TERMS STARTING WITH
vis-a-vis ::: n. --> One who, or that which, is face to face with another; esp., one who faces another in dancing.
A carriage in which two persons sit face to face. Also, a form of sofa with seats for two persons, so arranged that the occupants are face to face while sitting on opposite sides. ::: adv.
vis.ada (vishada) ::: despondency, depression. visada
visada ::: [depression, despondency].
visaed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Visa
visage ::: 1. The face, usually with reference to features, expression, etc.; countenance. 2. Aspect; appearance. visages.
visaged ::: a. --> Having a visage.
visage ::: familiar visage. Sri Aurobindo [in reference to the following lines]:
visage ::: n. --> The face, countenance, or look of a person or an animal; -- chiefly applied to the human face. ::: v. t. --> To face.
visah ::: the people. [Ved.]
visaing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Visa
visakanya ::: [a "poison-girl" supposed to cause the death of a man making love to her; a succuba].
visalata ::: wideness, an element of Mahesvari bhava. visalata
visaMyogaphala
visaMyogaphala. (T. bral ba'i 'bras bu; C. liji guo; J. rikeka; K. igye kwa 離繫果). In Sanskrit, "separation effect"; a term used to describe liberation from rebirth and the reality of NIRVĀnA. This is one of the five effects (PHALA) enumerated in the VAIBHĀsIKA school of SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMA and the YOGĀCĀRA system. Liberation (VIMOKsA) and nirvāna are forms of cessation (NIRODHA) and as such are unconditioned phenomena (ASAMSKṚTADHARMA) and permanent (NITYA) because they do not change moment by moment. Specifically, they are classified as "analytical cessations" (PRATISAMKHYĀNIRODHA), that is, states of cessation that arise through the process of insight. In the Buddha's delineation of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (catvāry āryasatyāni), the third truth of cessation (NIRODHASATYA) is followed by the fourth truth of the path (MĀRGASATYA). Later commentators would explain that cessation and path stand in a relationship of effect and cause, respectively. However, this is not possible in the literal sense, because an impermanent and conditioned phenomenon such as the path cannot serve as the cause for a permanent and unconditioned phenomenon such as cessation. In order to preserve this distinction but nonetheless acknowledge the role of religious practice in bringing about the state of nirvāna, the Vaibhāsika school proposed the category of visaMyogaphala, which is essentially an effect that has no cause. Thus, the practice of the path leads to a permanent separation from the KLEsAs, and because that state of separation is permanent, it not formally the effect of a cause.
visa ::: n. --> See Vis/. ::: v. t. --> To indorse, after examination, with the word vise, as a passport; to vise.
visard ::: n. --> A mask. See Visor. ::: v. t. --> To mask.
visarga ::: the creative impulse and energy which looses out things from the first essential self-becoming. ::: visargah [nominative]
visarjana ::: discharge.
visa ("s) ::: an endorsement made by an authorised representative of one country upon a passport issued by another, permitting the passport holder entry into or transit through the country making the endorsement.
vis.ayabhoga (vishayabhoga; vishaya bhoga) ::: vis.ayananda in the visayabhoga state of bhoga. visaya vis
vis.aya (vishaya) ::: an object of sensory or other experience; any of visaya the five "properties of energy or matter, sound, touch, form, taste and smell, which constitute the way in which the mind-sense perceives objects", being "five different ways of sense cognizance of the world, powers evolved by the universal energy [prakr.ti] in order to deal with all the forms of things she has created from the five elemental states [pañcabhūta] assumed by her original objective substance";(also called sūks.ma vis.aya) an immaterial object or sensation perceived by a subtle sense (sūks.ma indriya); short for vis.ayadr.s.t.i or vis.ayananda. visaya vis
vis.ayadr.s.t.i (vishayadrishti) ::: subtle sense-perception (sūks.ma dr.s.t.i) visayadrsti .. in general or any particular form of such perception, especially perception of the sūks.ma vis.ayas of sound, touch, smell and taste (sabda, sparsa, gandha and rasa), with vision of rūpa often mentioned separately; the faculty or faculties constituting the instrumentation of saṁjñana or "sense in its purity", which "exists behind and beyond the mind it uses and is a movement of the self, a direct and original activity of the infinite power of its consciousness", capable of presenting to us "things concealed from the limited receptivity or beyond the range of the physical organs, . . . scenes, forms, happenings, symbols of the vital, psychical, mental, supramental, spiritual worlds".
vis.aya-kama (vishaya-kama) ::: the combination of vis.ayananda and visaya-kama kamananda.
visayams tyaktva ::: having abandoned objects. [Gita 18.51]
vis.ayananda (vishayananda) ::: ananda in the objects of sense (vis.avisayananda yas), a form of sarirananda or physical ananda by which all "sense and sensation becomes full of . . . a divine joy, the delight of the Brahman"; the experience of vis.ayananda in relation to a particular sense (indriya) and its objects. vis visaya-nirananda
visayan indriyaiscaran ::: ranging over the objects with the senses. [Gita 2.64]
visaya. (P. visaya; T. yul; C. jing; J. kyo; K. kyong 境). In Sanskrit, lit. "sphere" or "object"; in epistemology, a general term for the object of a sensory consciousness (VIJNĀNA). Various types of such objects are described in works on logic and epistemology, with distinctions made between the objects perceived by the five sensory consciousnesses and the objects perceived by the mental consciousness (MANOVIJNĀNA).
visaya. See VIsAYA
visaya
vis.aya (sukshmavishaya; sukshma vishaya) ::: an immaterial vis.aya perceived by a sūks.ma indriya; an object of subtle senseperception, including "many kinds of symbolic, transcriptive or representative images presented to the different psychical senses"; any of the various faculties of subtle sense-perception (vis.ayadr.s.t.i), especially those other than rūpadr.s.t.i. ssuksmavisaya ūks.mavis.aya jjagrat
visaya vinivartante ::: [the objects of sense cease to affect]. [Gita 2.59]
visaya (Vishaya) ::: object (of experience) .
viscacha ::: n. --> Alt. of Viz-cacha
visceral ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the viscera; splanchnic.
Fig.: Having deep sensibility.
visceral motor system ::: The component of the motor system (also known as the autonomic nervous system) that motivates and governs visceral motor behavior.
visceral nervous system ::: Synonymous with autonomic nervous system.
visceral (noun, viscera) ::: Referring to the internal organs of the body cavity.
viscera ::: n. --> pl. of Viscus. ::: pl. --> of Viscus
viscerated ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Viscerate
viscerate ::: v. t. --> To deprive of the viscera, or entrails; to eviscerate; to disembowel.
viscerating ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Viscerate
visceroskeletal ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the framework, or skeleton, or skeleton, of the viscera; as, the visceroskeletal system of muscles.
viscid ::: a. --> Sticking or adhering, and having a ropy or glutinous consistency; viscous; glutinous; sticky; tenacious; clammy; as, turpentine, tar, gums, etc., are more or less viscid.
viscidity ::: n. --> The quality or state of being viscid; also, that which is viscid; glutinous concretion; stickiness.
viscin ::: n. --> A clear, viscous, tasteless substance extracted from the mucilaginous sap of the mistletoe (Viscum album), holly, etc., and constituting an essential ingredient of birdlime.
viscoidal ::: a. --> Somewhat viscous. Cf. Mobile, a., 2.
viscosimeter ::: n. --> An instrument for measuring the degree of viscosity of liquids, as solutions of gum.
viscosity ::: n. --> The quality or state of being viscous.
A quality analogous to that of a viscous fluid, supposed to be caused by internal friction, especially in the case of gases.
viscount ::: a. --> An officer who formerly supplied the place of the count, or earl; the sheriff of the county.
A nobleman of the fourth rank, next in order below an earl and next above a baron; also, his degree or title of nobility. See Peer, n., 3.
viscountcy ::: n. --> The dignity or jurisdiction of a viscount.
viscountess ::: n. --> The wife of a viscount.
viscountship ::: n. --> Alt. of Viscounty
viscounty ::: n. --> The quality, rank, or office of a viscount.
viscous ::: a. --> Adhesive or sticky, and having a ropy or glutinous consistency; viscid; glutinous; clammy; tenacious; as, a viscous juice.
viscous ::: having a glutinous or gluey consistency; sticky.
viscum ::: n. --> A genus of parasitic shrubs, including the mistletoe of Europe.
Birdlime, which is often made from the berries of the European mistletoe.
viscus ::: n. --> One of the organs, as the brain, heart, or stomach, in the great cavities of the body of an animal; -- especially used in the plural, and applied to the organs contained in the abdomen.
viseed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Vise
viseing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Vise
vise ::: n. --> An instrument consisting of two jaws, closing by a screw, lever, cam, or the like, for holding work, as in filing.
An indorsement made on a passport by the proper authorities of certain countries on the continent of Europe, denoting that it has been examined, and that the person who bears it is permitted to proceed on his journey; a visa. ::: v. t.
vises.a-radhas (vishesha-radhas) ::: special ecstasy. visesa-radhas
vishada ::: see vis.ada.
visha. ::: poison
vishaya chaitanya. ::: consciousness as objects; the object known; the consciousness determined by the object cognised
vishaya, etc. ::: see vis.aya, etc. vishaya
vishaya. ::: sense object; object of perception or enjoyment; subject matter; content; areas; range; field-object domain; sphere; realm, scope; matters of enjoyment or experience; doubt
vishaya vasanas. ::: predisposition towards sense enjoyments
vishaya vritti. ::: thought of sensual objects
vishesha-radhas ::: see vises.a-radhas.
vishesha. ::: special; distinctive qualification; distinguishable; particularity; propriety
vishishtadvaita. ::: the doctrine of qualified non-dualism
vishishta. ::: "qualified by" particularity
vishnu ::: 1. (In later Hinduism) "The Preserver.” The second member of the Trimurti, along with Brahma the Creator and Shiva the Destroyer. 2. (In popular Hinduism) a deity believed to have descended from heaven to earth in several incarnations, or avatars, varying in number from nine to twenty-two, but always including animals. His most important human incarnation is the Krishna of the Bhagavad-Gita. 3. "The Pervader,” one of a half-dozen solar deities in the Rig-Veda, daily traversing the sky in three strides, morning, afternoon, and night.
vishnu. ::: God as the preserver and sustainer of the universe; the all-pervading; one of the hindu trinity
vishnu ::: n. --> A divinity of the modern Hindu trimurti, or trinity. He is regarded as the preserver, while Brahma is the creator, and Siva the destroyer of the creation.
vishoka. ::: blissful; serene; free of grief, suffering or sorrow
vishuddha, etc. ::: see visuddha, etc. vishuddha
vishuddha. ::: goally pure; totally pure
vishuddhi ::: see visuddhi.
vishwadarshana ::: see visvadarsana.
vishwarupa. ::: universal, cosmic form; having all forms
vishwa &
visibility ::: n. --> The quality or state of being visible.
visibility ::: quality or fact or degree of being visible; perceptible by the eye or obvious to the eye.
visible ::: 1. Possible to see; perceptible to the eye. 2. Capable of being perceived by the mind; evident. half-visible.
visible ::: a. --> Perceivable by the eye; capable of being seen; perceptible; in view; as, a visible star; the least spot is visible on white paper.
Noticeable; apparent; open; conspicuous.
visible bell "communications" (Or "visual bell") A program option (whether in a terminal program, {termcap} setting, or as a {stand-alone} program) which outputs the {bell} {character code} as a visual signal (e.g., a flashing status bar or menu bar). Generally intended for deaf or hearing-disabled users who couldn't hear the normal auditory beep; also widely used by users who simply don't want their machines {feep}ing at them or disturbing other users. [Implementations?] (1997-04-07)
visible bell ::: (communications) (Or visual bell) A program option (whether in a terminal program, termcap setting, or as a stand-alone program) which outputs the bell character code as a visual signal (e.g., a flashing status bar or menu bar).Generally intended for deaf or hearing-disabled users who couldn't hear the normal auditory beep; also widely used by users who simply don't want their machines feeping at them or disturbing other users.[Implementations?] (1997-04-07)
visible to me, O you servants of mercy, come and
visigoth ::: n. --> One of the West Goths. See the Note under Goth.
vision ::: 1. The mystical experience of seeing as if with the eyes the supernatural or a supernatural being. 2. A mystical insight. 3. Ability to see or conceive what might be attempted or achieved. 4. The faculty of sight; eyesight. 5. Something that is or has been seen. 6. A person, scene, etc., of extraordinary beauty. **Vision, vision"s, Vision"s, visions, All-vision, earth-vision, God-vision"s, seer-vision"s, self-vision, soul-vision, stress-vision, vision-plans.
visional ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to a vision.
visionaries ::: pl. --> of Visionary
visionariness ::: n. --> The quality or state of being visionary.
visionary ::: 1. Of, pertaining to, or proper to, a vision. 2. Given to or concerned with seeing visions; having the ability to see them.
visionary ::: 1. One who hacks vision, in the sense of an Artificial Intelligence researcher working on the problem of getting computers to see things using TV cameras. The problem is, how can the computer be programmed to make use of the camera information? See SMOP, AI-complete.)2. [IBM] One who reads the outside literature. At IBM, apparently, such a penchant is viewed with awe and wonder.[Jargon File]
visionary 1. One who hacks vision, in the sense of an Artificial Intelligence researcher working on the problem of getting computers to "see" things using TV cameras. (There isn't any problem in sending information from a TV camera to a computer. The problem is, how can the computer be programmed to make use of the camera information? See {SMOP}, {AI-complete}.) 2. [IBM] One who reads the outside literature. At IBM, apparently, such a penchant is viewed with awe and wonder. [{Jargon File}]
visionary ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to a visions or visions; characterized by, appropriate to, or favorable for, visions.
Affected by phantoms; disposed to receive impressions on the imagination; given to reverie; apt to receive, and act upon, fancies as if they were realities.
Existing in imagination only; not real; fanciful; imaginary; having no solid foundation; as, visionary prospect; a visionary scheme or project.
visionary) in the form of a German knight. A
vision, cosmic ::: see: cosmic vision
visioned ::: 1. Pertaining to, seen in, or arising from a vision. 2. Having the ability or power to perceive, see as in a vision, or bring before the eye of the mind. 3. Gifted and filled with prophetic vision. 4. The power of seeing. dull-visioned, keen-visioned, large-visioned, many-visioned.
visioned ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Vision ::: a. --> Having the power of seeing visions; inspired; also, seen in visions.
visioning ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Vision
vision, inner ::: see: inner vision
visionist ::: n. --> A visionary.
visionless ::: 1. Lacking the faculty of sight; blind. 2. Lacking intelligent foresight or imagination; uninspired.
visionless ::: a. --> Destitute of vision; sightless.
vision-logic ::: The cognitive stage necessary to support integral consciousness. Typically subdivided into early, middle, and late vision-logic. Early vision-logic differentiates reality into relativistic systems, while middle and late vision-logic add up and integrate those perspectives into systems of systems. Vision-logic is often referred to as the first “postformal” stage of cognitive development since it is immediately beyond or “after” formal operational cognition. However, it is not yet “transrational,” but rather the limit of rational thought. Vision-logic is, in a sense, the bridge between the mental and the transmental.
visions of Beasts, which might terrifie Adam from
vision, subtle ::: see subtle vision
vision ::: “Visions come under the head of experiences, unless they fix themselves and are accompanied by a realisation of which they are as it were the support.” Sri Aurobindo ‘The Mother’
vision ::: v. --> The act of seeing external objects; actual sight.
The faculty of seeing; sight; one of the five senses, by which colors and the physical qualities of external objects are appreciated as a result of the stimulating action of light on the sensitive retina, an expansion of the optic nerve.
That which is seen; an object of sight.
Especially, that which is seen otherwise than by the ordinary sight, or the rational eye; a supernatural, prophetic, or
visis.t.advaita (visishtadwaita) ::: modified monism; the perception of visistadvaita "relation in a qualified identity".
visistadvaita (Vishishtadwaita etc.) ::: Qualified Monism; modified monistic vedanta.
visistagati ::: a peculiar and excelling kind of motion.
visisyat ::: excels.
visitable ::: a. --> Liable or subject to be visited or inspected.
visitant ::: n. --> One who visits; a guest; a visitor. ::: a. --> Visiting.
visitants ::: 1. Supernatural beings; ghosts; apparitions. 2. Moods, feelings, emotions, etc., that come to a person from time to time.
visitation ::: n. --> The act of visiting, or the state of being visited; access for inspection or examination.
Specifically: The act of a superior or superintending officer who, in the discharge of his office, visits a corporation, college, etc., to examine into the manner in which it is conducted, and see that its laws and regulations are duly observed and executed; as, the visitation of a diocese by a bishop.
The object of a visit.
visitatorial ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to visitation, or a judicial visitor or superintendent; visitorial.
visited Abraham (Genesis 18), the other 2 angels
visited ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Visit
visite ::: n. --> A light cape or short cloak of silk or lace worn by women in summer.
visiter ::: n. --> A visitor.
visiting ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Visit ::: --> a. & vb. n. from Visit.
visitor ::: 1. One who visits a person or place for a particular purpose. 2. A caller; guest. visitors.
visitorial ::: a. --> Same as Visitatorial.
visitor, I benefited greatly from the friendly interest and wide-ranging knowledge of Francis Paar and
visitor ::: --> One who visits; one who comes or goes to see another, as in civility or friendship.
A superior, or a person lawfully appointed for the purpose, who makes formal visits of inspection to a corporation or an institution. See Visit, v. t., 2, and Visitation, n., 2.
visit "programming" To process a {node} while {traversing} a {graph}. (2001-09-30)
visit ::: (programming) To process a node while traversing a graph.(2001-09-30)
visits to various planets. Kircher tells of this
visit ::: v 1. To come or go to (a place). 2. To go and stay with (a person, etc.) or at (a place) for a short time. 3. To come to (a person) with some accompaniment; to supply or enrich with some benefit. 4. To cause suffering, trouble, afflict upon; etc. visits, visited, visiting.* *n. visits. 5.** Visitations; appearances or comings of a supernatural influence or spirit.
visit ::: v. t. --> To go or come to see, as for the purpose of friendship, business, curiosity, etc.; to attend; to call upon; as, the physician visits his patient.
To go or come to see for inspection, examination, correction of abuses, etc.; to examine, to inspect; as, a bishop visits his diocese; a superintendent visits persons or works under his charge.
To come to for the purpose of chastising, rewarding, comforting; to come upon with reward or retribution; to appear before
visive ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the sight; visual.
vismaran.a ::: forgetfulness. vismarana
vismr.ti (vismriti) ::: forgetfulness, inattention. vismrti
visne ::: n. --> Neighborhood; vicinity; venue. See Venue.
vis ::: n. --> Force; power.
Physical force.
Moral power.
visnomy ::: n. --> Face; countenance.
visnusakti (Vishnushakti) ::: [the power of Visnu].
visnutva ::: ["Visnu-ness"].
vison ::: n. --> The mink.
visored ::: a. --> Wearing a visor; masked.
visor ::: n. --> A part of a helmet, arranged so as to lift or open, and so show the face. The openings for seeing and breathing are generally in it.
A mask used to disfigure or disguise.
The fore piece of a cap, projecting over, and protecting the eyes.
vispati ::: lord or king in the creature; king of the universe and its peoples. [Ved.]
visrjami ::: I loose forth variously. [Gita 9.7,8]
visr.s.t.i (visrishti) ::: evacuation; discharge of waste matter from the visrsti digestive system in the liquid form of mūtra (in jalavisr.s.t.i) or in the solid form of puris.a (in parthiva visr.s.t.i), a process whose diminution indicates improved assimilation connected with arogya. visr visrsti-visarjana
vista ::: n. --> A view; especially, a view through or between intervening objects, as trees; a view or prospect through an avenue, or the like; hence, the trees or other objects that form the avenue.
vistas ::: 1. Distant views or prospects, especially those seen through openings, as between rows of buildings or trees. 2. Fig. Far-reaching mental views. 3. *Fig.* Awareness of ranges of time, events, or subjects; broad mental views.
vistas ::: pl. --> of Vista
visto ::: n. --> A vista; a prospect.
visual agnosia: a general term for disorders which occur as a result of disruption of visual recognition.
visual ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to sight; used in sight; serving as the instrument of seeing; as, the visual nerve.
That can be seen; visible.
visual bell {visible bell}
visual cliff: an apparatus used to assess an infant's perception of depth, comprised of a thick pane of glass that covers a shall drop and a deep drop. Surfaces of both are covered with the same chequered pattern; however children of six months and older will not explore the deep?side which demonstrates depth perception.
visual field ::: The area in the external world normally seen by one or both eyes (referred to, respectively, as the monocular and visual binocular fields).
visual imagery: Imagery that appeals to anything that can be seen, e.g colours and shapes. See imagery.
visualisation ::: (graphics) Making a visible presentation of numerical data, particularly a graphical one. This might include anything from a simple X-Y graph of one dependent variable against one independent variable to a virtual reality which allows you to fly around the data.Gnuplot is the Free Software Foundation's utility for producing various kinds of graphs.Usenet newsgroup: comp.graphics.The Computer Graphics Resource Listing contains pointers to several visualisation tools. . .(2002-02-21)
visualisation "graphics" Making a visible presentation of numerical data, particularly a graphical one. This might include anything from a simple X-Y graph of one dependent variable against one independent variable to a {virtual reality} which allows you to fly around the data. {Gnuplot} is the {Free Software Foundation}'s utility for producing various kinds of graphs. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.graphics}. The {Computer Graphics Resource Listing} contains pointers to several visualisation tools. {comp.graphics FAQ (ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/news-info/comp.graphics/)}. {Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago (http://ncsa.uiuc.edu/EVL/docs/Welcome.html)}. (2002-02-21)
visualisation ::: Visualisation This is the process of forming positive thoughts as a means of creating wellbeing. Uses of visualisation in healing originated through a religious and/or mystical tradition, later spreading through the thoughts of the mystery schools including the Hermetic, the Kabbalists, the Rosicrucians, and Gnostic Christians.
visualised ::: formed mental pictures of things that are invisible or abstract.
visualize ::: v. t. --> To make visual, or visible; to see in fancy.
visual language {visual programming language}
visual pathways: the routes by which nerve impulses travel from the retina to the visual areas of the brain.
visual perception: the process by which sensory information from the eyes is transformed to produce an experience of depth, distance, colour, etc.
visual programming ::: 1. Writing programs in a language which manipulates visual information or supports visual interaction.2. Writing programs in a visual programming language.3. Writing programs in a visual programming environment.
visual programming 1. Writing programs in a language which manipulates visual information or supports visual interaction. 2. Writing programs in a {visual programming language}. 3. Writing programs in a {visual programming environment}.
visual programming environment Software which allows the use of visual expressions (such as graphics, drawings, animation or {icons}) in the process of programming. These visual expressions may be used as graphical interfaces for textual programming languages. They may be used to form the syntax of new visual programming languages leading to new paradigms such as {programming by demonstration} or they may be used in graphical presentations of the behaviour or structure of a program. (1995-02-23)
visual programming environment ::: Software which allows the use of visual expressions (such as graphics, drawings, animation or icons) in the process of programming. These visual expressions may paradigms such as programming by demonstration or they may be used in graphical presentations of the behaviour or structure of a program. (1995-02-23)
visual programming language "language" (VPL) Any programming language that allows the user to specify a program in a two-(or more)-dimensionsional way. Conventional textual languages are not considered two-dimensional since the {compiler} or {interpreter} processes them as one-dimensional streams of characters. A VPL allows programming with visual expressions - spatial arrangements of textual and graphical symbols. VPLs may be further classified, according to the type and extent of visual expression used, into {icon}-based languages, {form}-based languages and {diagram languages}. {Visual programming environments} provide graphical or iconic elements which can be manipulated by the user in an interactive way according to some specific spatial grammar for program construction. A visually transformed language is a non-visual language with a superimposed visual representation. Naturally visual languages have an inherent visual expression for which there is no obvious textual equivalent. {Visual Basic}, {Visual C++} and the entire {Microsoft} Visual family are not, despite their names, visual programming languages. They are textual languages which use a graphical {GUI builder} to make programming interfaces easier. The user interface portion of the programming environment is visual, the languages are not. Because of the confusion caused by the multiple meanings of the term "{visual programming}", Fred Lakin has proposed the term "executable graphics" as an alternative to VPL. Some examples of visual programming languages are {Prograph}, {Pict}, {Tinkertoy}, {Fabrik}, {CODE 2.0} and {Hyperpascal}. {(http://cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/ianr/vpl.html)}. {(http://cuiwww.unige.ch/eao/www/readme.html)}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.lang.visual} (NOT for {Visual Basic} or {Visual C++}). (1995-02-10)
visual programming language ::: (language) (VPL) Any programming language that allows the user to specify a program in a two-(or more)-dimensionsional way. Conventional textual languages them as one-dimensional streams of characters. A VPL allows programming with visual expressions - spatial arrangements of textual and graphical symbols.VPLs may be further classified, according to the type and extent of visual expression used, into icon-based languages, form-based languages and diagram which can be manipulated by the user in an interactive way according to some specific spatial grammar for program construction.A visually transformed language is a non-visual language with a superimposed visual representation. Naturally visual languages have an inherent visual expression for which there is no obvious textual equivalent.Visual Basic, Visual C++ and the entire Microsoft Visual family are not, despite their names, visual programming languages. They are textual languages which use visual programming, Fred Lakin has proposed the term executable graphics as an alternative to VPL.Some examples of visual programming languages are Prograph, Pict, Tinkertoy, Fabrik, CODE 2.0 and Hyperpascal. . .Usenet newsgroup: comp.lang.visual (NOT for Visual Basic or Visual C++). (1995-02-10)
visuddhabuddhaksetra
visuddhabuddhaksetra. (T. dag pa'i zhing khams; C. qingjing foguotu; J. shojobukkokudo; K. ch'ongjong pulgukt'o 清淨佛國土). In Sanskrit, lit. "purified buddha-field"; an important concept in Mahāyāna Buddhology and closely synonymous with some denotations of the East Asian term JINGTU ("PURE LAND"). According to certain MAHĀYĀNA texts, when a bodhisattva achieved buddhahood, the merit that he accumulated over the course of the path fructifies not only as the body, speech, mind, and activities of a buddha but also as the physical environment of that buddha as well. That physical environment is called a "buddha-field." These lands may be either "impure" or "pure," depending upon a number of factors, the most common of which is whether the land does or does not include three baleful destinies (DURGATI) of animals (TIRYAK), ghosts (PRETA), and hell denizens (NĀRAKA). The most famous of these pure buddha-fields is SUKHĀVATĪ, the land of the buddha AMITĀBHA. See also BUDDHAKsETRA.
visuddhabuddhi ::: the purified intellect.
visuddha (vishuddha; visuddha) ::: the cakra in the throat, the centre visuddha of consciousness that "governs the expressive and externalising mind".
visuddha ::: [pure; the name of the throat centre (cakra) ].
visuddhata (vishuddhata) ::: purity of the thinking faculty, an element visuddhata of buddhisakti. visuddhata, prakasa, vicitrabodha, jñanadharan.asamarthyam iti visuddhata,
visuddhata prakasah vicitrabodhah jnanadharanasadmarthyam iti buddhisaktih ::: see these words separately
visuddhata ::: [purity].
visuddhi. [alt. visuddha] (P. visuddhi; T. rnam par dag pa; C. qingjing; J. shojo; K. ch'ongjong 清淨). In Sanskrit, "purity"; of which two types are enumerated: innate purity (prakṛti or svabhāvavisuddhi) and purity free of temporary or adventitious stains (āgantukamalavisuddhi). The former is the natural state of the mind (see PRABHĀSVARA) as in the Pāli AnGUTTARANIKĀYA: "The mind, O monks, is luminous (P. pabhassara), but is defiled by adventitious defilements" (pabhassaraM idaM bhikkhave cittaM, taN ca kho āgantukehi upakkilesehi upakkilitthaM). The latter is the mind when the path (MĀRGA) has cleansed it of hindrances (see NĪVARAnA; ĀVARAnA). In Pāli, there are seven purities (visuddhi) that must be developed along the path leading to liberation. The list of seven purities is first enumerated in the MAJJHIMANIKĀYA and forms the outline for both BUDDHAGHOSA's VISUDDHIMAGGA and Upatissa's earlier *VIMUTTIMAGGA. The seven purities are likened to seven carriages that one takes in sequence to reach seven progressive goals. Thus, (1) the purity of morality (P. sīlavisuddhi; see S. sĪLAVIsUDDHI) leads to its goal of (2) the purity of mind (CITTAVISUDDHI), and the purity of mind leads to its goal of (3) purity of understanding or views (DIttHIVISUDDHI). The purity of understanding leads to its goal of (4) purity of overcoming doubt (KAnKHĀVITARAnAVISUDDHI), and the purity of overcoming doubt leads to its goal of (5) the purity of knowledge and vision of what is and is not the path (MAGGĀMAGGANĀnADASSANAVISUDDHI). The purity of knowledge and vision of what is and is not the path leads to its goal of (6) knowledge and vision of progress along the path (PAtIPADĀNĀnADASSANAVISUDDHI), and knowledge and vision of progress along the path leads to its goal of (7) the purity of knowledge and vision (NĀnADASSANAVISUDDHI). The goal of this last purity is liberation through the attainment of any of the four supramundane paths (P. ariyamagga; S. ĀRYAMĀRGA).
visuddhi (vishuddhi; visuddhih) ::: purity; same as visuddhata. visuddhi visuddhih., prakaso, vicitrabodho, jñanasamarthyam (visuddhih, visuddhih,
visuddhi ::: purity.
visuddhi
visvadarsana (vishwadarshana; vishwa darshana) ::: vision of all the visvadarsana worlds; anandadarsana on all planes.
visvadevaloka ::: the world of the all-gods or karmadevatas. visvadevaloka
visva dhiyo vi rajati ::: illumines all the thoughts. [cf RV 1.3.12]
visvadr.s.t.i (visvadrishti) ::: vision of all the worlds. visvadrsti
visvagati ::: the power to travel through all the worlds (lokas) in visvagati samadhi; an alternative name for the last member of the vijñana . catus.t.aya.
visvaisvarya (visvaiswarya) ::: universal power, omnipotence..Visvakarman
visva janima manus.an.am (puru viçvâ janima manushânam) ::: all the many births of men. [R . g Veda 7.62.1]
visvajanya ::: occupying or possessing all the worlds or births of the soul; universal. [Ved.]
visvajuvam visvarupam ::: (her) of the universal impetus of movement and the universal forms. [RV 4.33.8]
visvakama ::: all-lust.
visvamanava (Viswa Manava) ::: the universal man.
visvamaya ::: universal.
visvani vayunani vidvan ::: knowing all things that are manifested. [Isa 18]
visva-prakrti ::: world-nature.
visvaprema ::: all-love.
visvarasa ::: [universal taste of delight].
visvarupa (Vishwarupa) ::: the universal form.
visvasparsa (visvasparsha) ::: universal touch.
visva varya ::: all the boons. [Ved.]
visva (Vishwa) ::: [all, the all, the universe]; the Spirit of the external universe.
visvayu ::: the universal life; of many births.
visve devah (Vishwadevas) ::: the All-gods or all the Gods; the universal collectivity of the divine powers.
visvedevas. ::: the various vedic gods taken together as a whole
Visākha. (P. Visākha; T. Sa ga; C. Pishequ; J. Bishakya; K. Pisago 舍佉). A wealthy merchant of RĀJAGṚHA and husband of the female ARHAT DHAMMADINNĀ; he should be distinguished from VIsĀKHĀ (s.v.), the foremost donor among laywomen. According to the Pāli account, Visākha accompanied King BIMBISĀRA on a visit to the Buddha during the latter's first sojourn at Rājagaha (RĀJAGṚHA) after his enlightenment. Upon hearing the Buddha preach, Visākha became a stream-enterer (SROTAĀPANNA) and, subsequently, a once-returner (SAKṚDĀGĀMIN) and a nonreturner (ANĀGĀMIN). Once he became a nonreturner, his behavior toward his wife Dhammadinnā changed, and once she learned the reason, Dhammadinnā requested permission to renounce the world and enter the order as a nun. Impressed by his wife's piety, he informed Bimbisāra, who arranged for her to be carried to the nunnery on a golden palanquin. After Dhammadinnā attained arhatship, Visākha asked her questions pertaining to dharma, all of which she expertly answered. He reported this to the Buddha, who praised her for her skill in teaching. Visākha and Dhammadinnā were husband and wife during the time of Phussa (S. Pusya) Buddha (the twenty-first of the thousand buddhas) when, as a treasurer, he had arranged an offering of alms for Phussa Buddha and his disciples. Visākha was a renowned teacher in his own right and is mentioned as one of seven lay disciples who each had five hundred followers.
Visākhā. (P. Visākhā; T. Sa ga ma; C. Pishequmu/Luzimu; J. Bishakyamo/Rokushimo; K. Pisagomo/Nokchamo 舍佉母/鹿子母). Prominent female lay disciple of the Buddha (and to be distinguished from the Buddhist layman VIsĀKHA); in the AnGUTTARANIKĀYA, the Buddha declares her to be foremost among laywomen who minister to the order. According to the Pāli account, Visākhā was born into a wealthy family and was converted by the Buddha at the age of seven, when he visited her native city of Bhaddiya. Visākhā had been dispatched by her grandfather, Mendaka, with five hundred chariots, five hundred companions, and five hundred slaves to approach the Buddha and listen to him preach. Upon hearing his sermon, Visākhā became a stream-enterer (SROTAĀPANNA). Later, Visākhā was married to the son of a wealthy merchant named Migāra, who dwelt in the city of Sāvatthi (sRĀVASTĪ) and was a follower of the Niganthas (S. NIRGRANTHA; see JAINA). Although she was a dutiful wife and daughter-in-law, Visākhā was offended by the nakedness of the Nigantha ascetics and refused to show them respect. When criticized for her attitude, she threatened to return to her parents' house. Although sorely distressed by his daughter-in-law's behavior, Migāra consented to listen to a sermon by the Buddha if she would consent to remain in his family. Upon hearing the Buddha preach, Migāra became a stream-enterer (SROTAĀPANNA), and remained forever grateful to Visākhā, even giving her the sobriquet Migāramātā, "Migāra's Mother." Visākhā fed five hundred monks in her home daily, and was constant in her attentions to the monastic community in Sāvatthi. She fulfilled a long-held wish when she had a grand monastery built to the east of the city named Migāramātupāsāda (S. MṚGĀRAMṚTUPRĀSĀDA), which she visited with her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. The Buddha related how, in previous lives, Visākhā had ministered to the needs of the Buddhas Padumuttara (S. Padmottara) and Kassapa (S. KĀsYAPA). Visākhā was said to have died at the age of 120, although she always looked to be a maiden of sixteen. She was endowed with phenomenal strength, and the people of Sāvatthi believed that she brought good fortune to their city. Visākhā is upheld by the tradition as the ideal laywoman.
Visākhā. See VIsĀKHĀ
Visākha
Visākhā
Viscid Earth Applied principally to the semi-astral material of our earth globe during the third round, and likewise to our earth during the first part of the present fourth round and during the first, second, and early third root-races of mankind when the earth, although quasi-astral and nearly compact, was nevertheless more concrete and solid than were the earliest root-races of mankind. Because the first and second root-races were far more ethereal or astral than the earth was, it is almost hopeless to expect to find fossils of these earliest humanities at the present time; they were too ethereal in their earliest portions to leave fossil remains in the earth which was more solid in consistency than they.
Visesha (Sanskrit) Viśeṣa [from the verbal root śiṣ to distinguish, particularize] Distinction, characteristic difference or property. In the Vaiseshika system used as the fifth padartha (logical category), visesha belonging to the nine substances (dravyas) of the Nyaya philosophy. Used in the Nyaya to signify the everlasting distinctions characterizing the primary substances or elements (mahabhutas).
Visha (Sanskrit) Viṣa Poison, death, evil.
Vishaya ::: see visaya
Vishishtadwaita ::: etc., see visistadvaita
Vishnavites. See VAISHNAVA
Vishnu as the giver of life is the source of one line of avataras. The ten mythical avataras of Vishnu are: Matsya, the Fish; Kurma, the Tortoise; Varaha, the Boar; Narasimha, the Man-lion (last animal stage); Vamana, the Dwarf (first step toward the human form); Parasu-rama, Rama with the axe (a hero); Rama-chandra, the hero of the Ramayana; Krishna, son of Devaki; Gautama Buddha; and finally, Kalki, the avatara who is to appear at the end of the Kali yuga “mounted on a white horse” and inaugurate a new reign of righteousness upon earth.
Vishnu as the supporter of life is the source of one line of avataras so often spoken of in Hindu legends. These ten avataras of Vishnu are: 1) Matsya the fish; 2) Kurma the tortoise; 3) Varaha the boar; 4) Narasimha the man-lion (last of animal stage); 5) Vamana the dwarf (first step toward the human form); 6) Parasu-Rama, Rama with the axe (a hero); 7) Rama-chandra, the hero of the Ramayana; 8) Krishna, son of Devaki; 9) Gautama Buddha; and 10) Kalki, the avatara who is to appear at the end of the kali yuga mounted on a white horse, inaugurating a new reign of righteousness on earth. A horse has from immemorial time been a symbol of the spiritual as well as vital energies of the inner solar orb. Hence, when the next avatara is said to come riding a white horse, the meaning is that he comes infilled with the solar light or splendor — an avatara or manifestation of a spiritual and intellectual solar energy which will carry all before it on earth.
Vishnu etc. ::: see Visnu etc.
Vishnu, etc. ::: see Vis.n.u, etc.Vishnu
Vishnu has many names and is presented in many different forms in Hindu writings. Riding on Garuda, the allegorical monstrous half-man and half-bird, Vishnu is the symbol of Kala (duration), and Garuda the emblem of cyclic and periodical time. Vishnu as the sun represents the male principle, which vivifies and fructifies all things. The Puranas call Ananta- Sesha a form of Vishnu on which the universe sleeps during pralaya. In the allegorical Vaivasvata-Manu deluge, Vishnu in the shape of a fish towing the ark of salvation represents the divine spirit as a concrete cosmic principle and also as the preserver and generator, or giver of life. In the Rig-Veda Vishnu is a manifestation of the solar energy and strides through the seven regions of the universe in three steps. The Vedic Vishnu is not the prominent god of later times.
Vishnuism: One of the three great divisions in modern Hinduism (the other two are Shaivism and Shaktism); its followers identify Vishnu—rather than Brahma and Shiva—with the Supreme Being, and are exclusively devoted to his worship, regarding him as the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer of the universe.
Vishnuism: (Visnuism) One of the major philosophico-religious groups into which Hinduism has articulated itself. It glorifies Vishnu as the supreme being who creates and maintains the world periodically by means of his bhuti and kriya saktis (q.v.) or powers of becoming and producing, corresponding to the causae materialis et efficiens. The place of man's soul in this development is explained variously depending on the relation it maintains to the world-ground conceived in Vishnuite fashion. -- K.F.L.
Vishnu is the Eternal’s Personality of Consciousness; in him all is supported, in his wideness, in his stability, in his substance.
Vishnu: One of the three gods of the Hindu Trinity (Brahma, the Creator, Vishnu, the Preserver, and Shiva, the Destroyer), and as such he is one of the three aspects of Ishwara, the Personal God. To the adherents of Vaishnavism, Vishnu is the supreme deity.
Vishnu Purana and Bhagavata Purana&
Vishnu Purana (Sanskrit) Viṣṇu Purāṇa One of the most celebrated of the 18 principal Puranas, conforming more than any other to the definition of pancha-lakshana (five distinguishing marks) assigned as being the character of a complete Purana by Amara-Simha, an ancient Sanskrit lexicographer. It consists of six books: the first treats of the creation of the universe from cosmic prakriti, and the peopling of the world by the prajapatis or spiritual ancestors; the second book gives a list of kings with many geographical and astronomical details; the third treats of the Vedas and caste; the fourth continues the chronicle of dynasties; the fifth gives the life of Krishna; and the sixth book describes the dissolution of the world, and the future re-issuing of the world after pralaya.
Vishnu (Sanskrit) Viṣṇu [from the verbal root viṣ to enter, pervade] The sustainer or preserver; the second of the three gods of the Hindu Trimurti or Triad. Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu together are infinite space, of which the gods, rishis, manus, and all in the universe are simply the manifestations, qualities, and potencies. Vishnu is called the eternal deity, and in the Mahabharata and the Puranas he is declared to be the imbodiment of sattva-guna, the quality of mercy and goodness, which displays itself as the preserving power in the self-existent, all-pervading spirit. His symbol is the chakra (circle). He is identical with the Hindu Idaspati (master of the waters) and with the Greek Poseidon and Latin Neptune.
VISHNU (Skt, T.B.) One of the persons in Trimurti. Symbol of the consciousness aspect and its kinds of collective beings. Deva raja of world 44.
Vishnu :::
Vishnu —the first avatar (incarnation), to
Vishnu ::: “Vishnu the all-pervading, the cosmic Deity, the Lover and Friend of our souls, the Lord of the transcendent existence and the transcendent delight.” The Secret of the Veda
VISHUDDHA-CHAKRA (Skt, T.)
Vishwadevas ::: see visve devah
Vishwa etc. ::: see visva etc.
Vishwarupa ::: see visvarupa
Visible balance - The balance of money received from exports of goods and money spent on the import of goods.
Visibles - All items of foreign trade that are tangible; goods as opposed to services.
Visible trade - The exports and imports of goods.
VISIBLE WORLD Molecular world, the three lower states of aggregation of the physical world (49:5-7).
The visible world can be said to be the special world of minerals as regards consciousness. (K 1.11.5)
Man&
VisiCalc "application, tool, business, history" /vi'zi-calk/ The first {spreadsheet} program, conceived in 1978 by {Dan Bricklin}, while he was an MBA student at Harvard Business School. Inspired by a demonstration given by {Douglas Engelbart} of a {point-and-click} {user interface}, Bricklin set out to design an {application} that would combine the intuitiveness of pencil and paper calculations with the power of a {programmable pocket calculator}. Bricklin's design was based on the (paper) financial spreadsheet, a kind of document already used in business planning. (Some of Bricklin's notes for VisiCalc were scribbled on the back of a spreadsheet pad.) VisiCalc was probably not the first application to use a spreadsheet model, but it did have a number of original features, all of which continue to be fundamental to spreadsheet software. These include {point-and-type} editing, {range} {replication} and formulas that update automatically with changes to other {cells}. VisiCalc is widely credited with creating the sudden demand for desktop computers that helped fuel the {microcomputer} boom of the early 1980s. Thousands of business people with little or no technical expertise found that they could use VisiCalc to create sophisticated financial programs. This makes VisiCalc one of the first {killer apps}. {Dan Bricklin's Site (http://bricklin.com/visicalc.htm)}. (2003-07-05)
VisiCalc /vi'zi-calk/ ::: (application, tool, business, history) The first spreadsheet program, conceived in 1978 by Dan Bricklin, while he was an MBA student at Harvard would combine the intuitiveness of pencil and paper calculations with the power of a programmable pocket calculator.Bricklin's design was based on the (paper) financial spreadsheet, a kind of document already used in business planning. (Some of Bricklin's notes for software. These include point-and-type editing, range replication, and formulas that update automatically with changes to other cells.VisiCalc is widely credited with creating the sudden demand for desktop computers that helped fuel the microcomputer boom of the early 1980s. Thousands use VisiCalc to create sophisticated financial programs. This makes VisiCalc one of the first killer apps. .(2003-07-05)
Vision ::: A type of experience characterized by visual and auditory phemonena that is not linked to one's physical reality at the moment. Visions are thought of as distinct from visualizations and are either presented to one by an entity or through one's Higher Self. Contrast with Revelation.
VISION CENTRE. ::: We Forehead
Vision (Kabbalah) ::: The core experience that characterizes the current of a particular Sephirah in the Kabbalah.
Vision of Isaiah, as well as the Testament of Hezekiah.
Vision of Isaiah. See Charles.
Vision of Paul (or Apocalypse of Paul). In James, The
Vision of the ram and the he-goat ( Rf. Daniel 8) with Daniel kneeling before the angel Gabriel. [Note—The
Vision of the ram and the he-goat (Rf. Daniel 8) with Daniel kneeling before the angel Gabriel.
Visions — colours: When i!»c colours begin lo take definite shapes in the >jslons, it is a sign of some dynamic work of formation in the consciousness ::: a square, for instance, means that some kind of creation is in process in some field of the being ; the square indicates that the creation is to be complete in itself ; while the rectangle indicates somcihws partial and preliminary.
Visions do not come from the spiritual plane ; they come from the subtle physical, the vital, the mental, the psychic or from the planes above the Mind. What comes from the spiritual plane are experiences of the Dirae, c.g. the experience of Self every- where. of the Divine in all etc.
Visions of Ezekiel, The. A hechaloth text recovered from
Visions of Ezekiel where, however, the meaning of
Visions.]
VISIONS. ::: Visions are due to the groivth of the • tvhich sees things belonging to all the planes of “'s'"
Vision: The appearance of supernatural entities or scenes to the eyes of mortals.
Visishtadvaita (Sanskrit) Viśiṣṭādvaita [from viśiṣṭa distinguished, particular + advaita nonduality] Qualified nonduality; the Vedantic school founded by Vaishnava teacher Ramanuja, intermediate between the Advaita (nondualistic) Vedanta of Sankaracharya and the Dvaita (dualistic) Vedanta.
Visistacāritra. (C. Shangxing; J. Jogyo; K. Sanghaeng 上行). In Sanskrit, "Exemplary Practices"; the leader of the four BODHISATTVAs of the earth to whom sĀKYAMUNI Buddha transfers the quintessence of the SuTRA in the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA ("Lotus Sutra"). Visistacāritra is said to represent the "true self" aspect of the buddha-nature (FOXING). Visistacāritra has special significance for the Japanese NICHIRENSHu schools, because NICHIREN himself believed that his proselytization work had fulfilled the charge that sākyamuni had given the bodhisattva. Thus, some Nichiren schools assume that their founder is the reincarnation of Visistacāritra.
Visistacāritra
Visistadvaita: (Skr.) "Qualified non-duality", the Vedantic (q.v.) doctrine of qualified monism advocated by Ramanuja (q.v.) which holds the Absolute to be personal, world and individuals to be real and distinct (visista), and salvation attainable only by grace of God earned through bhakti (q.v.). -- K.F.L.
Visit to Heaven.
Vis (Latin) Force, energy; synonymous with energia naturae (energy of nature). According to ancient thought all the various forms of vis — vis formativa (formative force), vis generatrix (force that brings forth or generates), vis viva (living force) — are inherently living, so that vis viva means not so much living force as live in active rather than passive manifestation.
Vis.n.usakti (Vishnushakti) ::: the soul-power or element of virya Visnusakti that expresses the personality of the fourfold isvara as Vis.n.u or Pradyumna.
Visnu: (Skr.) Deity of the Hindu trinity (see Trimurti). In philosophy, the principle of conservation, maintenance, or stability, the principle worshipped in Vishnuism (q.v.). -- K.F.L.
VISNU. ::: The Elcmal’s PcisonalUy of Consciousness *, in him all is supported, in his wideness, in his stability, in his substance.
Vis.n.u (Vishnu) ::: a Vedic god, "the all-pervading, the cosmic Deity, the Visnu Lover and Friend of our souls, the Lord of the transcendent existence and the transcendent delight", who supplies for the action of the other
Visnu (Vishnu) ::: [Ved.]: the all-pervading godhead, the deva or Deity evoking the powers of the ascent; [Puranas]: a member of the divine Triad [trimurti], expressive of the conservative process in the cosmos, the preserver.
Vis: Quintessence. Vulgar Argot
Visual Basic for Applications "programming" (VBA) {Microsoft}'s common language for manipulating components of its {Microsoft Office} suite. It is used as the {macro} language for these applications and is the primary means of customising and extending them. A VBA program operates on {objects} representing the application and the entities it manipulates, e.g. a {spreadsheet} or a range of cells in {Microsoft Excel}. [Relationship to {Visual BASIC}? URL?] (1999-09-12)
Visual Basic for Applications ::: (programming) (VBA) Microsoft's common language for manipulating components of its Microsoft Office suite. It is used as the macro language for VBA program operates on objects representing the application and the entities it manipulates, e.g. a spreadsheet or a range of cells in Microsoft Excel.[Relationship to Visual BASIC? URL?] (1999-09-12)
Visual BASIC ::: (language) (VB) A popular event-driven visual programming system from Microsoft Corporation for Microsoft Windows. VB is good for developing Windows application program development and for prototyping. It can also be used to create ActiveX and COM components.Version 1 was released in 1991 [by Microsoft?].Current version: 6, as of 1999-11-26. . . . . (1999-11-26)
Visual BASIC "language" (VB) A popular {event-driven} {visual programming} system from {Microsoft Corporation} for {Microsoft Windows}. VB is good for developing Windows interfaces, it invokes fragments of {BASIC} code when the user performs certain operations on graphical objects on-screen. It is widely used for in-house {application program} development and for prototyping. It can also be used to create {ActiveX} and {COM} components. Version 1 was released in 1991 [by Microsoft?]. {(http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/)}. {History (http://iessoft.com/scripts/vbhistry.asp)}. {Strollo Software (http://op.net/~jstrollo/vblinks.html)}. {Books (http://wrox.com/Consumer/Default.asp?Category=Visual+Basic)}. (1999-11-26)
Visual BASIC Script "language" (VBScript) Microsoft's {scripting language} which is an extension of their {Visual Basic} language. VBScript can be used with {Microsoft Office} applications and others. It can also be embedded in {web pages} but can only be understood by {Internet Explorer}. Visual Basic is a {BASIC} variant with {object-oriented} features. Objects include applications, windows and selections. [Relationship with {ASP}? {VBA}?] (1998-07-05)
Visual BASIC Script ::: (language) (VBScript) Microsoft's scripting language which is an extension of their Visual Basic language. VBScript can be used with Microsoft Office applications and others. It can also be embedded in web pages but can only be understood by Internet Explorer.Visual Basic is a BASIC variant with object-oriented features. Objects include applications, windows and selections.[Relationship with ASP? VBA?] (1998-07-05)
Visual C++ ::: A C and C++ programming environment sold by Microsoft Corporation.Usenet newsgroup: comp.lang.c++.[Differences? Features?] (1994-12-21)
Visual C++ A {C} and {C++} programming environment sold by {Microsoft} Corporation. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.lang.c++}. [Differences? Features?] (1994-12-21)
Visual Component Library "programming" {VCL} A {application framework} library for {Microsoft Windows} and {Borland Software Corp.}'s {Delphi} and {C++Builder} {rapid application development} software. VCL was originally designed for Delphi but is now also used for C++Builder. This replaces {OWL} {Object Windows Library} as Borland's Windows C++ framework of choice. VCL encapsulates the C-based {Win32 API} into a much easier to use, {object-oriented} form. Like its direct rival, {Microsoft Foundation Class Library} (MFC), VCL includes classes to create Windows programs. The VCL component class can be inherited to create new VCL components, which are the building blocks of Delphi and C++Builder applications. VCL components are somewhat in competition with {ActiveX} controls, though a VCL wrapper can be created to make an ActiveX control seem like a VCL component. {Home (http://borland.com/bcppbuilder/productinfo/feaben/visual.html)}. (2001-07-09)
Visual Component Library ::: (programming) VCL A application framework library for Microsoft Windows and Borland Software Corp.'s Delphi and C++Builder rapid application development to use, object-oriented form. Like its direct rival, Microsoft Foundation Class Library (MFC), VCL includes classes to create Windows programs.The VCL component class can be inherited to create new VCL components, which are the building blocks of Delphi and C++Builder applications. VCL components are somewhat in competition with ActiveX controls, though a VCL wrapper can be created to make an ActiveX control seem like a VCL component. .(2001-07-09)
Visual dBASE "language" A {Rapid Application Development} suite with a compiler and {intranet} tools to enable developers to publish data on the {web}. Originally a {Borland} product, the first version released by {dBase, Inc.} was Visual dBase 5.7. (2003-11-24)
Visual dBASE ::: (language) A Rapid Application Development suite with a compiler and intranet tools to enable developers to publish data on the World-Wide Web. Originally a Borland product, the first version released by dBase, Inc. was Visual dBase 5.7.(2003-11-24)
Visual Display Unit ::: (hardware) (VDU, or video terminal, video display terminal, VDT, display terminal) A device incorporating a cathode ray tube (CRT) display, a electronics which store the received data and convert it into electrical waveforms to drive the CRT.VDUs fall into two categories: dumb terminals and intelligent terminals (sometimes called programmable terminals).Early VDUs could only display characters in a single preset font, and these were confined to being layed out in a rectangular grid, reproducing the functionality of the paper-based teletypes they were designed to replace.Later models added graphics facilities but were still driven via serial communications, typically with several VDUs attached to a single multi-user computer. This contrasts with the much faster single bitmap displays integrated into most modern single-user personal computers and workstations.The term Display Screen Equipment (DSE) is used almost exclusively in connection with the health and safety issues concerning VDUs. .(2002-11-09)
Visual Display Unit "hardware" (VDU, or "video terminal", "video display terminal", VDT, "display terminal") A device incorporating a {cathode ray tube} (CRT) display, a keyboard and a {serial port}. A VDU usually also includes its own display electronics which store the received data and convert it into electrical waveforms to drive the CRT. VDUs fall into two categories: {dumb terminals} and {intelligent terminals} (sometimes called "programmable terminals"). Early VDUs could only display characters in a single preset {font}, and these were confined to being layed out in a rectangular grid, reproducing the functionality of the paper-based {teletypes} they were designed to replace. Later models added graphics facilities but were still driven via serial communications, typically with several VDUs attached to a single multi-user computer. This contrasts with the much faster single {bitmap displays} integrated into most modern single-user {personal computers} and {workstations}. The term "Display Screen Equipment" (DSE) is used almost exclusively in connection with the health and safety issues concerning VDUs. {Working with VDUs - UK Heath and Safety Executive (http://hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg36.pdf)}. (2002-11-09)
Visual FoxPro "database" A {Microsoft} {database} derived from {Fox Software}'s {FoxPRO}. {(http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro/)}. [Features? Dates?] (2000-08-06)
Visual FoxPro ::: (database) A Microsoft database derived from Fox Software's FoxPRO.Latest version: 5.0, as of 2000-06-21. .[Features? Dates?](2000-08-06)
Visual Interface ::: (tool, text) (vi) /V-I/, /vi:/, *never* /siks/ A screen editor crufted together by Bill Joy for an early BSD release. vi became the de facto standard Unix editor and a nearly undisputed hacker favourite outside of MIT until the rise of Emacs after about 1984.It tends to frustrate new users no end, as it will neither take commands while expecting input text nor vice versa, and the default setup provides no editing jobs (mainly because it starts up faster than the bulkier versions of Emacs).See holy wars. (1995-10-03)
Visual Interface "tool, text" (vi) /V-I/, /vi:/, *never* /siks/ A {screen editor} {crufted} together by {Bill Joy} for an early {BSD} release. vi became the de facto standard {Unix} editor and a nearly undisputed hacker favourite outside of {MIT} until the rise of {Emacs} after about 1984. It tends to frustrate new users no end, as it will neither take commands while expecting input text nor vice versa, and the default setup provides no indication of which mode the editor is in (one correspondent accordingly reports that he has often heard the editor's name pronounced /vi:l/). Nevertheless it is still widely used (about half the respondents in a 1991 {Usenet} poll preferred it), and even some Emacs fans resort to it as a mail editor and for small editing jobs (mainly because it starts up faster than the bulkier versions of Emacs). See {holy wars}. (1995-10-03)
Visualization ::: The ability of the mind to form an internal world in which the only limit is the imagination of the visualizer. This is a capability largely provided by the Astral Plane and into which the locus of focus can be narrowed and strengthened so as to allow for practices like lucid dreaming and astral projection to take place.
VISUALIZE To give pictorial vividness to a mental representation; to construct a visual image in the mind.
VisualWorks ::: (language) A modern commercial implementation of the Smalltalk programming language. VisualWorks descends directly from the original name Objectworks\Smalltalk) by ParcPlace Systems. VisualWorks relies on dynamic translation as its virtual machine technology. .(2003-05-15)
VisualWorks "language" A modern commercial implementation of the {Smalltalk} programming language. VisualWorks descends directly from the original {Smalltalk-80} by {Xerox PARC} and was originally developed (for some time under the name Objectworks\Smalltalk) by {ParcPlace Systems}. VisualWorks relies on {dynamic translation} as its {virtual machine} technology. {VisualWorks Wiki (http://wiki.cs.uiuc.edu/VisualWorks)}. (2003-05-15)
Visuddhi Chakra ::: The "Throat" chakra that is linked to self-expression, openness, communication, and power projection. Located around the base of the throat.
Visuddhimagga. In Pāli, "Path of Purity"; the definitive Pāli compedium of Buddhist doctrine and practice, written by the exegete BUDDHAGHOSA at the MAHĀVIHĀRA in ANURĀDHAPURA, Sri Lanka, in the fifth century CE. The work serves as a prolegomenon to the soteriological content of the entire Pāli canon in terms of the three trainings in morality (P. sīla; S. sĪLA), concentration (SAMĀDHI), and wisdom (P. paNNā; S. PRAJNĀ). These are the "three trainings" (P. tisikkhā; S. TRIsIKsĀ) or "higher trainings" (P. adhisikkhā; S. adhisiksā). In his use of this organizing principle for his material, Buddhaghosa is clearly following Upatissa's earlier *VIMUTTIMAGGA, which is now extant only in a Chinese translation. Buddhaghosa had originally come to Sri Lanka from India in order to translate the Sinhalese commentaries (AttHAKATHĀ) to the Pāli canon back into the Pāli language. It is said that, in order to test his knowledge, the Mahāvihāra monks first gave him two verses and ordered him to write a commentary on them; the Visuddhimagga was the result. Legend has it that, after completing the treatise, the divinities hid the text so that he would be forced to rewrite it. After a third time, the divinities finally relented, and when all three copies were compared, they were found to be identical, testifying to the impeccability of Buddhaghosa's understanding of the doctrine. The commentaries that Buddhaghosa was then allowed to edit and translate make numerous references to the Visuddhimagga. The text contains a total of twenty-three chapters: two chapters on precepts, eleven on meditation, and ten on wisdom. In its encyclopedic breadth, it is the closest equivalent in Pāli to the ABHIDHARMAMAHĀVIBHĀsĀ of the SARVĀSTIVĀDA school of ABHIDHARMA. The post-fifth century CE exegete DHAMMAPĀLA wrote a Pāli commentary to the Visuddhimagga titled the PARAMATTHAMANJuSĀ ("Container of Ultimate Truth"), which is also often referred to in the literature as the "Great Subcommentary" (Mahātīkā).
Visuddhimagga
Visva-deva(s) (Sanskrit) Viśva-deva-s The all-divine; also a class of deities, usually given as ten.
Visvakarman (Sanskrit) Viśvakarman The omnificent, the all-worker; in the Rig-Veda, the highest and oldest of the cosmic architects, and hence the father, initiator, or teacher of the hierarchies of later gods under him. As a collective name, he corresponds in many respects to the Greek cosmocratores, in some to the Third Logos. He is spoken of as the divine artist and carpenter, the architect of the universe, the creative god, father of the creative fire, the builder and artificer of the gods, and the great patron of initiates.
Visvakarman ::: the divine architect of the universe, identified with Tvas.t.r..
Visvamitra (Sanskrit) Viśvāmitra Friend of all; a celebrated rishi (sage), famed for his contests with the sage Vasishtha. By birth a Kshattriya of the lineage of Pururavas of the lunar dynasty, he was employed at the court of Raja Sudas of the Tritsus, as was Vasishtha. Visvamitra was constantly worsted in his struggles for supremacy over the great Brahmin Vasishtha, and determined to elevate himself to the rank of a Brahmin, which he succeeded in doing after many strenuous austerities. Many verses of the Rig-Veda are said to have been written by him, and he is also credited with authorship of a law book.
VisvaMtara
VisvaMtara. (S). See VESSANTARA.
Visvanara (Sanskrit) Viśvānara Benefiting all creatures; another name for Savitri, the sun, and also of the father of Agni (fire). Visvanara is the physical basis from which the objective world begins its existence, corresponding closely to the European protyle. True cosmic protyle, however, is the cosmic Duad or Second Logos, a cosmically androgynous spirit-substance one step more inward than Visvanara or the Third Logos. Because of the close interrelationship between Visvanara and the cosmic Duad, they are frequently cited as being the same.
Visvantara. See VESSANTARA
Visvarupa (Sanskrit) Viśvarūpa [from viśva all + rūpa form] Having all forms, manifold, omnipresent; often applied to Vishnu and at times to Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita; likewise to Siva.
Visva (Sanskrit) Viśva [from the verbal root viś to pervade] All, every, all-pervading; a title applied, for example, to Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita. As a neuter or feminine noun, the universe; as a masculine noun, the intellectual faculty in Vedantic philosophy.
Visvatryarchas (Sanskrit) Viśvatryarcas [from viśva all + tri three + arcas shining] The triple ray shining everywhere; the fourth of the seven principal mystical rays of the sun (SD 1:515n). See also SURYA
Visvavedas (Sanskrit) Viśvavedas [from viśva all + veda knowledge] The all-knowing or omniscient one; a name given to the supreme hierarch of any cosmic hierarchy.
VISVDDIIA CAKRA. ::: The centre of the physical mind or c.xtcmalising mind Is in the subtle body in the throat and con- nected strongly with the speech — but it nets by connection with the brain.
TERMS ANYWHERE
1. A visible scene, esp. one extended to a distance; vista. 2. The appearance of things relative to one another as determined by their distance from the viewer. 3. A mental view or outlook. perspectives.
1. An image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed. 2. A mere image or semblance of something visible but without substance, as a phantom. 3. A false conception or notion; fallacy. Idol, idols.
1. A physical likeness or representation of a person, animal, or thing, photographed, painted, sculptured, or otherwise made visible. 2. A mental representation; idea; conception. 3. Form; appearance; semblance. 4. A type; embodiment. 5. An idol or representation of a deity. 6. A person or thing that resembles another closely; counterpart, double or copy. 7. A concrete representation, as in art, literature, or music, that is expressive or evocative of something else. images, image-face.
1. A sweet yellowish or brownish viscid fluid produced by various bees from the nectar of flowers and used as food. 2. Something sweet, delicious or delightful. 3.* Fig. Sweetness. *honey-buds, honey-drunk, honey-fire, honey-packed, honey-sweet, honey-wine.
1. Imagination, caprice, whim, esp. when extravagant and unrestrained. 2. The forming of mental images, esp. wondrous, extravagant or visionary fancy. 3. A mental image, esp. when unreal or fantastic; vision. fantasies.
1. Makes by assembling parts or sections. 2. ‘Makes up", devises or invents (a legend, lie, etc.).
1. Not affected in mind or feeling; not moved by excitement or emotion; undisturbed, calm. 2. Not approached, crossed, traversed, explored, or visited. 3. Remaining in a pristine state; unchanged.
1. Not seen; not apprehended by sight; unperceived, invisible. 2. Not seen previously or hitherto; esp. unfamiliar, strange, unknown. (Sri Aurobindo also employs the word as a n. and a proper n.)
1. To become dim, as light, or lose brightness of illumination. 2.* Become less clearly visible or distinguishable; disappear gradually or seemingly, lit. and fig. *3. To lose strength or vitality; wane. 4. To vanish slowly; die out. 5. To grow dim, fade away, become less loud. fades, faded, fading.
1. Unassailed; unafflicted. 2. Not visited; unexplored.
3. In the Mahabharata and the Puranas, the second member of the Triad, the embodiment of sattva-guna, the preserving and restoring power. This power has manifested in the world as the various incarnations of Vishnu, generally accepted as being ten in number. Vishnu"s heaven is Vaikuntha, his consort Lakshmi and his vehicle Garuda. He is portrayed as reclining on the serpent-king Sesa and floating on the waters between periods of cosmic manifestation. The holy river Ganga is said to spring from his foot. (A; V. G.; Dow)” *Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works
A being of the lower vital plane who by the medium of a living human being or by some other means or agency is able to materialise itself sufficiently so as to appear and act in a visible form or speak with an audible voice or, without so appearing, to move about material things, e.g., furniture or to materialise objects or to shift them from place to place. This accounts for what are called poltergeists , phenomena of stone-throwing, tree-inhabiting Bhutas, and other well-known phenomena.
abstractions ::: things which have no independent existence, which exist only in idea; visionary and unrealistic.
"A cosmos or universe is always a harmony, otherwise it could not exist, it would fly to pieces. But as there are musical harmonies which are built out of discords partly or even predominantly, so this universe (the material) is disharmonious in its separate elements — the individual elements are at discord with each other to a large extent; it is only owing to the sustaining Divine Will behind that the whole is still a harmony to those who look at it with the cosmic vision. But it is a harmony in evolution in progress — that is, all is combined to strive towards a goal which is not yet reached, and the object of our yoga is to hasten the arrival to this goal. When it is reached, there will be a harmony of harmonies substituted for the present harmony built up on discords. This is the explanation of the present appearance of things.” Letters on Yoga
“A cosmos or universe is always a harmony, otherwise it could not exist, it would fly to pieces. But as there are musical harmonies which are built out of discords partly or even predominantly, so this universe (the material) is disharmonious in its separate elements—the individual elements are at discord with each other to a large extent; it is only owing to the sustaining Divine Will behind that the whole is still a harmony to those who look at it with the cosmic vision. But it is a harmony in evolution in progress—that is, all is combined to strive towards a goal which is not yet reached, and the object of our yoga is to hasten the arrival to this goal. When it is reached, there will be a harmony of harmonies substituted for the present harmony built up on discords. This is the explanation of the present appearance of things.” Letters on Yoga
adj. 1. Not imprisoned or enslaved; being at liberty. 2. Unconstrained; unconfined. 3. Unobstructed; clear. 4. Ready or generous in using or giving; liberal; lavish. 5. Exempt from external authority, interference, restriction, etc., as a person or one"s will, thought, choice, action, etc.; independent; unrestricted. 6. Exempt or released from something specified that controls, restrains, burdens, etc. (usually followed by from or of). 7. Given readily or in profusion. freer, thought-free, world-free. *adv. *8. In a free manner; without constraints; unimpeded. v. 9. To make free; set at liberty; release from bondage, imprisonment, or restraint. 10. To disengage or clear something from an entanglement. 11. To relieve or rid of a burden, an inconvenience or an obligation. freed. set free. Released; liberated; freed.
air ::: 1. The transparent, invisible, inodorous, and tasteless gaseous substance which envelopes the earth. 2. *Fig. With reference to its unsubstantial or impalpable nature. 3. Outward appearance, apparent character, manner, look, style: esp. in phrases like ‘an air of absurdity"; less commonly of a thing tangible, as ‘the air of a mansion". 4. Mien or gesture (expressive of a personal quality or emotion). *air"s.
aisle ::: a longitudinal division of an interior area, as in a church, separated from the main area by an arcade or divided by a row of pillars. aisles.
::: "All conscious being is one and indivisible in itself, but in manifestation it becomes a complex rhythm, a scale of harmonies, a hierarchy of states or movements.” The Upanishads
“All conscious being is one and indivisible in itself, but in manifestation it becomes a complex rhythm, a scale of harmonies, a hierarchy of states or movements.” The Upanishads
". . . all division is intended to enrich by an experience of various sweetness of unification the joy of realised unity.” The Life Divine
“… all division is intended to enrich by an experience of various sweetness of unification the joy of realised unity.” The Life Divine
"All life is only a lavish and manifold opportunity given us to discover, realise , express the Divine.” Social and Political Thought
“All life is only a lavish and manifold opportunity given us to discover, realise , express the Divine.” Social and Political Thought
all- ::: prefix: Wholly, altogether, infinitely. Since 1600, the number of these [combinations] has been enormously extended, all-** having become a possible prefix, in poetry at least, to almost any adjective of quality. all-affirming, All-Beautiful, All-Beautiful"s, All-Bliss, All-Blissful, All-causing, all-concealing, all-conquering, All-Conscient, All-Conscious, all-containing, All-containing, all-creating, all-defeating, All-Delight, all-discovering, all-embracing, all-fulfilling, all-harbouring, all-inhabiting, all-knowing, All-knowing, All-Knowledge, all-levelling, All-Life, All-love, All-Love, all-negating, all-powerful, all-revealing, All-ruler, all-ruling, all-seeing, All-seeing, all-seeking, all-shaping, all-supporting, all-sustaining, all-swallowing, All-Truth, All-vision, All-Wisdom, all-wise, All-Wise, all-witnessing, All-Wonderful, All-Wonderful"s.**
almighty ::: ”See God everywhere and be not frightened by masks. Believe that all falsehood is truth in the making or truth in the breaking, all failure an effectuality concealed, all weakness strength hiding itself from its own vision, all pain a secret & violent ecstasy. If thou believest firmly & unweariedly, in the end thou wilt see & experience the All-true, Almighty & All-blissful.” Essays Divine and Human
Amal: “In occult vision the colour of the mind is either yellow or blue. The yellow intensifies into the gold of the Supramental and the blue into the Divine Mother’s compassionate infinity.”
Amal: “I suppose the phrase means cosmic powers that lead us into false perceptions, powers which, while seeming cosmic, are really our own selves whose image gets visioned on an enormous scale.”
Amal: “‘The earth’s strange twi-natured life’ means the earth’s self-division, one part tending upward, the other drawn downward.”
Amal: “There appears to be an allusion to the Greek concept or semi-vision of a heaven beyond death where the unfading flower called asphodel bloomed.”
Amal: “’Triple’ evidently refers to the division into past, present and future. The division was no longer a bar to a comprehensive vision and understanding.”
"And if there is, as there must be in the nature of things, an ascending series in the scale of substance from Matter to Spirit, it must be marked by a progressive diminution of these capacities most characteristic of the physical principle and a progressive increase of the opposite characteristics which will lead us to the formula of pure spiritual self-extension. This is to say that they must be marked by less and less bondage to the form, more and more subtlety and flexibility of substance and force, more and more interfusion, interpenetration, power of assimilation, power of interchange, power of variation, transmutation, unification. Drawing away from durability of form, we draw towards eternity of essence; drawing away from our poise in the persistent separation and resistance of physical Matter, we draw near to the highest divine poise in the infinity, unity and indivisibility of Spirit.” The Life Divine
“And if there is, as there must be in the nature of things, an ascending series in the scale of substance from Matter to Spirit, it must be marked by a progressive diminution of these capacities most characteristic of the physical principle and a progressive increase of the opposite characteristics which will lead us to the formula of pure spiritual self-extension. This is to say that they must be marked by less and less bondage to the form, more and more subtlety and flexibility of substance and force, more and more interfusion, interpenetration, power of assimilation, power of interchange, power of variation, transmutation, unification. Drawing away from durability of form, we draw towards eternity of essence; drawing away from our poise in the persistent separation and resistance of physical Matter, we draw near to the highest divine poise in the infinity, unity and indivisibility of Spirit.” The Life Divine
And still we can recognise at once in the Overmind the original cosmic Maya, not a Maya of Ignorance but a Maya of Knowledge, yet a Power which has made the Ignorance possible, even inevitable. For if each principle loosed into action must follow its independent line and carry out its complete consequences, the principle of separation must also be allowed its complete course and arrive at its absolute consequence; this is Overmind in its descent reaches a line which divides the cosmic Truth from the cosmic Ignorance; it is the line at which it becomes possible for Consciousness-Force, emphasising the separateness of each independent movement created by Overmind and hiding or darkening their unity, to divide Mind by an exclusive concentration from the overmental source. There has already been a similar separation of Overmind from its supramental source, but with a transparency in the veil which allows a conscious transmission and maintains a certain luminous kinship; but here the veil is opaque and the transmission of the Overmind motives to the Mind is occult and obscure. Mind separated acts as if it were an independent principle, and each mental being, each basic mental idea, power, force stands similarly on its separate self; if it communicates with or combines or contacts others, it is not with the catholic universality of the overmind movement, on a basis of underlying oneness, but as independent units joining to form a separate constructed whole. It is by this movement that we pass from the cosmic Truth into the cosmic Ignorance. The cosmic Mind on this level, no doubt, comprehends its own unity, but it is not aware of its own source and foundation in the Spirit or can only comprehend it by the intelligence, not in any enduring experience; it acts in itself as if by its own right and works out what it receives as material without direct communication with the source from which it receives it. Its units also act in ignorance of each other and of the cosmic whole except for the knowledge that they can get by contact and communication,—the basic sense of identity and the mutual penetration and understanding that comes from it are no longer there. All the actions of this Mind Energy proceed on the opposite basis of the Ignorance and its divisions and, although they are the results of a certain conscious knowledge, it is a partial knowledge, not a true and integral self-knowledge, nor a true and integral world-knowledge. This character persists in Life and in subtle Matter and reappears in the gross material universe which arises from the final lapse into the Inconscience. …
"A paradise of the Hindus; the heaven of Vishnu, sometimes described as on Mount Meru, at other times as in the ‘Northern Ocean" of Puranic cosmology.” Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works
apparent ::: readily seen; exposed to sight; open to view. 2. Capable of being easily perceived or understood; plain or clear; obvious; visible.
appear ::: 1. To come into sight; become visible; come into view, as from a place or state of concealment, or from a distance; esp. of angels, spirits, visions. 2. To come into existence; be created. 3. To be clear to the understanding. 4. To seem or look to be. appears, appeared, appearing.
appearance ::: 1. The act or fact of coming forward into view ; becoming visible. 2. The state, condition, manner, or style in which a person or object appears; outward look or aspect. 3. Outward show or seeming; semblance. appearances.
Apsaras ::: Sri Aurobindo: “The Apsaras are the most beautiful and romantic conception on the lesser plane of Hindu mythology. From the moment that they arose out of the waters of the milky Ocean, robed in ethereal raiment and heavenly adornment, waking melody from a million lyres, the beauty and light of them has transformed the world. They crowd in the sunbeams, they flash and gleam over heaven in the lightnings, they make the azure beauty of the sky; they are the light of sunrise and sunset and the haunting voices of forest and field. They dwell too in the life of the soul; for they are the ideal pursued by the poet through his lines, by the artist shaping his soul on his canvas, by the sculptor seeking a form in the marble; for the joy of their embrace the hero flings his life into the rushing torrent of battle; the sage, musing upon God, sees the shining of their limbs and falls from his white ideal. The delight of life, the beauty of things, the attraction of sensuous beauty, this is what the mystic and romantic side of the Hindu temperament strove to express in the Apsara. The original meaning is everywhere felt as a shining background, but most in the older allegories, especially the strange and romantic legend of Pururavas as we first have it in the Brahmanas and the Vishnoupurana.
apsaras ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The Apsaras are the most beautiful and romantic conception on the lesser plane of Hindu mythology. From the moment that they arose out of the waters of the milky Ocean, robed in ethereal raiment and heavenly adornment, waking melody from a million lyres, the beauty and light of them has transformed the world. They crowd in the sunbeams, they flash and gleam over heaven in the lightnings, they make the azure beauty of the sky; they are the light of sunrise and sunset and the haunting voices of forest and field. They dwell too in the life of the soul; for they are the ideal pursued by the poet through his lines, by the artist shaping his soul on his canvas, by the sculptor seeking a form in the marble; for the joy of their embrace the hero flings his life into the rushing torrent of battle; the sage, musing upon God, sees the shining of their limbs and falls from his white ideal. The delight of life, the beauty of things, the attraction of sensuous beauty, this is what the mystic and romantic side of the Hindu temperament strove to express in the Apsara. The original meaning is everywhere felt as a shining background, but most in the older allegories, especially the strange and romantic legend of Pururavas as we first have it in the Brahmanas and the Vishnoupurana.
Apsaras ::: “The Apsaras are the most beautiful and romantic conception on the lesser plane of Hindu mythology. From the moment that they arose out of the waters of the milky Ocean, robed in ethereal raiment and heavenly adornment, waking melody from a million lyres, the beauty and light of them has transformed the world. They crowd in the sunbeams, they flash and gleam over heaven in the lightnings, they make the azure beauty of the sky; they are the light of sunrise and sunset and the haunting voices of forest and field. They dwell too in the life of the soul; for they are the ideal pursued by the poet through his lines, by the artist shaping his soul on his canvas, by the sculptor seeking a form in the marble; for the joy of their embrace the hero flings his life into the rushing torrent of battle; the sage, musing upon God, sees the shining of their limbs and falls from his white ideal. The delight of life, the beauty of things, the attraction of sensuous beauty, this is what the mystic and romantic side of the Hindu temperament strove to express in the Apsara. The original meaning is everywhere felt as a shining background, but most in the older allegories, especially the strange and romantic legend of Pururavas as we first have it in the Brahmanas and the Vishnoupurana.
archivist ::: a person responsible for preserving, organizing, or servicing archival material.
architect ::: the deviser, maker, or creator of anything; one who builds up something, as, men are the architects of their own fortunes. Architect, architects.
a religious official among the Romans, whose duty it was to predict future events and advise upon the course of public business, in accordance with omens derived from the flight, singing, and feeding of birds. Hence extended to: A soothsayer, diviner, or prophet, generally; one that foresees and foretells the future. (Sri Aurobindo employs the word as an adjective.) augured.
artificer ::: 1. One who is skilful or clever in devising ways of making things; inventor. 2. A skilful or artistic worker; craftsperson. artificers.
artist ::: 1. One who practises the creative arts; one who seeks to express the beautiful in visible form. 2. A follower of a manual art; an artificer, mechanic, craftsman, artisan. artists. (Sri Aurobindo often employs the word as an adj.)
"As for Vishnu being the creator, all the three gods are often spoken of as creating the universe — even Shiva who is by tradition the Destroyer.” Letters on Yoga
“As for Vishnu being the creator, all the three gods are often spoken of as creating the universe—even Shiva who is by tradition the Destroyer.” Letters on Yoga
“As there are Powers of Knowledge or Forces of the Light, so there are Powers of Ignorance and tenebrous Forces of the Darkness whose work is to prolong the reign of Ignorance and Inconscience. As there are Forces of Truth, so there are Forces that live by the Falsehood and support it and work for its victory; as there are powers whose life is intimately bound up with the existence, the idea and the impulse of Good, so there are Forces whose life is bound up with the existence and the idea and the impulse of Evil. It is this truth of the cosmic Invisible that was symbolised in the ancient belief of a struggle between the powers of Light and Darkness, Good and Evil for the possession of the world and the government of the life of man;—this was the significance of the contest between the Vedic Gods and their opponents, sons of Darkness and Division, figured in a later tradition as Titan and Giant and Demon, Asura, Rakshasa, Pisacha; the same tradition is found in the Zoroastrian Double Principle and the later Semitic opposition of God and his Angels on the one side and Satan and his hosts on the other,—invisible Personalities and Powers that draw man to the divine Light and Truth and Good or lure him into subjection to the undivine principle of Darkness and Falsehood and Evil.” The Life Divine
atavism ::: 1. The reappearance in an individual of characteristics of some remote ancestor that have been absent in intervening generations. 2. Reversion to an earlier type.
"At first when one begins to see, it is quite usual for the more ill-defined and imprecise figures to last longer while those which are successful, complete, precise in detail and outline are apt to be quite momentary and disappear in an instant. It is only when the subtle vision is well developed that the precise and full seeing lasts for a long time.” Letters on Yoga*
“At first when one begins to see, it is quite usual for the more ill-defined and imprecise figures to last longer while those which are successful, complete, precise in detail and outline are apt to be quite momentary and disappear in an instant. It is only when the subtle vision is well developed that the precise and full seeing lasts for a long time.” Letters on Yoga
"A third step is to find out that there is something in him other than his instrumental mind, life and body, not only an immortal ever-developing individual soul that supports his nature but an eternal immutable self and spirit, and to learn what are the categories of his spiritual being, until he discovers that all in him is an expression of the spirit and distinguishes the link between his lower and his higher existence; thus he sets out to remove his constitutional self-ignorance. Discovering self and spirit he discovers God; he finds out that there is a Self beyond the temporal: he comes to the vision of that Self in the cosmic consciousness as the divine Reality behind Nature and this world of beings; his mind opens to the thought or the sense of the Absolute of whom self and the individual and the cosmos are so many faces; the cosmic, the egoistic, the original ignorance begin to lose the rigidness of their hold upon him.” The Life Divine
“A third step is to find out that there is something in him other than his instrumental mind, life and body, not only an immortal ever-developing individual soul that supports his nature but an eternal immutable self and spirit, and to learn what are the categories of his spiritual being, until he discovers that all in him is an expression of the spirit and distinguishes the link between his lower and his higher existence; thus he sets out to remove his constitutional self-ignorance. Discovering self and spirit he discovers God; he finds out that there is a Self beyond the temporal: he comes to the vision of that Self in the cosmic consciousness as the divine Reality behind Nature and this world of beings; his mind opens to the thought or the sense of the Absolute of whom self and the individual and the cosmos are so many faces; the cosmic, the egoistic, the original ignorance begin to lose the rigidness of their hold upon him.” The Life Divine
::: ". . . a true occultism means no more than a research into supraphysical realities and an unveiling of the hidden laws of being and Nature, of all that is not obvious on the surface. It attempts the discovery of the secret laws of mind and mental energy, the secret laws of life and life-energy, the secret laws of the subtle-physical and its energies, — all that Nature has not put into visible operation on the surface; it pursues also the application of these hidden truths and powers of Nature so as to extend the mastery of the human spirit beyond the ordinary operations of mind, the ordinary operations of life, the ordinary operations of our physical existence. In the spiritual domain which is occult to the surface mind in so far as it passes beyond normal and enters into supernormal experience, there is possible not only the discovery of the self and spirit, but the discovery of the uplifting, informing and guiding light of spiritual consciousness and the power of the spirit, the spiritual way of knowledge, the spiritual way of action. To know these things and to bring their truths and forces into the life of humanity is a necessary part of its evolution. Science itself is in its own way an occultism; for it brings to light the formulas which Nature has hidden and it uses its knowledge to set free operations of her energies which she has not included in her ordinary operations and to organise and place at the service of man her occult powers and processes, a vast system of physical magic, — for there is and can be no other magic than the utilisation of secret truths of being, secret powers and processes of Nature. It may even be found that a supraphysical knowledge is necessary for the completion of physical knowledge, because the processes of physical Nature have behind them a supraphysical factor, a power and action mental, vital or spiritual which is not tangible to any outer means of knowledge.” The Life Divine
“… a true occultism means no more than a research into supraphysical realities and an unveiling of the hidden laws of being and Nature, of all that is not obvious on the surface. It attempts the discovery of the secret laws of mind and mental energy, the secret laws of life and life-energy, the secret laws of the subtle-physical and its energies,—all that Nature has not put into visible operation on the surface; it pursues also the application of these hidden truths and powers of Nature so as to extend the mastery of the human spirit beyond the ordinary operations of mind, the ordinary operations of life, the ordinary operations of our physical existence. In the spiritual domain which is occult to the surface mind in so far as it passes beyond normal and enters into supernormal experience, there is possible not only the discovery of the self and spirit, but the discovery of the uplifting, informing and guiding light of spiritual consciousness and the power of the spirit, the spiritual way of knowledge, the spiritual way of action. To know these things and to bring their truths and forces into the life of humanity is a necessary part of its evolution. Science itself is in its own way an occultism; for it brings to light the formulas which Nature has hidden and it uses its knowledge to set free operations of her energies which she has not included in her ordinary operations and to organise and place at the service of man her occult powers and processes, a vast system of physical magic,—for there is and can be no other magic than the utilisation of secret truths of being, secret powers and processes of Nature. It may even be found that a supraphysical knowledge is necessary for the completion of physical knowledge, because the processes of physical Nature have behind them a supraphysical factor, a power and action mental, vital or spiritual which is not tangible to any outer means of knowledge.” The Life Divine
babel ::: “The legend of the Tower of Babel speaks of the diversity of tongues as a curse laid on the race; but whatever its disadvantages, and they tend more and more to be minimised by the growth of civilisation and increasing intercourse, it has been rather a blessing than a curse, a gift to mankind rather than a disability laid upon it. The purposeless exaggeration of anything is always an evil, and an excessive pullulation of varying tongues that serve no purpose in the expression of a real diversity of spirit and culture is certainly a stumbling-block rather than a help: but this excess, though it existed in the past, is hardly a possibility of the future. The tendency is rather in the opposite direction. In former times diversity of language helped to create a barrier to knowledge and sympathy, was often made the pretext even of an actual antipathy and tended to a too rigid division. The lack of sufficient interpenetration kept up both a passive want of understanding and a fruitful crop of active misunderstandings. But this was an inevitable evil of a particular stage of growth, an exaggeration of the necessity that then existed for the vigorous development of strongly individualised group-souls in the human race. These disadvantages have not yet been abolished, but with closer intercourse and the growing desire of men and nations for the knowledge of each other’s thought and spirit and personality, they have diminished and tend to diminish more and more and there is no reason why in the end they should not become inoperative.” The Human Cycle
babel ::: "The reference is to the mythological story of the construction of the Tower of Babel, which appears to be an attempt to explain the diversity of human languages. According to Genesis, the Babylonians wanted to make a name for themselves by building a mighty city and tower ‘with its top in the heavens". God disrupted the work by so confusing the language of the workers that they could no longer understand one another. The tower was never completed and the people were dispersed over the face of the earth.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica) Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works Sri Aurobindo: "The legend of the Tower of Babel speaks of the diversity of tongues as a curse laid on the race; but whatever its disadvantages, and they tend more and more to be minimised by the growth of civilisation and increasing intercourse, it has been rather a blessing than a curse, a gift to mankind rather than a disability laid upon it. The purposeless exaggeration of anything is always an evil, and an excessive pullulation of varying tongues that serve no purpose in the expression of a real diversity of spirit and culture is certainly a stumbling-block rather than a help: but this excess, though it existed in the past, is hardly a possibility of the future. The tendency is rather in the opposite direction. In former times diversity of language helped to create a barrier to knowledge and sympathy, was often made the pretext even of an actual antipathy and tended to a too rigid division. The lack of sufficient interpenetration kept up both a passive want of understanding and a fruitful crop of active misunderstandings. But this was an inevitable evil of a particular stage of growth, an exaggeration of the necessity that then existed for the vigorous development of strongly individualised group-souls in the human race. These disadvantages have not yet been abolished, but with closer intercourse and the growing desire of men and nations for the knowledge of each other"s thought and spirit and personality, they have diminished and tend to diminish more and more and there is no reason why in the end they should not become inoperative.” The Human Cycle
banquet ::: a ceremonial meal; a feast; a lavish and sumptuous meal.
::: ". . . behind visible events in the world there is always a mass of invisible forces at work unknown to the outward minds of men, and by yoga, (by going inward and establishing a conscious connection with the Cosmic Self and Force and forces,) one can become conscious of these forces, intervene consciously in the play, and to some extent at least determine things in the result of the play.” Letters on Yoga
“… behind visible events in the world there is always a mass of invisible forces at work unknown to the outward minds of men, and by yoga, (by going inward and establishing a conscious connection with the Cosmic Self and Force and forces,) one can become conscious of these forces, intervene consciously in the play, and to some extent at least determine things in the result of the play.” Letters on Yoga
behold ::: v. 1. To perceive by the visual faculty; see. beholds. Interj. **2.** Look; see.
being, conscious ::: Sri Aurobindo: "We have to conceive one indivisible conscious being behind all our experiences. . . . That is our real self.” *The Life Divine
blaze of intimate truth-perception is lit in its depths. This close perception is more than sight, more than conception: it is the result of a penetrating and revealing touch which carries in it sight and conception as part of itself or as its natural consequence. A concealed or slumbering identity, not yet recovering itself, still remembers or conveys by the intuition its own contents and the intimacy of its self-feeling and self-vision of things, its light of truth, its overwhelming and automatic certitude.” The Life Divine
blindness ::: 1. A lack or impairment of vision. 2. *Fig.* Lack of vision or awareness.
blinkers ::: leather side pieces attached to a horse"s bridle to prevent sideways vision.
blue lotus of the Idea. ::: Sri Aurobindo: "It can be taken as the (Avatar) incarnation on the mental plane.” Visions of Champaklal
"Body is the outward sign and lowest basis of the apparent division which Nature plunging into ignorance and self-nescience makes the starting-point for the recovery of unity by the individual soul, unity even in the midst of the most exaggerated forms of her multiple consciousness.” The Life Divine
“Body is the outward sign and lowest basis of the apparent division which Nature plunging into ignorance and self-nescience makes the starting-point for the recovery of unity by the individual soul, unity even in the midst of the most exaggerated forms of her multiple consciousness.” The Life Divine
border ::: n. 1. A part that forms the outer edge of something. 2. The line or frontier area separating political divisions or geographic regions; a boundary. 3. A strip of ground, as that at the edge of a garden or walk, an edging. borders. v. 4. To form the boundary of; be contiguous to. fig. To confine. 5. To lie adjacent to another. bordered.
Brahma is Immortality, Vishnu is Eternity, Shiva is Infinity; Krishna is the Supreme"s eternal, infinite, immortal self-possession, self-issuing, self-manifestation, self-finding.” *Essays Divine and Human
Brahma is Immortality, Vishnu is Eternity, Shiva is Infinity; Krishna is the Supreme’s eternal, infinite, immortal self-possession, self-issuing, self-manifestation, self-finding.” Essays Divine and Human
"Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva are only three Powers and Personalities of the One Cosmic Godhead.” *Letters on Yoga
“Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva are only three Powers and Personalities of the One Cosmic Godhead.” Letters on Yoga
Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna, these are the eternal Four, the quadruple Infinite.
Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna, these are the eternal Four, the quadruple Infinite.
"But it is not a mental Intelligence that informs and governs all things; it is a self-aware Truth of being in which self-knowledge is inseparable from self-existence: it is this Truth-Consciousness which has not to think out things but works them out with knowledge according to the impeccable self-vision and the inevitable force of a sole and self-fulfilling Existence.” The Life Divine
“But it is not a mental Intelligence that informs and governs all things; it is a self-aware Truth of being in which self-knowledge is inseparable from self-existence: it is this Truth-Consciousness which has not to think out things but works them out with knowledge according to the impeccable self-vision and the inevitable force of a sole and self-fulfilling Existence.” The Life Divine
"But the Titan will have nothing of all this; it is too great and subtle for his comprehension. His instincts call for a visible, tangible mastery and a sensational domination. How shall he feel sure of his empire unless he can feel something writhing helpless under his heel, — if in agony, so much the better? What is exploitation to him, unless it diminishes the exploited? To be able to coerce, exact, slay, overtly, irresistibly, — it is this that fills him with the sense of glory and dominion. For he is the son of division and the strong flowering of the Ego. To feel the comparative limitation of others is necessary to him that he may imagine himself immeasurable; for he has not the real, self-existent sense of infinity which no outward circumstance can abrogate. Contrast, division, negation of the wills and lives of others are essential to his self-development and self-assertion. The Titan would unify by devouring, not by harmonising; he must conquer and trample what is not himself either out of existence or into subservience so that his own image may stand out stamped upon all things and dominating all his environment.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
visage ::: 1. The face, usually with reference to features, expression, etc.; countenance. 2. Aspect; appearance. visages.
-visaged ::: having a face or visage as specified. many-visaged.
visage ::: familiar visage. Sri Aurobindo [in reference to the following lines]:
visa ("s) ::: an endorsement made by an authorised representative of one country upon a passport issued by another, permitting the passport holder entry into or transit through the country making the endorsement.
viscous ::: having a glutinous or gluey consistency; sticky.
vishnu ::: 1. (In later Hinduism) "The Preserver.” The second member of the Trimurti, along with Brahma the Creator and Shiva the Destroyer. 2. (In popular Hinduism) a deity believed to have descended from heaven to earth in several incarnations, or avatars, varying in number from nine to twenty-two, but always including animals. His most important human incarnation is the Krishna of the Bhagavad-Gita. 3. "The Pervader,” one of a half-dozen solar deities in the Rig-Veda, daily traversing the sky in three strides, morning, afternoon, and night.
visibility ::: quality or fact or degree of being visible; perceptible by the eye or obvious to the eye.
visible ::: 1. Possible to see; perceptible to the eye. 2. Capable of being perceived by the mind; evident. half-visible.
vision ::: 1. The mystical experience of seeing as if with the eyes the supernatural or a supernatural being. 2. A mystical insight. 3. Ability to see or conceive what might be attempted or achieved. 4. The faculty of sight; eyesight. 5. Something that is or has been seen. 6. A person, scene, etc., of extraordinary beauty. **Vision, vision"s, Vision"s, visions, All-vision, earth-vision, God-vision"s, seer-vision"s, self-vision, soul-vision, stress-vision, vision-plans.
visionary ::: 1. Of, pertaining to, or proper to, a vision. 2. Given to or concerned with seeing visions; having the ability to see them.
vision, cosmic ::: see: cosmic vision
visioned ::: 1. Pertaining to, seen in, or arising from a vision. 2. Having the ability or power to perceive, see as in a vision, or bring before the eye of the mind. 3. Gifted and filled with prophetic vision. 4. The power of seeing. dull-visioned, keen-visioned, large-visioned, many-visioned.
vision, inner ::: see: inner vision
visionless ::: 1. Lacking the faculty of sight; blind. 2. Lacking intelligent foresight or imagination; uninspired.
vision, subtle ::: see subtle vision
vision ::: “Visions come under the head of experiences, unless they fix themselves and are accompanied by a realisation of which they are as it were the support.” Sri Aurobindo ‘The Mother’
visitants ::: 1. Supernatural beings; ghosts; apparitions. 2. Moods, feelings, emotions, etc., that come to a person from time to time.
visitor ::: 1. One who visits a person or place for a particular purpose. 2. A caller; guest. visitors.
visit ::: v 1. To come or go to (a place). 2. To go and stay with (a person, etc.) or at (a place) for a short time. 3. To come to (a person) with some accompaniment; to supply or enrich with some benefit. 4. To cause suffering, trouble, afflict upon; etc. visits, visited, visiting.* *n. visits. 5.** Visitations; appearances or comings of a supernatural influence or spirit.
vistas ::: 1. Distant views or prospects, especially those seen through openings, as between rows of buildings or trees. 2. Fig. Far-reaching mental views. 3. *Fig.* Awareness of ranges of time, events, or subjects; broad mental views.
visualised ::: formed mental pictures of things that are invisible or abstract.
"By the supermind is meant the full Truth-Consciousness of the Divine Nature in which there can be no place for the principle of division and ignorance; it is always a full light and knowledge superior to all mental substance or mental movement.” Letters on Yoga
“By the supermind is meant the full Truth-Consciousness of the Divine Nature in which there can be no place for the principle of division and ignorance; it is always a full light and knowledge superior to all mental substance or mental movement.” Letters on Yoga
canto ::: one of the principal divisions of a long poem.
care ::: n. **1. A burdened state of mind, as that arising from heavy responsibilities; worry. 2. An object of or cause for concern. 3. Watchful oversight; charge or supervision. 4. An object or source of worry, attention, or solicitude. care, cares. v. 5. To be concerned or interested, have concern for. cares, cared.**
"Certainly, ideals are not the ultimate Reality, for that is too high and vast for any ideal to envisage; they are aspects of it thrown out in the world-consciousness as a basis for the workings of the world-power. But they are primary, the actual workings secondary. They are nearer to the Reality and therefore always more real, forcible and complete than the facts which are their partial reflection.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
“Certainly, ideals are not the ultimate Reality, for that is too high and vast for any ideal to envisage; they are aspects of it thrown out in the world-consciousness as a basis for the workings of the world-power. But they are primary, the actual workings secondary. They are nearer to the Reality and therefore always more real, forcible and complete than the facts which are their partial reflection.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
Certainly, ideals are not the ultimate Reality, for that is too high and vast for any ideal to envisage; they are aspects of it thrown out in the world-consciousness as a basis for the workings of the world-power. But they are primary, the actual workings secondary. They are nearer to the Reality and therefore always more real, forcible and complete than the facts which are their partial reflection. Reflections themselves of the Real, they again are reflected in the more concrete workings of our existence. The Supramental Manifestation
chapter ::: an important portion or division of anything, esp. of a book, treatise, or other literary work. chapter"s, Chapters.
charts ::: visual displays of information, as maps, graphs, tables, or sheets of information in the form of a diagram delineating a particular subject.
clause ::: a distinct article, stipulation, or provision, in a document.
cleavage ::: a critical division in opinion, beliefs, interests, etc. as leading to opposition between two groups.
cloud ::: 1. A visible collection of particles of water or ice suspended in the air, usually at an elevation above the earth"s surface. 2. Any similar mass, esp. of smoke or dust. 3. Something fleeting or unsubstantial. 4. Anything that obscures or darkens something, or causes gloom, trouble, suspicion, disgrace, etc. clouds, clouds", cloud-veils.
*consciousforce. ::: Sri Aurobindo: "In actual fact Mind measures Time by event and Space by Matter; but it is possible in pure mentality to disregard the movement of event and the disposition of substance and realise the pure movement of Conscious-Force which constitutes Space and Time; these two are then merely two aspects of the universal force of Consciousness which in their intertwined interaction comprehend the warp and woof of its action upon itself. And to a consciousness higher than Mind which should regard our past, present and future in one view, containing and not contained in them, not situated at a particular moment of Time for its point of prospection, Time might well offer itself as an eternal present. And to the same consciousness not situated at any particular point of Space, but containing all points and regions in itself, Space also might well offer itself as a subjective and indivisible extension, — no less subjective than Time.” The Life Divine
::: "Consciousness is usually identified with mind, but mental consciousness is only the human range which no more exhausts all the possible ranges of consciousness than human sight exhausts all the gradations of colour or human hearing all the gradations of sound — for there is much above or below that is to man invisible and inaudible. So there are ranges of consciousness above and below the human range, with which the normal human has no contact and they seem to it unconscious, — supramental or overmental and submental ranges.” *Letters on Yoga
“Consciousness is usually identified with mind, but mental consciousness is only the human range which no more exhausts all the possible ranges of consciousness than human sight exhausts all the gradations of colour or human hearing all the gradations of sound—for there is much above or below that is to man invisible and inaudible. So there are ranges of consciousness above and below the human range, with which the normal human has no contact and they seem to it unconscious,—supramental or overmental and submental ranges.” Letters on Yoga
constructions ::: things fashioned or devised systematically.
contrivance ::: 1. The act or faculty of devising or adapting; inventive skill or ability esp. in a negative sense. 2. The act or manner of contriving; the faculty or power of contriving. inventing or making with thought and skill; invention.
contrived ::: planned with cleverness or ingenuity; devised.
