations in the hope of escaping
from its heaviness and inertia. But it is an ignorant movement,
for violent sensations can never be a remedy; on the contrary,
they increase the confusion and obscurity.
The only remedy lies in opening to the higher forces in
order to let them do in the vital their work of organisation and
classification, of light and peace.
Love from your mother who is always there ready to help
--
be? I underst and your difficulties and I know your goodwill;
I know that you want to do well, that you want to conquer,
--
you, encouraging you with an unvarying love and tenderness.
My dear child,
I am always with you to help you and protect you.
Do not allow yourself to be dominated by vain imaginations.
--
Yes, I underst and you very well, my dear child, and my affection
is always with you and it wants you to have a vast and lasting
Series Five - To a Child
peace, a deep and luminous silence, a calm and concentrated
force, and the immutable joy that comes from a constant contact
with the Light.
--
you aspire for so much, and also a repose from which the true
energies come.
My love enfolds you and embraces you always.
My sweet mother,
--
you, in my arms which are always ready to enfold you, and fear
no obstacles - we shall dispel them all.
--
inside yourself without exterior sound and thinking of me at the
same time:
"Peace, peace, O my heart!" Do it steadily and you will be
pleased with the result.
My love and blessings.
My dear child,
The peace is upon you; allow it to penetrate you, and in the
peace you will find the light, and the light will bring you the
knowledge.
0.05 - The Synthesis of the Systems, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Y THE very nature of the principal Yogic schools, each covering in its operations a part of the complex human integer and attempting to bring out its highest possibilities, it will appear that a synthesis of all of them largely conceived and applied might well result in an integral Yoga. But they are so disparate in their tendencies, so highly specialised and elaborated in their forms, so long confirmed in the mutual opposition of their ideas and methods that we do not easily find how we can arrive at their right union.
An undiscriminating combination in block would not be a synthesis, but a confusion. Nor would a successive practice of each of them in turn be easy in the short span of our human life and with our limited energies, to say nothing of the waste of labour implied in so cumbrous a process. Sometimes, indeed,
Hathayoga and Rajayoga are thus successively practised. and in a recent unique example, in the life of Ramakrishna Paramhansa, we see a colossal spiritual capacity first driving straight to the divine realisation, taking, as it were, the kingdom of heaven by violence, and then seizing upon one Yogic method after another and extracting the substance out of it with an incredible rapidity, always to return to the heart of the whole matter, the realisation and possession of God by the power of love, by the extension of inborn spirituality into various experience and by the spontaneous play of an intuitive knowledge. Such an example cannot be generalised. Its object also was special and temporal, to exemplify in the great and decisive experience of a master-soul the 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 their different ways towards one supreme experience. To know, be and possess
The Conditions of the Synthesis
the Divine is the one thing needful and it includes or leads up to all the rest; towards this sole good we have to drive and this attained, all the rest that the divine Will chooses for us, all necessary form and manifestation, will be added.
The synthesis we propose cannot, then, be arrived at either by combination in mass or by successive practice. It must therefore be effected by neglecting the forms and outsides of the
Yogic disciplines and seizing rather on some central principle common to all which will include and utilise in the right place and proportion their particular principles, and on some central dynamic force which is the common secret of their divergent methods and capable therefore of organising a natural selection and combination of their varied energies and different utilities.
This was the aim which we set before ourselves at first when we entered upon our comparative examination of the methods of
Nature and the methods of Yoga and we now return to it with the possibility of hazarding some definite solution.
We observe, first, that there still exists in India a remarkable
Yogic system which is in its nature synthetical and starts from a great central principle of Nature, a great dynamic force of
Nature; but it is a Yoga apart, not a synthesis of other schools.
This system is the way of the Tantra. Owing to certain of its developments Tantra has fallen into discredit with those who are not Tantrics; and especially owing to the developments of its left-h and path, the Vama Marga, which not content with exceeding the duality of virtue and sin and instead of replacing them by spontaneous rightness of action seemed, sometimes, to make a method of self-indulgence, a method of unrestrained social immorality. Nevertheless, in its origin, Tantra was a great and puissant system founded upon ideas which were at least partially true. Even its twofold division into the right-h and and left-h and paths, Dakshina Marga and Vama Marga, started from a certain profound perception. In the ancient symbolic sense of the words Dakshina and Vama, it was the distinction between the way of Knowledge and the way of An anda, - Nature in man liberating itself by right discrimination in power and practice of its own energies, elements and potentialities and Nature in man
The Synthesis of the Systems
liberating itself by joyous acceptance in power and practice of its own energies, elements and potentialities. But in both paths there was in the end an obscuration of principles, a deformation of symbols and a fall.
If, however, we leave aside, here also, the actual methods and practices and seek for the central principle, we find, first, that Tantra expressly differentiates itself from the Vedic methods of Yoga. In a sense, all the schools we have hitherto examined are Vedantic in their principle; their force is in knowledge, their method is knowledge, though it is not always discernment by the intellect, but may be, instead, the knowledge of the heart expressed in love and faith or a knowledge in the will working out through action. In all of them the lord of the Yoga is the Purusha, the Conscious Soul that knows, observes, attracts, governs. But in Tantra it is rather Prakriti, the Nature-Soul, the Energy, the
Will-in-Power executive in the universe. It was by learning and applying the intimate secrets of this Will-in-Power, its method, its Tantra, that the Tantric Yogin pursued the aims of his discipline, - mastery, perfection, liberation, beatitude. Instead of drawing back from manifested Nature and its difficulties, he confronted them, seized and conquered. But in the end, as is the general tendency of Prakriti, Tantric Yoga largely lost its principle in its machinery and became a thing of formulae and occult mechanism still powerful when rightly used but fallen from the clarity of their original intention.
We have in this central Tantric conception one side of the truth, the worship of the Energy, the Shakti, as the sole effective force for all attainment. We get the other extreme in the Vedantic conception of the Shakti as a power of Illusion and in the search after the silent inactive Purusha as the means of liberation from the deceptions created by the active Energy. But in the integral conception the Conscious Soul is the Lord, the Nature-Soul is his executive Energy. Purusha is of the nature of Sat, the being of conscious self-existence pure and infinite; Shakti or Prakriti is of the nature of Chit, - it is power of the Purusha's self-conscious existence, pure and infinite. The relation of the two exists between the poles of rest and action. When the Energy is absorbed
The Conditions of the Synthesis
--
Purusha pours itself out in the action of its Energy, there is action, creation and the enjoyment or An anda of becoming. But if An anda is the creator and begetter of all becoming, its method is Tapas or force of the Purusha's consciousness dwelling upon its own infinite potentiality in existence and producing from it truths of conception or real Ideas, vijnana, which, proceeding from an omniscient and omnipotent Self-existence, have the surety of their own fulfilment and contain in themselves the nature and law of their own becoming in the terms of mind, life and matter. The eventual omnipotence of Tapas and the infallible fulfilment of the Idea are the very foundation of all
Yoga. In man we render these terms by Will and Faith, - a will that is eventually self-effective because it is of the substance of
Knowledge and a faith that is the reflex in the lower consciousness of a Truth or real Idea yet unrealised in the manifestation.
It is this self-certainty of the Idea which is meant by the Gita when it says, yo yac-chraddhah. sa eva sah., "whatever is a man's faith or the sure Idea in him, that he becomes."
--
- and Yoga is nothing but practical psychology, - is the conception of Nature from which we have to start. It is the selffulfilment of the Purusha through his Energy. But the movement of Nature is twofold, higher and lower, or, as we may choose to term it, divine and undivine. The distinction exists indeed for practical purposes only; for there is nothing that is not divine, and in a larger view it is as meaningless, verbally, as the distinction between natural and supernatural, for all things that are are natural. All things are in Nature and all things are in God.
But, for practical purposes, there is a real distinction. The lower
Nature, that which we know and are and must remain so long as the faith in us is not changed, acts through limitation and division, is of the nature of Ignorance and culminates in the life of the ego; but the higher Nature, that to which we aspire, acts by unification and transcendence of limitation, is of the nature of Knowledge and culminates in the life divine. The passage from the lower to the higher is the aim of Yoga; and this passage
The Synthesis of the Systems
may effect itself by the rejection of the lower and escape into the higher, - the ordinary view-point, - or by the transformation of the lower and its elevation to the higher Nature. It is this, rather, that must be the aim of an integral Yoga.
But in either case it is always through something in the lower that we must rise into the higher existence, and the schools of
Yoga each select their own point of departure or their own gate of escape. They specialise certain activities of the lower
Prakriti and turn them towards the Divine. But the normal action of Nature in us is an integral movement in which the full complexity of all our elements is affected by and affects all our environments. The whole of life is the Yoga of Nature. The
Yoga that we seek must also be an integral action of Nature, and the whole difference between the Yogin and the natural man will be this, that the Yogin seeks to substitute in himself for the integral action of the lower Nature working in and by ego and division the integral action of the higher Nature working in and by God and unity. If indeed our aim be only an escape from the world to God, synthesis is unnecessary and a waste of time; for then our sole practical aim must be to find out one path out of the thous and that lead to God, one shortest possible of short cuts, and not to linger exploring different paths that end in the same goal. But if our aim be a transformation of our integral being into the terms of God-existence, it is then that a synthesis becomes necessary.
The method we have to pursue, then, is to put our whole conscious being into relation and contact with the Divine and to call Him in to transform our entire being into His. Thus in a sense
God Himself, the real Person in us, becomes the sadhaka of the sadhana1 as well as the Master of the Yoga by whom the lower personality is used as the centre of a divine transfiguration and the instrument of its own perfection. In effect, the pressure of the
Tapas, the force of consciousness in us dwelling in the Idea of the divine Nature upon that which we are in our entirety, produces
--
its own realisation. The divine and all-knowing and all-effecting descends upon the limited and obscure, progressively illumines and energises the whole lower nature and substitutes its own action for all the terms of the inferior human light and mortal activity.
In psychological fact this method translates itself into the progressive surrender of the ego with its whole field and all its apparatus to the Beyond-ego with its vast and incalculable but always inevitable workings. Certainly, this is no short cut or easy sadhana. It requires a colossal faith, an absolute courage and above all an unflinching patience. For it implies three stages of which only the last can be wholly blissful or rapid, - the attempt of the ego to enter into contact with the Divine, the wide, full and therefore laborious preparation of the whole lower Nature by the divine working to receive and become the higher Nature, and the eventual transformation. In fact, however, the divine
Strength, often unobserved and behind the veil, substitutes itself for our weakness and supports us through all our failings of faith, courage and patience. It "makes the blind to see and the lame to stride over the hills." The intellect becomes aware of a Law that beneficently insists and a succour that upholds; the heart speaks of a Master of all things and Friend of man or a universal Mother who upholds through all stumblings. Therefore this path is at once the most difficult imaginable and yet, in comparison with the magnitude of its effort and object, the most easy and sure of all.
There are three outst anding features of this action of the higher when it works integrally on the lower nature. In the first place it does not act according to a fixed system and succession as in the specialised methods of Yoga, but with a sort of free, scattered and yet gradually intensive and purposeful working determined by the temperament of the individual in whom it operates, the helpful materials which his nature offers and the obstacles which it presents to purification and perfection. In a sense, therefore, each man in this path has his own method of
Yoga. Yet are there certain broad lines of working common to all which enable us to construct not indeed a routine system, but
--
Secondly, the process, being integral, accepts our nature such as it st ands organised by our past evolution and without rejecting anything essential compels all to undergo a divine change.
Everything in us is seized by the h ands of a mighty Artificer and transformed into a clear image of that which it now seeks confusedly to present. In that ever-progressive experience we begin to perceive how this lower manifestation is constituted and that everything in it, however seemingly deformed or petty or vile, is the more or less distorted or imperfect figure of some element or action in the harmony of the divine Nature. We begin to underst and what the Vedic Rishis meant when they spoke of the human forefa thers fashioning the gods as a smith forges the crude material in his smithy.
Thirdly, the divine Power in us uses all life as the means of this integral Yoga. Every experience and outer contact with our world-environment, however trifling or however disastrous, is used for the work, and every inner experience, even to the most repellent suffering or the most humiliating fall, becomes a step on the path to perfection. and we recognise in ourselves with opened eyes the method of God in the world, His purpose of light in the obscure, of might in the weak and fallen, of delight in what is grievous and miserable. We see the divine method to be the same in the lower and in the higher working; only in the one it is pursued tardily and obscurely through the subconscious in
Nature, in the other it becomes swift and self-conscious and the instrument confesses the h and of the Master. All life is a Yoga of Nature seeking to manifest God within itself. Yoga marks the stage at which this effort becomes capable of self-awareness and therefore of right completion in the individual. It is a gathering up and concentration of the movements dispersed and loosely combined in the lower evolution.
An integral method and an integral result. First, an integral realisation of Divine Being; not only a realisation of the One in its indistinguishable unity, but also in its multitude of aspects which are also necessary to the complete knowledge of it by
The Conditions of the Synthesis
--
Self, but of unity in the infinite diversity of activities, worlds and creatures.
Therefore, also, an integral liberation. Not only the freedom born of unbroken contact and identification of the individual being in all its parts with the Divine, sayujya-mukti, by which it can become free2 even in its separation, even in the duality; not only the salokya-mukti by which the whole conscious existence dwells in the same status of being as the Divine, in the state of
Sachchidan anda; but also the acquisition of the divine nature by the transformation of this lower being into the human image of the Divine, sadharmya-mukti, and the complete and final release of all, the liberation of the consciousness from the transitory mould of the ego and its unification with the One Being, universal both in the world and the individual and transcendentally one both in the world and beyond all universe.
By this integral realisation and liberation, the perfect harmony of the results of Knowledge, Love and Works. For there is attained the complete release from ego and identification in being with the One in all and beyond all. But since the attaining consciousness is not limited by its attainment, we win also the unity in Beatitude and the harmonised diversity in Love, so that all relations of the play remain possible to us even while we retain on the heights of our being the eternal oneness with the
Beloved. and by a similar wideness, being capable of a freedom in spirit that embraces life and does not depend upon withdrawal from life, we are able to become without egoism, bondage or reaction the channel in our mind and body for a divine action poured out freely upon the world.
The divine existence is of the nature not only of freedom, but of purity, beatitude and perfection. An integral purity which shall enable on the one h and the perfect reflection of the divine
Being in ourselves and on the other the perfect outpouring of its
Truth and Law in us in the terms of life and through the right
As the Jivanmukta, who is entirely free even without dissolution of the bodily life in a final Samadhi.
--
functioning of the complex instrument we are in our outer parts, is the condition of an integral liberty. Its result is an integral beatitude, in which there becomes possible at once the An anda of all that is in the world seen as symbols of the Divine and the An anda of that which is not-world. and it prepares the integral perfection of our humanity as a type of the Divine in the conditions of the human manifestation, a perfection founded on a certain free universality of being, of love and joy, of play of knowledge and of play of will in power and will in unegoistic action. This integrality also can be attained by the integral Yoga.
Perfection includes perfection of mind and body, so that the highest results of Rajayoga and Hathayoga should be contained in the widest formula of the synthesis finally to be effected by mankind. At any rate a full development of the general mental and physical faculties and experiences attainable by humanity through Yoga must be included in the scope of the integral method. Nor would these have any raison d'etre unless employed for an integral mental and physical life. Such a mental and physical life would be in its nature a translation of the spiritual existence into its right mental and physical values. Thus we would arrive at a synthesis of the three degrees of Nature and of the three modes of human existence which she has evolved or is evolving. We would include in the scope of our liberated being and perfected modes of activity the material life, our base, and the mental life, our intermediate instrument.
Nor would the integrality to which we aspire be real or even possible, if it were confined to the individual. Since our divine perfection embraces the realisation of ourselves in being, in life and in love through others as well as through ourselves, the extension of our liberty and of its results in others would be the inevitable outcome as well as the broadest utility of our liberation and perfection. and the constant and inherent attempt of such an extension would be towards its increasing and ultimately complete generalisation in mankind.
The divinising of the normal material life of man and of his great secular attempt of mental and moral self-culture in the individual and the race by this integralisation of a widely perfect
The Yoga of Divine Works
spiritual existence would thus be the crown alike of our individual and of our common effort. Such a consummation being no other than the kingdom of heaven within reproduced in the kingdom of heaven without, would be also the true fulfilment of the great dream cherished in different terms by the world's religions.
The widest synthesis of perfection possible to thought is the 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
of Mount Carmel and fulfils the undertakings given in it:
The first night or purgation is of the sensual part of the soul, which is
treated in the present stanza, and will be treated in the first part of this book.
and the second is of the spiritual part; of this speaks the second stanza,
which follows; and of this we shall treat likewise, in the second and the third
part, with respect to the activity of the soul; and in the fourth part, with
respect to its passivity. 1
--
of union with God. and this latter night is a more obscure and dark and
terrible purgation, as we shall say afterwards.2
In his three earlier books he has written of the Active Night, of Sense and of
Spirit; he now proposes to deal with the Passive Night, in the same order. He has
already taught us how we are to deny and purify ourselves with the ordinary help of
grace, in order to prepare our senses and faculties for union with God through love.
He now proceeds to explain, with an arresting freshness, how these same senses
and faculties are purged and purified by God with a view to the same end that of
union. The combined description of the two nights completes the presentation of
active and passive purgation, to which the Saint limits himself in these treatises,
although the subject of the stanzas which he is glossing is a much wider one,
comprising the whole of the mystical life and ending only with the Divine embraces
of the soul transformed in God through love.
--
Active Night has left the senses and faculties well prepared, though not completely
prepared, for the reception of Divine influences and illuminations in greater
abundance than before. The Saint here postulates a principle of dogmatic theology
that by himself, and with the ordinary aid of grace, man cannot attain to that
degree of purgation which is essential to his transformation in God. He needs
--
Divine union of perfection of love, if God takes not its h and and purges it not in that
dark fire.'3
--
state of those that meditate on the spiritual road and begins to set them in
the state of progressiveswhich is that of those who are already
--
Before explaining the nature and effects of this Passive Night, the Saint touches, in
passing, upon certain imperfections found in those who are about to enter it and
which it removes by the process of purgation. Such travellers are still untried
proficients, who have not yet acquired mature habits of spirituality and who
therefore still conduct themselves as children. The imperfections are examined one
--
underst and, and of great practical utility, comparable to those in the first book of
the Ascent which deal with the active purgation of the desires of sense.
--
imperfections and the preparation of it for fruitive union. The Passive Night of
Sense, we are told, is 'common' and 'comes to many,' whereas that of Spirit 'is the
portion of very few.'5 The one is 'bitter and terrible' but 'the second bears no
comparison with it,' for it is 'horrible and awful to the spirit.'6 A good deal of
literature on the former Night existed in the time of St. John of the Cross and he
therefore promises to be brief in his treatment of it. Of the latter, on the other h and,
--
in writing, and very little is known of it, even by experience.' 7
Having described this Passive Night of Sense in Chapter viii, he explains
with great insight and discernment how it may be recognized whether any given
aridity is a result of this Night or whether it comes from sins or imperfections, or
--
body. The Saint is particularly effective here, and we may once more compare this
chapter with a similar one in the Ascent (II, xiii)that in which he fixes the point
where the soul may ab andon discursive meditation and enter the contemplation
which belongs to loving and simple faith.
Both these chapters have contri buted to the reputation of St. John of the
Cross as a consummate spiritual master. and this not only for the objective value of
his observations, but because, even in spite of himself, he betrays the sublimity of
--
transparency of his teaching and the precision of the phrases in which he clothes it.
To judge by his language alone, one might suppose at times that he is speaking of
--
consists in 'allowing the soul to remain in peace and quietness,' content 'with a
4Op. cit., Bk. I, chap. i, 1.
--
peaceful and loving attentiveness toward God.'8 Before long it will experience
enkindlings of love (Chapter xi), which will serve to purify its sins and imperfections
and draw it gradually nearer to God; we have here, as it were, so many stages of the
--
Chapters xii and xiii detail with great exactness the benefits that the soul receives
from this aridity, while Chapter xiv briefly expounds the last line of the first stanza
--
Night of the Spirit, which is at once more afflictive and more painful than those
which have preceded it. This, nevertheless, is the Dark Night par excellence, of
--
sense may and should be called a kind of correction and restraint of the desire
rather than purgation. The reason is that all the imperfections and disorders of the
sensual part have their strength and root in the spirit, where all habits, both good
and bad, are brought into subjection, and thus, until these are purged, the
rebellions and depravities of sense cannot be purged thoroughly.' 9
Spiritual persons, we are told, do not enter the second night immediately
--
before doing so,10 for they still have many imperfections, both habitual and actual
(Chapter ii). After a brief introduction (Chapter iii), the Saint describes with some
--
the first stanza of his poem and the varieties of pain and affliction caused by it,
whether in the soul or in its faculties (Chapters iv-viii). These chapters are brilliant
--
they do so only to enlighten it again with a brighter and intenser light, which it is
preparing itself to receive with greater abundance. The following chapter makes the
comparison between spiritual purgation and the log of wood which gradually
becomes transformed through being immersed in fire and at last takes on the fire's
own properties. The force with which the familiar similitude is driven home
--
all purgations. Marvellous, indeed, are its effects, from the first enkindlings and
burnings of Divine love, which are greater beyond comparison than those produced
--
midst of these dark confines, feels itself to be keenly and sharply wounded in strong
Divine love, and to have a certain realization and foretaste of God.'11 No less
wonderful are the effects of the powerful Divine illumination which from time to
--
wounds and yet illumines are combined with those of the enkindlement that melts
the soul with its heat, the delights experienced are so great as to be ineffable.
--
from itself, but likewise from its other enemies, which are the world and the devil.'12
This contemplation is not only dark, but also secret (Chapter xvii), and in
Chapter xviii is compared to the 'staircase' of the poem. This comparison suggests to
--
which led it to journey 'in darkness and concealment' from its enemies, both without
and within.
--
at rest.' Both the higher and the lower 'portions of the soul' are now tranquillized
and prepared for the desired union with the Spouse, a union which is the subject
--
darkness of the Active and the Passive Nights; they would tell us, too, of the soul's
further progress towards the Sun's full brightness. It is true, of course, that some
--
such gigantic proportions that he should have given us other and smaller buildings
of a somewhat similar kind. Admirable as are the Spiritual Canticle and the Living
Flame of Love, they are not so completely knit into one whole as is this great double
treatise. They lose both in flexibility and in substance through the closeness with
which they follow the stanzas of which they are the exposition. In the Ascent and
the Dark Night, on the other h and, we catch only the echoes of the poem, which are
all but lost in the resonance of the philosopher's voice and the eloquent tones of the
preacher. Nor have the other treatises the learning and the authority of these.
Nowhere else does the genius of St. John of the Cross for infusing philosophy into
--
quite so appealingly human; for, though he is human even in his loftiest and
sublimest passages, this intermingling of philosophy with mystical theology makes
--
theological truth that grace, far from destroying nature, ennobles and dignifies it,
and of the agreement always found between the natural and the supernatural
between the principles of sound reason and the sublimest manifestations of Divine
grace.
0.06 - Letters to a Young Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I hope and believe Your work does not depend upon
human beings.
--
is, and it is that which will triumph in time.
What we want to bring to the earth can hardly be called a revolution, although it will be the most marvellous change ever seen;
--
chronologically. The replies here were written between 1933 and 1949 - most of them
between 1933 and 1935.
I believe a day will come when the Divine will be seen
quite naturally as one sees earthly things and then there
will be no need to exclaim: "The Divine is everywhere"
--
with the law of the truth of things, and not arbitrarily through
a mental decision.
--
world and the men living there that do not want it!
What does the Divine want of me?
--
your psychic being, you master and govern the lower being, and
then you will quite naturally take your proper place in the great
--
is like a lair of banal thoughts and lawless desires.
One must persist without getting discouraged, and first of all
refuse to recognise the body as one's "self". Indeed, what would
it be without the feelings and thoughts which animate it? An
inert, lifeless mass.
--
The awareness of the Divine Presence in all things and always.
You have said in your Conversations that to prepare
--
This is, however, indispensable for yoga; and he who has so great
an aim as to be united with the Divine and to manifest Him, how
can he be affected by all the futilities and foolishnesses of life?
There are people who say one must unite closely with
--
the being which remain attached to their old activities and refuse
to change. They will have to yield and be transformed one day
or another.
--
The conflict is between that which aspires towards consciousness, the "sattwic" part of the being, and that which lets itself
be invaded and governed by the inconscience, the "tamasic"
part of the being, between that which pushes upwards and that
which pulls downwards and therefore is subject to all outer
influences.
--
realisation and it would be wrong of you to complain about it.
The whole world is against me and I am in despair.
Why do you want to think the whole world is against you? This
--
is capable of overcoming all suffering and even death.
It may be that human life is indeed incapable of it; but for the
--
in the world and that everything is in perpetual change.
I do not underst and a phrase in Your Prayers: " and that
--
them to the stars; in either case they are all alike in size and
worth before Eternity.
Beloved Mother, guide my steps, illumine my mind, and
do not leave, I pray, any distance between You and me.
I too do not want any distance between us. But the relation must
--
Open your heart yet wider, yet better, and the distance will
disappear.
This prison that separates me from You and from the
Divine must be broken. O Mother, I don't know what I
--
It is in a calm and persevering will that this can be accomplished.
May my whole being be only that love which wants to
give itself, and which leads me to You.
Keep this aspiration and you are sure of victory; you will love
me one day with a love which fills you with strength and with
joy.
My Mother, with all my will and all my effort I want to
realise that love which You have foreseen in your divine
--
My dear Mother, I do not say that I love You and belong
to You, I must prove it in my actions; without that these
--
shelter and protection. But even so, I am always Your
child.
That's good. You are indeed always my child and I expect you to
become even more a good child who will be able to tell me in all
sincerity and truth: "I love You and I am Yours for all eternity."
O Mother, take me with You; I shall seat You for ever in
--
eternal consciousness and it is of this that one must become
aware.
Whatever the reason may be, as soon as my consciousness loses You I become joyless and without energy.
At no moment do I forget you. Don't you rather allow too many
other influences to come between you and me?
Mother, why is it so difficult to feel Your Presence constantly near me? In the depths of my heart I know well
--
my mind flits hither and thither as soon as it finds the
slightest occasion.
--
I am always with you, and to become conscious of the inner
Presence is one of the most important points of the sadhana.
--
or of mental imagination, it is a fact, absolutely concrete and
as real and tangible to the consciousness as the most material
phenomenon.
--
experience of this presence and then you will become aware
that in its depths your heart has always been conscious of this
--
Remove from me all obscurity which blinds me, and be
always with me.
--
always and everywhere?
You must find the Divine first, whether in yourself by interiorisation and concentration, or in Sri Aurobindo and me through
love and self-giving. Once you have found the Divine you will
naturally see Him in all things and everywhere.
Series Six - To a Young Sadhak
There are two ways of uniting with the Divine. One is to concentrate in the heart and go deep enough to find there His Presence;
the other is to fling oneself in His arms, to nestle there as a child
nestles in its mother's arms, with a complete surrender; and of
the two the latter seems to me the easier.
--
in exchange for my love for Him and the giving of my
soul, then it is a very easy thing for me.
--
to be near me you must climb up close beside me, and not expect
me to come down so far.
--
have You intimately, and that I must not expect You
to come down here. But Mother, You are so great and
remain so high up that it seems to me almost impossible
--
be at your side; You will always be higher, and I shall
aspire to You; I shall follow You from plane to plane,
--
its state of blind and falsifying ignorance and enters into a state
of truth, and when that reversal, that conversion takes place,
you will feel yourself always close to me.
--
know, on the contrary, that there is no separation and that in
the reality of your being we are always united.
--
the body be alive or dead, and if the vital being is, during one's
life, incapable of feeling the nearness, the deep intimacy, how
--
one has profited fully and to the utmost by the opportunity for
progress which life in a physical body represents, that one may
--
Only the resolution to face courageously, in the present existence, all the difficulties, and to overcome them, is the sure
means of attaining the union you desire.
--
field for progress and realisation.
Beloved Mother, I must either be transformed or cease
--
identity of consciousness and will.
My sweet Mother, do You say that I ought to overcome
--
useful and profitable.
If you say I am there for you alone, obviously it is egoistic and
false; but if you think I am there for all my children, that I carry
them in my heart, that I want to lead them to the Divine and
that I am grieved when they move away from Him, - then this
--
If you are physically far from me and think of me all the time,
you will surely be nearer to me than if you were seated near me
--
Go within into yourself, find your psychic being and you will
find me at the same time, living in you, life of your life, ever
present and ever near, quite concretely and tangibly.
Remain very quiet, open your mind and your heart to Sri Aurobindo's influence and mine, withdraw deep into an inner silence
(which may be had in all circumstances), call me from the depths
of this silence and you will see me st anding there in the centre
of your being.
--
near or far, I am always with you in your work and in your
consciousness. You ought to know that.
--
The psychic being is constantly and invariably in contact with
the Divine and never loses this contact.
The Divine is constantly present in the psychic being and the
latter is quite conscious of this.
--
why does the human being cry and lament the lack of
this Presence?
--
the outer consciousness and the psychic consciousness is not
well established. He in whom this contact is well established is
--
presence and through You. I was in a great difficulty and
was feeling quite lost. Suddenly I felt something that
--
obstacles, and when this thing had come out above, all
was changed in me; then I was in joy and peace and all
difficulties suddenly disappeared. Since that day I have
--
intervene and on the other refuse my intervention.
If you are vexed by what I tell you, it proves that you do not
wish to progress, and consequently that it is not necessary for
me to make you aware of what is to be changed in you.
--
it with confidence and you will receive it.
Yes, my help is with you to master all the movements which are
--
corner, and if I had not the full assurance that you can overcome
all these difficulties, I would not even have mentioned them. It
is no good telling someone, "You have such and such a fault",
if it does not help him to correct it.
--
know you and love you better than you yourself do and that I
know better than you what is good for you - then that would
--
receive Your Grace from afar; and that it is a sign of
weakness on the part of those who see You from time to
--
Tell me what you fear most to tell me, and immediately you will
feel yourself closer to me.
The Divine is infinite and innumerable, and consequently the
ways of approaching Him are also infinite and innumerable,
and on the manner of one's approach to the Divine depends
what he receives and knows of the Divine. The bhakta meets
a Divine full of affection and sweetness, the wise man will find
a Divine full of wisdom and knowledge. He who fears meets a
severe Divine, and he who is trusting finds the Divine a friend
and protector... and so on in the infinite variety of possibilities.
Fear nothing: the Divine always answers every sincere aspiration
--
great and small, so that the power of that great emptiness may
attract the Marvellous Presence. One must know how to pay
--
If I find some solace in books, how can I say that nothing sustains me and that I am plunged in the divine life
through an absolute emptiness?
--
consciousness and dwell there.
It is certainly not by becoming morose and melancholy that one
draws near the Divine. One must always keep in one's heart an
unshakable faith and confidence and in one's head the certitude
of victory. Drive away these shadows which come between you
and me and hide me from your sight. It is in the pure light of
certitude that you can become conscious of my presence.
The sadder you are and the more you lament, the farther you
move away from me. The Divine is not sad and to realise the
Divine you must reject far from yourself all sadness and all
sentimental weakness.
Sweet Mother, I am happy because I love You and because I suffer a little in loving You.
I don't see the need of your suffering. Psychic love is always
peaceful and joyous; it is the vital which dramatises and makes
itself unhappy without any reason. I hope, indeed, that you will
soon become conscious of my presence always near you, and
that it will give you peace and joy.
My most beloved Mother, the idea of separation opens
between You and me like a frightening abyss. I am not
satisfied; from where does this dissatisfaction come?
It is always the vital being which protests and complains. The
psychic being works with perseverance and ardour to make the
union an accomplished fact, but it never complains, and knows
how to wait for the hour of realisations to come.
It is the vital which asks and asks and is never satisfied... The
psychic, the true deep feelings are always satisfied and never ask
for anything. The psychic feels my constant presence, is aware
of my love and solicitude, and is always peaceful, happy and
satisfied.
--
Indeed, nothing brings more happiness than a pure and disinterested love.
The true divine love is above all quarrels. It is the experience of
perfect union in an invariable joy and peace.
Series Six - To a Young Sadhak
--
Keep always your balance and a calm serenity; it is only thus
that one can attain the true Union.
It is in your soul that the calmness can be found and it is by contagion that it spreads through your being. It is not steady because
the sovereignty of your soul is not yet definitively established
--
more and more dry and hard?
Are you quite sure it is so dry and hard? Don't you call "dry
and hard" an absence of sentimentality, that is, of a weak and
superficial emotionalism?
True love is something very deep and very calm in its intensity; it may very well not manifest itself through outer effusiveness.
To love is not to possess, but to give oneself.
I don't experience a violent and uncontrollable love for
anyone; nobody attracts me. and it is because of this
that I told You I was losing all human feelings.
--
feminine in the lower nature which attracts the eternal masculine in the lower nature and creates an illusion in the mind; it
is the great play, obscure and semi-conscious, of the forces of
unillumined nature; and as soon as one succeeds in escaping
from its blind and violent whirlwind, one finds very quickly that
all desires and all attractions vanish; only the ardent aspiration
for the Divine remains.
--
By "passion" we mean all the violent desires which take possession of a man and finally govern his life - the drunkard has
the passion for drink, the debauchee the passion for women,
--
a violent and uncontrollable love for another, this is called a
passion, and it is of this we are speaking; it is this impassioned
love which human beings feel for one another that must be
--
Sensations belong to the vital domain and to that part of it which
is expressed through the nerves of the body. It is sentiments
--
Be courageous and do not think of yourself so much. It is because
you make your little ego the centre of your preoccupation that
you are sad and unsatisfied. To forget oneself is the great remedy
for all ills.
--
True humility lies in not judging oneself and in letting the Divine
determine our real worth.
--
going to be like this, and that you will strive to conquer your
two great enemies: jealousy and vanity. The more we advance
on the road, the more modest we become, and the more we find
that we have done nothing in comparison with what remains to
--
child. I can scarcely hope that it will be transformed; and
after all, is it worth the trouble to try and transform it?
It is better not to think of this personal nature as mine;
--
find against the lower and inconscient nature.
Nothing of all this is the right attitude. So long as you oscillate between wanting to transform yourself and not wanting to
transform yourself - making an effort to progress and becoming indifferent to all effort through fatigue - the true attitude
will not be there. All your observations should lead you to one
certainty, that by oneself one is nothing and can do nothing.
Only the Divine is the life of our life, the consciousness of our
consciousness, the Power and Capacity in us. It is to Him that
we must entrust ourselves, give ourselves without reserve, and it
is He who will make of us what He wants in His infinite wisdom.
--
To keep constantly a concentrated and in-gathered attitude is
more important than having fixed hours of meditation.
It would have been better to have sat in my chair and
thought about the moonlight playing upon the water.
--
than by mixing with many people and doing much work.
I have had the experience myself that one can be fully concentrated and be in union with the Divine even while working
physically with one's h ands; but naturally this asks for a little
practice, and for this the most important thing to avoid is useless
talking. It is not work but useless talk which takes us away from
--
give yourself entirely and without egoism while washing dishes
or serving a meal brings you much nearer the Divine than
doing what men call "great things" in a spirit of vanity and
pride.
--
psychic and obeys the Divine impulsion.
Do I serve You as best I can?
--
strict discipline of beating regularly and constantly, you would
not be able to live upon earth.
--
Ashram; but those who are without work are certainly so because they do not like to work; and for that disease it is very
difficult to find a remedy - it is called laziness...
--
Yes, this happens often; but you must call in more and more
peace and let it enter into the cells of the body; then the suggestion of awkwardness can no longer have any effect.
Mother, X has broken a porcelain bowl.
--
Keep always burning in you the fire of aspiration and purification which I have kindled there.
Without perseverance one never attains anything.
--
Our way is very long, and it is indispensable to advance calmly
without asking oneself at every step whether one is advancing.
--
rest assured it is always with you, and one never calls in vain.
If you resolve to do it, my force will be there to back up your
--
otherwise, etc.) and unknowingly it clings to its own formations
in such a way that when they are contradicted it gets a shock
and this gives it pain. It must become calm and develop the habit
of remaining quiet.
Have faith in the Divine Grace and the hour of liberation will
be hastened.
--
seek help and support, it is in Him alone that one must put all
one's hope.
--
calm confidence, have faith in the Divine Grace, and you will
overcome all your difficulties.
--
Yes, it is in a calm and patient confidence that lies the certitude
of victory.
--
Yes, and as soon as the ego surrenders and abdicates, this fear
disappears giving place to the calm assurance that nothing is
--
conditions, and keep your trust in the Divine Power to organise
all and do all through the human instruments which are open to
His influence.
--
am always with you to guide and protect you.
One must have no fear - fear is a bad counsellor; it acts like a
magnet and attracts what we fear. One must, on the contrary,
keep a calm certitude that sooner or later all will be well.
--
contrary, drive off all pessimistic thoughts and compel oneself
to think only of what one wants to happen.
--
myself and others.
1st sign: One feels far away from Sri Aurobindo and me.
2nd: One loses confidence, begins to criticise, is not satisfied.
3rd: One revolts and sinks into falsehood.
Do not grieve. Always the same battle must be won several
--
That is why one must be armed with patience and keep faith in
the final victory.
--
It is good to be confident and to have a living and steady faith.
But in the matter of the adverse forces, it is good to be always
vigilant and sincere.
Mother, what attitude should I take towards women?
--
One must never be afraid, and if the adverse forces try to lodge
themselves in your lower nature, you have only to dislodge them,
--
Mother, last night I had a nightmare and was almost
frightened.
--
to remember me and call me to your help if there is some danger.
You will see that the nightmares will vanish.
--
If you start feeding the adverse forces, they will exact more and
more and will never be satisfied.
Y told me that very often he becomes an instrument of
--
insensible and indifferent to the misfortunes of the world and
Series Six - To a Young Sadhak
--
stones and are incapable of compassion.
If I could detach myself entirely from this outer world,
--
from oneself, from one's own nature, and one takes it along
wherever one goes, whatever the conditions one may be in. There
--
overcome one's lower nature. and is this not easier here, with
a concrete and tangible help, than all alone, without anyone to
shed light on the path and guide the uncertain footsteps?
My darling Mamma, I want to lead a pure life and I shall
do all I can to progress towards the divine life.
--
which, and me; for the Divine is as much present in that
thing as in me?
--
A yogi ought to accept and digest all dirt with a perfect
equality.
--
Mother dearest, You make me very happy and I would
like to see everybody as happy as I.
--
of knowledge must be added to these sentiments. For, to communicate peace and joy to others is not so easy, and unless one
has within oneself an unshakable peace and joy, there is a great
risk of losing what one has rather than passing it on to others.
--
My heart is full of compassion for others and I am not
insensible to their suffering, but what's the good of this
--
One cannot help others to overcome their sorrows and sufferings
unless one has overcome all this in oneself and is master of one's
feelings and reactions.
It is to purify your own heart that you must work, instead of
--
Yes, one must distrust superficial and baseless judgments.
It is just when one is innocent that one ought to be most indifferent to ill-treatment, because there is nothing to blame oneself
for and one has the approbation of one's conscience to console
oneself.
--
I nearly got angry and it was with an effort that I
controlled myself.
--
which everybody is in the wrong. and is there anything more
ridiculous than ruffled amours-propres?
--
proud of it and not despise it.
Why imagine always that one is ill or is going to be ill and thus
open oneself to all kinds of bad suggestions? There is no reason
to be ill and I don't see why you should be so.
Mother dearest, I have caught a cold. Should I take my
--
overcome and replaced by a complete trust in the divine Grace.
For several days there has been pain in the nape of the
--
One must find the inner peace and keep it constantly. In the force
this peace brings, all these little miseries will disappear.
--
dissolve, and the mind helps it; how will You be able to
stop the natural propensity of my body to disintegration?
--
submit itself to the influence and the will of the psychic being
which is immortal in its very nature.
--
completely transformed and no longer subject to any of the laws
governing it at present.
--
The vital is at once the place of desires and energies, impulses
and passions, of cowardice, but also of heroism - to bridle it is
to turn all this towards the divine Will and submit it to this Will.
The vital being seeks only power - material possession
--
higher part of the mental being, aspires for the Divine and suffers
when far from Him.
--
it good; and if an impulse of desire, passion or violence comes
from outside, it is enough that the mind intervenes for it to be
--
In the vital world attraction and repulsion are the right and
wrong sides of the same thing and always indicate an attachment. One must persistently turn away one's thought from its
object.
--
accept the circumstance and try to be its master?
It is always better to avoid the temptation.
One has only to persist with a calm confidence and the vital will
stop going on strike.
Depression is always unreasonable and leads nowhere. It is the
most subtle enemy of yoga.
--
like an intermediary between the true knowledge and its
realisation here below. Does it not follow that intellectual culture is indispensable for rising above the mind to
--
instrument, large, supple and rich, but its action stops there.
In rising above the mind, it is more often a hindrance than
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
surpassed.
--
of metaphysics and ethics. I am also thinking of reading
The Life Divine.
--
If you read metaphysics and ethics, you must do it just as
mental gymnastics to give a little exercise to your brain, but
never lose sight of the fact that this is not a source of knowledge and that it is not in this way that one can draw close
to knowledge. Naturally, this does not hold good for The Life
--
a great mistake to think that a little superficial and incomplete
knowledge of things can be of any use whatsoever; it is good for
--
know and in fact know nothing.
It is very difficult to choose games which are useful and beneficial
for a child. It asks for much consideration and reflection, and all
that one does unthinkingly may have unhappy consequences.
--
Not as much as they seem to be. There is a deep and very wise
observation in the comedies of Molière.
--
It is not a book of ideas; it is only for the beauty of its form and
style that it is remarkable.
--
In the mind also there are perversions. It is a rather poor and
unrefined vital which can take pleasure in such things!
--
first control yourself and never use brute force to impose your
will.
--
The most important is to master yourself and never lose your
temper. If you don't have control over yourself, how can you
--
One must have a lot of patience with young children, and repeat
the same thing to them several times, explaining it to them in
0.07 - DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL, #Dark Night of the Soul, #Saint John of the Cross, #Christianity
IN this book are first set down all the stanzas which are to be expounded; afterwards, each of the stanzas is expounded separately, being set down before its exposition; and then each line is expounded separately and in turn, the line itself also being set down before the exposition. In the first two stanzas are expounded the effects of the two spiritual purgations: of the sensual part of man and of the spiritual part. In the other six are expounded various and wondrous effects of the spiritual illumination and union of love with God.
STANZAS OF THE SOUL
--
2. In darkness and secure, By the secret ladder, disguisedoh, happy chance!
In darkness and in concealment, My house being now at rest.
3. In the happy night, In secret, when none saw me,
--
There he stayed sleeping, and I caressed him, and the fanning of the cedars made a breeze.
7. The breeze blew from the turret As I parted his locks;
With his gentle h and he wounded my neck and caused all my senses to be suspended.
8. I remained, lost in oblivion; My face I reclined on the Beloved.
All ceased and I ab andoned myself, Leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies.
Begins the exposition of the stanzas which treat of the way and manner which the soul follows upon the road of the union of love with God. Before we enter upon the exposition of these stanzas, it is well to underst and here that the soul that utters them is now in the state of perfection, which is the union of love with God, having already passed through severe trials and straits, by means of spiritual exercise in the narrow way of eternal life whereof Our Saviour speaks in the Gospel, along which way the soul ordinarily passes in order to reach this high and happy union with God. Since this road (as the Lord Himself says likewise) is so strait, and since there are so few that enter by it,19 the soul considers it a great happiness and good chance to have passed along it to the 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 the lines of the said stanza. The soul, then, rejoicing at having passed along this narrow road whence so many blessings have come to it, speaks after this manner.
BOOK THE FIRST
--
IN this first stanza the soul relates the way and manner which it followed in going forth, as to its affection, from itself and from all things, and in dying to them all and to itself, by means of true mortification, in order to attain to living the 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 the soul the 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 the strength and ardour which love for its Spouse gave to it for that purpose in the dark contemplation aforementioned. Herein it extols the great happiness which it found in journeying to God through this night with such signal success that none of the three enemies, which are world, devil and flesh (who are they that ever impede this road), could hinder it; inasmuch as the aforementioned night of purgative20 contemplation lulled to sleep and mortified, in the house of its sensuality, all the passions and desires with respect to their mischievous desires and motions. The line, then, says:
On a dark night
0.07 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
during the 1930s and then served from 1938 to 1950 as one of
Sri Aurobindo's personal attendants.1
--
human beings: the pride and blindness of the physical mind.
8 July 1935
--
I am getting tired of taking and taking, and giving nothing in return. It is almost indecent. But, then, I do not
know what I can do unless it is to pray to you to deliver
--
From your mother you can always take, it is quite natural, especially when things are given to you full-heartedly - and am I
not your mother who loves you?...
--
troubles and difficulties; it is entire self-giving and consecration
to the Divine.
--
Love and blessings to my dear child.
4 May 1938
--
I have sunk very low in my consciousness and you
seem farther away than ever. You are the Infinite Mother
of all your creation and many are your children. But
your Grace is our sole refuge and to whom shall we
turn but to you for our protection? But may your Grace
--
eyes can see and underst and somewhat of its working in
spite of the dull and heavy veil which lies thick upon
them. and may your Grace open up fully the lotus
of my heart so that I may be blessed with a vision
--
its enrapturing beauty and goodness and sweetness, so
that all my impurities be washed out, and restlessness
of the mind and stormy uprisings of passions laid at
rest.
--
Yet I feel you much closer to me and I see in you an opening
that was never there before. It seems to me that soon you will
--
Love and blessings to my dear child.
9 October 1938
--
Love and blessings to my dear child.
14 October 1938
--
Love and blessings to my dear child.
20 October 1938
--
thee my will of progressive submission and increasing
adoration.
The way is opened, my dear child, and I am waiting for you
with my arms wide to receive and enfold you affectionately -
with my love and blessings.
22 October 1938
--
arms alone will I have peace and joy and An anda and
the true truth and fulfilment of my life and being. But
still, O my Shining Light, the way is not clear to me. and
how shall I be ever able to climb to your dizzying heights
--
Let me carry you in my arms and the climbing will become easy.
Love and blessings to my dear child.
25 October 1938
--
desire of my heart? You are very, very adorable and very,
very kind to your little child who loves you and is happy.
My very dear child, live in my love, feel it, be filled with it and
be happy - nothing can please me more than that.
--
I am your child first and last and this work has no other
value for me except that through it I can serve your will,
except that through it I can grow to be a better and truer
child to you, O my beloved Mother.
Yes, you are my child and it is true that of all things it is the most
important.... Dear child, I am always with you and my love and
blessings never leave you.
--
Faith in the Divine's Grace and its power to transform you.
Love and blessings to my dear child.
4 November 1938
--
Every day you are growing more and more lovable
and more and more adorable to me. By what divine
Mystery do you cast this sweet spell on us?
--
spread over my children and calls down upon them the Divine's
Grace to help and to protect.
6 November 1938
You send me your love and blessings every day of late,
dear Mother, and in rare blessed moments I do sense that
we are always surrounded by your love. But as for a real
--
Nothing can resist the steady action of love. It melts all resistances and triumphs over all difficulties...
Love and blessings to my dear child.
9 November 1938
I know your love and blessings are always with me and
I sometimes wish you had not been so invariably kind
--
which make it difficult for me to accept you and your
Yoga in the requisite spirit. and without this, what is
discipleship?
It is not as a Guru that I love and bless, it is as the Mother who
asks nothing in return for what she gives.
--
and my Self, to know and love the Divine Godhead and
fulfil Her in my life and to know the worlds, if it is Her
Will that I should do so. But above all, I must have the
--
With my love and blessings.
16 July 1939
--
Your good and kind letter has made me happy.
Last night, in silence, I told you, "To arrive at that to which
you aspire, the way is Love and the goal too is Love" - is it not
the best answer to your letter?...
With my love and blessings.
17 July 1939
There happen to be bad sons now and then, but a bad
mother never.
But what a joy and love it is when both mother and son are
good!
My love and blessings to my dear (good) child.
27 July 1939
--
My child's heart is filled with love and light from the Divine; let
them shine throughout your whole being and the clouds, if any,
will soon disappear.
Love and blessings to my dear child.
28 July 1939
--
those we love... and when you will eat the pickles you may
remember me and think, Mother loves me...
Love and blessings to my dear child.
6 August 1939
--
I send you heaps and heaps of love. In the lotus of my
heart may I have your lotus feet permanently installed
--
light and love and joy.
My love and blessings.
8 August 1939
--
why my eyes seek Her in your lotus-feet, and my heart
yearns to press them to itself knowing them as its sole
--
My dear, dear child, let the Light of a conscious certitude and the
joy of an everlasting Presence be always with you - concretely
--
truly and genuinely in spite of my poor humanity or
is it all an experiment? I feel ashamed to pose such
--
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
--
faithful to your love." I suppose this is a sufficient answer and
you do not expect me to justify my love in front of the foolish
--
my love and blessings are with you.
12 August 1939
--
I apologise humbly for my query yesterday and pray
to be forgiven for my stupidity.
--
the soul of truth and love and goodness?
My dear child,
I knew that it was a passing mood and that you would soon
come out of it - but let this love and this truth be your shield
and protect you against the intrusion of any force of falsehood.
My love and blessings will lead you to the goal.
13 August 1939
--
please me immensely and help you very much on the way.
My love and blessings to you, dear child.
17 August 1939
Your love for me is my true refuge and sole strength.
What I offer you, my Mother, is a turbid mixture of
--
grow into a full sun and illuminate the whole being. You can be
sure of my love, you can be sure of my help, and our blessings
19 August 1939
--
all the peace of the divine love and also my loving blessings.
20 August 1939
--
the pickles, and whenever I see them I remember you
and say to myself, "The Mother loves me." On the crest
of a great wave of love the gift came to me and I felt
the presence of the ocean which projected that wave.
--
invoking Her and there you were with the 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
blessings to my very dear child.
--
tendencies and ideals, a pull from two different types
of leadership, the Deva type and the saint type (not in
the western sense), a war on all fronts, the mental, the
vital and the physical. But I am deeply sensible of your
kindness, my Mother, and grateful too.
There is no contradiction that cannot be solved and harmonised
in a synthesis if you rise high enough in the intuitive mind and
yours is not at all irreducible. I am sure that one day you will
--
My love and blessings.
27 August 1939
--
Accept my love and forgive me my lapses - as you
have been doing for so many years. I expect these moods
will come and go. But may I never lose sight of your
luminous smiling face through all these passing clouds!
--
are solved and you will get rid of your difficulties. I never feel
that I am forgiving. Love does not forgive, it underst ands and
cures.
My love and blessings always.
28 August 1939
--
Be always true to your love and all difficulties will be conquered.
Love and blessings to my dear child.
9 September 1939
--
all problems are solved and you will get rid of your difficulties." Now what exactly is this higher consciousness
and how may I rise or jump into it? and again you have
said, "Let divine love be your goal. Let pure love be your
way. Be always true to your love and all difficulties will
be conquered." Is this higher consciousness the same
thing as a state of pure love and, if so, how would it be
related to a state of higher knowledge?
--
it comes, also all vital desires and turmoils, and to keep the mind
and heart turned as constantly as possible towards the Divine.
--
My love and blessings.
19 October 1939
--
in favour of Her Imperial Majesty and till that day comes
there will be no rest for poor me.
--
So, the best thing to do is to abdicate at once and to get
rest, peace and joy. When you have to get rid of an obstinate
resistance, you must not make more delay than when you have
--
Inside, outside and everywhere is the help of the Mother...
with her love and blessings.
28 October 1939
--
Your love for poor me is still my lodestar and I am
grateful.
--
My love wants to lead you to the goal and it is bound to
succeed.
--
I thank you very much for all your kindness and
compassion and solicitude and love which I do not deserve. and yet, although I feel a personal tie with you
which I expect is psychic, I still do not feel that I want
--
what I should do. and time waits for no one. Please
excuse me, but I feel tired of having to wage a constant
war against my whole outer being. and, anyway, it seems
too late now to begin at the beginning and teach myself
to ask for a new ideal, the realisation of which seems
--
My love and blessings to my dear child.
29 June 1940
--
love and kindness, as you assure me it won't, I would
rather like to keep this sum of money and to keep up
this arrangement. But if you do mind, kindly tell me
--
answered: "My dear child, you can be sure of my love and blessings."
so in words which I can underst and and I will drop it.
So please rest assured that I can drop this scheme if it
--
my love is capable of underst anding and that my blessings do
not depend on such surface movements.
--
called me" and that I remain convinced that it will be solved
successfully....
With my love and blessings.
25 July 1940
--
With my love and blessings.
9 September 1941
--
With my love and blessings.
9 September 1942
--
whole being around your highest consciousness and do not let
your mind work at r andom. Doubt is not a sport to indulge in
--
With my love and blessings.
9 September 1943
The Divine's Grace is there - open your door and welcome it.
With my love and blessings.
9 September 1944
0.08 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
being and of whom the psychic being is the sheath and the
expression. By the psychic change one passes from the individual
Divine to the universal Divine and finally to the Transcendent.
The spiritual change puts you directly in contact with the
--
It is through all the experiences of life that the psychic personality forms, grows, develops and finally becomes a complete,
conscious and free being.
This process of development goes on tirelessly through innumerable lives, and if one is not conscious of it, it is because
one is not conscious of one's psychic being - for that is the
indispensable starting-point. Through interiorisation and concentration one has to enter into conscious contact with one's
psychic being. This psychic being always has an influence on the
--
In order to strengthen the contact and aid, if possible, the
development of the conscious psychic personality, one should,
while concentrating, turn towards it, aspire to know it and feel
it, open oneself to receive its influence, and take great care, each
time that one receives an indication from it, to follow it very
scrupulously and sincerely. To live in a great aspiration, to take
care to become inwardly calm and remain so always as far as
possible, to cultivate a perfect sincerity in all the activities of
--
and all that facilitates and improves respiration increases at the
same time the absorption of physical energy.
--
other forms of Energy, which is one and universal.
and it is through the various yogic exercises of breathing,
meditation, japa and concentration that one puts oneself in
contact with these various forms of Energy.
--
What are these other forms of Energy and how do
they help us in our sadhana?
Each region of the being and each activity has its energies. We
Series Eight - To a Young Captain
--
It means that the ghost one sees and wrongly takes for the
departed being itself, is only an image of it, an imprint (like
--
them the appearance of a power or an action they do not possess in themselves. Hence the necessity of never being afraid and
of recognising them for what they are - a deceptive appearance.
--
How can one silence the mind, remain quiet, and
at the same time have an aspiration, an intensity or a
--
No; aspiration, as well as widening and intensity, comes from
the heart, the emotional centre, the door of the psychic or rather
--
The mind by its nature is curious and interested; it sees, it
observes, it tries to underst and and explain; and with all this
activity, it disturbs the experience and diminishes its intensity
and force.
On the other h and, the more quiet and silent the mind is,
the more can aspiration rise up from the depths of the heart in
--
Aurobindo has described and explained for us in The Synthesis
of Yoga.
--
Divine Will at every opportunity and finally in a constant way.
For this, the first step is to underst and that the Divine knows
better than we what is good for us and what we truly need, not
only for our spiritual progress but also for our material wellbeing, the health of our body and the proper functioning of all
the activities of our being.
--
it knows better than anyone else what it needs, and claims for
itself independence of judgment and decision. But it thinks and
feels this way because it is ignorant, and gradually one has
to convince it that its perception and underst anding are too
limited for it truly to be able to know and that it judges only
according to its desires, which are blind, and not according to
truth.
--
He does it and still less why He does it. To know something of
the Divine, one has to rise above thought and enter into the
psychic consciousness, the consciousness of the soul, or into the
--
the difficulties and sufferings of the path are not real, but a
creation of human ignorance, and that as soon as one gets out
of this ignorance one also gets out of the difficulties, to say
--
So according to them, the question has no real basis and
cannot be posed.
--
and feel it, open oneself to receive its influence, and take
great care... to follow it very scrupulously and sincerely".
But, Sweet Mother, I don't know how to do this. I find
--
with you and open to you.
This too is a way which is certainly as good as the other.
There are many ways to attain self-realisation, and each one
must choose the way that comes to him most naturally.
--
form and symbol of an eternal Reality, and through the physical
appearance, it is to this higher Reality that you must turn. The
--
manifestation. and until then, it is through it that you must find
the Truth.
--
Control during sleep is entirely possible and it is progressive
if you persist in the effort. You begin by remembering your
dreams, then gradually you remain more and more conscious
during your sleep, and not only can you control your dreams
but you can guide and organise your activities during sleep.
If you persist in your will and your effort, you are sure to
learn how to come and find me at night during your sleep and
afterwards to remember what has happened.
--
by aspiration and by calm and persistent effort.
(1) Concentrate your thought on the will to come and find
me; then pursue this thought, first by an effort of imagination,
afterwards in a tangible and increasingly real way, until you are
in my presence.
--
(2) Establish a sort of bridge between the waking and the
sleeping consciousness, so that when you wake up you remember
--
takes a certain time and you must persist in the effort.
25 September 1959
--
leaving Him, and returns to the Divine without ceasing to be
manifest.
--
In the soul the individual and the Divine are eternally one;
therefore, to find one's soul is to find God; to identify with one's
--
Is there anything like good luck and bad luck, or is
it something that one creates for oneself?
--
on whether they are more or less favourable to him; and this
estimation itself is very superficial and ignorant, for one must
already be a great sage to know what is truly favourable or
--
purely subjective and depend on each one's reaction to contacts
coming from outside.
--
which we live and the way in which people regard us are the
expression, the objective projection of what we ourselves are,
within and without. So we may say with certainty that what we
carry in ourselves in all our states of being, mentally, vitally and
physically, is that which constitutes our life objectified in what
--
ourselves and advance towards perfection, our circumstances
also improve.
Likewise, in the case of those who degenerate and fall back,
the circumstances of their lives also worsen.
--
with the Supreme Lord and dissolve myself completely in Him.
Then my body, completely passive, is nothing but a channel
through which the Lord passes His forces freely and pours upon
all His Light, His Consciousness and His Joy, according to each
one's receptivity.
--
the street and gazed at the sadhaks assembled below.
Series Eight - To a Young Captain
--
balcony with trust and aspiration and to keep oneself as calm
and quiet as one can in a silent and passive state of expectation. If one has something precise to ask, it is better to ask it
beforeh and, not while I am there, because any activity lessens
--
What is meant by the "silence of the physical consciousness"2 and how can one remain in this silence?
The physical consciousness is not only the consciousness of our
--
with our senses. It is a sort of apparatus for recording and transmission which is open to all the contacts and shocks coming
from outside and responds to them by reactions of pleasure and
pain which welcome or repel. This makes in our outer being a
constant activity and noise that we are only partially aware of,
because we are so accustomed to them.
--
the depths calm, quiet, peace and finally silence. It is a concrete, positive silence (not the negative silence of the absence
of noise), immutable so long as it remains, a silence one can
--
This silence is synonymous with peace and it is all-powerful;
it is the perfectly effective remedy for the fatigue, tension and
exhaustion arising from that internal over-activity and noise
which generally escape our control and cease neither by day nor
night.
--
Yoga is to bring down and establish in oneself the calm, the
peace, the silence.
--
listen to music with an intense and concentrated attention, to
the point of stopping all other noise in the head and obtaining
a complete silence into which fall, drop by drop, the notes of
the music whose sound alone remains; and with the sound all
the feelings, all the movements of emotion can be captured,
--
How can one distinguish between good and evil in
a dream?
--
"dreams", what domain it is that one "dreams" in, and what the
nature of that activity is. In his letters, Sri Aurobindo has given
--
very complete and detailed descriptions and explanations of all
the activities of sleep. Reading these letters is a good introduction
to the study of this subject and to its practical application .
2 November 1959
--
How should we read your books and the books of Sri
Aurobindo so that they may enter into our consciousness
--
them, it is enough to read with attention and concentration and
an attitude of inner good-will, with a desire to receive and live
what is taught.
--
the expression is highly intellectual and the language far more
literary and philosophic. The brain needs a preparation to really
be able to underst and and generally this preparation takes time,
unless one is specially gifted with an innate intuitive faculty.
--
the mind as quiet as one can, without making an effort to underst and, but keeping the head as silent as possible and letting
the force contained in what one reads enter deep inside. This
force, received in calm and silence, will do its work of illumining
and will create in the brain, if necessary, the cells required for
--
much clearer and closer and even at times quite familiar.
It is preferable to read regularly, a little every day and at a
fixed hour if possible; this facilitates the brain's receptivity.
--
even a different personality of my being; and by concentrating
on the photo, one enters into relation with that special aspect or
different personality which the photo has captured and whose
image it conveys.
The photo is a real and concrete presence, but fragmentary
and limited.
--
Why is the photo a fragmentary and limited presence?
Because the photo catches only the image of a moment, an instant of a person's appearance and of what that appearance
can reveal of a passing psychological condition and fragmentary soul-state. Even if the photograph is taken under the best
possible conditions at an exceptional and particularly expressive
moment, it cannot in any way reproduce the whole personality.
--
What exactly are the subconscient and the inconscient?
The inconscient is that part of Nature which is so obscure and
asleep that it seems to be wholly devoid of consciousness; at any
--
there is entirely inactive and hidden. The history of the earth
begins with this inconscience.
--
But by evolution, this sleeping and hidden consciousness
gradually awakens through the vegetal and animal kingdoms,
and in them subconscience begins; this subconscience, with the
--
consciousness likewise is progressive, and in proportion as man
evolves, it will change into superconscience.
--
links us to the animal, and the superconscience which is our
hope and assurance of future realisation.
7 November 1959
--
In listening to it, one should make oneself as silent and
passive as possible. and if, in the mental silence, a part of the
being can take the attitude of the witness who observes without
--
music produces on the feelings and emotions; and if it produces
a state of deep calm and semi-trance, that is very good.
15 November 1959
--
origin who have been charged with supervising, directing and
This question and the three that follow are based on terms used by Sri Aurobindo in
The Life Divine, especially in its final chapters.
organising the evolution of the universe; and more specifically,
since the formation of the earth they have served as messengers
--
regions and to preside over the formation of the mind and its
progressive ascension. It is usually to the gods of the overmind
--
a zone corresponding to the overmind and an overmind consciousness, before one can rise above it, to the Supermind, or
open oneself to it.
Almost all the occult systems and disciplines aim at the
development and mastery of the overmind.
27 November 1959
--
What is meant by "a zone corresponding to the overmind" and how can one develop it in oneself? What is
meant by the "mastery of the overmind"?
--
to cosmic zones or planes, and it is as these inner states of being
are developed that one becomes conscious of those domains.
This consciousness is double, at first psychological and subjective, within oneself, expressing itself through thoughts, feelings,
emotions, sensations; then objective and concrete when one is
able to go beyond the limits of the body in order to move about
in the various cosmic regions, grow conscious of them and act
freely in them - it is this that is called "mastery"; it is this that
--
vital, mental, overmental, dem ands assiduous effort and a great
Series Eight - To a Young Captain
--
of the physical world; and everyone knows how much time and
effort are needed merely to learn the things indispensable for
--
see, feel and study, this Nature that has been our familiar environment since our birth upon earth, is not the only one. There
is a vital nature, a mental nature, and so on. It is this that, for
the ordinary consciousness, is Supernature.
--
On 29 February 1956 there took place, in the Mother's words, "the manifestation of the Supramental upon earth"; "Then the supramental Light and Force and
Consciousness rushed down upon earth in an uninterrupted flow."
--
and organised overmind being and overmind life, and still fewer
are those who have an organised supramental being and supramental life, even admitting that there are any at all. Certainly
the very recent descent of the first elements of the Supermind
--
What is meant by the yoga of devotion and the yoga
of knowledge?
--
through the exclusive pursuit of the pure and absolute Truth.
The yoga of devotion is the path that leads to union with
the Divine through perfect, total and eternal love.
In the integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo, the two combine
with the yoga of works and the yoga of self-perfection to make
a homogeneous whole, culminating in the yoga of supramental
--
he opens to the higher mind and overmind, and through those
Series Eight - To a Young Captain
--
knowledge by identity and certain powers such as that of healing
and, to an extent, of acting upon circumstances.
--
in order to facilitate the study of human nature and especially
to constitute a definite basis for the various methods of selfdevelopment and self-discipline. That is why each philosophic,
educational or Yogic system has, as it were, its own division
--
some of his letters, in The Synthesis of Yoga and in Essays on
the Gita.
--
mental activities, and no mental activity is fit to manifest the
Divine.
It is only by experience that one can know Him, and the
experience cannot be translated into words.
0.09 - Letters to a Young Teacher, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
books when they are difficult and when I don't underst and? Savitri, The Life Divine, for example.
Read a little at a time, read again and again until you have
understood.
--
Sri Aurobindo says: "In whatever form and with whatever spirit we approach him, in that form and with that
spirit he receives the sacrifice."2 What does this mean?
--
has been chosen by the Infinite."3 and what about the
others, Mother? What good is life if the Divine does not
--
In truth the Divine has chosen everyone and everything, and
everyone and everything will return to Him. But for some it will
take thous ands of lives, while for others it will happen in this
--
You must read with much attention and concentration, not
novels or dramas, but books that make you think. You must
--
have understood it. Talk little, remain quiet and concentrated,
and speak only when it is indispensable.
--
there is a bright and bare room, the last before we emerge into
the open air, into the full light.
--
bright room, and there, if we remain very quiet, one or more
visitors come to call on us; some are tall, others small, some
single, others in groups; all are bright and graceful.
Usually, in our joy at their arrival and our haste to welcome
them, we lose our tranquillity and come galloping down to rush
into the great hall that forms the base of the tower and is the
storeroom of words. Here, more or less excited, we select, reject,
--
anything of their elegance or beauty and, as they cross the
storeroom of words, clothe themselves effortlessly, automatically, with the words needed to make themselves perceptible
--
those who are sincere in their aspiration will remain here and
receive all the help needed to be able to change in themselves
--
open, that we should give you everything, even our defects and vices and all the dirt in us. Is this the only way
to get rid of them, and how can one do it?
One keeps one's defects because one hangs on to them as if
--
clings to a part of one's body, and pulling out a bad habit
hurts as much as pulling out a tooth. That is why one does
--
given, by a better and truer vibration.
13 June 1960
--
It happens that when we love You deeply and are
intimately in contact with You, we have the impression
--
The two are equally true and they ought to be felt simultaneously. But human egoism always has the tendency to take rather
than to give. This is where that impression comes from.
--
approach Sri Aurobindo. Why? You are all that Sri Aurobindo is for us, as well as a divine and loving Mother. So
is it necessary to try to establish the same relation with
--
a mother who is very close to you, who loves and underst ands
you; that is why it is easy for you to approach me with a loving
confidence, without fear and without hesitation. Sri Aurobindo
is always there to help you and guide you; but it is natural that
you should approach Him with the reverence due to the Master
--
What exactly is the soul or psychic being? and what
is meant by the evolution of the psychic being? What is
--
The soul and the psychic being are not exactly the same thing,
although their essence is the same.
--
terrestrial evolution, until the time comes when the psychic being, fully formed and wholly awakened, becomes the conscious
sheath of the soul around which it is formed.
--
always produces an illumination in the being and has more or
less lasting effects.
--
The soul individualises itself and progressively transforms itself into a psychic being. What are the best
conditions for its rapid growth?
--
the soul is itself a portion of the Supreme, it is immutable and
eternal. The psychic being is progressive and immortal.
All the methods of self-knowledge, self-control and selfmastery are good. You have to choose the one that comes to you
spontaneously and best corresponds to your nature. and once
Series Nine - To a Young Teacher
--
from any obstacle, any difficulty. It is a long and minute work
which must be undertaken with sincerity and continued with an
increasing sincerity ever more scrupulous and integral.
The easy paths generally lead nowhere.
--
Does an outer life of evil deeds and a base consciousness have an effect on the psychic being? Is there
a possibility of its degradation?
A base and evil life can only have the effect of separating the
outer being more and more completely from the psychic being,
which retires into the depths of the higher consciousness and
sometimes even cuts off all relation with the body, which is then
--
the most opaque substances and acts even in the unconsciousness.
But then its action is slow and takes a very long time to
obtain a perceptible result.
--
voice which distinguishes between good and evil, encourages us
to do good and forbids us to do evil. This voice is very useful
in ordinary life, until one is able to become conscious of one's
psychic being and allow oneself to be entirely guided by it - in
other words, to rise above ordinary humanity, free oneself from
all egoism and become a conscious instrument of the Divine
Will. The soul itself, being a portion of the Divine, is above
all moral and ethical notions; it bathes in the Divine Light and
manifests it, but it can truly govern the whole being only when
--
Aurobindo's room and meditate there, "one must have
done much for Him".5 What do You mean by that,
--
give ourselves to Him totally and unreservedly so that He can
take possession of our nature in order to transform and divinise
it. But there are many persons who, without giving anything,
--
always want to take and to receive. These people are selfish and
they are not worthy of meditating in Sri Aurobindo's room.
--
days chosen? How should we read them and what new
things in particular should we look for in them?
--
is what opens us to the divine influence and makes us capable
of receiving what it brings us.
--
Sri Aurobindo tells us: "First be sure of the call and
of thy soul's answer"6 before following the path of Yoga,
--
the call is really there or not? and as for our soul, would
it not always choose Yoga?
--
heard only when the time has come, and then the soul responds
and sets out on the path; it does not allow itself to be deceived by
any ambition, pride or desire, and so long as it does not receive
the Divine comm and to take up the path, it waits patiently,
The Hour of God and Other Writings, SABCL, Vol. 17, p. 39.
knowing that to start out too soon is useless, to say the least,
--
The Grace is always there, eternally present and active, but Sri
Aurobindo says that it is extremely difficult for us to be in a
condition to receive it, keep it and make use of what it gives us.
Sri Aurobindo even says that it is more difficult than to
--
aspiration, but also a sincere humility and an absolute trust.
17 October 1960
--
effort and aspiration.
Sri Aurobindo speaks of a "period of assimilation".
--
the things of this world. To make all these parts agree and to
unify them is a long and difficult task.
The Hour of God and Other Writings, SABCL, Vol. 17, p. 40.
Series Nine - To a Young Teacher
The force and the light received by the more developed
parts spread gradually into the rest of the being by a process of
assimilation, and during this period of assimilation the progress
of the more developed parts seems to be interrupted. This is
--
imperative need to give ourselves and who is the object
of all our love and adoration. This Presence I have called
the "Personal Divine", who is in fact none other than
--
intellectual discipline, the way of knowledge, and by successive
eliminations arrive at the one sole Truth, the Absolute beyond
form and time and space. It is a long and difficult path, a very
arduous path.
--
Immanent Divine. and if one knows truly how to love, without
desire or egoism, one finds Him very soon, for always He comes
--
and habits of street-urchins might like to suggest and who seek
in what Sri Aurobindo has written an excuse for their excesses.
The divine embraces are embraces of soul and of consciousness,
and they can be reproduced among human beings only by a
widening of the consciousness, underst anding and feelings - a
widening that enables you to underst and everything and love
everything, without preference or exclusiveness.
--
Ashram, the conditions were a lot stricter and the discipline more rigorous. How and why have these conditions
changed now?
--
were admitted to the Ashram, and the only habits and activities
tolerated were those that were useful for the practice of sadhana.
--
supramental Light, Consciousness and Force.
26 April 1961
--
A generalised goodwill and harmony.
26 April 1961
--
These days they print your symbol and Sri Aurobindo's name on all sorts of things, on all the thous and
and one little trifles of daily life which have to be thrown
--
to use these precious things in such a free and common
way?
--
we adore. We must learn to live with respect and never forget
His constant and immutable Presence.
2 June 1961
--
If you are speaking of calendars with photographs, it is preferable to cut out the photos, and if you do not want to keep them,
give them to X who makes good use of them.
--
Is there a dynamic and rapid way to find one's
psychic being and to raise one's consciousness?
The only way that can be rapid is to think only of that and to
want only that.
01.01 - A Yoga of the Art of Life, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
When Sri Aurobindo said, Our Yoga is not for ourselves but for humanity, many heaved a sigh of relief and thought that the great soul was after all not entirely lost to the world, his was not one more name added to the long list of Sannyasins that India has been producing age after age without much profit either to herself or to the human society (or even perhaps to their own selves). People understood his Yoga to be a modern one, dedicated to the service of humanity. If service to humanity was not the very sum and substance of his spirituality, it was, at least, the 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 the 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 the Divine. But I am afraid this change of front, this volte-face, as it seemed, was not welcomed in many quarters; for thereby all hope of having him back for the work of the country or the 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 the Immutable Brahman.
II
In order to get a nearer approach to the ideal for which Sri Aurobindo has been labouring, we may combine with advantage the two mottoes he has given us and say that his mission is to find and express the Divine in humanity. This is the service he means to render to humanity, viz, to manifest and embody in it the Divine: his goal is not merely an amelioration, but a total change and transformation, the divinisation of human life.
Here also one must guard against certain misconceptions that are likely to occur. The transformation of human life does not necessarily mean that the entire humanity will be changed into a race of gods or divine beings; it means the 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 the entire animal kingdom was changed into humanity.
As regards the possibility of such a consummation,Sri Aurobindo says it is not a possibility but an inevitabilityone must remember that the force that will bring about the result and is already at work is not any individual human power, however great it may be, but the Divine himself, it is the Divine's own Shakti that is labouring for the destined end.
Here is the very heart of the mystery, the master-key to the problem. The advent of the superhuman or divine race, however stupendous or miraculous the phenomenon may appear to be, can become a thing of practical actuality, precisely because it is no human agency that has undertaken it but the Divine himself in his supreme potency and wisdom and love. The descent of the Divine into the ordinary human nature in order to purify and transform it and be lodged there is the whole secret of the sadhana in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga. The sadhaka has only to be quiet and silent, calmly aspiring, open and acquiescent and receptive to the one Force; he need not and should not try to do things by his independent personal effort, but get them done or let them be done for him in the dedicated consciousness by the Divine Master and Guide. All other Yogas or spiritual disciplines in the past envisaged an ascent of the consciousness, its sublimation into the consciousness of the Spirit and its fusion and dissolution there in the end. The descent of the Divine Consciousness to prepare its definitive home in the dynamic and pragmatic human nature, if considered at all, was not the main theme of the past efforts and achievements. Furthermore, the descent spoken of here is the descent, not of a divine consciousness for there are many varieties of divine consciousness but of the Divine's own consciousness, of the Divine himself with his Shakti. For it is that that is directly working out this evolutionary transformation of the age.
It is not my purpose here to enter into details as to the exact meaning of the descent, how it happens and what are its lines of activity and the results brought about. For it is indeed an actual descent that happens: the Divine Light leans down first into the mind and begins its purificatory work therealthough it is always the inner heart which first recognises the Divine Presence and gives its assent to the Divine action for the mind, the higher mind that is to say, is the summit of the ordinary human consciousness and receives more easily and readily the Radiances that descend. From the Mind the Light filters into the denser regions of the emotions and desires, of life activity and vital dynamism; finally, it gets into brute Matter itself, the hard and obscure rock of the physical body, for that too has to be illumined and made the very form and figure of the Light supernal. The Divine in his descending Grace is the Master-Architect who is building slowly and surely the many-chambered and many-storeyed edifice that is human nature and human life into the mould of the Divine Truth in its perfect play and supreme expression. But this is a matter which can be closely considered when one is already well within the mystery of the path and has acquired the elementary essentials of an initiate.
Another question that troubles and perplexes the ordinary human mind is as to the time when the thing will be done. Is it now or a millennium hence or at some astronomical distance in future, like the cooling of the sun, as someone has suggested for an analogy. In view of the magnitude of the work one might with reason say that the whole eternity is there 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 the past and the building of a far-flung futurity. However, as we have said, since it is the 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 the natural course, one can expect the work to be done sooner rather than later. Indeed, the ideal is one of here and nowhere upon this earth of material existence and now in this life, in this very bodynot hereafter or elsewhere. How long exactly that will mean, depends on many factors, but a few decades on this side or the other do not matter very much.
As to the extent of realisation, we say again that that is not a matter of primary consideration. It is not the quantity but the substance that counts. Even if it were a small nucleus it would be sufficient, at least for the beginning, provided it is the real, the genuine thing
--
From a certain point of view, from the point of view of essentials and inner realities, it would appear that spirituality is, at least, the basis of the arts, if not the highest art. If art is meant to express the soul of things, and since the true soul of things is the divine element in them, then certainly spirituality, the discipline of coming in conscious contact with the Spirit, the Divine, must be accorded the regal seat in the hierarchy of the arts. Also, spirituality is the greatest and the most difficult of the arts; for it is the art of life. To make of life a perfect work of beauty, pure in its lines, faultless in its rhythm, replete with strength, iridescent: with light, vibrant with delightan embodiment of the Divine, in a wordis the highest ideal of spirituality; viewed the spirituality that Sri Aurobindo practisesis the ne plus ultra of artistic creation
The Gita, II. 40
01.01 - Sri Aurobindo - The Age of Sri Aurobindo, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A Vedic Conception of the Poet Sri Aurobindo: Ahana and Other Poems
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsSri Aurobindo: The Age of Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo: The Age of Sri Aurobindo
Someone has written to this effect: "This is not the age of Sri Aurobindo. His ideal of a divine life upon earth mayor may not be true; at any rate it is not of today or even of tomorrow. Humanity will take some time before it reaches that stage or its possibility. What we are concerned with here and now is something perhaps less great, less spiritual, but more urgent and more practical. The problem is not to run away with one's soul, but to maintain its earthly tenement, to keep body and soul together: one has to live first, live materially before one can hope to live spiritually."
Well, the view expressed in these words is not a new revelation. It has been the cry of suffering humanity through the ages. Man has borne his cross since the beginning of his creation through want and privation, through disease and bereavement, through all manner of turmoil and tribulation, and yetmirabile dictuat the same time, in the very midst of those conditions, he has been aspiring and yearning for something else, ignoring the present, looking into the beyond. It is not the prosperous and the more happily placed in life who find it more easy to turn to the higher life, it is not the wealthiest who has the greatest opportunity to pursue a spiritual idea. On the contrary, spiritual leaders have thought and experienced otherwise.
Apart from the well-recognised fact that only in distress does the normal man think of God and non-worldly things, the real matter, however, is that the inner life is a thing apart and follows its own line of movement, does not depend upon, is not subservient to, the kind of outer life that one may happen to live under. The Bible says indeed, "Blessed are the poor, blessed are they that mourn"... But the Upanishad declares, on the other h and, that even as one lies happily on a royal couch, bathes and anoints himself with all the perfumes of the world, has attendants all around and always to serve him, even so, one can be full of the divine consciousness from the crown of the head to the 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 the miseries and immediate needs of a physical life do not and cannot detain or delay one from following the path of the ideal; nor can all your riches be a burden to your soul and overwhelm 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 the world and when that was done then alone to turn to other-worldly things, in that case, one would never take the turn, for the world will never be reformed totally or even considerably in that way. It is not that reformers have for the first time appeared on the earth in the present age. Men have attempted social, political, economic and moral reforms from times immemorial. But that has not barred the spiritual attempt or minimised its importance. To say that because an ideal is apparently too high or too great for the present age, it must be kept in cold storage is to set a premium on the present nature of humanity arid eternise it: that would bind the world to its old moorings and never give it the opportunity to be free and go out into the high seas of larger and greater realisations.
The ideal or perhaps one should say the policy of Real-politick is the thing needed in this world. To achieve something actually in the physical and material field, even a lesser something, is worth much more than speculating on high flaunting chimeras and indulging in day-dreams. Yes, but what is this something that has to be achieved in the material world? It is always an ideal. Even procuring food for each and every person, clothing and housing all is not less an ideal for all its concern about actuality. Only there are ideals and ideals; some are nearer to the earth, some seem to be in the background. But the mystery is that it is not always the ideal nearest to the earth which is the easiest to achieve or the first thing to be done first. Do we not see before our very eye show some very simple innocent social and economic changes are difficult to carry outthey bring in their train quite disproportionately gestures and movements of violence and revolution? That is because we seek to cure the symptoms and not touch the root of the disease. For even the most innocent-looking social, economic or political abuse has at its base far-reaching attitudes and life-urgeseven a spiritual outlook that have to be sought out and tackled first, if the attempt at reform is to be permanently and wholly successful. Even in mundane matters we do not dig deep enough, or rise high enough.
Indeed, looking from a st andpoint that views the working of the forces that act and achieve and not the external facts and events and arrangements aloneone finds that things that are achieved on the material plane are first developed and matured and made ready behind the veil and at a given moment burst out and manifest themselves often unexpectedly and suddenly like a chick out of the shell or the young butterfly out of the cocoon. The Gita points to that truth of Nature when it says: "These beings have already been killed by Me." It is not that a long or strenuous physical planning and preparation alone or in the largest measure brings about a physical realisation. The deeper we go within, the farther we are away from the surface, the nearer we come to the roots and sources of things even most superficial. The spiritual view sees and declares that it is the Brahmic consciousness that holds, inspires, builds up Matter, the physical body and form of Brahman.
The highest ideal, the very highest 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. The ideal of the Life Divine embodies a central truth of existence, and however difficult or chimerical it may appear to be to the normal mind, it is the preoccupation of the inner being of manall other ways or attempts of curing human ills are faint echoes, masks, diversions of this secret urge at the 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 the earth atmosphere and the waking human consciousness and is labouring there. It is always safer and wiser to recognise that fact, to help in the realisation of that truth and be profited by it.
***
A Vedic Conception of the Poet Sri Aurobindo: Ahana and Other Poems
01.01 - The New Humanity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The world is in the throes of a new creation and the pangs of that new birth have made mother Earth restless. It is no longer a far-off ideal that our imagination struggles to visualise, nor a prophecy that yet remains to be fulfilled. It is Here and Now.
Although we may not know it, the New Man the divine race of humanity is already among us. It may be in our next neighbour, in our nearest brother, even in myself. Only a thin veil covers it. It marches just behind the line. It waits for an occasion to throw off the veil and place itself in the forefront. We are living in strenuous times in which age-long institutions are going down and new-forces rearing their heads, old habits are being cast off and new impulsions acquired. In every sphere of life, we see the urgent dem and for a recasting, a fresh valuation of things. From the base to the summit, from the economic and political life to the artistic and spiritual, humanity is being shaken to bring out a new expression and articulation. There is the hidden surge of a Power, the secret stress of a Spirit that can no longer suffer to remain in the shade and behind the mask, but wills to come out in the broad daylight and be recognised in its plenary virtues.
That Power, that Spirit has been growing and gathering its strength during all the millenniums that humanity has lived through. On the momentous day when man appeared on earth, the Higher Man also took his birth. Since the hour the Spirit refused to be imprisoned in its animal sheath and came out as man, it approached by that very uplift a greater freedom and a vaster movement. It was the crest of that underground wave which peered over the surface from age to age, from clime to clime through the experiences of poets and prophets and sages the Head of the Sacrificial Horse galloping towards the Dawn.
and now the days of captivity or rather of inner preparation are at an end. The voice in the wilderness was necessary, for it was a call and a communion in the silence of the soul. Today the silence seeks utterance. Today the shell is ripe enough to break and to bring out the mature and full-grown being. The king that was in hiding comes in glory and triumph, in his complete regalia.
Another humanity is rising out of the present human species. The beings of the new order are everywhere and it is they who will soon hold sway over earth, be the head and front of the terrestrial evolution in the cycle that is approaching as it was with man in the 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 the limitations and incapacities inherent in man; and it will be man by the realisation of those fundamental aspirations and yearnings that have troubled and consoled the deeper strata the soulin him throughout the varied experiences of his terrestrial life.
The New Man will be Master and not slave. He will be master, first, of himself and then of the world. Man as he actually is, is but a slave. He has no personal voice or choice; the determining soul, the Ishwara, in him is sleep-bound and hushed. He is a mere plaything in the h ands of nature and circumstances. Therefore it is that Science has become his supreme Dharmashastra; for science seeks to teach us the moods of Nature and the methods of propitiating her. Our actual ideal of man is that of the cleverest slave. But the 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 apprehension and hesitation, but will ground himself on a secret harmony and union that will declare him as the lord. We will recognise the 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 Nietzschean "will to power," which is, at best, a supreme Asuric power. It will rather be a Divine Power, for the strength it will exert and the victory it will achieve will not come from the egoit is the ego which requires an object outside and against to feel and affirm itself but it will come from a higher personal self which is one with the cosmic soul and therefore with other personal souls. The Asura, in spite of, or rather, because of his aggressive vehemence betrays a lack of the sovereign power that is calm and at ease and self-sufficient. The Devic power does not assert hut simply accomplishes; the forces of the world act not as its opponent but as its instrument. Thus the New Man shall affirm his individual sovereignty and do so to perfection by expressing through it his unity with the cosmic powers, with the infinite godhead. 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 the New Man will know not by the intellect which is egocentric and therefore limited, not by ratiocination which is an indirect and doubtful process, but by direct vision, an inner communion, a soul revelation. The new knowledge will be vast and profound and creative, based as it will be upon the reality of things and not upon their 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 the Vedas said. The mind and intellect will not be active and constructive agents but the luminous channel of a self-luminous knowledge. and the heart too which is now the field of passion and egoism will be cleared of its noise and obscurity; a serener sky will shed its pure warmth and translucent glow. The knot will be rent asunderbhidyate hridaya granthih and the vast and mighty streams of another 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 the yearning and hunger of a mortal but with the wide and intense Rasa that lies in the divine identity of souls.
and the new society will be based not upon competition, nor even upon co-operation. It will not be an open conflict, neither will it be a convenient compromise of rival individual interests. It will be the organic expression of the collective soul of humanity, working and achieving through each and every individual soul its most wide-winging freedom, manifesting the godhead that is, proper to each and every one. It will be an organisation, most delicate and subtle and supple, the members of which will have no need to live upon one another but in and through one another. It will be, if you like, a henotheistic hierarchy in which everyone will be the greatest, since everyone is all and all everyone simultaneously.
The New Humanity will be something in the mould that we give to the gods. It will supply the link that we see missing between gods and men; it will be the race of embodied gods. Man will attain that thing which has been his first desire and earliest dream, for which he coveted the gods Immortality, amritatwam. The mortalities that cut and divide, limit and bind man make him the sorrowful being he is. These are due to his ignorance and weakness and egoism. These are due to his soul itself. It is the soul that requires change, a new birth, as Christ dem anded. Ours is a little soul that has severed itself from the larger and mightier self that it is. and therefore does it die every moment and even while living is afraid to live and so lives poorly and miserably. But the age is now upon us when the god-like soul anointed with its immortal royalties is ready to emerge and claim our salutation.
The breath and the surge of the new creation cannot be mistaken. The question that confronts us today is no longer whether the New Man, the Super-humanity, will come or if at all, when; but the 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 the lesson of life that always in this world everything fails a man - only the Divine does not fail him, if he turns entirely towards the Divine. It is not because there is something bad in you that blows fall on you - blows fall on all human beings because they are full of desire for things that cannot last and they lose them or, even if they get, it brings disappointment and cannot satisfy them. To turn to the Divine is the only truth in life.
To find the Divine is indeed the first reason for seeking the spiritual Truth and the spiritual life; it is the one thing indispensable and all the resit is nothing without it. The Divine once found, to manifest Him, - that is, first of all to transform one's own limited consciousness into the Divine Consciousness, to live in the 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 the principle of oneness on the material plane or to work for humanity is a mental mistranslation of the Truth - these things cannot be the first true object of spiritual seeking. We must find the Self, the Divine, then only can we know what is the work the Self or the Divine dem ands from us. Until then our life and action can only be a help or a means towards finding the Divine and it ought not to have any other purpose. As we grow in inner consciousness, or as the spiritual Truth of the 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 they must be is to hamper the growth of the spiritual Truth within. As that grows we shall feel the Divine Light and Truth, the Divine Power and Force, the Divine Purity and Peace working within us, dealing with our actions as well as our consciousness, making use of them to reshape us into the Divine Image, removing the dross, substituting the pure Gold of the Spirit. Only when the Divine Presence is there in us always and the consciousness transformed, can we have the right to say that we are ready to manifest the Divine on the material plane. To hold up a mental ideal or principle and impose that on the inner working brings the danger of limiting ourselves to a mental realisation or of impeding or even falsifying by a halfway formation the truth growth into the full communion and union with the Divine and the free and intimate outflowing of His will in our life. This is a mistake of orientation to which the mind of today is especially prone. It is far better to approach the Divine for the Peace or Light or Bliss that the realisation of Him gives than to bring in these minor things which can divert us from the one thing needful. The divinisation of the material life also as well as the inner life is part of what we see as the Divine Plan, but it can only be fulfilled by an ourflowing of the inner realisation, something that grows from within outwards, not by the working out of a mental principle.
The realisation of the Divine is the one thing needful and the rest is desirable only in so far as it helps or leads towards that or when it is realised, extends and manifests the realisation. Manifestation and organisation of the whole life for the divine work, - first, the sadhana personal and collective necessary for the realisation and a common life of God-realised men, secondly, for help to the world to move towards that, and to live in the Light - is the whole meaning and purpose of my Yoga. But the realisation is the first need and it is that round which all the rest moves, for apart from it all the 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 established in the material world, that obviously would mean an immense change for the earth including humanity and its life. But the effect on humanity would only be one result of the change; it cannot be the object of the sadhana. The object of the sadhana can only be to live in the divine consciousness and to manifest it in life.
Sadhana must be the main thing and sadhana means the purification of the nature, the consecration of the being, the opening of the psychic and the inner mind and vital, the contact and presence of the Divine, the realisation of the Divine in all things, surrender, devotion, the widening of the consciousness into the cosmic Consciousness, the Self one in all, the psychic and the spiritual transformation of the nature.
... the principle of this Yoga is not perfection of the human nature as it is but a psychic and spiritual transformation of all the parts of the being through the action of an inner consciousness and then of a higher consciousness which works on them, throws out the old movements or changes them into the image of its own and so transmutes lower into higher nature. It is not so much the perfection of the intellect as a transcendence of it, a transformation of the mind, the substitution of a larger greater principle of knowledge - and so with all the rest of the being.
This is a slow and difficult process; the road is long and it is hard to establish even the necessary basis. The old existing nature resists and obstructs and difficulties rise one after another and repeatedly till they are overcome. It is therefore necessary to be sure that this is the path to which one is called before one finally decides to tread it.
01.01 - The Symbol Dawn, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Between the first and the last Nothingness,
Recalling the tenebrous womb from which it came,
--
Forgetful of her spirit and her fate.
1.7
--
A throe that came and left a quivering trace,
Gave room for an old tired want unfilled,
--
To raise its head and look for absent light,
Straining closed eyes of vanished memory,
--
Survivor of a slain and buried past
Condemned to resume the effort and the pang,
Reviving in another frustrate world.
--
The torpor of a sick and weary world,
To seek for a spirit sole and desolate
Too fallen to recollect forgotten bliss.
--
Calling the adventure of consciousness and joy
and, conquering Nature's disillusioned breast,
Compelled renewed consent to see and feel.
A thought was sown in the unsounded Void,
--
With timid and hazardous instinctive grace,
Orphaned and driven out to seek a home,
An errant marvel with no place to live,
--
and beauty and wonder disturbed the fields of God.
1.21
--
Fixed with gold panel and opalescent hinge
A gate of dreams ajar on mystery's verge.
--
The darkness failed and slipped like a falling cloak
From the reclining body of a god.
--
Outpoured the revelation and the flame.
1.25
--
Interpreting a recondite beauty and bliss
In colour's hieroglyphs of mystic sense,
--
Of which our thoughts and hopes are signal flares;
A lonely splendour from the invisible goal
--
Ambassadress twixt eternity and change,
The omniscient Goddess leaned across the breadths
--
All grew a consecration and a rite.
1.35
Air was a vibrant link between earth and heaven;
The wide-winged hymn of a great priestly wind
Arose and failed upon the altar hills;
The high boughs prayed in a revealing sky.
--
On this anguished and precarious field of toil
Outspread beneath some large indifferent gaze,
Impartial witness of our joy and bale,
Our prostrate soil bore the awakening ray.
--
Here too the vision and prophetic gleam
Lit into miracles common meaningless shapes;
--
The worship of a Presence and a Power
Too perfect to be held by death-bound hearts,
--
Lines with its passion and mystery Matter's mask
and squ anders eternity on a beat of Time.
--
The message ceased and waned the messenger.
1.42
--
The hue and marvel of the supernal beam:
She looked no more on our mortality.
--
The rarity and wonder lived no more.
1.44
--
The thous and peoples of the soil and tree
Obeyed the unforeseeing instant's urge,
--
and Savitri too awoke among these tribes
That hastened to join the brilliant Summoner's chant
--
The proud and conscious wideness and the bliss
She had brought with her into the human form,
--
Earth's grain that needs the sap of pleasure and tears
Rejected the undying rapture's boon:
--
Her passion-flower of love and doom she gave.
2.9
--
Her self and all she was she had lent to men,
Hoping her greater being to implant
--
Of that assault of ether and of fire;
It murmurs at its sorrowless happiness,
--
and the might and sweetness of its absolute Voice.
2.12
--
It meets the sons of God with death and pain.
2.13
--
A fire has come and touched men's hearts and gone;
A few have caught flame and risen to greater life.
2.15
Too unlike the world she came to help and save,
Her greatness weighed upon its ignorant breast
--
From all of whom she was the star and stay;
Too great to impart the peril and the pain,
In her torn depths she kept the grief to come.
--
Unhelped she must foresee and dread and dare.
2.20
The long-foreknown and fatal morn was here
Bringing a noon that seemed like every noon.
--
Man only marks and God's all-seeing eyes.
2.22
--
In its grim rendezvous with death and fear,
No cry broke from her lips, no call for aid;
--
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:
--
Obtuse and tranquil like the stone and star.
2.28
--
and recognised the close and lingering ache,
Deep, quiet, old, made natural to its place,
--
Back to the yoke of ignorance and fate,
Back to the labour and stress of mortal days,
Lighting a pathway through strange symbol dreams
--
All came back to her: Earth and Love and Doom,
The ancient disputants, encircled her
--
Awoke to struggle and the pang divine,
and in the shadow of her flaming heart,
--
A stone-still figure of high and godlike Pain
Stared into Space with fixed regardless eyes
--
The sacrifice of suffering and desire
Earth offers to the immortal Ecstasy
--
Her soul arose confronting Time and Fate.
2.41
01.02 - Natures Own Yoga, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A Yoga of the Art of Life Sri Aurobindo and his School
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Part OneNatures Own Yoga
--
Sri Aurobindo's Yoga is in the direct line of Nature's own Yoga. Nature has a Yoga, which she 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 higher and vaster consciousness.
This process of a developing consciousness in Nature is precisely what is known as Evolution. It is the bringing out and fixing of a higher and higher principle of consciousness, hitherto involved and concealed behind the veil, in the earth consciousness as a dynamic factor in Nature's manifest working. Thus, the first stage of evolution is the status of inconscient Matter, of the lifeless physical elements; the second stage is that of the semi-conscious life in the plant, the third that of the conscious life in the animal, and finally the fourth stage, where we st and at present, is that of the embodied self-conscious life in man.
The course of evolution has not come to a stop with man and the next stage, Sri Aurobindo says, which Nature envisages and is labouring to bring out and establish is the life now superconscious to us, embodied in a still higher type of created being, that of the superman or god-man. The principle of consciousness which will determine the nature and build of this new, being is a spiritual principle beyond the mental principle which man now incarnates: it may be called the Supermind or Gnosis.
For, till now Mind has been the last term of the evolutionary consciousness Mind as developed in man is the highest instrument built up and organised by Nature through which the self-conscious being can express itself. That is why the Buddha said: Mind is the first of all principles, Mind is the highest of all principles: indeed Mind is the constituent of all principlesmana puvvangam dhamm1. The consciousness beyond mind has not yet been made a patent and dynamic element in the 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 the creative activities of poets and artists, in the finer and nobler urges of heroes and great men of action. But the utmost that has been achieved, the summit reached in that direction, as exampled in spiritual disciplines, involves a withdrawal from the evolutionary cycle, a merging and an absorption into the static status that is altogether beyond it, that lies, as it were, at the other extreme the Spirit in itself, Atman, Brahman, Sachchidan anda, Nirvana, the One without a second, the Zero without a first.
The first contact that one has with this static supra-reality is through the higher ranges of the mind: a direct and closer communion is established through a plane which is just above the mind the Overmind, as Sri Aurobindo calls it. The Overmind dissolves or transcends the ego-consciousness which limits the being to its individualised formation bounded by an outward and narrow frame or sheath of mind, life and body; it reveals the universal Self and Spirit, the cosmic godhead and its myriad forces throwing up myriad forms; the world-existence there appears as a play of ever-shifting veils upon the face of one ineffable reality, as a mysterious cycle of perpetual creation and destructionit is the overwhelming vision given by Sri Krishna to Arjuna in the Gita. At the same time, the initial and most intense experience which this cosmic consciousness brings is the extreme relativity, contingency and transitoriness of the whole flux, and a necessity seems logically and psychologically imperative to escape into the abiding substratum, the ineffable Absoluteness.
This has been the highest consummation, the supreme goal which the purest spiritual experience and the deepest aspiration of the human consciousness generally sought to attain. But in this view, the world or creation or Nature came in the end to be looked upon as fundamentally a product of Ignorance: ignorance and suffering and incapacity and death were declared to be the very hallmark of things terrestrial. The Light that dwells above and beyond can be made to shed for a while some kind of lustre upon the mortal darkness but never altogether to remove or change itto live in the full light, to be in and of the Light means to pass beyond. Not that there have not been other str ands and types of spiritual experiences and aspirations, but the one we are considering has always struck the major chord and dominated and drowned all the rest.
But the initial illusory consciousness of the Overmind need not at all lead to the static Brahmic consciousness or Sunyam alone. As a matter of fact, there is in this particular processes of consciousness a hiatus between the two, between Maya and Brahman, as though one has to leap from the one into the other somehow. This hiatus is filled up in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga by the principle of Supermind, not synthetic-analytic2 in knowledge like Overmind and the highest mental intelligence, but inescapably unitarian even in the utmost diversity. Supermind is the Truth-consciousness at once static and dynamic, self-existent and creative: in Supermind the Brahmic consciousness Sachchidan andais ever self-aware and ever manifested and embodied in fundamental truth-powers and truth-forms for the play of creation; it is the plane where the One breaks out into the Many and the Many still remain one, being and knowing themselves to be but various self-expressions of the One; it develops the spiritual archetypes, the divine names and forms of all individualisations of an evolving existence.
SRI AUROBINDO
The Upanishads speak of a solar and a lunar Path in the spiritual consciousness. Perhaps they have some reference to these two linesone through the Mayic consciousness of the Overmind enters into the static Bliss, ecstatic Nihil, and the other mounts still farther to the solar status which is a mass, a sea, an infinity of that light and ecstasy but which can at the same time express and embody itself as the creative Truth-consciousness (srya svitr ).
In the Supermind things exist in their perfect spiritual reality; each is consciously the divine reality in its transcendent essence, its cosmic extension, its, spiritual individuality; the diversity of a manifested existence is there, but the mutually exclusive separativeness has not yet arisen. The ego, the knot of separativity, appears at a later and lower stage of involution; what is here is indivisible nexus of individualising centres of the one eternal truth of being. Where Supermind and Overmind meet, one can see the multiple godheads, each distinct in his own truth and beauty and power and yet all together forming the one supreme consciousness infinitely composite and inalienably integral. But stepping back into Supermind one sees something moreOneness gathering into itself all diversity, not destroying it, but annulling and forbidding the separative consciousness that is the beginning of Ignorance. The first shadow of the Illusory Consciousness, the initial possibility of the movement of Ignorance comes in when the supramental light enters the penumbra of the mental sphere. The movement of Supermind is the movement of light without obscurity, straight, unwavering, unswerving, absolute. The Force here contains and holds in their oneness of Reality the manifold but not separated lines of essential and unalloyed truth: its march is the inevitable progression of each one assured truth entering into and upholding every other and therefore its creation, play or action admits of no trial or stumble or groping or deviation; for each truth rests on all others and on that which harmonises them all and does not act as a Power diverging from and even competing with other Powers of being. In the Overmind commences the play of divergent possibilities the simple, direct, united and absolute certainties of the supramental consciousness retire, as it were, a step behind and begin to work themselves out through the interaction first of separately individualised and then of contrary and contradictory forces. In the Overmind there 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 the others are used by it for its own enhancement until in the denser and darker reaches 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 the concretisation or devolution of the powers of Conscious Being into a play of united diversity; but on the line which ends in Matter it enters into more and more obscure forms and forces and finally the virtual eclipse of the supreme light of the Divine Consciousness. Creation as it descends' towards the Ignorance becomes an involution of the Spirit through Mind and Life into Matter; evolution is a movement backward, a return journey from Matter towards the Spirit: it is the unravelling, the gradual disclosure and deliverance of the Spirit, the ascension and revelation of the involved consciousness through a series of awakeningsMatter awakening into Life, Life awakening into Mind and Mind now seeking to awaken into something beyond the Mind, into a power of conscious Spirit.
The apparent or actual result of the movement of Nescienceof Involutionhas been an increasing negation of the Spirit, but its hidden purpose is ultimately to embody the Spirit in Matter, to express here below in cosmic Time-Space the splendours of the timeless Reality. The 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, the eternal Spirit Consciousness which is the secret truth and reality in Time itself as well as behind it, might be established and that the Divine might be possessed, or rather, possess itself not in one unvarying mode of the static consciousness, as it does even now behind the cosmic play, but in the play itself and in the multiple mode of the terrestrial existence.
II
The secret of evolution, I have said, is an urge towards the release and unfoldment of consciousness out of an apparent unconsciousness. In the early stages the movement is very slow and gradual; there it is Nature's original unconscious process. In man it acquires the possibility of a conscious and therefore swifter and concentrated process. and this is in fact the function of Yoga proper, viz, to bring about the evolution of consciousness by hastening the process of Nature through the self-conscious will of man.
An organ in the human being has been especially developed to become the effective instrument of this accelerated Yogic process the self-consciousness which I referred to as being the distinctive characteristic of man is a function of this organ. It is his soul, his psychic being; originally it is the spark of the Divine Consciousness which came down and became involved in Matter and has been endeavouring ever since to release itself through the upward march of evolution. It is this which presses on continually as the stimulus to the evolutionary movement; and in man it has attained sufficient growth and power and has come so far to the front from behind the veil that it can now lead and mould his external consciousness. It is also the channel through which the Divine Consciousness can flow down into the inferior levels of human nature. It is the being no bigger than the thumb ever seated within the heart, spoken of in the Upanishads. It is likewise the basis of true individuality and personal identity. It is again the reflection or expression in evolutionary Nature of one's essential selfjivtman that is above, an eternal portion of the Divine, one with the Divine and yet not dissolved and lost in it. The psychic being is thus on the one h and in direct contact with the Divine and the higher consciousness, and on the other it is the secret upholder and controller' (bhart, antarymin) of the inferior consciousness, the hidden nucleus round which the body and the life and the mind of the individual are built up and organised.
The first decisive step in Yoga is taken when one becomes conscious of the psychic being, or, looked at from the other side, when the psychic being comes forward and takes possession of the external being, begins to initiate and influence the movements of the mind and life and body and gradually free them from the ordinary round of ignorant nature. The awakening of the psychic being means, as I have said, not only a deepening and heightening of the consciousness and its release from the obscurity and limitation of the inferior Prakriti, confined to the lower threefold status, into what is behind and beyond; it means also a return of the deeper and higher consciousness upon the lower hemisphere and a consequent purification and illumination and regeneration of the latter. Finally, when the psychic being is in full self-possession and power, it can be the vehicle of the direct supramental consciousness which will then be able to act freely and absolutely for the entire transformation of the external nature, its transfiguration into a perfect body of the Truth-consciousness in a word, its divinisation.
This then is the supreme secret, not the renunciation and annulment, but the transformation of the ordinary human nature : first of all, its psychicisation, that is to say, making it move and live and be in communion and identification with the light of the psychic being, and, secondly, through the soul and the ensouled mind and life and body, to open out into the supramental consciousness and let it come down here below and work and achieve.
The soul or the true being in man uplifted in the supramental consciousness and at the 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 the Divine Will and Purposesuch is the 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 the destined transcendence and transformation can take place.
It is not easy, however, nor is it necessary for the 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 the collective life of the new humanity would function or what would be the composition of its social fabric. For what is happening is a living process, an organic growth; it is being elaborated through the actions and reactions of multitudinous forces and conditions, known and unknown; the precise configuration of the final outcome cannot be predicted with exactitude. But the Power that is at work is omniscient; it is selecting, rejecting, correcting, fashioning, creating, co-ordinating elements in accordance with and by the drive of the inviolable law of Truth and Harmony that reigns in Light's own homeswe dame the Supermind.
It is also to be noted that as mind is not the last limit of the march of evolution, even so the progress of evolution will not stop with the manifestation and embodiment of the Supermind. There are other still higher principles beyond and they too presumably await manifestation and embodiment on earth. Creation has no beginning in time ( andi) nor has it an end (ananta). It is an eternal process of the unravelling of the mysteries of the Infinite. Only, it may be said that with the Supermind the creation here enters into a different order of existence. Before it there was the domain of Ignorance, after it will come the reign of Light and Knowledge. Mortality has been the governing principle of life on earth till now; it will be replaced by the consciousness of immortality. Evolution has proceeded through struggle and pain; hereafter it will be a spontaneous, harmonious and happy flowering.
Now, with regard to the time that the present stage of evolution is likely to take for its fulfilment, one can presume that since or if the specific urge and stress has manifested and come up to the front, this very fact would show that the problem has become a problem of actuality, and even that it can be dealt with as if it had to be solved now or never. We have said that in man, with man's self-consciousness or the consciousness of the psychic being as the instrument, evolution has attained the capacity of a swift and concentrated process, which is the process of Yoga; the process will become swifter and more concentrated, the more that instrument grows and gathers power and is infused with the divine afflatus. In fact, evolution has been such a process of gradual acceleration in tempo from the very beginning. The earliest stage, for example, the stage of dead Matter, of the play of the mere chemical forces was a very, very long one; it took millions and millions of years to come to the point when the manifestation of life became possible. But the period of elementary life, as manifested in the plant world that followed, although it too lasted a good many millions of years, was much briefer than the preceding periodit ended with the advent of the first animal form. The age of animal life, again, has been very much shorter than that of the plant life before man came upon earth. and man is already more than a million or two years oldit is fully time that a higher order of being should be created out of him.
The Dhammapada, I. 1
The Supermind is not merely synthetic. The Supermind is synthetic only on the lowest spaces of itself, where it has to prepare the principles of Overmind,synthesis is necessary only where analysis has taken place, one has dissected everything, put in pieces (analysis), so one has to piece together. But Supermind is unitarian, has never divided up, so it does not need to add and piece together the parts and fragments. It has always held the conscious Many together in the conscious One.
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A Yoga of the Art of Life Sri Aurobindo and his School
01.02 - Sri Aurobindo - Ahana and Other Poems, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
object:01.02 - Sri Aurobindo - Ahana and Other Poems
author class:Nolini Kanta Gupta
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Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsSri Aurobindo: Ahana and Other Poems
Sri Aurobindo: Ahana and Other Poems
What is the world that Sri Aurobindo sees and creates? Poetry is after all passion. By passion I do not mean the fury of emotion nor the fume of sentimentalism, but what lies behind at their source, what lends them the force they have the sense of the "gr andly real," the vivid and pulsating truth. What then is the thing that Sri Aurobindo has visualised, has endowed with a throbbing life and made a poignant reality? Victor Hugo said: Attachez Dieu au gibet, vous avez la croixTie God to the gibbet, you have the cross. Even so, infuse passion into a thing most prosaic, you create sublime poetry out of it. What is the 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 aesthetic treatment, not usually, that is to say, nor in the supreme manner. Sri Aurobindo has thrown such a material into his poetic fervour and created a sheer beauty, a stupendous reality out of it. Herein lies the 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 philosopher, but a philosopher chanting out his philosophy in sheer poetry has been one of the rarest spectacles.1 I can think of only one instance just now where a philosopher has almost succeeded being a great poet I am referring to Lucretius and his De Rerum Natura. Neither Shakespeare nor Homer had anything like philosophy in their poetic creation. and in spite of some inclination to philosophy and philosophical ideas Virgil and Milton were not philosophers either. Dante sought perhaps consciously and deliberately to philosophise in his Paradiso I Did he? The less Dante then is he. For it is his Inferno, where he is a passionate visionary, and not his Paradiso (where he has put in more thought-power) that marks the 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 the full breath, the integral force to poetic inspiration if it is not the problem of existence itself, of God, Soul and Immortality, things that touch, that are at the very root of life and reality? What can most concern man, what can strike the deepest fount in him, unless it is the mystery of his own being, the why and the whither of it all? But mankind has been taught and trained to live merely or mostly on earth, and poetry has been treated as the expression of human joys and sorrows the tears in mortal things of which Virgil spoke. The savour of earth, the thrill of the flesh has been too sweet for us and we have forgotten other sweetnesses. It is always the 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 they are in their own home, in other words, treated philosophically and yet in a supreme poetic manner, has always been a rarity. We have, indeed, in India the Gita and the Upanishads, great philosophical poems, if there were any. But for one thing they are on dizzy heights out of the reach of common man and for another they are idolised more as philosophy than as poetry. Doubtless, our Vaishnava poets sang of God and Love Divine; and Rabindranath, in one sense, a typical modern Vaishnava, did the same. and their songs are masterpieces. But are they not all human, too human, as the mad prophet would say? In them it is the human significance, the human manner that touches and moves us the spiritual significance remains esoteric, is suggested, is a matter of deduction. Sri Aurobindo has dealt with spiritual experiences in a different way. He has not clothed them in human symbols and allegories, in images and figures of the mere earthly and secular life: he presents them in their nakedness, just as they are seen and realised. He has not sought to tone down the rigour of truth with contrivances that easily charm and captivate the common human mind and heart. Nor has he indulged like so many poet philosophers in vague generalisations and colourless or too colourful truisms that do not embody a clear thought or rounded idea, a radiant judgment. Sri Aurobindo has given us in his poetry thoughts that are clear-cut, ideas beautifully chiselledhe is always luminously forceful.
Take these Vedantic lines that in their limpidity and harmonious flow beat anything found in the fine French poet Lamartine:
It is He in the sun who is ageless and deathless,
and into the midnight His shadow is thrown;
When darkness was blind and engulfed within darkness,
He was seated within it immense and alone.2
or these that contain the metaphysics of a spiritual life:
--
From which we came and which we are; I heard
The ages past
Whisper their history, and I knew the Word
That forth was cast
--
Through endless Space and on Time's iron wings
A rhythm runs
Our lives pursue, and till the strain's complete
That now so moans
and falters, we upon this greenness meet,
That measure tread.3
--
He dawns upon us and we would pursue,
But who has found Him or what arms possessed ?4
This is sheer philosophy, told with an almost philosophical bluntnessmay be, but is it mere philosophy and mediocre poetry? Once more listen to the Upanishadic lines:
Deep in the luminous secrecy, the mute
--
and no voice sings,
Light is not, nor our darkness, nor these bright
--
and luminous bliss,
The sweet vast centre and the cave divine
Called Paradise,
--
It is the bare truth, "truth in its own home", as I have said already using a phrase of the ancient sages, that is formulated here without the prop of any external symbolism. There is no veil, no mist, no uncertainty or ambiguity. It is clarity itself, an almost scientific exactness and precision. In all this there is something of the straightness and fullness of vision that characterised the Vedic Rishis, something of their supernal genius which could mould speech into the very expression of what is beyond speech, which could sublimate the small and the finite into forms of the Vast and the Infinite. Mark how in these aphoristic lines embodying a deep spiritual experience, the inexpressible has been expressed with a luminous felicity:
Delight that labours in its opposite,
Faints in the rose and on the rack is curled.6
or
He made an eager death and called it life,
He stung Himself with bliss and called it pain.7
To humanise the Divine, that is what we all wish to do; for the 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 other form of thine that is benign and humane". All earthly imageries we lavish upon the 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 the rigours of a supreme experience, not because we have no adequate terms for it. The same human or earthly terms could be used differently if we had a different consciousness. Thus the Vedic Rishis sought not to humanise the Divine, their purpose was rather to divinise the human. and their allegorical language, although rich in terrestrial figures, does not carry the impress and atmosphere of mere humanity and earthliness. For in reality the symbol is not merely the symbol. It is mere symbol in regard to the truth so long as we take our st and on the lower plane when we have to look at the truth through the symbol; but if we view it from the higher plane, from truth itself, it is no longer mere symbol but the very truth bodied forth. Whatever there is of symbolism on earth and its beauties, in sense and its enjoyments, is then transfigured into the expression of the truth, of the divinity itself. We then no longer speak in human language but in the language of the gods.
We have been speaking of philosophy and the philosophic manner. But what are the exact implications of the words, let us ask again. They mean nothing more and nothing lessthan the force of thought and the mass of thought content. After all, that seems to be almost the whole difference between the past and the 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 the 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 the classic definition given by Shakespeare of the poet
Of imagination all compact.. . .
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The heart and its urges, the vital and its surges, the physical impulsesit is these of which the poets sang in their infinite variations. But the mind proper, that is to say, the higher reflective ideative mind, was not given the right of citizenship in the domain of poetry. I am not forgetting the so-called Metaphysicals. The element of metaphysics among the Metaphysicals has already been called into question. There is here, no doubt, some theology, a good dose of mental cleverness or conceit, but a modern intellectual or rather rational intelligence is something other, something more than that. Even the metaphysics that was comm andeered here had more or less a decorative value, it could not be taken into the pith and substance of poetic truth and beauty. It was a decoration, but not unoften a drag. I referred to the Upanishads, but these strike quite a different, almost an opposite line in this connection. They are in a sense truly metaphysical: they bypass the mind and the mental powers, get hold of a higher mode of consciousness, make a direct contact with truth and beauty and reality. It was Buddha's credit to have forged this missing link in man's spiritual consciousness, to have brought into play the power of the rational intellect and used it in support of the spiritual experience. That is not to say that he was the very first person, the originator who initiated the movement; but at least this seems to be true that in him and his au thentic followers the movement came to the forefront of human consciousness and attained the proportions of a major member of man's psychological constitution. We may remember here that Socrates, who started a similar movement of rationalisation in his own way in Europe, was almost a contemporary of the Buddha.
Poetry as an expression of thought-power, poetry weighted with intelligence and rationalised knowledge that seems to me to be the end and drive, the secret sense of all the mystery of modern technique. The combination is risky, but not impossible. In the spiritual domain the Gita achieved this miracle to a considerable degree. Still, the power of intelligence and reason shown by Vyasa is of a special order: it is a sublimated function of the faculty, something aloof and other-worldly"introvert", a modern mind would term it that is to say, something a priori, st anding in its own au thenticity and self-sufficiency. A modern intelligence would be more scientific, let us use the word, more matter-of-fact and sense-based: the mental light should not be confined in its ivory tower, however high that may be, but brought down and placed at the service of our perception and appreciation and explanation of things human and terrestrial; made immanent in the mundane and the ephemeral, as they are commonly called. This is not an impossibility. Sri Aurobindo seems to have done the thing. In him we find the three terms of human consciousness arriving at an absolute fusion and his poetry is a wonderful example of that fusion. The three terms are the spiritual, the intellectual or philosophical and the physical or sensational. The intellectual, or more generally, the mental, is the intermediary, the Paraclete, as he himself will call it later on in a poem9 magnificently exemplifying the point we are trying to make out the agent who negotiates, bridges and harmonises the two other firmaments usually supposed to be antagonistic and incompatible.
Indeed it would be wrong to associate any cold ascetic nudity to the spiritual body of Sri Aurobindo. His poetry is philosophic, abstract, no doubt, but every philosophy has its practice, every abstract thing its concrete application,even as the soul has its body; and the fusion, not mere union, of the two is very characteristic in him. The deepest and unseizable flights of thought he knows how to clo the with a Kalidasian richness of imagery, or a Keatsean gusto of sensuousness:
. . . . .O flowers, O delight on the tree-tops burning!
Grasses his kine have grazed and crushed by his feet in the dancing!
Yamuna flowing with song, through the greenness always advancing!
--
Sounds in our ears in the night and our souls of their teguments baring
Hales them out naked and absolute, out to his wood l ands eternal,
Out to his moonlit dances, his dalliance sweet and supernal;10
and it would be wrong too to suppose that there is want of sympathy in Sri Aurobindo for ordinary humanity, that he is not susceptible to sentiments, to the weaknesses, that stir the natural man. Take for example this line so instinct with a haunting melancholy strain:
Cold are your rivers of peace and their banks are leafless and lonely.
or,
Come to our tangled sunbeams, dawn on our twilights and shadows
or again,
Skies of monotonous calm and his stillness slaying the ages?
All the tragedy, the entire pathos of human life is concentrated in this line so simple, yet so gr and:
--
and the whole aspiration of striving mortality finds its echo in:
A song not master of its note, a cry
--
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 the clear lines of a summer sky:
O thou golden image,
--
and yet, I should say, in all this it is not mere the human that is of supreme interest, but something which even in being human yet transcends it.
and here, let me point out, the capital difference between the European or rather the Hellenic spirit and the Indian spirit. It is the Indian spirit to take st and upon divinity and thence to embrace and mould what is earthly and human. The Greek spirit took its st and pre-eminently on earth and what belongs to earth. In Europe Dante's was a soul spiritualised more than perhaps any other and yet his is not a Hindu soul. The utmost that he could say after all the experience of the tragedy of mortality was:
Io no piangeva, sidentro impietrai13
--
My mind within grew holy, calm and still
Like the snow.
--
The Greek sings of the humanity of man, the Indian the divinity of man. It is the Hellenic spirit that has very largely moulded our taste and we have forgotten that an equally poetic world exists in the domain of spiritual life, even in its very severity, as in that of earthly life and its sweetness. and as we are passionate about the earthly life, even so Sri Aurobindo has made a passion of the spiritual life. Poetry after all has a mission; the phrase "Art for Art's sake" may be made to mean anything. Poetry is not merely what is pleasing, not even what is merely touching and moving but what is at the same time, inspiring, invigorating, elevating. Truth is indeed beauty but it is not always the beauty that captivates the eye or the mere aesthetic sense.
and because our Vedic poets always looked beyond humanity, beyond earth, therefore could they make divine poetry of humanity and what is of earth. Therefore it was that they were pervadingly so gr andiose and sublime and puissant. The heroic, the epic was their natural element and they could not but express themselves in the gr and manner Sri Aurobindo has the same outlook and it is why we find in him the ring of the old-world manner.
Mark the stately march, the fullness of voice, the wealth of imagery, the vigour of movement of these lines:
--
jacinth and beryl
Gleam in the crannies, sapphire, smaragdus the
--
and cruel.
See, how the coursers divine champ spirited
--
Flows down mighty and broad like a war-horse
brought from its manger
--
and the majestic sweep and the wide rolling cadence of
These w anderings of the suns, these stars at play
--
The superb and the right imperial tone instinct with a concentrated force of
Who art thou, warrior armed gloriously
--
Thy gait is an empire and thine eye
Dominion.
This is poetry salutary indeed if there were any. We are so often and so much enamoured of the feminine languidness of poetry; the clear, the sane, the virile, that is a type of poetry that our nerves cannot always or for long st and. But there is poetry that is agrable and there is poetry that is gr and, as Sainte Beuve said. There are the pleasures of poetry and there are the "ardours of poetry". and the great poets are always gr and rather than agrable, full of the ardours of poetry rat her than the pleasures of poetry.
and if there is something in the creative spirit of Sri Aurobindo which tends more towards the strenuous than the genial, the arduous than the mellifluous, and which has more of the austerity of Vyasa than the easy felicity of Valmiki, however it might have affected the ultimate value of his creation, according to certain st andards,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 the Rik, the mantra that impels the gods to manifest upon earth, that fashions divinity in man.
James H. Cousins in his New Ways in English Literature describes Sri Aurobindo as "the philosopher as poet."
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From "Ahana" in Sri Aurobindo's Ahana and Other Poems. There is a later version of the poem in Collected Poems and Plays, Vol II.
"Reminiscence."
--
it cannot be said that Aurobindo shows any organic adaptation to music and melody. His thought is profound; his technical devices are commendable; but the music that enchants or disturbs is not there. Aurobindo is not another Tagore or Iqbal, or even Sarojini Naidu."The Times Literary Supplement, July 8, 1944.
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01.02 - The Creative Soul, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The difference between living organism and dead matter is that while the former is endowed with creative activity, the latter has only passive receptivity. Life adds, synthetises, new-createsgives more than what it receives; matter only sums up, gathers, reflects, gives just what it receives. Life is living, glad and green through its creative genius. Creation in some form or other must be the core of everything that seeks vitality and growth, vigour and delight. Not only so, but a thing in order to be real must possess a creative function. We consider a shadow or an echo unreal precisely because they do not create but merely image or repeat, they do not bring out anything new but simply reflect what is given. The whole of existence is real because it is eternally creative.
So the problem that concerns man, the riddle that humanity has to solve is how to find out and follow the path of creativity. If we are not to be dead matter nor mere shadowy illusions we must be creative. A misconception that has vitiated our outlook in general and has been the most potent cause of a sterilising atavism in the moral evolution of humanity is that creativity is an aristocratic virtue, that it belongs only to the chosen few. A great poet or a mighty man of action creates indeed, but such a creator does not appear very frequently. A Shakespeare or a Napoleon is a rare phenomenon; they are, in reality, an exception to the general run of mankind. It is enough if we others can underst and and follow themMahajano yena gatahlet the great souls initiate and create, the common souls have only to repeat and imitate.
But this is not as it should be, nor is it the truth of the matter. Every individual soul, however placed it may be, is by nature creative; every individual being lives to discover and to create.
The inmost reality of man is not a passive receptacle, a mere responsive medium but it is a dynamoa power-station generating and throwing out energy that produces and creates.
Now the centre of this energy, the matrix of creativity is the soul itself, one's own soul. If you want to createlive, grow and be real-find yourself, be yourself. The simple old wisdom still remains the eternal wisdom. It is because we fall off from our soul that we w ander into side-paths, paths that do not belong to our real nature and hence that lead to imitation and repetition, decay and death. This is what happens to what we call common souls. The force of circumstances, the pressure of environment or simply the momentum of custom or habit compel them to choose the easiest and the readiest way that may lie before them. They do not consult the dem and of the inner being but the requirement of the moment. Our bodily needs, our vital hungers and our mental prejudices obsess and obscure the impulsions that thrill the hidden spirit. We hasten to gratify the immediate and forget the eternal, we clutch at the shadow and let go the substance. We are carried away in the flux and tumult of life. It is a mixed and collective whirla Weltgeist that moves and governs us. We are helpless straws drifting in the current. But manhood dem ands that we stop and pause, pull ourselves out of the Maelstrom and be what we are. We must shape things as we want and not allow things to shape us as they want.
Let each take cognisance of the godhead that is within him for self is God and in the strength of the soul-divinity create his universe. It does not matter what sort of universe he- creates, so long as he creates it. The world created by a Buddha is not the same as that created by a Napoleon, nor should they be the same. It does not prove anything that I cannot become a Kalidasa; for that matter Kalidasa cannot become what I am. If you have not the genius of a Shankara it does not mean that you have no genius at all. Be and become yourselfma gridhah kasyachit dhanam, says the Upanishad. The fountain-head of creative genius lies there, in the free choice and the particular delight the self-determination of the spirit within you and not in the desire for your neighbours riches. The world has become dull and uniform and mechanical, since everybody endeavours to become not himself, but always somebody else. Imitation is servitude and servitude brings in grief.
In one's own soul lies the very height and profundity of a god-head. Each soul by bringing out the note that is his, makes for the 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 dem ands and takes joy in, that is to say, begins to create. Indeed there may be much difference in the forms that different souls take. But because each is itself, therefore each is grounded upon the fundamental equality of things. All our valuations are in reference to some st andard or other set up with a particular end in view, but that is a question of the practical world which in no way takes away from the intrinsic value of the greatness of the soul. So long as the thing is there, the how of it does not matter. Infinite are the ways of manifestation and all of them the very highest and the most sublime, provided they are a manifestation of the soul itself, provided they rise and flow from the same level. Whether it is Agni or Indra, Varuna, Mitra or the Aswins, it is the same supreme and divine inflatus.
The cosmic soul is true. But that truth is borne out, effectuated only by the truth of the individual soul. When the individual soul becomes itself fully and integrally, by that very fact it becomes also the cosmic soul. The individuals are the channels through which flows the Universal and the Infinite in its multiple emphasis. Each is a particular figure, aspectBhava, a particular angle of vision of All. The vision is entire and the figure perfect if it is not refracted by the lower and denser parts of our being. and for that the individual must first come to itself and shine in its opal clarity and translucency.
Not to do what others do, but what your soul impels you to do. Not to be others but your own self. Not to be anything but the very cosmic and infinite divinity of your soul. Therein lies your highest freedom and perfect delight. and there you are supremely creative. Each soul has a consortPrakriti, Naturewhich it creates out of its own rib. and in this field of infinite creativity the soul lives, moves and has its being.
***
01.02 - The Issue, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
That lived again and saw its end approach:
Dying, it lived imperishably in her;
Transient and vanishing from transient eyes,
Invisible, a fateful ghost of self,
--
All that she once had hoped and dreamed and been,
Flew past her eagle-winged through memory's skies.
--
Her life's broad highways and its sweet bypaths
Lay mapped to her sun-clear recording view,
--
and the paradise groves and peacock wings of Love
To joy clutched under the silent shadow of doom
--
The trail of old forgotten thoughts and deeds,
Disown the legacy of our buried selves,
--
Accepted blindly by the body and soul.
3.10
--
Its beginning lost, its motive and plot concealed,
A once living story has prepared and made
Our present fate, child of past energies.
--
Make a rased ground and shape anew her fate.
3.12
--
and life has no sense and love no place to st and,
She must plead her case upon extinction's verge,
--
and vindicate her right to be and love.
3.14
--
and hard sacrifice and tragic consequence.
3.15
--
The great and dolorous moment now was close.
3.17
--
The Gods above and Nature sole below
Were the spectators of that mighty strife.
--
and set with chequered sunbeams and bli the flowers
Immured her destiny's secluded scene.
--
With a background of the eternal and unique.
3.24
--
Had left in her deep room for thought and God.
3.25
--
and the hours forgot to pass towards grief and change.
3.27
--
Exalted and swift her young large-visioned spirit
Voyaging through worlds of splendour and of calm
Overflew the ways of Thought to unborn things.
--
As in a mystic and dynamic dance
A priestess of immaculate ecstasies
Inspired and ruled from Truth's revealing vault
Moves in some prophet cavern of the gods,
--
Even in earth-stuff, and their intense delight
Poured a supernal beauty on men's lives.
--
In a haven of safety and splendid soft repose
One could drink life back in streams of honey-fire,
--
and preen joy in her warmth and colour's rule.
3.37
--
At once she was the stillness and the word,
A continent of self-diffusing peace,
--
Assigner of the ordeal and the path
Who chooses in this holocaust of the soul
Death, fall and sorrow as the spirit's goads,
The dubious godhead with his torch of pain
--
August and pitiless in his calm outlook,
Heightening the Eternal's dreadful strategy,
--
Whether to bear with Ignorance and death
Or hew the ways of Immortality,
--
But not to submit and suffer was she born;
To lead, to deliver was her glorious part.
--
A chattel and a plaything of Time's lords,
Or one more pawn who comes destined to be pushed
--
This slow and strange uneasy compromise
Of limiting Nature with a limitless Soul,
--
and the dual tables and the Karmic norm
Restrain the Titan in us and the God:
Pain with its lash, joy with its silver bribe
--
But one stood up and lit the limitless flame.
4.26
--
So bows and must the mind-born will in man
Obedient to the statutes fixed of old,
--
Accustomed to the eternal and the true,
Her being conscious of its divine founts
--
In thoughts and actions graved in Nature's book,
She accepted not to close the luminous page,
--
It bore the stroke of That which kills and saves.
4.37
--
Her firm and changeless habits aping Law,
Her empire of unconscious deft device
--
But wisdom comes, and vision grows within:
Then Nature's instrument crowns himself her king;
He feels his witnessing self and conscious power;
His soul steps back and sees the Light supreme.
4.45
--
Empowered to force the door denied and closed
Smote from Death's visage its dumb absolute
and burst the bounds of consciousness and Time.
End of Book I - Canto II
01.02 - The Object of the Integral Yoga, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
... the object of the Yoga is to enter into and be possessed by the Divine Presence and Consciousness, to love the Divine for the Divine's sake alone, to be turned in our nature into nature of the Divine and in our will and works and life to be the instrument of the Divine. Its object is not to be a great Yogi or a superman (although that may come) or to grab at the Divine for the sake of the ego's power, pride or pleasure.
It is not for salvation though liberation comes by it and all else may come; but these must not be our objects. The Divine alone is our object.
To come to this Yoga merely with the idea of being a superman would be an act of vital egoism which would defeat its own object. Those who put this object in the front of their preoccupations invariably come to grief, spiritually and otherwise. The aim of this Yoga is, first, to enter into the divine consciousness by merging into it the separative ego (incidentally, in doing so one finds one's true individual self which is not the limited, vain and selfish human ego but a portion of the Divine) and, secondly, to bring down the supramental consciousness on earth to transform mind, life and body. All else can be only a result of these two aims, not the primary object of the Yoga.
The only creation for which there is any place here is the supramental, the bringing of the divine Truth down on the earth, not only into the mind and vital but into the body and into
Matter. Our object is not to remove all "limitations" on the expansion of the ego or to give a free field and make unlimited room for the fulfilment of the ideas of the human mind or the desires of the 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 the Divine wills and to create a world in which the Divine Will can manifest its truth no longer deformed by human ignorance or perverted and mistranslated by vital desire. The work which the sadhak of the supramental Yoga has to do is not his own work for which he can lay down his own conditions, but the work of the Divine which he has to do according to the conditions laid down by the Divine. Our Yoga is not for our own sake but for the sake of the Divine. It is not our own personal manifestation that we are to seek, the manifestation of the individual ego freed from all bounds and from all bonds, but the manifestation of the 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 the sake of the Divine.
This Yoga dem ands a total dedication of the life to the aspiration for the discovery and embodiment of the Divine Truth and to nothing else whatever. To divide your life between the Divine and some outward aim and activity that has nothing to do with the search for the Truth is inadmissible. The least thing of that kind would make success in the Yoga impossible.
You must go inside yourself and enter into a complete dedication to the spiritual life. All clinging to mental preferences must fall away from you, all insistence on vital aims and interests and attachments must be put away, all egoistic clinging to family, friends, country must disappear if you want to succeed in Yoga. Whatever has to come as outgoing energy or action, must proceed from the Truth once discovered and not from the lower mental or vital motives, from the Divine Will and not from personal choice or the preferences of the ego.
01.03 - Mystic Poetry, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: Ahana and Other Poems The Poetry in the Making
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsMystic Poetry
Mystic Poetry
I would like to make a distinction between mystic poetry and spiritual poetry. To equate mysticism and spirituality is not always happy or even correct. Thus, when Tagore sings:
Who comes along singing and steering his boat?
It seems a face familiar.
--
is just on the borderl and: it has succeeded in leaving behind the mystic domain, but has not yet entered the city of the Spiritat the most, it has turned the corner and approached the gate. Listen now,
My soul unhorizoned widens to measureless sight,
--
and peered into gleaming endless corridors,
Silent and listening in the silent heart
For the coming of the new and the unknown.||6.18||
He gazed across the empty stillness
and heard the footsteps of the undreamed Idea
In the far avenues of the Beyond.||6.19||
--
and saw the secret face that is our own...||6.20||
Is there not a fundamental difference, difference not merely with regard to the poetic personality, but with regard to the very stuff of consciousness? There is direct vision here, the fullness of light, the native rhythm and substance of revelation, as if
In the dead wall closing from a wider self,
--
When the Spirit speaks its own language in its own name, we have spiritual poetry. If, however, the Spirit speaksfrom choice or necessity-an alien language and manner, e.g., that of a profane consciousness, or of the consciousness of another domain, idealistic or philosophical or even occult, puts on or imitates spirit's language and manner, we have what we propose to call mystic poetry proper. When Samain sings of the body of the dancer:
Et Pannyre deviant fleur, flamme, papillon! ...
--
both so idealise, etherealize, almost spiritualise the earth and the flesh that they seem ostensibly only a vesture of something else behind, something mysterious and other-worldly, something other than, even just opposite to what they actually are or appear to be. That is the mystique of the senses which is a very characteristic feature of some of the best poetic inspirations of France. Baudelaire too, the Satanic poet, by the sheer intensity of sympathy and sincerity, pierces as it were into the soul of things and makes the ugly, the unclean, the diseased, the sordid throb and glow with an almost celestial light. Here is the Baudelairean manner:
Tout casss
--
It is not merely by addressing the beloved as your goddess that you can attain this mysticism; the 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 the body into a rhythm of the spirit. The other line of mysticism is common enough, viz., to express the spirit in terms and rhythms of the flesh. Tagore did that liberally, the Vaishnava poets did nothing but that, the Song of Solomon is an exquisite example of that procedure. There is here, however, a difference in degrees which is an interesting feature worth noting. Thus in Tagore the reference to the spirit is evident, that is the major or central chord; the earthly and the sensuous are meant as the name and form, as the body to render concrete, living and vibrant, near and intimate what otherwise 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 the spiritual import. and the mysticism lies precisely in the play of the two, a hide- and-seek between them. On the other h and, as I said, the greater portion of Vaishnava poetry, like a precious and beautiful casket, no doubt, hides the spiritual import: not the pure significance but the sign and symbol are luxuriously elaborated, they are placed in the foreground in all magnificence: as if it was their very purpose to conceal the real meaning. When the Vaishnava poet says,
O love, what more shall I, shall Radha speak,
--
In being and in breath
No other lord but thee can Radha seek.7
--
and yet my eyes
are not satiated; I have rested bosom upon bosom
--
of aeons and yet my heart is not soothed.. . .
they 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.
--
one can explain that it is the Christ calling the Church or God appealing to the human soul or one can simply find in it nothing more than a man pining for his woman. Anyhow I would not call it spiritual poetry or even mystic poetry. For in itself it does not carry any double or oblique meaning, there is no suggestion that it is applicable to other fields or domains of consciousness: it is, as it were, monovalent. An allegory is never mysticism. There is more mysticism in Wordsworth, even in Shelley and Keats, than in Spenser, for example, who st ands in this respect on the same ground as Bunyan in his The Pilgrim's Progress. Take Wordsworth as a Nature-worshipper,
Breaking the silence of the seas
--
and give the world a girdle with the sun!10
than in this pious morning hymn,
--
I held my breath and from a world of din
Solitarily I sat apart
and felt the being vistaed into fire
Of truth which did acquire
--
But first let us go to the fans et origo, be acquainted with the very genuine article in its purity and perfection, in its essential simplicity. I do not know of any other ideal exemplar than the Upanishad. Thus,
There the sun shines not and the moon has no
splendour and the stars are blind; there these
lightnings flash not, nor any earthly fire. For all
--
and by His shining all this shineth.14
Or this one equally deep, luminous and revealing:
Even as one Fire hath entered into the world but
--
itself to form and form; it is likewise outside these.15
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 the original and not to the translation which can never do full justice, even at its very best, to the poetic value in question. For apart from the individual genius of the poet, the greatness of the language, the instrument used by the poet, is also involved. It may well be what is comparatively easy and natural in the language of the gods (devabhasha) would mean a tour de force, if not altogether an impossibility, in a human language. The Sanskrit language was moulded and fashioned in the h ands of the Rishis, that is to say, those who lived and moved and had their being in the spiritual consciousness. The Hebrew or even the Zend does not seem to have reached that peak, that absoluteness of the spiritual tone which seems inherent in the Indian tongue, although those too breathed and grew in a spiritual atmosphere. The later languages, however, Greek or Latin or their modern descendants, have gone still farther from the source, they are much nearer to the earth and are suffused with the smell and effluvia of this vale of tears.
Among the ancients, strictly speaking, the later classical Lucretius was a remarkable phenomenon. 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 the mystery, the why and the how and the whither 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 rather Marxian,atheistic, materialistic. The dialectical materialism of today could find in him a lot of nourishment and support. But whatever the content, the manner has made a whole difference. There was an idealism, a clarity of vision and an intensity of perception, which however scientific apparently, gave his creation a note, an accent, an atmosphere high, tense, aloof, ascetic, at times bordering on the supra-sensual. It was a high light, a force of consciousness that at its highest pitch had the ring and vibration of something almost spiritual. For the basic principle of Lucretius' inspiration is a large thought-force, a tense perception, a taut nervous reactionit is not, of course, the identity in being with the inner realities which is the hallmark of a spiritual consciousness, yet it is something on the way towards that.
There have been other philosophical poets, a good number of them since thennot merely rationally philosophical, as was the vogue in the eighteenth century, but metaphysically philosophical, that is to say, inquiring not merely into the phenomenal but also into the labyrinths of the noumenal, investigating not only what meets the senses, but also things that are behind or beyond. Amidst the earlier efflorescence of this movement the most outst anding philosopher poet is of course Dante, the Dante of Paradiso, a philosopher in the mediaeval manner and to the extent a lesser poet, according to some. Goe the is another, almost in the gr and modern manner. Wordsworth is full of metaphysics from the crown of his head to the tip of his toe although his poetry, perhaps the major portion of it, had to undergo some kind of martyrdom because of it. and Shelley, the supremely lyric singer, has had a very rich undertone of thought-content genuinely metaphysical. and Browning and Arnold and Hardyindeed, if we come to the more moderns, we have to cite the whole host of them, none can be excepted.
We left out the Metaphysicals, for they can be grouped as a set apart. They are not so much metaphysical as theological, religious. They have a brain-content stirring with theological problems and speculations, replete with scintillating conceits and intricate fancies. Perhaps it is because of this philosophical burden, this intellectual bias that the Metaphysicals went into obscurity for about two centuries and it is precisely because of that that they are slowly coming out to the forefront and assuming a special value with the moderns. For the modern mind is characteristically thoughtful, introspective"introvert" and philosophical; even the exact physical sciences of today are rounded off in the end with metaphysics.
The growth of a philosophical thought-content in poetry has been inevitable. For man's consciousness in its evolutionary march is driving towards a consummation which includes and presupposes a development along that line. The mot d'ordre in old-world poetry was "fancy", imaginationremember the famous lines of Shakespeare characterising a poet; in modern times it is Thought, even or perhaps particularly abstract metaphysical thought. Perceptions, experiences, realisationsof whatever order or world they may beexpressed in sensitive and aesthetic terms and figures, that is poetry known and appreciated familiarly. But a new turn has been coming on with an increasing insistencea definite time has been given to that, since the Renaissance, it is said: it is the growing importance of Thought or brain-power as a medium or atmosphere in which poetic experiences find a sober and clear articulation, a definite and strong formulation. Rationalisation of all experiences and realisations is the keynote of the modern mentality. Even when it is said that reason and rationality are not ultimate or final or significant realities, that the irrational or the submental plays a greater role in our consciousness and that art and poetry likewise should be the expression of such a mentality, even then, all this is said and done in and through a strong rational and intellectual stress and frame the like of which cannot be found in the old-world frankly non-intellectual creations.
The religious, the mystic or the spiritual man was, in the past, more or Jess methodically and absolutely non-intellectual and anti-intellectual: but the modern age, the age of scientific culture, is tending to make him as strongly intellectual: he has to explain, not only present the object but show up its mechanism alsoexplain to himself so that he may have a total underst anding and a firmer grasp of the thing which he presents and explains to others as well who dem and a similar approach. He feels the necessity of explaining, giving the rationality the rationale the science, of his art; for without that, it appears to him, a solid ground is not given to the structure of his experience: analytic power, preoccupation with methodology seems inherent in the modern creative consciousness.
The philosophical trend in poetry has an interesting history with a significant role: it has acted as a force of purification, of sublimation, of katharsis. As man has risen from his exclusively or predominantly vital nature into an increasing mental poise, in the same way his creative activities too have taken this new turn and status. In the earlier stages of evolution the mental life is secondary, subordinate to the physico-vital life; it is only subsequently that the mental finds an independent and self-sufficient reality. A similar movement is reflected in poetic and artistic creation too: the thinker, the philosopher remains in the background at the outset, he looks out; peers through chinks and holes from time to time; later he comes to the forefront, assumes a major role in man's creative activity.
Man's consciousness is further to rise from the mental to over-mental regions. Accordingly, his life and activities and along with that his artistic creations too will take on a new tone and rhythm, a new mould and constitution even. For this transition, the higher mentalwhich is normally the field of philosophical and idealistic activitiesserves as the Paraclete, the Intercessor; it takes up the lower functionings of the consciousness, which are intense in their own way, but narrow and turbid, and gives, by purifying and enlarging, a wider frame, a more luminous pattern, a more subtly articulated , form for the higher, vaster and deeper realities, truths and harmonies to express and manifest. In the old-world spiritual and mystic poets, this intervening medium was overlooked for evident reasons, for human reason or even intelligence is a double-edged instrument, it can make as well as mar, it has a light that most often and naturally shuts off other higher lights beyond it. So it was bypassed, some kind of direct and immediate contact was sought to be established between the normal and the transcendental. The result was, as I have pointed out, a pure spiritual poetry, on the one h and, as in the Upanishads, or, on the other, religious poetry of various grades and denominations that spoke of the spiritual but in the terms and in the manner of the mundane, at least very much coloured and dominated by the latter. Vyasa was the great legendary figure in India who, as is shown in his Mahabharata, seems to have been one of the pioneers, if not the pioneer, to forge and build the missing link of Thought Power. The exemplar of the manner is the Gita. Valmiki's represented a more ancient and primary inspiration, of a vast vital sensibility, something of the kind that was at the basis of Homer's genius. In Greece it was Socrates who initiated the movement of speculative philosophy and the emphasis of intellectual power slowly began to find expression in the later poets, Sophocles and Euripides. But all these were very simple beginnings. The moderns go in for something more radical and totalitarian. The rationalising element instead of being an additional or subordinate or contri buting factor, must itself give its norm and form, its own substance and manner to the creative activity. Such is the present-day dem and.
The earliest preoccupation of man was religious; even when he concerned himself with the world and worldly things, he referred all that to the other world, thought of gods and goddesses, of after-death and other where. That also will be his last and ultimate preoccupation though in a somewhat different way, when he has passed through a process of purification and growth, a "sea-change". For although religion is an aspiration towards the truth and reality beyond or behind the world, it is married too much to man's actual worldly nature and carries always with it the shadow of profanity.
The religious poet seeks to tone down or cover up the mundane taint, since he does not know how to transcend it totally, in two ways: (1) by a strong thought-element, the metaphysical way, as it may be called and (2) by a strong symbolism, the occult way. Donne takes to the first course, Blake the second. and it is the alchemy brought to bear in either of these processes that transforms the merely religious into the mystic poet. The truly spiritual, as I have said, is still a higher 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 S and,
and a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your h and,
and Eternity in an hour.16
and a considerable impact of it is vibrant and aglow in these lines of a contemporary Indian poet:
Sky-lucent Bliss untouched by earthiness!
--
and all Thy formless glory turn to love
and mould Thy love into a human face.17
Something of the fullness of spiritual matter and manner overflows in these epic lines:
His spirit mingles with eternity's heart
and bears the silence of the Infinite. ||20.21||
In a divine retreat from mortal thought,
--
This, I say, is something different from the religious and even from the mystic. It is away from the merely religious, because it is naked of the vesture of humanity (in spite of a human face that masks it at times) ; it is something more than the merely mystic, for it does not stop being a signpost or an indication to the Beyond, but is itself the presence and embodiment of the Beyond. The mystic gives us, we can say, the magic of the Infinite; what I term the spiritual, the spiritual proper, gives in addition the logic of the Infinite. At least this is what distinguishes modern spiritual consciousness from the ancient, that is, Upanishadic spiritual consciousness. The Upanishad gives expression to the spiritual consciousness in its original and pristine purity and perfection, in its essential simplicity. It did not buttress itself with any logic. It is the record of fundamental experiences and there was no question of any logical exposition. But, as I have said, the modern mind requires and dem ands a logical element in its perceptions and presentations. Also it must needs be a different kind of logic that can satisfy and satisfy wholly the deeper and subtler movements of a modern consciousness. For the philosophical poet of an earlier age, when he had recourse to logic, it was the logic of the finite that always gave him the frame, unless he threw the whole thing overboard and leaped straight into the occult, the illogical and the a logical, like Blake, for instance. Let me illustrate and compare a little. When the older poet explains indriyani hayan ahuh, it is an allegory he resorts to, it is the logic of the finite he marshals to point to the infinite and the beyond. The stress of reason is apparent and effective too, but the pattern is what we are normally familiar with the movement, we can say, is almost Aristotelian in its rigour. Now let us turn to the following:
Our life is a holocaust of the Supreme. ||26.15||
--
Accepting sorrow and unconsciousness
Divinity's lapse from its own splendours wove
--
Here we have a pattern of thought-movement that does not seem to follow the lineaments of the normal brain-mind consciousness, although it too has a basis there: our customary line of reasoning receives a sudden shock, as it were, and then is shaken, moved, lifted up, transportedgradually or suddenly, according to the temperament of the listener. Besides, we have here the peculiar modern tone, which, for want of a better term, may be described as scientific. The impressimprimaturof Science is its rational coherence, justifying or justified by sense data, by physical experience, which gives us the pattern or model of an inexorable natural law. Here too we feel we are in the domain of such natural law but lifted on to a higher level.
This is what I was trying to make out as the distinguishing trait of the real spiritual consciousness that seems to be developing in the poetic creation of tomorrow, e.g., it has the same rationality, clarity, concreteness of perception as the scientific spirit has in its own domain and still it is rounded off with a halo of magic and miracle. That is the nature of the logic of the infinite proper to the spiritual consciousness. We can have a Science of the Spirit as well as a Science of Matter. This is the Thought element or what corresponds to it, of which I was speaking, the philosophical factor, that which gives form to the formless or definition to that which is vague, a nearness and familiarity to that which is far and alien. The fullness of the spiritual consciousness means such a thing, the presentation of a divine name and form. and this distinguishes it from the mystic consciousness which is not the supreme solar consciousness but the nearest approach to it. Or, perhaps, the mystic dwells in the domain of the Divine, he may even be suffused with a sense of unity but would not like to acquire the Divine's nature and function. Normally and generally he embodies all the aspiration and yearning moved by intimations and suggestions belonging to the human mentality, the divine urge retaining still the human flavour. We can say also, using a Vedantic terminology, that the mystic consciousness gives us the tatastha lakshana, the nearest approximative attribute of the attri buteless; or otherwise, it is the hiranyagarbha consciousness which englobes the multiple play, the coruscated possibilities of the Reality: while the spiritual proper may be considered as prajghana, the solid mass, the essential lineaments of revelatory knowledge, the typal "wave-particles" of the Reality. In the former there is a play of imagination, even of fancy, a decorative aesthesis, while in the latter it is vision pure and simple. If the spiritual poetry is solar in its nature, we can say, by extending the analogy, that mystic poetry is characteristically lunarMoon representing the delight and the magic that Mind and mental imagination, suffused, no doubt, with a light or a reflection of some light from beyond, is capable of (the Upanishad speaks of the Moon being born of the Mind).
To sum up and recapitulate. The evolution of the poetic expression in man has ever been an attempt at a return and a progressive approach to the spiritual source of poetic inspiration, which was also the original, though somewhat veiled, source from the very beginning. The movement has followed devious waysstrongly negative at timeseven like man's life and consciousness in general of which it is an organic member; but the ultimate end and drift seems to have been always that ideal and principle even when fallen on evil days and evil tongues. The poet's ideal in the dawn of the world was, as the Vedic Rishi sang, to raise things of beauty in heaven by his poetic power,kavi kavitv divi rpam sajat. Even a Satanic poet, the inaugurator, in a way, of modernism and modernistic consciousness, Charles Baudelaire, thus admonishes his spirit:
"Flyaway, far from these morbid miasmas, go and purify yourself in the higher air and drink, like a pure and divine liquor, the clear fire that fills the limpid spaces."18
That angelic poets should be inspired by the same ideal is, of course, quite natural: for they sing:
--
Poetry, actually however, has been, by and large, a profane and mundane affair: for it expresses the normal man's perceptions and feelings and experiences, human loves and hates and desires and ambitions. True. and yet there has also always been an attempt, a tendency to deal with them in such a way as can bring calm and puritykatharsisnot trouble and confusion. That has been the purpose of all Art from the ancient days. Besides, there has been a growth and development in the historic process of this katharsis. As by the sublimation of his bodily and vital instincts and impulses., man is gradually growing into the mental, moral and finally spiritual consciousness, even so the artistic expression of his creative activity has followed a similar line of transformation. The first and original transformation happened with religious poetry. The religious, one may say, is the profane inside out; that is to say, the religious man has almost the same tone and temper, the same urges and passions, only turned Godward. Religious poetry too marks a new turn and development of human speech, in taking the 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 the colouring of mental and moral idealism. A parallel process of katharsis is found in another class of poetic creation, viz., the allegory. Allegory or parable is the stage when the higher and inner realities are expressed wholly in the modes and manner, in the form and character of the normal and external, when moral, religious or spiritual truths are expressed in the terms and figures of the profane life. The higher or the inner ideal is like a loose clothing upon the ordinary consciousness, it does not fit closely or fuse. In the religious, however, the first step is taken for a mingling and fusion. The mystic is the beginning of a real fusion and a considerable ascension of the lower into the higher. The philosopher poet follows another line for the same katharsisinstead of uplifting emotions and sensibility, he proceeds by thought-power, by the ideas and principles that lie behind all movements and give a pattern to all things existing. The mystic can be of either type, the religious mystic or the philosopher mystic, although often the two are welded together and cannot be very well separated. Let us illustrate a little:
The spacious firmament on high,
--
and spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.20
This is religious poetry, pure and simple, expressing man's earliest and most elementary feeling, marked by a broad c andour, a rather shallow monotone. But that feeling is raised to a pitch of fervour and scintillating sensibility in Vaughan's
They are all gone into the world of light
and I alone sit lingering here, . . .
O Father of eternal life, and all
Created glories under Thee,
--
and by self-murder, red.
From this red earth, O Father, purge away
--
For though through many streights, and l ands I roame,
I launch at paradise, and saile towards home,23
The same poet is at once religious and mystic find philosophical in these lines, for example:
That All, which always is All every where,
Which cannot sinne, and yet all sinnes must beare,
Which cannot die, yet cannot chuse but die,
--
Thy Maker's maker, and thy Father's mother;
Thou 'hast light in darke; and shutst in little roome,
Immensity cloistered in thy deare wombe.24
--
and Eternity in an hour.25
Blake had this wonderful gift of transmuting the baser metal of mundane experience into the gold of a deep mystic and spiritual experience:
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
--
An allegorical structure has been transfused into a living and burning symbolism of an inner world.
But all that is left far behind, when we hear a new voice announcing an altogether new manner, revelatory of the truly and supremely spiritual consciousness, not simply mystic or religious but magically occult and carved out of the highest if recondite philosophia:
A finite movement of the Infinite
--
and guarded in the form a separate soul. ||42.17||
"The Golden Boat."
--
Albert Samain: "Pannyre awe talons d'or"Aux Flancs du Vase. and Pannyre became flower, flame, butterfly.. . . As though through a silky continuity of water In a divine flash showed Pannyre naked.
Mallarme: "Les Fleurs". "Vermilion like the pure toe of the seraph Reddened by the blush of dawns it trampled through."
--
Sri Aurobindo: Ahana and Other Poems The Poetry in the Making
01.03 - Rationalism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
What is Reason, the faculty that is said to be the proud privilege of man, the sovereign instrument he alone possesses for the purpose of knowing? What is the value of knowledge that Reason gives? For it is the manner of knowing, the particular faculty or instrument by which we know, that determines the nature and content of knowledge. Reason is the collecting of available sense-perceptions and a certain mode of working upon them. It has three component elements that have been defined as observation, classification and deduction. Now, the very composition of Reason shows that it cannot be a perfect instrument of knowledge; the limitations are the inherent limitations of the component elements. As regards observation there is a two-fold limitation. First, observation is a relative term and variable quantity. One observes through the prism of one's own observing faculty, through the bias of one's own personality and no two persons can have absolutely the same manner of observation. So Science has recognised the necessity of personal equation and has created an imaginary observer, a "mean man" as the st andard of reference. and this already takes us far away from the truth, from the reality. Secondly, observation is limited by its scope. All the facts of the 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 the surface of existence. and then it is these few and doubtful facts that Reason seeks to arrange and classify. That classification may hold good for certain immediate ends, for a temporary underst anding of the world and its forces, either in order to satisfy our curiosity or to gain some practical utility. For when we want to consider the world only in its immediate relation to us, a few and even doubtful facts are sufficient the more immediate the relation, the more immaterial the 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 the fundamental vices of observation and classification upon which it is based.
