TERMS STARTING WITH
The Room ::: A metaphor for Solar Consciousness: attempts to describe the state in terms of an empty room that can be decorated comfortably by the deeper mind through training in morality and adhering to a higher calling.
TERMS ANYWHERE
AI koan ::: (humour) /A-I koh'an/ One of a series of pastiches of Zen teaching riddles created by Danny Hillis at the MIT AI Lab around various major figures of the Lab's culture.See also ha ha only serious, mu.In reading these, it is at least useful to know that Marvin Minsky, Gerald Sussman, and Drescher are AI researchers of note, that Tom Knight was one of the Lisp machine's principal designers, and that David Moon wrote much of Lisp Machine Lisp. * * * A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power off and on.Knight, seeing what the student was doing, spoke sternly: You cannot fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what is going wrong.Knight turned the machine off and on.The machine worked. * * * better garbage collector. We must keep a reference count of the pointers to each cons.Moon patiently told the student the following story: One day a student came to Moon and said: `I understandhow to make a better garbage collector... [Pure reference-count garbage collectors have problems with circular structures that point to themselves.] * * * In the days when Sussman was a novice, Minsky once came to him as he sat hacking at the PDP-6.What are you doing?, asked Minsky.I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe, Sussman replied.Why is the net wired randomly?, asked Minsky.I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play, Sussman said.Minsky then shut his eyes.Why do you close your eyes?, Sussman asked his teacher.So that the room will be empty.At that moment, Sussman was enlightened. * * * A disciple of another sect once came to Drescher as he was eating his morning meal.I would like to give you this personality test, said the outsider, because I want you to be happy.Drescher took the paper that was offered him and put it into the toaster, saying: I wish the toaster to be happy, too. (1995-02-08)
AI koan "humour" /A-I koh'an/ One of a series of pastiches of Zen teaching riddles created by {Danny Hillis} at the {MIT AI Lab} around various major figures of the Lab's culture. See also {ha ha only serious}, {mu}. In reading these, it is at least useful to know that {Marvin Minsky}, {Gerald Sussman}, and Drescher are {AI} researchers of note, that {Tom Knight} was one of the {Lisp machine}'s principal designers, and that {David Moon} wrote much of Lisp Machine Lisp. * * * A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power off and on. Knight, seeing what the student was doing, spoke sternly: "You cannot fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what is going wrong." Knight turned the machine off and on. The machine worked. * * * One day a student came to Moon and said: "I understand how to make a better garbage collector. We must keep a reference count of the pointers to each cons." Moon patiently told the student the following story: "One day a student came to Moon and said: `I understand how to make a better garbage collector... [Pure reference-count garbage collectors have problems with circular structures that point to themselves.] * * * In the days when Sussman was a novice, Minsky once came to him as he sat hacking at the PDP-6. "What are you doing?", asked Minsky. "I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe", Sussman replied. "Why is the net wired randomly?", asked Minsky. "I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play", Sussman said. Minsky then shut his eyes. "Why do you close your eyes?", Sussman asked his teacher. "So that the room will be empty." At that moment, Sussman was enlightened. * * * A disciple of another sect once came to Drescher as he was eating his morning meal. "I would like to give you this personality test", said the outsider, "because I want you to be happy." Drescher took the paper that was offered him and put it into the toaster, saying: "I wish the toaster to be happy, too." (1995-02-08)
amber room ::: --> A room formerly in the Czar&
And made her body the room of his delight,
annunciator ::: n. --> One who announces. Specifically: An officer in the church of Constantinople, whose business it was to inform the people of the festivals to be celebrated.
An indicator (as in a hotel) which designates the room where attendance is wanted.
attic ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to Attica, in Greece, or to Athens, its principal city; marked by such qualities as were characteristic of the Athenians; classical; refined.
A low story above the main order or orders of a facade, in the classical styles; -- a term introduced in the 17th century. Hence:
A room or rooms behind that part of the exterior; all the rooms immediately below the roof.
An Athenian; an Athenian author.
basement ::: a. --> The outer wall of the ground story of a building, or of a part of that story, when treated as a distinct substructure. ( See Base, n., 3 (a).) Hence: The rooms of a ground floor, collectively.
bounce ::: v. i. --> To strike or thump, so as to rebound, or to make a sudden noise; a knock loudly.
To leap or spring suddenly or unceremoniously; to bound; as, she bounced into the room.
To boast; to talk big; to bluster. ::: v. t.
The Room ::: A metaphor for Solar Consciousness: attempts to describe the state in terms of an empty room that can be decorated comfortably by the deeper mind through training in morality and adhering to a higher calling.
chad box "hardware" ({IBM} called this a "chip box") A metal box about the size of a lunchbox (or in some models a large wastebasket), for collecting the {chad} that accumulated in {Iron Age} {card punches}. You had to open the covers of the card punch periodically and empty the chad box. The {bit bucket} was notionally the equivalent device in the {CPU} enclosure, which was typically across the room in another great grey-and-blue box. [{Jargon File}] (1996-11-20)
chad box ::: (hardware) (IBM called this a chip box) A metal box about the size of a lunchbox (or in some models a large wastebasket), for collecting the chad that accumulated in Iron Age card punches. You had to open the covers of the card punch periodically and empty the chad box.The bit bucket was notionally the equivalent device in the CPU enclosure, which was typically across the room in another great grey-and-blue box.[Jargon File] (1996-11-20)
chambermaid ::: n. --> A maidservant who has the care of chambers, making the beds, sweeping, cleaning the rooms, etc.
A lady&
clutter ::: n. --> A confused collection; hence, confusion; disorder; as, the room is in a clutter.
Clatter; confused noise.
To clot or coagulate, as blood. ::: v. t. --> To crowd together in disorder; to fill or cover with
court ::: 1. The room or building in which a tribunal sits and justice is administered. 2. A judicial tribunal duly constituted for the hearing and determination of legal cases.
detriment ::: n. --> That which injures or causes damage; mischief; harm; diminution; loss; damage; -- used very generically; as, detriments to property, religion, morals, etc.
A charge made to students and barristers for incidental repairs of the rooms they occupy. ::: v. t.
Direct voice: A mediumistic term for an isolated voice resounding in space without any visible agency or source. At most seances it issues forth from a trumpet which floats about in the room, serving as a condenser, although it has been heard at many seances without a trumpet, sounding from various parts of the room.
floor ::: n. --> The bottom or lower part of any room; the part upon which we stand and upon which the movables in the room are supported.
The structure formed of beams, girders, etc., with proper covering, which divides a building horizontally into stories. Floor in sense 1 is, then, the upper surface of floor in sense 2.
The surface, or the platform, of a structure on which we walk or travel; as, the floor of a bridge.
A story of a building. See Story.
franklin stove ::: --> A kind of open stove introduced by Benjamin Franklin, the peculiar feature of which was that a current of heated air was directly supplied to the room from an air box; -- now applied to other varieties of open stoves.
green card ::: [after the IBM System/360 Reference Data card] A summary of an assembly language, even if the colour is not green. Less frequently used now because of can check the addressing mode for that instruction. Some green cards are actually booklets.The original green card became a yellow card when the System/370 was introduced, and later a yellow booklet. An anecdote from IBM refers to a scene that took passed the first a thick yellow booklet. At this point the luser turned a delicate shade of olive and rapidly left the room, never to return.[Jargon File]
green card [after the "IBM System/360 Reference Data" card] A summary of an assembly language, even if the colour is not green. Less frequently used now because of the decrease in the use of assembly language. "I'll go get my green card so I can check the {addressing mode} for that instruction." Some green cards are actually booklets. The original green card became a yellow card when the System/370 was introduced, and later a yellow booklet. An anecdote from IBM refers to a scene that took place in a programmers' terminal room at Yorktown in 1978. A luser overheard one of the programmers ask another "Do you have a green card?" The other grunted and passed the first a thick yellow booklet. At this point the luser turned a delicate shade of olive and rapidly left the room, never to return. [{Jargon File}]
guardroom ::: n. --> The room occupied by the guard during its term of duty; also, a room where prisoners are confined.
housemaid ::: n. --> A female servant employed to do housework, esp. to take care of the rooms.
kitchen ::: n. --> A cookroom; the room of a house appropriated to cookery.
A utensil for roasting meat; as, a tin kitchen. ::: v. t. --> To furnish food to; to entertain with the fare of the kitchen.
loft ::: n. --> That which is lifted up; an elevation.
The room or space under a roof and above the ceiling of the uppermost story.
A gallery or raised apartment in a church, hall, etc.; as, an organ loft.
A floor or room placed above another; a story. ::: a.
luminous ::: a. --> Shining; emitting or reflecting light; brilliant; bright; as, the is a luminous body; a luminous color.
Illuminated; full of light; bright; as, many candles made the room luminous.
Enlightened; intelligent; also, clear; intelligible; as, a luminous mind.
occupy ::: v. t. --> To take or hold possession of; to hold or keep for use; to possess.
To hold, or fill, the dimensions of; to take up the room or space of; to cover or fill; as, the camp occupies five acres of ground.
To possess or use the time or capacity of; to engage the service of; to employ; to busy.
To do business in; to busy one&
overflow bit ::: 1. A flag on some processors indicating an attempt to calculate a result too large for the destination register to hold.2. More generally, an indication of any kind of capacity overload condition. Well, the Ada description was baroque all right, but I could hack it OK until they got to the exception handling ... that set my overflow bit.3. The hypothetical bit that will be set if a hacker doesn't get to make a trip to the Room of Porcelain Fixtures: I'd better process an internal interrupt before the overflow bit gets set.[Jargon File]
roominess ::: n. --> The quality or state of being roomy; spaciousness; as, the roominess of a hall.
room-temperature IQ "abuse" (IBM) 80 or below. Used in describing the expected intelligence range of the {luser}. "Well, but how's this interface going to play with the room-temperature IQ crowd?" This is a much more insulting phrase in countries that use Celsius thermometers. See {drool-proof paper}. [{Jargon File}] (1996-04-06)
room-temperature IQ ::: (abuse) (IBM) 80 or below. Used in describing the expected intelligence range of the luser. Well, but how's this interface going to play with the room-temperature IQ crowd? This is a much more insulting phrase in countries that use Celsius thermometers.See drool-proof paper.[Jargon File] (1996-04-06)
scriptorium ::: n. --> In an abbey or monastery, the room set apart for writing or copying manuscripts; in general, a room devoted to writing.
server room "hardware" The room where all the {server} computers are housed. The {workstations} at which people sit and program are usually located elsewhere. Compare: {sun lounge}, {dinosaur pen}, {play pen}, {salt mines}, {disk farm}. (1998-07-06)
server room ::: (hardware) The room where all the server computers are housed. The workstations at which people sit and program are usually located elsewhere.Compare: sun lounge, dinosaur pen, play pen, salt mines, disk farm. (1998-07-06)
Solar Consciousness ::: A stage of consciousness associated with the Higher Self: a sense of identity outside of the whims of habits and emotions that typify Lunar Consciousness. This is a stage that most of humanity should aim for as there is much liberation that comes from forming one's own sense of identity and not being subservient to the whims of evolution and rote habit. See also The Room and The Temple.
sun lounge "jargon" (Great Britain) The room where all the {Sun} {workstations} live. The humour in this term comes from the fact that it's also in mainstream use to describe a solarium, and all those Sun workstations clustered together give off an amazing amount of heat. [{Jargon File}] (1995-01-19)
sun lounge ::: (jargon) (Great Britain) The room where all the Sun workstations live. The humour in this term comes from the fact that it's also in mainstream use to describe a solarium, and all those Sun workstations clustered together give off an amazing amount of heat.[Jargon File] (1995-01-19)
Table-turning The spiritualistic or astral phenomenon of motion produced in a table when the sitters at a seance hold their hands over or on it, and varying from risings into the air and movings around the room, to giving tilts in answer to code-questions. Ordinary Occidental intelligence seems incapable of imagining anything between a purely mechanical action and a full-blown human intelligence. The phenomena are usually supposed to be either due to tricks or some kind of unconscious muscular action on the part of the sitters, or to be spirits of the departed. But there are a variety of degrees between physical mechanism and self-conscious volition, just as there are multitudes of living beings in widely differing states of materiality filling the gap between physical organisms and the spirits of the departed. The astral light is filled with an enormous variety of beings, mostly of a low type, not using physical bodies, not human in their nature, but having a sort of consciousness of their own; and the conditions provided by the vitality of the medium and sitters may vitalize, stimulate, and to a certain extent direct, these beings and thus at times cause them to become active in the production of physical phenomena. Again, the human organism in all its ranges itself is composed of a vast number of elements, physical, astral, etc., which in normal life are held together in a unit and in subordination to the general life of the person. Some of these elements may become temporarily extruded, especially in natural mediums or those who have cultivated mediumship; and thus the phenomena may be caused unintelligently or ignorantly by the sitters themselves — and just here is the instrumental cause of nearly all the physical phenomena produced by mediums, or mediums and sitters together.
tiring-room ::: n. --> The room or place where players dress for the stage.
TMRC /tmerk'/ The Tech Model Railroad Club at {MIT}, one of the wellsprings of {hacker} culture. The 1959 "Dictionary of the TMRC Language" compiled by Peter Samson included several terms that became basics of the hackish vocabulary (see especially {foo}, {mung}, and {frob}). By 1962, TMRC's legendary layout was already a marvel of complexity (and has grown in the thirty years since; all the features described here are still present). The control system alone featured about 1200 relays. There were {scram switch}es located at numerous places around the room that could be thwacked if something undesirable was about to occur, such as a train going full-bore at an obstruction. Another feature of the system was a digital clock on the dispatch board, which was itself something of a wonder in those bygone days before cheap LEDS and seven-segment displays. When someone hit a scram switch the clock stopped and the display was replaced with the word "FOO"; at TMRC the scram switches are therefore called "foo switches". Steven Levy, in his book "Hackers", gives a stimulating account of those early years. TMRC's Power and Signals group included most of the early {PDP-1} hackers and the people who later bacame the core of the {MIT} {AI Lab} staff. This dictionary accordingly includes a number of entries from the TMRC dictionary (via the Hacker Jargon File). [{Jargon File}] (2008-06-30)
ventriloquism ::: n. --> The act, art, or practice of speaking in such a manner that the voice appears to come, not from the person speaking, but from some other source, as from the opposite side of the room, from the cellar, etc.
KEYS (10k)
3 Sri Ramakrishna
1 Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
1 Stephen LaBerge
1 Jonathan Swift
1 James S A Corey
1 https://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Nirodbaran
1 Charles F Haanel
1 Anais Nin
1 The Mother
1 Saint Teresa of Avila
NEW FULL DB (2.4M)
20 Anonymous
12 F Scott Fitzgerald
10 Jane Austen
10 David Levithan
10 Cassandra Clare
9 Terry Pratchett
9 J K Rowling
8 Ray Bradbury
7 Tommy Wiseau
7 Suzanne Collins
7 Stephen King
7 Kristen Ashley
7 Charles Dickens
7 Ally Carter
6 Patrick Rothfuss
6 Jennifer L Armentrout
6 Harlan Coben
5 Susanna Clarke
5 Maggie Stiefvater
5 J R Ward
1:Lord, I am the yantra, thou art the yantri. I am the room and thou art the tenant. I am the chariot and thou art the charioteer. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
2:Utter SILENCE must be observed in the room. Whoever pronounces a word in the presence of Sri Aurobindo will have to leave the place immediately.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I,#KEYS
3:Ignorance can be compared to a dark room in which you sleep. No matter how long the room has been dark, an hour or a million years, the moment the lamp of awareness is lit the entire room becomes luminous. You are that luminosity. You are that clear light. ~ Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, #KEYS
4:31. For your exercise this week, visualize your friend, see him exactly as you last saw him, see the room, the furniture, recall the conversation, now see his face, see it distinctly, now talk to him about some subject of mutual interest; see his expression change, watch him smile. Can you do this? All right, you can; then arouse his interest, tell him a story of adventure, see his eyes light up with the spirit of fun or excitement. Can you do all of this? If so, your imagination is good, you are making excellent progress. ~ Charles F Haanel, The Master Key System, #KEYS
5:10.: I do not know whether I have put this clearly; self-knowledge is of such consequence that I would not have you careless of it, though you may be lifted to heaven in prayer, because while on earth nothing is more needful than humility. Therefore, I repeat, not only a good way, but the best of all ways, is to endeavour to enter first by the room where humility is practised, which is far better than at once rushing on to the others. This is the right road;-if we know how easy and safe it is to walk by it, why ask for wings with which to fly? Let us rather try to learn how to advance quickly. I believe we shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavouring to know God, for, beholding His greatness we are struck by our own baseness, His purity shows our foulness, and by meditating on His humility we find how very far we are from being humble. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle, 1.02, #KEYS
6:Sri Ramakrishna has described the incident: "The Divine Mother revealed to me in the Kāli 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 Kāli 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 Bābu saying that I was feeding the cat with the offering intended for the Divine Mother. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
7:Over and over again I sail towards joy, which is never in the room with me, but always near me, across the way, like those rooms full of gayety one sees from the street, or the gayety in the street one sees from a window. Will I ever reach joy? It hides behind the turning merry-go-round of the traveling circus. As soon as I approach it, it is no longer joy. Joy is a foam, an illumination. I am poorer and hungrier for the want of it. When I am in the dance, joy is outside in the elusive garden. When I am in the garden, I hear it exploding from the house. When I am traveling, joy settles like an aurora borealis over the land I leave. When I stand on the shore I see it bloom on the flag of a departing ship. What joy? Have I not possessed it? I want the joy of simple colors, street organs, ribbons, flags, not a joy that takes my breath away and throws me into space alone where no one else can breathe with me, not the joy that comes from a lonely drunkenness. There are so many joys, but I have only known the ones that come like a miracle, touching everything with light. ~ Anais Nin, #KEYS
8:During the stage of sadhana one should describe God by all His attributes. One day Hazra said to Narendra: 'God is Infinity. Infinite is His splendour. Do you think He will accept your offerings of sweets and bananas or listen to your music? This is a mistaken notion of yours.' Narendra at once sank ten fathoms. So I said to Hazra, 'You villain! Where will these youngsters be if you talk to them like that?' How can a man live if he gives up devotion? No doubt God has infinite splendour; yet He is under the control of His devotees. A rich man's gate-keeper comes to the parlour where his master is seated with his friends. He stands on one side of the room. In his hand he has something covered with a cloth. He is very hesitant. The master asks him, 'Well, gate-keeper, what have you in your hand?' Very hesitantly the servant takes out a custard-apple from under the cover, places it in front of his master, and says, 'Sir, it is my desire that you should eat this.' The Master is impressed by his servant's devotion. With great love he takes the fruit in his hand and says: 'Ah! This is a very nice custard-apple. Where did you pick it? You must have taken a great deal of trouble to get it.'
"God is under the control of His devotees. King Duryodhana was very attentive to Krishna and said to Him, 'Please have your meal here.' But the Lord went to Vidura's hut. He is very fond of His devotees. He ate Vidura's simple rice and greens as if they were celestial food. ~ Sri Ramakrishna,#KEYS
9:... Every one knew how laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts and sciences; whereas, by his contrivance, the most ignorant person, at a reasonable charge, and with a little bodily labour, might write books in philosophy, poetry, politics, laws, mathematics, and theology, without the least assistance from genius or study." He then led me to the frame, about the sides, whereof all his pupils stood in ranks. It was twenty feet square, placed in the middle of the room. The superfices was composed of several bits of wood, about the bigness of a die, but some larger than others. They were all linked together by slender wires. These bits of wood were covered, on every square, with paper pasted on them; and on these papers were written all the words of their language, in their several moods, tenses, and declensions; but without any order. The professor then desired me "to observe; for he was going to set his engine at work." The pupils, at his command, took each of them hold of an iron handle, whereof there were forty fixed round the edges of the frame; and giving them a sudden turn, the whole disposition of the words was entirely changed. He then commanded six-and-thirty of the lads, to read the several lines softly, as they appeared upon the frame; and where they found three or four words together that might make part of a sentence, they dictated to the four remaining boys, who were scribes. This work was repeated three or four times, and at every turn, the engine was so contrived, that the words shifted into new places, as the square bits of wood moved upside down. ~ Jonathan Swift, Gullivers Travels, #KEYS
10:(Nirodbaran:) "It was the first week of January 1930.
At about 3 p.m., I reached Dilip Kumar Roy's place. "Oh, you have come! Let us go," he said, and cutting a rose from his terrace-garden he added, "Offer this to the Mother." When we arrived at the Ashram he left me at the present Reading Room saying, "Wait here." My heart was beating nervously as if I were going to face an examination. A stately chair in the middle of the room attracted momentarily my attention. In a short while the Mother came accompanied by Nolini, Amrita and Dilip. She took her seat in the chair, the others stood by her side. I was dazzled by the sight. Was it a ‘visionary gleam’ or a reality? Nothing like it had I seen before. Her fair complexion, set off by a finely coloured sari and a headband, gave me the impression of a goddess such as we see in pictures or in the idols during the Durga Puja festival. She was all smiles and redolent with grace. I suppose this was the Mahalakshmi smile Sri Aurobindo had spoken of in his book The Mother. She bathed me in the cascade of her smile and heart-melting look. I stood before her, shy and speechless, made more so by the presence of the others who were enjoying the silent sweet spectacle. Minutes passed. Then I offered to her hand my rose and did my pranam at her feet which had gold anklets on them. She stooped and blessed me. On standing up, I got again the same enchanting smile like moonbeams from a magic sky. After a time she said to the others, "He is very shy." "[1]
(Amal Kiran:) "Now to come back to all the people, all – the undamned all who were there in the Ashram. Very soon after my coming Dilip Kumar Roy came with Sahana Devi. They came and settled down. And, soon after that, I saw the face of my friend Nirod. It was of course an unforgettable face. (laughter) I think he had come straight from England or via some place in Bengal, but he carried something of the air of England. (laughter) He had passed out as a doctor at Edinburgh. I saw him, we became friends and we have remained friends ever since. But when he came as a doctor he was not given doctoring work here. As far as I remember he was made the head of a timber godown! (laughter) All sorts of strange jobs were being given to people. Look at the first job I got. The Mother once told me, "I would like you to do some work." I said, "All right, I am prepared to do some work." Then she said,"Will you take charge of our stock of furniture?" (laughter)"[2]
(Amal Kiran:) "To return to my friend Nirod – it was after some time that he got the Dispensary. I don't know whether he wanted it, or liked it or not, but he established his reputation as the frowning physician. (laughter) People used to come to him with a cold and he would stand and glare at them, and say, "What? You have a cold!" Poor people, they would simply shiver (laughter) and this had a very salutary effect because they thought that it was better not to fall ill than face the doctor's drastic disapproval of any kind of illness which would give him any botheration. (laughter) But he did his job all right, and every time he frightened off a patient he went to his room and started trying to write poetry (laughter) – because that, he thought, was his most important job. And, whether he succeeded as a doctor or not, as a poet he has eminently succeeded. Sri Aurobindo has really made him a poet.
The doctoring as well as the poetry was a bond between us, because my father had been a doctor and medicine ran in my blood. We used to discuss medical matters sometimes, but more often the problems and pains of poetry."[3] ~ https://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Nirodbaran#KEYS
11:Of course we do." Dresden's voice was cutting. "But you're thinking too small. Building humanity's greatest empire is like building the world's largest anthill. Insignificant. There is a civilization out there that built the protomolecule and hurled it at us over two billion years ago. They were already gods at that point. What have they become since then? With another two billion years to advance?"
With a growing dread, Holden listened to Dresden speak. This speech had the air of something spoken before. Perhaps many times. And it had worked. It had convinced powerful people. It was why Protogen had stealth ships from the Earth shipyards and seemingly limitless behind-the-scenes support.
"We have a terrifying amount of catching up to do, gentlemen," Dresden was saying. "But fortunately we have the tool of our enemy to use in doing it."
"Catching up?" a soldier to Holden's left said. Dresden nodded at the man and smiled.
"The protomolecule can alter the host organism at the molecular level; it can create genetic change on the fly. Not just DNA, but any stable replicatoR But it is only a machine. It doesn't think. It follows instructions. If we learn how to alter that programming, then we become the architects of that change."
Holden interrupted. "If it was supposed to wipe out life on Earth and replace it with whatever the protomolecule's creators wanted, why turn it loose?"
"Excellent question," Dresden said, holding up one finger like a college professor about to deliver a lecture. "The protomolecule doesn't come with a user's manual. In fact, we've never before been able to actually watch it carry out its program. The molecule requires significant mass before it develops enough processing power to fulfill its directives. Whatever they are."
Dresden pointed at the screens covered with data around them.
"We are going to watch it at work. See what it intends to do. How it goes about doing it. And, hopefully, learn how to change that program in the process."
"You could do that with a vat of bacteria," Holden said.
"I'm not interested in remaking bacteria," Dresden said.
"You're fucking insane," Amos said, and took another step toward Dresden. Holden put a hand on the big mechanic's shoulder.
"So," Holden said. "You figure out how the bug works, and then what?"
"Then everything. Belters who can work outside a ship without wearing a suit. Humans capable of sleeping for hundreds of years at a time flying colony ships to the stars. No longer being bound to the millions of years of evolution inside one atmosphere of pressure at one g, slaves to oxygen and water. We decide what we want to be, and we reprogram ourselves to be that. That's what the protomolecule gives us."
Dresden had stood back up as he'd delivered this speech, his face shining with the zeal of a prophet.
"What we are doing is the best and only hope of humanity's survival. When we go out there, we will be facing gods."
"And if we don't go out?" Fred asked. He sounded thoughtful.
"They've already fired a doomsday weapon at us once," Dresden said.
The room was silent for a moment. Holden felt his certainty slip. He hated everything about Dresden's argument, but he couldn't quite see his way past it. He knew in his bones that something about it was dead wrong, but he couldn't find the words. Naomi's voice startled him.
"Did it convince them?" she asked.
"Excuse me?" Dresden said.
"The scientists. The technicians. Everyone you needed to make it happen. They actually had to do this. They had to watch the video of people dying all over Eros. They had to design those radioactive murder chambers. So unless you managed to round up every serial killer in the solar system and send them through a postgraduate program, how did you do this?"
"We modified our science team to remove ethical restraints."
Half a dozen clues clicked into place in Holden's head. ~ James S A Corey, Leviathan Wakes,#KEYS
12:Attention on Hypnagogic Imagery The most common strategy for inducing WILDs is to fall asleep while focusing on the hypnagogic imagery that accompanies sleep onset. Initially, you are likely to see relatively simple images, flashes of light, geometric patterns, and the like.
Gradually more complicated forms appear: faces, people, and finally entire scenes. 6
The following account of what the Russian philosopher P. D. Ouspensky called "half-dream states" provides a vivid example of what hypnagogic imagery can be like:
I am falling asleep. Golden dots, sparks and tiny stars appear and disappear before my eyes. These sparks and stars gradually merge into a golden net with diagonal meshes which moves slowly and regularly in rhythm with the beating of my heart, which I feel quite distinctly. The next moment the golden net is transformed into rows of brass helmets belonging to Roman soldiers marching along the street below. I hear their measured tread and watch them from the window of a high house in Galata, in Constantinople, in a narrow lane, one end of which leads to the old wharf and the Golden Horn with its ships and steamers and the minarets of Stamboul behind them. I hear their heavy measured tread, and see the sun shining on their helmets. Then suddenly I detach myself from the window sill on which I am lying, and in the same reclining position fly slowly over the lane, over the houses, and then over the Golden Horn in the direction of Stamboul. I smell the sea, feel the wind, the warm sun. This flying gives me a wonderfully pleasant sensation, and I cannot help opening my eyes. 7
Ouspensky's half-dream states developed out of a habit of observing the contents of his mind while falling asleep or in half-sleep after awakening from a dream. He notes that they were much easier to observe in the morning after awakening than before sleep at the beginning of the night and did not occur at all "without definite efforts." 8
Dr. Nathan Rapport, an American psychiatrist, cultivated an approach to lucid dreaming very similar to Ouspensky's: "While in bed awaiting sleep, the experimenter interrupts his thoughts every few minutes with an effort to recall the mental item vanishing before each intrusion that inquisitive attention." 9 This habit is continued sleep itself, with results like the following:
Brilliant lights flashed, and a myriad of sparkles twinkled from a magnificent cut glass chandelier. Interesting as any stage extravaganza were the many quaintly detailed figurines upon a mantel against the distant, paneled wall adorned in rococo.
At the right a merry group of beauties and gallants in the most elegant attire of Victorian England idled away a pleasant occasion. This scene continued for [a] period of I was not aware, before I discovered that it was not reality, but a mental picture and that I was viewing it. Instantly it became an incommunicably beautiful vision. It was with the greatest stealth that my vaguely awakened mind began to peep: for I knew that these glorious shows end abruptly because of such intrusions.
I thought, "Have I here one of those mind pictures that are without motion?" As if in reply, one of the young ladies gracefully waltzed about the room. She returned to the group and immobility, with a smile lighting her pretty face, which was turned over her shoulder toward me. The entire color scheme was unobtrusive despite the kaleidoscopic sparkles of the chandelier, the exquisite blues and creamy pinks of the rich settings and costumes. I felt that only my interest in dreams brought my notice to the tints - delicate, yet all alive as if with inner illumination. 10
Hypnagogic Imagery Technique
1. Relax completely
While lying in bed, gently close your eyes and relax your head, neck, back, arms, and legs. Completely let go of all muscular and mental tension, and breathe slowly and restfully. Enjoy the feeling of relaxation and let go of your thoughts, worries, and concerns. If you have just awakened from sleep, you are probably sufficiently relaxed.
Otherwise, you may use either the progressive relaxation exercise (page 33) or the 61-point relaxation exercise (page 34) to relax more deeply. Let everything wind down,
slower and slower, more and more relaxed, until your mind becomes as serene as the calmest sea.
2. Observe the visual images
Gently focus your attention on the visual images that will gradually appear before your mind's eye. Watch how the images begin and end. Try to observe the images as delicately as possible, allowing them to be passively reflected in your mind as they unfold. Do not attempt to hold onto the images, but instead just watch without attachment or desire for action. While doing this, try to take the perspective of a detached observer as much as possible. At first you will see a sequence of disconnected, fleeting patterns and images. The images will gradually develop into scenes that become more and more complex, finally joining into extended sequences.
3. Enter the dream
When the imagery becomes a moving, vivid scenario, you should allow yourself to be passively drawn into the dream world. Do not try to actively enter the dream scene,
but instead continue to take a detached interest in the imagery. Let your involvement with what is happening draw you into the dream. But be careful of too much involvement and too little attention. Don't forget that you are dreaming now!
Commentary
Probably the most difficult part of this technique to master is entering the dream at Step 3. The challenge is to develop a delicate vigilance, an unobtrusive observer perspective, from which you let yourself be drawn into the dream. As Paul Tholey has emphasized, "It is not desirable to want actively to enter into the scenery,
since such an intention as a rule causes the scenery to disappear." 11 A passive volition similar to that described in the section on autosuggestion in the previous chapter is required: in Tholey's words, "Instead of actively wanting to enter into the scenery, the subject should attempt to let himself be carried into it passively." 12 A Tibetan teacher advises a similar frame of mind: "While delicately observing the mind, lead it gently into the dream state, as though you were leading a child by the hand." 13
Another risk is that, once you have entered into the dream, the world can seem so realistic that it is easy to lose lucidity, as happened in the beginning of Rapport's WILD described above. As insurance in case this happens, Tholey recommends that you resolve to carry out a particular action in the dream, so that if you momentarily lose lucidity, you may remember your intention to carry out the action and thereby regain lucidity.
~ Stephen LaBerge, Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming,#KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter. ~ seth-godin, @wisdomtrove 2:In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 3:My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance. ~ erma-bombeck, @wisdomtrove 4:A liberal is a man who leaves the room before the fight starts. ~ dorothy-parker, @wisdomtrove 5:It doesn't matter what temperature the room is, it's always room temperature. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 6:Yield to that strange passion which sends you madly whirling round the room. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 7:Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room. ~ winston-churchill, @wisdomtrove 8:Do you light up when your kids are coming in the room or do you become the instant critic? ~ brene-brown, @wisdomtrove 9:I like living in one room and have never known what people do with the room they are not in. ~ quentin-crisp, @wisdomtrove 10:You walk into the room like a camel and then put your eyes in your pockets and your nose on the ground. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 11:By perseverance the snail reached the ark. A mouse may find a hole, be the room ever so full of cats. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 12:Her beauty climbed the rolling slope, it came into the room, rustling ghost-like through the curtains. ~ f-scott-fitzgerald, @wisdomtrove 13:I took no pride in my solitude; but I was dependent on it. The darkness of the room was like sunlight to me. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 14:They continued to watch each other from across the room, both frozen for a moment by the shadow of distant possibilities. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 15:My friends and I had fun together, but I was more reserved, not at all the life of the party. I would just be the quiet one in the room. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 16:Having sex with her is incredible. It's just like a concert. We throw Frisbees around the room. And when she wants more she lights a match. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 17:The paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia's life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 18:kindle the fire of happiness ! Therein I shall see The door of friendliness, The room of greatness And the palace of godness. I shall see, I shall see. ~ sri-chinmoy, @wisdomtrove 19:Following the Noble Path is like entering a dark room with a light in the hand; the darkness will all be cleared away, and the room will be filled with light. ~ buddha, @wisdomtrove 20:It is your turn to say something now, Mr. Darcy. I talked about the dance, and you ought to make some kind of remark on the size of the room, or the number of couples. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 21:Elinor could sit still no longer. She almost ran out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed, burst into tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 22:Outside the trees dragged their leaves like nets through the depths of the air; the sound of water was in the room and through the waves came the voices of birds singing. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 23:I think you’re beautiful, the only beautiful person I’ve ever seen. I love your voice and everything to do with you, down to your clothes or the room you are sitting in. I adore you. ~ e-m-forster, @wisdomtrove 24:Sometimes when I sit down to practice and there is no one else in the room, I have to stifle an impulse to ring for the elevator man and offer him money to come in and hear me. ~ arthur-rubinstein, @wisdomtrove 25:The film project has been twenty years of constipation, and he likens the Hollywood process to trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it. ~ douglas-adams, @wisdomtrove 26:Of all bad listeners, the worst and most terrible to encounter is the man who is so fond of listening that he wishes to hear, not only your conversation, but that of every other person in the room. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 27:The physicians of one class feel the patients and go away, merely prescribing medicine. As they leave the room they simply ask the patient to take the medicine. They are the poorest class of physicians. ~ sri-ramakrishna, @wisdomtrove 28:One option is to struggle to be heard whenever you're in the room... Another is to be the sort of person who is missed when you're not. The first involves making noise. The second involves making a difference. ~ seth-godin, @wisdomtrove 29:It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 30:Dance music ... stirs some barbaric instinct - lulled asleep in our sober lives - you forget centuries of civilization in a second, & yield to that strange passion which sends you madly whirling round the room. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 31:It is advantageous to an author that his book should be attacked as well as praised. Fame is a shuttlecock. If it be struck at one end of the room, it will soon fall to the ground. To keep it up, it must be struck at both ends. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 32:It used to be I thought of death as a man something like Grandfather a friend of his a kind of private and particular friend like we used to think of Grandfather's desk not to touch it not even to talk loud in the room where it was. ~ william-faulkner, @wisdomtrove 33:And it was awfully strange, he thought, how she still had the power, as she came tinkling, rustling, still had the power as she came across the room, to make the moon, which he detested, rise at Bourton on the terrace in the summer sky. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 34:Football today is far too much a sport for the few who can play it well; the rest of us, and too many of our children, get out exercise from climbing up the seats in stadiums, or from walking across the room to turn on our television sets. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 35:I begin already to weigh my words and sentences more than I did, and am looking about for a sentiment, an illustration, or a metaphor in every corner of the room. Could my Ideas flow as fast as the rain in the Storecloset it would be charming. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 36:The sound of the rain needs no translation. In music one doesn't make the end of the composition the point of the composition... Same way in dancing, you don't aim at one particular spot in the room... The whole point of dancing is the dance. ~ alan-watts, @wisdomtrove 37:I was a man who thrived on solitude; without it I was like another man without food or water. Each day without solitude weakened me. I took no pride in my solitude; but I was dependent on it. The darkness of the room was like sunlight to me. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 38:But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 39:Please open your eyes now, but keep attention in the inner energy field of the body as you look around the room. The inner body lies at the threshold between your form identity and your essence identity, your true nature. Never lose touch with it. ~ eckhart-tolle, @wisdomtrove 40:Agesilaus was very fond of his children; and it is reported that once toying with them he got astride upon a reed as upon a horse, and rode about the room; and being seen by one of his friends, he desired him not to speak of it till he had children of his own. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 41:But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up, and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room. ~ f-scott-fitzgerald, @wisdomtrove 42:Every day I go to my study and sit at my desk and put the computer on. At that moment, I have to open the door. It's a big, heavy door. You have to go into the Other Room. Metaphorically, of course. And you have to come back to this side of the room. And you have to shut the door. ~ haruki-murakami, @wisdomtrove 43:He beat me like he beat the children. Cept he don't never hardly beat them. He say, Celie, git the belt. The children be outside the room peeking through the cracks. It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. That's how come I know trees fear man. ~ alice-walker, @wisdomtrove 44:People have one of two extreme reactions to my book. They either throw it across the room, or they rush out and buy 10 copies. The message I'm giving out, that what we think about becomes true for us, and negative thoughts mean good things don't happen, isn't always easy for some people to take. ~ louise-hay, @wisdomtrove 45:With her foot on the threshold she waited a moment longer in a scene which was vanishing even as she looked, and then, as she moved and took Minta's arm and left the room, it changed, it shaped itself differently; it had become, she knew, giving one last look at it over her shoulder, already the past. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 46:My mind has been the most discontented and restless one that ever was put into a body too small for it... . I never felt my mind repose upon anything with complete and undistracted enjoyment- upon no person but you. When you are in the room my thoughts never fly out of window: you always concentrate my whole senses ~ john-keats, @wisdomtrove 47:Fame it's like... When you look through a window, say you pass a little pub, or an inn. You look through the window and you see people talking and carrying on. You,can watch outside the window and see them all being very real with each other. But when you walk into the room, it's over. I don't pay any attention to it. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 48:Courage is not limited to the battlefield or the Indianapolis 500 or bravely catching a thief in your house. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are the inner tests, like remaining faithful when nobody's looking, like enduring pain when the room is empty, like standing alone when you're misunderstood. ~ charles-r-swindoll, @wisdomtrove 49:A man is like a two-story house. The first floor is equipped with an entrance and a living room. On the second floor is every family member's room. They enjoy listening to music and reading books. On the first underground floor is the ruin of people's memories. The room filled with darkness is the second underground floor. ~ haruki-murakami, @wisdomtrove 50:As these images were going through my head, my breathing suddenly went still. I looked at Jamie, then up to the ceiling and around the room, doing my best to keep my composure, then back to Jamie again. She smiled at me and I smiled at her and all I could do was wonder how I'd ever fallen in love with a girl like Jamie Sullivan. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 51:Whatever you do, you will be doing extraordinarily well, because the doing itself becomes the focal point of your attention. Your doing then becomes a channel through which consciousness enters this world. This means there is quality in what you do, even in the most simple action, like turning the pages in the phone book or walking across the room. ~ eckhart-tolle, @wisdomtrove 52:You know, if I look at an auditorium full of high school students and the big man on campus and his girlfriend are busy talking while the lecture's going on, the rest of the room is going to do it because they're powerful sneezers. They have influence. They reach out to a whole bunch of people in a way that makes the idea of being disrespectful spread. ~ seth-godin, @wisdomtrove 53:Surely there had been no figure leaning on the back of his chair; no face looking over it. It is certain that no gliding footstep touched the floor, as he lifted up his head, with a start, and spoke. And yet there was no mirror in the room on whose surface his own form could have cast its shadow for a moment; and, Something had passed darkly and gone! ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 54:& 55:Down the street the dogs are barking And the day is getting dark. As the night comes in a-falling, The dogs¬¥ll lose their bark And the silent night will shatter From the sounds inside my mind, For I¬¥m one to many mornings And a thousand miles behind. From the crossroads of my doorstep, My eyes they start to fade, As I turn my head back to the room Where my love and I have laid. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 56:It requires enormous presence of mind or rather quickness of wit, when opening your eyes to seize hold as it were of everything in the room at exactly the same place where you had let it go on the previous evening. That is why the moment of waking up was the riskiest moment of the day. Once that was well over without deflecting you from your orbit, you could take heart of grace for the rest of the day. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 57:61 He [Roark] was usually disliked, from the first sight of his face, anywhere he went. His face was closed like the door of a safety vault; things locked in safety vaults are valuable; men did not care to feel that. He was a cold, disquieting presence in the room; his presence had a strange quality: it made itself felt and yet it made them feel that he was not there; or perhaps that he was and they weren't. ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 58:I had gone to no such place but to the smoke of cafes and nights when the room whirled and you needed to look at the wall to make it stop, nights in bed, drunk, when you knew that that was all there was, and the strange excitement of waking and not knowing who it was with you, and the world all unreal in the dark and so exciting that you must resume again unknowing and not caring in the night, sure that this was all and all and all and not caring. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 59:there was something about that city, though it didn't let me feel guilty that I had no feeling for the things so many others needed. it let me alone. sitting up in my bed the lights out, hearing the outside sounds, lifting my cheap bottle of wine, letting the warmth of the grape enter me as I heard the rats moving about the room, I preferred them to humans. being lost, being crazy maybe is not so bad if you can be that way undisturbed. New Orleans gave me that. nobody ever called my name. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 60:Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherised upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats 5 Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent To lead you to an overwhelming question … 10 Oh, do not ask, “What is it?” Let us go and make our visit. In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 61:The window opens and the room is flooded with light. Colours and shapes come into being. The window is the giver of light, but not the source of it. The sun is the source. Similarly, matter is like the dark room; consciousness - the window - flooding matter with sensations and perceptions, and the Supreme is the sun the source both of matter and of light. The window may be closed, or open, the sun shines all the time. It makes all the difference to the room, but none to the sun. ~ sri-nisargadatta-maharaj, @wisdomtrove 62:Of all the ruinous and desolate places my uncle had ever beheld, this was the most so. It looked as if it had once been a large house of entertainment; but the roof had fallen in, in many places, and the stairs were steep, rugged, and broken. There was a huge fire-place in the room into which they walked, and the chimney was blackened with smoke; but no warm blaze lighted it up now. The white feathery dust of burnt wood was still strewed over the hearth, but the stove was cold, and all was dark and gloomy. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 63:She tried to explain the real state of the case to her sister. "I do not attempt to deny," said she, "that I think very highly of him& 64:The St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, between 5,000 and 10,000 Protestants were slaughtered in less than twenty-four hours. When the pope in Rome heard the news from France, he was so overcome by joy that he organised festive prayers to celebrate the occasion and commissioned Giorgio Vasari to decorate one of the Vatican’s rooms with a fresco of the massacre (the room is currently off-limits to visitors). More Christians were killed by fellow Christians in those twenty-four hours than by the polytheistic Roman Empire throughout its entire existence. ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove 65:There were always men looking for jobs in America. There were always all these usable bodies. And I wanted to be a writer. Almost everybody was a writer. Not everybody thought they could be a dentist or an automobile mechanic but everybody knew they could be a writer. Of those fifty guys in the room, probably fifteen of them thought they were writers. Almost everybody used words and could write them down, i.e., almost everybody could be a writer. But most men, fortunately, aren't writers, or even cab drivers, and some men - many men - unfortunately aren't anything. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 66:I need a little language such as lovers use, words of one syllable such as children speak when they come into the room and find their mother sewing and pick up some scrap of bright wool, a feather, or a shred of chintz. I need a howl; a cry. When the storm crosses the marsh and sweeps over me where I lie in the ditch unregarded I need no words. Nothing neat. Nothing that comes down with all its feet on the floor. None of those resonances and lovely echoes that break and chime from nerve to nerve in our breasts making wild music, false phrases. I have done with phrases. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 67:Pull a string, a puppet moves ... each man must realize that it can all disappear very quickly: the cat, the woman, the job, the front tire, the bed, the walls, the room; all our necessities including love, rest on foundations of sand - and any given cause, no matter how unrelated: the death of a boy in Hong Kong or a blizzard in Omaha ... can serve as your undoing. all your chinaware crashing to the kitchen floor, your girl will enter and you'll be standing, drunk, in the center of it and she'll ask: my god, what's the matter? and you'll answer: I don't know, I don't know. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 68:A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At teh end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever, " said the old lady. "But it turtles all the way down! ~ stephen-hawking, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:She looked across the room at , #NFDB
2:I quickly crossed the room ~ Michael Connelly, #NFDB
3:the room leaped to darkness. ~ John Steinbeck, #NFDB
4:bullies the light out of the room. ~ Ian Caldwell, #NFDB
5:Quite like old times,' the room says. ~ Jean Rhys, #NFDB
6:he trudged across the room, and ~ Vannetta Chapman, #NFDB
7:I threw my kindle across the room. ~ Penelope Ward, #NFDB
8:When I walk into the room, I own it! ~ NeNe Leakes, #NFDB
9:looked around the room at each person. ~ Terri Reid, #NFDB
10:The room pulsed with feeling, ~ Leslie Marmon Silko, #NFDB
11:The room? Why am I not surprised? ~ Lisa Scottoline, #NFDB
12:Well. Now she had the room’s attention. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
13:His laugh cartwheels across the room. ~ Jandy Nelson, #NFDB
14:Death is the room that is always empty. ~ John Fowles, #NFDB
15:From across the room, Mama watched them, ~ Lois Lowry, #NFDB
16:Sometimes film kills the room to dream. ~ David Lynch, #NFDB
17:Sunshine, the old clown, rims the room. ~ John Updike, #NFDB
18:the far side of the room, the anagram ~ Gillian Flynn, #NFDB
19:Mediocrity is the elephant in the room. ~ Kevin Spacey, #NFDB
20:The room smells of still air and time. Zoey ~ Joe Hart, #NFDB
21:the room and her appearance startled him. ~ Beth Brower, #NFDB
22:The room is the beginning of architecture. ~ Louis Kahn, #NFDB
23:The room was empty without him. No, the ~ Carolyn Brown, #NFDB
24:Alone. Is the room to be got ready upstairs? ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
25:I'd call you a genius, but I'm in the room. ~ David Tennant, #NFDB
26:Never be the brightest person in the room. ~ James D Watson, #NFDB
27:Something unspeakable left the room. ~ William Peter Blatty, #NFDB
28:This is the room of the wolfmother wallpaper. ~ Tom Robbins, #NFDB
29:And Sylvia Tietjens wavered into the room. ~ Ford Madox Ford, #NFDB
30:Full moons, skunk weed all up in the room; ~ Ghostface Killah, #NFDB
31:particles of silence floated about the room ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
32:The Loudest person in the room, is usually the brokest ~ Wale, #NFDB
33:The writer is the person who stays in the room. ~ Ron Carlson, #NFDB
34:The economy is the silent elephant in the room. ~ Ashraf Ghani, #NFDB
35:The room held her scent, fresh lilac, pathetic. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
36:The room was rococo. I had a strong sense of gilt. ~ Eric Idle, #NFDB
37:when the mind is full, the room ceases to be empty ~ Wang Ping, #NFDB
38:1,320 seconds walk into the room before he does. ~ Tahereh Mafi, #NFDB
39:Every plan I have is the best plan in the room. ~ Charlie Sheen, #NFDB
40:I'm tired of being the funniest person in the room. ~ Del Close, #NFDB
41:I looked around the room at the numerous ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #NFDB
42:The big secret is the ability to stay in the room. ~ Ron Carlson, #NFDB
43:The smartest person in the room, is the room. ~ David Weinberger, #NFDB
44:Danger, like a third man, was standing in the room. ~ Ian Fleming, #NFDB
45:she possessed, hurled the ring across the room. ~ Debbie Macomber, #NFDB
46:She rose and followed her bust from the room. ~ Margery Allingham, #NFDB
47:Sometimes the elephant is just too big for the room ~ Rosie Walsh, #NFDB
48:You're the scarest motherfucker in the room. ~ Laurell K Hamilton, #NFDB
49:When there’s an elephant in the room introduce him. ~ Randy Pausch, #NFDB
50:When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter. ~ Seth Godin, #NFDB
51:Where does the dentist go when he leaves the room? ~ George Carlin, #NFDB
52:You're the scariest motherfucker in the room. ~ Laurell K Hamilton, #NFDB
53:if you can’t spot the sucker in the room, it’s you. ~ Nick Harkaway, #NFDB
54:I was born in 1962, and the room next to me was 1963. ~ Joan Rivers, #NFDB
55:Their glowed as brightly as any candle in the room. ~ Cameron Dokey, #NFDB
56:The room rang full of her artificial laughter. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
57:Always speak first to the toughest person in the room. ~ Jess Walter, #NFDB
58:I'm rarely asked to play the smartest man in the room. ~ Gary Oldman, #NFDB
59:There wasn't an anhydrous lacrimal gland in the room... ~ Mary Roach, #NFDB
60:The room was an hourglass that hadn't yet turned. ~ Samantha Shannon, #NFDB
61:Books enveloped the room floor to ceiling like wallpaper. ~ Judy Baer, #NFDB
62:echoed around them, filling the room until they were ~ Kiersten White, #NFDB
63:Every cat is really the most beautiful woman in the room. ~ E V Lucas, #NFDB
64:So many lies have been told, the room is thick with them. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
65:The most powerful presence in the room is his absence. ~ Claudia Gray, #NFDB
66:Castle’s easy grin dances into the room before he does. ~ Tahereh Mafi, #NFDB
67:In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo. ~ T S Eliot, #NFDB
68:three boys, then listened as the peals filled the room. ~ Sejal Badani, #NFDB
69:while the man form Orange County booked the room. ~ Eric Jerome Dickey, #NFDB
70:Any problem can be solved using the materials in the room. ~ Edwin Land, #NFDB
71:coaches. As he talked, the boys gaped at the room. ~ Daniel James Brown, #NFDB
72:I sat up and the room was full of a man with a gun. ~ Donald E Westlake, #NFDB
73:My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance. ~ Erma Bombeck, #NFDB
74:The past was filling the room like a tide of whispers. ~ Ross Macdonald, #NFDB
75:Arthur Less has left the room while remaining in it. ~ Andrew Sean Greer, #NFDB
76:Even to see her walk across the room is a liberal education. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
77:He saw her before he saw anything else in the room. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
78:two sharp brown eyes surveyed the room like drive-by shooters. ~ C J Box, #NFDB
79:within the room, and then gales of laughter. The nacre ~ Neal Stephenson, #NFDB
80:And at that moment the alligators burst into the room. ~ Genevieve Cogman, #NFDB
81:In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo. ~ T S Eliot,#NFDB
82:Maybe it isn't the room that's different. Maybe it's me. ~ Jennifer Niven, #NFDB
83:The loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room. ~ Frank Lucas, #NFDB
84:Yet the room was all in all to me, Estella being in it. ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
85:Four can be as stupid as ten. No need to crowd the room. ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
86:If there is a wasp in the room, I’d like to be able to see it. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
87:The room within is the great fact about the building. ~ Frank Lloyd Wright, #NFDB
88:Your worst dungeon might be the room with the most windows. ~ Rene Denfeld, #NFDB
89:As she expanded the room grew smaller around her. (27) ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
90:I go around the room and ask people, 'What do you think?' ~ Sheryl Sandberg, #NFDB
91:She carries on like One Direction has just walked into the room. ~ Sara Ney, #NFDB
92:Try to write poems at least one person in the room will hate. ~ Marvin Bell, #NFDB
93:can’t help ourselves. We spot the baddest man in the room... ~ Shayne Silvers, #NFDB
94:Hal is on his way." The nurse announced reentering the room. ~ Daniel Handler, #NFDB
95:Never take a seat in the back of the room. Winners sit up front. ~ E Lockhart, #NFDB
96:the room, evading his mother’s reaching hand. “You’re back! ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
97:The room has to be comfortable; the house has to look habitable. ~ Adolf Loos, #NFDB
98:We can’t help being the most interesting people in the room. ~ Courtney Milan, #NFDB
99:A powerful performance will transform everyone in the room. ~ Marina Abramovic, #NFDB
100:elegant stairs to Orlov’s office. The room was an exact replica ~ Daniel Silva, #NFDB
101:First rule of magic? Always be the smartest guy in the room. ~ Jesse Eisenberg, #NFDB
102:I had nothing to do in the hall, so I went into the room. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
103:It shouldn’t hurt when I watch you leave the room, should it? ~ Suzanne Wright, #NFDB
104:the manner of Prince Tetrakov, was now touring the room, shaking ~ Amor Towles, #NFDB
105:She hung up and the room was a fist of silence. page 233 ~ William Kent Krueger, #NFDB
106:Work is the rent you pay for the room you occupy on earth. ~ Queen Elizabeth II, #NFDB
107:A liberal is a man who leaves the room before the fight starts. ~ Dorothy Parker, #NFDB
108:Fame gets you in the door but it doesn't keep you in the room. ~ Madonna Ciccone, #NFDB
109:I’m sorry, but I think the smartest guys in the room screw up a lot. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
110:No matter where she stood, she was in the center of the room. ~ Patrick Rothfuss, #NFDB
111:Poverty made a sound like a wet cough in the shadows of the room. ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
112:The room was filled with conversations we weren't having. ~ Jonathan Safran Foer, #NFDB
113:wet with it. In that same moment the room beyond the doorway was ~ Simon Kernick, #NFDB
114:When it comes to global warming, coal is the gorilla in the room. ~ Jeff Goodell, #NFDB
115:...when the room goes silent, someone has spoken with authority... ~ John Geddes, #NFDB
116:Your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room ~ Jeff Bezos, #NFDB
117:big brown eyeballs do a quick roll around the inside of the room. ~ Steve Martini, #NFDB
118:I don't understand people who have sex with their dog in the room. ~ Cameron Diaz, #NFDB
119:the eyes in the room weren’t on Miranda and Kaley but her. She was ~ Jamie Begley, #NFDB
120:Hi, Cousin,” she said to Larry, who came into the room. ~ Gertrude Chandler Warner, #NFDB
121:I can create a vibe without saying anything, just by being in the room. ~ Lou Reed, #NFDB
122:If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. ~ Peter Voogd, #NFDB
123:One option is to struggle to be heard whenever you're in the room... ~ Seth Godin, #NFDB
124:Power depended on being in the room when the decisions were taken. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
125:She sang as if she was saving the life of every person in the room. ~ Ann Patchett, #NFDB
126:She smiles at me and it sends a warm summer breeze around the room. ~ Jandy Nelson, #NFDB
127:Flames entered the room like dancers, orange-colored and whirring. ~ Ross Macdonald, #NFDB
128:If every piece is perfect the room becomes a museum and lifeless. ~ Nancy Lancaster, #NFDB
129:I've been told that I am "better in the room" and prettier in person. ~ Amy Poehler, #NFDB
130:Particles of silence floated about the room for the longest time. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
131:The room was filled with volume and volumes. With light. With peace. ~ Louise Penny, #NFDB
132:You always have my attention. When you're in the room, you're my sun. ~ Kate Meader, #NFDB
133:You're so sick, Oedipa, she told herself, or the room, which knew. ~ Thomas Pynchon, #NFDB
134:If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. ~ Marissa Mayer, #NFDB
135:I tried to say beware the room is laid with traps and hung with hooks. ~ Janet Frame, #NFDB
136:Like a kettle boiling over, the room foamed with laughter. ~ Heather Vogel Frederick, #NFDB
137:Always be civil, but with a plan to neutralise everyone in the room. ~ Conor McGregor, #NFDB
138:As the stupidest person in the room, I always had the most to gain. ~ Chuck Palahniuk, #NFDB
139:I’ll clear the room to get your honest opinion, if that’s what it takes. ~ Sylvia Day, #NFDB
140:I've been avoiding the mirror in the room. I always avoid the mirrors. ~ Donna Cooner, #NFDB
141:nearly half full, seating about two hundred students. The room was ~ Patrick Rothfuss, #NFDB
142:The trouble is that I am crazy and the room, ah, my own room drinks me. ~ Anne Sexton, #NFDB
143:everything in the room felt eerily advanced and ancient at the same time. ~ Hugh Howey, #NFDB
144:If we could light up the room with pain,
we’d be such a glorious fire. ~ Ada Limon,#NFDB
145:Moonlight shone through the window, cutting through the room at an angle. ~ Simon Wood, #NFDB
146:Your arrogance just sucked all the oxygen out of the room to inflate your ego. ~ Tijan, #NFDB
147:do you ever get bored waiting for the rest of the room to catch up with you? ~ J D Horn, #NFDB
148:He paced the room like a caged tiger, splendid in his wounded anger. ~ Jacqueline Carey, #NFDB
149:If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room. ~ Confucius, #NFDB
150:I think we just knew that we had a movie when Rachel walked in the room. ~ Ryan Gosling, #NFDB
151:It was the pink elephant in the room, the thunderous fart in the elevator. ~ David Wong, #NFDB
152:like I am Alice in the Wonderland and have gotten too big for the room. ~ Lauren Oliver, #NFDB
153:Where glowing embers through the room Teach light to counterfeit a gloom. ~ John Milton, #NFDB
154:Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room. ~ Jeff Bezos, #NFDB
155:I'm not the distraction in the room."
"Oh? And what might be? ~ Becca Fitzpatrick,#NFDB
156:Nothing in the room was cheap, but none of it was exactly desirable either. ~ Ian Rankin, #NFDB
157:There was only one blonde in the room, and she didn’t even have a tan. ~ Francine Pascal, #NFDB
158:The room is there for the human being - not the human being for the room. ~ El Lissitzky, #NFDB
159:The wolf was at the door. His shadow spilled into the room, taking it over. ~ Libba Bray, #NFDB
160:This was getting out of control. I was about to back out of the room when ~ Andy Andrews, #NFDB
161:To love someone is to catch your breath whenever he walks in the room. ~ Margaret George, #NFDB
162:yet again that the quietest man in the room is usually the most dangerous. ~ Terry Hayes, #NFDB
163:Bianca and Mindy crept into the room like great big fashionable mice. ~ Caroline B Cooney, #NFDB
164:He slipped into the room after her, unaware that he was being followed. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
165:I've learned to allow myself the room to fall in love with what I'm writing. ~ Sylvia Day, #NFDB
166:MY SECRET IDENTITY IS
The room is empty,
And the window is open ~ Charles Simic,#NFDB
167:Help me, I can’t breathe, your ego is pushing all the air out of the room. ~ Ilona Andrews, #NFDB
168:I am as innocent regarding any conspiracy as any of you gentlemen in the room. ~ Jack Ruby, #NFDB
169:Is it possible to get another key? I think I've left mine in the room. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
170:The silence in the room had width, height, depth, mass and substance. ~ Maud Hart Lovelace, #NFDB
171:Unfortunately, the more complex the system, the greater the room for error. ~ George Soros, #NFDB
172:As a kid, I always thought the TV was a magic box in the corner of the room. ~ Gethin Jones, #NFDB
173:Daemon was the pissy pink elephant in the room with a bad attitude. ~ Jennifer L Armentrout, #NFDB
174:If you could see the competition across the room, you’d tuck tail and run. ~ Juliette Cross, #NFDB
175:If you’re in the room, you've grabbed the brass ring. You are all winners. ~ George Clooney, #NFDB
176:If you’re the smartest person in the room … find a different room. MICHAEL DELL ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
177:I just noticed a lack of ego in the room and thought ‘hey, where’s Braden? ~ Samantha Young, #NFDB
178:In fact, the room was so quiet you might have heard a drop of paint splash. ~ Jasper Fforde, #NFDB
179:The elephant in the room. It can't be talked about. It can't be ignored. ~ Michael Robotham, #NFDB
180:The room had the impersonal, disconnected feel of a waiting room on Jupiter. ~ Anne Spollen, #NFDB
181:The room was dark and crowded, and smelled like history and cheeseburgers. ~ Katherine Reay, #NFDB
182:As soon as a child has left the room his strewn toys become affecting. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
183:Everybody’s a gangster, until a gangster walks in the room. - Awesome Meme ~ Sapphire Knight, #NFDB
184:He made such a faint presence. It was like being in the room with a feather. ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
185:Inside the room, a man and a woman were wrestling. They were both naked. ~ George R R Martin, #NFDB
186:Somehow taking a shower with her in the room was more intimate than sex. ~ Maggie Stiefvater, #NFDB
187:The room turns red. I see the world through a diaphanous curtain of blood. The ~ Rick Yancey, #NFDB
188:When I'm writing I don't want anyone else in the room - including myself. ~ Jonathan Franzen, #NFDB
189:When you hear Doc Watson singing Amazing Grace, something else enters the room. ~ Ben Harper, #NFDB
190:Where glowing embers through the room
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom... ~ John Milton,#NFDB
191:...a closeness that felt sorry and cheap the minute she walked out of the room. ~ Don DeLillo, #NFDB
192:Daemon was the pissy pink elephant in the room with the bad attitude. ~ Jennifer L Armentrout, #NFDB
193:Don’t win loyalty, just obedience, and only while the lash is in the room. ~ Orson Scott Card, #NFDB
194:Ryuu patted Meryn on the head and looked around the room. "Isn't she adorable? ~ Alanea Alder, #NFDB
195:There are people who kind of let you know that you can silence the room. ~ Babatunde Adebimpe, #NFDB
196:Whoever's job it was to keep the room clean was clearly not an overachiever. ~ Steve Hamilton, #NFDB
197:Yield to that strange passion which sends you madly whirling round the room. ~ Virginia Woolf, #NFDB
198:An author really ought to have nothing but flowers in the room where he works. ~ Gaston Leroux, #NFDB
199:God always fills in all hearts all the room which is left Him there. ~ Frederick William Faber, #NFDB
200:I love the way you make me feel when you walk into the room, when you look at me. ~ Kyra Davis, #NFDB
201:In a Balenciaga you were the only woman in the room - no other woman existed. ~ Diana Vreeland, #NFDB
202:It was easy to see that the room was a treasury by its incredible emptiness. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
203:...of course, every cat is really the most beautiful woman in the room. ~ Edward Verrall Lucas, #NFDB
204:Oh! my dear Mr. Bennet," as she entered the room, "we have had a most delightful ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
205:proof yet again that the quietest man in the room is usually the most dangerous. ~ Terry Hayes, #NFDB
206:She made it all the way up without pause. There wasn’t a closed mouth in the room. ~ G L Tomas, #NFDB
207:The peacemaker must have the strongest heart and the toughest will in the room. ~ Nalini Singh, #NFDB
208:The room was immaculate—no, preserved. Stuck in a time warp, unused, untouched. ~ Harlan Coben, #NFDB
209:the smell of lilacs crept poignantly into the room like a remembered spring. ~ Margaret Millar, #NFDB
210:And I would often wake up at night and stare widely into the room: Am I in Hell? ~ Edvard Munch, #NFDB
211:I drink a little now once in a while, just to drive the wolf out of the room ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
212:I laughed. If Eddie used a sock his crotch would enter the room before he did. ~ Kristen Ashley, #NFDB
213:The room was empty. It was full of silence and the memory of a nice perfume. ~ Raymond Chandler, #NFDB
214:The traditional role of the Senate has been to be the adult in the room. ~ Kay Bailey Hutchison, #NFDB
215:This is the room where Jezebel frescoed her eyelids with history's tragic glitter ~ Tom Robbins, #NFDB
216:You have carried a branch of tomorrow into the room-its frangrance awakened me. ~ Robert Duncan, #NFDB
217:Eleanor felt the room rock madly, and time as she had always known time, stop. ~ Shirley Jackson, #NFDB
218:Family Farms,” she declared. A hush fell over the room. Little Bo Peep was a very ~ Chris Colfer, #NFDB
219:I just walked out of the room. I was like, I'm embarrassed, so I need to leave. ~ Maddie Ziegler, #NFDB
220:Like a mermaid rising from an ocean of paper, the girl emerged across the room. ~ Brian Selznick, #NFDB
221:She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces through the room ~ Alfred Tennyson,#NFDB
222:Sweep me the room as clean as you can, Up with the window, fling out my old man! ~ Jacob Grimm, #NFDB
223:...this is the room where the future pours into the past via the pinch of now. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
224:He lay far across the room from her, on a winter island separated by an empty sea. ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
225:He lit the dining-room lamp, got out a cigar, and began pacing the room, ejaculating. ~ H G Wells, #NFDB
226:If you put fences around people, you get sheep. Give people the room they need. ~ James C Collins, #NFDB
227:It was a stinging pleasure to be in the room with her, and feel her presence. ~ Elizabeth Gaskell, #NFDB
228:Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
229:She left the web, she left the loom, She made three paces through the room ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson, #NFDB
230:The door flew open, carrying into the room a gust of steamy air and then Trotts. ~ Steven Erikson, #NFDB
231:The room was freezing. It smelled of people who had gone away to live other lives.. ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
232:The smartest person in the room is never as smart as all the people in the room. ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
233:Everyone in the room stared at me like they expected me to grow fangs and sparkle. ~ Carrie Harris, #NFDB
234:First off, don’t swear to God around me. He’s not listening when I’m in the room. ~ Krista Ritchie, #NFDB
235:Prince Maxon surveyed the room and found me. Our eye met for a moment, and he smiled. ~ Kiera Cass, #NFDB
236:And every camera in the room turned to focus on my horror-stricken, blood-drained face. ~ Meg Cabot, #NFDB
237:Being with an insanely jealous person is like being in the room with a dead mammoth. ~ Mike Nichols, #NFDB
238:Every gesture was one of disorder and violence, as if a lioness had come into the room. ~ Ana s Nin, #NFDB
239:I like to make people think differently than they did before I walked in the room. ~ Marilyn Manson, #NFDB
240:Look around the room a few times a day as if you had just been born into that room. ~ Eckhart Tolle, #NFDB
241:My mama used to say the blues is an ailment that don't like no sunshine in the room. ~ Lisa Wingate, #NFDB
242:Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room. ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
243:The only time I'm the only woman in the room is when I go to the leadership meeting. ~ Nancy Pelosi, #NFDB
244:The shadow of my mother danced around the room to a tune that my own shadow sang. ~ Jamaica Kincaid, #NFDB
245:You don’t tell Elon you can’t do something. That will get you kicked out of the room ~ Ashlee Vance, #NFDB
246:Find the most talented person in the room, and if it’s not you, go stand next to him. ~ Austin Kleon, #NFDB
247:If you put fences around people, you get sheep. Give people the room they need. ~ William L McKnight, #NFDB
248:Let's not get too full of ourselves. Let's leave space for God to come into the room. ~ Quincy Jones, #NFDB
249:Never ignore the elephant in the room. That’s rude; play with it and introduce it. ~ Donna Lynn Hope, #NFDB
250:Patience is timing, just being humble and being the most quiet person in the room. ~ Raheem Devaughn, #NFDB
251:People who love life have charisma because they fill the room with positive energy. ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
252:Race in this country is still the elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss. ~ Lenny Kravitz, #NFDB
253:rang through the room. She stopped in mid-step and whirled to face him. “Do not ~ Victoria Alexander, #NFDB
254:So many times you can't get a foot in the door unless you're already in the room. ~ Alden Ehrenreich, #NFDB
255:That sometimes the smartest person in the room is the one who says, "I have no idea. ~ Gail Caldwell, #NFDB
256:That’s what happened when you were the biggest guy in the room—you got the most attention ~ L T Ryan, #NFDB
257:We don't have the time to completely be ourselves. We only have the room to be happy. ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
258:He giggled and sniggered. He would have laughed out loud but he didn't have the room. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
259:Her siren smile appeard and her eyes lit up the room. Her laghter sounded like music. ~ Katie McGarry, #NFDB
260:How do you know a gangster?” “Usually, the room goes a little quiet when he walks in. ~ Jennifer Egan, #NFDB
261:I'm satisfied with the way 'The Room' turned out, and I don't want to change anything. ~ Tommy Wiseau, #NFDB
262:I opened the window and my heart. The sun flooded the room and love inundated my soul. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
263:The room was in that disorder produced only by those who have always had servants. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
264:All the room darkened and my heart again sank; inexpressible sadness weighed it down ~ Charlotte Bront, #NFDB
265:I opened the window and my heart. The sun flooded the room, and love inundated my soul. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
266:the way he used to when our love was a living creature, breathing in the room with us. ~ Julia Elliott, #NFDB
267:A terrible silence fell in the room. Bill Ireton looked suddenly sober as a trout. ~ Patricia Highsmith, #NFDB
268:His awareness of her swung as she moved around the room like the needle on a compass. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
269:Probably nobody ever jogs toward the room where they will write their suicide note, ~ Donald E Westlake, #NFDB
270:Then we can discuss matters—” And at that moment the alligators burst into the room. ~ Genevieve Cogman, #NFDB
271:The rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated.” And the room exploded into noise. ~ Laurell K Hamilton, #NFDB
272:When a happy person comes into the room, it is as if another candle has been lit. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
273:Do you light up when your kids are coming in the room or do you become the instant critic? ~ Brene Brown, #NFDB
274:I'm Kieran. You must be a hell of a thief because you stole my heart from across the room, ~ Jayde Scott, #NFDB
275:It was like there was an elephant in the room. An elephant that expected us to have sex. ~ Morgan Matson, #NFDB
276:I was a girl and I had the best deadly toys in the room. Gun envy is an ugly thing. ~ Laurell K Hamilton, #NFDB
277:You've got to capture as much of the room sound as possible. That's the very essence of it. ~ Jimmy Page, #NFDB
278:All the male faces in the room turned to me as if they were flowers and I the sun. ~ Justine Larbalestier, #NFDB
279:A small lamp shone golden-orange in the corner, casting the room in a dull tribute to sunset. ~ Jay Posey, #NFDB
280:But in the room there was nothing but the exciting scent of the girl and her wanting. We ~ Harold Robbins, #NFDB
281:If you help one person in the room, you're an abject failure. You have to change something. ~ Simon Sinek, #NFDB
282:It means you’re the least important person in the room—until you change that with results. ~ Ryan Holiday, #NFDB
283:Like odorless, colorless smoke leaking into the room through a small crack in the door. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
284:Moonlight flooded in the windows and silvered the room, turning it into a lagoon of dreams ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
285:Sunlight streamed through the room, clinging to him like it wanted him as much as she did. ~ Cindi Madsen, #NFDB
286:There are answers which, in turning away wrath, only send it to the other end of the room. ~ George Eliot, #NFDB
287:The room suited my father perfectly: it was larger than life and wonderfully incongruous. ~ Tara Westover, #NFDB
288:Every human emits unconscious vocal undertones that determine who the leader is in the room. ~ Nick Morgan, #NFDB
289:He makes me see that I don’t need to fear the other things in the room. They need to fear me. ~ Tara Brown, #NFDB
290:His eyes stayed open imperiously. No one could close his eyelids. The room smoked of grief. ~ Fleur Jaeggy, #NFDB
291:Oft times a blade across the room beyond the reach of a hand means that death is nearer. I ~ Louis L Amour, #NFDB
292:She reminded Javi of Naroba, who apologized to the oxygen in the room for breathing. Javi ~ Suanne Laqueur, #NFDB
293:Suddenly the images in the center of the room became more than images. They solidified. ~ Stephanie Osborn, #NFDB
294:The fluorescent lights flickered overhead, casting a sick gray pallor over the room. ~ Denise Grover Swank, #NFDB
295:There was nothing in the room the next minute but the sunshine and a sense that I must stay. ~ Henry James, #NFDB
296:The room was darker and smelled of evergreen, as though my mother had been dreaming of trees. ~ Scott Heim, #NFDB
297:and made what an outside observer would have thought was a heroic effort to cross the room. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
298:...every piece of the laughing was a tiny bird come tumbling out to fly around the room. ~ Patrick Rothfuss, #NFDB
299:If you ever find you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room. ~ Austin Kleon, #NFDB
300:I’m not up for laughing, but their laughter makes the room feel safer, so we begin to explore. ~ John Green, #NFDB
301:Since it had gotten so quiet in the room that you could hear the sound of your own doubts... ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
302:That smile of his whenever I came into the room, the one that no one else ever got but me. ~ Kimberly Belle, #NFDB
303:The room didn't look haunted or eerie now;it was only melancholy in it's faded grandeur. ~ Elizabeth Peters, #NFDB
304:Chrestomanci smiled and swept out of the room like a very long procession of one person. ~ Diana Wynne Jones, #NFDB
305:comes with me everywhere. I bend down and quietly put her out of the room. She whines and ~ Philippa Gregory, #NFDB
306:I like living in one room and have never known what people do with the room they are not in. ~ Quentin Crisp, #NFDB
307:I love the idea that I'm the oldest one in the room because I can get away with anything! ~ Shirley MacLaine, #NFDB
308:I'm not a fan of purposely farting in front of other people. If you have to fart, leave the room. ~ Tina Fey, #NFDB
309:Listen real hard to the smartest guy in the room before you go trying to prove how smart you are. ~ Lee Clow, #NFDB
310:Once she was gone, the room would be in a state of chaos, as though a storm had passed through. ~ T E Kinsey, #NFDB
311:Teachers shouldn't make the mistake of always thinking they're the smartest person in the room ~ Taylor Mali, #NFDB
312:The silence of the room was disturbed by a book that flew open with fluttering leaves, ~ Dorothy Scarborough, #NFDB
313:Even with all the lights off, the room was as bright and insistent as Martha Stewart’s smile. ~ Deborah Wilde, #NFDB
314:His eyes found mine, and for a moment I felt as if all the air in the room had retreated. ~ Barbara A Shapiro, #NFDB
315:I'm not the distraction in the room.' 'Oh? And what might be?' -Nora & Patch (PG 242) ~ Becca Fitzpatrick, #NFDB
316:I used to wanna change the world. Now I just wanna leave the room with a little dignity. ~ Justin Vivian Bond, #NFDB
317:People will admit more if they are alone than if others are in the room with them. ~ Seth Stephens Davidowitz, #NFDB
318:The room marked with a cross is not where the murder was committed, but the one that I occupy. ~ Jean Webster, #NFDB
319:The room was too much there. I could feel the color of the wallpaper -- burgundy -- invading. ~ Rivka Galchen, #NFDB
320:Why did the room packed with married people seem empty? Because there wasn't a single person there. ~ Various, #NFDB
321:Yes, you've entered my bloodstream, the room, the whole springtime is filled with you... ~ Rainer Maria Rilke, #NFDB
322:A tea set is good for a newborn girl. It is a gift that instantly makes the room a girl's room. ~ Phoebe Cates, #NFDB
323:Believe it when you see it.
Believe it when a twelve-year-old rolls a grenade into the room. ~ Brian Turner,#NFDB
324:But for Ricky,Andrew,Mary & me the world stopped when those dogs entered the room. ~ Luis Carlos Montalv n, #NFDB
325:Can what they call civilization be right, if people mayn't die in the room where they were born? ~ E M Forster, #NFDB
326:Fear enters the room and sits down in a chair and with a polite smile asks to open negotiations. ~ John Scalzi, #NFDB
327:I can’t believe this is good for me if she has to go out of the room to make it happen. ~ Holly Goldberg Sloan, #NFDB
328:If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room. ~ Anita Roddick, #NFDB
329:If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room ~ Robin S Sharma, #NFDB
330:I'm the kind of woman who, when she walks into a party, all the other women leave the room. ~ Lara Flynn Boyle, #NFDB
331:I pranced around the room like a blind moose, but what I lacked in grace I made up for in effort. ~ Kiera Cass, #NFDB
332:Is this the Taker of Lives we’re talking about?” came a question from the far side of the room. ~ Leslie Wolfe, #NFDB
333:I used to sit in class and listen to the terms come floating down the room like paper airplanes. ~ John McPhee, #NFDB
334:I walk so fast, I talk so fast, I could turn the light off and be in bed before the room's dark. ~ Roddy Piper, #NFDB
335:I was about to sprint across the room and launch myself into his arms like Baby from Dirty Dancing ~ J Daniels, #NFDB
336:The light was draining out of the room, going back through the window where it had come from. ~ Raymond Carver, #NFDB
337:You stand in my soul; I stand in yours. That’s the room we always share, no matter where we are. ~ Joey W Hill, #NFDB
338:Good conversationalists make the person they are speaking to feel like the only person in the room. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
339:Groangrousegurgling Toft's cumbersome whirligig turns slowly the room right roundabout the room.) ~ James Joyce, #NFDB
340:He kissed her stopping her words at once. A pronounced number of gasps resonated across the room. ~ Terry Spear, #NFDB
341:I can smell blood, Elena,” Dmitri drawled, walking back into the room. “Are you trying to flirt? ~ Nalini Singh, #NFDB
342:I'm surrounded by young people. I'm always now the oldest and the shortest person in the room. ~ Isabel Allende, #NFDB
343:She turned and ran for the back of the room, leaving a trail of glitter in the air behind her. ~ Seanan McGuire, #NFDB
344:The sound of shuffling pages filled the room like a delicate rainstorm falling on dried leaves. ~ Brenda Pandos, #NFDB
345:When there’s a sudden silence, and nobody speaks, it means there’s an angel in the room, so ~ Daphne du Maurier, #NFDB
346:Who uses crunchy peanut butter?” he asked the room. “You might as well eat squirrel shit. ~ Michael Thomas Ford, #NFDB
347:Without the aid of prejudice and custom, I should not be able to find my way across the room. ~ William Hazlitt, #NFDB
348:Every naked chick in the room ran toward the scale. It was just titties and passports everywhere. ~ Ronda Rousey, #NFDB
349:If an attention-seeking pin were in the room, this would have been a good time for it to drop. ~ Sharon J Bolton, #NFDB
350:If you ever find that you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room. ~ Austin Kleon, #NFDB
351:If you ever find that you’re the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room. ~ Austin Kleon, #NFDB
352:It makes sense that the two most beautiful people in the room should gravitate toward each other. ~ Lili Valente, #NFDB
353:Then came such a melodious whistle, I looked about thinking that a bird had flown into the room. ~ Gloria Whelan, #NFDB
354:The one man in the room who was as big as his poems, huge, with hulk and dynamic chunks of words. ~ Sylvia Plath, #NFDB
355:The tenderness between two people can turn the air tender, the room tender, time itself tender. ~ David Levithan, #NFDB
356:They fan out across the room, swift and surgical, the steps of this brutal ballet known by heart. ~ Amie Kaufman, #NFDB
357:and the room exploded in silver and shadow, two forces colliding in a way that shook the world. ~ Victoria Schwab, #NFDB
358:An idea so luminous flashed across her brain that she almost thought the room had leaped into light. ~ E F Benson, #NFDB
359:Even in walking across the room you will very slightly alter your own experience of time and space. ~ Bill Bryson, #NFDB
360:I argue with myself, get mad at myself, throw myself around the room and then apologize to myself. ~ Jim Cummings, #NFDB
361:I find that comforting—that being alone with me in the room still feels like being alone to him. ~ Colleen Hoover, #NFDB
362:If you're a leader and you're the smartest guy in the world - in the room, you've got real problems. ~ Jack Welch, #NFDB
363:I lit a thin green candle to make you jealous of me, but the room just filled up with mosquitoes. ~ Leonard Cohen, #NFDB
364:Someday, you may think of marrying. Pick someone who thinks you're the only person in the room. ~ Gabrielle Zevin, #NFDB
365:The atmosphere in the room was so thick with dramatic clichés you could have cut it with a knife. ~ Jasper Fforde, #NFDB
366:The room, the wall, trembled with precision, as if the inanimate world were about to utter a word. ~ Iris Murdoch, #NFDB
367:You don't need a pickup line. Just glance at a woman from across the room. Glance - don't stare. ~ Jenny McCarthy, #NFDB
368:You're not going to go around poking at the fire and straightening up the room again, are you? ~ Dashiell Hammett, #NFDB
369:People should allow me to be many things, really give me the room to put things in another dimension. ~ Klaus Nomi, #NFDB
370:The baby dove into the room, transforming grotesquely as it landed on the floorin a deft sumersault ~ Brandon Mull, #NFDB
371:The three empty walls of the room were like the pale brows of sleeping giants now, empty of dreams. ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
372:You know it's time to start using mouthwash when your dentist leaves the room and sends in a canary. ~ Joan Rivers, #NFDB
373:Aside from the fruit basket, the room was as empty as the inside of Dexter on the shelf marked SOUL. ~ Jeff Lindsay, #NFDB
374:Her knight in black tacticals stood in the middle of the room, a pistol in his hand aimed straight at ~ Mina Carter, #NFDB
375:If you look around the room, and you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. ~ Lorne Michaels, #NFDB
376:She was, in truth, the least ornamented thing in the room, as the truly important things usually are. ~ Scott Meyer, #NFDB
377:Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is realize you're not the smartest one in the room. 08-30-2011 ~ Jan Thomas, #NFDB
378:The room reeked of dust and failure, which was better than humidity and dead bugs, but only a little. ~ Scott Meyer, #NFDB
379:The tenderness between two people can turn the air tender, the room tender, time itself tender" -A ~ David Levithan, #NFDB
380:The walls flickered in the candlelight. The room felt close and warm, like an underground sanctuary. ~ Barry Eisler, #NFDB
381:Where did the boy fit? He made such a faint presence. It was like being in the room with a feather. ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
382:You walk into the room like a camel and then put your eyes in your pockets and your nose on the ground. ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
383:A corner is important. It provides privacy and an anchor and lets you exist independently of the room. ~ Roger Ebert, #NFDB
384:He flung himself from the room, flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions. ~ Stephen Leacock, #NFDB
385:I don't have to convince everybody in the room. I just need a critical mass of the people in the room. ~ Simon Sinek, #NFDB
386:I feared her gaze—she made people feel like the only ones in the room. I wanted to feel fractional. ~ Chelsea Hodson, #NFDB
387:I think what's dangerous [about comedy] is that you're coming into the room announcing your intentions. ~ Adam McKay, #NFDB
388:It’s an uncomfortable moment when you realize that there is a crazy person in the room and it’s you. ~ Ruth Cardello, #NFDB
389:I want you. All of you. Not these little bits I hear echoing around the room. I just want you, Riley. ~ Aly Martinez, #NFDB
390:The Bible - it's sort of the other person in the room. There's this book, the reader, and the Bible. ~ Anita Diament, #NFDB
391:The power in the room is distributed haphazardly: I have none, Ink has very little, and Beat. . .he rules ~ L J Shen, #NFDB
392:There were maybe eighty chairs set up in the room, and it was two-thirds full but felt one-third empty. ~ John Green, #NFDB
393:when there's an elephant in the room, you can't pretend it isn't there and just discuss the ants. ~ Ellen Wittlinger, #NFDB
394:A taped recording of a psychiatric interview played, and Allander’s voice resonated through the room. ~ Gregg Hurwitz, #NFDB
395:From time to time I show up in myself just long enough for people to know they are not in the room alone. ~ Gary Lutz, #NFDB
396:I think if I took therapy, the doctor would quit. He'd just pick up the couch and walk out of the room. ~ Don Rickles, #NFDB
397:The art we produce lives in queasy balance with the art we can imagine the art the room expects. ~ Michael Cunningham, #NFDB
398:The room inside looked like the mouth of an alligator—gaped wide open to swallow something down. ~ Zora Neale Hurston, #NFDB
399:When someone makes a Family Circus reference and everyone on the room laughs, I'm in the wrong room. ~ Josh Hanagarne, #NFDB
400:Down one branch, she lifts the glass to her lips, toasts the room—To Tachigali versicolor—and drinks. ~ Richard Powers, #NFDB
401:I gimped myself across the room and collapsed on the lonely expanse of my bed. The Bed That Sex Forgot. ~ Anton Strout, #NFDB
402:I hate the way kids want all the attention. It's like I'm not even there when there's a baby in the room. ~ Susan Juby, #NFDB
403:I'm sure you're used to the deafening sound of underwear hitting the floor every time you enter the room. ~ Penny Reid, #NFDB
404:Just being with him made me happy, even if it was across the room, completely dressed, unable to speak. ~ Auryn Hadley, #NFDB
405:Seated at table -
no need for the fracture
of the room's silence; noiselessly
they conversed. ~ R S Thomas,#NFDB
406:She hated that he was in the room with her, standing beside the bed.