“Cosmic vision is the seeing of the universal movements—it has nothing to do with the psychic necessarily. It can be in the universal mind, the universal vital, the universal physical or anywhere.” Letters on Yoga
cosmic vision
cosmic vision ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Cosmic vision is the seeing of the universal movements — it has nothing to do with the psychic necessarily. It can be in the universal mind, the universal vital, the universal physical or anywhere.” Letters on Yoga*
cosmic mind ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Nevertheless, the fact of this intervention from above, the fact that behind all our original thinking or authentic perception of things there is a veiled, a half-veiled or a swift unveiled intuitive element is enough to establish a connection between mind and what is above it; it opens a passage of communication and of entry into the superior spirit-ranges. There is also the reaching out of mind to exceed the personal ego limitation, to see things in a certain impersonality and universality. Impersonality is the first character of cosmic self; universality, non-limitation by the single or limiting point of view, is the character of cosmic perception and knowledge: this tendency is therefore a widening, however rudimentary, of these restricted mind areas towards cosmicity, towards a quality which is the very character of the higher mental planes, — towards that superconscient cosmic Mind which, we have suggested, must in the nature of things be the original mind-action of which ours is only a derivative and inferior process.” *The Life Divine
"If we accept the Vedic image of the Sun of Truth, . . . we may compare the action of the Higher Mind to a composed and steady sunshine, the energy of the Illumined Mind beyond it to an outpouring of massive lightnings of flaming sun-stuff. Still beyond can be met a yet greater power of the Truth-Force, an intimate and exact Truth-vision, Truth-thought, Truth-sense, Truth-feeling, Truth-action, to which we can give in a special sense the name of Intuition; . . . At the source of this Intuition we discover a superconscient cosmic Mind in direct contact with the supramental Truth-Consciousness, an original intensity determinant of all movements below it and all mental energies, — not Mind as we know it, but an Overmind that covers as with the wide wings of some creative Oversoul this whole lower hemisphere of Knowledge-Ignorance, links it with that greater Truth-Consciousness while yet at the same time with its brilliant golden Lid it veils the face of the greater Truth from our sight, intervening with its flood of infinite possibilities as at once an obstacle and a passage in our seeking of the spiritual law of our existence, its highest aim, its secret Reality.” The Life Divine
"There is one cosmic Mind, one cosmic Life, one cosmic Body. All the attempt of man to arrive at universal sympathy, universal love and the understanding and knowledge of the inner soul of other existences is an attempt to beat thin, breach and eventually break down by the power of the enlarging mind and heart the walls of the ego and arrive nearer to a cosmic oneness.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
"[The results of the opening to the cosmic Mind:] One is aware of the cosmic Mind and the mental forces that move there and how they work on one"s mind and that of others and one is able to deal with one"s own mind with a greater knowledge and effective power. There are many other results, but this is the fundamental one.” Letters on Yoga
"The cosmic consciousness has many levels — the cosmic physical, the cosmic vital, the cosmic Mind, and above the higher planes of cosmic Mind there is the Intuition and above that the overmind and still above that the supermind where the Transcendental begins. In order to live in the Intuition plane (not merely to receive intuitions), one has to live in the cosmic consciousness because there the cosmic and individual run into each other as it were, and the mental separation between them is already broken down, so nobody can reach there who is still in the separative ego.” Letters on Yoga*
darkness ::: “Our sense by its incapacity has invented darkness. In truth there is nothing but Light, only it is a power of light either above or below our poor human vision’s limited range.” Essays Divine and Human
dazzled ::: 1. Overpowered or dimmed the vision of (someone) by intense light. 2. Impressed deeply; awed, overwhelmed. 3. Overpowered by light.
devised ::: formed, planned, or arranged in the mind; designed or contrived.
device ::: 1. Something devised or framed by art or inventive power; an invention, contrivance for some particular purpose. 2. A plan or scheme, especially a malign one. 3. Something elaborately or fancifully designed. devices.
division ::: “God and Man, World and Beyond-world become one when they know each other. Their division is the cause of ignorance as ignorance is the cause of suffering.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
division
dim ::: 1. Obscure to the mind or the senses. 2. Not clearly seen; indistinct; faint. 3. Having weak or indistinct vision. 4. Faintly outlined; indistinct. 5. Lacking in brightness. v. 1. To cause to seem less bright, as by comparison. 2. Make dim or lusterless. dimly, dim-eyed, dim-heart, dim-hearted, dim-masked, dim-souled.
dimmed ::: v.**1. Made or became dim; lost brightness. Also fig. adj. 2. Not brilliant; dull in lustre. 3.** Dulled; indistinct; not seen clearly or in detail as of sight or vision.
display ::: to show or make visible; make manifest; reveal. displayed.
Djinn ::: (Islam) an invisible spirit mentioned in the Koran and believed by Muslims to inhabit the earth and influence mankind by appearing in the form of humans or animals. djinns .
djinn ::: (Islam) an invisible spirit mentioned in the Koran and believed by Muslims to inhabit the earth and influence mankind by appearing in the form of humans or animals. djinns .
dream ::: 1. A series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. 2. A vision occurring to a person while awake. 3. A person or thing that is as pleasant, or seemingly unreal, as a dream 4. An ideal or aspiration; goal; aim. 5. A wild or vain fancy. Dream, dream"s, Dream"s, dreams, dream-brood, dream-brush, dream-built, dream-caught, dream-fact, dream-fate, dream-god"s, dream-happiness, dream-hued, dream-life, dream-light, dream-made, dream-mind, dream-notes, dream-print, dream-sculptured, dream-shores, dream-smiles, dream-splendour, dream-truth, dream-vasts, dream-white, dream-world, half-dream, self-dream, sun-dream, world-dream. *adj. 6. Of a colour: misty, dim, or cloudy. v. 7. To have an image (of) or fantasy (about) in or as if in a dream. dreams, dreamed, *dreaming.
dreamer ::: a person who dreams; a prophet; visionary. Dreamer, dreamer"s.
dreaming ::: seeing or imagining in sleep or in a vision.
dull ::: adj. **1. Causing boredom; tedious; uninteresting. 2. Not brisk or rapid; sluggish. 3. Lacking responsiveness or alertness; insensitive. 4. Not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft. 5. (of color) Very low in saturation; highly diluted; 6. Slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity. duller, dull-eyed, dull-hued, dull-visioned. v. 7. To make numb or insensitive. 8. To make or become dull or sluggish. 9. To make less lively or vigorous. dulls, dulled.**
Dyumatsena ::: : “Dyumatsena, Lord of the Shining Hosts, father of Satyavan, is the Divine Mind here fallen blind, losing its celestial kingdom of vision, and through that loss its kingdom of glory.” (Note at the beginning of Savitri from a letter of Sri Aurobindo to a disciple.)
dyumatsena ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Dyumatsena, Lord of the Shining Hosts, father of Satyavan, is the Divine Mind here fallen blind, losing its celestial kingdom of vision, and through that loss its kingdom of glory.” Author"s note at beginning of Savitri.
Dyumatsena ::: Sri Aurobindo: “Dyumatsena, Lord of the Shining Hosts, father of Satyavan, is the Divine Mind here fallen blind, losing its celestial kingdom of vision, and through that loss its kingdom of glory.” (Author’s Note at the beginning of Savitri.)**
eagle ::: Any of several large, soaring birds of prey belonging to the hawk family. The strength, keen vision, graceful and powerful flight of the eagle are proverbial, and have given to him the title of the king of birds. eagle’s, eagles, eagle-peaks, eagle-poised, eagle-winged, she-eagle. (Sri Aurobindo also employs the word as an adj.)
eagle ::: any of several large, soaring birds of prey belonging to the hawk family. The strength, keen vision, graceful and powerful flight of the eagle are proverbial, and have given to him the title of the king of birds. eagle"s, eagles, eagle-peaks, eagle-poised, eagle-winged, she-eagle. (Sri Aurobindo also employs the word as an adj.)
earth ::: 1. The realm of mortal existence; the temporal world. 2. The softer, friable part of land; soil, especially productive soil. **Earth, earth"s, earth-beauty"s, earth-being"s, earth-beings, earth-bounds, earth-bride, earth-fact, earth-force, Earth-Goddess, earth-hearts, earth-habit"s, earth-heart, earth-instruments, earth-kind, earth-life, earth-light, earth-made, earth-matter"s, earth-mind, earth-mind"s, earth-myth, earth-nature, earth-nature"s, Earth-Nature"s, earth-nursed, earth-pain, Earth-plasm, earth-poise, earth-scene, earth-scene"s, earth-seat, earth-shapes, earth-stage, earth-stuff, earth-time, earth-time"s, earth-use, earth-vision, earth-ways, summer-earth.
empyrean ::: 1. The highest heaven, supposed by the ancients to contain the pure element of fire. 2. The visible heavens; the firmament.
executor ::: 1. A person who carries out or performs something. 2. A person named in a will to carry out the provisions of that will. executors.
expose ::: 1. To lay open to something specified. 2. To lay open to the action or influence of. 3. To lay open to danger, attack, harm, etc. 4. To make visible or apparent. 5. To reveal or unmask (a crime, fraud, impostor, etc.). exposes, exposed.
external ::: 1. Of or relating chiefly to outward appearance; superficial. 2. Relating to, existing on, or coming or acting from without; exterior. 3. Pertaining to the outward or visible appearance or show. externally.
extravagance ::: unrestrained or fantastic excess, as of actions or opinions; lavishness.
familiar visage. Sri Aurobindo [in reference to the following lines]:
flash ::: n.** 1. A brief, sudden burst of bright light. 2. A sudden thought, insight, inspiration, or vision. 3. A momentary brightness. 4. A very brief moment; instant. flashes, lightening-flash. v. 5. To move or proceed rapidly. 6. To communicate or reveal through flashes. 7. To appear or occur suddenly; come into perception. 8. To cause to flash, as powder by ignition or a sword by waving. flashes, flashed, flashing.**
". . . for doubt is the mind"s persistent assailant.” Letters on Yoga ::: "The enemy of faith is doubt, and yet doubt too is a utility and necessity, because man in his ignorance and in his progressive labour towards knowledge needs to be visited by doubt, otherwise he would remain obstinate in an ignorant belief and limited knowledge and unable to escape from his errors.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
formulate ::: to devise or develop, as a method, system, etc. or reduce to or express in a formula.
“For the highest intuitive Knowledge sees things in the whole, in the large and details only as sides of the indivisible whole; its tendency is towards immediate synthesis and the unity of knowledge.” The Life Divine
“For what Yoga searches after is not truth of thought alone or truth of mind alone, but the dynamic truth of a living and revealing spiritual experience. There must awake in us a constant indwelling and enveloping nearness, a vivid perception, a close feeling and communion, a concrete sense and contact of a true and infinite Presence always and everywhere. That Presence must remain with us as the living, pervading Reality in which we and all things exist and move and act, and we must feel it always and everywhere, concrete, visible, inhabiting all things; it must be patent to us as their true Self, tangible as their imperishable Essence, met by us closely as their inmost Spirit. To see, to feel, to sense, to contact in every way and not merely to conceive this Self and Spirit here in all existences and to feel with the same vividness all existences in this Self and Spirit, is the fundamental experience which must englobe all other knowledge.” The Synthesis of Yoga
found ::: 1. To set up or establish on a firm basis or for enduring existence; to originate, create, initiate. 2. To establish or set up, especially with provision for continuing existence. Also fig. (All other references are to the word as the pp. or pt. of find. **half-found*.*) founds, founded.**
Gandhamadan ::: “In Hindu mythology, a mountain and forest in Ilavrta, the central region of the world which contains Mount Meru. Gandhamadan dorms the division between Ilavrta and Bhadrasva, to the east of Meru. The forest of Gandhamadan is renowned for its fragrance. (Dow.; Enc. Br). Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo’s Works.
gandhamadan ::: "In Hindu mythology, a mountain and forest in Ilavrta, the central region of the world which contains Mount Meru. Gandhamadan dorms the division between Ilavrta and Bhadrasva, to the east of Meru. The forest of Gandhamadan is renowned for its fragrance. (Dow.; Enc. Br.)” Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works.
glass ::: 1. A glass mirror, a looking-glass. 2. A mirror. 3. A device, such as a monocle or spyglass, containing a lens or lenses and used as an aid to vision. 4. A lens.
god ::: a being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions. gods, gods", God"s, Gods, God-bliss, God-born, god-chant, God-child, god-children, God-ecstasy, God-face, God-frame, God-Force, God-given, god-haunts, God-instinct"s, God-joy, God-Light, god-kind, God-knowledge, God-language, God-light, god-mind, god-phase, God-spark, god-speech, God-state, god-touch, God-vision"s, god-wings, child-god, dream-god"s, half-god, Sun-god"s.
golden Child ::: Sri Aurobindo: "I suppose the golden child is the Truth-Soul which follows after the silver light of the spiritual. When it plunges into the black waters of the subconscient, it releases from it the spiritual light and the sevenfold streams of the Divine Energy and, clearing itself of the stains of the subconscient, it prepares its flight towards the supreme Divine (the Mother).” (Reply to a question in the chapter Visions and Symbols.) Letters on Yoga
grace ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Grace is something spontaneous which wells out from the Divine Consciousness as a free flow of its being. ::: It is a power that is superior to any rule, even to the Cosmic Law — for all spiritual seers have distinguished between the Law and Grace. Yet it is not indiscriminate — only it has a discrimination of its own which sees things and persons and the right times and seasons with another vision than that of the Mind or any other normal Power. A state of Grace is prepared in the individual often behind thick veils by means not calculable by the mind and when the state of Grace comes, then the Grace itself acts. ” *Letters on Yoga
guide ::: n. 1. One who goes with or before for the purpose of leading the way: said of persons, of God, Providence, and of impersonal agents, such as stars, light, etc. 2. One who shows the way by leading, directing, or advising. Also fig. 3. One who serves as a model for others, as in a course of conduct. Guide, guides. v. 4. To assist one to travel through, or reach a destination in, an unfamiliar area, as by accompanying or giving directions. 5. To direct the course of; steer. 6.* Fig. To lead the way for (a person). guides, guided, guiding. **adj. *guideless.**
haunted ::: frequented or visited by ghosts or spirits.
haunt ::: n. 1. A place frequently visited. haunts. v. 2. To recur persistently to the consciousness of; remain with. 3. To visit often; frequent. 4. To inhabit, visit, or appear to in the form of a ghost or other supernatural being. haunts, haunted.
haze ::: 1. An aggregation in the atmosphere of very fine, widely dispersed, solid or liquid particles, or both, giving the air an opalescent appearance that subdues colours. 2. Reduced visibility in the air as a result of condensed water vapour, dust, etc., in the atmosphere. 3. Vagueness of obscurity, as of the mind or perception; confused or vague thoughts, feelings, etc.
"He who is the high and low, the saint and the sinner, the god and the worm, Him worship, the visible, the knowable, the real, the omnipresent; break all other idols. In whom there is neither past life nor future birth, nor death nor going nor coming, in whom we always have been and always will be one, Him worship; break all other idols."" The Synthesis of Yoga*
“He who is the high and low, the saint and the sinner, the god and the worm, Him worship, the visible, the knowable, the real, the omnipresent; break all other idols. In whom there is neither past life nor future birth, nor death nor going nor coming, in whom we always have been and always will be one, Him worship; break all other idols.’’ The Synthesis of Yoga
hinduism. An avatar of Vishnu and one of the most popular of Indian deities, who appears in the Bhagavad-Gita as the teacher of Arjuna.
His vision warned by the spirit"s inward eye
His vision warned by the spirit’s inward eye
history ::: “History teaches us nothing; it is a confused torrent of events and personalities or a kaleidoscope of changing institutions. We do not seize the real sense of all this change and this continual streaming forward of human life in the channels of Time. What we do seize are current or recurrent phenomena, facile generalisations, partial ideas. We talk of democracy, aristocracy and autocracy, collectivism and individualism, imperialism and nationalism, the State and the commune, capitalism and labour; we advance hasty generalisations and make absolute systems which are positively announced today only to be abandoned perforce tomorrow; we espouse causes and ardent enthusiasms whose triumph turns to an early disillusionment and then forsake them for others, perhaps for those that we have taken so much trouble to destroy. For a whole century mankind thirsts and battles after liberty and earns it with a bitter expense of toil, tears and blood; the century that enjoys without having fought for it turns away as from a puerile illusion and is ready to renounce the depreciated gain as the price of some new good. And all this happens because our whole thought and action with regard to our collective life is shallow and empirical; it does not seek for, it does not base itself on a firm, profound and complete knowledge. The moral is not the vanity of human life, of its ardours and enthusiasms and of the ideals it pursues, but the necessity of a wiser, larger, more patient search after its true law and aim.” The Human Cycle etc.
“Human life is itself only a term in a graded series, through which the secret Spirit in the universe develops gradually his purpose and works it out finally through the enlarging and ascending individual soul-consciousness in the body. This ascent can only take place by rebirth within the ascending order; an individual visit coming across it and progressing on some other line elsewhere could not fit into the system of this evolutionary existence.” The Life Divine
"Ideals are truths that have not yet effected themselves for man, the realities of a higher plane of existence which have yet to fulfil themselves on this lower plane of life and matter, our present field of operation. To the pragmatical intellect which takes its stand upon the ever-changing present, ideals are not truths, not realities, they are at most potentialities of future truth and only become real when they are visible in the external fact as work of force accomplished. But to the mind which is able to draw back from the flux of force in the material universe, to the consciousness which is not imprisoned in its own workings or carried along in their flood but is able to envelop, hold and comprehend them, to the soul that is not merely the subject and instrument of the world-force but can reflect something of that Master-Consciousness which controls and uses it, the ideal present to its inner vision is a greater reality than the changing fact obvious to its outer senses. The Supramental Manifestation*
“Ideals are truths that have not yet effected themselves for man, the realities of a higher plane of existence which have yet to fulfil themselves on this lower plane of life and matter, our present field of operation. To the pragmatical intellect which takes its stand upon the ever-changing present, ideals are not truths, not realities, they are at most potentialities of future truth and only become real when they are visible in the external fact as work of force accomplished. But to the mind which is able to draw back from the flux of force in the material universe, to the consciousness which is not imprisoned in its own workings or carried along in their flood but is able to envelop, hold and comprehend them, to the soul that is not merely the subject and instrument of the world-force but can reflect something of that Master-Consciousness which controls and uses it, the ideal present to its inner vision is a greater reality than the changing fact obvious to its outer senses. The Supramental Manifestation
::: "Identity is the first truth of existence; division is the second truth; all division is a division in oneness. There is one Existence which looks at itself from many self-divided unities observing other similar and dissimilar self-divided unities by the device of division. Being is one; division is a device or a secondary condition of consciousness; but the primary truth of consciousness also is a truth of oneness and identity.” Essays Divine and Human
“Identity is the first truth of existence; division is the second truth; all division is a division in oneness. There is one Existence which looks at itself from many self-divided unities observing other similar and dissimilar self-divided unities by the device of division. Being is one; division is a device or a secondary condition of consciousness; but the primary truth of consciousness also is a truth of oneness and identity.” Essays Divine and Human
“If we accept the Vedic image of the Sun of Truth, . . . we may compare the action of the Higher Mind to a composed and steady sunshine, the energy of the Illumined Mind beyond it to an outpouring of massive lightnings of flaming sun-stuff. Still beyond can be met a yet greater power of the Truth-Force, an intimate and exact Truth-vision, Truth-thought, Truth-sense, Truth-feeling, Truth-action, to which we can give in a special sense the name of Intuition; . . . At the source of this Intuition we discover a superconscient cosmic Mind in direct contact with the supramental Truth-Consciousness, an original intensity determinant of all movements below it and all mental energies,—not Mind as we know it, but an Overmind that covers as with the wide wings of some creative Oversoul this whole lower hemisphere of Knowledge-Ignorance, links it with that greater Truth-Consciousness while yet at the same time with its brilliant golden Lid it veils the face of the greater Truth from our sight, intervening with its flood of infinite possibilities as at once an obstacle and a passage in our seeking of the spiritual law of our existence, its highest aim, its secret Reality.” The Life Divine
“If we need any personal and inner witness to this indivisible All-Consciousness behind the ignorance,—all Nature is its external proof,—we can get it with any completeness only in our deeper inner being or larger and higher spiritual state when we draw back behind the veil of our own surface ignorance and come into contact with the divine Idea and Will behind it. Then we see clearly enough that what we have done by ourselves in our ignorance was yet overseen and guided in its result by the invisible Omniscience; we discover a greater working behind our ignorant working and begin to glimpse its purpose in us: then only can we see and know what now we worship in faith, recognise wholly the pure and universal Presence, meet the Lord of all being and all Nature.” The Life Divine
If we would understand the difference of this global Overmind Consciousness from our separative and only imperfectly synthetic mental consciousness, we may come near to it if we compare the strictly mental with what would be an overmental view of activities in our material universe. To the Overmind, for example, all religions would be true as developments of the one eternal religion, all philosophies would be valid each in its own field as a statement of its own universe-view from its own angle, all political theories with their practice would be the legitimate working out of an Idea Force with its right to application and practical development in the play of the energies of Nature. In our separative consciousness, imperfectly visited by glimpses of catholicity and universality, these things exist as opposites; each claims to be the truth and taxes the others with error and falsehood, each feels impelled to refute or destroy the others in order that itself alone may be the Truth and live: at best, each must claim to be superior, admit all others only as inferior truth-expressions. An overmental Intelligence would refuse to entertain this conception or this drift to exclusiveness for a moment; it would allow all to live as necessary to the whole or put each in its place in the whole or assign to each its field of realisation or of endeavour. This is because in us consciousness has come down completely into the divisions of the Ignorance; Truth is no longer either an Infinite or a cosmic whole with many possible formulations, but a rigid affirmation holding any other affirmation to be false because different from itself and entrenched in other limits. Our mental consciousness can indeed arrive in its cognition at a considerable approach towards a total comprehensiveness and catholicity, but to organise that in action and life seems to be beyond its power. Evolutionary Mind, manifest in individuals or collectivities, throws up a multiplicity of divergent viewpoints, divergent lines of action and lets them work themselves out side by side or in collision or in a certain intermixture; it can make selective harmonies, but it cannot arrive at the harmonic control of a true totality. Cosmic Mind must have even in the evolutionary Ignorance, like all totalities, such a harmony, if only of arranged accords and discords; there is too in it an underlying dynamism of oneness: but it carries the completeness of these things in its depths, perhaps in a supermind-overmind substratum, but does not impart it to individual Mind in the evolution, does not bring it or has not yet brought it from the depths to the surface. An Overmind world would be a world of harmony; the world of Ignorance in which we live is a world of disharmony and struggle. …
ignorance ::: “Ignorance is the absence of the divine eye of perception which gives us the sight of the supramental Truth; it is the non-perceiving principle in our consciousness as opposed to the truth-perceiving conscious vision and knowledge.” The Life Divine
“Ignorance is the consciousness of being in the successions of Time, divided in its knowledge by dwelling in the moment, divided in its conception of self-being by dwelling in the divisions of Space and the relations of circumstance, self-prisoned in the multiple working of the unity. It is called the Ignorance because it has put behind it the knowledge of unity and by that very fact is unable to know truly or completely either itself or the world, either the transcendent or the universal reality.” The Life Divine
ignorance ::: the state or fact of being ignorant; lack of knowledge, learning, information. Ignorance, ignorance"s, Ignorance"s, ignorance", world-ignorance, World-Ignorance.
Sri Aurobindo: "Ignorance is the absence of the divine eye of perception which gives us the sight of the supramental Truth; it is the non-perceiving principle in our consciousness as opposed to the truth-perceiving conscious vision and knowledge.” *The Life Divine
"Ignorance is the consciousness of being in the successions of Time, divided in its knowledge by dwelling in the moment, divided in its conception of self-being by dwelling in the divisions of Space and the relations of circumstance, self-prisoned in the multiple working of the unity. It is called the Ignorance because it has put behind it the knowledge of unity and by that very fact is unable to know truly or completely either itself or the world, either the transcendent or the universal reality.” The Life Divine
"Ignorance means Avidya, the separative consciousness and the egoistic mind and life that flow from it and all that is natural to the separative consciousness and the egoistic mind and life. This Ignorance is the result of a movement by which the cosmic Intelligence separated itself from the light of the Supermind (the divine Gnosis) and lost the Truth, — truth of being, truth of divine consciousness, truth of force and action, truth of Ananda. As a result, instead of a world of integral truth and divine harmony created in the light of the divine Gnosis, we have a world founded on the part truths of an inferior cosmic Intelligence in which all is half-truth, half-error. . . . All in the consciousness of this creation is either limited or else perverted by separation from the integral Light; even the Truth it perceives is only a half-knowledge. Therefore it is called the Ignorance.” The Mother
". . . all ignorance is a penumbra which environs an orb of knowledge . . . .”The Life Divine
"This world is not really created by a blind force of Nature: even in the Inconscient the presence of the supreme Truth is at work; there is a seeing Power behind it which acts infallibly and the steps of the Ignorance itself are guided even when they seem to stumble; for what we call the Ignorance is a cloaked Knowledge, a Knowledge at work in a body not its own but moving towards its own supreme self-discovery.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
"Knowledge is no doubt the knowledge of the One, the realisation of the Being; Ignorance is a self-oblivion of Being, the experience of separateness in the multiplicity and a dwelling or circling in the ill-understood maze of becomings: . . . .” The Life Divine*
illumined mind ::: Sri Aurobindo: "This greater Force is that of the Illumined Mind, a Mind no longer of higher Thought, but of spiritual light. Here the clarity of the spiritual intelligence, its tranquil daylight, gives place or subordinates itself to an intense lustre, a splendour and illumination of the Spirit: a play of lightnings of spiritual truth and power breaks from above into the consciousness and adds to the calm and wide enlightenment and the vast descent of peace which characterise or accompany the action of the larger conceptual-spiritual principle, a fiery ardour of realisation and a rapturous ecstasy of knowledge.” *The Life Divine
"The Illumined Mind does not work primarily by thought, but by vision; . . . .” The Life Divine
"As the Higher Mind brings a greater consciousness into the being through the spiritual idea and its power of truth, so the Illumined Mind brings in a still greater consciousness through a Truth-sight and Truth-light and its seeing and seizing power.” The Life Divine*
imagination ::: “… our mind has the faculty of imagination; it can create and take as true and real its own mental structures: . . . . Our mental imagination is an instrument of Ignorance; it is the resort or device or refuge of a limited capacity of knowledge, a limited capacity of effective action. Mind supplements these deficiencies by its power of imagination: it uses it to extract from things obvious and visible the things that are not obvious and visible; it undertakes to create its own figures of the possible and the impossible; it erects illusory actuals or draws figures of a conjectured or constructed truth of things that are not true to outer experience. That is at least the appearance of its operation; but, in reality, it is the mind’s way or one of its ways of summoning out of Being its infinite possibilities, even of discovering or capturing the unknown possibilities of the Infinite.” The Life Divine
". . . imperfection is not a thing to be at all deplored, but rather a privilege and a promise, for it opens out to us an immense vista of self-development and self-exceeding.” The Human Cycle etc.*
“… imperfection is not a thing to be at all deplored, but rather a privilege and a promise, for it opens out to us an immense vista of self-development and self-exceeding.” The Human Cycle etc.
“In actual fact Mind measures Time by event and Space by Matter; but it is possible in pure mentality to disregard the movement of event and the disposition of substance and realise the pure movement of Conscious-Force which constitutes Space and Time; these two are then merely two aspects of the universal force of Consciousness which in their intertwined interaction comprehend the warp and woof of its action upon itself. And to a consciousness higher than Mind which should regard our past, present and future in one view, containing and not contained in them, not situated at a particular moment of Time for its point of prospection, Time might well offer itself as an eternal present. And to the same consciousness not situated at any particular point of Space, but containing all points and regions in itself, Space also might well offer itself as a subjective and indivisible extension,—no less subjective than Time.” The Life Divine
invisible ::: that cannot be seen; imperceptible by the sight, mind, etc.; hidden. invisibly.
indivisible ::: not separable into parts; unable to be divided. Indivisible.
individual ::: a distinct, indivisible entity; a single thing, being, instance, or item.
In its nature and law the Overmind is a delegate of the Supermind Consciousness, its delegate to the Ignorance. Or we might speak of it as a protective double, a screen of dissimilar similarity through which Supermind can act indirectly on an Ignorance whose darkness could not bear or receive the direct impact of a supreme Light. Even, it is by the projection of this luminous Overmind corona that the diffusion of a diminished light in the Ignorance and the throwing of that contrary shadow which swallows up in itself all light, the Inconscience, became at all possible. For Supermind transmits to Overmind all its realities, but leaves it to formulate them in a movement and according to an awareness of things which is still a vision of Truth and yet at the same time a first parent of the Ignorance. A line divides Supermind and Overmind which permits a free transmission, allows the lower Power to derive from the higher Power all it holds or sees, but automatically compels a transitional change in the passage. The integrality of the Supermind keeps always the essential truth of things, the total truth and the truth of its individual self-determinations clearly knit together; it maintains in them an inseparable unity and between them a close interpenetration and a free and full consciousness of each other: but in Overmind this integrality is no longer there. And yet the Overmind is well aware of the essential Truth of things; it embraces the totality; it uses the individual self-determinations without being limited by them: but although it knows their oneness, can realise it in a spiritual cognition, yet its dynamic movement, even while relying on that for its security, is not directly determined by it. Overmind Energy proceeds through an illimitable capacity of separation and combination of the powers and aspects of the integral and indivisible all-comprehending Unity. It takes each Aspect or Power and gives to it an independent action in which it acquires a full separate importance and is able to work out, we might say, its own world of creation. Purusha and Prakriti, Conscious Soul and executive Force of Nature, are in the supramental harmony a two-aspected single truth, being and dynamis of the Reality; there can be no disequilibrium or predominance of one over the other. In Overmind we have the origin of the cleavage, the trenchant distinction made by the philosophy of the Sankhyas in which they appear as two independent entities, Prakriti able to dominate Purusha and cloud its freedom and power, reducing it to a witness and recipient of her forms and actions, Purusha able to return to its separate existence and abide in a free self-sovereignty by rejection of her original overclouding material principle. So with the other aspects or powers of the Divine Reality, One and Many, Divine Personality and Divine Impersonality, and the rest; each is still an aspect and power of the one Reality, but each is empowered to act as an independent entity in the whole, arrive at the fullness of the possibilities of its separate expression and develop the dynamic consequences of that separateness. At the same time in Overmind this separateness is still founded on the basis of an implicit underlying unity; all possibilities of combination and relation between the separated Powers and Aspects, all interchanges and mutualities of their energies are freely organised and their actuality always possible.
"Inner vision is vivid like actual sight, always precise and contains a truth in it.” Letters on Yoga
“Inner vision is vivid like actual sight, always precise and contains a truth in it.” Letters on Yoga
"Inner vision means the vision with the inner seeing as opposed to outer vision, the external sight with the surface mind in the surface eyes.” Letters on Yoga
“Inner vision means the vision with the inner seeing as opposed to outer vision, the external sight with the surface mind in the surface eyes.” Letters on Yoga
::: inner vision
inner vision
insight ::: penetrating mental vision or discernment; faculty of seeing into the inner character or underlying truth of things.
In the Mahabharata and the Puranas, the second member of the Triad, the embodiment of sattva-guna, the preserving and restoring power. This power has manifested in the world as the various incarnations of Vishnu, generally accepted as being ten in number. Vishnu’s heaven is Vaikuntha, his consort Lakshmi and his vehicle Garuda. He is portrayed as reclining on the serpent-king Sesa and floating on the waters between periods of cosmic manifestation. The holy river Ganga is said to spring from his foot. (A; V. G.; Dow)” Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo’s Works
In the middle of the forehead — the Ajna Chakra — (will, vision, dynamic thought).
In the middle of the forehead—the Ajna Chakra—(will, vision, dynamic thought).
intuition ::: direct perception of truth, fact, etc., independent of any reasoning process. intuition"s, intuitions, half-intuition.
Sri Aurobindo: "Intuition is a power of consciousness nearer and more intimate to the original knowledge by identity; for it is always something that leaps out direct from a concealed identity. It is when the consciousness of the subject meets with the consciousness in the object, penetrates it and sees, feels or vibrates with the truth of what it contacts, that the intuition leaps out like a spark or lightning-flash from the shock of the meeting; or when the consciousness, even without any such meeting, looks into itself and feels directly and intimately the truth or the truths that are there or so contacts the hidden forces behind appearances, then also there is the outbreak of an intuitive light; or, again, when the consciousness meets the Supreme Reality or the spiritual reality of things and beings and has a contactual union with it, then the spark, the flash or the blaze of intimate truth-perception is lit in its depths. This close perception is more than sight, more than conception: it is the result of a penetrating and revealing touch which carries in it sight and conception as part of itself or as its natural consequence. A concealed or slumbering identity, not yet recovering itself, still remembers or conveys by the intuition its own contents and the intimacy of its self-feeling and self-vision of things, its light of truth, its overwhelming and automatic certitude.” *The Life Divine
"Intuition is always an edge or ray or outleap of a superior light; it is in us a projecting blade, edge or point of a far-off supermind light entering into and modified by some intermediate truth-mind substance above us and, so modified, again entering into and very much blinded by our ordinary or ignorant mind-substance; but on that higher level to which it is native its light is unmixed and therefore entirely and purely veridical, and its rays are not separated but connected or massed together in a play of waves of what might almost be called in the Sanskrit poetic figure a sea or mass of ``stable lightnings"". When this original or native Intuition begins to descend into us in answer to an ascension of our consciousness to its level or as a result of our finding of a clear way of communication with it, it may continue to come as a play of lightning-flashes, isolated or in constant action; but at this stage the judgment of reason becomes quite inapplicable, it can only act as an observer or registrar understanding or recording the more luminous intimations, judgments and discriminations of the higher power. To complete or verify an isolated intuition or discriminate its nature, its application, its limitations, the receiving consciousness must rely on another completing intuition or be able to call down a massed intuition capable of putting all in place. For once the process of the change has begun, a complete transmutation of the stuff and activities of the mind into the substance, form and power of Intuition is imperative; until then, so long as the process of consciousness depends upon the lower intelligence serving or helping out or using the intuition, the result can only be a survival of the mixed Knowledge-Ignorance uplifted or relieved by a higher light and force acting in its parts of Knowledge.” *The Life Divine
"I use the word ‘intuition" for want of a better. In truth, it is a makeshift and inadequate to the connotation demanded of it. The same has to be said of the word ‘consciousness" and many others which our poverty compels us to extend illegitimately in their significance.” *The Life Divine - Sri Aurobindo"s footnote.
"For intuition is an edge of light thrust out by the secret Supermind. . . .” The Life Divine
". . . intuition is born of a direct awareness while intellect is an indirect action of a knowledge which constructs itself with difficulty out of the unknown from signs and indications and gathered data.” The Life Divine
"Intuition is above illumined Mind which is simply higher Mind raised to a great luminosity and more open to modified forms of intuition and inspiration.” Letters on Yoga
"Intuition sees the truth of things by a direct inner contact, not like the ordinary mental intelligence by seeking and reaching out for indirect contacts through the senses etc. But the limitation of the Intuition as compared with the supermind is that it sees things by flashes, point by point, not as a whole. Also in coming into the mind it gets mixed with the mental movement and forms a kind of intuitive mind activity which is not the pure truth, but something in between the higher Truth and the mental seeking. It can lead the consciousness through a sort of transitional stage and that is practically its function.” Letters on Yoga
intuitive ::: 1. Obtained through intuition rather than from reasoning or observation. 2. Fig. Concerning spiritual vision or perception.
intuitive knowledge ::: Sri Aurobindo: " For the highest intuitive Knowledge sees things in the whole, in the large and details only as sides of the indivisible whole; its tendency is towards immediate synthesis and the unity of knowledge.” *The Life Divine
"The intuitive knowledge on the contrary, however limited it may be in its field or application, is within that scope sure with an immediate, a durable and especially a self-existent certitude.” The Synthesis of Yoga
"All intuitive knowledge comes more or less directly from the light of the self-aware spirit entering into the mind, the spirit concealed behind mind and conscious of all in itself and in all its selves, omniscient and capable of illumining the ignorant or the self-forgetful mind whether by rare or constant flashes or by a steady instreaming light, out of its omniscience.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
“I suppose the golden child is the Truth-Soul which follows after the silver light of the spiritual. When it plunges into the black waters of the subconscient, it releases from it the spiritual light and the sevenfold streams of the Divine Energy and, clearing itself of the stains of the subconscient, it prepares its flight towards the supreme Divine (the Mother).” (Reply to a question in the chapter Visions and Symbols.) Letters on Yoga
It is a power that is superior to any rule, even to the Cosmic Law—for all spiritual seers have distinguished between the Law and Grace. Yet it is not indiscriminate—only it has a discrimination of its own which sees things and persons and the right times and seasons with another vision than that of the Mind or any other normal Power. A state of Grace is prepared in the individual often behind thick veils by means not calculable by the mind and when the state of Grace comes, then the Grace itself acts.” Letters on Yoga
“It is not necessary to have the mind quiet in order to see the lights—that depends only on the opening of the subtle vision in the centre which is in the forehead between the eyebrows. Many people get that as soon as they start sadhana. It can even be developed by effort and concentration without sadhana by some who have it to a small extent as an inborn faculty.” Letters on Yoga
It is the cryptic verses of the Veda that help us here; for they contain, though concealed, the gospel of the divine and immortal Supermind and through the veil some illumining flashes come to us. We can see through these utterances the conception of this Supermind as a vastness beyond the ordinary firmaments of our consciousness in which truth of being is luminously one with all that expresses it and assures inevitably truth of vision, formulation, arrangement, word, act and movement and therefore truth also of result of movement, result of action and expression, infallible ordinance or law. Vast all-comprehensiveness; luminous truth and harmony of being in that vastness and not a vague chaos or self-lost obscurity; truth of law and act and knowledge expressive of that harmonious truth of being: these seem to be the essential terms of the Vedic description.” *The Life Divine
It is the cryptic verses of the Veda that help us here; for they contain, though concealed, the gospel of the divine and immortal Supermind and through the veil some illumining flashes come to us. We can see through these utterances the conception of this Supermind as a vastness beyond the ordinary firmaments of our consciousness in which truth of being is luminously one with all that expresses it and assures inevitably truth of vision, formulation, arrangement, word, act and movement and therefore truth also of result of movement, result of action and expression, infallible ordinance or law. Vast all-comprehensiveness; luminous truth and harmony of being in that vastness and not a vague chaos or self-lost obscurity; truth of law and act and knowledge expressive of that harmonious truth of being: these seem to be the essential terms of the Vedic description.” The Life Divine
Jhumur: Here you have the beginnings of the mind opening onto other planes of experience. Because mindhas no experience. This is the kingdom of the greater mind where it opens on to another phase of vision or experience or feeling. The heaven-bird is the feeling of poise that hasn’t taken off. It reminds me that in a certain place, the goal of the mental search is where ultimately the mind abdicates in light and one enters into what Shelley calls ‘thought wildernesses’. Before that concrete abdication there must be some sensation, some feeling of something other that is waiting for us, that has come from elsewhere. The mind has not quite yet abdicated but begins to pursue intuition, perception, feeling.”
Jhumur: “Sleeping Vishnu who is at the core of creation, Brahman who is seated on the lotus which comes out of the navel of Vishnu. The Architect has the whole play, the whole perception. He knows what He is building. He is the supreme consciousness in the deepest involution, the sleeping Lord at the core of things.”
keen ::: 1. Intense, as feeling or desire. 2. Sharp; vivid; strong. 3. Having a fine, sharp cutting edge or point. 4. Intense; piercing. keen-edged, keen-visioned.
kingdom ::: 1. A territory, state, people, or community ruled or reigned over by a king or queen. 2. Fig. The eternal spiritual sovereignty of God; the realm of this sovereignty. 3. A realm or sphere in which one thing is dominant or supreme. 4. Anything conceived as constituting a realm or sphere of independent action or control. 5. A realm or province of nature, especially one of the three broad divisions of natural objects: the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. 6. Rarely, in reference to the realm and rule of evil forces. kingdom"s, kingdoms.
Krishna ::: Hinduism. An avatar of Vishnu and one of the most popular of Indian deities, who appears in the Bhagavad-Gita as the teacher of Arjuna.
lavish ::: 1. To expend or give in great amounts or without limit. 2. Expending or bestowing without stint or measure; unboundedly liberal or profuse; prodigal. lavishing, lavishly.
Lakshmi ::: “… in Hindu mythology, the goddess of wealth and good fortune, consort of Vishnu. According to a legend she sprang from the froth of the Ocean when it was churned, in full beauty, with a lotus in her hand. (Dow). Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo’s Works
lakshmi ::: ". . . in Hindu mythology, the goddess of wealth and good fortune, consort of Vishnu. According to a legend she sprang from the froth of the Ocean when it was churned, in full beauty, with a lotus in her hand. (Dow.)” *Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works
landscape ::: an extensive area of land regarded as being visually distinct. landscapes.
lens ::: a ground or moulded piece of glass, plastic, or other transparent material with opposite surfaces either or both of which are curved, by means of which light rays are refracted so that they converge or diverge to form an image as for magnification, or in correcting defects of vision.
::: *"*Life starts with the extreme divisions and rigid forms of Matter, and of this rigid division the atom, which is the basis of all material form, is the very type.” The Life Divine
“Life starts with the extreme divisions and rigid forms of Matter, and of this rigid division the atom, which is the basis of all material form, is the very type.” The Life Divine
light ::: Sri Aurobindo: ". . . light is primarily a spiritual manifestation of the Divine Reality illuminative and creative; material light is a subsequent representation or conversion of it into Matter for the purposes of the material Energy.” *The Life Divine
"Our sense by its incapacity has invented darkness. In truth there is nothing but Light, only it is a power of light either above or below our poor human vision"s limited range.
For do not imagine that light is created by the Suns. The Suns are only physical concentrations of Light, but the splendour they concentrate for us is self-born and everywhere.
God is everywhere and wherever God is, there is Light.” *The Hour of God
"Light is a general term. Light is not knowledge but the illumination that comes from above and liberates the being from obscurity and darkness.” The Mother
The Mother: "The light is everywhere, the force is everywhere. And the world is so small.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 15. ::: *Light, light"s, lights, light-petalled, light-tasselled, half-light.
loomed ::: 1. Came into view as a massive, distorted, or indistinct image. 2. Rose before the vision with an appearance of great or portentous size. looming.
"Love is the power and passion of the divine self-delight and without love we may get the rapt peace of its infinity, the absorbed silence of the Ananda, but not its absolute depth of richness and fullness. Love leads us from the suffering of division into the bliss of perfect union, but without losing that joy of the act of union which is the soul"s greatest discovery and for which the life of the cosmos is a long preparation. Therefore to approach God by love is to prepare oneself for the greatest possible spiritual fulfilment. ” The Synthesis of Yoga
“Love is the power and passion of the divine self-delight and without love we may get the rapt peace of its infinity, the absorbed silence of the Ananda, but not its absolute depth of richness and fullness. Love leads us from the suffering of division into the bliss of perfect union, but without losing that joy of the act of union which is the soul’s greatest discovery and for which the life of the cosmos is a long preparation. Therefore to approach God by love is to prepare oneself for the greatest possible spiritual fulfilment.” The Synthesis of Yoga
Madhav: “Moment is the sequence of Time. Each moment records what is happening at that point. It relates to the present. The Ray of the Eternal interrupts the movement of Time for a while and lights up things that are not yet manifest. It gives a peep into the future. The Ray of the Eternal is able to do it because the future is already present in the vision of the Eternal.” The Book of the Divine Mother
Madhav: “The triple cord refers to the physical, the vital and the thought strands of the mind which constrict and narrow the range of human vision. As they are loosened, the gaze widens and larger horizons come into view.” The Book of the Divine Mother
Madhav: “This creation is an ordered manifestation of the Divine. There is a central Will, expressing the originating Truth-vision, impelling the whole movement. But also there are special emanations from the Divine charged with specific tasks in the organisation and maintenance of the emerging creation. These are the gods and goddesses, deities, Powers and Personalities that are in charge of their respective domains, on different levels of existence. Each world has its own guardians entrusted by the Supreme Creative Spirit with the work of building and furthering the manifestation of the particular Truth-principle that pushes for expression in that world-formula.” Readings in Savitri Vol. I.
magnificence ::: 1. The quality or state of being magnificent; splendour, grandeur; sublimity, majesty. 2. Greatness or lavishness of surroundings; splendor; luxuriousness, opulence.
management ::: the act, manner, or practice of managing; handling, supervision, or control.
Man alive, your proposed emendations are an admirable exposition of the art of bringing a line down the steps till my poor "slow miraculous” above-mind line meant to give or begin the concrete portrayal of an act of some hidden Godhead finally becomes a mere metaphor thrown out from its more facile mint by a brilliantly imaginative poetic intelligence. First of all, you shift my "dimly” out of the way and transfer it to something to which it does not inwardly belongs make it an epithet of the gesture or an adverb qualifying its epithet instead of something that qualifies the atmosphere in which the act of the Godhead takes place. That is a preliminary havoc which destroys what is very important to the action, its atmosphere. I never intended the gesture to be dim, it is a luminous gesture, but forcing its way through the black quietude it comes dimly. Then again the bald phrase "a gesture came” without anything to psychicise it becomes simply something that "happened”, "came” being a poetic equivalent for "happened”, instead of the expression of the slow coming of the gesture. The words "slow” and "dimly” assure this sense of motion and this concreteness to the word"s sense here. Remove one or both whether entirely or elsewhere and you ruin the vision and change altogether its character. That is at least what happens wholly in your penultimate version and as for the last its "came” gets another meaning and one feels that somebody very slowly decided to let out the gesture from himself and it was quite a miracle that it came out at all! "Dimly miraculous” means what precisely or what "miraculously dim” — it was miraculous that it managed to be so dim or there was something vaguely miraculous about it after all? No doubt they try to mean something else — but these interpretations come in their way and trip them over. The only thing that can stand is the first version which is no doubt fine poetry, but the trouble is that it does not give the effect I wanted to give, the effect which is necessary for the dawn"s inner significance. Moreover, what becomes of the slow lingering rhythm of my line which is absolutely indispensable? Letters on Savitri
Man alive, your proposed emendations are an admirable exposition of the art of bringing a line down the steps till my poor”slow miraculous” above-mind line meant to give or begin the concrete portrayal of an act of some hidden Godhead finally becomes a mere metaphor thrown out from its more facile mint by a brilliantly imaginative poetic intelligence. First of all, you shift my”dimly” out of the way and transfer it to something to which it does not inwardly belongs make it an epithet of the gesture or an adverb qualifying its epithet instead of something that qualifies the atmosphere in which the act of the Godhead takes place. That is a preliminary havoc which destroys what is very important to the action, its atmosphere. I never intended the gesture to be dim, it is a luminous gesture, but forcing its way through the black quietude it comes dimly. Then again the bald phrase”a gesture came” without anything to psychicise it becomes simply something that”happened”,”came” being a poetic equivalent for”happened”, instead of the expression of the slow coming of the gesture. The words”slow” and”dimly” assure this sense of motion and this concreteness to the word’s sense here. Remove one or both whether entirely or elsewhere and you ruin the vision and change altogether its character. That is at least what happens wholly in your penultimate version and as for the last its”came” gets another meaning and one feels that somebody very slowly decided to let out the gesture from himself and it was quite a miracle that it came out at all!”Dimly miraculous” means what precisely or what”miraculously dim”—it was miraculous that it managed to be so dim or there was something vaguely miraculous about it after all? No doubt they try to mean something else—but these interpretations come in their way and trip them over. The only thing that can stand is the first version which is no doubt fine poetry, but the trouble is that it does not give the effect I wanted to give, the effect which is necessary for the dawn’s inner significance. Moreover, what becomes of the slow lingering rhythm of my line which is absolutely indispensable? Letters on Savitri
manifest ::: v. 1. To show or demonstrate plainly; reveal, display. manifested. adj. 2. Readily noticed or perceived; evident; obvious; apparent; plain; visible. manifesting.
mark ::: n. **1. A sign, symbol, action, event or other indication that distinguishes something. 2. A visible impression on something. 3. A distinctive trait or characteristic. 4. A fixed or recognized standard. caste-mark, hoof-mark, question-mark. v. 5. To make a visible trace or impression on, as with a spot, line, or dent. Also fig. 6. To record; to indicate in writing, note. 7. Fig. To designate as if by placing a mark upon; to indicate. 8. To take notice. marks, marked, marking.**
meditation ::: Sri Aurobindo: "There are two words used in English to express the Indian idea of dhyana , ‘meditation" and ‘contemplation". Meditation means properly the concentration of the mind on a single train of ideas which work out a single subject. Contemplation means regarding mentally a single object, image, idea so that the knowledge about the object, image or idea may arise naturally in the mind by force of the concentration. Both these things are forms of dhyana , for the principle of dhyana is mental concentration whether in thought, vision or knowledge. *Letters on Yoga
meditation ::: “There are two words used in English to express the Indian idea of dhyana , ‘meditation’ and ‘contemplation’. Meditation means properly the concentration of the mind on a single train of ideas which work out a single subject. Contemplation means regarding mentally a single object, image, idea so that the knowledge about the object, image or idea may arise naturally in the mind by force of the concentration. Both these things are forms of dhyana , for the principle of dhyana is mental concentration whether in thought, vision or knowledge. Letters on Yoga
“Mind in its essence is a consciousness which measures, limits, cuts out forms of things from the indivisible whole and contains them as if each were a separate integer.” The Life Divine
mind ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The ‘Mind" in the ordinary use of the word covers indiscriminately the whole consciousness, for man is a mental being and mentalises everything; but in the language of this yoga the words ‘mind" and ‘mental" are used to connote specially the part of the nature which has to do with cognition and intelligence, with ideas, with mental or thought perceptions, the reactions of thought to things, with the truly mental movements and formations, mental vision and will, etc., that are part of his intelligence.” *Letters on Yoga
"Mind in its essence is a consciousness which measures, limits, cuts out forms of things from the indivisible whole and contains them as if each were a separate integer.” The Life Divine
"Mind is an instrument of analysis and synthesis, but not of essential knowledge. Its function is to cut out something vaguely from the unknown Thing in itself and call this measurement or delimitation of it the whole, and again to analyse the whole into its parts which it regards as separate mental objects.” The Life Divine
"The mind proper is divided into three parts — thinking Mind, dynamic Mind, externalising Mind — the former concerned with ideas and knowledge in their own right, the second with the putting out of mental forces for realisation of the idea, the third with the expression of them in life (not only by speech, but by any form it can give).” Letters on Yoga
"The difference between the ordinary mind and the intuitive is that the former, seeking in the darkness or at most by its own unsteady torchlight, first, sees things only as they are presented in that light and, secondly, where it does not know, constructs by imagination, by uncertain inference, by others of its aids and makeshifts things which it readily takes for truth, shadow projections, cloud edifices, unreal prolongations, deceptive anticipations, possibilities and probabilities which do duty for certitudes. The intuitive mind constructs nothing in this artificial fashion, but makes itself a receiver of the light and allows the truth to manifest in it and organise its own constructions.” The Synthesis of Yoga
"He [man] has in him not a single mentality, but a double and a triple, the mind material and nervous, the pure intellectual mind which liberates itself from the illusions of the body and the senses, and a divine mind above intellect which in its turn liberates itself from the imperfect modes of the logically discriminative and imaginative reason.” The Synthesis of Yoga
"Our mind is an observer of actuals, an inventor or discoverer of possibilities, but not a seer of the occult imperatives that necessitate the movements and forms of a creation. . . .” *The Life Divine
"The human mind is an instrument not of truth but of ignorance and error.” Letters on Yoga
"For Mind as we know it is a power of the Ignorance seeking for Truth, groping with difficulty to find it, reaching only mental constructions and representations of it in word and idea, in mind formations, sense formations, — as if bright or shadowy photographs or films of a distant Reality were all that it could achieve.” The Life Divine
The Mother: "The true role of the mind is the formation and organization of action. The mind has a formative and organizing power, and it is that which puts the different elements of inspiration in order for action, for organizing action. And if it would only confine itself to that role, receiving inspirations — whether from above or from the mystic centre of the soul — and simply formulating the plan of action — in broad outline or in minute detail, for the smallest things of life or the great terrestrial organizations — it would amply fulfil its function. It is not an instrument of knowledge. But is can use knowledge for action, to organize action. It is an instrument of organization and formation, very powerful and very capable when it is well developed.” Questions and Answers 1956, MCW Vol. 8.*
mind ::: “The ‘Mind’ in the ordinary use of the word covers indiscriminately the whole consciousness, for man is a mental being and mentalises everything; but in the language of this yoga the words ‘mind’ and ‘mental’ are used to connote specially the part of the nature which has to do with cognition and intelligence, with ideas, with mental or thought perceptions, the reactions of thought to things, with the truly mental movements and formations, mental vision and will, etc., that are part of his intelligence.” Letters on Yoga
mist ::: 1. A cloudlike aggregation of minute globules of water suspended in the atmosphere at or near the earth"s surface reducing the visibility to a lesser degree than fog. 2. Something that dims, obscures or blurs. mists.
monitors ::: those who observe, supervise, or keep under review; esp. for the purpose of regulation or control.
movement ::: 1. The act or an instance of moving; a change in place or position. A particular manner of moving. 2. Usually, movements, actions or activities, as of a person or a body of persons. ::: movement"s, movements, many-movemented.
Sri Aurobindo: "When we withdraw our gaze from its egoistic preoccupation with limited and fleeting interests and look upon the world with dispassionate and curious eyes that search only for the Truth, our first result is the perception of a boundless energy of infinite existence, infinite movement, infinite activity pouring itself out in limitless Space, in eternal Time, an existence that surpasses infinitely our ego or any ego or any collectivity of egos, in whose balance the grandiose products of aeons are but the dust of a moment and in whose incalculable sum numberless myriads count only as a petty swarm." *The Life Divine
". . . the purest, freest form of insight into existence as it is shows us nothing but movement. Two things alone exist, movement in Space, movement in Time, the former objective, the latter subjective.” The Life Divine
"The world is a cyclic movement (samsâra ) of the Divine Consciousness in Space and Time. Its law and, in a sense, its object is progression; it exists by movement and would be dissolved by cessation of movement. But the basis of this movement is not material; it is the energy of active consciousness which, by its motion and multiplication in different principles (different in appearance, the same in essence), creates oppositions of unity and multiplicity, divisions of Time and Space, relations and groupings of circumstance and Causality. All these things are real in consciousness, but only symbolic of the Being, somewhat as the imaginations of a creative Mind are true representations of itself, yet not quite real in comparison with itself, or real with a different kind of reality.” The Upanishads*
mystic ::: “I used the word ‘mystic’ in the sense of a certain kind of inner seeing and feeling of things, a way which to the intellect would seem occult and visionary—for this is something different from imagination and its work with which the intellect is familiar.” On Himself
n. **1. A rigid structure formed of relatively slender pieces, joined as to surround sizeable empty spaces. 2. Form, constitution, or structure in general; system; order. 3. Applied to the heaven, earth, etc. regarded as a structure. 4. A body, esp. the human body; physique. 5. A border or case for enclosing a picture, mirror, etc. ::: frames, world-frame. v. 6. To contrive, devise, or compose, as a plan, law, or poem. 7. To fashion or shape. 8. To shape or adapt to a particular purpose. framed, framing, self-framed.**
Name ::: “Name in its deeper sense is not the word by which we describe the object, but the total of power, quality, character of the reality which a form of things embodies and which we try to sum up by a designating sound, a knowable name, Nomen. Nomen in this sense, we might say, is Numen; the secret Names of the Gods are their power, quality, character of being caught up by the consciousness and made conceivable. The Infinite is nameless, but in that namelessness all possible names, Numens of the gods, the names and forms of all realities, are already envisaged and prefigured, because they are there latent and inherent in the All-Existence.” The Life Divine
name ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Name in its deeper sense is not the word by which we describe the object, but the total of power, quality, character of the reality which a form of things embodies and which we try to sum up by a designating sound, a knowable name, Nomen. Nomen in this sense, we might say, is Numen; the secret Names of the Gods are their power, quality, character of being caught up by the consciousness and made conceivable. The Infinite is nameless, but in that namelessness all possible names, Numens of the gods, the names and forms of all realities, are already envisaged and prefigured, because they are there latent and inherent in the All-Existence.” The Life Divine
Nolini: “From Indian mythology, an incarnation of Vishnu.”
Nolini: “Griffin-Golden Hawk + Winged Lion—The piercing eye of soaring aspiration + Upsurging energy of the pure vital—Remember Vishnu’s Garuda + Durga’s lion—With these twin powers you cross safely the borderland between the lower and the upper hemisphere—the twilight world (Night and Day)—Griffin is the guardian God of this passage—dvarapalaka. Mother India—Nolini’s reply to a question from Huta.
Nolini: (The authors gave as an example the word”Vision”). When it is the supreme vision it is capitalized. Nolini also said: “When it is the personality of the thing, not only the quality of it. There is no set rule on capitalization.”
Nolini: “The image is that of the comoposition of an army or that of a mathematical series (e.g., arithmetical or geometrical progression). It is composed of regularised uits of different values (group of sums), but all measured and definite and precise—e.g.., in the case of an army—company, brigade, battalion, army—an ascending scale, the whole also forming one big unit, taken in at a single glance—that is the nature of overmind vision.
object ::: n. 1. Anything that is visible or tangible and that is relatively stable in form. 2. A focus of attention, feeling, thought, or action. objects.
obscured ::: adj. **1. Made unclear, vague, or hidden to the sight. v. 2. Made less visible or unclear; concealed. obscuring.**
Often, a familiar visage studying.
Oh, a tremendous power—tremendous. The first time I heard it … The first time I heard it … There was a certain Bernard who had spent a year in India, in the Himalayas, and he was visited by yogis whom he didn’t know (he lived in a hut in the Himalayas, all alone). One yogi came to see him; he didn’t say anything, he just sat by his side and then left. And that yogi simply told him,”Om …” Then he came back to France, recounted his experiences in India, and he said that. Me, I knew absolutely nothing of India at the time, and when he uttered the word OM … (Mother brings her arms down), it came: a Force like this, my whole, entire body, everything vibrated in an extraordinary way! It was like a revelation—everything, but everything started vibrating. Then I said,”At last, here’s the true sound!” Yet I knew nothing, absolutely nothing, neither what it meant nor anything. Mother’s Agenda, Volume 10, 1969.
Oh, a tremendous power—tremendous. The first time I heard it … The first time I heard it … There was a certain Bernard who had spent a year in India, in the Himalayas, and he was visited by yogis whom he didn"t know (he lived in a hut in the Himalayas, all alone). One yogi came to see him; he didn"t say anything, he just sat by his side and then left. And that yogi simply told him, "Om …” Then he came back to France, recounted his experiences in India, and he said that. Me, I knew absolutely nothing of India at the time, and when he uttered the word OM … (Mother brings her arms down), it came: a Force like this, my whole, entire body, everything vibrated in an extraordinary way! It was like a revelation—everything, but everything started vibrating. Then I said, "At last, here"s the true sound!” Yet I knew nothing, absolutely nothing, neither what it meant nor anything.
One that contrives, devises, or constructs something: “The labyrinth . . . was built by Daedalus, a most skillful artificer” (Thomas Bulfinch).
One who practises the creative arts; one who seeks to express the beautiful in visible form. 2. A follower of a manual art; an artificer, mechanic, craftsman, artisan. artists. (Sri Aurobindo often employs the word as an adj.)
“Our sense by its incapacity has invented darkness. In truth there is nothing but Light, only it is a power of light either above or below our poor human vision’s limited range.
overmind ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The overmind is a sort of delegation from the supermind (this is a metaphor only) which supports the present evolutionary universe in which we live here in Matter. If supermind were to start here from the beginning as the direct creative Power, a world of the kind we see now would be impossible; it would have been full of the divine Light from the beginning, there would be no involution in the inconscience of Matter, consequently no gradual striving evolution of consciousness in Matter. A line is therefore drawn between the higher half of the universe of consciousness, parardha , and the lower half, aparardha. The higher half is constituted of Sat, Chit, Ananda, Mahas (the supramental) — the lower half of mind, life, Matter. This line is the intermediary overmind which, though luminous itself, keeps from us the full indivisible supramental Light, depends on it indeed, but in receiving it, divides, distributes, breaks it up into separated aspects, powers, multiplicities of all kinds, each of which it is possible by a further diminution of consciousness, such as we reach in Mind, to regard as the sole or the chief Truth and all the rest as subordinate or contradictory to it.” *Letters on Yoga
"The overmind is the highest of the planes below the supramental.” *Letters on Yoga
"In its nature and law the Overmind is a delegate of the Supermind Consciousness, its delegate to the Ignorance. Or we might speak of it as a protective double, a screen of dissimilar similarity through which Supermind can act indirectly on an Ignorance whose darkness could not bear or receive the direct impact of a supreme Light.” The Life Divine
"The Overmind is a principle of cosmic Truth and a vast and endless catholicity is its very spirit; its energy is an all-dynamism as well as a principle of separate dynamisms: it is a sort of inferior Supermind, — although it is concerned predominantly not with absolutes, but with what might be called the dynamic potentials or pragmatic truths of Reality, or with absolutes mainly for their power of generating pragmatic or creative values, although, too, its comprehension of things is more global than integral, since its totality is built up of global wholes or constituted by separate independent realities uniting or coalescing together, and although the essential unity is grasped by it and felt to be basic of things and pervasive in their manifestation, but no longer as in the Supermind their intimate and ever-present secret, their dominating continent, the overt constant builder of the harmonic whole of their activity and nature.” The Life Divine
"The overmind sees calmly, steadily, in great masses and large extensions of space and time and relation, globally; it creates and acts in the same way — it is the world of the great Gods, the divine Creators.” *Letters on Yoga
"The Overmind is essentially a spiritual power. Mind in it surpasses its ordinary self and rises and takes its stand on a spiritual foundation. It embraces beauty and sublimates it; it has an essential aesthesis which is not limited by rules and canons, it sees a universal and an eternal beauty while it takes up and transforms all that is limited and particular. It is besides concerned with things other than beauty or aesthetics. It is concerned especially with truth and knowledge or rather with a wisdom that exceeds what we call knowledge; its truth goes beyond truth of fact and truth of thought, even the higher thought which is the first spiritual range of the thinker. It has the truth of spiritual thought, spiritual feeling, spiritual sense and at its highest the truth that comes by the most intimate spiritual touch or by identity. Ultimately, truth and beauty come together and coincide, but in between there is a difference. Overmind in all its dealings puts truth first; it brings out the essential truth (and truths) in things and also its infinite possibilities; it brings out even the truth that lies behind falsehood and error; it brings out the truth of the Inconscient and the truth of the Superconscient and all that lies in between. When it speaks through poetry, this remains its first essential quality; a limited aesthetical artistic aim is not its purpose.” *Letters on Savitri
"In the overmind the Truth of supermind which is whole and harmonious enters into a separation into parts, many truths fronting each other and moved each to fulfil itself, to make a world of its own or else to prevail or take its share in worlds made of a combination of various separated Truths and Truth-forces.” Letters on Yoga
*Overmind"s.
Overmind ::: “The overmind is a sort of delegation from the supermind (this is a metaphor only) which supports the present evolutionary universe in which we live here in Matter. If supermind were to start here from the beginning as the direct creative Power, a world of the kind we see now would be impossible; it would have been full of the divine Light from the beginning, there would be no involution in the inconscience of Matter, consequently no gradual striving evolution of consciousness in Matter. A line is therefore drawn between the higher half of the universe of consciousness, parardha , and the lower half, aparardha. The higher half is constituted of Sat, Chit, Ananda, Mahas (the supramental)—the lower half of mind, life, Matter. This line is the intermediary overmind which, though luminous itself, keeps from us the full indivisible supramental Light, depends on it indeed, but in receiving it, divides, distributes, breaks it up into separated aspects, powers, multiplicities of all kinds, each of which it is possible by a further diminution of consciousness, such as we reach in Mind, to regard as the sole or the chief Truth and all the rest as subordinate or contradictory to it.” Letters on Yoga
Oversoul ::: We might say then that there are three elements in the totality of our being: there is the submental and the subconscient which appears to us as if it were inconscient, comprising the material basis and a good part of our life and body; there is the subliminal, which comprises the inner being, taken in its entirety of inner mind, inner life, inner physical with the soul or psychic entity supporting them; there is this waking consciousness which the subliminal and the subconscient throw up on the surface, a wave of their secret surge. But even this is not an adequate account of what we are; for there is not only something deep within behind our normal self-awareness, but something also high above it: that too is ourselves, other than our surface mental personality, but not outside our true self; that too is a country of our spirit. For the subliminal proper is no more than the inner being on the level of the Knowledge-Ignorance, luminous, powerful and extended indeed beyond the poor conception of our waking mind, but still not the supreme or the whole sense of our being, not its ultimate mystery. We become aware, in a certain experience, of a range of being superconscient to all these three, aware too of something, a supreme highest Reality sustaining and exceeding them all, which humanity speaks of vaguely as Spirit, God, the Oversoul: from these superconscient ranges we have visitations and in our highest being we tend towards them and to that supreme Spirit. There is then in our total range of existence a superconscience as well as a subconscience and inconscience, overarching and perhaps enveloping our subliminal and our waking selves, but unknown to us, seemingly unattainable and incommunicable.
parcellings ::: separations or divisions into parts, distributed, allotted or apportioned.
parishes ::: political subdivisions of a country or state, usually corresponding in boundaries to an original ecclesiastical parish.
part ::: n. 1. An essential portion, division, piece, or segment of a whole. 2. Participation, interest, or concern in something; role. 3. Region; area. parts, part-experience. *adj. 4. Partial. v. 5. To go or come apart; separate, as two or more things. 6. To go apart from or leave one another, as persons. 7. To put or keep apart; separate. *parts, parted, parting, half-parted.
passive ::: 1. Not reacting visibly to something that might be expected to produce manifestations of an emotion of feeling. 2. Not involving visible reaction or active participation. 3. Inert or quiescent. passivity.
picture ::: 1. A visual representation or image painted, drawn, photographed, or otherwise rendered on a flat surface. 2. A visible image however produced. 3. A particular image or reality as portrayed in an account or description; depiction; version. pictures. (See also moving picture (‘s).)
plan ::: n. 1. A systematic arrangement of elements or important parts; a configuration or outline. 2. A scheme, program, or method worked out beforehand for the accomplishment of an objective. plans, heart-plan, life-plan, time-plan, world-plan, vision-plans, world-plan. *v. 3. To formulate a scheme or program for the accomplishment, enactment, or attainment of. *plans, planned, planning.
poetry ::: “All poetry is an inspiration, a thing breathed into the thinking organ from above; it is recorded in the mind, but is born in the higher principle of direct knowledge or ideal vision which surpasses mind. It is in reality a revelation. The prophetic or revealing power sees the substance; the inspiration perceives the right expression. Neither is manufactured; nor is poetry really a poiesis or composition, nor even a creation, but rather the revelation of something that eternally exists. The ancients knew this truth and used the same word for poet and prophet, creator and seer, sophos, vates, kavi.” Essays Human and Divine
poetry ::: Sri Aurobindo: "All poetry is an inspiration, a thing breathed into the thinking organ from above; it is recorded in the mind, but is born in the higher principle of direct knowledge or ideal vision which surpasses mind. It is in reality a revelation. The prophetic or revealing power sees the substance; the inspiration perceives the right expression. Neither is manufactured; nor is poetry really a poiesis or composition, nor even a creation, but rather the revelation of something that eternally exists. The ancients knew this truth and used the same word for poet and prophet, creator and seer, sophos, vates, kavi.” Essays Human and Divine
::: "Possession in oneness and not loss in oneness is the secret. God and Man, World and Beyond-world become one when they know each other. Their division is the cause of ignorance as ignorance is the cause of suffering.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
“Possession in oneness and not loss in oneness is the secret. God and Man, World and Beyond-world become one when they know each other. Their division is the cause of ignorance as ignorance is the cause of suffering.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
prevision ::: a knowing in advance; foreknowledge; foresight.
presence ::: 1. The state or fact of being present; current existence or occurrence. 2. A divine, spiritual, or supernatural spirit or influence felt or conceived as present. 3. The immediate proximity of someone or something.
Sri Aurobindo: "It is intended by the word Presence to indicate the sense and perception of the Divine as a Being, felt as present in one"s existence and consciousness or in relation with it, without the necessity of any further qualification or description. Thus, of the ‘ineffable Presence" it can only be said that it is there and nothing more can or need be said about it, although at the same time one knows that all is there, personality and impersonality, Power and Light and Ananda and everything else, and that all these flow from that indescribable Presence. The word may be used sometimes in a less absolute sense, but that is always the fundamental significance, — the essential perception of the essential Presence supporting everything else.” *Letters on Yoga
"Beyond mind on spiritual and supramental levels dwells the Presence, the Truth, the Power, the Bliss that can alone deliver us from these illusions, display the Light of which our ideals are tarnished disguises and impose the harmony that shall at once transfigure and reconcile all the parts of our nature.” Essays Divine and Human
"But if we learn to live within, we infallibly awaken to this presence within us which is our more real self, a presence profound, calm, joyous and puissant of which the world is not the master — a presence which, if it is not the Lord Himself, is the radiation of the Lord within.” *The Life Divine
"The true soul secret in us, — subliminal, we have said, but the word is misleading, for this presence is not situated below the threshold of waking mind, but rather burns in the temple of the inmost heart behind the thick screen of an ignorant mind, life and body, not subliminal but behind the veil, — this veiled psychic entity is the flame of the Godhead always alight within us, inextinguishable even by that dense unconsciousness of any spiritual self within which obscures our outward nature. It is a flame born out of the Divine and, luminous inhabitant of the Ignorance, grows in it till it is able to turn it towards the Knowledge. It is the concealed Witness and Control, the hidden Guide, the Daemon of Socrates, the inner light or inner voice of the mystic. It is that which endures and is imperishable in us from birth to birth, untouched by death, decay or corruption, an indestructible spark of the Divine.” *The Life Divine
"If we need any personal and inner witness to this indivisible All-Consciousness behind the ignorance, — all Nature is its external proof, — we can get it with any completeness only in our deeper inner being or larger and higher spiritual state when we draw back behind the veil of our own surface ignorance and come into contact with the divine Idea and Will behind it. Then we see clearly enough that what we have done by ourselves in our ignorance was yet overseen and guided in its result by the invisible Omniscience; we discover a greater working behind our ignorant working and begin to glimpse its purpose in us: then only can we see and know what now we worship in faith, recognise wholly the pure and universal Presence, meet the Lord of all being and all Nature.” *The Life Divine
"The presence of the Spirit is there in every living being, on every level, in all things, and because it is there, the experience of Sachchidananda, of the pure spiritual existence and consciousness, of the delight of a divine presence, closeness, contact can be acquired through the mind or the heart or the life-sense or even through the physical consciousness; if the inner doors are flung sufficiently open, the light from the sanctuary can suffuse the nearest and the farthest chambers of the outer being.” *The Life Divine
"There is a secret divine Will, eternal and infinite, omniscient and omnipotent, that expresses itself in the universality and in each particular of all these apparently temporal and finite inconscient or half-conscient things. This is the Power or Presence meant by the Gita when it speaks of the Lord within the heart of all existences who turns all creatures as if mounted on a machine by the illusion of Nature.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
"For what Yoga searches after is not truth of thought alone or truth of mind alone, but the dynamic truth of a living and revealing spiritual experience. There must awake in us a constant indwelling and enveloping nearness, a vivid perception, a close feeling and communion, a concrete sense and contact of a true and infinite Presence always and everywhere. That Presence must remain with us as the living, pervading Reality in which we and all things exist and move and act, and we must feel it always and everywhere, concrete, visible, inhabiting all things; it must be patent to us as their true Self, tangible as their imperishable Essence, met by us closely as their inmost Spirit. To see, to feel, to sense, to contact in every way and not merely to conceive this Self and Spirit here in all existences and to feel with the same vividness all existences in this Self and Spirit, is the fundamental experience which must englobe all other knowledge.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
"One must have faith in the Master of our life and works, even if for a long time He conceals Himself, and then in His own right time He will reveal His Presence.” *Letters on Yoga
"They [the psychic being and the Divine Presence in the heart] are quite different things. The psychic being is one"s own individual soul-being. It is not the Divine, though it has come from the Divine and develops towards the Divine.” *Letters on Yoga
"For it is quietness and inwardness that enable one to feel the Presence.” *Letters on Yoga
"Beyond mind on spiritual and supramental levels dwells the Presence, the Truth, the Power, the Bliss that can alone deliver us from these illusions, display the Light of which our ideals are tarnished disguises and impose the harmony that shall at once transfigure and reconcile all the parts of our nature.” *Essays Divine and Human
The Mother: "For, in human beings, here is a presence, the most marvellous Presence on earth, and except in a few very rare cases which I need not mention here, this presence lies asleep in the heart — not in the physical heart but the psychic centre — of all beings. And when this Splendour is manifested with enough purity, it will awaken in all beings the echo of his Presence.” Words of the Mother, MCW, Vol. 15.
preserver of the Worlds ::: see Vishnu.
provisional ::: providing or serving for the time being only; existing only until permanently or properly replaced; temporary.
prodigal ::: n. 1. Giving or given in abundance; lavish or profuse. adj. 2. Recklessly wasteful or extravagant.
prophecy ::: “If this higher buddhi {{understanding in the profoundest sense] could act pure of the interference of these lower members, it would give pure forms of the truth; observation would be dominated or replaced by a vision which could see without subservient dependence on the testimony of the sense-mind and senses; imagination would give place to the self-assured inspiration of the truth, reasoning to the spontaneous discernment of relations and conclusion from reasoning to an intuition containing in itself those relations and not building laboriously upon them, judgment to a thought-vision in whose light the truth would stand revealed without the mask which it now wears and which our intellectual judgment has to penetrate; while memory too would take upon itself that larger sense given to it in Greek thought and be no longer a paltry selection from the store gained by the individual in his present life, but rather the all-recording knowledge which secretly holds and constantly gives from itself everything that we now seem painfully to acquire but really in this sense remember, a knowledge which includes the future(1) no less than the past.
provender ::: food or provisions.
pupil ::: a student under the direct supervision of a teacher or professor.
Purani: “He [Sri Aurobindo] does the same [improving spontaneously upon the original in the alchemy of his poetical process] with several Vedic symbols which he employs. It [gold-horned herds] indicates the descent of the ‘gold-horned’ Cows—symbolising the richly-laden Rays of Knowledge—into the Inconscient of the earth, its ‘cave-heart’. Generally in the Veda the action is that of breaking open the Cave of the inconscient and releasing the pen of Cows, the imprisoned Rays of Life for the conscious possessions by the seeker. Here is how a Vedic hymn speaks about it: ‘They drove upwards, the luminous ones,—the good milch-cows, in their stone-pen within the hiding cave.’ Rig Veda IV, 1-13. One sees in Savitri the process reversed and the Master’s vision lays open the original act of involution of the Light into the darkness of the Inconscient.” Sri Aurobindo’s”Savitri”: An Approach and a Study.
Purani: “The ‘Dwarf’ here brings to our mind the Vamana—‘The divine Dwarf’, an incarnation of Vishnu who measured the three worlds—the material, the vital and the mental—in his three steps. In the Rig Veda there is a symbolic reference to this which is enlarged as usual, in the Puranas.”“Savitri”—An Approach and a Study
purblind ::: 1. Slow or deficient in understanding, imagination or vision. 2. Fig. Slow in understanding or discernment; dull.
quest ::: “The quest of man for God, which becomes in the end the most ardent and enthralling of all his quests, begins with his first vague questionings of Nature and a sense of something unseen both in himself and her. Even if, as modern Science insists, religion started from animism, spirit-worship, demon-worship, and the deification of natural forces, these first forms only embody in primitive figures a veiled intuition in the subconscient, an obscure and ignorant feeling of hidden influences and incalculable forces, or a vague sense of being, will, intelligence in what seems to us inconscient, of the invisible behind the visible, of the secretly conscious spirit in things distributing itself in every working of energy. The obscurity and primitive inadequacy of the first perceptions do not detract from the value or the truth of this great quest of the human heart and mind, since all our seekings,—including Science itself,—must start from an obscure and ignorant perception of hidden realities and proceed to the more and more luminous vision of the Truth which at first comes to us masked, draped, veiled by the mists of the Ignorance. Anthropomorphism is an imaged recognition of the truth that man is what he is because God is what He is and that there is one soul and body of things, humanity even in its incompleteness the most complete manifestation yet achieved here and divinity the perfection of what in man is imperfect.” The Life Divine
ravished ::: 1. Overwhelmed with emotion; enraptured. 2. Seized and carried away by force; violated; raped.
ravishing ::: 1. Extremely delightful; very lovely. 2. Extremely beautiful or attractive; enchanting; entrancing.
ravishment ::: rapture; entrancement: extreme delight; ecstasy. ravishments.
ravish ::: to give great delight to; enrapture.
range ::: n. **1. The extent or scope of the operation or action of something, as in vision, perception. soul-range, swim-range. v. 2.** To wander freely; roam over a large area.
ration ::: a fixed allowance of food, provisions, etc.
::: ". . . reason can only establish half-lights and a provisional order.” *The Human Cycle
“… reason can only establish half-lights and a provisional order.” The Human Cycle
::: "Reason, on the contrary, proceeds by analysis and division and assembles its facts to form a whole; but in the assemblage so formed there are opposites, anomalies, logical incompatibilities, and the natural tendency of Reason is to affirm some and to negate others which conflict with its chosen conclusions so that it may form a flawlessly logical system.” The Life Divine*
“Reason, on the contrary, proceeds by analysis and division and assembles its facts to form a whole; but in the assemblage so formed there are opposites, anomalies, logical incompatibilities, and the natural tendency of Reason is to affirm some and to negate others which conflict with its chosen conclusions so that it may form a flawlessly logical system.” The Life Divine
sacrament ::: 1. Something regarded as possessing a sacred or mysterious significance. 2. A rite believed to be a means of or visible form of grace. 3. A sign, token or symbol. 4. A pledge. sacraments.
scene ::: 1. The place where an action or event occurs. 2. A view or picture presented to the eye (or to the mind) of a place, concourse, incident, series of actions or events, assemblage of objects, etc. 3. The place in which the action of a play, movie, or other narrative occurs; a setting. 4. A subdivision of an act of a play marked by the entrance or departure of one or more actors. 5. An action, episode, complication of events, or situation, in real life. 6. Fig. A view or prospect of something to come. scenes, scene-shifters, earth-scene, earth-scene"s, life-scene, soul-scene, world-scene.
scouts of vision
seasons ::: one of the four natural divisions of the year, spring, summer, fall and winter, in the North and South Temperate zones. Each season, beginning astronomically at an equinox or solstice, is characterized by specific meteorological or climatic conditions.
sections ::: distinct parts or subdivisions of anything; any of the portions into which a thing is cut or divided.
::: **"See God everywhere and be not frightened by masks. Believe that all falsehood is truth in the making or truth in the breaking, all failure an effectuality concealed, all weakness strength hiding itself from its own vision, all pain a secret & violent ecstasy.” Essays Divine and Human
“See God everywhere and be not frightened by masks. Believe that all falsehood is truth in the making or truth in the breaking, all failure an effectuality concealed, all weakness strength hiding itself from its own vision, all pain a secret & violent ecstasy.” Essays Divine and Human
seer ::: 1. A person gifted with profound spiritual insight or knowledge; a wise person or sage who possesses intuitive powers or one to whom divine revelations are made in visions. 2. One who sees; an observer. **Seer, seers, seer-evenings, seer-summit, seer-vision"s.
separate ::: v. 1. To set apart. 2. To put, bring or force apart, (two or more persons or things, or one from another); to disunite, disconnect, make a division between, part. 3. To sort, part or divide something previously combined or mixed. 4. To part or be parted from; depart or draw apart from; become divided; disunited. separates, separated. adj. 5. Detached, disconnected, or disjoined. 6. Withdrawn or divided from something else so as to have an independent existence by itself. 7. Being or standing apart; distant or dispersed. 8. Considered or reckoned by itself (although mentioned as one of several); single, individual. 9. Belonging or peculiar to one, not common to or shared with the other or the others. separateness.
". . . serpents indicate always energies of Nature and very often bad energies of the vital plane; but they can also indicate luminous or divine energies like the snake of Vishnu.” Letters on Yoga
“… serpents indicate always energies of Nature and very often bad energies of the vital plane; but they can also indicate luminous or divine energies like the snake of Vishnu.” Letters on Yoga
servile ::: submissive; slavish; fawning; slave-like.
shower ::: n. 1. A brief fall of precipitation, such as rain, hail, or sleet. showers. *v. 2. To pour out in abundance; bestow liberally or lavishly. *showered, showering.
Shruti: “The attraction and glitter of desire, thought perceptions and concepts which hide the direct vision of the truth, the slayer of the truth because it invades life as the apparent truth itself.”
Shruti: “The seven radiances of the Dawn, Usha (infinite consciousness, truth vision), the sevenfold principle of existence, the seven Sisters, rivers. The seven manifesting radiances of the primal light, Usha (Dawn).”
Since the Consciousness-Force of the eternal Existence is the universal creatrix, the nature of a given world will depend on whatever self-formulation of that Consciousness expresses itself in that world. Equally, for each individual being, his seeing or representation to himself of the world he lives in will depend on the poise or make which that Consciousness has assumed in him. Our human mental consciousness sees the world in sections cut by the reason and sense and put together in a formation which is also sectional; the house it builds is planned to accommodate one or another generalised formulation of Truth, but excludes the rest or admits some only as guests or dependents in the house. Overmind Consciousness is global in its cognition and can hold any number of seemingly fundamental differences together in a reconciling vision. Thus the mental reason sees Person and the Impersonal as opposites: it conceives an impersonal Existence in which person and personality are fictions of the Ignorance or temporary constructions; or, on the contrary, it can see Person as the primary reality and the impersonal as a mental abstraction or only stuff or means of manifestation. To the Overmind intelligence these are separable Powers of the one Existence which can pursue their independent self-affirmation and can also unite together their different modes of action, creating both in their independence and in their union different states of consciousness and being which can be all of them valid and all capable of coexistence. A purely impersonal existence and consciousness is true and possible, but also an entirely personal consciousness and existence; the Impersonal Divine, Nirguna Brahman, and the Personal Divine, Saguna Brahman, are here equal and coexistent aspects of the Eternal. Impersonality can manifest with person subordinated to it as a mode of expression; but, equally, Person can be the reality with impersonality as a mode of its nature: both aspects of manifestation face each other in the infinite variety of conscious Existence. What to the mental reason are irreconcilable differences present themselves to the Overmind intelligence as coexistent correlatives; what to the mental reason are contraries are to the Overmind intelligence complementaries. Our mind sees that all things are born from Matter or material Energy, exist by it, go back into it; it concludes that Matter is the eternal factor, the primary and ultimate reality, Brahman. Or it sees all as born of Life-Force or Mind, existing by Life or by Mind, going back into the universal Life or Mind, and it concludes that this world is a creation of the cosmic Life-Force or of a cosmic Mind or Logos. Or again it sees the world and all things as born of, existing by and going back to the Real-Idea or Knowledge-Will of the Spirit or to the Spirit itself and it concludes on an idealistic or spiritual view of the universe. It can fix on any of these ways of seeing, but to its normal separative vision each way excludes the others. Overmind consciousness perceives that each view is true of the action of the principle it erects; it can see that there is a material world-formula, a vital world-formula, a mental world-formula, a spiritual world-formula, and each can predominate in a world of its own and at the same time all can combine in one world as its constituent powers. The self-formulation of Conscious Force on which our world is based as an apparent Inconscience that conceals in itself a supreme Conscious-Existence and holds all the powers of Being together in its inconscient secrecy, a world of universal Matter realising in itself Life, Mind, Overmind, Supermind, Spirit, each of them in its turn taking up the others as means of its self-expression, Matter proving in the spiritual vision to have been always itself a manifestation of the Spirit, is to the Overmind view a normal and easily realisable creation. In its power of origination and in the process of its executive dynamis Overmind is an organiser of many potentialities of Existence, each affirming its separate reality but all capable of linking themselves together in many different but simultaneous ways, a magician craftsman empowered to weave the multicoloured warp and woof of manifestation of a single entity in a complex universe. …
slime ::: 1. Soft moist earth; mud. 2. Any ropy or viscous liquid matter, esp. of a foul kind.
sojourner ::: a temporary resident; a visitor.
soul ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The word ‘soul", as also the word ‘psychic", is used very vaguely and in many different senses in the English language. More often than not, in ordinary parlance, no clear distinction is made between mind and soul and often there is an even more serious confusion, for the vital being of desire — the false soul or desire-soul — is intended by the words ‘soul" and ‘psychic" and not the true soul, the psychic being.” *Letters on Yoga
"The word soul is very vaguely used in English — as it often refers to the whole non-physical consciousness including even the vital with all its desires and passions. That was why the word psychic being has to be used so as to distinguish this divine portion from the instrumental parts of the nature.” *Letters on Yoga
"The word soul has various meanings according to the context; it may mean the Purusha supporting the formation of Prakriti, which we call a being, though the proper word would be rather a becoming; it may mean, on the other hand, specifically the psychic being in an evolutionary creature like man; it may mean the spark of the Divine which has been put into Matter by the descent of the Divine into the material world and which upholds all evolving formations here.” *Letters on Yoga
"A distinction has to be made between the soul in its essence and the psychic being. Behind each and all there is the soul which is the spark of the Divine — none could exist without that. But it is quite possible to have a vital and physical being supported by such a soul essence but without a clearly evolved psychic being behind it.” *Letters on Yoga
"The soul and the psychic being are practically the same, except that even in things which have not developed a psychic being, there is still a spark of the Divine which can be called the soul. The psychic being is called in Sanskrit the Purusha in the heart or the Chaitya Purusha. (The psychic being is the soul developing in the evolution.)” *Letters on Yoga
"The soul or spark is there before the development of an organised vital and mind. The soul is something of the Divine that descends into the evolution as a divine Principle within it to support the evolution of the individual out of the Ignorance into the Light. It develops in the course of the evolution a psychic individual or soul individuality which grows from life to life, using the evolving mind, vital and body as its instruments. It is the soul that is immortal while the rest disintegrates; it passes from life to life carrying its experience in essence and the continuity of the evolution of the individual.” *Letters on Yoga
". . . for the soul is seated within and impervious to the shocks of external events. . . .” *Essays on the Gita
". . . the soul is at first but a spark and then a little flame of godhead burning in the midst of a great darkness; for the most part it is veiled in its inner sanctum and to reveal itself it has to call on the mind, the life-force and the physical consciousness and persuade them, as best they can, to express it; ordinarily, it succeeds at most in suffusing their outwardness with its inner light and modifying with its purifying fineness their dark obscurities or their coarser mixture. Even when there is a formed psychic being able to express itself with some directness in life, it is still in all but a few a smaller portion of the being — ‘no bigger in the mass of the body than the thumb of a man" was the image used by the ancient seers — and it is not always able to prevail against the obscurity or ignorant smallness of the physical consciousness, the mistaken surenesses of the mind or the arrogance and vehemence of the vital nature.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
". . . the soul is an eternal portion of the Supreme and not a fraction of Nature.” The Life Divine
"The true soul secret in us, — subliminal, we have said, but the word is misleading, for this presence is not situated below the threshold of waking mind, but rather burns in the temple of the inmost heart behind the thick screen of an ignorant mind, life and body, not subliminal but behind the veil, — this veiled psychic entity is the flame of the Godhead always alight within us, inextinguishable even by that dense unconsciousness of any spiritual self within which obscures our outward nature. It is a flame born out of the Divine and, luminous inhabitant of the Ignorance, grows in it till it is able to turn it towards the Knowledge. It is the concealed Witness and Control, the hidden Guide, the Daemon of Socrates, the inner light or inner voice of the mystic. It is that which endures and is imperishable in us from birth to birth, untouched by death, decay or corruption, an indestructible spark of the Divine.” The Life Divine
*Soul, soul"s, Soul"s, souls, soulless, soul-bridals, soul-change, soul-force, Soul-Forces, soul-ground, soul-joy, soul-nature, soul-range, soul-ray, soul-scapes, soul-scene, soul-sense, soul-severance, soul-sight, soul-slaying, soul-space,, soul-spaces, soul-strength, soul-stuff, soul-truth, soul-vision, soul-wings, world-soul, World-Soul.
Space ::: “It is possible in pure mentality to disregard the movement of event and the disposition of substance and realise the pure movement of Conscious-Force which constitutes Space and Time; these two are then merely two aspects of the universal force of Consciousness which in their intertwined interaction comprehend the warp and woof of its action upon itself. And to a consciousness higher than Mind which should regard our past, present and future in one view, containing and not contained in them, not situated at a particular moment of Time for its point of prospection, Time might well offer itself as an eternal present. And to the same consciousness not situated at any particular point of Space, but containing all points and regions in itself, Space also might well offer itself as a subjective and indivisible extension,—no less subjective than Time.” The Life Divine
Space. Sri Aurobindo: "It is possible in pure mentality to disregard the movement of event and the disposition of substance and realise the pure movement of Conscious-Force which constitutes Space and Time; these two are then merely two aspects of the universal force of Consciousness which in their intertwined interaction comprehend the warp and woof of its action upon itself. And to a consciousness higher than Mind which should regard our past, present and future in one view, containing and not contained in them, not situated at a particular moment of Time for its point of prospection, Time might well offer itself as an eternal present. And to the same consciousness not situated at any particular point of Space, but containing all points and regions in itself, Space also might well offer itself as a subjective and indivisible extension, — no less subjective than Time.” The Life Divine
spare ::: v. 1. To refrain from using. 2. To give or grant out of one"s resources; afford. 3. To refrain from treating harshly; treat mercifully or leniently. spared. adj. 4. Characterized by frugality or economy. 5. Unadorned, bare, simple. 6. Small in amount, quantity, or extent; not lavish, liberal, or profuse; scanty, limited. sparing.
spectral ::: having the character of a visible incorporeal spirit or phantom; ghostly, unsubstantial, unreal.
spend ::: 1. To pay out, disperse, or expend; dispose of (money, wealth, resources, etc.). 2. To employ (labour, thought, words, time, etc.) as on some object or in some proceeding. 3. To use up lavishly; squander. 4. To allow or cause to flow; to shed. 5. To use up or exhaust one"s energy. spends, spent, spending.
spider ("s)-web ::: the web that is spun by a spider, made of interlaced threads of viscous fluid that harden on exposure to air.
Sri Aurobindo: "As there are Powers of Knowledge or Forces of the Light, so there are Powers of Ignorance and tenebrous Forces of the Darkness whose work is to prolong the reign of Ignorance and Inconscience. As there are Forces of Truth, so there are Forces that live by the Falsehood and support it and work for its victory; as there are powers whose life is intimately bound up with the existence, the idea and the impulse of Good, so there are Forces whose life is bound up with the existence and the idea and the impulse of Evil. It is this truth of the cosmic Invisible that was symbolised in the ancient belief of a struggle between the powers of Light and Darkness, Good and Evil for the possession of the world and the government of the life of man; — this was the significance of the contest between the Vedic Gods and their opponents, sons of Darkness and Division, figured in a later tradition as Titan and Giant and Demon, Asura, Rakshasa, Pisacha; the same tradition is found in the Zoroastrian Double Principle and the later Semitic opposition of God and his Angels on the one side and Satan and his hosts on the other, — invisible Personalities and Powers that draw man to the divine Light and Truth and Good or lure him into subjection to the undivine principle of Darkness and Falsehood and Evil.” The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: A symbol, as I understand it, is the form on one plane that represents a truth of another. For instance, a flag is the symbol of a nation…. But generally all forms are symbols. This body of ours is a symbol of our real being and everything is a symbol of some higher reality. There are, however, different kinds of symbols: 1. Conventional symbols, such as the Vedic Rishis formed with objects taken from their surroundings. The cow stood for light because the same word `go ‘ meant both ray and cow, and because the cow was their most precious possession which maintained their life and was constantly in danger of being robbed and concealed. But once created, such a symbol becomes alive. The Rishis vitalised it and it became a part of their realisation. It appeared in their visions as an image of spiritual light. The horse also was one of their favourite symbols, and a more easily adaptable one, since its force and energy were quite evident. 2. What we might call Life-symbols, such as are not artificially chosen or mentally interpreted in a conscious deliberate way, but derive naturally from our day-to-day life and grow out of the surroundings which condition our normal path of living. To the ancients the mountain was a symbol of the path of yoga, level above level, peak upon peak. A journey, involving the crossing of rivers and the facing of lurking enemies, both animal and human, conveyed a similar idea. Nowadays I dare say we would liken yoga to a motor-ride or a railway-trip. 3. Symbols that have an inherent appositeness and power of their own. Akasha or etheric space is a symbol of the infinite all-pervading eternal Brahman. In any nationality it would convey the same meaning. Also, the Sun stands universally for the supramental Light, the divine Gnosis. 4.* Mental symbols, instances of which are numbers or alphabets. Once they are accepted, they too become active and may be useful. Thus geometrical figures have been variously interpreted. In my experience the square symbolises the supermind. I cannot say how it came to do so. Somebody or some force may have built it before it came to my mind. Of the triangle, too, there are different explanations. In one position it can symbolise the three lower planes, in another the symbol is of the three higher ones: so both can be combined together in a single sign. The ancients liked to indulge in similar speculations concerning numbers, but their systems were mostly mental. It is no doubt true that supramental realities exist which we translate into mental formulas such as Karma, Psychic evolution, etc. But they are, so to speak, infinite realities which cannot be limited by these symbolic forms, though they may be somewhat expressed by them; they might be expressed as well by other symbols, and the same symbol may also express many different ideas. Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "Finally, we have the goddess Dakshina who may well be a female form of Daksha, himself a god and afterwards in the Purana one of the Prajapatis, the original progenitors, — we have Dakshina associated with the manifestation of knowledge and sometimes almost identified with Usha, the divine Dawn, who is the bringer of illumination. I shall suggest that Dakshina like the more famous Ila, Saraswati and Sarama, is one of four goddesses representing the four faculties of the Ritam or Truth-consciousness, — Ila representing truth-vision or revelation, Saraswati truth-audition, inspiration, the divine word, Sarama intuition, Dakshina the separative intuitional discrimination.” *The Secret of the Veda
Sri Aurobindo: " For the highest intuitive Knowledge sees things in the whole, in the large and details only as sides of the indivisible whole; its tendency is towards immediate synthesis and the unity of knowledge.” *The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "Further, vision is of value because it is often a first key to inner planes of one"s own being and one"s own consciousness as distinguished from worlds or planes of the cosmic consciousness. Yoga-experience often begins with some opening of the third eye in the forehead (the centre of vision in the brows) or with some kind of beginning and extension of subtle seeing which may seem unimportant at first but is the vestibule to deeper experience.” *Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: “Further, vision is of value because it is often a first key to inner planes of one’s own being and one’s own consciousness as distinguished from worlds or planes of the cosmic consciousness. Yoga-experience often begins with some opening of the third eye in the forehead (the centre of vision in the brows) or with some kind of beginning and extension of subtle seeing which may seem unimportant at first but is the vestibule to deeper experience.” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "God and Man, World and Beyond-world become one when they know each other. Their division is the cause of ignorance as ignorance is the cause of suffering.” *Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "His [the Titan"s] instincts call for a visible, tangible mastery and a sensational domination. How shall he feel sure of his empire unless he can feel something writhing helpless under his heel, — if in agony, so much the better? What is exploitation to him, unless it diminishes the exploited? To be able to coerce, exact, slay, overtly, irresistibly, — it is this that fills him with the sense of glory and dominion. For he is the son of division and the strong flowering of the Ego. To feel the comparative limitation of others is necessary to him that he may imagine himself immeasurable; for he has not the real, self-existent sense of infinity which no outward circumstance can abrogate. Contrast, division, negation of the wills and lives of others are essential to his self-development and self-assertion. The Titan would unify by devouring, not by harmonising; he must conquer and trample what is not himself either out of existence or into subservience so that his own image may stand out stamped upon all things and dominating all his environment.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: “His [the Titan’s] instincts call for a visible, tangible mastery and a sensational domination. How shall he feel sure of his empire unless he can feel something writhing helpless under his heel,—if in agony, so much the better? What is exploitation to him, unless it diminishes the exploited? To be able to coerce, exact, slay, overtly, irresistibly,—it is this that fills him with the sense of glory and dominion. For he is the son of division and the strong flowering of the Ego. To feel the comparative limitation of others is necessary to him that he may imagine himself immeasurable; for he has not the real, self-existent sense of infinity which no outward circumstance can abrogate. Contrast, division, negation of the wills and lives of others are essential to his self-development and self-assertion. The Titan would unify by devouring, not by harmonising; he must conquer and trample what is not himself either out of existence or into subservience so that his own image may stand out stamped upon all things and dominating all his environment.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "History teaches us nothing; it is a confused torrent of events and personalities or a kaleidoscope of changing institutions. We do not seize the real sense of all this change and this continual streaming forward of human life in the channels of Time. What we do seize are current or recurrent phenomena, facile generalisations, partial ideas. We talk of democracy, aristocracy and autocracy, collectivism and individualism, imperialism and nationalism, the State and the commune, capitalism and labour; we advance hasty generalisations and make absolute systems which are positively announced today only to be abandoned perforce tomorrow; we espouse causes and ardent enthusiasms whose triumph turns to an early disillusionment and then forsake them for others, perhaps for those that we have taken so much trouble to destroy. For a whole century mankind thirsts and battles after liberty and earns it with a bitter expense of toil, tears and blood; the century that enjoys without having fought for it turns away as from a puerile illusion and is ready to renounce the depreciated gain as the price of some new good. And all this happens because our whole thought and action with regard to our collective life is shallow and empirical; it does not seek for, it does not base itself on a firm, profound and complete knowledge. The moral is not the vanity of human life, of its ardours and enthusiasms and of the ideals it pursues, but the necessity of a wiser, larger, more patient search after its true law and aim.” *The Human Cycle etc.
