TERMS STARTING WITH
beach comber ::: --> A long, curling wave rolling in from the ocean. See Comber.
beached ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Beach ::: p. p. & a. --> Bordered by a beach.
Driven on a beach; stranded; drawn up on a beach; as, the ship is beached.
beaches ::: pl. --> of Beach
beaching ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Beach
beach ::: n. --> Pebbles, collectively; shingle.
The shore of the sea, or of a lake, which is washed by the waves; especially, a sandy or pebbly shore; the strand. ::: v. t. --> To run or drive (as a vessel or a boat) upon a beach; to strand; as, to beach a ship.
beachy ::: a. --> Having a beach or beaches; formed by a beach or beaches; shingly.
beacon ::: 1. A source of guidance or inspiration. 2. A signalling or guiding device or warning signal as a light or signal fire.
beaconage ::: n. --> Money paid for the maintenance of a beacon; also, beacons, collectively.
beaconed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Beacon
beaconing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Beacon
beaconless ::: a. --> Having no beacon.
beacon ::: n. --> A signal fire to notify of the approach of an enemy, or to give any notice, commonly of warning.
A signal or conspicuous mark erected on an eminence near the shore, or moored in shoal water, as a guide to mariners.
A high hill near the shore.
That which gives notice of danger. ::: v. t.
beaded ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bead
beadhouse ::: n. --> Alt. of Bedehouse
beading ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bead ::: n. --> Molding in imitation of beads.
The beads or bead-forming quality of certain liquors; as, the beading of a brand of whisky.
beadlery ::: n. --> Office or jurisdiction of a beadle.
beadleship ::: n. --> The state of being, or the personality of, a beadle.
beadle ::: v. --> A messenger or crier of a court; a servitor; one who cites or bids persons to appear and answer; -- called also an apparitor or summoner.
An officer in a university, who precedes public processions of officers and students.
An inferior parish officer in England having a variety of duties, as the preservation of order in church service, the chastisement of petty offenders, etc.
bead ::: n. --> A prayer.
A little perforated ball, to be strung on a thread, and worn for ornament; or used in a rosary for counting prayers, as by Roman Catholics and Mohammedans, whence the phrases to tell beads, to at one&
bead proof ::: --> Among distillers, a certain degree of strength in alcoholic liquor, as formerly ascertained by the floating or sinking of glass globules of different specific gravities thrown into it; now ascertained by more accurate meters.
A degree of strength in alcoholic liquor as shown by beads or small bubbles remaining on its surface, or at the side of the glass, when shaken.
beadroll ::: n. --> A catalogue of persons, for the rest of whose souls a certain number of prayers are to be said or counted off on the beads of a chaplet; hence, a catalogue in general.
beadsman ::: n. --> Alt. of Bedesman
beadsnake ::: n. --> A small poisonous snake of North America (Elaps fulvius), banded with yellow, red, and black.
beadswoman ::: n. --> Alt. of Bedeswoman
beadwork ::: n. --> Ornamental work in beads.
beady ::: a. --> Resembling beads; small, round, and glistening.
Covered or ornamented with, or as with, beads.
Characterized by beads; as, beady liquor.
beagle ::: n. --> A small hound, or hunting dog, twelve to fifteen inches high, used in hunting hares and other small game. See Illustration in Appendix.
Fig.: A spy or detective; a constable.
beaked ::: a. --> Having a beak or a beaklike point; beak-shaped.
Furnished with a process or a mouth like a beak; rostrate.
beaker ::: n. --> A large drinking cup, with a wide mouth, supported on a foot or standard.
An open-mouthed, thin glass vessel, having a projecting lip for pouring; -- used for holding solutions requiring heat.
beakhead ::: n. --> An ornament used in rich Norman doorways, resembling a head with a beak.
A small platform at the fore part of the upper deck of a vessel, which contains the water closets of the crew.
Same as Beak, 3.
beakiron ::: n. --> A bickern; a bench anvil with a long beak, adapted to reach the interior surface of sheet metal ware; the horn of an anvil.
beak ::: n. --> The bill or nib of a bird, consisting of a horny sheath, covering the jaws. The form varied much according to the food and habits of the bird, and is largely used in the classification of birds.
A similar bill in other animals, as the turtles.
The long projecting sucking mouth of some insects, and other invertebrates, as in the Hemiptera.
The upper or projecting part of the shell, near the hinge of a bivalve.
bealed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Beal
bealing ::: p. pr & vb. n. --> of Beal
be-all ::: n. --> The whole; all that is to be.
beal ::: v. i. --> To gather matter; to swell and come to a head, as a pimple.
beam ::: 1. A ray of light. 2. A ray or collection of parallel rays. 3. A column of light, a gleam, emanation. Also fig. **beams.**
beambird ::: n. --> A small European flycatcher (Muscicapa gricola), so called because it often nests on a beam in a building.
beamed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Beam ::: a. --> Furnished with beams, as the head of a stag.
beamful ::: a. --> Beamy; radiant.
beamily ::: adv. --> In a beaming manner.
beaminess ::: n. --> The state of being beamy.
beamingly ::: adv. --> In a beaming manner; radiantly.
beaming ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Beam ::: a. --> Emitting beams; radiant.
beamless ::: a. --> Not having a beam.
Not emitting light.
beamlet ::: n. --> A small beam of light.
beam ::: n. --> Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use.
One of the principal horizontal timbers of a building or ship.
The width of a vessel; as, one vessel is said to have more beam than another.
The bar of a balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended.
beam tree ::: --> A tree (Pyrus aria) related to the apple.
beamy ::: a. --> Emitting beams of light; radiant; shining.
Resembling a beam in size and weight; massy.
Having horns, or antlers.
bean caper ::: --> A deciduous plant of warm climates, generally with fleshy leaves and flowers of a yellow or whitish yellow color, of the genus Zygophyllum.
bean ::: n. --> A name given to the seed of certain leguminous herbs, chiefly of the genera Faba, Phaseolus, and Dolichos; also, to the herbs.
The popular name of other vegetable seeds or fruits, more or less resembling true beans.
bean trefoil ::: --> A leguminous shrub of southern Europe, with trifoliate leaves (Anagyris foetida). html{color:
be- ::: --> A prefix, originally the same word as by;
To intensify the meaning; as, bespatter, bestir.
To render an intransitive verb transitive; as, befall (to fall upon); bespeak (to speak for).
To make the action of a verb particular or definite; as, beget (to get as offspring); beset (to set around).
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.
bearable ::: a. --> Capable of being borne or endured; tolerable.
bearberry ::: n. --> A trailing plant of the heath family (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), having leaves which are tonic and astringent, and glossy red berries of which bears are said to be fond.
bearbind ::: n. --> The bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis).
bearded ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Beard ::: a. --> Having a beard.
beardie ::: n. --> The bearded loach (Nemachilus barbatus) of Europe.
bearding ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Beard
beardless ::: a. --> Without a beard. Hence: Not having arrived at puberty or manhood; youthful.
Destitute of an awn; as, beardless wheat.
beardlessness ::: n. --> The state or quality of being destitute of beard.
beard ::: n. --> The hair that grows on the chin, lips, and adjacent parts of the human face, chiefly of male adults.
The long hairs about the face in animals, as in the goat.
The cluster of small feathers at the base of the beak in some birds
The appendages to the jaw in some Cetacea, and to the mouth or jaws of some fishes.
The byssus of certain shellfish, as the muscle.
bearer ::: n. --> One who, or that which, bears, sustains, or carries.
Specifically: One who assists in carrying a body to the grave; a pallbearer.
A palanquin carrier; also, a house servant.
A tree or plant yielding fruit; as, a good bearer.
One who holds a check, note, draft, or other order for the payment of money; as, pay to bearer.
A strip of reglet or other furniture to bear off the
bearer ::: one who carries, supports, holds up or brings. torch-bearer, torch-bearers.
bearherd ::: n. --> A man who tends a bear.
bearhound ::: n. --> A hound for baiting or hunting bears.
bearing cloth ::: --> A cloth with which a child is covered when carried to be baptized.
bearing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bear ::: n. --> The manner in which one bears or conducts one&
bearing rein ::: --> A short rein looped over the check hook or the hames to keep the horse&
bearing witness to, affirming the truth or genuineness of; testifying to, certifying, vouching for. attests.
bearish ::: a. --> Partaking of the qualities of a bear; resembling a bear in temper or manners.
bearishness ::: n. --> Behavior like that of a bear.
bearn ::: n. --> See Bairn.
bearskin ::: n. --> The skin of a bear.
A coarse, shaggy, woolen cloth for overcoats.
A cap made of bearskin, esp. one worn by soldiers.
bears up, supports, sustains; also, lifts up, raises aloft; hence, fig. supports or sustains; exalts. upbore.
bear up ::: carry; hold up; support.
bear ::: v. t. --> To support or sustain; to hold up.
To support and remove or carry; to convey.
To conduct; to bring; -- said of persons.
To possess and use, as power; to exercise.
To sustain; to have on (written or inscribed, or as a mark), as, the tablet bears this inscription.
To possess or carry, as a mark of authority or distinction; to wear; as, to bear a sword, badge, or name.
bearward ::: n. --> A keeper of bears. See Bearherd.
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.
beast—A god in the figure of the arisen beast
beasthood ::: n. --> State or nature of a beast.
beasthood ::: the state or nature of a beast.
beastings ::: n. pl. --> See Biestings.
beastlihead ::: n. --> Beastliness.
beastlike ::: a. --> Like a beast.
beastliness ::: n. --> The state or quality of being beastly.
beastly ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or having the form, nature, or habits of, a beast.
Characterizing the nature of a beast; contrary to the nature and dignity of man; brutal; filthy.
Abominable; as, beastly weather.
beast ::: n. --> Any living creature; an animal; -- including man, insects, etc.
Any four-footed animal, that may be used for labor, food, or sport; as, a beast of burden.
As opposed to man: Any irrational animal.
Fig.: A coarse, brutal, filthy, or degraded fellow.
A game at cards similar to loo.
A penalty at beast, omber, etc. Hence: To be beasted, to be
beast :::
beaten ::: --> of Beat ::: a. --> Made smooth by beating or treading; worn by use.
Vanquished; conquered; baffled.
Exhausted; tired out.
Become common or trite; as, a beaten phrase.
beaten
beater ::: n. --> One who, or that which, beats.
A person who beats up game for the hunters.
beath ::: v. t. --> To bathe; also, to dry or heat, as unseasoned wood.
beatific ::: a. --> Alt. of Beatifical
beatifical ::: a. --> Having the power to impart or complete blissful enjoyment; blissful.
beatificate ::: v. t. --> To beatify.
beatification ::: n. --> The act of beatifying, or the state of being beatified; esp., in the R. C. Church, the act or process of ascertaining and declaring that a deceased person is one of "the blessed," or has attained the second degree of sanctity, -- usually a stage in the process of canonization.
beatific ::: showing, producing, or experiencing exalted joy or blessedness.
beatified ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Beatify
beatifying ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Beatify
beatify ::: v. t. --> To pronounce or regard as happy, or supremely blessed, or as conferring happiness.
To make happy; to bless with the completion of celestial enjoyment.
To ascertain and declare, by a public process and decree, that a deceased person is one of "the blessed" and is to be reverenced as such, though not canonized.
beat ::: imp. --> of Beat ::: p. p. --> of Beat ::: v. t.
beating ::: n. 1. A throbbing or pulsation, as of the heart. beatings. adj. 2. Throbbings, pulsations.
beating ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Beat ::: n. --> The act of striking or giving blows; punishment or chastisement by blows.
Pulsation; throbbing; as, the beating of the heart.
Pulsative sounds. See Beat, n.
beatitude ::: Madhav: “Beatitude is different from bliss. In bliss there is a constant vibration, there is a movement, but beatitude is something tranquil and joyous, I would not call it a vibration; it is a state of happiness oozing out benevolence.” Sat-Sang Vol. VIII
beatitude ::: n. --> Felicity of the highest kind; consummate bliss.
Any one of the nine declarations (called the Beatitudes), made in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. v. 3-12), with regard to the blessedness of those who are distinguished by certain specified virtues.
Beatification.
beatitude ::: supreme blessedness or happiness. beatitude"s, beatitudes.
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.
beaucatcher ::: n. --> A small flat curl worn on the temple by women.
beaufet ::: n. --> A niche, cupboard, or sideboard for plate, china, glass, etc.; a buffet.
beaufin ::: n. --> See Biffin.
beau ideal ::: --> A conception or image of consummate beauty, moral or physical, formed in the mind, free from all the deformities, defects, and blemishes seen in actual existence; an ideal or faultless standard or model.
beauish ::: n. --> Like a beau; characteristic of a beau; foppish; fine.
beau monde ::: --> The fashionable world; people of fashion and gayety.
beau ::: n. --> A man who takes great care to dress in the latest fashion; a dandy.
A man who escorts, or pays attentions to, a lady; an escort; a lover.
beaupere ::: n. --> A father.
A companion.
beauseant ::: n. --> The black and white standard of the Knights Templars.
beauship ::: n. --> The state of being a beau; the personality of a beau.
beaus ::: pl. --> of Beau
beauteous ::: a. --> Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome.
beautied ::: p. a. --> Beautiful; embellished.
beautie ::: pl. --> of Beauty
beautified ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Beautify
beautifier ::: n. --> One who, or that which, beautifies or makes beautiful.
beautiful ::: a. --> Having the qualities which constitute beauty; pleasing to the sight or the mind.
beautifying ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Beautify
beautify ::: v. t. --> To make or render beautiful; to add beauty to; to adorn; to deck; to grace; to embellish. ::: v. i. --> To become beautiful; to advance in beauty.
beautiless ::: a. --> Destitute of beauty.
beauty ::: “Beauty is the special divine Manifestation in the physical as Truth is in the Mind, Love in the heart, Power in the vital.” The Future Poetry
beauty ::: n. --> An assemblage or graces or properties pleasing to the eye, the ear, the intellect, the aesthetic faculty, or the moral sense.
A particular grace, feature, ornament, or excellence; anything beautiful; as, the beauties of nature.
A beautiful person, esp. a beautiful woman.
Prevailing style or taste; rage; fashion.
beauty ::: the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, colour, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else, (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest). Beauty, beauty"s, Beauty"s, beauty-drenched, earth-beauty"s.
beauxite ::: n. --> A ferruginous hydrate of alumina. It is largely used in the preparation of aluminium and alumina, and for the lining of furnaces which are exposed to intense heat.
See Bauxite.
beaux ::: pl. --> of Beau
of Bel-esprit ::: n. --> pl. of Beau.
beavered ::: a. --> Covered with, or wearing, a beaver or hat.
beaver ::: n. --> An amphibious rodent, of the genus Castor.
The fur of the beaver.
A hat, formerly made of the fur of the beaver, but now usually of silk.
Beaver cloth, a heavy felted woolen cloth, used chiefly for making overcoats.
That piece of armor which protected the lower part of the face, whether forming a part of the helmet or fixed to the breastplate.
beaverteen ::: n. --> A kind of fustian made of coarse twilled cotton, shorn after dyeing.
bebeerine ::: n. --> Alt. of Bebirine
bebirine ::: n. --> An alkaloid got from the bark of the bebeeru, or green heart of Guiana (Nectandra Rodioei). It is a tonic, antiperiodic, and febrifuge, and is used in medicine as a substitute for quinine.
bebleed ::: v. t. --> To make bloody; to stain with blood.
beblood ::: v. t. --> Alt. of Bebloody
bebloody ::: v. t. --> To make bloody; to stain with blood.
beblot ::: v. t. --> To blot; to stain.
beblubber ::: v. t. --> To make swollen and disfigured or sullied by weeping; as, her eyes or cheeks were beblubbered.
becalmed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Becalm
becalming ::: n. --> of Becalm
becalm ::: v. t. --> To render calm or quiet; to calm; to still; to appease.
To keep from motion, or stop the progress of, by the stilling of the wind; as, the fleet was becalmed.
became ::: --> imp. of Become. ::: imp. --> of Become
becard ::: n. --> A South American bird of the flycatcher family. (Tityra inquisetor).
because ::: conj. --> By or for the cause that; on this account that; for the reason that.
In order that; that.
beccabunga ::: n. --> See Brooklime.
beccafico ::: n. --> A small bird. (Silvia hortensis), which is highly prized by the Italians for the delicacy of its flesh in the autumn, when it has fed on figs, grapes, etc.
beccaficos ::: pl. --> of Beccafico
bechamel ::: n. --> A rich, white sauce, prepared with butter and cream.
bechance ::: adv. --> By chance; by accident. ::: v. t. & i. --> To befall; to chance; to happen to.
becharm ::: v. t. --> To charm; to captivate.
beche de mer ::: --> The trepang.
bechic ::: --> Pertaining to, or relieving, a cough. ::: n. --> A medicine for relieving coughs.
beck ::: a summons or gesture of summoning or directing someone.
becked ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Beck
becker ::: n. --> A European fish (Pagellus centrodontus); the sea bream or braise.
becket ::: n. --> A small grommet, or a ring or loop of rope / metal for holding things in position, as spars, ropes, etc.; also a bracket, a pocket, or a handle made of rope.
A spade for digging turf.
becking ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Beck
beck ::: n. --> See Beak.
A small brook.
A vat. See Back.
A significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, esp. as a call or command. ::: v. i.
beckoned ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Beckon
beckoned ::: invited or enticed; lured. beckons.
beckoning ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Beckon
beckoning ::: signalling, summoning.
beckon ::: v. t. --> To make a significant sign to; hence, to summon, as by a motion of the hand. ::: n. --> A sign made without words; a beck.
beclap ::: v. t. --> To catch; to grasp; to insnare.
beclipped ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Beclip
beclip ::: v. t. --> To embrace; to surround.
beclouded ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Becloud
beclouding ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Becloud
becloud ::: v. t. --> To cause obscurity or dimness to; to dim; to cloud.
become abnormal and foreico to the nature and lose frequency and finally disappear.
becomed ::: a. --> Proper; decorous.
become ::: p. p. --> of Become ::: v. i. --> To pass from one state to another; to enter into some state or condition, by a change from another state, or by assuming or receiving new properties or qualities, additional matter, or a new character.
becomingly ::: adv. --> In a becoming manner.
becomingness ::: n. --> The quality of being becoming, appropriate, or fit; congruity; fitness.
becoming ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Become ::: a. --> Appropriate or fit; congruous; suitable; graceful; befitting. ::: n.
becripple ::: v. t. --> To make a cripple of; to cripple; to lame.
becuna ::: n. --> A fish of the Mediterranean (Sphyraena spet). See Barracuda.
becurl ::: v. t. --> To curl; to adorn with curls.
bed ::: 1. A piece or part forming a foundation or base; a stratum. 2. The grave. 3. A sleeping-place generally; any extemporized resting place. 4. A piece or area of ground in a garden or lawn in which plants are grown. beds.
bedabbled ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bedabble
bedabble ::: v. t. --> To dabble; to sprinkle or wet.
bedabbling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bedabble
bedaff ::: v. t. --> To make a daff or fool of.
bedagat ::: n. --> The sacred books of the Buddhists in Burmah.
bedaggle ::: v. t. --> To daggle.
bedashed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bedash
bedashing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bedash
bedash ::: v. t. --> To wet by dashing or throwing water or other liquid upon; to bespatter.
bedaubed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bedaub
bedaubing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bedaub
bedaub ::: v. t. --> To daub over; to besmear or soil with anything thick and dirty.
bedazzled ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bedazzle
bedazzle ::: v. t. --> To dazzle or make dim by a strong light.
bedazzling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bedazzle
bedbug ::: n. --> A wingless, bloodsucking, hemipterous insect (Cimex Lectularius), sometimes infesting houses and especially beds. See Illustration in Appendix.
bedchair ::: n. --> A chair with adjustable back, for the sick, to support them while sitting up in bed.
bedchamber ::: n. --> A chamber for a bed; an apartment form sleeping in.
bedclothes ::: n. pl. --> Blankets, sheets, coverlets, etc., for a bed.
bedcord ::: n. --> A cord or rope interwoven in a bedstead so as to support the bed.
bedded ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bed ::: a. --> Provided with a bed; as, double-bedded room; placed or arranged in a bed or beds.
bedding ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bed ::: n. --> A bed and its furniture; the materials of a bed, whether for man or beast; bedclothes; litter.
The state or position of beds and layers.
bedecked ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bedeck
bedecking ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bedeck
bedeck ::: v. t. --> To deck, ornament, or adorn; to grace.
bedegar ::: n. --> A gall produced on rosebushes, esp. on the sweetbrier or eglantine, by a puncture from the ovipositor of a gallfly (Rhodites rosae). It was once supposed to have medicinal properties.
bedeguar ::: n. --> Alt. of Bedegar
bedehouse ::: n. --> An almshouse for poor people who pray daily for their benefactors.
Same as Beadhouse.
bedell ::: n. --> Same as Beadle.
bedel ::: n. --> Alt. of Bedell
bedelry ::: n. --> Beadleship.
beden ::: n. --> The Abyssinian or Arabian ibex (Capra Nubiana). It is probably the wild goat of the Bible.
bedesman ::: n. --> A poor man, supported in a beadhouse, and required to pray for the soul of its founder; an almsman.
Same as Beadsman.
bedeswoman ::: n. --> Fem. of Beadsman.
bedeviling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bedevil
bedevilled ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bedevil
bedevilling ::: --> of Bedevil
bedevilment ::: n. --> The state of being bedeviled; bewildering confusion; vexatious trouble.
bedevil ::: v. t. --> To throw into utter disorder and confusion, as if by the agency of evil spirits; to bring under diabolical influence; to torment.
To spoil; to corrupt.
bede ::: v. t. --> To pray; also, to offer; to proffer. ::: n. --> A kind of pickax.
bedewed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bedew
bedewer ::: n. --> One who, or that which, bedews.
bedewing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bedew
bedew ::: v. t. --> To moisten with dew, or as with dew.
bedewy ::: a. --> Moist with dew; dewy.
bedfellow ::: n. --> One who lies with another in the same bed; a person who shares one&
bed-fellows ::: those who are closely associated or allied with one another.
bedfere bedphere ::: n. --> A bedfellow.
bedgown ::: n. --> A nightgown.
bedighted ::: --> of Bedight
bedight ::: p. p. --> of Bedight ::: v. t. --> To bedeck; to array or equip; to adorn.
bedimmed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bedim
bedimming ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bedim
bedim ::: v. t. --> To make dim; to obscure or darken.
bedizenment ::: n. --> That which bedizens; the act of dressing, or the state of being dressed, tawdrily.
bedizen ::: v. t. --> To dress or adorn tawdrily or with false taste.
bedkey ::: n. --> An instrument for tightening the parts of a bedstead.
bedlamite ::: n. --> An inhabitant of a madhouse; a madman.
bedlam ::: n. --> A place appropriated to the confinement and care of the insane; a madhouse.
An insane person; a lunatic; a madman.
Any place where uproar and confusion prevail. ::: a. --> Belonging to, or fit for, a madhouse.
bedmaker ::: n. --> One who makes beds.
bed-molding ::: n. --> Alt. of Bed-moulding
bed-moulding ::: n. --> The molding of a cornice immediately below the corona.
bed ::: n. --> An article of furniture to sleep or take rest in or on; a couch. Specifically: A sack or mattress, filled with some soft material, in distinction from the bedstead on which it is placed (as, a feather bed), or this with the bedclothes added. In a general sense, any thing or place used for sleeping or reclining on or in, as a quantity of hay, straw, leaves, or twigs.
(Used as the symbol of matrimony) Marriage.
A plat or level piece of ground in a garden, usually a little
bedote ::: v. t. --> To cause to dote; to deceive.
bedouin ::: n. --> One of the nomadic Arabs who live in tents, and are scattered over Arabia, Syria, and northern Africa, esp. in the deserts. ::: a. --> Pertaining to the Bedouins; nomad.
bedpan ::: n. --> A pan for warming beds.
A shallow chamber vessel, so constructed that it can be used by a sick person in bed.
bedphere ::: n. --> See Bedfere.
bedpiece ::: n. --> Alt. of Bedplate
bedplate ::: n. --> The foundation framing or piece, by which the other parts are supported and held in place; the bed; -- called also baseplate and soleplate.
bedpost ::: n. --> One of the four standards that support a bedstead or the canopy over a bedstead.
Anciently, a post or pin on each side of the bed to keep the clothes from falling off. See Bedstaff.
bedquilt ::: n. --> A quilt for a bed; a coverlet.
bedrabble ::: v. t. --> To befoul with rain and mud; to drabble.
bedraggled ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bedraggle
bedraggle ::: v. t. --> To draggle; to soil, as garments which, in walking, are suffered to drag in dust, mud, etc.
bedraggling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bedraggle
bedrenched ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bedrench
bedrenching ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bedrench
bedrench ::: v. t. --> To drench; to saturate with moisture; to soak.
bedribble ::: v. t. --> To dribble upon.
bedridden ::: v. i. --> Confined to the bed by sickness or infirmity.
bedrid ::: v. i. --> Alt. of Bedridden
bedright bedrite ::: n. --> The duty or privilege of the marriage bed.
bedrizzle ::: v. t. --> To drizzle upon.
bed rock ::: --> The solid rock underlying superficial formations. Also Fig.
bedroom ::: n. --> A room or apartment intended or used for a bed; a lodging room.
Room in a bed.
bedrop ::: v. t. --> To sprinkle, as with drops.
bedrug ::: v. t. --> To drug abundantly or excessively.
bed screw ::: --> A form of jack screw for lifting large bodies, and assisting in launching.
A long screw formerly used to fasten a bedpost to one of the adjacent side pieces.
bedside ::: n. --> The side of a bed.
bedsite ::: n. --> A recess in a room for a bed.
bedsore ::: n. --> A sore on the back or hips caused by lying for a long time in bed.
bedspread ::: n. --> A bedquilt; a counterpane; a coverlet.
bedstaff ::: n. --> "A wooden pin stuck anciently on the sides of the bedstead, to hold the clothes from slipping on either side."
bedstaves ::: pl. --> of Bedstaff
bedstead ::: n. --> A framework for supporting a bed.
bed steps ::: --> Steps for mounting a bed of unusual height.
bedstock ::: n. --> The front or the back part of the frame of a bedstead.
bedstraw ::: n. --> Straw put into a bed.
A genus of slender herbs, usually with square stems, whorled leaves, and small white flowers.
bedswerver ::: n. --> One who swerves from and is unfaithful to the marriage vow.
bedtick ::: n. --> A tick or bag made of cloth, used for inclosing the materials of a bed.
bedtime ::: n. --> The time to go to bed.
beducked ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Beduck
beduck ::: v. t. --> To duck; to put the head under water; to immerse.
beduin ::: n. --> See Bedouin.
bedunged ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bedung
bedung ::: v. t. --> To cover with dung, as for manuring; to bedaub or defile, literally or figuratively.
bedust ::: v. t. --> To sprinkle, soil, or cover with dust.
bedward ::: adv. --> Towards bed.
bedwarfed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bedwarf
bedwarf ::: v. t. --> To make a dwarf of; to stunt or hinder the growth of; to dwarf.
bedyed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Bedye
bedyeing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bedye
bedye ::: v. t. --> To dye or stain.
beebread ::: n. --> A brown, bitter substance found in some of the cells of honeycomb. It is made chiefly from the pollen of flowers, which is collected by bees as food for their young.
beechen ::: a. --> Consisting, or made, of the wood or bark of the beech; belonging to the beech.
beeches ::: pl. --> of Beech
beech ::: n. --> A tree of the genus Fagus.
beechnut ::: n. --> The nut of the beech tree.
beech tree ::: --> The beech.
beechy ::: a. --> Of or relating to beeches.
bee-croon ::: the soft, soothing, low murmuring sound produced by bees.
bee-eater ::: n. --> A bird of the genus Merops, that feeds on bees. The European species (M. apiaster) is remarkable for its brilliant colors.
An African bird of the genus Rhinopomastes.
beefeater ::: n. --> One who eats beef; hence, a large, fleshy person.
One of the yeomen of the guard, in England.
An African bird of the genus Buphaga, which feeds on the larvae of botflies hatched under the skin of oxen, antelopes, etc. Two species are known.
beef ::: n. --> An animal of the genus Bos, especially the common species, B. taurus, including the bull, cow, and ox, in their full grown state; esp., an ox or cow fattened for food.
The flesh of an ox, or cow, or of any adult bovine animal, when slaughtered for food.
Applied colloquially to human flesh. ::: a.
beefsteak ::: n. --> A steak of beef; a slice of beef broiled or suitable for broiling.
beef-witted ::: n. --> Stupid; dull.
beefwood ::: n. --> An Australian tree (Casuarina), and its red wood, used for cabinetwork; also, the trees Stenocarpus salignus of New South Wales, and Banksia compar of Queensland.
beefy ::: a. --> Having much beef; of the nature of beef; resembling beef; fleshy.
beehive ::: n. --> A hive for a swarm of bees. Also used figuratively.
beehouse ::: n. --> A house for bees; an apiary.
bee larkspur ::: --> (Bot.) See Larkspur.
beeld ::: n. --> Same as Beild.
bee line ::: --> The shortest line from one place to another, like that of a bee to its hive when loaded with honey; an air line.
beelzebub ::: n. --> The title of a heathen deity to whom the Jews ascribed the sovereignty of the evil spirits; hence, the Devil or a devil. See Baal.
beemaster ::: n. --> One who keeps bees.
beem ::: n. --> A trumpet.
been accustomed to act in that way, and it goes on even if the doing brings a painful reaction.
been ::: p. p. --> of Be ::: --> The past participle of Be. In old authors it is also the pr. tense plural of Be. See 1st Bee.
bee ::: --> p. p. of Be; -- used for been. ::: n. --> An insect of the order Hymenoptera, and family Apidae (the honeybees), or family Andrenidae (the solitary bees.) See Honeybee.
A neighborly gathering of people who engage in united labor for the benefit of an individual or family; as, a quilting bee; a
beeregar ::: n. --> Sour beer.
beerhouse ::: n. --> A house where malt liquors are sold; an alehouse.
beeriness ::: n. --> Beery condition.
beer ::: n. --> A fermented liquor made from any malted grain, but commonly from barley malt, with hops or some other substance to impart a bitter flavor.
A fermented extract of the roots and other parts of various plants, as spruce, ginger, sassafras, etc.
beery ::: a. --> Of or resembling beer; affected by beer; maudlin.
beestings ::: n. --> Same as Biestings. ::: n. pl. --> The first milk given by a cow after calving.
beeswax ::: n. --> The wax secreted by bees, and of which their cells are constructed.
beeswing ::: n. --> The second crust formed in port and some other wines after long keeping. It consists of pure, shining scales of tartar, supposed to resemble the wing of a bee.
beete ::: v. t. --> Alt. of Bete
beetle brow ::: --> An overhanging brow.
beetle-browed ::: --> Having prominent, overhanging brows; hence, lowering or sullen.
beetled ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Beetle
beetle-headed ::: a. --> Dull; stupid.
beetlehead ::: n. --> A stupid fellow; a blockhead.
The black-bellied plover, or bullhead (Squatarola helvetica). See Plover.
beetlestock ::: n. --> The handle of a beetle.
beetle ::: v. t. --> A heavy mallet, used to drive wedges, beat pavements, etc.
A machine in which fabrics are subjected to a hammering process while passing over rollers, as in cotton mills; -- called also beetling machine.
To beat with a heavy mallet.
To finish by subjecting to a hammering process in a beetle or beetling machine; as, to beetle cotton goods.
beetling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Beetle
beet ::: n. --> A biennial plant of the genus Beta, which produces an edible root the first year and seed the second year.
The root of plants of the genus Beta, different species and varieties of which are used for the table, for feeding stock, or in making sugar.
beet radish ::: --> Same as Beetrave.
beetrave ::: n. --> The common beet (Beta vulgaris).
beeve ::: n. --> A beef; a beef creature.
beeves ::: n. --> plural of Beef, the animal.
befallen ::: p. p. --> of Befall
befalling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Befall
befall ::: v. t. --> To happen to. ::: v. i. --> To come to pass; to happen.
befell ::: imp. --> of Befall
befitted ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Befit
befittingly ::: adv. --> In a befitting manner; suitably.
befitting ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Befit ::: a. --> Suitable; proper; becoming; fitting.
befit ::: v. t. --> To be suitable to; to suit; to become.
beflatter ::: v. t. --> To flatter excessively.
beflower ::: v. t. --> To besprinkle or scatter over with, or as with, flowers.
befogged ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Befog
befogging ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Befog
befog ::: v. t. --> To involve in a fog; -- mostly as a participle or part. adj.
Hence: To confuse; to mystify.
befooled ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Befool
befooling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Befool
befool ::: v. t. --> To fool; to delude or lead into error; to infatuate; to deceive.
To cause to behave like a fool; to make foolish.
beforehand ::: adv. --> In a state of anticipation ore preoccupation; in advance; -- often followed by with.
By way of preparation, or preliminary; previously; aforetime. ::: a. --> In comfortable circumstances as regards property;
before ::: prep. --> In front of; preceding in space; ahead of; as, to stand before the fire; before the house.
Preceding in time; earlier than; previously to; anterior to the time when; -- sometimes with the additional idea of purpose; in order that.
An advance of; farther onward, in place or time.
Prior or preceding in dignity, order, rank, right, or worth; rather than.
beforetime ::: adv. --> Formerly; aforetime.
befortune ::: v. t. --> To befall.
befoul ::: a. --> To make foul; to soil.
To entangle or run against so as to impede motion.
befouled ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Befoul
befouling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Befoul
befriended ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Befriend
befriending ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Befriend
befriendment ::: n. --> Act of befriending.
befriend ::: v. t. --> To act as a friend to; to favor; to aid, benefit, or countenance.
befrill ::: v. t. --> To furnish or deck with a frill.
befringe ::: v. t. --> To furnish with a fringe; to form a fringe upon; to adorn as with fringe.
befuddled ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Befuddle
befuddle ::: v. t. --> To becloud and confuse, as with liquor.
began and carried through to completion; done.
began ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Begin
bega ::: n. --> See Bigha.
beganst ::: a native English form of the verb, to begin, now only in formal and poetic usage.
begat ::: --> of Beget
begemmed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Begem
begemming ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Begem
begem ::: v. t. --> To adorn with gems, or as with gems.
begetter ::: n. --> One who begets; a father.
begetting ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Beget
beget ::: v. t. --> To procreate, as a father or sire; to generate; -- commonly said of the father.
To get (with child.)
To produce as an effect; to cause to exist.
beggable ::: a. --> Capable of being begged. html{color:
beggared ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Beggar
beggarhood ::: n. --> The condition of being a beggar; also, the class of beggars.
beggaring ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Beggar
beggarism ::: n. --> Beggary.
beggarliness ::: n. --> The quality or state of being beggarly; meanness.
beggarly ::: a. --> In the condition of, or like, a beggar; suitable for a beggar; extremely indigent; poverty-stricken; mean; poor; contemptible.
Produced or occasioned by beggary. ::: adv. --> In an indigent, mean, or despicable manner; in the manner of a beggar.
beggar ::: n. --> One who begs; one who asks or entreats earnestly, or with humility; a petitioner.
One who makes it his business to ask alms.
One who is dependent upon others for support; -- a contemptuous or sarcastic use.
One who assumes in argument what he does not prove. ::: v. t.
beggary ::: n. --> The act of begging; the state of being a beggar; mendicancy; extreme poverty.
Beggarly appearance. ::: a. --> Beggarly.
begged ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Beg
beggestere ::: n. --> A beggar.
begging ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Beg
beghard ::: n. --> Alt. of Beguard
begilded ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Begild
begild ::: v. t. --> To gild.
begilt ::: --> of Begild
beginner ::: n. --> One who begins or originates anything. Specifically: A young or inexperienced practitioner or student; a tyro.
beginningless ::: without a beginning; without origin; uncreated.
beginning ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Begin ::: n. --> The act of doing that which begins anything; commencement of an action, state, or space of time; entrance into being or upon a course; the first act, effort, or state of a succession of acts or states.
begin ::: v. i. --> To have or commence an independent or first existence; to take rise; to commence.
To do the first act or the first part of an action; to enter upon or commence something new, as a new form or state of being, or course of action; to take the first step; to start. ::: v. t.
begirded ::: --> of Begird
begirding ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Begird
begirdle ::: v. t. --> To surround as with a girdle.
begird ::: v. t. --> To bind with a band or girdle; to gird.
To surround as with a band; to encompass.
begirt ::: imp. --> of Begird ::: p. p. --> of Begird ::: v. t.
beglerbeg ::: n. --> The governor of a province of the Ottoman empire, next in dignity to the grand vizier.
beg ::: n. --> A title of honor in Turkey and in some other parts of the East; a bey. ::: v. t. --> To ask earnestly for; to entreat or supplicate for; to beseech.
To ask for as a charity, esp. to ask for habitually or from
begnawed ::: p. p. --> of Begnaw
begnawn ::: --> of Begnaw
begnaw ::: v. t. --> To gnaw; to eat away; to corrode.
begodded ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Begod
begod ::: v. t. --> To exalt to the dignity of a god; to deify.
begone ::: interj. --> Go away; depart; get you gone. ::: p. p. --> Surrounded; furnished; beset; environed (as in woe-begone).
begonia ::: n. --> A genus of plants, mostly of tropical America, many species of which are grown as ornamental plants. The leaves are curiously one-sided, and often exhibit brilliant colors.
begore ::: v. t. --> To besmear with gore.
begot ::: imp. --> of Beget ::: p. p. --> of Beget :::
begot ::: pt. of beget. 1. Caused to exist or occur; created. 2. Called into being, gave rise to; produced. begotten.
begotten ::: --> of Beget
p. p. of Beget.
begrave ::: v. t. --> To bury; also, to engrave.
begrease ::: v. t. --> To soil or daub with grease or other oily matter.
begrimed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Begrime
begrimer ::: n. --> One who, or that which, begrimes.
begrime ::: v. t. --> To soil with grime or dirt deeply impressed or rubbed in.
behaviour ::: 1. Manner of behaving or conducting oneself. 2. The aggregate of the responses or reactions or movements made by an organism in any situation, or the manner in which a thing acts under such circumstances. behaviour"s.
beheld ::: pt. of behold.
behest ::: an authoritative command or directive.
behind the scenes: Out of public view; in secret.
behold ::: v. 1. To perceive by the visual faculty; see. beholds. Interj. **2.** Look; see.
being ::: 1. The state or quality of having existence. 2. The totality of all things that exist. 3. One"s basic or essential nature; self. 4. All the qualities constituting one that exists; the essence. 5. A person; human being. 6. The Divine, the Supreme; God. Being, being"s, Being"s, beings, Beings, beings", earth-being"s, earth-beings, fragment-being, non-being, non-being"s, Non-Being, Non-Being"s, world-being"s.
Sri Aurobindo: "Pure Being is the affirmation by the Unknowable of Itself as the free base of all cosmic existence.” *The Life Divine :::
"The Absolute manifests itself in two terms, a Being and a Becoming. The Being is the fundamental reality; the Becoming is an effectual reality: it is a dynamic power and result, a creative energy and working out of the Being, a constantly persistent yet mutable form, process, outcome of its immutable formless essence.” *The Life Divine
"What is original and eternal for ever in the Divine is the Being, what is developed in consciousness, conditions, forces, forms, etc., by the Divine Power is the Becoming. The eternal Divine is the Being; the universe in Time and all that is apparent in it is a Becoming.” Letters on Yoga
"Being and Becoming, One and Many are both true and are both the same thing: Being is one, Becomings are many; but this simply means that all Becomings are one Being who places Himself variously in the phenomenal movement of His consciousness.” The Upanishads :::
"Our whole apparent life has only a symbolic value & is good & necessary as a becoming; but all becoming has being for its goal & fulfilment & God is the only being.” *Essays Divine and Human
"Our being is a roughly constituted chaos into which we have to introduce the principle of a divine order.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
being, conscious
being, conscious ::: Sri Aurobindo: "We have to conceive one indivisible conscious being behind all our experiences. . . . That is our real self.” *The Life Divine
being in us for a definite end ; thirdly, liberation, that is to say, the release of our being from the narrow and painful knots of the individualised energy in a false . and limited play, which at present are the law of our nature. The enjoyment of our libera- ted being which brings us into um'ty or union with the Supreme, is the consummation ; it is ihat for which Yoga is done.
being, master of
being, Master of ::: Sri Aurobindo: " Vamadeva goes on to say, "Let us give expression to this secret name of the clarity, — that is to say, let us bring out this Soma wine, this hidden delight of existence; let us hold it in this world-sacrifice by our surrenderings or submissions to Agni, the divine Will or Conscious-Power which is the Master of being.” The Secret of the Veda
being ::: “Pure Being is the affirmation by the Unknowable of Itself as the free base of all cosmic existence.” The Life Divine
beings ::: things or entities that exist, esp. things or entities that cannot be assigned to any category.
being, triune ::: a being that is three in one; a trinity.
being, triune
belched ::: 1. Erupted or exploded. 2. Expelled gas noisily from the stomach through the mouth.
beleaguer ::: to harass; beset; besiege.
belied ::: shown to be false; contradicted; gave a false representation to; misrepresented.
belief ::: 1. Confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof. 2. Trust or confidence, faith. 3. Something believed; an opinion or conviction. beliefs.
Question: "Sweet Mother, l don"t understand very clearly the difference between faith, belief and confidence.”
Mother: "But Sri Aurobindo has given the full explanation here. If you don"t understand, then. . . He has written ‘Faith is a feeling in the whole being." The whole being, yes. Faith, that"s the whole being at once. He says that belief is something that occurs in the head, that is purely mental; and confidence is quite different. Confidence, one can have confidence in life, trust in the Divine, trust in others, trust in one"s own destiny, that is, one has the feeling that everything is going to help him, to do what he wants to do. Faith is a certitude without any proof. Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 6.
believed in ::: was persuaded of the truth or existence of; had faith in the reliability, honesty, benevolence, etc. of.
believes ::: accepts as true or real. believed.
bellowed ::: emitted a hollow, loud, animal cry, as a bull or cow; roared.
belly ::: 1. The stomach. 2. The inside or interior cavity of something.
belong ::: 1. To be a part of or adjunct. 2. To be the property, attribute, or possession of. belongs.
belongings ::: possessions; things owned, either tangible or intangible.
belongs to the Divine Truth, Good, Beauty, rejection of all that is false, evD, ugly, discordant, union through love and sympathy wth all existence, openness to the Truth of the Self and the
beloved ::: n. 1. A person who is dearly loved. beloved"s, Beloved, Beloved"s. *adj. *2. Dearly loved.
below the human race in evolutionary development.
belt ::: 1. Any encircling or transverse band, strip, or stripe characteristically distinguished from the surface it crosses. 2. An elongated region having distinctive properties or characteristics and long in proportion to its breadth. 3. A zone or district.
bench ::: 1. A long seat usually made of wood, for two or more persons. 2. A seat occupied by a person in an official capacity, esp. a judge. 3. Such a seat as a symbol of the office and dignity of an individual judge or the judiciary.
bend ::: 1. To assume a curved, crooked, or angular form or direction, esp. to bend the body; stoop. 2. Fig. To bow, esp. in reverence. 3. To turn or incline in a particular direction; be directed. bends.
bending ::: pulling back the string of (a bow or the like) in preparation for shooting.
benignancies ::: qualities of kindness, gentleness and benevolence.
benign ::: favourable, propitious.
bent ::: personal inclination, propensity, tendency or aptitude.
benumbed ::: made (any part of the body) insensible, torpid, or powerless; made numb, deprived of sensation; stupefied or stunned, as by a blow or shock; now mostly used for the effects of cold.
bequeathed ::: disposed of (property, etc.) by last will; fig. handed down, passed on.
bereft ::: deprived of or lacking something needed or expected.
beset ::: 1. Attacked from all sides. 2. Hemmed in; surrounded.
besetter ::: one who or that which besets.
besiege ::: 1. To surround with hostile forces. 2. To crowd around; hem in; crowd in upon; surround. besieged.
bestial ::: resembling a beast; brutal; savage; lacking refinement; depraved.
bestrides ::: towers over, dominates, as a victor over the fallen.
betimes ::: in good time; in a short time, soon.
betray ::: 1. To be false or disloyal to. 2. To lead astray; deceive. 3. To divulge, disclose in a breach of confidence, a secret. 4. To show signs of; reveal; indicate. betrays, betrayed, betraying, moon-betrayed.
betrayed ::: 1. Corrupted, falsified. 2. Exposed. 3. Revealed
betrothal ::: 1. A mutual promise to marry.
be ::: v. i. --> To exist actually, or in the world of fact; to have ex/stence.
To exist in a certain manner or relation, -- whether as a reality or as a product of thought; to exist as the subject of a certain predicate, that is, as having a certain attribute, or as belonging to a certain sort, or as identical with what is specified, -- a word or words for the predicate being annexed; as, to be happy; to be here; to be large, or strong; to be an animal; to be a hero; to be a
bewilder ::: to confuse utterly; puzzle completely. bewildered.
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 *
Bearing the owner’s name someway in the corners,
BEAUTY. ::: Beauty is as much an expression of the Divine as Knowledge, Power or Ananda.
"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.
Becoming. The eternal Divine is the Being ; the universe in
Behold, at noon leaving this house of clay
BEING AND BECOMING. ::: What is original and eternal for ever in the Divine Is the -Being, what is developed in conscious- ness, conditions, forces, forms etc., by the Divine Power is the
Being, Book of
Being or a Presence — sometimes one of these, sometimes several of them or all together. The movement of ascension has diffe- rent results ; it may liberate the consciousness so that one feels no longer in he body, but above it or else spread in wideness with the body whether almost non-existent or only a point in one’s free expanse. It may enable the being or some part of the being to go out from the body and move elsewhere, and this action is usually accompanied by some kind of partial Samadhi or else a complete trance. Or, it may result in empowering the cons- ciousness, no longer limited by the body and the habits of the external nature, to go within, to enter the inner mental depths, the inner vital, the inner (subtle) physical, the psychic, to become aware of its inmost psychic self or its inner mental, vital, and subtle physical being, and it may be, to move and live in the domains, the planes, the worlds that correspond to these parts of the nature. It is the repeated and constant ascent of the lower consciousness that enables the mind, the vital, the physical to come into touch with the higher planes up to the Supramental and get impregnated with their light and power and influence.
Being (true) ::: the true being is the inner with all its vast possibilities of reaching and expressing the Divine and especially the inmost, the soul, the psychic Purusha which is always in its essence pure, divine, turned to all that is good and true and beautiful, The exterior being has to be taken hold of by the inner being and turned into an instrument no longer of the upsurging of the ignorant subconscient Nature, but of the Divine.
BELIEF. ::: Intellectual acceptance only.
BELLS. ::: Indicate the evening or attempt to open to the enmity and opposition to God, considered as an intense, impa- tient and perverse form of Love, is conceived as a possible means of realisation and salvation.
Below navel — lower vital.
Below navel—lower vital.
Belphegor ::: Amal: “This name of a star brought in by Sri Aurobindo with powerful effect has practically no place in popular astronomy and figured rarely in past literary usage. In Syrian theology, Belphegor was a deity who symbolised the Sun. The Israelites also paid homage to him sometimes.” Sri Aurobindo—The Poet
Besides, these things leave a mark and at the place of the mark there can be a recurrence.
Besides these transcriptions or impresses the psychical vision receives thought Images and other forms created by constant activity of consciousaess in ourselves or in other human beings, and these may be according to the character of the activity, images of truth or falsehood or else mixed things, partly true, partly false, and may be too either mere shells and representa- tions or images inspired wth a temporary life and consciousness and, it may be, canjing in them in one way or another some kind of beneficent or maleficent action or some willed or unwilled effectiveness on our minds or vital being or through them e^'cn on the body. These transcriptions, impresses, thought images, life images, projections of the consciousness may also be representa- tions or creations not of the physical wxtrJd, but of vital, psychic or mental worlds beyond us, seen in our own minds or projected from other than human beings. And as there is this psychical vision of which some of the more cxremaf ana’ ordinary marrr- festaUons arc well enough known by the name of clairvoyance, so there is a psychical hearing and psychical touch, taste, smell
Best method of sadhana ::: To have the basis of quietude and allow the Divine Force to work in you' firmly and quietly is always the best method ; it is not necessary to proceed through a big personal effort, disturbance and struggle.
Beyond all these is the Absolute.
Beyond ::: “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
TERMS ANYWHERE
1. ‘The beginning and the end," originally of the divine Being. 2. The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.
1. Where something originated or was nurtured in its early existence. 2. The place where something begins, where it springs into being.
abandon ::: 1. To give oneself up, devote oneself to (a person or thing); to yield oneself without restraint. 2. To withdraw one"s support or help from, especially in spite of duty, allegiance, or responsibility; desert: leave behind. 3. To give up; discontinue; withdraw from. abandons, abandoned, abandoning.
aberrations ::: 1. Deviations or divergences from a direct, prescribed, or ordinary course or mode of action, esp. moral or proper.
able to be heard; heard or perceptible by the ear; loud enough to be heard.
abortive ::: terminated before completion.
absence ::: the state of being away (from any place) or not being present; also the time of duration of such state.
absent ::: 1. Being away, withdrawn from, or not present (at a place). 2. Of time: Not present, distant, far off.
absolute ::: adj. 1. Free from all imperfection or deficiency; complete, finished; perfect, consummate. 2. Of degree: Complete, entire; in the fullest sense. 3. Having ultimate power, governing totally; unlimited by a constitution or the concurrent authority of a parliament; arbitrary, despotic. 4. Existing without relation to any other being; self-existent; self-sufficing. 5. Capable of being thought or conceived by itself alone; unconditioned. 6. Considered independently of its being subjective or objective. n. 7. Something that is not dependent upon external conditions for existence or for its specific nature, size, etc. (opposed to relative). Absolute, Absolute"s, absolutes, absoluteness.
absorbed ::: 1. Engrossed or entirely occupied; preoccupied. 2. Swallowed up, or comprised, so as no longer to exist apart.
abyss ::: 1. The great deep, the primal chaos; the ‘bowels of the earth", the supposed cavity of the lower world; the ‘infernal pit". 2. A bottomless gulf; any unfathomable or apparently unfathomable cavity or void space; a profound gulf, chasm, or void extending beneath. Abyss, abyss"s, abysses.
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.
accident ::: 1. Any event that happens unexpectedly, without a deliberate plan or cause. 2. A fortuitous circumstance, quality, or characteristic. 3. An unfortunate event, a disaster, a mishap. accidents.
"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 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
"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*
adamant ::: n. 1. Any impenetrably or unyieldingly hard substance. 2. A legendary stone of impenetrable hardness, formerly sometimes identified with the diamond. adj. **3. Unshakeable, inflexible, utterly unyielding. 4. Incapable of being broken, dissolved, or penetrated; immovable, impregnable. adamantine.**
A Dictionary of Words and Terms in Sri Aurobindo"s SavitriLexicon of an Infinite MindNarad (Richard Eggenberger)
adj. 1. Rousing (something) or being aroused, as if from sleep. n. awakenings. 2. Recognitions, realizations, or coming into awareness of things.
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*
adorn ::: to beautify as an ornament does; decorate; to add beauty or lustre to. adorned.
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.
adversity ::: the condition of adverse fortune or fate; a state opposed to well-being or prosperity; misfortune, distress, trial, or affliction.
adytum ::: the innermost part of a temple; the secret shrine whence oracles were delivered; a most sacred or reserved part of any place of worship; hence, fig. a private or inner chamber, a sanctum.
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
aesthete ::: a person who has or professes to have refined sensitivity toward the beauties of art or nature.
aesthetic ::: pertaining to a sense of the beautiful or pleasing; characterized by a love of beauty; tasteful, of refined taste.
"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.*
affiliated ::: being in close formal or informal association; related.
affinity ::: 1. Causal relationship or connexion (as flowing the one from the other, or having a common source). 2. A psychical or spiritual attraction believed by some sects to exist between persons.
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.
age ::: n. **1. A great period or stage of the history of the Earth. 2. Hist. Any great period or portion of human history distinguished by certain characters real or mythical, as the Golden Age, the Patriarchal Age, the Bronze Age, the Age of the Reformation, the Middle Ages, the Prehistoric Age. 3. A generation or a series of generations. 4. Advanced years; old age. age"s, ages, ages". v. 5.** To grow old; to become aged.
agree ::: 1. To be in harmony or unison in opinions, feelings, conduct, etc.; to be in sympathy; to live or act together harmoniously; to have no causes of variance. 2. To give consent; assent (often followed by to). agreed.
aim ::: n. Fig. 1. A thing intended or desired to be effected; an object, purpose. Aim, aims. *v. 2. To point or direct a gun, arrow, etc. toward. *aimed.
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.
algebra ::: the branch of mathematics that deals with general statements of relations, utilizing letters and other symbols to represent specific sets of numbers, values, vectors, etc., in the description of such relations. 2. Any special system of notation adapted to the study of a special system of relationship.
alien ::: 1. Unlike one"s own; strange; not belonging to one; belonging to another person, place, or family. 2. Adverse; hostile. aliens.
"All birds of that region are relatives. But this is the bird of eternal Ananda, while the Hippogriff is the divinised Thought and the Bird of Fire is the Agni-bird, psychic and tapas. All that however is to mentalise too much and mentalising always takes most of the life out of spiritual things. That is why I say it can be seen but nothing said about it.” ::: "The question was: ‘In the mystical region, is the dragon bird any relation of your Bird of Fire with ‘gold-white wings" or your Hippogriff with ‘face lustred, pale-blue-lined"? And why do you write: ‘What to say about him? One can only see"?” Letters on Savitri
::: "All conscious being is one and indivisible in itself, but in manifestation it becomes a complex rhythm, a scale of harmonies, a hierarchy of states or movements.” The Upanishads
alley ::: a passage between buildings; hence, a narrow street, a lane; usually only wide enough for foot-passengers. blind alley*: one that is closed at the end, so as to be no thoroughfare; a cul de sac*.
allowed ::: 1. Permitted the occurrence or existence of. 2. Allotted, assigned, bestowed. allows.
all- ::: prefix: Wholly, altogether, infinitely. Since 1600, the number of these [combinations] has been enormously extended, all-** having become a possible prefix, in poetry at least, to almost any adjective of quality. all-affirming, All-Beautiful, All-Beautiful"s, All-Bliss, All-Blissful, All-causing, all-concealing, all-conquering, All-Conscient, All-Conscious, all-containing, All-containing, all-creating, all-defeating, All-Delight, all-discovering, all-embracing, all-fulfilling, all-harbouring, all-inhabiting, all-knowing, All-knowing, All-Knowledge, all-levelling, All-Life, All-love, All-Love, all-negating, all-powerful, all-revealing, All-ruler, all-ruling, all-seeing, All-seeing, all-seeking, all-shaping, all-supporting, all-sustaining, all-swallowing, All-Truth, All-vision, All-Wisdom, all-wise, All-Wise, all-witnessing, All-Wonderful, All-Wonderful"s.**
All these centres are in the middle of the body; they are supposed to be attached to the spinal cord; but in fact all these things are in the subtle body, suksma deha , though one has the feeling of their activities as if in the physical body when the consciousness is awake.” Letters on Yoga
already ::: 1. Core Meaning: an adverb indicating that something has happened before now. 2. Happened in the past before a particular time, or will have happened by or before a particular time in the future. 3. Unexpectedly early.
amateur ::: a person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons.
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.
amorous ::: inclined or disposed to love; in love, enamoured, fond. 2. Showing or expressing love. 3. Being in love; enamoured.
anarch ::: a. Lawless, rebellious; n. An adherent of anarchy or a leader practicing it.
"Anarchism is likely to be the protest of the human soul against the tyranny of a bureaucratic Socialism.” Essays Divine and Human
". . . an Avatar is not at all bound to be a spiritual prophet — he is never in fact merely a prophet, he is a realiser, an establisher — not of outward things only, though he does realise something in the outward also, but, as I have said, of something essential and radical needed for the terrestrial evolution which is the evolution of the embodied spirit through successive stages towards the Divine.” Letters on Yoga
ancestors ::: forebears; descendants. progenitors.
anchor ::: 1. Any of various devices dropped by a chain, cable, or rope to the bottom of a body of water for preventing or restricting the motion of a vessel or other floating object, typically having broad, hooklike arms that bury themselves in the bottom to provide a firm hold. 2. A person or thing that can be relied on for support, stability, or security; mainstay.
anchored ::: fixed or fasten firmly so as to be at rest.
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.
ancient; existing for numberless centuries.
angel ::: 1. One of a class of spiritual beings; a celestial attendant of the Deity; a divine messenger of an order of spiritual beings superior to man in power. 2. A fallen or rebellious spirit once a spiritual attendant of the Divine. angel, Angels, **angels.
**Angel of the Way *Sri Aurobindo: "Love fulfilled does not exclude knowledge, but itself brings knowledge; and the completer the knowledge, the richer the possibility of love. ‘By Bhakti" says the Lord in the Gita ‘shall a man know Me in all my extent and greatness and as I am in the principles of my being, and when he has known Me in the principles of my being, then he enters into Me." Love without knowledge is a passionate and intense, but blind, crude, often dangerous thing, a great power, but also a stumbling-block; love, limited in knowledge, condemns itself in its fervour and often by its very fervour to narrowness; but love leading to perfect knowledge brings the infinite and absolute union. Such love is not inconsistent with, but rather throws itself with joy into divine works; for it loves God and is one with him in all his being, and therefore in all beings, and to work for the world is then to feel and fulfil multitudinously one"s love for God. This is the trinity of our powers, [work, knowledge, love] the union of all three in God to which we arrive when we start on our journey by the path of devotion with Love for the Angel of the Way to find in the ecstasy of the divine delight of the All-Lover"s being the fulfilment of ours, its secure home and blissful abiding-place and the centre of its universal radiation.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
animal ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The animal is a living laboratory in which Nature has, it is said, worked out man. Man himself may well be a thinking and living laboratory in whom and with whose conscious co-operation she wills to work out the superman, the god. Or shall we not say, rather, to manifest God?” *The Life Divine
animate ::: alive; possessing life , endowed with life. half-animate. half-animated. Giving the appearance of moving, of being alive.
anklet ::: an ornamental circlet worn around the ankle; an ankle-ring. anklet-bells.
another ::: adj. 1. Being one more or more of the same; further; additional. 2. Very similar to; of the same kind or category as. 3. Different; distinct; of a different period, place, or kind. pron. **4. A person other than oneself or the one specified. 5. One more; an additional one. another"s**.
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.
antique ::: 1. Of or belonging to the past. 2. Dating from a period long ago; ancient.
anxious ::: full of mental distress or uneasiness because of fear of danger or misfortune; greatly worried.
a painful burden, as of suffering, guilt, anxiety, etc. (From the wreath of thorns placed on Christ"s head to mock him before he was crucified.)
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
apparent ::: readily seen; exposed to sight; open to view. 2. Capable of being easily perceived or understood; plain or clear; obvious; visible.
appear ::: 1. To come into sight; become visible; come into view, as from a place or state of concealment, or from a distance; esp. of angels, spirits, visions. 2. To come into existence; be created. 3. To be clear to the understanding. 4. To seem or look to be. appears, appeared, appearing.
appearance ::: 1. The act or fact of coming forward into view ; becoming visible. 2. The state, condition, manner, or style in which a person or object appears; outward look or aspect. 3. Outward show or seeming; semblance. appearances.
approach ::: v. 1. To come near or nearer to; draw near. 2. To come near to a person: i.e. into personal relations; into his presence or audience; or fig. within the range of his notice or attention. 3. To come near in quality, character, time, or condition; to be nearly equal. approaches, approached, approaching.* *n. 4. Any means of access or way of passage, avenue. 5. The act of drawing near. approaches.**
apsaras ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The Apsaras are the most beautiful and romantic conception on the lesser plane of Hindu mythology. From the moment that they arose out of the waters of the milky Ocean, robed in ethereal raiment and heavenly adornment, waking melody from a million lyres, the beauty and light of them has transformed the world. They crowd in the sunbeams, they flash and gleam over heaven in the lightnings, they make the azure beauty of the sky; they are the light of sunrise and sunset and the haunting voices of forest and field. They dwell too in the life of the soul; for they are the ideal pursued by the poet through his lines, by the artist shaping his soul on his canvas, by the sculptor seeking a form in the marble; for the joy of their embrace the hero flings his life into the rushing torrent of battle; the sage, musing upon God, sees the shining of their limbs and falls from his white ideal. The delight of life, the beauty of things, the attraction of sensuous beauty, this is what the mystic and romantic side of the Hindu temperament strove to express in the Apsara. The original meaning is everywhere felt as a shining background, but most in the older allegories, especially the strange and romantic legend of Pururavas as we first have it in the Brahmanas and the Vishnoupurana.
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.
arc ::: 1. Any unbroken part of the circumference of a circle or other curved line. 2. A luminous bridge formed in a gap between two electrodes. arcs.
arch ::: 1. An upwardly curved construction, for spanning an opening, consisting of a number of wedgelike stones, bricks, or the like, set with the narrower side toward the opening in such a way that forces on the arch are transmitted as vertical or oblique stresses on either side of the opening, either capable of bearing weight or merely ornamental; 2. Something bowed or curved; any bowlike part: the arch of the foot. 3. An arched roof, door; gateway; vault; fig. the heavens. arches.
arch- ::: a combining form that represents the outcome of archi- in words borrowed through Latin from Greek in the Old English period; it subsequently became a productive form added to nouns of any origin, which thus denote individuals or institutions directing or having authority over others of their class (archbishop; archdiocese; archpriest): principal. More recently, arch-1 has developed the senses "principal” (archenemy; archrival) or "prototypical” and thus exemplary or extreme (archconservative); nouns so formed are almost always pejorative. Arch-intelligence.
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.
arise ::: 1. To get up from sleep or rest; to awaken; wake up. 2. To go up, come up, ascend on high, mount. Now only poet. **3. To come into being, action, or notice; originate; appear; spring up. 4. Of circumstances viewed as results: To spring, originate, or result from. 5. To rise from inaction, from the peaceful, quiet, or ordinary course of life. 6. To rise in violence or agitation, as the sea, the wind; to boil up as a fermenting fluid, the blood; so of the heart, wrath, etc. Now poet. 7. Of sounds: To come up aloud, or so as to be audible, to be heard aloud. arises, arising, arose, arisen. *(Sri Aurobindo also employs arisen as an adj.*)
aristocracy ::: the class to which a ruling body belongs, a patrician order; the collective body of those who form a privileged class; also used fig. of those who are superior.
arraigned ::: called (an accused person) before a court to answer the charge made against him or her by indictment, information, or complaint, or brought before a court to answer to an indictment; accused, charged with fault.
arrange ::: 1. To put into a specific order or relation; dispose. 2. To settle the order, manner, and circumstantial relations of (a thing to be done); to prepare or plan beforehand. arranged, arranging, self-arranged.
arrogant ::: 1. Having or displaying a sense of overbearing self-worth or self-importance. 2. Marked by or arising from a feeling or assumption of one"s superiority toward others.
"Art is a living harmony and beauty that must be expressed in all the movements of existence. This manifestation of beauty and harmony is part of the Divine realisation upon earth, perhaps even its greatest part.” Questions and Answers, MCW Vol. 3.
artist ::: 1. One who practises the creative arts; one who seeks to express the beautiful in visible form. 2. A follower of a manual art; an artificer, mechanic, craftsman, artisan. artists. (Sri Aurobindo often employs the word as an adj.)
art ::: v. archaic** A second person singular present indicative of be, now only poet., not in modern usage. All other references are to art as the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance. Also, the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria. art"s, arts, art-parades.
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
as it would be if; as though. (Introducing a supposition, or way of conceiving some entity or situation, that is not to be taken literally, but yields some insight or convenience in metaphysics.)
aspect ::: 1. Appearance to the eye or mind; look. 2. Nature; quality, character. 3. A way in which a thing may be viewed or regarded; interpretation; view. 4. Part; feature; phase. aspects.
"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
assail ::: 1. To attack vigorously or violently; assault. 2. To impinge upon; make an impact on; beset. 3. To take upon oneself a difficult challenge with the intention of mastering it. assailed, assailing.
assemblage ::: a number of persons gathered together; a gathering, concourse. (Less formal than assembly.)
"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
astray ::: 1. Away from the correct path or direction. 2. Away from the right or good, as in thought or behaviour; straying to or into wrong or evil ways.
atavism ::: 1. The reappearance in an individual of characteristics of some remote ancestor that have been absent in intervening generations. 2. Reversion to an earlier type.
atheist ::: adj. Disbelieving or denying the existence of a supreme God.
athlete ::: Sri Aurobindo employs the word as an adj. in the sense of athletic: Of the nature of, or befitting, one who is physically active, powerful, muscular, robust, agile.
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.
autumnal ::: of, belonging to or suggestive of, autumn.
autumn ::: the season of the year between summer and winter, lasting from the autumnal equinox to the winter solstice and from September to December in the Northern Hemisphere; fall.
availed ::: to be of use, value, or advantage; to have the necessary force to accomplishment something.
avatars ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The word Avatar means a descent; it is a coming down of the Divine below the line which divides the divine from the human world or status.” *Essays on the Gita
avenge ::: to inflict a punishment or penalty in return for; take vengeance on behalf of. avenges.
awake ::: v. 1. To arouse from sleep or inactivity. 2. Fig. To rise from a state resembling sleep, such as death, indifference, inaction; to become active or vigilant. 3. To come or bring to an awareness, to become cognizant, to be fully conscious, to appreciate fully (often followed by to). awakes, awoke, awaking. *adj.* 4. Not asleep; conscious; vigilant, alert. half-awake.
axis ::: 1. The pivot on which any matter turns. 2. A straight line about which a body or geometric object rotates or may be conceived to rotate.
babe ::: a baby; child or infant.
*Babel-builders".
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
backward ::: 1. To, toward or into the past. 2. In or toward a past time. 3. Late in developing, behind; slow, esp. relating to time or progress. far-backward.
baffled ::: 1. Confused, bewildered, or perplexed. 2. Frustrated or confounded; thwarted. baffles, baffling.
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.**
banner ::: 1. A piece of cloth bearing a motto or legend. 2. A placard carried in a demonstration.
bare ::: v. 1. To make bare; uncover or reveal. 2. Fig. To expose. bared, baring. adj. 3. Lacking clothing or covering; naked 4. Fig. Exposed to view; undisguised. 5. Just sufficient; mere. 6. Lacking embellishment or ornamentation; unembellished; simple; plain. 7. Unprotected; without defence. 8. Devoid of covering, a leafless trees. 9. Sheer, as bare cliffs. heaven-bare, bareness.
bargain ::: an agreement between parties fixing obligations, etc. that each promises to carry out.
basement ::: the substructure or foundation of a building usually below ground level.
bathe ::: 1. To become immersed in or as if in liquid, as a bath or in other substances or elements. 2. To wash or pour over; suffuse or envelope, like sunshine. bathed, bathing.
battalion ::: 1. An army unit typically consisting of a headquarters and two or more companies, batteries, or similar subunits. 2. A large body of organized troops in battle gear. 3. A large indefinite number of persons or things.
battle ::: n. 1. An encounter between opposing forces; armed fighting; combat. v. 3. To fight against. Also fig. 4. To contend, struggle against. 5. To work very hard or struggle; strive. battled.
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).
beacon ::: 1. A source of guidance or inspiration. 2. A signalling or guiding device or warning signal as a light or signal fire.
beam ::: 1. A ray of light. 2. A ray or collection of parallel rays. 3. A column of light, a gleam, emanation. Also fig. **beams.**
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.
bearer ::: one who carries, supports, holds up or brings. torch-bearer, torch-bearers.
bearing witness to, affirming the truth or genuineness of; testifying to, certifying, vouching for. attests.
bear up ::: carry; hold up; support.
beast ::: 1. An animal other than a human, especially a large four-footed mammal. 2. Fig. Animal nature as opposed to intellect or spirit. 3. A large wild animal. 4. A domesticated animal used by man. (Sri Aurobindo also employs the word as an adj.) beast"s, Beast"s, beasts, wild-beast. ::: —the Beast. Applied to the devil and evil spirits.
beasthood ::: the state or nature of a beast.
beaten
beatific ::: showing, producing, or experiencing exalted joy or blessedness.
beating ::: n. 1. A throbbing or pulsation, as of the heart. beatings. adj. 2. Throbbings, pulsations.
beatitude ::: supreme blessedness or happiness. beatitude"s, beatitudes.
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 ::: the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, colour, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else, (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest). Beauty, beauty"s, Beauty"s, beauty-drenched, earth-beauty"s.
beck ::: a summons or gesture of summoning or directing someone.
beckoned ::: invited or enticed; lured. beckons.
beckoning ::: signalling, summoning.
bed ::: 1. A piece or part forming a foundation or base; a stratum. 2. The grave. 3. A sleeping-place generally; any extemporized resting place. 4. A piece or area of ground in a garden or lawn in which plants are grown. beds.
bed-fellows ::: those who are closely associated or allied with one another.
bee-croon ::: the soft, soothing, low murmuring sound produced by bees.
beganst ::: a native English form of the verb, to begin, now only in formal and poetic usage.
beginningless ::: without a beginning; without origin; uncreated.
begot ::: pt. of beget. 1. Caused to exist or occur; created. 2. Called into being, gave rise to; produced. begotten.
behaviour ::: 1. Manner of behaving or conducting oneself. 2. The aggregate of the responses or reactions or movements made by an organism in any situation, or the manner in which a thing acts under such circumstances. behaviour"s.
beheld ::: pt. of behold.
behest ::: an authoritative command or directive.
behold ::: v. 1. To perceive by the visual faculty; see. beholds. Interj. **2.** Look; see.
being ::: 1. The state or quality of having existence. 2. The totality of all things that exist. 3. One"s basic or essential nature; self. 4. All the qualities constituting one that exists; the essence. 5. A person; human being. 6. The Divine, the Supreme; God. Being, being"s, Being"s, beings, Beings, beings", earth-being"s, earth-beings, fragment-being, non-being, non-being"s, Non-Being, Non-Being"s, world-being"s.
Sri Aurobindo: "Pure Being is the affirmation by the Unknowable of Itself as the free base of all cosmic existence.” *The Life Divine :::
"The Absolute manifests itself in two terms, a Being and a Becoming. The Being is the fundamental reality; the Becoming is an effectual reality: it is a dynamic power and result, a creative energy and working out of the Being, a constantly persistent yet mutable form, process, outcome of its immutable formless essence.” *The Life Divine
"What is original and eternal for ever in the Divine is the Being, what is developed in consciousness, conditions, forces, forms, etc., by the Divine Power is the Becoming. The eternal Divine is the Being; the universe in Time and all that is apparent in it is a Becoming.” Letters on Yoga
"Being and Becoming, One and Many are both true and are both the same thing: Being is one, Becomings are many; but this simply means that all Becomings are one Being who places Himself variously in the phenomenal movement of His consciousness.” The Upanishads :::
"Our whole apparent life has only a symbolic value & is good & necessary as a becoming; but all becoming has being for its goal & fulfilment & God is the only being.” *Essays Divine and Human
"Our being is a roughly constituted chaos into which we have to introduce the principle of a divine order.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
being, conscious ::: Sri Aurobindo: "We have to conceive one indivisible conscious being behind all our experiences. . . . That is our real self.” *The Life Divine
being, Master of ::: Sri Aurobindo: " Vamadeva goes on to say, "Let us give expression to this secret name of the clarity, — that is to say, let us bring out this Soma wine, this hidden delight of existence; let us hold it in this world-sacrifice by our surrenderings or submissions to Agni, the divine Will or Conscious-Power which is the Master of being.” The Secret of the Veda
beings ::: things or entities that exist, esp. things or entities that cannot be assigned to any category.
being, triune ::: a being that is three in one; a trinity.
belched ::: 1. Erupted or exploded. 2. Expelled gas noisily from the stomach through the mouth.
beleaguer ::: to harass; beset; besiege.
belied ::: shown to be false; contradicted; gave a false representation to; misrepresented.
belief ::: 1. Confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof. 2. Trust or confidence, faith. 3. Something believed; an opinion or conviction. beliefs.
Question: "Sweet Mother, l don"t understand very clearly the difference between faith, belief and confidence.”
Mother: "But Sri Aurobindo has given the full explanation here. If you don"t understand, then. . . He has written ‘Faith is a feeling in the whole being." The whole being, yes. Faith, that"s the whole being at once. He says that belief is something that occurs in the head, that is purely mental; and confidence is quite different. Confidence, one can have confidence in life, trust in the Divine, trust in others, trust in one"s own destiny, that is, one has the feeling that everything is going to help him, to do what he wants to do. Faith is a certitude without any proof. Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 6.
believed in ::: was persuaded of the truth or existence of; had faith in the reliability, honesty, benevolence, etc. of.
believes ::: accepts as true or real. believed.
bellowed ::: emitted a hollow, loud, animal cry, as a bull or cow; roared.
belly ::: 1. The stomach. 2. The inside or interior cavity of something.
belong ::: 1. To be a part of or adjunct. 2. To be the property, attribute, or possession of. belongs.
belongings ::: possessions; things owned, either tangible or intangible.
beloved ::: n. 1. A person who is dearly loved. beloved"s, Beloved, Beloved"s. *adj. *2. Dearly loved.
belt ::: 1. Any encircling or transverse band, strip, or stripe characteristically distinguished from the surface it crosses. 2. An elongated region having distinctive properties or characteristics and long in proportion to its breadth. 3. A zone or district.
bench ::: 1. A long seat usually made of wood, for two or more persons. 2. A seat occupied by a person in an official capacity, esp. a judge. 3. Such a seat as a symbol of the office and dignity of an individual judge or the judiciary.
bend ::: 1. To assume a curved, crooked, or angular form or direction, esp. to bend the body; stoop. 2. Fig. To bow, esp. in reverence. 3. To turn or incline in a particular direction; be directed. bends.
bending ::: pulling back the string of (a bow or the like) in preparation for shooting.
benignancies ::: qualities of kindness, gentleness and benevolence.
benign ::: favourable, propitious.
bent ::: personal inclination, propensity, tendency or aptitude.
benumbed ::: made (any part of the body) insensible, torpid, or powerless; made numb, deprived of sensation; stupefied or stunned, as by a blow or shock; now mostly used for the effects of cold.
bequeathed ::: disposed of (property, etc.) by last will; fig. handed down, passed on.
bereft ::: deprived of or lacking something needed or expected.
beset ::: 1. Attacked from all sides. 2. Hemmed in; surrounded.
besetter ::: one who or that which besets.
besiege ::: 1. To surround with hostile forces. 2. To crowd around; hem in; crowd in upon; surround. besieged.
bestial ::: resembling a beast; brutal; savage; lacking refinement; depraved.
bestrides ::: towers over, dominates, as a victor over the fallen.
betimes ::: in good time; in a short time, soon.
betray ::: 1. To be false or disloyal to. 2. To lead astray; deceive. 3. To divulge, disclose in a breach of confidence, a secret. 4. To show signs of; reveal; indicate. betrays, betrayed, betraying, moon-betrayed.
betrayed ::: 1. Corrupted, falsified. 2. Exposed. 3. Revealed
betrothal ::: 1. A mutual promise to marry.
bewilder ::: to confuse utterly; puzzle completely. bewildered.
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 *
"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
Below navel — lower vital.
"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
bird ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The Bird in the Veda is the symbol, very frequently, of the soul liberated and upsoaring, at other times of energies so liberated and upsoaring, winging upwards towards the heights of our being, winging widely with a free flight, no longer involved in the ordinary limited movement or labouring gallop of the Life-energy, the Horse, Ashwa.” *The Secret of the Veda
birth ::: 1. The act or fact of being born. 2. Fig. The coming into existence of something; origin. Birth, birth"s, births.
"Birth is an assumption of a body by the spirit, death is the casting off [of] the body; there is nothing original in this birth, nothing final in this death. Before birth we were; after death we shall be. Nor are our birth and death a single episode without continuous meaning or sequel; it is one episode out of many, scenes of our drama of existence with its denouement far away in time.” Essays Divine and Human*
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.
bizarrerie ::: strangeness or grotesqueness, especially strange or unconventional behaviour.
blaspheme ::: to speak in an irreverent, contemptuous or disrespectful manner; curse; (esp. God, a divine being or sacred things).
blazon ::: the description or representation of a coat of arms or banner bearing the symbol of a coat of arms.
bless ::: 1. To make holy; sanctify. 2. To invoke or bestow divine favour upon.
blessing ::: 1. Something promoting or contributing to happiness, well-being, or prosperity; a boon. 2. A ceremonial prayer invoking divine protection, grace, etc.
blind alley ::: 1. A road, alley, etc. that is open only at one end. 2. A position or situation offering no hope of progress or improvement. 3. A situation in which no further progress can be made.
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.**
bodily ::: 1. Physical as opposed to mental or spiritual. 2. Of, relating to, or belonging to the body or the physical nature of man.
body ::: 1. The entire material or physical structure of an organism, especially of a human or animal as differentiated from the soul. 2. The entire physical structure of a human being. 3. A mass of matter that is distinct from other masses. 4. Substance. 5. An agent or entity. 6. The mass of a thing. 7. A mass of matter that is distinct from other masses. 8. The largest or main part of anything; the foundation; central part. body"s, bodies.
boisterous ::: rough and noisy; noisily jolly or rowdy; clamorous; unrestrained, excessively exuberant.
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.
boon ::: 1. A blessing; something to be thankful for. 2. A timely blessing or benefit received in response to a request or prayer. boons.
borderland ::: an indeterminate region esp. the area between two worlds.
border ::: n. 1. A part that forms the outer edge of something. 2. The line or frontier area separating political divisions or geographic regions; a boundary. 3. A strip of ground, as that at the edge of a garden or walk, an edging. borders. v. 4. To form the boundary of; be contiguous to. fig. To confine. 5. To lie adjacent to another. bordered.
bore ::: (Pt. of bear*.*)
borne ::: (Pp. of bear.)
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.
boundless ::: n. 1. That which is without bounds; illimitable. 2. *adj. *Being without bounds or limits; infinite.
bowed ::: bent or curved.
bow ::: to bend (the head, knee, or body) to express greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgement, submission, or veneration. bows, bowed.
breadth ::: 1. The measure or the second largest dimension of a plane or solid figure; width. 2. Freedom from narrowness or restraint; liberality. 3. Tolerance; broadmindedness. breadths.
breaking-point ::: the point at which a condition or situation becomes critical.
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.
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.
bribe ::: something, such as money or a favour, offered or given to a person in a position of trust to influence that person"s views or conduct.
bride ::: 1. A woman who is about to be married or has recently been married. Also fig. 2. The divine creatrix. Bride, brides, earth-bride.
bridegroom ::: a man who is about to be married, or has recently been married.
brightness ::: the state or quality of being bright, luminous.
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.
broadened ::: v. 1. Became broad or broader; widened. adj. 2. Extended; expanded; in scope or range.
broken ::: 1. Forcibly separated into two or more pieces; fractured. 2. Crushed in spirit or temper; discouraged; overcome. 3. Incomplete. 4. Interrupted disturbed; disconnected. 5. Torn; ruptured. (Also pp. of break.)
bruised ::: hurt, especially psychologically, beaten; pounded; crushed.
brute ::: n. **1. Any animal except man; a beast; a lower animal. brute"s. adj. 2. Animal, not human. 3. Lacking or showing a lack of reason or intelligence. 4. Wholly instinctive; senseless; coarse; brutish; dull. 5. Resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility; cruel or savage. brute-sensed.**
buffer state ::: a nation lying between potentially hostile larger nations.
builder ::: a person who builds. Also fig. builders, Babel-builders", master-builders.
bulge ::: a rounded projection, bend or protruding part; protuberance; hump.
burdened ::: 1. Weighed down; oppressed. 2. Bearing a heavy load of work, difficulties or responsibilities. 3. Laden with; charged with. pleasure-burdened, sign-burdened.
burden ::: n. 1. A weight that is to be borne; a load. 2. Something that is emotionally difficult to bear. v. **3. To load or overload. 4.** To oppress; tax; with responsibility, etc.
buried ::: v. 1. Deposited or hid under ground; covered up with earth or other material. Also fig. **2. Plunged or sunk deep in, so as to be covered from view; put out of sight. adj. 3. Put in the ground or in a tomb; interred. 4. Consigned to a position of obscurity, inaccessibility, or inaction. 5.* Fig.* Consigned to oblivion, put out of the way, abandoned and forgotten.
burn ::: 1. To be very eager; aflame with activity, as to be on fire. 2. To emit heat or light by as if by combustion; to flame.. 3. To give off light or to glow brightly. 4. To light; a candle; incense, etc.) as an offering. 5. To suffer punishment or death by or as if by fire; put to death by fire. 6. To injure, endanger, or damage with or as if with fire. 7. Fig. To be consumed with strong emotions; be aflame with desire; anger; etc. 8. To shine intensely; to seem to glow as if on fire. burns, burned, burnt, burning.
burning ::: adj. 1. Aflame; on fire. Also fig. 2. Very bright; glowing; luminous. 3. Characterized by intense emotion; passionate. 4. Urgent or crucial. 5. Extremely hot; scorching. 6. Very hot. ever-burning.* *n. 7. The state, process, sensation, or effect of being on fire, burned, or subjected to intense heat. altar-burnings.**
burnished ::: having a smooth glossy appearance ; luster, as rubbed and polished metal.
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
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
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*.
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.
cap ::: a special head covering worn to indicate rank, occupation, or membership in a particular group.
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.
carelessness ::: the quality of not being careful or taking pains; being negligent.
care ::: n. **1. A burdened state of mind, as that arising from heavy responsibilities; worry. 2. An object of or cause for concern. 3. Watchful oversight; charge or supervision. 4. An object or source of worry, attention, or solicitude. care, cares. v. 5. To be concerned or interested, have concern for. cares, cared.**
carven ::: that has been wrought or decorated by carving.
caste-mark ::: (In India) a mark, usually on the forehead, symbolising and identifying caste membership.
cast ::: v. 1. To throw with force; hurl. 2. To form (liquid metal, for example) into a particular shape by pouring into a mould. Also fig. 3. To cause to fall upon something or in a certain direction; send forth. 4. To throw on the ground, as in wrestling. 5. To put or place, esp. hastily or forcibly. 6. To direct (the eye, a glance, etc.) 7. To throw (something) forth or off. 8. To bestow; confer. casts, casting.
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.
-causing ::: being the cause of; effecting, bringing about, producing, inducing, making. All-causing.
cavern ::: a large underground chamber, as in a cave. caverns, cavern-passages.
cease ::: v. 1. To come to an end; stop. 2. To put an end to a condition or state of being; discontinue. 3. To come to an end; pass away; no longer exist. ceases, ceased* *n. 4.** Cessation.
certain ::: capable of being relied on; dependable.
certainty ::: 1. The fact, quality, or state of being certain. 2. Something certain; an assured fact.
cestus ::: a girdle or belt, esp. as worn in ancient Greece.
chamber ::: 1. Archaic or poetic: A room in a private house, esp. a bedroom. 2. An enclosed space; compartment. chamber"s, chambers, work-chamber.
chambered ::: enclosed in or as in a chamber.
chance ::: n. 1. The absence of any cause of events that can be predicted, understood, or controlled: often personified or treated as a positive agency. 2. The happening of events; the way in which things happen; fortune. 3. An opportune or favourable time; opportunity. 4. Fortune; luck; fate. Chance, chances. *adj.* 5. Not planned or expected; accidental. v. 6. To happen by chance; be the case by chance.** chanced.
changelessness ::: the quality of being unchangeable; having a marked tendency to remain unchanged.
change ::: v. 1. To make the form, nature, content, future course, etc. of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone. 2. To become different or undergo alteration. changes, changed, changing, ever-changing.* n. 3. The act or fact of changing; transformation or modification of anything. Change, changes, soul-change.
channel ::: n. **1. A course through which something may be transmitted or through which something may be moved or directed onward. 2. The bed of a stream or river, etc. v. 3. To direct or convey something through (or as through) a channel. channels.**
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.
charity ::: benevolence or generosity toward others or toward humanity.
chastise ::: 1. To discipline or punish, esp. by beating. *v. *2. Purify; refine.
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.
chess-play ::: the game of chess; a board game for two players, each beginning with 16 pieces of six kinds that are moved according to individual rules, with the objective of checkmating the opposing king. chess-player.
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.
childhood ::: 1. The time or state of being a child. 2. The early stage in the existence or development of something. childhood"s.
childish ::: 1. Of, like, or befitting a child. 2. Marked by or indicating a lack of maturity; puerile.
childlike ::: like or befitting a child, as in innocence, trustfulness, or candour.
chime ::: to be in agreement or accord: harmonize; be compatible with.
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.
choice ::: 1. The act of choosing; selection. 2. The power, right, or liberty to choose; option. 3. A person or thing chosen or that may be chosen.
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.
chosen ::: n. 1. Having been selected by God; elect. adj. 2. Selected from or preferred above others. self-chosen. (Also pp. of choose.)
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.
circumscribe ::: to enclose or restrict within limits; confine. circumscribed, circumscribing.
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.
civic ::: of, relating to, or belonging to a city, a citizen, or citizenship; municipal or civil.
claimant ::: someone who claims a benefit, right or title. claimants.
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.
clairaudience ::: the power to hear sounds said to exist beyond the reach of ordinary experiences or capacity.
clambers ::: climbs, using both feet and hands; climbs with effort or difficulty; scrambles on all fours. clambered, clambering.
clan ::: a group of people regarded as being descended from a common ancestor; a tribe. clans.
clang ::: 1. A loud resounding noise, as a large bell or metal when struck. 2. v. To make or cause to make, or produce a loud ringing, resonant sound as of a large bell.
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.
clash ::: n. 1. A loud, harsh noise, such as that made by two metal objects in collision. 2. An encounter between hostile forces; a battle or skirmish. 3. A conflict, as between opposing or irreconcilable ideas. v. 4. To engage in a physical conflict or contest, as in a game or a battle (often followed by with). 5. To come into conflict; be in opposition. clashes, clashed, clashing.
cleavage ::: a critical division in opinion, beliefs, interests, etc. as leading to opposition between two groups.
cleave ::: 1. To adhere closely to; stick; cling. 2. To be faithful (usually fol. by to.)
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.
clustering ::: a number of things of the same kind, growing or held together; a bunch. 2. A group of things or persons close together.
coalition ::: a combination or alliance, esp. a temporary one between persons, factions, states.
coevals ::: persons belonging to the same age or generation; contemporaries.
coïl ::: a large bird belonging to the cuckoo family, native to India, with a characteristic call reminiscent of the sound of its name. coïl"s
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
columns ::: long, narrow formations of troops in which there are more members in line in the direction of movement than at right angles to the direction.—(distinguished from line).
combine ::: to integrate or cause to be integrated; join together. combined.
combs ::: a structure of hexagonal, thin-walled cells constructed from beeswax by honeybees to hold honey and larvae.
comforts ::: a condition or feeling of pleasurable ease, well-being, and contentment.
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.
commenced ::: began; started.
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.
common ::: 1. Belonging equally to or shared alike by two or more. 2. Of or relating to the community or humanity as a whole. 3. Belonging equally to or shared equally by two or more; joint. 4. Not distinguished by superior or noteworthy characteristics; average; ordinary. 5. Occurring frequently or habitually; usual. commonest.
commonness ::: the quality of being commonplace and ordinary; undistinguished.
communality ::: a feeling or spirit of cooperation and belonging arising from common interests and goals.
commune ::: 1. To communicate intimately with; be in a state of heightened, intimate receptivity. 2. To be in intimate communication or rapport. communes, communed, communing.
companioning ::: accompanying someone or being a companion to.
company ::: 1. A number of people gathered together; assembly. 2. A number of persons united or incorporated for joint action. companies.
compel ::: 1. To cause (someone) by force (to be or do something) 2. To force to submit; subdue. 3. To exert a strong, irresistible force on; sway. compels, compelled, compelling, compellingly.
competence ::: the state or quality of being adequately or well qualified; ability.
composed ::: to be made up, formed, compounded of (a material, or constituent elements); to be constituted; to consist of.
compression ::: 1. The act or process of compressing. 2. The process or result of constricting; becoming smaller or pressed together.
compulsion ::: the act of compelling or the state of being compelled.
concealed ::: kept from being seen, found, observed, or discovered; hidden. conceals, concealing, all-concealing, deep-concealed.