It might be said, however, that the guarantee or sanction of Reason does not lie in the extent of its application, nor can its subjective nature (or ego-centric predication, as philosophers would term it) vitiate the validity of its conclusions. There is, in fact, an inherent unity and harmony between Reason and Reality. If we know a little of Reality, we know the whole; if we know the subjective, we know also the objective. As in the part, so in the whole; as it is within, so it is without. If you say that I will die, you need not wait for my actual death to have the proof of your statement. The generalising power inherent in Reason is the guarantee of the certitude to which it leads. Reason is valid, as it does not betray us. If it were such as anti-intellectuals make it out to be, we would be making nothing but false steps, would always remain entangled in contradictions. The very success of Reason is proof of its being a reliable and perfect instrument for the knowledge of Truth and Reality. It is beside the mark to prove otherwise, simply by analysing the nature of Reason and showing the fundamental deficiencies of that nature. It is rather to the credit of Reason that being as it is, it is none the less a successful and trustworthy agent.
Now the question is, does Reason never fail? Is it such a perfect instrument as intellectualists think it to be? There is ground for serious misgivings. Reason says, for example, that the earth revolves round the sun: and reason, it is argued, is right, for we see that all the facts are conformableto it, even facts that were hitherto unknown and are now coming into our ken. But the difficulty is that Reason did not say that always in the past and may not say that always in the future. The old astronomers could explain the universe by holding quite a contrary theory and could fit into it all their astronomical data. A future scientist may come and explain the matter in quite a different way from either. It is only a choice of workable theories that Reason seems to offer; we do not know the fact itself, apart perhaps from exactly the amount that immediate sense-perception gives to each of us. Or again, if we take an example of another category, we may ask, does God exist? A c andid Rationalist would say that he does not know although he has his own opinion about the matter. Evidently, Reason cannot solve all the problems that it meets; it can judge only truths that are of a certain type.
It may be answered that Reason is a faculty which gives us progressive knowledge of the reality, but as a knowing instrument it is perfect, at least it is the only instrument at our disposal; even if it gives a false, incomplete or blurred image of the reality, it has the means and capacity of correcting and completing itself. It offers theories, no doubt; but what are theories? They are simply the gradually increasing adaptation of the knowing subject to the object to be known, the evolving revelation of reality to our perception of it. Reason is the 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.
But in knowledge it is precisely finality that we seek for and no mere progressive, asymptotic, rapprochement ad infinitum. No less than the Practical Reason, the Theoretical Reason also dem ands a categorical imperative, a clean affirmation or denial. If Reason cannot do that, it must be regarded as inefficient. It is poor consolation to man that Reason is gradually finding out the truth or that it is trying to grapple with the problems of God, Soul and Immortality and will one day pronounce its verdict. Whether we have or have not any other instrument of knowledge is a different question altogether. But in the meanwhile Reason st ands condemned by the evidence of its own limitation.
It may be retorted that if Reason is condemned, it is condemned by itself and by no other authority. All argumentation against Reason is a function of Reason itself. The deficiencies of Reason we find out by the rational faculty alone. If Reason was to die, it is because it consents to commit suicide; there is no other power that kills it. But to this our answer is that Reason has this miraculous power of self-destruction; or, to put it philosophically, Reason is, at best, an organ of self-criticism and perhaps the organ par excellence for that purpose. But criticism is one thing and creation another. and whether we know or act, it is fundamentally a process of creation; at least, without this element of creation there can be no knowledge, no act. In knowledge there is a luminous creativity, Revelation or Categorical Imperative which Reason does not and cannot supply but vaguely strains to seize. For that element we have to search elsewhere, not in Reason.
Does this mean that real knowledge is irrational or against Reason? Not so necessarily. There is a super-rational power for knowledge and Reason may either be a channel or an obstacle. If we take our st and upon Reason and then proceed to know, if we take the forms and categories of Reason as the inviolable schemata of knowledge, then indeed Reason becomes an obstacle to that super-rational power. If, on the other h and, Reason does not offer any set-form from beforeh and, does not insist upon its own conditions, is passive and simply receives and reflects what is given to it, then it becomes a luminous and sure channel for that higher and real knowledge.
The fact is that Reason is a lower manifestation of knowledge, it is an attempt to express on the mental level a power that exceeds it. It is the section of a vast and unitarian Consciousness-Power; the section may be necessary under certain conditions and circumstances, but unless it is viewed in its relation to the ensemble, unless it gives up its exclusive absolutism, it will be perforce arbitrary and misleading. It would still remain helpful and useful, but its help and use would be always limited in scope and temporary in effectivity.
***
01.03 - Sri Aurobindo and his School, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
object:01.03 - Sri Aurobindo and his School
author class:Nolini Kanta Gupta
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Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Part OneSri Aurobindo and his School
Sri Aurobindo and his School
A considerable amount of vague misunderst anding and misapprehension seems to exist in the minds of a certain section of our people as to what Sri Aurobindo is doing in his retirement at Pondicherry. On the other h and, a very precise exposition, an exact formula of what he is not doing has been curiously furnished by a well-known patriot in his indictment of what he chooses to call the Pondicherry School of contemplation. But he has arrived at this formula by openly and fearlessly affirming what does not exist; for the things that Sri Aurobindo is accused of doing are just the things that he is not doing. In the first place, Sri Aurobindo is not doing peaceful contemplation; in the second place, he is not doing active propag anda either; in the third place, he is not doing prnyma or even dhyna in the ordinary sense of the word; and, lastly, he is not proclaiming or following the maxim that although action may be tolerated as good, his particular br and of Yoga is something higher and better.
Evidently the eminent politician and his school of activism are labouring under a Himalayan confusion: when they speak of Sri Aurobindo, they really have in their mind some of the old schools of spiritual discipline. But one of the marked aspects of Sri Aurobindo's teaching and practice has been precisely his insistence on putting aside the inert and life-shunning quietism, illusionism, asceticism and monasticism of a latter-day and decadent India. These ideals are perhaps as much obstacles in his way as in the way of the activistic school. Only Sri Aurobindo has not had the 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 underst and what he is doing. The distinguished 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 the question is, what is nature and what is the kind of conquest that is sought, how are we to fight and what are the required arms and implements? A good general should foresee all this, frame his plan of campaign accordingly and then only take the field. The above-mentioned leader proposes ceaseless and unselfish action as the 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 the most vital part of nature is the region of the life-forces, the powers of disease and age and death, of strife and greed and lustall the instincts of the brute in man, all the dark aboriginal forces, the forces of ignorance that form the very groundwork of man's nature and his society. and then, as we rise next to the world of the mind, we find a twilight region where falsehood masquerades as truth, where prejudices move as realities, where notions rule as ideals.
This is the present nature of man, with its threefold nexus of mind and life and body, that st ands there to be fought and conquered. This is the inferior nature, of which the ancients spoke, that holds man down inexorably to a lower dharma, imperfect mode of life the life that is and has been the human order till today. No amount of ceaseless action, however selflessly done, can move this wheel of Nature even by a hair's breadth away from the path that it has carved out from of old. Human nature and human society have been built up and are run by the forces of this inferior nature, and whatever shuffling and reshuffling we may make in its apparent factors and elements, the general scheme and fundamental form of life will never change. To displace earth ( and to conquer nature means nothing less than that) and give it another orbit, one must find a fulcrum outside earth.
Sri Aurobindo does not preach flight from life and a retreat into the silent and passive Infinite; the goal of life is not, in his view, the extinction of life. Neither is he satisfied on that account to hold that life is best lived in the ordinary round of its unregenerate dharma. If the first is a blind alley, the second is a vicious circle,both lead nowhere.
Sri Aurobindo's sadhana starts from the perception of a Power that is beyond the ordinary nature yet is its inevitable master, a fulcrum, as we have said, outside the earth. For what is required first is the discovery and manifestation of a new soul-consciousness in man which will bring about by the very pressure and working out of its self-rule an absolute reversal of man's nature. It is the Asuras who are now holding sway over humanity, for man has allowed himself so long to be built in the image of the Asura; to dislodge the Asuras, the Gods in their sovereign might have to be forged in the 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 the outward field of present physical activities and their apparent actualities, not from the true forces and action of life. It is the retreat necessary to one who has to go back into himself to conquer a new plane of creative power,an entrance right into the world of basic forces, of fundamental realities, into the flaming heart of things where all actualities are born and take their first shape. It is the discovery of a power-house of tremendous energism and of the means of putting it at the 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 rather the nucleus of a new life that is to come. Quite naturally it has almost insignificant proportions at present to the outward eye, for the work is still of the nature of experiment and trial in very restricted limits, something in the nature of what is done in a laboratory when 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 there is a vigorous propag anda carried on in its behalf or that there is a large dem and for recruits. Only the few, who possess the call within and are impelled by the spirit of the future, have a chance of serving this high attempt and great realisation and st anding 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
and the blind Void struggles to live and see,
A thinker and toiler in the ideal's air,
Brought down to earth's dumb need her radiant power.
--
His birth held up a symbol and a sign;
His human self like a translucent cloak
--
Affiliated to cosmic Space and Time
and paying here God's debt to earth and man
A greater sonship was his divine right.
--
Entangled in the moment and its flow,
He kept the vision of the Vasts behind:
--
Artist of his own beauty and delight,
Immortal in our mortal poverty.
--
Determining predestined shape and act,
Passenger from life to life, from scale to scale,
--
A static Oneness and dynamic Power
Descend in him, the integral Godhead's seals;
His soul and body take that splendid stamp.
A long dim preparation is man's life,
A circle of toil and hope and war and peace
Tracked out by Life on Matter's obscure ground.
--
An endless spiral of ascent and fall
Until at last is reached the giant point
--
Original and supernal Immanence
Of which all Nature's process is the art,
--
Who labours at his high and difficult plan
In the wide workshop of the wonderful world,
--
A mystery of married Earth and Heaven
Annexed divinity to the mortal scheme.
--
In the griffin forefront of the Night and Day
A gap was rent in the all-concealing vault;
--
and broken the intellect's hard and lustrous lid;
Truth unpartitioned found immense sky-room;
An empyrean vision saw and knew;
The bounded mind became a boundless light,
--
Freedom and empire called to him from on high;
Above mind's twilight and life's star-led night
There gleamed the dawn of a spiritual day.
--
Humanity framed his movements less and less;
A greater being saw a greater world.
--
Left slumbering in a sealed and secret cave
The powers that sleep unused in man within.
--
They were his life's pattern and his privilege.
A pure perception lent its lucent joy:
--
Invade him with their happiness and their grief;
Their love, their anger, their unspoken hopes
--
A magical accord quickened and attuned
To ethereal symphonies the old earthy strings;
It raised the servitors of mind and life
To be happy partners in the soul's response,
Tissue and nerve were turned to sensitive chords,
Records of lustre and ecstasy; it made
The body's means the spirit's acolytes.
--
Where all things dreamed by the mind are seen and true
and all that the life longs for is drawn close.
--
Silent and listening in the silent heart
For the coming of the new and the unknown.
He gazed across the empty stillnesses
--
Strange powers and influences touched his life.
A vision came of higher realms than ours,
A consciousness of brighter fields and skies,
Of beings less circumscribed than brief-lived men
--
and lovelier scenes than earth's and happier lives.
A consciousness of beauty and of bliss,
A knowledge which became what it perceived,
Replaced the separated sense and heart
and drew all Nature into its embrace.
--
Air glowed and teemed with marvellous shapes and hues,
In the nostrils quivered celestial fragrances,
--
Held by intuitive heart and secret sense.
It caught the burden of secrecies sealed and dumb,
It voiced the unfulfilled dem and of earth
--
A laughter of sleepless pleasure foamed and spumed
and murmurings of desire that cannot die:
--
The gr andeur and greatness of its will to live,
Recall of the soul's adventure into space,
--
Its throb of satisfaction and content
In all the sweetness of the gifts of life,
Its large breath and pulse and thrill of hope and fear,
Its taste of pangs and tears and ecstasy,
Its rapture's poignant beat of sudden bliss,
The sob of its passion and unending pain.
The murmur and whisper of the unheard sounds
Which crowd around our hearts but find no window
--
There stooped with lightning neck and thunder's wings
A radiant hymn to the Inexpressible
--
Vision and dream were fables spoken by truth
Or symbols more veridical than fact,
--
Immortal eyes approached and looked in his,
and beings of many kingdoms neared and spoke:
The ever-living whom we name as dead
Could leave their glory beyond death and birth
To utter the wisdom which exceeds all phrase:
The kings of evil and the kings of good,
Appellants at the reason's judgment seat,
--
The gods of light and titans of the dark
Battled for his soul as for a costly prize.
--
It was a region of wonder and delight.
All now his bright clairaudience could receive;
--
Ever his consciousness and vision grew;
They took an ampler sweep, a loftier flight;
--
In rare and lucent intervals of hush
Into a signless region he could soar
--
and saw all things and creatures as itself
and knew all thought and word as its own voice.
There unity is too close for search and clasp
and love is a yearning of the One for the One,
--
All-seeing, motionless, sovereign and alone.
There knowledge needs not words to embody Idea;
--
A pause in the joy and anguish of the search
Restored the stress of Nature to God's calm.
--
His soul stood free, a witness and a king.
Absorbed no more in the moment-ridden flux
--
In his present he held his future and his past,
Felt in the seconds the uncounted years
--
The toiling Thinker widened and grew still,
Wisdom transcendent touched his quivering heart:
--
Through a last glimmer and drift of vanishing stars
The superconscient realms of motionless Peace
Where judgment ceases and the word is mute
and the Unconceived lies pathless and alone.
There came not form or any mounting voice;
There only were Silence and the Absolute.
Out of that stillness mind new-born arose
--
The high and luminous tension breaks too soon,
The body's stone stillness and the life's hushed trance,
The breathless might and calm of silent mind;
Or slowly they fail as sets a golden day.
--
A nostalgia of old little works and joys,
A need to call back small familiar selves,
To tread the accustomed and inferior way,
The need to rest in a natural pose of fall,
--
A subtle and all-knowing guest and guide,
Till they too feel the need and will to change.
All here must learn to obey a higher law,
--
Dim and eclipsed, his human outside strove
To feel again the old sublimities,
--
In this oscillation between earth and heaven,
In this ineffable communion's climb
--
Bridging the gap between man's force and Fate
Made whole the fragment-being we are here.
--
A safety in the Silence and the Ray,
A settlement in the Immutable.
--
and look down on the magic and the play
Where the God-child lies on the lap of Night and Dawn
and the Everlasting puts on Time's disguise.
To the still heights and to the troubled depths
His equal spirit gave its vast assent:
--
Indifferent to the sorrow and delight,
Untempted by the marvel and the call,
Immobile it beheld the flux of things,
Calm and apart supported all that is:
His spirit's stillness helped the toiling world.
Inspired by silence and the closed eyes' sight
His force could work with a new luminous art
--
and nescient Matter and the huge error of life.
As a sculptor chisels a deity out of stone
--
The illusion and mystery of the Inconscient
In whose black pall the Eternal wraps his head
--
There was a labour and a fiery breath;
The ambiguous cowled celestial puissance worked
--
Experience was a tale of blaze and fire,
Air rippled round the argosies of the Gods,
--
Rivers poured down of bliss and luminous force,
Visits of beauty, storm-sweeps of delight
--
One glance could separate the true and false,
Or raise its rapid torch-fire in the dark
--
Or scan the apparent face of thought and life.
\t:Oft inspiration with her lightning feet,
--
Creating in a young and virgin Time.
In a brief moment caught, a little space,
--
She looked upon the seen and the unforeseen,
Unguessed domains she made her native field.
--
Overleaping with a sole and perilous bound
The high black wall hiding superconscience,
--
In the dust and crannies of his mounting route
Mid old forsaken dreams of hastening Mind
--
A traveller between summit and abyss,
She joined the distant ends, the viewless deeps,
Or streaked along the roads of Heaven and Hell
Pursuing all knowledge like a questing hound.
A reporter and scribe of hidden wisdom talk,
Her shining minutes of celestial speech,
--
Transmitting gave to prophet and to seer
The inspired body of the mystic Truth.
--
Timeless domains of joy and absolute power
Stretched out surrounded by the eternal hush;
--
Out of the rich wonders and the intricate whorls
Of the spirit's dance with Matter as its mask
--
The seed of the Spirit's blind and huge desire
From which the tree of cosmos was conceived
--
and tries to gain from the mortal's mind and soul
A deathless body and a divine name.
The immobile lips, the great surreal wings,
--
The calm indulgence and maternal breasts
Of Wisdom suckling the child-laughter of Chance,
--
Entered the invisible and forbidden house:
The treasure was found of a supernal Day.
--
Hoarded from touch and view and thought's desire,
Locked in blind antres of the ignorant flood,
Lest men should find them and be even as Gods.
A vision lightened on the viewless heights,
--
A gr and reversal of the Night and Day;
All the world's values changed heightening life's aim;
--
A Presence and a Greatness everywhere.
The universe was not now this senseless whirl
--
A spirit hid in forces and in forms
Was the spectator of the mobile scene:
The beauty and the ceaseless miracle
Let in a glow of the Unmanifest:
--
Seeking its own perfect form in souls and things.
Life kept no more a dull and meaningless shape.
In the struggle and upheaval of the world
He saw the labour of a godhead's birth.
--
A glory and a rapture and a charm,
The All-Blissful sat unknown within the heart;
--
The world was a conception and a birth
Of Spirit in Matter into living forms,
--
His mind and body's first spiritual change.
A wide God-knowledge poured down from above,
--
His daily thoughts looked up to the True and One,
His commonest doings welled from an inner Light.
--
The records of the future and the past
Outlined their excerpts on the etheric page.
One and harmonious by the Maker's skill,
The human in him paced with the divine;
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Lonely his days and splendid like the sun's.
\t:End of Book I - Canto III
01.03 - Yoga and the Ordinary Life, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
object:01.03 - Yoga and the Ordinary Life
class:chapter
In the Yoga practised here the aim is to rise to a higher consciousness and to live out of the higher consciousness alone, not with the ordinary motives. This means a change of life as well as a change of consciousness. But all are not so circumstanced that they can cut loose from the ordinary life; they accept it therefore as a field of experience and self-training in the earlier stages of the sadhana. But they must take care to look at it as a field of experience only and to get free from the ordinary desires, attachments and ideas which usually go with it; otherwise it becomes a drag and hindrance on their sadhana. When one is not compelled by circumstances there is no necessity to continue the ordinary life.
It is not helpful to ab andon the ordinary life before the being is ready for the full spiritual life. To do so means to precipitate a struggle between the different elements and exasperate it to a point of intensity which the nature is not ready to bear. The vital elements in you have partly to be met by the discipline and experience of life, while keeping the spiritual aim in view and trying to govern life by it progressively in the spirit of Karmayoga.
The best way to prepare oneself for the spiritual life when one has to live in the ordinary occupations and surroundings is to cultivate an entire equality and detachment and the samata of the Gita with the faith that the Divine is there and the Divine Will at work in all things even though at present under the conditions of a world of Ignorance. Beyond this are the Light and An anda towards which life is working, but the best way for their advent and foundation in the 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.
I may say briefly that there are two states of consciousness in either of which one can live. One is a higher consciousness which st ands above the play of life and governs it; this is variously called the Self, the Spirit or the Divine. The other is the normal consciousness in which men live; it is something quite superficial, an instrument of the Spirit for the play of life. Those who live and act in the normal consciousness are governed entirely by the common movements of the mind and are naturally subject to grief and joy and anxiety and desire or to everything else that makes up the ordinary stuff of life.
Mental quiet and happiness they can get, but it can never be permanent or secure. But the spiritual consciousness is all light, peace, power and bliss. If one can live entirely in it, there is no question; these things become naturally and securely his.
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 the 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 the normal mind of man can acquire; if it [is] strength or power, one gets a spiritual strength for the inner life or Yogic power to govern the outer work and action; if it is happiness, one enters into a beatitude far greater than any joy or happiness that the ordinary human life can give.
There are many ways of opening to this Divine consciousness or entering into it. My way which I show to others is by a constant practice to go inward into oneself, to open by aspiration to the 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 the constant contact or union with the 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 the world. If one can once open and feel the Divine Force, the
Power of the Spirit working in the mind and heart and body, the rest is a matter of remaining faithful to It, calling for it always, allowing it to do its work when it comes and rejecting every other and inferior Force that belongs to the lower consciousness and the lower nature.
Apart from external things there are two possible inner ideals which a man can follow. The first is the highest ideal of ordinary human life and the other the divine ideal of Yoga.
I must say in view of something you seem to have said to your father that it is not the object of the one to be a great man or the object of the other to be a great Yogin. The ideal of human life is to establish over the whole being the control of a clear, strong and rational mind and a right and rational will, to master the emotional, vital and physical being, create a harmony of the whole and develop the capacities whatever they are and fulfil them in life. In the terms of Hindu thought, it is to enthrone the rule of the purified and sattwic buddhi, follow the dharma, fulfilling one's own svadharma and doing the work proper to one's capacities, and satisfy kama and artha under the control of the buddhi and the dharma. The object of the divine life, on the other h and, is to realise one's highest self or to realise
God and to put the whole being into harmony with the truth of the highest self or the law of the divine nature, to find one's own divine capacities great or small and fulfil them in life as a sacrifice to the highest or as a true instrument of the divine
Sakti.
The spiritual life (adhyatma jvana), the religious life (dharma jvana) and the ordinary human life of which morality is a part are three quite different things and one must know which one desires and not confuse the three together. The ordinary life is that of the average human consciousness separated from its own true self and from the Divine and led by the common habits of the mind, life and body which are the laws of the Ignorance.
The religious life is a movement of the same ignorant human consciousness, turning or trying to turn away from the earth towards the Divine but as yet without knowledge and led by the dogmatic tenets and rules of some sect or creed which claims to have found the way out of the bonds of the earth-consciousness into some beatific Beyond. The religious life may be the first approach to the 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. The spiritual life, on the contrary, proceeds directly by a change of consciousness, a change from the 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 then into union with the Divine. For the spiritual seeker this change of consciousness is the one thing he seeks and nothing else matters.
Morality is a part of the ordinary life; it is an attempt to govern the outward conduct by certain mental rules or to form the character by these rules in the image of a certain mental ideal. The spiritual life goes beyond the mind; it enters into the deeper consciousness of the Spirit and acts out of the truth of the Spirit.
The principle of life which I seek to establish is spiritual.
Morality is a question of man's mind and vital, it belongs to a lower plane of consciousness. A spiritual life therefore cannot be founded on a moral basis, it must be founded on a spiritual basis. This does not mean that the spiritual man must be immoral - as if there were no other law of conduct than the moral. The law of action of the spiritual consciousness is higher, not lower than the moral - it is founded on union with the Divine and living in the Divine Consciousness and its action is founded on obedience to the Divine Will.
01.04 - Motives for Seeking the Divine, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Him is not the proper attitude; but if it were absolutely forbidden to seek Him for these things, most people in the world would not turn towards Him at all. I suppose therefore it is allowed so that they may make a beginning - if they have faith, they may get what they ask for and think it a good thing to go on and then one day they may suddenly stumble upon the idea that this is after all not quite the one thing to do and that there are better ways and a better spirit in which one can approach the
Divine. If they do not get what they want and still come to the
Divine and trust in Him, well, that shows they are getting ready.
Let us look on it as a sort of infants' school for the unready.
But of course that is not the spiritual life, it is only a sort of elementary religious approach. For the spiritual life to give and not to dem and is the rule. The sadhak however can ask for the
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 the spiritual life and a capable instrument for the
Divine Work.
Let us first put aside the quite foreign consideration of what we would do if the union with the Divine brought eternal joylessness, Niran anda or torture. Such a thing does not exist and to drag it in only clouds the issue. The Divine is An andamaya and one can seek him for the An anda he gives; but he has also in him many other things and one may seek him for any of them, for peace, for liberation, for knowledge, for power, for anything else of which one may feel the pull or the impulse. It is quite possible for someone to say: "Let me have Power from the
Divine and do His work or His will and I am satisfied, even if the use of Power entails suffering also." It is possible to shun bliss as a thing too tremendous or ecstatic and ask only or rather for peace, for liberation, for Nirvana. You speak of self-fulfilment,
- one may regard the Supreme not as the Divine but as one's highest Self and seek fulfilment of one's being in that highest Self; but one need not envisage it as a self of bliss, ecstasy, An anda - one may envisage it as a self of freedom, vastness, knowledge, tranquillity, strength, calm, perfection - perhaps too calm for a ripple of anything so disturbing as joy to enter. So even if it is for something to be gained that one approaches the Divine, it is not a fact that one can approach Him or seek union only for the sake of An anda and nothing else.
That involves something which throws all your reasoning out of gear. For these are aspects of the Divine Nature, powers of it, states of his being, - but the Divine Himself is something absolute, someone self-existent, not limited by his aspects, - wonderful and ineffable, not existing by them, but they existing because of him. It follows that if he attracts by his aspects, all the 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 then be sought after for his wonderful and ineffable self and not only for the sake of one aspect or another of him. The only thing needed for that is, first, to arrive at a point when the psychic being feels this pull of the Divine in himself and, secondly, to arrive at the point when the mind, vital and each thing else begins to feel too that that was what it was wanting and the surface hunt after An anda or what else was only an excuse for drawing the nature towards that supreme magnet.
Your argument that because we know the union with the
Divine will bring An anda, therefore it must be for the An anda that we seek the union, is not true and has no force. One who loves a queen may know that if she returns his love it will bring him power, position, riches and yet it need not be for the power, position, riches that he seeks her love. He may love her for herself and could love her equally if she 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 she is she. 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 their country only when she is rich, powerful, great and has much to give them; their love for country has been most ardent, passionate, absolute when the country was poor, degraded, miserable, having nothing to give but loss, wounds, torture, imprisonment, death as the wages of her service; yet even knowing that they would never see her free, men have lived, served and died for her - for her own sake, not for what she could give. Men have loved Truth for her own sake and for what they could seek or find of her, accepted poverty, persecution, death itself; they have been content even to seek for her always, not finding, and yet never given up the search.
That means what? That men, country, Truth and other things besides can be loved for their own sake and not for anything else, not for any circumstance or attendant quality or resulting enjoyment, but for something absolute that is either in them or behind their appearance and circumstance. The Divine is more than a man or woman, a stretch of l and or a creed, opinion, discovery or principle. He is the Person beyond all persons, the
Home and Country of all souls, the Truth of which truths are only imperfect figures. and can He then not be loved and sought for his own sake, as and more than these have been by men even in their lesser selves and nature?
What your reasoning ignores is that which is absolute or tends towards the absolute in man and his seeking as well as in the Divine - something not to be explained by mental reasoning or vital motive. A motive, but a motive of the soul, not of vital desire; a reason not of the mind, but of the self and spirit. An asking too, but the asking that is the soul's inherent aspiration, not a vital longing. That is what comes up when there is the sheer self-giving, when "I seek you for this, I seek you for that" changes to a sheer "I seek you for you." It is that marvellous and ineffable absolute in the Divine that Krishnaprem means when he says, "Not knowledge nor this nor that, but Krishna."
The pull of that is indeed a categorical imperative, the self in us drawn to the Divine because of the imperative call of its greater Self, the soul ineffably drawn towards the object of its adoration, because it cannot be otherwise, because it is it and
He is He. That is all about it.
I have written all that only to explain what we mean when we speak of seeking the Divine for himself and not for anything else - so far as it is explicable. Explicable or not, it is one of the most dominant facts of spiritual experience. The call to selfgiving is only an expression of this fact. But this does not mean that I object to your asking for An anda. Ask for that by all means, so long as to ask for it is a need of any part of your being
- for these are the things that lead on towards the Divine so long as the absolute inner call that is there all the time does not push itself to the surface. But it is really that that has drawn from the beginning and is there behind - it is the categorical spiritual imperative, the absolute need of the soul for the Divine.
I am not saying that there is to be no An anda. The selfgiving itself is a profound An anda and what it brings, carries in its wake an inexpressible An anda - and it is brought by this method sooner than by any other, so that one can say almost,
"A self-less self-giving is the best policy." Only one does not do it out of policy. An anda is the result, but it is done not for the result, but for the self-giving itself and for the Divine himself - a subtle distinction, it may seem to the mind, but very real.
01.04 - Sri Aurobindos Gita, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindo and his School Our Ideal
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Part OneSri Aurobindos Gita
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The supreme secret of the Gita, rahasyam uttamam, has presented itself to diverse minds in diverse forms. All these however fall, roughly speaking, into two broad groups of which one may be termed the orthodox school and the other the modem school. The orthodox school as represented, for example, by Shankara or Sridhara, viewed the Gita in the light of the spiritual discipline more or less current in those ages, when the purpose of life was held out to be emancipation from life, whether through desireless work or knowledge or devotion or even a combination of the three. The Modern School, on the other h and, 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 the Gita a gospel of life-fulfilment. The older interpretation laid stress upon a spiritual and religious, which meant therefore in the end an other-worldly discipline; the newer interpretation seeks to dynamise the more or less quietistic spirituality which held the 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 the real old-world Indian disciplinesay, of Janaka and Yajnavalkyalabours, however, in reality, under the influence of European activism and ethicism. It was this which served as the immediate incentive to our spiritual revival and revaluation and its impress has not been thoroughly obliterated even in the best of our modern exponents. The bias of the vital urge and of the moral imperative is apparent enough in the modernist conception of a dynamic spirituality. Fundamentally the dynamism is made to reside in the lan of the ethical man,the spiritual element, as a consciousness of supreme unity in the Absolute (Brahman) or of love and delight in God, serving only as an atmosphere for the mortal activity.
Sri Aurobindo has raised action completely out of the mental and moral plane and has given it an absolute spiritual life. Action has been spiritualised by being carried back to its very source and origin, for it is the expression in life of God's own Consciousness-Energy (Chit-Shakti).
The Supreme Spirit, Purushottama, who holds in himself the dual reality of Brahman and the world, is the master of action who acts but in actionlessness, the Lord in whom and through whom the universes and their creatures live and move and have their being. Karmayoga is union in mind and soul and body with the Lord of action in the execution of his cosmic purpose. and this union is effected through a transformation of the human nature, through the revelation of the Divine Prakriti and its descent upon and possession of the inferior human vehicle.
Arrived so far, we now find, if we look back, a change in the whole perspective. Karma and even Karmayoga, which hitherto seemed to be the pivot of the Gita's teaching, retire somewhat into the background and present a diminished stature and value. The centre of gravity has shifted to the conception of the Divine Nature, to the Lord's own status, to the consciousness above the three Gunas, to absolute consecration of each limb of man's humanity to the Supreme Purusha for his descent and incarnation and play in and upon this human world.
The higher secret of the Gita lies really in the later chapters, the earlier chapters being a preparation and passage to it orpartial and practical application. This has to be pointed out, since there is a notion current which seeks to limit the Gita's effective teaching to the earlier part, neglecting or even discarding the later portion.
The style and manner of Sri Aurobindo's interpretation1 is also supremely characteristic: it does not carry the impress of a mere metaphysical dissertation-although in matter it clothes throughout a profound philosophy; it is throbbing with the luminous life of a prophet's message, it is instinct with something of the Gita's own mantraakti.
Essays on the Gita, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry
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Sri Aurobindo and his School Our Ideal
01.04 - The Intuition of the Age, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
All movementswhe ther of thought or of life, whether in the individual or in the massproceed from a fundamental intuition which lies in the background as the logical presupposition, the psychological motive and the spiritual force. A certain attitude of the soul, a certain angle of vision is what is posited first; all other thingsall thoughts and feelings and activities are but necessary attempts to express, to demonstrate, to realise on the conscious and dynamic levels, in the outer world, the truth which has thus already been seized in some secret core of our being. The intuition may not, of course, be present to the conscious mind, it may not be ostensibly sought for, one may even deny the existence of such a preconceived notion and proceed to establish truth on a tabula rasa; none the less it is this hidden bias that judges, this secret consciousness that formulates, this unknown power that fashions.
Now, what is the intuition that lies behind the movements of the new age? What is the intimate realisation, the underlying view-point which is guiding and modelling all our efforts and achievementsour science and art, our poetry and philosophy, our religion and society? For, there is such a common and fundamental note which is being voiced forth by the human spirit through all the multitude of its present-day activities.
A new impulse is there, 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. The fact is that the intuition has not yet become an enlightened one, it is still moving, as we shall presently explain, in the dark vital regions of man. and vitalism is naturally and closely affianced to pragmatism, that is to say, the mere vital impulse seeks immediately to execute itself, it looks for external effects, for changes in the form, in the machinery only. Thus it is that we see in art and literature discussions centred upon the scheme of composition, as whether the new poetry should be lyrical or dramatic, popular or aristocratic, metrical or free of metre, and in practical life we talk of remodelling the 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 there is the danger of leaving altogether out of account the one thing needful. We must then pause and turn back, look behind the apparent impulsion that effectuates to the Will that drives, behind the ideas and ideals of the mind to the soul that informs and inspires; we must carry ourselves up the stream and concentrate upon the original source, the creative intuition that lies hidden somewhere. and then only all the 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, the change has been in the soul of man himself, the 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 the call of the age. But what we are doing instead is to observe the mere external signs and symbols and symptoms, to fix upon the distant quiverings, the echoes on the outermost rim, which are not always faithful representations, but very often distorted images of the truth and life at the centre and source and matrix. We must know that if there has been going on a redistribution and new-marshalling of forces, it is because the fiat has come from the Etat Major.
Now, in order to underst and the new orientation of the spirit of the present age, we may profitably ask what was the inspiration of the past age, the characteristic note which has failed to satisfy us and which we are endeavouring to transform. We know that that age was the Scientific age or the age of Reason. Its great prophets were Voltaire and the Encyclopaedists or if you mount further up in time, we may begin from Bacon and the humanists. Its motto was first, "The proper study of mankind is man" and secondly, Reason is the supreme organon of knowledge, the highest deity in manla Desse Raison. and it is precisely against these two basic principles that the new age has entered its protest. In face of Humanism, Nietzsche has posited the Superman and in face of Reason Bergson has posited Intuition.
The worship of man as something essentially and exclusively human necessitates as a corollary, the other doctrine, viz the deification of Reason; and vice versa. Humanism and Scientism go together and the whole spirit and mentality of the age that is passing may be summed up in those two words. So Nietzsche says, "All our modern world is captured in the net of the Alex andrine culture and has, for its ideal, the theoretical man, armed with the most powerful instruments of knowledge, toiling in the service of science and whose prototype and original ancestor is Socrates." Indeed, it may be generally asserted that the nation whose prophet and sage claimed to have brought down Philosophia from heaven to dwell upon earth among men was precisely the nation, endowed with a clear and logical intellect, that was the very embodiment of rationality and reasonableness. As a matter of fact, it would not be far, wrong to say that it is the Hellenic culture which has been moulding humanity for ages; at least, it is this which has been the predominating factor, the vital and dynamic element in man's nature. Greece when 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 the world and humanity one knows only too much. and yet, the Hellenic genius has not been the sole motive power and constituent element; there has been another 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 the mind the spirit, the Gods and the Beyonds.
However, we are concerned more with the immediate past, the mentality that laid its supreme stress upon the human rationality. What that epoch did not underst and was that Reason could be overstepped, that there was something higher, something greater than Reason; Reason being the sovereign faculty, it was thought there could be nothing beyond, unless it were draison. The human attribute par excellence is Reason. Exactly so. But the fact is that man is not bound by his humanity and that reason can be transformed and sublimated into other more powerful faculties.
Now, the question is, what is the insufficiency of Reason? How does it limit man? and what is the Superman into which man is asked or is being impelled to grow?
Reason is insufficient and unsatisfactory because, as Bergson explains, it does not and cannot embrace life as a whole, seize man and the world in an integral realisation. The greater part of the 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 the things of the world. It is utilitarian, practical in its nature and outlook. and as practical dealing requires that things should be stable and separate entities, therefore Reason cannot but see things in solid and in the fragments of a solid. It cuts up existence into distinct parts and diverse elements; and these 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 the instrument of knowledge, of Truth.
But although Reason has been and is useful for the practical, we may say almost, the manual aspect of life, life itself it leaves unexplained and uncomprehended. For life is mobility, a continuous flow that has nowhere any gap or stop and things have in reality no isolated or separate existence, they merge and mingle into one another and form an indissoluble whole. Therefore the forms and categories that Reason imposes upon existence are more or less arbitrary; they are shackles that seek to bind up and limit life, but are often rent asunder in the very effort. So the 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 the free-flowing sap of organic growth and vitality.
So instead of the rational principle, the new age wants the principle of Nature or Life. Even as regards knowledge Reason is not the only, nor the best instrument. For animals have properly no reason; the nature-principle of knowledge in the animal is Instinct the faculty that acts so faultlessly, so marvellously where 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 Nietzsche's definition of the Superman has also a similar orientation and significance; for, according to him, the Superman is man who has outgrown his Reason, who is not bound by the st andards and the conventions determined by Reason for a special purpose. The 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 the embodiment of life-force in its absolute purity and strength and freedom.
This then is the mantra of the new ageLife with Intuition as its guide and not Reason and mechanical efficiency, not Man but Superman. The right mantra has been found, the principle itself is irreproachable. But the interpretation, the application, does not seem to have been always happy. For, Nietzsche's conception of the Superman is full of obvious lacunae. If we have so long been adoring the intellectual man, Nietzsche asks us, on the other h and, to deify the vital man. According to him the superman is he who has (1) the supreme sense of the ego, (2) the 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 them but who has not purified them. 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 the very characteristic of man and by increasing your sense of egoism you do not supersede man but simply aggr andise your humanity, fashion it on a larger, a titanic scale. and then the will to power is not the only will that requires fulfilment, there is also the will to knowledge and the will to love. In man these three fundamental constitutive elements coexist, although they do it, more often than not, at the expense of each other and in a state of continual disharmony. The superman, if he is to be the man "who has surmounted himself", must embody a poise of being in which all the three find a fusion and harmonya perfect synthesis. 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 the same level with the forces you want to dominate. To have the sense that one has to fight and control means that one is not as yet the sovereign lord, for one has to strive and strain and attain. The supreme lord is he who is perfectly equanimous with himself and with the 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 there be light' and there was light."
As a matter of fact, the superman is not, as Nietzsche thinks him to be, the highest embodiment of the biological force of Nature, not even as modified and refined by the aesthetic and aristocratic virtues of which the higher reaches of humanity seem capable. For that is after all humanity only accentuated in certain other fundamentally human modes of existence. It does not carry far enough the process of surmounting. In reality it is not a surmounting but a new channelling. Instead of the ethical and intellectual man, we get the vital and aesthetic man. It may be a change but not a transfiguration.
and the faculty of Intuition said to be the characteristic of the 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 the urge of the life-reality. The difference between the sympathy of Instinct and the sympathy of Intuition being that while the former is an unconscious or semi-conscious power, the latter is illumined and self-conscious. Now this view emphasises only the feeling-tone of Intuition, the vital sensibility that attends the direct communion with the life movement. But Intuition is not only purified feeling and sensibility, it is also purified vision and knowledge. It unites us not only with the movement of life, but also opens out to our sight the Truths, the fundamental realities behind that movement. Bergson does not, of course, point to any existence behind the continuous flux of life-power the elan vital. He seems to deny any static truth or truths to be seen and seized in any scheme of knowledge. To him the dynamic flow the Heraclitian panta reei is the 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, the only way to know it is to be in harmony or unison with it, to move along its current. The conception of knowledge as a fixing and delimiting of things is necessarily an anomaly in this scheme. But the question is, is matter the only static and separative reality? Is the flux of vital Mind-Energy the ultimate truth?
Matter forms the lowest level of reality. Above it is the elan vital. Above the elan vital there is yet the domain of the Spirit. and the Spirit is a static substance and at the same a dynamic creative power. It is Being (Sat) that realises or expresses itself through certain typal nuclei or nodi of consciousness (chit) in a continuous becoming, in a flow of creative activity (an anda). The dynamism of the vital energy is only a refraction or precipitation of the dynamism of the spirit; and so also static matter is only the substance of the spirit concretised and solidified. It is in an uplift both of matter and vital force to their prototypesswarupa and swabhavain the Spirit that lies the real transformation and transfiguration of the humanity of man.
This is the truth that is trying to dawn upon the new age. Not matter but that which forms the substance of matter, not intellect but a vaster consciousness that informs the intellect, not man as he is, an aberration in the cosmic order, but as he may and shall be the embodiment and fulfilment of that orderthis is the secret Intuition which, as yet dimly envisaged, nevertheless secretly inspires all the human activities of today. Only, the truth is being interpreted, as we have said, in terms of vital life. The intellectual and physical man gave us one aspect of the reality, but neither is the vital and psychical man the complete reality. The one acquisition of this shifting of the viewpoint has been that we are now in touch with the natural and deeper movement of humanity and not as before merely with its artificial scaffolding. The Alex andrine civilisation of humanity, in Nietzsche's phrase, was a sort of divagation from nature, it was following a loop away from the direct path of natural evolution. and the new Renaissance of today has precisely corrected this aberration of humanity and brought it again in a line with the natural cosmic order.
Certainly this does not go far enough into the motive of the change. The cosmic order does not mean mentalised vitalism which is also in its turn a section of the integral reality. It means the order of the spirit, it means the transfiguration of the physical, the vital and the intellectual into the supernal Substance, Power and Light of that Spirit. The real transcendence of humanity is not the transcendence of one or other of its levels but the total transcendence to an altogether different status and the transmutation of humanity in the mould of that statusnot a Nietzschean Titan nor a Bergsonian Dionysus but the tranquil vision and delight and dynamism of the Spirit the 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
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and Mystics The Poetry in the Making
The Poetry in the Making
Is the artist the supreme artist, when he is a genius, that is to sayconscious in his creation or is he unconscious? Two quite opposite views have been taken of the problem by the best of intelligences. On the one h and, it is said that genius is genius precisely because it acts unconsciously, and on the other it is asserted with equal emphasis that genius is the capacity of taking infinite pains, which means it is absolutely a self conscious activity.
We take a third view of the matter and say that genius is neither unconscious or conscious but superconscious. and when one is superconscious, one can be in appearance either conscious or unconscious. Let us at the outset try to explain a little this psychological riddle.
When we say one is conscious, we usually mean that one is conscious with the mental consciousness, with the rational intelligence, with the light of the brain. But this need not be always so. For one can be conscious with other forms of consciousness or in other planes of consciousness. In the average or normal man the consciousness is linked to or identified with the brain function, the rational intelligence and so we conclude that without this wakeful brain activity there can be no consciousness. But the fact is otherwise. The experiences of the mystic prove the point. The mystic is conscious on a level which we describe as higher than the mind and reason, he has what may be called the overhead consciousness. (Apart from the normal consciousness, which is named jagrat, waking, the Upanishad speaks of three other increasingly subtler states of consciousness, swapna, sushupti and turiya.) and then one can be quite unconscious, as in samadhi that can be sushupti or turiyaorpartially consciousin swapna, for example, the external behaviour may be like that of a child or a lunatic or even a goblin. One can also remain normally conscious and still be in the superconscience. Not only so, the mystic the Yogican be conscious on infraconscious levels also; that is to say, he can enter into and identify with the consciousness involved in life and even in Matter; he can feel and realise his oneness with the animal world, the plant world and finally the world of dead earth, of "stocks and stones" too. For all these str ands of existence have each its own type of consciousness and all different from the mode of mind which is normally known as consciousness. When St. Francis addresses himself to the brother Sun or the sister Moon, or when the Upanishad speaks of the tree silhouetted against the sky, as if stilled in trance, we feel there is something of this fusion and identification of consciousness with an infra-conscient existence.
I said that the supreme artist is superconscious: his consciousness withdraws from the normal mental consciousness and becomes awake and alive in another order of consciousness. To that superior consciousness the artist's mentalityhis ideas and dispositions, his judgments and valuations and acquisitions, in other words, his normal psychological make-upserves as a channel, an instrument, a medium for transcription. Now, there are two stages, or rather two lines of activity in the processus, for they may be overlapping and practically simultaneous. First, there is the withdrawal and the in-gathering of consciousness and then its reappearance into expression. The consciousness retires into a secret or subtle worldWords-worth's "recollected in tranquillity" and comes back with the riches gathered or transmuted there. But the purity of the gold thus garnered and stalled in the artistry of words and sounds or lines and colours depends altogether upon the purity of the channel through which it has to pass. The mental vehicle receives and records and it can do so to perfection if it is perfectly in tune with what it has to receive and record; otherwise the transcription becomes mixed and blurred, a faint or confused echo, a poor show. The supreme creators are precisely those in whom the receptacle, the instrumental faculties offer the least resistance and record with absolute fidelity the experiences of the over or inner consciousness. In Shakespeare, in Homer, in Valmiki the inflatus of the secret consciousness, the inspiration, as it is usually termed, bears down, sweeps away all obscurity or contrariety in the recording mentality, suffuses it with its own glow and puissance, indeed resolves it into its own substance, as it were. and the difference between the two, the secret norm and the recording form, determines the scale of the artist's creative value. It happens often that the obstruction of a too critically observant and self-conscious brain-mind successfully blocks up the flow of something supremely beautiful that wanted to come down and waited for an opportunity.
Artists themselves, almost invariably, speak of their inspiration: they look upon themselves more or less as mere instruments of something or some Power that is beyond them, beyond their normal consciousness attached to the brain-mind, that controls them and which they cannot control. This perception has been given shape in myths and legends. Goddess Saraswati or the Muses are, however, for them 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 the 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 when he woke up and wanted to write it down he could remember only the opening lines, the rest having gone completely out of his memory; in other words, the poem was ready-composed somewhere else, but the 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 then to be very beautiful things, but which leave no trace on the brain and are not recalled in memory.
Still, it must be noted that Coleridge is a rare example, for the recording apparatus is not usually so faithful but puts up its own formations that disturb and alter the perfection of the original. The passivity or neutrality of the intermediary is relative, and there are infinite grades of it. Even when the larger waves that play in it in the normal waking state are quieted down, smaller ripples of unconscious or half-conscious habitual formations are thrown up and they are sufficient to cause the scattering and dispersal of the pure light from above.
The absolute passivity is attainable, perhaps, only by the Yogi. and in this sense the supreme poet is a Yogi, for in his consciousness the higher, deeper, subtler or other modes of experiences pass through and are recorded with the minimum aberration or diffraction.
But the Yogi is a wholly conscious being; a perfect Yogi is he who possesses a conscious and willed control over his instruments, he silences them, as and when he likes, and makes them convey and express with as little deviation as possible truths and realities from the Beyond. Now the question is, is it possible for the poet also to do something like that, to consciously create and not to be a mere unconscious or helpless channel? Conscious artistry, as we have said, means to be conscious on two levels of consciousness at the same time, to be at home in both equally and simultaneously. The general experience, however, is that of "one at a time": if the artist dwells more in the one, the other retires into the background to the same measure. If he is in the over-consciousness, he is only half-conscious in his brain consciousness, or even not conscious at allhe does not know how he has created, the sources or process of his creative activity, he is quite oblivious of them" gone through them all as if per saltum. Such seems to have been the case with the primitives, as they are called, the elemental poetsShakespeare and Homer and Valmiki. In some others, who come very near to them in poetic genius, yet not quite on a par, the instrumental intelligence is strong and active, it helps in its own way but in helping circumscribes and limits the original impulsion. The art here becomes consciously artistic, but loses something of the initial freshness and spontaneity: it gains in correctness, polish and elegance and has now a style in lieu of Nature's own naturalness. I am thinking of Virgil and Milton and Kalidasa. Dante's place is perhaps somewhere in between. Lower in the rung where the mental medium occupies a still more preponderant place we have intellectual poetry, poetry of the later classical age whose representatives are Pope and Dryden. We can go farther down and l and in the domain of versificationalthough here, too, there can be a good amount of beauty in shape of ingenuity, cleverness and conceit: Voltaire and Delille are of this order in French poetry.
The three or four major orders I speak of in reference to conscious artistry are exampled characteristically in the history of the evolution of Greek poetry. It must be remembered, however, at the very outset that the Greeks as a race were nothing if not rational and intellectual. It was an element of strong self-consciousness that they brought into human culture that was their special gift. Leaving out of account Homer who was, as I said, a primitive, their classical age began with Aeschylus who was the first and the most spontaneous and intuitive of the Great Three. Sophocles, who comes next, is more balanced and self-controlled and pregnant with a reasoned thought-content clothed in polished phrasing. We feel here that the artist knew what he was about and was exercising a conscious control over his instruments and materials, unlike his predecessor who seemed to be completely carried away by the onrush of the poetic enthousiasmos. Sophocles, in spite of his artistic perfection or perhaps because of it, appears to be just a little, one remove, away from the purity of the central inspiration there is a veil, although a thin transparent veil, yet a veil between which intervenes. With the third of the Brotherhood, Euripides, we slide lower downwe arrive at a predominantly mental transcription of an experience or inner conception; but something of the major breath continues, an aura, a rhythm that maintains the inner contact and thus saves the poetry. In a subsequent age, in Theocritus, for example, poetry became truly very much 'sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought', so much of virtuosity and precocity entered into it; in other words, the poet then was an excessively self-conscious artist. That seems to be the general trend of all literature.
But should there be an inherent incompatibility between spontaneous creation and self-consciousness? As we have seen, a harmony and fusion can and do happen of the superconscious and the normally conscious in the Yogi. Likewise, an artist also can be wakeful and transparent enough so that he is conscious on both the levels simultaneouslyabove, he is conscious of the source and origin of his inspiration, and on the level plain he is conscious of the working of the instrument, how the vehicle transcribes and embodies what comes from elsewhere. The poet's consciousness becomes then divalent as it werethere is a sense of absolute passivity in respect of the receiving apparatus and coupled and immisced with it there is also the sense of dynamism, of conscious agency as in his secret being he is the master of his apparatus and one with the Inspirerin other words, the poet is both a seer (kavih) and a creator or doer (poits).
Not only so, the future development of the poetic consciousness seems inevitably to lead to such a consummation in which the creative and the critical faculties will not be separate but form part of one and indivisible movement. Historically, human consciousness has grown from unconsciousness to consciousness and from consciousness to self-consciousness; man's creative and artistic genius too has moved pari passu in the same direction. The earliest and primitive poets were mostly unconscious, that is to say, they wrote or said things as they came to them spontaneously, without effort, without reflection, they do not seem to know the whence and wherefore and whither of it all, they know only that the wind bloweth as it listeth. That was when man had not yet eaten the fruit of knowledge, was still in the innocence of childhood. But as he grew up and progressed, he became more and more conscious, capable of exerting and exercising a deliberate will and initiating a purposive action, not only in the external practical field but also in the psychological domain. If the earlier group is called "primitives", the later one, that of conscious artists, usually goes by the name of "classicists." Modern creators have gone one step farther in the direction of self-consciousness, a return upon oneself, an inlook of full awareness and a free and alert activity of the critical faculties. An unconscious artist in the sense of the "primitives" is almost an impossible phenomenon in the modern world. All are scientists: an artist cannot but be consciously critical, deliberate, purposive in what he creates and how he creates. Evidently, this has cost something of the old-world spontaneity and supremacy of utterance; but it cannot be helped, we cannot comm and the tide to roll back, Canute-like. The feature has to be accepted and a remedy and new orientation discovered.
The modern critical self-consciousness in the artist originated with the Romantics. The very essence of Romanticism is curiosity the scientist's pleasure in analysing, observing, experimenting, changing the conditions of our reactions, mental or sentimental or even nervous and physical by way of discovery of new and unforeseen or unexpected modes of "psychoses" or psychological states. Goethe, Wordsworth, Stendhal represented a mentality and initiated a movement which led logically to the age of Hardy, Housman and Bridges and in the end to that of Lawrence and Joyce, Ezra Pound and Eliot and Auden. On the Continent we can consider Flaubert as the last of the classicists married to the very quintessence of Romanticism. A hard, self-regarding, self-critical mentality, a cold scalpel-like gaze that penetrates and upturns the reverse side of things is intimately associated with the poetic genius of Mallarm and constitutes almost the whole of Valry's. The impassioned lines of a very modern poet like Aragon are also characterised by a consummate virtuosity in chiselled artistry, conscious and deliberate and willed at every step and turn.
The consciously purposive activity of the poetic consciousness in fact, of all artistic consciousness has shown itself with a clear and unambiguous emphasis in two directions. First of all with regard to the subject-matter: the old-world poets took things as they were, as they were obvious to the eye, things of human nature and things of physical Nature, and without questioning dealt with them in the beauty of their normal form and function. The modern mentality has turned away from the normal and the obvious: it does not accept and admit the "given" as the final and definitive norm of things. It wishes to discover and establish other norms, it strives to bring about changes in the nature and condition of things, envisage the shape of things to come, work for a brave new world. The poet of today, in spite of all his effort to remain a pure poet, in spite of Housman's advocacy of nonsense and not-sense being the essence of true Art, is almost invariably at heart an incorrigible prophet. In revolt against the old and established order of truths and customs, against all that is normally considered as beautiful,ideals and emotions and activities of man or aspects and scenes and movements of Natureagainst God or spiritual life, the modern poet turns deliberately to the ugly and the macabre, the meaningless, the insignificant and the triflingtins and teas, bone and dust and dustbin, hammer and sicklehe is still a prophet, a violent one, an iconoclast, but one who has his own icon, a terribly jealous being, that seeks to pull down the past, erase it, to break and batter and knead the elements in order to fashion out of them something conforming to his heart's desire. There is also the class who have the vision and found the truth and its solace, who are prophets, angelic and divine, messengers and harbingers of a new beauty that is to dawn upon earth. and yet there are others in whom the two strains mingle or approach in a strange way. All this means that the artist is far from being a mere receiver, a mechanical executor, a passive unconscious instrument, but that he is supremely' conscious and master of his faculties and implements. This fact is doubly reinforced when we find how much he is preoccupied with the technical aspect of his craft. The richness and variety of patterns that can be given to the poetic form know no bounds today. A few major rhythms were sufficient for the ancients to give full expression to their poetic inflatus. For they cared more for some major virtues, the basic and fundamental qualitiessuch as truth, sublimity, nobility, forcefulness, purity, simplicity, clarity, straightforwardness; they were more preoccupied with what they had to say and they wanted, no doubt, to say it beautifully and powerfully; but the modus oper andi was not such a passion or obsession with them, it had not attained that almost absolute value for itself which modern craftsmanship gives it. As technology in practical life has become a thing of overwhelming importance to man today, become, in the Shakespearean phrase, his "be-all and end-all", even so the same spirit has invaded and pervaded his aesthetics too. The subtleties, variations and refinements, the revolutions, reversals and inventions which the modern poet has ushered and takes delight in, for their own sake, I repeat, for their intrinsic interest, not for the sake of the subject which they have to embody and clothe, have never been dream by Aristotle, the supreme legislator among the ancients, nor by Horace, the almost incomparable craftsman among the ancients in the domain of poetry. Man has become, to be sure, a self-conscious creator to the pith of his bone.
Such a stage in human evolution, the advent of Homo Faber, has been a necessity; it has to serve a purpose and it has done admirably its work. Only we have to put it in its proper place. The salvation of an extremely self-conscious age lies in an exceeding and not in a further enhancement or an exclusive concentration of the self-consciousness, nor, of course, in a falling back into the original unconsciousness. It is this shift in the poise of consciousness that has been presaged and prepared by the conscious, the scientific artists of today. Their task is to forge an instrument for a type of poetic or artistic creation completely new, unfamiliar, almost revolutionary which the older mould would find it impossible to render adequately. The yearning of the human consciousness was not to rest satisfied with the familiar and the ordinary, the pressure was for the discovery of other str ands, secret stores of truth and reality and beauty. The first discovery was that of the great Unconscious, the dark and mysterious and all-powerful subconscient. Many of our poets and artists have been influenced by this power, some even sought to enter into that region and become its denizens. But artistic inspiration is an emanation of Light; whatever may be the field of its play, it can have its origin only in the higher spheres, if it is to be truly beautiful and not merely curious and scientific.
That is what is wanted at present in the artistic world the true inspiration, the breath from higher altitudes. and here comes the role of the mystic, the Yogi. The sense of evolution, the march of human consciousness dem ands and prophesies that the future poet has to be a mysticin him will be fulfilled the travail of man's conscious working. The self-conscious craftsman, the tireless experimenter with his adventurous analytic mind has sharpened his instrument, made it supple and elastic, tempered, refined and enriched it; that is comparable to what we call the aspiration or call from below. Now the Grace must descend and fulfil. and when one rises into this higher consciousness beyond the brain and mind, when one lives there habitually, one knows the why and the 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 there is a spontaneity of instinct, there is likewise also a spontaneity of vision: a child is spontaneous in its movements, even so a seer. Not only so, the higher spontaneity is more spontaneous, for the higher consciousness means not only awareness but the free and untrammelled activity and expression of the truth and reality it is.
Genius had to be generally more or less unconscious in the past, because the instrument was not ready, was clogged as it were with its own lower grade movements; the higher inspiration had very often to bypass it, or rob it of its serviceable materials without its knowledge, in an almost cl andestine way. Wherever it was awake and vigilant, we have seen it causing a diminution in the poetic potential. and yet even so, it was being prepared for a greater role, a higher destiny it is to fulfil in the future. A conscious and full participation of a refined and transparent and enriched instrument in the delivery of superconscious truth and beauty will surely mean not only a new but the very acme of aesthetic creation. We thus foresee the age of spiritual art in which the sense of creative beauty in man will find its culmination. Such an art was only an exception, something secondary or even tertiary, kept in the background, suggested here and there 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 the source of inspiration as essentially and originally being a super-consciousness or over-consciousness. But to be more precise and accurate I should add another source, an inner consciousness. As the super-consciousness is imaged as lying above the normal consciousness, so the inner consciousness may be described as lying behind or within it. The movement of the inner consciousness has found expression more often and more largely than that of over-consciousness in the artistic creation of the past : and that was in keeping with the nature of the old-world inspiration, for the inspiration that comes from the inner consciousness, which can be considered as the lyrical inspiration, tends to be naturally more "spontaneous", less conscious, since it does not at all go by the path of the head, it evades that as much as possible and goes by the path of the heart.
But the evolutionary urge, as I have said, has always been to bring down or instil more and more light and self-consciousness into the depths of the heart too: and the first result has been an intellectualisation, a rationalisation of the consciousness, a movement of scientific observation and criticism which very naturally leads to a desiccation of the 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.
Whether the original and true source of the poet's inspiration lies deep within or high above, all depends upon the mediating instrument the mind (in its most general sense) and speech for a successful transcription. Man's ever-growing consciousness dem anded also a conscious development and remoulding of these two factors. A growth, a heightening and deepening of the consciousness meant inevitably a movement towards the spiritual element in things. and that means, we have said, a twofold change in the future poet's make-up. First as regards the substance. The revolutionary shift that we notice in modern poets towards a completely new domain of subject-matter is a signpost that more is meant than what is expressed. The superficialities and futilities that are dealt with do not in their outward form give the real trend of things. In and through all these major and constant preoccupation of our poets is "the pain of the present and the passion for the future": they are, as already stated, more prophets than poets, but prophets for the moment crying in the wildernessalthough some have chosen the path of denial and revolt. They are all looking ahead or beyond or deep down, always yearning for another truth and reality which will explain, justify and transmute the present calvary of human living. Such an acute tension of consciousness has necessitated an overhauling of the vehicle of expression too, the creation of a mode of expressing the inexpressible. For that is indeed what human consciousness and craft are aiming at in the present stage of man's evolution. For everything, almost everything that can be normally expressed has been expressed and in a variety of ways as much as is possible: that is the history of man's aesthetic creativity. Now the eye probes into the unexpressed world; for the artist too the Upanishadic problem has cropped up:
By whom impelled does the mind fall to its target, what is the agent that is behind the eye and sees through the eyes, what is the hearing and what the speech that their respective sense organs do not and cannot convey and record adequately or at all?
Like the modern scientist the artist or craftsman too of today has become a philosopher, even a mystic philosopher. The subtler and higher ranges of consciousness are now the object of inquiry and investigation and expression and revelation for the scientist as well as for the artist. The external sense-objects, the phenomenal movements are symbols and signposts, graphs and pointer-readings of facts and realities that lie hidden, behind or beyond. The artist and the scientist are occult alchemists. What to make of this, for example:
Beyond the shapes of empire, the capes of Carbonek, over
--
drove into and clove the wind from unseen shores. Swept
from all altars, swallowed in a path of power by the wrath
--
Well, it is sheer incantation. It is word-weaving, rhythm plaiting, thought-wringing in order to pass beyond these frail materials, to get into contact with, to give some sense of the mystery of existence that passeth underst anding. We are very far indeed from the "natural" poets, Homer or Shakespeare, Milton, or Virgil. and this is from a profane, a mundane poet, not an ostensibly religious or spiritual poet. The level of the poetic inspiration, at least of the poetic view and aspiration has evidently shifted to a higher, a deeper degree. We may be speaking of tins and tinsel, bones and dust, filth and misery, of the underworld of ignorance and ugliness,
All things uncomely and broken, all things worn out and old,
and the imaginative idealist, the romantically spiritual poet says that these or
The cry of a child by the roadway, the creak of a lumbering cart,
--
all, all the dark spots and blotches on the fair face of earth and humanity
Are wronging your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart.
and he cries out:
The wrong of unshapely things is a wrong too great to be told;
and declares the ardent aspiration of his heart and soul:
I hunger to build them anew, and sit on a green knoll apart,
With the earth and the sky and the water, re-made, like a casket of gold
For my dreams of your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart.2
But the more truly modern mind looks at the thing in a slightly different way. The good and the evil are not, to it, contrary to each other: one does not deny or negate the other. They are intermixed, fused in a mysterious identity. The best and the worst are but two conditions, two potentials of the same entity. Baudelaire, who can be considered as the first of the 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 the Evil One:
Une Ide, uneForme, Un tre
--
I and therefore it is not so irremediable as it appears to be. For the miracle happens and is an inevitable natural phenomenon, and that is why
Par l'opration d'un mystrevengeur
--
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 they appear to the poet's eye:
Le Ciel! Couvercle noir de la gr ande marmite
--
In other words, the tension in the human consciousness has been raised to the nth power, the heat of a brooding consciousness is about to lead it to an outburst of new creationsah tapastaptva. Human self-consciousness, the turning of oneself upon oneself, the probing and projecting of oneself into oneselfself-consciousness raised so often to the degree of self-torture, marks the acute travail of the spirit. The thous and "isms" and "logies" that pullulate in all fields of life, from the political to the artistic or even the religious and the spiritual indicate how the human laboratory is working at white heat. They are breaches in the circuit of the consciousness, volcanic eruptions from below or cosmic-ray irruptions from above, tearing open the normal limit and boundaryBaudelaire's couvercle or the "golden lid" of the Upanishads-disclosing and bringing into the light of common day realities beyond and unseen till now.
Ifso long the poet was more or less a passive, a half-conscious or unconscious intermediary between the higher and the lower lights and delights, his role in the future will be better fulfilled when he becomes fully aware of it and consciously moulds and directs his creative energies. The poet is and has to be the harbinger and minstrel of unheard-of melodies: he is the fashioner of the creative word that brings down and embodies the deepest aspirations and experiences of the human consciousness. The poet is a missionary: he is missioned by Divine Beauty to radiate upon earth something of her charm and wizardry. The fullness of his role he can only play up when he is fully conscious for it is under that condition that all obstructing and obscuring elements lying across the path of inspiration can be completely and wholly eradicated: the instrument purified and tempered and transmuted can hold and express golden truths and beauties and puissances that otherwise escape the too human mould.
"The Last Voyage" by Charles Williams-A Little Book of Modern Verse, (Faber and Faber).
W. B. Yeats: "The Lover tells of the Rose in his Heart"-The Wind among the Reeds.
An Idea, a Form, a Being left the azure and fell into the mud and grey of a Styx where no eye from Heaven can penetrate.
An avenging Mystery operating, out of the drowsy animal awakes an angel.
Heaven! it is the dark lid upon the huge cauldron in which the imperceptible and vast humanity is boiling. Les Fleurs du Mal.
***
01.04 - The Secret Knowledge, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
This world is a beginning and a base
Where Life and Mind erect their structured dreams;
An unborn Power must build reality.
--
Unmeasured breadths and depths of being are ours.
Akin to the ineffable Secrecy,
--
and a faint voice of ecstasy and prayer
Calls to those lucent lost immensities.
--
Yet are there luminous tracts and heavens serene
and Eldorados of splendour and ecstasy
and temples to the godhead none can see.
--
Then the small bodily ego thins and falls;
No more insisting on its separate self,
--
It leaves us one with Nature and with God.
In moments when the inner lamps are lit
--
Our spirit sits alone and speaks to its gulfs.
A wider consciousness opens then its doors;
--
We love what common hearts repel and dread;
Our minds hush to a bright Omniscient;
--
A grace and beauty of spiritual light,
The murmuring tongue of a celestial fire.
Ourself and a high stranger whom we feel,
It is and acts unseen as if it were not;
It follows the line of sempiternal birth,
--
It reckons not the moments and the hours;
Great, patient, calm it sees the centuries pass,
--
It is the origin and the master-clue,
A silence overhead, an inner voice,
--
An unwalled wideness and a fathomless point,
The truth of all these cryptic shows in Space,
--
Regards through Time and the blind walls of Form;
A timeless Light is in his hidden eyes;
--
Unwillingly compelled to emerge and be.
In this dense field where nothing is plain or sure,
--
Seed of a perishing body and half-lit mind,
Uplifts its lonely tongue of conscious fire
--
Arises slowly in her and creates
The idea, the speech that labels more than it lights;
--
An inward urge that takes from her rest and peace.
Ignorant and weary and invincible,
She seeks through the soul's war and quivering pain
The pure perfection her marred nature needs,
A breath of Godhead on her stone and mire.
A faith she craves that can survive defeat,
--
Her state she learns to read and the act she has done,
But the one needed truth eludes her grasp,
Herself and all of which she is the sign.
An inarticulate whisper drives her steps
--
and sometimes in her hours of dream and muse
The truth that she 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,
Yet seems too great for mortal hope to dare.
--
Soliciting from dumb Fate and toiling Time
What most she needs, what most exceeds her scope,
--
For these she yearns and feels them destined hers:
Heaven's privilege she claims as her own right.
--
All that transpires on earth and all beyond
Are parts of an illimitable plan
The One keeps in his heart and knows alone.
Our outward happenings have their seed within,
--
Determined casual deed and consequence?
Absorbed in a routine of daily acts,
--
Of what we observe and touch and thought can guess
and rarely dawns the light of the Unknown
Waking in us the prophet and the seer.
The outward and the immediate are our field,
The dead past is our background and support;
Mind keeps the soul prisoner, we are slaves to our acts;
--
Or end like the mastodon and the sloth
and perish from the earth where he was king.
--
He is ignorant of his high and splendid fate.
Only the Immortals on their deathless heights
Dwelling beyond the walls of Time and Space,
Masters of living, free from the bonds of Thought,
Who are overseers of Fate and Chance and Will
and experts of the theorem of world-need,
--
and, impassive to earth's din and startled cry,
Return to the silence of the hills of God;
--
Unmarked by the eye that sees effect and cause,
Unheard mid the clamour of the human plane.
--
Behind the appearance and the overt act,
Behind this clock-work Chance and vague surmise,
Amid the wrestle of force, the trampling feet,
Across the cries of anguish and of joy,
Across the triumph, fighting and despair,
They watch the Bliss for which earth's heart has cried
--
A charm and sweetness open life's closed doors
and beauty conquer the resisting world,
--
In body and body kindled the sacred birth;
Night shall awake to the anthem of the stars,
--
God shall grow up while the wise men talk and sleep;
For man shall not know the coming till its hour
--
Between the being's dark and luminous ends
Moves here in a half-light that seems the whole:
--
Doubtful of its beginning and its close,
Or runs upon a road that has no end;
--
It runs through life and death on an edge of Time;
A fire in the Night is its mighty action's blaze.
--
What now is parted, opposite and twain,
Remote in sovereign spheres that never meet
Or fronting like far poles of Night and Day.
We must fill the immense lacuna we have made,
--
A hyphen must connect Matter and Mind,
The narrow isthmus of the ascending soul:
--
The Alpha and the Omega in one sound;
Then shall the Spirit and Nature be at one.
Two are the ends of the mysterious plan.
--
In the unchanging Silence white and nude,
Aloof, resplendent like gold dazzling suns
--
The Spirit's bare and absolute potencies
Burn in the solitude of the thoughts of God.
A rapture and a radiance and a hush,
Delivered from the approach of wounded hearts,
--
Immaculate in self-knowledge and self-power,
Calm they repose on the eternal Will.
Only his law they count and him obey;
They have no goal to reach, no aim to serve.
--
Unmoved by cry of revolt and ignorant prayer
They reckon not our virtue and our sin;
They bend not to the voices that implore,
They hold no traffic with error and its reign;
They are guardians of the silence of the Truth,
--
Deathless, watching the works of Death and Chance,
Immobile, seeing the millenniums pass,
--
Impervious to desire and doom and hope,
Their station of inviolable might
--
and the harsh utility of death and tears,
Acquiescing in the gradual steps of Time,
--
Careless of the pain that rends its body and life;
Above joy and sorrow is that gr andeur's walk:
They have no portion in the good that dies,
--
Else might their strength be marred and could not save.
Alive to the truth that dwells in God's extremes,
--
He looks on hidden aspects and screened powers,
He knows the law and natural line of things.
Undriven by a brief life's will to act,
Unharassed by the spur of pity and fear,
He makes no haste to untie the cosmic knot
--
and through the bitterness of death and fall
An outstretched H and is felt upon our lives.
--
It is near us in unnumbered bodies and births;
In its unslackening grasp itkeeps for us safe
--
No will can take away and no doom change,
The crown of conscious Immortality,
--
When first man's heart dared death and suffered life.
One who has shaped this world is ever its lord:
--
He works through the hard breath of battle and toil,
He works through our sins and sorrows and our tears,
His knowledge overrules our nescience;
--
Whatever our strong ills and present fate,
When nothing we can see but drift and bale,
A mighty Guidance leads us still through all.
--
God's bliss and oneness are our inborn right.
A date is fixed in the calendar of the Unknown,
--
These calm and distant Mights shall act at last.
Immovably ready for their destined task,
--
To leap and bridge the chasms of Ignorance
and heal the hollow yearning gulfs of Life
--
To hide from her pursuit in force and form.
A secret spirit in the Inconscient's sleep,
--
She has forged from him her works of skill and might:
She wraps him in the magic of her moods
--
and catches here a look and there a gest:
Ever he repeats in them his ceaseless births.
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,
He is himself the knower and the known,
He is himself the dreamer and the dream.
There are Two who are One and play in many worlds;
In Knowledge and Ignorance they have spoken and met
and light and darkness are their eyes' interchange;
Our pleasure and pain are their wrestle and embrace,
Our deeds, our hopes are intimate to their tale;
They are married secretly in our thought and life.
The universe is an endless masquerade:
--
We accept its face and pass by all it means;
A part is seen, we take it for the whole.
--
Author and actor with himself as scene,
He moves there as the Soul, as Nature she.
--
She has concealed her glory and her bliss
and disguised the Love and Wisdom in her heart;
Of all the marvel and beauty that are hers,
Only a darkened little we can feel.
--
His calm he has foregone and infinity.
He knows her only, he has forgotten himself;
--
Although possessor of the earth and heavens,
He leaves to her the cosmic management
--
He burns the incense of his nights and days
Offering his life, a splendour of sacrifice.
--
A rapt solicitor for her love and grace,
His bliss in her to him is his whole world:
--
Content to be with her and feel her near
He makes the most of the little that she gives
--
He leans on her for all he does and is:
He builds on her largesses his proud fortunate days
--
This whole wide world is only he and she.
13.28
--
The Two who are one are the might and right in things.
His soul, silent, supports the world and her,
His acts are her comm andment's registers.
--
Active, inspired by her he speaks and moves;
His deeds obey her heart's unspoken dem ands:
--
As if her touches shaping his soul and life:
His journey through the days is her sun-march;
--
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;
--
In her fancies of the moment and its mood,
In the march of this obvious ordinary world
Where all is deep and strange to the eyes that see
and Nature's common forms are marvel-wefts,
She through his witness sight and motion of might
Unrolls the material of her cosmic Act,
Her happenings that exalt and smite the soul,
Her force that moves, her powers that save and slay,
Her Word that in the silence speaks to our hearts,
--
Her heights and depths to which our spirit moves,
Her events that weave the texture of our lives
--
Things sweet and bitter, magnificent and mean,
Things terrible and beautiful and divine.
Her empire in the cosmos she has built,
He is governed by her subtle and mighty laws.
His consciousness is a babe upon her knees,
--
and her sport of death and pain and Nescience,
His changed and struggling immortality.
His soul is a subtle atom in a mass,
--
To freedom and the Eternal's mastery
and immortality's st and above the world,
--
An aimless traveller between birth and death,
Ephemeral dreaming of immortality,
--
Even for an hour and she work out his will;
He makes of her his moment passion's serf:
--
Her highest heights she unmasks and is his mate.
Till then he is a plaything in her game;
--
Her whim the dispenser of his pleasure and pain;
He has sold himself into her regal power
--
In each event and every moment's chance.
All she can do is marvellous in his sight:
--
He rejoices in her every thought and act
and gives consent to all that she can wish;
--
Eternal, he assents to Fate and Time,
Immortal, dallies with mortality.
--
Incarnate in a world of strife and pain,
He puts on joy and sorrow like a robe
and drinks experience like a streng thening wine.
--
Where she lay in the featureless and formless hush
Guarding from Time by her immobile sleep
--
Space is himself and Time is only he.
The Absolute, the Perfect, the Immune,
--
The Maker shall recast us and impose
A plan of godhead on the mortal's mould
--
We are sons of God and must be even as he:
His human portion, we must grow divine.
--
and to the musing and immobile spirit
Life and himself don the aspect of a myth,
The burden of a long unmeaning tale.
For the key is hid and by the Inconscient kept;
The secret God beneath the threshold dwells.
--
With Matter's shapes and motives beyond thought
and the hazard of an unguessed consequence,
--
He turns in a chiaroscuro of error and truth
To find a wisdom that on high is his.
--
and in her living and inanimate signs
and in her complex tracery of events
--
For love of her and joined to her for ever
To follow the course of Time's eternity,
--
Spirit and Matter are their end and source.
16.10
--
He is the explorer and the mariner
On a secret inner ocean without bourne:
He is the adventurer and cosmologist
Of a magic earth's obscure geography.
--
Where all seems sure and, even when changed, the same,
Even though the end is left for ever unknown
--
Firm l ands appear that tempt and stay awhile,
Then new horizons lure the mind's advance.
--
At first he hugs the shore and shuns the breadths,
Dares not to affront the far-off perilous main.
--
He hazards not the new and the unseen.
But now he hears the sound of larger seas.
--
and peoples unknown and still unvisited shores.
On a commissioned keel his merchant hull
--
and transient splendours won and lost by the days.
Or passing through a gate of pillar-rocks,
--
Earth's borders recede and the terrestrial air
Hangs round him no longer its translucent veil.
He has crossed the limit of mortal thought and hope,
He has reached the world's end and stares beyond;
The eyes of mortal body plunge their gaze
--
and the far speaks and the unknown grows near:
He crosses the boundaries of the unseen
--
To a new vision of himself and things.
He is a spirit in an unfinished world
That knows him not and cannot know itself:
The surface symbol of his goalless quest
--
Across the noise and multitudinous cry,
Across the rapt unknowable silences,
--
Beyond earth's longitudes and latitudes,
His goal is fixed outside all present maps.
--
Through the thunder's roar and through the windless hush,
Through fog and mist where nothing more is seen,
He carries her sealed orders in his breast.
--
A new mind and body in the city of God
and enshrine the Immortal in his glory's house
--
A rumour around him and danger and a call.
Always he follows in her force's wake.
He sails through life and death and other life,
He travels on through waking and through sleep.
A power is on him from her occult force
--
For this is sure that he and she are one;
Even when he sleeps, he keeps her on his breast:
--
A purpose in her vast and r andom game.
This ever she meant since the first dawn of life,
01.05 - Rabindranath Tagore: A Great Poet, a Great Man, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsRabindranath Tagore: A Great Poet, a Great Man
Rabindranath Tagore: A Great Poet, a Great Man
--
In an age when Reason was considered as the highest light given to man, Tagore pointed to the Vision of the mystics as always the still greater light; when man was elated with undreamt-of worldly success, puffed up with incomparable material possessions and powers, Tagore's voice rang clear and emphatic in tune with the cry of the ancients: "What shall I do with all this mass of things, if I am not made immortal by that?" When men, in their individual as well as collective egoism, were scrambling for earthly gains and hoards, he held before them vaster and cleaner horizons, higher and deeper ways of being and living, maintained the sacred sense of human solidarity, the living consciousness of the Divine, one and indivisible. When the Gospel of Power had all but hypnotised men's minds, and Superman or God-man came to be equated with the Titan, Tagore saw through the falsehood and placed in front and above all the old-world eternal verities of love and self-giving, harmony and mutuality, sweetness and light. When pessimism, cynicism, agnosticism struck the major chord of human temperament, and grief and frustration and death and decay were taken as a matter of course to be the inevitable order of earthlylifebhasmantam idam shariramhe continued to sing the song of the Rishis that An anda and Immortality are the breath of things, the birth right of human beings. When Modernism declared with a certitude never tobe contested that Matter is Brahman, Tagore said with the voice of one who knows that Spirit is Brahman.
Tagore is in direct line with those bards who have sung of the Spirit, who always soared high above the falsehoods and uglinesses of a merely mundane life and lived in the undecaying delights and beauties of a diviner consciousness. Spiritual reality was the central theme of his poetic creation: only and naturally he viewed it in a special way and endowed it with a special grace. We know of another God-intoxicated man, the Jewish philosopher Spinoza, who saw things sub specie aeternitatis, under the figure or mode of eternity. Well, Tagore can be said to see things, in their essential spiritual reality, under the figure or mode of beauty. Keats indeed spoke of truth being beauty and beauty truth. But there is a great difference in the outlook and inner experience. A worshipper of beauty, unless he rises to the Upanishadic norm, is prone to become sensuous and pagan. Keats was that, Kalidasa was that, even Shelley was not far different. The spiritual vein in all these poets remains secondary. In the old Indian master, it is part of his intellectual equipment, no doubt, but nothing much more than that. In the other two it comes in as strange flashes from an unknown country, as a sort of irruption or on the peak of the poetic afflatus or enthousiasmos.
The world being nothing but Spirit made visible is, according to Tagore, fundamentally a thing of beauty. The scars and spots that are on the surface have to be removed and mankind has to repossess and clo the itself with that mantle of beauty. The world is beautiful, because it is the image of the Beautiful, because it harbours, expresses and embodies the Divine who is Beauty supreme. Now by a strange alchemy, a wonderful effect of polarisation, the very spiritual element in Tagore has made him almost a pagan and even a profane. For what are these glories of Nature and the still more exquisite glories that the human body has captured? They are but vibrations and modulations of beauty the delightful names and forms of the supreme Lover and Beloved.
Socrates is said to have brought down Philosophy from Heaven to live among men upon earth. A similar exploit can be ascribed to Tagore. The Spirit, the bare transcendental Reality contemplated by the orthodox Vedantins, has been brought nearer to our planet, close to human consciousness in Tagore's vision, being clothed in earth and flesh and blood, made vivid with the colours and contours of the physical existence. The 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 the deliverance achieved through mere renunciation. Mine rather the freedom that tastes itself in a thous and associations.1
The spirit of the age dem ands this new gospel. Mankind needs and awaits a fresh revelation. The world and life are not an illusion or a lesser reality: they are, if taken rightly, as real as the pure Spirit itself. Indeed, Spirit and Flesh, Consciousness and Matter are not antinomies; to consider them as such is itself an illusion. In fact, they are only two poles or modes or aspects of the same reality. To separate or divide them is a one-sided concentration or abstraction on the part of the human mind. The fulfilment of the Spirit is in its expression through Matter; human life too reaches its highest term, its summum bonum, in embodying the spiritual consciousness here on earth and not dissolving itself in the Transcendence. That is the new Dispensation which answers to the deepest aspiration in man and towards which he has been travelling through the ages in the course of the evolution of his consciousness. Many, however, are the prophets and sages who have set this ideal before humanity and more and more insistently and clearly as we come nearer to the 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 them, have done-that in poetising and aesthetising the spiritual truth and reality, in trying to make it human and terrestrial, he has diminished and diluted the original substance, in endeavouring to render the 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 the cent per cent accuracy and inevitability of a Yogic consciousness. Still his major perceptions, those that count, st and and are borne out by the highest spiritual realisation.
Tagore is no inventor or innovator when he posits Spirit as Beauty, the spiritual consciousness as the ardent rhythm of ecstasy. This experience is the very core of Vaishnavism and for which Tagore is sometimes called a Neo-Vaishnava. The Vaishnava sees the world pulsating in glamorous beauty as the Lila (Play) of the Lord, and the 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 (the carping voice will say, there comes the dilution and adulteration)in the sense that problems exist for himsocial, political, economic, national, humanitarianwhich have to be faced and solved: these are not merely mundane, but woven into the texture of the fundamental problem of human destiny, of Soul and Spirit and God. A Vaishnava was, in spite of his acceptance of the world, an introvert, to use a modern psychological phrase, not necessarily in the pejorative sense, but in the neutral scientific sense. He looks upon the universe' and human life as the play of the Lord, as an actuality and not mere illusion indeed; but he does not participate or even take interest in the dynamic working out of the world process, he does not care to know, has no need of knowing that there is a terrestrial purpose and a diviner fulfilment of the mortal life upon earth. The Vaishnava dwells more or less absorbed in the Vaikuntha of his inner consciousness; the 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 the type of a reformer would not be satisfied with that role. If he is merely a moralist reformer, he will revolt against the "witness business", calling it a laissez-faire mentality of bygone days. A spiritual reformer would ask for morea dynamic union with the Divine Will and Consciousness, not merely a passive enjoyment in the Bliss, so that he may be a luminous power or agent for the expression of divine values in things mundane.
Not the acceptance of the world as it is, not even a joyous acceptance, viewing it as an inexplicable and mysterious and magic play of, God, but the asp ration and endeavour to change it, mould it in the pattern of its inner divine realities for there are such realities which seek expression and embodiment in earthly life that is the great mission and labour of humanity and that is all the meaning of man's existence here below. and Tagore is one of the great prophets and labourers who had the vision of the 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 the eternal ancient truths that "age cannot wither nor custom stale"the divine truths of the Spirit.
Tagore was a poet; this poetic power of his he put in the service of the great cause for the divine uplift of humanity. Naturally, it goes without saying, his poetry did not preach or propag andize the truths for which he stoodhe had a fine and powerful weapon in his prose to do the work, even then in a poetic way but to sing them. and he sang them not in their philosophical bareness, like a Lucretius, or in their sheer transcendental austerity like some of the Upanishadic Rishis, but in and through human values and earthly norms. The especial aroma of Tagore's poetry lies exactly here, as he himself says, in the note of unboundedness in things bounded that it describes. A mundane, profane sensuousness, Kalidasian in richness and sweetness, is matched or counterpointed by a simple haunting note imbedded or trailing somewhere behind, a lyric cry persevering into eternity, the nostalgic cry of the still small voice.2
Thus, on the one h and, the Eternity, the Infinity, the 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 the father to his son, to use a Vedic phrase; on the other h and, earthly things, mere humanities are uplifted and suffused with a "light that never was, on sea or l and."
Another great poet of the spirit says also, almost like Tagore:
Cold are the rivers of peace and their banks are leafless and lonely.3
and sends up this prayer:
Earth-souls needing the touch of the heaven's peace to recapture,
--
Tagore the poet reminds one often and anon of Kalidasa. He was so much in love, had such kinship with the great old master that many of his poems, many passages and lines are reminiscences, echoes, modulations or a paraphrase of the 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:
M andki nirjharikarm vodh muhuh-kamPita-deva-druh
--
Both the poets were worshippers, idolaters, of beauty, especially of natural physical beauty, of beauty heaped on beauty, of beauty gathered, like honey from all places and stored and ranged and stalled with the utmost decorative skill. Yet the difference between the two is not less pronounced. A philosopher is reminded of Bergson, the 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 the beauty which music embodies and expresses. A Kalidasian beauty, on the contrary, is statuesque and plastic, it is to be appreciated in situ. This is, however, by the 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
Nietzsche as the apostle of force is a name now familiar to all the world. The hero, the warrior who never tamely accepts suffering and submission and defeat under any condition but fights always and fights to conquersuch is the ideal man, according to Nietzsche,the champion of strength, of greatness, of mightiness. The dominating personality infused with the supreme "will to power"he is Ubermensch, the Superman. Sentiment does not move the mountains, emotion diffuses itself only in vague aspiration. The motive power, the creative fiat does not dwell in the heart but somewhere higher. The way of the Cross, the path of love and charity and pity does not lead to the kingdom of Heaven. The world has tried it for the last twenty centuries of its Christian civilisation and the result is that we are still living in a luxuriant abundance of misery and sordidness and littleness. This is how Nietzsche thinks and feels. He finds no virtue in the old rgimes and he revolts from them. He wants a speedy and radical remedy and teaches that by violence only the Kingdom of Heaven can be seized. For, to Nietzsche the world is only a clash of forces and the Superman therefore is one who is the embodiment of the greatest force. Nietzsche does not care for the good, it is the great that moves him. The good, the moral is of man, conventional and has only a fictitious value. The great, the non-moral is, on the other h and, divine. That only has a value of its own. The 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 the great is one with the Supreme Wisdom and is absolute and imperative. The good cannot create the great; it is the great that makes for the good. This is what he really means when he says, "They say that a good cause sanctifies war but I tell thee it is a good war that sanctifies all cause." For the goodness of your cause you judge by your personal predilections, by your false conventionalities, by a st andard that you set up in your ignoranceBut a good war, the output of strength in any cause is in itself a cause of salvation. For thereby you are the champion of that ultimate verity which conduces to the ultimate good. Do not shrink, he would say, to be even like the cyclone and the avalanche, destructive, indeed, but gr and and puissant and therefore truer emblems of the BeyondJenseitsthan the weak, the little, the pitiful that do not dare to destroy and by that very fact cannot hope to create.
This is the Nietzsche we all know. But there is another aspect of his which the world has yet been slow to recognise. For, at bottom, Nietzsche is not all storm and fury. If his Superman is a Destroying Angel, he is none the less an angel. If he is endowed with a supreme sense of strength and power, there is also secreted in the core of his heart a sense of the beautiful that illumines his somewhat sombre aspect. For although Nietzsche is by birth a Slavo-Teuton, by culture and education he is pre-eminently Hellenic. His earliest works are on the subject of Greek tragedy and form what he describes as an "Apollonian dream." and to this dream, to this Greek aesthetic sense more than to any thing else he sacrifices justice and pity and charity. To him the weak and the miserable, the sick and the maimed are a sort of blot, a kind of ulcer on the beautiful face of humanity. The herd that wallow in suffering and relish suffering disfigure the aspect of the world and should therefore be relentlessly mowed out of existence. By being pitiful to them we give our tacit assent to their persistence. and it is precisely because of this that Nietzsche has a horror of Christianity. For compassion gives indulgence to all the ugliness of the world and thus renders that ugliness a necessary and indispensable element of existence. To protect the weak, to sympathise with the lowly brings about more of weakness and more of lowliness. Nietzsche has an aristocratic taste par excellencewhat he aims at is health and vigour and beauty. But above all it is an aristocracy of the spirit, an aristocracy endowed with all the richness and beauty of the soul that Nietzsche wants to establish. The beggar of the street is the symbol of ugliness, of the poverty of the spirit. and the so-called aristocrat, die millionaire of today is as poor and ugly as any helpless leper. The soul of either of them is made of the same dirty, sickly stuff. The tattered rags, the crouching heart, the effeminate nerve, the unenlightened soul are the st anding ugliness of the world and they have no place in the ideal, the perfect humanity. Humanity, according to Nietzsche, is made in order to be beautiful, to conceive the beautiful, to create the beautiful. Nietzsche's Superman has its perfect image in a Grecian statue of Zeus cut out in white marble-Olympian gr andeur shedding in every lineament Apollonian beauty and Dionysian vigour.
The real secret of Nietzsche's philosophy is not an adoration of brute force, of blind irrational joy in fighting and killing. Far from it, Nietzsche has no kinship with Treitschke or Bernhard. What Nietzsche wanted was a world purged of littleness and ugliness, a humanity, not of saints, perhaps, but of heroes, lofty in their ideal, great in their achievement, majestic in their empirea race of titanic gods breathing the glory of heaven itself.
***
01.05 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Spirits Freedom and Greatness, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
object:01.05 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Spirits Freedom and Greatness
class:chapter
--
That hangs between our thoughts and absolute sight,
He found the occult cave, the mystic door
--
Indifferent to doubt and to belief,
Avid of the naked real's single shock
--
He dared to live when breath and thought were still.
Thus could he step into that magic place
--
There in a hidden chamber closed and mute
Are kept the record graphs of the cosmic scribe,
--
The text and glossary of the Vedic truth
Are there; the rhythms and metres of the stars
Significant of the movements of our fate:
The symbol powers of number and of form,
and the secret code of the history of the world
--
Rescue the preamble and the saving clause
Of the dark Agreement by which all is ruled
--
He could re-read now and interpret new
Its strange symbol letters, scattered abstruse signs,
Resolve its oracle and its paradox,
Its riddling phrases and its blindfold terms,
The deep oxymoron of its truth's repliques,
--
Exploiting for creation's joy and pain
Infinity's sanction to the birth of form,
--
By a miraculous birth in plasm and gas
The mystery of God's covenant with the Night.
--
and saw the signature and fiery seal
Of Wisdom on the dim Power's hooded work
--
The riddle grew plain and lost its catch obscure.
A larger lustre lit the mighty page.
--
The heart and mind feel one with all that is,
A conscious soul live in a conscious world.
--
Between our littleness and bounded hopes
and the compassionate Infinitudes.
--
The harsh contract spurned and the diminished lease.
Only beginnings are accomplished here;
--
Guesses and travesties of celestial types.
Here chaos sorts itself into a world,
--
Thought climbs in vain and brings a borrowed light,
Cheated by counterfeits sold to us in life's mart,
--
His hope a star above a cradle and grave.
and yet a greater destiny may be his,
--
He can re-create himself and all around
and fashion new the world in which he lives:
--
A golden influx flowed through heart and brain;
A Force came down into his mortal limbs,
--
He felt the invasion and the nameless joy.
Aware of his occult omnipotent Source,
--
A picture lost in far and fading streaks,
The earth-nature's summits sank below his feet:
--
Thought and its shadowy idols disappear,
The moulds of form and person are undone:
The ineffable Wideness knows him for its own.
--
As thus it rose, to meet him bare and pure
A strong Descent leaped down. A Might, a Flame,
--
and penetrated nerve and heart and brain
That thrilled and fainted with the epiphany:
His nature shuddered in the Unknown's grasp.
--
Haled and coerced by a stark absolute bliss,
In a whirlwind circuit of delight and force
Hurried into unimaginable depths,
--
and underwent a new and bourneless change.
An Omniscient knowing without sight or thought,
--
Abolishing the agent and the act,
So now his spirit shone out wide, blank, pure:
--
On which the Universal and Sole could write.
All that represses our fallen consciousness
--
Strange energies wrought and screened tremendous h ands
Unwound the triple cord of mind and freed
The heavenly wideness of a Godhead's gaze.
--
A cosmic feeling and transcendent sight.
Increased and heightened were the instruments.
Illusion lost her aggr andising lens;
--
As with a sound of thunder and of seas,
Vast barriers crashed around the huge escape.
--
Circle and end of every hope and toil
Inexorably drawn round thought and act,
The fixed immovable peripheries
--
The dire velamen and the bottomless crypt
Between which life and thought for ever move,
Forbidden still to cross the dim dread bounds,
The guardian darknesses mute and formidable,
Empowered to circumscribe the wingless spirit
In the boundaries of Mind and Ignorance,
Protecting no more a dual eternity
--
Overpowered were earth and Nature's obsolete rule;
The python coils of the restricting Law
--
The soul and cosmos faced as equal powers.
A boundless being in a measureless Time
--
Her perilous arcanes and hooded Powers
Confessed the advent of a mastering Mind
--
Immediate and invincible in the act,
Her secret strengths native to greater worlds
--
Out of the unformed and vacant Vast he has made
His sorcery of solid images,
His magic of formative number and design,
The fixed irrational links none can annul,
--
All she new-fashions by the thought and word,
Compels all substance by her w and of Mind.
--
Can liberate the Energy dumb and pent
Within its chambers of mysterious trance:
--
Call in the Omniscient and Omnipotent,
Awake a forgotten Almightiness within.
--
All's miracle here and can by miracle change.
This is that secret Nature's edge of might.
--
Where Mind is master of the life and form
and soul fulfils its thoughts by its own power,
She meditates upon mighty words and looks
On the unseen links that join the parted spheres.
--
Till heaven and hell become purveyors to earth
and the universe the slave of mortal will.
A mediatrix with veiled and nameless gods
Whose alien will touches our human life,
--
and peeps and lightning-leaps of prophecy
and intimations to the inner ear,
Abrupt interventions stark and absolute
and the Superconscient's unaccountable acts,
--
Her great possessions and her power and lore
She gave, compelled, with a reluctant joy;
Herself she gave for rapture and for use.
Absolved from aberrations in deep ways,
--
Her dangerous moods and arbitrary force
She surrendered to the service of the soul
--
Fulfilled and ransomed by her servitude,
She yielded in a vanquished ecstasy,
--
An endless climb and adventure of the Idea
There tirelessly tempted the explorer mind
--
A million figures passed and were seen no more.
23.6
--
A balcony and miraculous facade.
Above her lightened high immensities;
--
Of which the tassel and extended fringe
Are the scant stuff of our material lives.
--
Ascending and descending twixt life's poles
The seried kingdoms of the graded Law
--
and rich with life's adventure and delight
and packed with the beauty of Matter's shapes and hues
Climbed back from Time into undying Self,
--
and, mediating twixt the heights and deeps,
United the veiled married opposites
--
The idea and feeling groping in Ignorance
At last clutched passionately the body of Truth,
--
and made of them a sweet and happy call;
It lifted from an underground of pain
--
Or mid this drowse and coma on Matter's breast
Heard like disjointed mutterings in sleep;
--
That garbed the initial and original thought
With the finality of an ultimate phrase:
United were Time's creative mood and tense
To the style and syntax of Identity.
A paean swelled from the lost musing deeps;
--
Peopled with voices and with visages
Aspired in a crescendo of the Gods
--
Vast aim and process and unfettered norms,
A larger Nature's great familiar roads.
--
He broke into another Space and Time.
End of Canto V - End of Book I
01.06 - On Communism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Communism is the synthesis of collectivism and individualism. The past ages of society were characterised more or less by a severe collectivism. In ancient Greece, more so in Sparta and in Rome, the individual had, properly speaking, no separate existence of his own; he was merged in the State or Nation. The individual was considered only as a limb of the collective being, had to live and labour for the common weal. The value attached to each person was strictly in reference to the output that the group to which he belonged received from him. Apart from this service for the general unit the body politicany personal endeavour and achievement, if not absolutely discouraged and repressed, was given a very secondary place of merit. The summum bonum of the individual was to sacrifice at the altar of the res publica, the bonum publicum. In India, the position and function of the State or Nation was taken up by the society. Here too social institutions were so constituted and men were so bred and brought up that individuality had neither the occasion nor the incentive to express itself, it was a thing that remained, in the Kalidasian phrase, an object for the ear onlysrutau sthita. Those who sought at all an individual aim and purpose, as perhaps the Sannyasins, were put outside the gate of law and society. Within the society, in actual life and action, it was a sin and a crime or at least a gross imperfection to have any self-regarding motive or impulse; personal preference was the last thing to be considered, virtue consisted precisely in sacrificing one's own taste and inclination for the sake of that which the society exacts and sanctions.
Against this tyranny of the group, this absolute rule of the collective will, the human mind rose in revolt and the result was Individualism. For whatever may be the truth and necessity of the Collective, the Individual is no less true and necessary. The individual has his own law and urge of being and his own secret godhead. The collective godhead derides the individual godhead at its peril. The first movement of the reaction, however, was a run to the other extremity; a stern collectivism gave birth to an intransigent individualism. The individual is sacred and inviolable, cost what it may. It does not matter what sort of individuality one seeks, it is enough if the thing is there. So the doctrine of individualism has come to set a premium on egoism and on forces that are disruptive of all social bonds. Each and every individual has the inherent right, which is also a duty, to follow his own impetus and impulse. Society is nothing but the battle ground for competing individualities the strongest survive and the weakest go to the wall. Association and co-operation are instruments that the individual may use and utilise for his own growth and development but in the main they act as deterrents rather than as aids to the expression and expansion of his characteristic being. In reality, however, if we probe sufficiently deep into the matter we find that there is no such thing as corporate life and activity; what appears as such is only a camouflage for rigorous competition; at the best, there maybe only an offensive and defensive alliancehumanity fights against nature, and within humanity itself group fights against group and in the last analysis, within the group, the individual fights against the individual. This is the ultimate Law-the Dharma of creation.
Now, what such an uncompromising individualism fails to recognise is that individuality and ego are not the same thing, that the individual may have his individuality intact and entire and yet sacrifice his ego, that the soul of man is a much greater thing than his vital being. It is simply ignoring the fact and denying the truth to say that man is only a fighting animal and not a loving god, that the self within the individual realises itself only through competition and not co-operation. It is an error to conceive of society as a mere parallelogram of forces, to suppose that it has risen simply out of the struggle of individual interests and continues to remain by that struggle. Struggle is only one aspect of the thing, a particular form at a particular stage, a temporary manifestation due to a particular system and a particular habit and training. It would be nearer the truth to say that society came into being with the dem and of the individual soul to unite with the individual soul, with the stress of an Over-soul to express itself in a multitude of forms, diverse yet linked together and organised in perfect harmony. Only, the stress for union manifested itself first on the material plane as struggle: but this is meant to be corrected and transcended and is being continually corrected and transcended by a secret harmony, a real commonality and brotherhood and unity. The individual is not so self-centred as the individualists make him to be, his individuality has a much vaster orbit and fulfils itself only by fulfilling others. The scientists have begun to discover other instincts in man than those of struggle and competition; they now place at the origin of social grouping an instinct which they name the herd-instinct: but this is only a formulation in lower terms, a translation on the vital plane of a higher truth and reality the fundamental oneness and accord of individuals and their spiritual impulsion to unite.
However, individualism has given us a truth and a formula which collectivism ignored. Self-determination is a thing which has come to stay. Each and every individual is free, absolutely free and shall freely follow his own line of growth and development and fulfilment. No extraneous power shall choose and fix what is good or evil for him, nor coerce and exploit him for its own benefit. But that does not necessarily mean that collectivism has no truth in it; collectivism also, as much as individualism, has a lesson for us and we should see whether we can harmonise the two. Collectivism signifies that the individual should not look to himself alone, should not be shut up in his freedom but exp and himself and envelop others in a wider freedom, see other creatures in himself and himself in other creatures, as the Gita says. Collectivism dem ands that the individual need not and should not exhaust himself entirely in securing and enjoying his personal freedom, but that he can and should work for the salvation of others; the truth it upholds is this that the individual is from a certain point of view only a part of the group and by ignoring the latter it ignores itself in the end.
Now, a spiritual communism embraces individualism and collectivism, fuses them in a higher truth, establishes them in an intimate and absolute harmony. The individual is the centre, the group is the circumference and the two form one whore circle. The individual by fulfilling the truth of his real individuality fulfils also the truth of a commonality. There are no different laws for the two. The individuals do not st and apart from and against one another, the dharma of one does not clash with the dharma of the other. The ripples in the bosom of the sea, however distinct and discrete in appearance, form but a single mass, all follow the same law of hydrodynamics that the mother sea incarnates. Stars and planets and nebulae, each separate heavenly body has its characteristic form and nature and function and yet all fulfil the same law of gravitation and beat the measure of the silent symphony of spaces. Individualities are the freedoms of the collective being and collectivity the concentration of individual beings. The same soul looking inward appears as the individual being and looking outward appears as the collective being.
Communism takes man not as ego or the vital creature; it turns him upside downurdhomulo' vaksakhah and establishes him upon his soul, his inner godhead. Thus established the individual soul finds and fulfils the divine law that by increasing itself it increases others and by increasing others it increases itself and thus by increasing one another they attain the supreme good. Unless man goes beyond himself and reaches this self, this godhead above, he will not find any real poise, will always swing between individualism and collectivism, he will remain always boundbound either in his freedom or in his bondage.
A commune is a group of individuals having a common self and a common life-intuition. A common self presupposes the realisation by each individual of his deepest being the self which is at once distinct from and instinct with other selves; a common life-intuition presupposes the awakening of each individual to his inmost creative urge, which, pure and true and vast as it is, fulfils itself in and through other creative urges.
A commune, further, is not only a product or final achievement; it is also a process, an instrument to bring about the desired end. A group of individuals come to have a common self and a common life-intuition in and through the commune; and in and through the commune does each individual progress to the realisation of his deepest self and the awakening of his inmost life-intuition.
The individual must find himself and establish his secret god-head, and then only, when such free and integral individualities meet and reciprocate and coalesce, can the community they form have a living reality and a permanent potency. On the other h and, unless individuals come together and through the interchange of each other's soul and substance' enhance the communal Godhead, the separate individual godheads also will not manifest in their supreme and sovereign powers.
If society, that is to say, community, be the fieldkshetra for the individual to live, move and have its being, then we must begin at the very outset with the community itself, at least, with a nucleus that will go to form such a thing. The fear that the untimely grouping together of immature souls may crush out individuality and dig its own grave has, no doubt, sufficient justification behind it to deter one from the attempt; but neither can we be certain that souls nursed and nourished in solitary cells, absolutely apart from any mellowing and broadening influence of the outside world will ever reach to that stage of perfect maturity when they will suddenly and spontaneously break open their cells and recognise in one another the communal brother-self.
As a matter of fact, the individual is not and cannot be such an isolated thing as our egoistic sense would like to have it. The sharp angularities of the individual are being, at every moment, chastened by the very primary conditions of life; and to fail to recognise this is the blindest form of ignorance. It is no easy task to draw exactly the line of distinction between our individual being and our social or communal being. In actual life they are so blended together that in trying to extricate them from each other, we but tear and lacerate them both. The highest wisdom is to take the two together as they are, and by a gradual purifying processboth internal and external, internal in thought and knowledge and will, external in life and actionrestore them to their respective truth and lawSatyam and Ritam.
The individual who leads a severely individual life from the very beginning, whose outlook of the world has been fashioned by that conception, can hardly, if at all, enter at the end the communal life. He must perforce be either a vagabond or a recluse: But the recluse is not an integral man, nor the vagabond an ideal personality. The individual need not be too chaste and shy to associate with others and to give and take as freely and fully as he can. Individuality is not necessarily curtailed or mutilated in this process, but there is this other greater possibility of its getting enlarged and enhanced. Rather it is when 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; the breadth and height and depth of your self, the cubic completeness of your personality you can attain only through a multiple and variegated stress by which you come in contact with the world and things.
So first the individual and then the commune is not the natural nor the ideal principle. On the other h and, first the commune and then the 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 therein and thus crush down the 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 beforeh and. The individual has there no choice of finding and developing the 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 the commune be a contractual association, the members having joined together in a common cause to a common end, by voluntarily sacrificing a portion of their personal choice and freedom, even then it is not the ideal thing; the collective soul will be diminished in exact proportion as each individual soul has had to be diminished, be that voluntary or otherwise. That commune is plenary and entire which ensures plenitude and entirety to each of its individuals.
Now how to escape the dilemma? Only if we take the commune and the individual togetheren bloc, as has already been suggested. This means that the commune should be at the beginning a subtle and supple thing, without form and even without name, it should be no more than the circumambient aura the sukshma deha that plays around a group of individuals who meet and unite and move together by a secret affinity, along a common path towards a common goal. As each individual develops and defines himself, the commune also takes a more and more concrete shape; and when at the last stage the individual rises to the full height of his godhead, takes possession of his integral divinity, the commune also establishes 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
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsVivekan anda
Vivekan anda
A personal reminiscence. A young man in prison, accused of conspiracy and waging war against the British Empire. If convicted he might have to suffer the extreme penalty, at least, transportation to the andamans. The case is dragging on for long months. and the 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 overwhelm him. Who was there to console and cheer him up? Vivekan anda. Vivekan anda's speeches, From Colombo to Almora, came, as a godsend, into the h ands of the young man. Invariably, when the period of despondency came he used to open the book, read a few pages, read them over again, and the cloud was there no longer. Instead there was hope and courage and faith and future and light and air.
Such is Vivekan anda, the embodiment of Fearlessnessabh, the Upanishadic word, the mantra, he was so fond of. The life and vision of Vivekan anda can be indeed summed up in the mighty phrase of the Upanishads, nyam tm balahnena labhya. 'This soul no weakling can attain.' Strength! More strength! Strength evermore! One remembers the motto of Danton, the famous leader in the French Revolution:De l'audance, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace!
The gospel of strength that Vivekan anda spread was very characteristic of the man. For it is not mere physical or nervous bravery, although that too is indispensable, and it is something more than moral courage. In the speeches referred to, the subject-matter (as well as the manner to a large extent) is philosophical, metaphysical, even abstract in outlook and treatment: they are not a call to arms, like the French National Anthem, for example; they are not merely an ethical exhortation, a moral lesson either. They speak of the inner spirit, the divine in man, the supreme realities that lie beyond. and yet the words are permeated through and through with a vibration life-giving and heroic-not so much in the explicit and apparent meaning as in the style and manner and atmosphere: it is catching, even or precisely when he refers, for example, to these passages in the Vedas and the Upanishads, magnificent in their poetic beauty, sublime in their spiritual truth,nec plus ultra, one can say, in the gr and style supreme:
Yasyaite himavanto mahitv
--
The consciousness that breathed out these mighty words, these heavenly sounds was in itself mighty and heavenly and it is that that touches you, penetrates you, vibrates in you a kindred chord, "awakening in you someone dead" till thenmrtam kcana bodhayant. More than the matter, the thing that was said, was the personality, the being who embodied the truth expressed, the living consciousness behind the words and the speech that set fire to your soul. Indeed it was the soul that Vivekan anda could awaken and stir in you. Any orator, any speaker with some kind of belief, even if it is for the moment, in what he says, by the sheer force of assertion, can convince your mind and draw your acquiescence and adhesion. 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, ephemeral and superficial, that is touched in you thereby. The spiritual leader, the Guide, goes straight to the spirit in youit is the call of the deep unto the deep. That was what Vivekan anda meant when he said that Brahman is asleep in you, awaken it, you are the Brahman, awaken it, you are free and almighty. It is the spirit consciousness Sachchidan anda that is the real man in you and that is supremely mighty and invincible and free absolutely. The courage and fearlessness that Vivekan anda gave you was the natural attribute of the lordship of your spiritual reality. Vivekan anda spoke and roused the Atman in man.
Vivekan anda spoke to the Atman in man, he spoke to the Atman of the world, and he spoke specially to the Atman of India. India had a large place in Vivekan anda's consciousness: for the future of humanity and the world is wedded to India's future. India has a great mission, it has a spiritual, rather the spiritual work to do. Here is India's work as Vivekan anda conceived it in a nutshell:
"Shall India die? Then from the world all spirituality will be extinct." and wherefore is this call for the life spiritual? Thus the aspiring soul would answer:
"If I do not find bliss in the life of the spirit, shall I seek satisfaction in the life of the senses? If I cannot get nectar, shall I fall back upon ditch water?"
The answer is as old as that of Nachiketas: "These horses and these songs and dances of yours, let them remain yours, man is not appeased with riches"; or that of Maitreyi, "What am I to do with that which will not bring me immortality?" This is then man's mission upon earth:
"Man is higher than all animals, than all angels: none is greater than man. Even the Devas will have to come down again and attain to salvation though a human body. Man alone attains to perfection, not even the Devas." Indeed, men are gods upon earth, come down here below to perfect themselves and perfect the worldonly, they have to be conscious of themselves. They do not know what they are, they have to be actually and sovereignly what they are really and potentially. This then is the life-work of everyone:
"First, let us be Gods, and then help others to be Gods.
'Be and make', let this be our motto."
That is indeed the only way of securing a harmonious and
perfected humanity:
"Manifest the divinity within you, and everything will be
harmoniously arranged around it."
--
and not conformity to nature that makes man what he is."
Work and not abstention from work is the way, but not work for ignorant enjoyment:
"The dwelling-place of the 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."
These are luminous life-giving mantras and the world and humanity of today, sore distressed and utterly confounded, have great need of them to live them by and be saved.
***
01.07 - Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsBlaise Pascal (1623-1662)
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
"The zeal for the Lord hath eaten me up." Such has indeed been the case with Pascal, almost literally. The fire that burned in him was too ardent and vehement for the vehicle, the material instrument, which was very soon used up and reduced to ashes. At twenty-four he was already a broken man, being struck with paralysis and neuras thenia; he died at the comparatively early age of 39, emulating, as it were, the life career of his Lord the Christ who died at 33. The Fire martyrised the body, but kindled and brought forth experiences and realisations that save and truths that abide. It was the Divine Fire whose vision and experience he had on the famous night of 23 November 1654 which brought about his final and definitive conversion. It was the 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 the exact sciences. At 12 this prodigy discovered by himself the 32nd proposition of Euclid, Book I. At sixteen he wrote a treatise on conic sections. At nineteen he invented a calculating machine which, without the help of any mathematical rule or process, gave absolutely accurate results. At twenty-three he published his experiments with vacuum. At twenty-five he conducted the well-known experiment from the tower of St. Jacques, proving the existence of atmospheric 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 mathematics, viz., the mathematical theory of probability. We shall see presently how his preoccupation with the mathematics of chance and probability coloured and reinforced his metaphysics and theology.
But the pressure upon his dynamic and heated brain the fiery zeal in his mindwas already proving too much and he was advised medically to take complete rest. Thereupon followed what was known as Pascal's mundane lifea period of distraction and dissipation; but this did not last long nor was it of a serious nature. The inner fire could brook no delay, it was eager and impatient to englobe other fields and domains. Indeed, it turned to its own field the heart. Pascal became initiated into the mystery of Faith and Grace. Still he had to pass through a terrible period of dejection and despair: the life of the world had given him no rest or relaxation, it served only to fill his cup of misery to the brim. But the hour of final relief was not long postponed: the Grace came to him, even as it came to Moses or St. Paul as a sudden flare of fire which burnt up the Dark Night and opened out the portals of Morning Glory.
Pascal's place in the evolution of European culture and consciousness is of considerable significance and importance. He came at a critical time, on the mounting tide of rationalism and scepticism, in an age when the tone and temper of human mentality were influenced and fashioned by Montaigne and Rochefoucauld, by Bacon and Hobbes. Pascal himself, born in such an atmosphere of doubt and disbelief and disillusionment, had sucked in a full dose of that poison; yet he survived and found the Rock of Ages, became the clarion of Faith against Denial. What a spectacle it was! This is what one wrote just a quarter of a century after the death of Pascal:
"They can no longer tell us that it is only small minds that have piety. They are shown how it has grown best in one of the the greatest geometricians, one of the subtlest metaphysicians, one of the most penetrating minds that ever existed on earth. The piety of such a philosopher should make the unbeliever and the 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 when I behold Epicurus kneeling down!"1
What characterises Pascal is the way in which he has bent his brainnot rejected it but truly bent and forced even the dry "geometrical brain" to the service of Faith.
In his inquiry into truth and certitude Pascal takes his st and upon what he calls the geometrical method, the only valid method, according to him, in the sphere of reason. The characteristic of this method is that it takes for granted certain fundamental principles and realitiescalled axioms and postulates or definitions and proceeds to other truths that are infallibly and inevitably deduced from them, that are inherent and implied in them. There is no use or necessity in trying to demonstrate these fundamentals also; that will only l and us into confusion and muddle. They have to be simply accepted, they do not require demonstration, it is they that demonstrate others. Such, for instance, are space, time, number, the reality of which it is foolishness and pedantry to I seek to prove. There is then an order of truths that do not i require to be proved. We are referring only to the order of I physical truths. But there is another order, Pascal says, equally I valid and veritable, the order of the Spirit. Here we have another set of fundamentals that have to be accepted and taken for granted, matrix of other truths and realities. It can also be called the order of the Heart. Reason posits physical fundamentals; it does not know of the fundamentals of the 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 the things of faith are beyond reason, it is not that they are irrational. Here is what Pascal says about the function and limitation of reason:
"The last movement of reason is to know that there is an infinity of things that are beyond it. It must be a very weak reason if it does not arrive there."2
--
He goes farther and adopting a positive attitude says:
"We know truth not by reason alone, but by the heart also: it is in the latter way that we know the first principles, and in vain does reasoning, that has no part in it, attempt to combat them... The heart feels... and the reason demon strates afterwards... Principles are felt, propositions are deduced. . . . "5
About doubt, Pascal says that the perfect doubter, the Pyrrhonian as he is called, is a fiction. Pascal asks:
--
The process of conversion of the doubting mind, of the 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 the issue to the doubting mind (I am giving the substance, not his words): let us say then that in the world we are playing a game of chance. How do the chances st and? What are the gains and losses if God does not exist? What 'are the 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 the world of misery. If, on the other 'h and, 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 the st andpoint of mere gain and loss, belief in God is more advantageous than unbelief. This is how he applied to metaphysics the mathematics of probability.
One is not sure if such reasoning is convincing to the 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 the difficulty his brain had to undergo, the tension or even the 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 the two were not perfectly synthetised or fused in him. There was a gap between that was not thoroughly bridged. Pascal did not possess the higher, intuitive, luminous mind that mediates successfully between the physical discursive ratiocinative brain-mind and the vision of faith: it is because deep in his consciousness there lay this chasm. Indeed,Pascal's abyss (l' abme de Pascal) is a well-known legend. Pascal, it appears, used to have very often the vision of an abyss about to open before him and he shuddered at the prospect of falling into it. It seems to us to be an experience of the Infinity the Infinity to which he was so much attracted and of which he wrote so beautifully (L'infiniment gr and 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, the faith he had was a fire: it lacked something of the pure light and burned with a lurid glare.
and the reason is his metaphysics. It is the Jansenist conception of God and human nature that inspired and coloured all his experience and consciousness. According to it, as according to the Calvinist conception, man is a corrupt being, corroded to the core, original sin has br anded his very soul. Only Grace saves him and releases him. The order of sin and the order of Grace are distinct and disparate worlds and yet they complement each other and need each other. Greatness and misery are intertwined, united, unified with each other in him. Here is an echo of the Manichean position which also involves an abyss. But even then God's grace is not a free agent, as Jesuits declare; there is a predestination that guides and controls it. This was one of the main subjects he treated in his famous open letters (Les Provinciales) that brought him renown almost overnight. Eternal hell is a possible prospect that faces the Jansenist. That was why a Night always over-shadowed the Day in Pascal's soul.
Man then, according to Pascal, is by nature a sinful thing. He can lay no claim to noble virtue as his own: all in him is vile, he is a lump of dirt and filth. Even the greatest has his full share of this taint. The greatest, the saintliest, and the meanest, the most sinful, all meet, all are equal on this common platform; all have the same feet of clay. Man is as miserable a creature as a beast, as much a part and product of Nature as a plant. Only there is this difference that an animal or a tree is unconscious, while man knows that he is miserable. This knowledge or perception makes him more miserable, but that is his real and only greatness there is no other. His thought, his self-consciousness, and his sorrow and repentance and contrition for what he is that is the only good partMary's part that has been given to him. Here are Pascal's own words on the subject:
"The greatness of man is great in this that he knows he is miserable. A tree does not know that it is miserable.
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Pascal's faith had not the calm, tranquil, serene, luminous and happy self-possession of an Indian Rishi. It was ardent and impatient, fiery and vehement. It had to be so perhaps, since it was to st and 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 thenia and physical infirmity. But whatever the 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 the French language. If one speaks of Pascal, one has to speak of his language also; for he was one of the great masters who created the 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 the Pascalian style; but an inner echo of the same can perhaps be caught from the thought movement of these characteristic sayings of his with which we conclude:
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"The heart has its reasons which Reason knows not... I say, the heart loves the universal being naturally, and itself also naturally, according to which so ever it gives itself. and it hardens itself against the one or the other according to its choice. You have rejected one and preserved the other. Is it by the reason that you love ?"10
"Know then, 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
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 the world presupposes a real reconstruction, a permanent reformation of human nature. Otherwise any amount of casting and recasting the mere machineries would not bring about any appreciable result, but leave the thing as it is. Change the laws as much as you like, but if you do not change the nature of man, the world will not change. For it is man that makes laws and not laws that make man. Laws express at best the dem and 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. The realisation must come first in nature and character, then it is naturally translated into laws and institutions. A man lives the laws of his soul and being and not the law given him by the shastras. He violates the shastras, modifies them, utilises them according to the greater imperative of his Swabhava.
The French Revolution wanted to remould human society and its ideal was liberty, equality and fraternity. It pulled down the old machinery and set up a new one in its stead. and the result? "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" remained always in effect a cry in the wilderness. Another wave of idealism is now running over the earth and the Bolshevists are its most fiercely practical exponents. Instead of dealing merely with the political machinery, the Socialistic Revolution tries to break and remake, above all, the social machinery. But judged from the results as yet attained and the tendencies at work, few are the reasons to hope but many to fear the worst. Even education does not seem to promise us anything better. Which nation was better educatedin the sense we understood and still commonly underst and the wordthan Germany?
and yet we have no hesitation today to call them Huns and Barbarians. That education is not giving us the right thing is proved further by the fact that we are constantly changing our programmes and curriculums, everyday remodelling old institutions and founding new ones. Even a revolution in the educational system will not bring about the desired millennium, so long as we lay so much stress upon the system and not upon man himself. and finally, look to all the religions of the worldwe have enough of creeds and dogmas, of sermons and mantras, of churches and temples and yet human life and society do not seem to be any the more worthy for it.
Are we then to say that human nature is irrevocably vitiated by an original sin and that all our efforts at reformation and regeneration are, as the Indian saying goes, like trying to straighten out the crooked tail of a dog?
It is this persuasion which, has led many spiritual souls, siddhas, to declare that theirs is not the kingdom upon this earth, but that the kingdom of Heaven is within. and it is why great lovers of humanity have sought not to eradicate but only to mitigate, as far as possible, the ills of life. Earth and life, it is said, contain in their last analysis certain ugly and loathsome realities which are an inevitable and inexorable part of their substance and to eliminate one means to annihilate the other. What can be done is to throw a veil over the nether regions in human nature, to put a ban on their urges and velleities and to create opportunities to make social arrangements so that the higher impulses only find free play while the lower impulses, for want of scope and indulgence, may fall down to a harmless level. This is what the Reformists hope and want and no more. Life is based upon animality, the soul is encased in an earth-sheathman needs must procreate, man needs must seek food. But what human effort can achieve is to set up barriers and limitations and form channels and openings, which will restrain these impulses, allow them a necessary modicum of play and which for the greater part will serve to encourage and enhance the nobler urges in man. Of course, there will remain always the possibility of the whole scaffolding coming down with a crash and the aboriginal in man running riot in his nudity. But we have to accept the chance and make the best of what materials we have in h and.
No doubt this is a most dismal kind of pessimism. But it is the logical conclusion of all optimism that bases itself upon a particular view of human nature. If we question that pessimism, we have to question the very grounds of our optimism also. As a matter of fact, all our idealism has been so long infructuous and will be so in the future, if we do not shift our foundation and start from a different IntuitionWeltanschauung.
Our ideals have been mental constructions, rather than spiritual realitiesrealities of the deepest and highest being. and the power by which we sought to realise those ideals was mainly the insistence of our emotional urges, rather than Nature's Truth-Power. For this must be understood that the mental, the vital and the physical form a nexus of reality which works in its own inexorable law and so long as we are within them we cannot but obey the laws that guide them. Of these three strata which form the human adhara, it is the vital which holds the key to man's nature. It is the executive power, the force that fashions the realities on the physical plane; it is what creates the character. The power of thought and sentiment is often much too exaggerated, even so the power of the body, that of physical and external rules and regulations. The mental or the physical or both together can mould the vital only to a limited extent, to the extent which is allowed by the inherent law of the vital. If the dem ands of the mental and the physical are stretched too far and are not suffered by the vital, a crash and catastrophe is bound to come in the end.
This is the meaning of the Reformist's pessimism. So long as we remain within the domain of the triple nexus, we must always take account of an original sin, an aboriginal irredeemability in human nature. and it, is this fact which a too hasty optimistic idealism is apt to ignore. The point, however, is that man need not be necessarily bound to this triple chord of life. He can go beyond, transcend himself and find a reality which is the basis of even this lower poise of the mental and vital and physical. Only in order to get into that higher poise we must really transcend the lower, that is to say, we must not be satisfied with experiencing or envisaging it through the mind and heart but must directly commune with it, be it. There is a higher law that rules there, a power that is the truth-substance of even the vital and hence can remould it with a sovereign inevitability, according to a pattern which may not and is not the pattern of mental and emotional idealism, but the pattern of a supreme spiritual realism.
What then is required is a complete spiritual regeneration in man, a new structure of his soul and substancenot merely the realisation of the highest and supreme Truth in mental and emotional consciousness, but the translation and application of the law of that truth in the power of the vital. It is here that failed all the great spiritual or rather religious movements of the past. They were content with evoking the divine in the mental being, but left the vital becoming to be governed by the habitual un-divine or at the most to be just illumined by a distant and faint glow which served, however, more to distort than express the Divine.
The Divine Nature only can permanently reform the vital nature that is ours. Neither laws and institutions, which are the 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 the power to regenerate society. If it is thought improbable for any group of men to attain to that God Nature, then there is hardly any hope for mankind. But improbable or probable, that is the only way which man has to try and test, and there is none other.
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01.08 - A Theory of Yoga, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Yoga is another form of a normal function in man, it is the consciously regulated and heightened process of a habitual activity of the mind.
The recent science of Psycho-analysis has brought to light certain hidden springs and undercurrents of the mind; it has familiarised us with a mode of viewing the 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 where different and divergent forces continually battle against one another. There must be, however, at the same time, some sort of a resolution of these forces, some equation that holds them in balance, otherwise the mind the human being itselfwould cease to exist as an entity. What is the mechanism of this balance of power in the human mind? In order to ascertain that we must first of all know the fundamental nature of the struggle and also the character of the more elemental forces that are engaged in it.
There are some primary desires that seek satisfaction in man. They are the vital urges of life, the most prominent among them being the instinct of self-preservation and that of self-reproduction or the desire to preserve one's body by defensive as well as by offensive means and the desire to multiply oneself by mating. These are the two biological necessities that are inevitable to man's existence as a physical being. They give the minimum conditions required to be fulfilled by man in order that he may live and hence they are the strongest and the most fundamental elements that enter into his structure and composition.
It would have been an easy matter if these vital urges could flow on unhindered in their way. There would have been no problem at all, if they met satisfaction easily and smoothly, without having to look to other factors and forces. As a matter of fact, man does not and cannot gratify his instincts whenever and wherever he chooses and in an open and direct manner. Even in his most primitive and barbarous condition, he has often to check himself and throw a veil, in so many ways, over his sheer animality. In the civilised society the check is manifold and is frankly recognised. We do not go straight as our sexual impulsion leads, but seek to hide and camouflage it under the institution of marriage; we do not pounce upon the 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 the economic system. The machinery of the state, the cult of the kshatriya are roundabout ways to meet our fighting instincts.
What is the reason of this elaboration, this check and constraint upon the natural and direct outflow of the animal instincts in man? It has been said that the social life of man, the fact that he has to live and move as member of a group or aggregate has imposed upon him these restrictions. The 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 the herd. and it is this herd-instinct which naturally and spontaneously restrains, diverts and even metamorphoses the other instincts of the mere animal life. However, leaving aside for the moment the question whether man's ethical and spiritual ideals are a mere dissimulation of his animal instincts or whether they correspond to certain actual realities apart from and co-existent with these latter, we will recognise the simple fact of control and try to have a glimpse into its mechanism.
There are three lines, as the Psycho-analysts point out along which this control or censuring of the primary instincts acts. First, there is the line of Defence Reaction. That is to say, the mind automatically takes up an attitude directly contrary to the impulse, tries to shut it out and deny altogether its existence and the measure of the insistence of the impulse is also the measure of the vehemence of the denial. It is the case of the lady protesting too much. So it happens that where subconsciously there is a strong current of a particular impulse, consciously the mind is obliged to take up a counteracting opposite impulse. Thus in presence of a strong sexual craving the 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 the conscious plane as an equally strong repulsion.
Secondly, there is the line of Substitution. Here the mind does not st and in an antagonistic and protestant mood to combat and repress the impulse, but seeks to divert it into other channels, use it to other purposes which do not dem and equal sacrifice, may even, on the other h and, be considered by the conscious mind as worthy of human pursuit. Thus the energy that normally would seek sexual gratification might find its outlet in the cultivation of art and literature. It is a common thing in novels to find the heroine disappointed in love taking finally to works of charity and beneficence and thus forgetting her disappointment. Another variety of this is what is known as "drowning one's sorrow in drinking."
Thirdly, there is the line of Sublimationit is when the natural impulse is neither repressed nor diverted but lifted up into a higher modality. The thing is given a new sense and a new value which serve to remove the stigma usually attached 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 the point.
The human mind naturally, without any effort on its part, takes to one or more of these devices to control and conceal the aboriginal impulses. But this spontaneous process can be organised and consciously regulated and made to serve better the purpose and urge of Nature. and this is the beginning of yoga the conscious fulfilment of Nature. The Psycho-analysts have given us the first and elementary stage of this process of yoga. It is, we may say, the fourth line of control. With this man enters a new level of being, develops a new mode of life. It is when the automatism of Nature is replaced by the 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 the laws of almost subconscious impulsions. Conscious control means that the mind does not fight shy of or seek to elude the aboriginal insistences, but allows them to come up freely, meets them squarely, recognises them and establishes an easy mastery over them.
The method of unconscious or subconscious nature is fundamentally that of repression. Apart from Defence Reaction which is a thing of pure coercion, even in Substitution and Sublimation there always remains in the background a large amount of repressed complexes in all their primitive strength. The system is never entirely purified but remains secretly pregnant with those urges; a part only is deflected and camouflaged, the surface only assumes a transformed appearance. and there is always the danger of the superstructure coming down helplessly by a sudden upheaval of the nether forces. The whole system feels, although not in a conscious manner, the tension of the repression and suffers from something that is unhealthy and ill-balanced. Dante's spiritualised passion is a supreme instance of control by Sublimation, but the Divina Comedia hardly bears the impress of a serene and tranquil soul, sovereignly above the turmoils of the tragedy of life and absolutely at peace with itself.
In conscious control, the mind is for the first time aware of the presence of the repressed impulses, it seeks to release them from the pressure to which they are habitually and normally subjected. It knows and recognises them, however ugly and revolting they might appear to be when they present themselves in their natural nakedness. Then it becomes easy for the conscious determination to eliminate or regulate or transform them and thus to establish a healthy harmony in the human vehicle. The very recognition itself, as implied in conscious control, means purification.
Yet even here the process of control and transformation does not end. and we now come to the Fifth Line, the real and intimate path of yoga. Conscious control gives us a natural mastery over the instinctive impulses which are relieved of their dark tamas and attain a purified rhythm. We do not seek to hide or repress or combat them, but surpass them and play with them as the artist does with his material. Something of this katharsis, this aestheticism of the primitive impulses was achieved by the ancient Greeks. Even then the primitive impulses remain primitive all the same; they fulfil, no doubt, a real and healthy function in the scheme of life, but still in their fundamental nature they continue the animal in man. and even when Conscious Control means the utter elimination and annihilation of the primal instinctswhich, however, does not seem to be a probable eventualityeven then, we say, the basic problem remains unsolved; for the urge of nature towards the release and a transformation of the instincts does not find satisfaction, the question is merely put aside.
Yoga, then, comes at this stage and offers the solution in its power of what we may call Transubstantiation. That is to say, here the mere form is not changed, nor the functions restrained, regulated and purified, but the very substance of the instincts is transmuted. The power of conscious control is a power of the human will, i.e. of an individual personal will and therefore necessarily limited both in intent and extent. It is a power complementary to the power of Nature, it may guide and fashion the latter according to a new pattern, but cannot change the basic substance, the stuff of Nature. To that end yoga seeks a power that transcends the human will, brings into play the supernal puissance of a Divine Will.
This is the real meaning and sense of the moral struggle in man, the continuous endeavour towards a transvaluation of the primary and aboriginal instincts and impulses. Looked at from one end, from below up the ascending line, man's ethical and spiritual ideals are a dissimulation and sublimation of the animal impulsions. But this is becauseas we see, if we look from the other end, from above down the descending lineman is not all instinct, he is not a mere blind instrument in the h ands of Nature forces. He has in him another source, an opposite pole of being from which other impulsions flow and continually modify the structure of the lower levels. If the animal is the foundation of his nature, the divine is its summit. If the bodily dem ands form his manifest reality, the dem ands of the spirit enshrine his higher reality. and if as regards the former he is a slave, as regards the latter he is the Master. It is by the interaction of these double forces that his whole nature has been and is being fashioned. Man does not and cannot give carte blanche to his vital, inclinations, since there is a pressure upon them of higher forces coming down from his mental and spiritual levels. It is these latter which have deviated him from the direct line of the pure animal life.
Thus then we may distinguish three types of control on three levels. First, the natural control, secondly the conscious, i.e. to say the mental the ethical and religious control, and thirdly the spiritual or divine control. Now the spirit is the ultimate truth and reality, behind the forces that act in the mind and in the body, so that the natural control and the ethical control are mere attempts to establish and realise the spiritual control. The animal impulses feel the hidden stress of the divine urges that are their real essence and thus there rises first an unconscious conflict in the natural life and then a conscious conflict in the higher ethical life. But when both of these are transcended and the conflict is carried on to a still higher level, then do we find their real significance and arrive at the consummation to which they move. Yoga is the ultimate transvaluation of physical ( and of moral) values, it is the trans-substantiation of life-power into its spiritual substance.
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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: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsWalter Hilton: The Scale of Perfection
Walter Hilton: The Scale of Perfection
From the twentieth century back to the fourteenth is a far cry: a far cry indeed from the modern scientific illumination to mediaeval superstition, from logical positivists and mathematical rationalists to visionary mystics, from Russell and Huxley to Ruysbroeck and Hilton. The mystic lore, the Holy Writ, the mediaeval sage says, echoing almost the very words of the Eastern Masters, "may not be got by study nor through man's travail only, but principally by the grace of the Holy Ghost." As for the men living and moving in the worldly way, there are "so mickle din and crying in their heart and vain thoughts and fleshly desires" that it is impossible for them to listen or underst and the still small voice. It is the pure soul touched by the Grace that alone "seeth soothfastness of Holy Writ wonderly shewed and opened, above study and travail and reason of man's kindly (i.e. natural) wit."
What is day to us is night to the mystics and what is day to the mystics is night for us. The first thing the mystic asks is to close precisely those doors and windows which we, on the contrary, feel obliged to keep always open in order to know and to live and move. The Gita says: "The sage is wakeful when it is night for all creatures and when all creatures are wakeful, that is night for the sage." Even so this sage from the West says: "The more I sleep from outward things, the more wakeful am I in knowing of Jhesu and of inward things. I may not wake to Jhesu, but if I sleep to the world."
Close the senses. Turn within. and then go forward, that is to say, more and more inward. In that direction lies your itinerary, the journey of your consciousness. The sense-ridden secular man, who goes by his physical eye, has marked in his own way the 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 their component molecules and from molecules to their component atoms and from atoms once more into electrons and protons or energy-points pure and simple, or otherwise as, in another direction, he extended his gaze from earth to the solar system, from the solar system to other starry systems, to far-off galaxies and I from galaxies to spaces beyond. The record of this double-track march to infinityas perceived or conceived by the physical sensesis marvellous, no doubt. The mystic offers the spectacle of a still more marvellous march to another kind of infinity.
Here is the Augustinian mantra taken as the motto of The Scale of Perfection: We ascend the ascending grades in our heart and we sing the song of ascension1. The journey's end is heavenly Jerusalem, the House of the Lord. The steps of this inner ascension are easily visible, not surely to the outer eye of the sense-burdened man, but to the "ghostly seeing" of the aspirant which is hazy in the beginning but slowly clears as he advances. The first step is the withdrawal from the outer senses and looking and seeing within. "Turn home again in thyself, and hold thee within and beg no more without." The immediate result is a darkness and a restless darknessit is a painful night. The outer objects of attraction and interest have been discarded, but the inner attachments and passions surge there still. If, however, one continues and persists, refuses to be drawn out, the turmoil settles down and the darkness begins to thin and wear away. One must not lose heart, one must have patience and perseverance. So when the outward world is no more-there and its call also no longer awakes any echo in us, then comes the stage of "restful darkness" or "light-some darkness". But it is still the dark Night of the soul. The outer light is gone and the inner light is not yet visible: the night, the desert, the great Nought, stretches between these two lights. But the true seeker goes through and comes out of the tunnel. and there is happiness at the end. "The seeking is travaillous, but the finding is blissful." When one steps out of the Night, enters into the deepest layer of the being, one st ands face to face to one's soul, the very image of God, the perfect God-man, the Christ within. That is the third degree of our inner ascension, the entry into the deepest, purest and happiest statein which one becomes what he truly is; one finds the Christ there and dwells in love and union with him. But there is still a further step to take, and that is real ascension. For till now it has been a going within, from the outward to the inner and the inmost; now one has to go upward, transcend. Within the body, in life, however deep you may go, even if you find your soul and your union with Jesus whose tabernacle is your soul, still there is bound to remain a shadow of the sinful prison-house; the perfect bliss and purity without any earthly taint, the completeness and the crowning of the purgation and transfiguration can come only when you go beyond, leaving altogether the earthly form and worldly vesture and soar into Heaven itself and be in the company of the Trinity. "Into myself, and after... above myself by overpassing only into Him." At the same time it is pointed out, this mediaeval mystic has the common sense to see that the going in and going above of which one speaks must not be understood in a literal way, it is a figure of speech. The movement of the mystic is psychological"ghostly", it is saidnot physical or carnal.
This spiritual march or progress can also be described as a growing into the likeness of the Lord. His true self, his own image is implanted within us; he is there in the profoundest depth of our being as Jesus, our beloved and our soul rests in him in utmost bliss. We are aware neither of Jesus nor of his spouse, our soul, because of the obsession of the flesh, the turmoil raised by the senses, the blindness of pride and egoism. All that constitutes the first or old Adam, the image of Nought, the body of death which means at bottom the "false misruled love in to thyself." This self-love is the mother of sin, is sin itself. What it has to be replaced by is charity that is the true meaning of Christian charity, forgetfulness of self. "What is sin but a wanting and a forbearing of God." and the whole task, the discipline consists in "the shaping of Christ in you, the casting of sin through Christ." Who then is Christ, what is he? This knowledge you get as you advance from your sense-bound perception towards the inner and inmost seeing. As your outer nature gets purified, you approach gradually your soul, the scales fall off from your eyes too and you have the knowledge and "ghostly vision." Here too there are three degrees; first, you start with faith the senses can do nothing better than have faith; next, you rise to imagination which gives a sort of indirect touch or inkling of the truth; finally, you have the "underst anding", the direct vision. "If he first trow it, he shall afterwards through grace feel it, and finally underst and it."
It is never possible for man, weak and bound as he is, to reject the 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 the burden of their sins. God the Son lived upon earth as man and died as man. Sin therefore has no longer its final or definitive hold upon mankind. Man has been made potentially free, pure and worthy of salvation. This is the mystery of Christ, of God the Son. But there is a further mystery. Christ not only lived for all men for all time, whether they know him, recognise him or not; but he still lives, he still chooses his beloved and his beloved chooses him, there is a conscious acceptance on either side. This is the function of the Holy Ghost, the redeeming power of Love active in him who accepts it and who is accepted by it, the dynamic Christ-Consciousness in the true Christian.
Indeed, the kernel of the mystic discipline and its whole bearingconsists in one and only one principle: to love Jhesu. 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. The Christian mystic speaks almost in the terms of the 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 h ands. He will deliver you.
The characteristic then of the path is a one-pointed concentration. Great stress is laid upon "oneliness", "onedness":that is to say, a perfect and complete withdrawal from the outside and the world; an unmixed solitude is required for the true experience and realisation to come. "A full forsaking in will of the soul for the love of Him, and a living of the heart to Him. This asks He, for this gave He." The rigorous exclusion, the uncompromising asceticism, the voluntary self-torture, the cruel dark night and the arid desert are necessary conditions that lead to the "onlyness of soul", what another prophet (Isaiah, XXIV, 16) describes as "My privity to me". In that secreted solitude, the "onlistead"the graphic language of the author calls itis found "that dignity and that ghostly fairness which a soul had by kind and shall have by grace." The utter beauty of the soul and its absolute love for her deity within her (which has the fair name of Jhesu), the exclusive concentration of the whole of the being upon one point, the divine core, the manifest Grace of God, justifies the annihilation of the world and life's manifold existence. Indeed, the image of the Beloved is always within, from the beginning to the end. It is that that keeps one up in the terrible struggle with one's nature and the world. The image depends upon the consciousness which we have at the moment, that is to say, upon the stage or the degree we have ascended to. At the outset, when we can only look through the senses, when the flesh is our master, we give the image a crude form and character; but even that helps. Gradually, as we rise, with the clearing of our nature, the image too slowly regains its original and true shape. Finally, in the 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 the Gita too say: "As one approaches Me, so do I appear to him."Ye yath mm prapadyante.
Indeed, it would be interesting to compare and contrast the Eastern and Western approach to Divine Love, the Christian and the Vaishnava, for example. Indian spirituality, whatever its outer form or credal formulation, has always a background of utter unity. This unity, again, is threefold or triune and is expressed in those great Upanishadic phrases,mahvkyas,(1) the transcendental unity: the One alone exists, there is nothing else than theOneekamevdvityam; (2) the cosmic unity: all existence is one, whatever exists is that One, thereare no separate existences:sarvam khalvidam brahma neha nnsti kincaa; (3) That One is I, you too are that One:so' ham, tattvamasi; this may be called the individual unity. As I have said, all spiritual experiences in India, of whatever school or line, take for granted or are fundamentally based upon this sense of absolute unity or identity. Schools of dualism or pluralism, who do not apparently admit in their tenets this extreme monism, are still permeated in many ways with that sense and in some form or other take cognizance of the truth of it. The Christian doctrine too says indeed, 'I and my Father in Heaven are one', but this is not identity, but union; besides, the human soul is not admitted into this identity, nor the world soul. The world, we have seen, according to the Christian discipline has to be altogether ab andoned, negatived, as we go inward and upward towards our spiritual status reflecting the divine image in the divine company. It is a complete rejection, a cutting off and casting away of world and life. One extreme Vedantic path seems to follow a similar line, but there it is not really rejection, but a resolution, not the rejection of what is totally foreign and extraneous, but a resolution of the external into its inner and inmost substance, of the effect into its original cause. Brahman is in the world, Brahman is the world: the world has unrolled itself out of the Brahmansi, pravttiit has to be rolled back into its, cause and substance if it is to regain its pure nature (that is the process of nivitti). Likewise, the individual being in the world, "I", is the transcendent being itself and when it withdraws, it withdraws itself and the whole world with it and merges into the Absolute. Even the Maya of the Mayavadin, although it is viewed as something not inherent in Brahman but superimposed upon Brahman, still, has been accepted as a peculiar power of Brahman itself. The Christian doctrine keeps the individual being separate practically, as an associate or at the most as an image of God. The love for one's neighbour, charity, which the Christian discipline enjoins is one's love for one's kind, because of affinity of nature and quality: it does not dissolve the two into an integral unity and absolute identity, where we love because we are one, because we are the One. The highest culmination of love, the very basis of love, according to the Indian conception, is a transcendence of love, love trans-muted into Bliss. The Upanishad says, where one has become the utter unity, who loves whom? To explain further our point, we take two examples referred to in the book we are considering. The true Christian, it is said, loves the sinner too, he is permitted to dislike sin, for he has to reject it, but he must separate from sin the sinner and love him. Why? Because the sinner too can change and become his brother in spirit, one loves the sinner because there is the possibility of his changing and becoming a true Christian. It is why the orthodox Christian, even such an enlightened and holy person as this mediaeval Canon, considers the non-Christian, the non-baptised as impure and potentially and fundamentally sinners. That is also why the Church, the physical organisation, is worshipped as Christ's very body and outside the Church lies the pagan world which has neither religion nor true spirituality nor salvation. Of course, all this may be symbolic and it is symbolic in a sense. If Christianity is taken to mean true spirituality, and the Church is equated with the collective embodiment of that spirituality, all that is claimed on their behalf st ands justified. But that is an ideal, a hypothetical st andpoint and can hardly be borne out by facts. However, to come back to our subject, let us ow take the second example. Of Christ himself, it is said, he not only did not dislike or had any aversion for Judas, but that he positively loved the traitor with a true and sincere love. He knew that the man would betray him and even when he was betraying and had betrayed, the Son of Man continued to love him. It was no make-believe or sham or pretence. It was genuine, as genuine as anything can be. Now, why did he love his enemy? Because, it is said, the enemy is suffered by God to do the misdeed: he has been allowed to test the faith of the faithful, he too has his utility, he too is God's servant. and who knows even a Judas would not change in the end? Many who come to scoff do remain to pray. But it can be asked, 'Does God love Satan too in the same way?' The Indian conception which is basically Vedantic is different. There is only one reality, one truth which is viewed differently. Whether a thing is considered good or evil or neutral, essentially and truly, it is that One and nothing else. God's own self is everywhere and the sage makes no difference between the Brahmin and the cow and the elephant. It is his own self he finds in every person and every objectsarvabhtsthitam yo mm bhajati ekatvamsthitah"he has taken his st and upon oneness and loves Me in all beings."2
This will elucidate another point of difference between the Christian's and the Vaishnava's love of God, for both are characterised by an extreme intensity and sweetness and exquisiteness of that divine feeling. This Christian's, however, is the union of the soul in its absolute purity and simplicity and "privacy" with her lord and master; the soul is shred here of all earthly vesture and goes innocent and naked into the embrace of her Beloved. The Vaishnava feeling is richer and seems to possess more amplitude; it is more concrete and less ethereal. The Vaishnava in his passionate yearning seeks to carry as it were the whole world with him to his Lord: for he sees and feels Him not only in the inmost chamber of his soul, but meets Him also in and I through his senses and in and through the world and its objects around. In psychological terms one can say that the Christian realisation, at its very source, is that of the inmost soul, what we call the "psychic being" pure and simple, referred to in the book we are considering; as: "His sweet privy voice... stirreth thine heart full stilly." Whereas the Vaishnava reaches out to his Lord with his outer heart too aflame with passion; not only his inmost being but his vital being also seeks the Divine. This bears upon the occult story of man's spiritual evolution upon earth. The Divine Grace descends from the highest into the deepest and from the deepest to the outer ranges of human nature, so that the whole of it may be illumined and transformed and one day man can embody in his earthly life the integral manifestation of God, the perfect Epiphany. Each religion, each line of spiritual discipline takes up one limb of manone level or mode of his being and consciousness purifies it and suffuses it with the spiritual and divine consciousness, so that in the end the whole of man, in his integral living, is recast and remoulded: each discipline is in charge of one thread as it were, all together weave the warp and woof in the evolution of the perfect pattern of a spiritualised and divinised humanity.
The conception of original sin is a cardinal factor in Christian discipline. The conception, of sinfulness is the very motive-power that drives the 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; the way of the cross is naturally the calvary strewn with pain and sorrow. It is the very opposite of what is termed the "sunlit path" in spiritual ascension. Christian mystics have made a glorious spectacle of the process of "dying to the world." Evidently, all do not go the whole length. There are less gloomy and happier temperaments, like the present one, for example, who show an unusual balance, a sturdy common sense even in the midst of their darkest nights, who have chalked out as much of the 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, the grosser and apparent and more violent ones as well as all the subtle varieties of it that are in you or rise up in you or come from the Enemy. They pursue you till the very end of your journey. Still you need not feel overwhelmed or completely desperate. Once you recognise the sin in you, even the bare fact of recognition means for you half the victory. The mystic says, "It is no sin as thou feelest them." The day Jesus gave himself away on the Cross, since that very day you are free, potentially free from the bondage of sin. Once you give your adherence to Him, the Enemies are rendered powerless. "They tease the soul, but they harm not the soul". Or again, as the 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." The best way of dealing with one's enemies is not to struggle and "strive with them." The aspirant, the lover of Jesus, must remember: "He is through grace reformed to the likeness of God ('in the privy substance of his soul within') though he neither feel it nor see it."
If you are told you are still full of sins and you are not worthy to follow the path, that you must go and work out your sins first, here is your answer: "Go shrive thee better: trow not this saying, for it is false, for thou art shriven. Trust securely that thou art on the way, and thee 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 the difficulties of the moment, but look ahead, as far as possible, fix your attention upon the goal, the intermediate steps will become easy. Jerusalem is another name of the Love of Jesus or the Bliss in Heaven. Grow in this love, your sins will fade away of themselves. "Though thou be thrust in an house with thy body, nevertheless in thine heart, where the stead of love is, thou shouldst be able to have part of that love... " What exquisite utterance, what a deep truth!
Indeed, there are one or two points, notes for the guidance of the aspirant, which I would like to mention here for their striking appositeness and simple "soothfastness." First of all with regard to the restless enthusiasm and eagerness of a novice, here is the advice given: "The fervour is so mickle in outward showing, is not only for mickleness of love that they have; but it is for littleness and weakness of their souls, that they may not bear a little touching of God.. afterward when love hath boiled out all the uncleanliness, then is the love clear and st andeth still, and then is both the body and the soul mickle more in peace, and yet hath the self soul mickle more love than it had before, though it shew less outward." and again: "without any fervour outward shewed, and the less it thinketh that it loveth or seeth God, the nearer it nigheth" ('it' naturally refers to the soul). The statement is beautifully self-luminous, no explanation is required. Another hurdle that an aspirant has to face often in the passage through the Dark Night is that you are left all alone, that you are deserted by your God, that the Grace no longer favours you. Here is however the truth of the matter; "when I fall down to my frailty, then Grace withdraweth: for my falling is cause there-of, and not his fleeing." In fact, the Grace never withdraws, it is we who withdraw and think otherwise. One more difficulty that troubles the beginner especially is with regard to the false light. The being of darkness comes in the form of the angel of light, imitates the tone of the still small voice; how to recognise, how to distinguish the two? The false light, the "feigned sun" is always found "atwixt two black rainy clouds" : they are "highing" of oneself and "lowing" of others. When you feel flattered and elated, beware it is the siren voice tempting you. The true light brings you soothing peace and meekness: the other light brings always a trail of darknessf you are soothfast and sincere you will discover it if not near you, somewhere at a distance lurking.
The ultimate truth is that God is the sole doer and the best we can do is to let him do freely without let or hindrance. "He that through Grace may see Jhesu, how that He doth all and himself doth right nought but suffereth Jhesu work in him what him liketh, he is meek." and yet one does not arrive at that condition from the beginning or all at once. "The work is not of the 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 the Divine working. In the process there is this double movement necessary for the full achievement. "Neither 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 other." Mysticism is not all eccentricity and irrationality: on the contrary, sanity seems to be the very character of the higher mysticism. and it is this sanity, and even a happy sense of humour accompanying it, that makes the genuine mystic teacher say: "It is no mastery to me for to say it, but for to do it there is mastery." Amen.
Ascendimus ascensiones in corde et cantamus canticum graduum." Confessions of St. Augustine XIII. 9.
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Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) William Blake: The 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 remain human means to continue the fundamental nature of man. In what consists the humanity of man? We can ascertain it by distinguishing what forms the animality of the animal, since that will give us the differentia that nature has evolved to raise man over the animal. The animal, again, has a characteristic differentiating it from the vegetable world, which latter, in its turn, has something to mark it off from the inorganic world. The inorganic, the vegetable, the animal and finally manthese are the four great steps of Nature's evolutionary course.
The differentia, in each case, lies in the degree and nature of consciousness, since it is consciousness that forms the substance and determines the mode of being. Now, the inorganic is characterised by un-consciousness, the vegetable by sub-consciousness, the animal by consciousness and man by self-consciousness. Man knows that he knows, an animal only knows; a plant does not even know, it merely feels or senses; matter cannot do that even, it simply acts or rather is acted upon. We are not concerned here, however, with the last two forms of being; we will speak of the first two only.
We say, then, that man is distinguished from the animal by his having consciousness as it has, but added to it the consciousness of self. Man acts and feels and knows as much as the animal does; but also he knows that he acts, he knows that he feels, he knows that he knows and this is a thing the animal cannot do. It is the awakening of the 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 the functions of knowing and feeling and acting, has refashioned them in a mould which is not quite that of the animal, in spite of a general similarity.
So the humanity of man consists in his consciousness of the self or ego. Is there no other higher mode of consciousness? Or is self-consciousness the acme, the utmost limit to which consciousness can raise itself? If it is so, then we are bound to conclude that humanity will remain eternally human in its fundamental nature; the only progress, if progress at all we choose to call it, will consist perhaps in accentuating this consciousness of the self and in expressing it through a greater variety of stresses, through a richer combination of its colour and light and shade and rhythm. But also, this may not be sothere may be the possibility of a further step, a transcending of the consciousness of the self. It seems unnatural and improbable that having risen from un-consciousness to self-consciousness through a series of continuous marches, Nature should suddenly stop and consider what she had achieved to be her final end. Has Nature become bankrupt of her creative genius, exhausted of her upward drive? Has she to remain content with only a clever manipulation, a mere shuffling and re-arranging of the materials already produced?
As a matter of fact it is not so. The glimpses of a higher form of consciousness we can see even now present in self-consciousness. We have spoken of the different stages of evolution as if they were separate and distinct and incommensurate entities. They may be described as such for the purpose of a logical underst anding, but in reality they form a single progressive continuum in which one level gradually fuses into another. and as the higher level takes up the law of the lower and evolves out of it a characteristic function, even so the law of the higher level with its characteristic function is already involved and envisaged in the law of the lower level and its characteristic function. It cannot be asserted positively that because man's special virtue is self-consciousness, animals cannot have that quality on any account. We do see, if we care to observe closely and dispassionately, that animals of the higher order, as they approach the level of humanity, show more and more evident signs of something which is very much akin to, if not identical with the human characteristic of self-consciousness.
So, in man also, especially of that order which forms the crown of humanityin poets and artists and seers and great men of actioncan be observed a certain characteristic form of consciousness, which is something other than, greater than the consciousness of the mere self. It is difficult as yet to characterise definitely what that thing is. It is the awakening of the self to something which is beyond itselfit is the cosmic self, the oversoul, the universal being; it is God, it is Turiya, it is sachchidan andain so many ways the thing has been sought to be envisaged and expressed. The consciousness of that level has also a great variety of names given to it Intuition, Revelation, cosmic consciousness, God-consciousness. It is to be noted here, however, that the thing we are referring to, is not the Absolute, the Infinite, the One without a second. It is not, that is to say, the supreme Reality the Brahmanin its static being, in its undivided and indivisible unity; it is the dynamic Brahman, that status of the supreme Reality where creation, the diversity of Becoming takes rise, it is the Truth-worldRitam the domain of typal realities. The distinction is necessary, as there does seem to be such a level of consciousness intermediary, again, between man and the Absolute, between self-consciousness and the supreme consciousness. The simplest thing would be to give that intermediate level of consciousness a negative namesince being as yet human we cannot foresee exactly its composition and function the super-consciousness.
The inflatus of something vast and transcendent, something which escapes all our familiar schemes of cognisance and yet is insistent with a translucent reality of its own, we do feel sometimes within us invading and enveloping our individuality, lifting up our sense of self and transmuting our personality into a reality which can hardly be called merely human. All this life of ego-bound rationality then melts away and opens out the passage for a life of vision and power. Thus it is the poet has felt when he says, "there is this incalculable element in human life influencing us from the mystery which envelops our being, and when reason is satisfied, there is something deeper than Reason which makes us still uncertain of truth. Above the human reason there is a transcendental sphere to which the spirit of men sometimes rises, and the will may be forged there at a lordly smithy and made the unbreakable pivot."(A.E.)