Sri Aurobindo: "Human life is itself only a term in a graded series, through which the secret Spirit in the universe develops gradually his purpose and works it out finally through the enlarging and ascending individual soul-consciousness in the body. This ascent can only take place by rebirth within the ascending order; an individual visit coming across it and progressing on some other line elsewhere could not fit into the system of this evolutionary existence.” The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "If this higher buddhi {{understanding in the profoundest sense] could act pure of the interference of these lower members, it would give pure forms of the truth; observation would be dominated or replaced by a vision which could see without subservient dependence on the testimony of the sense-mind and senses; imagination would give place to the self-assured inspiration of the truth, reasoning to the spontaneous discernment of relations and conclusion from reasoning to an intuition containing in itself those relations and not building laboriously upon them, judgment to a thought-vision in whose light the truth would stand revealed without the mask which it now wears and which our intellectual judgment has to penetrate; while memory too would take upon itself that larger sense given to it in Greek thought and be no longer a paltry selection from the store gained by the individual in his present life, but rather the all-recording knowledge which secretly holds and constantly gives from itself everything that we now seem painfully to acquire but really in this sense remember, a knowledge which includes the future(1) no less than the past. ::: Footnote: In this sense the power of prophecy has been aptly called a memory of the future.]” *The Synthesis of Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "I suppose the golden child is the Truth-Soul which follows after the silver light of the spiritual. When it plunges into the black waters of the subconscient, it releases from it the spiritual light and the sevenfold streams of the Divine Energy and, clearing itself of the stains of the subconscient, it prepares its flight towards the supreme Divine (the Mother).” (Reply to a question in the chapter Visions and Symbols.) Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: “It can be taken as the (Avatar) incarnation on the mental plane.” Visions of Champaklal
Sri Aurobindo: "It is an achievement to have got rid so rapidly and decisively of the shimmering mists and fogs which modern intellectualism takes for Light of Truth. The modern mind has so long and persistently wandered – and we with it – in the Valley of the False Glimmer that it is not easy for anyone to disperse its mists with the sunlight of clear vision.” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "I used the word ‘mystic" in the sense of a certain kind of inner seeing and feeling of things, a way which to the intellect would seem occult and visionary — for this is something different from imagination and its work with which the intellect is familiar.” *On Himself
Sri Aurobindo: ". . . our mind has the faculty of imagination; it can create and take as true and real its own mental structures: . . . . Our mental imagination is an instrument of Ignorance; it is the resort or device or refuge of a limited capacity of knowledge, a limited capacity of effective action. Mind supplements these deficiencies by its power of imagination: it uses it to extract from things obvious and visible the things that are not obvious and visible; it undertakes to create its own figures of the possible and the impossible; it erects illusory actuals or draws figures of a conjectured or constructed truth of things that are not true to outer experience. That is at least the appearance of its operation; but, in reality, it is the mind"s way or one of its ways of summoning out of Being its infinite possibilities, even of discovering or capturing the unknown possibilities of the Infinite.” The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "Our sense by its incapacity has invented darkness. In truth there is nothing but Light, only it is a power of light either above or below our poor human vision"s limited range.” *Essays Divine and Human
Sri Aurobindo: ” See God everywhere and be not frightened by masks. Believe that all falsehood is truth in the making or truth in the breaking, all failure an effectuality concealed, all weakness strength hiding itself from its own vision, all pain a secret & violent ecstasy. If thou believest firmly & unweariedly, in the end thou wilt see & experience the All-true, Almighty & All-blissful.” Essays Divine and Human*
Sri Aurobindo: “The legend of the Tower of Babel speaks of the diversity of tongues as a curse laid on the race; but whatever its disadvantages, and they tend more and more to be minimised by the growth of civilisation and increasing intercourse, it has been rather a blessing than a curse, a gift to mankind rather than a disability laid upon it. The purposeless exaggeration of anything is always an evil, and an excessive pullulation of varying tongues that serve no purpose in the expression of a real diversity of spirit and culture is certainly a stumbling-block rather than a help: but this excess, though it existed in the past, is hardly a possibility of the future. The tendency is rather in the opposite direction. In former times diversity of language helped to create a barrier to knowledge and sympathy, was often made the pretext even of an actual antipathy and tended to a too rigid division. The lack of sufficient interpenetration kept up both a passive want of understanding and a fruitful crop of active misunderstandings. But this was an inevitable evil of a particular stage of growth, an exaggeration of the necessity that then existed for the vigorous development of strongly individualised group-souls in the human race. These disadvantages have not yet been abolished, but with closer intercourse and the growing desire of men and nations for the knowledge of each other’s thought and spirit and personality, they have diminished and tend to diminish more and more and there is no reason why in the end they should not become inoperative.” The Human Cycle. Babel-builders’.
Sri Aurobindo: "The quest of man for God, which becomes in the end the most ardent and enthralling of all his quests, begins with his first vague questionings of Nature and a sense of something unseen both in himself and her. Even if, as modern Science insists, religion started from animism, spirit-worship, demon-worship, and the deification of natural forces, these first forms only embody in primitive figures a veiled intuition in the subconscient, an obscure and ignorant feeling of hidden influences and incalculable forces, or a vague sense of being, will, intelligence in what seems to us inconscient, of the invisible behind the visible, of the secretly conscious spirit in things distributing itself in every working of energy. The obscurity and primitive inadequacy of the first perceptions do not detract from the value or the truth of this great quest of the human heart and mind, since all our seekings, — including Science itself, — must start from an obscure and ignorant perception of hidden realities and proceed to the more and more luminous vision of the Truth which at first comes to us masked, draped, veiled by the mists of the Ignorance. Anthropomorphism is an imaged recognition of the truth that man is what he is because God is what He is and that there is one soul and body of things, humanity even in its incompleteness the most complete manifestation yet achieved here and divinity the perfection of what in man is imperfect.” The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "There are two allied powers in man: Knowledge and Wisdom. Knowledge is so much of the truth, seen in a distorted medium, as the mind arrives at by groping; Wisdom what the eye of divine vision sees in the spirit.” *The Hour of God
Sri Aurobindo: "There is an inner vision that opens when one does sadhana and all sorts of images rise before it or pass. Their coming does not depend upon your thought or will; it is real and automatic. Just as your physical eyes see things in the physical world, so the inner eyes see things and images that belong to the other worlds and subtle images of things of this physical world also.” *Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "This material universe is itself only existence as we see it when the soul dwells on the plane of material movement and experience in which the spirit involves itself in form, and therefore all the framework of things in which it moves by the life and which it embraces by the consciousness is determined by the principle of infinite division and aggregation proper to Matter, to substance of form.” The Upanishads
Sri Aurobindo: ". . . thought in itself, in its origin on the higher levels of consciousness, is a perception, a cognitive seizing of the object or of some truth of things which is a powerful but still a minor and secondary result of spiritual vision, a comparatively external and superficial regard of the self upon the self, the subject upon itself or something of itself as object.” *The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "Vishnu the all-pervading, the cosmic Deity, the Lover and Friend of our souls, the Lord of the transcendent existence and the transcendent delight.” *The Secret of the Veda
Sri Aurobindo: “Vishnu the all-pervading, the cosmic Deity, the Lover and Friend of our souls, the Lord of the transcendent existence and the transcendent delight.” The Secret of the Veda
Sri Aurobindo: "Visions come under the head of experiences, unless they fix themselves and are accompanied by a realisation of which they are as it were the support.” The Mother*
stanza ::: one of the divisions of a poem, composed of two or more lines usually characterized by a common pattern of meter, rhyme, and number of lines. stanzas.
star ::: 1. Any of the celestial bodies visible at night from Earth as relatively stationary, usually twinkling points of light. 2. One who is prominent or distinguished in some way. 3. Fig. A guiding light. 4. A celestial body, esp. a planet or a star, supposed to influence events, personalities, etc. stars, stars", star-carved, star-defended, star-entangled, star-field, star-gemmed, star-jewelled, star-led, star-lost, star-lustrous, star-white.
starless ::: being without stars; having no stars visible; as a starless night.
streak ::: n. 1. A long thin mark or trace of some contrasting colour or texture different from the background. 2. A flash leaving a visible line or after effect, as of lightening; bolt. 3. A ray or flash of light or the faint line of he dawn"s light. Also fig. **streaks. v. streaked. 3.** Went quickly; advanced; went at full speed.
stress ::: 1. Physical, mental or emotional strain or tension; a situation, occurrence, condition or factor causing strain. 2. Stimulus or pressure of the influence of an adverse force. 3. Special or exceptional emphasis or significance attached to something. stress-vision.
subtle vision
subtle vision ("s) ::: Sri Aurobindo: " This power of vision is sometimes inborn and habitual even without any effort of development, sometimes it wakes up of itself and becomes abundant or needs only a little practice to develop; it is not necessarily a sign of spiritual attainment, but usually when by practice of yoga one begins to go inside or live within, the power of subtle vision awakes to a greater or less extent; . . . .”*Letters on Yoga
"It is not necessary to have the mind quiet in order to see the lights — that depends only on the opening of the subtle vision in the centre which is in the forehead between the eyebrows. Many people get that as soon as they start sadhana. It can even be developed by effort and concentration without sadhana by some who have it to a small extent as an inborn faculty.” Letters on Yoga
"When the centres begin to open, inner experiences such as the seeing of light or images through the subtle vision in the forehead centre or psychic experiences and perceptions in the heart, become frequent — gradually one becomes aware of one"s inner being as separate from the outer, and what can be called a yogic consciousness with all its deeper movements develops in the place of the ordinary superficial mental and vital movements.” Letters on Yoga
subtle images ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Subtle images can be images of all things in all worlds.” *Letters on Yoga
"These are not mental images. There is an inner vision that opens when one does sadhana and all sorts of images rise before it or pass. Their coming does not depend upon your thought or will; it is real and automatic. Just as your physical eyes see things in the physical world, so the inner eyes see things and images that belong to the other worlds and subtle images of things of this physical world also.” Letters on Yoga
sumptuous ::: 1. Rich and superior in quality. 2. Magnificent; splendid. 3. Luxuriously fine or large; lavish; splendid.
suntracks ::: A word coined by Sri Aurobindo. Lines of travel, passage, or motion; the actual courses or routes followed (which need not be any beaten or visible path, or leave any traces, as the paths of ships, birds in the air, comets, etc.).
suntracks ::: a word coined by Sri Aurobindo. Lines of travel, passage, or motion; the actual courses or routes followed (which need not be any beaten or visible path, or leave any traces, as the paths of ships, birds in the air, comets, etc.).
supermind ::: %symbol ::: Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible. (Sri Aurobindo also employs the word as an adj.) symbol’s, symbols, world-symbol, World-symbols.
symbol ::: A symbol, as I understand it, is the form on one plane that represents a truth of another. For instance, a flag is the symbol of a nation…. But generally all forms are symbols. This body of ours is a symbol of our real being and everything is a symbol of some higher reality. There are, however, different kinds of symbols: 1. Conventional symbols, such as the Vedic Rishis formed with objects taken from their surroundings. The cow stood for light because the same word `go ‘ meant both ray and cow, and because the cow was their most precious possession which maintained their life and was constantly in danger of being robbed and concealed. But once created, such a symbol becomes alive. The Rishis vitalised it and it became a part of their realisation. It appeared in their visions as an image of spiritual light. The horse also was one of their favourite symbols, and a more easily adaptable one, since its force and energy were quite evident. 2. What we might call Life-symbols, such as are not artificially chosen or mentally interpreted in a conscious deliberate way, but derive naturally from our day-to-day life and grow out of the surroundings which condition our normal path of living. To the ancients the mountain was a symbol of the path of yoga, level above level, peak upon peak. A journey, involving the crossing of rivers and the facing of lurking enemies, both animal and human, conveyed a similar idea. Nowadays I dare say we would liken yoga to a motor-ride or a railway-trip. 3. Symbols that have an inherent appositeness and power of their own. Akasha or etheric space is a symbol of the infinite all-pervading eternal Brahman. In any nationality it would convey the same meaning. Also, the Sun stands universally for the supramental Light, the divine Gnosis. 4. Mental symbols, instances of which are numbers or alphabets. Once they are accepted, they too become active and may be useful. Thus geometrical figures have been variously interpreted. In my experience the square symbolises the supermind. I cannot say how it came to do so. Somebody or some force may have built it before it came to my mind. Of the triangle, too, there are different explanations. In one position it can symbolise the three lower planes, in another the symbol is of the three higher ones: so both can be combined together in a single sign. The ancients liked to indulge in similar speculations concerning numbers, but their systems were mostly mental. It is no doubt true that supramental realities exist which we translate into mental formulas such as Karma, Psychic evolution, etc. But they are, so to speak, infinite realities which cannot be limited by these symbolic forms, though they may be somewhat expressed by them; they might be expressed as well by other symbols, and the same symbol may also express many different ideas. Letters on Yoga
symbol ::: something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible. (Sri Aurobindo also employs the word as an adj.) **symbol"s, symbols, world-symbol, World-symbols.
televisioned ::: A word coined by Sri Aurobindo and used as an adv. to describe transmission of images as by the medium of television.
televisioned ::: a word coined by Sri Aurobindo and used as an adv. to describe transmission of images as by the medium of television.
television ("s) ::: the broadcasting of a still or moving image via radio waves to receivers that project a view of the image on a picture tube.
tentative ::: 1. Not fully worked out, concluded, or agreed on; provisional. 2. Unsure; uncertain; not definite or positive; hesitant.
text ::: 1. The original words of something written or printed, as opposed to a paraphrase, translation, revision, or condensation. 2. The body of a printed work as distinct from headings and illustrative matter on a page or from front and back matter in a book.
the act of separating or the state of being separated. division"s.
"The centre of vision is between the eyebrows in the centre of the forehead. When it opens one gets the inner vision, sees the inner forms and images of things and people and begins to understand things and people from within and not only from outside, develops a power of will which also acts in the inner (yogic) way on things and people etc. Its opening is often the beginning of the yogic as opposed to the ordinary mental consciousness.” Letters on Yoga
“The centre of vision is between the eyebrows in the centre of the forehead. When it opens one gets the inner vision, sees the inner forms and images of things and people and begins to understand things and people from within and not only from outside, develops a power of will which also acts in the inner (yogic) way on things and people etc. Its opening is often the beginning of the yogic as opposed to the ordinary mental consciousness.” Letters on Yoga
"The colours of the lotuses and the numbers of petals are respectively, from bottom to top: — (1) the Muladhara or physical consciousness centre, four petals, red; (2) the abdominal centre, six petals, deep purple red; (3) the navel centre, ten petals, violet; (4) the heart centre, twelve petals, golden pink; (5) the throat centre, sixteen petals, grey; (6) the forehead centre between the eye-brows, two petals, white; (7) the thousand-petalled lotus above the head, blue with gold light around. The functions are, according to our yoga, — (1) commanding the physical consciousness and the subconscient; (2) commanding the small vital movements, the little greeds, lusts, desires, the small sense-movements; (3) commanding the larger life-forces and the passions and larger desire-movements; (4) commanding the higher emotional being with the psychic deep behind it; (5) commanding expression and all externalisation of the mind movements and mental forces; (6) commanding thought, will, vision; (7) commanding the higher thinking mind and the illumined mind and opening upwards to the intuition and overmind. The seventh is sometimes or by some identified with the brain, but that is an error — the brain is only a channel of communication situated between the thousand-petalled and the forehead centre. The former is sometimes called the void centre, sunya , either because it is not in the body, but in the apparent void above or because rising above the head one enters first into the silence of the self or spiritual being.” Letters on Yoga*
“The colours of the lotuses and the numbers of petals are respectively, from bottom to top:—(1) the Muladhara or physical consciousness centre, four petals, red; (2) the abdominal centre, six petals, deep purple red; (3) the navel centre, ten petals, violet; (4) the heart centre, twelve petals, golden pink; (5) the throat centre, sixteen petals, grey; (6) the forehead centre between the eye-brows, two petals, white; (7) the thousand-petalled lotus above the head, blue with gold light around. The functions are, according to our yoga,—(1) commanding the physical consciousness and the subconscient; (2) commanding the small vital movements, the little greeds, lusts, desires, the small sense-movements; (3) commanding the larger life-forces and the passions and larger desire-movements; (4) commanding the higher emotional being with the psychic deep behind it; (5) commanding expression and all externalisation of the mind movements and mental forces; (6) commanding thought, will, vision; (7) commanding the higher thinking mind and the illumined mind and opening upwards to the intuition and overmind. The seventh is sometimes or by some identified with the brain, but that is an error—the brain is only a channel of communication situated between the thousand-petalled and the forehead centre. The former is sometimes called the void centre, sunya , either because it is not in the body, but in the apparent void above or because rising above the head one enters first into the silence of the self or spiritual being.” Letters on Yoga
“The enemy of faith is doubt, and yet doubt too is a utility and necessity, because man in his ignorance and in his progressive labour towards knowledge needs to be visited by doubt, otherwise he would remain obstinate in an ignorant belief and limited knowledge and unable to escape from his errors.” The Synthesis of Yoga
"The general power of Delight is love and the special mould which the joy of love takes is the vision of beauty.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
“The general power of Delight is love and the special mould which the joy of love takes is the vision of beauty.” The Synthesis of Yoga
"The Illumined Mind does not work primarily by thought, but by vision; . . . .” The Life Divine
“The Illumined Mind does not work primarily by thought, but by vision; …” The Life Divine
the invisible. ::: the unseen or spiritual world; the Deity. Invisible, Invisible"s.
"The inner vision can see objects, but it can see instead the vibration of the forces which act through the object.” Letters on Yoga
“The inner vision can see objects, but it can see instead the vibration of the forces which act through the object.” Letters on Yoga
"The inner vision is an open door on higher planes of consciousness beyond the physical mind which gives room for a wider truth and experience to enter and act upon the mind. It is not the only or the most important door, but it is one which comes readiest to very many if not most and can be a very powerful help.” Letters on Yoga
“The inner vision is an open door on higher planes of consciousness beyond the physical mind which gives room for a wider truth and experience to enter and act upon the mind. It is not the only or the most important door, but it is one which comes readiest to very many if not most and can be a very powerful help.” Letters on Yoga
"The intermediate link exists. We call it the Supermind or the Truth-Consciousness, because it is a principle superior to mentality and exists, acts and proceeds in the fundamental truth and unity of things and not like the mind in their appearances and phenomenal divisions.” The Life Divine
“The intermediate link exists. We call it the Supermind or the Truth-Consciousness, because it is a principle superior to mentality and exists, acts and proceeds in the fundamental truth and unity of things and not like the mind in their appearances and phenomenal divisions.” The Life Divine
"The message of the Gita is the gospel of the Divinity in man who by force of an increasing union unfolds himself out of the veil of the lower Nature, reveals to the human soul his cosmic spirit, reveals his absolute transcendences, reveals himself in man and in all beings. The potential outcome here of this union, this divine Yoga, man growing towards the Godhead, the Godhead manifest in the human soul and to the inner human vision, is our liberation from limited ego and our elevation to the higher nature of a divine humanity.” Essays on the Gita ::: *Divinity"s.
“The message of the Gita is the gospel of the Divinity in man who by force of an increasing union unfolds himself out of the veil of the lower Nature, reveals to the human soul his cosmic spirit, reveals his absolute transcendences, reveals himself in man and in all beings. The potential outcome here of this union, this divine Yoga, man growing towards the Godhead, the Godhead manifest in the human soul and to the inner human vision, is our liberation from limited ego and our elevation to the higher nature of a divine humanity.” Essays on the Gita
theory ::: 1. A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena. 2. An assumption based on limited information or knowledge; a conjecture. theory"s, theories.
The overmind is the region of the gods, the beings of divine origin who have been charged with supervising, directing and organising the evolution of the universe; and more specifically, since the formation of the earth they have served as messengers and intermediaries to bring to the earth the aid of the higher regions and to preside over the formation of the mind and its progressive ascension. It is usually to the gods of the overmind that the prayers of the various religions are addressed. These religions most often choose, for various reasons, one of these gods and transform him for their personal use into the supreme God.
::: "The perfect cosmic vision & cosmic sentiment is the cure of all error & suffering; but most men succeed only in enlarging the range of their ego.” Essays Divine and Human
“The perfect cosmic vision & cosmic sentiment is the cure of all error & suffering; but most men succeed only in enlarging the range of their ego.” Essays Divine and Human
"The personal and the impersonal are themselves posited and experienced by mind as separate realities and one or other is declared and seen as supreme, so that the personal can have laya in the Impersonal or, on the contrary, the impersonal disappears into the absolute reality of the supreme and divine Person — the impersonal in that view is only an attribute or power of the personal Divine. But at the summit of spiritual experience passing beyond mind one begins to feel the fusion of all these things into one. Consciousness, Existence, Ananda return to their indivisible unity, Sachchidananda. The personal and the impersonal become irrevocably one, so that to posit one as against the other appears as an act of ignorance.” *Letters on Yoga
“The personal and the impersonal are themselves posited and experienced by mind as separate realities and one or other is declared and seen as supreme, so that the personal can have laya in the Impersonal or, on the contrary, the impersonal disappears into the absolute reality of the supreme and divine Person—the impersonal in that view is only an attribute or power of the personal Divine. But at the summit of spiritual experience passing beyond mind one begins to feel the fusion of all these things into one. Consciousness, Existence, Ananda return to their indivisible unity, Sachchidananda. The personal and the impersonal become irrevocably one, so that to posit one as against the other appears as an act of ignorance.” Letters on Yoga
"The physical is not the only world; there are others that we become aware of through dream records, through the subtle senses, through influences and contacts, through imagination, intuition and vision. There are worlds of a larger subtler life than ours, vital worlds; worlds in which Mind builds its own forms and figures, mental worlds; psychic worlds which are the soul"s home; others above with which we have little contact. In each of us there is a mental plane of consciousness, a psychic, a vital, a subtle physical as well as the gross physical and material plane. The same planes are repeated in the consciousness of general Nature. It is when we enter or contact these other planes that we come into connection with the worlds above the physical. In sleep we leave the physical body, only a subconscient residue remaining, and enter all planes and all sorts of worlds.” Letters on Yoga
“The physical is not the only world; there are others that we become aware of through dream records, through the subtle senses, through influences and contacts, through imagination, intuition and vision. There are worlds of a larger subtler life than ours, vital worlds; worlds in which Mind builds its own forms and figures, mental worlds; psychic worlds which are the soul’s home; others above with which we have little contact. In each of us there is a mental plane of consciousness, a psychic, a vital, a subtle physical as well as the gross physical and material plane. The same planes are repeated in the consciousness of general Nature. It is when we enter or contact these other planes that we come into connection with the worlds above the physical. In sleep we leave the physical body, only a subconscient residue remaining, and enter all planes and all sorts of worlds.” Letters on Yoga
"The reality of the Hostiles and the nature of their role and trend of their endeavour cannot be doubted by any one who has had his inner vision unsealed and made their unpleasant acquaintance.” Letters on Savitri
“The reality of the Hostiles and the nature of their role and trend of their endeavour cannot be doubted by any one who has had his inner vision unsealed and made their unpleasant acquaintance.” Letters on Savitri
"There is a clear distinction in Vedic thought between kavi, the seer and manîshî, the thinker. The former indicates the divine supra-intellectual Knowledge which by direct vision and illumination sees the reality, the principles and the forms of things in their true relations, the latter, the labouring mentality, which works from the divided consciousness through the possibilities of things downward to the actual manifestation in form and upward to their reality in the self-existent Brahman.” The Upanishads*
“There is a clear distinction in Vedic thought between kavi, the seer and manîshî, the thinker. The former indicates the divine supra-intellectual Knowledge which by direct vision and illumination sees the reality, the principles and the forms of things in their true relations, the latter, the labouring mentality, which works from the divided consciousness through the possibilities of things downward to the actual manifestation in form and upward to their reality in the self-existent Brahman.” The Upanishads
“There is an inner vision that opens when one does sadhana and all sorts of images rise before it or pass. Their coming does not depend upon your thought or will; it is real and automatic. Just as your physical eyes see things in the physical world, so the inner eyes see things and images that belong to the other worlds and subtle images of things of this physical world also.” Letters on Yoga
*”…there is a spiritual mind which, can admit us to a greater and more comprehensive vision. *The Future Poetry*
“…there is a spiritual mind which, can admit us to a greater and more comprehensive vision. The Future Poetry
"There results an integral vision of the Divine Existent at once as the transcendent Reality, supracosmic origin of cosmos, as the impersonal Self of all things, calm continent of the cosmos, and as the immanent Divinity in all beings, personalities, objects, powers and qualities, the Immanent who is the constituent self, the effective nature and the inward and outward becoming of all existences.” Essays on the Gita*
“There results an integral vision of the Divine Existent at once as the transcendent Reality, supracosmic origin of cosmos, as the impersonal Self of all things, calm continent of the cosmos, and as the immanent Divinity in all beings, personalities, objects, powers and qualities, the Immanent who is the constituent self, the effective nature and the inward and outward becoming of all existences.” Essays on the Gita
“These are not mental images. There is an inner vision that opens when one does sadhana and all sorts of images rise before it or pass. Their coming does not depend upon your thought or will; it is real and automatic. Just as your physical eyes see things in the physical world, so the inner eyes see things and images that belong to the other worlds and subtle images of things of this physical world also.” Letters on Yoga
"These lights and visions are not hallucinations. They indicate an opening of the inner vision whose centre is in the forehead between the eyebrows.” Letters on Yoga
“These lights and visions are not hallucinations. They indicate an opening of the inner vision whose centre is in the forehead between the eyebrows.” Letters on Yoga
"These two sets of three names each mean the same things. Visva or Virat=the Spirit of the external universe, Hiranyagarbha or Taijasa (the Luminous)=the Spirit in the inner planes, Prajna or Ishwara=the Superconscient Spirit, Master of all things and the highest Self on which all depends.” *Letters on Yoga
“These two sets of three names each mean the same things. Visva or Virat=the Spirit of the external universe, Hiranyagarbha or Taijasa (the Luminous)=the Spirit in the inner planes, Prajna or Ishwara=the Superconscient Spirit, Master of all things and the highest Self on which all depends.” Letters on Yoga
“These two sets of three names each mean the same things. Visva or Virat=the Spirit of the external universe, Hiranyagarbha or Taijasa (the Luminous)=theSpirit in the inner planes, Prajna or Ishwara=the Superconscient Spirit, Master of all things and the highest Self on which all depends.” Letters on Yoga
"The Unknowable, — not absolutely unknowable, but beyond mental knowledge, — can only be a higher degree in the intensity of being of that Something, a degree beyond the loftiest summit attainable by mental beings, and, if it were known as it must be known to itself, that discovery would not destroy entirely what is given us by our supreme possible knowledge but rather carry it to a higher fulfilment and larger truth of what it has already gained by self-vision and self-experience.” The Life Divine
“The Unknowable,—not absolutely unknowable, but beyond mental knowledge,—can only be a higher degree in the intensity of being of that Something, a degree beyond the loftiest summit attainable by mental beings, and, if it were known as it must be known to itself, that discovery would not destroy entirely what is given us by our supreme possible knowledge but rather carry it to a higher fulfilment and larger truth of what it has already gained by self-vision and self-experience.” The Life Divine
"The whole energy of the soul is not at play in the physical body and life, the secret powers of mind are not awake in it, the bodily and nervous energies predominate. But all the while the supreme energy is there, asleep; it is said to be coiled up and slumbering like a snake, — therefore it is called the kundalinî sakti, — in the lowest of the chakras, in the mûlâdhâra. When by Pranayama the division between the upper and lower prana currents in the body is dissolved, this Kundalini is struck and awakened, it uncoils itself and begins to rise upward like a fiery serpent breaking open each lotus as it ascends until the Shakti meets the Purusha in the brahmarandhra in a deep samadhi of union.” The Synthesis of Yoga
“The whole energy of the soul is not at play in the physical body and life, the secret powers of mind are not awake in it, the bodily and nervous energies predominate. But all the while the supreme energy is there, asleep; it is said to be coiled up and slumbering like a snake,—therefore it is called the kundalinî sakti,—in the lowest of the chakras, in the mûlâdhâra. When by Pranayama the division between the upper and lower prana currents in the body is dissolved, this Kundalini is struck and awakened, it uncoils itself and begins to rise upward like a fiery serpent breaking open each lotus as it ascends until the Shakti meets the Purusha in the brahmarandhra in a deep samadhi of union.” The Synthesis of Yoga
"The whole nature of man is to become more than himself. He was the man-animal, he has become more than the animal man. He is the thinker, the craftsman, the seeker after beauty. He shall be more than the thinker, he shall be the seer of knowledge; he shall be more than the craftsman, he shall be the creator and master of his creation; he shall be more than the seeker of beauty, for he shall enjoy all beauty and all delight. Physical he seeks for this immortal substance; vital he seeks after immortal life and the infinite power of his being; mental and partial in knowledge, he seeks after the whole light and the utter vision.
“The whole nature of man is to become more than himself. He was the man-animal, he has become more than the animal man. He is the thinker, the craftsman, the seeker after beauty. He shall be more than the thinker, he shall be the seer of knowledge; he shall be more than the craftsman, he shall be the creator and master of his creation; he shall be more than the seeker of beauty, for he shall enjoy all beauty and all delight. Physical he seeks for this immortal substance; vital he seeks after immortal life and the infinite power of his being; mental and partial in knowledge, he seeks after the whole light and the utter vision.
"The world expresses a foreseen Truth, obeys a predetermining Will, realises an original formative self-vision, — it is the growing image of a divine creation.” The Life Divine
“The world expresses a foreseen Truth, obeys a predetermining Will, realises an original formative self-vision,—it is the growing image of a divine creation.” The Life Divine
“The world is a cyclic movement (samsâra ) of the Divine Consciousness in Space and Time. Its law and, in a sense, its object is progression; it exists by movement and would be dissolved by cessation of movement. But the basis of this movement is not material; it is the energy of active consciousness which, by its motion and multiplication in different principles (different in appearance, the same in essence), creates oppositions of unity and multiplicity, divisions of Time and Space, relations and groupings of circumstance and Causality. All these things are real in consciousness, but only symbolic of the Being, somewhat as the imaginations of a creative Mind are true representations of itself, yet not quite real in comparison with itself, or real with a different kind of reality.” The Upanishads
"Things inside can be seen as distinctly as outward things whether in an image by the subtle vision or in their essence by a still more subtle and powerful way of seeing; but all these things have to develop in order to get their full power and intensity.” *Letters on Yoga
“Things inside can be seen as distinctly as outward things whether in an image by the subtle vision or in their essence by a still more subtle and powerful way of seeing; but all these things have to develop in order to get their full power and intensity.” Letters on Yoga
"This inner vision is one form of psychological experience; but the inner experience is not confined to that seeing; vision only opens, it does not embrace.” The Synthesis of Yoga
“This inner vision is one form of psychological experience; but the inner experience is not confined to that seeing; vision only opens, it does not embrace.” The Synthesis of Yoga
“This material universe is itself only existence as we see it when the soul dwells on the plane of material movement and experience in which the spirit involves itself in form, and therefore all the framework of things in which it moves by the life and which it embraces by the consciousness is determined by the principle of infinite division and aggregation proper to Matter, to substance of form.” The Upanishads
“ This power of vision is sometimes inborn and habitual even without any effort of development, sometimes it wakes up of itself and becomes abundant or needs only a little practice to develop; it is not necessarily a sign of spiritual attainment, but usually when by practice of yoga one begins to go inside or live within, the power of subtle vision awakes to a greater or less extent; …”Letters on Yoga
"This secret Self in all beings is not apparent, but it is seen by means of the supreme reason, the subtle, by those who have the subtle vision. — Katha Upanishad. *The Life Divine
“This secret Self in all beings is not apparent, but it is seen by means of the supreme reason, the subtle, by those who have the subtle vision.—Katha Upanishad. The Life Divine
"This supreme Soul and Self is the Seer, the Ancient of Days and in his eternal self-vision and wisdom the Master and Ruler of all existence who sets in their place in his being all things that are, . . . .” Essays on the Gita
“This supreme Soul and Self is the Seer, the Ancient of Days and in his eternal self-vision and wisdom the Master and Ruler of all existence who sets in their place in his being all things that are, …” Essays on the Gita
"This universal aesthesis of beauty and delight does not ignore or fail to understand the differences and oppositions, the gradations, the harmony and disharmony obvious to the ordinary consciousness; but, first of all, it draws a Rasa from them and with that comes the enjoyment, Bhoga. and the touch or the mass of the Ananda. It sees that all things have their meaning, their value, their deeper or total significance which the mind does not see, for the mind is only concerned with a surface vision, surface contacts and its own surface reactions. When something expresses perfectly what it was meant to express, the completeness brings with it a sense of harmony, a sense of artistic perfection; it gives even to what is discordant a place in a system of cosmic concordances and the discords become part of a vast harmony, and wherever there is harmony, there is a sense of beauty. ” Letters on Savitri*
“This universal aesthesis of beauty and delight does not ignore or fail to understand the differences and oppositions, the gradations, the harmony and disharmony obvious to the ordinary consciousness; but, first of all, it draws a Rasa from them and with that comes the enjoyment, Bhoga. and the touch or the mass of the Ananda. It sees that all things have their meaning, their value, their deeper or total significance which the mind does not see, for the mind is only concerned with a surface vision, surface contacts and its own surface reactions. When something expresses perfectly what it was meant to express, the completeness brings with it a sense of harmony, a sense of artistic perfection; it gives even to what is discordant a place in a system of cosmic concordances and the discords become part of a vast harmony, and wherever there is harmony, there is a sense of beauty.” Letters on Savitri
"Though man is infinitely greater than the plant or the animal, he is not perfect in his own nature like the plant and the animal. This imperfection is not a thing to be at all deplored, but rather a privilege and a promise, for it opens out to us an immense vista of self-development and self-exceeding. Man at his highest is a half-god who has risen up out of the animal Nature and is splendidly abnormal in it, but the thing which he has started out to be, the whole god, is something so much greater than what he is that it seems to him as abnormal to himself as he is to the animal. This means a great and arduous labour of growth before him, but also a splendid crown of his race and his victory. A kingdom is offered to him beside which his present triumphs in the realms of mind or over external Nature will appear only as a rough hint and a poor beginning. The Human Cycle
“Though man is infinitely greater than the plant or the animal, he is not perfect in his own nature like the plant and the animal. This imperfection is not a thing to be at all deplored, but rather a privilege and a promise, for it opens out to us an immense vista of self-development and self-exceeding. Man at his highest is a half-god who has risen up out of the animal Nature and is splendidly abnormal in it, but the thing which he has started out to be, the whole god, is something so much greater than what he is that it seems to him as abnormal to himself as he is to the animal. This means a great and arduous labour of growth before him, but also a splendid crown of his race and his victory. A kingdom is offered to him beside which his present triumphs in the realms of mind or over external Nature will appear only as a rough hint and a poor beginning. The Human Cycle
thought ::: “… thought in itself, in its origin on the higher levels of consciousness, is a perception, a cognitive seizing of the object or of some truth of things which is a powerful but still a minor and secondary result of spiritual vision, a comparatively external and superficial regard of the self upon the self, the subject upon itself or something of itself as object.” The Life Divine
Thunderer ::: An epithet for Jupiter or the Deity. Jupiter (Latin: Iuppiter; /ˈjʊpɪtɛr/; genitive case: Iovis; /ˈjɔːvɪs/) or Jove is the king of the gods and the god of sky and thunder in myth. Jupiter was the chief deity of Roman state religion throughout the Republican and Imperial eras, until Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire. In Roman mythology, he negotiates with Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, to establish principles of Roman religion such as sacrifice.
"Time and Space are not limited, they are infinite — they are the terms of an extension of consciousness in which things take place or are arranged in a certain relation, succession, order. There are again different orders of Time and Space; that too depends on the consciousness. The Eternal is extended in Time and Space, but he is also beyond all Time and Space. Timelessness and Time are two terms of the eternal existence. The Spaceless Eternal is not one indivisible infinity of Space, there is in it no near or far, no here or there — the Timeless Eternal is not measurable by years or hours or aeons, the experience of it has been described as the eternal moment. But for the mind this state cannot be described except by negatives, — one has to go beyond and to realise it.” Letters on Yoga
“Time and Space are not limited, they are infinite—they are the terms of an extension of consciousness in which things take place or are arranged in a certain relation, succession, order. There are again different orders of Time and Space; that too depends on the consciousness. The Eternal is extended in Time and Space, but he is also beyond all Time and Space. Timelessness and Time are two terms of the eternal existence. The Spaceless Eternal is not one indivisible infinity of Space, there is in it no near or far, no here or there—the Timeless Eternal is not measurable by years or hours or aeons, the experience of it has been described as the eternal moment. But for the mind this state cannot be described except by negatives,—one has to go beyond and to realise it.” Letters on Yoga
tions; but here there comes in the Overmind law of each Force working out its own possibilities. The natural possibilities of a world in which an original Inconscience and a division of consciousness are the main principles, would be the emergence of Forces of Darkness impelled to maintain the Ignorance by which they live, an ignorant struggle to know originative of falsehood and error, an ignorant struggle to live engendering wrong and evil, an egoistic struggle to enjoy, parent of fragmentary joys and pains and sufferings; these are therefore the inevitable first-imprinted characters, though not the sole possibilities of our evolutionary existence. Still, because the Non-Existence is a concealed Existence, the Inconscience a concealed Consciousness, the insensibility a masked and dormant Ananda, these secret realities must emerge; the hidden Overmind and Supermind too must in the end fulfil themselves in this apparently opposite organisation from a dark Infinite. …
Titan ::: : “His [the Titan’s] instincts call for a visible, tangible mastery and a sensational domination. How shall he feel sure of his empire unless he can feel something writhing helpless under his heel,—if in agony, so much the better? What is exploitation to him, unless it diminishes the exploited? To be able to coerce, exact, slay, overtly, irresistibly,—it is this that fills him with the sense of glory and dominion. For he is the son of division and the strong flowering of the Ego. To feel the comparative limitation of others is necessary to him that he may imagine himself immeasurable; for he has not the real, self-existent sense of infinity which no outward circumstance can abrogate. Contrast, division, negation of the wills and lives of others are essential to his self-development and self-assertion. The Titan would unify by devouring, not by harmonising; he must conquer and trample what is not himself either out of existence or into subservience so that his own image may stand out stamped upon all things and dominating all his environment.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
" To become ourselves by exceeding ourselves, — so we may turn the inspired phrases of a half-blind seer who knew not the self of which he spoke, — is the difficult and dangerous necessity, the cross surmounted by an invisible crown which is imposed on us, the riddle of the true nature of his being proposed to man by the dark Sphinx of the Inconscience below and from within and above by the luminous veiled Sphinx of the infinite Consciousness and eternal Wisdom confronting him as an inscrutable divine Maya. To exceed ego and be our true self, to be aware of our real being, to possess it, to possess a real delight of being, is therefore the ultimate meaning of our life here; it is the concealed sense of our individual and terrestrial existence.” The Life Divine*
“ To become ourselves by exceeding ourselves,—so we may turn the inspired phrases of a half-blind seer who knew not the self of which he spoke,—is the difficult and dangerous necessity, the cross surmounted by an invisible crown which is imposed on us, the riddle of the true nature of his being proposed to man by the dark Sphinx of the Inconscience below and from within and above by the luminous veiled Sphinx of the infinite Consciousness and eternal Wisdom confronting him as an inscrutable divine Maya. To exceed ego and be our true self, to be aware of our real being, to possess it, to possess a real delight of being, is therefore the ultimate meaning of our life here; it is the concealed sense of our individual and terrestrial existence.” The Life Divine
“To become ourselves by exceeding ourselves,—so we may turn the inspired phrases of a half-blind seer who knew not the self of which he spoke,—is the difficult and dangerous necessity, the cross surmounted by an invisible crown which is imposed on us, the riddle of the true nature of his being proposed to man by the dark Sphinx of the Inconscience below and from within and above by the luminous veiled Sphinx of the infinite Consciousness and eternal Wisdom confronting him as an inscrutable divine Maya. To exceed ego and be our true self, to be aware of our real being, to possess it, to possess a real delight of being, is therefore the ultimate meaning of our life here; it is the concealed sense of our individual and terrestrial existence.” The Life Divine
"To me, for instance, consciousness is the very stuff of existence and I can feel it everywhere enveloping and penetrating the stone as much as man or the animal. A movement, a flow of consciousness is not to me an image but a fact. If I wrote "His anger climbed against me in a stream", it would be to the general reader a mere image, not something that was felt by me in a sensible experience; yet I would only be describing in exact terms what actually happened once, a stream of anger, a sensible and violent current of it rising up from downstairs and rushing upon me as I sat in the veranda of the Guest-House, the truth of it being confirmed afterwards by the confession of the person who had the movement. This is only one instance, but all that is spiritual or psychological in Savitri is of that character. What is to be done under these circumstances? The mystical poet can only describe what he has felt, seen in himself or others or in the world just as he has felt or seen it or experienced through exact vision, close contact or identity and leave it to the general reader to understand or not understand or misunderstand according to his capacity. A new kind of poetry demands a new mentality in the recipient as well as in the writer.” Letters on Savitri
“To me, for instance, consciousness is the very stuff of existence and I can feel it everywhere enveloping and penetrating the stone as much as man or the animal. A movement, a flow of consciousness is not to me an image but a fact. If I wrote ’His anger climbed against me in a stream’, it would be to the general reader a mere image, not something that was felt by me in a sensible experience; yet I would only be describing in exact terms what actually happened once, a stream of anger, a sensible and violent current of it rising up from downstairs and rushing upon me as I sat in the veranda of the Guest-House, the truth of it being confirmed afterwards by the confession of the person who had the movement. This is only one instance, but all that is spiritual or psychological in Savitri is of that character. What is to be done under these circumstances? The mystical poet can only describe what he has felt, seen in himself or others or in the world just as he has felt or seen it or experienced through exact vision, close contact or identity and leave it to the general reader to understand or not understand or misunderstand according to his capacity. A new kind of poetry demands a new mentality in the recipient as well as in the writer.” Letters on Savitri
trace ::: n. 1. A surviving mark, sign, or evidence of the former existence, influence, or action of some agent or event; vestige. 2. Evidence or an indication of the former presence or existence of something non-material; a vestige. 3. A barely discernable indication or evidence of some quality, quality, characteristic, expression, etc. v. 4. To make one"s way over, through, or along (something). Also fig. 5. To follow a course, trail, etc.; make one"s way. 6. To follow, make out, or determine the course or line of, especially by going backward from the latest evidence, nearest existence, etc. 7. To locate or discover by searching or researching evidence; follow the history of. 8. To draw an outline of something. Also fig. 9. To decorate with tracery. 10. To copy (a design, map, etc.) by drawing over the lines visible through a superimposed sheet of transparent paper or other material. 11. To draw or delineate a plan or diagram of. traced, tracing.
tribes ::: 1. Units of sociopolitical organizations consisting of a number of families, clans, or other groups who share a common ancestry and culture and among whom leadership is typically neither formalized nor permanent. 2. Social divisions of a people, esp. of a preliterate people, defined in terms of common descent, territory, culture, etc.
triple heavens ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Vishnu is the wide-moving one. He is that which has gone abroad — as it is put in the language of the Isha Upanishad, sa paryagât, — triply extending himself as Seer, Thinker and Former, in the superconscient Bliss, in the heaven of mind, in the earth of the physical consciousness, tredhâ vicakramânah. In those three strides he has measured out, he has formed in all their extension the earthly worlds; for in the Vedic idea the material world which we inhabit is only one of several steps leading to and supporting the vital and mental worlds beyond. In those strides he supports upon the earth and mid-world, — the earth the material, the mid-world the vital realms of Vayu, Lord of the dynamic Life-principle, — the triple heaven and its three luminous summits, trîni rocanâ. These heavens the Rishi describes as the higher seat of the fulfilling. Earth, the mid-world and heaven are the triple place of the conscious being"s progressive self-fulfilling, trishadhastha, earth the lower seat, the vital world the middle, heaven the higher. All these are contained in the threefold movement of Vishnu.” The Secret of the Veda
"True knowledge is to know with the inner being, and when the inner being is touched by the light, then it arises to embrace that which is seen, it yearns to possess, it struggles to shape that in itself and itself to it, it labours to become one with the glory of its vision. Knowledge in this sense is an awakening to identity and, since the inner being realises itself by consciousness and delight, by love, by possession and oneness with whatever of itself it has seen, knowledge awakened must bring an overmastering impulse towards this true and only perfect realisation.” Essays on the Gita
“True knowledge is to know with the inner being, and when the inner being is touched by the light, then it arises to embrace that which is seen, it yearns to possess, it struggles to shape that in itself and itself to it, it labours to become one with the glory of its vision. Knowledge in this sense is an awakening to identity and, since the inner being realises itself by consciousness and delight, by love, by possession and oneness with whatever of itself it has seen, knowledge awakened must bring an overmastering impulse towards this true and only perfect realisation.” Essays on the Gita
trustee ::: 1. A person (or institution) to whom legal title to property is entrusted to use for another"s benefit 2. One who is responsible for supervising funds, policies, etc. Also fig.
unvisited :::
unimagined; not devised in thought.
unprovisioned :::
Vaicountha ::: “A paradise of the Hindus; the heaven of Vishnu, sometimes described as on Mount Meru, at other times as in the ‘Northern Ocean’ of Puranic cosmology.” Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo’s Works
"Vamana, the Dwarf, in Hindu mythology, one of the ten incarnations of Vishnu, born as a son of Kashyapa and Aditi. The titan King Bali had by his austerities acquired dominion of all the three worlds. To remedy this, Vishnu came to him in the form of a dwarf and begged of him as much land as he could step over in three paces. Bali complied. In two strides the dwarf covered heaven and earth, and with the third step, on Bali"s head, pushed him down to Patala, the infernal regions.” Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works
“Vamana, the Dwarf, in Hindu mythology, one of the ten incarnations of Vishnu, born as a son of Kashyapa and Aditi. The titan King Bali had by his austerities acquired dominion of all the three worlds. To remedy this, Vishnu came to him in the form of a dwarf and begged of him as much land as he could step over in three paces. Bali complied. In two strides the dwarf covered heaven and earth, and with the third step, on Bali’s head, pushed him down to Patala, the infernal regions.” Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo’s Works
vestige ::: a mark, trace, or visible evidence of something that is no longer present or in existence.
view ::: 1. Sight; vision. 2. Range of sight or vision. 3. A particular way of looking at something. 4. An individual and personal perception, judgment, or interpretation; an opinion. 5. A sight afforded of something from a position stated or qualified. self-view.
viewless ::: 1. That cannot be seen; invisible. 2. Providing no view.
violet ::: reddish-blue, a colour at the opposite end of the visible spectrum from red.
"Vishnu is the Eternal"s Personality of Consciousness; in him all is supported, in his wideness, in his stability, in his substance.” Essays Human and Divine*
“Vishnu is the Eternal’s Personality of Consciousness; in him all is supported, in his wideness, in his stability, in his substance.” Essays Human and Divine
Vishnu is the Eternal"s Personality of Consciousness; in him all is supported, in his wideness, in his stability, in his substance.
Vishnu is the Eternal’s Personality of Consciousness; in him all is supported, in his wideness, in his stability, in his substance.
“Vishnu is the wide-moving one. He is that which has gone abroad—as it is put in the language of the Isha Upanishad, sa paryagât,—triply extending himself as Seer, Thinker and Former, in the superconscient Bliss, in the heaven of mind, in the earth of the physical consciousness, tredhâ vicakramânah. In those three strides he has measured out, he has formed in all their extension the earthly worlds; for in the Vedic idea the material world which we inhabit is only one of several steps leading to and supporting the vital and mental worlds beyond. In those strides he supports upon the earth and mid-world,—the earth the material, the mid-world the vital realms of Vayu, Lord of the dynamic Life-principle,—the triple heaven and its three luminous summits, trîni rocanâ. These heavens the Rishi describes as the higher seat of the fulfilling. Earth, the mid-world and heaven are the triple place of the conscious being’s progressive self-fulfilling, trishadhastha, earth the lower seat, the vital world the middle, heaven the higher. All these are contained in the threefold movement of Vishnu.” The Secret of the Veda
Vishnu :::
Vishnu ::: “Vishnu the all-pervading, the cosmic Deity, the Lover and Friend of our souls, the Lord of the transcendent existence and the transcendent delight.” The Secret of the Veda
wake ::: 1. The path or course of anything that has passed or preceded. 2. The visible track of turbulence left by something moving through water. Also fig.
wards ::: divisions or districts of a city or town.
warning ::: n. 1. The act or utterance of one who warns; a previous intimation or notice of impending events, danger, etc. warnings. *adj. *2. Serving to warn, advise, caution.
wasted ::: not used to good advantage; squandered; consumed or expended lavishly.
“We have to conceive one indivisible conscious being behind all our experiences. . . . That is our real self.” The Life Divine
—we may compare the action of the Higher Mind to a composed and steady sunshine, the energy of the Illumined Mind beyond it to an outpouring of massive lightnings of flaming sun-stuff. Still beyond can be met a yet greater power of the Truth-Force, an intimate and exact Truth-vision, Truth-thought, Truth-sense, Truth-feeling, Truth-action, to which we can give in a special sense the name of Intuition; for though we have applied that word for want of a better to any supra-intellectual direct way of knowing, yet what we actually know as intuition is only one special movement of self-existent knowledge. This new range is its origin; it imparts to our intuitions something of its own distinct character and is very clearly an intermediary of a greater Truth-Light with which our mind cannot directly communicate. At the source of this Intuition we discover a superconscient cosmic Mind in direct contact with the supramental Truth-Consciousness, an original intensity determinant of all movements below it and all mental energies,—not Mind as we know it, but an Overmind that covers as with the wide wings of some creative Oversoul this whole lower hemisphere of Knowledge-Ignorance, links it with that greater Truth-Consciousness while yet at the same time with its brilliant golden Lid it veils the face of the greater Truth from our sight, intervening with its flood of infinite possibilities as at once an obstacle and a passage in our seeking of the spiritual law of our existence, its highest aim, its secret Reality. This then is the occult link we were looking for; this is the Power that at once connects and divides the supreme Knowledge and the cosmic Ignorance….
"We see that the Absolute, the Self, the Divine, the Spirit, the Being is One; the Transcendental is one, the Cosmic is one: but we see also that beings are many and each has a self, a spirit, a like yet different nature. And since the spirit and essence of things is one, we are obliged to admit that all these many must be that One, and it follows that the One is or has become many; but how can the limited or relative be the Absolute and how can man or beast or bird be the Divine Being? But in erecting this apparent contradiction the mind makes a double error. It is thinking in the terms of the mathematical finite unit which is sole in limitation, the one which is less than two and can become two only by division and fragmentation or by addition and multiplication; but this is an infinite Oneness, it is the essential and infinite Oneness which can contain the hundred and the thousand and the million and billion and trillion. Whatever astronomic or more than astronomic figures you heap and multiply, they cannot overpass or exceed that Oneness; for, in the language of the Upanishad, it moves not, yet is always far in front when you would pursue and seize it. It can be said of it that it would not be the infinite Oneness if it were not capable of an infinite multiplicity; but that does not mean that the One is plural or can be limited or described as the sum of the Many: on the contrary, it can be the infinite Many because it exceeds all limitation or description by multiplicity and exceeds at the same time all limitation by finite conceptual oneness.” The Life Divine
“We see that the Absolute, the Self, the Divine, the Spirit, the Being is One; the Transcendental is one, the Cosmic is one: but we see also that beings are many and each has a self, a spirit, a like yet different nature. And since the spirit and essence of things is one, we are obliged to admit that all these many must be that One, and it follows that the One is or has become many; but how can the limited or relative be the Absolute and how can man or beast or bird be the Divine Being? But in erecting this apparent contradiction the mind makes a double error. It is thinking in the terms of the mathematical finite unit which is sole in limitation, the one which is less than two and can become two only by division and fragmentation or by addition and multiplication; but this is an infinite Oneness, it is the essential and infinite Oneness which can contain the hundred and the thousand and the million and billion and trillion. Whatever astronomic or more than astronomic figures you heap and multiply, they cannot overpass or exceed that Oneness; for, in the language of the Upanishad, it moves not, yet is always far in front when you would pursue and seize it. It can be said of it that it would not be the infinite Oneness if it were not capable of an infinite multiplicity; but that does not mean that the One is plural or can be limited or described as the sum of the Many: on the contrary, it can be the infinite Many because it exceeds all limitation or description by multiplicity and exceeds at the same time all limitation by finite conceptual oneness.” The Life Divine
". . . what is this strongly separative self-experience that we call ego? It is nothing fundamentally real in itself but only a practical constitution of our consciousness devised to centralise the activities of Nature in us. We perceive a formation of mental, physical, vital experience which distinguishes itself from the rest of being, and that is what we think of as ourselves in nature — this individualisation of being in becoming. We then proceed to conceive of ourselves as something which has thus individualised itself and only exists so long as it is individualised, — a temporary or at least a temporal becoming; or else we conceive of ourselves as someone who supports or causes the individualisation, an immortal being perhaps but limited by its individuality. This perception and this conception constitute our ego-sense.” The Life Divine
“… what is this strongly separative self-experience that we call ego? It is nothing fundamentally real in itself but only a practical constitution of our consciousness devised to centralise the activities of Nature in us. We perceive a formation of mental, physical, vital experience which distinguishes itself from the rest of being, and that is what we think of as ourselves in nature—this individualisation of being in becoming. We then proceed to conceive of ourselves as something which has thus individualised itself and only exists so long as it is individualised,—a temporary or at least a temporal becoming; or else we conceive of ourselves as someone who supports or causes the individualisation, an immortal being perhaps but limited by its individuality. This perception and this conception constitute our ego-sense.” The Life Divine
“When the centres begin to open, inner experiences such as the seeing of light or images through the subtle vision in the forehead centre or psychic experiences and perceptions in the heart, become frequent—gradually one becomes aware of one’s inner being as separate from the outer, and what can be called a yogic consciousness with all its deeper movements develops in the place of the ordinary superficial mental and vital movements.” Letters on Yoga
"When the inner vision opens, there can come before it all that ever was or is now in the world, even it can open to things that will be hereafter — so there is nothing impossible in seeing thus the figures and the things of the past.” Letters on Yoga*
“When the inner vision opens, there can come before it all that ever was or is now in the world, even it can open to things that will be hereafter—so there is nothing impossible in seeing thus the figures and the things of the past.” Letters on Yoga
"When we see with the inner vision and sense and not with the physical eye a tree or other object, what we become aware of is an infinite one Reality constituting the tree or object, pervading its every atom and molecule, forming them out of itself, building the whole nature, process of becoming, operation of indwelling energy; all of these are itself, are this infinite, this Reality: we see it extending indivisibly and uniting all objects so that none is really separate from it or quite separate from other objects. ‘It stands," says the Gita, ‘undivided in beings and yet as if divided." Thus each object is that Infinite and one in essential being with all other objects that are also forms and names, — powers, numens, — of the Infinite.” The Life Divine
“When we see with the inner vision and sense and not with the physical eye a tree or other object, what we become aware of is an infinite one Reality constituting the tree or object, pervading its every atom and molecule, forming them out of itself, building the whole nature, process of becoming, operation of indwelling energy; all of these are itself, are this infinite, this Reality: we see it extending indivisibly and uniting all objects so that none is really separate from it or quite separate from other objects. ‘It stands,’ says the Gita, ‘undivided in beings and yet as if divided.’ Thus each object is that Infinite and one in essential being with all other objects that are also forms and names,—powers, numens,—of the Infinite.” The Life Divine
wisdom ::: “There are two allied powers in man: Knowledge and Wisdom. Knowledge is so much of the truth, seen in a distorted medium, as the mind arrives at by groping; Wisdom what the eye of divine vision sees in the spirit.” The Hour of God
"Within us, there are two centres of the Purusha, the inner Soul through which he touches us to our awakening; there is the Purusha in the lotus of the heart which opens upward all our powers and the Purusha in the thousand-petalled lotus whence descend through the thought and will, opening the third eye in us, the lightnings of vision and the fire of the divine energy. The bliss existence may come to us through either one of these centres. When the lotus of the heart breaks open, we feel a divine joy, love and peace expanding in us like a flower of light which irradiates the whole being.” The Synthesis of Yoga
“Within us, there are two centres of the Purusha, the inner Soul through which he touches us to our awakening; there is the Purusha in the lotus of the heart which opens upward all our powers and the Purusha in the thousand-petalled lotus whence descend through the thought and will, opening the third eye in us, the lightnings of vision and the fire of the divine energy. The bliss existence may come to us through either one of these centres. When the lotus of the heart breaks open, we feel a divine joy, love and peace expanding in us like a flower of light which irradiates the whole being.” The Synthesis of Yoga
::: "Within us, there are two centres of the Purusha, the inner Soul through which he touches us to our awakening; there is the Purusha in the lotus of the heart which opens upward all our powers and the Purusha in the thousand-petalled lotus whence descend through the thought and will, opening the third eye in us, the lightnings of vision and the fire of the divine energy.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
“Within us, there are two centres of the Purusha, the inner Soul through which he touches us to our awakening; there is the Purusha in the lotus of the heart which opens upward all our powers and the Purusha in the thousand-petalled lotus whence descend through the thought and will, opening the third eye in us, the lightnings of vision and the fire of the divine energy.” The Synthesis of Yoga
" Yes. A third eye does open there [in the centre of the forehead] — it represents the occult vision and the occult power which goes with that vision — it is connected with the ajnacakra.” Letters on Yoga
“Yes. A third eye does open there [in the centre of the forehead]—it represents the occult vision and the occult power which goes with that vision—it is connected with the ajnacakra.” Letters on Yoga
KEYS (10k)
1 Sri Aurobindo
NEW FULL DB (2.4M)
16 Bette Davis
15 Jill Shalvis
15 Elvis Presley
9 Kyra Davis
7 Miles Davis
7 Anonymous
6 Jim Davis
5 Vishen Lakhiani
4 Lia Davis
4 Christian Winther
4 Al Davis
3 Vishnuvarthanan Moorthy
3 John Lennon
3 Augosto dos Anjos
2 William Blake
2 Travis Barker
2 Tavis Smiley
2 Mahatma Gandhi
2 Lindsey Davis
2 Lee Child
1:The mighty power of the infinite is most worthy of great and loving contemplation [Summa vero vis infinitatis et magna ac diligenti contemplatione dignissima est]. ~ Cicero, De natura deorum 1.50, #KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:As to Don Juan, confess that it is the sublime of that there sort of writing; it may be bawdy, but is it not good English? It may be profligate, but is it not life, is it not the thing? Could any man have written it who has not lived in the world? and tooled in a post-chaise? in a hackney coach? in a Gondola? against a wall? in a court carriage? in a vis a vis? on a table? and under it? ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:Si vis pacem, para bellum ~ Plato, #NFDB
2:Analiza unui vis simplu ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
3:si vis pacem para bellum. ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
4:Til En Vis Mand
~ Christian Winther,#NFDB
5:Sonnet (Moi, Je Vis La Vie À Côté)
~ Charles Cros,#NFDB
6:Kungs, mana atmiņa ir kā notekgrāvis. ~ Jorge Luis Borges, #NFDB
7:Vina e un vis, mila e singura realitate. ~ Thomas Keneally, #NFDB
8:Aš vis dar laikiau gyvenimą literatūros žanru. ~ Romain Gary, #NFDB
9:Plaisir N'Ai Plus, Mais Vis En Déconfort
~ Clement Marot,#NFDB
10:Je ne sais plus si je vis ou si je me souviens. ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
11:Dilige et quod vis fac. (Love and then what you will, do.) ~ Saint Augustine, #NFDB
12:Keista, bet kai esi taip įsimylėjęs ką nors, išvis nieko nežinai. ~ Tracy Rees, #NFDB
13:Si vis amari, ama," you tell me. If you wish to be loved, love. ~ Sierra Simone, #NFDB
14:Si vis amari, ama,” you tell me. If you wish to be loved, love. ~ Sierra Simone, #NFDB
15:Dilige et quod vis fac. (Love and then what you will, do.) ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #NFDB
16:Un vis este o scriptură, și multe scripturi nu sunt altceva decât vise. ~ Umberto Eco, #NFDB
17:Meilė - tai liga, kurios simptomai kiekvieną sykį pasireiškia vis kitaip. ~ Andr Maurois, #NFDB
18:si vis pacem, para bellum.
إذا اردت السلام فاستعد للحرب.
- فيجيس ~ Guillaume Musso,#NFDB
19:Vis in magia, in vita vi.” In magic there is power, and in power, life. ~ Meagan Spooner, #NFDB
20:Eu şi cuvântul vis ne iubim mult, chiar dacă ne vedem doar din când în când. ~ Matei Vi niec, #NFDB
21:Nors daktarai gydė, leido kraują ir davė gerti vaistų, vis dėlto jis pasveiko. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
22:Most of the smart things I've ever thought or written came vis-a-vis my body. ~ Melissa Febos, #NFDB
23:Excuse me, we were wondering what your intentions might be, vis à vis eating us. ~ Ransom Riggs, #NFDB
24:From the Latin motto si vis pacem para bellum. If you wish for peace, prepare for war. ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
25:The means of control that record labels had vis-à-vis distribution no longer exist. ~ Doug Walters, #NFDB
26:Je vis, je meurs; je me br u" le et me noie. I live, I die; I am on fire and I drown. ~ Louise Labe, #NFDB
27:- Kartais svarstau, ko mes vis laukiame.
Tyla.
- Kad būtų per vėlu, madam. ~ Alessandro Baricco,#NFDB
28:Het voelde of ik werd losgetrokken, had Torak gezegd. Het voelde alsof ik de vis was. ~ Michelle Paver, #NFDB
29:Kaip čia yra,kad jos veidas,susijęs su šitiek kančių,vis dėlto tebėra man laimės veidu? ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
30:Neviens reklāmas pārstāvis nevēlas jūsu laimi, jo laimīgi cilvēki nav patērētāji. ~ Fr d ric Beigbeder, #NFDB
31:Our nonviolence vis-а-vis the British Government has been the nonviolence of the weak. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
32:Your stance vis-à-vis life determines how successful or how happy you will be in life! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
33:A intra ca un vis în gândurile unei fete e o artă,a reuşi să-i ieşi din gând e o capodoperă ~ S ren Kierkegaard, #NFDB
34:Da quod iubes et iube quod vis
Give what thou commandest and command what thou wilt ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo,#NFDB
35:Cilvēkiem patīk trīt mēles un kladzināt. Cilvēks nav vis cēlies no pērtiķa, bet gan no vistas. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n, #NFDB
36:Vis dėlto yra vienas žodis - taip pat labai trumpas, - kurį daugeliui žmonių sunku pasakyti: žodis "ne". ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
37:Travailler huit heures...Ranger des vis...Etudier...Faire la lessive...Lisa mène une vie à l'infinitif. ~ Nicolas Dickner, #NFDB
38:Anularea prezentului în năpădirea amintirilor împrumută vieții un caracter de irealitate și de vis inutil. ~ Emil M Cioran, #NFDB
39:The real genesis is forbidden to me, vis-à-vis N´s inability to confess even the mildest transgressions. ~ Suzanne Finnamore, #NFDB
40:la vérité déchira le voile qu'étendait la main de l'erreur sur le miroir de la vie, et je m'y vis enfin tel que j'étais. ~ Marquis de Sade, #NFDB
41:Putin now also has less freedom of action vis-à-vis his oligarchs; he can’t let the price of oil completely destroy their fortunes. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
42:În vis eşti prizonierul visului.Aluneci pe apele lui şi nu poţi să ieşi la mal decît dacă un val al visului vrea să te azvîrle. ~ Octavian Paler, #NFDB
43:Tik priartėjus ketvirtą dešimtį, po ilgų klajonių tarp šedevrų man atsivėrė tiesa ir supratau, kad paskutinio kamuoliuko išvis nėra. ~ Romain Gary, #NFDB
44:Résumons : Ce qu’il faut, c’est être égoïste. Au moins un eu égoïste. Sinon tu ne vis pas vraiment et à la fin, tu meurs quand même. ~ Anna Gavalda, #NFDB
45:The writer cannot abandon himself simply to inspiration, and feign innocence vis a vis language, because language is never innocent. ~ Juan Goytisolo, #NFDB
46:On vis och," he told himself.
Dawn to dusk. A phrase that meant two things in his native tongue.
A fresh start. A good end. ~ V E Schwab,#NFDB
47:Ne dis pas : je vis maintenant, je mourrai demain. Ne divise pas la réalité entre la vie et la mort. Dis : maintenant je vis et je meurs. ~ Marcel Schwob, #NFDB
48:Death is the source of comedy; we had had to invent ‘comedy’ to ease ourselves vis-à-vis death, to reduce our fears vis-à-vis exitus! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
49:Daniel din viaţa reală nu ar face decât s-o care la infirmerie. Nu ar dori-o niciodată, nu ar lua-o niciodată în braţe, nu aşa cum o făcuse în vis. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
50:Când deschise ochii, lumina o orbea, pielea ei era prea uscată şi simţea că o doare ceafa îngrozitor. Cerul dispăruse, şi la fel şi Daniel. Alt vis. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
51:Vis a vis the Golan Heights, the present government of Israel, under my leadership, is the first government that is ready to speak about a withdrawal. ~ Yitzhak Rabin, #NFDB
52:Poți și meriți mai mult decât să-ți limitezi universul la o singură persoană și la un singur vis.Viața e plină de oameni frumoși, deschide-te să-i vezi. ~ Irina Binder, #NFDB
53:Ragana, pagalvojau. Jeigu pasaulyje yra moteris, kurią gali įsimylėti ir vis tiek manyti, kad gyvenimo verta atsisakyti, tai toji moteris yra Veronika. ~ Julian Barnes, #NFDB
54:On vis, we got shit all,” Rixon replies. “These guys were blacked out darker than Batman’s asshole. But we got their heat signature on the satellite. ~ Nathan Van Coops, #NFDB
55:Vis ikke dette brev til andre, for intet menneske vil kunne forstå vores sindssyge forhold, for jeg tager mig sammen og giver kunstnerisk udtryk for det. ~ Tove Ditlevsen, #NFDB
56:si elle (la loi) est d'une telle nature qu'elle fasse de vous l'agent de l'injustice vis-à-vis d'autrui alors je déclare qu'il faut enfreindre la loi ~ Henry David Thoreau, #NFDB
57:A fi? Nebunie şi tristă şi goală;
Urechea te minte şi ochiul te-nşală;
Ce-un secol ne zice ceilalţi o deszic.
Decât un vis sarbăd, mai bine nimic. ~ Mihai Eminescu,#NFDB
58:Si vis pacem, para bellum,” he said very quietly. His hands balled into fists and he drew a long, shaky breath. If you want peace, prepare for war. ~ Courtney Allison Moulton, #NFDB
59:You only begin to grasp the import of an event – and its larger implications vis-à-vis your life – long after it has entered into that realm marked ‘memory’. ~ Douglas Kennedy, #NFDB
60:Totul, prin urmare, e un vis pe lumea aceasta! Un vis a fost legătura inimilor noastre! Această viață care a bănuit la dragoste și fericire, totul a fost un vis! ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
61:I don't believe in capital per se or a priori but I do occasionally believe in personal capital vis-a- vis psychic energy exchange. I use the word "capital" only poetically. ~ Kool A D, #NFDB
62:It is clear to me that the racism was on the other foot, that really, society in Europe was much more racist - vis-à-vis Arabs at least and black Africans - than American society. ~ Michael Scheuer, #NFDB
63:Ainda bem, caro leitor, que nossos filhos não são discípulos de Sócrates. Já imaginou, a cada bronca, uma pergunta sobre a ideia absoluta da imputação particular que fazemos? ~ Cl vis de Barros Filho, #NFDB
64:How am I doing so far?" she asked, forcing a cheerful lightness into her voice.
"You're doing very well," Nick's lazy voice mocked. "I'm half convinced that I'm invisible. ~ Judith McNaught,#NFDB
65:I realize now that Yeats’s statement, ‘I am an immortal soul tied to the body of a dying animal’ is diametrically opposite to the actual state of affairs vis-à-vis the human condition. ~ Philip K Dick, #NFDB
66:Mexico is a country we Americans should be cultivating a positive dialogue about how we work together to make ourselves more secure and more competitive vis-a-vis the rest of the world. ~ Roger Noriega, #NFDB
67:Aš jau seniai nebesileidžiu apkvailinamas savo įkvėpimo, ir jei vis dar svajoju paversti pasaulį laimingu sodu, tai dabar jau žinau, kad darau tai ne iš meilės žmonėms, o iš meilės sodams. ~ Romain Gary, #NFDB
68:Jenny Gimble loftet en anemisk arm for å be om lov til å ta ordet. – Oui, sa Poirot, som på uforklarlig vis hadde lært seg å snakke flytende engelsk uten å kjenne det engelske ordet for «ja». ~ Knut N rum, #NFDB
69:Même si aujourd’hui je vis sans elle, je ne suis plus jamais seul, puisqu’elle existe quelque part.
(Even if I do't have her now, I'll never be alone again, because she exists somewhere) ~ Marc Levy,#NFDB
70:My point of view, while extremely cogent, is unpopular. . . . That the repressive nature of the legalities vis-a-vis drugs are destroying the legal system and corrupting the police system. ~ Jack Nicholson, #NFDB
71:Cine sa te vindece de tine? O tînara fata? Dar cine-i darnic pîna la jertfa, ca sa-ti preia melancolia? Ce suflet pur, dornic de vis si nefericire, sa se-ncumete la o povara ce n-o presimte? ~ Emil M Cioran, #NFDB
72:nem todo sucesso é decente, nem toda vitória é honrosa ou, no campo da empresa, nem todo lucro é higiênico. Desse ponto de vista, há coisas que sujam o tipo de sucesso que se obteve. ~ Cl vis de Barros Filho, #NFDB
73:As verdades que você busca, as tais essências, tão importantes para a sua vida, não estão perambulando pelo mundo. Mas já se encontram em você. Na lembrança de sua alma. Desde sempre. ~ Cl vis de Barros Filho, #NFDB
74:Any politician who respects China's government should tell it openly what is in his heart. It is disrespectful to keep quiet about such issues - both vis-a-vis the government and the people concerned. ~ Ai Weiwei, #NFDB
75:What it is to see, what liberties are taken when one looks, where looking leaves one vis-a-vis one's subject, or how far looking ultimately becomes one's subject - these are important questions. ~ Howard Jacobson, #NFDB
76:Determinarea centrului exact al unui lucru anume poate fi cel puţin problematică. La oameni sau continente, de exemplu, problema pare irealizabilă. Care-i centrul unui om? Care-i centrul unui vis?... ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
77:What I was utterly convinced of, and still am, is the idea that the only responsibility the free intellectual has is vis-a-vis himself. He is not responsible to either a political party or a ruler. ~ Tawfiq al Hakim, #NFDB
78:The only time "early bloomer" has ever been applied to me is vis-a-vis my premature apprehension of the deep dread-of-existence thing. In all other cases, I plod and tromp along. My knuckles? Well dragged. ~ Colson Whitehead, #NFDB
79:Là est la différence entre toi et moi. Le monde où tu vis est éclairé par tous les côtés par ta présence en son centre; mais moi il faut que je frotte chaque fois une allumette pour que l'humanité voie ma figure. ~ Karen Blixen, #NFDB
80:Kära vän, alla ljuger på nåt sätt. Det är en förutsättning för att samhället ska hålla ihop. Att vi ljuger lite grann. Man kan se det som en form av hänsyn. Sanningen är på sätt och vis väldigt egoistisk. ~ John Ajvide Lindqvist, #NFDB
81:Galen's observations reflect one of the distinctive features of early Christianity. Roman-era religion was mainly about ritual actions vis-à-vis the gods, and there was little to do with ordering behavior otherwise. ~ Larry Hurtado, #NFDB
82:There is a progression of understanding vis-à-vis pro football that varies drastically with the factor of distance --physical, emotional, intellectual and every other way. . . Which is exactly the way it should be . . . ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
83:<...> kiek vidinės jėgos, matyt, turi ši moteris, jei, būdama tokia negraži, kampuota, nerimastinga, nemokėdama žmoniškai rengtis, visuomet nevalyvai susišukavusi ir visuomet kažkokia nerangi, vis dėl to yra patraukli. ~ Anton Chekhov, #NFDB
84:Vienas piktas sakinys, perpasakotas nepalankiai, pagimdo baisiausių priešų. "Jei sužinotume, ką apie mus kiti kalba, niekas su niekuo nesikalbėtų." Nelaimė, anksčiau ar vėliau mes vis tiek sužinome tai, ką kiti kalba apie mus. ~ Andr Maurois, #NFDB
85:To-day a democrat of the old school would demand, not freedom for the press, but freedom from the press; but mean-time the leaders have changed themselves into parvenus who have to secure their position vis-a-vis the masses. ~ Oswald Spengler, #NFDB
86:Laikas teka. Net tada, kai tai atrodo neįmanoma. Net tada, kai kiekviena sekundė sukelia tokį skausmą, lyg žaizdoje tvinkčiotų kraujas. Jis slenka nevienodai, keistai trūkčioja arba ramiai sustoja, bet vis vien slenka. Net man. ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
87:Avant la fin du jour, je vis que nous avions affaire à un forgeron, à un pêcheur, à un chasseur, à un charpentier, et pas du tout à un ministre du Seigneur. Nous étions en semaine, il est vrai. Peut-être se rattrapait-il le dimanche. ~ Jules Verne, #NFDB
88:In terms of language, English is very dominant vis-Ã-vis African language. That in itself is a power relationship - between languages and communities - because the English language is a determinant of the ladder to achievement. ~ Ngugi wa Thiong o, #NFDB
89:• Mais c’est magnifique de souffrir quand on est en bonne santé. C’est un privilège ! Il n’ya que les morts qui ne souffrent plus ! Réjouis-toi, ma belle ! Va, cours, vole, espère, plante-toi, saigne ou festoie, mais vis ! Vis un peu ! ~ Anna Gavalda, #NFDB
90:Fortune favors the brave, sir,” said Carrot cheerfully. “Good. Good. Pleased to hear it, captain. What is her position vis à vis heavily armed, well prepared and excessively manned armies?” “Oh, no one’s ever heard of Fortune favoring them, sir. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
91:[...] aušra vienu mostu nužerdavo Vandenyną nuo galo iki galo, ir dangus staiga pasirodydavo visu šviesumu, o mano širdis vis dar plakdavo nakties ritmu, akys vis dar tikėdavo tamsa. Juk esu senas žvaigždžių rijikas, ir lengviausiai pasitikiu naktim. ~ Romain Gary, #NFDB
92:Corto à lui même: Ce serait bon de vivre dans une fable.
Bouche Dorée à Corto: Oh oui!… Mais toi tu vis continuellement une fable et tu ne t'en aperçois plus. Lorsqu'un adulte entre dans le monde des fables, il ne peut plus en sortir. Le savais-tu? ~ Hugo Pratt,#NFDB
93:Definition of inertia: 'The vis insita, or innate force of matter, is a power of resisting by which every body, as much as in it lies, endeavours to preserve its present state, whether it be of rest or of moving uniformly forward in a straight line. ~ Isaac Newton, #NFDB
94:„Nu lua nimic personal. Nimic din ceea ce fac alții nu este din cauza ta. Ceea ce alții spun și fac este o proiecție a propriei lor realități, a propriului lor vis. Când ești imun la opiniile și acțiunile altora, nu vei fi victima suferinței inutile. ~ Miguel Ruiz, #NFDB
95:What I have learned about museum buildings is that buildings have to have iconic presentations. The position of the art museum vis-a-vis other civic buildings needs to be hierarchal in the community. It has to be equal to the library and the courthouse. ~ Frank Gehry, #NFDB
96:Acum știu că există Dumnezeu care mă poartă pe brațe atunci când nu mai pot să merg,care îmi trimite un om bun atunci când rămân singură, care îmi trimite un vis nou atunci când nu mai aspir la nimic.
Acum știu că nimic nu este posibil fără Dumnezeu. ~ Irina Binder,#NFDB
97:La femme n'étonne jamais autant son compagnon que par cette étrange capacité qu'elle possède de croire en des cajoleries qu'elle sait fausses - sauf, à dire vrai, quand elle se montre ouvertement sceptique vis-à-vis de remarques qu'elle sait être vraies. ~ Thomas Hardy, #NFDB
98:we still haven’t learned the essential lesson of the two big economic crashes of the last seventy-five years: when the economy becomes too lopsided—disproportionately benefiting corporate owners and top executives vis-à-vis average workers—it tips over. ~ Robert B Reich, #NFDB
99:We want to see Israel withdraw from our territory. But we don't want to be accountable vis-a-vis Israel on the security basis, because we don't see, in the absence of a peace agreement, that Lebanon can really be accountable to Israel if anything happens. ~ Rafik Hariri, #NFDB
100:Dacă n-ar fi fost visele, n-am fi știut niciodată că avem un suflet. Lumea reală, concretă, tangibilă ar fi fost tot ce este, singurul vis permis nouă, și pentru că singurul, incapabil să se recunoască pe sine drept vis. Ne îndoim de ea pentru că visăm. ~ Mircea C rt rescu, #NFDB
101:I think clearly Europe has a lot to worry about. When I was working at the CIA - and I always worked with a lot of European services - they always were very condescending toward the United States, saying that we are so racist vis-à-vis blacks and other people. ~ Michael Scheuer, #NFDB
102:Once you stop talking about the female body empowering itself vis-à-vis male forays or invasions or male demands or the necessity to respond to husband and son to bring the issue down to a more concrete level, the body is a different manifestation physically. ~ Shirley Geok lin Lim, #NFDB
103:Kentėjau, kad buvau uždarytas, o dabar kenčiu, kad esu laisvas. Tai štai koks suaugusiojo gyvenimas : statai smėlio pilis, paskui šoki ant jų suglaudęs kojas ir vėl viską kartoji iš naujo, kartoji ir kartoji, žinodamas, kad vandenynas vis tiek būtų jas nuplovęs. ~ Fr d ric Beigbeder, #NFDB
104:It was both odd and unjust, a real example of pitiful arbitrariness of existance, that you were born into a particular time & held prisoner there whether you wanted it or not. It gave you an indecent advantage over the past and made you a clown vis-a-vis the future. ~ Daniel Kehlmann, #NFDB
105:It was both odd and unjust, a real example of pitiful arbitrariness of existance, that you were born into a particular time & held prisoner there whether you wanted it or not. It gave you an indecent advantage over the past and made you a clown vis-a-vis the future. ~ Daniel Kehlmann, #NFDB
106:Pierdut într-o visare nedeslușită și blânda, atât de străina firii lui, strângând încetișor mâna care îi plăcea pentru ca i se părea de o frumusețe desăvârșita, el asculta ca în vis freamătul frunzelor de tei foșnind la adierea nopții, si hămăitul câinilor de la moara de pe Doubs. ~ Stendhal, #NFDB
107:Rien ne rétrécit plus l’esprit, rien n’engendre plus de riens, de rapports, de paquets, de tracasseries, de mensonges, que d’être éternellement renfermés vis-à-vis les uns des autres dans une chambre, réduits pour tout ouvrage à la nécessité de babiller continuellement. ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau, #NFDB
108:Gyventi pasaulyje, tarsi tai nebūtų pasaulis, gerbti įstatymą ir vis dėlto jį pranokti, turėti, „tarsi neturėtum", atsisakyti, tarsi tai būtų joks atsisakymas,— įgyvendinti visus šiuos mėgstamus ir dažnai formuluojamus didžios gyvenimo išminties reikalavimus tegali vien jumoras. ~ Hermann Hesse, #NFDB
109:[ ... ] N-am mai dormit.
Rastimpul dintre primul gand si fapta
Groaza e-un stigoi, un vis de spaima.
La sfat vremelnicele-orgne mintea.
Isi cheama : firea omului atuncea
E-asemeni unui mic regat, revoltat
Cand il cutremura. '' -Willism Shakespeare, Julius Caesar ~ Cassandra Clare,#NFDB
110:Oui, elle voulait avoir un enfant clair parce que cela représentait a l’époque une sorte de supériorité, c’était bête, mais c’était une part de notre complexe vis-a-vis des Blancs, tout ce qui était blanc était meilleur, tout ce qui était noir était maudit, sans avenir, sans lendemain ~ Alain Mabanckou, #NFDB
111:Mama a fost o fiinţă admirabilă. Asta pentru noi e o consolare. Scrie-mi cît ai cheltuit cu înmormîntarea. Natural, voi contribui şi eu. Căci viaţa pămînteanului este umbră şi vis. Mi-aduc aminte de cuvintele astea pline de înţelepciune care se rostesc, cred, la parastas. Ele spun totul. ~ Emil M Cioran, #NFDB
112:Na visão estoica só começaremos a ser felizes quando aceitarmos que o mundo não gira ao nosso redor. Que as pessoas não foram feitas pelos deuses para atenderem nossas carências. Por isso, a tranquilidade, condição da vida boa, pressupõe a desesperança. A conciliação com a realidade. ~ Cl vis de Barros Filho, #NFDB
113:Emotion, which is called a passivity of the soul, is a confused idea, whereby the mind affirms concerning its body, or any part thereof, a force for existence (existendi vis) greater or less than before, and by the presence of which the mind is determined to think of one thing rather than another. ~ Baruch Spinoza, #NFDB
114:Mes dabar vis kalbame apie taršą, bet įsivaizduok, kad mes patys esame tarša. Ne tik mes- visa gyvybė. Aš esu pamėginęs taip įsivaizduoti. Mūsų Žemę be gyvybės. Be medžių, be žolės, be visiškai nieko. Tokių vietų esama Islandijoje. Arba prie Didžiojo Kanjono. Tai visiškai neliūdna, kaip tik nuostabu. ~ Herman Koch, #NFDB
115:I have a lady, she's a great lady. I love her a lot, she loves me. We're on the same page. Whenever that day happens when we're not on the same page we'll move forward with it. We're interested in having our lives be our lives right now and not a third person's vis-a-vis marriage and whatever that means. ~ Jon Hamm, #NFDB
116:Rigtig meget - herunder de humanistiske discipliner - [...] kan gore nytte ved at være unyttige. Med det mener jeg, at vi mere end nogensinde for har brug for at markere, at der er andet og mere i tilværelsen end "det nyttige". Denne erkendelse vil nemlig være nyttig på en dybere, eksistentiel vis. ~ Svend Brinkmann, #NFDB
117:Jei jau visai atvirai, tai man vis tiek, ką vokiečiai mano apie mane, žydą Iciką finkelšteiną. Aš atrodau sau kaip uodas. Nesvarbu, ar aš zyziu, suku ore, geliu, ropoju ar ramiai tupiu - arba - kiūksau. Jie negali manęs pakęsti. Anksčiau ar vėliau jie mane užmuš. Aš esu "krislas savo brolio akyje". ~ Edgar Hilsenrath, #NFDB
118:Femeia aceasta este într-adevăr frumoasă, dar frumoasă ca o moartă, frumoasă ca o umbră, frumoasă ca vedeniile ce ți se arată în vis; tocmai de aceea mi se pare c-am văzut-o în vis... și am avut vreo două-trei visuri înspăimântătoare în viața mea, de care când îmi amintesc îmi îngheață sângele în vine, ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
119:The correct attitude of the security analyst toward the stock market might well be that of a man toward his wife. He shouldn't pay too much attention to what the lady says, but he can't afford to ignore it entirely. That is pretty much the position that most of us find ourselves vis-à-vis the stock market. ~ Benjamin Graham, #NFDB
120:Vechea mea viata mi se parea ca un vis- un vis in cea mai mare pate placut, lipsit de evenimente . Acum ma trezisem din ele si imi dadusem seama cine si ce eram , cu bune si cu rele. Nu exista nici o cale de a inchide ochii si a aluneca inapoi in acel fericit vis al normalului. Acesta era normalul meu acum. ~ Kelley Armstrong, #NFDB
121:I'm of the belief that you can have only one commander-in-chief at a time, only one president at a time. President Bush is our president. Whatever he decides vis-a-vis war or peace in Iraq is what we will do as a country. And I for one will swing in behind him as a citizen ... and support whatever his decision is. ~ Dan Rather, #NFDB
122:It is one of the primary motives of modern art that it wants to abolish the distance which the viewer, the consumer, the audience maintain vis-a-vis a work of art. There is no doubt that the leaders of the creative artists of the last 50 years concentrated their efforts mainly on eliminating that distance. ~ Hans Georg Gadamer, #NFDB
123:Moartea (ori pomenirea ei) îi face pe oameni preţioşi şi patetici. Şi condiţia lor de fantome te impresionează; orice faptă pe care o săvârşesc ar putea să fie ultima. Nu există chip care să nu se risipească precum chipurile din vis. Pentru muritori, totul se află sub pecetea irecuperabilului şi întâmplătorului. ~ Jorge Luis Borges, #NFDB
124:The Church has a special duty to safeguard and strengthen the sacredness of the Eucharist. In our pluralistic and often deliberately secularized society, the living faith of the Christian community - a faith always aware of its rights vis-a-vis those who do not share the faith - ensures respect for this sacredness ~ Pope John Paul II, #NFDB
125:It's plain that the American right wing, the Republicans and some sections of the Democratic Party, don't really care about international norms. They believe in the executive authority of the president. They don't even believe the United Nations or international law should play any role vis-à-vis American policymaking. ~ Vijay Prashad, #NFDB
126:Mic vid mare lumină cub totul albeaţă feţe fără urmă nici o amintire. Nu a fost niciodată decât un aer gri fără timp nimic nu se mişcă nici un suflu. Inimă bătând singur în picioare trup mic faţă cenuşie trăsături năpădite doi albastru pal.[...] Niciodată decât vis zile şi nopţi făcute din visele altor nopţi mai bune. ~ Samuel Beckett, #NFDB
127:Ben has been a discreet and true friend, given he was an usher at my wedding. I tried to explain the situation vis-à-vis Lottie but he didn't want to hear. 'I don't care, Logan. You live your life and I'll live mine. I won't judge you― just as long as you're happy. I'd hope you'd do the same for me.' I assured him I would. ~ William Boyd, #NFDB
128:Com ideias absolutamente verdadeiras na mão, colocaremos desejos e frustrações no seu devido lugar. Porque buscaremos o que é indiscutivelmente bom. E se nossos apetites não estiverem de acordo, terão que se conformar. A vida valerá tanto mais a pena ser vivida quanto menos o corpo e seus apetites derem as cartas. ~ Cl vis de Barros Filho, #NFDB
129:Sócrates – Mas se te tornares sábio, meu filho, todos serão teus amigos e teus parentes: serás útil e bom. Se não, nem os estranhos, nem teu pai, nem tua mãe, nem os teus familiares serão teus amigos. Como é possível ter pensamentos de arrogância sobre assuntos em que nem sequer se sabe pensar ainda? (PLATÃO. Lísias). ~ Cl vis de Barros Filho, #NFDB
130:Fortune favors the brave, sir,” said Carrot cheerfully. “Good. Good. Pleased to hear it, captain. What is her position vis à vis heavily armed, well prepared and excessively manned armies?” “Oh, no one’s ever heard of Fortune favoring them, sir.” “According to General Tacticus, it’s because they favor themselves,” said Vimes. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
131:Revolutionaries are, by their nature, powerful and single-minded personalities. Almost invariably they start from a position of weakness vis-à-vis the political environment and rely for their success on charisma and on an ability to mobilize resentment and to capitalize on the psychological weakness of adversaries in decline. ~ Henry Kissinger, #NFDB
132:short, I am suggesting that the superego aspects of a psychoanalytic identity are reflected not only in moral integrity (in a moral as opposed to a moralistic stance vis-a-vis the patient) but also in resilience to the corruptive or regressive pressures operating upon the superego within the social and cultural system. I now turn ~ Otto F Kernberg, #NFDB
133:Kuo tolyn jis nesirūpino sandėliuku, tuo labyn piktinosi Fernanda, kol pagaliau jos kasdieniniai skundai, ne itin dažnai pertraukiami atodūsių, susiliejo į vientisą, nesulaikomą žodžių srautą, kuris rytais priminė vienodą bosinių gitaros stygų dundenimą, o vakarop siekė vis aukštesnių tonų, įgaudamas vis įvairesnių ir ryškesnių atspalvių. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
134:Dievai visas gėrybes parduoda tikrąja kaina, yra pasakęs vienas senovės poetas. Jis būtų galėjęs pridurti, kad pačias verčiausias jie parduoda pigiausiai. Viskas, kas mums tikrai naudinga - nebrangu; tik už tai, be ko galima apsieiti, mokam didelius pinigus. Kas gražu - išvis neparduodama; visa tai nemirtingieji dievai mums duoda veltui. ~ Axel Munthe, #NFDB
135:Te t'es arrêté à parler et seul le silence t'a répondu. Mais ces mots, ces milliers, ces millions de mots qui se sont arrêtés dans ta gorge, les mots sans suite, les cris de joie, les mots d'amour, les rires idiots, quand donc les retrouveras-tu?
Maintenant tu vis dans le terreur du silence. Mais n'es-tu pas le plus silencieux de tous? ~ Georges Perec,#NFDB
136:I think that whatever we express in terms of the potential truth is above all else about mobilizing ourselves for ourselves. We learn about ourselves as individuals. Identification with Palestine is universal and not restricted to geographic boundaries. It's a question of moral and ethical positions vis-à-vis all the injustices that surround us. ~ Elia Suleiman, #NFDB
137:Sometimes as actors and artists, we don't really get to be an effective and integral part of the promotional process, other than doing interviews. With Twitter and Facebook now, and all of this stuff, it really allows us to play and have fun, vis-à-vis the pictures that I send out on Twitter every day, or little videos, or whatever it is. ~ Jennifer Love Hewitt, #NFDB
138:Visiems savižudžiams taip pat yra pažįstama kova su savižudybės pagunda. Kažkokiame savo sielos kamputyje kiekvienas puikiausiai žino, kad nors savižudybė ir yra išeitis, bet vis dėlto ji tėra tik šiek tiek menkas ir neteisėtas atsarginis išėjimas, kad iš esmės daug kilniau ir gražiau, kai tave nugali ir patiesia gyvenimas, o ne tavo paties ranka. ~ Hermann Hesse, #NFDB
139:Pe potecile lunecoase ale amanuntelor si ale interpretarilor va gasi reazem si o mai adanca dezlegare? Va afla ceva mai multa impacare decat acea sete, care nu se poate potoli in vis? De altfel, cand e un acord aproape unanim asupra relativitatii spatiale, de ce n-am crede ca sistemul de repercutare al cauzelor nu poate afla nicaieri un punct absolut. ~ Camil Petrescu, #NFDB
140:Dievas buvo toks mielaširdingas, jog padarė Mirtį nematomą žmogaus akims. Mes žinom, kad ji čia pat, seka įkandin mūsų kaip šešėlis ir niekuomet nuo mūsų nesitraukia, Ir vis dėlto jos nematom ir veik visai apie ją užmirštam. O keisčiausia tai, kad juo labiau artėjam prie kapo, juo mažiau galvojam apie Mirtį. Iš tikrųjų tik Dievas galėjo padaryti tokį stebuklą! ~ Axel Munthe, #NFDB
141:Kai tau devyneri metai, atrodo, kad visada buvo devyneri ir visada taip ir bus devyneri. Kai ateina trisdešimt, tai šventai tiki, kad taip visą gyvenimą ir balansuosi ant šios puikios brandaus amžiaus ribos. O kai sukaks septyniasdešimt, tau visada ir amžinai bus septyniasdešimt. Žmogus gyvena dabartyje, vis tiek ar ji jauna, ar sena, o kitokios dabarties nėra. ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
142:... the thing that's happening today vis-á-vis computer imaging, vis-á-vis alteration, is that it no longer needs to be based on the real at all. I don't want to get into jargon - let's just say that photography to me no longer pertains to the rhetoric of realism; it pertains more perhaps to the rhetoric of the unreal rather than the real or of course the hyperreal. ~ Barbara Kruger, #NFDB
143:La muraille de l’escalier où je vis monter le reflet de sa bougie n’existe plus depuis longtemps. En moi aussi bien des choses ont été détruites que je croyais devoir durer toujours, et de nouvelles se sont édifiées, donnant naissance à des peines et à des joies nouvelles que je n’aurais pu prévoir alors, de même que les anciennes me sont devenues difficiles à comprendre. ~ Marcel Proust, #NFDB
144:Amerikā! Te jau cilvēks ne mirklīti nedrīkstēja aizmirsties savās pārdomās. Te bija jātur acis pirkstos un jādomā tikai par ceļu un pedāļiem, citādi draudēja, ja ne tieši ātrs gals, tad nepatikšanas un izdošanas. Te nevarēja vis kā Kopenhāgenā, Liepājā vai Rīgā, lēni staigājot pa liepu alejām, izdomāt domu domas un izsapņot veselus romānus! Automobiļi nokāva gara darbību. ~ An lavs Egl tis, #NFDB
145:Jei kas pastatytų veidrodį, tai veidrodžio atspindžiai būtų matomi. Nors veidrodis atspindi ir apie tai negalvodamas, jo atspindžiai vis tiek yra preciziškai tikslūs. Savo mintis sudėdamas lyg veidrodį, kovos menų žmogus taip pat nemąstys apie sprendimus, tačiau priklausomai nuo jo minčių veidrodžio ryškumo, sprendimas tarp teisingo ir neteisingo bus priimtas be jokios minties. ~ Takuan Soho, #NFDB
146:The anarchist, as the born foe of authority, will be destroyed by it after damaging it more or less. The anarch, on the other hand, has appropriated authority; he is sovereign. He therefore behaves as a neutral power vis-à-vis state and society. He may like, dislike, or be indifferent to whatever occurs in them. That is what determines his conduct; he invests no emotional values. ~ Ernst J nger, #NFDB
147:The anarchist, as the born foe of authority, will be destroyed by it after damaging it more or less. The anarch, on the other hand, has appropriated authority; he is sovereign. He therefore behaves as a neutral power vis-à-vis state and society. He may like, dislike, or be indifferent to whatever occurs in them. That is what determines his conduct; he invests no emotional values. ~ Ernst Junger, #NFDB
148:As to Don Juan, confess that it is the sublime of that there sort of writing; it may be bawdy, but is it not good English? It may be profligate, but is it not life, is it not the thing? Could any man have written it who has not lived in the world? and tooled in a post-chaise? in a hackney coach? in a Gondola? against a wall? in a court carriage? in a vis a vis? on a table? and under it? ~ Lord Byron, #NFDB
149:JEAN: Visezi de-a-mpicioarelea!
BERENGER: Dar eu stau jos.
JEAN: Jos sau în picioare-i tot aia!
BERENGER: Eh. nu... totuşi e-o diferenţă!
JEAN: Nu-i vorba de asta.
BERENGER: Păi tu ai spus că-i totuna de-i jos sau în picioare...
JEAN: Nu m-ai înţeles. Atunci cînd visezi e totuna dacă visezi aşezat sau în picioare!...
BERENGER: Ei bine, da, visez... Viaţa e vis... ~ Eug ne Ionesco,#NFDB
150:Până în clipa aceea, călătoriile, gândul de a pleca departe, totul părea un vis - și a visa e foarte comod, de vreme ce nu suntem obligați să punem în practică ceea ce plănuim. Astfel, nu avem de înfruntat riscuri, frustrări, momente dificile, iar când îmbătrânim, putem da oricând vina pe cielalți - pe părinții sau pe soții sau pe copii noștri - pentru că n-am realizat ceea ce ne doream. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
151:Buvau jaunas, jaunesnis nei maniau. Ir vis dėlto mano naivumas buvo jau senas ir be iliuzijų. Tiesą pasakius, jis amžinas: įžvelgiu jį kiekvienoje naujoje kartoje, pradedant 1947 metų Sen Žermen de Prė "žiurkėmis" ir baigiant Kalifornijos beat generation, pas kuriuos kartais apsilankau, nes man smagu kitose vietose ir kituose veiduose atpažinti grimasas, kurias darydavau dvidešimtmetis. ~ Romain Gary, #NFDB
152:Je suis vivant. Et pendant que je mange, je ne fais rien d'autre que manger. Quand je marcherai, je marcherai, c'est tout. Et s'il faut un jour me battre, n'importe quel jour en vaut un autre pour mourir. Parce que je ne vis ni dans mon passé ni dans mon avenir. Je n'ai que le présent, et c'est lui seul qui m'intéresse. Si tu peux demeurer toujours dans le présent, alors tu seras un homme heureux. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
153:Goddammit. Yeah, I have. First, there's a huge difference between being arrested and being guilty. Second, see, the law changes and I don't. How I stand vis-à-vis the law at any given moment depends on the law. The law can change from state to state, from nation to nation, from city to city. I guess I have to go by a higher law. How's that? Yeah, I consider myself a road man for the lords of karma. ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
154:Visas miestas išmiršta, ir ištisas gimsta, irgi išmiršta: vieni ateina, kiti išeina. Namai, namų gretos, mylios šaligatvių, krūvos plytų, akmenys. Iš rankų į rankas. Vienas savininkas, kitas. Sakoma, namų šeimininkas niekad nemiršta. Kai vienam pranešama, kad laikas išvykti, jo vieton stoja kitas. Jie perka namus už auksą, ir visas auksas vis vien jų. Kažkur čia slypi apgaulė. <...> Visi yra niekas. ~ James Joyce, #NFDB
155:Elle est retrouvée!
-Quoi? -l'Éternité.
C'est la mer mêlée
Au soleil.
Je devins un opéra fabuleux : je vis que tous les êtres ont une fatalité de bonheur : l'action n'est pas la vie, mais une façon de gâcher quelque force, un énervement. La morale est la faiblesse du cerveau.