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.
conception ::: 1. Origin or beginning. 2. The act or power of forming notions, ideas, or concepts. 3. The act of conceiving; the state of being conceived; fertilization; inception of pregnancy. 4. Something conceived in the mind; a concept, plan, design, idea, or thought. conception"s.
confine ::: 1. To enclose within bounds, limit, restrict. 2. To shut or keep in; prevent from leaving a place because of imprisonment, illness, discipline, etc. confined.
conjunction ::: 1. The state of being joined. 2. Astronomy: The position of two celestial bodies on the celestial sphere when they have the same celestial longitude, especially a configuration in which a planet or the Moon lies on a straight line from Earth to or through the Sun.
conquest ::: 1. The act or process of conquering, being victorious. 2. Something, such as territory, acquired by conquering. conquests.
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.
conscious being ::: see being, conscious
::: "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
consistency ::: agreement or harmony between parts of something complex; compatibility.
constancy ::: the quality of being enduring and free from change or variation.
contain ::: 1. To be capable of holding. 2. To halt the spread or development of; check, esp. of opposition. 3. To hold or keep within limits; restrain. contained, contains, containing, all-containing, All-containing.
content ::: the state of being satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else. contents, contented.
contorts ::: twists, wrenches, or bends severely out of shape.
contract ::: an agreement between two or more parties, especially one that is written and enforceable by law.
contraction (‘s) ::: the act of contracting, i.e. reducing in size by drawing together; shrinking, or the state of being contracted.
contrast ::: a difference, especially a strong dissimilarity, between entities or objects compared.
convicted ::: shown or declared to be blameworthy; condemned.
conviction ::: the state of being convinced; a fixed or firm strong intellectual belief.
convince ::: 1. To move by argument or evidence to belief, agreement, consent, or a course of action; persuade.
convinced ::: brought by the use of argument or evidence to a firm belief or a course of action.
corrupt ::: 1. To destroy or subvert the honesty or integrity of. 2. To ruin morally; pervert. 3. To cause to become rotten; spoil. 4. To taint; contaminate. corrupted, corrupting.
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 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 vision ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Cosmic vision is the seeing of the universal movements — it has nothing to do with the psychic necessarily. It can be in the universal mind, the universal vital, the universal physical or anywhere.” 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
::: "Cosmos is not the Divine in all his utter reality, but a single self-expression, a true but minor motion of his being.” *The Human Cycle
councils ::: assemblies of persons summoned or convened for consultation, deliberation, or advice.
counterfeits ::: imitations intended to be passed off fraudulently or deceptively as genuine; forgeries.
countless ::: incapable of being counted; innumerable.
course ::: 1. A direction or route taken or to be taken. 2. The path, route, or channel along which anything moves. 3. Advance or progression in a particular direction; forward or onward movement. 4. The continuous passage or progress through time or a succession of stages. chariot-course.
cowl ::: n. 1. The hood or hooded robe worn especially by a monk. 2. A hood, especially a loose one; garment. v. 3. To cover with or as with a cowl.
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.**
crave ::: 1. To have an intense desire for. 2. To need urgently; require. 3. To beg earnestly for; implore. craves, craved, craving.
create ::: 1. To cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes. 2. To evolve from one"s own thought or imagination, as a work of art or an invention. 3. To cause to happen; to bring about; arrange, as by intention or design. creates, created, creating, all-creating, self-creating, world-creating, new-create.
creation ::: 1. The act or process of creating, esp. the universe as thus brought into being by God. 2. Something that has been brought into existence or created, esp. a product of human intelligence or imagination, as a work of art, music, etc. creation"s, creations, half-creations, **self-creation.
creator ::: 1. The Divine Being, creator of all things. 2. A person, force or thing that creates. Creator, creator"s, Creator"s, creators, world-creators. (Sri Aurobindo also employs creator as an adjective.)
creature ::: 1. Something created; a living being, esp. an animal. 2. A human. 3. A person who is dependent upon another; tool or puppet. creature"s, creatures, creatures".
credence ::: acceptance as true or valid; belief.
credits ::: ascribes to a person; attributes.
credo ::: any formal or authorized statement of beliefs, principles, or opinions. credos.
credulous ::: disposed to believe too readily, esp. without proper or adequate evidence; gullible.
creed ::: 1. A formal statement of religious belief; a confession of faith. 2. Any system or codification of belief or of opinion. creeds.
crooked ::: 1. Bent, angled or winding; deformed or contorted. 2. Dishonest or unscrupulous; fraudulent; perverse.
crookedness ::: fig. The quality of being deceitful and underhanded.
crooning ::: a soft, soothing, low murmuring sound. bee-croon.
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
crouch ::: 1. To stoop, especially with the knees bent esp. in fear, humility or submission. 2. (of animals) to lie close to the ground, in fear, readiness for action etc. crouches, crouched, crouching.
crowd ::: n. 1. A large number of persons gathered tightly together; a throng. 2. The masses. 3. A large number of things or people gathered or considered together; a multitude. crowds. v. 4. To press together into a confined space; assemble in large numbers. 5. To fill, occupy or cram things tightly together. 6. To advance by pressing or shoving. crowds, crowded, crowding.
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.**
crucified ::: 1. Afflicted with severe pain or distress; tormented. 2. In reference to being put to death by nailing or otherwise fastening to a cross.
cruelty ::: the quality or characteristic of being cruel and delighting in the deliberate infliction of pain or suffering. cruelties.
cry ::: 1. To entreat loudly; supplicate. 2. To call loudly; shout. 3. To sob or shed tears because of grief, sorrow, or pain; weep. 4. To utter or shout (words of appeal, exclamation, fear, etc.) 5. To utter a characteristic sound or call. Used of an animal. cries, cried, criedst, criest, crying.
crypt ::: 1. An underground vault or chamber, especially one beneath a church that is used as a burial place. 2. A cellar, vault or tunnel. 3. A location for secret meetings, etc. crypts.
crystal ::: 1. A mineral, especially a transparent form of quartz, having a crystalline structure, often characterized by external planar faces. 2. Resembling crystal; transparent as water or a liquid. 3. Fig. Sometimes used to describe the eyes.
cube ::: 1. A regular solid having six congruent square faces. 2. A block having the general shape of a cube. cubes.
cue ::: 1. A hint or suggestion. 2. The part a person is to play; a prescribed or necessary course of action.
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.
curb ::: to check, restrain, or control. curbed, curbing.
curious ::: 1. Eager to learn more. 2. Arousing interest because of novelty or strangeness.
**curled** ::: 1. Formed into a coiled or spiral shape. 2. Bent or raised the upper lip slightly on one side, as an expression of contempt or scorn. foam-curled.
curse ::: n. 1. The expression of a wish that misfortune, evil, doom, etc., befall a person, group, etc. 2. A formula or charm intended to cause such misfortune to another. 3. An evil brought or inflicted upon one. 4. The cause of evil, misfortune, or trouble. 5. A profane or obscene expression or oath. curses. v. 6. To wish harm upon; invoke evil upon. 7. To invoke supernatural powers to bring harm to (someone or something). cursed.
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.
dally ::: 1. To waste time idly; linger; dawdle. 2. To talk or behave amorously, or behave in a careless manner without serious intentions; toy with. dallies, dallying, dalliance.
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.
darken ::: 1. To make dark or darker. Also fig. **2. Fig. To make gloomy; sadden. 3. To become clouded or obscure. darkens.**
darkened ::: 1. Became or made dark by lack of light; lit. and fig. **2.* Fig.* Made dark or obscure in meaning or intelligibility.
darkening ::: becoming or making dark.
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
dateless ::: 1. Endless, limitless. 2. So old as to be undatable.
dawn ::: n. **1. The first appearance of daylight in the morning. 2. The beginning or rise of anything; advent. dawn"s, dawns, dawn-sheen. v. 3. To begin to be perceived; appear; occur. dawns, dawned.
deaf ::: 1. Partially or wholly lacking, or deprived of the sense of hearing. 2. Refusing to listen, heed, or be persuaded.
::: death-bed
::: "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
decadent ::: being in a state of decline or decay.
deceiving ::: causing to believe what is not true; misleading. self-deceiving.
decimal ::: pertaining to tenths or to the number ten; proceeding by tens. decimals.
decorated ::: furnished or adorned with something ornamental or becoming; embellished.
decorative ::: serving to decorate or embellish; ornamental.
deduction ::: logic. A process of reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the premises presented, so that the conclusion cannot be false if the premises are true.
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.
::: "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
fig. The first gleam or appearance, earliest beginning (of something compared to light).
::: " . . . for Dawn is the illumination of the Truth rising upon the mentality to bring the day of full consciousness into the darkness or half-lit night of our being.” The Secret of the Veda
"For the essence of consciousness is the power to be aware of itself and its objects, . . . .” The Life Divine
Heart-lotus — emotional centre. The psychic is behind it.
"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
"High beyond the Intelligence is the Great Self, beyond the Great Self is the Unmanifest, beyond the Unmanifest is the Conscious Being. There is nothing beyond the Being, — that is the extreme ultimate, that the supreme goal.” — Katha Upanishad. (4) (Sri Aurobindo"s translation) The Life Divine
http://savitri.in/books/narad-richard-eggenberger/lexicon-of-an-infinite-mind
**"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*
::: ". . . 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 is a call of the being for higher things — for the Divine, for all that belongs to the higher or Divine Consciousness.” Guidance
"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
"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
n. 1. The point, axis, or pivot about which a body rotates. 2. A point, area, or part that is approximately in the middle of a larger area or volume. 3. A person or thing that is a focus of interest or attention. 4. A point of origin. centre"s, centres. v. 5. To focus or bring together. 6. To move towards, mark, put, or be concentrated at or as at a centre. 7. centred. Brought together to a centre, concentrated.
"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
Sri Aurobindo: "A compromise is a bargain, a transaction of interests between two conflicting powers; it is not a true reconciliation.” *The Life Divine
*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: "Beauty is the special divine Manifestation in the physical as Truth is in the Mind, Love in the heart, Power in the vital.” *The Future Poetry
Sri Aurobindo: "Birth is the first spiritual mystery of the physical universe, death is the second which gives its double point of perplexity to the mystery of birth; for life, which would otherwise be a self-evident fact of existence, becomes itself a mystery by virtue of these two which seem to be its beginning and its end and yet in a thousand ways betray themselves as neither of these things, but rather intermediate stages in an occult processus of life.” *The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "Brahma is the Power of the Divine that stands behind formation and the creation.” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "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: "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: "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: "Conviction — intellectual belief held on what seems to be good reasons.” Letters on 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: "Cruelty transfigured becomes Love that is intolerable ecstasy; . . . .”
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: "In the very atom there is a subconscious will and desire which must also be present in all atomic aggregates because they are present in the Force which constitutes the atom.” *Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "It might be said again that, even so, in Sachchidananda itself at least, above all worlds of manifestation, there could be nothing but the self-awareness of pure existence and consciousness and a pure delight of existence. Or, indeed, this triune being itself might well be only a trinity of original spiritual self-determinations of the Infinite; these too, like all determinations, would cease to exist in the ineffable Absolute. But our position is that these must be inherent truths of the supreme being; their utmost reality must be pre-existent in the Absolute even if they are ineffably other there than what they are in the spiritual mind"s highest possible experience. The Absolute is not a mystery of infinite blankness nor a supreme sum of negations; nothing can manifest that is not justified by some self-power of the original and omnipresent Reality.” The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: " 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: "Matter, body is only a massed motion of force of conscious being employed as a starting-point for the variable relations of consciousness working through its power of sense.” *Essays on the Gita
Sri Aurobindo: "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 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 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: "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: "We mean by the Absolute something greater than ourselves, greater than the cosmos which we live in, the supreme reality of that transcendent Being which we call God, something without which all that we see or are conscious of as existing, could not have been, could not for a moment remain in existence. Indian thought calls it Brahman, European thought the Absolute because it is a self-existent which is absolved of all bondage to relativities . . . The Absolute is for us the Ineffable.” *The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "What the "void" feels as a clutch is felt by the Mother only as a reminding finger laid on her cheek. It is one advantage of the expression ‘as if" that it leaves the field open for such variation. It is intended to suggest without saying it that behind the sombre void is the face of a mother. The two other ‘as if"s have the same motive and I do not find them jarring upon me. The second is at a sufficient distance from the first and it is not obtrusive enough to prejudice the third which more nearly follows. . . .” Letters on Savitri
*Sri Aurobindo: "When there is some lowering or diminution of the consciousness or some impairing of it at one place or another, the Adversary — or the Censor — who is always on the watch presses with all his might wherever there is a weak point lying covered from your own view, and suddenly a wrong movement leaps up with unexpected force. Become conscious and cast out the possibility of its renewal, that is all that is to be done.” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "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
"The Absolute is beyond personality and beyond impersonality, and yet it is both the Impersonal and the supreme Person and all persons. The Absolute is beyond the distinction of unity and multiplicity, and yet it is the One and the innumerable Many in all the universes.” The Synthesis of Yoga
"The Absolute is in itself indefinable by reason, ineffable to the speech; it has to be approached through experience.” The Life Divine*
". . . the Absolute is not a void or negation. It is all that is here in Time and beyond Time.” The Upanishads*
"The 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 act of hearing or attending; the state of hearing, or of being able to hear.
"The Adversary will disappear only when he is no longer necessary in the world. And we know very well that he is necessary, as the touch-stone for gold: to know if it is pure. But if one is really sincere, the Adversary can"t even approach him any longer; and he doesn"t try it, because that would be courting his own destruction.” Questions and Answers 1955, MCW Vol. 7.
"The animal is a vital and sensational being; . . . .” The Synthesis of Yoga*Animal, animal"s, animals, animal-soul, half-animal.
The Apsaras then are the divine Hetairae of Paradise, beautiful singers and actresses whose beauty and art relieve the arduous and world-long struggle of the Gods against the forces that tend towards disruption by the Titans who would restore Matter to its original atomic condition or of dissolution by the sages and hermits who would make phenomena dissolve prematurely into the One who is above phenomena. They rose from the Ocean, says Valmiki, seeking who should choose them as brides, but neither the Gods nor the Titans accepted them, therefore are they said to be common or universal. The Harmony of Virtue
"The 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 bed on which a person dies.
"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 child usually signifies the psychic being — new-born in the sense that it at last comes to the surface.” Letters on Yoga
"The child (when it does not mean the psychic being) is usually the symbol of something new-born in some part of the consciousness.” Letters on 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 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 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 conquer the Adversary is not a small thing. One must have a greater power than his to vanquish him. But one can liberate oneself totally from his influence. And from the minute one is completely free from his influence, one"s self-giving can be total. And with the self-giving comes joy, long before the Adversary is truly vanquished and disappears.”
::: The Mother: "True art means the expression of beauty in the material world. In a world wholly converted, that is to say, expressing integrally the divine reality, art must serve as the revealer and teacher of this divine beauty in life.” On Education, MCW Vol. 12.
" The natural attitude of the psychic being is to feel itself as the Child, the Son of God, the Bhakta; it is a portion of the Divine, one in essence, but in the dynamics of the manifestation there is always even in identity a difference.” Letters on Yoga
"There is no need of words in aspiration. It can be expressed or unexpressed in words.” Letters on Yoga
"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
These notes were written apropos of Bergson"s ‘philosophy of change", ‘you" would refer to a proponent of this philosophy.
the strings on an apron, used for securing it around one"s person.tie to someone"s apron strings. To make or be dependent on or dominated by someone.
"This body of ours is a symbol of our real being. . . .” Letters on Yoga ::: ". . . the body itself is only a constant act of consciousness of the spirit.” Essays on the Gita
"This 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
"We are not the body, but the body is still something of ourselves. With realisation the erroneous identification ceases — in certain experiences the existence of the body is not felt at all. In the full realisation the body is within us, not we in it, it is an instrumental formation in our wider being, — our consciousness exceeds but also pervades it, — it can be dissolved without our ceasing to be the self.” Letters on Yoga
"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*
KEYS (10k)
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2 Zen proverb
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1 Emanuel Swedenborg
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1 Desire only your own awareness.
1 David Viscott
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1 Corinthians XV. 58
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1 but the mighty shall be mightily put to the test. ...
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1 Ahmad]
1 African proverb
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1 2nd century sermon
NEW FULL DB (2.4M)
53 Toba Beta
42 Robert Louis Stevenson
36 Anonymous
19 Albert Samain
14 William Shakespeare
14 Anton Wildgans
11 John Green
11 Albert Rodenbach
10 Robert Frost
10 George Herbert
10 Elizabeth Gilbert
9 Rick Riordan
9 Bernard Cornwell
8 Socrates
8 John Steinbeck
8 Aesop
7 Samuel Beckett
7 Robert A Heinlein
7 J K Rowling
7 Horace
1:shall be saved. ~ Saint Philip Neri, #KEYS
2:Be as you wish to seem.
~ Socrates,#KEYS
3:Let go, or be dragged. ~ Zen proverb, #KEYS
4:And there can be no leaving. ~ Anon. , #KEYS
5:Let go, or be dragged." ~ Zen proverb, #KEYS
6:Learn what you are and be such. ~ Pindar, #KEYS
7:Be greatly aware of the present." ~ Buddha, #KEYS
8:Be who you said you'd become." ~ Joel Leon, #KEYS
9:The best is yet to be.
~ Robert Browning,#KEYS
10:What cannot be said will be wept. ~ Sappho, #KEYS
11:To hold a pen is to be at war.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
12:Be present above all else." ~ Naval Ravikant, #KEYS
13:Do not lose hope, nor be sad. ~ Koran, 3:139, #KEYS
14:In your heart, let there be truth. ~ Guru Nanak, #KEYS
15:as peace to be spread. ~ Saint Francis of Assisi, #KEYS
16:Gospel of my Son cannot be divided." ~ Our Lady , #KEYS
17:Awake, arise, or be forever fallen! ~ John Milton, #KEYS
18:The hero can never be a relativist. ~ Rich Weaver, #KEYS
19:To be awake is to be alive. ~ Henry David Thoreau, #KEYS
20:To be awake is to be alive." ~ Henry David Thoreau, #KEYS
21:To love at all is to be vulnerable." ~ C. S. Lewis, #KEYS
22:Be patient and devoted to your self. ~ Robert Burton, #KEYS
23:I will be Chateaubriand or nothing.
~ Vicktor Hugo,#KEYS
24:to be filled with light, and to shine. ~ Mary Oliver, #KEYS
25:To be is to be true. ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
26:Whatever is to be your fate - face it!" ~ Abu Sa'id., #KEYS
27:Where I may not remove nor be removed. ~ Shakespeare, #KEYS
28:Wherever you are, be there totally." ~ Eckhart Tolle, #KEYS
29:Always be able to kill your students ~ Masaaki Hatsumi, #KEYS
30:Books may well be the only true magic. ~ Alice Hoffman, #KEYS
31:Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud." ~ Maya Angelou, #KEYS
32:What is God? ~ If you think that the Truth can be known, #KEYS
33:When one has no form, one can be all forms. ~ Bruce Lee, #KEYS
34:What was never lost, can never be found.
~ Zen Proverb,#KEYS
35:All comes from desiring myself to be happy." ~ Shantideva, #KEYS
36:Be thine own palace, or the world's thy jail. ~ John Donne, #KEYS
37:Don't be afraid to just sit and watch." ~ Anthony Bourdain, #KEYS
38:for you never know how soon it will be too late. ~ Emerson, #KEYS
39:If you wished to be loved, love.
~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca,#KEYS
40:It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable." ~ Seneca, #KEYS
41:Get rid of the oppression of 'trying to be right'. ~ Ananta, #KEYS
42:You can never be overdressed or overeducated. ~ Oscar Wilde, #KEYS
43:If life is to be sustained, hope must remain. ~ Erik Erikson, #KEYS
44:It's too late to be ready. ~ Dogen Zenji, #KEYS
45:What's meant to be will always find a way. ~ Trisha Yearwood, #KEYS
46:Before receiving, there must be giving. ~ Tao Te Ching, ch.36, #KEYS
47:We are all students and should be forever
~ Israel Regardie,#KEYS
48:Without music, life would be a mistake. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #KEYS
49:Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.
~ Socrates,#KEYS
50:It never troubles the wolf how many the sheep may be. ~ Virgil, #KEYS
51:The two cannot be distinguished at all. ~ Jnaneshwar, Hinduism, #KEYS
52:Thou canst not then be false to any man. ~ William Shakespeare, #KEYS
53:what you love will be yours for ever. ~ Pope St. Leo the Great, #KEYS
54:When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. ~ Lao Tzu #KEYS
55:Within our impure mind the pure one is to be found." ~ Huineng, #KEYS
56:Be yourself. The world worships the original." ~ Ingrid Bergman, #KEYS
57:Sincerity may be humble but she cannot be servile. ~ Lord Byron, #KEYS
58:The worst prison would be a closed heart.
~ Pope John Paul II,#KEYS
59:Be on guard and strengthen yourself by prayer. ~ Saint Pedro Pio, #KEYS
60:I had rather be guillotined than a guillotiner. ~ Georges Danton, #KEYS
61:It is often safer to be in chains than to be free. ~ Franz Kafka, #KEYS
62:Its important to be comfortable with uncertainty.
~ Xiaolu Guo,#KEYS
63:Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~ Plato, #KEYS
64:Invoked or not invoked, God will be present. ~ Carl Jung, Epitaph, #KEYS
65:To be honest to oneself, and that is very hard to do. ~ Bruce Lee, #KEYS
66:Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life. ~ Omar Khayyam, #KEYS
67:If you would be loved, love, and be loveable." ~ Benjamin Franklin, #KEYS
68:The need to be right - the sign of a vulgar mind.
~ Albert Camus,#KEYS
69:What I aspired to be and was not, comforts me.
~ Robert Browning,#KEYS
70:Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life." ~ Omar Khayyam, #KEYS
71:If winter comes, can spring be far behind?
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley,#KEYS
72:Rest and be kind, you don't have to prove anything." ~ Jack Kerouac, #KEYS
73:The only thing that could [be] would be thine own will
~ Petalbae,#KEYS
74:Be in a continuous loving state. ~ Ibn Arabi, #KEYS
75:I'd rather be a climbing ape than a falling angel. ~ Terry Pratchett, #KEYS
76:If you want to be happy, practise it every day ~ Robert Anton Wilson, #KEYS
77:Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. ~ Carl Sagan, #KEYS
78:The foe cannot be overcome except by steady endeavors. ~ Mahabharata, #KEYS
79:Who does not understand should either learn, or be silent ~ John Dee, #KEYS
80:You are never too old to be what you might have been. ~ George Eliot, #KEYS
81:At all times it is best to be present to what is before you. ~ Pindar, #KEYS
82:Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely." ~ Buddha, #KEYS
83:If it pleases the gods, so be it. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
84:Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful. ~ Annette Funicello, #KEYS
85:To be truly ignorant, be content with your own knowledge." ~ Zhuangzi, #KEYS
86:When we do not expect anything we can be ourselves." ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #KEYS
87:Blessed be you, my God, for having created me. ~ Saint Clare of Assisi, #KEYS
88:Call me whatever you like; I am who I must be.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche,#KEYS
89:Do not be amazed by the true dragon. ~ Dogen Zenji, #KEYS
90:Let us be silent, -- so we may hear the whisper of the gods. ~ Emerson, #KEYS
91:Life isn't as serious as the mind makes it out to be." ~ Eckhart Tolle, #KEYS
92:I'm just trying to think about the future and not be sad.
~ Elon Musk,#KEYS
93:Be what you are. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
94:Don't be afraid to start over. You might like your new story." ~ Unknown, #KEYS
95:Enjoy life. There's plenty of time to be dead. ~ Hans Christian Andersen, #KEYS
96:For anything to be done, God has to be present. ~ Anonymous English Monk, #KEYS
97:If you want to become full, let yourself be empty. ~ Tao Te Ching, ch.22, #KEYS
98:Live with your century; but do not be its creature. ~ Friedrich Schiller, #KEYS
99:Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy. ~ Anne Frank, #KEYS
100:To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides. ~ David Viscott, #KEYS
101:We know what we are, but know not what we may be." ~ William Shakespeare, #KEYS
102:Be lowly wise: Think only what concerns thee and thy being. ~ John Milton, #KEYS
103:Be quiet, darling. Let pattern recognition have its way. ~ William Gibson, #KEYS
104:God be in my head,
And in my understanding.
~ Sarum Missal (1514,),#KEYS
105:If God be with us, there is no one else left to fear. ~ Saint Philip Neri, #KEYS
106:Jesus wouldn't be caught dead in your church. ~ Saul Williams, Experiment, #KEYS
107:Nothing you have not given away will ever really be yours." ~ C. S. Lewis, #KEYS
108:Allow a fool to be a fool, that he may become wise.
~ Mike Higginbotham?,#KEYS
109:Be who you really are and go the whole way ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
110:Come what may, all bad fortune is to be conquered by endurance.
~ Virgil,#KEYS
111:Unless we agree to suffer we cannot be free from suffering." ~ D.T. Suzuki, #KEYS
112:A day of silence can be a pilgrimage in itself. ~ Hafiz, #KEYS
113:Listen, the next revolution is gonna be a revolution of ideas. ~ Bill Hicks, #KEYS
114:We must always be disturbed by the truth. ~ Dogen Zenji, #KEYS
115:You don't have to be worthy; you only have to be willing. ~ Saint Padre Pio, #KEYS
116:Be faithful to the Divine and you will enjoy a constant peace. ~ MOTHER MIRA, #KEYS
117:Be happy with what you have while working for what you want." ~ Helen Keller, #KEYS
118:Every emotion has its opposite. To be free, must transcend both. ~ Gurdjieff, #KEYS
119:If God did not exist, it would be necessary for us to invent Him. ~ Voltaire, #KEYS
120:Let us go singing as far as we go: the road will be less tedious.
~ Virgil,#KEYS
121:One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple. ~ Jack Kerouac, #KEYS
122:Tomorrow will be better if you let your heart rule today." ~ Leo Christopher, #KEYS
123:What draws people to be friends is that they see the same truth. ~ C S Lewis, #KEYS
124:Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.
~ Oscar Wilde,#KEYS
125:Where, except in uncreated light, can the darkness be drowned? ~ C. S. Lewis, #KEYS
126:Beautiful. Autumn-raw. She must be a witch of some kind, ~ Velimir Khlebnikov, #KEYS
127:Be not another, if you can be yourself. ~ Paracelsus, #KEYS
128:Do not worry about the results, but be concerned with the process.
~ Nemoto,#KEYS
129:Even if a man has no natural ability, he can be a warrior. ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #KEYS
130:I know who I am and who I may be, if I choose. ~ Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, #KEYS
131:Let it be that our happiness depends only on ourselves. ~ Michel de Montaigne, #KEYS
132:Stress is caused by being 'here' but wanting to be 'there.' " ~ Eckhart Tolle, #KEYS
133:Be the master of your will and the slave of your conscience. ~ Hasidic Proverb, #KEYS
134:I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night. ~ Sarah Williams, #KEYS
135:I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.
~ Buddha,#KEYS
136:It is the duty of the steward to induce higher centers to be present. ~ Robert, #KEYS
137:My only prayer is to be firm in my determination in pursuing the truth. ~ Daie, #KEYS
138:No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. ~ C.S. Lewis #KEYS
139:what we have been, or now are, we shall not be tomorrow" ~ Ovid, Metamorphoses, #KEYS
140:Be the person who gives energy, not the one who takes it away." ~ Bill Campbell, #KEYS
141:Even if God did not exist it would continue to be sacred
~ Charles Baudelaire,#KEYS
142:If you want to become full,
let yourself be empty.
~ Tao Te Ching, ch.22,#KEYS
143:Only laughter can be gotten away with for free.
~ Peter J Carroll, Liber Null,#KEYS
144:Our fate lives within us; you only have to be brave enough to see it." ~ Merida, #KEYS
145:The moment we want to be something, we are no longer free. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #KEYS
146:For us who strive to follow. May I reach That purest heaven, ~ be to other souls, #KEYS
147:If you marry the dharma, realizations will be your children. ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche, #KEYS
148:I see what need be seen. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
149:To be an object of attraction for all women, you must desire none ~ Eliphas Levi, #KEYS
150:To see God is to be God. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
151:Be still my heart; thou hast known worse than this.
~ Homer,#KEYS
152:Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm." ~ Abraham Lincoln, #KEYS
153:Be thankful for your failures. They reveal the winning strategies." ~ James Clear, #KEYS
154:Buddhism may be summed up in two phrases: 'Let go!' and 'Walk on!' " ~ Alan Watts, #KEYS
155:Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.
~ C S Lewis,#KEYS
156:The Voice of Krishna can be heard only in silence." ~ Krishna Prem, (1898 -1965), #KEYS
157:This being alone may even be a kind of happy autumn dusk. ~ Yosa Buson, 1716-1784, #KEYS
158:You are a miracle, and everything you touch could be a miracle. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #KEYS
159:Be careful what you tolerate. You are teaching people how to treat you." ~ Unknown, #KEYS
160:Be like a postage stamp, stick to one thing until you get there.
~ Josh Billings,#KEYS
161:He who can love can be; he who can be can do; he who can do is. ~ George Gurdjieff, #KEYS
162:I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library. ~ Jorge Luis Borge, #KEYS
163:Recognize what is before you and what is hidden shall be revealed to you. ~ Christ, #KEYS
164:The true state of things is not to be found in one direction alone. ~ Dogen Zenji?, #KEYS
165:Act now. Live now. Know now. Realize now. Be happy now. ~ Swami Sivananda Saraswati, #KEYS
166:A successful book cannot afford to be more than ten percent new. ~ Marshall McLuhan, #KEYS
167:Don't go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #KEYS
168:If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough. ~ Meister Eckhart , #KEYS
169:Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true.
~ Blaise Pascal,#KEYS
170:No matter how thin you slice it, there will always be two sides.
~ Baruch Spinoza,#KEYS
171:People don't realize how a man's whole life can be changed by one book. ~ Malcolm X #KEYS
172:To practice magic is to be a quack; to know magic is to be a sage.
~ Eliphas Levi,#KEYS
173:we will
always be
disturbed by the truth ~ Dogen Zenji,#KEYS
174:Being itself can be apprehended only as love. ~ Ferdinand Ulrich, Homo Abyssus (291), #KEYS
175:Being that can be understood is language. ~ Hans Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method 474, #KEYS
176:Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment." ~ Dōgen Zenji, #KEYS
177:Don't be satisfied with your accomplishment, nor be dissatisfied with it." ~ Unknown, #KEYS
178:Do whatever you will, but first be such as are able to will.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche,#KEYS
179:It is more Important to be of pure intention than of perfect action." ~ Ilyas Kassam, #KEYS
180:Now is the time to be heroic.
~ The Mother, Agenda Vol 13,#KEYS
181:The secret of success is… to be fully awake to everything about you. ~ LeRoy Pollock, #KEYS
182:A student should not be taught more than he can think about. ~ Alfred North Whitehead, #KEYS
183:A sympathetic friend can be quite as dear as a brother.
~ Homer,#KEYS
184:Be an empty page, untouched by words. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
185:Individuals should be enabled to achieve the best that is in them.
~ Howard Gardner,#KEYS
186:The root of all desires is the one desire: to come home, to be at peace. ~ Jean Klein, #KEYS
187:The smallest fact is a window through which the infinite may be seen. ~ Aldous Huxley, #KEYS
188:To praise God in our lives means all we do must be for his glory. ~ Arnobius of Sicca, #KEYS
189:Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #KEYS
190:As a man thinketh in his heart so shall he be
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Proverbs, 23:7,#KEYS
191:But is there something where God used to be? ~ Iris Murdoch, The Message to the Planet, #KEYS
192:Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner. ~ Tao Te Ching, chapter 9, #KEYS
193:Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm.
~ Benjamin Disraeli,#KEYS
194:I am who I am and I have the need to be. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince, #KEYS
195:It is impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #KEYS
196:Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.
~ J M Barrie,#KEYS
197:Peace be unto you. ~ John. XIV. 21, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
198:The present is the only reality of wich a man can truly be deprived. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #KEYS
199:To be free is nothing, to become free is everything.
~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,#KEYS
200:Without music, life would be a mistake.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols,#KEYS
201:Be as a tower firmly set Shakes not its top for any blast that blows. ~ Dante Alighieri, #KEYS
202:Do not become caught in the teaching. You must be able to let it go." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #KEYS
203:How can anything be said to be real which is only a passing show? ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
204:It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not. ~ André Gide, #KEYS
205:The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless." ~ Alan Watts, #KEYS
206:Though it be broken- broken again - still it's there; the moon on the water.
~ Choshu,#KEYS
207:Time is the coin of life. Only you can determine how it will be spent." ~ Carl Sandburg, #KEYS
208:To be full of light is the aim. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
209:To be still is not to think.
Know, and not think, is the word. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi,#KEYS
210:What allows us to be human is something daemonic. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
211:What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization.
~ Abraham Maslow,#KEYS
212:God is a being than which nothing greater can be conceived. ~ Saint Anselm of Canterbury, #KEYS
213:Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. ~ Soren Kierkegaard, #KEYS
214:One of the goals of education should be to teach that life is precious. ~ Abraham Maslow, #KEYS
215:Seek to be the purple thread in the long white gown. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
216:Surrender, and all will be well. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
217:to be fragrant. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
218:Ye must be born again. ~ John III. 7, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
219:Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair." ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton, #KEYS
220:Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
~ Mark Twain,#KEYS
221:Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.
~ George Orwell, 1984,#KEYS
222:The best author will be the one who is ashamed to become a writer
~ Friedrich Nietzsche,#KEYS
223:The war against war is going to be no holiday excursion or camping party. ~ William James, #KEYS
224:We should be excited about the future and striving to go beyond the horizon." ~ Elon Musk, #KEYS
225:Be ever engaged, so that whenever the devil calls he may find you occupied. ~ Saint Jerome, #KEYS
226:It is better to be the child of God than king of the whole world. ~ Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, #KEYS
227:It is Itself that which was and that which is yet to be, the Eternal. ~ Kaivaiya Upanishad, #KEYS
228:Let the past be past.
Concentrate only on the Eternal.
Blessings ~ The Mother,#KEYS
229:The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory but progress.
~ Karl Popper,#KEYS
230:To rank the effort above the prize may be called love. ~ Confucius, #KEYS
231:To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world." ~ Bill Wilson, #KEYS
232:Abundance of knowledge does not teach men to be wise. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
233:Could there ever be a more wonderful story than your own? ~ Nichiren, #KEYS
234:Dead yesterdays and unborn tomorrows, why fret about it, if today be sweet." ~ Omar Khayyam, #KEYS
235:Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again." ~ Richard Branson, #KEYS
236:I don't want to be a genius, I have enough problems just trying to be a man. ~ Albert Camus, #KEYS
237:If you wish to be good, first believe that you are bad. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
238:It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple. ~ Rabindranath Tagore, #KEYS
239:Just let things be in their own way, and there will be neither coming nor going." ~ Sengcan, #KEYS
240:Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.
~ Soren Kierkegaard,#KEYS
241:There is nothing to be gained anew. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
242:They wanted to be nouns, but they were, and eternally must be, mere adjectives. ~ C S Lewis, #KEYS
243:All a poet can do today is warn. That is why the true Poets must be truthful. ~ Wilfred Owen, #KEYS
244:All loves should be simply stepping stones to the love of God.
~ Plato,#KEYS
245:Even if no salvation should come, I want to be worthy of it at every moment.
~ Franz Kafka,#KEYS
246:Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
~ Albert Einstein,#KEYS
247:The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him.
~ Socrates,#KEYS
248:You have to be yourself otherwise people won't know who you are. ~ Saint Catherine of Sweden, #KEYS
249:Be not afraid, only believe. ~ Mark V. 36, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
250:Check your passions that you may not be punished by them. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
251:If it can be destroyed by the Truth, it deserves to be destroyed by the Truth.
~ Carl Sagan,#KEYS
252:Let reality be reality. ~ LaoTzu, @BashoSociety #KEYS
253:Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal. ~ Albert Camus, #KEYS
254:One must be deeply aware of the impermanence of the world." ~ Dogen Zenji, #KEYS
255:Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry. ~ Cassandra Clare, #KEYS
256:While God waits for his temple to be built of love,
Men bring stones. ~ Rabindranath Tagore,#KEYS
257:Be humble and peaceful, and Jesus will be with you. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
258:be in it, go deeper into it. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
259:But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? ~ Job, 28:12, #KEYS
260:Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. ~ Maimonides, #KEYS
261:Do not be afraid; our fate Cannot be taken from us; it is a gift.
~ Dante Alighieri, Inferno,#KEYS
262:Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are. ~ Niccolò Machiavelli, #KEYS
263:If you do not let go of what binds you to samsara, you will never be free. ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche, #KEYS
264:Living On Earth May Be Expensive, But It Includes An Annual Free Trip Around The Sun." ~ Anon., #KEYS
265:Recognize what is before you and what is hidden shall be revealed to you.
~ Gospel of Thomas,#KEYS
266:The real meaning of detachment is to be separated inwardly from what is unreal. ~ Al-Kalabadhi, #KEYS
267:To be really sorry for one's errors is like opening the door of heaven.
~ Hazrat Inayat Khan,#KEYS
268:We're in a world now where it's not enough to be smart. You have to be curious. ~ Barry Diller, #KEYS
269:Let this consciousness be in you which was in Christ Jesus that we all may be one. ~ Saint Paul, #KEYS
270:Never put off til tomorrow what can be done the day after tomorrow just as well.
~ Mark Twain,#KEYS
271:Perhaps the greatest risk any of us will ever take is to be seen as we really are. ~ Cinderella, #KEYS
272:The deeds you do may be the only sermon some people will hear today." ~ Saint Francis of Assisi, #KEYS
273:They call it 'peace of mind' but maybe it should be called 'peace from mind.'" ~ Naval Ravikant, #KEYS
274:You think you are the mind, therefore you ask how it is to be controlled. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
275:You will be an immortal God, deathless, no longer mortal. ~ Pythagoras, #KEYS
276:Life is a piece of music, and you're supposed to be dancing. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
277:We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #KEYS
278:Behold I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep but shall be changed. ~ Paul I. Cor. Ch.15.51, #KEYS
279:Be willing to be a beginner every single morning. ~ Meister Eckhart, #KEYS
280:Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt, #KEYS
281:From now on I'll be mad. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
282:In all circumstances be wakeful. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
283:It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #KEYS
284:I will be lord over myself. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
285:„Prove yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish, and someday, you will be a real boy." ~ Pinocchio, #KEYS
286:There would be no sense in saying you trusted Jesus if you would not take his advice. ~ C.S. Lewis #KEYS
287:To be outspoken is easy when you do not wait to speak the complete truth.
~ Rabindranath Tagore,#KEYS
288:Tonglen is a way for you to be with people who need you - beginning with yourself. ~ Pema Chodron, #KEYS
289:An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself. ~ Charles Dickens, #KEYS
290:Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.
~ Nikola Tesla,#KEYS
291:Be pure and free within, unentangled with any creature. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
292:Be strong and of a good courage. ~ Joshua I. 9, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
293:Do not let the body be dragged along by mind nor be dragged along by the body." ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #KEYS
294:Even truth needs to be clad in new garments if it is to appeal to a new age. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
295:Everyone who can speak the truth, yet speaks it not, will be judged by God… ~ Saint Justin Martyr., #KEYS
296:Everything that deceives may be said to enchant. ~ Plato, Republic, III, 413-C, #KEYS
297:For the lowly may be pardoned out of mercy ~ but the mighty shall be mightily put to the test. ..., #KEYS
298:I'd rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate.
~ George F Burns,#KEYS
299:If He were apparent, He would not be. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
300:o not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #KEYS
301:She refused to be consoled" ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Mt. 2:18)., #KEYS
302:That which shrinks must first expand. That which fails must first be strong. ~ Tao Te Ching, ch.36, #KEYS
303:The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Exodus, 14:14, #KEYS
304:... The storm approaches—be on thy guard! I trust thou wilt stand firm!" ~ Venerable Anna Emmerich, #KEYS
305:To be full of light is the aim. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks, 70, #KEYS
306:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Matthew, 6:21, #KEYS
307:Be content and live within your heart-deep inside - it is the only way to have peace. ~ MOTHER MIRA, #KEYS
308:Be courteous, treat the other fellow as though he is as important as he thinks he is.
~ Anonymous,#KEYS
309:Be thy own torch; rise up and become wise. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
310:The book which most deserved to be banned would be a catalog of banned books. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
311:A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at. ~ Bruce Lee, #KEYS
312:Be ye steadfast, immovable. ~ Corinthians XV. 58, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
313:Brothers, be good one unto another. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
314:Chase realities not dreams." ~ Jay Gardner, "I Wish I Was the Person I'm Pretending to Be,", (2008)., #KEYS
315:Even the slightest breach of God's laws will be taken into account. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
316:Every living being longs always to be happy. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
317:May the Master protect you. He is looking after you; what should you be afraid of? ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
318:None can be saved without being reborn. ~ Hennes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
319:Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time.
~ Mahatma Gandhi,#KEYS
320:We use what we are and have, to know; and what we know, to be and have still more. ~ Maurice Blondel, #KEYS
321:A man needs a little madness, or else... he never dares cut the rope and be free. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis, #KEYS
322:Be holy in every kind of action. ~ kihagavad Gita, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
323:But it must truly be development of the faith, not alteration of the faith. ~ Saint Vincent of Lerins, #KEYS
324:Do not be trapped by the need to achieve anything. This way, you achieve everything." ~ Frank Herbert, #KEYS
325:Fame is something which must be won; honor is something which must not be lost. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, #KEYS
326:For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Romans, 10:13, #KEYS
327:Human beings must be known to be loved; but Divine beings must be loved to be known." ~ Blaise Pascal, #KEYS
328:It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God - but to create him.
~ Arthur C Clarke,#KEYS
329:Just for today, be a little child. Know the world is safe. Know that you are loved." ~ Iyanla Vanzant, #KEYS
330:May my life be a continual prayer, a long act of love." ~ Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity, (1880-1906), #KEYS
331:Purity is something that cannot be attained except by piling effort upon effort. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo, #KEYS
332:Under all circumstances be vigilant. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
333:Unless the unhoped for is hoped for, it will not be discovered. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
334:Until you are happy with who you are, you will never be happy because of what you have." ~ Zig Ziglar, #KEYS
335:With God ruling in us, let us be immersed in the blessings of regeneration and resurrection. ~ Origen, #KEYS
336:A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him. " ~ Aleksandr Solzlhenitsyn, #KEYS
337:An idea, to be suggestive, must come to the individual with the force of revelation.
~ William James,#KEYS
338:Be thou faithful unto death. ~ Revelations III, 10, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
339:He who loves the world as his body may be entrusted with the empire.
~ Lao Tzu,#KEYS
340:In order to be effective truth must penetrate like an arrow - and that is likely to hurt. ~ Wei Wu Wei, #KEYS
341:It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. ~ Aristotle, #KEYS
342:Our works are of no value if they be not united to the merits of Jesus Christ. ~ Saint Teresa of Jesus, #KEYS
343:Perhaps in time the so-called Dark Ages will be thought of as including our own. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
344:Purity is something that cannot be attained except by piling effort upon effort." ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo, #KEYS
345:Tell yourself what you want to be, then act your part accordingly. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
346:And, first, ordinarily be silent. ~ Epictetus 33. 2, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
347:Cease to be a knower, then there is perfection. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
348:Habits are like a cable. We weave a strand of it everyday and soon it cannot be broken.
~ Horace Mann,#KEYS
349:I'm not ashamed to dress 'like a woman' because I don't think it's shameful to be a woman.
~ Iggy Pop,#KEYS
350:Let the Lord of Truth be always with you. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, #KEYS
351:Whatever sentence will bear to be read twice, we may be sure was thought twice.
~ Henry David Thoreau,#KEYS
352:Your duty is to Be, and not to be this or that. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
353:Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment. ~ Dogen Zenji, #KEYS
354:Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment." ~ Dogen Zenji, #KEYS
355:Every drop of earthly bitterness will be changed into an ocean of heavenly sweetness. ~ Saint Henry Suso, #KEYS
356:I'll be with you to meet all difficulties-you can be sure of that. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
357:Let your yea be yea and your nay, nay. ~ James V. 12, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
358:Throughout this life, you can never be certain of living long enough to take another breath." ~ Huang Po, #KEYS
359:We use Jesus and not people, because only he will never be without us." ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
360:A good teacher must be able to put himself in the place of those who find learning hard.
~ Eliphas Levi,#KEYS
361:But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, James, 1:22, #KEYS
362:Every drop of earthly bitterness will be changed into an ocean of heavenly sweetness." ~ Saint Henry Suso, #KEYS
363:For the man who is beautiful is beautiful to see but the good man will at once also beautiful be ~ Sappho, #KEYS
364:It would not be better if things happened to men just as they wish. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
365:Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose.
~ Leonardo da Vinci,#KEYS
366:Presence is designed to be forever; great patience is required to crystallize this state. ~ Robert Burton, #KEYS
367:Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out,
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Acts, 3:19,#KEYS
368:Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Isaiah, 55:6, #KEYS
369:The heart is a thousand-stringed instrument that can only be tuned with Love. ~ Hafiz, #KEYS
370:There wouldn't be such a thing as counterfeit gold if there were no real gold somewhere.
~ Sufi Proverb,#KEYS
371:What is it that exists now and troubles you? It is 'I'. Get rid of it and be happy. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
372:You must learn to master a new way to think before you can master a new way to be." ~ Marianne Williamson, #KEYS
373:And Elohim said, 'Let there be Light.' and there was Light." (Kether) ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Genesis, 1:3, #KEYS
374:Doubt can only be removed by action. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
375:If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.
~ Epictetus,#KEYS
376:It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
377:Let charity be without dissimulation. ~ Romans. XII. 9, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
378:Let go. Let Be. See through everything and be free, complete, luminous, at home—at ease." ~ Lama Surya Das, #KEYS
379:Schizophrenia may be a necessary consequence of literacy. [p. 32] ~ Marshall McLuhan, La galaxia Gutenberg, #KEYS
380:The more earnestness you have in your practice, the greater will be the joy. ~ Manapurush Swami Shivananda, #KEYS
381:Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth." ~ Confucius, #KEYS
382:All the goodness and the heroisms will rise up again, then be cut down again and rise up." ~ John Steinbeck, #KEYS
383:[Heraclitus] concluded that coming-to-be itself could not be anything evil or unjust. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #KEYS
384:It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #KEYS
385:Men that love wisdom must be acquainted with very many things indeed. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
386:Realization must be amidst all the turmoil of life. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
387:That which is was always and always will be. ~ Melessus, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
388:The business of the Christian is nothing else than to be ever preparing for death. ~ Saint Irenaeus of Lyon, #KEYS
389:The Self cannot be found in books. You have to find it for yourself, within yourself. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
390:To have more, you must first be more. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
391:We must be humble and reverent when face to face with the source of enlightenment. ~ Chinese Texts, I Ching, #KEYS
392:You will never be free until you free yourself from the prison of your own false thoughts." ~ Philip Arnold, #KEYS
393:A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.
~ Ludwig Wittgenstein,#KEYS
394:Awake, eyes closed I listen........that faintness- must be winter rain begun to fall. ~ Fumoto Oka 1877-1951, #KEYS
395:Be Still. Truth is found in the simplicity of being. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
396:Be yourself on stage. Nobody else can be you and you have the law of supply and demand covered. ~ Bill Hicks, #KEYS
397:Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol, morphine or idealism. ~ Carl Jung, #KEYS
398:How to see God? To see Him is to be consumed by Him. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
399:Look again, you may be the light... ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
400:Realization must be amidst all the turmoils of life. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
401:Thanks be unto You, our God, we are Yours. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
402:The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure ~ Joseph Campbell, #KEYS
403:The heart preparing to receive the Holy Eucharist should be like a crystal vase. ~ Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, #KEYS
404:The oneness of all wisdom may be found, or not, under the name of God. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
405:You must be extreme to reach the supreme
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj,#KEYS
406:All that is born, is corrupted to be born again. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
407:Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric. ~ Bertrand Russell, #KEYS
408:Every word first looks around in every direction before letting itself be written down by me.
~ Franz Kafka,#KEYS
409:How disorienting and isolating immortality must be, and how strong he must be to weather it. ~ Michael Talbot, #KEYS
410:Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group. ~ Carl Sagan, #KEYS
411:If you are slain in battle, you should be resolved to have your corpse facing the enemy. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo, #KEYS
412:No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books. ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning #KEYS
413:Nothing is as dangerous as an ignorant friend; a wise enemy is to be preferred. ~ Jean de La Fontaine, Fables, #KEYS
414:Prayers should be full of confidence without sorrow or lamenting. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #KEYS
415:That is most difficult, which seems easiest—to be present to what is before you. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
416:The earth which sustains humanity must not be injured. It must not be destroyed!" ~ Saint Hildegard of Bingen, #KEYS
417:The sword has to be more than a simple weapon; it has to be an answer to life's questions. ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #KEYS
418:The You that sees cannot be shown. The You that dreams is not a dream. It is YOU - The Self—Supreme." ~ Anon., #KEYS
419:Wherever you may be, you cannot leave ME. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks, 470, #KEYS
420:With patience any difficulty can be overcome.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
421:You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
422:You're not yet Socrates, but you can still live as if you want to be him. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
423:Be pure, be simple and hold always a just mean. ~ Chu-King, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
424:For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #KEYS
425:It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
426:Prefer to be defeated in the presence of the wise than to excel among fools. ~ Dogen Zenji, #KEYS
427:The desire to know God and to love Him cannot be considered a desire in the ordinary sense. ~ SWAMI PREMANANDA, #KEYS
428:With such force will Babylon the great city be thrown down, and will never be found again." ~ Revelation 18:21, #KEYS
429:A truth can walk naked, but a lie always needs to be dressed.
~ Jalaluddin Rumi,#KEYS
430:Be ye wise as serpents and simple as doves. ~ Matthew X. 16, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
431:Disgust appears to be triggered by objects or people who possess attributes that signify disease.
~ Wikipedia,#KEYS
432:First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
~ Epictetus,#KEYS
433:He must be good to animals, yet better to men. ~ Baha Ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
434:If I say, if I talk about, 'I want to be enlightened.', it implies a future. And there isn't any. ~ Byron Katie, #KEYS
435:If you can carry the whole yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect; but if you cannot, do what you can. ~ Didache, #KEYS
436:If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~ Dalai Lama, #KEYS
437:I'm a wanderer
so, let that be my name -
the first winter rain. ~ Matsuo Basho,#KEYS
438:I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned. ~ Richard P Feynman, #KEYS
439:Love the Lord full-heartedly and all will be well.
In Love eternal. ~ The Mother,#KEYS
440:Only remove ignorance. That is all there is to be done. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
441:Prefer to be defeated in the presence of the wise than to excel among fools." ~ Dogen Zenji, #KEYS
442:The best thing must be to flee from all to the All. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #KEYS
443:The image, if expressing in every point the entire reality, would no longer be an image.
~ Socrates, Cratylus,#KEYS
444:There is nothing mind can do that cannot be better done in the minds immobility and thought-free stillness. ~ ?, #KEYS
445:To be brave is to have faith in the Mother. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. VI. 149), #KEYS
446:What I do for myself is lost; what I do for others may be written somewhere in eternity." ~ Thought for the Day, #KEYS
447:2/ The brave alone can afford to be sincere. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. VI. 110), #KEYS
448:before they embark on the journey. ~ Sam Keen, "To Love and Be Loved,", (1997), First 2 of 7 stanzas. Wikipedia., #KEYS
449:Be sober, be vigilant. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 Peter, V. 8, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
450:Be strong; fear not. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Isaiah, XXXV. 4, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
451:Blessed be the key that turned in my heart and let loose my soul and freed it from so heavy a chain." ~ Petrarch, #KEYS
452: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
453:Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well." ~ Jack Kornfield, #KEYS
454:First say to yourself what you would be;
and then do what you have to do. ~ Epictetus,#KEYS
455:If there be a goal to be reached it cannot be permanent. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
456:If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.
~ Edgar Allan Poe,#KEYS
457:I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul. ~ Pablo Neruda,#KEYS
458:In contemplation, one's mind should be stable and unmoving, like a wall. ~ Bodhidharma, #KEYS
459:It takes a lot of courage to be the same person on the outside that you are on the inside." ~ Barbara De Angelis, #KEYS
460:Let us be kind to one another after the pattern of the tender mercy and goodness of our Creator. ~ Saint Clement, #KEYS
461:People want you to be happy, don't keep serving them your pain." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
462:Purity of soul cannot be lost without consent. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
463:Sin cannot be taken away except by grace ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.27.2)., #KEYS
464:The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere, is to be nowhere.
~ Michel de Montaigne,#KEYS
465:True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read. ~ Pliny the Elder, #KEYS
466:Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it's holy ground. There's no greater investment. ~ Stephen Covey, #KEYS
467:Diamonds are to be found only in the darkness of the earth, and truth in the darkness of the mind. ~ Vicktor Hugo, #KEYS
468:God cannot make a man to be without a soul ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 2.25)., #KEYS
469:Holiness consists simply in doing God's will, and being just what God wants us to be." ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #KEYS
470:It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it. ~ Oscar Wilde, #KEYS
471:Love thy neighbour and be faithful unto him. ~ Erelesiastieus, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
472:Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." ~ Helen Keller, #KEYS
473:Sri Ramakrishna was a perfect soul. Certainly one can be free from sin by confessing it to Him. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
474:... the blood of men will have to be spilled on the asphalt of our streets." ~ Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich , #KEYS
475:The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche #KEYS
476:You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit. ~ Oscar Wilde, #KEYS
477:Be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the gentle gardeners who make our souls blossom. ~ Marcel Proust, #KEYS
478:If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.
~ Meister Eckhart,#KEYS
479:Keep it simple, and focus on what matters. Don't let yourself be overwhelmed." ~ Confucius, #KEYS
480:Let Mother's will be done. Never mind sunshine or rain, we must not forget Mother at any time. ~ Swami Turiyananda, #KEYS
481:Live the life in front of you, be the life you are, and see what you find out for yourself." ~ Karen Maezen Miller, #KEYS
482:Lord, if your people need me, I will not refuse the work. Your will be done. ~ Saint Martin of Tours, (316-397 AD), #KEYS
483:... Love the Divine alone and the Divine will always be with you. ~ The Mother, WOTM2, 1:1 #KEYS
484:Mystical explanations are thought to be deep; the truth is that they are not even shallow.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche,#KEYS
485:Our great pursuit, the great name we wanted, was to be Christians, to be called Christians. ~ Gregory of Nazianzen, #KEYS
486:There is only one thing to be feared and that is sin. Everything else is beside the point. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
487:The road to continuous improvement is and must be an appropriately tailored, optimized, and personal one.
~ Hunt,#KEYS
488:To be as it is, thought free, in the Heart, is to know it. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
489:Your peace shall be in a great patience. ~ Imitation of Christ, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
490:Your soul is waiting to be remembered." ~ Ma Jaya, (1940 - 2012), Wikipedia. From "The 11 Karmic Spaces,", (2012)., #KEYS
491:All the accidents of life can be turned to our profit. ~ Seneca, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
492:A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #KEYS
493:How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! ~ Proverbs, #KEYS
494:If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #KEYS
495:Man in many respects may be compared with those animals which have long been domesticated.
~ Charles Darwin, 1871,#KEYS
496:Men will only be happy when they all love each other. ~ Tolstoi, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
497:The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trial.
~ Confucius,#KEYS
498:the lover's heart will be a bed of roses." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
499:The only rational way of educating is to be an example - if one can't help it, a warning example. ~ Albert Einstein, #KEYS
500:The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil ment
~ Plato,#KEYS
501:When we set our course for God, He will always be there to direct our path
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Proverbs, 16:9,#KEYS
502:Whoever gives nothing, has nothing. The greatest misfortune is not to be unloved, but not to love.
~ Albert Camus,#KEYS
503:Be as free from vanity as the dead leaf carried on by the high wind. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
504:Be a true representative of the goodness in your heart, and don't expect it to be easy or even noticed. ~ Adyashanti, #KEYS
505:Be severe to yourself before being severe to others.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
506:Be strong and of a good courage; fear not. ~ Deuteronomy XXXI. 6, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
507:Do not be flattered by reason, reason is only the child of the mind. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
508: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
509:He that walketh with the wise, shall be wise. ~ Proverbs XIII 20, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
510:I'm a wanderer so, let that be my name - the first winter rain. ~ Matsuo Basho, 1644-1694, #KEYS
511:It is only mercenaries who expect to be paid by the day. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #KEYS
512:One must be God in order to understand God. ~ Antoine the Healer, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
513:One should be careful to improve himself continually. ~ Chu-King, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
514:The light must be dim in order to enable the ego to rise up. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
515:The perfection of evil is to be ignorant of the Divine. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
516:Truly there is no cause for you to be miserable and unhappy. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
517:When the mind itself is absent, there will be perfect peace. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
518:Would you call Him Destiny? You will not be wrong. Providence? You will say well. Nature? That too you may. ~ Seneca, #KEYS
519:A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest. ~ C.S. Lewis #KEYS
520:Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
521:Dare greatly and thou shalt be great. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act I, #KEYS
522:Do not do unto others as you would they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.
~ George Bernard Shaw,#KEYS
523:If anything could stand still, it would be crushed and dissipated by the torrent it resisted.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,#KEYS
524: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
525:Let any amount of burden be laid on Him, He will bear it all. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
526: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
527:The bestower of bliss must be Bliss itself and also Infinite. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
528:The desire for worldly things must be changed into a longing for God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
529:The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
~ Mahatma Gandhi,#KEYS
530:The veils that hide the light shall be rent asunder. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
531:The world being what it is, it could not be otherwise.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine,#KEYS
532:Yearning: It needs to hurt in order to be worthy of the word. Otherwise it is just wanting. ~ Saint John of the Cross, #KEYS
533:You'd be amazed how much research you can get done when you have no life whatsoever. ~ Ernest Cline, Ready Player One, #KEYS
534:Don't expect anything from anyone! Learn to be the giver! Otherwise you will become self-centered. ~ Swami Turiyananda, #KEYS
535:Eventually, all that one has learnt will have to be forgotten. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
536:Have the courage to be completely frank with the Divine. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, #KEYS
537:If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?" ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
538:I have been born anew. I have become a self-made man in battle, that is how I came to be my own father. ~ Quetzalcoatl, #KEYS
539:To help others, one must be beyond the need of help. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
540:Adore and what you adore attempt to be. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act V, #KEYS
541:Concentration has to be made in the heart, which is cool and refreshing. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi #KEYS
542:Each man who thinks ahead of his times is sure to be misunderstood. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
543:Let all your things be done with charity. ~ I. Corinthians. XVI. 14, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
544:Think before you desire a thing. There is every possibility that it will be fulfilled, and then you will suffer. ~ Osho, #KEYS
545:When weak or injured always continue training as you should always be able to adapt in any condition. ~ Masaaki Hatsumi, #KEYS
546:When you suffer, you yourself are the cause. Please do not imagine much, and you will be free. ~ SWAMI TRIGUNATITANANDA, #KEYS
547:A pure heart, open to the Light will be filled with the elixir of Truth. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
548:For the idea of ego-hood to be destroyed, constant practice is required. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
549:God will not allow you to be lost if you persist in your determination not to lose Him. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
550:Have good trust in yourself, not in the One that you think you should be, but in the One that you are." ~ Taizan Maezumi, #KEYS
551:If you want to be saved look at the face of your Christ. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, [T5], #KEYS
552:I had no ambition to be a writer because the books I read were too good, my standards were too high.
~ Haruki Murakami,#KEYS
553:Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
554:Love must be turned singly towards the Divine. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Desire, #KEYS
555:Matter is spirit moving slowly enough to be seen. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #KEYS
556:My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself.
~ C S Lewis, [T5],#KEYS
557:No life can be successful without self-discipline.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, [T5],#KEYS
558:Nothing can be sworn impossible since Zeus made night during mid-day, hiding the light of the shining Sun. ~ Archilochus, #KEYS
559:One must have true mettle within if one wishes to be successful in life. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
560:See God everywhere and be not frightened by masks
~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human,#KEYS
561:So long as a man has not realized God, he will have to be born on earth. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
562:So you'll be my love in lives beyond this life. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
563:To love is to be transformed into what we love. To love God is therefore to be transformed into God. ~ John of the Cross, #KEYS
564:What is to be done will be done at the proper time. Don't worry. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
565:Wide open to all beings be the gates of the Everlasting. ~ Mahavajjo, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
566:You are the children of the Master; why should you be drowned? No, never. The Master will protect you. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
567:Anyone who aspires to a writing career, before developing his talent, would be wise to develop a thick hide. ~ Harper Lee, #KEYS
568: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
569:If there is no creation, there must be disintegration. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, Ourselves, #KEYS
570:Only a consciousness full of light can be pure. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Purity, #KEYS
571:The wise is one only. It is unwilling and willing to be called by the name of Zeus. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
572:Be not astonished that man can become like God. ~ Epistle to Diognetus, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
573:But it can be swiftly healed by the balm of love. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
574:HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE ~ Terry Pratchett, Hogfather, #KEYS
575:If the Self be found in books it would have been already realized. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
576:If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished? ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, [T5], #KEYS
577:In my humble view the netherworld must be like this - autumn evening. ~ Matsuo Basho, 1644-1694, #KEYS
578:I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself. ~ Aldous Huxley, #KEYS
579:I will trust and not be afraid. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Isaiah, XII. 2, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
580:Let us be prepared for death but work for life. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - I, The Crisis, #KEYS
581:Put your trust in Allah, you will be the strongest of men. ~ Ahmad], @Sufi_Path #KEYS
582:There should be a science of discontent. People need hard times to develop psychic muscles.
~ Frank Herbert, Dune (1965),#KEYS
583:The test of a writer is whether you want to read him again years after he should by the rules be dated. ~ Raymond Chandler, #KEYS
584:Truth must be the ultimate end of the whole universe ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 1.1)., #KEYS
585:You are Rama Sastri. Make that name significant. Be one with Rama. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
586:He who acts according to what he holds to be the law of life, ~ Tolstoi, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
587:If there were no suffering, how could the desire to be happy arise? ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
588:If you would create something, you must be something. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
589:Jnana is said to be ekabhakti (single-minded devotion). ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks, 650, #KEYS
590:Let any amount of burden be laid on Him [Her], He will bear it all. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
591:Patience from a Buddhist perspective is not a "wait and see" attitude, but rather one of 'just be there.' " ~ Lodro Rinzler, #KEYS
592:Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write.
~ H G Wells,#KEYS
593: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
594:The person who aspires to be a Bhakta must be cheerful. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. III. 69), #KEYS
595:To be in harmony with the wholeness of things is not to have anxiety over imperfections." ~ Dogen Zenji, #KEYS
596:Too much light, you will be blind. Too much wind, you drown. Too much intellect, you isolate yourself ... ~ Claudio Naranjo, #KEYS
597:With thorns in the inner world there will always be roses in the outer world, in law-able compensation." ~ George Gurdjieff, #KEYS
598:Be kindly affectioned one to another by brotherly love. ~ Romans.XII. 10, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
599:Be persevering as one who shall last for ever. ~ Book of Golden Precepts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
600:Even if one's head were to be suddenly cut off, he should be able to do one more action with certainty. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo, #KEYS
601:How can a conscious spirit be anything other than an absolute desire for God? ~ Henri de Lubac, (writing to Maurice Blondel), #KEYS
602:If thou wouldst be free, accustom thyself to curb thy desires. ~ Tolstoi, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
603:Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be, and becoming that person." ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #KEYS
604:Learn to distinguish what should be done and what not; The clever soul will always select his opportunity. ~ Nagarjuna, [T5], #KEYS
605:Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin, #KEYS
606:Nothing so much wins love as the knowledge that one's lover desires most of all to be himself loved. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
607:...the only simplicity to be trusted is the simplicity to be found on the far side of complexity.
~ Alfred North Whitehead,#KEYS
608:Truth must be repeated again and again, because error is constantly being preached round about. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
609:Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ~ Matthew. VI. 21, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
610:A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exuper, #KEYS
611:Be always faithful to your faith and you will feel no sorrow.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
612: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
613:Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 31:24,#KEYS
614:Be silent, be silent; savour this timeless moment, speak no more of longing
~ Jalaluddin Rumi,#KEYS
615:But please remember: this is only a work of fiction. The truth, as always, will be far stranger.
~ Arthur C Clarke,#KEYS
616:God and his devotee are to be regarded as one, that is one in the same light. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
617:God cannot be reflected by the mind if it is agitated by the wind of desires. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
618:Grace is needed most. Let us take the plunge, within, and "Be Still". ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
619:I feel as if I were a piece in a game of chess, when my opponent says of it: That piece cannot be moved. ~ Soren Kierkegaard, #KEYS
620:I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?
~ Friedrich Nietzsche,#KEYS
621:It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them." ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
622:Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. ~ John. XIV. 27, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
623:Maybe happiness is this: not feeling like you should be elsewhere, doing something else, being someone else.
~ Isaac Asimov,#KEYS
624:Pass; thou hast the key, thou canst be at ease. ~ Book of Golden Precepts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
625:The Blessed Virgin was chosen by God to be His Mother ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.27.4)., #KEYS
626:The hand of the diligent will rule, But the slack hand will be put to forced labor.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Proverbs, 12:24,#KEYS
627:The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them. ~ Albert Einstein, #KEYS
628:To love the Divine is to be loved by Him. 2 November 1932 ~ The Mother, Some Answers From The Mother, #KEYS
629:To see God is to be God. He alone is. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Maharshis Gospel, [T5], #KEYS
630:You can either be the victim of your circumstances or be victorious over your circumstances. The choice is yours." ~ Randy M., #KEYS
631: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
632:... almost any idea which jogs you out of your current abstractions may be better than nothing. (575) ~ Alfred North Whitehead, #KEYS
633:A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery, #KEYS
634:He who is a friend of wisdom, must not be violent. ~ Fo-shu-hing-tsan-king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
635:It is only when God Himself by His grace draws the mind inwards that complete surrender can be achieved. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
636:Know the Self which is here and now; you will be steady and not waver. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
637:Let us be one even with those who do not wish to be one with us. ~ Bossuet, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
638:Only those who are perfectly truthful can be my true children.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
639:The difficulty is to try and teach the multitude that something can be true and untrue at the same time. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, #KEYS
640:The Divine Consciousness must be our only guide.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, [T5],#KEYS
641:The Self is pure consciousness. No one can ever be away from the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
642:The whole of our life should be a prayer offered to the Divine. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III, #KEYS
643:Watch ye, stand fast, quit you like men, be strong.* ~ Corinthians XVI. 13, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
644:We try many ways to be awake, but our society still keeps us forgetful. Meditation is to help us remember.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh,#KEYS
645: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
646:What devours must also be devoured. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Death, Desire and Incapacity, #KEYS
647: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
648:Why analyze and see the evil? Move toward the Lord! Through His grace you will be freed from all passions. ~ Swami Turiyananda, #KEYS
649:A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe. ~ Madeleine L'Engle #KEYS
650:All women are portions of the Blessed One and should be looked upon as mothers. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
651:Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully. ~ Samuel Johnson, #KEYS
652:For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ~ Matthew VI. 21, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
653:Let us always be terrified of mortal sin and never stop walking on the road of holy eternity." ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
654:O disciples, be ye heirs to Truth, not to worldly things. ~ Magghima Nikaya, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
655: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
656:Wise kings generally have wise counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.
~ Diogenes,#KEYS
657:Activate yourself to duty by remembering your position, who you are, and what you have obliged yourself to be. ~ Thomas a Kempis, #KEYS
658:All your burdens are borne by God. Be convinced of this and ever try to abide in sincerity and cheerfulness. ~ SRI ANANDAMAYI MA, #KEYS
659: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
660:charity and humility will be laughed to scorn, and the common people will believe in false ideas." ~ Saint Columba, (521-597 AD), #KEYS
661:Disillusionment in living is finding that no one can really ever be agreeing with you completely in anything.
~ Gertrude Stein,#KEYS
662:It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
~ Aristotle,#KEYS
663:One can be free only by living in the Divine. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - I, Occult Knowledge, #KEYS
664::The peace you are looking for, you already 'are'. Be still and know this." ~ Mooji, From "Before I Am,", (2nd ed. 2017), Mooji., #KEYS
665:There is no greater courage than to be always truthful
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Courage.,#KEYS
666:This is a great fault in men, to love to be the models of others. ~ Meng-tse, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
667:To be independent of public opinion is the first formal condition of achieving anything great.
~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,#KEYS
668:Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent. ~ Saint John of the Cross, #KEYS
669: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
670:All the while a silent laughter sings, like wind through an open window saying: be deeper still, stand at Zero. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
671:Always live under the eyes of the Good Shepherd and you will be immune to contaminated pastures. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
672:Forget everything you have learned from people. Be whatever you learned from God. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
673: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
674:if I am
to be alone
the moon will be my friend
~ Buson, @BashoSociety#KEYS
675:It is only when you touch the higher that you realize how low we may be among the possibilities of creation. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle, #KEYS
676:Judge nothing, you will be happy. Forgive everything, you will be happier. Love everything, you will be happiest.
~ Sri Chinmoy,#KEYS
677:The past must be abandoned to God's mercy, the present to our fidelity, the future to divine providence. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #KEYS
678:When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.
~ Henry Ford,#KEYS
679:Being in general and the true in general cannot be hated ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1-2.29.5)., #KEYS
680:Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Romans, 12:2, #KEYS
681:How shall thy patience be crowned, if it is never tried? ~ Imitation of Christ, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
682:Only when the ever-present consciousness is realized will it be permanent. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
683:Take heed that ye do not alms before, men, to be seen of them. ~ Matthew VI. 1, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
684:To be taken with love for a soul, God does not look on its greatness, but the greatness of its humility. ~ Saint John of the Cross, #KEYS
685:We should not be upset that others hide the truth from us, when we hide it so often from ourselves. ~ François de La Rochefoucauld, #KEYS
686:What is the way out? I believe, to put oneself completely in the hands of higher powers, to be happy to be silent. ~ Rodney Collin, #KEYS
687:You great star, what would your happiness be had you not those for whom you shine?
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra,#KEYS
688:You possess only whatever will not be lost in a ship wreck. ~ Imam Ghazali], @Sufi_Path #KEYS
689:You think you are the mind and, therefore, ask how it is to be controlled. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
690: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
691:Break what must be broken, once for all, that's all, and take the suffering on oneself.
~ Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment,#KEYS
692:But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? ~ Job, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
693:Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise. ~ Proverbs XVII. 6, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
694:He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. ~ Matthew XX IV. 13, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
695: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
696: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
697:It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. ~ Jane Austen, #KEYS
698:Knowledge cannot be communicated all at once. Its attainment is a question of time. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
699:The major task of the twentieth century will be to explore the unconscious, to investigate the subsoil of the mind. ~ Henri Bergson, #KEYS
700:To be enlightened is to know that which is eternal. ~ Lao-Tse: Tao-Te-King" XVI, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
701:A Sadhu or a God should never be visited empty-handed, however trifling the present. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
702:As long as there is a mind, so long will there be such questions and doubts. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
703:Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be. ~ Thomas A Kempis, #KEYS
704:Be not proud in thy riches, nor in thy strength, nor in thy wisdom. ~ Phocylides, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
705:Diversity lies in your imagination only. Unitary Being need not be acquired. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
706:Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 Peter, I. 12, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
707:God cannot be realized so long as there is the least desire for powers in the heart. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
708:If you know the Self, there will be no darkness, no ignorance and no misery. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
709:If you seek the source of the mind, then alone all questions will be solved. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
710:Let your tongue never cease to be moist with the remembrance of God. ~ Hadith, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
711:Many are the names of God and infinite the forms through which He may be approached. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
712:Moksha is to know that you were not born. "Be still and know that I am God." ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
713:No one can enter the kingdom of heaven if there be the least trace of desire in him. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
714:The knowledge of God may be likened to a man, while the Love of God is like a woman. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
715:The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large." ~ Confucius, #KEYS
716:There should be no big I, not even a small one. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Ego and Its Forms, #KEYS
717:The tender bamboo can be easily bent, so it is easy to bend young hearts towards God ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
718:To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #KEYS
719:Unless a person has annihilated the mind, he cannot gain peace and be happy. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
720:When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle, #KEYS
721:Why go on pruning the ego? That is just what it wants — to be the center of attraction. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Conscious Immortality, #KEYS
722: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
723:Be perfectly sincere and no victory will be denied to you.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Sincerity,#KEYS
724:Be Quiet (Silent)!
Attend to the purpose for which you came! ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, [T5],#KEYS
725:God is both inside and outside you. When you realize that He is within you, your passions will be under control. ~ Swami Vijnanananda, #KEYS
726:God's word, what a wonderful weight it must carry, for a mountain may be moved by it. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
727:I'd have to be really quick to describe clouds ~ a split second's enough for them to start being something else. ~ Wislawa Szymborska, #KEYS
728:I found a book on how to be invisible ~ On the edge of the labyrinth ~ Under a veil you must never lift ~ Pages you must never turn ~, #KEYS
729: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
730:If you name me, you negate me. By giving me a name, a label, you negate all the other things I could possibly be. ~ Soren Kierkegaard, #KEYS
731:It is in an unshakable peace that can be found the true power.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Peace,#KEYS
732:Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows of no tricks. The best you can write will be the best you are.
~ Henry David Thoreau,#KEYS
733:One may go unasked to participate in religious music. One doesn't have to be invited. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
734:Teachers must be encouraged - I almost said 'freed', to pursue an education that strives for depth of understanding. ~ Howard Gardner, #KEYS
735:Thou must be emptied of that wherewith thou art full, that thou mayest be filled with that whereof thou art empty." ~ Saint Augustine, #KEYS
736:To travel this road, self-sincerity is necessary—and to be sincere with oneself is more difficult than you think. ~ Attar of Nishapur, #KEYS
737:Yet some there be that by due steps aspire To lay their just hands on that golden key That opes the Palace of Eternity. ~ John Milton, #KEYS
738:Be but trustees and guardians of your children, whose real father is the Lord Himself. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
739: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
740:Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the law, love under will.
~ Aleister Crowley,#KEYS
741:From God's effects it can be demonstrated that there is a God ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.2.2ad3), #KEYS
742:If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don't have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.
~ Steve Jobs,#KEYS
743: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
744:In order for love to be experienced, both the lover and the beloved must vanish." ~ Rupert Spria, "Being Aware of Being Aware", (2017), #KEYS
745: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
746:Look within. See the Self! There will be an end of the world and its miseries. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
747:That which is in all reality cannot begin to be nor be annihilated. ~ Schopenhauer, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
748:The game of doubting itself presupposes certainty…. A doubt that doubtEd everything would not be a doubt. ~ Wittgenstein, On Certainty, #KEYS
749: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
750:This turning to God is made evident in different degrees, and like any other gift, must be renewed. ~ Philokalia, Theophan the Recluse, #KEYS
751:What you do not wish to be done to yourselves, do not do to other men. ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
752:You will not be good teachers if you focus only on what you do and not upon who you are. ~ Rudolf Steiner, #KEYS
753:A dire duality is our way to be. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Glory and Fall of Life, #KEYS
754: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
755:Everybody is anxious to be a master. How many are there who would care to be disciples? ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
756:I am the wheat of God. Let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ. ~ Saint Ignatius, #KEYS
757:Let us, who are of the day, be sober. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 Thessalonians, V. 8, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
758:Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true. ~ Demosthenes, Third Olynthiac, sec. 19, #KEYS
759:Nothing is so good for an ignorant man as silence; and if he was sensible of this he would not be ignorant. ~ Saadi, #KEYS
760:One must be very particular about telling the truth. Through truth one can realise God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
761:One must be very particular about telling the truth. Through truth one can realize God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
762: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
763:The Self cannot be the doer. Find out who is the doer and the Self is revealed. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
764:The true cause of the blessedness of the good angels is found to be this, that they cleave to Him who supremely is ~ City of God 12.6)., #KEYS
765: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
766:To be equal is to be infinite and universal. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Action of Equality, #KEYS
767:To be full of things is to be empty of God; to be empty of things is to be full of God. ~ Meister Eckhart, #KEYS
768:To travel this road, self-sincerity is necessary - and to be sincere with oneself is more difficult than you think. ~ Attar of Nishapur, #KEYS
769: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
770:Yoke yourself under the law, so that you may truly be free. Do not work the desire of your soul apart from God. ~ Saint Ephrem of Syria, #KEYS
771:You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame; How could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes? ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #KEYS
772: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
773:All can be done if the god-touch is there
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Symbol Dawn,#KEYS
774:A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.
~ Abraham Maslow,#KEYS
775:A substance is a thing to which it belongs to be not in a subject ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (SCG 1.25)., #KEYS
776:Be gentle, strike not an inoffensive animal, break not a domestic tree. ~ Pythagoras, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
777:Be not afraid, like some foolish people, that you may run to excess in your love of God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
778:Be then on your guard against everything that suppresses your liberty. ~ Vivekananda, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
779:Eternal wisdom builds: I shall be her palace when she finds repose in me and I in her. ~ Angelus Silesius, #KEYS
780:Find the source. The false 'I' will disappear and the real 'I' will be realized. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
781:I am That I Am" sums up the whole truth; the method is summarized in "Be Still." ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
782:If holiness can be compared to any other quality, it is only to strength. ~ Meng-Tse, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
783:In order to remember something, you must first of all be conscious of it. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III, #KEYS
784:It is easier today to triumph over evil habits than it will be tomorrow. ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
785: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
786:Let the man [woman] find out his undying Self and die and be immortal and happy. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
787:Powers are sought by the mind which must be kept alert, whereas the Self is realised when the mind is 'destroyed'. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
788:Reason should be become the interpreter and the singer of the things understood by the intellect… ~ Maximus the Confessor, Ambiguum 10.3, #KEYS
789:The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #KEYS
790:There can be no firm foundation in sadhana without equality, samata.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,#KEYS
791:There is an innocence in admiration: it occurs in one who has not yet realized that they might one day be admired. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #KEYS
792:The Self cannot be found in books. You have to find it for yourself in yourself. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
793:You must remember that you are His children. But do not let this make you proud. Pride must be given up once for all. ~ SWAMI PREMANANDA, #KEYS
794: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
795:Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. ~ Dalai Lama, #KEYS
796:It is in the absolute surrender of all conditions and requirements that liberation is discovered to be who and what you are. ~ Adyashanti, #KEYS
797: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
798:Let the Divine Presence be always with you.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Divine Is with You, [T1],#KEYS
799:Let your standpoint become that of wisdom then the world will be found to be God. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
800:Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less. ~ Marie Curie, #KEYS
801:Render to God the sole worship which is fitting towards Him, not to be evil. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
802:Since He appears because of Her,
And She exists because of Her Lord,
The two cannot be distinguished at all. ~ Jnaneshwar, Hinduism,#KEYS
803:So should He be adored...for it is in That all become one. ~ Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
804:There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.
~ Soren Kierkegaard,#KEYS
805:The Self remains ever the same, here and now. There is nothing more to be gained. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
806:The unchangeable can only be realized in silence. Once realized, it will deeply affect the changeable. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj Maharaj, #KEYS
807:This is the gist of all worship—to be pure and to do good to others. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. III. 141), #KEYS
808:To be happy all I have to do is to give up my judgments." ~ Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D. "Forgiveness: The Greatest Healer Of All,", ( 1999), #KEYS
809:... we should read for power. Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand.
~ Ezra Pound,#KEYS
810:Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them. ~ William Shakespeare, #KEYS
811:Be not children in understanding,be men. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 Corinthians, XIV 20, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
812:Be watchful, divest yourself of all neglectfulness; follow the path. ~ Buddhist Maxims, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
813:„Don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
814:Every man knows how useful it is to be useful. No one seems to know How useful it is to be useless. ~ Thomas merton. The Way Of Chuang Tzu, #KEYS
815:Hegel's philosophy is so odd that one would not have expected him to be able to get some men to accept it, but he did." ~ Bertrand Russell, #KEYS
816:If you can strictly follow what the Guru has prescribed for the realization of God, everything will be smooth at last. ~ Swami Saradananda, #KEYS
817:instead of what I don't have the things I have would be much more cared for." ~ Douglas King, quote from "poems in a minor chord,", (2017), #KEYS
818:love, so that a new, profound and universal reconciliation may be thus achieved between God and humanity." ~ Our Lady to Fr. Stefano Gobbi, #KEYS
819:Never apologize for trusting your intuition. Your brain can play trick, your heart can be blind, but your gut is usually right." ~ Unknown, #KEYS
820:Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." ~ Marie Curie, #KEYS
821:The real truth of man is to be found in his soul. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The Spiritual Aim and Life, #KEYS
822:There is no goal to be reached. There is nothing to be attained. You are the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
823:There must be an object and a subject to witness. These are creations of the mind. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
824:The tree laden with fruit always bends low. So if you wish to be great, be lowly and meek. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
825:When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps." ~ Confucius, #KEYS
826:Be firm in the accomplishment of your duties, the great and the small. ~ Buddhist Texts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
827:Can it be that change terrifies thee? But nothing is done without it. ~ Marcus Aurelius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
828:Go you, sweep out the dwelling room of your heart; prepare it to be the home of the Beloved. When you go out, He will come in. ~ Shabistari, #KEYS
829:He created Hell only that He might be called 'Merciful'." ~ Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
830:It is extravagance to ask of others what can be procured by oneself. ~ Seneca: Epistles, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
831:It may be given to the householder to see God. It was the case with Janaka, the great sage. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
832:Let the man find out his undying Self and die and be immortal and happy. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks, 64, #KEYS
833:My only prayer is to be firm in my determination in pursuing the truth. ~ Daie, @BashoSociety #KEYS
834:No single virtue by itself opens the door of our nature, but all the virtues must be linked together in the correct sequence." ~ Philokalia, #KEYS
835:One's own self is well hidden from one's own self. Of all the mines of treasure, one's own is the last to be dug up." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #KEYS
836:Seek in reading and thou shalt find in meditation; knock in prayer and it shall be opened in contemplation. ~ Saint John of the Cross, [T5], #KEYS
837:Soonest is always best
When noble deeds are to be done. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act II,#KEYS
838:The Tao which can be expressed is not the eternal Tao, the name which can be named is not the eternal Name. ~ Lao Tzu, #KEYS
839:The temple of the body should not be kept in darkness; the lamp of knowledge must light it. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
840:to be alive
is a wonder
autumn herbs
~ Ogawa, @BashoSociety#KEYS
841:Unless you are completely detached from everything, your meditation and prayer, work and learning will be of no avail. ~ Swami Vijnanananda, #KEYS
842:Until realisation there will be Karma, i.e., action and reaction; after realisation there will be no Karma, no world. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
843:When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.
~ Confucius,#KEYS
844:Whether the mind becomes steady or not, practice Japa. It will be nice if you can perform a certain number of Japa daily. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
845:Without a great ideal there can be no great movement. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - I, The Leverage of Faith, #KEYS
846:As I see it, there isn't so much to do. Just be ordinary — put on your robes, eat your food, and pass the time doing nothing. ~ Linji Yixuan, #KEYS
847:Be master of thy thoughts, O thou who strivest for perfection. ~ Book of Golden Precepts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
848:Everything in the world can be endured, except continual prosperity.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,#KEYS
849:Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price
~ Samuel Johnson,#KEYS
850:I am He that is" (Ex 3,14), which is equivalent to "My nature is to be, not to be spoken." ~ Philo of Alexandria, De Mutatione Nominum 11-12, #KEYS
851:If a warrior is not unattached to life and death, he will be of no use whatsoever." ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo (Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai), #KEYS
852:If one surrenders to God, there will be no cause for anxiety. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Conscious Immortality, #KEYS
853:In dwelling, be close to the land. In meditation, go deep in the heart. In dealing with others be gentle and kind. ~ Tao Te Ching, chapter 8, #KEYS
854:It must be realized that the true sign of spiritual endeavor and the price of success in it is suffering. ~ Philokalia, Theophan the Recluse, #KEYS
855:Life is to be found in the recesses of its own being. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II, The One Thing Needful, #KEYS
856:On this earth everyone has his cross. But we must act in such a way that we be not the bad, but good thief. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
857:Purity is, next to birth, the greatest good that can be given to man. ~ Avesta: Vendidad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
858:Realize your pure Be-ing. Thoughts will play as usual, but you will not be affected. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
859:That which is must also persist for ever. That which appears anew will also be lost. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
860:There are times when I am so unlike myself that I might be taken for someone else of an entirely opposite character. ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau, #KEYS
861:There is no requirement to transcend the past. All that must be done is to stop carrying it, like a block of stone, on one's back. ~ Wu Hsin, #KEYS
862:The secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours.
~ Amos Tversky,#KEYS
863:To be able to be regular is a great force, one becomes master of one's time and one's movements. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #KEYS
864:By the Lord's grace the spirit must be quickened. Spiritual awakening is followed by Samadhi. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
865:Divine love must awaken within your hearts and be intensified and crystallized. Then only the vision of God will open up. ~ Swami Turiyananda, #KEYS
866:I can have nothing to do with your money. For if I accept it, my mind will be always with it. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
867:If thou understand, what seems invisible to most shall be to thee very apparent. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
868:In spring
your bag shall be filled
with cherry-blossoms
~ Yoshihide, @BashoSociety#KEYS
869:It is mine more to be persecuted, than to persecute. So Christ was victorious as a Crucified, and not as a crucifier. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
870:It will be like a judgment in miniature and each one will see himself in the light of the very Truth of God." ~ Our Lady to Fr. Stefano Gobbi, #KEYS
871:I was asked to memorise what I did not understand; and, my memory being so good, it refused to be insulted in that manner. ~ Aleister Crowley, #KEYS
872:never doubt
your ability
to be loved
~ Ogawa, @BashoSociety#KEYS
873:Peace is Self-Realization. Peace need not be disturbed. One should aim at Peace only. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
874:Realizing one's true nature requires no phenomenal efforts. Enlightenment cannot be attained or forced; it can only happen. ~ Ramesh Balsekar, #KEYS
875:There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." ~ Nelson Mandela, #KEYS
876:There is only one sadness, namely, not to be Saints [II n'y a qu'une tristesse, c'est de n'etre pas des Saints]. ~ Leon Bloy, La Femme Pauvre, #KEYS
877:To be a man of worth and not to try to look like one is the true way to glory. ~ Socrates, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
878:When we are born, we are soft and supple, in death we are stiff and inflexible. To be inflexible is to be the servant of death ~ Tao Te Ching, #KEYS
879:You must let what happens happen. Everything must be equal in your eyes, good and evil, beautiful and ugly, foolish and wise." ~ Michael Ende, #KEYS
880:Always cultivate pure thoughts. Purity is strength, and purity is God. Live such a life that no one may be an enemy to you. ~ SWAMI PREMANANDA, #KEYS
881:Be master of thy thoughts, O thou who wrest lest for perfection. ~ Book of Golden Precepts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
882:Do not think to gain God by thy actions...One must not gain but be God. ~ Angelus Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
883:Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities." ~ D.T. Suzuki, #KEYS
884:Flow with whatever may happen, and let your mind be free: Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate." ~ Zhuangzi, #KEYS
885:It is Itself that which was and that which is yet to be, the Eternal. ~ Kaivaiya Upanishad, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
886:It might be true that it is "quality time" that counts, but after a certain point quantity has a bearing on quality. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #KEYS
887:Preaching is simple communication of Knowledge; it can really be done in silence only. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
888:Pure Bhakti is very difficult to obtain. In Bhakti, the mind and soul must be absorbed in God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
889:The child of the Void shall be reborn in God, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, Satyavan and Savitri, #KEYS
890:The ground's generosity takes in our compost and grows beauty! Try to be more like the ground. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
891:The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 Corinthians, XV, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
892:The proper role of a priest is to be a mediator between God and people ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.22.1)., #KEYS
893:The salvation of many is to be preferred to the peace of any single man ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.42.2), #KEYS
894:To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things. ~ Dogen Zenji, #KEYS
895:Because others are mean is no reason to be mean yourself. 24 April 1933 ~ The Mother, Some Answers From The Mother, 29, #KEYS
896:could there ever be
a more wonderful story
than your own?