And she loved that he was there. ~ Donna Grant,#NFDB
407:The room was bright and white and still and silent, but soundless sound roared and howled in it. ~ Anne Rivers Siddons, #NFDB
408:You know the drill. 18 is legal. 17 with consent. 16 with a note. 15 if her dad's in the room. Low five! ~ David Spade, #NFDB
409:Dawn streamed through the room Simon shared with the woman who'd kissed him into a puddle of melted brains. ~ Joss Ware, #NFDB
410:I said no strippers," I said, watching dumbfounded as Trenton danced around the room to Britney Spears. ~ Jamie McGuire, #NFDB
411:My philosophy: find what it is you want to say, walk in the room, say it, and get the hell out. ~ J Michael Straczynski, #NFDB
412:Often, maybe even usually, Bernie ended up being the smartest human in the room. Tonight was different. ~ Spencer Quinn, #NFDB
413:There was enough tension in the room to send a fleet of the nervous running for their tranquilizers. ~ Charlaine Harris, #NFDB
414:Well, don’t do it anymore. You deserve someone who wants you every time you walk in the room. ~ Stacey Wallace Benefiel, #NFDB
415:A friend is somebody who says the same things to your face that they would say if you're not in the room. ~ Aaron Sorkin, #NFDB
416:By perseverance the snail reached the ark. A mouse may find a hole, be the room ever so full of cats. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
417:Courage is a fickle creature. Just as you need it, it often makes excuses and rushes out of the room. ~ Janette Rallison, #NFDB
418:He's easily the most well-adjusted former child star in the room, please welcome... Jason Bateman. ~ Neil Patrick Harris, #NFDB
419:Leave the star on top," said an achingly gentle, deep voice. "There's already one angel in the room. ~ Judith McNaught, #NFDB
420:Oh! my dear Mr. Bennet," as she entered the room, "we have had a most delightful evening, a most excellent ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
421:Scarlet tore her gaze from him and let it wander to everyone else in the room. “You were all in on this. ~ Marissa Meyer, #NFDB
422:That’s the thing about fear. It can only hang around until faith enters the room, then it’s forced to flee. ~ Mandy Hale, #NFDB
423:When there is an invisible elephant in the room, one is from time to time bound to trip over a trunk. ~ Karen Joy Fowler, #NFDB
424:Awesome . . .” Jared spoke up from the other side of the room. “Ember, the Otherworld's wonder mutt. ~ Stacey Marie Brown, #NFDB
425:Everything in the room is like that: unnecessarily solid, abnormally heavy and dangerously sharp. ~ Christopher Isherwood, #NFDB
426:He closed the window, and the scents of the past again flooded the room, like a bunch of wilted flowers. ~ Cornelia Funke, #NFDB
427:He flung himself from the room, flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions.
~ Stephen Leacock,#NFDB
428:He's going to bite me!
Instantly the last light in the room fades out as if announcing the reign of darkness. ~ Poppet,#NFDB
429:His back to the room, Jackson said, "I need a Chris." Because Chris was gay, Dare choked and Trace laughed. ~ Lori Foster, #NFDB
430:I like messing up the song, doing some improvisation. And I like running around the room with the mic. ~ Erika M Anderson, #NFDB
431:I push the walls back, making more space in the room until I can finally breathe. Until I’m able to stand. ~ Tahereh Mafi, #NFDB
432:It's very easy to get a boy to leave the room.
It's much harder to get him to leave your thoughts. ~ Elizabeth Eulberg,#NFDB
433:Once again, we shall have to operate not only outside the box, but outside the room containing the box. ~ Douglas Preston, #NFDB
434:shrapnel fizzed around the room. A splinter buried itself in Gray’s buttock, stinging like a hornet, and ~ Alan McDermott, #NFDB
435:The room was full when I walked in, but as soon as I took my place behind the desk, my nervousness left me. ~ Azar Nafisi, #NFDB
436:the shadow from my body creating a window in the reflection, a hole in the room where an empty man stood. ~ Nathan Lowell, #NFDB
437:You can't anticipate in the room the riches of what you encounter when you're location hunting for a movie. ~ Woody Allen, #NFDB
438:You can't build a relationship with everybody in the room when you don't care about anybody in the room. ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
439:You can’t build a relationship with everybody in the room when you don’t care about anybody in the room. ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
440:Here’s your suitcase, Sara,” Willis announced when he entered the room. He looked over at Mary Ruth. ~ Wanda E Brunstetter, #NFDB
441:If I had been a little dog I'd have gone leaping and gambolling around the room wagging my tail furiously. ~ James Herriot, #NFDB
442:Let your face speak what's in your heart. When my kids walk in the room my face says I'm glad to see them. ~ Toni Morrison, #NFDB
443:My Tris should look pale and small--she is pale and small, after all--but instead the room is full of her. ~ Veronica Roth, #NFDB
444:Silence thronged the room, and he was aware of the focused scrutiny of the three people who confronted him. ~ Conrad Aiken, #NFDB
445:The moment is past. The chessboard has gone; and the people. You must let me take the room from you too. ~ Dorothy Dunnett, #NFDB
446:When you're lecturing teenagers and they begin to hum and leave the room, you can sense there is hostility. ~ Erma Bombeck, #NFDB
447:Why is everything I own rubbish?’ said Ron furiously, striding across the room to unstick Pigwidgeon’s beak. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
448:As a woman, I find it very embarrassing to be in a meeting and realize I'm the only one in the room with balls. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
449:During those restless, shut-up days, I got to know every inch of the room as a prisoner comes to know his cell. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
450:Her beauty climbed the rolling slope, it came into the room, rustling ghost-like through the curtains. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
451:His eyes gravitated towards the wall-to-wall bookshelf at one end of the room. 'You folks like books, I see. ~ Regina Doman, #NFDB
452:If her fingers touched the photograph it was hers. If it was out of her reach then it belonged to the room. ~ Helen Oyeyemi, #NFDB
453:I have had to learn that my voice has value. And if I don't use it, what's the point of being in the room? ~ Michelle Obama, #NFDB
454:Just go into the room, sit in the centre of the room, open the doors and windows, and see who comes to visit. ~ Ajahn Chah, #NFDB
455:The flame illuminated a pair of lush lips, the kind that could suck a grapefruit dry from across the room. ~ Orest Stelmach, #NFDB
456:The pleasure isn't in owning the person. The pleasure is this. Having another contender in the room with you. ~ Philip Roth, #NFDB
457:having someone think of me that way was like discovering a new window in the room i'd lived in all my life. ~ David Levithan, #NFDB
458:I don’t abstract from anything.…I am involved with real space, the room itself, real light, and real surface. ~ Robert Ryman, #NFDB
459:I needed to know that Death was here, in the room, and that I was too fast, too young, and too smart for him. ~ Tony O Neill, #NFDB
460:I tried to think of something equally kind to say, but he seemed to have used up all the eloquence in the room. ~ Carol Berg, #NFDB
461:I’ve seen how you can’t learn anything when you’re trying to look like the smartest person in the room. ~ Barbara Kingsolver, #NFDB
462:Moving a pile of bricks from one side of the room to the other requires strength. Time, discipline, patience. ~ Sarah Hepola, #NFDB
463:She (the First Lady, entering the room with her gravely wounded husband) would admit fear but not despair. ~ Candice Millard, #NFDB
464:We perform the show for the people that are in the room and then that performance is theirs forever and ever. ~ Michael Urie, #NFDB
465:A peace above all earthly dignities,” she quoted. Then turned back to the room. “A still and quiet conscience. ~ Louise Penny, #NFDB
466:From being used so much, kneaded with sweat and sighs, the air in the room had begun to turn to mud. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez, #NFDB
467:Her beauty climbed the rolling slope, it came into the room, rustling ghost-like through the curtains... ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
468:Her laughter began low and quiet then rose in pitch and flickered all over the room, like blood splatter. ~ Caroline B Cooney, #NFDB
469:If you were mean to your parents, they'd give you a good belt in the gob and send you flying across the room. ~ Frank McCourt, #NFDB
470:I heard weapons drawn around the room and the floor creaking behind me, a sign that Bear was moving into position. ~ L T Ryan, #NFDB
471:Let them hear your voice so rarely that a simply-uttered word creates a hush of expectancy in the room. ~ Richelle E Goodrich, #NFDB
472:The single most important factor to getting rich is getting started, not being the smartest person in the room. ~ Ramit Sethi, #NFDB
473:I glance over to the corner of the room, where Carolyn Brock winces, a rare break in her implacable expression. ~ Bill Clinton, #NFDB
474:I just got out of the hospital. I was in a speed reading accident. I hit a book mark and flew across the room. ~ Steven Wright, #NFDB
475:I left the room in a daze, wondering if this was all real-or if I'd finally gone insane from whacking the weasel. ~ Sam Torode, #NFDB
476:I love competition. I thrive on it. I love being able to win the room over before even walking through the door. ~ Kellan Lutz, #NFDB
477:I’m Rush. You call me Mr. Allen again, I’m clearing the room and we’re gonna have a different kind of lesson. ~ Kristen Ashley, #NFDB
478:It's absolutely wrong that I don't want guys to challenge me. And the people who say that aren't in the room. ~ Michael Jordan, #NFDB
479:I wouldn't be caught dead bowling!" Jessica shouted as she pushed back her chair and rushed out of the room. ~ Francine Pascal, #NFDB
480:Just remember, when you're with me you're not the strangest person in the room. Go ahead, get weird on me. ~ Calista Flockhart, #NFDB
481:Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.
Bobby - Age 5 ~ Debra White Smith,#NFDB
482:—Okay,” I hear Eli mutter from somewhere in the room. “I’m going to get pussy. Mommy and Daddy are fighting again. ~ Amo Jones, #NFDB
483:Surrender happens by Grace. All we're doing is cleaning up the room so when Surrender walks in, He can sit down. ~ Krishna Das, #NFDB
484:Tell me what you think and then tell me what the really smart person in the room who disagrees with you thinks. ~ Aaron Sorkin, #NFDB
485:The bright dawn flooded the room, and swept the fantastic shadows into dusky corners, where they lay shuddering. ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
486:The laughter that they shared filled the room, a shot of intoxicating warmth like the first hint of summer ~ Balli Kaur Jaswal, #NFDB
487:The Room I wrote in 1957, and I was really gratified to find that it stood up. I didn't have to change a word. ~ Harold Pinter, #NFDB
488:A coldness, nearly tangible due to its extreme weight, was perceptible the instant I entered the room. ~ Gina Marinello Sweeney, #NFDB
489:A tissue of small sounds filled the room, a bird, a clock, a voice from another garden. What we call silence. ~ Patrick McGrath, #NFDB
490:Either way, the result is you depending on yourself to do life right. Either way, God isn't even in the room. ~ Emily P Freeman, #NFDB
491:I heard giggles as I crossed the room, and someone chanting, “Jacob and Emma, sittin’ in a tree … y-m-b-r-y-n-e! ~ Ransom Riggs, #NFDB
492:I noticed.” They had talked all night. Truth, beauty, and light—the room, the house had some sort of magic in it. ~ Kate Morton, #NFDB
493:I took no pride in my solitude; but I was dependent on it. The darkness of the room was like sunlight to me. ~ Charles Bukowski, #NFDB
494:The little things that you do From across the room I see you sendin' me clues They're in the way You make me move ~ Demi Lovato, #NFDB
495:Together, the unlikeliest of penitents, silently, grafting words to air, they sent their prayers into the room. ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
496:Waiting around to be saved is like waiting to die and I have done more of both than anyone else in the room. ~ Courtney Summers, #NFDB
497:Dispel, v. It was the way you said, “I have something to tell you.” I could feel the magic drain from the room. ~ David Levithan, #NFDB
498:I heard a shout on the horizon, the sobs of someone who perhaps had died a century earlier in the room. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez, #NFDB
499:Michael stood out not only as the only non-black in the room, but also because of his spirit and his beauty. ~ Adrienne Thompson, #NFDB
500:My paranoia wasn't always right, but just to be on the safe side, I never went to sleep with a clown in the room. ~ Mark Henwick, #NFDB
501:Over time even two armed blind men in a room can do enormous damage to each other, not to speak of the room. ~ Henry A Kissinger, #NFDB
502:She gave Harry an affectionate nip with her beak as he removed her burden, then flew across the room to join Errol ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
503:The great thing about treating borderline patients is that it is like having a supervisor always in the room. ~ Marsha M Linehan, #NFDB
504:Then his lips found mine and the room fell away. The whole world disappeared for those precious moments. ~ Jennifer L Armentrout, #NFDB
505:The telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse. ~ Charles Williams, #NFDB
506:I learned what a lot of women have to do is make the guys in the room think it was their idea, and then you back them up. ~ Bjork, #NFDB
507:I love competition.And I thrive on it. I love being able to win the room over before even walking through the door. ~ Kellan Lutz, #NFDB
508:I spot a little stranger standing across the room, my brain takes a vacation just to give my heart more room. ~ Bruce Springsteen, #NFDB
509:It is not a good idea to spray finest brandy across the room, especially when your lighted cigar is in the way. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
510:One side of the room younger patients, known as Acutes because the doctors figure them still sick enough to be fixed, ~ Ken Kesey, #NFDB
511:And when she cums she screams and she throws a pillow across the room, it goes out the window, over the balcony. ~ Caroline Kepnes, #NFDB
512:Barney was nearly through with his workout, cooling down on a bike, when he realized he was not alone in the room. ~ Thomas Harris, #NFDB
513:Everything in the room seemed turned away from me in sullen resistance, averthing itself from my unwelcome return. ~ John Banville, #NFDB
514:having
someone think of me that way was like discovering
a new window in the room i'd lived in all my life. ~ David Levithan,#NFDB
515:having
someone think of me that way was like discovering
a new window in the room i’d lived in all my life. ~ David Levithan,#NFDB
516:He didn't just occupy space; he saturated it. The room had been full of books before, now it was full of him. ~ Karen Marie Moning, #NFDB
517:I crossed the room to him. "I love you," I said in a rush, afraid I would change my mind.
"Charles," he replied. ~ Edith Pattou,#NFDB
518:If I'm lucky, when I paint, first my patrons leave the room, then my dealers, and if I'm really lucky I leave too. ~ Edouard Manet, #NFDB
519:I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark. ~ Muhammad Ali, #NFDB
520:Over time her inhibitions took shelter in the corner of the room and Easter allowed the music to swallow her, ~ Bernice L McFadden, #NFDB
521:She nods and the elephant in the room throws back its head and trumpets so loud I think the roof might come off. ~ Sharon J Bolton, #NFDB
522:Somebody incredibly attractive just came into the room, and I ceased to pay attention to a word you were saying. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
523:The four lesser apocalyptical horsemen of Panic, Bewilderment, Ignorance, and Shouting took control of the room, ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
524:The office's olive green walls with gold accents gave the room the charm of a poker table from the Old West ~ Jacopo della Quercia, #NFDB
525:They were a couple in a way that didn't exclude anyone but seemed superior to every other relationship in the room. ~ Melissa Bank, #NFDB
526:him. “We have to go back to the mountain,” he said, the words echoing through the room. Lucien’s chest constricted ~ Gena Showalter, #NFDB
527:Make sure that the person you’re in the room with is the most important person in the world when you’re together. ~ Craig Groeschel, #NFDB
528:Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
529:My Grandmother wouldn't even speak the word Democrat if there were children in the room, she'd say Bastards instead. ~ P J O Rourke, #NFDB
530:Vashti was seized with the terrors of direct experience. She shrank back into the room, and the wall closed up again. ~ E M Forster, #NFDB
531:We have many Lisas, Marks, Dennys, Johnnys, and other characters from 'The Room' in America and in the entire world. ~ Tommy Wiseau, #NFDB
532:You know, it's a wonder I managed to squeeze into the room what with your giant-assed ego taking up all the space. ~ Samantha Young, #NFDB
533:A breeze, briefly gentle but growing more savage, jostled the potted plants and curios that cluttered the room. ~ Sylvia Izzo Hunter, #NFDB
534:A nurse is to maintain the air within the room as fresh as the air without, without lowering the temperature. ~ Florence Nightingale, #NFDB
535:Dispel, v.
It was the way you said, “I have something to tell you.” I could feel the magic drain from the room. ~ David Levithan,#NFDB
536:FOOVIEW (foo' view) n. The ability of a dog to inflict guilt from any angle in the room while he watches his master eat. ~ Rich Hall, #NFDB
537:He carried me, my legs wrapped around him, and moved in and out of me, stroked me as he walked around the room. ~ Eric Jerome Dickey, #NFDB
538:It had all the earmarks of a CIA operation; the bomb killed everybody in the room except the intended target! ~ William F Buckley Jr, #NFDB
539:I want my office to be quiet. The loudest thing in the room - by far - should be the occasional purring of the cat. ~ Linus Torvalds, #NFDB
540:Mrs. Glass watched him pull it on. She didn't stay for the tying of the lace, however.
Instead, she left the room. ~ J D Salinger,#NFDB
541:My chubbiest, chattiest toddler was now this lanky boy of few words, whose feet I could smell from across the room. ~ Elisabeth Egan, #NFDB
542:She looked around the room and motioned for the waitress to bring her check. Eb waited while she settled her tab. ~ Mary Kay Andrews, #NFDB
543:The shadows of the room pool in the lines of our faces, draining our eyes of hue. "There's nothing left worth saying. ~ Isaac Marion, #NFDB
544:Have you ever noticed how the most intriguing individual in the room seems content to listen sooner than speak? ~ Richelle E Goodrich, #NFDB
545:I fell so damn hard, Tenleigh. Standing right at this bookshelf. I gave you my heart and you weren’t even in the room. ~ Mia Sheridan, #NFDB
546:Many long months and years seemed to have passed since the room had made up its mind never to welcome any visitors. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
547:Neither of the two people in the room paid any attention to the way I came in, although only one of them was dead. ~ Raymond Chandler, #NFDB
548:The music, all violins and cellos, swells in the room, then recedes, like the water out in the Gulf before a big storm. ~ Jesmyn Ward, #NFDB
549:the room seemed suddenly to clarify, as when a chance scatter of stars resolves into a constellation before the eye. ~ Eleanor Catton, #NFDB
550:The room seemed to have grown darker, as if all the sad light of the cloudy evening had taken refuge on her forehead. ~ Joseph Conrad, #NFDB
551:Carl walked around the room studying the art hanging on the walls. Seriously, the elephant in Mexico had more talent. ~ Christie Craig, #NFDB
552:Don’t make me turn on the room’s ability blockers. I’m not teaching middle school here. And turn off your phones, people. ~ Kasie West, #NFDB
553:Do you know what I’m saying, Shaftoe?” “Sir, no sir! But I do detect a strong odor of politics in the room now, sir! ~ Neal Stephenson, #NFDB
554:impatiently and looked around the room. It wasn’t anything a millionaire’s wife would get excited about. Tony, my ~ James Hadley Chase, #NFDB
555:It was terrible. All of the things we couldn't share. The room was filled with conversations we weren't having. ~ Jonathan Safran Foer, #NFDB
556:Looking round the room I found there were so many false eyelashes flapping at me that I was beginning to feel a draught. ~ Philip Kerr, #NFDB
557:Moonstones and diamonds,” said Griphook, who had sidled into the room without Harry noticing. “Made by goblins, I think? ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
558:My goodness, they were like hand grenades of testosterone rolling in the door, sucking all the air out of the room. ~ Jennifer Bernard, #NFDB
559:The room smelled of books, that subtle smell which to some is stuffy and to others intoxicating, and it was silent. ~ Ursula K Le Guin, #NFDB
560:The room was filled with a kind of stillness. Not simply an absence of noise, but an accumulation of layers of silence... ~ Y ko Ogawa, #NFDB
561:The room was safe and warm and beautiful. The memory filled me with a love so intense, it knocked the air from my lungs. ~ M K Harkins, #NFDB
562:A door opens, and hot white light floods the room, blinding him momentarily. He blinks and blinks until the world re-forms. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
563:All I could manage to do was watch him from across the room and wish there was a way to capture him, to write him down. ~ Katie Cotugno, #NFDB
564:Approach any room with the goal of making it the most attractive and comfortable, the room you want to live in the most. ~ David Easton, #NFDB
565:He immediately went down with a thud and I was pretty certain most of the furniture in the room jumped when he landed. ~ Kristen Ashley, #NFDB
566:Her bottom is so beautiful that once as she crossed the room to the cooler I felt my eyes smart with tears of gratitude. ~ Walker Percy, #NFDB
567:He studied the room, looking for the Oracle, but he couldn't see anyone else in attendance - at least not anyone alive. ~ Shaun Jeffrey, #NFDB
568:No more reading and commenting on the lives of others, and in so doing, feeling slightly less alone in the room. ~ Emily St John Mandel, #NFDB
569:Not until she’d left the room did Kate realize that Bunny hadn’t ended a single one of her sentences with a question mark. ~ Anne Tyler, #NFDB
570:Outdated ideas inevitably lead to outdated behaviors. When ignorance and hate enter the room, progress makes its exit. ~ Steve Maraboli, #NFDB
571:The room was freezing. It smelled of people who had gone away to live other lives, and of all they had eaten and dreamed. ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
572:When I write I pretend I'm telling a story to someone in the room and I don't want them to get up until I'm finished. ~ James Patterson, #NFDB
573:I lit a match and found a new room inside myself. The room was empty with potential so I filled it with my imagination. ~ Martha Fawcett, #NFDB
574:Then I asked, “Do you lose concentration when a woman you want is in the room?”
“I hope not or tonight we’re fucked. ~ Kristen Ashley,#NFDB
575:There's a weight in the room now, a remembrance of childhood. It sinks like a stone, or a heart, or my weight on a good day. ~ Kris Kidd, #NFDB
576:There’s a weight in the room now, a remembrance of childhood. It sinks like a stone, or a heart, or my weight on a good day. ~ Kris Kidd, #NFDB
577:The room became deathly silent. If a fly had sneezed at that moment, Mitchell would have been able to hear it wipe its nose. ~ Mike Omer, #NFDB
578:The room is in shocked silence. Can this really be true? Can the authorities kill off everyone at the press of a button? ~ Siobhan Davis, #NFDB
579:The room stank of semen and smoke and sweat and whiskey, of old carpet and sour hay, saddle leather, shit and cheap soap. ~ Annie Proulx, #NFDB
580:Deborah led me away from it and over to the far end of the room. “Dexter,” she said, “promise me you didn’t kill this guy. ~ Jeff Lindsay, #NFDB
581:Find the most talented person in the room and if it's not you, go stand next to him. Hang out with him. try to be helpful. ~ Harold Ramis, #NFDB
582:If you have twenty guys in the room and you just bring in one girl, you change the entire mood and everyone plays different. ~ Jack White, #NFDB
583:It doesn't hurt. Nothing hurts except the small smiles and blushes that flash across the room like tiny sparrows. ~ Laurie Halse Anderson, #NFDB
584:Over a dozen thaumaturges were stationed around the room. It was almost like the queen expected someone to start trouble. ~ Marissa Meyer, #NFDB
585:Peri suddenly appeared right next to her. She grabbed Jen's arm, gave Decebel the finger, and the flashed out of the room. ~ Quinn Loftis, #NFDB
586:Suddenly, all eyes in the room had turned to Logan. And everyone had smiled that same smile, or maybe just bared their teeth. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
587:The sleet-spattered windows were rattling in their frames, and the room was chilly despite the fire crackling in the grate. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
588:When we started in television, there was that magic box in the corner of the room, and 'Oh my gosh - look what it's doing!' ~ Betty White, #NFDB
589:Any date that ended with two people drinking wine near a fire also ended with a woman’s thong being thrown across the room. ~ Karina Halle, #NFDB
590:Find the most talented person in the room, and if it’s not you, go stand next to him. Hang out with him. Try to be helpful. ~ Austin Kleon, #NFDB
591:If you want to get an audience quiet, just say "abortion" and everybody shuts up and the tension in the room is spectacular. ~ Lewis Black, #NFDB
592:I’m reading more than ever. I’ve started on the left wall of the Carnegie Library and plan to read my way around the room. ~ Frances Mayes, #NFDB
593:It was as if the room beyond the blast furnace was a tub and someone had turned the faucets on the cold and hot running snakes. ~ Joe Hill, #NFDB
594:the brightening he detected in the room around him might just be the whites of dozens of eyes as they widened [upon him] ~ Julie Anne Long, #NFDB
595:There were three of them in the room now, where only two had first come in. Death was in the room with the two of them. ~ Cornell Woolrich, #NFDB
596:when Winky has been very drunk. He has hidden her in the Room of Requirement and he has found antidotes to butterbeer there, ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
597:Where her books were, she was. Get the books right and the rest will follow. Now she could address the rest of the room. ~ Maureen Johnson, #NFDB
598:Whoever waited outside was impatient – thunder rang imperiously through the room even as the old man reached for the bar. ~ Steven Erikson, #NFDB
599:Why allow John Boehner or Nancy Pelosi to dominate your book group when Jefferson, Lincoln, and King are in the room? ~ Stephen R Prothero, #NFDB
600:And far away, in the room that stretched like a bridge to a nameless town, her brother, Werner, played in the cemetery snow. ~ Markus Zusak, #NFDB
601:A real feminist doesn't apologize for her beauty. You can be a sexy, beautiful woman and be the smartest person in the room. ~ Olivia Wilde, #NFDB
602:As actors, we do our best to keep things light and to encourage in the audience an openness to the changing atoms in the room. ~ Tim Crouch, #NFDB
603:Clichéd or not, her smile lit up the room like a ball of fired in a darkened sky. Clichés were created for her. End of story. ~ Gail McHugh, #NFDB
604:Courage, dear miss! Courage! Business! The worst will be over in a moment; it is but passing the room-door, and the worst ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
605:It's because you alienate half the room talking about sports. Half the crowd will be against you no matter what you say. ~ Gabriel Iglesias, #NFDB
606:It was never in my heart to slight any man, but only that man should be kept in his place and not sit in the room of God. ~ Anne Hutchinson, #NFDB
607:River would suggest they [Lamb, Taverner] get a room, provided the room was soundproofed, locked, and had an alligator in it. ~ Mick Herron, #NFDB
608:The little things that you do
From across the room
I see you sendin' me clues
They're in the way
You make me move ~ Demi Lovato,#NFDB
609:They continued to watch each other from across the room, both frozen for a moment by the shadow of distant possibilities. ~ Nicholas Sparks, #NFDB
610:When a child walks in the room, your child or anybody else’s child, do your eyes light up? That’s what they’re looking for. ~ Toni Morrison, #NFDB
611:At sixty minutes, I calmly stopped pedaling, peeled my shirt away from my skin, wiped the bike down, and slowly exited the room ~ Roxane Gay, #NFDB
612:I keep quiet and she keeps quiet too, until we use up all the quiet in the room so that finally one of us has to say something. ~ Mike Gayle, #NFDB
613:Ladies and gentlemen....." His voice is quiet, but mine rings through the room. "Let the Seventy-sixth Hunger Games begin! ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
614:talking to each other in Russian, remembering the ghosts in the room. In words and looks and smiles, we honor them at last. ~ Kristin Hannah, #NFDB
615:The same light SHINES from the case. Pumpkin’s expression goes to amazement. Honey Bunny across the room, can’t see shit ~ Quentin Tarantino, #NFDB
616:Alone in the dark all we have are the supernal lights in each others eyes left to illuminate the room, the only sound our breathing. ~ Poppet, #NFDB
617:Everyone in the room was so spectral-looking that Madeleine’s natural healthiness seemed suspect, like a vote for Reagan. ~ Jeffrey Eugenides, #NFDB
618:He left the room, unable to watch her standing there, naked with her underwear on her head, laughing at her own absurd madness. ~ Lisa Genova, #NFDB
619:If there are only you and the music in the room, it means that there are two persons in the room! Music is a live being! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
620:living room by a curtain of colored beads. The room’s furnishings consisted of a table, an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
621:The woman matched the room. Pale pastel Chanel suit. Oscar de la Renta kitten heels. Diamond the size of a Krispy Kreme donut. ~ Kathy Reichs, #NFDB
622:This many pretty girls in the room, all watching you boys like you’re a wedding-reception one-night stand waiting to happen— ~ Cristin Harber, #NFDB
623:Why? You’ve already done enough for him. You’re the best piece of tail he’ll ever have,” sending Hicks running from the room. ~ Michael Wolff, #NFDB
624:All topics, issues, and subjects in 'The Room' add to the depth of the characters in the movie, and they are equally important. ~ Tommy Wiseau, #NFDB
625:Frederick Ward thought novels immoral and had been known to leave the room rather than subject himself to "bohemian" opinions. ~ Donald McCaig, #NFDB
626:His presence, so strange and wonderful, seemed to fill the room and press against me. I didn't think I'd ever sleep again. ~ Maggie Stiefvater, #NFDB
627:I get up and pace the room, as if I can leave my guilt behind me. But it tracks me as I walk, an ugly shadow made by myself. ~ Rosamund Lupton, #NFDB
628:In the room, the cats eat mad spaghetti
Talking of Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
--from "The Dream Song of J. Alfred Kerowack. ~ Richard Fari a,#NFDB
629:Only when I heard her bedroom door open and close did I give in to my beast instincts and do a wild animal dance around the room. ~ Alex Flinn, #NFDB
630:She looked fragile. Alone. Prisoner in the room through the mirror; an Alice who never made it back through the looking-glass. ~ Joss Stirling, #NFDB
631:The big mother knows!” one said. “It is impossible!” Unless you look around the room, Annabeth thought, her confidence growing. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
632:were unaware that the room was crowded with ghosts who were about to propel us into the present and force us to face the future. ~ Ruth Reichl, #NFDB
633:Across the room was a mirror, and deep down in its silver bubble a single word appeared in green fire and that word was: REDRUM. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
634:And there was another elephant in the room. There were so many elephants in the room that it was getting positively crowded. ~ Genevieve Cogman, #NFDB
635:Do you sometimes look up from the computer and look around the room and know you are alone, I mean really know it, then feel scared ? ~ Tao Lin, #NFDB
636:I'm on my feet, pacing around the room, punching a fist into my palm, which I stop doing when I realise how drama queen it feels. ~ Eoin Colfer, #NFDB
637:Oh!” Karimah says. “It’s one minute to midnight. You and Jonah and Prince had better hurry to the room of mirrors. One, two — ~ Sarah Mlynowski, #NFDB
638:She’s making this out to be my fault? Obviously, because when the devil’s in the room, who else could there possibly be to blame ~ Meghan March, #NFDB
639:Sometimes heckling can almost help a set, because it ratchets up the tension in the room... can even bring things to a climax. ~ Demetri Martin, #NFDB
640:Soon his too-loud voice drifted back into the room. “He shot my brother in the back. He’s mine. That’s a fucking order. Mine. ~ Debra Anastasia, #NFDB
641:The luxiats’ eyes all seemed ready to pop out of their heads as they ran screaming from the room to bathe themselves in milk. Kip ~ Brent Weeks, #NFDB
642:trying to tough what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
643:150 miles outside Baghdad and began shooting children. By his own account, he ‘saw that children were in the room kneeling down. I ~ Tim Harford, #NFDB
644:I'm so sorry. Somebody incredibly attractive just came into the room, and I ceased to pay attention to a word you were saying. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
645:one of the true tests to tell if a man’s been raised right and is a gentleman is whether he stands when a lady enters the room—or ~ Lisa Shearin, #NFDB
646:Pedigree matters: if you break your shoulder trying to open a door, it's much harder to play the game once you get in the room. ~ Audra McDonald, #NFDB
647:The Hollywood process is like trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
648:There were two sorts of light in the room: one white, around the sleeping Gideon and Joab, the other black, enveloping the ghosts. ~ Elie Wiesel, #NFDB
649:Try never to be the smartest person in the room. And if you are, I suggest you invite smarter people... or find a different room. ~ Michael Dell, #NFDB
650:We all have to embrace the idea not to be worried about there being other women in the room. Gay men work with such solidarity. ~ Rebecca Miller, #NFDB
651:as lover’s complaint was noted, perhaps, by the one who knew to find it, and for the rest of the room, only artistic caprice—the ~ Alexander Chee, #NFDB
652:Chain lightning,” I said. “When you absolutely, positively got to kill every last motherfucker in the room, accept no substitutes. ~ Annie Bellet, #NFDB
653:Finnick remains still and speechless beside me. I meet Haymitch’s eyes from across the room and see my own dread mirrored back. ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
654:Glancing over his shoulder, he was prepared for he knew not what. But something was in the room with him…and it was not of this world. ~ J R Ward, #NFDB
655:I know one thing about men," Bunny says with finality, leaving the room to check on A. "They never die when you want them to. ~ Suzanne Finnamore, #NFDB
656:I pulled out box after box, setting them haphazardly around the room. My organization lacked something - like, say, organization. ~ Richelle Mead, #NFDB
657:It wasn’t morning. The room was dark, with the moon big and yellow and hanging just where I’d left it in the corner of the window. ~ Sarah Dessen, #NFDB
658:Madam Life's a piece in bloom Death goes dogging everywhere: she's the tenant of the room, he's the ruffian on the stair. ~ William Ernest Henley, #NFDB
659:Social Security's not the hard one to solve. Medicare, that is the gorilla in the room, and you've got to put all of it on the table. ~ Joe Biden, #NFDB
660:There is a way to read a poem, and then there is a way to allow the poem to exit the body and be read by everyone in the room. ~ Hanif Abdurraqib, #NFDB
661:There were two girls in a room. They were reading a book… Look again, and the room is empty. The end of the story will have to wait. ~ Kelly Link, #NFDB
662:The Room is a drama that is also a comedy that is also an existential cry for help that is finally a testament to human endurance. ~ Greg Sestero, #NFDB
663:We moved wordlessly from one room to another, from the room of the dead to the room where time lay in pages everywhere I looked. ~ Susan Meissner, #NFDB
664:When Storm steps into the room in another killer blue suit, my pulse soars. What is it about this man that makes my heart race? ~ Magda Alexander, #NFDB
665:All around the lobby were flickering red candles, and the room was filled with a pleasant scent of cinnamon, clove, and pine. ~ Richard Paul Evans, #NFDB
666:From the door, he glanced back, once, at the unresponsive wreck of the room. ‘Then God damn your soul!’ he said, and walked out. ~ Dorothy Dunnett, #NFDB
667:Honestly, Im having trouble with the fact that youre having difficulty believing us. You are the only one in the room levitating. ~ Dakota Cassidy, #NFDB
668:In the room...they are inside the books. They move sometimes within the pages, like sleepers turning over between two dreams. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke, #NFDB
669:Let her go,” said a clear, hard voice from across the room. “Let her go and stop touching her, or I will burn you down to ashes. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
670:And in the evening concealed fluorescent tubes light the room so evenly that it is no longer illuminated, it is a pool of luminosity. ~ Joseph Roth, #NFDB
671:Gazing into the mirror, I saw myself as I was-a black silhouette in the room, a woman whose darkness had completely leaked through. ~ Sue Monk Kidd, #NFDB
672:Hmmph, said Mrs. Walker, or rather, without speaking, she launched this hmmph into the air of the room and allowed it to float there. ~ Jane Smiley, #NFDB
673:I wanted to cry but I didn't, I probably should have cried, I should have drowned us there in the room ending our suffering. ~ Jonathan Safran Foer, #NFDB
674:Ladies and gentlemen....."
His voice is quiet, but mine rings through the room.
"Let the Seventy-sixth Hunger Games begin! ~ Suzanne Collins,#NFDB
675:Sunlight penetrated the room and he flung the duvet aside; the sundial pointer of his morning erection showed a quarter past seven. ~ Sascha Arango, #NFDB
676:Then, high above them, two more doors burst open and five more people sprinted into the room: Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks and Kingsley. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
677:Then she noticed the intent and adoring look on Beth’s face directed toward herself; her heart chilled and she backed out of the room. ~ D L Carter, #NFDB
678:the number of books increased on the shelves neatly made for him by one of his carpenter friends. The room began to look like a home. ~ Maxim Gorky, #NFDB
679:There’s no worse way to make a group of people feel excluded than to use language that pretends they are simply not in the room. ~ Kim Malone Scott, #NFDB
680:The smell attracted Mort’s taste buds from across the room, hinting that if they got together they could really enjoy themselves. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
681:Those eyes of his just look up at me, pupils dilated in the diffused lights of the room. Wide, black pools, seeking out galaxies. ~ Neal Shusterman, #NFDB
682:when involved with a trade, look around the room and determine who the chump is and if the chump is not clear to you, assume it is YOU. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
683:Woke up screaming with no sound. The room filling with a bluish water called dawn. Went to kiss grandma on the forehead just in case. ~ Ocean Vuong, #NFDB
684:You have a heart of stone," she told him.
"It's not a question of a heart," he said. "The room's getting full of moths. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,#NFDB
685:He left the room, and closeted himself in the dark, buzzing space where he raised his wasps and plotted the courses of heavenly bodies. ~ Kim Newman, #NFDB
686:If my dog wants to know why I didn't feed him this morning, he may want to rethink walking out of the room when I'm telling him a joke. ~ Dana Gould, #NFDB
687:I glanced down at the dumbbel and pictures it flying across the room- at his face. But it was sch a nice face, andI'd hate to ruin it. ~ Jenny Trout, #NFDB
688:I remember shaking her hand while her eyes wandered about the room, looking over my head, at my feet—like a rude guest at a party. ~ Douglas Preston, #NFDB
689:Oh my God, Green,” I heard Chubs say from somewhere in the room. “Just take the damn socks
and put the kid out of his misery. ~ Alexandra Bracken,#NFDB
690:She was the sort of person whose mood preceded her into the room whenever she arrived, an extra presence that could not be ignored. ~ Claire Tomalin, #NFDB
691:You lock yourselves in the room where you sleep with the person you love. This is the most intimate thing you can do with this person. ~ Gabe Habash, #NFDB
692:Certainly, he was the only one in the room who'd actually engaged Dante in direct conversation and informed the Poet he was an ass. ~ Sylvain Reynard, #NFDB
693:I get more excited about like, "How nice is the piano?" or "How does the room sound?" I don't really see the gear so much anymore. ~ Jonathan Meiburg, #NFDB
694:I'm the music guy, I get to wear the music hat, but being able to be that guy in the room is a thrill at this level and caliber. ~ Lin Manuel Miranda, #NFDB
695:I’m the sharpest guy in the room, and once they’re off, I’m the kind of man who will make you feel like you’ve only fucked boys before. ~ J D Hawkins, #NFDB
696:I pulled out box after box, setting them haphazardly around the room. My organization lacked something -- like, say, organization ... ~ Richelle Mead, #NFDB
697:Sometimes I hate them,” Kainene said. “The vandals.” “No, them.” Kainene pointed back at the room. “I hate them for dying. ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, #NFDB
698:Sometimes there's that perfect moment when the crowd, the music, the energy of the room come together in a way that brings me to tears. ~ John Legend, #NFDB
699:The room is full of such talent. It's a beautiful thing about the SAG Awards. It's the most rewarding room to be in as an actor. ~ Julianna Margulies, #NFDB
700:We've got to clear some of the room out of the prisons so we can put the bad guys in there, like the pedophiles and the politicians. ~ Kinky Friedman, #NFDB
701:Anyone who has worked in a hierarchical organisation must have noticed that bravery is rarely on display when a superior enters the room. ~ Nick Cohen, #NFDB
702:As I look around the room, I wonder who my sister was. I lived with her my whole life, and now I feel like I didn’t know her at all. ~ Erika L S nchez, #NFDB
703:At the other end of the room the three old men discussed infirmities; exchanging symptoms in undertones as boys might speak of lust. ~ Shirley Hazzard, #NFDB
704:Dastien growled and I could physically feel his anger pulsing through me. The pain took my breath away. I cried out, silencing the room. ~ Aileen Erin, #NFDB
705:Everything you do makes my body scream with loneliness. When I see you, the room swallows me. I find myself at the bottom of the pool. ~ Henry Rollins, #NFDB
706:God, George Bush makes me want to slash my wrists. He's so embarrassing I have to leave the room when he's on the news. What a monkey. ~ Margot Kidder, #NFDB
707:He imagined the room bathed in blood, himself striding through it, a raven amongst the carcasses. Strutting like any carrion king. ~ Nathan Ballingrud, #NFDB
708:I always felt caged, closed in, like I was punching at things that weren't there. I always had too much energy for the room I was in. ~ Angelina Jolie, #NFDB
709:I began peering into the corners of the room, making sure all the shadows were cast by objects and obeying known laws of physics. ~ Karen Marie Moning, #NFDB
710:There are two types of people. One walks into the room and announces, ‘Here I am!’ The other walks in and says, ‘Oh, there you are! ~ Brendon Burchard, #NFDB
711:When there's people on the other side of the room trying to wipe out your life and things are stacked against you, you can get nervous. ~ Jello Biafra, #NFDB
712:Dakota Jameson Lee! Get your butt in here.” Kota dashed back into the room, his eyebrows up, his hands up in surprise. “What? What’s wrong? ~ C L Stone, #NFDB
713:Do we need to have another discussion about this?” he asked the boys, as they limped around the room wincing and rubbing heir butts. ~ Victor McGlothin, #NFDB
714:Everything ready?” Dad bounded into the room and kissed my mom on the cheek before smacking her butt. “Oh, Milo, didn’t see ya.” He winked. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
715:He mostly told me stories at night-time, in the near darkness of the room, and I gradually burrowed into the world his words created. ~ Chigozie Obioma, #NFDB
716:I had to stop. I threw my kindle across the room. My eyes were so filled with tears that the words were becoming blurry toward the end. ~ Penelope Ward, #NFDB
717:I was used to being the smartest guy in the room, and then God dropped me in a place that was well beyond me. It was painfully awesome. ~ Matt Chandler, #NFDB
718:Life is like Avant Garde. It will make you uncomfortable, and leave the room. But always remember to come back and watch the artist bow. ~ Valerie Cruz, #NFDB
719:Memory is the hotel curtain that never completely closes. Memory always lets in just enough light to fill the room and ruin your sleep. ~ Will Ferguson, #NFDB
720:men as they entered the room, but it sat quietly next to its human. Mason didn’t think the dog would be a problem, but the body odor in ~ Kendra Elliot, #NFDB
721:The monotonous mechanical drone is swallowed up in the silence of the room, like a vivid dream ripped out by the hand of nothingness. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
722:Your personal brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room - remember that. And more importantly, let's discover why! ~ Chris Ducker, #NFDB
723:Always asked, 'Whats the key to success?' The key is, there is no key. Be humble, hungry and always be the hardest worker in the room. ~ Dwayne Johnson, #NFDB
724:Does this mean my genitals are going to fall off?” asked Brenner. “Women of the world, rejoice!” said Caliban, coming back into the room. ~ T Kingfisher, #NFDB
725:For several seconds, the only sound in the room is my shallow breath. “So we’re not having sex?” Please. Take my vagina. She wants you. ~ Laura Thalassa, #NFDB
726:Mental projection only, I'm afraid; your body is still back in the room. The network works with your mind to translate the information. ~ Benedict Jacka, #NFDB
727:Nowadays I'd describe myself as earnest, terribly earnest. I'm the person who wants everybody in the room to feel important and happy. ~ America Ferrera, #NFDB
728:small woman, maybe five-three on a good day. Her attitude filled the room, and she walked with a swagger that rivaled a bullfighter’s. ~ Karin Slaughter, #NFDB
729:Sound filled the room, a crystal melody that could lift any human heart and turn away any devil.
It was "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake. ~ David Wong,#NFDB
730:the room had been lost 'til then. So, if you were in a room, I mean if you were just sitting in a room, could the room you were in get lost? ~ Ali Smith, #NFDB
731:They ruled it an accident and stated the only secondary explosion was the cause of the teacher’s experiment in the front of the room.” “And ~ Terri Reid, #NFDB
732:To want is to wait, as I do in the place I know,
my breathing loud and single as the room,
its smell of spider dust and old perfume. ~ Jeet Thayil,#NFDB
733:As an actor, there's very little you can do if people don't want to see you. Just getting yourself into the room to audition is tough. ~ Domhnall Gleeson, #NFDB
734:I've got so much to do! Go play with Edward. I have to get to work."
She dashed out of the room, yelling,"Esme!" as she disappeared. ~ Stephenie Meyer,#NFDB
735:No shit?” Oli didn’t even look over his shoulder. “He can probably smell your dick dripping from across the room. Fucking scent pig.” A ~ Santino Hassell, #NFDB
736:People rid the room of argument until they have no one left — except people who agree with them. It is understandable. But I like a good argument. ~ Bono, #NFDB
737:The interpreter, however, is the shadow. The key is to be invisible. She is the only one in the room who hears the truth, a keeper of secrets. ~ Suki Kim, #NFDB
738:Thus it was quickly decided that Pitry—being young, cheerful, and not in the room at the time—would be the best man for the job. ~ Robert Jackson Bennett, #NFDB
739:What I am after is the first impression - I want to show all one sees on first entering the room - what my eye takes in at first glance. ~ Pierre Bonnard, #NFDB
740:"You should spare the last word. When blinded by anger, we make choices that we regret later. Leave the room before the bridge is burned." ~ Haemin Sunim, #NFDB
741:His route to them met with one obstacle after another as he negotiated his way across the room, excusing himself at every turn and twist. ~ Steven Erikson, #NFDB
742:I love being in a band. I love playing with other human beings. I've never practiced drums unless there was another human being in the room. ~ Ringo Starr, #NFDB
743:It's good fun to create an unpredictable character. When he comes into the room, I don't know what he's going to do - I have to find my way. ~ Martin Amis, #NFDB
744:I turn to see Ansel leaning against the door frame. His eyes swept over the room.
"Whoa, Hurricane Naomi strikes, leaving no survivers. ~ Andrea Cremer,#NFDB
745:Please ta meetcha, kid. I'm Aahz."
"Oz?"
"No Relation."
"No relation to what?" I asked, but he was examining the room again. ~ Robert Lynn Asprin,#NFDB
746:Shane dragged Eve's suitcase into the room and dumped it on the floor beside her bed. “Hey, Dark Princess? Here’s your crap. Also, bite me. ~ Rachel Caine, #NFDB
747:The lens feels like another person in the room, a person who never speaks or smiles, who only stares without blinking, never looking away. ~ Lauren Graham, #NFDB
748:You are a door to an existence she does not desire, but even if the room beyond is repugnant, that door has won a portion of her affection. ~ Mohsin Hamid, #NFDB
749:Alice dreamed of blood. Blood on her hands and under her feet, blood in her mouth and pouring from her eyes. The room was filled with it. ~ Christina Henry, #NFDB
750:Imagine a pitch-black room with a single candle lit in the center," he said, his voice gone low. "The room is the world. You are the candle. ~ Kresley Cole, #NFDB
751:(On a side note, I would give pretty much anything to have been in the room where the guy said, “I’ve got it! We’ll call it . . . Soapland!”) ~ Aziz Ansari, #NFDB
752:The thing that makes you know that Vernon Ward is a good painter is if you look at his ducks, you can see the eyes follow you around the room. ~ Peter Cook, #NFDB
753:With this realization the room seemed suddenly to clarify, as when a chance scatter of stars resolves into a constellation before the eye. ~ Eleanor Catton, #NFDB
754:Across the room, Hale smiled slightly. 'We can draw you a diagram if you need it.' 'No thanks,' Nick said. 'I think I've got everyone but you. ~ Ally Carter, #NFDB
755:As a director, it's my job to provoke, and when people decided 'The Room' be called a phenomenon, or whatever you call it, it's fine with me. ~ Tommy Wiseau, #NFDB
756:A thin layer of dust covered everything, and I doubted anyone had been in the room for decades. I have a vast weakness for secret things. ~ Patrick Rothfuss, #NFDB
757:I found the hum of his computer rather soothing, but it was the complete lack of unicorn carcasses that really pulled the room together. ~ Diana Peterfreund, #NFDB
758:If you weren't, well, you--I'd want to kiss you right now. It was fortunate that the room was so dark. Victoria's cheeks turned bright red. ~ Claire Legrand, #NFDB
759:I realized the wall paper was actual sheet music, pieces pasted over other pieces until the room was a paper mache made of melody and harmony. ~ Celia Aaron, #NFDB
760:It's pretty easy to hear what people are physically responding to versus what's just flat as a pancake in the room when it comes to jokes. ~ Elizabeth Banks, #NFDB
761:It's really hard to be on stage and packing your gear when people who just saw you play are in the room, because they all just want to talk to you. ~ Grimes, #NFDB
762:[John F. Kennedy] was Arthur, the guy in the middle of the room with all the swords pointed at him. ... He wanted control of the situation. ~ Chris Matthews, #NFDB
763:Let your face speak what’s in your heart. When they walk in the room my face says I’m glad to see them. It’s just as small as that, you see?” I ~ Bren Brown, #NFDB
764:No matter how many people are involved in a negotiation, important decisions are typically made when no more than two people are in the room. ~ Roger Fisher, #NFDB
765:Polite applause filled the room. Only a single whoop echoed out, and Kat made a mental note to have a word with Hamish once this was all over. ~ Ally Carter, #NFDB
766:The paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia's life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal. ~ George Orwell, #NFDB
767:The room didn’t contain a large jar as Landen had suggested, but rather a human-size sarcophagus made out of Tupperware to ensure freshness. ~ Jasper Fforde, #NFDB
768:The room got eerily quiet because it was true, and when you bring up something that’s true, people need to stop and think about it for a minute. ~ Jo Piazza, #NFDB
769:A big part of growing up is bringing all of yourself into a space, not just the parts of yourself that relate to the people in the room. ~ Lin Manuel Miranda, #NFDB
770:Hello?" I say nonchalantly, as if I don't have one leg cocked up and bleeding or an overbearing mother sucking all the air out of the room. ~ Alecia Whitaker, #NFDB
771:I think The Room is something magnetic, a certain magnetism in The Room that is related to human behavior, and that's why people relate to it. ~ Tommy Wiseau, #NFDB
772:Jack Nicholson is fairly gifted. We were at the Sistine Chapel, and everybody went from looking straight up to looking across the room at him. ~ Greg Kinnear, #NFDB
773:The key: always assume you are the least intelligent person in the room. Always. Do this in every room, at every dinner, in every situation. ~ James Altucher, #NFDB
774:The president took the advice of my East Texas grandmother: If you can skin a cat without getting the room all bloody, why not do it that way? ~ Richard Land, #NFDB
775:Voldemort had entered the room. His features were not those Harry had seen emerge from the great stone cauldron almost two years ago: They were ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
776:Well, imagine you are alone in a room....Are you the best, most special person in the room right now? Yes. That's the gift of being alone. ~ Colson Whitehead, #NFDB
777:choice, as he saw it, was this: You give up or you work for change. “What’s better for us?” Barack called to the people gathered in the room. ~ Michelle Obama, #NFDB
778:Gran, I'm only gonna ask this once. Please don't have sex talks with me, ok? Especially with Maggie in the room. Do you think we could do that? ~ Shelly Crane, #NFDB
779:He stepped into the room like he was stepping out of the gates of hell and onto earth where the very presence of us mere mortals pissed him off. ~ T M Frazier, #NFDB
780:He was merely floating there in the room, insubstantial, a living man in the midst of life, dying imperceptibly on his feet, like all of us. ~ Sebastian Barry, #NFDB
781:If I get hold of a book and see that the sun shone, the moon floated by, the air was fragrant, the birds tweeted—I fling it across the room. ~ Sholom Aleichem, #NFDB
782:If the men in the room would only think how they would feel graduating with a 'spinster of arts' degree they would see how important this is. ~ Gloria Steinem, #NFDB
783:I looked, noted details mechanically, and quietly shut the door on the part of my head that had started screaming the second I entered the room. ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
784:I remember being 18, and my first boyfriend said to me, "Unless you're in the room, you don't know if it's true." We were talking about gossip. ~ Winona Ryder, #NFDB
785:I willed myself to stay awake, but the rain was so soft and the room was so warm and his voice was so deep and his knee was so snug that I slept. ~ Harper Lee, #NFDB
786:So while the kids played in the room next door, I had sex for the first time and discovered that it was like masturbation, but a lot more work. ~ Neil Strauss, #NFDB
787:Who here wants to be a writer?' I asked. Everyone in the room raised his hand. 'Why the hell aren't you home writing?' I said, and left the stage. ~ Leon Uris, #NFDB
788:God forbid you be an ugly girl, 'course too pretty is also your doom, 'cause everyone harbors a secret hatred for the prettiest girl in the room ~ Ani DiFranco, #NFDB
789:He walks into the room with so much swag and confidence it should be illegal. In fact, I might have to call the fire department to cool him off. ~ Casey Peeler, #NFDB
790:She raised her hand and studied the light as it fell over her, bathing everything inside the room in shadows and light. Everything except her. ~ Liesel Schwarz, #NFDB
791:The room was a magpie-nest of picked-at knowledge, the lair of a tinkerer to whom the universe was one vast toyshop of intriguing side issues. ~ Barbara Hambly, #NFDB
792:The room was empty. She was gone. So were her shopping bags. So were the keys to the SUV. So was his Glock. Fury erupted. “Goddamn you, Tricks! ~ Thea Harrison, #NFDB
793:Tracy stood up and found that the room was swaying around him in a manner that would have been more disconcerting if it had been less familiar. ~ Fredric Brown, #NFDB
794:Why do we have to sleep in this little bedroom?” “I’m sure we could clean out a downstairs room if you’d like.” “What about the room across the ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
795:And here a life had come apart
in darkness, and the room had grown
a ghostly thorax, with a heart
unknown, unloved -- but not alone. ~ Vladimir Nabokov,#NFDB
796:As a standup, I try to change the world. As an entertainer, I try to entertain. And as a lesbian, I try to pick up the prettiest girl in the room. ~ Lea DeLaria, #NFDB
797:God forbid you be an ugly girl, 'course too pretty is also your doom, 'cause everyone harbors a secret hatred for the prettiest girl in the room. ~ Ani DiFranco, #NFDB
798:Good manners is the art of making those people easy with whom we converse. Whoever makes the fewest people uneasy is the best bred in the room. ~ Jonathan Swift, #NFDB
799:If the room to which my bed was removed were a sentient thing that could give evidence, I might appeal to it at this day—who sleeps there now, ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
800:I glanced down at the dumbbell and pictured it flying across the room—at his face. But it was such a nice face, and I’d hate to ruin it. ~ Jennifer L Armentrout, #NFDB
801:I have a 13-year-old daughter who rents these bloody horror movies, and I can't even walk into the room when she's watching them with her friends. ~ Brad Dourif, #NFDB
802:I look round the room and see faces I almost know. Familiar but I can’t quite place them. Then they say their name and they come back into focus. ~ Fiona Barton, #NFDB
803:It’s mostly just you have to convince yourself that there’s nothing else in the room but John Lennon and suddenly things start John Lennon-ing! ~ Grant Morrison, #NFDB
804:I walk around the room eating goose liver and puffy bread until there's a knock on the door. Effie's calling me to dinner. Good. I'm starving. ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
805:I walk around the room eating goose liver and puffy bread until there’s a knock on the door. Effie’s calling me to dinner. Good. I’m starving. ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
806:There is a vast asymmetry in the dynamic here that Billy can’t quite put his finger on, even though it’s the elephant shitting all over the room. ~ Ben Fountain, #NFDB
807:Tim Russert is dead. But the room was alive. You can’t work it too hard at a memorial service, obviously. It’s the kind of thing people notice. ~ Mark Leibovich, #NFDB
808:Until it only gets weirder when Gus walks in the room and says, “The sperm donor returns. How goes it, maestro? How was the journey from bean town? ~ Kim Holden, #NFDB
809:Being stuck awake in the middle of the night feels like prison. There’s nothing to do with yourself, especially when someone else is in the room. I ~ Drew Magary, #NFDB
810:But there is ecstasy in the room you are not supposed to enter, the room no one knows about. Ecstasy when everyone is gone and still you are held. ~ Sarah Hepola, #NFDB
811:In that case, I shall have to win. Seeing as I'd do anything for you, sweeting." Feminine sighs rose up in the room as he leaned in to kiss her. ~ Grace Callaway, #NFDB
812:Let me get this straight. The man with the gun says stay in your seat and you take that to mean jump around the room like demented grasshoppers. ~ Koushun Takami, #NFDB
813:Men study women but women watch themselves being watched. We see the image of ourselves that we saw when we left the mirror and entered the room. ~ Chloe Thurlow, #NFDB
814:Pregnant women in the room!" "Rheia will have all the help she needs with her child after I kill you since I am their athair!" Aiden roared. "They ~ Alanea Alder, #NFDB
815:Standup is tough; if you are going through a hard period in your life, it is very hard to get up in front of people and be the happy guy in the room. ~ Doc Brown, #NFDB
816:That night Jack lay in bed, in the place just between awake and asleep. The room was beginning to disappear to make way for the world of dreams. ~ David Walliams, #NFDB
817:The girls wore clothes that hadn't been fashionable for at least a year. There was only one blonde in the room, and she didn't even have a tan. ~ Francine Pascal, #NFDB
818:The night of my accident, when I opened my eyes and you were there? Seeing you again, Rebecca...It was like someone let the air back into the room. ~ Sarah Grimm, #NFDB
819:And she went slowly and majestically out of the room. But when she got into her own, she locked the door, and sate down to cry unwonted tears. ~ Elizabeth Gaskell, #NFDB
820:Ben walks in the room and asks, “What were you guys doing?” Nikki says “Nothing” at the same time I say, “Your sister and I were just makin’ out. ~ Simone Elkeles, #NFDB
821:For a moment the highlander lay quietly and studied the room in silent leisure, allowing the sleep to disperse and his rested mind to awaken fully. ~ Terry Brooks, #NFDB
822:He puffed out his pigeon chest and waddled across the room towards me. With his feet pointing outwards, he looked like a fat duck with a grievance. ~ Chris Thrall, #NFDB
823:In my mind, being overdressed is not a bad thing at all. What's the worst case scenario? That you are the best-dressed person in the room? Who cares! ~ Rachel Zoe, #NFDB
824:Max is going through my overnight bag when I get back to Wink Hotel. My favorite part about this is that he doesn’t stop when I walk in the room. ~ Victoria Scott, #NFDB
825:Merlin's pants!" shrieked Hermione, jumping up and running from the room. "Merlin's pants?" repeated Ron, looking amused. "She must be really upset. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
826:Nina and I laughed, and then astonishingly, Mother laughed, and the sound the three of us made together in the room created a silly joy inside me. ~ Sue Monk Kidd, #NFDB
827:The room, as she saw it, was a web of motion, a symphony of mischievou dancing particles quite like the smooth and placid notes of a fine concerto. ~ Mark Helprin, #NFDB
828:When a baby is in the room with two women, and one is considered more beautiful than the other, the infant's eyes will go to the more beautiful one. ~ Susan Anton, #NFDB
829:Across the room, Hale smiled slightly. 'We can draw you a diagram if you need it.'
'No thanks,' Nick said. 'I think I've got everyone but you. ~ Ally Carter,#NFDB
830:As I moved about the room I would encounter that silver wedge of a moon at this window or that, like some old beggar who wished to be invited in. ~ George Saunders, #NFDB
831:Crumpled taffeta and crushed satin gave the room an eerie look, as if a magic spell had been cast and people had simply dropped in their tracks. ~ Lurlene McDaniel, #NFDB
832:His voice in my ear. It did interesting things to me. It curved my back and parted my lips. I felt lazy and feline, and he wasn’t even in the room. ~ Helen Oyeyemi, #NFDB
833:I don’t want my mistakes to affect everyone else in the room,” I said after a moment. “I want to keep to myself and do as little damage as possible. ~ Jenn Bennett, #NFDB
834:Instead of responding to me, he shakes his head and walks out of the room. And because I’m me, I follow. We are not done with this conversation. ~ Elizabeth Norris, #NFDB
835:I should have considered it wrong to have finished the Frieze before the room for its accommodation and the funds for its completion were available. ~ Edvard Munch, #NFDB
836:I would like a practical president, but I would like to be able to have his practicality based on principles, and not just who - I mean the room with. ~ Glenn Beck, #NFDB
837:Journalism can go right up to the door of the room in which the decisions are made. A novel can go inside the room - and inside the character's heads. ~ David Frum, #NFDB
838:No negotiation is ever possible if you have to negotiate not only with the people in the room but also with some other committee in permanent session. ~ Jack Straw, #NFDB
839:The level of the room keeps changing. All of the surfaces swell and recede with oceanic rhytm. You are not quite all right. You are somewhat wrong. ~ Jay McInerney, #NFDB
840:You can do this.” I feel him take a step toward me, his heat filling the room in a way that makes my skin prickle. But I don’t look up. I won’t. ~ Victoria Aveyard, #NFDB
841:I bet normal women don't get wet when you walk into the room. I bet they don't go home and get themselves off imagining it's your hand instead of their ~ Jana Aston, #NFDB
842:It was both comforting and terrifying to go in to audition for 'The Girl in the Cafe,' as I'd worked with everyone in the room on 'State Of Play.' ~ Kelly Macdonald, #NFDB
843:So many broken promises, each day an aborted wish, a lost object, a misplaced unread book, cluttering the room like an attic with discarded possessions. ~ Ana s Nin, #NFDB
844:the room grew unnaturally quiet. Kote stood with his back to the room, a stillness in his body and a terrible silence clenched between his teeth. ~ Patrick Rothfuss, #NFDB
845:What happens when you mix baking soda and vinegar?” Henry in the back of the room raised his hand. “Well, I used those to make a volcano in third grade. ~ M C Steve, #NFDB
846:You’re burning the candle at both ends, Kid . . . (He moves from the table across the room.) And in my humble opinion the light ain’t worth it. ~ Tennessee Williams, #NFDB
847:As charming as the room was, I knew it wouldn’t work for me. I do not need charming. I need to be online, at all times. I need surge protection. ~ Augusten Burroughs, #NFDB
848:Cut doors and windows
to make a room.
Where the room isn't,
there's room for you.
So the profit in what is
is in the use of what isn't. ~ Lao Tzu,#NFDB
849:distress that dispersed into the room. “You will find him, won’t you, Inspector?” “We’ll do our best,” I said. The headmaster’s office was cramped. ~ Gilly Macmillan, #NFDB
850:He could feel the belligerence growing in Freddie Miles as surely as if his huge body were generating a heat that he could feel across the room. ~ Patricia Highsmith, #NFDB
851:I sat quietly on the opposite side of the room. I was in a wedding dress at somebody else’s birthday party while my husband was being congratulated. ~ Carolyn Jessop, #NFDB
852:Lillian looked around the room.
"Where are the others? The Prescott girl and the good-looking one?"
"Baby," said Rusty, "I'm right here. ~ Sarah Rees Brennan,#NFDB
853:Merlin's pants!" shrieked Hermione, jumping up and running from the room.
"Merlin's pants?" repeated Ron, looking amused. "She must be really upset. ~ J K Rowling,#NFDB
854:the room of the spirit is the mind and the seat of the spirit is the heart. What we give room to much in our minds, take a seat in our heart ~ Ernest Agyemang Yeboah, #NFDB
855:A good leader is always looking for people smarter and more experienced than they are. If you are the smartest one in the room, then you are stupid. ~ Robert Kiyosaki, #NFDB
856:All of the valuable writing I have done in the last ten years has been done in the first twenty minutes after the first time I wanted to leave the room. ~ Ron Carlson, #NFDB
857:Dorothea sniffed and looked around the room, her distaste clear. “Try to be polite, Mother,” Marjorie said. “I am always polite.” “Then try to be nice. ~ Jane Goodger, #NFDB
858:My books already threatened to take over my part of the room and keep on going . . . whatever cargoes of words I could lay my hands on I gave safe harbor. ~ Ivan Doig, #NFDB
859:She is one of those black people who want to be the only black person in the room, so any other black person is an immediate threat to her. ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, #NFDB
860:All right, Miss Cryptic. What’s the new plan, then?” Glancing around the room, Cinder tipped up her chin. “It starts with kidnapping the groom.” Thorne ~ Marissa Meyer, #NFDB
861:He called her a MILF, which must be offensive because Miss Castle called him a thug and sent hit out of the room. Gabe, what is a MILF?”- Bethany ~ Alexandra Adornetto, #NFDB
862:I called, my voice false-sounding and hoarse, slipping the painting into an extra pillowcase and hiding it under the bed before hurrying out of the room. ~ Donna Tartt, #NFDB
863:I don't strive on being the most beautiful woman in the room! I strive to be the most unique! The one who stands out, the one you will never forget. ~ Sahndra Fon Dufe, #NFDB
864:I have this phobia: I don't like mirrors. And I don't watch myself on television. If anything comes on, I make them shut it off, or I leave the room. ~ Pamela Anderson, #NFDB
865:I know a man
who photographed the view he saw
from the window of the room where he made love
and not the face of the woman he loved there. ~ Yehuda Amichai,#NFDB
866:I walk around the room eating goose liver and puffy bread until there's a knock on the door. Effie's calling me to dinner.
Good. I'm starving. ~ Suzanne Collins,#NFDB
867:I will always remember you, even though you had no idea I was even in the room. My words wouldn't come, I could only dream. A crush or a love? ~ Walter Bradford Cannon, #NFDB
868:Not a single woman in the room could handle being told, “You’re awesome.” I couldn’t handle being told I am awesome. What in the hell is wrong with us? ~ Shonda Rhimes, #NFDB
869:O kindle the fire of happiness ! Therein I shall see The door of friendliness, The room of greatness And the palace of godness. I shall see, I shall see. ~ Sri Chinmoy, #NFDB
870:One wall of the living room was almost entirely made up of tall windows, and the now-dark winter night seemed to enter the room without permission. ~ Maggie Stiefvater, #NFDB
871:Suffragettes!” whispered Agatha as if communicating a great scandal. “I’m quite sure invitations to tea are being quietly withdrawn all over the room. ~ Helen Simonson, #NFDB
872:The room titls, like I’m on one of those fun-house walkways, angling back and forth. Only it’s not fun because fun houses never are. They’re distorted. ~ Daisy Whitney, #NFDB
873:the room was warming up and there was nothing quite like the comfort of being cold, then slowly feeling the heat approaching and arriving and spreading. ~ Louise Penny, #NFDB
874:When one studies strongly radioactive substances special precautions must be taken. Dust, the air of the room, and one's clothes, all become radioactive. ~ Marie Curie, #NFDB
875:You say cute. I say plague-carrying, sticky-fingered dirt monsters,” Sheridan said slapping Eve on the shoulder as she passed her to leave the room. ~ Elizabeth C Mock, #NFDB
876:Bezos includes one more chair that remains empty. It’s there to remind those assembled who’s really the most important person in the room: the customer. ~ Daniel H Pink, #NFDB
877:for his presence will become clear.” They all sat down around a circular table in the center of the room. “I realize this meeting was called to discuss ~ Jeffrey Archer, #NFDB
878:He'd only been gone two seconds, but the room got brighter when they were together, as if they were two elements that became brilliant in proximity. ~ Maggie Stiefvater, #NFDB
879:I have a soft spot for women, I'm not afraid of it, some women walk into the room, and they're so beautiful and you're like, 'I wanna smell you' you know? ~ Katy Perry, #NFDB
880:It was one of those moments when you feel the future so much that it humbles the present. Her absence was palpable, even though she was still in the room. ~ Rachel Cohn, #NFDB
881:I've watched 'Oprah Winfrey.' And I'm proud. I don't care what anybody says! I don't know whether I've watched it. I've been in the room while it's been on. ~ Nick Cave, #NFDB
882:Room 10 [a short film she codirected with Andrea Buchanan] nailed my personal theme: love and choosing to stay in the room when the going gets tough. ~ Jennifer Aniston, #NFDB
883:She has spent the night hidden in the left corner of the room, watching this man she’s been told is her husband become the animal he’s been told that he is. ~ Yaa Gyasi, #NFDB
884:The parents in the room know that texting is actually the best way to communicate with your kids. It might be the only way to communicate with your kids. ~ Nancy Lublin, #NFDB
885:The room feels like you’re being wrapped in a hug because you chose every single little detail for it out of love. So I get it. Love is all that matters. ~ Jillian Dodd, #NFDB
886:Ugh." Stacey covered her nose as she swooped her light around the room. "Smells like a possum died in here. And a skunk, too. Maybe it was a murder-suicide. ~ J L Bryan, #NFDB
887:Crossing the room, he stopped infront of me. "I'm not going to bite."
"That's good."
"Unless you want me to," He said with a devilish grin. ~ Jennifer L Armentrout,#NFDB
888:Every time she did that, I met her with a burning hot gaze. One that said, there's no other woman in the room but you, love. And God help me, there wasn't. ~ Lucian Bane, #NFDB
889:Fell out of a tree and almost crushed my boy Merrill here,” Eli says, his deep voice booming easily throughout the room. “That’s why we call him Newton.” Zoey ~ Joe Hart, #NFDB
890:For, though the room was silent, the silence of half a hundred cats is a peculiar thing, like fifty individual silences all piled one on top of another. ~ Susanna Clarke, #NFDB
891:I heard him before I saw him, his power rippled about the room. And with two more steps, the most beautiful man I'd ever seen, my Dreambeam, stood before me. ~ L R W Lee, #NFDB
892:I'm not Brad Pitt or George Clooney. Those guys walk into a room and the room changes. I think there's something more... not average, but everyman about me. ~ Matt Damon, #NFDB
893:Lonliness evaporated off of them like the steam off dry ice, and by morning it was just a cloud on the ceiling of the room, then gone with the light. ~ Christopher Moore, #NFDB
894:The words take the air out of the room and make my skin crawl. We sit there quietly, afraid it might get worse. It can always get worse. I know that now. ~ Suzanne Young, #NFDB
895:Time magazine put Chris Christie on the cover with the caption, 'The Elephant in the Room.' And People magazine named him 'Sexiest Garbage Truck in a Suit.' ~ Bill Maher, #NFDB
896:You once said I wasn’t ready to believe your reason for killing Reyad. I’ll believe you now.” “But I’m not ready to tell you,” I said and left the room. ~ Maria V Snyder, #NFDB
897:A fire crackled in the hearth. The cozy scene belied the barely contained vicissitude in the room. Snow White paced, in a fury, leaning heavily on his cane. ~ J T Ellison, #NFDB
898:Ashley waddled back into the room and dropped into the seat next to me. "What did i miss?" I'd honestly forgotten she existed. Oh, if only dad would, too. ~ Katie McGarry, #NFDB
899:I don’t believe in love at first sight but I do believe in seeing someone from across the room and knowing instantly that they’re going to matter to you. ~ Ryan O Connell, #NFDB
900:I don't believe makeup and the right hairstyle alone can make a woman beautiful. The most radiant woman in the room is the one full of life and experience. ~ Sharon Stone, #NFDB
901:I feel such a tenderness for these vulnerable nighttime conversations, the way words take a different shape in the air when there's no light in the room. ~ David Levithan, #NFDB
902:I know you didn’t feel them, and when you spoke them they stung you. I know because I know you. I forgive because my heart has not the room to deface you. ~ Coco J Ginger, #NFDB
903:Moss should’ve realized the absolute worst way to make sure Sally stayed in the room was to vehemently object to her leaving.
- A Desperate Journey ~ Debra Parmley,#NFDB
904:The baroness swept into the room like an avenging black angel, her cape streaming out behind her. If looks could kill, we’d have been sprawled on the carpet. ~ Rhys Bowen, #NFDB
905:There was a tall, sensible man in the room called Thorpe, a gentleman with very little magical learning, but a degree of common sense rare in a magician. ~ Susanna Clarke, #NFDB
906:The room floods with Finlay’s friends and I have to keep myself busy because I’m convinced I have JUST ORGASAMED ON FINLAY’S FACE tattooed across my forehead. ~ Ker Dukey, #NFDB
907:The silence in the room was so unusually quiet that the beginning of it seemed rather loud when the utter stillness of the end of it had been encountered. ~ Flann O Brien, #NFDB
908:The sunlight came into the room with the peacefulness one remembers from rooms in one's early childhood—a sunlight encountered later only in one's dreams. ~ James Baldwin, #NFDB
909:Why would you take orders from anyone." Gavriel met Aiden's eyes and smiled. "Because he protects everyone." He looked around the room. "And I protect him. ~ Alanea Alder, #NFDB
910:Greatness comes from humble beginnings; it comes from grunt work. It means you’re the least important person in the room—until you change that with results. ~ Ryan Holiday, #NFDB
911:Help me', he said, like a lost child.
Go to Hell, the room respectfully replied; and for the first time in his life, he knew exactly what that meant. ~ Clive Barker,#NFDB
912:He willed the lights in the room off. Then he used his mind to close the back door, usher the cat into the bathroom, and slide home every lock in the apartment. ~ J R Ward, #NFDB
913:I don't know what I am thinking. But I am alone. I am trapped in the net of the room. In the net of humans. I think maybe I am drowning in the net of humans. ~ Karen Hesse, #NFDB
914:I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room. ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
915:Pass me the Academy Award. I don’t know how I did it, but hysterical-girl tears sprung from my eyes as I ran out of the room and down the grand staircase. ~ Kim Harrington, #NFDB
916:Such eagerness to create space between present self and past sins obliges adults in the room to wonder whether callow youth has really wised up. “What ~ Kai Ashante Wilson, #NFDB
917:The memory of a book, Dana mused as she turned off the light and headed out of the room. Wouldn't life be so easy if that's all we needed to feel comforted? ~ Juliette Fay, #NFDB
918:There was a time when I used to walk into the room and own it, or at least believe in what I was offering, but I hadn’t felt that confidence in a long time. ~ Karina Halle, #NFDB
919:Third - to Mr. Harry Potter,' said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. '...for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
920:You’re old. You’re senile. You’re too calm about this. Something must be wrong…”
“Wonderful. I’ll pull out my hair and chase butterflies around the room. ~ John Grisham,#NFDB
921:Bottom of my soul,” he whispered across the room, eyes locked to mine.
I sucked in breath through my nose before I whispered back, “Bottom of mine. ~ Kristen Ashley,#NFDB
922:I'd say that on 'Friends' my character was the guy bouncing around the room. I'm no longer that guy, necessarily, in my life. I used to be. But I'm not now. ~ Matthew Perry, #NFDB
923:I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows, or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room. ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
924:I've given lots of people chances," she said suddenly, as if Marion was still in the room to hear us. "But there's only so much faith you can have in people. ~ Sarah Dessen, #NFDB
925:Mrs. D hugged Cole’s middle, hard, and the music cut out just in time for her compliment to carry across the room. “I knew you would be a magnificent man. ~ Debra Anastasia, #NFDB
926:Tyrion Lannister could not have been more astonished if Aegon the Conqueror himself had burst into the room, riding on a dragon and juggling lemon pies. ~ George R R Martin, #NFDB
927:Budge stomps into the room. “Do you know you have a blob of brown stuff on your nose?” “My life is in the crapper.” “I think it left a souvenir on your face. ~ Jenny B Jones, #NFDB
928:I decided to dub the room with the good chairs my lutery. Or perhaps my performatory. I would need a while to come up with something suitably pretentious. ~ Patrick Rothfuss, #NFDB
929:If I'm not doing something or working on something, I literally just sit in the room and think, which I don't think is productive. I won't go outside for days. ~ Adam Driver, #NFDB
930:I mean, I'm obviously not one of those people who's so beautiful women take their clothes off when I walk into the room. I didn't become a star overnight. ~ Robbie Coltraine, #NFDB
931:I've found that knowing the material or the policy or the facts better than anyone else in the room is so empowering - and that means fully understanding them. ~ Dana Perino, #NFDB
932:My mother comes in my room and says, "Just look at this mess! This is a pig sty!" Now, I've already been in the room five hours, and she wants me to LOOK at it. ~ Bill Cosby, #NFDB
933:Reflected, framed, the room had charms foreign to the original, just as an ordinary or even ugly object gains beauty and dignity when painted or photographed. ~ Helen DeWitt, #NFDB
934:Sometimes it takes heart to write about a thing, doesn't it? To let that thing out of the room way in the back of your mind and put it up there on the screen. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
935:There is something demoralizing about watching two people get more and more crazy about each other, especially when you are the only extra person in the room. ~ Sylvia Plath, #NFDB
936:There was a tall, sensible man in the room called Thorpe, a gentleman with very little magical learning, but a degree of common sense rare in a magician. He ~ Susanna Clarke, #NFDB
937:The room was plainly but adequately furnished; she noted the shower stall in the bathroom beyond. Actually, she would have preferred a tub, but this would do. ~ Robert Bloch, #NFDB
938:We are so much the victims of abstraction that with the Earth in flames we can barely rouse ourselves to wander across the room and look at the thermostat. ~ Terence McKenna, #NFDB
939:As we stay there, pressed against each other, the room smelling of coffee and sex, I hear him mutter . . . perhaps to himself, perhaps to me, “Last time, my ass. ~ Kyra Davis, #NFDB
940:Cristina glanced back as she left the kitchen. The room was full of bright light, and it cast an odd halo over Emma and Julian, blurring out their features. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
941:Greatness comes from humble beginnings; it comes from grunt work. It means you’re the least important person in the room—until you change that with results. ~ Timothy Ferriss, #NFDB
942:If the room is friendly to a relationship between lecturer and audience, you feel everything - the tension, the appreciation. I think the audience feels it too. ~ Frank Gehry, #NFDB
943:In the event that your feminist activities are discovered, quick diversions include bursting into song, asking him how to fix something in the room and fainting. ~ Reductress, #NFDB
944:Music on,” he ordered, and the swelling sounds of the aria from Carmen he’d already programmed into the entertainment system filled the room. Gorgeous, he thought, ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
945:Sean walked in with a plate of ham steaks and then stopped, as if his man radar had just pinged on the level of feminine drama in the room. “Everything okay? ~ Shannon Stacey, #NFDB
946:They say that the eyes of some paintings can follow you around the room, a fact that I doubt, but I am wondering whether some music can follow you for ever. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
947:What would you have thought of me, when you were younger, if I’d gone out whoring at night, or brought women up to the room? How would you see women now? Or men? ~ Robin Hobb, #NFDB
948:When lightning strikes you want to be there, right there in the room. You, not everybody`s going to say yes to you. Just don`t ever say no to yourself, ever. ~ Chris Matthews, #NFDB
949:You search for God, and seek to find Him here. Or you seek to find Him there. Why need you to look in the corners of the room when He entirely fills the room? ~ Ormond McGill, #NFDB
950:And I walked across the room past all that was missing, through the door, and into the light that shone like a sweet wide smile over all that was actually there. ~ Sarah Weeks, #NFDB
951:And Vishous. . . V was the worst of them. He stood by the door, staring into space. Icy before, he was glacial now, a sinkhole in the room.
-Phury's thoughts ~ J R Ward,#NFDB
952:Esteem him! Like him! Cold-hearted Elinor! Oh! worse than cold-hearted! Ashamed of being otherwise. Use those words again, and I will leave the room this moment. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
953:Everyone in the room knew what had happened, that Bizness had clicked his fingers and taken her from him, doing it without compunction, like it was no big thing. ~ Mark Dawson, #NFDB
954:Following the Noble Path is like entering a dark room with a light in the hand; the darkness will all be cleared away, and the room will be filled with light. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
955:Fucking gorgeous man. And the best part? The way he looked at me. Like I was the prettiest girl in the room. “Hey, babe.” The man was a poet. “Hey.” I was too. ~ Alice Clayton, #NFDB
956:If you got the balls to follow something through, you can end up being the coolest, smartest guy in the room, because you've literally put your ass on the line. ~ Steve Coogan, #NFDB
957:The germ of the dilemma…is trapped in the room with me, always has been, and always will be, and it is yet more foreign to me than those foreign hills outside. ~ James Baldwin, #NFDB
958:What frightened her the most was the moment of those first notes, because that was when people really listened: She was changing the atmosphere in the room. ~ Elizabeth Strout, #NFDB
959:You shouldn’t be in here,” Devon told him. He turned to the room in general. “Has anyone been corrupted or defiled?”
“Since the age of twelve,” West replied. ~ Lisa Kleypas,#NFDB
960:As I was walking down the stairs, I kept thinking that the room felt like a movie theater with all your attention on this wall, so it seemed like a big challenge. ~ Wade Guyton, #NFDB
961:clung to Kriss, talking up a storm as Kriss circled the room, thanking everyone for coming, even though we really had no choice. Eventually she made it to the back ~ Kiera Cass, #NFDB
962:I’ll talk to her.” Mirren’s deep, rumbling voice sliced through the room like a cutter ship, leaving silence in its wake. “The rest of you, get the hell out. ~ Susannah Sandlin, #NFDB
963:I thought it was one thing but it was the other, it was zero zero zero alone on the bus while you slept in the room I had to leave, and that's why we broke up. ~ Daniel Handler, #NFDB
964:Michael looked around and realised that he was in a school library, with a life-size cut-out of Alex Rider staring at him from the opposite side of the room. ~ Robert Muchamore, #NFDB
965:Older, you know, is obviously relative. You're older if there's somebody younger than you in the room, and you're younger if there's someone older in the room. ~ Julianne Moore, #NFDB
966:The room fell quiet. And as I read down the list of over one hundred and fifty eight-grade boys, I realized that to me, there had only ever been one boy. ~ Wendelin Van Draanen, #NFDB
967:The women in the room chatted about love, about childhood, about losing parents, about Mr. Spock, about good books they'd read.