À chaque être, plusieurs autres vies me semblaient dues. Ce monsieur ne sait pas ce qu'il fait : il est un ange. ~ Arthur Rimbaud,#NFDB
156:Depuis des années, tu ne vis que pour elle et par elle, et même chez ces « fous de Fleury » comme on nous appelle, il faut un peu de raison, ce qui se dit aussi en français, « se faire une raison », bien que je sois le premier à reconnaître que c'est une expression qui pue le renoncement, l'abandon et la soumission, et que si tous les Français « se faisaient une raison », il y a longtemps qu'il n'y aurait plus de France. ~ Romain Gary, #NFDB
157:Atgal nėra apskritai jokio kelio — nei į vilką, nei į vaiką. Daiktų pradžia neturi nei nekaltumo, nei paprastumo; visa, kas sukurta, net tai, kas iš pažiūros paprasčiausia, jau yra kalta, jau yra įvairu, įmesta į purviną tapsmo srovę ir niekad, niekad negali plaukti prieš srovę. Kelias į nekaltumą, į tai, kas nesukurta, į Dievą veda ne atgal, o pirmyn, bet ne į vilką ar vaiką, o vis toliau į kaltę, vis giliau į žmogėjimą. ~ Hermann Hesse, #NFDB
158:Depuis des années, tu ne vis que pour elle et par elle, et même chez ces « fous de Fleury » comme on nous appelle, il faut un peu de raison, ce qui se dit aussi en français, « se faire une raison », bien que je sois le premier
à reconnaître que c'est une expression qui pue le renoncement, l'abandon et la soumission, et que si tous les Français « se faisaient une raison », il y a longtemps qu'il n'y aurait plus de France. ~ Romain Gary,#NFDB
159:Taip, vis dėlto, tęsia Pivo, tai buvo išskirtinė motina. Ji tapo išskirtine, atsako Gary, nes "Aušros pažadas" ją ištraukė iš užmaršties, kurioje nuskęsta visos motinos. Neaprėpiama galybė nepaprastų motinų prapuolė užmaršty, nes jų sūnūs negalėjo parašyti "Aušros pažado", štai ir viskas. Istorijos naktyje pilna nuostabių, nežinomų, nepažintų, visiškai nesuvokiančių savo didybės motinų, kokia buvo ir mano motina. ~ Fran ois Henri D s rable, #NFDB
160:Žmogaus likimas – tarsi medžio šaka. Augo sau tiesiai, bet kažkas eidamas pro šalį ėmė ir palaužė ją atsainia ranka. Šaka sugijo, tačiau atūžė audra. Sulinko šaka nuo vėjo, bet išsistiebė aukštyn. Atsirėmė į kitą šaką ir nulinko žemyn. Bet vistiek auga šaka. Vis tiek – džiaugiasi pavasariu, vis tiek –svilina ją speigas ir daužo kruša. Kreiva šaka, randuota, bet gyva. O kokia ji galėjo būti – to dabar jau niekas nepasakys. ~ Sergei Lukyanenko, #NFDB
161:Ai fost stirv cu stirvurile lumii? atunci iti meriti primavara altor vazduhuri. Cu istoria trebuie sa lupti și cu trecutul sa te incrincenezi intocmai ca cu prezentul. Cine cauta o epoca din timiditate sau eruditie e domol si las. Intreaga istorie universala s-o consideri cimp de desfasurare a vitejiei tale. Si daca n-ai imboldul razboitor, transforma-o atunci in vis, ca pretextul irealitatii sa-ti scuze siestele instinctelor. ~ Emil M Cioran, #NFDB
162:Žmogaus likimas – tarsi medžio šaka. Augo sau tiesiai, bet kažkas eidamas pro šalį ėmė ir palaužė ją atsainia ranka. Šaka sugijo, tačiau atūžė audra. Sulinko šaka nuo vėjo, bet išsistiebė aukštyn. Atsirėmė į kitą šaką ir nulinko žemyn. Bet vis tiek auga šaka. Vis tiek – džiaugiasi pavasariu, vis tiek – svilina ją speigas ir daužo kruša. Kreiva šaka, randuota, bet gyva. O kokia ji galėjo būti – to dabar jau niekas nepasakys. ~ Sergei Lukyanenko, #NFDB
163:...When she'd skillfully turned it back towards the herd, Rebecca lifted an arm to wave at Jake, her smile visible even from this distance. He felt a familiar tightening in his loins. How many times had he watched her ride across the Lazy A, experienced the same stirrings, and ridden away so she'd never know what his true feelings were? He didn't have to ride away today. He could watch her graceful movements to his heart's content. ~ Lorraine Heath, #NFDB
164:Là-bas, les gens sont toujours impressionnés quand ils apprennent que je vis à Paris et ça me gêne ; ils n'imaginent pas qu'ici comme partout il y a de la routine, de la pluie, des embêtements et des embouteillages ; que la vie au jour le jour n'est pas une succession ininterrompue d'éblouissements ; je n'ai envie ni de les détromper ni de faire l'objet de leur admiration envieuse, alors je souris d'un air emprunté et je change de sujet... ~ Nancy Huston, #NFDB
165:Je n’en mourus pas. Mais quand ma voix se tut et de vis la terre refermée, je voulus la refaire surgir du néant, rappeler à la vie le hideux vieillard, permettre à son existence de se poursuivre même si son être ne pouvais pas vivre. Il méritait de mourir, sauf que rien ne mérite la mort, et j’aurais pu devenir fou en cet instant, partagé entre le besoin de ramener à la vie l’homme et la maison, et la certitude que leur destruction était nécessaire. ~ Orson Scott Card, #NFDB
166:I mention my indifference because it illuminates the gap between positions. The anarchist, as the born foe of authority, will be destroyed by it after damaging it more or less. The anarch, on the other hand, has appropriated authority; he is sovereign. He therefore behaves as a neutral power vis-à-vis state and society. He may like, dislike, or be indifferent to whatever occurs in them. That is what determines his conduct; he invests no emotional values. ~ Ernst J nger, #NFDB
167:There’s a reason why the world’s wealthiest people—people with near-infinite options vis-à-vis the choice of where to make their home—consistently choose to live in the densest areas on the planet. Ultimately, they live in these spaces for the same reason that the squatter classes of São Paulo do: because cities are where the action is. Cities are centers of opportunity, tolerance, wealth creation, social networking, health, population control, and creativity. ~ Steven Johnson, #NFDB
168:The Left, which dominates the media, the arts, and most of intellectual life in the West, has rendered criticism of Christianity and Zionism acceptable, even laudable, but criticism of Islam unacceptable. Why has the Left done this? Because the enemy (radical Islam) of my enemy (America and Israel) is my friend, and because the Muslim world is regarded as the underdog vis-à-vis powerful America and Israel, and the Left supports what it perceives as the underdog. ~ Dennis Prager, #NFDB
169:Pour ce qui est de l’analogie "fonctionnelle" entre le Bouddhisme et l’Islam par rapport à l’Hindouisme, — les deux traditions ayant, vis-à-vis de ce dernier, le même rôle négatif et aussi le même rôle positif, — les Bouddhistes, mahâyânistes ou hînayânistes, en ont pleinement conscience, car ils voient dans les invasions musulmanes que les Hindous eurent à subir le châtiment divin pour les persécutions dont eux-mêmes avaient eu à souffrir de la part des Hindous. ~ Frithjof Schuon, #NFDB
170:Above a certain level of income, the relative value of material consumption vis-a-vis leisure time is diminished, so earning a higher income at the cost of working longer hours may reduce the quality of your life. More importantly, the fact that the citizens of a country work longer than others in comparable countries does not necessarily mean that they like working longer hours. They may be compelled to work long hours, even if they actually want to take longer holidays. ~ Ha Joon Chang, #NFDB
171:Pana la urma ma scufundam totusi in somn, infasurat intr-un cocon de vise scamoase. Ma topeam in vis ca zaharul in apa, alunecam ca un cursor pe cremaliera uitarii.
Magistrale ale visului virau brusc in autostrazi ale realitatii, creand constelatii si engrame pe care cineva, de foarte sus, le-ar fi putut citi ca pe un tatuaj multicolor, iar cineva de foarte jos le-ar fi simtit pe propria piele, ca pe tortura sadica a tatuarii."
(MIrcea Cartarescu - Orbitor, Aripa stanga) ~ Mircea C rt rescu,#NFDB
172:That small word "Force," they make a barber's block, Ready to put on Meanings most strange and various, fit to shock Pupils of Newton.... The phrases of last century in this Linger to play tricks- Vis viva and Vis Mortua and Vis Acceleratrix:- Those long-nebbed words that to our text books still Cling by their titles, And from them creep, as entozoa will, Into our vitals. But see! Tait writes in lucid symbols clear One small equation; And Force becomes of Energy a mere Space-variation. ~ James Clerk Maxwell, #NFDB
173:There is a progression of understanding vis-a-vis pro football that varies drastically with the factor of distance -- physical, emotional, intellectual and every other way. Which is exactly the way it should be, in the eyes of the amazingly small number of people who own and control the game, because it is this finely managed distance factor that accounts for the high-profit mystique that blew the sacred institution of baseball off its ''national pastime'' pedestal in less than fifteen years. ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
174:– Labiausiai norėčiau suprasti, – prisipažino jis man vieną dieną. – Niekada
nieko nesupranti ar labai mažai ką, – kalbėjo toliau. – Žmonės gyvena tarsi
neregiai, ir jiems to pakanka. Net, sakyčiau, to jie ir siekia: išvengti galvos
skausmo ir svaigimo, prisikimšti pilvą, miegoti, įsisprausti tarp žmonos šlaunų,
kai per daug užkaista kraujas, kariauti, nes jiems liepia taip daryti, o tada mirti,
per daug nenutuokiant, kas laukia paskui, bet vis dėlto tikintis, kad kas nors
laukia. ~ Philippe Claudel,#NFDB
175:The hypothesis of molecular vortices is defined to be that which assumes - that each atom of matter consists of a nucleus or central point enveloped by an elastic atmosphere, which is retained in its position by attractive forces, and that the elasticity due to heat arises from the centrifugal force of those atmospheres revolving or oscillating about their nuclei or central points.According to this hypothesis, quantity of heat is the vis viva of the molecular revolutions or oscillations. ~ William John Macquorn Rankine, #NFDB
176:We could speak about the meaning of life vis-a-vis non-consequential/deontological theories, apodictic transformation schemata, the incoherence of exemplification, metaphysical realism, Cartesian interactive dualism, revised non reductive dualism, postmodernist grammatology and dicey dichotomies. But we would still be left with Nietzsche's preposterous mustache which instills great anguish and skepticism in the brain, which leads (as it did in his case) to utter madness. I suggest we go to Paris instead. ~ Maira Kalman, #NFDB
177:We could speak about the meaning of life vis-a-vis non-consequential/deontological theories, apodictic transformation schemata, the incoherence of exemplification, metaphysical realism, Cartesian interactive dualism, revised non reductive dualism, postmodernist grammatology and dicey dichotomies. But we would still be left with Nietzsche's preposterous mustache which instills great anguish and skepticism in the brain, which leads (as it did in his case) to utter madness. I suggest we go to Paris instead. ~ Maira Kalman, #NFDB
178:It is the struggle of adversarial forces that generates the logic of strategy, which is always and everywhere paradoxical, and as such is diametrically opposed to the commonsense, linear logic of everyday life. Thus, we have, for example, the Roman si vis pacem, para bellum, if you want peace, prepare for war, or tactically, the bad road is the good road in war, because its use is unexpected—granting surprise and thus at least a brief exemption from the entire predicament of a two-sided human struggle. ~ Edward N Luttwak, #NFDB
179:Dupa un timp, sunetele s-au stins si în usa colibei s-a ivit Bach în pijama vargata, era mai tânar, parea livid, extazul îi împaienjenise ochii, se clatina beat de muzica, îmi parea rau ca tace, as fi vrut sa-i aud cuvintele, sa aud ce se poate spune în starea aceea; atunci s-a repezit din porumb o fetita de vreo doi-trei ani, fetita lui, s-a împleticit, i-a cazut la picioare iar Bach, de dincolo de vis, din ameteala armoniilor, i-a spus: “Când ti-oi da vreo doua, iar te c... pe tine...”
Acestea erau cuvintele. ~ Gellu Naum,#NFDB
180:— O, șoptea Marius, ce frumoasă ești! Nici nu îndrăznesc să mă uit la tine! Te contemplu. Ești o grație. Nu știu ce vrajă mă cuprinde... Tivul rochiei tale de sub care se zărește vârful pantofului, mă tulbură. Și apoi, ce lumină uimitoare e în gândurile tale! Vorbești atât de cuminte. Câteodată mi se pare că ești un vis. Vorbești, te ascult și mă încânți! O, Cosette! Ce ciudat și minunat e; sunt nebun de-a binelea! Ești fermecătoare, domnișoară! Îți privesc piciorușele la microscop și sufletul cu ocheanul stelelor... ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
181:Domeniul acesta, domnilor, nu beneficiază numai de drepturi, ci, în acelaşi timp, ne impune şi mari datorii şi, dacă vrem să fim umani, să fim adevăraţi creştini în sfârşit, suntem datori, suntem obligaţi să promovăm numai convingerile justificate de raţiunea şi experienţa noastră, convingeri ce au fost trecute prin focul analizei; într-un cuvânt, să procedăm cu o matură judecată şi nu în mod iraţional, ca în vis sau în delir, ca să nu pricinuim vreun neajuns semenilor noştri, să nu-i facem să sufere şi să nu-i nenorocim. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
182:Kai sapne matome ir girdime įvairius dalykus, nors to ir nejaučiame akimis ar ausimis, vis tiek sutinkame žmones, kalbame, klausome, matome spalvas ir net turime seksualinių ryšių. Mes imamės su dalykais, kurie neduoda ramybės dieną ir kai jau manome, jog tuojau išpildysime savo troškimus, pabundame.
Tik dėl to, kad pabudome, ir suprantame, jog sapnavome. Sapne niekada nemąstome, ar tai sapnas, ar tikrovė.
Sapnuodamas žmogus vis dėlto negali eiti, kur panorėjęs. Bet savo minčių galia gali pamatyti tas vietas, kurių trokšta. ~ Takuan Soho,#NFDB
183:Every intellectual has a very special responsibility. He has the privilege and the opportunity of studying. In return, he owes it to his fellow men (or 'to society') to represent the results of his study as simply, clearly and modestly as he can. The worst thing that intellectuals can do - the cardinal sin - is to try to set themselves up as great prophets vis-à-vis their fellow men and to impress them with puzzling philosophies. Anyone who cannot speak simply and clearly should say nothing and continue to work until he can do so. ~ Karl Popper, #NFDB
184:J'aurai cru, moi, dit Jacques, que la liberté consistait à regarder en face les situations où l'on s'est mis de plein gré et à accepter toutes ses responsabilités. Mais çe n'est sans doute pas ton avis : tu condamnes la société capitaliste , et pourtant tu es fonctionnaire dans cette société, tu affiches une sympathie de principe pour les communistes : mais tu te gardes bien de t'engager, tu n 'as jamais voté. Tu méprises la classe bourgeoise et pourtant tu es bourgeois, fils et frère de bourgeois et tu vis comme un bourgeois. ~ Jean Paul Sartre, #NFDB
185:Tą dieną, lyg tyčia, visi lankytojai klausė tik vieno: kas bus po mirties. Mokytojas tik šypsojosi ir nieko į tai neatsakė. Vėliau mokiniai paklausė – kodėl jis neatsakė.
– Ar jūs pastebėjote, kad anapusiniu gyvenimu domisi būtent tie, kurie nežino ką daryti su šituo gyvenimu? Jiems reikalingas dar vienas gyvenimas, kuris tęstųsi amžinai, – atsakė Mokytojas.
– Ir vis dėlto: yra gyvenimas po mirties ar ne? – nekantravo vienas iš mokinių.
– Ar yra gyvenimas iki mirties – štai kur klausimas, – mįslingai atsakė Mokytojas. ~ Anthony de Mello,#NFDB
186:Unscrupulous vendors turn the situation to their advantage. In China, nouveau-riche status-seekers are spending small fortunes on counterfeit Bordeaux. A related scenario exists here vis-à-vis olive oil. “The United States is a dumping ground for bad olive oil,” Langstaff told me. It’s no secret among European manufacturers that Americans have no palate for olive oils. The Olive Center—a recent addition to the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, on the campus of the University of California at Davis—aims to change that. ~ Mary Roach, #NFDB
187:The principle of vis inertiae (...) seems to be identical in physics and metaphysics. It is not more true in the former, that a large body is with more difficulty set in motion than a smaller one, and that its subsequent momentum is commensurate with this difficulty, than it is, in the latter, that intellects of the vaster capacity, while more forcible, more constant, and more eventful in their movements than those of inferior grade, are yet the less readily moved, and more embarrassed, and full of hesitation in the first few steps of their progress ~ Edgar Allan Poe, #NFDB
188:The most convincing proof of the conversion of heat into living force [vis viva] has been derived from my experiments with the electro-magnetic engine, a machine composed of magnets and bars of iron set in motion by an electrical battery. I have proved by actual experiment that, in exact proportion to the force with which this machine works, heat is abstracted from the electrical battery. You see, therefore, that living force may be converted into heat, and that heat may be converted into living force, or its equivalent attraction through space. ~ James Prescott Joule, #NFDB
189:We got off the train and headed forward toward the exit. When we entered the lobby, my phone vibrated. Win sent the following text: BRING TERESE TO THE PENTHOUSE. THEN GO TO ROOM 118. ALONE. The two seconds later, Win added: PLEASE REFRAIN FROM TEXTING BACK SOME WITTY ALBEIT HOMOPHOBIC COMEBACK VIS-À-VIS THE “ALONE” COMMENT. Win was the only person I knew who was more verbose in texts than in person. I took Terese up to the penthouse. There was a laptop with Internet access. I pointed to it. “Maybe you can start digging into this Save the Angels charity. ~ Harlan Coben, #NFDB
190:Nesvarbu, - sako Taileris. -Jeigu kandidatas jaunas, mes jam sakom, kad jis per jaunas. Jeigu jis storas - tada jis per storas. Jeigu senas - tada per senas. Liesas - vadinasi, per liesas. Baltasis, - vadinasi, per daug baltas. Juodasis - vadinasi, per juodas.
-Būtent taip budistų šventovėse tikrindavo kandidatus prieš "n" milijoną metų, - sako Taileris.- Liepi kandidatui eiti atgal, ir jeigu jo ryžtas toks stiprus, kad jis vis tiek laukia prie įėjimo be maisto, pastogės ar padrąsinimo tris dienas, tada, tik tada jis gali žengt vidun ir pradėti mokslus. ~ Chuck Palahniuk,#NFDB
191:By the end of the nineteenth century, however, the vis medicatrix naturae falls out of favor among Western bioscientists. Deemed unduly vitalistic by scientific medicine’s increasingly reductionist paradigms (which pursue biochemical explanations for biological processes), “healing” be comes a more and more anachronistic notion. Instead, bracketing healing as an improperly fuzzy premise, scientific medicine embraces a highly complex, if not paradoxical, legal rubric—or even, perhaps, legal ruse. Though we do not always fully appreciate it, immunity is somewhat of a trickster ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
192:J’ai réfléchi, je ne me fais pas d’illusions, je t’aime mais je n’ai pas confiance en toi. Puisque ce que nous vivons n’est pas réel, alors c’est un jeu. Je n’ai plus l’âge de jouer à chat. Ne cherche pas à m’appeler, ni à savoir où je suis, ni comment je vis, je crois que ce n’est plus le problème. J’ai réfléchi, je pense que c’est la meilleure solution, faire comme toi, vivre de mon côté en t’aimant bien mais de loin. Je ne veux pas attendre tes coups de téléphone, je ne veux pas m’empêcher de tomber amoureuse. J’ai réfléchi, je veux bien essayer. C’est à prendre ou à laisser… ~ Anna Gavalda, #NFDB
193:Lincoln is such an iconic figure in American history. He seems to reflect so many elements of American culture that we consider essential, whether it's the self-made man, the frontier hero, the politician who tries to act in a moral way as well as in a political way, Honest Abe. His career raises these questions that are still with us, the power of the federal government vis-à-vis the states, the question of race in American life, can we be a society of equals? There are so many issues central to Lincoln's career that are still part of our society one hundred and fifty years later. ~ Eric Foner, #NFDB
194:Viena pagrindinių mano knygų temų - būtinybė mokėti už savo svajones. Vis dėlto nejučia kyla klausimas: ar tik nežaidžia kas nors su mumis, piršdamas tas svajones? Kelis pastaruosius dešimtmečius mes gyvename visuomenėje, labiausiai vertinančioje šlovę, pinigus ir galią. Daugeliui mūsų diegiama į sąmonę, kad tai tikrosios vertybės, kurių ir dera siekti, o tie, kurie mums stengiasi įdiegti šias mintis, slepiasi užkulisyje ir nieku gyvu nesirodo į akis. Jie supranta, kad didžiausią galią turi tai, ką žmogus pastebi po laiko, kai būna per vėlu ko nors griebtis, kai jis jau spąstuose. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
195:I do respect Donald Trump. And I think he has a very strong view in terms of security. And we are very strong allies and we work very closely together in Middle East and in order to fight against terrorism. But we didn't agree on two to three issues, and the very first one was on climate. And what it told me is that I took a commitment vis-à-vis my voters. And I told them it was not good for the U.S. and especially the U.S. workers. I tried to convince them. I do believe that on the mid- to long-run it's not true. And I do believe it's important to have on board the U.S. government. ~ Emmanuel Macron, #NFDB
196:Imagine un peu : tu es conscient, mais pas vivant. Tu vois et même tu comprends, mais tu ne vis pas. Tu as le nez collé au carreau. Tu reconnais les choses, mais ça ne fait pas de toi un vivant. On peut mourir et durer encore. Parfois, ce qui t'observe derrière les yeux de quelqu'un est mort dans l'enfance. C'est mort et c'est là, et ça regarde toujours. Ce n'est pas simplement le corps, sans rien dedans, qui te regarde ; non, il y a encore quelque chose à l'intérieur qui est mort depuis longtemps mais continue à regarder au-dehors, et regarde et regarde encore sans pouvoir s'arrêter. ~ Philip K Dick, #NFDB
197:Ca un nebun sări Ioan, palid ca o stafie, de lângă mine, și-și apropie buzele lui de ochii moartei. Apoi capacul recăzu, pe funii fugea sicriul cel negru în noaptea pământului — și pe pământ nu mai rămăsese decât suvenirea cea amară a Sofiei. Mi-am închis ochii și-am visat... ce?... Nu știu. Când i-am redeschis, eram singur în cimitir. Luna revărsa printre arborii ninși și străluciți în haina lor argintie o lumină dalbă ca visul de vară, iar bătrânul cioclu arunca încet, nepăsător, melancolic bulgării ce sunau pe scândurile uscate ale sicriului. Un vis de moarte, de mormânt, iată tot. ~ Mihai Eminescu, #NFDB
198:Quem é jovem não espere para fazer filosofia; quem é velho não se canse disso. Com efeito, ninguém é imaturo ou superado em relação à saúde da alma. Quem diz que ainda não é hora de fazer filosofia, ou que a hora já passou, parece-se com quem diz, em relação à felicidade, que ainda não é o momento dela, ou que ele já passou. Por isso, tanto o jovem como o velho devem fazer filosofia; um para que, embora envelhecendo, permaneça sempre jovem de bens por causa do passado, o outro para que se sinta jovem e velho ao mesmo tempo, para que não tema o futuro (EPICURO. Carta a Meneceu). ~ Cl vis de Barros Filho, #NFDB
199:Radha’s elevated status, her role as a cosmic queen equal to or superior Krishna giving her a central role in the cosmogony in the Brahma Vivarta Purana...As creator of the universe we find Radha playing a role that is extremely atypical of her earlier history, the role of a mother. In the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, however, she is often called by names that suggest that her motherly role, vis-à-vis the created world. She is called mother of Vishnu, mother of the world, and mother of all. ~ David R. Kinsley, in Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition (19 June 1988), p. 93, #NFDB
200:On the short walk to the front past the others, either bowing or kneeling or whirling or howling, I feel glad that my life is this way; so full of jarring experience. Sometimes you feel that life is full and beautiful, all these worlds, all these people, all these experiences, all this wonder. You never know when you will encounter magic. Some solitary moment in a park can suddenly burst open with a spray of preschool children in high-vis vests, hand in hand; maybe the teacher will ask you for directions, and the children will look at you, curious and open, and you’ll see that they are perfect. ~ Russell Brand, #NFDB
201:To some extent, Goethe revolutionizes the left-hand path in the West. But was he himself a lord of the left-hand path? The answer, given our criteria, must be a reluctant “no.” On the one side, the overriding implications of his great work, Faust, would seem to indicate a left-hand-path orientation. However, his unequivocal philosophical position on the role of man in nature and his decidedly ambiguous stance vis-à-vis the imagery of culturally traditional “evil,” show him to be a manifestation of one of the “doubting angels” who took neither side in the battle between Lucifer and the Trinity. ~ Stephen E Flowers, #NFDB
202:Vis selon la nature, sois patient, & chasse les médecins ; tu n’éviteras pas la mort, mais tu ne la sentiras qu’une fois, tandis qu’ils la portent chaque jour dans ton imagination troublée, & que leur art mensonger, au lieu de prolonger tes jours, t’en ôte la jouissance. Je demanderai toujours quel vrai bien cet art a fait aux hommes. Quelques-unes de ceux qu’il guérit mourraient, il est vrai ; mais des millions qu’il tue resteraient en vie. Homme sensé, ne mets point à cette loterie, où trop de chances sont contre toi. Souffre, meurs ou guéris ; mais surtout vis jusqu’à ta dernière heure. ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau, #NFDB
203:Fortune favours the brave, sir," said Carrot cheerfully.
"Good. Good. Pleased to hear it, captain. What is her position vis a vis heavily armed, well prepared and excessively manned armies?"
"Oh, no–one's ever heard of Fortune favouring them, sir."
"According to General Tacticus, it's because they favour themselves," said Vimes. He opened the battered book. Bits of paper and string indicated his many bookmarks. "In fact, men, the general has this to say about ensuring against defeat when outnumbered, out–weaponed and outpositioned. It is..." he turned the page, "'Don't Have a Battle. ~ Terry Pratchett,#NFDB
204:Ea îi zâmbi şi-l sărută scurt, apoi încă o dată, mai apăsat. Nu cunoştea cuvinte sau vreo modalitate mai potrivită de a-i transmite ceea ce simţea, ceea ce voia. — Eşti încă aici, şopti el. — N-au putut să mă ia de lângă tine, spuse ea râzând. Daniel făcu un pas în spate şi privirea i se întunecă, zâmbetul ştergându-i-se de pe buze. Începu să se plimbe încoace şi-ncolo prin faţa ei, frecându-şi fruntea, îngândurat. — Ce s-a întâmplat? întrebă ea uşor, trăgându-l de mânecă să-l apropie pentru un alt sărut. Îşi trecu degetele peste chipul ei, prin părul ei, pe gâtul ei. De parcă ar fi vrut să se asigure că nu era un vis. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
205:He feels that most high-placed Nazis are refusing to face facts vis-à-vis their economic plight. By doing so, they accelerate the tendency toward greater tour de force adventures, less predictability, less stability in general. The cycle of manic enthusiasm, then fear, then Partei solutions of a desperate type—well, the point he got across was that all this tends to bring the most irresponsible and reckless aspirants to the top.”
Mr. Tagomi nodded.
“So we must presume that the worst, rather than the best, choice will be made. The sober and responsible elements will be defeated in the present clash. ~ Philip K Dick,#NFDB
206:While the 1960s and 1970s were turbulent times for US–Pakistan ties, Pakistan again became closely allied with the United States in the 1980s, after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Pakistan argued that US military assistance was required to expand the Pakistan Army, ostensibly because doing so would enable Pakistan to better counter the emerging Soviet threat, even though Pakistan sought this assistance to strengthen its position vis-à-vis India. Consequently, with US military and economic assistance, by 1989, the Pakistan Army had grown to nearly 450,000 and had become increasingly reliant upon US weapon systems. ~ C Christine Fair, #NFDB
207:That small word “Force,” they make a barber's block,
Ready to put on
Meanings most strange and various, fit to shock
Pupils of Newton....
The phrases of last century in this
Linger to play tricks—
Vis viva and Vis Mortua and Vis Acceleratrix:—
Those long-nebbed words that to our text books still
Cling by their titles,
And from them creep, as entozoa will,
Into our vitals.
But see! Tait writes in lucid symbols clear
One small equation;
And Force becomes of Energy a mere
Space-variation. ~ James Clerk Maxwell,#NFDB
208:The writer of history, I believe, has a number of duties vis-à-vis the reader, if he wants to keep him reading. The first is to distill. He must do the preliminary work for the reader, assemble the information, make sense of it, select the essential, discard the irrelevant- above all, discard the irrelevant - and put the rest together so that it forms a developing dramatic narrative. Narrative, it has been said , is the lifeblood of history. To offer a mass of undigested facts, of names not identified and places not located, is of no use to the reader and is simple laziness on the part of the author, or pedantry to show how much he has read. ~ Barbara W Tuchman, #NFDB
209:Chiar de-a doua zi am început să-mi notez visele când mi le-am amintit dimineaţa. Mai întâi fără convingere, dar după aceea m-au interesat unele observaţii pe care le făceam singur, comparând; de pildă că visele, cel puţin ale mele, n-au sfârşit; de ce, nu ştiu; poate fiindcă moartea e sfârşitul fiecărui vis şi mă trezesc la timp ca să nu mor... Acum m-am întors, se pare, de unde am plecat şi mă întreb dacă nu cumva visez şi guzganii din acest pod. Îmi vine să-i persiflez uneori: Stimaţii mei, scârboşii mei confidenţi, nu existaţi în realitate, îmi pare rău pentru voi, nu sunteţi decât nişte biete ficţiuni. Clipa cînd mă voi trezi vă va omorî... ~ Octavian Paler, #NFDB
210:If evolutionism were to be rejected, the whole structure upon which the modern world is based would collapse and one would have to accept the incredible wisdom of the Creator in the creation of the multiplicity of life forms which we see on the surface of the earth and in the seas. This realization would also change the attitude that modern man has concerning the earlier periods of his own history, vis-a-vis other civilizations and also other forms of life. Consequently the theory of evolution continues to be taught in the West as a scientific fact rather than a theory and whoever opposes it is usually brushed off as religious obscurantist. ~ Seyyed Hossein Nasr, #NFDB
211:Nu credeam sa-nvat a muri vrodata, Pururi tanar, infasurat in manta-mi, Ochii mei naltam visatori la steaua Singuratatii.
Cind deodata tu rasarisi in cale-mi, Suferinta tu, dureros de dulce... Pana-n fund baui voluptatea mortii Nenduratoare.
Jalnic ard de viu chinuit ca Nessus,
Ori ca Hercul inveninat de haina-i.
Focul meu a-l stinge nu pot cu toate Apele Marii.
De-al meu propriu vis, mistuit ma vaiet, Pe-al meu propriu rug, ma topesc in flacari.., Pot sa mai renviu luminos din el ca
Pasarea Phoenix ?
Piara-mi ochii tulburatori din cale,
Vino iar la san nepasare trista,
Ca sa pot muri linistit, pe mine Mie reda-ma ! ~ Mihai Eminescu,#NFDB
212:Frågar du mig var jag finns
så bor jag här bakom bergen
Det är långt men jag är nära
Jag bor i en annan värld
men du bor ju i samma
Den finns överallt om också sällsynt som helium
Varför begär du ett luftskepp att fara med
Begär i stället ett filter för kväve
ett filter för kolsyra, väte och andra gaser
Begär ett filter för allt som skiljer oss
ett filter för livet
Du säger att du nästan inte kan andas
Än sen! Vem tror du kan andas?
Den mesta tiden tar vi det ändå med jämnmod
En vis man har sagt :
>>Det var så mörkt att jag nätt och jämt kunde se stjärnorna<<
Han menade bara att det var natt ~ Gunnar Ekel f,#NFDB
213:Și eu, ce trebuie sa fac EU la toate acestea? Moartea mea e-n legătură cu mine.
Ce trebuie să facem noi, ceilalți? Cei mulți, dar ceilalți! După ce tu le-ai făcut pe toate singur, ce ne-a mai rămas și nouă, celor de pe fundul lucrurilor făcute? De-am putea cel puțin ploua înapoi potopul, să-l aruncăm în sus în patruzeci de zile și un miliard de nopți, depășindu-te pentru păcatele tale. Sau să-l ningem și să zburăm călare pe câte-un fulg spre stele lacome de ninsoare! Și să troienim, în hibernare, ca înainte de facere, și să-ți dăm prin gând ca niște avalanșe prin vis. Și să ne răzgândești de la început. Și nici să nu ne mai faci! Să ne lași in pace! ~ Marin Sorescu,#NFDB
214:Intimitatea mea cu celălalt corp al meu este permanentă, când dorm ştiu şi în vis că e lângă mine, dar în orele de dragoste fizică ea devine totală. Atunci nu mai disting privirea de atingere, tandreţea de violenţă, fericirea de suferinţă. Numai pe ea o vreau pentru că numai pe ea o cunosc. Ii privesc, între coapse, «fluturele cu aripi lipite somnoros» şi ştiu că e, cu adevărat, cel mai frumos lucru pe care l-aş putea vedea şi atinge vreodată. Ajungi cu adevărat la maturitate sexuală doar atunci când începi să trăieşti un ciudat solipsism în doi care te face să spui: «în tot universul nu există decât două fiinţe care fac cu adevărat dragoste: eu şi iubita mea.» ~ Mircea C rt rescu, #NFDB
215:Vis Medicatrix Naturae
When Faith turns false and Fancy grows unkind,
And Fortune, more from fickleness than spite,
Takes the keen savour out of all delight,
And of sweet pulp leaves only bitter rind,
Then I the load of living leave behind,
Fleeing where, far from human sound and sight,
Over brown furrows wheels the lapwing white,
And whistles tunely with the winter wind.
For Nature's frank indifference woundeth less
Than Man's feigned smiles and simulated tears:
She is at least the egoist she appears,
Scorning to proffer or entice caress;
And, through the long reiterated years,
Endures her doom with uncomplainingness.
~ Alfred Austin,#NFDB
216:Moreover, even at elite colleges, the personnel attracted to college admissions are seldom themselves part of the intellectual elite. Yet their job is to select students unlike themselves, to be taught by professors unlike themselves, for careers unlike theirs. It can hardly be surprising that admissions personnel are drawn toward non-intellectual criteria and toward ideas not unlike the notion of judging “the whole person,” as found among educators at the pre-college level. Over the years, all sorts of criteria from popular psychology and sociological speculation have assumed increasing weight visa-vis such standard intellectual criteria as academic records and test scores. The ~ Thomas Sowell, #NFDB
217:New And Old
I and new love, in all its living bloom,
Sat vis-à-vis, while tender twilight hours
Went softly by us, treading as on flowers.
Then suddenly I saw within the room
The old love, long since lying in its tomb.
It dropped the cerecloth from its fleshless face
And smiled on me, with a remembered grace
That, like the noontide, lit the gloaming gloom.
Upon its shroud there hung the grave’s green mould,
About it hung the odour of the dead;
Yet from its cavernous eyes such light was shed
That all my life seemed gilded, as with gold;
Unto the trembling new love “Go, ” I said,
“I do not need thee, for I have the old.”
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox,#NFDB
218:Portanto, o mal que nos faz ter arrepios, ou seja, a morte, é nada para nós, a partir do momento que, quando vivemos, a morte não existe. E quando, ao contrário, existe a morte, nós não existimos mais. A morte, portanto, não se refere a nós, nem quando estamos vivos, nem quando estamos mortos, porque para os vivos ela não existe, e os mortos, ao contrário, não existem mais. Os outros, por sua vez, fogem por vezes da morte como do pior dos males; outras vezes a procuram como alívio das desgraças da vida. O sábio, ao invés, nem rejeita a vida, nem teme o não viver mais; com efeito, a vida não lhe é molesta, e ele também não crê que a morte seja um mal (EPICURO. Carta a Meneceu). ~ Cl vis de Barros Filho, #NFDB
219:Vis dėlto stebėti debesis ir bangas buvo kur kas maloniau nei žmones. Su nuostaba pamačiau, kad žmogus nuo gamtos skiriasi daugiausia tais slidžiais melo drebučiais, jį supančiais ir saugančiais. Greitai įsitikinau, kad visiems mano pažįstamiems būdingas tas pats bruožas, tas aplinkybių diktatas, kai kiekvienas iš jų turi vaizduoti tam tikrą asmenybę, ryškią figūrą, o nė vienas iš jų nepripažįsta pats savęs. Keistai pasijutau, pamatęs, kad ir aš pats esu toks, ir nustojau ieškojęs asmenybės esmės. Daugeliui tie drebučiai buvo svarbiau už viską. Aš tai mačiau visur, net ir vaikai, sąmoningai ar nesąmoningai, vaidino kokį nors vaidmenį, užuot instinktyviai ir nesislapstydami atskleidę patys save. ~ Hermann Hesse, #NFDB
220:Mi-am adus aminte de cerceii Liviei şi i-am spus că încercam să înfăţişez un nor de lăcuste care devoră o catedrală. "Dumnezeu mâncat de lăcuste, îţi place ideea?" Privirea ei uluită m-a încurajat să continui: "Dintr-un vis mi-a venit ideea. Am visat că rătăceam într-o lume cu temple închinate lăcustelor, cu preoţi îmbrăcaţi în odăjdii pe care erau ţesute cu fir de aur lăcuste şi cu nenumărate lăcuste care îi devorau pe toţi cei ce nu credeau în ele. Mă feream să scot o vorbă, să nu se afle ce gândeam, până ce, reflectându-mă într-un geam, am observat că eu însumi devenisem o lăcustă. Nu se poate când trăieşti între lăcuste şi nu faci nimic împotriva lor să nu devii tu însuţi ca ele, mi-am zis cu amărăciune". ~ Octavian Paler, #NFDB
221:„Am avut, mai mult ca oricine altcineva, exact viaţa pe care am vrut-o: liberă, fără constrângerile unei profesii, fără umilinţe usturătoare şi griji meschine. O viaţă de vis, aproape, o viaţă de leneş, cum nu sunt multe în acest veac. Am citit mult, însă numai ce mi-a plăcut, şi dacă m-am străduit să scriu şi eu cărţi, efortul mi-a fost răsplătit de satisfacţia că nu m-am abătut, în ele, nicio clipă de la ideile şi gusturile proprii. Dacă sunt nemulţumit de ce am făcut, genul de viaţă pe care am dus-o, în schimb, nu mă nemulţumeşte. Şi asta înseamnă enorm... Marele succes al vieţii mele e că am reuşit să trăiesc fără o meserie. În fond, mi-am trăit viaţa destul de bine. M-am prefăcut că a fost un eşec. Însă n-a fost. ~ Emil M Cioran, #NFDB
222:I'm cracking up in this fucking Fishbinder Problem Box. A terrible seizure is coming on, I can feel its sinister pulsation creeping up my spine as I gnaw my tail apprehensively, grinding my teeth with anxiety, wishing I had some DDT to drown these rats in misery, repetitive cycles of poetry, symptoms of psychotic activity, rhyming of lines endlessly, results in Mazes D and E, dervish spinning round me vis-a-vis, Poole, Broome, Helvicki, help me, please, somebody, take a look at my pedigree, Albino Number 243, Doctor of Psychology, rashes, warts, and a small goatee, expert in lobotomy, performed six times on a chimpanzee, sweet land of liberty, Jesus this is agony, poisonous snake subfamily, here he comes after me! ~ William Kotzwinkle, #NFDB
223:Soir D'Hiver
Ah! comme la neige a neigé!
Ma vitre est un jardin de givre.
Ah! comme la neige a neigé!
Qu'est-ce que le spasme de vivre
A la douleur que j'ai, que j'ai.
Tous les étangs gisent gelés,
Mon âme est noire! Où-vis-je? où vais-je?
Tous ses espoirs gisent gelés:
Je suis la nouvelle Norvège
D'où les blonds ciels s'en sont allés.
Pleurez, oiseaux de février,
Au sinistre frisson des choses,
Pleurez oiseaux de février,
Pleurez mes pleurs, pleurez mes roses,
Aux branches du genévrier.
Ah! comme la neige a neigé!
Ma vitre est un jardin de givre.
Ah! comme la neige a neigé!
Qu'est-ce que le spasme de vivre
A tout l'ennui que j'ai, que j'ai...
~ Émile Nelligan,#NFDB
224:A ce moment-là, Maxim me regarda enfin. Il me regarda pour la première fois de la soirée et, dans ses yeux, je lus un message d'adieu. C'était comme s'il se penchait au bastingage d'un navire, et que je me tenais en contrebas sur le quai. Il y avait d'autres gens qui touchaient son épaule et qui touchaient la mienne, mais nous ne les remarquions pas. Nous ne nous parlions pas et ne nous hélions pas, car le vent et la distance emportaient le son de nos voix. Mais je vis ses yeux, tout comme lui vit les miens, avant que le navire se détache du quai. Favell, Mme Danvers, le colonel Julyan, Frank avec son bout de papier à la main, tous furent oubliés à cet instant-là. Cet instant-là était le nôtre, inviolé, communion éphémère entre nos deux êtres. ~ Daphne du Maurier, #NFDB
225:Şah
Eu mut o zi albă,
El mută o zi neagră.
Eu înaintez cu un vis,
El mi-l ia la război.
El îmi atacă plămânii,
Eu mă gândesc un an la spital,
Fac o combinaţie strălucită
Şi-i câştig o zi neagră.
El mută o nenorocire
Şi mă ameninţă cu cancerul
(Care merge deocamdată în formă de cruce),
Dar eu îi pun în faţă o carte
Şi-l silesc să se retragă.
Îi mai câştig câteva piese,
Dar uite, jumătate din viaţa mea
E scoasă pe margine.
-O să-ţi dau şah şi pierzi optimismul,
Îmi spune el.
-Nu-i nimic, glumesc eu,
Fac rocada sentimentelor.
În spatele meu soţia, copiii,
Soarele, luna şi ceilalţi chibiţi
Tremură pentru orice mişcare a mea.
Eu îmi aprind o ţigară
Şi continui partida. ~ Marin Sorescu,#NFDB
226:Humana ante oculos foede cum vita iaceret in terris oppressa gravi sub religione quae caput a caeli regionibus ostendebat horribili super aspectu mortalibus instants, primum Graius homo mortalis tollere contra est oculos ausus primusque obsistere contra, quem neque fama deum nec fulmina nec minitanti murmure compressit caelum, sed eo magis acrem irritat animi virtutem, effringere ut arta naturae primus portarum claustra cupiret. Ergo vivida vis animi pervicit, et extra processit longe flammantia moenia mundi atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque, unde refert nobis victor quid possit oriri, quid nequeat, finita potestas denique cuique quanam sit ratione atque alte terminus haerens.
Quare religio pedibus subiecta vicissim obteritur, nos exaequat victoria caelo. ~ Lucretius,#NFDB
227:(...) quando chegar estará o meu filho morto, infeliz menino, Jesus da minha alma, ora é neste momento da mais sentida aflição que um pensamento estúpido entra como um insulto na cabeça de José, o salário, o salário da semana que vai ser obrigado a perder, e é tanto o poder destas vis coisas materiais que o acelerado passo, não indo ao ponto de deter-se, um tudo-nada se lhe retarda, como a dar tempo ao espírito de ponderar as probabilidades de reunir ambos os proveitos, por assim dizer, a bolsa e a vida. Foi tão subtil a mesquinha ideia, como uma luz velocíssima que surgisse e desaparecesse sem deixar memória imperativa duma imagem definida, que José nem vergonha chegou a sentir, esse sentimento que é, quantas vezes, porém não as suficientes, nosso mais eficaz anjo da guarda. ~ Jos Saramago, #NFDB
228:Freud también es consciente de esta terrible dialéctica de la supervivencia cuando cierra su ensayo De guerra y muerte. Temas de actualidad con la siguiente cita: «Si vis vitam, para mortem» («Si quieres soportar la vida, prepárate para la muerte»).28 Se trata de dar más espacio a la muerte en la vida, para que esta no se convierta en una vida de zombies entumecida: ¿No sería mejor dar a la muerte, en la realidad y en nuestros pensamientos, el lugar que le corresponde y dejar volver a la superficie nuestra actitud inconsciente ante la muerte, que hasta ahora hemos reprimido tan cuidadosamente? Esto no parece constituir un progreso, sino más bien, en algunos aspectos, una regresión; pero ofrece la ventaja de tener más en cuenta la verdad y hacer de nuevo más soportable la vida.29 ~ Byung Chul Han, #NFDB
229:Sois-en sûre, Caesonia. Sans elle, j'eusse été un homme satisfait. Grâce à elle, j'ai conquis la divine clairvoyance du solitaire. (Il s'exalte de plus en plus, étranglant peu à peu Caesonia qui se laisse aller sans résistance, les mains un peu offertes en avant. Il lui parle, penché sur son oreille.) Je vis, je tue, j'exerce le pouvoir délirant du destructeur, auprès de quoi celui du créateur paraît une singerie. C'est cela, être heureux. C'est cela le bonheur, cette insupportable déli-vrance, cet universel mépris, le sang, la haine autour de moi, cet isolement non pareil de l'homme qui tient toute sa vie sous son regard, la joie démesurée de l'assassin impuni, cet-te logique implacable qui broie des vies humaines (il rit), qui te broie, Caesonia, pour parfaire enfin la solitude éternelle que je désire. ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
230:J'essaie de revenir au plus près de ces moments alors que tout ce que je souhaiterais, c'est les oublier,et puis fuir,fuir très loin,avec des jambes légères et un cerveau tout neuf.
J'ai le sentiment que je ne suis pas fait pour ma vie. Je veux dire que ma vie déborde de toute part, qu'elle n'est pas taillée pour un homme comme moi,qu'elle se remplit de trop de choses,de trop d'évènements,de trop de misères,de trop de failles.Peut-être est-ce ma faute?Peut-être est-ce moi qui ne sais pas être un homme? Qui ne sait pas prendre et laisser, faire le tri. Ou peut-être est-ce la faute de ce siècle dans lequel je vis et qui est comme un gros entonnoir où se déverse le trop-plein des jours,tout ce qui coupe, écorche,écrase et tranche.Ma tête parfois, je la sens sur le point d'exploser, comme une marmite qu'on aurait bourrée de poudre ~ Philippe Claudel,#NFDB
231:The more I get into it the more isolated I feel vis-à-vis the writers whom I consider to be of any serious mind... I am enclosing this article entitled New Heroes by Simone de Beauvoir...It is what I have been thinking at the bottom of my mind all this time and God knows it is difficult to write the way I do and yet think their way. This problem you will never have to face because you have always been a truly isolated person so that whatever you write will be good because it will be true which is not so in my case... You immediately receive recognition because what you write is in true relation to yourself which is always recognizable to the world outside... With me who knows? When you are capable only of a serious approach to writing as I am it is almost more than one can bear to be continually doubting one's sincerity... (citing Jane Bowles, 1947) ~ Chris Kraus, #NFDB
232:Unless a theologian has the inner fortitude of a desert saint, he has only one effective remedy against the threat of cognitive collapse in the face of these pressures: he must huddle together with like-minded fellow deviants—and huddle very closely indeed. Only in a countercommunity of considerable strength does cognitive deviance have a chance to maintain itself. The countercommunity provides continuing therapy against the creeping doubt as to whether, after all, one may not be wrong and the majority right. To fulfill its functions of providing social support for the deviant body of "knowledge," the countercommunity must provide a strong sense of solidarity among its members (a "fellowship of the saints" in a world rampant with devils) and it must be quite closed vis-à-vis the outside ("Be not yoked together with unbelievers"); in sum, it must be a kind of ghetto. ~ Peter L Berger, #NFDB
233:O DESPĂRŢIRE
Înserare ce-ai subminat despărţirea noastră.
Înserare tăioasă,încântătoare şi monstruoasă,
asemeni unui înger întunecat.
Înserare în care gurile noastre au cunoscut intimitatea pură a sărutărilor.
Timpul inevitabil se revărsa
peste îmbrăţişarea inutilă.
Făceam risipă de pasiune împreună,nu pentru noi,
ci pentru singurătatea ce curând avea să vină.
Lumina ne-a respins;noaptea sosise în mare grabă.
Te-am condus acasă în ceasul de gravitate al umbrei pe care numai
luceafărul o atenuează.
Precum cel ce se-ntoarce dintr-o pajişte pierdută,aşa m-am întors eu desprins din îmbrăţişarea ta.
Precum cel ce se-ntoarce dintr-un tărâm de spade,aşa m-am întors eu
din lacrimile tale.
Înserare ce rămîi vie ca un vis
printre celălalte înserări.
Aveam să ating apoi şi să las în urmă
rând pe rând nopţi şi depărtări. ~ Jorge Luis Borges,#NFDB
234:La bonne attitude envers une apparition — ou une autre grâce — que Dieu n'impose pas par une certitude irrésistible, est une déférente neutralité, éventuellement une pieuse expectative ; mais même quand une grâce présente un caractère de certitude,, il importe de ne pas se fonder exclusivement sur elle, de crainte de tomber dans l'erreur qu’ont commise beaucoup de faux mystiques au début de leur carrière ; car le fondement décisif de la voie spirituelle est toujours une valeur objective, sans quoi il ne saurait être question d’une « voie » au sens propre du terme. C'est dire que vis-à-vis des grâces ou des visions, il ne faut être ni impoli ni crédule, et qu'il suffit de se fonder sur les éléments inébranlables de la voie, à savoir les éléments de Doctrine et de méthode dont la certitude est absolue a priori et qui ne seront jamais désavoués par les grâces authentiques. ~ Frithjof Schuon, #NFDB
235:A model for visual recall tasks was presented in terms of visual information storage (VIS), scanning, rehearsal, and auditory information storage (AIS). It was shown first that brief visual stimuli are stored in VIS in a form similar to the sensory input. These visual “images” contain considerably more information than is transmitted later. They can be sampled by scanning for items at high rates of about 10 msec per letter. Recall is based on a verbal receding of the stimulus (rehearsal), which is remembered in AIS. The items retained in AIS are usually rehearsed again to prevent them from decaying. The human limits in immediate-memory (reproduction) tasks are inherent in the AIS-Rehearsal loop. The main implication of the model for human factors is the importance of the auditory coding in visual tasks. ~ Sperling, G (1963). "A Model for Visual Memory Tasks". hfs.sagepub.com. 5 (1): 19–31., #NFDB
236:Nu ştiu. Îmi lipseşte un simţ, îmi lipseşte un tact
În viaţă, fie pentru amor, fie pentru glorie...
Şi la ce bună oricare istorie,
Sau orice alt fapt?
Sunt singur, singur cum nimeni niciodată n-a stat
Gol pe dinăuntru, fară mai devreme sau mai târziu
Clipele trec pe lângă mine şi par să nu mă ia-n seamă, dar ştiu
Că nu trec uşor, pasul lor este apăsat.
Încep să citesc. Deja mă oboseşte ceea ce n-am citit.
Mă gândesc la unele. Şi mă doare concluzia, oricare ar fi.
Somnul mă apasă înainte chiar să îl am. Ştiu că a simţi
E numai unul şi acelaşi lucru, pe care demult l-am văzut.
Să nu fii nimic, sau doar o figură dintr-un roman, imprecis,
Lipsit de viaţă, sau de moarte materială, doar o idee brută,
Ceva care să nu-şi găsească nici o utilitate, o închipuire urâtă,
Doar o umbră pe un pământ ireal, sau numai o transă în vis. ~ Fernando Pessoa,#NFDB
237:I furrow my brow. “And how would that even affect you?”
Since I’m not seeing his logic, he slowly spells it out for me. “Sides, dude. People break up, their friends take sides. Dean’s my buddy, so obviously the bro code says I have to side with him. But this one—” He jerks a thumb at Hannah, “is my girlfriend. Girlfriend trumps buddy. Wellsy’ll take Allie’s side, and I’ll have to take Wellsy’s side, vis-à-vis, I’m taking Allie’s side.”
“I don’t think you’re using vis-à-vis right,” Morris pipes up.
“Yeah, I believe the word you’re looking for is therefore.” Logan’s lips are twitching wildly.
“I wouldn’t expect you to take Allie’s side on my behalf,” Hannah protests. “And you’re being such a jackass about this. We’re adults. If they break up, we’ll all still be able to co-exist peacefully.”
“Ross and Rachel co-existed,” Logan agrees.
Fitzy snorts. ~ Elle Kennedy,#NFDB
238:Compared with the life-span of a human being the time-span of a civilization is so vast that a human observer cannot hope to take the measure of its curve unless he is in a position to view it in a distant perspective; and he can only obtain this perspective vis-a-vis some society that is extinct. He can never stand back sufficiently far from the history of the society in which he himself lives and moves and has his being. In other words, to assert of any living society, at any moment in its life, that it is the consummation of human history is to hazard a guess which is intrinsically unsusceptible of immediate verification. When we find that a majority of the members of all societies at all times make this assertion about their own civilizations, it becomes evident that their guesses have really nothing to do with any objective calculation of probabilities but are pure expressions of the egocentric illusion. ~ Arnold Joseph Toynbee, #NFDB
239:Câtă tristețe… cât de zadarnică îți pare tinerețea când îți dai seama pentru prima oară… câți oameni ai uitat pe drum… prieteni pe care n-ai să-i mai revezi… pierduți fără urmă, ca-n vis… dispăruți… așa cum ai să dispari și tu într-o zi… Într-o zi care e încă departe… dar care va veni oricum… adusă de vârtejul acesta blestemat al lucrurilor… al oamenilor… al zilelor… forme care trec… fără să se oprească vreodată. Toți imbecilii, pârliții, curioșii, toate paiațele care bat drumul pe sub arcade, cu lornioane, umbrele și căței legați de sfoară… n-ai să-i mai revezi pe nici unul… Se îndepărtează… ca-n vis… alături de ceilalți… la grămadă… se duc… ce tristețe!... câtă infamie!... Neștiutori, trec ștergându-se de vitrine… o poftă nebună mă apucă… un impuls de care mă înfior, să le sar de gât… să mă înfig în fața lor… să nu se mai miște… să înțepenească așa!... o dată pentru totdeauna!... Să nu-i mai văd cum se duc. ~ Louis Ferdinand C line, #NFDB
240:Je la vis pour la première fois, et bien que ses traits n'aient rien eu de remarquable, bien que rien de particulier n'ait pu être identifié ni souligné ; bien que ses yeux n'aient été ni vert émeraude ni bleu saphir ni d'un noir d'une profondeur insondable, mais d'une couleur chaude, comme l'acajou méticuleusement poncé jusqu'à ce que la surface soit lisse comme du beurre ; bien que son visage ait eu la familiarité d'une personne proche mais depuis longtemps perdue de vue, comme si le fait de la voir éveillait non seulement une certaine affinité, mais aussi le fantôme intime de la nostalgie... Bien qu'il ait été impossible de définir la chose qui la rendait unique, il semblait que tout en elle avait une aura magique. Plus tard, en y repensant, je songeai qu'elle donnait peut-être l'impression de n'avoir besoin de personne, et que c'était cette qualité qui avait à elle seule suffi à me la rendre si insupportablement attirante. ~ R J Ellory, #NFDB
241:[…] Il n’en va pas de même des protestants ou des incroyants qui n’ont aucun droit d’enlever la vie, du moment que l’homme n’est pas capable de la donner, et qui attirent sur leur tête, lorsqu’ils tuent sans sacrifice, une sorte de vengeance de la part des espèces animales, sans oublier le châtiment de la Divinité vis-à-vis de Laquelle la tuerie des abattoirs profanes est une sorte de vol et d’outrage. C’est sans doute une conscience vague et instinctive de ces conséquences qui amène certains à adhérer au végétarisme comme s’il était une religion ; on peut dire qu’ils le font par mauvaise conscience, sans évidemment se rendre compte de ce que leur végétarisme a, pour eux, de logique et de prudent ; car s’ils s’en rendaient compte, ils n’hésiteraient pas un instant à se rattacher à une tradition, plutôt que de chercher à échapper à certains effets de l’hétérodoxie ou de l’incroyance.[...]
Du Sacrifice (E.T. N°220 - avril 1938) ~ Frithjof Schuon,#NFDB
242:Găseşte o dorinţă comună, o sursă de teamă sau îngrijorare inconştientă dar foarte răspândită; născoceşte vreo cale de a lega această dorinţă ori teamă de produsul pe care trebuie să-l vinzi; apoi clădeşte un pod de simboluri verbale ori vizuale pe care poate trece clientul dumitale, de la realităţi la visul compensator şi de la vis la iluzia că produsul dumitale, odată cumpărat, va face să i se realizeze visul. „Noi nu mai cumpărăm portocale, cumpărăm vitalitate”; nu cumpărăm doar un automobil, cumpărăm prestigiu şi aşa mai departe cu toate celelalte. În pasta de dinţi, de exemplu, noi cumpărăm nu doar o substanţă care curăţă dinţii şi este antiseptică, ci şi eliberarea de teama de a fi respingători în ochii persoanelor de sex opus. Când cumpărăm votcă şi whisky nu e vorba de o otravă protoplasmică – care în doze mici poate deprima sistemul nervos într-un mod preţios din punct de vedere psihologic; de fapt, noi cumpărăm prietenia şi buna tovărăşie, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
243:Mais à cette heure, où suis-je ? Et comment séparer ce café désert de cette chambre du passé. Je ne sais plus si je vis ou si je me souviens. Les lumières des phares sont là. Et l’Arabe qui se dresse devant moi me dit qu’il va fermer. Il faut sortir. Je ne veux plus descendre cette pente si dangereuse. Il est vrai que je regarde une dernière fois la baie et ses lumières, que ce qui monte alors vers moi n’est pas l’espoir de jours meilleurs, mais une indifférence sereine et primitive à tout et à moi-même. Mais il faut briser cette courbe trop molle et trop facile. Et j’ai besoin de ma lucidité. Oui, tout est simple. Ce sont les hommes qui compliquent les choses. Qu’on ne nous raconte pas d’histoires. Qu’on ne nous dise pas du condamné à mort : « Il va payer sa dette à la société », mais : « On va lui couper le cou. » Ça n’a l’air de rien. Mais ça fait une petite différence. Et puis, il y a des gens qui préfèrent regarder leur destin dans les yeux. ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
244:Nu există bărbat care să poată lăsa vreo urmă în această femeie.Tot ce-a fost piere într-un vis,se risipeşte dimineaţa şi rămâne doar ea.
Dacă n-ar fi fruntea atinsă de clipă,ar părea uimită.Doar obrajii zâmbesc mereu.
Nici zilele nu se adună pe chipul ei,ca să-i schimbe zâmbetul uşor ce se răsfrânge peste lucruri.Cu aprigă fermitate face orice lucru,dar pare de fiecare dată că-i prima oară;şi totuşi trăieşte fiecare clipă.Se dezvăluie trupul ei puternic,privirea reculeasă,în vocea tainică şi oarecum răguşită:o voce de bărbat obosit.Şi nici oboseala n-o atinge.
Dacă-i priveşti fix gura,închide ochii pe jumătate în aşteptare:nimeni nu poate îndrăzni o nesăbuinţă.Mulţi bărbaţi îi cunosc zâmbetul ambiguu sau încruntarea neaşteptată.Dacă a existat un bărbat s-o ştie cum geme,umilită de dragoste,plăteşte zi de zi,neştiind despre ea pentru cine trăieşte ziua de azi.
Zâmbeşte singură,zâmbetul cel mai ambiguu mergînd pe stradă.
(Amintire) ~ Cesare Pavese,#NFDB
245:But this was America, the land of opportunists, and here it wasn’t enough to want something. You had to fight for what you wanted and fight hard, fight through your own resistance and the jeers of others and physical adversity, which was what the Pilgrims had done vis-à-vis the whole Thanksgiving situation, and after them the colonists, who had bucked the most powerful empire on earth even though they were basically just a bunch of underfed tax evaders. And then the pioneers. No, you couldn’t forget the pioneers, who had traversed vast prairies and mountains, and battled Indians and grizzly bears and inclement weather and various kinds of pox, and some had even starved and had to eat each other to survive, which, by the way, would make a terrific film treatment, Billy thought, because it said so much about the indomitable spirit that had built the country. Not that cannibalism was part of the indomitable American spirit, but it showed how far some people would go to find good property. ~ Steve Almond, #NFDB
246:Mes žinom, kad mirsim - tiesą sakant, vien tą ir težinom apie savo ateitį. Visa kita yra tik spėliojimai, kurie dažniausiai nepasitvirtina. Kaip vaikai neįžengiamoj girioj kiūtinam apgraibom per gyvenimą, laimingi, kad nežinom, kas mums nutiks rytoj, su kokiais susidursime negandais, kokie šiurpūs išmėginimai mūsų laukia prieš patį šiurpiausią išmėginimą - Mirtį. Kartkarčiais apstulbę ryžtamės baikščiai prašnekinti savo likimą, bet atsakymo į klausimą negauname, nes žvaigždės per toli. Juo greičiau suprasime, kad mūsų likimas pareina nuo mūsų pačių, o ne nuo žvaigždžių, juo mums bus geriau. Laimę galime rasti tik patys savyje, nesitikėkite jos sulaukti iš kitų - laimės taip mažai, jog retas gali ja dalytis. Skausmą turime pakelti vieni - nesąžininga užkrauti jį kitam, vis tiek, ar tai būtų vyras, ar moteris. Kiekvienas iš mūsų turi pats savo jėgomis kvėpuoti ir kirsti iš paskutiniųjų, kaip pridera kovotojams, nes mes tokie ir esame gimę. Visi mes vieną dieną sulauksime taikos, - taikos, kuri bus garbinga net nugalėtajam, jeigu jis ištvėrė iki galo. ~ Axel Munthe, #NFDB
247:Ainsi, pour la première fois, ma tristesse n’était plus considérée comme une faute punissable mais comme un mal involontaire qu’on venait de reconnaître officiellement, comme un état nerveux dont je n’étais pas responsable ; j’avais le soulagement de n’avoir plus à mêler de scrupules à l’amertume de mes larmes, je pouvais pleurer sans péché. Je n’étais pas non plus médiocrement fier vis-à-vis de Françoise de ce retour des choses humaines, qui, une heure après que maman avait refusé de monter dans ma chambre et m’avait fait dédaigneusement répondre que je devrais dormir, m’élevait à la dignité de grande personne et m’avait fait atteindre tout d’un coup à une sorte de puberté du chagrin, d’émancipation des larmes. J’aurais dû être heureux : je ne l’étais pas. Il me semblait que ma mère venait de me faire une première concession qui devait lui être douloureuse, que c’était une première abdication de sa part devant l’idéal qu’elle avait conçu pour moi, et que pour la première fois, elle, si courageuse, s’avouait vaincue. ~ Marcel Proust, #NFDB
248:Musk has talked about having more kids, and it’s on this subject that he delivers some controversial philosophizing vis-à-vis the creator of Beavis and Butt-head. “There’s this point that Mike Judge makes in Idiocracy, which is like smart people, you know, should at least sustain their numbers,” Musk said. “Like, if it’s a negative Darwinian vector, then obviously that’s not a good thing. It should be at least neutral. But if each successive generation of smart people has fewer kids, that’s probably bad, too. I mean, Europe, Japan, Russia, China are all headed for demographic implosion. And the fact of the matter is that basically the wealthier—basically wealth, education, and being secular are all indicative of low birth rate. They all correlate with low birth rate. I’m not saying like only smart people should have kids. I’m just saying that smart people should have kids as well. They should at least maintain—at least be a replacement rate. And the fact of the matter is that I notice that a lot of really smart women have zero or one kid. You’re like, ‘Wow, that’s probably not good. ~ Ashlee Vance, #NFDB
249:E tenebris tantis tam clarum extollere lumen
qui primus potuisti inlustrans commoda vitae,
te sequor, o Graiae gentis decus, inque tuis nunc
ficta pedum pono pressis vestigia signis,
non ita certandi cupidus quam propter amorem
quod te imitari aveo; quid enim contendat hirundo
cycnis, aut quid nam tremulis facere artubus haedi
consimile in cursu possint et fortis equi vis?
tu, pater, es rerum inventor, tu patria nobis
suppeditas praecepta, tuisque ex, inclute, chartis,
floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia libant,
omnia nos itidem depascimur aurea dicta,
aurea, perpetua semper dignissima vita.
nam simul ac ratio tua coepit vociferari
naturam rerum divina mente coorta
diffugiunt animi terrores, moenia mundi
discedunt. totum video per inane geri res.
apparet divum numen sedesque quietae,
quas neque concutiunt venti nec nubila nimbis
aspergunt neque nix acri concreta pruina
cana cadens violat semper[que] innubilus aether
integit et large diffuso lumine ridet:
omnia suppeditat porro natura neque ulla
res animi pacem delibat tempore in ullo. ~ Lucretius,#NFDB
250:The fact that de-industrialization is mainly caused by the comparative dynamism of the manufacturing sector vis-à-vis the service sector does not tell us anything about how well it is doing compared to its counterparts in other countries. If a country’s manufacturing sector has slower productivity growth than its counterparts in other countries, it will become internationally uncompetitive, leading to balance of payments problems in the short run and falling standards of living in the long term. In other words, de-industrialization may be accompanied by either economic success or failure. Countries should not be lulled into a false sense of security by the fact that de-industrialization is due to comparative dynamism of the manufacturing sector, as even a manufacturing sector that is very undynamic by international standards can be (and usually is) more dynamic than the service sector of the same country. Whether or not a country’s manufacturing sector is dynamic by international standards, the shrinkage of the relative weight of the manufacturing sector has a negative impact on productivity growth. ~ Ha Joon Chang, #NFDB
251:Forgetfulness is not just a vis inertiae, as superficial people believe, but is rather an active ability to suppress, positive in the strongest sense of the word, to which we owe the fact that what we simply live through, experience, take in, no more enters our consciousness during digestion (one could call it spiritual ingestion) than does the thousand-fold process which takes place with our physical consumption of food, our so-called ingestion. To shut the doors and windows of consciousness for a while; not to be bothered by the noise and battle which our underworld of serviceable organs work with and against each other;a little peace, a little tabula rasa of consciousness to make room for something new, above all for the nobler functions and functionaries, for ruling, predicting, predetermining (our organism runs along oligarchic lines, you see) - that, as I said, is the benefit of active forgetfulness, like a doorkeeper or guardian of mental order, rest and etiquette: from which can immediately see how there could be no happiness, cheerfulness, hope, pride, immediacy, without forgetfulness. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
252:victor hugo, Les Contemplations, Mors
Je vis cette faucheuse. Elle était dans son champ.
Elle allait à grands pas moissonnant et fauchant,
Noir squelette laissant passer le crépuscule.
Dans l'ombre où l'on dirait que tout tremble et recule,
L'homme suivait des yeux les lueurs de la faulx.
Et les triomphateurs sous les arcs triomphaux
Tombaient ; elle changeait en désert Babylone,
Le trône en échafaud et l'échafaud en trône,
Les roses en fumier, les enfants en oiseaux,
L'or en cendre, et les yeux des mères en ruisseaux.
Et les femmes criaient : - Rends-nous ce petit être.
Pour le faire mourir, pourquoi l'avoir fait naître ? -
Ce n'était qu'un sanglot sur terre, en haut, en bas ;
Des mains aux doigts osseux sortaient des noirs grabats ;
Un vent froid bruissait dans les linceuls sans nombre ;
Les peuples éperdus semblaient sous la faulx sombre
Un troupeau frissonnant qui dans l'ombre s'enfuit ;
Tout était sous ses pieds deuil, épouvante et nuit.
Derrière elle, le front baigné de douces flammes,
Un ange souriant portait la gerbe d'âmes. ~ Victor Hugo,#NFDB
253:Bloom of adulthood. Try a whiff of that. On your back in the dark you remember. Ah you remember. Cloudless May day. She joins you in the little summerhouse. Entirely of logs. Both larch and fir. Six feet across. Eight from floor to vertex. Area twenty-four square feet to the furthest decimal. Two small multicoloured lights vis-a-vis. Small stained diamond panes. Under each a ledge. There on summer Sundays after his midday meal your father loved to retreat with Punch and a cushion. The waist of his trousers unbuttoned he sat on the one ledge and turned the pages. You on the other your feet dangling. When he chuckled you tried to chuckle too. When his chuckle died yours too. That you should try to imitate his chuckle pleased and amused him greatly and sometimes he would chuckle for no other reason than to hear you try to chuckle too. Sometimes you turn your head and look out through a rose-red pane. You press your little nose against the pane and all without is rosy. The years have flown and there at the same place as then you sit in the bloom of adulthood bathed in rainbow light gazing before you. She is late. ~ Samuel Beckett, #NFDB
254:Surâsul său era foarte inocent, dulce, l-am putea numi, şi totuşi de o profundă melancolie. Melancolia în vârsta lui este semnul caracteristic al orfanilor; el era orfan, o existenţă — cum sunt multe la noi — fără de speranţă şi afară de aceea determinat prin naştere la nepozitivism. În introducerea acestor şiruri am surprins unele din cugetările care-l preocupau în genere — şi c-un asemenea cap omul nu ajunge departe — şi mai cu seamă cel sărac — şi Dionis era un băiet sărac. Prin natura sa predispusă, el devenea şi mai sărac. Era tânăr — poate nici optsprezece ani — cu atât mai rău... ce viaţă-l aşteaptă pe el?... Un copist avizat a se cultiva pe apucate, singur... şi această libertate de alegere în elementele de cultura îl făcea să citească numai ceea ce se potrivea cu predispunerea sa sufletească atât de visătoare. Lucruri mistice, subtilităţi metafizice îi atrăgeau cugetarea ca un magnet — e minune oare că pentru el visul era o viaţă şi viaţa un vis? Era minune că devenea superstiţios? Adesa îşi închipuise el însuşi cât de trişti, cât de lungi, cât de monotoni vor trece anii vieţii lui — o frunză pe apă. ~ Mihai Eminescu, #NFDB
255:Surâsul său era foarte inocent, dulce, l-am putea numi, şi totuşi de o profundă melancolie. Melancolia în vârsta lui este semnul caracteristic al orfanilor; el era orfan, o existenţă — cum sunt multe la noi — fără de speranţă şi afară de aceea determinat prin naştere la nepozitivism. În introducerea acestor şiruri am surprins unele din cugetările care-l preocupau în genere — şi c-un asemenea cap omul nu ajunge departe — şi mai cu seamă cel sărac — şi Dionis era un băiet sărac. Prin natura sa predispusă, el devenea şi mai sărac. Era tânăr — poate nici optsprezece ani — cu atât mai rău... ce viaţă-l aşteaptă pe el?... Un copist avizat a se cultiva pe apucate, singur... şi această libertate de alegere în elementele de cultura îl f��cea să citească numai ceea ce se potrivea cu predispunerea sa sufletească atât de visătoare. Lucruri mistice, subtilităţi metafizice îi atrăgeau cugetarea ca un magnet — e minune oare că pentru el visul era o viaţă şi viaţa un vis? Era minune că devenea superstiţios? Adesa îşi închipuise el însuşi cât de trişti, cât de lungi, cât de monotoni vor trece anii vieţii lui — o frunză pe apă. ~ Mihai Eminescu, #NFDB
256:Mon père suppliait du regard; il demandait encore une heur, encore quelques minutes, il avait encore quelque chose à me dire
-je demande que ton pardon me soit accordé... Après celui qui possède mon ame pourra l'emporter ou il veut, dans ses jardin fleuris, dans ses rivières paisibles, ou la jeter dans le cratère d'un volcan. mais avant, accorde-moi la grâce de l'oublie. c'est cela le pardon, tu es libre à présent.
va-t'en, quitte cette maison maudite, fais des voyages, vis!... vis! ... et ne retourne pas pour voir le désastre que je laisse. oublie et prends le temps de vivre...
oublie cette ville... en cette nuit j'ai su que ton déstin serais meilleurs que celui de toutes les femmes de ce pays.
je suis lucide, je n'invente rien. je vois ton visage auréollé d'une lumière extraordinaire. tu viens de naitre, cette nuit... tu es une femme... laisse ta beauté te guider. il n'y a plus rien à craindre. la nuit du destin te nome Zahra, enfant de l'éternité tu ees le temps qui se maintient dans le versant du silence... sur le sommet du feu ...parmi les arbres... c'est toi que je vois ma fille c'est toi qui me tend la main ~ Tahar Ben Jelloun,#NFDB
257:I did it again, Robert Childan informed himself. Impossible to avoid the topic. Because it's everywhere, in a book I happen to pick up or a record collection, in these bone napkin rings -- loot piled up by the conquerors. Pillage from my people.
Face facts. I'm trying to pretend that the Japanese and I are alike. But observe: even when I burst out as to my gratification that they won the war, that my nation is lost -- there's still no common ground. What words mean to me is a sharp contrast vis-à-vis them. Their brains are different. Souls likewise. Witness them drinking from English bone china cups, eating with U.S. silver, listening to Negro style of music. It's all on the surface. Advantage of wealth and power makes this available to them, but it's ersatz as the day is long.
Even the I Ching, which they've forced down our throats; it's Chinese. Borrowed from way back when. Whom are they fooling? Themselves? Pilfer customs right and left, wear, eat, talk, walk, as for instance consuming with gusto baked potato served with sour cream and chives, old-fashioned American dish added to their haul. But nobody fooled, I can tell you; me least of all. ~ Philip K Dick,#NFDB
258:De nos jours, tout le monde veut paraître intelligent ; on aimerait mieux être taxé de criminel que de naïf, si cela pouvait se faire sans risques. Mais comme l'intelligence ne se tire pas du vide, on a recours à des subterfuges : l'un des plus courants est la manie de la "démystification", qui permet d'avoir l'air intelligent à peu de frais, car il suffit de dire que la réaction normale vis-à-vis de tel phénomène est un "préjugé" et qu'il est grand temps de le présenter en dehors de la "légende" ; si on pouvait soutenir que l'océan est un étang et l'Himalaya une colline, on le ferait. Il est impossible à certains auteurs de se borner à constater, comme tout le monde l'a fait avant eux, que telle chose ou tel homme eut telles qualités et tel destin ; il faut toujours commencer par faire remarquer qu'"on a trop dit que..." et que la réalité est tout autre, et qu'on l'a enfin découverte, et qu'auparavant tout le monde était dans le "mensonge". On applique ce stratagème surtout à des choses évidentes et universellement connues ; ce serait par trop naïf sans doute de reconnaître en deux mots qu'un lion est un carnivore et qu'il n'est pas tout à fait sans danger. ~ Frithjof Schuon, #NFDB
259:That girl, the girl he had spent the afternoon with, the girl who had leapt off the sides of buildings and pole-vaulted off others, who had charmed Abu and shared an apple with him, was not some rich girl off for a jaunt or running away from home. She was a princess. The royal princess.
Jasmine.
Her eyes were black and hard. Her back was straight; her arms hung gracefully at her sides as if she had too much power even to need to put them on her hips or cross them in anger. Her diadem sparkled.
"The princess...?" Aladdin said faintly.
It was said that Jasmine was beautiful; it was said she was quick-witted. Both of these were without question true.
It was also said that she was a witch with a tiger for a familiar. It was said she tore her suitors to shreds- verbally and, vis-a-vis the tiger, occasionally literally.
"Princess Jasmine," Rasoul said immediately, lowering his eyes and bowing. "What are you doing outside the palace? And with this... Street Rat?"
"That is none of your concern," Jasmine said. She put her hands on her hips and marched right up into the captain's space as if he was no more to her than an irritating camel. "Do as I command. Release him. ~ Liz Braswell,#NFDB
260:meander, v.
"...because when it all comes down to it, there's no such thing as a two-hit wonder. So it's better just to have that one song that everyone knows, instead of diluting it with a follow-up that only half succeeds. I mean, who really cares what Soft Cell's next single was, as long as we have 'Tainted Love'?"
I stop. You're still listening.
"Wait," I say. "What was I talking about? How did we get to 'Tainted Love'?"
"Let's see," you say, "I believe we started roughly at the Democratic gains in the South, then jumped back to the election of 1948, dipping briefly into northern constructions of the South, vis-a-vis Steel Magnolias, Birth of a Nation, Johnny Cash, and Fried Green Tomatoes. Which landed you on To Kill a Mockingbird, and how it is both Southern and universal, which -- correct me if I'm wrong -- got us to Harper Lee and her lack of a follow-up novel, intersected with the theory, probably wrong, that Truman Capote wrote the novel, then hopping over to literary one-hit wonders, and using musical one-hit wonders to make a point about their special place in our culture. I think."
"Thank you," I say. "That's wonderful. ~ David Levithan,#NFDB
261:« Dans nos écoles on nous enseigne le doute et l’art d’oublier. Avant tout l’oubli de ce qui est personnel et localisé. »
« — Personne ne peut lire deux mille livres. Depuis quatre siècles que je vis je n’ai pas dû en lire plus d’une demi-douzaine. D’ailleurs ce qui importe ce n’est pas de lire mais de relire. L’imprimerie, maintenant abolie, a été l’un des pires fléaux de l’humanité, car elle a tendu à multiplier jusqu’au vertige des textes inutiles.
— De mon temps à moi, hier encore, répondis-je, triomphait la superstition que du jour au lendemain il se passait des événements qu’on aurait eu honte d’ignorer. »
« — À cent ans, l’être humain peut se passer de l’amour et de l’amitié. Les maux et la mort involontaire ne sont plus une menace pour lui. Il pratique un art quelconque, il s’adonne à la philosophie, aux mathématiques ou bien il joue aux échecs en solitaire. Quand il le veut, il se tue. Maître de sa vie, l’homme l’est aussi de sa mort[30].
— Il s’agit d’une citation ? lui demandai-je.
— Certainement. Il ne nous reste plus que des citations. Le langage est un système de citations. »
Extrait de: Borges,J.L. « Le livre de sable. » / Utopie d’un homme qui est fatigué ~ Jorge Luis Borges,#NFDB
262:Deter mulig at andre er helt klar over dette og har forsonet seg med det, men for meg ble det plutselig så tydelig at det alltid er natt og alltid dag og alltid morgen og kveld og alltid blir noen fodt mens andre dor og noen ligger med hverandre og noen ler og andre gråter og noen venter på ting eller arbeider. Alltid. Og i dag akkurat som i går og akkurat som en hvilken som helst annen dag i et hvilket som helst annet år. Og hvis jeg bryter det ned til mindre deler og tenker små oyeblikk, blir det svimlende, for da tenker jeg at akkurat nå, mens jeg ligger her og ser gjennom rommet og mot verandadoren som står på glott og solen som kommer inn i rommet, så opplever andre sine livs verste oyeblikk, noen er livredde og kommer til å bli drept på fryktelig vis i neste sekund, det vil si nå, eller nå, mens andre opplever fine ting og tar imot et lite barn eller blir stroket nedover ryggen av en de i går ikke trodde ville gjengjelde de sterke folelsene, og atter andre, sikkert de fleste, gjor ting som de i morgen på denne tiden vil ha problemer med å huske fordi det de gjorde ikke utgjor noen forskjell, men bare foyer seg inn i rekken av ting som vi hele tiden gjor og må gjore.
Idag er alle dager. Og alle oyeblikk er nå. ~ Erlend Loe,#NFDB
263:Lirismul absolut
As vrea sa izbucnesc intr-o explozie radicala cu tot ce am in mine cu toata energia si cu toate continuturile sa curg sa ma descompun si intr-o expresie nemijlocita distrugerea mea sa fie opera mea creatia inspiratia mea. Sa ma realizez in distrugere sa cresc in cea mai nebuna avantare pana dincolo de margini si moartea mea sa fie triumful meu. As vrea sas ma topesc in lume si lumea in mine sa nastem in nebunia noastra un vis apocaliptic straniu ca toate viziunile de sfarsit si magnific asemenea marilor crepuscule. Din tesatura visului nostru sa creasca splendori enigmatice si umbre cuceritoare forme ciudate si adancimi halucinante. Un joc de lumina si de intuneric sa imbrace sfarsitul intr-un decor fantastic si o transfigurare cosmica sa ridice totul pana dincolo de orice rezistenta cand avantul duce la nimic iar formele plesnesc intr-o exaltare de agonie si incantare. Un foc total sa inghita luea aceasta si flacarile lui mai insinuante decat zambetul de femeie si mai imateriale decat melancolia sa provoace voluptati crepusculare complicate ca moartea si fascinante ca neantul in clipele de tristete. Sunt necesare trairi nebune pentru ca lirismul sa atinga ultima lui expresie pentru ca incordarile lui sa treaca marginile subiectivismului normal. ~ Emil M Cioran,#NFDB
264:Quando visitamos empresas, geralmente nos deparamos com o banner de valores. E, em alguns, podemos ler: HONESTIDADE, CRIATIVIDADE, TRANSPARÊNCIA; em seguida, o invariável: FOCO NO RESULTADO. Um fato interessante é que a palavra foco inevitavelmente vem acompanhada da palavra resultado, como se fosse uma obviedade. Não sei também se você, Cortella, já refletiu sobre a bobagem que é fazer uma lista em que um dos itens tem a palavra foco. Porque nesse caso ficam anulados os outros itens. Se o oftalmologista diz: “Foque a terceira letra”, todas as outras letras perdem o foco. Cortella – Na escola é o plano pedagógico que costuma ficar em evidência para que todos possam vê-lo. Clóvis – Toda vez que o foco está em alguma coisa, fica descaracterizada a ideia de complexidade, diversidade, pluralidade. O que quero dizer com isso? Se houver um conflito entre honestidade e resultado – conflito mais do que provável, porque é possível, para fazer uma venda a qualquer preço, mentir sobre o produto ou sobre o serviço prestado –, então, a resposta está no banner: o foco é no resultado. Se houver conflito com qualquer outro valor, o foco está no resultado. E isso significa o quê? Fazer o que for preciso para obter resultado, mesmo que isso implique mentir, enganar, ludibriar e assim por diante. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
265:Weet je wat ik zo aantrekkelijk aan jou vind?' vroeg ik terwijl Jason in hemdsmouwen een kabeljauwschoteltje uit de oven op tafel zette.
'Nondedju,' zei Jason wat hij brandde zijn vingers.
'Dat je van die mooie mannenarmen hebt,' zei ik, 'm'n broers hebben ook van die armen, sterk met donker haar erop. Als we dan zaten te eten bij Locatelli was het net alsof alles nog als vroeger was, dat je niks kon overkomen, bedoel ik. Ja, ik vond dat nogal aangenaam.'
'Où sont mes petits copains d'antan,' zong Jason plotseling en toen ging het gesprek over de zee bij Newfoundland, waar eerst een bloeiende visserij had geheerst, maar hoe de kabeljauw in de baai steeds schaarser werd, hoe de staat en de milieubewegingen steeds dreigender geluiden lieten horen over overbevissing en quota, maar hoe de welvarende bevolking dacht vis is vis en hoe er toen op een dag geen kabelauw meer te bekennen was, niet één, in die enorme baai nergens meer een kabeljauw te bespeuren. De baai was leeggevist en alle pogingen die de overheid en de industrie in het werk stelden brachten de vis niet terug. De kabeljauw was weg en bleef weg, het was een dood stuk zee geworden.
'Geen vis meer,' somde Jason op, 'geen visolie meer, geen vislijm meer, geen boten meer, geen vissers meer, geen brood meer op de plank. ~ Doeschka Meijsing,#NFDB
266:Dar să adâncim puţin judecata ce e întemeiată pe nădejdea de a socoti moartea un bine. în adevăr, din două lucruri unul este a fi mort: sau este tot una cu a nu fi deloc, şi atunci cel mort n-are nici o simţire pentru nimic, sau este, după cum spun unii, numai o schimbare şi o trecere a sufletului dintr-un loc într-altul. Şi dacă în moarte nu-i nici o simţire, ci este aşa ca un somn adânc, când cineva doarme fără măcar să aibă un vis, atunci moartea se înfăţişează ca un minunat câştig. Căci eu socotesc că dacă şi-ar alege cineva o noapte în care a dormit aşa de bine că n-a fost tulburat nici măcar de un vis, dacă apoi ar compara acea noapte cu toate celelalte nopţi şi zile ale vieţii sale şi, cercetându-le întru sine, ar trebui să spună câte zile şi câte nopţi din viaţa lui a trăit mai liniştit şi mai plăcut decât în noaptea aceea, socotesc că nu numai un om de rând, dar însuşi Marele Rege ar găsi că acestea sunt prea puţine la număr faţă de celelalte zile şi nopţi.
Dacă moartea este aşa ceva, eu o numesc câştig. Căci atunci întreaga veşnicie nu pare a fi altceva decât o singură noapte senină. Dacă însă moartea este ca şi o călătorie de aici în alt loc, dacă sunt adevărate cele ce se spun, că acela este locul de întâlnire al tuturor care au murit, atunci ce bine s-ar putea închipui mai mare decât moartea, o, judecătorii mei? ~ Socrates,#NFDB
267:Quand deux religions doivent se côtoyer, comme dans l'Inde, ou comme en Palestine au temps des croisades, il se produit deux choses : d'une part un raidissement du côté de la religion formelle, et d'autre part un assouplissement et une certaine interpénétration du côté de la spiritualité ; il est vrai que les religions se côtoyent partout, mais nous avons en vue des cas où l'antagonisme est virulent, et non émoussé par l'habitude et l'indifférence.
Une vérité cruciale qui se dégage de ces côtoiements et de ces réciprocités est la suivante : dès lors que l'homme a saisi la validité d'une religion autre que la sienne -- et cette compréhension est fonction de l'expérience concrète autant que de l'intuition intellectuelle -- Dieu ne peut pas ne pas tenir compte de l'élargissement de la perspective spirituelle de cet homme, ni de la conscience qu'aura cet homme de la relativité des formes en tant que telles ; Dieu n'aura donc absolument pas les mêmes exigences qu'il a vis-à-vis des croyants totalement enfermés dans le système formel de leur religion, mais il aura en même temps de nouvelles exigences. La connaissance n'est pas un cadeau qui n'engage à rien, car toute science a son prix, le "moins" du côté de la religion formelle doit être compensé par un "plus" du côté de la religion informelle, laquelle coïncide avec la sophia perennis. ~ Frithjof Schuon,#NFDB
268:If we are lucky enough, as I am, to be from time to time in quite close contact with young people, they can sometimes make it easier to hang on to this notion when they function, as every person does vis-a-vis every other person they come up against, as a mirror.
Always we are being reflected in the eyes of others. Are we silly or sensible, stupid or clever, bad or good, unattractive or sexy...? We never stop being at least slightly aware of, if not actively searching for, answers to such questions, and are either deflated or elated, in extreme cases ruined or saved, by what we get. So if when you are old a beloved child happens to look at you as if he or she thinks (even if mistakenly!) that you are wise and kind: what a blessing! It's not that such a fleeting glimpse of yourself can convert you into wiseness and kindness in any enduring way; more like a good session of reflexology which, although it can cure nothing, does make you feel like a better person while it's going on and for an hour or two afterwards, and even that is well worth having.
The more frequent such shots of self-esteem are, the more valuable they become, so there is a risk - remote, but possible - of their becoming addictive. An old person who doesn't enjoy having young people in her life must be a curmudgeon, but it is extremely important that she should remember that risk and watch her step. Or he, his. ~ Diana Athill,#NFDB
269:The commandment, 'Love thy neighbour as thyself', is the strongest defence against human aggressiveness and an excellent example of the unpsychological [expectations] of the cultural super-ego. The commandment is impossible to fulfil; such an enormous inflation of love can only lower its value, not get rid of the difficulty. Civilization pays no attention to all this; it merely admonishes us that the harder it is to obey the precept the more meritorious it is to do so. But anyone who follows such a precept in present-day civilization only puts himself at a disadvantage vis-a-vis the person who disregards it. What a potent obstacle to civilization aggressiveness must be, if the defence against it can cause as much unhappiness as aggressiveness itself! 'Natural' ethics, as it is called, has nothing to offer here except the narcissistic satisfaction of being able to think oneself better than others. At this point the ethics based on religion introduces its promises of a better after-life. But so long as virtue is not rewarded here on earth, ethics will, I fancy, preach in vain. I too think it quite certain that a real change in the relations of human beings to possessions would be of more help in this direction than any ethical commands; but the recognition of this fact among socialists has been obscured and made useless for practical purposes by a fresh idealistic misconception of human nature. ~ Sigmund Freud, #NFDB
270:[…] I began to see Algiers as one of the most fascinating and dramatic places on earth. In the small space of this beautiful but congested city intersected two great conflicts of the contemporary world. The first was the one between Christianity and Islam (expressed here in the clash between colonizing France and colonized Algeria). The second, which acquired a sharpness of focus immediately after the independence and departure of the French, was a conflict at the very heart of Islam, between its open, dialectical — I would even say “Mediterranean” — current and its other, inward-looking one, born of a sense of uncertainty and confusion vis-à-vis the contemporary world, guided by fundamentalists who take advantage of modern technology and organizational principles yet at the same time deem the defense of faith and custom against modernity as the condition of their own existence, their sole identity.
[…] In Algiers one speaks simply of the existence of two varieties of Islam — one, which is called the Islam of the desert, and a second, which is defined as the Islam of the river (or of the sea). The first is the religion practiced by warlike nomadic tribes struggling to survive in one of the world's most hostile environments, the Sahara. The second Islam is the faith of merchants, itinerant peddlers, people of the road and of the bazaar, for whom openness, compromise, and exchange are not only beneficial to trade, but necessary to life itself. ~ Ryszard Kapu ci ski,#NFDB
271:En ce qui concerne l'idéologie sexuelle, il y a coïncidence entre l'idéologie conjugale de la famille petite-bourgeoise et l'idée de famille en général, c'est-à-dire l'union monogamique définitive. Si misérables et désespérées, douloureuses et insupportables que soient la situation conjugale et la constellation familiale, les membres de la famille sont condamnés à les justifier, à l'intérieur de la famille et vis-à-vis de l'extérieur. La nécessité sociale de cette attitude conduit à masquer la misère et à idéaliser la famille et le mariage ; elle engendre également la diffusion du sentimentalisme familial, avec ses clichés de "bonheur familial", de "foyer protecteur", du "havre de paix et de bonheur" que la famille est censée représenter pour les enfants. Le fait que dans notre société la situation est encore plus lamentable en dehors du mariage et de la famille, où la vie sexuelle perd absolument tout appui matériel, légal ou moral, est interprété à tort comme signifiant que l'institution familiale est naturelle, biologique. La méprise sur le véritable état des choses, ainsi que les slogans sentimentaux qui contribuent à créer l'atmosphère idéologique, sont psychologiquement indispensables, car ils permettent au psychisme de supporter l'intolérable situation familiale. C'est pourquoi le traitement des névroses, balayant les illusions et mettant à nu la vérité des situations, est susceptible de détruire les liens conjugaux et familiaux. (p. 134) ~ Wilhelm Reich, #NFDB
272:As A and B interact, in whatever manner, typifications will be produced quite quickly. A watches B perform. He attributes motives to B’s actions and, seeing the actions recur, typifies the motives as recurrent. As B goes on performing, A is soon able to say to himself, “Aha, there he goes again.” At the same time, A may assume that B is doing the same thing with regard to him. From the beginning, both A and B assume this reciprocity of typificatíon. In the course of their interaction these typifications will be expressed in specific patterns of conduct. That is, A and B will begin to play roles vis-à-vis each other. This will occur even if each continues to perform actions different from those of the other. The possibility of taking the role of the other will appear with regard to the same actions performed by both. That is, A will inwardly appropriate B’s reiterated roles and make them the models for his own role-playing. For example, B’s role in the activity of preparing food is not only typified as such by A, but enters as a constitutive element into A’s own food-preparation role. Thus a collection of reciprocally typified actions will emerge, habitualized for each in roles, some of which will be performed separately and some in common.22 While this reciprocal typification is not yet institutionalization (since, there only being two individuals, there is no possibility of a typology of actors), it is clear that institutionalization is already present in nucleo. At ~ Peter L Berger, #NFDB
273:La Béatrice
Dans des terrains cendreux, calcinés, sans verdure,
Comme je me plaignais un jour à la nature,
Et que de ma pensée, en vaguant au hasard,
J’aiguisais lentement sur mon cœur le poignard,
Je vis en plein midi descendre sur ma tête
Un nuage funèbre et gros d’une tempête,
Qui portait un troupeau de démons vicieux,
Semblables à des nains cruels et curieux.
A me considérer froidement ils se mirent,
Et, comme des passants sur un fou qu’ils admirent,
Je les entendis rire et chuchoter entre eux,
En échangeant maint signe et maint clignement d’yeux :
—«Contemplons à loisir cette caricature
Et cette ombre d’Hamlet imitant sa posture,
Le regard indécis et les cheveux au vent.
N’est-ce pas grand’pitié de voir ce bon vivant,
Ce gueux, cet histrion en vacances, ce drôle,
Parce qu’il sait jouer artistement son rôle,
Vouloir intéresser au chant de ses douleurs
Les aigles, les grillons, les ruisseaux et les fleurs,
Et même à nous, auteurs de ces vieilles rubriques,
Réciter en hurlant ses tirades publiques ?»
J’aurais pu (mon orgueil aussi haut que les monts
Domine la nuée et le cri des démons)
Détourner simplement ma tête souveraine,
Si je n’eusse pas vu parmi leur troupe obscène,
Crime qui n’a pas fait chanceler le soleil!
La reine de mon cœur au regard non pareil,
Qui riait avec eux de ma sombre détresse
Et leur versait parfois quelque sale caresse.
~ Charles Baudelaire,#NFDB
274:As a candidate, Trump’s praise of Putin had been a steady theme. In the White House, his fidelity to Russia’s president had continued, even as he lambasted other world leaders, turned on aides and allies, fired the head of the FBI, bawled out his attorney general, and defenestrated his chief ideologue, Steve Bannon. It was Steele’s dossier that offered a compelling explanation for Trump’s unusual constancy vis-à-vis Russia. First, there was Moscow’s kompromat operation against Trump going back three decades, to the Kryuchkov era. If Trump had indulged in compromising behavior, Putin knew of it. Second, there was the money: the cash from Russia that had gone into Trump’s real estate ventures. The prospect of a lucrative deal in Moscow to build a hotel and tower, a project that was still being negotiated as candidate Trump addressed adoring crowds. And then there were the loans. These had helped rescue Trump after 2008. They had come from a bank that was simultaneously laundering billions of dollars of Russian money. Finally, there was the possibility that the president had other financial connections to Moscow, as yet undisclosed, but perhaps hinted at by his missing tax returns. Together, these factors appeared to place Trump under some sort of obligation. One possible manifestation of this was the president’s courting of Putin in Hamburg. Another was the composition of his campaign team and government, especially in its first iteration. Wherever you looked there was a Russian trace. ~ Luke Harding, #NFDB
275:La pression des nationaux-socialistes commençait peu à peu à délabrer les nerfs des milieux cléricaux et bourgeois ; ils sentaient de plus en plus l’insistance subversive de l’impatiente Allemagne, qui leur serrait aussi la vis dans le domaine de l’économie. Le gouvernement Dollfuss, qui voulait conserver une Autriche indépendante et la préserver de Hitler, cherchait de plus en plus désespérément un dernier appui. La France et l’Angleterre étaient trop éloignées et au fond trop indifférentes, la Tchécoslovaquie était encore pleine de sa vieille rancune et de sa rivalité à l’égard de Vienne, si bien qu’il ne restait que l’Italie, qui s’efforçait alors d’étendre sur l’Autriche son protectorat économique et politique, afin de s’assurer les passages des Alpes et Trieste. Pour cette protection, Mussolini réclamait toutefois un très haut prix. L’Autriche devait s’adapter aux tendances fascistes, le Parlement, et par là même la démocratie devaient être liquidés. Cela n’était possible que si l’on écartait ou privait de ses droits le parti social-démocrate, le plus fort et le mieux organisé d’Autriche. Pour le briser, il n’y avait point d’autre moyen que la force brutale. En vue de cette action terroriste, le prédécesseur de Dollfuss, Ignaz Seipel, avait déjà créé une organisation, la Heimwehr69. Vue du dehors, elle offrait à peu près la plus pitoyable des apparences, elle était formée de petits avocats de province, d’officiers licenciés, d’ingénieurs sans travail, de toutes les médiocrités déçues, qui se haïssaient furieusement ~ Stefan Zweig, #NFDB
276:Prin metoda asocierii libere si prin tehnica de interpretare care i se adauga, psihanaliza reuseste sa faca un lucru care nu parea pre important din punct de vedere practic, dar care trebuia in realitate sa duca la o pozitie si o valorificare cu totul noi in evolutia stiintei. A devenit posibil sa se dovedeasca ca visurile au un sens si sa se ghiceasca acest sens. In antichitatea clasica, visurile erau considerate adesea previziuni ale viitorului; stiinta moderna nu voia sa auda de visuri, le lega de domeniul superstitiei, declarandu-le un simplu act «corporal», un soi de tresarire a vietii psihice, de altfel adormite. Parea sa fie exclusa posibilitatea ca un savant care a facut deja lucrari stiintifice serioase sa poata aparea ca un «interpretator de visuri». Dar din moment ce nu era luata in seama dispretuirea visului si era tratat ca un simptom nevrotic neinteles, ca o idee deliranta sau obsesiva care, indepartandu-se de continutul sau aparent, lua ca obiect al asocierii libere imaginile sale izolate, atunci se ajungea la un cu totul alt rezultat. Se ajungea prin urmatoarele asocieri ale celui care visa, la constientizarea unor ansambluri de ganduri care nu mai puteau fi numite absurde sau confuze, care corespuneau unui act psihic de mare valoare si ale carui vis manifest nu era decat o traducere deformata, trunchiata sau rau inteleasa, cel mai adesea o traducere in imagini vizuale. Aceste ganduri latente ale visului contineau sensul visului, continutul manifest al visului nefiind decat o iluzie, o fatada de unde putea pleca asocierea cu adevarul dar nu si interpretarea. ~ Sigmund Freud, #NFDB
277:Kas nori prarasti pinigus - tepasilaiko juos sau, kas nori išsaugoti juos amžiams - teatiduoda kitam. be to, jūs neturite teisės pasilikti sau tų pinigų - juk jie nepriklauso jums, pinigai išvis nepriklauso žmonėms. Visi pinigai velnio nuosavybė, ir jis dieną naktį sėdi savo kontoroj ant aukso maišų ir perka už juos žmonių sielas. Pasistenkit greičiau atsikratyti nešvaraus pinigo, kurį jis bruka jums į delną, nelaikykite jo, nes šis prakeiktas metalas nudegins jums pirštus, įsisiurbs į kraują, apakins, užnuodys mintis ir sukietins širdį. Paaukokite jį "vargdienių seselėms", meskit tuos nelemtus pinigus į griovį - ten jų tikroji vieta! Kuriam galui krauti pinigus, jei vis tiek reikės jų netekti? Mirtis turi antrą raktą nuo jūsų pinigų skrynios.