~ Nichiren, @BashoSociety#KEYS
897:Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. ~ Neil Gaiman, #KEYS
898:For wisdom shall enter into thine heart and knowledge be pleasant unto thy soul. ~ Proverbs, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
899:God is a hard master and will not be served by halves. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II, The Wheat and the Chaff, #KEYS
900:In the realized man [woman], the mind may be active or inactive; the Self alone exists. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
901:It ever was, and is, and shall be, ever-living fire, in measures being kindled and in measures going out. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
902:Let us make our minds pure, the rest will be easy; and we shall attain spiritual bliss comparable to nothing else in life. ~ Swami Vijnanananda, #KEYS
903:Nothing can be done by the weak and so nothing is given to the weak. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, Bhawanipur Speech, #KEYS
904:Pursue not the outer entanglements; dwell not in the inner void; be serene in the oneness of things; and dualism vanishes by itself." ~ Sengcan, #KEYS
905:Telling someone something he does not understand is pointless, even if you add that he will not be able to understand it. ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein, #KEYS
906:The only religion that ought to be taught is the religion of fearlessness. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. III. 160), #KEYS
907:The wheel of fortune turns incessantly round, and who can say within himself, I shall today be uppermost?
~ Confucius,#KEYS
908:To bring about peace means to be free from thoughts and to abide as Pure Consciousness. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
909:To start from the self and try to understand all things is delusion. To let the self be awakened by all things is enlightenment." ~ Dōgen Zenji, #KEYS
910:Your efforts can be made even now, whatever by the environment. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Maharshi's Gospel, 1:1, #KEYS
911:All wisdom can be expressed in two phrases: What is done for you-allow it to be done. What you must do yourself-make sure you do it.
~ Khawwas,#KEYS
912:As for politics, I'm an anarchist. I hate governments and rules and fetters. Can't stand caged animals. People must be free.
~ Charlie Chaplin,#KEYS
913:Even if the vilest sinner worships me with exclusive devotion, he should be accounted a saint, for he has rightly resolved. ~ BHAGAVAD GITA 9:30, #KEYS
914:God is not only true, but truth itself, so there can be no falsity in him ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 2.61)., #KEYS
915:God is to be worshiped as the one Beloved, dearer than everything in this and the next life. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
916:If I see a pundit without Viveka, without the love of God, I know him to be no better than straw ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
917:If then we have angels, let us be sober, as though we were in the presence of tutors; for there is a demon present also. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
918:If there is a goal to be reached it cannot be permanent. The goal must already be there. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
919:In sorrow and suffering, go straight to God with confidence, and you will be strengthened, enlightened and instructed. ~ Saint John of the Cross, #KEYS
920:It may be given even to the householder to see God. It was the case with Janaka, the great sage. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
921:Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
~ Jalaluddin Rumi,#KEYS
922:Let thy mind be pure like gold, firm like a rock, transparent as crystal. ~ Angelus Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
923:Mukti [Liberation] is not to be gained in the future. It is there forever, here and now. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
924:
Don't walk in front of me... I may not follow
Don't walk behind me... I may not lead
Walk beside me... just be my friend
~ Albert Camus,#KEYS
925:Things in their fundamental nature can neither be named nor explained. They cannot be expressed adequately in any form of language. ~ Aswaghosha, #KEYS
926:Watch diligently over yourselves, let not negligence be born in you. ~ Fo-shu-hing-tsan-king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
927:All work must be play, but a divine play, played for the Divine, with the Divine.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
928:Be mindful of the passing of time, and engage yourself in zazen as though you are saving your head from fire.
~ Dogen Zenji,#KEYS
929:Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,#KEYS
930:Existence, or better, existentiality... is participation insofar as participation cannot be objectified. ~ Gabriel Marcel, Creative Fidelity p 18, #KEYS
931:Grace is the Self. That also is not to be acquired; you only need to know that it exists. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
932:In deliberation we may hesitate; but a deliberated act must be performed swiftly. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, [T5], #KEYS
933:In prayer, more is accomplished by listening than by talking. Let us leave to God the decisions as to what shall be said. ~ Saint Francis de Sales #KEYS
934:Keep your heart clear and transparent, and you will never be bound. A single disturbed thought creates ten thousand distractions." ~ Taigu Ryokan, #KEYS
935:O saki, let the coming of this holy day be auspicious to you And the pledges you made not slip away from your memory. ~ Hafiz, #KEYS
936:Perform your worldly duties, fixing your hold firmly upon God, and you shall be free from danger. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
937:Repeat your mantra several thousand times a day. That will give you strength. If evil thoughts appear be indifferent to them. ~ Swami Saradananda, #KEYS
938:So high is my Lord's palace, my heart trembles to mount its stairs: yet I must not be shy, if I would enjoy His love. ~ Kabir, #KEYS
939:The Facts were right there waiting for me, hidden in old books written by people who weren't afraid to be honest ~ Ernest Cline, Ready Player One, #KEYS
940:The spiritual struggle has much in common with ordinary warfare; and in this battle we must likewise be brave. ~ Philokalia, Silouan the Athonite, #KEYS
941:Understanding more, seeing things more objectively, comes first; when that sinks in, one begins to be different, act differently. ~ Rodney Collin, #KEYS
942:Whatever happens in the working of the universe at the present moment, has to be accepted. Not accepting it means human misery. ~ Ramesh Balsekar, #KEYS
943:When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love." ~ Marcus Aurelius, #KEYS
944:You must make the most strenuous efforts. Throughout this life, you can never be certain of living long enough to take another breath. ~ Huang Po, #KEYS
945:Every saint who has made exemplary progress in beauty is thereby said to be a type of God the giver…. ~ Maximus the Confessor, Amb. 10.20a [1141c], #KEYS
946:For with God both of these of necessity match each other exactly: practice should be sustained by prayer and prayer by practice. ~ Saint Gregory I, #KEYS
947:In a moment of seeing through the conceptual 'me' and realizing it is just mind activity, you know there is nobody to be enlightened. ~ Adyashanti, #KEYS
948:It is impossible absolutely speaking for hatred to be stronger than love ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1-2.29.3)., #KEYS
949:Live as though only God and yourself were in this world, so that your heart may not be detained by anything human. ~ Saint John of the Cross, [T5], #KEYS
950:Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.
~ Bertrand Russell,#KEYS
951:No matter how much evil be multiplied, it can never wholly destroy the good ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 3.12)., #KEYS
952:Pride and envy are the only spiritual sins which can be found in demons ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.63.2ad2)., #KEYS
953:Surrender is complete only when you reach the stage 'Thou art all' and 'Thy will be done'. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
954:Who can be the Master of another? The Eternal alone is the guide and the Master. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
955:With trust in the Divines Grace all obstacles can be surmounted. with my blessings
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
956:Always be faithful to God in keeping the promises made to Him and do not bother about the ridicule of the foolish. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
957:A pure heart, open to the Light, will be filled with the elixir of Truth." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
958:Give me, divine mother, love that knows no incontinence and faith adamantine that cannot be shaken. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
959:Good, not utility, must be the principle and standard of good. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The Suprarational Good, #KEYS
960:Living in the world, one should always be on their guard against the allurements of lust and greed. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
961:No language exists that cannot be misused... Every Interpretation is hypothetical, for it is a mere attempt to read an unfamiliar text. ~ Carl Jung, #KEYS
962:Renunciation must be for us merely an instrument and not an objec. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Renunciation, #KEYS
963:So long as the heart of man is directed towards God, he cannot be lost in the ocean of worldliness. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
964:stand in your center
and be flooded
with joy
~ Ogawa, @BashoSociety#KEYS
965:The individual cannot be perfect until he has surrendered all he now calls himself to the divine Being. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #KEYS
966:What could be more concrete than the Self? It is within each one's experience every moment. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
967:What we believe we must live up to; what we have learnt we must practice. Religion cannot be in theory, it must be in practice. ~ SWAMI ABHEDANANDA, #KEYS
968:Be a free thinker and don't accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and evaluate what you believe in.
~ Aristotle,#KEYS
969:Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 46:10, [T5],#KEYS
970:Expel thy desires and fears and there shall be no longer any tyrant over thee. ~ Marcus Aurelius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
971:If success or failure of this planet and of human beings depended on how I am and what I do... How would I be? What would I do? ~ Buckminster Fuller, #KEYS
972:If you go on preaching without a commission from God, it will all be powerless and none will listen. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
973:It is your own being which is permanent. Be the Self and that is bliss. You are always that. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
974:Just as grace is given from the Father through the Son, so there could be no communication of the gift to us except in the Holy Spirit. ~ Athanasius, #KEYS
975:Master the body, be temperate in food and eat only at opportune moments. ~ Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
976:Mental boldness: let your mind be capable of foreseeing the perfections of tomorrow.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
977:Other things a man can do unwillingly, but he must be willing in order to believe. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
978:The noblest deed is that a person should be benevolent towards his father's friends. ~ Hadith, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
979:There is nothing however small, however vile it be, that does not contain mind. ~ Giordano Bruno, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
980:There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke. ~ Vincent van Gogh , #KEYS
981:You must not be greatly troubled about many things, but you should care for the main thing — preparing yourself for death. ~ Saint Ambrose of Optina, #KEYS
982:Always do what you know to be the best even if it is the most difficult thing to do.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III,#KEYS
983:Everything must be transformed by the knowledge of the Truth. With my blessings
~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 6 May,#KEYS
984:God does not require an intermediary.
Mind your business and all will be well. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks, 594,#KEYS
985:However much fighting there is in the world, however much darkness there is, we must be able to serve as small lamps in that darkness. ~ 17th Karmapa, #KEYS
986:If thou comprehend Him, what seems invisible to most, will be for thee utterly apparent. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
987:If you must be crazy, let it not be with the things of the world; be crazy with the love of the Lord. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
988:Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing. ~ Saint John of the Cross, #KEYS
989:So long as you have faith in your guru, nothing will be able to obstruct your way. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. V. 106), #KEYS
990:Some day surely
The world too shall be saved from death by love. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act III,#KEYS
991:The goal always exists. It is not something new to be discovered. The Absolute is our nature. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
992:The imagination is like a knife which may be used for good or evil purposes.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1929-1931,#KEYS
993:The supreme Brahman without beginning cannot be called either Being or Non-being. ~ Bhagavad Gita, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
994:To be in full union with the Divine is the final aim. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, The Aim of the Integral Yoga, #KEYS
995:To come to possess all desire the possession of nothing. To arrive at being all desire to be nothing." ~ John of the Cross 16 cent Spanish mystic, W., #KEYS
996:To me a book is a message from the gods to mankind; or, if not, should never be published at all.
~ Aleister Crowley,#KEYS
997:we will
always be
disturbed by the truth
~ Dogen Zenji, @BashoSociety#KEYS
998:Whatever being shows wide powers, or majesty or vigour, be sure that in every case that is sprung from a fraction of my glory. ~ Bhagavad Gita, 10, 41 #KEYS
999:When you have eliminated all that is impossible, whatever remains must be the truth, no matter how improbably. - Sherlock Holmes ~ Arthur Conan Doyle, #KEYS
1000:Yet some there be that by due steps aspire
To lay their just hands on that golden key
That opes the palace of eternity. ~ John Milton, Comus,#KEYS
1001:All choices can be broken down to two choices: The choice for fear or the choice for love." ~ Frederick Dodson, "Parallel Universes of Self,", (2006)., #KEYS
1002:Be quiet and confident and try to find me inside yourself, it will help you to sleep.
~ The Mother, White Roses, Aug 5 1959,#KEYS
1003:Be the same to friends and enemies; treat alike a broken piece of mud pot and a piece of gold. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1004:If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things. ~ Rene Descartes, #KEYS
1005:In heaven, though one saint is above another, none will be imperfect ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (De potentia 3.1ad14)., #KEYS
1006:Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Micah, 7:8, #KEYS
1007:Religion has to be lived, not learned as a creed. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Early Cultural Writings, A System of National Education, #KEYS
1008:Sometimes I wonder if people who aggrressively seek political power are precisely those who should not be entrusted to wield it. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson, #KEYS
1009:The difficulties you cannot overcome today will be overcome tomorrow or later on.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I, [T5],#KEYS
1010:Turn inward and put an end to all this. There will be no finality in disputations. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks, 132, #KEYS
1011:You must be pure and help anyone who comes to you, as much as lies in your power. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. III. 142), #KEYS
1012:A billion stars go spinning through the night, glittering above your head, but in you is the presence that will be when all the stars are dead. ~ Rilke, #KEYS
1013:A little meditation is no good. God cannot be realized through such lukewarm moods. One must yearn deeply, one must become restless. ~ SWAMI PREMANANDA, #KEYS
1014:An atom of love is to be preferred to all that exists between the two horizons. ~ Attar of Nishapur, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1015:But how can that be manifested to thy eyes if what is within thee is to thyself invisible? ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1016:Every breath of ours should be associated with the Lord, in our mind. God is behind you. always remember Him in everything you do. ~ Swami Vijnanananda, #KEYS
1017:God is identical with His attributes, so that it may be said that He is the knowledge, the knower, and the known. ~ Maimonides, #KEYS
1018:If surrender is complete, all sense of self is lost, and then there can be no misery or sorrow. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1019:If you have a faith in something that cannot be proved, you must believe in everyone's else's faiths." ~ Jack Gardner, "Words are not things,", (2005)., #KEYS
1020:Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer. ~ Joseph Campbell, #KEYS
1021:Meditation must be so intense that it does not give room even to the thought 'I am meditating'. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1022:Once you stop clinging and let things be, you'll be free, even of birth and death. You'll transform everything. ~ Bodhidharma, #KEYS
1023:Since the words of the sages all deal with supernatural matters which are ultimate, they must be expressed in riddles and analogies. ~ Moses Maimonides, #KEYS
1024:The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one... I have been... and always shall be... your friend. Live long... and prosper. ~ Spock, #KEYS
1025:There may be happiness or misery. Be equally indifferent to both and abide in the faith of God. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1026:They can be like the sun, words.
They can do for the heart what light can for a field. ~ Saint John of the Cross, The Poems of St. John of the Cross,#KEYS
1027:Those whose hearts are burnt with the fire of worldly desires cannot be impressed with spiritual ideas. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1028:To be alone is the fate of all great minds-a fate deplored at times, but still always chosen as the less grievous of two evils.
~ Arthur Schopenhauer,#KEYS
1029:To be alone with the Divine is the highest of all privileged states for the sadhak.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - IV,#KEYS
1030:What we fight with is so small, and when we win, it makes us small. What we want is to be defeated, decisively, by successively greater things. ~ Rilke, #KEYS
1031:A writer, or any artist, can't expect to be embraced by the people [but] you just keep doing your work ~ because you have to, because it's your calling., #KEYS
1032:Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. ~ Matthew V. 6, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1033:Find wherefrom thoughts emerge. Then you will abide in the ever-present inmost Self and be free. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1034:... for if you were not always present in my consciousness you would be not able to think of me. ~ The Mother, Some Answers, S6, #KEYS
1035:hough your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Isaiah, I. 18, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1036:How can one attempt seeing truth without knowing falsehood. It is the attempt to see the light without knowing darkness. It cannot be.
~ Frank Herbert,#KEYS
1037:If we could comprehend all the good things contained in Holy Communion, nothing more would be wanting to content the heart of man." ~ Saint John Vianney, #KEYS
1038:If you already have a person's love no sacrifice can be too much to give for it; but any sacrifice is too great to buy it for you. ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein, #KEYS
1039:No academic ever expects to be taken seriously by more than three other people, because really, we write for three people in our field. ~ Howard Gardner, #KEYS
1040:Once you stop clinging and let things be, you'll be free, even of birth and death. You'll transform everything." ~ Bodhidharma, #KEYS
1041:That which is not cannot come to being and that which is cannot cease to be. ~ Bhagavad Gita. II. 16, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1042:There can be no physical life without an order and rhythm. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Practical Concerns in Work, #KEYS
1043:The true religion has always been one from the beginning, and will always be the same. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
1044:All of us must be saints in this world. Holiness is a duty for you and me. So let's be saints and so give glory to the Father. ~ Saint Teresa of Calcutta, #KEYS
1045:Continue to plant a kiss of concern on the cheek of the sick and the aged and infirm and count that actions as natural and to be expected. ~ Maya Angelou, #KEYS
1046:Having realized the Self, nothing remains to be known because it is perfect Bliss, it is the All. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1047:Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future." ~ Earl Nightingale, #KEYS
1048:Reach beyond your grasp. Your goals should be grand enough to get the best of you. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #KEYS
1049:... Repent, seek pardon, make amends and, above all, be once again faithful to the task which has been entrusted to you." ~ Our Lady to Fr. Stefano Gobbi, #KEYS
1050:Say-'I have received his Grace: I must be worthy of it', and then all will be well.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, [T1],#KEYS
1051:The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.
~ Plato,#KEYS
1052:Those whom you know to be your own, will cease to exist for you, the moment you close your eyes in death. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1053:To follow the path to the end, one must be armed with a very patient endurance.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Path,#KEYS
1054:To lament that we shall not be alive a hundred years hence, is the same folly as to be sorry we were not alive a hundred years ago. ~ Michel de Montaigne, #KEYS
1055:Worldly ideas must go completely, the mind must be wholly fixed on Him, and then alone can you reach God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1056:You can read sacred books and yet be far away from the Divine; and you can read the most stupid productions and be in touch with the Divine. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
1057:An entry into the gnostic consciousness would be an entry into the Infinite. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Divine Life, #KEYS
1058:Be indifferent to the praise and blame of men; consider it as if the croakings of frogs. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1059:Having realized the Self, nothing remains to be known, because it is perfect Bliss, it is the All. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1060:Here and not elsewhere the highest Godhead has to be found. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, Works, Devotion and Knowledge, #KEYS
1061:It's beautiful to be alone. To be alone does not mean to be lonely. It means the mind is not influenced and contaminated by society." ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #KEYS
1062:Let all bitterness and wrath and anger be put away from you. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Ephesians, IV. 31, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1063:Let this be our one need in life, to realise the Divine.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The True Aim of Life [3],#KEYS
1064:One cannot cease to be individually except by being infinitely. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Death, Desire and Incapacity, #KEYS
1065:Recoil from the sun into the shadow that there may be more place for others. ~ Book of Golden Precepts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1066:So we ought to be accurate, brethren, about our salvation, in case the evil one sneaks in some error and slings us out from our life. ~ Letter of Barnabas, #KEYS
1067:Tell me why you should be in search of a goal? Why are you not content with the present condition? ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1068:The Beatitudes are the like the Christian's identity card. So if anyone asks: "What must I do to be a good Christian?" the answer is clear. ~ Pope Francis, #KEYS
1069:The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. … " ~ Thomas Merton, #KEYS
1070:The earliest formula of Wisdom promises to be its last, -- God, Light, Freedom, Immortality
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine,#KEYS
1071:The judgment of the intellect is, at best, only the half of truth, and must, if it be honest, also come to an understanding of its inadequacy. ~ Carl Jung, #KEYS
1072:The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.
~ Nikola Tesla,#KEYS
1073:What is called "peace" by many is merely the absence of disturbance. True peace cannot be disturbed; it resides beyond the reach of disturbance. ~ Wu Hsin, #KEYS
1074:When we give up regarding the unreal as real, then Reality alone will remain and we shall be That. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1075:And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. ~ Romans XII. 2, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1076:And the third is CLARITY so that things with bright colors are said to be beautiful ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.39.8)., #KEYS
1077:By turning your eyes on God in meditation, your whole soul will be filled with God. Begin all your prayers in the presence of God. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #KEYS
1078:In a pure body and pure mind, the power of God becomes manifest. Think and think of God; the impurities of the mind will be washed away. ~ SWAMI PREMANANDA, #KEYS
1079:I shall always be with you, my dear little child, in the struggle and in the victory.
~ The Mother, Some Answers From The Mother,#KEYS
1080:It is better to be deceived by others and yet to remain unsuspicious of people. If one suspects others, one loses strength of character. ~ SWAMI TURIYANANDA #KEYS
1081:It is the ideal that has made us what we are, and will make us what we are going to be. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. IV. 285), #KEYS
1082:The Absolute is everywhere; it has to be seen and found everywhere. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Soul and Nature, #KEYS
1083:There can be no true freedom and happiness so long as men have not understood their oneness. ~ Channing, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1084:There is no shame in any work even the un-cleanest. Idleness alone ought to be held shameful. ~ Tolstoi, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1085:This cosmos… was, is, and always will be every living fire, kindled in measures and quenched in the measures. ~ Heraclitus, Fr. 30, #KEYS
1086:Admire the diamond that can bear the hits of a hammer. Many deceptive preachers, when critically examined, turn out to be false. ~ Kabir, #KEYS
1087:And let this be our thought, "Our bodies are different, but we have one and the same heart." ~ Mahavagga, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1088:Every individual man must be in little what the Cosmos is in large. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Isha Upanishad, The Eternal in His Universe, #KEYS
1089:Everything will come in its time; keep a confident patience and all will be all right.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, [T5],#KEYS
1090:If you keep your gaze fixed upon the Light, you will be delivered from dualism and the plurality of the finite body. ~ Jalalu'l-Din Rumi, Mathnawi, III, 1259 #KEYS
1091:If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.
~ Albert Einstein,#KEYS
1092:Man's consciousness can be nothing else than a form of Nature's consciousness. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Conscious Force, #KEYS
1093:That which you give to another will become your own sustenance; if you light a lamp for another, your own way will be lit. ~ Nichiren, #KEYS
1094:The good which is the end of the whole universe must be a good outside the universe ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.103.2)., #KEYS
1095:The guru is always ready to give what can be given, if the disciple can receive. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, The Guru, #KEYS
1096:To be evenminded
is the greatest virtue.
Wisdom is to speak
the truth and act
in keeping with its nature. ~ Heraclitus,#KEYS
1097:To be FALSE, to say of what is not, that it is, or of what is, that it is not ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (In I PH lect. 11)., #KEYS
1098:To these four can be reduced whatever is scientifically inquirable or knowable ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (In 2 PA lect. 1)., #KEYS
1099:We must be governed by the guide within rather than by the opinions of men. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Renunciation, #KEYS
1100:Where there is no limitation, there can be no pain. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Kena and Other Upanishads, The Philosophy of the Upanishads, #KEYS
1101:Wilt thou that thy heart should be free from sorrow ? Forget not the hearts that sorrow devours. ~ Saadi, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1102:A mental knowledge can always be blinded by the tricks of the vital. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Thought and Knowledge, #KEYS
1103:A witch ought never be frightened in the darkest forest, because she should be sure that the most terrifying thing in the forest was her.
~ Terry Pratchett,#KEYS
1104:But Christ wanted to be born in a podunk town and to suffer reproach in a big city ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.35.7ad1)., #KEYS
1105:Don't seek to have events happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and all will be well with you.
~ Epictetus,#KEYS
1106:Eternal wisdom builds: I shall be her palace when she finds repose in me and I in her. ~ Angelus Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1107:Force of character is man's great strength. If he uses it in his dealings with the world he will indeed be victorious in most directions. ~ SRI ANANDAMAYI MA, #KEYS
1108:If anyone does not salute such representations as standing for the Lord and his saints, let him be anathema. ~ Seventh Ecumenical Council, Second Nicaea, 787, #KEYS
1109:If you are not prepared to resign or be fired for what you believe in, then you are not a worker, let alone a professional. You are a slave. ~ Howard Gardner, #KEYS
1110:In all action there is an imperative of existence that seeks to be fulfilled. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Gnostic Being, #KEYS
1111:It is when one feels like a blind man that one begins to be ready for the illumination.
~ The Mother, Some Answers From The Mother,#KEYS
1112:Keep over your actions an absolute empire; be 10 not their slave, but their master. ~ Imitation of Christ, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1113:Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious.
~ Sri Ramakrishna, [T5],#KEYS
1114:Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceit. ~ Romans X II, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1115:One should be able to see the faults of others without hatred. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Problems in Human Relations, #KEYS
1116:O Priest! Take care lest what was said to Christ on the cross be said to you: He saved others, himself he cannot save! ~ Saint Norbert of Xanten, (1075-1134), #KEYS
1117:Seek to make your work a prayer, your believing an act, your living an art. It is then the object of your faith will be made visible to you." ~ Ernest Holmes, #KEYS
1118:Self Realization is not however a state which has to be reached by you. You are always in that state. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1119:The meaning of our self is not to be found in its separateness from God and others, but in the ceaseless realisation of yoga, of union. ~ Rabindranath Tagore, #KEYS
1120:The more heart you will be able to manifest, the greater will be the victory you achieve. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. VI. 425), #KEYS
1121:There are only two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'All right, then, have it your way.'" ~ C .S. Lewis, #KEYS
1122:The strength is always with you to be always faithful to the Divine Will.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Faithfulness, [T5],#KEYS
1123:The worldy-minded person can never be fired with enthusiasm, though God be preached to him innumerable times. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1124:We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
~ T S Eliot,#KEYS
1125:When mind is still, then Truth gets her chance to be heard in the purity of the silence. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human, #KEYS
1126:Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. ~ Luke XIV. 11, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1127:You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children. ~ Madeleine L'Engle, #KEYS
1128:Accommodation of mental structures to reality implies the existence of assimilatory schemata apart from which any structure would be impossible. ~ Jean Piaget, #KEYS
1129:A man must be strong and free in himself before he can live usefully for others. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, Opinion and Comments, #KEYS
1130:As a nail cannot be driven into a stone, so the advice of the pious does not affect the soul of a worldly man. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1131:I account it a greater good to be reproved than to reprove, inasmuch as it is more excellent to free oneself from evil than to free another. ~ Saint Methodius, #KEYS
1132:It is at all times a sensible consolation to be able to say, "Death is as natural as life." ~ Schopenhauer, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1133:It is not sufficient to acknowledge suffering; it must be understood and changed.
~ Seijyo, @BashoSociety#KEYS
1134:Men die that man may live and God be born. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain, #KEYS
1135:Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 Corinthians, V. 7, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1136:Realization is nothing new to be acquired. It is already there but obstructed by a screen of thoughts. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1137:Relax and meditation will be easy. Keep your mind steady by gently warding off all intruding thoughts. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1138:The essence of consciousness is the power to be aware of itself and its objects. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Divine Life, #KEYS
1139:The eternal Truth shall never be attained by him who is not entirely truthful in his speech. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1140:All delusions, without exception, are created as a result of self-centeredness. When you're free from self-centeredness, delusions won't be produced." ~ Bankei, #KEYS
1141:All depends upon the choice of the force that you allow to make use of you as its instrument. And the choice has to be made at every moment of your life.
~ ?,#KEYS
1142:Be therefore followers of God as most dear children, and walk in love" ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Compendium of Theology 2.5)., #KEYS
1143:Brahman, God, cannot be explained by words. One who has realized Brahman can only say: "Brahman is everywhere." ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1144:But let perseverance have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. ~ James I. 4, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1145:For if the truth has made you free, then you shall be free indeed, and you shall not care for the vain words of men. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
1146:How to harmonize the world and God: Be in the world, but always remember Him and never go astray from His path. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1147:If I could give you one thought, it would be to lift someone up. Lift a stranger up…The very idea of lifting someone up will lift you, as well." ~ Maya Angelou, #KEYS
1148:It is better to be good and to be called wicked by men than to be wicked and esteemed good. ~ Sadi Gulistan, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1149:It would be better not to have books than to believe all that is found in them. ~ Meng Tse. VII. II. III. 1, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1150:Let every page of this Book be filled with song-for it is a Book of incantation!
~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA, Book 4, Magick,#KEYS
1151:Mind cannot possess the infinite, it can only suffer it or be possessed by it. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Mind and Supermind, #KEYS
1152:One has not only to be sincere but to be faithful through all. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, The Divine Grace and Guidance, #KEYS
1153:One who is not self-ruler, cannot be master of his surroundings. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Perfection of Equality, #KEYS
1154:The Bahkta will generally be content to see and realize the Personal God, the Saguna Brahman of the Upanishads. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1155:Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. ~ The Buddha, #KEYS
1156:We need new myths, but we need to understand we stand on the old myths. These must be completly understood to be able to create new myths ~ James George Frazer, #KEYS
1157:You are the supreme being, and yet thinking yourself to be separate from It, you strive to be united with It. What is stranger than this? ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1158:Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living.
~ Albert Einstein, Einstein and the Poet,#KEYS
1159:Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Ephesians, IV. 26, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1160:Bhakti and Karma cannot be perfect and enduring unless they are based upon Jnana. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - I, Bhawani Mandir, #KEYS
1161:He who fights even the smallest distractions faithfully, when he says even the smallest prayer, will also be faithful in great things. ~ Saint Louis de Montfort, #KEYS
1162:INDIA MUST BE REBORN, BECAUSE HER REBIRTH IS DEMANDED BY THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - I, Bhawani Mandir, #KEYS
1163:I was always hungry for love. Just once, I wanted to know what it was like to get my fill of it ~ to be fed so much love I couldn't take any more. Just once. ~ , #KEYS
1164:Let books be your dining table, / And you shall be full of delights. / Let them be your mattress, / And you shall sleep restful nights ~ Saint Ephrem the Syrian, #KEYS
1165:Perfection is the end and the beginning of all things, and without perfection they could not be. ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1166:Remember God so much that you are forgotten. Let the caller and the called disappear; be lost in the Call. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, [T5], #KEYS
1167:Surrender to the Feet of the Guru is the real mantra, in which there will be no fear of Maya's delusion. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1168:The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they've found it. ~ Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment, #KEYS
1169:The purpose of one's birth will be fulfilled whether you will it or not. Let the purpose fulfill itself. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1170:The soul is the form of the whole body in such fashion as to be also the form of each part ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 2.72), #KEYS
1171:Those who refuse to be humble cannot be saved. They cannot say with the prophet: 'See, God comes to my aid; the Lord is the helper of my soul.' ~ Venerable Bede, #KEYS
1172:Whenever you are in awe of an enlightened being, remember to be in awe of your own potential too. Because ultimately there is no difference. ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche, #KEYS
1173:Your tongue is quick to make promises but your nafs might not be so quick to keep them. ~ Imam al Ghazali, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1174:And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a GREAT CALM.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Mark, 4:39,#KEYS
1175:Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can. Of course, I could be wrong. ~ Terry Pratchett, #KEYS
1176:Fear not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revillings. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Isaiah, LI. 7, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1177:If we are always demanding something out of life, then we will never be content. But if we accept life as it is, then we will know contentment." ~ Thich Thien-An, #KEYS
1178:If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn't. Such s the astounding stupidity of optimism.
~ Oscar Wilde,#KEYS
1179:Improve others not by reasoning but by example. Let your existence, not your words be your preaching. ~ Amiel, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1180:Let the Divine Consciousness be the leading power in your life.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Divine Is with You, 10, [T5],#KEYS
1181:Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious." ~ Stephen Hawking, #KEYS
1182:Religion is realization; not talk, nor doctrine, nor theories, however beautiful they may be. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. II. 396), #KEYS
1183:Screenplay is the toughest form of writing for me, because you need to be in present tense. You need to be describing things as they occur. ~ Guillermo del Torro, #KEYS
1184:There can be no immortality of the body without supramentalisation. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - I, Transformation and the Body, #KEYS
1185:They had gained this supreme perfection, to be totally masters of their thoughts. ~ The Lotus of the Good Law, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1186:To do the same thing over and over again is not only boredom: it is to be controlled by rather than to control what you do. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
1187:All that denies must be torn out and slain
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Adoration of the Divine Mother, [T5],#KEYS
1188:A man should be glad of heart. If you have joy no longer, find out where you have fallen into error. ~ Tolstoi, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1189:And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence
~ Bertrand Russell,#KEYS
1190:And she was his messiah like that stranger may be yours. Who holds a subtle knife that carves through worlds like magic doors
~ Saul Williams, Talk to Strangers,#KEYS
1191:Be master of thy soul, O seeker of eternal verities, if thou wouldst attain thy end. ~ Book of Golden Precepts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1192:Cosmos cannot be governed by a Power that does not transcend cosmos. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, The Supreme Word of the Gita, #KEYS
1193:If they worked for honor, however, it would no longer be a virtue, but rather ambition ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1-2.2.2ad1)., #KEYS
1194:If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride - and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards." ~ Bear Bryant, #KEYS
1195:If you see the Self, the same will be found to be all, everywhere and always. Nothing but the Self exists. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1196:Let your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 Thessalonians, V. 23, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1197:Man demands miracles that he may have faith; he wishes to be dazzled in order that he may see
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga,#KEYS
1198:Mental faith is not sufficient; it must be completed and enforced by a vital and even a physical faith, a faith of the body. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
1199:One who is always stationed in the Atman will not be disturbed, even in the midst of a crowd. Such a one has no need or desire for solitude. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1200:The anger you feel towards your fellow creatures must be directed towards God, for not manifesting himself to you. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1201:The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 27:1,#KEYS
1202:The Lord's Prayer should be said to fight, not only venial sins, but also mortal sins ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1-2.74.8ad6)., #KEYS
1203:The Self cannot be found in books. You have to find it out for yourself, in yourself. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day, 16-3-45, #KEYS
1204:The Self is God. `I AM' is God. If God be apart from the Self, He must be a Selfless God, which is absurd. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1205:The truth is you can't try to let go. Trying is the opposite of letting go. To let go is to relinquish trying. To let go is much more like to let be. ~ Adyashanti, #KEYS
1206:Yes, this is the true love, which is a force; it is the union that enables new possibilities to be realised... ~ The Mother, On Education, #KEYS
1207:All things, inasmuch as they participate in existence, must be subject to divine providence ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.22.2)., #KEYS
1208:Always be calm, go on working without any fatigue. This is the test; whether the mind is working properly or not, can be understood from this. ~ Swami Akhandananda, #KEYS
1209:Consciousness can never be understood in relative terms. Therefore, there is nothing to be 'done' about it. All is Consciousness and we are That. ~ Ramesh Balsekar, #KEYS
1210:Drink this wine, dying to self, You will be free from the spell of self. Then will your being as a drop, Fall into the ocean of the Eternal." ~ Mahmoud Shabestari, #KEYS
1211:Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation but as a question.[A caution he gives his students, to be wary of dogmatism.] ~ Niels Bohr, #KEYS
1212:For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Romans, 8:18,#KEYS
1213:If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. ~ Albert Einstein, #KEYS
1214:If the Angel deigns to come, it will be because you have convinced her, not by your tears, but by your humble resolve to be always beginning: to be a beginner. ~ ?, #KEYS
1215:Life is a blend of sensitivity and sensibility. Sensibility is intellect, sensitivity is of the heart. You need to be sensitive yet strong." ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, #KEYS
1216:Matters of great concern should be treated lightly. Matters of small concern should be treated seriously." ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo (Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai), #KEYS
1217:More primordial than any idea, beauty will be manifest as the herald and generator of ideas. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #KEYS
1218:so too is the grace of MIRACLES necessary that people may be confirmed in their faith ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 2-2.178.1ad5)., #KEYS
1219:There is no goal to be reached. There is nothing to be attained. You are the Self. You exist always." ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, (1879 - 1950) a Hindu sage, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1220:There is no reaching the Self. If Self were to be reached, it would mean that the Self is not here and now. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1221:To be by oneself very much needs a certain force of inner life. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Asceticism and the Integral Yoga, #KEYS
1222:With good reason, then, ought you to be willing to suffer a little for Christ since many suffer much more for the world. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
1223:And in the heart of the worst the best shall be born by my wisdom. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Ilion, #KEYS
1224:Any advice?
Be steady and confident.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Elements of Yoga, Faith and the Divine Grace, Confidence,#KEYS
1225:Be content in what the Master wills. There is no use in becoming restless. Stay where you are and depend on Him. There is no point in worrying . ~ Swami Saradananda, #KEYS
1226:Embracing Him, accepting Him, wedding Him, become one with Him, to such a degree and so intensely that there may be left no trace of separation. ~ SWAMI RAMA TIRTHA, #KEYS
1227:Happiness is conceived by love. To love is to be absorbed in the Truth of the unity of creation." ~ Phoenix Desmond, author of "Make Love to the Universe,", (2011)., #KEYS
1228:Hearken unto thy soul in all thy works and be faithful unto it. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Ecclesiastes, XXXIII. 17, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1229:He has a form and He is as if He had no form. He has taken a form in order to be the essence of all. ~ The Zohar, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1230:If you go on working with the light available, you will meet your Master, as he himself will be seeking you. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1231:Love does not grow on trees or brought in the market, but if one wants to be "loved" one must first know how to give unconditional love. ~ Kabir, #KEYS
1232:Thanks be to the Gospel, by means of which we also, who did not see Christ when he came into this world, seem to be with him when we read his deeds. ~ Saint Ambrose, #KEYS
1233:The 3 states of waking, dream and sleep cannot be real. They simply come and go. The real will always exist. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1234:The peak of empathogens can be characterised as earthly paradise in comparison to the heavenly paradise of LSD and hallucinogens of that category. ~ Claudio Naranjo, #KEYS
1235:The Tao which can be expressed is not the eternal Tao, the name which can be named is not the eternal Name. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1236:This too must now be overpassed and left
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Little Mind,#KEYS
1237:Those who prefer their principles over their happiness, they refuse to be happy outside the conditions they seem to have attached to their happiness. ~ Albert Camus, #KEYS
1238:You can be here or there or anywhere. Fixed in silence, established in the inner 'I', you can be as you are. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1239:A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards; as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push. ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein, #KEYS
1240:And Elohim said, 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the Waters, and let it divide the Waters from the Waters. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Genesis, 1:6, (Chockmah), #KEYS
1241:Balance is the perfect state of still water. Let that be our model. It remains quiet within and is not disturbed on the surface." ~ Confucius, #KEYS
1242:Believe me…! a metaphysical Solution, that does not instantly tell for something in the Heart, is grievously to be suspected as apocryphal… ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge, #KEYS
1243:Be like a little child. The more you approach the Lord, the more sincere and openhearted you will be. Our Master was the embodiment of frankness. ~ Swami Turiyananda, #KEYS
1244:Be master of thy soul, O seeker of the eternal truths, if thou wouldst attain the goal. ~ Book of Golden Precepts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1245:If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads." ~ Anatole France, (1844 - 1924) French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1246:In all pursuits, intellectual or active, your one motto should be, Remember and Offer.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1929-1931, [T5],#KEYS
1247:It is possible to be one with all, yet above all. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, The Vision of the World-Spirit - The Double Aspect, #KEYS
1248:It was right that she who had given her Creator, as a child, a place at her breast should be given a place in the dwelling-place of her God. ~ Saint John of Damascus, #KEYS
1249:Knowledge must be aggressive, if it wishes to survive and perpetuate itself. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, Civilisation and Barbarism, #KEYS
1250:No matter how many teachings you have heard, to be motivated by ordinary concerns-such as a desire for greatness, fame or whatever-is not the way of the true Dharma., #KEYS
1251:Only the one who meditates on the heart can remain aware when the mind ceases to be active and remains still. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1252:Servitude is that you be His slave every instant, just as He is your Lord every instant. " ~ Dhul-Nun Al-Misri, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1253:Think of the Divine alone and the Divine will be with you.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Divine Is with You, [13] [T0],#KEYS
1254:This burning lake is the second death; and anybody whose name could not be found written in the book of life was hurled into the burning lake." ~ Revelation 20:14-15, #KEYS
1255:We thank you, our Father, for the holy vine of David Your servant, which You made known to us through Jesus Your Servant; to You be the glory forever." ~ The Didache, #KEYS
1256:A man who governs his passions is master of the world. We must either command them, or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil. ~ Saint Dominic, #KEYS
1257:Any person capable of angering you becomes your master;
he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.
~ Epictetus,#KEYS
1258:As you turn the direction of the wicked mind, that mind itself will be able to grasp the Chosen Deity. It is the pure mind which shows man the path. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
1259:Be humble if thou wouldst attain to wisdom; be humbler still if thou hast attained to it ~ Book of Golden Precepts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1260:Be what you are. All that is needful is to lose the ego, That what is, is always there. Even now you are That. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1261:et the soul be submitted within to an upright judge whose authority extends over our most secret actions. ~ Seneca, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1262:Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.
~ Homer, The Illiad,#KEYS
1263:For instance, that a white-man happens to be a builder is only an accidental cause of the house ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 3.14)., #KEYS
1264:If by the enquiry, 'Who am I?' you understand the seer, all problems about the seen will be completely solved. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1265:If it be true that the Self alone exists, it must be also true that all is the Self. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Reality Omnipresent, #KEYS
1266:If the longing is there, realization will be forced on you even if you do not want it. Long for it intensely so that the mind melts in devotion. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1267:If we were all going to be equal in heaven it would be useless for us to humble ourselves here in order to have a greater place there. ~ Jerome, Against Jovinian 2:32, #KEYS
1268:Love is the ability and willingness to allow those that you care for to be what they choose for themselves without any insistence that they satisfy you." ~ Wayne Dyer, #KEYS
1269:My undertaking is not difficult, essentially. ... I should only have to be immortal to carry it out.
~ Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths,#KEYS
1270:Once the seed of faith takes root, it cannot be blown away, even by the strongest wind. Now that's a blessing.
~ Jalaluddin Rumi, [T5],#KEYS
1271:... People will think and think, but they will not be able to find the right cure, which will be with God's help, all around them and in themselves." ~ Mitar Tarabich, #KEYS
1272:The body may be covered with jewels and yet the heart may have mastered all its covetings. ~ Fo-shu-hing-tsan-king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1273:The joy of perfect union can come only when what has to be done is done.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Relationship with the Divine,#KEYS
1274:The members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary ~ Anonymous, The Bible, 1 Corinthians,. XII. 22, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1275:Thou hast always a refuge in thyself...There be free and look at all things with a fearless eye. ~ Marcus Aurelius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1276:Addressed to the One Supreme Lord, There is no other sin, no other vice than to be far from Thee.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III, 240,#KEYS
1277:Behind all intelligent action there must be an intelligent will. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Passive and the Active Brahman, #KEYS
1278:Face the war and be a warrior like a lion or you'll end up like a pet tucked away in a stable- ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1279:Friend let this be enough. If thou wouldst go on reading. Go thyself and become the writing and the meaning ~ Angelus Silesius, Selections from The Cherubinic Wanderer, #KEYS
1280:Go on practicing. Your concentration will be as easy as breathing. That will be the crown of your achievements. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1281:How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! ~ Proverbs, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1282:In my opinion, there are two things that can absolutely not be carried to the screen: the realistic presentation of the sexual act and praying to God.
~ Orson Welles,#KEYS
1283:In rest shall you be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Isaiah, XXX, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1284:In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Ecclesiastes, VII, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1285:Labour to master adversity even as your passions, to which it would be shameful for you to be subjected. ~ Socrates, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1286:Let us constantly aspire to be a perfect instrument for the Divine's work. With my Blessings.
~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 27 August,#KEYS
1287:No opposite can be known without its opposite. Having suffered a blow, you will know a caress. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1288:O Mother, make me mad! God cannot be realized through knowledge and reasoning, through the arguments in the scriptures. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1289:Preacher, do not be telling me about Hell's pain, worse pain of Hell inside this heart…. I'm bearing!" ~ Makhfi, (1639-1702), Zeb-un-Nissa, Mughal princess, Wikipedia., #KEYS
1290:
The Riddle of the World
If you can solve it, you will be immortal, but if you fail you will perish. ~ The Mother, On Education, [T5],#KEYS
1291:Renunciation is to go to the extreme, but also enjoyment is to be equally integral. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Isha Upanishad, Conclusion and Summary, #KEYS
1292:Self-control needs to be cultivated and guarded ceaselessly, so as to prevent any of the passions that are outside the garden from stealthily creeping in. ~ Philokalia, #KEYS
1293:So valuable to heaven is the dignity of the human soul that every member of the human race has a guardian angel from the moment the person begins to be. ~ Saint Jerome, #KEYS
1294:This self can always be won by truth and austerity, by purity and by entire knowledge. ~ Mundaka Upanishad III. 1-5, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1295:Thoughts should be annihilated at the very place of their origin by the method of enquiry in quest of the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1296:To be here, all you have to do is let go of who you think you are. That's all! And then you realize: "I'm here". 'Here' is where thoughts aren't believed. ~ Adyashanti, #KEYS
1297:To me, life is a gift, and it's a blessing to just be alive. And each person should learn what a gift it is to be alive no matter how tough things get." ~ Tony Bennett, #KEYS
1298:Transform reason into ordered intuition; let all thyself be light. This is thy goal.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays In Philosophy And Yoga, [T5],#KEYS
1299:We pray to God for Bliss and receive it by Grace. The bestower of bliss must be Bliss itself and also Infinite. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1300:What you appear to be, is the outer body perceiving the outer world, but what you are, is that Consciousness, in which the body and the world appear. ~ Ramesh Balsekar, #KEYS
1301:When the next day comes, he will also be called today, and then you will think of him. Always be very confident in Divine Providence." ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
1302:Wouldst thou that the world should submit to thee? Be busy then to fortify thy soul without ceasing. ~ Omar Khayyam, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1303:Yes, all kinds of thoughts arise in meditation. It is but right. Unless they rise up how can they be destroyed? ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1304:You should pray to God that your worldly duties may be reduced. And you will achieve the goal if you renounce mentally. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1305:265. Care not for time and success. Act out thy part, whether it be to fail or to prosper.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human, Karma,#KEYS
1306:A higher power is leading you. Be led by the same. The Higher Power knows what to do and how to do it. Trust it. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1307:And this shall be the true manner of thy fasting that thy life shall be void of all iniquity. ~ The Pastor of Hermas, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1308:Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms ~ to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. , #KEYS
1309:for even if it had more sins than there are grains of sand in the world, all would be drowned in the unmeasurable depths of My mercy." ~ Saint Faustina Kowalska, (1059), #KEYS
1310:Gently, gently, he whispered, "Be quiet, the secret cannot be spoken, It is wrapped in silence. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1311:God is in all and in the seer. Where else can God be seen? He cannot be found outside. He should be felt within. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1312:He who is not ready to suffer all things and to stand resigned to the will of the Beloved is not worthy to be called a lover. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
1313:How can the intellect, which can never reach the Self, be competent to ascertain the final state of Realization? ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1314:It befits the priest especially to adorn the temple of God with fitting splendour, so that the court of the Lord may be made glorious by his endeavours. ~ Saint Ambrose, #KEYS
1315:She must change the rags of the past so that her beauty may be readorned. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II, Swaraj and the Coming Anarchy, #KEYS
1316:Surrender to the Feet of the Guru is the real mantra, in which there will be no fear of Maya's delusion.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, [T5],#KEYS
1317:The body would be refreshed by drinking in a moderate fashion, and the soul's redemption might be procured through mercy to the poor ~ Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 47.6)., #KEYS
1318:The infinite could not be known actually, unless all its parts were counted, which is impossible ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.86.2)., #KEYS
1319:Two works of mercy set a person free: Forgive and you will be forgiven, and give and you will receive. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
1320:We must always meditate on God's wisdom, keeping it in our hearts and on our lips. Your tongue must speak justice, the law of God must be in your heart. ~ Saint Ambrose, #KEYS
1321:Without individual growth there can be no real and permanent good of all. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The Inadequacy of the State Idea, #KEYS
1322:Would you call Him Destiny? You will not be wrong. Providence? You will say well. Nature? That too you may. ~ Seneca, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1323:'Be still and know that I AM God' [Psalm 46:10] means that I should still the mind and know that consciousness is God." ~ Neville Goddard, "The Complete Reader,", (2013), #KEYS
1324:Christ's very body can be called bread, since it is the mystical bread coming down from heaven ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.77.6ad1)., #KEYS
1325:Come, release yourself from this ego, live in harmony with everyone, be friendly with everyone." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1326:Fearless of death they must walk who would live and be mighty for ever. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Ilion, #KEYS
1327:Forgiving someone is solid proof of your intent to live your live now, while you have it, and be dead later, when you are." ~ From Ron Smothermon, M.D. "Winning Through , #KEYS
1328:God can never be believed to have left the kingdoms of men, their dominations and servitudes, outside of the laws of His providence. ~ Saint Augustine, City of God 5.11), #KEYS
1329:However long the journey may be and however great the traveller, at the end is always found exclusive reliance on the Divine Grace. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
1330:Infected by the vices, the soul is swollen with poisons and can only be cured by knowledge and intelligence. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1331:Let us strive to destroy in ourselves all that is of the animal, that the humanity in us may be manifest. ~ Bahaullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1332:Nirvana means to extinguish the burning fires of the Three Poisons: greed, anger, and ignorance. This can be accomplished by letting go of dissatisfaction." ~ Shinjo Ito, #KEYS
1333:Nobler must kings be than natures of earth on whom Zeus lays no burden. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Ilion, #KEYS
1334:Nothing is born of nothing, nothing can be annihilated, each commencement of being is only a transformation. ~ Thales, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1335:O Lord, in the depths of all that is, of all that shall be, is Thy divine and unvarying smile
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III, 240, [T5],#KEYS
1336:Quitting smoking can be a very good test of ones character. Pass the test and you will have accomplished so much more than just get rid of one bad habit ~ Abraham Maslow, #KEYS
1337:Something cannot be added to God by the action of anything, for His goodness is completely perfect ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 3.18)., #KEYS
1338:Take heed unto yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness. ~ Luke XXI. 34, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1339:The divine detachment must be the foundation for a divine participation in Nature. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, The Secret of Secrets, #KEYS
1340:The Divine Essence cannot be apprehended in Itself, but in a remarkable way becomes visible when joined to an intellectual creature. ~ John Scottus Eriugena, Periphyseon, #KEYS
1341:The highest spiritual truth can be lived, can be seen, but can only be partially stated. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, The Two Natures, #KEYS
1342:The jnani knows all is of the Self. If there be pain let it be. It is also part of the Self. The Self is perfect. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1343:To create a high-performance team, it is important that the work to be performed does rely on teamwork rather than on isolated, individual efforts.
~ Buchholz and Roth,#KEYS
1344:What is beyond all reach cannot be reached except in a manner that does not reach it [Attingitur inattingibile inattingibiliter]. ~ Nicholas of Cusa, Idiota de sapientia, #KEYS
1345:All that can be learned by going through the whole of the Gita, can be as well accomplished by repeating "Gita" ten times. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1346:Be a lamp in brightness, and make the works of darkness cease, so that whenever your doctrine shines, no one may dare to heed the desires of darkness. ~ Ephrem the Syrian, #KEYS
1347:Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
1348:dragonfly please
don't be stunned
by the cold air
~ Kobayashi Issa, @BashoSociety#KEYS
1349:Dwell far above the laws that govern men
And are not to be mapped by mortal judgments. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act II,#KEYS
1350:Earth-existence cannot be the result of the human mind which is itself the result of earth-existence. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Matter, #KEYS
1351:God never does withdraw; His works come to no halt;
If you don't feel His force, yourself must be at fault. ~ Angelus Silesius, Selections from The Cherubinic Wanderer,#KEYS
1352:I would hate to be taken seriously. Serious people are always so grim and uptight that they make me want to dance naked on the lawn playing a flute. ~ Robert Anton Wilson, #KEYS
1353:Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 3-3, [T5],#KEYS
1354:O new mingling; O paradoxical mingling! The One Who Is has come to be, the Uncreatated One is created, the Uncontained One is contained. ~ Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 38, #KEYS
1355:O thou who resumest in thyself all creation, cease for one moment to be preoccupied with gain and loss. ~ Omar Khayyam, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1356:Peace, purity and silence can be felt in all material things—for the Divine Self is there in all. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Peace, #KEYS
1357:Pollution is nothing but resources we're not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value. ~ R Buckminster Fuller, I Seem To Be A Verb, #KEYS
1358:The first use of good literature is that it prevents a man from being merely modern. To be merely modern is to condemn oneself to an ultimate narrowness. ~ C K Chesterton, #KEYS
1359:When you discover yourself to be nothing but freedom, you stop setting up conditions and requirements that need to be satisfied in order for you to be happy. ~ Adyashanti, #KEYS
1360:A mental control can only be a control, not a cure. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Origin and Remedy of Falsehood, Error, Wrong and Evil, #KEYS
1361:A psychic fire within must be lit into which all is thrown with the Divine Name upon it.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, [T5],#KEYS
1362:Boys and young men of pure minds should be led early into the path of religion, before worldliness enters deeply into them. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1363:It is difficult to get rid of all habits. They must be faced with a steady determination. With my blessings,
~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,#KEYS
1364:red leaves falling
just to be swept
away tomorrow
~ Kobayashi Issa, @BashoSociety#KEYS
1365:Science will, in all probability,
be increasingly impregnated
by mysticism. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, My Universe (1924),#KEYS
1366:The cosmos is eternally one and many and does not by becoming cease to be one. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, Heraclitus - III, #KEYS
1367:The more you talk and think about it, the further astray you wander from the truth. Stop talking and thinking and there is nothing you will not be able to know." ~ Sengcan, #KEYS
1368:There can be no guilt except in that which the soul wills, or, not having willed it, approves it and does not make an effort to remove it. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
1369:The Self is known to everyone but not clearly. You always exist. The Be-ing is the Self. 'I am' is the name of God. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1370:The vital can take part in a movement but it must not be in control. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Vital and Other Levels of Being, #KEYS
1371:This day shall be the best day of my life. Today I will start with a new determination to dedicate my devotion forever at the feet of omnipresence. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #KEYS
1372:Thoughts rise up spontaneously, as it were, but only to be extinguished in due course, thus strengthening the mind. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1373:A mistake must always be acknowledged and corrected. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Poetry and Art, General Comments on some Criticisms of the Poem, #KEYS
1374:Cheer up, all will be all right, if we know how to last and endure.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Will and Perserverance, ENDURANCE [162],#KEYS
1375:Give up everything to God, resign yourself to Him and there will be no more trouble for you. Everything is done by His Will. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1376:Idleness ought to be numbered among the torments of hell, and it has been placed among the joys of paradise. ~ Montaigne, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1377:If anything is to be had — whatsoever, in whatever way — it must be had of Him alone. Man's bounden duty as a human being is to seek refuge at His Feet. ~ SRI ANANDAMAYI MA, #KEYS
1378:In order to be an image of God, the spirit must turn to what is eternal, hold it in spirit, keep it in memory, and by loving it, embrace it in the will. ~ Edith Stein, [T5], #KEYS
1379:In this Iron Age, violent devotion is more suitable and brings speedier fruition. The citadel of God must be taken by storm! ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1380:Must first have striven, many must have failed
Before a great thing can be done on earth, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Plays and Stories, Act I,#KEYS
1381:Never to be heedless of one's own perfect pure Self is the acme of yoga, wisdom and all forms of spiritual practice. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1382:Our Spirit, our Self must be greater than its Karma. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Rebirth and Other Worlds; Karma, the Soul and Immortality, #KEYS
1383:The infinite can only be reached after we have grown in the finite. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Renaissance in India, Indian Spirituality and Life - IV, #KEYS
1384:The rejection of the object ceases to be necessary when the object can no longer ensnare us ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Renunciation, #KEYS
1385:The ultimate Truth is so simple. It is nothing more than being in the pristine state. This is all that need be said. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1386:Thus thou shalt be in perfect accord with all that lives, thou shalt love men as thy brotheas. ~ Book of Golden Precepts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1387:You are sure to reach the goal but you must be very perseverant. To be constantly in contact with the Truth is not easy and needs time and a great sincerity. ~ Mother Mirra, #KEYS
1388:A revolutionary mysticism which seems to be the present drive of the Time Spirit. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The Curve of the Rational Age, #KEYS
1389:As a lover performing duties while thinking of their beloved, perform your worldly duties but let your heart be fixed on God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1390:Awake, my dear. Be kind to your sleeping heart. Take it out into the vast fields of light and let it breathe." ~ Hafiz, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1391:If he who sets out on this way will not engage himself wholly and completely, he will never be free from the sadness and melancholy which weigh him down. ~ Attar of Nishapur, #KEYS
1392:If nature operates for an end, it is necessary that it be ordered by someone intelligent ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (On Physics 2, lect. 12)., #KEYS
1393:If you observe in all your acts the respect of yourself and of others, then shall you not be despised of any. ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1394:Is it not a wonderful thing, that he that is the Lord and author of all liberty, would thus be bound with ropes and nailed hand and foot unto the Cross?" ~ Saint John Fisher, #KEYS
1395:... It is a chastisement much greater than that of the flood. Fire will fall from heaven and a great part of humanity will be destroyed." ~ Our Lady to Father Stefano Gobbi , #KEYS
1396:None can be richer, more powerful, freer than he who knows how to renounce his self and all things. ~ Imitation of Christ, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1397:O my soul, wilt thou be one day simple, one, bare, more visible than the body which envelops thee? ~ Marcus Aurelius. X.I, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1398:So long as one is not free from the ego sense, there can be no real freedom. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Liberation of the Spirit, #KEYS
1399:The ever-present Self needs no efforts to be realized, Realization is already there. Illusion alone is to be removed. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1400:The evolution of the being of gnosis would be followed by an evolution of the being of bliss. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Gnostic Being, #KEYS
1401:The gunas have to be transcended if we would arrive at spiritual perfection. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Liberation of the Nature, #KEYS
1402:The whole Vedanta is contained in the two Biblical statements "I am that I am" and "Be still and know that I am God." ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1403:What is necessary, after all, is only this: solitude, vast inner solitude. To walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours—that is what you must be able to attain. ~ Rilke, #KEYS
1404:A civilisation is to be judged by the power of its ideas. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Renaissance in India, A Rationalistic Critic on Indian Culture - VI, #KEYS
1405:Aggression must be successful and creative if the defence is to be effective. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Renaissance in India, "Is India Civilised?" - I, #KEYS
1406:Because of the Word dwelling in that body, it would remain incorruptible, and all would be freed for ever from corruption by the grace of the resurrection. ~ Saint Athanasius, #KEYS
1407:Be confident, you will become what you have to be and achieve what you have to do.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Faith and the Divine Grace,#KEYS
1408:Believe in your self! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble, but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy." ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #KEYS
1409:He is a true man to whom money is a servant. Those who have it and do not know how to use it, do not deserve to be called men. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1410:If a man continues to mix with the world, it is likely that he will be tainted; but he will remain pure if he lives out of it. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1411:... If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain." ~ Revelation 11:3-5, #KEYS
1412:If it is permissible to write plays that are not intended to be seen, I should like to see who can prevent me from writing a book no one can read. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, [T5], #KEYS
1413:It is easiest to tell what transubstantiation is by saying this: little children should be taught about it as early as possible. ~ Elizabeth Anscombe, 'On Transubstantiation', #KEYS
1414:O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved, as to love.
~ Saint Francis of Assisi, [T5],#KEYS
1415:One succeeds if one develops a strong spirit of renunciation. Give up at once, with determination, what you know to be unreal. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1416:Progress: to be ready, at every minute, to give up all one is and all one has in order to advance on the way.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III,#KEYS
1417:So long as there is egotism, neither self-knowledge nor liberation is possible, nor can there be cessation of birth and death. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1418:So long as we do not die to ourselves and are not indifferent to creatures, the soul will not be free. ~ Attar of Nishapur, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1419:So we are said to be what our desire is. As our desire is, so is our will. As our will is, so are our acts. As we act, so we become.
~ Yajnavalkya, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad,#KEYS
1420:That it may be easy for thee to live with every man, think of what unites thee to him and not of what separates. ~ Tolstoy, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1421:There is nothing so simple as being the Self. It requires no effort. One has to be in his [her] eternal natural state. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1422:There must be either an emptiness of the gunas or a superiority to the gunas. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Liberation of the Nature, #KEYS
1423:Thoughts must cease and reason disappear for 'I-I' to rise up and be felt. Feeling is the prime factor and not reason. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1424:To know our souls and to be our selves, which must be the foundation of our true way of being. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Gnostic Being, #KEYS
1425:Too heavy falls a Shadow on man's heart;
It dares not be too happy upon earth. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Word of Fate,#KEYS
1426:To surmount this thirst of existence, to reject it, to be liberated from it, to give it no farther harbourage. ~ Mahavagga, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1427:`Who am I to meditate on an object ?' Such a one must be told to find the Self. That is the finality. That is vichara. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1428:You can't go to heaven hating somebody. Forgive now. Be compassionate now. Be patient now. Be grateful now. Love Jesus and Mary now. Accept God's will now." ~ Mother Angelica, #KEYS
1429:A perfected human world cannot be created by men or composed of men who are themselves imperfect. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Divine Life, #KEYS
1430:A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.
~ Bertrand Russell,#KEYS
1431:Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Romans, 10:9, #KEYS
1432:Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else. ~ Erwin Schrodinger, #KEYS
1433:Freedom may be illusory and our apparent freedom may be a real and iron bondage. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, Fate and Free-Will, #KEYS
1434:Go on practicing. Your concentration will be as easy as breathing. That will be the crown of your achievements.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, [T5],#KEYS
1435:I persecute heresy, not heretics. It is mine more to be persecuted, than to persecute. So Christ was victorious as a Crucified, and not as a crucifier. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
1436:It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
~ Buddha,#KEYS
1437:It is difficult to attain samadhi. The ego of ours is so persistent! For this reason alone, one has to be born again and again. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1438:It is within us that the Reality must be found and the source and foundation of a perfected life. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Divine Life, #KEYS
1439:Man can only be happy by the fruit of the labour which he spends on his self-improvement. ~ Antoine the Healer: Revelations, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1440:Mercy is heaven itself; to be good, we have all to be merciful. Even justice and right should stand on mercy. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. I. 59), #KEYS
1441:One must first be conscious before one can be ignorant. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Poetry and Art, General Comments on some Criticisms of the Poem, #KEYS
1442:Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty." ~ Albert Einstein, #KEYS
1443:So long as desire and ego remain, there can be no surrender to the Divine, no fulfilment in the Yoga. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Desire, #KEYS
1444:Spiritual practices are absolutely necessary for self-knowledge, but if there be perfect faith, then little practice is enough. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1445:The Infinite would not be the Infinite if it could not assume a manifold finiteness; ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Sevenfold Chord of Being, #KEYS
1446:The necessary thing is after all but this; solitude, great inner solitude. Going into oneself for hours meeting no one - this one must be able to attain. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke , #KEYS
1447:The reason has to be led to a truth beyond itself, but by its own means and in its own manner. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, The Two Natures, #KEYS
1448:Thy soul cannot be hurt in thee save by reason of thy ignorant body; direct and master them both. ~ Book of Golden Precepts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1449:To be fixed on the transient, to be limited in the phenomenon is to accept mortality. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, The Field and its Knower, #KEYS
1450:To be master of one's mind! How difficult that is! it has been compared, not without reason, to a mad monkey. ~ Vivekananda, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1451:When one ceases to gain, one begins to lose. What matters is not to advance quickly, but to be always advancing. ~ Plutarch, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1452:A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it....In this way our life should be understood. Then there is no problem. ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #KEYS
1453:A man can be secure from sin in the will, only when his intellect is secure from ignorance and from error ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 4.70)., #KEYS
1454:As if in a struggle of the Void to be.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, 02.04#KEYS
1455:As the light of a torch illumines the objects in a dark room, even so the light of wisdom illumines all men, whosoever they be, if they turn towards it. ~ To-shu-hing-tsan-king, #KEYS
1456:For a Jnani, in the world there is fear, because living in the midst of sense-attraction there is fear, though it may be slight. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1457:I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content,-both to abound and to suffer need. ~ Philippians IV. 11, 12, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1458:Instead of looking for reasons to be offended or hurt, always be looking for ways to love and be loved. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
1459:It is contrary to the nature of the will's own act that it should be subject to compulsion and violence ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1-2.6.4)., #KEYS
1460:It is of great importance, when we begin to practise prayer, not to let ourselves be frightened by our own thoughts. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #KEYS
1461:O, Mary, my Mother, be my refuge and my shelter. Give me peace in the storm. I am tired on the journey. Let me rest in you. Shelter and protect me. ~ Saint Bernadette Soubirous, #KEYS
1462:Our best friend is he who loves us in the best of ourselves, and yet does not ask us to be other than we are. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, 288, #KEYS
1463:Spirituality cannot be called upon to deal with life by a non-spiritual method. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Evolution of the Spiritual Man, #KEYS
1464:There is nothing that can be set down as impossible in the chances of the future. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, Internationalism and Human Unity, #KEYS
1465:Unity does not mean uniformity and the removal of all differences. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - I, Shall India Be Free? - Unity and British Rule, #KEYS
1466:Unless mind is tamed within,
Outer enemies will be inexhaustible.
If you tame the anger within,
All enemies on earth will be pacified. ~ Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye,#KEYS
1467:We are responsible for what we are; and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. I. 31), #KEYS
1468:We shall be blessed with clear vision if we keep our eyes fixed on Christ, for he, as Paul teaches, is our head, and there is in him no shadow of evil. ~ Saint Gregory of Nyssa, #KEYS
1469:Before I was myself, I was God in God, that is why I can again become that when I shall be dead to myself. ~ Angelus Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1470:Be free. Live in the world like the cast-out leaf-plate from which food has been eaten. It is worthless. Who cares to possess it? ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1471:Be true to your true self always—that is the real sincerity. Persist and conquer. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Dealing with Hostile Attacks, #KEYS
1472:Delve down into That which only is, for when you achieve this you find 'That am I'; there is and can be nothing but That. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1473:Divine Incarnation is a fact. One cannot make this perfectly clear through words, it must be seen and realized by spiritual eyes. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1474:Don't be discouraged if you have to work hard to reap little. If you thought about how much a single soul cost Jesus, you would never complain!" ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
1475:If you are wise you would become Brahman by such conviction; if not, even if you are repeatedly told it would be useless like offerings thrown on ashes. ~ Valmiki, Yoga Vasistha, #KEYS
1476:If you have a desire for sense-enjoyments, then there can be no spiritual attainments. If you are really after spiritual life, then bid farewell to desires. ~ Swami Akhandananda, #KEYS
1477:It is not known precisely where angels dwell whether in the air, the void, or the planets. It has not been God's pleasure that we should be informed of their abode.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
1478:@judysix ~ When you see the storm coming, if you seek safety in that firm refuge which is Mary, there will be no danger of your wavering or going down. ~ Saint Josemaria Escriva, #KEYS
1479:O friends, despise not the eternal Beauty for the mortal beauty, and be not held back by the things of the earth. ~ Bahaullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1480:The favours of the Gods are too awful to be coveted. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest, To His Sister, #KEYS
1481:There can be no real freedom of thought where a padlock is put upon freedom of speech. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The Peril of the World-State, #KEYS
1482:There is no law that wisdom should be something rigidly solemn and without a smile. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Cheerfulness and Happiness, #KEYS
1483:The teaching of our master consists solely in this, to be upright in heart and to love one's neighbour as oneself ~ Confucius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1484:True good can only be obtained by our effort towards spiritual perfection and this effort is always in our power. ~ Epictetus, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1485:Try to be spontaneous and simple like a child in your relations with me - it will save you from many difficulties.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I,#KEYS
1486:Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, John, 14:13-14, #KEYS
1487:You make yourself strong because it's expected of you. You become confident because someone beside you is unsure. You turn into the person others need you to be." ~ Jodi Picoult, #KEYS
1488:You must learn to be calm and quiet even in the midst of difficulties. This is the way to overcome all obstacles.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
1489:Your path may be different to your family, friends, and country. But despite what they may think, it does not mean that you are going in the wrong direction. ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche, #KEYS
1490:Banish all thought from thee and be God's void. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, Nirvana and the Discovery of the All-Negating Absolute, #KEYS
1491:For never in this world can hate be appeased by hate: hatred is vanquished only by love,-that is the eternal law. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
1492:I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep. ~ Walt Whitman, #KEYS
1493:If someone were to not believe God exists, he would be stupid: "The fool said in his heart: There is no God" ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Ps 13:1)., #KEYS
1494:If your mind that contemplates God is attached to worldly things, how can you expect to be successful in your religious devotions? ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1495:Look for the ego, and it vanishes. If you enquire, ignorance will be found to be non-existent. It is the mind which feels misery and darkness. See the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
1496:Remember for just one minute of the day, it would be best to try looking upon yourself more as God does, for She knows your true royal nature.
~ Hafiz, [T6],#KEYS
1497:So long as one has a body, they must have some Maya, however little it may be, to enable them to carry on the functions of a body. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1498:So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and Im still trying to figure out how that could be.
~ Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower,#KEYS
1499:Souls are said to be of four different classes: the bound, those aspiring to freedom, the freed, and those who are eternally free. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
1500:The Bible says, "Be still and know that I am God". Stillness is the sole requisite for the realisation of the Self as God. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:Remember, Be Here Now. ~ ram-das, @wisdomtrove 2:But I could be wrong. ~ carl-sagan, @wisdomtrove 3:Be smart, drink your wine. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 4:Let joy be unconfined. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 5:Life must be lived as play. ~ plato, @wisdomtrove 6:Great men can't be ruled. ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 7:He can afford to be a fool. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 8:Appearances may be deceiving. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 9:Be awesome! Be a book nut! ~ dr-seuss, @wisdomtrove 10:Be like water, my friend. ~ bruce-lee, @wisdomtrove 11:Be where your enemy is not. ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 12:It is grievous to be caught. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 13:The way to do... is to be. ~ lao-tzu, @wisdomtrove 14:Anyone can be rich in promises. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 15:Be prepared for luck. ~ robin-williams, @wisdomtrove 16:Be suspicious of what you want. ~ rumi, @wisdomtrove 17:Gold will be slave or master. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 18:Hello, I must be going. ~ groucho-marx, @wisdomtrove 19:Sapere aude. Dare to be wise. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 20:Be kinder than expected. ~ robin-sharma, @wisdomtrove 21:To be alive is Power. ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 22:We like to be deceived. ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 23:A lie never lives to be old. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 24:Be gentle with the earth. ~ dalai-lama, @wisdomtrove 25:Be satisfied with what you have. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 26:Let your joy be unconfined! ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 27:Life is short. Be of use. ~ robin-sharma, @wisdomtrove 28:The mind alone can not be exiled. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 29:This victory will be your I ruin. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 30:To love is to be vulnerable. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 31:You will be safest in the middle. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 32:Be a victor , not a victim. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 33:Be happy. Talk happiness. ~ hellen-keller, @wisdomtrove 34:Be not a slave of words. ~ thomas-carlyle, @wisdomtrove 35:Better to be married than dead! ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 36:Every tale is not to be believed. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 37:Life must be somewhere to be ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 38:Rotten wood cannot be carved. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 39:A battle avoided cannot be lost. ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 40:Be fruitful, and multiply. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 41:Be happy, but never satisfied. ~ bruce-lee, @wisdomtrove 42:Be inspired but not proud. ~ b-k-s-iyengar, @wisdomtrove 43:If you want to be happy, be. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 44:Not to ask is not be denied. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 45:Old men ought to be explorers. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 46:Refuse to be average. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 47:Remember to be calm in adversity. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 48:This book is to be read in bed. ~ dr-seuss, @wisdomtrove 49:As you think, so shall you be. ~ wayne-dyer, @wisdomtrove 50:Can thought be silent? ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 51:If you want to be loved, be lovable. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 52:Life is too short to be small. ~ tim-ferris, @wisdomtrove 53:Live in the moment, simply be. ~ jean-klein, @wisdomtrove 54:One must dare to be happy. ~ gertrude-stein, @wisdomtrove 55:That you may be beloved, be amiable. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 56:The heart cannot be contained. ~ gary-zukav, @wisdomtrove 57:To be here is immense. ~ rainer-maria-rilke, @wisdomtrove 58:To marry a fool is to be no fool. ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 59:We can never be born enough. ~ e-e-cummings, @wisdomtrove 60:Who stops learning may be old. ~ henry-ford, @wisdomtrove 61:Why not dare to be fully human? ~ tim-freke, @wisdomtrove 62:Anger cannot be dishonest. ~ marcus-aurelius, @wisdomtrove 63:Be a blessing to someone else. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 64:Be in harmony, yet be different. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 65:Be realistic: Plan for a miracle. ~ rajneesh, @wisdomtrove 66:Boldness be my friend. ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 67:Cowards can never be moral. ~ mahatma-gandhi, @wisdomtrove 68:Do not be amazed by the true dragon. ~ dogen, @wisdomtrove 69:Don’t rush, go slowly, and be. ~ leo-babauta, @wisdomtrove 70:Heaven means to be one with God. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 71:If you want to be loved, be loveable. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 72:I just wanted to be sure of you. ~ a-a-milne, @wisdomtrove 73:It pays to be content with your lot. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 74:Tea should be taken in solitude. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 75:There can be conscious revolution. ~ ram-das, @wisdomtrove 76:There shall be no Alps. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 77:Tis best to be silent in a bad cause. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 78:To be is to be related. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 79:Whatever advice you give, be short. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 80:Above all else, be consistent. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 81:Ah me! love can not be cured by herbs. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 82:Anything we love can be saved. ~ alice-walker, @wisdomtrove 83:Art should be a place of hope. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 84:Be happy without picking flaws. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 85:Could you be loved and be loved? ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 86:How embarrassing to be human. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 87:Joking apart, now let us be serious. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 88:Time can be an ally or an enemy. ~ zig-ziglar, @wisdomtrove 89:War ought to be no man's wish. ~ thomas-paine, @wisdomtrove 90:We are what we pretend to be. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 91:Whatever charm thou hast, be charming. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 92:You can be happy where you are. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 93:A good thing can't be cruel. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 94:Be a thrifty steward of thy goods. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 95:Be good and you will be lonesome. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 96:Be open. And then the truth follows. ~ gangaji, @wisdomtrove 97:It's a divine art to be cheerful. ~ meher-baba, @wisdomtrove 98:I want you to be... . happy. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 99:I will never be below the title. ~ bette-davis, @wisdomtrove 100:Man is condemned to be free ~ jean-paul-sartre, @wisdomtrove 101:Open your hands if you want to be held. ~ rumi, @wisdomtrove 102:Poetry cannot be translation. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 103:Tomorrow can be a wonderful age. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 104:Whatever you want to teach, be brief. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 105:What one can be, one must be! ~ abraham-maslow, @wisdomtrove 106:Affectations can be dangerous. ~ gertrude-stein, @wisdomtrove 107:A man is sorry to be honest for nothing. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 108:Be fascinated instead of frustrated. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 109:Begin, be bold and venture to be wise. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 110:Being, be bold and venture to be wise. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 111:Be larger than your task. ~ orison-swett-marden, @wisdomtrove 112:Be what you would seem to be. ~ margaret-fuller, @wisdomtrove 113:Departure should be sudden. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 114:Great heart will not be denied. ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 115:He who can simulate sanity will be sane. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 116:He will be beloved when he is no more. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 117:How can a human being be illegal? ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 118:If you give, you will be blessed. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 119:If you want to be happy, just be. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 120:It is good to be taught even by an enemy ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 121:Not my will, but thine, be done. ~ jesus-christ, @wisdomtrove 122:Only the mind cannot be sent into exile. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 123:Reality isn't what it used to be. ~ dean-koontz, @wisdomtrove 124:To be social is to be forgiving. ~ robert-frost, @wisdomtrove 125:To hear, one must be silent. ~ ursula-k-le-guin, @wisdomtrove 126:To love at all is to be vulnerable. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 127:We have it in us to be splendid. ~ maya-angelou, @wisdomtrove 128:What a man can be, he must be. ~ abraham-maslow, @wisdomtrove 129:You have to be odd to be number one. ~ dr-seuss, @wisdomtrove 130:Be Good to Yourself and each Other ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 131:Be so good they can't ignore you. ~ steve-martin, @wisdomtrove 132:Discipline must be maintained. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 133:Don't be agnostic - be something. ~ robert-frost, @wisdomtrove 134:Don’t rush. Go slowly. Be present. ~ leo-babauta, @wisdomtrove 135:Each one's destiny cannot be altered. ~ zhuangzi, @wisdomtrove 136:Even mistakes can be wonderful. ~ robin-williams, @wisdomtrove 137:Every star may be a sun to someone. ~ carl-sagan, @wisdomtrove 138:God always wants us to be growing. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 139:If you want to be a leader, go lead ~ seth-godin, @wisdomtrove 140:If you want to be happy, be happy. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 141:In an easy cause any man may be eloquent. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 142:I never wish to be easily defined. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 143:I wanna grow up and be a critic. ~ richard-pryor, @wisdomtrove 144:Man must be invented each day ~ jean-paul-sartre, @wisdomtrove 145:Now, I happen to be an optimist. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 146:Plan to be spontaneous tomorrow. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 147:The body cannot be the soul. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 148:There will never be no love at all. ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 149:The same can be learned and can be. ~ parmenides, @wisdomtrove 150:To be a saint is to be yourself. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 151:To generalize is to be an idiot. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 152:To love is to burn, to be on fire. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 153:Why must holy places be dark places? ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 154:You can't be pitiful AND powerful. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 155:Be faithful in the little things. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 156:Be patient, Ophelia. Love, Hamlet ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 157:Better to starve free than be a fat slave ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 158:Do not be eager for things above. ~ sri-aurobindo, @wisdomtrove 159:Enemies' promises were made to be broken. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 160:First be the best and then be first ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 161:If God be my friend, I cannot be wretched. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 162:In times of stress, be bold and valiant. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 163:It is annoying to be honest to no purpose. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 164:Learn to be difficult when it counts ~ tim-ferris, @wisdomtrove 165:Life is to short to be small. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 166:Our job is to just be the light. ~ anita-moorjani, @wisdomtrove 167:Prayer can never be in excess. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 168:Smile often. Speak gently. Be kind. ~ edgar-cayce, @wisdomtrove 169:To be energetic, act energetic. ~ w-clement-stone, @wisdomtrove 170:To learn is to be young, however old. ~ aeschylus, @wisdomtrove 171:Tomorrow will be a new day. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 172:We must always be disturbed by the truth. ~ dogen, @wisdomtrove 173:Where id was, there ego shall be. ~ sigmund-freud, @wisdomtrove 174:You cannot be anything that you point to. ~ mooji, @wisdomtrove 175:and is, and will be everlasting fire, ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 176:Anything too stupid to be said is sung. ~ voltaire, @wisdomtrove 177:Be it unto you, even as you believe. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 178:Be modest in speech, but excel in action. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 179:Be quick to learn and wise to know. ~ george-burns, @wisdomtrove 180:Be the first to say, "Hello". ~ h-jackson-brown-jr, @wisdomtrove 181:Be thine own privy counsellor. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 182:Don't be an agnostic. Be something. ~ robert-frost, @wisdomtrove 183:Envy is not to be conquered but by death. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 184:For the loser now Will be later to win ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 185:How can there be self-help groups? ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 186:I'll be the light in the window. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 187:In an easy matter. Anybody can be eloquent. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 188:In trying to be concise I become obscure. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 189:I shall always be a priest of love. ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove 190:It is best to live however one can be. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 191:I used to be Snow White, but I drifted. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 192:I will be rich or I will die trying. ~ t-harv-eker, @wisdomtrove 193:Never be afraid of your Bibles. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 194:Nothing can be produced out of nothing. ~ diogenes, @wisdomtrove 195:Remember it's OK to be yourself. ~ richard-branson, @wisdomtrove 196:Right it is to be taught even by the enemy. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 197:To a poet nothing can be useless. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 198:Try to be better than yourself. ~ william-faulkner, @wisdomtrove 199:We must get over wanting to be needed. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 200:We must scrunch or be scrunched. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 201:What's done can't be undone. ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 202:Women should be obscene, not heard. ~ groucho-marx, @wisdomtrove 203:You'll never be greater than yourself. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 204:A general must be a charlatan. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 205:All I can do is be me, whoever that is. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 206:All real progress must be slow. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 207:A man without a home can't be lost. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 208:Among our crimes oblivion may be set. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 209:A word once uttered can never be recalled. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 210:A youth is to be regarded with respect. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 211:Be part of the miraculous moment. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 212:Be personal. Be relevant. Be specific. ~ seth-godin, @wisdomtrove 213:Be silly. Be honest. Be kind. ~ ralph-waldo-emerson, @wisdomtrove 214:Be the one to stand out in the crowd. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 215:Be virtuous and you will be eccentric. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 216:Caesar's wife should be above suspicion. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 217:Fate cannot be sidestepped or outrun. ~ dean-koontz, @wisdomtrove 218:God damn it, you've got to be kind. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 219:History should be written as philosophy. ~ voltaire, @wisdomtrove 220:How embarrassing it is to be human. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 221:If it can be dreamed, it can be done. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 222:I'm gonna be Iron, like a Lion in Zion ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 223:I strive to be brief but I become obscure. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 224:I've been lucky. I'll be lucky again. ~ bette-davis, @wisdomtrove 225:I was what you are, you will be what I am. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 226:Let your life be your argument. ~ albert-schweitzer, @wisdomtrove 227:Life is too short to be little. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 228:Life's as kind as you let it be. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 229:Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon. ~ a-a-milne, @wisdomtrove 230:No oath can be too binding for a lover. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 231:One can be well-bred and write bad poetry ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 232:The Absolute cannot be divided. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 233:The end of the world will be legal. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 234:The image will be downloaded by Fatkun ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 235:Things must be felt with the heart. ~ hellen-keller, @wisdomtrove 236:Truth cannot be structured or confined. ~ bruce-lee, @wisdomtrove 237:You will be melancholy, if you are solitary. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 238:Anyone can be a fisherman in May. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 239:A promise must never be broken. ~ alexander-hamilton, @wisdomtrove 240:Be a practical dreamer backed by action. ~ bruce-lee, @wisdomtrove 241:Be that self which one truly is. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 242:Be the sun and all will see you. ~ fyodor-dostoevsky, @wisdomtrove 243:Don't be afraid to see what you see. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 244:Don't wait to be picked. Pick yourself. ~ seth-godin, @wisdomtrove 245:Everything we can dream can be real. ~ pablo-picasso, @wisdomtrove 246:How can a president not be an actor? ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 247:Injuries may be forgiven, but not forgotten. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 248:In labouring to be brief, I become obscure. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 249:In order to do more. I've got to be more. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 250:I shall be an Attila to Venice. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 251:It is easy to be brave from a safe distance. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 252:Let me be the one To do what is done. ~ robert-frost, @wisdomtrove 253:Let the path be open to talent. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 254:Lies exist only to be extinguished. ~ thomas-carlyle, @wisdomtrove 255:Love hard when there is love to be had. ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 256:People can be stunningly unobservant. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 257:Shame must be accepted to be effective. ~ seth-godin, @wisdomtrove 258:Some things are too terrible to be true. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 259:There shall be no slavery of the mind. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 260:There will be time to murder and create. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 261:This must be a simply enormous wardrobe! ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 262:To be and to have meaning are the same. ~ parmenides, @wisdomtrove 263:To be young is the only religion. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 264:What I am to be, I am becoming. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 265:Work is a necessary evil to be avoided. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 266:Your homecoming will be my homecoming ~ e-e-cummings, @wisdomtrove 267:A changeable God would be no God. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 268:America, you must be born again! ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 269:Be a politician; no training necessary. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 270:Be heroes in an army of construction. ~ hellen-keller, @wisdomtrove 271:Be not for ever harassed by impotent desire. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 272:Be peace, don't just talk about it. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 273:Be the best of whatever you are. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 274:Cousin Swift, you will never be a poet. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 275:Don't be anybody's follower, be a student. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 276:Either be wholly slaves or wholly free. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 277:For to be aware and to be are the same. ~ parmenides, @wisdomtrove 278:If a battle can not be won do not fight it. ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 279:If you have a religion it must be cosmic. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 280:I never set out to be a businessman ~ richard-branson, @wisdomtrove 281:Is it possible to be totally partial? ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 282:It is true if you believe it to be true. ~ louise-hay, @wisdomtrove 283:Let no act be done without purpose. ~ marcus-aurelius, @wisdomtrove 284:Let's not be narrow, nasty, and negative. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 285:Liberty cannot be purchased by a wish. ~ thomas-paine, @wisdomtrove 286:Man is free at the instant he wants to be. ~ voltaire, @wisdomtrove 287:Most men are unwilling to be taught. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 288:My heart is, and always will be, yours. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 289:No effect of work can be eternal. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 290:One more drink and I'll be under the host. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 291:Our deepest need is to be seen. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 292:Our own life has to be our message. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 293:To be alive at all is to have scars. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 294:To be fond of learning is near to wisdom. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 295:Too much of a good thing can be wonderful. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 296:Too much sanity may be madness! ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 297:We are only as blind as we want to be. ~ maya-angelou, @wisdomtrove 298:Whatever you are, always be a good one. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove 299:Wherever you are, whatever you do, be in love. ~ rumi, @wisdomtrove 300:Who can be patient in extremes? ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 301:You must always be a-waggle with LOVE. ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove 302:All industry must be excited by hope. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 303:A place where we all go can't be bad. ~ robin-williams, @wisdomtrove 304:Be bold, take courage... and be strong of soul ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 305:Be courageous! Have faith! Go forward. ~ thomas-edison, @wisdomtrove 306:Be slow to correct and quick to commend. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 307:Be the artist you were born to be. ~ robert-h-schuller, @wisdomtrove 308:Change can only be in the limited. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 309:Contempt is not a thing to be despised. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 310:Don't let your feelings be a God to you. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 311:For every laugh, there should be a tear. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 312:For hostile word let hostile word be paid. ~ aeschylus, @wisdomtrove 313:Genius must be born, it can't be taught. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 314:He who goes unenvied shall not be admired. ~ aeschylus, @wisdomtrove 315:He who would not be idle, let him fall in love. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 316:I believe one should be a woman at home. ~ bette-davis, @wisdomtrove 317:In labouring to be concise, I become obscure. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 318:I struggle to be brief, and I become obscure. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 319:It is better to be a lender than a spender. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 320:It is terrible to speak well and be wrong. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 321:It's best to be ruthless with the past. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 322:I used to be a narrator for bad mimes. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 323:Let your conscience be your guide. ~ elizabeth-gilbert, @wisdomtrove 324:Light be the earth upon you, lightly rest. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 325:Live each day as if it be your last. ~ marcus-aurelius, @wisdomtrove 326:Man is what he wills himself to be. ~ jean-paul-sartre, @wisdomtrove 327:No, but you're wrong now, and always will be. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 328:Not to be born is, past all prizing, best. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 329:Now is now. Are you going to be here or not? ~ ram-das, @wisdomtrove 330:Out of many things a great heap will be formed. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 331:People are as happy as they choose to be. ~ henry-ford, @wisdomtrove 332:Sometimes the silence can be like thunder. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 333:The happiest life is to be without thought ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 334:The more you care, the stronger you can be. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 335:There will always be an underground. ~ chuck-palahniuk, @wisdomtrove 336:The world will be saved by beauty. ~ fyodor-dostoevsky, @wisdomtrove 337:Thoughts without words‚¶ Can that be? ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 338:To be free of fear is to be full of Love. ~ adyashanti, @wisdomtrove 339:To be interesting, one has to provoke. ~ salvador-dali, @wisdomtrove 340:Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud. ~ maya-angelou, @wisdomtrove 341:We are all born to be a blessing. ~ rachel-naomi-remen, @wisdomtrove 342:When I fall in love, it will be forever. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 343:Be an outcast. Be pleased to walk alone. ~ alice-walker, @wisdomtrove 344:Be at your best when your best is needed. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 345:Beauty should be edible, or not at all. ~ salvador-dali, @wisdomtrove 346:Be consistent and live what you believe ~ caroline-myss, @wisdomtrove 347:Being a good example teaches others to be good. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 348:Be kind to all and severe to thyself. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 349:Believe in wealth and you will be rich. ~ napoleon-hill, @wisdomtrove 350:Be not selfish in your doings: pass it on. ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 351:Be teachable. That is the whole secret. ~ vernon-howard, @wisdomtrove 352:Be tough minded but tenderhearted. ~ h-jackson-brown-jr, @wisdomtrove 353:Be true to what you said on paper. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 354:Don't think about the past. Just be here now. ~ ram-das, @wisdomtrove 355:Dreams can never be made captive. ~ rabindranath-tagore, @wisdomtrove 356:Earn the right to be proud and confident. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 357:Fools are my theme, let satire be my song. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 358:Have a grateful heart to be happy. ~ h-jackson-brown-jr, @wisdomtrove 359:He who is really kind, can never be unhappy ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 360:Ice and iron cannot be welded. ~ robert-louis-stevenson, @wisdomtrove 361:I'd rather be a Pirate than join the Navy. ~ steve-jobs, @wisdomtrove 362:If there were no Love, there'd be no grief ~ zig-ziglar, @wisdomtrove 363:Lovely morning! How lovely life can be! ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 364:Make up your mind to be happy. ~ robert-louis-stevenson, @wisdomtrove 365:Man who want pretty nurse, must be patient. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 366:Misfortunes should always be expected. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 367:Originality will be rewarded in any line. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 368:Our favorite attitude should be gratitude. ~ zig-ziglar, @wisdomtrove 369:Perfection can be had by everybody. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 370:Practice makes us what we shall be. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 371:Sooner or later, I'll be punctual. ~ ashleigh-brilliant, @wisdomtrove 372:Sound will be the medicine of the future. ~ edgar-cayce, @wisdomtrove 373:Symbols can be so beautiful, sometimes. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 374:Tears are words that need to be written. ~ paulo-coelho, @wisdomtrove 375:There can be no faith without risk. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 376:They wanted me to be a Washington. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 377:To be happy, make other people happy. ~ w-clement-stone, @wisdomtrove 378:To be happy - that's all that matters. ~ audrey-hepburn, @wisdomtrove 379:To be sure, God exists in all beings. ~ sri-ramakrishna, @wisdomtrove 380:Today I will be the master of my emotions. ~ og-mandino, @wisdomtrove 381:We are what we imagine ourselves to be. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 382:What you are to be, you are now becoming. ~ carl-rogers, @wisdomtrove 383:What you can't be with, won't let you be. ~ debbie-ford, @wisdomtrove 384:When one has no form, one can be all forms. ~ bruce-lee, @wisdomtrove 385:Without patience, there can be no genius ~ robin-sharma, @wisdomtrove 386:You cant be too careful on a skateboard. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 387:You'll always be like this to me.' ~ f-scott-fitzgerald, @wisdomtrove 388:Ah, but you see, I didn't want to be fair. ~ e-m-forster, @wisdomtrove 389:A life lived in love will never be dull. ~ leo-buscaglia, @wisdomtrove 390:A thankful heart cannot be cynical. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 391:Be for something and against nothing. ~ michael-beckwith, @wisdomtrove 392:Complain and remain. Praise and be raised. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 393:Don't be mysterious; there isn't the time. ~ e-m-forster, @wisdomtrove 394:Erroneous assumptions can be disastrous. ~ peter-drucker, @wisdomtrove 395:Every man is, or hopes to be, an idler. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 396:For me to be a saint means to be myself. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 397:For tyme y-lost may not recovered be. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 398:Heaven is to be at peace with things. ~ george-santayana, @wisdomtrove 399:He that never thinks can never be wise. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 400:He who dares not offend cannot be honest. ~ thomas-paine, @wisdomtrove 401:If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 402:I'm sittin' on my watch so I can be on time. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 403:In a just cause it is right to be confident. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 404:In a long work sleep may be naturally expected. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 405:I shall be as secret as the grave. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 406:I thought I would be a guy on the radio. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 407:It is impossible to love and to be wise. ~ francis-bacon, @wisdomtrove 408:I was too absorbed to be responsive ~ f-scott-fitzgerald, @wisdomtrove 409:I will not be at the mercy of the telephone! ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 410:Knowledge exists to be imparted. ~ ralph-waldo-emerson, @wisdomtrove 411:Leaders have to be dealers in hope. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 412:Learned or unlearned we all must be scribbling. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 413:Love cannot be taught, it can only be caught. ~ rajneesh, @wisdomtrove 414:Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. ~ francis-bacon, @wisdomtrove 415:NEVER be surprised by your own success! ~ steve-maraboli, @wisdomtrove 416:Not to be mad is another form of madness ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 417:The penalty may be removed, the crime is eternal. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 418:There has to be pain. That's the rule. ~ haruki-murakami, @wisdomtrove 419:The whole end of speech is to be understood. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 420:This rascal ego must be obliterated. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 421:to be in finland/ now that russia's here) ~ e-e-cummings, @wisdomtrove 422:To determine if you're human. Be silent. ~ frank-herbert, @wisdomtrove 423:To live is to be slowly born. ~ antoine-de-saint-exupery, @wisdomtrove 424:To live outside the law, you must be honest. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 425:We are never trapped unless we choose to be. ~ anais-nin, @wisdomtrove 426:We need never be ashamed of our tears. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 427:What a bummer it is to be a human being. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 428:What we take to be true is what we believe. ~ gary-zukav, @wisdomtrove 429:You can't be that good; you work for me. ~ lewis-carroll, @wisdomtrove 430:Add little to little and there will be a big pile. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 431:Ah! devout though I may be, I am no less a man! ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 432:Ah, why Should life all labour be? ~ alfred-lord-tennyson, @wisdomtrove 433:And your very flesh shall be a great poem. ~ walt-whitman, @wisdomtrove 434:Be firm on principle but flexible on method. ~ zig-ziglar, @wisdomtrove 435:Be slow of tongue and quick of eye. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 436:Be soft, even if you stand to get squashed. ~ e-m-forster, @wisdomtrove 437:Be warm, be pure, be amorous, but be chaste. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 438:Be willing that any feeling can visit your house. ~ mooji, @wisdomtrove 439:Don't be & 440:Don't try to live. Let yourself be lived. ~ vernon-howard, @wisdomtrove 441:God wants you to be a winner, not a whiner. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 442:I am not the kind of person I want to be. ~ frank-herbert, @wisdomtrove 443:I'd rather be over the hill than under it. ~ george-burns, @wisdomtrove 444:It is easy to be brave when far away from danger. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 445:Life is meant to be abundant in ALL areas. ~ rhonda-byrne, @wisdomtrove 446:Life is ours to be spent, not to be saved. ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove 447:Look closely. The beautiful may be small. ~ immanuel-kant, @wisdomtrove 448:Look for the truth, it wants to be found. ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 449:Music in the soul can be heard by the universe. ~ lao-tzu, @wisdomtrove 450:Music: what so many sentences aspire to be. ~ mary-oliver, @wisdomtrove 451:Neither a borrower nor a lender be. ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 452:Never be ashamed of your patriotism. ~ h-jackson-brown-jr, @wisdomtrove 453:Nobody is healthy in London, nobody can be. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 454:Such as we are made of, such we be. ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 455:The Absolute can never be thought of. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 456:The coward is an object to be pitied. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 457:The God that can be named is not God. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 458:The purpose of our lives is to be happy. ~ dalai-lama, @wisdomtrove 459:The stillest tongue can be the truest friend. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 460:The worst sin is to be indifferent. ~ george-bernard-shaw, @wisdomtrove 461:This is to be along; this, this is solitude! ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 462:To be strong is to be happy! ~ henry-wadsworth-longfellow, @wisdomtrove 463:To get paid the best, you must be the best. ~ t-harv-eker, @wisdomtrove 464:To live at ease, and not be bound to think. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 465:Walk and be Happy, Walk and be Healthy. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 466:Whatever you think, that you will be. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 467:Without music, life would be a blank to me. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 468:Women are made to be loved, not understood. ~ oscar-wilde, @wisdomtrove 469:Women would rather be right than reasonable. ~ ogden-nash, @wisdomtrove 470:You can't be happy by doing something groovy. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 471:You need lucky breaks to be successful. ~ richard-branson, @wisdomtrove 472:A man who causes fear cannot be free from fear. ~ epicurus, @wisdomtrove 473:And for to see, and eek for to be seie. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 474:Be content to seem what you really are. ~ marcus-aurelius, @wisdomtrove 475:Be prepared to go mad with fixed rule and method. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 476:don't let it be an excuse to stay that way." ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 477:Egotism, pride, etc. must be given up. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 478:For tyme ylost may nought recovered be. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 479:France will always be a great nation. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 480:God is good, and He cannot be anything else. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 481:Happiness must ensue. It cannot be pursued ~ viktor-frankl, @wisdomtrove 482:Healing cannot be done by settling a score. ~ alice-walker, @wisdomtrove 483:He who's never loved cannot be good. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 484:How sweet to be a Cloud. Floating in the Blue! ~ a-a-milne, @wisdomtrove 485:Humanity cannot be degraded by humiliation. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 486:I am as successful as I make up my mind to be ~ louise-hay, @wisdomtrove 487:If ignorance were bliss, he'd be a blister ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 488:If you do what is easy, your life will be hard ~ les-brown, @wisdomtrove 489:It is better to be looked over than overlooked. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 490:It is hard to be an individual in Japan. ~ haruki-murakami, @wisdomtrove 491:It is my last wish to be burried sitting up. ~ bette-davis, @wisdomtrove 492:It might be good to open our eyes and see. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 493:I want to be all used up when I die. ~ george-bernard-shaw, @wisdomtrove 494:Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous. ~ plato, @wisdomtrove 495:Let every man be master of his time. ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 496:Let us then, be up and doing. ~ henry-wadsworth-longfellow, @wisdomtrove 497:Light may be shed on man and his origins. ~ charles-darwin, @wisdomtrove 498:Love well, be loved and do something of value. ~ aristotle, @wisdomtrove 499:No man can be merry unless he is serious. ~ g-k-chesterton, @wisdomtrove 500:Occupy yourself, and you will be out of harm's way. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:All shall be well. ~ Louise Penny, #NFDB
2:and it mightn’t be ~ Marian Keyes, #NFDB
3:Be advis’d, ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
4:be as good as gold. ~ Enid Blyton, #NFDB
5:Be as you wish to seem ~ Socrates, #NFDB
6:Because we have to be ~ Ker Dukey, #NFDB
7:Be great or be gone. ~ Neil Young, #NFDB
8:Be kind to yourself. ~ John Green, #NFDB
9:Be simple and reliable ~ Jan Koum, #NFDB
10:be ventriloquism, ~ Wendy Doniger, #NFDB
11:Be wholehearted. ~ Yasmin Mogahed, #NFDB
12:Be ye mad, woman? ~ David Sedaris, #NFDB
13:Be Young, Be Dope, ~ Lana Del Rey, #NFDB
14:Bitches be crazy. ~ Craig Alanson, #NFDB
15:Dawn be so rotten? ~ Ann M Martin, #NFDB
16:Don't Worry Be Happy ~ Meher Baba, #NFDB
17:...heaven may be ~ Deborah Digges, #NFDB
18:Here be the Dragons ~ April Henry, #NFDB
19:It is better to be ~ John Heywood, #NFDB
20:It's chic to be shy. ~ Plum Sykes, #NFDB
21:I will be free, ~ Hilda Doolittle, #NFDB
22:Just listen Be peace. ~ Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
23:may not be able ~ Herman Melville, #NFDB
24:No one - can be you ~ Gino Norris, #NFDB
25:Pain demands to be felt ~ Unknown, #NFDB
26:Remember, Be Here Now. ~ Ram Dass, #NFDB
27:She’ll be buried ~ Fiona McIntosh, #NFDB
28:Some can be happy. ~ George Eliot, #NFDB
29:the right to be a god ~ S D Perry, #NFDB
30:The Way to do is to be. ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
31:though you may be ~ Eckhart Tolle, #NFDB
32:to be alienated ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
33:Wake up and be awesome. ~ Unknown, #NFDB
34:We can all be hurt. ~ Mary Balogh, #NFDB
35:What will be will be ~ James Frey, #NFDB
36:You must be a poet, ~ Anne Sexton, #NFDB
37:1. Don't be boring. ~ Michael Bell, #NFDB
38:Be as you wish to seem. ~ Socrates, #NFDB
39:Be gone, you he-bitch! ~ T J Klune, #NFDB
40:Be happy. Persevere. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
41:Be undeniably good. ~ Steve Martin, #NFDB
42:Be your own lamp. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
43:But I could be wrong. ~ Carl Sagan, #NFDB
44:Choose To Be Inspired. ~ Joe Rogan, #NFDB
45:Come up and be a kite, ~ Kate Bush, #NFDB
46:Don't be a pinhead ~ Bill O Reilly, #NFDB
47:Eternity be damned. ~ Lisa Kessler, #NFDB
48:I could be illegal! ~ Jos N Harris, #NFDB
49:I'll be your hands. ~ Rachel Caine, #NFDB
50:I may be wrong, ~ Vincent Bugliosi, #NFDB
51:I might be into sadism ~ Ker Dukey, #NFDB
52:I need to be home this ~ E L James, #NFDB
53:I shall not be moved. ~ Bren Brown, #NFDB
54:I shouldn't be alive ~ Ally Carter, #NFDB
55:It's too late to be ready. ~ D gen, #NFDB
56:I want to be a skater. ~ Lil Wayne, #NFDB
57:just be yourself ~ Stephen Chbosky, #NFDB
58:Let bygones be bygones ~ L J Smith, #NFDB
59:"Let go. Let be." ~ Lama Surya Das, #NFDB
60:Peace be unto you. ~ John. XIV. 21, #NFDB
61:There can be no centre ~ Lucretius, #NFDB
62:There will be sway. ~ Lori Lansens, #NFDB
63:To be is to do. ~ Jean Paul Sartre, #NFDB
64:What you could be. ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
65:You have to be tough. ~ Mike Ditka, #NFDB
66:You’ll be my queen. ~ Kenya Wright, #NFDB
67:youtu.be/vaLuJWBh1Eg ~ We're live!, #NFDB
68:Always be consistent. ~ Casey Kasem, #NFDB
69:Be collected. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
70:Be gentle with the young. ~ Juvenal, #NFDB
71:Be groovy or leave, man ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
72:Be kind to each other. ~ Reggie Lee, #NFDB
73:Be merry if you are wise. ~ Martial, #NFDB
74:Be smart, drink your wine. ~ Horace, #NFDB
75:be together when it’s ~ Jon Meacham, #NFDB
76:Be your own motivation. ~ Jon Jones, #NFDB
77:Bounds should be set ~ Robert Frost, #NFDB
78:Edwin McCain’s “I’ll Be ~ B L Berry, #NFDB
79:Every pain be gold. ~ Sandra Newman, #NFDB
80:Have courage and be kind. ~ Unknown, #NFDB
81:Have nuts and be nuts. ~ Criss Jami, #NFDB
82:HERE THERE BE SARPENTS. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
83:I'll always be there ~ Shania Twain, #NFDB
84:I'll be a lady tomorrow ~ L A Meyer, #NFDB
85:I should be content ~ David Ignatow, #NFDB
86:It demands to be felt. ~ John Green, #NFDB
87:It is wealth to be content. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
88:It's a sin to be tired. ~ Kate Moss, #NFDB
89:It's okay not to be okay ~ Jessie J, #NFDB
90:It's OK to not be OK ~ Robin Benway, #NFDB
91:It would be a librarian. ~ Joe Hill, #NFDB
92:I want to be an icon. ~ Wiz Khalifa, #NFDB
93:Kid, you'll be fine. ~ Neil Hilborn, #NFDB
94:Learn to Be Silent ~ Robin S Sharma, #NFDB
95:Let joy be unconfined. ~ Lord Byron, #NFDB
96:Let’s Be Pirates! ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
97:Look, and it can't be seen. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
98:Looks can be deceiving. ~ Meg Cabot, #NFDB
99:Man be my metaphor’, ~ Dylan Thomas, #NFDB
100:Never be daunted ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
101:Okay can be our always ~ John Green, #NFDB
102:Winning can be addictive ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
103:you will be his slaves. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
104:anything that might be ~ Jeff Shaara, #NFDB
105:Be angry, but sin not. ~ Thomas More, #NFDB
106:Be a voice, not an echo. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
107:Be - don't try to become. ~ Rajneesh, #NFDB
108:Be fearlessly authentic. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
109:be good. You know, stick ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
110:Be kind to dumb people. ~ Don Herold, #NFDB
111:Be like water, my friend ~ Bruce Lee, #NFDB
112:beshert. Meant to be. ~ Gayle Forman, #NFDB
113:Be still my heart. ~ Janet Evanovich, #NFDB
114:Be true to thine own self ~ Socrates, #NFDB
115:Be wary of folly. ~ Patrick Rothfuss, #NFDB
116:Breathe and let be. ~ Jon Kabat Zinn, #NFDB
117:But I will be, ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
118:Conform and be dull. ~ J Frank Dobie, #NFDB
119:Die? Then so be it. ~ Eiji Yoshikawa, #NFDB
120:Don't Worry, Be Hapi. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
121:Evil, be thou my good. ~ John Milton, #NFDB
122:Fast, you’ll be healthy. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
123:Go and be happy. ~ Rosamunde Pilcher, #NFDB
124:God can be seen ~ Sri Chinmoy, #NFDB
125:Great men can't be ruled. ~ Ayn Rand, #NFDB
126:He can afford to be a fool. ~ Horace, #NFDB
127:his head to be cut off ~ Jacob Grimm, #NFDB
128:How hard can it be? ~ Kinky Friedman, #NFDB
129:I can be your hero... ~ Jos N Harris, #NFDB
130:I'd better be a poet ~ Jack Kerouac, #NFDB
131:If skills sold truth be told ~ Jay Z, #NFDB
132:It can always be worse. ~ Ruby Dixon, #NFDB
133:It do really be like that. ~ Unknown, #NFDB
134:I try to be athletic. ~ Lara Spencer, #NFDB
135:It's good to be alive. ~ Artie Lange, #NFDB
136:It's OK not to be OK. ~ Lindsey Kelk, #NFDB
137:I want it to be you. ~ N E Henderson, #NFDB
138:I want to be fearless. ~ Demi Lovato, #NFDB
139:Let it be autumn. Let ~ Joanna Walsh, #NFDB
140:Let your soul be your pilot. ~ Sting, #NFDB
141:Nothing to be done. ~ Samuel Beckett, #NFDB
142:Pain demands to be felt ~ John Green, #NFDB
143:Publish and be damned. ~ H L Mencken, #NFDB
144:Sorrow can be a bully. ~ Amy Waldman, #NFDB
145:There can be no higher ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
146:Time be thine, ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
147:To be alive is to ~ Brennan Manning, #NFDB
148:To be dull is easy, ~ B K S Iyengar, #NFDB
149:We all want to be seen. ~ Emma Cline, #NFDB
150:We'd be a wonderful us. ~ Kiera Cass, #NFDB
151:We should be like dogs. ~ Jon Ronson, #NFDB
152:We were born to be brave. ~ Bob Goff, #NFDB
153:Will I be something? ~ Anis Mojgani, #NFDB
154:Ye must be born again. ~ John III. 7, #NFDB
155:You have to be for me. ~ Jason Letts, #NFDB
156:You have to be someone. ~ Bob Marley, #NFDB
157:All girls want to be sexy. ~ Kid Rock, #NFDB
158:Always push to be creative. ~ Mod Sun, #NFDB
159:Any noun can be verbed. ~ Alan Perlis, #NFDB
160:Appearances may be deceiving. ~ Aesop, #NFDB
161:Ask, and It Will Be Given ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
162:Be afraid of nothing. ~ Joan Crawford, #NFDB
163:Be as you wish to seem.