They mothered each other. ~ Louise Penny,#NFDB
968:This man was so absent-mindedly clever that he could paint pictures that didn’t just follow you around the room but went home with you and did the washing-up. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
969:Alone in the room, Gwen went through the time-honoured routine of the international business traveller. She jumped up and down and found the floor to be solid. ~ Dave Hutchinson, #NFDB
970:But this was the way of it for me. I was forever falling for men who had neither the room nor interest in their lives for me, then hating the world for a time. ~ Kate Canterbary, #NFDB
971:Come on, Penny. Rita came over and Nate loosened his grasp. We've got to go to the kitchen. She turned to Nate. You know, the room with all the sharp knives. ~ Elizabeth Eulberg, #NFDB
972:He looked around the room at all the stuff. But it wasn't just stuff and it wasn't just any girl grenade that had gone off in there. It was Nikki McKinney grenade. ~ Tara Janzen, #NFDB
973:I didn't really know what to expect from detention but when I waked into the room, the first thought I had was, I don't belong in here with these future criminals. ~ Jeff Kinney, #NFDB
974:I don’t want to be alone,” I whispered. The second those words left my mouth, Vivvie flew across the room. She hugged me like hugging was a contact sport. ~ Jennifer Lynn Barnes, #NFDB
975:Ignoring the whispers of the skull, which kept suggesting different, unlikely kitchen utensils that could be used for murder, I sketched out a map of the room. ~ Jonathan Stroud, #NFDB
976:Ladies, ladies, ladies,” Hugh Shaughnessy said as he strode into the room with his son in his arms. “There is plenty of this baby – and his poop – to go around. ~ Samantha Chase, #NFDB
977:The hard bed, the stool beside it, the stark cross on the wall, each cast shadows. Only the man in the bed seemed shadowless. He was the stillest thing in the room. ~ Jane Yolen, #NFDB
978:There is a peculiar burning odor in the room, like explosives. the kitchen fills with smoke and the hot, sweet, ashy smell of scorched cookies. The war has begun. ~ Alison Lurie, #NFDB
979:The room had the rather sinister tedium which some bedrooms have, a sort of weary banality which is a reminder of death. A dressing table can be a terrible thing. ~ Iris Murdoch, #NFDB
980:You're the brightest thing in the room," he said. He lifted his hand from my waist, and slowly, carefully brushed a stray lock of hair from my cheek. "You shine. ~ Morgan Matson, #NFDB
981:Chief Shippy stands frozen, holding his breath, exhaling with relief as the young man dies, the gun smoke slowly moving across the room, like a school of fish. ~ Aleksandar Hemon, #NFDB
982:I'll never forget Jonah's face. A light poured out of him and became the spirit of the room, like a genie released from a bottle after centuries of darkness. ~ Natalie Standiford, #NFDB
983:Allison broke the silence with her wispy voice. "Do you know what the best part of having AIDS is?" Every eye in the room turned to her. "Knowing all of you. ~ Deanna Lynn Sletten, #NFDB
984:I remember trying not to disrupt everyone else in the room, fumbling around trying to figure out how to use the medium with a beautiful model disrobed in front of me. ~ Don Watson, #NFDB
985:Mee popped her head into the room and looked at Win. He mouthed a no in her direction. Her pretty face vanished. Win said, “It’s not yet Mee time.” I shook my head. ~ Harlan Coben, #NFDB
986:Quit making out in my kitchen," Dan asserted as he loudly entered the room, his voice reaching us first. "You're going to contaminate the food. Totally unsanitary. ~ Megan Squires, #NFDB
987:She came into the room with an easy gracefulness which would at once command the respect of any lunatic—for easiness is one of the qualities mad people most respect. ~ Bram Stoker, #NFDB
988:The room spun, and I was suddenly queasy, and why did I slam all that tequila, and oh my God, my wrist is currently attached to my tit like a T. rex arm. “Hey, ~ Ilsa Madden Mills, #NFDB
989:The room stank of boys. Louise imagined a girl’s room would smell of nail varnish, pencils, cheap candy sweets. Archie’s room was essence of testosterone and feet. ~ Kate Atkinson, #NFDB
990:Because clutter has been eliminated, it’s much easier to clean and therefore we do it more thoroughly. The fresher air in the room must certainly be good for the skin. ~ Marie Kond, #NFDB
991:critics have been methodically exploring this terrain for many decades, trying to figure out exactly what happens when we listen to music with no musicians in the room. ~ Alex Ross, #NFDB
992:He led her past a beaded curtain and into a private back room. The room was gold and green and looked like a Midwest cheerleader uniform had inspired the décor. “You ~ Harlan Coben, #NFDB
993:If you lock me in the room with a piano teacher for a year I might be able to knock out a rendition of 'Roll Out The Barrel,' but will I ever be a concert pianist? No. ~ Alan Sugar, #NFDB
994:It's important to work out & be the best version of yourself that you can be but never feel like you have to be the skinniest girl in the room to be the prettiest. ~ Kim Kardashian, #NFDB
995:I was too excited and threw my book across the room. It was so good that it made me angry. People would think I’m nuts if I try to explain it to them, so I don’t. ~ Erika L S nchez, #NFDB
996:Patriarchy is like the elephant in the room that we don't talk about, but how could it not affect the planet radically when it's the superstructure of human society? ~ Ani DiFranco, #NFDB
997:Perhaps the two greatest moments of my life were standing on the moon and being outside of the room when my granddaughter was born! We tend not to remember the worst. ~ Gene Cernan, #NFDB
998:room was crowded with officers bringing reports or collecting orders, or simply gathering gossip. At one end of the room was a very venerable, ornate and crumbling ~ Susanna Clarke, #NFDB
999:She came into the room with an easy gracefulness which would at once command the respect of any lunatic, for easiness is one of the qualities mad people most respect. ~ Bram Stoker, #NFDB
1000:His eyes met mine and the rest of the room faded away. ―I‘m always going to keep your heart safe, even if mine has to stop beating for that to happen,‖ he told me softly. ~ P C Cast, #NFDB
1001:It is your turn to say something now, Mr. Darcy. I talked about the dance, and you ought to make some kind of remark on the size of the room, or the number of couples. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1002:She had stayed inside so that she could watch it on the TV in the room, let him know how it had looked on video, how the commentators and pundits had framed it. It ~ Neal Stephenson, #NFDB
1003:Sloane slipped into the room the way a knife slips into a wound: silently, and with the potential to do a lot of damage to anything that happened to get in her way. ~ Seanan McGuire, #NFDB
1004:We’re going to Houston?” “California. Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, to be precise.” He crossed the room and reached for the door. “We need to interview some SEALs. ~ Laura Griffin, #NFDB
1005:What are they after?” Kat asked. “Hard to say,” Hale said; again, he eyed the room. “Who is that?” Macey asked. “The reason I wasn’t flirting with you,” Hale told her. ~ Ally Carter, #NFDB
1006:What have I done to her?" Gabriel muttered to himself as he crossed the room to crank open a window. Cool air washed over his skin. "What the devil did she do to me? ~ Olivia Parker, #NFDB
1007:When blame inevitably arises, the most senior people in the room should repeat this mantra: if a mistake happens, shame on us for making it so easy to make that mistake. ~ Eric Ries, #NFDB
1008:At the sight of a Sanza brother offering cards, every guard in the room took a step back; some of them visibly struggled with the idea of raising their crossbows again. ~ Scott Lynch, #NFDB
1009:grabbed Frank by his shoulders. “Let me do the talking.” Then I pushed him toward the room. I wanted Frank to enter first, figuring it would cause the man to feel a little ~ L T Ryan, #NFDB
1010:It was still quite light out of doors, but inside with the curtains drawn and the smouldering fire sending out a dim, uncertain glow, the room was full of deep shadows. ~ Kate Chopin, #NFDB
1011:She was no longer the princess who loved to watch pink snowflakes swirling down from the cloudy sky, one who could command the bowed knee of every person in the room. ~ Colleen Oakes, #NFDB
1012:Somebody in the back of the room squealed. Classic. It doesn’t matter what time of day it happens—the power goes out, and somebody yelps like the building’s collapsing. ~ Rick Yancey, #NFDB
1013:The room was full of the kind of light you got when you woke up on a winter’s morning and knew, by the light, that it had snowed. It was a light without shadows. He ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
1014:Tropical trees had been planted throughout the room, along with bright flowering plants that were busy committing the olfactory floral equivalent of aggravated assault. ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
1015:With her mauve lipstick in place and her glossy hair smoothed, she was shooting colors all around the room. Could you scare a dead boy with the vibrancy of your life? ~ Karen Russell, #NFDB
1016:[BURR]
We dream of a brand new start, but we dream in the dark for the most part. Dark as a tomb where it happens. I've got to be in the room where it happens. ~ Lin Manuel Miranda,#NFDB
1017:Dr. Phil never talked about Smyrna and left the room if anyone did. He never mentioned his murdered sons and daughters. Maybe this was the reason for his survival. ~ Jeffrey Eugenides, #NFDB
1018:He got up in front of the room and started telling us that we were doing things all wrong. He told us we should be winning their hearts and minds instead of killing them. ~ Chris Kyle, #NFDB
1019:'OSBOURNE!’ he shouted. ‘YOU’RE A DISGRACE TO YOURSELF AND TO THIS SCHOOL. BRING ME A SHOE.’
The room went so quiet you could have heard a mouse fart. ~ Ozzy Osbourne,#NFDB
1020:It was so dark it was like noting was there in the room but us. Only the nothing was actually something because it filled my eyes and lungs and it sat on my shoulders. ~ Paul Tremblay, #NFDB
1021:Since then, I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room. ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
1022:Utter SILENCE must be observed in the room. Whoever pronounces a word in the presence of Sri Aurobindo will have to leave the place immediately.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I,#NFDB
1023:I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone's heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making, not one of us moving, not even when the room went dark. ~ Raymond Carver, #NFDB
1024:I have not looked at a newspaper in twenty years; if one is brought into the room, I flee. This is not because I am indifferent but because one cannot follow every road. ~ Jean Cocteau, #NFDB
1025:I lay there, stretched out, looking at the one star visible through the tiny window of the room. Only connect. How can you do that when the connections are broken? ~ Jeanette Winterson, #NFDB
1026:Plants grew in the corners of the room, pale pink pods that occasionally liked to dine on warm meat through some corrosive process Dominic didn’t want to understand. ~ Kathryne Kennedy, #NFDB
1027:Rifles coughed bullets, shotguns barked slugs, and pulse rifles screamed, but nothing managed to hit me as I spun around the room and searched for my next target. ~ Michael Scott Earle, #NFDB
1028:Sentinel, you are always the most beautiful woman in the room, irrespective of what you're wearing. And most especially and preferably when you're wearing nothing at all. ~ Chloe Neill, #NFDB
1029:The old lady pulled her spectacles down and looked over them about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them. She seldom or never looked THROUGH them for so ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
1030:And did you find the safe Leo mentioned? Is it already open?” Eli’s lips twitched. “Yes. And not yet. I thought about blowing it up, but it might make a mess of the room. ~ Faith Hunter, #NFDB
1031:my illness became truer and truer, grew large, filled the room, filled my body, filled my recent and deeper past. When had I become so ill? Had I always been this way? ~ Catherine Lacey, #NFDB
1032:The meals were served in a large hall, in which Moctezuma was accustomed to eat, and the dishes quite filled the room, which was covered with mats and kept very clean. ~ Hernando Cortes, #NFDB
1033:Then the room was spinning and I was hugging people, and crying—all at the same time, in a blur of warm orange lights and friendly faces and music that touched my soul. I ~ Derek Murphy, #NFDB
1034:...there's no such thing as an underwear elf. Even when it goes missing, it's somewhere in the room. So make sure you find it." -- DARK OF NIGHT by Suzanne Brockmann ~ Suzanne Brockmann, #NFDB
1035:The room was so unearthly quiet, I lost all sense of time being divided into seconds. I felt that I was the only person alive and moving in a world brought to a stop. ~ Banana Yoshimoto, #NFDB
1036:Typography must be as beautiful as a forest, not like the concrete jungle of the tenements It gives distance between the trees, the room to breathe and allow for life. ~ Adrian Frutiger, #NFDB
1037:What’s this ”
“A needle.”
“What should I do with it ” He’d walked right into it. Too easy.
“Please use it to pop your head. It’s obscuring my view of the room. ~ Ilona Andrews,#NFDB
1038:A congressman actually apologized to BP's CEO for the way the company has been treated. How stupid are you when the CEO of BP is in the room and people think you're the moron? ~ Jay Leno, #NFDB
1039:A flood of inadequacy poured over me, a feeling of I-don’t-belong, but if not here, then where? The room began to close in around me, blanketing me with acute heaviness. ~ Laurelin Paige, #NFDB
1040:Alright," she said. "But what is your relationship?" A silence fell upon the room until Miles grunted as if waking up from a slumber. "Mine," he growled. "She's mine. ~ Isabella Starling, #NFDB
1041:A sharp lurch in the ship sent them tumbling. An instant later, a loud warning siren blared. “We’re being attacked.” The tall man ran out of the room at a deadly pace. ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon, #NFDB
1042:At the back of the room, the exiled prince gets to his feet. He holds my gaze, as if his eyes alone could set me on fire. A waste. There is nothing in me left to burn. ~ Victoria Aveyard, #NFDB
1043:Elinor could sit still no longer. She almost ran out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed, burst into tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1044:Finally,” Lilith said, smiling warmly at her. “A reasonable angel.”
“I’m no angel,” Eleanore quietly insisted.
“Yes, you are,” said every man in the room. ~ Heather Killough Walden,#NFDB
1045:He could see that he had too many flowers in the room, and must add more to make it come back right again. Too many flowers was too many, but way too many was just right. ~ Thomas Harris, #NFDB
1046:He's looking for the president's kidnapped daughter; everybody he calls on to help him is busy, but lo and behold, you look across the room, and I'm waiting for that action. ~ Derek Luke, #NFDB
1047:I have only the vaguest memory of a life before fear. Every morning when I wake up there is one blissful second before I took around the room and remember my daily terrors. ~ Lena Dunham, #NFDB
1048:I looked around the room trying to think of a situation that could be any worse than this, and decided that the only thing that could be worse than prison was the navy. ~ Chelsea Handler, #NFDB
1049:I never go back and listen to the recorded document. The thrill comes when the balance can be attained. Everyone in the room can have a shared, communal rock experience. ~ Thurston Moore, #NFDB
1050:Joe looked at the stacks of books in every corner of the room. “I’ll do my best,” he said. “Rest. I’ll be back tonight. It’s nice that you’re able to talk again, Oskar. ~ Andrew Peterson, #NFDB
1051:She was running out of the room as fast as she could, with the sword raised before her. She called back to her father. "I'll be back soon. I've just got to save the world. ~ Karen Foxlee, #NFDB
1052:She was twentysix and pretty in a way that made men want to tuck her into flannel sheets and kiss her on the forehead before leaving the room; cute but not beautiful. ~ Christopher Moore, #NFDB
1053:The room inside is definitely the biggest plus of the car. Your head is not anywhere near the (roll) bars, like it's sitting against the bars in the other (current) cars. ~ Kevin Harvick, #NFDB
1054:Welcome,” Bell said, not rising from a large wooden chair that had been placed in the center of the room like it was a throne. Would that make him the king of sewer rats? ~ Kalayna Price, #NFDB
1055:1152
Triumph—may Be Of Several Kinds
455
Triumph—may be of several kinds—
There's Triumph in the Room
When that Old Imperator—Death—
By Faith
~ Emily Dickinson,#NFDB
1056:All you've got to do is turn up and have a few facial tics and be a lunatic and throw someone around the room or blow their brains out and people think it's good acting. ~ Paddy Considine, #NFDB
1057:In the morning, she was not sure that she had slept as much as lived a set of vivid dreams, letting them linger so that she would not have to open her eyes and see the room. ~ Colm T ib n, #NFDB
1058:I totally related to Cole Porter's magnetic pull to any piano that was in the room, which he was famous for doing, as was Gershwin. You couldn't drag them away from a piano. ~ Kevin Kline, #NFDB
1059:Lady Constance swept into the room as giddy and foolish as ever. To look at her, you would think that nothing unpleasant had ever happened in the whole history of England. ~ Maryrose Wood, #NFDB
1060:Mathis turned off the radio and waved an affectionate farewell. The door slammed and silence settled on the room. Bond sat for a while by the window and enjoyed being alive. ~ Ian Fleming, #NFDB
1061:Mike could hear ELOPe’s voice right in his ear, while in the background, he could hear ELOPe carrying on a different conversation with the teenagers across the room. It ~ William Hertling, #NFDB
1062:On the court our occasional touches meant little. In the room, her jostling me felt electric. I wanted to grab her tight, but didn’t. I didn’t want a scene like last time. ~ Chetan Bhagat, #NFDB
1063:Outside the trees dragged their leaves like nets through the depths of the air; the sound of water was in the room and through the waves came the voices of birds singing. ~ Virginia Woolf, #NFDB
1064:People win 'Oscars', and then it seems like they fall off the planet. And that's partly because a huge expectation walks in the room and sits right down on top of your head. ~ Halle Berry, #NFDB
1065:The late afternoon sky bloomed in the window for a moment like the blue honey of the Mediterranean - then the shrill voice of Mrs. McKee called me back into the room. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
1066:Chuchundra is a broken-hearted little beast. He whimpers and cheeps all the night, trying to make up his mind to run into the middle of the room. But he never gets there. ~ Rudyard Kipling, #NFDB
1067:George Vida braced his hands on the table before taking his seat, his gaze strafing the room with the discernment of a leathery old goat sniffing for something to nibble on. ~ Lisa Wingate, #NFDB
1068:He treats his body like it's made of fireworks, each one timed to the beat. Is he dancing alone or dancing with everyone in the room? Here's the secret: It doesn't matter. ~ David Levithan, #NFDB
1069:I felt nothing change in the room, except the shock of my voice alone and the peculiar euphoria one feels in the wake of applause, feeling at once cheapened and triumphant. ~ Jessie Burton, #NFDB
1070:I go to a dance class myself called BBS - Body By Simone - its little mini dance routines and I am often the oldest person in the room although I forget that. I'm fairly fit. ~ Naomi Watts, #NFDB
1071:In an instant, everything in the room came alive. Like the sunshine had a melody and the sounds of footsteps had a texture I could feel in my fingertips each time anyone moved ~ Kiera Cass, #NFDB
1072:Mother-trucker biscuit fucker,” I said, a saying my mother had always used when I was in the room and she was trying not to swear. By the last word, she’d apparently given up. ~ K F Breene, #NFDB
1073:The air in the room was so cold, the exposed flesh of his face felt like ice. "I'll be the first person to get frostbite in a house sleeping several feet from a roaring fire. ~ Hunter Shea, #NFDB
1074:they talked, too, of their futures, as if they could shape the glittering course of their destinies with secret confessions offered like prayers to the room’s benevolent hush. ~ Libba Bray, #NFDB
1075:You use the hosts to find the right targets. Thieves, thugs, murderers, bankers, lawyers. The obvious fuck-ups. The ones like you.” A ripple of chuckles circled the room. ~ Barbara Elsborg, #NFDB
1076:After we left the bedroom, I overheard Henry teasing Bryce about adding a little more nuts to his candy bars, and I had to leave the room so he wouldn’t see me laughing. ~ Kristen Middleton, #NFDB
1077:Always remember that when a man goes out of the room, he leaves everything in it behind. When a woman goes out she carries everything that happened in the room along with her. ~ Alice Munro, #NFDB
1078:Baking and love go hand in hand, for as one bakes a tasty treat and fills the room with its sweet aroma, the true joy is to take what has been made and share it with another. ~ Heather Wolf, #NFDB
1079:But it seemed that that would spoil the symmetry of the room, and in hospitals symmetry ranked just a short head behind cleanliness and a whole length in front of Godliness. ~ Josephine Tey, #NFDB
1080:He, Teddy and Eliza entered the room just as someone was snapping a picture: they would be forever captured in a photo they didn't belong in, blinking against the flash. ~ Eleanor Henderson, #NFDB
1081:I awoke in a cold sweat. The red light of the clock told me it was close to five A.M., and my eyes searched the room around me, trying to acclimate after another nightmare. ~ Robert J Crane, #NFDB
1082:She looked into the shadowed corners of the room. Talking with him was like having a flower unfold inside her chest, then close up tight. Creep open. Collapse in on itself. ~ Marie Rutkoski, #NFDB
1083:SUN WAS in the room when he woke. He sat up and looked toward the bars, but the bars weren’t there. Just a window, lower than it should have been until he realized he was up ~ Dennis Lehane, #NFDB
1084:the person talking to you never looks directly at you, but rather around the room, searching for the answer to the universal cocktail party question, 'Who's here tonight? ~ Letitia Baldrige, #NFDB
1085:the room had grown smothery. He wanted to be out in some cool and bitter breeze, miles above the cities, and to live serene and detached back in the corners of his mind ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
1086:Across the room he had placed a mirror he’d found in her bathroom on a table. It was angled so that he could see her face reflected in it, while he remained hidden from her. ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
1087:crossed the room and lit a cigarette, though smoking was discouraged on campus and about as stupid and self-destructive an activity as anything our species has devised. ~ T Coraghessan Boyle, #NFDB
1088:He thought that he disliked seeing one who had mortified him so keenly; but he was mistaken. It was a stinging pleasure to be in the room with her, and feel her presence. ~ Elizabeth Gaskell, #NFDB
1089:I can't give more than I have. It doesn't matter if I am the most beautiful person in the room. There is inevitably going to be somebody way shinier and more tan than my pasty self. ~ Olivia, #NFDB
1090:I felt his eyes devour me as I moved around the room. He assessed me head to toe without blinking, and a hot ache shivered through me. A kiss would've been less intimate. ~ Becca Fitzpatrick, #NFDB
1091:...lying spread-eagled in the hall with only my ankle inside
the room that kept me prisoner here. They really should have thought of that and tagged my neck or something. ~ Kiersten White,#NFDB
1092:She felt like Alice in Wonderland. Like the soda must have had a little drink me tag and now the room was shrinking, or she was growing, or either way there wasn’t enough space. ~ V E Schwab, #NFDB
1093:The room spun with a thousand threads of words and thoughts and senses invisibly interweaving a cloak around us, embracing us with a warmth that surpassed all previous comfort. ~ Nancy Moser, #NFDB
1094:You had to search to find the dark grimy area. But Adrienne knew it was there. And though the rest of the room looked gorgeous, filthy floorboards were all she could see. His ~ Heather Burch, #NFDB
1095:A few minutes later, she spied Lord Ashton arriving. The moment he saw her, his eyes locked upon hers. He crossed the room like a barbarian bent upon claiming his woman. ~ Michelle Willingham, #NFDB
1096:Big Cyndi crossed the room with an agility that belied the bulk. She wrapped me in an embrace that made me feel as if I’d been mummified in wet attic insulation. In a good way. ~ Harlan Coben, #NFDB
1097:Either her dream had taken a very odd turn or else - or else Mary had really rushed into the room and had said (incredible! fantastic!) that there was a body in the library. ~ Agatha Christie, #NFDB
1098:Get some rest," he advised. "You're going to have to get used to staying up late." He sent her a scoundrelly wink and slipped out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him. ~ Gaelen Foley, #NFDB
1099:He made a gesture and a man came over from the other side of the room with the bottle, and refilled my snifter. Having people around to do that is why one strives to be rich. ~ Gene Doucette, #NFDB
1100:I don't know, in view of the situation, and the act going where it was going, I don't know, the rage - the rage did go all over the place. It went to everybody in the room. ~ Michael Richards, #NFDB
1101:I feel like any minute a guy in a lavender suit will burst into the room with a microphone and bellow, "Another alternate-reality moment brought to you by Adolescence! ~ Laurie Halse Anderson, #NFDB
1102:Many men believe in the saying that educating women is like allowing the nose of the camel into the tent: eventually the beast will edge in and take up all the room inside. ~ Geraldine Brooks, #NFDB
1103:Oh contraire, mon frère. I’m able to annoy all adults in ten syllables or less. Sometimes, I don’t even have to speak at all. I just walk into the room and it rankles them. ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon, #NFDB
1104:That night, how could I sleep?
I lay and watched the lonely gloom;
And watched the moonlight creep
From wall to basin, round the room.
All night I could not sleep. ~ Rupert Brooke,#NFDB
1105:The double doors separating the private dining room from the rest of Bernard’s swung open. A tall broad-shouldered body filled the doorway. Hugh d’Ambray strode into the room. ~ Ilona Andrews, #NFDB
1106:There was a sense of tightness in the room now, filling the space. Attraction was like that. It filled. It poured into you like batter into a pan, sticking to the sides. ~ Sarah Addison Allen, #NFDB
1107:The room continued to spin though she was standing still, but her ears were hot. She felt like she'd just slammed three doubles of tequila and needed a fistfight chaser. ~ Michael R Underwood, #NFDB
1108:The room was modern, but there was something about the arrangement of so much gleaming steel, the careful placement on the counters of jars and dishes, that looked timeless. ~ Sharon J Bolton, #NFDB
1109:A ferocious growl drew my gaze to the back of the room, where a hairy beast wore a yellow ball gown. I tried to block out the memory of Beauty in that dress earlier this evening. ~ Betsy Schow, #NFDB
1110:At first it was glaring, but eventually, as the months wore on, it lessened until, by the time he took his exams, most even forgot to look concerned when he entered the room. ~ Victoria Schwab, #NFDB
1111:But the truth is, sometimes kids—and adults—seem to wait until their relatives are out of the room to go. It’s like they don’t want to distress them more than they have to. ~ Diane Chamberlain, #NFDB
1112:He held me still and spanked me again, really hard, the sound vibrating around the room. I felt dizzy. My throat was dry and suddenly the pain turned to an unexpected pleasure. ~ Chloe Thurlow, #NFDB
1113:Her mother came into the room and sat on the edge of the bed. “Sometimes life doesn’t turn out the way we think it will, but it could mean that better things are at the door. ~ Ruth Ann Nordin, #NFDB
1114:He was waiting for me at the best table in the room, toying with a glass of white wine and listening to the pianist who was playing a piece by Granados with velvet fingers. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n, #NFDB
1115:I had the same manager as Frank Sinatra, so I got to meet him and he truly impressed me. He had this magical aura - the whole atmosphere in the room changed when he walked in. ~ Tony Blackburn, #NFDB
1116:My candle was a little tongue of light in its vastness, that failed to pierce the opposite end of the room, and left an ocean of mystery and suggestion beyond its island of light. ~ E F Benson, #NFDB
1117:Oh, God. Caleb, please.” Pain steals my breath, and my words barely make it out before another punch slams my head into the wall. The room spins and tilts, and the edges darken. ~ Kennedy Ryan, #NFDB
1118:People grow and change and develop through their experiences, so ultimately you have to go with what's in the room - the feeling you get from them and what the camera picks up. ~ Thea Sharrock, #NFDB
1119:Rush walked into the room with Nate in his arms and a baby bag over his shoulder. That was funny shit. Rush Finlay, badass rock star’s son, had a baby bag and a baby in his arms. ~ Abbi Glines, #NFDB
1120:[...] she knew not that a visitor had arrived within the last few minutes, till, on entering the room, the first object she beheld was a young man whom she had never seen before. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1121:The biggest fatal flaw in most fictional portrayals of nanotech - what sends those books arcing across the room - is ignoring that the nanobots need energy to do... anything. ~ Edward M Lerner, #NFDB
1122:The landscape is best described as 'pedestrian hostile.' It's pointless to try to take a walk, so I generally just stay in the room and think about shooting myself in the head. ~ David Sedaris, #NFDB
1123:The room does not smell like apple. It smells like frog juice, a cross between a nursing home and potato salad. The Back Row pays attention. Cutting dead frogs is cool. ~ Laurie Halse Anderson, #NFDB
1124:the room looks like it was bought through some Decorate Your Home app where you plug in your budget and your favorite colors and the whole thing arrives in a van the next day. In ~ Tana French, #NFDB
1125:When you're writing‚ you're conjuring. It's a ritual‚ and you need to be brave and respectful and sometimes get out of the way of whatever it is that you're inviting into the room. ~ Tom Waits, #NFDB
1126:Yes, well, how was I to know you would be so dramatic? Really, Francine, I don’t know where you get it from.” Then she primly grabbed the fowling gun before departing from the room. ~ Jade Lee, #NFDB
1127:And this," cried Darcy, as he walked with quick steps across the room, "is your opinion of me! This is the estimation in which you hold me! I thank you for explaining it so fully. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1128:And what does it matter when light enters the room where a child sleeps and the waking mother, opening her eyes, wishes more than anything to be unwakened by what she cannot name? ~ Mark Strand, #NFDB
1129:If we live long enough, we may even get over war. I imagine a time when somebody will mention the word war and everyone in the room will start to laugh. And what do you mean war? ~ Maya Angelou, #NFDB
1130:I think above all else it is freedom I search for in my work, in these far-flung places, to find a group of people who give each other the room to be in whatever way they need to be ~ Lily King, #NFDB
1131:Maybe I naively subscribed to the foolish notion that my love could save him. Whatever the reason, I entered the room and sank to the carpet beside that sad and broken boy. ~ A Meredith Walters, #NFDB
1132:Maybe it will go away,' said Lucy.
'It'll be worse if it does,' said Edmund, 'because then we shan't know where it is. If there is a wasp in the room I like to be able to see it. ~ C S Lewis,#NFDB
1133:The rest of his toilet was soon achieved, and he proudly marched out of the room, wrapped up in his great pilot monkey jacket, and sporting his harpoon like a marshal's baton. ~ Herman Melville, #NFDB
1134:The room was not impressively large, even by Manhattan apartment-house standards, but its accumulated furnishings might have lent a snug appearance to a banquet hall in Valhalla. ~ J D Salinger, #NFDB
1135:The witchlight cut into the shadows that seemed to hang in the room like a living thing. Emma wondered how big the cave really was, and how much of it was a shifting illusion. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
1136:What are they after?” Kat asked.
“Hard to say,” Hale said; again, he eyed the room.
“Who is that?” Macey asked.
“The reason I wasn’t flirting with you,” Hale told her. ~ Ally Carter,#NFDB
1137:When you are writing, you're conjuring. It's a ritual, and you need to be brave and respectful and sometimes get out of the way of whatever it is that you're inviting into the room. ~ Tom Waits, #NFDB
1138:I decide to go out and spend all my money on underwear, then throw them about the room to
decide my fate like a satiny, lace-gusseted I Ching. Let the gods of Beau Bra decide. ~ Belle de Jour,#NFDB
1139:I mean, if I were a guy, looking to pay a girl to wank
me off, I wouldn’t walk in the room and say, “My God, I smell hints of fresh strudel and nutmeg…
quick, grab my dick! ~ Gillian Flynn,#NFDB
1140:I think above all else it is freedom I search for in my work, in these far-flung places, to find a group of people who give each other the room to be in whatever way they need to be. ~ Lily King, #NFDB
1141:The stage of mental comfort to which they had arrived at this hour was one wherein their souls expanded beyond their skins, and spread their personalities warmly through the room. ~ Thomas Hardy, #NFDB
1142:Whatever you see me do is spontaneous reactions on stage. It's nothing planned. It's nothing that I got in the room and tried to think of hard. It just happens through feeling. ~ Michael Jackson, #NFDB
1143:An old dog traipsed into the room on rigid legs. It looked like he was trying to wag his tail, but the result was a pitiful sway. He managed to lick Myron’s hand with a dry tongue. ~ Harlan Coben, #NFDB
1144:Fucking gorgeous man. And the best part? The way he looked at me. Like I was the prettiest girl in the room.
“Hey, baby.”
The man was a poet.
“Hey.”
I was too. ~ Alice Clayton,#NFDB
1145:I go around the world dealing with running and hiding... I can't take a walk in the park . I can't go to the store... I have to hide in the room. You feel like you're in prison. ~ Michael Jackson, #NFDB
1146:I suffer for birds and fireflies but not frogs, she said, and threw him across the room. Kaboom! Like a genie out of a samovar, a handsome prince arose in the corner of the bedroom. ~ Anne Sexton, #NFDB
1147:The room was dark except for the light of her phone. She picked it up, even though nothing good ever came from answering the phone in the middle of the night. “Hello?” Franny said. ~ Ann Patchett, #NFDB
1148:untold hours” deciding on the right chairs for the room, ultimately choosing a set of seven tan leather recliners from Norwegian furniture company Ekornes. “I went to furniture stores ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1149:What's celebrate?" Eddie asked.
"That's when you can't get no dame," said Mack.
"I thought it was a kind of a party," said Jones.
A silence fell on the room. ~ John Steinbeck,#NFDB
1150:If you have the ability to work with people smarter than you, always try to be the least smartest person in the room and surround yourself with talent, because iron sharpens iron. ~ Jake M Johnson, #NFDB
1151:I think you’re beautiful, the only beautiful person I’ve ever seen. I love your voice and everything to do with you, down to your clothes or the room you are sitting in. I adore you. ~ E M Forster, #NFDB
1152:Listening to the sound of the water, her sound, her lovely body glistening through the room a moment from now. There are only moments. Live in this one. The happiness of these days. ~ Kate Millett, #NFDB
1153:Okay," Ranger said. "We're going to walk through the room and look for this guy. Pretend I'm not here."
"You going to be the wind again?" I asked.
Ranger grinned. "Wiseass. ~ Janet Evanovich,#NFDB
1154:The awkward thing is the people in the room besides us. It's not us. It's just the 20 or 30 people that are around on set, who normally wouldn't be on set. That's always interesting. ~ Mike Colter, #NFDB
1155:The best way ah knew tae strike a chord without compromising too much tae the sickening hypocrisy, perversely peddled as decency, which fills the room, is tae stick tae the clichés. ~ Irvine Welsh, #NFDB
1156:The first look was the deepest, watching her, with all her tricks and movements, fearfully, from across the room and feeling that hit of longing, and thinking she was out of my league. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1157:The room was not a room to elevate the soul. Louis XIV, to pick a name at random, would not have liked it, would have found it not sunny enough, and insufficiently full of mirrors. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
1158:He finished shaving by touch, still walking around the room, for he tried to see himself in the mirror as little as possible so he would not have to look into his own eyes. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez, #NFDB
1159:I don't want more sense!" I said loudly, beating against the silence of the room. "Not if sense means I'll stop loving anyone. What is there besides people that's worth holding on to? ~ Naomi Novik, #NFDB
1160:I'm not great at bedtime stories. Bedtime stories are supposed to put the kid to sleep. My kid gets riled up and then my wife has to come in and go, 'All right! Get out of the room.' ~ Adam Sandler, #NFDB
1161:My eyes flick up to the pane of glass punched into the wall. Pinks and reds filter into the room and I know it’s the start of a new beginning. The start of the same end. Another day. ~ Tahereh Mafi, #NFDB
1162:Now, for the first time in my life, I empathize 100 percent with Fluff McFly. My heart is beating at hamster-speed and I am throwing my eyes around the room, looking for some way out. ~ Robin Sloan, #NFDB
1163:That's tree persons in the room now and two of us, that equals five, it's nearly full of arms and legs and chests. They're all saying till I hurt. "Stop all saying at the same time. ~ Emma Donoghue, #NFDB
1164:The one thing that astonished him now was that he should have stood for five minutes arguing with her across the width of the room, when just touching her made everything so simple. ~ Edith Wharton, #NFDB
1165:We could've done this anywhere, but I wanted you to see me, to see this," he said, gesturing at the room. "I wanted you to know where I come from, what I am under the choices I make. ~ Kim Harrison, #NFDB
1166:What had I read back then, what had made me feel that way? I had a volume of Rilke and Saint Augustine and early Hemingway stories. I must have left them in the room when I moved away. ~ Sara Majka, #NFDB
1167:As actors, we went where we wanted to, and the camera followed us: it was like having another person in the room. There was no formal structure to the process. It was very liberating. ~ Emily Watson, #NFDB
1168:Dressed in his black leather jacket and black leather pants, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses, his face shadowed with stubble, he stepped into the room like menace come to life. ~ Pamela Clare, #NFDB
1169:Escape was impossible. Victory even more so. Wulfgar’s only thought and desire at that moment was to be spared the indignity and anguish of lycanthropy. Then Drizzt entered the room. ~ R A Salvatore, #NFDB
1170:Ghosts are waiting in the shadows of the room, patient dull shimmers. The others can see them, too, I know it. We’re all afraid to talk about what stares at us from the dark. ~ Laurie Halse Anderson, #NFDB
1171:I can't talk to him anymore. I can't fix him. I can't keep fixing what's wrong with this family," she said, and like her brother only a little while earlier, she stormed out of the room. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1172:I’d hate to interrupt this witch hunt with a substantive conversation.” I glance over to the corner of the room, where Carolyn Brock winces, a rare break in her implacable expression. ~ Bill Clinton, #NFDB
1173:I relate to this story almost as I would a friend or a lover - at times I want to breathe its entire alphabet into my lungs, and at others I should prefer to throw it across the room. ~ Lyndsay Faye, #NFDB
1174:One thing I discovered is that the book world is vast. It's easy to walk around the store - even the room with literature and poetry, where I work most often - and feel overwhelmed. ~ Kevin Sampsell, #NFDB
1175:The laird wasn’t uppermost on her mind
this morning. Sleep was.
Another giggle raced around the room,
and Mairin realized that once again, she’d
given voice to her thoughts. ~ Maya Banks,#NFDB
1176:The nice thing about being a director is that I can say, "I can only get into the room after the kids are at school, and I have to be back for dinner. And they're coming for lunch." ~ Angelina Jolie, #NFDB
1177:the room. ‘Do you ever pick anything up when you drop it? Goodness, what’s this mess on the carpet – something stuck to it?’ ‘Oh – so that’s where my nougat went!’ said Peter, scraping ~ Enid Blyton, #NFDB
1178:His hair smelled fresh and earthy, as if he lived in the outdoors, but the room smelled of farts. I’ll never understand how little boys can fart so much. It’s like they store them up. ~ Jo Ann Carson, #NFDB
1179:If you have a milkshake and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw and my straw reaches across the room and starts to drink your milkshake... I drink your milkshake! I drink it up! ~ Daniel Day Lewis, #NFDB
1180:I had allowed that little Pigeon of Hope far too much leeway, and each time I let it soar it had circled the room and come back to poop on my head. I was not going to let it fly again. ~ Jeff Lindsay, #NFDB
1181:It was some time since I had gone to sleep in the same room with a girl. Of course, the room was large and reasonably well-lighted, and the girl had other things than me on her mind. ~ Ross Macdonald, #NFDB
1182:I wanted to be the writer in the room setting depth charges of feeling out the world with my language.You know, I had a very romantic idea about that.But I grew into being a performer. ~ Rosanne Cash, #NFDB
1183:Other people's happiness is always a fascinating bore. It sucks the oxygen out of the room; you're left gasping, greedy, amazed by a deficit in yourself you hadn't ever noticed. ~ Elizabeth McCracken, #NFDB
1184:Putting Henry at shortstop - it was like taking a painting that had been shoved in a closet and hanging it in the ideal spot. You instantly forgot what the room had looked like before. ~ Chad Harbach, #NFDB
1185:Sacrificing your own happiness, sleep, and general will to live probably won't benefit your students as much as being a mentally healthy teacher who wants to be in the room with them. ~ Roxanna Elden, #NFDB
1186:Some people are finicky about going to the theater alone, but I’m not. Because when the lights go down, the only relationship left in the room is the one between the movie and me. ~ Stephanie Perkins, #NFDB
1187:steamy day, and though the windows of the oval study were open, the room was oppressively hot. “You know Captain Henry, of course, Admiral? His boy’s just gotten his wings at Pensacola. ~ Herman Wouk, #NFDB
1188:That is not an adequate response, faerie,” he growled. His Power lay in the room, a heavy brooding presence. “I require a series of words strung together that make coherent sentences. ~ Thea Harrison, #NFDB
1189:The temperament reflects everything like a mirror! Gaze into it and admire what you see! But why are you so pale, Rodion Romanovitch? Is the room stuffy? Shall I open the window? ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #NFDB
1190:They exchanged a brief grin and Westcliff left the room. “Arrogant, high-handed creature,” Lillian remarked, her smile lingering as she watched the earl’s departure. “God, I adore him. ~ Lisa Kleypas, #NFDB
1191:We hold on STEVE's still smiling face as MICHAEL passes by. STEVE's eyes follow MICHAEL out of the room and then the smile disappears. It is replaced by a look of hunger and desolation. ~ Stephen Fry, #NFDB
1192:Whose place am I taking?" Neil asked, because both sides of the room were already decorated. Jean stopped by one of the nightstands and gestured for Neil to come closer. "Look and see. ~ Nora Sakavic, #NFDB
1193:Alina, I’ll be back to fetch you for dinner, but should you grow restless, do feel free to run screaming from the room or take a dagger to her. Whatever seems most fitting at the time. ~ Leigh Bardugo, #NFDB
1194:...he perceived that this memory-jumbled rag-bag of material was in fact the very heart of her, her self-portrait, the way she looked in the mirror when nobody else was in the room... ~ Salman Rushdie, #NFDB
1195:He sighed, throwing his arms out to his sides. “See? I’ve lost my mojo,” he said to the room at large. Hope set her beer on the coffee table and went over to him. “I’ll dance with you. ~ Elaine Levine, #NFDB
1196:I like to think of my people as mute optimists - leave the elephant alone and, eventually, perhaps with the help of a couple mimosas, he will disappear from the room on his own accord. ~ Julie Buxbaum, #NFDB
1197:I nearly burst into tears at the sight of him and Nunzio standing hand in hand on the other side of the room. Because holy shit—they were so perfect. So unbelievably perfect. Michael ~ Santino Hassell, #NFDB
1198:In every debate, whatever the format, whatever the questions, there is one and only one way to identify the winner: Who commands the room? Who drives the narrative? Who is in charge? ~ Jeff Greenfield, #NFDB
1199:I scan the room. Catherine is writing quickly, her light brown hair falling over her face. She is left-handed, and because she writes in pencil her left arm is silver from wrist to elbow. ~ Sara Gruen, #NFDB
1200:I took a look out the window before I left the room, though, to see how all the perverts were doing, but they all had their shades down. They were the heighth of modesty in the morning. ~ J D Salinger, #NFDB
1201:It was how it had been with the madman among the tombs, that their number was legion, far in excess at any rate if the number listed on the back of the door as the room's maximum occupancy. ~ Kem Nunn, #NFDB
1202:I use those expectations as a color on my palette, a certain temperature in the room. You can use those expectations for the great punchline, but also for a great painting, in society. ~ Kehinde Wiley, #NFDB
1203:She sighed. Hopefully, Eamonn wouldn’t come waltzing back in while she stood stark naked in the center of the room. She dunked her mother’s dress in the water and wrung it out a few times. ~ Emma Hamm, #NFDB
1204:The room is full of you! — As I came in
And closed the door behind me, all at once
A something in the air, intangible,
yet stiff with meaning, struck my senses sick!— ~ Edna St Vincent Millay,#NFDB
1205:What the fuck?” Dima had two guns out, the one in his left hand pointed at X’s forehead, the other at the room. “Goddamn it, Mr. Storm. I almost shot you. That would have pissed me off. ~ Avril Ashton, #NFDB
1206:Beth,” he whispered. “Come back to me.”
He brought more of his blood to her.
“Damn it, don’t you die!” Candles flared in the room. “I love you, damn you! Goddamn you, don’t you let go! ~ J R Ward,#NFDB
1207:Invisible links like these were running between all of the people in the room that day, like they always are, like thin strands of light you couldn’t see but you knew were there regardless. ~ Ali Smith, #NFDB
1208:I walked over to her, not so much because I felt like I needed to be close to say what I needed to say, but because I hated to be on the other side of the room when I could be near her. It ~ Vi Keeland, #NFDB
1209:She focused on her favorite machine in the room: the one that kept track of Blake’s heartbeat. With slow breaths and concentration, Livia could make her heart beat in tandem with his. ~ Debra Anastasia, #NFDB
1210:So he lay there, desperate as a beetle fallen on its back, trying not to think of all the things he did not want to think of, as the dawn sifted into the room like a radiant gray dust. ~ Benjamin Black, #NFDB
1211:Weirdly, all the wood, dark walls, moody lighting, and oxblood leather makes the room kind of soft and romantic … I know it’s anything but; this is Christian’s version of soft and romantic. ~ E L James, #NFDB
1212:You are going to fail at a lot of things, so when you do, do it on such a grand scale that half the room gives you a standing ovation, and the other half gives you the middle finger. ~ Brittany Gibbons, #NFDB
1213:A woman at the rear of the room raised her hand. I was focused on the argument now and made a minor social error, which I quickly corrected. “The fat woman—overweight woman—at the back? ~ Graeme Simsion, #NFDB
1214:Good for him," Hale said. And then he stopped. There were four other people in the room, but Hale only looked at Kat, and something in his gaze burned her, froze her, made her want to run. ~ Ally Carter, #NFDB
1215:Han smiled, then, a bright, charming smile that lit up the room, more dangerous than any blade.
All you ever needed was that smile, she thought. I'd have given in immediately. ~ Cinda Williams Chima,#NFDB
1216:I’m throwing my bound fists against the door, begging. Tied, blindfolded and in desperate need to pee, I start pacing in a pattern, trying to figure out how big the room is and what’s inside. ~ L J Shen, #NFDB
1217:In England especially, I've found that if you bring up King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson at a dinner party or a social gathering, it's like throwing a Molotov cocktail into the room. ~ Madonna Ciccone, #NFDB
1218:Please. The boy gets a boner every time you walk into the room."
My eyes pop back open. Does she mean that figuratively or has she actually seen something? No. Focus, Anna. ~ Stephanie Perkins,#NFDB
1219:She grabbed all her clothes from her wardrobe and flung them across the room, screaming her head off until she finally felt sane again. Perhaps tomorrow she would buy those cats. (Holly) ~ Cecelia Ahern, #NFDB
1220:There were shadows galore in the dim light, but there was one shadow that did not correspond to any object in the room. It lurked next to the fireplace, a formless, undulating darkness. ~ Bentley Little, #NFDB
1221:The room was amazing. It was all glass, including the domed roof, and in all directions it offered a view of the Atlantic Ocean stretching empty into the distance, hinting of eternity. ~ Robert B Parker, #NFDB
1222:...the sleep which lay heavy upon the furniture, the room, the whole surroundings of which I formed but an insignificant pat and whose unconsciousness I should very soon return to share. ~ Marcel Proust, #NFDB
1223:We're releasing hardened criminals from jails all over California. They don't have the money. They don't have the room anymore. The jails are overflowing so we gotta get rid of somebody. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
1224:And in the stillness of the room you heard the roar and howl and crash of the great river whose flood had caught them land shaken them and brought Magnolia Ravenal to bed ahead of her time. ~ Edna Ferber, #NFDB
1225:A Seth Thomas steeple clock stood on a high shelf. When it struck ten, Grandma jerked awake. She looked around the room astonished. It was her belief that she never slept, not even in bed. ~ Richard Peck, #NFDB
1226:"Good for him," Hale said. And then he stopped. There were four other people in the room, but Hale only looked at Kat, and something in his gaze burned her, froze her, made her want to run. ~ Ally Carter, #NFDB
1227:Hannah kept her eyes forward, trained on two rows of rusted showerheads stuck in facing walls. Sixteen in all. The room was paved with white tile, chipped and discolored by age and use. ~ Rebecca Forster, #NFDB
1228:He lit Daisy's cigarette from a trembling match, and sat down with her on a couch far across the room, where there was no light save what the gleaming floor bounced in from the hall. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
1229:I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room. ~ Raymond Chandler, #NFDB
1230:I think when I listen to old records, it puts me back in the atmosphere of what it felt like to make the record and who was there and what the room looked like. It's more a sensory memory. ~ Billy Corgan, #NFDB
1231:Never once did Jesus scan the room for the best example of holy living and send that person out to tell others about him. He always sent stumblers and sinners. I find that comforting. ~ Nadia Bolz Weber, #NFDB
1232:She said that room up there is a remembering room
and when she is up there remembering
all those things fill up the room
and when the room is too full
they fly out the window. ~ Sharon Creech,#NFDB
1233:Sometimes you walk out of an audition and you kind of know you nailed it and you're probably going to book it, but you very rarely are told in the room by the people who are hiring you. ~ Michael Cudlitz, #NFDB
1234:That’s right. This prince of yours hasn’t left your side once, so I imagine I wouldn’t want to stop looking at him either.” She lets out a soft giggle before I hear her slip from the room. ~ Harper Sloan, #NFDB
1235:Whereupon not only did Isabel enter the room, but at the same time Mrs. Boncassen most discreetly left it. It must be confessed that American mothers are not afraid of their daughters. ~ Anthony Trollope, #NFDB
1236:As V dropped the bomb, there was a momentary period of silent saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay-whaaaaaaaaaaaaat. Then a shit-ton of gasps and cursing in the room, all kinds of WTF hitting the airwaves. ~ J R Ward, #NFDB
1237:Good evening, then. I will leave you to your conversation.”
Rhys didn’t reply, only lifted his wineglass and drank deeply. But his gaze followed her every second until she left the room. ~ Lisa Kleypas,#NFDB
1238:I turned my head to find Claire glaring at us from across the room. She hated me, and it ran deep and ugly inside of her. She was a problem I needed to fix before I got too fat to do so. ~ Amelia Hutchins, #NFDB
1239:My process is to be by myself when I record. It's quite an emotional performance to pull off when someone else is in the room. I prefer to go away and have my own time with it, bring it in later. ~ Kimbra, #NFDB
1240:Part of the purpose of initiation is to tell the whole story and help you see your place in it,” Lord Rake said, motioning for the young rabbits to sit in the center of the room on two stools. ~ S D Smith, #NFDB
1241:The person who comes up to you and makes the most noise and is the most intrusive is invariably the person in the room who has no respect for you at all, and it's really all about them. ~ Robbie Coltraine, #NFDB
1242:You can put your bra back on if you want. A lot of people play in clothes.” I turned and gestured around the room, where absolutely no one was playing in clothes. “Maybe not tonight, but… ~ Annabel Joseph, #NFDB
1243:You goin’ out with Mick tomorrow night?” Jake growled, his eyes burning into me, his fury saturating the room.
“Not anymore,” I whispered immediately.
“Good fuckin’ answer, Slick, ~ Kristen Ashley,#NFDB
1244:But also I wanted him to go away and leave me be. I was granted one weak grace. Back in the room where the green chair was still warm from his body, I blew that lonely, flickering candle out ~ Alice Sebold, #NFDB
1245:How--how did you get in?”
Falco crossed the room to her, pausing just long enough to set a glass of wine down on the desk. “Doors are quite useful, I’ve found,” he said, his eyes sparkling. ~ Fiona Paul,#NFDB
1246:I can see it, Ed, I leaned deeper into you, felt you nodding along with the sounds in the room, and your warmth signaled through to me from under your shirt, lovely strong, safe and right. ~ Daniel Handler, #NFDB
1247:I'd like to see you learn how to manage sitting and standing up straight in stays and petticoats and a dress with a foot's worth of train!" "So would I," said Gideon from across the room. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
1248:I even gave up, for a while, stopping by the window of the room to look out at the lights and deep, illuminated streets. That's a form of dying, that losing contact with the city like that. ~ Philip K Dick, #NFDB
1249:Only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, towards that lost voice across the room. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
1250:On perusal of these two sentences, albeit the room was sumptuous and beautifully laid out, he would on no account remain in it. “Let us go at once,” he hastened to observe, “let us go at once. ~ Cao Xueqin, #NFDB
1251:People will go into an audition and a casting situation, and they'll see someone across the room that's perhaps slightly famous, or famous, and they think, 'Oh God, I'm not gonna get the part. ~ Missi Pyle, #NFDB
1252:The girl entered the room, not looking at Fire, glaring mutinously at the feather duster in her own hand. Still, at least she had come. Some of them scurried away, pretending not to hear. ~ Kristin Cashore, #NFDB
1253:The moment she entered the room where the man sat alone, waiting intensely, the thrill passed through her, she died in terror, and after the death, a great flame gushed up, obliterating her. ~ D H Lawrence, #NFDB
1254:Tucker took off his cowboy hat and laid it on top of the dresser and then crossed the room to close the curtains. The big question of the night was answered - he did take off his hat for sex. ~ Cat Johnson, #NFDB
1255:Words were insufficient for the elevation of his [Mr Collins'] feelings; and he was obliged to walk about the room, while Elizabeth tried to unite civility and truth in a few short sentences. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1256:You are going to fail at a lot of things, so when you do, do it on such a grand scale that half the room gives you a standing ovation, and the other half gives you the middle finger.” My ~ Brittany Gibbons, #NFDB
1257:David Roberts, who is a writer at Vox who I like, had a line about the voter - your voters weren`t locked in the room with you, Republican establishment. You were locked in the room with them. ~ Chris Hayes, #NFDB
1258:Female readers, on the other hand, were unmoved by the book, one of them going so far as to give it the ultimate insult on a well-trafficked book blog: She "flung it across the room. ~ Deborah Copaken Kogan, #NFDB
1259:His hands slid around my head, pulling me back to his mouth. There was a cracking sound in the house. A fissure of electricity shot through the room. Something smoked. I didn’t care. ~ Jennifer L Armentrout, #NFDB
1260:I’m, uh, going up to the room … to get ready.” “You’ve got at least four hours before we have to leave.” “Yeah, but if I don’t start my nervous pacing now, I’ll never have it all done in time. ~ Scott Lynch, #NFDB
1261:In some of the greatest recordings ever made, the performance is a part of the recording. Dylan's 'Rainy Day Women No. 12 and 35' is all about the esthetic of that performance. You can hear the room. ~ Moby, #NFDB
1262:It was the “Stranger in Paradise” melody, and the back-of-the-room boys always crooned, “Take my hand, I’m a strange-looking parasite...” till Mr. Budd tapped his baton against his music stand. ~ Anne Tyler, #NFDB
1263:Life can last just so long, you understand. Everything else is in the room, with darkness, with God’s language, with screams. Here I am of the air, a beautiful thing for the light to shine on. ~ Paul Auster, #NFDB
1264:love made me feel like I knew the answer, but when I raised my hand, I was the only one in the room. What I mean is, have you ever felt the ache of swallowing starlight? that cinnamon burn? ~ Sabrina Benaim, #NFDB
1265:Mosca had preferred it when she could hear the edge in her companion’s voice. Now she felt like someone who knows that there is a scorpion somewhere in the room but can’t see where it is. ~ Frances Hardinge, #NFDB
1266:Starting late hurts productivity, and multitasking can hurt relationships, so we eliminated those behaviors. Now meetings start promptly, and if you need to check your phone, you leave the room. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1267:The leverage Wall Street has to change the world is greater than technology. At a very young age, you're in the room with CEOs, making critical decisions. It should be exciting. It is exciting. ~ Ken Moelis, #NFDB
1268:The nearer persons come to each other, the greater is the room and the more are the occasions for courtesy; but just in proportion to their approach the gentleness of most men diminishes. ~ George MacDonald, #NFDB
1269:The terrors that had assailed me whenever Mrs. Joe had gone near the pantry, or out of the room, were only to be equalled by the remorse with which my mind dwelt on what my hands had done. ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
1270:Ain't no such thing as a little fault or a big fault. Satan get his foot in the door, he ain't going to rest till he's in the room. You is in the Word or you ain't--ain't no halfway with God. ~ James Baldwin, #NFDB
1271:Don't get addicted to those. I don't want to be roomies with a junkie because then you'll move on to harder shit and end up doing bath salts and eating my face off." Then he flew out of the room. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1272:Every audience is different, even within the same venue. You have to just make every audience your audience; you can't pre-judge an audience based on the size of the room or the type of room. ~ Patton Oswalt, #NFDB
1273:Gods, woman," William said. "Your voice is like death. Can you shut it until I leave the room? Please. Seriously, you're like the one woman in the world I want to resist." -Page 271 ~ Gena Showalter, #NFDB
1274:Had I been in Toronto, I would certainly have been killed in this attack. In the room where I normally sleep, the flames and the smoke and the soot is such that the gases would have killed me. ~ Ernst Zundel, #NFDB
1275:He slammed out of the room, determined to speak with Captian Overly himself. If there was any way to get the Merhammer turned around short of holding a gun to the man,he would do it. ~ Johanna Lindsey, #NFDB
1276:I'm constantly trying to make myself better, to learn more. I didn't finish college, so I feel like I'm always having to prove myself. I don't want to feel like the smallest person in the room. ~ Nina Dobrev, #NFDB
1277:Truly? That whole determined, dangerous saunter across the room was for me? In that case, would you mind going back and doing it all over again? Slowly this time, and with feeling. ~ Tessa Dare, #NFDB
1278:I want to turn around, pull her from the room, tell her to stay away from me, beg her to wait for me, ruin her, exalt her. I’m at war with the most unworthy of opponents: my heart. Goddammit. ~ Trilina Pucci, #NFDB
1279:I want you to close your eyes. I want you to fall asleep first."
"Why?" She asked suddenly afraid he would slip out of the room as soon as she did.
"Because I'll be here in the morning. ~ Leah Clifford,#NFDB
1280:Perry, the manager, had come up with him, in trousers and bathrobe. He was a stout, jovial-looking man ordinarily, but right now he was only stout.
("The Room With Something Wrong") ~ Cornell Woolrich,#NFDB
1281:put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support-system for art. It’s the other way around. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1282:Sometimes, the most daunting thing about performing is making eye contact with your audience, so just look above them and at the corners of the room. Soon, you'll totally forget they're there. ~ Laura Marano, #NFDB
1283:The Sad House made me look at the small space I shared with Mia, at the room we lived in, and see it was a home, full of love, because we filled it. Even though we didn’t have nice cars or a ~ Stephanie Land, #NFDB
1284:We hold on STEVE's still smiling face as MICHAEL passes by. STEVE's eyes follow MICHAEL out of the room and then the smile disappears.
It is replaced by a look of hunger and desolation. ~ Stephen Fry,#NFDB
1285:Why was I laughing anyway? What was so funny? But there is ecstasy in the room you are not supposed to enter, the room no one knows about. Ecstasy when everyone is gone and still you are held. ~ Sarah Hepola, #NFDB
1286:If you're the smartest person in the room, it can sometimes be hard to learn to delegate - the person to whom you're delegating will do the task worse than you would - and it will annoy you! ~ Robert S Kaplan, #NFDB
1287:In an odd way, my parents were proud of me. When they saw me do stand-up, I'd see them looking around the room and watch them taking in the people laughing. On some level, that comforted them. ~ Lizz Winstead, #NFDB
1288:Morning birdsong filled the room. For all his high opinion of birds, privileged among God's creatures, still, deep in his heart, the Emperor did not trust them, just as he did not trust artists. ~ Joseph Roth, #NFDB
1289:Otherwise the silence in the room was profound, the silence of places Brian had not yet been: gazing at the lifeless body of a beloved, the echo of a lost illusion, the tinnitus of betrayal. ~ Rafael Yglesias, #NFDB
1290:The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a burst of light so warm and red it could have been the sun or someone's beating heart. I stared up at it, waiting for the room to come clear. ~ Brenna Yovanoff, #NFDB
1291:The lively, gleaming little Jewess in a scarlet frock, who came into the room on the heels of Lady Anne, was announced as ‘Miss Manasch’, and addressed by the Walpole-Wilsons as ‘Rosie’. Both ~ Anthony Powell, #NFDB
1292:The sanction made the unsaid even more palpable, as if the thoughts had been waiting outside the room, and had at last been given permission to enter; now there was no denying their presence. ~ Neel Mukherjee, #NFDB
1293:We fell silent as we heard the click-click of nails on the hardwood floor, followed by a rubbing sound, and watched, dumfounded, as Viddy walked into the room followed closely by the puppies. ~ Lani Lynn Vale, #NFDB
1294:We have another confession from Dare Kattalakis. Going once, going twice…are there any more confessions in the room? Anyone else want to admit to shooting a lion? Didn’t think so. (Savitar) ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon, #NFDB
1295:He doesn’t move at all. I think he does this on purpose. If he moved, if he even nodded, then there would be no more sides in the room. Everyone would be on the same side. They would be a team. ~ Matthew Dicks, #NFDB
1296:He sat on one side of a love seat, leaving space to sit beside him. Was it an invitation? Or a gesture of kindness, in that he was offering me the room's larger couch? WHY WAS THIS SO HARD? ~ Stephanie Perkins, #NFDB
1297:How I longed to tell her about Harriet--but somehow I could not. The grief in the room belonged to Porcelain and I realized, almost at once, that it would be selfish to rob her of it in any way. ~ Alan Bradley, #NFDB
1298:I took delight in hurling books across the room if I knew I would not be reading the second chapter. Then I’d go and pick them up again, because they are books, after all, and we are not savages. ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
1299:I turned to the room
and in the light from the street
beheld one beautiful
bare breast of a friend's friend
gently rising and falling
as though I were not there
already not there ~ W S Merwin,#NFDB
1300:Katy came to meet them as they entered. Not on her feet: that, alas! was still only a far-off possibility; but in a chair with large wheels, with which she was rolling herself across the room. ~ Susan Coolidge, #NFDB
1301:Laughter spread around the room like an airborne disease. Disease. I shivered. That was the intriguing thought; I could almost hear the sound their bodies would make against the floor when it hit. ~ Anya Allyn, #NFDB
1302:Most people would rather eat inside a windowless room in which they have just defecated than eat inside one in which someone else has just farted, even if the room does not have a toilet. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana, #NFDB
1303:Move, Kit. I want to get a closer look at that bust.”
To Kit, bust only meant one thing, but since the only breasts in the room belonged to Ty’s sister, he stepped aside with alacrity. ~ Cassandra Clare,#NFDB
1304:My grandmother used to say, "Sometimes the loudest person in the room doesn't know what they're talking about." Or isn't secure enough in his or her own views to be able to listen to others. ~ Jessica Chastain, #NFDB
1305:Teachers try to make us feel lower than themselves, maybe because this is because they feel lower than outside people. One teacher told me to get out of the room and never come back, which I did. ~ Bel Kaufman, #NFDB
1306:Then the voices started to argue and I threw my math book across the room in frustration. It was a pretty bad sign when the voices inside your head started fighting with one another. ~ Jenna Elizabeth Johnson, #NFDB
1307:think grief is like a really ugly couch. It never goes away. You can decorate around it; you can slap a doily on top of it; you can push it to the corner of the room—but eventually, you learn to ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
1308:You give up or you work for change. “What’s better for us?” Barack called to the people gathered in the room. “Do we settle for the world as it is, or do we work for the world as it should be? ~ Michelle Obama, #NFDB
1309:You know the saying, right? The one about an unaddressed subject being an elephant in the room. No matter how hard you try to ignore it, you simply can’t. It’s too damn big. It’s always in the way. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1310:A lot of comedians, when they have a bad gig, will blame everything but themselves. They'll blame the crowd, or the room was wrong, it had a weird vibe, or the promoter promoted a weird atmosphere. ~ Allen Carr, #NFDB
1311:finished circling the room, ending at the desk in back. Books stacked against the wall spanned many genres and years, from Stephen King to Shakespeare, Spanish-titled novels and art instruction ~ Kerry Lonsdale, #NFDB
1312:Greatness comes from humble beginnings; it comes from grunt work. It means you’re the least important person in the room—until you change that with results.” Ryan Holiday, Ego is the Enemy, pg 56 ~ Ryan Holiday, #NFDB
1313:I didn’t say it wasn’t,” Liam said. “I just don’t want it in the room.” Pulling her into his arms, Liam gave her a very tender kiss. “Good thinking!” Annie finally said as Liam blew out the candles. ~ E D Baker, #NFDB
1314:Mr. Segundus began to suspect that they had an uneventful morning, and that when a strange gentleman had walked into the room and dropt down in a swoon, they were rather pleased than otherwise. ~ Susanna Clarke, #NFDB
1315:My father used to say to me, 'Whenever you get into a jam, whenever you get into a crisis or an emergency, become the calmest person in the room and you'll be able to figure your way out of it.' ~ Rudy Giuliani, #NFDB
1316:She also wasn’t the type of woman who made men drool, besides him, and got the attention of every guy in the room, but that was okay because none of them should be fucking looking at her anyway. ~ R L Mathewson, #NFDB
1317:There was no echo, no reverberation. If anything the room ate sound. It swallowed her voice, her words, and her eternal, inadequate apology. But not her memories. She would never be rid of those. ~ Laini Taylor, #NFDB
1318:Without opening the gate, and keeping one hand near the elevator buttons, Seth shone the flashlight around the room. The last thing he wanted was to get cornered by zombies inside of an elevator. ~ Brandon Mull, #NFDB
1319:Without opium, plans, marriages and journeys appear to me just as foolish as if someone falling out of a window were to hope to make friends with the occupants of the room before which he passes. ~ Jean Cocteau, #NFDB
1320:Colton your room, as usual is ready for you. I swear you spend more time here than you do at your parents' house."
"Thank you Mother." Colton kissed Adelaide on the cheek and left the room. ~ Alanea Alder,#NFDB
1321:Faith, would you come over here, please?” Grandpa gestured from a counter across the room. Plates, bowls, and a cream-and-sugar set were arranged next to a ledger. “Here is the price for each piece. ~ Ann Shorey, #NFDB
1322:Greatness comes from humble beginnings; it comes from grunt work. It means you’re the least important person in the room—until you change that with results.” Ryan Holliday, Ego is the Enemy, pg 56 ~ Ryan Holiday, #NFDB
1323:It didn’t matter that the room would end up awash in blood, and the nuns would be left feeling confused and troubled, for suicide demands that people think of themselves first and of others later. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1324:love made me feel like i knew the answer, but when i raised my hand, i was the only one in the room. what i mean is, have you ever felt the ache of swallowing starlight? that cinnamon heartburn? ~ Sabrina Benaim, #NFDB
1325:She has her eyes closed, looking lost to the song and completely oblivious to what’s happening around her, or at how she’s affecting everyone in the room. I wonder if she’s aware of how amazing she is? ~ A R Von, #NFDB
1326:She was aware of the two men in the room, both of them carrying their burden of history, their charms and flaws, their heaviness and guilt, for no adult was ever really without guilt of some sort. ~ Nancy Thayer, #NFDB
1327:What a delightful place Bath is," said Mrs. Allen as they sat down near the great clock, after parading the room till they were tired; "and how pleasant it would be if we had any acquaintance here. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1328:Acting politely in front of someone black and/or gay and then making horrible claims about their intelligence or worth as human beings after they leave the room is not kindness - it's hypocrisy. ~ Mallory Ortberg, #NFDB
1329:Christmas a bore! No; a man who thought Christmas to be a bore should never be more to her than a mere acquaintance. She listened to his explanation, and then left the room, almost indignantly. ~ Anthony Trollope, #NFDB
1330:Dizzy, chilly, and beat, Raven collapsed on her bed. She rolled over, sensing a pea under the mattress. Typical Orientation Week prank. She dug around, found the pea, and tossed it across the room. ~ Shannon Hale, #NFDB
1331:I sit at peace –burning an incense seal, Which fills the room with scent of pine and cedar. When all the burning stops, a clear image is seen, Of the green moss upon the epigraph’s carved words.[ ~ Byung Chul Han, #NFDB
1332:It doesn't change that I still want him, I still want to be with him, I still feel like the fucking air has been sucked out of the room when he walks in and I still think about him all the time. ~ Santino Hassell, #NFDB
1333:Jamie rushed back into the room and grabbed both our hands and tried to pull us forward. “Hurry up! He came!” Seth and I both laughed and then Seth was letting himself be dragged out of the room. ~ Sloane Kennedy, #NFDB
1334:To have a friend and a comrade as your co-star, especially in a romantic comedy, is really important. It gives you the room. It's easier to give yourself and the other person permission to play. ~ Alex O Loughlin, #NFDB
1335:My strangest auditioning experience was when I was reading for a TV show, and right when I started the audition, the casting director left the room and yelled at me from the hallway to keep reading. ~ Danny Strong, #NFDB
1336:out in laughter at his exaggerated, pained contrition. When the laughter had died down and Rocky had sauntered into the room, Sean spoke up. “Have a seat, Cade.” He indicated the seat immediately ~ Lynnette Bonner, #NFDB
1337:Painting has this ability to send the viewer [backward], but it's also this physical object in the room with you. It's always knocking you back into the present moment, which I find very pleasurable. ~ Joe Bradley, #NFDB
1338:Rui bit out something raw and primitive. He raised his head and she saw his animal in his eyes, a rich, wild gold, and then the room spun and she was on the mattress, his big body covering hers... ~ Rebecca Rivard, #NFDB
1339:The film project has been “twenty years of constipation,” and he likens the Hollywood process to “trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it.” ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
1340:We crossed beyond friends the night we spent in your room and you know that. Fuck, Haley, there isn’t a moment that we haven’t been into each other and I’m not the only one in the room aware of it. ~ Katie McGarry, #NFDB
1341:Auditioning is the most terrifying thing Ive ever done. There must have been four or five of them where I completely froze up and walked out of the room. My palms get sweaty just thinking about it. ~ Trevor Donovan, #NFDB
1342:Even though the topic [of slavery] itself is the big, screaming elephant in the room, we still get a chance to have fun and enjoy what is on the screen, and we have moments where we're actually happy. ~ Aldis Hodge, #NFDB
1343:I am trying to call attention to the elephant in the room that everybody is too polite - or too devout - to notice: religion, and specifically the devaluing effect that religion has on human life. ~ Richard Dawkins, #NFDB
1344:If you are trying to slip out without waking a sleeping man, zips are a nightmare. Haven't you ever tried to creep out of the room unnoticed the following morning? I've done that many times. ~ Diane von Furstenberg, #NFDB
1345:If you listen to really deep ambient records that don't move too much, very still records, long after those records are finished, you might find yourself listening for hours to the sound of the room. ~ Bill Laswell, #NFDB
1346:I had no time for romance. I turned away from the window, from the wintry sun, crossed through the room, went to the stove and made and poured myself a cup of hot chocolate and then clicked on the radio ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
1347:I suffer for birds and fireflies
but not frogs, she said,
and threw him across the room.
Kaboom!
Like a genie out of a samovar,
a handsome prince arose in the
corner of the bedroom. ~ Anne Sexton,#NFDB
1348:I took a breath, seeing from across the room the rain on his eyelashes. A sudden need to brush them free filled me. I could almost feel the dampness of the rain on my fingers, how soft it would feel. ~ Kim Harrison, #NFDB
1349:Life shouldn’t revolve about being the best, and childhood definitely shouldn’t. You should have given me the room to explore who I was without the pressure of succeeding each and every single time. ~ Katie McGarry, #NFDB
1350:my father...there was never any mistaking his love for me. When I walked into the room, his eyes lit up and he wrapped me in his arms as if it was Christmas morning and I was the best gift imaginable. ~ Eric Ripert, #NFDB
1351:My story begins on a sweltering August night, in a place I will never set eyes upon. The room takes life only in my imaginings. It is large most days when I conjure it. The walls are white and clean, ~ Lisa Wingate, #NFDB
1352:The room did not go quiet like something out of an old Western where the sheriff pushes open the creaking door and sashays into the saloon. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe the door needed to creak. ~ Harlan Coben, #NFDB
1353:The room was a mess, as always – magazines, newspapers scattered, unpacked boxes, a nest of cat hair on one side chair where their feline slept, furniture, mantle, a few knick-knacks all undusted. ~ Chet Williamson, #NFDB
1354:Who was he talking to? Me? No one ever said “please” to me. I looked around. There was no one else in the room. Old Luria growled again in a deep voice: “Please come and have a look at the Rambam. ~ Sholom Aleichem, #NFDB
1355:And here was the ghost of her childhood, diffused throughout the room, to remind her of the limited arc of existence. How quickly the story was over. Not massive and empty at all, but headlong. Ruthless. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1356:Cait,” I called over, “how much is this going to cost?” Sudden silence. Every eye in the room fell upon me, cold as winter ice. “Right,” I said, holding up a hand. “I’m just gonna maybe shut up now. ~ Craig Schaefer, #NFDB
1357:fly·blow n. flies' eggs contaminating food, esp. meat. fly·blown adj. dirty or contaminated, esp. through contact with flies and their eggs and larvae: the room was filthy and flyblown. ~ Oxford University Press, #NFDB
1358:For a while, we just ate like that, a sick old man, a healthy, younger man, both absorbing the quiet of the room. I would say it was an embarrassed silence, but I seemed to be the only one embarrassed. ~ Mitch Albom, #NFDB
1359:If you saw me working with construction crews or graphic designers, you'd see how much I'm really hoping for them to bring something to the table and let God in the room and let things happen naturally. ~ Jack White, #NFDB
1360:I’m going back to the study,” I say happily. “I’m rearranging the books by the colour of their spines. It gives the room a much artier vibe.” Asa chokes on his tea, and I smile sunnily. “See you later. ~ Lily Morton, #NFDB
1361:It is a subliminal thing. It is the tick of a clock that has ticked so long one no longer notices. Something is in a room when a man lives in it. Something is not in the room when a man is dead in it. ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
1362:Of all bad listeners, the worst and most terrible to encounter is the man who is so fond of listening that he wishes to hear, not only your conversation, but that of every other person in the room. ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
1363:Reagan and Friday walk into the room, and the door closes behind them. “Why can’t we go in?” Sam asks, looking like a kicked puppy. “Because she’s going to have a fucking baby, numbnuts,” I tell him. ~ Tammy Falkner, #NFDB
1364:Remember what I told you about family secrets.” People will kill to keep them, she thought now as she looked at Marianne McGraw. The woman’s rocking didn’t change as Nikki stepped deeper into the room. ~ B J Daniels, #NFDB
1365:She said that you and Ben were separated. Ben left you. A year or so after you moved to Waring House.” “Separated?” I said. It felt as if the room was receding, becoming vanishingly small. Disappearing. ~ S J Watson, #NFDB
1366:Terrible,” said Stink. “I had one of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, just-like-that-kids’-book yuck days.” “What’s wrong?” asked Mom, coming into the room. “Stink hit his friend Webster ~ Megan McDonald, #NFDB
1367:Then I’m going?” Kendra asked. The adults in the room exchanged tacit glances before nodding. “Then we only have one problem left to discuss,” Seth said. Everyone turned to him. “How do I get invited? ~ Brandon Mull, #NFDB
1368:Things started to fall apart at home when my brother, Jaja, did not go to communion and Papa flung his heavy missal across the room and broke the figurines on the etagere.(Opening page, 3) ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, #NFDB
1369:And luck? I've always said about Dizzy Dean that if the roof fell in and Diz was sitting in the middle of the room, everybody else would be buried in the debris and a gumdrop would drop into his mouth. ~ Leo Durocher, #NFDB
1370:And when the clothes are strewn,
Don't be afraid of the room.
Touch the fullness of her breast,
Feel the love of her caress...
She will be your living end.
- Lady Grinning Soul ~ David Bowie,#NFDB
1371:Feel free to start using Walter Jackson Freeman II as an insult directed toward people you hate. Almost no one will get the reference, but if I am in the room we’ll high-five and it will be awesome. ~ Jennifer Wright, #NFDB
1372:Glasses clink together and I can feel the sexual tension bottled in the room from all the way out here. These are the kinds of places I avoid at all cost, because I can’t breathe very well in them. ~ Jessica Sorensen, #NFDB
1373:He was about to ask for what when Chelsea flew across the room and threw her arms around him. Simon laughed indulgently, picking up on the bag she’d dropped. “Sorry, she hugs now. I can’t quite stop her. ~ Lexi Blake, #NFDB
1374:outside her mother’s old bedroom, wielding spiky spears and magic staffs. They nodded to her as she opened the door. “Remember,” said one, “never touch the mirror.” “I remember,” she said. The room was ~ Shannon Hale, #NFDB
1375:The group-effort sound in recording of Sea Lion is like, you really hear all the people in the room and hear them interlocking. Theres a real freight-train energy of all these people at the same time playing. ~ Feist, #NFDB
1376:The room had lost its morning light, the glow of expectation and potential. The daylight was now gray, and the new day was already used, a little soiled by mistaken thoughts and makeshift undertakings. ~ Tove Jansson, #NFDB
1377:The room was a small square of hopelessness.
A flash of red. And then:
Dimensions: 10 ft. by 9 ft.
I swallowed a horrific giggle. Perfect. And now I knew the exact measurements of hopelessness. ~ Debra Driza,#NFDB
1378:The room went dark and, after a moment, Grace whispered that she loved me, sounding a little sad. I wrapped my arms tightly around her shoulders, sorry that loving me was such a complicated thing. ~ Maggie Stiefvater, #NFDB
1379:Every door is a portal leading through time as well as space. The same doorway that leads us into and out of a room also leads us into the past of the room and its ceaselessly unfolding future. ~ Gregory David Roberts, #NFDB
1380:He crossed the room and standing beside her in the quiet, stroked a hand over her hair. She was the loving, fierce mama bear his girls never had. And she was the woman he loved with everything in him. ~ Claudia Connor, #NFDB
1381:I had a sudden image of myself as a sort of large dark simian something slumped there at the table, or not a something but a nothing, rather, a hole in the room, a palpable absence, a darkness visible. ~ John Banville, #NFDB
1382:I never think that sticking slavishly to one period is successful, a touch of nostalgia adds charm. One needs light and shade because if every piece is perfect the room becomes a museum and lifeless. ~ Nancy Lancaster, #NFDB
1383:I remember when we were doing the first Dragon's Lair, I got really involved with coming up with all the little rooms and what was the danger in the room and going into it with bats and spiders and snakes. ~ Don Bluth, #NFDB
1384:It is strange that an absence can feel like presence. A missing so complete that if it were to go away, I would turn around, stunned, to see that the room is empty after all when before it had something. ~ Ally Condie, #NFDB
1385:Millions of filmmakers would love to be in my position right now. If you are honest it makes the world a better place. I created the room with my passion and after all these years it finally worked out. ~ Tommy Wiseau, #NFDB
1386:Once Conner was dragged out of the room, I directed the musicians to play. Then, exhausted, I fell into my father's throne. No, my throne. I was king now. The reality of that was incomprehensible. ~ Jennifer A Nielsen, #NFDB
1387:Only twice more did the housekeeper reappear, and then her stay in the room was very short, and Mr. Jaggers was sharp with her. But her hands were Estella's hands, and her eyes were Estella's eyes... ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
1388:Ror stood and began to stride around the room. Katsa rose woodenly, in respect for a rising king, but the queen pulled her back down. "If we stood every time he marched around we'd always be standing ~ Kristin Cashore, #NFDB
1389:What do you mean 'most of the damage happened to my face'?"
She gestured to the mirror above the sink on the far side of the room. I ran over to it and looked at my reflection.
"Son of a bitch! ~ Richelle Mead,#NFDB
1390:When I'd first brought it home from the thrift store, I'd planned to keep it in the closet I shared with Summer, But Jordis asked me to hang it in full view of the room because she liked the glitter. ~ Jennifer Echols, #NFDB
1391:And then everyone in the room started laughing. My dad and my uncles and aunts - if there's one thing they knew how to do, it was laugh. My dad called that sort of behavior whistling in the dark. ~ Benjamin Alire S enz, #NFDB
1392:And then the room went very dark and somehow, despite the chaos that followed, Bruno found that he was still holding Shmuel's hand in his own and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let it go. ~ John Boyne, #NFDB
1393:Bump stood in the middle of the room, wrapped in a heavy fur coat, with a black silk top hatcovering his fuzzy head and unnecessary sunglasses hiding his pale face. He looked like the Abominable Snowpimp. ~ Stacia Kane, #NFDB
1394:Graham runs a hand through his hair and takes a deep breath. Finally, with a determined scowl, he crosses the room. His hands grip my shoulders. “We are not,” his voice is a gentle tremor, “breaking up ~ Tammara Webber, #NFDB
1395:If she’d spun on her heel and left the room, Jack would have laughed at her retreat. And if she’d stayed, staring him down and trying to shame him into leaving, they’d probably still be standing there. ~ Lorraine Heath, #NFDB
1396:It was the room of a woman without taste or moderation, who refused nothing and surrendered nothing, to whom the fact of possession had become the one steadfast reality in a world of loss and change. ~ Dorothy L Sayers, #NFDB
1397:It wrote me “helpful” comments about each of the rooms I was going through, like, “This is the Room of Eternal Death. It’s like the Room of Normal Death, but somewhat more repetitive.” That sort of thing. ~ Andrew Rowe, #NFDB
1398:I wake up every day thinking, 'I just can't do it anymore.' There's nothing left to say, and I'm completely dry. And then I get in the room with somebody and they say the right thing, and I'm on again. ~ Shane McAnally, #NFDB
1399:THe room was large and low-ceilinged, the striped wallpaper faded to inoffensiveness. A huge dark wardrobe faced a huge dark bed. The rest of the furniture shrank away into corners, battered and apologetic. ~ Jean Rhys, #NFDB
1400:even before he left the room,—and certainly, not five minutes after, the clear conviction dawned upon her, shined bright upon her, that he did love her; that he had loved her; that he would love her. ~ Elizabeth Gaskell, #NFDB
1401:He drops into the room, landing on the balls of his feet like a cat. I'm in his arms in the time it takes to say 'I love you,' which he does, stroking my hair, whispering my name and the words, 'My mayfly. ~ Rick Yancey, #NFDB
1402:I did not see the wolf when he came. I did not hear him. There was only this: A little before dawn I became aware of a hush, and I realized that the only breathing to be heard in the room was my own. ~ Diane Setterfield, #NFDB
1403:I'm a huge lover of going to the theater and having that experience of people in the room. Any time you go to an experience like this, you hear it in a different way because sound systems are different. ~ Sandra Bullock, #NFDB
1404:I think we've all been in the middle of doing something we cared about, when someone coming in the room and saying 'hello' was annoying. I personally can understand that, as someone who tries to create. ~ Ashton Kutcher, #NFDB
1405:She crossed the room to him, put her arms around him, clung to him, turning her face to the side, learning all at once that it was awkward to show a person all of one's love when one's nose was broken. ~ Kristin Cashore, #NFDB
1406:The day the library was shut down, he thought, some maiden librarian had moved down the room, pushing each chair against its table. Carefully, with a plodding precision that was the cachet of herself. ~ Richard Matheson, #NFDB
1407:The Princess Borghese, Bonaparte's sister, who was no saint, sat to Canova as a reclining Venus, and being asked if she did not feel a little uncomfortable, replied, "No. There was a fire in the room." ~ William Hazlitt, #NFDB
1408:There was a stained glass window in the room with the image of a woman holding a spear. It was a beautiful piece of art, and my face smashed through it a half moment after I appreciated its design. ~ Michael Scott Earle, #NFDB
1409:When there’s a dead body in the room, you never, ever answer cops’ questions without your lawyer present. Which is to say, your lawyer answers the questions by saying, “We have nothing to say at this time. ~ Paul Levine, #NFDB
1410:Your sweetheart isn't too happy about this," Shay said, still smiling. I looked toward the back of the room. Ren watched us, holding a pair of scissors. I'd never seen a classroom tool look so dangerous. ~ Andrea Cremer, #NFDB
1411:Clerks in downtown hotels were said to be asking guests whether they wished the room for sleeping or jumping. Two men jumped hand-in-hand from a high window in the Ritz. They had a joint account. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith, #NFDB
1412:Don't be a fool," Vera Claythorne urged herself. "It's all right. Elly Kleinman and others are downstairs. All four of them. There's no one in the room. There can't be. You're imagining things, my girl. ~ Agatha Christie, #NFDB
1413:Footsteps out of the room. The side and rattle of a kitchen drawer. Lounds had covered many murders committed in kitchens where things are handy. Police reporting can change forever your view of kitchens… ~ Thomas Harris, #NFDB
1414:I hate firing people, we had to go through four crews, people are disrespectful but people do appreciate The Room and I love them all. That's why I am coming to Canada! I want to meet all my Canadian fans! ~ Tommy Wiseau, #NFDB
1415:Okay, Kate, first of all, you’re touching me,” Vincent said for the room to hear. “So I’m not a ghost.”