Dievai visas gėrybes parduoda tikrąja kaina, yra pasakęs vienas senovės poetas. Jis būtų galėjęs pridurti, kad pačias verčiausias jie parduoda pigiausiai. Viskas, kas mums tikrai naudinga - nebrangu; tik už tai, be ko galima apsieiti, mokam didelius pinigus. Kas tikrai gražu - išvis neparduodama; visa tai nemirtingieji dievai mums duoda veltui. Nemokamai galima gėrėtis saulėtekiai ir saulėlydžiais, danguje plaukiančiais debesėliais, giriomis ir laukais, nuostabai jūra. Dykai mums čiulba paukščiai, veltui galim prisiskinti pakelėj lauko gėlių ir įeiti į žvaigždėtą Nakties menę. Vargšas miega geriau nei turtuolis. Paprastas maistas ilgainiui pasidaro skanesnis negu įmantrūs patiekalai Rico restorane. Pasitenkinimas ir sielos ramybė geriau mėgsta kaimo pirkelę negu ištaigingus meisto rūmus. Keletas bičiulių, nedaug, labai nedaug knygų ir šuo - štai ir viskas, ko reikia žmogui, kol jis turi pats save. ~ Axel Munthe,#NFDB
278:Quand je vis avec mes semblables, ma pensée s'occupe d'eux si exclusivement, soit pour les aider à vivre bien, soit pour comprendre pourquoi ils vivent mal, que j'oublie absolument de vivre pour mon compte. Quand je m'aperçois que j'ai fait pour eux mon possible et que je ne leur suis plus nécessaire, ou, ce qui arrive plus souvent, que je ne leur suis bon à rien, j'éprouve le besoin de vivre avec ce moi intérieur qui s'identifie à la nature et au rêve de la vie dans l'éternel et dans l'infini. La nature, je le sais, parle dans l'homme plus que dans les arbres et les rochers; mais elle y parle follement, elle y est plus souvent délirante que sage, elle y est pleine d'illusions ou de mensonges. Les animaux sauvages eux-mêmes sont tourmentés d'un besoin d'existence qui nous empêche de savoir ce qu'ils pensent et si leurs obscures manifestations ne sont pas trompeuses. Dès qu'ils subissent des besoins et des passions, ils doivent les satisfaire à tout prix, et toute logique de leur instinct de conservation doit céder à cette sauvage logique de la faim et de l'amour. Où donc trouver, où donc surprendre la voix du vrai absolu dans la nature? Hélas, dans le silence des choses inertes, dans le mutisme de ce qui ne ment pas! la face impassible du rocher qui boit le soleil, le front sans ombre du glacier qui regarde la lune, la morne altitude des lieux inaccessibles, exercent sur nous un rassérénement inexplicable. Là, nous nous sentons comme suspendus entre ciel et terre, dans une région d'idées où il ne peut y avoir que Dieu ou rien, et, s'il n'y a rien, nous sentons que nous ne sommes rien nous-mêmes et que nous n'existons pas; car rien ne peut se passer de sa raison d'être. ~ George Sand, #NFDB
279:Žmogus gyvena ne tik savo asmeninį gyvenimą kaip individas, bet, sąmoningai ar nesąmoningai, taip pat ir savo epochos, savo amžininkų gyvenimą, ir jeigu jis į bendruosius ir neasmeninius savo būties pagrindus net žiūri kaip į besąlygiškai duotus ir savaime suprantamus ir anaiptol nemano jų kritikuoti, kaip kad, sakysim, mūsų Hansas Kastorpas, tai vis dėl to labai galimas daiktas, kad jis vis tiek neaiškiai jaučia jų ydas ir jų poveikį savo moralinei savijautai. Atskiram žmogui gali iškilti visokiausių asmeninių tikslų, siekimų, vilčių, perspektyvų, iš kurių jis semiasi impulsų intensyvioms pastangoms ir veikalams; bet jeigu tai, kas neasmeniška aplink jį, pati gyvenamoji epocha, kad ir kokia iš paviršiaus judri, stokoja, iš esmės imant, bet kokių vilčių, bet kokių perspektyvų, jeigu ji leidžia jam slapta įžvelgti, kokia ji beviltiška, nieko nežadanti ir bejėgė, ir jeigu į visus, sąmoningai ar nesąmoningai iškeltus, bet vis dėlto kažkaip iškeltus klausimus, kokia yra paskutinė, daugiau negu asmeninė, absoliuti visų pastangų ir veikalų prasmė, atsakoma tik nykiu tylėjimu, tai kaip tik doriesiems žmonijos atstovams tokia padėtis bemaž neišvengiamai sukelia tam tikrą paralyžiuojamą poveikį, kuris per dvasinį ir moralinį individo pasaulį gali pasiekti ir jo fizinę bei organinę pusę. Idant žmogus, negavęs iš epochos patenkinamo atsakymo į klausimą „kam“, galėtų ryžtis darbams, prašokantiems įprastuosius, jam reikalinga arba moralinė vienatvė ir betarpiškumas, – o tokių savybių pasitaiko retai, ir jos yra herojiškos prigimties, – arba labai galinga vitalinė jėga. Nei vieno, nei kito Hansas Kastorpas neturėjo, ir todėl vis dėlto reikėtų jį pavadinti vidutinybe, tegul ir neužgaulia šio žodžio prasme. ~ Thomas Mann, #NFDB
280:Văzând în fapta lui jignire, Boierii şi-au ieşit din fire: „Vecinu-i fire prost crescută, Un farmazon, un om năuc: Bea roşul vin ca un haiduc, La doamne mâna nu sărută, Doar da şi nu, nicicând poftim” - îl osândiră unanim.
În satul său, pe-aceeaşi vreme Un alt boier sosi-n vecini, Stârnind aidoma dileme La moşierii cei meschini. Vladimir Lenski se numeşte, Direct din Gottirsgen soseşte: Frumos şi tânăr şi poet, Lui Kant discipol, interpret, El din Germania ceţoasă Aduse roadele ştiinţei — S-aline greul suferinţei; Fiinţă-aprinsă, curioasă, Cu negrul păr adus pe spate Vorbea cu foc de libertate. Adică francmason, aici în sens de liber-cugetător. Ferit de tina infamiei, Cu sufletul cuprins de-ardoare, Credea-n căldura prieteniei Şi-n duioşie de fecioare. În inima-i ce ignoranţă! — Nutrea statornic o speranţă. Şi-a lumii larmă, strălucire îi răscoleau tânăra-i fire, împodobind ideea-n haină De reverii şi dulce vis; Scruta cu sufletul deschis în viaţă-un scop, în lume-o taină Ce-i frământa adânca minte, …Visând minuni, ţintind nainte! Credea el că un suflet mare Se va uni cu el, odată, Că chipul gingaşei fecioare L-aşteaptă undeva curată; Sau că amicii-s plini de zel Să poarte lanţuri pentru el, Să sfarme-n ţăndări braţul lor Ulciorul clevetirilor; Că-n viaţă sunt aleşi ai sorţii, Prieteni sfinţi ai omenirii, Ce hărăziţi sunt nemuririi, Cu veşnica văpaie-a torţii Şi cu raza ei de înnoire S-aducă-n lume fericire. Revolta şi compătimirea, iubirea binelui avea Şi-a slavei dulce pătimire De june-n sânge-i clocotea. El lira şi-o plimba cu sete Sub cerul lui Schiller şi Goethe Şi sufletu-i vibra patetic, Aprins de jarul lor poetic. Şi-a muzelor înaltă artă N-a ruşinat-o el nicicând. Şi nimeni de semeţu-i gând N-a fost în stare să-l despartă, De dorul sfânt al tinereţii Şi gingăşia simplităţii. ~ Alexander Pushkin,#NFDB
281:Totuşi, nu-mi pot scoate din cap diferenţa enormă ce există între idei şi viaţă. E o dislocare permanentă, cu toate că ne străduim să aruncăm peste amândouă un magnific acoperământ. Şi nu se potriveşte. Ideile trebuie însoţite de acţiune.’’
‘’Până acum, gândul meu, colaborând cu mine însumi, a fost acela de a mă îndepărta de etalonul de aur al literaturii. Pe scurt, gândul meu era să prezint o resurecţie a emoţiilor, să descriu comportamentul unei fiinţe omeneşti în stratosfera ideilor, adică în ghearele delirului. Să zugrăvesc o fiintă presocratică, o făptură jumătate ţap, jumătate titan.’’
‘’Când vâd siluetele bărbaţilor şi femeilor mişcându-se apatic în dosul zidurilor închisorii lor, la adăpost sigur, bine închişi pentru câteva ore fugare, mă înspăimântă potenţialul de dramă umană cuprins în aceste trupuri plăpânde, în dosul acestor ziduri cenuşii e plin de scântei umane şi totuşi nici un incendiu nu izbucneşte. Oare aceştia sunt bărbaţi şi femei, mă întreb eu, sau doar nişte umbre, umbrele unor marionete manevrate de nişte sfori invizibile? Aparent se mişcă fără nici un fel de constrângere, dar n-au unde să se ducă. Doar pe un singur tărâm sunt liberi şi pot hălădui în libertate, dar încă n-au învăţat să-şi ia avânt. Până acum nu se cunoaşte vreun vis care să-şi fi luat avântul. Nici un om n-a venit pe lume destul de uşor, destul de voios pentru a se putea desprinde de pământ!
Vulturii care au bătut o vreme din aripile lor puternice s-au zdrobit de pământ. Ne-au ameţit cu zgomotul pe care-1 fac când bat aerul cu apripile. Rămâneţi pe pământ, o, voi, vulturi ai viitorului! Cerurile au fost explorate şi s-au dovedit a fi pustii. Iar ceea ce zace sub pământ este tot un pustiu, umplut doar de oseminte şi de umbre. Rămâneţi deci pe pământ şi mai plutiţi
câteva sute de mii de ani! ~ Henry Miller,#NFDB
282:The thought may seem remarkable, but perhaps not so much so as it would at first. First of all, there was never anything unusual about the Baron's sex life, even if it may tickle one's curiosity when presented in so balanced a fashion, and there is certainly nothing unique about the case. On the contrary, I would like to intimate that I have never, especially in artistic circles, met an individual who could be called psychically monosexual through and through. Our manliness-with all due respect-does not preclude a certain amount of femininity, thank God; it would be a great pity if it were otherwise. This 'second phase', then, which is so prevalent in the Baron's psychosexual makeup, this balanced perception of the feminine side of his nature, only seems special when studied in a superficial way. It should rather be seen as something entirely natural and normal. For if within an utterly male body with clearly defined male sexual feelings a soul is contained - I use the word in an abstract sense in order to get my point across more easily and directly - a soul, I say, which is animated by feminine feelings, generally speaking these feelings won't be strong enough to vanquish the natural restraints that stand in the way of an outspoken male-male bonding. The instinct remains focused on the female, and even when it finds itself in a feminine position vis-a-vis the soul, the apparent ambivalent result is only seeming. The masculine yearning for the female body basically remains, even when it finds itself flooded by feminine feelings, and the ostensible homosexuality is merely a mask. I do not consider Baron von Friedel's case to be anything more than an exceptionally clear-cut textbook case describing a phenomenon I have, for my part, seen often enough, if hardly ever in such pronounced form.
"The Death Of Baron Jesus Maria Von Friedel ~ Hanns Heinz Ewers,#NFDB
283:- Tai jūs – Rikas? Vadinasi, jūs – Rikas!
- o kas čia juokinga, vaikeliuk? Senis irgi nori pasijuokti!
- Jūs nesuprasite, aš čia šį tą prisiminiau. Cha cha! – Ašaros sruvo Etiliui per skruostus tiesiai į burną. Jis vis mušė kumščiu į stalą ir kartojo: - Vadinasi, jūs – Rikas! Kas būtų galėjęs pamanyti, kad taip juokingai! Nei pūpsančių raumenų, nei valingo smakro, nei šautuvo. Tik pilnas pinigų kapšas, smaragdinis žiedas ir atsikišęs pilvas!
- Ei, galvok, ką šneki! Aš gal ir ne Apolonoas, bet...
- Duokite ranką, Rikai. Seniai norėjau su jumis susipažinti. Tai jūs užkariausite Marsą su kokteilių plaktuvais, supinatoriais, pokerio kauliukais, jodinėtojų šmaikštais, auliniais batais, languotomis kepi ir romu.
- Aš viso labo tik kuklus biznesmenas, - droviai nuleidęs akutes pasakė Van Plankas. – Dirbu savo darbą ir gaunu už tai kuklų užmokestį. Bet, kaip sakiau, Mortai, aš jau seniai galvoju, kad reikia aprūpinti Marsą dėdulės Vigilio žaislais ir Diko treisio komiksais – ten tie dalykai bus naujovė. Šitokia didelė prekybos rinka,- juk pas jus niekas nėra girdėjęs apie politines karikatūras, ar ne? Na, matai! Trumpai drūtai - mes apibersime Marsą visokiomis gėrybėmis. Jie mūsų prekes grobstyte išgrobstys, vaikeliuk! Kas nenorės kvepalų, paryžietiškų suknelių, madingų kombinezonų, sakyk? O aukščiausios klasės avalynė?..
- Mes vaikštome basi.
- Ką aš girdžiu? – kreipėsi į lubas R.R. – Klajojančių žemdirbių planeta? Klausyk, Džo, mes tuo pasirūpinsim. Sugėdinsim visus, ir jie apsiaus. O tada parduosime jiems batų tepalo.
- O!
Jis pliaukštelėjo Etiliui per ranką.
- Tai kaip, tinka? Nori būti techninis mano filmo direktorius? Pradžiai gausi po du šimtus per savaitę, o į galą turėsi iki penkių šimtų. Ką pasakysi?
- Mane pykina, - pasakė Etilis. Jis buvo išgėręs visą „Manheteną“ ir dabar jau pradėjo mėlti.
- Persiprašau. nemaniau, kad tave šitaip susuks. ~ Ray Bradbury,#NFDB
284:Je cherchais une âme qui et me ressemblât, et je ne pouvais pas la trouver. Je fouillais tous les recoins de la terre; ma persévérance était inutile. Cependant, je ne pouvais pas rester seul. Il fallait quelqu’un qui approuvât mon caractère; il fallait quelqu’un qui eût les mêmes idées que moi. C’était le matin; le soleil se leva à l’horizon, dans toute sa magnificence, et voilà qu’à mes yeux se lève aussi un jeune homme, dont la présence engendrait les fleurs sur son passage. Il s’approcha de moi, et, me tendant la main: "Je suis venu vers toi, toi, qui me cherches. Bénissons ce jour heureux." Mais, moi: "Va-t’en; je ne t’ai pas appelé: je n’ai pas besoin de ton amitié."
C’était le soir; la nuit commençait à étendre la noirceur de son voile sur la nature. Une belle femme, que je ne faisais que distinguer, étendait aussi sur moi son influence enchanteresse, et me regardait avec compassion; cependant, elle n’osait me parler. Je dis: "Approche-toi de moi, afin que je distingue nettement les traits de ton visage; car, la lumière des étoiles n’est pas assez forte, pour les éclairer à cette distance." Alors, avec une démarche modeste, et les yeux baissés, elle foula l’herbe du gazon, en se dirigeant de mon côté. Dès que je la vis: "Je vois que la bonté et la justice ont fait résidence dans ton coeur: nous ne pourrions pas vivre ensemble. Maintenant, tu admires ma beauté, qui a bouleversé plus d’une; mais, tôt ou tard, tu te repentirais de m’avoir consacré ton amour; car, tu ne connais pas mon âme. Non que je te sois jamais infidèle: celle qui se livre à moi avec tant d’abandon et de confiance, avec autant de confiance et d’abandon, je me livre à elle; mais, mets-le dans ta tête, pour ne jamais l’oublier: les loups et les agneaux ne se regardent pas avec des yeux doux."
Que me fallait-il donc, à moi, qui rejetais, avec tant de dégoût, ce qu’il y avait de plus beau dans l’humanité! ~ Comte de Lautr amont,#NFDB
285:In an apt demonstration of the principle of relativity, as propounded by Galileo, the bawdy platter and the steaming morsels thereon, remained in the same position, vis-à-vis Daniel, and hence were, in principle, just as edible as if he had been seated before and the pies had been resting upon a table that was stationary with respect to the fixed stars. This was true despite the fact that the carriage containing Daniel, Isaac Newton, and the pies, was banging around London. . . . Isaac, though better equipped than Daniel, or any other man alive, to understand relativity, showed no interest in his pie, as if being in a state of movement with respect to the planet Earth rendered it somehow not a pie. But as far as Daniel was concerned, a pie in a moving frame of reference was no less a pie than one that was sitting still. Position and velocity to him might be perfectly interesting physical properties, but they had no bearing on, no relationship to, those properties that were essential to “pie-ness.” All that mattered to Daniel were relationships between his—Daniel’s—physical state and that of the pie. If Daniel and pie were close together, both in position and velocity, then pie eating became a practical and tempting possibility. If pie were far sundered from Daniel, or moving at a large relative velocity, e.g. being hurled at his face, then its pie-ness was somehow impaired, at least from the Daniel frame of reference. At the time being however, these were purely scholastic hypotheticals. The pie was on his lap, and very much a pie, no matter what Isaac might think of it. Mr. Kat had lent them silver table settings and Daniel, as he spoke, tucked a napkin into his shirt collar, a flag of surrender and unconditional capitulation to the attractions of pie. Rather than laying down arms, he now picked them up, knife and fork, Isaac’s question frozen just as he poised these above the flaky top crust. . . . and he stabbed pie. ~ Neal Stephenson, #NFDB
286:Fortune favours the brave, sir," said Carrot cheerfully.
"Good. Good. Pleased to hear it, captain. What is her position vis a vis heavily armed, well prepared and excessively manned armies?"
"Oh, no–one's ever heard of Fortune favouring them, sir."
"According to General Tacticus, it's because they favour themselves," said Vimes. He opened the battered book. Bits of paper and string indicated his many bookmarks. "In fact, men, the general has this to say about ensuring against defeat when outnumbered, out–weaponed and outpositioned. It is..." he turned the page, "'Don't Have a Battle.'"
"Sounds like a clever man," said Jenkins. He pointed to the yellow horizon.
"See all that stuff in the air?" he said. "What do you think that is?"
"Mist?" said Vimes.
"Hah, yes. Klatchian mist! It's a sandstorm! The sand blows about all the time. Vicious stuff. If you want to sharpen your sword, just hold it up in the air."
"Oh."
"And it's just as well because otherwise you'd see Mount Gebra. And below it is what they call the Fist of Gebra. It's a town but there's a bloody great fort, walls thirty feet thick. 's like a big city all by itself. 's got room inside for thousands of armed men, war elephants, battle camels, everything. And if you saw that, you'd want me to turn round right now. Whats your famous general got to say about it, eh?"
"I think I saw something..." said Vimes. He flicked to another page. "Ah, yes, he says, 'After the first battle of Sto Lat, I formulated a policy which has stood me in good stead in other battles. It is this: if the enemy has an impregnable stronghold, see he stays there.'"
"That's a lot of help," said Jenkins.
Vimes slipped the book into a pocket.
"So, Constable Visit, there's a god on our side, is there?"
"Certainly, sir."
"But probably also a god on their side as well?"
"Very likely, sir. There's a god on every side."
"Let's hope they balance out, then. ~ Terry Pratchett,#NFDB
287:In 1517, few western Christians worried that Muslims might have a more convincing message to offer than Christianity or that Christian youth might start converting to Islam. The Turks were at the gate, it's true, but they weren't in the living room, and they certainly weren't in the bedroom. The Turks posed a threat to the physical health of Christians, but not to the spiritual health of Christianity.
Muslims were in a different boat. Almost from the start, as I've discussed, Islam had offered its political and military successes as an argument for its doctrines and a proof of its revelations. The process began with those iconic early battles at Badr and Uhud, when the outcome of battle was shown to have theological meaning. The miracle of expansion and the linkage of victory with truth continued for hundreds of years.
Then came the Mongol holocaust, which forced Muslim theologians to reexamine their assumptions. That process spawned such reforms as Ibn Taymiyah. Vis-a-vis the Mongols, however, the weakness of Muslims was concrete and easy to understand. The Mongols had greater killing power, but they came without an ideology. When the bloodshed wound down and the human hunger for meaning bubbled up, as it always does, they had nothing to offer. In fact, they themselves converted. Islam won in the end, absorbing the Mongols as it has absorbed the Turks before them and the Persians before that.
...
The same could not be said of the new overlords. The Europeans came wrapped in certainty about their way of life and peddling their own ideas of ultimate truth. They didn't challenge Islam so much as ignore it, unless they were missionaries, in which case they simply tried to convert the Muslims. If they noticed Islam, they didn't bother to debate it (missionaries are not in the debating business) but only smiled at it as one would at the toys of a child or the quaint relics of a more primitive people. How maddening for the Muslim cognoscenti! And yet, what could Muslims do about it? ~ Tamim Ansary,#NFDB
288:[...] l’esprit occidental est presque entièrement d’essence chrétienne dans tout ce qu’il a de positif. Il n’est pas au pouvoir des hommes de se défaire, par leurs propres moyens, c’est-à-dire par de simples idéologies, d’une si profonde hérédité ; leurs intelligences s’exercent selon des habitudes séculaires, même lorsqu’elles inventent des erreurs. On ne peut faire abstraction de cette formation intellectuelle et mentale, si diminuée soit-elle (1) ; s’il en est ainsi, et si le point de vue traditionnel subsiste inconsciemment même chez ceux qui estiment ne plus devoir se réclamer d’aucune tradition, ou chez ceux qui, par simple souci d’impartialité, veulent se placer en dehors du point de vue chrétien ou juif, comment pourrait-on supposer que les éléments constitutifs d’une autre tradition puissent être interprétés dans leur véritable sens ? N’est-il pas frappant que les opinions courantes sur l’Islam par exemple, soient à peu près identiques chez la majorité des Occidentaux, qu’ils se disent chrétiens ou qu’ils se flattent de ne plus l’être ? Les réserves qu’ils formulent à l’égard de l’Islam, — pour ne rien dire des cas d’ignorance pure et simple ou d’une hostilité franchement moderniste, — proviennent généralement beaucoup moins d’une juste appréciation des choses, qu’elles ne sont le fait d’une hérédité mentale et psychique, qui subsiste dans la pensée occidentale et qui souvent n’y est plus autre chose que le résidu de la vraie spiritualité chrétienne."
1. Les erreurs philosophiques elles-mêmes ne seraient pas concevables, si elles ne représentaient la négation de certaines vérités, et si ces négations n’étaient des réactions directes ou indirectes contre certaines limitations formelles de la tradition ; on voit par là qu’aucune erreur, philosophique ou religieuse, ne peut prétendre à une parfaite indépendance et autonomie vis-à-vis de la tradition ou de la conception traditionnelle qu’elle rejette ou qu’elle défigure.
"Christianisme et Islam", in Etudes Traditionnelles numéro spécial Tradition islamique, 1934. ~ Frithjof Schuon,#NFDB
289:Je le vis, je rougis, je pâlis à sa vue ;
Un trouble s’éleva dans mon âme éperdue ;
Mes yeux ne voyaient plus, je ne pouvais parler;
Je sentis tout mon corps et transir et brûler :
Je reconnus Vénus et ses feux redoutables,
D’un sang qu’elle poursuit tourments inévitables !
Par des vœux assidus je crus les détourner :
Je lui bâtis un temple, et pris soin de l’orner ;
De victimes moi-même à toute heure entourée,
Je cherchais dans leurs flancs ma raison égarée :
D’un incurable amour remèdes impuissants !
En vain sur les autels ma main brûlait l’encens !
Quand ma bouche implorait le nom de la déesse,
J’adorais Hippolyte ; et, le voyant sans cesse,
Même au pied des autels que je faisais fumer,
J’offrais tout à ce dieu que je n’osais nommer.
Je l’évitais partout. Ô comble de misère !
Mes yeux le retrouvaient dans les traits de son père.
Contre moi-même enfin j’osai me révolter :
J’excitai mon courage à le persécuter.
Pour bannir l’ennemi dont j’étais idolâtre,
J’affectai les chagrins d’une injuste marâtre ;
Je pressai son exil ; et mes cris éternels
L’arrachèrent du sein et des bras paternels.
Je respirais, ŒNONE ; et, depuis son absence,
Mes jours moins agités coulaient dans l’innocence :
Soumise à mon époux, et cachant mes ennuis,
De son fatal hymen je cultivais les fruits.
Vaines précautions ! Cruelle destinée !
Par mon époux lui-même à Trézène amenée,
J’ai revu l’ennemi que j’avais éloigné :
Ma blessure trop vive aussitôt a saigné.
Ce n’est plus une ardeur dans mes veines cachée :
C’est Vénus tout entière à sa proie attachée.
J’ai conçu pour mon crime une juste terreur ;
J’ai pris la vie en haine, et ma flamme en horreur ;
Je voulais en mourant prendre soin de ma gloire,
Et dérober au jour une flamme si noire :
Je n’ai pu soutenir tes larmes, tes combats :
Je t’ai tout avoué ; je ne m’en repens pas.
Pourvu que, de ma mort respectant les approches,
Tu ne m’affliges plus par d’injustes reproches,
Et que tes vains secours cessent de rappeler
Un reste de chaleur tout prêt à s’exhaler. ~ Jean Racine,#NFDB
290:L'idée commune que les bonnes habitudes qui ne nous ont pas été inculquées de force dans notre prime enfance ne peuvent se développer en nous plus tard dans la vie est une idée avec laquelle nous avons été élevés et que nous acceptons aveuglément, tout simplement parce qu'elle n'a jamais été contestée. Pour ma part, je la renie.
La liberté est nécessaire à l'enfant parce que seule la liberté peut lui permettre de grandir naturellement -- de la bonne façon. Je vois les résultats de l'asservissement dans mes nouveaux élèves en provenance d'écoles secondaires de toutes sortes. Ils ne sont qu'un tas d'hypocrites, avec une fausse politesse et des manières affectées.
Leur réaction devant la liberté est rapide et exaspérante. Pendant les deux premières semaines ils tiennent les portes pour laisser passer leurs professeurs, ils m'appellent "Monsieur" et se lavent soigneusement. Ils regardent dans ma direction avec respect, ce que je reconnais facilement comme de la crainte. Après quelques semaines de liberté, ils montrent leur vrai visage. Ils deviennent impudents, sans manières, crasseux. Ils font toutes les choses qui leur ont été défendues dans le passé : ils jurent, ils fument, ils cassent des objets. Et pendant tout ce temps ils ont une expression polie et fausse dans les yeux et dans la voix.
Il leur faut dix mois pour perdre leur hypocrisie. Après cela ils perdent leur déférence envers ce qu'ils regardaient auparavant comme l'autorité. Au bout de dix mois environ, ce sont des enfants naturels et sains qui disent ce qu'ils pensent, sans rougir, ni haïr. Quand un enfant grandit librement dès son jeune âge, il n'a pas besoin de traverser ce stade de mensonge et de comédie. La chose la plus frappante à Summerhill, c'est la sincérité de ses élèves.
La question de sincérité dans la vie et vis-à-vis de la vie est primordiale. C'est ce qu'il y a de plus primordial au monde. Chacun réalise la valeur de la sincérité de la part de nos politiciens (tel est l'optimisme du monde), de nos juges, de nos magistrats, de nos professeurs, de nos médecins. Cependant, nous éduquons nos enfants de telle façon qu'ils n'osent être sincères. (p. 154-155) ~ A S Neill,#NFDB
291:Quand elle était petite, elle voulait m’épouser. J’étais son prince charmant. Année après année, j’avais bien vu dans son regard que le mythe s’était éparpillé dans les affres de la réalité. J’étais tombé de mon piédestal et, si je ne cherchais pas à mentir sur qui j’étais, j’avais toujours eu envie qu’elle me voie au meilleur de ma forme. Au fond, je pouvais dire que nous n’avions jamais réellement eu une relation saine. La preuve : cette incapacité physique d’aller voir son appartement, ce lieu où elle vivait en femme. Il faudrait des siècles pour admettre que nos enfants sont devenus adultes. On dit souvent qu’il est difficile de vieillir ; moi, je pourrais vieillir indéfiniment du moment que mes enfants, eux, ne grandiraient pas. Je ne sais pas pourquoi j’éprouvais tant de difficultés à vivre cette transition que tout parent connaît. Je n’avais pas l’impression qu’autour de moi les gens avaient les mêmes. Pire, j’entendais des parents soulagés du départ de leurs enfants. Enfin, ils allaient retrouver la liberté, disaient-ils. Il y avait ce film où le garçon, Tanguy, s’éternisait chez ses parents, prolongeant sans cesse ses études. Le mien était parti à l’autre bout du monde dès ses dix-huit ans. C’est toujours comme ça : ceux qui veulent se débarrasser de leurs enfants héritent de boulets, tandis que ceux qui veulent couver à loisir leur progéniture se retrouvent avec des précoces de l’autonomie. Mon fils me manquait atrocement. Et je ne supportais plus d’échanger avec lui des messages par Skype, ou par e-mails. D’ailleurs, ces messages et ces moments virtuels étaient de plus en plus courts. Nous n’avions rien à nous dire. L’amour entre un parent et un enfant n’est pas dans les mots, pas dans la discussion. Ce que j’aimais, c’était simplement que mon fils soit là, à la maison. On pouvait ne pas se parler de la journée, ce n’était pas grave, je sentais sa présence, ça me suffisait. Étais-je si tordu ? Je ne sais pas. Je ne peux qu’essayer de mettre des mots sur mes sentiments. Et je peux affirmer maintenant ce que je sais depuis le début : je vis mal la séparation avec mes enfants. Elle me paraît normale, justifiée, humaine, biologique, tout ce que vous voulez, pourtant elle me fait mal. ~ David Foenkinos, #NFDB
292:Mon père suppliait du regard; il demandait encore une heur, encore quelques minutes, il avait encore quelque chose à me dire
-je demande que ton pardon me soit accordé... Après celui qui possède mon ame pourra l'emporter ou il veut, dans ses jardin fleuris, dans ses rivières paisibles, ou la jeter dans le cratère d'un volcan. mais avant, accorde-moi la grâce de l'oublie. c'est cela le pardon, tu es libre à présent.
va-t'en, quitte cette maison maudite, fais des voyages, vis!... vis! ... et ne retourne pas pour voir le désastre que je laisse. oublie et prends le temps de vivre...
oublie cette ville... en cette nuit j'ai su que ton déstin serais meilleurs que celui de toutes les femmes de ce pays.
je suis lucide, je n'invente rien. je vois ton visage auréollé d'une lumière extraordinaire. tu viens de naitre, cette nuit... tu es une femme... laisse ta beauté te guider. il n'y a plus rien à craindre. la nuit du destin te nome Zahra, enfant de l'éternité tu ees le temps qui se maintient dans le versant du silence... sur le sommet du feu ...parmi les arbres... c'est toi que je vois ma fille c'est toi qui me tend la main
Mon père suppliait du regard; il demandait encore une heur, encore quelques minutes, il avait encore quelque chose à me dire
-je demande que ton pardon me soit accordé... Après celui qui possède mon ame pourra l'emporter ou il veut, dans ses jardin fleuris, dans ses rivières paisibles, ou la jeter dans le cratère d'un volcan. mais avant, accorde-moi la grâce de l'oublie. c'est cela le pardon, tu es libre à présent.
va-t'en, quitte cette maison maudite, fais des voyages, vis!... vis! ... et ne retourne pas pour voir le désastre que je laisse. oublie et prends le temps de vivre...
oublie cette ville... en cette nuit j'ai su que ton déstin serais meilleurs que celui de toutes les femmes de ce pays.
je suis lucide, je n'invente rien. je vois ton visage auréollé d'une lumière extraordinaire. tu viens de naitre, cette nuit... tu es une femme... laisse ta beauté te guider. il n'y a plus rien à craindre. la nuit du destin te nome Zahra, enfant de l'éternité tu ees le temps qui se maintient dans le versant du silence... sur le sommet du feu ...parmi les arbres... c'est toi que je vois ma fille c'est toi qui me tend la main ~ Tahar Ben Jelloun,#NFDB
293:Yatima found verself gazing at a red-tinged cluster of pulsing organic parts, a translucent confusion of fluids and tissue. Sections divided, dissolved, reorganised. It looked like a flesher embryo – though not quite a realist portrait. The imaging technique kept changing, revealing different structures: Yatima saw hints of delicate limbs and organs caught in slices of transmitted dark; a stark silhouette of bones in an X-ray flash; the finely branched network of the nervous system bursting into view as a filigreed shadow, shrinking from myelin to lipids to a scatter of vesicled neurotransmitters against a radio-frequency MRI chirp.
There were two bodies now. Twins? One was larger, though – sometimes much larger. The two kept changing places, twisting around each other, shrinking or growing in stroboscopic leaps while the wavelengths of the image stuttered across the spectrum.
One flesher child was turning into a creature of glass, nerves and blood vessels vitrifying into optical fibres. A sudden, startling white-light image showed living, breathing Siamese twins, impossibly transected to expose raw pink and grey muscles working side by side with shape-memory alloys and piezoelectric actuators, flesher and gleisner anatomies interpenetrating. The scene spun and morphed into a lone robot child in a flesher's womb; spun again to show a luminous map of a citizen's mind embedded in the same woman's brain; zoomed out to place her, curled, in a cocoon of optical and electronic cables. Then a swarm of nanomachines burst through her skin, and everything scattered into a cloud of grey dust.
Two flesher children walked side by side, hand in hand. Or father and son, gleisner and flesher, citizen and gleisner... Yatima gave up trying to pin them down, and let the impressions flow through ver. The figures strode calmly along a city's main street, while towers rose and crumbled around them, jungle and desert advanced and retreated.
The artwork, unbidden, sent Yatima's viewpoint wheeling around the figures. Ve saw them exchanging glances, touches, kisses – and blows, awkwardly, their right arms fused at the wrists. Making peace and melting together. The smaller lifting the larger on to vis shoulders – then the passenger's height flowing down to the bearer like an hourglass's sand. ~ Greg Egan,#NFDB
294:Is power like the vis viva and the quantite d’avancement? That is, is it conserved by the universe, or is it like shares of a stock, which may have great value one day, and be worthless the next? If power is like stock shares, then it follows that the immense sum thereof lately lost by B[olingbroke] has vanished like shadows in sunlight. For no matter how much wealth is lost in stock crashes, it never seems to turn up, but if power is conserved, then B’s must have gone somewhere. Where is it? Some say ‘twas scooped up by my Lord R, who hid it under a rock, lest my Lord M come from across the sea and snatch it away. My friends among the Whigs say that any power lost by a Tory is infallibly and insensibly distributed among all the people, but no matter how assiduously I search the lower rooms of the clink for B’s lost power, I cannot seem to find any there, which explodes that argument, for there are assuredly very many people in those dark salons. I propose a novel theory of power, which is inspired by . . . the engine for raising water by fire. As a mill makes flour, a loom makes cloth and a forge makes steel, so we are assured this engine shall make power. If the backers of this device speak truly, and I have no reason to deprecate their honesty, it proves that power is not a conserved quantity, for of such quantities, it is never possible to make more. The amount of power in the world, it follows, is ever increasing, and the rate of increase grows ever faster as more of these engines are built. A man who hordes power is therefore like a miser who sits on a heap of coins in a realm where the currency is being continually debased by the production of more coins than the market can bear. So that what was a great fortune, when first he raked it together, insensibly becomes a slag heap, and is found to be devoid of value. When at last he takes it to the marketplace to be spent. Thus my Lord B and his vaunted power hoard what is true of him is likely to be true of his lackeys, particularly his most base and slavish followers such as Mr. Charles White. This varmint has asserted that he owns me. He fancies that to own a man is to have power, yet he has got nothing by claiming to own me, while I who was supposed to be rendered powerless, am now writing for a Grub Street newspaper that is being perused by you, esteemed reader. ~ Neal Stephenson, #NFDB
295:Le Verbe Être
Je connais le désespoir dans ses grandes lignes. Le désespoir n'a pas d'ailes, il ne
se tient pas nécessairement à une table desservie sur une terrasse, le soir, au
bord de la mer. C'est le désespoir et ce n'est pas le retour d'une quantité de
petits faits comme des graines qui quittent à la nuit tombante un sillon pour un
autre. Ce n'est pas la mousse sur une pierre ou le verre à boire. C'est un bateau
criblé de neige, si vous voulez, comme les oiseaux qui tombent et leur sang n'a
pas la moindre épaisseur. Je connais le désespoir dans ses grandes lignes. Une
forme très petite, délimitée par un bijou de cheveux. C'est le désespoir. Un collier
de perles pour lequel on ne saurait trouver de fermoir et dont l'existence ne tient
pas même à un fil, voilà le désespoir. Le reste, nous n'en parlons pas. Nous
n'avons pas fini de deséspérer, si nous commençons. Moi je désespère de l'abatjour vers quatre heures, je désespère de l'éventail vers minuit, je désespère de
la cigarette des condamnés. Je connais le désespoir dans ses grandes lignes. Le
désespoir n'a pas de coeur, la main reste toujours au désespoir hors d'haleine,
au désespoir dont les glaces ne nous disent jamais s'il est mort. Je vis de ce
désespoir qui m'enchante. J'aime cette mouche bleue qui vole dans le ciel à
l'heure où les étoiles chantonnent. Je connais dans ses grandes lignes le
désespoir aux longs étonnements grêles, le désespoir de la fierté, le désespoir de
la colère. Je me lève chaque jour comme tout le monde et je détends les bras sur
un papier à fleurs, je ne me souviens de rien, et c'est toujours avec désespoir
que je découvre les beaux arbres déracinés de la nuit. L'air de la chambre est
beau comme des baguettes de tambour. Il fait un temps de temps. Je connais le
désespoir dans ses grandes lignes. C'est comme le vent du rideau qui me tend la
perche. A-t-on idée d'un désespoir pareil! Au feu! Ah! ils vont encore venir... Et
les annonces de journal, et les réclames lumineuses le long du canal. Tas de
sable, espèce de tas de sable! Dans ses grandes lignes le désespoir n'a pas
d'importance. C'est une corvée d'arbres qui va encore faire une forêt, c'est une
corvée d'étoiles qui va encore faire un jour de moins, c'est une corvée de jours
de moins qui va encore faire ma vie.
~ Andre Breton,#NFDB
296:A Versailles
O Versaille, ô bois, ô portiques,
Marbres vivants, berceaux antiques,
Par les dieux et les rois Élysée embelli,
A ton aspect, dans ma pensée,
Comme sur l'herbe aride une fraîche rosée,
Coule un peu de calme et d'oubli.
Paris me semble un autre empire,
Dès que chez toi je vois sourire
Mes pénates secrets couronnés de rameaux,
D'où souvent les monts et les plaines
Vont dirigeant mes pas aux campagnes prochaines,
Sous de triples cintres d'ormeaux.
Les chars, les royales merveilles,
Des gardes les nocturnes veilles,
Tout a fui; des grandeurs tu n'es plus le séjour:
Mais le sommeil, la solitude,
Dieux jadis inconnus, et les arts, et l'étude,
Composent aujourd'hui ta cour.
Ah! malheureux! à ma jeunesse
Une oisive et morne paresse
Ne laisse plus goûter les studieux loisirs.
Mon âme, d'ennui consumée,
S'endort dans les langueurs. Louange et renommée
N'inquiètent plus mes désirs.
L'abandon, l'obscurité, l'ombre,
Une paix taciturne et sombre,
Voilà tous mes souhaits: cache mes tristes jours,
Et nourris, s'il faut que je vive,
De mon pâle flambeau la clarté fugitive
Aux douces chimères d'amours.
L'âme n'est point encor flétrie,
La vie encor n'est point tarie,
Quand un regard nous trouble et le coeur et la voix
Qui cherche les pas d'une belle,
16
Qui peut ou s'égayer ou gémir auprès d'elle,
De ses jours peut porter le poids.
J'aime; je vis. Heureux rivage!
Tu conserves sa noble image,
Son nom, qu'à tes forêts j'ose apprendre le soir,
Quand, l'âme doucement émue,
J'y reviens méditer l'instant où je l'ai vue,
Et l'instant où je dois la voir.
Pour elle seule encore abonde
Cette source, jadis féconde,
Qui coulait de ma bouche en sons harmonieux.
Sur mes lèvres tes bosquets sombres
Forment pour elle encor ces poétiques nombres,
Langage d'amour et des dieux.
Ah! témoin des succès du crime,
Si l'homme juste et magnanime
Pouvait ouvrir son coeur à la félicité,
Versailles, tes routes fleuries,
Ton silence, fertile en belles rêveries,
N'auraient que joie et volupté.
Mais souvent tes vallons tranquilles,
Tes sommets verts, tes frais asiles,
Tout à coup à mes yeux s'enveloppent de deuil.
J'y vois errer l'ombre livide
D'un peuple d'innocents qu'un tribunal perfide
Précipite dans le cercueil.
~ Andre Marie de Chenier,#NFDB
297:Kūnas sudarytas iš penkių skandų: pavidalo, jausmų, suvokimo, valios ir sąmonės.
Pavidalas yra fizinis kūnas.
Jausmai - tai kūno gėrio ir blogio, tiesos ir melo, liūdesio ir džiaugsmo, skausmo ir malonumo supratimas.
Suvokimas reiškia pomėgius. Tai neapykanta blogiui, gėrio troškimas, bėgimas nuo liūdesio, džiaugsmo viltis, skausmo vengimas ir malonumo troškimas.
Valia reiškia kūno valdymą atsižvelgiant į jausmus ir nuovokas - nekenčiant skausmo patirti malonumą, nekenčiant blogio daryti gera.
Sąmonė yra juslė, kuri atsirenka, kas yra gera, o kas bloga, teisinga ar neteisinga, kas yra skausmas ar malonumas, džiaugsmas ar liūdesys. Klausydami sąmonės sužinome, jog blogis yra blogis, gėris - gėris, skausmas - skausmas, o malonumas - malonumas.
Dėl to, jog pasąmonė atrinkinėja ir formuoja nusistatymus, ji bjaurisi blogiu ir gėrisi grožiu, o pagal šias nuostatas veikia fizinis kūnas.
Todėl, kad egzistuoja fizinis kūnas, yra ir jausmai.
Dėl to, kad yra jausmai, yra ir suvokimas.
Suvokimas savo buvimu leidžia veikti valiai.
Ir todėl, kad veikia valia, yra ir sąmonė.
Turėdami sąmonę mes skiriame blogį nuo gėrio, teisybę nuo neteisybės, bjaurumą nuo grožio. Šie dalykai kyla dėl priėmimo ir atmetimo, kaip iš minties kyla fizinis kūnas. Tai lyg saulė ar mėnulis, atsispindintys vandens inde. Buda paaiškino, jog "Pavidalas - tai atsakas medžiaginiam pasauliui, tai lyg mėnulio atspindys vandenyje." (Iš Aukso šviesos sutros: "Budos kūnas lyg tuštuma, pavidalas - tai atsakas medžiaginiam pasauliui, tai lyg mėnulio atspindys vandenyje.")
Pavidalas, jausmai, suvokimas, valia ir sąmonė - nuo pavidalo iki sąmonės ir vėl atgal iki pavidalo - tai Penkių skandų jungtis, pagal Dvylikos sąsajų tėkmę gyvybės grandinėje. Kūno atsiradimas prasideda nuo vienintelės minties mūsų sąmonėje. (Dvylika sąsajų egzistencijos grandinėje - neišmanymas, veiksmas, sąmonė, pavadinimas ir forma, šešių pojūčių organai, sąlytis, pojūtis, troškimas, prisirišimas, egzistencija, gimimas, senatvė ir mirtis. Pradedant neišmanymu, kiekviena sąsaja veda į kitą, tad jei pašalintume neišmanymą, senatvė ir mirtis niekada neateitų. Taip pat tai vadinama priežasčių grandine.)
Sąmonė vis dėlto irgi yra geismas. Šis geismas, ši sąmonė, leidžia atsirasti kūnui. Kūnas yra tas kažkas, sutvirtintas aistros. Kai vienintelis plaukas nukrenta nuo galvos, kyla mintys, pilnos troškimų. Kai paliečiamas tik piršto galiukas, geismo mintys irgi kyla. Net kai paliečiamas kojos piršto nagas, kyla mintys, kupinos geismų. Visas kūnas sujungtas aistros. ~ Takuan Soho,#NFDB
298:Non Es Meravelha S'Eu Chan
Non es meravelha s'eu chan
melhs de nul autre chantador,
que plus me tra.l cors vas amor
el melhs sui faihz a so coman.
Cor e cors e saber e sen
e fors' e poder i ai mes.
Si.m tira vas amor lo fres
que vas autra part no.m aten.
Cant eu la vei, be m'es parven
als olhs, al vis, a la color
car aissi tremble de paor
com fa la folha contra.l ven.
Non ai de sen per un efan
aissi sui d'amor entrepres;
e d'ome qu'es aissi conques
pot domn'aver almorna gran.
Ai Deus! car se fosson trian
d'entrels faus li fin amador,
lauzenger trichador
portesson corns el fron denan!
Tot l'aur del mon e tot l'argen
i volgr'aver dat, s'eu l'agues,
sol que ma domna conogues
aissi com eu l'am finamen.
Bona domna, re deman
mas que.m prendatz per servidor,
qu' servirai com bo senhor,
cossi que del gazardo m'an.
m'al vostre comandamen,
francs cors umils, gais e cortes
Ors ni leos non etz vos ges
que.m aucizatz, s'a vos me ren.
A Mo Cortes, lai on ilh es,
tramet lo vers, e ja pes
car n'ai estat tan lonjamen.
21
English
(It's no wonder that I sing better than any other singer,
for I am the one whose heart is most strongly drawn towards love,
and the most obedient to Love's law.
Heart and body, intellect and instinct,
strength and power, all these have I engaged.
And the bridle steers me so strongly to love that I
pay no attention to anthing else.
When see her, it's visible in my eyes,
my face, my color,
because I tremble with fear like a leaf in the wind.
I have no more sense than a babe,
so dominated am I by love;
and for a man so vanquished,
a lady should have great sollicitude.
Oh, God! If it were only possible
to separate out the true lovers and the false;
and if the flatterers and cheats only wore horns
in the middle of their foreheads.
All the gold in the world, all the silver,
if I had them, I would give them away,
so that my lady could see how truly I love her.
Good Lady, I ask you nothing else but
that you take me as your servant,
so that I could serve you as a good master,
whatever my reward may be.
You see me here at your orders,
you who are honest and humble,
cheerful and courtly.
You are neither a lion nor a bear,
who would kill me if I gave myself to you.
To my Courtly One, where she is, I send this verse, and may it not weigh that
am so far distant.)
22
~ Bernard de Ventadorn,#NFDB
299:Hij hield extreem veel van zijn echtgenote. Hij hield, met andere woorden, te veel van die ene vrouw. Dat ze op jonge leeftijd overleed zag hij dan ook als de wraak des hemels voor die liefde. een andere verklaring voor haar dood had hij niet.
Na het overlijden van zijn echtgenote hield hij zich ver van alle vrouwen. Hij nam niet eens een meid in huis. Het koken en poetsen liet hij over aan een man. Dit deed hij niet omdat hij alle andere vrouwen haatte. Het was omdat die vrouwen allemaal leken op zijn echtgenote. Zo rook bijvoorbeeld iedere vrouw net als zij naar vis. En, overtuigd dat ook dit de wraak des hemels was omdat hij te veel van zijn vrouw had gehouden, vond hij berusting in het feit dat hij het moest stellen zonder vrouw in zijn leven.
Maar in zijn huis was één vrouw aanwezig om wie hij niet heen kon. Hij had een dochter. Uiteraard leek zij meer dan welke andere vrouw ook ter wereld op zijn overleden echtgenote.
De dochter zat inmiddels op de hogere middelbare meisjesschool.
Midden in de nacht ging het licht aan in haar kamer. Hij gluurde door een kier in de schuifdeuren. Het meisje hield een kleine schaar vast. Terwijl ze haar opgetrokken knieën uit elkaar spreidde en langdurig omlaag tuurde, hanteerde ze de schaar. De volgende dag, nadat zijn dochter naar school was vertrokken, staarde hij stiekem naar de witte bladen van de schaar en hij kreeg koude rillingen.
Weer ging midden in de nacht het licht aan in de kamer van zijn dochter. Hij gluurde door de kier in de schuifdeuren. Ze griste een witte doek van de vloer, klemde hem in haar armen en liep de kamer uit. Hij hoorde water uit de kraan stromen. Even later stak zijn dochter het vuur van het komfoor aan, legde de witte doek erop en ging afwezig zitten. Daarop begon ze te huilen. Toen ze ophield met huilen, knipte ze haar nagels boven de doek. Op het moment dat ze de doek wegnam vielen die er kennelijk af, want hij rook de misselijkmakende geur van brandende nagels.
Hij had een droom. Daarin vertelde zijn overleden echtgenote aan hun dochter dat hij haar geheim had gezien.
Sindsdien keek zijn dochter hem niet meer aan. Hij hield niet van zijn dochter. De gedachte dat een man op zijn beurt de wraak des hemels zou ondergaan vanwege zijn liefde voor haar, deed hem huiveren.
Op een nacht richtte zijn dochter uiteindelijk een dolk op zijn keel terwijl hij sliep. Hij wist dat. Hij berustte erin dat het de wraak des hemels was, omdat hij tot het uiterste van zijn echtgenote had gehouden en te veel had gehouden van die ene vrouw, en hij hield rustig zijn ogen gesloten. Hij voelde dat zijn dochter het had gemunt op de vijand van haar moeder, en hij wachtte op het mes. ~ Yasunari Kawabata,#NFDB
300:Le jour où je me suis aimé pour de vrai,
J’ai compris qu'en toutes circonstances,
J’étais à la bonne place, au bon moment.
Et alors, j'ai pu me relaxer.
Aujourd'hui je sais que cela s'appelle...
l'Estime de soi.
Le jour où je me suis aimé pour de vrai,
J’ai pu percevoir que mon anxiété et ma souffrance émotionnelle
N’étaient rien d'autre qu'un signal
Lorsque je vais à l'encontre de mes convictions.
Aujourd'hui je sais que cela s'appelle... l'Authenticité.
Le jour où je me suis aimé pour de vrai,
J'ai cessé de vouloir une vie différente
Et j'ai commencé à voir que tout ce qui m'arrive
Contribue à ma croissance personnelle.
Aujourd'hui, je sais que cela s'appelle... la Maturité.
Le jour où je me suis aimé pour de vrai,
J’ai commencé à percevoir l'abus
Dans le fait de forcer une situation ou une personne,
Dans le seul but d'obtenir ce que je veux,
Sachant très bien que ni la personne ni moi-même
Ne sommes prêts et que ce n'est pas le moment...
Aujourd'hui, je sais que cela s'appelle... le Respect.
Le jour où je me suis aimé pour de vrai,
J’ai commencé à me libérer de tout ce qui n'était pas salutaire, personnes,
situations, tout ce qui baissait mon énergie.
Au début, ma raison appelait cela de l'égoïsme.
Aujourd'hui, je sais que cela s'appelle... l'Amour propre.
Le jour où je me suis aimé pour de vrai,
J’ai cessé d'avoir peur du temps libre
Et j'ai arrêté de faire de grands plans,
J’ai abandonné les méga-projets du futur.
Aujourd'hui, je fais ce qui est correct, ce que j'aime
Quand cela me plait et à mon rythme.
Aujourd'hui, je sais que cela s'appelle... la Simplicité.
Le jour où je me suis aimé pour de vrai,
J’ai cessé de chercher à avoir toujours raison,
Et je me suis rendu compte de toutes les fois où je me suis trompé.
Aujourd'hui, j'ai découvert ... l'Humilité.
Le jour où je me suis aimé pour de vrai,
J’ai cessé de revivre le passé
Et de me préoccuper de l'avenir.
Aujourd'hui, je vis au présent,
Là où toute la vie se passe.
Aujourd'hui, je vis une seule journée à la fois.
Et cela s'appelle... la Plénitude.
Le jour où je me suis aimé pour de vrai,
J’ai compris que ma tête pouvait me tromper et me décevoir.
Mais si je la mets au service de mon coeur,
Elle devient une alliée très précieuse !
Tout ceci, c'est... le Savoir vivre.
Nous ne devons pas avoir peur de nous confronter.
Du chaos naissent les étoiles. ~ Charlie Chaplin,#NFDB
301:Elégies
c' était un soir de grâce et de mansuétude
où l' amour sur les yeux baise la solitude.
Dans l' ombre, une idéale haleine de printemps
passait, comme un soupir, sous les manteaux flottants.
De jardins en jardins ici la ville bleue
au fond du crépuscule expirait en banlieue…
la pluie intermittente et tiède des beaux soirs
avait légèrement mouillé les pavés noirs.
L' avenue était sombre, odorante, et déserte…
les bras nus, et sa robe à la brise entr' ouverte,
la nuit pâle, en rêvant, respirait des lilas;
et la terre était douce et fondait sous les pas.
Jetant vers le voyage un appel symbolique,
parfois un train lointain sifflait, mélancolique;
et des ombres passaient, lentes et parlant bas,
pendant que les grands chiens pleuraient dans les villas.
Soudain d' un pavillon, qu' entourait le mystère,
j' entendis s' élever une voix solitaire
qui vibrait dans le soir comme un beau violon;
et, me penchant un peu, dans un noble salon
où flottait un passé d' Eloas et d' Elvires,
je vis, à la lueur vacillante des cires,
un visage de marbre avec de lourds bandeaux,
et de grands yeux brillants de larmes aux flambeaux.
Anxieux, j' écoutai: la voix ardente et sombre
s' en allait si blessée, et si triste dans l' ombre,
oh ! Si divinement triste, que l' on eût dit
une larme sur le visage de la nuit!…
jamais rien n' atteindra, pour émouvoir notre âme,
le charme surhumain de la voix d' une femme
qui, sur l' ivoire pâle où flotte son bras nu,
raconte au vent nocturne un amour inconnu…
quel secret disiez-vous, et quel mal sans remède,
larges gouttes d' amour tombant dans la nuit tiède,
sanglots d' un coeur que rien ne peut plus contenir,
et qui cède, chargé de trop de souvenir!
L' âme de l' inconnue expirait sur sa lèvre;
ses yeux, ses grands yeux noirs charbonnés par la fièvre
exagéraient encor sa hautaine pâleur;
23
et sa voix, qui semblait faite pour la douleur
exhalait toute, avec ses cordes épuisées,
l' infini de douceur qu' ont les choses brisées…
je l' écoutais, mêlée à l' odeur des jardins,
au grand silence ému de roulements lointains,
aux diamants de l' ombre, aux brises moelleuses,
au ciel tendre où coulait le lait des nébuleuses,
et je sentais, saisi d' un trouble grandissant,
par degrés s' en aller vers elle, en frémissant,
tout ce qui flotte en nous par de telles soirées
de tendresse ineffable et de pitiés sacrées.
ô toi qui, ce soir-là, répandais ton ennui
comme une essence d' or sur les pieds de la nuit,
qui te dira jamais qu' à tes côtés, perdue,
mon âme t' adorait pour ta plainte entendue,
et, parmi l' ombre douce et les lilas en fleur,
appuyait, en tremblant, ses lèvres sur ton coeur.
~ Albert Samain,#NFDB
302:L’homme est le seul être, dans le monde terrestre, à pouvoir se purifier consciemment des taches de son existence, et c’est pour cela qu’il est dit que « l’homme est le seul animal qui sacrifie » (Shatapatha-Brâhmana, VII, 5) ; en d’autres termes, la vie étant un don du Créateur, les êtres conscients et responsables doivent, afin de réaliser spirituellement le sens de ce don en se référant à sa qualité symbolique, et afin de rendre ce don, par là même, plus prospère et plus durable, sacrifier au Créateur une partie de ce qu’il a donné. Ce sacrifice peut avoir des formes soit sanglantes, soit non sanglantes : ainsi, pour ne citer que ces exemples parmi une multitude d’autres, les Hindous, comme beaucoup de peuples, ne mangent qu’après avoir offert une part aux divinités, de sorte qu’ils ne se nourrissent au fond que de restes sacrificiels ; de même encore, les Musulmans et les Juifs versent tout le sang de la viande destinée à la consommation. Dans un sens analogue, les guerriers de certaines tribus de l’Amérique du Nord sacrifiaient, au moment de leur initiation guerrière, un doigt au « Grand- Esprit » ; il est à retenir que les doigts sont sous un certain rapport ce qu’il y a de plus précieux pour le guerrier, homme d’action, et d’autre part, le fait que l’on possède dix doigts et que l’on en sacrifie un, c’est-à-dire un dixième de ce qui représente notre activité, est fort significatif, d’abord parce que le nombre dix est celui du cycle accompli ou entièrement réalisé, et ensuite à cause de l’analogie qui existe entre le sacrifice dont nous venons de parler et la dîme (décima, dixième).
Celle-ci est du reste l’équivalent exact de la zakkât musulmane, l’aumône ordonnée par la Loi qoranique : afin de conserver et d’augmenter les biens, on empêche le cycle de prospérité de se fermer et cela en sacrifiant le dixième, c’est-à-dire la partie qui constituerait précisément l’achèvement et la fin du cycle. Le mot zakkât a le double sens de « purification » et de « croissance », termes dont le rapport étroit apparaît très nettement dans l’exemple de la taille des plantes ; ce mot zakkât vient étymologiquement du verbe zakâ qui veut dire « prospérer » ou « purifier », ou encore, dans une autre acception, « lever » ou « payer » la contribution sacrée, ou encore « augmenter ». Rappelons aussi, dans cet ordre d’idées, l’expression arabe dîn, qui signifie non seulement « tradition », selon l’acception la plus courante, mais aussi « jugement », et, avec une voyellisation un peu différente qui fait que le mot se prononce alors dayn, « dette » ; ici encore, les sens respectifs du mot se tiennent, la tradition étant considérée comme la dette de l’homme vis-à-vis de Dieu ; et le « Jour du Jugement » (Yawm ed-Dîn) — « Jour » dont Allâh est appelé le « Roi » (Mâlik) — n’est autre que le jour du « paiement de la dette » de l’individu envers Celui à qui il doit tout et qui est son ultime raison suffisante. ~ Frithjof Schuon,#NFDB
303:Galileo found that a ball rolling down an incline acquires just enough velocity to return it to the same vertical height on a second incline of any slope, and he learned to see that experimental situation as like the pendulum with a point-mass for a bob. Huyghens then solved the problem of the center of oscillation of a physical pendulum by imagining that the extended body of the latter was composed of Galilean point-pendula, the bonds between which could be instantaneously released at any point in the swing. After the bonds were released, the individual point-pendula would swing freely, but their collective center of gravity when each attained its highest point would, like that of Galileo's pendulum, rise only to the height from which the center of gravity of the extended pendulum had begun to fall. Finally, Daniel Bernoulli discovered how to make the flow of water from an orifice resemble Huyghens' pendulum. Determine the descent of the center of gravity of the water in tank and jet during an infinitesimal interval of time. Next imagine that each particle of water afterward moves separately upward to the maximum height attainable with the velocity acquired during that interval. The ascent of the center of gravity of the individual particles must then equal the descent of the center of gravity of the water in tank and jet. From that view of the problem the long-sought speed of efflux followed at once.
That example should begin to make clear what I mean by learning from problems to see situations as like each other, as subjects for the application of the same scientific law or law-sketch. Simultaneously it should show why I refer to the consequential knowledge of nature acquired while learning the similarity relationship and thereafter embodied in a way of viewing physical situations rather than in rules or laws. The three problems in the example, all of them exemplars for eighteenth-century mechanicians, deploy only one law of nature. Known as the Principle of vis viva, it was usually stated as: "Actual descent equals potential ascent." Bernoulli's application of the law should suggest how consequential it was. Yet the verbal statement of the law, taken by itself, is virtually impotent. Present it to a contemporary student of physics, who knows the words and can do all these problems but now employs different means. Then imagine what the words, though all well known, can have said to a man who did not know even the problems. For him the generalization could begin to function only when he learned to recognize "actual descents" and "potential ascents" as ingredients of nature, and that is to learn something, prior to the law, about the situations that nature does and does not present. That sort of learning is not acquired by exclusively verbal means. Rather it comes as one is given words together with concrete examples of how they function in use; nature and words are learned together. TO borrow once more Michael Polanyi's useful phrase, what results from this process is "tacit knowledge" which is learned by doing science rather than by acquiring rules for doing it. ~ Thomas S Kuhn,#NFDB
304:In the absence of expert [senior military] advice, we have seen each successive administration fail in the business of strategy - yielding a United States twice as rich as the Soviet Union but much less strong. Only the manner of the failure has changed. In the 1960s, under Robert S. McNamara, we witnessed the wholesale substitution of civilian mathematical analysis for military expertise. The new breed of the "systems analysts" introduced new standards of intellectual discipline and greatly improved bookkeeping methods, but also a trained incapacity to understand the most important aspects of military power, which happens to be nonmeasurable. Because morale is nonmeasurable it was ignored, in large and small ways, with disastrous effects. We have seen how the pursuit of business-type efficiency in the placement of each soldier destroys the cohesion that makes fighting units effective; we may recall how the Pueblo was left virtually disarmed when it encountered the North Koreans (strong armament was judged as not "cost effective" for ships of that kind). Because tactics, the operational art of war, and strategy itself are not reducible to precise numbers, money was allocated to forces and single weapons according to "firepower" scores, computer simulations, and mathematical studies - all of which maximize efficiency - but often at the expense of combat effectiveness.
An even greater defect of the McNamara approach to military decisions was its businesslike "linear" logic, which is right for commerce or engineering but almost always fails in the realm of strategy. Because its essence is the clash of antagonistic and outmaneuvering wills, strategy usually proceeds by paradox rather than conventional "linear" logic. That much is clear even from the most shopworn of Latin tags: si vis pacem, para bellum (if you want peace, prepare for war), whose business equivalent would be orders of "if you want sales, add to your purchasing staff," or some other, equally absurd advice. Where paradox rules, straightforward linear logic is self-defeating, sometimes quite literally. Let a general choose the best path for his advance, the shortest and best-roaded, and it then becomes the worst path of all paths, because the enemy will await him there in greatest strength...
Linear logic is all very well in commerce and engineering, where there is lively opposition, to be sure, but no open-ended scope for maneuver; a competitor beaten in the marketplace will not bomb our factory instead, and the river duly bridged will not deliberately carve out a new course. But such reactions are merely normal in strategy. Military men are not trained in paradoxical thinking, but they do no have to be. Unlike the business-school expert, who searches for optimal solutions in the abstract and then presents them will all the authority of charts and computer printouts, even the most ordinary military mind can recall the existence of a maneuvering antagonists now and then, and will therefore seek robust solutions rather than "best" solutions - those, in other words, which are not optimal but can remain adequate even when the enemy reacts to outmaneuver the first approach. ~ Edward N Luttwak,#NFDB
305:The Meeting Of The Centuries
A CURIOUS vision, on mine eyes unfurled
In the deep night. I saw, or seemed to see,
Two Centuries meet, and sit down vis-a-vis,
Across the great round table of the world.
One with suggested sorrows in his mien
And on his brow the furrowed lines of thought.
And one whose glad expectant presence brought
A glow and radiance from the realms unseen.
Hand clasped with hand, in silence for a space,
The Centuries sat; the sad old eyes of one
(As grave paternal eyes regard a son)
Gazing upon that other eager face.
And then a voice, as cadenceless and gray
As the sea's monody in winter time,
Mingled with tones melodious, as the chime
Of bird choirs, singing in the dawns of May.
THE OLD CENTURY SPEAKS:
By you, Hope stands. With me, Experience walks.
Like a fair jewel in a faded box,
In my tear-rusted heart, sweet pity lies.
For all the dreams that look forth from your eyes,
And those bright-hued ambitions, which I know
Must fall like leaves and perish in Time's snow,
(Even as my soul's garden stands bereft,)
I give you pity! 'tis the one gift left.
THE NEW CENTURY:
Nay, nay, good friend! not pity, but Godspeed,
Here in the morning of my life I need.
Counsel, and not condolence; smiles, not tears,
To guide me through the channels of the years.
Oh, I am blinded by the blaze of light
That shines upon me from the Infinite.
Blurred is my vision by the close approach
To unseen shores, whereon the times encroach.
634
THE OLD CENTURY:
Illusion, all illusion. List and hear
The Godless cannons, booming far and near.
Flaunting the flag of Unbelief, with Greed
For pilot, lo! the pirate age in speed
Bears on to ruin. War's most hideous crimes
Besmirch the record of these modern times.
Degenerate is the world I leave to you, -My happiest speech to earth will be -- adieu.
THE NEW CENTURY:
You speak as one too weary to be just.
I hear the guns-I see the greed and lust.
The death throes of a giant evil fill
The air with riot and confusion. Ill
Ofttimes makes fallow ground for Good; and Wrong
Builds Right's foundation, when it grows too strong.
Pregnant with promise is the hour, and grand
The trust you leave in my all-willing hand.
THE OLD CENTURY:
As one who throws a flickering taper's ray
To light departing feet, my shadowed way
You brighten with your faith. Faith makes the man.
Alas, that my poor foolish age outran
Its early trust in God. The death of art
And progress follows, when the world's hard heart
Casts out religion. 'Tis the human brain
Men worship now, and heaven, to them, means gain.
THE NEW CENTURY:
Faith is not dead, tho' priest and creed may pass,
For thought has leavened the whole unthinking mass.
And man looks now to find the God within.
We shall talk more of love, and less of sin,
In this new era. We are drawing near
Unatlassed boundaries of a larger sphere.
With awe, I wait, till Science leads us on,
635
Into the full effulgence of its dawn.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox,#NFDB
306:Forever
Forever some customer happy to sing along with the supermarket muzak, no
matter how hackneyed or crass.
Forever the plangent sound of a motorcycle in the early hours, conjuring a world
you once had access to.
Forever the young couple shutting the front door, leaving to conjecture what
their next move may be.
Forever the van driver slowing down to check a house number against a delivery
invoice.
Forever an old boy on a rickety bike with a loyal following of one terrier-type
mongrel.
Forever the husband skulking outside the boutique while his wife seeks approval
from a mirror.
Forever the kind who believe in God (a little) and horoscopes (a lot) and cannot
resist a buy-one-get-one offer.
Forever those with a lump in the throat at every reconciliation scene, the theme
music’s pathos never failing to work its way straight to the left atrium of the
heart.
Forever the cleaning woman tapping the pub window with a coin and the
helmeted courier leaning his gob to the intercom.
Forever a caller so long on hold she wonders should she redial and brave the
bossy touch-tone menu again.
Forever a youngster hacking the grass with bat or stick in what serves as a green
space near the housing estate.
Forever, stopped in her tracks at One Hour Photo, a student smiling indulgently
at her recent past.
Forever the secretary sprinting with franked mail to the post office, minutes
before the closing curtain of steel shutters falls.
Forever, from an adjacent window, the commentator’s animated voice as the ball
approaches the goal area and lands I don’t believe it ... barely wide.
Forever the widower turning up a Viennese polka on the Sunday morning
programme and scribbling Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra on a phone bill.
Forever the girl upending the nearly-empty crisp packet and savouring life to the
full, to the last salty cheese-and-onion flavoured crumb.
Forever the old ladies who smile at babies like politicians and suspect the meter
reader may not really be the meter reader.
Forever a freckled builder in high-vis jacket swinging his lunch-bag as he clocks
in at the chipboard hoarding.
Forever the teenagers who can’t pass up a hat display without trying on
preposterous headgear in a department store.
Forever the tall schoolboy with pony tail and full-length leather coat. And forever
the small one, pate shaved almost bald, nursing a cigarette like a sore finger.
Forever the sort who texts a request for her boyfriend to the lunchtime show then throws in a greeting to her aunt and uncle, just for the heck.
Forever the thickset woman, dragging a shopping trolley, who pauses to rub a
lottery scratch card like Aladdin’s lamp.
Forever the exasperated mother - hatchback open, hazards flashing, eyes peeled
for the traffic police - while her son, packing the drum kit, plays it cool.
Forever the laughter fading, a dropped coin spinning to a wobbly stop.
Forever life heading about its business in places vaguely familiar like an exweatherwoman’s face, a New Zealand premier’s name.
Forever. And ever. All going well.
~ Dennis O'Driscoll,#NFDB
307:Augmentez la dose de sports pour chacun, développez l'esprit d'équipe, de compétition, et le besoin de penser est éliminé, non ? Organiser, organisez, super-organisez des super-super-sports. Multipliez les bandes dessinées, les films; l'esprit a de moins en moins d'appétits. L'impatience, les autos-trades sillonnées de foules qui sont ici, là, partout, nulle part. Les réfugiés du volant. Les villes se transforment en auberges routières; les hommes se déplacent comme des nomades suivant les phases de la lune, couchant ce soir dans la chambre où tu dormais à midi et moi la veille. (1re partie)
On vit dans l'immédiat. Seul compte le boulot et après le travail l'embarras du choix en fait de distractions. Pourquoi apprendre quoi que ce soit sinon à presser les boutons, brancher des commutateurs, serrer des vis et des écrous ?
Nous n'avons pas besoin qu'on nous laisse tranquilles. Nous avons besoin d'être sérieusement tracassés de temps à autre. Il y a combien de temps que tu n'as pas été tracassée sérieusement ? Pour une raison importante je veux dire, une raison valable ?
- Tu dois bien comprendre que notre civilisation est si vaste que nous ne pouvons nous permettre d'inquiéter ou de déranger nos minorités. Pose-toi la question toi-même. Que recherchons-nous, par-dessus tout, dans ce pays ? Les gens veulent être heureux, d'accord ? Ne l'as-tu pas entendu répéter toute la vie ? Je veux être heureux, déclare chacun. Eh bien, sont-ils heureux ? Ne veillons-nous pas à ce qu'ils soient toujours en mouvement, toujours distraits ? Nous ne vivons que pour ça, c'est bien ton avis ? Pour le plaisir, pour l'excitation. Et tu dois admettre que notre civilisation fournit l'un et l'autre à satiété.
Si le gouvernement est inefficace, tyrannique, vous écrase d'impôts, peu importe tant que les gens n'en savent rien. La paix, Montag. Instituer des concours dont les prix supposent la mémoire des paroles de chansons à la mode, des noms de capitales d'État ou du nombre de quintaux de maïs récoltés dans l'Iowa l'année précédente. Gavez les hommes de données inoffensives, incombustibles, qu'ils se sentent bourrés de "faits" à éclater, renseignés sur tout. Ensuite, ils s'imagineront qu'ils pensent, ils auront le sentiment du mouvement, tout en piétinant. Et ils seront heureux, parce que les connaissances de ce genre sont immuables. Ne les engagez pas sur des terrains glissants comme la philosophie ou la sociologie à quoi confronter leur expérience. C'est la source de tous les tourments. Tout homme capable de démonter un écran mural de télévision et de le remonter et, de nos jours ils le sont à peu près tous, est bien plus heureux que celui qui essais de mesurer, d'étalonner, de mettre en équations l'univers ce qui ne peut se faire sans que l'homme prenne conscience de son infériorité et de sa solitude.
Nous sommes les joyeux drilles, les boute-en-train, toi, moi et les autres. Nous faisons front contre la marée de ceux qui veulent plonger le monde dans la désolation en suscitant le conflit entre la théorie et la pensée. Nous avons les doigts accrochés au parapet. Tenons bon. Ne laissons pas le torrent de la mélancolie et de la triste philosophie noyer notre monde. Nous comptons sur toi. Je ne crois pas que tu te rendes compte de ton importance, de notre importance pour protéger l'optimisme de notre monde actuel. ~ Ray Bradbury,#NFDB
308:TOUZENBACH
Si vous voulez. De quoi parlerons-nous ?
VERCHININE
De quoi ? Rêvons ensemble... par exemple de la vie telle qu’elle sera après nous, dans deux ou trois cents ans.
TOUZENBACH
Eh bien, après nous on s’envolera en ballon, on changera la coupe des vestons, on découvrira peut-être un sixième sens, qu’on développera, mais la vie restera la même, un vie difficile, pleine de mystère, et heureuse. Et dans mille ans, l’homme soupirera comme aujourd’hui : « Ah ! qu’il est difficile de vivre ! » Et il aura toujours peur de la mort et ne voudra pas mourir.
VERCHININE, après avoir réfléchi.
Comment vous expliquer ? Il me semble que tout va se transformer peu à peu, que le changement s’accomplit déjà, sous nos yeux. Dans deux ou trois cents ans, dans mille ans peut-être, peu importe le délai, s’établira une vie nouvelle, heureuse. Bien sûr, nous ne serons plus là, mais c’est pour cela que nous vivons, travaillons, souffrons enfin, c’est nous qui la créons, c’est même le seul but de notre existence, et si vous voulez, de notre bonheur.
Macha rit doucement.
TOUZENBACH
Pourquoi riez-vous ?
MACHA
Je ne sais pas. Je ris depuis ce matin.
VERCHININE
J’ai fait les mêmes études que vous, je n’ai pas été à l’Académie militaire. Je lis beaucoup, mais je ne sais pas choisir mes lectures, peut-être devrais-je lire tout autre chose ; et cependant, plus je vis, plus j’ai envie de savoir. Mes cheveux blanchissent, bientôt je serai vieux, et je ne sais que peu, oh ! très peu de chose. Pourtant, il me semble que je sais l’essentiel, et que je le sais avec certitude. Comme je voudrais vous prouver qu’il n’y a pas, qu’il ne doit pas y avoir de bonheur pour nous, que nous ne le connaîtrons jamais... Pour nous, il n’y a que le travail, rien que le travail, le bonheur, il sera pour nos lointains descendants. (Un temps.) Le bonheur n’est pas pour moi, mais pour les enfants de mes enfants.
TOUZENBACH
Alors, d’après vous, il ne faut même pas rêver au bonheur ? Mais si je suis heureux ?
VERCHININE
Non.
TOUZENBACH, joignant les mains et riant.
Visiblement, nous ne nous comprenons pas. Comment vous convaincre ? (Macha rit doucement. Il lui montre son index.) Eh bien, riez ! (À Verchinine :) Non seulement dans deux ou trois cents ans, mais dans un million d’années, la vie sera encore la même ; elle ne change pas, elle est immuable, conforme à ses propres lois, qui ne nous concernent pas, ou dont nous ne saurons jamais rien. Les oiseaux migrateurs, les cigognes, par exemple, doivent voler, et quelles que soient les pensées, sublimes ou insignifiantes, qui leur passent par la tête, elles volent sans relâche, sans savoir pourquoi, ni où elles vont. Elles volent et voleront, quels que soient les philosophes qu’il pourrait y avoir parmi elles ; elles peuvent toujours philosopher, si ça les amuse, pourvu qu’elles volent...
MACHA
Tout de même, quel est le sens de tout cela ?
TOUZENBACH
Le sens... Voilà, il neige. Où est le sens ?
MACHA
Il me semble que l’homme doit avoir une foi, du moins en chercher une, sinon sa vie est complètement vide... Vivre et ignorer pourquoi les cigognes volent, pourquoi les enfants naissent, pourquoi il y a des étoiles au ciel... Il faut savoir pourquoi l’on vit, ou alors tout n’est que balivernes et foutaises.
Comme dit Gogol : « Il est ennuyeux de vivre en ce monde, messieurs. » ~ Anton Chekhov,#NFDB
309:Cea mai minunată femeie din lume este cea care te iubeşte cu adevărat şi pe care-o iubeşti cu adevărat. Nimic altceva nu contează. Odată, pe vremea liceului, umblam pe bulevard cu un prieten, doi puşti zăluzi şi frustraţi care dădeau note «gagicilor» şi vorbeau cu atât mai scabros cu cât erau, de fapt, mai inocenţi erotic. Ce fund are una, ce balcoane are alta... Femeile nu erau nimic altceva pentru noi decât nişte obiecte de lux, ca automobilele lustruite din vitrinele magazinelor «Volvo» sau «Maserati»: nu ne imaginam cu adevărat că vom avea şi noi una vreodată. Prin dreptul cinematografului Patria am zărit o tipă trăznitoare. Am rămas înlemniţi: ce pulpe în ciorapi de plasă neagră, ce fund rotund şi ce mijloc subţire, ce ţoale pe ea, ce plete de sârmă roşie, răsucită în mii de feluri... Ne-am învârtit în jurul ei ca s-o vedem şi din faţă: cum putea avea aşa pereche de ţâţe, aşa de perfecte cum numai în albumele de artă — care pe-atunci ne ţineau loc de Penthouse—mai văzuserăm? Pentru cine era o astfel de fiinţă, cum putea fi o noapte de sex cu ea? Până la urmă ne-am aşezat la coadă la bilete, fără s-o scăpăm din ochi şi fără să-ncetăm comentariile. Când, îl auzim pe unul, un tip destul de jegos care stătea şi el la coadă, mâncând seminţe, înaintea noastră: «E bună paraşuta asta, nu? V-ar place şi vouă, ciutanilor... Da' ascultaţi-mă pe mine, c-am fumat destule ca ea: cât o vedeţi de futeşă, să ştiţi că e pe undeva un bărbat sătul de ea până peste cap! Poa'să fie cea mai mişto din lume, poa'să fie şi Brijibardo, că tot i-e drag vreunuia de ea ca mie de nevastă-mea...» Am fost mult mai şocat de remarcile astea decât mi-aş fi imaginat. Cum să te plictiseşti de frumuseţea însăşi, de neatins şi de neconceput? De cea pentru care ţi-ai da şi pielea de pe tine? Ce ar putea dori un bărbat mai mult decât să-şi poată trece braţul în jurul mijlocului ei, să poată privi minute-n şir în ochii ei, să o întindă încetişor pe pat... Să o scoată din învelişul ei de dantelă mătăsoasă... De-aici încolo imaginaţia mea se bloca, nu-mi puteam închipui cum e să faci dragoste. De câte ori mă gândeam cum ar fi, vedeam doar un ocean roz care se răsuceşte asupra ta şi te sufocă... Am cunoscut apoi femei reale, femei imaginare, femei din vis, femei din cărţi, femei din reclame, femei din filme, femei din videoclipuri. Femei din revistele porno. Fiecare altfel şi fiecare cu altceva de oferit. M-am îndrăgostit de câteva şi de fiecare dată a fost la fel: primul semn că aş putea-o iubi a fost mereu că nu m-am putut gândi, văzând-o, «cât de futeşă e». Chiar dacă era. Bărbaţii au creierul impregnat de hormoni. Nici cel mai distins intelectual nu e altfel, până şi el, la orice vârstă, îşi imaginează cum ar face-o cu fata plictisită, necunoscută, de lângă el. Dar când cunoşti cea mai minunată femeie din lume, care e cea pe care o poţi iubi, semnul este, trebuie să fie, că nici pulpele, nici «balcoanele» nu se mai văd, de parcă hormonii sexului şi-ai agresivităţii s-ar retrage din creierul tău tumefiat şi l-ar lăsa inocent ca un creier de copil şi translucid ca o corniţă de melc. Facem sex cu un creier de bărbat, dar iubim cu unul de copil, încrezător, dependent, dornic de a da şi a primi afecţiune. Femeile minunate din viaţa mea, toate cele pe care le-am iubit cu adevărat şi care-au răspuns cu dragoste dragostei mele, au fost într-un fel necorporale, au fost bucurie pură, nevroză pură, experienţă pură. Senzualitatea, uneori dusă până foarte departe, nu a fost decât un ingredient într-o aventură complexă şi epuizantă a minţii. Pentru mine nu există, deci, «cea mai minunată» în sensul de 90-60-90, nici în cel de blondă, brună sau roşcată, înaltă sau minionă, vânzătoare sau poetă. Cea mai minunată este cea cu care am putut avea un copil virtual numit «cuplul nostru», «dragostea noastră». ~ Mircea C rt rescu, #NFDB
310:Comme Un Dernier Rayon
Comme un dernier rayon, comme un dernier zéphyre
Animent la fin d'un beau jour,
Au pied de l'échafaud j'essaye encor ma lyre.
Peut-être est-ce bientôt mon tour;
Peut-être avant que l'heure en cercle promenée
Ait posé sur l'émail brillant,
Dans les soixante pas où sa route est bornée,
Son pied sonore et vigilant,
Le sommeil du tombeau pressera ma paupière.
Avant que de ses deux moitiés
Ce vers que je commence ait atteint la dernière,
Peut-être en ces murs effrayés
Le messager de mort, noir recruteur des ombres,
Escorté d'infâmes soldats,
Ébranlant de mon nom ces longs corridors sombres,
Où seul, dans la foule à grands pas
J'erre, aiguisant ces dards persécuteurs du crime,
Du juste trop faibles soutiens,
Sur mes lèvres soudain va suspendre la rime;
Et chargeant mes bras de liens,
Me traîner, amassant en foule à mon passage
Mes tristes compagnons reclus,
Qui me connaissaient tous avant l'affreux message,
Mais qui ne me connaissent plus.
Eh bien! j'ai trop vécu. Quelle franchise auguste,
De mâle constance et d'honneur
Quels exemples sacrés doux à l'âme du juste,
Pour lui quelle ombre de bonheur,
Quelle Thémis terrible aux têtes criminelles,
Quels pleurs d'une noble pitié,
Des antiques bienfaits quels souvenirs fidèles,
Quels beaux échanges d'amitié,
Font digne de regrets l'habitacle des hommes?
La peur blême et louche est leur Dieu,
La bassesse, la honte. Ah! lâches que nous sommes!
Tous, oui, tous. Adieu, terre, adieu.
Vienne, vienne la mort! que la mort me délivre!...
Ainsi donc, mon coeur abattu
Cède au poids de ses maux!--Non, non, puisse-je vivre!
39
Ma vie importe à la vertu.
Car l'honnête homme enfin, victime de l'outrage,
Dans les cachots, près du cercueil,
Relève plus altiers son front et son langage,
Brillant d'un généreux orgueil.
S'il est écrit aux cieux que jamais une épée
N'étincellera dans mes mains,
Dans l'encre et l'amertume une autre arme trempée
Peut encor servir les humains.
Justice, vérité, si ma main, si ma bouche,
Si mes pensers les plus secrets
Ne froncèrent jamais votre sourcil farouche,
Et si les infâmes progrès,
Si la risée atroce, ou plus atroce injure,
L'encens de hideux scélérats,
Ont pénétré vos coeurs d'une large blessure,
Sauvez-moi. Conservez un bras
Qui lance votre foudre, un amant qui vous venge.
Mourir sans vider mon carquois!
Sans percer, sans fouler, sans pétrir dans leur fange
Ces bourreaux barbouilleurs de lois!
Ces vers cadavéreux de la France asservie,
Égorgée! ô mon cher trésor,
O ma plume, fiel, bile, horreur, dieux de ma vie!
Par vous seuls je respire encor:
Comme la poix brûlante agitée en ses veines
Ressuscite un flambeau mourant.
Je souffre; mais je vis. Par vous, loin de mes peines,
D'espérance un vaste torrent
Me transporte. Sans vous, comme un poison livide,
L'invisible dent du chagrin,
Mes amis opprimés, du menteur homicide
Les succès, le sceptre d'airain,
Des bons proscrits par lui la mort ou la ruine,
L'opprobre de subir sa loi,
Tout eût tari ma vie, ou contre ma poitrine
Dirigé mon poignard. Mais quoi!
Nul ne resterait donc pour attendrir l'histoire
Sur tant de justes massacrés!
Pour consoler leurs fils, leurs veuves, leur mémoire!
Pour que des brigands abhorrés
Frémissent aux portraits noirs de leur ressemblance!
40
Pour descendre jusqu'aux enfers
Nouer le triple fouet, le fouet de la vengeance
Déjà levé sur ces pervers!
Pour cracher sur leurs noms, pour chanter leur supplice!
Allons, étouffe tes clameurs;
Souffre, ô coeur gros de haine, affamé de justice.
Toi, vertu, pleure si je meurs.
~ Andre Marie de Chenier,#NFDB
311:13. ‘’Cel pe care mi-l arati, ce insemnatate are cate stie? E asemenea unui dictionar. Important este ceea ce este.’’
14. ‘’ Si, una cate una, dintr-o contradictie invinsa in alta, ma indrept spre tacerea intrebarilor si astfel, catre fericire. O, limbutilor! Intrebarile au stricat atat de mult oamenii! Nebun cel care spera in raspunsul providentei! ‘’
15. ‘’Iubesti fiindca iubesti! Nu exista ratiune pentru a iubi. ‘’
16. ‘’Te folosesti de trecutul tau ca de o priveliste, marginita aici de un munte, dincolo de un fluviu si dispui in libertate de orasele viitoare, tinand seama de ceea ce exista. Iar daca ceea ce exista n-ar exista, ai inventa cu usurinta orase de vis, caci visului nimic nu-i rezista, dar vor fi nu numai usor de imaginat, ci si pierdute in arbitrar.’’
17. ‘’ Iar desfraul se naste din spaima de a nu reusi sa fii…La fel despre acela sau aceea care nu vedeau decat golul din oameni, caci ei sunt goi daca nu sunt ferestre inspre eternitate. Iata pentru ce in dragostea vulgara nu iubesti decat ceea ce-ti scapa, caci altfel vei fi satul si scarbit de placerea ta. ‘’
18. ‘’Caci exista un timp al judecatii. Dar exista si un timp al devenirii.’’
19. ‘’Nu confunda dragostea cu delirul posesiei, care adduce cea mai crunta suferinta. Caci, in ciuda parerii commune, nu dragostea te face sa suferi, ci instinctual proprietatii, care este contrariul dragostei.’’
20. ‘’De-abia v-a fost acordata dragostea si voi, intocmai ca in falsele voastre prietenii, transformati acest dar liber in servitute si robie si, din clipa in care sunteti iubiti, incepeti sa va simtiti lezati. Si va impuneti, pentru a aservi mai bine spectacolul suferintei voastre.’’
21. ‘’Si-ti voi raspunde prin acest mare secret, ascuns sub cuvinte vulgare si simple, pe care intelepciunea m-a facut sa-l aflu, putin cate putin, de-a lungul vietii: ca a pregati viitorul nu inseamna decat a crea prezentul. Iar cei care urmaresc imagini indepartate, fruct al inventiei lor, se irosesc in utopia si himera.’’
22. ‘’Din distrugere in distrugere, aluneci spre vanitate, caci ea ramane singura culoare posibila, atunci cand tot ce mai exista este doar reziduu ce nu te poate hrani. …Iata ca esti obligat, in pustiul tau, sa fii satisfacut de tine insuti, caci nu mai exista nimeni in afara ta. Si esti condamnat sa strigi de-acum inainte: ‘’Eu, eu, eu’’ in gol, si nu vei primi niciodata raspuns.’’
23. ‘’Nu aceeasi este placerea pe care ti-o da un diamant fals si un diamant pur. Cea care tace in fata ta nu este aceeasi cu o alta, in profunzimea tacerii ei. Si nu vei fi niciodata inselat de la inceput…Ce inseamna diamantul daca nu este un bolovanis tare de scurmat, care-l ascunde? Ce inseamna o spade, daca nu exista dusmani? Ce inseamna o revenire fara absenta? Ce inseamna fidelitate daca nu exista tentatie?’’
24. ‘’Am cautat si am gasit, caci spiritul nu doreste decat ceea ce poseda. A gasi inseamna a vedea. Si cum as putea cauta ceea ce pentru mine inca nu are sens? Ti-am spus, regretful dragostei inseamna dragoste. Nimeni nu sufera de dorinta a ceea ce nu concepe.''
25. ‘’Nu incerca sa transformi omul in altceva decat este. Caci, fara indoiala, ratiuni puternice , impotriva carora nu poti sa faci nimic, il oblige sa fie asa cum este si nu altfel. Dar il poti transforma in ceea ce este, caci omul e greu de substanta. Tu esti cel care trebuie sa alegi din el ceea ce iti place. Si sa faci desenul a ceea ce ai ales, astfel incat sa para evident tuturor si lui insusi.’’
26. ‘’Iata de ce nu am dusmani. In dusman vad prietenul. Iar el imi devine prieten. Iau toate partile. Nu am de ce sa schimb partile. Ci le leg printr-un alt limbaj. Si aceeasi fiinta se poarta altfel.’’
27. ‘’Umilinta inimii iti cere nu sa te umilesti, ci sa te deschizi. Aceasta este cheia transformarilor. Doar atunci poti sa daruiesti si sa primesti.’’
28. ‘’Daca iubirea ta dispretuieste semnele iubirii sub pretextul de a atinge esenta, ea nu mai este decat vocabular. ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,#NFDB
312:Le Malade
'Apollon, dieu sauveur, dieu des savants mystères,
Dieu de la vie, et dieu des plantes salutaires,
Dieu vainqueur de Python, dieu jeune et triomphant,
Prends pitié de mon fils, de mon unique enfant!
Prends pitié de sa mère aux larmes condamnée,
Qui ne vit que pour lui, qui meurt abandonnée,
Qui n'a pas dû rester pour voir mourir son fils!
Dieu jeune, viens aider sa jeunesse. Assoupis,
Assoupis dans son sein cette fièvre brûlante
Qui dévore la fleur de sa vie innocente.
Apollon! si jamais, échappé du tombeau,
Il retourne au Ménale avoir soin du troupeau,
Ces mains, ces vieilles mains orneront ta statue
De ma coupe d'onyx à tes pieds suspendue;
Et, chaque été nouveau, d'un jeune taureau blanc
La hache à ton autel fera couler le sang.
Eh bien, mon fils, es-tu toujours impitoyable?
Ton funeste silence est-il inexorable?
Enfant, tu veux mourir? Tu veux, dans ses vieux ans,
Laisser ta mère seule avec ses cheveux blancs?
Tu veux que ce soit moi qui ferme ta paupière?
Que j'unisse ta cendre à celle de ton père?
C'est toi qui me devais ces soins religieux,
Et ma tombe attendait tes pleurs et tes adieux.
Parle, parle, mon fils! quel chagrin te consume?
Les maux qu'on dissimule en ont plus d'amertume.
Ne lèveras-tu point ces yeux appesantis?
--Ma mère, adieu; je meurs, et tu n'as plus de fils.
Non, tu n'as plus de fils, ma mère bien-aimée.
Je te perds. Une plaie ardente, envenimée,
Me ronge; avec effort je respire, et je crois
Chaque fois respirer pour la dernière fois.
Je ne parlerai pas. Adieu; ce lit me blesse,
Ce tapis qui me couvre accable ma faiblesse;
Tout me pèse et me lasse. Aide-moi, je me meurs.
Tourne-moi sur le flanc. Ah! j'expire! ô douleurs!
107
--Tiens, mon unique enfant, mon fils, prends ce breuvage;
Sa chaleur te rendra ta force et ton courage.
La mauve, le dictame ont, avec les pavots,
Mêlé leurs sucs puissants qui donnent le repos;
Sur le vase bouillant, attendrie à mes larmes,
Une Thessalienne a composé des charmes.
Ton corps débile a vu trois retours du soleil
Sans connaître Cérès, ni tes yeux le sommeil.
Prends, mon fils, laisse-toi fléchir à ma prière;
C'est ta mère, ta vieille inconsolable mère
Qui pleure, qui jadis te guidait pas à pas,
T'asseyait sur son sein, te portait dans ses bras,
Que tu disais aimer, qui t'apprit à le dire,
Qui chantait, et souvent te forçait à sourire
Lorsque tes jeunes dents, par de vives douleurs,
De tes yeux enfantins faisaient couler des pleurs.
Tiens, presse de ta lèvre, hélas! pâle et glacée,
Par qui cette mamelle était jadis pressée;
Que ce suc te nourrisse et vienne à ton secours,
Comme autrefois mon lait nourrit tes premiers jours!
--O coteaux d'Érymanthe! ô vallons! ô bocage!
O vent sonore et frais qui troublais le feuillage,
Et faisais frémir l'onde, et sur leur jeune sein
Agitais les replis de leur robe de lin!
De légères beautés troupe agile et dansante ...
Tu sais, tu sais, ma mère? aux bords de l'Érymanthe ...
Là, ni loups ravisseurs, ni serpents, ni poisons ...
O visage divin! ô fêtes! ô chansons!
Des pas entrelacés, des fleurs, une onde pure,
Aucun lieu n'est si beau dans toute la nature.
Dieux! ces bras et ces flancs, ces cheveux, ces pieds nus
Si blancs, si délicats!... Je ne te verrai plus!
Oh! portez, portez-moi sur les bords d'Érymanthe,
Que je la voie encor, cette vierge dansante!
Oh! que je voie au loin la fumée à longs flots
S'élever de ce toit au bord de cet enclos!
Assise à tes côtés, ses discours, sa tendresse,
Sa voix, trop heureux père! enchante ta vieillesse,
Dieux! par-dessus la haie élevée en remparts,
Je la vois, à pas lents, en longs cheveux épars,
Seule, sur un tombeau, pensive, inanimée,
108
S'arrêter et pleurer sa mère bien-aimée.
Oh! que tes yeux sont doux! que ton visage est beau!
Viendras-tu point aussi pleurer sur mon tombeau?
Viendras-tu point aussi, la plus belle des belles,
Dire sur mon tombeau: Les Parques sont cruelles!
--Ah! mon fils, c'est l'amour, c'est l'amour insensé
Qui t'a jusqu'à ce point cruellement blessé?
Ah! mon malheureux fils! Oui, faibles que nous sommes,
C'est toujours cet amour qui tourmente les hommes.
S'ils pleurent en secret, qui lira dans leur coeur
Verra que c'est toujours cet amour en fureur.
Mais, mon fils, mais dis-moi, quelle belle dansante,
Quelle vierge as-tu vue au bord de l'Érymanthe?
N'es-tu pas riche et beau? du moins quand la douleur
N'avait point de ta joue éteint la jeune fleur!
Parle. Est-ce cette Eglé, fille du roi des ondes,
Ou cette jeune Irène aux longues tresses blondes?
Ou ne sera-ce point cette fière beauté
Dont j'entends le beau nom chaque jour répété,
Dont j'apprends que partout les belles sont jalouses?
Qu'aux temples, aux festins, les mères, les épouses,
Ne sauraient voir, dit-on, sans peine et sans effroi?
Cette belle Daphné?....--Dieux! ma mère, tais-toi,
Tais-toi. Dieux! qu'as-tu dit? Elle est fière, inflexible;
Comme les immortels, elle est belle et terrible!
Mille amants l'ont aimée; ils l'ont aimée en vain.
Comme eux j'aurais trouvé quelque refus hautain.
Non, garde que jamais elle soit informée...
Mais, ô mort! ô tourment! ô mère bien-aimée!
Tu vois dans quels ennuis dépérissent mes jours.
Ma mère bien-aimée, ah! viens à mon secours.
Je meurs; va la trouver: que tes traits, que ton âge,
De sa mère à ses yeux offrent la sainte image.
Tiens, prends cette corbeille et nos fruits les plus beaux,
Prends notre Amour d'ivoire, honneur de ces hameaux;
Prends la coupe d'onyx à Corinthe ravie;
Prends mes jeunes chevreaux, prends mon coeur, prends ma vie;
Jette tout à ses pieds; apprends-lui qui je suis;
Dis-lui que je me meurs, que tu n'as plus de fils.
Tombe aux pieds du vieillard, gémis, implore, presse;
Adjure cieux et mers, dieu, temple, autel, déesse.
109
Pars; et si tu reviens sans les avoir fléchis,
Adieu, ma mère, adieu, tu n'auras plus de fils.
--J'aurai toujours un fils, va, la belle espérance
Me dit...' Elle s'incline, et, dans un doux silence,
Elle couvre ce front, terni par les douleurs,
De baisers maternels entremêlés de pleurs.
Puis elle sort en hâte, inquiète et tremblante;
Sa démarche est de crainte et d'âge chancelante.
Elle arrive; et bientôt revenant sur ses pas,
Haletante, de loin: 'Mon cher fils, tu vivras,
Tu vivras.' Elle vient s'asseoir près de la couche,
Le vieillard la suivait, le sourire à la bouche,
La jeune belle aussi, rouge et le front baissé,
Vient, jette sur le lit un coup d'oeil. L'insensé
Tremble; sous ses tapis il veut cacher sa tête.
'Ami, depuis trois jours tu n'es d'aucune fête,
Dit-elle; que fais-tu? Pourquoi veux-tu mourir?
Tu souffres. On me dit que je peux te guérir;
Vis, et formons ensemble une seule famille:
Que mon père ait un fils, et ta mère une fille!'
~ Andre Marie de Chenier,#NFDB
313:Le Cygne (The Swan)
À Victor Hugo
Andromaque, je pense à vous! Ce petit fleuve,
Pauvre et triste miroir où jadis resplendit
L'immense majesté de vos douleurs de veuve,
Ce Simoïs menteur qui par vos pleurs grandit,
A fécondé soudain ma mémoire fertile,
Comme je traversais le nouveau Carrousel.
Le vieux Paris n'est plus (la forme d'une ville
Change plus vite, hélas! que le coeur d'un mortel);
Je ne vois qu'en esprit tout ce camp de baraques,
Ces tas de chapiteaux ébauchés et de fûts,
Les herbes, les gros blocs verdis par l'eau des flaques,
Et, brillant aux carreaux, le bric-à-brac confus.