This passage from the self-conscient to the super-conscient does not imply merely a shifting of the focus of consciousness. The transmutation of consciousness involves a purer illumination, a surer power and a wider compass; it involves also a fundamental change in the very mode of being and living. It gives quite a different life-intuition and a different life-power. The change in the motif brings about a new form altogether, a re-casting and re-shaping and re-energising of the external materials as well. As the lift from mere consciousness to self-consciousness meant all the difference between an animal and a man, so the lift again from self-consciousness to super-consciousness will mean the difference of a whole world between man and the divine creature that is to be.
Indeed it is a divine creature that should be envisaged on the next level of evolution. The mental and the moral, the psychical and the physical transfigurations which must follow the change in the basic substratum do imply such a mutation, the birth of a new species, as it were, fashioned in the nature of the gods. The vision of angels and Siddhas, which man is having ceaselessly since his birth, may be but a prophecy of the future actuality.
This then, it seems to us, is the immediate problem that Nature has set before herself. She is now at the parting of the ways. She has done with man as an essentially human being, she has brought out the fundamental possibilities of humanity and perfected it, so far as perfection may be attained within the cadre by which she chose to limit herself; she is now looking forward to another kind of experiment the evolving of another life, another being out of her entrails, that will be greater than the humanity we know today, that will be superior even to the supreme that has yet been actualised.
Nature has marched from the unconscious to the sub-conscious, from the sub-conscious to the conscious and from the conscious to the self-conscious; she has to rise yet again from the self-conscious to the super-conscious. The mineral gave place to the plant, the plant gave place to the animal and the animal gave place to man; let man give place to and bring out the divine.
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A Theory of Yoga Principle and Personality
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: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
author class:Nolini Kanta Gupta
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Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsWilliam Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
The ideal was Blake's. It will not sound so revolting if we underst and what the poet meant by Hell. Hell, he explains, is simply the body, the Energy of Lifehell, because body and life on earth were so considered by the orthodox Christianity. The Christian ideal dem ands an absolute denial and rejection of life. Fulfilment is elsewhere, in heaven alone. That is, as we know, the ideal of the ascetic. The life of the spirit (in heaven) is a thing away from and st ands against the life of the flesh (on earth). In the face of this discipline, countering it, Blake posited a union, a marriage of the 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 the glory of the misalliance. He declared a new apocalypse and said that Lucifer, the one called Satan, was the real God, the so-called Messiah the fake one: the apparent Milton spoke in praise of God and in dispraise of Satan, but the real, the esoteric Milton glorified Satan, who is the true God and minimised or caricatured the counterfeit or shadow God. Here is Blakean Bible in a nutshell:
But first the notion that man has a body distinct from his soul is to be expunged.. . . If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.
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Such is to be the ideal, the perfect, the spiritual man. Have we here the progenitor of the Nietzschean Superman? Both smell almost the same sulphurous atmosphere. But that also seems to lie in the direction to which the whole world is galloping in its evolutionary course. Humanity in its agelong travail has passed through the agony, one might say, of two extreme and opposite experiences, which are epitomised in the classic phrasing of Sri Aurobindo as: (1) the Denial of the Materialist and (2) the Refusal of the Ascetic.1 Neither, however, the Spirit alone nor the body alone is man's reality; neither only the earth here nor only the heaven there embodies man's destiny. Both have to be claimed, both have to belivedubhayameva samrt, as the old sage, Yajnavalkya, declared.
The earliest dream of humanity is also the last fulfilment. The Vedic Rishis sang of the marriage of heaven and earthHeaven is my father and this Earth my mother. and Blake and Nietzsche 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 the line, and being a contemporary, his views and reviews in the matter will be all the more interesting to us.2 He is Gustave Thibon, a Frenchman-not a priest or even a religious man in the 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 the Catholics, because of his remarkable conceptions which are so often unorthodox and yet so often ringing true with an old-world au thenticity.
Touching the very core of the malady of our age he says that our modern enlightenment seeks to cancel altogether the higher values and install instead the lower alone as true. Thus, for example, Marx and Freud, its twin arch priests, are brothers. Both declare that it is the lower, the under layer alone that matters: to one "the masses", to the other "the instincts". Their wild imperative roars: "Sweep away this pseudo-higher; let the instincts rule, let the pro-letariat dictate!" But more characteristic, Monsieur Thibon has made another discovery which gives the whole value and speciality to his outlook. He says the moderns stress the lower, no doubt; but the old world stressed only the higher and neglected the lower. Therefore the revolt and wrath of the lower, the rage of Revanche in the heart of the dispossessed in the modern world. Enlightenment meant till now the cultivation and embellishment of the Mind, the conscious Mind, the rational and nobler faculties, the height and the depth: and mankind meant the princes and the great ones. In the individual, in the scheme of his culture and education, the senses were neglected, left to go their own way as they pleased; and in the collective field, the toiling masses in the same way lived and moved as best as they could under the 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 the higher, but on condition that the higher completely adopts and protects the lower." Here is a vision luminous and revealing, full of great import, if we follow the right track, prophetic of man's true destiny. It is through this infiltration of the higher into the lower and the integration of the lower into the higher that mankind will reach the goal of its evolution, both individually and collectively.
But the process, Monsieur Thibon rightly asserts, must begin with the individual and within the individual. Man must "turn within, feel alive within himself", re-establish his living contact with God, the 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 insists and very rightlyupon the variety and diversity of individual and local growths in a unified humanity and not a dead uniformity of regimented oneness. He declares, as the reviewer of the London Times succinctly puts it: "Let us abolish our insensate worship of number. Let us repeal the law of majorities. Let us work for the unity that draws together instead of idolizing the multiplicity that disintegrates. Let us underst and that it is not enough for each to have a place; what matters is that each should be in his right place. For the 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. The being or becoming that is dem anded in fulfilment of the divine advent in humanity must go to the very roots of life and nature, must seize God in his highest and sovereign status. No prejudice of the past, no notion of our mental habits must seek to impose its law. Thus, for example, in the matter of redeeming the senses by the influx of the higher light, our author seems to consider that the senses will remain more or less as they are, only they will be controlled, guided, used by the higher light. and he seems to think that even the sex relation (even the institution of marriage) may continue to remain, but sublimated, submitted to the laws of the Higher Order. This, according to us, is a dangerous compromise and is simply the imposition of the lower law upon the higher. Our view of the total transformation and divinisation of the Lower is altogether different. The Highest must come down wholly and inhabit in the Lowest, the Lowest must give up altogether its own norms and lift itself into the substance and form too of the Highest.
Viewed in this light, Blake's memorable mantra attains a deeper and more momentous significance. For it is not merely Earth the senses and life and Matter that are to be uplifted and affianced to Heaven, but all that remains hidden within the bowels of the Earth, the subterranean regions of man's consciousness, the slimy viscous undergrowths, the darkest horrors and monstrosities that man and nature hide in their subconscient and inconscient dungeons of material existence, all these have to be laid bare to the solar gaze of Heaven, burnt or transmuted as dem anded by the law of that Supreme Will. That is the Hell that has to be recognised, not rejected and thrown away, but taken up purified and transubstantiated into the body of Heaven itself. The h and of the Highest Heaven must extend and touch the Lowest of the lowest elements, transmute it and set it in its rightful place of honour. A mortal body reconstituted into an immemorial fossil, a lump of coal revivified into a flashing carat of diamond-that shows something of the process underlying the nuptials of which we are speaking.
The Life Divine
0.10 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I was taken aback and rather afraid. So I was about to
go round by another way to the Playground. But just
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afraid of snakes? Come, take courage and walk through
them. They will not harm you." I walked through them
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in fright and said: "Be careful, there is a snake coiled
around your arm, and another around your other arm,
and others around your legs and ankles." Though I had
not felt their presence till then, I was not in the least
alarmed. I took them off one by one and threw them
away. One snake was dead because I had stepped on it.
--
attack that can manifest as an illness. But, as you clearly experienced in your dream, if you are not frightened and go on your
way unperturbed, nothing bad will happen to you.
--
One must learn to concentrate and do all that one does with
full concentration.
--
There are people here who see him and are constantly in contact
with him. They are those who love him sincerely and sufficiently
to live according to his ideal.
--
arduous task and it will take time, a long time, but what
can be done at present! To change our consciousness and
become an elite will take a lot of time. At present, we
--
them for each thing and every day?
This is even more impossible than to change and become an
elite. So the best thing to do is to set to work immediately. The
--
a dark corner, something that does not want to change and is
afraid of the Light.
--
being, without reserve, to the Divine Grace, and you will feel
the felicity for which you aspire.
--
If you can really allow them to be effaced and cease to exist,
even in your memory, it is better.
--
very lightly, and it has become so natural that we believe
it to be the right attitude. and we are self-centred. How
can we get out of this trap? In any case, the dose You
--
desire, for desire is insatiable and can never be satisfied.
What he writes ought not to be taken separately; it is always
--
We speak very often of the psychic and the soul, but
I underst and nothing about them. What are these two
things and how can one experience them?
Sri Aurobindo has written a lot on this subject (in his letters)
--
has to read, study and, above all, practise.
4 October 1961
--
I have noticed one thing: When I sit for a few minutes and make an effort to concentrate before going
to sleep, the next day I wake up quite early and am
quite fresh. I concentrate on the tiny luminous tip of an
--
Thoughts and Aphorisms, in SABCL, Vol. 17, p. 89.
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
without any preliminary concentration, you sink into the inconscient and the sleep is more tiring than restful, and it is difficult
to come out of this sluggishness.
--
I would like you to look attentively into yourself and try to
explain to me what exactly it is that you enjoy in detective
--
the story there are mysteries, and the trial is like the
mental acrobatics of a master gymnast. But each time I
--
tamas in your mind, and the mental acrobatics of the author
shakes up this tamas a little and awakens the mind. But this
cannot last for long and soon you must turn to higher things.
16 October 1961
--
the day when this joy and this felicity will be established
in me for ever. Now, it is only a dream and a passing
experience like today's. But I hope to realise it for ever
--
Persist in your aspiration and the dream will be realised.
23 October 1961
--
choose one or two items and give a very good demonstration in them, rather than to do several in a mediocre way?
Each one acts according to his nature and if he (or she) courageously and sincerely follows the law of that nature, he or she
acts according to truth. Thus, it is impossible to judge and decide
for others. One can know only for oneself, and even then one
has to be very sincere so as not to deceive oneself.
--
then is their greatness and their splendour? Why do we
The annual demonstration of physical culture, held at the Ashram Sportsground.
--
and bear the burden of His wrath and enmity; the gods were able to accept only the
pleasant burden of His love and kindlier rapture."
Thoughts and Aphorisms, in SABCL, Vol. 17, p. 94.
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
worship inferior entities? and the Titans must be the
most lovable sons of the Divine!
--
minds. But we must underst and all the irony in these sayings, and
especially the intention behind his words. Moreover, cowards or
--
all things and all beings.
6 November 1961
--
that? and how can I come out of it?
Behind all that and this famous inferiority complex, there is the
ego and its vanity which wants to cut a good figure and be
appreciated by others. But if all your activity were an offering
--
out of pride, but as a service and an offering, in order to become
more conscious of the divine will and to give yourself more
entirely to it, until you have made enough progress to know
--
impels you and His will that supports you - not just a mental
knowledge, but the sincerity of a state of consciousness and the
power of a living experience.
For that to be possible, all egoistic motives and all egoistic
reactions must disappear.
--
thinks it will be the opposite. It is true that our performance is not up to the mark. I hope and I pray to You
that the performance this evening may be at its best.
Sweet Mother, take our actions and guide us. You told
us You would be there - if only I had eyes to see You!
--
be better) and I have heard a great many compliments about
the 2nd December performance. You should not listen to people
--
I am very lazy and I lack the fervour and perseverance to continue on the chosen path. I am like a flame
that is roused by the wind and rises upwards, but falls
back dead or dying as soon as the wind drops. Vigilant,
--
Divine Force in a sincere aspiration and implore It to deliver
you from your limitations. If you are sincere in your will to
--
mama", and the others, st anding round the body, must
repeat it after him. This is done a hundred times. Personally, I don't like this ceremony. I find it empty of feeling.
--
feeling and turned into a ritual. It is much better to read
one of Your prayers and then invoke the Divine Grace
in silence, each in his own way, for the departed person,
--
merely a form and more a matter of custom than anything else.
What is important is to infuse into whatever ceremony one
adopts the sincere fervour and ardent aspiration which give life
to any ceremony, whatever it may be, and yet do not depend
on it.
--
to protect India and the world anew, there had to be a
Purna Avatar.7 This Avatar will awaken the Brahmatej8,
--
man is in great danger in this age. and here he is! He
himself reveals the great secret: the Divine has fully manifested in India. But he has the modesty not to say that
--
They keep their energy for the task and leave the glory of the
results to the Eternal Lord.
--
Yes, you must persevere with courage and sincerity. You are sure
to succeed one day.
--
problem and various possible methods of physical education. The fundamental problem is this: how can we
The Queen of Jhansi who died on the battlefield in 1858 while fighting British
--
establish a programme that will satisfy everyone and
be as effective as possible for all the members? Are the
--
whatever? and if complete freedom is given, will it be
practical? and so on. It is a subject on which it is not
easy to find a solution satisfactory enough for everyone,
--
It is impossible. Each one has his own taste and his own temperament. Nothing can be done without discipline - the whole of
life is a discipline.
--
already said this a considerable number of times, and if you do
not know it, it is because you find it more convenient to forget it.
--
joy and peace?
If each one were more concerned with correcting his own faults
--
A little sincere and regular practice is worth more than a lot of
short-lived resolutions.
--
the right to judge? Only the Lord sees and knows - He alone is
the Truth.
--
I read your letter and I was not at all angry. But Z was not at all
ready for a darshan.
--
(Regarding a threat by China to occupy disputed borderl and in northern Kashmir and northeastern India)
Sometimes I have the impression that our leaders do not
--
of India? I reply: "Certainly not", and I advise you to keep silent
and remain calm.
--
education programme and the countless other activities we have here, he asked me: "Can you give me a
valid example of even one person who takes part in so
many activities and maintains a fairly high st andard -
one single person in the whole world?"
--
freedom and every facility for those who are gifted in
a particular subject and want to pursue it to the full.
But where is this freedom to become, for instance, a
--
soul, not all the whims of the mind and vital.
The freedom I speak of is an austere truth which strives to
surmount all the weaknesses and desires of the lower, ignorant
being.
--
wholly and without reserve to one's highest, noblest, divinest
aspiration.
--
judge, but more difficult to underst and, and far more difficult
still to realise.
--
Remember that all these individual virtues and faults are only the
deceptive appearance of a great play of universal forces which
--
Find your happiness and your joy in the very fact of loving, and
it will help you in your inner progress; because if you are sincere,
--
my room and going to meditate at the Playground with
everyone else?
--
are most silent and calm.
31 January 1963
--
disorderly activity. It has no meaning and can serve only one
purpose: to make you aware of what goes on in your head.
--
offer it to You, and if I need anything I will ask You for it;
in that way You can decide what is necessary or best for
--
personal needs and to offer the rest to You. Otherwise
people will say that I ask for anything I want just because
--
Do as you feel - and you may be sure that whatever you do,
people will always have something to say.
--
Is it right to pray to the Mother for little things and
selfish gains?
--
We see too many films these days and I fail to see
how they educate us!
--
good and is done by the Divine Grace." Is it good, is it
healthy to think like this?
Not only is it right, good and healthy to think like this, but it
is an absolutely indispensable attitude if one wants to advance
--
say: "Whatever you do, do the best you can, and leave the result
to the Lord; then your heart will be at peace."
--
Yes, certainly, for someone who knows how to see, and X is very
gifted.
--
much better and more quickly than if it were done by
paid workers. I don't know why!
--
beings? Mother and son? Brother, friend or lover, etc?
All the relationships are good in principle and each one expresses
a mode of the Eternal. But each can be perverted and become
bad due to the selfish falsehood of human nature which prevents
--
silence, full of force and conscious concentration, it is good. If
it is a tamasic and unconscious silence, it is harmful.
10 June 1963
--
saw the Mother and received Her Blessings.
It is not a dream, but the result of the preceding meditation and
of your aspiration.
--
prevents me from thinking clearly and grasping new
ideas quickly. How can I free myself from this?
--
Why do you read novels? It is a stupid occupation and a waste
of time. It is certainly one of the reasons why your brain is still
in a muddle and lacks clarity.
27 June 1963
--
It is atavistic and comes from the subconscient.
This instinct is based both on masculine pride, the foolish
idea of superiority, and on the still more foolish fear due to the
idea that woman is a dangerous being who entices you into sin.
--
shorts and a grey shirt. X was shocked to see me dressed
like that.
How frivolous and superficial people must be to attach importance to such things!! Even so, if you wore those clothes in
your capacity as a captain, you did wrong, for the captains
--
There are moments when one feels a kind of emptiness within; one is dejected and lonely - it is because
one wants to be loved.
--
one's soul and uniting with the Divine.
5 July 1963
--
- what are beggars and people like that doing?
Who said that? and what "mission" are you referring to? The
creation is a single whole advancing as a totality towards its
--
is continuous and endless.
7 July 1963
--
human difficulty, and that this difficulty will be mastered
and transformed in him in his lifetime.10
--
Things are not so cut and dried as the mind thinks and even
desires in order to simplify the problem.
There is an almost infinite variety of shades and combinations of character, and although there are categories of very
similar types, no two cases are identical.
--
change them and at the moment when one can make the change.
8 July 1963
--
long. I have often tried to observe and find out the cause
of this fleeting joy, but in vain.
--
You have explained that this separation of girls and
boys is atavistic, but it remains to ask You what we captains should do about it. Personally, I think it is better to
--
and thus this idea of difference between girls and boys
will be less striking. What do You think?
--
case and the occasion. Both methods have their good and bad
points, their advantages and drawbacks. For the captains, the
main thing is to have tact and sufficient inner perception to
intervene when necessary or to close one's eyes when it is
--
What do You mean by "an ignorant goodwill and
an indolent energy"?
--
what the Lord's will is, always, at every moment and in all
circumstances? No, so you are ignorant of what "good" is -
--
It is not bolder you should be, but persistent and persevering.
27 July 1963
--
the stone. After much labour the work was finished and
a masterpiece came to light - a dancing goddess instead
--
were astonished, and they marvelled at the sight of the
beautiful figure which had emerged from the stone. So
--
The question is admirable - and if the sculptor had been witty,
he would have replied: "Because I saw it inside."
--
deeply depressed hips and twisted legs. It was a pitiful
sight. One wonders why God has made all these deformations in Nature. The only answer - which answers
--
But if one rises above the individual mentality and enters
into the consciousness of Unity, then one can underst and.
--
What does "Yoga" mean and how many among us
are practising it?
--
To ask from me is not begging and you may do so whenever
you really need something. But at the same time, you must be
prepared not to receive it and not to get upset if I fail to give it.
In this case, I said that you should be given some incense, but
I am not sure if it has been done. It is X who keeps it and you
should ask him for it.
--
Our teacher Y gave us a talk in a grave and significant tone: "Be prepared to go through hard tests, we are
on the eve of something very difficult and dangerous."
But he did not explain.
--
carelessness and laxity.
All of you young people here have had a very easy life, and
instead of taking advantage of it to concentrate your efforts on
--
could without creating too much sc andal, and your vigilance
has been lulled to sleep.
--
judgments are always partial and therefore ignorant.
To know oneself, one must look at oneself with a higher
--
reactions and feelings.
A superficial observation cannot help. and so long as one
is not in contact with one's psychic being, it would be better to
strive always to do as well as possible and be as good as one
can, instead of passing one's time in useless analysis.
--
It is X who is spiritually right and you who are wrong with a
superficial and ignorant so-called "reason".
When something goes wrong, one must always find the reason in oneself, not superficially but deep inside oneself, and not
in order to uselessly bewail the fault, but to cure it by calling to
--
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 she suffers and is unhappy because of what
he does, then it is her own fault, for it means that her own feeling
--
of the excessive importance one gives to food, and of greediness.
21 September 1963
--
If I look at my whole life and its circumstances,
I am very happy, but I am not satisfied. Often I am
--
of life. One can obtain true happiness and keep it constantly
only by discovering one's psychic being and uniting with it.
22 September 1963
--
I often remember a poem by Francis Thompson and
its refrain:
--
performance,11 and, what is more, I don't feel at all
enthusiastic.
From the moment one has decided and accepted to do something, it must be done as well as one can.
One can find in everything a chance to progress in consciousness and self-mastery. and this effort for progress immediately
makes the thing interesting, no matter what it is.
--
underst and something determined and fixed. Or is it a
flexibility that is required, as opposed to rigidity: law that
--
and organisation. But law itself is something fixed and therefore
contrary to the highest truth. If the same spirit of order and
organisation is put at the service of freedom, it can become a
--
"Those who are deficient in the free, full and intelligent
observation of a self-imposed law, must be placed in
--
those. Will You take me and discipline me?
My child, that is exactly what I have been trying to do for quite
--
and the Shastra of the Brahmins is corrupt and dying. Law released into freedom is the
liberator. Not the Pundit, but the Yogin, not monasticism, but the inner renunciation of
desire and ignorance and egoism."
Thoughts and Aphorisms, in SABCL, Vol. 17, p. 100.
Thoughts and Aphorisms, in SABCL, Vol. 17, p. 99.
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
often long and unclear, others are short, but all contain mistakes
and often, very often, the same mistakes of gender, agreement
--
I return it to you, you do not study it and try to use it as a means
to make progress.
--
strong, severe with themselves, courageous and enduring.
But before trying to discipline one's whole life, one should
at least try to discipline one activity, and persist until one succeeds.
13 October 1963
--
the works of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo to be read.
You have even remarked that to read these old classics
--
advice is adapted to each case and cannot be made a general
rule.
--
That proves that life is too easy here and that for the most part
you are all too tamasic to make an effort unless goaded by the
--
remedy this deadly condition. But the aspiration is absent and
your soul is asleep!
--
I have kept your notebook in the hope of finding time to read and
correct it. But the weeks go by and I see that it is impossible. I
am therefore returning it to you without having read it, and I ask
you not to send it again until it is possible for me to start looking
--
life and how can they be fulfilled?
The first condition is to decide not to live for oneself any more,
--
Naturally, this decision should be renewed every day and
manifested in a constant and effective will.
29 April 1964
--
"Not to live for oneself" is underst andable and one
can try to put it into practice; but what does "to live
--
at most an idea and not an experience, the whole thing remains
purely mental. But if one makes a sincere and repeated effort, one
day the experience comes and one feels that the offering made is
made to something real, tangible, concrete and beneficent. The
more sincere and assiduous one is, the sooner the experience
comes and the longer it remains.
For each person the way differs in its details, but sincerity
--
material comfort and to take one's desires for needs - in other
words, self-deception. Now, if you have a fan and wish to use
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
fear come from? How can one get rid of it? and again,
how can one encourage others to do so?
--
vital in the form of ambition, emulation and vanity, compels the
body to shake off the tamas and make the necessary effort to
progress.
--
their body and provide it with all the reasons needed to overcome
its fear.
The best way for everyone is self-giving to the Divine and
trust in His infinite Grace.
--
Self-deception has a thous and faces and a thous and
ways of disguising itself in us. How can one discover it
--
watch all one's emotional movements and vital reactions, never
close one's eyes with indulgence to one's own weaknesses, and
catch oneself each time one makes a mistake, even a small one.
If one continues with persistence, this becomes very interesting and gets easier and easier.
20 May 1964
--
What is the difference between pleasure, joy, happiness, ecstasy and An anda? Can we find one in the
other?
--
My answers are given in order to open your mind and to make
you exceed, little by little, your present mental limits.
--
wants and as He wants.
A sadhak is one who has chosen a yogic discipline and
practises it. There are desireless men who are not pursuing any
--
are diminutions, limitations and deformations of that Love. Even
the love of the bhakta for his God is a diminution and often is
tainted by egoism. But as one tends quite naturally to become
--
like the Divine whom he adores, and thus his love becomes purer
and purer. To adore the Divine in the 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.
--
common and combined aspiration to attain the Divine, and in
perfect sincerity to let each bring to the other, as far as possible,
--
How can one know the other's need and help him?
I was not speaking of external things and mental faculties! True
love is in the soul (all the rest is vital attraction or mental and
physical attachment, nothing else) and the soul (the psychic being) knows instinctively what the other needs to receive and is
always ready to give it to him.
--
Just as there are tangible and concrete bodily exercises and disciplines for physical culture, is there not
something tangible and concrete for the progress of the
soul and the consciousness?
Since the most ancient times, each system of yoga has developed
--
of these practices has its limitations and gives only a partial
result. That is why he advised those who want to follow the
--
knowledge but adapted to the needs and the condition of each
individual.
--
An epidemic is a collective illness and comes from a collective
impurity. The Ashram as a whole is evidently very far from
what it should be to be equal to its task and give to the world
the example of a total consecration to the Divine Work and the
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
the condition of each person and his link with the whole.
8 July 1964
--
I am trying to concentrate in the heart and to enter
deep within as You advised me to do, but in vain. The
--
pull me out of the slumber and awaken my psychic
consciousness?
--
regularly and very attentively. To develop and master your vital,
carefully observe your movements and reactions with a will to
overcome desires, and aspire to find your psychic being and unite
with it. Physically, continue with what you are doing, develop
--
working at the Playground and your place of work, and try to
do it as selflessly as possible.
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
--
short and correct?
The Ashram is the cradle of a new world, of the creation of
--
made is: you must read the books and study the teaching.
29 July 1964
--
enough vitamins and protein. The doctors claim that this
is why we have so much physical and bodily suffering.14
Is it really the cause? Does food have such an important
--
for the body, its desires and satisfactions, those for whom the
truth begins and ends with the body, it is evident that food is of
capital importance since they live to eat.
--
an enlightened body, balanced and free from all vital desire and
mental preconception, is capable of knowing what it needs in
regard to quantity and kind of food - and it is so exceptional
to find such a body that we need not speak of it.
Apart from that, one must act for the best and not attach
too much importance to it.
--
activities - the Playground, b and, studies, etc. - and
devoting all my time to work. But my logic does not
accept this. Where does this idea come from and why?
In this case your logic is right. In the outer nature there is often
--
at the risk of breaking down, or to advance slowly and
surely by eliminating them carefully one by one?
--
subconscient until they explode there and cause an upheaval in
the whole being.
--
that is free of all desire and attachment because it is under the
influence of the divine Light and Force. It is a long and exacting
labour which must be undertaken with an unfailing sincerity
--
than you are, and still less should you be satisfied with false
appearances.
--
the power of the ego diminishes, and indeed it is by perfecting
himself that the individual arrives at that state of divinisation
--
not, individually and collectively?
It is always preferable not to try to assess the progress one is making because it does not help one to make it - on the contrary.
--
come spontaneously, by the sudden and unexpected awareness
of what one is in comparison with what one was some time
--
The advance is rarely in a straight and continuous line because a
human being is made up of many different parts, and generally
one part or another progresses in its turn while the other parts
--
advancing progressively and regularly, one must always keep
alive the flame of one's aspiration.
--
repeat words like "Silence" and "Peace" in order to establish silence and peace in oneself when one sits down
to meditate?
--
to subdue the lower mind and establish a connection with higher
forces or with deities. These Japas must be given by the Guru,
--
Prime Minister and that he will be replaced by Indira
G andhi, but only for a fortnight. Then a period of chaos
--
that what one is doing is right and that one is sincere?
How can one know that one is mistaken?
--
in some part of the being. For the psychic being knows and is
not mistaken; but more often than not, we do not listen to what
--
ignorance, and this error is effaced as soon as the ignorance is replaced by knowledge and the way of acting completely changed.
What man in his ignorance calls "pardon" is the effacement, the
--
black cloud of jealousy comes and upsets my activities
during my working hours. I dispel it immediately by
reasoning, but all the same its effect remains and makes
me a little sullen and very touchy.
How can one get rid of this?
By widening one's consciousness and making it universal.
There is another way, but it is still more difficult. It is by
--
that something in me wants to soar aloft and enjoy full
freedom. There is a kind of enthusiasm in the soul (I do
--
supreme An anda and forget life as it really is. What does
all this mean?
It is the natural and indispensable counterpart of the moments
- so numerous and so frequent! - when you are attached to
the physical life and you underst and and appreciate only that.
The two extremes always alternate in experience until one has
found the poise of the total and synthetic truth.
That alone can give the true Freedom which is experienced
--
Although one part of the being aspires and wants
the Divine, the other part is so tamasic and heavy! How
can it be awakened? What blows does it need? It is not
--
seek a career or to study; and they are mostly those
who have been here since childhood. There is a kind
--
leave here and they say cautiously: "Who knows whether
it won't be my turn some day!" I feel there is a force
--
This uncertainty and these departures are due to the lower nature, which resists the influence of the yogic power and tries to
slow down the divine action, not out of ill-will but in order to
--
before they can be ready for the divine work, and that is why
they leave to undergo the test of ordinary life.
--
Thoughts and Aphorisms, in SABCL, Vol. 17, p. 130.
rather than a virtue, for I feel that I take them upon
--
Where does all this come from and how can I get
rid of it?
--
itself and far prefers to blame and criticise itself than to think of
something else... (the Divine for example) and forget itself.
18 November 1964
--
He can therefore take advantage of this receptivity by making good resolutions and fresh progress on the path of his
integral development.
--
by my devotion for the Master - and not everyone is
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
sincerely and give oneself unreservedly to his work. In that
way, each one does his best and contributes as much as he can
to the transformation of the world which Sri Aurobindo has
--
You will then see that he seems to have said the most contradictory things. But when one has read everything and understood
a little, one sees that all the contradictions complement one
another and are organised and unified in an integral synthesis.
Here is another quotation by Sri Aurobindo which will show
--
which you could read to advantage and which will make your
intelligence more supple:
--
I feel very tired and want to rest. Why is this and how
can I feel differently?
So long as you are making an effort, it is not meditation and
there is not much use in prolonging this state.
--
Never forget where you are living and the true aim of life.
Remember this at every moment and in all circumstances. In this
way you will make the best use of your existence.
--
attraction of man for woman and of woman for man?
The relationship between Purusha and Prakriti.
You have only to read what Sri Aurobindo has written on
--
to recognise it and receive it?
The best thing to do is to distinguish in oneself the origin of all
one's movements - those that come from the light of truth and
those that come from the old inertia and falsehood - in order
to accept the first and to refuse or reject the others.
With practice one learns to distinguish more and more
clearly, but one can establish as a general rule that all that
tends towards disharmony, disorder and inertia comes from
the falsehood and all that favours union, harmony, order and
consciousness comes from the Truth.
--
faults and because we disobey the Supreme Truth in our
daily lives?
--
Divine better by serving men and the world!"
Nobody comes here for his own salvation because Sri Aurobindo
--
and men so that the new creation may take place, and if we
On the evening of February 11, many Ashram buildings were stoned, burned or
--
so long, you can still think in this way and be open to this
Sunday-school drivel.
--
"It is equally ignorant and one thous and miles away from
my teaching to find it in your relations with human beings or in
--
to establish mental and moral and social Truth and justice on
human and egoistic lines. I have never promised to do anything
of the kind. Human nature is made up of imperfections, even
its righteousness and virtue are pretensions, imperfections and
prancings of self-approbatory egoism.... What is aimed at by us
--
are surrender and union with the Divine and the transcendence
of ego. So long as that basis is not established, a sadhak is only
an ignorant and imperfect human being struggling with the evils
of the lower nature.... What is created by spiritual progress is an
inner closeness and intimacy in the inner being, the sense of the
Mother's love and presence etc."
24 February 1965
--
towards man and towards the Divine?
Why do you put man and the Divine together?
It is true that man is essentially divine, but at present, apart
--
Divine he carries within him; and it is just this unconsciousness
which constitutes the falsehood of the material world.
--
to the Divine and that as for men what is required is an attitude
of goodwill, underst anding and mutual help.
To feel deeply, intensely and constantly a total gratitude
towards the Divine is the best way to be happy and peaceful.
and the only true way of expressing one's gratitude to the
--
It depends on the part of one's being that awakens first and
responds to Sri Aurobindo's influence.
--
for another more important and conclusive experience.
The real l andmarks on the way are the spontaneous experiences, not those that come from a mental formation and are
always unreliable.
--
The experience must come first and the explanation afterwards. That is why Sri Aurobindo has said: Never distrust your
experience; but you may distrust your explanation, which is a
--
It is very important to take note of one's experiences and
remember them. To construct a system of development is secondary and sometimes harmful.
17 March 1965
--
In a general way, a dream leaves a confused and fleeting impression, whereas an experience awakens a deep and lasting
feeling.
But the shades of difference are subtle and many, and it is
by a very attentive and sincere observation (that is to say, free
from bias and preference) that one gradually learns to discern
the one from the other.
--
for mental and physical education, isn't there a similar
method to progress towards Sri Aurobindo's yoga? It
--
for physical, mental and vital development; but this mechanical
"Experience in thy soul the truth of the Scripture; afterwards, if thou wilt, reason
and state thy experience intellectually and even then distrust thy statement; but distrust
never thy experience."
Thoughts and Aphorisms, in SABCL, Vol. 17, p. 89
rigidity has little or no effect on spiritual development where the
--
Sri Aurobindo has written very clearly on this subject. and
what he has written on it has appeared in The Synthesis of Yoga.
--
that one thinks, all that one is, all that one will do; (2) and at
night, before going to sleep, it is good to review the day, taking
--
offering of one's self or one's action, and to aspire or pray that
these lapses do not recur.
This is a minimum, a very small beginning - and it should
increase with the sincerity of your consecration.
--
How can one increase single-mindedness and willpower? They are so necessary for doing anything.
Through regular, persevering, obstinate, unflagging exercise - I
mean exercise of concentration and will.
Mother, I have started reading French books - X has
--
ties, whatever they may be. and good habits are also a tie which
must one day be ab andoned when one wants to obey and is able
to obey nothing but the one supreme impulse, the Will of the
--
Everything else has lost all value and is not worth seeking, so
there is no longer any question of renouncing it because it is no
--
Why is India, which has such a rich past and the
promise of such a brilliant future, in such a miserable
Questions and Answers 1929 - 1931, CWM, Vol. 3, p. 128.
condition at present? When will she emerge from this
pitiful condition and reaffirm her greatness?
When she renounces falsehood and lives in the Truth.
28 April 1965
--
Questions and Answers 1929 - 1931, CWM, Vol. 3, p. 128.
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
can in all sincerity have the experience that all is the Divine and
that only the Divine exists. But the manifestation is progressive,
--
The two states of consciousness should be simultaneous and
complementary, not successive and contradictory, and this too is
possible only when the seat of consciousness is beyond the mind
--
Should one keep silent and say, "It is none of my business", or should one try to point out the mistake to them?
Neither the one nor the other.
First and always, we must ask ourselves what our instrument
of judgment is. One must ask, "What is my judgment based on?
--
matter? Am I free of all desire and all ego?"
and since the answer to all these questions will be the same,
namely, "NO", the honest and sincere conclusion must be: "I
cannot judge, I do not have the elements needed for a true
--
is obliged to make decisions and give opinions?
What constitutes an individuality?
--
is not indispensable that he should have opinions, and still less
that he should air them.
--
When shall we feel and see this supreme and radical
change of the whole nature which You have predicted?
--
no way affect the fact of the advent of these forces and powers
in the physical world.
The "supreme and radical" change of the whole nature
can only come about after a long and slow preparation, and
men will perceive it only when their consciousness has become
--
The resolutions I make lose their intensity and ardour after a time. How can I keep this enthusiasm and
increase it more and more?
BY WANTING TO.
--
The words are of little importance; it is the experience and
the sincerity of the experience that count.
--
are followed with persistence and sincerity.
Questions and Answers 1929 - 1931, CWM, Vol. 3, p. 133.
It is best for each person to find his own path, but for this
--
Are illnesses and accidents the result of something
bad one has thought or done, of a fall in one's consciousness? If the cause is a mistake one has made, how can
--
It has nothing to do with punishment; it is the natural and
normal consequence of an error, shortcoming or fault which
--
disorder. Vibrations of harmony attract and encourage harmonious events; vibrations of disequilibrium create, as it were, a
disequilibrium in circumstances (illnesses, accidents, etc.). This
--
- and so is the remedy: to cultivate in oneself order and harmony, peace and equilibrium by surrendering unreservedly to
the Divine Will.
--
be able to renew his body and become a young man of
twenty-five?
--
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?
--
are often delighted with their visit and full of praise
for the efficient administration of this organisation. But
when they get to know the Ashram and the sadhaks
better, their admiration begins to wane and they find that
Ashram people are far more egoistic than people from
--
Sometimes it is like that, as a matter of fact, and sometimes it is
the opposite: at first a total incomprehension, but later, little by
little, one comes to underst and and appreciate.
Both are equally true and equally incomplete.
In the world as it is now, everything is mixed and each one
sees and feels that which corresponds to his own nature.
To tell the truth, it doesn't matter at all.
--
and cooperation here among us and among the various departments. This results in a great waste of money
and energy. Where does this disharmony come from and
when will it be set right?
--
To turn aside then and preach to a still unevolved mankind
the law of love and oneness? Teachers of the law of love and
oneness there must be, for by that way must come the ultimate
--
inner and ultimate prevail over the outer and immediate reality.
Christ and Buddha have come and gone but it is Rudra who still
holds the world in the hollow of his h and. and meanwhile the
fierce forward labour of mankind tormented and oppressed by
the powers that are profiteers of egoistic force and their servants
On September 1, Pakistan invaded India's border at Jammu-Kashmir.
cries for the sword of the Hero of the struggle and the word of
its prophet."26
--
Prime Minister and the Army Chief of Staff, was not our
Government's acceptance of the cease-fire the best that
--
I often feel, and very concretely too, that You are
constantly protecting me from all the misfortunes of life.
--
me and keep me in such happiness, I who so little deserve
it?"
--
a sort of disequilibrium and chaos. Does this mean that
it is preparing for the manifestation of a new force, for
--
message, sent six days prior to the cease-fire, was: "It is for the sake and the triumph
of Truth that India is fighting and must fight until India and Pakistan have become One
because that is the truth of their being."
--
of hostile forces in revolt against this descent? and what
place does India occupy in all this?
--
India ought to be the spiritual guide who explains what is happening and helps to hasten the movement. But unfortunately,
in her blind ambition to imitate the West, she has become
materialistic and neglectful of her soul.
13 October 1965
--
We know that we should not do certain things and
we do not really want to do them, but still we do them.
--
That's how it is when one is lacking in will and in force of
consciousness.
--
About individual transformation and social transformation You say: "Since the environment reacts upon
the individual and, on the other h and, the value of the
environment depends upon the value of the individual,
--
can be done only through division of labour, and that
necessitates the formation of a group, hierarchicised, if
--
hierarchy and certain functions or intermediaries are missing.
(2) The indiscipline of certain members refusing wholly or
--
When order and harmony are established, the hierarchy is
organised quite naturally and spontaneously.
3 November 1965
--
the best means of dominating living beings, animals and men.
Those who are pure - that is to say, exclusively under the
--
something of the Divine Truth and the Divine Force
comes down to manifest upon earth, some change is
--
(1) Is this change always violent and destructive,
such as a revolution or a war?
--
(2) and is the converse always valid: if there is a war or
a revolution, is it the sign of a descent of the Truth?
--
Questions and Answers 1929 - 1931, CWM, Vol. 3, p. 79.
Sweet Mother,
--
of being. You have to go out of this external consciousness and
penetrate into a subtler consciousness; then the fortress will no
--
and for both, you must want it with sincerity and persistence.
5 January 1966
--
There is a tendency among most of us here to conduct our lives and programmes according to the customs
of society. We say: "We must also think of the opinion of
--
reasonable and lead a life in keeping with theirs." Sweet
Mother, what do You say to all this and what should our
attitude be towards the customs and laws of society?
If most people here think and feel like that, it is an obvious proof
that most are not at all ready for the new life, nor even ready to
prepare for the new life. and to tell the truth, they would do far
better to return to the ordinary life and experience it, instead of
taking advantage of the exceptional conditions of existence they
--
Formerly, You were very strict about permitting people to come and live in the Ashram. Now it is no longer
so. Why?
--
possible to be strict and the nature of the life changed.
Now the Ashram has become a symbolic representation of
life on earth and everything can find a place in it, provided it
has the will to progress towards a diviner life.
--
answer is not sure. Can You tell me where I am and how
I can progress on this path?
--
yoga, even if you do not know it; and by the very fact that you
are living here, you are helped in your yoga to the utmost of
--
on earth, you are doing a yoga" and You also told me
that "the Ashram was reserved for those who wanted
to practise the yoga"; and again, I believe you have
said somewhere, "Not everyone here is meant for yoga."
--
Well, all three are true, but on different planes, and to underst and something of the problem one has to reach the domain
where the three complement one another and unite.
9 February 1966
--
of the natural and inevitable progress of evolution?
(2) "The Ashram was reserved for those who wanted
--
dreams and sometimes I even saw Sri Aurobindo too. But
I haven't enjoyed this happiness for a long time. Why?
--
that we now tend to direct our lives and activities more
and more towards the principles and ways of ordinary
life? In that case, aren't we straying from the true path?
--
Whereas Sri Aurobindo has declared, "All life is Yoga" and
affirmed that it is in life that one must do Yoga. You seem to
--
Danger and risk are part of every forward movement. Without
them nothing would ever stir; and also they are indispensable
for moulding the character of those who want to progress.
--
is unpleasant to it; and when it involves words or thoughts,
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
the mind responds to the influence of the vital and also reacts violently. Any expression of anger is the sign of a lack of
self-control.
--
Two days ago I was with You in my dream and You
spoke with me for quite a long time. I don't remember
--
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
indifferent to the opportunity I give you each week to ask me
a question. Your questions are rather commonplace and don't
give the impression that you are really searching for the secrets
of life and the world.
18 May 1966
--
Are mental indifference and lack of curiosity a sort
of mental inertia?
--
this calm and indifference through a very intense sadhana resulting in a perfect equality for which good and bad, pleasant
and unpleasant no longer exist. But in that case, mental activity
--
How can one get out of this mental laziness and
inertia?
By wanting to do so, with persistence and obstinacy. By doing every day a mental exercise of reading, organisation and
development.
--
Are the presence and intervention of the Americans
in Vietnam justifiable?
--
falsehood, and I am not interested in it.
If it is from the moral point of view, morality is a shield
--
is justifiable, and it is That which men travesty and deform in
all their actions.
--
of view and from Your answer I conclude that the American action is not at all justifiable. But, Mother, isn't the
world in danger of being swallowed by the Communists
and isn't that why the Americans and their Allies are
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
The opinion you express is the opinion of the Americans and
of a large number of human beings who think like them.
But the Communists and all those who have faith in the
Communist ideal have the opposite opinion, not to mention
all the many and varied opinions on social and political subjects. All these are only OPINIONS and have no value at all
from the Divine point of view - the Divine who does not
--
Everything mental is necessarily an opinion and expresses
only an infinitesimal fraction of the Truth.
--
it, five who are capable of realisation and only one who
can be transformed." What is the truth?
--
of us has surely felt and enjoyed - at least once in his
life, in a blessed moment - the infinite Splendour which
is within our reach and awaits us. Yet there are so few
of us who take the yoga seriously. Why?
--
Here one is free and the only constraint is the one that one
puts on oneself when one is SINCERE.
--
I was very happy to receive Your reply and I have
decided not to go. In any case I doubted that You would
--
this experience and I say to you: "You may go."
This decision is final.
--
May I have photographs of Sri Aurobindo and You,
with Your blessings, to keep with me when I am far from
--
Naturally, after that, I go and make all the necessary
arrangements. X arranges for my departure. But later
--
situation and I regret it.
Mother, after Your last question, I no longer feel
--
Very good. and everything I did was precisely to bring you to
this decision!
--
politically, morally and physically, mustn't she?
Without any doubt - and just now, there is much to be done!
7 September 1966
--
which is causing disorder, confusion and falsehood to spring
up everywhere in a refusal to be transformed.
--
when and how it will come about.
14 September 1966
--
have a religion: they learn a catechism when they are young and
that doesn't mean much; but out of people taken as they are
--
to take their deity and throw it into the Ganges when they get
displeased! It does happen - I know some people who did it.
--
her and throw her into the Ganges because they were displeased
with her. If one believes in the Divine, one cannot do things like
--
Divine. and not just a "belief", not something one has thought
out or been taught, nothing like that: faith. A faith that is a living
--
in order to think otherwise, one has to be a bit dense. and the
"Divine" not in the sense of "purpose" or "goal" or "end", not
--
thoroughly, how everything functions and is brought about and
exists - how can one study sincerely, with attention and care,
without being absolutely convinced that the Divine is there? We
--
cannot describe, but something we can feel and can more and
more become. A Something that is more perfect than all the
--
exists cannot express it. and there is nothing but That. and it
is not a Something floating in nothingness: there is nothing but
--
How can we know that our acts, our thoughts and
our aspirations are not tainted by vital desire, though
--
Ashram is in a terrible financial condition, and from time
to time we clearly see this for ourselves. But, Mother, we
also see extravagant spending by certain individuals and
certain departments. Moreover, these expenditures are
--
But perhaps it is just because certain individuals and certain
departments are spending extravagantly that there is a financial
--
One can do everything while keeping the mind quiet, and
what one does is better done.
--
a free and intelligent life, even without there being any question
of Yoga or aspiration for the Divine Life.
--
The protection is over the group - and if the action of the group
is coordinated and disciplined, the protection acts. But when an
individual acts independently, the protection acts only in the
--
Aurobindo speaks of the influence of the Divine Compassion and the Divine Grace.32 But what is the difference between the two?
The compassion seeks to relieve the suffering of all, whether
--
Divine Compassion acting on as many as it can reach through the nets of the Law and
giving them their chance; (3) the Divine Grace which acts more incalculably but also
--
Divine work and unshakable trust in the Divine Grace. All
this must be accompanied by a sustained, ardent, persevering
aspiration and a boundless patience.
Happy New Year
--
set face to face and assembled in a comprehensive synthesis.
You once wrote to me that "others are a mirror reflecting
--
On the condition of the one to whom I write the card and on his
state of consciousness, which varies according to the moment
--
on the idea of good and evil, a moral entity or rather an element of goodwill which tries to keep the individual on what is
commonly known as the straight path.
--
and mental, the physical relation seems more real and tangible.
(2) For those who have seriously begun the yoga in the body,
--
of it) but also a mental and vital relation, which makes the outer
relation less indispensable.
--
Not everyone is conscious of his soul and very few are those
who are guided by their soul.
--
The character can change and must change, but it is a long
and minute work which requires sustained effort and a great
sincerity.
--
something would happen.34 and it did happen.
That is all that is needed.
--
from one life to another, become richer and form the psychic personality behind the surface personality. But then
how does the psychic, weighed down by these vibrations
--
reason or other, the psychic was present and participated; in that
case it retains the memory of the circumstance. But the memory
--
it is translated in the psychic consciousness and according to the
psychic vibration of all the people present.
--
emotional vibration of a circumstance; and that is what is solid,
what remains, what lasts. and so with that, one has a perception
- a little vague, a little blurred - of the people who were there,
of the circumstances, of the events, and that makes a psychic
memory; it is rarely the events that mentally are considered
--
participated - in the event. and that is what remains.
15 July 1967
--
You are with us always and at every moment, only
we are not conscious of it. Only danger makes us recall
--
presence of someone other than ourselves in the car, and
it was very strong, even though we were not conscious
--
I was very strongly and consciously with you because X had
written to me that the tyres of the car were in poor condition.
--
need to form little groups and societies: for example,
World Union, New Age Association, etc.? What is their
--
After all these years I have found the forgotten notebook, and I
reply:
The Divine does not see things as men do and has no need
to punish or reward.
--
Divine or takes one farther from Him - and that is the supreme
consequence.
--
business," he said, "is to write." and he asked me what
my "business" was. I replied that I didn't know what
my "business" was - all I knew was that I had to concentrate on myself in order to perfect myself more and
more. Was that correct? Mother, what actually is my
--
Certainly, the most important occupation is to develop and perfect oneself, but that can be done very well, and even better, while
working. It is for you to know what work it is that most interests
--
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 rather than a help and
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
one's nature and a mastery of one's imperfections. But to tell the
truth, it is not of capital importance, and it is far more important
to concentrate on the future, on the consciousness to be acquired
--
sad. and then, is this not part of the Sacrifice of the
Supreme spoken of by Sri Aurobindo? Are we worthy of
--
material difficulties are part of the work of transformation and
they should be accepted calmly.
--
of the answer they receive, and there are those whose aspiration is sufficiently strong and sincere for them to be constantly
conscious of the help they are given.
01.10 - Nicholas Berdyaev: God Made Human, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Aldous Huxley: The Perennial Philosophy
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsNicholas Berdyaev: God Made Human
Nicholas Berdyaev: God Made Human
Nicholas Berdyaev is an ardent worker, as a Russian is naturally expected to be, in the cause of the spiritual rehabilitation of mankind. He is a Christian, a neo-Christian: some of his conclusions are old-world truths and bear repetition and insistence; others are of a more limited, conditional and even doubtful nature. His conception of the value of human person, the dignity and the high reality he gives to it, can never be too welcome in a world where the individual seems to have gone the way of vanished empires and kings and princes. But even more important and interesting is the view he underlines that the true person is a spiritual being, that is to say, it is quite other than the empirical ego that man normally is"not this that one worships" as the Upanishads too declare. Further, in his spiritual being man, the individual, is not simply a portion or a fraction; he is, on the contrary, an integer, a complete whole, a creative focus; the true individual is a microcosm yet holding in it and imaging the macrocosm. Only perhaps greater stress is laid upon the aspect of creativity or activism. An Eastern sage, a Vedantin, would look for the true spiritual reality behind the flux of forces: Prakriti or Energy is only the executive will of the Purusha, the Conscious Being. The personality in Nature is a formulation and emanation of the transcendent impersonality.
There is another aspect of personality as viewed by Berdyaev which involves a bias of the more orthodox Christian faith: the Christ is inseparable from the Cross. So he says: "There is no such thing as personality if there is no capacity for suffering. Suffering is inherent in God too, if he is a personality, and not merely an abstract idea. God shares in the sufferings of men. He yearns for responsive love. There are divine as well as human passions and therefore divine or creative personality must always suffer to the end of time. A condition of anguish and distress is inherent in it." The view is logically enforced upon the 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 the Divine Consciousness. It is born out of the Divine, no doubt, as nothing can be outside the Divine, but it is a local and temporal formation; it is a disposition consequent upon certain conditions and with the absence or elimination of those conditions, this disposition too disappears. God and the Divine Consciousness can only be purity, light, immortality and delight. The compassion that a Buddha feels for the 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 the movement of a transcendent consciousness which is beyond and purified of the normal reactions, yet overarching them and entering into them as a soothing and illumining and vivifying presence. The healer knows and underst ands the pain and suffering of his patient but is not touched by them; he need not contract the illness of his patient in order to be in sympathy with him. The Divine the Soulcan be in flesh and yet not smirched with its mire; the flesh is not essentially or irrevocably the ooze it is under certain given conditions. The divine physical body is composed of radiant matter and one can speak of it even as of the soul that weapons cannot pierce it nor can fire burn it.
***
William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Aldous Huxley: The Perennial Philosophy
01.10 - Principle and Personality, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
object:01.10 - Principle and Personality
author class:Nolini Kanta Gupta
--
Principle and Personality
It is asked of us why do we preach a man and not purely and solely a principle. Our ideal being avowedly the establishment and reign of a new principle of world-order and not gathering recruits for the camp of a sectarian teacher, it seems all the more inconsistent, if not thoroughly ruinous for our cause, that we should lay stress upon a particular individual and incur the danger of overshadowing the universal truths upon which we seek to build human society. Now, it is not that we are unconscious or oblivious of the many evils attendant upon the system of preaching a man the history of the rise and decay of many sects and societies is there to give us sufficient warning; and yet if we cannot entirely give the go-by to personalities and stick to mere and bare principles, it is because we have clear reasons for it, because we are not unconscious or oblivious either of the evils that beset the system of preaching the principle alone.
Religious bodies that are formed through the bhakti and puja for one man, social reconstructions forced by the will and power of a single individual, have already in the inception this grain of incapacity and disease and death that they are not an integrally self-conscious creation, they are not, as a whole, intelligent and wide awake and therefore constantly responsive to the truths and ideals and realities for which they exist, for which at least, their founder intended them to exist. The light at the apex is the only light and the entire structure is but the shadow of that light; the whole thing has the aspect of a dark mass galvanised into red-hot activity by the passing touch of a dynamo. Immediately however the solitary light fails and the dynamo stops, there is nothing but the original darkness and inertiatoma asit tamasa gudham agre.
Man, however great and puissant he may be, is a perishable thing. People who gather or are gathered round a man and cling to him through the tie of a personal relation must fall off and scatter when the man passes away and the personal tie loses its hold. What remains is a memory, a gradually fading memory. But memory is hardly a creative force, it is a dead, at best, a moribund thing; the real creative power is Presence. So when the great man's presence, the power that crystallises is gone, the whole edifice crumbles and vanishes into air or remains a mere name.
Love and admiration for a mahapurusha is not enough, even faith in his gospel is of little avail, nor can actual participation, consecrated work and labour in his cause save the situation; it is only when the principles, the bare realities for which the mahapurusha st ands are in the open forum and men have the full and free opportunity of testing and assimilating them, it is only when individuals thus become living embodiments of those principles and realities that we do create a thing universal and permanent, as universal and permanent as earthly things may be. Principles only can embrace and unify the whole of humanity; a particular personality shall always create division and limitation. By placing the man in front, we erect a wall between the Principle and men at large. It is the principles, on the contrary, that should be given the place of honour: our attempt should be to keep back personalities and make as little use of them as possible. Let the principles work and create in their freedom and power, untrammelled by the limitations of any mere human vessel.
We are quite familiar with this cry so rampant in our democratic ageprinciples and no personalities! and although we admit the justice of it, yet we cannot ignore the trenchant one-sidedness which it involves. It is perhaps only a reaction, a swing to the opposite extreme of a mentality given too much to personalities, as the case generally has been in the past. It may be necessary, as a corrective, but it belongs only to a temporary stage. Since, however, we are after a universal ideal, we must also have an integral method. We shall have to curb many of our susceptibilities, diminish many of our apprehensions and soberly strike a balance between opposite extremes.
We do not speak like politicians or banias; but the very truth of the matter dem ands such a policy or line of action. It is very well to talk of principles and principles alone, but what are principles unless they take life and form in a particular individual? They are airy nothings, notions in the brain of logicians and metaphysicians, fit subjects for discussion in the academy, but they are devoid of that vital urge which makes them creative agencies. We have long lines of philosophers, especially European, who most scrupulously avoided all touch of personalities, whose utmost care was to keep principles pure and unsullied; and the upshot was that those principles remained principles only, barren and infructuous, some thing like, in the strong and puissant phrase of BaudelaireLa froide majest de la femme strile. and on the contrary, we have had other peoples, much addicted to personalitiesespecially in Asiawho did not care so much for abstract principles as for concrete embodiments; and what has been the result here? None can say that they did not produce anything or produced only still-born things. They produced living creaturesephemeral, some might say, but creatures that lived and moved and had their days.
But, it may be asked, what is the necessity, what is the purpose in making it all a one man show? Granting that principles require personalities for their fructuation and vital functioning, what remains to be envisaged is not one personality but a plural personality, the people at large, as many individuals of the human race as can be consciously imbued with those principles. When principles are made part and parcel of, are concentrated in a single solitary personality, they get "cribbed and cabined," they are vitiated by the idiosyncrasies of the man, they come to have a narrower field of application; they are emptied of the general verities they contain and finally cease to have any effect.
The thing, however, is that what you call principles do not drop from heaven in their virgin purity and all at once lay hold of mankind en masse. It is always through a particular individual that a great principle manifests itself. Principles do not live in the general mind of man and even if they live, they live secreted and unconscious; it is only a puissant personality, who has lived the principle, that can bring it forward into life and action, can awaken, like the Vedic Dawn, what was dead in allmritam kanchana bodhayanti. Men in general are by themselves 'inert and indifferent; they have little leisure or inclination to seek, from any inner urge of their own, for principles and primal truths; they become conscious of these only when expressed and embodied in some great and rare soul. An Avatar, a Messiah or a Prophet is the centre, the focus through which a Truth and Law first dawns and then radiates and spreads abroad. The little lamps are all lighted by the sparks that the great torch scatters.
and yet we yield to none in our dem and for holding forth the principles always and ever before the wide open gaze of all. The principle is there to make people self-knowing and self-guiding; and the man is also there to illustrate that principle, to serve as the hope and prophecy of achievement. The living soul is there to touch your soul, if you require the touch; and the principle is there by which to test and testify. For, we do not ask anybody to be a mere automaton, a blind devotee, a soul without individual choice and initiative. On the contrary, we insist on each and every individual to find his own soul and st and on his own Truththis is the fundamental principle we declare, the only creedif creed it be that we ask people to note and freely follow. We ask all people to be fully self-dependent and self-illumined, for only thus can a real and solid reconstruction of human nature and society be possible; we do not wish that they should bow down ungrudgingly to anything, be it a principle or a personality. In this respect we claim the very first rank of iconoclasts and anarchists. and along with that, if we still choose to remain an idol-lover and a hero-worshipper, it is because we recognise that our mind, human as it is, being not a simple equation but a complex paradox, the idol or the hero symbolises for us and for those who so will, the very iconoclasm and anarchism and perhaps other more positive things as wellwhich we behold within and seek to manifest.
The world is full of ikons and archons; we cannot escape them, even if we try the world itself being a great ikon and as great an archon. Those who swear by principles, swear always by some personality or other, if not by a living creature then by a lifeless book, if not by Religion then by Science, if not by the East then by the West, if not by Buddha or Christ then by Bentham or Voltaire. Only they do it unwittingly they change one set of personalities for another and believe they have rejected them all. The veils of Maya are a thous and-fold tangle and you think you have entirely escaped her when you have only run away from one fold to fall into another. The wise do not attempt to reject and negate Maya, but consciously accept herfreedom lies in a knowing affirmation. So we too have accepted and affirmed an icon, but we have done it consciously and knowingly; we are not bound by our idol, we see the truth of it, and we serve and utilise it as best as we may.
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01.11 - Aldous Huxley: The Perennial Philosophy, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsAldous Huxley: The Perennial Philosophy
Aldous Huxley: The Perennial Philosophy
This latest work of Aldous Huxley is a collection of sayings of sages and saints and philosophers from all over the world and of all times. The sayings are arranged under several heads such as "That art Thou", "The Nature of the Ground", "Divine Incarnation", "Self-Knowledge", "Silence", "Faith" etc., which clearly give an idea of the contents and also of the "Neo-Brahmin's" own personal preoccupation. There is also a running commentary, rather a note on each saying, meant to elucidate and explain, naturally from the compiler's st andpoint, what is obviously addressed to the initiate.
A similar compilation was published in the Arya, called The Eternal Wisdom (Les Paroles ternelles, in French) a portion of which appeared later on in book-form: that was more elaborate, the contents were arranged in such a way that no comments were needed, they were self-explanatory, divided as they were in chapters and sections and subsections with proper headings, the whole thing put in a logical and organised sequence. Huxley's compilation begins under the title of the Upanishadic text "That art Thou" with this saying of Eckhart: "The more God is in all things, the more He is outside them. The more He is within, the more without". It will be interesting to note that the Arya compilation too starts with the same idea under the title "The God of All; the God who is in All", the first quotation being from Philolaus, "The Universe is a Unity".The Eternal Wisdom has an introduction called "The Song of Wisdom" which begins with this saying from the Book of Wisdom: "We fight to win sublime Wisdom; therefore men call us warriors".
Huxley gives only one quotation from Sri Aurobindo under the heading "God in the World". Here it is:
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"To its heights we can always come. For those of us who are still splashing about in the lower ooze, the phrase has a rather ironical ring. Nevertheless, in the light of even the most distant acquaintance with the heights and the fullness, it is possible to underst and what its author means. To discover the Kingdom of God exclusively within oneself is easier than to discover it, not only there, but also in the outer worlds of minds and things and living creatures. It is easier because the heights within reveal themselves to those who are ready to exclude from their purview all that lies without. and though this exclusion may be a painful and mortificatory process, the fact remains that it is less arduous than the process of inclusion, by which we come to know the fullness as well as the heights of spiritual life. Where there is exclusive concentration on the heights within, temptations and distractions are avoided and there is a general denial and suppression. But when the hope is to know God inclusivelyto realise the divine Ground in the world as well as in the soul, temptations and distractions must not be avoided, but submitted to and used as opportunities for advance; there must be no suppression of outward-turning activities, but a transformation of them so that they become sacramental."
The neatness of the commentary cannot be improved upon. Only with regard to the "ironical ring" of which Huxley speaks, it has just to be pointed out, as he himself seems to underst and, that the "we" referred to in the phrase does not mean humanity in general that 'splashes about in the lower ooze' but those who have a sufficiently developed inner spiritual life.
There is a quotation from Lao Tzu put under the heading "Grace and Free Will": "It was when the Great Way declined that human kindness and morality arose".
We fear Mr. Huxley has completely missed the point of the cryptic sentence. He seems to take it as meaning that human kindness and morality are a means to the recovery of the Lost Way-although codes of ethics and deliberate choices are not sufficient in themselves, they are only a second best, yet they mark the rise of self-consciousness and have to be utilised to pass on into the unitive knowledge that is Tao. This explanation or amplification seems to us somewhat confused and irrelevant to the idea expressed in the apophthegm. What is stated here is much simpler and transparent. It is this that when the Divine is absent and the divine Knowledge, then comes in man with his human mental knowledge: it is man's humanity that clouds the Divine and to reach the' Divine one must reject the human values, all the moralities, sarva dharmn, seek only the Divine. The lesser way lies through the dualities, good and evil, the Great Way is beyond them and cannot be limited or measured by the relative st andards. Especially in the modern age we see the decline and almost the disappearance of the Greater Light and instead a thous and smaller lights are lighted which vainly strive to dispel the gathering darkness. These do not help, they are false lights and men are apt to cling to them, shutting their eyes to the true one which is not that that one worships here and now, nedam yadidam upsate.
There is a beautiful quotation from the Chinese sage, Wu Ch'ng-n, regarding the doubtful utility of written Scriptures:
"'Listen to this!' shouted Monkey. 'After all the trouble we had getting here from China, and after you specially ordered that we were to be given the scriptures, An anda and Kasyapa made a fraudulent delivery of goods. They gave us blank copies to take away; I ask you, what is the good of that to us?' 'You needn't shout,' said the Buddha, smiling. 'As a matter of fact, it is such blank scrolls as these that are the true scriptures. But I quite see that the people of China are too foolish and ignorant to believe this, so there is nothing for it but to give them copies with some writing on.' "
A sage can smile and smile delightfully! The parable illustrates the well-known Biblical phrase, 'the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life'. The monkey is symbolical of the ignorant, arrogant, fussy human mind. There is another Buddhistic story about the monkey quoted in the book and it is as delightful; but being somewhat long, we cannot reproduce it here. It tells how the mind-monkey is terribly agile, quick, clever, competent, moving lightning-fast, imagining that it can easily go to the end of the world, to Paradise itself, to Brahmic status. But alas! when he thought he was speeding straight like a rocket or an arrow and arrive right at the target, he found that he was spinning like a top at the same spot, and what he very likely took to be the very fragrance of the topmost supreme heaven was nothing but the aroma of his own urine.
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01.11 - The Basis of Unity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A modern society or people cannot have religion, that is to say, credal religion, as the basis of its organized collective life. It was mediaeval society and people that were organized on that line. Indeed mediaevalism means nothing more and nothing lessthan that. But whatever the need and justification in the past, the principle is an anachronism under modern conditions. It was needed, perhaps, to keep alive a truth which goes into the very roots of human life and its deepest aspiration; and it was needed also for a dynamic application of that truth on a larger scale and in smaller details, on the mass of mankind and in its day to day life. That was the aim of the Church Militant and the Khilafat; that was the spirit, although in a more Sattwic way, behind the Buddhistic evangelism or even Hindu colonization.
The truth behind a credal religion is the aspiration towards the realization of the Divine, some ultimate reality that gives a permanent meaning and value to the human life, to the existence lodged in this 'sphere of sorrow' here below. Credal paraphernalia were necessary to express or buttress this core of spiritual truth when mankind, in the mass, had not attained a certain level of enlightenment in the mind and a certain degree of development in its life-relations. The modern age is modern precisely because it had attained to a necessary extent this mental enlightenment and this life development. So the scheme or scaffolding that was required in the past is no longer unavoidable and can have either 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 the 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 when there is a personal allegiance to one particular form.
In India, it is well known, the diversity of affiliations is colossal, sui generis. Two major affiliations have today almost cut the country into two; and desperate remedies are suggested which are worse than the malady itself, as they may kill the patient outright. If it is so, it is, I repeat, the mediaeval spirit that is at:, the bottom of the trouble.
The rise of this spirit in modern times and conditions is a phenomenon that has to be explained and faced: it is a ghost that has come out of the past and has got to be laid and laid for good. First of all, it is a reaction from modernism; it is a reaction from the modernist denial of certain fundamental and eternal truths, of God, soul, and immortality: it is a reaction from the modernist affirmation of the mere economic man. and it is also a defensive gesture of a particular complex of consciousness that has grown and lives powerfully and now apprehends expurgation and elimination.
In Europe such a contingency did not arise, because the religious spirit, rampant in the days of Inquisitions and St. Bartholomews, died away: it died, and (or, because) it was replaced by a spirit that was felt as being equally, if not more, au thentic and, which for the moment, suffused the whole consciousness with a large and high afflatus, commensurate with the amplitude of man's aspiration. I refer, of course, to the spirit of the Renaissance. It was a spirit profane and secular, no doubt, but on that level it brought a catholicity of temper and a richness in varied interesta humanistic culture, as it is calledwhich constituted a living and unifying ideal for Europe. That spirit culminated in the great French Revolution which was the final coup de grace to all that still remained of mediaevalism, even in its outer structure, political and economical.
In India the spirit of renascence came very late, late almost by three centuries; and even then it could not flood the whole of the continent in all its nooks and corners, psychological and physical. There were any number of pockets (to use a current military phrase) left behind which guarded the spirit of the past and offered persistent and obdurate resistance. Perhaps, such a dispensation was needed in India and inevitable also; inevitable, because the religious spirit is closest to India's soul and is its most direct expression and cannot be uprooted so easily; needed, because India's and the world's future dem ands it and depends upon it.
Only, the religious spirit has to be bathed and purified and enlightened by the spirit of the renascence: that is to say, one must learn and underst and and realize that Spirit is the thing the one thing needfulTamevaikam jnatha; 'religions' are its names and forms, appliances and decorations. Let us have by all means the religious spirit, the fundamental experience that is the inmost truth of all religions, that is the matter of our soul; but in our mind and life and body let there be a luminous catholicity, let these organs and instruments be trained to see and compare and appreciate the variety, the numberless facets which the one Spirit naturally presents to the human consciousness. Ekam sat viprh bahudh vadanti. It is an ancient truth that man discovered even in his earliest seekings; but it still awaits an adequate expression and application in life.
II
India's historical development is marked by a special characteristic which is at once the expression of her inmost nature and the setting of a problem which she has to solve for herself and for the whole human race. I have spoken of the diversity and divergence of affiliations in a modern social unit. But what distinguishes India from all other peoples is that the diversity and divergence have culminated here in contradictoriness and mutual exclusion.
The first extremes that met in India and fought and gradually coalesced to form a single cultural and social whole were, as is well known, the Aryan and the non-Aryan. Indeed, the geologists tell us, the l and itself is divided into two parts structurally quite different and distinct, the Deccan plateau and the Himalayan ranges with the Indo-Gangetic plain: the former is formed out of the most ancient and stable and, on the whole, horizontally bedded rocks of the earth, while the latter is of comparatively recent origin, formed out of a more flexible and weaker belt (the Himalayan region consisting of a colossal flexing and crumpling of strata). The disparity is so much that a certain group of geologists hold that the Deccan plateau did not at all form part of the Asiatic continent, but had drifted and dashed into it:in fact the Himalayas are the result of this mighty impact. The usual division of an Aryan and a Dravidian race may be due to a memory of the clash of the two continents and their races.
However, coming to historical times, we see wave after wave of the most heterogeneous and disparate elementsSakas and Huns and Greeks, each bringing its quota of exotic materialenter into the oceanic Indian life and culture, lose their separate foreign identity and become part and parcel of the common whole. Even so,a single unitary body was formed out of such varied and shifting materialsnot in the 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 approaches to the Divine, of forms and norms of apprehending the Beyond. It has been called Hinduism: it is a vast synthesis of multiple affiliations. It expresses the characteristic genius of India and hence Hinduism and Indianism came to be looked upon as synonymous terms. and the same could be defined also as Vedic religion and culture, for its invariable basis the bed-rock on which it stood firm and erectwas the Vedas, the Knowledge seen by the sages. But there had already risen a voice of dissidence and discord that of Buddha, not so much, perhaps, of Buddha as of Buddhism. The Buddhistic enlightenment and discipline did not admit the supreme authority of the Vedas; it sought other bases of truth and reality. It was a great denial; and it meant and worked for a vital schism. The denial of the Vedas by itself, perhaps, would not be serious, but it became so, as it was symptomatic of a deeper divergence. Denying the Vedas, the Buddhistic spirit denied life. It was quite a new thing in the Indian consciousness and spiritual discipline. and it left such a stamp there that even today it st ands as the dominant character of the Indian outlook. However, India's synthetic genius rose to the occasion and knew how to bridge the chasm, close up the fissure, and present again a body whole and entire. Buddha became one of the Avataras: the discipline of Nirvana and Maya was reserved as the last duty to be performed at the end of life, as the culmination of a full-length span of action and achievement; the way to Moksha lay through Dharma and Artha and Kama, Sannyasa had to be built upon Brahmacharya and Garhasthya. The integral ideal was epitomized by Kalidasa in his famous lines about the character of the Raghus:
They devoted themselves to study in their boyhood, in youth they pursued the objects of life; when old they took to spiritual austerities, and in the end they died united with the higher consciousness.
Only this process of integration was not done in a day, it took some centuries and had to pass through some unpleasant intermediary stages.
and still this was not the lastit could not be the lastanti thesis that had to be synthetized. The dialectical movement led to a more serious and fiercer contradiction. The Buddhistic schism was after all a division brought about from within: it could be said that the two terms of the antinomy belonged to the same genus and were commensurable. The idea or experience of Asat and Maya was not unknown to the Upanishads, only it had not there the exclusive stress which the later developments gave it. Hence quite a different, an altogether foreign body was imported into what was or had come to be a homogeneous entity, and in a considerable mass.
Unlike the previous irruptions that merged and were lost in the general life and consciousness, Islam entered as a leaven that maintained its integrity and revolutionized Indian life and culture by infusing into its tone a Semitic accent. After the Islamic impact India could not be what she was beforea change became inevitable even in the major note. It was a psychological cataclysm almost on a par with the geological one that formed her body; but the spirit behind which created the body was working automatically, inexorably towards the greater and more difficult synthesis dem anded by the situation. Only the thing is to be done now consciously, not through an unconscious process of laissez-faire as on the inferior stages of evolution in the past. and that is the true genesis of the present conflict.
History abounds in instances of racial and cultural immixture. Indeed, all major human groupings of today are invariably composite formations. Excepting, perhaps, some primitiveaboriginal tribes there are no pure races existent. The Briton, the Dane, the Anglo-Saxon, and the Norman have combined to form the British; a Frenchman has a Gaul, a Roman, a Frank in him; and a Spaniard's blood would show an Iberian, a Latin, a Gothic, a Moorish element in it. and much more than a people, a culture in modern times has been a veritable cockpit of multifarious and even incongruous elements. There are instances also in which a perfect fusion could not be accomplished, and one element had to be rejected or crushed out. The complete disappearance of the Aztecs and Mayas in South America, the decadence of the Red Indians in North America, of the Negroes in Africa as a result of a fierce clash with European peoples and European culture illustrate the point.
Nature, on the whole, has solved the problem of blood fusion and mental fusion of different peoples, although on a smaller scale. India today presents the problem on a larger scale and on a higher or deeper level. The dem and is for a spiritual fusion and unity. Strange to say, although the Spirit is the true bed-rock of unitysince, at bottom, it means identityit is on this plane that mankind has not yet been able to really meet and coalesce. India's genius has been precisely working in the line of a perfect solution of this supreme problem.
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 the physical world for the Lord, a temperament which Indian spirituality had not, or had lost long before, if she had anything of it. This was, perhaps, what Vivekan anda meant when he spoke graphically of a Hindu soul with a Muslim body. The Islamic dispensation, however, brings with it not only something complementary, but also something contradictory, if not for anything else, at least for the strong individuality which does not easily yield to assimilation. Still, in spite of great odds, the 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 highest and largest achievement, then Nature need not have attempted to go beyond cultural fusion; a liberal culture is the 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 other lines and loyalties, nay more, to be in positive harmony with them, is a problem which has not been really solved. It was solved, perhaps, in the consciousness of a Ramakrishna, a few individuals here and there, but it has always remained a source of conflict and disharmony in the general mind even in the field of spirituality. The clash of spiritual or religious loyalties has taken such an acute form in India today, they have been carried to the bitter extreme, in order, we venture to say, that the final synthesis might be absolute and irrevocable. This is India's mission to work out, and this is the lesson which she brings to the world.
The solution can come, first, by going to the true religion of the Spirit, by being truly spiritual and not merely religious, for, as we have said, real unity lies only in and through the Spirit, since Spirit is one and indivisible; secondly, by bringing down somethinga great part, indeed, if not the wholeof this puissant and marvellous Spirit into our life of emotions and sensations and activities.
If it is said that this is an ideal for the few only, not for the mass, our answer to that is the answer of the GitaYad yad acharati sreshthah. Let the few then practise and achieve the ideal: the mass will have to follow as far as it is possible and necessary. It is the very character of the evolutionary system of Nature, as expressed in the principle of symbiosis, that any considerable change in one place (in one species) is accompanied by a corresponding change in the same direction in other contiguous places (in other associated species) in order that the poise and balance of the system may be maintained.
It is precisely strong nuclei that are needed (even, perhaps, one strong nucleus is sufficient) where the single and integrated spiritual consciousness is an accomplished and established fact: that acts inevitably as a solvent drawing in and assimilating or transforming and re-creating as much, of the surroundings as its own degree and nature of achievement inevitably dem and.
India did not and could not stop at mere cultural fusionwhich was a supreme gift of the Moguls. She did not and could not stop at another momentous cultural fusion brought about by the European impact. She aimed at something more. Nature dem anded of her that she 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 the greater synthesis, for the Christian peoples were more culture-minded than religious-minded. It was left for an Asiatic people to set the problem and for India to work out the solution.
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Principle and Personality Three Degrees of Social Organisation
01.12 - Goethe, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsGoe the
Goethe
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A perfect voice of sweet and serious rhyme,
Traveller with calm, inimitable paces,
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A complete strength when men were maimed and weak,
German obscured the spirit of a Greek.
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The year 1949 has just celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great force of light that was Goethe. We too remember him on the occasion, and will try to present in a few words, as we see it, the fundamental experience, the major Intuition that stirred this human soul, the lesson he brought to mankind. Goe the was a great poet. He showed how a language, perhaps least poetical by nature, can be moulded to embody the great beauty of great poetry. He made the German language sing, even as the sun's ray made the stone of Memnon sing when falling upon it. Goe the 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 the was a man of great wisdom. His observation and judgment on thingsno matter to whatever realm they belonghave an arresting appropriateness, a happy and revealing insight. But above all, he was an aspiring soulaspiring to know and be in touch with the hidden Divinity in man and the world.
Goe the and the Problem of Evil
No problem is so vital to the human consciousness as the problem of Evilits why and wherefore It is verily the Sphinx Riddle. In all ages and in all climes man has tried to answer; the answers are of an immense variety, but none seems to be sure and certain. Goethe's was an ardent soul seeking to embrace the living truth whole and entire; the problem was not merely of philosophical interest to him, but a burning question of life and deathlife and death of the body and even of the soul.
One view considers Evil as coeval with Good: the Prince of Evil is God's peer, equal to him in all ways, absolutely separate, independent and self-existent. Light and Darkness are eternal principles living side by side, possessing equal reality. For, although it is permissible to the individual to pass out of the Darkness and enter into Light, the Darkness itself does not disappear: it remains and maintains its domain, and even it is said that some human beings are meant eternally for this domain. That is the Manichean principle and that also is fundamentally the dualistic conception of chit-achit in some Indian systems (although the principle of chit or light is usually given a higher position and priority of excellence).
The Christian too accepts the dual principle, but does not give equal status to the two. Satan is there, an eternal reality: it is anti-God, it seeks to oppose God, frustrate his work. It is the great tempter whose task it is to persuade, to inspire man to remain always an earthly creature and never turn to know or live in God. Now the crucial question that arises is, what is the necessity of this Antagonist in God's scheme of creation? What is the meaning of this struggle and battle? God could have created, if he had chosen, a world without Evil. The orthodox Christi an answer is that in that case one could not have fully appreciated the true value and glory of God's presence. It is to manifest and proclaim the great victory that the strife and combat has been arranged in which Man triumphs in the end and God's work st ands vindicated. The place of Satan is always Hell, but he cannot drag down a soul into his pit to hold it there eternally (although according to one doctrine there are or may be certain eternally damned souls).
Goe the carries the process of convergence and even harmony of the two powers a little further and shows that although they are contrary apparently, they are not contradictory principles in essence. For, Satan is, after all, God's servant, even a very obedient servant; he is an instrument in the h and of the Almighty to work out His purpose. The purpose is to help and lead man, although in a devious way, towards a greater underst anding, a nearer approach to Himself.
The Challenge and the Pact
There is on the earthly stage the play of a challenge, a twofold challenge, one between God and Satan and another, as a consequence, between Man and Satan.
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 the grass and sings its old song in the grass." God answers that whatever the perplexity in which man now is, in the end he will come out and reach the Light with a greater and richer experience of it. Satan smiles in return and says he will prove otherwise. Given a free h and, he can do whatever he likes with man: "Dust shall he eat and with a relish." God willingly agrees to the challenge: there is no harm in Satan's trying his h and. 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 the goad, the force that drives towards ceaseless activity. For activity is life, and without activity no progress.
Thus, as sanctioned by God, there is a competition, a wager between man and Satan. The pact between the parties is this that, on the one h and, Satan will serve man here in life upon earth, and on the other h and, in return, man will have to serve Satan there, on the other side of life. That is to say, Satan will give the 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 there or elsewhere: he will be satisfied if he gets what he wants upon earth. That, evidently, is the dem and of what is familiarly known as life-force (lan vital): the utmost fulfilment of the life-force is what man st ands for, although the full significance of the movement may not be clear to him or even to Satan at the moment. For life-force does not necessarily drag man down, as its gr and 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 the 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 the nostalgic cry, "Time must have a stop." A most simple, primal and primeval lyric love will most suit Satan's purpose. Hence the Margaret episode. Love=Passion=Lust=Hell; that is the inevitable equation sequence, and through which runs the magic thread of infatuation. and that charm is invincible. Satan did succeed and was within an ace, as they say, of the 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, the potency of reversing the natural decree and bring about a supernatural intervention. Human love can at a crucial momentin extremiscall down the Divine Grace, which means God's love for man. and the 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 Goethe's Satan seems to know or feel something of his fate. He knows his function and the limit too of his function. He speaks of the doomsday for people, but it is his doomsday also, he says in mystic terms. Yes, it is his doomsday, for it is the day of man's liberation. Satan has to release man from the pact that st ands cancelled. The soul of man cannot be sold, even if he wanted it.
The Cosmic Rhythm
The angels weave the symphony that is creation. They represent the various notes and rhythmsin their higher and purer degrees that make up the gr and harmony of the spheres. It is magnificent, this music that moves the cosmos, and wonderful the glory of God manifest therein. But is it absolutely perfect? Is there nowhere any flaw in it? There is a doubting voice that enters a dissenting note. That is Satan, the Antagonist, the Evil One. Man is the weakest link in the chain of the apparently all-perfect harmony. and Satan boldly proposes to snap it if God only let him do so. He can prove to God that the 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 the play of this apparent breach and proves in the end that it is part of a wider scheme, a vaster harmony. Evil is rounded off by Grace.
The total eradication of Evil from the world and human nature and the remoulding of a terrestrial life in the substance and pattern of the Highest Good that is beyond all dualities is a conception which it was not for Goe the to envisage. In the order of reality or existence, first there is the consciousness of division, of trenchant separation in which Good is equated with not-evil and evil with not-good. This is the outlook of individualised consciousness. Next, as the consciousness grows and envelops the whole existence, good and evil are both embraced and are found to form a secret and magic harmony. That is the universal or cosmic consciousness. and Goethe's genius seems to be an outflowering of something of this status of consciousness. But there is still a higher status, the 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 the mystery of a spiritual realisation to which Goe the aspired perhaps, but had not the 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
Declaration of Rights is a characteristic modern phenomenon. It is a message of liberty and freedom,no doubt of secular liberty and freedomthings not very common in the old world; and yet at the same time it is a clarion that calls for and prepares strife and battle. If the conception of Right has sanctified the individual or a unit collectivity, it has also pari passu developed a fissiparous tendency in human organisation. Society based on or living by the principle of Right becomes naturally and inevitably a competitive society. Where man is regarded as nothing more and, of course, nothing lessthan a bundle of rights, human aggregation is bound to be an exact image of Darwinian Naturered in tooth and claw.
But Right is not the only term on which an ideal or even a decent society can be based. There is another term which can serve equally well, if not better. I am obviously referring to the conception of duty. I tis an old world conception; it isa conception particularly familiar to the East. The Indian term for Right is also the term for dutyadhikara means both. In Europe too, in more recent times, when after the frustration of the dream of a new world envisaged by the French Revolution, man was called upon again to rise and hope, it was Mazzini who brought forward the new or discarded principle as a mantra replacing the other more dangerous one. A hierarchy of duties was given by him as the pattern of a fulfilled ideal life. In India, in our days the distinction between the two attitudes was very strongly insisted upon by the great Vivekan anda.
Vivekan anda said that if human society is to be remodelled, one must first of all learn not to think and act in terms of claims and rights but in terms of duties and obligations. Fulfil your duties conscientiously, the rights will take care of themselves; it is such an attitude that can give man the right poise, the right impetus, the right outlook with regard to a collective living. If instead of each one dem anding what one considers as one's dues and consequently scrambling and battling for them, and most often not getting them or getting at a ruinous pricewhat made Arjuna cry, "What shall I do with all this kingdom if in regaining it I lose all my kith and kin dear to me?"if, indeed, instead of claiming one's right, one were content to know one's duty and do it as it should be done, then not only there would be peace and amity upon earth, but also each one far from losing anything would find miraculously all that one most needs and must have,the necessary, the right rights and all.
It might be objected here however that actually in the history of humanity the conception of Duty has been no less pugnacious than that of Right. In certain ages and among certain peoples, for example, it was considered the imperative duty of the faithful to kill or convert by force or otherwise as many as possible belonging to other faiths: it was the mission of the good shepherd to burn the impious and the 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 the integrity of a particular ideological, social or racial aggregate. But the real name of such a spirit is not duty but fanaticism. and there is a considerable difference between the two. Fanaticism may be defined as duty running away with itself; but what we are concerned with here is not the aberration of duty, but duty proper self-poised.
One might claim also on behalf of the doctrine of Right that the right kind of Right brings no harm, it is as already stated another name for liberty, for the privilege of living and it includes the obligation to let live. One can do what one likes provided one does not infringe on an equal right of others to do the same. The measure of one's liberty is equal to the measure of others' liberty.
Here is the crux of the question. The dictum of utilitarian philosophers is a golden rule which is easy to formulate but not so to execute. For the line of demarcation between one's own rights and the equal rights of others is so undefinable and variable that a title suit is inevitable in each case. In asserting and establishing and even maintaining one's rights there is always the possibilityalmost the certaintyof encroaching upon others' rights.
What is required is not therefore an external delimitation of frontiers between unit and unit, but an inner outlook of nature and a poise of character. and this can be cultivated and brought into action by learning to live by the sense of duty. Even then, even the sense of duty, we have to admit, is not enough. For if it leads or is capable of leading into an aberration, we must have something else to check and control it, some other higher and more potent principle. Indeed, both the conceptions of Duty and Right belong to the domain of mental ideal, although one is usually more aggressive and militant (Rajasic) and the other tends to be more tolerant and considerate (sattwic): neither can give an absolute certainty of poise, a clear guarantee of perfect harmony.
Indian wisdom has found this other, a fairer terma tertium quid,the mystic factor, sought for by so many philosophers on so many counts. That is the very well- known, the very familiar termDharma. What is Dharma then? How does it accomplish the miracle which to others seems to have proved an impossibility? Dharma is self-law, that is to say, the law of the Self; it is the rhythm and movement of our inner or inmost being, the spontaneous working out of our truth-conscious nature.
We may perhaps view the three terms Right, Duty and Dharma as degrees of an ascending consciousness. Consciousness at Its origin and in its primitive formulation is dominated by the principle of inertia (tamas); in that state things have mostly an undifferentiated collective existence, they helplessly move about acted upon by forces outside them. A rise in growth and evolution brings about differentiation, specialisation, organisation. and this means consciousness of oneself of the distinct and separate existence of each and everyone, in other words, self-assertion, the claim, the right of each individual unit to be itself, to become itself first and foremost. It is a necessary development; for it signifies the growth of self consciousness in the units out of a mass unconsciousness or semi-consciousness. It is the expression of rajas, the mode of dynamism, of strife and struggle, it is the corrective of tamas.
In the earliest and primitive society men lived totally in a mass consciousness. Their life was a blind obedienceobedience to the chief the patriarch or pater familiasobedience to the laws and customs of the 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 the nature of the mechanical functioning of an automaton than the exercise of conscious will and deliberate choice, which is the very soul of the conception of duty.
The conception of Right had to appear in order to bring out the principle of individuality, of personal freedom and fulfilment. For, a true healthy collectivity is the association and organisation of free and self-determinate units. The growth of independent individuality naturally means at first clash and rivalry, and a violently competitive society is the result. It is only at this stage that the conception of duty can fruitfully come in and develop in man and his society the mode of Sattwa, which is that of light and wisdom, of toleration and harmony. Then only a society is sought to be moulded on the principle of co-ordination and co-operation.
Still, the conception of duty cannot finally and definitively solve the problem. It cannot arrive at a perfect harmonisation of the conflicting claims of individual units; for, duty, as I have already said, is a child of mental idealism, and although the mind can exercise some kind of control over life-forces, it cannot altogether eliminate the seeds of conflict that lie imbedded in the very nature of life. It is for this reason that there is an element of constraint in duty; it is, as the poet says, the "stern daughter of the Voice of God". One has to compel oneself, one has to use force on oneself to carry out one's dutythere is a feeling somehow of its being a bitter pill. The cult of duty means rajas controlled and coerced by Sattwa, not the transcendence of rajas. This leads us to the high and supreme conception of Dharma, which is a transcendence of the gunas. Dharma is not an ideal, a st andard or a rule that one has to obey: it is the law of self-nature that one inevitably follows, it is easy, spontaneous, delightful. The path of duty is heroic, the path of Dharma is of the gods, godly (cf. Virabhava and Divyabhava of the Tantras).
The principle of Dharma then 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. The individual souls, being made of one truth-nature in its multiple modalities, when they live, move and have their being in its essential law and dynamism, there cannot but be absolute harmony and perfect synthesis between all the units, even as the sun and moon and stars, as the 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.
The future society of man is envisaged as something of like nature. When the mortal being will have found his immortal soul and divine self, then each one will be able to give full and free expression to his self-nature (swabhava); then indeed the utmost sweep of dynamism in each and all will not cause clash or conflict; on the contrary, each will increase the other and there will be a global increment and fulfilmentparasparam bhavayantah. The division and conflict, the stress and strain that belong to the very nature of the inferior level of being and consciousness will then have been transcended. It is only thus that a diviner humanity can be born and replace all the other moulds and types that can never lead to anything final and absolutely satisfactory.
***
01.13 - T. S. Eliot: Four Quartets, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsT. S. Eliot: Four Quartets
T. S. Eliot: Four Quartets
In these latest poems of his, Eliot has become outright a poet of the Dark Night of the Soul. The beginnings of the new avatar were already there certainly at the very beginning. The Waste L and is a good preparation and passage into the Night. Only, the negative element in it was stronger the cynicism, the bleakness, the sereness of it all was almost overwhelming. The next stage was "The Hollow Men": it took us right up to the threshold, into the very entrance. It was gloomy and fore-boding enough, grim and seriousno glint or hint of the silver lining yet within reach. Now as we find ourselves into the very heart of the Night, things appear somewhat changed: we look at the past indeed, but can often turn to the future, feel the pressure of the Night yet sense the Light beyond overarching and embracing us. This is how the poet begins:
I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God.1
and continues
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
but what he adds is characteristic of the new outlook
--
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
Yes, by the force of this secret knowledge he has discovered, this supreme skill in action, as it is termed in the Eastern lore, I that the poet at last comes out into the open, into the light and happiness of the Dawn and the Day:
Whisper of running streams, and winter lightning.
The wild thyme unseen and the wild strawberry,
The laughter in the garden, echoed ecstasy
--
Of death and birth.
It is the song of redemption, of salvation achieved, of Paradise regained. The full story of the purgatory, of man's calvary is beautifully hymned in these exquisite lines of a haunting poetic beauty married to a real mystic sense:
--
The one discharge from sin and error.
The only hope, or else despair
--
The Divine Love is a greater fire than the low smouldering fire that our secular unregenerate life is. One has to choose and declare his adhesion. Indeed, the stage of conversion, the crucial turn from the ordinary life to the 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 the world is dark and dismal and lonesome, the only thing to do here is to be done with it. The true renunciation, that which is deep and abiding, is not, however, so simple a thing, such a short cut. So our poet says, but the world is not dark enough, it is not lonesome enough: the world lives and moves in a superficial half-light, it is neither real death nor real life, it is death in life. It is this miserable mediocrity, the shallow uncertainty of consciousness that spells danger and ruin for the soul. Hence the poet exclaims:
. . . . Not here
--
and destitution of all property,
Desiccation of the world of sense,
--
Yes, that is the condition dem anded, an entire vacuity in which nothing moves. That is the real Dark Night of the Soul. It is then only that the Grace leans down and descends, then only beams in the sweet Light of lights. Eliot has expressed the experience in these lines of rare beauty and sincerity :
Time and the bell have buried the day,
The black cloud carries the sun away.
--
Stray down, bend to us; tendril and spray Clutch and cling?
Chill
--
Has answered light to light, and is silent, the light is still
At the still point of the turning world.4
Eliot's is a very Christian soul, but we must remember at the same time that he is nothing if not modern. and this modernism gives all the warp and woof woven upon that inner core. How is it characterised? First of all, an intellectualism that requires a reasoned and rational synthesis of all experiences. Another poet, a great poet of the soul's Dark Night was, as we all know, Francis Thompson: it was in his case not merely the soul's night, darkness extended even to life, he lived the Dark Night actually and physically. His haunting, weird lines, seize within their grip our brain and mind and very flesh
My days have crackled and gone up in smoke,5
or,
--
But Thompson was not an intellectual, his doubts and despondencies were not of the mental order, he was a boiling, swelling life-surge, a geyser, a volcano. He, too, crossed the Night and saw the light of Day, but in a different way. Well, I he did not march into the day, it was the Day that marched I into him! Yes, the 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 the other half. He has laid so many dem ands and conditions: the knots in his case are not cut asunder but slowly disengaged.
The modern temper is especially partial to harmony: it cannot assert and reject unilaterally and categorically, it wishes to go round an object and view all its sides; it asks for a synthesis and reconciliation of differences and contraries. Two major chords of life-experience that dem and accord are Life and Death, Time and Eternity. Indeed, the problem of Time hangs heavy on the human consciousness. It has touched to the quick philosophers and sages in all ages and climes; it is the great question that confronts the spiritual seeker, the riddle that the Sphinx of life puts to the journeying soul for solution.
A modern Neo-Brahmin, Aldous Huxley, has given a solution of the problem in his now famous Shakespearean apothegm, "Time must have a stop". That is an old-world solution rediscovered by the modern mind in and through the ravages of Time's storm and stress. It means, salvation lies, after all, beyond the flow of Time, one must free oneself from the vicious and unending circle of mortal and mundane life. As the 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 the true spiritual light and life can descend and manifest. That is the age-long and ancient solution to which the Neo-Brahmin as well the Neo-Christian adheres.
Eliot seems to demur, however, and does not go to that extreme length. He wishes to go beyond, but to find out the source and matrix of the here below. As I said, he seeks a synthesis and not a mere transcendence: the transcendence is indeed a part of the synthesis, the other part is furnished by an immanence. He does not cut away altogether from Time, but reaches its outermost limit, its rim, its summit, where it stops, not altogether annihilated, but held in suspended animation. That is the "still point" to which he refers in the following lines:
At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
--
But neither arrest nor movement. and do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.6
He aims at the neutral point between the positive and the negative poles, which is neither, yet holding the two togetherat the crossing of Yes and No, the known and the unknown, the local and the eternal. That is what he means when he says:
Here, the intersection of the timeless moment
Is Engl and and nowhere. Never and always.7
First, the movement towards transcendence, that is the journey in the Night which you do throwing away one by one all your possessions and burdens till you make yourself bare and naked, you die but you are reborn a new babe:
Into another intensity
--
Through the dark cold and the empty desolation,
The wave cry, the wind cry, the vast waters
Of the petrel and the porpoise. In my end is my beginning. 8
There must be a beginning, an affirmation. The other side of nature is not merely transcended and excluded, it must be taken up too, given some place, its proper place in the totality, in the higher synthesis:
So Krishna, as when he admonished Arjuna
--
That is the lesson that our poet has learnt from the Gita and that is the motto he too would prescribe to the seekers.
Now, a modern poet is modern, because he is doubly attracted and attached to things of this world and this mundane life, in spite of all his need and urge to go beyond for the larger truth and the higher reality. Apart from the natural link with which we are born, there is this other fascination which the poor miserable things, all the little superficialities, trivialities especially have for the modern mind in view of their possible sense and significance and right of existence. These too have a magic of their own, not merely a black magic:
..... our losses, the torn seine,
--
and the gear of foreign dead men. . . .10
or even these local names and habitations:
Hampstead and Clerkenwell, Campden and Putney,
Highgate, Primrose and Ludgate....11
It is true the movement towards transcendence is stronger and apparent in our poet, but the other kindred point-of home and time-is not forgotten. So he says:
.History may be servitude,
--
The faces and places, with the self which, as it could, loved them,
To become renewed, transfigured, in another pattern.
--
All shall be well, and
All manner of thing shall be well. 12
--
and hear upon the sodden floor
Below, the boarhound and the boar
Pursue their pattern as before
--
The Word was made flesh and the Word was made Poetry. To express the supreme Word in life, that is the work of the sage, the Rishi. To express the Word in speech, that is the labour of the Poet. Eliot undertook this double function of the poet and the sage and he found the task difficult. The poet has to utter the unutterable, if he is to clo the in words the mystic experience of the sage in him. That is Eliot's ambition:
.... Words, after speech, reach
--
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,...15
and a lower and more facile inspiration tempts the poet and he often speaks with a raucous voice, even as the Arch-tempter sought to lure the Divine Word made flesh:
... Shrieking voices
--
Our poet is too self-conscious, he himself feels that he has not the perfect voice. A Homer, even a Milton possesses a unity of tone and a wholeness of perception which are denied to the modern. To the modern, however, the old masters are not subtle enough, broad enough, psychological enough, let us say the word, spiritual enough. and yet the poetic inspiration, more than the religious urge, needs the injunction not to be busy with too many things, but to be centred upon the one thing needful, viz., to create poetically and not to discourse philosophically or preach prophetically. Not that it is impossible for the poet to swallow the philosopher and the prophet, metabolising them into the substance of his bone and marrow, of "the trilling wire in his blood", as Eliot graphically expresses. That perhaps is the consummation towards which poetry is tending. But at present, in Eliot, at least, the str ands remain distinct, each with its own temper and rhythm, not fused and moulded into a single streamlined form of beauty. Our poet flies high, very high indeed at times, often or often he flies low, not disdaining the perilous limit of bathos. Perhaps it is all wilful, it is a mannerism which he cherishes. The mannerism may explain his psychology and enshrine his philosophy. But the poet, the magician is to be looked for elsewhere. In the present collection of poems it is the philosophical, exegetical, discursive Eliot who dominates: although the high lights of the subject-matter may be its justification. Still even if we have here doldrums like
That the past has another pattern, and ceases to be a mere sequence
Or even development: the latter a partial fallacy Encouraged by superficial notions of evolution, Which becomes, in the popular mind, a means of disowning the past.17
--
Time and the bell have buried the day,
The black cloud carries the sun away.. . .
--
Here the poet is almost grimly tense, concentrated and has not allowed himself to be dissipated by thinkings and arguments, has confined himself wholly to a living experience. That is because the poet has since then moved up and sought a more rarefied air, a more even and smooth temper. The utter and absolute poetic ring of the Inferno is difficult to maintain in the Paradiso, unless and until the poet transforms himself wholly into the Rishi, like the poet of the Gita or the Upanishads.
"East Coker"
01.14 - Nicholas Roerich, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsNicholas Roerich
Nicholas Roerich
Ex oriente lux. Out of the East the Light, and that light is of the nature and substance of beauty, of creative and dynamic beauty in the life the spirit. This, I suppose, is Roerich's message in a nutshell. The Light of the East is always the light of the ample consciousness that dwells on the heights of our being in God.
The call that stirred a Western soul, made him a w anderer over the world in quest of the Holy Grail and finally lodged him in the Home of the Snows is symbolic of a more than individual destiny. It is representative of the 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. The West shall come to the East and be reborn. That is the prophecy of occult seers and sages.
I speak of Roerich as a Western soul, but more precisely perhaps he is a soul of the mid-region (as also in another sense we shall see subsequently) intermediary between the East and the West. His external make-up had all the characteristic elements of the Western culture, but his mind and temperament, his inner soul was oriental. and yet it was not the 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 the unspoilt green sap of life something in the manner of Whitman. and that makes him all the more representative of the young and ardent West yearning for the light that was never on sea or l and.
Is it not strange that one should look to the East for the light? There is a light indeed that dwells in the setting suns, but that is the inferior light, the light that moves level with the earth, pins us down to the normal and ordinary life and consciousness: it" leads into the Night, into Nihil, pralaya. It is the light of the morning sun that man looks up to in his forward march, the sun that rises in the East whom the Vedic Rishi invoked in these magnificent lines:
Lo, the supreme light of all lights is come, a vast and varied consciousness is born in us. . . .
It is not a mere notion or superstition, it is an occult reality that gives sanctity to a particular place or region. The saintly soul has always been also a pilgrim, physically, to holy places, even to one single holy place, if he so chooses. The puritan poet may say tauntingly:
--
the pilgrim soul of Roerich declares with but equal vehemence and assurance:
All teachers journeyed to the mountains. The higher knowledge, the most inspired songs, the most superb sounds and colours are created in the mountains. On the highest mountains there is the Supreme: the highest mountains st and as witnesses of Great Reality.
Indeed, Roerich considers the Himalayas as the very abode, the tabernacle itself thesanctum sanctorumof the Spirit, the Light Divine. Many of Roerich's paintings have mountain ranges, especially snow-bound mountain ranges, as their theme. There is a strange kinship between this yearning artistic soul, which seems solitary in spite of its ardent humanism, and the silent heights, rising white tier upon tier reflecting prism like the fiery glowing colours, the vast horizons, the wide vistas vanishing beyond.
Roerich is one of the prophets and seers who have ever been acclaiming and preparing the Golden Age, the dream that humanity has been dreaming continuously since its very childhood, that is to say, when there will be peace and harmony on earth, when racial, cultural or ideological egoism will no longer divide man and mana thing that seems today a chimera and a hallucinationwhen there 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 the growth of the sense of beauty, of the aesthetic temperament, of creative labour leading to a wider and higher consciousness. Beauty, Harmony, Light, Knowledge, Culture, Love, Delight are cardinal terms in his vision of the deeper and higher life of the future.
The stress of the inner urge to the 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 their skill and talent. Man's consciousness is no longer satisfied with the customary and the ordinary actions and reactions of life (or thought), with the old-world and time-worn modes and manners. It is no more turned to the apparent and the obvious, to the surface forms and movements of things. It yearns to look behind and beyond, for the secret mechanism, the hidden agency that really drives things. Poets and artists are the vanguards of the age to come, prophets and pioneers preparing the way for the 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, the choice of his symbols and allegories is hieratic, that is to say, the subject-matter refers to objects and events connected with saints and legends, shrines and enchanted places, hidden treasures, spirits and angels, etc. etc.; thirdly, the manner or style of execution is what we may term pantomimic, in other words, concrete, graphic, dramatic, even melodramatic. He has a special predilection for geometrical patterns the artistic effect of whichbalance, regularity, fixity, soliditywas greatly utilised by the French painter Czanne and poet Mallarm who seem to have influenced Roerich to a considerable degree. But this Northerner had not the reticence, the suavity, the tonic unity of the classicist, nor the normality and clarity of the Latin temperament. The prophet, the priest in him was the stronger element and made use of the artist as the rites andceremoniesmudras and chakrasof his vocation dem anded. Indeed, he st ands as the 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 the primitivealmost aboriginalelement in Roerich and was not happy over it. Well, as has been pointed out by other prophets 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 higher ground. The pure aesthete is a closed system, with a consciousness immured in an ivory tower; but man is something more. A curious paradox. Man can reach the highest, realise the integral truth when he takes his leap, not from the relatively higher levels of his consciousness his intellectual and aesthetic and even moral status but when he can do so from his lower levels, when the physico-vital element in him serves as the springing-board. The decent and the beautiful the classic grace and aristocracyform one aspect of man, the aspect of "light"; but the aspect of energy and power lies precisely in him where the aboriginal and the barbarian find also a lodging. Man as a mental being is naturally sattwic, but prone to passivity and weakness; his physico-vital reactions, on the other h and, are obscure and crude, simple and vehement, but they have life and energy and creative power, they are there to be trained and transfigured, made effective instruments of a higher illumination.
All elemental personalities have something of the unconventional and irrational in them. and Roerich is one such in his own way. The 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
By wanting Him more and more in every part of your being -
integrally.
--
Questions and Answers 1957 - 1958, CWM, Vol. 9, p. 315.
2) When you wake up, do not make any sudden
movement of the head and keep still for a few minutes, with a concentration to remember what happened
during your sleep.
--
creatures) and the psychic being exist together?
The soul is the eternal essence at the centre of the psychic being.
--
of being take form and develop, progress, become individualised
and perfected in the course of many earthly lives and form the
psychic being. When the psychic being is fully formed, it is aware
of the consciousness of the soul and manifests it perfectly.
1 February 1967
--
The radical method is to cut off all mental and vital connection
with these people; but until you know how to do this, you
--
sometimes moulds himself according to your outer aspirations, and if you live like the devotees who alternate
between periods of estrangement and embrace, of ecstasy
and despair, the Divine too will be farther from you or
--
What is the meaning of "outer aspiration" and
"outer attitude"? What is the best outer attitude?
--
remains ignorant - even its aspiration is ignorant and so is its
goodwill; all its movements are ignorant and so they distort and
disfigure the Divine Presence.
--
The Mother, Prayers and Meditations, 24 August 1914.
This is how I underst and the Purusha:
--
The Jivatman is the individual Purusha, and the
physical Purusha, the vital Purusha, the mental Purusha
--
My body is very weak and full of unconsciousness and
tamas. How can this body become Your good instrument?
--
aspiration and repeated self-giving, the cells must be made transparent.
18 March 1967
--
being. Certain parts are recalcitrant and refuse to receive. They
have to be educated little by little, just as one educates a child
- and little by little too the situation will improve.
7 April 1967
--
when the Lord will take the earth into His arms and "the
earth will be transformed". Is that day drawing near?
--
Although there is a certain charm and poetry in the
fact that there is no formal date for the creation of
--
brings me great joy, and when some part of my being
offers itself to You the joy I feel is greater still. But in
--
The Mother, Prayers and Meditations, 17 May 1914.
Series Eleven - To a Sadhak
--
once it is done, the unification is achieved and the path becomes
easy and swift.
10 May 1967
--
If you belong entirely and totally to the Divine, then all that belongs to you, all that forms part of your material being, belongs
to the Divine.
--
The h ands of painters, sculptors, musicians (especially pianists) are usually very conscious and always are skilful. It is a
question of training.
--
which has not yet understood that it is nobler and loftier to
recognise one's faults in order to correct them, than to conceal
--
But if you give yourself entirely and without reserve to the
future, and if this giving is constantly renewed, the past will fall
away by itself and no longer encumber you.
14 June 1967
One morning as I was reading Your book Prayers and
Meditations, I wished to know which movement comes
--
Thee" comes first and if the being is unified and sincere, "to live
in Thee" soon follows.
--
Sincere and constant aspiration.
6 July 1967
--
sadhak and its result depend on the Divine Grace.
About this, one could say humorously that we are all divine, but
we are hardly even aware of it, and what we call "ourselves" is
that in us which is unaware that it is divine.
--
and feels quite concretely that it does not itself live and act, but
that only the Supreme Lord exists and that He alone lives and
acts.
--
refer to a universal family open to all differences and even all
divergences.
But in any case, mutual misunderst anding and lack of collaboration can only come from the outer physical and vital being
which is formed in this life and is not yet under the rule and
influence of the psychic. As soon as one is united with one's
--
longer be necessary and will disappear.
4 September 1967
--
and distinctions. Each one follows his own path and has his
own experiences. Nevertheless, Sri Aurobindo has often said
--
physical consciousness and making it rise gradually towards the
Divine. Whereas Sri Aurobindo has said that to do his yoga,
one must already have found the Divine and united with Him -
then the consciousness descends through all the states of being
--
that the Force can transform the whole being and finally divinise
the physical body.
--
Because most people, when they hear the word "unity", underst and uniformity and nothing can be further from the truth.
25 September 1967
"O India, l and of light and spiritual knowledge! Wake up to your true mission in the
world, show the way to union and harmony." - Message for the inauguration of All
India Radio, Pondicherry, 23 September 1967. Words of the Mother - I, CWM, Vol. 13,
--
Spontaneity in feelings and action comes from a permanent contact with the psychic, which brings order into the thoughts and
automatically controls the vital impulses.
--
divine consciousness in the body, and now I pray to You
to awaken my body's aspiration towards You.
The cells of the body thirst for the Divine Consciousness and
when they are brought into contact with It their aspiration
--
about it and the other says, "Have trust in God, you will
not lose your money."
--
It is said that Christ healed the sick and even raised the dead.
One day an idiot was brought to him to be cured. But Christ
--
the Mahashakti - Consciousness, Love, Truth and Life - cut
themselves off (separated themselves) from their Supreme Origin
and became Unconsciousness, Suffering, Falsehood and Death.
Then a second emanation was made to repair the damage.
--
Transformation dem ands a very high degree of aspiration, surrender and receptivity, doesn't it?
Transformation dem ands a total and integral consecration. But
isn't that the aspiration of every sincere sadhak?
--
Integral means horizontally in all the different and often
contradictory parts which make up the outer being (physical,
vital and mental).
4 December 1967
--
Flowers are very receptive and they are happy when they are
loved.
--
I have forgotten the Divine for so long in this life and in
former lives. But a drop of Your Grace can enable me to
--
intensity and sincerity without the tears and anguish that
are mentioned in nearly all the old legends of the saints?
Tears and anguish indicate the presence of a weak and paltry
nature which is still unable to receive the Divine in all his power
and glory. Not only are they unnecessary, they are useless and
an obstacle to realisation.
--
is calling You, and You answer. Doesn't this disturb Your
sleep or Your rest?
Day and night hundreds of calls are coming - but the Consciousness is always alert and it answers.
One is limited only materially by time and space.
3 January 1968
--
- and because they have not yet been converted to the Divine
Influence, though the work has begun.
--
Wealth should not be a personal property and should be at
the disposal of the Divine for the welfare of all.
--
The disciples of the Ashram have a sure and easy way to
put their money at the disposal of the Divine: they offer
--
one should get rid of the sense of property and spend his
money according to the Divine comm and within, from
--
receive the knowledge that money is an impersonal power and
should be used for the progress of the earth, this person will
--
yesterday and today.
That is very interesting indeed. Was it a rose or a hibiscus?
--
"The Transcendent is both one and two (or dual) at the
same time." What does this mean?
--
which is both one and two at the same time. Naturally, I
shall wait for the true consciousness to come in order to
--
beyond and above, everything exists at the same time.
The One is both one and two; the manifested and the
unmanifested, everything exists at the same time. When
--
What is the difference between an emanation and a
formation?
--
like a child made from the substance of its mother and that the
formation is like a living statue made out of a material external
--
with sincerity, it is really very interesting, and at every step one
is rewarded for one's trouble.
--
Yes, the l and itself has a consciousness, even though this consciousness is not intellectualised and cannot express itself.
21 March 1968
Today You have shown me the basic incompatibility between human law and the Truth. But this is a problem
that confronts me very often.
Politics and so-called justice are still, in humanity, what is most
closed to the Truth. But their turn for conversion will also come,
--
Consciousness in its purity is perfect and infallible.
2 April 1968
--
In theory, it applies to everyone. But the vast majority of human beings fall into unconsciousness, and if there is a contact
with pure Being it is quite unconscious. Very few persons are
--
speaks of "the Truth that seeks to descend upon us" and
"is already there within us". Please explain this paradox
--
centre of our being, etc. and at the same time is beyond the creation, the Divine towards whom the whole creation is moving,
but whom it could never reach if it did not carry him in itself.
One must go beyond notions of space and Matter to be able
to underst and.
--
the night of bonds and attachments that have enveloped
me for the last three weeks, I felt that all these things
have actually been there for a long time and that now
Your Grace has brought them to my notice so that the
--
"In the spiritual order of things, the higher we project our view and our aspiration,
the greater the Truth that seeks to descend upon us, because it is already there within us
--
to eliminate. One should concentrate all one's effort on building up and strengthening the true consciousness, which will
automatically do the work of unifying the being.
--
aspiration of the day and undo its work.
Vigilance, sincerity, continuity of effort, and the Grace will
do the rest.
--
Even "good and innocent movements" are said to take
on different colours in the light of the psychic flame.
The very notion of good and bad is completely changed.
One can say very simply that all that leads to the Divine is
good, and all that leads away from the Divine is bad.
Many virtues lead away from the Divine by making men
--
The simplest and most effective way is to offer it to the Divine;
the more sincere and radical this offering is, the more quickly
the result will come.
--
To remain turned upwards and to live in the true consciousness - the two seem complementary to each other.
Are they not two ways of saying the same thing? - certainly
--
being. and one can hear it only if one is very attentive, because
it does not make any clamour.
--
This is the great mystery of creation: immutable and yet eternally
renewed.
--
The violent and darkened deities
Leaped down from the one breast in rage to find
--
A Mother's eyes are on them and her arms
Stretched out in love desire her rebel sons."9
--
Can one say that total sincerity and the abolition of the
ego are closely interdependent?
--
The Divine is the goal, the path and the one who treads
the path. But isn't a person who is not advancing towards
--
All are the Divine, but very few are those who know it and fewer
still are those who want to realise it consciously. This explains
Questions and Answers 1953, CWM, Vol. 5, p. 82.
the long duration and difficulty of the creation if its goal is that
all and everything should once more become consciously divine.
14 October 1968
--
the Divine is all and everything.
For that one must identify oneself with the Supreme Divine.
--
one sees and knows that the Divine alone exists both in the
Essence and in the manifestation.
16 October 1968
--
Yes, equal and immutable.
But the capacity to perceive and receive it and the habit of
distorting it differ with each one.
--
Does this mean an intense, constant and integral
aspiration?
--
becomes active again and constitutes their dreams.
26 October 1968
--
It does not go away, but enters the subconscient and continues
to act.
--
subconscient in oneself and thus increase the consciousness.
3 November 1968
--
By yoga and the effort to find the Divine in oneself and in
life, one hastens the work considerably and it can be done in a
few years.
--
Replaced the separated sense and heart
and drew all Nature into its embrace."13
--
Unwound the triple cord of mind and freed
The heavenly wideness of a Godhead's gaze."14
--
The cords symbolise the limitations of the mind; and there are
three of them because there is a physical mind, a vital mind and
a mental mind.
--
outside the yoga and the Divine's Presence is felt and found in
all things and all circumstances.
11 November 1968
--
Divine and Virat in the twinkling of an eye. What a
good Guru and what a good disciple!
Speed is not necessarily a sign of superiority.
--
to take place and which is more complicated than that.
19 November 1968
--
It is undoubtedly out of ignorance and fear of what he doesn't
know.
It is only the Asuras and a few great hostile beings who
refuse and oppose the Divine even though they know who He is.
21 November 1968
It seems to me, Mother, that the flame that calls and the
flame that responds are one and the same.
Essentially they are the same; but the plenitude of the response
--
the Divine Influence and no other, it is certain - and at the same
time it is perfect purity.
--
to the Divine and been adopted by Him are surrounded by the
divine protection and for them the passage is not difficult.
29 November 1968
--
It is the human mind that has the conception of success and
failure. It is the human mind that wants one thing and does not
want another. In the divine plan each thing has its place and its
importance. So it is not success that matters. What matters is to
be a docile and if possible a conscious instrument of the Divine
Will.
To be and to do what the Divine wants, this is the truly
important thing.
--
st ands above all the worlds and bears in her eternal
consciousness the Supreme Divine."20
--
They are ONE in essence and manifestation.
5 December 1968
--
The Presence is always there whatever we do, and it is because
of ignorance, negligence or absent-mindedness that we do not
feel it. But each time that we are attentive and concentrated, we
become aware of a wonderful transformation in all things.
--
Memory is a mental faculty and helps the mental consciousness.
But feeling and sensation must also participate.
17 December 1968
--
the participation of feeling and sensation?
To have the perception of the Presence, the participation of feeling is indispensable, and when sensation collaborates, then the
perception becomes concrete and tangible.
19 December 1968
--
to think that aspiration and human effort can hasten the advent
of the divine transformation, because effort and aspiration are
needed for the transformation to take place.
--
of living in ignorance and falsehood.
27 December 1968
--
That probably depends on the yogi and his condition.
But when one is united with the Supreme Consciousness and
when the body is undergoing transformation, the body keeps its
0.12 - Letters to a Student, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
lost the habit and I do not even go to the Samadhi very
regularly. I do not underst and the true value of these
--
One reads Savitri to develop one's intelligence and to underst and
deeper things.
One concentrates at the Samadhi to grow in devotion and
to put oneself in contact with Sri Aurobindo in order to receive
--
You are born for a spiritual and conscious life - but perhaps
you are still too young to have the will to realise it.
--
master of one's being and of all its actions.
It is a long and meticulous work that requires much perseverance, but the result is worth the trouble, for it brings not
only mastery but also the possibility of the transformation and
illumination of the consciousness.
--
To achieve that, one must have an obstinate will and a great
patience. But once one has taken the resolution to do it, the
divine help will be there to support and to help. This help is felt
inwardly in the heart.
--
From the viewpoint of the inner nature, the 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.
--
thoughts and actions, but one is rarely conscious of it. To become
conscious of the psychic being, one must want to do so, make
one's mind as silent as possible, and enter deep into the heart
of one's being, beyond sensations and thoughts. One must form
the habit of silent concentration and descent into the depths of
one's being.
The discovery of the psychic being is a definite and very
concrete fact, as all who have had the experience know.
--
The body is capable of progressing and it can gradually learn
to do what it could not do before. But its capacity for progress
is much slower than the vital desire for progress and the mental
will for progress. and if the vital and the mind are left in charge
of action, they simply harass the body, destroy its balance and
upset its health.
Therefore, one must be patient and follow the rhythm of
one's body, which is more reasonable and knows what it can
and cannot do.
Naturally, some bodies are tamasic and need a little encouragement in order to progress.
But in all things and in all cases, one has to keep a balance.
Blessings.
--
There have been - and there still are - beings whose inner
consciousness is sufficiently developed for them to know for
--
than their present one and that it will survive the disappearance
of this body.
--
But if one deeply feels the beauty of Nature and communes
with her, that can help in widening the consciousness.
--
Love of Nature is usually the sign of a pure and healthy being uncorrupted by modern civilisation. It is in the silence of a
peaceful mind that one can best commune with Nature.
--
of the Divine and is united with Him, one learns to love with
the true love: the love that loves for the joy of loving and has no
need to be loved in return; one also learns to draw Force from
the inexhaustible source and one knows by experience that by
using this Force in the service of the Divine one receives from
Him all that one has spent and much more.
All the remedies suggested by the mind, even the most
enlightened mind, are only palliatives and not a true cure.
Blessings.
--
because it is difficult for it to remain quiet for a long time; and
that is why most people do not talk.
--
ask it to remain perfectly quiet and silent so that your body
can rest properly. A little concentration for that, before going to
--
You can become conscious of your nights and your sleep
just as you are conscious of your days. It is a matter of inner
development and discipline of the consciousness.
Blessings.
--
in oneself considerably changes one's whole way of being and
gives an exceptional control over all activities, mental, vital and
physical.
and this control is infinitely more powerful and luminous
than anything one can obtain through external means.
--
A vital converted and consecrated to the Divine Will becomes a bold and forceful instrument that can overcome all
obstacles. But it first has to be disciplined, and this it consents
to only when the Divine is its master.
--
Why is it better to go to bed early and to get up
early?
When the sun sets, a kind of peace descends on earth and this
peace is helpful for sleep.
When the sun rises, a vigorous energy descends on earth and
this energy is helpful for work.
When you go to bed late and get up late, you contradict the
forces of Nature, and that is not very wise.
Blessings.
--
Do astrology and other studies always predict things
correctly, or are men still unable to do that?
--
he who has become conscious of the Divine and become His
faithful instrument can avoid error, if he is careful to act only at
the divine comm and and to add nothing personal to it.
It must be said that this is not easy. Only he who no longer
--
What are knowledge and intelligence? Do they play
important roles in our life?
Knowledge and intelligence are precisely the higher mental qualities in man, those that differentiate him from the animal.
Series Twelve - To a Student
Without knowledge and intelligence, one is not a man but
an animal in human form.
--
Between the body of the supramental being and the body of
man, there will surely be a difference comparable to that which
exists between man and the most advanced ape; but what this
difference will be we can hardly know until the new species
--
What is the difference between sports and physical
education?
--
are based on competition and lead to placings and prizes.
Physical education means principally all the various exercises for the development and maintenance of the body.
Naturally, here we have combined the two. But this is mainly
--
An obedient, willing and affectionate attitude. They are your
elder brothers and sisters who take a lot of trouble to help you.
Blessings.
--
Why has the Creator made this world and human
beings? Does He expect something of us?
This world is Himself. He wants everything - ourselves and the
world and the whole universe - to become conscious once more
of being Him.
0.13 - Letters to a Student, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There are good reasons both for doing it and for not doing
it.
--
It means to become conscious of the Divine Presence in oneself or on the spiritual heights, and, once one is conscious of
His Presence, to surrender to Him completely so that one no
longer has any other will than His, and finally to unite one's
consciousness with His. That is "to realise the Divine".
--
for everyone and everything.
It is man (the human being) who calls all kinds of feelings
"love": all the desires, attractions, vital exchanges, sexual relations, attachments, even friendships, and many other things
besides.
--
These are all mental and vital, sentimental or sexual activities, and nothing more.
Blessings.
--
What is the difference between desire and aspiration,
and between selfishness and self-realisation?
Desire is a vital movement, aspiration is a psychic movement.
When one has had a true aspiration, unselfish and sincere,
one cannot even ask the question anymore; for the vibration
of aspiration, luminous and calm, has nothing to do with the
vibration of desire, which is passionate, dark and often violent.
Selfishness means wanting everything for oneself, underst anding nothing but oneself, caring for others only insofar
--
that is to say, becoming conscious of the Divine in oneself and
identifying with Him.
--
One has, then, to come into conscious contact with that and
learn to do so at will. The rest will follow.
--
cowardice, weakness and avarice.
When the vital is converted, the impulses are good instead
--
generosity; weakness disappears and strength and endurance
take its place; cowardice is replaced by courage and energy.
Series Thirteen - To a Student
--
about it and the only answer I could get is that at least
we are here in the Ashram to manifest the Divine upon
--
divine, even the adverse forces, and if everything has been
created by Him and He can do everything, then 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 them conscious? and why all these
misfortunes and sufferings?
It is a question that all thinking people have asked.
Some have considered the problem more deeply and asked
themselves whether human beings, who are so small and limited,
could see things as they really are; and in the hope of underst anding better, they have sought for a diviner vision, a global and true
vision - with the result of Yoga. and those who have succeeded
in their endeavour have found that when one is united with the
Divine, one's vision of things changes totally, and they have all
come to the same conclusion: unite with the Divine and you will
underst and.
--
Why and how does one lose one's spiritual gain by
going elsewhere? One can make a conscious effort and
Your protection is always there, isn't it?
To visit one's parents is to return to an influence which is generally stronger than any other; and there are not many cases where
the parents help you in your spiritual progress, because they are
--
Because it is a chance to put in greater effort and thus make
faster progress.
--
of them, all one's movements, impulses, thoughts and acts of
will, so that the psychic being may accept or reject each of these
--
accepted will be kept and carried out; those that are rejected will
be driven out of the consciousness so that they may never come
--
It is a long and meticulous work that may take years to be
done properly.
--
fifth and ninth, and one's birthday?
In search of a knowledge truer than ordinary knowledge.
The fifth and ninth in underst anding what death is.
The birthday in finding out the purpose of life.
--
developed their consciousness and those who have not?
Those who have done it and done it well become conscious; the
others remain half conscious like the vast majority of human
--
one's own character and, to a large extent, over events.
23 December 1969
--
of our being; there are others when it retires and men
are left to act in the strength or the weakness of their
own egoism"1 and in one of your letters, you have said
that one must not rely on one's ego but on the psychic.
--
in the superman; and that is why this consciousness has come
down on earth to work in all who are ready to receive it.
--
What is this great change that you speak of? and
how can we be of help to it?
--
are capable of receiving it and heeding it.
Blessings.
--
Say to the Supreme Lord: "Let Thy Will be done", and remain
as peaceful as possible.
If the departed one is a person one loves, one should concentrate one's love on him in peace and calm, for that is what
can most help the one who has departed.
--
the characters and if the film is tragic or full of suspense,
we get so involved that we cry or feel frightened. and if
we keep aloof we cannot appreciate it properly. So what
--
It is the vital that gets touched and moved.
If you watch mentally, the interest is no longer the same;
--
countries and even in our own if we did not read newspapers? At least we get some idea from them, don't we?
Or would it be better not to read them at all?
0.14 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
plastic enough and offers resistance; this is why the number of
incomprehensible disorders and even diseases is increasing and
becoming a problem for medical science.
--
work and a receptivity full of trust and peace which makes the
task easier.
--
a unique and wonderful opportunity to open themselves to the
divine influence.
--
Divine and uniting with Him. When one has understood this,
then one is ready to gain the strength to surmount all difficulties.
--
A victory won over the lower nature gives a deeper and more
lasting joy than any external success.
--
future will bring to the earth and has encouraged us to prepare
ourselves for it.
--
Each one has his ego and all the egos are at odds with one
another. It is only when one gets rid of the ego that one becomes
--
to overcome his ego in a total and unconditional self-giving to
the Divine. Then the Divine will make you do what you have to
--
At this perilous hour when egoisms are at odds and asserting
themselves, the only safety lies in taking refuge in Thee!
--
Grant that we may become conscious and effective collaborators in the fulfilment of Thy Will.
5 December 1971
--
their small personal egoism and turn exclusively to the Divine
for help and light. The wisdom of men is ignorant. Only the
Divine knows.
--
We have to open them wide and allow the Infinite to enter us
freely in order to transform us.
--
difficult solution: to transform it and make it an instrument of
the Divine.
Egos that are converted and wholly consecrated to the
Divine become especially powerful and effective instruments.
The endeavour is difficult and dem ands an absolute and
steadfast sincerity, but for those who have a strong will, an
ardent aspiration and an unshakable sincerity, it is well worth
undertaking.
--
proceeds, for each ego has its own character and needs a particular method. The only qualities indispensable for all are absolute
perseverance and sincerity. The least tendency to deceive oneself
makes success impossible.
--
movements and the judge of all that you should or should not
do, and to strive to submit your external nature to its decisions.
11 December 1971
--
that comprehends itself and acts.
By its very nature, the psychic is calm, quiet and luminous,
underst anding and generous, wide and progressive. Its constant
effort is to underst and and progress.
The mind describes and explains.
The psychic sees and underst ands.
13 December 1971
--
on earth, the more numerous and precise its memories are.
14 December 1971
--
with the Divine Presence. So you must concentrate in silence and
Series Fourteen - To a Sadhak
--
Divine and you will emerge into the Light.
17 December 1971
--
In silence lies the greatest receptivity. and in an immobile silence
the vastest action is done.
--
Total union and the perfect manifestation of the Divine are the
sole means of putting an end to the suffering and misery of the
physical world which are the cause of subconscient pessimism.
--
can emerge into the eternal delight. and this conscious union is
the true goal of earthly existence.
--
To know why we live: discovery of the Divine and conscious
union with Him.
--
The best thing we can do to express our gratitude is to overcome all egoism in ourselves and make a constant effort towards this transformation. Human egoism refuses to abdicate
on the grounds that others are not transformed. But that is
--
If men knew that this transformation, the abolition of egoism, is the only way to gain constant peace and delight, they
would consent to make the necessary effort. This, then, is the
--
Everyone should repeatedly be told: abolish your ego and
peace will reign in you.
--
in relation to themselves and act accordingly. The vast majority
of men are like this.
--
(2) Those who give their love to another human being and
live for him. As for the result, everything naturally depends on
--
but truly to be useful to others without calculation and without
expecting any personal gain from their work.
(4) Those who give themselves entirely to the Divine and
live only for Him and through Him. This implies making the
effort required to find the Divine, to be conscious of His Will
--
ordinary law of suffering, disappointment and sorrow.
It is only in the last category - if one has chosen it in all
sincerity and pursued it with an unfailing patience - that one
finds the certitude of total fulfilment and a constant luminous
peace.
--
Do not live to be happy, live to serve the Divine, and the
happiness you enjoy will exceed all expectation.
--
We are at a decisive hour in the history of the earth. It is preparing for the coming of the superman and because of this the old
way of life is losing its value. We must strike out boldly on the
--
When the vision of the whole and the vision of all the details
are united in a single active consciousness, the creation will have
--
In time and space no two human beings have the same consciousness, and the sum of all these consciousnesses is but a partial
and diminished manifestation of the Divine Consciousness.
--
manifestation of the consciousness of detail is infinite and unending.
9 January 1972
--
The first qualities needed are boldness, courage and perseverance.
and then to be conscious that one knows nothing compared
--
One must constantly progress in the light and peace that
come from the absence of personal desires.
--
Persevere, and what you cannot do today you will be able
to do tomorrow.
--
But a method has to be found, and this depends on the case
and the individual.
--
In this way the more one spends the more one receives, and
one becomes an inexhaustible channel rather than a vessel that
--
Sincerity, humility, perseverance and an insatiable thirst for
progress are essential for a happy and fruitful life. Above all, one
must be convinced that the possibility of progress is unlimited.
--
to progress in regard to character, to cultivate our qualities and
correct our defects, so that everything may be an opportunity to
cure ourselves of ignorance and incapacity - then life becomes
tremendously interesting and worth living.
27 January 1972
--
of the supramental world. and not only did he announce this
manifestation but he also embodied in part the supramental
force and gave us the example of what we must do to prepare
ourselves for this manifestation. The best thing we can do is to
study all he has told us, strive to follow his example and prepare
ourselves for the new manifestation.
This gives life its true meaning and will help us to overcome
all obstacles.
Let us live for the new creation and we shall grow stronger
and stronger while remaining young and progressive.
30 January 1972
The energies that human beings use for reproduction and that
occupy such a predominant place in their lives, should on the
contrary be sublimated and used for progress and higher development so as to prepare the coming of the new race. But first, the
vital and the physical have to be free of all desire - otherwise
one is courting disaster.
--
universal Nature. and this liberation is indispensable for the
birth and development of the new race.
It is only by giving ourselves entirely to the Divine in perfect
trust and gratitude that the difficulties will be overcome.
1 February 1972
--
condition for peace and joy in life. Almost all human miseries
come from the fact that men are nearly always convinced that
they know better than the Divine what they need and what
life ought to give them. Most human beings want other human
beings to conform to their expectations and circumstances to
conform to their desires - therefore they suffer and are unhappy.
It is only when one gives oneself in all sincerity to the Divine
Will that one has the peace and calm joy which come from the
abolition of desires.
--
not to be subject to one's desires and mistake them for the truth
of one's being.
--
The first necessity for each one is his own transformation, and
the best way to help the world is to realise the Divine oneself.
--
luminous force floods our consciousness with a vast and luminous peace which prevails over all petty reactions and prepares
us for union with the Divine - the very purpose of individual
--
Thus, the purpose and goal of life is not suffering and struggle
but an all-powerful and happy realisation.
All the rest is painful illusion.
--
prepared, the ego has to disappear and give way to the psychic
being, which has slowly been formed by divine intervention in
--
man and thus prepares the coming of superhumanity.
The psychic is immortal and it is through the psychic that
immortality can be manifested on earth.
--
with it and allow it to replace the ego, which will be compelled
either to get converted or disappear.
--
the Divine, and that is the source of an ever-increasing bliss.
Series Fourteen - To a Sadhak
Sri Aurobindo told me one day that if men knew this and
were convinced of it, they would all want to do yoga.
--
Human consciousness is so corrupted that men prefer the miseries of the ego and its ignorance to the luminous joy that comes
from a sincere surrender to the Divine. So great is their blindness
that they refuse even to try the experiment and would rather be
subject to the miseries of their ego than make the effort needed
--
receive Your force and underst and Your will.
11 February 1972
--
to be capable and worthy of serving You as we would. Make us
conscious of our possibilities, but also of our difficulties so that
--
(2) To underst and ever better and more completely what
one knows.
(3) To find the Divine and surrender more and more to his
Will.
--
(3) To make this instrument increasingly receptive and obedient to the Divine.
To learn to underst and and do more and more things. To
purify oneself of all that prevents one from being totally surrendered to the Divine. To make one's consciousness more and
more receptive to the Divine Influence.
One could say: to widen oneself more and more, to deepen
oneself more and more, to surrender oneself more and more
completely.
--
with the promises one has made. But the only true and binding
faithfulness is faithfulness to the Divine - and that is the faithfulness we all ought to acquire through sincere and sustained
effort.
When the whole being, in all its parts and all its activities,
can say to the Divine in all sincerity:
--
This body lives by You alone and goes on repeating to You:
"Whatever You will, whatever You will"
--
Presence and that we may become what You want us to be; grant
that all in us may conform to Your Will.
--
Grant that our silence may be filled with Your Presence and that
we may be fully conscious of it.
Grant that we may know that You are our life, our consciousness and our being, and that without You everything is
merely illusion.
--
Let us do our best to prepare the coming of the New Being. The mind must fall silent and be replaced by the TruthConsciousness - the consciousness of details harmonised with
the consciousness of the whole.
0 1952-08-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Only when men shall depend exclusively upon the Divine and upon nothing else will the incarnate god no longer need to die for them.2
Note written by Mother in French.
0 1954-08-25 - what is this personality? and when will she come?, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
object:0_1954-08-25 - what is this personality? and when will she come?
author class:The Mother
--
The following text is an extract from a 'Wednesday Class,' when every Wednesday Mother would answer questions raised by the disciples and children at the Ashram Playground.
(Mother reads to the disciples an excerpt from Sri Aurobindos THE MOTHER, in which he describes the different aspects of the Creative Powerwhat is India is called the Shakti, or the Motherwhich have presided over universal evolution.)
There are other great Personalities of the Divine Mother, but they were more difficult to bring down and have not stood out in front with so much prominence in the evolution of the earth-spirit. There are among them Presences indispensable for the supramental realization,most of all one who is her Personality of that mysterious and powerful ecstasy and An anda1 which flows from a supreme divine Love, the An anda that alone can heal the gulf between the highest heights of the supramental spirit and the lowest abysses of Matter, the An anda that holds the key of a wonderful divines Life and even now supports from its secrecies the work of all the other Powers of the universe.
Sri Aurobindo, The Mother
(A disciple:) Sweet Mother, what is this Personality and when will It manifest?
My answer is ready.
--
You asked, What is this Personality and when will She come? Here is my answer (Mother reads):
She has come, bringing with Her a splendor of power and love, an intensity of divine joy heretofore unknown to the Earth. The physical atmosphere has been completely changed by her descent, permeated with new and marvelous possibilities.
But if She is ever to reside and act here, She has to find at least a minimal receptivity, at least one human being with the required vital and physical qualities, a kind of super-Parsifal gifted with an innate and integral purity, yet possessing at the same time a body strong enough and poised enough to bear unwaveringly the intensity of the An anda She brings.
Thus far, She has not found what is needed. Men remain obstinately men and do not want to or are unable to become supermen. All they can receive and express is a love at their own dimension: a human lovewhereas the supreme bliss of divine An anda eludes their perception.
At times, finding the world unready to receive Her, She contemplates withdrawing. But how cruel a loss this would be!
It is true that at present, her presence is more rhetorical than factual, since so far She has had no chance to manifest. Yet even so, She is a powerful instrument in the Work, for of all the Mothers aspects, She holds the greatest power to transform the body. Indeed, those cells which can vibrate at the touch of the divine Joy, receive it and bear it, are cells reborn, on their way to becoming immortal.
But the vibrations of divine Bliss and those of pleasure cannot cohabit in the same vital and physical house. We must therefore TOTALLY renounce all feelings of pleasure to be ready to receive the divine An anda. But rare are those who can renounce pleasure without thereby renouncing all active participation in life or sinking into a stern asceticism. and among those who realize that the transformation is to be wrought in active life, some pretend that pleasure is a form of An anda gone more or less astray and legitimize their search for self-satisfaction, thereby creating a virtually insuperable obstacle to their own transformation.
Now, if there is anything else you wish to ask me Anyone may ask, anyoneanyone who has something to saynot just the students.
--
I didnt say She HAD gone. I said She was CONTEMPLATING it at times, now and then.
But Mother, if She came down, She must have seen a possibility!
--
This is borne out by the fact that her descent took place at a given moment and for two or three weeks the atmospherenot only of the Ashram but of the 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.
There were repercussions the world over. But I dont believe that a single one of you noticed it you cannot even tell me when 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 the fact.
But there was a formidable battle with the Inconscient, for when I saw that the level of receptivity was not what it should have been, I blamed the Inconscient and tried to wage the battle there.
I dont say it was ineffectual, but between the result obtained and the result hoped for, there was a considerable difference. But as I said, you who are all so near, so steeped in this atmosphere who among you noticed anything?You simply went on with your little lives as usual.
I think it was in 1946, Mother, because you told us so many things at that time.
--
Oh! But you see, from an occult st andpoint, it is a selection. From an external st andpoint you could say that there are people in the world who are far superior to you ( and I would not disagree!), but from an occult st andpoint, it is a selection. There are It can be said that without a doubt the majority of young people here have come because it was promised them that they would be present at the Hour of Realization but they just dont remember it! (Mother laughs) I have already said several times that when you come down on earth, you fall on your head, which leaves you a little dazed! (laughter) Its a pity, but after all, you dont have to remain dazed all your lives, do you? You should go deep within yourselves and there find the immortal consciousness then you can see very well, you can very clearly remember the circumstances in which you you aspired to be here for the Hour of the Works realization.
But actually, to tell you the truth, I think your lives are so easy that you dont exert yourselves very much! How many among you have truly an INTENSE need to find their psychic beings? To find out truly who they are? To find out what their roles are, why they are here? You just let yourselves drift. You even complain when things arent easy enough! You just take things as they come. and sometimes, should an aspiration arise in you and you encounter some difficulty in yourself, you say, Oh, Mother is there! Shell take care of it for me! and you think about something else.
Mother, previously things were very strict in the Ashram, but not now. Why?
Yes, I have always said that it changed when we had to take the very little children. How can you envision an ascetic life with little sprouts no bigger than that? Its impossible! But thats the little surprise package the war left on our doorstep. When it was found that Pondicherry was the safest place on earth, naturally people came wheeling in here with all their baby carriages filled and asked us if we could shelter them, so we couldnt very well turn them away, could we?! Thats how it happened, and in no other way But, in the beginning, the first condition for coming here was that you would have nothing more to do with your family! If a man was married, then he had to completely overlook the fact that he had a wife and childrencompletely sever all ties, have nothing further to do with them. 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 the beginning, it was very, very strict for a long time.
The first condition was: Nothing more to do with your family Well, we are a long way from that! But I repeat that it only happened because of the war and not because we stopped seeing the need to cut all family ties; on the contrary, this is an indispensable condition because as long as you hang on to all these cords which bind you to ordinary life, which make you a slave to the ordinary life, how can you possibly belong to the Divine alone? What childishness! It is simply not possible. If you have ever taken the trouble to read over the early ashram rules, you would find that even friendships were considered dangerous and undesirable We made every effort to create an atmosphere in which only ONE thing counted: the Life Divine.
But as I said, bit by bit things changed. However, this had one advantage: we were too much outside of life. So there were a number of problems which had never arisen but which would have suddenly surged up the moment we wanted a complete manifestation. We took on all these problems a little prematurely, but it gave us the opportunity to solve them. In this way we learned many things and surmounted many difficulties, only it complicated things considerably. and in the present situation, given such a large number of elements who havent even the slightest idea why theyre here (!) well, it dem ands a far greater effort on the disciples part than before.
Before, when there were we started with 35 or 36 people but even when it got up to 150, even with 150it was as if they were all nestled in a cocoon in my consciousness: they were so near to me that I could constantly guide ALL their inner or outer movements. Day and night, at each moment, everything was totally under my control. and naturally, I think they made a great deal of progress at that time: it is a fact that I was CONSTANTLY doing the sadhana2 for them. But then, with this baby boom The sadhana cant be done for little sprouts who are 3 or 4 or 5 years old! Its out of the question. The only thing I can do is wrap them in the Consciousness and try to see that they grow up in the best of all possible conditions. However, the one advantage to all this is that instead of there being such a COMPLETE and PASSIVE dependence on the 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 the ages of 18 and 20, I had attained a constant and conscious union with the Divine Presence and that I had done this ALL ALONE, without ANYONES help, not even books. When a little later I chanced upon Vivekan andas 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 otherwise taken years.
I met a man (I was perhaps 20 or 21 at the time), an Indian who had come to Europe and who told me of the Gita. There was a French translation of it (a rather poor one, I must say) which he advised me to read, and then he gave me the key (HIS key, it was his key). He said, Read the Gita (this translation of the Gita which really wasnt worth much but it was the only one available at the timein those days I wouldnt have understood anything in other languages; and besides, the English translations were just as bad and well, Sri Aurobindo hadnt done his yet!). He said, Read the Gita knowing that Krishna is the symbol of the immanent God, the God within. That was all. Read it with THAT knowledgewith the knowledge that Krishna represents the immanent God, the God within you. Well, within a month, the whole thing was done!
So some of you people have been here since the time you were toddlerseverything has been explained to you, the 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 the path of this inner discovery and then you just go on drifting along: When it comes, it will come.If you even spare it that much thought!
So thats how it is.
But Im not at all discouraged, I just find it rather laughable. Only there are other far more serious things; for example, when you try to deceive yourselves that is not so pretty. One should not mix up cats and kings. You should call a cat a cat and a king a king and human instinct, human instinct and not speak about things divine when they are utterly human, nor pretend to have supramental experiences when you are living in a blatantly ordinary consciousness.
If you look at yourselves straight in the face and you see what you are, then 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, the you just there, inside (motion towards the center of the chest) Really, its beyond me!
As soon as I found out and no one told me, I found out through an experienceas soon as I found out that there was a discovery to be made within myself, well, it became THE MOST IMPORTANT thing in the world. It took precedence over everything else!
and when, 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 thenespecially when I speak to you about it or sometimes when 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?
--
For Her, this body is but one instrument among so many others in an eternity of ages to come, and for Her its only importance is that attributed to it by the Earth and mankind the extent to which it can be used as a channel to further Her manifestation. If I find myself surrounded by people who are incapable of receiving Her, then 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 these Aspects, all these Personalities manifest constantly but they never manifest for personal reason. Not one of them has ever thought of helping my bodybesides, I dont ask them to because that is not their purpose. But it is more than obvious that if the people around me were receptive, She could permanently manifest since they could receive Her and this would help my body enormously because all these vibrations would run through it. But She never gets even a chance to manifestnot a single one. She only meets people who dont even feel Her when Shes there! They dont even notice Her, theyre not even aware of her presence. So how can She manifest in these conditions? Im not going to ask Her, Please come and change my body. We dont have that kind of relationship! Furthermore, the body itself wouldnt agree. It never thinks of itself, it never pays attention to itself, and besides, it is only through the work that it can be transformed.
Yes, certainly had there been any receptivity when She came down and had She been able to manifest with the power with which She came But I can tell you one thing: even before Her coming, when, with Sri Aurobindo, I had begun going down (for the Yoga) from the mental plane to the vital plane, when we brought our yoga down from the mental plane into the vital plane, in less than a month (I was forty years old at the 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 when he saw me, he could scarcely believe his eyes! He said, But my god, is it you? I said, Of course!
Only when we went down from the vital plane into the physical plane, all this went awaybecause on the physical plane, the 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 otherwise 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 st ands: its importance is proportionate to its usefulness and to the significance the world attri butes to itsince its action is for the world.
But in and of itself, it is only one body among countless others. Thats all.
(To the disciple h andling the microphone:) Its over now.
0 1955-03-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother, once more I come to ask you for Mahakalis1 intervention. After a period when everything seemed much better, I again awake to impossible mornings when 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 these vital waves.
Mother, without Mahakalis grace, I shall never be able to get out of this mechanical round, to shatter these old formations, ever the same, which keep coming back. Mother, I beg of you, help. me to BREAK this shell 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
0 1955-04-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother, for more than a year now I have been near you and nothing, no really significant inner experience, no sign has come that allows me to feel I have progressed or merely to show me that I am on the right path. I cannot even say I am happy.
I am not so absurdly pretentious as to blame the divine, nor yourself and I remain quite convinced that all this is my own fault. Undoubtedly I have not known how to surrender totally in some part of myself, or I do not aspire enough or know how to open myself as needed. Also, I should rely entirely upon the divine to take care of my progress and not be concerned about the absence of experiences. I have therefore asked myself why I am so far away from the true attitude, the genuine opening, and I see two main reasons: on the one h and, the difficulties inherent in my own nature, and on the other, the outer conditions of this sadhana. These conditions do not seem to be conducive to helping me overcome the difficulties in my own nature.
I feel that I am turning in circles and taking one step backward for each one forward. Furthermore, instead of helping me draw nearer to the divine consciousness, my work in the Ashram (the very fact of working for to change work, even if I felt like it, would not change the overall situation), diverts me from this divine consciousness, or at least keeps me in a superficial consciousness from which I am unable to unglue myself as long as I am busy writing letters, doing translations, corrections or classes.1 I know its my own fault, that I should know how to be detached from my work and do it by relying upon a deeper consciousness, but what can be done? Unless I receive the grace, I cannot remember the essential thing as long as the outer part of my being is active.
When I am not immediately engrossed in work, I have to confront a thous and little temptations and daily difficulties that come from my contact with other beings and a life that does indeed remain in life. Here, even more, there is the feeling of an impossible struggle, and all these little difficulties seem to gnaw away at me; scarcely has one hole been filled when another opens up, or the same one reappears, and there is never any real victoryone has constantly to begin everything again. Finally, it seems to me that I really live only one hour a day, during the evening distribution at the playground.2 It is scarcely a life and scarcely a sadhana!
Consequently, I underst and much better now why in the traditional yogas one settled all these difficulties once and for all by escaping from the world, without bothering to transform a life that seems so untransformable.
I am not now going to renounce Sri Aurobindos Yoga, Mother, for my whole life is based upon it, but I believe I should employ other meanswhich is why I am writing you this letter.
By continuing this daily little ant-like struggle and by having to confront the same desires, the 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 established the 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 the struggle here for the true transformation of the outer being. But to want to transform this outer being without having fully illumined the inner being seems to me to be putting the cart before the horse, or at least condemning myself to a pitiless and endless battle in which the best of my forces are fruitlessly consumed.
In all sincerity, I must say that when I was at Brewsters place in Almora, I felt very near to that state in which the Light must surge forth. I quite underst and the imperfection of this process, which involves fleeing from difficulties, but this would only be a stage, a strategic retreat, as it were.
Mother, this is not a vital desire seeking to divert me from the sadhana, for my life has no other meaning than to seek the divine, but it seems to be the only solution that could bring about some progress and get me out of this lukewarm slump in which I have been living day after day. I cannot be satisfied living merely one hour a day, when I see you.
I know that you do not like to write, Mother, 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 Mother, help me!
Signed: Bernard
--
Perhaps being far away from the Ashram for a while will help you feel the special atmosphere that exists here and that cannot be found anywhere else to the 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: Mother
For a long time, Satprem took care of the correspondence with the outside, along with Pavitra, not to mention editing the Ashram Bulletin as well as Mother's writings and talks, translating Sri Aurobindo's works into French, and conducting classes at the Ashram's 'International Centre of Education.'
Every evening at the Playground, the disciples passed before Mother one by one to receive symbolically some food.
--
An American artist, an old friend of D.H. Lawrence, and Satprem's friend.
***
0 1955-06-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother, I cannot say that it is a nostalgia for the outside world that is drawing me backwards nor some attachment to a personal form of life, nor even some vital desire seeking its own satisfaction. That old world no longer attracts me, and I do not see at all what I would do there. Yet something is st anding in my way.
If only I could see a distinct error blocking my path which I could clearly attack But I feel that I am not responsible, that it is not my personal fault if I remain without aspiration, stagnating. I feel like a battlefield of contending forces that are beyond me and against which I can do NOTHING. Oh Mother, it is not an excuse for a lack of will, or at least I dont think so I profoundly feel like a helpless toy, totally helpless.
If the divine force, if your grace, does not intervene to shatter this obscure resistance that is drawing me downwards in spite of myself, I dont know what will become of me Mother, I am not blackmailing you, I am only expressing my helplessness, my anguish.
During the day, I live more or less calmly in my little morass, but as evening and the moment to meet you draw near, then the forces pinning me to the 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 shed. Afterwards, Truth regains possession of me but the following day it all begins again.
Mother, it is an impossible, absurd, unlivable life. I feel as though I have no h and in this cruel little game. Oh Mother, why doesnt your grace trust that deep part in me which knows so well that you are the Truth? Deliver me from these evil forces since, profoundly, it is you and you alone I want. Give me the aspiration and strength I do not have. If you do not do this Yoga for me, I feel I shall never have the strength to go on.
There is something that must be SHATTERED: can it not be done once and for all without lingering on indefinitely? Mother, I am your child.
Signed: Bernard
--
Your case is not unique; there are others ( and among the best and the most faithful) who are likewise a veritable battlefield for the forces opposing the advent of the truth. They feel powerless in this battle, sorrowful witnesses, victims without the strength to fight, for this is taking place in that part of the physical consciousness where the supramental forces are not yet fully active, although I am confident they soon will be. Meanwhile, the only remedy is to endure, to go through this suffering and to await patiently the hour of liberation.
While reading your prayer, I too prayed that it be heard.
0 1955-09-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother, it seems that for weeks I have been knocking against myself at every turn, as though I were in a prison, and I cannot get out of it. Mother, I need your Space, your Light, to get out of this walled-in night that is suffocating me.
No matter where I concentrate, in my heart, above my head, between my eyes, I bang everywhere 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. Mother, I know that I am not making all the 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 where finally I may seek refuge. Mother, open the 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 Mother, may I live in you.
0 1955-09-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother suddenly everything seems to have crystallizedall the little revolts, the little tensions, the ill will and petty vital dem andsforming a single block of open, determined resistance. I have become conscious that from the beginning of my sadhana, the mind has led the gamewith the psychic behind and has held me in leash, helped muzzle all contrary movements, but at no time, or only rarely, has the vital submitted or opened to the higher influence. The rare times when the 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 the mind has been imposing upon it for almost two years now.
Mother, I am sufficiently awakened not to rebel against your Light and to underst and that the vital is but one part of my being, but I have come to the conclusion that the 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 underst and by itself that it cannot be satisfied in this way. I feel the need to leave the Ashram for a while to see how I can get along away from here and to realize, no doubt, that one can really brea the 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. The need I am feeling is exactly that which I sought to satisfy in the past through my long boat journeys along the coast of Brittany. It is a kind of thirst for space and movement.
Otherwise, Mother, there is this block before me that is obscuring all the rest and taking away my taste for everything. I would like to leave, Mother, but not in revolt; may it be an experience to go through that receives your approval. I would not like to be cut off from you by your displeasure or your condemnation, for this would seem to me terrible and leave me no other recourse but to plunge into the worst excesses in order to forget.
Mother, I would like you to forgive me, to underst and me and, above all, not to deprive me of your Love. I would like you to tell me if I may leave for a few weeks and how you feel about it. It seems to me that I am profoundly your child, in spite of all this??
Signed: Bernard
0 1955-10-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
3) To nestle in His arms, to melt in Him in a tender and absolute CONFIDENCE.
These movements may be accompanied by three formulas, or any one of them, depending upon the case:
1) May Your Will be done and not mine.
2) As You will, as You will
0 1956-02-29 - First Supramental Manifestation - The Golden Hammer, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The following text was given by Mother in both French and English.
FIRST SUPRAMENTAL MANIFESTATION
--
This evening the Divine Presence, concrete and material, was there present amongst you. I had a form of living gold, bigger than the universe, and I was facing a huge and massive golden door which separated the world from the Divine.
As I looked at the door, I knew and willed, in a single movement of consciousness, that THE TIME HAS COME, and lifting with both h ands a mighty golden hammer I struck one blow, one single blow1 on the door and the door was shattered to pieces.
Then the supramental Light and Force and Consciousness rushed down upon earth in an uninterrupted flow.
Later added by Mother
0 1956-03-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
and the body sat up and held itself absolutely straight during the entire class.
***
0 1956-03-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The control over the movements of the vertebrae, lost a long time ago (which resulted in a kind of insensitivity and incapacity to move them at will) has returned to a great extent: the consciousness is once again able to express itself and the back can straighten up very visibly.
***
--
Almost a total straightening, along with a very clear perception of the new force and power in the cells of the body.
Mother appeared on her balcony daily at about 6 a.m. to give a few moments of meditation to her disciples before the beginning of the day's work.
0 1956-03-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The age of Capitalism and business is drawing to a close.
But the age of Communism, too, will pass. For Communism as it is preached is not constructive, it is a weapon to combat plutocracy. But when the battle is over and the armies are disb anded for want of employment, then Communism, having no more utility, will be transformed into something else that will express a higher truth.
We know this truth, and we are working for it so that it may reign upon earth.
***
0 1956-04-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother, two months ago I had a clear mental perception of what was asked of me: to spend the rest of my life here. This is the source of my difficulties and of the inner hell I have been living through ever since. Each time I try to emerge, there is this image that rises up in me: your-whole-life and this casts me into a violent conflict. When I came here, I thought of staying for two or three years; for me the Ashram was a means of realization, not an end.
I underst and now that as long as my whole being has not ACCEPTED that it must finish its life here, there is no way out nor any recovery possible. Through my mental force alone, this acceptance is impossible; I have been turning infernally in circles these past two months, and the mind is in league with the vital. Therefore, a force greater than mine must help me accept that my way is here. I need you, Mother, for without you I am lost. I need you to tell me that the Truth of my being is indeed here and that I am truly ready to follow this path. Mother, I beseech you, help me to see the truth of my being, give me some sign that my way is here and not elsewhere. I beg of you, Mother, help me to know.
I also had a very clear sensation that you were ab andoning me, that you had no further 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 ab andoning me?
I am broken and battered in the depths of my being as I was in my flesh in the concentration camps. Will the 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 child, I have not ab andoned you, and I am ready to forget, to efface all revolt.
My help is always with you.