“And we’re not true zombies,” Charles said with a grin, “or he would have already eaten your face off. ~ Amy Plum,#NFDB
1416:Sylvie,” he called and I whirled on a snapped, “What?” “Bottom of my soul,” he whispered across the room, eyes locked to mine. I sucked in breath through my nose before I whispered back, “Bottom of mine. ~ Kristen Ashley, #NFDB
1417:The physicians of one class feel the patients and go away, merely prescribing medicine. As they leave the room they simply ask the patient to take the medicine. They are the poorest class of physicians. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #NFDB
1418:There was a party of well-dressed people with Gilt, and as they progressed accoss the room the whole place began to revolve around the big man, gold being very dense and having a gravity all of its own. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
1419:The three other rickety chairs had been pulled up around the lone table in the room’s centre. Above the table hung an oil lantern, which shone down on Fiddler, Hedge and Mallet as they sat playing cards. ~ Steven Erikson, #NFDB
1420:The voices in my head are louder than the silence in the room. The loudest is my own, reminding me constantly of all the things I have said and done, all the things I haven’t, all the things I should have. ~ Alice Feeney, #NFDB
1421:What's that thing you wrote about Simon once, that his eyes followed Baz 'like he was the brightest thing in the room, like he cast everything else into shadow'? That's you. You can't look away from him. ~ Rainbow Rowell, #NFDB
1422:Would you like something to drink?” I asked softly, gesturing toward my bar across the room.
“I could use one,” she said with a tilted smile. “How about you?”
“I could use ten,” I answered. ~ Juliette Cross,#NFDB
1423:Zach had a strong desire to be drinking whiskey instead of beer. The tension in the room was growing by the second. Joe had taken a spot by the window and made a point of looking outside as if searching ~ Catherine Bybee, #NFDB
1424:Across the room, Jason soared into the air and lopped the goddess’s head off. Sadly, the head flew right back into place. “Unacceptable,” Hygeia said calmly. “Decapitation is not a healthy lifestyle choice. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
1425:Bay's room was the first one at the top of the staircase. It was painted a dove gray that turned peacock blue after dark, as if the room absorbed the warmth of daylight and radiated with it at night. ~ Sarah Addison Allen, #NFDB
1426:Community is extremely intimate. When we talk about humor, I love that you know when you're home because there is laughter in the room, there is humor, there is shorthand. That is about community. ~ Terry Tempest Williams, #NFDB
1427:During an especially noisy elementary school assembly I witnessed a common marvel. Someone spoke,"Once upon a time..." into the mic, and the room hushed. Such magic never ceases to amaze me. ~ Richelle E Goodrich, #NFDB
1428:I seldom read on beaches or in gardens. You can't read by two lights at once, the light of day and the light of the book. You should read by electric light, the room in shadow, and only the page lit up. ~ Marguerite Duras, #NFDB
1429:No matter how long the room has been dark, an hour or a million years, the moment the lamp of awareness is lit the entire room becomes luminous. You are that luminosity. You are that clear light. ~ Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, #NFDB
1430:On the nights they went to bed at the same time, Rocco would lie there and watch her go to the closet, watch her choose either silky slips or mannish shirts, like running up sex flags from across the room. ~ Richard Price, #NFDB
1431:She was plagued again by the feeling that the room in which she stood, the earth on which it was built, and the universe in which it turned were as insubstantial as smoke, subject to sudden change. (pg. 249) ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
1432:Sometimes the house is so quiet I feel like the only noise that fills my mind is what I've created myself. Remembered conversations come back to me as if my friends and family were right here in the room. ~ Gail Tsukiyama, #NFDB
1433:What are you doing?"
"I'm going to enjoy a long overdue make-out session with my girl. That's what I'm doing." I explained, stepping into the room and closing the door behind me with one shove of my foot. ~ Abbi Glines,#NFDB
1434:Ah, Galen! Late as always, I see," Steldor said as he took note of his friend's entry into the room.
"I'm never late," Galen returned. "You should know by now that the party doesn't begin until I'm here. ~ Cayla Kluver,#NFDB
1435:And?” “Ah.” She was not certain whether it was the room’s heartbeat she was hearing, or her own. “Would you like to sit down?” Her voice sounded as if coming from kilometers away as she said, “No. Thank you. ~ Ian McDonald, #NFDB
1436:Cam had never seen anything like the mute longing that St. Vincent felt for his own wife. No one could fail to observe that whenever Evie entered the room, St.Vincent practically vibrated like a tuning fork. ~ Lisa Kleypas, #NFDB
1437:It's very important that people realize: the air is being taken away, the oceans are being taken away, the room is being taken away, but we're so worried about gas prices that we don't even see this stuff. ~ Bootsy Collins, #NFDB
1438:player hummed for a second, then sweet sad acoustic guitar filled the air, arpeggiated cascades that transformed the cramped space of the room. The voice that followed was smoky and haunting, filled with loss: ~ John Skipp, #NFDB
1439:We'll see if she can rise to the occasion, do what needs to be done."
"We'll see if she can manage not to kill her Liege and Master, especially if he continues talking about her like she's not in the room. ~ Chloe Neill,#NFDB
1440:We've had enough." He took back the report and jammed it under his arm. "We've had a bellyful, in fact." "And like everyone who's had enough," said Control as Alleline noisily left the room, "he wants more. ~ John le Carre, #NFDB
1441:All this time we sat without speaking. I was considering how to begin. It was twilight in the room, a black storm−cloud was coming over the sky, and there came again a rumble of thunder in the distance. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #NFDB
1442:Farts come from no one and nowhere; they are anonymous emanations that belong to the group as a whole, and even when every person in the room can point to the culprit, the only sane course of action is denial. ~ Paul Auster, #NFDB
1443:Hmph," she said. "I'd like to see you learn how to manage sitting and standing up straight in stays and petticoats and a dress with a foot's worth of train!" "So would I," said Gideon from across the room. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
1444:I always have my setlist planned out, but the best moments are when the energy of the crowd just gets your mind working and you are able to come up with new tags for jokes and just riff off things in the room. ~ Aziz Ansari, #NFDB
1445:I never felt my Mind repose upon anything with complete and undistracted enjoyment - upon no person but you. When you are in the room my thoughts never fly out of window: you always concentrate my whole senses. ~ John Keats, #NFDB
1446:I won’t just have a job; I’ll have a calling. I’ll challenge myself every day. When I get knocked down, I’ll get back up. I may not be the smartest person in the room, but I’ll strive to be the grittiest. ~ Angela Duckworth, #NFDB
1447:My mother has rheumatoid arthritis. I don't want to lose the ability to jump up and walk across the room or move around with the energy I'm used to having. That's far more important to me than a wrinkle or two ~ Cheryl Ladd, #NFDB
1448:Singletary arched an eyebrow then, after taking a look around the room, smiled a dubious but encouraging smile, the way you might smile at someone about to depress the ignition button on a homemade jetpack. ~ Michael Chabon, #NFDB
1449:think grief is like a really ugly couch. It never goes away. You can decorate around it; you can slap a doily on top of it; you can push it to the corner of the room—but eventually, you learn to live with it. ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
1450:[A fan] said, 'What can I do to get your attention?' I was like 'Um, just take your clothes off.' She stood there and frantically started taking her clothes off and got dragged out of the room by security. ~ Robert Pattinson, #NFDB
1451:I expected everyone to file out of the room, but the wedding party began to embrace happily. Raymond grabbed me. “God, you’re a mess.” He wiped the dampness on my cheeks with his index finger. “Such a mush. ~ Santino Hassell, #NFDB
1452:If you think my hard-on has nothing to do with you, then you’re deluded.” Her mouth gaped open as he pushed past her and stalked from the room. “Ooo-kay,” she murmured. Not what she’d expected him to say at all. ~ Maya Banks, #NFDB
1453:I have so much music inside me I'm just trying to stay afloat. I don't tend to write for a particular band - you have to just write the songs and then let God into the room and let the music tell you what to do. ~ Jack White, #NFDB
1454:Leading from the front: It's what built America. But these days, the federal government isn't at the front - it's cowering in the back corner of the room, ducking responsibility and hoping no one notices. ~ Michael Bloomberg, #NFDB
1455:Out of the fragrant heart of bloom, The bobolinks are singing; Out of the fragrant heart of bloom The apple-tree whispers to the room, "Why art thou but a nest of gloom While the bobolinks are singing? ~ William Dean Howells, #NFDB
1456:Tex (wearing a tux, and not happy about it) boomed from across the room, “Roxanne Giselle Lo… I mean, Nightingale! When are those fuckin’ harpists gonna shut the fuck up and so we can get some rock ‘n’ roll? ~ Kristen Ashley, #NFDB
1457:We've had enough." He took back the report and jammed it under his arm. "We've had a bellyful, in fact."
"And like everyone who's had enough," said Control as Alleline noisily left the room, "he wants more. ~ John le Carr,#NFDB
1458:And now I am willing to disregard burial-places and dispense with them,
And if the memorials of the dead were put up indifferently everywhere,
even in the room where I eat or sleep, I should be satisfied. ~ Walt Whitman,#NFDB
1459:At home, my mother had known how to suffocate my dad's anger by growing silent, a low, unwavering flame of contempt that sucked all the oxygen out of the room and made everything he said and did seem ridiculous. ~ Donna Tartt, #NFDB
1460:At the other end of the room, Grandma had the lid up on Larry Lipinski. She was standing one foot on a folding chair, one foot on the edge of the casket, and she was taking pictures with a disposable camera. ~ Janet Evanovich, #NFDB
1461:Finally, on the fourth of November, when those he loved had left the room just for a moment—to grab coffee in the kitchen, the first time none of them were with him since the coma began—Morrie stopped breathing. ~ Mitch Albom, #NFDB
1462:I think grief is like a really ugly couch. It never goes away. You can decorate around it; you can slap a doily on top of it; you can push it to the corner of the room—but eventually, you learn to live with it. ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
1463:I went into the room and sat next to Linus on the bed. I put my hand on his shoulder. I was always surprised at how soft other people were. I thought I felt his heartbeat, although it could have been my own. ~ Heather O Neill, #NFDB
1464:Kingsley watched her disappear from the room, wondering if his heart would break. Logic informed him that of course it would not. The heart was no more than a muscle, a pump which distributed blood about the body. ~ Ben Elton, #NFDB
1465:My hand moves of its own volition, probably more out of shock than anything else, and I slap him hard right across the face. The room falls silent, and everyone's looking at me like I'm some kind of crazy person. ~ L H Cosway, #NFDB
1466:One by one, they went around the room, bowing and curtsying in turn. Suddenly panicked, Cinder looked at Kai. He gave her a one-shouldered shrug, suggesting that, yeah, it’s weird, but you get used to it. When ~ Marissa Meyer, #NFDB
1467:The first time I walked into the room and saw Naya asleep on Lucas's chest while he slept, too, his hand over her naked baby butt..." Sascha sighed, rubbing a fist over her heart. "I don't think I've recovered. ~ Nalini Singh, #NFDB
1468:The one piece of nostalgia he has allowed himself is the gleaming cast-iron wood-burning stove in the center of the room, which replaced his mother’s that was stolen during the years the studio lay derelict. ~ Pierre Lemaitre, #NFDB
1469:There is no evidence of the soul except in tis sudden absence. A nothingness enters, taking the place where something was before. A night without stars falls and for a moment covers everything in the room. ~ Bruce Springsteen, #NFDB
1470:The room was silent, except for the sizzle of the frying pan and the crumbling of coals in the molten heart of the stove. Mort saw that it had the words “The Little Moloch (Ptntd)” embossed on its oven door. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
1471:While he waited, he made up the bed,more to discourage Meg from falling back into it than because he wanted to tidy the room. Besides, running his hands over the sheets and breathing in her scent made him happy, ~ Anne Bishop, #NFDB
1472:All this time we sat without speaking. I was considering how to begin. It was twilight in the room, a black
storm−cloud was coming over the sky, and there came again a rumble of thunder in the distance. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,#NFDB
1473:Before, she had this way of focusing on whomever she spoke to, so that you felt you were the most impossibly captivating person in the room; now, her eyes wandered and she seemed not to be in the room herself. ~ William Landay, #NFDB
1474:Cilantro was briefly everywhere, creating miniflurries of conversation about whether or not you liked cilantro, which invariably included someone in the room saying, "I can't stand cilantro. It tastes like soap. ~ Meg Wolitzer, #NFDB
1475:He crossed the room to me and grabbed me by the shoulders. In three steps, he had me backed up against the bookcase. Before I could do more than catch my breath, he took my face in his hands and kissed me. ~ Julianne Donaldson, #NFDB
1476:Her eyes rake me up and down, crinkled at the corners, watching. Always smiling at me like she has a naughty little secret, looking me up and down as I move across the room. I fight my initial instinct to look away. ~ Sara Ney, #NFDB
1477:Hmph," she said. "I'd like to see you learn how to manage sitting and standing up straight in stays and petticoats and a dress with a foot's worth of train!"
"So would I," said Gideon from across the room. ~ Cassandra Clare,#NFDB
1478:I’m not a fucking thinker, wisher, dancer, or whiner. I’m a fucking doer. Can’t expect God to do it all now, can we? The man’s got plenty to do already, I’m just doing my part and cleaning up my side of the room. ~ Lucian Bane, #NFDB
1479:Morrie closed his eyes to absorb the notes. As my wife’s loving voice filled the room, a crescent smile appeared 0n his face. And while his body was stiff as a sandbag, you could almost see him dancing inside it. ~ Mitch Albom, #NFDB
1480:One more victim sucked in by John. You get into the room with him and you just fall into a warm pool of beer and video games and penis jokes, staring at the universe with him and saying, "Do you believe this shit? ~ David Wong, #NFDB
1481:Resignedly and with difficulty Tom removed the cigar—that is, he removed part of it, and then blew the remainder with a whut sound across the room, where it landed liquidly and limply in Mrs. Ahearn’s lap. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
1482:Swampy [ Marsh] and I live as far away from each other as we possibly can and still work together. But we just always felt like we were funnier when we were in the room together than we are when we're separate. ~ Dan Povenmire, #NFDB
1483:Dance music ... stirs some barbaric instinct - lulled asleep in our sober lives - you forget centuries of civilization in a second, & yield to that strange passion which sends you madly whirling round the room. ~ Virginia Woolf, #NFDB
1484:Death comes for everyone," she said simply. "I'm not afraid of dying. But I'm afraid of dying here." She swept her hand over the room, the tavern, the city. "I'd rather die on an adventure than live standing still. ~ V E Schwab, #NFDB
1485:For God’s sake, man!” Frederick Carlyle bellowed across the room. “At least wait until you’re alone before you kiss her, if you please! Remember, her family is watching you, and we haven’t had our dinner yet! ~ Stephanie Burgis, #NFDB
1486:I covered myself with my hands and made soft noises like a child. Blush, blush, I prayed. Blush for him, or he will kill you. And I was fortunate, for it was warm in the room, and I was angry, and ashamed too, ~ Madeline Miller, #NFDB
1487:I don't think my acting was ever bad; I always knew that I could do it. But when you go to audition for a drama, they're very serious in the room, and I was used to being kind of goofy and having small talk. ~ Mary Lynn Rajskub, #NFDB
1488:I had what, I wanted, it was with me, in the room, including the room itself. Was it possible that we hear that voice not when we want something else but when we're in danger of losing the things we already have? ~ Brock Clarke, #NFDB
1489:I pushed myself off and sailed out of the room. It’s hard to slam a door in free fall, don’t even try. You can’t even swim away with an attitude. It just doesn’t work. The best you can do is swim away, scowling. ~ David Gerrold, #NFDB
1490:Look at you. You’re like a goddess.” Scarlett smiled at his compliment then reached down to squeeze her own tits. She heard every man in the room shift and moan when she began to fondle both her tits in her hands. ~ Lola Newmar, #NFDB
1491:Nina Simone wafted into the room. Cohen had queued up what I thought of as his deep-thinking playlist and piped it through the built-in sound system. I loved the great women of jazz. Simone, Holiday, Vaughan. ~ Barbara Nickless, #NFDB
1492:Presently the small of coffee began to fill the room. This was morning’s hallowed moment. In such a fragrance the perversity of the world is forgotten, and the soul is inspired with faith in the future… ~ Halld r Kiljan Laxness, #NFDB
1493:The key to being a wonderful writer is not to write. You just get out of the way. Leave room for God to walk in the room. And when I write something that I know is right, I get on my knees and say 'thank you.' ~ Michael Jackson, #NFDB
1494:The room was very quiet. I walked over to the TV set and turned it on to a dead channel-white noise at maximum decibels, a fine sound for sleeping, a powerful continuous hiss to drown out everything strange. ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
1495:Whenever you study composition you inevitably encounter Bach right off the bat. You can't get across the room without running into him and the other greats. Analyzing Bach absolutely influenced my jazz playing. ~ Howard Roberts, #NFDB
1496:...Why are all these masks winking?" Jason pointed around the room with his fork. The loremaster dabbed at his mouth with a frilled purple napkin. "One eye is open to all truth, the other closed to all deception. ~ Brandon Mull, #NFDB
1497:A storm of yellow notepads, broken pencils, papers, and books littered the tables and floor of the room, along with a collection of empty beer cans. It looked as if a party of wild librarians had just cleared out. ~ Erika Robuck, #NFDB
1498:Dad rubs the back of his head and says nothing. The room is full of secrets-- on Dad's face, hanging in the air like clouds of dust-- but I don't know how to read them. Dad looks smaller than he ever has before. ~ Claire Legrand, #NFDB
1499:Death comes for everyone," she said simply. "I'm not afraid of dying. But I am afraid of dying here." She swept her hand over the room, the tavern, the city. "I'd rather die on an adventure than live standing still. ~ V E Schwab, #NFDB
1500:If you make a fool of yourself in front of a cat, he will sneer at you, if you are sober; he will leave the room if you are drunk. If you make a fool of yourself in front a dog, he will make a fool of himself, too. ~ Chuck Jones, #NFDB
132 Integral Yoga
58 Yoga
47 Fiction
36 Poetry
21 Occultism
9 Mysticism
8 Philosophy
6 Psychology
4 Christianity
2 Hinduism
1 Mythology
1 Integral Theory
1 Cybernetics
1 Buddhism
100 The Mother
83 Satprem
54 Sri Ramakrishna
49 H P Lovecraft
24 Sri Aurobindo
9 Aleister Crowley
8 Nolini Kanta Gupta
8 Nirodbaran
7 James George Frazer
5 Sri Ramana Maharshi
5 Rabindranath Tagore
5 Carl Jung
5 A B Purani
4 William Butler Yeats
4 Walt Whitman
3 Swami Vivekananda
3 Saint Augustine of Hippo
3 Robert Browning
3 John Keats
2 Thubten Chodron
2 Swami Krishnananda
2 Rainer Maria Rilke
2 Plato
2 Lewis Carroll
2 Jorge Luis Borges
2 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
2 George Van Vrekhem
53 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
49 Lovecraft - Poems
11 Agenda Vol 04
11 Agenda Vol 03
9 Agenda Vol 08
8 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
8 Agenda Vol 13
8 Agenda Vol 02
7 The Golden Bough
7 Magick Without Tears
7 Agenda Vol 10
6 Words Of Long Ago
6 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
6 Agenda Vol 06
6 Agenda Vol 01
5 Talks
5 Tagore - Poems
5 Record of Yoga
5 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
4 Yeats - Poems
4 Whitman - Poems
4 Agenda Vol 09
4 Agenda Vol 07
4 Agenda Vol 05
3 The Practice of Psycho therapy
3 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
3 Questions And Answers 1953
3 Questions And Answers 1950-1951
3 Keats - Poems
3 Collected Poems
3 City of God
3 Browning - Poems
3 Agenda Vol 11
2 The Study and Practice of Yoga
2 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
2 Rilke - Poems
2 Raja-Yoga
2 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
2 Questions And Answers 1956
2 Questions And Answers 1954
2 Preparing for the Miraculous
2 Liber ABA
2 Letters On Yoga III
2 Labyrinths
2 How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator
2 Goethe - Poems
2 Alice in Wonderland
2 Agenda Vol 12
2 5.1.01 - Ilion
0.00 - INTRODUCTION, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Sri Ramakrishna has described 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.
--
From now on Sri Ramakrishna began to seek the company of devotees and holy men. He had gone through the storm and stress of spiritual disciplines and visions. Now he realized an inner calmness and appeared to others as a normal person. But he could not bear the company of worldly people or listen to their talk. Fortunately the holy atmosphere of Dakshineswar and the liberality of Mathur attracted monks and holy men from all parts of the country. Sadhus of all denominations — monists and dualists, Vaishnavas and Vedantists, Saktas and worshippers of Rama — flocked there in ever increasing numbers. Ascetics and visionaries came to seek Sri Ramakrishna's advice. Vaishnavas had come during the period of his Vaishnava sadhana, and Tantriks when he practised the disciplines of Tantra. Vedantists began to arrive after the departure of Totapuri. In The Room of Sri Ramakrishna, who was then in bed with dysentery, the Vedantists engaged in scriptural discussions, and, forgetting his own physical suffering, he solved their doubts by referring directly to his own experiences. Many of the visitors were genuine spiritual souls, the unseen pillars of Hinduism, and their spiritual lives were quickened in no small measure by the sage of Dakshineswar. Sri Ramakrishna in turn learnt from them anecdotes concerning the ways and the conduct of holy men, which he subsequently narrated to his devotees and disciples. At his request Mathur provided him with large stores of food-stuffs, clothes, and so forth, for distribution among the 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."
--
Shivanath, one day, was greatly impressed by the Master's utter simplicity and abhorrence of praise. He was seated with Sri Ramakrishna in the latter's room when several rich men of Calcutta arrived. The Master left The Room for a few minutes. In the mean time Hriday, his nephew, began to describe his samadhi to the visitors. The last few words caught the Master's ear as he entered The Room. He said to Hriday: "What a mean-spirited fellow you must be to extol me thus before these rich men! You have seen their costly apparel and their gold watches and chains, and your object is to get from them as much money as you can. What do I care about what they think of me? (Turning to the gentlemen) No, my friends, what he has told you about me is not true. It was not love of God that made me absorbed in God and indifferent to external life. I became positively insane for some time. The sadhus who frequented this temple told me to practise many things. I tried to follow them, and the consequence was that my austerities drove me to insanity." This is a quotation from one of Shivanath's books. He took the Master's words literally and failed to see their real import.
Shivanath vehemently criticized the Master for his other-worldly attitude toward his wife. He writes: "Ramakrishna was practically separated from his wife, who lived in her village home. One day when I was complaining to some friends about the virtual widowhood of his wife, he drew me to one side and whispered in my ear: 'Why do you complain? It is no longer possible; it is all dead and gone.' Another day as I was inveighing against this part of his teaching, and also declaring that our program of work in the Brahmo Samaj includes women, that ours is a social and domestic religion, and that we want to give education and social liberty to women, the saint became very much excited, as was his way when anything against his settled conviction was asserted — a trait we so much liked in him — and exclaimed, 'Go, thou fool, go and perish in the pit that your women will dig for you.' Then he glared at me and said: 'What does a gardener do with a young plant? Does he not surround it with a fence, to protect it from goats and cattle? And when the young plant has grown up into a tree and it can no longer be injured by cattle, does he not remove the fence and let the tree grow freely?' I replied, 'Yes, that is the custom with gardeners.' Then he remarked, 'Do the same in your spiritual life; become strong, be full-grown; then you may seek them.' To which I replied, 'I don't agree with you in thinking that women's work is like that of cattle, destructive; they are our associates and helpers in our spiritual struggles and social progress' — a view with which he could not agree, and he marked his dissent by shaking his head. Then referring to the lateness of the hour he jocularly remarked, 'It is time for you to depart; take care, do not be late; otherwise your woman will not admit you into her room.' This evoked hearty laughter."
--
Girish Chandra Ghosh was a born rebel against God, a sceptic, a Bohemian, a drunkard. He was the greatest Bengali dramatist of his time, the father of the modem Bengali stage. Like other young men he had imbibed all the vices of the West. He had plunged into a life of dissipation and had become convinced that religion was only a fraud. Materialistic philosophy he justified as enabling one to get at least a little fun out of life. But a series of reverses shocked him and he became eager to solve the riddle of life. He had heard people say that in spiritual life the help of a guru was imperative and that the guru was to be regarded as God Himself. But Girish was too well acquainted with human nature to see perfection in a man. His first meeting with Sri Ramakrishna did not impress him at all. He returned home feeling as if he had seen a freak at a circus; for the Master, in a semi-conscious mood, had inquired whether it was evening, though the lamps were burning in The Room. But their paths often crossed, and Girish could not avoid further encounters. The Master attended a performance in Girish's Star Theatre. On this occasion, too, Girish found nothing impressive about him. One day, however, Girish happened to see the Master dancing and singing with the devotees. He felt the contagion and wanted to join them, but restrained himself for fear of ridicule. Another day Sri Ramakrishna was about to give him spiritual instruction, when Girish said: "I don't want to listen to instructions. I have myself written many instructions. They are of no use to me. Please help me in a more tangible way If you can." This pleased the Master and he asked Girish to cultivate faith.
As time passed, Girish began to learn that the guru is the one who silently unfolds the disciple's inner life. He became a steadfast devotee of the Master. He often loaded the Master with insults, drank in his presence, and took liberties which astounded the other devotees. But the Master knew that at heart Girish was tender, faithful, and sincere. He would not allow Girish to give up the theatre. And when a devotee asked him to tell Girish to give up drinking, he sternly replied: "That is none of your business. He who has taken charge of him will look after him. Girish is a devotee of heroic type. I tell you, drinking will not affect him." The Master knew that mere words could not induce a man to break deep-rooted habits, but that the silent influence of love worked miracles. Therefore he never asked him to give up alcohol, with the result that Girish himself eventually broke the habit. Sri Ramakrishna had strengthened Girish's resolution by allowing him to feel that he was absolutely free.
--
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.
--
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
--
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.
--
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.
--- INJURY TO THE MASTER'S ARM
--
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."
0.00 - THE GOSPEL PREFACE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
This epoch-making event of his life came about in a very strange way. M. belonged to a joint family with several collateral members. Some ten years after he began his career as an educationist, bitter quarrels broke out among the members of the family, driving the sensitive M. to despair and utter despondency. He lost all interest in life and left home one night to go into the wide world with the idea of ending his life. At dead of night he took rest in his sister's house at Baranagar, and in the morning, accompanied by a nephew Siddheswar, he wandered from one garden to another in Calcutta until Siddheswar brought him to the Temple Garden of Dakshineswar where Sri Ramakrishna was then living. After spending some time in the beautiful rose gardens there, he was directed to The Room of the Paramahamsa, where the eventful meeting of the Master and the disciple took place on a blessed evening (the exact date is not on record) on a Sunday in March 1882. As regards what took place on the occasion, the reader is referred to the opening section of the first chapter of the Gospel.
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.)
--
It looks as if M. was brought to the world by the Great Master to record his words and transmit them to posterity. Swami Sivananda, a direct disciple of the Master and the second President of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, says on this topic: "Whenever there was an interesting talk, the Master would call Master Mahashay if he was not in The Room, and then draw his attention to the holy words spoken. We did not know then why the Master did so. Now we can realise that this action of the Master had an important significance, for it was reserved for Master Mahashay to give to the world at large the sayings of the Master." ( Vednta Kesari Vol. XIX P 141.) Thanks to M., we get, unlike in the case of the great teachers of the past, a faithful record with date, time, exact report of conversations, description of concerned men and places, references to contemporary events and personalities and a hundred other details for the last four years of the Master's life (1882-'86), so that no one can doubt the historicity of the Master and his teachings at any time in the future.
M. was, in every respect, a true missionary of Sri Ramakrishna right from his first acquaintance with him in 1882. As a school teacher, it was a practice with him to direct to the Master such of his students as had a true spiritual disposition. Though himself prohibited by the Master to take to monastic life, he encouraged all spiritually inclined young men he came across in his later life to join the monastic Order. Swami Vijnanananda, a direct Sannysin disciple of the Master and a President of the Ramakrishna Order, once remarked to M.: "By enquiry, I have come to the conclusion that eighty percent and more of the Sannysins have embraced the monastic life after reading the Kathmrita (Bengali name of the book) and coming in contact with you." ( M
0 1957-07-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It went something like this: somewhere, in the center of this enormous edifice, there was a room reservedas it seemed in the story for a mother and her daughter. The mother was a lady, an elderly lady, a very influential matron who had a great deal of authority and her own views concerning the entire organization. Her daughter seemed to have a power of movement and activity enabling her to be everywhere at once while at the same time remaining in her room, which was well, a bit more than a roomit was a kind of apartment which, above all, had the characteristic of being very central. But she was constantly arguing with her mother. The mother wanted to keep things just as they were, with their usual rhythm, which precisely meant the habit of tearing down one thing to rebuild another, then again tearing down that to build still another, thus giving the building an appearance of frightful confusion. But the daughter did not like this, and she had another plan. Most of all, she wanted to bring something completely new into the organization: a kind of super-organization that would render all this confusion unnecessary. Finally, as it was impossible for them to reach an understanding, the daughter left The Room to go on a kind of general inspection She went out, looked everything over, and then wanted to return to her room to decide upon some final measures. But this is where something rather peculiar began happening.
She clearly remembered where her room was, but each time she set out to go there, either the staircase disappeared or things were so changed that she could no longer find her way! So she went here and there, up and down, searched, went in and out but it was impossible to find the way to her room! Since all of this assumed a physical appearanceas I said, a very familiar and very common appearance, as is always the case in these symbolic visions there was somewhere (how shall I put it?) the hotels administrative office and a woman who seemed to be the manager, who had all the keys and who knew where everyone was staying. So the daughter went to this person and asked her, Could you show me the way to my room?But of course! Easily! Everyone around the manager looked at her as if to say, How can you say that? However, she got up, and with authority asked for a key the key to the daughters roomsaying, I shall take you there. And off she went along all kinds of paths, but all so complicated, so bizarre! The daughter was following along behind her very attentively, you see, so as not to lose sight of her. But just as they should have come to the place where the daughters room was supposed to be, suddenly the manageress (let us call her the manageress), both the manageress and her key vanished! And the sense of this vanishing was so acute that at the same time, everything vanished!
0 1958-07-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
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.
--
The Room where, on the first of each month, Mother distributed to the disciples their needs for the month.
Asuras: the demons or dark forces of the mental plane.
0 1959-03-10 - vital dagger, vital mass, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I spent a nighta night of battlewhen, for some reason or other, a multitude of vital formations of all kinds entered into The Room: beings, things, embryos of beings, residues of beingsall kinds of things And it was a frightful assault, absolutely disgusting.
In this swarming mass, I noticed the presence of some slightly more conscious willswills of the vital plane and I saw how they try to awaken a reaction in the consciousness of human beings to make them think or want, or if possible, do certain things.
0 1959-10-06 - Sri Aurobindos abode, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I found myself in another world, but not far away (I was not in a total trance). This world was almost as substantial as the physical world. There were roomsSri Aurobindos room with the bed he rests on and he was living there, he was there all the time: it was his abode. Even my room was there, with a large mirror like the one I have here, combs, all kinds of things. And the substance of these objects was almost as dense as in the physical world, but they shone with their own light. It was not translucent, not transparent, not radiant, but self-luminous. The various objects and the material of The Rooms did not have this same opacity as the physical objects here, they were not dry and hard as in the physical world we know.
And Sri Aurobindo was there, with a majesty, a magnificent beauty. He had all his beautiful hair as before. It was all so concrete, so substantialhe was even being served some kind of food. I remained there for one hour (I had looked at my watch before and I looked at it afterwards). I spoke to Sri Aurobindo, for I had some important questions to ask him about the way certain things are to be realized. He said nothing. He listened to me quietly and looked at me as if all my words were useless: he understood everything at once. And he answered me with a gesture and two expressions on his face, an unexpected gesture that did not at all correspond to any thought of mine; for example, he picked up three combs that were lying near the mirror (combs similar to those I use here, but larger) and he put them in his hair. He planted one comb in the middle of his head and the two others on each side, as if to gather all his hair over his temples. He was literally COIFFED with these three combs, which gave him a kind of crown. And I immediately understood that by this he meant that he was adopting my conception: You see, I embrace your conception of things, and I coif myself with it; it is my will. Anyway, I remained there for one hour.
0 1960-03-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Only a few days ago, on the morning of the 29th, I had one of those experiences that mark ones life. It happened upstairs in my room. I was doing my japa, walking up and down with my eyes wide open, when suddenly Krishna camea gold Krishna, all golden, in a golden light that filled the whole room. I was walking, but I could not even see the windows or the rug any longer, for this golden light was everywhere with Krishna at its center. And it must have lasted at least fifteen minutes. He was dressed in those same clothes in which he is normally portrayed when he dances. He was all light, all dancing: You see, I will be there this evening during the Darshan.1 And suddenly, the chair I use for darshan came into The Room! Krishna climbed up onto it, and his eyes twinkled mischievously, as if to say, I will be there, you see, and therell be no room for you.
When I came down that evening for distribution,2 at first I was annoyed. I had said that I didnt want anybody in the hall, precisely because I wanted to establish an atmosphere of concentration, the immobility of the Spirit but there were at least thirty people in there, those who had decorated the hall, thirty of them stirring, stirring about, a mass of little vibrations. And before I could even say scat I had hardly taken my seatsomeone put the tray of medals on my lap and they started filing past.
But what is surprising is that in a flash, no one was there any longer. No one, you understand I was gone. Perhaps I was everywhere (but in fact I am always everywhere, I am always conscious of being everywhere at the same time), though normally there is the sense of the body, a physical center, but that evening there was no more center! Nothing, no one, not even the sense that there was no onenothing. I was gone. There was indeed something handing out the medals which felt the joy of giving the medal, the joy of receiving it, the joy of mutually looking at each other. It was simply the joy of the action taking place, the joy of looking, this joy everywhere, but me?Nothing, no one, gone. Only later, afterwards, did I see what had happened, for everything had disappeared, even the higher mind that understands and organizes things (by understand I mean contain, which contains things). That also was gone. And this lasted the entire distribution. Only when that [the body] had gone back upstairs to The Room did the consciousness of what is me return.
There is a line by Sri Aurobindo in Savitri which expresses this very well: to annul oneself so that only the Supreme Lord may be.
0 1960-12-31, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The Room where Mother distributed to the disciples their needs (soap, paper, etc.) on the first of each month.
Mother later discovered that this world of complications is the symbol of the physical mind.
0 1961-01-10, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have replied endlessly, I have given all sorts of explanations about the organization of the School, about World Union,4 about the true way to organize industry (its true functioning)so many things! If all that were compiled we could publish brochures! Sometimes Ive spoken three-quarters of an hour non-stop to people who listened with delight and were receptive but quite incapable of making a written report of it. At times like that we could have used one of your machines! But when things are organized in advance, it may well be that nothing comes out at allmentalizing stops the flow. If I is in front of me, I cant say anything to her because she doesnt understand. I already have trouble writing to herwhat I have to say is always brought down a bit; but if she were here in The Room and I had to speak to her, nothing at all would come out!
No, when we feel like it and when she doesnt raise any question about an aphorismat least not an impossible questionwell do this: I will speak here, its much easier for me. This way things come that I havent seen before; while when I write like that, they are usually things Ive seen on other occasions (not that I try to recall them, they are there and simply come back). But when theres a new contact, something new always comes.
0 1961-01-22, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Something was obviously bent on preventing me from going down for the distribution.4 But by an act of will I went down. I will do it, I said. But it was difficult. There were moments when it sidled up to me: Now youre going to faint, and then, Now your legs will no longer be able to walk. Now. It kept coming like that. So I kept repeating the japa the whole time, and it was touch-and-go right up to the end. Finally I couldnt distinguish people, I saw only shapes, forms passing by, and not clearly. When the distribution was over, I got up (I knew I had to get up), I stood up without flinching and stepped down from the chair without faltering. But I was not careful and when I turned away from the light in The Room to go towards the staircasean abrupt blackout. Not the blackout of a faintmy eyes no longer saw. I saw only shadows. Ah! I said to myself, where is the step?! And to avoid missing it, I clutched the railing. What a commotion that made! Champaklal came rushing up, thinking I was about to fall!
Anyhow.
0 1961-02-11, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Last night I had a dream about you that made a vivid impression on me. Its probably absurd, but it was so real! You had called me because you were going to leave your body: you had decided to leave and you wanted somehow to say good-bye. It was so real! I came to you and for a moment you placed my head on your knees, and I was filled with light; it was very tender. But at the same time, I knew you were saying good-bye, you were going to leave your body, and I wept in my dream. Then I went to sit in a corner because there were other people who probably had come to see you as well. I remained in that corner, strickenit seemed so real, you understand! Just then, aman I didnt know entered The Room (I knew he was French), a stranger dressed all in black, and he started making a loud commotion. He was smoking a pipe,2 a very coarse man, and he wanted to make all the people there, the disciples, get out of The Room .3 It was so real! I awoke with a start and almost cried aloud, Ah, its a dream! Its only a dream!
Oh, it was that real!
0 1961-03-17, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The experience occurred in a place corresponding to ours [the main Ashram building], but immense: The Rooms were ten times bigger, but absolutely one cant say emptythey were barren. Not that there was nothing in them, but nothing was in order, everything was just where it shouldnt be. There wasnt any furniture so things were strewn here and therea dreadful disarray! Things were being put to uses they werent made for, yet nothing needed for a particular purpose could be found. The whole section having to do with education [the Ashram School] was in almost total darkness: the lights were out with no way to switch them on, and people were wandering about and coming to me with incoherent, stupid proposals. I tried to find a comer where I could rest (not because I was tired; I simply wanted to concentrate a little and get a clear vision in the midst of it all), but it was impossible, no one would leave me alone. Finally I put a tottering armchair and a footstool end-to-end and tried to rest; but someone immediately came up (I know who, Im purposely not giving names) and said, Oh! This wont do at all! It CANT be arranged like that! Then he began making noise, commotion, disorderwell, it was awful.
To wind it all up, I went to Sri Aurobindos rooman enormous, enormous room, but in the same state. And he appeared to be in an eternal consciousness, entirely detached from everything yet very clearly aware of our total incapacity.
0 1961-03-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You know he said someone has been doing black magic against me; but I have never felt anything of the sort in The Room where we meditate, because I make a point of coming half an hour early and this of course clears the atmosphere: everything is always ready when he arrives, in silence, in perfect peace. Hasnt he always told you that when he comes into that room he enters another world, like Kailas?1 And thats the way it has always been. If there has been a change, its that now its even more like thatbecause (how to put it?) its more stable. Before, it fluctuated a bit: it came, went, came. But now its like a tranquil mass (Mother lowers her arms) that doesnt stir. Yesterday in particular, this was the experience: I felt him coming (when he is about to come in, I always sense something drawing me outward a little so that I wont be completely in trance and can stand up), and this prayer came so spontaneously, oh! And then (laughing) in the afternoon N. tells me, Oh, X said he had some difficulty at the start of todays meditationa hostile force was present and it took him five minutes to clarify the atmosphere!
It gave me the impression you get in outer life: all the pieces more or less dovetail but with no inner unitytheres not ONE thing, not one, that is true, essentially and always true. We know it is like that outwardly, of course; but I have always felt that with people who have an inner life, one could attain a kind of identity of vibration and knowledge but no!
0 1961-08-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
These people had always been very intimate with Sri Aurobindo, so they asked: Why, why, Why? He replied, It will be explained to you. I had no intention of explaining anything, and I left The Room with him, but Datta began speaking. (She was an Englishwoman who had left Europe with me; she stayed here until her deatha person who received inspirations.) She said she felt Sri Aurobindo speaking through her and she explained everything: that Krishna had incarnated and that Sri Aurobindo was now going to do an intensive sadhana for the descent of the Supermind; that it meant Krishnas adherence to the Supramental Descent upon earth and that, as Sri Aurobindo would now be too occupied to deal with people, he had put me in charge and I would be doing all the work.
This was in 1926.
0 1961-08-05, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
No. Are you thinking of Buddha? (Ah, I thought of this two or three days ago; it came suddenly and I wondered why!) I remembered that before Buddha left his home, he passed through The Rooms of the palace and saw his wife and parents sleeping and it felt to him as though they were dead. Thats where we hear of sleep being like death.
But isnt it like death? When you are asleep, you arent in your body: everything else goes out just as it does at the time of death, doesnt it?
0 1961-08-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Nowadays I always spend a part of the night in the realm of expression, a realm where generally I never used to go at all. Its a very lovely place, very human in the sense that its not a scene from Nature: there are huge rooms and great, highly intellectual arrangements; yet its very lovely, with such a clear and limpid atmosphereall in clear shades (Mother gives up trying to describe it). Oh, its so luminous and lovely, very well organized, as far as the eye can see; it seems as big as the earth. The Rooms are roofless, just imagine! Huge roofless rooms flooded with light, and transparent partitions. And the people inside seem very, very awarenot a lot of people, but extremely studious and attentive, and they are creating arrangements of things. They must be people writing books. They are making compositionsoh, if you knew how lovely it was! Its as if they were taking colors and more or less geometrical forms and placing them in relation to one another. There are huge pigeonholes where everything is in order, and yet without doors, not closed upwide open and still completely protected. An interesting place. I dont usually go there Ive gone maybe two or three times in my life, without paying much attention but lately, because of this book you are writing, Sri Aurobindo is taking me there all the time.
And there are people with no countryhe takes me to a place where the people have no country, no race, no special costume they seem very universal. And they move around harmoniously, silently, as though they were gliding and with precision, everything is extremely precise. Some of them have even shown me things: there were some lovely colored papers! But these colors are unearthly, somehow transparent. They were arranging it all, demonstrating and explaining to me how it has to be arranged to give the maximum effect.
0 1962-01-09, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And the feeling was so strong that even during his illness (which lasted for months, you know), I had a sense of perfect security; so much so that the idea of his life being really affected in the least by this illness couldnt even occur to me! I didnt want to believe it when the doctor said, Its over. I didnt want to believe it. And as long as I stayed in The Room with me in The Room he couldnt leave his body. And so there was a terrible tension in himon the one hand the inner will to depart, and then this thing holding him there in his body: the fact that I knew he was alive and could only be alive. He had to signal me to go to my room, supposedly to rest (I didnt rest); and no sooner had I left his room than he was gone.
They immediately called me back. Thats how it was. Then when he came to me, when I really saw what had happened, when he went out of his body and entered into mine (the most material part of him, the part involved with external things) and I understood that I had the entire responsibility for all the work AND for the sadhana7well, then I locked a part of me away, a deep psychic8 part that was living, beyond all responsibility, in the ECSTASY of the realization: the Supreme. I took it and locked it away, I sealed it off and said, Youre not moving until until all the rest is ready.
0 1962-02-06, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Pavitra enters The Room to ask Mother an urgent question)
I cant hear, I am somewhere else.
0 1962-04-13, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(After a perilous month, Mother has suddenly had the formidable, decisive experience, and she gives her first message. She is lying on her bed in The Room upstairs, and has become quite thin. It is around ten in the morning. Her voice has greatly changed. Schoolchildren can be heard playing in the distance:)
Night of April 12-13.1
0 1962-05-15, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Did I tell you about it? It was a sort of vision that I took for a beginning of work on the subconscient. I had come to a place where Sri Aurobindo was staying and found him closeted in his room. There was a sort of large hall, an immense hall with rooms opening onto it, and his apartment was off to one side (gesture). I asked to see him. I was told it wasnt possible and I had to wait. I was astonished. Then certain things happened in the hall concerning A. and M. (rather interesting things, but concerning them personally). And at the same time, I was waiting. When it was all over, I asked once again to go into The Room. Then through the doorway I saw I saw a tall Sri Aurobindomuch taller than he actually wasstrong but rather thin, thin in a way that not the way he really wasit was rather a gauntness, very harsh, very cold; and he was somewhat darker than he used to be. I saw him there, walking up and down; and when he was told I was asking to see him, I saw him in the distance saying, No, I dont want to see her. I wont acknowledge her and I dont want anything to do with hershe has betrayed me. Something like that (I couldnt hear the actual words, but the gestures were plain enough). Well, that was the very first timenothing of the kind had ever occurred before.
And I immediately felt that it was the expression of certain peoples thoughts. During the war there was a whole clique (I know their names and all the details) who said I had influenced Sri Aurobindo, made him deviate from his nationalist path and turn towards the Allies; they considered me to have ruined his life, his consciousness, his workeverything, you understand.1
And I was seeing the very IMAGE of that in this vision. A person I wont name (but I spoke to him afterwards; hes still here) came out of The Room to tell me all this. In my vision I told him two things (it seems very distant nowit was back in 59and I no longer recall if I told him one thing after the other or both together). First of all, I protested against everything that fake Sri Aurobindo was saying about me, and at the same time I was going towards the person coming out of The Room (its someone living here, you know, who is, who was quite close to Sri Aurobindo. Apparently he was under the influence of certain doubting thoughts, certain doubts, thats why he was there). I called him by name and spoke to him in English: But surely we have had a true spiritual relationship, a true union! Immediately he melted and said yes, and rushed headlong into my arms. In other words, that was his conversion, and thats why I spoke to him about it afterwards; I didnt tell him about the experience but I spoke of the doubt that was in him. It was truly a beginning of conversion in one part of his being, and for that reason I wont name him. And along with this, in answer to what that fake Sri Aurobindo was saying, I said forcefully (also in English): This means the negation of all spiritual experience! And immediately the whole scene, the whole construction, everythingpoof! Vanished, dissolved. The Force swept it all away.
Later, when I had that second vision April 3, 1962, I saw that the same being was behind this would-be Sri Aurobindo (and with a whole group organized around himpeople, ceremonies and so on). So from that I concluded that the thing had been developing. But when I first encountered those people [in 1959] it was merely something in the Subconscient and the effect was only psychological (an hour or two was enough to sort things out and put them in order). It didnt affect my health. But this time.
--
I walk around The Room, and that is what is walking.
And it is very silent there is no thought; there is barely, barely the ability to observe. And all kinds of movements, an infinity of movements and vibrations of something that could be the essence of thoughts, move there, rhythmically, in a movement of waves without beginning or end, with a condensation like this (gesture from above down), with a condensation like that (horizontal gesture), and a movement of expansion (gesture like a pulsating ocean). That is, a sort of contraction, concentration, and then expansion, diffusion.2
Yesterday I had the total experience I let myself go completely. It lasted something like forty minutes as I walked around The Room.
And actually, apart from the fact of suffering (you know, an ache here, an ache there, a pain here, a pain there, giving the sense of bodily individuality), apart from that, that great undulating movement of life is my normal consciousness. Meaning that I what I call Me (gesture high above), my consciousness, is completely outside the body. Thats what the consciousness of the body is (what Ive just been describing), with only points of pain as reminders of what a body usually is: an ache here, an ache there, another ache here. Thats what its like. And this pain has a small and extremely limited life; its not general, its not a body that suffers: it is suffering that suffers. Its a point, a point of paina scratch here, a sore there, things like that. Thats what is individual and suffersits not the body that has a sore, you understand.
--
Striking though the parallel may be, there is still a fundamental difference between these mathematical concepts and Mothers experience. In the first case, we are dealing with conceptual instruments used by the human mind to better explain and master the world: no one has actually seen electromagnetic wavesnot to speak of gravitational ones! They are images, convenient models, invisible and nonexistent in themselves. They exist only through their effects: a beam of sunlight, which is an electromagnetic wave, strikes our retina and enables us to distinguish a flower; by means of gravitational waves, Newtons apple falls from the tree but no one has lived the reality of those waves. The way Mother grasps reality, on the contrary, is first and foremost through lived experience. She is the movement, she is the wave: I walk around The Room, and that is what is walking. Here we touch upon a stupendous mystery and a formidable question: How is it possible for a material and cellular body to be the wave that at once constitutes and carries the worlds along in its infinite undulating movement and governs the existence of atoms and galaxies? How is it possible to be an infinite and ubiquitous electromagnetic wave while remaining within the narrow confines of a human body?
In being THAT, it might be said, Mother thus resolves the famous question of the unified-field theory, the theory to which Einstein devoted the last years of his life in vain, that would describe the movements of both planets and atoms in a single mathematical equation. Mothers body-consciousness is one with the movement of the universe, Mother lives the unified-field theory in her body. In so doing she opens up to us not merely one more physical theory, but the very path to a new species on earth, a species that will physically and materially live on the scale of the universe. The posthuman species might not simply be one with a few organs more or less, but rather one capable of being at every point in the universe. A sort of material ubiquity. It may not be so much a new as an ubiquitous species, a species that embraces everything, from the blade of grass under our feet to the far galaxies. A multifarious, undulating existence. A resume or epitome of evolution, really, which at the end of its course again becomes each point and each species and each movement of its own evolution.
0 1962-05-31, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Several times (because I am almost never alone in my room, though there may be many other reasons), I have noticed a slight change, a small movement in the consciousness of the person or persons in The Room. But I always hesitate to throw the responsibility onto something external, because that takes three-quarters of the possibility of control away from you.
If only the mechanism could be found!
0 1962-06-02, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother refers to the previous conversation, in which she was looking for the reasons behind the passage from one room to another, from The Room of pain to the true room: "I can't catch hold of what makes it happen. What's happening? What's going on?!")
I had an experience yesterday afternoon that might put us on the track.
--
I.e., the crystalline river and the muddy river, The Room of pain and the true room. Mother later clarified: "At a given moment, the water was either one way or the other; I wasn't changing place, the STATE was changing."
Mother reemphasized: "Those who use the mind to seek knowledge cannot enter the true room that is quite clear."
0 1962-07-14, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In a few days it will materialize a few days, I dont know. Over there (gesture to the left), days, months, all have another meaning. Listen, there are minutes. You know, I walk around The Room repeating the Words,3 and sometimes I go around ten times in a second! Yet its always the same pace; I doubt if anyone would see any physical difference. But sometimes there are ten, twenty, thirty rounds a second! And other times one single round will drag and dragoh, its endless!
And simultaneously there is an automatic perception of timeclock timewhich is rather curious (everything is regulated by the comings and goings of the people around me, you see: such a thing at this time, such a thing at that time), I dont need to hear the clock I am warned just before it strikes. I repeat one part of the japa in a particular way while lying down, because the Power is greater (these arent meditations, they are actions), and another part while walking. So I stay stretched out for a certain time, I walk for a certain time, and at a fixed hour this one goes, another comes, and so on. But none of them are people; I dont tell them so, but theyre not people: they are movements of the Lord. And its extremely interestingone of the Lords movements will have this particular character, another movement will have a different type of vibration, and they all harmonize very nicely into a whole. But I know what time it is just before the clock strikes: six oclock, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, like that. Not with the words six, seven, but: its time, its time, its time. And along with thisthis clockwork precision I have that other notion of time which is quite different, its. Although its a very rigid convention, our time is a living formation with its own living power here in the world of action. The other time is the rhythm of consciousness. So according to the intensity of the Presence (theres a concentration and an expansion, I mean), according to this pulsationwhich can vary, its not regular and mechanicalwalking around The Room takes either no time at all, or else an ENORMOUS amount of time. But this doesnt interfere with the other time, theres no contradiction. Our time is on a different plane, something far more external; but it has its usefulness and its own law, and the one doesnt hinder the other.4
And its gradually becoming foreseeable that.5
0 1962-10-12, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I am skipping all the details (it was a long thing, lasting an hour), but suddenly he went out of The Room, leaving me alone (after expressing what he wanted to tell me with a gesture, which I understood). And then I simply seemed to take a step (gesture of crossing a threshold), and I found myself lying in my bed again. And at that moment I said to myself, Really! We make all kinds of complications, and its so simple: you just have to go like this (same gesture) and there you are; then you go like that (same gesture in the opposite direction) and youre back here.
(silence)
0 1962-11-10, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Some people found it interesting, mon petit! First of all, Sri Aurobindo was there it was like a large hall: a very large room with scarcely any walls, just enough so it didnt seem wide open to everything. And then there was a kind of musical instrument, like a grand piano, but much bigger and higher, playing its own music: nobody was playing it. And its own music was the music of what you have written. It was taking the form of something like luminous, colored sheets of paper, tinged with gold, with pink, which were scattering in the air and then very slowly falling onto a floor that was scarcely a floor, with an almost birdlike movement. They were falling, fallingalmost square sheets of paper falling one upon another like feathersnothing heavy about it. And then from the left a being like a god from the overmind entered The Room; he was both like a Hindu deity with a tiara, and a kind of angel in a long robe (a combination of the two), and he moved so lightly, without touching the groundhe was all lightness. And with a very lovely and harmonious movement (everything was so harmonious!), he gathered up all the sheets: he took them in his arms and they stayed therethey were weightless, you see. He gathered them up, smiling all the while, with a young and very, very luminous and happy face something very lovely. Then, when he had gathered them all up, he turned towards me (I was here; you were over there, the music was there and Sri Aurobindo was there), and said as he was leaving, I am taking all this to give to them, as if he were returning to the overmental world where they were greatly interested in it! (Mother laughs.)
But it was all so lovely, so very lovely! There was a rhythm; it was all unfolding rhythmically, a rhythm of the falling sheets of paper; and a rhythm moving along very slowly, not in a straight line, and undulating.
0 1962-11-20, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When Sri Aurobindo was here, you went to sit in The Room he was in, and felt perfectly sheltered from everything and it was true.
The only danger at the time was Japan, and Japan had officially declared it wouldnt bomb Pondicherry because of Sri Aurobindo. But at least there were still men in their planes, and they could choose not to bomb. But you dont tell a jet plane Dont crash here! It crashes wherever it can.
0 1962-12-19, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I havent seen much of that room,2 I havent been there often. I went to see what it was like for the first time the evening before the inauguration, and it gave me the feeling of something totally emptyyou know, hollow and dry. It was so strong that the body felt like this (wavering gesture, as if Mother were losing her footing). Thats how the BODY felt, its not the consciousness; I am talking about the body-consciousness. The Room seemed so hollow and empty that the body felt drained, as if all its force and consciousness had to spread out everywhere in order to fill up that emptiness.
The next day it wasnt like that any more; the work had been done the day before, in one minute (it gets done very quickly, but in a very intense and violent way). I had purposely gone to The Room the previous evening, to set things in order, and so the next day it was better, the work was already done. Then I sat down at the organ it was much better than I expected. It was as if a formation were waiting, and as soon as I sat down it descended. Oh, a marvelous musical joy! I didnt have to look and when I wasnt looking, I saw everything from within: all the notes, my hands, everything, with eyes closed. And so it descended I was very happy. I must have played for a good twenty minutes.
After twenty minutes, something said, Thats enough. And I saw that it was enough for the body, that it shouldnt exert itself further the formation withdrew. I couldnt have played a single note more! It was very interesting. And I realized that, truly, the will that moves my body isnt at all the same as before. Previously, it was the will of the being that had been placed into and formed in this body (it wasnt personal but still very individual). While now its not that: its a Will somewhere (somewhere which is everywhere and in everything), a Will somewhere that decides, and when it says Do, the body does; when it says No, nothing in the world could make the body move. And so, that conscious something somewhere, which is like an intermediary between the higher Will and the body and its outer life, has to tell the body, This is necessary. The body never protests, because that which speaks knows VERY WELL. It says, This is necessary, all right, the body does it. But when it says, Thats enough, now, the body stops. Because (how can I express it?) FOR THE BODY, the Most High knows better than the intermediary. In regard to circumstances and the vision of the work to be done, its all one; but for taking care of and educating the body, That (gesture on high) knows best. The intermediary doesnt really care (!), but when That says do, its done; inished, and its finished. Its very interesting.
0 1963-03-09, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There was another occurrence (less striking), once in a room as long as this one and wider,5 the salon in my familys house. Some little friends had come and we were playing. I told them, Ill show you how one should dance. I went to a corner of The Room to get the longest distance to another corner, and I told them, One single step in the middle. And I did it! (Mother laughs) I sprang (I didnt even feel I was jumping, it was like dancing, you know, like when they dance on point), landed on the tips of my toes, bounced up and reached the other corneryou cant do that alone, even champions cannot. The length of the jump went beyond records, because afterwards I asked here, when we started physical exercises at the Ashram, I asked what the longest jump wasmine was longer! And they take a run up, you see, they run and then jump. But I didnt run: I was standing in the corner, and hop! up I went (I said hop! to myself, soundlessly), and frrrt! I landed on the tips of my toes, bounced and landed the other sidequite evidently I was carried.
All this took place before the age of thirteen or fourteen (from eight to thirteen or fourteen). Many things of the kind, all of which seemed to me perfectly naturalit didnt feel as though I was doing something miraculous. Perfectly natural.
0 1963-03-19, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I came across a man who had that blue light but I found him rather formidable. He looked after all the religious rites and priests of B.s state. He came here and asked to see me. I saw him on a December 9 (I think) when I paid a visit to the estate at Aryankuppam. I was walking in the gardens when suddenly I felt something pulling at meand none too gently! I turned around and saw a tall man, standing and staring at me. So (I didnt know who he was, no one had told me), I stared back and simply answered his impudence! And pfft! it just fell off. I was surprised. Later (I had not yet been told who he was), he asked to see me. When he entered The Room, I felt I felt a solid being. I dont know how to define it, I had never before felt it in a human beingsolid. As solid as rock. Extraordinarily solidcoagulated, an edifice. And quite powerful, I must say. Not like an arrow (gesture upward) but all around him. Then it was very funny (because theres no doubt he must have had an awesome effect on people instantly, without a word or anything), but I answered in my own way, with something else!
He entered The Room wearing some kind of religious headdress, I cant say what, and intending to be very arrogant. He went past me stiffly, and suddenly what do I see but the man do his pranam.2 He stepped back, took off his hat and did his pranam. And stayed that way for nearly a quarter of an hour. And it was interesting, his response was interesting. Then he started talking to me (someone translatedhe spoke in Hindi, I think), asking me to take care of B. I said something in turn, and then thought strongly, Now, time is up, it cant last forever! (He had already been there for more than fifteen minutes.) And suddenly I see him stiffen, put his thing back on his head, and go.
Hes the only man who gave me that sensation in my whole life.
0 1963-04-06, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
My only method is a kind of shield of mental silence (in the ordinary mind), so that all the peoples thoughts do not come and pester me all the time, without letup. But they creep underneath! With some people, the moment they enter The Room, I feel exhausted, because of their attitude. It doesnt work through thought at all: its a special vibration in my body.
With others, on the contrary, its fine.
0 1963-05-11, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Do you think your machine [the tape recorder at the other end of The Room] has picked up the music?5
I hope so!
0 1963-06-15, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And all at once, it came so clearly, as though the Lord Himself were arranging something, and it was translated into, Give him a bath of the Lord. You understand, to make an atmosphere (no need to speak, no need for words), an atmosphere that is a bath of the Lord. So that all those who enter the atmosphere automatically enter the bath of the Lord. It was so lovely! And so simple, so smiling, nothing showy, no big words: something very simple and natural. So, early in the morning, I went to The Room over there; I had many people to see beforehand, a host of people who came to see me in the morning, but nevertheless early in the morning I had already started preparing my bath of the Lord! I was finished seeing people about an hour before Nehrus arrival, so I stayed in The Room, preparing the bath. It was very charming.
He may have felt something they are very thick-skinned, you know, necessarily so: overworked, full of self-conceit, naturally, and convinced that they know everything and can do everything (and unfortunately they can do a lot), so the whole of life is organized so as to BLOCK all inner receptivity.
0 1963-06-19, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I was saying to myself, But whats the way to get out of here? I concentrated, became conscious again of the divine Presence, but there was something telling me, Nothing is responding, its not working. It was horrible. Nothing is responding, its not working; its not working, it cant change, nothing is responding; nothing is responding, its not working. I was there like that, with two or three people. I sat down (some rooms were higher than others and it made a difference in level between the terraces), I sat down on a ledge, questioning intensely within, What can I do? What can I do? Whats the way? What can I do? Wheres the lever? I was trying to find the lever for changing it all. But I was unable to find it. Suddenly, from The Room at the end a little old man came out, very old, who gave the impression of an attachment to old things; just the same (he was all blue), just the same when he arrived (it must be the symbol of an old method or an old discipline), I told him, Ah, now that you are here, can you tell me the way out of this place? Whats the way to get free, the way out? That started him laughing: No, no! Theres no way, no way out, you must be content with what you have. Then he looked at that poor light above, which really didnt give much light at all, and he said (in a high-sounding tone): But in the first place, I came to tell you that you must put out that sun! I dont want that dazzling sun here. Ah! I thought, Thats what he calls a sun! I was so disgusted that finally I woke up. Something pulled me out abruptly. But with such a strong impressionso strong that I was gripped by anguish: What can be done to change that? The WAY, you see, the way was inadequateinadequate. That was the anguish: My own experience is inadequate, it has no effect THERE, so whats to be done? Whats to be done? What can be done? So thats how I was for hours this morning: Whats the way? Whats the way? Whats the way to change that darkness into light?
It wasnt very cheering.
0 1963-07-13, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It was very interesting. I had to see someone before him, and I wanted enough time to prepare the atmosphere, but it didnt last too long. Then it condensed and accumulated. It made an absolutely still atmosphere, with only the internal vibration I dont know how to explain. Ive said this a few times already: there is a Force which doesnt move and consequently can be said to be absolutely still, yet has an INNER intensity of vibration far more considerable than the vibration of motion. And its a PALE golden light: it isnt white at all, its golden. But not an intense gold: a pale color. It filled everything (there were no more walls in The Room), and it was condensed, so condensed, as if tight as if under pressure, you know. There was nothing left but the inner vibration.
He came in, and there was only the ripple of his coming in. It took him maybe a minute or two to adapt. I dont know what his first impression was, but he looked visibly somewhat embarrassednot ill at ease, but almost surprised, as if wondering, Whats going on? Then after not even two minutes, he made his usual movement and stayed exactly twenty-two minutes without ANYTHING stirring. Nothing stirred. The atmosphere was absolutely still, without a thought, a movement, a reaction or anything.
0 1963-08-31, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And I see very well that if we let ourselves be carried along instead of having that absurd resistance of habit, if we let ourselves be carried along, there would come a sort of very (same round, global gesture) very soft thing, in the sense of smooth, very soft, very complete, very living, and with a very intimate perception of things. Along with a knowledge that becomes if there werent that mixture of the old habit, it would be really extraordinary: the perception of things not as if they were outside, but an INTIMATE perception. When someone enters The Room, for instance, or when the clock is about to strike, you know it just (I cant say a second, its a thousandth of a second), just before it takes place materially; which gives you the feeling of a foreknowledge, but its not that! Its not a foreknowledge, its It belongs to the realm of sensation, but its other senses. The FOREMOST feeling you get is one of intimacy, that is to say, there is no more distance, no more difference, no more seer and thing seen; yet, there is in it what corresponds to vision, hearing, sensation, all the perceptions, taste, smell and all of that.
There is here a very concrete change from before, very perceptible.
0 1963-10-19, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The big difficulty is that tamasic stupidity. Yesterday, in this connection, I had the experience of a young couple who came to see me. (It has become a custom nowadays that young people who are going to marry and whose families I know, or who live here, come to receive my blessings before marrying! Thats the new fashion.) So they came. The girl was educated here and the boy stayed here for quite a long time, working here; anyway, they want to marry. The boy went searching for a job; he had trust [in Mother] and found one. He is I cant say conscious because it isnt like consciousness, I would call it rather superstition (!) but its a superstition on the right target! The movement is ignorant, but well directed, so it works; not that he has an enlightened faith, but he has faith. All right. Things are fine and he does very well. So they came yesterday to receive my blessings. Then they went. And they left behind in The Room a vital formation, very bubbly, absolutely ignorant, very bubbly with a joie de vivre, a joie de vivre so blissfully ignorant of all possible difficulties, all possible miseries, and not only for oneself but for everyone! You know, that joie de vivre that says, Oh, it doesnt matter to me if we are born and dielife is short, well, let it be good, thats enough. No mental curiosity, no urge to know the why of the worldall that is nonsense, we neednt bother about it! Lets be happy, have some fun, and do as well as we can. Thats all. That formation was so strong, you know, in The Room that I saw it and had to find a place for it. It put me in contact with a whole domain of the earth, of mankind, and I had to put it in its proper place, put it in order and organize it. It took me a little time (long enough, maybe three quarters of an hour or an hour), I had to order and organize everything. Then I saw how widespread it is on earth. (Note that these young people belong to the top of society, they are regarded as very intelligent, they are very well educated, in a word, its about the best you can find in mankind! Not the dregs, far from it.) And I wondered if it isnt even more widespread in Western countries than here I think it is. At that moment I came into contact with everywhere, and, well, the everywhere was really quite extensive.
Afterwards, I asked myself, But what the devil can be done with all this? Disturb these people? They are quite incapable of getting out of their condition in this life and will probably need many, many, many lives to awaken to the NEED TO KNOWas long as they can move about, you know (laughing), as long as they can move about and things arent too painful, theyre quite contented! And then, in addition, there is, all the way down, that whole inert mass, you know, of men who are very close to the animalwhat can be done with that? If that too has to be ready, it seems to me impossible. Because that young couple, according to human opinion, are very fine people!
0 1963-10-26, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
First it came from one direction, then a dead calmits always that way. You know how cyclones work? Its something that rotates, and at the center theres a dead calm; all around is a whirlwind, and it rotates as it advances. So the first part (what might be called the front of the cyclone) arrives from one direction, then it goes on rotating, and the second part comes from the opposite direction. We have an American rear admiral here who knows those things very wellall seafaring people know themhe had seen the cyclone from a distance on the sea and warned us. But its always that way, I had noticed it. The first wave arrived from the north, but as we were forewarned, everything had been closed. Then the wind died down completely, but the southern windows had been left open. And the second wave came from the other direction (it came around evening, a little before 7, I dont remember; anyway, I was sitting at the table here). And I saw I saw that whirlwind coming, and inside it there were formations: like heaped masses, some gray-black, others reddish-brown. And I watched it all; I saw them from a distance, there were lots of them: big formations, about as big as houses. They came in heaped masses, with kinds of formations WITHIN the whirlwind. So I was here, just beginning to have my dinner, when a reddish-brown formation went over, like this, right from here towards your house (Mother sweeps across The Room from south to north), and it struck me. Mon petit, howling pains! And then a horrible discomfort. So naturally, my usual remedy: I stayed still and offered it all to the Lord. The formation went past, didnt stop (it went past, struck and went away), and left behind it (afterwards the pains were dull, they could be controlled) a kind of very peculiar sense of discomfort a sort of wickedness, like big sharp claws raking ones stomach. So I was expecting something for youothers too fell sick who were in the path of the formation. But there must have been quite a number of cases, because I saw many formations that one did strike, you see. I saw it arrive as swiftly as the cyclone, strike, and then go on. So when I was told that you had a fever, instantly I thought, Thats it.
Was it painful?
0 1963-12-03, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I had another interesting example, with a visitor: a German industrial magnate, it seems. I had seen his photo and found there was something in him I had him come. He entered The Room and came in front of me: he didnt know what to do (no one had told him anything). So I looked at him and put some force (Mother slowly lowers her hand), a little, progressively. And all at once (at first he was quite official, it was MISTER So-and-so who was there), all at once his left hand began to rise, like this (gesture of a hand clenched as in trance), all the rest was absolutely still. When I saw that, I smiled and withdrew the force, then let him go. It seems he went downstairs, went into Sri Aurobindos room and started weeping. Afterwards, the next day, he wrote to me and told me in German English that I had been too human: Why have you been too human? He wanted his being to be DESTROYED in order to be born again to the true life.
That interested me. I thought, Oh, he felt it, he was conscious both of the force and of my withdrawing it. I answered him, True, I spared you, but because it was your first visit! Prepare yourself, I will see you again.
You see, he came in as a big industrial person with a remarkable power of mental creation that organizes events thats what entered The Room and then it melted. And I didnt put the full charge: I simply put some power like this (Mother lowers her hand), and I was looking him in the face. Then I felt something going on lower down; I looked: his hand was tightly clenched. So I stopped.
But the remarkable thing is that he was CORRECTLY conscious.
0 1964-01-04, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Last time, when he came to meditate, just before he came upstairs, all of a sudden I felt the Lord coming (He has a particular way of becoming concrete when He wants me to do something), and He became concrete with the will that I should take advantage of this mans goodwill to widen his consciousness. It was very clear. And He became concrete with a Power, you know, one of those overwhelming Powers and a wonderful Love. It came like that, and he was caught in the Movementwhat he was conscious of, I cannot say. But when he left The Room, he said he had had an experience. And this time, he was quite sincere, spontaneous, natural, not trying to to make a show.2 It was very good.
No, you might have gained something [with X], but its a something you would have found quite small; if you had felt it, you would have thought, Oh, really, that was it!?
0 1964-01-15, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The Pope I wonder why: what happened? What does it mean? Why did it happen? But I still see the scene; it was a very living reality: he was tall, in The Room over there (the music room), and there was a somewhat gloomy atmosphere around him, with a kind of worry. But the inner contact was very strong, very strong, very intense, and it went beyond the manbeyond the man, beyond the physical Supreme Pontiffquite beyond. It touched something. Yet I had never thought of him, of course, nothing.
And all this happens IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY, not while I am sleeping. All at once, you know This story happened to me when I had just had my bath! You understand, its completely unconnected. All at once something comes, takes hold of me, and then theres a sort of life in which I live, until something is donesome action and when that action is done, everything goes away. And it goes away without leaving any traces, as if (Mother pulls away a screen abruptly).
0 1964-07-31, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Before he broke his leg, Sri Aurobindo used to walk from the street over there up to the garden here, straight through The Rooms for a precise length of time. And to make sure he didnt walk for too long or too short a time, he had four wall clocks placed at a certain distance from each other, all synchronized; the last one was here and the first one was in his room, near him. One day, as he was walking as usual, he looked at the first clock: stopped; he looks at the second clock (he used to wind them himself): stopped, at the same time; looks at the third clock: stopped, at the same time; the fourth clock: stopped, at the same time. I was meditating at the time, and I heard him exclaim, Oh, that is a bad joke! And they all started up again one after the other.
That I saw with my own eyes (and he wasnt under any illusions, nor was I). I asked him, What happened? He told me, See, all the clocks have stopped, and all the clocks started up again.
0 1964-12-02, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There is another thing I remember very clearly, which struck me. It was after his election (but long before his trip to India was decided upon): he had come to India and he came to Pondicherry to meet me (not to meet me: he had come to Pondicherry, then he came and met me). Once in Pondicherry, he came and I saw him there, in The Room where I receive people. We had a long conversation, a very long and interesting conversation, and suddenly (it was towards the end, it was time for him to go), when he rose, he was preoccupied by something. He told me, When you speak to your children about me, what will you tell them? You understand, the ego showing itself. So I looked at him (Mother smiles) and said, I will only tell them that we have been in communion in our love for the Supreme. Then he relaxed and left. It struck me. These things are very objective.
But these are the little turns of the nature. Otherwise, his dream is to be the potentate of human spiritual unity.
0 1965-06-14, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I remember, for instance, there was a time when I used to see people in the form of animals! It was the indication of the type of nature they belonged to. And I remember, when I was still in France, having one day seen (I was sitting in a large room) hosts of small animals coming, especially rabbits, cats, dogs, all kinds of animals, birds; they kept coming and coming, all of them onto my knees! And there were hosts and hosts of them. And there suddenly entered The Room a big tiger, which rushed at them all and vrff! sent them scurrying off in all directions! (Mother laughs) But the animals were people and the tiger, too, was someone.
Its amusing.
--
But it was the same thing for food, meat and so on. For a long time we ate meat; it was even very funny. Pavitra was a strict vegetarian when he came, and at the time, not only were we not vegetarian but the chickens were killed in the courtyard (!) and (laughing) Pavitra had The Room right next to the kitchen the chickens used to be killed under his nose! Oh, poor Pavitra! Then it stopped for a very simple reason (not at all on principle): feeding people with meat is far costlier than being vegetarian! It meant complications. I was personally vegetarian out of tasteeverything is out of taste, not on principle. I became vegetarian at the beginning of the century, oh, a long time ago (yes, it must have been more than sixty years ago), because in my childhood I was forced to eat meat, and it disgusted me (not the idea: it was the taste I didnt like, it disgusted me!) and the doctor said I should be given pickles and all sorts of things to mask the taste. So as soon as I was independent and free, I said, Finished! (laughing) Ah, no! I wont eat meat anymorenot as a rule, since now and then I still take foie gras (thats not vegetarian!) and for a long time I went on eating crayfish or lobster, things like thatno rules, oh, for heavens sake no rules, but taste. But as you said earlier,4 its complications, thats exactly how I felt. And when I moved to this room (you know that they stuck me in bed for I dont know how long I cant manage to find out how long, no one wants to tell me), and when I started eating again, the doctor made me take chicken bouillon; but for that chicken bouillon they had to assassinate one chicken a daythey assassinated one chicken every day for me to have my chicken bouillon. Then, when the hot season came, they told me that the chickens were sick (the heat make them sick) and that, after all, maybe it wasnt so good to eat sick-chicken soup! So I said, Stop it, do stop it! And once I had stopped, ah, my heart was glad: Now (laughing) we dont assassinate chickens anymore! So I said, Finished, we wont do it again. But as it happens, its precisely during that time that I put on two kilos (at the time the doctor used to take my weight), and he said, See, you have put on weight! I told him, But I am not keen to put on weight!
You see (to Sujata), in front of him I speak frankly! (laughing) You should do as I say and not do as I do!
0 1965-06-30, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Oh, something curious happened two nights ago. I was with Sri Aurobindo, it was in a room oh, what a room. Well, it was magnificent, very high-ceilinged, very large, and without anything at all in it; but it was a very large room, and there were kinds of French windows opening out on a balcony or a terrace (it overlooked a town), and those windows, from top to bottom, were a single pane of glass: it gave a magnificent light. He was there. Then for some reason or other I felt he wanted a cup of tea. So I set out in search of his cup of tea, and went through rooms, halls, even construction sites (!), looking for a cup of tea for him; and they were all large roomsall The Rooms were large but contrary to the one in which he was, which was so clear, the others were dark. And there was a large hall which was like a dining hall, with a table and everything needed to serve meals, but dark and also there wasnt anything left. There were people (people I know) who said, Ah, (in a sorry tone) its all finished they had finished everything, they had eaten up everything! (Mother laughs) They had swallowed up everything, there was nothing left. Finally, I found someone in a sort of kitchen down below (someone whom I wont name, I know her), who told me, Yes, yes, Ill bring you that right now, right now! And she brought me a pot, saying, Here. I went off with my pot, then I felt somewhat suspicious, and once outside, I lifted the lid and the first thing I see is earth! Red earth. I scratched off the red earth with my fingers, and underneath (laughing), there was a slice of bread!
Anyway, there was a lot like that, I had all sorts of adventures. Then I looked to see if Sri Aurobindo really needed his cup of tea because it seemed so difficult! I saw him, there was that wonderful French window, so clear, and then as if recessed into the wall (I dont know) a sort of platform couch, a place to sit, but it was very pretty, and he was seated or half-reclining on it, and very comfortable. And there was a boy (or a boy had come to ask him something), and there were kinds of stairs leading up to the couch; the boy was reclining on the stairs, asking questions, and Sri Aurobindo was explaining something. I recognized the boy. I thought, Ah, (laughing) hes no longer thinking of his cup of tea, fortunately! Then I woke up. But I thought, If this is how he sees us having gobbled up everything, you understand.
--
But The Room in which he was I still remember that sense of light, such a clear, clear light, so PURE, through the windowyou could see nothing but light.
(silence)
0 1965-07-14, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The first one was about someone going away who wanted to take something [blessed by Mother] for his family. I told him, Oh, they arent receptive. So he asked, What does being receptive mean? (He didnt ask me, but when he left The Room he was scratching his head and he asked his friend, What does Mother mean? What does being receptive mean?) I answered in English and it took many, many forms, and today, its one of the things that came in that vein. And whats peculiar in this sort of experience is that when it comes, the words take on a very precise meaning; I am not at all sure if its their usual meaning, but they have the vibration of their meaning, a sort of crystalline little vibration. And it comes without alteration. I put:
To be receptive is to feel the urge to give and the joy of giving to the Divines Work
0 1965-07-24, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And usually my nightly activities are never in the material, they are always in the subtle physical, its densest part, if I may say so. Maybe I havent even had in my life half a dozen visions with the material reality as it is: I saw The Room as it is and heard the sound of Champaklals voice clearly. Then I understood it was this physical mind dreaming, having an activity, and that it was to show me that attraction You understand, the door opening abruptly, the man coming in and telling me (Mother takes on a tragic tone), I am bringing very bad news, and that tense atmosphere, and then, He has fallen down and broken his head. Then I tried to know who the he was, and little by little and so on.
With this sort of work to establish perfect equality, I never drive something away immediately, saying, No, thats not possible. One must be calm and collected in the face of all things. I was calm and collected, thinking, Let us see, let me wait for two days, and if he has really broken his head (laughing), Ill find out! Of course, nothing happened. And when I got your letter, I had the feeling it was the same thing, but I thought, Let us see, let us wait. I looked, and didnt see anything. Through your letter and your words I looked, but didnt see anything. And I had the feeling it was this same physical mind that made contact with a formationa malicious formation, because such is the habit of the physical mind.
0 1965-10-16, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But when I saw the photo [of Cartier-Bresson, taken in 1950], when I saw he had that expression Because, with me, he never had it; he never showed it. But I wasnt in The Room when the photo was taken, and suddenly he (he was sitting there, of course), he slackened. When I saw the photo (because they came long after, we had to write and ask them to send them), I was dumbfounded. He had that expression.
I always saw him with a perfectly peaceful and smiling face, and above all, the dominant expression was compassion. That was what predominated in his appearance. An expression of compassion so so peaceful, so tranquil, oh, magnificent.
0 1965-11-06, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yes, yes, I remember, the previous night, it was The Room that was moving: a square room; and there werent any walls, there were just windows, and it was rushing and rushing, what a race it was! Then everything stopped abruptly, finishednot finished, not stopped: the consciousness changes, there is a reversal of consciousness, so its over.
Yes, I remember now. First a room without anythinganythingan absolute empty space; there was nothing except that strip. Oh, do you remember those moving walkways? Something like that, but instead of a walkway, it was a strip of silvery light, and it was the strip that was moving. A strip of silvery light with little sparkles. I was lying on it (quite a few people were lying on it, too), and it was zooming!
0 1966-01-26, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It was about those big shrimps that are called jumbo prawns here: they are as big as crayfish. Someone (a disciple here), who died rather a long time ago, came and brought me prawns; that is to say, I met him in The Rooms downstairs There are rooms that are reproduced somewhere, in a sort of subconscient, in fact the subconscient that has to be transformed, organized and so on, and there exists a sort of reproduction of The Rooms downstairs [below Mothers room], but not exactly the same (yet with the same layout), and a certain category of activities takes place there. Thats where we were together once, I told you: you were trying to clarify peoples ideas (!) Its the same place. Its not physical here, its in the subconscient. So then, there was that tall fellow who watched over the Samadhi for a long time, Haradhan; he was there. And when he saw me arrive, he told me, I have brought something for you. And in a sort of dark-blue cloth, he had wrapped two big prawns, which he gave me! There were already cooked, ready to be eaten. The cloth wasnt very much to my liking! So I thought, How can I make them a little cleaner before eating them? (Laughing) You know, its a farcea farce to make you understand your stupidity. I began by removing the (what is it called?), its not skin Oh, here too the word hasnt come, but on a tangent came cuirass! (Laughing) Cuirass and cartilage! Anyway I removed that, and as soon as I had removed it, I said to myself, You fool! Now its even more exposed than before! I looked for a way, and I ran to a corner (in the place of Pavitras laboratory), found a water tap and put my prawn under the tap. Immediately someone told me (not someone, the inner voice told me [laughing]), Your water is even dirtier than the cloth! So the consciousness came along with the light, and I was shown with such a clear vision the relativity of the measures we take, which are all preconceived ideas, based on no true knowledge. And finally he told me, Come on, eat, thats the best you can do! So I ate my prawn, and it was very good!
You know, we could write a farce. And scenes of such buffoonery!
0 1966-08-24, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
One compensation (Mother laughingly points to a bundle of new umbrellas in a corner of The Room): Ive been given umbrellaswould you like an umbrella?
For protection against avalanches! No, I already have one.