~ Socrates,#NFDB
164:Be a Voice, not an Echo ~ Cornel West, #NFDB
165:Be awesome! Be a book nut! ~ Dr Seuss, #NFDB
166:Be better than yesterday. ~ T F Hodge, #NFDB
167:Be candid with everyone. ~ Jack Welch, #NFDB
168:Be humble. Be yourself. ~ Bobby Green, #NFDB
169:Be ignited, or be gone. ~ Mary Oliver, #NFDB
170:Be like water, my friend. ~ Bruce Lee, #NFDB
171:Be nice to old people. ~ Jaime Murray, #NFDB
172:Be quick or be hungry. ~ Jill Shalvis, #NFDB
173:Be sincere always, ~ Jack Weatherford, #NFDB
174:Be sober, be vigilant. ~ I Peter V. 8, #NFDB
175:Be stimulated by rejection ~ Bob Gill, #NFDB
176:Be strong; fear not. ~ Isaiah XXXV. 4, #NFDB
177:Be the love you seek. ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
178:Be true to thine own self. ~ Socrates, #NFDB
179:Be where your enemy is not. ~ Sun Tzu, #NFDB
180:Books can be misleading ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
181:But I will always be hers. ~ J D Horn, #NFDB
182:Dare to be an optimist. ~ Matt Ridley, #NFDB
183:Don't be a goose! ~ Margaret Mitchell, #NFDB
184:Don't be happy at me. ~ Jeffrey Brown, #NFDB
185:Either move or be moved. ~ Ezra Pound, #NFDB
186:Faith must be worked at. ~ James Cook, #NFDB
187:How hard can it be? ~ Jeremy Clarkson, #NFDB
188:I am; I was. I want to be. ~ Joe Hill, #NFDB
189:I aspire to be useful. ~ Anthony Foxx, #NFDB
190:I can be your baby girl ~ Celia Aaron, #NFDB
191:i hope i live to be 150 ~ Matthew Fox, #NFDB
192:I just want to be happy. ~ Kate Perry, #NFDB
193:I like to be counted on. ~ Jeff Bezos, #NFDB
194:I like to be who I am. ~ Hal Holbrook, #NFDB
195:I plan to live to be 120! ~ Teri Garr, #NFDB
196:I refuse to be. In ~ Marina Tsvetaeva, #NFDB
197:It is grievous to be caught. ~ Horace, #NFDB
198:It's cooler to be strong. ~ Lady Gaga, #NFDB
199:It's nice to be nice. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
200:It’s okay to be broken. ~ Callie Hart, #NFDB
201:I wanna be a nice guy. ~ David Guetta, #NFDB
202:I wanted to be a jockey. ~ Davy Jones, #NFDB
203:I want to be a machine. ~ Andy Warhol, #NFDB
204:I want to be dictator. ~ Gene Simmons, #NFDB
205:I will not be ignored. ~ Vivien Leigh, #NFDB
206:I will not be misquoted! ~ Todd Barry, #NFDB
207:just let Mitch be Mitch ~ Vince Flynn, #NFDB
208:Let go, or be dragged. ~ Zen proverb, #NFDB
209:Let there be chaos. 2 ~ Lani Lenore, #NFDB
210:Life should be lived as play. ~ Plato, #NFDB
211:Maybe she can be my sun ~ Celia Aaron, #NFDB
212:Never be afraid to dream. ~ Lady Gaga, #NFDB
213:Nothing to be done.. ~ Samuel Beckett, #NFDB
214:Pain demands to be felt, ~ John Green, #NFDB
215:Pain demands to be felt. ~ John Green, #NFDB
216:Pains demand to be felt. ~ John Green, #NFDB
217:People can be miracles. ~ Ally Condie, #NFDB
218:Remember to be awesome. ~ Umair Haque, #NFDB
219:should be—in the hands ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
220:Thank you; be easy. ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
221:to be ME, Merewyn. These ~ Anya Seton, #NFDB
222:We often need to be refreshed. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
223:Whatever will be will be. ~ Doris Day, #NFDB
224:You cannot be serious! ~ John McEnroe, #NFDB
225:You have to be unique. ~ Phil Jackson, #NFDB
226:You'll be bereft without me. ~ J Lynn, #NFDB
227:Your kindness cannot be said. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
228:ACT OR BE ACTED UPON ~ Stephen R Covey, #NFDB
229:All is to be doubted. ~ Rene Descartes, #NFDB
230:All shall be well. ~ Julian of Norwich, #NFDB
231:Anyone can be rich in promises. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
232:Be a good human being, a ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
233:Be at ease, not dis-ease. ~ Wayne Dyer, #NFDB
234:Be at your best at all times. ~ Selena, #NFDB
235:Be gentle with the earth. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
236:Be gracious to me, O LORD! ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
237:Be in love with yr life ~ Jack Kerouac, #NFDB
238:Be kind to the living. ~ James McBride, #NFDB
239:Be militantly optimistic ~ Rick Steves, #NFDB
240:Be my wife, all my life. ~ Jodi Thomas, #NFDB
241:Bend and you will be straight. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
242:Be prepared for luck. ~ Robin Williams, #NFDB
243:Be proud of who you are. ~ Demi Lovato, #NFDB
244:BE SOMEONE’S HERO ~ Lynda Mullaly Hunt, #NFDB
245:Be suspicious of what you want. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
246:Be, the money will come to you. ~ Sark, #NFDB
247:Be what you are. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
248:Be who you really are. ~ Sergio Garcia, #NFDB
249:Be ye kind one to another. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
250:Choices can be made again. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
251:Could he be homosexual? ~ Leslie Wolfe, #NFDB
252:Don't be a twatsicle. ~ Lani Lynn Vale, #NFDB
253:Don't be fooled by my beauty - ~ Rumi, #NFDB
254:Every day can't be the best day ~ Slug, #NFDB
255:God shall be all in all. ~ John Milton, #NFDB
256:Gold will be slave or master. ~ Horace, #NFDB
257:Grace only exists to be ~ Glen Duncan, #NFDB
258:Hello, I must be going. ~ Groucho Marx, #NFDB
259:I could still be anybody. ~ John Green, #NFDB
260:I just want to be myself. ~ Jim Carrey, #NFDB
261:I'll be watching.
-A ~ Sara Shepard,#NFDB
262:I love to be surprised. ~ Vera Farmiga, #NFDB
263:I might be dead by noon ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
264:I should be writing ... ~ Mur Lafferty, #NFDB
265:I shouldn't be married. ~ Tippi Hedren, #NFDB
266:It may be years until the day ~ Feist, #NFDB
267:It's good to be in love. ~ Kim Edwards, #NFDB
268:It's good to be queen. ~ Marissa Meyer, #NFDB
269:It's great to be queen! ~ Helen Mirren, #NFDB
270:It's illegal to be naked. ~ Kanye West, #NFDB
271:It's okay to be different ~ Gerard Way, #NFDB
272:It was fun to be clever. ~ David Bowie, #NFDB
273:I used to be someone. ~ Mary E Pearson, #NFDB
274:I wanted to be a painter. ~ Max Cannon, #NFDB
275:I want to be left alone. ~ Greta Garbo, #NFDB
276:I will never be able to... ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
277:Journalism can be lethal ~ Robert Fisk, #NFDB
278:"Let go, or be dragged." ~ Zen proverb, #NFDB
279:Light cannot be chained. ~ Brent Weeks, #NFDB
280:metaphor be with you!— ~ Carrie Fisher, #NFDB
281:Oh, be quiet, Fo-Fo. ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
282:Oh, lady be good To me. ~ Ira Gershwin, #NFDB
283:Pain demands to be felt". ~ John Green, #NFDB
284:P.S. Be eleven. ~ Rita Williams Garcia, #NFDB
285:Rather be dead then cool ~ Kurt Cobain, #NFDB
286:Sapere aude. Dare to be wise. ~ Horace, #NFDB
287:So, want to be my sister wife? ~ Tijan, #NFDB
288:Then let us go and be terrible. ~ Brom, #NFDB
289:The rigid tree will be felled. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
290:TO BE CONTINUED . . ~ Corinne Michaels, #NFDB
291:To be human is erroneous. ~ Karl Kraus, #NFDB
292:To be of few words is natural. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
293:To think is to be sick. ~ Djuna Barnes, #NFDB
294:True love can't be bought. ~ Jon Jones, #NFDB
295:We all want to be seen. — ~ Emma Cline, #NFDB
296:We are who we choose to be, ~ L J Shen, #NFDB
297:We’ll never be over, Eva. ~ Sylvia Day, #NFDB
298:Wherever You Are, Be There ~ Jim Rohn, #NFDB
299:Why be an ostrich? ~ Margaret Mitchell, #NFDB
300:You cannot be angry when alone, ~ Osho, #NFDB
301:You make me want to be. ~ Lisa Kessler, #NFDB
302:You want to be dominated. ~ Maya Banks, #NFDB
303:be a wonderful showcase, ~ Stuart Woods, #NFDB
304:Be brave. Life is a gift. ~ Nicola Yoon, #NFDB
305:be careful what you pray for. ~ E N Joy, #NFDB
306:Be cheerful, if you are wise. ~ Martial, #NFDB
307:Beggars can’t be choosers ~ James Bowen, #NFDB
308:Be grateful to everyone. ~ Pema Chödrön, #NFDB
309:be in it to win it. ~ Chris Grabenstein, #NFDB
310:Be kinder than expected. ~ Robin Sharma, #NFDB
311:Be kinder than necessary. ~ R J Palacio, #NFDB
312:Be kind. Every person you meet ~ Plato, #NFDB
313:Believe and be confirmed. ~ John Milton, #NFDB
314:Be me a little. ~ John Ajvide Lindqvist, #NFDB
315:Be realistic: Plan for a miracle ~ Osho, #NFDB
316:..be smart, don't be a retard. ~ Eminem, #NFDB
317:Be soulful. Be kind. Be in love. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
318:Be the love you seek. ~ Bryant H McGill, #NFDB
319:Be who you seem to be. ~ Maggie Osborne, #NFDB
320:body, this would be the day. ~ L T Ryan, #NFDB
321:By compassion one can be brave. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
322:can be more careful.” I was ~ Lexi Ryan, #NFDB
323:Don't forget to be awesome ~ Hank Green, #NFDB
324:Don't worry, Be HAPPY!!!!! ~ Bob Marley, #NFDB
325:Do you want to be my dad? ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
326:Dreamers can't be tamed. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
327:Have Courage and Be Kind. ~ Jacob Grimm, #NFDB
328:He can be lethal death. ~ Jerry Coleman, #NFDB
329:He must be a vampire. ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
330:I could be in love with you ~ T Torrest, #NFDB
331:If you wish to be loved, love. ~ Seneca, #NFDB
332:I happen to be pro-life. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
333:I just want to not be me. ~ Ned Vizzini, #NFDB
334:I'm as honest as I can be. ~ Macklemore, #NFDB
335:I never want to be pretentious. ~ Kesha, #NFDB
336:It's cool to be healthy. ~ Dick Gregory, #NFDB
337:I used to be a conservative. ~ Jeb Bush, #NFDB
338:I want to be a champion. ~ Kevin Durant, #NFDB
339:I won't be labeled as average. ~ Rachel, #NFDB
340:Just wait and be hopeful. ~ Andr Aciman, #NFDB
341:Let me be your villain ~ Meredith Duran, #NFDB
342:Let your Teacher be Love itself. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
343:may the gods be with you ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
344:my eye lest I be invaded by ~ Ivan Doig, #NFDB
345:New can be an emotion. ~ David Levithan, #NFDB
346:Oh, be wise, Thou! ~ William Wordsworth, #NFDB
347:options It's possible to be ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
348:Peace should be our future. ~ Tim Kaine, #NFDB
349:Rather be dead than cool. ~ Kurt Cobain, #NFDB
350:Secrets can be poisonous. ~ James Scott, #NFDB
351:Shiny, let's be bad guys! ~ Joss Whedon, #NFDB
352:Silence! Always. Be. Silent. ~ Kel Kade, #NFDB
353:So happy just to be alive, ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
354:Soon it would be too hot. ~ J G Ballard, #NFDB
355:that would be a welcome ~ Josephine Cox, #NFDB
356:That would be our luck. ~ Gillian Flynn, #NFDB
357:The Best Is Yet To Be ~ Robert Browning, #NFDB
358:The past cannot be cured. ~ Elizabeth I, #NFDB
359:To be known, you must teach ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
360:To do is to be. ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau, #NFDB
361:To wander is to be alive. ~ Roman Payne, #NFDB
362:We like to be deceived. ~ Blaise Pascal, #NFDB
363:Well, art has to be sexy. ~ Wade Guyton, #NFDB
364:Whatever will be, will be. ~ A J Banner, #NFDB
365:What is it to be wise? ~ Alexander Pope, #NFDB
366:Yogis love to be alone. ~ Dharma Mittra, #NFDB
367:You could be so much more. ~ Lexi Blake, #NFDB
368:you will always be my ~ Samantha Bayarr, #NFDB
369:Ah, to be young and in love. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
370:A lie never lives to be old. ~ Sophocles, #NFDB
371:Anybody can be ambitious. ~ Chris Hughes, #NFDB
372:Ask, and it shall be given you. ~ Origen, #NFDB
373:Be a doer and not a critic. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
374:Be a giver of forgiveness ~ Wayne W Dyer, #NFDB
375:Be a star not a diva! ~ Rasheed Ogunlaru, #NFDB
376:Be a victor, not a victim. ~ Joel Osteen, #NFDB
377:be a voice not an echo ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
378:Be brave, be victorious ~ Mary E Pearson, #NFDB
379:be coerced into cutting a ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
380:Be happy. Talk happiness. ~ Helen Keller, #NFDB
381:be killed, we are lost. ~ John Steinbeck, #NFDB
382:Be kind to an old man. ~ Walter Cronkite, #NFDB
383:Be. Nice. To. Each. Other! ~ Mateus Ward, #NFDB
384:Be quick, but don't hurry. ~ John Wooden, #NFDB
385:Be satisfied with what you have. ~ Aesop, #NFDB
386:Be the CEO of your life ~ Robin S Sharma, #NFDB
387:Be the change you seek. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
388:Be the chief but never the lord. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
389:Be the patience you seek ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
390:Be the person you wanna meet ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
391:Be true, be brave, stand. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
392:Be true to your Dick. ~ Vladimir Nabokov, #NFDB
393:Books can be misleading... ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
394:Can a wolfe be beautiful? ~ Markus Zusak, #NFDB
395:CONSUME OBEY BE SILENT DIE ~ Joanna Macy, #NFDB
396:Dare to be naive. ~ R Buckminster Fuller, #NFDB
397:Dare to be naïve. ~ R Buckminster Fuller, #NFDB
398:He was right to be afraid. ~ Celia Aaron, #NFDB
399:I can be a lazy dresser. ~ Michael Sheen, #NFDB
400:I cannot be what I am not. ~ John Lennon, #NFDB
401:I'd love to be a rockstar. ~ Tyler Posey, #NFDB
402:I doubt, therefore I might be. ~ Various, #NFDB
403:If you want to be strong, be. ~ L J Shen, #NFDB
404:If you would be loved, be lovable ~ Ovid, #NFDB
405:I have to be perfectly honest: ~ Big Pun, #NFDB
406:I'll always be the catman. ~ Peter Criss, #NFDB
407:I’ll be waiting for you. ~ Stuart Turton, #NFDB
408:I'm determined to be a diva. ~ Lexa Doig, #NFDB
409:I try not to be hateful. ~ Brad Williams, #NFDB
410:It’s hard to be special. ~ Matthew Quick, #NFDB
411:it should be quotations ~ Kallistos Ware, #NFDB
412:It's kind of fun to be sexy. ~ Tea Leoni, #NFDB
413:It’s okay not to be perfect, ~ J S Scott, #NFDB
414:It will be alright. ~ Katherine Hannigan, #NFDB
415:I want to be a star, ~ Jacqueline Wilson, #NFDB
416:Learn what you are and be such. ~ Pindar, #NFDB
417:Let me help you be brave. ~ Leisa Rayven, #NFDB
418:Let's be about it, people. ~ David Weber, #NFDB
419:Let your heart be the victor, ~ Nely Cab, #NFDB
420:Let your joy be unconfined! ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
421:Life has to be dangerous. ~ Alain Robert, #NFDB
422:Life is short. Be of use. ~ Robin Sharma, #NFDB
423:Love is a fault; so be it. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
424:Luck, be a lady tonight. ~ Frank Loesser, #NFDB
425:My ambition cannot be stopped! ~ Cao Cao, #NFDB
426:Only fools want to be great. ~ T H White, #NFDB
427:Optimism can be relearnt. ~ Marian Keyes, #NFDB
428:Promise you’ll be happy. ~ Colleen Houck, #NFDB
429:Rules are meant to be broken ~ Ker Dukey, #NFDB
430:Tener cuidado. Be wary. ~ Larry D Sweazy, #NFDB
431:That has to be a mistake— ~ Leddy Harper, #NFDB
432:The best is yet to be. ~ Robert Browning, #NFDB
433:The mind alone can not be exiled. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
434:The past can not be cured. ~ Elizabeth I, #NFDB
435:There will be no white ~ Dido Armstrong, #NFDB
436:Think I'll win. Could be big. ~ Bob Dole, #NFDB
437:This victory will be your I ruin. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
438:To be alive──is Power. ~ Emily Dickinson, #NFDB
439:to be a way to prove it. ~ Russell Blake, #NFDB
440:To be is to be perceived. ~ John Wheeler, #NFDB
441:To be soft is to be powerful ~ Rupi Kaur, #NFDB
442:To be worn out is to be renewed. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
443:To love is to be vulnerable. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
444:Tomorrow will be better. ~ Lauren Conrad, #NFDB
445:To thine own self be true. ~ R J Palacio, #NFDB
446:To think is to be sick... ~ Djuna Barnes, #NFDB
447:Vision sees what could be. ~ Johnny Hunt, #NFDB
448:We can be lonely together ~ Rachel Caine, #NFDB
449:Why wait to be memorable? ~ Tony Robbins, #NFDB
450:You can always be quoted. ~ Susan Sontag, #NFDB
451:You can never be free ~ Anthony de Mello, #NFDB
452:You cannot be who you were. ~ D J Molles, #NFDB
453:You deserve to be happy. ~ Clinton Kelly, #NFDB
454:You must not be weak! ~ Anthony Horowitz, #NFDB
455:You will be safest in the middle. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
456:408 Clement. Be there. Aloha. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
457:Ah, love, let us be true ~ Matthew Arnold, #NFDB
458:All pain deserves to be felt ~ John Green, #NFDB
459:And so it came to be. ~ Jussi Adler Olsen, #NFDB
460:Anyone can be killed. ~ George R R Martin, #NFDB
461:Be a lamp unto yourself. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
462:Be angry, don’t be cruel. ~ Bella Forrest, #NFDB
463:Be a rock, not a pebble. ~ David Arquette, #NFDB
464:Be a voice not an echo. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
465:Be bold. Be kind. Be brave. ~ Mark Deklin, #NFDB
466:Be careful what you give up. ~ Laura Dave, #NFDB
467:Be content with an ordinary life. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
468:Beggars cannot be choosers. ~ Zadie Smith, #NFDB
469:Beggars can't be choosers. ~ John Heywood, #NFDB
470:Be grateful for blessings, ~ Tupac Shakur, #NFDB
471:"Be grateful to everyone." ~ Pema Chödrön, #NFDB
472:Be guided by your heart. ~ Robin S Sharma, #NFDB
473:Be impeccable with your word. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
474:Be not afraid, only believe. ~ Mark V. 36, #NFDB
475:Be not a slave of words. ~ Thomas Carlyle, #NFDB
476:Be still my heart, he cares. ~ Gwen Hayes, #NFDB
477:Be strong now. Pain can wait. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
478:Be thy sleep ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, #NFDB
479:be who you set out to be... ~ Gino Norris, #NFDB
480:Be with those who help your being. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
481:Conquer or be conquered. ~ David Farragut, #NFDB
482:DARE TO BE IRRESISTIBLE! ~ Sahara Sanders, #NFDB
483:Don't be afraid, be alive. ~ Sarah Dessen, #NFDB
484:Don’t be sad by what you see ~ Sami Yusuf, #NFDB
485:Do you want to be my seahorse? ~ E L Todd, #NFDB
486:Every tale is not to be believed. ~ Aesop, #NFDB
487:Everything tries to be round. ~ Black Elk, #NFDB
488:Good to be merie and wise. ~ John Heywood, #NFDB
489:Have character, don't be one. ~ Don Meyer, #NFDB
490:He must be lightning slow. ~ Ron Atkinson, #NFDB
491:How can love be a mistake? ~ Mia Sheridan, #NFDB
492:HOW TO BE A GIRL ON A DATE ~ Steve Harvey, #NFDB
493:I always wanted to be a mom. ~ Heidi Klum, #NFDB
494:I am no one to be a purist. ~ Mike Patton, #NFDB
495:I could never be over you ~ Monica Murphy, #NFDB
496:I couldn't be happier. ~ Leighton Meester, #NFDB
497:I didn't want to be peed on. ~ Penny Reid, #NFDB
498:I don't just try to be funny. ~ Bil Keane, #NFDB
499:If I can be a leader, I will. ~ Lady Gaga, #NFDB
500:If you want to be the best, ~ Bob Stinson, #NFDB
501:I knew it would be you ~ Charles Bukowski, #NFDB
502:I'll be the in to your sane. ~ Gary Numan, #NFDB
503:I’ll be your Mockingjay ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
504:I'll forever be a Longhorn. ~ Vince Young, #NFDB
505:It's easy to be negative. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
506:It’s okay to be alone with you. ~ E N Joy, #NFDB
507:it’s okay to not be okay. ~ Dot Hutchison, #NFDB
508:It's too late to be ready. ~ Dogen Zenji, #NFDB
509:It's weird not to be weird. ~ John Lennon, #NFDB
510:It's Wierd not to be Wierd. ~ John Lennon, #NFDB
511:It takes two to be serious ~ E E Cummings, #NFDB
512:I used to be more glamorous. ~ China Chow, #NFDB
513:I wanted to be a plumber. ~ Robert Goulet, #NFDB
514:I want to be a pretty corpse. ~ Eva Braun, #NFDB
515:I want to be cutting-edge. ~ Missy Elliot, #NFDB
516:I want to be owned by you. ~ Truth Devour, #NFDB
517:I want to be the black Madonna. ~ Rihanna, #NFDB
518:I will be as callous and ~ Steve Lonegan, #NFDB
519:I will not be triumphed over. ~ Cleopatra, #NFDB
520:I would love to be Moses. ~ Dick Van Dyke, #NFDB
521:Just be, and enjoy being. ~ Eckhart Tolle, #NFDB
522:Just to be alive is enough. ~ Miguel Ruiz, #NFDB
523:Knowledge can be dangerous, ~ Erin Hunter, #NFDB
524:Learn what you are and be such. ~ Pindar, #NFDB
525:Let the past be the past. ~ Lynette Eason, #NFDB
526:Let us all be from somewhere. ~ Bob Hicok, #NFDB
527:Life must be aromatic. ~ Gwendolyn Brooks, #NFDB
528:Lord, I want to be up in my heart. ~ Moby, #NFDB
529:Love and be silent. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
530:Love lost can be found again. ~ Jon Jones, #NFDB
531:Mathematics should be fun. ~ Peter Hilton, #NFDB
532:May her memory be a blessing. ~ Jo Walton, #NFDB
533:May the Force be with you. ~ George Lucas, #NFDB
534:May today be filled ~ John Walter Bratton, #NFDB
535:Never be sorry for smiling! ~ M L Stedman, #NFDB
536:No. No, don’t be sorry. It’s ~ Jojo Moyes, #NFDB
537:objects that couldn’t be ~ Danielle Steel, #NFDB
538:One wants to be surprised. ~ Anna Wintour, #NFDB
539:Our business is to be happy. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
540:Our directives must be reassessed. ~ Kane, #NFDB
541:Peace will be victorious. ~ Yitzhak Rabin, #NFDB
542:People must be amuthed. ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
543:Pigeons cannot be trusted. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
544:PSA27.14 Wait on the LORD: be ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
545:Rotten wood cannot be carved. ~ Confucius, #NFDB
546:Should he be suspicious? ~ Timothy C Ward, #NFDB
547:Someday our souls will be one and ~ Rumi, #NFDB
548:So You Want To Be A Wizard? ~ Diane Duane, #NFDB
549:States will never be happy until ~ Plato, #NFDB
550:Stocks can be dynamite. ~ Benjamin Graham, #NFDB
551:T.G.T.B.T: too good to be true. ~ Madonna, #NFDB
552:Then be sure of one thing: ~ Richard Bach, #NFDB
553:There must be real gods ~ Hilda Doolittle, #NFDB
554:There Will Be Strong Copy ~ Dan S Kennedy, #NFDB
555:The world is as it should be. ~ Omar Epps, #NFDB
556:Time to stand and be true. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
557:To be a mother was to bake. ~ Rumaan Alam, #NFDB
558:To be everywhere; is to nowhere. ~ Seneca, #NFDB
559:To be noticed is to be loved. ~ Ali Smith, #NFDB
560:To be or not to be. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
561:To be soft is to be powerful. ~ Rupi Kaur, #NFDB
562:To God's own heart be true. ~ Dottie West, #NFDB
563:To hold a pen is to be at war. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
564:To live is to be haunted. ~ Philip K Dick, #NFDB
565:treachery can’t be forgiven. ~ Mario Puzo, #NFDB
566:We could not be happier. ~ Prince William, #NFDB
567:we’ll be going up to London ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
568:we used to be good friends. ~ R J Palacio, #NFDB
569:What can be avoided ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
570:What can be shown? ~ William Butler Yeats, #NFDB
571:What is, is what must be. ~ Richard Adams, #NFDB
572:What’s done cannot be undone. ~ T M Logan, #NFDB
573:What was can never be again. ~ Jane Yolen, #NFDB
574:Wherever you are, be there. ~ Peter Voogd, #NFDB
575:Why can't I be naked baby?! ~ Randy Orton, #NFDB
576:A battle avoided cannot be lost. ~ Sun Tzu, #NFDB
577:a Galaxis a vesztébe rohan! ~ Isaac Asimov, #NFDB
578:and she asked to be released. ~ Lois Lowry, #NFDB
579:Art should be waged like war. ~ Mark Boyle, #NFDB
580:Art should never be popular. ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
581:Be a light unto yourself. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
582:Be a light unto yourself. ~ Jon Kabat Zinn, #NFDB
583:Be as radical as Reality. ~ Vladimir Lenin, #NFDB
584:Be big, fast and flexible. ~ Reed Hastings, #NFDB
585:Be calm. Be cool. Be safe. ~ Caylie Marcoe, #NFDB
586:Be curious not judgemental. ~ Walt Whitman, #NFDB
587:Be curious, not judgmental. ~ Walt Whitman, #NFDB
588:Be free from bitterness! ~ Courtney Joseph, #NFDB
589:Be fruitful, and multiply. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
590:Be gentle with the earth. ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #NFDB
591:Beggars can’t be choosers. ~ Carolyn Brown, #NFDB
592:Beggars can't be choosers. ~ Cecelia Ahern, #NFDB
593:Be good or don't get caught. ~ Traci Lords, #NFDB
594:Be happy, but never satisfied. ~ Bruce Lee, #NFDB
595:Be inspired but not proud. ~ B K S Iyengar, #NFDB
596:Be interested, not interesting. ~ Amy Sohn, #NFDB
597:Be lovely and do no harm. ~ Louise Erdrich, #NFDB
598:Be merciful, moderate, and modest. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
599:Be natural and use your head. ~ Dai Vernon, #NFDB
600:Be not slow to visit the sick. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
601:Berenice will be safe. ~ Jonathan L Howard, #NFDB
602:Be silent in a group of people ~ Yoko Ono, #NFDB
603:Be the hero of your own story. ~ Joe Rogan, #NFDB
604:Be the tolerance you seek. ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
605:Be true, unbeliever. ~ Stephen R Donaldson, #NFDB
606:Be unfashionable. Take risks. ~ Paul Arden, #NFDB
607:Be yourself, until you bleed. ~ Mike Carey, #NFDB
608:But we need to be careful. ~ Cynthia Shepp, #NFDB
609:By moderation one can be generous. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
610:Comedy is king. It has to be. ~ Steve Pink, #NFDB
611:Do not be afraid of no, ~ Gwendolyn Brooks, #NFDB
612:Don't be a Do Nothing Bitch ~ Ronda Rousey, #NFDB
613:Don't be afraid of new arenas. ~ Elon Musk, #NFDB
614:Don't be a Pollyanna! ~ Richard Diebenkorn, #NFDB
615:Don't be distracted by doubters. ~ Kid Ink, #NFDB
616:Don’t be friends with jerks. ~ R J Palacio, #NFDB
617:Don't be in such a hurry. ~ Billie Holiday, #NFDB
618:Don't be lady. Be a legend. ~ Stevie Nicks, #NFDB
619:Don't be pessimistic ~ John Walter Bratton, #NFDB
620:Don't be rushed, be sure. ~ Rickson Gracie, #NFDB
621:Dreamers can never be tamed ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
622:Everything can be satirized. ~ Sam Kinison, #NFDB
623:Fashion is meant to be fun. ~ Ivanka Trump, #NFDB
624:Forever will be you and me. ~ Salvador Dal, #NFDB
625:growth can be messy. ~ Marianne Williamson, #NFDB
626:He deserves to be a focus. ~ Courtney Cole, #NFDB
627:Hope could be a cruel bitch ~ Julia London, #NFDB
628:horses would be ~ Gertrude Chandler Warner, #NFDB
629:How easy it is to be unknown! ~ Sophia Lee, #NFDB
630:How This Book Came to Be ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
631:How wild it was, to let it be. ~ T S Eliot, #NFDB
632:Hunger not to have, but to be ~ John Dewey, #NFDB
633:I am proud to be Latino. ~ Justina Machado, #NFDB
634:I am ready to be alone. ~ Chuck Klosterman, #NFDB
635:I could never be James Bond. ~ Kevin James, #NFDB
636:I couldn't be more blessed. ~ Armie Hammer, #NFDB
637:I don't need to be liked. ~ John Malkovich, #NFDB
638:If I shouldn't be alive ~ Emily Dickinson, #NFDB
639:If it has to be it's up to me. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
640:If it means to be , it will be ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
641:If you want to be happy. Be. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
642:If you want to be happy, be. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
643:I like things to be orderly. ~ David Lynch, #NFDB
644:I’ll be yours. Let me be, ~ Pepper Winters, #NFDB
645:I'll never be a weightlifter. ~ Kai Greene, #NFDB
646:I might be an ambassador. ~ Steven Gerrard, #NFDB
647:I'm not dumb enough to be cool. ~ K I Hope, #NFDB
648:I'm too old to be forced. ~ Garry Marshall, #NFDB
649:I never wanted to be famous. ~ Dave Attell, #NFDB
650:Inside I'll always be an outsider ~ Eminem, #NFDB
651:It feels so good to be happy. ~ Etta James, #NFDB
652:It is a sin to be poor. ~ Charles Fillmore, #NFDB
653:It is no easy task to be good. ~ Aristotle, #NFDB
654:It is normal to be nervous. ~ James Galway, #NFDB
655:It is time to be old ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
656:It's every girl's dream to be a ~ Rihanna, #NFDB
657:It's gonna be a slobberknocker! ~ Jim Ross, #NFDB
658:"It's too late to be ready." ~ Dogen Zenji, #NFDB
659:Judge not, lest ye be judged. ~ Libba Bray, #NFDB
660:Judge not, lest you be judged. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
661:Just be careful of water ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
662:King Lucien. He could be… ~ Karpov Kinrade, #NFDB
663:Let all your thinks be thanks. ~ W H Auden, #NFDB
664:Let go or be dragged. ~ Kimberly McCreight, #NFDB
665:Let your heart be at peace. ~ Wayne W Dyer, #NFDB
666:Let your poem be kept nine years. ~ Horace, #NFDB
667:Life is long if you let it be. ~ Jenny Han, #NFDB
668:Life must be somewhere to be ~ Bob Marley, #NFDB
669:Life’s too short to be subtle, ~ B N Toler, #NFDB
670:Looks can be decieving ~ Masashi Kishimoto, #NFDB
671:Love and be loved - Always. ~ Truth Devour, #NFDB
672:Love, and be silent. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
673:Love can be its own reward. ~ Arnold Lobel, #NFDB
674:Love is needing to be loved. ~ John Lennon, #NFDB
675:maybe Okay will be our always ~ John Green, #NFDB
676:Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. ~ C L Stone, #NFDB
677:May your eyes be always open ~ Ted Andrews, #NFDB
678:Mine. I need her to be mine. ~ Celia Aaron, #NFDB
679:Noble be man, ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #NFDB
680:Nobody likes to be preached to. ~ Stan Lee, #NFDB
681:no broken bones. She’ll be ~ Melinda Leigh, #NFDB
682:No more than I was to be born. ~ Spartacus, #NFDB
683:No one pays me to be nice. ~ Aaron Allston, #NFDB
684:No trust is to be placed in women. ~ Homer, #NFDB
685:Not to ask is not be denied. ~ John Dryden, #NFDB
686:Old men ought to be explorers. ~ T S Eliot, #NFDB
687:One must dare to be happy ~ Gertrude Stein, #NFDB
688:Only the free can be frank. ~ Hiram Crespo, #NFDB
689:Our need will be the real creator. ~ Plato, #NFDB
690:Pictures must be miraculous. ~ Mark Rothko, #NFDB
691:Prepare to be wowed. ~ Aimee Nicole Walker, #NFDB
692:Pretend and it will be true. ~ Ally Carter, #NFDB
693:Pride would never be her ally. ~ Zane Grey, #NFDB
694:Reality can be very boring. ~ Amy Neftzger, #NFDB
695:Remember to be calm in adversity. ~ Horace, #NFDB
696:Remember to be yourself. ~ Naturi Naughton, #NFDB
697:Rest and be thankful. ~ William Wordsworth, #NFDB
698:shouldn’t be blaming ~ Patricia H Rushford, #NFDB
699:Some torn places cannot be patched. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
700:The best way to do is to be, ~ Fred Kofman, #NFDB
701:The Gospel has to be the norm. ~ Hans Kung, #NFDB
702:then we fail to be wise. ~ Debbie Macomber, #NFDB
703:This book is to be read in bed. ~ Dr Seuss, #NFDB
704:To be alive is to be missing. ~ John Green, #NFDB
705:To be alone is to be free ~ Patricia Hampl, #NFDB
706:to be everywhere is to be nowhere ~ Seneca, #NFDB
707:To be forgiven is to be loved ~ Bren Brown, #NFDB
708:To be in time means to change. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
709:To be is to be perceived ~ George Berkeley, #NFDB
710:To be, or not to be. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
711:To be worn out is to be renewed. ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
712:To build is to be robbed. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
713:True honor cannot be taken. ~ Bree Despain, #NFDB
714:We could be a possibility ~ Tiffany Alvord, #NFDB
715:We have to let God be in control ~ E N Joy, #NFDB
716:Well, then I'll be a shepherd! ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
717:We set out to be wrecked. ~ Gretchen Rubin, #NFDB
718:What cannot be said will be wept. ~ Sappho, #NFDB
719:What It’s Like to Be a Dog ~ Gregory Berns, #NFDB
720:Who will be my equal? ~ Cardinal Richelieu, #NFDB
721:Why do you have to be so brave ~ Ker Dukey, #NFDB
722:You are who you choose to be. ~ Ted Hughes, #NFDB
723:You have to be realistic ~ Joe Abercrombie, #NFDB
724:You'll be my glass of wine ~ Blake Shelton, #NFDB
725:You must hurt, or be hurt. ~ Lauren Oliver, #NFDB
726:You ready to be fucked, Jack? ~ James Lear, #NFDB
727:All will be well.. In words of ~ The Mother, #NFDB
728:A man who causes fear cannot be ~ Epicurus, #NFDB
729:And it can be a way of healing. ~ Jan Karon, #NFDB
730:Art to be art must soothe. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
731:As You Think, So Shall You Be. ~ Wayne Dyer, #NFDB
732:A woman should be an illusion ~ Ian Fleming, #NFDB
733:A world made to be lost, - ~ William Morris, #NFDB
734:. . . be absolute moderne. ~ Arthur Rimbaud, #NFDB
735:Be afraid. Be very afraid. ~ The Undertaker, #NFDB
736:Be an opener of doors ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
737:Be as you really are. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
738:Be awesome. Do epic shit. ~ Johnny B Truant, #NFDB
739:Be brave enough to create. ~ Nathan Parsons, #NFDB
740:Be clear with your desires. ~ Asa Don Brown, #NFDB
741:Be curious, not judgemental. ~ Walt Whitman, #NFDB
742:Be genuine. Just be yourself. ~ Jamie Eason, #NFDB
743:Be good and you'll be lonesome ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
744:Be impeccable with your word. ~ Miguel Ruiz, #NFDB
745:Be impeccable with your words ~ Miguel Ruiz, #NFDB
746:Be in love with everything . ~ Jack Kerouac, #NFDB
747:Be just and merciful and brave. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
748:Be kind. Be you. Love Jesus. ~ Jen Hatmaker, #NFDB
749:Be modest, be humble, be simple. ~ Amy Chua, #NFDB
750:be pleased to have you join ~ W E B Griffin, #NFDB
751:Be prepared. *smacks chest* ~ John Bytheway, #NFDB
752:Be realistic: Plan for a miracle ~ Rajneesh, #NFDB
753:be so completely trusting ~ Debbie Macomber, #NFDB
754:Be still and know that I am God ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
755:Be the compassion you seek. ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
756:Be wary of paramilitaries. ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
757:Be wise. Be brave. Be tricky. ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
758:But do everyday things? Be a dad? ~ Kim Law, #NFDB
759:Buy me stuff and I'll be nicer ~ Jim Benton, #NFDB
760:Can't all beasts be tamed? ~ Robin McKinley, #NFDB
761:Can thought be silent? ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #NFDB
762:Dare to be vulnerable with me. ~ Pam Godwin, #NFDB
763:Daydreams can be dangerous. ~ Gillian Flynn, #NFDB
764:Don't be sorry. You're alive. ~ Mitch Albom, #NFDB
765:Even a palace can be a cage. ~ Dannika Dark, #NFDB
766:Everything want to be loved. ~ Alice Walker, #NFDB
767:Everything will be all right. ~ David Sheff, #NFDB
768:evil, too, can be instructive. ~ Ay e Kulin, #NFDB
769:Fashion should be stylish and fun. ~ Twiggy, #NFDB
770:Forever will be you and me. ~ Salvador Dali, #NFDB
771:Google’s motto—“Don’t be evil ~ Peter Thiel, #NFDB
772:Hearts are made to be broken. ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
773:He was too good to be ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
774:He would be waking up soon. ~ Nadia Hashimi, #NFDB
775:How alive am I willing to be? ~ Anne Lamott, #NFDB
776:How can anyone be against love? ~ Malcolm X, #NFDB
777:How suffocating to be so loved ~ Celeste Ng, #NFDB
778:I always wanted to be a pilot. ~ Bo Jackson, #NFDB
779:I always wanted to be loved. ~ Dolly Parton, #NFDB
780:I am proud to be a Southerner. ~ Paula Deen, #NFDB
781:I be more hipper than a hippopotamus ~ E 40, #NFDB
782:I can be a little acerbic. ~ Mary McCormack, #NFDB
783:I can be you hero baby. ~ Enrique Iglesias, #NFDB
784:I can't be left unsupervised. ~ Ronnie Wood, #NFDB
785:I'd like to be Queen Elizabeth. ~ Macy Gray, #NFDB
786:I don't want to be this skinny. ~ Kate Moss, #NFDB
787:I'd rather be ashes than dust ~ Jack London, #NFDB
788:Ife can sure be a downer. ~ Beatrice Sparks, #NFDB
789:If I leave Chelsea, I would be ~ Juan Mata, #NFDB
790:If it’s to be, it’s up to me! ~ Brian Tracy, #NFDB
791:If it’s to be, it will be me. ~ Gary Keller, #NFDB
792:If you want to be loved, be lovable. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
793:I just wanna be a rock star! ~ Art Alexakis, #NFDB
794:I like to be provocative. ~ Madonna Ciccone, #NFDB
795:I'm never going to be Tolstoy. ~ Tucker Max, #NFDB
796:I'm only what I'm here to be. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
797:I’m practicing
to be seen. ~ Thanhha Lai,#NFDB
798:I'm too mature to be angry. ~ Jesse Jackson, #NFDB
799:I never was what I should be. ~ Henry James, #NFDB
800:In success be moderate. ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
801:I refuse to be stereotyped. ~ Marissa Mayer, #NFDB
802:I see but one rule: to be clear. ~ Stendhal, #NFDB
803:Is it possible to be too attractive? ~ Pepe, #NFDB
804:It hadn’t used to be like this, ~ S M Reine, #NFDB
805:I think I may well be a Jew. ~ Sylvia Plath, #NFDB
806:I try to be as normal as I can. ~ Timbaland, #NFDB
807:It's always better to be doing. ~ Garth Nix, #NFDB
808:It's funny to be a critic. ~ Leslie Fiedler, #NFDB
809:I want to be alone with my thought. ~ Homer, #NFDB
810:I will always be an Oasis. ~ Liam Gallagher, #NFDB
811:I will be mistress of myself. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
812:Judge not that ye be not judged ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
813:"Just be, and enjoy being." ~ Eckhart Tolle, #NFDB
814:Just let me be nice to you. ~ Jamie McGuire, #NFDB
815:Knowledge will make you be free. ~ Socrates, #NFDB
816:Let food be thy your medicine ~ Hippocrates, #NFDB
817:Let my temptation be a book. ~ Eugene Field, #NFDB
818:Let there be light." This ~ Andrew Carnegie, #NFDB
819:Life is too short to be busy. ~ Tim Kreider, #NFDB
820:Life will be a party for you ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
821:Love is an excuse to be stupid ~ Tyra Banks, #NFDB
822:Man is not born to be happy. ~ Sarah Dunant, #NFDB
823:Maybe okay will be our always. ~ John Green, #NFDB
824:Mikor csukódik be egy lélek? ~ S ndor M rai, #NFDB
825:Mistakes can be profited by. ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
826:Music should be your escape. ~ Missy Elliot, #NFDB
827:My ambition is to be happy. ~ Penelope Cruz, #NFDB
828:My joy will be in serving. ~ Walter Russell, #NFDB
829:My only scheme was to be a rapper. ~ Eminem, #NFDB
830:New habits can be launched. ~ William James, #NFDB
831:No art should be fashionable. ~ Ngaio Marsh, #NFDB
832:No one likes to be criticized. ~ Laura Bush, #NFDB
833:No one said it would be easy ~ Sheryl Crow, #NFDB
834:Not everyone can be an orphan. ~ Andre Gide, #NFDB
835:O be some other name. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
836:obligated to be honest somehow ~ Ed Catmull, #NFDB
837:One must dare to be happy. ~ Gertrude Stein, #NFDB
838:One should always be in love. ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
839:Our people shall be free ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
840:Peace to you, do not be afraid. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
841:Publish and be damned. ~ Duke of Wellington, #NFDB
842:Sequence wants to be free. ~ Annalee Newitz, #NFDB
843:Shoob-be-doo-be-doo-da-day. ~ Stevie Wonder, #NFDB
844:Some things can't be undone. ~ Reyna Grande, #NFDB
845:Tabernacles. 17 And it shall be ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
846:Take it and be thankful. ~ Robin Jones Gunn, #NFDB
847:That you may be beloved, be amiable. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
848:The best is yet to be.
~ Robert Browning,#NFDB
849:The hard and stiff will be broken. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
850:the odds be ever in your favor, ~ G L Tomas, #NFDB
851:There can only be one king. ~ Pablo Escobar, #NFDB
852:The results will be very good. ~ Jacob Zuma, #NFDB
853:There won't always be a why. ~ Katie Crouch, #NFDB
854:The Stormy life can be braved ~ Sri Chinmoy, #NFDB
855:The world wants to be deceived. ~ Petronius, #NFDB
856:To be everywhere is to be nowhere. ~ Seneca, #NFDB
857:To be everywhere; is to be nowhere ~ Seneca, #NFDB
858:To be here is immense. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke, #NFDB
859:To be is to be perceived. ~ George Berkeley, #NFDB
860:To be is to be vulnerable. ~ Norman O Brown, #NFDB
861:To be naked is to be oneself. ~ John Berger, #NFDB
862:To dream of what could be. ~ Scott Hildreth, #NFDB
863:To make one, there must be two. ~ W H Auden, #NFDB
864:To marry a fool is to be no fool. ~ Moliere, #NFDB
865:To marry a fool is to be no fool. ~ Moli re, #NFDB
866:Tone can be as important as text. ~ Ed Koch, #NFDB
867:TV can be a long commitment. ~ Eliza Dushku, #NFDB
868:We are free, but no to be evil ~ Jose Marti, #NFDB
869:We are who we pretend to be. ~ Joy Fielding, #NFDB
870:We can never be born enough. ~ E E Cummings, #NFDB
871:We can never be born enough. ~ e e cummings, #NFDB
872:We just have to be ourselves. ~ James Young, #NFDB
873:We must be true to each other. ~ Lucy Stone, #NFDB
874:We're allowed to be ourselves. ~ Glenn Beck, #NFDB
875:We're lucky just to be alive. ~ Natsumi And, #NFDB
876:We shall be better, braver, and ~ Socrates, #NFDB
877:What cannot be said will be wept. ~ Sappho, #NFDB
878:What luxury, to be so happy ~ Lisel Mueller, #NFDB
879:Wherever you are, be there. ~ Kevin Horsley, #NFDB
880:Who stops learning may be old. ~ Henry Ford, #NFDB
881:would she be snared forever in ~ Eve Silver, #NFDB
882:You can be a business thinker. ~ Bill Gates, #NFDB
883:you can be different if u be u ~ Jane Fonda, #NFDB
884:You have to be resilient. ~ Gabrielle Union, #NFDB
885:You have to be the nice one! ~ Rumer Willis, #NFDB
886:You're where I want to be. ~ Simone Elkeles, #NFDB
887:ABS—Always Be Storytelling. ~ James Altucher, #NFDB
888:Affection can’t be forced. ~ Charmaine Pauls, #NFDB
889:affection shouldn’t be asked for. ~ L J Shen, #NFDB
890:All men will be sailors then ~ Leonard Cohen, #NFDB
891:Always be a little unexpected. ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
892:Anger cannot be dishonest. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #NFDB
893:An idle life cannot be pure. ~ Anton Chekhov, #NFDB
894:Arrogance can be deadly. ~ Becca Fitzpatrick, #NFDB
895:As for me, I used to be a bird ~ Alda Merini, #NFDB
896:Be a blessing to someone else. ~ Joyce Meyer, #NFDB
897:Be a caretaker, not an owner. ~ Wayne W Dyer, #NFDB
898:Be a light unto oneself ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #NFDB
899:Be an empty page, untouched by words. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
900:Be aware of too much wisdom! ~ Hermann Hesse, #NFDB
901:Be brave, be bold, be free. ~ Angelina Jolie, #NFDB
902:BE CAREFUL, OR BE ROADKILL! ~ Bill Watterson, #NFDB
903:Be careful what you pray for. ~ Janet Morris, #NFDB
904:Be comfortable being uncomfortable ~ Unknown, #NFDB
905:be counterproductive. Hilda’s ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
906:Be fearless. Be bold. Be Magic. ~ Eric Smith, #NFDB
907:Be glad. Be good. Be brave. ~ Eleanor Porter, #NFDB
908:Be good and you will be lonely. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
909:Be good. Do something good. ~ David Nicholls, #NFDB
910:Being God would be the ultimate. ~ Macy Gray, #NFDB
911:Be in harmony, yet be different. ~ Confucius, #NFDB
912:Be just, and fear not. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
913:Be kind. Aim for my heart. ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
914:Be kind, aim for my heart. ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
915:Be my angel. Just for the night. ~ S L Scott, #NFDB
916:Be not solitary, be not idle ~ Robert Burton, #NFDB
917:Be phenomenal or be forgotten. ~ Eric Thomas, #NFDB
918:Be, rather than seem ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
919:Be smart, but never show it. ~ Louis B Mayer, #NFDB
920:be somebody dead . . . maybe ~ John Sandford, #NFDB
921:Be still and know that I am God! ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
922:Be still and know that I am God. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
923:Be that self that one is ~ S ren Kierkegaard, #NFDB
924:Be the best at what you do ~ Richard Branson, #NFDB
925:Be the catalyst for change. ~ Farhan Akhtar, #NFDB
926:Better to be dirty than dead. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
927:Better to be happy than wise. ~ John Heywood, #NFDB
928:Better to be safe than sorry. ~ Samuel Lover, #NFDB
929:Be where the world is going. ~ Beth Comstock, #NFDB
930:Be who you are and own that shit ~ B L Berry, #NFDB
931:be you and not someone else ~ Anne McCaffrey, #NFDB
932:Boldness be my friend. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
933:business of man is to be happy, ~ John Locke, #NFDB
934:But if desire always within us be, ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
935:Can love be controll'd by advice? ~ John Gay, #NFDB
936:Cars would be safer on rails! ~ P J O Rourke, #NFDB
937:Chemistry cannot be purchased. ~ Adam Levine, #NFDB
938:Confess and be hanged. ~ Christopher Marlowe, #NFDB
939:Could this be the Apocalypse? ~ Jeff Lindsay, #NFDB
940:count no man happy until he be dead. ~ Solon, #NFDB
941:Cowards can never be moral. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
942:death can be liberating. ~ Patricia Cornwell, #NFDB
943:Decide, first, to simply be. ~ Patrick Rhone, #NFDB
944:Define yourself or be defined. ~ Antero Alli, #NFDB
945:Denial couldn't be maintained. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
946:Design really can be anything. ~ Paula Scher, #NFDB
947:Do not be amazed by the true dragon. ~ Dogen, #NFDB
948:Do not be ashamed of help. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #NFDB
949:Don't be afraid of silly ideas. ~ Paul Arden, #NFDB
950:Don't be afraid, you can do it. ~ Steve Jobs, #NFDB
951:Don't be fooled by your emptiness, ~ Kaskade, #NFDB
952:Even paradise can be suffocating ~ Jenny Han, #NFDB
953:everyone can be saved. ~ Christopher Greyson, #NFDB
954:Everyone likes to be appreciated, ~ Bob Burg, #NFDB
955:Everyone likes to be needed. ~ Max Gladstone, #NFDB
956:Everyone was nowhere to be seen ~ Geoff Dyer, #NFDB
957:Every show could be the last one. ~ GG Allin, #NFDB
958:Everything's gonna be alright. ~ Alicia Keys, #NFDB
959:First be best, then be first. ~ Grant Tinker, #NFDB
960:God Wants You to Be Encouraged ~ Joyce Meyer, #NFDB
961:Gone surfing. Be back soon. -D ~ Alyson Noel, #NFDB
962:Great knowledge can be lonely. ~ Erin Hunter, #NFDB
963:Have to be dead to forget. ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
964:Having a baby can be a scream. ~ Joan Rivers, #NFDB
965:Hear, see, and be silent. ~ Baltasar Gracian, #NFDB
966:Heaven means to be one with God. ~ Confucius, #NFDB
967:How boring just to be a body. ~ Susan Sontag, #NFDB
968:How can anybody be enlightened? ~ Neil Peart, #NFDB
969:How could he be? We kissed, ~ Deborah Bladon, #NFDB
970:Hunger is insolent, and will be fed. ~ Homer, #NFDB
971:I always wanted to be a writer. ~ Jung Chang, #NFDB
972:I am proud to be an African. ~ Brenda Fassie, #NFDB
973:I am the me I choose to be. ~ Sidney Poitier, #NFDB
974:I can be stupid sometimes. ~ Christina Ricci, #NFDB
975:I didn't want to be an actor. ~ Jim Caviezel, #NFDB
976:I didn't want to be an artist. ~ Carole King, #NFDB
977:I don’t mean to be rude, but ~ Fern Michaels, #NFDB
978:I don't want to be a victim. ~ Carrie Fisher, #NFDB
979:I don't want to be somebody else. ~ Tina Fey, #NFDB
980:I'd rather be tired than broke! ~ Mark Cuban, #NFDB
981:If you want to be free be free ~ Cat Stevens, #NFDB
982:If you want to be loved, be loveable. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
983:If you want to be you, BE YOU! ~ Cat Stevens, #NFDB
984:I just wanted to be sure of you. ~ A A Milne, #NFDB
985:I know I just need to be me. ~ Granger Smith, #NFDB
986:I like being able to be a man. ~ Anson Mount, #NFDB
987:I'll be here where the heart is ~ Kim Carnes, #NFDB
988:I'll be your crying shoulder. ~ Edwin McCain, #NFDB
989:I'm happy to be an Avenger! ~ Anthony Mackie, #NFDB
990:I'm happy to be in this seat ~ Karuho Shiina, #NFDB
991:I'm happy to be stuck with you. ~ Huey Lewis, #NFDB
992:I’m here,” he said. “Be still. ~ Chloe Neill, #NFDB
993:I need to be able to rock out. ~ Bryan Adams, #NFDB
994:I think I’m going to be sick! ~ Chris Colfer, #NFDB
995:It is always brave to be kind. ~ R J Palacio, #NFDB
996:It is easy; just be to have. ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
997:It pays to be content with your lot. ~ Aesop, #NFDB
998:It's a great time to be alive. ~ Anne Lamott, #NFDB
999:It's not a bad time to be me. ~ Eddie Vedder, #NFDB
1000:I've always wanted to be a dad. ~ Kris Allen, #NFDB
1001:I've tried so hard to be good. ~ Gina Damico, #NFDB
1002:I wanted to be a rock star. ~ Craig Ferguson, #NFDB
1003:I wanted to be my own heroine. ~ Jesmyn Ward, #NFDB
1004:I want to be a monster too ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
1005:I want to be a role model. ~ Jessica Simpson, #NFDB
1006:I want to be a student for life. ~ Mike Watt, #NFDB
1007:I want to be lovely in death... ~ Pat Conroy, #NFDB
1008:I want to be there for you. Let me. ~ J Lynn, #NFDB
1009:I want to be your fucking REAL. ~ Katy Evans, #NFDB
1010:I was not born to be saved. ~ Rosamund Hodge, #NFDB
1011:I will be the perfect mannequin. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1012:I will not be a red queen ~ Victoria Aveyard, #NFDB
1013:I will not be my father's dog. ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
1014:I won't be what I'm not. -Jing-mei ~ Amy Tan, #NFDB
1015:I would love to be in Kansas. ~ Paul Reubens, #NFDB
1016:Leave life alone. Let it be. ~ Eckhart Tolle, #NFDB
1017:Less reasoning when be too sure. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
1018:Let bygones be bygones. ~ Christina Rossetti, #NFDB
1019:let ourselves be seen and known ~ Bren Brown, #NFDB
1020:Let's be brave girls, shall we? ~ Libba Bray, #NFDB
1021:Let the beauty we love be what we do. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
1022:Let there be another leaf. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
1023:Let there be more darkness ~ Robyn Hitchcock, #NFDB
1024:Let us be elegant or die ~ Louisa May Alcott, #NFDB
1025:Let your first IT be to stop. ~ Jones Loflin, #NFDB
1026:Life is full of should-be’s ~ Graeme Simsion, #NFDB
1027:Life is too short to be small. ~ Tim Ferriss, #NFDB
1028:Listen if you want to be heard ~ John Wooden, #NFDB
1029:Living, it can be sad too. ~ Jean Luc Godard, #NFDB
1030:Lord, I want to be your slave. ~ Bill Bright, #NFDB
1031:...luck is not to be coerced. ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
1032:Mark Twain cannot be defined. ~ Hal Holbrook, #NFDB
1033:Marriage can be complicated. ~ Molly Shannon, #NFDB
1034:may I be I is the only prayer ~ E E Cummings, #NFDB
1035:money? It would be difficult. ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
1036:My religion is to be alive from LOVE. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
1037:Never be born, never be died. ~ Ted Berrigan, #NFDB
1038:Not my will, but thine, be done. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1039:One must dare to be happy. ~ Gertrude Stein, #NFDB
1040:Pain can be a beautiful thing. ~ Criss Angel, #NFDB
1041:Pain can be dismissed. ~ Marianne de Pierres, #NFDB
1042:Publish. Be damned. Repeat. ~ Tassa Desalada, #NFDB
1043:Read everything and be kind. ~ Penn Jillette, #NFDB
1044:Silence, too, can be torture. ~ Justina Chen, #NFDB
1045:So don't be afraid. Be alive. ~ Sarah Dessen, #NFDB
1046:Some things can never be left behind. ~ Brom, #NFDB
1047:Some things need to be broken. ~ P C Hodgell, #NFDB
1048:Success is to be Happy in Life. ~ Heidi Klum, #NFDB
1049:Tea should be taken in solitude. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1050:That'll be the day when I die. ~ Buddy Holly, #NFDB
1051:The ancients said: Hulk to be whole. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
1052:THE “HAVE’S” AND THE “BE’S ~ Stephen R Covey, #NFDB
1053:There is no peace to be taken ~ Joyce Kilmer, #NFDB
1054:There shall be no Alps. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte, #NFDB
1055:There shall be no Alps. ~ Napol on Bonaparte, #NFDB
1056:They judge lest they be judged. ~ Karl Kraus, #NFDB
1057:Time was, time will be again. ~ Ian McDonald, #NFDB
1058:Tis best to be silent in a bad cause. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
1059:To be angry implies you care ~ Miguel Syjuco, #NFDB
1060:To be everywhere; is to be nowhere. ~ Seneca, #NFDB
1061:To be human is to be in a story. ~ Paula Fox, #NFDB
1062:To be is to be related. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #NFDB
1063:To be loved, be lovable.” —Ovid ~ Zig Ziglar, #NFDB
1064:- To be, or not to be. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1065:To be present is to be prayerful. ~ Rajneesh, #NFDB
1066:To be somebody, you must last. ~ Ruth Gordon, #NFDB
1067:To be weird! That is my goal! ~ Alfred Jarry, #NFDB
1068:To be young, gifted and black! ~ Nina Simone, #NFDB
1069:To hold a pen is to be at war.