0 1956-04-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The difficulties of the past weeks have taught me that as soon as one strays from the true consciousness, in however trifling a way, anything may happen, any excess, any aberration, any imbalance and I have felt very dangerous things prowling about me. Mother, you told me in regard to Patrick1 that the law of the manifestation was a law of freedom, even the freedom to choose wrongly. This evening, it has been my very deep perception that this freedom is virtually always a freedom to choose wrongly. I harbor a great fear of losing the true consciousness once again. I have become aware of how fragile everything in me is and that very little would be enough to carry me away.
Therefore, Sweet Mother, I come to ask a great grace of you, from the depths of my heart: take my freedom into your h ands. Prevent me from falling back, far away from you. I place this freedom in your h ands. Keep me safe, Mother, protect me. Grant me the grace of watching over me and of taking me in your h ands completely, like a child whose steps are unsure. I no longer want this Freedom. It is you I want, the Truth of my being. Mother, as a grace, I implore you to free me from my freedom to choose wrongly.
I am your child and I love you.
Signed: Bernard
--
Agreedwith all my heart I accept the 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 the choice that leads straight to the goal that is, towards your real self.
With all my affection and my blessings.
Signed: Mother
0 1956-04-23, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother takes a passage from Prayers and Meditations of September 25, 1914:
The Lord hast willed, and Thou dost execute;
A new Light shall break upon the earth.
--
and the things that were promised shall be fulfilled.
and rewrites it as follows in her own h and:
29 February29 March
Lord, Thou hast willed, and I execute:
A new light breaks upon the earth,
0 1956-04-24, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It is at work here, and one day will come when the most blind, the most unconscious, even the 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 the Ashram, but ever since the beginning of the earth. There have been all kinds of predictions, by all kinds of prophets. It has been said, There will be a new heaven and a new earth, a new race shall be born, the world shall be transformed Prophets have spoken of this in every tradition.
You said, They are fulfilled.
--
The new race? Wait for something like a few thous and years or so, and you will see it!
When the mind came down upon earth, something like a million years went by between the manifestation of the mind in the earth atmosphere and the appearance of the 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 another the advent of the superman. Whereas the apes were certainly not awaiting the birth of man, they never thought of it for the excellent reason that they probably dont think very much! But man has thought about it and is waiting, so it will go faster. But faster probably still means thous ands of years. We shall speak of this again in a few thous and years!
(silence)
Those who are ready within, who are open and in touch with the higher forces, those who have had a more or less direct personal contact with the Supramental Light and Consciousness, are capable of feeling the difference in the earth atmosphere.
But for this only like can know like. Only the Supramental Consciousness in an individual can perceive the Supramental acting in the earth atmosphere. Those who, for whatever reason, have developed this perception can see it. But those who are not even remotely conscious of their inner beings, who would be quite at a loss to say what their souls look like, are certainly not ready to perceive the difference in the earth atmosphere. They still have quite a way to go for that. Because, for those whose consciousness is more or less exclusively centered in the outer beingmental, vital and physicalthings need to have an absurd or unexpected appearance to be noticeable. and then they call it a miracle.
But we do not call a miracle the constant miracle of the forces that intervene to change circumstances and human natures and which have very far-reaching consequences, for we see only the appearance, and this appearance seems quite natural. But in truth, if you were to reflect upon the least thing that happens, you would be forced to acknowledge that it is miraculous.
It is simply because you do not reflect upon it and assume things to be as they are, what they are, unquestioningly; otherwise you would have quite a number of opportunities everyday to say to yourself, But look! That is absolutely amazing! How did it happen?
Quite simply, the habit of a purely superficial way of seeing.
--
If you want it to change you, you must open yourself and strive to progress.
Will we benefit collectively or individually from this new manifestation?
--
Because a lot of people have come here, and they are asking, How are we going to benefit from it?
Oh!
and why should they benefit from it? What entitles them to benefit from it? Simply because they took the 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; the first time someone died in the Ashram, they expressed a considerable dissatisfaction: But I came here because I thought this yoga would make me immortal! If you can still die, then why did I come here?
Well, its the same thing. People take the train to come herethere were about a hundred and fifty more people than usual1simply because they want to benefit. But this may be exactly why they have not benefited from it! Because This [the supramental consciousness] has not come to make people benefit in any way whatsoever!
They ask if their inner difficulties will be easier to overcome.
I would repeat the same thing. What reason and what right have they to ask that things be easier? What have they done on their side? Why should it be easier? To satisfy peoples laziness and slothor what?
Because when something new comes, we always have the idea of benefiting from it.
--
Its the same with those who ask for an interview. I tell them, 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. Then they retort, Oh, I have taken so MUCH trouble, I have come from so FAR away, I have come from way in the North, I have travelled for so many hours and I have no right to an interview? I reply, Im sorry, but you are not the 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.
The number of disciples is increasing now day by day. What does this indicate?
But inevitablyit will increase more and more! Which is why I cannot do what I used to do when there were one hundred and fifty people in the Ashram. If they had just a little bit of common sense, they would underst and that I cannot have the same relationship with people now (just imagine, 1,800 people these last days!), so I cannot have the same relationship with 1,845 people (exactly, I believe) as with thirty or even a hundred. That seems an easy enough logic to underst and.
But they want everything to remain as it was and, as you say, to be the first to benefit.
Mother, when the mind came down into the earth atmosphere, the ape did not make any effort to convert himself into a man, did he? It was Nature that supplied the effort. But in our case
--
Onlyyes, there is an only, I dont want to be so cruel: NOW MAN CAN COLLABORATE. That is, he can lend himself to the 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 (there are some people who have come here only for this, to receive the Supramental Force and to be transformed into supermen, this has been their goal) then how is it that you were ALL such strangers to this Force that when it came, you did not even feel it?!
Can you solve that problem for me? If you find the solution to this problem, you will have the solution to the difficulty.
I am not speaking of people from outside who have never thought about it, who have never felt concerned and who do not even know that there may be something like the Supermind to receive, in fact. I am speaking of people who have built their lives upon this aspiration ( and I dont doubt their sincerity for a minute), who have workedsome of them for thirty years, some for thirty-five, others somewhat lessall the while saying, When the supermind comes When the supermind comes That was their refrain: When the supermind comes Consequently, they were really in the best possible frame of mind, one could not have dreamt of a better predisposition. How is it, then, that their inner preparation was so lets just say incomplete, that they did not feel the Vibration immediately, as soon as it came, through a shock of identity?
Individually, each ones goal was to make himself ready, to enter into a more or less intimate individual relationship with this Force, so as to help the process; or else, if he could not help, at least be ready to recognize and be open to the Force when it would manifest. Then instead of being an alien element in a world in which your OWN inner capacity remains unmanifest, you suddenly become THAT, you enter directly, fully, into the very atmosphere: the Force is there, all around you, permeating you.
If you had had a little inner contact, you would have recognized it immediately, dont you think so?
Well, in any event, that was the case for those who had a little inner contact; they recognized it, they felt it, and they said, Ah, there it is! It has come! But how is it that so many hundreds of peoplenot to mention the h andful of those who really wanted only that, thought only of that, had staked their whole lives on thathow is it that they felt nothing? What can this mean?
It is well known that only like knows like. It is an obvious fact.
There was indeed a possibility to enter into contact with the Thing individuallythis was even what Sri Aurobindo had described as being the necessary procedure: a certain number of people would enter into contact with this Force through their inner effort and their aspiration. We had called it the ascent towards the Supermind. and IF and when they had touched the Supermind through an inner ascent (that is, by freeing themselves from the material consciousness), they should have recognized it SPONTANEOUSLY as soon as it came. But a preliminary contact was indispensableif you have never touched it, how can you recognize it?
Thats how the universal movement works (I read this to you a few days ago): through their inner effort and inner progress, certain individuals, who are the pioneers, the forerunners, enter into communication with the new Force which is to manifest, and they receive it in themselves. and because a number of calls like this surge forth, the thing becomes possible, and the era, the time, the moment for the manifestation comes. This is how it happened and the Manifestation took place.
But then, all those who were ready should have recognized it.
--
But really, this attitude this rather overly commercial attitude, is usually not very profitable. If you have difficulties and you sincerely aspire, it is likely that the difficulties will diminish. Let us hope so.
(Turning to the disciple) So you may tell them this: be sincere and you will be helped.
Mother, 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: the Supermind has sprung forth into the universal play.
Yes, yes, yes! I indeed said all that. I acknowledge it. and so?
It is said, The supramental principle is at work
--
What I call a descent is this: first of all, the consciousness climbs in ascent, then you catch the Thing up above and redescend with it. This is an INDIVIDUAL event.
When this individual event has taken place sufficiently to allow a more general possibility to emerge, it is no longer a descent but a manifestation.
--
What I call a descent takes place in the individual consciousness. In the same way, we speak of ascent (there is no ascent really, there is no high or low, no direction: its all a manner of speaking)we speak of ascent when we feel ourselves rising up towards something, and we call it a descent when, after having caught this thing, we bring it down into ourselves.
But when the doors are opened and the flood pours in, it can no longer be called a descent: it is a Force that spreads everywhere. Understood? Ah!
I dont care what words you use. I do not essentially insist upon my words, but I explain them to you, and its better to agree on words beforeh and, for otherwise theres no end to explanations.
But now, you may reply to those people who are asking these insidious questions that the best way to receive anything whatsoever is not to pull, but to give. If they want to give themselves to the new life, well, the new life will enter into them.
0 1956-08-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
My Lord, through me thou hast challenged the world and all the adverse forces have risen in protest.1
But Thy Grace is winning the victory.
In fact, following the 'Supramental Manifestation' of February 29, 1956, all of Mother's physical difficulties increased, as though all the obscurities in the physical consciousness were surging forth beneath the pressure of the new light. The same observation applies to the disciples who were around Mother and undoubtedly to the world as a whole. A strange 'mysterious acceleration' was beginning to take hold of the world.
***
0 1956-09-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This text was noted down by a disciple from memory. On the original manuscript submitted for her approval, Mother wrote, 'This account is quite correct,' and She signed the text. Words added or corrected by Mother are in italics.
(During the 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.
--
and it was denser than my physical body: the physical body seemed to me almost unrealas though crumblylike s and running through your fingers.
I would have been incapable of speaking, words seemed so petty, narrow, ignorant.
--
and it radiated from me: myriads of little sparks that were penetrating everybody I saw them enter into each one of those present.
One more step.
0 1956-09-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Scarcely has a moment gone by since I left that I have not thought of you, but I wanted to wait for things to be clear and settled in me before writing, for you obviously have other things to do than listen to platonic declarations.
My friends keep telling me that I am not ready and that, like R,1 whom they knew, I should go and spend some time in society. They say that my idea of going to the Himalayas is absurd, and they advise me to return to Brazil for a few years to stay with W W is an elderly American millionaire the only good rich man I knowwho wanted to make me an heir, as it were, to his financial affairs and who treats me rather like a son. He was quite disappointed when I came back to India. My friends tell me that if I have to go through a period in the outside world, the best way to do it is to remain near someone who is fond of me, while at the same time ensuring a material independence for the future.
These questions of money do not interest me. In fact, nothing interests me except this something I feel within me. The only question for me is to know whether I am truly ready for the Yoga, or if my failings are not the sign of some immaturity. Mother, you alone can tell me what is right.
I feel a bit lost, cut off from you. The idea of going to the Himalayas is absurd and I am ab andoning it. My friends tell me that I may remain with them as long as I wish, but this is hardly a solution; I dont even feel like writing a book any longernothing seems to appeal to me except the trees in this garden and the music that fills a large part of my days. There is no solution other than the Ashram or Brazil. You alone can tell me what to do.
I KNOW that ultimately my place is near you, but is that my place at present, after all these failings? Spontaneously, it is you I want, you alone who represent the light and all that is real in this world; I can love no one but you nor be interested in anything but this thing within me, but will it not all begin again once I have returned to the Ashram? You alone know the stage I am at, what is good for me, what is possible.
Sweet Mother, 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.
Signed: Bernard
--
For my part, there has been no cut and I have not been severe My feelings cannot change, for they are based upon something other than outer circumstances.
But perhaps you have felt this way because you had left your work in the Ashram for an entirely personal, that is, necessarily egoistical reason, and egoism always isolates one from the great current of universal forces. That is why, too, you no longer clearly perceive my love and my help which nevertheless are always with you.
You asked me what I see and whether your difficulties will not reappear upon your return to the 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, the 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.
--
Go to Brazil, to this good rich man, make him underst and the importance of our work, the extent to which his fortune would be used to the utmost for the good of all and for the earths salvation were he to put it, even partially, at the disposal of our action. Win this victory over the power of money, and by so doing you will be freed from all your personal difficulties. Then you can return here with no apprehension, and you will be ready for the transformation.
Reflect upon this, take your time, tell me very frankly how you feel about it and whether 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.
All my affection is with you, and my blessings never leave you.
Signed: Mother
A former disciple who left the Ashram, and subsequently committed suicide.
***
0 1956-10-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
and Thou gavest me knowledge.
Z asked me, Why didnt you stop it?1 I replied, Probably because I am not omnipotent! Then he insisted: No, thats not it. I make no distinction between your will and the divine will and I know that you dont either. So why didnt you stop it?
and suddenly, I understood.
It was because I hadnt thought of it. It hadnt even grazed my consciousness. The 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 then, the word create does not here have the meaning we generally attribute to it.
and what is the Ashram? (I dont even mean in terms of the Universeon Earth only.) A speck. and why should this speck receive exceptional treatment? Perhaps if people here had realized the supermind. But are they so exceptional as to expect exceptional treatment?
As Sri Aurobindo says, people see God as a magnified man: he is the Demiurge, Jehovahwhat I call the Lord of Falsehood.
--
But the divine vision is global. The people in the Ashram do not want this strike but what about the others? They are ignorant, mean, full of ill will, etc., but in their own way they are following a path, and why should they be deprived of the Grace? By the fact that their action is against the Ashram? It is certainly a Grace.
I said that I had not even thought of intervening. When things threatened to turn bad, I simply applied a force so that it wouldnt become too serious.
--
A consciousness and a vision. and one is filled with joy and
I used to be different (although I was said to be non-interfering); I acted, if at all, to defend myself But I understood very quickly that even this was a reaction of ignorance and that things would be set right automatically if one remained in the true consciousness.
A consciousness that sees and makes you see.
Which is why things go amiss when 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, then I see.
I have called for a greater package of Grace and asked that the truth of things prevail. We shall see what happens.
Mother is referring to a strike by the salaried workers of the Ashram, one of the numerous internal and external difficulties constantly assailing Her.
***
0 1956-10-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Then I wondered when and how I am at the height of myself. and this is what I saw:
Two things which were parallel and concomitant that is, they are always together:
Oneidentity with the Origin, which imparts an absolute serenity and perfect detachment to the action.
The otheridentity with the supreme Grace, which obliterates and abolishes all errors committed in the action by whomsoever and whatsoever and which annuls all the consequences of these errors.
and the moment I perceived this, I saw that my third attitude in action, which is the will for progress for the whole earth as well as for each particular individual, was not the height of my being.
***
--
No, it is exactly the opposite of what you are saying. It is not that the Divine in his divinity is opposed to his own manifested selfHe is very far beyond, beyond the 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.
***
0 1956-10-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I am facing the same difficulties as before my departure to Hyderabad, and I have made the same mistakes. The main reason for this state is that, on the one h and, words and ideas seem to have lost all power over me, and on the other, the vital elan which led me thus far is dead. So upon what shall my faith rest? I still have some faith, of course, but it has become totally ABSTRACT. The vital does not cooperate, so I feel all withered, suspended in a void, nothing seems to give me direction anymore. There is no rebelliousness in me, but rather a void.
In this state, I am ceaselessly thinking of my forest in Guiana or of my travels through Africa and the ardor that filled me with life in those days. I seem to need to have my goal before me and to walk towards it. Outer difficulties also seem to help me resolve my inner problems: there is a kind of need in me for the elements the sea, the forest, the desert for a milieu with which I can wrestle and through which I can grow. Here, I seem to lack a dynamic point of leverage. Here, in the everyday routine, everything seems to be falling apart in me. Should I not return to my forest in Guiana?
Mother, I implore you, in the name of whatever led me to you in the first place, give me the strength to do WHAT HAS TO BE DONE. You who see and who can, decide for me. You are my Mother. Whatever my shortcomings, my difficulties, I feel I am so deeply your child.
Signed: Bernard
P.S. If you see that I should remain here, put in me the necessary strength and aspiration. I shall obey you. I want to obey you.
***
--
One should beware of the charm of memories. What remains of past experiences is the effect they have had in the development of the consciousness. But when one attempts to relive a memory by placing oneself again in similar circumstances, one realizes quite rapidly how devoid they are of their power and charm, because they have lost their usefulness for progress.
You are now beyond the stage when the virgin forest and the desert can be useful for your growth. They had put you in contact with a life vaster than your own and they widened the limits of your consciousness. But now you need something else.
So far, your whole life has revolved around yourself; all you have done, even the apparently most disinterested or least egoistic act, has been done with a view to your own personal growth or illumination. It is time to live for something other than yourself, something other than your own individuality.
0 1956-11-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
For weeks on end, I have been spending nearly all my nights battling with serpents. Last night, I was attacked by three different kinds of serpents, each more venomous and repugnant than the other???
Signed: Bernard
0 1956-12-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother, a letter from W. He is leaving Brazil and retiring from business for good.
Mother, what can I do with my life? I feel absolutely alone, in a void. What hope remains since I have not been able to integrate into the Ashram? I am goalless. I am from nowhere. I am good for nothing.
I have wanted to remain near you, and I love you, but there is something in me that does not accept an Ashram ending. There is a need in me to DO, to act. But what? What? Have I something to do in this life?
For years I have dreamed of going to Chinese Turkestan. Should I head in that direction? Or towards Africa?
0 1956-12-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I feel that this Truth of my being, this self most intensely felt, is independent from any form or institution. As far back as I can reach in my consciousness, this thing has been there; it was what drove me at an early age to liberate myself from my family, my religion, my country, a profession, marriage or society in general. I feel this thing to be a kind of absolute freedom, and I have been feeling within me this same profound drive for more than a year. Is this need for freedom wrong? and yet is it not because of this that the best in me has blossomed?
This is actually what is happening in me: I never really accepted the W solution, and the solution of Somalil and doesnt appeal to me. But I feel drawn by the idea of Turkestan, as I already told you, and this is why:
Ten years ago, I had two intuitions the first of which, to my great astonishment, was realized. It was that I had something important to do in South America and though I never could have foreseen such a voyage, I went there. The second was that I had something to do in Turkestan.
Mother, this is the problem around which I have desperately been turning in circles. What is the truth of my destiny? Is it that which is urging me so strongly to leave, or that which is struggling against my freedom? For ultimately, sincerely, what I want is to fulfill my lifes truth. If I have ever had a will, then it is: LET BE WHAT MUST BE. Mother, how can one truly know? Is this drive, this very old and very CLEAR urge in me, false??
Your child,
0 1957-01-18, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The conflict that is tearing me apart is between this shadowy part of a past that does not want to die, and the new light. I wonder if, rather than escaping to some desert, it would not be wiser to resolve this conflict by objectify it, by writing this book I spoke to you about.
But I would like to know whether it is really useful for me to write this book, or whether it is not just some inferior task, a makeshift.
You told me one day that I could be useful to you. Then, by chance, I came across this passage from Sri Aurobindo the other day: Everyone has in him something divine, something his own, a chance of perfection and strength in however small a sphere which God offers him to take or refuse.
Could you tell me, as a favor, what this particular thing is in me which may be useful to you and serve you? If I could only know what my real work is in this world All the conflicting impulses in me stem from my being like an unemployed force, like a being whose place has not yet been determined.
What do you see in me, Mother? Is it through writing that I shall achieve what is to be achievedor does all this still belong to a nether world? But if so, then of what use am I? If I were good at something, it would give me some air to breathe.
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 forthere would be no alternative but to live out the rest of my days in the Ashram. But everything in me rebels at this idea. The idea of winding up as General Secretary of the Ashram, like Pavitra, makes my skin crawl. It is absurd, and I apologize for speaking this way, Mother, 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 the idea that if I give in, I will be condemned to remain here. Once more, forgive me for speaking so absurdly, for of course I know it is not a condemnation; and yet a part of me feels that it would be.
Thus I am so tense that I do not even want to close my eyes to meditate for fear of yielding. and I fall into all kinds of errors that horrify me, simply because the pressure is too strong at times, and I literally suffocate. Mother, I am not cut out to be a disciple.
I realize that all the progress I was able to make during the 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 the situation, Mother. I feel my unworthiness profoundly. I am the opposite of Satprem, unable to love and to give myself. Everything in me is sealed tight.
So what is to be done? I intend asking your permission to leave as soon as the book is finished (I am determined to finish it, for it will rid me of the past it represents). I expect nothing from the world, except a bit of external space, in the absence of another space.
--
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 the answer that immediately came to me. I add to it the 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 the truth of your being.
Here is what I wrote:
In your ignorance, you created a phantom of your destiny, and then, out of this non-existent ghost, you made a hobgoblin around which all the resistances of your outer nature have crystallized.
It is a double ignorance:
--
I am saying all this so that you do not hypnotize yourself further with some imaginary and groundless possibility.
I am with you always.
0 1957-07-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I have been asked if we are doing a collective yoga and what are the conditions of a collective yoga.
First, I could tell you that to do a collective yoga, there has to be a collectivity! and I could speak to you about the different conditions required to be a collectivity. But last night (smiling), I had a symbolic vision of our collectivity.
This vision took place early in the night and woke me up with a rather unpleasant feeling. Then I fell back to sleep and forgot about it; but a little while ago, when I was thinking of the question put to me, it returned. It returned with a great intensity and so imperatively that now, just as I wanted to tell you what kind of collectivity we wish to realize according to the ideal described by Sri Aurobindo in the last chapter of The Life Divinea gnostic, supramental collectivity, the only kind that can do Sri Aurobindos integral yoga and be realized physically in a progressive collective body becoming more and more divine the recollection of this vision became so imperative that I couldnt speak.
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 the details, you would probably not even be able to follow: it was rather intricate. It was a kind of (how can I express it?)an immense hotel where all the terrestrial possibilities were lodged in different apartments. and it was all in a constant state of transformation: parts or entire wings of the building were suddenly torn down and rebuilt while people were still living in them, such that if you went off somewhere within the immense hotel itself, you ran the risk of no longer finding your room when you wanted to return to it, for it might have been torn down and was being rebuilt according to another plan! It was orderly, it was organized yet there 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 the necessity for the transformation of the body, the type of transformation that has to take place for life to become a divine life.
It went something like this: somewhere, in the center of this enormous edifice, there was a room reservedas it seemed in the story for a mother and her daughter. The mother was a lady, an elderly lady, a very influential matron who had a great deal of authority and her own views concerning the entire organization. Her daughter seemed to have a power of movement and activity enabling her to be everywhere at once while at the same time remaining in her room, which was well, a bit more than a roomit was a kind of apartment which, above all, had the characteristic of being very central. But she was constantly arguing with her mother. The mother wanted to keep things just as they were, with their usual rhythm, which precisely meant the habit of tearing down one thing to rebuild another, then again tearing down that to build still another, thus giving the building an appearance of frightful confusion. But the daughter did not like this, and she had another plan. Most of all, she wanted to bring something completely new into the organization: a kind of super-organization that would render all this confusion unnecessary. Finally, as it was impossible for them to reach an underst anding, the daughter left the room to go on a kind of general inspection She went out, looked everything over, and then wanted to return to her room to decide upon some final measures. But this is where something rather peculiar began happening.
She clearly remembered where her room was, but each time she set out to go there, either the staircase disappeared or things were so changed that she could no longer find her way! So she went here and there, up and down, searched, went in and out but it was impossible to find the way to her room! Since all of this assumed a physical appearanceas I said, a very familiar and very common appearance, as is always the case in these symbolic visions there was somewhere (how shall I put it?) the hotels administrative office and a woman who seemed to be the manager, who had all the keys and who knew where everyone was staying. So the daughter went to this person and asked her, Could you show me the way to my room?But of course! Easily! Everyone around the manager looked at her as if to say, How can you say that? However, she got up, and with authority asked for a key the key to the daughters roomsaying, I shall take you there. and off she went along all kinds of paths, but all so complicated, so bizarre! The daughter was following along behind her very attentively, you see, so as not to lose sight of her. But just as they should have come to the place where the daughters room was supposed to be, suddenly the manageress (let us call her the manageress), both the manageress and her key vanished! and the sense of this vanishing was so acute that at the same time, everything vanished!
So to help you underst and this enigma, let me tell you that the mother is physical Nature as she is, and the daughter is the new creation. The manageress is the worlds organizing mental consciousness as Nature has developed it thus far, that is, the most advanced organizing sense to have manifested in the present state of material Nature. This is the key to the vision.
Naturally, when I awoke, I immediately knew what could resolve this problem which appeared so absolutely insoluble. The vanishing of the manageress and her key was an obvious sign that she was altogether incapable of leading what could be called the creative consciousness of the new world to its true place.
I knew this, but I did not have a vision of the solution, which means it has yet to manifest; this thing had not yet manifested in the building, this fantastic construction, although it is the very mode of consciousness which could transform this incoherent 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.
(silence)
The symbolism is quite clear in that all the possibilities are there, all the activities are there, but in disorder and confusion. They are neither coordinated nor centralized nor unified around the central and unique truth and consciousness and will. So this brings us back precisely to this question of a collective yoga and of a collectivity capable of realizing it. What should this collectivity be?
It is certainly not an arbitrary construction of the type built by men, where everything is put pell-mell, without any order, without reality, and which is held together by only illusory ties. Here, these ties were symbolized by the hotels walls, while actually in ordinary human constructions (if we take a religious community, for example), they are symbolized by the building of a monastery, an identity of clothing, an identity of activities, an identity even of movementor to put it more precisely: everyone wears the same uniform, everyone gets up at the same time, everyone eats the same thing, everyone says his prayers together, etc.; there is an overall identity. But naturally, on the inside there remains the chaos of many disparate consciousnesses, each one following its own mode, for this kind of group identification, which extends right up to an identity of beliefs and dogma, is absolutely illusory.
Yet it is one of the most common types of human collectivityto group together, b and together, unite around a common ideal, a common action, a common realization but in an absolutely artificial way. In contrast to this, Sri Aurobindo tells us that a true communitywhat he terms a gnostic or supramental communitycan be based only upon the INNER REALIZATION of each one of its members, each realizing his real, concrete oneness and identity with all the other members of the community; that is, each one should not feel himself a member connected to all the others in an arbitrary way, but that all are one within himself. For each one, the others should be as much himself as his own bodynot in a mental and artificial way, but through a fact of consciousness, by an inner realization.
(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 the individual work must take the lead and the collective work follow; but the fact remains that spontaneously, without any arbitrary intervention of will the individual progress IS restrained or CHECKED, as It were, by the collective state. Between the collectivity and the individual, there exists an interdependence from which one cannot be totally free, even if one tries. and even he who might try, in his yoga, to free himself totally from the human and terrestrial state of consciousness, would be at least subconsciously bound by the state of the whole, which impedes and PULLS BACKWARDS. One can attempt to go much faster, one can attempt to let all the weight of attachments and responsibilities fall off, but in spite of everything, the realization of even the most advanced or the leader in the march of evolution is dependent upon the realization of the whole, dependent upon the state in which the terrestrial collectivity happens to be. and this PULLS backwards to such an extent that sometimes one has to wait centuries for the earth to be ready before being able to realize what is to be realized.
This is why Sri Aurobindo has also written somewhere else that a double movement is necessary: the effort for individual progress and realization must be combined with the effort of trying to uplift the whole so as to enable it to make a progress indispensable for the greater progress of the individual: a mass progress, if you will, that allows the individual to take a further step forward.
and now you underst and why I had thought it would be useful to have a few meditations in common, to work at creating a common atmosphere a bit more organized than my big hotel of last night!
So, the best way to use these meditations ( and they are going to increase, since we are now also going to replace the distributions with short meditations) is to go deep within yourselves, as far as you can, and find the place where you can feel, perceive and perhaps even create an atmosphere of oneness wherein a force of order and organization can put each element in its true place, and out of the chaos existing at this hour, make a new, harmonious world surge forth.
The Supramental Manifestation, (Cent. Ed. XVI, pp. 33-36.)
0 1957-07-18, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I have just received a letter from my friends in charge of the French Archaeological Expedition to Afghanistan. They need someone to assist them on their next field excavations (August 15 December 15) and have offered to take me if I wish to join them.
If I must have some new experience outside, this one has the advantage of being short-termed and not far away from India, and it is also in an interesting milieu. The only disadvantage is that I would have to pay for the trip as far as Kabul. But I dont want to do anything that displeases you or of which you do not really approve. In the event you might feel this to be a worthwhile experience, I would have to leave by the beginning of August.
I place this in your h ands, sincerely.
0 1957-09-27, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Had I not come as you are, I would never have been able to be close to you and tell you:
Become what I am.
0 1957-10-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There is no question of my ab andoning the path and I remain convinced that the only goal in life is spiritual. But I need things to help me along the way: I am not yet ripe enough to depend upon inner strength alone. and when I speak of the forest or a boat, it is not only for the sake of adventure or the feeling of space, but also because they mean a discipline. Outer constraints and difficulties help me, they force me to remain concentrated around that which is best in me. In a sense, life here is too easy. Yet it is also too hard, for one must depend on ones own discipline I do not yet have that strength, I need to be helped by outer circumstances. The very difficulty of life in the outside world helps me to be disciplined, for it forces me to concentrate all my vital strength in effort. Here, this vital part is unemployed, so it acts foolishly, it strains at the leash.
I doubt that a new experience outside can really resolve things, but I believe it might help me make it to the next stage and consolidate my inner life. and if you wish, I would return in a year or two.
I shall soon have completed the revision1 of The Life Divine and The Human Cycle, so I believe I shall have done the best I could, at present, to serve you. October 30th is my birthday. Could I leave immediately thereafter?
It is not because I am unhappy with the Ashram that I want to leave, but because I am unhappy with myself and because I want to master myself through other means.
I give you so little love, but I have tried my best, and my departure is not a betrayal.
Your child,
0 1957-10-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
One of the very first results of the supramental manifestation was to give the body a freedom and an autonomy it has never before known. and when I say freedom, I dont mean some psychological perception or an inner state of consciousness, but something else and far betterit is a new phenomenon in the body, in the cells of the body. For the first time, the cells themselves have felt that they are free, that they have the power to decide. When the new vibrations came and combined with the old ones, I felt it at once and it showed me that a new world was really taking birth.
In its normal state, the body always feels that it is not its own master: illnesses invade it without its really being able to resist thema thous and factors impose themselves or exert pressure upon it. Its sole power is the power to defend itself, to react. Once the illness has got in, it can fight and overcome iteven modern medicine has acknowledged that the body is cured only when it decides to get cured; it is not the drugs per se that heal, for if the ailment is temporarily suppressed by a drug without the bodys will, it grows up again elsewhere in some other form until the body itself has decided to be cured. But this implies only a defensive power, the power to react against an invading enemyit is not true freedom.
But with the supramental manifestation, something new has taken place in the body: it feels it is its own master, autonomous, with its two feet solidly on the ground, as it were. This gives a physical impression of the 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 where tothis is what men call Fate, Destiny. When you do yoga, one of the first experiences the experience of the kundalini, as it is called here in Indiais precisely one in which the consciousness rises, breaks through this hard lid, here, at the crown of the head, and at last you emerge into the Light. Then you see, you know, you decide and you realizedifficulties may still remain, but truly speaking one is above them. Well, as a result of the supramental manifestation, it is THIS experience that came into the body. The body straightened its head up and felt its freedom, its independence.
During the flu epidemic, for example, I spent every day in the midst of people who were germ carriers. and one day, I clearly felt that the body had decided not to catch this flu. It asserted its autonomy. You see, it was not a question of the higher Will deciding, no. It didnt take place in the highest consciousness: the body itself decided. When you are way above in your consciousness, you see things, you know things; but in actual fact, once you descend again into matter, it is like water running through s and. In this respect, things have changed, the body has a DIRECT power, independent of any outer intervention. Even though it is barely visible, I consider this to be a very important result.
and this new vibration in the body has allowed me to underst and the mechanism of the transformation. It is not something that comes from a higher Will, not a higher consciousness that imposes itself upon the body: it is the body itself awakening in its cells, a freedom of the cells themselves, an absolutely new vibration that sets disorders righteven disorders that existed prior to the supramental manifestation.
Naturally, all this is a gradual process, but I am hopeful that little by little this new consciousness will grow, gain ground and victoriously resist the old forces of destruction and annihilation, and this Fatality we believed to be so inexorable.
***
0 1957-10-18, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This evening, you spoke of the possibility of shortening the path of realization to a few months, days or hours. and yesterday, when you talked to me about the freedom of the body, you spoke of the experience of the Kundalini, of this breaking of the lid that makes you emerge once and for all, above difficulties, into the light.
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 therea 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 adhere, a particular method that I would stick to?
I am well aware that a supple attitude is recommended in the Yoga, yet for the 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.
0 1957-11-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The integral yoga is made up of an uninterrupted series of tests that you must pass through without any advance notice, thereby forcing you to be always vigilant and attentive.
Three groups of examiners conduct these tests. Apparently they have nothing in common and their methods are so different, at times even so seemingly contradictory, that they do not appear to work towards the same goal, and yet they complete one another, they work together for a common aim and each is indispensable for the integral result.
These three categories of tests are: those conducted by the forces of Nature, those conducted by the spiritual and divine forces, and those conducted by the hostile forces. This latter category is the most deceptive in its appearance, and a constant state of vigilance, sincerity and humility is required so as not to be caught by surprise or unprepared.
The most commonplace circumstances, people, the everyday events of life, the most seemingly insignificant things, all belong to one or another of these three categories of examiners. In this considerably complex organization of tests, those events generally considered the most important in life are really the easiest of all examinations to pass, for they find you prepared and on your guard. One stumbles more easily over the little pebbles on the path, for they attract no attention.
The qualities more particularly required for the tests of physical Nature are endurance and plasticity, cheerfulness and fearlessness.
For the spiritual tests: aspiration, confidence, idealism, enthusiasm and generosity in self-giving.
For the tests stemming from the hostile forces: vigilance, sincerity and humility.
But do not imagine that those who are tested are on one side and those who test on the other; depending upon the times and circumstances, we are both examiners and examined, and it may even happen that simultaneously, at the very same moment, we are the examined and the examiner. and whatever benefits we derive depend, in both quality and quantity, upon the intensity of our aspiration and the alertness of our consciousness.
To conclude, a final recommendation: never pose as an examiner. For while it is good to remember constantly that perhaps one is passing a very important test, it is, on the other h and, extremely dangerous to imagine oneself entrusted with applying tests to others, for that is an open door to the most absurd and harmful vanities. It is not an ignorant human will that decides these things but the Supreme Wisdom.
***
0 1957-11-13, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Widen yourself as far as the extreme bounds of the universe and beyond.
Take upon yourself always all the necessities of progress and dissolve them in the ecstasy of Unity. Then you will be divine.
***
0 1957-12-13, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Sweet Mother, 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. The world has lost all sense of the wonderful, all beauty of Adventure, this quest known to the knights of the Middle Ages. It is this that calls so relentlessly within me, this need for a quest in the world and for a beautiful Adventure which at the same time would be an adventure of the soul. How I wish that the two things, inner and outer, be JOINED, that the joy of action, of the open road and the quest help the souls blossoming, that they be like a prayer of the soul expressed in life. The knights of the Middle Ages knew this. Perhaps it is all childish and absurd in the 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 the everyday life of the Ashram, and know how to give myself better.
Mother, I feel all this very strongly; I need your help to follow the true path of my being and fulfill this new outer cycle, should you see that it has to be fulfilled. I feel so strongly that something remains for me to DO. Guide me, Sweet Mother.
Your child,
0 1957-12-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The other day you told me that in order to know things, you plug into the subtle plane, and there it all unrolls as on a tape recorder. How does this work, exactly?
There is a whole gradation of planes of consciousness, from the physical consciousness to my radiant consciousness at the very highest level, that which knows the Will of the Supreme. I keep all these planes of consciousness in front of me, working simultaneously, coordinatedly, and I am acting on each plane, gathering the information proper to each plane, so as to have the integral truth of things. Thus, when I have a decision to make in regard to one of you, I plug into you directly from that level of the supreme consciousness which sees the deep truth of your being. But at the same time, my decision is shaped, as it were, by the information given to me by the other planes of consciousness and particularly by the physical consciousness, which acts as a recorder.
This physical consciousness records all it sees, all your reactions, your thoughts, all the factswithout preference, without prejudice, without personal will. Nothing escapes it. Its work is almost mechanical. Therefore I know what to tell or to ask you according to the integral truth of your being and its present possibilities. Ordinarily, in the normal man, the physical consciousness does not see things as they are, for three reasons: because of ignorance, because of preference, and because of an egoistic will. You color what you see, eliminate what displeases you. In short, you see only what you desire to see.
Now, I recently had a very striking experience: a discrepancy occurred between my physical consciousness and the consciousness of the world. In some instances decisions made in the Light and the Truth produced unexpected results, upheavals in the consciousness of others that were neither foreseen nor desired, and I did not underst and. No matter how hard I tried, I could not underst and and I emphasize this word underst and. At last, I had to leave my highest consciousness and pull myself down into the physical consciousness to find out what was happening. and there, in my head, I saw what appeared to be a little cell bursting, and suddenly I understood: the recording had been defective. The physical consciousness had neglected to register certain of your lower reactions. It could not have been through preference or through personal will (these things were eliminated from my consciousness long, long ago). But I saw that this most material consciousness was already completely permeated with the transforming supramental truth, and it could no longer follow the rhythm of normal life. It was much more attuned to the true consciousness than to the world! I couldnt possibly blame it for lagging behind; on the contrary, it was in front, too far ahead! There was a discrepancy between the rhythm of the transformation of my being and the worlds own rhythm. The supramental action on the world is slow, it does not act directlyit acts by infiltration, by traversing the successive layers, and the results are slow to come about. So I had to pull myself violently down in order to wait for the others.
One must at times know how not to know.
This experience showed me once more the necessity to be perfectly humble before the Lord. It is not enough merely to rise to the heights, to the ethereal planes of consciousness: these planes have also to descend into matter and illuminate it. Otherwise, nothing is really done. One must have the patience to establish the communication between the high and the low. I am like a tempest, a hurricaneif I listened to myself, I would tear into the future, and everything would go flying! But then, there would no longer be any communication with the rest.
One must have the patience to wait.
Humility, a perfect humility, is the condition for all realization. The mind is so cocksure. It thinks it knows everything, underst ands everything. and if ever it acts through idealism to serve a cause that appears noble to it, it becomes even more arrogant more intransigent, and it is almost impossible to make it see that there might be something still higher beyond its noble conceptions and its great altruistic or other ideals. Humility is the only remedy. I am not speaking of humility as conceived by certain religions, with this God that belittles his creatures and only likes to see them down on their knees. When I was a child, this kind of humility revolted me, and I refused to believe in a God that wants to belittle his creatures. I dont mean that kind of humility, but rather the recognition that one does not know, that one knows nothing, and that there may be something beyond what presently appears to us as the truest, the most noble or disinterested. True humility consists in constantly referring oneself to the Lord, in placing all before Him. When I receive a blow ( and there are quite a few of them in my sadhana), my immediate, spontaneous reaction, like a spring, is to throw myself before Him and to say, Thou, Lord. Without this humility, I would never have been able to realize anything. and I say I only to make myself understood, but in fact I means the Lord through this body, his instrument. When you begin living THIS kind of humility, it means you are drawing nearer to the realization. It is the condition, the starting point.
***
--
Individually, at each moment and in each circumstance, the vision of the truth of the moment, of the circumstance, of the individual.
In the external consciousness, the impersonal and mechanical recording of what is happening and of what are the people and things that comprise both the field of action and the limitations imposed upon this action. The recording is innately automatic and mechanical, without any kind of evaluation, as objective as possible.
***
0 1958-01-01, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
and there is no limit
to the splendor of this collaboration.
--
There is nothing to explain. It is an experience, something that took place, and when it took place, I noted it down; and it so happens that it occurred just as I remembered that I had to write something for the new year (which at that time was the following year, that is, the year beginning today). When I remembered that I had to write somethingnot because of that, but simultaneouslythis experience came, and when I noted it down, I realized that it was the message for this year!
(Mother reads the notation of her experience)
During one of our classes (October 30, 1957), I spoke of the limitless abundance of Nature, this tireless Creatrice who takes the multitude of forms, mixes them together, separates them again and reforms them, again undoes them, again destroys them, 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, there are thous ands upon thous ands of forms and one year, a hundred years, a thous and years, millions of years, what difference does it make? Eternity lies before her! She 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 other, her reply is always the same: But what for? Why? Arent you enjoying it?
The evening I told you these 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. She understood that this newborn Consciousness does not seek to reject her, but wants to embrace her entirely. She understood that this new spirituality does not st and apart from life, does not timorously recoil before the awesome richness of her movement, but on the contrary wants to integrate all her facets. She understood that the supramental consciousness is not there to diminish her but to make her complete.
Then, from the supreme Reality came this comm and: Awaken, O Nature, to the joy of collaboration. and suddenly, all Nature rushed forth in an immense bounding of joy, saying, I accept! I will collaborate! and at the same time, there came a calm, an absolute tranquillity, to allow this receptacle, this body, to receive and contain without breaking and without losing anything of the Joy of Nature that was rushing forth in a movement of grateful recognition like an overwhelming flood. She accepted, she 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 the earth, I heard these great notes which are sometimes heard in the subtle physicalra ther like those of Beethovens Concerto in Dwhich come at moments of great progress, as though fifty orchestras were bursting forth all at once without a single discordant note, to sound the joy of this new communion of Nature and Spirit, the meeting of old friends who, after a long separation, find each other once more.
Then came these words: O Nature, Material Mother, thou hast said that thou wilt collaborate, and there is no limit to the splendor of this collaboration.
and the radiant felicity of this splendor was perceived in a perfect peace.
Such was the birth of this years message.
--
I have one thing to add: we must not misinterpret the 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 when we do not want it to rain, it will not rain! Or when we want some event to take place in the world, it will immediately take place, or that all difficulties will be abolished 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 the newly manifested Force and has included it in her movements. But as always, the movements of Nature take place on a scale infinitely surpassing the human scale and invisible to the ordinary human consciousness. It is more of an inner, psychological possibility that has been born in the 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. The time has not yet come.
--
We must have a great deal of patience and a very wide and very complex vision to underst and how things work.
(silence)
--
You first have to be able to follow the methods and the means of the Grace to recognize its action. You first have to be able to remain unblinded by appearances to see the deeper truth of things.
***
0 1958-01-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It is an error to confuse Joy and Felicity. They are two very different things. Not only are their vibrations different, but their colors are different. The color of Felicity is blue, a clear silvery blue (the blue of the Ashram flag), very luminous and transparent. and it has a passive and fresh quality that refreshes and rejuvenates.
Whereas Joy is a golden rose color, a pale gold with a tinge of red, a very pale red. It is active, warm, fortifying, intensifying. The first is sweetness, the second is tenderness.
and Blisswhat I spontaneously call Blissis the synthesis of both. It is found in the very heights of the supramental consciousness, in a diamond light, an uncolored, sparkling light containing all the 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 the same time. Divine tenderness is something very different from sweetnessit is a paroxysm of joy, a vibration so strong that the body feels it will burst, so it is forced to widen.
The diamond light of Bliss has the power to melt all hostile forces. Nothing can resist it. No consciousness, no being, no hostile will can draw near it without immediately being dissolved, for it is the Divine light in its pure creative power.
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 other than mine is needed. In short, you have to do the willing for me, to utter a word that would help me underst and truly that I must stay here. Grant me the grace of helping and enlightening me. I would like to decide without preference, in obedience to the 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.
--
A Sannyasi, or w andering monk, whom Satprem would join a few weeks later in Ceylon, on February 27, and who would initiate him as a Sannyasi. Unfortunately, almost all the correspondence from this period has been lost.
***
0 1958-02-03b - The Supramental Ship, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Between the beings of the supramental world and men, there exists approximately the same gap as between men and animals. Sometime ago, I had the experience of identification with animal life, and it is a fact that animals do not underst and us; their consciousness is so constituted that we elude them almost entirely. and yet I have known domestic animalscats and dogs, but especially catswho made an almost yogic effort of consciousness to underst and us. But generally, when they watch us living and acting, they dont underst and, they dont SEE US as we are and they suffer because of us. We are a constant enigma to them Only a very tiny part of their consciousness is linked to us. and it is the same for us when we try to look at the supramental world. Only when the link of consciousness has been built shall we see it and even then, only that part of our being which has undergone the transformation will be capable of seeing it as it isotherwise the two worlds would remain as separate as the animal world and the human world.
The experience I had on February 3 proves this. Before, I had had an individual, subjective contact with the supramental world, whereas on February 3, I went strolling there in a concrete wayas concretely as I used to go strolling in Paris in times pastin a world that EXISTS IN ITSELF, beyond all subjectivity.
--
The supramental world exists in a permanent way, and I am there permanently in a supramental body. I had proof of this today when my earthly consciousness went there and consciously remained there between two and three oclock in the afternoon: I now know that for the two worlds to join in a constant and conscious relationship what is missing is an intermediate zone between the existing physical world and the supramental world as it exists. This zone has yet to be built, both in the individual consciousness and in the objective world, and it is being built. When formerly I used to speak of the new world that is being created, I was speaking of this intermediate zone. and similarly, when I am on this side that is, in the realm of the physical consciousness and I see the supramental power, the supramental light and substance constantly permeating matter, I am seeing and participating in the construction of this zone.
I found myself upon an immense ship, which is the symbolic representation of the place where this work is being carried out. This ship, as big as a city, is thoroughly organized, and it had certainly already been functioning for quite some time, for its organization was fully developed. It is the place where people destined for the supramental life are being trained. These people (or at least a part of their being) had already undergone a supramental transformation because the ship itself and all that was aboard was neither material nor subtle-physical, neither vital nor mental: it was a supramental substance. This substance itself was of the most material supramental, the supramental substance nearest the physical world, the first to manifest. The light was a blend of red and gold, forming a uniform substance of luminous orange. Everything was like that the light was like that, the people were like thateverything had this color, in varying shades, however, which enabled things to be distinguished from one another. The overall impression was of a shadowless world: there were shades, but no shadows. The atmosphere was full of joy, calm, order; everything worked smoothly and silently. At the same time, I could see all the details of the education, the training in all domains by which the people on board were being prepared.
This immense ship had just arrived at the shore of the supramental world, and a first batch of people destined to become the future inhabitants of the supramental world were about to disembark. Everything was arranged for this first l anding. A certain number of very tall beings were posted on the wharf. They were not human beings and never before had they been men. Nor were they permanent inhabitants of the supramental world. They had been delegated from above and posted there to control and supervise the l anding. I was in charge of all this since the beginning and throughout. I myself had prepared all the groups. I was st anding on the bridge of the ship, calling the groups forward one by one and having them disembark on the shore. The tall beings posted there seemed to be reviewing those who were disembarking, allowing those who were ready to go ashore and sending back those who were not and who had to continue their training aboard the ship. While st anding there watching everyone, that part of my consciousness coming from here became extremely interested: it wanted to see, to identify all the people, to see how they had changed and to find out who had been taken immediately as well as those who had to remain and continue their training. After awhile, as I was observing, I began to feel pulled backwards and that my body was being awakened by a consciousness or a person from here1 and in my consciousness, I protested: No, no, not yet! Not yet! I want to see whos there! I was watching all this and noting it with intense interest It went on like that until, suddenly, the clock here began striking three, which violently jerked me back. There was the sensation of a sudden fall into my body. I came back with a shock, but since I had been called back very suddenly, all my memory was still intact. I remained quiet and still until I could bring back the whole experience and preserve it.
The nature of objects on this ship was not that which we know upon earth; for example, the clothes were not made of cloth, and this thing that resembled cloth was not manufacturedit was a part of the body, made of the same substance that took on different forms. It had a kind of plasticity. When a change had to be made, it was done not by artificial and outer means but by an inner working, by a working of the consciousness that gave the substance its form or appearance. Life created its own forms. There was ONE SINGLE substance in all things; it changed the nature of its vibration according to the needs or uses.
Those who were sent back for more training were not of a uniform color; their bodies seemed to have patches of a grayish opacity, a substance resembling the earth substance. They were dull, as though they had not been wholly permeated by the light or wholly transformed. They were not like this all over, but in places.
The tall beings on the shore were not of the same color, at least they did not have this orange tint; they were paler, more transparent. Except for a part of their bodies, only the outline of their forms could be seen. They were very tall, they did not seem to have a skeletal structure, and they could take on any form according to their needs. Only from their waists to their feet did they have a permanent density, which was not felt in the rest of their body. Their color was much more pallid and contained very little red, it verged rather on gold or even white. The parts of whitish light were translucid; they were not absolutely transparent, but less dense, more subtle than the orange substance.
Just as I was called back, when I was saying, Not yet , I had a quick glimpse of myself, of my form in the supramental world. I was a mixture of what these tall beings were and the beings aboard the ship. The top part of myself, especially my head, was a mere silhouette of a whitish color with an orange fringe. The more it approached the feet, the more the color resembled that of the people on the ship, or in other words, orange; the more it went up towards the top, the more translucid and white it was, and the red faded. The head was only a silhouette with a brilliant sun at its center; from it issued rays of light which were the action of the will.
As for the people I saw aboard ship, I recognized them all. Some were here in the Ashram, some came from elsewhere, but I knew them as well. I saw everyone, but as I realized that I would not remember everyone when I came back, I decided not to give any names. Besides, it is unnecessary. Three or four faces were very clearly visible, and when I saw them, I understood the feeling that I have had here, on earth, while looking into their eyes: there was such an extraordinary joy On the whole, the people were young; there were very few children, and their ages were around fourteen or fifteen, but certainly not below ten or twelve (I did not stay long enough to see all the details). There were no very old people, with the exception of a few. Most of the 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 where people capable of being supramentalized are examined; I had then had a few surprises which I had noted I even told some people. But those whom I disembarked today I saw very distinctly. They were of a middle age, neither 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 the end, it would be impossible for me to draw an exact picture, for it was neither absolutely clear nor complete. I do not want to say things to some and not say them to others.
What I can say is that the criterion or the judgment was based EXCLUSIVELY on the substance constituting the peoplewhe ther they belonged completely to the supramental world or not, whether they were made of this very special substance. The criterion adopted was neither moral nor psychological. It is likely that their bodily substance was the result of an inner law or an inner movement which, at that time, was not in question. At least it is quite clear that the values are different.
When I came back, along with the memory of the experience, I knew that the supramental world was permanent, that my presence there is permanent, and that only a missing link is needed to allow the consciousness and the substance to connect and it is this link that is being built. At that time, my impression (an impression which remained rather long, almost the whole day) was of an extreme relativityno, not exactly that, but an impression that the relationship between this world and the other completely changes the criterion by which things are to be evaluated or judged. This criterion had nothing mental about it, and it gave the strange inner feeling that so many things we consider good or bad are not really so. It was very clear that everything depended upon the capacity of things and upon their ability to express the supramental world or be in relationship with it. It was so completely different, at times even so opposite to our ordinary way of looking at things! I recall one little thing that we usually consider bad actually how funny it was to see that it is something excellent! and other things that we consider important were really quite unimportant there! Whether it was like this or like that made no difference. What is very obvious is that our appreciation of what is divine or not divine is incorrect. I even laughed at certain things Our usual feeling about what is anti-divine seems artificial, based upon something untrue, unliving (besides, what we call life here appeared lifeless in comparison with that world); in any event, this feeling should be based upon our relationship between the two worlds and according to whether things make this relationship easier or more difficult. This would thus completely change our evaluation of what brings us nearer to the Divine or what takes us away from Him. With people, too, I saw that what helps them or prevents them from becoming supramental is very different from what our ordinary moral notions imagine. I felt just how ridiculous we are.
(Then Mother speaks to the children)
--
But one thing and I wish to stress this point to youwhich now seems to me to be the most essential difference between our world and the supramental world ( and it is only after having gone there consciously, with the 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 the values of ordinary physical life is based upon truth. Just as we have to buy cloth, sew it together, then put it on our backs in order to dress ourselves, likewise we have to take things from outside and then put them inside our bodies in order to feed ourselves. For everything, our life is artificial.
A true, sincere, spontaneous life, as in the supramental world, is a springing forth of things through the 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, whereas he who does not has no artificial means of getting what he desires.
In ordinary life, EVERYTHING is artificial. Depending upon the 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 the spontaneous, natural and sincere expression of your way of being and of your inner need, but because the fortuity of lifes circumstances has placed you in contact with these 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, whereas he would be a wholly useful individual if the 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.
But instead of feeling grieved, morose, rebellious, discontent, I had rather the feeling of what I spoke of at the end: of such a ridiculous absurdity that for several days I was seized with an uncontrollable laughter whenever I saw things and people! Such a tremendous laughter, so absolutely inexplicable (except to me), because of the ridiculousness of these situations.
When I invited you on a voyage into the unknown, a voyage of adventure,2 I did not know just how true were my words! and I can promise those who are ready to embark upon this adventure that they will make some very astonishing discoveries.
Indeed, one of the people near Mother had pulled Her out of the experience.
See Questions and Answers, (July 10, 1957).
***
0 1958-02-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Last night, I had the vision of what this supramental world could become if men were not sufficiently prepared. The confusion existing at present upon earth is nothing in comparison to what could take place. Imagine that every powerful will has the power to transform matter as it likes! If the sense of collective oneness did not grow in proportion to the development of power, the resulting conflict would be yet more acute and chaotic than our material conflicts.
***
0 1958-02-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
These surface things are not dramatic. More and more, they seem to me like soap bubbles, especially since February 3.
Some people come to see me in utter despair, in tears, in what they call terrible moral suffering; when I see them like that I slightly shift the needle in that part of my consciousness containing all of you, and when they leave, they are completely relieved. It is just like a compass needle I slightly shift the needle in my consciousness, and its over. Naturally, through habit, it returns later on. But these are mere soap bubbles.
I too have known suffering, but there was always a part of me that knew how to hold itself back and remain aloof.
The only thing in the world that still appears intolerable to me now is all physical deterioration, physical suffering, the ugliness the powerlessness to express this capacity of beauty inherent in every being. But this, too, will be conquered one day. Here, too the power will come one day to shift the needle a little. Only, one has to climb higher in consciousness: the deeper into matter you want to descend, the higher must you ascend in consciousness.
0 1958-03-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Since my departure, I have been feeling your Force continually, almost constantly. and I feel an infinite gratitude that you are there, and that this thread from you to me keeps me anchored to something in this world. Simply knowing that you exist, that you are there, that I have a goal, a centerfills me with infinite gratitude. On a street in Madras, the day after I left, I suddenly had a poignant experience: I felt that if that were not in me, I would fall to pieces on the sidewalk, I would crumble, nothing would be left, nothing. and this experience remains. Like a litany, something keeps repeating almost incessantly, I need you, need you, I have only you, you alone in the world. You are all my present, all my future, I have only you Mother, I am living in a state of need, like hunger.
On the way, I stopped at J and Es place. They are living like native fishermen, in loincloths, in a coconut grove by the sea. The place is exceedingly beautiful, and the sea full of rainbow-hued coral. and suddenly, within twenty-four hours, I realized an old dreamor rather, I purged myself of an old and tenacious dream: that of living on a Pacific isl and as a simple fisherman. and all at once, I saw, in a flash, that this kind of life totally lacks a center. You float in a nowhere. It plunges you into some kind of higher inertia, an illumined inertia, and you lose all true substance.
As for me, I am totally out of my element in this new life, as though I were uprooted from myself. I am living in the temple, in the midst of pujas,1 with white ashes on my forehead, barefoot dressed like a Hindu, sleeping on cement at night, eating impossible curries, with some good sunburns to complete the cooking. and there I am, clinging to you, for if you were not there I would collapse, so absurd would it all be. You are the only realityhow many times have I repeated this to myself, like a litany! Apart from this, I am holding up quite well physically. But inside and outside, nothing is left but you. I need you, thats all. Mother, this world is so horrifyingly empty. I really feel that I would evaporate if you werent there. Well, no doubt I had to go through this experience Perhaps I will be able to extract some book from it that will be of use to you. We are like children who need a lot of pictures in order to underst and, and a few good kicks to realize our complete stupidity.
Swami must soon take to the road again, through Ceylon, towards March 20 or 25. So I shall go w andering with him until May; towards the beginning of May, he will return to India. I hope to have learned my lesson by then, and to have learned it well. Inwardly, I have understood that there is only you but its these problem children on the surface who must be made to toe the line once and for all.
Sweet Mother, I am in a hurry to work for you. Will you still want me? Mother, 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 the world.
--
It is good, very goodin truth, everything is taking place as expected, as the best expected. and I am so happy for this.
To your question, I reply: I do not think of you, I feel you; you are with me, I am with you, in the light
Your place has remained vacant here; you alone can fill it, and it awaits your return, when the moment comes.
As soon as the problem children on the surface will also have learned their lesson, you have only to let me know of the date of your return and you will be welcome.
With you always and everywhere.
Signed: Mother
0 1958-04-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I was waiting for things to be well established in me before writing you again. An important change has occurred: it seems that something in me has clickedwhat Sri Aurobindo calls the central will, perhaps and I am living literally in the obsession of divine realization. This is what I want, nothing else, it is the only goal in life, and at last I have understood (not with the head) that the outer realization in the world will be the consequence of the inner realization. So thous ands of times a day, I repeat, Mother, 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, when you want. There is in me now a kind of need for perfection, a will to abolish this ego, a real underst anding that to become your instrument means at the same time to find the 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 the same time, I saw that it is you who is doing everything, you who aspires in me, you who wants the progress, and that all I myself am in this affair is a screen, a resisting obstacle. O Mother, break this screen that I may be wholly transparent before you, that your transforming force may purify all the secret recesses in my being, that nothing may remain but you and you alone. O Mother, may all my being be a living expression of your light, your truth.
Mother, from the depths of my being, I offer you a sole prayer: may I become your more and more perfect instrument, a sword of light in your h ands. Oh, to get out of this ego that belittles everything, diminishes everything, to emerge from it! All is falsehood in it.
and I, who understood nothing of love, am beginning to suspect who Satprem is. Mother, your grace is infinite, it has accompanied me everywhere in my life.
We are still in Kataragama, and we shall only go up to northern Ceylon, to Jaffna, around the 15th, then return to India towards the beginning of May if the visa problems are settled. Only in India, at the temple of Rameswaram, can I receive the 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.)
Mother, I am seeing all the mean pettiness that obstructs your divine work. Destroy my smallness and take me unto you. May I be sincere, integrally sincere.
With infinite gratitude, I am your child.
--
P.S. My system is not in perfect condition due to this absurdly spiced food, and the river water that is used for everything.
***
0 1958-05-01, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
These days I am having every possible experience in the body, one after the other. Yesterday and this morning oh, this morning!
I saw there (center of the heart) the Master of the Yoga; he was no different from me, but nevertheless I saw him, and he even seemed slightly imbued with color. Well, he does everything, he decides everything, he organizes everything with an almost mathematical precision and in the smallest detailseverything.
To do the divine Will I have been doing the sadhana for a long time, and I can say that not a day has passed that I have not done the Divines Will. But I didnt know what it was! I was living in all the inner realms, from the subtle physical to the highest regions, yet I didnt know what it was I always had to listen, to refer things, to pay attention. Now, no morebliss! There 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 the best possible way.
Only now am I beginning to underst and what Sri Aurobindo has written in The Synthesis of Yoga! and the human mind, the physical mind, appears so stupid, so stupid!
***
0 1958-05-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This morning, I suddenly looked at my body (usually, I dont look at it I am inside it, working), I looked at my body and said to myself, Lets see, what would a witness say about this body?the witness Sri Aurobindo speaks of in The Synthesis of Yoga. Nothing very remarkable. So I formulated it like this (Mother reads a written note):
This body has neither the uncontested authority of a god nor the imperturbable calm of the sage.
--
I saw and understood very well that by concentrating, I could have given it the attitude of the absolute authority of the eternal Mother. When Sri Aurobindo told me, You are She, at the same time he bestowed upon my body this attitude of absolute authority. But as I had the inner vision of this truth, I concerned myself very little with the imperfections of the physical body I didnt bother about that, I only used it as an instrument. Sri Aurobindo did the sadhana for this body, which had only to remain constantly open to his action.1
Afterwards, when he left and I had to do the Yoga myself, to be able to take his physical place, I could have adopted the attitude of the sage, which is what I did since I was in an unparalleled state of calm when he left. As he left his body and entered into mine, he told me, You will continue, you will go right to the end of the work. It was then that I imposed a calm upon this body the calm of total detachment. and I could have remained like that.
But in a way, absolute calm implies withdrawal from action, so a choice had to be made between one or the other. I said to myself, I am neither exclusively this nor exclusively that. and actually, to do Sri Aurobindos work is to realize the Supramental on earth. So I began that work and, as a matter of fact, this was the only thing I asked of my body. I told it, Now you shall set right everything which is out of order and gradually realize this intermediate supermanhood between man and the supramental being or, in other words, what I call the superman.
and this is what I have been doing for the last eight years, and even much more during the past two years, since 1956. Now it is the work of each day, each minute.
Thats where I am. I have renounced the uncontested authority of a god, I have renounced the unshakable calm of the sage in order to become the superman. I have concentrated everything upon that.
--
The difficulty is greater for Westerners than for Indians. Its as though their substance were steeped in falsehood. It also happens with Indians, of course, but generally the falsehood is much more in the vital than in the physicalbecause after all, the physical has been utilized by bodies belonging to enlightened beings. The European substance seems steeped in rebellion; in the Indian substance this rebelliousness is subdued by an influence of surrender. The other day, someone was telling me about some Europeans with whom he corresponds, and I said, But tell them to read, to learn, to follow The Synthesis of Yoga!it leads you straight to the path. Whereupon he replied, Oh, but they say its full of talk on surrender, surrender, always surrender and they want none of it.
They want none of it! Even if the mind accepts, the body and the vital refuse. and when the body refuses, it refuses with the stubbornness of a stone.
Is it not due to the bodys unconsciousness?
No. From the minute it is conscious, it is conscious of its own falsehood! It is conscious of this law, of that law, of this third law that fourth law, this tenth laweverything is a law. We are subject to physical laws: this will produce such and such a result if you do that, this will happen, etc. Oh! It reeks! I know it well. I know it very well. These laws reek of falsehood. In the body, we have no faith in the divine Grace, none, none, none, none! Those who have not undergone a tapasya2 as I have, say, Yes, all these inner moral things, feelings, psychology, all that is very good; we want the Divine and we are ready to But all the same, material facts are material facts, they have their concrete reality, after all an illness is an illness, food is food, and everything you do has a consequence, and when you are bah, bah, bah, bah, bah!
We must underst and that this isnt trueit isnt true, its a falsehood, all this is sheer falsehood. It is NOT TRUE, it is not true!
If only we would accept the Supreme inside our bodies, if we had the experience I had a few days ago3: the supreme Knowledge in action along with the complete abolition of all consequences, past and future. Each second has its own eternity and its own law, which is a law of absolute truth.
When I had this experience, I understood that only a month ago I was still uttering mountain-sized imbecilities. and I laughed to the point of almost approving those who say, But all the same, the Supreme does not decide the number of sugar cubes you put in your coffee! That would be to project your own way of being onto the Supreme. But this is an Himalayan imbecility! It is a stupidity, the minds pretentious stupidity projecting itself onto the divine life and imagining that the divine life conforms to its own projection.
The Supreme does not decide: He knows. The Supreme does not want: He sees. and it is so for each thous andth of a second, eternally. Thats all. and it is the only true condition.
I know that the experience I had the other day is new and that I was the first person on earth to have it. But it is the only thing that is true. All the rest
I began my sadhana at birth, without knowing that I was doing it. I have continued it throughout my whole life, which means for almost eighty years (even though for perhaps the first three or four years of my life it was only something stirring about in unconsciousness). But I began a deliberate, conscious sadhana at about the age of twenty-two or twenty-three, upon prepared ground. I am now more than eighty years old: I have thought of nothing but that, I have wanted nothing but that, I had no other interest in life, and not for a single minute have I ever forgotten that it was THAT that I wanted. There were not periods of remembering and forgetting: it was continuous, unceasing, day and night, from the age of twenty-four and I had this experience for the first time about a week ago! So, I say that people who are in a hurry, people who are impatient, are arrogant fools.
It is a hard path. I try to make it as comfortable as possible, but nevertheless, it is a hard path. and it is obvious that it cannot be otherwise. You are beaten and battered until you underst and. 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 the head, but the body too finds it laughable!
(silence)
--
From the positive point of view, I am convinced that we agree upon the result to be obtained, that is, an integral and unreserved consecrationin love, knowledge and actionto the Supreme and TO HIS WORK. I say to the Supreme and to his work because consecration to the Supreme alone is not enough. Now we are here for the 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 other words, that you have the will to realize it.
From the negative point of view I mean the difficulties to be overcomeone of the most serious obstacles is that the ignorant and falsifying outer consciousness, the ordinary consciousness legitimizes all the so-called physical laws, causes, effects and consequences, all that science has discovered physically and materially. All this is an unquestionable reality to the consciousness, a reality that remains independent and absolute even in the face of the eternal divine Reality.
and it is so automatic that it is unconscious.
When it is a question of movements like anger, desire, etc., you recognize that they are wrong and must disappear, but when material laws are in questionlaws of the body, for example, its needs, its health, its nourishment, all those things they have such a solid, compact, established and concrete reality that it appears absolutely unquestionable.
Well, to be able to cure that, which of all the obstacles is the greatest (I mean the habit of putting spiritual life on one side and material life on the other, of acknowledging the right of material laws to exist), one must make a resolution never to legitimize any of these movements, at any cost.
To be able to see the problem as it is, it is absolutely indispensable, as a first step, to get out of the mental consciousness, even out of a mental transcription (in the highest mind) of the supramental vision and truth. A thing cannot be seen as it is, in its truth, except in the supramental consciousness, and if you try to explain, it immediately begins to escape you because you are obliged to give it a mental formulation.
As for me, I saw the thing only at the time of this experience,4 and as a result of this experience. But it is impossible to formulate even the experience itself, and as soon as I endeavored to formulate it and the more I was able to formulate it, the more the thing faded, escaped.
Consequently, if you do not remember having had the experience, you are left in the same condition as before, but with the difference that now you know, you can know, that these material laws do not correspond to the truth thats all. They do not at all correspond to the truth, so consequently, if you want to be faithful to your aspiration, you must in no way legitimize all that. Rather, you must say that it is an infirmity from which we are suffering for the moment, for an intermediate periodit is an infirmity and an ignorance for it really is an ignorance (this is not just a word): it is ignorance, it is not the thing as it is, even in regard to our present material bodies. Therefore, we will not legitimize anything. What we say is thisit is an infirmity which has to be endured for the time being, until we get out of it, but we do NOT ACKNOWLEDGE all this as a concrete reality. It does NOT have a concrete reality, it has a false realitywhat we call concrete reality is a false reality.
and the proof I have the proof because I experienced it myselfis that from the minute you are in the other consciousness, the true consciousness, all these things which appear so real, so concrete, change INSTANTLY. There are a number of things, certain material conditions of my bodymaterial that changed instantly. It did not last long enough for everything to change, but some things changed and never returned, they remained changed. In other words, if that consciousness were kept constantly, it would be a perpetual miracle (what we would call a miracle from our ordinary point of view), a fantastic and perpetual miracle! But from the supramental point of view, it would not be a miracle at all, it would be the most normal of things.
Therefore, if we do not want to oppose the supramental action by an obscure, inert and obstinate resistance, we have to admit once and for all that none of these things should be legitimized.
This last sentence was later added by Mother in writing.
0 1958-05-11 - the ship that said OM, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
One of the things that most gives me the feeling of the miraculous is when these obscure throngs1really tamasic2 beings, in fact, with children crying, people coughingwhen all that is gathered there, and then suddenly silence.
Each time that happens, I have truly the feeling of a miracle! I immediately say, Oh, Lord! Your Grace is infinite!
--
Something quite curious took place during a recent meditation. I no longer recall when exactly, but it was at a time when there were many visitors, for the 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 then a second time, OM. What an impact it had upon me! I felt an emotion here (gesture towards the 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 the whole meditation the 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. The reply was, But it was the ship leaving! There was actually a ship which had left during the night3that is in support of those who said it was a ship. But for me, it was SOMEONE because I felt someone there and I thought, Oh! If someone, in the ardor of his soul, said that in this what I could call an atheistic silence. Because people here are so afraid of following tradition, of being the slaves of the old things, that they 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 the fraction of a second. and then
In any event, if it wasnt a man, if it was a ship, then the ship said it! Because it was THATit was that, it was nothing other than an invocation. and the result was fantastic!
People immediately thought, Oh, its the ship! Well, even if it was a ship, it was the ship that said OM!
and then I wondered, If we were to repeat the mantra we heard the other day4 (Om Namo Bhagavateh) during the half-hour meditation, what would happen?
What would happen?
and these things act upon my body. It is strange, but it coagulates something: all the cellular life becomes one solid, compact mass, in a tremendous concentrationwith a single vibration. Instead of all the usual vibrations of the body, there is now only one single vibration. It becomes as hard as a diamond, a single massive concentration, as if all the cells of the body had
I became stiff from it. When the forest scene5 was over, I was so stiff that I was like that (gesture): one single mass.
Mother is referring to her 'Darshan' when four times a year She appeared on her balcony high above the assembled mass of disciples and visitors on the street below. The 'darshan days' were February 21, April 24, August 15 and November 24.
Tamas: in Indian psychology, inertia and obscurity.
The waters off Pondicherry occasionally serve as a port.
0 1958-05-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Actually, when I myself am perfect, I believe that all the rest will become perfect automatically. But it does not seem possible to become perfect without there being a beginning of realization from the other side. So it proceeds like that, bumping from one side to the other, and we go stumbling along like a drunken man!
***
0 1958-05-30, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
As a matter of fact, my tendency is more and more towards something in which the role of these hostile forces will be reduced to that of an examinerwhich means that they are there to test the sincerity of your spiritual quest. These elements have a reality in their action and for the workthis is their great reality but when you go beyond a certain region, it all grows dim to such a degree that it is no longer so well defined, so distinct. In the occult world, or rather if you look at the world from the occult point of view, these hostile forces are very real, their action is very real, quite concrete, and their attitude towards the divine realization is positively hostile; but as soon as you go beyond this region and enter into the spiritual world where there is no longer anything but the Divine in all things, and where there is nothing undivine, then these hostile forces become part of the total play and can no longer be called hostile forces: it is only an attitude that they have adoptedor more precisely, it is only an attitude adopted by the Divine in his play.
This again belongs to the dualities that Sri Aurobindo speaks of in (The Synthesis of Yoga, these dualities that are being reabsorbed. I dont know if he spoke of this particular one; I dont think so, but its the same thing. Its again a certain way of seeing. He has written of the Personal-Impersonal duality, Ishwara-Shakti, Purusha-Prakriti but there is still one more: Divine and anti-divine.
***
0 1958-06-06 - Supramental Ship, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Its all the same thing, but the word realization can be reserved for something that is durable, that does not wear off. Because everything on earth fades awayeverything fades away, nothing remains. In this sense, there has never been any realization, for everything fades away. Nothing is ever permanent. and I know for myself: I am doing the sadhana at a gallop, as it were; never are two experiences identical nor do they recur in the same way. As soon as something is established, the next thing begins immediately. It may appear to fade away, but it doesnt fade away; rather, it is the basis upon which the next thing is built.
***
This morning while I was on the balcony, I had an interesting experience: the experience of mans effort, in all its forms and through all the ages, to approach the Divine. and I seemed to be growing wider and wider so that all the forms and all the ways of approaching the Divine attempted by man would be contained in the present Work.
It was represented by a kind of image in which I was as vast as the Universe, and each way of approaching the Divine was like a tiny image containing the characteristic form of this approach. and my impression was this: Why do people always limit, limit themselves? Narrow, narrow, narrow! They underst and only when it is narrow.
Take all! Take all within you. and then you will begin to underst andyou will begin.
***
It was in 1910 that I had this sort of reversal of consciousness about which I spoke the other evening that is, the first contact with the higher Divine and it completely changed my life.
From that moment on, I was conscious that all one does is the expression of the indwelling Divine Will. But it is the Divine Will AT THE VERY CENTER of oneself, although for a while there remained an activity in the physical mind. But this was stilled two or three days after I saw Sri Aurobindo for the first time in 1914, and it never started up again. Silence settled. and the consciousness was established above the head.
In the first experience [of 1910], the consciousness was established in the psychic depths of the being, and from that poise issued the feeling of no longer doing anything but what the Divine wantedit was the consciousness that the divine Will was all-powerful and that there was no longer any personal will, although there was still some mental activity and everything had to be made silent. In 1914, it was silenced, and the consciousness was established above the head. Here (the heart) and here (above the head), the connection is constant.
Does one exclude the other?
They exist simultaneously; its the same thing. When you start becoming truly conscious, you realize that it depends upon the kinds of activities you have to do. When you do a certain kind of work, it is in the heart that the Force gathers to radiate outwards, and when you do another kind of work, it is above the head that the Force concentrates to radiate outwards, but the two are not separate: the center of activity is here or there depending upon what you have to do.
As for the latest experience,1 I cant say for sure that no one has ever had it, because someone like Ramakrishna, individuals like that, could have had it. But I am not sure, for when I had this experience (not of the divine Presence, which I had already felt in the cells for a long time, but the experience that the Divine ALONE is acting in the body, that He has BECOME the body, yet all the while retaining his character of divine omniscience and omnipotence) well, the whole time it remained actively like that, it was absolutely impossible to have the LEAST disorder in the body, and not only in the body, but IN ALL THE SURROUNDING MATTER. It was as if every object obeyed without even needing to decide to obey: it was automatic. There was a divine harmony in EVERYTHING (it took place in my bathroom upstairs, certainly to demonstrate that it exists in the most trivial things), in everything, constantly. So if that is established in a permanent way, there CAN NO LONGER be illness it is impossible. There can no longer be accidents, there can no longer be illness, there can no longer be disorders, and everything should harmonize (probably in a progressive way) just as that was harmonized: all the objects in the bathroom were full of a joyful enthusiasmeverything obeyed, everything!
As it was the first experience, it started to fade slightly when I began having contact with people; but I really had the feeling that it was a first experience, new upon earth. For I have experienced an absolute identity of the will with the divine Will ever since 1910, it has never left me. It isnt that, its SOMETHING ELSE. It is MATTER BECOMING THE DIVINE. and it really came with the feeling that this thing was happening for the first time upon earth. It is difficult to say for sure, but Ramakrishna died of cancer, and now that I have had the experience, I know in an ABSOLUTE way that this is impossible. If he had decided to go because the Divine wanted him to go, it would have been an orderly departure, in total harmony and with a total will, whereas this illness is a means of disorder.
Is this experience of May 1 related to the Supramental Manifestation of 1956? Is it a supramental experience?
It is the result of the descent of the supramental substance into Matter. Only this substancewhat it has put into physical Mattercould have made it possible. It is a new ferment. From the material st andpoint, it removes from physical Matter its tamas, the heaviness of its unconsciousness, and from the psychological st andpoint, 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 the body which changes all the vibrations around it.
It is likely that the greatest resistance will be in the most conscious beings due to a lack of mental receptivity, due to the mind itself which wants things to continue (as Sri Aurobindo has written) according to its own mode of ignorance. So-called inert matter is much more easily responsive, much moreit does not resist. and I am convinced that among plants, for example, or among animals, the response will be much quicker than among men. It will be more difficult to act upon a very organized mind; beings who live in an entirely crystallized, organized mental consciousness are as hard as stone! It resists. According to my experience, what is unconscious will certainly follow more easily. It was a delight to see the water from the tap, the mouthwash in the bottle, the glass, the spongeit all had such an air of joy and consent! There is much less ego, you see, it is not a conscious ego.
The ego becomes more and more conscious and resistant as the being develops. Very primitive, very simple beings, little children will respond first, because they dont have an organized ego. But these big people! People who have worked on themselves, who have mastered themselves, who are organized, who have an ego made of steel, it will be difficult for them.
Unless they go beyond all this and have enough spiritual knowledge to be able to make the ego surrender in which case the realization will naturally be much greaterit will be more difficult to accomplish, but the result will be far more complete.
When you had this experience of February 3, 1958 [the supramental ship], the vision of your usual consciousness, which is nevertheless a Truth Consciousness, no longer seemed true to you at all. Did you see things you had never before seen, or did you see things in another way?
--
This consciousness here is true in relation to this world as it is, but the other is something else entirely. An adjustment is needed for the two to touch, otherwise one jumps from one to the other. and that serves no purpose. A progressive passage has to be built between the two. This means that a whole number of rungs of consciousness are missing. This consciousness here must consciously connect with that consciousness there, which means a multitude of stairs passing from one to the other. Then we will be able to rise up progressively, and the whole will arise.
Its action will be somewhat similar to what is described in the Last Judgment, which is an entirely symbolic expression of something that makes us discern between what belongs to the 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 the other to the other 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 the two but all that belongs incorrigibly to falsehood and ignorance will disappear. This was also prophesied in the Gita: among what we call the hostile or anti-divine forces, those capable of being transformed will be uplifted and go off towards the new consciousness, whereas all that is irrevocably in darkness or belongs to an evil will shall be destroyed and vanish from the Universe. and a whole part of humanity that has responded to these forces rather too zealously will certainly vanish with them. and this is what was expressed in this concept of the Last Judgment.
May 1, 1958.
0 1958-06-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Do not ask questions about the details of the material existence of this body: they are in themselves of no interest and must not attract attention.
Throughout all this life, knowingly or unknowingly, I have been what the Lord wanted me to be, I have done what the Lord wanted me to do. That alone matters.
0 1958-07-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Something I have never said completely. On the one h and, there is the attitude of those in yesterday evenings film2: God is everything, God is everywhere, 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 the world as it is: the world is the perfect expression of the divine Will. On the other h and, there is the attitude of progress and transformation. But for that, you must recognize that there are things in the world which are not as they should be.
In The Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo says that this idea of good and bad, of pure and impure, is a notion needed for action; but the purists, such as Chaitanya, Ramakrishna and others, do not agree. They do not agree that it is indispensable for action. They simply say: your acceptance of action as a necessary thing is contrary to your perception of the Divine in all things.
How can the two be reconciled?
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 further, for they could not decipher anything or find any meaning in what I was saying. But now I could give a very simple answer: Let the Supreme do the work. It is He who has to progress, not you!
Ramdas does not at all consider that the world as it is, is good.
No, but I know all these people, I know them thoroughly! I know Chaitanya, Ramakrishna and Ramdas thoroughly. They are utterly familiar to me. It doesnt bother them. These are people who live with a certain feeling, who have an entirely concrete experience and live in this experience, but they dont care at all if their formation they have not even crystallized it, they leave it like that, vaguecontains things that are mutually contradictory, because, in appearance, they reconcile them. They do not raise any questions, they do not have the need for an absolutely clear vision; their feeling is absolutely clear, and thats enough for them. Ramakrishna was like that; he said the most contradictory things without being bothered in the least, and they are all exactly and equally true.
But this crystal clear vision Sri Aurobindo had, where everything is in its place, where contradictions no longer existthey never soared to that height. This was the thing, this really crystalline, perfect supramental vision, even from the st andpoint of underst anding and knowledge. They never went that far.
***
--
When the Grace acts on the collectivity, each thing, each element, each principle, is put in its place as the result of a karmic logic in the universal movement. This is what gives us the impression of disorder and confusion as we see it.
When the Grace acts on the individual, it gives to each the maximum position according to what he is and what he has realized.
and then, there 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 the universal cosmic position is ahead of the individuals progress.
and it is then that you should keep silent and fall on your knees.
Ramdas: a yogi from Northwest India who followed the path of love (bhakti). His whole yoga consisted in repeating the name Ram. He founded the An and-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 the present difficulties,1 and I think if he has not concluded that I am totally mad, it is because he has an immense respect for me! But as always in these cases, there is such a joy in me, such an exultation: all the cells are dancing. I underst and why people begin singing, dancing, etc. It takes a formidable power to remain like that (gesture of solidity): there is such a desire in the throat to sing!
***
--
Yes, I remember. It was towards the end of the 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 the head). and that (Mother points to her chin) is determination (but there should have been a little more light on the chin!), the realizing will.
Thats it: the capacity to be an ABSOLUTELY receptive passivitylike thatin TOTAL silence and surrender, and at the same time here, there, an IRREDUCIBLE, OMNIPOTENT will with a total power to effectuate, shattering all resistances. Both simultaneously without one inhibiting the other, in the same joy that is the GREAT secret! The harmonization of opposites, in joy and plenitude, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, for all problems: that is the great secret.
In regard to the Ashram's financial difficulties.
0 1958-07-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
When I was young, I was as poor as a turkey, as poor as could be! As an artist, I sometimes had to go out in society (as artists are forced to do). I had lacquered boots that were cracked and I painted them so it wouldnt show! This is to tell you the state I was inpoor as a turkey. So one day, in a shop window, I saw a very pretty petticoat much in fashion then, with lace, ribbons, etc. (It was the fashion in those days to have long skirts which trailed on the floor, and I didnt have a petticoat which could go with such things I didnt care, it didnt matter to me in the least, but since Nature had told me I would always have everything I needed, I wanted to make an experiment.) So I said, Well, I would very much like to have a petticoat to go with those skirts. I got five of them! They came from every direction!
and it is always like that. I never ask for anything, but if by chance I say to myself, Hmm, wouldnt it be nice to have that, mountains of them pour in! So last year, I made an experiment, I told Nature, Listen, my little one, you say that you will collaborate, you told me I would never lack anything. Well then, to put it on a level of feelings, it would really be fun, it would give me joy (in the style of Krishnas joy), to have A LOT of money to do everything I feel like doing. Its not that I want to increase things for myself, no; you give me more than I need. But to have some fun, to be able to give freely, to do things freely, to spend freely I am asking you to give me a crore of rupees1 for my birthday!
She didnt do a thing! Nothing, absolutely nothing: a complete refusal. Did she refuse or was she unable to? It may be that I always saw that money was under the control of an asuric force. (I am speaking of currency, cash; I dont want to do business. When 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: theres this Ganesh2 We had a meditation (this was more than thirty years ago) in the room where Prosperity3 is now distributed. There were eight or ten of us, I believe. We used to make sentences with flowers; I arranged the flowers, and each one made a sentence with the different flowers I had put there. and one day when the subject of prosperity or wealth came up, I thought (they always say that Ganesh is the god of money, of fortune, of the worlds wealth), I thought, Isnt this whole story of the god with an elephant trunk merely a lot of human imagination? Thereupon, 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 then, 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 st andpoint, of course, and I will give it to you!
So I asked. and for about ten years, it poured in, like this (gesture of torrents). It was incredible. I would ask, and at the next Darshan, or a month or several days later, depending, there it was.
Then the war and all the difficulties came, bringing a tremendous increase of people and expenditure (the war cost a fortuneanything at all cost ten times more than before), and suddenly, finished, nothing more. Not exactly nothing, but a thin little trickle. and when I asked, it didnt come. So one day, I put the question to Ganesh through his image (! ), I asked him, What about your promise?I cant do it, its too much for me; my means are too limited!Ah! I said to myself (laughing), What bad luck! and I no longer counted on him.
Once someone even asked Santa Claus! A young Muslim girl who had a special liking for Father Christmas I dont know why, as it was not part of her religion! Without saying a word to me, she called on Santa Claus and told him, Mother 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! She was quite proud.
But it only happened like that once. and as for Ganesh, that was the end of it. So then I asked Nature. It took her a long time to accept to collaborate. But as for the 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 them! I say to myself, Well, if I had that and I get thirty of them! Things come in from every side, without my even uttering a word I dont even ask, they just come.
The first time I came here and spoke with Sri Aurobindo about what was needed for the Work, he told me (he also wrote it to me) that for the secure achievement of the Work we would need three powers: one was the power over health, the second was the power over government, and the third was the power over money.
Health naturally depends upon the sadhana; but even that is not so sure: there are other factors. As for the second, the power over government, Sri Aurobindo looked at it, studied it, considered it very carefully, and finally he told me, There is only one way to have that power: it is TO BE the government. One can influence individuals, one can transmit the will to them, but their h ands are tied. In a government, there is no one individual, nor even several who is all-powerful and who can decide things. One must be the government oneself and give it the desired orientation.
For the last, for money, he told me, I still dont know exactly what it depends on. Then 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 the subconscient, or perhaps even in the inconscient) which was the source, the place and the power over money. I was about to enter into this grotto (a kind of inner cave) when 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, they would immediately destroy me.Who, then, is this they?They are the asuric4 powers who rule over money. They have put me here to guard the entrance, precisely so that you may not enter. and what is it that would give one the power to enter? Then 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 the human sexual impulses (not merely in himself, but a universal power that is, a power enabling him to control this everywhere, among all men) will have the right to enter. In other words, these 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 the power to control it among all men that is, to control or master such movements at will, everywhereis quite another. I dont believe that this condition has been fulfilled. If what the serpent said is true and if this is really what will vanquish these hostile forces that rule over money, well then, it has not been fulfilled.
It has been fulfilled to a certain extent but its negligible. It is conditional, limited: in one case, it works; in another, it doesnt. It is quite problematic. and naturally, where terrestrial things are involved (I dont say universal, but in any case terrestrial), when it is something involving the earth, it must be complete; there cannot be any approximations.
Therefore, its an affair between the asuras and the human species. To transform itself is the only solution left to the human speciesin other words, to tear from the asuric forces the power of ruling over the human species.
You see, the human species is a part of Nature, but as Sri Aurobindo has explained, from the moment mind expressed itself in man, it put him into a relationship with Nature very different from the relationship all the lower species have with her. All the lower species right up to man are completely under the rule of Nature; she makes them do whatever she wants, and they can do nothing without her consent. Whereas man begins to act and to live as an equal; not as an equal in terms of power, but from the st andpoint of consciousness (he is beginning to do so since he has the 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 the has acquired a certain power of independence that he immediately used to put himself under the influence of the hostile forces, which are not terrestrial but extra-terrestrial.
I am speaking of terrestrial Nature. Through their mental power, men had the choice and the freedom to make pacts with these extraterrestrial vital forces. There is a whole vital world that has nothing to do with the earth, it is entirely independent or prior to earths existence, it is self-existentwell, they have brought that down here! They have made what we see! and such being the case This is what terrestrial Nature told me: It is beyond my control.
So considering all that, Sri Aurobindo came to the conclusion that only the supramental power (Mother brings down her h ands) as he said, will be able to rule over everything. and when that happens, it will be all overincluding Nature. For a long time, Nature rebelled (I have written about it often). She used to say, Why are you in such a hurry? It will be done one day. But then last year, there 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. She 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 the devil for money, of money being an evil force, which produces this shrinking on the part of all those who want to lead a spiritual life but as for that, they shrink from everything, not only from money!
Perhaps it would not be necessary to have this power over all men, but in any event, it should be great enough to act upon the mass. It is likely that once a certain movement has been mastered to some degree, what the mass does or doesnt do (this whole human mass that has barely, barely emerged into even the mental consciousness) will become quite irrelevant. You see, the mass is still under the great rule of Nature. I am referring to mental humanity, predominantly mental, which developed the mind but misused it and immediately set out on the wrong pathfirst thing.
There is nothing to say since the first thing done by the divine forces which emanated for the Creation was to take the wrong path!6 That is the origin, the seed of this marvelous spirit of independence the negation of surrender, in other words. Man said, I have the power to think; I will do with it what I want, and no one has the right to intervene. I am free, I am an independent being, IN-DE-PEN-DENT! So thats how things st and: we are all independent beings!
But yesterday, in fact, I was looking (with all these mantras and these prayers and this whole vibration that has descended into the atmosphere, creating a state of constant calling in the atmosphere), and I remembered the old movements and how everything now has changed! I was also thinking of the old disciplines, one of which is to say, I am That.7 People were told to sit in meditation and repeat, I am That, to reach an identification. and it all seemed to me so obsolete, so childish, but at the same time a part of the whole. I looked, and it seemed so absurd to sit in meditation and say, I am That! I, what is this I who is That; what is this I, where is it? I was trying to find it, and I saw a tiny, microscopic point (to see it would almost require some gigantic instrument), a tiny, obscure point in an im-men-sity of Light, and that little point was the body. At the same timeit was absolutely simultaneous I saw the Presence of the Supreme as a very, very, very, VERY immense Being, within which was I in an attitude of (I was only a sensation, you see), an attitude (gesture of surrender) like this. There were no limits, yet at the same time, one felt the joy of being permeated, enveloped and of being able to widen, widen, widen indefinitelyto widen the whole being, from the highest consciousness to the most material consciousness. and then, at the same time, to look at this body and to see every cell, every atom vibrating with a divine, radiant Presence with all its Consciousness, all its Power, all its Will, all its Loveall, all, really and a joy! An extraordinary joy. and one did not disturb the other, nothing was contradictory and everything was felt at the same time. That was when I said, But truly! This body had to have the training it has had for more than seventy years to be able to bear all that without starting to cry out or dance or leap up or whatever it might be! No, it was calm (it was exultant, but it was very calm), and it remained in control of its movements and its words. In spite of the fact that it was really living in another world, it could apparently act normal due to this strenuous training in self-control by the REASONby the reasonover the whole being, which has tamed it and given it such a great cohesive power that I can BE in the experience, I can LIVE this experience, and at the same time respond with the most amiable of smiles to the most idiotic questions!
and then, it always ends in the same way, by a canticle to the action of the grace: O, Lord! You are truly marvelous! All the experiences I have needed to pass through You have given to me, all the things I needed to do to make this body ready You have made me do, and always with the feeling that it was You who was making me do it and with the universal disapproval of all the right-minded humanity!
About one million dollars.
0 1958-07-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
A peach should ripen on the tree; its a fruit that should be picked when the sun is upon it. Just as the sun falls on it, you come along, pluck it and bite into it. Then it is absolute paradise.
There are two such fruitspeaches and golden green plums. It is the same for both. You must take them warm from the tree, bite into them, and you are filled with the taste of paradise.
Every fruit should be eaten in a special way.
At heart, this is the symbol of the earthly Paradise and the tree of Knowledge: by biting into the fruit of Knowledge, one loses the spontaneity of movement and begins objectivizing, learning, questioning. So as soon as they ate of this fruit, they were full of sin.
I say that every fruit should be eaten in its own way. The being who lives according to his own nature, his own truth, must spontaneously find the right way of using things. When you live according to the truth of your being, you dont need to learn things: you do them spontaneously, according to the inner law. When 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 the idea of sin and all the misery it brings. Animals are not at all unhappy in the 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 the sense of sin and guilt, for their whole aspiration is to resemble man. Man is the god. Hence there is dissimulation, hypocrisy: dogs lie. But men admire that. They say, Oh! How intelligent they are!
They have lost their divinity.
--
The Divine is everywhere, in everything. We should never forget itnot for a second should we forget it. He is everywhere, in everything; and in an unconscious but spontaneous, therefore sincere, way, all that exists below the mental manifestation is divine, without mixture; in other words, it exists spontaneously and in harmony with its nature. It is man with his mind who has introduced the idea of guilt. Naturally, he is much more conscious! Theres no question about it, its a fact, although what we call consciousness (what we call it, that is, what man calls consciousness) is the power to objectify and mentalize things. It is not the true consciousness, but its what men call consciousness. So according to the human mode, it is obvious that man is much more conscious than the animal, but the 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 the ability to objectify them.
It is an ascending curve, but a curve that swerves away from the Divine. So naturally, one has to climb much higher to find a higher Divine, since it is a conscious Divine, whereas the others 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 the creation with our distorted and perverted consciousness. It is we who have invented it.
We are the distorting intermediary between the purity of the animal and the divine purity of the gods.
***
0 1958-07-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Human beings dont know how to keep energy. When something happensan accident or an illness, for example and they ask for help, a double or a triple dose of energy is sent. If they happen to be receptive, they receive it. This energy is given for two reasons: to restore order out of the disorder caused by the accident or illness, and to impart a transformative force to repair or change the source of the illness or accident.
But instead of using the energy in this way, they immediately throw it out. They start stirring about, reacting, working, speaking They feel full of energy and they throw it all out! They cant keep anything. So naturally, since the energy was not sent to be wasted like that but for an inner use, they feel absolutely flat, run down. and it is universal. They dont know, they do not know how to make this movementto turn within, to use the energy (not to keep it, it doesnt keep), to use it to repair the damage done to the body and to go deeply within to find the reason for this accident or illness, and there to change it by an aspiration, an inner transformation. Instead of that, right away they start speaking, stirring about, reacting, doing this or that!
In fact, the immense majority of human beings feel they are living only when they waste their energy. Otherwise, it does not seem to them to be life.
--
But as soon as a man feels energetic, he immediately rushes into action. Or else, those who dont have the sense of doing something useful start gossiping. and still worse, those who have no control over themselves become intolerant and start arguing! If someone contradicts their will, they feel full of energy and they mistake that for a godlike wrath!
***
0 1958-07-23, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
In the final analysis, seeing the world such as it is and seems meant to be irremediably, human intellect has decided that this universe must be an error of God and that the manifestation or creation is certainly the result of a desire, the desire to manifest, know oneself, enjoy oneself. So the only thing to do is to put an end to this error as soon as possible by refusing to cling to desire and its fatal consequences.
But the Supreme Lord answers that the comedy is not entirely played out, and He adds: Wait for the last act; undoubtedly you will change your mind.
***
0 1958-07-25a, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
and Mercy.
What you want us to know, we shall know, what you want us to do, we shall do, what you want us to be, we shall beforever.
--
For it is You who is, who lives and who knowsit is You who does all things, You who is the result of every action.
***
0 1958-08-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It is very difficult to manage both at the same time: the transformation of the body and taking care of people. But what can I do? I told Sri Aurobindo I would do the work, and I am doing it I cannot just ab andon everything.
When I think of the time the hatha yogis devote to the work on the bodythey do nothing but that; they do nothing but that all the time, until they have attained a certain point. This is in fact the reason why Sri Aurobindo wanted none of it: he found that it took a lot of time for a rather meager result.
--
Day and night, I am investigating all that has to be transformed I can assure you that there is plenty of work!
Last night, I had many dreams (not really dreams, but ); I used to find them very interesting because they gave me certain indications, all kinds of things, but when I saw it all now, I said to myself, Good Lord! What a waste of time! Instead, I could be living in a supramental consciousness and seeing things. So during the night, I made a resolution to change all this too. My nights have to change. I am already changing my days; now my nights have to change. But then all this subconscious in Matter, all this, it all has to change! Theres no choice, it has to be seen to.
Once you set to this work, it is such a formidable task! But what can I do?
0 1958-08-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
In the cells, both things are there. The body is convinced of the divine Presence everywhere, that all is the Divineit lives in that; and at the same time, it shrinks from certain contacts! I saw that this morning, both things at once, and I said, Lord, I know nothing at all!
There (gesture above the head), everything has been resolved, I could write books on how to resolve this or that, how the synthesis is made, etc., but here (the body) I live this synthesis stumblingly. The two coexist, but it is still not THAT (gesture, h ands clasped together, pointing upwards).
0 1958-08-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Evidently the gods of the Puranas are a good deal worse than human beings, as we saw in that film the other day1 ( and that story was absolutely true). The gods of the Overmind are infinitely more egocentric the only thing that counts for them is their power, the extent of their power. Man has in addition a psychic being, so consequently he has true love and compassionwherein lies his superiority over the gods. It was very, very clearly expressed in this film, and its very true.
The gods are faultless, for they live according to their own nature, spontaneously and without constraint; it is their godly way. But if one looks at it from a higher point of view, if one has a higher vision, a vision of the whole, they have fewer qualities than man. In this film, it was proved that through their capacity for love and self-giving, men can have as much power as the gods, and even morewhen they are not egoists, when they can overcome their egoism.
Certainly man is nearer the Supreme than the gods. Provided he fulfills the necessary conditions, he can be nearerhe isnt so automatically, but he can be, he has the power, the potentiality to be.
Anusuya: wife of the rishi Atri and endowed with a great inner force. In her husb and's absence, three gods came (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) disguised as brahmins and asked her for something to eat. Then they refused to eat unless she served them naked. Since they were brahmins, she could not send them away without feeding them, so by her inner power, she changed them into babies and served them naked. This film was shown at the Ashram Playground on August 5, 1958.
***
0 1958-08-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Behind all the appearances and diverse entities, I am always present near you, and my love enfolds you.
I have put the work aside and shall be happy to do it with you upon your return.
My blessings never leave you.
0 1958-08-29, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
[Satprem would later part company with this Swami and follow a thorough tantric discipline with another guru who will henceforth be called X in the Agenda.]
The mantra written upon each of the souvenirs1 from the Himalayas has a strong power of evoking the Supreme Mother.
At the Thursday evening meditation, he appeared as the Guru of Tantric Initiation, magnified and seated upon a symbolic representation of the forces and riches of material Nature (in the middle of the playground, to my left), and he put into my h and something sufficiently material for me to feel the vibrations physically, and it had a great realizing power. It was a kind of luminous and very vibrant globe which I held in my h ands during the whole meditation.
S, who was sitting in front of me, spontaneously asked me afterwards what I had been holding in my h ands during the meditation, and she described it thus: It was round, very soft and luminous like the moon.
The Swami brought back various objects and souvenirs from the Himalayas which he presented to Mother.
***
0 1958-08-30, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(In the presence of Pavitra and Abhay Singh, Mother recounts a vision she had during the night)
[The disciple who managed the Ashram 'Atelier': mechanical workshop, maintenance garage, automobile service, etc.]
It was just at four oclock in the morning, and it woke me up. It was exactly like this I was apparently in my bathroom, and I had to open the door between the bathroom and Sri Aurobindos room; the moment I put my h and on the doorknob, I knew with an absolute certainty that destruction was awaiting me behind the door. It had the form or image of those great invaders of India, those who had swooped down upon India and destroyed everything in their wake But it was only an impression.
So the door had to be opened and I felt and said, Lord, may your will be done. I opened the door and behind it was Z1 in the same clothes he wears when he drives, and he was leaning against one of those big tractor tiresor perhaps he was holding it at the same time. I was so dumbfounded that I woke up. It took me a little while to be able to underst and what it might mean, and afterwards Even now, I still dont know What was I? Was I India, or was I the world? I dont know. and what did Z represent? It was as imperative and clear, as positive and absolute as could be: the certitude that destruction was behind the door, that it was inevitable. and it had the form of those great Tartar or Mongol invaders, those people who came from the North and invaded India, who pillaged everything Thats what it was like. But what Z was doing there I dont know. What does he represent? The first impulse was to tell Abhay Singh, Forbid him to drive the tractor.
(Pavitra:) What was he holding in his h ands, Mother?
--
Ah! So He was st anding, and it came up to here (same gesture). So it must have been a tractor tire.
What could it represent, he, and the tractor? I dont know It was not personal, you see I mean this body. It had nothing to do with that.
(Pavitra:) The industrialization of India?
0 1958-09-16 - OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I dont know when it begana very long time ago, before I came here, although some of them came while I was here. But in my case, they were always very short. For example, when 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, the contact was established. 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 Pondicherry. 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 the beginning of the century; it was the mantra of ascension, of realization. At present, it no longer comes in the same way, it comes rather as a memory. But it was deliberate, you see; I always said Dieu de bont et de misricorde, because even then I understood that everything is the Divine and the Divine is in all things and that it is only we who make a distinction between what is or what is not the Divine.
My experience is that, individually, we are in relationship with that aspect of the Divine which is not necessarily the most in conformity with our natures, but which is the most essential for our development or the most necessary for our action. For me, it was always a question of action because, personally, individually, each aspiration for personal development had its own form, its own spontaneous expression, so I did not use any formula. But as soon as there was the least little difficulty in action, it sprang forth. Only long afterwards did I notice that it was formulated in a certain way I would utter it without even knowing what the words were. But it came like this: Dieu de bont et de misricorde. It was as if I wanted to eliminate from action all aspects that were not this one. and it lasted for I dont know, more than twenty or twenty-five years of my life. It came spontaneously.
Just recently one day, the contact became entirely physical, the whole body was in great exaltation, and I noticed that other lines were spontaneously being added to this Dieu de bont et de misricorde, and I noted them down. It was a springing forth of states of consciousness not words.
Seigneur, Dieu de bont et de misricorde
--
Lord, God of kindness and mercy
Lord, God of sovereign oneness
Lord, God of beauty and harmony
Lord, God of power and realization
Lord, God of love and compassion
Lord, God of silence and contemplation
Lord, God of light and knowledge
Lord, God of life and immortality
Lord, God of youth and progress
Lord, God of abundance and plenitude
Lord, God of strength and health.
The words came afterwards, as if they had been superimposed upon the states of consciousness, grafted onto them. Some of the associations seem unexpected, but they were the exact expression of the states of consciousness in their order of unfolding. They came one after another, as if the contact was trying to become more complete. and the last was like a triumph. As soon as I finished writing (in writing, all this becomes rather flat), the impetus within was still alive and it gave me the sense of an all-conquering Truth. and the last mantra sprang forth:
Seigneur, Dieu de la Vrit victorieuse!
--
It is there, all around me; it takes hold of all the cells and at once they spring forth in an ascension. and Naradas mantra, too:
Narayana, Narayana
--
It will simply spring forth in a flash, all of a sudden, and it will be very powerful. Only power can do something. Love vanishes like water running through s and: people remain beatific and nothing moves! No, power is neededlike Shiva, stirring, churning
When I have this mantra, instead of saying hello, good-bye, I shall say that. When I say hello, good-bye, it means Hello: the Presence is here, the Light is here. Good-bye: I am not going away, I am staying here.
--
For the moment, of all the formulas or mantras, the one that acts most directly on this body, that seizes all the cells and immediately does this (vibrating motion) is the Sanskrit mantra: OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH.
As soon as I sit for meditation, as soon as I have a quiet minute to concentrate, it always begins with this mantra, and there is a response in the body, in the cells of the body: they all start vibrating.
This is how it happened: Y had just returned, and he brought back a trunk full of things which he then proceeded to show me, and his excitement made tight, tight little waves in the atmosphere, making my head ache; it made anyway, it was unpleasant. When I left, just after that had happened, I sat down and went like this (gesture of sweeping out) to make it stop, and immediately the mantra began.
It rose up from here (Mother indicates the solar plexus), like this: Om Namo Bhagavateh OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH. It was formidable. For the entire quarter of an hour that the meditation lasted, everything was filled with Light! In the deeper tones it was of golden bronze (at the throat level it was almost red) and in the higher tones it was a kind of opaline white light: OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH.
The other day (I was in my bathroom upstairs), it came; it took hold of the entire body. It rose up in the same way, and all the cells were trembling. and with such a power! So I stopped everything, all movement, and I let the thing grow. The vibration went on exp anding, ever widening, as the sound itself was exp anding, exp anding, and all the cells of the body were seized with an intensity of aspiration as if the entire body were swellingit became overwhelming. I felt that it would all burst.
I understood those who withdraw from everything to live that totally.
and it has such a transformative power! I felt that if it continued, something would happen, something like a change in the equilibrium of the bodys cells.
Unfortunately, I was unable to continue, because I dont have the time; it was just before the balcony darshan and I was going to be late. Something told me, That is for people who have nothing to do. Then I said, I belong to my work, and I slowly withdrew. I put on the brakes, and the action was cut short. But what remains is that whenever I repeat this mantra everything starts vibrating.
So each one must find something that acts on himself, individually. I am only speaking of the action on the physical plane, because mentally, vitally, in all the inner parts of the being, the aspiration is always, always spontaneous. I am referring only to the physical plane.
--
and the third is addressed to Sri Aurobindo: Thou art my refuge.
Shriaravindah sharanam mama.
Each time this music is played, it produces exactly the same effect upon the body. It is strange, as if all the cells were dilating, with a feeling that the body is growing larger It becomes all dilated, as if swollen with lightwith force, a lot of force. and this music seems to form spirals, like luminous ribbons of incense smoke, white (not transparent, literally white) and they rise up and up. I always see the same thing; it begins in the form of a vase, then swells like an amphora and converges higher up to blossom forth like a flower.
So for these mantras, everything depends upon what you want to do with them. I am in favor of a short mantra, especially if you want to make both numerous and spontaneous repetitionsone or two words, three at most. Because you must be able to use them in all cases, when an accident is about to happen, for example. It has to spring up without thinking, without calling: it should issue forth from the being spontaneously, like a reflex, exactly like a reflex. Then the mantra has its full force.
For me, on the days when I have no special preoccupations or difficulties (days I could call normal, when I am normal), everything I do, all the movements of this body, all, all the words I utter, all the gestures I make, are accompanied and upheld by or lined, as it were, with this mantra:
OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH
--
That is the normal state. It creates an atmosphere of an intensity almost more material than the subtle physical; its like almost like the phosphorescent radiations from a medium. and it has a great action, a very great action: it can prevent an accident. and it accompanies you all the time, all the time.
But it is up to you to know what you want to do with it.
--
Yes, they are long. and he2 has not given me any mantra of the Mother, so They exist, but he has not given me any I dont know, they 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 the world. and it was just then that it came.3 It was truly an answer to a need that had made itself felt. So if you feel the neednot there, not in your head, but here (Mother points to the center of her heart), it will come. One day, either you will hear the words, or they will spring forth from your heart and when that happens, you must hold onto it.
The first syllable of NAMO is pronounced with a short 'a,' as in nahmo. The final word is pronounced BHA-GAH-VA-TEH.
--
The different mantras or prayers that came to Mother and which She grouped under the heading Prayers of the Consciousness of the Cells, are included as an addendum to the Agenda of 1959.
***
0 1958-10-01, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It was so strong, so strong that it was really inexpressible. The negative experience of no longer being an individual, or in other words, the dissolution of the ego, took place a long time ago and still takes place quite often: the ego completely vanishes. But this was a positive experience of being not just the universe in its totality, but something elseineffable, yet concrete, absolutely concrete! Unutterable1 and yet utterly concrete: the divine Person beyond the Impersonal.
The experience lasted for only a few minutes. and I knew, then, that all our words all our words are empty. But circumstances were such that I had to speak
Later, Mother added: 'Because I do not say everything; when I am in that state, there is a lethargy of expression!
0 1958-10-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It must be strong enough to pull me from my concentration or my activity. If I knew when you concentrate or do your puja,1 I could tune into you, and shell I would know more; otherwise, my inner life is too l am not at all passive inwardly, you see, I am very active, so I dont usually receive your vibrations unless they impose themselves strongly or unless I have decided beforeh and to be attentive to what is coming from someone or other. If I know that at a given moment something is going to happen, then I open a door, as it were. But its difficult to speak of these things.
When 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. Then 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 the Ashram, my work is not the same. It is more like a kind of atmosphere that extends everywherea very conscious atmospherewhich 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. When 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. Rather, I receive a sensation or an impression; and as these sensations and impressions are innumerable, its rather like one element among many. It no longer imposes itself in such an entirely distinct way nor does it appear before me in the 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 the mental regions, far, far beyond, and it is constant. As soon as I am alone or resting somewhere, thats how it is.
The other day when I was in this state of concentration, I had the vision that I mentioned to you. I felt I was being pulled, that something was pulling me and trying to draw my attention. I felt it very strongly. So I opened my eyes, my mental eyes (the physical eyes may remain opened or closed, it makes no difference either way; when I am concentrated, things on the physical plane no longer exist), I deliberately opened the minds eyes, for that is where I felt myself being pulled, and then I had this vision I told you of. Someone was trying to draw my attention, to tell me something. It takes someone really quite powerful, with a very great power of concentration, to do thatthere are certainly a great many people here and elsewhere who try to do this, yet I dont feel a thing.3
In the outer, practical domain, I might suddenly think of someone, so I know that this person is calling or thinking of me. When you left on your trip, I created a special link-up so that if ever, at any moment, you called me for anything, I would know it instantly, and I remained attentive and alert. But I do that only in exceptional cases. Generally speaking, when I havent made this special link-up, things keep coming in and coming in and coming in and coming in, and the answer goes out automatically, here or there or there or therehundreds and hundreds of things that I dont keep in my memory because then it would really be frightful. I dont keep these things in my consciousness; it is rather a work that is done automatically.
When you asked me if X4 were thinking of me, I consulted my atmosphere and saw that it was true, that even many times a day Xs thoughts were coming. So I know that he is concentrating on me, or something: it simply passes through me, and I answer automatically. But I dont particularly pay attention to X, unless you ask me a question about him, in which case I deliberately tune into him, then observe and determine whether its like this or like that. Whereas this vision the other day was something that thrust itself on me; I was in another region altogether, in my inner contemplation, my concentrationa very strong concentrationwhen I was forced to enter into contact with this being whose vision I had and who was obviously a very powerful being. After telling me what he had to tell me, he went away in a very peculiar way, not at all suddenly as most people appear and disappear, not at all like that. When I first saw him, there was a living form the being himself was there but upon leaving (probably to see the effect, to find out whether he had truly succeeded in making himself understood), he left behind a kind of image of himself. Afterwards, this image blurred and it left only a silhouette, an outline, then it disappeared altogether leaving only an impression. That was the last thing I saw. So I kept the impression and analyzed it to find out exactly what was involved; all this was filed away, and then it was over. I began my concentration once again.
I intentionally carry everybody in my active consciousness for the work, and I do the work consciously; but the extent to which people in the world, or those who are here in the Ashram, are conscious of this or receive the results depends upon them, though not exclusively.
The other day, for example, though I no longer recall exactly when (I forget everything on purpose)but it was in the last part of the night I had a rather long activity concerning the whole realization of the Ashram, notably in the fields of education and art. I was apparently inspecting this area to see how things were there, so naturally I saw a certain number of people, their work and their 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. The next morning, for example, someone who works at the theater told me that she had had a splendid vision of me in which I had spoken to her, blessed her, etc. This was her way of receiving the work I had done. and this kind of thing is happening more and more, in that my action is awakening the consciousness in others more and more strongly.
Naturally, the reception is always incomplete or partially modified; when it passes through the individuality, it becomes narrowed, a personal thing. It seems impossible for each one to have a consciousness vast enough to see the thing in its entirety.
--
It depends upon the progress in the consciousness. The more the action is supramentalized, the more its reception is IMPOSED upon the consciousness of each one. The actions progress makes it more and more perceptible IN SPITE OF each ones condition. The milieu obviously limits and altersdistortswhat it receives, but the quality of the Work acts upon this receptivity and imposes itself on it in a more and more efficient and imperious way.
There is an interdependence between the individual progress and the collective progress, between that which works and that which is worked upon. It proceeds like this (gesture of intermeshing), and as one progresses, the other progresses. The progress above not only hastens the progress below but brings the two nearer together, thus changing the distance in the relationship; that is, the distance will not remain the same, the ratio between the progress here and the progress above wont always be identical.
The progress above follows a certain trajectory, and in some cases the distance increases, in others it decreases (although on the whole, the distance remains relatively unchanged), but my feeling is that the collective receptivity will increase as the action becomes increasingly supramentalized. and the need for an individual receptivitywith all its distortions and alterations and limitationswill decrease in importance as the supramental influence increasingly imposes its power. This influence will impose itself in such a way that it will no longer be subject to the defects in receptivity.
***
--
Before, I always had the negative experience of the disappearance of the ego, of the oneness of Creation, where everything implying separation disappearedan experience that, personally, I would call negative. Last Wednesday, while I was speaking ( and thats why at the end I could no longer find my words), I seemed suddenly to have left this negative phenomenon and entered into the positive experience: the experience of BEING the Supreme Lord, the experience that nothing exists but the Supreme Lordall is the Supreme Lord, there is nothing else. and at that moment, the feeling of this infinite power that has no limit, that nothing can limit, was so overwhelming that all the functions of the body, of this mental machine that summons up words, all this was I could no longer speak French. Perhaps the words could have come to me in Englishprobably, because it was easier for Sri Aurobindo to express himself in English, and thats how it must have happened: it was the part embodied in Sri Aurobindo (the part of the Supreme that was embodied in Sri Aurobindo for its manifestation) that had the experience. This is what joined back with the Origin and caused the experience I was well aware of it. and that is probably why its transcription through English words would have been easier than through French words (for at these moments, such activities are purely mechanical, rather like automatic machines). and naturally the experience left something behind. It left the sense of a power that can no longer be qualified,5 really. and it was there yesterday evening.
The difficultyits not even a difficulty, its just a kind of precaution that is taken (automatically, in fact) in order to For example, the volume of Force that was to be expressed in the voice was too great for the speech organ. So I had to be a little attentive that is, there had to be a kind of filtering in the outermost expression, otherwise the voice would have cracked. But this isnt done through the will and reason, its automatic. Yet I feel that the capacity of Matter to contain and express is increasing with phenomenal speed. But its progressive, it cant be done instantly. There have often been people whose outer form broke because the Force was too strong; well, I clearly see that it is being dosed out. After all, this is exclusively the concern of the Supreme Lord, I dont bother about itits not my concern and I dont bother about itHe makes the necessary adjustments. Thus it comes progressively, little by little, so that no fundamental disequilibrium occurs. It gives the impression that ones head is swelling so tremendously it will burst! But then if there is a moment of stillness, it adapts; gradually, it adapts.
Only, one must be careful to keep the sense of the Unmanifest sufficiently present so that the various things the elements, the cells and all thathave time to adapt. The sense of the Unmanifest, or in other words, to step back into the Unmanifest.6 This is what all those who have had experiences have done; they always believed that there was no possibility of adaptation, so they left their bodies and went off.
***
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Money is meant to circulate. What should remain constant is the progressive movement of an increase in the earths productionan ever-exp anding progressive movement to increase the earths production and improve existence on earth. It is the material improvement of terrestrial life and the growth of the earths production that must go on exp anding, enlarging, and not this silly paper or this inert metal that is amassed and lifeless.
Money is not meant to generate money; money should generate an increase in production, an improvement in the conditions of life and a progress in human consciousness. This is its true use. What I call an improvement in consciousness, a progress in consciousness, is everything that education in all its forms can providenot as its generally understood, but as we underst and it here: education in art, education in from the education of the body, from the most material progress, to the spiritual education and progress through yoga; the whole spectrum, everything that leads humanity towards its future realization. Money should serve to augment that and to augment the material base for the earths progress, the best use of what the earth can giveits intelligent utilization, not the utilization that wastes and loses energies. The use that allows energies to be replenished.
In the universe there is an inexhaustible source of energy that asks only to be replenished; if you know how to go about it, it is replenished. Instead of draining life and the energies of our earth and making of it something parched and inert, we must know the practical exercise for replenishing the energy constantly. and these are not just words; I know how its to be done, and science is in the 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 other more effectively than they are presently doing, it must be used to enrich the earth: to enrich the earth, to make the earth richer and richer, more active, generous, productive and to make all life grow towards its maximum efficiency. This is the true use of money. and if its not used like that, its a vicea short circuit and a vice.
But how many people know how to use it in this way? Very few, which is why they have to be taught. What I call teach is to show, to give the example. We want to be the example of true living in the world. Its a challenge I am placing before the whole financial world: I am telling them that they are in the process of withering and ruining the earth with their idiotic system; and with even less than they are now spending for useless thingsmerely for inflating something that has no inherent life, that should be only an instrument at the service of life, that has no reality in itself, that is only a means and not an end (they make an end of something that is only a means)well then, instead of making of it an end, they should make it the means. With what they have at their disposal they could oh, transform the earth so quickly! Transform it, put it into contact, truly into contact, with the supramental forces that would make life bountiful and, indeed, constantly renewedinstead of becoming withered, stagnant, shrivelled up: a future moon. A dead moon.
We are told that in a few millions or billions of years, the earth will become some kind of moon. The movement should be the opposite: the earth should become more and more a resplendent sun, but a sun of life. Not a sun that burns, but a sun that illuminesa radiant glory.
Puja: ceremony , invocation or evocation of a god (in this case, a tantric ritual ).
When the disciple became a Sannyasi and travelled in the Himalayas with the tantric Swami
In this vision, the d. ceased tantric guru of the guru who initiated Satprem appeared to Mother in a dark blue light and 'imposed' himself on her to tell her certain things.
The disciple's tantric guru.
0 1958-10-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
When I am not in my body, I have all kinds of contacts with people, contacts of different types. and its not a thing decided in advance, it is not willed, it is not even thought out; it is simply observed.
Certain relationships are entirely within me, entirely. It is not a relationship between individuals, but a relationship between states of beingwhich means that with the same individual there may be many different relationships. If it were a single whole but I am still not sure if there is a single person with whom the relationship is global.
So there are parts which are entirely within me, entirely there is no difference; they are myself. There are other parts with which I am conscious of an exchangea very familiar, very intimate exchange. and there are parts outside of me with which I still have relationships, not exactly as with strangers but merely as acquaintances; it is still necessary to observe their reactions in order to do the correct thing. and the ratio between these different parts is naturally different depending upon the different individuals.
***
--
Each time we try to realize something and we encounter a resistance or an obstacle, or even a failurewhat appears to be a failurewe should know, we should NEVER forget, that it is exclusively, absolutely, to make the realization more perfect.
So this habit of cringing, of being discouraged or even feeling ill at ease or abusing oneself, saying, There, Ive done it again All this is absolute foolishness.
Rather, simply say, We do not know how to do things as they should be done, well then, let them 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 there to help us make the realization more perfect.
Once we know this, everything becomes easy.
0 1958-10-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(The disciple asks to know what he must do and what his place is in the universal manifestation)
In all religious and especially occult initiations, the ritual of the different ceremonies is prescribed in every detail; all the words pronounced, all the gestures made have their importance, and the least infraction of the rule, the least fault committed can have fatal consequences. It is the same in material lifeif one had the initiation into the true way of living, one could transform physical existence.
If we consider the body as the tabernacle of the Lord, then medical science, for example, becomes the initiatory ritual of the service of the temple, and doctors of all kinds are the officiating priests in the different rituals of worship. Thus, medicine is really a priesthood and should be treated as such.
The same can be said of physical culture and of all the sciences that are concerned with the body and its workings. If the material universe is considered as the outer sheath and the manifestation of the Supreme, then it can generally be said that all the physical sciences are the rituals of worship.
We always come back to the same thing: the absolute necessity for perfect sincerity, perfect honesty and a sense of the dignity of all we do so that we may do it as it should be done.
If we could truly, perfectly know all the details of the ceremony of life, the worship of the Lord in physical life, it would be wonderfulto know, and no longer to err, never again to err. To perform the ceremony as perfectly as an initiation.
To know life utterly Oh, there is a very interesting thing in this regard! and its strange, but this particular knowledge reminds me of one of my Sutras1 (which I read out, but no one understood or understood only vaguely, like that):
It is the Supreme Lord who has ineluctably decreed the place you occupy in the universal concert, but whatever be this place, you have equally the same right as all others to ascend the supreme summits right to the supramental realization.
There is ones position in the universal hierarchy, which is something ineluctableit is the eternal law and there is the development in the manifestation, which is an education; it is progressive and done from within the being. What is remarkable is that to become a perfect being, this positionwhatever it is, decreed since all eternity, a part of the eternal Truthmust manifest with the greatest possible perfection as a result of evolutionary growth. It is the junction, the union of the two, the eternal position and the evolutionary realization, that will make the total and perfect being, and the manifestation as the Lord has willed it since the beginning of all eternity (which has no beginning at all! ).
and for the cycle to be complete, one cannot stop on the way at any plane, not even the highest spiritual plane nor the plane closest to matter (like the occult plane in the vital, for example). One must descend right into matter, and this perfection in manifestation must be a material perfection, or otherwise the cycle is not completewhich explains why those who want to flee in order to realize the divine Will are in error. What must be done is exactly the opposite! The two must be combined in a perfect way. This is why all the honest sciences, the sciences that are practiced sincerely, honestly, exclusively with a will to know, are difficult pathsyet such sure paths for the total realization.
It brings up very interesting things. (What I am going to say now is very personal and consequently cannot be used, but it may be kept anyway:)
There are two parallel things that, from the eternal and supreme point of view, are of identical importance, in that both are equally essential for the realization to be a true realization.
On the one h and, there is what Sri Aurobindowho, as the Avatar, represented the supreme Consciousness and Will on earthdeclared me to be, that is, the supreme universal Mother; and on the other h and, there is what I am realizing in my body through the integral sadhana.2 I could be the supreme Mother 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 the sadhana, and I received the effects. These effects were automatically established in the outer being, but he was the one doing it, not II was merely the bridge between his sadhana and the world. Only when he left his body was I forced to take up the sadhana myself; not only did I have to do what I was doing beforebeing a bridge between his sadhana and the world but I had to carry on the sadhana myself. When he left, he turned over to me the responsibility for what he himself had been doing in his body, and I had to do it. So there are both these things. Sometimes one predominates, sometimes the other (I dont mean successively in time, but it depends on the moment), and they are trying to combine in a total and perfect realization: the eternal, ineffable and immutable Consciousness of the Executrice of the Supreme, and the consciousness of the Sadhak of the integral Yoga who strives in an ascending effort towards an ever increasing progression.
To this has been added a growing initiation into the supramental realization which is (I underst and it well now) the perfect union of what comes from above and what comes from below, or in other words, the eternal position and the evolutionary realization.
Then and this becomes rather 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, there are those who believe, who have faith, or to whom the eternal Mother is revealed through Grace, who have this kind of relationship with the eternal Mother and there are those who themselves are plunged in sadhana, who have the consciousness of a developed sadhak, and thereby have the same relationship with me as one has with what they generally call a realized soul. Such persons consider me the prototype of the Guru teaching a new way, but the others dont have this relationship of sadhak to Guru (I am taking the two extremes, but of course there are all the possibilities in between), they are only in contact with the eternal Mother and, in the simplicity of their hearts, they expect Her to do everything for them. If they were perfect in this attitude, the eternal Mother would do everything for themas a matter of fact, She does do everything, but as they arent perfect, they cannot receive it totally. But the two paths are very different, the two kinds of relationships are very different; and as we all live according to the law of external things, in a material body, there is a kind of annoyance, an almost irritated misunderst anding, between those who follow this path (not consciously and intentionally, but spontaneously), who have this relationship of the child to the Mother, and those who have this other relationship of the sadhak to the Guru. So it creates a whole play, with an infinite diversity of shades.
But all this is still in suspense, on the way to realization, moving forward progressively; therefore, unless we are able to see the outcome, we cant underst and a thing. We get confused. Only when we see the outcome, the final realization, only when we have TOUCHED there, will everything be understood then 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 the more outer relationship compared to the other (although it is not really so)the relationship of yoga, of sadhanaconsider the others superstitious; and the others, who have faith OI perception, or the Grace to have understood what Sri Aurobindo meant (perhaps even before knowing what he said, but in any event, after he said it), discard the others as ignorant unbelievers! and there are all the gradations in between, so it really becomes quite funny!
It opens up extraordinary horizons; once you have understood this, you have the keyyou have the key to many, many things: the different positions of each of the different saints, the different realizations and it resolves all the incoherencies of the various manifestations on earth.
For example, this question of PowerTHE Powerover Matter. Those who perceive me as the eternal, universal Mother and Sri Aurobindo as the Avatar are surprised that our power is not absolute. They are surprised that we have not merely to say, Let it be thus for it to be thus. This is because, in the integral realization, the union of the two is essential: a union of the power that proceeds from the eternal position and the power that proceeds from the sadhana through evolutionary growth. Similarly, how is it that those who have reached even the summits of yogic knowledge (I was thinking of Swami) need to resort to beings like gods or demigods to be able to realize things?Because they have indeed united with certain higher forces and entities, but it was not decreed since the beginning of time that they were this particular being. They were not born as this or that, but through evolution they united with a latent possibility in themselves. Each one carries the Eternal within himself, but one can join Him only when one has realized the complete union of the latent Eternal with the eternal Eternal.
and this explains everything, absolutely everything: how it works, how it functions in the 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 there, I know, yet how is it that ? There, up to there (the level of the 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 nevertheless it is real), say, What! How can you have no powers? Because the sadhana is not yet over.
The Lord will possess his universe only when the universe will have consciously become the Lord.
0 1958-10-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
and then it continues (Mother reads):
8) All division in the being is an insincerity.
9) The greatest insincerity is to carve an abyss between ones body and the truth of ones being.
10) When an abyss separates the true being from the physical being, Nature immediately fills it with all the hostile suggestions, of which the most deadly is fear and the most pernicious, doubt.
I wrote that before reading Sri Aurobindos aphorism on the sentinels of Nature.1 I found it very interesting and I said to myself, Well! Thats exactly what came to me!
There is still one more (but it is not the last):
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'If mankind only caught a glimpse of what infinite enjoyments, what perfect forces, what luminous reaches of spontaneous knowledge, what wide calms of our being lie waiting for us in the tracts which our animal evolution has not yet conquered, they would leave all and never rest till they had gained these treasures. But the way is narrow, the doors are hard to force, and fear, distrust and scepticism are there, sentinels of Nature to forbid the turning away of our feet from less ordinary pastures.'
Cent. Ed. Vol. XVII, p. 79
0 1958-10-25 - to go out of your body, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Each one is in touch with the universal expression of an aspect or a will or a mode of the Supreme, and if one aspires for this, it is this that comes, with an extraordinary plasticity. and when that happens, I even become the Witness (not the witness in the way of the Purusha1: a witness far more infinite and eternal than the 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 their highest aspiration). I see it even when the people themselves are no longer consciousor rather, not yet conscious (for me, its no longer, but anyway ), when they are not yet conscious of this identification somewhere. Even then I see it.
Its interesting.
--
and that is what always brings in complications, conflicts. I was surprised that the atmosphere [of the Ashram] is filled with conflict when he is here but that is the reason.2
Why arent people conscious of this identification while having it in a part of their being?
Between the outer consciousness and the deepest consciousness there are truly holeswhich are missing links between states of being and which have to be built, but they dont know how to do it. So their first reaction when they go within is panic! They feel they are falling into night, into nothingness, into non-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 there consciously. I helped him to go out but it was frightful! When he dreamed, a part of his mind indeed remained conscious, active, and a kind of link remained between this active part and his outer being, so he remembered some of his dreams, but it was only a very partial phenomenon. To go out of your body means that you must gradually pass through ALL the states of being, if you are to do it systematically. But already in the subtle physical it was almost non-individualized, and as soon as he went a bit further, there was no longer anything! It was unformed, nonexistent.
So they sit down (they are told to interiorize, to go within themselves), and they panic!Naturally they feel that they that they are disappearing: there is nothing! There is no consciousness!
Purusha: the Being or the Self that witnesses and supports the Becoming.
The occult atmosphere of tantric pujas invokes forces that do not coincide with the completely different atmosphere and the completely different attitude of the supramental yoga.
***
0 1958-11-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
All this together constitutes one collective entity, and the individual is lost in it. If I had to deal with this person or that person individually, it would be different. But all together, taking them all together as a collective entity, well, its not brilliant.
Mother is referring to the Ashram as a collectivity.
0 1958-11-04 - Myths are True and Gods exist - mental formation and occult faculties - exteriorization - work in dreams, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
object:0_1958-11-04 - Myths are True and Gods exist - mental formation and occult faculties - exteriorization - work in dreams
author class:The Mother
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The gods of the Puranas are merciless gods who respect only power and have nothing of the true love, charity or profound goodness that the Divine has put into the human consciousness and which compensate psychically for all the outer defects. They themselves have nothing of this, they have no psychic.1 The Puranic gods have no psychic, so they act according to their power. They are restrained only when their power is not all-powerful, thats all.
But what does Anusuya represent?2
She is a portrait of the ideal woman according to the Hindu conception, the woman who worships her husb and as a god, which means that she sees the Supreme in her husb and. and so this woman was much more powerful than all the gods of the Puranas precisely because she had this psychic capacity for total self-giving; and her faith in the Supremes presence in her husb and gave her a much greater power than that of all the gods.
The story narrated in the 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 the gods as he pleases, and he serves as an intermediary, but then he likes to have fun!) So he was quarrelling with one of the goddesses, I no longer recall which one, and he told her (Ah, yes! The 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! (Mother laughs) Love is much more powerful than knowledge. So she challenged him, saying, Well then, prove it to me.I shall prove it to you, he replied. and the whole story starts there. He began creating a whole imbroglio on earth just to prove his point.
It was only a film story, but anyway, the goddesses, the three wives of the Trimurti that is, the consort of Brahma, the consort of Vishnu and the consort of Shivajoined forces (!) and tried all kinds of things to foil Narada. I no longer recall the details of the story Oh yes, the story begins like this: one of the three I believe it was Shivas consort, Parvati (she was the worst one, by the way!)was doing her puja. Shiva was in meditation, and she began doing her puja in front of him; she was using an oil lamp for the puja, and the lamp fell down and burned her foot. She cried out because she had burned her foot. So Shiva at once came out of his meditation and said to her, What is it, Devi? (laughter) She answered, I burned my foot! Then 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! She became furious and snapped at him, Show me that it can be otherwise! Narada replied, I am going to show you what it is to really love ones husb andyou dont know anything about it!
Then comes the 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. They had finished their puja (both of them were worshippers of Shiva), and after their puja he was resting, sleeping, with his head on Anusuyas knees. Meanwhile, the gods had descended upon earth, particularly this Parvati, and they saw Anusuya like that. Then Parvati exclaimed, This is a good occasion! Not very far away a cooking fire was burning. With her power, she sent the fire rolling down onto Anusuyas feetwhich startled her because it hurt. It began to burn; not one cry, not one movement, nothing because she didnt want to awaken her husb and. But she began invoking Shiva (Shiva was there). and because she invoked Shiva (it is lovely in the story), because she invoked Shiva, Shivas foot began burning! (Mother laughs) Then Narada showed Shiva to Parvati: Look what you are doing; you are burning your husb ands foot! So Parvati made the opposite gesture and the fire was put out.
Thats how it went.
--
Oh, the story was very lovely all along. There was one thing after another, one thing after another, and always the power of Anusuya was greater than the power of the gods. I liked that story very much.
It ended in a (Oh, the story was very long; it lasted three hours!) But really, it was lovely throughout. Lovely in the way it showed that the sincerity of love is much more powerful than anything else.
--
Those who have read a little and who know something other than their little rut will underst and.
There is something similar between the Puranic gods and the gods of Greek or Egyptian mythology. The gods of Egyptian mythology are terrible beings They cut off peoples heads, tear their enemies to pieces!
The Greeks were not always tender either!
In Europe and in the modern Western world, it is thought that all these gods the Greek gods and the pagan gods, as they are calledare human fancies, that they are not real beings. To underst and, one must know that they are real beings. That is the difference. For Westerners, they are only a figment of the human imagination and dont correspond to anything real in the universe. But that is a gross mistake.
To underst and the workings of universal life, and even those of terrestrial life, one must know that in their own realms these are all living beings, each with his own independent reality. They would exist even if men did not exist! Most of these gods existed before man.
They are beings who belong to the progressive creation of the universe and who have themselves presided over its formation from the most etheric or subtle regions to the most material regions. They are a descent of the divine creative Spirit that came to repair the mischief in short, to repair what the Asuras had done. The first makers created disorder and darkness, an unconsciousness, and then it is said that there was a second lineage of makers to repair that evil, and the gods gradually descended through realities that were ever moreone cant say dense because it isnt really dense, nor can one even say material, since matter as we know it does not exist on these planesthrough more and more concrete substances.
All these zones, these planes of reality, received different names and were classified in different ways according to the occult schools, according to the different traditions, but there is an essential similarity, and if we go back far enough into the various traditions, hardly anything but words differ, depending upon the country and the language. The descriptions are quite similar. Moreover, those who climb back up the ladderor in other words, a human being who, through his occult knowledge, goes out of one of his bodies (they are called sheaths in English) and enters into a more subtle bodyin order to ACT in a more subtle body and so forth, twelve times (you make each body come out from a more material body, leaving the more material body in its corresponding zone, and then go off through successive exteriorizations), what they have seen, what they have discovered and seen through their ascensionwhe ther they are occultists from the Occident or occultists from the Orientis for the most part analogous in description. They have put different words on it, but the experience is very analogous.
There is the whole Chaldean tradition, and there is also the Vedic tradition, and there was very certainly a tradition anterior to both that split into two branches. Well, all these occult experiences have been the same. Only the description differs depending upon the country and the language. The story of creation is not told from a metaphysical or psychological point of view, but from an objective point of view, and this story is as real as our stories of historical periods. Of course, its not the only way of seeing, but it is just as legitimate a way as the others, and in any event, it recognizes the concrete reality of all these divine beings. Even now, the experiences of Western occultists and those of Eastern occultists exhibit great similarities. The only difference is in the way they are expressed, but the manipulation of the forces is the same.
I learned all this through Theon. 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 where he was born, nor his age nor anything.
He had assumed two names: one was an Arab name he had adopted when 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 there he first called himself Aa Aziz (a word of Arabic origin meaning the beloved). Then, when he began setting up his Cosmic Review and his cosmic group, he called himself Max Theon, meaning the supreme God (!), the greatest God! and no one knew him by any other name than these twoAa Aziz or Max Theon.
He had an English wife.
He said he had received initiation in India (he knew a little Sanskrit and the Rig-Veda thoroughly), and then he formulated a tradition which he called the cosmic tradition and which he claimed to have received I dont know howfrom a tradition anterior to that of the Cabala and the Vedas. But there were many things (Madame Theon was the clairvoyant one, and she received visions; oh, she was wonderful!), many things that I myself had seen and known before knowing them which were then substantiated.
So personally, I am convinced that there was indeed a tradition anterior to both these traditions containing a knowledge very close to an integral knowledge. Certainly, there is a similarity in the experiences. When I came here and told Sri Aurobindo certain things I knew from the occult st andpoint, he always said that it conformed to the Vedic tradition. and as for certain occult practices, he told me that they were entirely tantric and I knew nothing at that time, absolutely nothing, neither the Vedas nor the Tantras.
So very probably there was a tradition anterior to both. I have recollections (for me, these are always things I have LIVED), very clear, very distinct recollections of a time that was certainly VERY anterior to the Vedic times and to the Cabala, to the Chaldean tradition.
But now, there is only a very small number of people in the West who know that it isnt merely subjective or imaginative (the result of a more or less unbridled imagination), and that it corresponds to a universal truth.
All these regions, all these realms are filled with beings who exist separately in their own realms, and if you are awake and conscious on a given plane for example, if while going out of a more material body you awaken on some higher planeyou can have the same relationship with the things and people of that plane as with the things and people of the material world. In other words, there exists an entirely objective relationship that has nothing to do with your own idea of things. Naturally, the resemblance becomes greater and greater as you draw nearer the physical world, the material world, and there is even a moment when one region can act directly upon the other. In any case, in what Sri Aurobindo calls the kingdoms of the overmind, you find a concrete reality entirely independent of your personal experience; whenever you come back to it, you again find the same things, with some differences that may have occurred DURING YOUR ABSENCE. and your relationships with the beings there are identical to those you have with physical beings, except that they are more flexible, more supple and more direct (for example, there is a capacity to change the outer form, the visible form, according to your inner state), but you can make an appointment with someone, come to the meeting and again find the same being, with only certain differences that may have occurred during your absence but it is absolutely concrete, with absolutely concrete results.
However, you must have at least a little experience of these things to underst and them. Otherwise, if you are convinced that all this is just human fancy or mental formations, if you believe that these gods have such and such a form because men have imagined them to be like that, or that they have such and such defects or qualities because men have envisioned it that wayas with all those who say God is created in the image of man and exists only in human thoughtall such people wont underst and, it will seem absolutely ridiculous to them, a kind of madness. You must live a little, touch the subject a little to know how concrete it is.
Naturally, children know a great dealif they have not been spoiled. There are many children who return to the same place night after night and continue living a life they have begun there. When these faculties are not spoiled with age, they can be preserved within one. There was a time when I was especially interested in dreams, and I could return exactly to the same place and continue some work I had begun there, visit something, for example, or see to something, some work of organization or some discovery or exploration; you go to a certain place, just as you go somewhere in life, then you rest a while, then you go back and begin againyou take up your work just where you left it, and you continue. You also notice that there are things entirely independent of you, certain variations which were not at all created by you and which occurred automatically during your absence.
But then, you must LIVE these experiences yourself; you yourself must see, you must live them with enough sincerity to see (by being sincere and spontaneous) that they are independent of any mental formations. Because one can take the opposite line and make an intensive study of the way mental formations act upon eventswhich is very interesting. But thats another field. and this study makes you very careful, very prudent, because you start noticing to what extent you can delude yourself. Therefore, both one and the other, the mental formation and the occult reality, must be studied to see what the ESSENTIAL difference is between them. The one exists in itself, entirely independent of what we think about it, and the other
That was a grace. I was given every experience without knowing ANYTHING of what it was all aboutmy mind was absolutely blank. There was no active correspondence in the formative mind. I only knew about what had happened or the laws governing these happenings AFTERWARDS, when I was curious and inquired to find out what it related to. Then I found out. But otherwise, I didnt know. So that was the clear proof that these things existed entirely outside of my imagination or thought.
It doesnt happen very frequently in this world. and thats why these experiences, which otherwise seem quite natural, quite obvious, appear to be extravagant fancies to people who know nothing.
But if you transposed this to France, to the West, unless you frequent occult circles, people would look at you with and behind your back, they would say, That person is cracked!
***
(Later, the disciple asks Mother for some clarification on the essential difference between the occult reality and mental formations)
Once you have worked in this field, you realize that when you have studied a subject, when you have mentally understood something, it gives a special tonality to the experience. The experience may be quite spontaneous and sincere, but the simple fact of having known this subject and of having studied it gives a particular tonality; on the other h and, if you have learned nothing of the subject, if you know nothing at all, well, when the experience comes, the notation of it is entirely spontaneous and sincere. It can be more or less adequate, but it is not the result of a former mental formation.
What happened in my life is that I never studied or knew things until AFTER having the experienceonly BECAUSE OF the experience and because I wanted to underst and it would I study things related to it.
It was the same thing for visions of past lives. I knew NOTHING when I would have the experience, not even the possibility of past lives, and only after having had the experience would I study the question and, for example, even verify certain historical facts that had occurred in my vision but about which I had no prior knowledge.
***
--
There are subtle bodies and subtle worlds that correspond to these bodies; it is what the psychological method calls states of consciousness, but these states of consciousness really correspond to worlds. The occult process consists in becoming aware of these various inner states of being, or subtle bodies, and of mastering them sufficiently to be able to make one come out of the other, successively. For there is a whole hierarchy of increasing subtletiesor decreasing, depending upon the direction and the occult process consists in making a more subtle body come out from a denser body, and so forth, right to the most ethereal regions. You go out through successive exteriorizations into more and more subtle bodies or worlds. Each time it is rather like passing into another dimension. In fact, the fourth dimension of the physicists is only the scientific transcription of an occult knowledge.
To give another comparison, it could be said that the physical body is at the centerit is the most material and the most condensed, as well as the smallest and the more subtle inner bodies increasingly overlap the limits of this central physical body; they pass through it and extend further and further out, like water evaporating from a porous vase which creates a kind of steam all around it. and the more subtle it is, the more its extension tends to fuse with that of the universe: you finally become universal. It is an entirely concrete process that makes the invisible worlds an objective experience and even allows you to act in those worlds.
In Sri Aurobindo's and Mother's terminology, 'psychic' or 'psychic being' means the soul or the portion of the Supreme in man which evolves from life to life until it becomes a fully self-conscious being. The soul is a special capacity or grace of human beings on earth.
The film on August 5.
0 1958-11-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I found my message for the 1st of January It was quite unforeseen. Yesterday morning, I thought, All the same, I have to find my message, but what? I was absolutely like that, neutral, nothing. Then yesterday evening at the class (of Friday, November 7) I noticed that these children who had had a whole week to prepare their questions on the text had not found a single one! A terrible lethargy! A total lack of interest. and when I had finished speaking, I thought to myself, But what IS there in these people who are interested in nothing but their personal little affairs? So I began descending into their mental atmosphere, in search of the little light, of that which responds and it literally pulled me downwards as into a hole, but in such a material way; my h and, which was on the arm of the chair, began slipping down, my other h and went like this (to the ground), my head, too! I thought it was going to touch my knees!
and I had the 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 the 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 there was almost no more roomnot even for the consciousness to pass through. and the 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 the rock edges. They seemed to be cut so steeply, so sharply Finally, when my head began touching my knees, I asked myself, But what is there at the bottom of this this hole?
and as soon as I had uttered, What is there at the bottom of this hole? I seemed to touch a spring that was in the 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.
and it was all-powerful, with an infinite richness. It did not have no, it didnt have any kind of form, and it had no limits (naturally, as I was identified with it I knew there was neither limit nor form). It was as if (because it was not visible), as if this vast were made of countless, imperceptible pointspoints that occupied no place in space (there was no sense of space), that were of a deep warm gold but this is only a feeling, a transcription. and all this was absolutely LIVING, living with a power that seemed infinite. and yet motionless.
It lasted for quite some time, for the rest of the meditation.
It seemed to contain a whole wealth of possibilities, and all this that was formless had the power to become form.
At the 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 the new year! Then I transcribed the experienceit cant be described, of course, for it was indescribable; it was a psychological phenomenon and the form it took was only a way of describing the 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.
There was a hesitation in the expression, so I brought the paper and I want us to decide upon the final text together.
I have not described anything. I have only stated a fact (Mother reads):
At the very bottom of the inconscience most hard and rigid and narrow and stifling, I struck upon an almighty spring that cast me up forthwith into a formless, limitless Vast, generator of all creation.
and it is again one more proof. The experience was absolutely the English word genuine says it.
Genuine and spontaneous?
Yes, it was not a willed experience, for I had not decided I would do this. It did not correspond to an inner attitude. In a meditation, one can decide, I will meditate on this or on that or on something else I will do this or that. For meditations, I usually have a kind of inner (or higher) perception of what has to be done, and I do it. But it was not that way. I had decided: nothing, to decide nothing, to be like that (gesture of turning upwards).
and then it happened.
Suddenly, while I was speaking (it was while I was speaking), I felt, Well really, can anything be done with such material? Then, quite naturally, when I stopped speaking, oh!I felt that I was being pulled! Then I understood. Because I had asked myself the question, But what is HAPPENING in there behind all those forms? I cant say that I was annoyed, but I said to myself, Well really, this has to be shaken up a bit! and just as I had finished, something pulled meit pulled me out of my body, I was literally pulled out of my body.
and then, down into this hole I still see what I saw then, this crevasse between two rocks. The sky was not visible, but on the rock summits I saw something like the reflection of a glimmera glimmercoming from something beyond, which (laughing) must have been the sky! But it was invisible. and as I descended, as if I were sliding down the face of this crevasse, I saw the rock edges; and they were really black rocks, as if cut with a chisel, cuts so fresh that they glistened, with edges as sharp as knives. There was one here, one there, another there, everywhere, all around. and I was being pulled, pulled, pulled, I went down and down and downthere was no end to it, and it was becoming more and more compressing.1 It went down and down
and so, physically, the body followed. My body has been taught to express the inner experience to a certain extent. In the body there is the body-force or the body-form or the body-spirit (according to the different schools, it bears a different name), and this is what leaves the body last when 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 the body move. Thus, through training, the 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 then I was pulled downwards: my h and, which had been on the arm of the chair, slipped down, then the other h and, then my head was almost touching my knees! (The consciousness was elsewhere, 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 somewhere because if it continues, my head (laughing) is going to be on the ground! and I thought, But what is there at the bottom of this hole?
Scarcely had these words been formulated when there I was, at the bottom of the hole! and it was absolutely as if a tremendous, almighty spring were there, and then (Mother hits the table) vrrrm! I was cast out of the abyss into a vastness. My body immediately sat straight up, head on high, following the movement. If someone had been watching, this is what he would have seen: in a single bound, vrrrm! Straight up, to the maximum, my head on high.
and I followed all this without objectifying it in the 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. The experience was absolutely spontaneous. and after this rather painful descent, phew!there was a kind of super-comfort. I cant explain it otherwise, an ease,4 but an ease to the 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 there 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 the peace of eternity. A silence, a calm. A POWER capable of of EVERYTHING. Everything.
and I was not imagining nor objectifying it; I was living it with easewith a great ease. and it lasted until the end of the meditation. When it gradually began fading, I stopped the meditation and left.
Later, after I returned (to the Ashram), I wondered, What was that? What does it signify? Then I understood.
--
At the very bottom of the inconscience most hard and rigid Because generally, the inconscience gives the impression, precisely, of something amorphous, inert, formless, drab and gray (when formerly I entered the zones of the inconscient, that was the 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 (the idea of something that compresses, compresses, compresses you) and stiflingyes, stifling is the word.
I struck upon an almighty spring that cast me up forthwith into a formless, limitless vast, generator of all creation. It was yes, I have the feeling that it was not the ordinary creation, the primordial creation, but the SUPRAMENTAL creation, for it bore no similarity to the experience of returning to the Supreme, the origin of everything. I had utterly the feeling of being cast into the origin of the supramental creation something that is already (how can it be expressed?) objectified from the Supreme, with the explicit goal of the supramental creation.
--
I dont think I am mistaken, for there was such a superabundant feeling of power, of warmth, of gold It was not fluid, it was like a powdering. and each of these things (they cannot be called specks or fragments, nor even points, unless you underst and it in the mathematical sense, a point that occupies no space) was something equivalent to a mathematical point, but like living gold, a powdering of warm gold. I cannot say it was sparkling, I cannot say it was dark, nor was it made of light, either: a multitude of tiny points of gold, nothing but that. They seemed to be touching my eyes, my face and with such an inherent power and warmthit was a splendor! and then, at the same time, the feeling of a plenitude, the PEACE of omnipotence It was rich, it was full. It was movement at its ultimate, infinitely swifter than all one can imagine, and at the same time it was absolute peace, perfect tranquillity.
(Mother resumes her message)
--
Later Mother further explained: 'When one is exteriorized, this body-spirit retains a connection with the being that has gone out, and what has gone out has a power over itwhich is precisely why one isn't completely dead! The being that has gone out also has the power to make the body move.'
Later, Mother explained: 'I don't mean an autonomous will (it is the being that has gone out which has the power to make the body move), it has only acquired, through training, the capacity to express the will of the being with which it has kept a relationship through this link of the body-spirit which is broken only at death.'
0 1958-11-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The objectification of the experience came progressively, as always happens to me. When I have the 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!
There is no preliminary thought, preliminary knowledge, preliminary will: all those things do not exist. I am only like a mirror receiving the experience, the simplicity of a little child learning life. It is like that. and it is the gift of the Grace, truly the Grace: in the face of the experience, the simplicity of a little child just born. and it is spontaneously so, but deliberately too; in other words, during the experience I am very careful not to watch myself having the experience so that no previous knowledge intervenes. Only afterwards do I see. It is not a mental construction, nor does it come from something higher than the mind (it is not even a knowledge by identity that makes me see things); no, the body (when the experience is in the body) is like that, what in English is called blank. As if it had just been born, as if just then it were being born with the experience.
and only little by little, little by little, is this experience put in the presence of any previous knowledge. Thus, its explanation and its evaluation come about progressively.
It is indispensable if one doesnt want to be arbitrary.
So in fact, only the final wording is correct, but from the point of view of the historical unfolding, it is interesting to observe the passage. It was exactly the same phenomenon for the experience of the Supramental Manifestation. Both these things, the experience of November 7 and of the Supramental, occurred in the same way, identically: I WAS the experience, and nothing else. Nothing but the experience at the time it was occurring. and only slowly, while coming out of it, did the previous knowledge, the previous experiences, all the accumulation of what had come before, examine it and put it in its place.
This is why I arrive at a verbal expression progressively, gropingly; these are not literary gropingsit is aimed at being precise, specific and concise at the same time.
When I write something, I dont expect people to underst and it, but I try to avoid the least possible distortion of the experience or the image in this kind of shrinking towards expression.
--
Yes. Because at the very bottom of the Inconscient is the Supreme. It is the same idea as the highest height touching the deepest depth. The universe is like a circleit is represented by the serpent biting its tail, its head touching its tail. It means that the supreme height touches the most material matter, without any intermediary. I have already said this several times. But that was the 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 when 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 the fluidity is lost, it evaporates. A rather vague, poetic or artistic expression is much truer, much nearer to the truth something hazy, nebulous, undefined. Something not concretized like a rigid mental expressionthis rigidity that the mind has introduced right down into the Inconscient.
This vision of the Inconscient (Mother remains gazing for a moment) it was the MENTAL Inconscient. Because the starting point was mental. A special Inconscientrigid, hard, resistantwith all that the mind has brought into our consciousness. But it was far worse, far worse than a purely material Inconscient! A mentalized Inconscient, as it were. All this rigidity, this hardness, this narrowness, this fixitya FIXITYcomes from the presence of the mind in creation. When the mind was not manifested, the Inconscient was not like that! It was formless and had the plasticity of something that is formless the plasticity has gone.
It is a terrible image of the Minds action in the Inconscient.
--
and this almighty spring is the perfect image of what is happeningwhat must happen, what will happenFOR EVERYONE: suddenly, one is cast forth into the vast.
***
0 1958-11-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I feel disguised.1 and I detest hypocrisy I have many faults, but not that one.
So I believe it would be better for me to leave.
Through my friends in Hyderabad, I can contact some people who are doing business in the forests of the Belgian Congo. I want to go there, alone and far away from everything.
But there is always this wretched question of money. I need it to leave and to pay for the journey. Afterwards, I will manage. Anyway, it is all the same to me; I am not afraid of anything any longer.
It seems to me that the sooner I leave the better, because of this hypocrisy I detest.2
--
One does not cure hypocrisy by pulling down below what is already above but by lifting upwards what is still down below. To yield to an impulse of revolt is a defeat and a cowardice unworthy of a soul like yours.
Do not flee the difficulty, face it courageously and carry home the victory.
My love is with you.
0 1958-11-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It was said in the ancient traditions that one could not live for more than twenty days in this higher state without leaving ones body and returning to the supreme Origin. Now this is no longer true.
It is precisely this state of perfect Harmony beyond all attacks that will become possible with the supramental realization. It is what all those who are destined for the supramental transformation will realize. The hostile forces know it well; in the supramental world, they will automatically disappear. Having no more utility, they will be dissolved without our having to do anything, simply through the presence of the supramental force. So now they are being unleashed with a fury in a negation of everything, everything.
--
What is the relationship between this experience of February 3 and that of November 7 (the almighty spring)? Is what you found in the depths of the Inconscient this same Supramental?
The experience of November 7 was a further step in the building of the link between the two worlds. Where I was cast was clearly into the origin of the supramental creationall this warm gold, this tremendous living power, this sovereign peace. and once again I saw that the values governing the supramental world have nothing to do with our values here, even the values of our highest wisdom, even those we consider the most divine when we live constantly in a divine Presence: it is utterly different.
Not only in our state of adoration and surrender to the Supreme, but even in our state of identification, the QUALITY of the identification is different depending upon whether we are on this side, progressing in this hemisphere, or have passed to the other side and have emerged into the other world, the other hemisphere, the higher hemisphere.
The quality or the kind of relationship I had with the Supreme at that moment was entirely different from the one we have hereeven the identification had a different quality. One can very well underst and that all the lower movements are different but this identification by which the Supreme governs and lives in us was the summit of our experience herewell, the way He governs and lives is different depending on whether we are in this hemisphere here or in the supramental life. and at that moment (the experience of November 13), what made the experience so intense was that I came to perceive vaguely both these states of consciousness at once. It was almost as if the Supreme Himself were different, or our experience of Him. and yet, in both cases, it was a contact with the Supreme. It is probably how we perceive Him or the way in which we translate it that differs, but the fact is that the quality of the experience is different.
In the other hemisphere, there is an intensity and a plenitude which are translated by a power different from the one here. How can I formulate it?I cannot.
The quality of the consciousness itself seems to change. It is not something higher than the summit we can attain here, it is not one MORE rung, not that. Here, we have reached the end, the summit, but its the quality that is different. The quality, in the sense that a fullness, a richness, a power is there (this is a translation, you see, in our way), but there is a something that that eludes us. It is truly a new reversal of consciousness.
--
and probably each time a new world opens up, there will again be a new reversal. This is why even our spiritual life, which is such a total reversal compared to ordinary life, seems something still so so totally different when compared to this supramental consciousness that the values are almost opposite.
It can be expressed in this way (but its quite approximate, more than diminished or deformed): its as if our entire spiritual life were made of silver, whereas the 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 the summit, an absolutely pure light, pure and intense; but in the other, in the supramental world, there is a richness and a power that make all the difference. This whole spiritual life of the psychic being and of all our present consciousness that appears so warm, so full, so wonderful, so luminous to the ordinary consciousness, well, all this splendor seems poor in comparison to the splendor of the new world.