0 1966-10-29, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Not last night but the night before, I spent a long time, almost two hours of our time here, with Sri Aurobindo. I have told you he has something that translates as an abode (its magnificent, magnificent!) in the subtle physical. Its always immense, so clear, well-defined, yet fully open. And I get a sense of (Mother takes a deep breath) phew! open, luminousalways, in every case. He is there maybe not quite as he was here (but it makes no difference to me because the change has been very progressive: I have followed Sri Aurobindo almost from day to day, step by step), and he is perhaps rather taller, with perhaps a form that has greater perfection, I dont know, but to me, his expression (Mother smiles with her eyes closed) his expression is inexpressible. I spent a very, very long time with him. In those huge rooms (they are limitless, you know, you feel you could go indefinitely from one room to another, from one place to another), he was directing It was in a part of the place with a certain number of rooms (four, five or six, I dont know), large rooms where he was directing a pottery, just imagine! But it wasnt like here. There were objects made of clay. There wasnt any process of firing, painting or any like that (it wasnt like here), but there were shapes which looked like pottery shapes, and they had a power (Mother gestures downward) to manifest. And then, there was everything: animals, plants, people, things, everything, with all possible colors. I went from one to another, looking, explaining. I had spent a long time with him, and I knew exactly why and how it was done, and afterwards I went and studied the work and observed. Then The Rooms were arranged, the things were put in their place: that was as if to show the result. And things charming in their simplicity, yet they contained an extraordinary power of manifestation! But they had a deep meaning. I took an object made of a very dark reddish brown earth, and it was badly put together, that is, the shape wasnt right and I showed it to the pottery foreman (there was a pottery foreman in each room, looking after the work). I showed it to him, and told him (it was fairly big at the bottom, with a small piece at the top [Mother draws a sort of vase with a neck], anyway it wasnt well done), I explained it to him, saying, You understand, its not properly balanced. And while I was holding it in my fingersit broke. Then he said to me, Oh, I am going to mend it. I answered, If you like, but its not as it should be. Of course, we say it with our words, but there, it had a very precise MEANING. Then, there were kinds of big openings between one room and another (they werent rooms, they were huge halls), and one went on to the place where they made fish! But the fish werent fish (!), they had another meaning. And there were fish this big, made of clay, colored and gleaming, magnificent: one was blue-green, another yellowish white, but pretty, so pretty! And they were kept on the floor as if it were water: the fish were kept on the floor, right in the way. So I thought, Thats not very convenient! (Mother laughs) And said like this, it all looks like childishness, but there it had a very deep meaning, very deep.
It was very interesting.
0 1966-11-15, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Only the children dont. They are so innocent. Theres this little Asha who comes every morning. (She is the one who decided, I wasnt supposed to say no! She said, I am coming.) She comes every morning. In the beginning she used to do a pranam, but a serious one: she would remain there, rolling her head on my feet! But now she has found something else: she comes, doesnt say a word to anyone, looks at the people in The Room, and when she sees everybody very busy, she slips under my table, catches hold of my hand, and then begins to play with itkissing it, turning it, pulling it. Then when she has finished this side, she comes to the other side! And with such lovely joy and trust, so lovely, so trusting: Oh, how a-mus-ing this is!
Thats nice.
0 1967-04-27, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I told you about that experience (which has been growing increasingly concrete and constant) of the Vibration of Harmony (a higher harmony expressing the essential Consciousness in its aspect of love and harmony and, as it draws nearer to the manifestation, of order and organization), and of the nearly constant and general vibration of disorder, disharmony, conflictin reality, Matters resistance to this Action. The two vibrations are like this (Mother slips the fingers of her right hand between those of the left), as if they interpenetrated each other and a simple movement of consciousness sent you to one side or the other, or rather, the aspiration, the will for realization, put you into contact with the Vibration of Harmony, and the SLIGHTEST slackening made you lapse into the other. It has become constant. And then, on the 24th, right from morning there was a constant aspiration, a constant will for the triumph of the Vibration of Harmony. Then I sat down at my table as I always do, about five or ten minutes before it began. And instantly, with a puissancea puissance capable of crushing an elephantthis Vibration of Harmony came down like that, massive to the point that the body lost the sense of its existence altogether: it became That, it was conscious of nothing but That. And the first quarter of an hour literally flashed by in a second. Then, there were three people in The Room; one of the three, or maybe all three, felt a malaise (nothing surprising!), and that woke me up: I saw the light (I burn a candle on my table) and I saw the time, but it wasnt me something saw. Then there was a sort of pacifying action on the place, and thengone again. And one second later, the call of the end!1
Its the first time that has happened to my body. It always used to remain conscious. Sri Aurobindo, too, told me the same thing, that he never, ever, had samadhi in his body. Neither did I: I always, always, always used to remain conscious. While that only the Force remained, there was nothing left but the Force at work: there was a concentration here, a concentration on the whole country, and a concentration on the whole earth. And all that was conscious, like that (vast gesture above the head), at work. But something massive, as powerful as an elephantenough to crush you.
0 1967-05-03, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have a very nice little story The day before yesterday some people came (yesterday morning, I saw fifty-five people in The Room over there fifty-five! The day before there were less, maybe forty-five), and there was a little child, less than a year old, carried by his father. He was sleepy, leaning on his fathers shoulder, like that. The father came in; when he came near me, the child saw mehe opened his eyes, a mans eyes! It wasnt a child anymore, you understand. Then he looked at me. He had a blissful smile and held his hand out to me! He caught hold of my hand, I gave him my handhow happy he was! But the father wanted to do pranam [prostration], so he put him down. There was a large tray beside me with about fifty of these small books (which contain all the quotations of the passages in which Sri Aurobindo spoke of God). The child looked; he took a book, looked at it, fingered it, tried to open itwithout a word, nothing. Naturally, the parents, who think they are very wise, the father who thinks he is a wise man, said, We cant leave this book in the childs hands, and he took it to put it back in its place the child howled! Then C. took the book and gave it to the little one, and while the others did pranam (there were a dozen people), all the while he kept looking at the golden letters, feeling them.
He is certainly one of the most remarkable, but not the only one. All the children less than a year old who are brought to me are like that (more or less). This one is very, very conscious. Such eyes, you knowfully conscious eyes.
--
Do you need a pen? I dont know what its worth, its brand new. People bring them to me; some bring me five or six, others four or five. I am inundated with things. Keep it, they are backup tools. If you need anything, dont hesitate to ask, because theres every kind of thing hereexcept lions! (Though invisible ones, there are.) Oh, one day it was so amusing: I dont know anymore what had happened, I was waiting for someonewhen I suddenly see a lion come from here, another lion come from there, yet another lion come from there (gesture to the four corners of The Room), and my eyes were (how should I put it?) neither closed nor open: I was looking within, looking at the work. So I asked them, But what do you want?They smiled like children! It was really amusing. So maybe I am unfair to them when I say theres everything here except lions!
Will I see something one day?3
0 1967-05-06, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
He even told me (I saw him), he even told me the vision that was at the origin of his cure. And it was really interesting. He said he saw it, as it were, almost with open eyes: everything was dark (it was in the night), The Room was dark, he felt absolutely depressed, andit was a heart attackhad no more interest in anything, no more interest in life, and felt as if he was letting himself slip into death, just like that. Then, suddenly, he thought of me. Andhe says his eyes were open the whole room was dark, except for a sort of oval of light just in front of him. A quite dazzling oval of light, which remained. So he looked (he wasnt asleep), he looked to see what could be causing that light (he is sufficiently materialistic), but then, nothinghe realized there was nothing. Then he started watching that light, and he saw, rising from the bottom (he didnt know from where, couldnt see from where) like a flametwo small flamesof a very, very pale light, very bright. He found it interesting, and continued to watch. And all of a sudden, he saw in the light the shape of what he calls I think its Mahasaraswati (I forget which, but I think its Mahasaraswati: perfection in work), that he saw there, staying there. And at the same time he felt in himself, oh, a great desire to serve, to work well, to consecrate his life to the divine work, all that. And the next morning, when the doctors came they said, Oh, everything is changed!
Interesting.
0 1967-05-13, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Some have already protested against Thoth (the disciples first ape), if now theres an orang-outan theyll reproach me! Because, naturally, the servants were afraid, even the neighbours, anyway it wasnt to their liking. Once, Thoth walked into The Room, so the maid started screaming; the neighbour came (luckily he has enough sense), he remained quiet and simply looked at Thoth, with some severity, probably. Then Thoth left without anything happening. But at other times, when Thoth is not happy, he tears up bed sheets or whatever. Finally the neighbour came and told me the incident (that was long ago). I said to him, You dont know the first thing about animals! Happily you have a peaceful nature, but animals are extremely sensitive to our feelings or sentiments: if you are afraid, they instantly get afraid; if you are angry, they instantly get angry; and if you are gentle, kind, affable, they become gentle, kind, affable. He understood quite well, and ever since all has been well. But he isnt alone in the house. An orang-outan is a big thing, you see!
That Thoth is really remarkable. Did I tell you what happened when I first saw him? (And I asked Y. very insistently whether she had taught him, but she hadnt said anything at all to himnei ther taught nor said anything.) He came with her, and as soon as he saw me (he was on Y.s arm), he folded his hands! And then he made a speech to me: his mouth moved; there werent any sounds, but his mouth moved. And an expression Then I complimented him, and he immediately leapt onto my knees, curled up in my arms, and went off into a semi-trancestopped moving, kept still. It lasted at least five minutes. After five minutes, I thought, He cant just stay here forever, he should go now!then he opened his eyes and went away! The receptivity is far more remarkable than in human beings. Then he looked around him, looked out of the window, well, took interest in the place. Then he again looked towards me, came back on my knees, and rested against my shoulder.
0 1967-07-22, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
About this cheating in exams, what am I to do? Should we, as is done outside, keep three teachers in The Room to watch vigilantly?The teachers dont like that way of doing things here in the Ashram.
Or should we abolish exams? This proposal seems to me doubtful, for exercises and essays amount to the same thing.
0 1967-09-30, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There are two things. There is all this crowd I see constantly, and since long (a long time, that is in human terms), as soon as I am there, as soon as the body is there to see the people, it becomes no more than a channel, a kind of (gesture showing the Force flowing down through Mother to the people), for the Consciousness of the Lord to flow through it and go. There isnt even, or there is as little need to receive as possible: its an Action like this (same gesture through Mother), the Force passing through. And when it happens in that room over there which is reserved exclusively for seeing people, The Room fills with the Presence, and its as if that Presence opened its arms to receive people, took them, enveloped them, and then let them go out.
But as regards the things personal to this body, like all that has to do with bathing, food, all that now no longer takes place in the same way. I dont know how to explain Here, its an activity; over there, its simply like that, a Presence. Here, its an activity: you have to fill a glass with water, put toothpaste, brush your teeththey are all activities. And, well there are no more memories, no more habits; things arent done because you learned to do them that way: they are done spontaneously by the Consciousness. In the transition between the old and the new movement there is a difficult little moment when the old habit is no longer there, and the new consciousness is not there permanently, so For example, it results in apparently clumsy gestures, movements that are not exactly what they should be. But it doesnt last, it happens once in a while for a particular thing, just for the lesson to be learned there is always a lesson waiting to be learned.
0 1967-10-11, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This particular Ganesh (on the table) was given to me by a little boy maybe two and a half years old. When that little boy was a few months old and till the age of one, his mother always brought him to me and he would cry and scream and make scenes the parents were desperate. Each time I would tell them, Dont worry, all will be well, well be very good friends. Then the parents would look at me in disbelief. Now he is two and half or three, and as soon as he is in the stairway, waitingMo ther, Mother, Mother! (or Ma, I dont know). But when he comes in (he is the first of the family to enter The Room), he comes with a flower; and it was he who gave me this Ganesh, but with such consciousness! He is wonderful. Yesterday, he was absolutely exquisite: he comes in first, so self-assured, so joyful, then gestures to me as if to say, Everything is just fine, dont worry! And I speak to himhe doesnt understand a thing of what I say, but he approves gravely. Absolutely exquisite.
There is great progress among children.
0 1967-10-19, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its like with Auroville: a whole part of the government is absolutely enthusiastic, but there are three or four individuals here, in Madras State, who are dead against, and they have a terrible action: they stop everything. Some ministers (as usual) come, are received, they give you a promise, saying, I am with you, youll have everything you want; they leave The Room and send a telegram to their assistant: Dont sign the papers. That kind of lie, you understand, everywhere.
But the amusing point: here they are Hindus, over there they are Christians, and they both came together with the stars to say that its this year, right now.
0 1967-11-04, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Your home isnt flooded, is it? In The Room over there, water fell on the table beside my chair, so I put a flower pot and gave people all the wet flowers!
Has Kali calmed down?
0 1968-05-22, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I had never seen a thing like that! I told you, when I was in The Room [where Mother receives visitors] and P. L. came in, there came something so serious (whats the right word?), something that had the importance and stability of great terrestrial movements, of great ages the beginning of a great age.1 I had never felt that. That was before he left [for the Vatican]. Then I looked and saw it was decreed from on high: the beginning of Christendoms conversion to the TruthChristendom as a whole.
They have felt something there: I told you there was such a violent attack.
0 1968-10-05, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(During the meditation, Mothers attendant silently walks through The Room, without making the least noise on the carpet. A few seconds later, Mother stops the meditation:)
Has someone come in The Room?
Yes, Vasudha.
--
Oh, the other day, on Durgas day,2 I went over there [to the music room where Mother sees people]. I told you last year that she had come and made her surrender. This time, I went there (it was the first time Id come out); as soon as I entered The Room, I felt there was something, an impending attack. So I sat down, kept very still, and called the Lord as usual so He would fill The Room with his light. And it was She who came in a golden lighta glory of adoration and consecration! She stood there (immense gesture). It was magnificent! Magnificent. And the whole morning was very good. Then, in the afternoon, things went wrong again.
Couldnt you strike at these people a little?
0 1968-10-09, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I am surrounded by [invisible] people and things, The Room is full of them!
I constantly see. At night (especially at night), I see moving forms that look like You know how J. is dressed,3 or Dr. Agarwal4 Oh, speaking of Dr. Agarwal, when Pralhad [his son] died, his mother was very anxious to know if he had come to me. I told her, Nothing, I havent seen anything. So I dont know if its as a result of that or if I thought about it, but two days ago (the day before yesterday), I went for a stroll in a forest of the vital! Mon petit, it was beautiful! Oh, a magnificent forest, and so well maintained, so clean, oh, it was lovely! A really magnificent place, really magnificent. Then, I suddenly see a youngish Pralhad there, a mere lad, coming towards me and telling me (in a despairing tone), I dont know, cant find the religion. I told him, You dont need a religion! He said, Oh, theres another man here who cant find a religion. And that was Benjamin!5 I said, Hes an idiot! He doesnt need to find a religion! There you are: Benjamin lost in a mar-vel-ous forest (its beautiful, you know!) because he cant find a religion! And Pralhad looking for a religion! So I wanted to send a line to his mother to tell her, Be consoled, Pralhad is in a very beautiful place!
--
But at night, The Room is fullwith open eyes!
I see people people as big as giants, moving about like that, and clumsily. But they dont blunder about. On the contrary, they try to make themselves useful, they dont blunder about. (Laughing) They do useless things with great seriousness!
0 1968-11-06, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Oh, yes! There are big signs everywhere in The Rooms: He died for our sins, and verses from the Bible all over the place.
Oh!
0 1969-03-26, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Satprem, I left The Room and went away for a walk in the countryside. What is going to happen to me? Will they put me on trial? Will they declare me insane, heretic? I am waiting. I am eager to go and see Mother. I am preparing my travel for Easter. (That took place on Monday the 24th of February.) To this day, no reaction. Has the Pope been informed? I do not know. I have continued with the inquiry entrusted to me. I feel very calm, very strong. I have not spoken about all that to any of those close to me (not even to Msgr. R.). The malefic character seen in dream (Msgr. Z) was present, but he did not react either.
I wrote to you from Paris on Monday, March 4; then I only told you about my situation, having no time to relate what I have now written. I came back to Rome on the 12th; as I have told you, no reaction, no admonition. I am simply going on with my work. Lacking time, I did not write earlier, and I wanted to see if my situation would change. Nothing. We are meeting again on March 24.
0 1969-04-12, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
We go and see the Pope. There are lots of people. Mama puts me second in line, and we draw near the Pope. He gives Mama a few hosts in a handkerchief then asks his servant to bring a multicolored alb similar to his, and I see on the Popes chest Mothers symbol, and at the back a Greek cross (with two equal sides). The servant brings the alb, which the Pope puts on me. Everyone has left. I hear P.L.s voice, but only see a little friend of the Ashram. We go back home, and as we are about to enter, the Popes two servants arrive. I think, Now that I am going to be the Pope in turn, I must be very careful; my entourage and everyone I meet is important. These men may have come to harm me out of jealousy. Mama opens the door and I see a servant of the Pope already in The Room. I go in, caress my dog, and wake up.
(After a long silence) Are you sure he hasnt heard of anything?
0 1969-04-16, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
One day, I received someone here (it was R., in fact), and the body asked this Consciousness, like that, it asked, How, how to make sure there is no mixture of all the lower movements with this light? Then (I was sitting here), there came down a sort of column wide like this (gesture of about five feet), here (gesture in front of Mother), like a column of light. But it came down IN The Room, mon petit! It wasnt elsewhere it was here. To such a point that I saw it with my own eyes. A light indefinable, dazzling, but I dont know, so tranquil! I cant say, I dont know how to explain so steady, so tranquil. Dazzling. And without any vibrations. And its color indefinable, in the sense that it was neither white nor golden nor It was as if EVERYTHING were there. It cant be described. Wonderful. Then this Consciousness took my consciousness and went like this (gesture in a circle starting from Mother on her left, going through the column of light, then returning to Mother on her right). I felt it [the column of light, when Mothers consciousness went through it]. I felt it, but I didnt see anything [i.e., no shadow]. I didnt see anything, I only saw a slight movement, but It was like a slight movement, but it was the same light.2 Then it went through the column, and came back [into Mother]. And then it took R.s consciousness (same gesture in a circle starting from R., taking her consciousness through the column, and coming back to R.), it went through, and there was an outline [while crossing through the column of light], an outline, and in the place of the head, it was blue, it had become blue [i.e., a shadow in the light]. That was R.s effect: an outline. Then it said something to me (wordlessly, but it was instantly translated into words, in English):
When you stand in the light of the Supreme Consciousness you must not make a shadow.
0 1969-05-03, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
No, but I Mind you, if I hadnt had that experience of January 1st, when I felt it come I felt it, saw it come, it was wholly concrete, like like someone coming into The Room, you understand, that concrete. So thats what made me take notice, otherwise I would have found it to be the normal course of the development. But that experience alerted me; that, and the fact that three people felt it before I said anything, and those three people told me about it before I even said a word. They told me about it while asking me, What has happened? Thats what I found interesting. But, for me, it was the same thing as for them, there was no difference; I told them there wasnt any difference in gradationit wasnt that this Consciousness was more intimate with me than with you all: its the same thing, it was like someone coming in. But a someone superlatively conscious. Thats what caused me to note the fact; otherwise I would have taken it as the course of the development, like you.
And it did that thing (it was the first time it happened to me) You see, I was asked, What is the condition one should be in to fully receive this Consciousness? So I was here, sitting like this, and the person was sitting where you are (a little more to the side), and I saw with my open eyes the Consciousness (not this consciousness: the Supreme Consciousness) come down (gesture like a column of light before Mother) That, mon petit, it cant be described. I was like this (eyes wide open), and I saw it come (same gesture like a column) and settle down on the wooden floor like that, about this size (gesture: about five feet wide). All the rest was as usual (Mother shows the furniture, her bed, which she could see as usual), and there was that which I saw with these very eyes. Then this Consciousness took my consciousness (revolving gesture starting from Mothers left side, going through the column of light in front of Mother, and returning on the right side): I didnt see anything [i.e., any shadow]. I wondered whether it had gone through the column (yet I FELT it while going through). And then, so I would understand clearly it took the consciousness of the person sitting there and made it go through [the column of light], and I saw a slight form, I saw a blue form in the place of the head. That was a weakness. For a long while I saw, I looked, then it went away all of a sudden. You know, its so independent of ones will, aspiration, movements of consciousnessof everything. And like this: visible for this bodyon its scale, you understand. Fantastic!
0 1969-07-19, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Oh, when no one is there on the landing, some people come upstairs and into The Room! (Mother laughs) Once there was a big to-do: it was in the morning and I was seeing people, when suddenly there barged in a very tall man. So everyone rushed to him and took him out. It seems that man had written to me that he wanted to see me, and I hadnt replied, so (laughing) he had decided he would come without reply! A fairly young man. Afterwards he said (he knew some people here, who told him it was a big scandal), he said, I dont even know why or how I did it! He was waiting there in front of the door on the terrace, and M. who had just seen me came out; thinking the man had come to see me, M. told him, Come with me, and the man replied, Go ahead, Ill follow you, but instead of following him he came right in here! Then he said he hadnt the least idea how or why he had done it. So it means there are formations waiting there to get hold of people.
(silence)
0 1969-07-26, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But I didnt attach too much importance [to that conversation]; its only when he left that it suddenly came back, and I thought, So there, he knew! It was I dont know. It was almost like a speculation, you understand, which he was just mentioning. It was at the time of our moving from the other house to this one,2 because it took place one day in that room, here [downstairs], and it was before his accident, before he broke his leg.3 In what connection, I forget. Thats gone. But I remember clearly, so clearly, I still see The Room and everything, how he was, how he told me, We cant both remain upon earth. Thats all.
But why cant both remain?
0 1969-08-09, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Have I seen you since that experience? I spent one night (but I forget which), it was strange. I was with Sri Aurobindo, but a Sri Aurobindo (how can I put it?) quite joyful, full of liveliness, and slightly more material than what I usually see, as though not material, but (I dont know how to explain) more precise, and we spent hours working together, seeing things, seeing people, doing things, and so on. But then, the strange part, the peculiar part was that it didnt depend on my body being asleep: it didnt sleep, it was simply quiet; and in the middle of it I had to get up, but when I did, that consciousness and activity didnt cease. It was the ordinary consciousness (that is, the perception of ordinary things, of The Room and all that) which was somewhat less precise. It was as if topsy-turvy, you understand. And it remained for a long time, even in the morning, until I was obliged to see people and do things.
It was very particular, its the first time it has happened like that. Which means that this slightly inner consciousness was more concrete than the ordinary consciousness.
--
Four of us went on a trek from I forgot from which place on the banks of the Rhone, to go to Geneva, crossing the mountains on foot, the four of ustwo men, two women.1 We walked on, and when we reached some place at lunch time and were hungry, we ate there; when we reached some place at nightfall, we slept there, and then we went onit was real adventure. We didnt even know the route, we had some kinds of maps. Well then, once, far from any town or any village, on a mountain road, we arrived at lunch time at a sort of inn something that looked like an inn, which stood by itself, miles from anywhere. We entered. An old man and an old woman were there They had a most peculiar look. They were very brisk, very alertthey had a peculiar look. We asked if we could eat there. They said yes. They looked at us, eyed us closely, then let us into a big room, with a table in one corner and chairs around it and also big benches I dont know what that room was used for. And they had us eat there. They asked us if we wanted they had a good little white wineif we wanted some of it. The other three said yes; as for me, I had already stopped drinking alcohol. They said yes, and they drank the wine (it was a light wine), they washed down their food with it. But I didnt touch it. At the end of the meal they said, Oh, how sleepy we are! Wed like to rest, well take a nap. So they lay down on the benches and slept. Now, I had a pair of shoes that didnt fit me and were hurting one of my big toes: it had caused an inflammation, it was painful, and I wanted to ba the my foot so as to disinfect it. I didnt feel sleepy in the least. I sat downthere was a basin and some water-and bathed my foot. Half an hour later, The Rooms entrance door slowly opened, and the old couple came in (furtive gesture). I was sitting rather low, so I was hidden by the tables and they didnt see me. They came in on tiptoe, looked this way and that, and were about to come up to the benches on which the others were lying, when suddenly they saw meah! (Mother gives a start of surprise) They stopped. Then I raised my head, looked at them, and said, You wanted?
Oh, they were very wily, they said, Oh, we just came to see if you needed anything. And they went out.
0 1970-01-03, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But the big temple will be built afterwards, and then on a huge scale. The smaller one will go only once the bigger one is built. But of course, for the city to be completed, we must allow some twenty years (for everything to be in order, in its place). Its the same with the gardens: all the gardens that are being prepared are for now, but in twenty years, all that will have to be on another scale; then it will have to be something really really beautiful. And I wonder what substance that globe should be made of, the big one? The small one could be made of crystal: for a globe this size (gesture about one foot) I think it will do. The globe will have to be visible from every corner of The Room.
It shouldnt be too high above the floor either, should it?
--
(P.:) The Room will be rather large?
Oh, yes, it should be. There should be a sort of half-light with those sunbeams the sunbeam should be SEEN.
0 1970-01-10, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
That underground passageway into The Room People will enter some thirty feet away from the wall, at the foot of the urn. The urn will mark the starting point of the descent. Ill have to choose the exact direction. Then, later on, the urn might very well be INSIDE rather than outside the enclosure. So perhaps we could simply have a big wall all around, and then gardens. Between the surrounding wall and the building to be constructed, we can have gardens and the urn. And that wall will have an entrance (one or several ordinary gates), so that people will be able to move around in the garden.
Then there will be certain conditions to be met before one is allowed to descend into the underground passage and emerge into the temple. It will have to be a bit initiatory: not quite like that, not just anyhow.
0 1970-04-01, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Did I tell you the vision I had here? Ive had many, but there is one It was after the War was declared: between the time when the War (the first War) was declared and my departure. There was a rather long period: the War was declared in August [1914] and I left next February. Well, between the two, one day while in meditation, I saw Kali enter through the doorKali of the vital, naked, with a garl and of headsshe danced into The Room. And she told me (she stayed like that, a little distance away), she told me I dont remember the exact words, but: Paris is captured or Paris is about to be captured or Paris is destroyed something of the sort, anyway the Germans were advancing on Paris. And then, I saw the Mother the Mother, that is to say how does he call her? Maha
Mahashakti.
0 1971-01-16, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
How did you feel about that note? I am all the more interested because I didnt have any contact with anyone at that point: Z happened to be cleaning The Room while the others were busythey were my legs to do things! It was quite a physical task, you know: to get me from a chair to an armchair and from the armchair to the bed. It was really bad, I was like a childworse, worse because the rest of the body, all the rest of the body was normal, but for some time one of my legs was simply it was as if it were finished, as if there were nothing there. And little by little, little by little it came back. That was the final period. But it was not an innocent paralysis! For at least three weeksat least for three weeks there was a continuous pain, night and day, 24 hours out of 24, without any letup, none whatsoever: it was as if everything were being torn out of me. You know, I dont usually complain, but I was almost forced to cry out loud all the time. So, of course, there was no question of seeing anyone. Now its over. The pain is quite bearable and the body has resumed a somewhat normal existence.
But I wanted to tell you that my consciousness was actively with you all the time; I thought: if he feels it, so much the better; if he doesnt it doesnt matter.1
--
But personally, even physically I kept a contact with everyone I dont know who remained conscious of it, but I kept a contact with everyone, especially with you; with you I had the feeling that nothing stopped, that I was seeing you regularly, that nothing stopped. And I saw Sujata too. It all depends on peoples receptivity. I didnt have the slightest feeling there was a break in our relationship or anything of that kindnot the slightest. And its only well, its only the day before yesterday that I thought, Oh, it must be time for the Bulletin, perhaps I should find out what hes done. And then there was that note of Zs (what shall I say?) it came as the result of something, and it was also the beginning of something, in a most definite manner. I didnt know, and Z was there at the time cleaning The Room, so I told her, and after telling her, I thought perhaps it could be used.
I dont know how she noted it down, whether it makes sense.
0 1971-01-23, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mon petit, I dont have any room to keep things, you had better keep it. I dont have any room (turning toward The Room), this has become complete chaos. Its better if you keep it.
Yes, Mother.
0 1972-04-05, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Even four! [Vasudha, Mothers former assistant, has just entered The Room.4]
(The clock chimes Mother takes Satprems hands, she looks reassured long silence)
0 1972-05-31, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Whytell me why do I keep seeing an image of you (its strangely persistent), as I saw you the last time at the Government House?1 I had gone to see the new governor, and you were sitting in The Room on the verandah. There was a bench, a sort of long bench, and you were sitting there, and when I came out I saw you sitting there, silhouetted against the sky. It was either a balcony or a verandah, I dont remember.
It keeps returning again and again and again. Why?
0 1972-08-09, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother plunges in. Pranab comes in and says from the far end of The Room, Its late. Mother instantly comes back)
Is it time?
0 1972-10-25, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(At this point, Governor J. enters The Room, sits silently before Mother, remains a few minutes in meditation, then does his pranam and leaves The Room.)
(Mother plunges in till the end Sujata comes up to Mother)
0 1972-12-26, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Pranab retreats to the other end of The Room, muttering angrily)
(Mother sits with her head in her hands) I have worked all my life so people would become a little conscious. But this violence.
--
(the teachers leave The Room silently, Mother remains alone with her bodyguard and the attendant)
***
0 1973-02-28, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(For the last ten days, the "conversations" have been spent in silence and contemplation I have the impression that Mother wants me to understand something by another means. But what? Furthermore, the attendant is now almost constantly in The Room. She no longer bothers to pretend being in the bathroom. She breaks in on the conversation, offers her own commentsof course, since Mother "can't hear."... People go in and out of Mother's room as they please, and continue their own conversations. The atmosphere is quite changed This is perhaps why Mother tries to establish another type of communication with me, another kind of link. But silence... is very silent. And I did not realize what was fast approaching before my very eyes.)
So? How are you?
0 1973-04-07, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Enter Pranab. The attendant briefly explains to him that Satprem has something to tell him on Mothers behalf. She had in fact listened to the whole conversation. Instant outburst of anger from Pranab. He shouts from the other end of The Room.)
(Pranab, in Bengali:) Nonsense! Nobody can fool me. I know everything.
--
(Pranab goes to the other end of The Room. He shouts for the benefit of Dr. Sanyal, Champaklal, Mothers attendant and Vasudha, who are all present.)
(Pranab:) I have my faith, I have my conviction, I have my purpose, and even if I am in the dark.
--
(Satprem leaves The Room. He holds the white lotus tightly in his hands. Something terrible has just happened, he does not know what. It was not a man who was standing in that room. On his way out, he meets Sujatas brother and spontaneously, as if he suddenly saw it all, tells him, One day they are going to close Mothers door on us.)
Satprem had heard, "Will THEY believe you?" But Mother did say "he" = Pranab.
0 1973-04-25, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Coincidentally, Mother's former assistant, who has a cancer, enters The Room at this moment.
***
05.03 - Satyavan and Savitri, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
And made her body The Room of his delight,
Her beating heart a remembrancer of bliss.
10.12 - Awake Mother, #Writings In Bengali and Sanskrit, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The still flame of the lamp is dying in The Room:
In the lonely paths of the city, in the fields and the woodlands and the hills
1.01 - Appearance and Reality, #The Problems of Philosophy, #Bertrand Russell, #Philosophy
The shape of the table is no better. We are all in the habit of judging as to the 'real' shapes of things, and we do this so unreflectingly that we come to think we actually see the real shapes. But, in fact, as we all have to learn if we try to draw, a given thing looks different in shape from every different point of view. If our table is 'really' rectangular, it will look, from almost all points of view, as if it had two acute angles and two obtuse angles. If opposite sides are parallel, they will look as if they converged to a point away from the spectator; if they are of equal length, they will look as if the nearer side were longer. All these things are not commonly noticed in looking at a table, because experience has taught us to construct the 'real' shape from the apparent shape, and the 'real' shape is what interests us as practical men. But the 'real' shape is not what we see; it is something inferred from what we see. And what we see is constantly changing in shape as we move about The Room; so that here again the senses seem not to give us the truth about the table itself, but only about the appearance of the table.
Similar difficulties arise when we consider the sense of touch. It is true that the table always gives us a sensation of hardness, and we feel that it resists pressure. But the sensation we obtain depends upon how hard we press the table and also upon what part of the body we press with; thus the various sensations due to various pressures or various parts of the body cannot be supposed to reveal _directly_ any definite property of the table, but at most to be _signs_ of some property which perhaps _causes_ all the sensations, but is not actually apparent in any of them. And the same applies still more obviously to the sounds which can be elicited by rapping the table.
--
'matter' something which is opposed to 'mind', something which we think of as occupying space and as radically incapable of any sort of thought or consciousness. It is chiefly in this sense that Berkeley denies matter; that is to say, he does not deny that the sense-data which we commonly take as signs of the existence of the table are really signs of the existence of _something_ independent of us, but he does deny that this something is non-mental, that it is neither mind nor ideas entertained by some mind. He admits that there must be something which continues to exist when we go out of The Room or shut our eyes, and that what we call seeing the table does really give us reason for believing in something which persists even when we are not seeing it. But he thinks that this something cannot be radically different in nature from what we see, and cannot be independent of seeing altogether, though it must be independent of _our_ seeing. He is thus led to regard the 'real' table as an idea in the mind of God. Such an idea has the required permanence and independence of ourselves, without being--as matter would otherwise be--something quite unknowable, in the sense that we can only infer it, and can never be directly and immediately aware of it.
Other philosophers since Berkeley have also held that, although the table does not depend for its existence upon being seen by me, it does depend upon being seen (or otherwise apprehended in sensation) by
1.01 - How is Knowledge Of The Higher Worlds Attained?, #Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, #Rudolf Steiner, #Theosophy
shown in their childhood by subsequent students of higher knowledge is well known to the experienced in these matters. There are children who look up with religious awe to those whom they venerate. For such people they have a respect which forbids them, even in the deepest recess of their heart, to harbor any thought of criticism or opposition. Such children grow up into young men and women who feel happy when they are able to look up to anything that fills them with veneration. From the ranks of such children are recruited many students of higher knowledge. Have you ever paused outside the door of some venerated person, and have you, on this your first visit, felt a religious awe as you pressed on the handle to enter The Room which for you is a holy place? If so, a feeling has been manifested within you which may be the germ of your future adherence to the path of knowledge. It is a blessing for every human being in process of development to have such feelings upon which to build. Only it must not be thought that this disposition leads to submissiveness and slavery. What was once a childlike veneration for persons becomes, later, a veneration for truth and knowledge.
p. 7
1.01 - MASTER AND DISCIPLE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
M., being at leisure on Sundays, had gone with his friend Sidhu to visit several gardens at Baranagore. As they were walking in Prasanna Bannerji's garden, Sidhu said: "There is a charming place on the bank of the Ganges where a paramahamsa lives. Should you like to go there?" M. assented and they started immediately for the Dakshineswar temple garden. They arrived at the main gate at dusk and went straight to Sri Ramakrishna's room. And there they found him seated on a wooden couch, facing the east. With a smile on his face he was talking of God. The Room was full of people, all seated on the floor, drinking in his words in deep silence.
M. stood there speechless and looked on. It was as if he were standing where all the holy places met and as if Sukadeva himself were speaking the word of God, or as if Sri Chaitanya were singing the name and glories of the Lord in Puri with Ramananda, Swarup, and the other devotees.
--
As he left The Room with Sidhu, he heard the sweet music of the evening service arising in the temple from gong, bell, drum, and cymbal. He could hear music from the nahabat, too, at the south end of the garden. The sounds travelled over the Ganges, floating away and losing themselves in the distance. A soft spring wind was blowing, laden with the fragrance of flowers; the moon had just appeared. It was as if nature and man together were preparing for the evening worship. M. and Sidhu visited the twelve Siva temples, the Radhakanta temple, and the temple of Bhavatarini. And as M.
watched the services before the images his heart was filled with joy.
On the way back to Sri Ramakrishna's room the two friends talked. Sidhu told M. that the temple garden had been founded by Rani Rasmani. He said that God was worshipped there daily as Kali, Krishna, and Siva, and that within the gates sadhus and beggars were fed. When they reached Sri Ramakrishna's door again, they found it shut, and Brinde, the Maid, standing outside. M., who had been trained in English manners and would not enter a room without permission, asked her, "Is the holy man in?" Brinde replied, "Yes he's in The Room."
M: "How long has he lived here?"
--
M: "Perhaps it is time for his evening worship. May we go into The Room? Will you tell him we are anxious to see him?"
BRINDE: "Go right in, children. Go in and sit down."
Entering The Room, they found Sri Ramakrishna alone, seated on the wooden couch.
Incense had just been burnt and all the doors were shut. As he entered, M. with folded hands saluted the Master. Then, at the Master's bidding, he and Sidhu sat on the floor.
--
Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on the small couch. The Room was filled with devotees,3
who had taken advantage of the holiday to come to see the Master. M. had not yet become acquainted with any of them; so he took his seat in a corner. The Master smiled as he talked with the devotees.
--
There was deep silence in The Room.
Redeeming power of faith
--
At this point Narendra left The Room. Kedar, Prankrishna, M., and many others remained.
Master praises Narendra
--
No sooner had M. entered The Room than the Master laughed aloud and said to the boys, "There! He has come again." They all joined in the laughter. M. bowed low before him and took a seat. Before this he had saluted the Master with folded hands, like one with an English education. But that day he learnt to fall down at his feet in orthodox Hindu fashion.
The peacock and the opium
--
In the mean time the Master was having great fun with the boys, treating them as if they were his most intimate friends. Peals of side-splitting laughter filled The Room, as if it were a mart of joy. The whole thing was a revelation to M. He thought: "Didn't I see him only yesterday intoxicated with God? Wasn't he swimming then in the Ocean of Divine Love - a sight I had never seen before? And today the same person is behaving like an ordinary man! Wasn't it he who scolded me on the first day of my coming here?
Didn't he admonish me, saying, 'And you are a man of knowledge!'? Wasn't it he who said to me that God with form is as true as God without form? Didn't he tell me that God alone is real and all else illusory? Wasn't it he who advised me to live in the world unattached, like a maidservant in a rich man's house?"
1.01 - The First Steps, #Raja-Yoga, #Swami Vivkenanda, #unset
Those of you who can afford it will do better to have a room for this practice alone. Do not sleep in that room, it must be kept holy. You must not enter The Room until you have bathed, and are perfectly clean in body and mind. Place flowers in that room always; they are the best surroundings for a Yogi; also pictures that are pleasing. Burn incense morning and evening. Have no quarrelling, nor anger, nor unholy thought in that room. Only allow those persons to enter it who are of the same thought as you. Then gradually there will be an atmosphere of holiness in The Room, so that when you are miserable, sorrowful, doubtful, or your mind is disturbed, the very fact of entering that room will make you calm. This was the idea of the temple and the church, and in some temples and churches you will find it even now, but in the majority of them the very idea has been lost. The idea is that by keeping holy vibrations there the place becomes and remains illumined. Those who cannot afford to have a room set apart can practice anywhere they like. Sit in a straight posture, and the first thing to do is to send a current of holy thought to all creation. Mentally repeat, "Let all beings be happy; let all beings be peaceful; let all beings be blissful." So do to the east, south, north and west. The more you do that the better you will feel yourself. You will find at last that the easiest way to make ourselves healthy is to see that others are healthy, and the easiest way to make ourselves happy is to see that others are happy. After doing that, those who believe in God should pray not for money, not for health, nor for heaven; pray for knowledge and light; every other prayer is selfish. Then the next thing to do is to think of your own body, and see that it is strong and healthy; it is the best instrument you have. Think of it as being as strong as adamant, and that with the help of this body you will cross the ocean of life. Freedom is never to be reached by the weak. Throw away all weakness. Tell your body that it is strong, tell your mind that it is strong, and have unbounded faith and hope in yourself.
1.01 - The Unexpected, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
In the clear morning light I could have a good view of Sri Aurobindo as he was lying on his bed, almost motionless and straight. I asked myself; "Is he enjoying a bit of sweet sleep since he had none the whole night? Or is he simply keeping quiet and bearing the severe pain with equanimity?" It was the latter, as he told us afterwards. Only the Mother's visit, to make some enquiries or to offer some drink, showed flickers of life in his otherwise trance-like mood. I could now observe him from close at hand and The Room he had been living in for the last twelve years! Since then, it has undergone such a tremendous change that just a faint memory of its original state is all that remains today. The wooden bed (on which Sri Aurobindo was lying) was rather large, the upper part being slightly raised, and he filled almost the entire breadth the broad chest and the head large and round, the fine silken hair parted in the middle. As for the rest of The Room, it was very plain, almost austerely furnished, except for the carpet, one small box-wood table at either end of The Room, a semicircular table in the middle; notebooks, and odds and ends of papers lying scattered on one of the tables; a big almirah containing a small number of books: on the top shelf, the bound volumes of the Arya. On the next one, the Collected Works of Shakespeare and Shelley and books presented by writers such as Radhakrishnan, James Cousins, etc. There were two paintings, one Chinese and the other of Amitabha Buddha with the lotus in his hand; a few wood carvings; a couch for the Mother opposite Sri Aurobindo's bed. The only furniture of luxury was a long cane chair in the adjacent room, in which he could recline and have some repose.
When Dr. Manilal arrived after his breakfast, he asked Sri Aurobindo how he felt. There was no complaint and the answer was brief. Soon after, Dr. Rao arrived. On hearing the story of the fall he proposed that an orthopaedic surgeon from Madras be called for consultation. He had a friend Dr. Narasimha Ayer, well known for his efficiency. The Mother approved and he left for Madras.
--
The following day, Dr. Manilal had to face from the Mother such an unexpected thundering assault that we felt our hearts would stop with fear and consternation. It was Mahakali's wrath. I have never since seen her in such a fiery mood. Sri Aurobindo was lying quietly; the Mother came into The Room and, standing by his bed, asked Dr. Manilal what he thought of the fracture. The doctor either purposely gave an evasive reply with some hesitation or did not consider the case serious. The Mother exploded, "Don't hide it! we know the truth," Then I saw something rare that I shall never forget. The Mother prostrated herself on the floor before Sri Aurobindo and, I believe, began to pray to him. From this supplication I could realise the gravity of the situation. Yet, she had shown no trace of it until then. Calm and solemn, Sri Aurobindo heard the silent prayer.
Our working hours as attendants were divided according to individual preference. Purani chose the oddest hour of 12 midnight, but most convenient for the rest of us. As for the work, there was, to begin with, very little to do since Sri Aurobindo was to remain flat on his back in bed, without making any movement. Only someone had always to be near at hand in case he needed anything. The attendance by the entire team was required only at particular times, if, for instance, the body needed some adjustment after a long stay in one position. He who had had the Mother as the sole companion, and Champaklal as the only attendant, now had to admit others into his sanctum. Circumstances broke down the barriers of solitude and forced upon him a new pattern of life.
1.02 - The 7 Habits An Overview, #The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, #Stephen Covey, #unset
If you have P and PC in balance, she cleans The Room cheerfully, without being reminded, because she is committed and has the discipline to stay with the commitment. She is a valuable asset, a goose that can produce golden eggs.
But if your paradigm is focused on Production, on getting The Room clean, you might find yourself nagging her to do it. You might even escalate your efforts to threatening or yelling, and in your desire to get the golden egg, you undermine the health and welfare of the goose.
Let me share with you an interesting PC experience I had with one of my daughters. We were planning a private date, which is something I enjoy regularly with each of my children. We find that the anticipation of the date is as satisfying as the realization.
1.02 - The Human Soul, #The Interior Castle or The Mansions, #Saint Teresa of Avila, #Christianity
9.: A soul which gives itself to prayer, either much or little, should on no account be kept within narrow bounds. Since God has given it such great dignity, permit it to wander at will through The Rooms of the castle, from the lowest to the highest. Let it not force itself to remain for very long in the same mansion, even that of self-knowledge. Mark well, however, that self-knowledge is indispensable, even for those whom God takes to dwell in the same mansion with Himself. Nothing else, however elevated, perfects the soul which must never seek to forget its own nothingness. Let humility be always at work, like the bee at the honeycomb, or all will be lost. But, remember, the bee leaves its hive to fly in search of flowers and the soul should sometimes cease thinking of itself to rise in meditation on the grandeur and majesty of its God. It will learn its own baseness better thus than by self-contemplation, and will be freer from the reptiles which enter the first room where self-knowledge is acquired. The palmito here referred to is not a palm, but a shrub about four feet high and very dense with leaves, resembling palm leaves. The poorer classes and principally children dig it up by the roots, which they peel of its many layers until a sort of kernel is disclosed, which is eaten, not without relish, and is somewhat like a filbert in taste. See St. John of the Cross, Accent of Mount Carmel, bk. ii. ch, xiv, 3. Although it is a great grace from God to practise self-examination, yet 'too much is as bad as too little,' as they say; believe me, by God's help, we shall advance more by contemplating the Divinity than by keeping our eyes fixed on ourselves, poor creatures of earth that we are.
10.: I do not know whether I have put this clearly; self-knowledge is of such consequence that I would not have you careless of it, though you may be lifted to heaven in prayer, because while on earth nothing is more needful than humility. Therefore, I repeat, not only a good way, but the best of all ways, is to endeavour to enter first by The Room where humility is practised, which is far better than at once rushing on to the others. This is the right road;-if we know how easy and safe it is to walk by it, why ask for wings with which to fly? Let us rather try to learn how to advance quickly. I believe we shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavouring to know God, for, beholding His greatness we are struck by our own baseness, His purity shows our foulness, and by meditating on His humility we find how very far we are from being humble.
11.: Two advantages are gained by this practice. First, it is clear that white looks far whiter when placed near something black, and on the contrary, black never looks so dark as when seen beside something white. Secondly, our understanding and will become more noble and capable of good in every way when we turn from ourselves to God: it is very injurious never to raise our minds above the mire of our own faults. I described how murky and fetid are the streams that spring from the source of a soul in mortal sin.25' Thus (although the case is not really the same, God forbid! this is only a comparison), while we are continually absorbed in contemplating the weakness of our earthly nature, the springs of our actions will never flow free from the mire of timid, weak, and cowardly thoughts, such as: 'I wonder whether people are noticing me or not! If I follow this course, will harm come to me? Dare I begin this work? Would it not be presumptuous? Is it right for any one as faulty as myself to speak on sublime spiritual subjects?26' Will not people think too well of me, if I make myself singular? Extremes are bad, even in virtue; sinful as I am I shall only fall the lower. Perhaps I shall fail and be a source of scandal to good people; such a person as I am has no need of peculiarities.'
--
15 :You must notice that the light which comes from the King's palace hardly shines at all in these first mansions; although not as gloomy and black as the soul in mortal sin, yet they are in semi-darkness, and their inhabitants see scarcely anything. I cannot explain myself; I do not mean that this is the fault of the mansions themselves, but that the number of snakes, vipers, and venomous reptiles from outside the castle prevent souls entering them from seeing the light. They resemble a person entering a chamber full of brilliant sunshine, with eyes clogged and half closed with dust. Though The Room itself is light, he cannot see because of his self-imposed impediment. In the same way, these fierce and wild beasts blind the eyes of the beginner, so that he sees nothing but them.
16.: Such, it appears to me, is the soul which, though not in a state of mortal sin, is so worldly and preoccupied with earthly riches, honours, and affairs, that as I said, even if it sincerely wishes to enter into itself and enjoy the beauties of the castle, it is prevented by these distractions and seems unable to overcome so many obstacles. It is most important to withdraw from all unnecessary cares and business, as far as compatible with the duties of one's state of life, in order to enter the second mansion. This is so essential, that unless done immediately I think it impossible for any one ever to reach the principal room, or even to remain where he is without great risk of losing what is already gained; otherwise, although he is inside the castle, he will find it impossible to avoid being bitten some time or other by some of the very venomous creatures surrounding him.
1.02 - The Recovery, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
When Dr. Manilal arrived, I breathed a sigh of relief! He was not very happy to see the new development, but hoped that everything would be all right. He was confronted with three problems: the swelling, educating the patient to walk and the bending of the knee, all of which he dealt with in his characteristic efficient manner. The swelling according to him would subside in due course. Gentle massage and hot and cold compress continued, followed later by hot douche. We used to note its diminution week by week. But it took some months to disappear completely. The bending of the knee would also take some time in view of the adhesion of the patella to the underlying tissues, in spite of passive movements. The re-education in walking seemed to be rather a straightforward job, though it was the most awkward and difficult one, for Sri Aurobindo had to walk with crutches! All that was needed was a patient and persistent effort. For Sri Aurobindo's nature, unaccustomed to physical or mechanical contrivances, and the narrow space in The Room made the venture somewhat risky. The first day he got up to use the crutches was a memorable one for us. In the presence of the Mother we made him stand up, handed him the crutches and showed him how to use them. He fumbled and remarked, "Yes, it is easy to say." Two or three different pairs were tried out, but as he could not handle them properly, the Mother proposed that he had better walk leaning on two persons one on either side; It was certainly a bright suggestion, for Sri Aurobindo walking on crutches would have reminded us of his own phrase about Hephaestus' "lame omnipotent motion", an insult to his shining majestic figure. Purani and Satyendra were selected by Dr. Manilal as his human supports, much less incongruous than the ungainly wooden instruments! That was how the re-education started. The paradox of the Divine seeking frail human aid gave food to my sense of humour. However, both men proved unequal in stature; the Mother made Champaklal replace Satyendra on the left side. Now the arrangement was just and perfect and Champaklal had his aspiration fulfilled. His was the last support Sri Aurobindo was to give up. For, as his steps gained in strength and firmness, he used a stick in the right hand, and Champaklal on the left. Finally he too was dropped. As soon as it came to be known that the Master was using a walking stick, several were presented to him and there was one even of tea-wood from Assam! Thus everyday after the noon and night meals the Mother would come to his room and present the stick, and he would walk about for half an hour in her presence.
While waiting for the Mother's arrival, he would practise various bending exercises for the knee which had been improvised by Dr. Manilal. He did them sitting on the edge of the bed. He actively obeyed whatever was demanded of him. One of the exercises was hanging of the leg which later became a common joke amongst us.
--
When at the end of the walk he would stand in the middle of The Room with the stick in his right hand, his upright figure with the flowing beard on his broad bare chest, his two plaits of silken hair in front, and a far away look in his calm wide-open eyes, he would kindle a soft glow of love and adoration in our hearts. The Mother would then take the stick from him; after an exchange of sweet smiles between them, she would go away. Champaklal would then step in and wipe away the dripping perspiration.
Then he would sit in the chair and sponging of the divine body would begin. This practice was continued for several years till a bathroom was built nearby. Our complaint about this crude mode of cleansing was received with a disarming serenity. Neither one arrangement nor another made the slightest difference to his composure. He did not seem to be living in the body at all; or he left it completely into the Mother's care.
--
Another imposition placed on him by the doctor was that in order to tone up his body he had to do some free-hand exercises. Every morning while still in bed, he would, without fail, practise them vigorously the flexion and extension of his arms and the raising and lowering of his legs. Sometimes the arms overcome by sleep would sink into feeble, mechanical movements and then would wake up with a start to resume their duty! The summer heat or an uncomfortable position in bed could not persuade him to break the rule. When I entered The Room for my morning work, this assiduous application would greet my eyes. His leg would rise and fall like a hammer, and I could not contain my feeling of amusement and admiration at this hard Tapasya to achieve the supramental perfection of the body. Perhaps this semi-blasphemy has come upon me like a boomerang, now making me undergo physical Tapasya even at this age! It cannot be denied, anyway, that Sri Aurobindo was not meant for such hard and rough gymnastics. There are some things which cannot be conceived of, for instance Tagore or Dilip courting jail during the Non-cooperation movement.
Manilal's prescription did some good all the same; for the soft and mellow frame got a firm nervous tone and the muscles developed fine contours, to his great satisfaction. Perfection is the supramental key-word. Any imperfection, however slight, was foreign to Sri Aurobindo's nature. I give a minor example: one day, while talking about snoring, one of us was tactless enough to tell him that he too had the habit. It must have been an awkward side-effect of the accident due to a malposition of the body. But it came to him as a great surprise. And I was astonished to mark that from the very next day the physiological aberration stopped for good! Even while correcting our poems, he would always do it perfectly. If he was pressed for time, he would ask the poem back and make it flawless. Any perfection achieved in any field by him was a cosmic conquest. "One man's perfection still can save the world."
--
When Vol. III came out, it being the bulkiest, Sri Aurobindo remarked, "What a fat elephant!" And when they entered The Room in packs and were heaped on the side-couch waiting for the autograph, they made an impressive herd and thrilled us with joy that The Life Divine had at last been delivered on this woe-begone planet of ours! But with the encroaching dimness of his eye-sight, the Mother stopped the practice of giving autographs altogether.
Another significant event that was shaping itself in 1939 was the political situation in Europe. Hitler's barking for lebensraum had been reverberating throughout the continent for some years and the war-clouds seemed to be gathering. Sri Aurobindo was watching the situation closely. In 1938 the war was almost imminent. Sri Aurobindo told us that "for many reasons war was not favoured at that time", and it did get stopped, as Sri Aurobindo wished. We used to hold daily discussions on the fate of the nations, of India and other dark consequences that would follow in the wake of Hitler's mad ambition. Chamberlain's "peace mission" failed and within a year of Sri Aurobindo's accident, the war broke out. We came to learn from him that England had at last declared war on Germany. He had learnt it from the Mother who had got the news from Pavitra. There was then no radio in the Ashram. We shall deal further with the topic of War in a separate chapter.
1.037 - Preventing the Fall in Yoga, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
When there is a physical condition of the type of painful illness, the practice should not be diminished. Generally, when we have a little fever, we will not be able to sit for meditation; and of course when there is a headache, it is out of the question. But knowing that these are the necessary and expected consequences of practice, one should not become diffident, and the practice of meditation should not be brought down to a lower level, either in quantity or quality, merely because of these obstacles. They will be there for some days, and sometimes even for months, but they will pass away. Just as when we clean a room with a broom there is a rise of dust, and it may look as if we are worsening the condition in The Room rather than cleaning it, that is not the truth, because afterwards all of the dust will vanish and the whole room will be clean. Likewise, in the beginning it may look as if there is something worse happening to us than what has occurred earlier, but it is not true. We are getting cleaned up, and a day will come when the storm will cease and we shall be happy.
When there is intense pain an intolerable physical condition which prevents sitting for meditation one can split up the sessions for meditation into one, two, three, four or five sittings, but the total quantity should not be diminished. If we are in the habit of sitting for three hours meditation, and it is not possible to do so when we have got a headache, we may split it into six parts. But it should not be completely given up on the plea that we are ill and therefore cannot do the practice, because if we miss the practice its intensity will come down, and then the reaction produced by non-practice will really be disadvantageous - more disadvantageous than the pains we feel due to the rise of reactions by correct practice.
1.03 - Sympathetic Magic, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
another wizard outside The Room exerts himself to attain the same
end by means which we should regard as wholly irrational. He, in
--
most necessary purpose, may they quit The Room that has been
assigned to them. More than that, so long as the vessel is believed
--
so will the men be agile in their movements. The Rooms must be kept
very tidy, all boxes being placed near the walls; for if any one
1.03 - The House Of The Lord, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
After this, till 3 or 4 p.m. Sri Aurobindo was all alone. Then his first meal would come; in between he sometimes took a glass of plain water. Now, what could he be doing at this time wrapped in a most mysterious silence? None except the Mother could throw any precise light on it. We were only told that he had a special work to do and must be left alone unless, of course, some very urgent business needed his attention. All that was visible to our naked eye was that he sat silently in his bed, afterwards in the capacious armchair, with his eyes wide open just as any other person would. Only he passed hours and hours thus, changing his position at times and making himself comfortable; the yes moving a little, and though usually gazing at the wall in front, never fixed trak-like at any particular point. Sometimes the face would beam with a bright mile without any apparent reason, much to our amusement, as a child smiles in sleep. Only it was a waking sleep, for as we passed across The Room, there was a dim recognition of our shadow-like movements. Occasionally he would look towards the door. That was when he heard some sound which might indicate the Mother's coming. But his external consciousness would certainly not be obliterated. When he wanted something, his voice seemed to come from a distant cave; rarely did we find him plunged within, with his eyes closed. If at that time, the Mother happened to come for some urgent work or with a glass of water, finding him thus indrawn, she would wait, usually by the bedside till he opened his eyes. Then seeing her waiting, he would exclaim "Oh!" and the Mother's lips would part into an exquisite smile. He had told us that he was in the habit of meditating with open eyes. We kept ourselves ready for the call, sitting behind the bed at our assigned places or someone cleaning the furniture or doing other work in The Room. One regular call was for a peppermint lozenge which he took some time before his meal. If the meal was late in coming he would ask for a second one. When our chatting became too animated and made us feel uneasy, one better informed would exclaim, "Do you think he is disturbed by such petty bubbles? He must be soaring in a consciousness where I wonder if even a bomb explosion would make any impression." At other relaxed moments he would take cognizance of incidental noises.
What could he be doing then with so much God-like ease and natural mastery? He once wrote to me that when he had Some special work to do he had to concentrate. This, I think, gives the clue. For his cosmic work, this was the only time he had to himself. Whether to bring down the Supramental Light, or to dive deep into the nether Hell, to send his force for some world purpose, the war in Spain, World War II, helping the Allies or to solve some difficulties of the Ashram, even of individuals, must have been the nature of his special work. One day, after his concentration, I remember him saying, apropos of nothing, "I was seeing how Nishikanto was." At that time Nishikanto was not keeping well. I shall not speculate further on this intricate problem, lest I hear his taunting voice, "Nirod is weaving his romantic fancy!" How he was performing all these operations is beyond my grey matter!
There were occasions, though rare, when we had to intrude upon his strict privacy. An urgent call from the Ashram Press about some proof corrections of his book demanded his immediate attention. I cautiously approached from behind and stood near him. He asked without turning my way, in an impersonal tone, "What is it?" A moment's ripple in the vast even ocean of silence. The Mother always felt that pervasive silence whenever she entered The Room. I informed him of the queries from the Press. There were some proof-readers who had the Johnsonian mind; they could not accept Sri Aurobindo's flexible use of prepositions or some new turns of phrases. Either they thought these were due to oversight or was it their grammarian pedantry that made them wiser than he? At last he had to remark, "Let them not interfere with my English!" His admonitions were always gentle. When the Mother heard about it, she observed, "How do they dare correct his English? Sri Aurobindo is a gentleman; he won't say anything that might hurt I am not a gentleman." We understood very well what the Mother meant. A few anecdotes to illustrate the point. When Sri Aurobindo was living with his family in Calcutta, Sarojini, his younger sister, made frequent complaints about the rudeness and impertinence of their cook. Sri Aurobindo simply listened and forgot all about it. Sarojini at last lost her patience and urged upon him a drastic step. Sri Aurobindo called the cook in a grave voice and asked, "I hear you have behaved rudely. Don't do it again!" Everybody was disappointed at this anticlimax and realised that no further strictness could be expected of him. So too when the Mother once brought a complaint to him against a sadhak who, in a fit of temper, had beaten somebody, "This is the third time! What should be done? I want your sanction, Lord," she said. Sri Aurobindo calmly replied, "Let him be given a final warning." We knew very well that this "final warning" could not be really final.
The long stretch of silence ceased only with the arrival of his first and principal meal of the day. Still we hardly ever heard him express that his "stomach was getting unsteady". The day's second meal, supper, had to be quite light. Let me stress one thing at the very outset: in his whole tenor of life, he followed the rule laid down by the Gita, moderation in everything. This was his teaching as well as his practice. To look at the outward commonplaceness of his life, eating, sleeping, joking, etc., and to make a leaping statement that here was another man like oneself, would be logical, but not true. Similarly in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga, even a high experience must not disturb the normal rhythm of life. Naturally, I was extremely curious, and so were the others, I believe, to see what kind of food he took; had he any preference for a particular dish and how much had he in common with our taste? We had to wait a long time before he regained his health, and could sit up and "enjoy" a proper meal. As soon as people learnt about it, dishes from various sadhikas began to pour in as for the Deity in the temple. And just as the Deity does, so did he, or rather the Mother did on his behalf: only a little from a dish was offered to him and all the rest was sent back as prasd. For his regular meal, there were a few devotees like Amiya, Nolina and Mridu selected by the Mother for their good cooking, which Sri Aurobindo specially liked. Mridu was a simple Bengali village widow. She, like other ladies here, called Sri Aurobindo her father, and took great pride in cooking for him. Her "father" liked her luchis very much, she would boast, and these creations of hers have been immortalised by him in one of his letters to her. She was given to maniacal fits of threatening suicide, and Sri Aurobindo would console her with, "If you commit suicide, who will cook luchis for me?" Her cooking got such wide publicity that the house she lived in was named Prasd. Food from the devotees, though tasty, was sometimes too greasy or spicy, and once it did not agree with him. So a separate kitchen, known as the Mother's Kitchen, was started for preparing only the Mother's and Sri Aurobindo's food. It was done under the most perfect hygienic conditions following the Mother's own special instructions. Her insistence is always on cleanliness. (She said in a recent message: Cleanliness is the first indispensable step towards the supramental manifestation...) I questioned Sri Aurobindo about this: "I wonder why the Divine is so particular about contagion, infection, etc. Is he vulnerable to the virus and the microbe?" He replied, "And why on earth should you expect the Divine to feed himself on germs and bacilli and poisons of all kinds? Singular theology, yours!"
--
The Mother would come to Sri Aurobindo's room an hour after his bath for their usual work. Then we left The Room, wondering what they were talking about. Probably Ashram affairs, world problems and all that the Mother "considered necessary for him to know". Once I was sitting absorbed in meditation in front of Sri Aurobindo when the Mother entered. Perhaps she waited for a while, then he called, "Nirod, Mother has come." I opened my eyes and saw that she was waiting with a gracious smile. I simply rushed out abashed! The Meetings lasted from 15 minutes to an hour, at the most; and when the Mother opened the door we were therewaiting outside. Greeting us with an enchanting smile, she would go back to her work and we entered the Presence.
Sometime in 1945 his eyesight got affected; and the Mother suggested that I should now take up all the reading and writing work and this continued till the end. In the evening we revised the old versions of Savitri, read letters, poems, literary articles by disciples or devotees outside, and other miscellaneous matters. In course of time these incidental readings increased to such an extent that he remarked that all his time was being spent on these, while his own work was left undone. He only made the remark and continued with them, until in 1949, practically all the correspondence came to an abrupt halt, and only the work on Savitri proceeded steadily. I wonder if he had taken the decision to leave the body and was therefore in a hurry to finish his epic in time. Correspondence with Dilip and Amal Kiran was the only exception.
--
There was an inroad of another kind of pest that we had to deal with. Throughout the Ashram, in the Dining Room, the Bakery, and the residential houses a large throng of flies, pale white, grey and black, appeared all of a sudden and started licking, defiling, contaminating indiscriminately, everything that came in their way. If not on food-stuff, they would sit on human beings, whoever they might be. Sri Aurobindo and his room were no exception. Flies, silver-fish, cockroaches, were simply taboo and were not to be tolerated. Out of all these, everyone knows, flies are the worst enemies. They don't bite, it is true, like their cousins, the mosquitoes, but they are carriers of all kinds of infection! When they don't bite, they stick like the habits of our physical mind. So a vigorous crusade had to be taken up. 'Fly leaves' began to hang in all houses. Another effective contrivance trapped swarms in its box with continuous rolling wheels. The queen of the flies, it seems, had to beat a retreat. There is an interesting occult sequel to all this. There are subtle beings presiding over animal or insect communities. The being which was the queen of the fly-kingdom came to the Mother and pleaded for mercy. When they perpetrated the sacrilege in Sri Aurobindo's room, however, we had no mercy. Our fly-flaps became busy. Sri Aurobindo, as we know, was not a votary of Ahimsa in all circumstances. We were in no mood to dally with their whirling dance, particularly around Sri Aurobindo whose body was as sensitive as a child's to their pestering hum. However, our constant clapping sounds like the bursting of crackers made no dents in his massive silence. Once, a bumble bee came droning into The Room and took a fancy to swirl round Sri Aurobindo as he sat on the bed. We had to rush to his rescue!
I have mentioned that Sri Aurobindo used to keep his upper body always bare. In this, as in many other habits, he was very much an Indian, though he was brought up in English ways. For instance, he was not accustomed to use slippers in The Room. He always went about barefoot. When a pair of slippers was offered to him, he said, "I don't use them. Let them be given to Nolini who likes shoes." During severe cold weather we have seen him use only a chaddar. But it intrigued me very much to see that he kept his feet always exposed, projecting out of the wrap. It seems odd, for our feet feel the cold more than other parts. Did it imply that at all moments, even at night, the feet of the Divine must be available as the haven of refuge to the needy and the devoted? It may not be too fantastic to suppose that many beings came in their subtle bodies to offer their pranams at his feet. My hypothesis is not altogether a fiction, for we have now learnt from the Mother that Sri Aurobindo has built a home in the subtle-physical plane and many of us visit him at night in our subtle bodies. She has also told us that we visit her or she visits us during our sleep. In the morning she has often asked, "Do you know anything about it?" Well, as all this is true, surely beings could also come in their subtle forms to do pranam to Sri Aurobindo. "But why bare feet?" one may ask. "That is the Indian custom", would be my, answer.
"Did he sleep at night?" was the question very often asked. To all appearance he did sleep and quite sufficiently. The Mother and he always insist on observing normal rules of health. We must eat well and sleep well, So, if there was a physical need for food, there could be a need for sleep as with us, but with a difference. For our sleep is a heavy plunge into inconscience where we forget everything, whereas a Yogi sleeps awake. There is also a state in which the physical body is apparently asleep, while the subtle body goes out visiting various persons in their sleep. The Mother has said that she does most of the subtle work in this way at night. Sri Aurobindo wrote to me, "In former days when she was spending the night in a trance and out working in the Ashram, she brought back with her the knowledge of all that was happening to everybody... I often know from her what has happened before it is reported by anyone."
1.03 - The Psychic Prana, #Raja-Yoga, #Swami Vivkenanda, #unset
Next we shall take one fact from physics. We all hear of electricity and various other forces connected with it. What electricity is no one knows, but so far as it is known, it is a sort of motion. There are various other motions in the universe; what is the difference between them and electricity? Suppose this table moves that the molecules which compose this table are moving in different directions; if they are all made to move in the same direction, it will be through electricity. Electric motion makes the molecules of a body move in the same direction. If all the air molecules in a room are made to move in the same direction, it will make a gigantic battery of electricity of The Room. Another point from physiology we must remember, that the centre which regulates the respiratory system, the breathing system, has a sort of controlling action over the system of nerve currents.
Now we shall see why breathing is practised. In the first place, from rhythmical breathing comes a tendency of all the molecules in the body to move in the same direction. When mind changes into will, the nerve currents change into a motion similar to electricity, because the nerves have been proved to show polarity under the action of electric currents. This shows that when the will is transformed into the nerve currents, it is changed into something like electricity. When all the motions of the body have become perfectly rhythmical, the body has, as it were, become a gigantic battery of will. This tremendous will is exactly what the Yogi wants. This is, therefore, a physiological explanation of the breathing exercise. It tends to bring a rhythmic action in the body, and helps us, through the respiratory centre, to control the other centres. The aim of Prnyma here is to rouse the coiled-up power in the Muladhara, called the Kundalini.
1.03 - To Layman Ishii, #Beating the Cloth Drum Letters of Zen Master Hakuin, #unset, #Zen
a The word chambers (hj), normally the quarters of a head priest, also alludes to The Room where the great Layman Vimalakirti taught. An annotation states that The Room may have been Ishii's teahouse. b Chij khai, the second of three kinds of "leakage" posited by Tung-shan Liang-chieh, in which the student, while trying to rid himself of delusory thoughts, still remains within the realm of dualism
(The Eye of Men and Gods, ch. 3). c That is, a shippei, or black-lacquered bamboo stick. d A false makeshift seal carved from melon rind.
1.03 - VISIT TO VIDYASAGAR, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
After taking some of the sweets, the Master, with a smile, began to speak to Vidyasagar. Meanwhile The Room had become filled with people; some were standing and others were seated.
MASTER: "Ah! Today, at last, I have come to the ocean. Up till now I have seen only canals, marshes, or a river at the most. But today I am face to face with the sagar, the ocean."(All laugh.)
--
Sri Ramakrishna then took leave of Vidyasagar, who with his friends escorted the Master to the main gate, leading the way with a lighted candle in his hand. Before leaving The Room, the Master prayed for the family's welfare, going into an ecstatic mood as he did so.
As soon as the Master and the devotees reached the gate, they saw an unexpected sight and stood still. In front of them was a bearded gentleman of fair complexion, aged about thirty-six. He wore his clothes like a Bengali, but on his head was a white turban tied after the fashion of the Sikhs. No sooner did he see the Master than he fell prostrate before him, turban and all.
1.04 - ADVICE TO HOUSEHOLDERS, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Incense was burnt in The Room, where an oil lamp had been lighted. Sounds of conch-shells and gongs came floating on the air as the evening worship began in the temple of Kli. The light of the moon flooded all the quarters. The Master again spoke to M.
God and worldly duties
--
At dawn some of the devotees were up. They saw the Master, naked as a child, pacing up and down The Room, repeating the names of the various gods and goddesses. His voice was sweet as nectar. Now he would look at the Ganges, now stop in front of the pictures hanging on the wall and bow down before them, chanting all the while the holy names in his sweet voice. He chanted: "Veda, Purana, Tantra; Gita, Gayatri; Bhagavata, Bhakta, Bhagavan." Referring to the Gita, he repeated many times, "Tagi, tagi, tagi."
Now and then he would say: "O Mother, Thou art verily Brahman, and Thou art verily akti. Thou art Purusha and Thou art Prakriti. Thou art Virat. Thou art the Absolute, and Thou dost manifest Thyself as the Relative. Thou art verily the twenty-four cosmic principles."
--
Sounds of conchshells and cymbals were carried on the air. The devotees came outside The Room and saw the priests and servants gathering flowers in the garden for the divine service in the temples. From the nahabat floated the sweet melody of musical instruments, befitting the morning hours.
Narendra and the other devotees finished their morning duties and came to the Master.
--
The sannyasis belonging to the sect of Nanak entered The Room and greeted the Master, saying, "Namo Narayanaya." Sri Ramakrishna asked them to sit down.
All is possible with God
--
Suppose, there are treasures in a room. If you want to see them and lay hold of them, you must take the trouble to get the key and unlock the door. After that you must take the treasures out. But suppose The Room is locked, and standing outside the door you say to yourself: 'Here I have opened the door. Now I have broken the lock of the chest.
Now I have taken out the treasure.' Such brooding near the door will not enable you to achieve anything. You must practise discipline.
1.04 - The Divine Mother - This Is She, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
She also saw to the proper atmosphere of The Room. I shall give an instance: many newspapers were sent to us for Sri Aurobindo's perusal, out of which he read only The Hindu, and the Daily Mail for its comic "Curly Wee" feature. Since we had plenty of time we rummaged through all the papers, one after another, particularly with a view to make interesting news items the subject of our talk with him. The Indian Express used to supply a lot of war news. Whenever the Mother entered The Room her first glance was cast at our corner and often in the morning she found a heap of these newspapers, and ourselves making a jolly good feast of them. Suddenly one day to our surprise all the papers stopped coming except The Hindu and the Amrita Bazar Patrika. Sri Aurobindo looked as usual for the Daily Mail. We had to tell him that the Mother had banned all these papers, for they seemed to spoil the atmosphere of The Room. The Mother did not know that Sri Aurobindo was interested in the Mail. He simply smiled. This one small incident is indicative of her ever-wakeful Intelligence operating over all affairs, mundane as well as spiritual and Sri Aurobindo's quiet acceptance of her decision. The Room in the "Library" in which newspapers were kept for general reading was named by her "Falsehood", and yet she did not interfere with the sadhaks' liberty of reading them.
She was always out of sympathy with certain mechanical contrivances like the radio, gramophone and ceiling-fan. The radio was allowed in Sri Aurobindo's room only after the war had taken a full-blooded turn. His bedroom had no fan, in spite of considerable heat. The sitting-room had a table-fan. Only after the accident a table-fan was installed near Sri Aurobindo's bed which was not very effective in reducing the stuffiness of The Room, closed as it was on the east, west and south. Hence the need of small hand-fans during his walk. It was only after The Room had undergone thorough repairs and the old beams were replaced by new solid ones that a ceiling-fan came into operation. Till then the Mother feared that a ceiling-fan would be a risk to the old ceiling. This shows how the Mother guarded against all eventualities, inner as well as outer, and gave as little handle as possible to so-called accidents. She knew very well that shrewd and subtle occult forces were actively engaged in causing them grievous harm. Who could have imagined that Sri Aurobindo would meet with a serious accident in his own room at an unwary moment? He had asserted very firmly that their life was a battlefield in a very real sense and that the Mother and himself were actively waging a continuous war against the adverse forces. "The fact that it was being waged from a closed room made it no less real and serious." She said once that illnesses in their case are much more difficult to cure than in the case of sadhaks because of the concentrated attack of the adverse forces. I may mention in passing that the Mother was not only vigilant regarding Sri Aurobindo against all possible outer attacks and accidents, she is also cognizant of the welfare of the sadhaks. During an epidemic in the town, sadhaks are warned not to take any food from outside. All our raw vegetables and fruits are washed in an antiseptic solution before being cooked or eaten and many other precautions are taken to avoid any outbreak in the Ashram. The inspiration behind the origin of the sadhak Ganpatram's Cottage Restaurant came from the Mother, I was told. She did not want the Ashram children to take food from outside and fall ill; so she called him one day and asked him to open a restaurant only for the Ashram children and prepare food under strict hygienic conditions.
If the Mother was thus equipped with all necessities for Sri Aurobindo's comfort, Sri Aurobindo on his part was as solicitous about the Mother's well-being. He followed closely all her outer activities and enveloped her with an aura of protection against the dark forces. His accident was due, he said, to his being busy protecting the Mother and unmindful about himself, under the assumption that the adverse forces would not dare to attack him. "That was my mistake," he said. The Mother herself could take any risk, launch upon any adventure, for she had entire faith and reliance upon Sri Aurobindo's mighty force and protection. Anybody who has come in contact with the Mother knows that her dynamic nature makes light of all difficulties and dangers and she is the least concerned about herself 'when some special work has to be done. At one time her health suffered from a chronic trouble, indicated by a swelling of the feet. I observed that every time the Mother entered or left The Room, Sri Aurobindo's eyes were fixed on her feet till after a number of years the limbs regained their normalcy. Not about her health alone, about all her movements and activities the Mother always used to keep him informed: before going to the meditation and after it, before going for a drive and after it, or before seeing any visitor, she would come and see him. Sri Aurobindo also would inquire about her from Champaklal, whether she had finished her food and gone to bed or not, and as I have said, until she had retired, he kept awake. If by chance she was late in returning from a drive Sri Aurobindo would inquire again and again. As the Mother's routine was crammed with activities, quite often she used to be late for her meal. Sometimes she would report the fact. But he would never interfere with her activities, only mildly suggest some change if necessary. Imposition of rules, compulsion of any sort was against his nature, either on the Mother or on sadhaks. So is it with the Mother. Sri Aurobindo did not want us to detain her in any way. He would cut short his walk, or hurry his meal to suit her convenience.
There was a period when the Mother was in a state of almost continuous trance. It was a very trying phase, indeed. She would enter Sri Aurobindo's room with a somnolent walk and go back swaying from side to side leaving us in fear and wonder about the delicate balancing. Sri Aurobindo would watch her intently till she was out of sight, but it was a matter of surprise how she maintained her precarious balance. Sometimes in the midst of doing his hair, her hand would stop moving at any stage; either the comb remained still, or the ribbon tied to his plaits got loose. While serving meals too, the spoon would stand still or the knife would not cut and Sri Aurobindo had to, by fictitious coughs or sounds, draw her out. Fifteen minutes' work thus took double the time and then she would hasten in order to make up for it. Such trance moods were more particularly manifest at night during the collective meditation below, and in that condition she would come to Sri Aurobindo's room with a heap of letters, reports, account-books, etc., to read, sign or answer during Sri Aurobindo's walking time. But her pious intention would come to nothing, for no sooner did she begin than the trance overtook her. Sri Aurobindo took a few extra rounds and sat in his chair watching the Mother while she with the book open, pen in hand, had travelled into another world from whose bourne it was perhaps difficult to return. He would watch her with an indulgent smile and try all devices to bring her down to earth. We would stand by, favoured spectators of the delectable scene. When at last the Mother did wake up, Sri Aurobindo would say with a smile, "We haven't made much progress!" She would then take a firm resolve, and finish all work in a dash or go back if the trance was too heavy. Once Sri Aurobindo saw that she was writing on the book with her fountain pen unopened. He kept on watching. Suddenly she realised her mistake and Sri Aurobindo broke into a gracious smile. During the time of meditation too, her condition was most extraordinary. Someone coming for pranam would remain standing before her trance-mood for fifteen to thirty minutes, another had her hand on his bowed head for a pretty long time; all was unpredictable. There was an exceptional circumstance when Sri Aurobindo intervened in the Mother's work. On her way from Sri Aurobindo's room to the collective meditation below, she went for a while to her room to take some rest, as it was probably too early to go down. But once she sat down, time and space vanished and she was deep in trance, while below the crowd was waiting till it was about 1 a.m. Sri Aurobindo, on being informed, sent word that all should disperse and go home. The Mother, on waking up, prepared herself to go to the meditation when she was told what had happened.
--
Then going back to her room, she would start the "flower work" in this state of trance. We know that she is very fond of flowers, particularly roses, both for their own sake and for their power to transmit her force. Hundreds of roses daily came to her as an offering from our gardens. She would spread all of them on trays, pick and choose them according to size, colour, etc., trim and arrange them in different vases, aided by a sadhika. This would continue till the early hours of the morning when she would retire for a short nap. Once I had a long talk with her concerning the affairs of the Dispensary during this time. I wondered how in such a trance-condition her hands moved correctly, used the scissors, cut and trimmed the flowers and at the same time she went on answering the various problems I put before her. Much later I found the solution and that also in an embarrassing manner. She had come to do Sri Aurobindo's hair and as usual was overtaken by trance. The eyes were half closed, the body swayed but the hands were doing their work. Two of us who were then on duty began to joke and play with each other silently, assuming that she could not notice our innocent pranks. But as she was leaving The Room, she said to us, "I can see everything. I have eyes at the back of my head." Imagine our discomfiture! We had heard that she was the greatest occultist known to Theon, her teacher in occultism. We had no small amount of personal experience in support of it. Still, this small incident from its manner and occasion left us flabbergasted. She must have had her inner senses functioning when the outer ones were in suspension or had ceased their work. She said on one occasion that she is extremely sensitive to the atmosphere. She can at once feel the vibrations of a place or of persons.
In the previous chapters I have given some indications about her power of organisation, her foresight, her practical wisdom in the limited field concerning Sri Aurobindo's personal needs. Now let me cite some instances to illustrate her method of working in the larger context of the Ashram, those which I came to know in Sri Aurobindo's presence. Her mind, when she had decided upon a project, would concentrate on it and not relax until it was accomplished or stood on a sound basis. In the same manner she would deal with several projects in the course of the day. She could be single-pointed and many-faceted at the same time. It is the way with all great men of action, I believe.
1.04 - THE RABBIT SENDS IN A LITTLE BILL, #Alice in Wonderland, #Lewis Carroll, #Fiction
By this time, Alice had found her way into a tidy little room with a table in the window, and on it a fan and two or three pairs of tiny white kid-gloves; she took up the fan and a pair of the gloves and was just going to leave The Room, when her eyes fell upon a little bottle that stood near the looking-glass. She uncorked it and put it to her lips, saying to herself, "I do hope it'll make me grow large again, for, really, I'm quite tired of being such a tiny little thing!"
Before she had drunk half the bottle, she found her head pressing against the ceiling, and had to stoop to save her neck from being broken. She hastily put down the bottle, remarking, "That's quite enough--I hope I sha'n't grow any more."
1.05 - Buddhism and Women, #Tara - The Feminine Divine, #unset, #Zen
in her cave divid ed into two small rooms. The Room
where she was faced her shrine and was lighte d only
1.05 - THE HOSTILE BROTHERS - ARCHETYPES OF RESPONSE TO THE UNKNOWN, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
rationality) were in The Room with the object. One of them described the features of The Room. Its walls
were seven feet thick, and made of some impervious substance [titanium dioxide (?)] which sounded
--
wasnt in The Room, although I was there as an observer, like the audience in a movie. The object in the
display case appeared alive. It was moving, and distorting its shape, like a chrysalis or a cocoon in its
--
pipe. Then it reformed itself into a sphere, and shot out through one wall of the case, and The Room,
leaving two perfectly round, smooth, holes one in the case, and the other in the wall. It left with no
--
require the accompaniment of four hurricanes, as attendants).600 The Room was a classification system,
something designed (by the most powerful representatives of the social and scientific worlds), to
--
towards the man (as if The Room was constructed of the intersection of six spheres). All surfaces of the
cube remained at the same distance from the man, regardless of his pattern of movement. If he walked
--
tail, and pull it out of the surface, into The Room.
This dream referred to the capacity of man to (voluntarily) pull the future into the present, so to
1.05 - THE MASTER AND KESHAB, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
As the air in The Room was stuffy because of the crowd of people, Keshab opened the windows. He was embarrassed to meet Vijay, since they had differed in certain principles of the Brhrno Samaj and Vijay had separated himself from Keshab's organization, joining another society.
The Brahmo devotees looked wistfully at the Master. Gradually he came back to sense consciousness; but the divine intoxication still lingered. He said to himself in a whisper: "Mother, why have You brought me here? They are hedged around and not free. Can I free them?" Did the Master find that the people assembled there were locked within the prison walls of the world? Did their helplessness make the Master address these words to the Divine Mother?
--
Narendra, who lived in that quarter of the city, was sent for. In the mean time Sri Ramakrishna and the devotees were invited to the drawing-room upstairs. The floor of The Room was covered with a carpet and a white sheet. A few cushions were lying about. On the wall hung an oil painting especially painted for Surendra, in which Sri Ramakrishna was pointing out to Keshab the harmony of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and other religions. On seeing the picture Keshab had once said, "Blessed is the man who conceived the idea."
Sri Ramakrishna was talking joyously with the devotees, when Narendra arrived. This made the Master doubly happy. He said to his young disciple, "We had a boat trip with Keshab today. Vijay and many other Brahmo devotees were there. (Pointing to M.) Ask him what I said to Keshab and Vijay about the mother and daughter observing their religious fast on Tuesdays, each on her own account, though the welfare of the one meant the welfare of the other. I also said to Keshab that trouble-makers like jatila and Kutila were necessary to lend zest to the play. (To M.) Isn't that so?"
1.05 - War And Politics, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
It took twenty-seven years for that vision of the truth-plane to actualise itself on the material plane. In those early days the Mother used to pay special visits to The Rooms of the sadhaks. One day A asked her, "How is India likely to get freedom?" She replied, "Listen! The British did not conquer India. You yourselves handed over the country to the British. In the same manner the British will themselves hand over the country to you. And they will do it in a hurry as if a ship were waiting to take them away."[6] How true was the prophecy!