Là s'étalait jadis une ménagerie;
Là je vis, un matin, à l'heure où sous les cieux
Froids et clairs le Travail s'éveille, où la voirie
Pousse un sombre ouragan dans l'air silencieux,
Un cygne qui s'était évadé de sa cage,
Et, de ses pieds palmés frottant le pavé sec,
Sur le sol raboteux traînait son blanc plumage.
Près d'un ruisseau sans eau la bête ouvrant le bec
Baignait nerveusement ses ailes dans la poudre,
Et disait, le coeur plein de son beau lac natal:
«Eau, quand donc pleuvras-tu? quand tonneras-tu, foudre?»
Je vois ce malheureux, mythe étrange et fatal,
Vers le ciel quelquefois, comme l'homme d'Ovide,
Vers le ciel ironique et cruellement bleu,
Sur son cou convulsif tendant sa tête avide
Comme s'il adressait des reproches à Dieu!
276
II
Paris change! mais rien dans ma mélancolie
N'a bougé! palais neufs, échafaudages, blocs,
Vieux faubourgs, tout pour moi devient allégorie
Et mes chers souvenirs sont plus lourds que des rocs.
Aussi devant ce Louvre une image m'opprime:
Je pense à mon grand cygne, avec ses gestes fous,
Comme les exilés, ridicule et sublime
Et rongé d'un désir sans trêve! et puis à vous,
Andromaque, des bras d'un grand époux tombée,
Vil bétail, sous la main du superbe Pyrrhus,
Auprès d'un tombeau vide en extase courbée
Veuve d'Hector, hélas! et femme d'Hélénus!
Je pense à la négresse, amaigrie et phtisique
Piétinant dans la boue, et cherchant, l'oeil hagard,
Les cocotiers absents de la superbe Afrique
Derrière la muraille immense du brouillard;
À quiconque a perdu ce qui ne se retrouve
Jamais, jamais! à ceux qui s'abreuvent de pleurs
Et tètent la Douleur comme une bonne louve!
Aux maigres orphelins séchant comme des fleurs!
Ainsi dans la forêt où mon esprit s'exile
Un vieux Souvenir sonne à plein souffle du cor!
Je pense aux matelots oubliés dans une île,
Aux captifs, aux vaincus!... à bien d'autres encor!
The Swan
To Victor Hugo
Andromache, I think of you! — That little stream,
277
That mirror, poor and sad, which glittered long ago
With the vast majesty of your widow's grieving,
That false Simois swollen by your tears,
Suddenly made fruitful my teeming memory,
As I walked across the new Carrousel.
— Old Paris is no more (the form of a city
Changes more quickly, alas! than the human heart);
I see only in memory that camp of stalls,
Those piles of shafts, of rough hewn cornices, the grass,
The huge stone blocks stained green in puddles of water,
And in the windows shine the jumbled bric-a-brac.
Once a menagerie was set up there;
There, one morning, at the hour when Labor awakens,
Beneath the clear, cold sky when the dismal hubbub
Of street-cleaners and scavengers breaks the silence,
I saw a swan that had escaped from his cage,
That stroked the dry pavement with his webbed feet
And dragged his white plumage over the uneven ground.
Beside a dry gutter the bird opened his beak,
Restlessly bathed his wings in the dust
And cried, homesick for his fair native lake:
'Rain, when will you fall? Thunder, when will you roll?'
I see that hapless bird, that strange and fatal myth,
Toward the sky at times, like the man in Ovid,
Toward the ironic, cruelly blue sky,
Stretch his avid head upon his quivering neck,
As if he were reproaching God!
II
Paris changes! but naught in my melancholy
Has stirred! New palaces, scaffolding, blocks of stone,
Old quarters, all become for me an allegory,
And my dear memories are heavier than rocks.
278
So, before the Louvre, an image oppresses me:
I think of my great swan with his crazy motions,
Ridiculous, sublime, like a man in exile,
Relentlessly gnawed by longing! and then of you,
Andromache, base chattel, fallen from the embrace
Of a mighty husband into the hands of proud Pyrrhus,
Standing bowed in rapture before an empty tomb,
Widow of Hector, alas! and wife of Helenus!
I think of the negress, wasted and consumptive,
Trudging through muddy streets, seeking with a fixed gaze
The absent coco-palms of splendid Africa
Behind the immense wall of mist;
Of whoever has lost that which is never found
Again! Never! Of those who deeply drink of tears
And suckle Pain as they would suck the good she-wolf!
Of the puny orphans withering like flowers!
Thus in the dim forest to which my soul withdraws,
An ancient memory sounds loud the hunting horn!
I think of the sailors forgotten on some isle,
— Of the captives, of the vanquished!...of many others too!
— Translated by William Aggeler
The Swan
To Victor Hugo
Andromache! — This shallow stream, the brief
Mirror you once so grandly overcharged
With your vast majesty of widowed grief,
This lying Simois your tears enlarged,
Evoked your name, and made me think of you,
As I was crossing the new Carrousel.
— Old Paris is no more (cities renew,
279
Quicker than human hearts, their changing spell).
In mind I see that camp of huts, the muddle
Of rough-hewn roofs and leaning shafts for miles,
The grass, green logs stagnating in the puddle,
Where bric-a-brac lay glittering in piles.
Once a menagerie parked there.
And there it chanced one morning, when from slumber freed,
Labour stands up, and Transport through still air
Rumbles its sombre hurricane of speed, —
A swan escaped its cage: and as its feet
With finny palms on the harsh pavement scraped,
Trailing white plumage on the stony street,
In the dry gutter for fresh water gaped.
Nervously bathing in the dust, in wonder
It asked, remembering its native stream,
'When will the rain come down? When roll the thunder?'
I see it now, strange myth and fatal theme!
Sometimes, like Ovid's wretch, towards the sky
(Ironically blue with cruel smile)
Its neck, convulsive, reared its head on high
As though it were its Maker to revile.
II
Paris has changed, but in my grief no change.
New palaces and scaffoldings and blocks,
To me, are allegories, nothing strange.
My memories are heavier than rocks.
Passing the Louvre, one image makes me sad:
That swan, like other exiles that we knew,
Grandly absurd, with gestures of the mad,
Gnawed by one craving! — Then I think of you,
Who fell from your great husband's arms, to be
A beast of freight for Pyrrhus, and for life,
280
Bowed by an empty tomb in ecstasy —
Great Hector's widow! Helenus's wife!
I think, too, of the starved and phthisic negress
Tramping the mud, who seeks, with haggard eye,
The palms of Africa, and for some egress
Out of this great black wall of foggy sky:
Of those who've lost what they cannot recover:
Of those who slake with tears their lonely hours
And milk the she-wolf, Sorrow, for their mother:
And skinny orphans withering like flowers.
So in the forest of my soul's exile,
Remembrance winds his horn as on he rides.
I think of sailors stranded on an isle,
Captives, and slaves — and many more besides.
— Translated by Roy Campbell
Le Cygne
Andromache, of thee I think! and of
the dreary streamlet where, through exiled years,
shone the vast grandeur of thy widow's love,
that false Simois brimmed with royal tears
poured like the Nile across my memory strange,
as past the Louvre new I strolled, apart.
— Old Paris is no more (for cities change
— alas! — more quickly than a mortal's heart);
only my memory sees the capitals,
the shafts unfinished once, in pools of rain,
the slimy marble blocks, weeds, market-stalls
with old brass gleaming through each dusty pane.
that corner houses a whole menagerie once;
and here one day I saw, when 'neath the fair
281
cold heavens, Toil awoke, and over the stones
the storm of traffic rent the silent air,
a swan which from its cage had made escape
patting the torrid blocks with webby feet,
trailing great plumes of snow, while beak agape
fumbled for water in the parching street;
wildly it plunged its wings in dust again,
mourning its native lake, and seemed to shrill:
'lightning, when comest thou? and when, the rain?'
strange symbol! wretched bird, I see it still,
up to the sky, like Ovid's fool accurst,
up to the cruelly blue ironic sky
raising its neck convulsed and beak athirst,
as though reproaching God in each mad cry.
II
towns change... but in my melancholy naught
has moved at all! new portals, ladders, blocks,
old alleys — all become symbolic thought,
in me, loved memories turn to moveless rocks.
so, crushing me, the Louvre gates recall
my huge white swan, insane with agony,
comic, sublime, like exiles one and all
by truceless cravings torn! I think of thee
Andromache, a slave apportioned, whom
proud Pyrrhus took from hands more glorious,
in ecstasy bent o'er an empty tomb;
great Hector's widow, wed to Helenus!
I think of thee, consumptive Nubian,
wading the mire, wan-eyed girl, agog
to find the absent palms of proud Soudan
behind the boundless rampart of the fog;
I think of all who lose the boons we find
282
no more! no more! who feed on tears and cling
to the good she-wolf Grief, whose tears are kind!
— of orphans gaunt like flowers withering!
thus, in the jungle of my soul's exile,
old memories wind a horn I've heard before!
I think of sailors wrecked on some lost isle,
of prisoners, captives!... and many more!
— Translated by Lewis Piaget Shanks
~ Charles Baudelaire,#NFDB
314:Schnitzerl’s Philosopede
I. PROLOGUE.
HERR SCHNITZERL make a ph'losopede,
Von of de pullyest kind;
It vent mitout a vheel in front,
And hadn't none pehind.
Von vheel vas in de mittel, dough,
And it vent as sure ash ecks,
For he shtraddled on de axel dree,
Mit der vheel petween his lecks.
Und vhen he vant to shtart it off
He paddlet mit his feet,
Und soon he cot to go so vast
Dat efery dings he peat.
He run her out on Broader shtreed,
He shkeeted like der vind,
Hei! how he bassed de vancy crabs,
And lef dem all pehind!
De vellers mit de trottin nags
Pooled oop to see him bass;
De Deutschers all erstaunished saidt:
'Potztausend! Was ist das?'
Boot vaster shtill der Schnitzerl flewed
On - mit a ghastly shmile;
He tidn't tooch de dirt, py shings!
Not vonce in half a mile.
Oh, vot ish all dis eart'ly pliss?
Oh, vot ish man's soocksess?
Oh, vot ish various kinds of dings?
Und vot ish hobbiness?
Ve find a pank node in de shtreedt,
Next dings der pank ish preak!
Ve folls, and knocks our outsides in,
Vhen ve a ten shtrike make.
So vas it mit der Schnitzerlein
139
On his philosopede.
His feet both shlipped outsidevard shoost
Vhen at his exdra shpeed.
He felled oopon der vheel of coorse;
De vheel like blitzen flew!
Und Schnitzerl he vos schnitz in vact,
For it shlished him grod in two.
Und as for his philosopede,
Id cot so shkared, men say,
It pounded onward till it vent
Ganz tyfelwards afay.
Boot vhere ish now der Schnitzerl's soul?
Vhere dos his shbirit pide?
In Himmel droo de endless plue,
It takes a medeor ride.
II. HANS BREITMANN AND HIS PHILOSOPEDE.
Vhen Breitmann hear dat Schnitzerl
Vas quardered into dwo,
Und how his crate philosopede
To 'm tyfel had peen flew,
He dinked und dinked so heafy,
Ash only Deutschers can,
Denn saidt, 'Who mighdt peliefet
Dish is de ent of man?'
'De human souls of beoples
Exisdt in deir idees,
Und dis of Wolfram Schnitzerl
Mighdt drafel many vays.
In his Bestimmung des Menschen
Der Fichte makes pelieve,
Dat ve brogress oon-endtly
In vhat pehindt ve leave.
'De shparrow falls ground-downvarts
Or drafels to de West;
De shparrows dat coom afder,
Bild shoost de same old nest.
140
Man had not vings or fedders,
Und in oder dings, 'tis set,
He tont coom up to shparrows,
But on nests he goes ahet.
'O! vliest dou droo bornin' vorldts,
Und nebuloser foam,
By monsdrous mitnight shiant forms,
Or vhere red tyfels roam;
Or vhere de ghosdts of shky-rockets
Peyond creation flee?
Vhere e'er dou art, O Schnitzerlein,
Crate Saindt! Look down on me!
'Und deach me how you maket
Dat crate philosopede,
Vhich roon dwice six mals vaster
Ash any Arap shteed.
Und deach me how to 'stonish volk,
Und knock dem oud de shpots.
Coom pack to eart', O Schnitzerlein,
Und pring id down to dots!'
Shoost ash dish vordt vent outvarts,
Hans dinked he saw a vlash,
Und oonterwards de dable
He doompelt mit a crash.
Und to him, moong de glasses,
Und pottles ash vas proke,
Mit his het in a cigar-box,
A foice from Himmel shpoke:
'Adsum, Domine Breitmann!
Herr Copitain, here I pe!
So dell me rite honeste,
Quare inquietasti me?
Te video inter spoonibus,
Et largis glassis too,
Cerevisia repletis,
Sicut percussus tonitru!'
Denn Breitmann ansver Schnitzerl;
141
'Coarctor nimis, see!
Siquidem Philistiim
Pugnant adversum me.
Ergo vocavi te,
Ash Saul vocavit SamUel, ut mi ostenderes
Quid teufel faciam?'
Denn de shpirit (in Lateinisch)
Saidt 'Bene, dat's de talk,
Non habes in hoc shanty,
A shingle et some chalk?
Non video inkum nec calamos
(I shpose some bummer shdole 'em),
Levate oculos tuos, son,
Et aspice ad linteolum!'
Denn Breitmann see de biece of chalk
Vhich riset vrom de vloor,
Und signed a fine philosopede
Alone, oopon de toor.
De von dat Schnitzerl fobricate,
Und oonderneat' he see:
Probate inter equites,
(Try dis in de cavallrie).
Der Breitmann shtood oop from de vloor,
Und leanet on a post;
Und saidt: 'If dis couldt, shouldt hafe peen,
Dar vouldt, mighdt peen a ghosdt;
Boot if id pe noumenon,
Phenomenoned indeed,
Or de soobyectif obyectified,
I'fe cot de philosopede.'
Denn out he seekt a plackschmit,
Ash vork in iron-steel,
To make him a philosopede
Mit shoost an only vheel.
De dings vas maket simple,
Ash all crate idees shouldt pe,
For 'tvas noding boot a gart-vheel,
142
Mit a dwo-feet axel dree.
De dimes der Breitmann doomple,
In learnin' for to ride,
Vas ofdener ash de sand-crains
Dat rollen in de tide.
De dimes he cot oopsettet,
In shdeerin' left und righdt,
Vas ofdener ash de cleamin' shdars,
Dat shtud de shky py night.
Boot de vorstest of de veadures
In dis von-vheel horse, you pet,
Ish dat man couldt go so nicely,
Pefore he get oopset.
Some dimes he co like plazes,
Und doorn her, extra-fine;
Und denn shlop ofer - dis is vot
Hafe kill der Schnitzerlein.
Soosh droples ash der Breitmann hafe,
To make dis 'vention go,
Vas nefer seen py mordal man,
Oopon dis vorldt pelow.
He doomplet righdt - he doomplet left,
He hafe a dousand doomps;
Dere nefer vas a gricket ball
Ash get soosh 'fernal boomps.
Boot - ash he'd shvearet he'd poot it droo,
He shvear't it moost pe tone;
Dough he schimpft' und flucht' gar laesterlich,
He visht he't ne'er pegun.
Mit 'Hagel! Blitz! Kreuz-sakrament!'
He maket de Houser ring,
Und vish der Schnitzerl vas in hell,
For deachin' him dis ding.
Nun - goot! At lasht he cot it,
Und peautifool he goed,
'Dis day,' saidt he, 'I'll 'stonish folk
A ridin' in de road.
143
Dis day, py shings! I'll do it,
Und knock dings oud of sight:'Ach weh! - for Breitmann dat day
Vas not be-markt mit vhite.
De noombers of de Deutsche volk,
Dat coomed dis sighdt to see,
I dink, in soper earnst-hood,
Mighdt not ge-reckonet pe.
For miles dey shtoodt along de road,
Mein Gott! - boot dey wer'n dry;
Dey trinket den lager-bier shops out,
Pefore der Hans coom py.
Vhen all at vonce drementous gries
De fery coondry shook,
Und beople's shkreemt, 'Da ist er! - Schau!
Here cooms der Breitmann, look!'
Mein Gott! vas efer soosh a sighdt!
Vas efer soosh a gry!
Vhen like a brick-pat in a vighdt,
Der Breitemann roosh py?
Oh mordal man! Vhy ish idt, dou
Hast passion to go vast?
Vhy ish id dat te tog und horse
Likes shbeed too quick to lasht?
De pugs, de pirds, de pumple-pees,
Und all dat ish, 'tvouldt seem
Ish nefer hobby boot, exsepdt,
Vhen pilin' on de shdeam.
Der Breitmann flew! Von mighdy gry
Ash he vent scootin' bast;
Von derriple, drementous yell;Dat day de virst - und lasht.
Vot ha! Vot ho! Vhy ish it dus?
Vhot makes dem shdare aghasht?
Vhy cooms dat vail of vild deshbair?
Ish somedings cot ge-shmasht?
Yea, efen so. Yea, ferily,
144
Shbeak, soul!-it ish dy biz!
Der Breitmann shkeet so vast along
Dey fairly heard him whizz.
Vhen shoost oopon a hill-top point
It caught a pranch ge-bent,
Und like an apple from a shling,
Afay Hans Breitmann vent.
Vent droo de air an hoondert feet
Allowin' more or lees:Denn, pob-pob-pob - a mile or dwo
He rollet along - I guess.
Say - hast dou seen a gannon ball
Half shpent, shtill poundin' on,
Like made of gummi-lasticum?So vent der Breitmann.
Dey bick him oop - dey pring him in,
No wort der Breitmann shboke.
Der doktor look - he shwear erstaunt
Dat nodings ish peen proke.
'He rollt de rocky road entlang,
He pounce o'er shtock und shtone,
You'd dink he'd knocked his outsites in,
Yet nefer preak a pone!'
All shtill Hans lay, bevilderfied;
He seemt not mind de shaps,
Nor mofed oontil der medicus
Hafe dose him vell mit schnapps.
De schmell voke oop de boetry
Of tays vhen he vas yoong,
Und he murmulte de fragmends
Of an sad romantish song:
'Ash sommer pring de roses
Und roses pring de dew,
So Deutschland gifes de maidens
Who fetch de bier for you.
Komm Maidelein! rothe Waengelein!
Mit wein-glass in your paw!
Ve'll get troonk among de roses,
145
Und pe soper on de shtraw!
'Ash vinter pring de ice-wind
Vitch plow o'er Burg und hill,
Hard times pring in de landlord,
Und de landlord pring the pill.
Boot sing Maidelein - rothe Waengelein!
Mit wein glass in your paw!
Ve'll get troonk among de roses,
Und pe soper on de shtraw!'
Dey dook der Breitmann homewarts,
Boot efer on de vay
He nefer shpeaket no man,
Und nodings else couldt say,
Boot, 'Maidelein - rothe Waengelein!
Mit wein-glass in her paw,
Ve'll get troonk among de roses,
Und pe soper on de shtraw!'
Dey laid der Hans im bette,
Peneat' de eider doun,
Und sembelet all de doktors
Who doktor in de town,Dat ish, de Deutsche Aertzte,For Breitmann alvays says,
De Deutschers ish de onlies
Mit originell idees.
Der vas Doktor Moritz Schlinkenschlag,
Dat vork ash Cafeopath,
Und de learned Cobus Schoepfskopf,
Who use de milchy bath;
Und Korschalitschky aus Boehmen,
Vhat cure mit slibovitz,
Und Wechselbalg, der Preusse,
Who only 'tend to fits.
Dere vas Strobbich aus Westfalen,
Who mofe all eart'ly ills
Mit concentrirter Schinken juice,
Und Pumpernickel pills.
146
Und a bier-kur man from Munich,
Und a grape-curist from Rhein,
Und von who shkare tiseases
Mit a dose of Schlesier-wein.
So dey meet in consooldation,
Mit Doktor Winkeleck,
Who proctice 'renovation'
Mit sauer-kraut und speck.
Und dat no man shouldt pe shlightet,
Or dreatet ash a tunce,
Dey 'greed to dry deir systems
Oopon Breitmann - all at vonce.
Dat ish, mit de exscepdion
Of gifin' Schlesier-wein:
For de remedy vas dangerfull
For von who trink from Rhein.
Ash der Teufel vonce deklaret,
Vhen he taste it on a shpree,
Dat a man, to trink soosh liquor,
Moost a porn Silesian pe.
So dey all vent los at Breitmann,
Und woonderfool to dell,
He coom to his Gesundheit,
Und pooty soon cot vell.
Some hinted at Natura,
Mit her olt vis sanatrix,
Boot eash doktor shvore he curet him,
Und de rest were taugenix.
I know not vot der Breitmann
More newly has pegun;
Boot dey say he talks day-dayly
Mit Dana of de Sun.
Dey talk in Deutsch togeder,
Und volk say de end will be,
Philosopedal shanges
In de Union Cavallrie.
Gott helf de howlin' safage!
147
Got helf de Indi-an!
Shouldt Breitmann shoin his forces
Mit Sheneral Sheridan!
Und denn, to sing his braises,
I'll write anoder lied:
Hier hat dis dale an ende,
Of Breitmann's Philosopede!
~ Charles Godfrey Leland,#NFDB
315:L'Aveugle
'Dieu dont l'arc est d'argent, dieu de Claros, écoute;
O Sminthée-Apollon, je périrai sans doute,
Si tu ne sers de guide à cet aveugle errant.'
C'est ainsi qu'achevait l'aveugle en soupirant,
Et près des bois marchait, faible, et sur une pierre
S'asseyait. Trois pasteurs, enfants de cette terre,
Le suivaient, accourus aux abois turbulents
Des molosses, gardiens de leurs troupeaux bêlants.
Ils avaient, retenant leur fureur indiscrète,
Protégé du vieillard la faiblesse inquiète;
Ils l'écoutaient de loin, et s'approchant de lui:
Quel est ce vieillard blanc, aveugle et sans appui?
Serait-ce un habitant de l'empire céleste?
Ses traits sont grands et fiers; de sa ceinture agreste
Pend une lyre informe; et les sons de sa voix
Émeuvent l'air et l'onde, et le ciel et les bois.'
Mais il entend leurs pas, prête l'oreille, espère,
Se trouble, et tend déjà les mains à la prière.
'Ne crains point, disent-ils, malheureux étranger,
Si plutôt, sous un corps terrestre et passager,
Tu n'es point quelque dieu protecteur de la Grèce,
Tant une grâce auguste ennoblit ta vieillesse!
Si tu n'es qu'un mortel, vieillard infortuné,
Les humains près de qui les flots t'ont amené
Aux mortels malheureux n'apportent point d'injures.
Les destins n'ont jamais de faveurs qui soient pures.
Ta voix noble et touchante est un bienfait des dieux;
Mais aux clartés du jour ils ont fermé tes yeux.
--Enfants, car votre voix est enfantine et tendre,
Vos discours sont prudents plus qu'on n'eût dû l'attendre;
Mais, toujours soupçonneux, l'indigent étranger
Croit qu'on rit de ses maux et qu'on veut l'outrager.
Ne me comparez point à la troupe immortelle:
Ces rides, ces cheveux, cette nuit éternelle,
Voyez, est-ce le front d'un habitant des cieux?
Je ne suis qu'un mortel, un des plus malheureux!
96
Si vous en savez un, pauvre, errant, misérable,
C'est à celui-là seul que je suis comparable;
Et pourtant je n'ai point, comme fit Thamyris,
Des chansons à Phoebus voulu ravir le prix;
Ni, livré comme Oedipe à la noire Euménide,
Je n'ai puni sur moi l'inceste parricide;
Mais les dieux tout-puissants gardaient à mon déclin
Les ténèbres, l'exil, l'indigence et la faim.
--Prends, et puisse bientôt changer ta destinée!'
Disent-ils. Et tirant ce que, pour leur journée,
Tient la peau d'une chèvre aux crins noirs et luisants,
Ils versent à l'envi, sur ses genoux pesants,
Le pain de pur froment, les olives huileuses,
Le fromage et l'amande et les figues mielleuses;
Et du pain à son chien entre ses pieds gisant,
Tout hors d'haleine encore, humide et languissant,
Qui, malgré les rameurs, se lançant à la nage,
L'avait loin du vaisseau rejoint sur le rivage.
'Le sort, dit le vieillard, n'est pas toujours de fer;
Je vous salue, enfants venus de Jupiter;
Heureux sont les parents qui tels vous firent naître!
Mais venez, que mes mains cherchent à vous connaître;
Je crois avoir des yeux. Vous êtes beaux tous trois.
Vos visages sont doux, car douce est votre voix.
Qu'aimable est la vertu que la grâce environne!
Croissez, comme j'ai vu ce palmier de Latone,
Alors qu'ayant des yeux je traversai les flots;
Car jadis, abordant à la sainte Délos,
Je vis près d'Apollon, à son autel de pierre,
Un palmier, don du ciel, merveille de la terre.
Vous croîtrez, comme lui, grands, féconds, révérés,
Puisque les malheureux sont par vous honorés.
Le plus âgé de vous aura vu treize années:
A peine, mes enfants, vos mères étaient nées,
Que j'étais presque vieux. Assieds-toi près de moi,
Toi, le plus grand de tous; je me confie à toi.
Prends soin du vieil aveugle.--O sage magnanime!
Comment, et d'où viens-tu? car l'onde maritime
Mugit de toutes parts sur nos bords orageux.
97
--Des marchands de Cymé m'avaient pris avec eux.
J'allais voir, m'éloignant des rives de Carie,
Si la Grèce pour moi n'aurait point de patrie,
Et des dieux moins jaloux, et de moins tristes jours;
Car jusques à la mort nous espérons toujours.
Mais pauvre et n'ayant rien pour payer mon passage,
Ils m'ont, je ne sais où, jeté sur le rivage.
--Harmonieux vieillard, tu n'as donc point chanté?
Quelques sons de ta voix auraient tout acheté.
--Enfants! du rossignol la voix pure et légère
N'a jamais apaisé le vautour sanguinaire;
Et les riches, grossiers, avares, insolents,
N'ont pas une âme ouverte à sentir les talents.
Guidé par ce bâton, sur l'arène glissante,
Seul, en silence, au bord de l'onde mugissante,
J'allais, et j'écoutais le bêlement lointain
De troupeaux agitant leurs sonnettes d'airain.
Puis j'ai pris cette lyre, et les cordes mobiles
Ont encor résonné sous mes vieux doigts débiles
Je voulais des grands dieux implorer la bonté,
Et surtout Jupiter, dieu d'hospitalité,
Lorsque d'énormes chiens à la voix formidable
Sont venus m'assaillir; et j'étais misérable,
Si vous (car c'était vous), avant qu'ils m'eussent pris,
N'eussiez armé pour moi les pierres et les cris.
--Mon père, il est donc vrai: tout est devenu pire,
Car jadis, aux accents d'une éloquente lyre,
Les tigres et les loups, vaincus, humiliés,
D'un chanteur comme toi vinrent baiser les pieds.
--Les barbares! J'étais assis près de la poupe.
'Aveugle vagabond, dit l'insolente troupe,
Chante, si ton esprit n'est point comme tes yeux,
Amuse notre ennui; tu rendras grâce aux dieux.'
J'ai fait taire mon coeur qui voulait les confondre:
Ma bouche ne s'est point ouverte à leur répondre;
Ils n'ont pas entendu ma voix, et sous ma main
J'ai retenu le dieu courroucé dans mon sein.
98
Cymé, puisque tes fils dédaignent Mnémosyne,
Puisqu'ils ont fait outrage à la muse divine,
Que leur vie et leur mort s'éteignent dans l'oubli,
Que ton nom dans la nuit demeure enseveli!
--Viens, suis-nous à la ville; elle est toute voisine,
Et chérit les amis de la muse divine.
Un siège aux clous d'argent te place à nos festins;
Et là les mets choisis, le miel et les bons vins,
Sous la colonne où pend une lyre d'ivoire,
Te feront de tes maux oublier la mémoire.
Et si, dans le chemin, rapsode ingénieux,
Ta veux nous accorder tes chants dignes des cieux,
Nous dirons qu'Apollon, pour charmer les oreilles,
T'a lui-même dicté de si douces merveilles.
--Oui, je le veux; marchons. Mais où m'entraînez-vous?
Enfants du vieil aveugle, en quel lieu sommes-nous?
--Syros est l'île heureuse où nous vivons, mon père.
--Salut, belle Syros, deux fois hospitalière!
Car sur ses bords heureux je suis déjà venu:
Amis, je la connais. Vos pères m'ont connu.
Ils croissaient comme vous; mes yeux s'ouvraient encore
Au soleil, au printemps, aux roses de l'aurore;
J'étais jeune et vaillant. Aux danses des guerriers,
A la course, aux combats, j'ai paru des premiers.
J'ai vu Corinthe, Argos, et Crète et les cent villes,
Et du fleuve Egyptus les rivages fertiles;
Mais la terre et la mer, et l'âge et les malheurs,
Ont épuisé ce corps fatigué de douleurs.
La voix me reste. Ainsi la cigale innocente,
Sur un arbuste assise, et se console et chante.
Commençons par les dieux: 'Souverain Jupiter,
Soleil qui vois, entends, connais tout, et toi, mer,
Fleuves, terre, et noirs dieux des vengeances trop lentes,
Salut! Venez à moi, de l'Olympe habitantes,
Muses! vous savez tout, vous, déesses, et nous,
Mortels, ne savons rien qui ne vienne de vous.''
Il poursuit; et déjà les antiques ombrages
99
Mollement en cadence inclinaient leurs feuillages;
Et pâtres oubliant leur troupeau délaissé,
Et voyageurs quittant leur chemin commencé,
Couraient. Il les entend près de son jeune guide,
L'un sur l'autre pressés, tendre une oreille avide;
Et nymphes et sylvains sortaient pour l'admirer,
Et l'écoutaient en foule, et n'osaient respirer,
Car en de longs détours de chansons vagabondes
Il enchaînait de tout les semences fécondes,
Les principes du feu, les eaux, la terre et l'air,
Les fleuves descendus du sein de Jupiter,
Les oracles, les arts, les cités fraternelles,
Et depuis le chaos les amours immortelles;
D'abord le roi divin, et l'Olympe, et les cieux,
Et le monde ébranlé d'un signe de ses yeux,
Et les dieux partagés en une immense guerre,
Et le sang plus qu'humain venant rougir la terre,
Et les rois assemblés, et sous les pieds guerriers
Une nuit de poussière, et les chars meurtriers,
Et les héros armés, brillant dans les campagnes
Comme un vaste incendie aux cimes des montagnes,
Les coursiers hérissant leur crinière à longs flots,
Et d'une voix humaine excitant les héros;
De là, portant ses pas dans les paisibles villes,
Les lois, les orateurs, les récoltes fertiles;
Mais bientôt de soldats les remparts entourés,
Les victimes tombant dans les parvis sacrés,
Et les assauts mortels aux épouses plaintives,
Et les mères en deuil, et les filles captives;
Puis aussi les moissons joyeuses, les troupeaux
Bêlants ou mugissants, les rustiques pipeaux,
Les chansons, les festins, les vendanges bruyantes,
Et la flûte et la lyre, et les noces dansantes.
Puis, déchaînant les vents à soulever les mers,
Il perdait les rochers sur les gouffres amers;
De là, dans le sein frais d'une roche azurée,
En foule il appelait les filles de Nérée,
Qui, bientôt à ses cris s'élevant sur les eaux,
Aux rivages troyens parcouraient les vaisseaux.
Puis il ouvrait du Styx la rive criminelle,
Et puis les demi-dieux et les champs d'asphodèle,
Et la foule des morts: vieillards seuls et souffrants,
100
Jeunes gens emportés aux yeux de leurs parents,
Enfants dont au berceau la vie est terminée,
Vierges dont le trépas suspendit l'hyménée.
Mais, ô bois, ô ruisseaux, ô monts, ô durs cailloux!
Quels doux frémissements vous agitèrent tous,
Quand bientôt à Lemnos, sur l'enclume divine,
Il forgeait cette trame irrésistible et fine
Autant que d'Arachné les pièges inconnus,
Et dans ce fer mobile emprisonnait Vénus,
Et quand il revêtait d'une pierre soudaine
La fière Niobé, cette mère thébaine;
Et quand il répétait en accents de douleur
De la triste Aédon l'imprudence et les pleurs,
Qui d'un fils méconnu marâtre involontaire,
Vola, doux rossignol, sous le bois solitaire!
Ensuite, avec le vin, il versait aux héros
Le puissant népenthès, oubli de tous les maux;
Il cueillait le moly, fleur qui rend l'homme sage;
Du paisible lotos il mêlait le breuvage:
Les mortels oubliaient, à ce philtre charmés,
Et la douce patrie et les parents aimés.
Enfin l'Ossa, l'Olympe et les bois du Pénée
Voyaient ensanglanter les banquets d'hyménée,
Quand Thésée, au milieu de la joie et du vin,
La nuit où son ami reçut à son festin
Le peuple monstrueux des enfants de la nue,
Fut contraint d'arracher l'épouse demi-nue
Au bras ivre et nerveux du sauvage Eurytus.
Soudain, le glaive en main, l'ardent Pirithoüs:
'Attends; il faut ici que mon affront s'expie,
Traître!' Mais avant lui, sur le centaure impie
Dryas a fait tomber, avec tous ses rameaux,
Un long arbre de fer hérissé de flambeaux.
L'insolent quadrupède en vain s'écrie; il tombe,
Et son pied bat le sol qui doit être sa tombe.
Sous l'effort de Nessus, la table du repas
Roule, écrase Cymèle, Évagre, Périphas.
Pirithoüs égorge Antimaque et Pétrée,
Et Cyllare aux pieds blancs, et le noir Macarée,
Qui de trois fiers lions, dépouillés par sa main,
Couvrait ses quatre flancs, armait son double sein.
101
Courbé, levant un roc choisi pour leur vengeance,
Tout à coup, sous l'airain d'un vase antique, immense,
L'imprudent Bianor, par Hercule surpris,
Sent de sa tête énorme éclater les débris.
Hercule et la massue entassent en trophée
Clanis, Démoléon, Lycotas, et Riphée
Qui portait sur ses crins, de taches colorés,
L'héréditaire éclat des nuages dorés.
Mais d'un double combat Eurynome est avide,
Car ses pieds, agités en un cercle rapide,
Battent à coups pressés l'armure de Nestor;
Le quadrupède Hélops fuit; l'agile Crantor,
Le bras levé, l'atteint; Eurynome l'arrête;
D'un érable noueux il va fendre sa tête,
Lorsque le fils d'Égée, invincible, sanglant,
L'aperçoit, à l'autel prend un chêne brûlant,
Sur sa croupe indomptée, avec un cri terrible,
S'élance, va saisir sa chevelure horrible,
L'entraîne, et, quand sa bouche, ouverte avec effort,
Crie, il y plonge ensemble et la flamme et la mort.
L'autel est dépouillé. Tous vont s'armer de flamme,
Et le bois porte au loin des hurlements de femme,
L'ongle frappant la terre, et les guerriers meurtris,
Et les vases brisés, et l'injure, et les cris.
Ainsi le grand vieillard, en images hardies,
Déployait le tissu des saintes mélodies.
Les trois enfants émus, à son auguste aspect,
Admiraient, d'un regard de joie et de respect,
De sa bouche abonder les paroles divines,
Comme en hiver la neige aux sommets des collines.
Et, partout accourus, dansant sur son chemin,
Hommes, femmes, enfants, les rameaux à la main,
Et vierges et guerriers, jeunes fleurs de la ville,
Chantaient: 'Viens dans nos murs, viens habiter notre île;
Viens, prophète éloquent, aveugle harmonieux,
Convive du nectar, disciple aimé des dieux;
Des jeux, tous les cinq ans, rendront saint et prospère
Le jour où nous avons reçu le grand HOMÈRE.'
~ Andre Marie de Chenier,#NFDB
316:I-Juca Pirama
No meio das tabas de amenos verdores,
Cercadas de troncos — cobertos de flores,
Alteiam-se os tetos d’altiva nação;
São muitos seus filhos, nos ânimos fortes,
Temíveis na guerra, que em densas coortes
Assombram das matas a imensa extensão.
São rudos, severos, sedentos de glória,
Já prélios incitam, já cantam vitória,
Já meigos atendem à voz do cantor:
São todos Timbiras, guerreiros valentes!
Seu nome lá voa na boca das gentes,
Condão de prodígios, de glória e terror!
As tribos vizinhas, sem forças, sem brio,
As armas quebrando, lançando-as ao rio,
O incenso aspiraram dos seus maracás:
Medrosos das guerras que os fortes acendem,
Custosos tributos ignavos lá rendem,
Aos duros guerreiros sujeitos na paz.
No centro da taba se estende um terreiro,
Onde ora se aduna o concílio guerreiro
Da tribo senhora, das tribos servis:
Os velhos sentados praticam d’outrora,
E os moços inquietos, que a festa enamora,
Derramam-se em torno dum índio infeliz.
Quem é? — ninguém sabe: seu nome é ignoto,
Sua tribo não diz: — de um povo remoto
Descende por certo — dum povo gentil;
Assim lá na Grécia ao escravo insulano
Tornavam distinto do vil muçulmano
As linhas corretas do nobre perfil.
Por casos de guerra caiu prisioneiro
Nas mãos dos Timbiras: — no extenso terreiro
Assola-se o teto, que o teve em prisão;
Convidam-se as tribos dos seus arredores,
Cuidosos se incumbem do vaso das cores,
Dos vários aprestos da honrosa função.
Acerva-se a lenha da vasta fogueira,
Entesa-se a corda de embira ligeira,
Adorna-se a maça com penas gentis:
A custo, entre as vagas do povo da aldeia
Caminha o Timbira, que a turba rodeia,
Garboso nas plumas de vário matiz.
Entanto as mulheres com leda trigança,
Afeitas ao rito da bárbara usança,
O índio já querem cativo acabar:
A coma lhe cortam, os membros lhe tingem,
Brilhante enduape no corpo lhe cingem,
Sombreia-lhe a fronte gentil canitar.
II
Em fundos vasos d’alvacenta argila ferve o cauim;
Enchem-se as copas, o prazer começa, reina o festim.
O prisioneiro, cuja morte anseiam, sentado está,
O prisioneiro, que outro sol no ocaso jamais verá!
A dura corda, que lhe enlaça o colo, mostra-lhe o fim
Da vida escura, que será mais breve do que o festim!
Contudo os olhos d’ignóbil pranto secos estão;
Mudos os lábios não descerram queixas do coração.
Mas um martírio, que encobrir não pode, em rugas faz
A mentirosa placidez do rosto na fronte audaz!
Que tens, guerreiro? Que temor te assalta no passo horrendo?
Honra das tabas que nascer te viram, folga morrendo.
Folga morrendo; porque além dos Andes revive o forte,
Que soube ufano contrastar os medos da fria morte.
Rasteira grama, exposta ao sol, à chuva, lá murcha e pende:
Somente ao tronco, que devassa os ares, o raio ofende!
Que foi? Tupã mandou que ele caísse, como viveu;
E o caçador que o avistou prostrado esmoreceu!
Que temes, ó guerreiro? Além dos Andes revive o forte,
Que soube ufano contrastar os medos da fria morte.
III
Em larga roda de novéis guerreiros
Ledo caminha o festival Timbira,
A quem do sacrifício cabe as honras.
Na fronte o canitar sacode em ondas,
O enduape na cinta se embalança,
Na destra mão sopesa a ivirapeme,
Orgulhoso e pujante. — Ao menor passo
Colar d’alvo marfim, insígnia d’honra,
Que lhe orna o colo e o peito, ruge e freme,
Como que por feitiço não sabido
Encantadas ali as almas grandes
Dos vencidos Tapuias, inda chorem
Serem glória e brasão d'imigos feros.
“Eis-me aqui, diz ao índio prisioneiro;
“Pois que fraco, e sem tribo, e sem família,
“As nossas matas devassaste ousado,
“Morrerás morte vil da mão de um forte.”
Vem a terreiro o mísero contrário;
Do colo à cinta a muçurana desce:
“Dize-nos quem és, teus feitos canta,
“Ou se mais te apraz, defende-te.” Começa
O índio, que ao redor derrama os olhos,
Com triste voz que os ânimos comove.
IV
Meu canto de morte,
Guerreiros, ouvi:
Sou filho das selvas,
Nas selvas cresci;
Guerreiros, descendo
Da tribo Tupi.
10
Da tribo pujante,
Que agora anda errante
Por fado inconstante,
Guerreiros, nasci;
Sou bravo, sou forte,
Sou filho do Norte;
Meu canto de morte,
Guerreiros, ouvi.
Já vi cruas brigas,
De tribos imigas,
E as duras fadigas
Da guerra provei;
Nas ondas mendaces
Senti pelas faces
Os silvos fugaces
Dos ventos que amei.
Andei longes terras,
Lidei cruas guerras,
Vaguei pelas serras
Dos vis Aimorés;
Vi lutas de bravos,
Vi fortes — escravos!
De estranhos ignavos
Calcados aos pés.
E os campos talados,
E os arcos quebrados,
E os piagas coitados
Já sem maracás;
E os meigos cantores,
Servindo a senhores,
Que vinham traidores,
Com mostras de paz
Aos golpes do imigo
Meu último amigo,
Sem lar, sem abrigo
Caiu junto a mi!
Com plácido rosto,
Sereno e composto,
11
O acerbo desgosto
Comigo sofri.
Meu pai a meu lado
Já cego e quebrado,
De penas ralado,
Firmava-se em mi:
Nós ambos, mesquinhos,
Por ínvios caminhos,
Cobertos d’espinhos
Chegamos aqui!
O velho no entanto
Sofrendo já tanto
De fome e quebranto,
Só qu’ria morrer!
Não mais me contenho,
Nas matas me embrenho,
Das frechas que tenho
Me quero valer.
Então, forasteiro,
Caí prisioneiro
De um troço guerreiro
Com que me encontrei:
O cru dessossego
Do pai fraco e cego,
Enquanto não chego,
Qual seja — dizei!
Eu era o seu guia
Na noite sombria,
A só alegria
Que Deus lhe deixou:
Em mim se apoiava,
Em mim se firmava,
Em mim descansava,
Que filho lhe sou.
Ao velho coitado
De penas ralado,
Já cego e quebrado,
12
Que resta? - Morrer.
Enquanto descreve
O giro tão breve
Da vida que teve,
Deixa-me viver!
Não vil, não ignavo,
Mas forte, mas bravo,
Serei vosso escravo:
Aqui virei ter.
Guerreiros, não coro
Do pranto que choro;
Se a vida deploro,
Também sei morrer.
Soltai-o! — diz o chefe. Pasma a turba;
Os guerreiros murmuram: mal ouviram,
Nem pode nunca um chefe dar tal ordem!
Brada segunda vez com voz mais alta,
Afrouxam-se as prisões, a embira cede,
A custo, sim; mas cede: o estranho é salvo,
— Timbira, diz o índio enternecido,
Solto apenas dos nós que o seguravam:
És um guerreiro ilustre, um grande chefe,
Tu que assim do meu mal te comoveste,
Nem sofres que, transposta a natureza,
Com olhos onde a luz já não cintila,
Chore a morte do filho o pai cansado,
Que somente por seu na voz conhece.
— És livre; parte.
— E voltarei.
— Debalde.
— Sim, voltarei, morto meu pai.
— Não voltes!
É bem feliz, se existe, em que não veja,
Que filho tem, qual chora: és livre; parte!
— Acaso tu supões que me acobardo,
13
Que receio morrer!
— És livre; parte!
— Ora não partirei; quero provar-te
Que um filho dos Tupis vive com honra,
E com honra maior, se acaso vencem,
Da morte o passo glorioso afronta.
— Mentiste, que um Tupi não chora nunca,
E tu choraste!... parte; não queremos
Com carne vil enfraquecer os fortes.
Sobresteve o Tupi: - arfando em ondas
O rebater do coração se ouvia
Precipite. - Do rosto afogueado
Gélidas bagas de suor corriam:
Talvez que o assaltava um pensamento...
Já não... que na enlutada fantasia,
Um pesar, um martírio ao mesmo tempo,
Do velho pai a moribunda imagem
Quase bradar-lhe ouvia: - Ingrato! ingrato!
Curvado o colo, taciturno e frio,
Espectro d’homem, penetrou no bosque!
VI
— Filho meu, onde estás?
— Ao vosso lado;
Aqui vos trago provisões: tomai-as,
As vossas forças restaurar perdidas,
E a caminho, e já!
— Tardaste muito!
Não era nado o sol, quando partiste,
E frouxo o seu calor já sinto agora!
— Sim, demorei-me a divagar sem rumo,
Perdi-me nestas matas intrincadas,
Reaviei-me e tornei; mas urge o tempo;
Convém partir, e já!
14
— Que novos males
Nos resta de sofrer? — que novas dores,
No outro fado pior Tupã nos guarda?
— As setas da aflição já se esgotaram,
Nem para novo golpe espaço intacto
Em nossos corpos resta.
— Mas tu tremes
— Talvez do afã da caça...
— Oh filho caro
Um quê misterioso aqui me fala,
Aqui no coração; piedosa fraude
Será por certo, que não mentes nunca!
Não conheces temor, e agora temes?
Vejo e sei: é Tupã que nos aflige,
E contra o seu querer não valem brios.
Partamos!... — E com mão trêmula, incerta
Procura o filho, tateando as trevas
Da sua noite lúgubre e medonha.
Sentindo o acre odor das frescas tintas,
Uma idéia fatal correu-lhe à mente...
Do filho os membros gélidos apalpa,
E a dolorosa maciez das plumas
Conhece estremecendo: — foge, volta,
encontra sob as mãos o duro crânio,
Despido então do natural ornato!...
Recua aflito e pávido, cobrindo
Às mãos ambas os olhos fulminados,
Como que teme ainda o triste velho
De ver, não mais cruel, porém mais clara,
Daquele exício grande a imagem viva
Ante os olhos do corpo afigurada.
Não era que a verdade conhecesse
Inteira e tão cruel qual tinha sido;
Mas que funesto azar correra o filho,
Ele o via; ele o tinha ali presente;
E era de repetir-se a cada instante.
A dor passada, a previsão futura
E o presente tão negro, ali os tinha;
Ali no coração se concentrava,
15
Era num ponto só, mas era a morte!
— Tu prisioneiro, tu?
— Vós o dissesses.
— Dos índios?
— Sim.
— De que nação?
— Timbiras
— E a muçurana funeral rompeste,
Dos falsos manitôs quebraste a maça...
— Nada fiz... aqui estou.
— Nada! —
Emudecem;
Curto instante depois prossegue o velho:
— Tu és valente, bem o sei; confesso,
Fizeste-o, certo, ou já não foras vivo!
— Nada fiz; mas souberam da existência
De um pobre velho, que em mim só vivia...
— E depois?...
—Eis-me aqui.
—Fica essa taba?
— Na direção do sol, quando transmonta.
— Longe?
— Não muito.
16
— Tens razão: partamos.
— E quereis ir?...
— Na direção do ocaso.
VII
“Por amor de um triste velho,
Que ao termo fatal já chega,
Vós, guerreiros, concedesses
A vida a um prisioneiro.
Ação tão nobre vos honra,
Nem tão alta cortesia
Vi eu jamais praticada
Entre os Tupis — e mas foram
Senhores em gentileza.
“Eu porém nunca vencido,
Nem os combates por armas
Nem por nobreza nos atos;
Aqui venho, e o filho trago.
Vós o dizeis prisioneiro,
Seja assim como dizeis;
Manda! vir a lenha, o fogo,
A maça do sacrifício
E a muçurana ligeira:
Em tudo o rito se cumpra!
E quando eu for só na terra,
Certo acharei entre os vossos,
Que tão gentis se revelam,
Alguém que meus passos guie;
Alguém, que vendo o meu peito
Coberto de cicatrizes,
Tomando a vez de meu filho,
De haver-me por pai se ufane!"
Mas o chefe dos Timbiras,
Os sobrolhos encrespando,
Ao velho Tupi guerreiro
Responde com torvo acento:
17
— Nada farei do que dizes:
É teu filho imbele e fraco!
Aviltaria o triunfo
Da mais guerreira das tribos
Derramar seu ignóbil sangue:
Ele chorou de cobarde;
Nós outros, fortes Timbiras,
Só de heróis fazemos pasto. —
Do velho Tupi guerreiro
A surda voz na garganta
Faz ouvir uns sons confusos,
Como os rugidos de um tigre,
Que pouco a pouco se assanha!
VIII
“Tu choraste em presença da morte?
Na presença de estranhos choraste?
Não descende o cobarde do forte;
Pois choraste, meu filho não és!
Possas tu, descendente maldito
De uma tribo de nobres guerreiros,
Implorando cruéis forasteiros,
Seres presa de vis Aimorés.
“Possas tu, isolado na terra,
Sem arrimo e sem pátria vagando,
Rejeitado da morte na guerra,
Rejeitado dos homens na paz,
Ser das gentes o espectro execrado;
Não encontres amor nas mulheres,
Teus amigos, se amigos tiveres,
Tenham alma inconstante e falaz!
“Não encontres doçura no dia,
Nem as cores da aurora te ameiguem,
E entre as larvas da noite sombria
Nunca possas descanso gozar:
Não encontres um tronco, uma pedra,
Posta ao sol, posta às chuvas e aos ventos,
Padecendo os maiores tormentos,
Onde possas a fronte pousar.
18
“Que a teus passos a relva se torre;
Murchem prados, a flor desfaleça,
E o regato que límpido corre,
Mais te acenda o vesano furor;
Suas águas depressa se tornem,
Ao contacto dos lábios sedentos,
Lago impuro de vermes nojentos,
Donde festas como asco e terror!
“Sempre o céu, como um teto incendido,
Creste e punja teus membros malditos
E o oceano de pó denegrido
Seja a terra ao ignavo tupi!
Miserável, faminto, sedento,
Manitôs lhe não falem nos sonhos,
E do horror os espectros medonhos
Traga sempre o cobarde após si.
“Um amigo não tenhas piedoso
Que o teu corpo na terra embalsame,
Pondo em vaso d’argila cuidoso
Arco e frecha e tacape a teus pés!
Sé maldito, e sozinho na terra;
Pois que a tanta vileza chegaste,
Que em presença da morte choraste,
Tu, cobarde, meu filho não és.”
IX
Isto dizendo, o meserando velho
A quem Tupã tamanha dor, tal fado
Já nos confins da vida reservara,
Vai com trêmulo pé, com as mãos já frias
Da sua noite escura as densas trevas
Palpando. - Alarma! alarma! - O velho para.
O grito que escutou é voz do filho,
Voz de guerra que ouviu já tantas vezes
Noutra quadra melhor. - Alarma! alarma!
— Esse momento só vale apagar-lhe
Os tão compridos transes, as angústias,
Que o frio coração lhe atormentaram
19
De guerreiro e de pai: - vale, e de sobra.
Ele que em tanta dor se contivera,
Tomado pelo súbito contraste,
Desfaz-se agora em pranto copioso,
Que o exaurido coração remoça.
A taba se alborota, os golpes descem,
Gritos, imprecações profundas soam,
Emaranhada a multidão braveja,
Revolve-se, enovela-se confusa,
E mais revolta em mor furor se acende.
E os sons dos golpes que incessantes fervem.
Vozes, gemidos, estertor de morte
Vão longe pelas ermas serranias
Da humana tempestade propagando
Quantas vagas de povo enfurecido
Contra um rochedo vivo se quebravam.
Era ele, o Tupi; nem fora justo
Que a fama dos Tupis - o nome, a glória,
Aturado labor de tantos anos,
Derradeiro brasão da raça extinta,
De um jacto e por um só se aniquilasse.
— Basta! clama o chefe dos Timbiras,
— Basta, guerreiro ilustre! assaz lutaste,
E para o sacrifício é mister forças. O guerreiro parou, caiu nos braços
Do velho pai, que o cinge contra o peito,
Com lágrimas de júbilo bradando:
“Este, sim, que é meu filho muito amado!
“E pois que o acho enfim, qual sempre o tive,
“Corram livres as lágrimas que choro,
“Estas lágrimas, sim, que não desonram.”
Um velho Timbira, coberto de glória,
guardou a memória
Do moço guerreiro, do velho Tupi!
20
E à noite, nas tabas, se alguém duvidava
do que ele contava,
Dizia prudente: - “Meninos, eu vi!
“Eu vi o brioso no largo terreiro
cantar prisioneiro
Seu canto de morte, que nunca esqueci:
Valente, como era, chorou sem ter pejo;
parece que o vejo,
Que o tenho nest’hora diante de mim.
“Eu disse comigo: Que infâmia d’escravo!
Pois não, era um bravo;
Valente e brioso, como ele, não vi!
E à fé que vos digo: parece-me encanto
Que quem chorou tanto,
Tivesse a coragem que tinha o Tupi!”
Assim o Timbira, coberto de glória,
guardava a memória
Do moço guerreiro, do velho Tupi.
E à noite nas tabas, se alguém duvidava
do que ele contava,
Tomava prudente: “Meninos, eu vi!”
~ Antônio Gonçalves Dias,#NFDB
317:Jubilate Agno: Fragment B, Part 2
LET PETER rejoice with the MOON FISH who keeps up the life in the waters by
night.
Let Andrew rejoice with the Whale, who is array'd in beauteous blue and is a
combination of bulk and activity.
Let James rejoice with the Skuttle-Fish, who foils his foe by the effusion of his
ink.
Let John rejoice with Nautilus who spreads his sail and plies his oar, and the Lord
is his pilot.
Let Philip rejoice with Boca, which is a fish that can speak.
Let Bartholomew rejoice with the Eel, who is pure in proportion to where he is
found and how he is used.
Let Thomas rejoice with the Sword-Fish, whose aim is perpetual and strength
insuperable.
Let Matthew rejoice with Uranoscopus, whose eyes are lifted up to God.
Let James the less, rejoice with the Haddock, who brought the piece of money for
the Lord and Peter.
Let Jude bless with the Bream, who is of melancholy from his depth and serenity.
Let Simon rejoice with the Sprat, who is pure and innumerable.
Let Matthias rejoice with the Flying-Fish, who has a part with the birds, and is
sublimity in his conceit.
Let Stephen rejoice with Remora -- The Lord remove all obstacles to his glory.
Let Paul rejoice with the Scale, who is pleasant and faithful!, like God's good
ENGLISHMAN.
Let Agrippa, which is Agricola, rejoice with Elops, who is a choice fish.
56
Let Joseph rejoice with the Turbut, whose capture makes the poor fisher-man
sing.
Let Mary rejoice with the Maid -- blessed be the name of the immaculate
CONCEPTION.
Let John, the Baptist, rejoice with the Salmon -- blessed be the name of the Lord
Jesus for infant Baptism.
Let Mark rejoice with the Mullet, who is John Dore, God be gracious to him and
his family.
Let Barnabus rejoice with the Herring -- God be gracious to the Lord's fishery.
Let Cleopas rejoice with the Mackerel, who cometh in a shoal after a leader.
Let Abiud of the Lord's line rejoice with Murex, who is good and of a precious
tincture.
Let Eliakim rejoice with the Shad, who is contemned in his abundance.
Let Azor rejoice with the Flounder, who is both of the sea and of the river,
Let Sadoc rejoice with the Bleak, who playeth upon the surface in the Sun.
Let Achim rejoice with the Miller's Thumb, who is a delicious morsel for the water
fowl.
Let Eliud rejoice with Cinaedus, who is a fish yellow all over.
Let Eleazar rejoice with the Grampus, who is a pompous spouter.
Let Matthan rejoice with the Shark, who is supported by multitudes of small
value.
Let Jacob rejoice with the Gold Fish, who is an eye-trap.
Let Jairus rejoice with the Silver Fish, who is bright and lively.
Let Lazarus rejoice with Torpedo, who chills the life of the assailant through his
staff.
57
Let Mary Magdalen rejoice with the Place, whose goodness and purity are of the
Lord's making.
Let Simon the leper rejoice with the Eel-pout, who is a rarity on account of his
subtlety.
Let Alpheus rejoice with the Whiting, whom God hath bless'd in multitudes, and
his days are as the days of PURIM.
Let Onesimus rejoice with the Cod -- blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus for a
miraculous draught of men.
Let Joses rejoice with the Sturgeon, who saw his maker in the body and obtained
grace.
Let Theophilus rejoice with the Folio, who hath teeth, like the teeth of a saw.
Let Bartimeus rejoice with the Quaviver -- God be gracious to the eyes of him,
who prayeth for the blind.
Let CHRISTOPHER, who is Simon of Cyrene, rejoice with the Rough -- God be
gracious to the CAM and to DAVID CAM and his seed for ever.
Let Timeus rejoice with the Ling -- God keep the English Sailors clear of French
bribery.
Let Salome rejoice with the Mermaid, who hath the countenance and a portion of
human reason.
Let Zacharias rejoice with the Gudgeon, who improves in his growth till he is
mistaken.
Let Campanus rejoice with the Lobster -- God be gracious to all the CAMPBELLs
especially John.
Let Martha rejoice with the Skallop -- the Lord revive the exercise and excellence
of the Needle.
Let Mary rejoice with the Carp -- the ponds of Fairlawn and the garden bless for
the master.
58
Let Zebedee rejoice with the Tench -- God accept the good son for his parents
also.
Let Joseph of Arimathea rejoice with the Barbel -- a good coffin and a tombstone without grudging!
Let Elizabeth rejoice with the Crab -- it is good, at times, to go back.
Let Simeon rejoice with the Oyster, who hath the life without locomotion.
Let Jona rejoice with the Wilk -- Wilks, Wilkie, and Wilkinson bless the name of
the Lord Jesus.
Let Nicodemus rejoice with the Muscle, for so he hath provided for the poor.
Let Gamaliel rejoice with the Cockle -- I will rejoice in the remembrance of
mercy.
Let Agabus rejoice with the Smelt -- The Lord make me serviceable to the
HOWARDS.
Let Rhoda rejoice with the Sea-Cat, who is pleasantry and purity.
Let Elmodam rejoice with the Chubb, who is wary of the bait and thrives in his
circumspection.
Let Jorim rejoice with the Roach -- God bless my throat and keep me from things
stranggled.
Let Addi rejoice with the Dace -- It is good to angle with meditation.
Let Luke rejoice with the Trout -- Blessed be Jesus in Aa, in Dee and in Isis.
Let Cosam rejoice with the Perch, who is a little tyrant, because he is not liable to
that, which he inflicts.
Let Levi rejoice with the Pike -- God be merciful to all dumb creatures in respect
of pain.
Let Melchi rejoice with the Char, who cheweth the cud.
Let Joanna rejoice with the Anchovy -- I beheld and lo! 'a great multitude!
59
Let Neri rejoice with the Keeling Fish, who is also called the Stock Fish.
Let Janna rejoice with the Pilchard -- the Lord restore the seed of Abishai.
Let Esli rejoice with the Soal, who is flat and spackles for the increase of motion.
Let Nagge rejoice with the Perriwinkle -- 'for the rain it raineth every day.'
Let Anna rejoice with the Porpus, who is a joyous fish and of good omen.
Let Phanuel rejoice with the Shrimp, which is the childrens fishery.
Let Chuza rejoice with the Sea-Bear, who is full of sagacity and prank.
Let Susanna rejoice with the Lamprey, who is an eel with a title.
Let Candace rejoice with the Craw-fish -- How hath the Christian minister
renowned the Queen.
Let The Eunuch rejoice with the Thorn-Back -- It is good to be discovered reading
the BIBLE.
Let Simon the Pharisee rejoice with the Grigg -- the Lord bring up Issachar and
Dan.
Let Simon the converted Sorcerer rejoice with the Dab quoth Daniel.
Let Joanna, of the Lord's line, rejoice with the Minnow, who is multiplied against
the oppressor.
Let Jonas rejoice with the Sea-Devil, who hath a good name from his Maker.
Let Alexander rejoice with the Tunny -- the worse the time the better the
eternity.
Let Rufus rejoice with the Needle-fish, who is very good in his element.
Let Matthat rejoice with the Trumpet-fish -- God revive the blowing of the
TRUMPETS.
Let Mary, the mother of James, rejoice with the Sea-Mouse -- it is good to be at
60
peace.
Let Prochorus rejoice with Epodes, who is a kind of fish with Ovid who is at peace
in the Lord.
Let Timotheus rejoice with the Dolphin, who is of benevolence.
Let Nicanor rejoice with the Skeat -- Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus in
fish and in the Shewbread, which ought to be continually on the altar, now more
than ever, and the want of it is the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by
Daniel.
Let Timon rejoice with Crusion -- The Shew-Bread in the first place is gratitude to
God to shew who is bread, whence it is, and that there is enough and to spare.
Let Parmenas rejoice with the Mixon -- Secondly it is to prevent the last
extremity, for it is lawful that rejected hunger may take it.
Let Dorcas rejoice with Dracunculus -- blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus in
the Grotto.
Let Tychicus rejoice with Scolopendra, who quits himself of the hook by voiding
his intrails.
Let Trophimus rejoice with the Sea-Horse, who shoud have been to Tychicus the
father of Yorkshiremen.
Let Tryphena rejoice with Fluta -- Saturday is the Sabbath for the mouth of God
hath spoken it.
Let Tryphosa rejoice with Acarne -- With such preparation the Lord's Jubile is
better kept.
Let Simon the Tanner rejoice with Alausa -- Five days are sufficient for the
purposes of husbandry.
Let Simeon Niger rejoice with the Loach -- The blacks are the seed of Cain.
Let Lucius rejoice with Corias -- Some of Cain's seed was preserved in the loins
of Ham at the flood.
Let Manaen rejoice with Donax. My DEGREE is good even here, in the Lord I have
61
a better.
Let Sergius Paulus rejoice with Dentex -- Blessed be the name Jesus for my
teeth.
Let Silas rejoice with the Cabot -- the philosophy of the times ev'n now is vain
deceit.
Let Barsabas rejoice with Cammarus -- Newton is ignorant for if a man consult
not the WORD how should he understand the WORK? -Let Lydia rejoice with Attilus -- Blessed be the name of him which eat the fish
and honey comb.
Let Jason rejoice with Alopecias, who is subtlety without offence.
Let Dionysius rejoice with Alabes who is peculiar to the Nile.
Let Damaris rejoice with Anthias -- The fountain of the Nile is known to the
Eastern people who drink it.
Let Apollos rejoice with Astacus, but St Paul is the Agent for England.
Let Justus rejoice with Crispus in a Salmon-Trout -- the Lord look on the soul of
Richard Atwood.
Let Crispus rejoice with Leviathan -- God be gracious to the soul of HOBBES, who
was no atheist, but a servant of Christ, and died in the Lord -- I wronged him
God forgive me.
Let Aquila rejoice with Beemoth who is Enoch no fish but a stupendous creeping
Thing.
Let Priscilla rejoice with Cythera. As earth increases by Beemoth so the sea
likewise enlarges.
Let Tyrannus rejoice with Cephalus who hath a great head.
Let Gaius rejoice with the Water-Tortoise -- Paul and Tychicus were in England
with Agricola my father.
Let Aristarchus rejoice with Cynoglossus -- The Lord was at Glastonbury in the
62
body and blessed the thorn.
Let Alexander rejoice with the Sea-Urchin -- The Lord was at Bristol and blessed
the waters there.
Let Sopater rejoice with Elacate -- The waters of Bath were blessed by St
Matthias.
Let Secundus rejoice with Echeneis who is the sea-lamprey.
Let Eutychus rejoice with Cnide -- Fish and honeycomb are blessed to eat after a
recovery. -Let Mnason rejoice with Vulvula a sort of fish -- Good words are of God, the cant
from the Devil.
Let Claudius Lysias rejoice with Coracinus who is black and peculiar to Nile.
Let Bernice rejoice with Corophium which is a kind of crab.
Let Phebe rejoice with Echinometra who is a beautiful shellfish red and green.
Let Epenetus rejoice with Erythrinus who is red with a white belly.
Let Andronicus rejoice with Esox, the Lax, a great fish of the Rhine.
Let Junia rejoice with the Faber-Fish -- Broil'd fish and honeycomb may be taken
for the sacrament.
Let Amplias rejoice with Garus, who is a kind of Lobster.
Let Urbane rejoice with Glanis, who is a crafty fish who bites away the bait and
saves himself.
Let Stachys rejoice with Glauciscus, who is good for Women's milk.
Let Apelles rejoice with Glaucus -- behold the seed of the brave and ingenious
how they are saved!
Let Aristobulus rejoice with Glycymerides who is pure and sweet.
Let Herodion rejoice with Holothuria which are prickly fishes.
63
Let Narcissus rejoice with Hordeia -- I will magnify the Lord who multiplied the
fish.
Let Persis rejoice with Liparis -- I will magnify the Lord who multiplied the barley
loaves.
Let Rufus rejoice with Icthyocolla of whose skin a water-glue is made.
Let Asyncritus rejoice with Labrus who is a voracious fish.
Let Phlegon rejoice with the Sea-Lizard -- Bless Jesus THOMAS BOWLBY and all
the seed of Reuben.
Let Hermas rejoice with Lamyrus who is of things creeping in the sea.
Let Patrobas rejoice with Lepas, all shells are precious.
Let Hermes rejoice with Lepus, who is a venomous fish.
Let Philologus rejoice with Ligarius -- shells are all parries to the adversary.
Let Julia rejoice with the Sleeve-Fish -- Blessed be Jesus for all the TAYLERS.
Let Nereus rejoice with the Calamary -- God give success to our fleets.
Let Olympas rejoice with the Sea-Lantern, which glows upon the waters.
Let Sosipater rejoice with Cornuta. There are fish for the Sea-Night-Birds that
glow at bottom.
Let Lucius rejoice with the Cackrel Fish. God be gracious to JMs FLETCHER who
has my tackling.
Let Tertius rejoice with Maia which is a kind of crab.
Let Erastus rejoice with Melandry which is the largest Tunny.
Let Quartus rejoice with Mena. God be gracious to the immortal soul of poor
Carte, who was barbarously and cowardly murder'd -- the Lord prevent the
dealers in clandestine death.
64
Let Sosthenes rejoice with the Winkle -- all shells like the parts of the body are
good kept for those parts.
Let Chloe rejoice with the Limpin -- There is a way to the terrestrial Paradise
upon the knees.
Let Carpus rejoice with the Frog-Fish -- A man cannot die upon his knees.
Let Stephanas rejoice with Mormyra who is a fish of divers colours.
Let Fortunatus rejoice with the Burret -- it is good to be born when things are
crossed.
Let Lois rejoice with the Angel-Fish -- There is a fish that swims in the fluid
Empyrean.
Let Achaicus rejoice with the Fat-Back -- The Lord invites his fishers to the WEST
INDIES.
Let Sylvanus rejoice with the Black-Fish -- Oliver Cromwell himself was the
murderer in the Mask.
Let Titus rejoice with Mys -- O Tite siquid ego adjuero curamve levasso!
Let Euodias rejoice with Myrcus -- There is a perfumed fish I will offer him for a
sweet savour to the Lord.
Let Syntyche rejoice with Myax -- There are shells in the earth which were left by
the FLOOD.
Let Clement rejoice with Ophidion -- There are shells again in earth at sympathy
with those in sea.
Let Epaphroditus rejoice with Opthalmias -- The Lord increase the Cambridge
collection of fossils.
Let Epaphras rejoice with Orphus -- God be gracious to the immortal soul of Dr
Woodward.
Let Justus rejoice with Pagrus -- God be gracious to the immortal soul of Dr
Middleton.
65
Let Nymphas rejoice with Fagurus -- God bless Charles Mason and all Trinity
College.
Let Archippus rejoice with Nerita whose shell swimmeth.
Let Eunice rejoice with Oculata who is of the Lizard kind.
Let Onesephorus rejoice with Orca, who is a great fish.
Let Eubulus rejoice with Ostrum the scarlet -- God be gracious to Gordon and
Groat.
Let Pudens rejoice with Polypus -- The Lord restore my virgin!
Let Linus rejoice with Ozsena who is a kind of Polype -- God be gracious to Lyne
and Anguish.
Let Claudia rejoice with Pascer -- the purest creatures minister to wantoness by
unthankfulness.
Let Artemas rejoice with Pastinaca who is a fish with a sting.
Let Zenas rejoice with Pecten -- The Lord obliterate the laws of man!
Let Philemon rejoice with Pelagia -- The laws and judgement are impudence and
blindness.
Let Apphia rejoice with Pelamis -- The Lord Jesus is man's judgement.
Let Demetrius rejoice with Peloris, who is greatest of Shell-Fishes.
Let Antipas rejoice with Pentadactylus -- A papist hath no sentiment God bless
CHURCHILL.
***
FOR I pray the Lord JESUS that cured the LUNATICK to be merciful to all my
brethren and sisters in these houses.
For they work me with their harping-irons, which is a barbarous instrument,
because I am more unguarded than others.
66
For the blessing of God hath been on my epistles, which I have written for the
benefit of others.
For I bless God that the CHURCH of ENGLAND is one of the SEVEN ev'n the
candlestick of the Lord.
For the ENGLISH TONGUE shall be the language of the WEST.
For I pray Almighty CHRIST to bless the MAGDALEN HOUSE and to forward a
National purification.
For I have the blessing of God in the three POINTS of manhood, of the pen, of
the sword, and of chivalry.
For I am inquisitive in the Lord, and defend the philosophy of the scripture
against vain deceit.
For the nets come down from the eyes of the Lord to fish up men to their
salvation.
For I have a greater compass both of mirth and melancholy than another.
For I bless the Lord JESUS in the innumerables, and for ever and ever.
For I am redoubted, and redoubtable in the Lord, as is THOMAS BECKET my
father.
For I have had the grace to GO BACK, which is my blessing unto prosperity.
For I paid for my seat in St PAUL's, when I was six years old, and took
possession against the evil day.
For I am descended from the steward of the island -- blessed be the name of the
Lord Jesus king of England.
For the poor gentleman is the first object of the Lord's charity and he is the most
pitied who hath lost the most.
For I am in twelve HARDSHIPS, but he that was born of a virgin shall deliver me
out of all.
For I am safe, as to my head, from the female dancer and her admirers.
67
For I pray for CHICHISTER to give the glory to God, and to keep the adversary at
bay.
For I am making to the shore day by day, the Lord Jesus take me.
For I bless the Lord JESUS upon RAMSGATE PIER -- the Lord forward the building
of harbours.
For I bless the Lord JESUS for his very seed, which is in my body.
For I pray for R and his family, I pray for Mr Becher, and I bean for the Lord
JESUS.
For I pray to God for Nore, for the Trinity house, for all light-houses, beacons and
buoys.
For I bless God that I am not in a dungeon, but am allowed the light of the Sun.
For I pray God for the PYGMIES against their feathered adversaries, as a deed of
charity.
For I pray God for all those, who have defiled themselves in matters
inconvenient.
For I pray God be gracious to CORNELIUS MATTHEWS name and connection.
For I am under the same accusation with my Saviour -- -for they said, he is
besides himself.
For I pray God for the introduction of new creatures into this island.
For I pray God for the ostriches of Salisbury Plain, the beavers of the Medway
and silver fish of Thames.
For Charity is cold in the multitude of possessions, and the rich are covetous of
their crumbs.
For I pray to be accepted as a dog without offence, which is best of all.
For I wish to God and desire towards the most High, which is my policy.
68
For the tides are the life of God in the ocean, and he sends his angel to trouble
the great DEEP.
For he hath fixed the earth upon arches and pillars, and the flames of hell flow
under it.
For the grosser the particles the nearer to the sink, and the nearer to purity, the
quicker the gravitation.
For MATTER is the dust of the Earth, every atom of which is the life.
For MOTION is as the quantity of life direct, and that which hath not motion, is
resistance.
For Resistance is not of GOD, but he -- hath built his works upon it.
For the Centripetal and Centrifugal forces are GOD SUSTAINING and DIRECTING.
For Elasticity is the temper of matter to recover its place with vehemence.
For Attraction is the earning of parts, which have a similitude in the life.
For the Life of God is in the Loadstone, and there is a magnet, which pointeth
due EAST.
For the Glory of God is always in the East, but cannot be seen for the cloud of the
crucifixion.
For due East is the way to Paradise, which man knoweth not by reason of his fall.
For the Longitude is (nevertheless) attainable by steering angularly
notwithstanding.
For Eternity is a creature and is built upon Eternity ¥ê¥á¥ó¥á¥â¥ï¥ë¥ç ¥å¥g¥é
¥ó¥ç ¥ä¥é¥á¥â¥ï¥ë¥ç .
For Fire is a mixed nature of body and spirit, and the body is fed by that which
hath not life.
For Fire is exasperated by the Adversary, who is Death, unto the detriment of
69
man.
For an happy Conjecture is a miraculous cast by the Lord Jesus.
For a bad Conjecture is a draught of stud and mud.
For there is a Fire which is blandishing, and which is of God direct.
For Fire is a substance and distinct, and purifyeth ev'n in hell.
For the Shears is the first of the mechanical powers, and to be used on the
knees.
For if Adam had used this instrument right, he would not have fallen.
For the power of the Shears Is direct as the life.
For the power of the WEDGE is direct as it's altitude by communication of
Almighty God.
For the Skrew, Axle and Wheel, Pulleys, the Lever and Inclined Plane are known
in the Schools.
For the Centre is not known but by the application of the members to matter.
For I have shown the Vis Inerti©¡ to be false, and such is all nonsense.
For the Centre is the hold of the Spirit upon the matter in hand.
For FRICTION is inevitable because the Universe is FULL of God's works.
For the PERPETUAL MOTION is in all the works of Almighty GOD.
For it is not so in the engines of man, which are made of dead materials, neither
indeed can be.
For the Moment of bodies, as it is used, is a false term -- bless God ye Speakers
on the Fifth of November.
For Time and Weight are by their several estimates.
For I bless GOD in the discovery of the LONGITUDE direct by the means of
70
GLADWICK.
For the motion of the PENDULUM is the longest in that it parries resistance.
For the WEDDING GARMENTS of all men are prepared in the SUN against the day
of acceptation.
For the Wedding Garments of all women are prepared in the MOON against the
day of their purification.
For CHASTITY is the key of knowledge as in Esdras, Sr Isaac Newton and now,
God be praised, in me.
For Newton nevertheless is more of error than of the truth, but I am of the
WORD of GOD.
For WATER, is not of solid constituents, but is dissolved from precious stones
above.
For the life remains in its dissolvent state, and that in great power.
For WATER is condensed by the Lord's FROST, tho' not by the FLORENTINE
experiment.
For GLADWICK is a substance growing on hills in the East, candied by the sun,
and of diverse colours.
For it is neither stone nor metal but a new creature, soft to the ax, but hard to
the hammer.
For it answers sundry uses, but particularly it supplies the place of Glass.
For it giveth a benign light without the fragility, malignity or mischief of Glass.
For it attracteth all the colours of the GREAT BOW which is fixed in the EAST.
For the FOUNTAINS and SPRINGS are the life of the waters working up to God.
For they are in SYMPATHY with the waters above the Heavens, which are solid.
For the Fountains, springs and rivers are all of them from the sea, whose water is
filtrated and purified by the earth.
71
For there is Water above the visible surface in a spiritualizing state, which cannot
be seen but by application of a CAPILLARY TUBE.
For the ASCENT of VAPOURS is the return of thanksgiving from all humid bodies.
For the RAIN WATER kept in a reservoir at any altitude, suppose of a thousand
feet, will make a fountain from a spout of ten feet of the same height.
For it will ascend in a stream two thirds of the way and afterwards prank itself
into ten thousand agreeable forms.
For the SEA is a seventh of the Earth -- the spirit of the Lord by Esdras.
For MERCURY is affected by the AIR because it is of a similar subtlety.
For the rising in the BAROMETER is not effected by pressure but by sympathy.
For it cannot be seperated from the creature with which it is intimately and
eternally connected.
For where it is stinted of air there it will adhere together and stretch on the
reverse.
For it works by ballancing according to the hold of the spirit.
For QUICK-SILVER is spiritual and so is the AIR to all intents and purposes.
For the AIR-PUMP weakens and dispirits but cannot wholly exhaust.
For SUCKTION is the withdrawing of the life, but life will follow as fast as it can.
For there is infinite provision to keep up the life in all the parts of Creation.
For the AIR is contaminated by curses and evil language.
For poysonous creatures catch some of it and retain it or ere it goes to the
adversary.
For IRELAND was without these creatures, till of late, because of the simplicity of
the people.
72
For the AIR. is purified by prayer which is made aloud and with all our might.
For loud prayer is good for weak lungs and for a vitiated throat.
For SOUND is propagated in the spirit and in all directions.
For the VOICE of a figure compleat in all its parts.
For a man speaks HIMSELF from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet.
For a LION roars HIMSELF compleat from head to tail.
For all these things are seen in the spirit which makes the beauty of prayer.
For all whispers and unmusical sounds in general are of the Adversary.
For 'I will hiss saith the Lord' is God's denunciation of death.
For applause or the clapping of the hands is the natural action of a man on the
descent of the glory of God.
For EARTH which is an intelligence hath a voice and a propensity to speak in all
her parts.
For ECHO is the soul of the voice exerting itself in hollow places.
For ECHO cannot act but when she can parry the adversary.
For ECHO is greatest in Churches and where she can assist in prayer.
For a good voice hath its Echo with it and it is attainable by much supplication.
For the FOICE is from the body and the spirit -- and is a a body and a spirit.
For the prayers of good men are therefore visible to second-sighted persons.
For HARPSICHORDS are best strung with gold wire.
For HARPS and VIOLS are best strung with Indian weed.
For the GERMAN FLUTE is an indirect -- the common flute good, bless the Lord
Jesus BENJIMIN HALLET.
73
For the feast of TRUMPETS should be kept up, that being the most direct and
acceptable of all instruments.
For the TRUMPET of God is a blessed intelligence and so are all the instruments
in HEAVEN.
For GOD the father Almighty plays upon the HARP of stupendous magnitude and
melody.
For innumerable Angels fly out at every touch and his tune is a work of creation.
For at that time malignity ceases and the devils themselves are at peace.
For this time is perceptible to man by a remarkable stillness and serenity of soul.
For the ¨¡olian harp is improveable into regularity.
For when it is so improved it will be known to be the SHAWM.
For it woud be better if the LITURGY were musically performed.
For the strings of the SHAWM were upon a cylinder which turned to the wind.
For this was spiritual musick altogether, as the wind is a spirit.
For there is nothing but it may be played upon in delight.
For the flames of fire may lie blown thro musical pipes.
For it is so higher up in the vast empyrean.
For is so real as that which is spiritual.
For an IGNIS FATUUS is either the fool's conceit or a blast from the adversary.
For SHELL-FIRE or ELECTRICAL is the quick air when it is caught.
For GLASS is worked in the fire till it partakes of its nature.
For the electrical fire is easily obtain'd by the working of glass.
74
For all spirits are of fire and the air is a very benign one.
For the MAN in VACUO is a flat conceit of preposterous folly.
For the breath of our nostrils is an electrical spirit.
For an electrical spirit may be exasperated into a malignant fire.
For it is good to quicken in paralytic cases being the life applied unto death,
For the method of philosophizing is in a posture of Adoration.
For the School-Doctrine of Thunder and Lightning is a Diabolical Hypothesis.
For it is taking the nitre from the lower regions and directing it against the
Infinite of Heights.
For THUNDER is the voice of God direct in verse and musick.
For LIGHTNING is a glance of the glory of God.
For the Brimstone that is found at the times of thunder and lightning is worked
up by the Adversary.
For the voice is always for infinite good which he strives to impede.
For the Devil can work coals into shapes to afflict the minds of those that will not
pray.
For the coffin and the cradle and the purse are all against a man.
For the coffin is for the dead and death came by disobedience.
For the cradle is for weakness and the child of man was originally strong from the
womb.
For the purse is for money and money is dead matter with the stamp of human
vanity.
For the adversary frequently sends these particular images out of the fire to
those whom they concern.
75
For the coffin is for me because I have nothing to do with it.
For the cradle is for me because the old Dragon attacked me in it and overcame
in Christ.
For the purse is for me because I have neither money nor human friends.
For LIGHT is propagated at all distances in an instant because it is actuated by
the divine conception.
For the Satellites of the planet prove nothing in this matter but the glory of
Almighty God.
For the SHADE is of death and from the adversary.
For Solomon said vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities all is vanity.
For Jesus says verity of verities, verity of verities all is verity.
For Solomon said THOU FOOL in malice from his own vanity.
For the Lord reviled not all in hardship and temptation unutterable.
For Fire hath this property that it reduces a thing till finally it is not.
For all the filth wicked of men shall be done away by fire in Eternity.
For the furnace itself shall come up at the last according to Abraham's vision.
For the Convex Heaven of shall work about on that great event.
For the ANTARTICK POLE is not yet but shall answer in the Consummation.
For the devil hath most power in winter, because darkness prevails.
For the Longing of Women is the operation of the Devil upon their conceptions.
For the marking of their children is from the same cause both of which are to be
parried by prayer.
For the laws of King James the first against Witchcraft were wise, had it been of
man to make laws.
76
For there are witches and wizards even now who are spoken to by their familiars.
For the visitation of their familiars is prevented by the Lord's incarnation.
For to conceive with intense diligence against one's neighbour is a branch of
witchcraft.
For to use pollution, exact and cross things and at the same time to think against
a man is the crime direct.
For prayer with musick is good for persons so exacted upon.
For before the NATIVITY is the dead of the winter and after it the quick.
For the sin against the HOLY GHOST is INGRATITUDE.
For stuff'd guts make no musick; strain them strong and you shall have sweet
melody.
For the SHADOW is of death, which is the Devil, who can make false and faint
images of the works of Almighty God.
For every man beareth death about him ever since the transgression of Adam,
but in perfect light there is no shadow.
For all Wrath is Fire, which the adversary blows upon and exasperates.
For SHADOW is a fair Word from God, which is not returnable till the furnace
comes up.
For the ECLIPSE is of the adversary -- blessed be the name of Jesus for Whisson
of Trinity.
For the shadow is his and the penumbra is his and his the perplexity of the the
phenomenon.
For the eclipses happen at times when the light is defective.
For the more the light is defective, the more the powers of darkness prevail.
77
For deficiencies happen by the luminaries crossing one another.
For the SUN is an intelligence and an angel of the human form.
For the MOON is an intelligence and an angel in shape like a woman.
For they are together in the spirit every night like man and wife.
For Justice is infinitely beneath Mercy in nature and office.
For the Devil himself may be just in accusation and punishment.
For HELL is without eternity from the presence of Almighty God.
For Volcanos and burning mountains are where the adversary hath most power.
For the angel GRATITUDE is my wife -- God bring me to her or her to me.
For the propagation of light is quick as the divine Conception.
For FROST is damp and unwholsome air candied to fall to the best advantage.
For I am the Lord's News-Writer -- the scribe-evangelist -- Widow Mitchel, Gun
and Grange bless the Lord Jesus.
For Adversity above all other is to be deserted of the grace of God.
For in the divine Idea this Eternity is compleat and the Word is a making many
more.
For there is a forlorn hope ev'n for impenitent sinners because the furnace itself
must be the crown of Eternity.
For my hope is beyond Eternity in the bosom of God my saviour.
For by the grace of God I am the Reviver of ADORATION amongst ENGLISH-MEN.
For being desert-ed is to have desert in the sight of God and intitles one to the
Lord's merit.
For things that are not in the sight of men are thro' God of infinite concern.
78
For envious men have exceeding subtlety quippe qui in -- videant.
For avaricious men are exceeding subtle like the soul seperated from the body.
For their attention is on a sinking object which perishes.
For they can go beyond the children of light in matters of their own misery.
For Snow is the dew candied and cherishes.
For TIMES and SEASONS are the Lord's -- Man is no CHRONOLOGER.
For there is a CIRCULATION of the SAP in all vegetables.
For SOOT is the dross of Fire.
For the CLAPPING of the hands is naught unless it be to the glory of God.
For God will descend in visible glory when men begin to applaud him.
For all STAGE-Playing is Hypocrisy and the Devil is the master of their revels.
For the INNATATION of corpuscles is solved by the Gold-beater's hammer -- God
be gracious to Christopher Peacock and to all my God-Children.
For the PRECESSION of the Equinoxes is improving nature -- something being
gained every where for the glory of God perpetually.
For the souls of the departed are embodied in clouds and purged by the Sun.
For the LONGITUDE may be discovered by attending the motions of the Sun.
Way 2d.
For you must consider the Sun as dodging, which he does to parry observation.
For he must be taken with an Astrolabe, and considered respecting the point he
left.
For you must do this upon your knees and that will secure your point.
For I bless God that I dwell within the sound of Success, and that it is well with
79
ENGLAND this blessed day. NATIVITY of our LORD N.S. 1759.
~ Christopher Smart,#NFDB
1515 Integral Yoga
469 Poetry
158 Occultism
132 Fiction
125 Christianity
106 Yoga
96 Philosophy
65 Psychology
30 Science
27 Mysticism
22 Hinduism
18 Mythology
15 Integral Theory
13 Sufism
12 Theosophy
9 Education
7 Buddhism
6 Baha i Faith
4 Philsophy
4 Cybernetics
2 Zen
1 Thelema
1 Kabbalah
1 Alchemy
834 Sri Aurobindo
753 The Mother
536 Satprem
239 Nolini Kanta Gupta
94 H P Lovecraft
85 William Wordsworth
63 Carl Jung
58 Aleister Crowley
56 Sri Ramakrishna
51 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
51 Percy Bysshe Shelley
42 Walt Whitman
36 James George Frazer
34 Plotinus
29 John Keats
28 Swami Krishnananda
27 Saint Augustine of Hippo
27 Robert Browning
25 A B Purani
19 Rudolf Steiner
18 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
17 Edgar Allan Poe
16 Saint John of Climacus
15 Vyasa
15 Swami Vivekananda
14 Friedrich Nietzsche
14 Aldous Huxley
13 Nirodbaran
13 Jorge Luis Borges
12 Lucretius
12 Anonymous
11 Ovid
11 Kabir
11 George Van Vrekhem
10 William Butler Yeats
10 Plato
10 Jalaluddin Rumi
9 Swami Sivananda Saraswati
9 Sri Ramana Maharshi
9 Rabindranath Tagore
9 Franz Bardon
8 Saint Teresa of Avila
8 Friedrich Schiller
7 Peter J Carroll
7 Paul Richard
7 Joseph Campbell
6 Thubten Chodron
6 Henry David Thoreau
6 Baha u llah
5 Rainer Maria Rilke
5 Li Bai
5 Jordan Peterson
5 Al-Ghazali
4 Ramprasad
4 Ralph Waldo Emerson
4 Rabbi Abraham Abulafia
4 Norbert Wiener
4 Lalla
4 Bokar Rinpoche
4 Alice Bailey
3 R Buckminster Fuller
3 Patanjali
3 Ken Wilber
3 Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia
2 Solomon ibn Gabirol
2 Mirabai
2 Mansur al-Hallaj
2 Mahendranath Gupta
2 Jorge Luis Borges
2 Jetsun Milarepa
2 Jean Gebser
2 Italo Calvino
2 Genpo Roshi
2 Boethius
2 Allama Muhammad Iqbal
328 Record of Yoga
100 The Synthesis Of Yoga
94 Lovecraft - Poems
85 Wordsworth - Poems
55 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
55 Agenda Vol 10
52 Agenda Vol 01
51 Shelley - Poems
51 Agenda Vol 08
48 On Thoughts And Aphorisms
45 Agenda Vol 03
44 Agenda Vol 04
43 Savitri
42 Whitman - Poems
41 Agenda Vol 09
40 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
39 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
38 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04
37 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
36 The Life Divine
36 The Golden Bough
36 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
36 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
36 Agenda Vol 12
34 Magick Without Tears
33 Agenda Vol 02
32 Agenda Vol 05
30 Agenda Vol 13
30 Agenda Vol 07
30 Agenda Vol 06
29 Questions And Answers 1950-1951
29 Keats - Poems
29 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03
29 Agenda Vol 11
28 The Study and Practice of Yoga
28 Letters On Yoga IV
28 Essays On The Gita
27 Browning - Poems
25 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
25 Collected Poems
24 Questions And Answers 1956
24 Mysterium Coniunctionis
23 Liber ABA
22 Letters On Yoga II
22 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
19 The Future of Man
19 Questions And Answers 1953
19 Prayers And Meditations
18 Words Of Long Ago
18 Letters On Yoga I
18 City of God
17 Questions And Answers 1955
17 Essays Divine And Human
16 The Practice of Psycho therapy
16 The Ladder of Divine Ascent
16 The Human Cycle
16 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
16 Poe - Poems
16 Letters On Poetry And Art
16 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08
16 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06
15 Vishnu Purana
15 Questions And Answers 1954
14 The Perennial Philosophy
13 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
13 The Secret Of The Veda
13 The Phenomenon of Man
13 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
12 The Bible
12 Talks
12 On the Way to Supermanhood
12 Of The Nature Of Things
12 Labyrinths
11 Preparing for the Miraculous
11 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 02
11 Metamorphoses
11 Let Me Explain
11 Faust
10 Yeats - Poems
10 Vedic and Philological Studies
10 The Mother With Letters On The Mother
10 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
10 Some Answers From The Mother
10 Questions And Answers 1929-1931
10 Letters On Yoga III
10 Aion
9 Thus Spoke Zarathustra
9 The Divine Comedy
9 Tagore - Poems
9 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 01
9 On Education
9 Knowledge of the Higher Worlds
9 Isha Upanishad
9 Hymns to the Mystic Fire
9 5.1.01 - Ilion
8 Theosophy
8 Songs of Kabir
8 Schiller - Poems
8 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 03
8 Hymn of the Universe
8 A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah
7 The Hero with a Thousand Faces
7 Raja-Yoga
7 Liber Null
7 Goethe - Poems
7 Amrita Gita
6 Walden
6 The Secret Doctrine
6 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04
6 Kena and Other Upanishads
6 How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator
5 Words Of The Mother II
5 Twilight of the Idols
5 The Red Book Liber Novus
5 The Practice of Magical Evocation
5 The Interior Castle or The Mansions
5 The Alchemy of Happiness
5 Rumi - Poems
5 Rilke - Poems
5 Maps of Meaning
5 Li Bai - Poems
5 Bhakti-Yoga
4 Words Of The Mother III
4 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
4 Tara - The Feminine Divine
4 Initiation Into Hermetics
4 Emerson - Poems
4 Cybernetics
4 Beating the Cloth Drum Letters of Zen Master Hakuin
4 A Treatise on Cosmic Fire
4 Anonymous - Poems
3 The Way of Perfection
3 The Integral Yoga
3 The Book of Certitude
3 Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking
3 Sex Ecology Spirituality
3 Patanjali Yoga Sutras
3 Crowley - Poems
2 Words Of The Mother I
2 The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep
2 The Ever-Present Origin
2 The Essentials of Education
2 The Castle of Crossed Destinies
2 Symposium
2 Selected Fictions
2 Milarepa - Poems
2 God Exists
2 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2E
0 0.01 - Introduction, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Spirit nor even an improved Matter, but ... it could be called 'nothing,' so contrary was it to all we know. For the caterpillar, a butterfly is nothing, it is not even visible and has nothing in common with caterpillar heavens nor even caterpillar matter. So there we were, trapped in an impossible adventure. One does not return from there: one must cross the bridge to the other side. Then one day in that seventh year, while we still believed in liberations and the collected Upanishads, highlighted with a few glorious visions to relieve the commonplace (which remained appallingly commonplace), while we were still considering 'the Mother of the Ashram' rather like some spiritual super-director (endowed, albeit, with a disarming yet ever so provocative smile, as though
She were making fun of us, then loving us in secret), She told us, 'I have the feeling that ALL we have lived, ALL we have known, ALL we have done is a perfect illusion ... When I had the spiritual experience that material life is an illusion, personally I found that so marvelously beautiful and happy that it was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life, but now it is the entire spiritual structure as we have lived it that is becoming an illusion! - Not the same illusion, but an illusion far worse. And I am no baby: I have been here for forty-seven years now!' Yes, She was eighty-three years old then. And that day, we ceased being 'the enemy of our own conception of the Divine,' for this entire Divine was shattered to pieces - and we met Mother, at last. This mystery we call
00.01 - The Mother on Savitri, #Sweet Mother - Harmonies of Light, #unset, #Zen
It does not matter if you do not understand it - Savitri, read it always. You will see that every time you read it, something new will be revealed to you. Each time you will get a new glimpse, each time a new experience; things which were not there, things you did not understand arise and suddenly become clear. Always an unexpected vision comes up through the words and lines. Every time you try to read and understand, you will see that something is added, something which was hidden behind is revealed clearly and vividly. I tell you the very verses you have read once before, will appear to you in a different light each time you re-read them. This is what happens invariably. Always your experience is enriched, it is a revelation at each step.
But you must not read it as you read other books or newspapers. You must read with an empty head, a blank and vacant mind, without there being any other thought; you must concentrate much, remain empty, calm and open; then the words, rhythms, vibrations will penetrate directly to this white page, will put their stamp upon the brain, will explain themselves without your making any effort.
--
In truth, the entire form of Savitri has descended "en masse" from the highest region and Sri Aurobindo with His genius only arranged the lines - in a superb and magnificent style. Sometimes entire lines were revealed and He has left them intact; He worked hard, untiringly, so that the inspiration could come from the highest possible summit. And what a work He has created! Yes, it is a true creation in itself. It is an unequalled work. Everything is there, and it is put in such a simple, such a clear form; verses perfectly harmonious, limpid and eternally true. My child, I have read so many things, but I have never come across anything which could be compared with Savitri. I have studied the best works in Greek, Latin, English and of course French literature, also in German and all the great creations of the West and the East, including the great epics; but I repeat it, I have not found anywhere anything comparable with Savitri. All these literary works seems to me empty, flat, hollow, without any deep reality - apart from a few rare exceptions, and these too represent only a small fraction of what Savitri is. What grandeur, what amplitude, what reality: it is something immortal and eternal He has created. I tell you once again there is nothing like in it the whole world. Even if one puts aside the vision of the reality, that is, the essential substance which is the heart of the inspiration, and considers only the lines in themselves, one will find them unique, of the highest classical kind. What He has created is something man cannot imagine. For, everything is there, everything.
It may then be said that Savitri is a revelation, it is a meditation, it is a quest of the Infinite, the Eternal. If it is read with this aspiration for Immortality, the reading itself will serve as a guide to Immortality. To read Savitri is indeed to practice Yoga, spiritual concentration; one can find there all that is needed to realise the Divine. Each step of Yoga is noted here, including the secret of all other Yogas. Surely, if one sincerely follows what is revealed here in each line one will reach finally the transformation of the Supramental Yoga. It is truly the infallible guide who never abandons you; its support is always there for him who wants to follow the path. Each verse of Savitri is like a revealed Mantra which surpasses all that man possessed by way of knowledge, and I repeat this, the words are expressed and arranged in such a way that the sonority of the rhythm leads you to the origin of sound, which is OM.
00.02 - Mystic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
When a Mystic refers to the Solar Light or to the Fire the light, for example, that struck down Saul and transformed him into Saint Paul or the burning bush that visited Moses, it is not the physical or material object that he means and yet it is that in a way. It is the materialization of something that is fundamentally not material: some movement in an inner consciousness precipitates itself into the region of the senses and takes from out of the material the form commensurable with its nature that it finds there.
And there is such a commensurability or parallelism between the various levels of consciousness, in and through all the differences that separate them from one another. Thus an object or a movement apprehended on the physical plane has a sort of line of re-echoing images extended in a series along the whole gradation of the inner planes; otherwise viewed, an object or movement in the innermost consciousness translates itself in varying modes from plane to plane down to the most material, where it appears in its grossest form as a concrete three-dimensional object or a mechanical movement. This parallelism or commensurability by virtue of which the different and divergent states of consciousness can portray or represent each other is the source of all symbolism.
00.03 - Upanishadic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Now, as regards the interpretation of the story cited, should not a suspicion arise naturally at the very outset that the dog of the story is not a dog but represents something else? First, a significant epithet is given to itwhite; secondly, although it asks for food, it says that Om is its food and Om is its drink. In the Vedas we have some references to dogs. Yama has twin dogs that "guard the path and have powerful vision." They are his messengers, "they move widely and delight in power and possess the vast strength." The Vedic Rishis pray to them for Power and Bliss and for the vision of the Sun1. There is also the Hound of Heaven, Sarama, who comes down and discovers the luminous cows stolen and hidden by the Panis in their dark caves; she is the path-finder for Indra, the deliverer.
My suggestion is that the dog is a symbol of the keen sight of Intuition, the unfailing perception of direct knowledge. With this clue the Upanishadic story becomes quite sensible and clear and not mere abracadabra. To the aspirant for Knowledge came first a purified power of direct understanding, an Intuition of fundamental value, and this brought others of the same species in its train. They were all linked together organically that is the significance of the circle, and formed a rhythmic utterance and expression of the supreme truth (Om). It is also to be noted that they came and met at dawn to chant, the Truth. Dawn is the opening and awakening of the consciousness to truths that come from above and beyond.
It may be asked why the dog has been chosen as the symbol of Intuition. In the Vedas, the cow and the horse also play a large part; even the donkey and the frog have their own assigned roles. These objects are taken from the environment of ordinary life, and are those that are most familiar to the external consciousness, through which the inner experiences have to express themselves, if they are to be expressed at all. These material objects represent various kinds of forces and movements and subtle and occult and spiritual dynamisms. Strictly speaking, however, symbols are not chosen in a subtle or spiritual experience, that is to say, they are not arbitrarily selected and constructed by the conscious intelligence. They form part of a dramatization (to use a term of the Freudian psychology of dreams), a psychological alchemy, whose method and process and rationale are very obscure, which can be penetrated only by the vision of a third eye.