I can explain the phenomenon 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 underst and what was missing in order to help you completely and truly come out of the difficulty reminded me of what I said the other day about Power, the transforming power, the true realizing power, the supramental power. When you enter that, when you suddenly surge into that Thing, then you seeyou see that it is truly almighty in comparison to what we are here. So once again, I touched it, I experienced both states simultaneously.
But as long as this is not an accomplished fact, it will still be a progressiona progression, an ascension; you gain a little, you gain some ground, you rise higher and higher. But as long as the new reversal has not taken place, its as if everything had still to be done. It is a repetition of the experience below, reproduced above.
(silence)
and each time, you have the feeling of having lived on the surface of things. Its a feeling that is repeated over and over again. With each new conquest, you feel that until then you had lived only on the surface of thingson the surface of the realization, on the surface of surrender, on the surface of power. It was only the surface of things, the surface of the experience. Behind the surface, there is a depth, and only when one enters into this depth does one touch the True Thing. and it is the same experience each time: what seemed a depth becomes the surface. A surface, with all that it entails of inaccuracy, yes, of artificialityartificialan artificial transcription. It feels like something not really alive, a copy, an imitation: its an image, a reflection, but not THE Thing itself. You step into another zone and you feel you have uncovered the Source and the Power and the Truth of things; then this source and power and truth in turn become an appearance, an imitation, a mere transcription in comparison to something concrete: the new realization.
(silence)
Meanwhile, we should acknowledge that we dont have the key, it is not yet in our h ands. Or rather, we know quite well where it is, and there is only one thing to do: the perfect surrender Sri Aurobindo speaks of, the total surrender to the divine Will whatever happens, even in the dark of night.
There is night and sun, night and sun, and night again, many nights, but one must cling to this will for surrender, cling as through a storm, and put everything into the h ands of the Supreme Lord. Until the day when the Sun shall shine forever, the day of total Victory.
The Supramental Ship.
0 1958-11-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I dont have all the information, otherwise certainly Two things made me see I saw them the other day. First of all, when you didnt underst and my letter, for I wrote it to a part of you that without any doubt should have understood; I was referring to something other than what is seen and known by this part of you which is this center, this knot of revolt that seems to resist everything, that really remains knotted, in spite of your experiences and the strides you have made, as well as your openings. and what made me see is especially the fact that it resists experiences, it is not touched by experiences; this was the point that did not underst and what I wrote. Because the part of you that had the experience must necessarily underst and what I wrote, without the shadow of a doubt.
Time is needed
I had two visions which are certainly related to this. The most recent one was yesterday, and it concerned a past life in India. It is something that took place in India about one thous and years ago, perhaps a little more (I am not yet sure about this). and it contains both things. Its strange, both things together the origin of the power of realization in this life and the obstacle to be conquered.
I had the last vision yesterday evening. You were much taller than you are now; you were wearing the orange robe, and you were backed up against a door of bronze, a bronze door like the door of a temple or a palace but at the same time it was symbolic (it was a fact, it actually took place like this, but at the same time it was symbolic). and unfortunately, it didnt last because I was disturbed. But it contained the key.
I was VERY HAPPY with the vision, for there was a great POWER, though it was rather terrible. But it was magnificent. When I saw that, I This vision was given to me because I had concentrated with a will to find the solution, a true solution, an enduring and permanent solution that is, I had this spontaneous gratitude which goes out to the Grace when 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. The other morning I saw, and I was told very clearly that it was a karma1 to be worked out; so then I told you, but at the time I didnt know what it was.
and I saw that with the new Power, the supramental power That is something absolutely new It used to be thought that nothing had the power to eliminate the consequences of karma and that only by exhausting it through a series of actions could its consequences be transformed exhausted, eliminated. But I KNOW that with the supramental power it can be done without following all the steps of the process.
In any event, one point is clear: it is something that happened in India, and the origin of the karma and the remedy of the karma go together. and it has to do with this initiation you received in Rameswaram.2
So the difficulty and the victory go together. Its very interesting.
But what had I done in that life? What did I do? WHAT?!?
--
and it seems to me that its relatively easier than when you have to confront the thing all alone.
If you can when the attack comes, if you can cling to something that knows, or to something in you that has had the 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 the movement, not succumb to the 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 the possibility of a decisive victory, which means that it will no longer recur in the same way.
There is such an abyss between what one truly is and what we are that at times it is dizzying. But one must not let oneself become dizzy. One must not yield. One must remain like a rock until it passes.
Karma: positive (or negative) consequences of actions performed in past lives (every action is endowed with a self-perpetuating dynamism).
0 1958-11-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This is how it works: the psychic being passes from one life to another, but there are cases in which the psychic incarnates in order to to work out2 to pass through a certain experience, to learn a certain thing, to develop a certain thing through a certain experience. and so in this life, in the life where the experience is to be made, it can happen (there may be more than one reason) that the soul does not come down accurately in the place it should have, some shift or other may occur, a set of contrary circumstancesthis happens sometimes and then the incarnation miscarries entirely and the soul leaves. But in other cases, the soul is simply placed in the impossibility of doing exactly what it wants and it finds itself swept away by unfortunate circumstances. Not only unfortunate from an objective st andpoint, but unfortunate for its own development, and then that creates in it the necessity to begin the experience all over again, and in much more difficult conditions.
and ifit can happenif the second attempt also miscarries, if the conditions make the experience the soul is seeking still more difficult for example, if one is in a body with an inadequate will or some distortion in the 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 the soul can conquer it and manage to do what it wants. and each time, the 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 pushes you into more foolish things3 that result in a still greater accumulation of difficulty. There are momentsmoments and circumstanceswhen no one is there to help you, and then things become so horrible, the circumstances become so abominable.
But if the soul has had but ONE call, but ONE contact with the Grace, then in your next life you are put in the conditions, once, whereby EVERYTHING can be swept away at one stroke. and at this present moment on earth, you cannot imagine the number of people I have met that is, the number of soulswho had reached out towards this possibility with such an intensity and they have all found themselves on my path.
At that point, sometimes a great courage is needed, sometimes a great endurance is needed, sometimes a true love is enough, sometimes, oh! if only faith were there, one thing, one tiny little thing is enough, and everything can be swept away. I have done it often; there are times when I have failed. But more often than not I have been able to remove it. But then, what is needed is a great, stoical courage or a capacity to endure and to SEE IT THROUGH. The resistance (especially in cases of former suicide), the resistance to the temptation of renewing this stupidity creates a terrible formation. Or else this habit of fleeing when suffering comes: flee, flee, instead of absorbing the difficulty, holding on.
But just this, a faith in the Grace, or an awareness of the Grace, or the intensity of the call, or else naturally the response the response, the thing that opens, that breaks the response to this marvelous love of the Grace.
It is difficult without a strong will; and above all, above all the capacity to resist the temptation, which was the fatal temptation throughout all ones livesbecause its power builds up. Each defeat gives it renewed force. But a tiny victory can dissolve it.
Oh, the most terrible of all is when one does not have the strength, the courage, something indomitable! How many times do they come to tell me, I want to die, I want to flee, I want to die.I say, But die, then, die to yourself! No one is asking you to let your ego survive! Die to yourself since you want to die! Have that courage, the true courage, to die to your egoism.
But because it is karma, one must, one must DO something oneself. Karma is the construction of the ego; the ego MUST DO something, everything cannot be done for it. This is it, THIS is the thing: karma is the result of the egos actions, and only when the ego abdicates is the karma dissolved. One can help it along, one can assist it, give it strength, bestow courage upon it, but the ego must then make use of it.
(silence)
So this is what I saw for you: that the crystallization of this karma occurred during a life in India in which you were put in the presence of the possibility of liberation and I dont know the details; I dont know the material facts at all. So far, I know nothing, I have only had a vision. I saw you there, as I told you, taller than you are now, in an Indian body, north Indian, for it was not dark but fair. But there was a HARDNESS in the being, the hardness born of a kind of despair mixed with rebellion, incomprehension and an ego that resists. That is all I know. The image was of you backed up against a bronze door: BACKED UP against it. I didnt see what had caused it. As I told you, something interrupted me, so I was unable to follow it.
The other indication is what I told you the other day. When you thought of leaving to join Swami, I immediately saw a stream of light: Ah, the road is opening up! So I said, It is good. and while you were away in Ceylon, I followed you from day to day. You called much more than the second time, when you were in the Himalayas; and with the physical hardships you were undergoing, I was very, very close to you I constantly felt what was happening.
and then I saw a GREAT light, like a glory, when you were at Rameswaram. A great light. and when you returned here, this light was upon you, very strong and imposing. But at the same time, I felt that it needed protectingto be shielded, protected that it was not yet established. Established, ready to resist all that decomposes an experience. I would have liked to have kept you apart, under a glass case, but then I saw that this would have drawbacks as well as advantages. Also, I liked the way you wanted to fight against an uncomprehending reception due to your orange robes and your shaved head. Of course, it was a much shorter path than the other, but it was more difficult.
and then, 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 the mountains, in arduous physical conditions. The contact with this majesty of Nature has a great influence upon the ego at certain moments: it has the power to dissolve it. But all this complication, all these organized pilgrimages, all that it brings in the whole petty side of human life which spoils everything
Yes, that whole journey was odious
--
The other thing was the tantric initiation. But I wanted the conditions of this initiation to be at least as favorable as those in Rameswaram, by which I mean conducted by someone very capable and as far as possible free from the whole formalistic and external side. A TRUE initiationsomeone who would be capable of pulling down the Power and putting you in conditions rigorous enough for you to be able to hold this Power, to receive it and hold it.
As soon as you had left, and since I was following you, I saw that nothing of the kind was going to happen, but rather something very superficial which would not be of much use. and when I received your letters and saw that you were in difficulty, I did something. There are places that are favorable for occult experiences. Benares is one of these places, the atmosphere there is filled with vibrations of occult forces, and if one has the slightest capacity, it spontaneously develops there, in the same way that a spiritual aspiration develops very strongly and spontaneously as soon as one l ands in India. These are Graces. Graces, because it is the destiny of the country, it has been so throughout its history, and because India has always been turned much more towards the heights and the inner depths than towards the outer world. Now, it is in the process of losing all that and wallowing in the mud, but thats another story it was like that and it is still like that. and in fact, when you returned from Rameswaram with your robes, I saw with much satisfaction that there was still a GREAT dignity and a GREAT sincerity in this endeavor of the Sannyasis towards the higher life and in the self-giving of a certain number of people to realize this higher life. When you returned, it had become a very concrete and a very real thing that immediately comm anded respect. Before, I had seen only a copy, an imitation, an hypocrisy, a pretentionnothing that was really lived. But then, 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 there, and as I told you, it comm ands respect. and then, as I felt you in difficulty and as the outer conditions were not only veiling but spoiling the inner, well, on that day I wrote you a short note I no longer recall when 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 the date, I dont remember when it was, but its likely that it happened as I wished when you were in Benares; and then you had this experience.
But when you returned the second time, from the Himalayas, you didnt have the same flame as when you returned the 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 the mountains but in a true solitude (I dont mean that your body had to be all alone, but there should not have been all kinds of outer, superficial things) Anyway, it didnt happen. So it means that the time had not come.
But when here the difficulties returned and because of their obstinacy, their 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 the true thing: that only a VERY COURAGEOUS act of self-giving could efface the thingnot courageous or difficult from the material point of view, not that There is a certain zone of the vital in you, a mentalized vital but still very material, which is very much under the influence of circumstances and which very much believes in the effectiveness of outer measuresthis is what is resisting.
That is all I know.
Generally, when the hour has come for a karma to be overcome and absorbed in the Grace, the image or the knowledge or the experience of the exact facts that are the origin of the karma come to me, and I can then perform the cleansing action.
For the time being, it is not yet there.
Only, and this is what I wrote to you the other day which you did not underst and: it is precisely at the most painful point, at the time when the suggestions are strongest, that one must hold on. Otherwise, it has always to be done all over again, always to be reconfronted. There comes a day, a moment, when it has to be done. and now, there is truly an opportunity on earth that is offered only once in thous ands of years, a conscious help, with the necessary Power
But thats about all I know.
--
My perception is that I have something to do, I dont know what, and only afterwards
But do you feel it as something to do physically?
--
I dont know. Thats not how I see it, in any case To live in the forest physically, an intense physical life where one is free, where one is pure, where one is far away Above all, to stop this thing from grinding on, finished with the head, and finished with thinking whatever it might be. If there is a yoga, it would be done spontaneously, naturally, physically, and without the least questioning from up thereabove all, a complete cessation of that (the head).
The first tantric guru whom the disciple joined in Ceylon and with whom he travelled in the Himalayas.
Original English.
Mother specified: 'The subconscious memory of the past creates a kind of irresistible desire to escape from the difficulty, and you recommence the same foolishness, or an even greater foolishness.'
The disciple wanted to leave for the forest, the Congo, to do the most unlikely things there.
0 1958-11-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Basically, the vast majority of men are like prisoners with all the doors and all the windows shut, so they suffocate (which is quite natural), but they have with them the key that opens the doors and the windows, and they dont use it Certainly, there is a period when they dont know that they have the key, but even long after they do know it, long after they have been told, they hesitate to use it and doubt that it has the power to open the doors and windows, or even that it may be advisable to open them. and even once they feel that After all, it might be a good thing, a fear pursues them: What is going to happen once all these doors and these windows open? They become afraidafraid of losing themselves in this light and in this freedom. They want to remain what they call themselves. They love their falsehood and their slavery. Something in them loves it and remains clinging to it. They feel that without their limits, they would no longer exist.
That is why the journey is so long, so difficult. For if one would truly consent no longer to be, everything would become so easy, so swift, so luminous, so joyousthough perhaps not in the way men conceive of joy and ease. At heart, there are very few beings who are not enamored of struggle. There are very few who would consent to having no darkness or who can conceive of light as anything other than the opposite of obscurity: Without shadow, there would be no painting. Without struggle, there would be no victory. Without suffering, there would be no joy. That is what they think, and as long as they think like that, they are not yet born to the spirit.
***
0 1958-11-27 - Intermediaries and Immediacy, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
object:0_1958-11-27 - Intermediaries and Immediacy
author class:The Mother
--
(Concerning the disciple's karma and the tantric discipline that he is following to dissolve this karma, Mother wonders why She herself had not been able to dissolve it directly and why it was necessary to resort to intermediaries)
I am used to seeing the process or the working of things more from a spiritual point of view, something more universal, whereas this needs to be seen from a detailed, occult point of view.
For example, one thing had always appeared unimportant to me in actionintermediaries between the spiritualized individual being, the conscious soul, and the Supreme. According to my personal experience, it had always seemed to me that if one is exclusively turned towards the Supreme in all ones actions and expresses Him directly, whatever is to be done is done automatically. For example, if you are always open and if at each second you consciously want to express only what the Supreme Lord wants to be expressed, it is done automatically. But with all that I have learned about pujas, about certain scriptures and certain rituals as well, the necessity for a process has become very clear to me. Its the same as in physical life; in physical life, everything needs a process, as we know, and it is the knowledge of processes that constitutes physical science. Similarly, in a more occult working, the knowledge and especially the RESPECT for the process seem to be much more important than I had first thought.
and when I studied this, when I looked at this science of processes, of intermediaries, suddenly I clearly understood the working of karma, which I had not understood before. I had worked and intervened quite often to change someones karma, but sometimes I had to wait, without exactly knowing why the result was not immediate. I simply used to wait without worrying about the reasons for this slowness or delay. Thats how it was. and generally it ended, as I said, with the exact vision of the karmas source, its initial cause; and scarcely would I have this vision when the Power would come, and the thing would be dissolved. But I didnt bother about finding out why it was like that.
One day I had mentioned this to X1 when he was showing me or describing to me the different movements of the pujas, the procedure, the process of the puja. I said to him, Oh, I see! For the action to be immediate, for the result to be immediate, one must acknowledge, for example, the role or the participation of certain spirits or certain forces and enter into a friendly relationship or collaboration with these forces in order to obtain an immediate result, is it not so? Then he told me, Yes, otherwise it leaves an indefinite time to the play of the forces, and you dont know when you will get the result of your puja.
That interested me very much. Because one of the obstacles I had felt was that although the Force was acting well, there was a time lag that appeared inevitable, a time element in the work which seemed unavoidablea play left to the forces of Nature. But with their knowledge of the processes, the tantrics can dispense with all that. So I understood why those who have studied, who are initiated and follow the prescribed methods are apparently more powerfulmore powerful even than those who are conscious in the highest consciousness.
What interested me is that in their case (those who follow tantric or other initiations), what is doubtful is whether or not they can succeed in receiving the response of the true Power, the divine power, the supreme power; they do everything they can, but this question still remains. Whereas for me, it is the opposite situation: the Power is there, I have it, but how can I make it act here in matter? The process for making it act immediately was missingthough not totally; I know from the psychological st andpoint, but there is something other than the psychological power, there is the whole play of conscious, individualized forces that are everywhere in Nature and that have the right to exist. Since it was created this way, it must express something of the supreme Will, otherwise He wouldnt have made use of intermediaries but in His plan, it is obvious that the intermediary has a legitimate place.
It is like the story X told me of his guru2 who could comm and the coming of Kali (something which seems quite natural to me when one is sufficiently developed); well, not only could he commend the coming of Kali, but Kali with I dont know how many crores of her warriors! For me, Kali was Kali, after all, and she did her work; but in the universal organization, her action, the innumerable multiplicity of her action, is expressed by an innumerable multitude of conscious entities at work. It is this individualization, as it were, that gives to these forces a consciousness and a certain play of freedom, and this is what makes all the difference in action. It is in this respect that the occult system is an absolutely indispensable complement to spiritual action.
The spiritual action is direct, but it may not be immediate (anyway, thats my experience). Sri Aurobindo said that with the supramental presence, it becomes immediate and I have experienced this. But this would then mean that the supramental Power automatically comm ands all these intermediaries, whereas if its not present, even the highest spiritual power would need a specialized knowledge to act in this realm, a knowledge equivalent to an occult or initiatory knowledge of all these realms. This is why I told X, Well, you taught me many things while you were here. There is always something to learn.
Of course, when the Supramental is here, it will be very different. I see it clearly: in moments when it is there, everything is turned inside out, and all this belongs to a world to the 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 there is even the possibility of holding the Supramental, of FIXING it in the manifestation. That is the great difference. For example, those with the power to materialize forces or beings lack the capacity to fix them, for these are fluid things which act and are then dissolved. That is the difference with the physical world where it is this condensation of energy that makes things (Mother strikes the arms of her chair) stable. All the things in the extraphysical realms are not stable, they are fluidfluid and consequently uncertain.3
The disciple's tantric guru.
0 1958-11-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
As it is, the physical body is really only a very disfigured shadow of the eternal life of the Self, but this physical body is capable of a progressive development; the physical substance progresses through each individual formation, and one day it will be able to build a bridge between physical life as we know it and the supramental life that is to manifest.
***
0 1958-12-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Until these last days, I still thought I could count on some outer solution to resolve my problem, but now I am up against a wall; I see that nothing can be DONE and the only solution is what you said one day: Consent no longer to be.
Mother, I have made many mistakes, I have often been rebellious and fallen into many holes. Help me to pick myself up, give me nonetheless a little of your Love. This has to change.
I do not want to remain in Hyderabad. This is not the atmosphere I need, although everything is very quiet here.
If you want, I can return to the Ashram and throw myself headlong into the work in order to forget all this. There is a lot of work with Herberts things to correct, the revision of The Synthesis of Yoga, your old Questions and Answers and the Dhammapada, and perhaps you would accept to take up our work together again?
Otherwise, if you consider it preferable to wait, I could go join Swami in Rameswaram, discarding all my little personal reactions towards him. and I would try my best to find again the Light of the first time and return to you stronger. I dont know. I will do what you say. All this really has to change. I dont know, moreover, whether Swami wishes to have me.
Mother, I need you, I need you. Forgive me and tell me what I should do.
Your child,
--
I have just received your letter which I read with all my love, the love that underst ands and effaces. When you return here, you will always be very welcome, and we shall certainly take up our work together again. I shall be happy, and it is very much needed. But first of all, it will be good for you to go to Rameswaram. I know that you will be welcome there. Stay there as long as necessary to find and consolidate your experience. Afterwards, come back here, stronger and better armed, to face a new period of outer and inner work. At the end of the labor is the Victory.
With all my confident love.
0 1958-12-15 - tantric mantra - 125,000, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Swami received me warmly and is doing all he can with all his heart. I am following his instructions to the letter for I believe that your grace is acting through him. Furthermore, he is totally devoted to you and spoke of you as no one ever hashe underst ands many things. I was unfair in my reactions towards him.
At the new moon, when I felt very down, he gave me the first tantric mantraa mantra to Durga. For a period of 41 days, I must repeat it 125,000 times and go every morning to the Temple, st and before Parvati and recite this mantra within me for at least one hour. Then I must go to the sanctuary of Shiva and recite another mantra for half an hour. Practically speaking, I have to repeat constantly within me the mantra to Durga in a silent concentration, whatever I may be doing on the outside. In these conditions, it is difficult to think of you and this has created a slight conflict in me, but I believe that your Grace is acting through Swami and through Durga, whom I am invoking all the time I remember what you told me about the necessity for intermediaries and I am obeying Swami unreservedly.
Mother, things are far from being what they were the first time in Rameswaram, and I am living through certain moments that are hell the enemy seems to have been unleashed with an extraordinary violence. It comes in waves, and after it recedes, I am literally SHATTEREDphysically, mentally and vitally drained. This morning, while going to the temple, I lived through one of these moments. All this suffering that suddenly sweeps down upon me is horrible. Yes, I had the feeling of being BACKED UP AGAINST A WALL, exactly as in your vision I was up against a wall. I was walking among these immense arcades of sculptured granite and I could see myself walking, very small, all alone, alone, ravaged with pain, filled with a nameless despair, for nowhere was there a way out. The sea was nearby and I could have thrown myself into it; otherwise, there was only the sanctuary of Parvati but there was no more Africa to flee to, everything closed in all around me, and I kept repeating, Why? Why? This much suffering was truly inhuman, as if my last twenty years of nightmare were crashing down upon me. I gritted my teeth and went to the sanctuary to say my mantra. The pain in me was so strong that I broke into a cold sweat and almost fainted. Then it subsided. Yet even now I feel completely battered.
I clearly see that the hour has come: either I will perish right here, or else I will emerge from this COMPLETELY changed. But something has to change. Mother, you are with me, I know, and you are protecting me, you love me I have only you, only you, you are my Mother. If these moments of utter darkness return and they are bound to return for everything to be exorcised and conqueredprotect me in spite of myself. Mother, may your Grace not ab andon me. I want to be done with all these old phantoms, I want to be born anew in your Light; it has to beotherwise I can no longer go on.
Mother, I believe I underst and something of all that you yourself are suffering, and the crucifixion of the Divine in Matter is a real crucifixion. In this moment of consciousness, I offer you all my trials and little sufferings. I would like to triumph so that it be your triumph, one weight less upon your heart.
Forgive me, Mother, for all the pain I may have thrown on you, but I am confident that with your Grace I will emerge from this victorious, your child unobscured, in all the fibers of my being. Oh Mother, how alone you are to bear all our suffering if only I could remember this in my moments of darkness.
--
I have just received your letter of the 15th. Yes, I know that the hour is critical. It has been grave here as well. I had to stop everything, for the attack upon my body was too violent. Now it is better but I have not yet resumed any of my outer activities, and I remain in my room upstairs. The battle continues in the invisible and I consider it decisive. You are a very intimate part of this battle. This is to tell you that I am with you in the most integral sense of these words. I know what you are suffering, I feel it but you must hold on. The Grace is there, all-powerful. As soon as it is possible and without going through one minute more than needed to transform that which has to be transformed, the trial will reach its end and we shall emerge into the light and joy. So never forget that I am with youin you and that WE SHALL TRIUMPH:
With all that love can bring of solace and endurance,
Signed: Mother
--
My very dear child, I am adding on to what I wrote you this morning to ask you to follow very scrupulously the indications given by Swamihe knows these things and has offered himself very sincerely as an instrument of action for my Grace.
When you invoke Durga, it is I you invoke through her, when you invoke Shiva, it is I you invoke through him and in the final analysis, to the Supreme Lord go all prayers.
0 1958-12-24, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Your last letter was a great comfort to me. If you were not there, with me, everything would be so absurd and impossible. I am again disturbing you because Swami tells me that you are worried and that I should write to you. Not much has changed, except that I am holding on and am confident. Yesterday, I again suffered an agonizing wave, in the temple, and I found just enough strength to repeat your name with each beat of my heart, like someone drowning. I remained as motionless as a pillar of stone before the sanctuary, with only your name (my mantra would not come out), then it cleared. It was brutal. I am confident that with each wave I am gaining in strength, and I know you are there. But I am aware that if the enemy is so violent it is because something in me responds, or has responded, something that has not made its surrender that is the critical point. Mother, may your grace help me to place everything in your h ands, everything, without any shadow. I want so much to emerge into the Light, to be rid of all this once and for all.
I am following Swamis instructions to the letter. Sometimes it all seems to lack warmth and spontaneity, but I am holding on. I might add that we are living right next to the bazaar, amidst a great racket 20 hours a day, which does not make things easier. So I repeat my mantra as one pounds his fists against the walls of a prison. Sometimes it opens a little, you send me a little joy, and then everything becomes better again.
Swami told me that the mantra to Durga is intended to pierce through into the subconscient. To complement this work, he does his pujas to Kali, and finally one of his friends, X, the High Priest of the temple in Rameswaram (who presided over my initiation and has great occult powers), has undertaken to say a very powerful mantra over me daily, for a period of eight days, to extirpate the dark forces from my subconscious. The operation already began four days ago. While reciting his mantra, he holds a glass of water in his h and, then he makes me drink it. It seems that on the eighth day, if the enemy has been trapped, this water turns yellow then the operation is over and the poisoned water is thrown out. (I tell you all this because I prefer that you know.) In any event, I like X very much, he is a very luminous, very good man. If I am not delivered after all this!
In truth, I believe only in the Grace. My mantra and all the rest seem to me only little tricks to try to win over your Grace.
Mother, love me. I have only you, I want to belong to you alone.
--
I have received your letter of the 24th. You did well to write, not because I was worried, but I like to receive news for it fixes my work by giving me useful material details. I am glad that X is doing something for you. I like this man and I was counting upon him. I hope he will succeed. Perhaps his work will be useful here, too for I have serious reasons to believe that this time occult and even definite magic practices aimed directly against my body have been mixed in with the attacks. This has complicated things somewhat, so as yet I have not resumed any of my usual activities I am still upstairs resting, but in reality fighting. Yesterday, the Christmas distribution took place without me, and it is likely that it will be the same for January 1st. The work, too, has been completely interrupted. and I do not yet know how long this will last.
Keep me posted on the result of Xs action; it interests me very much
I love you, my child, and I am near you with confidence and tenderness.
Doubt not of the Victory, it is certain.
0 1958-12-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
If you wish, two things can be done to help your action: either X can undertake certain mantric operations upon you here in Rameswaram, or better still, he can immediately come to Pondicherry with Swami and do what is needed in front of you.
Sweet Mother, I indeed suspect that you want to endure, to bear this struggle all alone. Oh, I think I underst and a number of things about the mechanism of these attacks and their connection with me, about the Divine Love that embraces all and takes into itself the suffering and the evil of menall this overwhelms me with a sudden underst anding. It seems to me that I am seeing and feeling all that you are facing, all that you are taking upon yourself for us. The suffering of the Divine in Matter has been an overwhelming revelation to meAh! I see, I want to fight, I want to be totally on your side; I am now and forever determined.
But you have enough to do with the higher beasts of prey without still having to fight the little scorpions. I beg of you, Sweet Mother, accept the help that is being offered to you, preserve your strength for the higher struggle. I quite underst and that your Love can even go to the scorpions that are attacking you, but it is not forbidden to protect yourself from their venom. You have enough to do on other planes.
X is at the summit of tantric initiation, and his power is not the fruit of a simple knowledge. He holds it directly from the Divine, and these things have been in his family traditionally from ten generations. No black magic can resist his power. His action is not brutal, he does not mechanically apply formulas, he holds this Science and knows how to apply it like an expert chemist, always in Light, Love and sweetness. If you agree that he come to see you, he will immediately know the source of these attacks upon you and will even be able to make the attacking force speak. He has this power. Of course, neither X nor Swami will divulge this to anyone, and everything will be kept secret. You have only to send word, or a telegram: No objection.
The work can be done from here also, but naturally it will not be quite as effective. In that case, you would have to set a specific time to synchronize the action in Rameswaram and Pondicherry. Swami can also do something in his pujas. It is for you to decide, but I hope you will not want to prolong this battle unnecessarily.
On my side, within my little field, I am taking the bull by the horns and henceforth the enemy will no longer have my complicity. May all my being be turned solely towards your Light and be your help, your instrument, your knight.
X has decided to continue his action upon me beyond the eight days foreseen, which doubtlessly corresponds to dosages that exceed my underst anding.
--
It seems to me that everything has changed since I have understood that it is not a personal battle, and that I can serve. Your grace is everywhere, everywhere.
***
--
I have just now received your letter of the 28th. On that day I definitely felt that there was a decisive change in the situation and I understood right away that you had spoken to Swami and also that what I had written to you gave you the opportunity to take a great step. I am very happy and can say with certitude that the worst is over. However, from several points of view, I infinitely appreciate Xs offer. and although I do not think it necessary, or even desirable, that they both come here (it would create a veritable revolution and perhaps even a panic among the ashramites), I am sure that their intervention in Rameswaram itself would not only be useful but most effective
Yes, everything has changed since you now underst and that your battle is not only a personal battle and that by winning it, it is a real service you are rendering to the Divine Work.
Happy New Year, my dear child! I am sure it will bring us a decisive victory.
0 1958 12 - Floor 1, young girl, we shall kill the young princess - black tent, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(This note was written by Mother in English. It concerns an attack of black magic that threatened her life and in the end completely changed her outer existence. A new stage begins.)
Two or three days after I retired to my room upstairs,1 early in the night I fell into a very heavy sleep and found myself out of the body much more materially than I do usually. This degree of density in which you can see the material surroundings exactly as they are. The part that was out seemed to be under a spell and only half conscious. When I found myself at the first floor where everything was absolutely black, I wanted to go up again, but then I discovered that my h and was held by a young girl whom I could not see in the darkness but whose contact was very familiar. She pulled me by the h and telling me laughingly, No, come, come down with me, we shall kill the young princess. I could not underst and what she meant by this young princess and, rather unwillingly, I followed her to see what it was. Arriving in the anteroom which is at the top of the staircase leading to the ground floor, my attention was drawn in the midst of all this total obscurity to the white figure of Kamala2 st anding in the middle of the passage between the hall and Sri Aurobindos room. She was as it were in full light while everything else was black. Then I saw on her face such an expression of intense anxiety that to comfort her I said, I am coming back. The sound of my voice shook off from me the semi-trance in which I was before and suddenly I thought, Where am I going? and I pushed away from me the dark figure who was pulling me and in whom, while she was running down the steps, I recognized a young girl who lived with Sri Aurobindo and me for many years and died five years back. This girl during her life was under the most diabolical influence. and then I saw very distinctly (as through the walls of the staircase) down below a small black tent which could scarcely be perceived in the surrounding darkness and st anding in the middle of the tent the figure of a man, head and face shaved (like the sannyasin or the Buddhist monks) covered from head to foot with a knitted outfit following tightly the form of his body which was tall and slim. No other cloth or garment could give an indication as to who he could be. He was st anding in front of a black pot placed on a dark red fire which was throwing its reddish glow on him. He had his right arm stretched over the pot, holding between two fingers a thin gold chain which looked like one of mine and was unnaturally visible and bright. Shaking gently the chain he was chanting some words which translated in my mind, She must die the young princess, she must pay for all she has done, she must die the young princess.
Then I suddenly realized that it was I the young Princess and as I burst into laughter, I found myself awake in my bed.
I did not like the idea of something or somebody having the power to pull me like that so materially out of my body without my previous consent. That is why I gave some importance to the experience.
Mother withdrew on December 9. In fact, She had been unwell for already more than a month before withdrawing. On November 26, the last 'Wednesday class' took place at the playground; on November 28 the last 'Friday class', on December 6, the last 'Translation class'; on December 1, the end of Mother's tennis and the last visit to the playground. On December 9, She again went down for the meditation around the Samadhi. From December 10, Mother remained in her room for one month. A great period had come to an end. Henceforth, She would only go out of the Ashram building on rare occasions.
A disciple
0 1959-01-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
and it happened just as I was despairing of ever getting out of it. I seemed to be touching a kind of fundamental bedrock, so painful, so suffering, and full of revolt because of too much suffering. and I saw that all my efforts, all the meditations, aspirations, mantras, were only covering up this suffering bedrock without touching it. I saw this fundamental thing in me very clearly, a poignant knot, ever ready for an absolute negation. I saw it and I said to you, Mother, only your grace can remove this. I said this to you in the temple that morning, in total despair. and then, the knot was undone. Xs action contri buted a lot, with your grace acting through him. But truly, I have traversed a veritable hell this last while.
X continues his work on me daily; it is to last 41 days in all. He told me that he wants to undo the things of several births. When it is over, he will explain it all to me. I do not know how to tell you how luminous and good this man is, he is a very great soul. He is also giving me Sanskrit lessons, and little by little, each evening, speaks to me of the Tantra.
His action upon you is to continue for another five days, after which he is positive that you will be entirely saved. According to him, it is indeed a magic attack originating in Pondicherry, and perhaps even from someone in the Ashram!! He told me that this evil person would finally be forced to appear before you I am learning many interesting things from him.
Mother, by way of expressing to you my gratitude, I want to work now to open myself totally to your Light and become truly an egoless instrument, your conscious instrument. Mother, you are the sole Reality.
With love and gratitude, I am your child.
Signed: Satprem
--
I was awaiting your letter impatiently and am very happy about what you write!
I have followed the vicissitudes of your struggle step by step and I know that it has been terrible, but my confidence in the outcome has not wavered for I know you are in good h ands. I am so happy that X is taking good care of you, teaching you Sanskrit, speaking to you of the Tantra. It is just what I wanted.
His action here has been very effective and really very interesting. I still do not know whether someone has really done black magic, and the villain has yet to appear before me. But already several days ago the malefic influence completely disappeared without leaving any trace in the atmosphere. Also their mantric intervention did not stop at that, for it has had another most interesting result. I am preparing a long letter for Swami to explain all this to him
The pain on the left side has not entirely gone and there have been some complications which have delayed things. But I feel much better. In fact, I am rebuilding my health, and I am in no hurry to resume the exhausting days as before. It is quiet upstairs for working, and I am going to take advantage of this to prepare the Bulletin1 at leisure. As I had not read over the pages on the message that we had prepared for the 31st, I have revised and transformed them into an article. It will be the first one in the February issue. I am now going to choose the others. I will tell you which ones I have chosen and in what order I will put them.
Satprem, my child, I am truly with you and I love you.
Signed: Mother
0 1959-01-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This morning, X told me that he would be most happy to continue his action upon you if it would help your work; he has continued it anyway, even after knowing that the malefic influence was expelled from the Ashram. By the way, X told me that this evil spirit is continuing to circle around the Ashram, but beyond its borders. Therefore, if you agree, it would be necessary for him to come to Pondicherry one of these days to come to grips directly with the evil one and finish him off in such a way that he can no longer come to disturb the sadhaks, or your work, upon the slightest pretext. Then X could force this spirit to appear before him, and thereby free the atmosphere from its influence. Anyway, this trip to Pondicherry would not take place in the near future, and it would be easy to give him an official excuse: seminars on the Tantra Shastra that will interest all the Sanskritists at the Ashram. Moreover, Xs work would be done quietly in his room when he does his daily puja. From here, from Rameswaram, it is rather difficult to attract Pondicherrys atmosphere and do the work with precision. Of course, nothing will be done without your express consent. Swami is writing you on his own to tell you of the revelation that X received from his [deceased] guru concerning your experience and the schemings of certain Ashram members.
In this regard, perhaps you know that X is the tenth in the line of Bhaskaraya (my spelling of this name is perhaps not correct), the great Tantric of whom you had a vision, who could comm and the coming of Kali along with all her warriors. It is from X that Swami received his initiation.
Your last letter gave us great pleasure, knowing that you have finally recovered physically. But we deeply hope that you will not again take up the countless activities that formerly consumed all your timeso many people come to you egoistically, for prestige, to be able to say that they are on familiar terms with you. You know this, of course
As for myself, a step has definitely been taken, and I am no longer swept away by this painful torrent. Depressions and attacks still come, but no longer with the same violence as before. X told me that 2/3 of the work has been done and that everything would be purged in twelve days or so, then the thing will be enclosed in a jar and buried somewhere or thrown into the sea, and he will explain it all to me. I will write and tell you about it.
As for the true tantric initiation, this is what X told me: I will give you initiation. You are fit. You belong to that line. It will come soon, some months or some years. Shortly you shall reach the junction. When the time has come, you yourself will come and open a door in me and I shall give you initiation.1 and he made me underst and that an important divine work was reserved for me in the future, a work for the Mother. The important practical point is that I have rapidly to develop my knowledge of Sanskrit. The mantra given to me seems to grow in power as I repeat it.
Sweet Mother, by what Grace have you guided and protected me through all these years? There are moments when I have the vision of this Grace, bringing me to the verge of tears. I see so clearly that you are doing everything, that you are all that is good in me, my aspiration and my strength. Me is all that is bad, all that resists, me is horribly false and falsifying. If your Grace withdraws for one second, I collapse, I am helpless.2 You alone are my strength, the source of my life, the joy and fulfillment to which I aspire.
I am at your feet, your child eternally.
--
This morning, I received your letter I am very happy about all that X is telling you and that he has found you fit to receive the tantric initiation. It was my feeling, I could say my conviction, to which he gives an enlightened confirmation. So all is well.
As for my health and the Ashram, I infinitely appreciate what he has done and what he would like to continue to do. His visit will make me very happy, and if he comes in about one month, a few days before the darshan, there will be no need to find any excuse for his visit, for it will appear quite natural.
My health is progressing well, but I intend to be very prudent and not burden myself with occupations. Yesterday, I began the balcony darshan again, and it is all right. That is all for the moment.
I am taking advantage of this situation to work. I have chosen the articles for the Bulletin. They are as follows: 1) Message. 2) To keep silent. 3) Can there be intermediary states between man and super-man? 4) The Anti-Divine. 5) What is the role of the spirit? 6) Karma (I have touched this one up to make it less personal). 7) The Worship of the Supreme in Matter. Now I would like to prepare the first twelve Aphorisms3 for printing. But as you have not yet revised the last two, I am sending them to you. Could you do them when you have finished what you are doing for the Bulletin? It is not urgent, take your time. Do not disturb your real work for this in any way. For, in my eyes, this work of inner liberation is much more important.
You will find in this letter a little money. I thought you might need it for your stamps, etc.
I never leave you, and my love too is always with you.
Signed: Mother
--
The French translation of Sri Aurobindo's Thoughts and Aphorisms.
***
0 1959-01-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Here is what X told me: I have received a message from my guru.1 In my vision, the Mother was there, next to my guru, and she was smiling. My guru told me that your present difficulties are a period of testing, but I could already give you the first stage of tantric initiation and that for you, the three stages of initiation could be done in an accelerated way.
I will therefore give you initiation this Friday or Saturday, on the day of the full moon or the day before. This first stage will last three months during which you will have to repeat 1 lakh2 times the mantra that I will give you. At the end of three months, I will come to see you in Pondicherryor you will come here for a fortnight, and as soon as I have received the message from my guru, I will give you the second stage that will last three months as well. At the end of these three months, you will receive the full initiation. X warned me that the first stage I am to receive provokes attacks and tests but that all this disappears with the second stage. Forewarned is forearmed. For what reason I do not know, but X told me that the particular nature of my initiation should remain secret and that he will say nothing about it to Swami, and he added (in speaking of the speed of the process), But you will not be less than the Swami. (!!) There, I wanted you to knowbesides, you were present in Xs vision. All this happened at a time when I was in the most desperate crisis I have ever known. Sweet Mother, there is no end to expressing my gratitude to you, and yet with the least trial, I am reduced to nothing. Why have you so much grace for me?
I would like very much to return to Pondicherry for the February Darshan and once again begin working for you. Today I am sending a second lot to Pavitra and tomorrow I will start on the Aphorisms, for I do not want to make you wait any longer. I will send a third and final lot to Pavitra by the end of the month, in time for printing. I am very touched, sweet Mother, by your attention and the money you are sending me.
Sweet Mother, may my entire life be at your service, may my entire being belong to you. I owe you everything.
With love and gratitude, I am your child.
Signed: Satprem
Sweet Mother, do not waste time writing to me; you have so many things to do and I feel a little awkward disturbing you so often.
***
--
I was waiting to answer your letter of the 21st until the Friday and Saturday you mentioned had gone by. and then I felt that you were returning the Aphorisms, so I waited a bit more. I have just received them along with your letter of the 23rd, but I have not yet looked at them. Besides, if you intend returning for the February darshan, I think it would be preferable for us to revise the whole book together. There will not be very much work on my side since the Wednesday and Friday classes were discontinued in the beginning of December, and I still do not know when they will resume.3 Right now, I am translating the Aphorisms all alone and it seems to go quickly and well. This could also be revised and the book on the Dhammapada prepared for publication.
For the time being, I am going downstairs only in the mornings at 6 for the balcony darshan and I immediately come back up without seeing anyone then in the afternoons, I go down once more at about 3 to take my bath and at 4:30 I come back up again. I do not yet know what will happen next month. I shall have to find some way to meet you so that we can work together I am going to think it over.
I do not ask you to write me your news,4 because I know that these are things it is better not to write about. But you know that it keenly interests me.
My love is always with you, enfolding and upholding you.
The blessings of the Grace are upon you.
0 1959-01-27, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
So X will to do a special work for you for eleven days, and if at the end of this period the suffering still persists, he will send me to Pondicherry to deliver something directly into your h ands. I, too, would like very much to do something to alleviate your suffering.
By a special grace, X gave me both stages of the tantric initiation at the same time, although they are normally separated by several years; then if all goes well, he will give me the full initiation in 6 months. I have thus received a mantra, along with the power of realizing it. X told me that a realization should come at the beginning of the fifth month if I repeat the mantra strictly according to his instructions, but he again told me that the hostile forces would do all they could to prevent me from saying my mantra: mental suggestions and even illness. X has understood that I have work at the Ashram, and he has exempted me from the outer forms (pujas and other rituals), but nevertheless I must repeat my mantra very accurately every day (3,333 times, that is, a little more than 3 hours uninterrupted in the mornings, and more than 2 hours in the evening). I must therefore organize myself in such a way as to get up very early in the morning in Pondicherry, for in no case will your work suffer.
Apart from this, he has not yet entirely finished the work of purging that he has been doing on me for over a month, but I believe that everything will be completed in a short time from now.
--
All is well I am enthusiastic and you can count on my conscious help to overcome all the obstacles and all the bad will that may try to stop or delay your progress. It is a matter of being more obstinate, much more obstinate than the enemy, and whatever the cost, to reach the goal in time.
Since my last letter, I have thought about it and I see that I will be able to go down in the morning three times a week for one hour, from 10 to 11, to work with you, but you will have to do only the strict minimum in order to have as much free time as you need for the other things.1
As I told you, I have resumed neither classes nor translations, and I still do not know when I will do so. So there is only the old work to finish up, but it will not take very long.
My body would also like to have a mantra to repeat. Those it has are not enough for it anymore. It would like to have one to hasten its transformation. It is ready to repeat it as many times as needed, provided that it does not have to be out loud, for it is very rarely alone and does not want to speak of this to anyone. Truly, the Ashram atmosphere is not very favorable for this kind of thing. You will have to take precautions so as not to be disturbed or interrupted in an inopportune way. Domestic servants, curious people, so-called friends can all serve as instruments of the hostile forces to put a spoke in the wheels. I will do my best to protect you, but you will have a lot to do yourself and will have to be as firm as an iron rod.
I am not writing you all this to discourage you from coming. But I want you to succeed; for me that is more important than anything else, no matter what the price. So, know for certain that I am with you all the time and more so especially when you repeat your mantra
In constant communion in the effort towards victory; my love and my force never leave you.
Signed: Mother
0 1959-01-31, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
X knows very little about your true work and what Swami has been able to explain to him is rather inadequate, for I do not believe that he himself underst ands it very well. So I shall have to try to make myself understood quite clearly to X and tell him exactly and simply what it is you need. The word transformation is too abstract. Each mantra has a very specific actionat least I believe so and I must be able to tell X in a concrete way the exact powers or capacities you are now seeking, and the general goal or the particular results required. Then he will find the mantra or mantras that apply.
My explanations will have to be simple, for X speaks English with difficulty, thus subtleties are out of the question. (I am teaching him a little English while he is teaching me Sanskrit, and we manage to underst and each other rather well all the same. He underst ands more than he can speak.)
I do not want to mention this to Swami, as X is not very happy about the way Swami seizes upon every occasion to appropriate things, and particularly mantras (I will explain this to you when we meet again). It is especially the way he says I. Nothing very seriousit is Swamis bad side, though he has good ones too. You know that, however.
So I would like to speak to X knowledgeably, in a very precise way, and I am waiting only for you to tell me what I should say. The thing is too important to be approached lightly and vaguely.
As for my return to Pondicherry, I would like you yourself to decide. I am anxious to see you again, but I also think that it is not necessary to rush things, and the Darshan periods are heavy for you.
In principle, X will have finished his purging of me on February 6. So after that date I will do what you wish.
--
Your letter, Sweet Mother, has filled me with strength and resolution. I want to be victorious and I want to serve you. I see very well that gradually I can be taught many useful things by X. The essential thing is first of all to lose this ego which falsifies everything. Finally, through your grace, I believe that I have passed a decisive turning point and that there is a beginning of real consecration and I feel your Love, your Presence. Things are opening a little.
Sweet Mother, I love you and I want to serve you truly.
Your child,
--
P.S. All the old Questions and Answers will also have to be revised with you, perhaps not in their entirety, but certain problems need clarification. What a grace to be able to work with you!
***
--
I have reflected a great deal on a possible mantra, and I have also seen the difficulty of receiving something that does not have a narrowing effect One must at least have an idea of the possibility (at least) of the supermind to underst and what I need
As for your arrival here, the day you mentioned is the Saraswati Puja I will go downstairs to give blessings. If you arrive on the previous day, the 11th I will arrange to see you at 10 oclock, and then you can begin your mantra on the 12th.
Simply send me word to let me know if this is all right. Tell me also if you need money for your return, and how much, in time for me to send it.
As for the rest, we shall speak of it here.
--
With my love and my blessings.
Signed: Mother
0 1959-03-10 - vital dagger, vital mass, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(The disciple returned to the Ashram, but as he was very quickly seized again by his mania for the road, the Agenda of 1959, alas, is strewn with great gaps and is almost nonexistent. The following conversation is in regard to one of Mother's commentaries on the Dhammapada: 'Evil')
I spent a nighta night of battlewhen, for some reason or other, a multitude of vital formations of all kinds entered into the room: beings, things, embryos of beings, residues of beingsall kinds of things and it was a frightful assault, absolutely disgusting.
In this swarming mass, I noticed the presence of some slightly more conscious willswills of the vital plane and I saw how they try to awaken a reaction in the consciousness of human beings to make them think or want, or if possible, do certain things.
For example, I saw one of them trying to incite anger in someone so that this person would deliver a blowa spiritual blow. and this formation had a dagger in his h and (a vital dagger, you see, it was a vital being: gray and slimy, horrible), he was holding a very sharp dagger which he was flaunting, saying, When a person has done something like that (pretending that someone had done an unforgivable thing), this is what he deserves and the scenario was complete: the being rushed forward, vitally, with his dagger.
I, who know the consequences of these things, stopped him just in time I gave him a blow. Then I had enough of all this and it was over, I cleaned the place out. It was almost a physical cleaning, for I had my h ands clasped together (I was in a semitrance) and I threw them apart in an abrupt movement, left and right, powerfully, as if to sweep something away, and frrt! immediately everything was gone.
But had that not happened I was watching, not exactly with curiosity, but in order to learnto learn what kind of atmosphere people live in! and it is ALWAYS like that! They are always pestered by HORDES of little formations that are absolutely swarming and disgusting, each one making its nasty little suggestion.
Take these movements of anger, for example, when someone is carried away by his passion and does things which, in his normal state, he would never do: he is not doing it, it is done by these little formations which are there, swarming in the atmosphere, just waiting for an occasion to rush in.
When you see them, oh! its suffocating. When youre in contact with that Really, you wonder how anyone can brea the in such an atmosphere. and yet people CONSTANTLY live in that atmosphere! They live in it. Only when they rise above are they NOT in it. Or else there are those who are entirely below; but those are the toys of these things, and their reactions are sometimes not only unexpected but absolutely dreadfulbecause they are puppets in the h ands of these things.
Those who rise above, who enter into a slightly intellectual region, can see all this from above; they can look down at it all, keep their heads above and breathe; but those who live in this realm
Sri Aurobindo calls this realm the intermediate zone, a zone in which, he says, you can have all the experiences you wish if you enter into it. But it isnt (laughing) very advisable! and I underst and why! I had that experience because I had just read what Sri Aurobindo says on this subject in a letter in this latest book, On Yoga; I wanted to see for myself what it was. Ah, I understood!
and I express this in my own way when I say1 that thoughts come and go, flow in and out. But thoughts concerning material things are formations originating in that world, they are kinds of wills coming from the vital plane which try to express themselves, and most often they are truly deadly. If you are annoyed, for example, if someone says something unpleasant to you and you react It always happens in the same way; these little entities are there waiting, and when they feel its the right moment, they introduce their influence and their suggestions. This is what is vitally symbolized by the being with his dagger rushing forward to stab you and in the back, at that! Not even face to face! This then expresses itself in the human consciousness by a movement of anger or rage or indignation: How intolerable! How ! and the other fellow says, Yes! We shall put an end to it!
It is quite interesting to watch it once, but it isnt very pleasant.
0 1959-03-26 - Lord of Death, Lord of Falsehood, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Concerning Satprem's most recent peregrinations and his fundamental rebelliousness, which periodically makes him take to the road)
Behind the Titan attacking us particularly now, there is something else. This Titan has been delegated by someone else. He has been there since my birth, was born with me. I felt him when I was very young, but only gradually, as I became conscious of myself, did I underst and WHO he was and what was behind him.
This Titan has been specially sent to attack this body, but he cant do it directly, so he uses people in my entourage. It is something fated: all those around me, who are close to me, and especially those capable of love, have been attacked by him; a few have succumbed, such as that girl in my entourage who was absorbed by him. He follows me like a shadow, and each time there is the least little opening in someone near me, he is there.
The power of this Titan comes from an Asura. There are four Asuras. Two have already been converted, and the other two, the Lord of Death and the Lord of Falsehood, made an attempt at conversion by taking on a physical bodythey have been intimately associated with my life. The story of these Asuras would be very interesting to recount The Lord of Death disappeared; he lost his physical body, and I dont know what has become of him.1 As for the other, the Lord of Falsehood, the one who now rules over this earth, he tried hard to be converted, but he found it disgusting!
At times he calls himself the Lord of Nations. It is he who sets all wars in motion, and only by thwarting his plans could the last war be won This one does not want to be converted, not at all. He wants neither the physical transformation nor the supramental world, for that would spell his end. Besides, he knows We talk to each other; beyond all this, we have our relationship. For after all, you see (laughing), I am his mother! One day he told me, I know you will destroy me, but meanwhile, I will create all the havoc possible.
This Asura of Falsehood is the one who delegated the Titan that is always near me. He chose the most powerful Titan there is on earth and sent him specially to attack this body. So even if one manages to enchain or kill this Titan, it is likely that the Lord of Falsehood will delegate another form, and still another, and still another, in order to achieve his aim.
In the end, only the Supramental will have the power to destroy it. When the hour comes, all this will disappear, without any need to do anything.
0 1959-04-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Henceforth I refuse to be an accomplice to this force. It is my enemy. Whatever form it may take, or whatever supports it may find in my nature, I will refuse to yield to it and will cling to you. You are the only reality: that is my mantra. Anything that seeks to make me doubt you is my enemy. You are the only Reality.
and each time I feel the shadow approach, I will call to you, immediately.
May you never again suffer because of me. O Mother, purify me and open my heart.
Your child,
--
1) The fact that I am plagued by a lack of time and, occasionally, a certain repugnance for mental work. Then the ensuing suggestion: to have a hut in Rameswaram and devote myself exclusively to inner development.
2) I am very pullednot constantly, but periodicallyby the need to write (not mental things) and exasperated by the fact that this Orpailleur is not published because I have not taken the time to carry out certain corrections. When I am in a good mood, I offer all this to you (is it perhaps a hidden ambition? But I am not so sure; it is rather a need, I believe) and when I am not in a good mood, I fume about not having the time to write something else.
Please, enlighten me, Sweet Mother.
--
Your resolution came straight to me. I sheltered it in the depths of my heart, and with my highest will, I said, So be it.
Just now, I received your letter confirming my experience. It is good.
I read your P.S. and I underst and. This too confirms my feeling. I am not happy that you are plagued with work, and especially urgent work that has to be done quicklyit is contrary to the inner calm and concentration so indispensable for getting rid of ones difficulties. I am going to do what is necessary to change this situation. Besides, this is why I have been telling you recently that my work is not urgent. But this work for the Bulletin should stop for the moment.
The other point also has its element of truthwe shall speak of it later.
With all my love, I envelope you, my child, and I tell you, Have courage, the victory is certainnot a compromise or partial victory, but integral.
Signed: Mother
0 1959-04-13, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It is a rough sketch, and in the actual process of writing, the proposed sequence may change according to the inner necessity, but these are the themes to be developed. So now T would like to know what you feel and if you see anything to be changed, added or deleted.
Your child, with love.
0 1959-04-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Above, beginning with the center between the eyebrows, the work has been done for a long time. There it is blank. For ages upon ages upon ages, the union with the Supreme has been realized and is constant.
Below this center is the body. and this body has indeed the concrete sensation of the Divine in each of its cells; but it needs to become universalized. Thats the work to be done, center by center. I underst and now what Sri Aurobindo meant when he repeatedly insisted, Widen yourself. All this must be universalized; it is the condition, the basis, for the Supramental to descend into the body.
According to the ancient traditions, this universalization of the physical body was considered the supreme realization, but it is only a foundation, the base upon which the Supramental can come down without breaking everything.
0 1959-04-23, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I hope you wrote to X that it is agreed, that we expect him with his family early in the morning of the 30th, and that I am looking forward to our daily morning meditation during his stay.
Do tell him that all is well, that we are awaiting his arrival and that I am looking forward to these meditations.
With you always, with love and care.
Signed: Mother
0 1959-04-24, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The divine perfection is always there above us; but for man to become divine in consciousness and act and to live inwardly and outwardly the divine life is what is meant by spirituality; all lesser meanings given to the word are inadequate fumblings or impostures.1
This text by Sri Aurobindo (The Human Cycle, Cent. Ed. Vol. XV p. 247) was translated into French by Mother on the occasion of writing to Satprem.
0 1959-05-19 - Ascending and Descending paths, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
object:0_1959-05-19 - Ascending and Descending paths
author class:The Mother
--
When you follow the ascending path, the work is relatively easy. I had already covered this path by the beginning of the century and had established a constant relationship with the SupremeThat which is beyond the Personal and the gods and all the outward expressions of the Divine, but also beyond the Absolute Impersonal. Its something you cannot describe; you must experience it. and this is what must be brought down into Matter. Such is the descending path, the one I began with Sri Aurobindo; and there, the work is immense.
The thing can still be brought down as far as the mental and vital planes (although Sri Aurobindo said that thous ands of lifetimes would be needed merely to bring it down to the mental plane, unless one practiced a perfect surrender1). With Sri Aurobindo, we went down below Matter, right into the Subconscient and even into the Inconscient. But after the descent comes the transformation, and when you come down to the body, when you attempt to make it take one step forwardoh, not even a real step, just a little step!everything starts grating; its like stepping on an anthill and yet the presence, the help of the supreme Mother, is there constantly; thus you realize that for ordinary men such a task is impossible, or else millions of lives would be needed but in truth, unless the work is done for them and the sadhana of the body done for the entire earth consciousness, they will never achieve the physical transformation, or else it will be so remote that it is better not even to speak of it. But if they open themselves, if they give themselves over in an integral surrender, the work can be done for themthey have only to let it be done.
The path is difficult. and yet this body is full of good will; it is filled with the psychic in every one of its cells. Its like a child. The other day, it cried out quite spontaneously, O my Sweet Lord, give me the time to realize You! It did not ask to hasten the process, it did not ask to lighten its work; it only asked for enough TIME to do the work. Give me the time!
I could have begun this work on the body thirty years ago, but I was constantly caught up in this harassing ashram life. It took this illness2 to enable me truly to begin doing the sadhana of the body. It does not mean that thirty years were wasted, for it is likely that had I been able to start this work thirty years ago, it would have been premature. The consciousness of the others also had to develop the two are linked, the individual progress and the collective progress, and one cannot advance if the other does not advance.
I have also come to realize that for this sadhana of the body, the mantra is essential. Sri Aurobindo gave none; he said that one should be able to do all the work without having to resort to external means. Had he reached the point where we are now, he would have seen that the purely psychological method is inadequate and that a japa is necessary, because only japa has a direct action on the body. So I had to find the method all alone, to find my mantra by myself. But now that things are ready, I have done ten years of work in a few months. That is the difficulty, it requires time
and I repeat my mantra constantlywhen I am awake and even when I sleep. I say it even when I am getting dressed, when I eat, when I work, when I speak with others; it is there, just behind in the background, all the time, all the time.
In fact, you can immediately see the difference between those who have a mantra and those who dont. With those who have no mantra, even if they have a strong habit of meditation or concentration, something around them remains hazy and vague. Whereas the japa imparts to those who practice it a kind of precision, a kind of solidity: an armature. They become galvanized, as it were.
Original English.
In December 1958, when Mother stopped the Questions and Answers at the playground and thereafter left the Ashram building only rarely.
***
0 1959-05-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
May Your Will be done in all things and at every moment. and may Your Love manifest.
As for you, I received your promise made very solemnly at a moment of clear consciousness, and I am sure you will not fail in it.
My love is with you.
--
If it is to make me feel all my wrongs that you remind me of my solemn promise, then I am ready to acknowledge all these wrongs. I am guilty, without any extenuating circumstances, and I expect no indulgence.
I can easily underst and that your task on this earth is not particularly encouraging and you must find our human matter stupid and rebellious. I do not wish to throw upon you more bad things than you already receive, but I wish you could also underst and certain things. I am not made for this withered life, not made for putting sentences together all day long, not made for living alone in my holefriendless, loveless, with nothing but mantras, and waiting for a better that never comes. For three years I have wanted to leave and each time I yielded out of scruples that you needed me, though also because I am attached to you. But after the [book on] Sri Aurobindo, there will be something else, there will always be something else that will make my departure look like a betrayal. I am fed up with living in my head, always in my head, with paper and ink. It was not of this that I dreamed when I was ten years old and ran with the wind over the untamed heaths. I am suffocating. You ask too much of me; or rather, I am not worth your expectation.
A love for you might have held me here. and indeed, for you I have devotion, veneration, respect, an attachment, but there has never been this marvelous thing, warm and full, that links one to a being in the same beating of a heart. Through love, I could do all, accept all, endure all, sacrifice all but I do not feel this love. You cannot give yourself with your head, through a mental decision, yet that is what I have been doing for five years. I have tried to serve you as best I could. But I am at the end of my rope. I am suffocating.
I have no illusions, and I do not at all suppose that elsewhere my life may at last be fulfilled. No, I know that this whole life is cursed, but it may as well be truly cursed. If the Divine does not want to give me his Love, may he give me his curse. But not this life between two worlds. Or if I am too hardened, may he break me. But not this tepidness, this approximation.
I am not really bad, Mother, but I can no longer bear this life without love. That is all.
There is someone here who could have saved me, whom I could have loved. Oh, it has nothing to do with all those things you might imagine! My soul loves her soul. It is something very serene. We have known each other for five years, and I had never even dreamed of calling it love. But all the outer circumstances are against us. and I do not want to turn anyone away from you. Anyway, if I sink into the depths of the pit, or so I tell myself, it is no reason to drag someone else along with me. So this too is one more reason for me to leave. I cannot continue suffocating all alone in my corner. (It is useless to ask her name, I will say nothing.)
You are imposing a new ordeal on me by asking me to go to Rameswaram. For you, I have accepted. But I shall go there sheathed in my sturdiest armor and I will not yield, because I know that it is always to be begun again. I do not want to become a great Tantric or whatever else it may be. I want only to love. and since I cannot love, I am leaving. I will arrive in Rameswaram at 2 in the morning, and will leave again by the 11 oclock train.
I want to go to New Caledonia. There, or elsewhere there are forests there. Africa is closing up. You must help me one last time by giving me the means to leave and try something else with a minimum of chancealthough, at the point Im at, I laugh in the face of chance. I need 2,000 rupees, if that is possible for you. If you do not want to, or if you cannot, I will leave anyway, no matter where, no matter how.
and once again, you can judge me all you want, I acknowledge all my wrongs. I am guilty in a guilty and stupid world (which loves its stupidity, no doubt).
Signed: Satprem
--
This morning, the problem and its solution appeared to me very clearly; but since, for quite obvious reasons, I am both the judge and the accused in this matter, I cannot make a decision; not that my judgment would necessarily be egoistic, but it would have no authority.
Only someone who loves you and has the knowledge can find the true solution to the problem. X1 fulfills these conditions excellently. Go to him and simply be what you are, without blackening nor embellishing, with the sincerity and simplicity of a child. He knows your soul and its aspiration; speak to him of your physical life and of your need for space, solitude, untamed nature, the simple and free life. He will underst and and, in his wisdom, will see the best thing to do.
and what he decides will be done.
My love is unalterably with you.
0 1959-05-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I do not want you to suffer because of me, for there is already too much suffering in this world. I shall do what you wish. I will go to Rameswaram and I will stay there as long as X wants. I have seen that there is no happy solution. So I bow before the circumstances.
If it is not too tiring for your eyes, I would like you to read what follows. I want to tell you what I have seen, very clearly.
--
There is a spiritual destiny in me, but there are three other destinies so intimately bound up with it that I cannot cut off any one without mutilating something of my living soulwhich is why, periodically, these suppressed destinies awaken and call to me and the dark forces seize upon these occasions to sow chaos within and drive me to ruin everything since I cannot really fulfill myself. and the problem is insoluble.
1) There is the destiny of the adventurer: it is the one in me that needs the sea or the forest and wide open spaces and struggles. This was the best part of my childhood. I can sit on it and tell myself that the adventure is within, and it might work for a while. But this untamed child in me continues to live all the same, and it is something very valuable in me. I cannot kill it through reasoning, even spiritual reasoning. and if I tell it that everything lies within, not without, it replies, Then why was I born, why this manifestation in the outer world? In the end, it is not a question of reasoning. It is a fact, like the wind upon the heaths.
2) There is the destiny of the writer in me. and this too is linked to the best of my soul. It is also a profound need, like adventuring upon the heaths, because when I write certain things, I brea the in a certain way. But during the five years I have been here, I have had to bow to the fact that, materially, there is no time to write what I would like (I recall how I had to wrench out this Orpailleur, which I have not even had time to revise). This is not a reproach, Mother, for you do all you can to help me. But I realize that to write, one must have leisure, and there are too many less personal and more serious things to do. So I can also sit on this and tell myself that I am going to write a Sri Aurobindo but this will not satisfy that other need in me, and periodically it awakens and sprouts up to tell me that it too needs to breathe.
3) There is also the destiny that feels human love as something divine, something that can be transfigured and become a very powerful driving force. I did not believe it possible, except in dreams, until the day I met someone here. But you do not believe in these things, so I shall not speak of it further. I can gag this also and tell myself that one day all will be filled in the inner divine love. But that does not prevent this other need in me from living and from finding that life is dry and from saying, Why this outer manifestation if all life is in the inner realms? But neither can I stifle this with reasoning.
So there remains the pure spiritual destiny, pure interiorization. That is what I have been trying to do for the last five years, without much success. There are good periods of collaboration, because one part of my being can be happy in any condition. But in a certain way this achievement remains truncated, especially when you base spiritual life on a principle of integrality. and these three destinies in me have their own good reasons, which are true: they are not inferior, they are not incidental, they are woven from the very threads that created the spiritual life in me. My error is to open the door to revolt when I feel too poignantly one or the other being stifled.
So you see, all this is insoluble. I have only to bow before these unfortunate circumstances. I perceive an injustice somewhere, but I have only to remain silent.
and I was also struck when you told me that I wanted to kick up a row. You so clearly implied that I was leaving the Ashram in a shoddy way. So that also froze me. I thought I had done my best and, in order to serve you, repressed as much as I could the others in me.
So there. I can find no solution. X will not underst and, and I will not say anything to him. But I obey you because everything is futile and there is too much pain in this world, and also someone in me needs you, someone who loves you in his own way.
Signed: Satprem
--
I have read your letter in its entirety and I remain convinced that one day all the parts of your being, without excluding any, will be fully satisfied. But we shall see about that later.
For the moment, I only want to tell you, from the bottom of my heartwhich is so deeply touchedthank you.
--
I will see you tomorrow morning at ten oclock and I hope that a few small misunderst andings may be clarified.
I am sending you forthwith the note that I had prepared for tomorrow morning.
--
I did not utter the words that you heard I wanted to speak to you of my experience during the night, but I was paralyzed because I clearly felt that you no longer understood me. As soon as I received your letter, I concentrated on you in an effort to help you, and when night fell, just at the hour I enter into contact with X, I called for his helpwhereupon he sent me this little Kali whom he had already sent once before. So I went to your house, I took you in my arms and pressed you tightly to my heart to keep you as sheltered as possible from blows, and I let Kali do her warrior dance against this titan who is always trying to possess you, creating this rebelliousness in you. She must have at least partially succeeded in her work, because very early in the morning the titan went away somewhat discomfited, but while leaving, he flung this at me as he went by: You will regret it, for you would have had less trouble if he had left. I flung his suggestion back in his face with a laugh and told him, Take that, along with all the rest of your ugly person! I have no need of it! and the atmosphere cleared up.
I wanted to tell you all this, but I couldnt because you were still far away from me and it would have seemed like boasting. Also the misunderst anding created by the distance made you hear other words than those I uttered.
***
0 1959-06-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
On your behalf, I told X that you had been worried about me. He, too, had felt that things were not going well and had worked on his side. He told me to write you immediately to tell you that everything is all right.
Also, I explained to him that a mantra had come to you which you were repeating between 5 and 6 in particular, and I told him about this culminating point where you wanted to express your gratitude, enthusiasm, etc., and about the French mantra. After explaining, I gave him your French and Sanskrit texts. He felt and understood very well what you wanted. His first reaction after reading it was to say, Great meaning, great power is there. It is all right. I told him that apart from the meaning of the mantra, you wanted to know if it was all right from the vibrational st andpoint. He told me that he would take your text to his next puja and would repeat it himself to see. He should have done that this morning, but he has a fever (since his return from Madurai, he has not been well because of a cold and sunstroke). I will write you as soon as I know the result of his test.
Regarding me, this is more or less what he said: First of all, I want an agreement from you so that under any circumstances you never leave the Ashram. Whatever happens, even if Yama1 comes to dance at your door, you should never leave the Ashram. At the critical moment, when the attack is the strongest, you should throw everything into His h ands, then and then only the thing can be removed (I no longer know whether he said removed or destroyed ). It is the only way. SARVAM MAMA BRAHMAN [Thou art my sole refuge]. Here in Rameswaram, we are going to meditate together for 45 days, and the Asuric-Shakti may come with full strength to attack, and I shall try my best not only to protect but to destroy, but for that, I need your determination. It is only by your own determination that I can get strength. If the force comes to make suggestions: lack of adventure, lack of Nature, lack of love, then think that I am the forest, think that I am the sea, think that I am the wife (!!) Meanwhile, X has nearly doubled the number of repetitions of the mantra that I have to say every day (it is the same mantra he gave me in Pondicherry). X repeated to me again and again that I am not merely a disciple to him, like the others, but as if his son.
This was a first, hasty conversation, and we did not discuss things at length. I said nothing. I have no confidence in my reactions when I am in the midst of my crises of complete negation. and truly speaking, at the time of my last crisis in Pondicherry, I do not know if it was really Xs occult working that set things right, for personally (but perhaps it is an ignorant impression), I felt that it was thanks to Sujata and her childlike simplicity that I was able to get out of it.
In any event, since I left Pondicherry, I have been living like a kind of robot (it began in the train); I am empty, void of the least feeling for whomever it may be. I keep going by a kind of acquired momentum, but actually I feel completely anesthetized.
--
Suddenly, last evening, X went furiously on the warpath against the Indian Congress3 and with an irrefutable tone, like someone who knows, began making very interesting predictions.
Before five months are over (in September, October or November), Pakistan will attack India with the help or the complicity or the military resources of the United States. and at about the same time, China will attack India because of the Dalai Lama, under the pretext that India is supporting the Dalai Lama and that thous ands of Tibetan refugees are escaping into India to carry on anti-Chinese activities. Then America will offer its support to India against China and then, said X, We shall see what will be the political policy of the Congress Party, which pretends to be unaligned with any bloc. If India accepts American aid, there will be no more Pakistan but rather American troops to prevent conflicts between Muslims and Hindus, and a single government for both countries. I pointed out to X that this sounded very much like a world war
Then he made the following comparison: When you throw a pebble into a pond, there is just one center, one point where it falls, and everything radiates out from this center. There are two such centers in the world at present, two places where there are great vibrations: one is India and Pakistan, and that will radiate all over Asia. and the other is.
In any case, I had never heard him attacking the Congress as he did yesterday evening, almost violently.
--
I received and read your very interesting letter.
As for the Sanskrit text and the mantra, I await your next letter.
For you, I fully approve of what he told you. Fervently, and with all my love, I pray that he will succeed in what he wants to do during these 45 days of meditation. This is really what I was counting on.
For what occurred here, I can say only one thing: when the Supreme Lord wants to save someone, He clothes his will in every appearance necessary.
As for the emptiness you feel (which perhaps is already better): to those who complained of this sensation of inner emptiness, Sri Aurobindo always said that it is a very good thing; it is the sign that they are going to be filled with something better and truer.
I have carefully noted Xs predictions.
Certainly his political rage is not only underst andable but justified. However, when one begins looking at things from the external viewpoint of the manifestation, they are not as simple as that. I cannot speak of all this in detail, but as an example I can tell you that here in Pondicherry, those who are maneuvering ( and not without some hope) to oust the Congress are our worst enemies, the enemy of all that is disinterested and spiritual, and if they come to power, they would be capable of anything in their hate.
For all these world events, I always leave it to the Divine vision and wisdom, and I say to the Supreme: Lord, may Thy Will be done.
I hope to hear from you soon.
0 1959-06-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Regarding Xs predictions which I mentioned in yesterdays letter, X said something untranslatable which meant, Let us see Mothers reactions for I told him that I had written it all to you. Then he said, There are several other secret matters which I shall tell you. and he added, by way of example, I shall tell WHERE the atomic bombs will be cropped. So if these things interest you, or if you see or feel anything, perhaps it would be good to express your interest in a letter to me which I would translate for X. Spontaneously, I emphasized to X that it would undoubtedly facilitate your work to have details. But it is better that these things come from you, should you see any use in it.
As for me, X said, Something will happen.
--
Regarding my mantra, I began repeating it yesterday before receiving your letter, and I felt that it was all right. So if X makes no alterations, it is not necessary to send it back to me. I receive the force X gives me without paper.
I do not know if it is an illusion, but on several occasions I felt that if X says this mantra, it will cure his fever.
As for the predictions, I am extremely interested. Tell this to X, and also that details of this kind are a great help in my work, for they give physical clues enabling a greater precision in the action. Needless to say, I will be very grateful for any indications he may wish to give me.
For you, my dear child, it is true that something must happen and will happen. Will you please tell X on my behalf that I will participate with all my power in what he wants to undertake. He will underst and.
I am with you and wish to repeat to you: infinite is the Grace and invincible is the Love; be confident and will the victory, for this is what X means by your collaboration.
Signed: Mother
0 1959-06-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
1) X spoke to me of the Vedic times when a single emperor or sage ruled the entire world with the help of governors; then these governors gradually became independent kings, and conflicts were born. So I asked him what was going to happen after this next war and whether the world would be better. He replied as follows: Yes, great sages like Sri Aurobindo who are w andering now in their subtle bodies will appear. Some sages may take the physical body of political leaders in the West. It will be the end of ignorant atomic machines and the beginning of a new age with great sages leading the world. So it seems that Xs vision links up with Sri Aurobindos prediction for 1967.
He did not give me any further details about this war, except to say that the countries which will suffer the most will be the countries of the North and the East, and he cited Burma, Japan, China and Russia. He said rather categorically that Russia would be swept away and that America would triumph.
2) X gave me certain details about his powers of prediction, but perhaps it would be better not to speak of this in a letter. On that occasion, he told me that he did not want to keep any secrets from me: I want you to know everything. I want you to be chief disciple in my tradition. When the time comes, you will underst and what I mean. With you I have full connection, not only connection in my mind, but in my blood and body.
On another occasion, he said to me, I am ALWAYS taking care of you. and when I asked him why he was taking such trouble for me, he replied, Because I have orders. This attention that comes to me from you and him surprises me, for I do not feel that I am good, and upon the least occasion I know that I am seriously prepared to quit everything because something in me is profoundly revolted by this excess of suffering, by a lack of love and flowering, by an excess of solitude. Yesterday evening, it was still fully there, with all my approval, and at such a time no one in the world can hold me back. It is this POINT OF SUFFERING that makes me want to turn my back on everything. Not to commit suicide: to turn my back.
X told me the story of my last three existences (rather grim), but I will write you about that in another letter.
3) X has not yet begun his work with me nor for you, as he has been unwell until today. One evening, he made a very beautiful reflection concerning you and your mantra, but it is inexpressible in words, it was above all the tone in which he said, Who, who, is there a single person in the world who can repeat like that TRIOMPHE TOI MAHIMA MAHIMA? etc. and three or four times he repeated your mantra with such an expression
He has not yet done what he plans to do with your mantra in his puja, for he has been unwell and had to interrupt his pujas. But now he is better.
I have no other details to give you, except that I am not happy. The fact is that these last three years I have been tied down by my penury, otherwise I would be travelling along other roads, far from herewith no greater hope in my heart, but with space before me, at least. I am only here to render you service, but I do not know if I shall be able to repress my need for space much longerit has already been going on too long. This is the undisguised truth. But what can I do?I am tied down. If I truly loved, things would be different, but it seems I love no one, not even myself, and the only love of which I am capable, human love, is forbidden to me. So I can do nothing, not on any plane, and I have no hope in anything. Forgive me, I do not wish to pain you, but neither can I pretend any longer to be happy with my lot.
Signed: Satprem
0 1959-06-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Even before receiving your second letter in which you say that the mantra is all right, X told me this morning that he had repeated your mantra during his puja and that it was very good, that there is nothing to be changed: The vibration is good.
Here are a few additional indications regarding the forthcoming events.
As I appeared to be doubting, X told me, There is no suspicion [doubt], the war will take place in November (in fact, it is to occur some time between September and November), and for the rest of the talk, he had a tone of absolute certitude: The first atom bomb will fall in China. Russia will be crushed. It will be a victory for America. Not more than 2 or 3 atom bombs will be used. It will be very quick. and he repeated that the starting-point of the conflict would be situated in India due to the aggression of Pakistan, then of China.
The earthquake he mentioned promises to be a kind of pralaya (as X put it), for not only Bombay will be touched. This is what he said: America supports Pakistan, but the gods do not support Pakistan, and Pakistan will be punished by the gods. HALF of western Pakistan, including Karachi, will go into the sea. The sea will enter into Rajasthan and touch India also
X then said that India would side with America against the Communist bloc (in spite of Americas support to Pakistan), and furthermore, that the day India sides with America, America will cease supporting Pakistan. In any case, it will be the end of Pakistan.
After I translated your letter to him, X told me that he would give me more details in two or three days.
--
P.S. X asked me questions about my family. I was prompted to speak to him of my mother (seeing her photo, you had said that you knew her very well, if you recall). He immediately said, You MUST go and see your mother. You will go in August and quickly come back by plane beginning September! Of course, I told him that all this seems like the highest fantasy to me, and that to begin with I had no money and would surely not ask you anything for that. He said, I shall ask my Mother. She will arrange everything.
***
--
I have a world of things to tell you about all I have heard, seen and done concerning you these past days. New doors of underst anding have opened but all these things are impossible to write.
As for the mantra, since two days I am sure about it, and all is well.
I am extremely interested in everything X has revealed to you. But I cannot write about this either.
If X told you to go see your mother in August and return m early September, you must go. We shall manage. My finances are in an almost desperate state, but that cannot last. For what has to be done will be done.
You are constantly with me, and I am following all your inner movements with love and concern.
The great secret is to learn to give oneself
0 1959-06-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
In spite of all my revolts, I need you, I need truth, Light, and love. I feel I have already known all this, had all this, and that I have been dispossessed. Perhaps that is why I suffer.
Mother, lead me towards you, I am blind and without strength.
Your child,
--
All these things that you needtruth, light, love, my presence in youyou have had them and you still have them, they have not withdrawn from you, but something came to veil them from your perception, and this is why you became unhappy. They are waiting just there, near you, in you, anxious for the shadow to vanish and for you to realize that they have not left you.
With all my love.
0 1959-06-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
As of yesterday evening I am a man delivered. It took only a very little word from X, and suddenly a weight seemed to have been lifted from me, and I knew at last that I would be fulfilled. All this is still so new, so improbable that I can scarcely believe it, and I wonder if by chance some evil blow is not still lurking in wait for me behind this promise of happiness; thus I shall be reassured only when I have told you everything, recounted all. But X has asked, me to wait a few more days before telling you this story, for he wants to give me certain additional details so that you may have all the elements, as accurately as possible.
But I did not want to wait any longer to express my gratitude. I am still not so sure how all this will turn out nor how this destiny that he predicts for me can be realized, but I want to repeat to you, with all my confidence: I am your child, may your will be done now and forever.
Signed: Satprem
0 1959-06-13a, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I have received your last two letters of the 10th and 11th. I told X what you wrote about this trip to France and that your finances are in an almost desperate state. He replied with perfect assurance, Soon it will increase, very soon it will change. I am obviously hesitant to accept your generous offer and I do not know what I should do. I had never thought of returning to France, except in a distant future. I dont know why X told me that I should return there, except perhaps because he felt who my mother is. I know that she is sad, that she believes me lost to her and thinks she will die without seeing me again. It would surely be a great joy to her. But other than that, I have no desire to go there, for each time I go to France, I feel like I am entering a prison. Naturally I would be happy for my mothers joy; she is a great soul, but is this reason enough?
Sunday, 14th
X has decided that he wants to speak to you himself about my former existences and about what he has seen for the immediate future. He has therefore asked me to say nothing to you. Perhaps there are also elements he did not want to speak of to me. (X told me that now he feels capable of speaking in English with you.)
Another thing: we happened to talk of Sri Aurobindo and Lele.1 Concerning Lele, X told me, He was a devotee of the Bhaskaraya School; this is why there is close connection I do not know if this is so, but X seemed to know.
For me, the inner things seem to have taken a better turn since X revealed certain things to me, but I prefer to say nothing. I dare not say anything since I know from experience that all this is as unstable as dynamite.
--
Lele: the tantric guru whom Sri Aurobindo met in 1908 and who gave him mental silence and Nirvana.
***
0 1959-06-13b, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I love you and bless you.
Signed: Mother
0 1959-06-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The only thing that affirms itself with a certitude and a greater and greater force is my soul. I cling to It with all my strength. It is my only refuge. If I did not have that, I would throw my life overboard, for the outer circumstances and the immediate future seem to me impossible, unlivable.
I was touched by your blessings for Sujata and myself. But there lies another impossibility.
These last days I have come to realize that to blame all my crises on the hostile forces is perhaps to oversimplify things. I underst and better and better, for in my suffering, my soul is all I have and I rely on that alone; otherwise I could never bear all that I have borne, all that I still bear. I underst and, too, that there was also a truth in the force which periodically impelled me to leave, the truth of that destiny in me which is not fulfilled in the Ashram.
Mother, I have suffered so much and prayed so much this last while that I am sure my soul cannot but arrange circumstances in such a way that somehow I may live at last that somehow EVERYTHING may truly become reconciled: not later on or one of these days, but soon for it cannot go on any longer; I am at my end.
Mother, I have prayed with so much truth in my heart that I am sure the gods will come to help me, and that you will help me, too. I think not only of Sujata, but of all these destinies that are being stifled within me.
Your child,
--
P.S. Yes, I too am sure that the great secret is to give oneself, but perhaps this can be too easily misunderstood, and I do not believe that to give oneself means to mutilate oneself. As for the rest, well, my life obviously belongs to That and is meaningless except for That.
Would you please tell me whether I may really write to my mother that I am coming to see her?
0 1959-06-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
X told me to tell you what he has seen of my previous lives (but my impression is that he did not tell me everything and that there are elements about which he wants to speak to you personally).
To begin with, I must tell you a dream that I had here in Rameswaram a few days after my arrival. I was being pursued and I fled like an assassinit is a dream I have had hundreds of times for years, but in this dream, there was a new element: while being pursued, I climbed a kind of stairway to try to escape when suddenly, in a flash, I saw a feminine form hurtling into a void. I saw only the lower half of her body (with a kind of mauve-colored saree), because she was already falling. and I had the horrible sensation of having pushed this woman into the void, and I fled. I climbed, I climbed these stairs with my pursuers close at my heels, and the image of this falling woman gave me a horrible feeling. When I reached the top of the stairs, I tried to close a door behind me to stop my pursuers, but there they were, it was too late and I woke up.
The last time I was in Rameswaram, I had two other very poignant dreams, but I could not make out what they meant. In one dream I was strangling someone with my bare h ands; it was an abominable feeling. and in the other, I saw, in a kind of nocturnal setting, a hanged man being taken down, with all kinds of people bustling about the corpse with lamps, and suddenly I knew that this hanged man was me.
I had said nothing to X about these various dreams before he told me the story of my last three existences: three times I committed suicide the first by fire, the second by hanging, and the third by throwing myself into the void. During the first of these last three existences, I was married to a very good woman, but for some reason I ab andoned my wife and I was w andering here and there in search of something. Then I met a sannyasi who wanted to make me his disciple, but I could not make up my mind, I was neither this side nor that side, whereupon my wife came to me and pleaded with me to take her back. Apparently I rejected herso she threw herself into the fire. Horror-stricken, I followed her, throwing myself into the fire in turn. That was when I created a connection with certain beings [of the other worlds] and I fell under their power. For two other lives, under the influence of these beings, the same drama was repeated with a few variations.
During the second of these last three existences, I was married to the same woman whom I again ab andoned under the influence of the same monk, and I again remained between two worlds w andering here and there. Again my wife came to plead with me and again I pushed her away. She hung herself, and I hung myself in turn.
During my last existence, the monk succeeded in making me a sannyasi, and when my wife came to plead with me, I told her, Too late, now I am a sannyasi. So she threw herself into the void, and horror-stricken by the sudden revelation of all these dramas and of my wifes goodness (for it seems she was a great soul), I threw myself in turn into the void.
As for this last existence, you already know.
--
X gave me a new mantra. My body is exhausted from too much nervous tension. I am living in a kind of cellar with four inches of filth on the floor and walls, and two openings, one onto the street of the bazaar the other onto a dilapidated courtyard with a well. On my right lives a madwoman who screams half the day. There is only my mantra which burns almost constantly in my heart, and who knows what hope that some day the future will be happy and reconciled. There is also Sujata and you.
Your child,
0 1959-07-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This h andwritten note bore only this word and the date. Kalki is the name of the last Avatar who comes on a white winged horse to destroy the 'barbarians' (yavan) at the end of the Iron Age or the Kali Yuga, which is the period we are now passing through. His appearance marks the return of the Age of Truth, or the Satya Yuga.
7.9.59
0 1959-07-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
A moment ago I barely found the strength not to kill myself. Destiny has repeated itself once again, but this time it was not I who rejected her, as in past existences, it is she who rejected me: Too late. For a moment, I thought I was going to go crazy too, so much pain did I have then finally I said, May Thy Will be done, (that of the Supreme Lord) and I kept repeating, Thy Grace is there, even in the greatest suffering. But I am broken, rather like a living dead man. So be happy, for I will never wear the white robe that Guruji gave me.
You will underst and that I do not have the strength to come to see you. My only strength is not to rebel, my only strength is to believe in the Grace in the face of everything. I believe I have too much grief in my heart to rebel against anything at all. I seem to have a kind of great pity for this world.
0 1959-07-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This is what I should have told you this morning, but I was afraid. For the last month I have been afraid of you, afraid that you might not underst and. But I cannot leave with this weight on me. I beg of you to underst and, Sweet Mother. I want nothing bad, nothing impure. I feel I have something to create with Sujata, I feel she is absolutely a part of something I have to achieve, that we have something to achieve together. For the five years we have known each other I have never had a single wrong thought but suddenly she opened my heart, which had been so completely walled-off, and this was like a wonder in me and at the same time a fear. A fear, perhaps because this love has been thwarted for so many lives.
Mother, I need Sujata like my very soul. It seems to me that she is a part of me, that she alone can help me break with this horrible past, that she alone can help me to love truly at last. I need peace so much, a quiet, PEACEFUL happinessa base of happiness upon which I could use my strength to build, instead of always fighting, always destroying. Mother, I am not at all sure of what must be, but I know that Sujata is part of this realization.
--
Mother, my whole soul writes you this. I swear there is in me a single great need of Love, beauty, nobility, purity. and we would work for you together in joy at last.1
Your anxious child,
--
Shortly afterwards, Satprem left on a journey and returned only two months later.
***
0 1959-08-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Now I can tell you that not for one hour have I left you; I have been constantly near you, hoping that your inner eyes would open and that you would see me, watching over you and enveloping you with my force and my love. It is within yourself that I want you to find the certitude, truth and joy.
Now I write you what I have wanted to tell you from the beginning: when you return to the Ashram, do not put on the orange robe1 again, return with the clothing X has given you
and we shall leave the care of deciding about the details of the future to the Supreme Lord.
With all my love and blessings.
Signed: Mother
0 1959-08-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
and now, today,1 I am writing you again because it is the day of great amnesties, the day when all past errors are effaced
With all my unvarying and eternal love.
August 15th, Sri Aurobindo's birthday.
0 1959-10-06 - Sri Aurobindos abode, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
For the West, with all its outward development, a few centuries may be needed before the junction between the two worlds can be made. and yet these two worlds the physical world and the world of Truthare not distant from one another. They are as if superimposed. The world of Truth is there, close by, like a lining of the other.
Shortly before the 15th of August I had a unique experience that exemplifies all this.1 For the first time the supramental light entered directly into my body, without passing through the inner beings. It entered through the feet (a red and gold colormarvelous, warm, intense), and it climbed up and up. and as it climbed, the fever also climbed because the body was not accustomed to this intensity. As all this light neared the head, I thought I would burst and that the experience would have to be stopped. But then, I very clearly received the indication to make the Calm and Peace descend, to widen all this body-consciousness and all these cells, so that they could contain the supramental light. So I widened, and as the light was ascending, I brought down the vastness and an unshakable peace. and suddenly, there was a second of fainting.
I found myself in another world, but not far away (I was not in a total trance). This world was almost as substantial as the physical world. There were roomsSri Aurobindos room with the bed he rests on and he was living there, he was there all the time: it was his abode. Even my room was there, with a large mirror like the one I have here, combs, all kinds of things. and the substance of these objects was almost as dense as in the physical world, but they shone with their own light. It was not translucent, not transparent, not radiant, but self-luminous. The various objects and the material of the rooms did not have this same opacity as the physical objects here, they were not dry and hard as in the physical world we know.
and Sri Aurobindo was there, with a majesty, a magnificent beauty. He had all his beautiful hair as before. It was all so concrete, so substantialhe was even being served some kind of food. I remained there for one hour (I had looked at my watch before and I looked at it afterwards). I spoke to Sri Aurobindo, for I had some important questions to ask him about the way certain things are to be realized. He said nothing. He listened to me quietly and looked at me as if all my words were useless: he understood everything at once. and he answered me with a gesture and two expressions on his face, an unexpected gesture that did not at all correspond to any thought of mine; for example, he picked up three combs that were lying near the mirror (combs similar to those I use here, but larger) and he put them in his hair. He planted one comb in the middle of his head and the two others on each side, as if to gather all his hair over his temples. He was literally COIFFED with these three combs, which gave him a kind of crown. and I immediately understood that by this he meant that he was adopting my conception: You see, I embrace your conception of things, and I coif myself with it; it is my will. Anyway, I remained there for one hour.
and when I awoke, I didnt have this feeling of returning from afar and of having to re-enter my body, as I usually do. No, it was simply as though I were in this other world, then I took a step backwards and found myself here again. It took me a good half an hour to underst and that this world here existed as much as the other and that I was no longer on the other side but here, in the world of falsehood. I had forgotten everythingpeople, things, what I had to do; everything had gone, as if it had no reality at all.
You see, its not as if this world of Truth had to be created from nothing: it is fully ready, it is there, like a lining of our own present world. Everything is there, EVERYTHING is there.
I remained in that state for two full days, two days of absolute felicity. and Sri Aurobindo was with me the whole time, the whole timewhen I walked, he walked with me, when I sat down, he sat next to me. On the day of August 15th, too, he remained there constantly during the darshan. But who was aware of it? A fewone or twofelt something. But who saw?No one.
and I showed all these people to Sri Aurobindo, this whole field of work, and asked him WHEN this other world, the real one that is there, so near, would come to take the place of our world of falsehood. Not ready. That was all he replied. Not ready.
Sri Aurobindo gave me two days of thistotal bliss. But all the same, by the end of the second day I realized that I could not continue to remain there, for the work was not advancing. The work must be done in the body; the realization must be attained here in this physical world, for otherwise it is not complete. So I withdrew from that world and set to work here again.
and yet, it would take little, very little, to pass from this world to the other, or for the other to become the real world. A little click would be enough, or rather a little reversal in the inner attitude. How should I put it? It is imperceptible to the ordinary consciousness; a very little inner shift would be enough, a change in quality.
It is similar with this japa: an imperceptible little change, and one can pass from a more or less mechanical, more or less efficient and real japa, to the true japa full of power and light. I even wondered if this difference is what the tantrics call the power of the japa. For example, the other day I was down with a cold. Each time I opened my mouth, there was a spasm in the throat and I coughed and coughed. Then a fever came. So I looked, I saw where it was coming from, and I decided that it had to stop. I got up to do my japa as usual, and I started walking back and forth in my room. I had to apply a certain will. Of course, I could do my japa in trance, I could walk in trance while repeating the japa, because then you feel nothing, none of all the bodys drawbacks. But the work has to be done in the body! So I got up and started doing my japa. Then, with each word pronounced the Light, the full Power. A power that heals everything. I began the japa tired, ill, and I came out of it refreshed, rested, cured. So those who tell me they come out of it exhausted, contracted, emptied, it means that they are not doing it in the true way.
I underst and why certain tantrics advise saying the japa in the heart center. When one applies a certain enthusiasm, when each word is said with a warmth of aspiration, then everything changes. I could feel this difference in myself, in my own japa.
In fact, when I walk back and forth in my room, I dont cut myself off from the rest of the worldalthough it would be so much more convenient! All kinds of things come to mesuggestions, wills, aspirations. But automatically I make a movement of offering: things come to me and just as they are about to touch my head, I turn them upwards and offer them to the Light. They dont enter into me. For example, if someone speaks to me while I am saying my japa, I hear quite well what is being said, I may even answer, but the words remain a little outside, at a certain distance from the head. and yet sometimes, there are things that insist, more defined wills that present themselves to me, so then I have to do a little work, but all that without a pause in the japa. If that happens, there is sometimes a change in the quality of my japa, and instead of being fully the power, fully the light, it is certainly something that produces results, but results more or less sure, more or less long to fructify; it becomes uncertain, as with all things of this physical world. Yet the difference between the two japas is imperceptible; its not a difference between saying the japa in a more or less mechanical way and saying it consciously, because even while I work I remain fully conscious of the japa I continue to repeat it putting the full meaning into each syllable. But nevertheless, there is a difference. One is the all-powerful japa; the other, an almost ordinary japa There is a difference in the inner attitude. Perhaps for the japa to become true, a kind of joy, an elation, a warmth of enthusiasm has to be added but especially joy. Then everything changes.
Well, it is the same thing, the same imperceptible difference, when it comes to entering the world of Truth. On one side there is the falsehood, and on the other, close by, like the lining of this one, the true life. Only a little difference in the inner quality, a little reversal, is enough to pass to the other side, into the Truth and Light.
Perhaps simply to add joy would suffice.
--
Of course, Sri Aurobindo himself had joy. But I had the impression that it was not total and that this is why I had to continue the work. I felt that it could only be total when things here have changed.
See July 24-25.
0 1959-10-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
1) X spoke to me again of the war without my asking anything. He repeated, There will be war, and he again spoke of an attack on India by China
2) X spoke to me of the Ashrams financial difficulties and said I shall tell you the secret why there are such difficulties. I think he is going to speak to me today or tomorrow. In any case, he told me that he was working (I am preparing) to change these conditions, and he asked me if there had been any improvement as yet. I replied that I did not believe the situation had changed very much. He spoke as well of certain people in the Ashram, but I will tell you about this in person. He had a rather amusing way of speaking about people, people who pretend to worship the Mother but who keep their mind as a dustbin!
7) X wants to send me back to Pondicherry this Sunday (Sunday the 18th, arriving Monday the 19th morning). He says it is useless for me now to remain here any longer since his house is not ready and he can do nothing. But, he said, I will have you come to my house for 3 months and I shall give you a training by which you can know Past, Present and Future, and have the same qualifications as me!
8) He gave me certain methods to follow, about which I shall speak to you in person.
Sweet Mother, I have such a yearning for everything in my consciousness to harmonize and for the tantric discipline, the japa, etc., not to separate me from you. I want to be your child, open to you, without any contradictions. I would like so much to find your almost physical Presence within me again, as before. May all be clear, pure, one.
I would wish to be like Sujata, completely transparent, your child with her at your feet. Mother, help me. I need you. Sujata is healing something that was very painful in me, as though it were flayed or wounded, and which threw me into revolt. With this calming influence, I would like to begin a new life of self-giving. This change of residence is for me like the symbol of another change. Oh, Mother! may the painful road be over, and may all be achieved in the joy of your Will.
Your child,
0 1959-11-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There is a difference between immortality and the deathless state. Sri Aurobindo has described it very well in Savitri.
The deathless state is what can be envisaged for the human physical body in the future: it is constant rebirth. Instead of again tumbling backwards and falling apart due to a lack of plasticity and an incapacity to adapt to the universal movement, the body is undone futurewards, as it were.
There is one element that remains fixed: for each type of atom, the inner organization of the elements is different, which is what creates the difference in their substance. So perhaps similarly, each individual has a different, particular way of organizing the cells of his body, and it is this particular way that persists through all the outer changes. All the rest is undone and redone, but undone in a forward thrust towards the new instead of collapsing backwards into death, and redone in a constant aspiration to follow the progressive movement of the divine Truth.
But for that, the body the body-consciousness must first learn to widen itself. It is indispensable, for otherwise all the cells become a kind of boiling porridge under the pressure of the supramental light.
--
Thoughts and Aphorisms:
'Cruelty transfigured becomes Love that is intolerable ecstasy...'
0 1960-01-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
When I started my japa one year ago, I had to struggle with every possible difficulty, every contradiction, prejudice and opposition that fills the air. and even when this poor body began walking back and forth for japa, it used to knock against things, it would start breathing all wrong, coughing; it was attacked from all sides until the day I caught the Enemy and said, Listen carefully. You can do whatever you want, but Im going right to the end and nothing will stop me, even if I have to repeat this mantra ten crore1 times. The result was really miraculous, like a cloud of bats flying up into the light all at once. From that moment on, things started going better.
You have no idea what an irresistible effect a well-determined will can have.
--
Actually, difficulties come from very small things; they may seem quite commonplace, totally uninteresting, but they block the way. They come for no earthly reasonsome detail, a word that comes rubbing against a sensitive spot, an illness in someone close to me, anything at all, and suddenly something in me contracts. Then all the work has to be started afresh as though nothing had been done.
Of all forms of ego, you might think that the physical ego is the most difficult to conquer (or rather, the body ego, because the work was already done long ago on the physical ego). It might be thought that the form of the body is a point of concentration, and that without this concentration or hardness, physical life would not be possible. But thats not true. The body is really a wonderful instrument; its capable of widening and of becoming vast in such a way that everything, everything the slightest gesture, the least little taskis done in a wonderful harmony and with a remarkable plasticity. Then all of a sudden, for something quite stupid, a draft, a mere nothing, it forgetsit shrinks back into itself, it gets afraid of disappearing, afraid of not being. and everything has to be started again from scratch. So in the yoga of matter you start realizing how much endurance is needed. I calculated it would take 200 years to say ten crore of my japa. Well, Im ready to struggle 200 years if necessary, but the work will be done.
Sri Aurobindo had made it clear to me when I was still in France that this yoga in matter is the most difficult of all. For the other yogas, the paths have been well laid, you know where to tread, how to proceed, what to do in such- and-such a case. But for the yoga of matter, nothing has ever been done, never, so at each moment everything has to be invented.
Of course, things are now going better, especially since Sri Aurobindo became established in the subtle physical, an almost material subtle physical.2 But there are still plenty of question marks The body underst ands once, and then it forgets. The Enemys opposition is nothing, for I can see clearly that it comes from outside and that its hostile, so I do whats necessary. But where the difficulty lies is in all the small things of daily material lifesuddenly the body no longer underst ands, it forgets.
Yet its HAPPY. It loves doing the work, it lives only for thatto change, to transform itself is its reason for being. and its such a docile instrument, so full of good will! Once it even started wailing like a baby: O Lord, give me the time, the time to be transformed It has such a simple fervor for the work, but it needs timetime, thats it. It wants to live only to conquer, to win the Lords Victory.3
One crore = 10 million.
0 1960-01-31, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
When I began the readings from the Dhammapada, I had hoped that my listeners would take enough interest in the practical spiritual side for me to read only one verse at a time. But quite quickly, I saw they found this very boring and were making no effort to benefit from the meditation. The only solution then was to treat the matter as an intellectual study, which is why I started reading chapter by chapter.
***
0 1960-03-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Experiences are coming at a furious pacefabulous experiences. If I were to speak now, its certain that I would not at all speak as I used to. Thats why we must date all these Questions and Answers, at least all which come before the [Supramental] Manifestation of February 1956, so that there will be a clear cut between those before and those after.
Only a few days ago, on the morning of the 29th, I had one of those experiences that mark ones life. It happened upstairs in my room. I was doing my japa, walking up and down with my eyes wide open, when suddenly Krishna camea gold Krishna, all golden, in a golden light that filled the whole room. I was walking, but I could not even see the windows or the rug any longer, for this golden light was everywhere with Krishna at its center. and it must have lasted at least fifteen minutes. He was dressed in those same clothes in which he is normally portrayed when he dances. He was all light, all dancing: You see, I will be there this evening during the Darshan.1 and suddenly, the chair I use for darshan came into the room! Krishna climbed up onto it, and his eyes twinkled mischievously, as if to say, I will be there, you see, and therell be no room for you.
When I came down that evening for distribution,2 at first I was annoyed. I had said that I didnt want anybody in the hall, precisely because I wanted to establish an atmosphere of concentration, the immobility of the Spirit but there were at least thirty people in there, those who had decorated the hall, thirty of them stirring, stirring about, a mass of little vibrations. and before I could even say scat I had hardly taken my seatsomeone put the tray of medals on my lap and they started filing past.
But what is surprising is that in a flash, no one was there any longer. No one, you underst and I was gone. Perhaps I was everywhere (but in fact I am always everywhere, I am always conscious of being everywhere at the same time), though normally there is the sense of the body, a physical center, but that evening there was no more center! Nothing, no one, not even the sense that there was no onenothing. I was gone. There was indeed something h anding out the medals which felt the joy of giving the medal, the joy of receiving it, the joy of mutually looking at each other. It was simply the joy of the action taking place, the joy of looking, this joy everywhere, but me?Nothing, no one, gone. Only later, afterwards, did I see what had happened, for everything had disappeared, even the higher mind that underst ands and organizes things (by underst and I mean contain, which contains things). That also was gone. and this lasted the entire distribution. Only when that [the body] had gone back upstairs to the room did the consciousness of what is me return.
There is a line by Sri Aurobindo in Savitri which expresses this very well: to annul oneself so that only the Supreme Lord may be.
and there are many, many experiences like this. It is only a small, a very small beginning. This one in particular came to mark the new stage: four years have elapsed, and now four years to come. Because everything has focused on this body to prepare it, everything has concentrated on itNature, the Master of the Yoga, the Supreme, everything So only when its over, not before, will it really be interesting to speak of all this. But maybe it will never be over, after all. Its a small beginning, very small.
The Darshan on February 29, 1960, the first anniversary of the Supramental Manifestation.
0 1960-03-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Publisher and friend are here one in telling you that LOrpailleur is a beautiful book whose richness and force have struck me even more this time than before when I read the first version. I cannot tell you how much your Job is my brotherin his darkness as in his light. The joy, the wild, irrepressible joy that furtively yearns and at times bursts forth, embracing all, this joy at the heart of the book burns the reader for a few, in any case, who are prepared to be inflamed. In the end, I cant say if LOrpailleur will or will not be noticed, if the critics will or will not bestow an article, a comment, an echo upon it, if bookstores will or will not sell it (poor orpailleur!). But what I know is that for a few readers2, 3, 10 perhapsyour book will be the cry that will rip them from their sleep forever. To your song, another song in themselves will respond. Where, how shall this concert finish? Who knowsanything is possible!
My words are a bit disjointed but Im not in the mood to give an articulate discourse. Which is a way of saying, once again, how happy I am and grateful.
0 1960-04-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
A few lines to tell you that I miss you. I truly realize more and more that I shall never be happy until I have disappeared in you entirely. There must be nothing left but That. I underst and well enough, but Im so blocked, so thick. In any case, I think of you a lot and I really only live by this something that pulls me deep within. If that were not there, it would all be so absurd.
Ive booked my ticket to Rameswaram for the evening of the 13th, so I will probably reach there on the 15th.
I brought some work with me (revision of The Human Cycle), and that helps me to live. I still dont clearly see the meaning of this trip. Just before I left, I received word from the publisher in Paris that my book will come out in September.
There are moments when I feel you so close to mecould you not help me be more conscious of your presence (not as an impersonal force, but you)?
I love you, sweet Mother. You are truly my Mother, and I need you so much.
With all my love, I am at your feet.
--
This inner fusion you speak of as a truth to be realized is already accomplished, absolutely perceptible to me. For long I have felt you as an integral part of my being; it seems to me that only some surface eddies prevent you also from feeling and living it.
But I am convinced it will come. Meanwhile, I am trying to make you feel my presence not as an impersonal force but as a real and concrete presence, and I am happy to have succeeded in part.
Send me news of yourself, for I am always happy to hear from you.
I am with you, in love and joy.
Signed: Mother
0 1960-04-13, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
My friend here gave me the book Templier et Alchimiste [Templar and Alchemist] to read; its published by the group he is going to join in France. They too speak of the transmutation of matter and proclaim the end of homo sapiens and the birth of the superman.
I long to be with you and work on the book on Sri Aurobindo I want to put all my soul into it and, with your grace, create something inflaming.
Sweet Mother, I am your child. I want to belong to you more and more completely.
With love.
--
Yesterday was distribution. I am putting six h andkerchiefs in this envelope for you and to give to others if you wish. I am also enclosing the April 24 message.
Always with you, in love and joy.
Signed: Mother
0 1960-04-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Our turn will come in twenty to thirty years. To win, we need an element of surprise. The bourgeoisie should be lulled to sleep. Therefore, we must first launch the most spectacular peace movement that has ever existed, replete with inspiring proposals and extraordinary concessions. The stupid and decadent capitalist countries will cooperate joyfully in their own destruction. They will jump at this new opportunity for friendship. As soon as their guard is down, we shall crush them beneath our closed fist.
(Quoted in the Revue Militaire d Information, December 1959.)
0 1960-04-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I was pained and shocked upon reaching Xs place to see him in such a horrible housea train station in miniature ( and not as nice) with little pastries in garish yellow cement. Cement everywhere they even cemented the patio and uprooted the beautiful tree that was there. O Mother, its v andalism, its barbaric! You cannot imagine! Really, M has committed a terrible sin.
To compensate for that, however, I had the joy of finding your two letters. Yes, for some time I have been feeling your physical Presence more clearly. But then, why am I so blocked, where is the flaw? It constantly feels as though I am living at the outskirts of myself, or more precisely in a miniscule region of myself, and Im unable to be conscious of the resta perpetual amnesic. It is unpleasant and quite stupid. What is it that will explode this shell?
I am anxious to return to you.
Your child, full of gratitude and love.
Signed: Satprem
0 1960-04-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There are days when everything is so simple, when I see and feel that all one needs is to let oneself be carried and everything is light. I have really to be done with this me.
It will be a joy to be with you again and resume the work. Here, I am sparing as many hours as I can to correcting The Human Cycle I follow X perfectly in his inner life, unreservedly, but I have to force myself to follow him in his outer life.
Mother, I am at your feet, with my love and my gratitude.
Your child,
0 1960-05-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Sometimes, for a second, I see the Secret; there is an opening, and again it closes. Then once again it is unveiled for a second and I come to know a little more. Yesterday the Secret was there completely clear, wide open. But its not something that can be explained: words are silly, it must be experienced.
Sri Aurobindo speaks of this Secret almost everywhere, especially in his Essays on the Gita. He tells us that in the Gita itself one gets glimpses of this thing which is beyond the Impersonal, beyond even the Personal behind the Impersonal, beyond the Transcendent.
--
Becomes is just a way of speaking, of course, for everything already is, and the Supreme is what He is. But we live in time, in a successive unfoldment, and it would be absurd to say that at present Matter is the expression of a perfect Divine.
I saw this Secret (which is getting more and more perceptible as the Supramental becomes clear), I saw it in the everyday, outer life, precisely in this very physical life which all spirituality rejects a kind of accuracy or exactitude right down to the atom.
I am not saying that the Divine becomes perfect in Matter the Divine is already there but that THE SUPREME becomes perfect in Matter.
0 1960-05-16, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
If there is one fundamental necessity, it is humility. To be humble. Not humble as it is normally understood, such as merely saying, I am so small, Im nothing at allno, something else Because the pitfalls are innumerable, and the further you progress in yoga, the more subtle they become, and the more the ego masks itself behind marvelous and saintly appearances. So when somebody says, I no longer want to rely on anything but Him. I want to close my eyes and rest in Him alone, this comfortable Him, which is exactly what you want him to be, is the egoor a formidable Asura, or a Titan (depending on each ones capacity). Theyre all over the earth, the earth is their domain. So the first thing to do is to pocket your egonot preserve it, but get rid of it as soon as possible!
You can be sure that the God youve created is a God of the ego whenever something within you insists, This is what I feel, this is what I think, this is what I see; its my way, my very ownits my way of being, my way of underst anding, my relationship with the Divine, etc.
and then they say, I want to close my eyes and see nothing but Him I want nothing more of the outer world. and they forget theres Love! That is the great Secret, that which is behind the Existent and the Non-Existent, the Personal and the ImpersonalLove. Not a love between two things, two beings A love containing everything.
In the early part of the century, I wrote Prayers and Meditations, and I too spoke of Him; but I wrote that with all my aspiration, all my sincerity (at least with all the sincerity of the conscious parts of my being) and I locked it up in a drawer so that no one would see it. It was Sri Aurobindo who later asked me to publish it, for it could be useful If I knew then, fifty years ago, what I know now, I would have been crushed! All this shame, all this unworthiness
After all, its good to know gradually, good to have some illusionsnot for the sake of illusions but as a necessary step along the way.
--
and what is wonderful is that at each moment the Grace, the Joy, the Light, the Love never cease pouring down in the very midst of all thisdespite the ego, despite the shame, despite the unworthiness. To be humble
***
--
I was sick two days ago with a cold and fever. I know whya point to be transformed. The body may have put too much zeal into it, so it teetered a little. But thanks to that, I had an interesting experience. X 1 had put his force on me to speed up the healing. and of course, according to each ones nature, the force gets colored, so to speakit clothes itself in a different color. In me, this was translated by a new physical experience which lasted from 4 in the morning till 6:30, when I had to start speaking with people and deal with outer things. It was a kind of eternity, a kind of absolute PHYSICAL immobility which contained no possibility of illness within itas a matter of fact, nothing remained in this immobility, it was a sort of nirvana. But it did not keep me from going through all my usual motions of getting dressed.
I spent the whole day yesterday trying to underst and this experience.
and in that kind of physical eternity (which lasted two and a half hoursits a long time for an experience), I was aware of something missing, something not there: the joy of the consciousness. Because throughout my life I have developed the habit of being conscious of everything, always, at each second. and the joy of the consciousness was not there. So I thanked the Grace that made me see that this kind of nirvana was quite simply physical tamas.2
(silence)
X has the power of rendering things very material thats his great power, which is why things get upset when he comes here. Overnight, someone progressing well comes to grips with difficulties; money on the way stops coming; you fall sick, things break downall because he has the power to give materiality to things from above. For, you see, you can go right to the height of your consciousness and from there sweep away the difficulties (at a certain moment of the sadhana, difficulties truly dont exist, its only a matter of nabbing the undesirable vibration and its over, its reduced to dust). and everything is fine up above, but down below its swarming. When X comes, its precisely all this swarming that becomes tangible.
The mastery must be a TRUE mastery, a very humble and austere mastery which starts from the very bottom and, step by step, establishes control. As a matter of fact, it is a battle against small, really tiny things: habits of being, ways of thinking, feeling and reacting.
When this mastery at the very bottom combines with the consciousness at the very top, then you can really begin doing some worknot only work on yourself but also the work for all.
0 1960-05-21 - true purity - you have to be the Divine to overcome hostile forces, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Him, not only because we have given Him everything and consecrated ourselves totally to Him (that is not enough), but Him because He has taken total possession of the human instrument.
At times, I feel that Ill never get over the difficulty. We are besieged by this enormous world of hostile forcesoceans of forces, churning and combining and submerging each other in gigantic pralayas,1 then again regrouping and combining. When you see that, it feels as if you had to be the Divine Himself to get over the difficulty. Precisely so! ( and its the hostile forces who help you to see this, its their role.) You have TO BE THE DIVINE, that is the solution, that is the true divine purity.
***
When X is here, I get the impression that things are going backwards instead of forwards. But once hes left, I suddenly leap ahead. and then I perceive that the progress is a real progress, that things won have really been won and they dont come undone again. That is Xs true power, a very material power. For I often feel that things could come into being, they could be realized in the consciousness above ( and the vision is there, the Power is there, I have it the invisible power over the earth). But when you come down to the material plane, everything is uncertain. Whereas with X, once things have come down, they no longer dissipate. This is certainly why the Supreme put him on my path.
For example, there was one difficulty he helped me resolve. I have always been literally pestered, constantly, night and day, by all kinds of thoughts coming from peopleall kinds of calls, questions, formations2 that have naturally to be answered. For I have trained myself to be conscious of everything, always. But it disturbed me in the work, particularly when I needed absolute concentration and I could never cut myself off from people or cut myself off from the world. I had to answer all these calls and these questions, I had to send the necessary force, the necessary light, the healing power, I constantly had to purify all these formations, these thoughts, these wills, these false movements that were falling on me.
What was needed was to effect a shift, a sort of transference upwards, a lifting up of all these things that come to meso that each one, each thing, each circumstance could directly and automatically receive the force from above, the light, the response from above, and I would be a mere intermediary and a channel of the Light and the Force.
Well, I tried hard but I couldnt really find the way. At times, I almost seemed to have it, a mere nothing would have been enough; it was just a matter of getting the knack ( and at heart, this is what Power is all aboutto get the knack, to suddenly seize upon the means, the right vibration, what in India is called siddhi). Well, after his departure, all of a sudden it came. It happened while I was doing my japa, while I was walking up and down my room As if I were holding all that in my armsit was so concrete and lifting it up towards the Light, along with this ascending OM, rising from the very depths, OM! and I was carrying all these people, and it was spreading forth, PHYSICALLY spreading, and I was carrying the earth, I was carrying the whole universe, but in such a tangible, concrete wayall towards the Supreme Lord.
and this was not the invisible power: it was concrete, it was tangible, it was MATERIAL.
Pralaya: apocalypse, end of a world.
Formations, in occult language, refer to all the psychological movements and impulses, conscious or unconscious, constantly emanating from the disciples and others, and which leave an imprint in the subtle atmosphere or a w andering entity seeking to fulfill itself.
***
0 1960-05-24 - supramental flood, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Nothing remained but the Force, nothing remained but Sat-Chit-An anda,1 and not only in the consciousness but in the physical sensation the divine Satchidan anda spreading in a constant flood throughout the universe.
These experiences are always absolute, as long as they last; then, through certain signs that I know (I am accustomed to it), I notice that the body consciousness begins closing up again. Or rather, somethingevidently a Supreme Wisdomdecides its sufficient for this time and that the body has had enough. It ought not to break, which is why certain precautions are taken. So this comes in several little stages that I know quite well. The final one is always a bit unpleasant because my body gets into rather peculiar positions as a result of the work. As its only a sort of machine, towards the end I have some difficulty straightening my knees, for example, or opening my fingers I think they even make a noise, like something forced into one position whose life has become purely spontaneous and mechanical. There are plenty of people like that, plenty, who enter into trance and then can no longer get out by themselves; they get themselves into a certain position and someone has to free them. This has never happened to me; I have always managed to extricate myself. But yesterday evening, the experience lasted a very long time. There was even a little cracking at the end, as when people have rheumatism.
and during all this time, approximately three hours, the consciousness was completely, completely different. It was here, however; it was not outside the earth, it was on earth, but it was completely differenteven the body consciousness was different. and what remained was very mechanical; it was a body, but it could just as well have been anything. All this power of consciousness that for more than seventy years Ive gradually pushed into each of the bodys cells so that each cell could become conscious ( and it goes on constantly, constantly), all this seemed to have withdrawn there only remained one almost lifeless thing. However, I could raise myself up from my bed and even drink a glass of water, but it was all so bizarre. and when I went back to bed, it took nearly forty-five minutes for the body to regain its normal state. Only after I had entered into another type of samadhi2 and again come out of it did my consciousness fully return. It is the first time I have had an experience of this kind.
During those three hours, there was nothing but the Supreme manifesting through the eternal Mother.
But there was no consciousness of being Mother, neither eternal nor whatever: it was a continuous and all-powerful flood, and so extraordinarily varied, of the Lord manifesting Himself.
It was as vast as the universe, a continuous movement the movement of manifestation of something which was EVERYTHING at once, a single whole. There was no division. and such a variety of colors, vibrations, powersextraordinary! It was one single thing, and everything was within it.
The three Supreme Principles were very clearly there: Existence, Consciousness (an active, realizing consciousness) and An anda. A universal vastness that kept going on and on and on
It moves and it doesnt move. How can you explain that? It was in motion, a constant, unceasing motion, and yet there was no shifting of place. I had the perception, or rather there was the perception, of something which WAS forever, which never repeated itself, neither began nor ended, which didnt shift places yet was always in motion.
Words cannot express it. No translation, none, not even the most subtle mental translation can express this. It was Even now the memory I have of it is inexpressible. You have to be in it to feel it, otherwise
--
You see, when something goes beyond thought, a sort of conception of it, or superconception rather, remains behind. But in this case, in my experience, there was no question of thoughtit was a question of physical sensation. It was not beyond thought, it was beyond sensation. I was LIVING this thing. and there was no more I. There was nothing but this thing, and yet there was a sensation. I cant explain it!
When I went back to bed, the transitional period lasted 45 minutes. During this time, I tried to locate the role of the individual consciousness on earth. In a flash, I understood its purpose. For you see, as long as the experience lasted, I did not feel any necessity at all of an individuality for this supreme flood to manifest. Then I understood, precisely, that the individuality served to put into contact, in this flood, all that reached out towards what is called Ithis individualized representation of the Divinein order to receive help and support from it, and to be put into contact. I did not say put into contact WITH this flood but put into contact IN this flood, for it was not happening outsidenothing was outside this flood, nothing exists outside it.
and what was really very lovely was the ACCURACY and the power which directed the forces. I watched this for three quarters of an hour: for each thing that presented itself (it could have been someone thinking, something taking place, anything at all), a special little concentration of this flood went exactly onto that point, like a special insistence.
and all this was absolutely egoless, without any personal reaction, nothing; there was nothing but the consciousness of the Supreme Action. It was the only thing existing.
and of course, the whole ordinary and higher mind (as well as the physical mind, it goes without saying, for that must be abolished before going into trance), everything here in the head, above the head, around the headabsolutely immobile.
After all that, towards the end of the night, at two in the morning, only a kind of faint suggestion was left: How can this statewhich I knew in trance, in samadhi, and which necessitates lying downbecome constant in a physical body which moves about? There is something to discover there. and what form will it take? For in my consciousness, you see, it is constantly like that, this universal flood, but the problem is IN THE BODY: its the problem of the Force in its most material form.
and during the time my experience lasted, I had no feeling of anything exceptional, but rather simply the fact that after all its preparation, the body consciousness was ready for a total identification with Thatin my consciousness its always the same, a perpetual, constant and eternal state in that it never leaves me. Its like that, and it never varies. What diminishes the immensity of the Vibration are the limitations of the material consciousness which can color it and even sometimes change it by giving it a personal appearance. Thus, when I see someone and speak to him, for example, when my eyes concentrate on the person, I have almost the sensation of this flood flowing from me towards the person or of it passing through me to go onto the person. There is an awareness of the eyes, the body. and it is this which limits or even changes a little the immensity of the thing But already this feeling has almost disappeared; this immensity seems to be acting almost constantly. There are moments when I am less interiorized, when I am more on the surface, and it feels like its passing through a bodymoments when the body consciousness comes back a little. and this is what diminishes the thing.
This experience last night also enabled me to underst and what X had felt during one of our meditations. He had explained his experience by way of saying that I was this mystic tree whose roots plunge into the Supreme and whose branches spread forth over the world,3 and he said that one of these branches had entered into him and it had been a unique experience. He had said, this is the Mother.
and now I underst and that what he had seen and translated by this Vedic image was that kind of perpetual flood.
and you see, this experience he had, this contact between him and me, is just a point, a drop, its nothing; its merely something the consciousness puts into words, but the THING itself is universal. Last night it was universal; there was no room, no bed, no door and it was concrete, concrete, so concrete, with such a splendor! There was all the Joythis perpetual downpour in a limitless splendor.
I was reluctant to speak (because of this problem that remains hanging: to make it permanent, even in the active consciousness), and I said to myself that if I speak, it will create difficulties for me in finding the solution But its all right. I shall simply have to make a still greater effort, because something always evaporates when you speak.
Sat-Chit-An anda: the three Supreme Principles, Existence (Sat), Consciousness (Chit), and Bliss (An anda).
Samadhi: trance.
0 1960-05-28 - death of K - the death process- the subtle physical, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
During the operation and just afterwards, I had simply put the Force on him, as I always do in such cases, so that everything would turn out for the best. Then a few days ago, during my japa, a kind of order camea very clear orderto concentrate on him so that he would be conscious of his soul and able to leave under the best conditions. and I saw that the concentration worked wonderfully: it seems that during his last days he was ceaselessly repeating Ma-Ma-Ma1even while he was in a semi-coma.
and the concentration grew stronger and stronger. The day before yesterday it became very, very powerful, and yesterday morning, around half past noon, it pulled me inward; he came to me in a kind of sleep, a conscious sleep, and I even said almost aloud, Oh, K!
It lasted fifteen minutes; I was completely within, inside, as if to receive him.
--
So its probably during this period that people are resuscitated, as they say. It must be during this period, for they have not left their bodies, they are not really dead, though the heart may give every appearance of having stopped. So K left his body at around half past noon, and officially it was at 11:45. Forty-five minutes later, in other words.
and it takes place very gently, very gently (when its done right), very gently, very gently, smoothly, without any shock.
So this morning theyre burning him.
--
I know it. I know that this consciousness of the form exists since I have actually gone out of it. Once, long back, I was in a so-called cataleptic state, and after awhile, while still in this state, the body began living again2; that is, it was capable of speaking and even moving (it was Theon who gave me this training). The body managed to get up and move. and yet, everything had gone out of it!
Once everything had gone out, it naturally became cold, but the body consciousness manages to draw a little energy from the air, from this or that and I spoke in that state. I spoke I spoke very well, and besides, I recounted all I was seeing elsewhere.
So I dont like this habit of burning people very much.
I think they do it here (apart from entirely sanitary considerations in the case of people who have died from nasty diseases), here in India, mainly because they are very afraid of all these little entities that come from desires, impulsesthings which are dispersed in the air and which make ghosts and all kinds of things. All desires, all attachments, all those things are like pieces that break off (each one goes its own way, you see), then these pieces gain strength in the surrounding atmosphere, and when they can fasten on to someone, they vampirize him. Then they keep on trying to satisfy their desires.
The world, the terrestrial atmosphere, is full of filth.
and people here are much more sensitive than in Europe because they are much more interiorized, so they are conscious of all these little entities, and naturally theyre afraid. and the more afraid they are, the more theyre vampirized!
I think that many of these entities are dispersed by fire that creates havoc.
I know one person, a boy who died here, who was burned before he had left! He had a weak heart, and not enough care was taken that is, they probably should not have operated on him. He was our engineer. He died in the hospital. Not a serious operation, an appendicitis, but his heart could not take up its natural movement.
But as he was accustomed to going out of his body, he didnt know! He even used to make experimentshe would go out, circle around in his room, see his body from outside, observe the difference between the subtle physical and the material physical, etc. So he didnt know. and its only when they burned his body
I tried to delay the moment, but he was in the hospital, so it was difficult. I was in my room when they burned his body, and then suddenly I saw him arrivesobbingsaying, But But I m dead. I DIDNT WANT to die! Why am I dead, I DIDNT WANT to die! It was dreadful. So I kept him and held him against me to quiet him down.
He remained there for years.
and whenever we used to have meetings to decide on the construction of something or on repairs to be made, for example, I always felt him there and he influenced those who were present.
He wanted to live again; I managed to give him the opportunity. He was very conscious; the child isnt yet so.
--
It was at Tlemcen, in Algeria. While Mother was in trance, Theon caused the thread which linked Mother to her body to break through a movement of anger. He was angry because Mother, who was in a region where she saw the 'mantra of life,' refused to tell him the mantra. Faced with the enormity of the result of his anger Theon got hold of himself, and it took all Mother's force and all Theon's occult science to get Mother back into her bodywhich created a kind of very painful friction at the moment of re-entry, perhaps the type of friction that makes new born children cry out.
***
0 1960-06-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Im a bit discouraged. Every night I slip into a black abyss from which I wake up in the morning drained. Not one second of conscious sleep. It takes me an hour to recuperate from my sleep. In fact, I am constantly on edge and the least thing exhausts my body.
But thats nothing. I would bear all the exhaustion quite willingly if there were at least a touch of something conscious. But nothing, as if I were as thick as a Paris concierge!
0 1960-06-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
If you wake up tired in the morning, it is due to tamas, nothing elsea dreadful mass of tamas. I became aware of this when I started doing the yoga of the body. and its inevitable as long as the body is not transformed.
Myself, I go to bed very early, at eight oclock. Its still quite noisy everywhere, but I dont mind; at least Im sure of no longer being disturbed. First you must stretch out flat and relax all your muscles, all your nervesyou can learn this easilybecome like a dishrag on the bed, as I call it; there should be nothing left. and if you can also do that with the mind, you get rid of a lot of idiotic dreams that make you more tired when you wake up than when you went to bed; they are the result of the cellular activity of the brain going on uncontrollably, which is very tiring. Therefore, relax fully, bring everything to a complete, tensionless calm in which everything has stopped. But this is only the beginning.
Once Im relaxed, I have developed the habit of repeating my mantra. But its very strange with these mantras I dont know how it is for others; Im speaking of my own mantra, the one I myself foundit came spontaneously. Depending on the occasion, the time, depending on what I might call the purpose for repeating it, it has quite different results. For example, I use it to establish the contact while walking back and forth in my roommy mantra is a mantra of evocation; I evoke the Supreme and establish the contact with the body.
This is the main reason for my japa. Theres a power in the sound itself, and by forcing the body to repeat the sound, you force it to receive the vibration at the same time. But Ive noticed that if something in the bodys working gets disturbed (a pain or disorder, the onset of some illness) and I repeat my mantra in a certain waystill the same words, the same mantra, but said with a certain purpose and above all in a movement of surrender, surrender of the pain, the disorder, and a call, like an openingit has a marvelous effect. The mantra acts in just the right way, in this way and in no other. and after a while everything is put back in order. and simultaneously, of course, the precise knowledge of what lies behind the disorder and what I must do to set it right comes to me. But quite apart from this, the mantra acts directly upon the pain itself.
I also use my mantra to go into trance. After relaxing on the bed and making as total a self-offering as possible of everything, from top to bottom, and after removing as fully as possible all resistance of the ego, I start repeating the mantra.1 After repeating it two or three times, I am in trance (at the beginning it took longer). and from this trance I pass into sleep; the trance lasts as long as necessary and, quite naturally, spontaneously, I pass into sleep. and when I come back, I remember everything. The sleep was like a continuation of the trance. and essentially, the only reason for sleep is to allow the body to assimilate the results of the trance, then to allow these results to be accepted throughout and to let the body do its natural nights work of eliminating toxins. My periods of sleep practically dont exist sometimes they are as short as half an hour or 15 minutes. But in the beginning, I had long periods of sleep, one or even two hours in succession. and when I woke up, I did not feel this residue of heaviness which comes from sleep the effects of the trance continued.
It is even good for people whove never been in trance to repeat a mantra (or a word, a prayer) before going to sleep. But the words must have a life of their ownby this I dont mean an intellectual meaning, nothing of the kind, but rather a vibration. and this has an extraordinary effect on the body, it starts vibrating, vibrating, vibrating and so calm, you let yourself go, like falling off to sleep. and the body vibrates more and more, more and more, more and more, and you drift off.
Such is the cure for tamas.
Its tamas that gives you a bad sleep. There are two kinds of bad sleep that which makes you heavy and leaden, as if the result of all your effort the day before were wasted, and that which exhausts you, as if you had spent the whole time fighting. and Ive observed that if you cut your sleep up into sections (it becomes a habit), the nights get better. In other words, you must be able to come back to your normal consciousness and your normal aspiration at certain intervals, come back to the call of your consciousness But you must not use an alarm clock. When in trance, its not good to be jolted.
Just as you are drifting off, you can make a formation and say, I shall wake up at such- and-such time (children do it very easily).
You should count on at least three hours for the first part of your sleep; for the last part, one hour is enough. But the first should be a minimum of three hours. In fact, it is best to remain in bed for at least seven hours; with six, you dont have the time to do much (of course, Im speaking from the st andpoint of sadhana, to make the nights useful).
But for years together I only slept 2 hours a night in all. I mean that my night consisted of 2 hours. and I went straight to Sat-Chit-An anda and then came back: 2 hours were spent like that. But the body was tired. That lasted more than five or six years while Sri Aurobindo was still in his body. and during the day, I was all the time going into trance for the least thing (it was trance, not sleep I was conscious). But I clearly saw that the body was affected, for it had no time to burn its toxins.2
There would be many interesting things to tell about sleep, because its one of the things Ive studied the mostto speak of how I became conscious of my nights, for instance. (I learned this with Theon, and now that I know all these things of India, I realize that he knew a GREAT deal.) But it bothers me a lot to say II this, I that. Id rather speak of these things in the form of a treatise or an essay on sleep, for example. Sri Aurobindo always spoke of his experiences but rarely did he say Iit always sounds like boasting.
Sri Aurobindo said that the true or yogic reason for sleep is to put the consciousness back into contact with Sat-Chit-An anda (I used to do this without knowing it). For some people the contact is established immediately, while for others it takes eight, nine, ten hours to do it. But really, normally you should not wake up till the contact has been established, and thats why its very bad to wake up in an artificial way (with an alarm clock, for example), because then the night is wasted.
As for me, my night is now organized. I go to bed at 8 oclock and get up at 4, which makes for a very long night, and its sliced into three parts. and I get up punctually at 4 in the morning. But Im always awake ten or fifteen minutes beforeh and, and I review all that has happened during the night, the dreams, the various activities, etc., so that when I get up, I am fully active.
To make use of your nights is an excellent thing, for it has a double effect: a negative effect, in that it keeps you from falling backwards, from losing what youve gained (that is really painful); and a positive effect, in that you progress, you continue progressing. You make use of your nights, so theres no more residue of fatigue.
There are two things to avoid: falling into a stupor of unconsciousness, with all those things coming up from the subconscious and the unconscious that invade and penetrate you, and a vital and mental hyperactivity in which you pass your time literally fightingterrible battles. People come out of that black and blue, as if they had been beaten and they have been, it is not as if! and I see only one way outto change the nature of sleep.
Mother added:
0 1960-06-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
They brought these people to Prosperity to introduce them to me. You know, I had precisely the impression that they feed only on banknotes! (Mother laughs) It makes you gray, oh! and dry like dead wood.
They came to see their son (son, son-in-law, nephew anyway, its the same person) about some businesssome money matter. Then one of them asked to see me. I thought they would simply send some womannot at all: the whole group, face to face and in a circle, and they began lecturing me on business! So I had some fun. Once they had their say (they werent moving, they were planted there), I told them, Listen, since you are here, it must be for SOMETHING! and then I gave them a lecture. But just imagine, one of them was so shaken that he asked to see me again this morning. The one who was shaken wore a h andsome pink turban.
So I said, All right, let him come.
--
Hmm! But life is like that. Physical life is like that for everyone. This feeling of it turning round and round and round and round and its the same for people, objects, countries, the whole world.
Something changes, of course, but its so phew! I mean, at the speed its going, it will take us millions of years to make any perceptible progress. We might just as well say its not moving.
--
But just now You see, when I am in contact with younot when were sitting together, but at the balcony or at the meditation or at any time at allthis contact is very good, very good, very luminous and clear. I wrote you that, and its getting more and more tangible. But when were HERE together, it feels as though it doesnt move Something is preventing it from taking place HERE. So when you spoke (it was when you made a face), I looked.
It gives me the impression of something like Yes, thats it, like a cavemanOh (Mother speaks mockingly), surely one of the cave artists or poets or writers! The intellectual life of the caves, I mean! But the cave happens to be low and when youre in it, you are like this (Mother stoops over), but the whole time you want to st and up straight. That makes you furious. Thats exactly the feeling it gives menot a cave meant for a man st anding on his two feet; its a cave for a lion or for for any four-legged animal.
Its symbolic. Im speaking symbolically.
and so
(silence)
Ah, thats what it is! Your cave it IS like that, its really like that, I underst and why you feel you have to blast it with dynamite! But if you go right to the endright to the endtheres no more top to the cave, its wide open to the stars. I can see it. Go to the very end. Its very dark. Its very dark and not very enticing, and it feels as if it may still be worse but it wont be worse. Go right to the end, and suddenly youll be able to st and up straight.
(long silence)
--
and its suffocating and irritating and annoying and tiring and
(silence)
--
But thats how it is; I feel it is so (How can I put it?) There are always at least two ways of doing things. I have a very strong feelingvery strong that you want me to take you by the h and and go together
Do you have that idea or not?
--
No, no thats not what I mean. Im speaking of the relationship I have with you, the true onewhat I was telling you about just a moment ago. Because, you see, Im going to tell you everything! (Mother laughs) I have the impression that it would go much faster if I could pick you up, put you here (Mother touches her heart), carry you here and tell you, Calm yourself, listen! But its not possible (alas). Youre always fast on your feet with your head touching this very low ceiling. Myself, I cant be like that. Im not even sure (laughing) if my feet would get in!
Anyway, my child, its not that Im not trying I am trying. and its not that you cantyou can. Thats the problem You know, its as if you were stubbornly trying to turn the key the wrong way in the lock.
I dont know. I suppose its the ego.
--
and just imagine! The other day, in the middle of the night, I suddenly found myself inside you. Ah, so thats what hes like, I said. I woke up in the middle of the night with that. and right away I said to myself, But (laughing) but why is he like that!? and this lasted perhaps one or two minutes, maybe more. I was I felt like kicking out in every direction in a kind of rage. and the next second, I thought, But why all this? My goodness, its so easy; the remedy is simply to do this and immediately (I did what I always do, you seeits how I am constantly), quite simply, I melted into the Supreme. Enough of all this and the very next second, everything was all right.
So then I thought, This surely must have had some effect (on the disciple). What has happened? I am I was literally in peace.
and thats really how it was Hmm, maybe thats what its like for an infant shut up in his mothers womb, so he kicks about in every direction and for a long time. Hes had enough of being shut in.
It was a kind of rage against something that shuts you in.
0 1960-06-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
When a question is put to me, the answer does not come from a will; what happens is that materials come which I then use to give shape to the answer, but its only a shape. The thing itself is there, but it needs to be shaped. The difference between one and the other is rather like the difference between a picture and an apparition.
Sometimes the Force comes direct. and it picks up words, any words at all, that makes no difference; the nature of the words changes, and they become expressive BECAUSE of the power entering into them. This happens when I look directly at the thing.
But when a question is put to me, it comes coated with all the mental atmosphere of whoever is asking the question. and this coating is often a mere reflectionmuch of the life has been removed.
The same thing occurs, there is the same difference, when I say something and when I see it (for example, when I look at one of those essential problems that will be solved only when the world changes). When I look at that in silence, there is a power of life and truthwhich evaporates when its put into words. It becomes diminished, impoverished and of course distorted. When you write or speak, the experience disintegrates, its inevitable.
We need a new language.
For instance, if I have a vision (not a vision with pictures, not that, but something without any form or sound or words or the THING itself, when I live the thing), and then later I speak of it to someone I have a very tangible feeling of having to pull something to make it visible, perceptible and communicable the splendor goes.
We need new organs of expression It will come.
0 1960-06-Undated, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
You sent me this flower, Vital Collaboration. I am taking this opportunity to tell you something which has been weighing on my heart for years and which, naturally, comes back up whenever things go badly.
I have been here seven years and I cant count a single concrete experience, not a single vision (the only things that have ever happened were in Ceylon or Rameswaram). I havent even managed to have a few slightly conscious nights.
Isnt this reason enough to be discouraged? In any case, these questions are stirring in me and the vital is not happy [nor the mental, nor the physical].
0 1960-07-12 - Mothers Vision - the Voice, the ashram a tiny part of myself, the Mothers Force, sparkling white light compressed - enormous formation of negative vibrations - light in evil, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Last night something happened to me that I found quite amusing. I was awakened by a Voice, or rather it roused me from one trance to put me into another. It happened at about 11 oclock. Not a human Voice. I dont exactly recall its words any longer, but it had to do with the Ashramits protection, its success, its power. and what was interesting was that when I woke up, I was in a state in which this formation that is the Ashram and the Force that is condensed here to realize what this Voice wanted, seemed a very tiny, tiny part of myself.
I heard the Voice and awoke with the feeling of this Power, this Light, this Force of realization concentrated here which sets everything in motion (as always, it is always the same, a Power in motion). It was a dazzling white light. But then, what I found funny was that there I was, quite in my natural state, and this, the Ashram, was a tiny, tiny part of myself. and throughout the whole experience, it remained like thata very tiny part of myself. Everything else was I cant say deconcentrated, but an entirely general, overall activity, as it normally is every night. and I saw the Ashram quite clearlyit was something special, made for special reasons, but whereas I seemed to have an immense body, that was very small, very small. It went on for an hour. Thats what I found amusing; the other things just happen, and they may be interesting, but this was so spontaneous; I was watching it (I dont know where my head was), I was looking down from above so tiny, so tiny.
What was me was up above, and the Ashram was It began just here (the navel) and went that way (downwards), and it was encircled, to show that it was a special formationencircled in the inconscience of the terrestrial creation. and I was everything else, with the usual vibrations of power and light. and then one current and another current and another were passing into it, into this formation, and they kept going in and in and in, accumulating. They kept going in, and yet they did not come out, they did not leave. It was not an undulatory movement, but rather a pulsating movementit had no beginning, it didnt go out, and yet it kept moving. Its very difficult to describe.
The formation represented by the Ashram was located approximately here, at the height of the navel in relation to what I was but although the body was not delimited, it had certain attributes or undefined forms, each one of which was situated in relation to the other as though each represented one part of the body; each was symbolic of either an activity or a part of the world or a mode of manifestation. So the formation started from about here, near the navel, and went down towards the appendix Here, Ill draw you a sketch:
Image 1
Its form was elongated, slanting downwards (it always has this form). At the top it looked like a head, then the lines disappeared down below. It had no openings. and then, it was surrounded by various dark sheaths, a very dark purple which is the color of protection. A sparkling light was entering into itit kept entering, but without making any holes. It passed right through everything, through the purplethrough everything. It passed through and entered inside, where there were sparklings of every color, like a cascade. There are always these cascades of forcesimilar to a cascading stream whose waters neither flow on nor disappear, but accumulate: an accumulation of energies, a condensation. and they accumulate without taking up any more space through a kind of compression. and inside, its moving, vibrating, vibrating, vibrating, it keeps coming and comingyou dont know where it comes from, but it keeps coming and accumulating.
It was a force with a sparkling white light at its center, the light which is the force of the Divine Mother, and as soon as it was well packed and concentrated inside, or condensed, it took on all the colorsvibrations of every color Like a materialization these colors were like a materialization of the Divine Force when it enters matter. (Just as matter is a condensation of energy, well, this seemed to be a condensation of Divine Force. Thats really the impression it gave.)
It reminded me of tantric things. I have seen tantric formations and how forces are systematically separated by themeach vibration, each color. Its very interesting. They are all one, and yet each is distinct. That is, they are separated in order to be distinguished and for each one to be used individually. Each one represents a particular action for obtaining something in particular. This is the special knowledge the tantrics have, I believe. Or its the reflection of their knowledge. and my impression is that when they do their pujas or say their mantras, what they are trying to do is recombine all that into the white light. Im not sure. I know they use each one separately for a separate purpose, but when they speak of their puja succeeding, it may mean that they have been able to recombine the light. But I say this very guardedly. For I would have to see X do his puja one day to really knowfrom afar Im not so sure. Its merely an impression.
This is what I am constantly seeing now, but along with this Divine Force or this Divine Consciousness that Sri Aurobindo speaks of when he says, Mothers Force is with you. When it comes, it is sparkling white, perfectly white and perfectly luminous. and as it accumulates inside, it makes living vibrations of every color. and it goes on and on and on. Sometimes it lasts half an hour, three-quarters of an hour, an hournothing goes out. and it keeps constantly entering. and it piles up. Its as if it is all being accumulated or compressed together.
So, the observing mind, the intelligence that watches, looked at all thisAh, thats what its like (an intelligence that watches without interfering in the least). Its like a spectator talking to himself.
So in my vision, my body was as big as the universe, and that (the Ashram) was so tiny, so tiny.
***
(Soon afterwards, regarding an old Question and Answer)
Heaven and hell are at once true and false. They exist and dont exist. Ive seen various people go to heavens or hells after their death, and its very difficult to make them underst and that it is not real. Once it took me more than a year to convince someone that his so-called hell was not hell, and to get him out of it.
But there is something else the psychological condition that you yourself create, the asuric hell you live in when you cultivate an asuric nature within you.
--
If no vibrations ever disappear, then what happens with all these horrible things coming from every corner of the world? Dont they pile up? Dont the bad vibrations take on a more and more enormous volume in the end?
They are transformed. and at times they are transformed almost immediately.
You cant see it or feel it till you concretely live the fact that all is divine, that HE is everywhere, in everything, always, in all that happens.
The first reaction is always a kind of shrinking before things which seem horrible, but if you can overcome that and really have the experience, everything changes.
and there are hundreds and hundreds of little experiences like that, like so many little stones marking the way. Then you see that the two things are ALWAYS together: the destructive and the constructive. You cant see one without seeing the other. A time comes when the effort is to conquer the negative parts of creation and death (as at the end of Savitri), and when you have conquered that, then youre above. and then if you look at all these things, even those which seem the most opposed to the Divine, even acts of cruelty done for the pleasure of cruelty, you see the Presence the Presence that annuls their effects. and its absolutely marvelous.
I had a startling experience one day when X was doing his pujas to encircle the titans. He was in difficulty and I was about to intervene to help him when I was abruptly stopped. I was faced by a massive blackness (blacker than the blackest physical thing) and suddenly, right at its center, I saw the Divine Love shining with such a splendor I had never seen it so splendid.
and now it has become constant; each time I hear or see something ugly or horrible, or each time something ugly or horrible happens, something which is a negation of the divine life just behind is this flameso wonderful. and then the effect is annulled.
There is a magnificence of realization which could not have been had this evil, this horror and this negation not been.
Our consciousness shrinks from these things which belong to the past and which are no longer in their place, so we feel disgust and revulsionbecause we are ignorant. But if we can raise ourselves above and be in contact with That the supreme Lightwhich is ALWAYS just behind, then this Light seems all the more supreme because it is so much its own opposite.
Then you know.
You know, so there is no longer this uneasiness, this shrinking. You feel carried more and more by all that you reject; you are in a forward movement, further and further, higher, constantly further.
***
0 1960-07-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This is to tell you that I am seeing you more and more frequently during the night, and in the world where we meet together we have established a kind of companionship in work.
Although it is still in a region of the physical mind, it is a mind striving towards a luminous organization and clearly aspiring to rise towards the higher realms.
and last night especially I had a very positive impression (a sort of feeling) that I can count on you.
Well see what can be done for the manuscripts on Sunday.
0 1960-07-18 - triple time vision, Questions and Answers is like circling around the Garden, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
object:0_1960-07-18 - triple time vision, Questions and Answers is like circling around the Garden
author class:The Mother
--
Of course, were dating all these old Questions and Answers, but not everyone pays attention to dates. How can those old ones be mixed with the present things which are on an altogether different plane?
There is an experience in which one is entirely outside of time that is, ahead, behind, above, below, all these things are one and the same. and at the very moment the identification takes place, there is no longer any past, present or future. and really, its the only way to know.
As the experiences unfold, these old Questions and Answers give me the feeling of someone circling outside a garden while describing whats inside it. But a day comes when you enter the garden, and then you know a little better whats inside. and Im starting to enter. Im starting.
***
0 1960-07-23 - The Flood and the race - turning back to guide and save amongst the torrents - sadhana vs tamas and destruction - power of giving and offering - Japa, 7 lakhs, 140000 per day, 1 crore takes 20 years, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
object:0_1960-07-23 - The Flood and the race - turning back to guide and save amongst the torrents - sadhana vs tamas and destruction - power of giving and offering - Japa, 7 lakhs, 140000 per day, 1 crore takes 20 years
author class:The Mother
--
Something interesting happened last night exactly between ten and eleven. I was in some kind of vehicle. I didnt see the vehicle but I was in it. Someone in front of me was driving, though I could only see his back; I didnt bother about who it washe was simply the one meant to do it.
It was as if the doors of destruction had been flung open. Floodsfloods as vast as an oceanwere rushing down onto something the earth? A formidable current pouring down at an insane speed, with an unstoppable power. It was brackish waternot transparent, but brackish. and it was imperative to reach a certain spot BEFORE the water. Had the water reached there ahead of me, nothing could have been done. Whereas if I got there first (I say I, but it was not I with this body), if I got to the other side before the water, I would be completely safe; and from this safe position, I would be able, I would have a chance to help those left behind.
and this vehicle was going faster than the flood (I saw and felt it by its motion)a formidable flood, but the vehicle was going still faster. It was so wonderful. In places there were some especially difficult and dangerous spots, but I ALWAYS got there before the water, just before the water barred the way. and we kept going and going and going. Then, with a final effort (there was no effort, really, it was willed), with a final push, we made it to the other side and the water came rushing just behind! It rushed down at a fantastic speed. We had made it. Then, just on the other side, it changed color. It was it changed in color to a predominant blue, this powerful blue which is the force, the organizing force in the most material world. So there we were, and the vehicle stopped. and then, after having been looking straight ahead the whole time we were speeding along, I turned around and said, Ah, now I can start helping those who are behind.
Here, Ill draw you a little sketch:
--
The water was flowing off towards the right. From time to time there were these fissured dips or depressions along the vehicles path where the water rushed through, and in fact it must have rushed through each one just as soon as I had sped past. It was most dangerous, for if you had reached there a second too late, the water would already have flooded in and you would no longer have been able to get across; it was such that with even only a few drops, you would no longer get across. Not that they were very wide, but and the water was pouring in (pouring in our words are very small), it was pouring in, and I could see it ahead, but then the vehicle would arrive at full speed and instead of stopping, in a wild roller coaster-like movement it would plunge through, vroom!just in time, exactly like a roller coaster. I always arrived just in time to get through. and then again the same thing, broken here and there (in this way there were many fissures, though Ive only drawn two; there were quite a few, five or six at least), and again we would dart across, then race on until we would reach the spot where I have drawn the water turning.
Right at the end, there was a place where the water had to turn to run downthis was the Great Passage. If you got caught in that, it was all over. You had to reach this spot and cross over before the water came. It was the only place you could get across. Then a last plunge, and like an arrow shot from a bow, full speed ahead, I crossed over and there I was.
and once on the other side, without even a rise in ground level (I dont know why), it was immediately safe. and the current went on and on, waves upon waves, on and on, as far as the eye could see, but it was canalized here at the Great Turning; and as soon as it went past this point, the inundation was total, it spread out over something over the earth. and the current turnedit turned but I was already on the other side. and down below, everything was finished, the water rushed down everywhere. Only, as soon as I was on the other side, it could not touch me the water could not get across, it was stopped by something invisible, and it turned away.
Moreover, it seemed that everything had already been prepared, as if the way had been made to divert the water.
There, down below me, below the vehicle, I had the impression that it was the earth, it really seemed like the earth, and the water was rushing down towards it.
The vehicles path was not on earth, but up above (probably in interstellar regions!), a special path for this vehicle. and I didnt know where the water was coming from; I couldnt see its origin, which was off beyond the horizon. But it came raging down in torrentsnot precipitously like a waterfall, but rather like a rushing torrent. My path passed between the torrents of water and the earth below. and I saw the water before me, everywhere, in front and behindit was so extraordinary, for it looked like it was everywhere, you see, except along my path ( and even then, there was some seepage). Water speeding everywhere. But there was a kind of conscious will in this onrush, and I had to reach the Great Passage before this conscious will. This water resembled something physical, but there was a consciousness, a conscious will, and I had to it was like a battle between the will I represented and that will. and I passed each fissure just in time. Only when I reached the Great Turning did I see the will that impelled this water. and I reached there just before it. and passed through at a fantastic speedlike lightning. Even time ceased I crossed over like a flash of lightning. and then, suddenly, respite and it was blue. A square.
At the time, I didnt know what it all meant. Then this morning, I thought, It must have something to do with the world situation.
--
What was pleasing, and really quite interesting, was this tremendous speed, like an arrow, and I always arrived in time, just in time, just in time. Once I had crossed over to the other side (I clearly felt that nothing would be left, for it was such a powerful deluge), the danger was finished, there was no longer ANY possibility at all of being touchedthis was the main feeling. Everything was stopped. Nothing could touch.
I turned around and saw all this water rushing down, and I thought, Now lets see if we can do something here. There was someone behind who interested me, someone or somethingit was still something; it was very likable and had something of the blue color that was here on the other side. Not really individuals, but more like beings representative of something that was following me quite closely. When I was there, it also was there, but it could not keep up, it kept losing groundas my speed increased, its decreased. It could not keep up. But it interested me in a special way. Oh, hes so close (he or it); he might just make it, I thought. and at that moment, I saw that all this destructive will with its instrument of water, symbolically water, had rushed past and was spreading out everywhere. But there was still a chance of saving all those who were along this path. and thats immediately what I thought of, it was my first wish: Lets see if they can still get across, if I can manage to get them across. I remembered some especially dangerous spots (while speeding past, I had remarked, Oh, here we might still be able to do this, there that could still be donemy consciousness moved at the same speed, and I noted everything along the way), and once I was firmly there on the other side, I started sending back messages.
Down below, the water was having a gr and time; it was it was hopeless. But here, along this path, there was still a hope, even even after the water had passed; I probably had a certain power at my disposal to help others cross these fissured places. But because I woke up, I didnt see what it was. So that stopped everything. Probably because I woke up rather abruptly, I could not see what it meant.
--
and it happened quite early in the nightat such an early hour, they are not visions or things you observe: they are things you do.
Ive been seeing for a long time that nights are actions. They are no longer images or symbols or representations they are all actions. and they take place certainly not on a human scale.
Does that indicate war?
--
S.M came the other day Hes quite informed about events as only the government knows them. He brings me government newsnot what they feed to the public. It doesnt look good. But as he has confidence, he wanted to know (so much confidence that he goes and tells Nehru and others, Oh, Mother said this, Mother said that. and it turns out true, fortunately!). So after describing things at some length, he asked my opinion.
Logically, according to reason, war seems unavoidable. But as he asked, I looked I looked at my nights, precisely, as well as other things. and then I said, I dont feel it. I dont feel any war.
and again this morning, when I looked at this vision, I asked myself, Will there be war?I dont feel it will be like that It may be worse.
You see, it didnt seem human.
I remember w andering about one night some time ago. Its no longer very clear, but one thing has remained I had gone out of India, and then when I returned to India, I found huge elephants installed EVERYWHEREenormous elephants. At that time I was not at all aware that the Communists in India had adopted the elephant as their symbol; I only learned that later. What does this mean, I said to myself. Does it signify the Indian army? But they did not resemble war elephants. These elephants were like immense mammoths, and they looked like they were settling down with all the power of a tremendous inertia. That was the impression something heavy in an inert and very tamasic way, forever immovable. I did not like this occupation. When I came back, I had a rather painful feeling, and for several days I wondered if it did not mean war. Then by chance, in a conversation, I learned that the Communists had selected the elephant as their symbol whereas the Congress had chosen the bullock In my vision, I was moving (as I always do), I was moving among them, and nothing moved. and if I needed room, some of them even tried to stir a little.
But when human beings are involved, I believe that visions take on a special formits a special image. Not an inundation like this. That was very, very impersonal. They were forces. A feeling of floodgates bursting open, of something being held back, retained or prevented, then suddenly
The vehicle and the forward movement are the sadhana, beyond the shadow of a doubt. I understood that the speed of sadhana was greater than the speed of the forces of destruction. and it ended in certain victory, there is not a shadow of doubt. This feeling of POWER once I was firmly grounded there [in the square], enough power to help others.
These were universal forces. I cant say it means war. Ive foreseen many warswidespread wars, local wars, so many wars and up to now they have never been presented to me in that form. Theyve always come as a fireflames, flames, the home burning. Not as an inundation.
--
Ah, that, weve already had some. From all around, people are proclaiming that in 1962, there will be some people have even foreseen the end of the earth, but thats foolish! For the earth was built with a certain purpose, and before things are done, it will not disappear.
But there may be some changes.
--
I myself am clearly seeing it from the other side; I see a black, muddy forma black, black force. and I see the [Divine] Force acting on people and, miraculously, the money comes and then its like something armored1it seeps in with difficulty, a thin trickle from day to day.
Provided the sadhana works, thats all that is needed.
and in fact, periodically, in one way or another, in one form or another, I receive a kind of assurance, a promise that it will all go well.
***
When I read what Sri Aurobindo writes in The Synthesis, how things should be and what they are now, when I see the two, thats when I feel were turning in circles.
Its more and more a universal yoga the whole earth and it is like that day and night, when I walk and when I speak and when I eat. Its constantly like that. As if the whole earth were its like kneading dough to make it rise.
But when I read his Yoga of Self-Perfection and see simply what we are phew! What yeast we would need to make all that rise!