~ Voltaire,#NFDB
1070:Trust, but be careful in whom. ~ Michael Cox, #NFDB
1071:Truth cannot be defeated. ~ Edwin Louis Cole, #NFDB
1072:We all know how to be a child. ~ Mitch Albom, #NFDB
1073:We are what we choose to be. ~ Oliver Bowden, #NFDB
1074:we’re too old to be young. ~ Caroline Kepnes, #NFDB
1075:We were meant to be together. ~ Terri Farley, #NFDB
1076:We will never be great again. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
1077:Whatever advice you give, be brief. ~ Horace, #NFDB
1078:Whatever advice you give, be short. ~ Horace, #NFDB
1079:Whatever I am, let it be enough ~ V E Schwab, #NFDB
1080:What must be shall be. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1081:What was stolen must be returned ~ Neil Finn, #NFDB
1082:Who's gonna dare to be great? ~ Muhammad Ali, #NFDB
1083:why can't I just want to be me? ~ Donal Ryan, #NFDB
1084:Why did it have to be her? ~ Karin Slaughter, #NFDB
1085:You can't be a sort of pioneer. ~ John Guare, #NFDB
1086:You can't be a victim and heal. ~ A J Langer, #NFDB
1087:You have to be ready for luck. ~ Neil Leifer, #NFDB
1088:You'll always be my Bella. ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
1089:You'll always be safe with me. ~ Alyson Noel, #NFDB
1090:You’ll be cool when you’re dead. ~ Matt Haig, #NFDB
1091:You matter. You are. Be. ~ Madeleine L Engle, #NFDB
1092:you must be present to win. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
1093:You've got to be realistic. ~ Patrick Rafter, #NFDB
1094:You will always be a hyena. ~ Arthur Rimbaud, #NFDB
1095:You will not be a chip the richer. ~ Plautus, #NFDB
1096:Above all else, be consistent. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1097:A conquered foe should be watched. ~ E W Howe, #NFDB
1098:Ah me! love can not be cured by herbs. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
1099:A human being can never be broken ~ Hugh Herr, #NFDB
1100:All critics should be assassinated. ~ Man Ray, #NFDB
1101:ALL THAT HAPPENS MUST BE KNOWN. ~ Dave Eggers, #NFDB
1102:A loss may be sometimes a gain. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1103:Always be comic in a tragedy ~ G K Chesterton, #NFDB
1104:Always think and be positive. ~ Dominick Cruz, #NFDB
1105:And yet, she knew she could be. ~ Ally Carter, #NFDB
1106:And you need to be alert to ~ Gilly Macmillan, #NFDB
1107:Angels must be devoured, ~ Leonora Carrington, #NFDB
1108:Anything we love can be saved. ~ Alice Walker, #NFDB
1109:Art should be a place of hope. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1110:As You Think, So Shall You Be. ~ Wayne W Dyer, #NFDB
1111:BABY, I'LL BE YOUR FRANKENSTEIN! ~ Gerard Way, #NFDB
1112:Bad spelling can be lethal. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
1113:Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
1114:be a marshal. I don’t know if ~ Kendra Elliot, #NFDB
1115:Be an electric eel in a goldfish pond! ~ Sark, #NFDB
1116:Be checked for silence, ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1117:Be classy. Anything but trashy. ~ Coco Chanel, #NFDB
1118:Be clear, be brief, be human. ~ Ernest Gowers, #NFDB
1119:Be confident, not certain ~ Eleanor Roosevelt, #NFDB
1120:Be doin artists in like Cain did Abel, ~ GZA, #NFDB
1121:Beggars should be no choosers. ~ John Heywood, #NFDB
1122:Be happy without picking flaws. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
1123:Be happy; without reason." ~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche, #NFDB
1124:Be just, and fear not. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1125:Be one on whom nothing is lost. ~ Henry James, #NFDB
1126:Be part of the miraculous moment. ~ Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
1127:Be positive, patient and persistent. ~ Banksy, #NFDB
1128:Be realistic: plan for a miracle! ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1129:Be still and know that I am God a ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1130:Be still, and know that I am God. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1131:Best of times may be the ordinary ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1132:Be the Ambulance. Make toast. ~ Gordon Korman, #NFDB
1133:Be the change you want to see. ~ Leisa Rayven, #NFDB
1134:Be the change you wish to be ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #NFDB
1135:be the half-day at the Grammar ~ D H Lawrence, #NFDB
1136:Be the leader you wish you had. ~ Simon Sinek, #NFDB
1137:Be useful where thou livest. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1138:Be what you can for who you can. ~ Ranae Rose, #NFDB
1139:Be who you are, and go the whole way. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
1140:Be your own father, young man ~ Ralph Ellison, #NFDB
1141:Be your own kind of beautiful. ~ Alli Simpson, #NFDB
1142:Be yourself, no matter what they say. ~ Sting, #NFDB
1143:But I want to be your last. ~ Sylvain Reynard, #NFDB
1144:but rules are made to be broken. ~ Kyra Davis, #NFDB
1145:Carmen will always be free. ~ Prosper M rim e, #NFDB
1146:Could beauty be beaten out, ~ Hilda Doolittle, #NFDB
1147:Could love at first sight be real? ~ Kim Karr, #NFDB
1148:couldn’t be serious. “You’re ~ Lauren Blakely, #NFDB
1149:Could this be the Apocalypse ? ~ Jeff Lindsay, #NFDB
1150:Could you be loved and be loved? ~ Bob Marley, #NFDB
1151:Death doesn't have to be boring. ~ Mary Roach, #NFDB
1152:Disrupt, and you will be saved. ~ Jill Lepore, #NFDB
1153:Do not lose hope, nor be sad. ~ Koran, 3:139, #NFDB
1154:Don't be a drag. Just be a queen. ~ Lady Gaga, #NFDB
1155:Don’t be defeated by one defeat. ~ Tim LaHaye, #NFDB
1156:Don't be drinking the Haterade. ~ Holly Black, #NFDB
1157:Don't be evil is a load of crap. ~ Steve Jobs, #NFDB
1158:Don't be Lasagne - The Doctor ~ Steven Moffat, #NFDB
1159:Don't be serious, be sincere. ~ Chetan Bhagat, #NFDB
1160:don't be serious , be sincere ~ Chetan Bhagat, #NFDB
1161:Don’t be sorry you loved him. ~ Richelle Mead, #NFDB
1162:Don't forget to be awesome DFTBA ~ John Green, #NFDB
1163:Don't just dream it. Be it! ~ Richard O Brien, #NFDB
1164:Drop desiring and bliss will be yours. ~ Osho, #NFDB
1165:Even better men can be bested ~ Leigh Bardugo, #NFDB
1166:Every mind deserves to be free. ~ Byron Katie, #NFDB
1167:Everything above may be wrong! ~ Richard Bach, #NFDB
1168:Evil Be He Who Thinketh Evil ~ Rebecca Maizel, #NFDB
1169:Fashion needs to be worn. ~ Christian Lacroix, #NFDB
1170:Fear can be a big motivator. ~ Maria V Snyder, #NFDB
1171:Fear can be a potent aphrodisiac. ~ Kele Moon, #NFDB
1172:Fear is natural. Be with it. ~ Thomas Leonard, #NFDB
1173:Fighters have to be optimists. ~ Greg Jackson, #NFDB
1174:Fight global warming! Be cool. ~ Randi Rhodes, #NFDB
1175:First be a good animal. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1176:For whatever be the knowledge which ~ Origen, #NFDB
1177:God has made all men to be happy. ~ Epictetus, #NFDB
1178:God, I wish I could be like that, ~ T K Leigh, #NFDB
1179:Go, do not be afraid and serve ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1180:Grief must be shared to be endured ~ K lid sa, #NFDB
1181:Heart of stone will be shattered. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
1182:He's too ugly to be the champ! ~ Muhammad Ali, #NFDB
1183:How brave a ladybug must be! ~ Aileen Fisher, #NFDB
1184:How embarrassing to be human. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
1185:How wild it was to let it be ~ Cheryl Strayed, #NFDB
1186:Hung be the Heavens in Scarlet ~ Tony Horwitz, #NFDB
1187:I always wanted to be an actor. ~ Dan Stevens, #NFDB
1188:I can be horrifically single-minded. ~ Trisha, #NFDB
1189:I can't be anybody but myself. ~ William Hung, #NFDB
1190:I can't be having with that ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
1191:I did want to be the top sniper. ~ Chris Kyle, #NFDB
1192:I dont have time to be depressed. ~ Pat Nixon, #NFDB
1193:If I did better... I'd be God. ~ Miranda Hart, #NFDB
1194:If I die today, it'd be a holiday ~ Lil Wayne, #NFDB
1195:If it pleases the gods, so be it. ~ Epictetus, #NFDB
1196:If you can't be good, be loud. ~ Rich Mullins, #NFDB
1197:I hate to be categorized. ~ Martin Cruz Smith, #NFDB
1198:I have every reason to be happy. ~ Lara Dutta, #NFDB
1199:I just want to be more regular. ~ Steven Hill, #NFDB
1200:I just want to be rich and famous. ~ Ian Hart, #NFDB
1201:I just want to be wonderful. ~ Marilyn Monroe, #NFDB
1202:I like to be a very fair person. ~ Alan Sugar, #NFDB
1203:I'll always be poor in my mind. ~ Chet Atkins, #NFDB
1204:I’ll always be yours. Always. ~ Bella Forrest, #NFDB
1205:I'll be here when you get back. ~ Ally Carter, #NFDB
1206:I'm just happy to be working. ~ Jeremy Renner, #NFDB
1207:I’m not mad, but I should be. ~ Bella Forrest, #NFDB
1208:I'm too young to be that old. ~ James Crumley, #NFDB
1209:In all circumstances be wakeful. ~ Baha-ullah, #NFDB
1210:I need to be able to face things. ~ Cat Power, #NFDB
1211:I never claimed to be good. ~ Madeline Miller, #NFDB
1212:Information wants to be free. ~ Stewart Brand, #NFDB
1213:Intelligence can't be insulted. ~ Nick Rhodes, #NFDB
1214:I should be suspicious of what I want. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
1215:Is it easier to be than to do? ~ Rumer Godden, #NFDB
1216:It can't always be a honeymoon ~ Tony Parsons, #NFDB
1217:It felt so good just to be held ~ Lauren Kate, #NFDB
1218:I think I am therefore I might be ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1219:It is brave to be involved ~ Gwendolyn Brooks, #NFDB
1220:It is important to be chic. ~ Roberto Cavalli, #NFDB
1221:It/ll be better tomorrow... ~ Hubert Selby Jr, #NFDB
1222:I try to be me to the utmost. ~ Donald Glover, #NFDB
1223:It's always better to be real. ~ Selena Gomez, #NFDB
1224:It's boring to be like everybody. ~ Eva Green, #NFDB
1225:It’s easy to be led to the abyss. ~ Liu Cixin, #NFDB
1226:It’s freeing to be in control. ~ Adam Silvera, #NFDB
1227:It’s important to be yourself. ~ Bill Kaulitz, #NFDB
1228:I've got to be first. ALL the time. ~ Ty Cobb, #NFDB
1229:I wanted to be a Poet and a Poem. ~ A S Byatt, #NFDB
1230:I want to be an integrated woman. ~ Tori Amos, #NFDB
1231:I want to be tantric with you. ~ Truth Devour, #NFDB
1232:I want to be true to who I am. ~ Annie Lennox, #NFDB
1233:I want to be where I'm wanted. ~ Kirk Cousins, #NFDB
1234:I want you to be.... happy. ~ Nicholas Sparks, #NFDB
1235:I was created to be destroyed. ~ Scott Sigler, #NFDB
1236:I will be the monster for you. ~ Bree Despain, #NFDB
1237:I WILL NOT BE A DINOSAUR POO! ~ Kate Saunders, #NFDB
1238:I would love to be on Broadway! ~ Emily Blunt, #NFDB
1239:Joking apart, now let us be serious. ~ Horace, #NFDB
1240:Joy may be a miser, ~ Richard Henry Stoddard, #NFDB
1241:Kids have to be taught to hate. ~ Dale Hansen, #NFDB
1242:Lack of charisma can be fatal. ~ Jenny Holzer, #NFDB
1243:Let go of which cannot be held. ~ Kate Scelsa, #NFDB
1244:Let us be elegant or die! ~ Louisa May Alcott, #NFDB
1245:Let yourself be loved. ~ Benjamin Alire S enz, #NFDB
1246:Life could sometimes be grand. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1247:Love can be a dangerous thing... ~ Dia Reeves, #NFDB
1248:Maybe "okay" will be our "always ~ John Green, #NFDB
1249:Maybe 'okay' will be our 'always ~ John Green, #NFDB
1250:Models need to be unionized. ~ Cobie Smulders, #NFDB
1251:Mount You-Gotta-Be-Kidding-Me. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
1252:My goal is to live to be 100. ~ Tommy Lasorda, #NFDB
1253:My heroes used to be cowboys. ~ David Foreman, #NFDB
1254:NATO is going to be just fine. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
1255:Never wish to be somebody else. ~ Tyler Perry, #NFDB
1256:Normative mind tends to be naive. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
1257:Oh, to be seventy again! ~ Georges Clemenceau, #NFDB
1258:People have only one way to be. ~ Nora Ephron, #NFDB
1259:Perhaps okay will be our always. ~ John Green, #NFDB
1260:Poetry cannot be translation ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
1261:Pop music will never be low brow. ~ Lady Gaga, #NFDB
1262:Rap will never be the same as before ~ Eminem, #NFDB
1263:Reading can be dangerous. ~ Diane Setterfield, #NFDB
1264:She wanted to be his everything. ~ Cate Rowan, #NFDB
1265:Shine bright, be yourself. ~ Stephen Richards, #NFDB
1266:Silence too, can be misquoted ~ Shinde Sweety, #NFDB
1267:"Sit, be still and listen." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #NFDB
1268:Slow down, simplify and be kind. ~ Naomi Judd, #NFDB
1269:Some things were made to be felt ~ Ryan Adams, #NFDB
1270:Sorry. I would be bad for you. ~ Kenya Wright, #NFDB
1271:Stop stressin' and be a blessin'. ~ T F Hodge, #NFDB
1272:Take pains. Be perfect. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1273:The book can also be a hat. ~ Stanley Kubrick, #NFDB
1274:The old must be discarded. The ~ Tahereh Mafi, #NFDB
1275:there can be a savage edge. ~ Alain de Botton, #NFDB
1276:There can be conscious revolution. ~ Ram Dass, #NFDB
1277:There can be only one ~ Christopher Brookmyre, #NFDB
1278:There's a lot that you can be ~ Shannon Hoon, #NFDB
1279:The unique must be fulfilled. ~ Martha Graham, #NFDB
1280:The wild can be human work. ~ Helen Macdonald, #NFDB
1281:The world would be better off ~ Peter Maurin, #NFDB
1282:Though in midst of life we be ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
1283:To arrive is to be in prison. ~ Henri Matisse, #NFDB
1284:to be choked with hate ~ William Butler Yeats, #NFDB
1285:To be famous and broke is hard. ~ David Spade, #NFDB
1286:To be free is often to be lonely. ~ W H Auden, #NFDB
1287:To be immortal and then die ~ Jean Luc Godard, #NFDB
1288:To be rather than to seem. ~ Erin Morgenstern, #NFDB
1289:To be whole is to be part; ~ Ursula K Le Guin, #NFDB
1290:to live at all is to be bruised ~ Sarah Perry, #NFDB
1291:Vegas will always be Vegas. ~ Debbie Reynolds, #NFDB
1292:War ought to be no man's wish. ~ Thomas Paine, #NFDB
1293:We are what we're made to be. ~ Tamora Pierce, #NFDB
1294:We can all be beautiful girls. ~ Sarah Dessen, #NFDB
1295:We can only be human together. ~ Desmond Tutu, #NFDB
1296:Whatever charm thou hast, be charming. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
1297:Whatever I am, let it be enough. ~ V E Schwab, #NFDB
1298:Whenever sorrow comes, be kind to it. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
1299:When I get older, I will be stronger ~ K naan, #NFDB
1300:When in doubt be bitchy. ~ Laurell K Hamilton, #NFDB
1301:When I touch you, I cease to be. ~ Amy Harmon, #NFDB
1302:Where ever you are be all there ~ Ann Voskamp, #NFDB
1303:where is truth to be found ~ Richard Flanagan, #NFDB
1304:Where's your will to be weird? ~ Jim Morrison, #NFDB
1305:Wherever you are - be all there. ~ Jim Elliot, #NFDB
1306:Why be a king,when you can be a god? ~ Eminem, #NFDB
1307:Why be second best at anything? ~ Paul Heyman, #NFDB
1308:Why must I be lonely in love? ~ Dan Fogelberg, #NFDB
1309:Will you be my forever, Donia? ~ Melissa Marr, #NFDB
1310:With you. I'll be with you. ~ Belinda McBride, #NFDB
1311:Women will not be free ~ Marianne Williamson, #NFDB
1312:Write, drink and be merry! ~ Maureen A Miller, #NFDB
1313:XX Harmless/may be domesticated ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1314:Yeah, I try to be really calm. ~ Gus Van Sant, #NFDB
1315:You are who you pretend to be ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
1316:You become who you pretend to be. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1317:You have to be taught to hate. ~ Dave Brubeck, #NFDB
1318:You mean I don’t have to be dumb? ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1319:You’re what I want Mia to be. ~ Adriana Locke, #NFDB
1320:You should be more paranoid ~ Lisa Scottoline, #NFDB
1321:You wanna be my girlfriend, Lucy? ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1322:You were born to be amazing. ~ Kris Vallotton, #NFDB
1323:You will always be my world. ~ Elizabeth Finn, #NFDB
1324:You will always be one of us. ~ Leigh Bardugo, #NFDB
1325:You will be excellently executed. ~ Bret Hart, #NFDB
1326:... a demon cannot be doped. ~ E A Bucchianeri, #NFDB
1327:again. I hated to be unable to do ~ Chris Kyle, #NFDB
1328:aghast. What was to be done? ~ H Rider Haggard, #NFDB
1329:A good thing can't be cruel. ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
1330:All I got to be is be happy. ~ George Harrison, #NFDB
1331:Amazing Love! how can it be, ~ Charles Wesley, #NFDB
1332:An artist must be a reactionary ~ Evelyn Waugh, #NFDB
1333:And I have asked to be ~ Gerard Manley Hopkins, #NFDB
1334:Any damn fool can be spontaneous. ~ Ezra Pound, #NFDB
1335:Appear as you are, or be as you appear. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
1336:A sound waiting to be a word. ~ David Levithan, #NFDB
1337:A Take the Stairs mind-set can be ~ Rory Vaden, #NFDB
1338:Audiences can be very judgmental. ~ Clive Owen, #NFDB
1339:A win would be better than a draw. ~ Denis Law, #NFDB
1340:Be a father, if not, why bother, son? ~ Ed O G, #NFDB
1341:Be a river - not a reservoir. ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
1342:Be a thrifty steward of thy goods. ~ Sophocles, #NFDB
1343:Be available for life to happen. ~ Bill Murray, #NFDB
1344:Be brave, be forever. ~ Elancharan Gunasekaran, #NFDB
1345:Be Brave in the pursuit of beauty ~ Shu Uemura, #NFDB
1346:be coming. Tamlin remained ~ Jonathan Moeller, #NFDB
1347:Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind. ~ Jack Kerouac, #NFDB
1348:Be glad. Be good. Be brave. ~ Eleanor H Porter, #NFDB
1349:Be good and you will be lonesome. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
1350:Be happy, but never satisfied. ~ Stephen Guise, #NFDB
1351:Be happy. It's one way of being wise ~ Colette, #NFDB
1352:"Be happy; without reason." ~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche, #NFDB
1353:Be humble in this life. ~ Stephen I of Hungary, #NFDB
1354:Be humble, or you'll stumble. ~ Dwight L Moody, #NFDB
1355:Be in love with your heart-life. ~ Sri Chinmoy, #NFDB
1356:Be just before you are generous. ~ James Joyce, #NFDB
1357:Be love because you are. ~ Francesca Lia Block, #NFDB
1358:be mindful of the prayers you send ~ Nick Cave, #NFDB
1359:Be open. And then the truth follows. ~ Gangaji, #NFDB
1360:Be patient with your impatience. ~ Roy Masters, #NFDB
1361:Be positive. Be true. Be kind. ~ Roy T Bennett, #NFDB
1362:Be present for your own life. ~ Cheryl Strayed, #NFDB
1363:Be still and know that I am God. ~ Sarah Young, #NFDB
1364:Be strong and of a good courage. ~ Joshua I. 9, #NFDB
1365:Be the change you want to see ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1366:Be the flame, not the moth. ~ Giacomo Casanova, #NFDB
1367:Be thrifty, but not covetous. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1368:Be true to yourself. Never compromise. ~ Tweet, #NFDB
1369:Better be with the dead, ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1370:Better to be a fool than an angel. ~ C J Tudor, #NFDB
1371:Better to be disliked than pitied. ~ Abba Eban, #NFDB
1372:Be wild and crazy and drunk with Love, ~ Rumi, #NFDB
1373:Bold botches are to be cherished. ~ Tom Peters, #NFDB
1374:Books can be a love-struck wonder! ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1375:But how can one be warm alone? ~ Joseph Heller, #NFDB
1376:Cooking can be like foreplay. ~ Isabel Allende, #NFDB
1377:Courtroom dramas can be boring. ~ Laura Linney, #NFDB
1378:Dammit, you've got to be kind. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
1379:Do not be afraid of confession! ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1380:Do not be hasty, that is my motto. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1381:Don’t be a drag, just be a queen. ~ Celia Kyle, #NFDB
1382:Don't be afraid of who you are. ~ Jen Williams, #NFDB
1383:Don't be afraid to have nothing. ~ Steve Toltz, #NFDB
1384:Don't be afraid to show who you are. ~ Omarion, #NFDB
1385:Don't be serious,be sincere... ~ Chetan Bhagat, #NFDB
1386:Don't be the team that gets hurt. ~ Joe Flacco, #NFDB
1387:Don't let TV be a babysitter!!!! ~ Nick Morgan, #NFDB
1388:Estragon: Nothing to be done. ~ Samuel Beckett, #NFDB
1389:Even God couldn’t be that cruel. ~ Mitch Albom, #NFDB
1390:Everyone gets a chance to be brave. ~ Tom King, #NFDB
1391:Everything you say should be kind. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1392:Evil be he who thinketh evil. ~ Rebecca Maizel, #NFDB
1393:Feel good, be good, and do good. ~ Yogi Bhajan, #NFDB
1394:Friends who kiss might be good. ~ Cindi Madsen, #NFDB
1395:Giggling should be made illegal. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1396:Good things cannot be rushed. ~ Simon Majumdar, #NFDB
1397:Gossip does not matter. We will be ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1398:Great loves too must be endured. ~ Coco Chanel, #NFDB
1399:Here I am, where I ought to be. ~ Karen Blixen, #NFDB
1400:He wouldn’t be remembered well. ~ Clive Barker, #NFDB
1401:hi I hope u want to be my friends ~ Judy Blume, #NFDB
1402:Honesty can be a dirty gift. ~ Colin Cotterill, #NFDB
1403:How could she be immune to fear? ~ Julie Berry, #NFDB
1404:How to be the best that you can be ~ Meg Cabot, #NFDB
1405:How wild it is, to let it be. ~ Cheryl Strayed, #NFDB
1406:I ain't gonna be no escape-goat! ~ Karl Malone, #NFDB
1407:I can’t be what she needs. End ~ Jennifer Foor, #NFDB
1408:I didn't ask to be saved ~ Michael Thomas Ford, #NFDB
1409:I'd like to be a giant enabler. ~ Daryl Hannah, #NFDB
1410:I'd love to be a 'Bond' girl. ~ Samantha Barks, #NFDB
1411:I don’t know what ‘ought’ to be. ~ Jan Spiller, #NFDB
1412:I don't wanna be a Pirate!!!! ~ Jerry Seinfeld, #NFDB
1413:I'd rather be funny than wise. ~ Dennis Miller, #NFDB
1414:I’d rather it be ice cream. ~ Brian Allen Carr, #NFDB
1415:I feel, therefore I can be free. ~ Audre Lorde, #NFDB
1416:If He were apparent, He would not be. ~ Hermes, #NFDB
1417:If it pleases the gods, so be it. ~ Epictetus, #NFDB
1418:If it's broken, it can be fixed. ~ Jeff Abbott, #NFDB
1419:If I was a sheep, I’d be black. ~ Kirsty Eagar, #NFDB
1420:If there is to be peace in the world, ~ Laozi, #NFDB
1421:If you wish to be a writer, write. ~ Epictetus, #NFDB
1422:I had no plans to be a director. ~ Mike Figgis, #NFDB
1423:I instruct you to be the obeyer, ~ Phife Dawg, #NFDB
1424:I like to be treated as a lady. ~ Sharon Stone, #NFDB
1425:I'll always be a foreigner. ~ Olivier Martinez, #NFDB
1426:I'll be as strong as I need to be. ~ S D Perry, #NFDB
1427:I’ll be back,” he called over ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
1428:Illusions are bound to be shattered ~ Rajneesh, #NFDB
1429:I'm always going to be just me. ~ William Hung, #NFDB
1430:I may be damaged but I'm okay ~ Lauren Gibaldi, #NFDB
1431:I'm not going to be lectured to. ~ Ann Coulter, #NFDB
1432:I’m not supposed to be here, Xy. ~ Peter David, #NFDB
1433:I'm the same boy I used to be. ~ Steve Winwood, #NFDB
1434:I'm too honest to be positive. ~ Andrea Cremer, #NFDB
1435:I'm too ugly to be a narcissist. ~ Mitch Albom, #NFDB
1436:In my old age, I'll be in L.A. ~ David Hockney, #NFDB
1437:I really don't want to be a hunk. ~ John Mayer, #NFDB
1438:I really wanted to be a writer. ~ Nancy Meyers, #NFDB
1439:I see what need be seen. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
1440:Is this what it feels to be God? ~ Ruskin Bond, #NFDB
1441:It do really be like that sometimes. ~ Unknown, #NFDB
1442:I think war should be illegal. ~ Richard Engel, #NFDB
1443:This was to be man sex. ~ Brandon Shire, #NFDB
1444:It'll be too late too study ~ Tyler Whitesides, #NFDB
1445:It means zero to be against greed. ~ Ben Stein, #NFDB
1446:It's a divine art to be cheerful. ~ Meher Baba, #NFDB
1447:It's bad luck to be superstitious. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1448:It's easy to be an educated fool. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
1449:It's embarrassing to be human. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
1450:It's nice not to be too boring. ~ Barry Pepper, #NFDB
1451:It's so silly not to be nice. ~ Aaron Spelling, #NFDB
1452:It will only ever be you, Evie. ~ Mia Sheridan, #NFDB
1453:It won't do to be too ambitious. ~ Jules Verne, #NFDB
1454:I used to be a dusty little child. ~ Mike Epps, #NFDB
1455:I used to be a free spirit. ~ Soleil Moon Frye, #NFDB
1456:I want to be a writer someday. ~ Andrea Barber, #NFDB
1457:I want to be famous but unknown! ~ Edgar Degas, #NFDB
1458:I want to be up front racing. ~ Dale Earnhardt, #NFDB
1459:I will never be below the title. ~ Bette Davis, #NFDB
1460:I will try to be non-violent ~ Muriel Rukeyser, #NFDB
1461:I won't be chased by the sky. ~ Veronica Rossi, #NFDB
1462:I would like to be a polyglot. ~ Rachel Maddow, #NFDB
1463:I would rather be whole than good. ~ Carl Jung, #NFDB
1464:judge not that ye be not judged ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
1465:Justice could be as blind as love. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
1466:Keep your head up and be patient. ~ A J McLean, #NFDB
1467:Lately, I seem to be all about you. ~ Susan Ee, #NFDB
1468:Let peace be. Let life be. ~ Chinelo Okparanta, #NFDB
1469:Life is meant to be lived. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt, #NFDB
1470:Life is short. Don't be lazy. ~ Sophia Amoruso, #NFDB
1471:Life wasn't meant to be easy. ~ Malcolm Fraser, #NFDB
1472:Life would be dull without them. ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
1473:Man is condemned to be free ~ Jean Paul Sartre, #NFDB
1474:Maybe they have to be crazy. ~ Brent Schlender, #NFDB
1475:May your heart be lighter today. ~ Harley King, #NFDB
1476:meant to be." Nancy took one ~ Barbara Freethy, #NFDB
1477:more to be a human being with ~ Gary D Schmidt, #NFDB
1478:[My advice] will one day be found ~ Lord Byron, #NFDB
1479:My choice is what I choose to be. ~ Ben Harper, #NFDB
1480:My only hope was to be polite. ~ Mark Vonnegut, #NFDB
1481:My power will be in humility. ~ Walter Russell, #NFDB
1482:Nature...cannot be fooled! ~ Richard P Feynman, #NFDB
1483:Nobody can just let a person be. ~ Silas House, #NFDB
1484:nobody ever intends to be old. ~ Marie Corelli, #NFDB
1485:None but himself can be his parallel. ~ Virgil, #NFDB
1486:none can be Tyrants but Cowards. ~ Mary Astell, #NFDB
1487:No one should ever be disrespected. ~ Chanakya, #NFDB
1488:No one who reads can ever be bored, ~ Ann Hood, #NFDB
1489:No one who reads can ever be bored. ~ Ann Hood, #NFDB
1490:Not everyone wants to be happy ~ Dennis Prager, #NFDB
1491:Not everything has to be fixed. ~ Randy Pausch, #NFDB
1492:No war can ever be just air. ~ Helen Macdonald, #NFDB
1493:Now, I think he might be dead. ~ Paula Hawkins, #NFDB
1494:Oh my god, it's good to be alive! ~ Imelda May, #NFDB
1495:One must always be civic-minded. ~ Hiroo Onoda, #NFDB
1496:Only six need be attempted. ~ Bertrand Russell, #NFDB
1497:Open your hands if you want to be held. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
1498:Opinions can't be inaccurate. ~ Matthew Weiner, #NFDB
1499:People want to be safe, not free. ~ Libba Bray, #NFDB
1500:People want you to be ordinary. ~ Robert Crais, #NFDB
4110 Integral Yoga
3286 Poetry
534 Mysticism
488 Philosophy
350 Fiction
335 Occultism
196 Christianity
140 Yoga
93 Philsophy
92 Psychology
73 Sufism
40 Science
34 Zen
34 Hinduism
32 Kabbalah
28 Buddhism
27 Education
22 Mythology
20 Theosophy
16 Integral Theory
8 Cybernetics
6 Baha i Faith
5 Taoism
1 Thelema
1 Alchemy
2274 The Mother
1805 Sri Aurobindo
1334 Satprem
639 Nolini Kanta Gupta
335 William Wordsworth
304 Walt Whitman
300 William Butler Yeats
246 Percy Bysshe Shelley
201 Rabindranath Tagore
165 Aleister Crowley
150 John Keats
142 H P Lovecraft
125 Friedrich Schiller
105 Jalaluddin Rumi
94 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
94 Friedrich Nietzsche
93 Ralph Waldo Emerson
92 Robert Browning
91 Carl Jung
86 Rainer Maria Rilke
69 James George Frazer
67 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
67 Li Bai
66 Plotinus
66 Kabir
63 Jorge Luis Borges
57 Sri Ramakrishna
54 Edgar Allan Poe
47 Hafiz
42 Anonymous
40 Swami Vivekananda
37 Swami Krishnananda
35 Saint Teresa of Avila
34 Saint Augustine of Hippo
34 Franz Bardon
33 Lucretius
32 Rabbi Moses Luzzatto
32 A B Purani
31 Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia
30 Saint John of Climacus
29 Aldous Huxley
25 Rudolf Steiner
25 Ibn Arabi
25 Aristotle
23 Omar Khayyam
23 Lalla
23 Farid ud-Din Attar
22 Vyasa
21 Ramprasad
20 Abu-Said Abil-Kheir
19 Hakim Sanai
17 Taigu Ryokan
15 Solomon ibn Gabirol
15 Nirodbaran
15 Mirabai
15 Bulleh Shah
14 Ovid
12 Swami Sivananda Saraswati
12 Plato
12 Peter J Carroll
12 Paul Richard
11 Thomas Merton
11 Sri Ramana Maharshi
11 Saint John of the Cross
11 Lewis Carroll
11 George Van Vrekhem
10 Saint Hildegard von Bingen
10 Matsuo Basho
10 Mansur al-Hallaj
9 Symeon the New Theologian
9 Saint Francis of Assisi
9 Jetsun Milarepa
9 Jacopone da Todi
9 Ikkyu
8 Sarmad
8 Rabbi Abraham Abulafia
8 Norbert Wiener
8 Joseph Campbell
7 Muso Soseki
7 Kobayashi Issa
7 Jordan Peterson
7 Henry David Thoreau
7 Baha u llah
7 Baba Sheikh Farid
7 Alice Bailey
6 William Blake
6 Thubten Chodron
6 Sun Buer
6 Khwaja Abdullah Ansari
6 Jayadeva
6 Bokar Rinpoche
6 Al-Ghazali
6 Alfred Tennyson
5 Wang Wei
5 Vidyapati
5 Saint Clare of Assisi
5 Saadi
5 Ravidas
5 Patanjali
5 Mechthild of Magdeburg
5 Chuang Tzu
5 Boethius
4 Yuan Mei
4 Namdev
4 Dogen
4 Allama Muhammad Iqbal
3 Yosa Buson
3 Yeshe Tsogyal
3 Shih-te
3 Shankara
3 Saint Therese of Lisieux
3 R Buckminster Fuller
3 Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
3 Naropa
3 Nachmanides
3 Moses de Leon
3 Ken Wilber
3 Jakushitsu
3 Ibn Ata Illah
3 Hakuin
3 Guru Nanak
3 Dante Alighieri
3 Dadu Dayal
3 Basava
2 Wumen Huikai
2 Theophan the Recluse
2 Tao Chien
2 Surdas
2 Shiwu (Stonehouse)
2 Michael Maier
2 Mahendranath Gupta
2 Lu Tung Pin
2 Kuan Han-Ching
2 Kahlil Gibran
2 Jorge Luis Borges
2 Jean Gebser
2 Italo Calvino
2 H. P. Lovecraft
2 Genpo Roshi
2 Eleazar ben Kallir
2 Chiao Jan
2 Catherine of Siena
2 Alexander Pope
909 Record of Yoga
335 Wordsworth - Poems
309 Prayers And Meditations
300 Yeats - Poems
289 Whitman - Poems
251 On Thoughts And Aphorisms
246 Shelley - Poems
188 Tagore - Poems
173 Agenda Vol 01
150 Keats - Poems
146 Agenda Vol 13
144 The Synthesis Of Yoga
142 Lovecraft - Poems
125 Schiller - Poems
124 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03
118 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04
102 Agenda Vol 12
101 Agenda Vol 08
99 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
96 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
96 Agenda Vol 09
95 Letters On Yoga III
93 Emerson - Poems
92 Browning - Poems
92 Agenda Vol 10
89 Agenda Vol 06
87 Agenda Vol 03
86 Rilke - Poems
86 Agenda Vol 07
86 Agenda Vol 04
85 Magick Without Tears
83 Agenda Vol 11
82 Thus Spoke Zarathustra
81 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
79 Agenda Vol 05
78 Agenda Vol 02
76 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
72 Collected Poems
69 The Golden Bough
68 Goethe - Poems
67 Li Bai - Poems
65 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
61 Rumi - Poems
60 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
56 The Life Divine
56 Questions And Answers 1950-1951
55 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
54 Liber ABA
53 Poe - Poems
52 Questions And Answers 1956
49 Savitri
49 Letters On Yoga IV
49 Letters On Yoga II
46 Songs of Kabir
43 Letters On Poetry And Art
41 Questions And Answers 1953
40 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08
39 Words Of Long Ago
38 Mysterium Coniunctionis
37 The Study and Practice of Yoga
37 Questions And Answers 1955
37 Borges - Poems
36 Questions And Answers 1929-1931
35 Questions And Answers 1954
35 Hafiz - Poems
34 The Divine Comedy
34 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06
33 Of The Nature Of Things
32 General Principles of Kabbalah
32 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
32 Essays Divine And Human
30 The Ladder of Divine Ascent
30 Essays On The Gita
30 Crowley - Poems
29 The Perennial Philosophy
28 Words Of The Mother II
28 The Bible
27 Letters On Yoga I
26 On Education
26 Labyrinths
26 Faust
25 Poetics
24 The Practice of Psycho therapy
24 The Human Cycle
22 Vishnu Purana
22 The Future of Man
22 City of God
22 Anonymous - Poems
21 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04
21 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 01
20 Initiation Into Hermetics
20 Bhakti-Yoga
20 Arabi - Poems
19 The Way of Perfection
19 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
18 Let Me Explain
17 Ryokan - Poems
17 On the Way to Supermanhood
15 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
15 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
15 Isha Upanishad
14 The Secret Of The Veda
14 The Practice of Magical Evocation
14 The Phenomenon of Man
14 The Mother With Letters On The Mother
14 Some Answers From The Mother
14 Metamorphoses
14 Aion
13 Vedic and Philological Studies
13 Twilight of the Idols
13 Theosophy
13 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
13 Song of Myself
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 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 Milarepa - Poems
9 Hymns to the Mystic Fire
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
5 Chuang Tzu - Poems
4 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
4 Jerusalum
4 Dogen - 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 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 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 stands 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 num ber 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
0 0.01 - Introduction, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When we have passed beyond humanity, then we shall be the Man.
Sri Aurobindo
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 un bearable for the pre-human 'reason.' And the surrounding tri bes 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 tri bes, 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 understand 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?
--
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 thousand 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.
As for the worst, we know that it is the worst. But then we come to realize that the best is only the pretty muzzle of our worst, the same old beast defending itself, with all its claws out, with its sanctity or its electronic gadgets. Mother was there for something else.
'Something else' is ominous, perilous, disrupting - it is quite un bearable 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 clim bed 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 landed there, one day in February 1954, having emerged from our Guianese forest and a certain num ber of dead-end peripluses; we had knocked upon all the doors of the old world before reaching that point of absolute impossibility where it was truly necessary to embark into something else or once and for all put a bullet through the brain of this slightly superior ape. The first thing that struck us was this exotic Notre Dame with its burning incense sticks, its effigies and its prostrations in immaculate white: a Church. We nearly jumped into the first train out that very evening, bound straight for the Himalayas, or the devil. But we remained near Mother for nineteen years. What was it, then, that could have held us there? We had not left Guiana to become a little saint in white or to enter some new religion. 'I did not come upon earth to found an ashram; that would have been a poor aim indeed,' She wrote in 1934. What did all this mean, then, this 'Ashram' that was already registered as the owner of a great spiritual business, and this fragile, little silhouette at the center of all these zealous worshippers? In truth, there is no better way to smother someone than to worship him: he chokes beneath the weight of worship, which moreover gives the worshipper claim to ownership. 'Why do you want to worship?' She exclaimed. 'You have but to become! It is the laziness to become that makes one worship.' She wanted so much to make them
become this 'something else,' but it was far easier to worship and quiescently remain what one was.
She spoke to deaf ears. She was very alone in this 'ashram.' Little by little, the disciples fill up the place, then they say: it is ours. It is 'the Ashram.' We are 'the disciples.' In Pondicherry as in Rome as in Mecca. 'I do not want a religion! An end to religions!' She exclaimed. She struggled and fought in their midst - was She therefore to leave this Earth like one more saint or yogi, buried beneath haloes, the 'continuatrice' of a great spiritual lineage? She was seventy-six years old when we landed there, a knife in our belt and a ready curse on our lips.
She adored defiance and did not detest irreverence.
--
Her step by step, as one discovers a forest, or rather as one fights with it, machete in hand - 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.
Or become one more nauseating little worshipper - which was not on our program. 'We are the enemy of our own conception of the Divine,' She told us one day with her mischievous little smile.
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 'li beration,' 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 understand 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 num ber geographically, before discovering, or even simply understanding, that 'something else' was really Something Else. It was not an improved
Spirit nor even an improved Matter, but ... it could be called 'nothing,' so contrary was it to all we know. For 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 li berations 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, al beit, 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 hand, for after all, trees and lianas can be cut, but what cannot be so easily uncovered are the grandfa ther and the grandmo 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 grandfa thers and grandmo 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 'li berations,' 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.
--
Day after day, for seventeen years, She sat with us to tell us of her impossible odyssey. Ah, how well we now understand 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 understand 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 bar bedwired, 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 The bes 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 un bearable 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.
--
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 understand 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.
A pure little 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 land in positive disaster. Sufficient stress is not laid on this aspect of the matter, although the very crux of the situation lies here. The mystic domain has to be apprehended not merely by the true mind and understanding but by the right temperament and character. Mysticism is not merely an object of knowledge, a problem for inquiry and solution, it is an end, an ideal that has to be achieved, a life that has to be lived. The mystics themselves have declared long ago with no uncertain or faltering voice: this cannot be attained by intelligence or much learning, it can be seized only by a purified and clear temperament.
The warning seems to have fallen, in the modern age, on unheeding ears. For the modern mind, being pre-eminently and uncompromisingly scientific, can entertain no doubt as to the perfect competency of science and the scientific method to seize and unveil any secret of Nature. If, it is argued, mysticism is a secret, if there is at all a truth and reality in it, then it is and must be amenable to the rules and regulations of science; for science is the revealer of Nature's secrecies.
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 understanding of average culture can see and handle 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 cham bers, in half obscurity, to somnolent minds; they are nowhere in the open air, in broad daylight to the wide awake and vigilant intellect!" Well, if the fact is as it is stated, what does it prove? Night alone reveals the stars, during the day they vanish, but that is no proof that stars are not existent. Rather the true scientific spirit should seek to know why (or how) it is so, if it is so, and such a fact would exactly serve as a pointer, a significant starting ground. The attitude of the jesting Pilate is not helpful even to scientific inquiry. This matter of the Spirits we have taken only as an illustration and it must not be understood that this is a domain of high mysticism; rather the contrary. The spiritualists' approach to Mysticism is not the right one and is fraught with not only errors but dangers. For the spiritualists approach their subject with the entire scientific apparatus the only difference being that the scientist does not believe while the spiritualist believes.
Mystic realities cannot be reached by the scientific consciousness, because they are far more subtle than the subtlest object that science can contemplate. The neutrons and positrons are for science today the finest and profoundest object-forces; they belong, it is said, almost to a borderl and where physics ends. Nor for that reason is a mystic reality something like a mathematical abstraction, -n for example. The mystic reality is subtler than the subtlest of physical things and yet, paradoxical to say, more concrete than the most concrete thing that the senses apprehend.
Furthermore, being so, the mystic domain is of infinitely greater potency than the domain of intra-atomic forces. If one comes, all on a sudden, into contact with a force here without the necessary preparation to hold and handle it, he may get seriously bruised, morally and physically. The adventure into the mystic domain has its own toll of casualtiesone can lose the mind, one can lose one's body even and it is a very common experience among those who have tried the path. It is not in vain and merely as a poetic metaphor that the ancient seers have said
Kurasya dhr niit duratyay1
--
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 diso bedience, 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 stands 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 fulfils begins 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 descri bes 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 occultand 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 hand, 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 transcri be 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 mem bers 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 Novem ber 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?
--
Not much, but I like poetry, it is because of that I read it.
It does not matter if you do not understand 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 understand arise and suddenly become clear. Always an unexpected vision comes up through the words and lines. Every time you try to read and understand, 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 hand and leading you to the destined goal. And then, every question, however personal it may be, has its answer here, every difficulty finds its solution herein; indeed there is everything that is necessary for doing the Yoga.
*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 transcri be 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 grandeur, 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 abandons 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 descri bed it all in beautiful and clear words so that spiritual adventurers who wish to solve the mysteries of the world may understand 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 li berate 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 Ananda. 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 understand it, grasp it, for it is not by the mind that one can understand Savitri. One needs spiritual experiences in order to understand 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 understand, they cannot understand. What do they know? Nothing at all. And it is useless to try to make them understand. Men will know what it is, but in a distant future. It is only the new race with a new consciousness which will be able to understand. I assure you there is nothing under the blue sky to compare with Savitri. It is the mystery of mysteries. It is a *super-epic,* it is super-literature, super-poetry, super-vision, it is a super-work even if one considers the num ber of lines He has written. No, these human words are not adequate to descri be Savitri. Yes, one needs superlatives, hyperboles to descri be it. It is a hyper-epic. No, words express nothing of what Savitri is, at least I do not find them. It is of immense value - spiritual value and all other values; it is eternal in its subject, and infinite in its appeal, miraculous in its mode and power of execution; it is a unique thing, the more you come into contact with it, the higher will you be uplifted. Ah, truly it is something! It is the most beautiful thing He has left for man, the highest possible. What is it? When will man know it? When is he going to lead a life of truth? When is he going to accept this in his life? This yet remains to be seen.
My child, every day you are going to read Savitri; read properly, with the right attitude, concentrating a little before opening the pages and trying to keep the mind as empty as possible, absolutely without a thought. The direct road is through the heart. I tell you, if you try to really concentrate with this aspiration you can light the flame, the psychic flame, the flame of purification in a very short time, perhaps in a few days. What you cannot do normally, you can do with the help of Savitri. Try and you will see how very different it is, how new, if you read with this attitude, with this something at the back of your consciousness; as though it were an offering to Sri Aurobindo. You know it is charged, fully charged with consciousness; as if Savitri were a being, a real guide. I tell you, whoever, wanting to practice Yoga, tries sincerely and feels the necessity for it, will be able to climb with the help of Savitri to the highest rung of the ladder of Yoga, will be able to find the secret that Savitri represents. And this without the help of a Guru. And he will be able to practice it anywhere. For him Savitri alone will be the guide, for all that he needs he will find Savitri. If he remains very quiet when before a difficulty, or when he does not know where to turn to go forward and how to overcome obstacles, for all these hesitations and incertitudes which overwhelm us at every moment, he will have the necessary indications, and the necessary concrete help. If he remains very calm, open, if he aspires sincerely, always he will be as if lead by the hand. If he has faith, the will to give himself and essential sincerity he will reach the final goal.
Indeed, Savitri is something concrete, living, it is all replete, packed with consciousness, it is the supreme knowledge above all human philosophies and religions. It is the spiritual path, it is Yoga, Tapasya, Sadhana, everything, in its single body. Savitri has an extraordinary power, it gives out vibrations for him who can receive them, the true vibrations of each stage of consciousness. It is incomparable, it is truth in its plenitude, the Truth Sri Aurobindo brought down on the earth. My child, one must try to find the secret that Savitri represents, the prophetic message Sri Aurobindo reveals there for us. This is the work before you, it is hard but it is worth the trouble. - 5 Novem ber 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 hand 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 ro be 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 hand, 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 landmarks 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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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 diso beyed 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,
Mother was patiently preparing the instrument that would be able to traverse the adventure without breaking along the way.
From 1960, the Agenda took its final shape arid grew for thirteen years, until May 1973, filling thirteen volumes in all (some six thousand pages), with a change of setting in March 1962 at 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 understand why She had pulled us from our forest, one day, and chosen as her confidant an incurable re bel.
0 0.03 - 1951-1957. Notes and Fragments, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The lack of the earth's receptivity and the behavior of Sri Aurobindo's disciples 1 are largely responsible for what happened to his body. But one thing is certain: the great misfortune that has just beset us in no way affects the truth of his teaching. All he said is perfectly true and remains so.
Time and the course of events will make this abundantly clear.
00.03 - Upanishadic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Mystic Symbolism The beautiful in the Upanishads
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Upanishadic Symbolism
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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 understanding, 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
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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, incandescent feeling, but not vision. We must pro be 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 stand 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
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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 circumscri bed fieldis the society to which one belongs, the particular group of humanity in which he functions as a limb. The service to society or good citizenship entails the worship of humanity, of Man as a god. Lastly, man belongs to the family, which is the unit of society; and the backbone of the family is the continuous line of ancestors, who are its presiding deity and represent the norm of a living dharma, the ethic of an ideal life.
From the psychological standpoint, the four oblations are movements or reactions of consciousness in its urge towards the utterance and expression of Divine Truth. Like some other elements in the cosmic play, these also form a quartetcaturvyha and work together for a common purpose in view of a perfect and all-round result.
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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.
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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 hand, 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 Ananda.
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 im bedded 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 Li beration 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.
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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 Fireand 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.
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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.
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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.
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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 descri bes 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 delightand 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, descri bed 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 descri bed 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 descri be 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 strands 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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TheChhandyogya12 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 rub bed 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 Gandharvas 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 num ber 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 num ber 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 descri bes 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 descri bed 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 descri bed 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 thousand 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 num ber 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, Ananda; 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 thousands 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 thousand-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 num bers 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, stands 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 understand 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 understanding, 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 num ber of gods depends on the level of consciousness on which we stand. 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 num ber 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 hand, 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.
Chhandyogya, II, III.
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Mystic Symbolism The beautiful in the Upanishads
00.04 - The Beautiful in the Upanishads, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
object:00.04 - The beautiful in the Upanishads
author class:Nolini Kanta Gupta
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Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta The beautiful in the Upanishads
The beautiful in the Upanishads
When the Rigveda says
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The white Mother comes reddening with the ruddy child; the dark Mother opens wide her cham bers, 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 candratrakam
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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 sandi 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 effulgencenandarpam 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 candramasi ritam
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O Lord of Immortality! Thy' heart of beauty that is sheltered in the moon
or, as the Prasna Upanishad has it,
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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
--
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 rever beration, the Upanishadic
vka iva stabdho divi tihatyeka
--
be wholly fixed on That, like an arrow on its target,
or again,
--
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 strand 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
The beautiful in the Upanishads Sri Aurobindo: The Age of Sri Aurobindo
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta A Vedic Conception of the Poet
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'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 understanding, 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 understanding.14 In the second place, the Poet is not only Seer but Doer; he is knower as well as creator. He has a dynamic knowledge and his vision itself is power, ncak;15 he is the Seer-Will,kavikratu.16 He has the blazing radiance of the Sun and is supremely potent in his self-Iuminousness.17 The Sun is the light and the energy of the Truth. Even like the Sun the Poet gives birth to the Truth, srya satyasava, satyya satyaprasavya. But the Poet as Power is not only the revealer or creator,savit, he is also the builder or fashioner,ta, and he is the organiser,vedh is personality. First of all, he is the Knower-the Seer of the Truth, kavaya satyadrara, of the Truth.18 As Savita he manifests the Truth, as Tashta he gives a perfected body and form to the Truth, and as Vedha he maintains the Truth in its dynamic working. The effective marshalling and organisation of the Truth is what is called Ritam, the Right; it is also called Dharma,19 the Law or the Rhythm, the ordered movement and invincible execution of the Truth. The Poet pursues the Path of the Right;20 it is he who lays out the Path for the march of the Truth, the progress of the Sacrifice.21 He is like a fast steed well-yoked, pressing forward;22 he is the charger that moves straight and unswerving and carries us beyond 23into the world of felicity.
Indeed delight is the third and the supremely intimate element of the poetic personality. Dear and delightful is the poet, dear and delightful his works, priya, priyi His hand is dripping with sweetness,kavir hi madhuhastya.24 The Poet-God shines in his pristine beauty and is showering delight.25 He is filled with utter ecstasy so that he may rise to the very source of the luminous Energy.26? Pure is the Divine Joy and it enters and purifies all forms as it moves to the seat of the Immortals.27Indeed this sparkling Delight is the Poet-Seer and it is that that brings forth the creative word, the utterance of Indra.28
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 Ananda, 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.
--
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, Ananda, 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 hands.32
--
The beautiful in the Upanishads Sri Aurobindo: The Age of Sri Aurobindo
0.00a - Introduction, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
It is ironic that a period of the most tremendous technological advancement known to recorded history should also be la beled the Age of Anxiety. Reams have been written about modern man's frenzied search for his soul-and, indeed, his doubt that he even has one at a time when, like castles built on sand, so many of his cherished theories, long mistaken for verities, are crumbling about his bewildered brain.
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.
--
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 understanding 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-hand, 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 alpha bet has a num ber, color, many symbols and a Tarot card attributed to it. The Qabalah not only aids in an understanding of the Tarot, but teaches the student how to classify and organize all such ideas, num bers 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 alpha bet will enable the student to understand 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 stands 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 Li ber 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 Neanderthal 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 understanding to effect a reunion with them, so that rather than being driven by forces he does not understand, 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 Octo ber 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 handbook, 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 Mandrake Press in London about 1930-31, I was employed as company secretary for a while. Along with several Crowley books, the Mandrake 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.
The last chapter of A Garden deals with the Way of Return. It used almost entirely Crowley's concept of the Path as descri bed in his superb essay "One Star in Sight." In addition to this, I borrowed extensively from Lawrence's Apropos. Somehow, they all fitted together very nicely. In time, all these variegated notes were incorporated into the text without acknowledgment, an oversight which I now feel sure would be forgiven, since I was only twenty-four at the time.
Some modern Nature-worshippers and mem bers 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.
--
In his profound investigation into the origins and basic nature of man, Ro bert 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 understanding of himself-and in so doing, an understanding 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 candle 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.
0.00a - Participants in the Evening Talks, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
becharlal
***
000 - Humans in Universe, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science
Universe sandwiched between heaven above and hell below and seemingly
stretching away to infinity in all lateral directions. Yet the total land area of this flat
--
spherical Planet Earth's surface. All the great empires of written history before A.D.
1500 lay well within that "known" flat world: it was and as yet remains the
--
000.102 How did this pervading historical concept become outdated? What
changed the terrestrial conceptionings adopted by the leaders of the world's power
--
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
--
traveling through North Africa began to restore some of the ancient mathematics to
the westward-evolving culture. When al-Khwarizmi's original A.D. 800 treatise on
--
for his elucidation of the function of zero-the cipher-to be diffused into the
university systems of Europe .
--
Roman numerals . . . impossible! The Renaissance began with the new calculating
facility introduced by the cipher. The cipher was not only an essential tool in the
--
guesswork that had previously been used in naval and land architecture. This
capability in mathematical multiplication and division opened up a whole new field
--
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
--
and the Pacific by water, and to circumnavigate the glo be. Thus it became public
knowledge that the old open-edged, infinite world system had closed back on itself
in all circumferential directions to become a finite system: a closed sphere. The
monarchs and merchants realized that, within that closed system, whoever
commanded the line of most efficient high seas supply would become the masters
of world wealth. Ships could carry cargoes that overland caravans could not.
--
handsome campus are still in operation as of 1979. The British Empire became the
first in history of which it could be said that the Sun never set.
000.107 As professor of economics at the East India Company College in 1810
Thomas Malthus became the first economic authority ever to receive in toto the
vital statistics of a world-embracing spherical empire. At the very end of the 18th
--
closed-system sphere, it apparently became scientifically manifest that there is a
fundamental inadequacy of life support on our planet. Until then all opinions on
such matters had been pure guesses.000.108 A third of a century after Malthus, Darwin attributed biological evolution
to survival of only the fittest species (and individuals within species). Though he
--
life support, but since there are others who disagree diametrically about the best
method of coping, it can be determined only by force of arms which system is the
fittest to survive." Thus survival of the physically fittest became the basis for
national departments of defense with their priority of access to the most advanced
--
great political and industrial power structures have all become supranational
comprehensivists, while the people have been passport-chained to their respective
150 national preserves-the people have become educationally divided into
"specialists" for exploitation by the supranational powers who divide to conquer
--
Earth's center. Humans had to build their structures on bedrock "shoes" to prevent
them from sinking vertically into Earth's center. Stone buildings could not float on
--
000.117 The technology of metallurgy began developing metal alloys of ever
higher strength-to-weight ratios. Out of this came aluminum production by the
--
overwhelming structural strength has become entirely invisible. Fully 99 percent of
humanity has as yet no idea that this increase in tensile capability has come about or
--
000.119 before the airplane humans said, "You cannot lift yourself by your
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.
--
vastly increased degrees of freedom than has ever been enjoyed by anyone in all
history.
--
needs will have become completely supplied by our combined harvests of
electromagnetic, photosynthetic, chemical, and biological products of the daily
--
moon-crater cities that will be energy-harvesting and -exporting centers rather than
energy sinkholes.
--
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
--
dimensions-planetary, solar, galactic, intergalactic. because of the six positive and
six negative degrees of freedom governing systems-within-systems
--
system that can be comprehended by anyone. Fortunately television, is
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
--
by first "earning a living" before it can function directly as a hydrogen atom.
000.129 Nature's coordinate system is called Synergetics-synergy means behavior
of whole systems unpredicted by any part of the system as considered only
separately. The eternally regenerative Universe is synergetic. Humans have been
included in this cosmic design as local Universe information-gatherers and local
--
000.130 At present 99 percent of humanity is misinformed in believing in the
Malthusian concept of the fundamental inadequacy of life support, and so they have
--
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
--
by thoughts that it might some day be otherwise:
And no one will work for money and no one will
0.00 - INTRODUCTION, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
IN COMMUNION WITH THE DIVINE beLOVED
VEDANTA
--
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 garlands for the Family Deity, Raghuvir."
Khudiram Chattopadhyaya and Chandra 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 landlord to bear false witness in court against a neighbour. When he refused to do so, the landlord brought a false case against him and deprived him of his ancestral property. Thus dispossessed, he arrived, at the invitation of another landlord, in the quiet village of Kamarpukur, where he was given a dwelling and about an acre of fertile land. 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 Chandra Devi, too, in front of the Siva temple at Kamarpukur, had a vision indicating the birth of a divine child. Upon his return the husband 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.
--- BOYHOOD
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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 absor bed 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 wandering 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.
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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 hand 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
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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 wandering 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 reprimanded 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 land 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 understand the import of his young brother's reply. He descri bed 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.
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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 land 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 stands directly on the east bank of the Ganges. The northern section of the land 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 chandni, a roofed terrace, on either side of which stand 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 stand 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 stands the spacious natmandir, 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 cham ber 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 cham ber 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 mem bers 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 li beration.
--- RADHAKANTA
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The main temple is dedicated to Kali, the Divine Mother, here worshipped as Bhavatarini, the Saviour of the Universe. The floor of this temple also is paved with marble. The basalt image of the Mother, dressed in gorgeous gold brocade, stands on a white marble image of the prostrate body of Her Divine Consort, Siva, the symbol of the Absolute. On the feet of the Goddess are, among other ornaments, anklets of gold. Her arms are decked with jewelled ornaments of gold. She wears necklaces of gold and pearls, a golden garland of human heads, and a girdle of human arms. She wears a golden crown, golden ear-rings, and a golden nose-ring with a pearl-drop. She has four arms. The lower left hand holds a severed human head and the upper grips a blood-stained sabre. One right hand offers boons to Her children; the other allays their fear. The majesty of Her posture can hardly be descri bed. 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-absor bed Absolute of the Vedas live together, creating the greatest synthesis of religions. All aspects of Reality are represented there. But of this divine household, Kali is the pivot, the sovereign Mistress. She is Prakriti, the Procreatrix, Nature, the Destroyer, the Creator. Nay, She is something greater and deeper still for those who have eyes to see. She is the Universal Mother, "my Mother" as Ramakrishna would say, the All-powerful, who reveals Herself to Her children under different aspects and Divine Incarnations, the Visible God, who leads the elect to the Invisible Reality; and if it so pleases Her, She takes away the last trace of ego from created beings and merges it in the consciousness of the Absolute, the undifferentiated God. Through Her grace "the finite ego loses itself in the illimitable Ego — Atman — Brahman". (Romain Holland, Prophets of the New India, p. 11.)
Rani Rasmani spent a fortune for the construction of the temple garden and another fortune for its dedication ceremony, which took place on May 31, 1855.
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.
^Hriday's mother was the daughter of Sri Ramakrishna's aunt (Khudiram's sister). Such a degree of relationship is termed in bengal that of a "distant nephew".
--- SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS A PRIEST
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 understand and appreciate human love and emotion, help men to realize their secular and spiritual ideals, and ultimately enable men to attain li beration 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 husband, 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 hands and limbs mechanically, in o bedience 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 prescri bed 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.
--- THE FIRST VISION OF KALI
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 garland of heads, and Her waist with a girdle of human arms, and two of Her hands hold weapons of death, and Her eyes dart a glance of fire; but, strangely enough, Ramakrishna felt in Her breath the soothing touch of tender love and saw in Her the Seed of Immortality. She stands 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 descri bed 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".
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Yet this was only a foretaste of the intense experiences to come. The first glimpse of the Divine Mother made him the more eager for Her uninterrupted vision. He wanted to see Her both in meditation and with eyes open. But the Mother began to play a teasing game of hide-and-seek with him, intensifying both his joy and his suffering. Weeping bitterly during the moments of separation from Her, he would pass into a trance and then find Her standing before him, smiling, talking, consoling, bidding him be of good cheer, and instructing him. During this period of spiritual practice he had many uncommon experiences. When he sat to meditate, he would hear strange clicking sounds in the joints of his legs, as if someone were locking them up, one after the other, to keep him motionless; and at the conclusion of his meditation he would again hear the same sounds, this time unlocking them and leaving him free to move about. He would see flashes like a swarm of fire-flies floating before his eyes, or a sea of deep mist around him, with luminous waves of molten silver. Again, from a sea of translucent mist he would behold the Mother rising, first Her feet, then Her waist, body, face, and head, finally Her whole person; he would feel Her breath and hear Her voice. Worshipping in the temple, sometimes he would become exalted, sometimes he would remain motionless as stone, sometimes he would almost collapse from excessive emotion. Many of his actions, contrary to all tradition, seemed sacrilegious to the people. He would take a flower and touch it to his own head, body, and feet, and then offer it to the Goddess. Or, like a drunkard, he would reel to the throne of the Mother, touch Her chin by way of showing his affection for Her, and sing, talk, joke, laugh, and dance. Or he would take a morsel of food from the plate and hold it to Her mouth, begging Her to eat it, and would not be satisfied till he was convinced that She had really eaten. After the Mother had been put to sleep at night, from his own room he would hear Her ascending to the upper storey of the temple with the light steps of a happy girl, Her anklets jingling. Then he would discover Her standing with flowing hair. Her black form silhouetted against the sky of the night, looking at the Ganges or at the distant lights of Calcutta.
Naturally the temple officials took him for an insane person. His worldly well-wishers brought him to skilled physicians; but no-medicine could cure his malady. Many a time he doubted his sanity himself. For he had been sailing across an uncharted sea, with no earthly guide to direct him. His only haven of security was the Divine Mother Herself. To Her he would pray: "I do not know what these things are. I am ignorant of mantras and the scriptures. Teach me, Mother, how to realize Thee. Who else can help me? Art Thou not my only refuge and guide?" And the sustaining presence of the Mother never failed him in his distress or doubt. Even those who criticized his conduct were greatly impressed with his purity, guilelessness, truthfulness, integrity, and holiness. They felt an uplifting influence in his presence.
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.
Sri Ramakrishna has descri bed the incident: "The Divine Mother revealed to me in the Kali temple that it was She who had become everything. She showed me that everything was full of Consciousness. The image was Consciousness, the altar was Consciousness, the water-vessels were Consciousness, the door-sill was Consciousness, the marble floor was Consciousness — all was Consciousness. I found everything inside the room soaked, as it were, in Bliss — the Bliss of God. I saw a wicked man in front of the Kali temple; but in him also I saw the power of the Divine Mother vibrating. That was why I fed a cat with the food that was to be offered to the Divine Mother. I clearly perceived that all this was the Divine Mother — even the cat. The manager of the temple garden wrote to Mathur Babu saying that I was feeding the cat with the offering intended for the Divine Mother. But Mathur Babu had insight into the state of my mind. He wrote back to the manager: 'Let him do whatever he likes. You must not say anything to him.'"
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 hand 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 ascri be 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
--
One day Haladhari upset Sri Ramakrishna with the statement that God is incomprehensible to the human mind. Sri Ramakrishna has descri bed 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.
--
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 tu berose. 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 pu berty. But in this case the marriage remained for ever unconsummated. Sri Ramakrishna lived at Kamarpukur about a year and a half and then returned to Dakshineswar.
Hardly had he crossed the threshold of the Kali temple when he found himself again in the whirlwind. His madness reappeared tenfold. The same meditation and prayer, the same ecstatic moods, the same burning sensation, the same weeping, the same sleeplessness, the same indifference to the body and the outside world, the same divine delirium. He subjected himself to fresh disciplines in order to eradicate greed and lust, the two great impediments to spiritual progress. With a rupee in one hand and some earth in the other, he would reflect on the comparative value of these two for the realization of God, and finding them equally worthless he would toss them, with equal indifference, into the Ganges. Women he regarded as the manifestations of the Divine Mother. Never even in a dream did he feel the impulses of lust. And to root out of his mind the idea of caste superiority, he cleaned a pariahs house with his long and neglected hair. When he would sit in meditation, birds would perch on his head and peck in his hair for grains of food. Snakes would crawl over his body, and neither would be aware of the other. Sleep left him altogether. Day and night, visions flitted before him. He saw the sannyasi who had previously killed the "sinner" in him again coming out of his body, threatening him with the trident, and ordering him to concentrate on God. Or the same sannyasi would visit distant places, following a luminous path, and bring him reports of what was happening there. Sri Ramakrishna used to say later that in the case of an advanced devotee the mind itself becomes the guru, living and moving like an embodied being.
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, handsome, and gar bed in the orange ro be of a nun. Her sole possessions were a few books and two pieces of wearing-cloth.
Sri Ramakrishna welcomed the visitor with great respect, descri bed 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 descri bed in the scriptures as mahabhava, the most exalted rapture of divine love. She told him that this extreme exaltation had been descri bed 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 natmandir 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?"
--
"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.
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According to the Tantra, the Ultimate Reality is Chit, or Consciousness, which is identical with Sat, or being, and with Ananda, or Bliss. This Ultimate Reality, Satchidananda, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, is identical with 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 prescri bes 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 prescri bed 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 prescri bed for people with "animal", "heroic", and "divine" outlooks. Certain of the rites require the presence of mem bers 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 Ananda, Bliss.
He saw in a vision the Ultimate Cause of the universe as a huge luminous triangle giving birth every moment to an infinite num ber 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 absor bed. 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 thousand-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 descri bed 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.
--
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 li beration. 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 prescri bed regular and methodical worship, hymns, prayers, the repetition of God's name, and the chanting of His glories. This lower bhakti in course of time matures into para-bhakti, or supreme devotion, known also as prema, the most intense form of divine love. Divine love is an end in itself. It exists potentially in all human hearts, but in the case of bound creatures it is misdirected to earthly objects.
To develop the devotee's love for God, Vaishnavism humanizes God. God is to be regarded as the devotee's Parent, Master, Friend, Child, Husband, or Sweetheart, each succeeding relationship representing an intensification of love. These bhavas, or attitudes toward God, are known as santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and madhur. The rishis of the Vedas, Hanuman, the cow-herd boys of Vrindavan, Rama's mother Kausalya, and Radhika, Krishna's sweetheart, exhibited, respectively, the most perfect examples of these forms. In the ascending scale the-glories of God are gradually forgotten and the devotee realizes more and more the intimacy of divine communion. Finally he regards himself as the mistress of his beloved, and no artificial barrier remains to separate him from his Ideal. No social or moral obligation can bind to the earth his soaring spirit. He experiences perfect union with the Godhead. Unlike the Vedantist, who strives to transcend all varieties of the subject-object relationship, a devotee of the Vaishnava path wishes to retain both his own individuality and the personality of God. To him God is not an intangible Absolute, but the Purushottama, the Supreme Person.
While practising the discipline of the madhur bhava, the male devotee often regards himself as a woman, in order to develop the most intense form of love for Sri Krishna, the only purusha, or man, in the universe. This assumption of the attitude of the opposite sex has a deep psychological significance. It is a matter of common experience that an idea may be cultivated to such an intense degree that every idea alien to it is driven from the mind. This peculiarity of the mind may be utilized for the subjugation of the lower desires and the development of the spiritual nature. Now, the idea which is the basis of all desires and passions in a man is the conviction of his indissoluble association with a male body. If he can inoculate himself thoroughly with the idea that he is a woman, he can get rid of the desires peculiar to his male body. Again, the idea that he is a woman may in turn be made to give way to another higher idea, namely, that he is neither man nor woman, but the Impersonal Spirit. The Impersonal Spirit alone can enjoy real communion with the Impersonal God. Hence the highest est realization of the Vaishnava draws close to the transcendental experience of the Vedantist.
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 prescri bed by the Vaishnava scriptures.
--
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 descri bed 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 Ramachandra, 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 handmaid.
--- 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 descri be 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 verandah 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."
--
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 command of a teacher with masculine strength, a sterner mien, a gnarled physique, and a virile voice. The new guru was a wandering 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 descri bed as Satchidananda, 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 li beration, 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 ta bernacle 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 descri be 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 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 li berated 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 Rolland, Prophets of the New India, pp. 38-9.) Facing him, the other rose like a rock. He was very tall and robust, a sturdy and tough oak. His constitution and mind were of iron. He was the strong leader of men.
In the burning flame before him Sri Ramakrishna performed the rituals of destroying his attachment to relatives, friends, body, mind, sense-organs, ego, and the world. The leaping flame swallowed it all, making the initiate free and pure. The sacred thread and the tuft of hair were consigned to the fire, completing his severance from caste, sex, and society. Last of all he burnt in that fire, with all that is holy as his witness, his desire for enjoyment here and hereafter. He uttered the sacred mantras giving assurance of safety and fearlessness to all beings, who were only manifestations of his own Self. The rites completed, the disciple received from the guru the loin-cloth and ochre ro be, 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 absor bed in samadhi for three days. "Is it really true?" Totapuri cried out in astonishment. "Is it possible that he has attained in a single day what it took me forty years of strenuous practice to achieve? Great God! It is nothing short of a miracle!" With the help of Totapuri, Sri Ramakrishna's mind finally came down to the relative plane.
--
Totapuri 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 hand, 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 understanding. 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 stands beyond them both. She is like the effulgent sun, bringing into existence and shining through and standing 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
--
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 demands. 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 Saradananda, one of the Master's direct disciples.) Is there not enough water in the Ganges? Standing 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 land. 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 descri bed 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 command of the Divine Mother to remain on the threshold of relative consciousness. Soon there-after after he was afflicted with a serious attack of dysentery. Day and night the pain tortured him, and his mind gradually came down to the physical plane.
--- COMPANY OF HOLY MEN AND DEVOTEES
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 li berality 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 num bers. 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 wandering monks.
"Sri Ramakrishna had not read books, yet he possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of religions and religious philosophies. This he acquired from his contacts with innumerable holy men and scholars. He had a unique power of assimilation; through meditation he made this knowledge a part of his being. Once, 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 garland 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 understanding 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 abandoned 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 Novem ber 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 thousand 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 understand immediately her husband'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 li beration; 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 absor bed in God. Mathur, honouring the Master's wish, returned with his party to Calcutta.
From Vrindavan the Master had brought a handful 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."
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In 1872 Sarada Devi paid her first visit to her husband 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 husband'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 husband 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.
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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 descri bed — 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 descri bed 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 husband, had rare spiritual experiences. She said: "I have no words to descri be 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 li beration but were solely for the benefit of others. Thus the terms li beration 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.
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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 descri be the range of thought and experience up to the Visishtadvaita, and no further. The Advaita, the last word in spiritual experience, is something to be felt in samadhi. for it transcends mind and speech. From the highest standpoint, the Absolute and Its manifestation are equally real — the Lord's Name, His Abode, and the Lord Himself are of the same spiritual Essence. Everything is Spirit, the difference being only in form.
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.
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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 verandah 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, al beit 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 Chandra 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 Ti bet 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 Chandra Sen (1838-1884). Unlike Raja Rammohan Roy and Devendranath Tagore, Keshab was born of a middle-class bengali family and had been brought up in an English school. He did not know Sanskrit and very soon broke away from 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 England land 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 li beral 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 mem bers, 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 Dayananda (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 li berated 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 slum bering 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 Dayananda when the latter visited bengal.
--- KESHAB CHANDRA SEN
Keshab Chandra 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 hand, 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 England; 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.
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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 understand his samadhi and descri bed it as a nervous malady. Yet they could not resist his magnetic personality.
Among the Brahmo leaders who knew the Master closely were Pratap Chandra 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 descri be 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 absor bed 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 li berty 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 Chandra Mazumdar, the right-hand 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 understand 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 hand 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 hand, 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 num ber of householders, but also of many monastic mem bers 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-handed. 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 hand of God, the child of the Divine Mother, totally untouched by the idea of being a teacher. He used to say that three ideas — that he was a guru, a father, and a master — pricked his flesh like thorns. Yet he was an extraordinary teacher. He stirred his disciples' hearts more by a subtle influence than by actions or words. He never claimed to be the founder of a religion or the organizer of a sect. Yet he was a religious dynamo. He was the verifier of all religions and creeds. He was like an expert gardener, who prepares the soil and removes the weeds, knowing that the plants will grow because of the inherent power of the seeds, producing each its appropriate flowers and fruits. He never thrust his ideas on anybody. He understood people's limitations and worked on the principle that what is good for one may be bad for another. He had the unusual power of knowing the devotees' minds, even their inmost souls, at the first sight. He accepted disciples with the full knowledge of their past tendencies and future possibilities. The life of evil did not frighten him, nor did religious squeamishness raise anybody in his estimation. He saw in everything the unerring finger of the Divine Mother. Even the light that leads astray was to him the light from God.
To those who became his intimate disciples the Master was a friend, companion, and playmate. Even the chores of religious discipline would be lightened in his presence. The devotees would be so inebriated with pure joy in his company that they would have no time to ask themselves whether he was an Incarnation, a perfect soul, or a yogi. His very presence was a great teaching; words were superfluous. In later years his disciples remarked that while they were with him they would regard him as a comrade, but afterwards would tremble to think of their frivolities in the presence of such a great person. They had convincing proof that the Master could, by his mere wish, kindle in their hearts the love of God and give them His vision.
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 prescri bed ascents steep or graded according to the powers of the clim ber. 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 prescri be 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 prescri bed for them the companionship of sadhus. He asked them to perform their worldly duties with one hand, 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 hands. 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 understand 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 Ramchandra 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.
--
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 Ramchandra chandra 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 wander. 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 num bers 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 undistur bed 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 o bey his father's command. 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 Chandra Ghosh was a born re bel 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 imbi bed 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 li berties 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 hands. 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, Tejchandra, and Purna. These visited the Master sometimes against strong opposition from home.
--
Mahimacharan and Pratap Hazra were two devotees outstanding 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.
--
Sri Ramakrishna also became acquainted with a num ber 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 understanding!" Sri Ramakrishna said sharply. "You dare to slight in these terms renunciation and piety, which our scriptures descri be 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 num ber 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 Ramchandra Dutta as house-boy. Learning of the saintly Sri Ramakrishna, he visited the Master at Dakshineswar and was deeply touched by his cordiality. When he was about to leave, the Master asked him to take some money and return home in a boat or carriage. But Latu declared he had a few pennies and jingled the coins in his pocket. Sri Ramakrishna later requested Ram to allow Latu to stay with him permanently. Under Sri Ramakrishna's guidance Latu made great progress in meditation and was blessed with ecstatic visions, but all the efforts of the Master to give him a smattering of education failed. Latu was very fond of kirtan and other devotional songs but remained all his life illiterate.
--- RAKHAL
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 li berties 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
--
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 Vivekananda. 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 handsome young man. Even as a child he practised meditation and showed great power of concentration. Though free and passionate in word and action, he took 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 hand, and led him to the screened verandah 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, standing before Narendra with folded hands, he addressed him as Narayana, born on earth to remove the misery of humanity. Grasping Narendra's hand, he asked him to come again, alone, and very soon. Narendra was startled. "What is this I have come to see?" he said to himself. "He must be stark mad. Why, I am 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 verandah 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 understand 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 mem ber 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 cham ber 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 num ber 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 un belief. 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 wander. 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 grandfather 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 li beration. Unable to ask Her for petty worldly things, he prayed only for knowledge and renunciation, love and li beration. 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, standing 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 Ramchandra'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 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 hand, 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 thousand 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
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 hands and devoting himself to the study of the scriptures. He met the Master in 1884 and soon became a mem ber 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
--
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
--
Two more young men, Sarada Prasanna and Tulasi, complete the small band of the Master's disciples later to embrace the life of the wandering 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 land 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 mem ber 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 hands. 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 hand clenched, like the hand of the image of Gopala. She was amazed and caught hold of the hand, 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 candies. 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 understand 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 hand 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 handful 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.
--
One day, in January 1884, the Master was going toward the pine-grove when he went into a trance. He was alone. There was no one to support him or guide his footsteps. He fell to the ground and dislocated a bone in his left arm. This accident had a significant influence on his mind, the natural inclination of which was to soar above the consciousness of the body. The acute pain in the arm forced his mind to dwell on the body and on the world outside. But he saw even in this a divine purpose; for, with his mind compelled to dwell on the physical plane, he realized more than ever that he was an instrument in the hand of the Divine Mother, who had a mission to fulfil through his human body and mind. He also distinctly found that in the phenomenal world God manifests Himself, in an inscrutable way, through diverse human beings, both good and evil. Thus he would speak of God in the guise of the wicked, God in the guise of the pious. God in the guise of the hypocrite, God in the guise of the lewd. He began to take a special delight in watching the divine play in the relative world. Sometimes the sweet human relationship with God would appear to him more appealing than the all-effacing Knowledge of Brahman. Many a time he would pray: "Mother, don't make me unconscious through the Knowledge of Brahman. Don't give me Brahmajnana, Mother. Am I not Your child, and naturally timid? I must have my Mother. A million salutations to the Knowledge of Brahman! Give it to those who want it." Again he prayed: "O Mother let me remain in contact with men! Don't make me a dried-up ascetic. I want to enjoy Your sport in the world." He was able to taste this very rich divine experience and enjoy the love of God and the company of His devotees because his mind, on account of the injury to his arm, was forced to come down to the consciousness of the body. Again, he would make fun of people who proclaimed him as a Divine Incarnation, by pointing to his broken arm. He would say, "Have you ever heard of God breaking His arm?" It took the arm about five months to heal.
--- beGINNING OF HIS ILLNESS
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 Septem ber 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 hand 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 ascri be 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 un bearable. 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 num ber 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 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 hands, "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 hand. 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 understand me?" After a pause he added: "Alas! To whom shall I tell all this? Who will understand 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 Adbhutananda.) said later on: "While Sri Ramakrishna lay sick he never actually suffered pain. He would often say: 'O mind! Forget the body, forget the sickness, and remain merged in Bliss.' No, he did not really suffer. At times he would be in a state when the thrill of joy was clearly manifested in his body. Even when he could not speak he would let us know in some way that there was no suffering, and this fact was clearly evident to all who watched him. People who did not understand him thought that his suffering was very great. What spiritual joy he transmitted to us at that time! Could such a thing have been possible if he had ' been suffering physically? It was during this period that he taught us again these truths: 'Brahman is always unattached. The three gunas are in It, but It is unaffected by them, just as the wind carries odour yet remains odourless.' 'Brahman is Infinite being, Infinite Wisdom, Infinite Bliss. In It there exist no delusion, no misery, no disease, no death, no growth, no decay.' 'The Transcendental being and the being within are one and the same. There is one indivisible Absolute Existence.'"
The Holy Mother secretly went to a Siva temple across the Ganges to intercede with the Deity for the Master's recovery. In a revelation she was told to prepare herself for the inevitable end.
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 sandal-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 husband, 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.
31 March 1974
0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
The verse from Tennyson is inserted partly because
of the pun on the word "break"; partly because of the
reference to the meaning of this title page, as explained
above; partly because it is intensely amusing for
Crowley to quote Tennyson.
--
long been out of print. Its re-issue with the author's
own Commentary gives occasion for a few notes. We
--
book that we can do no better that quote some
passages which we find scattered about in the un-
--
or triple meanings which must be combined in order
[5]
--
fore destined to be more fertile that almost any other
study, and that in a way despite itself. A word should
be pertinent with regard to the question of secrecy.
It has become difficult for me to take this matter
very seriously. Knowing what the secret actually is,
--
do so without doing much harm. For it cannot be used
indiscriminately...I have found in practice that the
secret of the O.T.O. cannot be used unworthily...."
"It is interesting in this connection to recall how it
--
over, I was as discontented as before, but I stuck it
into the book in a sort of anger at myself as a
--
beyond a convenient compendium of the more
important truths of Free Masonry.) He said that since
--
Order, I must be allowed the IX {degree} and obligated in
regard to it. I protested that I knew no such secret.
--
because I did not know it. He went to the book-
shelves; taking out a copy of THE BOOK OF LIES, he
--
Nothing becomes.
Nothing is not.
--
bearing: preparing.
Wavering: flowing: flashing.
Stability: begetting.
The Tenth Emanation
--
which is before Kether in the Qabalistic system.
The notes of interrogation and exclamation on the previous
--
This chapter begins by the letter O, followed by a mark of
exclamation; its reference to the theogony of "Li ber Legis" is
--
ultimate sense, identical. They harmonise being, becoming,
Not- being, the three possible modes of conceiving the universe.
--
Something Is, is fully explained in the essay called berashith.
The rest of the chapter follows the Sephirotic system of the
--
It will be noticed that this cosmogony is very complete; the
manifestation even of God does not appear until Tiphareth; and
--
The chapter many therefore be considered as the most complete
treatise on existence ever written.
--
Death: begetting: the supporters of O!
To beget is to die; to die is to beget.
Cast the Seed into the Field of Night.
--
The chapter begins with a repetition of O! referred
to in the previous chapter. It is explained that this triad
--
process of death and begetting, which are the laws of
the universe.
--
Line 7 balances line 5. It will be notice that the
phraseology of these two lines is so conceived that the
--
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Eta beta}
THE CRY OF THE HAWK
--
That Mine as Thine be the Crown of the Kingdom,
even now.
--
The chapter begins with a comment on Li ber Legis
III, 49.
--
This may be compared with the Qabalistic doctrine
of the Ten Sephiroth as an expression of Tetra-
--
essential part of Mercury being his Voice; and the
num ber of the chapter, B, which is beth the letter of
Mercury, the Magus of the Tarot, who has four
weapons, and it must be remem bered that this card is
num bered 1, again connecting all these symbols with
--
Naught is beyond Bliss.
The Man delights in uniting with the Woman; the
--
between these two. This also explains the statement in
Li ber Legis I, 28-30.
--
be thou the Bride; thou shalt be the Mother here-
after.
--
Receive a thousand lovers; thou shalt bear but One
Child.
This child shall be the heir of Fate the Father.
[18]
--
must be allowed to dominate you, only to fructify you;
just as the artist, seeing an object, does not worship it,
--
Yet He, being a holy letter, raises the beginning of the
chapter to a contemplation of the Pentagram, con-
--
In line 1, being is identified with Not- being.
In line 2, Speech with Silence.
--
statement, that that which can be thought is not true.
In line 5, we come to an important statement, an
--
being the Holy Ghost, the semen; the human form is a
non-essential accretion of this quintessence.
--
Microprosopus. It is the true link between the greater
and lesser countenances, whereas Daath is the false.
--
This chapter is presumably called Caviar because
that substance is composed of many spheres.
--
prosopus in a crude state, and declares them to be the
universe. This folly is due to the pride of reason.
--
is totally unconscious of this process, or, it might be
better to say, he recognises it as Nothing, in that positive
sense of the word, which is only intelligible in
--
Dinosaurs because of their seeming to be terrible
devouring creatures. They are Masters of the Temple,
--
num ber of Binah; but they are called "None", because
they have attained. If it were not so, they would be
called "six" in its bad sense of mere intellect.
--
because Lao-tzu counts as nought, owing to the nature
of his doctrine. The reference to their "living not" is
to be found in Li ber 418.
The word "Perdurabo" means "I will endure unto
--
compare the account of Christ before Herod/Pilate in
the gospels, and of Dionysus before Pentheus in
"The Baccae".
--
All that a man is or may be is hidden therein.
Bodily functions are parts of the machine; silent,
--
the bearer of the Holy Grail. All this should be studied
in Li ber 418, the 12th Aethyr.
The chapter is called "Steeped Horsehair" because
of the mediaeval tradition that by steeping horsehair
--
being is the Noun; Form is the adjective.
Matter is the Noun; Motion is the Verb.
Wherefore hath being clothed itself with Form?
Wherefore hath Matter manifested itself in Motion?
--
Duality begat the Conjunction.
The Conditioned is Father of the Preposition.
--
This also must be destroyed before thou enterest
into The Silence.
--
ecstasy, being the only thing worth saying; yet even this
is to be regarded as a lapse.
"Aum" represents the entering into the silence, as
--
but in Truth there is no bond between the Toys of
the Gods.
--
There is no apparent connection between the num ber
of this chapter and its subject.
--
extended Phallus. This chapter should be studied in
the light of what is said in "Aha!" and in the Temple
--
unit being far beyond any conception.
[31]
--
Nuit, Hadit, Ra-Hoor-Khuit, are only to be under-
stood by the Master of the Temple.
--
below them is a seeming duality of Chaos and
Babalon; these are called Father and Mother, but
--
knowing them to be but falsehoods, broken mirrors,
troubled waters; hide me, O our Lady, in Thy
--
"The Glow-Worm" may perhaps be translated as
"a little light in the darkness", though there may be a
subtle reference to the nature of that light.
--
really called eleven, because of Li ber Legis, I, 60.
The first part of the chapter descri bes the universe
--
Now, below the Abyss, the manifested part of the
Master of the temple, also reaches Samadhi, as the
--
Paragraph 7 begins by a reflection produced by the
preceding exposition. This reflection is immediately
contradicted, the author being a Master of the Temple.
He thereupon enters into his Samadhi, and he piles
--
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Iota beta}
THE DRAGON-FLIES
--
For when all is equilibrated, when all is beheld from
without all, there is joy, joy, joy that is but one
--
COMMENTARY ({Iota beta})
The Dragon-Flies were chosen as symbols of joy,
because of the author's observation as a naturalist.
Paragraph 1 mere repeats Chapter 4 in quintessence;
1001, being 11{Sigma} (1-13), is a symbol of the complete
unity manifested as the many, for {Sigma} (1-13) gives the
--
between the Pillars of the Temple.
[35]
--
Thus hast thou been lured along That Path, whose
terror else had driven thee far away.
--
become The Way.
[36]
--
below these certain disciples wept.
Then certain laughed.
--
Last came those that wept because they could not
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.
--
simultaneously, and that he himself is beyond both of
these.
--
the truth as beyond any statement of it.
[39]
--
that which is beyond.
The formula of Samadhi is the same, from the
--
Key. But, as one proceeds, the Cross becomes greater,
until it is the Ace, the Rose, until it is the Word.
--
Death implies change and individuality if thou be
THAT which hath no person, which is beyond the
changing, even beyond changelessness, what hast
thou to do with death?
--
God of Midnight, who bears the Sun through the
Underworld; but it is called the Stag- beetle to emphasise
--
belief, and suppose that in death they are united to the
Deity which they have cultivated during life. This is "a
consummation devoutly to be wished" (Shakespeare).
In the last paragraph the Master urges his pupils to
--
(11) This chapter must be read in connection with
Wagner's "Parsifal".
--
Quintessence and the Elixir of his being. Therein
are the forces that made him and his father and his
father's father before him.
This is the Dew of Immortality.
--
The chapter must be read in connection with
Chapters 1 and 16.
--
Resemble all that surroundeth thee; yet be Thyself
-and take thy pleasure among the living.
--
in this way making the best of both worlds. This counsels
a course of action hardly distinguishable from hypocrisy;
--
without it, though his force be but a feather, can
overturn the Universe.
be not caught within that web, O child of Freedom!
be not entangled in the universal lie, O child of
Truth!
--
the Bornless beyond.
[51]
--
The god may be of clay: adore him; he becomes
GOD.
--
fatal, and without intelligence. Even so, it may be
delightful to the creator.
--
The waiters of the best eating-houses mock the whole
world; they estimate every client at his proper
--
This I know certainly, because they always treat me
with profound respect. Thus they have flattered
--
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.
--
Therefore the best king would be Pure Chance.
It is Pure Chance that rules the Universe; therefore,
--
Thou hast become an in-itiate.
Get out.
--
besides the explanation in the note, O is the Yoni;
T, the Lingam; and U, the Hierophant; the 5th card
--
This book would translate beyond-Reason into the
words of Reason.
--
positive side is beyond even silence.
Nevertheless, One True God crieth hriliu!
--
Go round to the South and repeat; but bellow
{Psi-Upsilon-Chi-Eta}.
--
thou didst begin.
[60]
--
It would be improper to comment further upon an
official ritual of the A.'.A.'.
--
(14) The secret sense of these words is to be sought in
the num beration thereof.
--
abhorred, be thou accursed, be thou abolished, be
thou annihilated, Amen!
--
The first paragraph should be read in connection
with our previous remarks upon the num ber 91.
--
But the vulgarians conceive of nothing beyond the
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
--
Lingam-Yoni, besides the exclamation given in the
text.
--
The Sorcerer is to be identified with The Brother of
the Left Hand Path.
--
..........May be: I write it but to write Her name.
[66]
--
be interpreted on all planes.
But in this chapter, little hint is given of anything
beyond physical love. It is called the Pole-Star, because
Laylah is the one object of devotion to which the author
--
Note the introduction of the name of the beloved in
acrostic in line 15.
--
Let me be no more! Let me be Thine; let me be
Thou; let me be neither Thou nor I; let there be
love in night and night in love.
--
before His threshold!
[68]
--
The author begins to identify the beloved with the
N.O.X. previously spoken of.
the chapter is called "The Southern Cross", because,
on the physical plane, Laylah is an Australian.
--
IT, I being the secret, and T being the manifested,
phallus.
--
perhaps be defined as the Ultimate Reality.
IT is apparently a more exalted thing than THAT.
This chapter should be compared with Chapter 11;
that method of destroying the reason by formulating
--
as far as possible to realise, the language of beyond
the Abyss, the student will succeed in bringing his
--
Practise a thousand times, and it becomes difficult;
a thousand thousand, and it becomes easy; a
thousand thousand times a thousand thousand,
--
This chapter should be read in conjunction with
Chapters 8 and 30.
--
easily to be apprehended by comparatively short practice
of Mantra-Yoga.
A mantra is not being properly said as long as the
man knows he is saying it. The same applies to all other
--
Triangle is He. In His claws He beareth a sword;
yea, a sharp sword is held therein.
--
are still being communicated to the worthy by his
successors, as is intimated by the last paragraph, which
--
The Eagle may be identified, though not too closely,
with the Hawk previously spoken of.
--
of all sensible cults; it is not to be confused with other
objects of the mystic aviary, such as the swan, phoenix,
--
Cease then to be the mockery of God; in savagery of
love and death live thou and die!
Thus shall His laughter be thrilled through with
Ecstasy.
--
Death is as beautiful and necessary as the male
body.
The soul is beyond male and female as it is beyond
Life and Death.
--
What do I love? There is no from, no being, to which
I do not give myself wholly up.
--
This chapter must be read in connection with
Chapters 1, 3, 4, 8, 15, 16, 18, 24, 28, 29.
--
of paragraphs 1 and 2, it being evident from this
statement that the female body becomes beautiful in so
far as it approximates to the male.
The female is to be regarded as having been separated
from the male, in order to reproduce the male in a
--
a practice which might be called sacred prostitution.
In the common practice of meditation the idea is to
--
This cannot be done at all unless one is capable of
making Dhyana at least on any conceivable thing, at
--
be ordinary mind-wandering.
[81]
--
Let the Adept be armed with his Magick Rood [and
provided with his Mystic Rose].
--
being the signs of Puer, Vir, Puella, Mulier. Omit
the sign I.R.
--
In this the Signs shall be those of Set Triumphant
and of Baphomet. Also shall Set appear in the
--
of Chapter 25; 36 being the square of 6, as 25 is of %.
This chapter gives the real and perfect Ritual of the
--
It would be improper to comment further upon an
official ritual of the A.'.A.'.
--
There may be some significance in the chapter
num ber, which is that of Jechidah the highest unity of
--
and evil is an exceedingly rare accident; there can be
no night in the whole of the Solar System, except in rare
--
This chapter will be readily intelligible to E.A.
Freemasons, and it cannot be explained to others.
[87]
--
somehow vital. by use they become luminous.
Unreason becomes Experience.
This lifts the leaden-footed soul to the Experience
--
Ruby to GOD, may be!
[88]
--
to be the author, at the time of writing this book, which
he did when he was far from any standard works of
--
It would thus be a similar word to "Parsifal".
Paragraphs 2-6 explain the method that was given
--
Then are they all glorious who seem not to be glorious,
as the HIMOG is All-glorious Within?
It may be so.
How then distinguish the inglorious and perfect
--
HIMOG shalt thou be.
[90]
--
question arises as to the distinguishing between illusions;
how are we to tell whether a Holy Illuminated Man of
--
his imperfections. :It may be yonder beggar is a King."
But these considerations are not to trouble such mind
--
this, and not criticism of his holy Guru, should be the
occupation of his days and nights.
--
CORN beEF HASH(20)
In V.V.V.V.V. is the Great Work perfect.
--
tion; it concerneth none below the grade of
Exempt Adept, and such an one only by com-
--
Also, since below the Abyss Reason is Lord, let men
seek by experiment, and not by Questionings.
--
means that the statements in this chapter are to be
understood in the most ordinary and commonplace
--
ment which has been associated with the publication of
THE EQUINOX; and His utterance is enshrined in
--
case to anyone below the grade of Exempt Adept. The
person enquiring into such matters is politely requested
--
Solomon the King. This num ber is said to be all hotch-potch and
accursed.
The chapter should be read most carefully in connection with
the 10th Aethyr. It is to that dramatic experience that it refers.
The mind is called "wind", because of its nature; as has been
frequently explained, the ideas and words are identical.
--
a spiral force. It will be difficult to understand this chapter with-
out some experience in the transvaluation of values, which occurs
--
be choked by this false ego, or rather by the thoughts which its
explosions produce. In paragraph 4 this is expanded to a
--
descri bed as a camel, not because of the connotation of the French
form of this word, but because "camel" is in hebrew Gimel, and
Gimel is the path leading from Tiphareth to Kether, uniting
--
been the most acceptable offerings to all the gods, but
especially the Christian God.
--
it is because such sacrifices come under the Great Law
of the Rosy Cross, the giving-up of the individuality,
as has been explained as nauseam in previous chapters.
We shall frequently recur to this subject.
--
The Magician, his breast bare, stands before an altar
on which are his Burin, bell, Thurible, and two
of the Cakes of Light. In the Sign of the Enterer he
--
He gives the sign of Silence, and takes the bell, and
Fire, in his hands.
--
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:
I utter the mysterious Name.
--
He strikes Eleven times upon the bell.
Now I begin to pray: Thou Child,
holy Thy name and undefiled!
--
Even now and here be mine. AMEN.
He puts the first Cake on the Fire of the Thurible.
--
Eleven times upon the bell. With the Burin he then
makes upon his breast the proper sign.
--
behold this bleeding breast of mine
Gashed with the sacramental sign!
--
He strikes Eleven times upon the bell, and cries
ABRAHADABRA.
--
The word "Phoenix" may be taken as including the
idea of "Pelican", the bird, which is fabled to feeds its
--
It would be improper to comment further upon a
ritual which has been accepted as official by the
A.'.A.'.
--
these two asses be set to grind corn.
May, might, must, should, probably, may be, we
may safely assume, ought, it is hardly question-
able, almost certainly-poor hacks! let them be
turned out to grass!
--
"Th Soldier and the Hunchback" should be care-
fully studied in this connection. The attitude recom-
--
the best Popes have been Atheists, but perhaps the
greatest of them once remarked, "Quantum nobis
--
Hunger thou, O man, for the infinite: be insatiable
even for the finite; thus at The End shalt thou
devour the finite, and become the infinite.
be thou more greedy that the shark, more full of
yearning than the wind among the pines.
--
The road winds uphill: all law, all nature must be
overcome.
Do this by virtue of THAT in thyself before which
law and nature are but shadows.
--
The title of this chapter is best explained by a refer-
ence to Mistinguette and Mayol.
It would be hard to decide, and it is fortunately un-
necessary even to discuss, whether the distinction of
--
although in the beginning its fascination is so violent.
Witness the tremendous, but transitory, vogue of
--
may be connected with the penultimate paragraph.
The chapter consists of two points of view from which
--
place and another. It should be regarded as Angostura
Bitters, to brighten the flavour of a discourse which
--
early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise:
--
Seven are the names, and seven are the lamps beside
Her bed.
Seven eunuchs guard Her with drawn swords; No
--
Seven are the heads of THE beAST whereon She
rideth.
--
The chapter should be read in connection with Chapter 31
for IT now reappears.
--
theogony of Chapter 11; but it is to be explained by the
dithyrambic nature of the chapter.
--
self with the beAST referred to in the book, and in the
Apocalypse, and in LI beR LEGIS. In paragraph 6 the
--
It will be noticed that the figure, or sigil, of BABALON
is a seal upon a ring, and this ring is upon the forefinger
--
It will be noticed that this seal, except for the absence of
a border, is the official seal of the A.'.A.'. Compare Chapter
--
It is also said to be the seal upon the tombs of them that
she hath slain, that is, of the Masters of the Temple.
--
this do I believe, and that devoutly."
"Then why do you not worship Me?"
--
St. Hu bert appears to have been a saint who saw a
stag of a mystical or sacred nature.
The Stag- beetle must not be identified with the one
in Chapter 16. It is a merely literary touch.
--
cosm beetle. Both imagine themselves to exist; both say
"you" and "I", and discuss their relative reality.
--
It seems sometimes as if beneath all conscious doubt
there lay some deepest certainty. O kill it! Slay the
--
The horn of the Doubt-Goat be exalted
Dive deeper, ever deeper, into the Abyss of Mind,
--
This chapter should be read in connection with "The
Soldier and the Hunchback" of which it is in some sort
--
6 and 7 it will be noticed that the identification of the
Soldier with the Hunchback has reached such a pitch
that the symbols are interchanged, enthusiasm being
represented as the sinuous snake, scepticism as the
--
beyond that is a still deeper state of mind, which is
THAT.
--
beginning even unto The End thereof.
Then at last came certain men unto me, saying:
--
beyond!
[114]
--
For whoso findeth the SPRING beneath the earth
maketh the treaders-of-earth to course the heavens.
--
jewel between his eyes-Aum Mani Padmen
Hum! (Keep us from Evil!)
--
The paddock, being reserved for animals, represents life
itself. That is to say, the secret spring of life is found in the
--
ordinary animal life, becomes the divine horse Pegasus.
In paragraph 6 we see this spring identified with the
--
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.
--
place of life, the means of grace, it may be ruinous.
[117]
--
should then be read in connection with Chapters 28, 29,
49.
--
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
--
In paragraph 5 it is shown that this is because of
allowing enjoyment to cause forgetfulness of the really
--
The last paragraph indicaed the precautions to be
taken to avoid this.
--
fact, but symbolism; 90 being the num ber of Tzaddi,
the Star, looked at in its exoteric sense, as a naked
--
cannot be too severe in checking any faltering in the
work, any digression from the Path.
--
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
beAST!
Holy, holy, holy, unto the Num ber of Times
Necessary and Appropriate be OUR LADY
Isis in Her Millions-of-Names, All-Mother,
--
being again introduced, as in Chapters 28, 29, 49 and
55.
--
paragraph, may be an esoteric arcanum, for the Master
of the Temple is interested in Malkuth, as Malkuth is
--
body of Nuit and a visit to a brothel may be identical.
[123]
--
should not be One except in so far as it is Two.
I am glad that LAYLAH is afar; no doubt clouds
--
the ornithorhynchus is both bird and beast; it is also
an Australian animal, like Laylah herself, and was
--
beautiful proverb, "Absence makes the heart grow
fonder". (PS. I seem to get a subtle after-taste of
--
(It is to be observed that the philosopher having first
committed the syllogistic error quaternis terminorum,
--
tion (?)) of the predicate may be taken as intervening,
but to do so would render the humour of the chapter too
--
song within be dumbness.
God! in what prism may any man analyse my Light?
--
eloquence, bewails his impotence to express himself,
or to induce others to follow into the light. In para-
--
is justly celebrated, as being in reality the expression of
this feeling.
--
in Royal Arch Masonry. The Initiate will be able to
discover the most formidable secret of that degree con-
--
the words "passion" and "ecstasy" may be taken as
symbolical of Yoni and Lingam.)
--
the best in the best of all possible worlds". Nor does the
wealthiest of our Dukes complain to his cronies that
--
The Self-mastery of Percivale became the Self-
masturbatery of the Bourgeois.
Vir-tus has become "virture".
The qualities which have made a man, a race, a city,
a caste, must be thrown off; death is the penalty
of failure. As it is written: In the hour of success
--
the code is not changed because it is too hard, but
because if is fulfilled.