I. The Several Lights
--
The Sun is the first and the most immediate source of light that man has and needs. He is the presiding deity of our waking consciousness and has his seat in the eyecakusa ditya, ditya caku bhtvakii prviat. The eye is the representative of the senses; it is the sense par excellence. In truth, sense-perception is the initial light with which we have to guide us, it is the light with which we start on the way. A developed stage comes when the Sun sets for us, that is to say, when we retire from the senses and rise into the mind, whose divinity is the Moon. It is the mental knowledge, the light of reason and intelligence, of reflection and imagination that govern our consciousness. We have to proceed farther and get beyond the mind, exceed the derivative light of the Moon. So when the Moon sets, the Fire is kindled. It is the light of the ardent and aspiring heart, the glow of an inner urge, the instincts and inspirations of our secret life-will. Here we come into touch with a source of knowledge and realization, a guidance more direct than the mind and much deeper than the sense-perception. Still this light partakes more of heat than of pure luminosity; it is, one may say, incandescent feeling, but not vision. We must probe deeper, mount higherreach heights and profundities that are serene and transparent. The Fire is to be quieted and silenced, says the Upanishad. Then we come nearer, to the immediate vicinity of the Truth: an inner hearing opens, the direct voice of Truth the Wordreaches us to lead and guide. Even so, however, we have not come to the end of our journey; the Word of revelation is not the ultimate Light. The Word too is clothing, though a luminous clothinghiramayam ptram When this last veil dissolves and disappears, when utter silence, absolute calm and quietude reign in the entire consciousness, when no other lights trouble or distract our attention, there appears the Atman in its own body; we stand face to face with the source of all lights, the self of the Light, the light of the Self. We are that Light and we become that Light.
II. The Four Oblations
--
Hantakr is the appearance, the manifestation of the Divinity that which makes the worshipper cry in delight, "Hail!" It is the coming of the Dawnahanwhen the night has been traversed and the lid rent open, the appearance of the Divine to a human vision for the human consciousness to seize, almost in a human form.
Finally, once the Truth is reached, it is to be held fast, firmly established, embodied and fixed in its inherent nature here in life and the waking consciousness. This is Svadh.
--
The Science of the Five Agnis (Fires), as propounded by Pravahan, explains and illustrates the process of the birth of the body, the passage of the soul into earth existence. It describes the advent of the child, the building of the physical form of the human being. The process is conceived of as a sacrifice, the usual symbol with the Vedic Rishis for the expression of their vision and perception of universal processes of Nature, physical and psychological. Here, the child IS said to be the final fruit of the sacrifice, the different stages in the process being: (i) Soma, (ii) Rain, (iii) Food, (iv) Semen, (v) Child. Soma means Rasaphysically the principle of water, psychologically the 'principle of delightand symbolises and constitutes the very soul and substance of life. Now it is said that these five principles the fundamental and constituent elementsare born out of the sacrifice, through the oblation or offering to the five Agnis. The first Agni is Heaven or the Sky-God, and by offering to it one's faith and one's ardent desire, one calls into manifestation Soma or Rasa or Water, the basic principle of life. This water is next offered to the second Agni, the Rain-God, who sends down Rain. Rain, again, is offered to the third Agni, the Earth, who brings forth Food. Food is, in its turn, offered to the fourth Agni, the Father or Male, who elaborates in himself the generating fluid.
Finally, this fluid is offered to the fifth Agni, the Mother or the Female, who delivers the Child.
--
Elsewhere the Upanishad describes more graphically this truth and the experience of it. It is said there that the sun has fivewe note the familiar fivemovements of rising and setting: (i) from East to West, (ii) from South to North, (iii) from West to East, (iv) from North to South and (v) from abovefrom the Zenithdownward. These are the five normal and apparent movements. But there is a sixth one; rather it is not a movement, but a status, where the sun neither rises nor sets, but is always visible fixed in the same position.
Some Western and Westernised scholars have tried to show that the phenomenon described here is an exclusively natural phenomenon, actually visible in the polar region where the sun never sets for six months and moves in a circle whose plane is parallel to the plane of the horizon on the summer solstice and is gradually inclined as the sun regresses towards the equinox (on which day just half the solar disc is visible above the horizon). The sun may be said there to move in the direction East-South-West-North and again East. Indeed the Upanishad mentions the positions of the sun in that order and gives a character to each successive station. The Ray from the East is red, symbolising the Rik, the Southern Ray is white, symbolising the Yajur, the Western Ray is black symbolising the Atharva. The natural phenomenon, however, might have been or might not have been before the mind's eye of the Rishi, but the symbolism, the esotericism of it is clear enough in the way the Rishi speaks of it. Also, apart from the first four movements (which it is already sufficiently difficult to identify completely with what is visible), the fifth movement, as a separate descending movement from above appears to be a foreign element in the context. And although, with regard to the sixth movement or status, the sun is visible as such exactly from the point of the North Pole for a while, the ring of the Rishi's utterance is unmistakably spiritual, it cannot but refer to a fact of inner consciousness that is at least what the physical fact conveys to the Rishi and what he seeks to convey and express primarily.
Now this is what is sought to be conveyed and expressed. The five movements of the sun here also are nothing but the five smas and they refer to the cycle of the Cosmic or Universal Brahman. The sixth status where all movements cease, where there is no rising and setting, no ebb and flow, no waxing and waning, where there is the immutable, the ever-same unity, is very evidently the Transcendental Brahman. It is That to which the Vedic Rishi refers when he prays for a constant and fixed vision of the eternal Sunjyok ca sryam drie.
It would be interesting to know what the five ranges or levels or movements of consciousness exactly are that make up the Universal Brahman described in this passage. It is the mystic knowledge, the Upanishad says, of the secret delight in thingsmadhuvidy. The five ranges are the five fundamental principles of delightimmortalities, the Veda would say that form the inner core of the pyramid of creation. They form a rising tier and are ruled respectively by the godsAgni, Indra, Varuna, Soma and Brahmawith their emanations and instrumental personalities the Vasus, the Rudras, the Adityas, the Maruts and the Sadhyas. We suggest that these refer to the five well-known levels of being, the modes or nodi of consciousness or something very much like them. The Upanishad speaks elsewhere of the five sheaths. The six Chakras of Tantric system lie in the same line. The first and the basic mode is the physical and the ascent from the physical: Agni and the Vasus are always intimately connected with the earth and -the earth-principles (it can be compared with the Muladhara of the Tantras). Next, second in the line of ascent is the Vital, the centre of power and dynamism of which the Rudras are the deities and Indra the presiding God (cf. Swadhishthana of the Tantras the navel centre). Indra, in the Vedas, has two aspects, one of knowledge and vision and the other of dynamic force and drive. In the first aspect he is more often considered as the Lord of the Mind, of the Luminous Mind. In the present passage, Indra is taken in his second aspect and instead of the Maruts with whom he is usually invoked has the Rudras as his agents and associates.
The third in the line of ascension is the region of Varuna and the Adityas, that is to say, of the large Mind and its lightsperhaps it can be connected with Tantric Ajnachakra. The fourth is the domain of Soma and the Marutsthis seems to be the inner heart, the fount of delight and keen and sweeping aspirations the Anahata of the Tantras. The fifth is the region of the crown of the head, the domain of Brahma and the Sadhyas: it is the Overmind status from where comes the descending inflatus, the creative Maya of Brahma. And when you go beyond, you pass into the ultimate status of the Sun, the reality absolute, the Transcendent which is indescribable, unseizable, indeterminate, indeterminable, incommensurable; and once there, one never returns, neverna ca punarvartate na ca punarvartate.
--
Besides this metaphysics there is also an occult aspect in numerology of which Pythagoras was a well-known adept and in which the Vedic Rishis too seem to take special delight. The multiplication of numbers represents in a general way the principle of emanation. The One has divided and subdivided itself, but not in a haphazard way: it is not like the chaotic pulverisation of a piece of stone by hammer-blows. The process of di vision and subdi vision follows a pattern almost as neat and methodical as a genealogical tree. That is to say, the emanations form a hierarchy. At the top, the apex of the pyramid, stands the one supreme Godhead. That Godhead is biune in respect of manifestation the Divine and his creative Power. This two-in-one reality may be considered, according to one view of creation, as dividing into three forms or aspects the well-known Brahma, vishnu and Rudra of Hindu mythology. These may be termed the first or primary emanations.
Now, each one of them in its turn has its own emanations the eleven Rudriyas are familiar. These are secondary and there are tertiary and other graded emanations the last ones touch the earth and embody physico-vital forces. The lowest formations or beings can trace their origin to one or other of the primaries and their nature and function partake of or are an echo of their first ancestor.
Man, however, is an epitome of creation. He embraces and incarnates the entire gamut of consciousness and comprises in him all beings from the highest Divinity to the lowest jinn or elf. And yet each human being in his true personality is a lineal descendant of one or other typal aspect or original Personality of the one supreme Reality; and his individual character is all the more pronounced and well-defined the more organised and developed is the being. The psychic being in man is thus a direct descent, an immediate emanation along a definite line of devolution of the supreme consciousness. We may now understand and explain easily why one chooses a particular Ishta, an ideal god, what is the drive that pushes one to become a worshipper of Siva or vishnu or any other deity. It is not any rational understanding, a weighing of pros and cons and then a resultant conclusion that leads one to choose a path of religion or spirituality. It is the soul's natural call to the God, the type of being and consciousness of which it is a spark, from which it has descended, it is the secret affinity the spiritual blood-relation as it were that determines the choice and adherence. And it is this that we name Faith. And the exclusiveness and violence and bitterness which attend such adherence and which go "by the "name of partisanship, sectarianism, fanaticism etc., a;e a deformation in the ignorance on the physico-vital plane of the secret loyalty to one's source and origin. Of course, the pattern or law is not so simple and rigid, but it gives a token or typal pattern. For it must not be forgotten that the supreme source or the original is one and indi visible and in the highest integration consciousness is global and not exclusive. And the human being that attains such a status is not bound or wholly limited to one particular formation: its personality is based on the truth of impersonality. And yet the two can go together: an individual can be impersonal in consciousness and yet personal in becoming and true to type.
The number of gods depends on the level of consciousness on which we stand. On this material plane there are as many gods as there are bodies or individual forms (adhar). And on the supreme height there is only one God without a second. In between there are gradations of types and sub-types whose number and function vary according to the aspect of consciousness that reveals itself.
00.04 - The Beautiful in the Upanishads, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Only, to some perhaps the beauty may not appear as evident and apparent. The Spirit of beauty that resides in the Upanishadic consciousness is more retiring and reticent. It dwells in its own privacy, in its own home, as it were, and therefore chooses to be bare and austere, simple and sheer. Beauty means usually the beauty of form, even if it be not always the decorative, ornamental and sumptuous form. The early Vedas aimed at the perfect form (surpaktnum), the faultless expression, the integral and complete embodiment; the gods they en visaged and invoked were gleaming powers carved out of harmony and beauty and figured close to our modes of apprehension (spyan). But the Upanishads came to lay stress upon what is beyond the form, what the eye cannot see nor the vision reflect:
na sandi tihati rpamasya
--
Its figure does not lie in the field of vision, none can see it with the eye
The form of a thing can be beautiful; but the formless too has its beauty. Indeed, the beauty of the formless, that is to say, the very sum and substance, the ultimate essence, the soul of beauty that is what suffuses, with in-gathered colour and enthusiasm, the realisation and poetic creation of the Upanishadic seer. All the forms that are scattered abroad in their myriad manifest beauty hold within themselves a secret Beauty and are reflected or projected out of it. This veiled Name of Beauty can be compared to nothing on the phenomenal hemisphere of Nature; it has no adequate image or representation below:
00.05 - A Vedic Conception of the Poet, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The poet is a trinity in himself. A triune consciousness forms his personality. First of all, he is the Knower-the Seer of the Truth, kavaya satyadrara. He has the direct vision, the luminous intelligence, the immediate perception.12 A subtle and profound and penetrating consciousness is his,nigam, pracetas; his is the eye of the Sun,srya caku.13 He secures an increased being through his effulgent understanding.14 In the second place, the Poet is not only Seer but Doer; he is knower as well as creator. He has a dynamic knowledge and his vision itself is power, ncak;15 he is the Seer-Will,kavikratu.16 He has the blazing radiance of the Sun and is supremely potent in his self-Iuminousness.17 The Sun is the light and the energy of the Truth. Even like the Sun the Poet gives birth to the Truth, srya satyasava, satyya satyaprasavya. But the Poet as Power is not only the revealer or creator,savit, he is also the builder or fashioner,ta, and he is the organiser,vedh is personality. First of all, he is the Knower-the Seer of the Truth, kavaya satyadrara, of the Truth.18 As Savita he manifests the Truth, as Tashta he gives a perfected body and form to the Truth, and as Vedha he maintains the Truth in its dynamic working. The effective marshalling and organisation of the Truth is what is called Ritam, the Right; it is also called Dharma,19 the Law or the Rhythm, the ordered movement and invincible execution of the Truth. The Poet pursues the Path of the Right;20 it is he who lays out the Path for the march of the Truth, the progress of the Sacrifice.21 He is like a fast steed well-yoked, pressing forward;22 he is the charger that moves straight and unswerving and carries us beyond 23into the world of felicity.
Indeed delight is the third and the supremely intimate element of the poetic personality. Dear and delightful is the poet, dear and delightful his works, priya, priyi His hand is dripping with sweetness,kavir hi madhuhastya.24 The Poet-God shines in his pristine beauty and is showering delight.25 He is filled with utter ecstasy so that he may rise to the very source of the luminous Energy.26? Pure is the Divine Joy and it enters and purifies all forms as it moves to the seat of the Immortals.27Indeed this sparkling Delight is the Poet-Seer and it is that that brings forth the creative word, the utterance of Indra.28
The solar vision of the Poet encompasses in its might the wide Earth and Heaven, fuses them in supreme Delight in the womb of the Truth.29 The Earth is lifted up and given in marriage to Heaven in the home of Truth, for the creation and expression of the Truth in its varied beauty,cru citram.
The Poet creates forms of beauty in Heaven; but these forms are not made out of the void. It is the Earth that is raised to Heaven and transmuted into divine truth forms. The union of Earth and Heaven is the source of the Joy, the Ananda, that the Poet unseals and distributes. Heaven and Earth join and meet in the world of Delight; between them they press out Soma, the drink of the gods.
--
All the gods are poetstheir forms are perfect, surpa, suda, their Names full of beauty,cru devasya nma.31 This means also that the gods embody the different powers that constitute the poetic consciousness. Agni is the Seer-Will, the creative vision of the Poet the luminous energy born of an experience by identity with the Truth. Indra is the Idea-Form, the architectonic conception of the work or achievement. Mitra and Varuna are the large harmony, the vast cadence and sweep of movement. The Aswins, the Divine Riders, represent the intense zest of well-yoked Life-Energy. Soma is Rasa, Ananda, the Supreme Bliss and Delight.
The Vedic Poet is doubtless the poet of Life, the architect of Divinity in man, of Heaven upon earth. But what is true of Life is fundamentally true of Art tooat least true of the Art as it was conceived by the ancient seers and as it found expression at their hands.32
--
The Vedic term Kavi means literally 'a seer', 'one who has the vision', as the word 'poet' means etymologically 'a doer', 'a creator'. I have combined the two senses to equate the terms and bring out the meaning involved in their more current acceptation.
***
0.00a - Introduction, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
When planning to visit a foreign country, the wise traveler will first familiarize himself with its language. In studying music, chemistry or calculus, a specific terminology is essential to the understanding of each subject. So a new set of symbols is necessary when undertaking a study of the Universe, whether within or without. The Qabalah provides such a set in unexcelled fashion.
But the Qabalah is more. It also lays the foundation on which rests another archaic science- Magic. Not to be confused with the conjurer's sleight-of-hand, Magic has been defined by Aleister Crowley as "the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will." Dion Fortune qualifies this nicely with an added clause, "changes in consciousness."
--
May everyone who reads this new edition of A Garden of Pomegranates be encouraged and inspired to light his own candle of inner vision and begin his journey into the boundless space that lies within himself. Then, through realization of his true identity, each student can become a lamp unto his own path. And more. Awareness of the Truth of his being will rip asunder the veil of unknowing that has heretofore enshrouded the star he already is, permitting the brilliance of his light to illumine the darkness of that part of the Universe in which he abides.
000 - Humans in Universe, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science
000.112 Structures are complexes of visible or in visible physical events
interacting to produce stable patterns. A structural system divides Universe into all
0.00 - INTRODUCTION, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
THE FIRST visION OF KALI
GOD-INTOXICATED STATE
--
Ten years after his coming to Kamarpukur, Khudiram made a pilgrimage on foot to Rameswar, at the southern extremity of India. Two years later was born his second son, whom he named Rameswar. Again in 1835, at the age of sixty, he made a pilgrimage, this time to Gaya. Here, from ancient times, Hindus have come from the four corners of India to discharge their duties to their departed ancestors by offering them food and drink at the sacred footprint of the Lord vishnu. At this holy place Khudiram had a dream in which the Lord vishnu promised to he born as his son. And Chandra Devi, too, in front of the Siva temple at Kamarpukur, had a vision indicating the birth of a divine child. Upon his return the husband found that she had conceived.
It was on February 18, 1836, that the child, to be known afterwards as Ramakrishna, was born. In memory of the dream at Gaya he was given the name of Gadadhar, the "Bearer of the Mace", an epithet of vishnu. Three years later a little sister was born.
--- BOYHOOD
--
About this time, on the Sivaratri night, consecrated to the worship of Siva, a dramatic performance was arranged. The principal actor, who was to play the part of Siva, suddenly fell ill, and Gadadhar was persuaded to act in his place. While friends were dressing him for the role of Siva — smearing his body with ashes, matting his locks, placing a trident in his hand and a string of rudraksha beads around his neck — the boy appeared to become absent-minded. He approached the stage with slow and measured step, supported by his friends. He looked the living image of Siva. The audience loudly applauded what it took to be his skill as an actor, but it was soon discovered that he was really lost in meditation. His countenance was radiant and tears flowed from his eyes. He was lost to the outer world. The effect of this scene on the audience was tremendous. The people felt blessed as by a vision of Siva Himself. The performance had to be stopped, and the boy's mood lasted till the following morning.
Gadadhar himself now organized a dramatic company with his young friends. The stage was set in the mango orchard. The themes were selected from the stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Gadadhar knew by heart almost all the roles, having heard them from professional actors. His favourite theme was the Vrindavan episode of Krishna's life, depicting those exquisite love-stories of Krishna and the milkmaids and the cowherd boys. Gadadhar would play the parts of Radha or Krishna and would often lose himself in the character he was portraying. His natural feminine grace heightened the dramatic effect. The mango orchard would ring with the loud kirtan of the boys. Lost in song and merry-making, Gadadhar became indifferent to the routine of school.
--
When Ramkumar reprimanded Gadadhar for neglecting a "bread-winning education", the inner voice of the boy reminded him that the legacy of his ancestors — the legacy of Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Sankara, Ramanuja, Chaitanya — was not worldly security but the Knowledge of God. And these noble sages were the true representatives of Hindu society. Each of them was seated, as it were, on the crest of the wave that followed each successive trough in the tumultuous course of Indian national life. All demonstrated that the life current of India is spirituality. This truth was revealed to Gadadhar through that inner vision which scans past and future in one sweep, unobstructed by the barriers of time and space. But he was unaware of the history of the profound change that had taken place in the land of his birth during the previous one hundred years.
Hindu society during the eighteenth century had been passing through a period of decadence. It was the twilight of the Mussalman rule. There were anarchy and confusion in all spheres. Superstitious practices dominated the religious life of the people. Rites and rituals passed for the essence of spirituality. Greedy priests became the custodians of heaven. True philosophy was supplanted by dogmatic opinions. The pundits took delight in vain polemics.
--
The temple garden stands directly on the east bank of the Ganges. The northern section of the land and a portion to the east contain an orchard, flower gardens, and two small reservoirs. The southern section is paved with brick and mortar. The visitor arriving by boat ascends the steps of an imposing bathing-ghat which leads to the chandni, a roofed terrace, on either side of which stand in a row six temples of Siva. East of the terrace and the Siva temples is a large court, paved, rectangular in shape, and running north and south. Two temples stand in the centre of this court, the larger one, to the south and facing south, being dedicated to Kali, and the smaller one, facing the Ganges, to Radhakanta, that is, Krishna, the Consort of Radha. Nine domes with spires surmount the temple of Kali, and before it stands the spacious natmandir, or music hall, the terrace of which is sup- ported by stately pillars. At the northwest and southwest
corners of the temple compound are two nahabats, or music towers, from which music flows at different times of day, especially at sunup, noon, and sundown, when the worship is performed in the temples. Three sides of the paved courtyard — all except the west — are lined with rooms set apart for kitchens, store-rooms, dining-rooms, and quarters for the temple staff and guests. The chamber in the northwest angle, just beyond the last of the Siva temples, is of special interest to us; for here Sri Ramakrishna was to spend a considerable part of his life. To the west of this chamber is a semicircular porch overlooking the river. In front of the porch runs a foot-path, north and south, and beyond the path is a large garden and, below the garden, the Ganges. The orchard to the north of the buildings contains the Panchavati, the banyan, and the bel-tree, associated with Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual practices. Outside and to the north of the temple compound proper is the kuthi, or bungalow, used by members of Rani Rasmani's family visiting the garden. And north of the temple garden, separated from it by a high wall, is a powder-magazine belonging to the British Government.
--- SIVA
--
The temple of Radhakanta, also known as the temple of vishnu, contains the images of Radha and Krishna, the symbol of union with God through ecstatic love. The two images stand on a pedestal facing the west. The floor is paved with marble. From the ceiling of the porch hang chandeliers protected from dust by coverings of red cloth. Canvas screens shield the images from the rays of the setting sun. Close to the threshold of the inner shrine is a small brass cup containing holy water. Devoted visitors reverently drink a few drops from the vessel.
--- KALI
--
The whole symbolic world is represented in the temple garden — the Trinity of the Nature Mother (Kali), the Absolute (Siva), and Love (Radhakanta), the Arch spanning heaven and earth. The terrific Goddess of the Tantra, the soul-enthralling Flute-Player of the Bhagavata, and the Self-absorbed Absolute of the Vedas live together, creating the greatest synthesis of religions. All aspects of Reality are represented there. But of this divine household, Kali is the pivot, the sovereign Mistress. She is Prakriti, the Procreatrix, Nature, the Destroyer, the Creator. Nay, She is something greater and deeper still for those who have eyes to see. She is the Universal Mother, "my Mother" as Ramakrishna would say, the All-powerful, who reveals Herself to Her children under different aspects and Divine Incarnations, the visible God, who leads the elect to the In visible Reality; and if it so pleases Her, She takes away the last trace of ego from created beings and merges it in the consciousness of the Absolute, the undifferentiated God. Through Her grace "the finite ego loses itself in the illimitable Ego — Atman — Brahman". (Romain Holland, Prophets of the New India, p. 11.)
Rani Rasmani spent a fortune for the construction of the temple garden and another fortune for its dedication ceremony, which took place on May 31, 1855.
--
--- THE FIRST visION OF KALI
And, indeed, he soon discovered what a strange Goddess he had chosen to serve. He became gradually enmeshed in the web of Her all-pervading presence. To the ignorant She is, to be sure, the image of destruction; but he found in Her the benign, all-loving Mother. Her neck is encircled with a garland of heads, and Her waist with a girdle of human arms, and two of Her hands hold weapons of death, and Her eyes dart a glance of fire; but, strangely enough, Ramakrishna felt in Her breath the soothing touch of tender love and saw in Her the Seed of Immortality. She stands on the bosom of Her Consort, Siva; it is because She is the Sakti, the Power, inseparable from the Absolute. She is surrounded by jackals and other unholy creatures, the denizens of the cremation ground. But is not the Ultimate Reality above holiness and unholiness? She appears to be reeling under the spell of wine. But who would create this mad world unless under the influence of a divine drunkenness? She is the highest symbol of all the forces of nature, the synthesis of their antinomies, the Ultimate Divine in the form of woman. She now became to Sri Ramakrishna the only Reality, and the world became an unsubstantial shadow. Into Her worship he poured his soul. Before him She stood as the transparent portal to the shrine of Ineffable Reality.
The worship in the temple intensified Sri Ramakrishna's yearning for a living vision of the Mother of the Universe. He began to spend in meditation the time not actually employed in the temple service; and for this purpose he selected an extremely solitary place. A deep jungle, thick with underbrush and prickly plants, lay to the north of the temples. Used at one time as a burial ground, it was shunned by people even during the day-time for fear of ghosts. There Sri Ramakrishna began to spend the whole night in meditation, returning to his room only in the morning with eyes swollen as though from much weeping. While meditating, he would lay aside his cloth and his brahminical thread. Explaining this strange conduct, he once said to Hriday: "Don't you know that when one thinks of God one should be freed from all ties? From our very birth we have the eight fetters of hatred, shame, lineage, pride of good conduct, fear, secretiveness, caste, and grief. The sacred thread reminds me that I am a brahmin and therefore superior to all. When calling on the Mother one has to set aside all such ideas." Hriday thought his uncle was becoming insane.
As his love for God deepened, he began either to forget or to drop the formalities of worship. Sitting before the image, he would spend hours singing the devotional songs of great devotees of the Mother, such as Kamalakanta and Ramprasad. Those rhapsodical songs, describing the direct vision of God, only intensified Sri Ramakrishna's longing. He felt the pangs of a child separated from its mother. Sometimes, in agony, he would rub his face against the ground and weep so bitterly that people, thinking he had lost his earthly mother, would sympathize with him in his grief. Sometimes, in moments of scepticism, he would cry: "Art Thou true, Mother, or is it all fiction — mere poetry without any reality? If Thou dost exist, why do I not see Thee? Is religion a mere fantasy and art Thou only a figment of man's imagination?" Sometimes he would sit on the prayer carpet for two hours like an inert object. He began to behave in an abnormal manner
, most of the time unconscious of the world. He almost gave up food; and sleep left him altogether.
But he did not have to wait very long. He has thus described his first vision of the Mother: "I felt as if my heart were being squeezed like a wet towel. I was overpowered with a great restlessness and a fear that it might not be my lot to realize Her in this life. I could not bear the separation from Her any longer. Life seemed to be not worth living. Suddenly my glance fell on the sword that was kept in the Mother's temple. I determined to put an end to my life. When I jumped up like a madman and seized it, suddenly the blessed Mother revealed Herself. The buildings with their different parts, the temple, and everything else vanished from my sight, leaving no trace whatsoever, and in their stead I saw a limitless, infinite, effulgent Ocean of Consciousness. As far as the eye could see, the shining billows were madly rushing at me from all sides with a terrific noise, to swallow me up! I was panting for breath. I was caught in the rush
and collapsed, unconscious. What was happening in the outside world I did not know; but within me there was a steady flow of undiluted bliss, altogether new, and I felt the presence of the Divine Mother." On his lips when he regained consciousness of the world was the word "Mother".
--
Yet this was only a foretaste of the intense experiences to come. The first glimpse of the Divine Mother made him the more eager for Her uninterrupted vision. He wanted to see Her both in meditation and with eyes open. But the Mother began to play a teasing game of hide-and-seek with him, intensifying both his joy and his suffering. Weeping bitterly during the moments of separation from Her, he would pass into a trance and then find Her standing before him, smiling, talking, consoling, bidding him be of good cheer, and instructing him. During this period of spiritual practice he had many uncommon experiences. When he sat to meditate, he would hear strange clicking sounds in the joints of his legs, as if someone were locking them up, one after the other, to keep him motionless; and at the conclusion of his meditation he would again hear the same sounds, this time unlocking them and leaving him free to move about. He would see flashes like a swarm of fire-flies floating before his eyes, or a sea of deep mist around him, with luminous waves of molten silver. Again, from a sea of translucent mist he would behold the Mother rising, first Her feet, then Her waist, body, face, and head, finally Her whole person; he would feel Her breath and hear Her voice. Worshipping in the temple, sometimes he would become exalted, sometimes he would remain motionless as stone, sometimes he would almost collapse from excessive emotion. Many of his actions, contrary to all tradition, seemed sacrilegious to the people. He would take a flower and touch it to his own head, body, and feet, and then offer it to the Goddess. Or, like a drunkard, he would reel to the throne of the Mother, touch Her chin by way of showing his affection for Her, and sing, talk, joke, laugh, and dance. Or he would take a morsel of food from the plate and hold it to Her mouth, begging Her to eat it, and would not be satisfied till he was convinced that She had really eaten. After the Mother had been put to sleep at night, from his own room he would hear Her ascending to the upper storey of the temple with the light steps of a happy girl, Her anklets jingling. Then he would discover Her standing with flowing hair. Her black form silhouetted against the sky of the night, looking at the Ganges or at the distant lights of Calcutta.
Naturally the temple officials took him for an insane person. His worldly well-wishers brought him to skilled physicians; but no-medicine could cure his malady. Many a time he doubted his sanity himself. For he had been sailing across an uncharted sea, with no earthly guide to direct him. His only haven of security was the Divine Mother Herself. To Her he would pray: "I do not know what these things are. I am ignorant of mantras and the scriptures. Teach me, Mother, how to realize Thee. Who else can help me? Art Thou not my only refuge and guide?" And the sustaining presence of the Mother never failed him in his distress or doubt. Even those who criticized his conduct were greatly impressed with his purity, guilelessness, truthfulness, integrity, and holiness. They felt an uplifting influence in his presence.
It is said that samadhi, or trance, no more than opens the portal of the spiritual realm. Sri Ramakrishna felt an unquenchable desire to enjoy God in various ways. For his meditation he built a place in the northern wooded section of the temple garden. With Hriday's help he planted there five sacred trees. The spot, known as the Panchavati, became the scene of many of his visions.
As his spiritual mood deepened he more and more felt himself to be a child of the Divine Mother. He learnt to surrender himself completely to Her will and let Her direct him.
--
His visions became deeper and more intimate. He no longer had to meditate to behold the Divine Mother. Even while retaining consciousness of the outer world, he would see Her as tangibly as the temples, the trees, the river, and the men around him.
On a certain occasion Mathur Babu stealthily entered the temple to watch the worship. He was profoundly moved by the young priest's devotion and sincerity. He realized that Sri Ramakrishna had transformed the stone image into the living Goddess.
--
One of the painful ailments from which Sri Ramakrishna suffered at this time was a burning sensation in his body, and he was cured by a strange vision. During worship in the temple, following the scriptural injunctions, he would imagine the presence of the "sinner" in himself and the destruction of this "sinner". One day he was meditating in the Panchavati, when he saw come out of him a red-eyed man of black complexion, reeling like a drunkard. Soon there emerged from him another person, of serene countenance, wearing the ochre cloth of a sannyasi and carrying in his hand a trident. The second person attacked the first and killed him with the trident. Thereafter Sri Ramakrishna was free of his pain.
About this time he began to worship God by assuming the attitude of a servant toward his master. He imitated the mood of Hanuman, the monkey chieftain of the Ramayana, the ideal servant of Rama and traditional model for this self-effacing form of devotion. When he meditated on Hanuman his movements and his way of life began to resemble those of a monkey. His eyes became restless. He lived on fruits and roots. With his cloth tied around his waist, a portion of it hanging in the form of a tail, he jumped from place to place instead of walking. And after a short while he was blessed with a vision of Sita, the divine consort of Rama, who entered his body and disappeared there with the words, "I bequeath to you my smile."
Mathur had faith in the sincerity of Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual zeal, but began now to doubt his sanity. He had watched him jumping about like a monkey. One day, when Rani Rasmani was listening to Sri Ramakrishna's singing in the temple, the young priest abruptly turned and slapped her. Apparently listening to his song, she had actually been thinking of a law-suit. She accepted the punishment as though the Divine Mother Herself had imposed it; but Mathur was distressed. He begged Sri Ramakrishna to keep his feelings under control and to heed the conventions of society. God Himself, he argued, follows laws. God never permitted, for instance, flowers of two colours to grow on the same stalk. The following day Sri Ramakrishna presented Mathur Babu with two hibiscus flowers growing on the same stalk, one red and one white.
--
One day Haladhari upset Sri Ramakrishna with the statement that God is incomprehensible to the human mind. Sri Ramakrishna has described the great moment of doubt when he wondered whether his visions had really misled him: "With sobs I prayed to the Mother, 'Canst Thou have the heart to deceive me like this because I am a fool?' A stream of tears flowed from my eyes. Shortly afterwards I saw a volume of mist rising from the floor and filling the space before me. In the midst of it there appeared a face with flowing beard, calm, highly expressive, and fair. Fixing its gaze steadily upon me, it said solemnly, 'Remain in bhavamukha, on the threshold of relative consciousness.' This it repeated three times and then it gently disappeared in the mist, which itself dissolved. This vision reassured me."
A garbled report of Sri Ramakrishna's failing health, indifference to worldly life, and various abnormal activities reached Kamarpukur and filled the heart of his poor mother with anguish. At her repeated request he returned to his village for a change of air. But his boyhood friends did not interest him any more. A divine fever was consuming him. He spent a great part of the day and night in one of the cremation grounds, in meditation. The place reminded him of the impermanence of the human body, of human hopes and achievements. It also reminded him of Kali, the Goddess of destruction.
--
Hardly had he crossed the threshold of the Kali temple when he found himself again in the whirlwind. His madness reappeared tenfold. The same meditation and prayer, the same ecstatic moods, the same burning sensation, the same weeping, the same sleeplessness, the same indifference to the body and the outside world, the same divine delirium. He subjected himself to fresh disciplines in order to eradicate greed and lust, the two great impediments to spiritual progress. With a rupee in one hand and some earth in the other, he would reflect on the comparative value of these two for the realization of God, and finding them equally worthless he would toss them, with equal indifference, into the Ganges. Women he regarded as the manifestations of the Divine Mother. Never even in a dream did he feel the impulses of lust. And to root out of his mind the idea of caste superiority, he cleaned a pariahs house with his long and neglected hair. When he would sit in meditation, birds would perch on his head and peck in his hair for grains of food. Snakes would crawl over his body, and neither would be aware of the other. Sleep left him altogether. Day and night, visions flitted before him. He saw the sannyasi who had previously killed the "sinner" in him again coming out of his body, threatening him with the trident, and ordering him to concentrate on God. Or the same sannyasi would visit distant places, following a luminous path, and bring him reports of what was happening there. Sri Ramakrishna used to say later that in the case of an advanced devotee the mind itself becomes the guru, living and moving like an embodied being.
Rani Rasmani, the foundress of the temple garden, passed away in 1861. After her death her son-in-law Mathur became the sole executor of the estate. He placed himself and his resources at the disposal of Sri Ramakrishna and began to look after his physical comfort. Sri Ramakrishna later spoke of him as one of his five "suppliers of stores" appointed by the Divine Mother. Whenever a desire arose in his mind, Mathur fulfilled it without hesitation.
--
Sri Ramakrishna welcomed the visitor with great respect, described to her his experiences and visions, and told her of people's belief that these were symptoms of madness. She listened to him attentively and said: "My son, everyone in this world is mad. Some are mad for money, some for creature comforts, some for name and fame; and you are mad for God." She assured him that he was passing through the almost unknown spiritual experience described in the scriptures as mahabhava, the most exalted rapture of divine love. She told him that this extreme exaltation had been described as manifesting itself through nineteen physical symptoms, including the shedding of tears, a tremor of the body, horripilation, perspiration, and a burning sensation. The Bhakti scriptures, she declared, had recorded only two instances of the experience, namely, those of Sri Radha and Sri Chaitanya.
Very soon a tender relationship sprang up between Sri Ramakrishna and the Brahmani, she looking upon him as the Baby Krishna, and he upon her as mother. Day after day she watched his ecstasy during the kirtan and meditation, his samadhi, his mad yearning; and she recognized in him a power to transmit spirituality to others. She came to the conclusion that such things were not possible for an ordinary devotee, not even for a highly developed soul. Only an Incarnation of God was capable of such spiritual manifestations. She proclaimed openly that Sri Ramakrishna, like Sri Chaitanya, was an Incarnation of God.
--
Thus the insane priest was by verdict of the great scholars of the day proclaimed a Divine Incarnation. His visions were not the result of an over-heated brain; they had precedent in spiritual history. And how did the proclamation affect Sri Ramakrishna himself? He remained the simple child of the Mother that he had been since the first day of his life. Years later, when two of his householder disciples openly spoke of him as a Divine Incarnation and the matter was reported to him, he said with a touch of sarcasm: "Do they think they will enhance my glory that way? One of them is an actor on the stage and the other a physician. What do they know about Incarnations? Why, years ago pundits like Gauri and Vaishnavcharan declared me to be an Avatar. They were great scholars and knew what they said. But that did not make any change in my mind."
Sri Ramakrishna was a learner all his life. He often used to quote a proverb to his disciples: "Friend, the more I live the more I learn." When the excitement created by the Brahmani's declaration was over, he set himself to the task of practising spiritual disciplines according to the traditional methods laid down in the Tantra and Vaishnava scriptures. Hitherto he had pursued his spiritual ideal according to the promptings of his own mind and heart. Now he accepted the Brahmani as his guru and set foot on the traditional highways.
--
He saw in a vision the Ultimate Cause of the universe as a huge luminous triangle giving birth every moment to an infinite number of worlds. He heard the Anahata Sabda, the great sound Om, of which the innumerable sounds of the universe are only so many echoes. He acquired the eight supernatural powers of yoga, which make a man almost omnipotent, and these he spurned as of no value whatsoever to the Spirit. He had a vision of the divine Maya, the inscrutable Power of God, by which the universe is created and sustained, and into which it is finally absorbed. In this vision he saw a woman of exquisite beauty, about to become a mother, emerging from the Ganges and slowly approaching the Panchavati. Presently she gave birth to a child and began to nurse it tenderly. A moment later she assumed a terrible aspect, seized the child with her grim jaws, and crushed it. Swallowing it, she re-entered the waters of the Ganges.
But the most remarkable experience during this period was the awakening of the Kundalini Sakti, the "Serpent Power". He actually saw the Power, at first lying asleep at the bottom of the spinal column, then waking up and ascending along the mystic Sushumna canal and through its six centres, or lotuses, to the Sahasrara, the thousand-petalled lotus in the top of the head. He further saw that as the Kundalini went upward the different lotuses bloomed. And this phenomenon was accompanied by visions and trances. Later on he described to his disciples and devotees the various movements of the Kundalini: the fishlike, birdlike, monkeylike, and so on. The awaken- ing of the Kundalini is the beginning of spiritual consciousness, and its union with Siva in the Sahasrara, ending in samadhi, is the consummation of the Tantrik disciplines.
About this time it was revealed to him that in a short while many devotees would seek his guidance.
--
After completing the Tantrik sadhana Sri Ramakrishna followed the Brahmani in the disciplines of Vaishna vism. The Vaishnavas are worshippers of vishnu, the "All-pervading", the Supreme God, who is also known as Hari and Narayana. Of vishnu's various Incarnations the two with the largest number of followers are Rama and Krishna.
Vaishna vism is exclusively a religion of bhakti. Bhakti is intense love of God, attachment to Him alone; it is of the nature of bliss and bestows upon the lover immortality and liberation. God, according to Vaishna vism, cannot be realized through logic or reason; and, without bhakti, all penances, austerities and rites are futile. Man cannot realize God by self-exertion alone. For the vision of God His grace is absolutely necessary, and this grace is felt by the pure of heart. The mind is to be purified through bhakti. The pure mind then remains for ever immersed in the ecstasy of God- vision. It is the cultivation of this divine love that is the chief concern of the Vaishnava religion.
There are three kinds of formal devotion: tamasic, rajasic, and sattvic. If a person, while showing devotion, to God, is actuated by malevolence, arrogance, jealousy, or anger, then his devotion is tamasic, since it is influenced by tamas, the quality of inertia. If he worships God from a desire for fame or wealth, or from any other worldly ambition, then his devotion is rajasic, since it is influenced by rajas, the quality of activity. But if a person loves God without any thought of material gain, if he performs his duties to please God alone and maintains toward all created beings the attitude of friendship, then his devotion is called sattvic, since it is influenced by sattva, the quality of harmony. But the highest devotion transcends the three gunas, or qualities, being a spontaneous, uninterrupted inclination of the mind toward God, the Inner Soul of all beings; and it wells up in the heart of a true devotee as soon as he hears the name of God or mention of God's attributes. A devotee possessed of this love would not accept the happiness of heaven if it were offered him. His one desire is to love God under all conditions — in pleasure and pain, life and death, honour and dishonour, prosperity and adversity.
--
One day Jatadhari requested Sri Ramakrishna to keep the image and bade him adieu with tearful eyes. He declared that Ramlala had fulfilled his innermost prayer and that he now had no more need of formal worship. A few days later Sri Ramakrishna was blessed through Ramlala with a vision of Ramachandra, whereby he realized that the Rama of the Ramayana, the son of Dasaratha, pervades the whole universe as Spirit and Consciousness; that He is its Creator, Sustainer, and Destroyer; that, in still another aspect, He is the transcendental Brahman, without form, attribute, or name.
While worshipping Ramlala as the Divine Child, Sri Ramakrishna's heart became filled with motherly tenderness, and he began to regard himself as a woman. His speech and gestures changed. He began to move freely with the ladies of Mathur's family, who now looked upon him as one of their own sex. During this time he worshipped the Divine Mother as Her companion or handmaid.
--
The Vaishnava scriptures ad vise one to propitiate Radha and obtain her grace in order to realize Sri Krishna. So the tortured devotee now turned his prayer to her. Within a short time he enjoyed her blessed vision. He saw and felt the figure of Radha disappearing into his own body.
He said later on: "It is impossible to describe the heavenly beauty and sweetness of Radha. Her very appearance showed that she had completely forgotten herself in her passionate attachment to Krishna. Her complexion was a light yellow."
--
The love of Radha is the precursor of the resplendent vision of Sri Krishna, and Sri Ramakrishna soon experienced that vision. The enchanting ing form of Krishna appeared to him and merged in his person. He became Krishna; he totally forgot his own individuality and the world; he saw Krishna in himself and in the universe. Thus he attained to the fulfilment of the worship of the Personal God. He drank from the fountain of Immortal Bliss. The agony of his heart vanished forever. He realized Amrita, Immortality, beyond the shadow of death.
One day, listening to a recitation of the Bhagavata on the verandah of the Radhakanta temple, he fell into a divine mood and saw the enchanting form of Krishna. He perceived the luminous rays issuing from Krishna's Lotus Feet in the form of a stout rope, which touched first the Bhagavata and then his own chest, connecting all three — God, the scripture, and the devotee. "After this vision", he used to say, "I came to realize that Bhagavan, Bhakta, and Bhagavata — God, Devotee, and Scripture — are in reality one and the same."
--- VEDANTA
The Brahmani was the enthusiastic teacher and astonished beholder of Sri Ramakrishna in his spiritual progress. She became proud of the achievements of her unique pupil. But the pupil himself was not permitted to rest; his destiny beckoned him forward. His Divine Mother would allow him no respite till he had left behind the entire realm of duality with its visions, experiences, and ecstatic dreams. But for the new ascent the old tender guides would not suffice. The Brahmani, on whom he had depended for, three years, saw her son escape from her to follow the command of a teacher with masculine strength, a sterner mien, a gnarled physique, and a virile voice. The new guru was a wandering monk, the sturdy Totapuri, whom Sri Ramakrishna learnt to address affectionately as Nangta, the "Naked One", because of his total renunciation of all earthly objects and attachments, including even a piece of wearing cloth.
Totapuri was the bearer of a philosophy new to Sri Ramakrishna, the non-dualistic Vedanta philosophy, whose conclusions Totapuri had experienced in his own life. This ancient Hindu system designates the Ultimate Reality as Brahman, also described as Satchidananda, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Brahman is the only Real Existence. In It there is no time, no space, no causality, no multiplicity. But through maya, Its inscrutable Power, time, space, and causality are created and the One appears to break into the many. The eternal Spirit appears as a manifold of individuals endowed with form and subject to the conditions of time. The Immortal becomes a victim of birth and death. The Changeless undergoes change. The sinless Pure Soul, hypnotized by Its own maya, experiences the joys of heaven and the pains of hell. But these experiences based on the duality of the subject-object relationship are unreal. Even the vision of a Personal God
is, ultimately speaking, as illusory as the experience of any other object. Man attains his liberation, therefore, by piercing the veil of maya and rediscovering his total identity with Brahman. Knowing himself to be one with the Universal Spirit, he realizes ineffable Peace. Only then does he go beyond the fiction of birth and death; only then does he become immortal. 'And this is the ultimate goal of all religions — to dehypnotize the soul now hypnotized by its own ignorance.
--
Totapuri arrived at the Dakshineswar temple garden toward the end of 1864. Perhaps born in the Punjab, he was the head of a monastery in that province of India and claimed leadership of seven hundred sannyasis. Trained from early youth in the disciplines of the Advaita Vedanta, he looked upon the world as an illusion. The gods and goddesses of the dualistic worship were to him mere fantasies of the deluded mind. Prayers, ceremonies, rites, and rituals had nothing to do with true religion, and about these he was utterly indifferent. Exercising self-exertion and unshakable will-power, he had liberated himself from attachment to the sense-objects of the relative universe. For forty years he had practised austere discipline on the bank of the sacred Narmada and had finally realized his identity with the Absolute. Thenceforward he roamed in the world as an unfettered soul, a lion free from the cage. Clad in a loin-cloth, he spent his days under the canopy of the sky alike in storm and sunshine, feeding his body on the slender pittance of alms. He had been visiting the estuary of the Ganges. On his return journey along the bank of the sacred river, led by the inscrutable Divine Will, he stopped at Dakshineswar.
Totapuri, discovering at once that Sri Ramakrishna was prepared to be a student of Vedanta, asked to initiate him into its mysteries. With the permission of the Divine Mother, Sri Ramakrishna agreed to the proposal. But Totapuri explained that only a sannyasi could receive the teaching of Vedanta. Sri Ramakrishna agreed to renounce the world, but with the stipulation that the ceremony of his initiation into the monastic order be performed in secret, to spare the feelings of his old mother, who had been living with him at Dakshineswar.
--
Thus, after nirvikalpa samadhi, Sri Ramakrishna realized maya in an altogether new role. The binding aspect of Kali vanished from before his vision. She no longer obscured his understanding. The world became the glorious manifestation of the Divine Mother. Maya became Brahman. The Transcendental Itself broke through the Immanent. Sri Ramakrishna discovered that maya operates in the relative world in two ways, and he termed these "avidyamaya" and "vidyamaya". Avidyamaya represents the dark forces of creation: sensuous desires, evil passions, greed, lust, cruelty, and so on. It sustains the world system on the lower planes. It is responsible for the round of man's birth and death. It must be fought and vanquished. But vidyamaya is the higher force of creation: the spiritual virtues, the enlightening qualities, kindness, purity, love, devotion. Vidyamaya elevates man to the higher planes of consciousness. With the help of vidyamaya the devotee rids himself of avidyamaya; he then becomes mayatita, free of maya. The two aspects of maya are the two forces of creation, the two powers of Kali; and She stands beyond them both. She is like the effulgent sun, bringing into existence and shining through and standing behind the clouds of different colours and shapes, conjuring up wonderful forms in the blue autumn heaven.
The Divine Mother asked Sri Ramakrishna not to be lost in the featureless Absolute but to remain, in bhavamukha, on the threshold of relative consciousness, the border line between the Absolute and the Relative. He was to keep himself at the "sixth centre" of Tantra, from which he could see not only the glory of the seventh, but also the divine manifestations of the Kundalini in the lower centres. He gently oscillated back and forth across the dividing line. Ecstatic devotion to the Divine Mother alternated with serene absorption in the Ocean of Absolute Unity. He thus bridged the gulf between the Personal and the Impersonal, the immanent and the transcendent aspects of Reality. This is a unique experience in the recorded spiritual history of the world.
--
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."
Sri Ramakrishna used to say that when the flower blooms the bees come to it for honey of their own accord. Now many souls began to visit Dakshineswar to satisfy their spiritual hunger. He, the devotee and aspirant, became the Master. Gauri, the great scholar who had been one of the first to proclaim Sri Ramakrishna an Incarnation of God, paid the Master a visit in 1870 and with the Master's blessings renounced the world. Narayan Shastri, another great pundit, who had mastered the six systems of Hindu philosophy and had been offered a lucrative post by the Maharaja of Jaipur, met the Master and recognized in him one who had realized in life those ideals which he himself had encountered merely in books. Sri Ramakrishna initiated Narayan Shastri, at his earnest request, into the life of sannyas. Pundit Padmalochan, the court pundit of the Maharaja of Burdwan, well known for his scholarship in both the Vedanta and the Nyaya systems of philosophy, accepted the Master as an Incarnation of God. Krishnakishore, a Vedantist scholar, became devoted to the Master. And there arrived viswanath Upadhyaya, who was to become a favourite devotee; Sri Ramakrishna always addressed him as "Captain". He was a high officer of the King of Nepal and had received the title of Colonel in recognition of his merit. A scholar of the Gita, the Bhagavata, and the Vedanta philosophy, he daily performed the worship of his Chosen Deity with great devotion. "I have read the Vedas and the other scriptures", he said. "I have also met a good many monks and devotees in different places. But it is in Sri Ramakrishna's presence that my spiritual yearnings have been fulfilled. To me he seems to be the embodiment of the truths of the scriptures."
The Knowledge of Brahman in nirvikalpa samadhi had convinced Sri Ramakrishna that the gods of the different religions are but so many readings of the Absolute, and that the Ultimate Reality could never be expressed by human tongue. He understood that all religions lead their devotees by differing paths to one and the same goal. Now he became eager to explore some of the alien religions; for with him understanding meant actual experience.
--
Toward the end of 1866 he began to practise the disciplines of Islam. Under the direction of his Mussalman guru he abandoned himself to his new sadhana. He dressed as a Mussalman and repeated the name of Allah. His prayers took the form of the Islamic devotions. He forgot the Hindu gods and goddesses — even Kali — and gave up visiting the temples. He took up his residence outside the temple precincts. After three days he saw the vision of a radiant figure, perhaps Mohammed. This figure gently approached him and finally lost himself in Sri Ramakrishna. Thus he realized the Mussalman God. Thence he passed into communion with Brahman. The mighty river of Islam also led him back to the Ocean of the Absolute.
--- CHRISTIANITY
Eight years later, some time in November 1874, Sri Ramakrishna was seized with an irresistible desire to learn the truth of the Christian religion. He began to listen to readings from the Bible, by Sambhu Charan Mallick, a gentleman of Calcutta and a devotee of the Master. Sri Ramakrishna became fascinated by the life and teachings of Jesus. One day he was seated in the parlour of Jadu Mallick's garden house (This expression is used throughout to translate the Bengali word denoting a rich man's country house set in a garden.) at Dakshineswar, when his eyes became fixed on a painting of the Madonna and Child. Intently watching it, he became gradually overwhelmed with divine emotion. The figures in the picture took on life, and the rays of light emanating from them entered his soul. The effect of this experience was stronger than that of the vision of Mohammed. In dismay he cried out, "O Mother! What are You doing to me?" And, breaking through the barriers of creed and religion, he entered a new realm of ecstasy. Christ possessed his soul. For three days he did not set foot in the Kali temple. On the fourth day, in the afternoon, as he was walking in the Panchavati, he saw coming toward him a person with beautiful large eyes, serene countenance, and fair skin. As the two faced each other, a voice rang out in the depths of Sri Ramakrishna's soul: "Behold the Christ, who shed His heart's blood for the redemption of the world, who suffered a sea of anguish for love of men. It is He, the Master Yogi, who is in eternal union with God. It is Jesus, Love Incarnate." The Son of Man embraced the Son of the Divine Mother and merged in him. Sri Ramakrishna krishna realized his identity with Christ, as he had already realized his identity with Kali, Rama, Hanuman, Radha, Krishna, Brahman, and Mohammed. The Master went into samadhi and communed with the Brahman with attributes. Thus he experienced the truth that Christianity, too, was a path leading to God-Consciousness. Till the last moment of his life he believed that Christ was an Incarnation of God. But Christ, for him, was not the only Incarnation; there were others — Buddha, for instance, and Krishna.
--- ATTITUDE TOWARD DIFFERENT RELIGIONS
--
The party entered holy Benares by boat along the Ganges. When Sri Ramakrishna's eyes fell on this city of Siva, where had accumulated for ages the devotion and piety of countless worshippers, he saw it to be made of gold, as the scriptures declare. He was visibly moved. During his stay in the city he treated every particle of its earth with utmost respect. At the Manikarnika Ghat, the great cremation ground of the city, he actually saw Siva, with ash-covered body and tawny matted hair, serenely approaching each funeral pyre and breathing into the ears of the corpses the mantra of liberation; and then the Divine Mother removing from the dead their bonds. Thus he realized the significance of the scriptural statement that anyone dying in Benares attains salvation through the grace of Siva. He paid a visit to Trailanga Swami, the celebrated monk, whom he later declared to be a real paramahamsa, a veritable image of Siva.
Sri Ramakrishna visited Allahabad, at the confluence of the Ganges and the Jamuna, and then proceeded to Vrindavan and Mathura, hallowed by the legends, songs, and dramas about Krishna and the gopis. Here he had numerous visions and his heart overflowed with divine emotion. He wept and said: "O Krishna! Everything here is as it was in the olden days. You alone are absent." He visited the great woman saint, Gangamayi, regarded by Vaishnava devotees as the reincarnation of an intimate attendant of Radha. She was sixty years old and had frequent trances. She spoke of Sri Ramakrishna as an incarnation of Radha. With great difficulty he was persuaded to leave her.
On the return journey Mathur wanted to visit Gaya, but Sri Ramakrishna declined to go. He recalled his father's vision at Gaya before his own birth and felt that in the temple of vishnu he would become permanently absorbed in God. Mathur, honouring the Master's wish, returned with his party to Calcutta.
From Vrindavan the Master had brought a handful of dust. Part of this he scattered in the Panchavati; the rest he buried in the little hut where he had practised meditation. "Now this place", he said, "is as sacred as Vrindavan."
In 1870 the Master went on a pilgrimage to Nadia, the birth-place of Sri Chaitanya. As the boat by which he travelled approached the sand-bank close to Nadia, Sri Ramakrishna had a vision of the "two brothers", Sri Chaitanya and his companion Nityananda, "bright as molten gold" and with haloes, rushing to greet him with uplifted hands. "There they come! There they come!" he cried. They entered his body and he went into a deep trance.
--- RELATION WITH HIS WIFE
In 1872 Sarada Devi paid her first visit to her husband at Dakshineswar. Four years earlier she had seen him at Kamarpukur and had tasted the bliss of his divine company. Since then she had become even more gentle, tender, introspective, serious, and unselfish. She had heard many rumours about her husband's insanity. People had shown her pity in her misfortune. The more she thought, the more she felt that her duty was to be with him, giving him, in whatever measure she could, a wife's devoted service. She was now eighteen years old. Accompanied by her father, she arrived at Dakshineswar, having come on foot the distance of eighty miles. She had had an attack of fever on the way. When she arrived at the temple garden the Master said sorrowfully: "Ah! You have come too late. My Mathur is no longer here to look after you." Mathur had passed away the previous year.
The Master took up the duty of instructing his young wife, and this included everything from housekeeping to the Knowledge of Brahman. He taught her how to trim a lamp, how to behave toward people according to their differing temperaments, and how to conduct herself before visitors. He instructed her in the mysteries of spiritual life — prayer, meditation, japa, deep contemplation, and samadhi. The first lesson that Sarada Devi received was: "God is everybody's Beloved, just as the moon is dear to every child. Everyone has the same right to pray to Him. Out of His grace He reveals Himself to all who call upon Him. You too will see Him if you but pray to Him."
Totapuri, coming to know of the Master's marriage, had once remarked: "What does it matter? He alone is firmly established in the Knowledge of Brahman who can adhere to his spirit of discrimination and renunciation even while living with his wife. He alone has attained the supreme illumination who can look on man and woman alike as Brahman. A man with the idea of sex may be a good aspirant, but he is still far from the goal." Sri Ramakrishna and his wife lived together at Dakshineswar, but their minds always soared above the worldly plane. A few months after Sarada Devi's arrival Sri Ramakrishna arranged, on an auspicious day, a special worship of Kali, the Divine Mother. Instead of an image of the Deity, he placed on the seat the living image, Sarada Devi herself. The worshipper and the worshipped went into deep samadhi and in the transcendental plane their souls were united. After several hours Sri Ramakrishna came down again to the relative plane, sang a hymn to the Great Goddess, and surrendered, at the feet of the living image, himself, his rosary, and the fruit of his life-long sadhana. This is known in Tantra as the Shorasi Puja, the "Adoration of Woman". Sri Ramakrishna realized the significance of the great statement of the Upanishad: "O Lord, Thou art the woman. Thou art the man; Thou art the boy. Thou art the girl; Thou art the old, tottering on their crutches. Thou pervadest the universe in its multiple forms."
--
Second, he knew that he had always been a free soul, that the various disciplines through which he had passed were really not necessary for his own liberation but were solely for the benefit of others. Thus the terms liberation and bondage were not applicable to him. As long as there are beings who consider themselves bound. God must come down to earth as an Incarnation to free them from bondage, just as a magistrate must visit any part of his district in which there is trouble.
Third, he came to foresee the time of his death. His words with respect to this matter were literally fulfilled.
--
Second, the three great systems of thought known as Dualism, Qualified Non-dualism, and Absolute Non-dualism — Dvaita, visishtadvaita, and Advaita — he perceived to represent three stages in man's progress toward the Ultimate Reality. They were not contradictory but complementary and suited to different temperaments. For the ordinary man with strong attachment to the senses, a dualistic form of religion, prescribing a certain amount of material support, such as music and other symbols, is useful. A man of God-realization transcends the idea of worldly duties, but the ordinary mortal must perform his duties, striving to be unattached and to surrender the results to God. The mind can comprehend and describe the range of thought and experience up to the visishtadvaita, and no further. The Advaita, the last word in spiritual experience, is something to be felt in samadhi. for it transcends mind and speech. From the highest standpoint, the Absolute and Its manifestation are equally real — the Lord's Name, His Abode, and the Lord Himself are of the same spiritual Essence. Everything is Spirit, the difference being only in form.
Third, Sri Ramakrishna realized the wish of the Divine Mother that through him She should found a new Order, consisting of those who would uphold the universal doctrines illustrated in his life.
--
Keshab possessed a complex nature. When passing through a great moral crisis, he spent much of his time in solitude and felt that he heard the voice of God, When a devotional form of worship was introduced into the Brahmo Samaj, he spent hours in singing kirtan with his followers. He visited England land in 1870 and impressed the English people with his musical voice, his simple English, and his spiritual fervour. He was entertained by Queen Victoria. Returning to India, he founded centres of the Brahmo Samaj in various parts of the country. Not unlike a professor of comparative religion in a European university, he began to discover, about the time of his first contact with Sri Ramakrishna, the harmony of religions. He became sympathetic toward the Hindu gods and goddesses, explaining them in a liberal fashion. Further, he believed that he was called by God to dictate to the world God's newly revealed law, the New Dispensation, the Navavidhan.
In 1878 a schism divided Keshab's Samaj. Some of his influential followers accused him of infringing the Brahmo principles by marrying his daughter to a wealthy man before she had attained the marriageable age approved by the Samaj. This group seceded and established the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Keshab remaining the leader of the Navavidhan. Keshab now began to be drawn more and more toward the Christ ideal, though under the influence of Sri Ramakrishna his devotion to the Divine Mother also deepened. His mental oscillation between Christ and the Divine Mother of Hinduism found no position of rest. In Bengal and some other parts of India the Brahmo movement took the form of unitarian Christianity, scoffed at Hindu rituals, and preached a crusade against image worship. Influenced by Western culture, it declared the supremacy of reason, advocated the ideals of the French Revolution, abolished the caste-system among its own members, stood for the emancipation of women, agitated for the abolition of early marriage, sanctioned the remarriage of widows, and encouraged various educational and social-reform movements. The immediate effect of the Brahmo movement in Bengal was the checking of the proselytizing activities of the Christian missionaries. It also raised Indian culture in the estimation of its English masters. But it was an intellectual and eclectic religious ferment born of the necessity of the time. Unlike Hinduism, it was not founded on the deep inner experiences of sages and prophets. Its influence was confined to a comparatively few educated men and women of the country, and the vast masses of the Hindus remained outside it. It sounded monotonously only one of the notes in the rich gamut of the Eternal Religion of the Hindus.
--
The other movement playing an important part in the nineteenth-century religious revival of India was the Arya Samaj. The Brahmo Samaj, essentially a movement of compromise with European culture, tacitly admitted the superiority of the West. But the founder of the Arya Samaj was a ' pugnacious Hindu sannyasi who accepted the challenge of Islam and Christianity and was resolved to combat all foreign influence in India. Swami Dayananda (1824-1883) launched this movement in Bombay in 1875, and soon its influence was felt throughout western India. The Swami was a great scholar of the Vedas, which he explained as being strictly monotheistic. He preached against the worship of images and re-established the ancient Vedic sacrificial rites. According to him the Vedas were the ultimate authority on religion, and he accepted every word of them as literally true. The Arya Samaj became a bulwark against the encroachments of Islam and Christianity, and its orthodox flavour appealed to many Hindu minds. It also assumed leadership in many movements of social reform. The caste-system became a target of its attack. Women it liberated from many of their social disabilities. The cause of education received from it a great impetus. It started agitation against early marriage and advocated the remarriage of Hindu widows. Its influence was strongest in the Punjab, the battle-ground of the Hindu and Islamic cultures. A new fighting attitude was introduced into the slumbering Hindu society. Unlike the Brahmo Samaj, the influence of the Arya Samaj was not confined to the intellectuals. It was a force that spread to the masses. It was a dogmatic movement intolerant of those who disagreed with its views, and it emphasized only one way, the Arya Samaj way, to the realization of Truth. Sri Ramakrishna met Swami Dayananda when the latter visited Bengal.
--- KESHAB CHANDRA SEN
--
Sri Ramakrishna, dressed in a red-bordered dhoti, one end of which was carelessly thrown over his left shoulder, came to Jaygopal's garden house accompanied by Hriday. No one took notice of the unostentatious visitor. Finally the Master said to Keshab, "People tell me you have seen God; so I have come to hear from you about God." A magnificent conversation followed. The Master sang a thrilling song about Kali and forthwith went into samadhi. When Hriday uttered the sacred "Om" in his ears, he gradually came back to consciousness of the world, his face still radiating a divine brilliance. Keshab and his followers were amazed. The contrast between Sri Ramakrishna and the Brahmo devotees was very interesting. There sat this small man, thin and extremely delicate. His eyes were illumined with an inner light. Good humour gleamed in his eyes and lurked in the corners of his mouth. His speech was Bengali of a homely kind with a slight, delightful stammer, and his words held men enthralled by their wealth of spiritual experience, their inexhaustible store of simile and metaphor, their power of observation, their bright and subtle humour, their wonderful catholicity, their ceaseless flow of wisdom. And around him now were the sophisticated men of Bengal, the best products of Western education, with Keshab, the idol of young Bengal, as their leader.
Keshab's sincerity was enough for Sri Ramakrishna. Henceforth the two saw each other frequently, either at Dakshineswar or at the temple of the Brahmo Samaj. Whenever the Master was in the temple at the time of divine service, Keshab would request him to speak to the congregation. And Keshab would visit the saint, in his turn, with offerings of flowers and fruits.
--- OTHER BRAHMO LEADERS
--
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."
--
To those who became his intimate disciples the Master was a friend, companion, and playmate. Even the chores of religious discipline would be lightened in his presence. The devotees would be so inebriated with pure joy in his company that they would have no time to ask themselves whether he was an Incarnation, a perfect soul, or a yogi. His very presence was a great teaching; words were superfluous. In later years his disciples remarked that while they were with him they would regard him as a comrade, but afterwards would tremble to think of their frivolities in the presence of such a great person. They had convincing proof that the Master could, by his mere wish, kindle in their hearts the love of God and give them His vision.
Through all this fun and frolic, this merriment and frivolity, he always kept before them the shining ideal of God-Consciousness and the path of renunciation. He prescribed ascents steep or graded according to the powers of the climber. He permitted no compromise with the basic principles of purity. An aspirant had to keep his body, mind, senses, and soul unspotted; had to have a sincere love for God and an ever mounting spirit of yearning. The rest would be done by the Mother.
--
Manomohan at first met with considerable opposition from his wife and other relatives, who resented his visits to Dakshineswar. But in the end the unselfish love of the Master triumphed over worldly affection. It was Manomohan who brought Rakhal to the Master.
--- SURENDRA
--
Bhavanath Chatterji visited the Master while he was still in his teens. His parents and relatives regarded Sri Ramakrishna as an insane person and tried their utmost to prevent him from becoming intimate with the Master. But the young boy was very stubborn and often spent nights at Dakshineswar. He was greatly attached to Narendra, and the Master encouraged their friendship. The very sight of him often awakened Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual emotion.
--- BALARAM BOSE
--
The householder devotees generally visited Sri Ramakrishna on Sunday afternoons and other holidays. Thus a brotherhood was gradually formed, and the Master encouraged their fraternal feeling. Now and then he would accept an invitation to a devotee's home, where other devotees would also be invited. Kirtan would be arranged and they would spend hours in dance and devotional music. The Master would go into trances or open his heart in religious discourses and in the narration of his own spiritual experiences. Many people who could not go to Dakshineswar participated in these meetings and felt blessed. Such an occasion would be concluded with a sumptuous feast.
But it was in the company of his younger devotees, pure souls yet unstained by the touch of worldliness, that Sri Ramakrishna took greatest joy. Among the young men who later embraced the householder's life were Narayan, Paitu, the younger Naren, Tejchandra, and Purna. These visited the Master sometimes against strong opposition from home.
--- PURNA
--
The first of these young men to come to the Master was Latu. Born of obscure parents, in Behar, he came to Calcutta in search of work and was engaged by Ramchandra Dutta as house-boy. Learning of the saintly Sri Ramakrishna, he visited the Master at Dakshineswar and was deeply touched by his cordiality. When he was about to leave, the Master asked him to take some money and return home in a boat or carriage. But Latu declared he had a few pennies and jingled the coins in his pocket. Sri Ramakrishna later requested Ram to allow Latu to stay with him permanently. Under Sri Ramakrishna's guidance Latu made great progress in meditation and was blessed with ecstatic visions, but all the efforts of the Master to give him a smattering of education failed. Latu was very fond of kirtan and other devotional songs but remained all his life illiterate.
--- RAKHAL
Even before Rakhal's coming to Dakshineswar, the Master had had visions of him as his spiritual son and as a playmate of Krishna at Vrindavan. Rakhal was born of wealthy parents. During his childhood he developed wonderful spiritual traits and used to play at worshipping gods and goddesses. In his teens he was married to a sister of Manomohan Mitra, from whom he first heard of the Master. His father objected to his association with Sri Ramakrishna but afterwards was reassured to find that many celebrated people were visitors at Dakshineswar. The relationship between the Master and this beloved disciple was that of mother and child. Sri Ramakrishna allowed Rakhal many liberties denied to others. But he would not hesitate to chastise the boy for improper actions. At one time Rakhal felt a childlike jealousy because he found that other boys were receiving the Master's affection. He soon got over it and realized his guru as the Guru of the whole universe. The Master was worried to hear of his marriage, but was relieved to find that his wife was a spiritual soul who would not be a hindrance to his progress.
--- THE ELDER GOPAL
--
To spread his message to the four corners of the earth Sri Ramakrishna needed a strong instrument. With his frail body and delicate limbs he could not make great journeys across wide spaces. And such an instrument was found in Narendranath Dutta, his beloved Naren, later known to the world as Swami Vivekananda. Even before meeting Narendranath, the Master had seen him in a vision as a sage, immersed in the meditation of the Absolute, who at Sri Ramakrishna's request had agreed to take human birth to assist him in his work.
Narendra was born in Calcutta on January 12, 1863, of an aristocratic kayastha family. His mother was steeped in the great Hindu epics, and his father, a distinguished attorney of the Calcutta High Court, was an agnostic about religion, a friend of the poor, and a mocker at social conventions. Even in his boyhood and youth Narendra possessed great physical courage and presence of mind, a vivid imagination, deep power of thought, keen intelligence, an extraordinary memory, a love of truth, a passion for purity, a spirit of independence, and a tender heart. An expert musician, he also acquired proficiency in physics, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, history, and literature. He grew up into an extremely handsome young man. Even as a child he practised meditation and showed great power of concentration. Though free and passionate in word and action, he took the vow of austere religious chastity and never allowed the fire of purity to be extinguished by the slightest defilement of body or soul.
--
In a state of mental conflict and torture of soul, Narendra came to Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar. He was then eighteen years of age and had been in college two years. He entered the Master's room accompanied by some light-hearted friends. At Sri Ramakrishna's request he sang a few songs, pouring his whole soul into them, and the Master went into samadhi. A few minutes later Sri Ramakrishna suddenly left his seat, took Narendra by the hand, and led him to the screened verandah north of his room. They were alone. Addressing Narendra most tenderly, as if he were a friend of long acquaintance, the Master said: "Ah! You have come very late. Why have you been so unkind as to make me wait all these days? My ears are tired of hearing the futile words of worldly men. Oh, how I have longed to pour my spirit into the heart of someone fitted to receive my message!" He talked thus, sobbing all the time. Then, standing before Narendra with folded hands, he addressed him as Narayana, born on earth to remove the misery of humanity. Grasping Narendra's hand, he asked him to come again, alone, and very soon. Narendra was startled. "What is this I have come to see?" he said to himself. "He must be stark mad. Why, I am the son of viswanath Dutta. How dare he speak this way to me?"
When they returned to the room and Narendra heard the Master speaking to others, he was surprised to find in his words an inner logic, a striking sincerity, and a convincing proof of his spiritual nature. In answer to Narendra's question, "Sir, have you seen God?" the Master said: "Yes, I have seen God. I have seen Him more tangibly than I see you. I have talked to Him more intimately than I am talking to you." Continuing, the Master said: "But, my child, who wants to see God? People shed jugs of tears for money, wife, and children. But if they would weep for God for only one day they would surely see Him." Narendra was amazed. These words he could not doubt. This was the first time he had ever heard a man saying that he had seen God. But he could not reconcile these words of the Master with the scene that had taken place on the verandah only a few minutes before. He concluded that Sri Ramakrishna was a monomaniac, and returned home rather puzzled in mind.
During his second visit, about a month later, suddenly, at the touch of the Master, Narendra felt overwhelmed and saw the walls of the room and everything around him whirling and vanishing. "What are you doing to me?" he cried in terror. "I have my father and mother at home." He saw his own ego and the whole universe almost swallowed in a nameless void. With a laugh the Master easily restored him. Narendra thought he might have been hypnotized, but he could not understand how a monomaniac could cast a spell over the mind of a strong person like himself. He returned home more confused than ever, resolved to be henceforth on his guard before this strange man.
But during his third visit Narendra fared no better. This time, at the Master's touch, he lost consciousness entirely. While he was still in that state, Sri Ramakrishna questioned him concerning his spiritual antecedents and whereabouts, his mission in this world, and the duration of his mortal life. The answers confirmed what the Master himself had known and inferred. Among other things, he came to know that Narendra was a sage who had already attained perfection, and that the day he learnt his real nature he would give up his body in yoga, by an act of will.
A few more meetings completely removed from Narendra's mind the last traces of the notion that Sri Ramakrishna might be a monomaniac or wily hypnotist. His integrity, purity, renunciation, and unselfishness were beyond question. But Narendra could not accept a man, an imperfect mortal, as his guru. As a member of the Brahmo Samaj, he could not believe that a human intermediary was necessary between man and God. Moreover, he openly laughed at Sri Ramakrishna's visions as hallucinations. Yet in the secret chamber of his heart he bore a great love for the Master.
Sri Ramakrishna was grateful to the Divine Mother for sending him one who doubted his own realizations. Often he asked Narendra to test him as the money-changers test their coins. He laughed at Narendra's biting criticism of his spiritual experiences and samadhi. When at times Narendra's sharp words distressed him, the Divine Mother Herself would console him, saying: "Why do you listen to him? In a few days he will believe your every word." He could hardly bear Narendra's absences. Often he would weep bitterly for the sight of him. Sometimes Narendra would find the Master's love embarrassing; and one day he sharply scolded him, warning him that such infatuation would soon draw him down to the level of its object. The Master was distressed and prayed to the Divine Mother. Then he said to Narendra: "You rogue, I won't listen to you any more. Mother says that I love you because I see God in you, and the day I no longer see God in you I shall not be able to bear even the sight of you."
--
Others destined to be monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna came to Dakshineswar. Taraknath Ghoshal had felt from his boyhood the noble desire to realize God. Keshab and the Brahmo Samaj had attracted him but proved inadequate. In 1882 he first met the Master at Ramchandra's house and was astonished to hear him talk about samadhi, a subject which always fascinated his mind. And that evening he actually saw a manifestation of that superconscious state in the Master. Tarak became a frequent visitor at Dakshineswar and received the Master's grace in abundance. The young boy often felt ecstatic fervour in meditation. He also wept profusely while meditating on God. Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "God favours those who can weep for Him. Tears shed for God wash away the sins of former births."
--- BABURAM
--
Nitya Niranjan Sen was a disciple of heroic type. He came to the Master when he was eighteen years old. He was a medium for a group of spiritualists. During his first visit the Master said to him: "My boy, if you think always of ghosts you will become a ghost, and if you think of God you will become God. Now, which do you prefer?" Niranjan severed all connexions with the spiritualists. During his second visit the Master embraced him and said warmly: "Niranjan, my boy, the days are flitting away. When will you realize God? This life will be in vain if you do not realize Him. When will you devote your mind wholly to God?" Niranjan was surprised to see the Master's great anxiety for his spiritual welfare. He was a young man endowed with unusual spiritual parts. He felt disdain for worldly pleasures and was totally guileless, like a child. But he had a violent temper. One day, as he was coming in a country boat to Dakshineswar, some of his fellow passengers began to speak ill of the Master. Finding his protest futile, Niranjan began to rock the boat, threatening to sink it in mid stream. That silenced the offenders. When he reported the incident to the Master, he was rebuked for his inability to curb his anger.
--- JOGINDRA
--
Hariprasanna, a college student, visited the Master in the company of his friends Sashi and Sarat. Sri Ramakrishna showed him great favour by initiating him into spiritual life. As long as he lived, Hariprasanna remembered and observed the following drastic advice of the Master: "Even if a woman is pure as gold and rolls on the ground for love of God, it is dangerous for a monk ever to look at her."
--- KALI
Kaliprasad visited the Master toward the end of 1883. Given to the practice of meditation and the study of the scriptures. Kali was particularly interested in yoga. Feeling the need of a guru in spiritual life, he came to the Master and was accepted as a disciple. The young boy possessed a rational mind and often felt sceptical about the Personal God. The Master said to him: "Your doubts will soon disappear. Others, too, have passed through such a state of mind. Look at Naren. He now weeps at the names of Radha and Krishna." Kali began to see visions of gods and goddesses. Very soon these disappeared and in meditation he experienced vastness, infinity, and the other attributes of the Impersonal Brahman.
--- SUBODH
Subodh visited the Master in 1885. At the very first meeting Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "You will succeed. Mother says so. Those whom She sends here will certainly attain spirituality." During the second meeting the Master wrote something on Subodh's tongue, stroked his body from the navel to the throat, and said, "Awake, Mother! Awake." He asked the boy to meditate. At once Subodh's latent spirituality was awakened. He felt a current rushing along the spinal column to the brain. Joy filled his soul.
--- SARADA AND TULASI
--
Unsurpassed among the woman devotees of the Master in the richness of her devotion and spiritual experiences was Aghoremani Devi, an orthodox brahmin woman. Widowed at an early age, she had dedicated herself completely to spiritual pursuits. Gopala, the Baby Krishna, was her Ideal Deity, whom she worshipped following the vatsalya attitude of the Vaishnava religion, regarding Him as her own child. Through Him she satisfied her unassuaged maternal love, cooking for Him, feeding Him, bathing Him, and putting Him to bed. This sweet intimacy with Gopala won her the sobriquet of Gopal Ma, or Gopala's Mother. For forty years she had lived on the bank of the Ganges in a small, bare room, her only companions being a threadbare copy of the Ramayana and a bag containing her rosary. At the age of sixty, in 1884, she visited Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar. During the second visit, as soon as the Master saw her, he said: "Oh, you have come! Give me something to eat." With great hesitation she gave him some ordinary sweets that she had purchased for him on the way. The Master ate them with relish and asked her to bring him simple curries or sweets prepared by her own hands. Gopal Ma thought him a queer kind of monk, for, instead of talking of God, he always asked for food. She did not want to visit him again, but an irresistible attraction brought her back to the temple garden; She carried with her some simple curries that she had cooked herself.
One early morning at three o'clock, about a year later, Gopal Ma was about to finish her daily devotions, when she was startled to find Sri Ramakrishna sitting on her left, with his right hand clenched, like the hand of the image of Gopala. She was amazed and caught hold of the hand, whereupon the figure vanished and in its place appeared the real Gopala, her Ideal Deity. She cried aloud with joy. Gopala begged her for butter. She pleaded her poverty and gave Him some dry coconut candies. Gopala, sat on her lap, snatched away her rosary, jumped on her shoulders, and moved all about the room. As soon as the day broke she hastened to Dakshineswar like an insane woman. Of course Gopala accompanied her, resting His head on her shoulder. She clearly saw His tiny ruddy feet hanging over her breast. She entered Sri Ramakrishna's room. The Master had fallen into samadhi. Like a child, he sat on her lap, and she began to feed him with butter, cream, and other delicacies. After some time he regained consciousness and returned to his bed. But the mind of Gopala's Mother was still roaming in another plane. She was steeped in bliss. She saw Gopala frequently entering the Master's body and again coming out of it. When she returned to her hut, still in a dazed condition, Gopala accompanied her.
She spent about two months in uninterrupted communion with God, the Baby Gopala never leaving her for a moment. Then the intensity of her vision was lessened; had it not been, her body would have perished. The Master spoke highly of her exalted spiritual condition and said that such vision of God was a rare thing for ordinary mortals. The fun-loving Master one day confronted the critical Narendranath with this simple-minded woman. No two could have presented a more striking contrast. The Master knew of Narendra's lofty contempt for all visions, and he asked the old lady to narrate her experiences to Narendra. With great hesitation she told him her story. Now and then she interrupted her maternal chatter to ask Narendra: "My son, I am a poor ignorant woman. I don't understand anything. You are so learned. Now tell me if these visions of Gopala are true." As Narendra listened to the story he was profoundly moved. He said, "Yes, mother, they are quite true." Behind his cynicism Narendra, too, possessed a heart full of love and tenderness.
--- THE MARCH OF EVENTS
--
During the week-ends the householders, enjoying a respite from their office duties, visited the Master. The meetings on Sunday afternoons were of the nature of little festivals. Refreshments were often served. Professional musicians now and then sang devotional songs. The Master and the devotees sang and danced, Sri Ramakrishna frequently going into ecstatic moods. The happy memory of such a Sunday would linger long in the minds of the devotees. Those whom the Master wanted for special instruction he would ask to visit him on Tuesdays and Saturdays. These days were particularly auspicious for the worship of Kali.
The young disciples destined to be monks, Sri Ramakrishna invited on week-days, when the householders were not present. The training of the householders and of the future monks had to proceed along entirely different lines. Since M. generally visited the Master on week-ends, the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna does not contain much mention of the future monastic disciples.
Finally, there was a handful of fortunate disciples, householders as well as youngsters, who were privileged to spend nights with the Master in his room. They would see him get up early in the morning and walk up and down the room, singing in his sweet voice and tenderly communing with the Mother.
--
One night he had a hemorrhage of the throat. The doctor now diagnosed the illness as cancer. Narendra was the first to break this heart-rending news to the disciples. Within three days the Master was removed to Calcutta for better treatment. At Balaram's house he remained a week until a suitable place could be found at Syampukur, in the northern section of Calcutta. During this week he dedicated himself practically without respite to the instruction of those beloved devotees who had been unable to visit him oftener at Dakshineswar. Discourses incessantly flowed from his tongue, and he often went into samadhi. Dr. Mahendra Sarkar, the celebrated homeopath of Calcutta, was invited to undertake his treatment.
--- SYAMPUKUR
--
The Holy Mother — so Sarada Devi had come to be affectionately known by Sri Ramakrishna's devotees — was brought from Dakshineswar to look after the general cooking and to prepare the special diet of the patient. The dwelling space being extremely limited, she had to adapt herself to cramped conditions. At three o'clock in the morning she would finish her bath in the Ganges and then enter a small covered place on the roof, where she spent the whole day cooking and praying. After eleven at night, when the visitors went away, she would come down to her small bedroom on the first floor to enjoy a few hours' sleep. Thus she spent three months, working hard, sleeping little, and praying constantly for the Master's recovery.
At Syampukur the devotees led an intense life. Their attendance on the Master was in itself a form of spiritual discipline. His mind was constantly soaring to an exalted plane of consciousness. Now and then they would catch the contagion of his spiritual fervour. They sought to divine the meaning of this illness of the Master, whom most of them had accepted as an Incarnation of God. One group, headed by Girish with his robust optimism and great power of imagination, believed that the illness was a mere pretext to serve a deeper purpose. The Master had willed his illness in order to bring the devotees together and promote solidarity among them. As soon as this purpose was served, he would himself get rid of the disease. A second group thought that the Divine Mother, in whose hand the Master was an instrument, had brought about this illness to serve Her own mysterious ends. But the young rationalists, led by Narendra, refused to ascribe a
--
In spite of the physician's efforts and the prayers and nursing of the devotees, the illness rapidly progressed. The pain sometimes appeared to be unbearable. The Master lived only on liquid food, and his frail body was becoming a mere skeleton. Yet his face always radiated joy, and he continued to welcome the visitors pouring in to receive his blessing. When certain zealous devotees tried to keep the visitors away, they were told by Girish, "You cannot succeed in it; he has been born for this very purpose — to sacrifice himself for the redemption of others."
The more the body was devastated by illness, the more it became the habitation of the Divine Spirit. Through its transparency the gods and goddesses began to shine with ever increasing luminosity. On the day of the Kali Puja the devotees clearly saw in him the manifestation of the Divine Mother.
It was noticed at this time that some of the devotees were making an unbridled display of their emotions. A number of them, particularly among the householders, began to cultivate, though at first unconsciously, the art of shedding tears, shaking the body, contorting the face, and going into trances, attempting thereby to imitate the Master. They began openly to declare Sri Ramakrishna a Divine Incarnation and to regard themselves as his chosen people, who could neglect religious disciplines with impunity. Narendra's penetrating eye soon sized up the situation. He found out that some of these external manifestations were being carefully practised at home, while some were the outcome of malnutrition, mental weakness, or nervous debility. He mercilessly exposed the devotees who were pretending to have visions, and asked all to develop a healthy religious spirit. Narendra sang inspiring songs for the younger devotees, read with them the Imitation of Christ and the Gita, and held before them the positive ideals of spirituality.
--- LAST DAYS AT COSSIPORE
--
It took the group only a few days to become adjusted to the new environment. The Holy Mother, assisted by Sri Ramakrishna's niece, Lakshmi Devi, and a few woman devotees, took charge of the cooking for the Master and his attendants. Surendra willingly bore the major portion of the expenses, other householders contributing according to their means. Twelve disciples were constant attendants of the Master: Narendra, Rakhal, Baburam, Niranjan, Jogin, Latu, Tarak, the-elder Gopal, Kali, Sashi, Sarat, and the younger Gopal. Sarada, Harish, Hari, Gangadhar, and Tulasi visited the Master from time to time and practised sadhana at home. Narendra, preparing for his law examination, brought his books to the garden house in order to continue his studies during the infrequent spare moments. He encouraged his brother disciples to intensify their meditation, scriptural studies, and other spiritual disciplines. They all forgot their relatives and their
worldly duties.
--
"I shall make the whole thing public before I go", the Master had said some time before. On January 1, 1886, he felt better and came down to the garden for a little stroll. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon. Some thirty lay disciples were in the hall or sitting about under the trees. Sri Ramakrishna said to Girish, "Well, Girish, what have you seen in me, that you proclaim me before everybody as an Incarnation of God?" Girish was not the man to be taken by surprise. He knelt before the Master and said, with folded hands, "What can an insignificant person like myself say about the One whose glory even sages like Vyasa and Valmiki could not adequately measure?" The Master was profoundly moved. He said: "What more shall I say? I bless you all. Be illumined!" He fell into a spiritual mood. Hearing these words the devotees, one and all, became overwhelmed with emotion. They rushed to him and fell at his feet. He touched them all, and each received an appropriate benediction. Each of them, at the touch of the Master, experienced ineffable bliss. Some laughed, some wept, some sat down to meditate, some began to pray. Some saw light, some had visions of their Chosen Ideals, and some felt within their bodies the rush of spiritual power.
Narendra, consumed with a terrific fever for realization, complained to the Master that all the others had attained peace and that he alone was dissatisfied. The Master asked what he wanted. Narendra begged for samadhi, so that he might altogether forget the world for three or four days at a time. "You are a fool", the Master rebuked him. "There is a state even higher than that. Isn't it you who sing, 'All that exists art Thou'? First of all settle your family affairs and then come to me. You will experience a state even higher than samadhi."
0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
blazed upon my spiritual vision. From that moment
the O.T.O. assumed its proper importance in my
--
Aethyr (see The vision and The Voice).
[19]
--
vishnu, the preserver, the principal expounder of
Vedantism.
--
The HIMOG is only visible in so far as He is imperfect.
Then are they all glorious who seem not to be glorious,
--
body of Nuit and a visit to a brothel may be identical.
[123]
--
The vision and The Voice (Liber 418). The Eqx.,
I, v. Reprint, Barstow, Cal., 1952, with Com-
0.00 - THE GOSPEL PREFACE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is the English translation of the Sri Sri Rmakrishna Kathmrita, the conversations of Sri Ramakrishna with his disciples, devotees, and visitors, recorded by Mahendranth Gupta, who wrote the book under the pseudonym of "M." The conversations in Bengali fill five volumes, the first of which was published in 1897 and the last shortly after M.'s death in 1932. Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, has published in two volumes an English translation of selected chapters from the monumental Bengali work. I have consulted these while preparing my translation.
M., one of the intimate disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, was present during all the conversations recorded in the main body of the book and noted them down in his diary.
--
The reader will find mentioned in this work many visions and experiences that fall outside the ken of physical science and even psychology. With the development of modern knowledge the border line between the natural and the supernatural is ever shifting its position. Genuine mystical experiences are not as suspect now as they were half a century ago. The words of Sri Ramakrishna have already exerted a tremendous influence in the land of his birth. Savants of Europe have found in his words the ring of universal truth.
But these words were not the product of intellectual cogitation; they were rooted in direct experience. Hence, to students of religion, psychology, and physical science, these experiences of the Master are of immense value for the understanding of religious phenomena in general. No doubt Sri Ramakrishna was a Hindu of the Hindus; yet his experiences transcended the limits of the dogmas and creeds of Hinduism. Mystics of religions other than Hinduism will find in Sri Ramakrishna's experiences a corroboration of the experiences of their own prophets and seers. And this is very important today for the resuscitation of religious values. The sceptical reader may pass by the supernatural experiences; he will yet find in the book enough material to provoke his serious thought and solve many of his spiritual problems.
--
May it enable seekers of Truth to grasp the subtle laws of the supersensuous realm, and unfold before man's restricted vision the spiritual foundation of the universe, the unity of existence, and the divinity of the soul!
- Sw mi Nikhilnanda
--
The Master, who divined the mood of desperation in M, his resolve to take leave of this 'play-field of deception', put new faith and hope into him by his gracious words of assurance: "God forbid! Why should you take leave of this world? Do you not feel blessed by discovering your Guru? By His grace, what is beyond all imagination or dreams can be easily achieved!" At these words the clouds of despair moved away from the horizon of M.'s mind, and the sunshine of a new hope revealed to him fresh vistas of meaning in life. Referring to this phase of his life, M. used to say, "Behold! where is the resolve to end life, and where, the discovery of God! That is, sorrow should be looked upon as a friend of man. God is all good." ( Ibid P.33.)
After this re-settlement, M's life revolved around the Master, though he continued his professional work as an educationist. During all holidays, including Sundays, he spent his time at Dakshineswar in the Master's company, and at times extended his stay to several days.
--
He was one of the earliest of the disciples to visit Kamarpukur, the birthplace of the Master, in the latter's lifetime itself; for he wished to practise contemplation on the Master's early life in its true original setting. His experience there is described as follows by Swami Nityatmananda: "By the grace of the Master, he saw the entire Kamarpukur as a holy place bathed in an effulgent Light. Trees and creepers, beasts and birds and men all were made of effulgence. So he prostrated to all on the road. He saw a torn cat, which appeared to him luminous with the Light of Consciousness. Immediately he fell to the ground and saluted it" (M The Apostle and the Evangelist by Swami Nityatmananda vol. I. P. 40.) He had similar experience in Dakshineswar also. At the instance of the Master he also visited Puri, and in the words of Swami Nityatmananda, "with indomitable courage, M. embraced the image of Jagannath out of season."
The life of Sdhan and holy association that he started on at the feet of the Master, he continued all through his life. He has for this reason been most appropriately described as a Grihastha-Sannysi (householder-Sannysin). Though he was forbidden by the Master to become a Sannysin, his reverence for the Sannysa ideal was whole-hearted and was without any reservation. So after Sri Ramakrishna's passing away, while several of the Master's householder devotees considered the young Sannysin disciples of the Master as inexperienced and inconsequential, M. stood by them with the firm faith that the Master's life and message were going to be perpetuated only through them. Swami Vivekananda wrote from America in a letter to the inmates of the Math: "When Sri Thkur (Master) left the body, every one gave us up as a few unripe urchins. But M. and a few others did not leave us in the lurch. We cannot repay our debt to them." (Swami Raghavananda's article on M. in Prabuddha Bharata vol. XXX P. 442.)
--
After the Master's demise, M. went on pilgrimage several times. He visited Banras, Vrindvan, Ayodhy and other places. At Banras he visited the famous Trailinga Swmi and fed him with sweets, and he had long conversations with Swami Bhaskarananda, one of the noted saintly and scholarly Sannysins of the time. In 1912 he went with the Holy Mother to Banras, and spent about a year in the company of Sannysins at Banras, Vrindvan, Hardwar, Hrishikesh and Swargashram. But he returned to Calcutta, as that city offered him the unique opportunity of associating himself with the places hallowed by the Master in his lifetime. Afterwards he does not seem to have gone to any far-off place, but stayed on in his room in the Morton School carrying on his spiritual ministry, speaking on the Master and his teachings to the large number of people who flocked to him after having read his famous Kathmrita known to English readers as The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.
This brings us to the circumstances that led to the writing and publication of this monumental work, which has made M. one of the immortals in hagiographic literature.
--
Even as a boy of about thirteen, while he was a student in the 3rd class of the Hare School, he was in the habit of keeping a diary. "Today on rising," he wrote in his diary, "I greeted my father and mother, prostrating on the ground before them" (Swami Nityatmananda's 'M The Apostle and the Evangelist' Part I. P 29.) At another place he wrote, "Today, while on my way to school, I visited, as usual, the temples of Kli, the Mother at Tharitharia, and of Mother Sitala, and paid my obeisance to them." About twenty-five years after, when he met the Great Master in the spring of 1882, it was the same instinct of a born diary-writer that made him begin his book, 'unique in the literature of hagiography', with the memorable words: "When hearing the name of Hari or Rma once, you shed tears and your hair stands on end, then you may know for certain that you do not have to perform devotions such as Sandhya any more."
In addition to this instinct for diary-keeping, M. had great endowments contri buting to success in this line. Writes Swami Nityatmananda who lived in close association with M., in his book entitled M - The Apostle and Evangelist: "M.'s prodigious memory combined with his extraordinary power of imagination completely annihilated the distance of time and place for him. Even after the lapse of half a century he could always visualise vividly, scenes from the life of Sri Ramakrishna. Superb too was his power to portray pictures by words."
Besides the prompting of his inherent instinct, the main inducement for M. to keep this diary of his experiences at Dakshineswar was his desire to provide himself with a means for living in holy company at all times. Being a school teacher, he could be with the Master only on Sundays and other holidays, and it was on his diary that he depended for 'holy company' on other days. The devotional scriptures like the Bhagavata say that holy company is the first and most important means for the generation and growth of devotion. For, in such company man could hear talks on spiritual matters and listen to the glorification of Divine attri butes, charged with the fervour and conviction emanating from the hearts of great lovers of God. Such company is therefore the one certain means through which Sraddha (Faith), Rati (attachment to God) and Bhakti (loving devotion) are generated. The diary of his visits to Dakshineswar provided M. with material for re-living, through reading and contemplation, the holy company he had had earlier, even on days when he was not able to visit Dakshineswar. The wealth of details and the vivid description of men and things in the midst of which the sublime conversations are set, provide excellent material to re-live those experiences for any one with imaginative powers. It was observed by M.'s disciples and admirers that in later life also whenever he was free or alone, he would be pouring over his diary, transporting himself on the wings of imagination to the glorious days he spent at the feet of the Master.
During the Master's lifetime M. does not seem to have revealed the contents of his diary to any one. There is an unconfirmed tradition that when the Master saw him taking notes, he expressed apprehension at the possibility of his utilising these to publicise him like Keshab Sen; for the Great Master was so full of the spirit of renunciation and humility that he disliked being lionised. It must be for this reason that no one knew about this precious diary of M. for a decade until he brought out selections from it as a pamphlet in English in 1897 with the Holy Mother's blessings and permission. The Holy Mother, being very much pleased to hear parts of the diary read to her in Bengali, wrote to M.: "When I heard the Kathmrita, (Bengali name of the book) I felt as if it was he, the Master, who was saying all that." ( Ibid Part I. P 37.)
0.00 - The Wellspring of Reality, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science
It follows that the more specialized society becomes, the less attention does it pay to the discoveries of the mind, which are intuitively beamed toward the brain, there to be received only if the switches are "on." Specialization tends to shut off the wide-band tuning searches and thus to preclude further discovery of the all-powerful generalized principles. Again we see how society's perverse fixation on specialization leads to its extinction. We are so specialized that one man discovers empirically how to release the energy of the atom, while another, unbeknownst to him, is ordered by his political factotum to make an atomic bomb by use of the secretly and anonymously published data. That gives much expedient employment, which solves the politician's momentary problem, but requires that the politicians keep on preparing for further warring with other political states to keep their respective peoples employed. It is also mistakenly assumed that employment is the only means by which humans can earn the right to live, for politicians have yet to discover how much wealth is available for distribution. All this is rationalized on the now scientifically discredited premise that there can never be enough life support for all. Thus humanity's specialization leads only toward warring and such devastating tools, both, visible and in visible, as ultimately to destroy all Earthians.
Only a comprehensive switch from the narrowing specialization and toward an evermore inclusive and refining comprehension by all humanity-regarding all the factors governing omnicontinuing life aboard our spaceship Earth-can bring about reorientation from the self-extinction-bound human trending, and do so within the critical time remaining before we have passed the point of chemical process irretrievability.
0.01f - FOREWARD, #The Phenomenon of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
sciousness, that is to say in vision. And that, doubtless, is why the
history of the living world can be summarised as the elaboration
--
valleys) from which, not only his vision, but things themselves
radiate? In that event the subjective viewpoint coincides with
--
nature at which the convergent lines are not only visual but
structural. The following pages will do no more than verify and
--
really to become more, if vision is really fuller being, then we
should look closely at man in order to increase our capacity to
--
Without these qualities to illuminate our vision, man will
remain indefinitely for us whatever is done to make us see
--
disjointed world. Conversely, we have only to rid our vision of
the threefold illusion of smallness, plurality and immobility, for
--
In such a vision man is seen not as a static centre of the world
as he for long believed himself to be but as the axis and
0.01 - I - Sri Aurobindos personality, his outer retirement - outside contacts after 1910 - spiritual personalities- Vibhutis and Avatars - transformtion of human personality, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
The Evening Talks collected here may afford to the outside world a glimpse of his external personality and give the seeker some idea of its richness, its many-sidedness, its uniqueness. One can also form some notion of Sri Aurobindo's personality from the books in which the height, the universal sweep and clear vision of his integral ideal and thought can be seen. His writings are, in a sense, the best representative of his mental personality. The versatile nature of his genius, the penetrating power of his intellect, his extraordinary power of expression, his intense sincerity, his utter singleness of purpose all these can be easily felt by any earnest student of his works. He may discover even in the realm of mind that Sri Aurobindo brings the unlimited into the limited. Another side of his dynamic personality is represented by the Ashram as an institution. But the outer, if one may use the phrase, the human side of his personality, is unknown to the outside world because from 1910 to 1950 a span of forty years he led a life of outer retirement. No doubt, many knew about his staying at Pondicherry and practising some kind of very special Yoga to the mystery of which they had no access. To some, perhaps, he was living a life of enviable solitude enjoying the luxury of a spiritual endeavour. Many regretted his retirement as a great loss to the world because they could not see any external activity on his part which could be regarded as 'public', 'altruistic' or 'beneficial'. Even some of his admirers thought that he was after some kind of personal salvation which would have very little significance for mankind in general. His outward non-participation in public life was construed by many as lack of love for humanity.
But those who knew him during the days of the national awakening from 1900 to 1910 could not have these doubts. And even these initial misunderstandings and false notions of others began to evaporate with the growth of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram from 1927 onwards. The large number of books published by the Ashram also tended to remove the idea of the other-worldliness of his Yoga and the absence of any good by it to mankind.
0.01 - Letters from the Mother to Her Son, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
me hope for a visit.