But this is not true: HE alone is doing it, its always He.
and sometimes things stagnate, they seem so absolutely obscure and stupid. and then, if you simply go like this (gesture of offering), simply, trulydo it, not think itits instantly like a shower of bliss A tiny point, something very small which looks stubbornly stupid and obstinate, if only you do this ( and if you want, you can): Take, take! Give it to Him, simply, like this, truly give it to Him: Its You, its Yours, take it, do with it what You want. and instantly, instead of this shrinking and this painful feelingWhat in the world can I do with all this?a shower, it comes like a shower. Truly An anda. Of course, if you are stupid enough to call back the difficulty, it returns. But if you remain quiet, if you keep your head quiet, it goesfinished, cured. But there are thous ands and thous ands and thous ands of such points
With my japa, Ive reached about seven lakhs2. I repeat it 1,400 times a day. But you must be much further than I!3
--
In the beginning, I said Id do a crore,4 and if that were not enough, Id do ten crore. and one crore will take 20 years!
We shall see.
--
You reach a point where there is no more worry, neither for yourself nor for the world nor anything. When you reach that, you are always smiling, you are always happy. and when something happens, it doesnt matter, you look at it with a smile, forever a smile.
So there you are, my child.
0 1960-07-26 - Mothers vision - looking up words in the subconscient, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I woke up at three oclock (what I mean is, I came out of my nightly activities). I had an hour ahead of me before getting up. So I concentrated and went within.
I came out of the concentration at 4:10quite late. For I was VERY busy! I was in some sort of small house similar to my room, but it was at the top of a tower, for you could see the l andscape from above. It was similar to my room here, with large windows. and I was much taller than I actually am, for there was a ledge below each window (there was a cupboard below each window, as in my room), and this ledge came quite low on me; in my room, it comes up to my chest, whereas it was much lower in my vision. and from there oh, what beautiful l andscapes! It was surrounded by such lovely countryside! There was a flowing river, woods, sunlightoh, it was really lovely! and I was very busy looking up words in the dictionary!
I had taken out a dictionary. There, its this one, I said. Someone was next to me, but this someone is always symbolic: each activity takes on a special form which may resemble someone or other. (The people around me for the work here are like families in those worlds there; they are types, that iseach person represents a typeso then I know that Im in contact with all the people of this same type. If they were conscious, they would know that I was there telling them something in particular. But its not a person, its a type and not a type of character, but a type of activity and relationship with me.)
I was with a certain type, and I was looking for a word, I wanted to conjugate the verb vaincre [to conquer]: je vaincs, tu vaincs, il vaincgood, now nous vainquons, how do you spell that, nous vainquons? It was so funny! and I was looking it up in the dictionaryvainquons, how do you spell that?
and at the same time, I had the feeling of something completely arbitrary, and all this kind of knowledge seemed so unreala completely arbitrary convention corresponding to nothing luminous anywhere.
I was very oh, I was very, very anxious to know how je vaincs, tu vaincs goes nous vainquons, vous vainquez. and I woke up at 4:15 without having found it in the dictionary!
Then when I woke up, I immediately said to myself, Hmm, its truehow would I spell that? It took me half a minute to remember. It was really funny!
Coming at the end of the night as it did, it means that its an exploration in some part or another of a subconscious mental activity. and you can make so many discoveries there it is unbelievable! But its lovely. and rarely unpleasant. There was a time when it was very unpleasant, oppressive, full of effort and resistance. I would want to go somewhere, but it would be impossible; I toiled and struggled, but everything would go wrong the straight paths would suddenly plunge into an abyss, and Id have to cross the abyss. For years it was like that. Just recently, I looked back over this whole period But now it is over. Now its something its lovely, its enjoyable, its a little it has a childlike simplicity.
However, its not a personal subconscient, but a its more than the Ashram. For me, the Ashram is not a separate individualityexcept in that vision the other day,1 which is what surprised me. Its hardly that. Rather, it is still this Movement of everything, of everything that is included. So its like entering into the subconscient of the whole earth, and it takes on forms which are quite familiar images to me, but they are absolutely symbolic and very, very funny! It took a moment to see that vainquons is spelled q-u-o-n-s. and I wasnt sure! I meant to ask Pavitra for a dictionary which gives verb conjugations, for then if Im stuck on something while writing, I can look it up.
The other day I wrote somethingit was a letter I gave Pavitra to read. I think theres a spelling mistake, he said. Its quite possible, I answered, I make plenty of them. He looked it up in a splendid dictionary and, as a matter of fact, it was a mistake. I meant to ask him for a dictionary this morning.
Its very simple, actually; its a convention, a conventional construction somewhere in the subconscious brain, and you write automatically. But if you want to try to bring the light of a slightly higher reason into it, its terrible. It becomes meaningless, and you forget everything.
You have to be inside this automatic convention to remember; its very difficult (Mother laughs). So I make a lot of spelling mistakes (under her breath, in a mischievous tone) I think Ill ask him for his dictionary (laughter)!
Vaincre! I wanted to write to someone to proclaim the Victory. The idea was very clear, it was really lovely. Then, in a second, I was stoppedHow do you spell vainquons? and how do you spell vaincs? The person next to me didnt know a thingnothing. Its spelled v-a-i-n, he said. So I said, No, I dont think so! (laughter) It went on like that, you know, it was so funny!
Are you good at spelling?
--
Yes, yes; its quite automatic, a kind of convention somewhere. But if you have the misfortune to step out of that and to look at it, its finished, you dont know anything any more.
The vision of July 12, 1960.
0 1960-08-10 - questions from center of Education - reading Sri Aurobindo, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Pavitra:) Passion and reactions.
Passion, passion but this passion and these reactions are the same, thing.
and then they stuff into it what they consider intellectual reasonings, but their intellectuality is not so terribly luminousanyway (Mother shows the letter) Here, Ill read this to you for your edification (!).
and finally, Sweet Mother, what I would really like to know is the purpose of our Center of Education. Is it to teach the works of Sri Aurobindo? and only these? All the works or some only? Or is it to prepare the students to read the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother? Is it to prepare them for the Ashram life or for outside occupations as well? So many opinions are floating in the air, and even the old disciples from whom we expect some knowledge make so many contradictory statements
(Laughing, to Pavitra:) I suppose thats for you!
that we no longer know what to believe nor on what to base ourselves. So what should be our foundation upon which to work in the absence of a true and certain knowledge? Please enlighten us, Mother.
I answered. The letters must have left. I wrote (in English) that its not so much a question of organization as of attitudeto begin with. Then I said, It seems to me that unless the teachers themselves get out of this ordinary intellectuality (!), they will never be able to fulfill their duty.
and this is what I wrote to Z (Mother reads):
It is not a question of preparing students to read these or some other works. It is a question of drawing all those who are capable of it out of the usual human routine of thought, feelings, action; of giving those who are here every opportunity to reject the slavery of the human way of thinking and acting; of teaching all those who want to listen that there is another, truer way of living, and that Sri Aurobindo taught us to become and to live the true being and that the purpose of education here is to prepare the children for this life and to make them capable of it.
As for all the others, all those who want the human way of thinking and living, the world is vast and there is place there for everyone.
We do not want large numbers; we want a selection. We do not want brilliant students; we want living souls.
--
Then Z asks about languages: should they choose ONE language or I dont know. and then, if only ONE language, which language? She said, Should it be a common or international language, or their [the students] vernacular? I answered her, If only ONE language is known [well], it is better (international or common).1
These are matters of common sense I dont even know why they bring them up.
Then they asked some questions about teaching literature and poetry. I answered them. and then, at the bottom, I added this:
If you carefully study what Sri Aurobindo has written on every subject
--
What I call studying is to take Sri Aurobindos books, where he quotes or speaks of one thing or another, then have the corresponding bookswhen he quotes something, you must take the book it corresponds to; when he speaks of something, you must study the writings on that subject. This is what I call studying. Then, after having read the corresponding works, you compare them with what Sri Aurobindo has said, and in this way there may be a beginning of underst anding. If someone is very studious, he can review all that has ever been written or taught by going through Sri Aurobindos books. I mean this for someone who loves working.
I SEE this state of mind, this mental attitude Oh! Its its so repugnant. People are so afraid of taking sides, so afraid of appearing biased; they are so afraid of appearing to have faith, so afraid Oh, its disgraceful.
and I will keep hammering that into your heads till I enter right into them.
***
--
Im continuing The Yoga of Self-Perfection. Its really something I shall never tire of saying its fabulous. Everything, absolutely everything, in detail, everything is there. and he foresawforesaw, gave the remedy; foresaw, gave the remedy; foresaw, gave
Have you read it?
--
Sri Aurobindo and the Transformation of the World, an initial book on Sri Aurobindo by Satprem that was never published. It was meant to be part of a certain 'Series of Spiritual Masters,' but finally Sri Aurobindo never took part.
***
0 1960-08-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Its at the lake. The property belonged to the mission and at that time its manager was a very good friend of ours, even though he was a missionary. He said that he would arrange for us to have it. Everything was arranged, and I was to receive the money to buy it (they asked for more than fifty or sixty thous and rupees1). But then the money didnt come and our missionary friend left. Hes no longer there; hes been replaced by someone else.
(Mother looks at a piece of paper) Calling Antonin Raymond2. The architect for the construction.
--
No, no. You see, it wasnt a studioit was a school, a school of photography, television and film. Its not at all buried.
But L has enlarged the program. (Mother indicates the plan) This is only a small part of his extensive total program. He is planning to have a school of agriculture, a modern dairy with grazing l andtheres a lot of agriculture, really a lotfruit orchards, large rice fields, many things. and then a ceramics factory. My ceramics factory will be at the far end of the lake, so as to utilize the clay the government has agreed; as they have to dig out the lake one day, we shall use the top soil for the fields. First well remove all the pebbles (you know, there are hills over there), which can be used for constructionits a mine of pebbles. After removing the pebbles, there will be holes which then well fill with earth from the lake. and below this earth is a thick and compact layer of clay which is so hard it cant be used for farmingits impossible but its wonderful for making ceramics. So right at the very end, in Indian territory,4 well have a large ceramics industry. On the other side, well have a little factory for firing clay.
All this is huge. A tremendous program.5
--
and naturally, they make use of all those around me!Its the only way of getting at my body.
Im used to it.
--
To this day I remember the experience. Truly, thats what I felt I did not intellectualize it. Exactly the impression of what Christ must have experienced when he felt the weight of the cross. It was the weight of a whole world of darkness, unconsciousness, universal bad will, total incomprehension, something and it really felt like that as if I were carrying a frightful weightwhich was frightful because of its darkness, not because of its weight. So I thought, Well, well. This must be how Christ felt when they laid the cross on him.
There are plenty of them! (Mother indicates a pile of various papers) In another pile there must be as many again! It is a mania for collecting papers.
--
With a lot of patience and time, it could all be organized, but Id have to be convinced that its worth the trouble. All these old papers are like dead leaves. We should make a bonfire.7
Oh, no!
--
But then Id rather not die if possible. and if I dont die, it will be perfectly useless, because that would then be the obvious proof of an uninterrupted ascent; consequently, what there will be at the very end will be much more interesting.
You alone have convinced me that the history of the way might be of some interest, so Im letting you do it Ive taken a very, very h andsome file upstairs with all your notes in it.8 Its filling up; its going to be formidable! (Mother laughs) a frightful documentation.
--
Anyway I am doing it very conscientiously. Im gathering everything and putting it all together.
You know, someone who appreciates this work tremendously is Nolini. Once he timidly asked me, Could I have a copy9? Fine, I said. Oh, he really appreciates it. and when I have something amusing like these most recent notes, I give him a copy. With that, hes happy. So he blesses you! (Mother laughs) Oh! Without you, this would never have been doneyou can be quite sure. Never.
***
(Getting up to leave, Mother holds in her h ands the first copy of LOrpailleur which the disciple has just received from France and offered to Her)
Shall I take your book or ? Dont you want it?
--
Oh, I must write a few letters here and there, to France (to announce the publication of the book). I already wrote to A, but I must write him again. Though I suppose he knows that it has come ou the should know. I told him to follow it with
I dont know if the book has come out yet. I believe its to appear in early September.
--
(Just at the doorstep, as She is leaving, Mother tells the disciple that She had seen three books, a trilogy, and the third one would be about Her. and She adds:)
Sri Aurobindo came during my japa to tell me, I will help him all through.
0 1960-08-27, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The little basket I put them in can no longer close! I take 45 minutes every morning upstairs to write letters. and I receive six, seven, eight, ten letters a day, so how can I manage? In the end, Sri Aurobindo spent the whole night writing letterstill he went blind.
Myself, I cant afford to do that, I have other things to do. and Im not keen on going blind either. I need my eyes, they are my work instruments.
On top of that, there are all the people who want to see me. Now everyone wants to see me! and since they are happy after coming once, they ask to come again! If I were very disagreeable and told them (Mother laughs) but that cant be done.
We should not allow all this to upset us. There is but one thing to doremain in a state of constant peace, constant equanimity, for things are not they are not very pleasant. Oh, if you only knew all the letters they write me if you knew, first of all, the tremendous pile of stupidities that need never be written at all; then, added to that, such a display of ignorance, egoism, bad will, total incomprehension and unequalled ingratitude, and all this so c andid, my child! They heap all this on me daily, you know, and it comes from the most unexpected quarters.
If this were to affect me (Mother laughs), I would long ago have been who knows where. I dont care at all, not at all, really not at allit doesnt bother me, it makes me smile.
0 1960-09-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
After leaving your room, X kept repeating, Very wonderful. Then he explained to me that white rays were vibrating everywherealong the whole length of the Kundalini, white, yellow and blue, but especially white (he indicated the forehead in particular).
He looked quite ecstatic while speaking of his experience.
In conclusion, he said, Where is the Mother and where is X? meaning, I suppose, that all separation had disappeared.
With love.
0 1960-09-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The idea is that the earth as a whole must be prepared in all its forms, including even those least ready for the transformation. There must be a symbolic representation of all the elements on earth upon which we can work to establish the link.1 The earth is a symbolic representation of the universe, and the group is a symbolic representation of the earth.
Sri Aurobindo and I had discussed the matter in 1914 (quite a long time ago), for we had seen two possibilities: what we are now doing, or to withdraw into solitude and isolation until we had not only attained the Supermind, but begun the material transformation as well. and Sri Aurobindo rightfully said that we could not isolate ourselves, for as you progress, you become more and more universalized, and consequently you take the burden upon yourself2 in any case.
and life itself has responded by bringing people forward to form a nucleus. Of course, we clearly saw that this would make the work a bit more complex and difficult (it gives me a heavy responsibility, an enormous material work), but from the overall point of view for the Workits indispensable and even inevitable. and in any case, as we were later able to verify, each one represents simultaneously a possibility and a special difficulty to resolve. I have even said, I believe, that each one here is an impossibility.3
But this way of seeing is too far removed from the state of mind and spiritual education in which X has lived,4 of course, for him to underst and. Nor am I in favor of proselytizing (to convince X); it would disturb him quite needlessly. He has not come here for that. He came here for something special, something I wanted which he brought, and I have learnt it. Now its excellent, he is a part of the group in his own fashion, thats all. and in a certain way, his presence here is having a very good effect on a whole category of people who had not been touched but who are now becoming more and more favorably inclined. It was difficult to reach all the traditionalists, for example, the people attached to the old spiritual forms; well, they seem now to have been touched by something.
When Amrita,5 seized with zeal, wanted to make him underst and what we were doing here and what Sri Aurobindo had wanted, it almost erupted into an unpleasant situation. So after that, I decided to identify myself with him to see I had never done this, because normally I only do it when I am responsible for someone, in order to truly help someone, and Ive never felt any responsibility in regard to X. So I wanted to see his inner situation, what could and could not be done. That was the day you saw him coming down from our meditation in an ecstatic state, when he told you that all separation between him and me had dropped awayit was to be expected, I anticipated as much!
But when I did that, I saw what X wanted to do for me. As a matter of fact, I recalled that when we first met I had told him that everything was all right up to this point (Mother indicates the region above the head), but below that, in the outer being, I wanted to hasten the transformation, and things there were difficult to h andle.
When Sri Aurobindo was here, I never bothered about all this; I was constantly up above and I did what the Gita and the traditional writings advise I left it to Natures care. In fact I left it to Sri Aurobindos care. He is making the best use of it, I would say. He will manage it, he will do with it what he wants. and I was constantly up above. and from up there I worked, leaving the instrument as it was because I knew that he would see to it.
Actually, it was very different at that time because I was not even aware of any resistance or any difficulty in the outer being; it was automatic, the work was done automatically. Later on, when I had to do both thingswhat he had been doing as well as what I was doingit became rather complicated and I realized there were many what we could call gapsthings which had to be worked out, transformed, set right before the total work could be done without hindrance. So then I began. and several times I thought how unfortunate it was that I had never studied or pursued certain ancient Indian disciplines. Because, for example, when Sri Aurobindo and I were working to bring down the supramental forces, a descent from the mental plane to the vital plane, he was always telling me that everything I did (when we meditated together, when we worked)all my movements, all my gestures, all my postures, all my reactionswas absolutely tantric, as if I had pursued a tantric discipline. But it was spontaneous, it did not correspond to any knowledge, any idea, any will, nothing, and I thought it was like that simply because, as He knew, naturally I followed.
Later on, when Sri Aurobindo left his body, I said to myself, If only I knew what he had known, it would be easier! So when Swami and later X came, I thought, I am going to take advantage of this opportunity. I had written to Swami that I was working on transforming the cells of the body and that I had noticed the work was going faster with Xs influence. So it was understood that X would help when he came thats how things began, and this idea has remained with X. But I have raced on I dont wait. Ive raced on, Ive gone like wildfire. and now the situation is reversed. What I wanted to find out, I found out. I experienced what I wanted to experience, but he is still He is very kind, actually, he wants really to help me. So, when I identified with him the other day during our meditation, I realized that he wanted to give silence, control and perfect peace to the physical mind. My own trick, if you will, is to have as little relationship with the physical mind as possible, to go up above and stay therethis (Mother indicates her forehead), silent, motionless, turned upwards, while That (gesture above the head) sees, acts, knows, decidesall is done from there. Only there can you feel at ease.
Along the way, I once went down into this physical mind for awhile to try to set it right, to organize it a little (it was done rather quickly, I didnt stay there long). So when I went inside X, I saw It was rather curious, for its the opposite of the method we follow. In his material consciousness (physical and vital), he has trained himself to be impersonal, open, limitless, in communication with all the universal forces. In the physical mind, silence, immobility. But in the speculative mind, the one there at the very top of the head what an organization, phew! All the tradition in its most superb organization, but such a ri-gi-dity! and it had a pretty quality of light, a silver blueVERY pretty. Oh, it was very calm, wonderfully calm and quiet and still. But what a ceiling it had!the outer form resembled rigid cubes. Everything inside was beautiful, but that There was a very large cube right at the top, I recall, bordered by a purple line, which is a line of powerall this was quite luminous. It looked like a pyramid; the smaller cubes formed a kind of base, the lower part of which faded into something cloudy, and then this passed imperceptibly downwards to a more material realm, or in other words, the physical mind. The cube on top was the largest and most luminous, and the least yieldingeven inflexible, you could say. The others were somewhat less defined, and at the bottom it was very blurred. But up at the top!thats where I wanted to go, right to the top.
When I got there, I felt a moment of anguish; my feeling was that nothing could be done. Not for him in particular, but universally, for all those in his categoryit seemed hopeless.6 If that was perfection, then nothing more could be done. This lasted only a second, but it was painful. and then I tried that is, I wanted to bring my consciousness down into the highest cubethis eternal, universal and infinite consciousness which is the first and foremost expression of the manifestation but nothing doing. It was impossible. I tried for several minutes and saw that it was absolutely impossible. So I had to make a curious movement (I couldnt get through it, it was impassable), I had to come back down into the so-called lower consciousness (not lower, actuallyit was vast and impersonal), and from there I came out and regained my equilibrium. This is what gave me that splitting headache I told you about. I came out of there as if I were carrying the weight the weight of an irreducible absoluteit was dreadful. Unfortunately, I was unable to rest afterwards, and as people were waiting to see me, I had to talkwhich is very tiring for me. and this produced a bubbling in my head, like a this dark blue light of power in matter was there, shot through with streaks of white and gold, and all this was flashing back and forth in my head, this way and that way I thought I was going to have a stroke! (Mother laughs)
This lasted a good half hour before I could calm it down, make it quiet, quiet. and I saw that this came from the fact that he wanted to bring the Power down, to transmit the Power into the physical mind! But as soon as Im put in contact with the Power, you underst and, it makes everything explode! (Mother laughs) It felt exactly like my head was going to explode!
I felt better that night because I was concentrated, but my head was still hurting a little. Then the following day I said to myself, or rather I told him inwardly, Whether you like it or not, I am bringing down whats up above; it is the only way I can feel comfortable! and I told you what happenedas soon as I sat down I was so surprised, for he didnt start doing what he had done the day before; I myself did the same thing, I participated, so to speak, in his will (so as to find out), but with the resolve to remain consciously in contact with the highest consciousness, as always, and to bring it down. and it came in a marvelous flood. He was quite happy, he did not protest! All the pain was gone, there was nothing left, it was perfect. Only towards the end of the meditation did he again want to start doing his little trick of enclosing my physical mind in this construction, but it didnt last I watched all this from above.
and he isnt aware of this, actually, he isnt aware at all. If he were told, he would absolutely deny it for him, its an opening onto Infinity! But in fact, its always like that, we are always shut in, each of useach one is enclosed inside certain limits which he doesnt feel, for should he feel it, he would get out! Oh, I know this feeling very well, for when I was with Sri Aurobindo I was open in this way (gesture towards the heights), and I always had this feeling of Yes, my child He tolerated me the way I was and waited for it to change. Thats truly how things are, you know. and now I feel my limits, which are the limits of the world as it is at present, but beyond that theres an unmanifested immensity, eternity and infinityto which we are closed. It merely seeps init is not the great opening. What I am trying to bring about is the great opening. Only when it has opened wide will there really be the (how should I put it?) the irreducible thing, and all the worlds resistance, all its inertia, even its obscurity will be unable to swallow it up the determining and transforming thing I dont know when it will come.
But this experience with X was really interesting. I learned many things that day, many things If you concentrate long enough on any one point, you discover the Infinite ( and in his own experience he found the infinite), what could be called your own Infinite. But this is not what WE want, not this; what we want is the direct and integral contact between the manifested universe and the Infinite out of which this universe has emerged. So then it is no longer an individual or personal contact with the Infinite, its a total contact. and Sri Aurobindo insists on this, he says that its absolutely impossible to have the transformation (not the contact, but the supramental transformation) without becoming universalized that is the first condition. You cannot become supramental before being universal. and to be universal means to accept everything, be everything, become everythingreally to accept everything. and as for all those who are shut up in a system, even if it belongs to the highest regions of thought, it is not THAT.
But to each his destiny, to each his work, to each his realization, and to want to change someones destiny or someones realization is very wrong. For it simply throws him off balance thats all it does.
But for us who want an integral realization, are all these mantras and this daily japa really a help, or do they also shut us in?
It gives discipline. Its an almost subconscious discipline of the character more than of thought.
--
Its an almost physical discipline. Moreover, I have seen that the japa has an organizing effect on the subconscient, on the inconscient, on matter, on the bodys cellsit takes time, but by persistently repeating it, in the long run it has an effect. It is the same principle as doing daily exercises on the piano, for example. You keep mechanically repeating them, and in the end your h ands are filled with consciousness it fills the body with consciousness.
I have a hard time making X underst and that I have work to do when Im with him. He doesnt underst and that one can work.
Of course not! A disciplined work, which to us seems important, is to him basically an ignorance. What is true to such a person is a contemplative, ecstatic lifealong with a sentiment of compassion and charity, so that nonetheless you spend a bit of your time helping out the poor brutes! But the true thing is ecstatic contemplation. As for those who are advanced and yet still attach some importance to workits irrational!
The only way I can make him underst and that I have work to do is to tell him, Mother asked me to do it; then he keeps quiet.
--
and its true, I know it, I knew it then. In other words, all this work that usually has to be done to become free was done beforeh and, long agoquite convenient!
He saw me the next day for half an hour. I sat downit was on the ver andah of the Guest House, I was sitting there on the ver andah. There was a table in front of him, and Richard was on the other side facing him. They began talking. Myself, I was seated at his feet, very small, with the table just in front of meit came to my forehead, which gave me a little protection I didnt say anything, I didnt think anything, try anything, want anything I merely sat near him. When I stood up half an hour later, he had put silence in my head, thats all, without my even having asked himperhaps even without his trying.
Oh, I had tried for years I had tried to catch silence in my head I never succeeded. I could detach myself from it, but it would keep on turning But at that moment, all the mental constructions, all the mental, speculative structures none of it remaineda big hole.
and such a peaceful, such a luminous hole!
Afterwards, I kept very still so as not to disturb it. I didnt speak, above all I refrained from thinking and held it, held it tight against me I said to myself, make it last, make it last, make it last
Later on, I heard Sri Aurobindo saying that there were two people here to whom he had done this and as soon as there was silence, they panicked: My God, Ive gone stupid!! and they threw it all overboard by starting to think again.
Once it was done, it was done. It was well-rooted.
--
This lasted about half an hour. I quietly remained there I heard the noise of their conversation, but I wasnt listening. and then when I got up, I no longer knew anything, I no longer thought anything, I no longer had any mental constructioneverything was gone, absolutely gone, blank!as if I had just been born.
***
--
I was watching all this sugar canepiles of sugar canewhich is thrown into the machine, and then it travels along and falls down to be crushed, crushed, and crushed some more. and then it comes back up to be distilled. and then I saw all this is living when its thrown in, you see, its full of its vital force, for it has just been cut. As a result, the vital force is suddenly hurled out of the substance with an extreme violence the vital force comes out the English word angry is quite expressive of what I meanlike a snarling dog. An angry force.10
So I saw this I saw it moving about. and it kept coming and coming and coming, accumulating, piling up (they work 24 hours a day, six days a weekonly on the seventh do they rest). So I thought that this angry force must have some effect on the peoplewho knows, maybe this is what creates accidents. For I could see that once the sugar cane was fully crushed and had gone back up the chute, this force that had been beaten out was right there. and this worried me a little; I thought that there must be a certain danger in doing such a thing! What saves them is their ignorance and their insensitivity. But Indians are never entirely insensitive in the way Westerners arethey are much more open in their subconscious.
I didnt speak of it to anyone, but it caused me some concern. and just the next day the machine broke down! When I was informed, immediately I thought It was then repaired, and again it broke downthree times. Then the following night, just before ten oclock I should mention that during the day I had thought, But why not attract these forces to our side, take them and satisfy them, give them some peace and joy and use them? I thought about it, concentrated a little, but then I didnt bother any further. At ten oclock that evening, they came upon mein a flood! They kept coming and coming. and I was busy with them the whole time. They were not ugly (not so luminous either! ), they were wholesome, straightforwardhonest forces. So I worked on them. This began exactly at 9:30, and for one hour I was busy working. After an hour, Id had enough: Listen, this is quite fine, youre very nice, but I cant spend all my time like this! We shall see what to do later for it absorbed my whole consciousness. They kept coming and coming (you underst and what that means to a body?!). So at 10:30 I told them, Listen, my little ones, be quiet now, thats enough for today At 10:30, the machine broke down!
I found out, of course, because they log everything at the factory, so when they came to inform me of the breakdown the next morning, I asked them what time it had happenedexactly 10:30.
After that, I made a kind of pact with them the trouble, you see, is that there are constantly new ones. If only they were the same! They are constantly coming in new floods, so there was the need of a permanent formation over there. Ive tried to make this permanent formation, to take and absorb them, to calm them down and scatter them a little so they dont accumulate in one spot, which in the end could be dangerous.
I found this quite amusing.
The most recent incident took place a few days ago, for there was a general excitement in the factory due to the expected visit of a government minister during the day. That afternoon, exactly at half past three, I felt that I had to make a little concentration. So I paid attention and saw poor L11 praying to me. He was praying, praying, calling mesuch a strong call that it pulled me. I was having my bath (you know what happens when Im very strongly pulled Im stopped right in the very midst of a gesture, then the consciousness goes w andering off! and I cant do anything, it stops me dead. Thats exactly what happened to me in the bathroom). When I saw what was happening, I straightened things out. Then they must have had their ceremony, for suddenly I felt, Ah, now it has calmed down, its all right. and I went on to something else.
The next day, L came to see me. He told me that shortly before 3:30, the machine had stopped once again, but this time it was quickly set right; they found out right away what had to be done. and then he told me that at 3:45 he had started praying to me that all should go well. Oh, I know! I said.
Things can be done in this way. In truth, a lot can be doneits mans ignorance that gets him in trouble.
0 1960-09-24, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Just now, I concentrated a little and tuned into your voice. and not one word escaped me! It became clear, absolutely clear.
Normally Im not there. and some people I hear, others I dont hear. But I hadnt imagined that it depended on this I thought I had lost my hearing. But just now I stopped everything, absolutely everything, I concentrated and tuned init became so clear!
Basically, it must be the same for my eyes. Sometimes I see wonderfully, and sometimes its blurred. It must be for the same reason I probably have to learn to concentrate!
Yes, laugh if you wantwhat I mean is concentrate on what Im doing. Not concentrate within Precisely, Im rather too concentrated!
0 1960-10-02a, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
My nights contain so many things that I dont always do the necessary work to remember that takes up a lot of time. Sometimes I get up during the night and sit there recalling precisely everything that has already happened, but that sometimes takes half an hour! and as urgent work still calls, I dont take the time to remember and it gets erased. But then, you know, with all thats coming you could write volumes!
From a documentary st andpoint, my nights are getting quite interesting. In the Yoga of Self-Perfection, Sri Aurobindo describes precisely this state you reach in which all things assume meaning and a quality of inner significance, clarification of various points, and help. From this point of view, my nights have become extraordinary. I see infinitely more things than I saw before. Before, it was very limited to a personal contact with people. Now In my nights, each thing and each person has the appearance, the gesture, the word or the action that describes EXACTLY his condition. Its becoming quite interesting.
Of course, I much prefer being in my great currents of forcefrom a personal st andpoint, such immensity of action is much more interesting. But these documentary things are also valuable. It is so tremendously different from the dreams and even the vi. signs you have when you enter certain representative realms of the mind (which is what I used to do). It is so different, it has another content, another life altogether: it carries its light, its underst anding, its explanation within itselfyou look, and everything is explained.
It always gives me the feeling that I am shrinking a little, but its interesting. and its useful, for I am constantly moving about and doing things with people; it indicates to me what I have to say and do with each one. Its useful. But all the same, I miss the fullness and joy of the more impersonal Movement of forces.
Before going to bed, sometimes I say to myself, I will do what is necessary to spend my night in these great currents of force(because there is a way to do it). and then I think, Oh, what an egotist you are, my girl! So sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesntwhen theres something important to do, it doesnt happen. But all I have to do is concentrate in a certain way before going to sleep to spend my whole night in these very far from here, very far I cant say very far from the earth, for surely its in an intermediate zone between the forces from above and the earths atmosphere. Thats what it mainly is, in any case. Its a great universal current as well, but mainly its what descends and comes onto the earth, and it is permeating the earths atmosphere all the time, all the time, and it comes with this wide, overall visionit makes for wonderful nights I no longer bother about people at allat least not as such, but in a more impersonal way.
(silence)
I have been pestered my whole life by something similar to the sense of duty without its stupidity. Sri Aurobindo had told me that it was a censor, that I had with me a considerable one! It was constantly, constantly telling me, No, its not like that, its like this Oh, no! Its wrong to do that; be careful, dont be egotistical; be carefuldo this, do that. He was right, but I sent it away long agoor rather, Sri Aurobindo sent it away. But there remains the habit of not doing what I like. Rather, of doing what MUST be done, and whether its pleasant or not makes no difference.
This, too, Sri Aurobindo had explained to me. I used to tell him, Yes, you always speak of lifes delight, life for the sake of its delight. But as soon as I had the notion, as soon as I was put in the presence of the Supreme, it was: For Youexclusively what You want. You are the sole, the unique and exclusive reason for being. and that has remained, and this movement is so strong that even when you see, now I have ecstasy and an anda in abundanceeverything comes, everything. But even then, even when that is there, something in me always turns towards the Supreme and says, Does this TRULY serve You? Is it what You expect of me, what You want from me?
This has protected me from all seeking for pleasure in life. It was a wonderful protection, because pleasure always seemed so futile to meyes, futile; for the sake of your personal satisfaction. Later, I even understood how foolish it is, for you can never be satisfiedthough when youre small you dont yet know that. I never liked it: But is it really useful, does it serve some purpose? and I still have this attitude in regard to my nights. I have this widening of the consciousness, this impersonalization, this wonderful joy of being above all that. But at the same time I also have, Im here in this body, on earth, to do something I mustnt forget it. and this is what I have to do. But probably Im wrong!
Im waiting for the Lord to tell me clearly.
--
Text written by Mother in French and English; it became the New Year's Message for 1961.
A photograph of Mother that accompanied the 1961 New Year's Message.
0 1960-10-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There are moments while reading the Synthesis of Yoga when I feel so clearly why he put this particular word in that particular place, and why it could not have been otherwise thats what makes the translation difficult.
For the placement of words is not the same in English and in French. In English, for example, the place an adverb occupies is of major importance for the precise meaning. In French also, but generally its not the same! If at least it were exactly the opposite of English it would be easier, but its not exactly the opposite. Its the same thing for the word order in a series of modifiers or any string of words; usually in English, for example, the most important word comes first and the least important last. In French, its usually the opposite but it doesnt always work!
The spirit of the two languages is not the same. Something always escapes. This must surely be why revelations (as Sri Aurobindo calls them) sometimes come to me in one language and sometimes in the other. and it does not depend on the state of consciousness Im in, it depends on what has to be said.
and the revelations would probably be more exact if we had a more perfect language. Our language is poor.
Sanskrit is better. Sanskrit is a much fuller and subtler language, so its probably much better. But these modern languages are so artificial (by this, I mean superficial, intellectual); they cut things up into little pieces and remove the light behind.
I also read On the Veda where Sri Aurobindo speaks of the difference between the modern mind and the ancient mind; and its quite obvious, especially from the linguistic point of view. Sanskrit was certainly much more fluid, a better instrument for a more global, more comprehensive light, a light containing more things within itself.
In these modern languages, its as if things are passed through a sieve and broken up into separate little bits, so then you have all the work of putting them back together. and something is always lost.
But I even doubt that the modern mind, built as it now is, would be able to know Sanskrit in this way. I think they are cutting up Sanskrit as well, out of habit.
--
The SOUND must be captured. There must be one sound at the origin of all language and then, to capture it and project it. To make it vibrate because it doesnt vibrate in the same way here as it does above.
That would be an interesting work.
0 1960-10-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Im just now finishing the Yoga of Self-Perfection When we see what human life is and, even in the best of cases, what it represents in the way of imbecility, stupidity, narrowness, meanness (not to mention ignorance because that is too flagrant) and even those who believe themselves to have generous heart, for example, or liberal ideas, a desire to do good! Each time the consciousness orients itself in one direction to attain some result, everything that was in existence (not just ones personal existence, but this sort of collectivity of existences that each being represents), everything that is contrary to this effort immediately presents itself in its crudest light.
It happened this morning while I was walking back and forth in my room. I had finished my japa I had to stop and hold my head in my h ands to keep from bursting into tears. No, it is too dreadful, I said to myself; and to think that we want Perfection!
Then naturally there came as a consolation: only because the consciousness is getting closer to THE REAL THING can it see all this wretchedness, and the contrast alone makes these things appear so mean.
and its true, those things I saw this morning which seemed so above all stupid and ugly (Ive never had a sense of morality at any time in my life, thank God! But stupid and ugly things have always seemed Ive always done my best to distance myself from them, even when I was very small). and now I see that these things which seem not only ridiculous but, well, almost shameful were considered, as I recall, remarkably noble earlier on and they represented an exceptionally lofty attitude in life the very same things. So then I understood that its quite simply a question of proportion.
and thats how the world isthings which now seem totally unacceptable to us, things we CANNOT tolerate, were quite all right in the past.
The day before yesterday, I spent the whole night looking on. I had read the passage by Sri Aurobindo in The Synthesis on supramental time (wherein past, present and future coexist in a global consciousness). While youre in it, its marvelous! You underst and things perfectly. But when youre not in it Above all, theres this problem of how to keep the force of ones aspiration, the power of progress, this power which seems so inevitableso inevitable if existence (lets simply take terrestrial existence) is to mean anything and its presence to be justified. (This ascending movement towards a progressive better that will be eternally better)How is this to be kept when you have the total vision this vision in which everything coexists. At that moment, the other becomes something like a game, an amusement, if you will. (Not everyone finds it amusing!) and when you contain all that, why allow yourself the pleasure of succession? Is this pleasure of succession, of seeing things one after the other, equal to this intensity of the will for progress? Words are foolish!
The effort to see and to underst and this gripped me all night. and when I woke up this morning, I thanked the Lord; I said to Him, Obviously, if You were to keep me totally in that consciousness, I could no longer I could no longer do my work! How could I do my work? For I can only say something to people when I feel it or see it, when I see that its what must be said, but if I am simultaneously in a consciousness in which Im aware of everything that has led to that situation, everything that is going to happen, everything Im going to say, everything the others going to feel then how could I do it!
There are still many hundreds of years to go before it becomes entirely what Sri Aurobindo describes theres no hurry!
--
It has never left. I have always kept it. Like a smooth white surface turned upwards. and at any moment at all You see, we speak like a machine, but there nothing moves; at any moment at all it can turn towards the heights. Its ALWAYS turned like that, but we can become aware of it being like that. Then, if we listen, we can hear what comes from above. My active consciousness, which was here (Mother points to her forehead), has settled above, and it has never again moved from there.
I told this to Xor rather had someone tell himto see his reaction. and I realized that he did not underst and in the least! Once Amrita asked him how he himself SAW and KNEW things. So he tried to explain; he told Amrita that he had to pull his consciousness upwards by a gradual effort, to go beyond the heart, beyond the throat center to pull it right up here (the top of the head), and once there, youre divine, you know! All of a sudden, I understood that when I said it was there, above the head, it must have seemed absolutely impossible to him! For him, its the crown of the head1 (what they call the thous and-petalled lotus), just at the top of the head, whereas in my experience it opens, it rises and you go above, and then you settle there For a number of years it even changed my [physical] visionit was as if I were looking at things from above. It returns from time to time, too, as if suddenly I were seeing from above instead of from here, at eye level.
But the faculty of forming thoughts is now there, up above; its no longer here (Mother points to her forehead). and thats contrary to their teachings.
The tantrics recognize seven chakras,2 I believe. Theon said he knew of more, specifically two below the body and three above. That is my experience as well I know of twelve chakras. and really, the contact with the Divine Consciousness is there (Mother motions above the head), not here (at the top of the head). One must surge up above.
Doing japa seems to exert a pressure on my physical consciousness, which goes on turning! How can I silence it? As soon as my concentration is not absolute, the physical mind starts upit grabs at anything, anything at all, any word, fact or event that comes along, and it starts turning, turning. If you stop it, if you put some pressure on it, then it springs back up two minutes later and there is no inner consent at all. It chews on words, it chews on ideas or feelingsinterminably. What should I do?
Yes, its the physical mind. The japa is made precisely to control the physical mind.
--
So the first sound of my mantra is the call to that, the evocation. With the second sound, the bodys cells make their surrender, they give themselves. and with the third sound comes the identification of this [the body] with That, which produces the divine life. These are my three sounds.
and in the beginning, during the first months that I was doing the japa, I felt them I had an almost detailed awareness of these myriads of cells opening to this vibration; the vibration of the first sound is an absolutely special vibration (you see, above, there is the light and all that, but beyond this light there is the original vibration), and this vibration was entering into all the cells and was reproduced in them. It went on for months in this way.
Even now, when something or other is not all right, I have only to reproduce the thing with the same type of concentration as at the beginning for, when I say the japa, the sound and the words together the way the words are understood, the feel of the wordscreate a certain totality. I have to reproduce that. and the way its repeated is evolving all the time. The words are the same, however, the original sound is the same, but its all constantly evolving towards a more comprehensive realization and a more and more complete STATE. So when I want to obtain a certain result, I reproduce a certain type of this state. For example, if something in the body is not functioning right (it cant really be called an illness, but when somethings out of order), or if I wish to do some specific work on a specific person for a specific reason, then I go back to a certain state of repetition of my mantra, which acts directly on the bodys cells. and then the same phenomenon is reproducedexactly the same extraordinary vibration which I recognized when the supramental world descended. It comes in and vibrates like a pulsation in the cells.
But as I told you, now my japa is different. It is as if I were taking the whole world to lift it up; no longer is it a concentration on the body, but rather a taking of the whole world the entire world sometimes in its details, sometimes as a whole, but constantly, constantlyto establish the Contact (with the supramental world).
But what you are speaking of, this sort of sound-mill, this milling of words interminably repeating the same thing, Ive suddenly caught it two or three times (not very often and with long intervals). It has always seemed fantastic to me! How is it stopped? Always in the same way. Its something that takes place outside, actually; its not insideits outside, on the surface, generally somewhere here (Mother indicates the temples), and the method is to draw your consciousness up above, to go there and remain therewhite. Always this whiteness, white like a sheet of paper, flat like a plate of glass. An absolutely flat and white and motionless surfacewhite! White like luminous milk, turned upwards. Not transparent: white.
When this mill starts turningusually it comes from this side (Mother indicates the right side of the head)it takes hold of any sound or any word at all, and then it starts turning, harping on the same thing. This has happened to me a dozen times perhaps, but it doesnt come from me; it comes from outside, from someone or something or some particular work. So then you take itas if you were picking it up with pincers, and then (She lifts it upwards), then I hold it there, in this motionless whiteno need to keep it there for long!
Arent you aware of this thing up above, this white plate at the crown of the head? Its what receives intuitions. Its just like a photographic plate, and its not even activethings pass right through it without our even realizing it. and then if you concentrate just a little, everything stops, everything stops.
A few days ago, I recall, I wanted to know something that was going to happen. I thought that with the consciousness of supramental time, I could find out I MUST find out whats going to happen. Whats going to happen?No answer. So I concentrated on it, which is what I usually do, I stopped everything and looked from abovetotal silence. Nothing. No answer. and I felt a slight impatience: But why cant I know?! and what came was the equivalent of (Im translating it in words), Its none of your business!!
So I underst and more and more. Everythingthis whole organization, this whole aggregate, all these cells and nerves and sensorsare all meant uniquely for the work, they have no other purpose than the work; every foolish act that is done is for the work; every stupidity that is thought is for the work; you are made the way you are because only in that way can you do the work and its none of your business to seek to be somewhere else. Thats my conclusion. Very well, as You wish, may Your will be done!No, not be done; it IS done. As You wish, exactly as You wish!
and in the end, its quite fun.
***
(Concerning an old Question and Answer of July 4, 1956 at the Playground in which Mother speaks of her first realization of the Divine, in Paris)
Just as the shooting star flashed past, there sprang from my consciousness: To realize the divine union, for my body! and before twelve months were out, it was done.
I remember, it was at the door of our studio3 in Paris. I can still see it. Thats how I always remember the picture simply comes to me.
I am just finishing The Synthesis of Yoga, and what Sri Aurobindo says is exactly what has happened to me throughout my life. and he explains how you can still make mistakes as long as you are not supramentalized. Sri Aurobindo describes all the ways by which images are sent to you and they are not always images or reflections of the truth of things past, present or future; there are also all the images that come from human mental formations and all the various things that want to be considered. It is very, very interesting. and interestingly enough, in these few pages I have found a description of the work I have spent my whole life doing, trying to SIFT out all we see.
I can only be sure of something once a certain type of picture comes, and then the whole world could tell me, But things didnt happen like that; I would reply, Sorry, but I see it. and that type of picture is certain, for I have studied it, I have studied their differences in quality and the texture of the pictures. It is very interesting.
***
Basically, I see more and more that the Supreme Consciousness makes use of ANYTHING AT ALL when the time comes.
In these Questions and Answers, for example, you had wanted to edit out the words Sweet Mother since people from the West might not underst and. But then, we have just now received a letter from someone who suddenly had a very beautiful experience when he came across those words, Sweet Mother. He saw, he suddenly felt this maternal presence of love and compassion watching over the world. The moment had come and, precisely, it did its work. Its very interesting.
Mentally we say, Oh, that cant go. and even I am often inclined to say, Dont publish this, dont speak of something or other. Then I realize how silly it is! There is something that uses everything. Even what may seem useless to usor perhaps worse than useless, harmfulmight be just the thing to give someone the right shock.
Original English.
0 1960-10-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Of course, I dont say, All right, now lets meditate! So on his birthday Ill have to sit down and tell him, Now we are going to meditate that way hell feel sure. What childishness!
Its so funny the thing in itself doesnt exist for people. Whats important to them is their attitude towards the thing, what they think of it. How odd!
Each thing carries within itself its own truthits absolute truth, so luminous and so clear. and if you are in contact with THAT, then everything falls into place so wonderfully; but men are NOT in contact with that, they are always in contact through their thought: what they think of something, what they feel about something, the meaning they attach to it (or sometimes its worse)but the highest they go is always the thought they have of it. Thats what creates all this mixture and all this disorderthings in themselves are very good, and then they get confused.
Z's work involved seeing Mother everyday to watch over her health and her food.
***
0 1960-10-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
She has already been here for two days and Oh, yesterday especially, she was so in such a mood!like a warrior. I said to her, But why not change them through through an excess of love?
So then she answered (I remember how she put it), First a good punch in the chest (she didnt say in the nose!), a good punch in the chest, and then when theyre down, gasping for air, theyre ready.
Thats one opinion!
--
Its the same as when X tells people, I am feeding you, so eat! and he serves you ten times more than you can put in. If you tell him, My stomach cant digest it, he answers that this is nonsense: Eat, and you will see! and in fact, up above that is, once youve mastered itits perfectly true. But we arent there yet, far from it! He himself is sick all the time.
Then he would answer, Everyone is sick.But thats no reason.
Its very well to say, If you live in the Spirit, its not the same. Thats quite true, but MUCH later. For the last two years, I myself have been learning this, and I see how difficult it isone mustnt boast. and to say, Oh, its all the same to me, is a way of boasting. It SHOULD NOT be all the same to you. This body is not meant for usit wasnt for us that it was given, its for the Work, so consequently it must be in working order.
Thats what annoys me sometimes. Why not have this mastery? We SHOULD be masters of it. With consciousness, we should be able to be the masters of our bodies.
--
and he did this he bore it all as if it were some unconsciousness, an ordinary illness, simply to keep me from knowing and he left at the very moment he had to leave. But
and I couldnt even imagine he was gone once he had gone, just there, in front of meit seemed so far away and then afterwards, when he came out of his body and entered into mine, I understood it all Its fantastic.
Fantastic.
Its its absolutely superhuman. Theres not one human being capable of doing such a thing. and what what a mastery of his bodyabsolute, absolute!
and when it came to others he could remove an illness like that (gesture, as if Mother were calmly extracting an illness from the body with her fingertips). That happened to you once, didnt it? You said that I had done this for you but it wasnt me; he was the one who did it He could give you peace in the mind in the same way (Mother brushes her h and across her forehead). You see, his actions were absolutely On others, it had all the characteristics of a total mastery Absolutely superhuman.
One day, hell tell you all this himself.1
--
and he was ABSOLUTELY right, it was true.
Once I saw that, I accepted. When I saw it, when he made me underst and, I accepted; otherwise
--
When he left, I said twelve days, twelve days.2 and truly, I gave it twelve days, twelve days to see if the entire Work Outwardly, I said, After twelve days I will tell you if the Ashram (the Ashram was nothing but a symbol, of course), if the Ashram will continue or if it is finished.
and later (I dont knowit didnt take twelve days; I said that on December 9, and on the 12th it was all decidedseen, clear and understood), on the 12th, I saw people, I saw a few people. However, we began all the activities again only after 12 days from December 5. But it was decided on the 12th.
Everything was left hanging until the moment he made me underst and the COMPLETE thing, in its entirety But thats for later on.
0 1960-10-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Here, this is the kitchen; here is the living room, this is the studio. and then behind the kitchen there was a small room that I used as the dining room, and it opened onto a courtyard. Between the dining room and the kitchen there was a bathroom and a small hallway. The kitchen is here; you went up three steps and then there was this small hallway with the stairs leading up to the bedroom. Next to the bedroom was a bathroom about as big as a thimble.
It is part of a huge house. Theres a seven-story apartment building on each side, and the street is here.
It wasnt very big. The studio was rather largea beautiful room Thats where I received Madame David-Neelwe saw each other nearly every evening.
There was a considerable library in the studio; one whole end was given over to the librarymore than two thous and books belonging to my brother. There were even the complete works of several classical writers. and I had my entire collection of the Revue Cosmique, and my post card collection (it was down below)mainly post cards of Algeria, Tlemcen, nearly 200 of them. But there were five years of the Revue Cosmique. and written in such a French! How funny it was!
Theons wife dictated it in English while she was in trance. Another English lady who was there claimed to know French like a Frenchman. Myself, I never use a dictionary, she would say, I dont need a dictionary. But then she would turn out such translations! She made all the classic mistakes of English words that mustnt be translated like that. Then it was sent to me in Paris for correcting. It was literally impossible.
There was this Themanlys, my brothers schoolmate; he wrote books, but he was lazy-minded and didnt want to work! So he had passed that job on to me. But it was impossible, you couldnt do a thing with it. and what words! Theon would invent words for the subtle organs, the inner senses; he had found a word for each thinga frightful barbarism! and I took care of everything: I found the printer, corrected the proofsall the work for a long time.
They were stories, narratives, an entire initiation in the form of stories. There was a lot in it, really a lot. She knew many things. But it was presented in such a way that it was unreadable.
I also wrote one or two things, experiences I had noted down; they were rather interesting, which is why Id like to get them back. I had described some of my visions to Madame Theon, and then she explained their meaning to me. So I would narrate the vision and give its explanation. That was readable and interesting, because there was some symbolism.
(Pavitra:) What was this Chronicle of KI?
--
She was a small woman, fat, almost flabbyshe gave you the feeling that if you leaned against her, it would melt! Once, I remember I was there in Tlemcen with andres father, who had come to join usa painter, an artist. Theon was wearing a dark purple robe. Theon said to him, This robe is purple. No, its not purple, the other answered, its violet. Theon went rigid: When I say purple, its purple! and they started arguing over this foolishness. Suddenly there flashed from my head, No, this is too ridiculous!I didnt say a word, but it went out from my head (I even saw the flash), and then Madame Theon got up and came over to me, stood behind me (neither of us uttered a word the other two were staring at each other like two angry cocks), then she laid my head against her breastabsolutely the feeling of sinking into eiderdown!
and never in my life, never, had I felt such peaceit was absolutely luminous and soft a peace, such a soft, tender, luminous peace. After a moment, she bent down and whispered in my ear, One must never question ones master! It wasnt I who was questioning!
She was a wonderful woman, wonderful. But as for him well
--
I entered into your sleep last night. I saw you and told you certain things, I even gave you some explanations: You see, you must do it this way you must go like this I also said, One day, we shall meditate together. But more precisely, you had once spoken to me about the problem in your physical mind that it keeps on turning interminably and you had told me that it happens during your japa. So last night I told you, I would like you to do your japa for a few minutes with me one day so that I may see what goes on inside you, in your physical mind.
But I wasnt speaking to you with words Everything I see at night has a special color and a special vibration. Its strange, but it looks sketched When I said that to you, for example, there was a kind of patch,1 a white patch, as I recallwhite, exactly like a piece of white papera patch with a pink border around it, then this same blue light I keep telling you aboutdeep blueencircling the rest, as it were. and beyond that, it was swarminga swarming of black and dark gray vibrations in a terrible agitation. When I saw this, I said to you, You must repeat your mantra once in my presence so that I may see if there is anything I can do about this swarming. and then I dont know whyyou objected, and this objection was red, like a tongue of fire lashing out from the white, like this (Mother draws an arabesque). So I said, No, dont worry, it doesnt matter, I wont disturb a thing2! (Mother laughs mischievously)
All this took place in a realm which is constantly active, everywhere; it is like a permanent mental transcription of everything that physically takes place They arent actually thoughts; when I see this, I dont really get the impression of thinking, but its a transcription its the result of thoughts on a certain mental atmosphere which records things.
and I see it all the time now. If someone is speaking or if Im doing something, I see the two things at the same time I see the physical thing, his words or my action, and then this colored, luminous transcription at the same time. The two things are superimposed. For example, when someone speaks to me, it gets translated into some kind of picture, a play of light or color (which is not always so luminous!)this is why most of the time, in fact, I dont even know what has been said to me. I recall the first time this phenomenon happened, I said to myself, Ah, so thats what these modern artists see! Only, as they themselves arent very coherent, what they see is not very coherent either!
and thats how it worksit is translated by patches and moving forms, which is how it gets registered in the earths memory. So when things from this realm enter into peoples active consciousness, they get translated into each ones language and the words and thoughts that each one is accustomed tobecause that doesnt belong to any language or to any idea: it is the exact IMPRINT of what is happening.
I am constantly seeing this now.
and it is here, too, that I see the result of this confusion and excitement in the Ashramit jumps, jumps, jumps about. It keeps jumping on the same spot. There are machines like thatconstantly shaking; its exasperating.
***
For some time now Ive been experiencing a precise moment during my japa when something takes hold of me and I have all the difficulty in the world to keep from entering into trance. Yet I remain st anding. Usually Im walking, but some things I say while leaning up against the windownot a very good place to go into trance! and it grabs me exactly at the same place each time.
Yesterday, I suddenly saw a huge living head of blue lightthis blue light which is the force, the powerful force in material Nature (this is the light the tantrics use). The head was made entirely of this light, and it wore a sort of tiaraa big head, so big (Mother indicates the length of her forearm); its eyes werent closed, but rather lowered, like this. The immobility of eternity, absolutely the repose, the immobility of eternity. A magnificent head, quite similar to the way the gods here are represented, but even better; something between certain heads of the Buddha and (these heads most probably come to the artists). Everything else was lost in a kind of cloud.
I felt that this kind of yes, immobility came from there: everything stops, absolutely everything stops. Silence, immobility truly, you enter into eternity.I told him it wasnt time!
But I tried to underst and what he wanted Its been difficult here in the Ashram for some timeeveryone is seized with a sort of frenzy, a weary restlessness. They are all writing to me, they all want to see me. It makes for such an atmosphere I react as well as I can, but Im not able to pass this on to them to keep them quiet (the more tired and weary you are, the more calm you ought to remaincertainly not get excited, thats dreadful!). So I understood: this head had come to tell me, This is what you must give them.
But if I were to pass that on to them, theyd all think they were becoming rattle-brained, that they were losing their faculties, that their energy was spent. For they only feel energy when they spend it. They are incapable of feeling energy in immobility they have to be stirring about, they have to be spending it. Or else, it has to be pounded into them.
I looked at this problem yesterday; it occupied me for much of the day. and Im sure this head came to give me the solution. For me, its very easyat once three seconds, and everything stops, everything. But the others are stubborn! and yet Im positive, Im positive, I tell them, But relax; why are you on pins and needles like that? Relax! Its the only way to overcome your fatigue. But they immediately start feeling that theyll lose their faculties and become inert the opposite of life!
and this is surely what oriented my night, for I started my night looking at this problem: How can I make them accept this? For neither should they fall into the other extreme and slip from this weary agitation into tamas.3 Thats obvious.
But how many letters I receive from people telling me, I feel listless, all I want to do is sleep, to rest, not do anything. They go on complaining.
The experience I havewhat I mean by I is this aggregate here (Mother indicates her body), this particular individualityis that the more quiet and calm it is, the more work it can do and the faster the work can be done. What is most disturbing and time consuming are all these agitated vibrations that fall on me (truly speaking, each person who comes throws them on me). and this is what makes the work difficultit stirs up a whirlwind. and you cant do anything in this whirlwind, its impossible. If you try to do something material, your fingers stumble; if you try to do something intellectual, your thoughts get all entangled and you no longer see clearly. Ive had the experience, for example, of wanting to look up a word in the dictionary while this agitation was in the atmosphere, and everything jumps up and down (yet the lighting is the same and Im using the same magnifying glass), I no longer see a thing, its all jumping! I go page by page, but the word simply doesnt exist in the dictionary! Then I remain quiet, I do this (Mother makes a gesture of bringing down the Peace) and after half a minute I open the dictionary: the very spot, and the word leaps out at me! and I see clearly and distinctly. Consequently I have now the indisputable proof that if you want to do anything properly, you must FIRST be calm but not only be calm yourself; you must either isolate yourself or be capable of imposing a calm on this whirlwind of forces that comes upon you all the time from all around.
All the teachers are wanting to quit the schoolweary! Which means theyll begin the year with half the teachers gone. They live in constant tension, they dont know how to relax thats really what it is. They dont know how to act without agitation.
I think thats what this head came to tell me, and its precisely whats wrong in the Ashrameverything here is done in agitation, absolutely everything. So its constantly a comedy of errors; someone speaks, the other doesnt listen and responds all wrong, and nothing gets done. Someone asks one thing, another answers to something elsebah! Its a dreadful con-fu-sion.
(silence)
--
Sit as you normally do and forget that Im here!
(After the meditation)
Im going to tell you what I sawits very interesting. First, emanating from here (Mother indicates the chest), a florescence of every color like a peacocks tail spread wide; but it was made of light, and it was very, very delicate, very fine, like this (gesture). Then it rose up and formed what truly seemed like a luminous peacock, up above, and it remained like that. Then, from here (the chest), what looked like a sword of white light climbed straight up. It went up very high and formed a kind of expanse, a very vast expanse, which was like a callthis lasted the longest. and then, in response, a veritable rain, like (no, it was much finer than drops) a golden lightwhite and goldenwith various shades, at times more towards white, at times more golden, at times with a tinge of pink. and all this was descending, descending into you. and here (the chest), it changed into this same deep blue light, with a powdering of green light inside itemerald green. and at that moment, when it reached here (the level of the heart), a number of little divinities of living golda deep, living goldcame, like this, and then looked at you. and just as they looked at you, there was the image of the Mother right at the very center of younot as she is commonly portrayed but as she is in the Indian consciousness Very serene and pure and luminous. and then that changed into a temple, and inside the temple there seemed to be an image of Sri Aurobindo and an image of me but living images in a powdering of light. Then it grew into a magnificent edifice and settled in with an extraordinary power. and it remained motionless.
That is the representation of your japa.
--
and it shouldnt be difficult to keep that all the time.
I didnt notice you being bothered by these things of the physical mind you had mentioned. However, I had first done this (gesture of cleansing the atmosphere), right at the beginning, so that nothing would come to disturb us Did you feel anything?
--
(Mother laughs heartily) Your japa is lovely. Oh, its a whole world thats forming, and its truly harmonious, powerful, beautiful. Its very good. If you like, well do this for a few moments from time to time. It was very how should I put it? very pleasant for me. It feels comfortable, a bit removed from all this porridge! I was very glad.
If you want to prevent these disturbances in your physical mind, then when you sit for japa You know my Force, dont you? Well then, wrap it around you, like this, twelve times, from top to bottom.
0 1960-10-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There is a black cloud over the ashram. Its origin is rather unique and very interesting.
S has a nephew in Bombay, and one day towards the end of August or beginning September, he told me an extraordinary story about this nephew, who had disappeared (he showed me his photographhe looks rather like a medium). He returned home two days later, I believe. Hed been found in a train in a hypnotic state; fortunately someone shook him and he suddenly woke up: Why am I here? What am I doing here? (He had no intention of travelling, you see; he had simply left his house to visit a neighbor in Bombay.) So he returned home without knowing what had happened to him. and he was quite bizarre, really rather off.
A few days later, this nephew had to go somewhere, I dont know where; he went down to the railway station and didnt return. Impossible to find out what had happened to him, he was nowhere to be found. Several days had passed when the family decided to send me his photograph and to tell me the story, adding that it was surely a sequel to the previous occurrence (there must be some people doing hypnotism), and then they asked me where he was and what had become of him.
All this happened just on the day X1 was leaving. So I told S to take the photograph and letter to X and tell him the story. X consulted some book, did a very short japa for a few seconds and said, Oh, hell come back before September 26, BUT inform Mother so that She may see to ft. therefore, I concentrated a little.
About two weeks later (in other words, ten days or so before September 26), some more news the boys older brother, who lives in Ahmedabad (not Bombay), came to visit his mother, father and gr andmo ther (theres also a gr andmo ther), and he asked about his brother. He had come with a friend. Your brother has disappeared, they explained, we dont know what has happened to him. So the two of them decided to search for him: Well find him .
The day before their departure, the elder brothers friend said he was going to visit the gr andmo ther (she lives some hundred yards away). He went out and didnt return. Disappeared.
So of course they were terribly worried; they wondered what had happened. I had someone write to X, I concentrated, and four days later the boy (the brothers friend, that is) returned in a lamentable state: white, emaciated, barely able to speak. Then he recounted his story:
On his way to the gr andmo thers house, he passed by the station and went in to drink something. While drinking, two persons who were there started playing with some balls in front of him. He WATCHED. But suddenly, he felt very uneasy; he wanted to leave and ran towards an exit that opened onto the tracksit was closed and he could not get out. and these two people were just behind him; suddenly he lost consciousness: I dont know what happened to me after that.
He woke up in a railway station somewhere between Bombay and Poona, and he began telling them that he was hungry (he was with those same two persons). They punched him in the stomach and put a h andkerchief over his nosehe again passed out! At Poona, he woke up again (hed lost his appetite by then!), and again they put the h andkerchief over his nose. and it went on like thatthey kept on punching him a lot. When he woke up in the country on the outskirts of Poona, four men were around him arguing in a language he didnt know (his language is Gujarati). They were probably speaking in some other language, I dont know which oneit seems they were very dark. He didnt underst and, but from various signs they made he could see that they were arguing about whether to kill him or not. Finally, they told him (probably in a language he could underst and), Either you join our gang, or well kill you. He grunted in reply so as not to commit himself. The others decided to wait for their chief (thus the chief wasnt there): Well decide after he comes. Then just to make sure, they punched him a few more times in the belly and put the h andkerchief over his noseout!
Sometime later (he doesnt know how long, for until he returned he had no sense of time), he woke up in a rather dark, low-roofed house way out in the country; there were five persons now, not four. They were busy eating, so he was careful not to budge. Mainly they were drinking (they have prohibition there). Four of them were already dead drunk. So he got up to have a look. The fifth one, whom he hadnt seen before (he must have been the chief), was not yet totally drunk; when he saw the boy stirring, he let out a fearful growlso the poor boy threw himself flat in the corner and lay stillhe waited. After awhile, the fifth one (after downing another bottle) was also dead drunk. So now that he saw them all fast asleep, he got up very cautiously and he said he ran for an hour and a half! A boy pummelled as he had been, who hadnt eaten for four days! I think thats a miracle.
After running for an hour and a half, he found himself back at the Poona station, he doesnt know how. He caught a train back to Bombay, scarcely knowing how he managed it.
When I found this out, I immediately thought, Good, this boy caught the formation2 X had made for the other one, and it got him back. For its really miraculous that he succeeded. But the other one, the nephew, was left str anded, nowhere to be found. It was obviously the same gang and the same method.
Then the police got involved. They wanted to take him back to the countryside around Poona (naturally I suppose they nursed him in the meantime), but not much came out of it. Seems that wherever he remembered seeing these people, when he said he had seen them, he fainted. Finally, I was told the story, and the poor family wrote to me saying, Who are these demons with such a great power that even it withst ands Mothers force as well as that of X and who are holding our son? So X was again informed and, knowing the story of the elder brothers friend, he said, Ah, now I know where the other one is, and I hope it wont take too long. But then September 26 passedgeneral despair in the family. They wrote to me, and I concentrated.
It was just before Durga Puja,3 or just after I cant remember (dates and I dont go together)no, it was after Durga Puja. So I went into a deep concentration and, as a matter of fact, I saw that a very powerful and dangerous rakshasic4 power was involved. and then, when I started walking for my japa upstairs in my room (I had given some thought to this story and tried asking for something to be done), I suddenly saw Durga before me raising high a lance of white light the lance of light that destroys the hostile forces and She struck into a black swarming mass of men.
But then there came a frightful reaction. For one day I was nearly as sicknot quiteas two years ago5 (they must have used the same mantra). and, you see, I who never vomit terrible vomitingeverything inside came out! Only now Im a bit more experienced than two years ago (!), so I set it right It happened here, downstairs, in the afternoon. I went right back up to my room (I didnt see anyone that afternoon), and I remained concentrated to try to find out what had happened. I saw that it came from therea backlash of those people trying to defend themselves.
I did what had to be done.
--
But some days later, a telephone call: the boy was found in Ahmedabad and brought back to Bombay.
The boys story is fantastic! Its fantastic. He was thin, gray, empty-headed. I no longer recall all the details, but ultimately it was the same story: abducted from a railway station in the same way; he saw some people, an hypnotic state, and then no more recollection of what had happened to him, nothing at all. I dont know if they used a h andkerchief on him as well, but he was hypnotized. They punched him also when he asked to eat. and after that, no more appetite! As if they removed all interest in eatingeven when there was food, he didnt touch it. and absolutely empty-headed.
However, he recalls them repeatedly telling him this: You have no family; that name is not yours; you are called by such- and-such-a-name (they gave him another name); you are all alone and depend exclusively upon us. But then, probably this boy had a slightly deeper consciousness, for although his brain did not seem to be working outwardly, something deep down was able to observe and remember.
Finally, they had him work as a waiter in a small caf in Ahmedabad, near the station. One day it even happened that his brother and his brothers friend stopped by (he vaguely recalls having seen them) but he was incapable of speaking to them or of getting them to recognize him. Another time, he tried to leave and headed towards the station, but after awhile he could no longer walk, he was suddenly stopped by something (he doesnt know what), and he had to go back. Thats how it wasquite a unique state. But one day, a friend of the brother stopped at this caf to drink something, and this same boy served him. He had changed a lot, but the other fellow recognized him all the same and asked, Whats your name? He saw that the boy seemed dazed and couldnt answer. So he didnt say anything but ran immediately to where the elder brother lived; they came back, took the boy into a corner and doused his face with seltzer water. It seems that then he started becoming more alive. Then they led him away and informed the police.
I dont have any more details yet
--
I found out the details: this boy had to go to the station, but on his way, he went into a shoe store just next to the station to buy a pair of s andals. As he entered, he saw a man there choosing a pair of womens shoes for himself! This seemed strange to him: Whats this man doing buying and he WATCHEDsuddenly, nothing more. He lost consciousness and no longer knew what happened to him. and thats how the story begana man selecting womens shoes in a shop! He must do strange thingsprobably intentionallyto attract peoples attention. Naturally, out of curiosity, the boy started watching, and that was thatall of a sudden, blank, nothing more! and long afterwards he found himself far away in a train with this man. Hes here now with his mother they came to thank me. Its he who gave me the details. Hes a nice boy, but all this has left him with some anxiety, especially when he speaks of it. Hes trying to forget. He told me hed like to join the army and asked my permission. The boy feels a need for force and he has the idea that to be part of such a force would be good for him. (Of course, he didnt tell me all this, hes not that conscious. But thats what he feels the need to be supported by an organization of force.) So I encouraged him. I told him it was a good idea. His mother wasnt very happy! She feared he was leaping from the frying pan into the fire!
Another curious detail is that after having taken away all his appetite and having put him in the caf as a waiter, they told him, Now you must eat, so he tried to eat, and for four days he vomited up everything he put init was completely black! After that, he was able to start eating a little. Its a fantastic story!
***
--
But I was mainly interested by the fact that I felt the danger these people representednot because they were brig ands, but because they had some powerbrig ands with a power and from what I saw, it was not merely an hypnotic power. There must have been a tantric force in it, otherwise they would not have been so powerful, and especially so powerful from a distance. I had said to myself, They MUST be caught. Which was why (the Force kept on working, you see). and yesterday, the newspaper said that a gang of five men, eight women and half a dozen children had been arrested by the police in Allahabad for using what the newspaper called mesmeric means to rob people, attack them, etc. (They were operating in Poona, Bombay and Ahmedabad, but they were caught in Allahabad). Probably when they realized that the boy was gone, they got frightened and fled to the North. and they were arrested in Allahabad I had made a very strong formation and had said, They MUST be caught.
As of now, I have no other news Theyve been caught, so they cant do any wrong OUTWARDLY, but still their power is there. Were going to have to be and everyone here says the same thinglike a black veil of unconsciousness that has fallen upon us. Even those who arent accustomed to such things have felt it. Im presently cleaning the whole placeits not easy. Everything is upside down.
I had X informed. But I didnt tell him my difficulty (this mantra they threw on me to kill me), I didnt speak of that at all. For he had insisted, from the beginning he had said, Mother must see to it, only Mothers grace can save them. and I understood their attack came just at the time of Durga Puja, so I understood that Durga had to intervene. So thats the story.
Things are not going so well for X either; everywhere its grating. It was probably very important I am hopeful that it can bring some change.
--
I dont know whats going to happen to them They must have killed quite a few people. If thats discovered, theyll get what they deserve and well be rid of themtheyll become little disembodied demons! Its less dangerous.
Unless they reincarnate somewhere else. Some people are always ready to accept demons, thats the trouble!
--
Well, well! So P.K. is clairvoyant! Its him, for surethis is the being behind those people. Thats why they had so much power. and he came here because of tha the was furious. Quite a demon!
I also saw him that night. You fools with your small crackers, he said, I will show you what real crackers are!6 and those flashes of lightning, such an astonishing violence Oh, he proclaimed all kinds of things, disasters, what not But these are very complex matters and its better not to go into detail.
(Some days later, Mother added the following:)
--
Oh, its terrifying! I dont know who had the stupid idea of showing this to the child, but after he saw it he had a fever for three days, with terrible chills. and I believe the artist too was sick after finishing his sketch.
***
--
I looked and saw the realm which is under the influence of thought the power of thought on the body is tremendous! You cannot imagine how tremendous it is. Even a subconscious or sometimes unconscious thought acts and provokes fantastic results! Ive studied this. Ive been studying it IN DETAIL for the last two yearsits incredible! If I had the time one day to explain all this, it would be interesting.
Even tiny, the tiniest mental or vital reactionsso tiny that to our ordinary consciousness they dont appear to have the LEAST importanceact upon the bodys cells and can create disorders You see, when you observe carefully, you suddenly become aware of a very slight uneasiness, a mere nothing (when youre busy, you dont even notice it), and then if you follow this uneasiness to see what it is, you perceive that it comes from something quite imperceptible and insignificant to our active consciousness but its enough to create an uneasy feeling in the body.
Which is whyunless you are intentionally and constantly in what here is called the Brahmic consciousness it is practically impossible to control. and this is what gives the impression of certain things happening in the body independently of not only of our will but of our consciousness BUT IT IS NOT TRUE.
Only, there is all that comes from outside thats what is most dangerous. Constantly, constantlywhen you eat, you catch it oh, what a mass of vibrations! The vibrations of the thing you eat when it was living (they always remain), the vibrations of the person who cooked it, vibrations of All the time, all the time, they never stopyou breathe, they enter. Of course, when you start talking to someone or mixing with people, then you become a bit more conscious of what is coming, but even just sitting still, uninvolved with othersit comes! There is an almost total interdependenceisolation is an illusion. By reinforcing your own atmosphere (Mother gestures, as if building a wall around her), you can hold these things off TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, but simply this effort to keep them at a distance creates (Im thinking in English and speaking in French) disturbances.8 Anyway, now all this has been SEEN.
But I know in an absolute way that once this whole mass of the physical mind is mastered and the Brahmic consciousness is brought into it in a continuous way, you CAN you become the MASTER of your health.
This is why I tell people (not that I expect them to do it, at least not now, but its good they know) that its NOT a matter of fate, NOT something that completely escapes our control, NOT some sort of Law of Nature over which we have no powerit is not so. We are truly the masters of everything which has been brought together to create our transitory individuality; we have been given the power of control, if only we knew how to use it.
--
But its good to know in order to avoid this feeling of being crushed when things are still completely outside your control, this sense of fatality people havetheyre born, they live, they die: Nature is crushing and we are the playthings of something much bigger, much stronger than us that is the Falsehood.
In any case, for myself, in my yoga, only after I KNEW that I AM the Master of everything (provided I know how to BE this Master and LET myself be this Masterprovided, that is, that the outer stupidity accepts to stay in its place), did I know that one could be the Master of Nature.
Theres also this old idea rooted in religions of Chaldean or Christian origin of a God with whom you can have no true contactan abyss between the two. That is terrible.
--
For with that idea, the earth and men will NEVER be able to change. This is why I have often said that this idea is the work of the Asuras,10 and with it they have ruled the earth.
Whereas whatever the effort, whatever the difficulty, whatever time it takes, whatever number of lives, you must know that all this doesnt matter: you KNOW you ARE the Master, that the Master and you are the same. All thats necessary is to know it INTEGRALLY, and nothing must belie it. Thats the way out.
When I tell people that their health depends on their inner life (an intermediate inner life, not the deepest), its because of this.
During the last two years, Ive been accumulating experiences IN THEIR MINUTEST DETAILS, things that might seem most useless. You have to consent to that and not have a mania for greatness; you must know that where the key is found is in the tiniest effort to create a true attitude in a few cells.
The problem is that when you enter into the ordinary consciousness, these things become so subtle and require such a scrupulous observance that people are justified (they FEEL justified) in having the attitude, Oh, its Nature, its Fate, its the Divine Will! But with that conviction, the Yoga of Perfection is impossible and appears as a mere utopian fantasy but this is FALSE. The truth is something else entirely.
(long silence)
When I say to someone, I shall take care of you, do you know what I do? I join his body to mine. and then all the work is done in me (as far as possibleessentially its possible, but there is a relativity because of time; but as far as possible ). So I find it very interesting to make cross-references and find out the results of my interventionnot so I can boast (theres nothing much to boast about), but for the sake of the SCIENTIFIC study of the problem: to know how to proceed, how to discriminate, what is active and what isnt, what are the guide lines, etc.
and even if at the moment you dont feel very good, you are able to say, It doesnt matter; what we have to do, well do (this fear of not being able to do what has to be done is the most irksome), if at that moment you can sincerely say to yourself, No, I trust in the Divine Grace no, I will do what I have to do, and Ill be given the power to do it, or the power to do it will be created in me then that is the true attitude.
I feel thats what you give me.
0 1960-10-30, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
As soon as the meditation began, I started seeing quite familiar scenes from ancient Egypt. and you, you looked a little different, but quite similar all the same The first thing I saw was their god with a head like this (gesture of a muzzle), with a sun above his head. A dark animal head with I know it VERY WELL, but I dont remember exactly which animal it is. One is a hawk,1 but the other has a head like (Mother makes the same gesture)
Like a jackal?
Yes, like a jackal, thats it. Yes, thats what it was. With a kind of lyre above its head, and then a sun.2
and this god was very intimately related to you, as if you were melted together; you were like a sacrificial priest and at the same time he was entering into you.
and this lasted quite long (its what I saw most clearly and what I best remember). But there were many, many thingsold things that I know and certainly a VERY INTIMATE relationship which we had in the days of Egypt, at Thebes.
Its the first time I saw this for youit was very, very
Was it by chance the wallet that brought this to mind? I wondered right at first. I had the impression of having given you something Egyptian, but I could no longer remember what it was Im happy it wasnt that! I hesitated for barely a moment, then said to myself, Why? and what came is that everything, even apparently accidental things, is organized by the same Consciousness for the same endsits obvious.
But I found this interesting, so I began looking, and I LIVED the scene, all kinds of scenes of initiation, worship, etc., for quite some time. When that lifted, a light much stronger than the last time (during the last meditation) came down, in a wonderful silence. (I might add that the first thing I did, at the beginning, was to try to establish a silence around you, to insulate you from other things so as to keep your mind quiet; it kept jumping a little, but once this light came down ) and it came down with a very hieratic quality and (how can I put this?) Egyptian in charactervery occult, very occult, very, very distinct, very specific, like this (gesture indicating a block of silence descending).
and then there came a long moment of absolutely motionless contemplation with something that now escapes meit may come back.
Then suddenly I went into a little trance. and in it I saw you, but you were physically, you were on one plane, and then I saw another man on a different plane (I saw him quite concretely; he was rather tall, broad-shoulderednot so tall as broad, with a dark, European suit). and he took your h ands and started shaking them enthusiastically!but you were quite indifferent, just as you are now, dressed in Indian fashion and sitting cross-legged. He took both your h ands and started shaking them! and then I distinctly heard the words: Congratulations, its a great success!it had to do with your book.3 and at the same time, I saw all sorts of people and things who were touched by your bookall kinds of people, obviously French, or Westerners in any case women, men. There was even one woman (she must have been an actress or a singer or anyway, someone whose life was she was even dressed for the stage, with some kind of tightsa beautiful girl!) and she said to someone, Ah, it has even given me a taste for the spiritual life! It was extremely interesting All kinds of things of this nature. and then once again I came out of this trance and In the end, I tried to do some certain thing for you and it turned out well. It turned out quite well.
But then, just before that, there was this powdering of golden light coming down. and as it descended, it was white with a touch of gold (but it was white) and it came down in a column, with such POWER! and then, just at the end, this powdering of gold came and settled into this white light which had remained there the whole timeoh, it was so abundant. A great power of realization. I had a hard time coming out of it! At the start, I had decided to come out of it at half past, so I came out, but still not completely
So there, my child. and you, what did you feel?
When I meditate with you When Im alone, there is never this power, this Its something else Sometimes its strong but it always lacks this particular quality. There are powerful moments when Im alone, but not like this.
--
The physical vibration is important. The circumstances relating to the work of transformation make the physical vibration important. I feel it, for as soon as I want to do something with someone on the physical plane (physical, mind you), it all comes into the body. and the body is simply seized I see that absolutely physical vibrations are being used all the time. Its really so different. All the work which is done at a distance (gesture indicating action stemming from the mind)it acts, of course, but
You know, even now, all this (Mother touches her body, her h ands) feels so vibrant and alive that its difficult to sense its limits as if it extends beyond the body in all directions. It no longer has any limits.
But its still not luminous in the dark. What is normally luminous in the dark is something else I had that when I was working with Theon (after returning to France, we had group meditationsthough he didnt call it meditation, he called it repose, and we used to do this in a darkened room), and there was it was like phosphorescence, exactly the color of phosphorescent light, like certain fish in the water at night. It would come out [of the body], spread forth, move about. But that is the vital, it originates in the vital. It is a force from above, but what manifests is vital. Whereas now it is absolutely, clearly the golden supramental light in an extraordinary pulsation, vibrant in intensity But probably it still lacks a what Theon used to call density, an agent that enables it to be seen in the dark and then it would be visibly gold, not phosphorescent.
But it is very, very concrete, very material.
--
and the experience just now (during meditation) was somehow mixed with what I usually see at night (it was not a combinationor maybe it was a combination ), for it had that same light It was a kind of powdering, even finer than tiny dotsa powdering like an atomic dust, but with an EXTREMELY intense vibration but without any shifting of place. and yet its in constant motion Something shifting about within something that vibrates on the same spot without moving (something does move, but its subtler, like a current of tremendous power which passes through a milieu that doesnt move at all: rather, it vibrates on the same spot with an extreme intensity). But I dont exactly know how it is different from the present experience It becomes less golden at night, the gold is less visible, whereas the other colorswhite, blue and a sort of pinkare much more visible.
Oh, now I remember! It was PINK during the second phase, just afterwards, after Egypt! Oh, it was like like at the end of a sunrise when it gets very clear and luminous. A magnificent color. and it kept coming down and down, in a flood that part was new. Its something I see very rarely. It was not there at all the last time we meditated together. and it came filled with such a joy! Oh! It was absolutely ecstatic. It lasted quite a long time. and from there I went into this trance where I saw (laughing) that man congratulating you! I heard him say (his voice is what roused me from my trance, and then I saw him), Congratulations, its a great success! (Mother laughs)
Its good. Well have these little meditations from time to time. For me, its pleasant, for I have neither to restrict nor contain nor veil myself. Its nice.
and I see whats coming down; its good.
and there is something very happy, very happy, which keeps repeating, Its good, its good! Happy and rather satisfied because of that.
My impression is that in a while, maybe not in such a distant future, well be able to do something, a sort of it will no longer be personal. We should be able to establish something.4
--
Horus, the sun god, child of Isis and Osiris.
According to tradition, Anubis, the jackal-headed god, helped Isis to rebuild the body of her spouse, Osiris, who had been killed and dismembered by his brother Set. Osiris was the first god to rule over men. Owing to certain special rites, Isis, helped by Anubis, succeeded in bringing him back to life. So we are not very far from the legend of Savitri and Satyavan.
L'Orpailleur, which had just been published. The man's description, as a matter of fact, bears a striking resemblance to the publisher.
0 1960-11-05, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
These things from the past its rather oddnow, once they come and Ive spoken of them, they get erased. As if they were returning one last time to say goodbye before going for good.
All these memories (actually theyre rather pictures) seem to be coming forward to show themselves with all the knowledge, truth and HELP they represent; they come to say, There! You see, this is the origin of thata whole curve. Then once Ive seen it, its gone.
One day, as an experiment, I tried to remember something from the past, for I was interested in what it contained; I triedimpossible! It had been cleaned out, it was gone. So I understood that these things come, they show themselves (you have to be ATTENTIVE and know what purpose they have served) and then they go away.
I have so totally forgotten a whole world of incidents and events that when someone reminds me of something (the people around me have lived with me, so theyve seen things and remember them), I get the feeling that they are speaking of someone or something elseit no longer has any connection with me at all. and its the same with everything, whether near or far, which has brought to my consciousness whatever it had to bring, lost its utility anddisappeared. Only, these memories probably still have some utility for the others, so they remain. But for me its completely erased, absolutely, as if it had never been.
Its the only way to forget.
People often try to forget the past, but it doesnt work. Only once it has brought all the lessons that it was meant to bring into your life (its decanted, so you see the thing in its deepest truth), is its utility finished, and it disappears.
I am convinced that at heart Karma is simply all the things we havent used in the true way that we drag along behind us If totally and clearly we have learned the lesson which each event or each circumstance ought to have brought, then its finished, its utility is gone and it dissolves.
Its an interesting experience to follow and observe.
***
--
I went down into a place a place simply in the human consciousness, thus necessarily in my body I have never seen anything more timorous, fearful, feeble and mean! Its it must be a part of the cells, part of the consciousness, something that lives in apprehension, fear, dread, anxiety It was truly, truly dreadful.
and we carry that within us! We arent aware of it, its almost subconscious for you see, the consciousness is there to prevent us from yielding to thatits cowardly, and it can make you fall sick IN A MINUTE. I saw it, I saw things that had been cured and overcome in myself (cured in the true manner, not in an outer way), and then they return! Its cured, but then it begins again.
So then I went in search of its origin. Its something in the subconscientin the cells subconscient. Its roots are there, and on the least occasion and its so very, very ingrained that For example, you can be feeling very good, the body can be perfectly harmonious ( and when the body is perfectly harmonious, its motions are harmonious, things are in their true places, everything works exactly as it should without needing the least attentiona general harmony), when suddenly the clock strikes, for example, or someone utters a word, and you have just the faint impression Oh, its late, Im not going to be on timea second, a split second, and the whole working of the body falls apart. You suddenly feel feeble, drained, uneasy. and you have to intervene. Its terrible. and were at the mercy of such things!
To change it, you have to descend into itwhich is what Im in the midst of doing. But you know, it makes for painful moments. Anyway, once its done, it will be something. When that is done, Ill explain it to you. and then Ill have the power to restore you to health.
***
0 1960-11-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(After a conversation with Z, a distant 'disciple' reputed for his loose morals and the object of numerous 'moralistic' or even so-called 'yogic' criticisms among the 'true disciples' in the Ashram)
He lives in a region which is largely a kind of vital vibration which penetrates the mind and makes use of the imagination (essentially its the same region most so-called cultured men live in). I dont mean to be severe or critical, but its a world that likes to play to itself. Its not really what we could call histrionics, not thatits rather a need to dramatize to oneself. So it can be an heroic drama, it can be a musical drama, it can be a tragic drama, or quite simply a poetic drama and ninety-nine times out of a hundred, its a romantic drama. and then, these soul states (!) come replete with certain spoken expressions (laughing) Im holding myself back from saying certain things!You know, its like a theatricals store where you rent scenery and costumes. Its all ready and waitinga little call, and there it comes, ready-made. For a particular occasion, they say, Youre the woman of my life (to be repeated as often as necessary), and for another they say Its a whole world, a whole mode of human life which I suddenly felt I was holding in my arms. Yes, like a decoration, an ornament, a nicetyan ornament of existence, to keep it from being flat and dull and the best means the human mind has found to get out of its tamas. Its a kind of artifice.
So for persons who are severe and grave (there are two such examples here, but its not necessary to name them) There are beings who are grave, so serious, so sincere, who find it hypocritical; and when it borders on certain (how shall I put it?) vital excesses, they call it vice. There are others who have lived their entire lives in a yogic or religious discipline, and they see this as an obstacle, illusion, dirtyness (Mother makes a gesture of rejecting with disgust), but above all, its this terrible illusion that prevents you from nearing the Divine. and when I saw the way these two people here reacted, in fact, I said to myself, but you see, I FELT So strongly that this too is the Divine, it too is a way of getting out of something that has had its place in evolution, and still has a place, individually, for certain individuals. Naturally, if you remain there, you keep turning in circles; it will always be (not eternally, but indefinitely) the woman of my life, to take that as a symbol. But once youre out of it, you see that this had its place, its utilityit made you emerge from a kind of very animal-like wisdom and quietude that of the herd or of the being who sees no further than his daily round. It was necessary. We mustnt condemn it, we mustnt use harsh words.
The mistake we make is to remain there too long, for if you spend your whole life in that, well, youll probably need many more lifetimes. But once the chance to get out of it comes, you can look at it with a smile and say, Yes, its really a sort of love for fiction!people love fiction, they want fiction, they need fiction! Otherwise its boring and all much too flat.
All this came to me yesterday. I kept Z with me for more than half an hour, nearly 45 minutes. He told me some very interesting things. What he said was quite good and I encouraged him a great dealsome action on the right lines which will be quite useful, and then a book unfortunately mixed with an influence from that artificial world (but actually, even that can be used as a link to attract people). He must have spoken to you about this. He wants to write a kind of dialogue to introduce Sri Aurobindos ideasits a good idealike the conversations in Les Hommes de Bonne Volont by Jules Romain. He wants to do it, and I told him it was an excellent idea. and not only one typehe should take all types of people who for the moment are closed to this vision of life, from the Catholic, the fervent believer, right to the utmost materialist, men of science, etc. It could be very interesting.
This is what you see in life, its all like thateach thing has its place and its necessity. This has made me see a whole current of life I was very, very involved with people from this milieu during a whole period of my existence and in fact, its the first approach to Beauty. But it gets mixed.
(Mother remains silent a moment)
Symbolically, in life, we might think of tamas as the earth (the solid and obdurate earth), and this intervention of the vital is water flowing onto it. But when first it touches the earth, it stirs up mud! Theres no reason to protest, for its like that. and thereby the earth becomes less hard and resistant, and it begins receiving.
Its an approach which is not at all mental nor intellectual nor (God knows!) moral in the leastno notion of Good or Evil nor any of those things, absolutely none of that. Theres a moment in life when you begin thinking a little and you see all this from an overall or universal point of view in which all moral notions completely disappearFOR ANOTHER REASON. This experience with Z reminded me of a certain way of approaching Beauty that enables you even to find it in what appears dirty and ugly to the common vision. It is She trying to express herself in this something which to the common vision is ugly, dirty, hypocritical. But of course, if you yourself have striven assiduously and have greatly held yourself in, then you look at it reprovingly.
From my earliest childhood, instinctively, I have never felt the slightest contempt or how should I say (well, well! I was thinking in English) shrinking or disapproval, severe criticism or disgust for the things people call vice.
--
I have experienced all kinds of things in life, but I have always felt a sort of lightso INTANGIBLE, So perfectly pure (not in the moral sense, but pure light!) and it could go anywhere, mix everywhere without ever really getting mixed with anything. I felt this flame as a young childa white flame. and NEVER have I felt disgust, contempt, recoil, the sense of being dirtiedby anything or anyone. There was always this flamewhite, white, so white that nothing could make it other than white. and I started feeling it long ago in the past (now my approach is entirely differentit comes straight from above, and I have other reasons for seeing the Purity in everything). But it came back when I met Z (because of the contact with him) and I felt nothing negative, absolutely nothing. Afterwards, people said, Oh, how he used to be this, how he used to be that! and now look at him! See what hes become! Someone even used the word rotten that made me smile. Because, you see, that doesnt exist for me.
What I saw is this world, this realm where people are like that, they live that, for its necessary to get out from below and this is a wayits a way, the only way. It was the only way for the vital formation and the vital creation to enter into the material world, into inert matter. An intellectualized vital, a vital of ideas, an artist; it even fringes upon or has the first drops of Poetrythis Poetry which upon its peaks goes beyond the mind and becomes an expression of the Spirit. Well, when these first drops fall on earth, it stirs up mud.
and I wondered why people are so rigid and severe, why they condemn others (but one day Ill underst and this as well). I say this because very often I run into these two states of mind in my activities (the grave and serious mind which sees hypocrisy and vice, and the religious and yogic mind which sees the illusion that prevents you from nearing the Divine) and without being openly criticized, Im criticized Ill tell you about this one day
Youre criticized?
Yes, but naturally without daring to criticize me openly. But Im aware of it. On the one h and, they see it as a kind of looseness on my part (oh, not only for thatmany things!). and on the other h and,1 you know well enough; it applies to other things, slightly different areas, its not exactly the same, but in this area theyre also severe. Im even told that there are some people who shouldnt be in the Ashram.
My reply is that the whole world should be in the Ashram!
--
They also find I give too much time and too much force ( and maybe too much attention) to people and things that should be regarded with more severity. That never bothered me much. It doesnt matter, they can say what they like.
But since Zs visit yesterday, and this morning on the balcony Oh, its so I had already seen this long agothis whole milieu that is not very pretty and I had said, Well, its all right, thats how it is, and I didnt discuss it further: Thats how it is, and absolutely the whole world belongs to the Lord IS the Lord! and the Lord made it so, and the Lord wants it so, and its quite all right. Then I put it aside. But with his visit yesterday, it found its placesuch a smiling place. and theres a whole world of things of life which have found their true place in this waywith a smile!
(silence)
--
How strange it is! You have the feeling of ascending, of a progress in consciousness, and everything, all the events and circumstances of life follow one another with an unquestioning logic. You see the Divine Will unfolding with a wonderful logic. Then, from time to time, there appears a little set of circumstances (either isolated or repeated), which are like snags on the way; you cant explain them, so you put them aside for later on. Some such accidents have been quite significant, but they dont seem to follow this ascending line of the present individuality. Theyre scattered along the way, sometimes repeated, sometimes only once, and then they vanish. and when you go through such an experience, you sense that they are things put aside for later on. and then, all of a sudden (especially during these last two years when I have again descended to take all that up), all of a sudden, one after another, all these snags return. and they dont follow the same curve; rather, its as if suddenly you reach a certain state and a certain impersonal breadth that far surpasses the individual, and this new state enters into contact with one of those old accidents that had remained in the deepest part of the subconscient and that makes it rise up again, the two meet in an explosion of light. Everything is explained, everything is understood, everything is clear! No explanation is needed: it has become OBVIOUS.
This is entirely another way of underst andingits not an ascent, not even a descent nor an inspiration it must be what Sri Aurobindo calls a revelation. Its the meeting of this subconscious notationthis something which has remained buried within, held down so as not to manifest, but which suddenly surges forth to meet the light streaming down from above, this very vast state of consciousness that excludes nothing and from it springs forth a lightoh, a resplendence of light!like a new explanation of the world, or of that part of the world not yet explained.
and this is the true way of knowing.
These things are like l andmarks along the ascending path: you go forward step by step, and sometimes its painful, sometimes joyful, or with a certain amount of toil that bears witness still to the presence of the personality or the individuality and its limitations (the Questions and Answers are full of this)but the other thing is different, completely different: the other thing is an overflowing joy, and not only the joy of knowing but the joy of BEING. An overflowing joy.2
There, my child.
--
I know I told you that I had had a vision, but you didnt underst and what I told you that day. It was a vision of the place you occupy in my being and of the work we have to do together. Thats really how it is. These things [that I tell you] have their utility and a concrete life, and I see them as very powerful for world transformation theyre what I call experiences (which is much more than an experience because it extends far beyond the individual) and its the same whether its said or not said: the Action is done. But the fact that it is said, that it is formulated here and preserved, is exclusively for you, because you were made for this and this is why we met.
It doesnt need a lot of explaining.
and, even with Sri Aurobindo, even with him I didnt speak of these things for I wouldnt waste his time, and I found it quite useless to burden him with all this. I would tell him I always described my visions and experiences at night I always recounted that to him. and he would remember (I myself would forget; the next day, the whole thing would be gone), he would remember; then sometimes, long afterwards, even years afterwards, he would say, Ah, yes! You had seen that back then. He had a wonderful memory. While myself, I would already have forgotten. But those were the only things I told him, and even then only when I saw that it had a very sure, very superior quality. I didnt bother him with a whole jumble of words. But otherwise . even Nolini,4 who underst ands well I never, never felt even the (its not the need) not even the POSSIBILITY.
I dont want to tell you this too precisely, to exp and on it, for these things cannot be explained. I want you tonot know nor think it, but feel it suddenly, like a little electric shock within that leaps forth.
--
Its the mind thats terrible. Its a nuisance. To have an experience like the one I told you about a little while ago you have to tell it, Okay, be quiet; be quiet now, be calm. But if its left on its own and youre unfortunate enough to listen to it, it spoils everything. This is what you must learn to do.
But effort is not of much use, my child, its (long silence) its you can call it grace, or you can call it a knacktwo very different things, yet it has something of each.
--
and the more you try, the more fidgety it gets.
Thats it, exactly. Its what I was telling you, that its not the result of any effort In fact, sometimes it comes all by itself when youre no longer thinking about it. Maybe Ill be able to help you one day.
--
Later coming back to the experience She has just described, Mother added the following: 'It's a very interesting experience. It's a very powerful lever for abolishing the moral point of view in its narrowest forms. and this is precisely what I encounter all the time in peopleyou see, all those who make a spiritual effort bring me truckloads of morality!'
Original English.
0 1960-11-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
He said only in 1962 or 1963 would Karachi totally disappear. and three-fourths of Bombay underwater!
and just a while ago some volcanoes erupted, so the sea rose and swept away all kinds of things in Japan and all along its path, but it didnt come all the way to India. When I was in Japan, one isl and was swallowed up just like that, along with its 30,000 inhabitants, glub!
You see, it amuses them; its the way these beings amuse themselvesonly its on another scale, thats all. They look at us like ants, so whats it matter to them! If they dont like it, too bad for them. Only, ants cant protest, or at least we dont underst and their protests! Whereas when we ourselves protest, we can make ourselves heard. We have the means to make ourselves heard.
--
Certainly, we CAN be heard. So far I never said anything. It even surprised me, for I had never paid it any attention, I was quite away from all that: its raining?so what, its raining, it happens. Its not raining?so what, its not raining, its the same thing. and then gradually people started mentioning that should it continue, they wouldnt be able to do their exercises, and they wouldnt be ready for December 2.1 Then I started receiving desperate lettersone person even told me he was doing his puja underwater! So I answered by saying, Take it as the Lords blessing but Im not sure he appreciated it! and then I learned that 200 houses [in the Ashram]200!are leaking. Naturally, each one is in a great hurryits terribly urgent! So perhaps I shall file a complaint and ask them what they mean by this!
Actually, if communications are interrupted, it can be troublesome Let us see.
(After a moment of silence) We dont have time now to work, its too late. and anyway, we cant see properly. Did you bring anything?
Yes, some Questions and Answers.
More small talk!
Speaking of which, I looked at Ts most recent questions on the Aphorisms again. All these children havent the least sense of humor, so Sri Aurobindos paradoxes throw them into a kind of despair! The last aphorism went something like this: When I could read a wearisome book from one end to the other with pleasure, then I knew I had conquered my mind.2 So T asked me How can you read a wearisome book with pleasure?!! I had to explain it to her. and on top of that, I have to take on a rather serious tone, for were I to reply in the same ironic fashion, they would be totally drowned! It throws them into a terrible confusion!
Its a lack of plasticity in the mind, and they are bound by the expression of things; for them, words are rigid. Sri Aurobindo explained it so well in The Secret of the Veda; he shows how language evolves and how, before, it was very supple and evocative. For example, one could at once think of a river and of inspiration. Sri Aurobindo also gives the example of a sailboat and the forward march of life. and he says that for those of the Vedic age it was quite natural, the two could go together, superimposed; it was merely a way of looking at the same thing from two sides, whereas now, when a word is said, we think only of this word all by itself, and to get a clear picture we need a whole literary or poetic imagery (with explanations to boot!). Thats exactly the case with these children; theyre at a stage where everything is rigid. Such is the product of modern education. It even extracts the subtlest nuance between two words and FIXES it: and above all, dont make any mistake, dont use this word for that word, for otherwise your writings no good. But its just the opposite.
(silence)
--
Theres a certain sensibility which makes any increase in humidity felt. Before it starts raining, even several hours before, it feels like there are drops falling on my body. I can always say when its going to rain. Its entirely physical, actually, merely a heightened sensitivity. It feels like very tiny drops (you know, like drizzle), the feeling of a very fine spray falling on the body. and yet the sky is clear; I say, Hmm, its going to rain. and it rains I felt it. I feel the water, and it never fails to come a few hours later.
(silence)
You asked me just now if we have a say in the matter. Well, last year I didnt go out; I had no intention of going to the Sportsground or to the theater for the December 2 program, but I was often asked to see that the weather be good. So while I was doing my japa upstairs, I started saying that it shouldnt rain. But they werent in a very good mood! (When I used to go out myself, it had an effect, for it kept the thing in check, and even if it had been raining earlier, that day it would stop.) So they said, But you arent going out, so what does it matter. I said I wascounting on it. Then they answered, Are you prepared to have it rain the next time you go out?Do what you like, I replied. and when I went out on November 24 for the prize distribution, there was a deluge. It came pouring down and we had to run for shelter in the gymnasiumeveryone was splashing around, the b and playing on the ver andah was half-drenched, it was dreadful!the day before it hadnt rained, the day after it didnt rain. But on that day they had their revenge!
I dont want that to happen this time. Once is enough. So Im going to see about it.
--
But its explained very well in Savitri! All these things have their laws and their conventions ( and truly speaking, a really FORMIDABLE power is needed to change anything of their rights, for they have rightswhat they call laws) Sri Aurobindo explains this very well when Savitri, following Satyavan into death, argues with the god of Death.3 Its the Law, and who has the right to change the Law? he says. and then comes this wonderful passage at the end where she replies, My God can change it. and my God is a God of Love. Oh, how magnificent!
and by force of repeating this to him, he yields She replies in this way to EVERYTHING.
Its all right for winning a Victory, but not for stopping the rain for one day!
So Im trying to come to an underst anding, to reach an agreement these are very complicated matters (!). For its a whole totality You see, we are trying something here which really is contrary to all those laws and practices, something which disturbs everything. So they propose things that have me advancing like this (sinuous motion), without disturbing things too much, and without having to call in forces (Mother makes a gesture of a lance thrust into the pack) forces a bit too great, which may disturb things too much. Like that, we can keep tacking back and forth.
A while ago You know that I have TREMENDOUS financial difficulties. In fact, I have h anded the whole matter over to the Lord, telling Him, Its your affair; if you want us to continue this experience, well, you must provide the means. But this upsets some of them, so they come along with all kinds of suggestions to keep me from having to to resort to something so drastic. They suggest all kinds of things; some time ago they said, What about a good cyclone, or a good earthquake? A lot of damage to the Ashram, a public appeal that would bring in some funds! (Mother laughs) Yes, its of this order! and its all quite clear and definitewe have veritable conversations!
I listen, I answer. Its not satisfactory! I told them. But theyve kept to their idea, they like it. When that first storm came some time back (you remember, with those terrible bolts of lightning and that asuric being P.K. saw and sketched): Dont you want us to destroy something? I got angry. But it was This influence was so close and acute that it gave you goose bumps! The whole time the storm lasted, I had to hold on tight in my bed, like this (Mother closes her fists tight as in a trance or deep concentration), and I didnt movedidnt movelike a a rock during the entire storm, until he consented to go a bit further away. Then I moved. and even now, it comesfrom others (theres not just one, you see, there are many): How about a good flood? A roof collapsed the other day with someone underneath, but he was able to escape. So roofs are collapsing, houses Arouse public sympathy, we must help the Ashram! Its no good, I said. But maybe thats whats responsible for this interminable rain. and they offer so many other things oh, what they parade past me! You could write books on all this!
But generally and this is something Theon had told me (Theon was very qualified on the subject of hostile forces and the workings of all that resists the divine influence, and he was a great fighteras you might imagine! He himself was an incarnation of an asura, so he knew how to tackle these things!); he was always saying, If you make a VERY SMALL concession or suffer a minor defeat, it gives you the right to a very great victory. Its a very good trick. and I have observed, in practice, that for all things, even for the very little things of everyday life, its trueif you yield on one point (if, even though you see what should be, you yield on a very secondary and unimportant point), it immediately gives you the power to impose your will for something much more important. I mentioned this to Sri Aurobindo and he said that it was true. It is true in the world as it is today, but its not what we want; we want it to change, really change.
He wrote this in a letter, I believe, and he spoke of this system of compensation for example, those who take an illness on themselves in order to have the power to cure; and then theres the symbolic story of Christ dying on the cross to set men free. and Sri Aurobindo said, Thats fine for a certain age, but we must now go beyond that. As he told me (its even one of the first things he told me), We are no longer at the time of Christ when, to be victorious, it was necessary to die.
I have always remembered this.
--
On a small scale, in very small details, I feel that of all the forces, this is the strongest. and its the only one with a power over hostile wills. Only for the world to change, it must manifest here in all its fullness. We have to be up to it
Sri Aurobindo had also written to the effect, If Divine Love were to manifest now in all its fullness and totality, not a single material organism would but burst. So we must learn to widen, widen, widen not only the inner consciousness (that is relatively easyat least feasible), but even this conglomeration of cells. and Ive experienced this: you have to be able to widen this sort of crystallization if you want to be able to hold this Force. I know. Two or three times, upstairs (in Mothers room), I felt the body about to burst. Actually, I was on the verge of saying, burst and be done with. But Sri Aurobindo always intervenedall three times he intervened in an entirely tangible, living and concrete way and he arranged everything so that I was forced to wait.
Then weeks go by, sometimes even months, between one thing and another, so that some elasticity may come into these stupid cells.
So much time is wasted. We are oh! We are so hard! (Mother hits her body) As hard as a rock.
But three times now, Ive really felt that I was on the verge of falling apart. The first time it brought a fever, a fever so I dont know, as if I had at least 115!I was roasting from head to toe; everything became red hot, and then it was over. That was the day when suddenlysuddenly I was You see, I had said to myself, All right, you must be peaceful, lets see what happens, so then I brought down the Peace, and immediately I was able to pass into a second of unconsciousness and I woke up in the subtle physical, in Sri Aurobindos abode.4 There he was. and then I spent some time with him, explaining the problem.
But that was really an experience, a decisive experience (it was many months ago, perhaps more than a year ago).
So I explained the problem to Sri Aurobindo, and he replied (by his expression, not with words, but it was clear), Patience, patiencepatience, it will come. and a few days after this experience, by chance I came upon something he had written where precisely he explained that we are much too rigid, coagulated, clenched for these things to be able to manifestwe must widen, relax, become plastic.
But this takes time.
--
I have quite the feeling that I myself do nothing at all, absolutely nothing. The only thing I do is this (gesture of offering upwards), constantly this, in everythingin thoughts, feelings, sensations, in the bodys cells, all the time: You, You, You. Its You, its You, its You Thats all. and nothing else.
In other words, a more and more complete, a more and more integral assent, more and more like this (gesture of letting herself be carried). Thats when you have the feeling that you must be ABSOLUTELY like a child.
If you start thinking, Oh, I want to be like this! Oh, I ought to be like that! you waste your time.
--
The actual aphorism reads: 'When I read a wearisome book through and with pleasure, yet perceived all the perfection of its wearisomeness, then I knew that my mind was conquered.'
Yama: the god of Death. He is also the guardian of the Law.
0 1960-11-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I dont know if its due to Zs visit1 or simply if the time had come and things converged (because thats what generally happens), but a whole period of the past is coming up again and its not a purely personal past, for it includes all the acquaintances I used to have, a whole collection of things that represents not only my individual life but something rather collective (as it always is; each of us is always a collectivity but we arent aware of it, and if anything were taken away, it would unbalance the whole). A whole set of things that were absolutely wiped clean from the memory (it must have been buried somewhere in the subconscient or the semi-conscientin any case, something more unconscious than the subconscient), and it has all come back up. Oh, things such things If just two weeks ago someone had asked me, Do you remember that? I would have replied, No, not at all! and its coming from every side. Oh, such mediocrity! (mediocre in the way of consciousness, experiences and activities) and so gray, so dull, so flat! Only this morning, while getting ready for the balcony, I thought, Is it possible to live like that?!
and then it became so clear that behind all this there was always the same luminous Presence, this Presence that is everywhere, always, watching over everything.
and as I look now at the things of life, at people, at this totality, I see that its identically the same thing when seen from there, from that consciousness its so drab, dull, insipid, gray, uninteresting, lifeless Oh, all of life, WHATEVER IT IS, is like that when seen from that consciousness!
So I understood that this must correspond to a certain realm of experience; I understood all those who say, If it has to be like this, if it can never be otherwise, then (this opposition, this abyss between a TRUE life, a TRUE consciousness, a TRUE activity, something living, powerful, fulfilling and life as it now is), if there must always be this difference between the physical expression as it is or as it can be in the present circumstances, and the true life, then For if despite everythingdespite this tremendous distance Ive covered in my life (these memories go back more than sixty years) and all the evolutionary effort upwards I have made since that time IN MATTER (Im not speaking of leaving Matter behind, but IN MATTER, IN action)if that doesnt further reduce this gap between the true consciousness and the possible material realization, then I underst and I underst and why people say, Its hopeless. (Of course, this hopeless is meaningless to me.)
But I (how can I put this?) I lived their experience, I lived it; and even events which seem quite extraordinary when seen from afar, which is the way they appear to most people, even historical things which have furthered the earths transformation and its upheavals the crucial events, the great works, you might sayare woven from the SAME fabric, they are the SAME thing! When you look at all this from afar, on the whole it can make an impression, but the life of each minute, of each hour, of each second is woven from this SAME fabric, drab, dull, insipid, WITHOUT ANY TRUE LIFEa mere reflection of life, an illusion of lifepowerless, void of any light or anything that resembles joy in the least. Oh! if it has always to remain like that, then we dont want any of it.
Such is the feeling it gives.
For me its different, because I KNOW that it can and must become something else. But then all this Consciousness which is there and in which I live and which has this world vision must come forward and manifest in the vibration of EACH secondnot in a whole which looks interesting when seen from afar; it must enter the vibration of each second, the consciousness of each minute, otherwise
(silence)
How well I underst and all those who dont know or to whom it hasnt been shown or revealed that we are GOING towards something else, that it WILL BE something else! Such a feeling of futility, stupidity, uselessness, and absolutely devoid of any any intensity, any life, any reality, any ardor, any soulbah! Its disgusting.
While it was all coming up, I thought, How is this possible? For during those years of my life (Im now outside things; I do them but Im entirely outside, so they dont involve mewhether its like this or like that makes no difference to me; Im only doing my work, thats all), I was already conscious, but nevertheless I was IN what I was doing to a certain extent; I was this web of social life (but thank God it wasnt here in India, for had it been here I could not have withstood it! I think that even as a child I would have smashed everything, because here its even worse than over there). You see, there its its a bit less constricting, a bit looser, you can slip through the mesh from time to time to brea the some air. But here, according to what Ive learned from people and what Sri Aurobindo told me, its absolutely unbearable (its the same in Japan, absolutely unbearable). In other words, you cant help but smash everything. Over there, you sometimes get a breath of air, but still its quite relative. and this morning I wondered (you see, for years I lived in that way for years and years) just as I was wondering, How was I ABLE to live that and not kick out in every direction?, just as I was looking at it, I saw up above, above this (it is worse than horrible, it is a kind of Oh, not despair, for there isnt even any sense of feeling there is NOTHING! It is dull, dull, dull gray, gray, gray, clenched tight, a closed web that lets through neither air nor life nor lightthere is nothing) and just then I saw a splendor of such sweet light above itso sweet, so full of true love, true compassion something so warm, so warm the relief, the solace of an eternity of sweetness, light, beauty, in an eternity of patience which feels neither the past nor the inanity and imbecility of thingsit was so wonderful! That was entirely the feeling it gave, and I said to myself, THAT is what made you live, without THAT it would not have been possible. Oh, it would not have been possible I would not have lived even three days! THAT is there, ALWAYS there, awaiting its hour, if we would only let it in.
(silence)
and its still the same thing; only now Im up here (Mother gestures above the head), Im here, so its quite another matter.
I am no longer looking out at the sky from below, but from up above I am looking, as if each look at each thing seen established the Contact.
--
So a whole slice of my life came back, but it didnt stop there! It keeps extending back further and further, and memories keep on coming, things that go back sixty years now, even beyond, seventy, seventy-five yearsthey are all coming back. and so it all has to be put in order.
Its quite odd, for this was not a personal consciousness, it was not someone remembering his lifethis is what I found most interesting; what came were pieces, little chunks of lifes construction, a collection of people and circumstances. and it is impossible to separate the individual from all that is around him, its clear! It all holds together like (if you change one thing, everything is changed) it holds together like an agglomerated mass.
I had seen this earlier from another angle. In the beginning, when I started having the consciousness of immortality and when I brought together this true consciousness of immortality and the human conception of it (which is entirely different), I saw so clearly that when a human (even quite an ordinary human, one who is not a collectivity in himselfas is a writer, for example, or a philosopher or statesman) projects himself through his imagination into what he calls immortality (meaning an indefinite duration of time) he doesnt project himself alone but rather, inevitably and always, what is projected along with himself is a whole agglomeration, a collectivity or totality of things which represent the life and the consciousness of his present existence. and then I made the following experiment on a number of people; I said to them, Excuse me, but lets say that through a special discipline or a special grace your life were to continue indefinitely. What you would most likely extend into this indefinite future are the circumstances of your life, this formation you have built around yourself that is made up of people, relationships, activities, a whole collection of more or less living or inert things.
But that CANNOT be extended as it is, for everything is constantly changing! and to be immortal, you have to follow this perpetual change; otherwise, what will naturally happen is what now happensone day you will die because you can no longer follow the change. But if you can follow it, then all this will fall from you! Underst and that what will survive in you is something you dont know very well, but its the only thing that can survive and all the rest will keep falling off all the time Do you still want to be immortal?Not one in ten said yes! Once you are able to make them feel the thing concretely, they tell you, Oh no! Oh no! Since everything else is changing, the body might as well change too! What difference would it make! But what remains is THAT; THAT is what you must truly hold on to but then you must BE THAT, not this whole agglomeration. What you now call you is not THAT, its a whole collection of things..
Formerly, that was my first stepa long time ago. Now its so very different I wonder how it was possible to have been so totally blind as to call that oneself at any moment in ones life! Its a collection of things. and what was the link by which that could be called oneself? Thats more difficult to find out. Only when you climb above do you come to realize that THAT is at work here, but it could work there as well, or as well here, or here, or here At times there is suddenly a drop of something (Oh, I saw that this morningit was like a drop, a little drop, but with SUCH an intense and perfect light ), and where THAT falls it makes its center and begins radiating out and acting. THAT is what can be called oneselfnothing else. and THAT precisely is what enabled me to live in such dreadfully uninteresting, such nonexistent circumstances. and at the moment when you ARE that, you see how that has lived and how that has used everything, not only in this body but in all bodies and through all time.
At the core, this is the experience; it is no longer knowledge. I now underst and quite clearly the difference between the knowledge of the eternal soul, of life eternal through all its changes, and this CONCRETE experience of the thing.
Its very moving.
--
It was no longer this (that is, life as it is on earth) becoming conscious of That (the eternal soul, this portion of the Supreme as Sri Aurobindo said); it was the eternal soul seeing life in its own way but without separation, without any separation, not like something looking from above that feels itself to be different How strange it is! Its not something else, its NOT something else, its not even a distortion, not even Its losing its illusory quality as described in the old spiritualities thats not what it is! In my experience, there was there was clearly an emotion I cant describe it, there are no words. It wasnt a feeling, it was something like an emotion, a vibration of such TOTAL closeness and at the same time of compassion, a compassion of love. (Oh, words are so pitiful! ) One was this outer thing, which was the total negation of the other and AT THE SAME TIME the other, without the least separation between them. It WAS the other. So what was born in one was born in the other as well, in this eternal light. A sweetness of identity, precisely, an identity that was necessarily such total underst anding with such perfect love but love says it poorly, all words are poor! Its not that; its something else! Its something that cannot be expressed.
I lived that this morning, upstairs.
and this body is oh, how feeble and how poor it is. All it finds to express itself are the tears that come to its eyes! Why?I dont know.
It has a lot to do before it is strong enough to LIVE that.
This was still there, like a sweetness, when I came to the balcony and the notion that people, objects, life, that all that are different is unthinkable! It is not possible. Even thought is so strange!
(silence)
I often find leaving the balcony difficult. and its only this same gentleman (you know, the censor) who starts telling me, Youre keeping them there in the rain just because youre in ecstasy; youre just letting them st and there drenched and getting a crick in the neck looking up in the air. Arent you going to let them go?When he insists too much, I go back inside.
Maybe thats why hes still there. Otherwise, if I forgot (Mother laughs)
0 1960-11-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Mother had wanted this personal conversation to be erased and remain untranscribed, but considering its importance, we thought it better to preserve it.)
Your force cured me in one hour in a spectacular way. I would underst and if you had merely cured my flu, for thats something more general, and with a good general vibration it can be removed; but the force acted with an astonishing precision and accuracy: first it wiped out my flu, then it touched a toothache thats been hurting for the last three days, and in five minutes that was gone. Finally, I had a pulled ligament which for three or four years now has periodically given me pain (a thigh ligament where it joins the pelvis, to be precise) and this last week it was hurting so much that I found it difficult to sit cross-legged for meditation. and then I felt the force come and touch just there, exactly at this point, and the pain vanished. and yet the problem was of an organic nature, not some general illness!
(Mother remains silent a moment, then says:)
Not last night but the night before, I touched at least one of the causes (at that time it felt like THE cause) of a certain powerlessness to act directly on Matter You see, when the Will and the Power come, they are extremely effective everywhere UP TO A CERTAIN REGION (in other words, whether people are receptive or not, open or not, makes no differencewhen the Will is applied it is all-powerful UP TO a certain region) but once it arrives here, at the most material material, its efficacy depends on many things and a power which depends on something is no power! For a long, long time I have been searching for the reasons behind this powerlessness. Ive located a few, one after another, and upon these points there was an immediate effect. But some things resisted (oh, quite a number, in a number of ways), for example it had difficulty acting on illnesses, on the cells, on doubt (not mental doubt, but rather the doubt of the physical consciousness which cant accept certain things that seem impossible to itwhat Sri Aurobindo calls disbelief,1 not a mental doubt, but the disbelief of the physical consciousness which cant accept what is contrary to its own nature and its own working). and as for illnesses, sometimes it has an immediate effect, but sometimes it drags on and has to follow its so-called normal course. On all these three points, I clearly felt that something was hampering it. These are the Enemys strongholds; all that doesnt want the Divine seizes upon it and even the working of the Power coming from above is obstructed, for when it must work here in the body, it is stopped or deformed or altered or diminished.
All this goes on in the subconscient; these are things that were pushed out of the physical consciousness down into the subconscient, so theyre there and they come back up whenever they please.
Two nights ago (no, three the night before Darshan), I had one of those experiences that that leaves you pensive the whole day
--
It was still there when I went down for Darshan, and in spite of all my will to be friendly and pleasant, I was like a rock, looking at that I cant speak of it now, for its the key to SOMETHING VERY GREAT.
(silence)
Its the very point where Nature (I mean the passive side of the force of manifestation) is a slave to the hostile forces. There is a point where She is dominated by them. and this must be cured before the Power from above, the Power of the Shakti, can pass through everything, dominate everything, and be infallible
I saw the thing, the experience took place, but sometimes it takes long for all the consequences to be worked out.2
But immediately, the following dayDarshan dayas the thing developed (you see, something was working inside), I could again turn my attention to the people who were there. and oddly enough, just when you came, there was suddenly a kind of little shock, like an electric shock, and a spark leapt out. and at that moment the Power acted for perhaps a split second You see, there has been this bad karma, this old formation around you for a very long time, and it hadnt I recall telling you several years ago, I shall be able to cure such cases as yours only when the Supramental descends. and this feeling of incapacity, of something resisting, was still present, still aliveof not having the right power to dominate it. But just as you went by, for a second, there was this flash of like a spark when two electric wires touch. It was a golden spark, a resplendent lightzzzt! and it leapt out. Ah! I thought; its good.
That was it.
Then afterwards, when you wrote that you were sick, I thought, Well, well! What does it mean? I didnt answer, I didnt say a thing, but when I went back upstairs and started walking for my japa, I brought back this experience of the Darshanthis moment during the Darshan and I felt that it had left something behind (the effect was not total or absolute, but something had been left), and I decided that through this I would try to make you feel better.
I felt your intervention very clearly. I was really in a bad way, but when I came out of the japa, I knew it was cured. There is still something in the leg that pulls a little, but it has practically disappeared.
--
Before I fell sick, I had a peculiar dream. I was here in the corridor, and someone quite dark came to tell me that Mother wanted me to change my work. and I recall trying with all my might to ask him, But why, why? Finally you arrived. You were there at a table with some others. I was quite annoyed because all these people upset me, they were hindering me from being with you. and you said to me very clearly, Its time this gentleman goes. perhaps this gentleman represented a part of my being which had to disappear or change, but anyway you asked me to do something extremely difficultl felt a very great difficulty doing it. I even remember, in my dream, having left you for an instant, as if I wanted to leave the Ashram, then I must have walked up and down for a while. Finally, I must have made an enormous effort to come back and sit next to you on a bench which symbolically was very hard The next morning I woke up with the flu.
So, its very simple. The sickness was due to one part of your being going faster than the rest. A part of the physical consciousness probably remained behind, and that created this imbalance and triggered the sickness.
It took a huge effort in my dream.
--
That was the wonderful thing when we were together and all these hostile forces were fighting (they tried to kill me any number of times. He always saved me in an absolutely miraculous and marvelous way). But you see, this seemed to create very great BODILY difficulties for him. We discussed this a great deal, and I told him, If one of us must go, I want that it should be me.
It cant be you, he replied, because you alone can do the material thing.3
and that was all.
He said nothing more. He forbade me to leave my body. Thats all. It is absolutely forbidden. he said. You cant, you must remain.4
After that (this took place early in 1950), he gradually You see, he let himself fall ill. For he knew quite well that should he say I must go,5 I would not have obeyed him, and I would have gone. For according to the way I felt, he was much more indispensable than I. But he saw the matter from the other side. and he knew that I had the power to leave my body at will. So he didnt say a thing, he didnt say a thing right to the very last minute
(silence)
Once or twice I heard certain things about him and I told him (for I told him all I saw or heard), and I said that I was that these suggestions were coming from the Enemy and that I was violently fighting against them. Then he looked at metwicehe looked at me, nodded his head and smiled. and thats all. Nothing more was said. How strange! I thought. and thats all. Then I myself must have forgotten. You see, he wanted me to forget.
I only remembered afterwards.
--
and then things dont happen at all as they do in ordinary life for three or four minutes, sometimes five or ten minutes, Im a-bo-minably sick, with every sign that its all over.
(silence)
But its only to make me find the to make me go through the experience and to find the strength. and also to give the body this absolute faith in its Divine Realityto show it that the Divine is there and that He wants to be there and that He shall be there. and its only at such moments as thesewhen logically, according to the ordinary physical logic, its all over that you can seize the key.
You have to go right through everything without flinching.
I havent told this to anyone until now, especially not to those who take care and watch over me, for I dont want to terrify them. Besides, Im not so sure of their reactionsyou underst and, if they started getting frightened, it would be terrible. So I dont tell them. But it has happened at least five or six times, usually in the morning before going down to the balcony, just when I dont have the time and it has to be done quickly, for I have to be ready on time!
Its very, very interesting. But then, you see, at such moments the concreteness of the Presence6concrete to the touch, really to the material touchis extraordinary!
--
Dont write all this down, erase it, because Ill speak of it lateronce its over, when Ive reached the end. I dont want it to fall into anyones h ands by accident. and for you, keep it in your consciousness.
(silence)
--
and then, at the same time, some rather interesting things are happening. Imagine, X is starting to underst and certain things that is, in his own way he is discovering the progress I am making; hes discovering it as a received teaching (through subtle channels). He wrote a letter to Amrita two or three days ago in which he translates in his own language, with his own words and his own way of speaking, exactly my most recent experiencesthings that I have conquered in a general way.
This interests me, for these things do not at all enter through the mind (he doesnt receive a thing there, hes closed there). So in his letter he says that this thing or that is necessary (he describes it in his own words), and he adds, This is why we must be so grateful to have among us the the great Mother7 (as he puts it), the great Mother who knows these things.Good! I said to myself. (It had to do with something specific concerning the capacity for discrimination in the outside world, the different qualities and different functions of different beings, all of which depends on ones inner construction, as it were.) So I see that even this, even these physical experiences, is received ( and yet I hadnt tried, I had never tried to make him receive it); it merely works like this, you see (gesture of a widespread diffusion), and the experience is veryhow should I say?drastic, with a kind of (power of radiation). Imperative.
Original English.
0 1960-12-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
A sort of unification is taking place [in you], as if you had become a more uniform whole within-without. I dont know how to explain thisit feels more unified, more organizeduniform. Not some parts more developed and others less so, some more luminous and others less so; its much more uniform, and uniform even in the vibration, a kind of really a uniformity in all its movements, responses, vibrations, light. and this kind of powdering of the new light which I see is much more widespread. Its as if everything, everything what is happening is really a work of unifyingstabilizing, unifying. and this powdering of golden light has completely enveloped you, with this same blue light in your japa, with different intensities of powerboth are there. Like a unifying of the consciousness, as if all the less receptive elements were starting to open, thereby creating a much more homogeneous whole. I dont know how your nights are, but
Not very conscious.
0 1960-12-13, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Its what Sri Aurobindo calls disbelief, and its located in the most material physical consciousness it isnt doubt (which mainly belongs to the mind), it is almost like a refusal to accept the obvious as soon as it doesnt belong to the little daily routine of ordinary sensations and reactionsa sort of incapacity to accept and recognize the exceptional.
This disbelief is the bedrock of the consciousness. and it comes with a (thought is too big a word for such an ordinary thing) a mental-physical activity which makes you (I am forced to use the word) think things and which always foresees, imagines or draws conclusions (depending on the case) in a way which I myself call DEFEATIST. In other words, it automatically leads you to imagine all the bad things that can happen. and this occurs in a realm which is absolutely run-of-the-mill, in the most ordinary, restricted, banal activities of lifesuch as eating, moving in short, the coarsest of things.
Its fairly easy to manage and control this in the realm of thought, but when it comes to those reactions that rise up from the very bottom theyre so petty that you can barely express them to yourself. For example, if someone mentions that so- and-so ate such- and-such a thing, immediately something somewhere starts stealing in: Ah, hes going to get a stomach-ache! Or you hear that someone is going somewhereOh, hes going to have an accident! and it applies to everything; its swarming down below. Nothing to do with thought as such!
Its quite a nasty habit, for it keeps the most material state in a condition of disharmony, disorder, ugliness and difficulty.
I tried every possible way To get out of it is relatively easy. But then it doesnt change.
The problem appeared again to me very intensely when I read Sri Aurobindos The Yoga of Self-Perfection. I was confronted with a whole formidable world to be transformedto transform what is already luminous is quite easy, but to transform that! ughthis stuff of life, so low and so coarse, so ordinary its much more difficult.1
For the last several days, Ive been at grips fighting with it. How can I stop this idiotic, coarse and above all defeatist automatism from constantly manifesting? Its truly an automatism; it doesnt respond to any conscious will, nothing. So what will it take to ? and its QUITE INTIMATELY related to the bodys illnesses (the old habits the body has of coming out of its rhythmic movement, of entering into confusion)the two things are very intimately linked.
Im deep in the problem.
For me, the problem doesnt mean explaining the thing (its easy to explain), but controlling, mastering and transforming it. That will take some time.
We shall see.
Now X is coming, and these days of meditation with him.2 What is going to happen? By the way, he no longer writes that hes coming to help the Ashram. He wrote to Amrita that hes coming to have the opportunity (I cant exactly remember his words) anyway, to take advantage of his meditations with me so that he can make the necessary transformations! Quite a changed attitude. I had several visions concerning him which Ill tell you later.
Later, Mother added the following: 'In this regard I don't know where, but somewhereSri Aurobindo spoke of this physical mind, and he said that there was nothing you could do with it; it must only be destroyed.'
Mother may be alluding to the following passage from The Synthesis of Yoga: 'There is nothing to be done with this fickle, restless, violent and disturbing factor but to get rid of it whether by detaching it and then reducing it to stillness or by giving a concentration and singleness to the thought by which it will of itself reject this alien and confusing clement.'
Cent. Ed., Vol. XX, p. 300.
0 1960-12-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Its beautiful, isnt it? Its all together, but its innumerable. Its ONE thing going in all directions. and what a color! The tree is glorious.
Nature is a marvelous inventoreverything She does is beautiful. I dont believe that man has succeeded in producing anything so perfect. Later, its true, some new species were developed by him, but nevertheless Nature still remains the origin.
--
I think that even what seems to us ugly in animal and vegetal nature appears so only because of the limitations of our own underst anding. But really, as soon as man enters the scene phew!
Yes, I have always felt that in Nature one can live in beauty, always. But then once man shows up, something gets thrown out of joint. Its the mind, actually. What gives birth to ugliness is really the intrusion of the mind in life. I wonder if it was necessary, if it could not have been immediately harmonious. But it appears not.
Even stones are beautiful; they are always beautiful in one way or another. When life appeared, there were some forms that were a little difficult, but not to that extent, not like certain human mental creations. Of course, there may have been some animal species which were rather but they were more monstrous than actually ugly. and most probably, it only seems like that to our consciousness. But the mind and its the same for all these ideas of sin, of wrong, of all thatits a falsehood. But it was man who invented falsehood, wasnt it? The mind invented falsehood: to deceive! to deceive! and its a curious fact that animals domesticated by man have also learned to lie!
The curve
--
This realm that Im now investigating, oh! I spend whole nights visiting certain places, and there I meet people I know here materially [in the Ashram]. So many are PERFECTLY satisfied with their their infirmities, their incapacities, their ugliness, their powerlessness.
and they protest when you want them to change!
Even last night I went down into it It was so gray and dull and phew! Banal, lifeless. When they are told that, they retort, No, not at all! Things are quite all right as they are, its you who is living in a dreaml and!
Well get out of it one day.
But you cannot get out as long as it all seems quite natural to you. Whats most unfortunate is when you resign yourself to it. You realize this when you go back to earlier states of consciousness; you see that it all seemed, if not quite natural, at least almost inevitable thats how things are, you must take them as they are. and you dont even think about it; you take things as they are, you EXPECT them to be what they are; its the stuff of our daily lives, and it keeps repeating itself endlessly. and the only thing you learn is to hold on, hold on, not let yourself be shaken, to go right through it all and it feels endless, interminable, almost eternal. (However, once you underst and what eternal is, you see that this CANNOT be eternal, for otherwise )
But this particular state of endurancethis endurance that nothing can upsetis very dangerous. and yet its indispensable; for you must first accept everything before having the power to transform anything.
Its what Sri Aurobindo always said: FIRST you must accept EVERYTHINGaccept it as coming from the Divine, as the Divine Will; accept without disgust, without regret, without getting upset or impatient. Accept with a perfect equanimity; and only AFTER that can you say, Now lets get to work to change it.
But to work to change it before having attained a perfect equanimity is impossible. Thats what I have learned during these last years.
and for every detail, its the same. First, May Thy Will be done; then, afterwards, The Will of tomorrow and then those things will disappear. But first, one must accept.
Thats why it takes so long. Because those who readily accept are they get encrusted and buried under it; they no longer move. and those who see the future and what must be have a hard time accepting; they pull back, they kick and protestso they dont have any power.
***
--
When was this? November 5? and now its December 17 Well, its still continuing!
There should be machines to graph the curves, for its so sometimes it goes like this (gesture of a very steep ascent) and at such moments you feel, Ah! now Ive caught the thing. and then back it fallstoil. Sometimes it even feels like youre falling in a hole, really a hole and how are you ever going to get out? But that ALWAYS precedes a rapid ascent and a revelation or illumination: Ah, how wonderful! Ive finally got it!
and that goes on for weeks and weeks.
To have the exact curve or the REAL history, wed have to note down everything at each minute, for its a CONSTANT work thats taking place. You see, the outer activities are becoming almost automatic, whereas this goes on behind Im speaking, yet at the same time this is going on behind.
Its a sort of oscillationreally, its so interestingbetween two extremes, one of which is the all-powerfulness and capital or primordial importance of the Physical, and the other its utter unreality.
and its constantly going back and forth between the two (seesaw motion). and both are equally false, equally true.
It goes back and forth between the two all the timea kind of curve like an electric arc between them; it goes up, it goes down, it falls and then climbs back up. In a flash comes the clear vision that the universal realization will be achieved along with the perfection of the material, TERRESTRIAL world. (I say terrestrial, for the earth is still something unique; the rest of the universe is differentso this blown up speck of dust becomes of capital importance!) Then, at another moment, eternity for which all the universes are simply the expression of a second, and in which all this is a sort ofnot even an interesting game, but rather a breathing in and out, in and out and at such a moment, all the importance we give to material things seems so fantastically idiotic! and it goes in and out In this state, everything is obvious and indisputable. and in the other state, everything is obvious and indisputable. But between the two there is EVERY combination and every possibility.
(silence)
and the problem is to hold both of them so PERFECTLY together that they are no longer in opposition. For one second, it comesah!just a thous andth of a secondah, yes! and then its over, its gone. and you have to begin again.
(silence)
and particularly, this sense of whats important and not important is something which vanishes, leaving no trace at all. You are left like that, with nothing. There is no SCALE in importance that is entirely our mental imbecility. Either nothing is important or EVERYTHING is EQUALLY important.
The speck of dust, there, which you sweep away, or ecstatic contemplationits ALL THE SAME.
0 1960-12-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I dont know what all she did, but she prayed to him to bring me money. She fixed a certain sum. and on Christmas Eve, exactly this sum was given to me! and it was a large sum, several thous and rupees. Exactly the amount she had specified. and it came on that very day in quite an unexpected way.
I found it very interesting.
--
If I could only note all this down Its been so interesting all morning, right from the starton the balcony, then upstairs while walking for my japa! and it was on this same theme (experience of the speck of dust) This habit people have (especially in India, but more or less everywhere among those who have a religious nature), this habit of doing all things religious with respect and compunction and no mixing of things, above all there should be no mixing; in some circumstances, at certain times, you MUST NOT think of God, for then it would be a kind of blasphemy.
Theres the religious attitude, and then theres ordinary life where people do thingsworking, living, eating, enjoying life; they regard these as the essentials, and as for the rest, well, when theres time they think about it. But what Sri Aurobindo brought down, precisely I remember at Tlemcen, Theon used to say that there was a whole world of things, such as eating, for example, or taking care of your body, that should be done automatically, without giving it any importanceits not the time to think of things divine.(!) Thats what he preached. So you have the religious attitude of all the religious types, and then ordinary life I found both of them equally unsatisfactory. Then I came here and told Sri Aurobindo my feeling; I said that if someone is truly in union with the Divine, it CANNOT change no matter what he does (the quality of what youre doing may change, but the union cant change no matter what youre doing). and when he said that this was the truth, I felt a relief. and that feeling has stayed with me all through my life.
and now, all these different attitudes which individuals, groups and categories of men hold are coming from every direction (while Im walking upstairs) to assert their own points of view as the true thing. and I see that for myself, Im being forced to deal with a whole mass of things, most of which are quite futile from an ordinary point of viewnot to mention the things of which these moral or religious types disapprove. Quite interestingly, all kinds of mental formations come like arrows while Im walking for my japa upstairs (Mother makes a gesture of little arrows in the air coming into her mental atmosphere from every direction); and yet, Im entirely in what I could call the joy and happiness of my japa, full of the energy of walking (the purpose of walking is to give a material energy to the experience, in all the bodys cells). Yet in spite of this, one thing after another comes, like this, like that (Mother draws little arrows in the air): what I must do, what I must answer to this person, what I must say to that one, what has to be done All kinds of things, most of which might be considered most futile! and I see that all this is SITUATED in a totality, and this totality I could say that its nothing but the body of the Divine. I FEEL it, actually, I feel it as if I were touching it everywhere (Mother touches her arms, her h ands, her body). and all these things neither veil nor destroy nor divert this feeling of being entirely this a movement, an action in the body of the Divine. and its increasing from day to day, for it seems that He is plunging me more and more into entirely material things with the will that THERE TOO it must be done that all these things must be consciously full of Him; they are full of Him, in actual fact, but it must become conscious, with the perception that it is all the very substance of His being which is moving in everything
It was quite beautiful on the balcony this morning
A sweetness, a sensation (both together) a sensation of eternity, and a sweetness! I wonder if its even possible for anything to escape That!
(silence)
0 1960-12-23, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I sat down shortly before ten oclock for meditation. I was in my normal state and I was interested to see if there would be any difference from earlier times. and really, at first there was no difference at all. Then slowly, slowly, I felt this type of smiling and serene peace that I live in entering into the body. The cells are still not always conscious of it (sometimes they feel a sort of tension of life I dont know what to call it). Theyre conscious of their existence and of what it means and of the Energy that is acting (yes, conscious of the Action and the Energy that acts), but during the meditation THAT descended and there was an extraordinary relaxation. Not the relaxation that comes with surrender,1 which I normally feel before sleeping, but the relaxation that comes from a kind of serene, immutable and eternal joy. At that moment the body felt it could remain like that forever! Oh, how nice I feel! it said. and as a matter of fact, Im not sure but I think he felt the meditation was over, whereas I was still I felt him stirring, so I stopped.
There was a marked difference.
For when something isnt right, a pressure always comes down on the body from above, the pressure of the descending Force. But in this case it wasnt that at all; rather, it was like this (Mother holds her palms upwards in an attitude of total surrender), but beatific in that it lives in itself, it is existence in itself and thats all.
I came here in that state directly after the meditation, and when I sat down You see, I didnt even have the (naturally there is no question of idea) I dont know, not even the instinct to pick up a flower for you, you underst and? and when I sat down here, the consciousness of the column of Light started coming. There was no more personality, no more individuality: there was only a column of Light descending right into the very cells of the body and thats all.
Then it gradually became conscious of itself, conscious of BEING this column of Light. and then the ordinary consciousness slowly returned.
(silence)
Its interesting for me to come here soon after the meditation, for its as if I were objectivizing my experience. Otherwise Id be within, like that (gesture), and theres no longer any (you see, I say Ibut at that moment it doesnt exist!) and even THE BODY feels this way, a kind of immutable and beatific eternity, and thats all.
I tell you, not even When I arrived, I said to you, My h ands are empty; merely the contact with your atmosphere made me say it. But otherwise the my, the h andsnone of it had any meaning.
0 1960-12-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
and I want also to tell you how grateful I am. You think of us even in the smallest human detailsgrateful is not even the word. Simply, may I serve you better, may I better give of myself.
With love.
0 1960-12-31, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Lets see How many months has it been? I havent touched this instrument for at least eight months! and now tomorrow I have to playdont feel like it. Anyway, since I must, I must! Well meditate on it (the New Years Message1)you know what it is, for we worked on it together and then Ill see if something comes.
(silence)
This throng looks more like a chaos. A dreadful confusion. But from next week people will start leaving. The crowning day will be January 6, which is Epiphany (but we have made it into a day for the offering of the material world to the Divine: the material world giving itself to the Divine)it will be the climax,2 and I shall then see you on the 7th. After that, well work hard! But until then, no workmy heads in a kind of soup Oh, if you only knew! Its dreadful what people bring me, what they ask
(Mother sits at the harmonium)
--
X seemed happy about his visit this time. We had long meditations of half an hourhe never seemed to want to leave at all! There was above all a kind of extremely calm universalization. An absolute and universal calm in all the cells of the body. I dont know if it was only me, but it seemed he was in the same stateunable to move, quite content, smiling. Once I heard the clock chime, and as I thought it was time and that perhaps he was ready to leave, I looked; he had removed the mala3 that he wears around his neck and I found him doing japa. As soon as he saw me looking, he quickly put it back on!
But whats most surprising is that with me, not a word, nothing, neither he nor I. and it seems to be just as comfortable for him as it is for me!
(silence)
On the 6th, everyone will finally be gone. But tomorrow is going to be dreadful; I have to sit there for at least two hours distributing calendars. and on top of that, there are all these controversies over the music they play at the library each week. Some say that its very good, others that its very bad (the usual things). and each party has pleaded his case. They told me that theyll give me a concert at Prosperity4 so that I may judge for myself. Its all recorded. Im afraid it will be rather noisy For myself, I know quite well how to get out of it I think of something else! But its going to I can see it already. Didnt I tell you were in a chaos? Well, I have the feeling that this is going to beat all.
How do you mean a chaos?
--
and you? What news?
Its not always easy.
--
Oh, but you know, night after night, night after night, I SEE how things which in their truth are so simple become complicated here in the human atmosphere. Really, its so interesting; I have visions you see, the thing in its truth is so simple its stupefying, and then here it becomes so complicated, painful, exhausting, upsetting.
But its enough to take one step behind to come out of it all.
--
I was in my home, somewherea world whose light is like a sun (golden with scarlet reflections); it was very beautiful. It was in a town, and my house was in that town. I wanted to take to someone some not presents, but things he needed. So I got everything together, prepared it all, and then loaded my arms with all the packages (I had taken my own time to arrange everything nicely), and I went out when the whole town was completely deserted there was not a soul on the streets. A complete solitude. and such a sense of well-being, of light and force! Yes, really a kind of felicity, for no reason. and instead of weighing me down, it seemed as if my packages were pulling me! They pulled me on in such a way that each step was a joy, like a dance.
This lasted the whole time I was crossing the town. Then I came to a border, right at the beginning of another part where I was to take my packages; there, just a little below me, I saw a house under construction the house belonging to the person to whom I had to deliver these presents (the symbolism in all this, of course, is quite clear).
As I approached the house, but still from some distance, I suddenly saw some men busy at work. Then instantly instantly this road which was so vast, sunlit and smoothso smooth to the feet oh, it became the top level of a scaffolding. and what is more, this scaffolding was not very well made, and the closer I came the more complicated it gotthere were planks jutting out, beams off balance. In short, you had to watch every single step to keep from breaking your neck. I began getting annoyed. Moreover, my packages were heavy. They were heavy and they so saddled my arms that I was unable to hold onto anything and had constantly to do a balancing act. Then I began thinking, My God, how complicated this world is! and just at that moment, I saw a young person coming along, like a young girl dressed in European clothes, with a hat on her head all black! This young person had white skin, but her clothes were black, and she wore black shoes on her small white feet. She was dressed all in blackblack, all in black. Like complete unconsciousness. She also came carrying packages (many more than me), and she came hopping along the whole length of the scaffolding, putting her feet just anywhere! My God, I said to myself, shes going to break her neck!But not at all! She was totally unconscious; she wasnt even aware that it was dangerous or complicateda total unconsciousness. But her unconsciousness is what allowed her to go on like that! I watched it all. Well, sometimes its good to be unconscious! Then she disappeared; she had only come to give me a demonstration (she neither saw me nor looked at me). and looking down at the workers, I saw that everything was getting more and more complicated, more and more, more and more and there wasnt even any ladder by which to get down. In other words, it was getting unbearable. Then something in me rebelled: Ah, no! Ive had enough of all thisits too stupid!
and IMMEDIATELY, I found myself down below, relieved of my packages. and everything was perfectly simple. (I had even brought the packages along without realizing it.) All, all was in order, very neat, very luminous, very simplesimply because I had said, Ah, no! Ive had enough of this business! Why all these stupid complications!5
But these are not dreams, they are types of activitymore real, more concrete than material life; the experience is much more concrete than ordinary life.
I have had hundreds of such examples Its not always the same scene. The scenes are different, but the story is always the same the thing, in its truth, is absolutely luminous, pleasant, charming; then as soon as men get involved, it becomes an abominable complication. and once you say, No! Ive had enough of all thisits NOT TRUE! it goes away.
There have been similar stories in dreams with X. I saw him when he was very young (his education, the ideas he had, how he was trained). and the same thing happened. I was with him but Ill tell you that another time6 and then at the end, Id had enough and I said, Oh, no! Its too ridiculous! and with that I left the house. At the door was a little squirrel sitting on his haunches making friendly little gestures towards me. Oh! I said, heres someone who underst ands better!
But later I observed, I saw that this had helped drain him of all the weight of his past education. Very interesting Night after night, night after night, night after nightplenty of things! You could write novels about it all.
--
'It was his house, and it was rather complicated to enter. I was saying a mantra or japa when X came along; he had a ... a terribly reproachful air! Then he smelled my h ands: 'It's a bad habit to wear perfume. (Mother laughs) You cannot live a spiritual life when you wear perfume.' then I looked at him and thought, 'My God, does he have to be so backward!' But it annoyed me, so I said, 'Very well, I'm going.' When I got near the door, he started saying, 'Is it true you have been married several times, and that you've been divorced?' Then a kind of anger entered me (laughing) and I told him, 'No, not just once, but twice!' Thereupon, I left. All the old ideas...
After that was when I saw the little squirrel.'
0 1961-01-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I came down at 9:30 sharp, thinking half an hour would be enough to cross the corridor and get here. Apparently not!
(Mother gives Satprem a rose.) This is the Tenderness of the Divine for for himself! The tenderness He has for his creation. Creation I dont like that word, as if it all were created from nothing! It is He himself, creating with all his tenderness. Some of these roses get quite big; theyre so lovely!
and I am how to put it? Nothing we say is ever absolutely true, but, to stretch it a bit, while I am not worried, not perturbed, not discouraged, I feel I cant get anything done; I spend all my time, all my time, seeing people, receiving and answering lettersdoing nothing. I havent touched my translation1 for over a week. T. sent me her notebook with questions and I had it for two weeks before I found time to answer.2 Nothing is ready for the Bulletin except what you have done.
Its a pity you have no time to do your work.
Even the translation. You know, when I am tired and work on the translation I feel rested. But, oh, all these letters! Even the best of them are stupid. Anyway. When I came here just now there was someone waiting to see me I told him to come at 11: 00, and by then there will be 700 people waiting for me to come out. They are already gathered around the Samadhi.3
Well, enough grumbling. Lets get to work.
--
Underst anding The Synthesis of Yoga is quite simple: I have only to be silent for a moment, and Sri Aurobindo is here.
Its not this bodys underst anding: HE is here!
--
The notebook in which a young woman disciple asked questions on Sri Aurobindo's Thoughts and Aphorisms. Later, Mother preferred answering verbally Satprem's questions on the aphorisms. This allowed her to speak of her experiences freely without the restrictions imposed by a written reply. These 'Commentaries on the Aphorisms' were later partially published in the Bulletin under the title Propos. Here they are republished chronologically in their unabridged form.
Where Sri Aurobindo's body lies, in the Ashram courtyard.
0 1961-01-10, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have a stack of unread letters this high and an even bigger stack Ive read but havent answered. How can I work on the Aphorisms when I am constantly hounded by people pulling on me simply because they have written! If I dont answer immediately, they say (not in words, but ): So youre not answering my letter!
These are not very favorable conditions!
--
49To feel and love the God of beauty and good in the ugly and the evil, and still yearn in utter love to heal it of its ugliness and its evil, this is real virtue and morality.1
Do you have a question?
How can one collaborate in curing the evil and ugliness seen everywhere? By loving? What is the power of love? What effect can an individual consciousness, acting alone, have on the rest of mankind?
How to collaborate in curing evil and ugliness? We can say that theres a kind of hierarchic scale of collaboration or action; a negative cooperation and a positive cooperation.
To begin with, theres what could be called a negative way, the way expounded by Buddhism and similar religions: the refusal to see. To be in a state of such purity and beauty that there is no perception of evil and ugliness. Its like something that doesnt touch you because it doesnt exist in you. This is the perfection of the negative method.
It is quite elementary: never take notice of evil, never speak of the evil present in others, never perpetuate the vibrations of evil by observation, criticism or giving undue attention to the evil deed. This is what Buddha taught: each time you mention an evil you help spread it.
--
Nevertheless, it ought to be a very general rule; yet its critics have a reply: If you dont see evil you can never cure it. If you leave someone to his squalor he will never emerge from it. (Its not exactly true, but its how they legitimize their actions.) In this aphorism, Sri Aurobindo has anticipated these objections: it is not through ignorance or unconsciousness or indifference that you fail to see evilyou can see and even feel it, but you refuse to collaborate in spreading it by giving it the force of your attention or the support of your consciousness. and for that, you must yourself be above the perception and sensationable to see evil or ugliness without suffering, without feeling shocked or troubled. You see them from a height where such things do not exist, yet you have the conscious perception of themthey dont affect you, you are free. This is the first step.
The second step is to be POSITIVELY conscious of the supreme Goodness and Beauty behind all things and supporting all things, permitting them to exist. Once you have seen Him, you can perceive Him behind the mask and the distortioneven ugliness, even cruelty, even evil are a disguise for that Something which is essentially good or beautiful, luminous, pure.
With this comes TRUE collaboration. For when you have this vision, this awareness, when you live in this consciousness, you also get the power to PULL That into the manifestation on earth and put it into contact with what, for the time being, distorts and disguises; thus the deformation and disguise are gradually transformed by the influence of the Truth behind.
Here we are at the top rung on the scale of collaboration.
Put this way, there is no need to bring the principle of love into our explanation. But if we want to know or underst and the nature of the Force or Power that permits and accomplishes this transformation (specially in the case of evil, but for ugliness to some extent as well), we see that of all powers, Love is obviously the mightiest, the most integralintegral in that it applies to all cases. Its even mightier than the power of purification which dissolves bad wills and is, in a way, master over the adverse forces, but which doesnt have the direct transforming power; because the power of purification Must FIRST dissolve in order to form again later. It destroys one form to make a better one from it, while Love doesnt need to dissolve in order to transform: it has the direct transforming power. Love is like a flame changing the hard into the malleable, then sublimating even the malleable into a kind of purified vapor. It doesnt destroy: it transforms.
Love, in its essence and in its origin, is like a white flame obliterating ALL resistances. You can have the experience yourself: whatever the difficulty in your being, whatever the weight of accumulated mistakes, the ignorance, incapacity, bad will, a single SECOND of this Lovepure, essential, suprememelts everything in its almighty flame. One single moment and an entire past can vanish. One single TOUCH of That in its essence and the whole burden is consumed.
Its easy to underst and how someone who has this experience can spread it and act upon others, since to have it you must touch the unique, supreme Essence of the whole manifestation the Origin and the Essence, the Source and the Reality of all that is; then you immediately enter the realm of Unity where there is no more separation among individuals: its a single vibration that can repeat itself endlessly in outer forms.2
If you go high enough, you come to the Heart of everything. Whatever manifests in this Heart can manifest in all things. This is the great secret, the secret of divine incarnation in an individual form. For in the normal course of things, what manifests at the center is only realized in the outer form with the awakening and RESPONSE Of the will within the individual form. But if the central Will is constantly, permanently represented in one individual, he can then serve as an intermediary between that Will and all beings, and will FOR THEM. Whatever this being perceives and consciously offers to the supreme Will is replied to as if it came from each individual being. and if individuals happen to be in a more or less conscious and voluntary relationship with this representative being, their relationship increases his efficacy and the supreme Action can work in Matter in a much more concrete and permanent way. This is the reason for these descents of what could be called polarized consciousnesses that always come to earth for a particular realization, with a definite purpose and missiona mission decided upon before the actual embodiment. These mark the great stages of the supreme incarnations upon earth.
and when the day comes for the manifestation of supreme Lovea crystalized, concentrated descent of supreme Love that will truly be the hour of Transformation, for nothing will be able to resist That.
But as its all-powerful, a certain receptivity must be prepared on earth so its effects are not devastating. Sri Aurobindo has explained it in one of his letters. Someone asked him, Why doesnt this Love come now?, and he replied something like this: If divine Love in its essence were to manifest on earth, it would be like an explosion; for the earth is not supple enough or receptive enough to widen to the measure of this Love. The earth must not only open itself but become wide and supple. Matternot just physical Matter, but the substance of the physical consciousness as wellis still much too rigid.
***
--
Ah, thats always better! With pencil and paper I have to look at what Im writing and it holds me back like a leash.
Then why dont you just speak? T or Z could come and listen to youthey would be overjoyed!
Oh no, my child, you dont see at all! To speak I must have a receptive atmosphere! The idea of talking aloud all alone in my room would never occur to me. Sound doesnt come: what comes is a direct transmission and if I manage to connect it to my h and and write its transmitted, although it always gets somewhat pulled down. I can be doing anything at all, it doesnt matter, but it must be something that doesnt monopolize my attention, like brushing my hair in the morning for example: then it comes directly and nothing stops it! But I would never think of uttering a word! That only happens when I find some receptivity in front of me, something I can use.
What I say to people depends entirely upon their inner state. Thats precisely why I had such enormous difficulty at the Playground3the atmosphere was so mixed! It was a STRUGGLE to find someone receptive so I could speak. and if Im in the presence of people who underst and nothing, I cant say a word. On the other h and, some people come prepared to receive and then suddenly it all comes but usually theres no tape-recorder!
I have replied endlessly, I have given all sorts of explanations about the organization of the School, about World Union,4 about the true way to organize industry (its true functioning)so many things! If all that were compiled we could publish brochures! Sometimes Ive spoken three-quarters of an hour non-stop to people who listened with delight and were receptive but quite incapable of making a written report of it. At times like that we could have used one of your machines! But when things are organized in advance, it may well be that nothing comes out at allmentalizing stops the flow. If I is in front of me, I cant say anything to her because she doesnt underst and. I already have trouble writing to herwhat I have to say is always brought down a bit; but if she were here in the room and I had to speak to her, nothing at all would come out!
No, when we feel like it and when she doesnt raise any question about an aphorismat least not an impossible questionwell do this: I will speak here, its much easier for me. This way things come that I havent seen before; while when I write like that, they are usually things Ive seen on other occasions (not that I try to recall them, they are there and simply come back). But when theres a new contact, something new always comes.
***
(A little later, Mother made the following remark concerning the Agenda of December 13, 1960, where she speaks of the physical Minds. disbelief and defeatist reactions as intimately linked to the bodys illnesses.)
This defeatist Mind is still functioning and in full swing!
When we get out of that.
0 1961-01-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When we enter a certain state of consciousness, we plainly see that we are capable of anything and that ultimately there is no sin not potentially our own. Is this impression correct? and yet certain things make us rebel or disgust us. We always reach some inadmissible point. Why? What is the true, effective attitude when confronted with Evil?
There is no sin not our own.
You have this experience when for some reason or other, depending on the case, you come into contact with the universal consciousness not in its limitless essence but on any level of Matter. There is an atomic consciousness, a purely material consciousness and an even more generally prevailing psychological consciousness. When, through interiorization or a sort of withdrawal from the ego you enter into contact with that zone of consciousness we can call psychological terrestrial or human collective (there is a difference: human collective is restricted, while terrestrial includes many animal and even plant vibrations; but in the present case, since the moral notion of guilt, sin and evil belongs exclusively to human consciousness, let us simply say human collective psychological consciousness); when you contact that through identification, you naturally feel or see or know yourself capable of any human movement whatsoever. To some extent, this constitutes a Truth-Consciousness, or at such times the egoistical sense of what does or doesnt belong to you, of what you can or cannot do, disappears; you realize that the fundamental construction of human consciousness makes any human being capable of doing anything. and since you are in a truth-consciousness, you are aware at the same time that to feel judgmental or disgusted or revolted would be an absurdity, for EVERYTHING is potentially there inside you. and should you happen to be penetrated by certain currents of force (which we usually cant follow: we see them come and go but we are generally unaware of their origin and direction), if any one of these currents penetrates you, it can make you do anything.
If one always remained in this state of consciousness, keeping alive the flame of Agni, the flame of purification and progress, then after some time, not only could one prevent these movements from taking an active form in oneself and becoming expressed physically, but one could act upon the very nature of the movement and transform it. Needless to say, however, that unless one has attained a very high degree of realization it is virtually impossible to keep this state of consciousness for long. Almost immediately one falls back into the egoistic consciousness of the separate self, and all the difficulties return: disgust, the revolt against certain things and the horror they create in us, and so on.