Today the achievement of India's freedom is attributed to various factors: the August movement, Non-cooperation, the Terrorist movement, the I. N. A. and others; the factor that played the decisive part is either not admitted or ignored altogether. From Sri Aurobindo's pronouncements we can assert that his Force was principally responsible for the success of the Allies and the defeat of the Japanese, thereby helping India to gain her freedom. In fact, India's freedom had been his constant dream from his very boyhood. Even during his intense sadhana in Pondicherry, it was always in his mind and he indefatigably worked for it in the yogic way till he became convinced that freedom was inevitable. As far back as 1935, when I asked him if he was working for India's freedom, he replied, "That is all settled, it is a question of working out only.... It is what she will do with her independence that is not arranged for and so it is that about which I have to bother."
--
"He stared at the packed assembly hall. Every face in The Room was turned to his....
"'Yes,' he said, 'I have selected a date for the Transfer of Power.'
1.06 - BOOK THE SIXTH, #Metamorphoses, #Ovid, #Poetry
Around The Room he sends his curious eyes;
And, as he still inquir'd, and call'd aloud,
1.06 - On Thought, #Words Of Long Ago, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
We must put all of them in place, bring order into our inner chamber, and we must do this each day just as we tidy The Rooms of our house. For I suppose that our mentality deserves at least as much care as our house.
But, once again, for this work to be truly effective, we must strive to maintain in ourselves our highest, quietest, most sincere state of mind so as to make it our own.
1.06 - PIG AND PEPPER, #Alice in Wonderland, #Lewis Carroll, #Fiction
"Here! You may nurse it a bit, if you like!" the Duchess said to Alice, flinging the baby at her as she spoke. "I must go and get ready to play croquet with the Queen," and she hurried out of The Room.
Alice caught the baby with some difficulty, as it was a queer-shaped little creature and held out its arms and legs in all directions. "If I don't take this child away with me," thought Alice, "they're sure to kill it in a day or two. Wouldn't it be murder to leave it behind?" She said the last words out loud and the little thing grunted in reply.
1.06 - THE MASTER WITH THE BRAHMO DEVOTEES, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Mr. Viswas had been sitting in The Room a long time; he now left. He had once been wealthy but had squandered everything in an immoral life. Finally he had become indifferent to his wife and children. Referring to Mr. Viswas, the Master said: "He is an unfortunate wretch. A householder has his duties to discharge, his debts to pay: his debt to the gods, his debt to his ancestors, his debt to the rishis, and his debt to wife and children. If a wife is chaste, then her husb and should support her; he should also bring up their children until they are of age. Only a monk must not save; the bird and the monk do not provide for the morrow. But even a bird provides when it has young.
It brings food in its bill for its chicks."
--
A devotee from Nandanbagan entered The Room with his friends. The Master looked at him and said, "Everything inside him can be seen through his eyes, as one sees the objects in a room through a glass door." This devotee and his brothers always celebrated the anniversary of the Brahmo Samaj at their house in Nandanbagan. Sri Ramakrishna had taken part in these festivals.
The evening worship began in the temples. The Master was seated on the small couch in his room, absorbed in meditation. He went into an ecstatic mood and said a little later: "Mother, please draw him to Thee. He is so modest and humble! He has been visiting Thee." Was the Master referring to Baburam, who later became one of his foremost disciples?
--
It was an early hour of the morning, about two or three o'clock. The Room was dark. Sri Ramakrishna was seated on his bed and now and then conversed with the devotees.
Compassion and attachment
1.070 - The Seven Stages of Perfection, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
Therefore, the perfection of understanding, or the viveka khyati referred to, is a gradual widening of the grasp which consciousness has over the substances of nature. At present, one has no grasp over anything because there is an isolation of oneself from the cosmic substance due to the affirmation of the ego, or the asmita, and the weakness of personality. Whatever be the type of that weakness physical or psychological it is due to the inability of cosmic forces to enter into oneself, just as the sunlight cannot enter The Rooms of a house if all the doors and windows are closed. Even if the sun is blazing outside, we may be shivering inside due to the doors and windows being closed, preventing the light of the sun from entering.
Likewise the forces of nature, which are really what are meant by the powers of nature, cannot enter into the personality of an individual on account of the very presence of individuality. What we call individuality is nothing but the closed house of the asmita, where every avenue of entry of cosmic force is closed completely due to the intensity of self-consciousness. One is so intensely aware of oneself as an individual that it is impossible for cosmic forces to enter that person, so that one begins to rot from within due to this ego, and undergoes intense suffering which is the direct outcome of the absence of freedom which is equivalent to the harmony of oneself with nature.
1.07 - A Song of Longing for Tara, the Infallible, #How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator, #Thubten Chodron, #unset
that angry thought is extremely powerful. Even if nobody else in The Room
knows about that angry thought, its power and the effect it has upon us is
--
retreat is good enough. The temperature in The Room is good enough.
Once, one person wrote on the feedback form after a retreat, The food
1.07 - Bridge across the Afterlife, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
me. The Room was so beautiful ... He smiled at the memory.
I was not alone; there were many figures, all in white and
1.07 - Cybernetics and Psychopathology, #Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, #Norbert Wiener, #Cybernetics
the patient simply does not have The Room, the sufficient num-
ber of neurons, to carry out his normal processes of thought.
1.07 - Hui Ch'ao Asks about Buddha, #The Blue Cliff Records, #Yuanwu Keqin, #Zen
to enter The Room.
One day when Fa Yen had ascended his seat, there was a
1.07 - On Dreams, #Words Of Long Ago, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
All this work was transcribed in the consciousness of our writer in the following dream: he was in his study with several armchairs which he had just brought there and was arranging and rearranging them in The Room, until he found the most suitable place for each one.
In the knowledge that certain people may have had of such inadequate transcriptions, we can find the origin of the popular beliefs, the dream-books which are the delight of so many simple souls.
1.07 - THE MASTER AND VIJAY GOSWAMI, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
At eight o'clock in the morning Sri Ramakrishna was seated on a mat spread on the floor of his room at Dakshineswar. Since it was a cold day, he had wrapped his body in his moleskin shawl. Prankrishna and M. were seated in front of him. Rakhal, too, was in The Room. Prankrishna was a high government official and lived in Calcutta. Since he had had no offspring by his first wife, with her permission he had married a second time. By the second wife he had a son. Because he was rather stout, the Master addressed him now and then as "the fat brahmin". He had great respect for Sri Ramakrishna. Though a householder, Prankrishna studied the Vedanta and had been heard to say: "Brahman alone is real and the world illusory. I am He." The Master used to say to him: "In the Kaliyuga the life of a man depends on food. The path of devotion prescribed by Narada is best for this age."
A devotee had brought a basket of jilipi for the Master, which the latter kept by his side.
--
A boy six or seven years old entered The Room. The Master himself became like a child.
He covered the contents of the basket with the palm or his hand, as a child does to conceal sweets from another child lest the latter should snatch them. Then he put the basket aside.
--
Sitting on the floor in The Room was a young man from Agarpara about twenty-two years old. Whenever he came to the temple garden, he would take the Master aside, by a sign, and whisper his thoughts to him. He was a newcomer. That day he was sitting on the floor near the Master.
MASTER (to the young man): "A man can change his nature by imitating another's character. He can get rid of a passion like lust by assuming the feminine mood. He gradually comes to act exactly like a woman. I have noticed that men who take female parts in the theatre speak like women or brush their teeth like women while bathing.
--
About half past nine in the morning Prankrishna took leave of the Master. Soon afterwards a minstrel sang some devotional songs to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument. The Master was listening to the songs when Kedr Chatterji, a householder devotee, entered The Room clad in his office clothes. He was a man of devotional temperament and cherished the attitude of the gopis of Vrindvan. Words about God would make him weep.
The sight of Kedr awakened in the Master's mind the episode of Vrindvan in Sri Krishna's life. Intoxicated with divine love, the Master stood up and sang, addressing Kedr:
1.08 - Attendants, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
I shall quote another instance at the risk of being mocked at by the rationalists and being dubbed an apostate, for was I not once a materialist myself? As I have said, Sri Aurobindo used to take a peppermint pastille while he was dictating Savitri and Champaklal's role was to offer it, when wanted. He would wait and wait even if not called at the due hour, he would sometimes hurry his meal so as not to miss the occasion. I thought, "Why should I not get one chance, at least?" But my friend would hear the call even if it was whispered and would run from wherever he might be in The Room. Here again, Sri Aurobindo consciously or unconsciously responded to my silent wish by asking one day for the pastille much earlier than the usual time, when Champaklal was not present. He came up and waited for the call. I put on a very innocent face though now and again a mischievous smile tried to betray it. Then at last, very much piqued, Champaklal asked me, "What's the matter? He is not asking for the pastille?" I could not help breaking into laughter. He understood but enquired exactly when he had asked, who had given it, etc., etc. All these incidents were our little pranks played among ourselves and between us and the Master. I shall not protest if anyone calls me too credulous and finds these as nothing but sentimental outpourings of bhaktas. These instances do illustrate why I call Champaklal a real bhakta and have looked upon his service as having the true spirit. No wonder that the Lord, during his last hours, amply recompensed him by repeatedly embracing him, to our great bewildered delight.
Some critics might find this a very rosy picture of Champaklal, drawn, as one would expect, by a colleague who would keep the thorns out of their sight. Thorns he has, who has not? In 1935, when I knew very little of him, I wrote to Sri Aurobindo, "Champaklal came to the Dispensary and had an outburst with me. I am sure he will tell the Mother about it." He replied, "Champaklal does not usually tell Mother about these things outbursts of that kind are too common with him. And when heat meets heat It is almost midsummer now." Champaklal is himself aware of his defects and repents them very much. Sometimes on the verge of despair, he confesses that complete change of nature is impossible except by the Divine Grace. More than once after losing his temper with me, not always without cause, he regretted his explosion and said, "I hope you won't mind; you know my nature," and became his old sweet self. He has a streak of Bholanath in him, and says that he must have been an avadht[2] in his previous life. He has prayed again and again to the Mother for the removal of this weakness in his nature. He is outspoken, very straightforward the Mother has vouched for it he cannot bear any kind of insincerity. He cannot make or even see any compromise made with falsehood; his nature is alien to the ways of the world. Much of his apparent rudeness and ill temper stems from this uncompromising spirit. This, of course, does not save him from misjudging people at times, but when shown his fault, he never tries to cover it up. I believe that there should be someone who is upright and unsparing, and as firm as steel when all around there is such a mixture of motives. He serves as the gate-keeper of Heaven. Parodying Sri Aurobindo's verse, "None can reach Heaven who has not passed through Hell," I would mutter, "None can go to the Mother who has not passed through Champaklal!"
--
Such appalling mist could only be dissolved by counterbalancing incidents like the one of our old doctor Becharlal, a true bhakta by nature. Sri Aurobindo remarked that his bhakti was genuine. How many times he was on the point of shedding tears on seeing his "Bhagawan suffer"! Apart from his age, his emotional nature rendered him incapable of doing anything but light work and we gave him only such work. Neither would he ask for more, since he knew himself quite well. If he could just breathe the nearness of the Lord, that was all he wanted. That was his lifelong aspiration, it appeared, and it was fulfilled. He was called Dadaji by us and given his due respect. During the early days of the accident, in the tranquil atmosphere of The Room, we would hear some sudden sobbing trying in vain to control itself. It was our doctor who had been moved to sorrow by the "painful condition" of his beloved Lord! Or sometimes there were tears of spiritual fervour.
When after his bath Sri Aurobindo lay down for a little rest, our doctor would squat behind or beside him and gaze on the reclining god who was in serene repose with both hands locked above the head. Becharlal said that at those moments especially, Sri Aurobindo appeared to him just like Lord Shiva and he felt a great impulse to embrace him. Stretched at full length on the bed, his well-formed body almost filling it without any covering on the upper part, the large full head and the radiant face, caring nothing for earthly vanities, yet the Lord of the world, captured not only Dr. Becharlal's heart but ours as well. Dr. Becharlal would be full of peace and rapture in his presence but could not stay long because of his old-age infirmities. Dr. Manilal remarked to Sri Aurobindo that among all of us Dr. Becharlal profited most from his association with Sri Aurobindo.
1.08 - Sri Aurobindos Descent into Death, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
on a chair in the central room The Room in which her paint-
ings adorn the walls and the tiger skins decorate the divan.
--
Mother said: Each time I enter The Room, I see him pulling
down the Supramental Light. And later: All the supra-
--
after wave of it filled The Room and surrounded me. I per-
ceived an overwhelming air of Conquest ... From the flar-
1.08 - THE MASTERS BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AT DAKSHINESWAR, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Rakhal was thus seated by the Master when a man entered The Room and said that a high tide was coming in the Ganges. The Master and the devotees ran to the Panchavati to see it. At the sight of a boat being tossed by the tide, Sri Ramakrishna exclaimed: "Look! Look! I hope nothing happens to it."
They all sat in the Panchavati. The Master asked M. to explain the cause of the tide. M.
--
A Vaishnava goswami was seated in The Room. The Master said to him: "Well, what do you say? What is the way?"
GOSWAMI: "Sir, the chanting of God's name is enough. The scriptures emphasize the sanctity of God's name for the Kaliyuga."
--
Rakhal's father was sitting in The Room. At that time Rakhal was staying with the Master. After his mother's death his father had married a second time. Now and then he came to Dakinewar because of Rakhal's being there. He did not raise much objection to his son's living with the Master. Being a wealthy man of the world, he was always involved in litigation. There were lawyers and deputy magistrates among Sri Ramakrishna's visitors.
Rakhal's father found it profitable to cultivate their acquaintance, since he expected to be benefited by their counsels in worldly matters.
--
An unknown Bengali, dressed in the ochre cloth of a monk, entered The Room and sat on the floor. The Master's mind was coming down to the ordinary plane of consciousness.
Presently he began to talk, though the spell of samdhi still lingered.
1.09 - ADVICE TO THE BRAHMOS, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
It was Sunday morning. The Master, looking like a boy, was seated in his room, and near him was another boy, his beloved disciple Rkhl. M. entered and saluted the Master. Ramlal also was in The Room, and Kishori, Manilal Mallick, and several other devotees gathered by and by.
Manilal Mallick, a business man, had recently been to Benares, where he owned a bungalow.
--
Presently a few elderly members of the Brahmo Samaj arrived. The Room was full of devotees. Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on his bed, facing the north. He kept smiling, and talked to the Brahmo devotees in a joyous mood.
Characteristics of divine love
--
Second, the soot and dirt are removed from The Rooms. Third, the courtyard, floors, and other places are swept clean. Finally the master himself sends various things to the house such as a carpet, a hubble-bubble for smoking, and the like. When you see these things arriving, you conclude that the master will very soon come"
A DEVOTEE: "Sir, should one first practise discrimination to attain self-control?"
--
"Mere possession of money doesn't make a nobleman. One sign of the mansion of a nobleman is that all The Rooms are lighted. The poor cannot afford much oil, and consequently cannot have so many lights. This shrine of the body should not be left dark; one should illumine it with the lamp of Wisdom. Lighting the lamp of knowledge in the chamber of your heart, Behold the face of the Mother, Brahman's Embodiment.
"Everyone can attain Knowledge. There are two entities: Jivatma, the individual soul, and Paramatma, the Supreme Soul. Through prayer all individual souls can be united to the Supreme Soul. Every house has a connection for gas, and gas can be obtained from the main storage-tank of the Gas Company. Apply to the Company, and it will arrange for your supply of gas. Then your house will be lighted.
--
The Master went into deep samdhi. His body was motionless; he sat with folded hands as in his photograph. Tears of joy flowed from the corners of his eyes. After a long time his mind came down to the ordinary plane of consciousness. He mumbled something, of which only a word now and then could be heard by the devotees in The Room. He was saying: "Thou art I, and I am Thou-Thou eatest-Thou-I eat! . . . What is this confusion Thou hast created?"
Continuing, the Master said: "I see everything like a man with jaundiced eyes! I see Thee alone everywhere. O Krishna, Friend of the lowly! O Eternal Consort of my soul! O
--
As he uttered the words "Eternal Consort of my soul" and "Govinda", the Master again went into samdhi. There was complete silence in The Room. The eager and unsatiated eyes of the devotees were fixed on the Master, a God-man of infinite moods.
Adhar Sen arrived with several of his friends. He was a deputy magistrate, about thirty years old. This was his second visit to the Master. He was accompanied by his friend Saradacharan, who was extremely unhappy because of the death of his eldest son. A retired deputy inspector of schools, Saradacharan devoted himself to meditation and prayer. Adhar had brought his friend to the Master for consolation in his afflicted state of mind.
1.09 - Taras Ultimate Nature, #How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator, #Thubten Chodron, #unset
our body and mind could be on one side of The Room and we could be on the
other. In sum, however much we search trying to nd an inherently existent
1.10 - Laughter Of The Gods, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindo was lying on the bed. We were talking in whispers among ourselves. Champaklal who had been trying to suppress his laughter let go suddenly and had to run away from The Room. Sri Aurobindo, looking at us, said, "What divine descent was it?" I replied, checking my mirth, "Champaklal burst into laughter."
Sri Aurobindo: Oh, so it was Vishnu's Ananda that descended!
1.10 - Relics of Tree Worship in Modern Europe, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
the houses or of the cattle-stalls or in The Rooms. Young fellows
erected such May-trees, as we have already said, before the chambers
1.10 - THE MASTER WITH THE BRAHMO DEVOTEES (II), #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Sri Ramakrishna was asked to go to the worship hall on the second floor. A dais had been built on the eastern side of The Room. There were a few chairs and a piano in the hall. The Brahmo worship was to begin at dusk.
Why temples are holy
1.11 - WITH THE DEVOTEES AT DAKSHINEWAR, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
After his noon meal the Master took a short rest. Manilal Mallick, an old member of the Brahmo Samaj, entered The Room and sat down after saluting the Master, who was still lying on his bed. Manilal asked him questions now and then, and the Master, still half asleep, answered with a word or two. Manilal said that Shivanath admired Nityagopal's spiritual state. The Master asked in a sleepy tone what they thought of Hazra.
Then Sri Ramakrishna sat up on his bed and told Manilal about Bhavanath's devotion to God.
--
It was dusk. The maidservant entered The Room and burnt incense. Manilal and some other devotees left for Calcutta. M. and Rkhl were in The Room. The Master was seated on his small couch absorbed in meditation on the Divine Mother. There was complete silence.
After a time Bhagavati, an old maidservant of the temple proprietor, entered The Room and saluted the Master from a distance. Sri Ramakrishna bade her sit down. The Master had known her for many years. In her younger days she had lived a rather immoral life; but the Master's compassion was great. Soon he began to converse with her.
MASTER: "Now you are pretty old. Have you been feeding the Vaishnavas and holy men, and thus spending your money in a noble way?"
--
Emboldened by the Master's words, Bhagavati approached and saluted him, touching his feet. Like a man stung by a scorpion, Sri Ramakrishna stood up and cried out, "Govinda! Govinda!" A big jar of Ganges water stood in a comer of The Room. He hurried there, panting, and washed with the holy water the spot the maidservant had touched.
The devotees in The Room were amazed to see this incident. Bhagavati sat as if struck dead.
Sri Ramakrishna consoled her and said in a very kindly tone, "You should salute me from a distance." In order to relieve her mind of all embarrassment, the Master said tenderly, "Listen to a few songs."
--
M., too, had been there since the previous Sunday. As it was a week-day there were only a few devotees in The Room. Generally people gathered there in large numbers on Sundays or holidays.
It was afternoon. Sri Ramakrishna was telling the devotees about his experiences during his God-intoxicated state.
1.12 - Brute Neighbors, #Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience, #Henry David Thoreau, #Philosophy
The mice which haunted my house were not the common ones, which are said to have been introduced into the country, but a wild native kind not found in the village. I sent one to a distinguished naturalist, and it interested him much. When I was building, one of these had its nest underneath the house, and before I had laid the second floor, and swept out the shavings, would come out regularly at lunch time and pick up the crumbs at my feet. It probably had never seen a man before; and it soon became quite familiar, and would run over my shoes and up my clothes. It could readily ascend the sides of The Room by short impulses, like a squirrel, which it resembled in its motions. At length, as I leaned with my elbow on the bench one day, it ran up my clothes, and along my sleeve, and round and round the paper which held my dinner, while I kept the latter close, and dodged and played at bopeep with it; and when at last I held still a piece of cheese between my thumb and finger, it came and nibbled it, sitting in my hand, and afterward cleaned its face and paws, like a fly, and walked away.
A phbe soon built in my shed, and a robin for protection in a pine which grew against the house. In June the partridge (_Tetrao umbellus_,) which is so shy a bird, led her brood past my windows, from the woods in the rear to the front of my house, clucking and calling to them like a hen, and in all her behavior proving herself the hen of the woods. The young suddenly disperse on your approach, at a signal from the mother, as if a whirlwind had swept them away, and they so exactly resemble the dried leaves and twigs that many a traveler has placed his foot in the midst of a brood, and heard the whir of the old bird as she flew off, and her anxious calls and mewing, or seen her trail her wings to attract his attention, without suspecting their neighborhood. The parent will sometimes roll and spin round before you in such a dishabille, that you cannot, for a few moments, detect what kind of creature it is. The young squat still and flat, often running their heads under a leaf, and mind only their mothers directions given from a distance, nor will your approach make them run again and betray themselves. You may even tread on them, or have your eyes on them for a minute, without discovering them. I have held them in my open hand at such a time, and still their only care, obedient to their mother and their instinct, was to squat there without fear or trembling. So perfect is this instinct, that once, when I had laid them on the leaves again, and one accidentally fell on its side, it was found with the rest in exactly the same position ten minutes afterward. They are not callow like the young of most birds, but more perfectly developed and precocious even than chickens. The remarkably adult yet innocent expression of their open and serene eyes is very memorable. All intelligence seems reflected in them. They suggest not merely the purity of infancy, but a wisdom clarified by experience. Such an eye was not born when the bird was, but is coeval with the sky it reflects.
1.12 - God Departs, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
Even after the Mother's broad hint before she left The Room and despite clear signs of impending tragedy, I could not really believe that he was going to leave us. We hoped against hope and expected a miracle, knowing very well that such spectacular miracles were not in accordance with the process of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga. If he wanted to save himself, he would not have allowed the disease to run its course and then dramatically reverse the fatal decree. But one fondly clings to one's delusions. That is why we did not inform anyone of the imminent danger. About ten minutes before the grand end, he called me by my name from his indrawn state, inquired about the time and said, "Nirod, give me a drink." This was his deliberate last gesture. The quantity he drank was very small and there was no apparent need of calling me by name. Those last words still ring in my ears and remain inscribed on my soul. Apparently they express nothing more than a physical need. But to us who look upon the Mother and Sri Aurobindo as the incarnations of the Divine, one word, one look, one touch are rare gifts added to the treasures of the soul. And to me, especially, these few words carried an assurance that he had not forgotten me even in his last moment. They were a reminder of the pledge he had given before that he would never forsake me.
After this utterance, followed the final plunge. At 1.26 a.m., leaving his physical sheath, "the Colonist from Immortality" departed from the earthly habitation, in the presence of the Mother who stood near his feet with an intense penetrating gaze, an incarnation of divine strength, poise and calm. Champaklal broke down completely and began to sob. He could not accept the hard fact. The Mother made him quiet with a stern look. After half an hour, she left us alone.
--
Before this, for four days, the disciples, the people of the town, Ashram employees had the unique Darshan and paid their homage. Bhaktas had come from different parts of India for the benediction of the last Darshan of the Guru. Many of them felt The Room surcharged with peace, force, light or bliss. Some saw Sn Aurobindo sitting on the bed and saying, "I am here, I am here!" as if to falsify Nature's decree. Dilip happened to be away. On receiving the news, he arrived posthaste and utterly broke down. The Mother tenderly consoled and assured him, "How can I not love someone whom Sri Aurobindo loved? What do you think we are here for? Only to please Sri Aurobindo." He told me, "You don't know, Nirod, what I have lost." Amal Kiran too was not there. He had just left on the night of 3rd December for Bombay after meeting the Mother. He flew back as soon as he got the news. He was in the Ashram on the morning of the 6th. He has written in his reminiscences entitled The Grace of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother:
"I who had depended so much on Sri Aurobindo in all my writing work when he had woken to inspiration the labouring poet, stirred to literary insight the fumbling critic, shaped out of absolute nothing the political commentator I who had almost every day despatched to him some piece of writing for consideration felt a void at the thought that he would not be in that room of his, listening so patiently to my poetry or prose and sending me by letter or telegram his precious guidance. A fellow-sadhak, Udar, spoke to the Mother about my plight. On December 12, the inmates of the Ashram met her again and each received from her hands a photograph of Sri Aurobindo taken after his passing. It was dusk, as far as I recollect. She must have seen a certain helplessness on my face. Smiling as she alone can do, she looked me in the eyes and said, 'Nothing has changed. Call for inspiration and help as you have always done. You will get everything from Sri Aurobindo as before.'"
--
The Mother paid her visits to The Room twice or thrice a day, clad in a white robe and with a scarf tied over her hair. Her face calm and grave, yet softened with a maternal sweetness, she looked like Maheshwari of transcendent glory. She would stand silently before the body, look at it for some time and quietly retire. Sometimes she was accompanied by Nolini, Pavitra, Amrita and others. She did not want the body to be touched and wished that an utter silence should prevail in The Room at all times.
On 9th December, the Light faded and signs of discoloration here and there were visible. Then, according to the Mother's direction, the body was put into a specially prepared rosewood casket lined with silver sheet and satin and the bottom made comfortable with cushions. Sri Aurobindo's body was wrapped in a gold-embroidered cloth. At 5 p.m. the body was carried by the sadhaks to the Ashram courtyard under the Service tree where a cement vault had been under construction from 5th December. Udar climbed down into the vault to receive the casket and put it in its proper position. As the box was lowered a friend of mine said that a prayer sprang spontaneously from his heart: "Now that you have gone physically, assure us that your work will be done." Something made him look up at the Service tree and suddenly he saw against it Sri Aurobindo; his undraped upper body was of a golden colour. He said firmly with great energy and power in Bengali, "Habe, habe, habe" "It will be done, it will be done, it will be done." Then, as wished by the Mother, Champaklal came first to place a potful of earth upon the slate of the vault, followed by Moni, Nolini and other sadhaks. The ceremony was quiet and solemn. The Mother watched it from the terrace above Dyuman's room. Hundreds of sadhaks stood in the courtyard in silent prayer and consecration. The most blessed Service tree amply fulfils its name by offering the Samadhi day and night, a cool shade and sweet-scented flowers.
1.12 - THE FESTIVAL AT PNIHTI, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Sri Ramakrishna entered The Room in Jadu's house where the Divine Mother was worshipped. He stood before the image, which had been decorated with flowers, garlands, and sandal-paste, and which radiated a heavenly beauty and splendour. Lights were burning before the pedestal. A priest was seated before the image. The Master asked one of his companions to offer a rupee in the shrine, according to the Hindu custom.
Sri Ramakrishna stood a long time with folded hands before the blissful image, the devotees standing behind him. Gradually he went into samdhi, his body becoming motionless and his eyes fixed.
--
Sri Ramakrishna had enjoyed a little rest after his midday meal. The Room had an atmosphere of purity and holiness. On the walls hung pictures of gods and goddesses, among them one of Christ rescuing the drowning Peter. Outside The Room were plants laden with fragrant flowers, and the Ganges could be seen flowing toward the south.
The Master was seated on the small couch, facing the north, and the devotees sat on mats and carpets spread on the floor. All eyes were directed toward him. Mani Mallick, an old Brahmo devotee about sixty-five years of age, came to pay his respects to the Master. He had returned a few months earlier from a pilgrimage to Benares and was recounting his experiences to Sri Ramakrishna.
--
Rkhl was in The Room. Sri Ramakrishna was still in a state of partial consciousness when he said to Rkhl : "You were angry with me, weren't you? Do you know why I made you angry? There was a reason. Only then would the medicine work. The surgeon first brings an abscess to a head. Only then does he apply a herb so that it may burst and dry up."
After a pause he went on: "Yes, I have found Hazra to be like a piece of dry wood. Then why does he live here? This has a meaning too. The play is enlivened by the presence of trouble-makers like Jatila and Kutila.
--
In the mean time Govinda of Belgharia and some of his friends had entered The Room.
Sri Ramakrishna was still in a semi-conscious state. After a few minutes he said to the devotees: "Tell me your doubts. I shall explain everything."
1.13 - THE MASTER AND M., #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Just then Narendra and Colonel Viswanath Upadhyaya entered The Room. Narendra was then twenty-two years old and studying in college. They saluted the Master and sat down. The Master requested Narendra to sing. The Tnpura hung on the west wall of The Room. The devotees fixed their eyes on Narendra as he began to tune the drums.
MASTER (to Narendra): "The drums don't sound as well as before."
--
Narendra left The Room and went to the east verandah, where Hazra was seated on a blanket, with a rosary in his hand. They fell to talking. Other devotees arrived. The Master came down from samdhi and looked around. He could not find Narendra. The Tnpura was lying on the floor. He noticed that the earnest eyes of the devotees were riveted on him.
MASTER (referring to Narendra): "He has lighted the fire. Now it doesn't matter whether he stays in The Room or goes out.
Joy of God-Consciousness
--
With these words the Master left The Room abruptly and went to the northeast verandah.
Captain and the other devotees remained, waiting for his return. M. accompanied the Master to the verandah, where Narendra was talking with Hazra. Sri Ramakrishna knew that Hazra always indulged in dry philosophical discussions. Hazra would say: "The world is unreal, like a dream. Worship, food offerings to the Deity, and so forth, are only hallucinations of the mind. The aim of spiritual life is to meditate on one's own real Self." Then he would repeat, "I am He." But, with all that, he had a soft corner in his heart for money, material things, and people's attention.
--
The Master returned to his room. After bowing to the Divine Mother, he clapped his hands and chanted the sweet names of God. A number of holy pictures hung on the walls of The Room. Among others, there were pictures of Dhruva, Prahlada, Kli, Radha-Krishna, and the coronation of Rma. The Master bowed low before the pictures and repeated the holy names. Then he repeated the holy words, "Brahma-tm-Bhagavan; Bhagavata-Bhakta-Bhagavan; Brahma-akti, akti-Brahma; Veda, Purana, Tantra, Git, Gayatri." Then he said: "I have taken refuge at Thy feet, O Divine Mother; not I, but Thou. I am the machine and Thou art the Operator", and so on.
Master extols Narendra
--
Rkhl , M., and Ratan were sitting on the floor. Ratan was the steward of Jadu Mallick's garden house and was devoted to the Master. Now and then Ram Chatterji and Hazra passed in or out of The Room. It was about two o'clock.
Ratan told the Master that a yatra performance by Nilkantha had been arranged in Jadu Mallick's house in Calcutta.
--
As the conversation went on, several Bengali gentlemen entered The Room and, after saluting the Master, sat down. One of them was already known to Sri Ramakrishna.
These gentlemen followed the cult of Tantra. The Master knew that one of them indulged in immoral acts in the name of religion. The Tantra rituals, under certain conditions, allow the mixing of men and women devotees. But Sri Ramakrishna regarded all women, even prostitutes, as manifestations of the Divine Mother. He addressed them all as "Mother".
1.14 - INSTRUCTION TO VAISHNAVS AND BRHMOS, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
So the talk of divine things was proceeding, when some invited Brahmo devotees entered The Room. There were among them a few pundits and high government officials.
Sri Ramakrishna had said that bhava stills the nerve currents of the devotee. He continued: "When Arjuna was about to shoot at the target, the eye of a fish, his eyes were fixed on the eye of the fish, and on nothing else. He didn't even notice any part of the fish except the eye. In such a state the breathing stops and one experiences kumbhaka.
1.15 - LAST VISIT TO KESHAB, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Gradually it became dark. Lamps were lighted in the drawing-room, where the Master was now to go. While he was slowly coming down to the plane of ordinary consciousness, he was taken there, though with great difficulty. The Room was well furnished. At the sight of the furniture, the Master muttered to himself, "These things were necessary before, but of what use are they now?" Seeing Rkhl, he said, "Oh, hello! Are you here?" Then, seating himself on a couch, he again lost consciousness of the outer world, and, looking around as if seeing someone, he said: "Hello, Mother! I see that You too have come. How You are showing off in Your Benares sari! Don't bother me now, please. Sit down and be quiet."
The Master was in a state of intense divine intoxication. In the well-lighted room the Brahmo devotees sat around the Master; Ltu, Rkhl, and M. remained near him. He was saying to himself, still filled with divine fervour: "The body and the soul! The body was born and it will die. But for the soul there is no death. It is like the betel-nut.
--
At this moment Keshab entered The Room. He came through the east door. Those who remembered the man who had preached in the Town Hall or the Brahmo Samaj temple were shocked to see this skeleton covered with skin. He could hardly stand. He walked holding to the wall for support. With great difficulty he sat down in front of the couch.
In the mean time Sri Ramakrishna had got down from the couch and was sitting on the floor. Keshab bowed low before the Master and remained in that position a long time, touching the Master's feet with his forehead. Then he sat up. Sri Ramakrishna was still in a state of ecstasy. He muttered to himself. He talked to the Divine Mother.
--
While talking, Sri Ramakrishna regained the normal consciousness of the world. With a smile on his face he conversed with Keshab. The Roomful of men watched them eagerly, and listened to their words. Everybody was amazed to find that neither Keshab nor the Master inquired about each other's health. They talked only of God.
Meditating on God and not on His glories
--
Keshab's venerable mother came to the east door of The Room, the same door through which Keshab had entered. Umanath said aloud to the Master, "Sir, here is mother saluting you."
Sri Ramakrishna smiled. Umanath said again, "Mother asks you to bless Keshab that he may be cured of his illness."
--
Just then Keshab was seized with a fit of coughing, which lasted for a long time. The sight of his suffering made everyone, sad. He became exhausted and could stay no longer. He bowed low before the Master and left The Room, holding to the wall as before.
Some refreshments had been arranged for the Master. Keshab's eldest son was seated near him. Amrita introduced the boy and requested Sri Ramakrishna to bless him. The Master said, "It is not given to me to bless anyone." With a sweet smile he stroked the boy's body gently.
1.16 - WITH THE DEVOTEES AT DAKSHINESWAR, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
M: "Won't they let me have The Room on the upper floor of the nahabat?"
M. selected the nahabat because he had a poetic temperament. From there he could see the sky, the Ganges, the moonlight, and the flowers in the garden.
--
M. had been staying at Dakshineswar with Sri Ramakrishna. The Master was sitting in his room, listening to the life of Prahlada, which Ramlal was reading from the Bhaktamala. M. was sitting on the floor. Rkhl, Ltu, and Harish were also in The Room, and Hazra was on the verandah. While listening to the story of Prahlada's love for God, Sri Ramakrishna went into an ecstatic mood.
Hiranyakasipu, the king of the demons and father of Prahlada, had put his son to endless torture to divert the boy's mind from the love of God. But through divine grace all the king's attempts to kill Prahlada were ineffective. At last God appeared, assuming the form of Nrisimha, the Manlion, and killed Hiranyakasipu. The gods were frightened at the rage and roaring of the Manlion and thought that the destruction of the world was imminent.
--
The Master was in an ecstasy of love. He began to dance about The Room and sing:
Who is singing Hari's name upon the sacred Ganges' bank?
--
Mr. Mukherji and his friend left The Room. M. thought: "According to the Vednta all is like a dream. Are all these-the ego, the universe, and the living beings-unreal then?"
M. had studied a little of the Vednta. He also had read the German philosophers, such as Kant and Hegel, whose writings are only a faint echo of the Vednta. But Sri Ramakrishna did not arrive at his conclusions by reasoning, as do ordinary scholars. It was the Divine Mother of the Universe who revealed the Truth to him. These were the thoughts that passed through M.'s mind.
--
"I found everything inside The Room soaked, as it were, in Bliss-the Bliss of Satchidananda. I saw a wicked man in front of the Kli 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 the Divine Mother Herself had become everything-even the cat.
1.17 - M. AT DAKSHINEWAR, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
In the afternoon Bhavanath arrived. Rkhl , M., Harish, and other devotees were in The Room.
MASTER ( to Bhavanath): "To love an Incarnation of God-that is enough. Ah, what ecstatic love the gopis had for Krishna!"
--
Hazra entered The Room and sat on the floor.
MASTER: "Again, I perceive that living beings are like different flowers with various layers of petals. They are also revealed to me as bubbles, some big, some small."
--
While describing in this way the vision of different divine forms, the Master went into an ecstatic state and said, "I have become! I am here!" Uttering these words he went into samdhi. His body was motionless. He remained in that state a long time and then gradually regained partial consciousness of the world. He began to laugh like a boy and pace The Room. His eyes radiated bliss as if he had seen a wondrous vision. His gaze was not fixed on any particular object, and his face beamed with joy. Still pacing The Room, the Master said: "I saw the paramahamsa who stayed under the banyan tree walking thus with just such a smile. Am I too in that state of mind?"
He sat on the small couch and engaged in conversation with the Divine Mother.
--
M. entered The Room and saluted the Master. The devotees were seated on the floor, but no one was reading the book. Sri Ramakrishna was talking to the devotees.
MASTER:"The gopis cherished escstatic love for Krishna. There are two elements in such love: 'I-ness' and 'my-ness'. 'I-ness' is the feeling that Krishna will be ill if 'I' do not serve Him. In this attitude the devotee does not look upon his Ideal as God.
--
He slowly left The Room and prepared a smoke. He who is one's own will not be angry even if scolded. What do you say?"
M: "That is true, sir."
1.18 - M. AT DAKSHINESWAR, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
At noon the host wished to feed the Master and the devotees. Sri Ramakrishna was smilingly pacing The Room. Now and then he exchanged a few words with the musician.
MUSICIAN: "It is God alone who is both the 'instrument' and the 'cause'. Duryodhana said to Krishna: 'O Lord, Thou art seated in my heart. I act as Thou makest me act.'"
--
The evening worship was over in the temples. The Master returned to his room and sat on the couch, absorbed in meditation on the Divine Mother. M. sat on the floor. There was no one else in The Room.
The Master was in samdhi. He began to come gradually down to the normal plane. His mind was still filled with the consciousness of the Divine Mother. In that state he was speaking to Her like a small child making importunate demands on his mother. He said in a piteous voice: "Mother, why haven't You revealed to me that form of Yours, the form that bewitches the world? I pleaded with You so much for it. But You wouldn't listen to me. You act as You please."
--
Sri Ramakrishna now came down to the normal state of mind. Rkhl and Ramlal entered The Room. At the Master's bidding Ramlal sang: Who is the Woman yonder who lights the field of battle?
Darker Her body gleams even than the darkest storm-cloud And from Her teeth there Bash the lightning's blinding flames...
1.18 - The Importance of our Conventional Greetings, etc., #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
It is not a concentration-practice proper; I haven't a good word for it. "Background-concentration" or "long-distance-concentration" are clumsy, and not too accurate. It is really rather like a public school education. One is not constantly "doing a better thing that one has ever done;" one is not dropping one's eye-glass every two minutes, or being a little gentleman in the act of brushing one's hair. The point is that one trains oneself to react properly at any moment of surprise. It must become "second nature" for "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." to spring to the forefront of the mind when one is introduced to a stranger, or comes down to breakfast, or hears the telephone bell, or observes the hour of the adoration, (these are to be the superficial reactions, like instinctively rising when a lady enters The Room), or, at the other end, in moments of immediate peril, or of sudden apprehension, or when in one's meditation, one approaches the deepest strata.
One need not be dogmatic about the use of these special words. One might choose a formula to represent one's own particular True Will. It is a little like Cato, (or Scipio, was it?) who concluded every speech, whether about the Regulations of the Roman Bath or the proposal to reclaim a marsh of the Maremma, with the words: "And moreover, in my opinion, Carthage ought to be destroyed."
1.19 - Tabooed Acts, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
A favourite dog having broken into The Room where the king was
dining, the king ordered it to be killed on the spot. Once the
1.19 - THE MASTER AND HIS INJURED ARM, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
IT WAS THREE O'CLOCK in the afternoon. Sri Ramakrishna had been conversing with Rkhl , Mahimacharan, Hazra, and other devotees, when M. entered The Room and saluted him. He brought with him splint, pad, and lint to bandage the Master's injured arm.
Master's injured arm
--
It was evening and the worship in the temples was over. A few minutes later Adhar arrived from Calcutta to see the Master. Mahimacharan, Rkhl , and M. were in The Room.
ADHAR: "How are you?"
1.19 - The Practice of Magical Evocation, #The Practice of Magical Evocation, #Franz Bardon, #Occultism
The best thing, of course, is, if he has available for this high purpose a special room which will only be entered by him alone. In such a case he should not even ask another person to do the necessary cleaning. A room like that will, in the truest sense of the word, serve as a temple. If the magician is in such a lucky situation, he is able to have regard to all laws of analogy, and he can furnish and adapt The Room in the same way as the old magicians had their temples established, which had an altar in the east.
The magician may, in accordance with the degree of his maturity and his religious belief, place on the altar a symbol of his deity, or he may set up in the middle of the altar a magic mirror, like the old initiates and magi did, and place on either side of it a candlestick with seven arms and a censer between them. Formerly temples were usually embellished by four colomns ornamented with various symbolic figures, each column representing one of the elements. The walls were decorated with pictures symbolising various deities of the four elements. In the days of yore only such initiates as were members of the highest social circles could afford such temples. Unfortunately there will be only few people also today so wealthy that they can afford such a splendidly equipped magical workshop.
--
Finally you put round your head your magus-band or put on the magic headgear with a feeling of true relationship to God, and that not you as a magician, but that God is actually carrying through the whole operation. You must unite yourself with the divine principle inside you in such a way that you have the feeling that you are the deity itself. Having done all this, you are able to go a further step in your operation. You light the magic lamp, which, in our case, must fill The Room with a lightgreen light. Set the magic lamp in a place round which you will be able to draw the magic circle or hang it up in the centre of The Room. This does not mean that the lamp must be exactly in the centre of The Room though it would have the advantage that the whole room gets an equal light. Your next task will be the setting up and impregnation of the magic mirror, if you like, of two magic mirrors. In this example instructions are given for the use of two mirrors. One mirror is to bring about the materialization of Hagiel in the physical world, the other is to keep off unwanted influences. Being conscious of the fact that not you, but the deity is carrying out the procedure, you create, by the help of the imagination, a great sea of light in a wonderful emerald colour, which, also by imagination, you accumulate from the whole universe into the mirror in a manner that the whole surface of the mirror is taken up by this colour. The power of illumination of the condensed green light must be so strong as to illuminate completely The Room in which you work. At that moment you must have the imaginative impression that this accumulated light is actually a power matrix, a fluid, which can almost be seen by the physical eye. In any case you must have the permanent impression that you are moving about in The Room in an oscillation of green light. This is the way to prepare, magically, The Room for the being to be evoked, and in a room like this there will be no more obstacles for the being and it will feel the atmosphere of its own sphere. Already at the moment you accumulate the light you concentrate on the idea that the purpose of this accumulation is to condense the evoked spirit being in a manner that you can see it with your physical eyes and hear it with your physical ears. The stronger your imagination, belief, will and conviction, the better condensed and truer Hagiel will appear to you. When impregnating The Room, do not forget to include that you wish the accumulated planetary light-power to remain in the mirror and in The Room until you dissolve it again by force of your imagination.
Similar examples are given in "Initiation into Hermetics" in the chapter dealing with room-impregnation and here you find the evidence that all the exercises and magic operations of that first work have their special purpose. You will also see that when carrying out further magical operations you will not be able to do without any of these practices. If you have not actively gone through the exercises of the first book you are unable to get into conscious contact with any spirit being outside you, or of materialising such a being.
Now you start impregnating the other mirror by charging it with the Akasha-principle. Project, by force of imagination, into the surface of the mirror, which previously has been covered with a fluid condenser, the desire that not any disturbing being, not any unwanted power or the like will penetrate into your workroom, into your evocational operating-room. This has been the second step of your evocation. The Room in which you work is now appropriately impregnated. However, you have yet another possibility: you can impregnate the mirror that you intend to use for keeping off unwanted influences with the wish that the being you want to evoke must appear in it. This impregnation, of course, must have accumulated light in the relevant planetary colour. In our case it must be green.
Now take a piece of blotting paper and cut into the shape of a heptagon. * In its middle draw with green ink, or what is even better, with a green coloured pencil, the seal of Hagiel. (See picture below**). Symbolically redraw the seal with your magic wand or with the finger, concentrating into the seal Hagiel's qualities, which are luck, love, friendship etc. Before the operation you can let the blotting paper soak in a fluid condenser and get dry again.
--
The manifestation of Hagiel would not succeed: not as far as her appearance and, naturally, also not as far as her influencing power is concerned. If these preparations are finished, too, you put the triangle in front of the circle and place the seal prepared in the middle of the triangle. Some magicians intensify the threedimensional effect of the being to be evoked by placing into each corner of the triangle a small spirit lamp and by lighting it. The fuel he uses must be an extract of spirit and camomile, i. e. a fluid condenser in which the magician has already accumulated, by the help of imagination, the three-dimensional world. When the spirit lamps, which are provided with small wicks, are burning, much like the spirit lamps of laboratories, the power of imagination concentrated in the fuel slowly expands in The Room as the fuel slowly evaporates. By this, the materialization of the evoked being is supported. However, the setting up of spirit lamps is not absolutely necessary, but it is a good aid, especially for beginners, for a beginner in evocational practice needs many more supports than a magician with experience in this kind of work. Beginners may place such lamps, in regular intervals, not only in the triangle but also along the line inside the circle. The number of lamps to be placed inside the circle depends on the analogous number of the relevant planet. In our case an intelligence is involved which belongs to the sphere of Venus to which the number seven appertains. For your information the relevant numbers are given below which belong to the planets: if necessary, use for the Earth-zone
10 lamps for zone of the Moon
--
The censer now comes into the picture. The magician either places it between the circle and the triangle or directly into the triangle. The censer is either filled with burning charcoal, or has a wick and over this a little copper plate fixed. This plate is heated by the flame. The powder in the censer must in all cases correspond to the being's sphere and is to be placed on the plate. Since, in our case, we are dealing with an intelligence from Venus, ground Cinnamon-bark will suffice as incense. Only a small quantity should be used so that The Room just faintly smells of cinnamon. cinnamon-tincture can also be used, and a few drops of this substance must then be poured on the copper-plate. You will get this liquid substance from any chemist, though, you may also prepare it yourself, if you wish. Just mix normal cinnamon with two thirds of spirit of wine and let it stand and draw for eight days. After this period filter it and the cinnamon tincture is ready for use. If, during magical operations, you do not intend to work with a censer, put a few drops of cinnamon tincture on a piece of blotting paper. In either case the smell of cinnamon will create a temple-atmosphere agreeable to the intelligence of Hagiel, and this atmosphere will also help with the materialization of the intelligence in our physical world. The censering of The Room, however, is not at all so important as some books would have it.
It is just another aid.
Surplus censering of The Room usually has the disadvantage of making the magician to cough, which is neither desirable nor agreeable. Pernicious poisoning drugs and mixtures of narcotic substances will never be used by a true magician. If the magician is dealing with a being not belonging to any of the seven planetary spheres and is not sure about the exact analogy in respect of the incense he may use a universal fluid condenser when he censes his room. This rule is mainly applicable for beings coming from the earth-zone. The fluid condenser has to be appropriately impregnated, i. e. the accumulation of the light fuel has to be carried out at the same time as the magician is concentrating on the wish for success.
Below you will find a list of the incenses to be applied for the various spheres. It must, however, be pointed out that incense can only serve as an aid for the materialization at the beginning. It is by no means absolutely necessary.
--
For each act of censering only the point of a knife should be used either with the uniform drug or the mixture for each evocation. It is not necessary to fill The Room with dense smoke; it quite suffices just to have the smell of the relevant drugs.
Having done this, another preparatory step of the evocation has been completed, and you can now start with the actual evocation.
--
If you have reached an agreement with Hagiel on everything and if Hagiel has promised to fulfil your wishes, you can be sure that she will really keep her promise. All that now remains for you to do is to send this intelligence off again. You offer your thanks quite individually, for instance, by expressing your pleasure in the fact that Hagiel wholly acknowledges you as a genuine magician and is obedient to you, and then you ask the intelligence to return to her own sphere. With your allconsciousness you place yourself into the Venus sphere and concentrate by means of the imagination that Hagiel is returning from the partial sphere of your room to her domicil. After having done this meditative step you return as a magician from your allconsciousness to your normal consciousness, thereby bringing the evocation to an end. Staying in The Room in which you have carried out the evocation you will find yourself, for a while after
Hagiel's departure, in a state of happiness, a feeling of bliss will pervade you, and, as if dominated by true happiness, you will find yourself in a state of exaltation. If you please, you may remain in The Room within the magic circle for some time and reconstruct the whole experience with Hagiel once more in your mind so that you will remember well every part of it when you completely finish your evocation. By help of imagination you dissolve the accumulated light into the universe, take the sign out of the triangle and put it away in safe keeping. You can leave the circle without any danger, put out the lamps, etc. All magical instruments and aids are returned to their repository. If Hagiel has informed you of any special knowledge which you should not put down in writing, but merely keep well in your head, the knowledge being intended for you alone, then you must comply with such a wish. Otherwise you enter the procedure of the whole evocation into your diary to enable you to keep a good control over your workings and to have a reference book for them. You can follow the same procedure as with Hagiel in respect of any other being from any other sphere. By and by you will also become a perfect master in this respect and your personal experience will grow immensely.
The description of the practice of a magical evocation is herewith completed.
1.201 - Socrates, #Symposium, #Plato, #Philosophy
No, you have schemed to take a place beside the best-looking man in The Room.
Agathon, keep him off, please, cried Socrates. I must say my passion for him has become quite a burden. From the moment I fell in love with him I have not been allowed to look at or talk to a single goodlooking man, or if I do so this man here gets jealous and resentful and his behaviour is quite extraordinary he hurls insults at me and all but hits me. Take care he doesnt do something like this now. Do keep the peace between us, or if he tries to use force, protect me, because I am completely terrified by his mad obsession with being loved.
1.20 - RULES FOR HOUSEHOLDERS AND MONKS, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Devotees thronged there daily to see the Master. Spiritual talk went on incessantly, and, the very air of The Room vibrated with bliss. Sometimes the Master would sing the name and glories of God, and sometimes he would go into samdhi, the devotees being amazed at the ease with which the Master freed himself from the consciousness of the body.
RAM: "There is talk of Narendra's marrying Mr. R. Mitra's daughter. Narendra has been offered a large dowry."
--
A young man of twenty-seven or twenty-eight, known as Thakur Dada, entered The Room with a few friends and saluted the Master. He lived at Baranagore and was the son of a brahmin pundit. He was practising the kathakata in order to earn money to meet his family's expenses. At one time he had been seized with the spirit of renunciation and had gone away from his family. Even now he practised spiritual discipline at home.
MASTER: "Have you come on foot? Where do you live?"
--
Mahimacharan entered The Room and saluted the Master. Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "Ah! He has sung a nice song. Please sing it again." Thakur Dada repeated the song.
MASTER (to Mahima): "Please recite that verse, the one about devotion to Hari"
--
MASTER: "Ramprasanna roams about aimlessly. The other day he came here and sat in The Room, but he did not speak a word. He pressed his nostrils with his fingers, practising pranayama. I offered him something to eat, but he wouldn't take it. On another occasion I had asked him to sit by me. He squatted on the floor placing one leg upon the other. He was rather discourteous to Captain. I weep at his mother's suffering.
(To Mahima) "Ramprasanna asked me to speak to you about the hathayogi. The yogi's daily expenses are six and a half nns. But he won't tell you about it himself."
--
Mani Sen of Panihati entered The Room with several friends, one of whom was a physician. Mani asked the Master about his injured arm. The doctor did not approve of the medicine prescribed by Pratap Mazumdar. The Master said to him: "Why should you say that? Pratap is no fool. "
Suddenly Ltu cried out, "Oh! The medicine bottle has dropped and broken."
--
Adhar entered The Room, saluted the Master, and sat by M.'s side. He had not come for the past few days.
MASTER: "Hello! Why haven't you come all these days?"
--
Mahimacharan entered The Room.
MASTER (to Mahima): "What I said about aspirants practising continence is true.
1.21 - A DAY AT DAKSHINESWAR, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
The hathayogi who had been living in the Panchavati entered The Room. He was in the habit of taking milk and opium. He did not eat rice or other food and had no money to buy the milk and opium. The Master had talked with him in the Panchavati. The hathayogi had told Rkhl to ask the Master to make some provision for him, and Sri Ramakrishna had promised to speak about it to the visitors from Calcutta.
HATHAYOGI (to the Master): "What did you say to Rkhl about me?"
--
Prankrishna remained silent. The hathayogi left The Room and the conversation went on.
Master's adherence to truth
--
Everybody in The Room became grave and remained silent.
MASTER: "A man has certain debts to pay: his debts to the gods and rishis, and his debts to mother, father, and wife. He cannot achieve anything without paying the debt he owes to his parents. A man is indebted to his wife as well. Harish has renounced his wife and is living here. If he had left her unprovided for, then I should have called him an abominable wretch.
1.22 - ADVICE TO AN ACTOR, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Two ladies, devotees of Sri Ramakrishna, entered The Room and saluted the Master. They had been fasting in preparation for this visit. They were sisters-in-law, the wives of two brothers, and were twenty-two or twenty-three years old. They were mothers of children. Both of them had their faces covered with veils.
MASTER (to the ladies): "Worship iva. This worship is described in a book called the Nityakarma. Learn the rituals from it. In order to perform the worship of God you will be preoccupied for a longtime with such religious duties as plucking flowers, making sandal-paste, polishing the utensils of worship, and arranging offerings. As you perform these duties your mind will naturally be directed to God. You will get rid of meanness, anger, jealousy, and so forth. When you two sisters talk to each other, always talk about spiritual matters.
--
"I visited him at his house in Colootola Street. Hriday was with me. We were shown into The Room where Keshab was working. He was writing something. After a long while he put aside his pen, got off his chair, and sat on the floor with us. But he didn't salute us or show us respect in any other way.
"He used to come here now and then. One day in a spiritual mood I said to him: 'One should not sit before a sdhu with one leg over the other. That increases one's rajas.' As soon as he and his friends would arrive, I would salute them before they bowed to me.
--
MASTER (to Vijay and the others): "There has been much chanting of the Lord's name in The Room. That is why the atmosphere has become so intense."
BHAVANATH: "Words of renunciation, too."
1.23 - FESTIVAL AT SURENDRAS HOUSE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
The devotees stood in rows inside the big hall of the garden house to hear the music sung by the professional singers. The floor of The Room was covered with a carpet over which was spread a white sheet; a few bolsters, pillows, and cushions lay here and there.
Krishna and Gopis at Vrindvan
--
At Surendra's garden house the kirtan had begun early in the morning. The musicians were singing about the love of Krishna and Radha for each other. The Master was frequently in samdhi. The Room was crowded with devotees, among them Bhavanath, Niranjan, Rkhl , Surendra, Ram, and M., and many members of the Brahmo Samaj.
In accordance with the custom, the kirtan had begun with, an introductory song about Gaurnga.
--
After a while the evening worship began in the temples. Adhar left The Room to see the worship.
Sri Ramakrishna and M. conversed.
1.23 - Improvising a Temple, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
The first point is the Banishing: Everything is to be removed from The Room which is not absolutely necessary to the Work.
In this country, one must attend to the heating. An electric stove in the East or the South, is best: it must not need attention. One can usually buy stoves with excellent appropriate symbolism. (Last time I did this 13 e.v. I got a perfect Ferranti at Harrods. The circular copper bowl, with the central Disk as the source of heat, is unsurpassable.) The walls should be "self-coloured," a neutral tint green, grey or blue-grey? and entirely bare, unless you put up, in the proper quarters, the proper designs, such as the "Watch Towers" see The Equinox I, 7.[36]
1.240 - 1.300 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
Sri Maharshi was examined on Commission. There was a crowd but the proceedings went on smoothly in The Room on the North East.
The following are a few titbits therefrom: Sri Bhagavan's answers were quite spontaneous and smooth.
1.240 - Talks 2, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
Sri Maharshi was examined on Commission. There was a crowd but the proceedings went on smoothly in The Room on the North East.
The following are a few titbits therefrom: Sri Bhagavans answers were quite spontaneous and smooth.
1.24 - Necromancy and Spiritism, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Contrast with this elaborate care, rightness of every detail, earnestness and intentness upon the goal contrast, I say, the modern Spiritist in the dingy squalor of her foul back street in her suburban slum, The Room musty, smelling of stale food, the hideous prints, the cheap and rickety furniture, calling up any one required from Jesus Christ to Queen Victoria, all at a bob-a-nob!
Faugh! Let us return to clean air, and analyse Lvi's experiment; I believe that by the application of the principles set forth in my other letters on Death and Reincarnation, it will be simple to explain his partial failure to evoke Apollonius. You had better read them over again, to have the matter clear and fresh in your mind.
1.24 - PUNDIT SHASHADHAR, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
The Master remained silent a few minutes. A brahmin pundit came into The Room.
Sufferings in the worldly life
--
(To M.) How wrong of us! They are singing, especially Narendra, and we have left The Room."
About four o'clock in the afternoon the Master left in a carriage for the house where Pundit Shashadhar was staying. As soon as Sri Ramakrishna got into the carriage he went into samdhi. His physical frame was very tender as a result of the austerities he had undergone during the long years of his spiritual discipline and his constant absorption in God-Consciousness.
--
The pundit saluted the Master with reverence. Narendra, Rkhl , Ram, Hazra, and M., who had come with the Master, seated themselves in The Room as near the Master as they could, anxious not to miss one of his words.
At the sight of the pundit the Master again went into samdhi. After a while, still remaining in that state, he looked at the pundit and said with a smile, "Very well, very well." Then, addressing the pundit, the Master said, "Tell me how you give lectures."
--
"There are three classes of physicians. The physicians of one class feel the patient's pulse and go away, merely prescribing medicine. As they leave The Room they simply ask the patient to take the medicine. They are the poorest class of physicians. Likewise, there are teachers who only give instruction, but do not stop to see whether their teachings have produced a good or bad effect. They do not think at all about the disciple.
"There are physicians of another class, who prescribe medicine and ask the patient to take it. If the patient is unwilling to follow their directions, they reason with him. They are the mediocre physicians. Likewise, there are mediocre teachers. They give instruction to the student and, further, try to persuade him in various ways to follow the instruction.
--
MASTER (to Narendra): "I listened to your singing, but I didn't enjoy it. So I left The Room. Your mind is now set on seeking a job, and therefore your song sounded dull."
Narendra flushed. He felt ashamed of himself and remained silent.
1.25 - ADVICE TO PUNDIT SHASHADHAR, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
The Master remained silent a few moments and then asked Pundit Shashadhar to have a smoke. The Pundit went to the south east verandah to smoke. Soon he came back to The Room and sat on the floor with the devotees. Seated on the small couch, the Master continued the conversation.
MASTER (to the Pundit): "Let me tell you something. There are three kinds of nanda, joy: the joy of worldly enjoyment, the joy of worship, and the Joy of Brahman. The joy of worldly enjoyment is the joy of 'woman and gold', which people always enjoy. The joy of worship one enjoys while chanting the name and glories of God. And the Joy of Brahman is the joy of God-vision. After experiencing the joy of God-vision the rishis of olden times went beyond all rules and conventions.
--
"Listen to a story. Once a woman went to see her weaver friend. The weaver, who had been spinning different kinds of silk thread, was very happy to see her friend and said to her: 'Friend, I can't tell you how happy I am to see you. Let me get you some refreshments.' She left The Room. The woman looked at the threads of different colours and was tempted. She hid a bundle of thread under one arm. The weaver returned presently with the refreshments and began to feed her guest with great enthusiasm. But, looking at the thread, she realized that her friend had taken a bundle. Hitting upon a plan to get it back, she said: 'Friend, it is so long since I have seen you. This is a day of great joy for me. I feel very much like asking you to dance with me.' The friend said, 'Sister, I am feeling very happy too.' So the two friends began to dance together. When the weaver saw that her friend danced without raising her hands, she said: 'Friend, let us dance with both hands raised. This is a day of great joy.' But the guest pressed one arm to her side and danced raising only the other. The weaver said: 'How is this, friend?
Why should you dance with only one hand raised? Dance with me raising both hands.
--
"There is a great deal of difference between the knowledge of a householder and that of an all-renouncing sannyasi. The householder's knowledge is like the light of a lamp, which illumines only the inside of a room. He cannot see anything, with the help of such knowledge, except his own body and his immediate family. But the knowledge of the all-renouncing monk is like the light of the sun. Through that light he can see both, inside and outside The Room. Chaitanyadeva's knowledge had the brilliance of the sun-the sun of Knowledge. Further, he radiated the soothing light of the moon of Devotion. He was endowed with both-the Knowledge of Brahman and ecstatic love of God.
(To the pundit) "One can attain spiritual consciousness through both affirmation and negation. There is the positive path of love and devotion, and there is the negative path of knowledge and discrimination. You are preaching the path of knowledge. But that creates a very difficult situation: there the guru and the disciple do not see each other.
--
All sat in silence. Sri Ramakrishna said to the pundit, "Go and visit the temples and take a stroll in the garden." It was about half past five in the afternoon. The pundit left The Room with his friends and several of the devotees.
After a while the Master went with M. toward the bathing-ghat on the Ganges. He said to M., "Baburam now says, 'What shall I gain by study?' "On the bank of the river he met the pundit and said to him, "Aren't you going to the Kli temple?" The pundit said: "Yes, sir. Let us go together." With a smiling face Sri Ramakrishna proceeded to the temple through the courtyard. He said to the pundit, "Listen to a song."
--
Surendra was about to leave. He invited his friends into his carriage. The Master, still in an ecstatic mood, said, "Don't take more people than your horse can draw." Suredra took leave of Sri Ramakrishna. The pundit left The Room to perform his worship. M. and Baburam saluted the Master. They were about to leave for Calcutta. Sri Ramakrishna was still in an ecstatic mood.
MASTER (to M.): "I cannot utter a word now. Stay a few minutes."
--
The pundit entered The Room with his friends. He had finished his devotions and was ready to eat the refreshments. One of his companions asked the Master: "Shall we succeed in spiritual life? Please tell us what our way is."
MASTER: "You all have the yearning for liberation. If an aspirant has yearning, that is enough for him to realize God. Don't eat any food of the sraaddha ceremony. Live in the world like an unchaste woman. She performs her household duties with great attention, but her mind dwells day and night on her paramour. Perform your duties in the world but keep your mind always fixed on God.
--
The pundit left The Room. With a smile the Master said: "He has become 'diluted' even in one day. Did you notice how modest he was? And he accepted everything I said."
Moonlight flooded the semicircular porch. Sri Ramakrishna was still seated there. M. was about to leave.
--
Sri Ramakrishna went to the porch for a few minutes and then returned. As he was going out, Vishvamvhar's daughter, six or seven years old, saluted him. On returning to The Room, the Master began talking to the little girl and her companions, who were of the same age.
THE CHILD (to the Master): "I saluted you and you didn't even notice it."
--
Pundit Shashadhar entered The Room with one or two friends and saluted the Master.
MASTER (smiling): "We are like the bridesmaids waiting near the bed for the arrival of the groom."
The pundit laughed. The Room was filled with devotees, among them Dr.Pratap and Balarm's father. The Master continued his talk.
MASTER (to Shashadhar): "The first sign of knowledge is a peaceful nature, and the second is absence of egotism. You have both. There are other indications of a Jnni. He shows intense dispassion in the presence of a sdhu, is a lion when at work, for instance, when he lectures, and is full of wit before his wife. (All laugh.) "But the nature of the vijnni is quite different, as was the case with Chaitanyadeva. He acts like a child or a madman or an inert thing or a ghoul. While in the mood of a child, he sometimes shows childlike guilelessness, sometimes the frivolity of adolescence, and sometimes, while instructing others, the strength of a young man."
1.25 - Fascinations, Invisibility, Levitation, Transmutations, Kinks in Time, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Nearly midnight. At this moment we stopped dictating, and began to converse. Then Fra. P. said: "Oh, if I could only dictate a book like the Tao Teh King!" Then he closed his eyes as if meditating. Just before I had noticed a change in his face, most extraordinary, as if he were no longer the same person; in fact, in the ten minutes we were talking he seemed to be any number of different people. I especially noticed the pupils of his eyes were so enlarged that the entire eye seemed black. (I tremble so and have such a quaking feeling inside, simply in thinking of last night, that I can't form letters). Then quite slowly the entire room filled with a thick yellow light (deep golden, but not brilliant. I mean not dazzling, but soft.) Fra. P. Looked like a person I had never seen but seemed to know quite well his face, clothes and all were of the same yellow. I was so disturbed that I looked up to the ceiling to see what caused the light, but could only see the candles. Then the chair on which he sat seemed to rise; it was like a throne, and he seemed to rise; it was like a throne, and he seemed to be either dead or sleeping; but it was certainly no longer Fra. P. This frightened me, and I tried to understand by looking round The Room; when I looked back the chair was raised, and he was still the same. I realized I was alone; and thinking he was dead or gone or some other terrible thing I lost consciousness.
This discourse has been thus left unfinished: but it is only necessary to add that the capacity to extract such spiritual honey from these unpromising flowers is the mark of an adept who has perfected his Magick Cup. This method of Qabalistic exegesis is one of he best ways of exalting the reason to the higher consciousness. Evidently it started Fra. P. so that in a moment he become completely concentrated and entranced.[45]
--
I saw a very striking case of this at Kandy. When Allan was meditating, it was my duty to bring his food very quietly (from time to time) into The Room adjoining that where he was working. One day he missed two successive meals, and I thought I ought to look into his room to see if all was well. I must explain that I have known only two European women and three European men who could sit in the attitude called Padmasana, which is that usually seen in seated images of the Buddha. Of these men, Allan was one. He could knot his legs so well that, putting his hands on the ground, he could swing his body to and fro in the air between them. When I looked into his room I found him not seated on his meditation mat, which was in the centre of The Room at the end farthest from the window, but in a distant corner ten or twelve feet off, still in his knotted position, resting on his head and right shoulder, exactly like an image overturned. I set him right way up, and he came out of his trance. He was quite unconscious that anything unusual had happened. But he had evidently been thrown there by the mysterious forces generated by Pranayama.
There is no doubt whatever about this phenomenon; it is quite common. But the Yogis claim that the lateral motion is due to lack of balance, and that if one were in perfect spiritual equilibrium one would rise directly in the air. I have never seen any case of levitation, and hesitate to say that it has happened to me, thought I have actually been seen by others, on several occasions, apparently poised in the air. For the first three phenomena I have found no difficulty in devising quite simple physiological explanations. But I can form no theory as to how the practice could counteract the force of gravitation, and I am unregenerate enough to allow this to make me sceptical about the occurrence of levitation. Yet, after all, the stars are suspended in space. There is no priori reason why the forces which prevent them rushing together should not come into operation in respect of the earth and the body.
--
"Must, my foot!" He persisted: "You have published the secret of the 9th degree of O.T.O., and you must take the corresponding oaths." "I have done nothing of the sort. I don't know the secret. I don't want to know it. I don't . . ." He interrupted me; he strode across The Room; he plucked a book from the shelves; he opened it; he thrust it under my nose; he pointed out a passage with a minatory index. I began to stammer. "Yes, I wrote that. I don't know what it means; I don't like it; I only put it in because it was written in rather curious circumstances, and I was too lazy or perhaps a little afraid to reject it and write what I wanted." He fastened on one point: "You don't know what it means?" I repeated that I did not, even now that he had claimed it as important. He explained it to me, as to a child. I was merely surprised; it didn't sound possible. (Sister, all this while I've been lying to you like an Archbishop; it is connected with fascinations; indeed, it has very little to do with anything else!)
Finally, he won me over, I went down to his G.H.Q., took the Oaths, was installed in the Throne of the X of O.T.O. as National Sovereign Grand Master General, and began to establish the Order as a going concern.
1.26 - FESTIVAL AT ADHARS HOUSE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
SRI RAMAKRISHNA was sitting in his room in the temple garden at Dakshineswar after his midday meal. A party of Bauls from Shibpur, several devotees from Bhawanipur, Balarm, and M. were in The Room. Rkhl, Ltu, and Harish were then living with the Master. They too were present.
The Master began the conversation by addressing the Baul musicians from Shibpur.
--
Hazra left The Room, leaving the Master alone with M.
MASTER: "Does what I say in the state of ecstasy attract people?"
--
Presently Ram Chatterji entered The Room. The Master said some kind words about him to Adhar.
MASTER: "Ram's presence in the temple garden has relieved us of many anxieties. He searches out Harish, Ltu, and the others at meal-time. Very often they are absorbed in meditation in some corner of the temple garden. It is Ram who sees that they eat at the proper time."
1.27 - AT DAKSHINESWAR, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Hazra entered The Room and sat with the devotees on the floor. Hazra repeated now and then, "Soham! Soham!" "I am He! I am He!"
To Ltu and other devotees he often said: "What does one gain by worshipping God with offerings? That is merely giving Him things that are His already." He had said this once to Narendra.
--
Adhar and Niranjan went out on the porch to take refreshments. Presently they returned to The Room.
ADHAR (smiling): "We talked about so many things. (Pointing to M.) But he didn't utter a word."
--
Sri Ramakrishna sat on the floor for his supper. It was a light meal of a little farina pudding and one or two luchis that had been offered in the Kli temple. M. and Ltu were in The Room. The devotees had brought various sweets for the Master. He touched a sandesh and asked Ltu, "Who is the rascal that brought this?" He took it out of the cup and left it on the ground. He said to Ltu and M.: "I know all about him. He is immoral"
LTU: "Shall I give you this sweet?"
--
Many devotees gathered in The Room. Among them was a newcomer, a sadhaka from Konnagar, who looked over fifty years of age and seemed to have great vanity of scholarship.
The Master stood in the middle of The Room and suddenly said to M., "He came hereNaran."
Narendra was engaged in a discussion with Hazra and a few others on the verandah.
They could be heard from The Room.
MASTER (referring to Narendra): "The chatterbox! But he is now much worried about his family."
--
The devotees from Kannagar had never seen the Master in samdhi. Seeing him silent, they were about to leave The Room. Bhavanath said to them: "Why are you going away?
This is his samdhi." The devotees resumed their places.
--
BHAVANATH (smiling): "I don't know, sir. The devotees from Konnagar did not understand your samdhi and were about to leave The Room."
MASTER: "Who was it that asked them to remain?"
1.28 - The Killing of the Tree-Spirit, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
farmhouse the King is chased round The Room, and one of the troop,
amid much noise and outcry, strikes with his sword a blow on the
1.439, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
Bhagavan to see him. Sri Bhagavan went into The Room, took a seat and gazed on Mr. Maugham. He regained his senses and saluted Sri
Bhagavan. They remained silent and sat facing each other for nearly an hour. The author attempted to ask questions but did not speak. Maj.
--
Heart-talk is all talk. All talk must end in silence only. They smiled and Sri Bhagavan left The Room.
Talk 551.
--
In a cinema show The Room is first darkened, artificial light is introduced; only in this light are the pictures projected.
For differentiation a reflected light is thus necessary. A sleeper dreams, he is not out of sleep: only in the darkness or ignorance of sleep can he see the unreal dream objects.
1.48 - The Corn-Spirit as an Animal, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
collected and hung in The Room till sowing-time, when they are
inserted in the sown field or in the seed-bag amongst the flax seed.
1.51 - How to Recognise Masters, Angels, etc., and how they Work, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
I was entirely overwhelmed. I jumped out of the car and ran up to the house. I found Virakam in the main room. The instant I entered I understood that it was entirely suited for a temple. The walls were decorated with crude frescoes which somehow suggested the exact atmosphere proper to the Work. The very shape of The Room seemed somehow significant. Further, it seemed as if it were filled with a peculiar emanation. This impression must not be dismissed as sheer fancy. Few men but are sufficiently sensitive to distinguish the spiritual aura of certain buildings. It is impossible not to feel reverence in certain cathedrals and temples. The most ordinary dwelling houses often possess an atmosphere of their own; some depress, some cheer; some disgust, others strike chill to the heart.
Virakam of course was entirely certain that this was the Villa for us. Against this was the positive statement of the people in charge that it was not to be let. We refused to accept this assertion. We took the name and address of the owner, dug him out, and found him willing to give us immediate possession at a small rent. We went in on the following day, and settled down almost at once to consecrate the Temple and begin the book.
1.550 - 1.600 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
Bhagavan to see him. Sri Bhagavan went into The Room, took a seat and gazed on Mr. Maugham. He regained his senses and saluted Sri
534
--
Heart-talk is all talk. All talk must end in silence only." They smiled and Sri Bhagavan left The Room.
Talk 551.
--
In a cinema show The Room is first darkened, artificial light is introduced; only in this light are the pictures projected.
For differentiation a reflected light is thus necessary. A sleeper dreams, he is not out of sleep: only in the darkness or ignorance of sleep can he see the unreal dream objects.
1.56 - The Public Expulsion of Evils, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
about in every corner of The Rooms with sticks, etc., and screaming
as loudly as possible, in order to frighten the devil. Being driven
1.57 - Beings I have Seen with my Physical Eye, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
The temple was approximately 16 feet by 8, and 12 high. A small "double- cube" altar of acacia was in the centre of a circle; outside this was a triangle in which it was proposed to get the demon to appear. The Room was thick with the smoke of incense, some that of Abramelin, but mostly, in a special censer in the triangle, Dittany of Crete (we decided to use this, as H.P.B. once said that its magical virtue was greater than that of any other herb).
As the ceremony proceeded, we were aware that the smoke was not uniform in thickness throughout The Room, but tended to be almost opaquely dense in some parts of it, all but clear in others. This effect was much more definite than could possibly be explained by draughts, of by our own movements. Presently it gathered itself together still more completely, until it was roughly as if a column of smoke were rising from the tri- angle, leaving the rest of The Room practically clear.
Finally, at the climax of the ritual we had got as far as the "stronger and more potent conjuration" we both saw, vaguely enough, but yet beyond doubt, parts of a quite definite figure. In particular, there was a helmet suggesting Athene (or horror! Brittania!), part of a tunic or chlamys, and very solid footgear. (I thought of "the well-greaved Greeks.") Now this was very far from satisfactory; it corres- ponded in no wise with the appearance of Buer which the Goetia had led us to expect. Worse, this was as far as it went; no doubt, seeing it at all had disturbed our concentration. (This is where training in Yoga would have helped our Magick.) From that point it was all a wash-out. We could not get back the enthusiasm necessary to persist. We called it a day, did the banishings, closed the temple, and went to bed with our tails between our legs.
1.60 - Between Heaven and Earth, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
the girl is in almost total darkness. She may not leave The Room on
any pretext whatever, not even for the most necessary purposes. None
--
things that were in The Room. The Rarhi Brahmans of Bengal compel a
girl at puberty to live alone, and do not allow her to see the face
1.66 - Vampires, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Listen to Eliphas Lvi! He warns us against a type of person, fearless and cold-blooded, who seems to have the power to cast a sudden chill, merely by entering The Room, upon the gayest party ever assembled.
Tte--tte, they shake one's resolution, kill one's enthusiasm, devitalize one's faith and courage.
1951-03-22 - Relativity- time - Consciousness - psychic Witness - The twelve senses - water-divining - Instinct in animals - story of Mothers cat, #Questions And Answers 1950-1951, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I had a very sweet little cat, absolutely civilised, a marvellous cat. It was born in the house and it had the habit all cats have, that is to say, if something moved, it played with that. Just then there was in the house a huge scorpion; as was its habit, the cat started playing with the scorpion. And the scorpion stung it. But it was an exceptional cat; it came to me, it was almost dying, but it showed me its paw where it was bittenit was already swollen and in a terrible state. I took my little catit was really sweetand put it on a table and called Sri Aurobindo. I told him, Kiki has been stung by a scorpion, it must be cured. The cat stretched its neck and looked at Sri Aurobindo, its eyes already a little glassy. Sri Aurobindo sat before it and looked at it also. Then we saw this little cat gradually beginning to recover, to come around, and an hour later it jumped to its feet and went away completely healed. In those days, I had the habit of holding a meditation in The Room where Sri Aurobindo slept ( The Room A uses now) and it was regularly the same people who came; everything was arranged. But there was an arm-chair in which this very cat always settled beforehanddid not wait for anyone to get into the chair, it got in first itself! And regularly it went into a trance! It was not sleeping, it was not in the pose cats take when sleeping: it was in a trance, it used to start up, it certainly had visions. And it let out little sounds. It was in a profound trance. It remained thus for hours together. And when it came out from that state, it refused to eat. It was awakened and given food, but it refused: it went back to its chair and fell again into a trance! This was becoming very dangerous for a little cat. But this was not an ordinary cat.
To finish my story, if you leave an animal in its normal state, far from man, it obeys the spirit of the species, it has a very sure instinct and it will never commit any stupidities. But if you take it and keep it with you, it loses its instinct, and it is then you who must look after it, for it no longer knows what should or should not be done. I was interested in cats to make an experiment, a sort of inverse metempsychosis, if one can call it that, that is, to see if this could be their last incarnation as animals, if they were ready to enter a human body in the next life. The experiment succeeded fully, I had three absolutely flagrant instances; they left with a psychic being sufficiently conscious to enter a human body. But this is not what men ordinarily do; what they usually do is to spoil the consciousness or rather the instinct of animals.
1951-04-02 - Causes of accidents - Little entities, helpful or mischievous- incidents, #Questions And Answers 1950-1951, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The other story is of the days Sri Aurobindo had the habit of walking up and down in his rooms. He used to walk for several hours like that, it was his way of meditating. Only, he wanted to know the time, so a clock had been put in each room to enable him to see the time at any moment. There were three such clocks. One was in The Room where I worked; it was, so to say, his starting-point. One day he came and asked, What time is it? He looked and the clock had stopped. He went into the next room, saying, I shall see the time there the clock had stopped. And it had stopped at the same minute as the other, you understand, with the difference of a few seconds. He went to the third room the clock had stopped. He continued walking three times like thatall the clocks had stopped! Then he returned to my room and said, But this is impossible! This is a bad joke! and all the clocks, one after the other, started working again. I saw it myself, you know, it was a charming incident. He was angry, he said, This is a bad joke! And all the clocks started going again!
It is said that the material world in its unconsciousness has forgotten the Divine. Has it forgotten Him from the beginning?
1951-04-14 - Surrender and sacrifice - Idea of sacrifice - Bahaism - martyrdom - Sleep- forgetfulness, exteriorisation, etc - Dreams and visions- explanations - Exteriorisation- incidents about cats, #Questions And Answers 1950-1951, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There are some very remarkable instances of exteriorisation. I am going to tell you two incidents about cats which occurred quite a long time ago in France. One happened very long ago, long before the war even. We used to have small meetings every weekquite a small number of friends, three or four, who discussed philosophy, spiritual experiences, etc. There was a young boy, a poet, but one who was rather light-hearted; he was very intelligent, he was a student in Paris. He used to come regularly to these meetings (they took place on Wednesday evenings) and one evening he did not come. We were surprised; we had met him a few days before and he had said he would comehe did not come. We waited quite a long time, the meeting was over and at the time of leaving I opened the door to let people out (it was at my house that these meetings were held), I opened the door and there before it sat a big dark grey cat which rushed into The Room like mad and jumped upon me, like this, mewing desperately. I looked into its eyes and told myself, Well, these are so-and-sos eyes (the one who was to come). I said, Surely something has happened to him. And the next day we learnt that he had been assassinated that night; the next morning he had been found lying strangled on his bed. This is the first story. The other happened long afterwards, at the time of the war the First [World] War, not the Second the war of the trenches. There was a young man I knew very well; he was a poet and artist (I have already spoken about him), who had gone to the war. He had enlisted, he was very young; he was an officer. He had given me his photograph. (This boy was a student of Sanskrit and knew Sanskrit very well, he liked Buddhism very much; indeed he was much interested in things of the spirit, he was not an ordinary boy, far from it.) He had given me his photograph on which there was a sentence in Sanskrit written in his own hand, very well written. I had framed this photograph and put it above a sort of secretaire (a rather high desk with drawers); well, above it I had hung this photograph. And at that time it was very difficult to receive news, one did not know very well what was happening. From time to time we used to receive letters from him, but for a long time there had been nothing, when, one day, I came into my room, and the moment I entered, without any apparent reason the photograph fell from the wall where it had been well fixed, and the glass broke with a great clatter. I felt a little anxious, I said, There is something wrong. But we had no news. Two or three days later (it was on the first floor; I lived in a house with one room upstairs, all the rest on the ground-floor, and there was a flight of steps leading to the garden) I opened the entrance door and a big grey cat rushed inlight grey, this timea magnificent cat, and, just as the other one had done, it flung itself upon me, like this, mewing. I looked into its eyeshad the eyes of that boy. And this cat, it turned and turned around me and all the time tugged at my dress and miaowed. I wanted to put it out, but it would not go, it settled down there and did not want to move. The next day it was announced in the papers that this boy had been found dead between two trenches, dead for three days. That is, at the time he must have died his photograph had fallen. The consciousness had left the body completely: he was there abandoned, because they did not always go to see what was happening between the trenches; they could not, you understand; he was found two or three days later; at that time probably he had gone out altogether from his body and wanted definitely to inform me about what had happened and he had found that cat. For cats live in the vital being, they have a very developed vital consciousness and can easily be taken possession of by vital forces.
But these two examples are quite extraordinary, for they both came about almost in the same way, and in both instances the eyes of these cats had completely changed they had become human eyes.
1953-05-06, #Questions And Answers 1953, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
After a time, the vital having taken a good stroll, needs to rest also, and so it goes into repose and quietness, quite tired at the end of all kinds of adventures. Then something else wakes up. Let us suppose that it is the subtle physical that goes for a walk. It starts moving and begins wandering, seeing The Rooms and why, this thing that was there, but it has come here and that other thing which was in that room is now in this one, and so on. If you wake up without stirring, you remember. But this has pushed away far to the back of the consciousness all the stories of the vital. They are forgotten and so you cannot recollect your dreams. But if at the time of waking up you are not in a hurry, you are not obliged to leave your bed, on the contrary you can remain there as long as you wish, you need not even open your eyes; you keep your head exactly where it was and you make yourself like a tranquil mirror within and concentrate there. You catch just a tiny end of the tail of your dream. You catch it and start pulling gently, without stirring in the least. You begin pulling quite gently, and then first one part comes, a little later another. You go backward; the last comes up first. Everything goes backward, slowly, and suddenly the whole dream reappears: Ah, there! it was like that. Above all, do not jump up, do not stir; you repeat the dream to yourself several timesonce, twiceuntil it becomes clear in all its details. Once that dream is settled, you continue not to stir, you try to go further in, and suddenly you catch the tail of something else. It is more distant, more vague, but you can still seize it. And here also you hang on, get hold of it and pull, and you see that everything changes and you enter another world; all of a sudden you have an extraordinary adventureit is another dream. You follow the same process. You repeat the dream to yourself once, twice, until you are sure of it. You remain very quiet all the time. Then you begin to penetrate still more deeply into yourself, as though you were going in very far, very far; and again suddenly you see a vague form, you have a feeling, a sensation like a current of air, a slight breeze, a little breath; and you say, Well, well. It takes a form, it becomesclear and the third category comes. You must have a lot of time, a lot of patience, you must be very quiet in your mind and body, very quiet, and you can tell the story of your whole night from the end right up to the beginning.