The dead dog floats with the stream; in puritan
France the best women are harlots; in vicious
England the best women are virgins.
If only the Archbishop of Canterbury were to go
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
--
conservatism; children must be weaned.
In the penultimate paragraph the words "the new
--
doctrine that whatever you have must be abandoned.
Obviously, that which differentiates your consciousness
--
(27) Chapter so called because Amfortas was
wounded by his own spear, the spear that had made him
--
O Fool! begetter of both I and Naught, resolve this
Naught-y Knot!
--
Paragraph 1 calls upon the Fool of the Tarot, who is to be referred to Ipsiss
imus,
--
These letters, O P, are then seen to be the root of opus, the Latin word for
"work",
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
--
The doctrine is that the Great Work should be accomplished without creating n
ew
--
(32) Death = Nun, the letter before O, means a fish, a symbol of Christ, and
also by its shape the Female principle
--
The Phoenix hat a bell for Sound; Fire for Sight; a
Knife for Touch; two cakes, one for taste, the other
--
He standeth before the Altar of the Universe at
Sunset, when Earth-life fades.
--
He then takes the Oath and becomes free-un
conditioned-the Absolute.
--
Think me not fallen because I love LAYLAH, and
lack LAYLAH.
--
Sold her bed to lie upon straw.
Was not she a silly slut
To sell her bed to lie upon dirt?"
The word "see-saw" is significant, almost a comment
--
Its pinnacle is-not to be consoled!
"And though I sleep with Janefore and Eleanor
--
Even before feels better than behind.
"You are Mercurial spirits- be so kind
--
"At last I lifted up mine eyes, and beheld; and lo!
the flames of violet were become as tendrils of
smoke, as mist at sunset upon the marsh-lands.
--
The mirage will fade; then will the desert be thirstier
than before.
O ye who dwell in the Dark Night of the Soul, beware
most of all of every herald of the Dawn!
O ye who dwell in the City of the Pyramids beneath
the Night of PAN, remem ber that ye shall see no
--
The last paragraph will only be understood by
Masters of the Temple.
--
the apes will begin soon enough.
"Pioneers, O Pioneers!"
--
be not sad at heart, O prophet; the babble of the
apes will presently begin.
Nay, rejoice exceedingly; for after all the babble of
--
beast!
The Red Triangle is the descending tongue of grace;
--
WORK is accomplished in Silence. And behold is
not that Word equal to Cheth, that is Cancer.
--
in the num ber and the title, the former being intelligible
to all nations who employ Arabic figures, the latter
--
description of which in Payne Knight should be
carefully read before studying this chapter. All the
allusions will then be obvious, save those which we
proceed to not.
--
each containing 72 letters. If these be written beneath
each other, the middle verse bring reversed, i.e. as in
--
and practice; and the whole of Mantra-Yoga has been
built on this foundation.
--
thou go with water in thy belly? Thou shalt go
twenty more with a firebrand at thy rump!
--
Could but Thy mother behold thee, O thou UNT!(37)
The Infinite Snake Ananta that surroundeth the
--
precedes spiritual and physical perceptions. One would be foolish to claim
initiation unless it were complete on every plane.
Paragraph 2 will easily be understood by those who have practised
Asana. there is perhaps a sardonic reference to rigor mortis, and certainly
one conceives the half-humorous attitude of the expert towards the beginner.
Paragraph 3 is a comment in the same tone of rough good nature. The word
Zelator is used because the Zelator of the A.'.A.'. has to pass an examination
in Asana before he becomes eligible for the grade of Practicus. The ten days
allude merely to the tradition about the camel, that he can go ten days without
--
man, has a close affinity for Gimel, as will be seen by a study of Li ber 418.
Unt is not only the Hindustani for Camel, but the usual termination of the
--
The third person plural must be used, because he has now perceived himself
to be a bundle of impressions. For this is the point on the Path of Gimel when
he is actually crossing the Abyss; the student must consult the account of this
--
non-Ego becomes sensible.
Paragraph 5 expresses the wish of the Guru that his Chela may attain safely
--
When NOTHING became conscious, it made a bad
bargain.
--
The Abyss that stretches between THAT and
NOT.
--
The details of this Hierarchy have already been
indicated in various chapters. It is quite conventional
--
Path, which must be taken even although the aspirant
is intellectually aware of the severity of the whole
--
material for the moral idea, before that, in its turn, is
surrendered to the spiritual. And so on. This is a
--
Spring beans and straw berries are in: goodbye to the
oyster!
--
paragraph 1, the plover's egg being often contemporary
with the early straw berry.
--
and myself would hardly have been at the pains to
write one. It was in response to the impassioned appeals
--
(38) These eggs being speckled, resemble the wander-
ing mind referred to.
--
No, some negative conception beyond the IT spoken of in Chapters 31, 49
and elsewhere.
--
No, the refusal to be content with any of this.
But all this is again only a glamour of Maya, as previously observed in the
--
A study of this chapter is probably the best short cut to Nibbana.
The thought of the Master in this chapter is exceptionally lofty.
--
already postulated as beyond IT. The suggestion is, that there may be somethin
falsely descri bed as silence, to represent absence-of-conception beyond that
negative.
It would be possible to interpret this chapter in its entirety as an adverse
criticism of metaphysics as such, and this is doubtless one of its many sub-
--
Through matter, because 77 is written in Hebrew Ayin
Zayin (OZ), and He-Goat, the symbol of matter, Capri-
--
As will be seen from the photogravure inserted opposite
this chapter, Laylah is herself not devoid of "Devil", but,
as she habitually remarks, on being addressed in terms
implying this fact, "It's nice to be a devil when you're one
like me."
The text need no comment, but it will be noticed that it is
much shorter that the title.
--
and one; but that the latter must be reached through the
former. This chapter is therefore an apology, were one
--
analysis of the name, which may be left to the ingenium of
the advanced practicus (see photograph).
--
All these Wheels be one; yet of all these the Wheel of
the TARO alone avails thee consciously.
--
be this thy task, to see how each card springs
necessarily from each other card, even in due order
--
and effect. Thence, to discover the cause behind all
causes. Success in this practice qualifies for the grade
--
reminds the student that the universe is not to be
contemplated as a phenomenon in time.
--
Nature is useless; but then how beautiful she is!
Nature is cruel; but I too am a Sadist.
The game goes on; it y have been too rough for
Buddha, but it's (if anything) too dull for me.
Viens, beau negre! Donne-moi tes levres encore!
[168]
--
Frater P. until it became respectable.
The chapter is a rebuke to those who can see nothing
--
The Buddhist analysis may be true, but not for
men of courage. The plea that "love is sorrow", because
its ecstasies are only transitory, is contemptible.
--
should be aroused (as Olivia Haddon assures my
favourite Chela), yet policemen, unless most severely
repressed, would be dangerous wild beasts.
The last bitter sentence is terribly true; the personal
--
Many becomes two: two one: one Naught. What
comes to Naught?
--
For when Naught becomes Absolute Naught, it
becomes again the Many.
Any this Many and this Naught are identical; they
--
beware, O my brother, lest this chapter deceive
thee!
--
PG being "Pig" without an "i".
The subject of the chapter is consequently corollary
--
Paragraph 4. See berashith.
Paragraph 5, takes things for what they are; give up
interpreting, refining away, analysing. be simple and
lucid and radiant as Frater P.
--
further danger, and the warning becomes superfluous.
NOTE
--
may this book be understood.
How much more then should He devote Himself to
--
of the birds; for he is past beyond all these. Yea,
verily, oft-times he is weary; it is well that the
--
the avalanche does not fall because it is tired of staying
on the mountain, or in order to crush the Alps below it,
or because that it feels that it needs exercise. Perfectly
unconscious, perfectly indifferent, it o beys the laws of
--
Yet these are often beautiful, and may be true within
the circle of the conditions of the speaker.
--
What better proof of the fact that all thought is
dis-ease?
--
below fire-and in all-the fabric of all being
woven on Its invisible design, is
--
The best attribution of Elohim is Aleph, Air; Lamed, Earth;
He, Spirit; Yod, Fire; Mem, Water. But the order is not good;
--
now to be analysed. The order of the element is that of Jeheshua.
The elements are taken rather as in Nature; N is easily Fire,
--
called the name of Spirit, because it is cheth: L is Earth, green
and fertile, because Venus, the greenness, fertility, and earthiness
of things is the Lady of Libra, Lamed.
--
from below, and upon this condenses the original steam. Around this
flows the air, created by Earth and Water through the action of
--
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
--
which she gave me before She went away.
March 22, 1912. E. V.
--
It means that, however great may be one's own
achievements the gifts from on high are still better.
The Sigil is taken from a Gnostic talisman, and
--
Teach us Your real secret, Master! how to become
invisible, how to acquire love, and oh! beyond all,
how to make gold.
--
to teach people who need to be taught.
[187]
--
Frater P. had been annoyed by a scurvy doctor, the
num ber of whose house was 89.
--
respect of that num ber by his allowing himself to be
annoyed.
--
behold! I have lived many years, and I have travelled
in every land that is under the dominion of the
--
that beyond heaven and earth is the love of OUR
LADY NUIT.
--
BABALON, and NUIT, being...
[190]
--
The "Heikle" is to be distinguished from the
"Huckle", which latter is defined in the late Sir W.S.
--
A clear definition of the Heikle might have been
obtained from Mr Oscar Eckenstein, 34 Greencroft
--
berashith. Coll. Works, II, 233.
The Vision and The Voice (Li ber 418). The Eqx.,
--
41. Corn beef Hash.
42. Dust-Devils.
0.00 - THE GOSPEL PREFACE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Translated from the bengali by Swami Nikhilananda
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission
--
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 descri bed 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 understand; 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 li beral, 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-hand record from persons concerned. The conversations will bring before the reader's mind an intimate picture of the Master's eventful life from March 1882 to April 24, 1886, only a few months before his passing away. During this period he came in contact chiefly with English-educated benglis; from among them he selected his disciples and the bearers of his message, and with them he shared his rich spiritual experiences.
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 descri be 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 land 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 understanding 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 understand 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 num ber 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 Nirvednanda, 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 Camp bell have worked hard in editing my translation. Mrs.Eliza beth 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 land and sea. Romain Rolland has descri bed him as the fulfilment of the spiritual aspirations of the three hundred millions of Hindus for the last two thousand years. Mahatma Gandhi has written: "His life enables us to see God face to face. . . . Ramakrishna was a living embodiment of godliness." He is being recognized as a compeer of Krishna, Buddha, and Christ.
The life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna have redirected the thoughts of the denationalized Hindus to the spiritual ideals of their forefa thers. During the latter part of the nineteenth century his was the time-honoured role of the Saviour of the Eternal Religion of the Hindus. His teachings played an important part in li beralizing the minds of orthodox pundits and hermits. Even now he is the silent force that is moulding the spiritual destiny of India. His great disciple, Swami Vivekananda, was the first Hindu missionary to preach the message of Indian culture to the enlightened minds of Europe and America. The full consequence of Swami Vivekn and work is still in the womb of the future.
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 Nikhilnanda
--
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 hand, 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 num ber 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 Chandra 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 Nityatmananda 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 Chander Sen, elicited a powerful response from the impressionable mind of Mahendra Nath, as it did in the case of many an idealistic young man of Calcutta, and prepared him to receive the great Light that was to dawn on him with the coming of Sri Ramakrishna into his life.
This epoch-making event of his life came about in a very strange way. M. belonged to a joint family with several collateral mem bers. Some ten years after he began his career as an educationist, bitter quarrels broke out among the mem bers of the family, driving the sensitive M. to despair and utter despondency. He lost all interest in life and left home one night to go into the wide world with the idea of ending his life. At dead of night he took rest in his sister's house at Baranagar, and in the morning, accompanied by a nephew Siddheswar, he wandered from one garden to another in Calcutta until Siddheswar brought him to the Temple Garden of Dakshineswar where Sri Ramakrishna was then living. After spending some time in the beautiful rose gardens there, he was directed to the room of the Paramahamsa, where the eventful meeting of the Master and the disciple took place on a blessed evening (the exact date is not on record) on a Sunday in March 1882. As regards what took place on the occasion, the reader is referred to the opening section of the first chapter of the Gospel.
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 abandon 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 Pandit with a bondage in the world!"
( Ibid P.36.)
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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 Chander 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 verandah 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 Raghavananda, who was very closely associated with him during his last six years, remarks: "Among those who lived with M. in latter days, some felt that he always lived in this constant and conscious union with God even with open eyes (i.e., even in waking consciousness)." (Swami Raghavananda's article on M. in Prabuddha Bharata vol. XXXVII. P. 442.)
besides undergoing spiritual disciplines at 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 descri bed as follows by Swami Nityatmananda: "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 Nityatmananda 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 Nityatmananda, "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 descri bed 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 Vivekananda 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 Raghavananda'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 wandering Sannysin, sleep with the waifs on some open verandah or footpath on the road.
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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 Nityatmananda'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 o beisance 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 stands on end, then you may know for certain that you do not have to perform devotions such as Sandhya any more."
In addition to this instinct for diary-keeping, M. had great endowments contri buting to success in this line. Writes Swami Nityatmananda who lived in close association with M., in his book entitled M - 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 Octo ber and Novem ber 1897. They drew the spontaneous acclamation of Swami Vivekananda, who wrote on 24th Novem ber 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 understand why none of us attempted His life before. It has been reserved for you, this great work. He is with you evidently." ( Vednta Kesari Vol. XIX P. 141. Also given in 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 demand, a full-sized book, Vol. I of the Gospel, translated by the author himself, was published in 1907 by the Brahmavadin Office, Madras. A second edition of it, revised by the author, was brought out by the Ramakrishna Math, Madras in Decem ber 1911, and subsequently a second part, containing new chapters from the original bengali, was published by the same Math in 1922. The full English translation of the Gospel by Swami Nikhilananda appeared first in 1942.
In bengali the book is published in five volumes, the first part having appeared in 1902
and the others in 1905, 1907, 1910 and 1932 respectively.
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In appearance, M. looked a Vedic Rishi. Tall and stately in bearing, he had a strong and well-built body, an unusually broad chest, high forehead and arms extending to the knees. His complexion was fair and his prominent eyes were always tinged with the expression of the divine love that filled his heart. Adorned with a silvery beard that flowed luxuriantly down his chest, and a shining face radiating the serenity and gravity of holiness, M. was as imposing and majestic as he was handsome and engaging in appearance. Humorous, sweet-tongued and eloquent when situations required, this great Maharishi of our age lived only to sing the glory of Sri Ramakrishna day and night.
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.
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As time went on and the num ber of devotees increased, the staircase room and terrace of the 3rd floor of the Morton Institution became a veritable Naimisaranya of modern times, resounding during all hours of the day, and sometimes of night, too, with the word of God coming from the Rishi-like face of M. addressed to the eager God-seekers sitting around. To the devotees who helped him in preparing the text of the Gospel, he would dictate the conversations of the Master in a meditative mood, referring now and then to his diary. At times in the stillness of midnight he would awaken a nearby devotee and tell him: "Let us listen to the words of the Master in the depths of the night as he explains the truth of the Pranava." ( Vednta Kesari XIX P. 142.) Swami Raghavananda, an intimate devotee of M., writes as follows about these devotional sittings: "In the sweet and warm months of April and May, sitting under the canopy of heaven on the roof-garden of 50 Amherst Street, surrounded by shrubs and plants, himself sitting in their midst like a Rishi of old, the stars and planets in their courses beckoning us to things infinite and sublime, he would speak to us of the mysteries of God and His love and of the yearning that would rise in the human heart to solve the Eternal Riddle, as exemplified in the life of his Master. The mind, melting under the influence of his soft sweet words of light, would almost transcend the frontiers of limited existence and dare to peep into the infinite. He himself would take the influence of the setting and say,'What a blessed privilege it is to sit in such a setting (pointing to the starry heavens), in the company of the devotees discoursing on God and His love!' These unforgettable scenes will long remain imprinted on the minds of his hearers." (Prabuddha Bharata Vol XXXVII P 497.)
About twenty-seven years of his life he spent in this way in the heart of the great city of Calcutta, radiating the Master's thoughts and ideals to countless devotees who flocked to him, and to still larger num bers 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 TAPASYNANDA
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 understanding. 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.
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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 hand, additional generalized principles or, on the other hand, 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-band 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, un beknownst 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 understanding 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 num ber 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 understand 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 understanding 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 understanding of humanity's cosmic functioning, which, until now, had been both undiscovered and unpredictable due to our deli berate 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 deli berately 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 understand.
The overconcentration on details of hyperspecialization has also been responsible for the lack of recognition by science of its inherently mandatory responsibility to reorient all our educational curricula because of the synergetically disclosed, but popularly uncomprehended, significance of the 1956 No bel 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 descri bed 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.
Where else might society turn for advice? Unguided by science, society is allowed to go right on filling its childrens' brain banks with large inventories of competence-devastating misinformation. In order to emerge from its massive ignorance, society will probably have to rely exclusively upon its individuals' own minds to survey the pertinent experimental data-as do all great scientist-artists. This, in effect, is what the intuition of world-around youth is beginning to do. Mind can see that reality is evoluting into weightless metaphysics. The wellspring of reality is the family of weightless generalized principles.
It is essential to release humanity from the false fixations of yesterday, which seem now to bind it to a rationale of action leading only to extinction.
--
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.
0.00 - To the Reader, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
The reader is requested to note that Sri Aurobindo is not responsible for these records as he had no opportunity to see them. So, it is not as if Sri Aurobindo said exactly these things but that I remem ber him to have said them. All I can say is that I have tried to be as faithful in recording them as I was humanly capable. That does not minimise my personal responsibility which I fully accept.
A. B. PURANI
0.01f - FOREWARD, #The Phenomenon of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
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
--
if not ultimately, at least essentially. Fuller being is closer union :
such is the kernel and conclusion of this book. But let us empha-
--
history of the living world can be summarised as the elaboration
of ever more perfect eyes within a cosmos in which there is
always something more to be seen. After all, do we not judge
the perfection of an animal, or the supremacy of a thinking being,
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
--
Has man not been adequately descri bed already, and is he not a
tedious subject ? Is it not precisely one of the attractions of science
--
which their consciousness could penetrate without being sub-
mitted to it or changing it. They are now beginning to realise
that even the most objective of their observations are steeped in
--
It is tiresome and even humbling for die observer to be thus
fettered, to be obliged to carry with him everywhere the centre
of the landscape he is crossing. But what happens when chance
--
That seems to be the privilege of man's knowledge.
It is not necessary to be a man to perceive surrounding things
and forces ' in the round '. All the animals have reached this point
--
necessity, all science must be referred back to him. If to see is
really to become more, if vision is really fuller being, then we
should look closely at man in order to increase our capacity to
--
From the dawn of his existence, man has been held up as a
spectacle to himself. Indeed for tens of centuries he has looked at
nothing but himself. Yet he has only just begun to take a scientific
view of his own significance in the physical world. There is no
need to be surprised at this slow awakening. It often happens
that what stares us in the face is the most difficult to perceive.
--
measure, a whole series of ' senses ' have been necessary, whose
gradual acquisition, as we shall show, covers and punctuates the
--
the bewildering multitude of material or living elements involved
in the slightest change in the universe ;
A sense of proportion, realising as best we can the difference
of physical scale which separates, both in rhythm and dimension,
--
concealed beneath a veil of immobility the entirely new in-
sinuating itself into the heart of the monotonous repetition of the
--
the film I am projecting. When 1 try to picture the world before
the dawn of life, or life in the Palaeozoic era, I do not forget that
there would be a cosmic contradiction in imagining a man as
spectator of those phases which ran their course before the
appearance of thought on earth. I do not pretend to descri be
--
ourselves so that the world may be true for us at this moment.
What I depict is not the past in itself, but as it must appear to an
--
which he belongs ; as we look at him our minds incline to break
nature up into pieces and to forget both its deep inter-relations
--
a thinking being than when the scales fall from his eyes and he
discovers that he is not an isolated unit lost in the cosmic solitudes,
--
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
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 understanding 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 misunderstandings and false notions of others began to evaporate with the growth of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram from 1927 onwards. The large num ber 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 descri bed 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 descri bed 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 hand, 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 li berated 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 li berated 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 descri be 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 grand, seems to demand imposition, or assumption, of limitation. In this connection Sri Aurobindo said during an evening talk that no human manifestation can be illimitable and unlimited, but 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
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
--
new activities are being created, new needs are arising which
require new skills.
--
whole being, mental, psychic, vital and physical, enters into a
complete state of rest made of perfect peace, absolute silence
--
states of being, an activity which constitutes the occult work
and which, needless to say, is also perfectly conscious. So I can
--
true that in my answers many aspects of the question have been
neglected which could have been examined with interest - that
will be for another time.
21 Octo ber 1929
The Ashram is becoming a more and more interesting institution. We have now acquired our twenty-first house; the num ber
of paid workers of the Ashram (labourers and servants) has
--
(Sri Aurobindo's disciples living in Pondicherry) varies between
eighty-five and a hundred. Five cars, twelve bicycles, four sewing
--
outside India (in America, I believe) and has become completely
westernised; otherwise he would not give Gandhi and Tagore
--
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
does not go beyond the understanding of the Western mind.
India has far greater geniuses than these and in the most
--
I repeat, there is better, far better in India, but this India
does not care for international glory.
--
like things as they are. I do not believe, however, that they are
worse than they have been many times before. But I want them
to be different, I want them to be more harmonious and more
true. Oh, the horror of falsehood spread everywhere on earth,
ruling the world with its law of darkness! I believe that its reign
has lasted long enough; this is the master we must now refuse
--
are none; on the other hand the sea is beautiful, the countryside
is vast and the town is very small: a five minute drive and you are
--
of 110 to 120 people and to avoid movements that would be
detrimental to the achievement of our yogic aim.
--
"manage" everything, but not because I really own them. You
will readily understand why I am telling you all this; it is so you
can bear it in mind just in case.
10 February 1933
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
--
about disastrous results. The earth seems to be shaken almost
entirely by a terrible fit of political and social epilepsy through
--
was beginning to set in. I must say that under the circumstances
the Governor (Solmiac) showed great kindness and resolve at
the same time. His goodwill is beyond all praise. Finally, it all
ended quite well, considering the difficult circumstances. But
--
The sign of the times seems to be a complete lack of common
sense. But perhaps we see it this way simply because nearness
makes us see all the details. From a distance the details fade and
--
It may be that life on earth has always been a chaos - whatever the Bible may say, the Light has not yet made its appearance.
Let us hope that it will not be long in coming.
23 August 1936
A small booklet is being published in Geneva, containing a talk
I gave in 1912, I think. It is a bit out-of-date, but I did not
--
assume both at the same time would be nearer to the truth.
Hitler was certainly bluffing, if that is what you call shouting
--
and diplomacy were used, but on the other hand, behind every
human will there are forces at work whose origin is not human
--
they may be divided into two main opposing tendencies: those
that work for the fulfilment of the Divine work upon earth,
--
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.
22 Octo ber 1938
0.01 - Life and Yoga, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral 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 Vivekananda has said, may be regarded as a means of compressing one's evolution into a single life or a few years or even a few months of bodily existence. A given system of Yoga, 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
--
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
--
God. Therefore we see in India that a sharp incompatibility has been created between life in the world and spiritual growth and perfection, and although the tradition and ideal of a victorious harmony between the inner attraction and the outer demand remains, it is little or else very imperfectly exemplified. In fact, when a man turns his vision and energy inward and enters on the path of Yoga, he is popularly supposed to be lost inevitably to the great stream of our collective existence and the secular effort of humanity. So strongly has the idea prevailed, so much has it been emphasised by prevalent philosophies and religions that to escape from life is now commonly considered as not only the necessary condition, but the general object of Yoga. No synthesis of Yoga can be satisfying which does not, in its aim, reunite God and Nature in a li berated 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
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
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
--
So long as you are capable of beating somebody, you open the
door to the possibility of being beaten yourself.
You are expecting those who are working with you to be geniuses. It is not quite fair.
I have seen your chit for washing soap. You got the last one on
--
soap. Some device must be found to check him; words are of no
use.
--
In future I will be obliged to ask for the finished notebook
before I can sanction a new one. That is to say, each time that
a notebook is to be renewed the finished notebook must be sent
up to me at the same time as the chit for the new one.
I do not see the need of leaving a blank page at the beginning.
Y is complaining that cement dust falls in the cattle-feed when
--
Please see whether some better arrangement can be made.
(About increasing the size of a bathroom)
--
shall have no bread to eat. The work must be done immediately.
I am not feeling comfortable about the dining room. It is not by
merely saying: "nothing will happen" that an accident can be
avoided. Your mental formation may be strong, but the contrary
formation is at least as strong as yours - and we must never
--
I ask you to discard all obstinacy and to be perfectly sincere.
Go and see with no preconceived idea.
--
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,
--
At Cycle House a teakwood bench broke, bringing
down a mason who was standing on a plank resting on
that bench. The mason was not injured. The incident
reminded Z that 1:30 to 3:30 P.M. on Thursdays is
--
It is always better NOT to remem ber such superstitions. It is the
suggestion that acts in these cases - most often a suggestion
in the subconscient mind; but it is made stronger by becoming
conscious.
--
Precaution, much precaution should be taken so that such a
thing may not happen. Do you realise our responsibility and
--
our needs, She waits to be asked before granting them.
Not exact in all cases and especially not with everybody.
--
But in fact, there should be no reserve in our dealings
with Mother; all movements should be movements of
joy, including the movement of asking. As this is lacking,
--
believes to be needs - he will be disillusioned. He prefers
not to mention them rather than to be disillusioned.
Yes, so long as there are desires, no true intimacy can be
established.
--
grey paint) A stool used by the Mother has been painted
with "gris entretien". I had informed the stores not to
--
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
--
In this case the paint slipped out because it was asked
for Mother's stool.
--
unless a chit signed by me could be produced.
"To turn towards Thee, unite with Thee, live in Thee and
--
one in the efforts towards the progress still to be made.
27 June 1932
--
Do you believe it is so easy to strike at the root of a stupidity?
Stupidities are always rooted deep down in the subconscient.
--
unknown is before us."4 What is the remedy?
be plastic and vigilant, attentive and alert - receptive.
--
Oh! Let all tears be wiped away, all suffering relieved, all anguish dispelled, and let a calm serenity dwell
in every heart.
--
To understand is good, but to will is better.
Self-love is the great obstacle.
--
I am rolling in my bed in the hope of getting sleep.
Peace, peace, my child; do not torment yourself.
--
to be kicked out. And so on.
The usual nonsense.
--
ought to be worn out by this time.
O Sweet, Sweet Mother, Thy Peace is in me, Thy Peace
--
It is always better not to show too much what I have written,
as I am not dealing with everybody in the same way, and what
--
Guard against all individual decision (which can be arbitrary).
30 July 1932
--
I thirst for Thy consciousness, O Sweet Mother, I become
one with Thee.
This thirst shall be quenched when this ("O Sweet Mother, I
become one with Thee") is psychologically realised.
--
asked me whether it was my belief that the cause for
sickness is always a revolt or wrong attitude. I said Yes.
--
The wrong attitude can be in the body consciousness itself (lack
of faith or of receptivity) and then it is very difficult to detect
--
body consciousness being most often and in almost everybody
subconscious.
--
No general rule can be made for this, each case is different. The
important point is the attitude behind the talk. It is only what is
said as a pure and sincere offering on the altar of Divine Truth
--
reproach in what I was saying, because there was nothing of
the kind in my intention. I was giving expression to an amused
--
for the Truth expression to be easily understood by ordinary
people. It is this seeking which gives the impression of hesitation,
--
As to my belief in the efficacy of prayer, I believe
in its efficacy only when it is addressed to the Mother.
--
Is it because there is no mental control in the dream state
and hence the vital being is free to act as it likes?
Prayers and Meditations, 19 June 1914.
--
The physical being is always fatigued when it is asked to keep a
lasting concentration.
The concentration can be kept constantly but not by mental
decision.
It must be a divine decision.
16 August 1932
--
said Yes. In fact, I expected it to be finished within a
month. Two conflicting thoughts passed rapidly through
--
will take one and a half months, naturally that should be
correct; there may be some delays I cannot foresee. (2)
But why should I not say that according to my estimate,
--
But I want it to be good rather than quick.
I pray to Mother that there may be no unforeseen delays.
I hope so also - but I have seen that the work takes always
--
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.
--
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
hastening to reply, I would have given a more precise
--
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.
--
It is better simply to be sincere than to be clever.
31 Octo ber 1932
To love the Divine is to be loved by Him.
2 Novem ber 1932
--
I told you already that if someone refuses to be conscientious
in his work, what can I do? It is true that the work suffers, but
--
I still cannot make a clear distinction between a
desire and a need for the work. So this is the method I
--
because others are mean is no reason to be mean yourself.
24 April 1933
--
(who is less than eight years old, I think). Can he be
employed to clear the rubble at Ganapati House?
--
We want to be faithful workers for the Great Victory.
26 June 1933
--
get married again. He wants Rs. 40 advance, to be paid
back at the rate of Rs. 8 per month. I have already told
--
somewhere in my being. I can't pinpoint this recalcitrant
spot. Is it my mind? Isn't it the mind that shows the
--
which protests and re bels because it cannot be fulfilled. These
formations are autonomous entities. That is why, once they are
--
there any connection between the fact that I gave him
the job of making rods for X's embroidery frame without
--
to be made) and they develop without harmony, in disorder and
confusion, sometimes producing the most unfortunate results as
--
but difficult to execute. If the desire had not been there insisting
on immediate realisation, the project could have been examined
carefully before being carried out and its execution would have
been more harmonious.
--
something similar could be made for the sieve.
19 Septem ber 1933
--
Simply welcome the fact that you have become aware of a lack
of thoroughness, since this awareness allows you to make further progress. Indeed, making progress, overcoming a difficulty,
--
It may be that physical appearance has something to do with it,
but truly speaking it does not count for much. I believe rather
in the influence of atmospheres. Each one has around him an
--
The explanation of many events may be found along this line -
although, of course, it is not the only explanation!
--
The conclusion is therefore obvious: it would be better not to
open your mouth. In certain cases, as in this one, it is wiser to
--
vessels used for cooking are very large, the top of the fireplaces should not be much higher than ground level. This must
be checked while the kitchen is being repaired. The top of
the fire-places should not be more than fifty centimetres above
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.
--
Gaul but spared Lutetia after being diverted by Saint
Genevieve." I don't understand the phrase "diverted
--
Attila was compelled to spare Lutetia because of the occult
action of Saint Genevieve who, by the ardour of her prayers,
--
wide berth.
11 February 1934
--
I decided to be brave and not tell You about it, but the
pain has grown sharper since yesterday.
--
told me immediately, you would already have been cured.
13 February 1934
--
It would have been better not to say the things I have marked in
red pencil. This falls under the "powers" that it would be better
not to mention. Either the person you are speaking to does
--
always better to say: "I don't know. He doesn't tell us about
these things."
--
which I may benefit and come to know you.
I appreciate this attitude and this effort. It proves the sincerity of
--
It seems that the notice about the holidays has been circulated
only in French. I don't think you should do this, for it would
--
These things need to be considered carefully, not lightly as one
discusses a play or the pronunciation of French.
--
Naturally, No. 2 could be set right by increasing the num ber
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.
--
num ber), and since they have all been hardworking and faithful,
I am at even more of a loss to make a selection. Therefore I
--
num ber of workmen will be reduced by... (give the exact figure).
That will give them time to look for work elsewhere. Those who
--
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
--
elsewhere. To avoid any possible misunderstanding, it would be
best if X or Y speaks to them in your presence.
--
I am going to begin by telling you a very little story. Then I shall
answer you.
--
in bewilderment and explained that in mechanics the longer the
pendulum is, the slower the movement. (I knew that very well
--
movement.) I answered, as I always do, "Do as you think best."
He lengthened the pendulum and the clock started going even
--
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 thousands of examples I have come across in
the course of a life which is already long. Unfortunately I am
--
with a thick layer of distemper which by its very thickness will be
enough to conceal any irregularities. The process was supposed
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
long ago - the first time it was decided to distemper the walls
--
not reminding you about it before the work began. I have an
unfortunate tendency to believe that the consciousness of those
around me is, at least partially and in its limited working, similar
--
that is why there are many things I do not say, because to me they
are so obvious that it would be utterly pointless to mention them.
It is here that on your side a freedom of movement and speech
--
ask me to explain it to you. When I do not do so, it is because I
think you are receptive enough for the formation to act and fulfil
--
one reason or another, that the working becomes defective.
Read this carefully, study it, and when you come today I will
--
for I think it may be useful to everyone there. I shall probably
ask you to translate it into English, to make sure that you have
--
May Peace be with you - I bless you.
7 June 1934
--
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.
--
danger, it is because there is a hidden reason somewhere.
That is not exactly what I said. I said that a feeling of danger
should always be taken seriously when one is responsible for
Series Two - To a Sadhak in the Building Department
--
under a pile of useless things, because one cannot take
care of them.
If only the good materials had been kept, it would
have been easier to take care of them. Am I right, Sweet
Mother?
--
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
--
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 Octo ber 1934
--
In theory, it is true that everything can be known by identification, but in practice it is rather difficult to apply. The whole
process is based on the power of concentration. One has to
concentrate on the object to be known (in this case the roof)
until all the rest of the world disappears and the object alone
--
means of knowing besides reasoning - intuition, for example
- which are also effective.
--
I bow to You, Sweet Mother. be present in me always
and for ever.
--
for it is by calling me that the presence becomes effective.
15 Decem ber 1934
--
one distinguish between these two types of suggestions?
It is only by long experience, tested many times very carefully,
that one can discriminate between various types of suggestions
by the vibration that accompanies them.
--
other which sees any harmonious dealings between us
as a sure sign of victory - but how can this be done
without getting a headache, Sweet Mother?
It may be the contradiction between these two movements which
is the cause of the headache. No. 1 wants peace with a minimum
--
from it. I suggest that for the time being you avoid contact with
X as far as possible. But if contact is established, beware of
subconscious reactions and be very vigilant.
3 May 1935
--
it what is known as a "voice"? How can these things be
distinguished, Sweet Mother?
--
that should be done in a certain way, you should simply say:
"This is how I think it should be done." If he contradicts you
and gives a different opinion, you should simply answer: "All
--
In this way there can be no clash of personalities between
him and you. It is only a matter of o bedience to me.
--
Your Grace I will be myself again within a short time.
I aspire for the blessed day when the conflict, the
--
Yes, it is correct as an analysis, but a thing ought not to be
done for any of these personal considerations. The thing to be
done should be considered in itself, independent of all personal
questions. If the thing is right and good, one should do it. If not,
--
It is precisely because your refusal had no real cause that it
did not have the power to dominate the other man's will.
--
would be removed. In the absence of any definite orders
on this point I said, "Ask Mother." Later it was Sweet
--
Yes, I hoped that his will could be made to yield on this point,
because I thought it was absolutely true that removing the nails
--
I don't think I can be the judge to decide whether the
thing is good or not, because my vision is limited.
I never said that you should be the judge. I agree to be the judge
in all cases, because I recognise that it is very difficult to know
whether a thing is right and good, unless one can see the law of
Truth behind things.
If You had said to me, "Removing the nails is nothing, is
--
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
by echoing what they imagine - wrongly - to be what I think. I
want them to use their powers of observation and their technical
--
You wrote to me, "It is precisely because your refusal had no real cause that it did not have the power
to dominate the other man's will. So you should get the
--
and that a little scraping and pulling would be enough to ease
them out. After averaging these two interpretations I saw that
--
I thought that my refusal was ineffective because it was
not supported by Sweet Mother, and I firmly believe that
nothing whatever can hold true or be effective unless it
is supported by Sweet Mother.
--
As a general rule, it is better not to repeat to someone what
someone else has said, for there is always a risk of creating
--
"Penetrate all my being, transfigure it till Thou alone
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
--
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.
--
well. I would like you to go to bed earlier. Is all this work after
meditation (discussions, accounts, etc.) really indispensable? To
--
Once and for all, wash away the feeling that you are "superior" to others - for no one is superior or inferior before the
Divine.
--
work in hand and the work to be done and exchange
opinions - I mean, just as Y and I speak together. But
--
In the present conditions I think it would be better not to
persist in your attempt at friendly relations with him, for it only
--
upset and depressed because a fellow-worker did not
follow his advice.)
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
10
--
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.
--
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
--
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 demand 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
--
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 li berates itself from the illusions of the body and the senses, and a divine mind above intellect which in its turn li berates 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 li berty 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
--
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 descri be 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 demands 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.
--
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 descri bed 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.
--
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
--
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 li berated. But the li beration 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 li beration. 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 li berate 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 li beration 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 mem ber 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 Chandernagore, he entered upon an intense period of Sadhana and for a few months he refused to receive anyone. After a time he used to sit down to talk in 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 mem bers 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 num ber of sadhaks practising the Yoga increased, the evening sittings also became more full, and the small verandah upstairs in the main building was found insufficient. Mem bers of the household would gather every day at the fixed time with some sense of expectancy and start chatting in low tones. Sri Aurobindo used to come last and it was after his coming that the session would really commence.
He came dressed as usual in dhoti, part of which was used by him to cover the upper part of his body. Very rarely he came out with chaddar or shawl and then it was "in deference to the climate" as he sometimes put it. At times for minutes he would be gazing at the sky from a small opening at the top of the grass-curtains that covered the verandah upstairs in No. 9, Rue de la Marine. How much were these sittings dependent on him may be gathered from the fact that there were days when more than three-fourths of the time passed in complete silence without any outer suggestion from him, or there was only an abrupt "Yes" or "No" to all attempts at drawing him out in conversation. And even when he participated in the talk one always felt that his voice was that of one who does not let his whole being flow into his words; there was a reserve and what was left unsaid was perhaps more than what was spoken. What was spoken was what he felt necessary to speak.
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 command 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 verandah into which four rooms opened and whose main piece of furniture was a small table 3' x 1' covered with a blue cotton cloth. That is where Sri Aurobindo used to sit in a hard wooden chair behind the table with a few chairs in front for the visitors or for the disciples.
From 1922 to 1926, No. 9, Rue de la Marine, where he and the Mother had shifted, was the place where the sittings were held. There, also upstairs, was a less broad verandah than at the Guest House, a little bigger table in front of the central door out of three, and a broad Japanese chair, the table covered with a better cloth than the one in the Guest House, a small flower vase, an ash-tray, a block calendar indicating the date and an ordinary time-piece, and a num ber of chairs in front in a line. The evening sittings used to be after meditation at 4 or 4.30 p.m. After 24 Novem ber 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 Decem ber 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 Novem ber 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.
0.03 - Letters to My little smile, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
later became one of her personal attendants. She began writing
to the Mother at the age of seventeen.
--
flower1 cannot return as it was before, for in this world things
never repeat themselves in exactly the same way - everything
--
can there be doubt that he will triumph!
With all my love.
--
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).
--
For your smile to become truly "eternal", you must learn to
speak to me as freely when you are near me as when you are in
--
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
--
feeling much better now.
Do not attach too much importance to all these things;
--
everything will be all right.
With all my love.
--
I spent the whole day in this state of dullness because I
no longer imagine things as before.
Mother, I would like to know if everything I say
--
tamas in the external consciousness, is a much better and surer
way.
--
time it becomes quieter.
23 Novem ber 1932
--
and be able to correct them.
26 Novem ber 1932
--
these things to people because they cannot do anything
for her." "Yes," the doctor said, "I understand that he
--
- 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 Novem ber 1932
--
Mother, I believe that if I stay all by myself, apart
from everyone else, I will be very happy. I am very bad;
I don't know when all these bad things will leave me.
--
You must not exaggerate. Certainly there are movements of vanity - rather childish besides - but they are not the only ones.
I am quite sure that while you were listening to the music, you
--
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
--
receive many such things to read. But if You become
serious, as You were this morning, I would rather put an
--
well for your confessions to make me "serious". besides, your
confessions are not so terrible as all that, no matter what you
--
feel that may be I won't be able to do yoga, my mind
imagines: "Mother tells me that I cannot do yoga and
--
I don't know when this distracted mind will become
quiet.
It is not so terrible - the mind likes to be busy with something
always, and making up stories (even when one knows that these
--
this restless mind. Of course, it must become calm and quiet
some day in order to receive the light from above; but in the
--
a very rare chance. My vital being always wants more
and more; it is never satisfied with what You give it.
--
understand: you are dissatisfied not because I fail to give you all
that you need, but because I give you more, far more than you
are able to receive. Open yourself, increase your receptivity by
--
you, as complete as it can be; it is up to you to open yourself
and receive it. And it is certainly not by being re bellious and
discontented that you will be able to do so.
So many times I have resolved to work regularly and so
--
I would have Your help and become regular in my work,
but in vain.
--
your smile; because you knew how to smile at life, you also
knew how to work with courage and steadiness, and in this
--
other people, you have learned from them to be discontented,
re bellious, depressed, and now you have let your smile slip away,
--
all the divine forces were to concentrate on you, it would be in
vain - you would refuse to receive them.
--
accepting it: recover your smile, regain your faith, become once
more the confident child you were, do not brood over your faults
--
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 understand
--
In your sleep you are becoming conscious of the noises that the
mechanical thoughts of the most material mind make in their
--
sees more clearly and better understands what ought or ought
not to have been done.
20 Decem ber 1932
--
it is better to put me aside. I am quite hopeless. Again for
the last few days I have become irregular in my work.
You once said that to open myself to You is my work,
--
If I had known before that these things are so difficult, I
should never have wished to come here. Mother, I wish
--
things. Mother, please do not be angry with me, I have
nobody except You.
--
good too. because they have remained in me, they have
not disappeared. And the smile and working regularly
--
so much trouble? It would be better to remain quiet because "what should disappear will disappear; only what
is good will remain. "
--
I am not angry because what you write here means nothing
- I pity you, that's all. Did I tell you that it would disappear
--
and receive it. And it is certainly not by being re bellious
and discontented that you will be able to do so."
And again You wrote to me (Decem ber 7th) in this
--
And yet it is quite natural; how can you not be sad when you
turn your back on your soul, and that simply out of pride!
--
doesn't want to become quiet. because if I wanted to become quiet, I would naturally have tried to make myself
quiet, wouldn't I?
--
seem to be saying that I like to see you suffer; but this is so
absurd that I cannot believe it is what you mean.
When with all my will I am working for the disappearance
--
one of my children to suffer! It would be monstrous.
7 January 1933
--
days more, it may be very difficult for me to get rid of
these things.
--
and if I can't ever be happy, it will soon be impossible
for me to live. During these two days, in this sadness
--
them (the thieves of the vital world), because it is when you are
depressed that they are best able to rob you. You must not listen
to them - you must reject the wicked suggestions and become
yourself once again, that is to say, my "little smile".
--
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
am not what I was before.
I did not mean anything by not writing "my child" on the
--
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
--
what was merely instinctive must now become conscious and
willed.
--
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.
--
them, etc. It will be a very good exercise in French and at the
same time will create a further intimacy between us.
13 January 1933
--
It will be good to continue like this.
14 January 1933
--
Next time I see You, I shall explain how embroiderers fix the sari on the frame. The frame has to be as big
as the sari.
--
finish this sari before 24th April.
Mother, I have nothing new to tell You.
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
--
Now I have become regular again in all my work as
before.
--
This is good, my little smile; balance of the being is based upon
regular work.
--
of April, it will be possible to write 4.4.44, and so on. It is
interesting, isn't it?
--
"Supramental beauty in the physical"3 - what does
it mean? All these things - all the arts, the beautiful
The Mother's name for a light golden-orange Hibiscus.
--
supramental beauty in the physical?
No, all that is only the manifestation of a universal harmony
--
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.
When the supramental forces descend into Matter in order
to manifest, this perfect beauty will express itself quite naturally
and spontaneously in all forms.
--
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
I was wearing the gown this evening when I went for a walk on
--
Mother, for the past two days I have been feeling a
little tired, my hands have become a bit slow.
Don't you think it would be a good idea for you to take a little
rest? That is, either take a full day's rest or else work two hours
--
be tired because I am protected!"
14 April 1933
--
Yes, X told me today that the frame would be completely ready this evening.
Today I worked nine hours on the blouse.
--
and beautiful things such as I want to make for my dear,
dear Mother? How will my dreams be fulfilled if I waste
my time?
--
You are right; nothing is better than to realise our most beautiful
dreams and nothing makes us stronger and happier!
--
so beautiful and so very alive; I found their little heads with the
lovely little silver crests very beautiful, far more beautiful than
in the original drawing. The little diamonds are also very fine,
and in silver on the sari they will be magnificent. Where did you
do the ironing? It is good that you are learning.
--
cut or not. because if it is well cut, I can cut other things
without any hesitation.
--
because that was already a long stretch and ought not to be
increased.
--
would be the end of your beautiful embroideries! When you
have pain, close your eyes for a few minutes and cover them
--
disinterested action bears its fruit.
26 July 1933
--
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.
You must not get into the habit of going to bed late like that.
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 hand or the
--
work one does is no longer neat and trim; everything becomes
an approximation and one has to give up all hope of achieving
--
I think you must have been proud today to see your superb sari
- it is truly regal; and as for me, I was proud of my little smile
and her beautiful work!
15 August 1933
--
and tomorrow this work will be finished. Afterwards I
shall start the embroidery.
--
days - so as to do it better.
It is rather tiresome for you, my dear little smile! But it is an
--
been done in order to redo it better.
24 August 1933
--
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?
--
other. But then Z came and sat down beside me. I told
her to sit somewhere else and she got angry with me.
--
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
--
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.
--
Poor little X has become very sad... Are you so serious with her?
27 Novem ber 1933
--
answer her and I show her the work to be done.
Mother, I want Your presence and I try to keep it at
--
Mother, is it good or bad not to be able to speak like
that? I want to know, because if it is not good I don't
want it; I will go on speaking as before.
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, it will be very good.
28 Novem ber 1933
--
You keep promising me beautiful things and I keep
resisting them. How then can I ever be happy?
You must not worry - it does not help towards the realisation
of the promises; and also you must be patient. In this physical
world, things take time to get realised.
--
then he said, "You are the Mother's child, not Sri Aurobindo's." (It was just a joke, because I can read Your
handwriting but not Sri Aurobindo's.)
Don't you believe that when one is a child of the Mother,
one is at the same time a child of Sri Aurobindo, and viceversa?
--
won't tell You how many hours I work because if I
write "I worked for ten hours", You write to me, "It is
--
The "iris" flowers are very beautiful. Mother, what
do they signify?
"Aristocracy of beauty". It is a noble flower which stands upright on its stalk. Its form has been stylised in the fleur-de-lis,
emblem of the kings of France.
--
I didn't notice it, so it can't be anything much. That is probably
why you looked so grave at Pranam this morning. You should
--
I shall always be with you, my dear little child, in the struggle
and in the victory.
--
Then the work must be proceeding very fast. You have a marvellous capacity for work, my dear little child.
18 January 1934
--
You know that all my love is always with you as well as my best
will to help you out of your difficulties.
--
I become a naughty child, don't I, Mother?
Not naughty, poor little one, only a little sad, and that distresses
--
I know that there are beautiful things in my little
heart. There are bad things too, as You know, Mother
--
in my heart there will only be a very, very sweet love for
You alone.
What you have written here is very beautiful and it is also very
true. The beautiful things are far stronger than the ugly ones
and they will surely win the victory. I am with you always, in
--
beautiful. The sari too will be the most beautiful one in
Your collection of saris embroidered by us.
--
bird-of-paradise8 sari was very beautiful; but now that
The Mother's name for the Tiger-claw plant, Heliconia metallica.
--
That is not true; each has its own particular beauty and style.
The bird-of-paradise is a very beautiful sari.
Her blouse is truly the most beautiful one.
I cannot say whether it is the most beautiful or not. Each of
the embroidered saris has its own beauty; but it is true that this
blouse is very beautiful.
30 January 1934
--
beautiful for You we ought to be happy, no matter who
made it, myself or someone else; I mean that upon seeing
a very beautiful thing someone has made for You, one
ought to be very happy, and all those who love my sweet
Mother will naturally be happy.
Do You know that when I saw X's blouse, I felt as
if another person had made something more beautiful
than I had.
--
And that is why when I saw something very beautiful
made by someone else, my pride received a good hard
--
them. They have been in me long enough. Now I don't
want them. I shall not rest until You come into my heart
--
these things are sure to be there.
You will not have to go far to seize me, for I am already in your
--
My beloved Mother,
You are already in my heart, it is true. But I don't
--
you should concentrate in the inner being, which has a life
independent of the senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch).
--
images in these visions are always symbolic and should be taken
as such.
--
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
--
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.
--
My dear child, I didn't reply at once because I wanted to see the
cloth first. There are irregularities, of course, but it seems to me
that they can be put right.
I don't think it would be good to dye it again. It would become too dark. But we can take the irregularities as movements
of water and underline them with a fine gold thread; then it will
look as if it were done deli berately and it will be even lovelier.
Next time I see you, I shall show you exactly what I mean. Don't
worry, it will be quite all right. You may start your work right
away.
--
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.
--
You are my little child and you will always be my little child -
that is a sure fact.
But when little children prove to be unreasonable, it is very
difficult to reason with them. Now if you want me to tell you
--
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
--
see that everything will be all right, completely all right. I am
sending you the design of the crown.
--
Last night when I went to bed at about 9:30, I felt a
sort of fear, as if someone were there or someone might
--
You must not be afraid. If you see something that frightens
you or you have an unpleasant feeling, you must call me and the
--
Put yourself in my arms without fear and be sure that nothing can harm you. My force and my protection are always with
you.
--
are so conscious of it, I feel that soon you will be able to master it.
It goes without saying that our help is always with you to
--
peace and silence will be established in you some day never to
leave you again.
--
You are quite right. I much prefer a beautiful embroidered
sari to a lace gown. It is not a question of num ber or of need.
--
am proud of the beautiful things my dear children make for me
and I wear them with affection and joy.
--
the intimacy of this self-giving one can become conscious of the
inner Presence and the joy it brings.
--
when someone joyfully tells me about his beautiful and
happy experiences that I feel so poor; I feel then that I
--
told You the other day) because I know that if one can
always keep that silence and peace one never feels poor
--
I don't want to be, I don't want to feel so poor.
You have already had this experience of peace and silent joy;
--
one. besides, these days when the Ashram is full of visitors,9
there is a great confusion which often brings a clouding of
--
it the desire to be admired by people - ego? Or is it
something else? If You know, You will let me know. I
--
saris all these days? It is certainly not because I dislike wearing
them - quite the contrary. But they are rather heavy and warm
and I prefer to keep them for wearing between Novem ber and
January - at that time there are many visitors because of the
vacations and I shall then wear the embroidered saris with the
--
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.
--
frankness, be absolutely frank; tell me fully all that is going
on in you, and soon the cure will come, a complete and happy
--
Don't pretend to be silly when you are not. Not only was I
not angry, but I had not the slightest intention of looking angry.
--
the connection between it and your exterior consciousness. And
I took your laughter for a sign of conversion!
--
belittle the Divine's love, because without it nothing is worth
living for.
--
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 li berty of spiritual experience and the spiritual life, he assigns, if he admits him at all, not the vestment of the priest but the ro be 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 num ber 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 demands 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 absor bed in his art, the philosopher thinking out the problems of the intellect in his solitary cham ber, 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.
--
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.
--
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-li beration, we have the great spiritual teachers who have also li berated others and, supreme of all, the great dynamic souls who, feeling themselves stronger in the might of the Spirit than all the forces of the material life banded together, have thrown themselves upon the world, grappled with it in a loving wrestle and striven to compel its consent to its own transfiguration. Ordinarily, the effort is concentrated on a mental and moral change in humanity, but it may extend itself also to the alteration of the forms of our life and its institutions so that they too may be a better mould for the inpourings of the Spirit. These attempts have been the supreme landmarks in the progressive development of human ideals and the divine preparation of the race. Every one of them, whatever its outward results, has left Earth more capable of Heaven and quickened in its tardy movements the evolutionary Yoga of Nature.
In India, for the last thousand 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 hand, 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, handed 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 li beration 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 li beration are not the whole sense of God's intention in the world. The free use of our li berty includes also the li beration 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.
0.04 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Special new ropes for the bullocks have been prepared
by the milkman. When the bullocks are working, it may
--
the ropes will be removed. Those ropes are not tight;
they are loose, so it is no hardship to the bullocks.
--
them. The ropes may not be tight, but most probably they will
spoil the nose of the bullocks. There again it seems to me that it
--
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 sand.
--
Tomorrow is a holiday. The day after, these repairs can be made
to the cart.
As there will be a big crowd tomorrow in town, you will
have to be very careful when taking to and bringing back the
bullocks from the Agricultural Garden.
--
feeding tubs before the bullocks and went away. He is
not working satisfactorily. He does not keep things clean.
As there is no better man I am trying to get on with
him.
--
I object strongly to his way of twisting the tails of the beasts.
If somebody twisted one of his limbs like that, what would he
--
the man and to find a better one.
The proposal to frighten them in order to master them is
unacceptable. Some kind of submission can thus be obtained
perhaps, but of the worst kind. The beasts lose more and more
confidence and joy and peace and finally their strength and even
--
What is the use of being a sadhak if, as soon as we act, we
act like the ignorant ordinary man?
--
It seems to me that, at least for a time, it would be better not to
try to turn out much work every day, as Ojas may truly need rest.
I do not find the new man better than the previous one. He is far
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
given that work.
--
to do like that for our cattle. But I am tempted to beg
you for your kind gracious permission to use this kind of
--
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
--
no reason he has beaten Ra with the back of his sandal in
her shed at 5.10 p.m. I saw it from Ba's shed. He removed
--
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
as he wanted her to. This was her mistake. When I ran
--
tell me that he has beaten Ra like that with a sandal
before too and it seems he wants to control her like that.
--
not be good for Tej to let him move freely in a pasture for some
time, so that he may have air, sun and movement without doing
work. This question must be put clearly to the doctor asking for
A bullock.
a precise answer. It is well known now, that there is no better
cure for illnesses, whatever they are, than air and sun.
--
I thought there would be no objection from the Municipality or others to fixing rings on foot-path walls to tie
the cows. I wanted to have one ring fixed.
--
intend that it should never be renewed.
10 March 1934
--
This boy has been dismissed by my orders and will not be
given work in the Ashram.
A man who is cruel with beasts is worse than a beast.
2 April 1934
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 standing 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
32
--
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.
--
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 understanding 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 li berating 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 demanded of it by the individual life inhabiting this frame and the world-environment by which it is conditioned.
--
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.
--
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 li berated from many of the ordinary necessities of physical Nature; robust health, prolonged youth, often an extraordinary longevity are attained.
On the other hand, 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.
--
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 demand 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 hand 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 li beration 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
36
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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.
--
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
--
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.
--
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
--
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
40
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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 abandoned. The object is the release of the soul from its bondage to appearances and to the reaction of phenomenal activities.
--
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
--
have been broken to pieces. Is it true?
All these feelings - this uneasiness, this tiredness, these impressions of broken progress - come from the vital, which re bels
--
a worse state than before. There is something wrong in
my mind. Also, I feel bad everywhere. Tell me what I
--
tonight? If it is so, it was because I was thinking of the stupidity
Series Five - To a Child
--
them together, because they are nearly always just as I thought
they should be. The small one you sent this morning is very fine
and the choice of colours is excellent.
--
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.
Love from your mother.
--
want to be close to your heart, I want... but is it possible?
I don't know.
--
it sincerely, it will come to be so. You will feel yourself always
Series Five - To a Child
--
well too, taking care not to go to bed too late.
Very lovingly.
--
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
dear child.
--
that would be the worst thing I could do for you.
True love is the love that wants, to the exclusion of all else,
--
May peace be with me always.
Peace, peace in your heart and your vital.
--
Yes, you are and will be more and more a child of the Light.
No obscurity must be allowed to manifest through you.
12 April 1934
--
My child, my child, why this great sadness? Is it because someone to whom you had given your friendship has withdrawn for
reasons that he thinks are very profound?
--
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
know what true love is.
--
I don't think it would be good for you to live completely retired
and turned in on yourself. The whole thing is to choose your
--
important point which should never be forgotten. All that leads
you away from me in thought and feeling is bad. All that brings
--
outer calm. May it always be with you.
Affectionately.
--
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
--
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
--
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
--
I have told you this because the anxiety you speak of comes
from the fact that you are far too concerned about yourself. It
would be better for you to pay more attention to what you are
doing and to do it well (painting or music), to develop your
--
want to be ignorant and uncultured.
If you worked regularly eight to nine hours a day, you would
--
it. I am constantly in your heart: you must become conscious
of my presence and receive and use the force that I am pouring
--
I have no doubt that you will become aware of it if you forget the
Series Five - To a Child
--
and be replaced by an unvarying happiness.
With all my being, I want this progress and this transformation for you.
With love.
--
I shall be what you want me to be. Dear mother,
accept my childlike prayer.
--
or materially. All those who have been able to create something
beautiful or useful have always been persons who have known
how to discipline themselves.
--
being, the being who is free, peaceful, strong and happy always,
independently of all circumstances.
--
I hope you do not show my letters to anyone. It is better to
keep them to yourself; otherwise, if you show them, all the force
--
I know very well what you need - it is to be surrounded
by my love as by a protection, and truly my love is always with
--
I want to be like the lion on the envelope I am
sending you this evening.
--
I am in your heart that it may be happy, in your head that
it may be peaceful, and in your hand that it may be skilful.
With all my love.
--
A strong being is always quiet. It is weakness that causes restlessness. I am sending you (on my envelope, but in reality too)
the repose that comes from concentrated energy.
be sure that you will become strong and quiet, have faith in
a perfect realisation and in the Divine's omnipotence to achieve
--
I have been informed from the dining-room that you did
not eat either yesterday evening or the whole day today. Why? If
you are sick, you must be taken care of. I shall send the doctor
to you. But if you are not sick, you must eat; if you do not eat
--
I won't be irregular from today. You know very well
that I am not sick; it was a cloud, you know. Now I
am going to the dining-room. My mother, I want to be
good. Everything has gone now. I want to be your little
child.
--
the best thing is to remain always cradled in my arms, protected
by my love which never leaves you.
--
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
--
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
--
I am very happy to know that you want to be my instrument. To be able to be my instrument, you must be regular,
Series Five - To a Child
--
The best thing for your headache is to take plenty of physical
exercise (such as gardening for example).
--
I am putting peace in your heart; but to become conscious
of it, you should repeat, as often as possible, mentally turning
--
It is in fact something very superficial, but still it should be
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.
--
is never happy. When one allows oneself to be ruled by every
passing impulse, one is never peaceful.
--
I want to be happy, but how? Sadness comes during
my work; I cannot forget it. My dear mother, be with
me always.
--
if you didn't work it would be far worse. It is in work that one
finds balance and joy.
--
It is something in your vital that cannot bear any vexation, even
the slightest. This part of the vital must learn to become stronger
and more enduring.
--
suppose you know. Only when you become absolutely regular
in your material life will you be able to have good health.
Love from your mother.
--
For three days I have been feeling sad in the evening.
This morning I felt sad too. I don't know exactly why it
--
psychic being comes to the surface, it brings its own joy with
it; but when the mind or the vital comes, then the joy seems to
withdraw, though it is always there, behind, ready to manifest
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
the path, but with perseverance the victory is sure.
--
They will be fruitless." You told me to open my heart
and all will be well; but you know, mother, nothing stays
in me.
--
not be apparent. Certainly the path of yoga is a very difficult
one, and you should not expect to reap its fruits after only three
--
you have all of life before you; you need not be impatient.
You say that you are often depressed. It is the vital being
that gets depressed when its desires are not satisfied.
--
was that to develop your artistic faculties you are much better
off here than anywhere else. I added that only if you wanted to
--
The great bird "Garuda" standing immobile behind you
with outspread wings is the vehicle of Vishnu, the destroyer of
serpents. He seemed to be standing behind you to protect and
inspire you.
--
to be steady.
But with discrimination one can distinguish the bad from
--
and can only be solved with much endurance in the will and
much patience.
--
that these pleasures can only be obtained through much struggle
and effort and that always they go hand in hand with worry and
--
by step - everything seemed to be gradually closing in
against me, against my heart. I feel, even now, that I am
--
your destiny is. But it is you who must become aware of it
and understand it so that you can realise it. In what way do
you feel yourself going down? Are desires becoming stronger in
you? Whatever happens, you can always rely on my help; do
--
I feel completely suffocated. The struggle has become fiercer. How many days must I go on like this?
My dear child,
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,
--
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
--
tell me what to do - you have told me to be patient
and I will be patient. I am only telling you about my
condition, that's all.
--
Were you angry with me because I have decided to
leave the Ashram? I want to go forward - not to revolt
against you, no, not at all. But I want to be sure of my
path.
--
always be in my heart?
I am not at all angry; but since you have decided to leave, I
--
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.
--
not because I am afraid of my duty but because I want you." I
would like to tell you something about this. To be sure that you
are meant for the Ashram life, it is necessary that the spiritual
--
realisation of the Divine - must be the most important thing to
you, the only thing worth living for.
--
I am telling you all this so that you may not be disappointed
once again after returning here.
Read my letter very carefully, think it over well to be sure
that you have understood it completely, and when you have seen
--
However, I do not think it would be wise to come to
Pondicherry in February, for once you are here you might again
--
My love, my help and my blessings will always be with you.
Your mother.
--
comes from outside. May your will be done.
My love and blessings are with you to guide you on the way.
--
I want to be closer to you in my heart and in all my
being. Give me the power to give myself completely to
--
weakly that all will be well; but this voice is so feeble
that I cannot rely on it.1
--
know that I shall never be able to leave this life. This is
my situation right now. The struggle is getting more and
--
hardest part will be over.
With all my love and blessings.
--
of his being.
26 January 1950
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."
--
with you - so all that follows cannot be correct.
I will be very pleased to know the real cause of your
discontent and shall try my best to remove it. I cannot
tell you how it pains me to know that you are displeased
--
There is no real cause because there is no discontent. Your pain
is quite gratuitous, so you would [do] better [to] get rid of it
immediately.
--
I pray, please do not be vexed by my letter. I on my
part can bear anything except your displeasure. I feel
you are very vexed with me for some reason I cannot
--
is quite false and imaginary - it may be the result of a bad
conscience, but you must learn once and for all that whatever
--
So, throw away all this nonsense and try to be quiet and
happy.
--
"He who chooses the Infinite has been chosen by the Infinite."
Never forget this promise of Sri Aurobindo and keep
--
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.
Love from your mother.
--
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.
--
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
--
too light exterior being to interfere and spoil your endeavour, as
it does during marching for instance.
--
outer silence - peace in all my being, from the innermost
part to the outermost. Peace, peace in all my being. I
cannot express this in proper words and it is becoming
melodramatic. Pardon my mistake.
--
You find it difficult to open because you have not yet made
the resolution to allow my will, and not your own, to govern
--
everything will become easier - and you will at last be able to
acquire the peace you need so much.
--
The vital has become very, very bad. Today especially it is very re bellious.
You did not reply to my last letter. Do you mean
--
I did not answer because what I say seems to have no effect. If
you would express clearly, in a precise way, the nature of the
revolt, it would help you very much to get rid of it, because it is
Series Five - To a Child
--
The vital is a most bothersome character who prefers to be
bad rather than to go unnoticed. You must teach him that he is
--
Then it will not be difficult to stop it.
And when Sri Aurobindo tells you something, the first thing
--
This craving for strong experiences belongs to the vital; it
is a very frequent tendency in those whose vital is insufficiently
--
for violent sensations can never be a remedy; on the contrary,
they increase the confusion and obscurity.
--
Do not allow yourself to be dominated by vain imaginations.
The peace is there in the depths of your heart; concentrate there
--
Transform my whole nature. I shall be what you
want me to be. Give me your peace, your silence in my
heart. I cannot express everything in words, but, mother,
--
want me to be able to help you.
Mother,
--
"Peace, peace, O my heart!" Do it steadily and you will be
pleased with the result.
--
How happy I shall be the day when you always feel strong
and happy in all circumstances.
0.05 - The Synthesis of the Systems, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
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
42
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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.
--
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-hand 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-hand and left-hand 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 Ananda, - Nature in man li berating itself by right discrimination in power and practice of its own energies, elements and potentialities and Nature in man
The Synthesis of the Systems
--
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, li beration, 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 li beration 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 absor bed
44
--
Purusha pours itself out in the action of its Energy, there is action, creation and the enjoyment or Ananda of becoming. But if Ananda 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."
We see, then, what from the psychological point of view,
- 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
--
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 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 thousand 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
--
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 outstanding 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
--
Secondly, the process, being integral, accepts our nature such as it stands organised by our past evolution and without rejecting anything essential compels all to undergo a divine change.
Everything in us is seized by the hands 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 understand 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 hand 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
48
--
Therefore, also, an integral li beration. 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
Sachchidananda; 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 li beration 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 li beration, 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 hand the perfect reflection of the divine
being in ourselves and on the other the perfect outpouring of its
--
functioning of the complex instrument we are in our outer parts, is the condition of an integral li berty. Its result is an integral beatitude, in which there becomes possible at once the Ananda of all that is in the world seen as symbols of the Divine and the Ananda 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 li berated 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 li berty and of its results in others would be the inevitable outcome as well as the broadest utility of our li beration 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
--
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
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,
--
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
--
Saint, 'it cannot actively purify itself so as to be in the least degree prepared for the
Divine union of perfection of love, if God takes not its hand and purges it not in that
--
when God draws them forth from the state of beginnerswhich is the
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
--
In Chapter viii, St. John of the Cross begins to descri be the Passive Night of
the senses, the principal aim of which is the purgation or stripping of the soul of its
--
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
--
therefore promises to be brief in his treatment of it. Of the latter, on the other hand,
he will 'treat more fully . . . since very little has been said of this, either in speech or
in writing, and very little is known of it, even by experience.' 7
--
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
--
which belongs to loving and simple faith.
Both these chapters have contri buted to the reputation of St. John of the
--
his observations, but because, even in spite of himself, he betrays the sublimity of
his own mystical experiences. Once more, too, we may admire the crystalline
--
Night must impose upon itself; this, as might be logically deduced from the Ascent,
consists in 'allowing the soul to remain in peace and quietness,' content 'with a
--
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
--
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
--
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
--
re bellions and depravities of sense cannot be purged thoroughly.' 9
Spiritual persons, we are told, do not enter the second night immediately
--
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
--
burnings of Divine love, which are greater beyond comparison than those produced
by the Night of Sense, the one being as different from the other as is the body from
the soul. 'For this (latter) is an enkindling of spiritual love in the soul, which, in the
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
--
the soul with its heat, the delights experienced are so great as to be ineffable.
The second line of the first stanza of the poem is expounded in three
--
security in the Dark Nightdue, among other reasons, to its being freed 'not only
from itself, but likewise from its other enemies, which are the world and the devil.'12
--
comprise St. bernard's mystical ladder. Chapter xxi descri bes the soul's 'disguise,'
from which the book passes on (Chapters xxii, xxiii) to extol the 'happy chance'
--
Chapter xxiv glosses the last line of the second stanza'my house being now
at rest.' Both the higher and the lower 'portions of the soul' are now tranquillized
--
outline of what was to have been covered in the third, in which, following the same
effective metaphor of night, the Saint descri bes the excellent properties of the
--
opinion14 upon the commentaries thought to have been written on the final stanzas
of the 'Dark Night.' Did we possess them, they would explain the birth of the light
--
and of the agreement always found between the natural and the supernatural
between the principles of sound reason and the sublimest manifestations of Divine
0.06 - Letters to a Young Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
To a young sadhak who later became a teacher in the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education.1
I hope and believe Your work does not depend upon
human beings.
No, it does not depend at all upon human beings. What has to
be done will be done despite all possible resistances.
Is there no means of uniting my will with Yours? Perhaps
--
What we want to bring to the earth can hardly be called a revolution, although it will be the most marvellous change ever seen;
in any case this cannot be compared at all with the bloody revolutions which quite uselessly tear up countries without bringing
any great change after them, because they leave men as false, as
ignorant, as egoistic as before.
This Series is organised broadly by subject into thirteen parts - the form in which
--
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"
- for this will be a normal experience.
If the realisation were to be limited to this, it would hardly be
worth much. It is an integral transformation of terrestrial life
--
not very easily seen because it happens normally, in accordance
with the law of the truth of things, and not arbitrarily through
--
He wants that you first find yourself; that with your true being,
your psychic being, you master and govern the lower being, and
then you will quite naturally take your proper place in the great
--
Where is my true being?
Farther within or higher above, on the other side of the emotions,
--
it be without the feelings and thoughts which animate it? An
inert, lifeless mass.
--
oneself for the Yoga one must first of all be conscious.
To be conscious of the Divine Presence in us is our goal;
I don't see how I can be conscious from the beginning.
I have not said "conscious of the Divine Presence", I have said
--
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 outer nature to be able to taste the joy which the
manifested world so effectively conceals.
--
If you were a man of the world as you say, you would not be
here; you would be in the world. These are certain elements in
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
--
It is good to be above all enjoyments the world can give, but
why accept to be hurt by it?
I don't like this life without any attachments.
--
realisation and it would be wrong of you to complain about it.
The whole world is against me and I am in despair.
--
It may be that human life is indeed incapable of it; but for the
divine life nothing is impossible.
Is it strange that one should become disgusted with this
world? The repetition of the same round - that is death
--
stars - before Eternity".
All the stars (spiritually speaking) are the same. I mean that one
may call human beings grains of dust if one likes, or compare
them to the stars; in either case they are all alike in size and
worth before Eternity.
II
--
do not leave, I pray, any distance between You and me.
I too do not want any distance between us. But the relation must
be a true one, that is, based on union in the divine consciousness.
Open your heart yet wider, yet better, and the distance will
disappear.
--
Divine must be broken. O Mother, I don't know what I
ought to do.
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.
--
I shall always be with you in your endeavour.
Series Six - To a Young Sadhak
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
would be worthless words behind which a man seeks
shelter and protection. But even so, I am always Your
--
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."
--
my heart; I could not bear to lose You.
There is no question of losing me. We carry in ourselves an
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
--
It is precisely because of this that you lose the feeling of the
Presence.
I am always with you, and to become conscious of the inner
Presence is one of the most important points of the sadhana.
--
My beloved Mother, if only I could convince my ignorant
being that it is possible to find You in the centre of my
--
experience of this presence and then you will become aware
that in its depths your heart has always been conscious of this
presence.
Remove from me all obscurity which blinds me, and be
always with me.
--
would not be able to think of me. So you may be sure of my
presence. I add my blessings.
--
Not only of the soul, but of the whole being, without reserve.
Who is there to hold me back far from You?
--
to be near me you must climb up close beside me, and not expect
me to come down so far.
My beloved Mother, one day You wrote to me that I
must climb to the plane where You are, to be able to
have You intimately, and that I must not expect You
--
to climb up there. There is a world of difference between
our two planes. I dare not dream of the moment I shall
be at your side; You will always be higher, and I shall
aspire to You; I shall follow You from plane to plane,
but You will be always far from me. This picture does
not appear bad to me, because I know there is a great
joy in seeking; but it is true that my heart will always be
thirsty.
--
My beloved Mother, is it not possible to meet You on
some other plane than the physical? I don't mean by
--
the reality of your being we are always united.
To think that if you leave your body you will come closer to
me is a big mistake; for the vital being remains what it is, whether
the body be alive or dead, and if the vital being is, during one's
life, incapable of feeling the nearness, the deep intimacy, how
--
can one reasonably hope it will suddenly be able to do so just
because it has left the body? It is ignorant childishness.
--
one will necessarily be better, is also a mistake. It is only when
one has profited fully and to the utmost by the opportunity for
--
hope to be reborn in a higher organism. All defection, on the
contrary, naturally brings in a diminution of being.
Only the resolution to face courageously, in the present existence, all the difficulties, and to overcome them, is the sure
--
next birth may not be useless like this one.
This is all nonsense; we have not to busy ourselves with the next
--
What cannot be acquired or conquered during life can certainly
not be done after death. It is the physical life which is the true
field for progress and realisation.
beloved Mother, I must either be transformed or cease
to be.
It is impossible to cease to be; nothing that belongs to the manifested universe can go out of it except through the door of
spiritual li beration, that is, transformation.
--
I often ask myself if there is a truth behind this desire to
come close to You.
--
yourself, purify yourself within, so that this approach may be
useful and profitable.
--
you will surely be nearer to me than if you were seated near me
but thinking about other things.
--
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
--
(which may be had in all circumstances), call me from the depths
of this silence and you will see me standing there in the centre
of your being.
because I stopped the pranam for two days, you should not
--
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.
The psychic being is asleep in me.
The psychic being is not asleep. It is the connection with it which
is not well established because the mind makes too much noise
and the vital is too restless.
--
why does the human being cry and lament the lack of
this Presence?
I have already told you that it is because the contact between
the outer consciousness and the psychic consciousness is not
--
The suffering we experience proves that the psychic being is far away from the Divine.
It is not the psychic being which suffers, it is the mind, the vital
and the ordinary consciousness of ignorant man.
--
rose from the depths of my being, through a crowd of
obstacles, and when this thing had come out above, all
--
Certainly it was the psychic being, but it became active only
through my intervention.
--
me to make you aware of what is to be changed in you.
I feel, Mother, that I am a very frivolous fellow; won't
--
I would be very happy to change you, but are you quite sure
that what is frivolous in you wants to change?
--
I shall never be able to realise fully this relationship
which exists eternally, if You don't help me to do 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
be perfect.
--
Don't bother about what people believe or say; it is almost
always ignorant stupidities.
--
I don't think it would be bad to let You know about a
thought, an idea which goes on in me, even if this idea,
--
Nothing is better than a confession for opening the closed doors.
Tell me what you fear most to tell me, and immediately you will
--
is better to keep in one's heart a high aspiration rather than an
obscure somnolence.
--
When I try to look within myself, I find there a being that
is detached from everything, a great indifference reigns
--
inner state. It happens because you live in a very superficial
region of your mind. You must try to find some depth in your
--
It is certainly not by becoming morose and melancholy that one
draws near the Divine. One must always keep in one's heart an
--
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
--
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
--
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
--
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
--
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
over all the being.
I don't see anything wrong in not being sentimental; nothing is
further from true love, the divine love, than sentimentality.
All will be done, Mother, but why is my heart becoming
more and more dry and hard?
--
anyone; nobody attracts me. And it is because of this
that I told You I was losing all human feelings.
This can hardly be called a loss; I consider it an inestimable gain.
A love which is sufficiently strong can make a person the
slave of the beloved.
You speak here of vital love, but certainly not of psychic love
--
The person I love belongs to me.
This is a very ugly love, quite egoistic.
The Ashram is not a place for being in love with anyone. If you
want to lapse into such a stupidity, you may do so elsewhere,
--
My beloved Mother, the whole day I thought of nothing
else except that red rose which signifies "Human passions changed into love for the Divine". I want to know
--
the gambler the passion for dice, etc. If one human being feels
a violent and uncontrollable love for another, this is called a
--
love which human beings feel for one another that must be
changed into love for the Divine.
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
--
Certainly it is always better not to be too busy with oneself.
An excessive depreciation is no better than an excessive praise.
True humility lies in not judging oneself and in letting the Divine
--
Perhaps my vanity was better than this humility which
so casts me down.
--
My most beloved Mother, an introspection has revealed
to me many things. There is a jealousy in me which blinds
--
You have just given a very correct description, but it becomes
useful only from the moment you resolve that it is no longer
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
--
It is when one feels like a blind man that one begins to be ready
for the illumination.
--
The best thing is not to think oneself either great or small, very
important or very insignificant; for we are nothing in ourselves.
We must want to be only what the divine Will wants of us.
All my good intentions, since my childhood, have been
of no worth. My nature is just what it was when I was a
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;
not to identify myself with it is the best remedy I can
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.
--
My sweet beloved Mother, I read in the Conversations:
"Concentration alone will lead you to this goal." Should
--
Concentration does not mean meditation; on the contrary, concentration is a state one must be in continuously, whatever the
outer activity. By concentration I mean that all the energy, all the
will, all the aspiration must be turned only towards the Divine
and His integral realisation in our consciousness.
--
It would have been better to have sat in my chair and
thought about the moonlight playing upon the water.
Or, better still, not to have thought at all but contemplated the
Divine Grace.
--
Perhaps I am mistaken in believing that I shall find myself close to you more rapidly by dissolving my being
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 hands; but naturally this asks for a little
--
All depends not on what one does but on the attitude behind the
action.
--
actions without exception can become unselfish. But so long as
one has not reached this state, there are actions which are more
--
First of all I must know if this work can be a means of
my coming a little closer to You.
--
Mother, which is this being that receives happily any
work from You? Which is this being that loves You?
It is that part of your being which is under the influence of the
psychic and o beys the Divine impulsion.
Do I serve You as best I can?
You serve me as best you can, but your best of tomorrow must
be better than your best of today.
Without discipline it is impossible to realise anything on the
--
strict discipline of beating regularly and constantly, you would
not be able to live upon earth.
The great realisers have always been the great disciplined
men.
--
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...
--
You it will cease being "tamasic".
Yes, this is just what will happen.
I try always to be more careful, but things get spoilt in
my hands.
--
I must find out how I can consecrate this being to You.
Keep always burning in you the fire of aspiration and purification which I have kindled there.
--
must be the will to carry it out successfully.
Of all things the most difficult is to bring the divine consciousness into the material world. Must the endeavour then be
given up because of this?
Our way is very long, and it is indispensable to advance calmly
--
If you resolve to do it, my force will be there to back up your
effort.
You would be wrong to get distur bed; nothing is done arbitrarily,
and things get realised only when they are the expression of an
--
Yes, your mind gets too excited about things. It makes formations (it thinks forcefully: this must be like that, that must be
otherwise, etc.) and unknowingly it clings to its own formations
--
and this gives it pain. It must become calm and develop the habit
of remaining quiet.
--
Why accept the idea of being weak? It is this which is bad.
Series Six - To a Young Sadhak
--
only my whole being does not accept it.
If you repeat it with sufficient constancy, the recalcitrant part
will at last be convinced.
Yes, you are right to have hope; it is hope which builds happy
--
But why torment yourself so much? be calm, don't get distur bed,
remem ber that the conditions of our life are not quite ordinary
--
keep a calm certitude that sooner or later all will be well.
To be pessimistic has never been of any use except to attract
towards oneself just the things one fears. One must, on the
--
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
times, especially when it is waged against the hostile forces.
That is why one must be armed with patience and keep faith in
the final victory.
--
My beloved Mother, can the adverse forces act effectively
against the terrestrial evolution without using a human
--
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.
--
is the best means of overcoming an attraction, whether
small or great.
--
to something like this: "Continue to drink in order to stop being a drunkard" or better: "Continue to kill to stop being a
murderer!"
One must never be afraid, and if the adverse forces try to lodge
themselves in your lower nature, you have only to dislodge them,
--
One must never be afraid. Even in your sleep you must be able
to remem ber me and call me to your help if there is some danger.
--
more and will never be satisfied.
Y told me that very often he becomes an instrument of
the adverse forces.
--
these so-called vital beings, most of them would be immediately
dissolved.
--
I can be sure that the hostile force is far from me.
Yes, on condition that the "peace" is not that of a hardening but
--
if I could be quite alone, I would master this depression
which I cannot shake off.
--
wherever one goes, whatever the conditions one may be in. There
is but one way of getting out of it - it is to conquer the difficulty,
--
A pure being is always pure, in all circumstances.
You will admit that one can't live with others without
--
It would be much better to dissociate yourself from the tendency
to fall into your ordinary consciousness.
What will be the result if I meditate on the thought that
there is no difference between a certain thing, no matter
which, and me; for the Divine is as much present in that
--
be needed to become immune from the effects of dirt can be
utilized much more profitably elsewhere.
--
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
--
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
--
It would be much better for you not to busy yourself with what
others say.
--
It is never good to tell a lie, but here its results cannot but be
disastrous, for falsehood is the very symbol of that which wants
--
Health is the outer expression of a deep harmony, one must be
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
--
and it is fear which makes healing so difficult. All fear must be
overcome and replaced by a complete trust in the divine Grace.
For several days there has been pain in the nape of the
neck; I am tired of the remedies our dispensary gives me.
--
One must have an unshakable faith to be able to do without
medicines.
--
and no limit can be set to the power of the Divine.
One must find the inner peace and keep it constantly. In the force
--
dissolve, and the mind helps it; how will You be able to
stop the natural propensity of my body to disintegration?
It must become aware of the immortality of the elements constituting it (which is a scientifically recognised fact), then it must
submit itself to the influence and the will of the psychic being
which is immortal in its very nature.
--
For food to be no longer necessary, the body would have to be
completely transformed and no longer subject to any of the laws
--
I don't see why people should feel guilty because they are hungry.
If food is prepared, it is for eating.
My most beloved Mother, I think it would be better to
avoid a party of this kind.
--
The vital being seeks only power - material possession
and terrestrial power.
This also is false. The higher part of the vital being, like the
higher part of the mental being, aspires for the Divine and suffers
when far from Him.
--
accepts no impulse which has not been first sanctioned by the
mind, when no desire, no passion arises unless the mind thinks
--
from outside, it is enough that the mind intervenes for it to be
immediately controlled.
--
my body becomes weaker, won't they?
Certainly not; quite on the contrary, to be able to conquer the desires of the vital one must have an excellent physical equilibrium
and sound health.
--
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
--
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
find there the true knowledge?
--
satisfaction in itself and rarely seeks to silence itself so as to be
surpassed.
--
My beloved Mother, I want to follow a systematic course
of metaphysics and ethics. I am also thinking of reading
--
is better to engage it in studies than in silly ideas or unhealthy
dreamings.
--
and if it is not given enough work to occupy it, it begins to
become restless. So I think it is better to choose one's books
carefully rather than stop reading altogether.
--
and in all its details, it is better not to take it up at all. It is
a great mistake to think that a little superficial and incomplete
knowledge of things can be of any use whatsoever; it is good for
nothing except making people conceited, for they imagine they
--
It is very difficult to choose games which are useful and beneficial
for a child. It asks for much consideration and reflection, and all
--
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.
--
I must tell you that if a teacher wants to be respected, he must
be respectable. X is not the only one to say that you use violence
0.07 - DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL, #Dark Night of the Soul, #Saint John of the Cross, #Christianity
Exposition of the stanzas describing the method followed by the soul in its journey upon the spiritual road to the attainment of the perfect union of love with God, to the extent that is possible in this life. Likewise are descri bed the properties belonging to the soul that has attained to the said perfection, according as they are contained in the same stanzas.
PROLOGUE
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
--
I went forth without being observed, My house being now at rest.
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,
Nor I beheld aught, Without light or guide, save that which burned in my heart.
4. This light guided me More surely than the light of noonday
--
Oh, night that joined beloved with lover, Lover transformed in the beloved!
6. Upon my flowery breast, Kept wholly for himself alone,
--
With his gentle hand he wounded my neck And caused all my senses to be suspended.
8. I remained, lost in oblivion; My face I reclined on the beloved.
All ceased and I abandoned 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 understand 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
--
I went forth without being observed, My house being now at rest.
EXPOSITION
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:
0.07 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
easy at all. But to achieve even the beginning of a genuine
surrender of self - oh, how difficult it is, Mother!
--
there must be something fundamentally wrong. What is
it, Mother?
--
human beings: the pride and blindness of the physical mind.
8 July 1935
There is an old Hindu belief that one should not lie down
or sleep with one's head towards the North. Has it got
--
Many things have been said on the subject but, as far as my own
experience goes, I do not attach much importance to that belief.
24 March 1936
--
"O Lord, awaken my entire being that it may be for Thee
the needed instrument, the perfect servant."
--
But I submit reports about it because once you expressed
a desire that I should do so.
--
of my heart so that I may be blessed with a vision
of your soul-captivating Presence in the full glory of
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
--
that was never there before. It seems to me that soon you will
discover, behind the apparent dryness of the surface, the always
burning flame of a conscious Love.
--
do because they can't be hurt. So I never attach much importance
to complaints.
--
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
with the heavy chains of a mortal's nature pulling at my
--
Let me carry you in my arms and the climbing will become easy.
Love and blessings to my dear child.
--
My very dear child, live in my love, feel it, be filled with it and
be happy - nothing can please me more than that.
--
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
--
response, my heart does seem to be made of stone; otherwise, why should it refuse to open itself to such a love?
Series Seven - To a Sadhak
--
I sometimes wish you had not been so invariably kind
and gracious to me. For it makes it still more hard for
--
She will know what is best for me. Then how can I do
without a Guru who will lead me to Her Feet?
--
the best answer to your letter?...
With my love and blessings.
--
There happen to be bad sons now and then, but a bad
mother never.
--
I know you mean well, but to be good, truly good, may
be possible only for those who have gone beyond all
egoism. But if my Mother chooses to see only the good
--
them shine throughout your whole being and the clouds, if any,
will soon disappear.
--
Your heart is quite a sweet place because of your love - let
me remain always there so that I may fill your whole being with
light and love and joy.
--
always been aware of an instinctive belief that you are an
Avatar of the Divine Mother whom I adore, but whom
--
joy of an everlasting Presence be always with you - concretely
- in the sweetness of love divine.
--
Well - the best thing you could do is not to listen to what
people say; it would save you from many falls of consciousness.
--
ignorance of such interpretations. Whether you believe or doubt,
my love and blessings are with you.
--
to be forgiven for my stupidity.
O! How could I question your love, you who are
--
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.
--
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
--
standing before me ready to give a boon! In fact, I was
invoking Her and there you were with the pot of pickles
--
with me. It is the same old thing, but nonetheless distressing. It is civil war, a conflict between two different
tendencies and ideals, a pull from two different types
--
There is no contradiction that cannot be solved and harmonised
in a synthesis if you rise high enough in the intuitive mind and
--
have been doing for so many years. I expect these moods
will come and go. But may I never lose sight of your
--
I truly hope you will soon be out of all your troubles. Just
one good jump to the higher consciousness where all problems
--
Let divine love be your goal.
Let pure love be your way.
be always true to your love and all difficulties will be conquered.
Love and blessings to my dear child.
--
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?
--
state of pure openness to divine knowledge. There is no opposition there between these two kindred things; it is the mind that
makes them separate.
The best way to get to it is to refuse all mental agitation when
it comes, also all vital desires and turmoils, and to keep the mind
--
there will be no rest for poor me.
My dear child,
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
--
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
--
That which the Divine has destined for each of us - that will be.
My love and blessings to my dear child.
--
answered: "My dear child, you can be sure of my love and blessings."
so in words which I can understand and I will drop it.
--
what you wrote about it the other day, it is because I did not
attach much importance to it. My sentence meant simply that
--
called me" and that I remain convinced that it will be solved
successfully....
--
whole being around your highest consciousness and do not let
your mind work at random. Doubt is not a sport to indulge in
0.08 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
What is the difference between the psychic change
and the spiritual change?
--
being and of whom the psychic being is the sheath and the
expression. By the psychic change one passes from the individual
--
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
outer being, but that influence is almost always occult, neither
seen nor perceived nor felt, save on truly exceptional occasions.
--
care to become inwardly calm and remain so always as far as
possible, to cultivate a perfect sincerity in all the activities of
one's being - these are the essential conditions for the growth
of the psychic being.
10 Septem ber 1959
--
each region of the being has a corresponding kind of energy. If it
is physical energy, we absorb it principally through respiration,
--
Each region of the being and each activity has its energies. We
Series Eight - To a Young Captain
--
Our yoga being integral, all these various forms or kinds of
energy are indispensable to our realisation.
--
departed being itself, is only an image of it, an imprint (like
a photographic imprint) left in the subtle physical by the superficial mental form, an image that can become visible under
certain conditions. These images can move about (like cinema
--
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.
--
widening? because as soon as one aspires, isn't it the
mind that aspires?
--
by yoga that one can do it. There have been, throughout the spiritual history of humanity, many methods of yoga - which Sri
Aurobindo has descri bed and explained for us in The Synthesis
--
But before eliminating the will of the ego, which takes a very
long time, one can begin by surrendering the will of the ego to the
Divine Will at every opportunity and finally in a constant way.
--
the activities of our being.
Naturally, this is not the opinion of the ego, which thinks
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 understanding 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
--
cannot be posed.
21 Septem ber 1959
--
with one's psychic being, one must "aspire to know it
and feel it, open oneself to receive its influence, and take
--
But each way has its demands in order to be truly effective.