It is probableeven certain that until one is completely transformed these movements of disgust and revolt are necessary to make one do WITHIN ONESELF what is needed to slam the door on them. For after all, the point is to not let them manifest.
In another aphorism, Sri Aurobindo says (I no longer recall his exact words) that sin is simply something no longer in its place. In this perpetual Becoming nothing is ever reproduced and some things disappear, so to speak, into the past; and when its time for them to disappear, they seemto our very limited consciousness evil and repulsive: we revolt against them because their time is past.
But if we had the vision of the whole, if we were able to contain past, present and future simultaneously (as it is somewhere up above), then we would see how relative these things are and that its mainly the progressing evolutionary Force which gives us this will to reject; yet when these things still had their place, they were quite tolerable. However, to have this experience in a practical sense is impossible unless we have a total vision the vision that is the Supremes alone! Therefore, one must first identify with the Supreme, and then, keeping this identification, one can return to a consciousness sufficiently externalized to see things as they really are. But thats the principle, and in so far as we are able to realize it, we reach a state of consciousness where we can look at all things with the smile of a complete certainty that everything is exactly as it should be.
Of course, people who dont think deeply enough will say, Oh, but if we see that things are exactly as they should be, then nothing will budge. But no! There isnt a fraction of a second when things arent moving: theres a continuous and total transformation, a movement that never stops. Only because its difficult for us to feel that way can we imagine that by our entering certain states of consciousness things would not change. Even if we entered into an apparently total inertia, things would continue to change and we along with them!
Ultimately, disgust, rebellion and anger, all movements of violence, are necessarily movements of ignorance and of limitation with all the weakness that limitation implies. Rebellion is a weakness, for its the feeling of an impotent will. When you feel, when you see that things are not as they should be, then you rebel against whatever is out of keeping with your vision. But if you were all-powerful, if your will and your vision were all-powerful, there would be no opportunity to rebel! You would always see that all things are as they should be! That is omnipotence.1 Then all these movements of violence become not only useless but profoundly ridiculous.
Consequently, there is only one solution: by aspiration, concentration, interiorization and identification, to unite with the supreme Will. and that is both omnipotence and perfect freedom. Its the only omnipotence, the only freedomall the rest are approximations. You may be en route, but its not That, not the total thing.
If you make the experiment, you will come to see that this supreme freedom and this supreme power are accompanied by a total peace and an unfaltering serenity; if you notice any contradictionrevolt, disgust or something inadmissiblethis indicates that some part in You is not touched by the transformation, is still en route: something still holding on to the old consciousness, thats all.
In this aphorism, Sri Aurobindo speaks of those who hate sinners that one mustnt hate sinners.
--
Consider the case of a woman with many friends, and these friends are very fond of her for her special capacities, her pleasant company, and because they feel they can always learn something from her. Then all of a sudden, through a quirk of circumstances, she finds herself socially ostracizedbecause she may have gone off with another man, or may be living with someone out of wedlockall those social mores with no value in themselves. and all her friends (I dont speak of those who truly love her), all her social friends who welcomed her, who smiled so warmly when passing her on the street, suddenly look the other way and march by without a glance. This has happened right here in the Ashram! I wont give the details, but it has happened several times when something conflicted with accepted social norms: the people who had shown so much affection, so much kindness oh! Sometimes they even said, Shes a lost woman!
I must say that when this happens here. In the world at large it seems quite normal, but when this happens here it always gives me a bit of a shock, in the sense that I say to myself, So theyre still at that level!
Even those who claim to be broad-minded, above these conventions, immediately fall right into the trap. and to ease their consciences they say, Mother wouldnt allow that. Mother wouldnt permit that. Mother wouldnt tolerate such a thing!to add a further inanity to the rest.
This state is very difficult to get out of. It is really Pharisaismthis sense of social dignity, this narrow-mindednessbecause no one with an atom of intelligence would fall into such a hole! Those who have traveled through the world, for instance, and seen for themselves that social mores depend entirely upon climatic conditions, upon races and customs and still more upon the times, the epochthey are able to look at it all with a smile. But the self-righteous oooh!
This is a primary stage. As long as you havent gone beyond this condition, you are unfit for yoga. Because truly, no one in such a rudimentary state is ready for yoga.
--
I am going downstairs on the 21st, for Saraswati Puja.2 They have prepared a folder with a long quotation from Savitri and five photos of my face taken from five different angles.
The title of the folder is the line from Savitri that gave me the most overpowering experience of the entire book (because, as I told you, as I read, I would LIVE the experiencesreading brought, instantly, a living experience). and when I came to this particular line I was as if suddenly swept up and engulfed in (the is wrong, an is wrongits neither one nor the other, its something else) eternal Truth. Everything was abolished except this:
For ever love, O beautiful slave of God3
--
When asked later about the meaning of this somewhat elliptical statement, Mother said: 'There are two stages. The first involves a mental ( and possibly intuitive) vision of what will be (perhaps in an immediate future), and this is what we call seeing things "as they should be." The other is an identification with the supreme Will and the perception that at each second everything is exactly as the Supreme wants it to be, that it is the precise expression of the Supreme. The first is a vision of what is coming and says, "That's how things should be." But we overlook the distance between what presently exists and what is coming. While if we go high above and become one with the Consciousness of the supreme Will, we see that at every instant, at every moment in the universe, all is exactly as it should beexactly as the Supreme wants it to be. That is Omnipotence.'
Saraswati represents the universal Mother's aspect of Knowledge and artistic creativity. On this occasion, Mother would go down to the Meditation Hall and the disciples would silently pass in front of her to receive a message. This year they would receive a folder containing five photographs of Mother.
Savitri, Vol. 29, XI.I.702.
0 1961-01-17, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Our self-deception is always in good faith! We always act for the welfare of others or in the interests of humanity and to serve you (that goes without saying!). How exactly do we deceive ourselves?
I would like to ask you a question in turnbecause there are two ways of underst anding your question. It can be taken in the same ironic or humorous tone that Sri Aurobindo has used in his aphorism when he wonders at mans capacity for self-deception. That is, you are putting yourself in the place of the self-deceiver and saying, But I am of good faith! I always want the welfare of others the interests of humanity, to serve the Divine (of course!). Then how can I be deceiving myself?
But actually, there are really two quite different forms of self-deception. One can be very shocked by certain things, not for personal reasons but precisely because of ones goodwill and ardor to serve the Divine, when one sees people misconducting themselves, being egoistical, unfaithful, treacherous. There comes a stage when one has mastered these things and doesnt permit them to manifest IN ONESELF; but to the extent that one is in contact with ordinary consciousness, ordinary viewpoints, ordinary life and thought, their possibility is still there, latent, because they are the inverse of the qualities one is striving for. and this opposition always exists until one has risen above and no longer has either the quality or the defect. As long as one has virtue, one always has its latent opposite. The opposition disappears only when one is beyond virtue and sin.
But until then, there is this kind of indignation stemming from the fact that one is not entirely above: its a period when one totally disapproves of certain things and would be incapable of doing them. and up to this point, there is nothing to say, unless one gives an external, violent expression to his indignation. If anger interferes, it indicates an entire contradiction between the feeling one wants to have and this reaction towards others. Because anger is a deformation of vital power originating from an obscure and thoroughly unregenerate vital,1 a vital still subject to all the ordinary actions and reactions. When an ignorant, egoistic individual will exploits this vital power and encounters opposition from other individual wills around it, then under the pressure of opposition this power changes into anger and tries to obtain through violence what could not be achieved by the pressure of the Force alone.
Anger, moreover, like all forms of violence, is always a sign of weakness, impotence and incapacity. Here the deception comes from the approval one gives it or the flattering adjective one covers it with; for rage can be no more than blind, ignorant and asuricopposed to the light.
But this is still the best of cases.
There is another case where peoplewithout knowing it or because they WANT to ignore italways pursue their personal interests, their preferences, their attachments, their concepts; people who are not entirely consecrated to the Divine and make use of moral and yogic ideas to conceal their personal motives. These people doubly deceive themselves: not only do they deceive themselves through their outer activities, their relations with others, but they also deceive themselves about their personal motives; instead of serving the Divine they are serving their own egoism. and this happens constantly, constantly! One serves his own personality, his egoism, while pretending to serve the Divine. This is no longer even self-deception: its sheer hypocrisy.
This mental habit of always cloaking everything with a favorable appearance, of giving all movements a favorable explanation, is at times so flagrant that it can fool nobody but oneself (although it may occasionally be subtle enough to create an illusion). It is a sort of habitual self-exoneration, the habit of giving a favorable mental excuse, a favorable mental explanation for all one does, all one says, all one feels. For example, someone with no self-control who strikes another in great indignation and is ready to call it divine wrath! Righteous2 is perfect, because righteous immediately introduces this element of puritanical moralitywonderful!
This power of self-deception, the minds craft in devising splendid justifications for any ignorance or folly whatsoever, is tremendous.
and its not a r andom experience coming now and then, its something you can witness minute by minute. You generally see it far more readily in others! But if you watch yourself carefully, you will catch yourself a thous and times a daylooking at things in a favorable way: Oh, its NOT the same thing! and besides, its NEVER the same for you as it is for your neighbor!
For Sri Aurobindo and Mother, the 'vital' represents the regions of consciousness or the centers of consciousness below the mind between the throat and the sex center, i.e. the whole region of emotions, feelings, passions, etc., which constitute the various expressions of the Life-Energy.
Throughout the Agenda, words Mother originally spoke in English are italicized.
0 1961-01-19, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
No. Its purely physical. Its because people. When I came down, I felt fine. Only they kept me st anding there, on and on. When I am seated, its all right; but beyond a certain point, speaking also becomes difficult.
***
--
I think it would be wiser if I went back upstairsalthough if I leave here too early, people will be waiting for me and Ill have to see them before going up. We could meditate a little; as soon as I meditate, everything is fine.
(meditation)
0 1961-01-22, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I saw it last night oof! It was a kind of artificial hurricane created by semi-human beings (that is, they have human forms but they arent men). They created the storm to cut me off from my home. But everything and everyone was disruptedit must have been going on for a rather long time. Finally last night it became quite amusing: I kept attempting to get to my home which was up above, but each time I tried to find a way everything was blocked by try to imagine, artificial, mechanical and electric thunderstorms, and then things made to cave in. All of it was artificial, nothing real, and yet terribly dangerous.
At last I found myself in a big place down below where there was a row of houses, all kinds of things, and it was absolutely essential that I go back upwhen suddenly a somewhat indistinct form (rather dark, unluminous) came to me and said, Oh, dont go there, its very bad, very dangerous! Theyve set it all up in a terrifying way: none can withst and it! You mustnt go there, wait a bit. and if you need something, do come, you know I have everything you need! (Mother laughs) its a little old and dusty but youll manage! Then she led me into a huge room filled with objects piled one on top of another, and in one corner she showed me a bathtubmy child, it was a marvel! A splendid pink marble bathtub! But it was unused, dusty and old. Well just wipe it off, she said, and youll be able to use it! She showed me other areas for washing and dressing, there was everything one could possibly need. You can use it all. Dont go up there! I looked at her closely. She struck me as having a tiny face, it was oddit wasnt a form, it was it was a form and yet it wasnt! As imprecise as that. Then I clasped her in my arms and cried out, Mother, you are nice! (Mother laughs) I knew then that she was material Mother Nature.
After that I felt quite at ease. The battle was overit was over FOR THE MOMENT, because they werent finished: they continued their uproar on the other side; but I didnt have to go there anymore.
--
But they are furious! There is evidently a whole alignment of forces (they must be vital forces) between here and my domain. Theyre furious! They set up explosions, demolitions. and I could see all the settings they were quite artificial, nothing real, but dangerous nonetheless.
All in all, it was rather amusing.
--
Yes, I am disrupting their work I know perfectly well that I am disrupting their domination of the world! All these vital beings have taken possession of the whole of Matter (Mother touches her body)life and action and have made it their domain, this is evident. But they are beings of the lower vital, for they seemed artificial they didnt express any higher form, but an entire range of artificial mechanisms, artificial will, artificial organization, all deriving from their own imagination and not at all from a higher inspiration.1 The symbol was very clear.
and I saw my own domain through them and through it all; I saw my domain: I can see it!, I said. But no sooner would I start on my way than the path would be lost, I no longer saw it, I couldnt see anymore where I was going. It became almost impossible to get my bearings there: hundreds and thous ands of people, thingsutter confusion. An incoherent immensity and violent, what violence!
I felt something last night.
--
Oh, no! (Mother laughs) I dont use such violent means! No, no! It was very strange. When it fell upon me (four or five days ago, I no longer recall), everything I had gained materially disappeared! As though all that had been conquered and mastered, even what had begun to change, even wrong functionings that had completely ceased, all that had been set right and brought under control: gone! Gone! Completely gone! As if everything came back in one fell swoop.
I remained perfectly tranquil, there was nothing else to do; I knew it meant a battle. I was perfectly tranquil, but I could no longer eat, I could no longer rest, do japa2 or walk, and my head felt as though it would burst. I could only ab andon myself (Mother opens her arms in a gesture of surrender), enter into a very, very deep trance, a very deep samadhithis is something one can always do. But that was the only thing left to me. Ideas were just as clear as ever (all that is above and doesnt budge), but my body was in a very bad way. It was a fight, a fight at each second. The least thing, just to walk a step, was a struggle, an awful battle!
Then last night I saw the symbol, the image of the thing. But what was it? It was an element in the most material Matter,3 because it was deep down below; yet despite it all, Mother Nature was in charge there: she was familiar with everything, knew everything and it was all at her disposalabsolutely the most material Nature. and she herself had no light, but was very, very she had a concealed power that was completely invisible.
Each time I set out to leave her domain and ascend above, it triggered a hurricane. I would pass this way and the storm started up, pass that way, unleash a gale. Finally she approached me and said very gently, very sweetly, in a most unassuming way, No, dont go there, dont go! Dont try to return to your home. They have set up a dreadful hurricane! and artificial: there were explosions like bombs everywhere, and even worse, like thunderbolts. One could see the artificial tricks and electrical effects they were using to create their thunder, but it was on a tremendous scale!
It isnt over.
I simply consented to stay there. You will have all you need, stay here quietly. and what beautiful things she had, lovely things! They were unused and dusty. (It was surely the symbol of ancient realizationsrealizations of the ancient Rishis, things like that. Who knows?) They were first class, but completely neglected and thick with dust, like material objects left unusedwhich no one knew HOW to use. She put them at my disposal: Look, look, let me show you! There was a tremendous accumulation of things, piled in such great confusion that one couldnt see. Yet the marvel of it was that when she led me to a corner to show me something, everything immediately moved aside and order was restored, so that the object she wanted to show me stood out all by itself. and oh, a thing of beauty! Made of pink marble! A pink marble bathtub of a shape I didnt recognizenot Roman, not antique (not modern, far from it!)how beautiful it was! and whenever she wanted to show me something in this untidy and cluttered room full of objects piled one on top of another, they would organize themselves, take their proper place, and all became neat. You will just have to dust them off a bit, she said. (Mother laughs)
But Im not surprised it came down on you.
Oh, I felt it! It was very violent. It came down on me three times and I told myself, Hmm, someone is cleaning out! It felt like something was being removed from me that shouldnt be there. But the third time I doubted it was you because it became so violent, particularly around the abdomen, like something being torn out of me. Strange. Vibrations, nothing but vibrations very, very violent.
For me it was in the head (not last night but over the past few days), when I was trying to do my japaoh, it was as though my head would burst! All the nerves were not just tense (Mother touches the nape of her neck), but cramped. and my head felt as if boiling oil were being poured inside it; it was about to explode, and I couldnt see clearly.
Something was obviously bent on preventing me from going down for the distribution.4 But by an act of will I went down. I will do it, I said. But it was difficult. There were moments when it sidled up to me: Now youre going to faint, and then, Now your legs will no longer be able to walk. Now. It kept coming like that. So I kept repeating the japa the whole time, and it was touch- and-go right up to the end. Finally I couldnt distinguish people, I saw only shapes, forms passing by, and not clearly. When the distribution was over, I got up (I knew I had to get up), I stood up without flinching and stepped down from the chair without faltering. But I was not careful and when I turned away from the light in the room to go towards the staircasean abrupt blackout. Not the blackout of a faintmy eyes no longer saw. I saw only shadows. Ah! I said to myself, where is the step?! and to avoid missing it, I clutched the railing. What a commotion that made! Champaklal came rushing up, thinking I was about to fall!
Anyhow.
It was only afterwards, a long time after, that I began to see again. It was clearly something that was NOT WILLING. But when will it give in? I cant say. No victory has been won, far from it. and it has remained like this: status quo.
It will probably have to begin again, but in what manner?
--
You see, personal surrender and devotion is an excellent solution for the individual, but it doesnt work for the collectivity. For example, as soon as I am alone and lying on my bedpeace! (Ah, I forgot! They had invented yet another thing: making my heartbeats irregular. Every three or four beats it would stop; then it would start up again, pounding as if I had been struck. Three, four beats, a faint little beat, then stop then, bang! Blow after blow. One more of their extraordinary inventions!) But, as soon as I stretch out and make a total surrender of all the cellsno more activity, nothingeverything goes well. But I am well aware that this surrender has an effect on the action only to the extent that the Supreme Lord has decided upon the action, and those movements stretch over long periods of time5: all sorts of things may happen before the final Victory is won. Because, for us, the scale is very small; even if it were of terrestrial proportions, it would be a very small scale; but on a universal scale. These forces have their place and their action, their universe, and as long as their place and their action are maintained, they will be here. So before their action can be exhausted or become useless, many things can happen.
Individually, however, there is almost instantaneous bliss. But this is not a true solution its a solution in the long run, by repercussion. To have true comm and here in this world, all of that must be mastered.
and this is the confusion made by all those people who believed that their what they called their personal salvation was the salvation of the worldits not true at all! It isnt trueits a PERSONAL salvation.
(silence)
But all of that is wonderfully, accurately expressed and EXPLAINED in Savitri. Only you must know how to read it! The entire last part, from the moment she goes to seek Satyavan in the realm of Death (which affords an occasion to explain this), the whole description of what happens there, right up to the end, where every possible offer is made to tempt her, everything she must refuse to continue her terrestrial labor it is my experience EXACTLY.
Savitri is really a condensation, a concentration of the universal Mother the eternal universal Mother, Mother of all universes from all eternityin an earthly personality for the Earths salvation. and Satyavan is the soul of the Earth, the Earths jiva. So when the Lord says, he whom you love and whom you have chosen, it means the earth. All the details are there! When she comes back down, when Death has yielded at last, when all has been settled and the Supreme tells her, Go, go with him, the one you have chosen, how does Sri Aurobindo describe it? He says that she very carefully takes the SOUL of Satyavan into her arms, like a little child, to pass through all the realms and come back down to earth. Everything is there! He hasnt forgotten a single detail to make it easy to underst and for someone who knows how to underst and. and it is when Savitri reaches the earth that Satyavan regains his full human stature.
These seem to be the forces ruling the subconscious mechanisms or reactions of the body: all the automatism produced by evolution and atavismwhat might be termed evolutionary habits. This is the 'descending path,' which started forty years earlier, as Mother said (or the 'physical plunge' referred to by Sri Aurobindo), leading to the pure cellular consciousness.
Japa: the continuous repetition of a mantra. Mother's mantra is a song of the cells, the sole material or physical process used by her for awakening the cells and stabilizing the Supramental Force in her body.
Later, Mother specified: 'These are elements in the material substance entirely possessed by adverse forces and opposed to the transformation.'
On the previous day, January 21, Saraswati Puja, Mother had given a message and photos to each disciple.
Later, on the 27th, Mother remarked: 'I was reading about this very thing yesterday in The Secret of the Veda, in the first hymn translated by Sri Aurobindo (the reference is to the colloquy between Indra and Agastya, Rig Veda I.170cf. The Secret of the Veda, Cent. Ed., X.241 ff.), and it helped me put my finger on the problem. In this hymn there is a dispute between Indra and the Rishi because the Rishi wants to progress too quickly without first passing through Indra [the god of the Mind], and Indra stops him; finally they reach an agreement. Sri Aurobindo's commentary is quite interesting: when one has the INDIVIDUAL power to go directly, but neglects the steps which are still necessary for the whole, for the universal movement, then one is stopped short. That is absolutely my experience.'
***
0 1961-01-24, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In the middle of the night before last, I woke up (or rather I returned to an external consciousness) with the feeling of having a much larger (by larger I mean more voluminous) and much more powerful being in my body than I usually have. it was as if it could scarcely be held inside me but was spilling over; and SO COMPACTLY POWERFUL that it was almost uncomfortable. The feeling of: what to do with all this?
It lasted the remainder of the night and all day long I had considerable trouble containing an overwhelming power that spontaneously created reactions utterly disproportionate to a human body and made me speak in a way that. When something was not going well: wham! Such an instantaneous and strong reply that it looked like anger. and I found it difficult to control the movementit had happened already in the morning and it very nearly happened again in the afternoon. That last attack has weakened me terribly! I told myself, I dont have the strength to contain this Power; its difficult to remain calm and controlled. That was my first thought, so I insisted upon calm.
Then yesterday afternoon, when I went upstairs to walk,1 a couple of things occurrednot personal, but of a general natureconcerning, for instance, certain old-fashioned conventions having to do with women and their particular nature (not psychological, physical)old ideas like that which had always seemed utterly stupid to me suddenly provoked a kind of reprobation completely out of proportion to the fact itself. Then one or two other things2 happened in regard to certain people, certain circumstances (nothing to do with me personally: it came from here and there). Then suddenly, I saw a Force coming (coming, well, manifesting) which was the same as that thing I had felt within me but even bigger; it began whirling upon the earth and within circumstances oh, like a cyclone of compact power moving forward with the intention of changing all this! It had to change. At all costs, it must change!
I was above, as usual (Mother points above her head, indicating the higher consciousness), and I looked at that (Mother bends over, as if looking down at the earth), and said to myself, Hmm, this is getting dangerous. If it continues like this, it will result in in a war or a revolution or some catastrophea tidal wave or an earthquake. So I tried to counteract it by applying the highest consciousness to it, that of a perfect serenity. and I saw especially that this consciousness has been missioned to transform the earth through the Supermind and by the supramental Force, avoiding all catastrophes as far as possible: the Work is to be done as luminously and harmoniously as the earth would allow, even by going at a slower pace if need be. That was the idea. and I tried to counteract that whirlwind power with this consciousness.
(long silence)
I must say that after this, when I read The Secret of the Veda as I do each evening. In fact, I am in very close contact with the entire Vedic world since Ive been reading that book: I see beings, hear phrases. It comes up in a sort of subliminal consciousness, a lot of things are from the ancient Vedic tradition. (By the way, I have even come to see that the pink marble bathtub I told you about last time, which Nature had offered me, belongs to the Vedic world, to a civilization of that epoch.3) There werethere are alwaysSanskrit words coming up, sentences, bits of dialogue. This is of interest, because I realized that what I had seen the other day (I told you about it) and then what I saw yesterday that whole domainwas connected to what the Vedas call the dasyus the panis and the dasyus4the enemies of the Light. and this Force that came was very clearly a power like Indras5 (though something far, far greater), and at war with darkness everywhere, like this (Mother sketches in space a whirling force touching points here and there throughout the world), this Force attacked all darkness: ideas, people, movements, events, whatever made stains, patches of shadow. and it kept on going, a formidable power, so great that my h ands were like this (Mother clenches her fists). Later when I read (I happened to be reading just the chapter concerning the fight against the dasyus), this proximity to my own experience became interesting, for it was not at all intellectual or mental there was no idea, no thought involved.
The remainder of the evening passed as usual. I went to bed, and at exactly a quarter to twelve I got up with the feeling that this presence in me had increased even further and really become rather formidable. I had to instill a great deal of peace and confidence into my body, which felt as though it wasnt so easy to bear. So I concentrated, I told my body to be calm and to let itself go completely.
At midnight I was lying in bed. ( and I remained there from midnight until I oclock fully awake. I dont know if my eyes were open or closed, but I was wide awake, NOT IN TRANCEI could hear all the noises, the clocks, and so forth.) Then, lying flat, my entire body (but a slightly enlarged body, exceeding the purely physical form) became ONE vibration, extremely rapid and intense but immobile. I dont know how to explain this, because it did not move in space but was a vibration (that is, it wasnt motionless); yet it was motionless in space. and the exact form of my body was absolutely the most brilliant white Light of the supreme Consciousness, the consciousness OF the Supreme. It was IN the body and it was as though in EACH cell there was a vibration, and it was all part of a single BLOCK of vibration. It extended this much beyond the body (gesture indicating about six centimeters). I was absolutely immobile in my bed. Then, WITHOUT MOVING, without shifting, it began consciously to rise upwithout moving, you underst and: I remained like this (Mother holds her two joined and motionless h ands at the level of her forehead, as if her entire body were mounting in prayer)consciously like an ascension of this consciousness6 towards the supreme Consciousness.
The body was stretched out flat.
and for a quarter of an hour, the consciousness rose, rose, without moving. It kept rising up, up, upuntil the junction was made.
A conscious junction, absolutely awake, NO TRANCE.
--
I have had this experience before in exteriorization and trance, but this time it was THE BODY, the consciousness of the body.
It remained like that for a certain time (I knew it was a quarter of an hour because the clock chimed), but it was completely outside time. It was an eternity.
Then, with the same precision, the same calm, the same deliberate, clear and concentrated consciousness (absolutely NOTHING MENTAL), I began to come back down. and as I was descending, I realized that all the difficulty I had been fighting the other day and which had created this illness was absolutely ended, ANNULLEDmastered. Actually, it was not even mastery but the non-existence of anything to be mastered: Simply THE vibration from top to bottom; yet there was neither high nor low nor any direction.
and it went on like that. After this, Slowly, Still WITHOUT MOVING, everything went back into each of the different centers of the being. (Ah, let me say parenthetically that it wasnt AT ALL the ascent of a force like the ascent of the Kundalini! It had absolutely nothing to do with the Kundalini movement and the centers, it wasnt that at all.) But while re-descending, it was as though WITHOUT LEAVING THIS STATE, without leaving this state which remained conscious ALL the time, this supreme Consciousness began to reactivate the different centers: first here (Mother points to the center above the head and then touches the crown of the head, the forehead, throat, chest, etc.) then there, there, there. At each there was a pause while this new realization organized everything. It organized and made the necessary decisions, sometimes down to the most minute details: what had to be done in this case or said in that case; and all of that TOGETHER, at once, not one by one but seen entirely as a whole. It kept on descending I noted many things, it was extremely interestingdown and down, farther and farther, right to the depths. Everything went on at the same time,7 simultaneously, and at the same time this supreme Consciousness was organizing everything separately.8
This descending reorganization ended exactly when the clock struck one. At that moment I knew that I had to go into trance for the work to be perfected, but until then I was wide awake.
--
I came out of this trance two hours later, at 3 a.m. and during these two hours I saw with a new consciousness, a new vision, and above all a NEW POWERI had a vision of the entire Work: all the people, all the things, all the systems, all of it. and it was it was different in appearance (this is only because appearances depend upon the needs of the moment), but mainly it differed IN POWERA considerable difference. Considerable. The power itself was no longer the same.9
A truly ESSENTIAL change in the body has occurred.
--
Its not it is far, very far from being the final change, theres a lot more to be done. But we may say that its the conscious and total presence of the supramental Force in the body.
(silence)
When I got up today, I was going over all this to myself, and my first instinct was not to speak of it, to observe and see what would happen; but then I received a distinct and precise Comm and to tell it to you this morning. The experience had to be noted down just as it occurred, recorded in its exact form.
In the body now, there is a very clear not only a certitude, but a feeling that a certain omnipotence is not far away, and that very soon when it sees (it sees it! There is only one It in this whole affair, which is neither he nor she nor), when it sees that something must be, it automatically will be.
There is still a long, long way to go. But the first step on the way has been taken.
--
Does a servant come to your house? No one is sick in his family? Because what happens is that they dont want to lose their jobs or their salary, so they dont warn you. They may have smallpox or measles or chickenpox and they dont take the slightest care to wash or change their clothes; they come to your house and of course they bring along the disease. So the number of cases keeps multiplying and multiplying. I have been meaning to tell Pavitra to be careful of that little character who works for himeven ordinarily I dont like to see him running around here. Its strange how it sullies the atmosphereoh, you cant imagine! Almost all of them, almost all!
Its not at all the same as in the West, in Europe or America, not at all. Basically, the people in those countries are made of the same stuff as we are. But here thats not the case, because for centuries it never changeda Brahmin, for example, always remained a Brahmin, a Kshatria was always a Kshatria and all his servants were Kshatrias. It stayed in the family, in the sense that in each caste the servantsoften poor relativesbe longed to that same caste. From a social st andpoint this might not have been too pleasant, but as far as atmosphere was concerned, it was very good. This was changed, however, first by the Muslim invasion, and then especially by the British.
The British, you see, were served only by pariahs (in fact, its we Europeans who named them that!). But they were not actually pariahs by birth, they became pariahs out of HABIT.
I have studied the problem very closely, because when you come from Europe you bring all your European ideas with you and you dont know or underst and a thing about the way it really is. I immediately came into contact with Brahmin servants and pariah servants, but I didnt know that some were Brahmins and others pariahs, nobody had told me anything; it depended upon the people I was with and the places I went. But the contact, the atmosphere (gesture of fingering the air). You know, I didnt even need to touch them physically! There was such a difference that I asked Sri Aurobindo, But what is it? So he explained the whole thing to me.
You see, originally these pariahs were people who took their delight (their pleasure) in filth and falsehood, in crime, in violence and robberyit was a joy for them. They had castes among themselves; there is still a caste of brig ands nearby I once went to their village to have a lookpeople who always keep a dagger on them, they love to play with daggers. They stea l not so much out of need as out of pleasure. and dirty-they abhor cleanliness! and they will lie even if they have to contradict themselves fifteen minutes later, for the sheer delight of lying.
What an atmosphere it creates! Its palpable (Mother fingers the air).
I had a woman here with me who was born among these people. She had been adopted by Thomas (the French musician who composed the comic-opera, Mignon). They had come to India and found this little girl who at the time was very young; she was only thirteen, quite pretty and nice. So they took her back to France with them as a nanny and treated her as one of their own children. She was cared for, educated, given everything, treated absolutely like one of the family; she remained there for twenty years. Moreover, she was gifted with clairvoyance and could tell fortunes by reading palms, which she did remarkably well. She even worked for a while in a caf, the Moulin-Rouge or a similar place, as a Hindu Fortune Teller! What a maharani she was, with her magnificent jewels and beautiful, as well. In short, she had completely left all her old habits behind.
Then she returned to India and I took her in with me. I continued to treat her almost as a friend and I helped her to develop her gifts. Mon petit,10 how dirty she started to get, lying, stealing, and absolutely needlesslyshe had money, she was well treated, she had everything she needed, she ate what we didthere was absolutely no reason! When I finally asked her, But why, why!? (she was no longer young at this point), she replied, When I came back here, it took hold of me again; its stronger than I am. That was a revelation for me! Those old habits had been impervious to education.
We think these people are the way they are because the environment is bad, the education is poor, the conditions are difficultits not true! In the universal economy of things they REPRESENT something, a certain type of force and vibration. It will have to be either dissolved or transformed. Transformed? But perhaps that is. It may disappear along with the hostile forces. Perhaps once everything has been transformed it will disappear I dont know when.
In any case, I really tried my best, with all the power I had, all the knowledge I had, because I liked this girl a lot, it wasnt at all a question of charity, I found her very interesting. But I watchedwith a kind of horror, reallyas this past repossessed her more and more, more and more each day, until we were finally obliged to dismiss her, to tell her, Go. Yes, I underst and, she replied, I cant stay here.
She lived in France from the age of thirteen, with all that those people did for her! (It was Ambroise Thomas, I remember now. They were so kind to her.) and naturally she had picked up very fine manners the outer appearances were all there.
All this is just to tell you that some contacts are not very favorable. and I underst and full well: I could never tolerate people like that coming into my room sometimes it would take me hours and hours to put things right!
We have to be careful.
There was a time when we had only a minimum of servants here and they always remained apartwe never had an epidemic. I dont know for how many years it wasyears and years while Sri Aurobindo was herewe never had a single case of an epidemic disease. It began when people started coming here with children; necessarily they brought their servants along with them, who went to the bazaar and even to the movies and here and there. Then everything came in.
But now the situation is bad. There are something like thirty cases of measles, four or five of smallpox and some chickenpox as well. You must be careful. I need you in good health, otherwise well have to stop everything!
There are places where it happens like that: suddenly everything stopsno more school, no more mail, no more trains. I remember a poor little village in Japan where they had a flu epidemic, the first of its kind. They didnt know what it was and the whole village fell ill. It was winter, the village was snowed in and there was no more communication with the outside (the mail came only once every fifteen days). The postman arrived and everyone was dead, buried beneath the snow.
I was there in Japan when it happened.
--
Mother did her japa while walking back and forth in her room.
Satprem later asked Mother what she meant by these 'things,' and Mother replied: 'For example, there was a certain man's attitude with respect to life and to the Divine, and what he thought of himself, and so forth. You see, what came was a whole range of characters and one particular action of one man, and then something else came up.... How to explain? ... These are POINTS OF WORK which come to me, things that present themselves in the atmosphere for me to seethings I see and which have to be acted upon.'
A few days later, Mother rectified: 'I have looked at the experience again and realized that it's not Vedic but pre-Vedic. The experience put me into contact with a civilization prior to the Vedas the Rishis and the Vedas are a kind of transition between that vanished civilization and the Indian civilization which grew out of the Vedic Age. It was yesterday [January 26] that I perceived this, and it was quite interesting.'
In the Vedas, the panis and dasyus represent beings or forces hidden in subterranean caves who have stolen the 'Riches' or the 'Lights', symbolized by herds of cows. With the help of the gods, the Aryan warrior must recover these lost riches, the 'sun in the darkness,' by igniting the flame of sacrifice. It is the path of subterranean descent.
Indra represents the king of the gods, the master of mental power freed from the limitations and obscurities of the physical consciousness.
The body-consciousness.
Later, Mother added: 'All the experiences took place one after the other, but the new experience did not cancel the preceding one. The Consciousness this supreme Unity that I hadremained all the time, to the very end, even while the other centers were awakening. and each center that awakened was a kind of addition, taking away nothing from what had come before. So at the end it was all simultaneous: a kind of global consciousness total and simultaneousof everything.... You see, while rising up (one is obliged to say "rising" and "descending" for otherwise one would never be understood), while "rising up" to reach this supreme Consciousness, all the rest was annulled, there was only That. When the supreme Consciousness was realized, it remained ALL the time, continuously, to the very end, it did not move; but meanwhile, the other centers began to awaken one after another. and each awakening center assumed its place but canceled nothing either of what had come before or of what was about to come, so that when I reached the end, all of it together was a simultaneous whole the Supreme Consciousness.' When Satprem asked if this Supreme Consciousness was the 'New Consciousness,' Mother replied, 'Not "new!" One can't say "new"Supreme Consciousness.'
This entire experience and Mother's insistence that it all happened 'without moving,' unlike the experience of the ascent of the Kundalini, suggests that it is the supramental consciousness concealed in the depths of the cells, that somehow emerges and traverses all the layers until the junction is made with the most material body-consciousness.
Later, Mother added: 'The Power that was acting was no longer the power that had been acting previously.'
Mother frequently addressed Satprem as 'mon petit' or 'petit,' terms of endearment she used for very few other people. We have unfortunately been unable to find English equivalents that capture the nuances of Mother's simple 'petit' and 'mon petit,' and so have decided to leave them in the original French wherever they appear.
***
0 1961-01-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Since the last experience [January 24] I see it daily. The following day, probably for reasons connected with the bodys development and adaptation, I was rather seriously illwhat is usually called painfully ill: the body was suffering a lot, or WOULD HAVE suffered a lot had it been in its former normal consciousness. Thats where I saw the differencea fantastic difference!
I was perfectly conscious (now when I say I, it refers to my body, I am not speaking of the whole higher consciousness), the body was perfectly conscious of its suffering, the reason for its suffering, the cause of its suffering, everything and it did not suffer. You underst and, the two perceptions were there together: the body saw the disorder, saw the suffering just as it would have felt it a few weeks earlier, it saw all that (saw, knew I dont know how to express itit was conscious, it was aware) and it did not suffer. The two awarenesses were absolutely simultaneous.
There is now a kind of VERY PRECISE knowledge of the whole inner mechanism for all things and what has to be done materially. This is developing, as a flower blossoms: you see one petal open and then another and then another; it is proceeding like that, slowly, taking its time. Its the same process for the Power.
To illustrate this, an interesting thing came upyesterday, I think. (All these experiences come to show me the difference, as if to give proof of the change.) Someone had had a dream about me whispered to him by the adverse forces for specific reasons (I wont go into the details). He was much affected by it, so he wrote down the dream and gave it to me. I was carrying his letter along with all the others, as I usually do, but suddenly I knew I had to read it right away: I read it. Then I saw the whole thing with such clarity, precision, accuracy: how it had come about, how the dream had been produced, its effect the whole functioning of all the forces. As I read along and it went on unfolding, I did what was necessary for him (he was present at the time) in order to undo what the adverse forces had done. Then at the end, when I had finished, said everything, explained what it was all about and what had to be done, something SO CATEGORICAL came into me (I cannot verbalize this kind of experience, it is what I call the difference in power: something categorical). I took the letter, uttered a few words (which I wont repeat) and said, You see, its like this: so much for that, and I ripped the letter a first time. Then, thats for that, I tore it a second time and so on. I ripped it up five times and the fifth time I saw that their power was destroyed.
I have done these things beforeits a knowledge I already had and it always had its effect when I did them; its not that I am passing from powerlessness to power, not at all. But its this kind of yes, something definite, absolutea kind of absolute in vision, in knowledge, in action and ABOVE ALL in powera kind of absolute that doesnt need to conquer obstacles and resistances, but ANNULS the resistance automatically. Then I saw that something had truly changed.
(After a digression, Mother gives another example of the change:)
--
Well, yesterday I saw R. He was asking me questions about his work and particularly about the knowledge of languages (hes a scholar, you know, and very familiar with the old traditions). This put me in contact with that whole world and I began speaking to him a little about what I had already said to you concerning my experience with the Vedas. and all at once, in the same [absolute] way as I told you, when I entered into contact with that world a whole domain seemed to open up, a whole field of knowledge from the st andpoint of languages, of the Word, of the essential Vibration, that vibration which would be able to reproduce the supramental consciousness. It all came, so clear, so clear, luminous, indisputable but unfortunately there was no tape recorder!
It was about the Word, the primal sound. Sri Aurobindo speaks of it in Savitri: the essence of the Word and how it will express itself, how it will bring in the possibility of a supramental expression that will take the place of languages. I began by speaking to him about the different languages, their limitations and possibilities; and I warned him against the deformations imposed on languages with the idea of making them a more flexible means of expressing something else. I told him how completely ridiculous it all was, and that it didnt correspond at all to the truth. Then little by little I began ascending to the Origin. So yesterday again, I had this same experience: a whole world of knowledge, of consciousness and of CERTAINTYprecluding the least possibility of contradiction, discussion, or opposition; the possibility DOES NOT EXIST, it doesnt exist. and the mind was absolutely silent and immobile, listening with obvious pleasure because these things had never before come into my consciousness; I had never been concerned with them in that way. It was completely newnot new in principle but completely new in action.
The experiences are multiplying.
--
Yes. While speaking, you see, I went back to the origin of sound (Sri Aurobindo describes it very clearly in Savitri: the origin of sound, the moment when what we called the Word becomes a sound). So I had a kind of perception of the essential sound before it becomes a material sound. and I said, When this essential sound becomes a material sound, it will give birth to the new expression which will express the supramental world. I had the experience itself at that moment, it came directly. I spoke in English and Sri Aurobindo was concretely, almost palpably, present.
Now it has gone away.
--
Oh, another little example. You know those photos I distributed on the 21st for the Saraswati Puja) Amrita told me he was going to send them to X,1 I but I told him, No, dont bother. (The 21st was a terrible day for me. All the dasyus of the world were in league against me, trying to stop me I understood this afterwards, when I saw those things.2 So thats what it is! I said to myself, Thats what has been going on!) Then after the night of the 24th, I went down for balcony-darshan3 with such a foursquare certaintyyou know, cubic: such a cubic certainty and I said to Amrita, You can send him those photos today, without an explanation, without a word, with nothing but a feeling of certainty, a kind of definite and absolute THATS HOW IT IS.
and that is a change, truly a change.
The tantric guru.
The Vedic or pre-Vedic experience of the artificial hurricane and the pink marble bathtub.
Balcony-darshan: up to 1962, Mother appeared every morning on the first-floor balcony to be seen by the disciples assembled on the street below.
0 1961-01-29, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
53The quarrels of religious sects are like the disputing of pots, which shall be alone allowed to hold the immortalizing nectar. Let them dispute, but the thing for us is to get at the nectar in whatever pot and attain immortality.
What is this nectar of immortality?
--
Yes, Mother, this is a problem. Often when you tell me things of such importance I feel I benefit from them quite egoisticallycould they be shown to Pavitra now and then? Do you want them to be kept absolutely confidential, or may I show them to Pavitra occasionally?
It depends. You can tell Sujata whatever you like.
--
Yes, yes, of course, its inevitable. But you must call in tranquillity, thats the only thing. It keeps coming and coming from all sides; but when you feel things going badly, when youre uneasy or thoroughly upset, you must remember to call in tranquillity.
But its about you, directed against you, all sorts of suggestions that make me.
0 1961-01-31, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
At the moment of my coming out of the trance, I had a very concrete, positive perception (not a mental underst anding, it didnt come from the beings intellectual part, the part that underst ands and explains everything and Is symbolized, I think, by Indra; it wasnt in any way conveyed through that higher intelligence, it wasnt mental). A kind of perception (not really a sensation, it was more than a sensation) of the almost total unimportance of the external, material expression of the bodys condition: the consciousness OF THE BODY was absolutely indifferent to external, physical signs, whether they were like this or like that (the BODYS consciousness was what had experienced the identity). and this body-consciousness had the perception of the EXTREME RELATIVITY of the most material expression.
I am translating it to make myself understoodit wasnt like that at the time of the experience. Suppose, for example, that there was a disorder here or there in the body, not actually an illness (because illness implies some important inner factor such as an attack or the necessity for some transformation, many different things), but the outer expression of a disorder, such as swollen legs or a malfunctioning liver not an illness, a disorder, a functional disorder. Well, it was all utterly unimportant: IT IN NO WAY CHANGES THE BODYS TRUE CONSCIOUSNESS. Although we are in the habit of thinking that the body is very disturbed when its ill, when something is going wrong, its not so. It isnt disturbed in the way we underst and it.
--
This was a very important experience. Afterwards (especially yesterday afternoon and this morning), I gradually began to realize that this kind of indifferent detachment is the ESSENTIAL condition for the establishment of true Harmony in the most material Matter the most external, physical Matter (Mother pinches the skin of her h and).
This experience has been like a stagean indispensable stage for establishing this complete detachment; an indispensable stage so that the harmony of the body-consciousness (which came with the bodys experience of the Divine) might have its effect upon the most external, superficial part of the body.
--
This is the logical consequence of the research I have been doing for a long time now on the cause of illnesses and how to overcome them.
This ought to be noted down, because its important. It has seemed all the more important to me these last two days. Beginning yesterday evening, there was a whole series of experiences, and this morning I came to a certain conclusion, whose starting point, I realized, was that experience I had upon coming out of trance.
The rest will come later.
--
Ah, yes! (How to explain?) On the 21st, these photos could still have created a kind of difficulty in Xs consciousness (a semiconscious difficulty) because of all the obstacles, all the contradictions, all that was coming to put up a figh the is very sensitive to these things and I didnt want to put him in contact with that realm. Later, though they had been given a good thump on the head (Mother abruptly bangs down both h ands) and were keeping still. Then I said, All right, now you can send them.
I always avoid putting him in contact with the realm of conflicts and contradictions because he is extremely sensitive and it causes him difficulties. Thats why I said, No, dont bother. Afterwards, it was fine!
(silence)
Now I have begun reading those hymns2. Oh, now I underst and! All those obstacles were a preparation straight from Sri Aurobindo. Now I underst and! (What I mean by underst and is that its a help for making progress.) I underst and the nature of certain obstructions and certain difficulties, and what allows certain forces to oppose each other I underst and it quite clearly.
I have read only two hymns so far. By the time I reach the end I will probably have found something.
--
A few days ago I had an experience related to this. For some time I had been unable to work because I was unwell and my eyes were very tired. and two or three days ago, when I resumed the translation, I suddenly realized that I was seeing it quite differently! Something had happened during those days (how to put it?) the position of the translation work in relation to the text was different. My last sentence was all I had with me, because I file my papers as I go along, so I went back to it along with the corresponding English sentence. Oh, look! I said, Thats how it goes! and I made all the corrections quite spontaneously. The position really seemed different.
Its not yet perfect, its still being worked on, but when I read it over, I saw that I had truly gone beyond the stage where one tries to find a correspondence with what one reads, an appropriate expression sufficiently close to the original text (thats the state I was in before). Now its not like that anymore! The translation seems to come spontaneously: that is English, this is French sometimes very different, sometimes very close. It was rather interesting, for you know that Sri Aurobindo was strongly drawn to the structure of the French language (he used to say that it created a far better, far clearer and far more forceful English than the Saxon structure), and often, while writing in English, he quite spontaneously used the French syntax. When its like that, the translation adapts naturallyyou get the impression that it was almost written in French. But when the structure is Saxon, what used to happen is that a French equivalent would come to me; but now its almost as if something were directing: That is English, this is French.
It was there, it was clear; but its not yet permanent. Something is beginning. I hope its going to become established before too long and that there will be no more translating difficulties.
Meanwhile, I am interested in seeing how it functions in your mind. I think that after some timeperhaps not too long from nowwe will be able to do this work together in an interesting way.
--
Oh, yes, this is very, very annoying, my child! You dont need to tell me! I have never in my life had enough time. Whatever I do, whether I am speaking to someone, organizing something, doing a particular work, the time is always too short, and I have the feeling, Oh, if I could only do that quietly! Anything, no matter what, becomes interesting if it can be done calmly, with the right attitude and the right concentration. Yet we are perpetually hurried by the next thing coming along.
But this is a shortcoming. and I know it, I know it I will find the solution. and when I have found it, it will be.
But time isnt elastic! If the days had three more hours in them it would be perfect!
--
I have experienced this very concretely. In the mornings, for instance, I have a very short time, very limited and very fixed, to get to the balcony for darshan, and there are a number of completely material things I must do beforeh and. Its quite natural to feel that time must always be the same but its not true. Its not trueeven I am astonished!
With my japa the contrast is the same, its absolutely astounding: I feel I am saying the words in the same way, with the same sound, exactly the same rhythm, but in some cases, with a particular inner attitude, the time by the clock is different! Yet nevertheless, bound up as we are in our physical Matter, we imagine it has taken exactly the same amount of time! Thats what is so strange, this extraordinary relativity vis--vis the clock.
--
There are a few secrets like that I feel them as secrets. and now and then its as though I am given an example, as though I am being told, You see, thats really how it is. and I am dumbfounded. In ordinary language, one would say, Its miraculous! But it isnt miraculous, it is something to be found.
and we shall find it!4
So, mon petit, thats all.
0 1961-01-Undated, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding the ego and the ancient religious initiations which taught: 'You are That' or 'You are the All.')
A moment comes when self-observation is no longer possible.
--
A moment comesit comes in flashes and doesnt easily remainwhen its the All who thinks, the All who knows, the All who feels, the All who lives. Theres not evennot even the feeling that you have reached this state.
Then it is good.
0 1961-02-04, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Here, I have brought you two flowers. They have two different yet very typically Indian fragrances: this one is Straightforwardness,1 and this is Simplicity.2 I have always found that this one (Mother holds out the Simplicity) has a cleansing fragrance: when you brea the it, ah, everything becomes cleanits wonderful! (Mother breathes in the flowers fragrance.) Once I cured myself of the onset of a cold with itthis can be done when you catch it at the very beginning. It fills you completely, the nose, the throat. and this [Straightforwardness] is right at the other end of the spectrum. I find it very, very powerfulstrange, isnt it?
Its not at all sweet-smelling.
--
Once, without telling me anything, someone brought me a sprig of tulsi.3 I smelled it and said, Oh, Devotion! It was absolutely a a vibration of devotion. Afterwards, I was told its the plant of devotion to Krishna, consecrated to Krishna.
Another time, I was brought one of those big flowers (which are not really flowers) somewhat resembling corn, with long, very strongly scented stalks.4 I smelled it and said, Ascetic Purity! Just like that, from the odor alone. I was later told it was Shivas flower when he was doing his tapasya.5
These people have an age-old knowledge the ancient Vedic knowledge which they have preserved. In other words, it is something CONCRETELY TRUE: it doesnt depend at all on the mind, on thought or even on feelingsits a vibration.
--
and interestingly enough, its smell is fantastically attractive to snakes; it makes them come from far away to nest in the shrubs. and as you know, the serpent is the power of evolution, it is Shivas own creature; he always puts them on his head and around his neck because they symbolize the power of evolution and transformation. and snakes like this flower; it often grows near rivers, and wherever there is a cluster of the plants you are sure to discover snake nests.
I find this very interesting, for WE didnt decide it should be like this: these are conscious vibrations in Nature. The fragrance, the color, the shape, are simply the spontaneous expressions of a true movement.
--
A formidable concentration of vitalityof all animals, the serpent has the most vitality. Its tremendous! and energy progressive energy, energy of movement (progressive in the mechanical sense). Its meaning has been changed to a psychological one, but its a force of movement.
Then why do these creatures always seem so evil to us?
--
Theon always told me that the true interpretation of the Biblical story of the serpent in the Garden of Eden is that humanity wanted to pass from a state of animal-like divinity to the state of conscious divinity by means of mental development, symbolized by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. and this serpent, which Theon always said was iridescent, reflecting all the colors of the prism, was not at all the spirit of evil, but the power of evolution the force, the power of evolution. and it was natural that this power of evolution would make them taste the fruit of knowledge.
Now, according to Theon, Jehovah was the chief of the Asuras,6 the supreme Asura, the egoistic God who wanted to dominate everything and keep everything under his control. and of course this act made him furious, for it enabled mankind to become gods through the power of an evolution of consciousness. and thats why he banished them from Paradise.
Although told in a childish manner, theres a great deal of truth in this story, a great deal.
--
One could almost say that of all animals, the serpent is the most sensitive to hypnotic or magnetic power. If you have it (magnetic power comes from the most material vital), you can easily gain a mastery over snakes; all the people who like snakes have it and use it to make snakes obey them. Thats how I got out of my encounter with the cobra at Tlemcen7do you know the story? Theon had told me about this power and I was aware of it in myself, so I was able to make the cobra obey and he left. Afterwards (Ive told this story, too), I was visited by the King of Serpents I mean the spirit of the species. He came to me in Tlemcen after this and another incident when I helped a cat overpower a little asp (there are asps over there like Cleopatras, very dangerous)a big russet angora cat. At first it started to play with the asp, but then naturally grew furious. The asp struck at the cat, but the cat leapt aside with such swiftness that the asp missed it (I watched this going on for more than ten minutes, it was extraordinary). Just as the snake darted by, the cat would swat at it with all his claws out and the asp got scratched each time, so that little by little it ran out of energy, and at the end. I stopped the cat from eating it that part was disgusting!
Then after these two incidents, I received a visit one night from the King of Serpents. He was wearing a superb crown on his headsymbolic, of course, but anyway, he was the spirit of the species. He had the appearance of a cobra, and he was wonderful! A formidable beast, and wonderful! He said he had come to make a pact with me: I had demonstrated my power over his species, so he wanted to come to an underst anding. All right, I said, what do you propose? I not only promise that serpents wont harm you, he replied, but that they will obey you. But you must promise me something in return: never to kill one of them. I thought it over and said, No, I cant make this promise, because if ever one of yours attacks one of mine (a being that depends upon me), my pact with you could not stop me from protecting him. I can assure you that I have no bad feelings and no intention of killingkilling is not on my program! But I cant commit myself, because it would restrict my freedom of decision. He left without replying, so it remains status quo.
I have had several experiences demonstrating my power over snakes (not so much as over catswith cats its extraordinary!). Long ago, I often used to take a drive and then stop somewhere for a walk. One day after my walk, as I was getting back into the car to drive away (the door was still open), a very large snake came out, right from the spot I had just left. He was furious and heading straight towards the open door, ready to strike (luckily I was alone, neither the driver nor Pavitra were there, otherwise). When the snake had come quite near, I looked at him closely and said, What do you want? Why have you come here? There was a pause. Then he fell down flat and off he went. I hadnt made a move, only asked him, What do you want? Why have you come here? You know, they have a way of suddenly falling back, going limp, and prrt! Gone!
How many, many experiences there were during those days at Tlemcen! Surely youve heard them. Were you there when I told the story about the big toad? A huge toad, covered with warts. No? The sitting room was upstairs in Theons house (the house was built on a hillside) and it was connected by large open doors to a small terrace that sat almost on top of the hill. I played the piano in this room every day. and one day, what did I see hopping in through the open bay windows but an enormous black toadenormous! He sat down on his backside right in the entrance and puffed up his throat: poff! poff! and for the whole time I played, he stayed there going Poff! poff!, as though in a state of delight! When I finished, I turned around and he gave me one last Poff! and hopped away. It was comical!
Theon also taught me how to turn aside lightning.
--
Oh (laughing), he had a formidable power! Theon had a formidable power. One stormy day (there were terrible thunderstorms there), he climbed to the high terrace above the sitting room. Its a strange time to be going up there, I said to him. He laughed, Come along, dont be afraid! So I joined him. He began some invocations and then I clearly saw a bolt of lightning that had been heading straight towards us suddenly swerve IN THE MIDST OF ITS COURSE. You will say its impossible, but I saw it turn aside and strike a tree farther away. I asked Theon, Did you do that? He nodded.
Oh, that man was terriblehe had a terrible power. But quite a good external appearance!
Have you seen his photo? No? Ill have to show it to you. He was a h andsome man, about sixty years oldbetween fifty and sixty.
and do you know how he received me when I arrived there? It was the first time in my life I had traveled alone and the first time I had crossed the Mediterranean. Then there was a fairly long train ride between Oran and Tlemcenanyway, I managed rather well: I got there. He met me at the station and we set off for his place by car (it was rather far away). Finally we reached his estatea wonder! It spread across the hillside overlooking the whole valley of Tlemcen. We arrived from below and had to climb up some wide pathways. I said nothingit was truly an experience from a material st andpoint. When we came in sight of the house, he stopped: Thats my house. It was red! Painted red! and he added, When Barley came here, he asked me, Why did you paint your house red? (Barley was a French occultist who put Theon in touch with France and was his first disciple.) There was a mischievous gleam in Theons eyes and he smiled sardonically: I told Barley, Because red goes well with green! With that, I began to underst and the gentleman. We continued on our way uphill when suddenly, without warning, he spun around, planted himself in front of me, and said, Now you are at my mercy. Arent you afraid? Just like that. So I looked at him, smiled and replied, Im never afraid. I have the Divine here. (Mother touches her heart.)
Well, he really went pale.
--
One day I will find his photo and show it to you; he is there with a big dog he called Little Boy, a dog that could exteriorizehe would dream and go out of his body! This dog had a kind of adoration for me. (I should mention that at a fixed time in the afternoons I used to meditate and go into trance. When it was finished I would go out walking with Theon, and the dog always came with us, usually coming to fetch me in my room.) One day I was lying on a divan in trance when I felt his cold muzzle nudging my h and to wake me. I opened my eyes no dog. Yet I had positively, clearly felt his cold muzzle. So I got ready, went downstairs, and who did I find fast asleep on the l anding but Little Boyhe was in trance as well! He had come to wake me in his sleep. When I reached the l anding he woke up, shook himself and trotted off.
It was an interesting life.
We used to go for walks in the nearby countryside to see the tombs (it was a Muslim country). I no longer recall their Arabic name, but there is always a guardian at Muslim tombsa sage, like the fakirs of India, a kind of priest responsible for the tomb. Pilgrims go there as well. Theon was friendly with one particular sage, and would speak with him and tell him things (at these times I would see the mischief in Theons eyes). One day, Theon took me along. (According to Islamic tradition I should have been fully covered, but I always went out in a type of kimono!) Theon addressed the sage in Arabic; I didnt underst and what he said, but the sage rose, bowed to me very ceremoniously and went off into another room, returning with three cups of sweetened mint tea (not teacups, they put it in special little glassesextremely sweet tea, almost like mint syrup). The sage was watching me, I was obliged to take it.8
The pine tree story is also from Tlemcen.
Someone had wanted to plant pine treesScotch firs, I think and by mistake Norway spruce were sent instead. and it began to snow! It had never snowed there before, as you can imagineit was only a few kilometers from the Sahara and boiling hot: 113 in the shade and 130 in the sun in summer. Well, one night Madame Theon, asleep in her bed, was awakened by a little gnome-like beinga Norwegian gnome with a pointed cap and pointed slippers turned up at the toes! From head to foot he was covered with snow, and it began melting onto the floor of her room, so she glared at him and said:
What are You doing here? Youre dripping wet! Youre making a mess of my floor!
Im here to tell you that we were called to this mountain and so we have come.
Who are you?
--
But when she awoke, there was a puddle of water on the floor, so it couldnt have been a dream. and when she looked out the window, all the hills were snow-covered!
It was the first time. They had lived there for years but had never seen snow. and every winter after that, the hillsides would be covered with snow.
(silence)
--
She was English and he. I dont know whether he was Polish or Russian (he was of Jewish origin and had to leave his country for that reason). But they were both European.
It was a very interesting world. Really, what I saw there. Well, once you left, you would ask yourself, Was I dreaming?! It all seemed so fantastic!
But when I recounted these experiences to Sri Aurobindo, he told me it was quite natural: when you have the power, you live in and create around yourself an atmosphere where these things are possible.
Because it is all here, it just hasnt been brought to the surface.
So, its time to go and we still havent workedonce again Ive been talking away! Dont bother noting it all down; Ive told it just for you, for your personal entertainment!
But many things here will interest everyone!
--
So, mon petit. Sri Aurobindo always said the greatest obstacle to true underst anding and participation in the Work is common sense. He said thats why Nature creates madmen from time to time! They are people not strong enough to bear the dismantling of this petty stupidity called common sense.
Its time to go now. Do you have anything to say?
Sometimes I am a little troubled because I dont feel I am advancing much or having any experiences. Nothing seems to be happening. Its rather discouraging and at times I wonder why
Lately, the nights are being spent in a subconscious realm that absolutely must be clarified; its precisely the realm where one feels helpless, foolish, ignorant, utterly unprogressive, bound up in all sorts of stupidities. It all must be clarified.
These nights, I have been having experiences which, if I didnt know what I do or hadnt had the experiences Ive had, would be very discouraging: how to get out of it? Seekers have always had the very same impression: that we are all incurable imbeciles. and always the same solution, to flee life and escape this folly. Now I see it from another angle.
But its truly a burden.
Well, I am going on with the work, and what I would recommend to all those with the capacity and possibility to follow me is to remain very calm, dont fret, dont be troubled. and if you feel a little depressed, dont pay any attention to it; live quietly from minute to minute, without worrying about anythingit will pass. It will pass.
Naturally, the more calm and confident you are, the more quickly it will pass. Thats all.
I can assure you that you are well fastened, very well indeed; you are automatically caught up in my whole forward movement. So dont worry. Begin your book on Sri Aurobindo.
--
It doesnt matter! Put your ideas down on paper. There are things you already know you want to say. Put it all on paper. I assure you it will do you good. I have seen it several times recently and I wanted to tell you: begin your book on Sri Aurobindo! Begin anywhere at all, at any point the middle, the end, the beginningit doesnt matter! Whatever you feel you have to say, write it down. Its good to keep yourself occupied like that now, during this period. and for our next meetings you can work a little on The Synthesis of Yoga and we will look at it together instead of you always making me talk! I have increased your work, there will be no end to it. If it goes on like this, there will never be an end!
Fortunately!
So, mon petit, dont worry. You are SURE, sure not only to advance but to reach the goal. and as for this troubled mind, keep it occupied with the book on Sri Aurobindo.
Good-bye now, petit. Dont worry.
--
Asura: demon of the mental plane embodying the forces of division and darkness.
Tlemcen: a town in northern Algeria.
0 1961-02-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You ask me what you must do. It would be better to ask what you must be, because the circumstances and activities in life have not much importance. What is important is our way of reacting towards them.
This is where it begins.
Human nature is such that when you concentrate on your body you fall ill; when you concentrate on your heart and feelings you become unhappy; when you concentrate on the mind you get bewildered.
(Laughing) and its absolutely true!
There are two ways of getting out of this precarious condition.
One is very arduous: it is a severe and continuous tapasya. It is the way of the strong who are predestined for it.
The other is to find something worth concentrating upon that diverts your attention from your small, personal self. The most effective is a big ideal, but there are innumerable things that enter into this category. Most commonly, people choose marriage, because it is the most easily available (Mother laughs). To love somebody and to love children makes you busy and compels you to forget your own self a little. But it is rarely successful, because love is not a common thing.
Others turn to art, others to science; some choose a social or a political life, etc., etc.
But here also, all depends on the sincerity and the endurance with which the chosen path is followed. Because here also, there are difficulties and obstacles to surmount.
So, in life, nothing comes without an effort and a struggle.
and if you are not ready for the effort and the struggle, then it is better to accept the fact that life will be dull and unsatisfactory, and submit quietly to this fact.
Thats for the complainers.
--
and its absolutely truetrue at each stage, on all levels. Whatever level you have attained, even the very highest, if you concentrate on that [the body], it is finished! and all the difficulties begin, you know, with that very concentration that tries to draw down Light and Poweryogic concentration itself.
So it would seem that if one wants to use his individuality, his body, to transform the whole that is, if one wants to use his bodily presence to act upon the universal corporeal substance theres no end to it. No end to the difficulties, no end to the battle BATTLE!
--
Those who try to lead a spiritual life have always been compared to warriors (there are classic writings on this subject), and one must truly be a fighterfighter is more exact than warrior because you wage war against no one: everything wages war against you! Everything (Mother makes a gesture like an avalanche falling upon her) and with such savage opposition!
Ah, well.
--
You see, as long as there are currents swirling within youswirling in the mind or the vitalyou tell yourself that these currents are the cause of all the difficulties. But when there is nothing any longer? When there is a serene and immutable peace but still you are relentlessly houndedoh, with such ferocity! You cannot imagine.
(silence)
--
It has been good for it (not externally, but inwardly, for its state of consciousness: the body-consciousness), it has done the body some good, but. Now its like this (Mother opens her h ands in a gesture of total surrender). For each blow it receives (its a bludgeoning, my child!), for each blow, it remains like this (same gesture). Yesterday, to make it happy, I wrote down something like this (concerning its latest difficulty): If this present difficulty is useful (its the body addressing the Lord, and the Lord. its a perpetual adoration: all the cells vibrate, vibrate with the joy of Love; yet despite that ), if this or that difficulty is useful for Your Workso be it. But if it is an effect of my stupidity (its the body speaking), if its an effect of my own stupidity, then I beseech You to cure me of this stupidity as quickly as possible.
It doesnt ask to be cured of the illness! It doesnt ask, it is ready; All right, it says. As long as I can keep going, I will keep going. As long as I can last, I will last. But thats not what Im asking for: I am asking to be cured of my stupidity. I believe this is what enables it to yes, what gives it the necessary endurance.
Thats enough. I said I wouldnt say anything! You see how you are. When Im up in my room, I always tell myself, Not a word today! I dont want to start saying unpleasant things. and then.
Unpleasant?
--
When we used to discuss all these things and the difficulties of the path, Sri Aurobindo told me (he was comparing his body to mine): I dont have the stuff of such endurance. I was not cut out like thatyour body is solid! (gesture)
What trials it has gone through! and its so docile, so docile, it doesnt complain.
So, my child, if your body has some trouble, just tell yourself they are sympathy pains (Mother laughs), then you wont be troubled. Thats all.
0 1961-02-11, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
55Be wide in me, O Varuna; be mighty in me, O Indra; O Sun, be very bright and luminous; O Moon, be full of charm and sweetness. Be fierce and terrible, O Rudra; be impetuous and swift, O Maruts; be strong and bold, O Aryama; be voluptuous and pleasurable, O Bhaga; be tender and kind and loving and passionate, O Mitra. Be bright and revealing, O Dawn; O Night, be solemn and pregnant. O Life, be full, ready and buoyant; O Death, lead my steps from mansion to mansion. Harmonise all these, O Brahmanaspati. Let me not be subject to these gods, O Kali.1
He invokes all these Vedic gods and tells each one to take possession of him; and THEN he tells Kali to free him from their influence! It is very amusing!
Its written in black and white, but the people here read and dont underst and what theyre reading, and thats a pity. They have to be told, This means that!
T. asks, Why dont the gods help us? Why do they keep us in bondage?
--
For Sri Aurobindo, the important thing was always the Mother. As he explained it, the Mother has several aspects, and certain aspects are still unmanifest. So if he has represented the Mother by Kali in particular, I believe its in relation to all those gods. Because, as he wrote in The Mother, the aspects to be manifested depend upon the time, the need, the thing to be done. and he always said that unless one underst ands and profoundly feels the aspect of Kali, one can never really participate in the Work in the worldhe felt that a sort of timid weakness makes people recoil before this terrible aspect.
***
--
The trouble is, they hinder my work (Mother indicates her legs). Not the work up in my roomthere, on the contrary, it is going well, very well, clear, precise. Yesterday again I worked on the translation of The Synthesis of Yoga, and it was so pleasant. So pleasant.
You see, I cant st and up; and these people persistently try to keep me st anding. But I cant remain st anding, its all out of order. Anyway, it doesnt matter, it will pass.
Last night I had a dream about you that made a vivid impression on me. Its probably absurd, but it was so real! You had called me because you were going to leave your body: you had decided to leave and you wanted somehow to say good-bye. It was so real! I came to you and for a moment you placed my head on your knees, and I was filled with light; it was very tender. But at the same time, I knew you were saying good-bye, you were going to leave your body, and I wept in my dream. Then I went to sit in a corner because there were other people who probably had come to see you as well. I remained in that corner, strickenit seemed so real, you underst and! Just then, aman I didnt know entered the room (I knew he was French), a stranger dressed all in black, and he started making a loud commotion. He was smoking a pipe,2 a very coarse man, and he wanted to make all the people there, the disciples, get out of the room .3 It was so real! I awoke with a start and almost cried aloud, Ah, its a dream! Its only a dream!
Oh, it was that real!
--
I have asked to be forewarned, not for reasons of. It can happen any time at all, I am always ready. I can do nothing more for the work than what I am doing now, and I havent a single practical measure to take because I have already taken them all. So that isnt why, but to AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE to withdraw from the body all that has been put into it. There is such an accumulation inside it of force, consciousness, power, oh! All the cells are impregnated and it would take some time if it all had to be taken out.
But I have had no indication of this, neither by night nor by day, neither awake nor in tranceno indication. The indication rather points to all that must be clarified, purified so the physical may keep what it received from that experience [of January 24, 1961].
From an ordinary st andpoint, I believe the situation is dangerous, because (laughing) the doctor refuses to tell me what the consequences might be. I asked him but he wouldnt tell me, so thats what it must mean! But I really have no indications and I hope I wont be told, Now you must go, only at the very last minute!
The body doesnt ask (its so docile), it doesnt even ask for its sufferings to stopit adapts to them. Its mainly my contact with people that makes the thing difficult: when I am all alone upstairs, everything goes well, quite well. But when I spend one or one and a half hours in the afternoon seeing people, afterwards I feel exhausted. That, obviously, is whats making the thing difficult. But the body doesnt complain. It doesnt complain, its ready. The other day when it went back upstairs, it felt a bitwell, at the end of its resources, as though it had pushed itself to the limit. It said to the Lord ( and it said this so clearly, as though the consciousness of the cells were speaking; I noted it down): If this (I cant call it an illness there is no illness! Its a condition of general disequilibrium), if this condition is necessary for Your Work, then so be it, let it go on. But if its an effect of my stupidity (you see, its the BODY saying, If its because I dont underst and or I am not adapting or not doing what I should or not taking the proper attitude), if it is an effect of my stupidity, then truly I pray that. It asks only to changeto know and to change!
It is attached to nothing: none of its habits, none of its ways of being-nothing. It says in all sincerity, I ask only for the Light, only to change. That is its state. it has never, never said, Oh, Im tired, Ive had enough! Bah! Its not like that. It is attached to nothing for a long, long time it has ceased to have desiresit is attached to nothing at all, to nothing. There isnt a single thing for which it says, Oh, I cant do without that! Not one. It doesnt care-if something comes, it takes it; if it doesnt come, the body doesnt think about it. In other words, its truly good-natured. But if this isnt sufficient, then it doesnt know and it says, If there is something I cant do or I dont know or I am not doing It asks for nothing more than to make the necessary effort!
(silence)
It all began with some extremely violent attacks. So if your dream is not premonitory, then it must be the result of their formation, by which they intend to disseminate the conviction everywhere, as much as possible, that this is the end. Two years ago, when I had to retire to my room, a formidable campaign was set into operation upon all the Ashram people; and all those who were a little receptive, either in dreams or through an openness to suggestions, heard it clearly announced: On the 9th of December of this year [1958], Mother will leave. Theres no doubt about it, its sure. It was said to me as well: This will be the end, you will leave. It was repeated to everybody, everybody, a great many people heard itthey were virtually awaiting it. and this is why (you know how extremely ill I was at the time, I was really ill), this is why I didnt react, but all the same I didnt go to the lake [the lake estate where Mother was to have gone on the 9th of December], because I told myself, If anything happens there, it will be awkward I had better not go. But still I knew it wasnt true, I knew it.
Now this kind of attack has stopped, it is no longer like that. But there are beings who send dreams. For example, some dreams were sent to Z (who, as you know, is quite clairvoyant), in which she was told I would be broken to pieces. She was very upset and I had to intervene. Is your dream of this nature, or are you being forewarned? I dont know, I cant say. If the doctor were asked, perhaps he would say that if it continues like this, obviously (you see, one thing after another is getting disorganized), if it continues in this way, how long can the body last?
But this body feels so strongly that it exists ONLY because the divine Power is in it. and constantly, for the least thing, it has only one remedy (it doesnt think of resting, of not doing this or that, of taking medicine), its sole remedy is to call and call the Supremeit goes on repeating its mantra. and as soon as it quietly repeats its mantra, it is perfectly content. Perfectly content.
(silence)
Two nights ago, I saw a formation of illness over the entire Ashram, a kind of adverse formation trying to prevent me from leaving my room, and I had to hide to get out, leave cl andestinely. Oh, what a terrible atmosphere, so heavy, so grayeverybody was ill. and this formation had some actual effects because many people fell ill who normally never do. It is an adverse formation and theres no reason to concede its victory; its simply a force which doesnt want us to succeed, of courseso we need not pay attention.
The trouble is, if I were thirty or forty years old, people wouldnt be affected. But unfortunately they think about how old I am all the time and it creates a bad atmosphere. After all, they keep saying, Mother is old and. All the usual nonsense.
But I know differently and so does my bodyto me its all foolishness and has no importance. For instance, when Vinoba Bhave came to see me4 (the man who takes care of poor people), he looked at me and said, Oh, youll live a hundred years! and I simply said, Yes, it all seemed so natural. At that moment, there wasnt even (how to put it?) the least intimation of a doubt. Of course its a clich, but nevertheless, he said it; afterwards he told people that this was what he had felt. and it seems completely natural I know if my body can last till its a hundred (a little less than twenty years more), then we will be on the other side the difficulty will be over.
I rather feel that your dream is another part of this present mass attack, but.
There was one bizarre little detail: someone told me you were leaving because you had swallowed something I understood it to be a grain of rice and that was why you had to leave! You had swallowed something and that was making you leave.
(After a long silence) This would rather indicate those who disapprove of my non-asceticism. It would seem to originate from those particular forces.
You see, theres a curious fluctuation possibly indicating that your dream is part of the present attack which continues with such violence. The night before last, between midnight and half-past, there was a formidable attack. When I emerged from it, I felt that something had lifted, a victory had been won and that the bodys condition had improved. It happens like that, the horizon clears and this Certainty comes with. (The presence is always hereSri Aurobindo and I are together almost every night but the night when I saw that formation, the illness spell over the Ashram, Sri Aurobindo was quite sick in his bed, just as I saw him in 1950.) So when it lifts, all is well: once again there is harmony, there is joy, there is force and again the whole thing continues, the effort continues, consciously. Yet there is a kind of fluctuation: it will go on like that for a few moments or a few hours and then suddenly everything becomes muddled again and I am beset by a fatigue. A fatigue which is I cant say almost unbearable, because nothing in the consciousness feels it to be unbearable but it makes me like this (Mother clenches her fist tightly in a tension to hold on).
For example, at five-thirty in the evening, after Ive spent an hour and a half here with people, its a labor to climb the stairs; and by the time I get upstairs, I feel strained to the breaking point. Then I begin to walk (I dont stop, I dont rest), I immediately begin to walk with my japa, and within half an hour, pfft! it has lifted.
But the bodys fatigue doesnt go: its there its contained but it is there.
Yet I havent the slightest impression that the horizon is blockedyou know, that the end is at h and, that the condition has to be changed and the Work begin again on another plane and in another way; in other words, that everything attempted so far would have been only a preparation for for later. I still dont have that feeling. If I ever do, I will say, Very well, thats quite all right with me, but I dont have this feeling. Will I ever have it? I dont knowusually (laughing), I know these things! For instance, I know for certain when someone is going to die, even before theres the least indication. So.
In the present case, of course, the body is always saying, I am ready for everything I will do anything at all; yet I still cant say that it has this. Its trying to be completely pure according to the spiritual conceptit doesnt sense its separate personality. More and more, year after year, it has been striving to feel only the divine Presence, the divine Life, the divine Force and the divine Will, all within itself; and to feel that without them it is nothing, it doesnt exist. This is fully realized in its consciousness (the conscious part). In the subconscient and inconscient,5 obviously it is not realized otherwise, logically, it shouldnt be ill.
The whole disorder evidently originates from the subconscient and inconscient; all the more so as it came with various indications (sent by the hostile forces but this can always be useful, provided you are careful) saying, Yes, everything is going well in your higher centers, but(because the different points of attack have clearly followed the order of the centers). Four or five days ago, or maybe a week, before this latest difficulty occurred, I saw little beings coming out of the subconscient and saying, Ah! Your legs havent had any trouble for a long time! Its the turn of the lower centers! I swept it all away, of course, but.
Taken this way, it could be an indication that all this needs a somewhat brutal preparation in order to be put in the necessary condition.
--
The most violent attack came immediately after that experience [of January 24]. But of all the experiences in my life, this was the most wonderful for the simple reason that it was NOT EVEN preceded by an aspiration, not even an aspiration from the body it came directly as the Supreme Will, bang! (Mother bangs down her h ands in an irresistible gesture) and then there was nothing, nothing but THE thing, WITHOUT ANY PERSONAL PARTICIPATION WHATSOEVER: no will, no aspiration, not even the satisfaction of itnothing. It was. I was (in my higher consciousness) filled with wonder at the ABSOLUTENESS of the experience. It came, a thing DECREED and eternallike that (same irresistible gesture).
(silence)
This detachment, as I told you, came afterwards (it was evidently indispensable); and as soon as it came, everything began to get disorganized. Well, the detachment must surely have come so that. Actually, my immediate impression was: so that I wouldnt get worried and say to myself, Oh, now it wont work any morethis is the end. So I wouldnt worry. All right, I said, dont bother with it.(gesture of surrender, h ands opened upwards) and for the first two or three days I was absolutely detached, watching and not bothering about it. Its only with this last attack on my legs. Because the rest of it tired me and made me ill but it didnt hinder my work; but things become difficult when the legs dont function.
We shall see, mon petit! Well see whats going to happen (Mother laughs).
But I have no doubts about that! It just came to menot because I was consciously concerned about Your physical future: this dream simply came so unexpectedly and vividly.
No, no I know that! I tell you, it can only be one of two things: either a good kick from the Enemy who is still trying to find a support in someones mentality, or else premonitory.
--
I know for certain that if I can keep going until 1964, then. That isnt long, but it will be dangerous until 1964. Its these years in particular: 61, 62 63 is better, 64 is decidedly better, and from 1965, we should be on the safe side.
But truly speaking, the minute one completely emerges from the ordinary mind, NO EXTERIOR SIGN IS A PROOF, absolutely none. There is absolutely no st andard to go byneither splendid good health nor good equilibrium, nor an almost general disorganizationnone of these. All depends exclusivelyexclusivelyon what the Lord has decided. Exclusively. Consequently, if one remains very quiet, one is sure to know what He has decided.
When I am perfectly tranquil, I immediately live in a beatific joy where questions dont arisethere are no questions! One asks for nothingone LIVES! One lives happily, and thats all. Theres no, Will it be like this? Will it be like that?how childish! There are no questions, questions dont arise. One is a beatitude manifesting, that is all.
All the rest is unimportant.
Basically, if we were capable of. When I am up in my room, its very easy, very easy: it comes and what is a little more difficult is getting out of that state. There I am, like this (gesture of blissful ab andonment), and when I feel its time to go downstairs or I have something to do or someone is coming with lunch or whatever, then its a little difficult; otherwise, I am like that (same gesture). Whats difficult is my contact with the Ashram people. As soon as I go down and simply that, having to fidget on my feet, giving people flowers. and they are so unconsciously egotistical! If I dont go through the usual concentration on each one of them, they wonder, What is it? Whats wrong? Have I done something? and and it turns into a big drama.
Otherwise, concentration is very good, it doesnt tire mewhen my body is not drained, when it isnt constantly aware that it exists because it hurts here, hurts there, aches here, aches there (pain is what gives it a sense of existing), when the body is able to forget itself, things go well, its nothing. Now the Force passes through me without causing fatigue, while many years ago, too much Force created tension; but its not like that now, not at allon the contrary, the body feels better when a lot of force has passed through it.
--
To realize what one has to realize, it is absolutely indispensable to be TOTALLY free of all ties with the ordinary, false consciousness common to material body-consciousness the consciousness of the body-substancederiving from the subconscient and the inconscient. This must not only be mastered (it has been mastered for a long time)but there must be complete independence so that it no longer has the power to provoke any reaction at all. But we arent there yet, its still not like that, and as long as it isnt, we are not on the safe side. But when all the bodys cells, even in their most subconscious reactions, will come to know what I myself know, that the Supreme alone exists, when they will know that, it will be goodnot before. As I told you just now, they still have ordinary reactions: If I have to stay on my feet, (this isnt a thought; Im obliged to use words, but it isnt a thought), If I have to stay on my feet, Im going to get tired; if I do too much, Ill be tired, if I do this, it will have that consequence, if. This stupid, automatic little mechanism. its not yet THAT, not yet That!
Of course, theres the constant difficulty of all the thoughts coming from outside and from the people you live with. But now the consciousness is such that these outer things are seen objectively (Mother makes a gesture of seeing vibrations coming and stopping before her eyes)automatically I see everything that comes from the surrounding vibrations objectively: far, near, above, below, everywhere. The vibration comes WITH THE KNOWLEDGE. In other words, its not that you see what it is only after it has been received and absorbed: it comes with the knowledge, and this is a great help. This type of perception has considerably increased and become much more precise since that experience [of January 24], much more; it has made a big difference.
But perhaps there will have to be many experiences of this nature before the work is done. It is possible.
Something from that experiencean effect, a vibratory effect, so to speakhas not left. But the totality of the experience is not here the whole time, its not established. I had a reminder of it one night, but not for very long; all at once, for a brief moment, this same vibration came, and my entire body was nothing other than this Vibration.
It didnt last longer than a quarter of an hour and it wasnt as total.
(long silence)
--
Well, mon petit, we have done nothing but talk. Its time to go and we havent done anything!
There is one question I would very much like to ask you How can all this work you are doing on your body, this work of consciousness, act upon the corporeal substance outside you? How is it generally valid?
--
Thats how it works. Because all substance is ONE. All is onewe constantly forget that! We always have a sense of separation, and that is total, total falsehood; its because we rely on what our eyes see, on (Mother touches her h ands and arms, as if to indicate a separate body, cut off from other bodies). That is truly Falsehood. As soon as your consciousness changes a little, you realize that what we see is like an image plastered over something. But its not true, NOT TRUE AT ALL. Even in the most material Matter, even a stoneeven in a stoneas soon as ones consciousness changes, all this separation, all this division, completely vanishes. These are (how to put it?) modes of concentration (something akin to yet not quite that), vibratory modes WITHIN THE SAME THING.8
(The clock strikes) Oh, now I must go!
--
Anyway, I dont need to tell you that the best attitude to take regarding this dream is: May Your Will be done, and tranquil, tranquil.
You can even receive the answer yourself and know where this dream comes fromsimply turn towards the supreme Truth, remain like that (immobile) and say, May Your Will be done. It has to go very high, very high, to the highest, to that which is supreme Freedom. and then, if you are absolutely silent, you will have, not a thought or a word, but a kind of feeling, and you will know.
For me, at the moment, your dream does not correspond to a precise fact.
--
(Mother gets up to leave when suddenly, turning upon the threshold, She looks at Satprem with her eyes like diamonds and, in a tone of voice he has never heard before, as if it were a Comm and from above, says:)
In any case, one thing: never forget that what we have to do, we shall do; and we shall do it together because we have to do it together, that is alllike this, like that, in this way, in that way (Mother tilts her h and from right to left as though to indicate this side of the world or the other, life or death), it has no importance. But this is the true fact.
There, petit.
--
The terminology used by Mother and Sri Aurobindo is distinct from the terminology of Western psychology. This is how Sri Aurobindo defines 'inconscient' and 'subconscient': 'All upon earth is based on the Inconscient, as it is called, though it is not really inconscient at all, but rather a complete "sub"-conscience, a suppressed or involved consciousness, in which there is everything but nothing is formulated or expressed. The subconscient lies between this Inconscient and the conscious mind, life and body.'
Cent. Ed., XXII, p. 354
Three years earlier, in 1958, Mother had told Satprem that February and March were 'bad months,' and she had spoken of cyclical movements in Nature like those in the individual consciousness, with alternating periods of difficulty and progress.
Four times a year, for 'darshan,' visitors poured into the Ashram to pass one by one before Mother ( and formerly Sri Aurobindo as well) to receive her look.
Since 'Bohr's atom' at the beginning of the century, which with its electrons orbiting around a central nucleus like planets around a sun was to have been the mathematical model representing the ultimate constituent of matter, nuclear physicists have discovered many new elementary particles in the universe: from leptons to baryons, with neutrinos, pions, kaons, psi and khi particles in between!
A recent and unifying (!)theory postulated by the American Nobel Laureate, Murray Gell-Mann, would reduce this somewhat startling enumeration to more reasonable proportions through the introduction of a unique sub-particle constituting all matter: the quark. Nevertheless, there would still exist several kinds of quarks (e.g., 'strange,' 'charmed,' 'colored' in red, yellow and blue) for accommodating the various qualities of matter. A proton, for example, would consist of three quarks: red, yellow and blue. However, it should be noted that quarks are basically mathematical intermediaries to facilitate the comprehension or interpretation of certain experiments thus far unexplained. Moreover, the simple question still remains, even if they do exist materially: 'What are quarks made of?'
Nevertheless, a mathematical model resulting from a recent theory that attempts to represent our material universe strangely resembles Mother's perception, for it postulates a milieu consisting entirely of electromagnetic waves of very high frequency. According to this theory, Matter itself is the 'coagulation' of these waves at the moment they exceed a certain frequency threshold; our perception of emptiness, of fullness, of the hard or the transparent, being finally due only to the differences in vibratory frequencies'vibratory modes within the same thing.'
0 1961-02-14, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindo wants to make the distinction between the progressive soul (the soul which has experiences and progresses from life to life), what can be called the lower soul, and the higher soul, that is, the eternal, immutable and divine soulessentially divine. He wrote this when he was in contact with certain Theosophical writings, before I introduced Theons vocabulary to him. For Theon, there is the divine center which is the eternal soul, and the psychic being; similarly, to avoid using the same word in both cases, Sri Aurobindo speaks in later writings of the psychic being and of the divine center or central being the essential soul.
What if we translate it la partie suprieure de lme, [the higher part of the soul], rather than me suprieure?
0 1961-02-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Oh, the other day I had some zinnias (Endurance)literally works of art, as though each petal had been painted, and all together so harmonious and so varied at the same time. Oh, Nature is wonderful! In the end, we are just copycats, and clumsy ones at that.
(after a moment of silence)
--
and your legs?
Right in the subconscient, a subconscient oh, hopelessly weak and dull and (how to put it?) enslaved to a host of thingsenslaved to EVERYTHING. It has been unfolding before me night after night, night after night, to show me. Last night, it was indescribable! It goes on and onit seems to have no limits! Naturally, the body feels the effects of this, poor thing! It is the bodys subconscient, but its not personalit is personal and not personal: it becomes personal only when it enters the body.
You cant imagine the accumulation of impressions recorded and stored in the subconscient, heaped one on top of another. Outwardly, you dont even notice, the waking consciousness isnt aware of it; but they come in, they keep on coming and coming, piling up hideous!
So well see how long this is going to last. I underst and why people have never tried to change it: stir up that quagmire? No! It takes a lot (laughing), a lot of courage! Oh, its so easy to escape, so easy to say, None of that concerns me. I belong to higher spheres, it doesnt concern me.
Anyway, its obvious that nobody has succeeded, so far not a single person and I underst and! I underst and. When you find yourself face to face with it, you wonder, How could anything possibly withst and this!
My body was strongly built, solid, full of enduranceit had a tremendous energy, yet its beginning to feel that it isnt easy.
--
Even mastery can be achievedits quite easy to do from above. But for the transformation one must descend, and that is terrible. Otherwise, the subconscient will never be transformed, it will remain as it is.
One can even pose as a superman! (Mother laughs) But it remains like that (gesture in the air), its not the real thing. Its not the new creation, its not the next step in terrestrial evolution.
You might as well say, Why are you in a hurry? Wait for Nature to do it. But Nature would take a few million years and in the process squ ander away a host of people and things. A few million years are unimportant to hera passing breeze.
(silence)
Anyhow, I was sent here to do this work, so I am trying to do it, thats all. I could have. If it hadnt been for the work, I would have left with Sri Aurobindo; there you have it. I remained only for the sake of the workbecause it was there to be done and he told me to do it and I am doing it. Otherwise, when one is perfectly conscious, one is far less limited without a body: one can see a hundred people at the same time, in a hundred different places, just as Sri Aurobindo is doing right now.
If I may ask, has Sri Aurobindo remained quite conscious of material things?
--
To give a rather curious example, there was a kind of spell of illness over the Ashram, stemming mainly from peoples thoughts, from their way of thinking. It was quite widespread and it was horrible, gloomy, full of fear, pettiness, blind submission, oh! Everyone was in a state of expectation.1 In short, the atmosphere was such that there was an attempt to prevent me from leaving my room I had to sneak out! It was disgusting! Well, on the very night I saw the spell over the Ashram, Sri Aurobindo was lying sick in his bed, just as I had seen him in 1950. Normally, we spend almost every night together, doing this, seeing that, arranging things, talkingits a kind of second life behind this one, and it makes existence pleasant. But that night when I had to sneak out of my room (in my nightgown!), and people were trying to find me to (laughing) force me back into bed, he was lying sick in bed and this struck me hard, for it means these things still affect him in his consciousness. He was in a kind of trance and not at all well. It didnt last, but nonetheless.
Oh, the things that can collect there,2 ugh!
--
If we spoke only of success. and besides, we share these difficulties, more or less.
The day victory is won, all this will become infinitely interesting. But why speak of it if the victory isnt won? It just makes another lengthy description of failures.
--
She saw your publishers in Paris and they told her they are impatiently awaiting (Mother is mocking) your book on Sri Aurobindo.
I wish I could help them out!
that they are counting on it, that its going to be a big hit world-wide, and so forth. They put out a feeler with LOrpailleur, and seem quite pleased. They are very, very impatient they say now is the time. Now is the time but it will be more and more the time, thats what they dont know! The time is only beginning.
The other day you were telling me to start this Sri Aurobindo from any point at all.
--
Oh, yesterday or the day before, I had the occasion to write a sentence about Sri Aurobindo. It was in English and went something like this: In the worlds history, what Sri Aurobindo represents is not a teaching nor even a revelation, but a decisive ACTION direct from the Supreme.
(silence)
I tell you this because just now as we were speaking about the book and you were saying it would come all at once in a single flow, I saw a kind of globe, like a suna sun shedding a twinkling dust of inc andescent light (the sun was moving forward and this dust came twinkling in front of it), like this (gesture). It came towards you, then made a circle around you as if to say, Here is the formation. It was magnificent! There was a creative warmth in it, a warmth like the sunsa power of Truth. and here again, I was given the same impression: that what Sri Aurobindo has come to bring is not a teaching, not even a revelation, but a FORMIDABLE action coming direct from the Supreme.
It is something pouring over the world.
--
A great deal has been brought to light since that experience. It has been the starting point for such turmoil, even physically, such strong jolts that I might have wondered, Was I dreaming or was it real?. and more and more I am coming to underst and that this is the INDISPENSABLE preparation in the most material world for that experience to become definitively established, to express itself outwardly, constantlythis is obvious.
If the experience remained permanently, it would be something very close to omnipotence. I felt at the time that there was no such thing as an impossibility: it was truly the sensation of omnipotence. It is not omnipotence, because there is always a greater Omnipotence (one knows this only in the higher realms). But in terms of the material world, it was clearly something very, very different from all that has ever been seen or heard or told by all extant traditionsit all seems like the babbling of a child in comparison. At that moment itself there was only the Something which sees, decides and it is done.
--
Whats natural also and annoyingis that people know nothing, underst and nothing, even those who see me all the time, like the doctor. He still hasnt been able to underst and and he suddenly grew worried, thinking I was on my way to the other side! All this makes a mess of the atmosphere it just doesnt help! Their faith is not sufficiently (how to put it?) enlightened for them to keep still and simply say, Well, we shall see, without questioning. They are not beyond questioning and this complicates matters.
I have a feeling (but these are old ideas) that if I were all alone somewhere and didnt have to look after these people and things, it would be easier. But that would not be the TRUE thing. For when I had the experience [of January 24], all that is normally under my care was present: the whole earth seemed to be present at the experience. There is no individuality (Mother indicates her body). I have difficulty finding an individuality now, even in my own body. What I do find in this body are the subconscious vibrations (conscious as well as subconscious) of a WORLD, a whole world of things. So it can be done ONLY on a large scale, otherwise its the same old story but then its not the power HERE [in matter]one simply quits this world. Oh, these people cant imagine what it is! They have made such a fuss over their departure. They have wanted us to believe it was something quite extraordinary. But its infantile, its childs play, its nothing at all to quit this world! One simply goes poff!, like diving into watera little kick and one resurfaces, and thats all there is to it, its done (Mother laughs).
and the same goes for their stories about attachments and desiresmy god! Theres nothing to it! Imagine, with anything concerning my body, through all this horror of the subconscient, NOT ONCE have I had to bear the consequence of a desire; I have always had to bear the consequences of the battle against lifes unconscious and malicious resistances, but not once has something come up like that (gesture of something resurging from below) to tell me, You see! You had a desire, now heres the result of it! Not oncevery, very sincerely.
Thats really not the difficulty the difficulty is that the world is not ready! The very substance one is made of (Mother touches her body) shares in the worlds lack of preparationnaturally! Its the same thing, the very same thing. Perhaps there is a tiny bit more light in this body, but so little that its not worth mentioning-its all the same thing. Oh, a sordid slavery!
--
I want you to have enough time to write your book, because I feel that Sri Aurobindo is interested in it the sun that came a while ago was from him. I feel he is interested and confident you can do it.
What have you reread?
--
and part of The Secret of the Veda, as well as two other things because they contain many of Sri Aurobindos letters: I re-read Zs book on Sri Aurobindo, since there are many letters in it, and.
Yes, only unfortunately he has tampered with it.
--
Sri Aurobindo had made certain statements about me in those letters, and Z deleted them. (Anyway, it makes no difference for your book, because Im not at all keen on having any statements about me published.)
But Z is not honest. He hasnt been honest at all. We were forced to intervene once or twice because his deletions distorted the meaning. We finally told him (for the book published here), We wont publish it unless you restore these things.
--
Anyhow. Only Sri Aurobindo can speak of Sri Aurobindo. and as for their notes, its still Sri Aurobindo A la Z, or Sri Aurobindo A la A, and all the more so since Sri Aurobindo wrote in very different ways depending upon the person he was writing to (gesture indicating different levels).
Well, if you feel the time will be found, it will surely be found.
--
Tomorrow Ill be going down for h andkerchief distribution7to wipe away the tears! (Mother laughs like a mischievous little girl and goes out.)
Note that a few days earlier [the night of February 12], a disciple had a very symbolic dream in which she saw all the disciples gathered near the Ashram's main gate with an air of consternation, as though something had happened to Mother.
--
In French, the word 'chouer' means both 'to fail' and 'to run aground.'
Sri Aurobindo et la Transformation du Monde [Sri Aurobindo and the Transformation of the World], a book that Editions du Seuil had asked Satprem to write and subsequently refused on the pretext that it did not conform to the 'spirit of the collection.' This book would never see the light of day. Satprem would later write another book entitled Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness.
A long-time disciple (Suzanne Karpeles) and a member of the cole Franaise d'Extrme Orient.
A monthly review published by the Ashram.
0 1961-02-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This one is the Constant Remembrance of the Divine.1 This is Life Energy2 and Purified Life Energy.3 Then Faithfulness4: the peace of FaithfulnessFaithfulness to the Divine, of course, thats understood! This is Divine Solicitude5; this is the Aspiration for Transformation,6 and the response: see how beautiful it islike velvet! its the Promise of Realization.7 Here is Light Without Obscurity,8 and finally Realization9the first flower from the tree at Nanteuil.10
There you are.
You can easily make a speech using flowers and I have noticed that this can effectively replace the old Vedic images, for instance, which no longer hold meaning for us, or the ambiguous phraseology of the ancient initiations. Flower language is much better because it contains the Force and is extremely plasticsince its not formulated in words, each one is free to arrange and receive it according to his own capacity. You can make long speeches using flowers!
I have nothing more to say now, except that the same situation prevails.
The Darshan went rather well, much better than I was expecting; but the following two days it was difficult here [in the body]. Then one night (I dont remember which), I I cant say grumbled, but (it wasnt my body grumbling, it is very docile and doesnt protest), but I sometimes find that well, I found it a little exaggerated that day. All the same, I said, this may be dem anding a bit too much of it! and then (Mother laughs) the whole night through, each time I awoke and looked (not with my physical eyes), I saw serpents! They were drawn up straight in a circlemagnificent cobras with white bellies, pearl gray backs and flecks of gold on their hoods! They surrounded me, watching, exactly as though they were saying, All the necessary energy is there! You neednt worry! So I concluded that this whole affair11 must have its utilityit cant be simply the bodys lack of plasticity and incapacity to receive. It must have a usefulness but what? I havent understood. Perhaps I will get the explanation later, once its over.
and the next afternoon, I closed my eyes while I was bathing and what did I see but an enormous, magnificent cobra! It gazed at me, almost smiling, and stuck out its tongue! Good, I said, then everything is all right! (laughing) I have only to hold on.
So, thats all I have to say.
and what about you? Nothing to say?
(long silence)
Theres an American living in Madras, a rather important man, it seems, and an intimate friend of Kennedy, the new President. He has read and reread all of Sri Aurobindos books and is extremely interested. He wrote to Kennedy that he would like him to come here so he can bring him to the Ashram. This man has posed a very interesting question, drawing an analogy. Deep in a forest, a deer goes to quench its thirst; no one is aware of it, yet someone who has made a special study of deer hunting would know by the tracks that the deer had passed bynot only what particular type of deer, but its age, size, sex, etc. Similarly, there must be people with a spiritual knowledge analogous to that of hunters, who can detect, perceive, that a person is in touch with the Supermind, while ordinary people know nothing about it and wouldnt notice. So he asks, I would like to know by what signs such a person can be recognized?
It is a very intelligent question.
--
The first sign is perfect equality as Sri Aurobindo has described it (you must know it, theres a whole chapter on equality, samat, in The Synthesis of Yoga)exactly as he described it with such wonderful precision! But this equality (which is not equanimity) is a particular STATE where one relates to all things, outer and inner, and to each individual thing, in the same way. That is truly perfect equality: vibrations from things, from people, from contacts have no power to alter that state.
In my reply I mentioned this first, though I didnt give him all these explanations. I put it in a few words as a kind of test of his intelligence, and in a somewhat cryptic form to see if he would underst and.
The second sign is a sense of ABSOLUTENESS in knowledge. As I have already told you, I had this with my experience of January 24. This state CANNOT be obtained through any region of the mind, even the most illumined and exalted. Its not a certainty, its (Mother lowers both h ands like an irresistible block descending), a kind of absoluteness, without even any possibility of hesitation (theres no question of doubt), or anything like that. Without (how to say it ?). All mental knowledge, even the highest, is a conclusive knowledge, as it were: it comes as a conclusion of something elsean intuition, for instance (an intuition gives you a particular knowledge, and this knowledge is like the conclusion of the intuition). Even revelations are conclusions. Theyre all conclusions the word conclusion comes to me, but I dont know how to express it. This isnt the case, however, with the supramental experiencea kind of absolute. The feeling it gives is altogether uniquefar beyond certainty, it is (Mother again makes the same irresistible gesture) it is a FACT, things are FACTS. It is very, very difficult to explain. But with that one naturally has a complete power the two things always go together. (In my reply to this man I didnt speak of power because the power is almost a consequence and I didnt want to speak of consequences.) But the fact remains: a kind of absoluteness in knowledge springing from identityone is the thing one knows and experiences: one is it. One knows it because one is it.
When these two signs are present (both are necessary, one is incomplete without the other), when a person possesses both, then you can be sure he has been in contact with the Supermind. So people who speak about receiving the Light well, (laughing) its a lot of hot air! But when both signs are present, you can be sure of your perception.12
--
It is quite evident that with these two things, you truly its what Sri Aurobindo says: you step into another world, you leave this entire hemisphere behind and enter another one. Thats the feeling.
The day its established, it will be good.
--
and it results neither from an aspiration nor a seeking nor an effort nor a tapasya nor anything else: it comes, bang! (same irresistible gesture) and when it goes away, something like like an imprint in the s and remainsin the consciousness. The consciousness is like a layer of s and on which the experience has left an imprint. If you stir about too much, the imprint vanishes; if you remain very still, it. But its only an imprint. and it cant be imitated. Whats marvelous is that it cant be imitated! All the rest, all the ascetic realizations, for example, can be imitated, but you cant imitate this, it is there is no equivalent.
Its like the extraordinary feeling I had in my experience that night [January 24]the individuality, even in its highest consciousness, even whats known as the atman13 and the soul, had nothing to do with it. For it comes like this (same gesture), with an absoluteness. There is NO individual participationits a decision coming from the Supreme.
Its the same thing for the rest: all your aspiration, all your tapasya, all your efforts, all that is individualabsolutely no effect. It comes, and there it is.
There is only one thing you can doANNUL YOURSELF as much as possible. If you can annul yourself completely, then the experience is total. and if your disappearance could be constant, the experience would be constantly there but thats still far away. I dont know if all this (Mother looks at her body).
(silence)
Obviously, the body needed a test, a VERY SEVERE test, because from a personal viewpoint, its the only explanation I can find for all these disorders. There are many explanations from a general viewpoint, but. Anyway, I will know the day I am toldall these imaginings are useless. But from a personal viewpoint. You see, for a long time (more than a year now, probably almost two), this body hasnt felt its limits.14 It is not at all its former self; it is scarcely more than a concentration now, a kind of agglomeration of something; it is not a body in a skinnot at all. Its a sort of agglomeration, a concentration of vibrations. and even what is normally called illness (but it is not illness, these are not illnesses, they are functional disorders), even these functional disorders dont have the same meaning for the body as they have for the doctor, for instance, or for ordinary people. Its not like that, the body doesnt feel it like that. It feels it rather as as a kind of difficulty in adjusting to some new vibratory need.
(silence)
Formerly, when it couldnt do its work, the body had a kind of impatiencea feeling that despite all its aspiration and goodwill to be a fit instrument, these disorders were barring the way. Even this has completely gone.
Now the body has a kind of extraordinary smile for everything. At the end of the day, with the accumulation of everything coming from the people I have seen and the work I have done, when I have to push and pull myself just to climb the stairs because my legs are like iron rods, without any will (thats the most terrible part: they dont respond to the will), even at times like these, when my arms are what pull me up the stairs (no longer my legs), the body doesnt protest, doesnt protest. Then it begins walking back and forth for japa. and after half an hour of walking, things are infinitely better (Mother makes a gesture of the Force descending into her body).
(silence)
But the body itself doesnt know why this is happening. and in fact, it finds it unnecessary to try: its like that because its like that. and were it called upon, it would say, Very well, when conditions ought to be otherwise, they will be otherwise. Thats exactly its position.
(silence)
--
All this [the world, the Ashram] is held in my consciousness with a kind of essential compassion applying equally to all things, all difficulties, all obstacles. I receive letters by the dozens, as you know, and each person comes to me with his own little misery or problem, inner or outer (a tiny pimple becomes a mountain). When people come to me, my inner consciousness always responds in the same way, with a kind of equality and compassion for all. But when people are talking to me or I am reading a letter and my body grows conscious of what it calls the to-do they make over their miseries, it has a kind of feeling (I mean there is a feeling in the cells): Why do they take things like that! They are making things much more difficult. The body underst ands. It underst ands that their way of taking the least little difficulty in such a blind, egotistical and self-centered manner, increases its difficulties furiously!
Its a rather amusing sensation, a combination of sensation and feeling, that the ordinary human attitude towards things multiplies and magnifies the difficulties to FANTASTIC proportions; while if they simply had the true attitudea NORMAL attitude, quite simple, uncomplicatedahh, all life would be much easier. For the body feels the vibrations (those very vibrations which concentrate to form a body), it feels their nature and sees that its normal reaction, a peaceful and confident reaction, makes things so much easier! But as soon as this agitation of anxiety, fear, discontent comes in, the reaction of a will that doesnt want any of it oh, right away it becomes like water boiling: pff! pff! pff! like a machine. While if the difficulty is accepted with confidence and simplicity, its reduced to its minimum, and I mean purely materially, in the material vibration itself.
Almost (I say almost because the body hasnt had every experience), but almost all pains can be reduced to something absolutely negligible. (Of course, some pains it hasnt had, but it has had a sufficient number!) Its this anxiety resulting from a semi-mental vibration (the first stirrings of Mind) that complicates everything, everything! For example, take this difficulty I mentioned of climbing the stairs: in the doctors consciousness or anyone elses, pain causes it. According to their ordinary reasoning, pain is what tenses the nerves and muscles so one can no longer walk but this is absolutely FALSE. Pain does not prevent my body from doing anything at all. Pain isnt a factor, or rather its a factor that can be easily dealt with. Its not that: it is Matter; Matter (probably cellular matter, or) losing its capacity to respond to the will, to will-power. But why? I dont know! It depends upon the particular disorganization; but why is it like that? I dont know. Now each time I climb the stairs, I am trying to find the means of infusing Will in such a way that this lack of response doesnt last but I still havent found it. Although theres all this accumulated force and power and will (a tremendous accumulation, I am BATHED in it, the whole body is bathed in it!), yet for some reason it doesnt respond. Here and there, groups of cells fail to respond, and the Force cannot act. So what must be found is.
(silence)
Even in this, right now, in what I am saying, theres a sense of tapasya; theres the whole inner consciousness making the body do a tapasya. But my knowledge and my certainty (what I KNOW) is that it may be a necessary preparation, but it is NOT what accomplishes the work.15 Rather, it is something acting like that (Mother abruptly turns her h and over to indicate a reversal of states). and when it goes like that, it is done, all is done. All is done.
Are these disorders necessary for it to become like that? I have my doubts. I have my doubts. But the question cant even be asked, because what it implies seems to verge on a fatalism having no truth in itselfit is not a fatalism, not at all. What is it? Something that defies expression.
--
Even the body, the body itself, has the constant perception of bathing in the vibration of the CONCRETE divine Presence; so certainly from a psychological st andpoint there is not the slightest shadow in the picture. Even from the material st andpoint, this Presence is here. Yet although it is here, felt, perceived and experienced, there is still this disorder! (I call it disorder.)
(long silence)
--
How clearly one sees and knows that even the HIGHEST, the most luminous intelligence can underst and nothing, nothingit is idiotic to try.
(silence)
--
Even absolute is not strong enough (Mother makes a gesture of a solid block descending). That is why one speaks of an irrevocable, irremediable absolute but I dont know how to express it. and NOTHING BUT this Absolute exists, there is nothing else. There is only that.
and everything is there in it.
When that comes, all is well.
--
So, mon petit, I have talked the whole time and we still havent done anythingano ther day without working! (Mother laughs)
Its a curious thing speaking evidently helps me follow the experience. But I cant just begin speaking all alone up in my room! and talking to a tape recorder is useless. Up to now, it certainly flows the best with youby far. I havent tried with others, although occasionally Ive said something to Nolini, but his receptivity is fuzzy (I dont know whether you can underst and this impression: its as though my. words were going into cotton-wool). Once, as I told you, I spoke with R., and with him I felt that three quarters of it was absolutely lost and as a matter of fact it was. But with you I begin to SEE, and the need to formulate makes me concentrate on my vision. and this I experience with you more than I ever have with anyone. So.
So you are bearing the consequences!
--
1) A perfect and constant equality
2) An absolute certainty in knowledge.
To be perfect, the equality must be invariable and spontaneous, effortless, towards all circumstances, all happenings, all contacts, material or psychological, irrespective of their character and impact.
The absolute and indisputable certainty of an infallible knowledge through identity.
Mother then made the following commentary regarding the 'impact' of circumstances, happenings, etc.:
'There is no longer this kind of opposition between what is an agreeable impact and what is a disagreeable one. There are no more "agreeable" things and "disagreeable" things: they are simply vibrations one registers. Usually when people receive a shock they do this (gesture of recoil), then they reflect, concentrate, and finally restore peace. But equality does not mean that! That's not what it is. The state must be SPONTANEOUS, constant and invariable.'
Atman: the Self or Spirit.
Here Mother gradually goes into trance and all the rest of this conversation will take place in a state of trance.
I.e., it is not through any effort or tapasya that the true change is brought about.
0 1961-02-28, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Anyway, in reply to this nonsense, I have said: Your error, to be precise, is that you go to the Theosophical Society, for example, with the same opening as to the Christian religion or to the Buddhist doctrine or with which you read one of Sri Aurobindos books and as a result, you are plunged into a confusion and a muddle and you dont underst and anything about anything.
and then the reply came to me very strongly; something took hold of me and I was, so to say, obliged to write: What Sri Aurobindo represents in the worlds history is not a teaching, not even a revelation; it is a decisive action direct from the Supreme.2
Its not from me. It came from there (gesture upwards). But it pleased me.
--
Mother added: and I am just trying to fulfill that action.
***
0 1961-03-04, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Look, its Enthusiasm, see how beautiful it is! It must be put in water right away, otherwise. It needs vital force and water is vital force. Its lovely! What fantasy! and this one is the Consciousness one with the Divine Consciousness,1 but supramentalizedbeginning to be supramentalized. and here is a very pretty Promise of Realization2, and heres Balance3 and the Peace of Faithfulness.4
There you are, mon petit.
--
Listen, mon petit, you dont need to ask, I will tell you right away. Sri Aurobindo has written somewhere that the movement of world transformation is double: first, the individual who does sadhana6 and establishes contact with higher things; but at the same time, the world is a base and it must rise up a little and prepare itself for the realization to be achieved (this is putting it simply). Some people live merely on the surface they come alive only when they stir about restlessly. Whatever happens inside them (if anything does!) is immediately thrown out into movement. Such people always need an outer activity; take J. for example: he fastened onto Sri Aurobindos phrase, World Union, and came to tell me he wanted.
He has been like that since the beginning (gesture expressing agitation), and he had a go at a considerable number of things but none ever succeeded! He has no method, no sense of order and he doesnt know how to organize work. So World Union is simply to let him have his way, like letting a horse gallop.
I used to send him around to the various centers (because he had to do something!), and he would visit, speak to people I dont know about what. and during one of his trips to Delhi he happened to meet Z, who had been sent by the government of India to the Soviet Union, where it seems he delivered an extraordinary speech (it must have been extraordinary, because I have been receiving letters from everywhere, including America, asking for the text of this sensational speech in which he apparently spoke of human unity). So Z returned with the idea of forming a World Union, and J. and Z met. Furthermore, they were encouraged by S.M.7 and even by the Prime Minister,8 who probably had a special liking for Z and had given him a lot of encouragement. Thats how things began.
I treated it as something altogether secondary and unimportantwhen people need to gallop, I let them gallop (but I hadnt met Z). Then J. and Z left together on a speaking-tour of Africa and there things began to go sour, because Z was working in one way and J. in another. Finally, they were at odds and came back here to tell me, World Union is off to a good startwith a quarrel! (Mother laughs) Z was saying, Nothing can be done unless we base ourselves EXCLUSIVELY on the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and they are behind us giving support. and J. said, No, no! We are not sectarian! We accept all ideas, all theories, etc. I replied, and as it happens, I said that Z was right, though with one corrective: he had been saying that people had to recognize us as their guru. No, I said, its absolutely uselessnot only useless, I refuse. I dont want to be anybodys guru. People should simply be told that things are to be done on the basis of Sri Aurobindos thought.9
So they kept pulling in opposing directions. Eventually they tried to set something up (which still didnt hold together), and finally they wrote me a little more clearly. (There is one very nice man involved, Y. He isnt particularly intellectual but has a lot of common sense and a very faithful hearta very good man.) Y asked me some direct questions, without beating around the bush, and I replied directly: World Union is an entirely superficial thing, without any depth, based on the fact that Sri Aurobindo said the masses must be helped to follow the progress of the elitewell, let them go ahead! If they enjoy it, let them go right ahead! I didnt say it exactly like that (I was a bit more polite!), but that was the gist of it.
Now it has all fallen flat. They are carrying on with their little activities, but its absolutely unimportant. They publish a small journal, and V, who writes for them, is far from stupid. She is rather intelligent and I have some control over her, so I will try to stop her from writing nonsense.
They also had a sudden brainstorm to affiliate with the Sri Aurobindo Society. But the Sri Aurobindo Society has absolutely nothing to do with their project: its a strictly external thing, organized by businessmen to bring in moneyEXCLUSIVELY. That is, they want to put people in a position where they feel obliged to give (so far they have succeeded and I believe they will succeed). But this has nothing to do with working for an ideal, it is COMPLETELY practical.10 and of course, World Union has nothing to offer the Sri Aurobindo Society: they would simply siphon off funds. So I told them, Nothing doingits out of the question!
But your name is there as President of the Sri Aurobindo Society, they said. My name is there to give an entirely material guarantee that the money donated will really and truly be used for the Work to be done and for nothing else; its only a moral and purely practical guarantee. These people arent even asked to underst and what Sri Aurobindo has said but simply to participate. Its a different matter for those in World Union, who are working for an ideal: they want to prepare the world to receive (laughing) the Supermind! Let them prepare it! It doesnt matter, they will achieve nothing at all, or very little. Its unimportant. Thats my point of view and I have told them so.
In addition, I told them it was preferable not to hold any functions herethey can be held at Tapogiri in the Himalayas, or elsewhere and this is understood. They did hold a seminar here (a perfect fiasco, besides), but it had been arranged a long time ago. They invited people who promised to come (I think very few showed up in the end), and it was of very secondary importance. Nevertheless, I told them, This is the last time; dont do it here any more. At Tapogiri, as often as you like: its a beautiful spot in the mountains, a health resort, people go there in the summer for the fresh air and to sit around and chat!
What shocked me was. You know I rarely leave my house, but each time I would come to the Ashram for darshan or to see you, always, as if by chance, I would find J. off in a corner with some European visitor. The repetition of this coincidence made me wonder, Whats he doing so systematically with ALL the European visitors?! and it shocked me to imagine myself in their place: just suppose, I said to myself, you are coming to the Ashram for the first time, very open, in search of a great truth, and you stumble upon this man who tells you: Sri Aurobindo = World Union. Well, my first reaction would be, Im leaving, Im not interested!
It serves as a test, my child, a very good test! There are many things like that.
For example, theres someone here, Mridou (you know her, shes as round as a barrel11), who gossips to everybody. She had quite a clientele for a long time because she used to make Indian sweets and the Europeans went to her place for snacks. She is a woman who, when there isnt any gossip, invents it! She tells all the dirt imaginable to all her visitorsa fact which was brought to my attention. I recall that a long time ago Sir Akbar from Hyderabad warned me, You know, shes the second Mother of the Ashram, be careful! Its a good test, I replied, people who dont immediately sense what it is arent worthy of coming here!
Well, with J. its the samefrom an intellectual viewpoint, its the very same thing: if people are taken in by what he says, it means theyre not ready AT ALL.
--
The truth is, VERY FEW people are ready to be here, very few. We have taken in all typeswe accept, we accept, we acceptafterwards, we sift. and the sifting goes on more and more. Actually, we accept everything, the entire earth, and then (gesture) theres a churning. and everything useless goes away.
The opposition is clearly becoming stronger and stronger, a very good signit means we are advancing. But circumstances are growing more and more difficult: the least thing becomes an opportunity to demonstrate bad will and spiteon the part of the government, on the part of people here and so on. Seen from a superficial viewpoint, we are more than ever in the soup. But this makes my heart rejoice! I take it as a sign that we are getting nearer.
Dont let it trouble you, you must always smile. Smile, be absolutely above it allabsolutely.
--
I told them. Because at World Union they asked me what their mistake had been (they didnt state it so c andidly, but in a roundabout way), and I replied (not so c andidly, eithernot exactly in a roundabout way, but in general terms). I told them their mistake was being unfaithful and I explained that to be unfaithful means to put everything on the same level (thats when I sent them those lines12). I told them, Your error was in saying: One teaching among many teachingsso let us be broad-minded and accept all teachings. So along with all the teachings, you accept every stupidity possible.
But if someone is taken in, it proves hes at an elementary stage and unready.
Oh, Ive had all sorts of examples! All these errors serve as tests. Take the case of P.: for a long time, whenever someone arrived from the outside world and asked to be instructed, he was sent to P.s room. (I didnt send them, but they would be told, Go speak to P.!) and P. is the sectarian par excellence! He would tell people, Unless you acknowledge Sri Aurobindo as the ONLY one who knows the truth, you are good for nothing! Naturally (laughing), many rebelled! (You see, out of lazinessso as not to be bothered with seeing people or answering their questionsone says, Go find so- and-so, go ask so- and-so, and passes off the work to another.) Well, it was finally understood that this wasnt very tactful, and perhaps it would be better not to send visitors to P., since so many had been put off. But actually. I was told about it afterwards and I replied, Let people read and see for THEMSELVES whether or not it suits them! What difference does it make if theyre put off! If they are, it means they NEED to be put off! Well see later. Some of them have come full circle and returned. Others never came backbecause they werent meant to. Thats how it goes. Basically, all this has NO importance. Or we could put it in another way: everything is perfectly all right.
(silence)
Each one of us must learn his lesson thats a different matter. WE are not perfectly all right because we can be bettercircumstances are simply the outgrowth of what we are, nothing else. and we neednt worry I never worry myself!
Whats more, I find it so funny! A time comes when all such things seem so childish, so stupid, so meaningless! What difference can it make! As long as people are still at that level, thats where they are. The day they get away from it, they too will smile!
--
(Mother begins the work. A mosquito bites her and she remarks:)
Oh, I dont like that! You know, I have filariasis in my legs. Yes, I think sotheres every reason to believe it! (Mother laughs) But it doesnt matter, it will go away I think. I dont like to be bitten on account of the germs; but during the day theres nothing for them to pick upthey only pick up germs around midnight.
--
Things are going very badly: a pack of enemies assailing me, friends deserting usits going very, very badly. Then yesterday evening, while I was walking for japa and all these good tidings were arriving, I said to the Lord, Listen, Lord, you have Indra to help the good people I beseech you, send him to me; he has some work to do!(Mother laughs) Then my walk became so amusing! I was watching them come in as I walked Indra and all the other gods and they were hard at work. Delightful!
Hibiscus, double flower, light pink.
--
Sadhana: spiritual quest and discipline.
A politician, disciple of Sri Aurobindo and friend of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Nehru.
This is the text of Mother's reply to J.: 'I have read Z's account and your own letter on this subject. in the faith of his devotion, he must have been quite offended. The truth in what he says is that any idea, WHATEVER its degree of truth, is ineffective if it does not also carry the power acquired through realization, by a real change of consciousness. and if the proponent of this idea does not himself have the realization, he must seek the backing of those who have the power. On the other h and, what you say is true: an idea ought to be accepted on the basis of its inherent truth and not because of the personality expounding it, however great this personality may be. These two truths or aspects of the question are equally true but also equally incomplete: they are not the whole truth. Both of them must be accepted and combined with many other aspects of the question if you want to even begin to approach the dynamic power of the realization. Don't you see how ridiculous this situation is? Three people of goodwill meet in the hope of teaching men the necessity for a "World Union" and they are not even able to keep a tolerant or tolerable union among themselves, because each sees a different angle of the procedure to be followed for implementing their plan.'
Although it began as a fund-raising organization for the needs of the Ashram and Auroville, this 'strictly external thing,' which had 'nothing to do with working for an ideal,' would, after Mother's departure, coolly declare itself the 'owner' and guide of Auroville.
Sri Aurobindo's old cook.
0 1961-03-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother arrives late ... as usual. Crossing the corridor was like crossing through a jungle and has taken her almost one hour.)
How long it has taken me oh, its disgraceful! Ill have to start coming down at 9 a.m., but then I wont get anything done upstairs, thats the problem.
--
I have brought you a whole discourse! (Mother gives Satprem some flowers) First, the goal of the Vedas: Immortality.1 That was their goal: the Truth that led to Immortality. Immortality was their ambition. I dont think it was physical immortality but I am not sure, because they do speak of the forefa thers and this refers to the initiatory tradition prior to the Vedas as well as the Kabbala, and immortality on earth is spoken of there: the earth transformedSri Aurobindos idea. So although they didnt explicitly state it, perhaps they knew.
(Mother gives more flowers) This one is more on the personal side: Friendship with the Divine2, the friendly relationship you can have with the Divineyou underst and each other, you dont fear each other, youre good friends! and this one is a wonder! (Mother gives Divine Love Governing the World3) What strength! Its generous, expansive, without narrowness, pettiness, or limitationswhen that comes.
***
--
I am determined to cure myself they told me it was incurable. The doctors poison you to cure you (as they poisoned our poor S.), and thats no cure! When they dont feel the need to show off in front of the patient, they openly acknowledge that it isnt at all sure that their medicines cure: they merely make you inoffensive to others! But I dont believe in it I dont believe in doctors, I dont believe in their remedies and I dont believe in their science (they are very useful, they have a great social utility, but for myself, I dont believe in it).
I knew when I caught it: it was at the Playground.4 Certain people poisoned me with a mosquito bite the instant the mosquito bit me, I knew, because it so happens I am a little bit conscious! But I controlled it like this (gesture of holding the disease in abeyance and under control), so it couldnt stir. Probably it would never have stirred if I hadnt had that experience of January 24 and the body didnt need to be made ready. For the body to be ready, a host of things belonging to the dasyus, as the Vedas say, cant be stored inside it! These are very nasty little dasyus (laughing), they have to be chased away!
When the disease came back, I said to myself, Very well, this means it must be dealt with in a new way.
--
The body is waging a magnificent battle, oh, a magnificent battle! and its faring quite well.
Its a rather difficult business and could last a long time: I dont want it to stay dormant and then resurface with the next attack of this or that. So I am proceeding slowly and cautiously, which means it takes time: I concentrate and work on it for one hour after lunch every day. (I used to do my translation then, but since Im at least two or three years ahead of the Bulletin, it doesnt matter, I wont be delaying the work! I have almost finished The Yoga of Divine Love; now theres only The Yoga of Self-Perfection thats quite a job, oh! I miss itthis translation was my pleasure.) But the work on the body is useful something must be attempted in life; we are here to do something new, arent we?!
But were you bitten like that by accident?
--
Mon petit, I dont claim to be totally universal, but in any case I am open enough to receive. You see, given the quantity of material I have taken into my consciousness, its quite natural that the body bears the consequences. There is nothing, not one wrong movement, that my body doesnt feel5; generally, though, things are automatically set in order (gesture indicating that Mother automatically purifies and masters the vibrations coming to her). But there are timesespecially when it coincides with a revolt of adverse forces who dont want to give up their domain and enter into battle with all their mightwhen I must admit its hard. If I had some hours of solitude it would be easier. But particularly during the period of my Playground activities, I was badgered, harassed; I would rush from one thing to the next, one thing to the next, I had no nights to speak ofnights of two and a half or three hours rest, which isnt enough, theres no time to put things in order.
Under those conditions I could only hold the thing like this (same gesture of muzzling the illness or holding it in abeyance).
--
It was a mosquito but there was an INSTANTANEOUS, localized poisoning. It was hideous! I knew it when I got the bite and I tried but it was at the Playground, I was busy and I couldnt do anything about it until an hour or an hour and a half later. Then it was too late, it was already circulating in the blood.
I have had three bites like that, but not of the same thing; I knew this last bite was filariasis. It was on the arm. Since my legs are covered when I am outside they dont get bitten; but my arms.
Long ago when Sri Aurobindo was still here, I was once bitten by a mosquito that had just come from a leper. He was sitting on the street corner, although I didnt know it at the time (I was in my bathroom, just opposite the corner). Suddenly I was bitten here, on the chin, and I knew IMMEDIATELY: Leprosy! Within a few seconds it became terriblehideous! I did what was necessary at once (as I was in the bathroom, I had what I needed). Then I suddenly got the impulse to go and look out the window there was the leper. and I understood: the mosquito had been kind enough to fly from him to me! But in that instance I was able to check it right away (it lasted three or four days)I say check because they claim leprosy sometimes takes fifteen years to surface, so. But now it has been more than fifteen years (Mother laughs), so its finished!
No, the difference, the great difference, is that when one is conscious, the thing is KNOWN immediately and one can react.
Thats all, mon petit.
--
Until 1958, Mother went daily to the Ashram Playground, from 5 p.m. to 9 or 10 in the evening, to see people and give her direct spiritual help to some 2,000 disciples who passed before her one by one.
Mother is referring to the movements of consciousness, both good and bad, of those whom she has accepted as disciples and taken into her consciousness.
Mother was already seeking the 'new food.'
0 1961-03-11, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When was it? Not last night, but the night before, I was with you; and while I was with you I heard the clock strike. I didnt count, but I told myself, Its 4 oclock! and got out of bed. One hour later I saw that it was 4 a.m.: I had risen at 3, and by then we had been together for quite a long time. I had gone where? I dont know. I was living some place (certainly somewhere in the Mind) and we were together, we had been working together, doing all sorts of things and spending a lot of time together I dont know for how long because time there isnt the same.
Then I had to return here that is, to my home in India, to Sri Aurobindos home: I had to return to Sri Aurobindos home. Pavitra was also working there and he didnt want to let me leave; when he saw me going he came and tried to stop me. You, on the contrary, were helping. Shall I take anything with me or not? I asked myself Oh, I dont need anything, Ill go all alone. That worried you a little because of the journey ahead, and you said, There will be many complications. It doesnt matter! I replied (laughing). But if you only knew how living and concrete it was! The impressions were so there was the feeling of making a long voyageit was a LONG voyage, as if I were crossing the sea (but not physically), a long voyage. I remember setting off (I was with you, you were there) and telling myself, At last hes here! At last I have found a reasonable being who doesnt try to stop me from doing what I must do! I had (laughing mischievously) a very high opinion of you, thats why I am telling you this!
I was abruptly awakened by the clock striking (I didnt count), and my immediate feeling was, Well, he is really very nice! Now theres a good companion!
But I woke up one hour too early!1
Oh! (Mother notices the flowers in her h ands) This is Supramental Beauty,2 this is Supramental Victory and this is the Endurance3 needed to get there and the Promise.4 Then this one is a lily that grows here (Mother looks at it for a long time) and inside I have put Attachment for the Divine5I brought it for you because its so lovely.
What are we working on today? (Mother looks at Sri Aurobindos Aphorisms) Ive already begun replying!
--
Yes you know, I read and it comes like that, brrm! Like opening a tap. (Mother reads.)
56When, O eager disputant, thou hast prevailed in a debate, then art thou greatly to be pitied; for thou hast lost a chance of widening knowledge.
--
But if you can witness a discussion as an impartial spectator (I mean even if you are involved in the discussion), you can always gain a lot from it by considering a question or a problem from several points of view; and by trying to reconcile opposing opinions, you can broaden your ideas and rise to a more comprehensive synthesis.
What is the best way to make others underst and what you feel to be true?
--
58The animal, before he is corrupted, has not yet eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; the god has ab andoned it for the tree of eternal life; man st ands between the upper heaven and the lower nature.
Do you have a question?
--
From an historical viewpoint (not psychological, but historical), based on my memories (only I cant prove it, nothing can be proved, and I dont believe any truly historical proof has come down to usor in any case, it hasnt been found yet), but according to my memories. (Mother shuts her eyes as if she were going off in search of her memories; she will speak all the rest of the time with eyes closed.) Certainly at one period of the earths history there was a kind of earthly paradise, in the sense that there was a perfectly harmonious and perfectly natural life: the manifestation of Mind was in accordwas STILL in complete accord and in total harmony with the ascending march of Nature, without perversion or deformation. This was the first stage of Minds manifestation in material forms.
How long did it last? Its hard to say. But for man it was a life like a sort of flowering of animal life. My memory is of a life where the body was perfectly adapted to its natural surroundings. The climate was in harmony with the needs of the body, the body with the dem ands of the climate. Life was wholly spontaneous and natural, as a more luminous and conscious animal life would be, with absolutely none of the complications and deformations brought in later by the mind as it developed.
I have a recollection of this life, for I relived it when I first became conscious of the life of the entire earth; but I cant say how long it lasted or what area it covered I dont know. I only remember the conditions at that time, the state of material Nature and the human form and human consciousness, and this state of harmony with all the other elements of the earth: harmony with animal life and a great harmony with plant lifethere was a kind of spontaneous knowledge of how to use the things of Nature, the qualities of plants, fruits and all that vegetal nature could offer. There was no aggressiveness, no fear, no contradictions or frictions, and no perversion the mind was pure, simple, luminous, uncomplicated.
It was certainly with the progress of evolution, the march of evolution, when the mind began to develop for and in itself, that ALL the complications, all the deformations began. Indeed, this story of Genesis that seems so childish does contain a truth. The old traditions like Genesis resembled the Vedas in that each letter6 was the symbol of a knowledge; it was the pictorial rsum of a traditional knowledge, just as the Veda contains a pictoral rsum of the knowledge of its time. But whats more, even the symbol had a reality in the sense that there was truly a period when life upon earth (the first manifestation of mentalized Matter in human forms) was still in complete harmony with all that preceded it. It was only later that.
The tree of knowledge symbolizes this kind of knowledge a material knowledge, no longer divine because its origin was the sense of division and this is what began to spoil everything. How long did this period last? I am unable to say. (Because my recollection is of an almost immortal life; it seems that it was through some sort of evolutionary accident that the destruction of forms became necessary for progress.) and where did it take place? From certain impressions (but these are only impressions), it would seem that it was in the vicinity of either this side of Ceylon and India or the other, I dont know exactly (Mother indicates the Indian Ocean either west of Ceylon and India or to the east between Ceylon and Java), although certainly the place no longer exists; it must have been swallowed up by the sea. I have a very clear vision of the place and a consciousness of that life and its forms, but I cant give precise material details. Did it last for centuries, was it ? I dont know. To tell the truth, when I was reliving those moments I wasnt curious about such details (for one is in another mental state where there is no curiosity about material details: all things turn into psychological facts). It was something so simple, luminous, harmonious, far removed from all our usual preoccupationsthose very preoccupations with time and space. It was a spontaneous life, extremely beautiful, and so close to Naturea natural flowering of animal life. There were no oppositions or contradictions, nothing of the kindeverything happened in the best way possible.
(silence)
A similar memory has recurred several times under different circumstancesnot exactly the same scene and the same images, because it wasnt something I was seeing but A LIFE I was living. During a certain period, at any time, night or day, I would experience a particular state of trance in which I was rediscovering a life I had lived. I was fully conscious that this life had to do with the first flowering of the human form upon earth, the first human forms able to incarnate the divine being from above. This was the first time I could manifest in a particular terrestrial form (not a general life but an individual form); that is, for the first time, through the mentalization of this material substance, the junction between the higher Being and the lower being was made. I have lived that several times, and always in a similar setting and with quite a similar feeling of such joyous simplicity, without complexity, without problems, without all these questions. It was the blossoming of a joy of lifenothing but that; love and harmony prevailed: flowers, minerals, animals all got along together perfectly.
Things began to go wrong only a LONG time afterwards, long after (but this is a personal impression), probably because certain mental crystallizations were necessary, inevitable, for the general evolution, so that the mind might prepare itself to move on to something else. That was when oh, it seems like a fall into a pitinto ugliness, darkness! Everything became so dark, so ugly, so difficult, so painful. Really really the sense of a fall.
--
Theon used to say it wasnt (how to put it?) inevitable. In the total freedom of the manifestation, this voluntary separation from the Origin is the cause of all the disorder. How to explain it? Words express these things so poorly. We can call it inevitable because it happened! But outside of this creation, a creation can be imagined (or could have been) where this disorder would not have occurred. Sri Aurobindo saw it in approximately the same way: a sort of accident, as it were but an accident allowing the manifestation a far greater and more total perfection than if it had never occurred. But this is all still in the realm of speculation, and useless speculation at that. In any case, the experience, the feeling, is that all at once (Mother makes the gesture of a brutal fall) oh!
For the earth it probably happened like that, all at once: a sort of ascent, then the fall. But the earth is a tiny concentrationuniversally, its something else.
--
Of course, these things can always be explained symbolically. Theon explained mans exile like this: when the Being the hostile Beingassumed the position of the Lord Supreme in relation to the terrestrial realization, he didnt want humanity to progress mentally and gain a knowledge permitting it to stop obeying him! That is Theons occult explanation.
According to Theon, the serpent wasnt the spirit of evil at all: it was the evolutionary Force. and Sri Aurobindo fully agreed; he used to tell me the same thing: the evolutionary power the mental evolutionary poweris what drove man to gain knowledge, a knowledge of division. and its a fact that along with the sense of Good and Evil, man became conscious of himself. Naturally, this ruined everything and he couldnt stay: it was his own consciousness that drove him out of Paradisehe could no longer stay.
Then was man banished by Jehovah or by his own consciousness?
--
In my view, all these old Scriptures and ancient traditions have a graduated content (gesture showing different levels of underst anding), and according to the needs of the epoch and the people, one symbol or another was drawn upon. But a time comes when one goes beyond these things and sees them from what Sri Aurobindo calls the other hemisphere, where one realizes that they are only modes of expression to put one in contacta kind of bridge or link between the lower way of seeing and the higher way of knowing.
A time comes when all these disputesAh, no, this is like this, that is like thatseem so silly, so silly! and there is nothing more comical than this spontaneous reply so many people give: Oh, thats impossible! Because with even the most rudimentary intellectual development, you would know you couldnt even think of something if it werent possible!
(silence)
--
Truly, they have ruined the earth, they have ruined itthey have ruined the atmosphere, they have ruined everything; and for it to become something like the earthly paradise again, ohh! What a long way to gopsychologically, above all. Even the very structure of Matter (Mother fingers the air around her), with their bombs and their experiments and their oh, they have made a mess of it all! They have truly made a mess of Matter.
Probably no, not probably, its absolutely certain that this was necessary for kneading matter, churning it, to prepare it to receive THAT, the new thing yet to manifest.
Matter was very simple and very harmonious and very luminous not complex enough. This complexity is what ruined everything, but it will lead to an INFINITELY more conscious realizationinfinitely more conscious. and when the earth again becomes as harmonious, simple, luminous, puresimple, pure, purely divine then, with this complexity added, something can be achieved.
(Mother gets up to leave)
It doesnt matter. Fundamentally, it doesnt matter. Yesterday, while I was walking I was walking in a kind of universe that was EXCLUSIVELY the Divineit could be touched, felt: it was within, without, everywhere. For three-quarters of an hour, NOTHING but that, everywhere. Well, I can assure you, at that moment there were certainly no more problems! and what simplicitynothing to think about, nothing to want, nothing to decide: to BE, be, be! (Mother seems to dance) To be in the infinite complexity of a perfect unity: all was there but nothing was separate; all was in movement yet nothing changed place. Truly an experience.
When we become like that, it will be very easy.
--
Ah, there were many flowers just like that in the l andscape of this earthly paradisered, and so beautiful!
This enigmatic experience was actually very important, as Mother will later explain (on March 17): Mother was leaving behind the subjection to mental functioning, symbolized by this place where Pavitra was working.
0 1961-03-14, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You saw the people waiting in the corridor; when I left the other day they kept me there three-quarters of an hour and when I finally went upstairs I was ill. Not really ill but not well. So once again its all called into question.
Mother goes on to the work and listens to the reading of an old Talk of September 26, 1956, to be used in the Bulletin. In it she speaks of moments of opening in the yoga:
Then there are days when you are in contact with the divine Consciousness, with the Grace, and all is tinged, colored by this Presence, and things which usually seem dull to you become charming and pleasant all is alive, all is vibrant. At other moments you are clouded, closed, you no longer feel anything, everything loses its flavor you are like a walking block of wood.
It comes and goes along the way, you dont keep it permanently; its like crossing a zone, a perfumed zone, and then its past for the moment, its over. A fleeting caress.
***
--
How to explain it? Its rather strange: the cells attitude and their state of consciousness is changing with extraordinary rapidity; yet from the ordinary viewpoint of health, there is no corresponding progress, quite the contrary. One could say things arent going too well, but I see clearly that its not true. I see that it isnt true, its only an appearance but reconciling the two is difficult.
I have been honored with a form of filariasis which occurs perhaps not once in a million cases. The doctor isnt tearing his hair out because thats not his way, but he is perplexed.
Yet the cells sense so perfectly that. All the experiences in the subconscient at night are quite clear proofs that a a WORLD of things and vibrations is being cleaned outall the vibrations opposed to the cellular transformation. But how can one poor little body do all that work! The body is quite aware of being a sort of accumulation and concentration of things (yet there is inevitably a selectionMo ther laughsbecause if everything had to be worked out in one center like this [her body] it would be it would be impossible!). Oh, if you knew how deeply and perfectly convinced these cells are, in all their groups and sub-groups, each one individually and within the whole, that everything is not only decreed but executed by the Divine, everything! They have a kind of constant awareness so filled with a conscious faith in His infinite wisdom, even when there is what the ordinary consciousness calls suffering or pain. Thats not what it is for the cellsits something else! and the result is a state of yes, a state of peaceful combat. There is a sense of Peace, the vibration of Peace, and simultaneously an impression of being (how to put it?) on the alert, in constant combat. Taken all together it creates a rather odd situation.
and within oh! Its like waves, constantly, the equivalent of those nuances of color I was speaking about, waves of this joy of life, the joy of life rippling past, touching; but instead of being. At times, you see, the body is in a sort of equilibrium (what we, in our ordinary outer consciousness, call equilibrium that is, good health), and then this joy is constant, like swells on the sea (Mother shapes great waves): it seems to flow on behind everything; it comes and shows its face for a moment, then vanishes. In the very tiny things of lifeyes, physical life the joy of these things, the joy life contains, this luminous, special kind of vibration, rises up as if to remind us that its here; it is here, it mustnt be forgotten, its here but its kept down by this tension.
Then, from time to time, everything seems to be on the edge of a precipice; the body doesnt fall simply because it keeps its balance but without this higher state of perfect faith, one would surely fall!
--
There is the sense of all things being organized, concentrated and arranged according to a rhythm, and if one manages to maintain the equilibrium of this rhythm, something permanent results.
(Mother remains absorbed within herself) The equilibrium of this rhythm the progressive, ascending equilibrium of this rhythmis what, for Matter, must constitute Immortality.
--
In other words, this coexistence or simultaneity of joy and tension, combat and peace, progress in the cellular consciousness and physical disequilibrium, form a physiological whole which is ... strange.
***
0 1961-03-17, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Aphorism 57Because the tiger acts according to his nature and knows not anything else, therefore he is divine and there is no evil in him. If he questioned himself, then he would be a criminal.
What might be mans true, natural state? Why does he question himself?
Man on earth1 is a transitional being and as a consequence, in the course of his evolution, he has had several successive natures following an ascending curve which they will continue to follow until he touches the threshold of the supramental nature and is transformed into a superman. This curve is the spiral of mental development.
We tend to apply the word natural to all spontaneous manifestation not resulting from a choice or a preconceived decision that is, with no intrusion of mental activity. Thats why a man with an only slightly mentalized vital spontaneity seems more natural to us in his simplicity. But this naturalness bears a close resemblance to the animals and is quite low on the human evolutionary scale. Man will not recapture this spontaneity free of mental intrusion until he attains the supramental level, until he goes beyond the mind and emerges into the higher Truth.
Up to that point, all his modes of being are naturally natural! But with the minds intrusion, evolution was, if not falsified, then deformed, because by its very nature the mind was open to perversion and it became perverted almost from the start (or to be more exact, it was perverted by the asuric forces). and what appears unnatural to us now is this state of perversion. At any rate, its a deformation.
You ask why man questions himself, but this is the nature of the mind!
Along with the mind came individualization, an acute sense of separation and a more or less precise feeling of a freedom of choiceall of that, all these psychological states, are the natural consequences of mental life and open the door to everything we see now, from the worst aberrations to the most rigorous principles. Mans impression of being free to choose between one thing and another is the deformation of a true principle that will be totally realizable only when the soul or psychic being becomes conscious in him; were the soul to govern the being, mans life would truly be a conscious expression of the supreme Will translated individually. But in the normal human state, such a case is still extremely rare and doesnt seem at all natural to ordinary human consciousness it seems almost supernatural!
Man questions himself because the mental instrument is made for seeing all possibilities and because the human being feels he has freedom of choice and the immediate consequences are the notions of good and evil, right and wrong, and all the ensuing miseries. This cant be called a bad thing: its an intermediate stagenot a very pleasant stage, but nevertheless it was certainly inevitable for a total development.
***
Between 2 and 3 oclock this morning, I had an experience something resurging from the subconscient: it was appalling, my child, the disclosure of an appalling inefficiency! Disgraceful!
The experience occurred in a place corresponding to ours [the main Ashram building], but immense: the rooms were ten times bigger, but absolutely one cant say emptythey were barren. Not that there was nothing in them, but nothing was in order, everything was just where it shouldnt be. There wasnt any furniture so things were strewn here and therea dreadful disarray! Things were being put to uses they werent made for, yet nothing needed for a particular purpose could be found. The whole section having to do with education [the Ashram School] was in almost total darkness: the lights were out with no way to switch them on, and people were w andering about and coming to me with incoherent, stupid proposals. I tried to find a comer where I could rest (not because I was tired; I simply wanted to concentrate a little and get a clear vision in the midst of it all), but it was impossible, no one would leave me alone. Finally I put a tottering armchair and a footstool end-to-end and tried to rest; but someone immediately came up (I know who, Im purposely not giving names) and said, Oh! This wont do at all! It CANT be arranged like that! Then he began making noise, commotion, disorderwell, it was awful.
To wind it all up, I went to Sri Aurobindos rooman enormous, enormous room, but in the same state. and he appeared to be in an eternal consciousness, entirely detached from everything yet very clearly aware of our total incapacity.
He hadnt eaten (probably because no one had given him anything to eat), and when I entered, he asked me if it was possible to have some breakfast. Yes, of course! I said, Ill go get it, expecting to find it ready. Then I had to hunt around to find something: everything was stuffed into cupboards ( and misplaced at that), all disarrangeddisgusting, absolutely disgusting. I called someone (who had been napping and came in with sleep-swollen eyes) and told him to prepare Sri Aurobindos breakfast but he had his own fixed ideas and principles (exactly as he is in real life). Hurry up, I told him, Sri Aurobindo is waiting. But hurry? Impossible! He had to do things according to his own conceptions and with a terrible awkwardness and ineptitude. In short, it took an infinite amount of time to warm up a rather clumsy breakfast.
Then I arrived at Sri Aurobindos room with my plates. Oh, said Sri Aurobindo, it has taken so long that I will take my bath first. I looked at my poor breakfast and thought, Well, I went to so much trouble to make it hot and now its going to get cold! All this was so sordid, so sad.
and he seemed to be living in an eternity, yet fully, fully conscious of of our total incapacity.
It was so sad to see how good-for-nothing we were that it woke me up, or rather I heard the clock strike (like the other day, I didnt count and leapt out of bed; but I quickly noticed that it was only 3 oclock and lay back down). Then I began looking and told myself, If we really have to emerge from all this infirmity before anything can truly be well done, then we have quite a long road to travel! It was pitiful, pitiful (first on the mental, then on the material plane), absolutely pitiful. and I was depending on these people! (Sri Aurobindo was depending on me and therefore on them.) Good god, I said, if I only knew where things were kept! If they had just let me h andle things, it could have been done quickly. But no! All those people had to be involved Oust as we always depend on intermediaries in real life).
It made me wonder.
--
When I told you last time about that experience [of March 11, with Pavitra] the night I met you and was saying good-bye, I neglected to mention one very important point, the most important, in fact: I was leaving the subjection to mental functioning permanently behind That was the meaning of my departure.
For a very long time now I have been watching all the phases of the subjection to mental functioning come undone, one after another for a very long time. That night was the end of it, the last phase: I was leaving this subjection behind and rising up into a realm of freedom. You had been very, very helpful, as I told you. Well, this latest experience was something else! It came to make me look squarely at the fact of our incapacity!
Can you imagine!
One thing after another, one thing after another! This subconscient is interminable, interminable, if you only knew I am skipping the details-such stupidity, oh! This person I wont name, who so clumsily prepared breakfast, told me, Ah, yes, Sri Aurobindo is a little morose today, he is depressed. I could have slapped him: You fool! You dont underst and anything! and Sri Aurobindo, although he didnt want to show it, was completely aware of our incapacity.
(silence)
--
Yes and no in the sense that I do manage to bring about a general progress. Some individuals are receptive, sometimes astonishingly so, receiving the exact suggestion exactly where its needed, but such a person is one in a hundred-even that is an exaggeration.
A sort of power over circumstances does come to me, however, as if I could rise above it all and give the subconscient a bit of a work-over. Naturally this has some results: entire areas are brought under control. Thats the most important thing. Individuals get the repercussions later because they are very very coagulated, a bit hard! A lack of plasticity.
Take the case of this man Im not naming Ive been training him, working with him, for more than thirty years and I still havent managed to get him to do things spontaneously, according to the needs of the moment, without all his preconceived ideas. Thats the point where he resists: when things have to be done quickly he follows his usual rule and it takes forever! This was illustrated strikingly that night. I told him, Just look: its there its THEREhurry up and warm it a little and Ill go. Ah! He didnt protest, didnt say anything, but he did things exactly according to his own preconceptions.
Its a terrible slavery to the lower mind, and so widespread! Oh, all these goings-on at the School, my child, all the teaching, all the teachers.2 Terrible, terrible, terrible! I was trying to turn on the switches to give some light and not one of them worked!
Of course, these scenes are slightly exaggerated because they are seen in isolation from the rest; within the whole many things crisscross and complete each other, diminishing each others importance. But in an experience like last nights, things are taken singly and shown in isolation, as through a magnifying glass. and after all its a good lesson.
Inefficiency. All right, then.
and it all exists PRIMARILY because each individual is shut up in his own little personal formation (Mother forms an eggshell), a formation of the most ordinary mind, the mind that fabricates the details of everyday life; its like being cramped into a narrow prison.
Satprem later asked if this 'on earth' wasn't superfluous and Mother replied: 'This precision is not superfluous; I said "on earth" meaning that man does not belong only to the earth: in his essence, man is a universal being, but he has a special manifestation on earth.'
Here, Mother had a passage deleted.
0 1961-03-21, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Last night I had two consecutive experiences showing with extreme precision that black magic is at the root of all this (Mother is speaking of both general and personal difficulties, in the Ashram and in her body).
First of all, on the mental plane (the physical-mind, the material mind) I saw an individual. I am not entirely certain of his identity (when I saw him last night I didnt associate him with anyone in particular) but from his outer appearance he is evidently a sannyasi. He was pursuing me, blocking my way and trying to stop me from doing my work (it was a long, long affair). But I was very conscious and could foresee everything he was about to do, so it had no effect. After a long while I emerged from this I had something else to do and I left and on my way home he was everywhere, hiding and trying to catch me; but he didnt succeed in doing anything. and I knew he had been acting in this manner for a long time.
Then I woke up (I always wake up three or four times during the night) and when I went back to bed I had an attack of what the doctor and I have taken to be filariasis but a strange type of filariasis, for as soon as I master it in one spot it appears in another, and when I master it there it reappears somewhere else. Last night it was in the arms (it lasted quite a while, between 2:30 and 4 a.m.); but I was fully conscious, and each time the attack came, I went like this (gestures over the arms, to drive away the attack) and my arms were not affected at all. When it was over, I consciously entered the most material subtle physical, just beyond the body. I was sitting in my room there (an immense, cubic room) reading or writing something, when I heard the door open and close, but I was busy and didnt pay attention, presuming it was one of the people usually around me. Then suddenly I had such an unpleasant sensation in my body that I raised my head and looked, and I saw someone there. Do you know how the magicians in Europe dress, in short satin breeches and a shirt? He was wearing something like that. He was Indian, tall and rather dark, with slicked-down hairwhat you would normally call a h andsome young man. He seemed to have been drawn1 there becausehe was st anding in front of me staring into space, not looking at me. and the moment I saw him, there was the same sensation in all my cells as I have with what Ive been calling filariasis (its a special, minute kind of pain) and simultaneously all the cells felt disgusta tremendous will of rejection. Then I sat up straight (I didnt st and up) and said to him as forcefully as possible, How do you dare to come in here! I said it so loudly that the noise woke me up! I dont know what happened then, but things went much better afterwards.
The moment I saw this person I knew he was only an instrument, but a well-paid instrumentsomeone paid a great deal to have him do that! I would recognize him again among hundreds I can still see him I see him more clearly than with physical eyes. He is an unintelligent man with no personal animosity, merely a very well-paid instrumentsomeone is hiding behind him, using him as a screen.
Before that experience, as part of the attack, I also got a sore throat. I didnt believe it would manifest, but around 9:30 this morning when I came downstairs for meditation with X,2 it did. Its nothing at all, though. The whole time I was with X ( and even before, when I was waiting for him), it was halted completelyeverything in that room came to a halt. It started up again only after he left and I came here. But its nothing.
X told me he has been doing something for me in his puja3since December, it seemsso this morning I thought he should know about the experience and I sent Amrita to tell him. He replied to Amrita that this confirmed his certainty that Z has been making black magic against me since December. He had been told that Z was practicing black magic in Kashmir. Could this be the same person I saw before [during the December 1958 attack]? Since it was someone who concealed his identity, I cant say but this form was robed as a sannyasi. Perhaps its he, I dont know. I reserve my judgment because I dont know personally. But this is what X said, and hes going to redouble his efforts.
Thats the situation.
I had a talk with the doctor this morning and he told me, In fact, your case of filariasis has some symptoms missing and others that dont normally exist. He was a bit perplexed because its impossible for him to underst and what it might be if its not filariasis. I said that perhaps (because as I told you, I did have filariasis some years ago, but brought it under control) perhaps its being used as a base for this attack.
Of course, there are certain symptoms which never appear with filariasis. and the doctor has been astounded at the control Ive had over it: it began in the feet, I checked it there; it went higher, I checked it there; then it went higher still and I continued to control it. Finally, the other day, it tried to get into the arms, but it couldnt hold out and last night there was a real riot! (Mother laughs) So perhaps its the deformation or transposition of some sort of mantric effort, like last time in 58 when there was an attempt to make me throw up all my blood but only food came out! Its probably something similar. My impression (Ive had it from the start) is that they have made a try at thrombosis (you know, when something blocks the circulation). Besides, it seems that X asked the doctor if blood-poisoning might be involved, so he must have seen this possibility. There has been absolutely nothing of the kind, but there has been an effort to block the circulation in the veins, probably an adaptation of the magic attack. and along with this have come all the usual things: all the usual suggestions, all the usual prophecies [about Mothers departure]. But for me, these are the normal facts of life, thats all. I am used to it. It has no importance.
Do you really believe Z could be behind this magician you saw?
--
I hadnt thought of it at allnot at all. I have seen Zs thoughts several times, but not in this form: very, very angry thoughts but simply trying to catch my attention.4 But this was something else. X said it was Z, thats what X saw. He doesnt seem to have attached the slightest importance to my magicianobviously this person was just a screen. It must be someone who knows magic and is being used by another as an instrument. But when I saw it all this morning, I must say I didnt once think of Z. Its only X who said so.
But Z I dont know how to explain my relationship with him. He is sheltered by a light of benediction, so. When he was here I opened the doors for him to a realization he was incapable of having, something light years beyond him; and it gave him an appalling ambition, totally spoiling everything. From this point of view, its a great blessing for him; even if he becomes a dreadful Asura, it will come to a good end! It doesnt matter, its not important. Thats why this morning, even when I heard what X said about Z, it was the same thing: this great Light of the supreme Mother going out towards Z. His magic is not important, but if he indulges in it, too bad for him. It doesnt concern me: its Xs business and X is doing whats necessary and I believe (laughing) he hits hard!5
(silence)
When I came down this morning I didnt want my cold to disturb the meditation with X, and this immobility came (Mother brings down her fists, showing a solid mass descending). Its what he uses for healing and I must say that the same thing happens to me, even when it doesnt come from him: a Force that seizes everything, stops everythingno more vibrations, an immobility.
I had told N. to knock at the door when he arrived with X, but he didnt do itluckily I heard the door opening. I stood up, still in that state and almost fell over! X must have thought I was having a spell of weakness or something, because I was holding onto the arms of the chair, and when I took his flowers, my h ands were trembling I wasnt in my body. and afterwards, ah, what a concentration! We remained in it for about thirty-five minutes. It was SOLIDan extraordinary solidity! I didnt want to waste time waiting for it to subside before coming here, and you must have seen how I was when I arrived: like a sleepwalker! I said to the people I passed in the corridor, Im coming back, Im coming back! Thats all I could say, like an idiot.
(silence)
--
and now the door is open thats not so good! (Satprem gets up to close the door.)
(Mother laughs) No! Im not cold, Im hot!
--
You cant imagine how difficult things are now! You have to hold on tight: everything is difficult, everything. Its not an individual problem: everything is grating everywhere, as though there were s and in all the gears. and things are reaching a kind of climax now.
We simply have to hold on and endureno movement. The remedy is the same as for an illness: no movement.7
It will pass.
--
Z was Satprem's first guru when he became a sannyasi. Then Z tried to exert his control over Satprem and predicted to Mother that he would never remain in the Ashram. Finally Satprem broke with him and Z went away furious.
Satprem has never believed for a minute that Z practiced black magic against Mother: it must have been something or someone else.
0 1961-03-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its not that you dont have experiences! You even have access to regions where people very rarely go; you are capable of receiving light, intuitions, revelations but this is probably so normal for you that you dont notice it! I came to meditate with you especially to see what was preventing you from being conscious. and on your right side, I saw a sort of crystallization somewhat as though you were inside a statue.
It seemed made of transparent alabasterhard, harder than stone. It was the result of an individualization that was my impressionan individualization that has become very hardened. It has tried to become entirely transparent but has no tangible contact with thingsthings enter only through the higher regions, through intellectual perceptions (not intellectual, a sort of mental vision). and I began to bang on it!