Even without doing this exercise which is very long and difficult, in order to recollect a dream, whether it be the last one or the one in the middle that has made a violent impression on your being, you must do what I have said when you wake up: take particular care not even to move your head on the pillow, remain absolutely still and let the dream return.
1953-06-03, #Questions And Answers 1953, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
She, with a capital S, I said it was the Supreme Consciousness, but in fact it is Nature and it is the trick of Nature; for the Supreme Consciousness has no tricks, it is Nature that has tricks. The Supreme Consciousness quite simply enters into all things with all her consciousness, because it is the consciousness: and with that She tries to make all this inconscience move towards consciousness, simply, without any tricks. She has no need of tricks, She is everywhere. She is at work everywhere and She puts consciousness into the inconscience. When you light a lamp in a dark room, as soon as you turn on the electricity, The Room is no longer dark. As soon as you put consciousness in, there is no longer any unconsciousness. So that is what She does. Wherever She sees unconsciousness, She tries to enter. Sometimes the doors are locked, then it takes a little more time, but sometimes the doors open, then She rushes in immediately, the unconsciousness disappears and consciousness comeswithout needing any tricks or any intermediaries. She becomes conscious. But material Nature, physical Nature is not like that, she is full of tricks; she makes you move all the time, she pulls the puppet strings; for her you are so many little dolls: she pulls the strings and makes them move. She puts all kinds of illusions in your head so that you may do the things she wants, without even your wanting it. She does not require that you should want it: she pulls the thread and you do it.
That is why we quarrel at times, but thats something we do not say.
1953-07-15, #Questions And Answers 1953, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yes, it continues. It continues, it is no better. Besides, the conditions to be fulfilled are not fulfilled.1 So you cant expect that it would be better. Even this very morning, I was complaining (but I was complaining is just a way of speaking, it is to make myself understood), I was telling myself: to do what we want to do we need a great deal of moneya great deal, you understand, not just a little and then I said to myself: still, it is not that money is lacking; there is a lot of money in the world. There are even people who have so much that they do not know what to do with it. But it will never come to their mind to give it for the divine Work. They cant say that they do not know, for one has always the means to know if one wants to know. When the idea comes to you: I want to make the best use of my money (and the best use, not only from the viewpoint that this gentleman or lady conceives as being useful, well, one can always find out. Generally (there are exceptions), generally these people who have a lot of money put one condition: it must bring them at least some satisfaction. There must be some meritthey give, but they must get something. If they are not business people and do not give their money to gain more, if they are, for example, philanthropists who wish to give money to help humanity make progress, they always wish, more or less consciously (but generally very consciously) they always wish, that it should bring them fame, a kind of satisfaction of their amour-propre. They give money for founding a school: the school will bear their name. They build a monument somewhere: it must be mentioned that Mr. So-and-so has donated the money and so on. There was a time when I was building Golconde,2 there were people who approached me or sent others to me to say: I am quite willing to give you so much or so much, but you must place in one of The Rooms a marble tablet on which is written: This room has been built by the gift of Mr. So-and- so. Then, I said: I am sorry. I can make marble tablets for you but Ill pave the basement with them! It is like that.
There are exceptions, as there are exceptions to all rules; however I cannot say that money goes spontaneously, freely, without effort there where useful things will be done most. No. The maximum of goodwill is to give money for something which one understands well (which is also easy to understand), to build a hospital, for example, or to open a crche for little children. These are all works of goodwill that men understand. But if they are told that we want to change the human consciousness, we want to create a new world, oh! the first thing they say is: Pardon me! Do not speak of God, for if it is God who is doing the work, well, it is God who will give you the means for it and you have no need of our help. I have heard people saying: If you represent the Divine upon earth you can do whatever you like; there is no need for us to give you anything. And how many among you are free from that idea (an aftertaste of that idea): the Divine is all-powerful, therefore, the Divine can do whatever he likes?
1954-02-03 - The senses and super-sense - Children can be moulded - Keeping things in order - The shadow, #Questions And Answers 1954, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The names? In the Chaldean tradition they were in Chaldaic. In other traditions, in other languages; in Egypt they were written in hieroglyphs. Each system gave its names. I had a list of the namesnot only of the names but also of what they represented, what kind of see each represented but it was a very long time ago, I dont remember them any longer. As I have said there, it is in the field of things seen, felt, done at a distance by a concentrated projection of consciousness. For in stance, one is in a room and, due to an illness or an accident, one cannot move. Next to this room there is another; next to that there is a sort of bridge; after the bridge there are steps going down; and these steps go down to a big studio in the middle of a garden. Now, the person laid up in The Room wishes to know what is going on in the studio. He concentrates his consciousness and then extends it, so to say (truly it is as though he extended it almost materially), and he goes along the whole way and reaches the studio. If he does this properly, he sees what there is in the studio, can hear what is going on, though he is not there himself: the body is lying in a bed in a room, but the consciousness is projected. It is a physical consciousness. It is not an inner state, for one sees physically, hears physically. If there are people in The Room one sees them, and if they are speaking one hears them speaking. Naturally, it is not from the very first day that one succeeds; it asks for a very rigorous discipline. It corresponds a little (a little) to that capacity which was developed in the Red India due to the conditions of their life. I dont know how it is at present, but formerly they used to put their ear to the earth, and they had so fine an ear that they could hear steps more than a mile away. They heard the steps of those who were walking at a distance of more than two or three kilometres simply by putting their ear to the ground. Or take the dog which, if given something to smell, finds the trail of that scent again, can follow it with its nose. Well, it is one kind of super-see, that is, a see that has reached such a degree of intensity and refinement that it can indeed feel what the ordinary see does not feel, can see at a distance, really see, see physically at a distance, through walls. It is said that the blind develop a see which enables them to feel an object at a distance. They do not see, they walk in darkness as in a black night; but they have a kind of see of touch at a distance, a material contact due to which, long before touching the object, they know; for example, if there is a piece of furniture in their way, long before knocking against it, they feel it from a distance.
In children the mind is not developed when they are small. Is this also true of the vital?
--
On the other hand, there was someone (I shall tell you who afterwards) who had in his room hundreds of books, countless sheets of paper, notebooks and all sorts of things, and so you entered The Room and saw books and papers everywherea whole pile, it was quite full. But if you were unfortunate enough to shift a single little bit of paper from its place, he knew it immediately and asked you, Who has touched my things? You, when you come in, see so many things that you feel quite lost. And yet each thing had its place. And it was so consciously done, I tell you, that if one paper was displaced for instance, a paper with notes on it or a letter or something else which was taken away from one place and placed in another with the idea of putting things in orderhe used to say, You have touched my things; you have displaced them and created a disorder in my things. That of course was Sri Aurobindo! That means you must not confuse order with poverty. Naturally if you have about a dozen books and a very limited number of things, it is easier to keep them in order, but what one must succeed in doing is to put into order and a logical, conscious, intelligent ordera countless number of things. That asks for a capacity of organization.
Of course, if someone is very ill, has no strength to spare, then thats different. And yet even here, there are limits. I knew ill people who could tell you, Open this drawer and in the left corner at the back you will find such and such a thing under such another; the man could not move and take it himself, but he knew very well where it was. But apart from that, the ideal is to have some organization, as for instance of the kind found in libraries where there are hundreds of thousands of books and where everything is classified (naturally it is not done by just one man), but it is a work in which each thing is so well classified that, despite all, if you bring a card and say I want this book, a quarter of an hour later you have it or sometimes in five minutes. That is organization. And yet there are rooms full of books there. But all this is the result of work perfected by a large number of men, the result of a professional organization. Well, for oneself, one must organise ones own thingsand at the same time ones own ideasin the same way, and must know exactly where things are and be able to go straight to them, because ones organization is logical. It is your own logicit may not be your neighbours logic, not necessarily, it is your own logic but your organization being logical, you know exactly where a thing is and, as I told you, if that thing is displaced, you know it immediately. And those who can do that are generally those who can put their ideas into order and can also organise their character and can finally control their movements. And then, if you make progress, you succeed in governing your physical life; you begin to have a control over your physical movements. If you take life in that way, truly it be comes interesting. If one lives in a confusion, a disorder, an inner and outer chaos in which everything is mixed up and one is conscious of nothing and still less is master of things, this is not living. This is not living, it is being in a sea of Inconscience, being tossed about by the waves, caught by the currents, thrown against rocks, seized again by another wave and thrown against another rock; and one goes on thus with bruises and blows and bumps. And then, should one ask you, Why is it like this?I dont know.Why did you do that?I dont know.Why do you think in this way?I dont know.Why did you make that movement?I dont know. All the answers are I dont know.
1954-07-14 - The Divine and the Shakti - Personal effort - Speaking and thinking - Doubt - Self-giving, consecration and surrender - Mothers use of flowers - Ornaments and protection, #Questions And Answers 1954, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I think I have already told you about the small experiment I made one day. I removed my control and left the control to the physical mindit is the physical mind which doubts. So I made the following experiment: I went into a room, then came out of The Room and closed the door. I had decided to close the door; and when I came to another room, this mind, the material mind, the physical mind, you see, said, Are you sure you have locked the door? Now, I did not control, you know I said, Very well, I obey it! I went back to see. I observed that the door was closed. I came back. As soon as I couldnt see the door any longer, it told me, Have you verified properly? So I went back again And this went on till I decided: Come now, thats enough, isnt it? Closed or not, I am not going back any more to see! This could have gone on the whole day. It is made like that. It stops being like that only when a higher mind, the rational mind tells it, Keep quiet! Otherwise it goes on indefinitely. So, if by ill-luck you are centred there, in this mind, even the things you know higher up as quite true, even things of which you have a physical prooflike that of the closed door, it doubts, it will doubt, because it is built of doubt. It will always say, Are you quite sure this is true? Isnt it an idea of yours? You dont suppose it is like that? And it will go on until one teaches it to keep quiet and be silent.
Note that a tamasic surrender refusing to fulfil the conditions and calling on God to do everything.
1955-03-23 - Procedure for rejection and transformation - Learning by heart, true understanding - Vibrations, movements of the species - A cat and a Russian peasant woman - A cat doing yoga, #Questions And Answers 1955, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This one was admirable and it died of the cat diseaseas there is a disease of the dogs, there is a disease of the kittens I dont know how it caught the thing, but it was wonderful during its illness and I was taking care of it as of a child. And it always expressed a kind of aspiration. There was a time before it fell ill we used to have in those days meditation in a room of the Library House, in The Room thereSri Aurobindos own room and we used to sit on the floor. And there was an armchair in a corner, and when we gathered for the meditation this cat came every time and settled in the armchair and literally it entered into a trance, it had movements of trance; it did not sleep, it was not asleep, it was truly in a trance; it gave signs of that and had astonishing movements, as when animals dream; and it didnt want to come out from it, it refused to come out, it remained in it for hours. But it never came in until we were beginning the meditation. It settled there and remained there throughout the meditation. We indeed had finished but it remained, and it was only when I went to take it, called it in a particular way, brought it back into its body, that it consented to go away; otherwise no matter who came and called it, it did not move. Well, this cat always had a great aspiration, a kind of aspiration to become a human being; and in fact, when it left its body it entered a human body. Only it was a very tiny part of the consciousness, you see, of the human being; it was like the opposite movement from that of the woman with the other cat. But this one was a cat which leaped over many births, so to say, many psychic stages to enter into contact with a human body. It was a simple enough human body, but still, all the same
There is a difference in the development of a cat and of a human being
1956-05-16 - Needs of the body, not true in themselves - Spiritual and supramental law - Aestheticised Paganism - Morality, checks true spiritual effort - Effect of supramental descent - Half-lights and false lights, #Questions And Answers 1956, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
All right. Imagine that in a dark room you have put an oil lamp, one which burns oil, as we used to have fifty years agowe had oil lamps in The Rooms, as now there are lanterns; they were a little better but it was the same thing. So you were lighting your room with that, and then suddenly somebody invented the means of lighting it by electricity. So your oil lamp is replaced by a beautiful electric lamp which gives ten times more light.
What is your difficulty, your problem?
--
To see? Ah! Enter The Room, you will see it.
(Silence)
--
How to enter The Room?
You take a key and open the door!
1956-05-23 - Yoga and religion - Story of two clergymen on a boat - The Buddha and the Supramental - Hieroglyphs and phonetic alphabets - A vision of ancient Egypt - Memory for sounds, #Questions And Answers 1956, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(After a silence) Look, Ill give you an instance. About two years ago, I had a vision about Zs son. She had brought him to me, he was not quite one year old, and I had just seen him there, in The Room where I receive people. He gave me the impression of someone I knew very well, but I didnt know who. And then, in the afternoon of the same day, I had a vision. A vision of ancient Egypt, that is to say, I was someone there, the great priestess or somebody I dont know who, for one doesnt tell oneself I am so and so: the identification is complete, there is no objectifying, so I dont know. I was in a wonderful building, immense! so high! but quite bare, there was nothing, except a place where there were magnificent paintings. So there I recognised the paintings of ancient Egypt. And I was coming out of my apartments and was entering a kind of large hall. There was a sort of gutter running all round the base of the walls, for collecting water. And then I saw the child, who was half naked, playing in it. And I was quite shocked, I said, What! this is disgusting!but the feelings, ideas, all that was translated into French in my consciousness. There was the tutor who came, I had him called. I scolded him. I heard sounds. Well, I dont know what I said, I dont remember the sounds at all now. I heard the sounds I was articulating, I knew what they meant, but the translation was in French, and the sounds I could not remember. I spoke to him, told him, How can you let the child play in there? And he answered meand I woke up with his replysaying I did not hear the first words, but in my thought it wasAmenhotep likes it. I heard Amenhotep, I remembered. Then I knew the child was Amenhotep.
So I know that I spoke: I spoke a language but I dont remember it now. I remembered Amenhotep because I know it in my waking consciousness: Amenhotep. But otherwise, the other sounds did not remain. I have no memory for sounds.
1957-06-26 - Birth through direct transmutation - Man and woman - Judging others - divine Presence in all - New birth, #Questions And Answers 1957-1958, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Not as far as the most material plane; as far as the perceptible subtle physicalperceptible by the intermediary senses, between the physical senses and those of the subtle physical; for instance, like a breath felt as a gentle breeze, like certain perceptions of smell, like subtle perfumes. Naturally, those who have an inner vision can see, but for the most material senses there is nothow shall I put it?not the permanence given by the physical body as we know it materially. There are phenomena, yes, that can even be seen, but they are fleeting. There is no stability, the stability in matter, the fixity has not been acquired. I mean there is a contact, there is even the contact of touch, there is a perception, but there isnt the permanence given by the material body. They are transient phenomena which, naturally, dont give you the same feeling of an altogether tangible reality. Still, the influence is constant, the intervention is constant, the perception is constant, but there is not the stability of a body which well, which, when it goes out of The Room and returns, it comes back the same as it went out, you understand? Or when you sit down in a certain place, it occupies that place in a very concrete way.
I cannot say because I dont know everything that has happened and is happening on earth, but as far as I know, this has not yet been achieved, this concrete permanence.
1957-07-03 - Collective yoga, vision of a huge hotel, #Questions And Answers 1957-1958, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It was somewhat like this: somewhere in the centre of this huge building, a room was reservedin the story, as it seemed, it was reserved for a mother and her daughter. The mother was a very old lady, a self-important matron with much authority and her own views on the whole organisation. The daughter had a sort of power of movement and activity which made it possible for her to be everywhere at once even while remaining in that room which was well, a little more than a room; it was a sort of apartment, and its main feature was to be right in the centre. But she was in constant argument with her mother. The mother wanted to keep things as they were with the rhythm they had, that is, with precisely that habit of demolishing one thing to build another out of it, and then again demolishing another to rebuild another onewhich gave the building an appearance of frightful confusion. And the daughter didnt like that and had another plan. She wanted above all to bring something quite new into this organisation, a sort of super-organisation which would make all this confusion unnecessary. Finally, as it was impossible to come to an understanding, she had left The Room to go on a sort of round of inspection. She went her round, saw everything, then she wanted to go back to her own room for it was her room as wellto take some decisive action. And it was then that something rather peculiar began to happen. She remembered quite well where her room was, but each time she set out to go there by one route either the stairs disappeared or things were so changed that she could no longer recognise her way! And so she went here and there, climbed up and down, searched, went in and out impossible to find the way back to her room! As all this was taking a physical appearance, which was, as I said, very familiar and very ordinary, as always in these symbolic visions, somewhere there washow to put it?the administration of this hotel, and a woman who was a kind of manager, who had all the keys and knew where everybody was staying. So the daughter went to this person and asked, Can you show me the way to my room?Oh, yes, certainly, it is very easy. All the people around looked at her as though saying, How can you say that? But she got up and, with authority, asked for a key, the key of The Room, and said, Ill take you there. Then she took all sorts of routes, but all so complicated, so bizarre! And the daughter followed her very attentively so as not to lose sight of her. And just at the moment when obviously they should have reached the place where this so-called room was, suddenly the managerwe shall call her the manager the manager with her key disappeared! And this feeling of disappearance was so acute that everything disappeared at the same time.
If To help you to understand this riddle, I could tell you that the mother is physical Nature as it is and the daughter is the new creation. The manager is the mental consciousness, organiser of the world as Nature has made it until now, that is, the highest sense of organisation manifested in material Nature as it is now. This is the key to the vision. Naturally, when I woke up I knew immediately what could solve this problem which had seemed absolutely insoluble. The disappearance of the manager and her key was a clear indication that she was quite incapable of leading to its true place what could be called the creative consciousness of the new world.
1f.lovecraft - Ashes, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
I threw open the door, and he followed me into The Room. His gaunt,
ungainly figure sprawled awkwardly into the chair I indicated, and he
--
worried, hunted look, and he glanced furtively around The Room as if
searching for a hidden something which might unexpectedly pounce upon
--
of the scene which met my eyes. In the center of The Room, on a
marble-top table, was a glass case about the shape and size of a
--
My eyes swept The Room in a comprehensive survey. At the left over near
the window, was a closed door. I strode across The Room and tried the
knob, but it refused to yield.
--
Bruce, with an inarticulate cry, sped across The Room to a huge
mahogany chest. He selected one of the keys on his ring, inserted it in
--
Her bewildered glance traveled around The Room, at last resting on
Bruce, and her eyes lighted with sudden, happy recognition. Later,
1f.lovecraft - At the Mountains of Madness, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
everywhere served in lieu of stairs. The Rooms we encountered were of
all imaginable shapes and proportions, ranging from five-pointed stars
--
of the arch was clearly much relied on. The Rooms we visited were
wholly bare of all portable contents, a circumstance which sustained
1f.lovecraft - Cool Air, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
tasteful opulence. In The Rooms, large and lofty, and decorated with
impossible paper and ridiculously ornate stucco cornices, there
1f.lovecraft - Deaf, Dumb, and Blind, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
polluting the peaceful sky. The air of The Room is saturated with
thick, heavy, stifling waves . . . at any moment I expect to feel hot
--
Somethingsomeone is in The Room! I am as sure I am no longer alone as
if I could see the presence I sense so infallibly. It is an impression
--
throat could sing! It is gaining in volume . . . The Room rings with
demoniacal chanting; tuneless, toneless, and grotesquely grim . . . a
--
I have had to pause for a moment to blow upon my fingers. The Room is
cold with the foetid frigor of the tomb . . . a peaceful numbness is
1f.lovecraft - Facts concerning the Late, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Jermyn emerged from The Room, rushing frantically toward the front of
the house as if pursued by some hideous enemy. The expression on his
1f.lovecraft - From Beyond, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
saw the blurred outlines of The Room, but from some point in space
there seemed to be pouring a seething column of unrecognisable shapes
1f.lovecraft - He, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
finally crashed down from their lofty fastenings; admitting to The Room
a flood of that full moonlight which the brightening of the sky had
--
finally flowed under the table and across The Room to where the
blackened head with the eyes still glared at me. Around that head it
1f.lovecraft - Herbert West-Reanimator, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
in The Room, but West upon regaining consciousness said they did not
belong to the stranger, but were specimens collected for
1f.lovecraft - Medusas Coil, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
contents of The Room, and from the books ranged along the walls, I
could see that I had not guessed amiss in thinking the man a gentleman
--
moment she was in The Room. She, however, seemed uneasy rather than
pleased by his steady scrutinythat is, she seemed so at first, though
--
tragedy which must have taken place while I slept in The Room below.
When I raised my hand to wipe my dripping forehead I saw that my
--
and saw her rushing like mad out of The Roomthen I saw the picture.
Madness flared up in the boys eyes again as he got to this place, and
--
themselves up from the surface and grope out into The Room toward me.
Then it was that I knew the last final horror, and realised I was a
--
The Room and down the rickety stairs. He had dropped the candle in his
panic; but dawn was near, and some faint grey light was filtering in
1f.lovecraft - Old Bugs, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
bottles and glasses was wheeled into The Room. Good old rye, an as
fiery as ya kin find anyweres in Chi.
--
The Room became pandemonium, and men screamed and howled in fright at
the sinister being they had aroused. Trever seemed dazed in the
1f.lovecraft - Out of the Aeons, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
presence of some sort of image other than The Rooms reflection in the
glassy, bulging optics of this nameless spawn of the aeons. Certainly,
1f.lovecraft - Poetry and the Gods, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
dreams. She had entered The Room in abstraction, turned off the glaring
chandeliers, and now reclined on a soft divan by a solitary lamp which
1f.lovecraft - The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
may still be found in The Rooms of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
After her mothers death she had kept the house, aided only by one old
--
of the three cats then within The Room.
Five minutes later a chill wind blew up, and the air became suffused
--
his, where he also placed them whenever he left The Room. He soon
resumed fairly regular hours and habits, except that his long walks and
--
The Room Mr. Ward hardly knew what to make of the entire business. It
was as mysterious as the death of poor old Nig, whose stiffening form
--
heating had done their work at last, and at some time since The Rooms
last cleaning the worst had happened. Peeling clear of the wood,
--
oil supply he had previously noticed, and when The Room was bright
again he looked about to see if he might find a lantern for further
--
table; so that The Room was really rather a disappointment. Among the
books was a tattered old copy of Borellus in black-letter, and it was
--
rigidity; all the lekythoi being on one side of The Room with a large
wooden sign reading Custodes above them, and all the Phalerons on the
--
Phaleron jugs on the other side of The Room. Salts tooand if not the
salts of guards, then the salts of what? God! Could it be possible
--
Then he noticed a small door at the farther end of The Room, and calmed
himself enough to approach it and examine the crude sign chiselled
--
came clearly from The Room beyond the door. And it was, unmistakably,
the same odour which had saturated Charles Wards clothing on the day
--
The Room beyond the door was of medium size, and had no furniture save
a table, a single chair, and two groups of curious machines with clamps
--
This was on the left-hand wall as one entered The Room. The right-hand
wall was no less thickly inscribed, and Willett felt a start of
--
inscriptions to face The Room with its bizarre contents, and saw that
the kylix on the floor, in which the ominous efflorescent powder had
--
stare, and follow the boy around The Room with its eyes? Why, too, did
both Allen and Charles copy Joseph Curwens handwriting, even when
--
save him and the doctor left The Room. It was noon now, but shadows as
of coming night seemed to engulf the phantom-haunted mansion. Willett
--
visited The Room of Charles Dexter Ward at Dr. Waites private hospital
on Conanicut Island. The youth, though making no attempt to evade his
1f.lovecraft - The Colour out of Space, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
perfectly conscious and able to give simple orders to Zenas. The Room
was deadly cold; and as Ammi visibly shivered, the host shouted huskily
1f.lovecraft - The Crawling Chaos, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
portiere at the side of The Room nearest the pounding, I beheld a small
and richly draped corridor ending in a carven door and large oriel
1f.lovecraft - The Curse of Yig, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
lantern. Then, as their eyes began to take in the whole of The Room,
the crude rafters shook with the frenzy of their simultaneous shriek.
1f.lovecraft - The Disinterment, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
turning into winter, The Room was always well heated. A growing
chilliness at night, and occasional glimpses of a leaden sky through
--
in the daytime, The Room being lit by waxen cylinders in the large
candelabrum. It was a nightmare of living horror and unreality; though
--
Seeing no other heavy objects in The Room, I seized from the table the
huge candelabrum, upon which the moon shone with a pallid glow, and
1f.lovecraft - The Dreams in the Witch House, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
which they pushed or dragged out into The Room a curious little
fragment of bone.
--
certain hours of the night was remarked by the man in The Room below.
This fellow also spoke of hearing the tread of shod feet in the night;
--
one of the beds when she fixed The Rooms at noon, and maybe that was
it. Dombrowski called her, and she waddled in. Yes, that was the thing.
--
had better, he thought, sprinkle flour within The Room as well as
outside the door-though after all no further proof of his sleep-walking
--
On the morning of April 27 a fresh rat-hole appeared in The Room where
Gilman was a guest, but Dombrowski tinned it up during the day. The
--
of Elwood on the other couch across The Room. A paralysis of fear
stifled all attempts to cry out. As once before, the hideous crone
--
presently the beldame came out of The Room bearing a small, senseless
form which she thrust at the dreamer as if ordering him to carry it.
--
Czanek to sleep in The Room and try to protect the child, but Mary had
not dared. She could not tell the police, for they never believed such
--
size, than The Room itself; though it had a ghastly layer of older
materials which paralysed the wreckers with horror. In brief, the floor
1f.lovecraft - The Dunwich Horror, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
locked away the Necronomicon with a shudder of disgust, but The Room
still reeked with an unholy and unidentifiable stench. As a foulness
--
were scattered about The Room, and just inside the window an empty
canvas sack lay where it had evidently been thrown. Near the central
1f.lovecraft - The Evil Clergyman, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Then I noticed that I was not alone in The Roomand put the
ray-projector back in my pocket.
--
a fireplace on the window side of The Room (where the wall slanted
sharply) which I had not noticed before. The flames devoured the
--
there were others in The Roomgrave-looking men in clerical costume,
one of whom wore the bands and knee-breeches of a bishop. Though I
--
The first-comer now went to a cupboard on the inner side of The Room
and extracted a coil of rope. Mounting a chair, he attached one end of
--
The Room, and Im going to take you to it. Youll get a shockthough
you will see nothing repulsive.
--
hold me up as he walked me across The Room to the mirror, the faint
lamp (i.e., that formerly on the table, not the still fainter lantern
1f.lovecraft - The Festival, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
old woman continued her silent spinning, spinning. I thought The Room
and the books and the people very morbid and disquieting, but because
1f.lovecraft - The Ghost-Eater, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
I followed him into the hall and The Room across it, and at his
direction ransacked the woodpile in the corner and the cupboard on the
--
lamp. The storm was over, and as I entered The Room assigned me I found
it bright with the rays of a full moon that streamed on the bed from an
--
if they covered a sleeping figure, I drew The Rooms only chair into
the concealing shadows, filled and lighted my pipe again, and sat down
--
from the chair, tiptoed across The Room, and crouched tensely in a spot
which the opening door would cover.
1f.lovecraft - The Haunter of the Dark, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
The Room, about fifteen feet square, was faintly lighted by four lancet
windows, one on each side, which were glazed within their screening of
1f.lovecraft - The Horror at Red Hook, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
of The Rooms, and the primitive chemical laboratory in the attic, all
helped to convince the detective that he was on the track of something
--
from The Room until one knew what to think oneself. The doctor has
distinctly assured Malone that he did not see IT. The open porthole,
1f.lovecraft - The Horror in the Burying-Ground, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Naturally, The Room was at once a chaos of confusion. Old Dr. Pratt
elbowed his way to Luella and called for some water to throw in her
--
unless Sophie chose to bebut Sophie was on the other side of The Room,
staring silently, fixedly, and almost morbidly into her brothers
1f.lovecraft - The Horror in the Museum, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
and brushes of every description. In the centre of The Room was a large
melting-furnace used to prepare the wax for moulding, its fire-box
--
was an inner side of The Room, and he could not recall any gas or
electric fixture near that point. Another look defined the glow as a
--
inner door at the end of The Room, or toward a piece of coarse burlap
on the floor not far from it, beneath which some small object appeared
--
rigid. The showman paused and rose, crossing The Room to the piece of
burlap at which he had glanced so often. Bending down, he took hold of
--
across The Room told him that Rogerswhose visible injuries were
confined to a long, deep scratch down the left cheekhad regained
1f.lovecraft - The Last Test, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
And Clarendon strode from The Room without extending his hand.
Dalton hesitated for a moment, almost at a loss what to do, when
--
visitors are not allowed. Please leave The Room at once.
The chairman, his sense of drama secretly tickled, answered with
--
flooding The Room. Georgina, picking up her fallen work-basket and
scattered materials, was lost in a daze of doubt; but finally felt
--
Yes, he said jerkily as he rose and strode from The Room, youre
right. Youve always tried to help as best you knew. You may yet have a
--
firm tread sounded in the hall, and she heard someone enter The Room
and fumble at the match-safe. Her heart almost stopped beating as the
--
Still fingering the empty syringe, he walked softly out of The Room.
Georgina looked about her with the aimlessness of desperation, ears
1f.lovecraft - The Loved Dead, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
The Room to the casket where the body of my grandparent lay.
For the first time I was face to face with Death. I looked down upon
1f.lovecraft - The Man of Stone, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
The Room in which we landed was full of limestone and granite blocks,
chiselling tools and clay models, and we realised at once that it was
1f.lovecraft - The Mound, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
of scant illuminating value. In some of The Rooms were elaborate baths,
while the kitchen was a maze of technical contrivances. Supplies were
1f.lovecraft - The Music of Erich Zann, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
money-lender and The Room of a respectable upholsterer. There was no
one on the fourth floor.
1f.lovecraft - The Mystery of the Grave-Yard, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
The Room a moment? Certainly. replied Mr Bell. In a short time she
returned, and said, Mr. Bell, I understand you. You have abducted my
1f.lovecraft - The Nameless City, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
more definite than the other temple had contained. The Room was just as
low, but much less broad, ending in a very narrow passage crowded with
--
and I found myself in a place slightly higher than The Rooms in the two
smaller temples now so incalculably far above my head. I could not
1f.lovecraft - The Night Ocean, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
life. I had set the lamp upon a box in the western corner of The Room,
but the moon was brighter, and her bluish rays invaded places where the
--
one corner of The Room a pair of dirty oars, placed there before my
arrival, shared the vigil of my spirit. The lamp burned endlessly,
--
methough The Room, whose window I dared not open now, was stuffy. I
thought it would be very horrible if something were to enter a window
1f.lovecraft - The Picture in the House, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
in all The Room I could not discover a single article of definitely
post-revolutionary date. Had the furnishings been less humble, the
--
in The Room overhead. At first astonished and startled, considering the
lack of response to my recent knocking at the door, I immediately
--
the tread was heavy. When I had entered The Room I had shut the door
behind me. Now, after a moment of silence during which the walker may
--
he could read the few books in English which adorned The Room. This
revelation of simplicity removed much of the ill-defined apprehension I
--
quickly toward the floor of The Room he had left an hour before. I
followed his glance, and beheld just above us on the loose plaster of
1f.lovecraft - The Rats in the Walls, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
I examined the circular trap that had been placed in The Room, I found
all of the openings sprung, though no trace remained of what had been
--
largest, in the centre of The Room, had certain features on the upper
surface which indicated its connexion with fireprobably burnt
--
large stone altar in the centre of The Room, which was nearer Norrys
couch than mine.
1f.lovecraft - The Shadow out of Time, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
saw the sand-covered blocks as well as The Rooms and corridors; the
evil, burning moon as well as the lamps of luminous crystal; the
--
on the left one level above me? How did I know that The Room of
machines, and the rightward-leading tunnel to the central archives,
--
lower level, I stumbled on past the archway of The Room of machines,
within which were fantastic ruins of metal half-buried beneath fallen
--
glimpsing the archway to The Room of machines and almost crying out as
I saw the incline leading down to where one of those blasphemous
1f.lovecraft - The Shadow over Innsmouth, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
disturbing topics had The Room not been so gruesomely musty. As it was,
the lethal mustiness blended hideously with the towns general fishy
--
After a time the cautious rattling ceased, and I heard The Room to the
north entered with a pass-key. Then the lock of the connecting door to
--
floor creak as the prowler left The Room. After a moment there came
another soft rattling, and I knew that The Room to the south of me was
being entered. Again a furtive trying of a bolted connecting door, and
--
doors of The Rooms; the locks and bolts of which I would have to force
violently, using my shoulder as a battering-ram whenever they were set
--
of The Room. It was designed to open in my direction, hence I sawafter
drawing the bolt and finding other fastenings in placeit was not a
--
The Rooms on both sides of me. Rushing through the newly opened
connexion, I succeeded in bolting the northerly hall door before the
--
frightful scurrying along the corridor toward The Room north of me, and
perceived that the southward battering had ceased. Plainly, most of my
1f.lovecraft - The Shunned House, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
furniture, or even of The Room itself, since doors and windows seemed
in just as great a state of flux as the more presumably mobile objects.
--
north of The Room, all photographed with morbid vividness on my brain
in a light brighter than the glow of the fungi or the rays from the
1f.lovecraft - The Temple, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
The last circumstance made me ponder, and I crossed The Room and
touched the glass. It was indeed in the place where I had seemed to see
1f.lovecraft - The Thing on the Doorstep, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
body looking across The Room at themselves. This questioning seemed to
make him at once alarmed and grateful, and once he mumbled something
1f.lovecraft - The Trap, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
of The Room I noticed how fixedly he began to look at the dim, cloudy
glass, and, wondering what so greatly interested him, was reminded of
--
legs held unaccountably up in the air. The Room was full of that
hideous and inexplicable dusty smelland as my eyes began to take in
--
Robert paused half-way across The Room and looked at me very gravely.
I saw them fade awayinto nothingnessMr. Canevin, he said with
1f.lovecraft - The Tree on the Hill, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
He sprang from the chair as a hunted animal and raced from The Room. I
could hear him moving about in our makeshift library, cursing volubly.
--
better at night. As it was, my eye was arrested before I left The Room
by the pile of scattered papers rustling on the table beside the black
1f.lovecraft - The Whisperer in Darkness, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
on my left. The Room beyond was darkened, as I had known before; and as
I entered it I noticed that the queer odour was stronger there. There
--
to The Room designated as mine. With the memory of that roadside
claw-print fresh in my mind, Akeleys whispered paragraphs had affected
--
pointed to a high shelf on the farther side of The Room. There, in a
neat row, stood more than a dozen cylinders of a metal I had never seen
--
able to understand the speaker when wholly across The Room, and once or
twice it had seemed to me that the faint but penetrant sounds
--
stirring and scratching and shuffling in The Room below; so that I
could not escape the impression that it was full of living beingsmany
--
comparison exist. Objects seemed now and then to move across The Room
like conscious entities; the sound of their footfalls having something
--
hear the sleeper more plainly, and noticed that he must be in The Room
on my leftthe living-room I had not entered. On my right was the
--
no longer in The Room. What had been their cause? Curiously it occurred
to me that I had noticed them only in Akeleys vicinity. They had been
strongest where he sat, and wholly absent except in The Room with him
or just outside the doors of that room. I paused, letting the
--
after its circuit of The Room; then noticing for the first time the
presence of certain objects in the seat, made inconspicuous by the
1f.lovecraft - Through the Gates of the Silver Key, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
perplexed, but he did not change his demeanour. The Room was tense with
excitement and nameless dread, and the alien rhythm of the
--
Phillips, across The Room, watched the workings of his red face and
studied the back of the turbaned figure that confronted him. The
1f.lovecraft - Two Black Bottles, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
my voice echo within the close confines of The Room. There was no
reply, and no movement from the figure behind the table. I wondered if
--
sulfurous smell filled The Room. From the little heap of broken glass a
white vapor rose and followed the draft out the window.
1f.lovecraft - Winged Death, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
it by filling The Room with chlorine gas. If it doesnt work the first
time, Ill try again until it does. Of course, Ill have the
--
usual, no use. It merely flew across The Room to a lamp and began
beating the same tattoo on the stiff cardboard shade. I felt a vague
--
a hole in the ceiling where the radiator pipe went to The Room above.
The departure did not soothe me, for my mind had started on a train of
--
winged fiend from hell brushed into The Room over my head, and began
beating itself against the window-screen as it did yesterday. This
--
flee again, or entrench myself here by sealing up The Room?
After an hours rest I felt able to act, and ordered a large reserve
--
little except walk up and down The Room.
Then I heard a rustle among the food packages brought in yesterday, and
--
chlorine gas, I have resolved to fill The Room with that lethal
vapourasphyxiating the fly while protecting myself with an
--
instinctively looked around The Room to see if there were any
conceivable instrument or arrangement of piled-up furniture which could
1.fs - Ode To Joy - With Translation, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
She rolls spheres in The Rooms,
Which the seer pipe does not know.
1.jk - Dedication To Leigh Hunt, Esq., #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
'Readers of Charles Cowden Clarke's Recollections of Keats,... will remember the statement, still appropriate here, that, ''on the evening when the last proof sheet [of the 1817 volume] was brought from the printer, it was accompanied by the information that if a 'dedication to the book was intended it must be sent forthwith.' Whereupon he withdrew to a side table, and in the buzz of a mixed conversation (for there were several friends in The Room) he composed and brought to Charles Ollier, the publisher, the Dedication Sonnet to Leigh Hunt.'' The first of the three Sonnets to Keats in Hunt's Foliage forms a fitting reply to this.' ~ The Poetical Works of John Keats, ed. H. Buxton Forman, Crowell publ. 1895. by owner. provided at no charge for educational purposes
1.jk - Lamia. Part II, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
Floated into The Room, and let appear
Unveild the summer heaven, blue and clear,
--
Scarce saw in all The Room another face,
Till, checking his love trance, a cup he took
1.jk - Sleep And Poetry, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
Are fluttering round The Room like doves in pairs;
Many delights of that glad day recalling,
1.jr - On the Night of Creation I was awake, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
English version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva Original Language Persian/Farsi & Turkish On the Night of Creation I was awake, Busy at work while everyone slept. I was there to see the first wink and hear the first tale told. I was the first one caught in the hair of the Great Imposter. Whirling around the still-point of ecstasy I spun like the wheel of heaven. How can I describe this to you? You were born later. I was a companion of that Ancient Lover; Like a bowl with a broken rim I endured his tyranny. Why shouldn't I be as lustrous as the King's cup? I have lived in The Room of treasures. Why shouldn't this bubble become the sea? I am the secret that lies at its bottom... Shhhh... no more words Hear only the voice within. Remember, the first thing He said was: "We are beyond words." [2509.jpg] -- from A Garden Beyond Paradise: Love Poems of Rumi, by Jonathan Star / Shahram Shiva <
1.jwvg - Anniversary Song, #Goethe - Poems, #Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #Poetry
And danced into The Room.
Welcome were they,--and welcome too
1.jwvg - The Pupil In Magic, #Goethe - Poems, #Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #Poetry
Of The Room
Hasten, broom,
1.lb - Looking For A Monk And Not Finding Him, #Li Bai - Poems, #Li Bai, #Poetry
in The Room of the old monk
no one was living, and I
1.lovecraft - Psychopompos- A Tale in Rhyme, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Across The Room, with murdrous fury rife,
Leaps the mad wolf, and seizes on the wife;
1.lovecraft - The Poe-ets Nightmare, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Next troop the little folk into The Room
Where snore our young Endymion, swath'd in gloom:
--
Within The Room the morning sunshine gleams,
Whilst the poor youth recalls his troubled dreams.
1.okym - 22 - And we, that now make merry in the Room, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
object:1.okym - 22 - And we, that now make merry in The Room
author class:Omar Khayyam
--
English version by Edward FitzGerald Original Language Persian/Farsi And we, that now make merry in The Room They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom, Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth Descend, ourselves to make a Couch -- for whom? [bk1sm.gif] -- from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, by Omar Khayyam / Translated by Edward FitzGerald <
1.rb - Pippa Passes - Part II - Noon, #Browning - Poems, #Robert Browning, #Poetry
Yet how be carved, with you about The Room?
Where must I place you? When I think that once
1.rb - Sordello - Book the First, #Browning - Poems, #Robert Browning, #Poetry
And lulling words are yet about The Room,
Her presence wholly poured upon the gloom
1.rb - Sordello - Book the Fourth, #Browning - Poems, #Robert Browning, #Poetry
Across The Room; and, loosened of its tire
Of steel, that head let breathe the comely brown
--
"More than one corpse there" (and he paced The Room)
"Another cinder somewhere: 't was my doom
1.rmr - Abishag, #Rilke - Poems, #Rainer Maria Rilke, #Poetry
The stars trembled, and fragrance searched The Room,
The curtain stirring sounded with a sign
1.rmr - Lady On A Balcony, #Rilke - Poems, #Rainer Maria Rilke, #Poetry
while now The Room as though cut to fit
behind her fills the door
1.rt - Lovers Gifts LVI - The Evening Was Lonely, #Tagore - Poems, #Rabindranath Tagore, #Poetry
snuffed the candle. In a moment The Room was flooded with
moonlight.
1.rt - Shyama, #Tagore - Poems, #Rabindranath Tagore, #Poetry
The southern gate of The Room was open
Against the pale blue sky
1.rt - Sleep-Stealer, #Tagore - Poems, #Rabindranath Tagore, #Poetry
When mother came back she found baby travelling The Room over
on all fours.
1.rt - The Homecoming, #Tagore - Poems, #Rabindranath Tagore, #Poetry
The next day Phatik became conscious for a short time. He turned his eyes about The Room, as if expecting some one to come. At last, with an air of disappointment, his head sank back on the pillow. He turned his face to the wall with a deep sigh.
Bishamber knew his thoughts, and, bending down his head, whispered: Phatik, I have sent for your mother. The day went by. The doctor said in a troubled voice that the boys condition was very critical.
--
Later in the day Phatiks mother burst into The Room like a whirlwind, and began to toss from side to side and moan and cry in a loud voice.
Bishamber tried to calm her agitation, but she flung herself on the bed, and cried: Phatik, my darling, my darling.
1.rt - The Land Of The Exile, #Tagore - Poems, #Rabindranath Tagore, #Poetry
sit alone in The Room, mother, with you, and hear you talk about
the desert of Tepantar in the fairy tale.
1.srm - The Marital Garland of Letters, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
English version by Ramanasramam Original Language Tamil Gracious Ganapati! with Thy hand bless me, that I may make this marital garland of letters worthy of Sri Arunachala, the Bridegroom! REFRAIN Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala! 1. Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those who meditate on Thee in the heart, Oh Arunachala! Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those who dwell on their identity with Thee, Oh Arunachala! 2. May Thou and I be one and inseparable like Alagu and Sundara, Oh Arunachala! 3. Entering my home and luring me to Thine, why didst Thou keep me prisoner in Thy heart's cavern, Oh Arunachala? 4. Was it for Thy pleasure or for my sake Thou didst win me? If now Thou turn me away, the world will blame Thee, Oh Arunachala! 5. Escape this blame! Why didst Thou then recall Thyself to me? How can I leave Thee now, Oh Arunachala? 6. Kinder far art Thou than one's own mother. Is this then Thy all-kindness, Oh Arunachala? Kinder indeed art Thou than one's own mother, such is Thy Love, Oh Arunachala! 7. Sit firmly in my mind lest it elude Thee, Oh Arunachala! Change not Thy nature and flee, but hold fast in my mind, Oh Arunachala! Be watchful in my mind, lest it change even Thee into me and rush away, Oh Arunachala! 8. Display Thy beauty, for the fickle mind to see Thee for ever and to rest, Oh Arunachala! The strumpet mind will cease to walk the streets if only she find Thee. Disclose Thy Beauty then and hold her bound, Oh Arunachala! The mind by her unsteadiness prevents my seeking Thee and finding peace; grant me the vision of Thy Beauty, Oh Arunachala! 9. After abducting me if now Thou dost not embrace me, where is Thy chivalry, Oh Arunachala? 10. Does it become Thee thus to sleep when I am outraged by others, Oh Arunachala? 11. Even when the thieves of the five senses break in upon me, art Thou not still in my heart, Oh Arunachala! 12. One art Thou without a second; who then could dare elude Thee and come in? This is only Thy jugglery, Oh Arunachala! 13. Significance of OM unrivalled -- unsurpassed! Who can comprehend Thee, Oh Arunachala? 14. As Universal Mother, it is Thy duty to dispense Thy Grace and save me, Oh Arunachala! 15. Who can ever find Thee? The Eye of the eye art Thou, and without eyes Thou seest, Oh Arunachala! Being the sight of the eye, even without eyes find me out Thyself. Who but Thyself can find out Thee, Oh Arunachala? 16. As a lode-stone attracts iron, magnetizing it and holding it fast, so do Thou to me, Oh Arunachala! 17. Unmoving Hill, melting into a Sea of Grace, have mercy I pray, Oh Arunachala! 18. Fiery Gem, shining in all directions, do Thou burn up my dross, Oh Arunachala! 19. Shine as my Guru, making me free from faults and worthy of Thy Grace, Oh Arunachala! 20. Save me from the cruel snares of fascinating women and honour me with union with Thyself, Oh Arunachala! 21. Though I beg, Thou art callous and dost not condescend. I pray Thee! say to me 'Fear not!' Oh Arunachala! 22. Unasked Thou givest; this is Thy imperishable fame. Do not belie Thy name, Oh Arunachala! 23. Sweet fruit within my hands, let me be mad with ecstasy, drunk with the Bliss of Thy Essence, Oh Arunachala! 24. Blazoned as the Devourer of Thy votaries, how can I survive who have embraced Thee, Oh Arunachala? 25. Thou, unruffled by anger! What crime has marked me off for Thy wrath, Oh Arunachala? Thou, unruffled by anger! What austerities left incomplete have won me Thy special favour, Oh Arunachala? 26. Glorious Mountain of Love, celebrated by Gautama, rule me with Thy gracious glance, Oh Arunachala! 27. Dazzling Sun that swallowest up all the universe in Thy rays, in Thy Light open the lotus of my heart I pray, Oh Arunachala! 28. Let me, Thy prey, surrender unto Thee and be consumed, and so have Peace, Oh Arunachala! I came to feed on Thee, but Thou has fed on me; now there is Peace, Oh Arunachala! 29. O Moon of Grace, with Thy cool rays as hands, open within me the ambrosial orifice and let my heart rejoice, Arunachala! 30. Tear off these robes, expose me naked, then robe me with Thy Love, Oh Arunachala! 31. There in the heart rest quiet! Let the sea of joy surge, speech and feeling cease, Oh Arunachala! 32. Do not continue to deceive and prove me; disclose instead Thy Transcendental Self, Oh Arunachala! 33. Vouchsafe the knowledge of Eternal Life that I may learn the glorious Primal Wisdom, and shun the delusion of this world, Oh Arunachala! 34. Unless Thou embrace me, I shall melt away in tears of anguish, Oh Arunachala! 35. If spurned by Thee, alas! what rests for me but the torment of my prarabdha? What hope is left for me, Arunachala? 36. In silence Thou saidst, 'Stay silent!' and Thyself stood silent, Oh Arunachala! 37. Happiness lies in peaceful repose enjoyed when resting in the Self. Beyond speech indeed is This my State, Oh Arunachala! 38. Thou didst display Thy prowess once, and, the perils ended, return to Thy repose, Oh Arunachala! Sun! Thou didst sally forth and illusion was ended. Then didst Thou shine motionless, Oh Arunachala! 39. A dog can scent out its master; am I then worse than a dog? Steadfastly will I seek Thee and regain Thee, Oh Arunachala! Worse than a dog for want of a scent, how can I track Thee, Oh Arunachala? 40. Grant me wisdom, I beseech Thee, so that I may not pine for love of Thee in ignorance, Oh Arunachala! 41. Not finding the flower open, Thou didst stay, no better than a bee trapped in the bud of my mind, Oh Arunachala! In sunlight the lotus blossoms, how then couldst Thou, the Sun of suns, hover before me like a flower bee, saying 'Thou art not yet in blossom,' Oh Arunachala? 42. 'Thou hast realized the Self even without knowing that it was the Truth. It is the Truth Itself!' Speak thus if it be so, Oh Arunachala! Thou art the subject of most diverse views yet art Thou not this only, Oh Arunachala? Not known to the tattvas, though Thou art their being! What does this mean, Oh Arunachala? 43. That each one is Reality Itself, Thou wilt of Thy Nature show, Oh Arunachala! Reveal Thyself! Thou only art Reality, Oh Arunachala! 'Reality is nothing but the Self;' is this not all Thy message, Oh Arunachala? 44. 'Look within, ever seeking the Self with the inner eye, then will It be found.' Thus didst Thou direct me, beloved Arunachala! 45. Seeking Thee within but weakly, I came back unrewarded. Aid me, Oh Arunachala! Weak though my effort was, by Thy Grace I gained the Self, Oh Arunachala! Seeking Thee in the Infinite Self, I regained my own Self, Oh Arunachala! 46. What value has the birth without Knowledge born of realization? It is not even worth speaking about, Oh Arunachala! 47. Let me dive into the true Self, wherein merge only the pure in mind and speech, Oh Arunachala! I, by Thy Grace, am sunk in Thy Self, wherein merge only those divested of their minds and thus made pure, Oh Arunachala! 48. When I took shelter under Thee as my One God, Thou didst destroy me altogether, Oh Arunachala! 49. Treasure of benign and holy Grace, found without seeking, steady my wandering mind, Oh Arunachala! 50. On seeking Thy Real Self with courage, my raft capsized and the waters came over me. Have mercy on me Arunachala! 51. Unless Thou extend Thy hand of Grace in mercy and embrace me, I am lost, Oh Arunachala! Enfold me body to body, limb to limb, or I am lost, Oh Arunachala! 52. O Undefiled, abide Thou in my heart so that there may be everlasting joy, Arunachala! 53. Mock me not, who seek Thy protection! Adorn me with Thy Grace and then regard me, Oh Arunachala! Smile with Grace and not with scorn on me, who come Thee, Oh Arunachala! 54. When I approached, Thou didst not bend; Thou stoodst unmoved, at one with me, Oh Arunachala! Does it not shame Thee to stand there like a post, leaving me to find Thee by myself, Oh Arunachala? 55. Rain Thy Mercy on me ere Thy Knowledge burn me to ashes, Oh Arunachala! 56. Unite with me to destroy Thou and me, and bless me with the state of ever-vibrant joy, Oh Arunachala! 57. When shall I become like the ether and reach Thee, subtle of being, that the tempest of thoughts may end, Oh Arunachala? When will waves of thought cease to rise? When shall I reach Thee, subtler than the subtlest ether, Oh Arunachala! 58. I am a simpleton devoid of learning. Do Thou dispel illusion, Oh Arunachala! Destroy Thou my wrong knowledge, I beseech Thee, for I lack the knowledge which the Scriptures lead to, Oh Arunachala! 59. When I melted away and entered Thee, my Refuge, I found Thee standing naked, Oh Arunachala! 60. In my unloving self Thou didst create a passion for Thee, therefore forsake me not, Oh Arunachala! 61. Fruit shriveled and spoilt is worthless; take and enjoy it ripe, Oh Arunachala! I am not a fruit which is overripe and spoilt; draw me, then, into the inmost recess and fix me in Eternity, Oh Arunachala! 62. Hast Thou not bartered cunningly Thyself for me? Oh, Thou art death to me, Arunachala! Hast Thou not bartered happily Thyself for me, giving all and taking nothing? Art Thou not blind, Oh Arunachala? 63. Regard me! Take thought of me! Touch me! Mature me! Make me one with Thee, Oh Arunachala! 64. Grant me Thy Grace ere the poison of delusion grips me and, rising to my head, kills me, Oh Arunachala! 65. Thyself regard me and dispel illusion! Unless Thou do so who can intercede with Grace Itself made manifest, Oh Arunachala? 66. With madness for Thee hast Thou freed me of madness; grant me now the cure of all madness, Oh Arunachala! 67. Fearless I seek Thee, Fearlessness Itself! How canst Thou fear to take me, Oh Arunachala? 68. Where is ignorance or Wisdom, if I am blessed with union to Thee, Oh Arunachala? 69. My mind has blossomed, scent it with Thy fragrance and perfect it. Oh Arunachala! Espouse me, I beseech Thee, and let this mind, now wedded to the world, be wedded to Perfection, Oh Arunachala! 70. Mere thought of Thee has drawn me to Thee, and who can gauge Thy Glory, Oh Arunachala? 71. Thou hast possessed me, unexorcizable Spirit! and made me mad for Thee, that I may cease to be a ghost wandering the world, Oh Arunachala! 72. Be Thou my stay and my support lest I droop helpless like a tender creeper, Oh Arunachala! 73. Thou didst benumb my faculties with stupefying powder, then rob me of my understanding and reveal the Knowledge of Thy Self, Oh Arunachala! 74. Show me the warfare of Thy Grace, in the Open Field where there is no coming and going. Oh Arunachala! 75. Unattached to the physical frame composed of the elements, let me for ever repose happy in the sight of Thy Splendour, Oh Arunachala! 76. Thou hast administered the medicine of confusion to me, so must I be confounded! Shine Thou as Grace, the cure of all confusion, Oh Arunachala! 77. Shine Thou selfless, sapping the pride of those who boast of their free will, Oh Arunachala! 78. I am a fool who prays only when overwhelmed, yet disappoint me not, Oh Arunachala! 79. Guard me lest I flounder storm-tossed like a ship without a helmsman, Oh Arunachala! 80. Thou hast cut the knot which hid the vision of Thy Head and Foot. Motherlike, shouldst Thou not complete Thy task, Oh Arunachala? 81. Be not like a mirror held up to a noseless man, but raise me and embrace me, Oh Arunachala! 82. Let us embrace upon the bed of tender flowers, which is the mind, within The Room of the body, Oh Arunachala! 83. How is it that Thou hast become famous from Thy constant union with the poor and humble, Oh Arunachala? 84. Thou hast removed the blindness of ignorance with the unguent of Thy Grace, and made me truly Thine, Oh Arunachala! 85. Thou didst shave clean my head; then Thou didst show Thyself dancing in Transcendent Space, Oh Arunachala! 86. Though Thou hast loosed me from the mists of error and made me mad for Thee, why hast Thou not yet freed me from illusion, Oh Arunachala? Though Thou hast detached me from the world and made me cleave to Thee, Thy passion for me has not cooled, Oh Arunachala! 87. Is it true Silence to rest like a stone, inert and unexpansive, Oh Arunachala? 88. Who was it that threw mud to me for food and robbed me of my livelihood, Oh Arunachala? 89. Unknown to all, stupefying me, Who was it that ravished my soul, Oh Arunachala? 90. I spoke thus to Thee, because Thou art my Lord; be not offended but come and give me happiness, Oh Arunachala! 91. Let us enjoy one another in the House of Open Space, where there is neither night nor day, Oh Arunachala! 92. Thou didst take aim at me with darts of Love and then devoured me alive, Oh Arunachala! 93. Thou art the Primal Being, whereas I count not in this nor in the other world. What didst Thou gain then by my worthless self, Oh Arunachala? 94. Didst Thou not call me in? I have come in. Now measure out for me, my maintenance is now Thy burden. Hard is Thy lot, Oh Arunachala! 95. The moment Thou didst welcome me, didst enter into me and grant me Thy divine life, I lost my individuality, Oh Arunachala! 96. Bless me that I may die without losing hold of Thee, or miserable is my fate, Oh Arunachala! 97. From my home Thou didst entice me, then stealing into my heart didst draw me gently into Thine, such is Thy Grace, Oh Arunachala! 98. I have betrayed Thy secret workings. Be not offended! Show me Thy Grace now openly and save me, Oh Arunachala! 99. Grant me the essence of the Vedas, which shine in the Vedanta, One without a second, Oh Arunachala! 100. Even my slanders, treat as praise and guard me for ever as Thine own, I pray, Oh Arunachala! Let even slander be as praise to me, and guard me for ever as Thine own, I pray, Oh Arunachala! Place Thy hand upon my head! make me partaker of Thy Grace! do not abandon me, I pray, Oh Arunachala! 101. As snow in water, let me melt as Love in Thee, who art Love itself, Oh Arunachala! 102. I had but thought of Thee as Aruna, and lo! I was caught in the trap of Thy Grace! Can the net of Thy Grace ever fail, Oh Arunachala? 103. Watching like a spider to trap me in the web of Thy Grace, Thou didst entwine me and when imprisoned feed upon me, Oh Arunachala! 104. Let me be the votary of the votaries of those who hear Thy name with love, Oh Arunachala! 105. Shine Thou for ever as the loving Saviour of helpless suppliants like myself, Oh Arunachala! 106. Familiar to Thine ears are the sweet songs of votaries who melt to the very bones with love for Thee, yet let my poor strains also be acceptable, Oh Arunachala! 107. Hill of Patience, bear with my foolish words, as hymns of joy or as Thou please, Oh Arunachala! 108. Oh Arunachala! my Loving Lord! Throw Thy garland about my shoulders, wearing Thyself this one strung by me, Arunachala! Blessed be Arunachala! blessed be His devotees! Blessed be this Marital Garland of Letters! [1468.jpg] -- from The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi, Edited by Arthur Osborne
1.wby - All Souls Night, #Yeats - Poems, #William Butler Yeats, #Poetry
And may a lesser bell sound through The Room;
And it is All Souls' Night,
1.wby - The Gift Of Harun Al-Rashid, #Yeats - Poems, #William Butler Yeats, #Poetry
The garden paths, nor counted up The Rooms,
Before she had spread a book upon her knees
1.wby - The Mother Of God, #Yeats - Poems, #William Butler Yeats, #Poetry
Wings beating about The Room;
The terror of all terrors that I bore
1.wby - The Mountain Tomb, #Yeats - Poems, #William Butler Yeats, #Poetry
That there be no foot silent in The Room
Nor mouth from kissing, nor from wine unwet;
1.whitman - Of Him I Love Day And Night, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
everywhere, even in The Room where I eat or sleep, I should be
satisfied;
1.whitman - The Artillerymans Vision, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
There in The Room as I wake from sleep this vision presses upon me;
The engagement opens there and then in fantasy unreal,
1.whitman - The Sleepers, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
He stands in The Room of the old tavernthe well-belov'd soldiers
all pass through,
1.whitman - To Think Of Time, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
pervaded The Rooms,)
The faithful hand of the living does not desert the hand of the
20.01 - Charyapada - Old Bengali Mystic Poems, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
She is the common ale-wife, she goes into both The Rooms:11
She binds the ale tight with thongs of bark.12
--
The Room of the mother-in-law is under lock and key24
Cut away the wings, the sun and the moon.25
2.01 - AT THE STAR THEATRE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
MASTER: "Rkhl had his first religious ecstasy while sitting here massaging my feet. A Bhagavata scholar had been expounding the sacred book in The Room. As Rkhl listened to his words, he shuddered every now and then. Then he became altogether still.
"His second ecstasy was at Balarm Bose's house. In that state he could not keep himself sitting upright; he lay flat on the floor. Rkhl belongs to the realm of the Personal God. He leaves the place if one talks about the Impersonal.
--
"Whenever he came here, I would talk only with him, though The Room was filled with people. He would say to me, 'Please talk to them', and then I would talk with the others.
"I became mad for the sight of him and wept for him in Jadu Mallick's garden house: 'I wept here, too, holding Bholanath's hand.' Bholanath said, 'Sir, you shouldn't behave that way for a mere kayastha boy.' One day the 'fat brahmin' said to me about Narendra, with folded hands, 'Sir, he has very little education; why should you be so restless for him?'
--
"The youngsters are now in the stage of sadhana. They are aspirants. For them the only thing now is renunciation. A sannyasi must not look even at the portrait of a woman. I say to them: 'Don't sit beside a woman and talk to her, even if she is a devotee. You may say a word or two to her, standing.' Even a perfect soul must follow this precept for his own protection and also to set an example to others. When women, come to me, I too say to them after a few minutes, 'Go and visit the temples.' If they don't get up, I myself leave The Room. Others will learn from my example.
Master's attraction for people
--
Hazra entered The Room. He had been living with Sri Ramakrishna in the temple garden for the past two years and had first met the Master in 1880 at Sihore in the house of Hriday, the Master's nephew. Hazra's native village was near Sihore, and he owned some property there. He had a wife and children and also some debts. From youth he had felt a spirit of renunciation and sought the company of holy men and devotees. The Master had asked him to live with him at Dakshineswar and looked after his necessities. Hazra's mind was a jumble of undigested religious moods. He professed the path of knowledge and disapproved of Sri Ramakrishna's attitude of bhakti and his longing for the young devotees. Now and then he thought of the Master as a great soul, but again he slighted him as an ordinary human being. He spent much of his time in telling his beads, and he criticized Rkhl and the other young men for their indifference to the practice. He was a strong advocate of religious conventions and rules of conduct, and made a fad of them.
He was about thirty-eight years old.
--
It was about nine o'clock in the evening. The Mukherji brothers were ready to return to Calcutta. The Master left his seat and began to pace The Room and the porch. He could hear the kirtan sung in the Vishnu temple. A devotee said that Harish and Ltu were in the singing party.
Sri Ramakrishna and the devotees went to the Vishnu temple and saluted the Deity. The brahmins belonging to the staff of the temple garden, and also the priests, the cooks, and the servants, were singing the kirtan. He stood there a few minutes and encouraged the singers. On the way back to his room he remarked to the devotees, "You see, some of them polish the metal utensils and some go to houses of prostitution."
--
The Mukherji brothers saluted the Master. Their carriage was ready near the verandah north of The Room. The Master stood facing the north. On his left was the Ganges; in front of him were the nahabat, the garden, and the kuthi; and to his right was the road leading to the gate. The night was dark, and a devotee had brought a lantern to show the visitors their way. One by one the devotees bowed and took the dust of the Master's feet. The carriage seemed too heavily loaded for the horses. The Master said, "Aren't there too many people in the carriage?"
Sri Ramakrishna remained standing. As the carriage rolled away, the devotees looked back at the Master's face beaming with compassion and love.
--
MASTER: "His mother came here the other day. I was a little frightened to see that she was a proud woman. That day she found that Captain, you, and many others, too, visited me. Then she must have realized that she and her son were not the only people to come here. (All laugh.) There was some sugar candy in The Room and she remarked that it was good. That made her feel there was no scarcity of food here. I happened to tell Baburam, in front of her, to keep some sweets for himself and Naran. Ganu's mother said that Naran always bothered his mother for the boat hire to come here. His mother said to me, 'Please ask Naran to consent to marry.' I replied, 'All that depends on one's fate.' Why should I interfere? (All laugh.) Naran is indifferent to his studies. His mother said, 'Please ask him to pay a little more attention.' So I said to Naran, 'Attend to your studies.' Then his mother said, 'Please tell him seriously.' (All laugh.) (To Chunilal) "Why doesn't Gopal come here?"
CHUNILAL: "He has been suffering from dysentery."
2.01 - Habit 1 Be Proactive, #The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, #Stephen Covey, #unset
As you read this book, try to stand apart from yourself. Try to project your consciousness upward into a corner of The Room and see yourself, in your mind's eye, reading. Can you look at yourself almost as though you were someone else?
Now try something else. Think about the mood you are now in. Can you identify it? What are you feeling? How would you describe your present mental state?
2.02 - Habit 2 Begin with the End in Mind, #The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, #Stephen Covey, #unset
As you walk down to the front of The Room and look inside the casket, you suddenly come face to face with yourself. This is your funeral, three years from today. All these people have come to honor you, to express feelings of love and appreciation for your life.
As you take a seat and wait for the services to begin, you look at the program in your hand. There are to be four speakers. The first one is from your family, immediate and also extended -- children, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents who have come from all over the country to attend. The second speaker is one of your friends, someone who can give a sense of what you were as a person. The third speaker is from your work or profession. And the fourth is from your church or some community organization where you've been involved in service.
--
But the thing that impressed me the very most was to see an employee, on his own, admit a mistake to his boss. We ordered room service, and were told when it would be delivered to The Room. On the way to our room, The Room service person spilled the hot chocolate, and it took a few extra minutes to go back and change the linen on the tray and replace the drink. So The Room service was about fifteen minutes late, which was really not that important to us.
Nevertheless, the next morning The Room service manager phoned us to apologize and invited us to have either the buffet breakfast or a room service breakfast, compliments of the hotel, to in some way compensate for the inconvenience.
What does it say about the culture of an organization when an employee admits his own mistake, unknown to anyone else, to the manager so that customer or guest is better taken care of!
2.02 - On Letters, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
There was a pause as some disciples left The Room.
Disciple: But this letter of Vivekananda is a very sincere letter. It is easy to understand his difficulty. One cannot have freedom from ambition and other weaknesses unless one has the dynamic presence of the Divine all the time, or readily available whenever needed.
2.02 - The Circle, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
2:Though the Magician has been limited in his choice of room, he is more or less able to choose what part of The Room he will work in.
3:He will consider convenience and possibility. His circle should not be too small and cramp his movements; it should not be so large that he has long distances to traverse. Once the circle is made and consecrated, the Magician must not leave it, or even lean outside, lest he be destroyed by the hostile forces that are without. He chooses a circle rather than any other lineal figure for many reasons; e.g.,
2.02 - THE DURGA PUJA FESTIVAL, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
The devotees washed their faces. The Master took his seat on a mat on the north verandah. Bhavanath and M. sat beside him. Other devotees were coming in and out of The Room.
MASTER (to Bhavanath): "The truth is that ordinary men cannot easily have faith. But an Isvarakoti's faith is spontaneous. Prahlada burst into tears while writing the letter 'ka'. It reminded him of Krishna. It is the nature of jivas to doubt. They say yes, no doubt, but-Oneness of akti and Brahman "Hazra can never be persuaded to believe that Brahman and akti, that akti and the Being endowed with akti, are one and the same. When the Reality appears as Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, we call It akti; when It is inactive, we call It Brahman. But really It is one and the same thing-indivisible. Fire naturally brings to mind its power to burn; and the idea of burning naturally brings to mind the idea of fire. It is impossible to think of the one without the other.
--
Hazra entered The Room and sat down. The Master talked awhile about different things and then said to Hazra: "You see, many people were at Ram's house yesterday. Vijay, Kedr, and others were there. But why did I feel so deeply stirred at the sight of Narendra? I found that Kedr belonged to the realm of Divine Inebriation."
Presently Narendra arrived, and Sri Ramakrishna was exceedingly happy. Narendra saluted the Master and began to talk with Bhavanath and others in The Room. M. was seated near by. A long mat was spread on the floor. While talking, Narendra lay on it flat on his stomach. The Master looked at him and suddenly went into samdhi. He sat on Narendra's back in an ecstatic mood.
Bhavanath sang:
--
A sdhu was staying at the Panchavati. But he was a hot-tempered man; he scolded and cursed everyone. He came to the Master's room wearing wooden sandals and asked the Master, "Can I get fire here?" Sri Ramakrishna saluted him and stood with folded hands as long as he remained in The Room.
When he had left, Bhavanath said to the Master with a laugh, "What great respect you showed the sdhu!"
--
MASTER: "Love you must, because God dwells in all beings. But salute a wicked person from a distance. You speak of Chaitanya? He also used to restrain his spiritual feeling in the presence of unsympa thetic people. At Srivas's house he put Srivas's mother-in-law out of The Room, dragging her out by the hair."
BHAVANATH: "It was not he but others who did it."
--
Yogendra, the editor of a Bengali paper, the Bangavasi, entered The Room. The conversation turned to the Personal God and God without form.
MASTER: "God has form; again, He is formless. How many aspects He has! We cannot comprehend Him. Why should we say that God is formless only?"
2.03 - THE MASTER IN VARIOUS MOODS, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Sri Ramakrishna was worrying, like a child, because he thought his legs were slightly swollen. Mahendra Kaviraj of Sinthi entered The Room and. saluted the Master.
MASTER (to the devotees): "Yesterday I said to Naran, 'Just press your leg and see if there is any dimple.' He pressed it and there was one. Then I gave a sigh of relief. (To Mukherji) Will you please press your leg? Is there any dimple?"
--
The Mrwri devotees from Burrabazar entered The Room and saluted the Master. He began to praise them.
MASTER (to the devotees):"Ah! They are real devotees of God. They visit temples, sing hymns to God, and eat prasad. And the gentleman whom they have made their priest this year is learned in the Bhagavata."
--
Several young men from the village of Dakshineswar entered The Room and saluted Sri Ramakrishna. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. They sat down and began to talk with the Master.
YOUNG MAN: "Sir, what is Knowledge?"
--
In The Room was Hari, a young man about twenty years of age, who was a relative of the Mukherjis and very much devoted to the Master. He was married. At that time he was living with the Mukherjis and looking for a job.
MASTER (to Hari, in an ecstatic mood): "Take your initiation after getting your mother's permission. (To Priya, referring to Hari) I couldn't give him the mantra though I said I would initiate him. I don't initiate people. Continue with your own meditation and japa as you have been doing."
--
Hazra entered The Room.
MASTER (to Hazra): "Love of God, when it is intense and spontaneous, is called raga-bhakti. Vaidhibhakti, formal devotion, depends on scriptural injunctions. It comes and it goes. But raga-bhakti is like a stone emblem of iva that has sprung up out of the bowels of the earth. One cannot find its root; they say the root goes as far as Benares.
--
The Master seated himself in a room on the upper floor of the house. With him were Baburam, Kishori, and a few other devotees. Nandalal and Keshab's other nephews, Keshab's mother, and other relatives of his, waited on the Master. It had been arranged to have devotional music performed in The Room. M. was sitting in a room downstairs, listening to the kirtan.
Master with Brahmo devotees
--
After a few minutes Hazra left The Room and sat on the porch.
MASTER (to M. and the others): "He [meaning Hazra] only argues. This moment perhaps he understands, but the next moment he is his old self again.
--
The devotees in The Room remained silent. Sri Ramakrishna was smiling a little, a picture of self-contentment. He appeared happy in his own Self.
One of the sdhus whispered in the other's ear: "Look! This is the state of the paramahamsa."
--
Sri Ramakrishna smiled like a child. The monks left The Room. The devotees were moving about in The Room and on the porch.
Master ( to M.) :"Did you go to Nabin Sen's house?"
--
If that doesn't make her move, I myself leave The Room on the pretext of smoking.
"I find that some men are not at all interested in women. Niranjan says, 'A woman never enters my thought.' I asked Hari about it. He too says that his mind does not dwell on woman.
--
Sri Ramakrishna went into samdhi. Baburam stood behind him. M., Nilkantha, and the musicians were in front of him, watching him in great amazement. Dinanath, an officer of the temple, looked on from the north side of the bed. Soon The Room was filled with officers of the temple garden. Sri Ramakrishna's ecstasy abated a little. He seated himself on a mat on the floor, surrounded by Nilkantha and other devotees.
MASTER (still in an ecstatic mood): "I am all right."
--
Sri Ramakrishna sang again and again the line, "Everything is swept away by the onrush of love", and danced with Nilkantha and the other devotees. Those who saw that indescribable dancing were never to forget it. The Room was filled with people, all intoxicated with divine joy. It seemed as if Chaitanya himself were dancing with his companions.
Manomohan was in an ecstatic mood. He was a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna and a brother-in-law of Rkhl. Several ladies of his family had come with him. They were witnessing this divine music and dancing from the north verandah.
--
Hearing the loud music, many people gathered about The Room. The verandahs to the south and north, and the semicircular porch to the west of The Room, were crowded with people. Even passengers in the boats going along the Gauges were attracted by the kirtan.
The music was over Sri Ramakrishna bowed to the Divine Mother and said, "Bhagavata-Bhakta-Bhagavan. My salutations to the jnanis, my salutations to the yogis, my salutations to the bhaktas."
2.04 - ADVICE TO ISHAN, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Narayan entered The Room and sat on the floor.
MASTER (to Priyanath): "Well, your Hari is a fine young man."
--
A tutor of the Tagores entered The Room with some boys of the family.
Sri Ramakrishna continued talking.
--
"Krishnadas Pal came here. I found him full of rajas. But it must be said that he observed the Hindu customs. He left his shoes outside before entering The Room. After a little conversation I discovered that he had no stuff inside. I asked him about man's duty. He said, 'To do good to the world.' I said: 'My dear sir, who are you? What good will you do to the world? Is the world such a small thing that you think you can help it?' "
Narayan arrived. Sri Ramakrishna was very happy to see him. He seated Narayan by his side on the small couch. He showed him his love by stroking his body and giving him sweets to eat. Then he asked Narayan tenderly, "Will you have some water?" Narayan was a student at M.'s school. At home his people beat him for visiting Sri Ramakrishna.
--
(To M.) "Ah! Nilkantha came here the other day. What spiritual fervour he has! He said he would come here another day and sing for us. They are dancing over there. Why don't you go and see it? (To Ramlal) There is no oil in The Room. (Looking at the oil-jar) The servant hasn't filled it."
Sri Ramakrishna was walking up and down, now in his room, now on the south verandah. Occasionally pausing on the semicircular porch west of his room, he would look at the Ganges.
--
A brahmin from Sinthi entered The Room and saluted Sri Ramakrishna. He had studied Vednta in Benares. He was stout and had a smiling face.
MASTER: "Hello! How are you? You haven't been here in a long time."
--
The pundit from Sinthi left. It was dusk. Twilight hung over the Panchavati, the temples, and the river. Evening worship began in the different temples, accompanied by the sound of bells, gongs, and conchshells. Sri Ramakrishna bowed before the pictures of the deities in his room. He was sitting on the small couch in an abstracted mood. A few devotees were on the floor. There was silence in The Room.
Master and Ishan
--
Sri Ramakrishna sat in silence. After a while Ishan returned to The Room accompanied by Hazra. The Master was still silent. A few moments later Hazra whispered to Ishan: "Let's leave him alone. Perhaps he will meditate now." Both left The Room.
Sri Ramakrishna was still silent. In a few moments the devotees noticed that he was really meditating. Then he performed japa. He placed his right hand on his head, then on his forehead, then on his throat, then on his heart, and last of all on his navel. Was it meditation on the Primordial Energy in the six centres of the body?
--
The singing was over. Two sons of Rajnarayan entered The Room and bowed low before the Master. In the afternoon they had sung with their father the glories of the Divine Mother. The Master sang again with them:
All creation is the sport of my mad Mother Kli The younger brother requested Sri Ramakrishna to sing a certain song about Sri Gaurnga. The Master sang:
--
Ramlal entered The Room. The Master said to him: "Please sing something about the Divine Mother. It is the day of Her worship."
Ramlal sang:
--
From outside the shrine M. was looking wistfully at the image. Ramlal came to the temple with a book in his hand containing the rules of the worship. He asked M. if he wanted to come in. M. felt highly favoured and entered the shrine. He saw that the Divine Mother was profusely decorated. The Room was brilliantly illuminated by a large chandelier that hung from the ceiling. Two candles were burning in front of the image.
On the floor were trays full of offerings. Red hibiscus flowers and bel-leaves adorned Her feet. She wore garlands round Her neck, M.'s eyes fell on the chamara. Suddenly he remembered that Sri Ramakrishna often fanned the Divine Mother with it. With some hesitation he asked Ramlal if he might fan the image. The priest gave his permission. M.
--
As Sri Ramakrishna spoke, he was standing in the middle of The Room with Baburam by his side. He leaned toward the disciple, touching his body.
Suddenly he went into samdhi. The devotees stood around with their eyes fixed on him.
--
Ramlal entered The Room and saluted Sri Ramakrishna, touching the ground with his forehead. Then with great respect he touched the Master's feet. He was ready to worship the Divine Mother in the temple.
RAMLAL: "Please permit me to go to the shrine."
2.05 - VISIT TO THE SINTHI BRAMO SAMAJ, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Suppose there are pickled tamarind and jars of water in The Room of such a patient.
Now, how can you expect him to get rid of the disease? Just see, the very mention of pickled tamarind is making my mouth water! (All laugh.) You can very well imagine what will happen if the tamarind is actually put in front of me. To a man, a woman is the pickled tamarind, and his desire for enjoyment, the jars of water. There is neither end nor limit to this desire for worldly enjoyment. And the things are in the patient's very room. Can you expect the patient to get rid of the delirious fever in this fashion? He must be removed for a few days to another place where there are neither pickled tamarind nor water-jars. Then he will be cured. After that if he returns to his old room he will have nothing to fear. 'Woman and gold' cannot do any harm to the man who lives in the world after attaining God. Only then can he lead a detached life in the world as King Janaka did. But he must be careful at the beginning. He must practise spiritual discipline in strict solitude. The peepal-tree, when young, is fenced around to protect it from cattle. But there is no need for the fence when the trunk grows thick and strong.
--
While they were talking, Beni Pl, their host, entered The Room.
BENI (to Vijay): "Sir, please get up. It is already late. Please begin the worship."
--
MASTER (smiling): "But I have not got rid of all desires. I have the desire for love of God." The pundit's son entered The Room. He saluted the Master and took a seat.
MASTER (to the pundit): "Well, what is bhava and what is bhakti?"
--
Their host entered The Room and saluted Sri Ramakrishna. He was a pious man and devoted to the Master. The pundit's son was still there. The Master asked if the Panini, the Sanskrit grammar, was taught in the schools. He further asked about the Nyaya and the Vednta philosophies. The host did not show much interest in the discussion and changed the subject.
HOST: "Revered sir, what is the way for us?"
--
After a long time the Master regained consciousness of the world. The Mrwri devotees were about to take out the image. The offering of food was to take place outside The Room. The Master joined the procession of devotees. The food was offered with rati and music. Sri Ramakrishna fanned the image.
Then began the ceremony of feeding the brahmins. They were seated on the roof. The Master and his devotees also partook of the prasad.
2.06 - WITH VARIOUS DEVOTEES, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Just then a man entered The Room and told the Master that Hriday was waiting to see him in Jadu Mallick's garden, near the gate.
The Master said to the devotees: "I shall have to see Hriday. Please don't leave The Room." He put on his slippers and went toward the east gate of the temple garden, M.
accompanying him. The road through the garden was covered with red brick-dust. The manager of the temple, who was standing on the road, saluted Sri Ramakrishna. The Master passed the north entrance of the temple compound, where the bearded sentries sat. On his left he passed the kuthi, the building used by the proprietors of the temple.
--
After the devotees had left the Master, Mahimacharan brought Hazra to The Room. M.
was present. Mahima said to Sri Ramakrishna: "Sir, I have a complaint against you. Why have you asked Hazra to go home? He has no desire to return to his family."
--
Toward evening Sri Ramakrishna was pacing The Room. M. was sitting alone, thinking.
Suddenly the Master said to him tenderly: "Please give me a couple of linen shirts. As you know, I cannot use everybody's things. I thought of asking Captain for the shirts, but you had better give them to me." M. felt highly gratified and said, "As you please, sir."
--
Mahimacharan entered The Room.
MASTER (respectfully): "Come in. Come in, sir. Please take a seat.
--
A devotee outside The Room said, "The musician has come."
Sri Ramakrishna was filled with joy and said, "Ah! Has he?"
--
The ladies of Pyari Babu's family, from Bali, had come to visit the temples. They wanted to listen to the kirtan. A devotee said to Sri Ramakrishna: "These ladies have been inquiring whether there would be any place in The Room for them. Can they have seats?"
The kirtan had already begun. The Master said, "No, no! Where is any room here?"
--
In the evening arrangements were made for kirtan inside the Master's room. Sri Ramakrishna eagerly asked a devotee to have an extra lamp. The two lamps lit The Room brightly.
Sri Ramakrishna said to Vijay: "Why are you sitting there? Come nearer to me." This time the kirtan created an intense atmosphere. The Master danced in an ecstasy of joy; the devotees also danced encircling him. While Vijay was dancing his cloth dropped. He was unconscious.
--
Sri Ramakrishna had had no rest the whole day: the devotees had been with him all the time. He went out for a few minutes. Returning to The Room he saw M. taking down a song from Ramlal.
MASTER: "What are you doing?"
--
A little later Sri Ramakrishna took his supper of farina pudding and one or two luchis. A lighted lamp stood on a stand by his side. M. sat near him. The Master asked if there were any sweets in The Room. M. had brought some sandesh which he had put on the shelf. Sri Ramakrishna asked M. to give him a sweet. M. searched for the sweets but could not find them. He was embarrassed. They had been given to the devotees.
After finishing his supper, Sri Ramakrishna sat on the small couch and M. seated himself on the foot-rug. The Master, talking about Narayan, was overcome with emotion.
--
MASTER: "You see, he has much substance in him. Otherwise, how could I be attracted to him even though I was listening to the kirtan at the time? I had to leave the music and go into The Room. That never happened before."
Again Sri Ramakrishna fell silent. A few minutes later he began to talk.
--
M: "A fakir came to visit Akbar. The Emperor was saying his prayers. In his prayers he was asking God to give him wealth and riches. Thereupon the fakir was about to leave The Room quietly. Later, when the Emperor asked him about it, the fakir said, 'If I must beg, why should I beg of a beggar?'"
MASTER: "What else did we talk about?"
--
In the temple he took the seat in front of the image of Kli and offered flowers, sometimes at Her feet and sometimes on his own head. He fanned the Deity. Then he returned to his room and asked M. to unlock the door. Entering The Room, he sat on the small couch. He was completely overwhelmed with divine fervour and began to chant the name of God. M. sat alone on the floor. Sri Ramakrishna began to sing about the Divine Mother:
Who is there that can understand what Mother Kli is?
2.07 - BANKIM CHANDRA, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
His visits were occasions for religious festivals. Devotees in large numbers would assemble, and Adhar would feed them sumptuously. One day, while Sri Ramakrishna was visiting his home, Adhar said to him: "Sir, you haven't come to our house for a long time. The Rooms seemed gloomy; they had a musty smell. But today the whole house is cheerful; the sweetness of your presence fills the atmosphere. Today I called on God earnestly. I even shed tears while praying. "Is that so?" the Master said tenderly, casting a kindly glance on his disciple.