In thinking of me, you must think not only of the outer
person. but of what she represents, what stands behind her.
For you must never forget that the outer person is only the
--
physical being cannot become truly expressive of the eternal
Reality until it is completely transformed by the supramental
--
if you persist in the effort. You begin by remem bering your
dreams, then gradually you remain more and more conscious
--
(2) Establish a sort of bridge between the waking and the
sleeping consciousness, so that when you wake up you remem ber
--
It may be that you succeed immediately, but more often it
takes a certain time and you must persist in the effort.
--
leaving Him, and returns to the Divine without ceasing to be
manifest.
--
Thus it may be said that the role of the soul is to make a
true being of man.
29 Septem ber 1959
--
There is nothing that can truly be called luck. What men call
luck are the effects of causes they do not know.
--
already be a great sage to know what is truly favourable or
unfavourable to oneself.
Moreover, the same event may be very good for one person
and at the same time very bad for another. These estimations are
--
carry in ourselves in all our states of being, mentally, vitally and
physically, is that which constitutes our life objectified in what
--
the street and gazed at the sadhaks assembled below.
Series Eight - To a Young Captain
The best way to receive what He gives is to come to the
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
beforehand, not while I am there, because any activity lessens
the receptivity.
--
pain which welcome or repel. This makes in our outer being a
constant activity and noise that we are only partially aware of,
--
the feelings, all the movements of emotion can be captured,
experienced, re-felt as if they were produced in ourselves.
--
How can one distinguish between good and evil in
a dream?
--
the first point is to learn to distinguish between these various
activities - that is, to recognise what part of the being it is that
"dreams", what domain it is that one "dreams" in, and what the
--
instead of being understood only by the mind?
To read my books is not difficult because they are written in the
simplest language, almost the spoken language. To get help from
--
To read what Sri Aurobindo writes is more difficult because
the expression is highly intellectual and the language far more
--
months later, one finds that the thought expressed has become
much clearer and closer and even at times quite familiar.
--
It is because each photo represents a different aspect, sometimes
even a different personality of my being; and by concentrating
on the photo, one enters into relation with that special aspect or
--
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
--
asleep that it seems to be wholly devoid of consciousness; at any
rate, as in the stone, the mineral kingdom, the consciousness
--
and in them subconscience begins; this subconscience, with the
appearance of mind in man, culminates in consciousness. This
--
The overmind is the region of the gods, the beings of divine
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
--
a zone corresponding to the overmind and an overmind consciousness, before one can rise above it, to the Supermind, or
open oneself to it.
--
The individual being is made up of states of being corresponding
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,
--
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
--
nor even in a year. This mastery, in whatever domain it may be,
vital, mental, overmental, demands assiduous effort and a great
--
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
--
question more precisely, the context would be needed in order to
know on what occasion Sri Aurobindo spoke about Supernature.
--
"There is as yet no overmind being or organised overmind nature, no supramental being or organised supermind nature acting either on our surface or in our
normal subliminal parts."4 Sweet Mother, now after the
--
What Sri Aurobindo means is that only a few exceptional beings
who do not belong to the ordinary humanity, have a conscious
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
--
"supreme faculties" are being referred to here? Those of man on
the way to becoming superman, or those that the supramental
being will possess when he appears on earth?
--
If it refers to the supreme faculties of the supramental being, we cannot say much about them, for all we can say at the
moment belongs more to the realm of imagination than to the
realm of knowledge, since this supramental being has not yet
manifested on earth.
--
the human being"?
These divisions are merely arbitrary. They have been established
in order to facilitate the study of human nature and especially
--
these divergences, there is a sort of tradition which, behind the
different terms, makes for an essential analogy. This analogy can
--
No conception of the Divine can be correct; for conceptions are
mental activities, and no mental activity is fit to manifest the
--
experience cannot be translated into words.
20 June 1960
0.09 - Letters to a Young Teacher, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
because He is the sole Reality behind everything.
The Synthesis of Yoga, SABCL, Vol. 20, p. 39.
--
has been chosen by the Infinite."3 And what about the
others, Mother? What good is life if the Divine does not
want us? I believe that in truth the Divine has chosen us
all; but what does this sentence mean, then?
--
there is a bright and bare room, the last before we emerge into
the open air, into the full light.
--
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
--
receive all the help needed to be able to change in themselves
what needs to be changed. You can be sure that my force will
always be with you so that you can make all the progress you
want to make.
Have confidence, my child; everything will be all right.
5 June 1960
--
which must be cut. How can one do it, where should
one start?
--
One keeps one's defects because one hangs on to them as if
they were something precious; one clings to one's vices as one
--
and one receives in exchange the force to replace what has been
given, by a better and truer vibration.
13 June 1960
--
that the Divine belongs to us exclusively (and not that
we belong to Him). Why?
Series Nine - To a Young Teacher
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.
--
What exactly is the soul or psychic being? And what
is meant by the evolution of the psychic being? What is
its relation to the Supreme?
The soul and the psychic being are not exactly the same thing,
although their essence is the same.
--
The psychic being is formed progressively around this divine
centre, the soul, in the course of its innumerable lives in the
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.
And thus identified with the Divine, it becomes His perfect
instrument in the world.
--
When you have established contact with your psychic being, it
is, in effect, definitive.
But before this contact is established, you can, in certain
circumstances, consciously receive the psychic influence which
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?
It would be more correct to say that the soul puts on a progressive individual form which becomes the psychic being. For since
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
--
which must be undertaken with sincerity and continued with an
increasing sincerity ever more scrupulous and integral.
--
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?
--
outer being more and more completely from the psychic being,
which retires into the depths of the higher consciousness and
--
usually possessed by an asuric or rakshasic being.
The psychic being itself is above all possibility of degradation.
28 July 1960
--
How does the soul influence a being who is normally
unconscious?
--
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
the ego has been dissolved.
12 August 1960
--
You have said that to be allowed to sit in Sri
Aurobindo's room and meditate there, "one must have
--
Mother? What can one do for the Lord which will be
this "much"?
--
to offer Him a part of our belongings or all our possessions, to
consecrate to Him a part of our work or all our activities, or to
--
the need of the moment, so that each person may be able to find
in them either the force or the knowledge that will help him to
--
Sri Aurobindo tells us: "First be sure of the call and
of thy soul's answer"6 before following the path of Yoga,
or else the end will be a disaster. But how can we know if
the call is really there or not? And as for our soul, would
--
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
--
and may be harmful.
17 Octo ber 1960
--
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.
--
It is because an individual is not made up all of one piece, but
of many different entities which are sometimes even contrary to
--
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
what Sri Aurobindo has spoken of.
--
ecstasy because one is in contact with one's Personal
Divine. How to approach the Transcendent Divine?
--
wanted to say is that in our best moments of receptivity,
we are in contact with a Presence to whom we feel an
--
eliminations arrive at the one sole Truth, the Absolute beyond
form and time and space. It is a long and difficult path, a very
--
Sri Aurobindo tells us: "God in his perfection embraces everything; we also must become all-embracing."
There is a lot of misunderstanding among the young
--
It should be understood clearly that there is no question here
of any physical embracing, as practical jokers with the tastes
--
and they can be reproduced among human beings only by a
widening of the consciousness, understanding and feelings - a
--
We are told that before the children came to the
Ashram, the conditions were a lot stricter and the discipline more rigorous. How and why have these conditions
--
But as it would be unreasonable to demand that children
should do sadhana, this rigidity had to disappear the moment
--
Is it possible to love You perfectly, absolutely, before
finding the psychic being within us?
In terrestrial man, it is only the psychic being that knows true
love. As for perfect love, it exists only in the Divine.
--
results be in the world?
A generalised goodwill and harmony.
--
and one little trifles of daily life which have to be thrown
away once they have served their purpose, as for example matchboxes, pencils, toothbrushes, combs, even the
--
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 remem ber 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-cham bered 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
Swalpamapyasya dharmasya tryate mahato bhayt1
Now, if it is asked what is the proof of it all, how can one be sure that one is not running after a mirage, a chimera? We can only answer with the adage; the proof of the pudding is in the eating thereof
III
I have a word to add finally in justification of the title of this essay. For, it may be asked, how can spirituality be considered as one of the Arts or given an honourable place in their domain?
From a certain point of view, from the point of view of essentials and inner realities, it would appear that spirituality is, at least, the basis of the arts, if not the highest art. If art is meant to express the soul of things, and since the true soul of things is the divine element in them, then certainly spirituality, the discipline of coming in conscious contact with the Spirit, the Divine, must be accorded the regal seat in the hierarchy of the arts. Also, spirituality is the greatest and the most difficult of the arts; for it is the art of life. To make of life a perfect work of beauty, pure in its lines, faultless in its rhythm, replete with strength, iridescent: with light, vibrant with delightan embodiment of the Divine, in a wordis the highest ideal of spirituality; viewed the spirituality that Sri Aurobindo practisesis the ne plus ultra of artistic creation
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
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 hand, 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 standpoint 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.
***
01.01 - The New Humanity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The world is in the throes of a new creation and the pangs of that new birth have made mother Earth restless. It is no longer a far-off ideal that our imagination struggles to visualise, nor a prophecy that yet remains to be fulfilled. It is Here and Now.
Although we may not know it, the New Man the divine race of humanity is already among us. It may be in our next neighbour, in our nearest brother, even in myself. Only a thin veil covers it. It marches just behind the line. It waits for an occasion to throw off the veil and place itself in the forefront. We are living in strenuous times in which age-long institutions are going down and new-forces rearing their heads, old habits are being cast off and new impulsions acquired. In every sphere of life, we see the urgent demand for a recasting, a fresh valuation of things. From the base to the summit, from the economic and political life to the artistic and spiritual, humanity is being shaken to bring out a new expression and articulation. There is the hidden surge of a Power, the secret stress of a Spirit that can no longer suffer to remain in the shade and behind the mask, but wills to come out in the broad daylight and be recognised in its plenary virtues.
That Power, that Spirit has been growing and gathering its strength during all the millenniums that humanity has lived through. On the momentous day when man appeared on earth, the Higher Man also took his birth. Since the hour the Spirit refused to be imprisoned in its animal sheath and came out as man, it approached by that very uplift a greater freedom and a vaster movement. It was the crest of that underground wave which peered over the surface from age to age, from clime to clime through the experiences of poets and prophets and sages the Head of the Sacrificial Horse galloping towards the Dawn.
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 hands 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 mem bers 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 demanded. 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 demands 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
It was the hour before the Gods awake.
1.2
--
As in a dark beginning of all things,
A mute featureless semblance of the Unknown
--
Something that wished but knew not how to be,
Teased the Inconscient to wake Ignorance.
--
Insensibly somewhere a breach began:
A long lone line of hesitating hue
--
And all that was destroyed must be rebuilt
And old experience laboured out once more.
All can be done if the god-touch is there.
A hope stole in that hardly dared to be
Amid the Night's forlorn indifference.
--
And beauty and wonder distur bed the fields of God.
1.21
--
And bent over earth's pondering forehead curve.
1.28
Interpreting a recondite beauty and bliss
In colour's hieroglyphs of mystic sense,
--
A Form from far beatitudes seemed to near.
1.31
--
Once she half looked behind for her veiled sun,
Then, thoughtful, went to her immortal work.
--
Air was a vibrant link between earth and heaven;
The wide-winged hymn of a great priestly wind
--
Outspread beneath some large indifferent gaze,
Impartial witness of our joy and bale,
--
Too perfect to be held by death-bound hearts,
The prescience of a marvellous birth to come.
--
Spiritual beauty illumining human sight
Lines with its passion and mystery Matter's mask
And squanders eternity on a beat of Time.
1.40
--
The hue and marvel of the supernal beam:
She looked no more on our mortality.
--
The excess of beauty natural to god-kind
Could not uphold its claim on time-born eyes;
--
And, lured by the beauty of the apparent ways,
Acclaimed their portion of ephemeral joy.
--
A vaster Nature's joy had once been hers,
But long could keep not its gold heavenly hue
--
Hoping her greater being to implant
And in their body's lives acclimatise
--
Mortality bears ill the eternal's touch:
It fears the pure divine intolerance
--
Their work betrayed, their good to evil turned,
The cross their payment for the crown they gave,
Only they leave behind a splendid Name.
2.14
--
The mortal's lot became the Immortal's share.
2.17
--
Leaving her slain behind she travels on:
Man only marks and God's all-seeing eyes.
--
began again beneath the eternal Hand.
2.39
01.02 - Natures Own Yoga, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral 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 stand 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, Sachchidananda, 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 strands 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 Sachchidanandais ever self-aware and ever manifested and embodied in fundamental truth-powers and truth-forms for the play of creation; it is the plane where the One breaks out into the Many and the Many still remain one, being and knowing themselves to be but various self-expressions of the One; it develops the spiritual archetypes, the divine names and forms of all individualisations of an evolving existence.
SRI AUROBINDO
--
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
--
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 hand 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
01.02 - Sri Aurobindo - Ahana and Other Poems, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
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 "grandly 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 gi bet, vous avez la croixTie God to the gib bet, 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 crab bed" 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 deli berately 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,
--
To be His arms whom I have sought; I saw
How earth was made
Out of his being; I perceived the Law,
The Truth, the Vast,
--
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
--
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,
--
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 stand 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: remem ber the classic definition given by Shakespeare of the poet
Of imagination all compact.. . .
--
The heart and its urges, the vital and its surges, the physical impulsesit is these of which the poets sang in their infinite variations. But the mind proper, that is to say, the higher reflective ideative mind, was not given the right of citizenship in the domain of poetry. I am not forgetting the so-called Metaphysicals. The element of metaphysics among the Metaphysicals has already been called into question. There is here, no doubt, some theology, a good dose of mental cleverness or conceit, but a modern intellectual or rather rational intelligence is something other, something more than that. Even the metaphysics that was commandeered here had more or less a decorative value, it could not be taken into the pith and substance of poetic truth and beauty. It was a decoration, but not unoften a drag. I referred to the Upanishads, but these strike quite a different, almost an opposite line in this connection. They are in a sense truly metaphysical: they bypass the mind and the mental powers, get hold of a higher mode of consciousness, make a direct contact with truth and beauty and reality. It was Buddha's credit to have forged this missing link in man's spiritual consciousness, to have brought into play the power of the rational intellect and used it in support of the spiritual experience. That is not to say that he was the very first person, the originator who initiated the movement; but at least this seems to be true that in him and his au thentic followers the movement came to the forefront of human consciousness and attained the proportions of a major mem ber of man's psychological constitution. We may remem ber here that Socrates, who started a similar movement of rationalisation in his own way in Europe, was almost a contemporary of the Buddha.
Poetry as an expression of thought-power, poetry weighted with intelligence and rationalised knowledge that seems to me to be the end and drive, the secret sense of all the mystery of modern technique. The combination is risky, but not impossible. In the spiritual domain the Gita achieved this miracle to a considerable degree. Still, the power of intelligence and reason shown by Vyasa is of a special order: it is a sublimated function of the faculty, something aloof and other-worldly"introvert", a modern mind would term it that is to say, something a priori, standing in its own au thenticity and self-sufficiency. A modern intelligence would be more scientific, let us use the word, more matter-of-fact and sense-based: the mental light should not be confined in its ivory tower, however high that may be, but brought down and placed at the service of our perception and appreciation and explanation of things human and terrestrial; made immanent in the mundane and the ephemeral, as they are commonly called. This is not an impossibility. Sri Aurobindo seems to have done the thing. In him we find the three terms of human consciousness arriving at an absolute fusion and his poetry is a wonderful example of that fusion. The three terms are the spiritual, the intellectual or philosophical and the physical or sensational. The intellectual, or more generally, the mental, is the intermediary, the Paraclete, as he himself will call it later on in a poem9 magnificently exemplifying the point we are trying to make out the agent who negotiates, bridges and harmonises the two other firmaments usually supposed to be antagonistic and incompatible.
Indeed it would be wrong to associate any cold ascetic nudity to the spiritual body of Sri Aurobindo. His poetry is philosophic, abstract, no doubt, but every philosophy has its practice, every abstract thing its concrete application,even as the soul has its body; and the fusion, not mere union, of the two is very characteristic in him. The deepest and unseizable flights of thought he knows how to clo the with a Kalidasian richness of imagery, or a Keatsean gusto of sensuousness:
. . . . .O flowers, O delight on the tree-tops burning!
--
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.
--
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 stand upon divinity and thence to embrace and mould what is earthly and human. The Greek spirit took its stand pre-eminently on earth and what belongs to earth. In Europe Dante's was a soul spiritualised more than perhaps any 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
--
We have in Sri Aurobindo a passage parallel in sentiment, if not of equal poetic value, which will bear out the contrast:
My mind within grew holy, calm and still
--
The Greek sings of the humanity of man, the Indian the divinity of man. It is the Hellenic spirit that has very largely moulded our taste and we have forgotten that an equally poetic world exists in the domain of spiritual life, even in its very severity, as in that of earthly life and its sweetness. And as we are passionate about the earthly life, even so Sri Aurobindo has made a passion of the spiritual life. Poetry after all has a mission; the phrase "Art for Art's sake" may be made to mean anything. Poetry is not merely what is pleasing, not even what is merely touching and moving but what is at the same time, inspiring, invigorating, elevating. Truth is indeed beauty but it is not always the beauty that captivates the eye or the mere aesthetic sense.
And because our Vedic poets always looked beyond humanity, beyond earth, therefore could they make divine poetry of humanity and what is of earth. Therefore it was that they were pervadingly so grandiose and sublime and puissant. The heroic, the epic was their natural element and they could not but express themselves in the grand manner Sri Aurobindo has the same outlook and it is why we find in him the ring of the old-world manner.
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
roadway bejewel,
Down in the jaws of the savage mountains granite
--
Shudders below into sunless depths, along chasms
unending,
--
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 stand. But there is poetry that is agrable and there is poetry that is grand, as Sainte beuve said. There are the pleasures of poetry and there are the "ardours of poetry". And the great poets are always grand 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 standards,14 it has illustrated once more that poetry is not merely beauty but power, it is not merely sweet imagination but creative visionit is even 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 descri bes Sri Aurobindo as "the philosopher as poet."
--
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.
***
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 understand 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 wander into side-paths, paths that do not belong to our real nature and hence that lead to imitation and repetition, decay and death. This is what happens to what we call common souls. The force of circumstances, the pressure of environment or simply the momentum of custom or habit compel them to choose the easiest and the readiest way that may lie before them. They do not consult the demand of the inner being but the requirement of the moment. Our bodily needs, our vital hungers and our mental prejudices obsess and obscure the impulsions that thrill the hidden spirit. We hasten to gratify the immediate and forget the eternal, we clutch at the shadow and let go the substance. We are carried away in the flux and tumult of life. It is a mixed and collective whirla Weltgeist that moves and governs us. We are helpless straws drifting in the current. But manhood demands that we stop and pause, pull ourselves out of the Maelstrom and be what we are. We must shape things as we want and not allow things to shape us as they want.
Let each take cognisance of the godhead that is within him for self is Godand in the strength of the soul-divinity create his universe. It does not matter what sort of universe he- creates, so long as he creates it. The world created by a Buddha is not the same as that created by a Napoleon, nor should they be the same. It does not prove anything that I cannot become a Kalidasa; for that matter Kalidasa cannot become what I am. If you have not the genius of a Shankara it does not mean that you have no genius at all. be and become yourselfma gridhah kasyachit dhanam, says the Upanishad. The fountain-head of creative genius lies there, in the free choice and the particular delight the self-determination of the spirit within you and not in the desire for your neighbours riches. The world has become dull and uniform and mechanical, since everybody endeavours to become not himself, but always somebody else. Imitation is servitude and servitude brings in grief.
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 demands 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 standard 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
All that she once had hoped and dreamed and been,
Flew past her eagle-winged through memory's skies.
--
And be the ungar bed entity within:
That hour had fallen now on Savitri.
--
A point she had reached where life must be in vain
Or, in her unborn element awake,
--
Its beginning lost, its motive and plot concealed,
A once living story has prepared and made
--
Must be wrestled out on a dangerous dim background:
Her being must confront its formless Cause,
Against the universe weigh its single self.
--
And vindicate her right to be and love.
3.14
Altered must be Nature's harsh economy;
Acquittance she must win from her past's bond,
--
In the closed beauty of the inhuman wilds.
3.19
--
The Gods above and Nature sole below
Were the spectators of that mighty strife.
--
Since first the earth- being's heavenward growth began,
Through all the long ordeal of the race,
--
Inhabited with rich creative beats
A body like a parable of dawn
--
Or golden temple-door to things beyond.
3.34
--
Poured a supernal beauty on men's lives.
3.35
--
Remem bered beauty death-claimed lids ignore
And wondered at this world of fragile forms
--
Although she leaned to bear the human load,
Her walk kept still the measures of the gods.
--
Whether to bear with Ignorance and death
Or hew the ways of Immortality,
--
A creature born to bend beneath the yoke,
A chattel and a plaything of Time's lords,
Or one more pawn who comes destined to be pushed
One slow move forward on a measureless board
--
Where all must move between an ordered Chance
And an uncaring blind Necessity,
--
Her being conscious of its divine founts
Asked not from mortal frailty pain's relief,
--
A lonely thought becomes omnipotent.
4.40
--
A beating heart cuts out emotion's modes;
An insentient energy fabricates a soul.
--
A Godhead stands behind the brute machine.
4.46
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 li beration 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 li beration, 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 li beration, perfection, fullness too must not be pursued for our own sake, but for the sake of the Divine.
This Yoga demands 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
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?
--
is just on the borderland: it has succeeded in leaving behind the mystic domain, but has not yet entered the city of the Spiritat the most, it has turned the corner and approached the gate. Listen now,
My soul unhorizoned widens to measureless sight,
--
In the far avenues of the beyond.||6.19||
He heard the secret Voice, the Word that knows,
--
The mystic tract beyond our waking thoughts,
A door parted, built in by Matters force,
--
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 Eliza bethan 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 li berally, 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 hand, 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
--
I have gazed upon beauty from my very birth
and yet my eyes
--
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.
The famous Song of Solomon too is not on a different footing, when the poet cries:
--
When the soul bears eternity's embrace?12
or these again equally fraught with an intense experience a quiet ingathered luminous consciousness:
--
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
--
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 hands 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 num ber 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 outstanding 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 grand 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", imaginationremem ber 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 so ber 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 understanding and a firmer grasp of the thing which he presents and explains to others as well who demand 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.
--
Man's consciousness is further to rise from the mental to over-mental regions. Accordingly, his life and activities and along with that his artistic creations too will take on a new tone and rhythm, a new mould and constitution even. For this transition, the higher mentalwhich is normally the field of philosophical and idealistic activitiesserves as the Paraclete, the Intercessor; it takes up the lower functionings of the consciousness, which are intense in their own way, but narrow and turbid, and gives, by purifying and enlarging, a wider frame, a more luminous pattern, a more subtly articulated , form for the higher, vaster and deeper realities, truths and harmonies to express and manifest. In the old-world spiritual and mystic poets, this intervening medium was overlooked for evident reasons, for human reason or even intelligence is a double-edged instrument, it can make as well as mar, it has a light that most often and naturally shuts off other higher lights beyond it. So it was bypassed, some kind of direct and immediate contact was sought to be established between the normal and the transcendental. The result was, as I have pointed out, a pure spiritual poetry, on the one hand, as in the Upanishads, or, on the other, religious poetry of various grades and denominations that spoke of the spiritual but in the terms and in the manner of the mundane, at least very much coloured and dominated by the latter. Vyasa was the great legendary figure in India who, as is shown in his Mahabharata, seems to have been one of the pioneers, if not the pioneer, to forge and build the missing link of Thought Power. The exemplar of the manner is the Gita. Valmiki's represented a more ancient and primary inspiration, of a vast vital sensibility, something of the kind that was at the basis of Homer's genius. In Greece it was Socrates who initiated the movement of speculative philosophy and the emphasis of intellectual power slowly began to find expression in the later poets, Sophocles and Euripides. But all these were very simple beginnings. The moderns go in for something more radical and totalitarian. The rationalising element instead of being an additional or subordinate or contri buting factor, must itself give its norm and form, its own substance and manner to the creative activity. Such is the present-day demand.
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 Sand,
--
And bears the silence of the Infinite. ||20.21||
In a divine retreat from mortal thought,
--
His being towered into pathless heights,
Naked of its vesture of humanity. ||21.1||
--
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 demands a logical element in its perceptions and presentations. Also it must needs be a different kind of logic that can satisfy and satisfy wholly 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||
--
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 descri bed 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 englo bes 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 mem ber; 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:
Not a senseless, trancd thing,
--
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,
--
I may rise up from death, before ram dead.22
The allegorical element too finds here cleverly woven into the mystically religious texture. Here is another example of the mystically religious temper from Donne:
--
Which cannot sinne, and yet all sinnes must beare,
Which cannot die, yet cannot chuse but die,
--
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
--
Al bert Samain: "Pannyre awe talons d'or"Aux Flancs du Vase. And Pannyre became flower, flame, butterfly.. . . As though through a silky continuity of water In a divine flash showed Pannyre naked.
Mallarme: "Les Fleurs". "Vermilion like the pure toe of the seraph Reddened by the blush of dawns it trampled through."
01.03 - Rationalism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
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 standard 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 understanding 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 candid Rationalist would say that he does not know although he has his own opinion about the matter. Evidently, Reason cannot solve all the problems that it meets; it can judge only truths that are of a certain type.
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 demands 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 stands 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 stand 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 hand, Reason does not offer any set-form from beforehand, 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
A considerable amount of vague misunderstanding 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 hand, 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 propaganda 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 brand 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 understand 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 stands 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 propaganda carried on in its behalf or that there is a large demand 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 standing among its first instruments and pioneer workers.
***
01.03 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Souls Release, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
A pointing beam on earth's uncertain roads,
His birth held up a symbol and a sign;
--
He kept the vision of the Vasts behind:
A power was in him from the Unknowable.
An archivist of the symbols of the beyond,
A treasurer of superhuman dreams,
--
A skyward being nourishing its roots
On sustenance from occult spiritual founts
--
Each moment was a beat of puissant wings.
The little plot of our mortality
Touched by this tenant from the heights became
A playground of the living Infinite.
--
Artist of his own beauty and delight,
Immortal in our mortal poverty.
--
A beam of the Eternal smites his heart,
His thought stretches into infinitude;
--
Her being is his through a vast identity.
Then is revealed in man the overt Divine.
--
A Presence wrought behind the ambiguous screen:
It beat his soil to bear a Titan's weight,
Refining half-hewn blocks of natural strength
--
His dreamed magnificence of things to be.
A crown of the architecture of the worlds,
--
The conscious ends of being went rolling back:
The landmarks of the little person fell,
--
The bounded mind became a boundless light,
The finite self mated with infinity.
--
A greater being saw a greater world.
A fearless will for knowledge dared to erase
--
In beings it knew what lurked to them unknown;
It seized the idea in mind, the wish in the heart;
--
He felt the beating life in other men
Invade him with their happiness and their grief;
--
To be happy partners in the soul's response,
Tissue and nerve were turned to sensitive chords,
--
The mystic tract beyond our waking thoughts,
A door parted, built in by Matter's force,
--
In the far avenues of the beyond.
He heard the secret Voice, the Word that knows,
--
Of beings less circumscri bed than brief-lived men
And subtler bodies than these passing frames,
--
A consciousness of beauty and of bliss,
A knowledge which became what it perceived,
Replaced the separated sense and heart
--
A bed for occult sounds earth cannot hear.
Out of a covert tract of slum ber self
--
That flows beneath the cosmic surfaces,
Only mid an omniscient silence heard,
--
On its long listening flood that bears the world's
Insoluble doubt on a pilgrimage without goal,
--
A cry came of the world's delight to be,
The grandeur and greatness of its will to live,
--
And being's labour in Matter's universe,
Its search for the mystic meaning of its birth
--
Its rapture's poignant beat of sudden bliss,
The sob of its passion and unending pain.
--
Of all that suffers to be still unknown
And all that labours vainly to be born
And all the sweetness none will ever taste
And all the beauty that will never be.
Inaudible to our deaf mortal ears
--
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:
--
And all believed themselves spokesmen of God:
The gods of light and titans of the dark
--
And sweet temptations stole from beauty's realms
And sudden ecstasies from a world of bliss.
--
And looked beyond into a nameless vast.
These symbol figures lost their right to live,
--
There the heart beat no more at body's touch,
There the eyes gazed no more on beauty's shape.
In rare and lucent intervals of hush
--
Where world was into a single being rapt
And all was known by the light of identity
--
And beauty is a sweet difference of the Same
And oneness is the soul of multitude.
--
While there, one can be wider than the world;
While there, one is one's own infinity.
--
This huge material universe became
A small result of a stupendous force:
--
His soul could sail beyond thought's luminous bar;
Mind screened no more the shoreless infinite.
--
His greater consciousness withdrew behind;
Dim and eclipsed, his human outside strove
--
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.
--
His heights of being lived in the still Self;
His mind could rest on a supernal ground
--
Immobile it beheld the flux of things,
Calm and apart supported all that is:
--
A happier cosmic working could begin
And fashion the world-shape in him anew,
--
His soul, mind, heart became a single sun;
Only life's lower reaches remained dim.
--
Even on the struggling Nature left below
Strong periods of illumination came:
--
Visits of beauty, storm-sweeps of delight
Rained from the all-powerful Mystery above.
--
Bared with a stab of flame the closed beyond.
8.8
--
A traveller between summit and abyss,
She joined the distant ends, the viewless deeps,
--
Oceans of being met his voyaging soul
Calling to infinite discovery;
--
The feet that run behind a fleeting fate,
The ineffable meaning of the endless dream.
--
All was made wide above, all lit below.
In darkness' core she dug out wells of light,
--
Unused, guarded beneath Night's dragon paws,
In folds of velvet darkness draped they sleep
--
Lest men should find them and be even as Gods.
A vision lightened on the viewless heights,
--
The beauty and the ceaseless miracle
Let in a glow of the Unmanifest:
--
Life now became a sure approach to God,
Existence a divine experiment
--
His being lay down in bright immobile peace
And bathed in wells of pure spiritual light;
--
All now suppressed in us began to emerge.
\t:Thus came his soul's release from Ignorance,
--
And felt the occult impulse behind man's will.
Time's secrets were to him an oft-read book;
--
His acts betrayed not the interior flame.
This forged the greatness of his front to earth.
01.03 - Yoga and the Ordinary Life, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
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 abandon 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 Ananda 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 stands 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 hand, 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 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 o bedience 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 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.
--
- 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, Ananda - 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 Ananda 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 Ananda 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 Ananda, therefore it must be for the Ananda 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 land 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 Ananda. 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 Ananda. The selfgiving itself is a profound Ananda and what it brings, carries in its wake an inexpressible Ananda - 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. Ananda 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
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 hand, represented by Bankim in bengal and more thoroughly developed and systematised in recent times by Tilak, is inspired by its own Time-Spirit and finds in 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.
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 understand 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 Alexandrine 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 understand 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 standards 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 hand, 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 aggrandise 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 (ananda). The dynamism of the vital energy is only a refraction or precipitation of the dynamism of the spirit; and so also static matter is only the substance of the spirit concretised and solidified. It is in an uplift both of matter and vital force to their prototypesswarupa and swabhavain the Spirit that lies the real transformation and transfiguration of the humanity of man.
This is the truth that is trying to dawn upon the new age. Not matter but that which forms the substance of matter, not intellect but a vaster consciousness that informs the intellect, not man as he is, an a berration in the cosmic order, but as he may and shall be the embodiment and fulfilment of that orderthis is the secret Intuition which, as yet dimly envisaged, nevertheless secretly inspires all the human activities of today. Only, the truth is being interpreted, as we have said, in terms of vital life. The intellectual and physical man gave us one aspect of the reality, but neither is the vital and psychical man the complete reality. The one acquisition of this shifting of the viewpoint has been that we are now in touch with the natural and deeper movement of humanity and not as before merely with its artificial scaffolding. The Alexandrine civilisation of humanity, in Nietzsche's phrase, was a sort of divagation from nature, it was following a loop away from the direct path of natural evolution. And the new Renaissance of today has precisely corrected this a berration 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.
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01.04 - The Poetry in the Making, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
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 hand, 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 descri be as higher than the mind and reason, he has what may be called the overhead consciousness. (Apart from the normal consciousness, which is named jagrat, waking, the Upanishad speaks of three other increasingly subtler states of consciousness, swapna, sushupti and turiya.)And then one can be quite unconscious, as in samadhi that can be sushupti or turiyaorpartially consciousin swapna, for example, the external behaviour may be like that of a child or a lunatic or even a goblin. One can also remain normally conscious and still be in the superconscience. Not only so, the mystic the Yogican be conscious on infraconscious levels also; that is to say, he can enter into and identify with the consciousness involved in life and even in Matter; he can feel and realise his oneness with the animal world, the plant world and finally the world of dead earth, of "stocks and stones" too. For all these strands of existence have each its own type of consciousness and all different from the mode of mind which is normally known as consciousness. When St. Francis addresses himself to the brother Sun or the sister Moon, or when the Upanishad speaks of the tree silhouetted against the sky, as if stilled in trance, we feel there is something of this fusion and identification of consciousness with an infra-conscient existence.
I said that the supreme artist is superconscious: his consciousness withdraws from the normal mental consciousness and becomes awake and alive in another order of consciousness. To that superior consciousness the artist's mentalityhis ideas and dispositions, his judgments and valuations and acquisitions, in other words, his normal psychological make-upserves as a channel, an instrument, a medium for transcription. Now, there are two stages, or rather two lines of activity in the processus, for they may be overlapping and practically simultaneous. First, there is the withdrawal and the in-gathering of consciousness and then its reappearance into expression. The consciousness retires into a secret or subtle worldWords-worth's "recollected in tranquillity"and comes back with the riches gathered or transmuted there. But the purity of the gold thus garnered and stalled in the artistry of words and sounds or lines and colours depends altogether upon the purity of the channel through which it has to pass. The mental vehicle receives and records and it can do so to perfection if it is perfectly in tune with what it has to receive and record; otherwise the transcription becomes mixed and blurred, a faint or confused echo, a poor show. The supreme creators are precisely those in whom the receptacle, the instrumental faculties offer the least resistance and record with absolute fidelity the experiences of the over or inner consciousness. In Shakespeare, in Homer, in Valmiki the inflatus of the secret consciousness, the inspiration, as it is usually termed, bears down, sweeps away all obscurity or contrariety in the recording mentality, suffuses it with its own glow and puissance, indeed resolves it into its own substance, as it were. And the difference between the two, the secret norm and the recording form, determines the scale of the artist's creative value. It happens often that the obstruction of a too critically observant and self-conscious brain-mind successfully blocks up the flow of something supremely beautiful that wanted to come down and waited for an opportunity.
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 remem ber 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 a berration 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 circumscri bes and limits the original impulsion. The art here becomes consciously artistic, but loses something of the initial freshness and spontaneity: it gains in correctness, polish and elegance and has now a style in lieu of Nature's own naturalness. I am thinking of Virgil and Milton and Kalidasa. Dante's place is perhaps somewhere in between. Lower in the rung where the mental medium occupies a still more preponderant place we have intellectual poetry, poetry of the later classical age whose representatives are Pope and Dryden. We can go farther down and land in the domain of versificationalthough here, too, there can be a good amount of beauty in shape of ingenuity, cleverness and conceit: Voltaire and Delille are of this order in French poetry.
The three or four major orders I speak of in reference to conscious artistry are exampled characteristically in the history of the evolution of Greek poetry. It must be remem bered, 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 transcri bes 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 deli berate 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, deli berate, 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 Flau bert 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 deli berate 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 deli berately to the ugly and the macabre, the meaningless, the insignificant and the triflingtins and teas, bone and dust and dustbin, hammer and sicklehe is still a prophet, a violent one, an iconoclast, but one who has his own icon, a terribly jealous being, that seeks to pull down the past, erase it, to break and batter and knead the elements in order to fashion out of them something conforming to his heart's desire. There is also the class who have the vision and found the truth and its solace, who are prophets, angelic and divine, messengers and harbingers of a new beauty that is to dawn upon earth. And yet there are others in whom the two strains mingle or approach in a strange way. All this means that the artist is far from being a mere receiver, a mechanical executor, a passive unconscious instrument, but that he is supremely' conscious and master of his faculties and implements. This fact is doubly reinforced when we find how much he is preoccupied with the technical aspect of his craft. The richness and variety of patterns that can be given to the poetic form know no bounds today. A few major rhythms were sufficient for the ancients to give full expression to their poetic inflatus. For they cared more for some major virtues, the basic and fundamental qualitiessuch as truth, sublimity, nobility, forcefulness, purity, simplicity, clarity, straightforwardness; they were more preoccupied with what they had to say and they wanted, no doubt, to say it beautifully and powerfully; but the modus operandi was not such a passion or obsession with them, it had not attained that almost absolute value for itself which modern craftsmanship gives it. As technology in practical life has become a thing of overwhelming importance to man today, become, in the Shakespearean phrase, his " be-all and end-all", even so the same spirit has invaded and pervaded his aesthetics too. The subtleties, variations and refinements, the revolutions, reversals and inventions which the modern poet has ushered and takes delight in, for their own sake, I repeat, for their intrinsic interest, not for the sake of the subject which they have to embody and clothe, have never been dream by Aristotle, the supreme legislator among the ancients, nor by Horace, the almost incomparable craftsman among the ancients in the domain of poetry. Man has become, to be sure, a self-conscious creator to the pith of his bone.
Such a stage in human evolution, the advent of Homo Fa ber, has been a necessity; it has to serve a purpose and it has done admirably its work. Only we have to put it in its proper place. The salvation of an extremely self-conscious age lies in an exceeding and not in a further enhancement or an exclusive concentration of the self-consciousness, nor, of course, in a falling back into the original unconsciousness. It is this shift in the poise of consciousness that has been presaged and prepared by the conscious, the scientific artists of today. Their task is to forge an instrument for a type of poetic or artistic creation completely new, unfamiliar, almost revolutionary which the older mould would find it impossible to render adequately. The yearning of the human consciousness was not to rest satisfied with the familiar and the ordinary, the pressure was for the discovery of other strands, secret stores of truth and reality and beauty. The first discovery was that of the great Unconscious, the dark and mysterious and all-powerful subconscient. Many of our poets and artists have been influenced by this power, some even sought to enter into that region and become its denizens. But artistic inspiration is an emanation of Light; whatever may be the field of its play, it can have its origin only in the higher spheres, if it is to be truly beautiful and not merely curious and scientific.
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 demands 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 clandestine 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 descri bed 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 demanded also a conscious development and remoulding of these two factors. A growth, a heightening and deepening of the consciousness meant inevitably a movement towards the spiritual element in things. And that means, we have said, a twofold change in the future poet's make-up. First as regards the substance. The revolutionary shift that we notice in modern poets towards a completely new domain of subject-matter is a signpost that more is meant than what is expressed. The superficialities and futilities that are dealt with do not in their outward form give the real trend of things. In and through all these major and constant preoccupation of our poets is "the pain of the present and the passion for the future": they are, as already stated, more prophets than poets, but prophets for the moment crying in the wildernessalthough some have chosen the path of denial and revolt. They are all looking ahead or beyond or deep down, always yearning for another truth and reality which will explain, justify and transmute the present calvary of human living. Such an acute tension of consciousness has necessitated an overhauling of the vehicle of expression too, the creation of a mode of expressing the inexpressible. For that is indeed what human consciousness and craft are aiming at in the present stage of man's evolution. For everything, almost everything that can be normally expressed has been expressed and in a variety of ways as much as is possible: that is the history of man's aesthetic creativity. Now the eye pro bes 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
the topless waves of trenched Broceliande, drenched by
--
the ship of Solomon (blessed be he) drove on.1
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 understanding. 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,
--
The wrong of unshapely things is a wrong too great to be told;
and declares the ardent aspiration of his heart and soul:
--
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
--
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 thousand "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, (Fa ber and Fa ber).
--
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.
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;
--
Unmeasured breadths and depths of being are ours.
Akin to the ineffable Secrecy,
--
We leave behind meted to us as life,
Our little walks, our insufficient reach.
--
A tide of mightier surgings bears our lives
And a diviner Presence moves the soul;
--
A grace and beauty of spiritual light,
The murmuring tongue of a celestial fire.
--
Assured of the Apocalypse to be,
It reckons not the moments and the hours;
--
Always we bear in us a magic key
Concealed in life's hermetic envelope.
--
Unwillingly compelled to emerge and be.
In this dense field where nothing is plain or sure,
Our very being seems to us questionable,
Our life a vague experiment, the soul
--
Stand up unsolved behind Fate's starting-line.
An aspiration in the Night's profound,
--
A being is in her whom she hopes to know,
A Word speaks to her heart she cannot hear,
--
Invades from all this beauty that must die.
Alarmed by the sorrow dragging at her feet
--
The impossible God's sign of things to be.
But few can look beyond the present state
Or overleap this matted hedge of sense.
All that transpires on earth and all beyond
Are parts of an illimitable plan
--
Yet a foreseeing Knowledge might be ours,
If we could take our spirit's stand within,
--
The future flees before him as he moves;
He sees imagined garments, not a face.
--
Dwelling beyond the walls of Time and Space,
Masters of living, free from the bonds of Thought,
--
As a thief's in the night shall be the covert tread
Of one who steps unseen into his house.
--
And beauty conquer the resisting world,
The Truth-Light capture Nature by surprise,
--
In Matter shall be lit the spirit's glow,
In body and body kindled the sacred birth;
--
The days become a happy pilgrim march,
Our will a force of the Eternal's power,
--
And belief shall be not till the work is done.
A Consciousness that knows not its own truth,
--
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;
--
Then shall the Spirit and Nature be at one.
Two are the ends of the mysterious plan.
--
Veiled by the ray no mortal eye can bear,
The Spirit's bare and absolute potencies
--
They bend not to the voices that implore,
They hold no traffic with error and its reign;
--
At peace, regarding the trouble beneath the stars,
Deathless, watching the works of Death and Chance,
--
And yet without them cosmos could not be.
Impervious to desire and doom and hope,
--
Else might their strength be marred and could not save.
Alive to the truth that dwells in God's extremes,
--
Abandoned to a task beyond our force;
Even through the tangled anarchy called Fate
--
Whatever the appearance we must bear,
Whatever our strong ills and present fate,
--
For his abode below the Thinker's sight,
In this compromise of a stark absolute Truth
--
He was here before the elements could emerge,
before there was light of mind or life could breathe.
--
The Master of being has come down to her,
An immortal child born in the fugitive years.
--
Which but for the dream would not be wholly true,
A phenomenon stands out significant
--
Of all the marvel and beauty that are hers,
Only a darkened little we can feel.
--
He speaks no words or hides behind the wings.
He takes birth in her world, waits on her will,
--
He grows through her in all his being's powers;
He reads by her God's hidden aim in things.
--
Content to be with her and feel her near
He makes the most of the little that she gives
--
Happy, inert, he lies beneath her feet:
His breast he offers for her cosmic dance
--
And none could bear but for his strength within,
Yet none would leave because of his delight.
His works, his thoughts have been devised by her,
His being is a mirror vast of hers:
Active, inspired by her he speaks and moves;
--
Passive, he bears the impacts of the world
As if her touches shaping his soul and life:
--
Things terrible and beautiful and divine.
Her empire in the cosmos she has built,
--
His being a field of her vast experiment,
Her endless space is the playground of his thoughts;
--
He climbs to eternity through being's gaps,
He is carried by her from Night to deathless Light.
--
An aimless traveller between birth and death,
Ephemeral dreaming of immortality,
--
On his heart he bears the happiness of her tread
And the surprise of her arrival's joy
--
Whatever she desires he wills to be:
The Spirit, the innumerable One,
He has left behind his lone eternity,
He is an endless birth in endless Time,
--
The All-Blissful bore to be insensible.
Incarnate in a world of strife and pain,
--
We are sons of God and must be even as he:
His human portion, we must grow divine.
--
The secret God beneath the threshold dwells.
In a body obscuring the immortal Spirit
--
With Matter's shapes and motives beyond thought
And the hazard of an unguessed consequence,
--
He is the Player who became the play,
He is the Thinker who became the thought;
He is the many who was the silent One.
--
Till the thousandfold enigma has been solved
In the single light of an all-witnessing Soul.
--
A long beginning only has been made.
This is the sailor on the flow of Time,
--
He has reached the world's end and stares beyond;
The eyes of mortal body plunge their gaze
01.05 - Rabindranath Tagore: A Great Poet, a Great Man, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Tagore is a great poet: he will be remem bered as one of the I greatest world-poets. But humanity owes him anotherperhaps a greaterdebt of gratitude: his name has a higher value, a more significant potency for the future.
In an age when Reason was considered as the highest light given to man, Tagore pointed to the Vision of the mystics as always the still greater light; when man was elated with undreamt-of worldly success, puffed up with incomparable material possessions and powers, Tagore's voice rang clear and emphatic in tune with the cry of the ancients: "What shall I do with all this mass of things, if I am not made immortal by that?" When men, in their individual as well as collective egoism, were scrambling for earthly gains and hoards, he held before them vaster and cleaner horizons, higher and deeper ways of being and living, maintained the sacred sense of human solidarity, the living consciousness of the Divine, one and indivisible. When the Gospel of Power had all but hypnotised men's minds, and Superman or God-man came to be equated with the Titan, Tagore saw through the falsehood and placed in front and above all the old-world eternal verities of love and self-giving, harmony and mutuality, sweetness and light. When pessimism, cynicism, agnosticism struck the major chord of human temperament, and grief and frustration and death and decay were taken as a matter of course to be the inevitable order of earthlylifebhasmantam idam shariramhe continued to sing the song of the Rishis that Ananda and Immortality are the breath of things, the birth right of human beings. When Modernism declared with a certitude never to be 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 ascri bed 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 thousand associations.1
The spirit of the age demands 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, stand 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 absor bed 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 propagandize 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 descri bes. A mundane, profane sensuousness, Kalidasian in richness and sweetness, is matched or counterpointed by a simple haunting note im bedded or trailing somewhere behind, a lyric cry persevering into eternity, the nostalgic cry of the still small voice.2
Thus, on the one hand, 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 hand, earthly things, mere humanities are uplifted and suffused with a "light that never was, on sea or land."
Another great poet of the spirit says also, almost like Tagore:
--
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:
Mandki 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 U bermensch, 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 hand, 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 standard 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 grand 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 descri bes 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 standing 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 grandeur 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
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
--
When life had stopped its beats, death broke not in;
He dared to live when breath and thought were still.
--
There is the Book of being's index page;
The text and glossary of the Vedic truth
--
Inducing the world-passion to begin,
The cry of birth into mortality
--
The glory he had glimpsed must be his home.
19.3A brighter heavenlier sun must soon illume
--
The Ideal must be Nature's common truth,
The body illumined with the indwelling God,
--
Only beginnings are accomplished here;
Our base's Matter seems alone complete,
--
Flamings of beauty into earthly shapes,
Love's broken reflexes of unity
--
Is a mimicry of ungrasped beatitudes,
A mutilated statue of ecstasy,
--
A thinking being in an unthinking world,
An island in the sea of the Unknown,
He is a smallness trying to be great,
An animal with some instincts of a god,
His life a story too common to be told,
His deeds a num ber summing up to nought,
His consciousness a torch lit to be quenched,
His hope a star above a cradle and grave.
And yet a greater destiny may be his,
For the eternal Spirit is his truth.
--
He, ignorant, is the Knower beyond Time,
He is the Self above Nature, above Fate.
--
His being now exceeded thinkable Space,
His boundless thought was neighbour to cosmic sight:
--
The earth-nature's summits sank below his feet:
He clim bed to meet the infinite more above.
--
Death lay beneath him like a gate of sleep.
One-pointed to the immaculate Delight,
--
He lives in the hush before the world was born,
His soul left naked to the timeless One.
--
And bears the silence of the Infinite.
\t In a divine retreat from mortal thought,
--
His being towered into pathless heights,
Naked of its vesture of humanity.
--
A beauty half-visible with deathless eyes,
A violent Ecstasy, a Sweetness dire,
--
His wakened mind became an empty slate
On which the Universal and Sole could write.
--
Effaced themselves beneath the Incarnate's tread.
The dire velamen and the bottomless crypt
--
No fragile form of being to preserve
From an all-swallowing Immensity.
--
A boundless being in a measureless Time
Invaded Nature with the infinite;
--
All once impossible deemed could now become
A natural limb of possibility,
--
Holds still the breath, the beatings of the heart,
While the unseen is found, the impossible done,
--
Even in this rigid realm, Mind can be king:
The logic of its demigod Idea
--
Till heaven and hell become purveyors to earth
And the universe the slave of mortal will.
--
Oracles that break out from behind the shrine,
Warnings from the daemonic inner voice
--
A threshold guardian of the earth-scene's beyond,
She has canalised the outbreaks of the Gods
--
Their lion-forces crouched beneath her feet;
The future sleeps unknown behind their doors.
23.5
--
And packed with the beauty of Matter's shapes and hues
Clim bed back from Time into undying Self,
--
Origin of all that it had ever been
And home of all that it could still become.
An organ scale of the Eternal's acts,
--
The light began of the Trinity supreme.
All there discovered what it seeks for here.
--
Homelands of beauty shut to human eyes,
Half-seen at first through wonder's gleaming lids,
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 pro be 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 may be only an offensive and defensive alliancehumanity fights against nature, and within humanity itself group fights against group and in the last analysis, within the group, the individual fights against the individual. This is the ultimate Law-the Dharma of creation.
Now, what such an uncompromising individualism fails to recognise is that individuality and ego are not the same thing, that the individual may have his individuality intact and entire and yet sacrifice his ego, that the soul of man is a much greater thing than his vital being. It is simply ignoring the fact and denying the truth to say that man is only a fighting animal and not a loving god, that the self within the individual realises itself only through competition and not co-operation. It is an error to conceive of society as a mere parallelogram of forces, to suppose that it has risen simply out of the struggle of individual interests and continues to remain by that struggle. Struggle is only one aspect of the thing, a particular form at a particular stage, a temporary manifestation due to a particular system and a particular habit and training. It would be nearer the truth to say that society came into being with the demand of the individual soul to unite with the individual soul, with the stress of an Over-soul to express itself in a multitude of forms, diverse yet linked together and organised in perfect harmony. Only, the stress for union manifested itself first on the material plane as struggle: but this is meant to be corrected and transcended and is being continually corrected and transcended by a secret harmony, a real commonality and brotherhood and unity. The individual is not so self-centred as the individualists make him to be, his individuality has a much vaster orbit and fulfils itself only by fulfilling others. The scientists have begun to discover other instincts in man than those of struggle and competition; they now place at the origin of social grouping an instinct which they name the herd-instinct: but this is only a formulation in lower terms, a translation on the vital plane of a higher truth and reality the fundamental oneness and accord of individuals and their spiritual impulsion to unite.
However, individualism has given us a truth and a formula which collectivism ignored. Self-determination is a thing which has come to stay. Each and every individual is free, absolutely free and shall freely follow his own line of growth and development and fulfilment. No extraneous power shall choose and fix what is good or evil for him, nor coerce and exploit him for its own benefit. But that does not necessarily mean that collectivism has no truth in it; collectivism also, as much as individualism, has a lesson for us and we should see whether we can harmonise the two. Collectivism signifies that the individual should not look to himself alone, should not be shut up in his freedom but expand himself and envelop others in a wider freedom, see other creatures in himself and himself in other creatures, as the Gita says. Collectivism demands that the individual need not and should not exhaust himself entirely in securing and enjoying his personal freedom, but that he can and should work for the salvation of others; the truth it upholds is this that the individual is from a certain point of view only a part of the group and by ignoring the latter it ignores itself in the end.
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 stand 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.
--
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 hand, 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 beforehand. 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 mem bers 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
Such is Vivekananda, the embodiment of Fearlessnessabh, the Upanishadic word, the mantra, he was so fond of. The life and vision of Vivekananda 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 remem bers 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 Vivekananda 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 grand style supreme:
Yasyaite himavanto mahitv
--
Then existence was not nor non-existence, the midworld was not nor the Ether nor what is beyond.
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 Vivekananda 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 Vivekananda 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 Sachchidananda that is the real man in you and that is supremely mighty and invincible and free absolutely. The courage and fearlessness that Vivekananda gave you was the natural attribute of the lordship of your spiritual reality. Vivekananda spoke and roused the Atman in man.
Vivekananda 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 Vivekananda'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 Vivekananda 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?"
--
"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
--
"Manifest the divinity within you, and everything will be
harmoniously arranged around it."
--
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
"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 Novem ber 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 englo be 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 Hob bes. Pascal himself, born in such an atmosphere of doubt and dis belief 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 un believer and the li bertine 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 stand 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 definitionsand 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 land 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, num ber, 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
"One must know where one should doubt, where one should submit."3
--
"What will men do in such a state? Will he doubt everything?... Will he doubt whether he doubts ? Will he doubt whether he exists?. . . In fact there has never been a perfectly effective Pyrrhonian."6
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 stand? 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 'hand, God does not exist, by believing him to exist, we lose nothing, we are not more miserable than what we are. If, however, God exists and we do not believe him, we gain this world of misery but we lose all that is worth having. Thus Pascal concludes that even from the standpoint of mere gain and loss, belief in God is more advantageous than un belief. 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 grand et l'infiniment petit)but into which he could not evidently jump overboard unreservedly. This produced a dichotomy, a lack of integration of personality, Jung would say. Pascal's brain was cold, firm, almost rigid; his heart was volcanic, 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 branded his very soul. Only Grace saves him and releases him. The order of sin and the order of Grace are distinct and disparate worlds and yet they complement each other and need each other. Greatness and misery are intertwined, united, unified with each other in him. Here is an echo of the Manichean position which also involves an abyss. But even then God's grace is not a free agent, as Jesuits declare; there is a predestination that guides and controls it. This was one of the main subjects he treated in his famous open letters (Les Provinciales) that brought him renown almost overnight. Eternal hell is a possible prospect that faces the Jansenist. That was why a Night always over-shadowed the Day in Pascal's soul.
Man then, according to Pascal, is by nature a sinful thing. He can lay no claim to noble virtue as his own: all in him is vile, he is a lump of dirt and filth. Even the greatest has his full share of this taint. The greatest, the saintliest, and the meanest, the most sinful, all meet, all are equal on this common platform; all have the same feet of clay. Man is as miserable a creature as a beast, as much a part and product of Nature as a plant. Only there is this difference that an animal or a tree is unconscious, while man knows that he is miserable. This knowledge or perception makes him more miserable, but that is his real and only greatness there is no other. His thought, his self-consciousness, and his sorrow and repentance and contrition for what he is that is the only good partMary's part that has been given to him. Here are Pascal's own words on the subject:
"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 stand against his steely brain (and a gloomy vital or life force) as a counterpoise, even as an antidote. This tension and schism brought about, at least contri buted to his neuras 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:
"Contradiction is not a mark of falsehood, nor is uncontradiction a mark of truth."8
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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 demand which man feels within himself. A truth must realise itself in human nature before it can be codified. You may certainly legalise an ideal, but that does not necessarily mean realising it. 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 li berty, equality and fraternity. It pulled down the old machinery and set up a new one in its stead. And the result? "Li berty, Equality, Fraternity" remained always in effect a cry in the wilderness. Another wave of idealism is now running over the earth and the Bolshevists are its most fiercely practical exponents. Instead of dealing merely with the political machinery, the Socialistic Revolution tries to break and remake, above all, the social machinery. But judged from the results as yet attained and the tendencies at work, few are the reasons to hope but many to fear the worst. Even education does not seem to promise us anything better. Which nation was better educatedin the sense we understood and still commonly understand the wordthan Germany?
And yet we have no hesitation today to call them Huns and Barbarians. That education is not giving us the right thing is proved further by the fact that we are constantly changing our programmes and curriculums, everyday remodelling old institutions and founding new ones. Even a revolution in the educational system will not bring about the desired millennium, so long as we lay so much stress upon the system and not upon man himself. And finally, look to all the religions of the worldwe have enough of creeds and dogmas, of sermons and mantras, of churches and templesand yet human life and society do not seem to be any the more worthy for it.
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 hand.
No doubt this is a most dismal kind of pessimism. But it is the logical conclusion of all optimism that bases itself upon a particular view of human nature. If we question that pessimism, we have to question the very grounds of our optimism also. As a matter of fact, all our idealism has been so long infructuous and will be so in the future, if we do not shift our foundation and start from a different IntuitionWeltanschauung.
Our ideals have been mental constructions, rather than spiritual realitiesrealities of the deepest and highest being. And the power by which we sought to realise those ideals was mainly the insistence of our emotional urges, rather than Nature's Truth-Power. For this must be understood that the mental, the vital and the physical form a nexus of reality which works in its own inexorable law and so long as we are within them we cannot but o bey the laws that guide them. Of these three strata which form the human adhara, it is the vital which holds the key to man's nature. It is the executive power, the force that fashions the realities on the physical plane; it is what creates the character. The power of thought and sentiment is often much too exaggerated, even so the power of the body, that of physical and external rules and regulations. The mental or the physical or both together can mould the vital only to a limited extent, to the extent which is allowed by the inherent law of the vital. If the demands of the mental and the physical are stretched too far and are not suffered by the vital, a crash and catastrophe is bound to come in the end.
This is the meaning of the Reformist's pessimism. So long as we remain within the domain of the triple nexus, we must always take account of an original sin, an aboriginal irredeemability in human nature. And it, is this fact which a too hasty optimistic idealism is apt to ignore. The point, however, is that man need not be necessarily bound to this triple chord of life. He can go beyond, transcend himself and find a reality which is the basis of even this lower poise of the mental and vital and physical. Only in order to get into that higher poise we must really transcend the lower, that is to say, we must not be satisfied with experiencing or envisaging it through the mind and heart but must directly commune with it, be it. There is a higher law that rules there, a power that is the truth-substance of even the vital and hence can remould it with a sovereign inevitability, according to a pattern which may not and is not the pattern of mental and emotional idealism, but the pattern of a supreme spiritual realism.
What then is required is a complete spiritual regeneration in man, a new structure of his soul and substancenot merely the realisation of the highest and supreme Truth in mental and emotional consciousness, but the translation and application of the law of that truth in the power of the vital. It is here that failed all the great spiritual or rather religious movements of the past. They were content with evoking the divine in the mental being, but left the vital becoming to be governed by the habitual un-divine or at the most to be just illumined by a distant and faint glow which served, however, more to distort than express the Divine.
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.
01.08 - A Theory of Yoga, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
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 mem ber 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 stand 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 demand equal sacrifice, may even, on the other hand, 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 hands 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 demands form his manifest reality, the demands 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
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 understand 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 stands face to face to one's soul, the very image of God, the perfect God-man, the Christ within. That is the third degree of our inner ascension, the entry into the deepest, purest and happiest statein which one becomes what he truly is; one finds the Christ there and dwells in love and union with him. But there is still a further step to take, and that is real ascension. For till now it has been a going within, from the outward to the inner and the inmost; now one has to go upward, transcend. Within the body, in life, however deep you may go, even if you find your soul and your union with Jesus whose ta bernacle 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 descri bed 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 for bearing of God." And the whole task, the discipline consists in "the shaping of Christ in you, the casting of sin through Christ." Who then is Christ, what is he? This knowledge you get as you advance from your sense-bound perception towards the inner and inmost seeing. As your outer nature gets purified, you approach gradually your soul, the scales fall off from your eyes too and you have the knowledge and "ghostly vision." Here too there are three degrees; first, you start with faith the senses can do nothing better than have faith; next, you rise to imagination which gives a sort of indirect touch or inkling of the truth; finally, you have the "understanding", the direct vision. "If he first trow it, he shall afterwards through grace feel it, and finally understand it."
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 hands. 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) descri bes 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 abandoned, negatived, as we go inward and upward towards our spiritual status reflecting the divine image in the divine company. It is a complete rejection, a cutting off and casting away of world and life. One extreme Vedantic path seems to follow a similar line, but there it is not really rejection, but a resolution, not the rejection of what is totally foreign and extraneous, but a resolution of the external into its inner and inmost substance, of the effect into its original cause. Brahman is in the world, Brahman is the world: the world has unrolled itself out of the Brahmansi, pravttiit has to be rolled back into its, cause and substance if it is to regain its pure nature (that is the process of nivitti). Likewise, the individual being in the world, "I", is the transcendent being itself and when it withdraws, it withdraws itself and the whole world with it and merges into the Absolute. Even the Maya of the Mayavadin, although it is viewed as something not inherent in Brahman but superimposed upon Brahman, still, has been accepted as a peculiar power of Brahman itself. The Christian doctrine keeps the individual being separate practically, as an associate or at the most as an image of God. The love for one's neighbour, charity, which the Christian discipline enjoins is one's love for one's kind, because of affinity of nature and quality: it does not dissolve the two into an integral unity and absolute identity, where we love because we are one, because we are the One. The highest culmination of love, the very basis of love, according to the Indian conception, is a transcendence of love, love trans-muted into Bliss. The Upanishad says, where one has become the utter unity, who loves whom? To explain further our point, we take two examples referred to in the book we are considering. The true Christian, it is said, loves the sinner too, he is permitted to dislike sin, for he has to reject it, but he must separate from sin the sinner and love him. Why? because the sinner too can change and become his brother in spirit, one loves the sinner because there is the possibility of his changing and becoming a true Christian. It is why the orthodox Christian, even such an enlightened and holy person as this mediaeval Canon, considers the non-Christian, the non-baptised as impure and potentially and fundamentally sinners. That is also why the Church, the physical organisation, is worshipped as Christ's very body and outside the Church lies the pagan world which has neither religion nor true spirituality nor salvation. Of course, all this may be symbolic and it is symbolic in a sense. If Christianity is taken to mean true spirituality, and the Church is equated with the collective embodiment of that spirituality, all that is claimed on their behalf stands justified. But that is an ideal, a hypothetical standpoint and can hardly be borne out by facts. However, to come back to our subject, let us ow take the second example. Of Christ himself, it is said, he not only did not dislike or had any aversion for Judas, but that he positively loved the traitor with a true and sincere love. He knew that the man would betray him and even when he was betraying and had betrayed, the Son of Man continued to love him. It was no make- believe or sham or pretence. It was genuine, as genuine as anything can be. Now, why did he love his enemy? because, it is said, the enemy is suffered by God to do the misdeed: he has been allowed to test the faith of the faithful, he too has his utility, he too is God's servant. And who knows even a Judas would not change in the end? Many who come to scoff do remain to pray. But it can be asked, 'Does God love Satan too in the same way?' The Indian conception which is basically Vedantic is different. There is only one reality, one truth which is viewed differently. Whether a thing is considered good or evil or neutral, essentially and truly, it is that One and nothing else. God's own self is everywhere and the sage makes no difference between the Brahmin and the cow and the elephant. It is his own self he finds in every person and every objectsarvabhtsthitam yo mm bhajati ekatvamsthitah"he has taken his stand upon oneness and loves Me in all beings."2
This will elucidate another point of difference between the Christian's and the Vaishnava's love of God, for both are characterised by an extreme intensity and sweetness and exquisiteness of that divine feeling. This Christian's, however, is the union of the soul in its absolute purity and simplicity and "privacy" with her lord and master; the soul is shred here of all earthly vesture and goes innocent and naked into the embrace of her beloved. The Vaishnava feeling is richer and seems to possess more amplitude; it is more concrete and less ethereal. The Vaishnava in his passionate yearning seeks to carry as it were the whole world with him to his Lord: for he sees and feels Him not only in the inmost cham ber 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 remem ber: "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 standeth 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.
01.09 - The Parting of the Way, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
To be divine or to remain humanthis is the one choice that is now before Nature in her upward march of evolution. What is the exact significance of this choice?
To remain human means to continue the fundamental nature of man. In what consists the humanity of man? We can ascertain it by distinguishing what forms the animality of the animal, since that will give us the differentia that nature has evolved to raise man over the animal. The animal, again, has a characteristic differentiating it from the vegetable world, which latter, in its turn, has something to mark it off from the inorganic world. The inorganic, the vegetable, the animal and finally manthese are the four great steps of Nature's evolutionary course.
The differentia, in each case, lies in the degree and nature of consciousness, since it is consciousness that forms the substance and determines the mode of being. Now, the inorganic is characterised by un-consciousness, the vegetable by sub-consciousness, the animal by consciousness and man by self-consciousness. Man knows that he knows, an animal only knows; a plant does not even know, it merely feels or senses; matter cannot do that even, it simply acts or rather is acted upon. We are not concerned here, however, with the last two forms of being; we will speak of the first two only.
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 knowsand 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 descri bed as such for the purpose of a logical understanding, but in reality they form a single progressive continuum in which one level gradually fuses into another. And as the higher level takes up the law of the lower and evolves out of it a characteristic function, even so the law of the higher level with its characteristic function is already involved and envisaged in the law of the lower level and its characteristic function. It cannot be asserted positively that because man's special virtue is self-consciousness, animals cannot have that quality on any account. We do see, if we care to observe closely and dispassionately, that animals of the higher order, as they approach the level of humanity, show more and more evident signs of something which is very much akin to, if not identical with the human characteristic of self-consciousness.
So, in man also, especially of that order which forms the crown of humanityin poets and artists and seers and great men of actioncan be observed a certain characteristic form of consciousness, which is something other than, greater than the consciousness of the mere self. It is difficult as yet to characterise definitely what that thing is. It is the awakening of the self to something which is beyond itselfit is the cosmic self, the oversoul, the universal being; it is God, it is Turiya, it is sachchidanandain so many ways the thing has been sought to be envisaged and expressed. The consciousness of that level has also a great variety of names given to it Intuition, Revelation, cosmic consciousness, God-consciousness. It is to be noted here, however, that the thing we are referring to, is not the Absolute, the Infinite, the One without a second. It is not, that is to say, the supreme Reality the Brahmanin its static being, in its undivided and indivisible unity; it is the dynamic Brahman, that status of the supreme Reality where creation, the diversity of becoming takes rise, it is the Truth-worldRitam the domain of typal realities. The distinction is necessary, as there does seem to be such a level of consciousness intermediary, again, between man and the Absolute, between self-consciousness and the supreme consciousness. The simplest thing would be to give that intermediate level of consciousness a negative namesince being as yet human we cannot foresee exactly its composition and function the super-consciousness.
The inflatus of something vast and transcendent, something which escapes all our familiar schemes of cognisance and yet is insistent with a translucent reality of its own, we do feel sometimes within us invading and enveloping our individuality, lifting up our sense of self and transmuting our personality into a reality which can hardly be called merely human. All this life of ego-bound rationality then melts away and opens out the passage for a life of vision and power. Thus it is the poet has felt when he says, "there is this incalculable element in human life influencing us from the mystery which envelops our being, and when reason is satisfied, there is something deeper than Reason which makes us still uncertain of truth. Above the human reason there is a transcendental sphere to which the spirit of men sometimes rises, and the will may be forged there at a lordly smithy and made the unbreakable pivot."(A.E.)
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.
01.09 - William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Walter Hilton: The Scale of Perfection Nicholas berdyaev: God Made Human
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsWilliam Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
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The ideal was Blake's. It will not sound so revolting if we understand 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 demands 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 stands 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.
The eyes of fire, the nostrils of air, the mouth of water, the beard of earth.
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 em bellishment 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 insistsand 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 num ber. 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 understand 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 demanded in fulfilment of the divine advent in humanity must go to the very roots of life and nature, must seize God in his highest and sovereign status. No prejudice of the past, no notion of our mental habits must seek to impose its law. Thus, for example, in the matter of redeeming the senses by the influx of the higher light, our author seems to consider that the senses will remain more or less as they are, only they will be controlled, guided, used by the higher light. And he seems to think that even the sex relation (even the institution of marriage) may continue to remain, but sublimated, submitted to the laws of the Higher Order. This, according to us, is a dangerous compromise and is simply the imposition of the lower law upon the higher. Our view of the total transformation and divinisation of the Lower is altogether different. The Highest must come down wholly and inhabit in the Lowest, the Lowest must give up altogether its own norms and lift itself into the substance and form too of the Highest.
Viewed in this light, Blake's memorable mantra attains a deeper and more momentous significance. For it is not merely Earth the senses and life and Matter that are to be uplifted and affianced to Heaven, but all that remains hidden within the bowels of the Earth, the subterranean regions of man's consciousness, the slimy viscous undergrowths, the darkest horrors and monstrosities that man and nature hide in their subconscient and inconscient dungeons of material existence, all these have to be laid bare to the solar gaze of Heaven, burnt or transmuted as demanded by the law of that Supreme Will. That is the Hell that has to be recognised, not rejected and thrown away, but taken up purified and transubstantiated into the body of Heaven itself. The hand of the Highest Heaven must extend and touch the Lowest of the lowest elements, transmute it and set it in its rightful place of honour. A mortal body reconstituted into an immemorial fossil, a lump of coal revivified into a flashing carat of diamond-that shows something of the process underlying the nuptials of which we are speaking.
The Life Divine
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Walter Hilton: The Scale of Perfection Nicholas berdyaev: God Made Human
0.10 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
of Physical Education. He began writing to the Mother at the
age of nineteen.
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away. One snake was dead because I had stepped on it.
This is all I can remem ber clearly. I cannot remem ber
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thoughts; the mind becomes like a mire of passions
and I wallow in it like a worm. After a while I wake up
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are not able to go beyond a mediocre average. Or is it
because of our lack of solid concentration?
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can be done at present! To change our consciousness and
become an elite will take a lot of time. At present, we
--
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
rest is simply an excuse that our laziness gives to itself.
--
I went to work only for one hour, because I had too
much work at home.
This is not good; the collective work should not suffer because
of personal work.
--
to be eager to receive Your blessings, but why do I not
have that feeling?
There must still be some insincerity in your being, hidden in
a dark corner, something that does not want to change and is
--
It would be more proper to write (and above all, to think):
"Would it be possible to have an electric lamp in the corridor?"
The ego would do well to become a little more modest.
13 August 1961
--
past things be effaced by forgetting the past?
If you can really allow them to be effaced and cease to exist,
even in your memory, it is better.
3 Septem ber 1961
--
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
--
but the Supreme Lord alone is its centre because He surpasses
and contains it.
--
desire, for desire is insatiable and can never be satisfied.
What he writes ought not to be taken separately; it is always
part of a whole which is a synthesis of all opposites.
--
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
--
utter embrace of God be experienced, for in both ways the essential precondition is
effected, - desire perishes."
--
incense-stick. But how is it that I wake up early because
of that? There is no relation between these two things!
On the contrary, there is a very concrete relation. When you
concentrate before sleeping, then in your sleep you remain in
contact with the Divine force; but when you fall heavily to sleep
--
the day when this joy and this felicity will be established
in me for ever. Now, it is only a dream and a passing
--
Persist in your aspiration and the dream will be realised.
23 Octo ber 1961
--
2nd Decem ber programme.3 Would it not be better to
choose one or two items and give a very good demonstration in them, rather than to do several in a mediocre way?
--
has to be very sincere so as not to deceive oneself.
4 Novem ber 1961
--
"The Titans are stronger than the gods because they have agreed with God to front
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."
--
worship inferior entities? And the Titans must be the
most lovable sons of the Divine!
--
especially the intention behind his words. Moreover, cowards or
not, I see no need for us to worship the gods, great or small. Our
--
all things and all beings.
6 Novem ber 1961
--
ego and its vanity which wants to cut a good figure and be
appreciated by others. But if all your activity were an offering
--
You have often told us that our activities should be
an offering to the Divine. What does this mean exactly,
and how can it be done? For instance, when we play
tennis or basketball, how can we do it as an offering?
--
It means that what you do should not be done with a personal,
egoistic aim, for success, for glory, for gain, for material profit or
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
--
For that to be possible, all egoistic motives and all egoistic
reactions must disappear.
--
I pray to You, on behalf of everyone, that this
evening's demonstration may be a success. Everyone
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!
What I saw on the 26th was satisfactory (of course it can always
be better) and I have heard a great many compliments about
the 2nd Decem ber performance. You should not listen to people
--
that is what I should be. But how?
All the psychological qualities can be cultivated as the muscles
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
I don't like Sri Aurobindo's name to be invoked without
feeling and turned into a ritual. It is much better to read
one of Your prayers and then invoke the Divine Grace
--
as was done before. That is my opinion.
The ceremony in itself is only of secondary importance. It is
--
to any ceremony, whatever it may be, and yet do not depend
on it.
--
But the benign influence of Sri Krishna's political genius
Sri Aurobindo is my refuge.
--
to protect India and the world anew, there had to be a
Purna Avatar.7 This Avatar will awaken the Brahmatej8,
--
in the Kaliyuga9 that the Divine manifests fully because
man is in great danger in this age. And here he is! He
--
I can tell You this without vanity: I am much better
than I was before; but all the same I am quite far, perhaps
very far, from the Ideal You have given us. This does not
--
tournaments necessary? Should there be no compulsion
whatever? And if complete freedom is given, will it be
practical? And so on. It is a subject on which it is not
--
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.
--
not know it, it is because you find it more convenient to forget it.
27 Septem ber 1962
--
come when there will be nothing but unmixed harmony,
joy and peace?
--
I heard this morning that X was very severely beaten
by Y. I don't think it is fair at all.
--
that Mother may be angry at my audacity in writing such
a letter. because it is none of my business!
I read your letter and I was not at all angry. But Z was not at all
--
should never criticise someone unless one has proved beyond
dispute that in the same circumstances one can do better than he.
Do you feel capable of being an unequalled Prime Minister
of India? I reply: "Certainly not", and I advise you to keep silent
--
But where is this freedom to become, for instance, a
great musician?" Sweet Mother, can you please say a
--
it will help you in your inner progress; because if you are sincere,
you will one day realise that it is the Divine in her that you love
--
What is the difference between meditating here in
my room and going to meditate at the Playground with
--
Is it better to meditate there or here in my room?
Meditate where you meditate best - that is to say, wherever you
are most silent and calm.
--
have not taken the trouble to quiet down begin to fidget restlessly
and produce what is called a dream, but it is nothing more than
--
in that way You can decide what is necessary or best for
me. But I am advised to keep as much as I want for my
--
people will say that I ask for anything I want just because
I have given You a little money. Mother, what do You
--
Do as you feel - and you may be sure that whatever you do,
people will always have something to say.
besides, who is perfectly disinterested? One should not pretend to be what one is not. It is better to be frank than hypocritical.
12 April 1963
--
When one has the true attitude, everything can be an opportunity
to learn.
--
life, each time I have been deprived of some happiness
- some apparent happiness - a consolation has come
--
say: "Whatever you do, do the best you can, and leave the result
to the Lord; then your heart will be at peace."
13 May 1963
--
much better and more quickly than if it were done by
paid workers. I don't know why!
--
What is the best relationship between two human
beings? Mother and son? Brother, friend or lover, etc?
--
a mode of the Eternal. But each can be perverted and become
bad due to the selfish falsehood of human nature which prevents
--
There are moments when I feel it would be better
to sit silently instead of reading or doing something else.
--
After a long time I had a beautiful dream in which I
saw the Mother and received Her Blessings.
--
That happens when he has not taken care to organise his conscious being around the psychic centre, which is the Truth of his
being.
--
before criticising others, it is better to be sure that one is perfectly
sincere oneself.
--
idea that woman is a dangerous being who entices you into sin.
In children, all this is still subconscious, but it influences their
--
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.
Or better, it is because one is awaking to the need of knowing
one's soul and uniting with the Divine.
--
that this ten minutes' meditation has become merely mechanical. I want a dynamic meditation, but how to have
it?
--
- what are beggars and people like that doing?
Who said that? And what "mission" are you referring to? The
--
human difficulty, and that this difficulty will be mastered
and transformed in him in his lifetime.10
--
boys is atavistic, but it remains to ask You what we captains should do about it. Personally, I think it is better to
close one's eyes to it, but there are others who prefer to
--
and thus this idea of difference between girls and boys
will be less striking. What do You think?
One cannot make a general rule; everything depends on the
--
(2) The very nature of energy is to be inexhaustible, unfailing, tireless. Are you never tired? Yes, very often - therefore:
indolent energy.
--
Would it not be better to have a basic discipline here
instead of so much freedom, a freedom we are not able
--
sign, because this kind of discretion comes from the psychic
consciousness which would rather give than ask.
--
I think that in order to progress one should be a little
bolder.
It is not bolder you should be, but persistent and persevering.
27 July 1963
--
The question is admirable - and if the sculptor had been witty,
he would have replied: " because I saw it inside."
--
You would do better to make an effort to understand them,
for behind the words there is always something profound to be
understood.
--
I feel miserable because I asked the Mother for incense. It would be much better to buy it from the market,
for She does not like her children to beg.
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.
--
It is a pity he did not explain his thought, because I don't know
what he wanted to say - probably he wanted to caution you
--
has been lulled to sleep.
Y probably spoke as he did in order to reawaken it.
--
Everything people say is of little importance, because human
judgments are always partial and therefore ignorant.
--
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.
--
in order to uselessly bewail the fault, but to cure it by calling to
one's aid the all-powerful force of the Divine.
To be sure of making myself clearly understood, I will add
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
--
only by discovering one's psychic being and uniting with it.
22 Septem ber 1963
--
Lest having Him, I must have naught beside."
That is our malady!
--
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
--
mean? How can law be released into freedom? By law we
understand something determined and fixed. Or is it a
--
will be free to mould itself according to circumstances?
I regret to have to tell you that you have understood absolutely
--
on the right track, is that behind law there is a spirit of order
and organisation. But law itself is something fixed and therefore
--
organisation is put at the service of freedom, it can become a
means of attaining li beration, that is to say, union with the Truth.
--
observation of a self-imposed law, must be placed in
subjection to the will of others."13 Mother, I am one of
--
My child, that is exactly what I have been trying to do for quite
"Law cannot save the world, therefore Moses' ordinances are dead for humanity
--
a long time, especially since I have been receiving your notebook
and correcting it.
--
single sentence a day - it did not have to be long, but it ought
to have been free from mistakes - alas!
Up till now, I have hardly succeeded - your sentences are
--
But before trying to discipline one's whole life, one should
at least try to discipline one activity, and persist until one succeeds.
--
I have formed the bad habit of nearly always being
late everywhere.
There is no habit that cannot be changed.
14 Octo ber 1963
--
the works of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo to be read.
You have even remarked that to read these old classics
--
First of all, what has been reported is not correct. Secondly, the
advice is adapted to each case and cannot be made a general
rule.
--
(Written by the Mother at the beginning of a notebook
containing quotations from Sri Aurobindo's Savitri)
--
which will be humanity's guide towards its future realisation.
27 Novem ber 1963
--
Shake off your "tamas" a little - otherwise you will become a
blockhead!
--
You blessed me that I may be born to the true life,
but what are the conditions needed to be born to that
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.
--
Certainly at the beginning, when the Divine is only a word or
at most an idea and not an experience, the whole thing remains
--
made to something real, tangible, concrete and beneficent. The
more sincere and assiduous one is, the sooner the experience
--
Would it be possible to have an electric fan? X
promised me one three years ago, but now he advises
--
is better for me not to have it, all right, I accept Your
decision without complaint.
--
of being more comfortable.
These things ought to have no importance in life.
--
The body is afraid of anything new because its very base is
inertia, tamas; it is the vital which brings in a dominant note of
--
The best way for everyone is self-giving to the Divine and
trust in His infinite Grace.
--
It is a long, slow task which can only be accomplished by a
perfect sincerity. One must be very attentive, always on guard,
watch all one's emotional movements and vital reactions, never
--
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 Ananda? Can we find one in the
other?
Ananda belongs to the Supreme Lord.
Ecstasy belongs to the perfected yogi.
Joy belongs to the desireless man.
Pleasure is within the reach of all living beings, but with its
inevitable accompaniment of suffering.
--
tainted by egoism. But as one tends quite naturally to become
like what one loves, the bhakta, if he is sincere, begins 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.
It would seem that in your situation, the best solution would
be to use your mutual attachment to unite your efforts in a
--
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.
--
Is it because we have defects in ourselves that we
cannot tolerate them in others? What is the origin of the
--
its own discipline in all its details. All that can be studied, learned
and practised. But according to Sri Aurobindo's teaching, each
--
weakness in the being, but what does this epidemic in
the Ashram mean? Even X was a victim. Where does
--
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
--
but as soon as I open my eyes everything becomes normal
again. What should I do?
--
overcome desires, and aspire to find your psychic being and unite
with it. Physically, continue with what you are doing, develop
--
If you are sincere and scrupulously honest, my help is certainly with you and one day you will become aware of it.
22 July 1964
--
And if other questions are put to you, the only reply to be
made is: you must read the books and study the teaching.
--
immense majority of human beings.
One must live in the consciousness of the Divine Unity to
see the Grace behind everything.
5 August 1964
--
truth begins and ends with the body, it is evident that food is of
capital importance since they live to eat.
--
Apart from that, one must act for the best and not attach
too much importance to it.
--
But when one wants to progress in the integrality of the being,
this simplification is hardly advisable.
--
yourself that you have overcome your desires, whereas at best
you are merely sitting on them - they remain repressed in the
--
the whole being.
It is from within that you must become master of your lower
nature by establishing your consciousness firmly in a domain
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
and a tireless perseverance.
In any case, you should never pretend to be more perfect
than you are, and still less should you be satisfied with false
appearances.
--
does not seem to be evident at all. Moreover, there are many
different kinds of sensitivity: some stem from weakness, others
- the best - are the result of refinement. The ego generally
governs the development of the individual, but the most developed individualities are not necessarily those in whom the ego is
--
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.
Aspiration for progress, if it is SINCERE, is sure to have an effect.
--
progress still remaining to be made is so considerable that there
is no reason to stop on the way to assess the ground one has
--
The perception that some progress has been made should
come spontaneously, by the sudden and unexpected awareness
--
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
--
can see exactly what is happening. But in order to be sure of
advancing progressively and regularly, one must always keep
--
forces or with deities. These Japas must be given by the Guru,
who at the same time infuses them with the power of realisation.
--
to create a tamasic dullness, which should not be mistaken for
mental silence.
--
months' time Lal Bahadur Shastri will no longer be
Prime Minister and that he will be replaced by Indira
Gandhi, but only for a fortnight. Then a period of chaos
--
will appear on the scene who will be guided by a divine
force coming from a woman of great spiritual power.
--
The very fact of being mistaken proves that one is not sincere
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
it says because it speaks without violence or insistence - it is a
murmur in the depths of our heart which is easy to ignore.
--
"The greatest egoist is the Supreme Lord because He never
bothers about anything but Himself!"
--
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
that this part is against the Divine - it does not even
seem to be interested in Him (which is perhaps worse).
That is indeed an indication of complete inertia. Sri Aurobindo
--
with Him so that He may be your enemy"16 (implying that you
are sure to be conquered by Him). It is a humorous remark, but
it means that of all conditions, inertia is the worst.
--
the being.
4 Novem ber 1964
--
who have been here since childhood. There is a kind
of uncertainty in our young people when they see others
--
it won't be my turn some day!" I feel there is a force
behind all this. What is it?
--
before they can be ready for the divine work, and that is why
they leave to undergo the test of ordinary life.
--
truth, this beauty of expression escape people! It is really
strange that he is not yet recognised, at least as a supreme
--
way, each one does his best and contributes as much as he can
to the transformation of the world which Sri Aurobindo has
--
It is not during meditation that one must learn to be silent,
because the very fact of trying makes a noise.
--
"If there is not a complete surrender, then it is not possible to adopt the baby cat attitude, - it becomes mere tamasic
passivity calling itself surrender. If a complete surrender is not
possible in the beginning, it follows that personal effort is necessary."17
16 Decem ber 1964
--
way you will make the best use of your existence.
Happy New Year for 1965.
--
What is the eternal truth behind this sympathy or
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
--
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
--
An age of truth is sure to come before the earth is transformed.
21 January 1965
--
Ashram mean?18 Are we responsible for it because of our
faults and because we diso bey the Supreme Truth in our
daily lives?
Very certainly such a thing has been made possible because the
atmosphere of the Ashram is not pure enough to be invulnerable
to falsehood.
--
Divine better by serving men and the world!"
Nobody comes here for his own salvation because Sri Aurobindo
does not believe in salvation; for us salvation is a meaningless
word. We are here to prepare the transformation of the earth
--
make individual efforts to progress, it is because this progress is
indispensable for the accomplishment of the work.
--
so long, you can still think in this way and be open to this
Sunday-school drivel.
--
my teaching to find it in your relations with human beings or in
the nobility of the human character or an idea that we are here
--
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."
--
What is the best way of expressing one's gratitude
towards man and towards the Divine?
--
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 is impossible to say, because for each person it is different.
It depends on the part of one's being that awakens first and
responds to Sri Aurobindo's influence.
--
Generally, the starting-point must be an experience, however
small, which serves as a compass on the way, an experience one
refers to in order to be sure of not going astray, until one is ready
for another more important and conclusive experience.
--
you: (1) that on getting up, before starting the day, it is good
to make an offering of this day to the Divine, an offering of all
--
night, before going to sleep, it is good to review the day, taking
note of all the times one has forgotten or neglected to make an
--
This is a minimum, a very small beginning - and it should
increase with the sincerity of your consecration.
--
ties, whatever they may be. And good habits are also a tie which
must one day be abandoned when one wants to o bey and is able
to o bey nothing but the one supreme impulse, the Will of the
--
renunciation begin when one is on the path?
What I call " being on the path" is being in a state of consciousness in which only union with the Divine has any value - this
union is the only thing worth living, the sole object of aspiration.
--
there is no longer any question of renouncing it because it is no
longer an object of desire.
--
knowing very well that His help will be refused. Why
then does He do it?
--
to Him. Either they do not hear Him or do not believe Him.
Men always complain of not being helped, but the truth is
that they refuse the help which is always with them.
--
and full of intolerable suffering".22 But what would be
the state of one who feels that everything here is the play
--
United Kingdom. Had his advice been heeded, the partition of India might have been
avoided.
--
of a benevolent God? Would he not also participate in
this new realisation?
It is in the depths of the consciousness, beyond the mind, that one
can in all sincerity have the experience that all is the Divine and
--
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
and its limitations.
--
should be the attitude of those affected by these errors?
Should one keep silent and say, "It is none of my business", or should one try to point out the mistake to them?
--
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
--
An individuality is a conscious being organised around a divine
centre. All the divine centres are essentially One in their origin,
but they act as separate beings in the manifestation.
The individual must make decisions in order to live, but it
--
human beings to become conscious of it is a fact which can in
no way affect the fact of the advent of these forces and powers
--
men will perceive it only when their consciousness has become
enlightened.
--
method or discipline to be followed?
Everything is possible. All paths lead to the goal provided they
--
It is best for each person to find his own path, but for this
the aspiration must be ardent, the will unshakable, the patience
unfailing.
--
may be collective or individual, but the principle is the same
- and so is the remedy: to cultivate in oneself order and harmony, peace and equilibrium by surrendering unreservedly to
--
transformation will be such that one will also be able to change
the form of that body at will.
--
be able to renew his body and become a young man of
twenty-five?
Those who have a supramentalised body will not be subject to
the law of aging; consequently the question of age will not arise
--
can this be done?
I did not say "cut the nerve" - that would be a surgical operation! I said, cut the conscious connection with the brain.
It is an occult operation, certainly more difficult than the
--
better, their admiration begins to wane and they find that
Ashram people are far more egoistic than people from
--
when will it be set right?
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
Here is the best answer to your questions, written by Sri Aurobindo:
Each one carries in himself the seeds of this disharmony,
--
debt that must be paid to Rudra?
Here is the whole quotation which I had prepared in advance for
--
am sending it to you so that your question becomes unnecessary.
"No real peace can be till the heart of man deserves peace;
the law of Vishnu cannot prevail till the debt to Rudra is paid.
--
oneness there must be, for by that way must come the ultimate
salvation. But not till the Time-Spirit in man is ready, can the
--
Government's acceptance of the cease-fire the best that
could be done under the circumstances?27
They could not do otherwise.
--
of Truth that India is fighting and must fight until India and Pakistan have become One
because that is the truth of their being."
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
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.
--
Both of these can be acquired if one is sincere in one's
aspiration.
--
can be done only through division of labour, and that
necessitates the formation of a group, hierarchicised, if
--
necessarily be hierarchical.
But there are considerable obstacles to the realisation of this
--
the best means of dominating living beings, animals and men.
Those who are pure - that is to say, exclusively under the
--
You write: "Each one here represents an impossibility to be solved."30 Could You explain to me what this
means exactly?