It was mainly on your right side I banged on it. But strangely enough, it didnt break it became supple, but then it lost its beauty. (It was so beautiful, as though sculptured!) I tried to pass through it, but to do so (this is what I found interesting), instead of passing through at this level (the chest), the psychic plane the level of the souls vibration I had to climb up above and then descend; and finally, without even realizing it, I found myself inside I had entered through sheer force of concentration. There, at the vital level, the emotional vital (solar plexus), I put two flowers: one very large Endurance in the Most Material Vital [zinnia] and another flower like the one X just gave me [cosmos] but bigger and pure white (it concerns sexual movements, light in sexual movements). But curiously enough, I passed inside through a trance; I was quite busy trying to make it more fluid when all at once, poof! I found myself inside. But since I entered through a trance it became completely objective: no more thought, nothing. and I saw I had put these two flowers there (at the levels of the abdomen and chest), one more active, a very large, dark purple Endurance flower, and another much smaller, pure white, slightly lower down. While I was watching this I think the clock must have struck something pulled me and it all faded away.
and I found it interesting that when I received your letter yesterday evening I concentrated for a moment, almost out of curiosity: Why doesnt he ever feel he has an experience? Why doesnt he feel anything? I wanted to know precisely what type of experience would give you the feeling of having an experience!
If I could receive the Light: if I could SEE this Light; if I could see the vastness opening before my eyes.
--
I underst and! But yesterday when I was concentrating, I seemed to be sitting right in front of you again; and in the same way, with my left side, I was banging, banging on that absolutely rigid thing on your right. I was astonished: Why am I banging? (I had no intention of banging!) It was strange. The left side isnt like that, its the right.
But now I have done some damage!
--
Strangely enough, Ive received the same complaint from S. He says, I dont have any experiences. What kind of experience do you have? I asked. He replied, I sit in meditation and what comes is peace, peace, peace its always the same thing!(Some people would be very happy with that, but him.) I asked him, What experience do you want? To be conscious, he told me, to be conscious of the Divine, conscious of the divine Presence! and I always answer him, Its because your mind is barricaded. (Mother forms a geometrical figure) He is so convinced that he knows! He tells me, No! Its not that. He doesnt believe me!
At any rate, I have had no results with him, nor with X.
Several times in my life I have met with the particular phenomenon of having an absolutely exceptional and unique experience and at the same time feeling that a part of my being was unaware of it! I would tell myself, if I hadnt been both here and there at the same moment (Mother indicates two different levels in her consciousness), I might have had all these experiences and never known it! and this happened not just once but many times. Some were utterly unique, like certain ancient Vedic experiencesutterly unique. When I recounted them to Sri Aurobindo, he told me, Oh, its extremely rare! Some people try all their lives to attain that. and it happened to me not just once but often: the experience took place there (gesture above) and something up there knew, and yet there was something down here that would never have known if the other hadnt (same gesture). Nevertheless the total experience was there.
Its very difficult to explain, its extremely subtle.
--
Its rather. It may be something more in the line of childlike c andor, childlike simplicity and c andorwhere there is now a very intellectualized consciousness.
It is something very much on its guard, that doesnt want to be duped or be a victim of imagination.
0 1961-03-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yesterday, while waiting for X, I was as usual in communion with the Supreme in his aspect of Love. Suddenly I felt X arriving and spontaneously, like a Veda, a movement of gratitude for his great goodwill arose from my heart, and it was formulated as a prayer to the Supreme: Give him [X] the bliss of Your Love and the joys of Your Truth.
For a long time X has said nothing about his meditations with me, but just yesterday he told N. that he had some difficulty at the start of the meditation due to the presence of an adverse force, and it took him five minutes to overcome it!
Evidently he was in a completely different state of consciousness.
--
and for me the experience was so clear! So lovely and so spontaneous! and its the first timeat the very beginning of our relationship, I had often concentrated on X to thank him for what he had done, but this is the first time it came like that: such a sweet, sweet atmosphere, so luminous, so radiant. Then in the afternoon N. tells me this [that an adverse force was present in the atmosphere]!
I had felt NOTHING. Nothing.
You know he said someone has been doing black magic against me; but I have never felt anything of the sort in the room where we meditate, because I make a point of coming half an hour early and this of course clears the atmosphere: everything is always ready when he arrives, in silence, in perfect peace. Hasnt he always told you that when he comes into that room he enters another world, like Kailas?1 and thats the way it has always been. If there has been a change, its that now its even more like thatbecause (how to put it?) its more stable. Before, it fluctuated a bit: it came, went, came. But now its like a tranquil mass (Mother lowers her arms) that doesnt stir. Yesterday in particular, this was the experience: I felt him coming (when he is about to come in, I always sense something drawing me outward a little so that I wont be completely in trance and can st and up), and this prayer came so spontaneously, oh! and then (laughing) in the afternoon N. tells me, Oh, X said he had some difficulty at the start of todays meditationa hostile force was present and it took him five minutes to clarify the atmosphere!
It gave me the impression you get in outer life: all the pieces more or less dovetail but with no inner unitytheres not ONE thing, not one, that is true, essentially and always true. We know it is like that outwardly, of course; but I have always felt that with people who have an inner life, one could attain a kind of identity of vibration and knowledge but no!
Very well, I said, if thats how it is..
--
I was under the impression, for example, that when I thought something (not actually thought, but when I had an inner perception) X could receive it; particularly when I had such a feeling for him and summoned the Force, made the Force come down, my impression was that he knew it!
But if its like that.
--
Because truly it was truly the best I could have done for someone! It came so spontaneously! and then (laughing) he comes in and feels a hostile force!!
He was evidently on another plane entirely.
What ruffles me is that someone like X, who has worked on himself, ought to have felt it. Why do I feel it? Because since I have been doing all this work on my body, it senses things and it is never mistaken. I have had repeated proof that it is never mistaken. When a higher vibration comes, it feels it right away! But I must say that this has only been the case since the body became very universalized. However, I was under the impression that X must have been somewhat universalized to have the powers he has, but now I dont know.
Its not that I was disappointed by his way of being, certainly not; but it has suddenly confronted me with a terrible problem: Is it impossible to live a truth in material consciousness? Is it really impossible? An absolute, I mean an absolute truthnot something entirely subjective and relative, each one living his own truth in his own manner. Will one person always be like this and the other like that and the third like something else? So that only by putting all the pieces together do we actually amount to anything and yet to what?! Is it completely impossible for absolute truth to manifest in the present state of Matter? This is the problem that has seized me.
Why? Probably because I was ready to face it. But it has been posed so intensely. It was so intense that it was painful.
--
My bodys consciousness has changed that much I know. Not totally, of course, but enough to feel that theres no separation, that vibrations are unpartitioned there are no partitions! and I felt this very strongly with X: that when we were face to face in meditation there was no longer any difference between us, that this Vibration I was feelingthis Vibration of a strong and very solid, very balanced peacewas the same for him as for me. I didnt feel that I was here and he was there. I had only to shut my eyes and there was no difference between us. (This doesnt happen just with him: I feel it with everyone; but I am aware of how it is with others, I can sense why they dont feel it.) But I was under the impression that he, at least, would have felt it I must have been mistaken! This incident came to tell me I was mistaken.
Still, it surprises me. Because sitting in that room, one has the feeling (I say one, its probably I dont know what it is), I thought he had the same feeling I did: oh, it could last an eternity! Its like that: tranquil, tranquil, peaceful, balanced, strong. On other occasions there was a kind of movement: it came, went, came, went; but this time (Mother stretches forth her arms as if time had stopped) and I am like that (not the I here, the I above), I see it like that. Then just as the clock is about to strike, when the half-hour is finished, something comes and tells my body, Now! A tiny shock, and two or three seconds later the clock strikes. I always feel beforeh and, Now its over. Otherwise there would be no reason for it to endits so peaceful! and not something diluted, as it were, but strong, compact. Compact. Then that tiny shock and the body comes to attention: Ah, Im going to have to move! and always after about two seconds, the clock strikes. I open my eyes, look at X and wait. Three or four seconds later, or after a minute or two, he opens his eyes, bows to me and gets up. Then I get up. Its always the same. So I dont know why. I dont underst and what goes on in his consciousness. I no longer underst and.
Im not so sure about what he said to N.
--
He doesnt speak about these things with N. Perhaps N. has confused two different times or. Because Xs way of expressing himself can seem very vague when you dont know him well, especially when it concerns time and place. This attack may not have occurred during the meditation with you, but beforeh and or elsewhere.
I dont know, because N. said quite categorically: X told me that on arriving for this mornings meditation he had some difficulties and it took him five minutes to get over it; an adverse force was present. N. was quite positive and I even made him repeat it. Are you sure, I asked him, that it didnt happen when X came to you? No, N. replied, X met that force THERE. He said THERE! Yet that it could have been there, with all the force, light and peace that descended is incomprehensible to me. Because the first thing I do when I sit down is to make a thorough cleaning.
It ruffles me because its like a negation of my power. Till yesterday I had never experienced anything of the kind! On the 29th, you know, it will be forty-seven years since I first came here3thats not exactly yesterday! and ever since I began working with Sri Aurobindo, I have had the sense of this Power, it has never left me; so. It is disconcerting to have this kind of episode come up after such a long time.
Ill try to speak with X and find out exactly what happened.
That risks a terrible misunderst anding; be careful. Perhaps he wont even remember what he said anymore. Its difficult with X because he doesnt say things with his mindit just comes like that, and then he forgets. You know how it is. Something may have made him speak. For instance, I know that with N. he almost always says unpleasant things about people and situations and this entirely results from N.s atmosphere. I have told N., He speaks like that because of your inner attitude. To one person he will say one thing, to another something completely different on the same subjectit depends a great deal on who hes talking to. No, I havent told you all this for you to speak with X about it, I have told you because it has posed a serious problem for me.
Its best to wait and see. I put a certain force into that note I wrote this morning (I wrote it at a very early hour) and you know that a formation4 is created when I write; I willed it to go to him and he may have received it. Well see what happens. Its better not to speak of it because it might speaking is too external.
On other occasions (as I have told you) I had difficulties with X on the mental plane; now all that has cleared up, cleared up very well. But this present situation is on another plane, so lets wait. Perhaps probably it will clear up.
--
I probably needed the experience. You remember that type of detachment I spoke of when I had that experiencewhen the BODY had that experience of January 24, 1961well, it has increased to such an extent that it now applies to anything and everything linked with action on earth. This detachment was probably necessary. It began with something like things dissolving (Mother makes a gesture of crumbling something between her fingers); certain kinds of links between my consciousness and the Work were dissolving (not links with me, because I dont have any, but with the body; the whole physical consciousness, all that attaches it to the things in its environment, to the Work and to the entourage I spoke to you about that in regard to physical immortality; well, thats what is happening now). Its like things dissolvingdissolving, dissolving, dissolving. and its more and more pronounced. During these last days, things have been becoming increasingly difficultdifficulties have been coming one after another, one after another. Formerly, I had the power to get a grip on them and hold them (Mother tightens her grip as though mastering circumstances); but now that this type of detachment has begun, things drift away everywhereeverywhere, everywhere.
So this episode with X is probably part of the same process. What has been affected is a certain confidence in the REALITY of the Power, the REALITY of spiritual action; there seems to be no communication between here (above) and there (below).
Does that mean youre breaking all contacts with the earth?
No, thats not it. Things go on. I dont know, I have no idea. I cant say exactly what it is, but. Its a. Dont know. In any case, it seems obvious that the NATURE of the contact must become very different. Because in proportion to this detachment, the reality of the Vibration and especially the vibration of divine Lovekeeps growing and growing (out of all proportion to the body, even) in a FORMIDABLE manner, formidable! The body is beginning to feel nothing but that.
Is this detachment necessary, then, for divine Love to be established? I dont know.
Yes, its as if I were living, as if the BODY were living (despite all the illnesses and attacks, all the ill will besetting it), living in a bath of the divine vibrationbathing in something immenseimmense, immense limitless, and so stable! The body lives in it like this (gesture as if Mother were floating). So even when there is what we call physical pain, even when there are blows to morale (like having a cashier ask you for money and you have none to give him5), well, despite it all, despite all the possible complications (coming all at the same time), EVERYTHING, everything that happens now, even things which seem extremely unpleasant to our mental conceptions or our mental reactions, everything is a bath, a bath of the vibration of divine Love. So much so that if I didnt control my body, I would be smiling at everything all the time like an idiot. A beatific smile for everything (I dont show it because I control myself).
(silence, the clock strikes the hour)
--
X is sensitive mentally, but to what degree? and to what degree do things crystallize differently for him because of all his ideas?
Well see.
--
and truly, with the feeling that ALL one has lived, all one has known, all one has done, all of it is a perfect illusion thats what I was living yesterday evening.
and then.
Its one thing to have the spiritual experience of the illusion of material life (some find this painful, but I found it so wonderfully beautiful and happy that it was one of the loveliest experiences of my life); but now the whole spiritual construction as one has lived it is becoming a total illusion! Not the same illusion, a far more serious illusion.
If That was not there. Obviously, That [divine Love] is here, like a mattress placed so you wont break your neck when you fall. Thats precisely the feeling: this experience of the vibration of divine Love is the mattress so you dont break your neck!
--
and Im not exactly a baby; I have been here forty-seven years, and for something like yes, certainly for sixty years I have been doing a conscious yoga, with all that memories of an immortal life can bring and see where I am! When Sri Aurobindo says you must have endurance, I think he is right!
This path is not for the weak, thats for sure.
I believe this body has suffered as much as a body can bear without going to pieces, and it keeps going, it has never asked for mercynot once has it said, No, its too much, not once. It says, As You will, Lord: here I am.
and so it continues.
(Mother gets up to leave)
--
The absolute certainty of the Victory is unquestionable; but I am not speaking at the scale of our bounded mind. Its up to us to CHANGE TACKthis is whats expected of us, to change tack and not keep going round in circles.
There you are, petit.
--
and theres no point in giving up, because it would just have to be started all over again next time. What I always say is: Heres the opportunitygo right to the end. Its no use saying, Ah, I cant, because next time it will be even more difficult.
A region high in the Himalayas, also known as the abode of Shiva.
--
In the occult sense, a 'formation' signifies a concentration of power or force directed towards a particular goal. it is like a bullet of force going inexorably to its target. In fact, all beings are constantly making 'formations' with their thoughts and desires, but these formations have scarcely any power other than that of clinging to the one who has made them or returning upon him like a boomerang.
The following undated note (which could date from this or any number of other times!) was found among Mother's scattered papers: Now the situation has become very critical, all the reserves have been swallowed up, there are debts, many important works remain unfinished and the daily life has become a problem. It is the subsistence of more than 1,200 people which is in question.
***
0 1961-04-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
X hears about it from the doctor. He asks the doctor and the doctor tells him whatever he likes. X says to him, I will completely cure her, and the doctor replies, Thats impossibleit cant be cured! So X says, You have no faith, and the doctor replies, Youre living in illusions!
The truth is that the body is holding its own quite well. But its a formidable affair. They1 are multiplying by the millions; so you can see it will take time to get rid of them! They circulate throughout the body, sometimes for two, three or four hours at night, pricking and stinging from inside out; they prick like fiery needles. and they go everywhere, in the legs, the trunk, the armstheyre really having fun! But anyway, its subsiding: the legs are better. Its not quite right yet, but its coming along. Its nothing.
***
--
Each time X comes here, all the difficulties rise up to their maximum, they seem to become absolute. and I underst and why: his power acts in a domain full of human pettiness. What a domain! Oh, awful! and were not out of it yet: quarrels, divisions, misunderst andings, bad will. I fully underst and that it all has to come up in order to be healed. But it gives me a tremendous amount of work!
Anyway.
In your case, it is very clear: each time he comes, everything seems to go askew. and the only reason for it is the conflict between the force he brings down (of course, when he comes I encourage it to come down!), and the inner resistances; and this creates the Contradiction, which becomes more and more pronounced.
It speeds up the work, but at the same time it makes it a bit taxing.
As for him, even now his way of working consists in eliminating all obstaclesjust the opposite of what Sri Aurobindo was doing. Sri Aurobindo used to envelop them, like this (Mother opens her arms to embrace everything), and then act upon them so that they would no longer be obstacles. But the first thing X said when he first came to the Ashram was, Oh, there are a lot of elements which shouldnt be here! and he would talk about a purge: eliminate, eliminate, eliminate. But if you eliminate everything from life which is unresponsive to the Divine, what will be left?
He certainly hasnt understood Sri Aurobindos yoga. and its useless to try to explain anything to him.
He began to underst and after a year, and he underst ands much better now. But he is shut up in his construction. He doesnt have the kind of personality that can see the earth as something very small. and thats basically what is needed with Sri Aurobindo: the earth must be seen as just a small field of experience within an eternity.
But that is difficult.
--
The Vedas, after all, were written by people who remembered a radical experience, which must have taken place on earth at a given moment, as an example of what was to come. (This always happens in the yoga: a first radical experience comes like a herald of the future realization.) So in the terrestrial yogain the yoga of the earth, of the planet earththere was a moment when it came; they who are called the forefa thers must have created, through their effort and their yoga, at least an image of the supramental realization. and those who wrote the Vedas, who composed all these hymns, remembered or kept the tradition of that experience. and oh, mon petit, it had the same effect on me as when I read the Yoga of Self-Perfection in The Synthesis of Yoga (Mother catches her breath): there is such a gulf between what we are, what life on earth and human consciousness now are, even among the most enlightened, the most advanced, and THAT!
I dont know if its because I have been so violently attackedbludgeonedby all these malevolent energies, but in any case, I sensed acutely the FORMIDABLE immensity of what has to be done in order for THAT to be realized.
--
When external difficulties subside, when the body becomes passive and quiet, when it is not constantly dem anding attention, then you can LIVE in this supramental consciousness and it does not seem so difficult; you feel it is so victorious in its essence that it will end all difficulties.
But for this to come about, you must remain for a while on those higher reaches and not be constantly, constantly dragged down below where you have to fight each minute simply to LASTto last in all ways: not just personally, but collectively.2 Its a minute-to-minute bout, simply to last. and how long do we have to last for the thing to be done?
It is a difficult period.
and there has been a decline in everyones health. Many people are sick. The illnesses are of a more serious nature there has been a decline.
You have to look at all this with a smile, of course ( and I do), but I must say that the enthusiastic side (you know, that fire of enthusiasm) has been dampened. Well, theres no need to get excitedit will take time.
--
What we really have to do is come alive from minute to minute, living always in the present moment, stubbornly, like this (Mother puts a fist on the arm of her chair, then another, and so on, in a slow, dogged, unrelenting march).,
Yet Sri Aurobindo seemed to say that things would be easier once the Supermind came down.
--
Its not something miraculous, you know. To be really satisfied, the human mind always needs some kind of miracle. In its thought, the miraculous is associated with the Divine. I know, because I was born like that. I felt like that when I was very young. and only because life has dealt me some extremely brutal denials have I come to this kind of sober and reasonable attitude. You know (I told you this the other day), its disgusting! (Mother laughs) All the bloom has gone banished by the hard knocks of life. For I was born with this feeling that yes, that Truth is something miraculous, which has only to show itself to prevail.
It would be like thatwithout the adverse forces.
The universe would be like that, if it had not been for the deviation of the adverse forces I see it very clearly. The perversion, the cold-blooded and cruel perversion of sheer malevolent will keeps it from being like that. Thats what intervenes. They all call it an accident, but a lot of good that does us! The fact is there.
The adverse force is what keeps the Divine from blossoming miraculously whenever He appears. Because I know that wherever Matter is not under the influence of this adverse will to any degree, it blossoms immediately. and everything in the human heart, in human consciousness, in human thought, all that is slightly sheltered from this adverse influencesheltered by the psychic, the divine Presenceblossoms, becomes immediately becomes marvelous, without any obstacleall the obstacles come from that source. So its all very well to call it an accident, but.
Its obviously reparable, theres no doubt about that, but at what price? and how it complicates things!
We are told it will be all the more beautiful later I am absolutely sure of this I dont doubt it for a minute, but.
--
There have been moments, you know, in supreme experiences of perfect union in a wondrous Love, when I have turned towards the worldsimply turned the consciousness for a second towards the world as it is (with the aspiration, I remember, for EVERYTHING to participate) and in that state of ecstasy, really, there were tears of burning sorrow. It happened just like that.
Theoretically, it shouldnt be that way, but in fact it is. Something will never be perfect until this accident has been abolished.
--
and to come to this experience I had to pass through a state of the most supreme indifference, where the whole terrestrial manifestation is an illusion; I passed through that, I had my experience BEYOND that. and beyond that at the moment of supreme ecstasy came fiery tears of grief.
(silence)
--
But the indispensable foundation is truly an indomitable courage and unflinching endurancefrom the most material cells of the body to the highest consciousness, from top to bottom, entirely. Without that, were pretty useless.
and I am really in the most favorable conditions, because my body says yes. It says yes, yes, yesit doesnt complain. This may be the sense behind all this illness and difficulty. Not a single day of complaint.
The night before last I was again awakened at midnight (not awakened: I came out of my trance) with those stings burning from inside out, from the tips of the feet up to here, everywhere, in the back it lasted four hours, non-stop. Well, my body didnt once complain. Not once did it ask for it to stop; it just kept quiet, saying: Thy Will be done. and not only saying it but FEELING it, quietlyfour hours of minuscule tortures. It didnt say a thing.
Saying nothing is elementary for me! But the body didnt say anythingit didnt even fidget; it didnt even have, you know, that feeling of, When will it be over? Nothing. It just stayed quiet, quiet. I was like a statue in my bed, stinging from head to toe. So I really cant complain! The instrument I have been given is of truly good quality. An unflinching goodwill.
--
and if you really want to please me (I believe you do!), if you want to please me, concentrate on the book on Sri Aurobindoyou cant imagine how much I am interested! and as I LOOK, I see into the future (not with this little consciousness), I see that its a thing of GREAT importance. It will have a great action. So, I want to clear the way for you now, for us to have time.
I will surely need a quiet mind to prepare the work.3
--
To finish this reading and assimilate it quietly. I dont feel capable of writing at all, unless I can receive the inspiration.
But you will receive it!
--
I have never written or spoken to X about this, but through mental contact I have told him I dont know how many times: Satprem has a work to accomplish that is INFINITELY more important than reciting mantras. If it can help him to discipline himself, fine, but its nothing more; he will not accomplish his work by reciting mantras. He has something to do and he will do it. I have hammered that into his head (Mother laughs).
So, petit, see you tomorrow.
See conversations of February 11, p. 73 and March 7, p. 114.
Note that just a few days earlier, the Ashram coffers were completely empty. Mother had sold the last of her jewels: 'It is not for the upkeep of any [Ashram] department that I have sold my jewels; it is for food, lodging [of the sadhaks] and wages for domestic servants.'
Satprem is referring to the enormous amount of material work he had in addition to seven hours of daily japa.
0 1961-04-08, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
After more than a month I have resumed my translation [of The Synthesis of Yoga], and I fell exactlyits splendid!exactly on the passage that helped me underst and what has happened, why there are all these difficulties. and the Synthesis and the Veda go h and in h and, so reading that passage brought some improvement; its like being able to shift position, you know, so that now its a bit better. Anyway.
***
--
Yes, of course. But its basically a description of my sadhana, thats all, and I always say that it will be interesting only if I go through to the end.
Bah!
--
He is used to maintaining a kind of poise, the poise of the traditional attitude of indifference towards everything material: Its an illusion, it has no importance, theres no need to be concerned with it. Nature is acting, not 1; Nature is acting and Nature is built like that, so why bother about it, why worry. Thats how he lived until he came here, and its why he had this attitude of indifference. But here it began to change. and of course his body isnt used to it; it has difficulty keeping up, it lacks plasticity.
The first thing he did was to go see the Doctor and ask him to heal his ear, heal his stomach, heal. So the Doctor told him, But why do you eat just anything at any time of day? Naturally youre sick. and then he was constantly running up against our ways of organizing material things herepeople like him dont organize, they dont care, they just let things drift. Regarding his son, for instance, the Doctor told him, Its because you dont look after him. If you did, this wouldnt happen. and X very bluntly replied, But why!?
Theres a gap.
0 1961-04-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I once had a cat with almost a childs consciousness, and someone poisoned it. and when he came back poisoned, dying, I cursed all people who poison cats. and thats serious, so you mustnt do it. It was a real curse I was with Sri Aurobindo, so it was seriousso dont do it.
But there is a way.
You know, I made a pact with cats, with the King of the Catsit goes back very, very far. and its extraordinary (it happened in Tlemcen, entirely on the occult plane), extraordinary! For certain reasons, the King of the Cats gave me a power over these creatures and its true. Only I have to see them.
We shall try.
--
The first was with a boy who was a Sanskritist and had wanted to come to India with us. He was the son of a French ambassadoran old, noble family. But he learned that his lungs were bad, and so he joined the Army; he enlisted as an officer, just at the start of the 1914 war. and he had the courage of those who no longer cling to life; when he received the order to advance on the enemy trenches (it was incredibly stupid, simply sending people to be slaughtered!), he didnt hesitate. He went. and he was hit between the two lines. For a long time, it was a no mans l and; only after some days, when the other trench had been taken, could they go and collect the dead. All this came out in the newspapers AFTERWARDS. But on the day he was killed, of course, no one was aware of it.
I had a nice photo of him with a Sanskrit dedication, placed on top of a kind of wardrobe in my bedroom. I open the door and the photo falls. (There was no draft or anything.) It fell and the glass broke into smithereens. Immediately I said, Oh! Something has happened to Fontenay. (That was his name: Charles de Fontenay.) After that I came back down from my room, and then I hear a miaowing at the door (the door opened onto a large garden courtyard1). I open the door: a cat bursts in and jumps on me, like that (Mother thumps her breast). I speak to him: What is it, whats the matter? He drops to the ground and looks at meFontenays eyes! Absolutely! No one elses. and he just stayed put, he didnt want to go. I said to myself, Fontenay is dead.
The news came a week later. But the newspapers gave the date when they had moved out of the trenches and been killedit had been on that day.
(silence)
The other story dates farther back. I was living in another house (we had the whole fifth floor), and once a week I used to hold meetings there with people interested in occultism they came to have me demonstrate or tell them about occult practices. There was a Swedish artist, a French lady and a young French boy, a student and a poet. His parents were decent country people who bled themselves white to pay for his life in Paris. This boy was very intelligent and a true artist, but he was depraved. (We knew about it, but it was his private life and none of our business.) One evening, when four or five of us were to meet, this boy didnt turn up, although he had said he would. We had our meeting anyway and didnt think much about itwe thought he must have been busy elsewhere. Around midnight, when the people were leaving, I open the door. A big black cat was sitting in the doorway and, in a single bound, it jumps on me, just like that, all curled up in a ball. So I calm it down, I look at itAh, the eyes! They were this boys eyes. (I no longer recall his name.) Right away (at the time we were all involved in occultism), we knew something had happened; he had been unable to come and the cat had incarnated his vital force.
The next day, all the newspapers were full of a vile murder: a pimp had murdered this boyit was disgusting! Something utterly vile. and it had happened at the very moment he should have come the concierge had seen him going into the house with this pimp. What happened? Was it just for money or for something elsevice? Or what?
But both times, the incarnation was so (how to put it?) powerful that the eyes changed; the eyes of the cat changed completely into the eyes of the dead person. Unmistakable. Both came to me and both times there was the same movement, the same kind of feline howlyou know how they sound.
But I have had some cats. I had a cat who was the reincarnation of the mind of a Russian woman. I had a vision of it one day, it was so strangethis woman had been murdered at the time of the Russian Revolution, along with her two little children. and her mind entered a cat here. (How? I dont know.) But this cat, mon petit. I got her when she was very young. She would come and lie down, stretched out like a human being, with her head on my arm! (I used to sleep on a Japanese tatami on the floor.) and she would stay there, so well-behaved, didnt stir all night long! I was really amazed. Then she had kittens, and wanted to give birth to them lying stretched out, not at all like a cat. It was very difficult to make her underst and that it couldnt be done that way! and one night after she had had her kittens, I saw her I saw a young woman in furs, with a fur bonnetyou could just see a tiny human face; she had two little ones and she came to me and placed them at my feet. Her whole story was there in her consciousness: how she and the two children had been murdered. and then I realized she was the cat!
The cat wouldnt leave her kittens for a moment! Not for anything. She wouldnt eat, wouldnt go outside to relieve herself, nothing: she stayed put. So I told her, Bring me your kittens. (If you know how to h andle them, cats underst and very well when theyre spoken to.) Bring me your little ones. She looked at me, went and brought one of her kittens, and placed it between my feet. Then she went to fetch the other one and placed it between my feet (not beside, between my feet). Now you can go out, I told her. and out she went.
I had another cat named Kiki. He had a wonderful color and was just like velvet. We used to have meditations and he would come, get up on a chair and go into trance; he would make the brusque movements of trance during the meditation. and I had to rouse him out of it, otherwise he wouldnt wake up!
Once this cat was stung by a scorpion. A foolhardy youngster, he used to play with scorpions. I had to rescue him one day; I came onto the ver andah just when he was playing with a big scorpion. I caught the cat, put him on my shoulder and killed the scorpion. But another time I wasnt there, and he was stung. He came inside, done for. I clearly saw the signs that he had been poisoned by a scorpion. I put him on a table and went to call Sri Aurobindo. Kiki has been stung by a scorpion, I said. (He was dying, almost in a coma.) Sri Aurobindo pulled up a chair, sat down facing the table and began to gaze at Kiki. This lasted about twenty or twenty-five minutes. Then suddenly the cat relaxed completely and fell asleep. When he woke up, he was entirely cured.
Sri Aurobindo didnt touch him, he didnt do anything; he simply gazed at him.
I had another cat I called Big Boy. Oh, how beautiful he was! Enormous! A tail like the train of a gown. He was beautiful! Since there were all kinds of cats prowling around, including a big fierce tomcat who was extremely vicious, I was very afraid for this one when he was little and I got him used to spending his nights inside (which is hard for a cat to do). I forbade him to go out. So he spent his nights inside and when I got up in the morning, he got up too and came and sat down in front of me. Then I would say, All right, Big Boy, you can go, and he would jump out the window and go off but never before. and this is the one who was poisoned.
Because later on he would go roaming about; he had become terribly strong and would prowl around everywhere. At that time I was living in the Library house, and he would go off as far as the Ashram street (the Ashram didnt belong to us yet, the house was owned by all kinds of people), but when I would go out on the terrace across from Champaklals kitchen and call, Big boy! Big Boy! although he couldnt hear it, he could sense it, and he would come back galloping, galloping. He always came back, unfailingly. The day he didnt come back, I got worried; the servant went looking for him and found him moaning, vomiting, poisoned. He brought him to me. Oh, really! it was. He was so nice! He wasnt a thief or anythinghe was a wonderful cat. Someone had laid out poison for god knows what cat, and he ate it. I showed him to Sri Aurobindo and said, He has been killed.
Before that, I lost another one from that kind of typhoid cats get. He was called Browny and he was so beautiful, so nice, such a marvelous cat! Even when utterly sick, he wouldnt make a mess, except in a corner prepared just for that; he would call me to carry him to his box, with such a soft and mournful voice. He was so nice, with something sweeter and more trusting than a child. There is a trust in animals which doesnt exist in humans (even children already have too much of a questioning mind). But with him, there was a kind of worship, an adoration, as soon as I took him in my armsif he could have smiled, he would have. As soon as I held him, he became blissful.
That one too was beautiful, with such a color! Golden chestnut, I have never seen a cat like him. He is buried here beneath the tree I named Service. I put him beneath the roots myself. There had been an old mango tree there that was withering away. We replaced it with a little copper pod tree with yellow flowers.
--
When I moved here to the Ashram, I said, We cant bring any cats into this house, its quite impossible. This was after Big Boys death, and we had had enough of cats. I gave away the others, but the first one, the mother of the whole line, was old and didnt want to leave, so I felt her behind. She stayed in a house over there, within the Ashram compound. and one dayshe was very old and could no longer move I saw her come dragging in and sit down on that terrace on the other side. (Now you cant see it any more the Service Tree has hidden it completely but in those days you could see it very clearly.) She came and sat down over there where she could watch me until she died. Quietly, without moving, she died watching me.
All these cat stories! If we had photographs, we could make a pretty little album of cat stories.
and extraordinary, extraordinary details! Showing such intelligence, oh! This woman I mean this cat who had been a womanif you knew how she brought up her children, oh! With such patience, such intelligence and underst anding! It was extraordinary. One could tell long, long stories: how she taught them not to be afraid, to walk along the edge of walls, to jump from a wall to a window. She showed them, encouraged them, and finally, after showing and encouraging them very often (some would jump, others were afraid), she would give them a push! So of course they would jump immediately.
and she taught them everything. To eat, to. This cat would never eat before they had all eaten. She would show them what to do, give each one what it needed. and once they had grown up and she didnt have to look after them anymore, if they kept coming back she would send them away: Go away! Your turn is over, its finished. Go out into the world! and she would take care of the new ones.
Once one of her kittens was ill. She was pretty and gray colored, clear gray like a very soft fur, very pretty. She had caught this cat sickness and was lying down. and the mother was teaching all the little ones not to come near her; she would make them go all the way around, as if her instinct told her it was contagious. and you would see them (the sick kitten was right in their way) going all the way around, never coming near.
These cat stories went on for years and years.
and it isnt true that they dont obey! Its just that we dont know how to h andle them. Cats are extremely sensitive to the vital force, to vital power, and they can be made perfectly obedient and with such devotion! Cats are said to be neither devoted nor attached nor faithful, but thats not true at all. You can have quite a friendly relationship with them.
and, an incredible thing this cat was very pretty, but she had a wretched tail, a tail like an ordinary cat; and one day when I was with her at the window, one of the neighbors cats w andered into the gardenan angora with three colors, three very prominent colors, and such a beautiful tail trailing behind! So I said (my cat was just beside me), Oh! Just see how beautiful she is! What a beautiful tail she has! and I could see my cat looking at her. My child, in her next litter she had one exactly like that! How did she manage it? I dont know. Three prominent colors and a magnificent tail! Did she hunt up a male angora? Or did she just will for it intensely?
They are really something, you cant imagine! Once, when she was due to give birth and was very heavy, she was walking along the window ledge and I dont know what happened, but she fell. She had wanted to jump from the ledge, but she lost her footing and fell. It must have injured something. The kittens didnt come right away, they came later, but three of them were deformed (there were six in all). Well, when she saw how they were, she simply sat on themkilled them as soon as they were born. Such incredible wisdom! (They were completely deformed: the hind paws were turned the wrong way roundthey would have had an impossible life.)
and she used to count her little ones. She knew perfectly well how many she had. I just had to tell her, Keep only two or threealthough the first time there were only three, which was still too many, yet it was absolutely impossible not to let her keep them all. But later on I had to chide her. I didnt take them from her, but I would speak to her, convince her: Its too much, youll be ill. Just keep these. See how nice these two are. Take care of them.
Oh, what lovely cat stories! That was a whole period for many, many years. Many years.
Mind you, I would never have considered having any, but two cats were already there when I came to the house. They were not very interesting cats, but they became the parents of the one I just told you about (those boys who were living with Sri Aurobindo had already had some experience; they knew quite a few things about cats), and that was the origin of all the cats I had here. But people (you know how simplistic they always are!) believed I had some special attachment for cats, so then of course everybody started keeping cats! It was no use my telling them, No, its a particular study were making I wanted to see, to learn certain things, and I learned what I had to but now that I have moved to another house, the cat era is over; the old friends are gone, only the younger generation is left. I gave them all away and said) Thats enough. But its hard to make people underst andsome people here have 25 cats! Thats unreasonable! Its not the way to deal with cats. You have to look after them as I did, and then it becomes interesting.
There was one I know I SAW it: when he died there was already the embryo of a psychic being, ready for a human incarnation. I made them progress like wildfire.
0 1961-04-15, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But all night long I am fully conscious of a lot of things they cant be called trivial, but. Oh, its as though everything that can comes to tell me: You think there will be a supramental transformation? Well then, just look: there is this and that and that and this, this one and that one, this circumstance, that thing, the world, people, things. Oh, a deluge!
and in the evening before going to sleep I read the Vedas, which aggravates the situation. Because those people rememberei ther they have heard of it, or they remember it themselvesa supramental realization; and they describe it all so beautifully that it makes you feel very far from it, so very, very far.
After that, I spend hours concentrated in prayernot exactly prayer but (gesture palms turned upwards), like that, beseeching.
What has been achieved now is that I am absolutely detached from EVERYTHING. From everything, beginning with my body and including the work, ideas, conceptions, even the [people], all, all of them. It all seems to me so utterly dull and nonexistent.
Before, I used to find joy in a beautiful idea or a beautiful experienceall that is finished. I am in a state where nothing, absolutely nothing has any value except ONE SINGLE THING.
--
Low? No, you arent low I see you too, among the things I am looking at, and it isnt true. No, you are much better than you were! (Mother laughs)
(silence)
But you know, what seems to have gone is all this illusory enthusiasm we confuse with. Sri Aurobindo speaks of it very often, and each time I read that sentence of his its like an icy shower (Mother laughs). I no longer know the exact wording, but he uses two words: illusory hopes all the human illusory hopes. It goes plunk! Well, all that has entirely gone. When I saw it I deliberately rejected it. Yes, I said to myself, we are always trying to cheer ourselves up with hopes.
(Mother turns towards the tape recorder) Dont keep all that. Its not worth it, dont keep it. Its quite useless. Take it out.
--
Take a real break for some time, and then.
Its impossible. I cant. Even two years ago, when I was really sick and took to my room for the first time, I couldnt let the work go. I cant do it. Its not possible.
But surely there are things you could cut down?
--
On the 24th, how long will it be? Forty-one years since I came here. and I havent moved since.
Its really strange: there is no space between that time and now. I dont know how to explain it. I have no feeling of time, none at all, none.
(long silence)
I live in the constant feeling of PUSHING against a world of tremendous obstacles, with the certainty thatsuddenly the resistance will give way and there will be enlightenmentno, far more than that!
Thats all.
I have become only this (Mother slowly moves her arm forward with clenched fist, as if to show all her force tensed and pushing, inexorably pushing).
(Mother gets up)
All night long and whenever my attention is not being drawn away by something or other and even then, its there as if behind a veil I am nothing but a force that pushes. Thats what I have become.
(silence)
--
Actually it is because, without knowing it, you are becoming aware of the true Self, and that awareness always produces a sense of betrayal. But its neither you nor I nor he nor anything other than THAT which is being betrayed. All that we are is a betrayal of That. This is what it is. and we are constantly pushing, pushing, pushing to go beyond.
Its all right. Dont worry. When you are a little upset, you only have to think: Oh, Mother is here, and she will do the work.
and dont have any more toothaches. I dont like you to have toothaches!
(silence)
0 1961-04-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
and you?
I stumbled upon a sentence from Sri Aurobindo yesterday or the day before. From the occult st andpoint it has to do with a rather important problem, and I would really like some light on this question: The man who slays is only an occasion, the instrument by which the thing done behind the veil becomes the thing done on this side of it.
It means exactly this (I am going back to the preceding sentence): Who can protect the one whom God has already slain?1 He has already been slain by God. When God has decided that someone is to be slain, nothing can protect him or keep him from being slain. and Sri Aurobindo adds: the man who slays (because it is not God who slays directly, he uses a man), the man who slays is only a circumstance, the instrument through which the thing decided by God behind the veil is accomplished materially here.
These are political texts from the revolutionary period, concerning bomb attacks against the English. and then he says that the man God has protected can never be touched. However hard you try, you will never be able to slay him. But who can protect the man God has already slain? He has already been slain by God. and man is simply the instrument used by God to do here what has been done there (it has ALREADY been done there). Its very simple.
Yes, I quite underst and. But in general, does EVERYTHING that happens here first get played out on the other side in some way? Its an occult problem, and furthermore a problem of freedom.
According to my experience both things are simultaneous, so to speak. Its we who introduce the notion of time, but the notion of time doesnt exist on the other side.
For example, if I were asked how much time it takes for a thing decided upon there to be realized here, I would answer that it is absolutely indeterminate. That is my experience. I always give the following example because its so clear: Thirty-five years before India became free, I saw that she was free. It was already done. and I have also seen things which for us are almost instantaneous something is decided there and realized almost instantly here. and there are all sorts of possibilities between these two extremes, because the notion of time is not at all the sameso we cant judge. It is facile to say that what you are seeing will happen in a year or in a week or in an hour but in fact, this is impossible. It depends upon the case and certain factors which are part of the whole.
In one chapter of The Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo says that there is a state of consciousness in which all is from all eternityeverything, without exception, that is to be manifested here.
--
In a certain state of consciousness (I no longer remember what he calls it I think its in the Yoga of Self-Perfection), one is perfectly identified with the Supreme, not in his static but in his dynamic aspect, the state of becoming. In this state, everything is already there from all eternity, even though here it gives us the impression of a becoming. and Sri Aurobindo says that if you are capable of maintaining this state,2 then you know everything: all that has been, all that is and all that will bein an absolutely simultaneous way.
But you must have a firm head on your shoulders! Reading some of these chapters in Self-Perfection, I thought it would be better if it didnt fall into just anyones h ands.
--
We think its BECAUSE we do such and such a thing that something else happens. ( and how frequently, too!) People are constantly saying and writing: do this and that will happen. But the fact that this person speaks and the other one acts is also absolutely decreed.
If we could really get this into our heads, it would probably make them swim.
But things as they are wouldnt be changed at all. I have had a very clear experience of this: the absoluteness of all that is materially; everything we think we are doing, or are planning, or intending, doesnt change anything about anything. But then, I was intent upon underst anding what difference there can be between the true and the false state, SINCE MATERIALLY EVERYTHING IS EXACTLY AS IT SHOULD BE. (We think that things are like this or like that because of certain reactions we have, but our very reactions are as absolute and decreed as the thing itself.) and yet.
I have had this experience, and I remember it even went on for several days; I saw all material circumstances as an absolutean absolute that we perceive as an unfolding, but which is an eternally existing absolute. I had this experience, and at the same time I had a very clear perception of what falsehood is the lie; what, from the psychological, the mental point of view, Sri Aurobindo, translating from the Sanskrit, called crookedness.3 We attribute the course of circumstances to our psychological reactions and indeed, they are used momentarily because everything collaborates either consciously or unconsciously to make things be what they have to be but things could be what they have to be without the intervention of this falsehood. I lived in that consciousness for several days, and it became apparent that this was what separated falsehood from truth. In this state of knowledge-consciousness, the distinction can be made between falsehood and truth; and when seen in that truth-consciousness, material circumstances change character.
Now I no longer have the experience of that state except as a memory, so I cant formulate it accurately. But what was very clear and comes very oftenvery oftenis the perception of a superimposition of falsehood over a real fact. This brings us back to what I was telling you some time ago,4 that everything is very simple in its truth, that human consciousness is what complicates everything. But the former was an even more total experience of it.
It is very interesting from the st andpoint of death. I saw it once so clearly when someone (I no longer remember whom) had left his body. The word death and all these human reactions seemed so foolish! So senseless, ignorant, stupidfalse, without reality. There was simply something that shifted, like this (Mother draws a curve showing a shift of consciousness from one mode of being to another), and then we, in our false consciousness, made a drama out of it. But it was simply something evolving (same gesture).
Let me tell you about a recent occurrence. E. had sent a telegram saying that she had a perforated intestine (but it must have been something else because they operated on her only after several days, and when you are not operated on immediately in such cases, you die). Anyway, it was very serious and she was on the threshold of death that much is certain. She wrote me a letter the day before the operation (what is interesting is that now she doesnt even remember what she wrote). It was a magnificent letter saying that she was conscious of the Divine Presence and of the Divine Plan. Tomorrow they will operate on me, she said. and I am entirely aware that this operation has ALREADY been done, that it is a fact accomplished by the Divine Will; otherwise it could be a fatal ordeal. and she said she was conscious of the supreme Wills action, in a perfect peace. It was a magnificent letter. and the whole thing went off almost miraculously; she recovered in such a miraculous way that the surgeon himself said, I must congratulate you, to which she replied, How surprising! You did the operation! Yes, he said, we did the operation, but it is your body that willed to be healed, and I congratulate you for your bodys willpower. Of course she wrote to me that she knew who had been there to see that all went well. and this feeling of the thing being already accomplished is a beginning of the consciousness Sri Aurobindo speaks of in the Yoga of Self-Perfection, where one is simultaneously both here and there. Because, as Sri Aurobindo says, some people have managed to be entirely there, but what he has called the realization is to be both there and here simultaneously.
Of course, one might wonder what the meaning of everything here is, if it has all been already accomplished above, on an occult plane, and we are merely re-enacting it.
No, no!
--
No! Thats exactly our falsehood! What we see is not THE THING; its a reflection, a distorted image in our consciousness. The thing itself exists outside this reflection, and in that existence it doesnt have the character we attri bute to it. Once we have grasped this, we underst and that we can get out of itotherwise, we could never get out!
There is a universal unfolding, the true unfolding, that of the Supreme Lord who watches (this is the best way to put it) his own unfoldment. But for some reason or other, there has been a deformation of consciousness which makes us see this unfolding as something separate, a more or less adequate expression of the Divine Will. But it isnt so! It is the very unfolding of the Divine within Himselfwithin Himself, from Himself, for Himself. and its simply our falsehood that makes a separate thing of it The very fact of objectifying (what WE call objectification) is already a falsehood.5
I have had this particular consciousness in flashes. The difficulty is that in expressing it, we use all our mental faculties, and they themselves are falseso we are cornered. Because when you follow through. Whatever you say,If this, if that, if the otheris all part of our general stupidity. Going right to the end of it, you are suddenly like this: Ah! (Mother remains suspended midway in her sentence) There is nothing more to do, not a move to make.
Only, as I have told you, practically speaking this experience can be dangerous. When it came, you see, one part of me was having the experience, and one part wasnt yet ready for it. Well, I was awake enough to tell myself, The part experiencing this prevails and keeps the rest calm, yet if the preparation had not been adequate, it could have produced an imbalance. and if by mischance someone without sufficient strength had the possibility of picking up something of that, well, he would lose his head.
This has made it very clear to me why certain things can illuminate some people (I have clearly seen it) and drive others utterly madcompletely destroy their balance. You might say to me, Then its because they had to go mad! Yes, evidently.
But even if its put in absolute terms, the relationships remain exactly the same.6 You see, the initial impulse is to say, Whats the use of doing anything? But look here, the very fact that you might want to do something is part of the general determinism! Because we always keep something back and wont admit it into the total scheme of things, otherwise. There is no way to get out of it thats just the way it is.
and Sri Aurobindo explains this in such a complete, total and compact way, that there is no escape; so this so-called incapacity, this idea of still being incapable of emerging from ones divided state, becomes false.
But you have to have a firm head on your shoulders. You must always be able to refer to THAT (pointing above) and then here, silence (Mother touches her forehead): peace, peace, peace, stop everything, stop everything. Dont try, above all, dont try to underst and! Oh, there is nothing more dangerous! We try to underst and with an instrument not made for underst anding, thats incapable of underst anding.
In any case, for your question its very simple: we dont need to go to these extremes!
No, I wasnt putting the problem on a metaphysical plane but on an occult one as if the play were acted out occultly and we were executing it materially.
For us, it seems like that.
--
When I used to speak at the Playground, I tried to explain this one day I was facing the same problem: what really is? and clearly, it is utterly impossible to underst and with the mind. But I had a vision of a kind of infinite Eternity through which the Supreme Consciousness voyages7; and the path this Consciousness travels is what we call the manifestation. and this vision explained absolute freedom, it explained how both thingsabsolute freedom and absolute determinismcould coexist in an absolute way. The image in my vision was of an eternal Infinity in which that Consciousness voyagesone cant even say freely, because freely would imply that it could be otherwise.
All who experience this say that the first movement of the manifestation, or the creation (creation, manifestation, objectification: all these words are imperfect) is CHIT, Consciousness that becomes Power. Consequently, Consciousness goes voyaging along in SAT, in Beingstatic, eternal, infinite and necessarily outside time and space and this movement of Consciousness is what produces time and space within this Infinity and Eternity.8 This leads to the underst anding that things can simultaneously be absolutely free and absolutely determined.
This vision I had is of no value to anyone else, but it gave me a kind of satisfaction, a kind of peace (for a while).
--
I go on reading the Vedas and I see quite well how beautiful it is and how effective it must have been for those people, what a power for realization these hymns must have had! But for me.
Yet for a time I was in contact with all these gods and all these things, and they had an entirely concrete reality for me; but now I read and I underst and, but I cannot live it. and I dont know why. It still hasnt triggered the experience. You see, experience for me the constant, total and permanent Experienceis that there is nothing other than the Supremeonly the Supreme that the Supreme alone exists. So when they speak of Agni or Varuna or Indra it doesnt strike a chord. However, what the Vedas succeed in doing very well is to give you the perception of your infirmity and ineptitude, of the dismal state we are in now; it succeeds wonderfully in doing that!
Yesterday, this ardor of the Flame was thereburning all to offer all. It was absolutely concrete, an intensity of vibrations; I could see the vibrationsall the movements of obscurity and ignorance were cast into that. and I recall a time when I was translating these hymns to Agni with Sri Aurobindo, and Agni was real for me. Well, yesterday it wasnt that, it wasnt the god Agni, it was a STATE OF BEING. It was a state of the Supreme, and as such, it was intimate, clear, intense, vibrant and living.
(silence)
Only just towards the end of the night, after 2 a.m., does all this subconscient rise up to be relived. and with such a new and unexpected perception, oh! Its incredible! It changes all values and relationships and reactions (Mother shapes great movements of shifting forces); its like a chessboard absolutely unexpected!
and I see a very steady, insistent and regular action to eliminate moral values. How I have been plagued all my life by these moral values! Everything is immediately placed on a scale of moral values (not ordinary moralityfar from it! But a sense of what has to be encouraged or discouraged, what helps me towards progress or what hampers it); instantly everything was seen from the angle of this will to progresseverything, all circumstances, reactions, movements, absolutely everything was translated by that. Now, the subconscient is mounting upwards and, knee-deep in it, you see it as a lesson to tell you: so much for all your notions of progress! They are all based on illusionsa general lie. Things are not at all what they seem, they dont have the effects they appear to have, nor the results that are perceivedall, all, all, oh Lord!
(silence)
Well, obviously to establish contact with and manifest what the people of the Vedas called the Truth, I still have a lot of things to change a lot.
and yet its a fact that I am in the state where nothing exists any longer but the Divine, the Supreme the Supreme in every vibration, in everything I do, everything I feel. But in some way it must still be conditioned by my consciousness, since since its not yet THE Truth.
(long silence)
--
Once during the night, I went exploring inside this head; some cells still had fresh imprints of things registered during the day for whatever reason they hadnt had time to be combined into the whole, so they showed up as tiny, very clear images, minuscule things utterly devoid of any mental or psychological movementsimply like tiny photographic images. There were three or four images like that, and it was so shocking to see them in this Presence that all at once I said to myself, Am I going mad?! It was that shocking. and I had to bring in a peace, a peacenot to make the movement of possession stop, but to accompany it simultaneously with a mighty peace so I wouldnt tell myself, Youre losing your head. Thats how shocking it was.
A tiny, very tiny image, just like a little photograph, clear! Everything else was in a vibration of transformationsplendid!
You know, mon petit, you really must have your feet on the ground, be very solid, firmly balanced, and not get carried away!
But you seem to be saying that the ideas which govern or underlie our progress are more or less false moral ideas; so what should underlie our progress? What would make us say: this is good or not good, useful or not useful for progress?
--
Now I know that its not necessary at allnot at all. Simply the aspiration must be constantly like this (gesture of a rising flame). Aspiration that is, knowing what you want, wanting it. But it cannot be given a definite form; Sri Aurobindo has used certain words, we use other words, others use still other words, and all this means nothing they are simply words. But there is something beyond all words, and that for me, the simplest thing (the simplest to express) is, The Supremes Will.
and its The Supremes Will FOR THE EARTHwhich is quite a special thing. I am in a universal consciousness at the moment and the earth seems to me to be a very tiny thing, like this (Mother sketches a tiny ball in the air) in the process of being transformed. But this is from the st andpoint of the Work, its another matter.
But for those who are here, we can say, It is what the Supreme Lord is preparing for the earth. He sent Sri Aurobindo to prepare it; Sri Aurobindo called it the supramental realization, and to facilitate communication we can use the same words. Well, this movement (gesture of a rising flame) towards That must be constantconstant, total. All the rest is none of our business, and the less we meddle with it mentally, the better. But THAT, that Flame, is indispensable. and when it goes out, light it again; when it falters, rekindle itall the time, all the time, ALL THE TIMEwhen sleeping, walking, reading, moving around, speaking all the time.
The rest doesnt matter, one can do anything (it depends on people and their ways of thinking). You can just ask people like X, they will tell you: You can do anything at allit doesnt matter in the least. Only you mustnt feel its you doing it, thats all. You have to feel that Nature does it. But I dont much approve of this system.
The important thing is the flame.
--
Actually, in these scenes from the subconscient presented during the night, there were things I had believed ill-omened in my lifeyet suddenly I saw the vibration of this aspiration arising, with such a power and intensity EVEN THERE. Oh, I said, how mistaken we are!
and this aspiration depends neither on the state of health nor. Its absolutely independent of all circumstances I have felt this aspiration in the cells of my body at the very moment when things were at their most disorganized, when, from an ordinary medical st andpoint, the illness was serious. The cells THEMSELVES aspire. and this aspiration has to be everywhere.
When one is in this state, there is no need to worrynothing else matters (Mother bursts into laughter).
--
Satprem had assumed that this state of consciousness was accessible only through a kind of trance or samadhi and that when Mother said one had to be capable of 'maintaining this state,' she meant that one should be capable of bringing it back here, into the waking consciousness. However, Mother rectified: 'It is a state with no "here" or "there". I have had this experience in the waking consciousness and both perceptions (the true and the false) were simultaneous.'
The Rishis distinguished between the 'straight' (almost in the optical sense: that which allows the ray to pass straight through) and the twisted or crooked consciousness.
Agenda I of December 31, 1960.
Satprem remarked that this sentence might be interpreted in an 'illusionist' sense (i.e., that the objectification of the material world would be a falsehood), and Mother replied: 'No, it's not the objectification that is a falsehood, but our conception of the objectification as being something other than THAT. When we say that "He objectifies," well, we are thinking something that is not the truth-that is no longer the truth.'
Later, Mother clarified this sentence as follows:
We always reserve a part of ourselves for looking and observing; but if we were capable of including everything, without exception, all the relationships would remain the same I have experienced this.
Remain the same?
--
An illustration of this is the well-known story about the man who refused to move out of the path of an elephant on the pretext that he was Brahman and that Brahman had told him to stay put. and the mahout replied, 'But Brahman has told me that you should get out of the way and let the elephant Brahman pass.' Although childishly simplified, it's the same thing. It's because we look 'in this way' yet not , in that way' at the same time, and above all, because we don't look at EVERYTHING at the same time. From the minute we could be integral in our perception, all relationships would remain the same, but instead of being in a state of ignorance, we would experience them in a state of knowledge.
Would remain the same? You mean they would physically be the same as they are now, but would be seen in a different way?
--
In 'Questions and Answers,' February 5, 1958 (the 'Great Voyage of the Supreme').
Once again, Mother's experience coincides with modern science, which is beginning to discover that time and space are not fixed and INDEPENDENT quantitiesas, from the Greeks right up to Newton, we had been accustomed to believe but a four-dimensional system, with three coordinates of space and one of time, DEPENDENT UPON THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA DEVELOPING THEREIN. Such is 'Riemann's Space,' used by Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity. Thus, a trajectoryi.e., in principle, a fixed distance, a quantity of space to be traversed-is a function of the time taken to traverse it: there is no straight line between two points, or rather the I straight' line is a function of the rate of speed. There is no 'fixed' quantity of space, but rather rates of speed which determine their own space (or their own measure of space). Space-time is thus no longer a fixed quantity, but, according to science, the PRODUCT ... of what? Of a certain rate of unfolding? But what is unfolding? A rocket, a train, muscles?... Or a certain brain which has generated increasingly perfected instruments adapted to its own mode of being, like a flying fish flying farther and farther ( and faster and faster) but finally failing back into its own oceanic fishbowl. Yet what would this space-time be for another kind of fishbowl, another kind of consciousness: a supramental consciousness, for example, which can be instantaneously at any point in 'space'there is no more space! and no more time. There is no more 'trajectory': the trajectory is within itself. The fishbowl is shattered, and the whole evolutionary succession of little fishbowls as well. Thus, as Mother tells it, space and time are a 'PRODUCT Of the movement of consciousness.' A variable space-time, which not only changes according to our mechanical equipment, but according to the consciousness utilizing the equipment, and which ultimately utilizes only itself; consciousness, at the end of the evolutionary curve, has become its own equipment and the sole mechanism of the universe.
***
0 1961-04-22, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Soon afterwards, concerning X, who had stated that the most recent attacks against Mother, and even those of two years earlier when she had been forced to withdraw to her room, were the result of black magic, and that certain members of the Ashram were DIRECTLY responsible for them, or in any case, had served as intermediariesas a switchboard, to quote himin connection with an outside magician.)
I have been racking my brains, but really, I cant hit on who, IN THE ASHRAM, could be doing magic against me! Having bad thoughts is very widespread, but that doesnt matter in the least.
Yet I dont underst and how someone might be doing something positively evil, to the extent that X says, They will repent of it. I dont underst and it, I just dont. Because usually when people are like that, they cant stay, they go. Certain people have left for just that reason. Its like this story of black magic performed at the Ashram the first time I fell ill two years ago; I cant believe it, because it would prove that I am totally unconscious! and I dont think I am.
I know all the people here. I know everything thats going on, I see it night and day. But I havent seen this. Yes, there are ill-intentioned people, but they are even obliged to tell me so! There are people who oh, they almost wish I would leave, because they feel my presence as a constraint! They tell me so very frankly: As long as youre here, were obliged to do the yoga, but we dont want to do the yoga, we want to live quietly; so if you werent here, well, we wouldnt have to think about yoga anymore! But they are a bunch of fools with no power in them at all. As I said, they are even forced to tell me their true feelings.
There are manymanywho think I am going to die and are making preparations so as not to be left completely out on the street when I go. I am aware of all this. But its childishnessif I leave, they are right; if I dont, it doesnt matter!
(silence)
I had a vision last night which lasted for a long timeit was rather interestingabout your work concerning Sri Aurobindo: the plane where its situated, what place Sri Aurobindo gives it and the HELP he is giving you. It was very, very interesting. I no longer recall all the details, but broad b ands of a bluish-white light seemed to be spreading out in special forms (Mother sketches spirals in the air), showing how it would touch the earths mental atmosphere. It was truly interesting.
and Sri Aurobindo spoke of it as my work with you. I told him that I myself was doing nothing! But he told me it was my work with you.
It went on for a long timebetween midnight and 2 a.m.
***
0 1961-04-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother comes in with a book by Alice Bailey, 'Discipleship in the New Age,' which had recently been sent to her. Pavitra is present and shows Mother a brochure he has received, 'World Goodwill Bulletin,' and protests against this proliferation of movements all claiming to work towards 'world union,' and proselytes making so-called 'spiritual' propag anda without having found, within and by themselves, the true spiritual foundation. Mother goes on.)
But these people just cant get out of their education! Here is a lady [A. Bailey], quite renowned, it seems (shes dead now), who became the disciple of a Tibetan lama and she still speaks of Christ as the sole Avatar! She just cant get out of it!
and each one has the absolute Truth!
(Laughing) But it made me so angry (why, I dont know). Not anger, but a kind of oh, its exasperating!
and I am surrounded by people who tell me, Im sending your message to so- and-so, they MUST come here, they HAVE to meet you. Oh! Im going away! I said to myself, Im going to hide somewhere. Ive had enough.
It began with this famous World Union1 and now the Sri Aurobindo Society2 is meddling in it! They have put together a brochure saying, We will facilitate your relations with the Mother!! Luckily, the draft was sent to me. I said, I do not accept this responsibility. I agreed to be President because money is involved and I wanted to be a guarantee that all these people who make propag anda dont put the money into their own pockets for their personal use; so I agreed to be Presidentto guarantee that the money would really go to work for Sri Aurobindo, thats all. But no spiritual responsibility; I have nothing to teach to anyone, thank God!
(Pavitra.) But Mother, A. has also been bitten by the propag anda bug; in the by-laws he sent, he put: The goal of the Centre dEtudes de Sri Aurobindo [Sri Aurobindo Study Center, in Paris] is to steer people towards Pondicherry and the Mother.
Ooh! OH! How dreadful. How dreadful. He too!
--
and thats not all. This J.M., who thinks herself highly intelligent, has written a letter saying, It is exactly the same teachingexactly. Its always exactly the same teaching! They are abysmally ignorant.
(Satprem:) They jumble everything up.
--
and what an atmosphere it all makes phew!
The first thing I did this morning was to open this book by Alice Bailey (Ive had it for several days, I had to have a look at it). So I looked Ah, I saidwell, well! Heres a person whos dead now, but she was the disciple of a Tibetan Buddhist lama and considered a very great spiritual leader, and she writes, Christ is the incarnation of divine love on earth. and thats that. and the world will be transformed when Christ is reborn, when he comes back to earth. But why the devil does she put Christ? Because she was born Christian? Its deplorable.
and such a mixture of everythingeverything! Instead of making a synthesis, they make a pot-pourri. They scoop it all up, toss it together, whip it up a little, use a bunch of words that have nothing to do with one another, and then serve it to you!
and they want to shove me in there, too! No thanks.
After this, I received the draft of the Sri Aurobindo Societys brochure to be distributed among all disciples, all society members, in order to encourage them. Well, that was the last straw! Oh, the most asinine propag anda! and plump in the middle of a bunch of other things (which had nothing to do with me), I come across this: We have the great fortune to have the Mother among us, and we propose to be the intermediary for all who wish to come into direct contact with her! They wanted to print this and distribute it, just like that! So I took my brightest red ink and wrote: I do not accept this responsibility, you cannot make this promise. and that was that. I cut it. and now heres A., doing the same thing!
(silence)
--
Already, with all the people here. (But I never told them they were my disciples, I told them they were my children and with children, to begin with, theres no need to do everything they want!) I already waste all my time answering their letters, which are worse than stupid. What questions they askquestions already answered at least fifty timessimply for the pleasure of writing! So now Ive stopped answering. I write one or two words, and thats it.
No, its disgusting!
--
Look here, theres a muddle in all this. The Sri Aurobindo Society people had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the spiritual life when they began; they didnt at all present themselves as a spiritual groupnothing of the kind; they were people of good will who volunteered to collect money to help the Ashram. So I said, Very well, excellent and as long as its like that, Im behind it. Leaflets can be h anded outwhatever people like; its enough if their interest is aroused, if they know there is an Ashram and that it needs some help to go on. But thats all. It has nothing to do with yoga or spiritual progress or anything of the kindit was a strictly practical organization. It was not the same thing as World Union. World Union wanted to do a spiritual work on earth and to create human unity. I told them, You are taking something of an inward nature and you want to externalize it, so naturally it immediately goes rotten.(But its almost over now, Ive pulled the rug out from under them.)
Anyway.
--
Ah, no! Thats not the same thing at all, They have nothing to do with each other. Nothing. They wanted to merge: I refused. I told them, You have nothing to do with each other. You, World Union, are idealists (!) wanting to realize your ideal externally (without any foundation), while they are businessmen, practical people, wanting to bring money to the Ashram, and I fully agree with that, because I need it.
Its another thing entirely.
But then, they [the S.A.S. people] began posing as almost as teachers! Luckily, the draft of their brochure was brought to me. I said, Nothing doing. If you want to talk to people, tell them what you like, its all the same to me, but I am not publishing this. What you have written about me is not to be printed and you are not to distribute it. Im not in the picture. My name, the fact that I am president, is simply to give my guarantee that the money wont go into the pockets of those who collect it but will be used for the Ashram, the running of the Ashram, and thats all. and on this basis alone I give my guarantee. I am in no way going to help people imagine they are doing a yoga! Its absurd.
The other day, I told N. ( and I told him loud enough for everyone to hear): We can dispense with a good half of the ashramites straight-away and not lose a single sadhak.4
Well, his jaw dropped! People imagine that by the simple fact of being here they become disciples and apprentice yogis! But its not true.
So, now Im not angry any more!
--
Here, this is Grace.5 Here, Balance6 (how lovely!). Here, Light without Obscurity.7 and this is purity: an Integral Conversion8 (in the cup of this flower, Mother has placed two other flowers: Service9 and Sri Aurobindos Compassion10), an integral conversion, with Sri Aurobindo, with his compassionhis compassion which gives us the opportunity to serve him.
Oh, mon petit, we need to say something a bit intelligent, dont you think? Im counting on you.
--
Now and then, I feel like saying outrageous things. I almost said, How well I underst and Sri Aurobindowho passed to the other side!
I have no intention of doing so, none at all. Not that Im the least bit interested in all this outer jumble, not for that, but I promised Sri Aurobindo I would try. So.
--
Only one thing would actually be true, one single thing: to DO it. All this talking and talking and promising and painting things in glowing colorsjust DO it.
(silence)
Ah, but thats far more difficult than talkingfar more! Far more, infinitely more difficult than talking. If you are a bit clear, transparentits enough just to be like this, at a given moment (gesture of opening upwards), to catch the Light, and then you can talk about it. Once you have seen it, you dont forget it. But to do.
This paucity, this narrowness. Its relatively easy to get out of mental paucity, mental narrowness: one has only to pierce a hole, go beyond, and view things from above; and yes, immediately, it all widens. Thats relatively easy. But this vital and PHYSICAL paucity, material narrowness ohh!
For mental narrowness, we know the meansone has only to go beyond itwe know the means. But this (Mother touches her body), however much one keeps bringing in, bringing in, bringing in the Light and the Force. Yes, for a few moments one can live a universal life, even in the sensations but in the body.
(silence)
--
Yes, it would be useless; I mean, perhaps after millions of years it would gradually snowball and have some effect but thats just how Nature functions when left to her own interminable wayit is not yoga.
But once you have effected the transformation in your own body, will it be transmittable to others? Will your experience and your realization be transmittable?
Its a question of contagion. Spiritual vibrations are quite clearly contagious. Mental vibrations are contagious, and to a certain extent even vital vibrations are contagious (not often in their finer effects, but anyway, its cleara mans anger, for instance, spreads very easily). Well then, the quality of cellular vibrations should also be contagious.
But the difficulty. You see, so far as Mind is concerned, the whole yoga has been donelike a path blazed through the virgin forest. and since it has been done, its relatively simple: the l andmarks are there and one follows them. But here, nothing has been done! One doesnt know which end to take hold ofno one has ever done it! [186] You meet all the same obstacles before which others have simply said, Its impossible. Sri Aurobindo explains that its not impossible, but nothing more. and he himself hadnt done it.
No, for the least little thing, the whole mechanism has to be discovered, and discovered in a realm of the most total ignorance, where, really, unconsciousness is the most unconscious and ignorance the most ignorant.
(silence)
--
Just recently, though, I dont know what happened, but something seemed to take hold of me (how to say it?) this perception of the Supreme who is everything, everywhere, who does everythingwhat has been, what is, what will be, what is being doneeverything. and suddenly there was a kind of not a thought or a feeling, it wasnt that; it was rather like a state: the unreality of the goalnot unreality, uselessness. Not even uselessness: the nonexistence of the goal. and even what I was saying just nowthis will to make the experiment lingering in the body even this has gone!
Its something I dont know.11
There used to be a kind of mainspring, which had its raison dtre and so persisted: do this to arrive at that, and this leads to that (its more subtle, of course); but this mainspring suddenly seems to have been abolished, because it became useless.
Now a kind of absoluteness prevails at each and every second, in each movement, from the most subtle, the most spiritual, to the most material. The sense of linking has disappeared: that isnt the cause of this, and this isnt done for that; there is no there one is heading towardsit all seems.
(silence)
--
An absoluteinnumerable, perpetual and simultaneous.
(silence)
--
The sense of connection has gone, the sense of cause and effect has goneall that belongs to the world of space and time.
Each each what? What is that that? You cant say a movement, you cant say a state of consciousness, you cant say a vibration (all this still belongs to our ordinary mode of perception), so you say thingthing means nothing. Each thing carries in itself its own absolute law.
Oh, how clumsy all this is! But what is clear, completely clear, is the total absence of cause and effect and of goal, of intentionpurpose. There is no (Mother makes a horizontal motion) this kind of connection doesnt exist; its like this (Mother makes a vertical motion which towers over and embraces everything at once).
and so, in an individual consciousness its expressed by an infinitesimal pointa physical body and everything dependent on it; but its exactly the same thing as the Supreme Point and everything depending on that. Its the same thing. It is only like the shifting of a glanceif it can be called a glancelike a needle point occupying no space.12 and yet it is the same consciousness: is it consciousness? Something like that. It is not consciousness as we underst and it, nor is it perception; it is a kind of will to see (good God, what words!), and with such absolute freedom and omnipotence: it can be this or that, or yet another, and it is EXACTLY the same thing.
Dont try to underst and!
--
But what can be translated is this kind of sensation that the sequence of cause and effect, of purpose, of goal, all seems to be very far below, very, very DISTANT, very humanperhaps divine, too (from the viewpoint of the gods it may be like this also, I dont know), because in the consciousness of the universal Mother it is still there, there is still this ardent love to serve: To do Your Will. That is still there, so its there with the gods also.
(silence)
--
It came last night. It came slowly, but last night it was very strong: no more sequence, no more linking of cause and effect, no more goal, no more purpose, no more intentiona kind of Absolute which does not exclude the creation. It is not Nirvana, it has nothing to do with Nirvana (I know Nirvana very well, Ive had itjust yesterday evening, for instance, while walking for japa, and even this morning. You see, I begin by an invocation to the Supreme under his three aspects, and no sooner have I uttered the sound, TAT when all is abolished: Nirvana. and the last few days I have noticed that its instantaneous, so easy! Oh, a delight! Bah!). But its not Nirvana, its beyond that; it contains Nirvana and it contains the manifested world and it contains everything else; all the appearances and disappearances13all of that is contained in it.
Something.
--
The following is the exact text referred to, an extract from one of Sri Aurobindo's letters: 'I don't believe in advertisement except for books etc., and in propag anda except for politics and patent medicines. But for serious work it is a poison. It means either a stunt or a boom and stunts and booms exhaust the thing they carry on their crest and leave it lifeless and broken high and dry on the shores of nowhereor it means a movement. A movement in the case of a work like mine means the founding of a school or a sect or some other damned nonsense. It means that hundreds or thous ands of useless people join in and corrupt the work or reduce it to a pompous farce from which the Truth that was coming down recedes into secrecy and silence. It is what has happened to the "religions" and is the reason of their failure....'
2.10.1934
--
Mother gradually goes into trance and 'follows the experience.'
It seemed to us that Mother's experience, related while in a deep trance, could be likened to that of the Rishis, who spoke of 'an eye extended in heaven.'
The creations and 'destructions' of this world or of all worlds.
This 'secret' is no doubt part of the Secret which this entire Agenda seeks to track down. So where to stop? and if we are indiscreet, who knows whether the secret of man is not some simian indiscretion!
***
0 1961-04-29, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
59One of the greatest comforts of religion is that you can get hold of God sometimes and give him a satisfactory beating. People mock at the folly of savages who beat their gods when their prayers are not answered; but it is the mockers who are the fools and the savages.
Poor T.! She asked me, What does it mean (laughing) to give God a satisfactory beating? How is this possible? I still havent answered. and then she added another question: Many people say that Sri Aurobindos teachings are a new religion. Would you call it a religion? You underst and, I began to fume!
I wrote (Mother reads her answer):
Those who say that are simpletons and dont even know what theyre talking about! It is enough to read everything Sri Aurobindo has written to know that it is IMPOSSIBLE (underlined) to found a religion upon his writings, since for each problem, for each question, he presents all aspects and, while demonstrating the truth contained in each approach, he explains that to attain the Truth a synthesis must be effected, overpassing all mental notions and emerging in a transcendence beyond thought.
Your second question, therefore, makes no sense! Furthermore, if you had read what appeared in the last Bulletin,1 you could never have asked it.
--
Men are such fools (laughing: it doesnt get any better!) that they can change anything at all into a religion, so great is their need for a fixed framework for their narrow thought and limited action. They dont feel secure unless they can affirm: This is true and that is not but such an affirmation becomes impossible for anyone who has read and understood what Sri Aurobindo has written. Religion and yoga are not situated on the same plane of the being, and the spiritual life can exist in its purity only if it is free from all mental dogma.
People must really be made to underst and this.
--
Religion always has a tendency to humanize, to create a God in the image of mana magnified and glorified image, but essentially always a god with human attributes. and this (laughing) creates a sort of intimacy, a sense of kinship!
T. has taken it literally, but its true that even the Spanish, when their god doesnt do what they want, take the statue and throw it in the river!
There are people here who do the same thing. I know some people who had a statue of Kali in their house (it was their family divinity), and all kinds of calamities befell them, so the last generation became furious and took the idol and threw it into the Ganges. They are not the only onesthere have been several cases like that. and to cap it all, one of them even asked my permission before doing it!
Creating a god in the image of man gives you the possibility of treating it as you would treat a human enemy.
--
Oh, Ive had some very interesting revelations on this point, on the way people think and feel about it. I remember someone once made a little statue of Sri Aurobindo; he gave it a potbelly and anyway, to me it was ridiculous. So I said, How could you make such a thing?! He explained that even if its a caricature for the ordinary eye, since its an image of the one you consider God, or a god, or an Avatar, since its the image of the one you worship, even if only a guru, it contains the spirit and the force of his presence, and this is what you worship, even in a crude form, even if the form is a caricature to the physical eye.
Someone made a large painting of Sri Aurobindo and myself, and they brought it here to show me. I said, Oh, its dreadful! It was to the physical eye it was really dreadful. Its dreadful, I said, we cant keep it. Then immediately someone asked me for it, saying, Im going to put it up in my house and do my puja before it. Ah! I couldnt help saying, But how could you put up a thing like that! (It wasnt so much ugly as frightfully banal.) How can you do puja before something so commonplace and empty! This person replied, Oh, to me its not empty! It contains all the presence and all the force, and I shall worship it as that: the Presence and the Force.
All this is based on the old idea that whatever the imagewhich we disdainfully call an idolwhatever the external form of the deity may be, the presence of the thing represented is always there. and there is always someonewhe ther priest or initiate, sadhu or sannyasisomeone who has the power and (usually this is the priests work) who draws the Force and the Presence down into it. and its true, its quite real the Force and the Presence are THERE; and this (not the form in wood or stone or metal) is what is worshipped: this Presence.
Europeans dont have the inner sense at all. To them, everything is like this (gesture), a surfacenot even that, a film on the surface. and they cant feel anything behind. But its an absolutely real fact that the Presence is there I guarantee it. People have given me statuettes of various gods, little things in metal, wood or ivory; and as soon as I take one in my h and, the god is there. I have a Ganesh2 (I have been given several) and if I take it in my h and and look at it for a moment, hes there. I have a little one by my bedside where I work, eat, and meditate. and then there is a Narayana3 which comes from the Himalayas, from Badrinath. I use them both as paperweights for my h andkerchiefs! (My h andkerchiefs are kept on a little table next to my bed, and I keep Ganapati and Narayana on top of them.) and no one touches them but me I pick them up, take a fresh h andkerchief, and put them back again. Once I blended some nail polish myself, and before applying it, I put some on Ganapatis forehead and stomach and fingertips! We are on the best of terms, very friendly. So to me, you see, all this is very true.
Only.
Narayana came first. I put him there and told him to stay and be happy. A while later, I was given a very nice Ganapati; so I asked Narayana I didnt ask his permission, I told him, Dont be angry, you know, but Im going to give you a companion; I like you both very much, theres no preference; the other is much better looking, but you, you are Narayana! I flattered him, I told him pleasant things, and he was perfectly happy.
It has always been like that for mealways. and I have never, never had the religious sense at allyou know, what people call this kind of what they have in religions, especially in Europe. I see only the English word for it: awe, like a kind of terror. This always made me laugh! But I have always felt whats behind, the presences behind.
I remember once going into a church (which I wont name) and I found it a very beautiful place. It wasnt a feast or ceremony day, so it was empty. There were just one or two people at prayer. I went in and sat down in a little chapel off to the side. Someone was praying there, someone who must have been in distressshe was crying and praying. and there was a statue, I no longer know of whom: Christ or the Virgin or a Saint I have no idea. and, oh! Suddenly, in place of the statue, I saw an enormous spider like a tarantula, you know, but (gesture) huge! It covered the entire wall of the chapel and was just waiting there to swallow all the vital force of the people who came. It was heart-rending. I said to myself, Oh, these people There was this miserable woman who had come seeking solace, who was praying there, weeping, hoping to find solace; and instead of reaching a consciousness that was at least compassionate, her supplications were feeding this monster!
I have seen other things but I have rarely seen anything favorable in churches. Here, I remember going to M I was taken inside and received there in quite an unusual waya highly respected person introduced me as a great saint! They led me up to the main altar where people are not usually allowed to go, and what did I see there! An asura (oh, not a very high-ranking one, more like a rakshasa4), but such a monster! Hideous. So I went wham! (gesture of giving a blow) I thought something was going to happen. But this being left the altar and came over to try to intimidate me; of course, he saw it was useless, so he offered to make an alliance: If you just keep quiet and dont do anything, I will share all I get with you. Well, I sent him packing! The head of this Math5. It was a Math with a monastery and temple, which means a substantial fortune; the head of the Math has it all at his disposal for as long as he holds the position and he is appointed for life. But he has to name his successor and as a rule, his own life is considerably shortened by the successorthis is how it works. Everyone knew that the present head had considerably shortened the life of his predecessor. and what a creature! As asuric as the god he worshipped! I saw some poor fellows throw themselves at his feet (he must have been squeezing them pitilessly), to beg forgiveness and mercyan absolutely ruthless man. But he received meyou should have seen it! I said nothing, not a word about their god; I gave no sign that I knew anything. But I thought to myself, So thats how it is!
Another thing happened to me in a fishing village near A., on the seashore, where there is a temple dedicated to Kalia terrible Kali. I dont know what happened to her, but she had been buried with only her head sticking out! A fantastic story I knew nothing about it at all. I was going by car from A. to this temple and halfway there a black form, in great agitation, came rushing towards me, asking for my help: Ill give you everything I haveall my power, all the peoples worshipif you help me to become omnipotent! Of course, I answered her as she deserved! I later asked who this was, and they told me that some sort of misfortune had befallen her and she had been buried with only her head above ground. and every year this fishing village has a festival and slaughters thous ands of chickensshe likes chicken! Thous ands of chickens. They pluck them on the spot (the whole place gets covered with feathers), and then, after offering the blood and making the sacrifice, the people, naturally, eat them all up. The day I came this had taken place that very morningfea thers littered everywhere! It was disgusting. and she was asking for my help!
But the curious thing is that these vital beings are aware of what is happening. I knew nothing about any of it, neither the story, nor the being, nor the head sticking out of the ground and she wanted me to get her out of it. They feel the atmosphere. They are awarethey may not be conscious on higher planes, but they are conscious on vital planes, aware of vital power and the vital force it represents. Its like this asura from M.: when I came in he suddenly seemed to tremble on his pedestal; then he left his idol and came to seek my alliance.
But its strange.
--
In churches, I dont know. I havent been to them very often. I have been to mosques and templesJewish temples. The Jewish temples in Paris have such beautiful music; oh, what beautiful music! I had one of my first experiences in a temple. It was at a marriage, and the music was wonderfulSaint-Saens, I later learned; organ music, the second best organ in Pariswonderful! I was 14 years old, sitting high up in the galleries with my mother, and this music was being played. There were some leaded-glass windowswhite, with no designs. I was gazing at one of these windows, feeling uplifted by the music, when suddenly through the window came a flash like a bolt of lightning. Just like lightning. It enteredmy eyes were openit entered like this (Mother strikes her breast violently), and then I I had the feeling of becoming vast and all-powerful. and it lasted for days.
Of course, my mother was such an out- and-out materialist, thank God, that it was impossible to speak to her of invisible thingsshe took them as evidence of a deranged brain! Nothing counted for her but what could be touched and seen. But this was a divine grace I had no opportunity to say anything. I kept my experience to myself. But it was one of my first contacts with. I learned later that it was an entity from the past who had come back into me through the aspiration arising from the music.
But I have rarely had an experience in churches. Rather the opposite: I have very often had the painful experience of the human effort to find solace, a divine compassion falling into very bad h ands.
One of my most terrible experiences took place in Venice (the cathedrals there are so beautifulmagnificent!). I remember I was painting they had let me settle down in a corner to paint and nearby there was a (what do they call it?) a confessional. and a poor woman was kneeling there in distresswith such a dreadful sense of sin! So piteous! She wept and wept. Then I saw the priest coming, oh, like a monster, a hard-hearted monster! He went inside; he was like an iron bar. and there was this poor woman sobbing, sobbing; and the voice of the other one, hard, curt. I could barely contain myself.
I dont know why, but I have had this kind of experience so very often: either a hostile force lurking behind and swallowing up everything, or else manruthless man abusing the Power.
In fact, I have seen this all over the world. I have never been on very good terms with religions, neither in Europe, nor Africa, nor Japan, nor even here.
--
At the age of eighteen, I remember having such an intense need in me to KNOW. Because I was having experiences I had all kinds of experiences but my surroundings offered me no chance to receive an intellectual knowledge which would have given me the meaning of it all: I couldnt even speak of them. I was having experience after experience. For years, I had experiences during the night (but I was very careful never to speak about them!)memories from past lives, all sorts of things, but without any base of intellectual knowledge. (Of course, the advantage of this was that my experiences were not mentally contrived; they were entirely spontaneous.) But I had such a NEED in me to know! I remember living in a house (one of these houses with a lot of apartments), and in the apartment next door were some young Catholics whose faith was very they were very convinced. and seeing all that, I remember saying to myself one day while brushing my hair, These people are lucky to be born into a religion and believe unquestioningly! Its so easy! You have nothing to do but believehow simple that makes it. I was feeling like this, and then when I realized what I was thinking (laughing), well, I gave myself a good scolding: Lazybones!
To know, know, KNOW! You see, I knew nothing, really, nothing but the things of ordinary life: external knowledge. I had learned everything I had been given to learn. I not only learned what I was taught but also what my brother was taughthigher mathematics and all that! I learned and I learned and I learned and it was NOTHING. None of it explained anything to menothing. I couldnt underst and a thing!
To know!
--
But all the same, cant it be said that whatever the appearances these vital spiders or frightful Kalis the Divine still acts and helps people through them? Its not all totally swallowed up and lost, is it?
No, but this is something else. Those who are capable of personal experiences pass through everything. But not the common herd.
--
I have had discussionsnot discussions, exchanges of viewswith prelates. There was one cardinal in particular. I told him my experience, what I KNEW. He replied, Whether you want to or not, you belong to the Church; because those who know belong to the Church. and he added, You have the knowledge we are taught when we become cardinals. Nobody has taught me anything, I said, this is my experience. Then he repeated, Whether you like it or not, you belong to the Church. I felt like telling him a thing or two, but I didnt.
Otherwise, you just keep turning in circles, oh, caught by the form, locked in by the form!
I remember a good-hearted priest in Pau [Southern France] who was an artist and wanted to have his church decorateda tiny cathedral. He consulted a local anarchist (a great artist) about it. The anarchist was acquainted with andrs father and me. He told the priest, I recommend these people to do the paintings they are true artists. He was doing the mural decorationsome eight panels in all, I believe. So I set to work on one of the panels. (The church was dedicated to San Juan de Compostello, a hero of Spanish history; he had appeared in a battle between the Christians and the Moors and his apparition vanquished the Moors. and he was magnificent! He appeared in golden light on a white horse, almost like Kalki.6) All the slaughtered and struggling Moors were depicted at the bottom of the painting, and it was I who painted them; it was too hard for me to climb high up on a ladder to paint, so I did the things at the bottom! But anyway, it all went quite well. Then, naturally, the priest received us and invited us to dinner with the anarchist. and he was so nicereally a kind-hearted man! I was already a vegetarian and didnt drink, so he scolded me very gently, saying, But its Our Lord who gives us all this, so why shouldnt you take it? I found him charming. and when he looked at the paintings, he tapped Morisset on the shoulder (Morisset was an unbeliever), and said, with the accent of Southern France, Say what you like, but you know Our Lord; otherwise you could never have painted like that!
Well.
In short, I have known people from everywhere, I have been everywhere, I have seen and heard everything. It was very strange, very strange. and I didnt do it on purpose, but just because the Lord willed it.
What experiences!
--
Oh, yes, definitely do that. But I am not keen on keeping all thatits much too personal. It involves a lot of people and a lot of things, and I dont want. Ive told it to you, thats all. Keep it for yourselfnot even for the Agenda, its not necessary. If you enjoy it, you can keep it thats all. I told it to you just like thatprobably because I felt like chatting!
I could say many other things which would be almost the opposite of all Ive just said! It all depends on the orientation. If I really started talking, you know, I would seem like I dont know what, something like a lunatic, because with equal sincerity and equal truth, I could say the most opposing things.
and experiences! I have had the most contradictory experiences! Only one thing has been continuous from my childhood on ( and the more I look, the more I see how continuous it has been): this divine Presence and in someone who, in her EXTERNAL LIFE, might very well have said, God? What is this foolishness! God doesnt exist! So you underst and, you see the picture.
You know, its a marvelous, marvelous grace to have had this experience so CONSTANTLY, So POWERFULLY, like something holding out against everything, everything: this Presence. and in my outward consciousness, a total negation of it all. Even later on, I used to say, Well, if God exists, hes a real scoundrel! Hes a wretch and I want nothing to do with this Creator of ours. You know, the idea of God sitting placidly in his heaven, creating the world and amusing himself by watching it, then telling you, How well done! Oh! I said, I want nothing to do with that monster!
(Mother gets up)
--
No, its not to ask you to come I just want to know, if by chance I dont find you in the crowd, whether youre there and I am just not seeing you.
I could come, but.
--
Ganesh (or Ganapati): The first son of the Supreme Mother, represented with an elephant trunk and an ample belly. Ganesh is the god who presides over material realizations (over money in particular). He is also known as the scribe of divine knowledge.
Narayana: another name of Vishnu, one of the gods of the Hindu trinity. He watches over the creation, whereas Brahma is the creator and Shiva the destroyer.
Rakshasa: demon of the vital plane, as opposed to an asura, a demon of the mental world.
0 1961-05-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When Sri Aurobindo was here, the work was done in another way; there was such an impression of hovering above difficulties, of acting on them from above. It was so strong that even rebellious elements, even things which were not going well, even they were dominated from above and they could not manifest they stayed like that. and as they could not manifest, they faded quietly away.
I have seen people (people from outside) who were enemiesall their enmity was pacified, pacified, pacified. They were unable to do any harm, even when they wanted to. Everything was made innocuous in that way. and it was the same thing here in the Ashram; as always, people had wrong movements and wrong thoughts, but all this, too, was dominatedit was pacified, pacified.
I had continued to work in the same way. But now its as if everything has been engulfed. and the number of ugly things, petty movements, nasty reactionseverywhere, everywhere, in everyone, oh! I am swamped with letters, and such letters! Such letters!
and I dont see, I really do not see why all that needs to manifest in order to disappear. Because before, when it didnt manifest, it faded away by itself; but now it creates problems and problems and problems. (For me they are not problems but stupidities; they are problems and complications for others.) and its so useless! So much time is lost, so much time coping with stupid reactions. I dont know why.
and nothing can be done until its over.
***
0 1961-05-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The Immortal can pass from the condition of life to the condition of death (but not death as we underst and it); can die means can change condition. The Immortal can pass from this condition to that condition and back and forth again. We call it death, but it has nothing to do with either life or death. They are changes of state.
(silence)
--
But its a wide physical life, and not without its beauty!
The physical lifeyes, its nothing at all. All these things of the physical lifenothing at all, nothing at all! Its childish, not worth thinking about for a second.
--
Even those momentary breakthroughs one can have in life before having found the Truth, when one is on the way and suddenly has glimpses of an immortal Consciousness, the contact with a truth, even that. These experiences are all very fine, its very good, but its on the way. It is not THAT.
What is worthwhile is to seek the TRUE SENSE of life: to what does it really correspond? What is there behind it all? Why has the Lord created it? What is He heading towards? What does He want? What does He want to happen? That, we have not found. What does He want!!
He obviously has a secret, and He is keeping it. Well, I want His secret.
Why is everything the way it is?
Its certainly not the way it is just to be the way it isits meant to become something else. and its this something else that I want. What is worth seeking is the something else that He wants, but as long as I dont have it.
The notebook of a disciple who asks questions on the Aphorisms which Mother 'must' answer regularly.
0 1961-05-19, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The more I see these texts, the more. At first I had the impression of a certain nebulous quality in the English text, and that precisely this quality could be used to introduce the spirit of another language. Now I see that this nebulousness was in my head! It was not in what he wrote.
Yes, I see what you meantheres a sense in the way it is put.
Every word, mon petit! Every word and the POSITION of the word in the sentenceeven the position of an adverb has a fundamental importance for the meaning. All the finesse, all the profound wisdom evaporates in translation, and finally we express only platitudes by comparisonplatitudes. They are not platitudes compared to ordinary intellect, but they are platitudes compared to the kind of keen PRECISION with which Sri Aurobindo discerns things.
and the trouble is that if one translates literally, into poor French, it doesnt yield the deeper sense either, because that also considerably demolishes the meaning.
If we want to translate literally its as much a mistranslation as translating freely.
--
and despite everything, our translations of Sri Aurobindo are superior to those published in France; because those translations you know.
Its an absolute betrayal.
Oh, the translations by H. and company are appalling!
Its a betrayal. A betrayal.
Yes, and done with such self-assurance! Imperturbable.
Not very long ago I met someone from France who told me, Personally, you underst and, I had no wish at all to read Sri AurobindoSri Aurobindo translated by H.: no, thank you. and then he read some things translated here. Ah, he said, that makes a difference!
But still, I am not satisfied.
--
(Later, Satprem wanted to read certain past conversations to Mother for her to add to her Agenda. Mother refused to listenit wasnt the first time, either and lively protestations ensued.)
You dont want to hear them?
--
I mean there is nothing sensational, interesting to recount. Its a minuscule labor, minute to minute, like oh, its not even like cutting a path through a virgin forest, because a virgin forest is pleasant to look at! But this. Its almost like laying stones together to build a road. Every day and all the time, night and day and at any moment whatsoever, there are tiny, tiny things, tiny things, tinyits not interesting.
There are successive curves, each second of which would have to be noted down; and in the course of one of these curves, something is suddenly found. For example, at the beginning of The Yoga of Self-Perfection, Sri Aurobindo reviews other yogas, beginning with Hatha Yoga. I had just translated this when I remembered Sri Aurobindo saying that Hatha Yoga was very effective but that it amounted to spending your whole life training your body, which is an enormous time and effort spent on something not essentially very interesting. Then I looked at it and said to myself, But after all, (I was looking at life as it is, as people ordinarily live it) one spends at least 90% of ones life merely to PRESERVE ones body, to keep it going! All this attention and concentration on an instrument which is put to hardly any use. Anyway, I was looking at it with that attitude, when suddenly all the cells of my body responded, in such a spontaneous and WARM way. How to say it? Something so so moving. They told me, But its the Lord who is looking after Himself in us! Each one was saying: But its the Lord who is looking after Himself in us!
It was truly lovely. Then I gave my reason a good poke: How stupid can you be! You always forget the essential.
It was very spontaneous and quite lovely.
So there you are-things like that happen, one thing or another, but its nothing.
--
This feeling was so warm, so intimate, so I dont know how to express it. At once so soft and so powerful and so. Oh, it was concrete! The whole atmosphere, the whole atmosphere became solidall, all had the taste of the Lord. I dont know how to make it clear. It was quite material, as if you had a mouthful of it, everything was full of itit was like that. In such a PHYSICAL way! Like. You might compare it to the most delicious taste you could ever haveit was the sense of touch and of tastevery, very material. It was like closing your h and on something solidsuch a warm, soft vibration, and SO STRONG, so powerful, so concrete!
It is evidently proof of an evolution in this direction, within this whole cluster of cells, but.
--
Finally, what we want is (long silence) its something like an absolute in the presence, the action, the consciousness, which annuls this (here Mother makes a gesture whichperhapsexpresses a distance, a separation, or an exchange between two distinct things). It can hardly be called a duality any more, but all the same there is something which sees and which feels. and thats what is irritating.
I do sense that all, all in me is reaching for ONE thing: You, You alone, let there be only You One cannot say I(there is always a misunderst anding with that idiotic I), but it isnt You, it isnt I it is one single thing. Let THAT be, and nothing else.
As long as its not THAT, ah! Yes, we are paving the road.
--
Its night and day and day and night, when I see people, when I dont see them.
When I am all alone, its wonderful! As soon as this body is left all alone, oh! it melts, it melts. There are no more limits, it is content: Oh, at last I can cease to be!
and then truly, truly it forgets itself; truly it passes on to something else.
But all the rest of the time. From morning to evening, letters to read, things to organize, people to see. and at night, every time I come out of my trance there is a swarm of things here (gesture around the head) waiting to be heard, dem anding attention.
Sometimes there are amusing thingsif I were to note down all I see! There are things things which dont appear as they are in ordinary life, but as they ARE when seen with a slightly more clairvoyant eyeits rather amusing. But it amounts to nothing-a sort of distraction.
and all the time the body says. You know, its marvelous-all the time, whenever I grumble or grouse, it says, But its for Me, its Me, its Me, its for Me like that. Dont forget, its for Me, its Me, its Me bringing in the people, its Me organizing, its Me making them ask things, it is Me.Very well. So I tweak my ears or pull my hair and say to myself, How stupid!
(silence)
This was the first time I had this experience. It was much more substantial than the physical contact, which, as I told you, I had already had.1 It was much more material, and related to taste. It was as if the whole atmosphere and all the things in it were a marvelous food an ecstatic nourishment.
I had already had the experience for the sense of smell the divine vibration, the vibration of An anda in odors. Just under my window, you know, Nripendra has his kitchen, where every morning and afternoon food is prepared for the children2it all comes wafting up on gusts of air. and when the Samadhi tree is in flower, the scent wafts up to me on gusts of air; when people burn incense down below, it comes wafting up here on gusts of aireach and every fragrance (fragrancelets say odor). and generally it all comes while I am walking for my japaan An anda of odors, each one with its meaning, its expression, its (how to say it?) its motivation and its goal. Marvelous! and there are no longer any good or bad odors that notion is gone completely. Each one has its meaningits meaning and its raison dtre. I have been experiencing this for a long time.
But this experience of taste was completely new. It didnt last long, only a few minutes, because it amazed me so! It was as if I had a mouthful of the most marvelous foods one could imagine. and my h ands were gathering it up in the atmosphere it was so funny!
The body is obviously being prepared for something.
--
Thats my reproach to itwhy does it struggle? Why, suddenly, do I have a terrible fatigue falling over me and have to brace myself? The body, naturally, does only one thingit automatically repeats the mantra; then all becomes quiet, all is set in order. But why is this effort necessary? It should be done automatically [the sweeping away of bad vibrations]. Why is there a need to remember or to put up a struggle? Oh, a battle!
Its not the body complaining, it doesnt complain at all I am the one who complains! I think that its doing its best, but its thwarted by this type of (one can scarcely speak of a mind) this kind of mind-like activity in matter3 interfering. t is sordid. I havent yet been able to eliminate it completely.
There are moments when its brought to a dead halt. Oh, sometimes while I walk for the japa everything is held like this (gesture of all being dominated from above and immobilized), inflexibly.
But then the difficulty is that for the ordinary consciousness and unfortunately I am surrounded by a lot of people who have a very ordinary consciousness (at least it seems very ordinary to me, although from the human st andpoint they are probably rather remarkable people)for the ordinary consciousness I seem to be in a stupor, a coma, a state of imbecility, of yes, of torpor. It has all those appearances. Something which becomes immobile, unresponsive, stopped short (same gesture as before); one can no longer think, one can no longer observe, one can no longer react, one can no longer do anything, one is like that (same gesture). But all these things keep coming from outside, all the time, coming and trying to interrupt that state; yet if I manage to prevent this, if I can keep this condition, after a while it becomes something so MASSIVE! So concrete in its power, so massive in its immobility, ohh! It must lead somewhere.
But I could not remain in that state long enough (it would have to go on for HOURS), I could not, due to all these constant interruptions. and then, when the body is pulled brusquely out of it, it seems to lose its balanceit has a few difficult moments.
I underst and people who choose to leave! But thats not what is wanted of me! I should have enough flexibility so that the two can exist together (gesture expressing the interlocking or the fusion of the two worlds).
--
If you only knew (because the perception, the conscious perception Ive had it for years and years, but it is becoming more and more keen and precise), if you could perceive this atmosphere I am made to breathe, mon petit! (gesture around the head) The foolishness, the stupidity, the nastiness, the inanity. It is full, full of all thatfull. One cannot brea the without breathing that!
Not to mention the letters people write.
They say I have become deaf. I believe its the Lords grace, because when I make an effort to hear what is being said to me, nine times out of ten its completely useless and its absolutely stupid. Its better not to hear!
So there, mon petit and I said I wasnt going to talk! Its always the same thing.
--
When these promised things are achieved, then something like a Power will comepersonally I dont consider that I have power. For the moment its nothing. It is NOTHING. My conception of Power is that when this must be comes into the consciousness, well, it MUST be. But its not like that now. All the other forces, the other movements of consciousness, enter and interfere,4 and the usual mess results; there is a little bit of that, a bit of this, a bit of the otherin short, an approximation. Sometimes it works, but then it is.
The movement of initiating the action always proceeds in the same wayas something imperatively SEEN. Consequently, it should ALWAYS have an effect; but all kinds of things enter and cause a disturbance. So I dont call that Powerits too haphazard. But dont worry yourself over all this chatter.
Oh, listen!
0 1961-05-23, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother reviews some earlier Questions and Answers. In one of themdated November 14, 1956someone had asked if mastery over circumstances depended on self-mastery, citing the case of Vivekan anda, who was said to possess great mastery over circumstances even though he could not master his own anger.)
I never knew Vivekan anda. I only know what I have heard or read about him, but that isnt what I call knowing. So I cant say anything, and above all I dont want to seem to give credence to all the gossip that has been spread about him. I have had no personal contact with him, neither in the physical nor elsewherenot with him personally. Naturally I could if I made an effort, but.
To tell the truth, this question seems stupid to me, because one can have mastery over circumstances only if one becomes the Supremebecause the Supreme alone has mastery over circumstances. So the question is senseless.
If you become identified with the Supreme and there is but ONE willHis then of course you have supreme mastery. Otherwise its all nothing but illusion. You imagine that by wanting a certain thing you can change circumstances, but you still have to be in total ignorance to believe that the change occurs because YOU want it toin fact, the Supreme is making use of you. Consequently, you have no mastery at all; you are an instrument used by the Supreme, and thats all.
So all these things [the earlier Questions and Answers] seem quite childish to me, quite childishirrelevant chatter. You are outside the garden talking about what is within. It would be best to delete the whole thing.
(In vain, Satprem protests, complaining that Mother always wants to delete everything.)
0 1961-05-30, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
and you? Whats new?
I dont know very well where I st and.
--
and I try to be as tranquil as I can (Mother makes a gesture of mental immobility), but when you do so, you become aware of oh, its like a swarm of flies comingfrom here, from there, from above, from below, oh coming and coming and coming!
Its probably worse for me than for others because of all these people around me, clinging like leeches. But even for an ordinary being it is a swarm; it keeps on coming and comingyou would need to spend all your time fanning it away!
***
0 1961-06-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding an earlier 'Questions and Answers'March 13, 1957where Mother says: ' and finally, isn't the Divine the best friend one could have? The Divine to whom one can tell all, reveal all, because here is the source of all mercy, of all power to efface error when it no longer recurs....' Surprised, Satprem blurts out.)
But theres no more problem when the error no longer recurs! Isnt it when the error recurs that it needs to be effaced?
When one does not repeat ones past mistakes, the divine power, the power of the divine Grace, abolishes their consequences their karmain the being. But as long as mistakes are repeated nothing can be abolished, because one re-creates them at every minute. When a person has made a serious error, say, a serious mistake (it can be serious or not, but we are concerned primarily with the serious ones), such mistakes have their consequences in life, a karma which has to be exhausted. The divine Grace, if you call upon it, has the power to abolish that karma, to cut short the consequences but the Grace can only do this when you, within yourself, dont begin all over again, when the mistake committed is not renewed. The past can be completely purified and abolished, on condition that one does not keep making it into a perpetual present.
I have said it there in one sentence, but I didnt want people to believe that they can continue making the same stupid blunder indefinitely and have the Grace indefinitely annul all the consequences.1 It isnt like that! The past can be cleansed to the point where it has no effect of any kind on the future, but only on condition that you stop the wrong vibration in yourself, that you dont reproduce the same vibration indefinitely.
I know why I gave no explanations as I was speaking: because of the intensity of the experience. There is something like it in Prayers and Meditations. I remember an experience I had in Japan which is noted there. (Mother looks through Prayers and Meditations and reads a passage dated November 25, 1917:)2
Thou art the sure friend who never fails,
--
It was a series of experiences resulting from external circumstances. and then I speak of the tears shed, not for oneself but for others. (Mother reads a passage dated July 12, 1918:)
But a few days ago did I know, did I hear:
--
and that is why, when the tears
welled up from my heart to my eyes,
--
and let them flow reverently in offering.
and how sweet and how comforting
was this offering!
and now, although I weep no longer,
I feel so near, so near to Thee
--
O Supreme and only Confidant, Thou who
knowest beforeh and all we can say to Thee
because Thou art its source!
O Supreme and only Friend, Thou who acceptest,
Thou who lovest, Thou who underst andest us
--
O Supreme and only Guide,
Thou who never gainsayest our highest will
--
for one who will listen, underst and, love and guide,
since always Thou art there
ready to our call and never wilt Thou fail us!
Thou hast made me know the supreme,
--
an absolute serenity, a surrender total and
without reserve or coloring, free from
effort and constraint.
Joyous like a child I have smiled and wept
at once before Thee, O my Well-Beloved!
--
After that experience the decision was taken to come back to Indiaonly then could I manage to return. There were all sorts of projects and things we were even on the point of going to China and, oh! But after that it was decided to come back to India.
***
--
These are small details. I myself am unable to do it at fixed hours; I had always hoped to do it between 5 and 6 in the afternoon, but I usually cant manage to go upstairs before ten to six! So so I do it from 6 to 7.
Fundamentally, I have noticed one thing: if you yourself are in the right state, the right atmosphere is immediately created. and in addition, I am always in a sort of not even a convictionan ABSOLUTE perception that all that happens is the Lords doing. When He makes me late going upstairs its because He wants me to be late, and consequently, if I take it wellif instead of closing myself and getting annoyed I say, Good, thats fineimmediately a very interesting atmosphere is created, because at the same time I see all the advantages of this change. But this movement must not be mentalit has to be spontaneous.
Therefore, I have told her (to put it simply): provided you are sincere in your attitude, all is well.
--
Here is something interesting. I am translating the Yoga of Self-Perfection. My first look at it stiffened menow its a delight! and I have done nothing in between but simply let it work within; its so easy!
My translation is poorly written, hardly French at all, but to me it is limpid.
and I see that the translation would go quickly if one moved into another domain. In one domain it is laborious, terrible, difficult, and the result is never very satisfying. But contrary to what I had thought, the domain of comprehension does not suffice, even the domain of experience does not suffice: something else is needed (oh, how to explain it?), a state in which effort is left totally behind. There is a state (which probably must be beyond the mind, because one no longer thinks at all, not at all) where everything is smiling and easy, and the sentences come to you all by themselves. Its peculiar I read, and even before I finish reading the sentence to be translated I know whats in it; and then without waitingalmost without waiting to know whats in it I know what to put for it. When its like that I can translate a page in half an hour.
But it doesnt lastit ought to last. Usually it ends in a trance: I go off into the experience, I am in a beatific state and ten minutes later I notice that Ive been in that state with my pen poised in my h and. Its not favorable to the work! But otherwise its I cant even say its like someone dictating (its not that, I dont hear); it comes by itself. Oh, the other day there were one or two sentences! I wrote something and suddenly saw what I was writing and doing so pulled me out of that state. Well, I said to myself, how nicely put! and plop! (Mother laughs) Everything was gone.
Be in that domain, and you will never grow tired.
But to get there, believe me, you must accept to be a total imbecile for quite some time! I am not exaggerating. I have found myself in such states: you no longer underst and anything, no longer know anything, no longer think anything, no longer want anything, no longer can do anythingno more power, no more will, no more thought, no more anythingyou are like that. and when I am like that (when I WAS, because now its beginning to go away), I see the external world, people like those around me, looking at me and thinking, Ah! Mother is lapsing into her second childhood! Their vibrations come to me and unfortunately they sometimes have the power to shake me I have to make a movement to free myself from the thoughts of others.
(silence)
--
Its good, but my skull. You know, there are people who read your character from the shape of your skullit would be interesting to have one of them touch mine. Mon petit, its a mountain range! With peaks and valleys! There are deep hollows, precipices, Himalayan peaks! and its increasing!
Increasing!
Oh, yes, its increasing from year to year! The hollows become hollower, the bumps become bumpier! and they are everywhere! Its quite interesting!
For years and years, until I was past forty, my skull was soft here (Mother touches the front part of her skull), something which seems to be absolutely unheard-of. It was soft and becoming more so (gesture of the skull opening) and then, when you pressed there. I didnt bother about it, but then suddenly I noticed that here (Mother touches the back part of her skull) it is truly like mountainous scenery there are bumps everywhere, and hollows, valesvery interesting! Its increasing.
It means it must be getting more and more complicated in there!
I once fell down and dented my head (for a long time it was even painful); and since then the dent has become deeper and deeper and the bump has become larger and larger. I told the doctor about it (he had been called in at the time because it was bleeding profusely and people were upsetit healed in a day) and he told me there had been an accumulation of blood causing the bone to increase in size. But this is a doctors reason.
It is quite interesting.
--
With the exception of the second asterisked passage, which was not included in his English version of selected Prayers and Meditations, the following translations are Sri Aurobindo's.
'Homage' is used in the original text.
0 1961-06-06, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
No. I had finished reading the Veda and wanted to take up The Life Divine, but as I had never read On Himself,1 I chose it instead. I read the first chapter dealing with his life in Engl and and to me it all seemed. Oh, why speak of all these things in connection with Sri Aurobindo? Why? I know quite well that he himself has repliedor rather rectified inexact things people had said about him but it made such a painful impression on me! Such a painful impression.
Something must definitely be done which is free of that whole useless jumble about who his father was and so forthpah! I dont like that sort of thing.
Yes, its a grab-bag of odds and endsvery important letters are mixed in with all sorts of pointlessness. Take the ICS. examination, for instance they seem to be pleading Sri Aurobindos case! Its ridiculous.2
Yes, I wasnt looking after anything when that was published [in 1953]. It has given me something like a malaise.
--
Take absolutely identical circumstances: the same outer circumstances, the same inner circumstances the psychological condition is the same; circumstances of life, the same; events, the same; people, no appreciable difference. Identical circumstances, a few hoursnot even a dayapart. and in one case, the body that is, the cellular consciousness feels a sort of eurhythmy and general harmony, everything dovetails in such a marvelous way, without rubbing, without frictioneverything functions and organizes itself in a total harmony. Its a peace and a joy (without the vital intensity, of courseits something physical). All, all is so harmonious and truly you feel a sense of the divine organization of everything, of all the cellsall is marvelous and the body feels well. Then in the other case everything is the same, the consciousness is the same and something escapes the perception of harmony is no longer there. For what reason? One doesnt underst and anymore. and then the body begins to function wrongly. Yet everything is absolutely identicalmental conditions, vital conditions, physical conditions, all identical and suddenly it all seems meaningless. One still has the consciousness, the full consciousness of the divine Presence, and one senses somewhere something escaping, and all becomes its like running after something that escapes. Things become meaningless. In absolutely identical conditionseven the movements of the body (functional movements, I mean) may be identical, but they are felt to be disharmonious (these words are much too crude, its more subtle than that), meaningless, disharmonious. and what escapes? You cant make it out.
What is it?
--
Strangely, it happened after reading that first chapter of On Himself; while reading I felt a sort of malaise in my body, so slight that it was almost imperceptible, but still a malaise and it lasted through the night. Why? Nothing had changed in the consciousness.
More and more I have the impression ofwhat? How can it be explained? A question of vibrations in Matter. Its incomprehensible, completely eluding all mental law, all psychological law: a self-existent something.
So many question marks!
--
Its so subtle! It could almost be. Its almost like being on the border between two worlds. Its the same world and itsis it two aspects of this world? I cant even say that. Yet its the SAME world; all is the Lord, He and nothing but He, only its. and so subtle, so subtle: if you go like this (Mother tilts her h and slightly to the right), its perfectly harmonious; if you go like that (Mother tilts her h and slightly to the left), oof! Its its at once absurd, meaningless, and laborious, painful. But its the SAME thing! Its all the same thing.
What is it?
There is such a strong impression of facing something which completely escapes comprehension, reason, intelligence, everything mental or intellectual (even the most elevated); its not that, its. and then truly, if you st and back from it and employ big words, you would say, All this (Mother tilts her h and to one side) is Truth, and all that (she tilts her h and to the other side) is Falsehood but its the SAME thing! In one case, you have the sense of being carriednot only the body but the entire world, all circumstancescarried, floating in a beatific light towards an eternal Realization; and in the other case, its like this (Mother makes a gesture of being burdened), deadening, heavy, sorrowfulexactly the same thing! Almost the same material vibrations.
and its so subtle, so incomprehensible theres a distinct impression of it TOTALLY eluding even the highest conscious will. What is it? What is it?
If we found that, perhaps we would have it all the total Secret.
--
and why did reading that book [On Himself] give me this malaise?
Oh, it was so lovely yesterday! The whole day and all, all, all was the same as nowall the circumstances, the condition of the body, everything. It cant even be said that in one case the body was well and in the other it wasntit isnt true, it was all the same thing, all was the same. But in one case you floatyou float in a beatific light which carries you for all Eternity; and in the other case you seem to be walking through shifting s ands without seeing clearly, without underst andingdeadened, absolutely deadened.
Thats why I had difficulty listening to you just now [during the work], because since last night I have been constantly facing this problem, and all morning long Ive had to you know, do like this (Mother clenches her fist, as though getting a grip on herself) in order to come here and listen. I didnt feel like seeing anyone, doing anything only staying like this (Mother keeps still, her arms at her sides) until that problem is willing to explain itself.
But if you had seen me yesterday. I would probably have said nothing, but it was so lovely! Exactly the same thing, the same people, the same circumstances, the same conditions in the body. Everything, everything was the same.
--
How did it happen? (But not just how as in a story: the MECHANISM). and how will we get out of it?
You see, all the things that have been told, even all the things Sri Aurobindo has said (he has said the most in Savitri), all that is necessarily (what can it be called?) mental, the super-intellectual spiritualized mind. But it is not THAT! Its a form, its an image, its not the concrete fact.
--
and with a sort of prescience I see that only the body can know thats the extraordinary thing!
(silence)
and when the body makes this movement (gesture of stepping back from physical appearances)what to call it? This movement of fusion (is it fusion?), of no longer being a separate body, of being the Divine there is something which. There is a sort of abstraction of something ( and even that is putting it too concretely). and sometimes it succeeds, the body floats in the Light; sometimes its only partial. Sometimes all the inner consciousness is there, full and total but HERE things remain as they are, stupid, stupid, utterly stupid! Blind, in shifting s ands, painful ( and its not a thought, its not even a sensation; I dont know what it is).
and THERE the conscious will can do nothing. Nothing. All it could do it has done, and it continues to do all it can at each minute, and its nothing, it is not THATwhat is it??
That is a true Secret. How splendid it will be when it is found.
and at the same time theres a kind of prescience, like a sensation beforeh and, of an omnipotence the TRUE Omnipotence. and nothing but THAT can satisfy you, nothing elseall the rest is nothing.
(Mother gets up to leave)
--
Sri Aurobindo's letters on his life, his experience and his yoga.
Sri Aurobindo was not admitted to the Indian Civil Service because he refused to appear at the riding test which terminated the examination.
Mother is alluding to two extracts from Questions and Answers (dated June 19 and July 17, 1957) which she has just reviewed for inclusion in the Bulletin. In them she speaks of the causes of illness and of using the conscious will for physical development.
***
0 1961-06-17, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yesterday I saw N. and he told me, Oh! X had an experience during the meditation with you this morning. Ah! I said to myself, This is going to be interesting. (I was wrong to think so, by the way, even for a quarter of a second.) Yes, he told me, he saw what seemed to be a transparent golden veil descending over you; and by your side were flowers like roses, or colored like roses, with the feet of a child upon them.
All the psychics tell you such stories!
It was the same thing yesterday, the same Experience, only less strong and less continuous. But all these petty imageries dont interest me.
So I dont ask him anything.
--
Whenever there was a special force descending, or an opening, or a supramental manifestation, we would know it at the same time, in the same manner. and we didnt even need to talk about it; we would sometimes exchange a word or two concerning the consequences, the practical effects on the work, but thats all. I never had this with anyone except Sri Aurobindo.
There have been times when I did things for people and they sensed exactly what I had done. It has happened. It is rather rare, but still it has happened.
But I see more and more that the realm where my experience is situated is. Well, it only worked with Sri Aurobindo!
***
(At the end of the conversation, Satprem complains to Mother of the tiresome task of eating, and asks her if he couldnt cut it down drastically.)
The time has not yet come when we can stop eating. Never in my life has food interested me; there have been long periods when I ate almost nothing. One day I said to myself, Why lose so much time eating? and the reply was, Dont stop yet, wait; thats not your look-out.
After that I decided I would encourage everyone to eat!
0 1961-06-20, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Weve been having these meditations for four days now and this is the fourth day of total silencemotionless, soundless (I dont know if there is sound outside or not; I dont know anything). A complete immobility right to the end.
When all is immobile like that and nothing seems to happen, is something happening?
Something happening? I dont know. But that state IN ITSELF is something. When the body is conscious of that it means precisely that it has come out of its narrownessit is the same Infinite as the one you get when out of the body.
What I do now when X comes is take it all (gesture from below to above) and do like this (gesture of offering up), in an aspiration and then I let it go. Then all the Immobility, the Silence, the Light, the Peace comes down from above into everything and doesnt move. But that in itself is very difficult for the body to have, very difficult: something is always vibrating and moving.
Its as if it put everything back in order, but nothing is moved.
Yesterday, when I was in that immobility, suddenly I felt something obliging me to turn my head. I didnt turn my head, but the consciousness turned (gesture to the left), and then I saw myself st anding there in the corridor (that kind of corridor separating the hall and Sri Aurobindos room) in my usual outdoor dress [Indian shirt and light trousers]. I was st anding up very straight and holding a globe of light above my head and such a light! It was shining brighter than those strong electric bulbsdazzling. My own clothing seemed to be made of golden-pink light. I was st anding very straight and carrying this globe (gesture above the head). When I saw that I said to myself, Now why on earth is he making me see this? and that was all. Nothing else happened except that. But near me there was a figure I didnt know, and it reminded me of Xs great guru,1 whom I had already seen once. There he was by my side, a tall figure, and he seemed to be the one who had tugged at me to make me see that vision.
It was a large globe. Although no distinct rays could be seen, it appeared to be projecting innumerable rays like flashes of lightning. It was sparkling all over.
--
It was the dress I wear when I go out. Why? It must have had a meaning, although I must say I didnt exert myself to underst and! I simply saw, smiled (it made me smile), and that was all. It was just before the meditation ended.
At any rate, its the fourth day of this same silence (Mother clenches her fists, as if to show a compact mass). Not only silenceimmobility (same compact gesture), WITHOUT TENSION, without tension, effortless, without anything; like a kind of eternityin the body.
--
(Satprem remarks on the gap between the inner realization of certain yogis like X and their outer behavior, which doesnt always seem up to the mark.)
I truly have the impression of a kind of abyss between the X I can sense, who attracts me, and the outer man.
I dont know the outer X, I have been very careful not to enter into contact with him! But from the first day I sensed a gap.
--
No, its the old traditionyou step back from Nature and Nature does whatever she wants. It doesnt concern you, you have no responsibility, you are not that. Its the old idea.
Sri Aurobindo was completely against it. Somewhere he makes fun of a man who said he was the Supreme and that whatever he did, it wasnt he himself doing it and then he was angry when his meal was late! But of course it wasnt him: the stomach-nature was angry!2
Its one of the most ironic things Sri Aurobindo has written.
Ive known that and have always taken great care to avoid it, for it opens the door to all deformations. Lele3 was like thatLele did the same thing: he behaved like a lout; he said it wasnt himself, it was Naturehe had nothing to do with it. This is all very well, but still theres a sort of affinity between your physical comportment and what you are inside, isnt there?!
Sri Aurobindo didnt accept this tradition at all.
For instance, X is completely caught up in all his family affairs; he said to Amrita, In August the girls will go back home to their husb ands, the boy will be at college, and Ill be able to live tranquilly. But there will be something else! There is always something else, naturally!
Anyway, it doesnt matter I assure you that for the half-hour he is here with me he is splendid.
Oh, he is splendid! There is such a sweet warmth in him, so good, and a mastery (mastery of inner movements, of the vital movement) and the ability to bring into the physical this peace, this absolute immobility. Its splendid! I have been doing this for something like forty years and you cant imagine how difficult it is, how much effort it takes to achieve it! With him it comes all by itself. Thats the tantric mastery.
and to a certain extent it has a healing power (to a certain extent). But its not that supramental thing Sri Aurobindo had: he would pass his h and like this (gesture), and the disorder would be gone completely!
I have never seen anyone but Sri Aurobindo do that.
--
The tantric guru Sri Aurobindo met in 1907 and from whom he received mental silence.
***
0 1961-06-24, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have received your note1 and it didnt surprise me, because just about a month ago I received what seemed like an SOS from your mother, telling me your father was rapidly declining. I have done what I could, mainly to bring in some tranquillity, some calm, some inner peace. But I havent done. You see, there are always two possibilities when people are so seriously ill: they can be helped to die quickly, or else made to linger on for a very long time. When I have no outer or inner indications, all I ever do is apply the consciousness for the best to happen to them (the best from the souls st andpoint, of course).
Do you know whether your father has expressed any wish?
--
(Mother remains silent for a moment, then says:) Over the years I have had a considerable number of experiences in this realm, and my first action is always the same: send the Peace (I do this in all cases, for everyone) and apply the Force, the Power of the Lord, for the best thing to happen. Some people are very sick, sick to the point where there is no hope, where they cannot be cured, where the end is coming; but they sense that their souls must still need to have certain experiences, so they hang on-they dont want to die. In such cases I apply the Force for them to last as long as possible. In other cases, on the contrary, they are weary of suffering, or indeed the soul has finished its experience and desires to be liberated. In such a case, if I am sure of it, sure that they themselves are expressing the desire to depart, its over in a few hours I say this with certainty because Ive had a considerable number of experiences. There is a certain force which goes out and does what is necessary. I havent done either of these things for your fathernei ther to prolong his life (because when people are suffering its not very kind to prolong their lives indefinitely), nor to finish it, because I didnt knowone cant do either without knowing the persons conscious wish.
As for your mother, she must have been thinking of me, for otherwise she wouldnt have come in that wayshe would have come through you (its different when things come through you). But she came to me directly, so I thought that for some reason she must have remembered me. I dont know. and I looked and said to myself (it came just like that), Now that she will be left all alone, why doesnt she come here? I havent done anything about that, either, one way or the other.
Thats odd the same thought has been coming to me these last three or four days: why doesnt she come here?
--
It happened some time ago. I even spoke to Sujata about it and said that someone over there was calling you. Did she tell you?
No.
--
There was an experience like that quite recently. A.s mother was illold and seriously ill. Seeing her declining, A. wrote to me: If the time has come, make it happen quicklydont let her suffer. Then I saw very clearly that there was still something in her which didnt want to go; and when I applied the Force for the best to happen she suddenly began to recover! It must have coincided with a kind of inner aspiration in herno more fever, she was feeling well. and A. began preparing to come back here. If shes recovering, he said, theres no longer any point in my staying! The same evening she had a relapse and he sent me a telegram. Meanwhile (it was evening) I had gone upstairs to walk; suddenly The Will came (which is a very, very rare thing), The Will: Enough, now it must finishits enough as it is. Within half an hour she was dead.
These things are very interesting. They must form part of the work I have come on earth to do. Because even before encountering Theon, before knowing anything, I had experiences at night, certain types of activities looking after people who were leaving their bodies and with a knowledge of the process; I didnt know what I was doing nor did I seek to know, yet I knew exactly what had to be done and I did it. I was around twenty.
As soon as I came upon Theons teaching (even before meeting him personally), and read and understood all kinds of things which I hadnt known before, I began to work quite systematically. Every night, at the same hour, I was working to constructbetween the purely terrestrial atmosphere and the psychic atmospherea path of protection across the vital, so that people wouldnt have to pass through it (for those who are conscious but without knowledge its a very difficult passageinfernal.) I was preparing this path, doing this work (it must have been around 1903 or 1904, I dont remember exactly) for months and months and months. All sorts of extraordinary things happened during that timeextraordinary. I could tell long stories.
Then, when I went to Tlemcen, I told Madame Theon about it. Yes, she told me, it is part of the work you have come on earth to do. Everyone with even a slightly awakened psychic being who can see your Light will go to your Light at the moment of dying, no matter where they die, and you will help them to pass through. and this work is constant. Constant. It has given me a considerable number of experiences concerning what happens to people when they leave their bodies. Ive had all sorts of experiences, all kinds of examplesits really very interesting.
Lately it has increased, become more precise.
There is a boy here, V., who is especially interested in what happens at the moment of death (this seems to be one reason why he has reincarnated). Hes a conscious boy, a remarkable clairvoyant, and he has a power. and we have had (how to put it?) some quite interesting correlations of experiences concerning people who pass away here. Extremely interesting and extraordinarily precise: he sends word to me, I reply, and at night when the disincarnated person comes he says, Mother has done this and says to do that, and the person does it. and we dont need to speaksuch precision!
This happens in sleep?
--
I will give you a concrete example, then youll underst and. When I.B. was killed, I had to gather up all his states of being and activities, which had been dispersed by the violence of the accident2it was terrible, he was in a dreadful state of dispersion. For two or two and a half days the doctors fought in the hope of reviving him, but it was impossible. During those two days I gathered up all his consciousness, all of it; I collected it over his body, to the point where, when it had come and formed itself there, such vitality, such life was coming back into his body that after some hours the doctors believed he would be saved. But it couldnt last (it wasnt possiblea part of the brain had come out). Well, when not only his soul but his mental being, his vital being, and all the rest had been properly collected and organized over his body and had realized that the body had become quite unusable, it was overthey gave up the body and it was over.
I was keeping I.B. near me because I already had the idea of putting him immediately back into another bodyhis soul was not satisfied, it had not finished its experience (there was a whole combination of circumstances) and it wanted to continue to live on earth. Then, that night, his inner being went to find V., lamenting, saying he was dead and hadnt wanted to die, that he had lost his body and wanted to continue to live. V. was very perplexed. He let me know about it in the morning: Heres what has happened. I sent word to him of what I was doing, that I was keeping I.B. in my atmosphere and that he should stay very calm and not get excited, for I was going to put him back into a body as soon as possible I already had something in view. The same evening I.B. again went to find V., with the same complaint. V. told him very clearly, Here is what Mother says, here is what she is going to do; come now, be calm and dont torment yourself. and he saw in I.B.s face that he had understood (the inner being was taking on I.B.s physical appearance, naturally); his face relaxed, he became content.
He went away and he never came back. That is, he stayed tranquilly with me, until I was able to put him into C.s child.
This correlation in the work is very interesting because it has quite practical effectsV. was able to communicate exactly what I had to say to I.B., and I.B. understood better through him than through me directly (because I do the work, but dont have time to deal with all the details, to tell each individual what to do).
I was telling you the other day how vexing it is that we are all on different planes all the time,3 but on that particular plane it works very well with this boyon this one point, this tiny, precise point concerning the moment of leaving the body. We can do interesting work this way.
--
There have been very, very few cases, a quite minimal number, when people have called (not very sincerely) and their call hasnt had much effect. But even these people have a protection. There was a woman here, an old woman who was not very sincere (she didnt live hereshe only came to visit) and the last time she visited she fell ill and died. Then I saw that she was completely dispersed into all her desires, all her memories, all her attachments and it had all been scattered here and there, into all sorts of things (one part of her was seeking, seeking where to go and what to do); anyway, it was rather pitiful. Afterwards I was asked, How did it happen? She was calling all the time. I replied that I had not heard her callit must not have been very sincere, only a formula.4
But its very rare that people get no response.
Not long ago M.s sister died (psychologically, she was in a terrible stateshe had no faith). Well, on that day,5 just when I came to know that she was passing away, I remember being upstairs in the bathroom communicating with Sri Aurobindo, having a sort of conversation with him (it happens very often), and I asked him, What happens to such people when they die here at the Ashram? Look, he replied, and I saw her passing away; and on her forehead, I saw Sri Aurobindos symbol in a SOLID golden light (not very luminous, but very concrete). There it was. and with the presence of this sign the psychological state no longer matterednothing touched her. and she departed tranquilly, tranquilly. Then Sri Aurobindo told me, All who have lived at the Ashram and who die there have automatically the same protection, whatever their inner state.
I cant say I was surprised, but I admired the mighty power by which the simple fact of having been here and died here was sufficient to help you to the utmost in that transition.
But there are all sorts of cases. Take N.D., for example, a man who lived his whole life with the idea of serving Sri Aurobindohe died clasping my photo to his breast. This was a consecrated man, very conscious, with an unfailing dedication, and all the parts of his being well organized around the psychic.6 The day he was going to leave his body little M. was meditating next to the Samadhi when suddenly she had a vision: she saw all the flowers of the tree next to the Samadhi (those yellow flowers I have called Service) gathering themselves together to form a big bouquet, and rising, rising straight up. and in her vision these flowers were linked with the image of N.D. She ran quickly to their house andhe was dead.
I only knew about this vision later, but on my side, when he left, I saw his whole being gathered together, well united, thoroughly homogenous, in a great aspiration, and rising, rising without dispersing, without deviating, straight up to the frontier of what Sri Aurobindo has called the higher hemisphere, there where Sri Aurobindo in his supramental action presides over earth. and he melted into that light.
Some time before his heart attack he said to his children: the gown is old, it must be thrown away.
--
But people are so ignorant! They make such a fuss over death, as if it were the endthis word death is so absurd! I see it as simply passing from one house into another or from one room to another; you take one simple step, you cross the threshold, and there you are on the other side and then you come back.
Have I told you about the experience I had the day I suddenly found myself in Sri Aurobindos home in the subtle physical?7Well, its as if I took a step and entered a far more concrete world than the physicalmore concrete because things contain more truth. I spent a good while there with Sri Aurobindo and then, when it was over, I took another step and I found myself back here slightly dumbfounded. It took me quite some time to regain my bearings here, because it was this world that seemed unreal to me, not the other.
But its simply thatyou take a step, and you enter another room. and when you live in your soul there is a continuity, because the soul remembers, it keeps the whole memory; it remembers all occurrences, even outer occurrences, all the outer movements it has been associated with. So its a continuous, uninterrupted movement, here and there, from one room to another, from one house to another, from one life to another.
People are so ignorant! Thats what irritates those who have passed to the other sidepeople dont underst and, they shoo them away: What does he want? Why does he bother me? Hes DEAD!
--
I have to goa high-priest is waiting for me! Yes, the man in charge of all the temples of Gujarat, thoroughly orthodoxhe has come to the Ashram for some mysterious reason and he wants to see me. Is it really necessary? I asked. He wanted an interview, he wants to speak to me (naturally hell be speaking god knows whatGujarati!). I had him told, I cant hear, Im deaf! Its very convenient Im deaf, I cant hear. If he wants to receive a flower from me (I didnt say make a pranam,8 because that would be sc andalous!), he can come and Ill give him a flower. I told him eleven oclockits that time now.
This is all Xs work. The most unexpected people, people youd think would rather be cursed than come to a place like this, are coming from everywhere, from the most diverse milieus the most materialistic materialists, fanatical communists, as well as all sorts of sannyasis, bhikkus, swamis, priestsoh! People who previously were not at all they werent so much disinterested as actually displeased with the Ashram.
We have a disciple here who returns to his birthplace from time to time, and after the first year X began to do his puja to get people interested in the Ashram, he said it was extraordinary. He had previously been looked at askance and had to argue with people, but now everyone came to call on him as soon as he arrived! He wrote that he was completely astonished (he wasnt aware of Xs work); hundreds of people came to ask him to hold huge meetings; sadhus, monks and priests came to him for information on the Ashram. Things have developed so rapidly and completely that they now have some l and where they have built a center and hold meetings.
and its like that almost everywhere.
When P. returns from Switzerl and, she will have some very interesting stories to tell. She has written me of experiences she had with Swiss children, genuinely interesting experiences. It is going on everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, and in a much more precise and exact way than one would ever believe. Even in America.
Do you know the story of the two simultaneous operations of E. and of T.? T. is that vice-admiral who came here and became quite enthusiastiche had a kind of inner revelation here. The two of them were operated on for a similar complaint, a dangerous ulcer in the digestive system. He was in one town and she was in another, and they were operated on a day apartboth serious operations. and in each case, after a few days had gone by, the surgeon who did the operation said, I congratulate you. Practically the same phrase in both cases. and they both protested: Why are you congratulating me? (Each one wrote me about this separately; they were living far from one another and only met afterwards.) Why? You did the operationyou should be congratulated for my quick recovery. and in both cases the doctor replied, No, no; we only operate, the body does the healing; you have healed yourself in a way which can qualify as miraculous, and I genuinely congratulate you. and then the two of them had the same reaction they wrote to me saying, We know where the miracle comes from. and they had both called me. Moreover, E. had written me a remarkable letter a few days before her operation, where she quoted the Gita as if it were quite natural for her, and told me, I know that the operation is ALREADY done, that the Lord has already done it, and so I am calm.
Things like that, everywhere and PRECISE! Something quite precise. Of course, to say that I work consciously is almost silly, its commonplace. But in many cases one may work consciously for long years without getting that precision in the result the action enters a hazy atmosphere and makes a kind of stir, and out of it comes the best that can, but no more than that. But now its exact, preciseits becoming interesting.
and now I know why this sort of impersonalization of the material individuality is so important. It is very important for the exactness of this action, so that it is onlyONLY the purest divine Will (if it can be put that way), expressing itself with a minimum of admixture. Any individualization or personalization results in admixture. But the divine Will acts like this (direct gesture).
Oh, it was magnificent at the balcony this morning!
and then one underst ands all, allall the details. Some things can be understood intellectually or psychologically (which is very good, it has an effect and it helps you), but that always seems so hazy; it works through an imprecision. But now the vibrations mechanism is understoodits MECHANICS; and thus it becomes precise. All these attitudes the yoga recommendsbeginning with action done as offering, then complete detachment from the result (leaving the result to the Lord), then perfect equanimity in all circumstances, all these stages which one underst ands intellectually, feels sentimentally, and has fully experiencedwell, all this takes on its TRUE MEANING only when it becomes what could be called a mechanical action of vibrationat that point one underst ands why it must be like it is.
and these last few days, especially yesterday and this morning, oh! Extraordinary discoveries! We are on the right track.
Thats all, mon petitnow Im off to see the priest. What a face hes going to make!
--
At least fifty people wait for the last days of the month to see me and they imagine. One thing I have not yet comprehended: what to do to make physical time lose its physical reality? It may come. As you see, I still have to watch the clock, and when I am late, well, time gets short! Maybe Ill get the power of (what is it called?) ubiquity. I believe thats the solution! To be here, and then therejust like that! It would be very amusing.
Satprem no longer has the text of this letter.
--
Among Mother's papers we have found the following, which indicates that a state of dispersion after death is rather frequent (it concerns a disciple's mother who did not herself live at the Ashram): 'She has left her body without being at all prepared for the change of condition and has found herself disoriented and rather dispersed. She will need some time to recover from this dispersion before anything useful can be done for her.'
May 17, 1959.
In Sri Aurobindo's and Mother's terminology, 'psychic' or 'psychic being' means the soul or the portion of the Supreme in man which evolves from life to life until it becomes a fully self-conscious being. The soul is a capacity or grace particular to human beings on earth.
Experience of July 24, 1959.
0 1961-06-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Aphorism 62I heard a fool discoursing utter folly and wondered what God meant by it; then I considered and saw a distorted mask of truth and wisdom.
Is there really no such thing as utter stupidity or absolute falsehood? Is there always a truth behind?
--
Its like asking if certain elements will disappear from the universe. What can it mean, the destruction of a universe? Once we are out of our stupidity, what can we call destruction? Only the form is destroyed, the appearance (that, yesall appearances are destroyed, one after the other). It is also said (its written everywhere) that the adverse forces will either be converted that is, become aware of their own divinity and become divineor be destroyed. But what does destroyed mean? Their form? Their form of consciousness can be dissolved, but what about the something which brings it and everything elseinto existence? How can that something be destroyed? This, mon petit, is difficult to comprehend. The universe is a conscious objectification of That which exists from all eternity. Well, how can the All cease to be? The infinite and eternal All, without limits of any kindhow can anything be thrown out of it? There is nowhere to go! (You can rack your brains over it, you know!) Go where? There is only THAT.
and even when we say there is only that we are situating it somewherewhich is perfectly idiotic. It is everywhereso how can anything be thrown out of it?
Of course, one can conceive of a universe being thrown out of the present manifestation that, yes; one can conceive of successive universes, with what was in the first universes no longer being in the othersits even obvious. One can imagine how a whole sum of falsity and untruth (what for us, NOW, is falsity and untruth) may come to no longer belong to the world in its future unfolding; one can comprehend all that. But destroy? Where can it go to be destroyed? When we say something is destroyed, its only a form which is destroyed (it may be a form of consciousness, it may not be a material form, but its always a form). But how can the formless be destroyed?
Therefore, to speak of an absolute falsehood disappearing would simply mean that a whole set of things will live eternally in the past but not belong to the coming manifestations, thats all.
--
We are told that when you ascend both beyond Nirvana or Nothingness and beyond Existence (the two SIMULTANEOUS and complementary aspects of the Supreme), there is a state of consciousness where all simultaneously and eternally exists. Thusalthough God knows, it may be yet another stupiditywe can conceive of a whole set of things passing into Non-Being, and for our consciousness this would be disappearance or destruction.
Is it possible? I dont know. We would have to ask the Lord! But He generally doesnt answer such questionsHe just smiles!
You know, there comes a time when, really, you can no longer say anything; you feel that whatever you say is, if not absolute rubbish, then the next thing to it, and that in practice its best to keep silent. Thats the difficulty. and in some of these aphorisms you get the feeling that he has suddenly captured something beyondbeyond anything which can be thought. So what to do?
(silence)
--
At any rate, this simultaneity of past, present and future cant be a physical simultaneity, can it?
Ah, no! Not here.
--
I have had an oft repeated experience of reliving the past1 (its a phenomenon of consciousness, possible because everything is preserved and continues to exist somewhere), with a kind of willwhich would be the sign of a powerto change it. I dont know, but at the moment of reliving it, instead of reliving the past just as it had been preserved, a power to make it different was introduced. I am not speaking of the power to change the consequences of the past (that is obvious and functions all the time)it wasnt that; it was the power to change the circumstances themselves (circumstances not quite material but of the subtle physical, with a predominantly psychological content). and since the will was there, from the st andpoint of consciousness it actually happened that is, instead of circumstances developing in one direction, they developed in another. So it must correspond to something real, otherwise I would not have had the experience. It wasnt a product of the imagination; it wasnt something one thinks of and would really like to be differentit wasnt that; it was a phenomenon of consciousness: my consciousness was reliving certain circumstances (which are still quite living and obviously continue to exist within their own domain), but reliving them with the power and the knowledge acquired between that past moment and the present, and with a power to change the past moment. A new power entered the scene and turned the circumstance being relived in a new direction. I have had this experience many times and it has always surprised meits not a phenomenon of mental imagination, which is something else entirely.
It opens the door to everything.
--
No, no, no! The past IN ITSELF. In itself. Not through its consequences, thats something elsein itself. and within the TERRESTRIAL atmosphere (not on the most material plane, but very near; very, very near).
I have what could be called a tactile sensation that the contents of the subtle atmosphere are increasing. This atmosphere is not part of material space as we conceive of or see it physically, where one thing has to give place to another (Mother changes the position of an eraser on the table) and even that (laughing) I believe is an illusion! It only SEEMS like that to us! Its not on the wholly material plane, but just behind or within (how to put it?), and its contents are increasing. and as its happening within inner dimensions, it can augment, so to speak, indefinitely; things become more and more interwoven, if you see what I meanwhere there was one phenomenon of consciousness there may now be hundreds, interwoven with each other in the inner dimensions; which means, for example, considering only our tiny planet, that the earth is becoming more and more compact and rich with all that has been since the beginning of its formationbecause its all there, it is all still there.
Actually, as soon as one is not totally, totally tied down by the physical sense organs. For example, I am more and more frequently experiencing changes in the quality of vision. Quite recently, yesterday or the day before, I was sitting in the bathroom drying my face before going out and I raised my eyes (I was sitting before a mirror, although I dont usually look at myself); I raised my eyes and looked, and I saw many things (Mother laughs, greatly amused). At that moment, I had an experience which made me say to myself, Ah! Thats why, from the physical, purely material st andpoint, my vision seems to be a bit blurred. Because what I was seeing was MUCH clearer and infinitely more expressive than normal physical sight. and I recalled that it is with these clearer eyes that I see and recognize all my people at balcony darshan. (From the balcony I recognize all my people.) and its that vision (but with open eyes!) which. It is of another order.
I am going to study what Sri Aurobindo says when I come to it in The Yoga of Self-Perfection. He says there comes a time when the senses changeits not that you employ the senses proper to another plane (we have always known we had senses on all the different planes); its quite different from that: the senses THEMSELVES change. He foretells this changehe says it will occur. and I believe it begins in the way I am experiencing it now.
The CONTENT is different, mon petit. I see I see, but. The state of consciousness of the person Im looking at, for instance, changes his physical appearance for my PHYSICAL eyes. and this has nothing to do with the banalities of ordinary psychology, where your physiognomy is said to be changed by the feelings you experience. The CONTENT of what I see is different. and then the eyes of the person I am looking at are not the sameit is rather. I couldnt sketch it, but perhaps if I made a painting it would give some idea (I would need to use a somewhat blurred technique, not too precise). The eyes are not quite the same, and the rest of the face too, even the color and the shape thats what sometimes makes me hesitate. I see people (I see my people every morning) and I recognize them, and yet they are different, they are not the same every day (some are always, always the same, like a rock, but others are not). and I even I hesitate sometimes: Is it really he? But he is very. It is indeed he, but I dont quite know him. This generally coincides with changes in the persons consciousness.
In conclusion: we know nothing.
--- Grep of noun and
aaron copland
absorption band
academy of motion picture arts and sciences
academy of television arts and sciences
accord and satisfaction
adam's needle-and-thread
adam-and-eve
adelie land
admiralty island
adrenal gland
advanced research and development activity
advice and consent
aegean island
afars and issas
air combat command
air force intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance
air force space command
alpha and omega
american federation of labor and congress of industrial organizations
ampersand
analysand
and circuit
and gate
andalucia
andalusia
andaman marble
andaman redwood
andaman sea
andante
andean condor
andelmin
anders celsius
andersen
anderson
andes
andesite
andhra pradesh
andira
andira inermis
andiron
andorra
andorran
andradite
andre derain
andre eglevsky
andre gide
andre le notre
andre maginot
andre malraux
andre markoff
andre maurois
andre paul guillaume gide
andre weil
andrea guarneri
andrea mantegna
andrea palladio
andreaea
andreaeales
andreas vesalius
andrei andreyevich gromyko
andrei arsenevich tarkovsky
andrei dimitrievich sakharov
andrei gromyko
andrei markov
andrei sakharov
andrei tarkovsky
andrei voznesenski
andrena
andrenid
andrenidae
andres martinez
andres segovia
andrew
andrew's clintonia
andrew carnegie
andrew d. white
andrew dickson white
andrew fielding huxley
andrew huxley
andrew jackson
andrew jackson downing
andrew johnson
andrew lloyd webber
andrew marvell
andrew mellon
andrew w. mellon
andrew william mellon
andrew wyeth
andrews
andricus
andrija mohorovicic
androecium
androgen
androgenesis
androgenic hormone
androgeny
androglossia
androgyne
androgyny
android
andromeda
andromeda galaxy
andromeda glaucophylla
andromeda polifolia
androphobia
andropogon
andropogon furcatus
andropogon gerardii
andropogon scoparius
andropogon virginicus
androsterone
andryala
andrzej wajda
andvari
andy warhol
anglesea island
anglesey island
anterior pituitary gland
antigua and barbuda
any-and-all bid
apocrine gland
arm band
armband
arts and crafts
assault and battery
association of islamic groups and communities
auckland
ayn rand
baby grand
backband
backhand
bacon and eggs
baffin island
bahrain island
bahrein island
bait and switch
ball-and-socket joint
ball and chain
band
bandstand
bank of england
barbra joan streisand
barbra streisand
barrier island
bartholin's gland
basque fatherland and liberty
basque homeland and freedom
basutoland
battle of jutland
battle of wake island
battledore and shuttlecock
be-all and end-all
be all and end all
bead and quirk
bed-and-breakfast
bed and breakfast
bedloe's island
bel and the dragon
bells of ireland
bellyband
best and greatest
bib-and-tucker
big band
big hand
black-and-tan coonhound
black-and-tan terrier
black and gold garden spider
black and tan
black and white
black hand
block and tackle
borderland
bosnia and herzegovina
bottomland
bouvet island
bow and arrow
boys-and-girls
brace and bit
brake band
brand
brass band
bread-and-butter issue
bread and butter
bread and butter pickle
breaking and entering
bricks and mortar
bridge hand
brigand
bubble and squeak
buck-and-wing
bulbourethral gland
bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms
bureau of engraving and printing
bureau of intelligence and research
butcher cumberland
butter-and-eggs
buy-and-bust operation
by-and-by
c and w
cabstand
cape breton island
capital of antigua and barbuda
capital of finland
capital of iceland
capital of ireland
capital of maryland
capital of new zealand
capital of northern ireland
capital of poland
capital of rhode island
capital of serbia and montenegro
capital of swaziland
capital of switzerland
capital of thailand
capital of trinidad and tobago
caribbean island
cash in hand
cat and mouse
cat and rat
catalina island
cease and desist order
center for disease control and prevention
central vein of suprarenal gland
channel island
charles maurice de talleyrand
chateaubriand
chicken and rice
chills and fever
church of england
church of ireland
cigar band
clean and jerk
clear and present danger
cleveland
cloud-cuckoo-land
coach-and-four
coastland
coat stand
coats land
cock-and-bull story
cockcroft and walton accelerator
cockcroft and walton voltage multiplier
codlins-and-cream
command
common eland
common land
concert band
concert grand
coney island
contraband
cooper union for the advancement of science and art
copland
cortland
countermand
country and western
court of assize and nisi prius
covered stand
cowhand
cowper's gland
criminal investigation command
crown land
cruel and unusual punishment
cruet-stand
cultivated land
cumberland
cup and saucer
custer's last stand
cut-and-thrust
d and c
dame joan sutherland
damon and pythias
dance band
dead hand
deaf-and-dumb person
deckhand
defense reutilization and marketing service
demand
democratic and popular republic of algeria
democratic republic of sao tome and principe
department of commerce and labor
department of health and human services
department of health education and welfare
department of housing and urban development
deutschland
digestive gland
dilatation and curettage
dilation and curettage
din land
disneyland
dixieland
dockhand
dowland
down-and-out
dreamland
drunk-and-disorderly
dry land
ducks and drakes
duct gland
ductless gland
duke of cumberland
e. a. von willebrand
ear-nose-and-throat doctor
earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization
east midland
eccrine gland
economic and social council
economic and social council commission
economic commission for asia and the far east
edmond rostand
edwin herbert land
egg-and-anchor
egg-and-dart
egg-and-tongue
eland
elastic band
elder hand
eldest hand
ellis island
enderby land
endocrine gland
england
episcopal church of scotland
erik adolf von willebrand
erik von willebrand
errand
evangelical and reformed church
ex-husband
exocrine gland
fairyland
farmhand
farmland
fatherland
federation of saint kitts and nevis
fenland
ferdinand
ferdinand and isabella
field hand
fieldhand
finland
fire and brimstone
firebrand
fish and chips
fits and starts
food and agriculture organization
food and agriculture organization of the united nations
food and drug administration
fool's errand
foot-and-mouth disease
fore-and-aft rig
fore-and-aft sail
fore-and-aft topsail
fore-and-after
forehand
foreland
four-in-hand
francis ferdinand
francois maurice marie mitterrand
francois mitterrand
francois rene chateaubriand
franz ferdinand
frederic william maitland
free hand
freedom from cruel and unusual punishment
freedom from search and seizure
french and indian war
frequency band
friesland
full faith and credit
galveston island
gand
gangland
garand
garland
general agreement on tariffs and trade
george sand
get-up-and-go
giant eland
gilbert and ellice islands
gilbert and sullivan
gin and it
gin and tonic
give-and-go
give-and-take
glad hand
gland
gog and magog
gondwanaland
gourmand
grand
grand island
grandstand
grassland
grazing land
green gland
greenland
greensand
gronland
grover cleveland
guadalupe island
gulf of finland
gulf of thailand
half-and-half
half-and-half dressing
hallstand
ham and eggs
hammer and sickle
hand
handstand
hare and hounds
hatband
hatteras island
hawaii island
headband
headland
headstand
health and human services
heart and soul
heartland
heathland
helping hand
here and now
hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy
hide-and-seek
hide and go seek
high command
highland
highlands of scotland
hildebrand
hinterland
hired hand
hoagland
hoek van holland
holland
holy land
home stand
homeland
honey gland
hoof-and-mouth disease
hook and eye
hook of holland
hop-step-and-jump
hour hand
house husband
househusband
housing and urban development
hub-and-spoke
hub-and-spoke system
hudson hoagland
hue and cry
hundred thousand
hunting and gathering society
hunting and gathering tribe
husband
iceland
immigration and naturalization service
inkstand
inspection and repair
international bank for reconstruction and development
international islamic front for jihad against jews and crusaders
international relations and security network
ireland
island
jammu and kashmir
jazz band
jekyll and hyde
joan sutherland
johann ludwig uhland
john dowland
john lackland
john marquand
john philip marquand
judy garland
jug band
jumping up and down
jutland
jylland
kahoolawe island
kauai island
kickstand
king ferdinand
king of england
kingdom of swaziland
kingdom of thailand
kit and boodle
kit and caboodle
kitchen island
kodiak island
lachrymal gland
lacrimal gland
lakeland
lanai island
land
lapland
lappland
lath and plaster
laurel and hardy
law of action and reaction
law of the land
left hand
letter of mark and reprisal
lewis and clark expedition
lexington and concord
leyte island
liberty island
ligand
little hand
live-and-die
lone hand
long island
longhand
lords-and-ladies
lost-and-found
lotus land
lotusland
lowland
lowlands of scotland
lymph gland
macaroni and cheese
mainland
maitland
male reproductive gland
mammary gland
man and wife
mandibular gland
manhattan island
marching band
marchland
marineland
marquand
marshland
maryland
mason and dixon's line
mason and dixon line
maui island
maximum and minimum thermometer
meat and potatoes
medical literature analysis and retrieval system
meibomian gland
midland
military band
mill-hand
minute hand
mitterrand
molokai island
moorland
mortise-and-tenon joint
motherland
mourning band
mover and shaker
multiplicand
muscat and oman
music stand
nabothian gland
name and address
national aeronautics and space administration
national archives and records administration
national institute of standards and technology
national oceanic and atmospheric administration
native land
nauru island
neckband
nederland
never-never land
new england
new ireland
new netherland
new zealand
newfoundland
newfoundland and labrador
newsstand
nihau island
nip and tuck
no man's land
noah and the flood
nook and cranny
nooks and crannies
norfolk island
north island
northern ireland
northland
northumberland
noseband
note of hand
noughts and crosses
nut and bolt
nuts and bolts
nyasaland
oahu island
oakland
occupational safety and health act
occupational safety and health administration
odds and ends
office of management and budget
oil gland
old hand
one-and-one
one-night stand
one thousand
one thousand thousand
operand
ordinand
out-and-outer
parathyroid gland
parcel of land
parkland
parlor grand
parlour grand
parotid gland
pastureland
patent and trademark office database
pen-and-ink
people against gangsterism and drugs
pepper-and-salt
peter's gland
piece of land
pineal gland
pinion and crown wheel
pinion and ring gear
pink-and-white everlasting
pins and needles
pituitary gland
pleasant island
plot of land
ploughland
plowland
point-and-shoot camera
poker hand
poland
popular front for the liberation of palestine-general command
pork-and-veal goulash
pork and beans
portland
post and lintel
posterior pituitary gland
powder and shot
prayer of azariah and song of the three children
preen gland
president cleveland
prince edward island
profit-and-loss statement
profit and loss
profit and loss account
promised land
prostate gland
pump-and-dump scheme
queen maud land
queen of england
queensland
quicksand
r and b
rack and pinion
racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations act
radio detection and ranging
ragtag and bobtail
ranch hand
rand
rangeland
rank and file
remand
reprimand
republic of bosnia and herzegovina
republic of finland
republic of iceland
republic of ireland
republic of poland
republic of trinidad and tobago
reviewing stand
rheinland
rhineland
rhode island
rhythm and blues
rhythm and blues musician
riband
ribband
right hand
right to speedy and public trial by jury
rock-and-roll
rock and roll
rock band
rock island
rostand
rough-and-tumble
round hand
rubber band
running hand
rutland
sackcloth and ashes
safety island
saint kitts and nevis
saint vincent and the grenadines
saints peter and paul
salafast group for call and combat
salivary gland
samarcand
samarkand
sand
sao tiago island
sao tome and principe
saraband
savings and loan
savings and loan association
scot and lot
scotch and soda
scotland
screenland
scrubland
search and destroy mission
search and rescue mission
sebaceous gland
second-in-command
second hand
secretary of commerce and labor
secretary of health and human services
secretary of health education and welfare
secretary of housing and urban development
section hand
securities and exchange commission
seeland
self-command
sense of right and wrong
serbia and montenegro
sex gland
shetland
shorthand
silk gland
singapore island
sjaelland
skin and bones
skull and crossbones
sleight of hand
snakes and ladders
so-and-so
song and dance
south island
southland
spaghetti and meatballs
special weapons and tactics squad
special weapons and tactics team
spit and polish
square and rabbet
st. kitts and nevis
st. thomas and principe
st. vincent and the grenadines
stagehand
stand
standard and poor's
standard and poor's index
stars and bars
stars and stripes
staten island
steak and kidney pie
steel band
stephen grover cleveland
sticks and stone
straight and narrow
strait and narrow
strand
streisand
strickland
stuff and nonsense
sublingual gland
sublingual salivary gland
submandibular gland
submandibular salivary gland
submaxillary gland
submaxillary salivary gland
sudoriferous gland
sunderland
suprarenal gland
sutherland
swampland
swaziland
sweat gland
sweatband
sweep hand
sweetness and light
switzerland
system command
system of weights and measures
tableland
talleyrand
tarsal gland
taxistand
tear gland
ten thousand
thailand
thousand
thousand and one nights
thymus gland
thyroid gland
tideland
tilled land
timberland
time-and-motion study
time and a half
time and motion study
tom and jerry
tongue and groove joint
tonguing and grooving plane
tool-and-die work
track and field
traffic island
trainband
trap-and-drain auger
travel and entertainment account
trial and error
trinidad and tobago
trinidad and tobago dollar
tweedledee and tweedledum
tweedledum and tweedledee
two-handed backhand
uhland
union of serbia and montenegro
united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland
united nations crime prevention and criminal justice
united nations educational scientific and cultural organization
united nations office for drug control and crime prevention
united states fish and wildlife service
upland
upper hand
urim and thummim
uropygial gland
us fish and wildlife service
use of goods and services
vancouver island
vascular strand
vestibular gland
viand
vicomte de chateaubriand
victoria land
vocal band
von willebrand
waistband
wake island
wand
wash-and-wear
wash-hand stand
washstand
wasteland
watchband
wattle and daub
waveband
wayland
ways and means
ways and means committee
wear and tear
wedding band
west midland
wetland
wheel and axle
whip hand
white tie and tails
whole kit and boodle
whole kit and caboodle
wieland
wilkes land
willebrand
william and mary
william strickland
witness stand
witwatersrand
wonderland
woodland
wrist band
wristband
zealand
zetland