Sri Ramakrishna arrived at Adhar's house with his attendants. Everyone was in a joyous mood. Adhar had arranged a rich feast. Many strangers were present. At Adhar's invitation, several other deputy magistrates had come; they wanted to watch the Master and judge his holiness. Among them was Bankim Chandra Chatterji, perhaps the greatest literary figure of Bengal during the later part of the nineteenth century. He was one of the creators of modern Bengali literature and wrote on social and religious subjects. Bankim was a product of the contact of India with England. He gave modern interpretations of the Hindu scriptures and advocated drastic social reforms.
--
What faith a child has! When a child's mother says to him about a certain man, 'He is your brother', the child believes he really is his brother. The child believes it one hundred and twenty-five percent, though he may be the son of a brahmin, and the man the son of a blacksmith. The mother says to the child, 'There is a bugaboo in that room', and the child really believes there is a bugaboo in The Room. Such is the faith of a child! One must have this childlike faith in the guru's words. God cannot be realized by a mind that is hypocritical, calculating, or argumentative. One must have faith and sincerity.
Hypocrisy will not do. To the sincere, God is very near; but He is far, far away from the hypocrite.
--
"But do you know what lies behind all this? The man who says 'Kesava! Kesava!' after the arrival of the customers means, 'Who are they?' In other words, he wants to know how intelligent they are. The man who says 'Gopal! Gopal!' means to say he finds them no better than a herd of cows. The man saying 'Hari! Hari!' means, 'May I rob them?'; he suggests that since they are like a herd of cows they can be robbed. And the last man, who says 'Hara! Hara!', replies, 'Yes, rob them.' He means that since the customers are like a herd of cows, they can certainly be robbed. Here, too, you see a group of pious men, very much devoted to God!" (All laugh.) Bankim took his leave; but he was absent-minded. When he reached the door he discovered that he had dropped his shawl in The Room; he was in his short-sleeves. A gentleman handed him his shawl.
Of the devotees at Adhar's house, Sarat and Sannyal were brahmins. But Adhar belonged to the lower caste of the goldsmiths, and so the two brahmins quickly left, lest they should be pressed by their host to take their meal there. Sarat and Sannyal had been coming to the Master only a short time and did not know how fond the Master was of Adhar. The Master used to say that the devotees formed a separate caste by themselves; among them there could be no caste distinction.
2.07 - I Also Try to Tell My Tale, #The Castle of Crossed Destinies, #Italo Calvino, #Fiction
In these paintings of interiors, what counts is how a certain number of quite distinct objects are set in a certain space and allow light and time to flow over their surface: bound volumes, parchment scrolls, hourglasses, astrolabes, shells, the sphere hanging from the ceiling which shows how the heavens rotate (in Drer, its place is taken by a pumpkin). The Saint Jerome-Saint Augustine figure can be seated squarely in the center of the canvas, as in Antonello, but we know that the portrait includes the catalogue of objects, and the space of The Room reproduces the space of the mind, the encyclopaedic ideal of the intellect, its order, its categories, its calm.
Or its restlessness: Saint Augustine, in Botticelli (Uffizi), begins to grow nervous, crumples page after page and throws them on the ground beneath the desk. Also in the study where there reigns meditative serenity, concentration, ease (I am still looking at the Carpaccio), a high-tension current passes: the scattered books left open turn their pages on their own, the hanging sphere sways, the light falls obliquely through the window, the dog raises his nose. Within the interior space there hovers the announcement of an earthquake: the harmonious intellectual geometry grazes the borderline of paranoid obsession. Or is it the explosions outside that shake the windows? As only the city gives a meaning to the bleak landscape of the hermit, so the study, with its silence and its order, is simply the place where the oscillations of the seismographs are recorded.
2.07 - The Triangle of Love, #Bhakti-Yoga, #Swami Vivekananda, #Hinduism
The king then wanted the sage to oblige him by receiving a present from him. The sage refused to do so, saying, The fruits of the forest are enough food for me; the pure streams of water flowing down from the mountains give enough of drink for me; the barks of the trees supply me with enough of covering; and the caves of the mountains form my home. Why Should I take any present from you or from anybody? The king said, Just to benefit me, sir, please take something from my hands, and please come with me to the city and to my palace. After much persuasion, the sage at last consented to do as the king desired and went with him to his palace. Before offering the gift to the sage the king repeated his prayers, saying, Lord, give me more children; Lord, give me more wealth; Lord, give me more territory ; Lord, keep my body in better health, and so on. Before the king finished saying his prayer, the sage had got up and walked away from The Room quietly. At this the king became perplexed and began to follow him, crying aloud, Sir, you are going away, you have not received my gifts. The sage turned round to him and said, I do not beg of beggars. You are yourself nothing but a beggar; and how can you give me anything? I am no fool to think of taking anything from a beggar like you. Go away, do not follow me. There is well brought out the distinction between mere beggars and the real lovers of God.
Begging is not the language of love. To worship God even for the sake of salvation or any other reward is equally degenerate.
2.08 - AT THE STAR THEATRE (II), #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
MASTER: "How can you say that? Suppose a light is brought into a room that has been dark a thousand years; does it illumine The Room little by little, or all in a flash?"
GIRISH: "Then you have blessed me."
--
After the theatre, the actresses, following Girish's instructions, came to The Room to salute Sri Ramakrishna. They bowed before him, touching the ground with their foreheads. The devotees noticed that some of the actresses, in saluting the Master, touched his feet. He said to them very tenderly, "Please don't do that, mother!"
After the actresses had left The Room, Sri Ramakrishna said to the devotees, "It is all He, only in different forms."
The carriage was ready at the door. Girish and the others came to the street to see the Master off. As soon as Sri Ramakrishna stepped into the carriage, he went into deep samdhi. Narayan and several other devotees were with him. The carriage started for Dakshineswar.
--
Sri Ramakrishna left The Room and went toward the pine-grove. The devotees began to walk about in the garden. Several went to the Panchavati. Sri Ramakrishna met them there and said: "I have indigestion. I took a meal at the Mallicks'. They are very worldly people."
A few of the Master's personal things lay scattered on the cement platform of the Panchavati, and he asked M. to bring them. He proceeded to his room and the devotees followed.
2.09 - THE MASTERS BIRTHDAY, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Regaining consciousness he took his seat again. Narendra left The Room. The music went on.
Sri Ramakrishna whispered to Baburam: "There is Kshir [sweet milk preparation] in The Room. Give Narendra some."
Did the Master see Narendra as the embodiment of God?
--
The devotees were arranging the Master's meal in The Room. He asked Narendra to sing.
Narendra sang:
--
Some devotees from Konnagar arrived by boat. They entered Sri Ramakrishna's room singing kirtan; afterwards they went out to take some refreshments. Narottam was in The Room. The Master said to him and the other devotees: "The music of the Konnagar devotees was dull. Music should be so lively as to make everyone dance. One should sing a song like this:
See how all Nadia is shaking
--
Narendra had been talking a long time with Hazra on the porch. Since his father's death Narendra had been having financial worries. He entered The Room and took a seat.
Hazra's eccentricities
--
Narendra and many other devotees were seated on the floor. Girish entered The Room and joined them.
MASTER (to Girish): "I look on Narendra as tman. I obey him."
--
Girish entered The Room.
MASTER (to Girish): "Hello! What were you saying about me? I eat, drink, and make merry."
--
It was dusk. The lamp was lighted in The Room. Sri Ramakrishna chanted the divine names. He was singing and praying. He said, "Chant the name of Hari, repeat the name of Hari, sing the name of Hari." Again he said, "Rma! Rma! Rma!" Then: "O Mother!
Thou dost ever enjoy Thine eternal Sports. Tell us, O Mother, what is the way? We have taken refuge in Thee; we have taken shelter at Thy feet."
2.10 - THE MASTER AND NARENDRA, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Narendra entered The Room and saluted the Master. They began to talk together.
Presently the Master came down from the couch and sat on the floor, on which a mat had been spread. In the mean time The Room had become filled with people, both devotees and visitors.
Master warns Narendra about householders
--
But how could he do so without money? So he decided to go to the Emperor for help, for the gate of Akbar's palace was always open to holy men. The hermit entered the palace while the Emperor was at his daily devotions and took a seat in a corner of The Room. He heard the Emperor conclude his worship with the prayer, 'O God, give me money; give me riches', and so on and so forth. When the hermit heard this he was about to leave the prayer hall; but the Emperor signed to him to wait. When the prayer was over, Akbar said to him, 'You came to see me; how is it that you were about to leave without saying anything to me?' 'Your Majesty need not trouble yourself about it', answered the hermit.
'I must leave now.' When the Emperor insisted, the hermit said, 'Many people visit my hut, and so I came here to ask you for some money.' 'Then', said Akbar, 'why were you going away without speaking to me?' The hermit replied: 'I found that you too were a beggar; you too prayed to God for money and riches. Thereupon I said to myself, "Why should I beg of a beggar? If I must beg, let me beg of God." ' "
--
Suddenly the Master left The Room, but the music continued. M. accompanied the Master.
Sri Ramakrishna walked across the courtyard and entered the temple of Radhakanta. He bowed down before the images, M. following him. There was some red powder in a tray.
--
In the cool shade of the late afternoon the devotees walked about in the temple garden, leaving the Master and M. in The Room. The Master whispered to M.: "All say that they meditate well. But why is it different with Paltu? What do you think of Narendra? He is utterly guileless. Just now he is faced with many difficult family problems and so his spiritual progress is a little checked; but it will not be so for long."
Narendra was arguing on the verandah with a Vedantist. Now and then the Master went out to look at them. As the devotees gathered in The Room he asked Mahima to recite a hymn. Mahima chanted a verse from the Mahanirvana Tantra: We worship the Brahman-Consciousness in the Lotus of the Heart,
The Undifferentiated, who is adored by Hari, Hara, and Brahma. . . .
--
At three o'clack in the afternoon Sri Ramakrishna was in his room at Dakshineswar conversing happily with his devotees. Baburam, the younger Naren, Paltu, Haripada, Mohinimohan, and others were present. A young brahmin who had been staying with the Master a few days was also there.The Holy Mother, Sri Ramakrishna's wife, was living in the nahabat. Occasianally she would come to Sri Ramakrishna's room to attend to his needs. Mohinimohan had braught his wife and Nabin's mother with him to the temple garden from Calcutta. The ladies were with the Holy Mother; they were waiting far an opportunity to visit the Master when the men devotees would leave The Room.
Master talks about his young disciples
--
The brother of Judge Anukal Mukhopadhyaya's son-in-law was in The Room. The Master asked him, "Do you know Narendra?"
BROTHER: "Yes, sir. He is a very intelligent young man."
--
Sri Ramakrishna was in the happiest mood with his young and pure-souled devotees. He was seated on the small couch and was doing funny imitations of a kirtani. The devotees laughed heartily. The kirtani is dressed lavishly and covered with ornaments. She sings standing on the floor, a coloured kerchief in her hand. Now and then she coughs to draw people's attention and blows her nose, raising her nose-ring. When a respectable gentleman enters The Room she welcomes him with appropriate words, still continuing her song. Now and then she pulls her sari from her arms to show off her jewels.
The devotees were convulsed, with laughter at this mimicry by Sri Ramakrishna. Paltu rolled on the ground. Pointing to him, the Master said to M.: "Look at that child! He is rolling with laughter." He said to Paltu with a smile: "Don't report this to your father, or he will lose the little respect he has for me. You see, he is an 'Englishman."
--
The devotees silently watched the figure of Sri Ramakrishna motionless in samdhi. A few minutes before there had been so much laughter in The Room; now there was deep silence, as if no one were there. The Master sat with folded hands as in his photograph.
After a short while his mind began to come down to the relative plane. He heaved a long sigh and became aware of the outer world. He looked at the devotees and began to talk with them of their spiritual progress.
--
It was dusk. Preparations were going on in the temples for the evening worship. The lamp was lighted in the Master's room and incense was burnt. Seated on the small couch, Sri Ramakrishna saluted the Divine Mother and chanted Her name in a tender voice. There was nobody in The Room except M, who was sitting on the floor.
Sri Ramakrishna rose from the couch. M also stood up. The Master asked him to shut the west and north doors of The Room. M obeyed and stood by Sri Ramakrishna on the porch.
The Master said that he wanted to go to the Kli temple. Leaning on M.'s arm, he came down to the terrace of the temple. He asked M. to call Baburam and sat down.
--
Trak of Belgharia arrived with a friend and bowed low before Sri Ramakrishna, who was sitting on the small couch. The Room was lighted by an oil lamp. A few devotees were sitting on the floor.
Trak was about twenty years old, and married. His parents did not allow him to come to Sri Ramakrishna. He lived mostly at his home near Bowbazar. The Master was very fond of him. Trak's friend had a tamasic nature; he rather scoffed at the Master and religious ideas in general.
--
Mohini's wife entered The Room and sat at one side. Sri Ramakrishna spoke to M. about Trak's friend.
MASTER: "Why did Trak bring that fellow with him?"
--
The Master suddenly addressed Mohini's wife and said: "By unnatural death one becomes an evil spirit. Beware. Make it clear to your mind. Is this what you have come to after hearing and seeing so much?" Mohini was about to take his leave. He saluted Sri Ramakrishna. His wife also saluted the Master, who stood near the north door of The Room. Mohini's wife spoke to him in a whisper.
MASTER: "Do you want to stay here?"
2.11 - WITH THE DEVOTEES IN CALCUTTA, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
M taught in a school in the neighbourhood. He often brought his young students to visit the Master at Balarm's house. On this day, having learnt of Sri Ramakrishna's arrival, M. went there at noon during the recess hour of the school. He found the Master resting in the drawing room after his midday meal. Several young boys were in The Room. M
prostrated himself before the Master and sat by his side.
--
After school-hours M. returned to Balarm's house and found the Master sitting in the drawing-room, surrounded by his devotees and disciples. Among them were Girish, Suresh, Balarm, Ltu, and Chunilal. The Master's face was beaming with a sweet smile, which was reflected in the happy faces of those in The Room. M. was asked to take a seat by the Master's side.
MASTER (to Girish): "You had better argue this point with Narendra and see what he has to say."
--
They were thus talking when Naran entered The Room and bowed low before the Master.
He was a student seventeen or eighteen years old and of fair complexion. He was dearly loved by the Master, who was very eager to see the boy and feed him. Many a time at the temple garden at Dakshineswar the Master wept silently for Naran. He looked on him as the manifestation of Narayana Himself.
--
The devotees seated in The Room looked at Sri Ramakrishna as he began to chant the sweet name of the Divine Mother. After the chanting he began to pray. What was the need of prayer to a soul in constant communion with God? Did he not rather want to teach erring mortals how to pray? Addressing the Divine Mother, he said, "O Mother, I throw myself on Thy mercy; I take shelter at Thy Hallowed Feet. I do not want bodily comforts; I do not crave name and fame; I do not seek the eight occult powers. Be gracious and grant that I may have pure love for Thee, a love unsmitten by desire, untainted by any selfish ends-a love craved by the devotee for the sake of love alone.
And grant me the favour, O mother, that I may not be deluded by Thy world-bewitching my, that I may never be attached to the world, to 'woman and gold', conjured up by Thy inscrutable my! O mother, there is no one but thee whom I may call my own.
--
Narendra and Girish argue about God Many of his devotees were in The Room: Narendra, Girish, Ram, Haripada, Chuni, Balarm, and M. Narendra did not believe that God could incarnate Himself in a human body. But Girish differed with him; he had the burning faith that from time to time the Almighty Lord, through His inscrutable Power, assumes a human body and descends to earth to serve a divine purpose.
The Master said to Girish, "I should like to hear you and Narendra argue in English."
--
As Haripada was about to leave The Room the Master said with a smile: "Mind, a cab.
Don't forget to bring one." (All laugh.)
--
Then the Master completely forgot the outer world. He did not notice anyone in The Room, not even his beloved Narendra seated by his side. He did not know where he himself was seated. He was totally merged in God.
Suddenly he stood up, shouting, "Deep drunk with the Wine of Divine Love!" As he took his seat again, he muttered, "I see a light coming, but I know not whence it comes."
--
The younger Naren entered The Room. Sri Ramakrishna was going out to wash his hands and face. The younger Naren followed him with a towel; he wanted to pour water for the Master. M was with them.
MASTER: "It's very hot today."
--
Sri Ramakrishna seated himself in the drawing-room on the ground floor of Devendra's house. The devotees sat around him. It was evening. The Room was well lighted. The younger Naren, Ram, M., Girish, Devendra, Akshay, Upendra, and some other devotees were present. As the Master cast his glance on a young devotee, his face beamed with joy. Pointing to the devotee, Sri Ramakrishna said to the others: "He is totally free from attachment to land, wife, and money, the three things that entangle one in worldliness.
The mind that dwells on these three cannot be fixed on God. He saw a vision, too. (To the devotee) Tell us, what did you see?"
2.12 - On Miracles, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Disciple: Yesterday you said about a table being moved across The Room. Such an obvious physical effect you said could be produced by will-power.
Sri Aurobindo: It is not exactly will-power that is only a way of saying. Of course, the power represents itself as will-power to the mind. The will is there as a controlling agent, but really it is a form of vital energy. You can say it is the kinetic vital energy. It can produce a physical effect if it is strong enough and can lay hold on the vital-physical. It is really the vital-physical being that lays hold on the material object and deals with it.
2.12 - THE MASTERS REMINISCENCES, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
"The Isvarakoti is like the king's son. He has the keys to all The Rooms of the seven-storey palace; he can climb to all the seven floors and come down at will. A jivakoti is like a petty officer. He can enter some of The Rooms of the palace; that is his limit.
"Janaka was a Jnni. He attained Knowledge by means of his sdhan. But Sukadeva was Knowledge itself."
--
MASTER (to the devotees): "He looks thin. He has no small measure of bhakti. He is overflowing with it, but it is of a rather troublesome nature." (Laughter.) Sri Ramakrishna used to address a certain devotee's wife by the name of "Habi's mother". Her brother, a college student aged about twenty, was there. He stood up, ready to go and play cricket. His younger brother, named Dwija, was also a devotee of the Master. Both brothers left The Room. A few minutes later Dwija returned. The Master said, "Why didn't you go?" A devotee answered: "He wants to hear the music. Perhaps that is why he has come back."
Trailokya, the Brahmo devotee, was to sing for the Master. Paltu arrived. The Master said: "Who is this? Ah! It is Paltu."
--
The boy prostrated himself before Sri Ramakrishna. The Master seated him by his side and was talking to him in a low voice. M. alone was sitting near them. The other devotees were talking about various things. Girish, sitting on the other side of The Room, was reading a life of Keshab.
MASTER (to Purna): "Come nearer."
--
They bowed before the Master and sat down. He inquired about their health. The younger Naren entered The Room and saluted Sri Ramakrishna. The Master said to him, "Why didn't you see me last Saturday?"
Trailokya was ready to sing.
--
Sri Ramakrishna left The Room for a minute. The women devotees were seated near the screen. They were eager to see Sri Ramakrishna. Trailokya went on with his music.
Sri Ramakrishna entered The Room again and said to Trailokya, "Please sing a little about the Blissful Mother."
Trailokya sang:
2.13 - THE MASTER AT THE HOUSES OF BALARM AND GIRISH, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
The musician arrived with his party and sat in the middle of The Room. He was waiting for a sign from Sri Ramakrishna to begin the kirtan. The master gave his permission.
RAM (to the Master): "Please tell them what to sing."
--
The kirtan continued. Radha had met Krishna on the bank of the Jamuna under the kadamba tree. Her companions describe her physical and mental condition: A hundred times each hour, in and out of The Room she goes; Restless, breathing hard, she looks toward the kadamba grove.
Is she afraid of the elders? Has she been possessed by a ghost?
--
BHAVANTH (smiling): "Why do you ask him? He will only keep quiet." A beggar entered The Room. He wanted to sing. The devotees listened to a song or two. Narendra liked his singing and asked him to sing more.
MASTER: "Stop! Stop! We don't want any more songs. Where is the money? (To Narendra) You may order the music, but who will pay?"
--
"No matter how much sdhan you practise, you will not realize the goal as long as you have desire. But this also is true, that one can fealize the goal in a moment through the grace of God, through His kindness. Take the case of a room that has been dark a thousand years. If somebody suddenly brings a lamp into it, The Room is lighted in an instant.
"Suppose a poor man's son has fallen into the good graces of a rich person. He marries his daughter. Immediately he gets an equipage, clothes, furniture, a house, and other things."
--
MASTER (smiling); "One day I remarked that the chatak bird doesn't drink any water except that which falls from the sky. Narendra said, 'The chatak drinks ordinary water as well.' Then I said to the Divine Mother, 'Mother, then are my words untrue?' I was greatly worried about it. Another day, later on, Narendra was here. Several birds were flying about in The Room. He exclaimed, 'There! There!' 'What is there?' I asked. He said, 'There is your chatak!' I found they were only bats. Since that day I don't accept what he says. (All laugh.)
"At Jadu Mallick's garden house Narendra said to me, The forms of God that you see are the fiction of your mind.' I was amazed and said to him, 'But they speak too! 'Narendra answered, 'Yes, one may think so.' I went to the temple and wept before the Mother. 'O
--
"When I first attained this exalted state I could not worship Mother Kli or give Her the food offering. Haladhri and Hriday told me that on account of this the temple officer had slandered me. But I only laughed; I wasn't in the least angry. Attain Brahmajnana and then roam about enjoying God's lila. A holy man came to a town and went about seeing the sights. He met another sdhu, an acquaintance. The latter said: 'I see you are gadding about. Where is your baggage? I hope no thief has stolen it.' The first sdhu said: 'Not at all. First I found a lodging, put my things in The Room in proper order, and locked the door. Now I am enjoying the fun of the city.' "(All laugh.) BHAVANTH: "These are very lofty words."
M (to himself): "Tasting God's lila after Brahmajnana! Climbing down to the ordinary plane of consciousness after the attainment of samdhi!"
2.14 - AT RAMS HOUSE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Presently the younger Naren entered The Room.
MASTER: "What about him?"
--
A Theosophist gentleman arrived with Aswini Kumar Dutta and the son of Behari Bhaduri. The Mukherji brothers entered The Room and saluted Sri Ramakrishna.
Arrangements were being made for devotional music in the courtyard. At the first beat of the drum the Master left The Room and went there. The devotees followed him.
Bhavanth introduced Aswini to the Master. The Master introduced him to M. Aswini and M. were talking together when Narendra arrived. Sri Ramakrishna said to Aswini, "this is Narendra."
--
About three o'clock in the afternoon Sri Ramakrishna was resting in his room after the midday meal. A pundit was sitting on a mat on the floor. Near the north door of The Room stood a brahmin woman who had recently lost her only daughter and was stricken with grief. Kishori, too, was in The Room. M. arrived and saluted the Master. He was accompanied by Dwija and a few other devotees.
Sri Ramakrishna was not well. He had been suffering from an inflamed throat. These were the hot days of summer. M. was not keeping well either, and of late he had not been able to visit Sri Ramakrishna frequently.
--
Where will these youngsters be if you talk to them like that?' How can a man live if he gives up devotion? No doubt God has infinite splendour; yet He is under the control of His devotees. A rich man's gate-keeper comes to the parlour where his master is seated with his friends. He stands on one side of The Room. In his hand he has something covered with a cloth. He is very hesitant. The master asks him, 'Well, gate-keeper, what have you in your hand?' Very hesitantly the servant takes out a custard-apple from under the cover, places it in front of his master, and says, 'Sir, it is my desire that you should eat this.' The Master is impressed by his servant's devotion with great love he takes the fruit in his hand and says: 'Ah! This is a very nice custard-apple. Where did you pick it? You must have taken a great deal of trouble to get it.'
"God is under the control of His devotees. King Duryodhana was very attentive to Krishna and said to Him, 'Please have your meal here.' But the Lord went to Vidura's hut. He is very fond of His devotees. He ate Vidura's simple rice and greens as if they were celestial food.
--
"But one cannot succeed unless one renounces 'woman and gold'. Only by renunciation is ignorance destroyed. The sun's rays, falling on a lens, burn many objects. But if a room is dark inside, you cannot get that result: 'you must come out of The Room to use the lens.
"But some people live in the world even after attaining jnna. They see both what is inside and what is outside The Room. The light of God illumines the world. Therefore with that light they can discriminate between good and bad, permanent and impermanent.
The ignorant, who lead a worldly life without knowing God, are like people living in a house with mud walls.
With the help of a dim light they can see the inside of the house but nothing more. But those who live in the world after having attained Knowledge and realized God, are like people living in a glass house. They see the inside of The Room and also all that is outside. The light from the sun of Knowledge enters strongly into The Room. They perceive everything inside The Room very clearly. They know what is good and what is bad, what is permanent and what is impermanent.
"God alone is the Doer, and we are all His instruments. Therefore it is impossible even for a Jnni to be egotistic. The writer of a hymn to iva felt proud of his achievement; but his pride was dashed to pieces when iva's bull bared his teeth. He saw that each tooth was a word of the hymn. Do you understand the meaning of this? These words had existed from the beginning less past. The writer had only discovered them.
--
Sri Ramakrishna sat on the small couch. After chanting the names of the different deities, he meditated on the Divine Mother. The evening service was over. Sri Ramakrishna paced The Room, now and then talking to the devotees. He also consulted M. about his going to Calcutta.
Presently Narendra arrived. He was accompanied by Sarat and one or two other young devotees. They all saluted the Master.
2.14 - On Movements, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo: The simile itself is not correct. First of all the matchstick does not get lighted of itself; you have to light it. So it does not agree with X's idea that Yoga would be done by itself. Secondly, the matchstick lights up a small area and there are plenty of dark corners in The Room. Thirdly, the match goes out very soon.
Disciple: So the simile fells to the ground. They also used to say that if knowledge comes then all actions are completely destroyed.
2.15 - CAR FESTIVAL AT BALARMS HOUSE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Sri Ramakrishna and M. were talking together. Narayan, Tejchandra, Balarm, and other devotees were in The Room. The Master was talking about Purna, a lad of fifteen. He was very eager to see the boy.
MASTER (to M.): Well, by which road will he come to see me? Please have Purna and Dwija meet each other.
--
M: "Yes, sir. One day I was riding on a tram. He saw me from The Room of his house and ran down to the street. With great fervour he saluted me from the street."
MASTER (with tears in his eyes): "Ah! Ah! It is because you have helped him make the contact through which he will find out the supreme ideal of his life. One doesn't act like that unless one longs for God.
--
A man dressed in an ochre robe entered The Room and greeted the Master. Privately he was in the habit of criticizing Sri Ramakrishna; so at the sight of him Balarm laughed.
Sri Ramakrishna could read a man's mind. He said to Balarm: "Never mind. Let him say I am a cheat."
--
It was dusk. Lamps were lighted in The Room. Sri Ramakrishna was meditating on the Divine Mother and chanting Her name in his melodious voice. The devotees sat around him. Since Balarm was going to celebrate the Car Festival at his house the following day, Sri Ramakrishna intended to spend the night there.
After taking some refreshments in the inner apartments, Sri Ramakrishna returned to the parlour. It was about ten o'dock. The Master said to M., "Please bring my towel from the other room." A bed was made for Sri Ramakrishna in the adjoining small room.
--
It was the day of the Car Festival. Sri Ramakrishna left his bed very early in the morning. He was alone in The Room, dancing and chanting the name of God. M. entered and saluted the Master. Other devotees arrived one by one. They saluted the Master and took seats near him. Sri Ramakrishna was longing intensely for Purna. He was talking to M. about him.
MASTER: "Did you give Purna any instruction?"
--
At this moment Sarada, another' young disciple of the Master, entered The Room and saluted him.
MASTER (to Sarada): "Why don't you come to Dakshineswar? Why don't you see me when I come to Calcutta?"
--
Gopal Ma entered The Room. She was a great devotee of Gopala and was blessed with many lofty spiritual visions. Sri Ramakrishna had asked Balarm to send a man to bring her from Kamarhati. As soon as she entered The Room she said, "I am shedding tears of joy." With these words she bowed before the Master, touching the ground with her forehead.
MASTER: "What is this? You address me as 'Gopala' and still you salute me! Now go into the inner apartments and cook some curry for me. Put some spicy seasoning in it so that I may get the smell from here." (All laugh.
--
Before she left The Room she said to Narendra in a very fervent voice, "My child, have I reached the goal, or have I farther to go?"
It was the day of the Car Festival; so there was some delay in the worship of the Family Deity. When the worship was finished Sri Ramakrishna was asked to have his meal. He went to the inner apartments. The woman devotees were anxious to see him.
--
When Sri Ramakrishna had heard a line or two of the song he went into samdhi. He stood up in that ecstatic mood, The younger Naren supported him. The Master's face was lighted with a smile. Gradually his body became motionless; his mind appeared to have gone to another realm. All the devotees in The Room looked at him in amazement. The woman devotees watched the scene from behind the screen. After a long time he came down from samdhi, chanting the holy name of God.
As the Master sat down, Vaishnavcharan sang again:
--
It was afternoon. In the mean time the small car of Jagannath, decorated with flowers, flags, and bunting, had been brought to the inner verandah. The images of Jagannath, Subhadra, and Balarama, were adorned with sandal-paste, flower garlands, robes and jewelry. Sri Ramakrishna left The Room where the professional musicians were singing and came to the verandah, accompanied by the devotees. He stood in front of the car and pulled it by the rope. He began to sing and dance with the devotees in front of the car.
The Master sang:
--
It was four, o'clock in the morning. Sri Ramakrishna was in bed in the small room next to the drawing-room. M. was sitting on a bench on the outer verandah to the south of The Room. A few minutes later Sri Ramakrishna came out to the verandah. M. saluted him.
MASTER: "I have already been up once. Well, shall we go to Dakshineswar this morning?"
--
Day was gradually breaking. The devotees had not yet arrived. Sri Ramakrishna had washed his mouth and was chanting the names of God in his sweet voice. He stood near the north door of The Room. M. was by his side. A few minutes later Gopal Ma arrived and stood near him. One or two woman devotees were looking at the Master from behind the doors of the inner apartments. They were like the gopis of Vrindvan looking at Sri Krishna, or the woman devotees of Nadia looking at Gaurnga from behind the screen.
After chanting the name of Rma, Sri Ramakrishna chanted the name of Krishna: "Krishna! Krishna! Krishna of the gopis! Gopi! Gopi! Krishna, the Life of the cowherd boys of Vrindvan! Krishna, the son of Nanda! Govinda! Govinda!"
--
Afterwards the Master sat in the small room with the devotees. He was completely stripped of his clothes, like a five-year-old child. M., Balarm, and a few other devotees were in The Room.
MASTER: "One can see God's form. One sees God when all Updhis disappear and reasoning stops. Then a man becomes speechless and goes into samdhi. Coming to the theatre, people indulge in all kinds of gossip. But the moment the curtain goes up, all conversation stops; the spectators become fully absorbed in what they see on the stage.
--
M. sat motionless as a picture on canvas, hearing about these unique visions of the Master. The other devotees also were spellbound. There was a dead silence in The Room.
TULASI (pointing to M.): "He never laughs."
2.15 - Power of Right Attitude, #Questions And Answers 1929-1931, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
If each of you did your utmost, then there would be the right collaboration and the result would be so much the quicker. I have had innumerable examples of the power of right attitude. I have seen crowds saved from catastrophes by one single person keeping the right attitude. But it must be an attitude that does not remain somewhere very high and leaves the body to its usual reactions. If you remain high up like that, saying, Let Gods will be done, you may get killed all the same. For your body may be quite undivine, shivering with fear: the thing is to hold the true consciousness in the body itself and not have the least fear and be full of the divine peace. Then indeed there is no danger. Not only can attacks of men be warded off, but beasts also and even the elements can be affected. I can give you a little example. You remember the night of the great cyclone, when there was a tremendous noise and splash of rain all about the place. I thought I would go to Sri Aurobindos room and help him shut the windows. I just opened his door and found him sitting quietly at his desk, writing. There was such a solid peace in The Room that nobody would have dreamed that a cyclone was raging outside. All the windows were wide open, not a drop of rain was coming inside.
***
2.16 - VISIT TO NANDA BOSES HOUSE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
poured water from a jug. The Master dried his hands with his cloth and returned to The Room; Then he was offered betel-leaf on a tray. But the other guests had already taken some from the same tray; the Master did not accept any.
NANDA (to the Master): "May I say something?"
--
Sri Ramakrishna was seated in the drawing-room of Ganu's mother's house. It was on the Street floor. The Room was used by a concert party. Several young men played on their instruments now and then for the pleasure of the Master.
It was eight-thirty in the evening. Moonlight flooded the streets, the houses, and the sky. It was the first day after the full moon.
--
BRAHMANI: "Ganu's mother requests you to bless The Room with the dust of your feet.
Then The Room will be turned into Benares, and anyone dying in it will have no trouble hereafter."
Sri Ramakrishna went inside accompanied by the brahmani and the young men of the family. The devotees were strolling outside in the moonlight. M. and Binode were pacing the street south of the house and recalling the various incidents in the life of their beloved Master.
--
Sri Ramakrishna ate a little pudding. Jogin and the other devotees left The Room. M. was stroking the Master's feet. They talked together.
MASTER (referring to the brahmani and her relatives): "Ah! How happy they were!"
2.17 - December 1938, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo: It is not merely philosophy the fact is there corresponding to the philosophy. The Gita speaks of it as avibhaka ca bhteu vibhaktamiva ca sthita undivided in the midst of divided things, appearing as if divided. This is not an illusion. I see a tree: the tree appears to me as separate from me. But it is the One, because one with Him. It is myself. It is something else than a tree. It is impossible to think of it as something else than the Brahman. When I cast my eyes round The Room everything objects and persons appears as the Brahman. I call you so and so but you are not that.
Ordinarily, one tags everything on to the 'ego'. But in that higher state you understand the divine working better than when you are a separate 'ego'. It is when you can become 'nobody' and have experience of the Divine that you can be free. That is Mukti. When I realized the One, my self disappeared. It is difficult to think of myself as so and so, son of so and so. It is a relief and freedom to be 'That' and to remain in 'It'.
2.17 - THE MASTER ON HIMSELF AND HIS EXPERIENCES, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
It was eight o'clock. Sri Ramakrishna was talking to Mahimacharan. Rkhl, M., and one or two companions of Mahimacharan were in The Room. Mahimacharan was going to spend the night at the temple garden.
Mahima's estimate of the devotees
--
Sri Ramakrishna came down to the floor and sat near Mahimacharan. M. and a few other devotees were near him. Rkhl also was in The Room.
MASTER (to Mahima): "For a long time I have wanted to tell you my spiritual experiences, but I could not. I feel like telling you today.
--
In the early hours of the morning Mahimacharan and M. lay down on the floor of the Master's room. Rkhl slept on a camp cot. Now and then Sri Ramakrishna paced up and down The Room with his clothes off, like a five-year-old child.
Monday, August 10
It was dawn. The Master was chanting the name of the Divine Mother. He went to the porch west of his room and looked at the Ganges; then he stopped in front of the pictures of different gods and goddesses in The Room and bowed to them. The devotees left their beds, saluted Sri Ramakrishna, and went out.
The Master was talking to a devotee in the Panchavati. The latter had dreamt of Chaitanyadeva.
--
It was eight o'clock in the morning. M. bathed in the Ganges and came to Sri Ramakrishna. The brahmani who was grief-stricken on account of her daughter's death also entered The Room.
The Master asked the brahmani to give M. some prasad to eat.
--
Pundit Shyamapada of Antpur arrived. It was dusk. The pundit went to the bank of the Ganges to perform his evening worship; he had some amazing visions during the worship. He returned to the Master's room and sat on the floor. Sri Ramakrishna had just finished meditation and the chanting of the holy names. He was sitting on the small couch and M. on the foot-rug. Rkhl, Ltu, and the others were in and out of The Room.
Brahman is the innermost Reality
--
After the pundit had left The Room Sri Ramakrishna said to M.: "Don't you see that what I have said is coming to pass? Those who have sincerely practised meditation and japa must come here."
It was ten o'clock. Sri Ramakrishna ate a little farina pudding and lay down. He asked M.
to stroke his feet. A few minutes later he asked the disciple to massage his body and chest gently. He enjoyed a short nap. Then he said to M.: "Now go to sleep. Let me see if I can sleep better when I am alone." He said to Ramlal, "He [meaning M.] and Rkhl may sleep in The Room."
Friday, August 28
--
Sri Ramakrishna lay in bed, on his side, with his back to The Room. After dusk Gangadhar and M. arrived from Calcutta. Gangadhar sat at the feet of the Master, who was talking to M.
MASTER: "Two boys came here the other day. One of them was Subodh. He is Sankar Ghosh's great grandson. The other, Kshirode, is his neighbour. They are nice boys. I told them I was ill and asked them to go to you for instruction. Please look after them a little."
--
Girish Ghosh arrived in a carriage with one or two friends. He was drunk. He was weeping as he entered The Room. He wept, as he placed his head on Sri Ramakrishna's feet.
Sri Ramakrishna affectionately patted him on the back. He said to a devotee, "Prepare a smoke for him."
--
The devotees returned to The Room.
GIRISH: "The guru and the Ishta. I like very much the form of the guru. I am not afraid of him. Why should it be so? I am afraid of ecstasy. At the sight of ecstasy I run away."
--
Bhagavan Rudra and M. Rkhl, Ltu, and other devotees were in The Room. The physician heard all about the Master's illness. Sri Ramakrishna came down to the floor and sat near the doctor.
MASTER: "You see, medicine does not agree with me. My system is different.
--
Sri Ramakrishna was then under Dr. Pratap's treatment. He awoke at midnight and felt extremely restless. Harish, his attendant was in The Room. Rkhl also was there. Ramlal was asleep on the verandah. The Master remarked later on: "I was feeling extremely restless. I felt like embracing Harish. They rubbed a little medicinal oil on my head. Then I began to dance."
--------------------
2.18 - January 1939, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo: One feels perpetual calm, perpetual strength one is aware of Infinity, lives not only in Infinity but in Eternity. One feels the immortality and does not care about the death of the body, and one has the consciousness of the One in all. Everything becomes the manifestation of the Brahman. For instance, as I look round The Room I see everything as the Brahman it is not thinking, it is a concrete experience, even the wall, the book is Brahman. I see you not as X but as a divine being in the Divine. It is a wonderful experience.
2 JANUARY 1939
--
I met Lele when I was searching for some guidance and practised meditation under his guidance. I had the Nirvana experience in Sardar Majumdar's house in The Room on the top floor. After that I had to rely on inner guidance for my Sadhana. In Alipore the Sadhana was very fast, it was extravagant and exhilarating. On the vital plane it can be dangerous and disastrous. I took to fasting at Alipore for ten or eleven days and lost ten pounds in weight. At Pondicherry the loss of weight was not so much, though the physical substance began to be reduced. It was in Shankar Chetty's house. I was walking eight hours a day during a twenty-three days' fast.
The miraculous or extraordinary powers acquired by Yogis on the vital plane are not all true in the physical. There are many pitfalls in the Vital. The vital powers take up even a man like Hitler and make him do things by suggesting to him "It shall happen." There are quite a number of cases of sadhaks here who have lost their Sadhana by listening to these voices from the vital world. And the humour of it all is that they all say that they come either from the Mother or from me!
--
We had a dog, a bitch, left by somebody in the first house we rented. There was a room upstairs with glass windows and a bathroom at one extremity. One day she found herself locked out. She tried all sorts of things to enter The Room but could not as the door and the windows were closed. When all attempts failed, she sat down in front of a window and began to think, "How to get in ?" The way she sat and the attitude of her sitting showed clearly that she was thinking. Then suddenly she got up as if saying, "Ah, there's the bathroom door! Let me try it." She went in that direction; the door was open and she got in.
It is the Europeans who make a big difference between man and animal. The only difference is animals can't form a concept, can't read or write or philosophise. (Laughter)
2.18 - SRI RAMAKRISHNA AT SYAMPUKUR, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
It was Thursday evening, a few days after the Durga Puja. Sri Ramakrishna sat on his bed in his room on the second floor, with Dr.Sarkar, Ishan, and other devotees. Although Dr.Sarkar was a very busy physician, he would spend a long time-sometimes six or seven hours-in Sri Ramakrishna's company. He had great love for the Master and looked on the devotees as his own kith and kin. A lamp was burning in The Room. Moonlight illumined the outside world.
Master praises the true householder
--
"God cannot be realized without childlike faith. The mother says to her child, pointing to a boy, 'He is your elder brother.' And the child at once believes that the boy is one hundred per cent his brother. Again, the mother says that a bogy man lives in a certain room, and the child believes one hundred per cent that the bogy man lives in The Room.
God bestows His grace on the devotee who has this faith of a child. God cannot be realized by the mind steeped in worldliness."
2.19 - THE MASTER AND DR. SARKAR, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
The singing was over. Many of the devotees were in a rapturous mood. There was a deep silence in The Room.
Guilelessness of the young devotees
--
It was about one o'clock in the afternoon. Sri Ramakrishna was seated on the second floor of the house at Syampukur. Dr. Sarkar, Narendra, Mahimacharan, M., and other devotees were in The Room. Referring to the homeopathic system of medicine, the Master said to Dr. Sarkar, "This treatment of yours is very good."
DOCTOR: "According to homeopathy the physician has to check up the symptoms of the disease with the medical book. It is like Western music. The singer follows the score.
--
After seven o'clock M. came to Dr. Sarkar's house and told him about the Master's condition. The physician's old teacher and one or two friends were in The Room. Dr.
Sarkar said to his teacher, "Sir, I have been thinking of the Paramahamsa since three in the morning. I couldn't sleep at all. Even now he is in my mind."
--
There were many devotees, including Narendranath, in The Room; Vijaykrishna Goswami arrived and respectfully took the dust of the Master's feet. Several Brahmo devotees came with him. Vijay had cut off his connection with the Brahmo Samaj and was practising spiritual discipline independently. Sri Ramakrishna was very fond of him on account of his piety and devotion. Though not a disciple of the Master, Vijay held him in very high respect. He had lived in Dcc a long time. Recently he had visited many sacred places in upper India.
MAHIMA CHAKRAVARTY (to Vijay): "Sir, you have visited many holy places and new countries. Please tell us some of your experiences."
--
The conversation was thus going on, when Dr. Sarkar came into The Room and took a seat. He said to the Master: "I woke up at three this morning, greatly worried that you might catch cold. Oh, I thought many other things about you."
MASTER: "I have been coughing and my throat is sore. In the small hours of the morning my mouth was filled with water. My whole body is aching."
--
The atmosphere of The Room became electric. Everyone felt the presence of God. Dr.
Sarkar, eminent scientist that he was stood breathless, watching this strange scene. He noticed that the devotees who had gone into samdhi were utterly unconscious of the outer world. All were motionless and transfixed. After a while, as they came down a little to the plane of the relative world, some laughed and some wept. An outsider, entering The Room, would have thought that a number of drunkards were assembled there.
A little later Sri Ramakrishna resumed his conversation, the devotees taking their seats.
--
MASTER: "You must have heard it from M. The man was Chandra Haldar, a priest of the Kli temple at KaliGhat; he often came to Mathur Babu's house. One day I was lying on the ground in an ecstatic mood. The Room was dark. Chandra Haldar thought I was feigning that state in order to win Mathur's favour. He entered The Room and kicked me several times with his boots. It left black marks on my body. Everybody wanted to tell Mathur Babu about it, but I forbade them."
DOCTOR: "This is also due to the will of God. Thus you have taught people how to control anger and practise forgiveness."
2.20 - THE MASTERS TRAINING OF HIS DISCIPLES, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
It was about one o'clock in the afternoon when the doctor and M. entered the Master's room on the second floor. Sri Ramakrishna sat there, smiling as usual, completely forgetful of the fatal illness, which was eating his life away. Among the many devotees in The Room were Girish, the younger Naren, and Sarat. Sometimes they were motionless, like the snake before its charmer, and sometimes they displayed great joy, like the bridal party with the bridegroom. The doctor and M. bowed low before the Master and sat on the floor. At the sight of the doctor, the Master said, laughing, "Today I have been feeling very well."
Then the Master went on with his soul-enthralling conversation.
--
These words created in me a feeling of great aversion. I said: 'What are you saying? You are very mean. What you think day and night and what you do all the time come out through your lips. If a man eats radish, he belches radish.' Then we talked about God a great deal. There was also much devotional music in The Room, and I danced. Then Bankim said to me, 'Sir, please come to our house once.' 'That depends on the will of God', I replied. 'There also', he said, 'you will find devotees of God.' I laughed and said: 'What kind of devotees are they? Are they like those who said, "Gopal! Gopal!"? ' "
DOCTOR: "What is the story of 'Gopal! Gopal!'? "
--
"I too passed through that state. It is called Dsya, the attitude of the servant toward his master. I used to weep so bitterly with the name of the Divine Mother on my lips that people would stand in a row watching me. When I was passing through that state, someone, in order to test me and also to cure my madness, brought a prostitute into my room. She was beautiful to look at, with pretty eyes. I cried, 'O Mother! O Mother!' and rushed out of The Room. I ran to Haladhri and said to him, 'Brother, come and see who has entered my room!' I told Haladhri and everyone else about this woman. While in that state I used to weep with the name of the Mother on my lips. Weeping, I said to Her: O Mother, protect me! Please make me stainless. Please see that my mind is not diverted from the Real to the unreal.' (To the doctor) This attitude of yours is also very good. It is the attitude of a devotee, one who looks on God as his Master.
"When a man develops pure sattva, he thinks only of God. He does not enjoy anything else. Some are born with pure sattva as a result of their Prrabdha karma. Through unselfish action one finally acquires pure sattva. Sattva mixed with rajas diverts the mind to various objects. From it springs the conceit of doing good to the world. To do good to the world is extremely difficult for such an insignificant creature as man. But there is no harm in doing good to others in an unselfish spirit. This is called unselfish action. It is highly beneficial for a person to try to perform such action. But by no means all succeed, for it is very difficult. Everyone must work. Only one or two can renounce action. Rarely do you find a man who has developed pure sattva. Through disinterested action sattva mixed with rajas gradually turns into pure sattva.
--
Narendra entered The Room and sat near Sri Ramakrishna. Since the death of his father he had been very much worried about the family's financial condition. He now had to support his mother and brothers. Besides, he was preparing himself for his law examination. Lately he had served as a teacher in the Vidysgar School at Bowbazar.
He wanted to make some arrangement for his family and thus get rid of all his worries.
--
It was about two o'clock. Sri Ramakrishna and the devotees were sitting in The Room.
Atul brought with him a friend who was a munsiff. Bagchi, the famous painter from Shikadarpara, arrived. He presented the Master with several paintings. Sri Ramakrishna examined the pictures with great delight.
--
After a little while, as the doctor stood up to take his leave, Girish Chandra Ghosh entered The Room and bowed low before the Master. Dr. Sarkar was pleased to see him and took his seat again.
DOCTOR (pointing to Girish): "Of course he would not come as long as I was here. No sooner am I about to leave than he enters The Room."
Girish and Dr. Sarkar began to talk about the Science Association established by the latter.
2.21 - IN THE COMPANY OF DEVOTEES AT SYAMPUKUR, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
"Let me tell you something else. You see the same room whether you look at it from one side or from the middle of The Room."
DR. BHADURI (to Dr. Sarkar): "What I have just said you will find in the Vednta. You must study the scriptures. Then you will understand."
--
It was about five o'clock in the afternoon. The devotees were sitting quietly in The Room.
Many outsiders also were present. All sat in silence.
--
M. did not reply. The Room was full of men, all silent.
Presently Sri Ramakrishna spoke.
--
M. became silent. The Room was still. A few minutes later Sri Ramakrishna spoke to M. in a whisper.
MASTER: "Well, how is the doctor coming along? Does he now receive well the ideas of this place?"
--
It was evening. A lamp was burning in Sri Ramakrishna's room. The devotees and visitors were sitting at a distance. The Master was introspective. Those in The Room were also thinking of God and sat in silence.
A few minutes afterwards Narendra entered The Room with a friend, whom he introduced to the Master as an author. Sri Ramakrishna talked with him about the metaphysical significance of Radha and Krishna. The author said that Radha and Krishna were the Supreme Brahman. Vishnu, iva, Durga, and the other deities had sprung from them.
Different aspects of Radha
--
Presently Sri Ramakrishna went out on the porch. Returning to The Room, he said to the devotees, "I saw him [meaning Misra] standing in a heroic posture." As he uttered these words he went into samdhi. He stood facing the west.
Regaining partial consciousness, he fixed his gaze on Misra and began to laugh. Still in an ecstatic mood, he shook hands with him and laughed again. Taking him by the hands, he said, "You will get what you are seeking."
--
Sri Ramakrishna was pacing The Room with M. He had put on his slippers. In spite of his painful illness his face beamed with joy.
MASTER: "And this song is also very good: 'This world is a framework of illusion.' "
2.22 - THE MASTER AT COSSIPORE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
The elder Copal, who was also in The Room, said, "I shall accompany Narendra."
Kalipada Ghosh had brought a box of grapes for Sri Ramakrishna; it lay beside the Master. The Master gave Narendra a few and poured the rest on the floor for the devotees to pick up.
--
Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on his bed and talking to M. No one else was in The Room. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon.
MASTER: "If Kshirode makes a pilgrimage to Gangasagar, then please buy a blanket for him."
--
The Master and M. became silent. Narendra entered The Room. He was going home to settle his family affairs.
Since his father's death Narendra had been in great distress about his mother and brothers. Now and then they had been threatened with starvation. Narendra was the family's only hope: they expected him to earn money and feed them. But Narendra could not appear for his law examination; he was passing through a state of intense renunciation. He was going to Calcutta that day to make some provision for the family. A friend had agreed to lend him one hundred rupees. That would take care of the family for three months.
--
It was eight o'clock in the evening. Sri Ramakrishna was in the big hall on the second floor. Narendra, Sashi, M., Sarat, and the elder Gopal were in The Room. Sri Ramakrishna was lying down. Sarat stood by his bed and fanned him. The Master was speaking about his illness.
MASTER: "If some of you go to Dakshineswar and see Bholanath, he will give you a medicinal oil and also tell you how to apply it."
--
About seven o'clock in the morning Sri Ramakrishna felt a little better. He talked to the devotees, sometimes in a whisper, sometimes by signs. Narendra, Rakhal, Latu, M., Gopal of Sinthi, and others were in The Room. They sat speechless and looked grave, thinking of the Master's suffering of the previous night.
MASTER (to the devotees): "Do you know what I see right now? I see that it is God Himself who has become all this. It seems to me that men and other living beings are made of leather, and that it is God Himself who, dwelling inside these leather cases, moves the hands, the feet, the heads. I had a similar vision once before, when I saw houses, gardens, roads, men, cattle — all made of One Substance; it was as if they were all made of wax.
--
The devotees sit silently in The Room. Sri Ramakrishna looks at them tenderly. Then he places his hand on his heart. He is about to speak.
MASTER (to Narendra and the others): "There are two persons in this. One, the Divine Mother—"
2.23 - THE MASTER AND BUDDHA, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Sri Ramakrishna sat on his bed in the big hall upstairs. It was evening. M. was alone in The Room, fanning the Master. Latu came in a little later.
MASTER (to M.): "Please bring a chaddar for me and a pair of slippers."
--
Narendra entered The Room and took a seat. Sashi, Rakhal, and one or two other devotees came in. The Master asked Narendra to stroke his feet. He also asked him whether he had taken his meal.
MASTER (smiling, to M.): "He went there [referring to Bodh-Gaya]."
--
In the evening lamps were lighted in the house. Sri Ramakrishna sat on his bed, facing the north. He was absorbed in contemplation of the Mother of the Universe. A few minutes later Fakir, who belonged to the priestly family of Balaram, recited the Hymn of Forgiveness addressed to the Divine Mother. Sash;, M., and two or three other devotees were in The Room. After the recital Sri Ramakrishna, with folded hands, very respectfully bowed to the Deity.
M. was fanning Sri Ramakrishna. The Master said to him by signs, "Get a stone cup for me that will hold a quarter of a seer of milk — white stone." He drew the shape of the cup with his finger.
--
M. bought the cup in Calcutta and returned to Cossipore at noon. He saluted the Master and placed the cup near him. Sri Ramakrishna took the cup in his hands and looked at it. Dr. Rajendra Dutta, Dr. Sreenath, Rakhal Haldar, and several others came in. Rakhal, Sashi, and the younger Naren were in The Room. The physicians heard the report of the Master's illness. Dr. Sreenath had a copy of the Gita in his hand.
DR. SREENATH (to his friends): "Everything is under the control of Prakriti. Nobody can escape the fruit of past action. This is called prarabdha."
--
After a few minutes the physicians left The Room. Sri Ramakrishna was talking to Rakhal Haldar.
HALDAR: "Dr. Sreenath studies Vedanta. He is a student of the Yoga-vasishtha."
--
The moon was shining brilliantly, flooding the garden paths, the trees, and the water of the lake with its white rays. Girish, M., Latu, and a few other devotees were seated on the steps leading to the lake. The house stood to the west of the lake. A lamp burnt in the Master's room on the second floor. Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on his bed. There were several devotees in The Room.
A few minutes later Girish and M. were strolling along a garden path lined with flowering plants and fruit-trees.
--
Girish, Latu, and M. went to Sri Ramakrishna's room and found him sitting on the bed. Sashi and one or two devotees had been tending the Master. Baburam, Niranjan, and Rakhal also entered The Room. It was a large room. Some medicines and a few other accessories were kept near the bed. One entered The Room by a door at the north end.
Since Sri Ramakrishna had to be tended all night, the devotees stayed awake by turns. The devotee who tended him fixed Sri Ramakrishna's mosquito net and then either lay on a mat on the floor or spent the night sitting up. Since Sri Ramakrishna got very little sleep on account of his illness, his attendant, too, slept very little.
--
Girish was given the refreshments on a tray. Sri Ramakrishna took a grain and Girish accepted the rest as prasad. He sat in front of the Master and began to eat. He needed water to drink. There was an earthen jug in the southeast corner of The Room. It was the month of April, and the day was hot. Sri Ramakrishna said, "There is some nice water here."
The Master was so ill that he had not enough strength even to stand up. And what did the disciples see to their utter amazement? They saw him leave the bed, completely naked, and move toward the jug! He himself was going to pour the water into a tumbler. The devotees were almost frozen with fear. The Master poured the water into a glass. He poured a drop or two into his hand to see whether it was cool. He found that it was not very cool; but since nothing better could be found, he reluctantly gave it to Girish.
--
Again there was silence in The Room.
MASTER (to M.): "The refreshments are hot and good."
--
Girish returned to The Room and sat in front of the Master. He was chewing a betel-leaf.
MASTER (to Girish): "Rakhal has now understood what is good and what is bad, what is real and what is unreal. He lives with his family, no doubt, but he knows what it means. He has a wife. And a son has been born to him. But he has realized that all these are illusory and impermanent. Rakhal will never be attached to the world.
--
It was eight o'clock in the evening. Moonlight and the south wind added to the charm of the garden house. Many of the devotees were meditating in The Room downstairs. Referring to them, Narendra said to M., "They are shedding their upadhis one by one."
A few minutes later M. came into Sri Ramakrishna's room and sat down on the floor. The Master asked him to wash his towel and the spittoon. M. washed them in the reservoir.
--
It was about nine o'clock in the morning. The Master and M. were talking. Sashi was also in The Room.
MASTER (to M.): "What were Narendra and Sashi talking about? What did they discuss?"
--
It was about nine o'clock in the evening. Surendra and a few other devotees entered Sri Ramakrishna's room and offered him garlands of flowers. Baburam, Latu, and M. were also in The Room.
Sri Ramakrishna put Surendra's garland on his own neck. All sat quietly. Suddenly the Master made a sign to Surendra to come near him. When the disciple came near the bed, Sri Ramakrishna took the garland from his neck and put it around Surendra's. Surendra saluted the Master. Sri Ramakrishna asked him, by a sign, to rub his feet. Surendra gave them a gentle massage.
2.24 - THE MASTERS LOVE FOR HIS DEVOTEES, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
It was about three o'clock in the afternoon. Sri Ramakrishna was in bed. Ramlal, who had come from Dakshineswar, was massaging his feet. Gopal of Sinthi and M. were in The Room.
Sri Ramakrishna asked M. to shut the windows and massage his feet. At the Master's request Purna had come to the Cossipore garden in a hired carriage. M. was to pay the carriage hire. Sri Ramakrishna made a sign to Gopal, asking whether he had obtained the money from M. Gopal answered in the affirmative.
At nine o'clock in the evening Surendra, Ram, and the others were about to return to Calcutta. It was the sultry month of April and Sri Ramakrishna's room became very hot during the day; so Surendra had brought some straw screens to keep The Room cool.
SURENDRA: "Why, nobody has hung up these straw screens. Nobody here pays attention to anything."
--
Surendra came in and took a seat. The devotees offered garlands of flowers to the Master every evening. Sri Ramakrishna put these garlands around his neck. Surendra sat quietly in The Room. Sri Ramakrishna was in a very happy mood and gave him two garlands. Surendra saluted the Master and put them around his neck.
All sat in silence and looked at Sri Ramakrishna. Surendra saluted the Master again and stood up. He was about to leave. He asked Bhavanath to hang the straw screens over the windows.
--
Narendra entered The Room and sat near the Master.
MASTER (to Narendra and Hirananda): "I want to hear you two talk."
--
His words were sweet as nectar. Everyone in The Room could feel that his heart was filled with love.
NARENDRA: "The plan of the universe is devilish. I could have created a better world."
--
Narendra recited a few verses from the Ashtavakra Samhita. The Room again became silent.
MASTER (to Hirananda, pointing to Narendra): "He seems to be walking with an unsheathed sword in his hand. (To M., pointing to Hirananda) How quiet! Like a cobra, quiet before charmer, with its hood spread."
Sri Ramakrishna fell into an inward mood. Hirananda and M. were seated near him There was complete silence in The Room. The Master's body was being racked with indescribable pain. The devotees could not bear the sight of this illness; but somehow the Master made them forget his suffering. He sat there, his face beaming as if there were no trace of illness in his throat.
The devotees had placed flowers and garlands before him as their loving offerings. He picked up a flower and touched with it first his head, then his throat, heart, and navel. To the devotees he seemed a child playing with flowers.
--
It was-Good Friday. Hirananda had taken his midday meal at the Cossipore garden house. About one o'clock in the afternoon he was stroking Sri Ramakrishna's feet. M. sat near by. Latu and one or two other devotees were going in and out of The Room. It was the Master's earnest desire that Hirananda should stay for some time at the Cossipore garden house.
While massaging the Master's feet, Hirananda conversed with him. He spoke in a very sweet voice, as if trying to console a child.
--
It was a sultry day and The Room became very hot at noontime. The straw screens had been hung over the windows. Hirananda adjusted them. The Master looked at him.
MASTER (to Hirananda): "Please don't forget to send the pajamas."
--
It was evening. A lamp was lighted in the Master's room. Amrita Basu, a Brahmo devotee, came in. Sri Ramakrishna had expressed his eagerness to see him. M. and a few other devotees were there. A garland of jasmine lay in front of the Master on a plantain-leaf. There was perfect silence in The Room. A great yogi seemed to be silently communing with God. Every now and then the Master lifted the garland a little, as if he wanted to put it around his neck.
AMRITA (tenderly): "Shall I put it around your neck?"
2.25 - AFTER THE PASSING AWAY, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
"I have noticed a peculiar thing. Some men, objects, or places make me feel as if I had seen them before, in a previous birth. They appear familiar to me. One day I went to Sarat's house in Calcutta, on Amherst Street. Immediately I said to Sarat: This house seems familiar to me. It seems to me that I have known The Rooms, the passages, and the rest of the house for many, many days.
"I used to follow my own whims in everything I did. The Master never interfered. You know that I became a member of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj."
--
M: "That is to say, he has not yet entered The Room. At Syampukur Vijay said to the Master, 'I saw you at Dacca in this tangible form, in this very body.' You were there too."
NARENDRA: "Devendra Babu and Ram Babu want to renounce the world. They are trying hard. Ram Babu told me privately that he would give up the world after two years."
--
About eight o'clock in the morning two devotees, one a householder and the other a monk, were conversing in a room in the Baranagore monastery, when M. came in. The devotees were of the same age — twenty-four or twenty-five years old. M. intended to spend three days at the monastery. He went to the shrine and saluted the Deity. After visiting Narendra, Rakhal, and the other brothers, he at last came into The Room where the two devotees were engaged in conversation. The householder devotee wanted to renounce the world. The monk was trying to persuade him not to do so.
MONK: "Why don't you finish the few duties you have in the world? Very soon they will be left behind.
--
Narendra was a little late in coming to the worship room. He found that there was no flower on the tray. There were only a few bel-leaves. He sprinkled the leaves with sandal-paste and offered them to Sri Ramakrishna. He rang the bell, saluted the Deity again, and joined the other brothers in the big hall, which was known as The Room of the "danas".
The members of the math called themselves the "danas" and the "daityas", which mean the "ghosts" and the "demons", the companions of Siva. They took these names because of their utter indifference to worldly pleasures and relationships.
The southernmost room of the second floor was used for meditation, contemplation, and study, and was known as Kali Tapasvi's room, since Kali used to shut himself in there most of the day. North of this room was the worship room, and north of that, again, was The Room where the offerings for the worship were prepared. From this room the devotees used to watch the evening worship. North of the "offering room" was The Room of the "danas", a very long hall where the members of the math used to assemble. Here the householder devotees and visitors were received. North of this hall was a small room where the devotees took their meals. East of the worship room and of Kali Tapasvi's room ran a long verandah, at the south-west corner of which was the library of a society of Baranagore. Between Kali Tapasvi's room and this library was a staircase; and north of the dining-room was another staircase, leading to the roof.
Narendra and the other members of the math often spent their evenings on this roof. There they devoted a great deal of lime to discussion of the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, Sankaracharya, Ramanuja, and Jesus Christ, and of Hindu philosophy, European philosophy, the Vedas, the Puranas, and the Tantras.
Narendra, who had a beautiful voice, used to sing in The Room o£ the "danas" and teach music to Sarat and a few others. Kali used to take lessons on the instruments. Many, many happy hours they spent together in that hall, dancing and singing.
Narendra was sitting with the devotees in The Room of the "danas". The conversation turned to religious preaching.
M. (to Narendra): "Vidyasagar says that he does not speak about God to anyone for fear of being caned." NARENDRA: "For fear of being caned? What does he mean?"
--
M. did not enter The Room. As he was pacing outside he overheard some of the conversation.
NARENDRA: "There is no fixed time or place for the sandhya and other devotions."
--
It was dusk. The evening worship was over. The devotees, as usual, sang in chorus, "Jaya Siva Omkara". Afterwards they assembled in The Room of the "danas". M., too, was seated there. Prasanna was reading from the Guru Gita.
Narendra sang:
--
Tarak and Prasanna were talking in The Room of the "danas". Tarak had lost his mother. His father, like Rakhal's father, had married a second time. Tarak himself had married but had lost his wife. Now the monastery was his home. He too was trying to persuade Prasanna to live there.
PRASANNA: "I have neither jnana nor prema. What have I in the world for a support?"
--
Narendra and Prasanna were talking in the meditation room. Rakhal, Harish, and the younger Gopal were seated in another part of The Room. After a while the elder Gopal came in.
Narendra was reading from the Gita and explaining the verses to Prasanna:
--
Narendra got up. As he left The Room he remarked, "My brain is heated by talking to these youngsters."
He met M. on the verandah and said, "Please, let us have a drink of water."
--
The members of the monastery assembled in The Room of the "danas". Narendra heard Rabindra's story. He sang by way of giving instruction to him:
O man, abandon your delusion! Cast aside your wicked counsels!
2.3.03 - Integral Yoga, #Essays Divine And Human, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
I mean by the psychic the inmost soul-being and the soul nature. This is not the sense in which the word is used in ordinary parlance, or rather, if it is so used, it is with great vagueness and much misprision of the true nature of this soul and it is given a wide extension of meaning which carries it far beyond that province. All phenomena of an abnormal or supernormal psychological or an occult character are dubbed psychic; if a man has a double personality changing from one to another, if an apparition of a dying man, something of his mere vital sheath or else a thought-form of him, appears and stalks through The Room of his wondering friend, if a poltergeist kicks up an unseemly row in a house, all that is classed under psychic phenomena and regarded as a fit object for psychic research, though these things have nothing whatever to do with the psyche. Again much in
Yoga itself that is merely occult, phenomena of the unseen vital or mental or subtle physical planes, visions, symbols, all that mixed, often perturbed, often shadowy, often illusory range of experiences which belong to this intervening country between the soul and its superficial instruments or rather to its outermost fringes, all the chaos of the intermediate zone, is summed up as psychic and considered as an inferior and dubious province of spiritual discovery. Again there is a constant confusion between the mentalised desire-soul which is a creation of the vital urge in man, of his life-force seeking for its fulfilment and the true soul which is a spark of the Divine Fire, a portion of the Divine.
3.00.2 - Introduction, #The Practice of Psycho therapy, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
a girl of six months old, is playing in the kitchen with her grandparentsand myself, her mother. The grandparents are on the left of The Room and
the child stands on the square table in the middle of the kitchen. I stand by
3.02 - King and Queen, #The Practice of Psycho therapy, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
corners of The Room. If your brother summons you to the wedding, go, but
if he summons you to the bedchamber, do not hurry! Trust in God and
--
four corners of The Room form the marriage quaternio, the aim being to
prevent the incest by putting four in place of two. The four dolls form a
3.02 - The Practice Use of Dream-Analysis, #The Practice of Psycho therapy, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
frightened horse is tearing through The Rooms. At last it finds the door into
the hall, and jumps through the hall window from the fourth floor into the
3.18 - Of Clairvoyance and the Body of Light, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
the objects in The Room behind you. Dont say, Its only an effort of
subconscious memory the time to test that is later on.
31 Hymns to the Star Goddess, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
Then I raised the bars of his cage, and without a moment's hesitation he flew out into The Room, and spying the cage of the love-birds, perched upon it and examined it carefully.
Not long afterwards another and stronger cage was obtained for the love-birds, for they had pecked through some of the frail bars. When the little bird was offered the discarded cage, he quickly hopped from his tiny one to theirs.
--
The door remained open; The Room was before him, wherein he could stretch his wings and fly.
Yet he preferred his cage.
33.03 - Muraripukur - I, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
I lived in a students' Mess, one that had acquired quite a name. Among the inmates were Atul Gupta, Charu Bhattacharya (late of the Visvabharati), and a little before my time there was Naresh Chandra Sengupta. In my first year of College, Atul Gupta was in his fourth year, Charu Bhattacharya in his fifth and Naresh Sengupta had just passed out. I happened once to set foot in The Room he used to occupy and there I found scattered about the floor a few pages torn out of a note-book which read very much like love letters. This seemed to me a little strange, but later I realised these were some pages from the manuscript of one of his novels.
This decision to choose my path came while I was in my Fourth Year. That I would definitely join the Gardens was conveyed to Barin by Prafulla. He had already told him about my antecedents, so one day I received a call - Barin would see me, as if at an interview for a post. Escorted by Prafulla, I arrived at his residence in Gopimohan Dutt Lane at Goabagan. This place acquired some renown during the Alipore case as a den of the terrorists. Next to the house there was a gymnasium for the young men of the neighbourhood where wrestling and boxing and all kinds of dangerous martial exercises were practised.
--
Let me end this story today with something nice and sweet. It was during my stay at the Gardens that I had my first meeting and interview with Sri Aurobindo. Barin had asked me to go and see him, saying that Sri Aurobindo would be coming to see the Gardens and that I should fetch him. Manicktolla was in those days at the far end of North Calcutta and Sri Aurobindo lived with Raja Subodh Mullick near Wellington Square to the South. I went by tram and it was about four in the afternoon when I reached there. I asked the doorman at the gate to send word to Mr. Ghose - this was how he used to be called in those days at the place - saying that I had come from Barin of the Manicktolla Gardens. As I sat waiting in one of The Rooms downstairs, Sri Aurobindo came down, stood' near me and gave me an inquiring look. I said, in Bengali, "Barin has sent me. Would it be possible for you to come to the Gardens with me now?" He answered very slowly, pausing on each syllable separately - it seemed he had not yet got used to speaking Bengali - and said, "Go and tell Barin, I have not yet had my lunch. It will not be possible to go today." So, that was that. I did not say a word, did my namaskara- and came away. This was my first happy meeting with him, my first Darshan and interview.
I have been there once later. It was no longer the old Gardens but a ploughed field. There was no trace of the jungle left, it had all been dug up. The pools too had been drained and filled and the house razed to the ground. The British authorities had dug up every inch of the area to see if any weapons might have been kept hidden anywhere. I found in the case of the Yugantar office also which stood next to the Medical College that it too had been pulled down and there was only a little plot of open ground left in its place.
33.05 - Muraripukur - II, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
I have said that Sri Aurobindo came to occupy with Mrinalini a portion of the house in Grey Street. It was here that they arrested him later. The Navashakti too did not last long. In the course of their search, the police discovered in one of The Rooms occupied by Sri Aurobindo a lump of clay, which Mrinalini had brought from Dakshineswara as a sacred relic. But the suspicions of the police were not to be allayed so easily. They thought it might as well be some kind of raw material for the manufacture of bombs, so they had it sent to their chemical laboratories for a chemical analysis!
Now let me come to the story of this final rounding up. For some time past almost all of us had been noticing one thing. Whenever we went out on whatever business, for shopping or to visit people, somebody seemed to be following us, from a little distance no doubt but it was clear enough that we were being watched. When we stopped, he too would stop; if we tarried a little, he too kept himself occupied on some pretext or other. We talked about this among ourselves and made the great discovery that this must be what they called spying, and that we must henceforth take extra precautions. So far, we had never had this kind of trouble. Ours had been a secret society only in name, for the whole thing was out in the open. Anybody could enter the Gardens from anywhere at any time and move about the place, for it was all open compound without any fencing or walls. That is why on the morning of our arrest, a couple of boys from the neighbourhood also found themselves under arrest along with us. In piteous tones they implored the policemen, "We are innocent, sirs; we came here only for a morning stroll." The poor innocents!
33.06 - Alipore Court, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The comedy of our trial was being staged within the world-play, and on the court-room stage itself we the undertrial prisoners had been doing our little private drama. The stage was set in The Room of the Alipore Sessions Court. One corner of The Room was fenced off so as to form a square enclosure but with wire netting that enabled us to see and breathe. They had also left a small passage through the netting for our entrance and exit, and a sentry had been posted with arms to watch that the tigers and wild beasts did not break through the cage. Inside, a few benches had been laid where we might sit, for we could not obviously be kept standing the whole day. We were some thirty-five in all. They used to take us from Alipore Jail in a carriage - by carriage I mean a horse-drawn vehicle, for motor-cars had not yet come. As we left jail, they would handcuff us in two's, the right hand of one being tied to the left hand of the other with the same pair of handcuffs. The handcuffs were removed before we entered our cage in the courtroom.
As the proceedings began in court, we would take our seats. But the court proceeded in its own way and we went on in ours. The pleaders and barristers and witnesses and spectators were all engrossed in the subject matter of the case. The barristers pleaded, the witnesses gave their depositions, the court made comments, everything went on as is usual in a court of law. But we remained perfectly neutral and indifferent as if it did not concern us at all. Our interests were elsewhere. We had come to sit together forming separate groups of four or five according to our respective tastes and temperaments. We could of course move from one group to another as and when we liked. Our topics of discussion ranged over all manner of subjects: religion and spirituality, literature and science, our work and our future, all this came within our purview. Our discussions sometimes grew so loud and hot that Judge Beachcroft - he had been contemporaneous with Sri Aurobindo at Cambridge - would shout at us like a schoolmaster, "Less noise there, less noise there!" If that did not stop all the noise, then he had to make this threat, "Unless you stop, your tiffin will stop." That was a deadly blow and made us perfectly still. For the tiffin they served us in court was our chief meal in the whole day, for its quantity and quality were such as to make it a charming oasis in that Sahara of jail. This tiffin came to us from outside, from friends and relatives and well-wishers. It included such items as luchis,potatoes and fritters and sweets. Once we had a taste of all this, it was no wonder that the jail rations came to be despised and grew untouchable.
--
Well, let me now explain how the pistols came. They came precisely the way Sri Aurobindo's writings went. When the police found that we were not such ferocious beasts after all, they gave us permission to have a chance sometimes of meeting our friends and relatives. These meetings took place in a room next to the entrance through the main gate of the jail. They erected a partition of iron bars through the middle of The Room. On one side of this barrier stood the visitors and friends and we stood on the other: No doubt there were some sentries about, but they did not particularly bother to watch, for on the whole there had grown up an amount of confidence in our good faith. But it wets very easy to pass on anything across this barrier, for with a shawl or heavy chuddaron, one could easily touch the person on the other side of the bars - out of an excess of feeling, one would normally imagine. I remember how my uncle once burst into tears on meeting me in this manner. Anyhow, the pair of revolvers used by Kanai and Satyen had changed hands through the bars in this manner.
I referred just now to our good faith. In fact our laughter and fun, our mirth and play, and our sweet simplicity had astonished them all. We had a Court Inspector, an elderly Muslim gentleman, who would almost burst into tears as he looked on us. "How dare you laugh and play?" he used to say, "you have not the least idea of the terror you have to face. You do not know what kind of life it is in the Andamans.
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Citrus -- -- Passione -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Drama Romance School Shoujo Ai -- Citrus Citrus -- During the summer of her freshman year of high school, Yuzu Aihara's mother remarried, forcing her to transfer to a new school. To a fashionable socialite like Yuzu, this inconvenient event is just another opportunity to make new friends, fall in love, and finally experience a first kiss. Unfortunately, Yuzu's dreams and style do not conform with her new ultrastrict, all-girls school, filled with obedient shut-ins and overachieving grade-skippers. Her gaudy appearance manages to grab the attention of Mei Aihara, the beautiful and imposing student council president, who immediately proceeds to sensually caress Yuzu's body in an effort to confiscate her cellphone. -- -- Thoroughly exhausted from her first day, Yuzu arrives home and discovers a shocking truth—Mei is actually her new step-sister! Though Yuzu initially tries to be friendly with her, Mei's cold shoulder routine forces Yuzu to begin teasing her. But before Yuzu can finish her sentence, Mei forces her to the ground and kisses her, with Yuzu desperately trying to break free. Once done, Mei storms out of the room, leaving Yuzu to ponder the true nature of her first kiss, and the secrets behind the tortured expression in the eyes of her new sister. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 364,268 6.51
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Gantz -- -- Gonzo -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Horror Psychological Supernatural Drama Ecchi -- Gantz Gantz -- Thought your life was bad? Sometimes, death is worse. There is no salvation, peace, nor god waiting to receive you into their care. But wait, a god? Maybe you are talking about that big black ball stuck in the room with you. Now you are thrown into a game, fighting green aliens and robot monsters for the chance to survive. -- -- When Kei Kurono is killed, he thus finds himself caught in such a game—a test of his skills, morals, and will to survive. His life is not his own; his death is spat and trampled upon over and over again. What happens if he does not listen? God knows. -- -- A word of warning: Gantz is not for the faint-hearted, but neither is it as simple as it looks. Gore, rape, and violence is rampant, as are portrayals of greed, violence, and all the ugliness that one sees in society today. -- -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Funimation -- TV - Apr 13, 2004 -- 293,426 7.04
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Owarimonogatari -- -- Shaft -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Mystery Comedy Supernatural Vampire -- Owarimonogatari Owarimonogatari -- A peculiar transfer student named Ougi Oshino has just arrived at Naoetsu Private High School. She is quickly introduced to senior student Koyomi Araragi by their mutual friend Kanbaru Suruga, in hopes of obtaining advice regarding a strange discovery she has made. After taking a look at the school's layout, Ougi notices that a classroom has appeared in an otherwise empty area—a place that should not exist. -- -- Unsure if this is the work of an apparition, Araragi and Ougi attempt to unravel the truth behind this enigma. But Araragi soon discovers, after finding himself locked in with Ougi, that the room holds the memory of an event he had long since forgotten. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 371,735 8.46
Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? (TV) -- -- SILVER LINK. -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Harem Comedy Supernatural School -- Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? (TV) Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? (TV) -- After Koutarou Satomi's father is suddenly relocated for his job, the first-year high school student is faced with finding a cheap place to live by himself. Naturally, he jumps at the chance to move into Corona House's Room 106 for a mere five thousand yen a month. But while everything goes well at first, Koutarou soon gets a lot more than he bargained for after stumbling upon a mysterious cave while working his part-time job. -- -- The following night, Koutarou is visited by various seemingly mythical figures, all of whom claim ownership of the poor student's apartment. Among the invaders are Sanae Higashihongan, a ghost supposedly haunting the room, magical girl Yurika, alien princess Theiamillis Gre Fortorthe, and Kiriha Kurano, a direct descendant of the Earth People. But more importantly, each of these four girls needs Koutarou's apartment for her own reasons and won’t back down without a fight! -- -- Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? is a comedic battle royale over a six-tatami mat apartment involving supernatural beings, romantic high school hijinks, and a deceptively cordial landlady. -- -- 152,067 7.17
SSSS.Gridman -- -- Trigger -- 12 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Mecha -- SSSS.Gridman SSSS.Gridman -- Yuuta Hibiki wakes up in the room of Rikka Takarada and notices two things: he has no memories, and he can hear a mysterious voice calling his name from a nearby room. On further inspection, he finds a robot—which introduces itself as Hyper Agent Gridman—behind the screen of an old computer. Much to Yuuta's surprise, Rikka cannot hear Gridman, nor can she see the ominous monsters looming over a thick fog as it envelopes the town outside. -- -- Another giant monster materializes in the city and proceeds to wreak havoc. Amidst the confusion, Yuuta is once again drawn to the old computer and merges with Gridman. Suddenly, he appears in the middle of the battle and is forced to fight the monster. Together with Rikka and fellow classmate Shou Utsumi, Yuuta forms the "Gridman Alliance" to defeat the monsters plaguing the city and find whoever is responsible for their emergence. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 213,180 7.17
Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete -- -- feel. -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Sci-Fi Drama Romance School -- Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete -- Kaori Sasaki—a member of Uchihama Academy’s Astronomy Club—confesses to Sou Akiyama, but later that evening, she dies in a tragic road accident. Her friends and fellow club members mourn her death in a local hospital. Yet she shows up to school the following day, and no one senses anything amiss. -- -- The day finishes without any unusual incidents, and the group of friends plans for the upcoming cultural festival. Suddenly, the room is shaken by an unnatural earthquake. Everyone splits up to investigate—except for Nagisa Hanamiya, who stays behind. As everyone leaves, Nagisa notices that the odd relic-like cube that she was toying with starts emitting a strange blue light. Meanwhile, Sou stumbles upon an unconscious, naked girl lying in a pool of water. -- -- Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete follows the Astronomy Club’s increasingly bizarre adventures—from dealing with ghosts to quelling unrests between student clubs. All the while, they unravel the circumstances behind the sudden appearance of a new transfer student. -- -- 79,559 6.75
Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete -- -- feel. -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Sci-Fi Drama Romance School -- Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete -- Kaori Sasaki—a member of Uchihama Academy’s Astronomy Club—confesses to Sou Akiyama, but later that evening, she dies in a tragic road accident. Her friends and fellow club members mourn her death in a local hospital. Yet she shows up to school the following day, and no one senses anything amiss. -- -- The day finishes without any unusual incidents, and the group of friends plans for the upcoming cultural festival. Suddenly, the room is shaken by an unnatural earthquake. Everyone splits up to investigate—except for Nagisa Hanamiya, who stays behind. As everyone leaves, Nagisa notices that the odd relic-like cube that she was toying with starts emitting a strange blue light. Meanwhile, Sou stumbles upon an unconscious, naked girl lying in a pool of water. -- -- Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete follows the Astronomy Club’s increasingly bizarre adventures—from dealing with ghosts to quelling unrests between student clubs. All the while, they unravel the circumstances behind the sudden appearance of a new transfer student. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 79,559 6.75
Vanitas no Carte -- -- Bones -- ? eps -- Manga -- Historical Supernatural Vampire Fantasy Shounen -- Vanitas no Carte Vanitas no Carte -- There once lived a vampire known as Vanitas, hated by his own kind for being born under a blue full moon, as most arise on the night of a crimson one. Afraid and alone, he created the "Book of Vanitas," a cursed grimoire that would one day take his vengeance on all vampires; this is how the story goes at least. -- -- Vanitas no Carte follows Noé, a young man travelling aboard an airship in 19th century Paris with one goal in mind: to find the Book of Vanitas. A sudden vampire attack leads him to meet the enigmatic Vanitas, a doctor who specializes in vampires and, much to Noé's surprise, a completely ordinary human. The mysterious doctor has inherited both the name and the infamous text from the Vanitas of legend, using the grimoire to heal his patients. But behind his kind demeanor lies something a bit more sinister... -- -- TV - Jul ??, 2021 -- 8,091 N/A -- -- Yichang Shengwu Jianwenlu -- -- - -- 13 eps -- Novel -- Supernatural Vampire -- Yichang Shengwu Jianwenlu Yichang Shengwu Jianwenlu -- Yoshihito, a 23-year-old man who has no job or girlfriend. In order to make ends meet he rents out one of the rooms in his house. While he's showing Lily, his first tenant, around the house, she's suddenly attacked by a vampire named Vivian, and Yoshihito notices that Lily is actually a werewolf. As Yoshihito and Lily start living in the same house, Yoshihito is scouted for an organization that maintains order of the parallel universes, and strange creatures one after another become tenants in his house. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- ONA - Jun 28, 2019 -- 7,551 6.41
Yichang Shengwu Jianwenlu -- -- - -- 13 eps -- Novel -- Supernatural Vampire -- Yichang Shengwu Jianwenlu Yichang Shengwu Jianwenlu -- Yoshihito, a 23-year-old man who has no job or girlfriend. In order to make ends meet he rents out one of the rooms in his house. While he's showing Lily, his first tenant, around the house, she's suddenly attacked by a vampire named Vivian, and Yoshihito notices that Lily is actually a werewolf. As Yoshihito and Lily start living in the same house, Yoshihito is scouted for an organization that maintains order of the parallel universes, and strange creatures one after another become tenants in his house. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- ONA - Jun 28, 2019 -- 7,551 6.41
Adults in the Room
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Cathy Jean and the Roommates
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Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
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In the Room
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Let's Chase Each Other Around the Room
Patrice O'Neal: Elephant in the Room
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Silent Hill 4: The Room
Spirit in the Room
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The Loudest Voice in the Room
The Room
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