--
This happens because you are trying to enter with a superficial
consciousness which does not have contact with the inner states
of being. You have to go out of this external consciousness and
penetrate into a subtler consciousness; then the fortress will no
longer be impenetrable.
22 Decem ber 1965
--
all be lived?
To serve It, you must live it.
--
people from outside. Since we live in society, we must be
reasonable and lead a life in keeping with theirs." Sweet
--
attitude be towards the customs and laws of society?
If most people here think and feel like that, it is an obvious proof
--
have here, without being worthy of enjoying them.
12 January 1966
--
practise the yoga, it was natural to be strict.
As soon as the children were admitted here, it was no longer
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
--
your possibilities. The only thing you lack is being conscious.
2 February 1966
--
to practise the yoga"; and again, I believe you have
said somewhere, "Not everyone here is meant for yoga."
--
The best way of seeing us in your dreams is to concentrate on us
before going to sleep. Do you do this now as you used to before?
This is also the way to avoid going to undesirable places during
--
We are supposed to be attempting something that
no one has ever tried before. But, Mother, isn't it true
that we now tend to direct our lives and activities more
--
this good fortune we have been granted?
Danger and risk are part of every forward movement. Without
--
world in danger of being swallowed by the Communists
and isn't that why the Americans and their Allies are
--
of a large num ber of human beings who think like them.
But the Communists and all those who have faith in the
--
and of the goal to be achieved, which is the only thing that
matters.
--
can be transformed." What is the truth?
I may have said something of the kind. But the exactness of the
--
India is supposed to be the Guru of the world in
order to establish the spiritual life on earth. But, Mother,
in order to occupy this high position she must be worthy
politically, morally and physically, mustn't she?
Without any doubt - and just now, there is much to be done!
7 Septem ber 1966
--
Why this chaotic condition in our present government? Is it the sign of a change for the better, for the
reign of Truth?
--
up everywhere in a refusal to be transformed.
The victory of the Truth is certain, but it is difficult to say
--
How can one practise yogic disciplines without believing in God or the Divine?31
Why? It is very easy. because these are only words. When one
practises without believing in God or the Divine, one practises
The Mother replied to this question orally; she was speaking to someone other than
--
- are there many who believe in the Divine? Not in Europe
anyway. But even here, there are quite a num ber who by tradition have a "family deity", yet it doesn't bother them at all
--
her and throw her into the Ganges because they were displeased
with her. If one believes in the Divine, one cannot do things like
that.
I don't know - believe in the Divine? One thirsts for a certain perfection, perhaps even to transcend oneself, to arrive at
something higher than what one is; if one is a philanthropist,
one has an aspiration that mankind should become better, or
less unhappy, less miserable; all sorts of things like that. One
can practise yoga for that, but that is not believing. To believe is
to have the faith that there cannot be a world without the Divine,
that the very existence of the world proves the existence of the
--
out or been taught, nothing like that: faith. A faith that is a living
knowledge, not an acquired one, that the existence of the world
--
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
that sort of thing: the world as it is proves the Divine. because
it is the Divine under a certain aspect - a rather distorted one,
--
thing that contains such a concentration of spontaneous beauty
- not man-made: spontaneous, a blossoming; one has only to
see it to be sure that there is a Divine. It is a certainty. One
cannot... it is impossible not to believe. It is like those people
(this is fantastic!), those people who study Nature, really study it
--
without being absolutely convinced that the Divine is there? We
call it the Divine - the Divine is tiny! (Mother laughs.) For me
--
more become. A Something that is more perfect than all the
perfections, more beautiful than all the beauties, more marvellous than all the marvels, so that even the totality of all that
exists cannot express it. And there is nothing but That. And it
--
only to imagine that the thing one wants to do will not be done,
and if this imagination creates the least uneasiness, then one can
--
place of capital importance, doesn't it? This being the
case, what place does meditation have?
--
For several years now, we have been hearing that the
Ashram is in a terrible financial condition, and from time
--
possible only through Your generosity. So how can it be
said that the Ashram is undergoing a financial crisis?
But perhaps it is just because certain individuals and certain
departments are spending extravagantly that there is a financial
--
a constant experience? because the moment one throws
oneself into activity, the mental disturbance begins again!
One can have a quiet mind without being in a complete state
of silence; one can carry on an activity without being distur bed.
The ideal is to be able to act without coming out of the mental
quietude.
--
what one does is better done.
In order to achieve self-mastery, should one follow the
--
a free and intelligent life, even without there being any question
of Yoga or aspiration for the Divine Life.
--
When I heard that X was drowned in a lake at Gingee during the outing, I was unable to believe it or to be
shocked by this news. The only question that arose in me
--
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
--
What are the qualities needed for one to be called
"a true child of the Ashram"?
--
this must be accompanied by a sustained, ardent, persevering
aspiration and a boundless patience.
--
inner being. Could you explain these two sentences a
little?
--
to rise to the intellectual level on which all opposite ideas can be
set face to face and assembled in a comprehensive synthesis.
--
Knowing this teaches you to be patient.
1 February 1967
--
things, such as: "May he be born to the true life" or
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
The ordinary man is often guided in life by his conscience, isn't he? So what becomes of one who has no
conscience, who has lost it by having disregarded it too
--
(2) For those who have seriously begun the yoga in the body,
the physical relation is of course a powerful aid.
--
so as to be able to benefit from my physical presence even at a
distance.
--
Perhaps it is because you have a soul.
12 April 1967
--
old petty habits which do not allow me to be free.
The character can change and must change, but it is a long
--
It is said that the vibrations of the being develop
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
--
Sri Aurobindo wrote: "1.2.34. It is supposed to be always a year of manifestation.
2.3.45 is the year of power - when the thing manifested gets full force. 4.5.67 is the
--
example, in past lives there have been moments when, for some
reason or other, the psychic was present and participated; in that
--
psychic memory, because when one has one, it is quite evident.
before knowing these things, I had had psychic memories
--
I was very strongly and consciously with you because X had
written to me that the tyres of the car were in poor condition.
You did not feel the danger because I did not want you to
feel it.
--
It is because men still imagine that to do something useful, they
have to form groups.
--
Aurobindo's Action. He said that had there been an enlightened person like Vivekananda, the work could have
been done better, but that Mother has to do Her work
with the instruments She has at her disposal. Finally he
--
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
--
may be something apparently very modest; it is not the apparent
importance of a work which gives it its real value for the yoga.
--
a hope. It is not that I don't believe in reincarnation, but
this idea comes back to my mind very often. Mother, is
--
to concentrate on the future, on the consciousness to be acquired
and on the development of the nature, which is almost unlimited
--
existence, a moment when, upon earth, everything is being prepared for a new creation, or rather, for a new manifestation in
the eternal creation.
--
Sweet Mother, at times like this, how should we be?
What is the best attitude on our part?
The best for each one is to progress as sincerely as he can. The
material difficulties are part of the work of transformation and
they should be accepted calmly.
14 Novem ber 1970
--
to be different. Or am I not conscious of my prayers?
Or is everything done for me, for my good, in spite of
--
is done for them. Those who make an effort become conscious
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
object:01.10 - Nicholas berdyaev: God Made Human
author class:Nolini Kanta Gupta
--
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 understands 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.
***
01.10 - Principle and Personality, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
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 stands are in the open forum and men have the full and free opportunity of testing and assimilating them, it is only when individuals thus become living embodiments of those principles and realities that we do create a thing universal and permanent, as universal and permanent as earthly things may be. Principles only can embrace and unify the whole of humanity; a particular personality shall always create division and limitation. By placing the man in front, we erect a wall between the Principle and men at large. It is the principles, on the contrary, that should be given the place of honour: our attempt should be to keep back personalities and make as little use of them as possible. Let the principles work and create in their freedom and power, untrammelled by the limitations of any mere human vessel.
We 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 so berly strike a balance between opposite extremes.
We do not speak like politicians or banias; but the very truth of the matter demands such a policy or line of action. It is very well to talk of principles and principles alone, but what are principles unless they take life and form in a particular individual? They are airy nothings, notions in the brain of logicians and metaphysicians, fit subjects for discussion in the academy, but they are devoid of that vital urge which makes them creative agencies. We have long lines of philosophers, especially European, who most scrupulously avoided all touch of personalities, whose utmost care was to keep principles pure and unsullied; and the upshot was that those principles remained principles only, barren and infructuous, some thing like, in the strong and puissant phrase of BaudelaireLa froide majest de la femme strile. And on the contrary, we have had other peoples, much addicted to personalitiesespecially in Asiawho did not care so much for abstract principles as for concrete embodiments; and what has been the result here? None can say that they did not produce anything or produced only still-born things. They produced living creaturesephemeral, some might say, but creatures that lived and moved and had their days.
But, it may be asked, what is the necessity, what is the purpose in making it all a one man show? Granting that principles require personalities for their fructuation and vital functioning, what remains to be envisaged is not one personality but a plural personality, the people at large, as many individuals of the human race as can be consciously imbued with those principles. When principles are made part and parcel of, are concentrated in a single solitary personality, they get "crib bed and cabined," they are vitiated by the idiosyncrasies of the man, they come to have a narrower field of application; they are emptied of the general verities they contain and finally cease to have any effect.
The thing, however, is that what you call principles do not drop from heaven in their virgin purity and all at once lay hold of mankind en masse. It is always through a particular individual that a great principle manifests itself. Principles do not live in the general mind of man and even if they live, they live secreted and unconscious; it is only a puissant personality, who has lived the principle, that can bring it forward into life and action, can awaken, like the Vedic Dawn, what was dead in allmritam kanchana bodhayanti. Men in general are by themselves 'inert and indifferent; they have little leisure or inclination to seek, from any inner urge of their own, for principles and primal truths; they become conscious of these only when expressed and embodied in some great and rare soul. An Avatar, a Messiah or a Prophet is the centre, the focus through which a Truth and Law first dawns and then radiates and spreads abroad. The little lamps are all lighted by the sparks that the great torch scatters.
And yet we yield to none in our demand for holding forth the principles always and ever before the wide open gaze of all. The principle is there to make people self-knowing and self-guiding; and the man is also there to illustrate that principle, to serve as the hope and prophecy of achievement. The living soul is there to touch your soul, if you require the touch; and the principle is there by which to test and testify. For, we do not ask anybody to be a mere automaton, a blind devotee, a soul without individual choice and initiative. On the contrary, we insist on each and every individual to find his own soul and stand on his own Truththis is the fundamental principle we declare, the only creedif creed it be that we ask people to note and freely follow. We ask all people to be fully self-dependent and self-illumined, for only thus can a real and solid reconstruction of human nature and society be possible; we do not wish that they should bow down ungrudgingly to anything, be it a principle or a personality. In this respect we claim the very first rank of iconoclasts and anarchists. And along with that, if we still choose to remain an idol-lover and a hero-worshipper, it is because we recognise that our mind, human as it is, being not a simple equation but a complex paradox, the idol or the hero symbolises for us and for those who so will, the very iconoclasm and anarchism and perhaps other more positive things as wellwhich we behold within and seek to manifest.
The world is full of ikons and archons; we cannot escape them, even if we try the world itself being a great ikon and as great an archon. Those who swear by principles, swear always by some personality or other, if not by a living creature then by a lifeless book, if not by Religion then by Science, if not by the East then by the West, if not by Buddha or Christ then by bentham or Voltaire. Only they do it unwittingly they change one set of personalities for another and believe they have rejected them all. The veils of Maya are a thousand-fold tangle and you think you have entirely escaped her when you have only run away from one fold to fall into another. The wise do not attempt to reject and negate Maya, but consciously accept herfreedom lies in a knowing affirmation. So we too have accepted and affirmed an icon, but we have done it consciously and knowingly; we are not bound by our idol, we see the truth of it, and we serve and utilise it as best as we may.
***
01.11 - Aldous Huxley: The Perennial Philosophy, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Nicholas berdyaev: God Made Human Goethe
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsAldous Huxley: The Perennial Philosophy
--
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:
"The touch of Earth is always reinvigorating to the son of Earth, even when he seeks a supraphysical Knowledge. It may even be said that the supraphysical can only be really mastered in its fullnessto its heights we can always reachwhen we keep our feet firmly on the physical. 'Earth is His footing' says the Upanishad, whenever it images the Self that manifests in the universe." Huxley's commentary is as follows:
"To its heights we can always come. For those of us who are still splashing about in the lower ooze, the phrase has a rather ironical ring. Nevertheless, in the light of even the most distant acquaintance with the heights and the fullness, it is possible to understand what its author means. To discover the Kingdom of God exclusively within oneself is easier than to discover it, not only there, but also in the outer worlds of minds and things and living creatures. It is easier because the heights within reveal themselves to those who are ready to exclude from their purview all that lies without. And though this exclusion may be a painful and mortificatory process, the fact remains that it is less arduous than the process of inclusion, by which we come to know the fullness as well as the heights of spiritual life. Where there is exclusive concentration on the heights within, temptations and distractions are avoided and there is a general denial and suppression. But when the hope is to know God inclusivelyto realise the divine Ground in the world as well as in the soul, temptations and distractions must not be avoided, but submitted to and used as opportunities for advance; there must be no suppression of outward-turning activities, but a transformation of them so that they become sacramental."
The neatness of the commentary cannot be improved upon. Only with regard to the "ironical ring" of which Huxley speaks, it has just to be pointed out, as he himself seems to understand, that the "we" referred to in the phrase does not mean humanity in general that 'splashes about in the lower ooze' but those who have a sufficiently developed inner spiritual life.
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 deli berate 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 standards. Especially in the modern age we see the decline and almost the disappearance of the Greater Light and instead a thousand 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, Ananda 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.
***
Nicholas berdyaev: God Made Human Goethe
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 num ber of pockets (to use a current military phrase) left behind which guarded the spirit of the past and offered persistent and obdurate resistance. Perhaps, such a dispensation was needed in India and inevitable also; inevitable, because the religious spirit is closest to India's soul and is its most direct expression and cannot be uprooted so easily; needed, because India's and the world's future demands it and depends upon it.
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 understand 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 num berless 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
--
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 land 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 stands 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.
--
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 demanded by the situation. Only the thing is to be done now consciously, not through an unconscious process of laissez-faire as on the inferior stages of evolution in the past. And that is the true genesis of the present conflict.
History abounds in instances of racial and cultural immixture. Indeed, all major human groupings of today are invariably composite formations. Excepting, perhaps, some primitiveaboriginal tri bes 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 I berian, 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 demand 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 Vivekananda 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 li beral 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 demand.
01.12 - Goethe, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The year 1949 has just celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great force of light that was Goethe. We too remem ber 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 stands vindicated. The place of Satan is always Hell, but he cannot drag down a soul into his pit to hold it there eternally (although according to one doctrine there are or may be certain eternally damned souls).
Goe the carries the process of convergence and even harmony of the two powers a little further and shows that although they are contrary apparently, they are not contradictory principles in essence. For, Satan is, after all, God's servant, even a very o bedient servant; he is an instrument in the hand of the Almighty to work out His purpose. The purpose is to help and lead man, although in a devious way, towards a greater understanding, a nearer approach to Himself.
--
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 hand, 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 hand. Indeed, Satan will prove to be a good companion to man; for man is normally prone to inertia and sinks into repose and rest and stagnation. Satan will be 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 hand, Satan will serve man here in life upon earth, and on the other hand, 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 demand of what is familiarly known as life-force (lan vital): the utmost fulfilment of the life-force is what man stands 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 grand finale as it were, into hellhowever much Satan might wish it to be so. In what way, we shall see presently. Now Satan promises man all that he would desire and even more: he would give him his fill so' that he will ask for no more. Man takes up 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 a berrations 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 li beration. Satan has to release man from the pact that stands cancelled. The soul of man cannot be sold, even if he wanted it.
The Cosmic Rhythm
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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 a berration, 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 li berty and freedom,no doubt of secular li berty 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 moreand, 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 Vivekananda.
Vivekananda 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 demanding 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 a berration 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 li berty, 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 li berty is equal to the measure of others' li berty.
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 a berration, 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 o bedienceo bedience to the chief the patriarch or pater familiaso bedience 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 deli berate 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 im bedded 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 standard or a rule that one has to o bey: 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
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 Land 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
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
--
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:
--
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 dove descending breaks the air
--
To be redeemed from fire by fire.2
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
--
Yes, that is the condition demanded, 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
Fingers of yew be curled
Down on us? After the kingfisher's wing
--
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 demands 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 demand 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;
--
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
--
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
--
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,
--
.History may be servitude,
History may be freedom. See, now they vanish,
The faces and places, with the self which, as it could, loved them,
To become renewed, transfigured, in another pattern.
Sin is behovely, but
All shall be well, and
All manner of thing shall be well. 12
Nothing can be clearer with regard to the ultimate end the poet has in view. Listen once more to the hymn of the higher reconciliation:
The dance along the artery
--
below, the boarhound and the boar
Pursue their pattern as before
But reconciled among the stars.13
--
Our poet is too self-conscious, he himself feels that he has not the perfect voice. A Homer, even a Milton possesses a unity of tone and a wholeness of perception which are denied to the modern. To the modern, however, the old masters are not subtle enough, broad enough, psychological enough, let us say the word, spiritual enough. And yet the poetic inspiration, more than the religious urge, needs the injunction not to be busy with too many things, but to be centred upon the one thing needful, viz., to create poetically and not to discourse philosophically or preach prophetically. Not that it is impossible for the poet to swallow the philosopher and the prophet, metabolising them into the substance of his bone and marrow, of "the trilling wire in his blood", as Eliot graphically expresses. That perhaps is the consummation towards which poetry is tending. But at present, in Eliot, at least, the strands remain distinct, each with its own temper and rhythm, not fused and moulded into a single streamlined form of beauty. Our poet flies high, very high indeed at times, often or often he flies low, not disdaining the perilous limit of bathos. Perhaps it is all wilful, it is a mannerism which he cherishes. The mannerism may explain his psychology and enshrine his philosophy. But the poet, the magician is to be looked for elsewhere. In the present collection of poems it is the philosophical, exegetical, discursive Eliot who dominates: although the high lights of the subject-matter may be its justification. Still even if we have here doldrums like
That the past has another pattern, and ceases to be a mere sequence
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
we have also high flights like the lines I have already quoted:
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
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 wanderer 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 land.
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:
--
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:
Here pilgrims roam, that strayed so far to seek In Golgotha him dead who lives in heaven
--
Indeed, Roerich considers the Himalayas as the very abode, the ta bernacle 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 demanded. Indeed, he stands 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 hand, 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
How can my effort to serve the Divine become more
perfect?
By wanting Him more and more in every part of your being -
integrally.
--
1) A short concentration before going to sleep, with
an aspiration to remem ber the activities of the night
--
3) Repeat these exercises every day until you begin
to perceive a result.
--
In the human being, is the psychic being the entire soul
or do both the soul (in its essence as a divine spark in all
creatures) and the psychic being exist together?
The soul is the eternal essence at the centre of the psychic being.
The soul is in fact like a divine spark which puts on many states
of being of increasing density, down to the most material; it is
inside the body, within the solar plexus, so to say.2 These states
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.
--
speaking here of the truth of your being. Moreover, he
sometimes moulds himself according to your outer aspirations, and if you live like the devotees who alternate
--
and despair, the Divine too will be farther from you or
nearer, depending on what you believe. The attitude is
therefore very important, even the outer attitude."
--
"outer attitude"? What is the best outer attitude?
Unless one practises yoga in the physical being (outer being), it
remains ignorant - even its aspiration is ignorant and so is its
--
tamas. How can this body become Your good instrument?
At the centre of each cell lies the Divine Consciousness. By
aspiration and repeated self-giving, the cells must be made transparent.
18 March 1967
"To be aware of the consciousness of the soul" - is this
the same thing as uniting with the Divine?
To become aware of the consciousness of the soul is the surest
and easiest way of uniting with the Divine.
--
How can the situation be improved?
This difficulty usually comes from a lack of unification of the
--
have to be educated little by little, just as one educates a child
- and little by little too the situation will improve.
--
earth will be transformed". Is that day drawing near?
It may very well be that this is what is happening now - but it
is not on the human scale.
--
our Ashram, could it be said from the true occult point
of view that the Ashram was born with the Mother's
--
The Lord told You: "One day thou wilt be my head but
for the moment turn thy gaze towards the earth."4
Sweet Mother, what does "thou wilt be my head"
mean?
--
When I want to be closer to You, I see that I must overcome my ego. But when I think of overcoming my ego,
I see that I must be closer to You. How can I solve this
problem?
--
How can I be Your good child?
By being yourself, quite simply, very simply.
5 May 1967
--
brings me great joy, and when some part of my being
offers itself to You the joy I feel is greater still. But in
spite of this experience my whole being is not offered to
You. What stupidity! How can I change this?
We are made up of many different parts which have to be unified
around the psychic being, if we are conscious of it or at least
around the central aspiration. If this unification is not done, we
--
impulse, each reaction, as it manifests, must be presented in the
consciousness to the central being or its aspiration. What is in
accord is accepted; what is not in accord is refused, rejected or
--
once it is done, the unification is achieved and the path becomes
easy and swift.
--
material things that belong to me?
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.
--
them in the hope that they will not be noticed.
As for all psychological problems, here too sincerity, a total
--
first, "to live in Thee" or "to live for Thee". before the
mind could set to work to find the answer, the reply that
--
Thee" comes first and if the being is unified and sincere, "to live
in Thee" soon follows.
But of course, for the first to be perfect, the second must be
present.
--
receive a small part of it because I am not receptive
enough.
--
because it is not receptive, when it could live in beatitude if it
would open to the Divine Love.
--
I have begun to see that both the personal effort of the
sadhak and its result depend on the Divine Grace.
--
First the dead man must have a daughter in order to be reborn
in her child.
--
frequent in India where the belief in frequent reincarnations is
still quite common.
--
I asked myself, "How can one express the inexpressible?" The reply came, "By living it, by becoming it, by
being it." What does the Mother say?
--
The body is able to bear the pressure of time because it knows
and feels quite concretely that it does not itself live and act, but
--
The phrase would be even more amusing if he had written:
"Thank God for making me an atheist."
--
From what I understand, You said that the psychic beings
of the disciples of the Ashram all belong to the same family. In spite of this, there is often a lack of collaboration
among us. Why is that, Mother?
--
But in any case, mutual misunderstanding 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
--
rest at night from the effort of the day to become conscious.
When consciousness becomes all-powerful, shadow will no
longer be necessary and will disappear.
4 Septem ber 1967
--
to open the chakras from below, whereas in the integral
yoga the chakras open from above by the descent of the
--
What is the difference between the results of the
opening of the chakras in these two systems?
--
and written that his yoga begins where the others leave off.
This is to say that yoga ordinarily consists in awakening the
--
then the consciousness descends through all the states of being
down to the most material, bringing the Divine Force with it so
that the Force can transform the whole being and finally divinise
the physical body.
--
because most people, when they hear the word "unity", understand uniformity and nothing can be further from the truth.
25 Septem ber 1967
--
I have heard about the aspiration to be simply what You
want.
That is the best state for advancing swiftly on the path.
26 Octo ber 1967
Two extremely rich men who claim to be very religious
and virtuous, are not paying what they owe according
--
One day an idiot was brought to him to be cured. But Christ
slipped away, saying that to make a stupid man intelligent is an
--
and became Unconsciousness, Suffering, Falsehood and Death.
Then a second emanation was made to repair the damage.
--
Total means vertically in all the states of being, from the
most material to the most subtle.
--
contradictory parts which make up the outer being (physical,
vital and mental).
--
Whatever the past may have been, it is not time that is needed
to establish contact with the Divine, but sincerity of aspiration.
--
It is because material wealth is controlled by the adverse forces
- and because they have not yet been converted to the Divine
Influence, though the work has begun.
That victory will form part of the triumph of Truth.
Wealth should not be a personal property and should be at
the disposal of the Divine for the welfare of all.
--
When Mother says that wealth should not be a personal
property, I understand that what should come is more
--
Only the psychological change can be a solution.
6 January 1968
--
But how can others do it? Can it be said that each
one should get rid of the sense of property and spend his
--
should be used for the progress of the earth, this person will
be developed enough inwardly to receive the knowledge of how
--
The day before yesterday, as I was arranging my vase for
You, I said to a flower, "Oh, you are going to Mother!"
--
Is constant remembrance of the Divine the beginning of
union?
A beginning of union comes even before constant remembrance.
When the remembrance is constant, one often feels a Presence
--
speaking. There is no succession, no beginning. beyond,
in the perfect Oneness, everything exists at the same
time, simultaneously. This cannot be understood, it must
be experienced; one can have the experience of it."
--
What is the difference between an emanation and a
formation?
--
Today You have shown me the basic incompatibility between human law and the Truth. But this is a problem
that confronts me very often.
--
pure being. Does this apply only to the Yogi or to
everyone?
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
conscious of this relation. It is usually the result of Yoga.
--
During sleep the inner beings become consciously active. When
one wakes up, it is the waking being that is not conscious of the
activities of the night.
--
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 understand.
--
have actually been there for a long time and that now
Your Grace has brought them to my notice so that the
next step may be taken.
Mother, the night has already been very long for me.
But it matters little, so long as I can continue to hold
--
the greater the Truth that seeks to descend upon us, because it is already there within us
and calls for its release from the covering that conceals it in manifested Nature."
--
automatically do the work of unifying the being.
In this way, everything that has to be transformed will be
transformed quite naturally, without clash or damage.
--
How can one hasten the day when the whole being will
be able to say, "I am Yours - Yours alone"?
--
(2) Never allow any part of the being or any of its movements to contradict one's aspiration.
This also makes it necessary to become conscious of one's
nights, because the activities of the night often contradict the
aspiration of the day and undo its work.
--
What a joy it would be to possess the required purity!
When one is living among men with all their miseries, it is only
the Grace that can bestow this state - even in those who by
Tapasya have abolished their ego.
It is beyond all personal effort.
27 May 1968
--
Who should be put on guard to give the alert: " be
careful! Look upwards"?
--
being. And one can hear it only if one is very attentive, because
it does not make any clamour.
--
Without sincerity nothing can be done. With total sincerity
everything is possible.
--
is, the acknowledgement that there is something to be known
which we do not know) is the first effect of the divine influence
--
But there comes a time when the ascent becomes a perfect
repose.
--
universe continues to be such as it is?
In the evolution, the individual is far ahead of the earth, but
--
But the condition of the earth is sure to become such that a
supramental being will soon be able to live on it.
9 July 1968
--
whether it be the religious way, the philosophical way,
the yogic way, the mystic way, no one has realised transformation."10
--
all and everything should once more become consciously divine.
14 Octo ber 1968
--
in order to be immune.
But in any case, transformation gives the power of victory.
--
"The ideal Sadhaka should be able to say in the Biblical
phrase: 'My zeal for the Lord has eaten me up.' "11
--
Yes, it means that the entire being is absor bed in its consecration.
24 Octo ber 1968
--
For most people, in their sleep, it is precisely what has been
recorded in the subconscient during the day or previously which
--
life, one hastens the work considerably and it can be done in a
few years.
--
"A knowledge which became what it perceived,
Replaced the separated sense and heart
--
three of them because there is a physical mind, a vital mind and
a mental mind.
--
The light began of the Trinity supreme."16
Is the "Trinity supreme" Sachchidananda?
--
It is only the Asuras and a few great hostile beings who
refuse and oppose the Divine even though they know who He is.
--
to the Divine and been adopted by Him are surrounded by the
divine protection and for them the passage is not difficult.
--
To be and to do what the Divine wants, this is the truly
important thing.
--
stands above all the worlds and bears in her eternal
consciousness the Supreme Divine."20
--
"When we eat, we should be conscious that we are giving
our food to that Presence in us.... "21
When I try to take this attitude, the food tastes better
and the atmosphere becomes quieter.
The Presence is always there whatever we do, and it is because
of ignorance, negligence or absent-mindedness that we do not
--
In order to be conscious of the constant Presence, is
memory a good aid?
--
When the Presence becomes concrete, does this indicate
the participation of feeling and sensation?
--
perception becomes concrete and tangible.
19 Decem ber 1968
--
of the divine transformation, because effort and aspiration are
needed for the transformation to take place.
--
The usefulness of seeing clearly instead of being blind.
The usefulness of no longer being deceived by outward
appearances.
--
indispensable so far as it can be done. because the aim of this
yoga is not an escape from the physical consciousness but a
0.12 - Letters to a Student, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
To a student in the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education who began writing to the Mother at the age of sixteen.
Sweet Mother,
--
Your books before going to bed at night. But now I have
lost the habit and I do not even go to the Samadhi very
--
regularly, because it is the laziness of unconsciousness that keeps
you from doing them.
--
unified the whole of one's being around the psychic centre.
This unification is indispensable if one wants to be the
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
--
divine help will be there to support and to help. This help is felt
inwardly in the heart.
--
with the psychic being. Why do You consider it difficult?
How should I begin?
I said "not easy" because the contact is not spontaneous - it
is voluntary. The psychic being always has an influence on the
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.
--
body to do a little better than my actual capacity. I would
like to know how I can force it. But, Sweet Mother, is it
--
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
--
Therefore, one must be patient and follow the rhythm of
one's body, which is more reasonable and knows what it can
--
Why do we believe in rebirth? What were we before
our present state?
--
There have been - and there still are - beings whose inner
consciousness is sufficiently developed for them to know for
--
It is not a theory to be discussed - it is an indisputable
experience for one who has had it.
--
we think about? Does being in contact with Nature help
us in any way?
--
It is not by thinking that one can be in contact with Nature, for
Nature does not think.
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.
Blessings.
--
union with the Divine. Indeed, as soon as one becomes conscious
of the Divine and is united with Him, one learns to love with
--
need to be loved in return; one also learns to draw Force from
the inexhaustible source and one knows by experience that by
--
can rest properly. A little concentration for that, before going to
sleep, will surely be effective.
Blessings.
--
When the body is asleep, is it better for the mind to
go out of the body? Where does the mind go?
--
cases as there are persons. But each one can learn which conditions are best for his rest.
You can become conscious of your nights and your sleep
just as you are conscious of your days. It is a matter of inner
--
only thing or does becoming conscious of one's movements, of one's speech, etc. also count?
Series Twelve - To a Student
You may be sure that becoming conscious of the Divine Presence
in oneself considerably changes one's whole way of being and
gives an exceptional control over all activities, mental, vital and
--
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 you go to bed late and get up late, you contradict the
forces of Nature, and that is not very wise.
--
Human incapacity is necessarily behind all that men do. Only
he who has become conscious of the Divine and become His
faithful instrument can avoid error, if he is careful to act only at
--
It must be said that this is not easy. Only he who no longer
has any ego can do it correctly.
--
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
appears on earth.
--
What is the difference between sports and physical
education?
--
because human beings, especially in their childhood, still need a
certain excitement in order to make effort.
--
What should our attitude be towards the captains
and teachers here?
--
world and the whole universe - to become conscious once more
of being Him.
Blessings.
0.13 - Letters to a Student, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
To a student in the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education who began writing to the Mother at the age of sixteen.
Sweet Mother,
Should one give money to beggars or not?
In a well-organized society, there should not be any beggars.
But as long as there are, do as you feel.
--
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
--
Why is the night darker just before dawn - from
the scientific as well as the spiritual point of view?
--
Why are the hours before midnight better for sleep
than the hours after it?
--
because, symbolically, during the hours before midnight the sun
is setting, while from the first hour after midnight it begins to
rise.
--
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
--
What is the difference between desire and aspiration,
and between selfishness and self-realisation?
Desire is a vital movement, aspiration is a psychic movement.
--
centre in one's being. In English, self-fulfilment is generally taken
in the sense "to be successful". Sri Aurobindo in his writings
uses the word "self-realisation" to mean realisation of the Self,
that is to say, becoming conscious of the Divine in oneself and
identifying with Him.
--
How can one unify one's being?
The first step is to find, deep within oneself, behind the desires
and impulses, a luminous consciousness which is always present
and manifests the physical being.
Ordinarily, one becomes aware of the presence of this consciousness only when one has to face some danger or an unexpected event or a great sorrow.
One has, then, to come into conscious contact with that and
--
Generally it is in the heart, behind the solar plexus, that one
finds this luminous presence.
--
What will be the result of changing the vital into
something good; in other words, what will be the
change?
--
of being bad; wickedness is replaced by kindness, avarice by
generosity; weakness disappears and strength and endurance
--
divine, even the adverse forces, and if everything has been
created by Him and He can do everything, then how is
--
themselves whether human beings, who are so small and limited,
could see things as they really are; and in the hope of understanding better, they have sought for a diviner vision, a global and true
vision - with the result of Yoga. And those who have succeeded
--
the parents help you in your spiritual progress, because they are
usually more interested in a worldly realisation.
--
I would like to know the second step towards unifying one's being. You told me about the first step.
The work of unifying the being consists of:
(1) becoming aware of one's psychic being.
(2) putting before the psychic being, as one becomes aware
of them, all one's movements, impulses, thoughts and acts of
will, so that the psychic being may accept or reject each of these
movements, impulses, thoughts or acts of will. Those that are
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.
--
Certainly there ought to be less. But for that, the children who
study here must make an effort to grow in consciousness (a thing
--
fine opportunity that has been given to them.
22 Decem ber 1969
--
What is the difference between persons who have
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
--
Why go to church? Are you Christians or do you want to become
Christians?
--
asking for permission, because they sensed that it would not be
given.
--
of our being; there are others when it retires and men
are left to act in the strength or the weakness of their
--
It so happens that we are not in an age when men have been left
to their own means. The Divine has sent down His Consciousness to give them light. All who are able to do so should profit
--
Primitive men were still too close to the animal to be able to
enter into relation with the Inner Divine; it is only gradually,
--
have learned to be conscious. Now they are ready to manifest
a far higher consciousness, the consciousness that will act fully
--
how can we be of help to it?
This great change is the appearance on earth of a new race that
will be to man what man is to the animal. The consciousness of
this new race is already at work on earth to give light to all who
--
How should the news of death be received, especially
when it is someone close to us?
Say to the Supreme Lord: "Let Thy Will be done", and remain
as peaceful as possible.
--
instead of being moved or troubled, you can calmly judge the
value of a film, whether it is well made or well acted, or whether
--
Or would it be better not to read them at all?
Series Thirteen - To a Student
--
must not blindly believe everything you read; you should know
that the truth is altogether different.
--
How can we know the truth of the facts when reading newspapers? What is the best way of knowing the
truth of the world?
The best way is to find the truth in ourselves - then we shall be
able to see the Truth wherever it is.
0.14 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
because the transformation begins with the opening of the consciousness to the action of the new forces; thus individuals have
a unique and wonderful opportunity to open themselves to the
--
another. It is only when one gets rid of the ego that one becomes
a free being.
To be free, one must belong only to the Divine.
3 Decem ber 1971
--
Grant that nothing in us may be an obstacle to the fulfilment
of Thy Will.
Grant that we may become conscious and effective collaborators in the fulfilment of Thy Will.
5 Decem ber 1971
--
The ego was necessary to form the individual being. Its destruction is therefore difficult. There is a much better, though more
difficult solution: to transform it and make it an instrument of
--
Divine become especially powerful and effective instruments.
The endeavour is difficult and demands an absolute and
--
For you, the best way to begin is to find your psychic being,
to concentrate on it by making it the witness of all your inner
--
The psychic being is the individual sheath of the Divine Presence.
It is found deep within oneself, beyond all thoughts.
11 Decem ber 1971
--
Feeling alone in the midst of human beings is the sign that you
are beginning to feel the need to find in your own being contact
with the Divine Presence. So you must concentrate in silence and
--
depths of your consciousness, beyond all mental activity.
16 Decem ber 1971
There comes a moment when life becomes intolerable without
the Divine Presence. Therefore, give yourself entirely to the
--
shatter all resistance, however powerful it may be.
18 Decem ber 1971
--
Let us learn to be silent so that the Lord may make use of
us.
--
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
--
Everyone should repeatedly be told: abolish your ego and
peace will reign in you.
--
Human beings could be classified under four principal categories
according to the attitude they take in life:
--
(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.
--
effort required to find the Divine, to be conscious of His Will
and to work exclusively to serve Him.
--
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
--
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.
That is why I said "progressive perfection", because the
manifestation of the consciousness of detail is infinite and unending.
--
And then to be conscious that one knows nothing compared
to what one ought to know, that one can do nothing compared
--
one ought to be.
One must have an invariable will to acquire what is lacking
in one's nature, to know what one does not yet know, to be able
to do what one is not yet able to do.
--
"Always better. Forward!"
And to have only one goal: to know the Divine in order to
--
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.
--
one becomes an inexhaustible channel rather than a vessel that
empties itself by giving.
--
must be convinced that the possibility of progress is unlimited.
Progress is youth; one can be young at a hundred.
14 January 1972
--
towards an increasing perfection, we shall be well on the way to
overcoming the inevitability of death.
--
The best way to avoid growing old is to make progress the
goal of our life.
--
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.
--
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
--
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.
--
trust and gratitude that the difficulties will be overcome.
1 February 1972
--
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
--
The psychic being knows this with certainty; so, by uniting
with one's psychic, one can know it. But the first condition is
not to be subject to one's desires and mistake them for the truth
of one's being.
4 February 1972
--
the best way to help the world is to realise the Divine oneself.
5 February 1972
In the depths of our being, in the silence of contemplation, a
luminous force floods our consciousness with a vast and luminous peace which prevails over all petty reactions and prepares
--
element. It was around the ego that the different states of being
were grouped; but now that the birth of superhumanity is being
prepared, the ego has to disappear and give way to the psychic
being, which has slowly been formed by divine intervention in
order to manifest the Divine in the human being.
It is under the psychic influence that the Divine manifests in
--
immortality can be manifested on earth.
So the important thing now is to find one's psychic, unite
with it and allow it to replace the ego, which will be compelled
either to get converted or disappear.
--
that they refuse even to try the experiment and would rather be
subject to the miseries of their ego than make the effort needed
--
Supreme Lord, teach us to be silent, that in the silence we may
receive Your force and understand Your will.
--
We want to be true servitors of the Divine.
"Supreme Lord, Perfect Consciousness, You alone know
--
to be capable and worthy of serving You as we would. Make us
conscious of our possibilities, but also of our difficulties so that
--
The supreme happiness is to be true servitors of the Divine.
14 February 1972
--
(2) To understand ever better and more completely what
one knows.
--
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.
--
When the whole being, in all its parts and all its activities,
can say to the Divine in all sincerity:
--
is for all the progress that has to be made!
Series Fourteen - To a Sadhak
--
Supreme Lord, Perfection that we must become, Perfection that
we must manifest.
--
will because its consciousness will be totally united with Yours.
23 February 1972
Grant that I may become conscious of Your Presence.
9 March 1972
--
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.
--
This truth that man has vainly sought to know will be the
birthright of the new race, the race of tomorrow, the superman.
To live according to Truth will be his birthright.
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 it is no longer necessary for my body to resemble the bodies of men in order to make them progress will it be free to be supramentalized.1
***
0 1954-08-25 - what is this personality? and when will she come?, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
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 Ananda1 which flows from a supreme divine Love, the Ananda that alone can heal the gulf between the highest heights of the supramental spirit and the lowest abysses of Matter, the Ananda 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
--
I knew you would ask me this question because it is indeed the most interesting thing in the whole passageso my answer is ready, along with my answer to another question. But first let me read you this one.
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 Ananda 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 Ananda 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 Ananda. 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 Ananda 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.
--
She came down because there WAS a possibility because things had reached such a stage that it was her hour to come down. But in truth, She came down because because I thought it was possible for her to succeed.
Possibilities are still thereonly they have to materialize.
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?
When did it happen?
I dont know dates. I dont know, I never remem ber 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.
Right.
--
Oh! But you see, from an occult standpoint, it is a selection. From an external standpoint you could say that there are people in the world who are far superior to you (and I would not disagree!), but from an occult standpoint, it is a selection. There are It can be said that without a doubt the majority of young people here have come because it was promised them that they would be present at the Hour of Realization but they just dont remem ber 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 remem ber 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 num ber 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 num ber of elements who havent even the slightest idea why theyre here (!) well, it demands 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 Vivekanandas Raja Yoga, it really seemed so wonderful to me that someone could explain something to me! And it helped me realize in only a few months what would have 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.
--
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 outand 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?
--
I thought someone might ask me, Why doesnt She4 stay for your sake? Since She came here because you called Her, then why doesnt She stay for your sake?
But no one asked me that.
--
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 body besides, 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 Herand 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 away because 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 stands: 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.
--
(Mother gets up to go, but while leaving, She says to the children around her:) If you had made just one little decision to try to feel your psychic being, my time would not have been wasted.
Ananda: Divine Joy.
0 1955-03-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
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
Mahakali: the eternal Mother in her warrior aspect, She who severs the heads of the demons.
Such was our old, meaningless name (except for its Germanic root: 'hard bear') until a certain March 3, 1957, when Mother named us Sat-prem ('the one who loves truly').
***
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 hand, the difficulties inherent in my own nature, and on the other, the outer conditions of this sadhana. These conditions do not seem to be conducive to helping me overcome the difficulties in my own nature.
I feel that I am turning in circles and taking one step backward for each one forward. Furthermore, instead of helping me draw nearer to the divine consciousness, my work in the Ashram (the very fact of working for to change work, even if I felt like it, would not change the overall situation), diverts me from this divine consciousness, or at least keeps me in a superficial consciousness from which I am unable to unglue myself as long as I am busy writing letters, doing translations, corrections or classes.1 I know its my own fault, that I should know how to be detached from my work and do it by relying upon a deeper consciousness, but what can be done? Unless I receive the grace, I cannot remem ber the essential thing as long as the outer part of my being is active.
When I am not immediately engrossed in work, I have to confront a thousand little temptations and daily difficulties that come from my contact with other beings and a life that does indeed remain in life. Here, even more, there is the feeling of an impossible struggle, and all these little difficulties seem to gnaw away at me; scarcely has one hole been filled when another opens up, or the same one reappears, and there is never any real victoryone has constantly to begin everything again. Finally, it seems to me that I really live only one hour a day, during the evening distribution at the playground.2 It is scarcely a life and scarcely a sadhana!
Consequently, I understand much better now why in the traditional yogas one settled all these difficulties once and for all by escaping from the world, without bothering to transform a life that seems so untransformable.
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 understand 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 re bellions and discouragements and resistances, I am your child. O Mother, help me!
Signed: bernard
***
--
No doubt it would be better to go to Almora for a whilenot for too long, I hope, for it is needless to say how much the work will be disrupted by this departure
(Another handwritten version)
--
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
--
Every evening at the Playground, the disciples passed before Mother one by one to receive symbolically some food.
In the Himalayas.
0 1955-06-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
If only I could see a distinct error blocking my path which I could clearly attack But I feel that I am not responsible, that it is not my personal fault if I remain without aspiration, stagnating. I feel like a battlefield of contending forces that are beyond me and against which I can do NOTHING. Oh 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 un bearable 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 hand 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
Mother, this letter is a prayer.
--
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 li beration.
While reading your prayer, I too prayed that it be heard.
With my blessings.
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.
Your child,
Signed: bernard
***
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 demandsforming 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 re bel against your Light and to understand 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 understand 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 understand 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
2) To unfold ones being before Him, to open entirely ones body from head to toe, as one opens a book, spreading open ones centers so as to make all their movements visible in a total SINCERITY that allows nothing to remain hidden.
3) To nestle in His arms, to melt in Him in a tender and absolute CONFIDENCE.
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 1956-03-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Note written by Mother in French. At this period, Mother's back was already bent. This straightening of her back seems to be the first physiological effect of the 'Supramental Manifestation' of February 29, which is perhaps the reason why Mother noted down the experience under the name 'Agenda of the Supramental Action on Earth.' It was the first time Mother gave a title to what would become this fabulous document of 13 volumes. The experience took place during a 'translation class' when, twice a week, Mother would translate the works of Sri Aurobindo into French before a group of disciples.
AGENDA OF THE SUPRAMENTAL ACTION ON EARTH
0 1956-03-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
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
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 disbanded 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 understand 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 abandoning 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 re bellions which have been so very violent? Am I totally guilty? Is it true that you are abandoning 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 re bellion, at my very end.
Yet I love you in spite of all that I am.
Signed: bernard
***
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 a berration, 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 hands. Prevent me from falling back, far away from you. I place this freedom in your hands. Keep me safe, Mother, protect me. Grant me the grace of watching over me and of taking me in your hands completely, like a child whose steps are unsure. I no longer want this Freedom. It is you I want, 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
***
0 1956-04-23, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
A new world shall be born.
And the things that were promised shall be fulfilled.
and rewrites it as follows in her own hand:
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.
--
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 thousands of years. We shall speak of this again in a few thousand years!
(silence)
--
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 num ber 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.
Sweet Mother, what should be our attitude towards this New Consciousness?
That depends upon what you want to do with it.
--
Will we benefit collectively or individually from this new manifestation?
Why are you asking this question?
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.
No! Not only in the case of something new: in every case, there is always this idea of benefiting. However, that is the best way to get nothing.
Who are you trying to fool? The Divine? That is hardly possible.
--
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 understand 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 understand.
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?
--
There was indeed a possibility to enter into contact with the Thing individuallythis was even what Sri Aurobindo had descri bed as being the necessary procedure: a certain num ber 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 num ber 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.
I hasten to tell you that some did recognize it, but they were so few But as for those who ask these questions, who even took the trouble to come here, who took the train to gulp this down as you gulp down a soft drink, how can they possibly feel anything whatsoever if they have not prepared themselves at all? Yet they are already speaking of profiting: We want to benefit from it
After all, if they have even a tiny bit of sincerity (not too much, its tiring!), a tiny bit of sincerity, it is quite possible (I am joking), it is quite possible that they might get a few good kicks to make them go faster! It is possible. In fact, I think thats what will happen.
--
(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?
--
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 beforehand, 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.
But if they want to pull the new life into themselves, they will close the door with their egoism. Thats all.
Mother is referring to the darshan of April 24, 1956. Four times a year, for 'darshan,' visitors increasingly poured into the Ashram to pass one by one before Mother (and formerly, Sri Aurobindo) to receive her look.
***
0 1956-08-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
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
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.
A light, not like the golden light of the Supermind: rather a kind of phosphorescence. I felt that had it been night, it would have been physically visible.
And it was denser than my physical body: the physical body seemed to me almost unrealas though crumblylike sand running through your fingers.
I would have been incapable of speaking, words seemed so petty, narrow, ignorant.
I saw (how shall I put it?) the successive preparations which took place, in certain anterior beings, in order to achieve this.
It felt as if I had several heads.
--
I begin to see what the supramental body will be.
I had had a somewhat similar experience at the time of the union of the supreme creative principle with the physical consciousness. But that was a subtle experience, while this was materialin the body.
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 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.
--
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.
Just now, the work is being delayed, curtailed, limited, almost endangered for want of money.
That which you would not do for yourself personally, would you not do it for the divine cause?
Go to Brazil, to this good rich man, make him understand 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.
0 1956-10-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Z asked me, Why didnt you stop it?1 I replied, Probably because I am not omnipotent! 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?
--
People say, I gave everything, I sacrificed everything. In exchange, I expect exceptional conditionseverything should be beautiful, harmonious, easy.
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.
Complete surrender It is not a matter of giving what is small to something greater nor of losing ones will in the divine will; it is a matter of ANNULLING ones will in something that is of another nature.
--
I used to be different (although I was said to be non-interfering); I acted, if at all, to defend myself But I understood very quickly that even this was a reaction of ignorance and that things would be set right automatically if one remained in the true consciousness.
A consciousness that sees and makes you see.
0 1956-10-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(At about 6 a.m., before Mother appeared on the balcony)
be always at the height of yourself, in all circumstances.
Then I wondered when and how I am at the height of myself. And this is what I saw:
--
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.
***
--
One is never anything but a divine apprentice: the Divine of yesterday is only an apprentice to the Divine of tomorrow No, I am not speaking of a progressive manifestation that is much farther below.
When I am at my highest, I am already too high for the manifestation.
I have gone far beyond what I wrote this morning.
What if the human is too heavy, too narrow, too obscure to follow you?
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.
***
--
I wanted to take this little rose (Tenderness for the Divine), for I consider it to be the manifestation nearest to divine Love. Its disinterested, spontaneous, intimate.
This is what I wanted to take with me to my super-heaven, as the most precious thing in the human heart.
0 1956-10-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Sweet Mother, my birthday is the day after tomorrow, the 30th. I come to place my inner situation before you so that you may help me take a decision.
I am facing the same difficulties as before my departure to Hyderabad, and I have made the same mistakes. The main reason for this state is that, on the one hand, words and ideas seem to have lost all power over me, and on the other, the vital elan which led me thus far is dead. So upon what shall my faith rest? I still have some faith, of course, but it has become totally ABSTRACT. The vital does not cooperate, so I feel all withered, suspended in a void, nothing seems to give me direction anymore. There is no re belliousness 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 o bey you. I want to o bey 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.
Open a new chapter in your existence. Live, no longer for your own realization or the realization of your ideal, however exalted it may be, but to serve an eternal work that transcends your individuality on all sides.
Signed: Mother
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, 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?
--
I dont see a thing, nothing. Oh Mother, I turn towards you in this void that is stifling me. Hear my prayer. Tell me what I must do. Give me a sign. Mother, you are my sole recourse, for who else would show me the path to be taken, who else but you would love me? Or is my fate to go off into the night?
Forgive me, Mother, for loving you so poorly, for giving myself so badly. Mother, you are my only hope, all the rest in me is utter despair.
--
Signed: bernard
***
0 1956-12-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother, perhaps it would be good if I told you what is happening within me, as sincerely as I can:
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 li berate 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:
--
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,
Signed: bernard
***
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.
Your child,
Signed: bernard
***
0 1957-04-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
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 re bels 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.
Signed: bernard
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 the universe, there are notthere cannot betwo similar destinies.
each ones destiny is inevitably fulfilled, but the nearer one is to the Divine, the more does this destiny assume its divine qualities.
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 descri bed 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 understanding, the daughter left the room to go on a kind of general inspection She went out, looked everything over, and then wanted to return to her room to decide upon some final measures. But this is where something rather peculiar began happening.
She clearly remem bered 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 understand 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.
--
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, band together, unite around a common ideal, a common action, a common realization but in an absolutely artificial way. In contrast to this, Sri Aurobindo tells us that a true communitywhat he terms a gnostic or supramental communitycan be based only upon the INNER REALIZATION of each one of its mem bers, each realizing his real, concrete oneness and identity with all the other mem bers of the community; that is, each one should not feel himself a mem ber 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 understand 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
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 hands, 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
I come to ask your permission to leave India. For more than a year now, I have been fighting not to leave, but this seems to be the wrong strategy.
There is no question of my abandoning the path and I remain convinced that the only goal in life is spiritual. But I need things to help me along the way: I am not yet ripe enough to depend upon inner strength alone. And when I speak of the forest or a boat, it is not only for the sake of adventure or the feeling of space, but also because they mean a discipline. Outer constraints and difficulties help me, they force me to remain concentrated around that which is best in me. In a sense, life here is too easy. Yet it is also too hard, for one must depend on ones own discipline I do not yet have that strength, I need to be helped by outer circumstances. The very difficulty of life in the outside world helps me to be disciplined, for it forces me to concentrate all my vital strength in effort. Here, this vital part is unemployed, so it acts foolishly, it strains at the leash.
I doubt that a new experience outside can really resolve things, but I believe it might help me make it to the next stage and consolidate my inner life. And if you wish, I would return in a year or two.
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. Octo ber 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
There are all kinds of freedommental freedom, vital freedom, spiritual freedomwhich are the fruits of successive masteries. But a completely new freedom has become possible with the Supramental Manifestation: it is the freedom of the body.
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 thousand 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 sand. In this respect, things have changed, the body has a DIRECT power, independent of any outer intervention. Even though it is barely visible, I consider this to be a very important result.
And this new vibration in the body has allowed me to understand 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
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.
Your child,
--
This unique method was to be the mantra, as Mother herself would discover.
***
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.
--
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 remem ber constantly that perhaps one is passing a very important test, it is, on the other hand, 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.
--
Each time a progress is to be made, there is a test to pass.
***
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
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 understand. No matter how hard I tried, I could not understand and I emphasize this word understand. 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, understands 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.
***
--
In the world, an overall vision of what is to be done.
Individually, at each moment and in each circumstance, the vision of the truth of the moment, of the circumstance, of the individual.
0 1958-01-01, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
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 remem bered 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 remem bered 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 (Octo ber 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 thousands upon thousands of formsand one year, a hundred years, a thousand years, millions of years, what difference does it make? Eternity lies before her! 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 Novem ber 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 stand 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 command: 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.
--
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.
(silence)
--
The miracles that are taking place are not what could be called literary miracles, for they do not take place as in storybooks. They are visible only to a very profound vision of thingsvery profound, very comprehensive, very vast.
(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
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
What you told me today at noon has left me stunned. I had decided to have my own way, but now I pray to be true.
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 understand truly that I must stay here. Grant me the grace of helping and enlightening me. I would like to decide without preference, in o bedience 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.
Mother, I am placing all this in your hands, sincerely.
--
A Sannyasi, or wandering 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 understand us; their consciousness is so constituted that we elude them almost entirely. And yet I have known domestic animalscats and dogs, but especially catswho made an almost yogic effort of consciousness to understand us. But generally, when they watch us living and acting, they dont understand, they dont SEE US as we are and they suffer because of us. We are a constant enigma to them Only a very tiny part of their consciousness is linked to us. And it is the same for us when we try to look at the supramental world. Only when the link of consciousness has been built shall we see itand even then, only that part of our being which has undergone the transformation will be capable of seeing it as it isotherwise the two worlds would remain as separate as the animal world and the human world.
The experience I had on February 3 proves this. before, I had had an individual, subjective contact with the supramental world, whereas on February 3, I went strolling there in a concrete wayas concretely as I used to go strolling in Paris in times pastin a world that EXISTS IN ITSELF, beyond all subjectivity.
It is like a bridge being built between the two worlds.
This is the experience as I dictated it immediately thereafter:
--
The supramental world exists in a permanent way, and I am there permanently in a supramental body. I had proof of this today when my earthly consciousness went there and consciously remained there between two and three oclock in the afternoon: I now know that for the two worlds to join in a constant and conscious relationship what is missing is an intermediate zone between the existing physical world and the supramental world as it exists. This zone has yet to be built, both in the individual consciousness and in the objective world, and it is being built. When formerly I used to speak of the new world that is being created, I was speaking of this intermediate zone. And similarly, when I am on this side that is, in the realm of the physical consciousness and I see the supramental power, the supramental light and substance constantly permeating matter, I am seeing and participating in the construction of this zone.
I found myself upon an immense ship, which is the symbolic representation of the place where this work is being carried out. This ship, as big as a city, is thoroughly organized, and it had certainly already been functioning for quite some time, for its organization was fully developed. It is the place where people destined for the supramental life are being trained. These people (or at least a part of their being) had already undergone a supramental transformation because the ship itself and all that was aboard was neither material nor subtle-physical, neither vital nor mental: it was a supramental substance. This substance itself was of the most material supramental, the supramental substance nearest the physical world, the first to manifest. The light was a blend of red and gold, forming a uniform substance of luminous orange. Everything was like that the light was like that, the people were like thateverything had this color, in varying shades, however, which enabled things to be distinguished from one another. The overall impression was of a shadowless world: there were shades, but no shadows. The atmosphere was full of joy, calm, order; everything worked smoothly and silently. At the same time, I could see all the details of the education, the training in all domains by which the people on board were being prepared.
This immense ship had just arrived at the shore of the supramental world, and a first batch of people destined to become the future inhabitants of the supramental world were about to disembark. Everything was arranged for this first landing. A certain num ber of very tall beings were posted on the wharf. They were not human beings and never before had they been men. Nor were they permanent inhabitants of the supramental world. They had been delegated from above and posted there to control and supervise the landing. I was in charge of all this since the beginning and throughout. I myself had prepared all the groups. I was standing on the bridge of the ship, calling the groups forward one by one and having them disembark on the shore. The tall beings posted there seemed to be reviewing those who were disembarking, allowing those who were ready to go ashore and sending back those who were not and who had to continue their training aboard the ship. While standing there watching everyone, that part of my consciousness coming from here became extremely interested: it wanted to see, to identify all the people, to see how they had changed and to find out who had been taken immediately as well as those who had to remain and continue their training. After awhile, as I was observing, I began to feel pulled backwards and that my body was being awakened by a consciousness or a person from here1and in my consciousness, I protested: No, no, not yet! Not yet! I want to see whos there! I was watching all this and noting it with intense interest It went on like that until, suddenly, the clock here began striking three, which violently jerked me back. There was the sensation of a sudden fall into my body. I came back with a shock, but since I had been called back very suddenly, all my memory was still intact. I remained quiet and still until I could bring back the whole experience and preserve it.
The nature of objects on this ship was not that which we know upon earth; for example, the clothes were not made of cloth, and this thing that resembled cloth was not manufacturedit was a part of the body, made of the same substance that took on different forms. It had a kind of plasticity. When a change had to be made, it was done not by artificial and outer means but by an inner working, by a working of the consciousness that gave the substance its form or appearance. Life created its own forms. There was ONE SINGLE substance in all things; it changed the nature of its vibration according to the needs or uses.
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 remem ber 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 connectand it is this link that is being built. At that time, my impression (an impression which remained rather long, almost the whole day) was of an extreme relativityno, not exactly that, but an impression that the relationship between this world and the other completely changes the criterion by which things are to be evaluated or judged. This criterion had nothing mental about it, and it gave the strange inner feeling that so many things we consider good or bad are not really so. It was very clear that everything depended upon the capacity of things and upon their ability to express the supramental world or be in relationship with it. It was so completely different, at times even so opposite to our ordinary way of looking at things! I recall one little thing that we usually consider bad actually how funny it was to see that it is something excellent! And other things that we consider important were really quite unimportant there! Whether it was like this or like that made no difference. What is very obvious is that our appreciation of what is divine or not divine is incorrect. I even laughed at certain things Our usual feeling about what is anti-divine seems artificial, based upon something untrue, unliving ( besides, what we call life here appeared lifeless in comparison with that world); in any event, this feeling should be based upon our relationship between the two worlds and according to whether things make this relationship easier or more difficult. This would thus completely change our evaluation of what brings us nearer to the Divine or what takes us away from Him. With people, too, I saw that what helps them or prevents them from becoming supramental is very different from what our ordinary moral notions imagine. I felt just how ridiculous we are.
(Then Mother speaks to the children)
--
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, re bellious, 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.
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
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.
It will take time. Sri Aurobindo was surely right when he spoke of a few centuries.
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 island as a simple fisherman. And all at once, I saw, in a flash, that this kind of life totally lacks a center. You float in a nowhere. It plunges you into some kind of higher inertia, an illumined inertia, and you lose all true substance.
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 understand, 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 wandering 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
--
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.
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, perhapsand 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 thousands 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 understanding 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 hands. 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 ro be. 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.
--
We have a lot of work to do together, because I have kept everything for your return.
I am trying to be near you as MATERIALLY as possible in order to help your body victoriously pass through the test.
I want it to come out of this tempered forever, above all attacks.
May the joy of luminous love be with you.
Until we meet,
0 1958-05-01, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
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 understand 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
That is all it is trying to be.
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.
We shall see.
--
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 physical because after all, the physical has been utilized by bodies belonging to enlightened beings. The European substance seems steeped in re bellion; in the Indian substance this re belliousness 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.
--
When I had this experience, I understood that only a month ago I was still uttering mountain-sized im becilities. And I laughed to the point of almost approving those who say, But all the same, the Supreme does not decide the num ber of sugar cu bes you put in your coffee! That would be to project your own way of being onto the Supreme. But this is an Himalayan im becility! 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 thousandth of a second, eternally. Thats all. And it is the only true condition.
--
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 deli berate, 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 remem bering 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 understand. Until you are in that state in which all bodies are your body. But at that point, you begin to laugh! You were upset by this, hurt by that, you suffered from this or that but now, how laughable it all seems! And not only 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.
--
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 remem ber 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 num ber 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!
--
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 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 Novem ber 24.
Tamas: in Indian psychology, inertia and obscurity.
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
I have noticed that in at least ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, it is an excuse people give to themselves. I have seen that practically, in the case of almost all the people who write to me saying, I am being violently attacked by hostile forces, its an excuse they are giving. It means that certain things in their nature do not want to yield, so they put all the blame on the hostile forces.
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 reabsor bed. 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 understand only when it is narrow.
Take all! Take all within you. And then you will begin to understandyou will begin.
***
--
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 o beyed without even needing to decide to o bey: 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 o beyed, 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 standpoint, it removes from physical Matter its tamas, the heaviness of its unconsciousness, and from the psychological standpoint, its ignorance and its falsehood. Matter is subtilized. But it has surely come only as a first experience to show how it will be.
It is truly a state of absolute omniscience and omnipotence in 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?
Yes, one enters into another world.
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 num ber 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 descri bed 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
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
Ramdas1 must be a continuation of the line of Chaitanya, Ramakrishna, etc .
(silence)
--
Something I have never said completely. On the one hand, 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 hand, 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!
--
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 standpoint of understanding and knowledge. They never went that far.
--
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.
--
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 understand why people begin singing, dancing, etc. It takes a formidable power to remain like that (gesture of solidity): there is such a desire in the throat to sing!
***
--
Yes, I remem ber. 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
This morning I asked myself the question, is money truly under Natures control? I shall have to see because for me personally, she always gives everything in abundance.
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 standpoint, 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 hands 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 standpoint 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 hands) 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 re belled (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 stand: 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 remem bered the old movements and how everything now has changed! I was also thinking of the old disciplines, one of which is to say, I am That.7 People were told to sit in meditation and repeat, I am That, to reach an identification. And it all seemed to me so obsolete, so childish, but at the same time a part of the whole. I looked, and it seemed so absurd to sit in meditation and say, I am That! I, what is this I who is That; what is this I, where is it? I was trying to find it, and I saw a tiny, microscopic point (to see it would almost require some gigantic instrument), a tiny, obscure point in an im-men-sity of Light, and that little point was the body. At the same timeit was absolutely simultaneous I saw the Presence of the Supreme as a very, very, very, VERY immense being, within which was I in an attitude of (I was only a sensation, you see), an attitude (gesture of surrender) like this. There were no limits, yet at the same time, one felt the joy of being permeated, enveloped and of being able to widen, widen, widen indefinitelyto widen the whole being, from the highest consciousness to the most material consciousness. And then, at the same time, to look at this body and to see every cell, every atom vibrating with a divine, radiant Presence with all its Consciousness, all its Power, all its Will, all its Loveall, all, really and a joy! An extraordinary joy. And one did not disturb the other, nothing was contradictory and everything was felt at the same time. That was when I said, But truly! This body had to have the training it has had for more than seventy years to be able to bear all that without starting to cry out or dance or leap up or whatever it might be! No, it was calm (it was exultant, but it was very calm), and it remained in control of its movements and its words. In spite of the fact that it was really living in another world, it could apparently act normal due to this strenuous training in self-control by the REASONby the reasonover the whole being, which has tamed it and given it such a great cohesive power that I can be in the experience, I can LIVE this experience, and at the same time respond with the most amiable of smiles to the most idiotic questions!
And then, it always ends in the same way, by a canticle to the action of the grace: O, Lord! You are truly marvelous! All the experiences I have needed to pass through You have given to me, all the things I needed to do to make this body ready You have made me do, and always with the feeling that it was You who was making me do itand with the universal disapproval of all the right-minded humanity!
0 1958-07-19, #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!
--
Its not a question of being conscious. There is no doubt that man is more evolved than the tiger, but the tiger is more divine than man. One shouldnt confuse things. These are two entirely different things.
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.
Not to waste energy means to utilize it towards the ends for which it was given. If energy is given for the transformation, for the sublimation of the being, it must be used for that; if energy is given to restore something that has been disrupted in the body, it must be used for that.
Naturally, if a special work is given to someone along with the energy to do this work, its very good as long as it is being used towards the end for which it was given.
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
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.
Om - namo - bhagavateh
0 1958-07-25b, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
What you want of me, let me be.
What you want me to do, let me do.1
0 1958-08-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
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
Its remarkable that things you have understood in your consciousness reappear as problems to be solved in the cells of the body.
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, hands clasped together, pointing upwards).
(silence)
What problems come up! If there were a plague or cholera, for example, would the supramental Force in the cells, the supramental realization, be able to restore order out of the disorder that allows the epidemic to be? I dont mean on an individual levelindividually, if you are in a certain consciousness, you can remain untouched I am not speaking of that, I am speaking impersonally, as it were.
We know nothing. We believe we know, but as soon as it is a question of that (the body), we know nothing. As soon as we are in the subtle physical, we know everything, we live in bliss but here, we know nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing.
***
0 1958-08-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
If human love came forth unalloyed, it would be all-powerful. Unfortunately, in human love, there is as much SELF love as love for the beloved; it is not a love that makes you forget yourself.
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 husband'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.
--
S, who was sitting in front of me, spontaneously asked me afterwards what I had been holding in my hands during the meditation, and she descri bed 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
It was just at four oclock in the morning, and it woke me up. It was exactly like this I was apparently in my bathroom, and I had to open the door between the bathroom and Sri Aurobindos room; the moment I put my hand on the doorknob, I knew with an absolute certainty that destruction was awaiting me behind the door. It had the form or image of those great invaders of India, those who had swooped down upon India and destroyed everything in their wake But it was only an impression.
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 understand 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 hands, Mother?
--
No, it came up to here (gesture to the top of the head). It seemed to be a tractor tire, but it did not have the heavy tread that tractor tires have.
(Abhay Singh:) There are tractor tires that have no tread.
Ah! So He was standing, and it came up to here (same gesture). So it must have been a tractor tire.
What could it represent, he, and the tractor? I dont know It was not personal, you see I mean this body. It had nothing to do with that.
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 deli berate, 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
--
Seigneur, Dieu de beaut et dharmonie
Seigneur, Dieu de puissance et de ralisation
--
Lord, God of beauty and harmony
Lord, God of power and realization
--
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!
--
Like a triumph. But I didnt write that one down because I did not want to spoil my impression.
Of course, these things should not be published. We can file them in this Agenda of the Supramental Manifestation for later on. Later on, when the Victory is won, we shall say, If you want to see the curve
But what is going to come now? I constantly hear the Sanskrit mantra:
--
What will it be?
It will simply spring forth in a flash, all of a sudden, and it will be very powerful. Only power can do something. Love vanishes like water running through sand: people remain beatific and nothing moves! No, power is neededlike Shiva, stirring, churning
When I have this mantra, instead of saying hello, good-bye, I shall say that. When I say hello, good-bye, it means Hello: the Presence is here, the Light is here. Good-bye: I am not going away, I am staying here.
But when I have this mantra, I believe something will happen.
(silence)
--
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 expanding, ever widening, as the sound itself was expanding, expanding, 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.
--
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.
The physical seems to be more open to something that is repetitious for example, the music we play on Sundays, which has three series of combined mantras. The first is that of Chandi, addressed to the universal Mother:
Ya devi sarvabhuteshu matrirupena sansthita
--
The second is addressed to Sri Aurobindo (and I believe they have put my name at the end). It incorporates the mantra I was speaking of:
Om namo namah shrimirambikayai
--
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:
--- Overview of noun be
The noun be has 1 sense (no senses from tagged texts)
1. beryllium, Be, glucinium, atomic number 4 ::: (a light strong brittle grey toxic bivalent metallic element)
--- Overview of verb be
The verb be has 13 senses (first 11 from tagged texts)
1. (10742) be ::: (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun); "John is rich"; "This is not a good answer")
2. (3019) be ::: (be identical to; be someone or something; "The president of the company is John Smith"; "This is my house")
3. (901) be ::: (occupy a certain position or area; be somewhere; "Where is my umbrella?" "The toolshed is in the back"; "What is behind this behavior?")
4. (701) exist, be ::: (have an existence, be extant; "Is there a God?")
5. (698) be ::: (happen, occur, take place; "I lost my wallet; this was during the visit to my parents' house"; "There were two hundred people at his funeral"; "There was a lot of noise in the kitchen")
6. (270) equal, be ::: (be identical or equivalent to; "One dollar equals 1,000 rubles these days!")
7. (189) constitute, represent, make up, comprise, be ::: (form or compose; "This money is my only income"; "The stone wall was the backdrop for the performance"; "These constitute my entire belonging"; "The children made up the chorus"; "This sum represents my entire income for a year"; "These few men comprise his entire army")
8. (86) be, follow ::: (work in a specific place, with a specific subject, or in a specific function; "He is a herpetologist"; "She is our resident philosopher")
9. (58) embody, be, personify ::: (represent, as of a character on stage; "Derek Jacobi was Hamlet")
10. (2) be ::: (spend or use time; "I may be an hour")
11. (1) be, live ::: (have life, be alive; "Our great leader is no more"; "My grandfather lived until the end of war")
12. be ::: (to remain unmolested, undisturbed, or uninterrupted ::: used only in infinitive form; "let her be")
13. cost, be ::: (be priced at; "These shoes cost $100")
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun be
1 sense of be
Sense 1
beryllium, Be, glucinium, atomic number 4
=> metallic element, metal
=> chemical element, element
=> substance
=> matter
=> physical entity
=> entity
=> part, portion, component part, component, constituent
=> relation
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
--- Hyponyms of noun be
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun be
1 sense of be
Sense 1
beryllium, Be, glucinium, atomic number 4
=> metallic element, metal
--- Coordinate Terms (sisters) of noun be
1 sense of be
Sense 1
beryllium, Be, glucinium, atomic number 4
-> metallic element, metal
=> heavy metal
=> base metal
=> noble metal
=> aluminum, aluminium, Al, atomic number 13
=> americium, Am, atomic number 95
=> antimony, Sb, atomic number 51
=> barium, Ba, atomic number 56
=> berkelium, Bk, atomic number 97
=> beryllium, Be, glucinium, atomic number 4
=> bismuth, Bi, atomic number 83
=> cadmium, Cd, atomic number 48
=> calcium, Ca, atomic number 20
=> californium, Cf, atomic number 98
=> cerium, Ce, atomic number 58
=> cesium, caesium, Cs, atomic number 55
=> chromium, Cr, atomic number 24
=> cobalt, Co, atomic number 27
=> copper, Cu, atomic number 29
=> curium, Cm, atomic number 96
=> dysprosium, Dy, atomic number 66
=> einsteinium, Es, E, atomic number 99
=> erbium, Er, atomic number 68
=> europium, Eu, atomic number 63
=> fermium, Fm, atomic number 100
=> francium, Fr, atomic number 87
=> gadolinium, Gd, atomic number 64
=> gallium, Ga, atomic number 31
=> hafnium, Hf, atomic number 72
=> holmium, Ho, atomic number 67
=> indium, In, atomic number 49
=> iridium, Ir, atomic number 77
=> iron, Fe, atomic number 26
=> lanthanum, La, atomic number 57
=> lead, Pb, atomic number 82
=> lithium, Li, atomic number 3
=> lutetium, lutecium, Lu, atomic number 71
=> magnesium, Mg, atomic number 12
=> manganese, Mn, atomic number 25
=> mercury, quicksilver, hydrargyrum, Hg, atomic number 80
=> molybdenum, Mo, atomic number 42
=> neodymium, Nd, atomic number 60
=> neptunium, Np, atomic number 93
=> nickel, Ni, atomic number 28
=> niobium, Nb, atomic number 41
=> osmium, Os, atomic number 76
=> palladium, Pd, atomic number 46
=> polonium, Po, atomic number 84
=> potassium, K, atomic number 19
=> praseodymium, Pr, atomic number 59
=> promethium, Pm, atomic number 61
=> protactinium, protoactinium, Pa, atomic number 91
=> radium, Ra, atomic number 88
=> rhenium, Re, atomic number 75
=> rhodium, Rh, atomic number 45
=> rubidium, Rb, atomic number 37
=> ruthenium, Ru, atomic number 44
=> samarium, Sm, atomic number 62
=> scandium, Sc, atomic number 21
=> sodium, Na, atomic number 11
=> strontium, Sr, atomic number 38
=> tantalum, Ta, atomic number 73
=> technetium, Tc, atomic number 43
=> terbium, Tb, atomic number 65
=> thallium, Tl, atomic number 81
=> thorium, Th, atomic number 90
=> thulium, Tm, atomic number 69
=> tin, Sn, atomic number 50
=> titanium, Ti, atomic number 22
=> tungsten, wolfram, W, atomic number 74
=> uranium, U, atomic number 92
=> vanadium, V, atomic number 23
=> ytterbium, Yb, atomic number 70
=> yttrium, Y, atomic number 39
=> zinc, Zn, atomic number 30
=> zirconium, Zr, atomic number 40
=> alkali metal, alkaline metal
=> alkaline earth, alkaline-earth metal
--- Grep of noun be
abbe
academic robe
acorn tube
adobe
aerobe
anaerobe
anglophobe
astilbe
astrolabe
auditory tube
augustin eugene scribe
babe
bathrobe
be
be-all and end-all
be all and end all
beach
beach aster
beach ball
beach buggy
beach chair
beach erosion
beach flea
beach goldenrod
beach grass
beach heather
beach house
beach morning glory
beach pancake
beach pea
beach plum
beach plum bush
beach sand verbena
beach strawberry
beach towel
beach waggon
beach wagon
beach wormwood
beachball
beachcomber
beachfront
beachhead
beachwear
beacon
beacon fire
beacon hill
beacon light
bead
bead and quirk
bead fern
bead tree
beaded lizard
beading
beading plane
beadle
beads
beadsman
beadwork
beagle
beagling
beak
beaked hazelnut
beaked parsley
beaked salmon
beaked whale
beaker
beam
beam-ends
beam balance
beam of light
beam scale
bean
bean-caper family
bean aphid
bean beetle
bean blight
bean caper
bean counter
bean curd
bean dip
bean plant
bean sprout
bean tostada
bean town
bean tree
bean trefoil
bean weevil
beanbag
beanball
beaner
beanfeast
beanie
beano
beanstalk
beantown
beany
bear
bear's-paw fern
bear's breech
bear's breeches
bear's ear
bear's foot
bear's grape
bear cat
bear claw
bear cub
bear grass
bear hug
bear market
bear oak
bear paw
bearberry
bearberry willow
bearcat
beard
beard lichen
beard moss
beard worm
bearded darnel
bearded iris
bearded seal
bearded vulture
bearded wheatgrass
beardless iris
bearer
bearer bond
bearer of the sword
bearing
bearing brass
bearing false witness
bearing metal
bearing rein
bearing wall
bearnaise
bearskin
bearwood
beast
beast of burden
beastliness
beat
beat generation
beater
beatification
beating
beating-reed instrument
beatitude
beatles
beatnik
beatniks
beatrice
beatrice lillie
beatrice webb
beats
beats per minute
beau
beau brummell
beau geste
beau ideal
beau monde
beaufort scale
beaufort sea
beaugregory
beaujolais
beaumont
beaumontia
beaumontia grandiflora
beaut
beauteousness
beautician
beautification
beauty
beauty bush
beauty consultant
beauty parlor
beauty parlour
beauty quark
beauty salon
beauty shop
beauty sleep
beauty spot
beauty treatment
beauvoir
beaux arts
beaver
beaver board
beaver fur
beaver rat
beaver state
beaverbrook
bebop
bechamel
bechamel sauce
bechtel crab
bechuana
beck
becker muscular dystrophy
becket
becket bend
beckett
beckley
beckman thermometer
becomingness
becquerel
bed
bed-and-breakfast
bed-ground
bed-wetting
bed and breakfast
bed bug
bed check
bed clothing
bed cover
bed covering
bed ground
bed jacket
bed linen
bed of flowers
bed of roses
bed pillow
bed rest
bed sheet
bed wetter
beda
bedbug
bedchamber
bedclothes
bedcover
bedder
bedding
bedding geranium
bedding material
bedding plant
bede
bedesman
bedevilment
bedfellow
bedford cord
bedframe
bedground
bedlam
bedlamite
bedlington terrier
bedloe's island
bedouin
bedpan
bedpost
bedrest
bedrich smetana
bedrock
bedroll
bedroom
bedroom community
bedroom furniture
bedroom set
bedroom suite
bedside
bedside manner
bedsit
bedsitter
bedsitting room
bedsore
bedspread
bedspring
bedstead
bedstraw
bedtime
beduin
bedwetter
bee
bee balm
bee beetle
bee eater
bee fly
bee house
bee killer
bee moth
bee orchid
bee sting
beebalm
beebread
beech
beech family
beech fern
beech marten
beech tree
beecher
beechnut
beechwood
beef
beef bourguignonne
beef broth
beef burrito
beef cattle
beef fondue
beef goulash
beef jerky
beef loin
beef man
beef neck
beef patty
beef plant
beef roast
beef stew
beef stock
beef stroganoff
beef tallow
beef tea
beef tenderloin
beef tongue
beef wellington
beefalo
beefburger
beefcake
beefeater
beefsteak
beefsteak begonia
beefsteak fungus
beefsteak geranium
beefsteak morel
beefsteak plant
beefsteak tomato
beefwood
beehive
beehive state
beekeeper
beekeeping
beeline
beelzebub
beep
beeper
beer
beer barrel
beer bottle
beer can
beer drinker
beer garden
beer glass
beer hall
beer keg
beer maker
beer mat
beer mug
beerbohm
beeswax
beet
beet armyworm
beet blight
beet green
beet sugar
beethoven
beetle
beetleweed
beetroot
befooling
befoulment
befuddlement
begetter
beggar
beggar's-ticks
beggar's lice
beggar-my-neighbor
beggar-my-neighbor policy
beggar-my-neighbor strategy
beggar-my-neighbour
beggar-my-neighbour policy
beggar-my-neighbour strategy
beggar-ticks
beggar lice
beggarman
beggarweed
beggarwoman
beggary
begging
begin
beginner
beginning
beginning rhyme
begonia
begonia cheimantha
begonia cocchinea
begonia dregei
begonia erythrophylla
begonia family
begonia feastii
begonia heracleifolia
begonia rex
begonia semperflorens
begonia socotrana
begonia tuberhybrida
begoniaceae
beguilement
beguiler
beguine
begum
behalf
behavior
behavior modification
behavior therapy
behaviorism
behaviorist
behavioristic psychology
behaviour
behaviourism
behaviourist
behaviouristic psychology
beheading
behemoth
behest
behind
behmen
behmenism
beholder
beholding
behrens
behring
beige
beigel
beignet
beijing
beijing dialect
being
beingness
beira
beirut
bel
bel-merodach
bel and the dragon
bel canto
bel esprit
bela bartok
bela ferenc blasko
bela lugosi
belamcanda
belamcanda chinensis
belarus
belarusian
belarusian monetary unit
belau
belay
belaying pin
belch
belching
beldam
beldame
beleaguering
belem
belemnite
belemnitidae
belemnoidea
belfast
belfry
belgian
belgian beef stew
belgian capital
belgian congo
belgian endive
belgian franc
belgian griffon
belgian hare
belgian sheepdog
belgian shepherd
belgian waffle
belgique
belgium
belgrade
belief
believability
believer
believing
belisarius
belittling
belize
belize dollar
bell
bell-bottoms
bell-like call
bell-shaped curve
bell apple
bell arch
bell book
bell buoy
bell captain
bell cot
bell cote
bell deck
bell founder
bell foundry
bell gable
bell glass
bell heather
bell jar
bell magpie
bell metal
bell morel
bell pepper
bell push
bell ringer
bell ringing
bell seat
bell shape
bell tent
bell toad
bell tower
bella sombra
belladonna
belladonna lily
belladonna plant
bellarmine
bellarmino
bellbird
bellbottom pants
bellbottom trousers
bellboy
belle
belle de nuit
belle isle cress
belle miriam silverman
belleau wood
bellerophon
belles-lettres
belles lettres
bellflower
bellflower family
bellhop
bellicoseness
bellicosity
belligerence
belligerency
belligerent
belling
bellingham
bellini
bellis
bellis perennis
bellman
belloc
bellow
bellower
bellowing
bellows
bellows fish
bellpull
bells of ireland
bellwether
bellwort
belly
belly button
belly dance
belly dancer
belly dancing
belly flop
belly flopper
belly laugh
belly whop
belly whopper
bellyache
bellyacher
bellyband
bellybutton
bellyful
belmont
belmont park
belmont stakes
belo horizonte
belonging
belongings
belonidae
belorussia
belorussian
belostomatidae
beloved
belsen
belshazzar
belt
belt ammunition
belt bag
belt buckle
belt maker
belted ammunition
belted kingfisher
belted sandfish
belting
beltway
beluga
beluga caviar
belvedere
bema
bemidji
bemisia
bemisia tabaci
bemusement
ben
ben gurion
ben hecht
ben hogan
ben jonson
ben shahn
ben sira
benadryl
bench
bench clamp
bench hook
bench lathe
bench mark
bench press
bench vise
bench warmer
bench warrant
benchley
benchmark
bend
bend dexter
bend sinister
bendability
benday process
bender
bending
bendopa
bends
bendy tree
benedetto caetani
benedetto odescalchi
benedick
benedict
benedict arnold
benedict de spinoza
benedict xiv
benedict xv
benedictine
benedictine order
benediction
benefaction
benefactive role
benefactor
benefactress
benefice
beneficence
beneficiary
beneficiation
benefit
benefit album
benefit concert
benefit of clergy
benelux
benet
benevolence
benford's law
bengal
bengal bean
bengal kino
bengal light
bengal rose
bengal tiger
bengali
benghal bean
benghazi
benign prostatic hyperplasia
benign tumor
benign tumour
benignancy
benignity
benin
benin franc
beninese
benison
benito mussolini
benjamin
benjamin britten
benjamin bush
benjamin david goodman
benjamin disraeli
benjamin franklin
benjamin franklin bridge
benjamin franklin norris jr.
benjamin harris
benjamin harrison
benjamin henry latrobe
benjamin jonson
benjamin jowett
benjamin kubelsky
benjamin peirce
benjamin ricketson tucker
benjamin rush
benjamin shahn
benjamin spock
benjamin thompson
benjamin west
benne
bennet
bennett
bennettitaceae
bennettitales
bennettitis
benni
bennie
bennington
benniseed
benny
benny goodman
benny hill
benoit mandelbrot
bent
bent-grass
bent grass
bent hang
bentham
benthic division
benthonic zone
benthos
benton
bentonite
bentwood
benvenuto cellini
benweed
benzedrine
benzene
benzene formula
benzene nucleus
benzene ring
benzine
benzoate
benzoate of soda
benzocaine
benzodiazepine
benzofuran
benzoic acid
benzoin
benzoin odoriferum
benzol
benzoquinone
benzoyl group
benzoyl peroxide
benzoyl radical
benzyl
benzyl group
benzyl radical
benzylpenicillin
beograd
beowulf
bequest
berating
berber
berberidaceae
berberis
berberis canadensis
berberis thunbergii
berberis vulgaris
berbers
berceuse
bercy
bercy butter
bereaved
bereaved person
bereavement
beret
berg
bergall
bergamot
bergamot mint
bergamot orange
bergen
bergenia
bergman
bergson
beria
beriberi
bering
bering sea
bering standard time
bering strait
bering time
berit
berith
berk
berkeley
berkelium
berkshire
berkshire hills
berkshires
berlage
berlin
berlin airlift
berlin doughnut
berliner
berlioz
berm
bermuda
bermuda buttercup
bermuda cedar
bermuda chub
bermuda dollar
bermuda grass
bermuda lily
bermuda maidenhair
bermuda maidenhair fern
bermuda onion
bermuda plan
bermuda rig
bermuda shorts
bermuda triangle
bermudan
bermudan rig
bermudas
bermudian
bermudian rig
bern
berna eli oldfield
bernard
bernard arthur owen williams
bernard baruch
bernard hinault
bernard law montgomery
bernard malamud
bernard mannes baruch
bernardo bertolucci
bernd heinrich wilhelm von kleist
berne
bernese mountain dog
bernhard riemann
bernhardt
bernini
bernoulli
bernoulli's law
bernoulli distribution
bernstein
beroe
berra
berretta
berry
berry fern
berserk
berserker
berteroa
berteroa incana
berth
bertholletia
bertholletia excelsa
bertillon
bertillon system
bertolt brecht
bertolucci
bertram brockhouse
bertrand arthur william russell
bertrand russell
berycomorphi
beryl
beryllium
beryllium bronze
berzelius
besieger
besieging
besom
bessel
bessemer
bessemer converter
bessemer process
bessera
bessera elegans
besseya
besseya alpina
bessie smith
bessy cerca
best
best and greatest
best evidence rule
best friend
best man
best seller
bestiality
bestiary
bestowal
bestower
bestowment
bestseller
bet
beta
beta-adrenergic blocker
beta-adrenergic blocking agent
beta-adrenergic receptor
beta-adrenoceptor
beta-blocking agent
beta-carotene
beta-hydroxybutyric acid
beta-interferon
beta-lactamase
beta-lipoprotein
beta-naphthol
beta blocker
beta blocker eyedrop
beta cell
beta centauri
beta crucis
beta decay
beta endorphin
beta globulin
beta iron
beta orionis
beta particle
beta radiation
beta ray
beta receptor
beta rhythm
beta software
beta test
beta vulgaris
beta vulgaris cicla
beta vulgaris rubra
beta vulgaris vulgaris
beta wave
betaine
betatron
bete noire
betel
betel nut
betel palm
betel pepper
betelgeuse
beth
bethe
bethel
bethlehem
bethlehem-judah
bethlehem ephrathah
bethune
betise
betrayal
betrayer
betrothal
betrothed
betsy griscom ross
betsy ross
bette davis
better
better half
betterment
betting odds
betting shop
bettong
bettongia
bettor
betty friedan
betty naomi friedan
betty naomi goldstein friedan
betula
betula alleghaniensis
betula cordifolia
betula fontinalis
betula glandulosa
betula lenta
betula leutea
betula neoalaskana
betula nigra
betula papyrifera
betula pendula
betula populifolia
betula pubescens
betulaceae
betweenbrain
beurre noisette
bevatron
bevel
bevel gear
bevel square
beverage
beveridge
beverly hills
beverly sills
bevin
bevy
bewick's swan
bewilderment
bewitchery
bewitchment
bextra
bey
bezant
bezel
bezique
bezoar goat
bezzant
black-necked grebe
blow tube
blowtube
boob tube
boron counter tube
bouillon cube
bribe
bride-to-be
broccoli rabe
bronchial tube
buncombe
calyx tube
capillary tube
carbon nanotube
caribe
cartilaginous tube
cathode-ray tube
celestial globe
chinese jujube
claustrophobe
clitocybe
color television tube
color tube
color tv tube
colour television tube
colour tube
colour tv tube
counter tube
crambe
crookes tube
cube
danube
diatribe
digestive tube
dusanbe
dushanbe
dwarf astilbe
dyushambe
ear lobe
eared grebe
earlobe
ecclesiastical robe
elbe
electron tube
endotracheal tube
entebbe
eustachian tube
fallopian tube
francophobe
frontal lobe
fulbe
gas-discharge tube
gastrocybe
geiger-muller tube
geiger tube
genus astilbe
genus clitocybe
genus crambe
genus gastrocybe
genus hygrocybe
germ tube
gibe
glebe
globe
glow tube
great crested grebe
grebe
groom-to-be
hebe
hepatic lobe
homophobe
hunting and gathering tribe
hygrocybe
ice cube
inner tube
ionization tube
jibe
judge's robe
jujube
katharobe
kibe
kobe
kundt's tube
latrobe
little grebe
little phoebe
lobe
lounging robe
lube
major lobe
microbe
nanotube
nasotracheal tube
nbe
nebe
neon tube
neural tube
night-robe
niobe
obligate anaerobe
occipital lobe
parietal lobe
phoebe
pickelhaube
picture tube
pied-billed grebe
piriform lobe
pitot-static tube
pitot tube
plebe
pollen tube
prefrontal lobe
probe
proportional counter tube
pyriform lobe
rear of tube
rectifying tube
red-necked grebe
robe
rube
saprobe
sayornis phoebe
sbe
scribe
sebe
sieve tube
space probe
speaking tube
static tube
stock cube
strobe
strophanthus kombe
technophobe
television-camera tube
television pickup tube
television tube
temporal lobe
test tube
thebe
thermionic tube
thermionic vacuum tube
torpedo tube
tribe
tricolor television tube
tricolor tube
tricolour television tube
tricolour tube
tube
uterine tube
vacuum tube
venturi tube
vibe
wannabe
wardrobe
x-ray tube