I would like to show you our "establishment". It has just
0.01 - Life and Yoga, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
God. Therefore we see in India that a sharp incompatibility has been created between life in the world and spiritual growth and perfection, and although the tradition and ideal of a victorious harmony between the inner attraction and the outer demand remains, it is little or else very imperfectly exemplified. In fact, when a man turns his vision and energy inward and enters on the path of Yoga, he is popularly supposed to be lost inevitably to the great stream of our collective existence and the secular effort of humanity. So strongly has the idea prevailed, so much has it been emphasised by prevalent philosophies and religions that to escape from life is now commonly considered as not only the necessary condition, but the general object of Yoga. No synthesis of Yoga can be satisfying which does not, in its aim, reunite God and Nature in a liberated and perfected human life or, in its method, not only permit but favour the harmony of our inner and outer activities and experiences in the divine consummation of both. For man is precisely that term and symbol of a higher Existence descended into the material world in which it is possible for the lower to transfigure itself and put on the nature of the higher and the higher to reveal itself in the forms of the lower. To avoid the life which is given him for the realisation of that possibility, can never be either the indispensable condition or the whole and ultimate object of his supreme endeavour or of his most powerful means of self-fulfilment. It can only be a temporary necessity under certain conditions or a specialised extreme effort imposed on the individual so as to prepare a greater general possibility for the race. The true and full object and utility of Yoga can only be accomplished when the conscious
Yoga in man becomes, like the subconscious Yoga in Nature, outwardly conterminous with life itself and we can once more, looking out both on the path and the achievement, say in a more perfect and luminous sense: "All life is Yoga."
0.02 - II - The Home of the Guru, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Guru-griha-vsa staying in the home of the Guru is a very old Indian ideal maintained by seekers through the ages. The Aranyakas the ancient teachings in the forest-groves are perhaps the oldest records of the institution. It was not for education in the modern sense of the term that men went to live with the Guru; for the Guru is not a 'teacher'. The Guru is one who is 'enlightened', who is a seer, a Rishi, one who has the vision of and has lived the Truth. He has, thus, the knowledge of the goal of human life and has learnt true values in life by living the Truth. He can impart both these to the willing seeker. In ancient times seekers went to the Guru with many questions, difficulties and doubts but also with earnestness. Their questions were preliminary to the quest.
The Master, the Guru, set at rest the puzzled human mind by his illuminating answers, perhaps even more by his silent consciousness, so that it might be able to pursue unhampered the path of realisation of the Truth. Those ancient discourses answer the mind of man today even across the ages. They have rightly acquired as everything of the past does a certain sanctity. But sometimes that very reverence prevents men from properly evaluating, and living in, the present. This happens when the mind instead of seeking the Spirit looks at the form. For instance, it is not necessary for such discourses that they take place in forest-groves in order to be highly spiritual. Wherever the Master is, there is Light. And guru-griha the house of the Master can be his private dwelling place. So much was this feeling a part of Sri Aurobindo's nature and so particular was he to maintain the personal character of his work that during the first few years after 1923 he did not like his house to be called an 'Ashram', as the word had acquired the sense of a public institution to the modern mind. But there was no doubt that the flower of Divinity had blossomed in him; and disciples, like bees seeking honey, came to him. It is no exaggeration to say that these Evening Talks were to the small company of disciples what the Aranyakas were to the ancient seekers. Seeking the Light, they came to the dwelling place of their Guru, the greatest seer of the age, and found it their spiritual home the home of their parents, for the Mother, his companion in the great mission, had come. And these spiritual parents bestowed upon the disciples freely of their Light, their Consciousness, their Power and their Grace. The modern reader may find that the form of these discourses differs from those of the past but it was bound to be so for the simple reason that the times have changed and the problems that puzzle the modern mind are so different. Even though the disciples may be very imperfect representations of what he aimed at in them, still they are his creations. It is in order to repay, in however infinitesimal a degree, the debt which we owe to him that the effort is made to partake of the joy of his company the Evening Talks with a larger public.
0.02 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I believe in the superiority of the inner vision over the outer
vision and this belief is based not merely on theoretical knowledge but on the thousands of examples I have come across in
--
thing is good or not, because my vision is limited.
I never said that you should be the judge. I agree to be the judge
0.03 - III - The Evening Sittings, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
After Sri Aurobindo had come to Pondicherry from Chandernagore, he entered upon an intense period of Sadhana and for a few months he refused to receive anyone. After a time he used to sit down to talk in the evening and on some days tried automatic writing. Yogic Sadhan, a small book, was the result. In 1913 Sri Aurobindo moved to Rue Franois Martin No. 41 where he used to receive visitors at fixed times. This was generally in the morning between 9 and 10.30.
But, over and above newcomers, some local people and the few inmates of the house used to have informal talks with Sri Aurobindo in the evening. In the beginning the inmates used to go out for playing football, and during their absence known local individuals would come in and wait for Sri Aurobindo. Afterwards regular meditations began at about 4 p.m. in which practically all the inmates participated. After the meditation all of the members and those who were permitted shared in the evening sitting. This was a very informal gathering depending entirely upon Sri Aurobindo's leisure.
--
From 1918 to 1922, we gathered at No. 41, Rue Franois Martin, called the Guest House, upstairs, on a broad verandah into which four rooms opened and whose main piece of furniture was a small table 3' x 1' covered with a blue cotton cloth. That is where Sri Aurobindo used to sit in a hard wooden chair behind the table with a few chairs in front for the visitors or for the disciples.
From 1922 to 1926, No. 9, Rue de la Marine, where he and the Mother had shifted, was the place where the sittings were held. There, also upstairs, was a less broad verandah than at the Guest House, a little bigger table in front of the central door out of three, and a broad Japanese chair, the table covered with a better cloth than the one in the Guest House, a small flower vase, an ash-tray, a block calendar indicating the date and an ordinary time-piece, and a number of chairs in front in a line. The evening sittings used to be after meditation at 4 or 4.30 p.m. After 24 November 1926, the sittings began to get later and later, till the limit of 1 o'clock at night was reached. Then the curtain fell. Sri Aurobindo retired completely after December 1926, and the evening sittings came to a close.
0.03 - Letters to My little smile, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
My dear child, this is certainly a most unexpected way of interpreting this vision. I hadn't given it that meaning at all. The
images in these visions are always symbolic and should be taken
as such.
--
one. Besides, these days when the Ashram is full of visitors,9
there is a great confusion which often brings a clouding of
--
January - at that time there are many visitors because of the
vacations and I shall then wear the embroidered saris with the
0.03 - The Threefold Life, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
When the gulf between actual life and the temperament of the thinker is too great, we see as the result a sort of withdrawing of the Mind from life in order to act with a greater freedom in its own sphere. The poet living among his brilliant visions, the artist absorbed in his art, the philosopher thinking out the problems of the intellect in his solitary chamber, the scientist, the scholar caring only for their studies and their experiments, were often in former days, are even now not unoften the Sannyasins of the intellect. To the work they have done for humanity, all its past bears record.
But such seclusion is justified only by some special activity.
--
That highest thing, the spiritual existence, is concerned with what is eternal but not therefore entirely aloof from the transient. For the spiritual man the mind's dream of perfect beauty is realised in an eternal love, beauty and delight that has no dependence and is equal behind all objective appearances; its dream of perfect Truth in the supreme, self-existent, self-apparent and eternal Verity which never varies, but explains and is the secret of all variations and the goal of all progress; its dream of perfect action in the omnipotent and self-guiding Law that is inherent for ever in all things and translates itself here in the rhythm of the worlds. What is fugitive vision or constant effort of creation in the brilliant Self is an eternally existing Reality in the Self that knows2 and is the Lord.
But if it is often difficult for the mental life to accommodate itself to the dully resistant material activity, how much more difficult must it seem for the spiritual existence to live on in a world that appears full not of the Truth but of every lie and illusion, not of Love and Beauty but of an encompassing discord and ugliness, not of the Law of Truth but of victorious selfishness and sin? Therefore the spiritual life tends easily in the saint and Sannyasin to withdraw from the material existence and reject it either wholly and physically or in the spirit. It sees this world as the kingdom of evil or of ignorance and the eternal and divine either in a far-off heaven or beyond where there is no world and no life. It separates itself inwardly, if not also physically, from the world's impurities; it asserts the spiritual reality in a spotless isolation. This withdrawal renders an invaluable service to the material life itself by forcing it to regard and even to bow down to something that is the direct negation of its own petty ideals, sordid cares and egoistic self-content.
But the work in the world of so supreme a power as spiritual force cannot be thus limited. The spiritual life also can return upon the material and use it as a means of its own greater fullness. Refusing to be blinded by the dualities, the appearances, it can seek in all appearances whatsoever the vision of the same Lord, the same eternal Truth, Beauty, Love, Delight. The
Vedantic formula of the Self in all things, all things in the Self and all things as becomings of the Self is the key to this richer and all-embracing Yoga.
0.05 - Letters to a Child, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
with outspread wings is the vehicle of vishnu, the destroyer of
serpents. He seemed to be standing behind you to protect and
0.05 - The Synthesis of the Systems, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The widest synthesis of perfection possible to thought is the sole effort entirely worthy of those whose dedicated vision perceives that God dwells concealed in humanity.
0.07 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
of my heart so that I may be blessed with a vision
of your soul-captivating Presence in the full glory of
0.08 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
a photographic imprint) left in the subtle physical by the superficial mental form, an image that can become visible under
certain conditions. These images can move about (like cinema
0.09 - Letters to a Young Teacher, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
reach, in an attempt to portray this or that visitor who has come
to us. But most often, the picture we succeed in making of our
--
Then, after a certain length of time, we would see the visitors
themselves slowly, gracefully, calmly descend, without losing
--
When this delight comes down, what will the visible
results be in the world?
01.01 - The New Humanity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The world is in the throes of a new creation and the pangs of that new birth have made mother Earth restless. It is no longer a far-off ideal that our imagination struggles to visualise, nor a prophecy that yet remains to be fulfilled. It is Here and Now.
Although we may not know it, the New Man the divine race of humanity is already among us. It may be in our next neighbour, in our nearest brother, even in myself. Only a thin veil covers it. It marches just behind the line. It waits for an occasion to throw off the veil and place itself in the forefront. We are living in strenuous times in which age-long institutions are going down and new-forces rearing their heads, old habits are being cast off and new impulsions acquired. In every sphere of life, we see the urgent demand for a recasting, a fresh valuation of things. From the base to the summit, from the economic and political life to the artistic and spiritual, humanity is being shaken to bring out a new expression and articulation. There is the hidden surge of a Power, the secret stress of a Spirit that can no longer suffer to remain in the shade and behind the mask, but wills to come out in the broad daylight and be recognised in its plenary virtues.
--
This mastery will be effected not merely in will, but in mind and heart also. For the New Man will know not by the intellect which is egocentric and therefore limited, not by ratiocination which is an indirect and doubtful process, but by direct vision, an inner communion, a soul revelation. The new knowledge will be vast and profound and creative, based as it will be upon the reality of things and not upon their shadows. Truth will shine through every experience and every utterance"a truth shall have its seat on our speech and mind and hearing", so have the Vedas said. The mind and intellect will not be active and constructive agents but the luminous channel of a self-luminous knowledge. And the heart too which is now the field of passion and egoism will be cleared of its noise and obscurity; a serener sky will shed its pure warmth and translucent glow. The knot will be rent asunderbhidyate hridaya granthih and the vast and mighty streams of another ocean will flow through. We will love not merely those to whom we are akin but God's creatures, one and all; we will love not with the yearning and hunger of a mortal but with the wide and intense Rasa that lies in the divine identity of souls.
And the new society will be based not upon competition, nor even upon co-operation. It will not be an open conflict, neither will it be a convenient compromise of rival individual interests. It will be the organic expression of the collective soul of humanity, working and achieving through each and every individual soul its most wide-winging freedom, manifesting the godhead that is, proper to each and every one. It will be an organisation, most delicate and subtle and supple, the members of which will have no need to live upon one another but in and through one another. It will be, if you like, a henotheistic hierarchy in which everyone will be the greatest, since everyone is all and all everyone simultaneously.
01.01 - The Symbol Dawn, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
An instant's visitor the godhead shone.
On life's thin border awhile the vision stood
And bent over earth's pondering forehead curve.
--
Here too the vision and prophetic gleam
Lit into miracles common meaningless shapes;
01.02 - Natures Own Yoga, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The first contact that one has with this static supra-reality is through the higher ranges of the mind: a direct and closer communion is established through a plane which is just above the mind the Overmind, as Sri Aurobindo calls it. The Overmind dissolves or transcends the ego-consciousness which limits the being to its individualised formation bounded by an outward and narrow frame or sheath of mind, life and body; it reveals the universal Self and Spirit, the cosmic godhead and its myriad forces throwing up myriad forms; the world-existence there appears as a play of ever-shifting veils upon the face of one ineffable reality, as a mysterious cycle of perpetual creation and destructionit is the overwhelming vision given by Sri Krishna to Arjuna in the Gita. At the same time, the initial and most intense experience which this cosmic consciousness brings is the extreme relativity, contingency and transitoriness of the whole flux, and a necessity seems logically and psychologically imperative to escape into the abiding substratum, the ineffable Absoluteness.
This has been the highest consummation, the supreme goal which the purest spiritual experience and the deepest aspiration of the human consciousness generally sought to attain. But in this view, the world or creation or Nature came in the end to be looked upon as fundamentally a product of Ignorance: ignorance and suffering and incapacity and death were declared to be the very hallmark of things terrestrial. The Light that dwells above and beyond can be made to shed for a while some kind of lustre upon the mortal darkness but never altogether to remove or change itto live in the full light, to be in and of the Light means to pass beyond. Not that there have not been other strands and types of spiritual experiences and aspirations, but the one we are considering has always struck the major chord and dominated and drowned all the rest.
01.02 - Sri Aurobindo - Ahana and Other Poems, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
What is the world that Sri Aurobindo sees and creates? Poetry is after all passion. By passion I do not mean the fury of emotion nor the fume of sentimentalism, but what lies behind at their source, what lends them the force they have the sense of the "grandly real," the vivid and pulsating truth. What then is the thing that Sri Aurobindo has visualised, has endowed with a throbbing life and made a poignant reality? Victor Hugo said: Attachez Dieu au gibet, vous avez la croixTie God to the gibbet, you have the cross. Even so, infuse passion into a thing most prosaic, you create sublime poetry out of it. What is the dead matter that has found life and glows and vibrates in Sri Aurobindo's passion? It is something which appears to many poetically intractable, not amenable to aesthetic treatment, not usually, that is to say, nor in the supreme manner. Sri Aurobindo has thrown such a material into his poetic fervour and created a sheer beauty, a stupendous reality out of it. Herein lies the greatness of his achievement. Philosophy, however divine, and in spite of Milton, has been regarded by poets as "harsh and crabbed" and as such unfit for poetic delineation. Not a few poets indeed foundered upon this rock. A poet in his own way is a philosopher, but a philosopher chanting out his philosophy in sheer poetry has been one of the rarest spectacles.1 I can think of only one instance just now where a philosopher has almost succeeded being a great poet I am referring to Lucretius and his De Rerum Natura. Neither Shakespeare nor Homer had anything like philosophy in their poetic creation. And in spite of some inclination to philosophy and philosophical ideas Virgil and Milton were not philosophers either. Dante sought perhaps consciously and deliberately to philosophise in his Paradiso I Did he? The less Dante then is he. For it is his Inferno, where he is a passionate visionary, and not his Paradiso (where he has put in more thought-power) that marks the nee plus ultra of his poetic achievement.
And yet what can be more poetic in essence than philosophy, if by philosophy we mean, as it should mean, spiritual truth and spiritual realisation? What else can give the full breath, the integral force to poetic inspiration if it is not the problem of existence itself, of God, Soul and Immortality, things that touch, that are at the very root of life and reality? What can most concern man, what can strike the deepest fount in him, unless it is the mystery of his own being, the why and the whither of it all? But mankind has been taught and trained to live merely or mostly on earth, and poetry has been treated as the expression of human joys and sorrows the tears in mortal things of which Virgil spoke. The savour of earth, the thrill of the flesh has been too sweet for us and we have forgotten other sweetnesses. It is always the human element that we seek in poetry, but we fail to recognise that what we obtain in this way is humanity in its lower degrees, its surface formulations, at its minimum magnitude.
--
It is the bare truth, "truth in its own home", as I have said already using a phrase of the ancient sages, that is formulated here without the prop of any external symbolism. There is no veil, no mist, no uncertainty or ambiguity. It is clarity itself, an almost scientific exactness and precision. In all this there is something of the straightness and fullness of vision that characterised the Vedic Rishis, something of their supernal genius which could mould speech into the very expression of what is beyond speech, which could sublimate the small and the finite into forms of the Vast and the Infinite. Mark how in these aphoristic lines embodying a deep spiritual experience, the inexpressible has been expressed with a luminous felicity:
Delight that labours in its opposite,
--
And if there is something in the creative spirit of Sri Aurobindo which tends more towards the strenuous than the genial, the arduous than the mellifluous, and which has more of the austerity of Vyasa than the easy felicity of Valmiki, however it might have affected the ultimate value of his creation, according to certain standards,14 it has illustrated once more that poetry is not merely beauty but power, it is not merely sweet imagination but creative visionit is even the Rik, the mantra that impels the gods to manifest upon earth, that fashions divinity in man.
James H. Cousins in his New Ways in English Literature describes Sri Aurobindo as "the philosopher as poet."
01.02 - The Creative Soul, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The cosmic soul is true. But that truth is borne out, effectuated only by the truth of the individual soul. When the individual soul becomes itself fully and integrally, by that very fact it becomes also the cosmic soul. The individuals are the channels through which flows the Universal and the Infinite in its multiple emphasis. Each is a particular figure, aspectBhava, a particular angle of vision of All. The vision is entire and the figure perfect if it is not refracted by the lower and denser parts of our being. And for that the individual must first come to itself and shine in its opal clarity and translucency.
Not to do what others do, but what your soul impels you to do. Not to be others but your own self. Not to be anything but the very cosmic and infinite divinity of your soul. Therein lies your highest freedom and perfect delight. And there you are supremely creative. Each soul has a consortPrakriti, Naturewhich it creates out of its own rib. And in this field of infinite creativity the soul lives, moves and has its being.
01.02 - The Issue, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
But wisdom comes, and vision grows within:
Then Nature's instrument crowns himself her king;
--
Smote from Death's visage its dumb absolute
And burst the bounds of consciousness and Time.
01.03 - Mystic Poetry, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Is there not a fundamental difference, difference not merely with regard to the poetic personality, but with regard to the very stuff of consciousness? There is direct vision here, the fullness of light, the native rhythm and substance of revelation, as if
In the dead wall closing from a wider self,
--
And felt the being vistaed into fire
Of truth which did acquire
--
Among the ancients, strictly speaking, the later classical Lucretius was a remarkable phenomenon. By nature he was a poet, but his mental interest lay in metaphysical speculation, in philosophy, and unpoetical business. He turned away from arms and heroes, wrath and love and, like Seneca and Aurelius, gave himself up to moralising and philosophising, delving 'into the mystery, the why and the how and the whither of it all. He chose a dangerous subject for his poetic inspiration and yet it cannot be said that his attempt was a failure. Lucretius was not a religious or spiritual poet; he was rather Marxian,atheistic, materialistic. The dialectical materialism of today could find in him a lot of nourishment and support. But whatever the content, the manner has made a whole difference. There was an idealism, a clarity of vision and an intensity of perception, which however scientific apparently, gave his creation a note, an accent, an atmosphere high, tense, aloof, ascetic, at times bordering on the supra-sensual. It was a high light, a force of consciousness that at its highest pitch had the ring and vibration of something almost spiritual. For the basic principle of Lucretius' inspiration is a large thought-force, a tense perception, a taut nervous reactionit is not, of course, the identity in being with the inner realities which is the hallmark of a spiritual consciousness, yet it is something on the way towards that.
There have been other philosophical poets, a good number of them since thennot merely rationally philosophical, as was the vogue in the eighteenth century, but metaphysically philosophical, that is to say, inquiring not merely into the phenomenal but also into the labyrinths of the noumenal, investigating not only what meets the senses, but also things that are behind or beyond. Amidst the earlier efflorescence of this movement the most outstanding philosopher poet is of course Dante, the Dante of Paradiso, a philosopher in the mediaeval manner and to the extent a lesser poet, according to some. Goe the is another, almost in the grand modern manner. Wordsworth is full of metaphysics from the crown of his head to the tip of his toe although his poetry, perhaps the major portion of it, had to undergo some kind of martyrdom because of it. And Shelley, the supremely lyric singer, has had a very rich undertone of thought-content genuinely metaphysical. And Browning and Arnold and Hardyindeed, if we come to the more moderns, we have to cite the whole host of them, none can be excepted.
--
This is what I was trying to make out as the distinguishing trait of the real spiritual consciousness that seems to be developing in the poetic creation of tomorrow, e.g., it has the same rationality, clarity, concreteness of perception as the scientific spirit has in its own domain and still it is rounded off with a halo of magic and miracle. That is the nature of the logic of the infinite proper to the spiritual consciousness. We can have a Science of the Spirit as well as a Science of Matter. This is the Thought element or what corresponds to it, of which I was speaking, the philosophical factor, that which gives form to the formless or definition to that which is vague, a nearness and familiarity to that which is far and alien. The fullness of the spiritual consciousness means such a thing, the presentation of a divine name and form. And this distinguishes it from the mystic consciousness which is not the supreme solar consciousness but the nearest approach to it. Or, perhaps, the mystic dwells in the domain of the Divine, he may even be suffused with a sense of unity but would not like to acquire the Divine's nature and function. Normally and generally he embodies all the aspiration and yearning moved by intimations and suggestions belonging to the human mentality, the divine urge retaining still the human flavour. We can say also, using a Vedantic terminology, that the mystic consciousness gives us the tatastha lakshana, the nearest approximative attribute of the attri buteless; or otherwise, it is the hiranyagarbha consciousness which englobes the multiple play, the coruscated possibilities of the Reality: while the spiritual proper may be considered as prajghana, the solid mass, the essential lineaments of revelatory knowledge, the typal "wave-particles" of the Reality. In the former there is a play of imagination, even of fancy, a decorative aesthesis, while in the latter it is vision pure and simple. If the spiritual poetry is solar in its nature, we can say, by extending the analogy, that mystic poetry is characteristically lunarMoon representing the delight and the magic that Mind and mental imagination, suffused, no doubt, with a light or a reflection of some light from beyond, is capable of (the Upanishad speaks of the Moon being born of the Mind).
To sum up and recapitulate. The evolution of the poetic expression in man has ever been an attempt at a return and a progressive approach to the spiritual source of poetic inspiration, which was also the original, though somewhat veiled, source from the very beginning. The movement has followed devious waysstrongly negative at timeseven like man's life and consciousness in general of which it is an organic member; but the ultimate end and drift seems to have been always that ideal and principle even when fallen on evil days and evil tongues. The poet's ideal in the dawn of the world was, as the Vedic Rishi sang, to raise things of beauty in heaven by his poetic power,kavi kavitv divi rpam sajat. Even a Satanic poet, the inaugurator, in a way, of modernism and modernistic consciousness, Charles Baudelaire, thus admonishes his spirit:
01.03 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Souls Release, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
He kept the vision of the Vasts behind:
A power was in him from the Unknowable.
--
An empyrean vision saw and knew;
The bounded mind became a boundless light,
--
Its intimate vision waited not to think;
It enveloped all Nature in a single glance,
--
A vision came of higher realms than ours,
A consciousness of brighter fields and skies,
--
Ever his consciousness and vision grew;
They took an ampler sweep, a loftier flight;
--
Into a vision that surpasses forms,
Into a living that surpasses life,
--
Broad spaces of a vision without line
Or limit swam into his spirit's ken.
--
The visage masked by superconscient Sleep,
The eyes with their closed lids that see all things,
--
A vision lightened on the viewless heights,
A wisdom illumined from the voiceless depths:
01.04 - The Intuition of the Age, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
All movementswhe ther of thought or of life, whether in the individual or in the massproceed from a fundamental intuition which lies in the background as the logical presupposition, the psychological motive and the spiritual force. A certain attitude of the soul, a certain angle of vision is what is posited first; all other thingsall thoughts and feelings and activities are but necessary attempts to express, to demonstrate, to realise on the conscious and dynamic levels, in the outer world, the truth which has thus already been seized in some secret core of our being. The intuition may not, of course, be present to the conscious mind, it may not be ostensibly sought for, one may even deny the existence of such a preconceived notion and proceed to establish truth on a tabula rasa; none the less it is this hidden bias that judges, this secret consciousness that formulates, this unknown power that fashions.
Now, what is the intuition that lies behind the movements of the new age? What is the intimate realisation, the underlying view-point which is guiding and modelling all our efforts and achievementsour science and art, our poetry and philosophy, our religion and society? For, there is such a common and fundamental note which is being voiced forth by the human spirit through all the multitude of its present-day activities.
--
All this may be good and necessary, but there is the danger of leaving altogether out of account the one thing needful. We must then pause and turn back, look behind the apparent impulsion that effectuates to the Will that drives, behind the ideas and ideals of the mind to the soul that informs and inspires; we must carry ourselves up the stream and concentrate upon the original source, the creative intuition that lies hidden somewhere. And then only all the new stirrings that we feel in our heartour urges and ideals and visions will attain an effective clarity, an unshaken purpose and an inevitable achievement.
That is to say, the change has been in the soul of man himself, the being has veered round and taken a new orientation. It is this which one must en visage, recognise and consciously possess, in order that one may best fulfil the call of the age. But what we are doing instead is to observe the mere external signs and symbols and symptoms, to fix upon the distant quiverings, the echoes on the outermost rim, which are not always faithful representations, but very often distorted images of the truth and life at the centre and source and matrix. We must know that if there has been going on a redistribution and new-marshalling of forces, it is because the fiat has come from the Etat Major.
--
And the faculty of Intuition said to be the characteristic of the New Man does not mean all that it should, if we confine ourselves to Bergson's definition of it. Bergson says that Intuition is a sort of sympathy, a community of feeling or sensibility with the urge of the life-reality. The difference between the sympathy of Instinct and the sympathy of Intuition being that while the former is an unconscious or semi-conscious power, the latter is illumined and self-conscious. Now this view emphasises only the feeling-tone of Intuition, the vital sensibility that attends the direct communion with the life movement. But Intuition is not only purified feeling and sensibility, it is also purified vision and knowledge. It unites us not only with the movement of life, but also opens out to our sight the Truths, the fundamental realities behind that movement. Bergson does not, of course, point to any existence behind the continuous flux of life-power the elan vital. He seems to deny any static truth or truths to be seen and seized in any scheme of knowledge. To him the dynamic flow the Heraclitian panta reei is the ultimate reality. It is precisely to this view of things that Bergson owes his conception of Intuition. Since existence is a continuum of Mind-Energy, the only way to know it is to be in harmony or unison with it, to move along its current. The conception of knowledge as a fixing and delimiting of things is necessarily an anomaly in this scheme. But the question is, is matter the only static and separative reality? Is the flux of vital Mind-Energy the ultimate truth?
Matter forms the lowest level of reality. Above it is the elan vital. Above the elan vital there is yet the domain of the Spirit. And the Spirit is a static substance and at the same a dynamic creative power. It is Being (Sat) that realises or expresses itself through certain typal nuclei or nodi of consciousness (chit) in a continuous becoming, in a flow of creative activity (ananda). The dynamism of the vital energy is only a refraction or precipitation of the dynamism of the spirit; and so also static matter is only the substance of the spirit concretised and solidified. It is in an uplift both of matter and vital force to their prototypesswarupa and swabhavain the Spirit that lies the real transformation and transfiguration of the humanity of man.
--
Certainly this does not go far enough into the motive of the change. The cosmic order does not mean mentalised vitalism which is also in its turn a section of the integral reality. It means the order of the spirit, it means the transfiguration of the physical, the vital and the intellectual into the supernal Substance, Power and Light of that Spirit. The real transcendence of humanity is not the transcendence of one or other of its levels but the total transcendence to an altogether different status and the transmutation of humanity in the mould of that statusnot a Nietzschean Titan nor a Bergsonian Dionysus but the tranquil vision and delight and dynamism of the Spirit the incarnation of a god-head.
***
01.04 - The Poetry in the Making, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The consciously purposive activity of the poetic consciousness in fact, of all artistic consciousness has shown itself with a clear and unambiguous emphasis in two directions. First of all with regard to the subject-matter: the old-world poets took things as they were, as they were obvious to the eye, things of human nature and things of physical Nature, and without questioning dealt with them in the beauty of their normal form and function. The modern mentality has turned away from the normal and the obvious: it does not accept and admit the "given" as the final and definitive norm of things. It wishes to discover and establish other norms, it strives to bring about changes in the nature and condition of things, en visage the shape of things to come, work for a brave new world. The poet of today, in spite of all his effort to remain a pure poet, in spite of Housman's advocacy of nonsense and not-sense being the essence of true Art, is almost invariably at heart an incorrigible prophet. In revolt against the old and established order of truths and customs, against all that is normally considered as beautiful,ideals and emotions and activities of man or aspects and scenes and movements of Natureagainst God or spiritual life, the modern poet turns deliberately to the ugly and the macabre, the meaningless, the insignificant and the triflingtins and teas, bone and dust and dustbin, hammer and sicklehe is still a prophet, a violent one, an iconoclast, but one who has his own icon, a terribly jealous being, that seeks to pull down the past, erase it, to break and batter and knead the elements in order to fashion out of them something conforming to his heart's desire. There is also the class who have the vision and found the truth and its solace, who are prophets, angelic and divine, messengers and harbingers of a new beauty that is to dawn upon earth. And yet there are others in whom the two strains mingle or approach in a strange way. All this means that the artist is far from being a mere receiver, a mechanical executor, a passive unconscious instrument, but that he is supremely' conscious and master of his faculties and implements. This fact is doubly reinforced when we find how much he is preoccupied with the technical aspect of his craft. The richness and variety of patterns that can be given to the poetic form know no bounds today. A few major rhythms were sufficient for the ancients to give full expression to their poetic inflatus. For they cared more for some major virtues, the basic and fundamental qualitiessuch as truth, sublimity, nobility, forcefulness, purity, simplicity, clarity, straightforwardness; they were more preoccupied with what they had to say and they wanted, no doubt, to say it beautifully and powerfully; but the modus operandi was not such a passion or obsession with them, it had not attained that almost absolute value for itself which modern craftsmanship gives it. As technology in practical life has become a thing of overwhelming importance to man today, become, in the Shakespearean phrase, his "be-all and end-all", even so the same spirit has invaded and pervaded his aesthetics too. The subtleties, variations and refinements, the revolutions, reversals and inventions which the modern poet has ushered and takes delight in, for their own sake, I repeat, for their intrinsic interest, not for the sake of the subject which they have to embody and clothe, have never been dream by Aristotle, the supreme legislator among the ancients, nor by Horace, the almost incomparable craftsman among the ancients in the domain of poetry. Man has become, to be sure, a self-conscious creator to the pith of his bone.
Such a stage in human evolution, the advent of Homo Faber, has been a necessity; it has to serve a purpose and it has done admirably its work. Only we have to put it in its proper place. The salvation of an extremely self-conscious age lies in an exceeding and not in a further enhancement or an exclusive concentration of the self-consciousness, nor, of course, in a falling back into the original unconsciousness. It is this shift in the poise of consciousness that has been presaged and prepared by the conscious, the scientific artists of today. Their task is to forge an instrument for a type of poetic or artistic creation completely new, unfamiliar, almost revolutionary which the older mould would find it impossible to render adequately. The yearning of the human consciousness was not to rest satisfied with the familiar and the ordinary, the pressure was for the discovery of other strands, secret stores of truth and reality and beauty. The first discovery was that of the great Unconscious, the dark and mysterious and all-powerful subconscient. Many of our poets and artists have been influenced by this power, some even sought to enter into that region and become its denizens. But artistic inspiration is an emanation of Light; whatever may be the field of its play, it can have its origin only in the higher spheres, if it is to be truly beautiful and not merely curious and scientific.
That is what is wanted at present in the artistic world the true inspiration, the breath from higher altitudes. And here comes the role of the mystic, the Yogi. The sense of evolution, the march of human consciousness demands and prophesies that the future poet has to be a mysticin him will be fulfilled the travail of man's conscious working. The self-conscious craftsman, the tireless experimenter with his adventurous analytic mind has sharpened his instrument, made it supple and elastic, tempered, refined and enriched it; that is comparable to what we call the aspiration or call from below. Now the Grace must descend and fulfil. And when one rises into this higher consciousness beyond the brain and mind, when one lives there habitually, one knows the why and the how of things, one becomes a perfectly conscious operator and still retains all spontaneity and freshness and wonder and magic that are usually associated with inconscience and irreflection. As there is a spontaneity of instinct, there is likewise also a spontaneity of vision: a child is spontaneous in its movements, even so a seer. Not only so, the higher spontaneity is more spontaneous, for the higher consciousness means not only awareness but the free and untrammelled activity and expression of the truth and reality it is.
Genius had to be generally more or less unconscious in the past, because the instrument was not ready, was clogged as it were with its own lower grade movements; the higher inspiration had very often to bypass it, or rob it of its serviceable materials without its knowledge, in an almost clandestine way. Wherever it was awake and vigilant, we have seen it causing a diminution in the poetic potential. And yet even so, it was being prepared for a greater role, a higher destiny it is to fulfil in the future. A conscious and full participation of a refined and transparent and enriched instrument in the delivery of superconscious truth and beauty will surely mean not only a new but the very acme of aesthetic creation. We thus foresee the age of spiritual art in which the sense of creative beauty in man will find its culmination. Such an art was only an exception, something secondary or even tertiary, kept in the background, suggested here and there as a novel strain, called "mystic" to express its unfamiliar nature-unless, of course, it was openly and obviously scriptural and religious.
01.04 - The Secret Knowledge, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Our souls can visit in great lonely hours
Still regions of imperishable Light,
--
A vision meets her of supernal Powers
That draw her as if mighty kinsmen lost
--
He is the vision and he is the Seer;
He is himself the actor and the act,
--
It is a dream-fact vision of a truth
Which but for the dream would not be wholly true,
--
And journeyings in a larger vision's arc
And peoples unknown and still un visited shores.
--
To a new vision of himself and things.
He is a spirit in an unfinished world
01.05 - Rabindranath Tagore: A Great Poet, a Great Man, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
In an age when Reason was considered as the highest light given to man, Tagore pointed to the vision of the mystics as always the still greater light; when man was elated with undreamt-of worldly success, puffed up with incomparable material possessions and powers, Tagore's voice rang clear and emphatic in tune with the cry of the ancients: "What shall I do with all this mass of things, if I am not made immortal by that?" When men, in their individual as well as collective egoism, were scrambling for earthly gains and hoards, he held before them vaster and cleaner horizons, higher and deeper ways of being and living, maintained the sacred sense of human solidarity, the living consciousness of the Divine, one and indi visible. When the Gospel of Power had all but hypnotised men's minds, and Superman or God-man came to be equated with the Titan, Tagore saw through the falsehood and placed in front and above all the old-world eternal verities of love and self-giving, harmony and mutuality, sweetness and light. When pessimism, cynicism, agnosticism struck the major chord of human temperament, and grief and frustration and death and decay were taken as a matter of course to be the inevitable order of earthlylifebhasmantam idam shariramhe continued to sing the song of the Rishis that Ananda and Immortality are the breath of things, the birth right of human beings. When Modernism declared with a certitude never tobe contested that Matter is Brahman, Tagore said with the voice of one who knows that Spirit is Brahman.
Tagore is in direct line with those bards who have sung of the Spirit, who always soared high above the falsehoods and uglinesses of a merely mundane life and lived in the undecaying delights and beauties of a diviner consciousness. Spiritual reality was the central theme of his poetic creation: only and naturally he viewed it in a special way and endowed it with a special grace. We know of another God-intoxicated man, the Jewish philosopher Spinoza, who saw things sub specie aeternitatis, under the figure or mode of eternity. Well, Tagore can be said to see things, in their essential spiritual reality, under the figure or mode of beauty. Keats indeed spoke of truth being beauty and beauty truth. But there is a great difference in the outlook and inner experience. A worshipper of beauty, unless he rises to the Upanishadic norm, is prone to become sensuous and pagan. Keats was that, Kalidasa was that, even Shelley was not far different. The spiritual vein in all these poets remains secondary. In the old Indian master, it is part of his intellectual equipment, no doubt, but nothing much more than that. In the other two it comes in as strange flashes from an unknown country, as a sort of irruption or on the peak of the poetic afflatus or enthousiasmos.
The world being nothing but Spirit made visible is, according to Tagore, fundamentally a thing of beauty. The scars and spots that are on the surface have to be removed and mankind has to repossess and clo the itself with that mantle of beauty. The world is beautiful, because it is the image of the Beautiful, because it harbours, expresses and embodies the Divine who is Beauty supreme. Now by a strange alchemy, a wonderful effect of polarisation, the very spiritual element in Tagore has made him almost a pagan and even a profane. For what are these glories of Nature and the still more exquisite glories that the human body has captured? They are but vibrations and modulations of beauty the delightful names and forms of the supreme Lover and Beloved.
Socrates is said to have brought down Philosophy from Heaven to live among men upon earth. A similar exploit can be ascribed to Tagore. The Spirit, the bare transcendental Reality contemplated by the orthodox Vedantins, has been brought nearer to our planet, close to human consciousness in Tagore's vision, being clothed in earth and flesh and blood, made vivid with the colours and contours of the physical existence. The Spirit, yes and by all means, but not necessarily asceticism and monasticism. So Tagore boldly declared in those famous lines of his:
Mine is not the deliverance achieved through mere renunciation. Mine rather the freedom that tastes itself in a thousand associations.1
--
Not the acceptance of the world as it is, not even a joyous acceptance, viewing it as an inexplicable and mysterious and magic play of, God, but the asp ration and endeavour to change it, mould it in the pattern of its inner divine realities for there are such realities which seek expression and embodiment in earthly life that is the great mission and labour of humanity and that is all the meaning of man's existence here below. And Tagore is one of the great prophets and labourers who had the vision of the shape of things to come and worked for it. Only it must be noted, as I have already said, that unlike mere moral reformists or scientific planners, Tagore grounded himself upon the eternal ancient truths that "age cannot wither nor custom stale"the divine truths of the Spirit.
Tagore was a poet; this poetic power of his he put in the service of the great cause for the divine uplift of humanity. Naturally, it goes without saying, his poetry did not preach or propagandize the truths for which he stoodhe had a fine and powerful weapon in his prose to do the work, even then in a poetic way but to sing them. And he sang them not in their philosophical bareness, like a Lucretius, or in their sheer transcendental austerity like some of the Upanishadic Rishis, but in and through human values and earthly norms. The especial aroma of Tagore's poetry lies exactly here, as he himself says, in the note of unboundedness in things bounded that it describes. A mundane, profane sensuousness, Kalidasian in richness and sweetness, is matched or counterpointed by a simple haunting note imbedded or trailing somewhere behind, a lyric cry persevering into eternity, the nostalgic cry of the still small voice.2
01.05 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Spirits Freedom and Greatness, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Near to the well of vision in the soul,
And entered where the Wings of Glory brood
--
And cut through vistas of intuitive sight
A long road of shimmering discoveries.
--
And called to its mounting vision peaks divine:
An endless climb and adventure of the Idea
--
And countless voices visited the charmed ear;
A million figures passed and were seen no more.
--
Peopled with voices and with visages
Aspired in a crescendo of the Gods
--
Surprised the vision with felicity;
Sunbelts of knowledge, moonbelts of delight
01.06 - Vivekananda, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Such is Vivekananda, the embodiment of Fearlessnessabh, the Upanishadic word, the mantra, he was so fond of. The life and vision of Vivekananda can be indeed summed up in the mighty phrase of the Upanishads, nyam tm balahnena labhya. 'This soul no weakling can attain.' Strength! More strength! Strength evermore! One remembers the motto of Danton, the famous leader in the French Revolution:De l'audance, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace!
The gospel of strength that Vivekananda spread was very characteristic of the man. For it is not mere physical or nervous bravery, although that too is indispensable, and it is something more than moral courage. In the speeches referred to, the subject-matter (as well as the manner to a large extent) is philosophical, metaphysical, even abstract in outlook and treatment: they are not a call to arms, like the French National Anthem, for example; they are not merely an ethical exhortation, a moral lesson either. They speak of the inner spirit, the divine in man, the supreme realities that lie beyond. And yet the words are permeated through and through with a vibration life-giving and heroic-not so much in the explicit and apparent meaning as in the style and manner and atmosphere: it is catching, even or precisely when he refers, for example, to these passages in the Vedas and the Upanishads, magnificent in their poetic beauty, sublime in their spiritual truth,nec plus ultra, one can say, in the grand style supreme:
01.07 - Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
"The zeal for the Lord hath eaten me up." Such has indeed been the case with Pascal, almost literally. The fire that burned in him was too ardent and vehement for the vehicle, the material instrument, which was very soon used up and reduced to ashes. At twenty-four he was already a broken man, being struck with paralysis and neuras thenia; he died at the comparatively early age of 39, emulating, as it were, the life career of his Lord the Christ who died at 33. The Fire martyrised the body, but kindled and brought forth experiences and realisations that save and truths that abide. It was the Divine Fire whose vision and experience he had on the famous night of 23 November 1654 which brought about his final and definitive conversion. It was the same fire that had blazed up in his brain, while yet a boy, and made him a precocious genius, a marvel of intellectual power in the exact sciences. At 12 this prodigy discovered by himself the 32nd proposition of Euclid, Book I. At sixteen he wrote a treatise on conic sections. At nineteen he invented a calculating machine which, without the help of any mathematical rule or process, gave absolutely accurate results. At twenty-three he published his experiments with vacuum. At twenty-five he conducted the well-known experiment from the tower of St. Jacques, proving the existence of atmospheric pressure. His studies in infinitesimal calculus were remarkably creative and original. And it might be said he was a pioneer in quite a new branch of mathematics, viz., the mathematical theory of probability. We shall see presently how his preoccupation with the mathematics of chance and probability coloured and reinforced his metaphysics and theology.
But the pressure upon his dynamic and heated brain the fiery zeal in his mindwas already proving too much and he was ad vised medically to take complete rest. Thereupon followed what was known as Pascal's mundane lifea period of distraction and dissipation; but this did not last long nor was it of a serious nature. The inner fire could brook no delay, it was eager and impatient to englobe other fields and domains. Indeed, it turned to its own field the heart. Pascal became initiated into the mystery of Faith and Grace. Still he had to pass through a terrible period of dejection and despair: the life of the world had given him no rest or relaxation, it served only to fill his cup of misery to the brim. But the hour of final relief was not long postponed: the Grace came to him, even as it came to Moses or St. Paul as a sudden flare of fire which burnt up the Dark Night and opened out the portals of Morning Glory.
--
One is not sure if such reasoning is convincing to the intellect; but perhaps it is a necessary stage in conversion. At least we can conclude that Pascal had to pass through such a stage; and it indicates the difficulty his brain had to undergo, the tension or even the torture he made it pass through. It is true, from Reason Pascal went over to Faith, even while giving Reason its due. Still it seems the two were not perfectly synthetised or fused in him. There was a gap between that was not thoroughly bridged. Pascal did not possess the higher, intuitive, luminous mind that mediates successfully between the physical discursive ratiocinative brain-mind and the vision of faith: it is because deep in his consciousness there lay this chasm. Indeed,Pascal's abyss (l' abme de Pascal) is a well-known legend. Pascal, it appears, used to have very often the vision of an abyss about to open before him and he shuddered at the prospect of falling into it. It seems to us to be an experience of the Infinity the Infinity to which he was so much attracted and of which he wrote so beautifully (L'infiniment grand et l'infiniment petit)but into which he could not evidently jump overboard unreservedly. This produced a dichotomy, a lack of integration of personality, Jung would say. Pascal's brain was cold, firm, almost rigid; his heart was volcanic, the faith he had was a fire: it lacked something of the pure light and burned with a lurid glare.
And the reason is his metaphysics. It is the Jansenist conception of God and human nature that inspired and coloured all his experience and consciousness. According to it, as according to the Calvinist conception, man is a corrupt being, corroded to the core, original sin has branded his very soul. Only Grace saves him and releases him. The order of sin and the order of Grace are distinct and disparate worlds and yet they complement each other and need each other. Greatness and misery are intertwined, united, unified with each other in him. Here is an echo of the Manichean position which also involves an abyss. But even then God's grace is not a free agent, as Jesuits declare; there is a predestination that guides and controls it. This was one of the main subjects he treated in his famous open letters (Les Provinciales) that brought him renown almost overnight. Eternal hell is a possible prospect that faces the Jansenist. That was why a Night always over-shadowed the Day in Pascal's soul.
--
"Ils ne peuvent plus nous dire qu'il n'y a que de petits esprits qui aient de la pit: car on leur en fait voir de la mieux pouss dans run des plus grands go-mtres, l'un des plus subtils mtaphysiciens, et des plus pntrants esprits que aient jamais t au monde. La pit d'un tel philosophe devrait faire dire aux indvots et awe libertins ce que dit un jour un certain Diocls, en voyant Epicure dans un temple: 'Quelle fte,' s'criait-il, 'quelle spectacle pour moi, de voir Epicure dans un temple! Tous mes soupons s'vanouissent: la pit reprend sa place; et je ne vis jamais mieux la grandeur de Jupiter que depuis que je vois Epicure genoux!' " aBayle: Nouvelle de la Rpublique des Lettres.
"La dernire dmarche de la raison, c'est de connatre qu'il y a une infinit de chases qui la surpassent. Elle est bien faible si elle ne va jusque-l
01.08 - Walter Hilton: The Scale of Perfection, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
From the twentieth century back to the fourteenth is a far cry: a far cry indeed from the modern scientific illumination to mediaeval superstition, from logical positi vists and mathematical rationalists to visionary mystics, from Russell and Huxley to Ruysbroeck and Hilton. The mystic lore, the Holy Writ, the mediaeval sage says, echoing almost the very words of the Eastern Masters, "may not be got by study nor through man's travail only, but principally by the grace of the Holy Ghost." As for the men living and moving in the worldly way, there are "so mickle din and crying in their heart and vain thoughts and fleshly desires" that it is impossible for them to listen or understand the still small voice. It is the pure soul touched by the Grace that alone "seeth soothfastness of Holy Writ wonderly shewed and opened, above study and travail and reason of man's kindly (i.e. natural) wit."
What is day to us is night to the mystics and what is day to the mystics is night for us. The first thing the mystic asks is to close precisely those doors and windows which we, on the contrary, feel obliged to keep always open in order to know and to live and move. The Gita says: "The sage is wakeful when it is night for all creatures and when all creatures are wakeful, that is night for the sage." Even so this sage from the West says: "The more I sleep from outward things, the more wakeful am I in knowing of Jhesu and of inward things. I may not wake to Jhesu, but if I sleep to the world."
--
Here is the Augustinian mantra taken as the motto of The Scale of Perfection: We ascend the ascending grades in our heart and we sing the song of ascension1. The journey's end is heavenly Jerusalem, the House of the Lord. The steps of this inner ascension are easily visible, not surely to the outer eye of the sense-burdened man, but to the "ghostly seeing" of the aspirant which is hazy in the beginning but slowly clears as he advances. The first step is the withdrawal from the outer senses and looking and seeing within. "Turn home again in thyself, and hold thee within and beg no more without." The immediate result is a darkness and a restless darknessit is a painful night. The outer objects of attraction and interest have been discarded, but the inner attachments and passions surge there still. If, however, one continues and persists, refuses to be drawn out, the turmoil settles down and the darkness begins to thin and wear away. One must not lose heart, one must have patience and perseverance. So when the outward world is no more-there and its call also no longer awakes any echo in us, then comes the stage of "restful darkness" or "light-some darkness". But it is still the dark Night of the soul. The outer light is gone and the inner light is not yet visible: the night, the desert, the great Nought, stretches between these two lights. But the true seeker goes through and comes out of the tunnel. And there is happiness at the end. "The seeking is travaillous, but the finding is blissful." When one steps out of the Night, enters into the deepest layer of the being, one stands face to face to one's soul, the very image of God, the perfect God-man, the Christ within. That is the third degree of our inner ascension, the entry into the deepest, purest and happiest statein which one becomes what he truly is; one finds the Christ there and dwells in love and union with him. But there is still a further step to take, and that is real ascension. For till now it has been a going within, from the outward to the inner and the inmost; now one has to go upward, transcend. Within the body, in life, however deep you may go, even if you find your soul and your union with Jesus whose tabernacle is your soul, still there is bound to remain a shadow of the sinful prison-house; the perfect bliss and purity without any earthly taint, the completeness and the crowning of the purgation and transfiguration can come only when you go beyond, leaving altogether the earthly form and worldly vesture and soar into Heaven itself and be in the company of the Trinity. "Into myself, and after... above myself by overpassing only into Him." At the same time it is pointed out, this mediaeval mystic has the common sense to see that the going in and going above of which one speaks must not be understood in a literal way, it is a figure of speech. The movement of the mystic is psychological"ghostly", it is saidnot physical or carnal.
This spiritual march or progress can also be described as a growing into the likeness of the Lord. His true self, his own image is implanted within us; he is there in the profoundest depth of our being as Jesus, our beloved and our soul rests in him in utmost bliss. We are aware neither of Jesus nor of his spouse, our soul, because of the obsession of the flesh, the turmoil raised by the senses, the blindness of pride and egoism. All that constitutes the first or old Adam, the image of Nought, the body of death which means at bottom the "false misruled love in to thyself." This self-love is the mother of sin, is sin itself. What it has to be replaced by is charity that is the true meaning of Christian charity, forgetfulness of self. "What is sin but a wanting and a forbearing of God." And the whole task, the discipline consists in "the shaping of Christ in you, the casting of sin through Christ." Who then is Christ, what is he? This knowledge you get as you advance from your sense-bound perception towards the inner and inmost seeing. As your outer nature gets purified, you approach gradually your soul, the scales fall off from your eyes too and you have the knowledge and "ghostly vision." Here too there are three degrees; first, you start with faith the senses can do nothing better than have faith; next, you rise to imagination which gives a sort of indirect touch or inkling of the truth; finally, you have the "understanding", the direct vision. "If he first trow it, he shall afterwards through grace feel it, and finally understand it."
It is never possible for man, weak and bound as he is, to reject the thraldom of his flesh, he can never purify himself wholly by his own unaided strength. God in his infinite mercy sent his own son, an emanation created out of his substancehis embodied loveas a human being to suffer along with men and take upon himself the burden of their sins. God the Son lived upon earth as man and died as man. Sin therefore has no longer its final or definitive hold upon mankind. Man has been made potentially free, pure and worthy of salvation. This is the mystery of Christ, of God the Son. But there is a further mystery. Christ not only lived for all men for all time, whether they know him, recognise him or not; but he still lives, he still chooses his beloved and his beloved chooses him, there is a conscious acceptance on either side. This is the function of the Holy Ghost, the redeeming power of Love active in him who accepts it and who is accepted by it, the dynamic Christ-Consciousness in the true Christian.
01.09 - The Parting of the Way, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The inflatus of something vast and transcendent, something which escapes all our familiar schemes of cognisance and yet is insistent with a translucent reality of its own, we do feel sometimes within us invading and enveloping our individuality, lifting up our sense of self and transmuting our personality into a reality which can hardly be called merely human. All this life of ego-bound rationality then melts away and opens out the passage for a life of vision and power. Thus it is the poet has felt when he says, "there is this incalculable element in human life influencing us from the mystery which envelops our being, and when reason is satisfied, there is something deeper than Reason which makes us still uncertain of truth. Above the human reason there is a transcendental sphere to which the spirit of men sometimes rises, and the will may be forged there at a lordly smithy and made the unbreakable pivot."(A.E.)
This passage from the self-conscient to the super-conscient does not imply merely a shifting of the focus of consciousness. The transmutation of consciousness involves a purer illumination, a surer power and a wider compass; it involves also a fundamental change in the very mode of being and living. It gives quite a different life-intuition and a different life-power. The change in the motif brings about a new form altogether, a re-casting and re-shaping and re-energising of the external materials as well. As the lift from mere consciousness to self-consciousness meant all the difference between an animal and a man, so the lift again from self-consciousness to super-consciousness will mean the difference of a whole world between man and the divine creature that is to be.
Indeed it is a divine creature that should be en visaged on the next level of evolution. The mental and the moral, the psychical and the physical transfigurations which must follow the change in the basic substratum do imply such a mutation, the birth of a new species, as it were, fashioned in the nature of the gods. The vision of angels and Siddhas, which man is having ceaselessly since his birth, may be but a prophecy of the future actuality.
This then, it seems to us, is the immediate problem that Nature has set before herself. She is now at the parting of the ways. She has done with man as an essentially human being, she has brought out the fundamental possibilities of humanity and perfected it, so far as perfection may be attained within the cadre by which she chose to limit herself; she is now looking forward to another kind of experiment the evolving of another life, another being out of her entrails, that will be greater than the humanity we know today, that will be superior even to the supreme that has yet been actualised.
01.09 - William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Touching the very core of the malady of our age he says that our modern enlightenment seeks to cancel altogether the higher values and install instead the lower alone as true. Thus, for example, Marx and Freud, its twin arch priests, are brothers. Both declare that it is the lower, the under layer alone that matters: to one "the masses", to the other "the instincts". Their wild imperative roars: "Sweep away this pseudo-higher; let the instincts rule, let the pro-letariat dictate!" But more characteristic, Monsieur Thibon has made another discovery which gives the whole value and speciality to his outlook. He says the moderns stress the lower, no doubt; but the old world stressed only the higher and neglected the lower. Therefore the revolt and wrath of the lower, the rage of Revanche in the heart of the dispossessed in the modern world. Enlightenment meant till now the cultivation and embellishment of the Mind, the conscious Mind, the rational and nobler faculties, the height and the depth: and mankind meant the princes and the great ones. In the individual, in the scheme of his culture and education, the senses were neglected, left to go their own way as they pleased; and in the collective field, the toiling masses in the same way lived and moved as best as they could under the economics of laissez-faire. So Monsieur Thibon concludes: "Salvation has never come from below. To look for it from above only is equally vain. No doubt salvation must come from the higher, but on condition that the higher completely adopts and protects the lower." Here is a vision luminous and revealing, full of great import, if we follow the right track, prophetic of man's true destiny. It is through this infiltration of the higher into the lower and the integration of the lower into the higher that mankind will reach the goal of its evolution, both individually and collectively.
But the process, Monsieur Thibon rightly asserts, must begin with the individual and within the individual. Man must "turn within, feel alive within himself", re-establish his living contact with God, the source and origin from which he has cut himself off. Man must learn to subordinate having to being. Each individual must be himself, a free and spontaneous expression. Upon such individual , upon individuals grouped naturally in smaller collectivities and not upon unformed or ill-formed wholesale masses can a perfect human society be raised and will be raised. Monsieur Thibon insistsand very rightlyupon the variety and diversity of individual and local growths in a unified humanity and not a dead uniformity of regimented oneness. He declares, as the reviewer of the London Times succinctly puts it: "Let us abolish our insensate worship of number. Let us repeal the law of majorities. Let us work for the unity that draws together instead of idolizing the multiplicity that disintegrates. Let us understand that it is not enough for each to have a place; what matters is that each should be in his right place. For the atomized society let us substitute an organic society, one in which every man will be free to do what he alone is qualified and able to do."
--
Viewed in this light, Blake's memorable mantra attains a deeper and more momentous significance. For it is not merely Earth the senses and life and Matter that are to be uplifted and affianced to Heaven, but all that remains hidden within the bowels of the Earth, the subterranean regions of man's consciousness, the slimy viscous undergrowths, the darkest horrors and monstrosities that man and nature hide in their subconscient and inconscient dungeons of material existence, all these have to be laid bare to the solar gaze of Heaven, burnt or transmuted as demanded by the law of that Supreme Will. That is the Hell that has to be recognised, not rejected and thrown away, but taken up purified and transubstantiated into the body of Heaven itself. The hand of the Highest Heaven must extend and touch the Lowest of the lowest elements, transmute it and set it in its rightful place of honour. A mortal body reconstituted into an immemorial fossil, a lump of coal revivified into a flashing carat of diamond-that shows something of the process underlying the nuptials of which we are speaking.
The Life Divine
0.10 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
are often delighted with their visit and full of praise
for the efficient administration of this organisation. But
--
law of vishnu cannot prevail till the debt to Rudra is
paid." What does this mean?
--
the law of vishnu cannot prevail till the debt to Rudra is paid.
To turn aside then and preach to a still unevolved mankind
--
have an opinion but a total vision of everything as a whole
and of the goal to be achieved, which is the only thing that
--
outside. It is also said elsewhere that our vision of the
outside (of the world around us) is the reflection of our
--
this a narrowness of vision on my part, or what?
Knowledge of past lives is interesting for an understanding of
01.14 - Nicholas Roerich, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Indeed, Roerich considers the Himalayas as the very abode, the tabernacle itself thesanctum sanctorumof the Spirit, the Light Divine. Many of Roerich's paintings have mountain ranges, especially snow-bound mountain ranges, as their theme. There is a strange kinship between this yearning artistic soul, which seems solitary in spite of its ardent humanism, and the silent heights, rising white tier upon tier reflecting prism like the fiery glowing colours, the vast horizons, the wide vistas vanishing beyond.
Roerich is one of the prophets and seers who have ever been acclaiming and preparing the Golden Age, the dream that humanity has been dreaming continuously since its very childhood, that is to say, when there will be peace and harmony on earth, when racial, cultural or ideological egoism will no longer divide man and mana thing that seems today a chimera and a hallucinationwhen there will be one culture, one civilisation, one spiritual life welding all humanity into a single unit of life luminous and beautiful. Roerich believes that such a consummation can arrive only or chiefly through the growth of the sense of beauty, of the aesthetic temperament, of creative labour leading to a wider and higher consciousness. Beauty, Harmony, Light, Knowledge, Culture, Love, Delight are cardinal terms in his vision of the deeper and higher life of the future.
The stress of the inner urge to the heights and depths of spiritual values and realities found special and significant expression in his paintings. It is a difficult problem, a problem which artists and poets are tackling today with all their skill and talent. Man's consciousness is no longer satisfied with the customary and the ordinary actions and reactions of life (or thought), with the old-world and time-worn modes and manners. It is no more turned to the apparent and the obvious, to the surface forms and movements of things. It yearns to look behind and beyond, for the secret mechanism, the hidden agency that really drives things. Poets and artists are the vanguards of the age to come, prophets and pioneers preparing the way for the Lord.
0.13 - Letters to a Student, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
could see things as they really are; and in the hope of understanding better, they have sought for a diviner vision, a global and true
vision - with the result of Yoga. And those who have succeeded
--
Divine, one's vision of things changes totally, and they have all
come to the same conclusion: unite with the Divine and you will
--
To visit one's parents is to return to an influence which is generally stronger than any other; and there are not many cases where
the parents help you in your spiritual progress, because they are
--
Do you think it isn't good to visit the churches here
to see the midnight ceremony?
0.14 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When the vision of the whole and the vision of all the details
are united in a single active consciousness, the creation will have
0 1955-10-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
2) To unfold ones being before Him, to open entirely ones body from head to toe, as one opens a book, spreading open ones centers so as to make all their movements visible in a total SINCERITY that allows nothing to remain hidden.
3) To nestle in His arms, to melt in Him in a tender and absolute CONFIDENCE.
0 1956-03-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The control over the movements of the vertebrae, lost a long time ago (which resulted in a kind of insensitivity and incapacity to move them at will) has returned to a great extent: the consciousness is once again able to express itself and the back can straighten up very visibly.
***
0 1956-05-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother is referring to the darshan of April 24, 1956. Four times a year, for 'darshan,' visitors increasingly poured into the Ashram to pass one by one before Mother (and formerly, Sri Aurobindo) to receive her look.
***
0 1956-09-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
A light, not like the golden light of the Supermind: rather a kind of phosphorescence. I felt that had it been night, it would have been physically visible.
And it was denser than my physical body: the physical body seemed to me almost unrealas though crumblylike sand running through your fingers.
0 1956-10-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It was because I hadnt thought of it. It hadnt even grazed my consciousness. The divine will is not at all like that, it is not a will: it is a visION, a global vision, that sees and No, it does not guide (to guide suggests something outside, but nothing is outside), a creative vision, as it were; yet even then, the word create does not here have the meaning we generally attribute to it.
And what is the Ashram? (I dont even mean in terms of the Universeon Earth only.) A speck. And why should this speck receive exceptional treatment? Perhaps if people here had realized the supermind. But are they so exceptional as to expect exceptional treatment?
--
But the divine vision is global. The people in the Ashram do not want this strike but what about the others? They are ignorant, mean, full of ill will, etc., but in their own way they are following a path, and why should they be deprived of the Grace? By the fact that their action is against the Ashram? It is certainly a Grace.
I said that I had not even thought of intervening. When things threatened to turn bad, I simply applied a force so that it wouldnt become too serious.
--
A consciousness and a vision. And one is filled with joy and
I used to be different (although I was said to be non-interfering); I acted, if at all, to defend myself But I understood very quickly that even this was a reaction of ignorance and that things would be set right automatically if one remained in the true consciousness.
0 1957-07-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
First, I could tell you that to do a collective yoga, there has to be a collectivity! And I could speak to you about the different conditions required to be a collectivity. But last night (smiling), I had a symbolic vision of our collectivity.
This vision took place early in the night and woke me up with a rather unpleasant feeling. Then I fell back to sleep and forgot about it; but a little while ago, when I was thinking of the question put to me, it returned. It returned with a great intensity and so imperatively that now, just as I wanted to tell you what kind of collectivity we wish to realize according to the ideal described by Sri Aurobindo in the last chapter of The Life Divinea gnostic, supramental collectivity, the only kind that can do Sri Aurobindos integral yoga and be realized physically in a progressive collective body becoming more and more divine the recollection of this vision became so imperative that I couldnt speak.
Its symbolism was very clear, though of quite a familiar nature, as it were, and because of its very familiarity, unmistakable in its realism Were I to tell you all the details, you would probably not even be able to follow: it was rather intricate. It was a kind of (how can I express it?)an immense hotel where all the terrestrial possibilities were lodged in different apartments. And it was all in a constant state of transformation: parts or entire wings of the building were suddenly torn down and rebuilt while people were still living in them, such that if you went off somewhere within the immense hotel itself, you ran the risk of no longer finding your room when you wanted to return to it, for it might have been torn down and was being rebuilt according to another plan! It was orderly, it was organized yet there was this fantastic chaos which I mentioned. And all this was a symbola symbol that certainly applies to what Sri Aurobindo has written here1 regarding the necessity for the transformation of the body, the type of transformation that has to take place for life to become a divine life.
--
She clearly remembered where her room was, but each time she set out to go there, either the staircase disappeared or things were so changed that she could no longer find her way! So she went here and there, up and down, searched, went in and out but it was impossible to find the way to her room! Since all of this assumed a physical appearanceas I said, a very familiar and very common appearance, as is always the case in these symbolic visions there was somewhere (how shall I put it?) the hotels administrative office and a woman who seemed to be the manager, who had all the keys and who knew where everyone was staying. So the daughter went to this person and asked her, Could you show me the way to my room?But of course! Easily! Everyone around the manager looked at her as if to say, How can you say that? However, she got up, and with authority asked for a key the key to the daughters roomsaying, I shall take you there. And off she went along all kinds of paths, but all so complicated, so bizarre! The daughter was following along behind her very attentively, you see, so as not to lose sight of her. But just as they should have come to the place where the daughters room was supposed to be, suddenly the manageress (let us call her the manageress), both the manageress and her key vanished! And the sense of this vanishing was so acute that at the same time, everything vanished!
So to help you understand this enigma, let me tell you that the mother is physical Nature as she is, and the daughter is the new creation. The manageress is the worlds organizing mental consciousness as Nature has developed it thus far, that is, the most advanced organizing sense to have manifested in the present state of material Nature. This is the key to the vision.
Naturally, when I awoke, I immediately knew what could resolve this problem which appeared so absolutely insoluble. The vanishing of the manageress and her key was an obvious sign that she was altogether incapable of leading what could be called the creative consciousness of the new world to its true place.
I knew this, but I did not have a vision of the solution, which means it has yet to manifest; this thing had not yet manifested in the building, this fantastic construction, although it is the very mode of consciousness which could transform this incoherent creation into something real, truly conceived, willed and materialized, with a center in its proper place, a recognized place, and with a REAL effective power.
(silence)
0 1957-09-27, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(A child's question concerning a vision in which Mother had appeared to her in a luminous body)
Why have you come as we are?
0 1957-10-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
During the flu epidemic, for example, I spent every day in the midst of people who were germ carriers. And one day, I clearly felt that the body had decided not to catch this flu. It asserted its autonomy. You see, it was not a question of the higher Will deciding, no. It didnt take place in the highest consciousness: the body itself decided. When you are way above in your consciousness, you see things, you know things; but in actual fact, once you descend again into matter, it is like water running through sand. In this respect, things have changed, the body has a DIRECT power, independent of any outer intervention. Even though it is barely visible, I consider this to be a very important result.
And this new vibration in the body has allowed me to understand the mechanism of the transformation. It is not something that comes from a higher Will, not a higher consciousness that imposes itself upon the body: it is the body itself awakening in its cells, a freedom of the cells themselves, an absolutely new vibration that sets disorders righteven disorders that existed prior to the supramental manifestation.
0 1957-12-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
At the very top, a constant vision of the Supremes will.
In the world, an overall vision of what is to be done.
Individually, at each moment and in each circumstance, the vision of the truth of the moment, of the circumstance, of the individual.
In the external consciousness, the impersonal and mechanical recording of what is happening and of what are the people and things that comprise both the field of action and the limitations imposed upon this action. The recording is innately automatic and mechanical, without any kind of evaluation, as objective as possible.
0 1958-01-01, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
We must have a great deal of patience and a very wide and very complex vision to understand how things work.
(silence)
The miracles that are taking place are not what could be called literary miracles, for they do not take place as in storybooks. They are visible only to a very profound vision of thingsvery profound, very comprehensive, very vast.
(silence)
0 1958-02-03b - The Supramental Ship, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
As for the people I saw aboard ship, I recognized them all. Some were here in the Ashram, some came from elsewhere, but I knew them as well. I saw everyone, but as I realized that I would not remember everyone when I came back, I decided not to give any names. Besides, it is unnecessary. Three or four faces were very clearly visible, and when I saw them, I understood the feeling that I have had here, on earth, while looking into their eyes: there was such an extraordinary joy On the whole, the people were young; there were very few children, and their ages were around fourteen or fifteen, but certainly not below ten or twelve (I did not stay long enough to see all the details). There were no very old people, with the exception of a few. Most of the people who had gone ashore were of a middle ageagain, except for a few. Several times before this experience, certain individual cases had already been examined at a place where people capable of being supramentalized are examined; I had then had a few surprises which I had noted I even told some people. But those whom I disembarked today I saw very distinctly. They were of a middle age, neither young children nor elderly people, with only a few rare exceptions, and this quite corresponded to what I expected. I decided not to say anything, not to give any names. As I did not stay until the end, it would be impossible for me to draw an exact picture, for it was neither absolutely clear nor complete. I do not want to say things to some and not say them to others.
What I can say is that the criterion or the judgment was based EXCLUSIVELY on the substance constituting the peoplewhe ther they belonged completely to the supramental world or not, whether they were made of this very special substance. The criterion adopted was neither moral nor psychological. It is likely that their bodily substance was the result of an inner law or an inner movement which, at that time, was not in question. At least it is quite clear that the values are different.
0 1958-02-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Last night, I had the vision of what this supramental world could become if men were not sufficiently prepared. The confusion existing at present upon earth is nothing in comparison to what could take place. Imagine that every powerful will has the power to transform matter as it likes! If the sense of collective oneness did not grow in proportion to the development of power, the resulting conflict would be yet more acute and chaotic than our material conflicts.
***
0 1958-04-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
We are still in Kataragama, and we shall only go up to northern Ceylon, to Jaffna, around the 15th, then return to India towards the beginning of May if the visa problems are settled. Only in India, at the temple of Rameswaram, can I receive the orange robe. I am living here as a sannyasi, but dressed in white, like a Hindu. It is a stark life, nothing more. I have seen however, that truth does not lie in starkness but in a change of consciousness. (Desire always finds a means to entrench itself in very small details and in very petty and stupid, though well-rooted, avidities.)
Mother, I am seeing all the mean pettiness that obstructs your divine work. Destroy my smallness and take me unto you. May I be sincere, integrally sincere.
0 1958-05-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I saw and understood very well that by concentrating, I could have given it the attitude of the absolute authority of the eternal Mother. When Sri Aurobindo told me, You are She, at the same time he bestowed upon my body this attitude of absolute authority. But as I had the inner vision of this truth, I concerned myself very little with the imperfections of the physical body I didnt bother about that, I only used it as an instrument. Sri Aurobindo did the sadhana for this body, which had only to remain constantly open to his action.1
Afterwards, when he left and I had to do the Yoga myself, to be able to take his physical place, I could have adopted the attitude of the sage, which is what I did since I was in an unparalleled state of calm when he left. As he left his body and entered into mine, he told me, You will continue, you will go right to the end of the work. It was then that I imposed a calm upon this body the calm of total detachment. And I could have remained like that.
--
To be able to see the problem as it is, it is absolutely indispensable, as a first step, to get out of the mental consciousness, even out of a mental transcription (in the highest mind) of the supramental vision and truth. A thing cannot be seen as it is, in its truth, except in the supramental consciousness, and if you try to explain, it immediately begins to escape you because you are obliged to give it a mental formulation.
As for me, I saw the thing only at the time of this experience,4 and as a result of this experience. But it is impossible to formulate even the experience itself, and as soon as I endeavored to formulate it and the more I was able to formulate it, the more the thing faded, escaped.
0 1958-05-11 - the ship that said OM, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Something quite curious took place during a recent meditation. I no longer recall when exactly, but it was at a time when there were many visitors, for the courtyard was full. After perhaps no more than a few minutes, I suddenly heard a distinct voice, coming from my right, say OM, like that. And then a second time, OM. What an impact it had upon me! I felt an emotion here (gesture towards the heart) as I have not felt for years and years and years. And all, all, all was filled with light, with forceit was absolutely marvelous. It was an invocation, and during the whole meditation the Presence was resplendent.
I said to myself, Who could have done that? I was not sure if only I had heard it, so I asked. The reply was, But it was the ship leaving! There was actually a ship which had left during the night3that is in support of those who said it was a ship. But for me, it was SOMEONE because I felt someone there and I thought, Oh! If someone, in the ardor of his soul, said that in this what I could call an atheistic silence. Because people here are so afraid of following tradition, of being the slaves of the old things, that they cast out anything closely or remotely resembling religion.
--
Mother is referring to her 'Darshan' when four times a year She appeared on her balcony high above the assembled mass of disciples and visitors on the street below. The 'darshan days' were February 21, April 24, August 15 and November 24.
Tamas: in Indian psychology, inertia and obscurity.
0 1958-06-06 - Supramental Ship, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
When you had this experience of February 3, 1958 [the supramental ship], the vision of your usual consciousness, which is nevertheless a Truth Consciousness, no longer seemed true to you at all. Did you see things you had never before seen, or did you see things in another way?
Yes, one enters into another world.
0 1958-07-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
No, but I know all these people, I know them thoroughly! I know Chaitanya, Ramakrishna and Ramdas thoroughly. They are utterly familiar to me. It doesnt bother them. These are people who live with a certain feeling, who have an entirely concrete experience and live in this experience, but they dont care at all if their formation they have not even crystallized it, they leave it like that, vaguecontains things that are mutually contradictory, because, in appearance, they reconcile them. They do not raise any questions, they do not have the need for an absolutely clear vision; their feeling is absolutely clear, and thats enough for them. Ramakrishna was like that; he said the most contradictory things without being bothered in the least, and they are all exactly and equally true.
But this crystal clear vision Sri Aurobindo had, where everything is in its place, where contradictions no longer existthey never soared to that height. This was the thing, this really crystalline, perfect supramental vision, even from the standpoint of understanding and knowledge. They never went that far.
***
0 1958-07-25a, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Car cest Toi qui es, qui vis, et qui saiscest Toi qui fais toute chose et qui es le rsultat de toute action.
(translation)
0 1958-08-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The gods are faultless, for they live according to their own nature, spontaneously and without constraint; it is their godly way. But if one looks at it from a higher point of view, if one has a higher vision, a vision of the whole, they have fewer qualities than man. In this film, it was proved that through their capacity for love and self-giving, men can have as much power as the gods, and even morewhen they are not egoists, when they can overcome their egoism.
Certainly man is nearer the Supreme than the gods. Provided he fulfills the necessary conditions, he can be nearerhe isnt so automatically, but he can be, he has the power, the potentiality to be.
Anusuya: wife of the rishi Atri and endowed with a great inner force. In her husband's absence, three gods came (Brahma, vishnu and Shiva) disguised as brahmins and asked her for something to eat. Then they refused to eat unless she served them naked. Since they were brahmins, she could not send them away without feeding them, so by her inner power, she changed them into babies and served them naked. This film was shown at the Ashram Playground on August 5, 1958.
***
0 1958-08-30, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(In the presence of Pavitra and Abhay Singh, Mother recounts a vision she had during the night)
[The disciple who managed the Ashram 'Atelier': mechanical workshop, maintenance garage, automobile service, etc.]
--
(Abhay Singh:) Yesterday he drove the station wagon for the visitors.
Does it also have large tires?
0 1958-10-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The other day when I was in this state of concentration, I had the vision that I mentioned to you. I felt I was being pulled, that something was pulling me and trying to draw my attention. I felt it very strongly. So I opened my eyes, my mental eyes (the physical eyes may remain opened or closed, it makes no difference either way; when I am concentrated, things on the physical plane no longer exist), I deliberately opened the minds eyes, for that is where I felt myself being pulled, and then I had this vision I told you of. Someone was trying to draw my attention, to tell me something. It takes someone really quite powerful, with a very great power of concentration, to do thatthere are certainly a great many people here and elsewhere who try to do this, yet I dont feel a thing.3
In the outer, practical domain, I might suddenly think of someone, so I know that this person is calling or thinking of me. When you left on your trip, I created a special link-up so that if ever, at any moment, you called me for anything, I would know it instantly, and I remained attentive and alert. But I do that only in exceptional cases. Generally speaking, when I havent made this special link-up, things keep coming in and coming in and coming in and coming in, and the answer goes out automatically, here or there or there or therehundreds and hundreds of things that I dont keep in my memory because then it would really be frightful. I dont keep these things in my consciousness; it is rather a work that is done automatically.
When you asked me if X4 were thinking of me, I consulted my atmosphere and saw that it was true, that even many times a day Xs thoughts were coming. So I know that he is concentrating on me, or something: it simply passes through me, and I answer automatically. But I dont particularly pay attention to X, unless you ask me a question about him, in which case I deliberately tune into him, then observe and determine whether its like this or like that. Whereas this vision the other day was something that thrust itself on me; I was in another region altogether, in my inner contemplation, my concentrationa very strong concentrationwhen I was forced to enter into contact with this being whose vision I had and who was obviously a very powerful being. After telling me what he had to tell me, he went away in a very peculiar way, not at all suddenly as most people appear and disappear, not at all like that. When I first saw him, there was a living form the being himself was there but upon leaving (probably to see the effect, to find out whether he had truly succeeded in making himself understood), he left behind a kind of image of himself. Afterwards, this image blurred and it left only a silhouette, an outline, then it disappeared altogether leaving only an impression. That was the last thing I saw. So I kept the impression and analyzed it to find out exactly what was involved; all this was filed away, and then it was over. I began my concentration once again.
I intentionally carry everybody in my active consciousness for the work, and I do the work consciously; but the extent to which people in the world, or those who are here in the Ashram, are conscious of this or receive the results depends upon them, though not exclusively.
The other day, for example, though I no longer recall exactly when (I forget everything on purpose)but it was in the last part of the night I had a rather long activity concerning the whole realization of the Ashram, notably in the fields of education and art. I was apparently inspecting this area to see how things were there, so naturally I saw a certain number of people, their work and their inner states. Some saw me and, at that moment, had a vision of me. It is likely that many were asleep and didnt notice anything, but some actually saw me. The next morning, for example, someone who works at the theater told me that she had had a splendid vision of me in which I had spoken to her, blessed her, etc. This was her way of receiving the work I had done. And this kind of thing is happening more and more, in that my action is awakening the consciousness in others more and more strongly.
Naturally, the reception is always incomplete or partially modified; when it passes through the individuality, it becomes narrowed, a personal thing. It seems impossible for each one to have a consciousness vast enough to see the thing in its entirety.
--
In this vision, the d. ceased tantric guru of the guru who initiated Satprem appeared to Mother in a dark blue light and 'imposed' himself on her to tell her certain things.
The disciple's tantric guru.
0 1958-10-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Then and this becomes rather amusing like lifes play Depending upon each ones nature and position and bias, and because human beings are very limited, very partial and incapable of a global vision, there are those who believe, who have faith, or to whom the eternal Mother is revealed through Grace, who have this kind of relationship with the eternal Mother and there are those who themselves are plunged in sadhana, who have the consciousness of a developed sadhak, and thereby have the same relationship with me as one has with what they generally call a realized soul. Such persons consider me the prototype of the Guru teaching a new way, but the others dont have this relationship of sadhak to Guru (I am taking the two extremes, but of course there are all the possibilities in between), they are only in contact with the eternal Mother and, in the simplicity of their hearts, they expect Her to do everything for them. If they were perfect in this attitude, the eternal Mother would do everything for themas a matter of fact, She does do everything, but as they arent perfect, they cannot receive it totally. But the two paths are very different, the two kinds of relationships are very different; and as we all live according to the law of external things, in a material body, there is a kind of annoyance, an almost irritated misunderstanding, between those who follow this path (not consciously and intentionally, but spontaneously), who have this relationship of the child to the Mother, and those who have this other relationship of the sadhak to the Guru. So it creates a whole play, with an infinite diversity of shades.
But all this is still in suspense, on the way to realization, moving forward progressively; therefore, unless we are able to see the outcome, we cant understand a thing. We get confused. Only when we see the outcome, the final realization, only when we have TOUCHED there, will everything be understood then it will be as clear and as simple as can be. But meanwhile, my relationships with different people are very funny, utterly amusing!
0 1958-11-04 - Myths are True and Gods exist - mental formation and occult faculties - exteriorization - work in dreams, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It was only a film story, but anyway, the goddesses, the three wives of the Trimurti that is, the consort of Brahma, the consort of vishnu and the consort of Shivajoined forces (!) and tried all kinds of things to foil Narada. I no longer recall the details of the story Oh yes, the story begins like this: one of the three I believe it was Shivas consort, Parvati (she was the worst one, by the way!)was doing her puja. Shiva was in meditation, and she began doing her puja in front of him; she was using an oil lamp for the puja, and the lamp fell down and burned her foot. She cried out because she had burned her foot. So Shiva at once came out of his meditation and said to her, What is it, Devi? (laughter) She answered, I burned my foot! Then Narada said, Arent you ashamed of what you have done?to make Shiva come out of his meditation simply because you have a little burn on your foot, which cannot even hurt you since you are immortal! She became furious and snapped at him, Show me that it can be otherwise! Narada replied, I am going to show you what it is to really love ones husbandyou dont know anything about it!
Then comes the story of Anusuya and her husb and (who is truly a husb and a very good man, but well, not a god, after all!), who was sleeping with his head resting upon Anusuyas knees. They had finished their puja (both of them were worshippers of Shiva), and after their puja he was resting, sleeping, with his head on Anusuyas knees. Meanwhile, the gods had descended upon earth, particularly this Parvati, and they saw Anusuya like that. Then Parvati exclaimed, This is a good occasion! Not very far away a cooking fire was burning. With her power, she sent the fire rolling down onto Anusuyas feetwhich startled her because it hurt. It began to burn; not one cry, not one movement, nothing because she didnt want to awaken her husband. But she began invoking Shiva (Shiva was there). And because she invoked Shiva (it is lovely in the story), because she invoked Shiva, Shivas foot began burning! (Mother laughs) Then Narada showed Shiva to Parvati: Look what you are doing; you are burning your husbands foot! So Parvati made the opposite gesture and the fire was put out.
--
He said he had received initiation in India (he knew a little Sanskrit and the Rig-Veda thoroughly), and then he formulated a tradition which he called the cosmic tradition and which he claimed to have received I dont know howfrom a tradition anterior to that of the Cabala and the Vedas. But there were many things (Madame Theon was the clairvoyant one, and she received visions; oh, she was wonderful!), many things that I myself had seen and known before knowing them which were then substantiated.
So personally, I am convinced that there was indeed a tradition anterior to both these traditions containing a knowledge very close to an integral knowledge. Certainly, there is a similarity in the experiences. When I came here and told Sri Aurobindo certain things I knew from the occult standpoint, he always said that it conformed to the Vedic tradition. And as for certain occult practices, he told me that they were entirely tantric and I knew nothing at that time, absolutely nothing, neither the Vedas nor the Tantras.
--
All these regions, all these realms are filled with beings who exist separately in their own realms, and if you are awake and conscious on a given plane for example, if while going out of a more material body you awaken on some higher planeyou can have the same relationship with the things and people of that plane as with the things and people of the material world. In other words, there exists an entirely objective relationship that has nothing to do with your own idea of things. Naturally, the resemblance becomes greater and greater as you draw nearer the physical world, the material world, and there is even a moment when one region can act directly upon the other. In any case, in what Sri Aurobindo calls the kingdoms of the overmind, you find a concrete reality entirely independent of your personal experience; whenever you come back to it, you again find the same things, with some differences that may have occurred DURING YOUR ABSENCE. And your relationships with the beings there are identical to those you have with physical beings, except that they are more flexible, more supple and more direct (for example, there is a capacity to change the outer form, the visible form, according to your inner state), but you can make an appointment with someone, come to the meeting and again find the same being, with only certain differences that may have occurred during your absence but it is absolutely concrete, with absolutely concrete results.
However, you must have at least a little experience of these things to understand them. Otherwise, if you are convinced that all this is just human fancy or mental formations, if you believe that these gods have such and such a form because men have imagined them to be like that, or that they have such and such defects or qualities because men have en visioned it that wayas with all those who say God is created in the image of man and exists only in human thoughtall such people wont understand, it will seem absolutely ridiculous to them, a kind of madness. You must live a little, touch the subject a little to know how concrete it is.
Naturally, children know a great dealif they have not been spoiled. There are many children who return to the same place night after night and continue living a life they have begun there. When these faculties are not spoiled with age, they can be preserved within one. There was a time when I was especially interested in dreams, and I could return exactly to the same place and continue some work I had begun there, visit something, for example, or see to something, some work of organization or some discovery or exploration; you go to a certain place, just as you go somewhere in life, then you rest a while, then you go back and begin againyou take up your work just where you left it, and you continue. You also notice that there are things entirely independent of you, certain variations which were not at all created by you and which occurred automatically during your absence.
But then, you must LIVE these experiences yourself; you yourself must see, you must live them with enough sincerity to see (by being sincere and spontaneous) that they are independent of any mental formations. Because one can take the opposite line and make an intensive study of the way mental formations act upon eventswhich is very interesting. But thats another field. And this study makes you very careful, very prudent, because you start noticing to what extent you can delude yourself. Therefore, both one and the other, the mental formation and the occult reality, must be studied to see what the ESSENTIAL difference is between them. The one exists in itself, entirely independent of what we think about it, and the other
--
It was the same thing for visions of past lives. I knew NOTHING when I would have the experience, not even the possibility of past lives, and only after having had the experience would I study the question and, for example, even verify certain historical facts that had occurred in my vision but about which I had no prior knowledge.
***
0 1958-11-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
And it was all-powerful, with an infinite richness. It did not have no, it didnt have any kind of form, and it had no limits (naturally, as I was identified with it I knew there was neither limit nor form). It was as if (because it was not visible), as if this vast were made of countless, imperceptible pointspoints that occupied no place in space (there was no sense of space), that were of a deep warm gold but this is only a feeling, a transcription. And all this was absolutely LIVING, living with a power that seemed infinite. And yet motionless.
It lasted for quite some time, for the rest of the meditation.
--
And then, down into this hole I still see what I saw then, this crevasse between two rocks. The sky was not visible, but on the rock summits I saw something like the reflection of a glimmera glimmercoming from something beyond, which (laughing) must have been the sky! But it was in visible. And as I descended, as if I were sliding down the face of this crevasse, I saw the rock edges; and they were really black rocks, as if cut with a chisel, cuts so fresh that they glistened, with edges as sharp as knives. There was one here, one there, another there, everywhere, all around. And I was being pulled, pulled, pulled, I went down and down and downthere was no end to it, and it was becoming more and more compressing.1 It went down and down
And so, physically, the body followed. My body has been taught to express the inner experience to a certain extent. In the body there is the body-force or the body-form or the body-spirit (according to the different schools, it bears a different name), and this is what leaves the body last when one dies, usually taking a period of seven days to leave.2 With special training, it can acquire a conscious lifeindependent and consciousto such a degree that not only in a state of trance (in trance, it frequently happens that one can speak and move if one is slightly trained or educated), but even in a cataleptic state it can produce sounds and even make the body move. Thus, through training, the body begins to have somnambulistic capacitiesnot an ordinary somnambulism, but it can live an autonomous life.3 This is what took place, yesterday evening it was like that I had gone out of my body, but my body was participating. And then I was pulled downwards: my hand, which had been on the arm of the chair, slipped down, then the other hand, then my head was almost touching my knees! (The consciousness was elsewhere, I saw it from outsideit was not that I didnt know what I was doing, I saw it from outside.) So I said, In any case, this has to stop somewhere because if it continues, my head (laughing) is going to be on the ground! And I thought, But what is there at the bottom of this hole?
0 1958-11-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This vision of the Inconscient (Mother remains gazing for a moment) it was the MENTAL Inconscient. Because the starting point was mental. A special Inconscientrigid, hard, resistantwith all that the mind has brought into our consciousness. But it was far worse, far worse than a purely material Inconscient! A mentalized Inconscient, as it were. All this rigidity, this hardness, this narrowness, this fixitya FIXITYcomes from the presence of the mind in creation. When the mind was not manifested, the Inconscient was not like that! It was formless and had the plasticity of something that is formless the plasticity has gone.
It is a terrible image of the Minds action in the Inconscient.
0 1958-11-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I had two visions which are certainly related to this. The most recent one was yesterday, and it concerned a past life in India. It is something that took place in India about one thousand years ago, perhaps a little more (I am not yet sure about this). And it contains both things. Its strange, both things together the origin of the power of realization in this life and the obstacle to be conquered.
I had the last vision yesterday evening. You were much taller than you are now; you were wearing the orange robe, and you were backed up against a door of bronze, a bronze door like the door of a temple or a palace but at the same time it was symbolic (it was a fact, it actually took place like this, but at the same time it was symbolic). And unfortunately, it didnt last because I was disturbed. But it contained the key.
I was VERY HAPPY with the vision, for there was a great POWER, though it was rather terrible. But it was magnificent. When I saw that, I This vision was given to me because I had concentrated with a will to find the solution, a true solution, an enduring and permanent solution that is, I had this spontaneous gratitude which goes out to the Grace when it brings some effective help. Only, what followed was interrupted by someone who came to call me and that cut it short, but it will return.
But now I KNOWbefore I did not know. The other morning I saw, and I was told very clearly that it was a karma1 to be worked out; so then I told you, but at the time I didnt know what it was.
0 1958-11-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
So this is what I saw for you: that the crystallization of this karma occurred during a life in India in which you were put in the presence of the possibility of liberation and I dont know the details; I dont know the material facts at all. So far, I know nothing, I have only had a vision. I saw you there, as I told you, taller than you are now, in an Indian body, north Indian, for it was not dark but fair. But there was a HARDNESS in the being, the hardness born of a kind of despair mixed with rebellion, incomprehension and an ego that resists. That is all I know. The image was of you backed up against a bronze door: BACKED UP against it. I didnt see what had caused it. As I told you, something interrupted me, so I was unable to follow it.
The other indication is what I told you the other day. When you thought of leaving to join Swami, I immediately saw a stream of light: Ah, the road is opening up! So I said, It is good. And while you were away in Ceylon, I followed you from day to day. You called much more than the second time, when you were in the Himalayas; and with the physical hardships you were undergoing, I was very, very close to you I constantly felt what was happening.
0 1958-11-27 - Intermediaries and Immediacy, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
And when I studied this, when I looked at this science of processes, of intermediaries, suddenly I clearly understood the working of karma, which I had not understood before. I had worked and intervened quite often to change someones karma, but sometimes I had to wait, without exactly knowing why the result was not immediate. I simply used to wait without worrying about the reasons for this slowness or delay. Thats how it was. And generally it ended, as I said, with the exact vision of the karmas source, its initial cause; and scarcely would I have this vision when the Power would come, and the thing would be dissolved. But I didnt bother about finding out why it was like that.
One day I had mentioned this to X1 when he was showing me or describing to me the different movements of the pujas, the procedure, the process of the puja. I said to him, Oh, I see! For the action to be immediate, for the result to be immediate, one must acknowledge, for example, the role or the participation of certain spirits or certain forces and enter into a friendly relationship or collaboration with these forces in order to obtain an immediate result, is it not so? Then he told me, Yes, otherwise it leaves an indefinite time to the play of the forces, and you dont know when you will get the result of your puja.
0 1958-12-15 - tantric mantra - 125,000, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother, things are far from being what they were the first time in Rameswaram, and I am living through certain moments that are hell the enemy seems to have been unleashed with an extraordinary violence. It comes in waves, and after it recedes, I am literally SHATTEREDphysically, mentally and vitally drained. This morning, while going to the temple, I lived through one of these moments. All this suffering that suddenly sweeps down upon me is horrible. Yes, I had the feeling of being BACKED UP AGAINST A WALL, exactly as in your vision I was up against a wall. I was walking among these immense arcades of sculptured granite and I could see myself walking, very small, all alone, alone, ravaged with pain, filled with a nameless despair, for nowhere was there a way out. The sea was nearby and I could have thrown myself into it; otherwise, there was only the sanctuary of Parvati but there was no more Africa to flee to, everything closed in all around me, and I kept repeating, Why? Why? This much suffering was truly inhuman, as if my last twenty years of nightmare were crashing down upon me. I gritted my teeth and went to the sanctuary to say my mantra. The pain in me was so strong that I broke into a cold sweat and almost fainted. Then it subsided. Yet even now I feel completely battered.
I clearly see that the hour has come: either I will perish right here, or else I will emerge from this COMPLETELY changed. But something has to change. Mother, you are with me, I know, and you are protecting me, you love me I have only you, only you, you are my Mother. If these moments of utter darkness return and they are bound to return for everything to be exorcised and conqueredprotect me in spite of myself. Mother, may your Grace not abandon me. I want to be done with all these old phantoms, I want to be born anew in your Light; it has to beotherwise I can no longer go on.
0 1958 12 - Floor 1, young girl, we shall kill the young princess - black tent, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Two or three days after I retired to my room upstairs,1 early in the night I fell into a very heavy sleep and found myself out of the body much more materially than I do usually. This degree of density in which you can see the material surroundings exactly as they are. The part that was out seemed to be under a spell and only half conscious. When I found myself at the first floor where everything was absolutely black, I wanted to go up again, but then I discovered that my hand was held by a young girl whom I could not see in the darkness but whose contact was very familiar. She pulled me by the hand telling me laughingly, No, come, come down with me, we shall kill the young princess. I could not understand what she meant by this young princess and, rather unwillingly, I followed her to see what it was. Arriving in the anteroom which is at the top of the staircase leading to the ground floor, my attention was drawn in the midst of all this total obscurity to the white figure of Kamala2 standing in the middle of the passage between the hall and Sri Aurobindos room. She was as it were in full light while everything else was black. Then I saw on her face such an expression of intense anxiety that to comfort her I said, I am coming back. The sound of my voice shook off from me the semi-trance in which I was before and suddenly I thought, Where am I going? and I pushed away from me the dark figure who was pulling me and in whom, while she was running down the steps, I recognized a young girl who lived with Sri Aurobindo and me for many years and died five years back. This girl during her life was under the most diabolical influence. And then I saw very distinctly (as through the walls of the staircase) down below a small black tent which could scarcely be perceived in the surrounding darkness and standing in the middle of the tent the figure of a man, head and face shaved (like the sannyasin or the Buddhist monks) covered from head to foot with a knitted outfit following tightly the form of his body which was tall and slim. No other cloth or garment could give an indication as to who he could be. He was standing in front of a black pot placed on a dark red fire which was throwing its reddish glow on him. He had his right arm stretched over the pot, holding between two fingers a thin gold chain which looked like one of mine and was unnaturally visible and bright. Shaking gently the chain he was chanting some words which translated in my mind, She must die the young princess, she must pay for all she has done, she must die the young princess.
Then I suddenly realized that it was I the young Princess and as I burst into laughter, I found myself awake in my bed.
--
Mother withdrew on December 9. In fact, She had been unwell for already more than a month before withdrawing. On November 26, the last 'Wednesday class' took place at the playground; on November 28 the last 'Friday class', on December 6, the last 'Translation class'; on December 1, the end of Mother's tennis and the last visit to the playground. On December 9, She again went down for the meditation around the Samadhi. From December 10, Mother remained in her room for one month. A great period had come to an end. Henceforth, She would only go out of the Ashram building on rare occasions.
A disciple
0 1959-01-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
In this regard, perhaps you know that X is the tenth in the line of Bhaskaraya (my spelling of this name is perhaps not correct), the great Tantric of whom you had a vision, who could comm and the coming of Kali along with all her warriors. It is from X that Swami received his initiation.
Your last letter gave us great pleasure, knowing that you have finally recovered physically. But we deeply hope that you will not again take up the countless activities that formerly consumed all your timeso many people come to you egoistically, for prestige, to be able to say that they are on familiar terms with you. You know this, of course
--
Sweet Mother, by what Grace have you guided and protected me through all these years? There are moments when I have the vision of this Grace, bringing me to the verge of tears. I see so clearly that you are doing everything, that you are all that is good in me, my aspiration and my strength. Me is all that is bad, all that resists, me is horribly false and falsifying. If your Grace withdraws for one second, I collapse, I am helpless.2 You alone are my strength, the source of my life, the joy and fulfillment to which I aspire.
I am at your feet, your child eternally.
--
As for my health and the Ashram, I infinitely appreciate what he has done and what he would like to continue to do. His visit will make me very happy, and if he comes in about one month, a few days before the darshan, there will be no need to find any excuse for his visit, for it will appear quite natural.
My health is progressing well, but I intend to be very prudent and not burden myself with occupations. Yesterday, I began the balcony darshan again, and it is all right. That is all for the moment.
0 1959-01-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Here is what X told me: I have received a message from my guru.1 In my vision, the Mother was there, next to my guru, and she was smiling. My guru told me that your present difficulties are a period of testing, but I could already give you the first stage of tantric initiation and that for you, the three stages of initiation could be done in an accelerated way.
I will therefore give you initiation this Friday or Saturday, on the day of the full moon or the day before. This first stage will last three months during which you will have to repeat 1 lakh2 times the mantra that I will give you. At the end of three months, I will come to see you in Pondicherryor you will come here for a fortnight, and as soon as I have received the message from my guru, I will give you the second stage that will last three months as well. At the end of these three months, you will receive the full initiation. X warned me that the first stage I am to receive provokes attacks and tests but that all this disappears with the second stage. Forewarned is forearmed. For what reason I do not know, but X told me that the particular nature of my initiation should remain secret and that he will say nothing about it to Swami, and he added (in speaking of the speed of the process), But you will not be less than the Swami. (!!) There, I wanted you to knowbesides, you were present in Xs vision. All this happened at a time when I was in the most desperate crisis I have ever known. Sweet Mother, there is no end to expressing my gratitude to you, and yet with the least trial, I am reduced to nothing. Why have you so much grace for me?
I would like very much to return to Pondicherry for the February Darshan and once again begin working for you. Today I am sending a second lot to Pavitra and tomorrow I will start on the Aphorisms, for I do not want to make you wait any longer. I will send a third and final lot to Pavitra by the end of the month, in time for printing. I am very touched, sweet Mother, by your attention and the money you are sending me.
0 1959-06-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
For all these world events, I always leave it to the Divine vision and wisdom, and I say to the Supreme: Lord, may Thy Will be done.
I hope to hear from you soon.
0 1959-06-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
1) X spoke to me of the Vedic times when a single emperor or sage ruled the entire world with the help of governors; then these governors gradually became independent kings, and conflicts were born. So I asked him what was going to happen after this next war and whether the world would be better. He replied as follows: Yes, great sages like Sri Aurobindo who are wandering now in their subtle bodies will appear. Some sages may take the physical body of political leaders in the West. It will be the end of ignorant atomic machines and the beginning of a new age with great sages leading the world. So it seems that Xs vision links up with Sri Aurobindos prediction for 1967.
He did not give me any further details about this war, except to say that the countries which will suffer the most will be the countries of the North and the East, and he cited Burma, Japan, China and Russia. He said rather categorically that Russia would be swept away and that America would triumph.
0 1960-05-21 - true purity - you have to be the Divine to overcome hostile forces, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
When X is here, I get the impression that things are going backwards instead of forwards. But once hes left, I suddenly leap ahead. And then I perceive that the progress is a real progress, that things won have really been won and they dont come undone again. That is Xs true power, a very material power. For I often feel that things could come into being, they could be realized in the consciousness above (and the vision is there, the Power is there, I have it the in visible power over the earth). But when you come down to the material plane, everything is uncertain. Whereas with X, once things have come down, they no longer dissipate. This is certainly why the Supreme put him on my path.
For example, there was one difficulty he helped me resolve. I have always been literally pestered, constantly, night and day, by all kinds of thoughts coming from peopleall kinds of calls, questions, formations2 that have naturally to be answered. For I have trained myself to be conscious of everything, always. But it disturbed me in the work, particularly when I needed absolute concentration and I could never cut myself off from people or cut myself off from the world. I had to answer all these calls and these questions, I had to send the necessary force, the necessary light, the healing power, I constantly had to purify all these formations, these thoughts, these wills, these false movements that were falling on me.
0 1960-06-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
For instance, if I have a vision (not a vision with pictures, not that, but something without any form or sound or words or the THING itself, when I live the thing), and then later I speak of it to someone I have a very tangible feeling of having to pull something to make it visible, perceptible and communicable the splendor goes.
We need new organs of expression It will come.
0 1960-06-Undated, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I have been here seven years and I cant count a single concrete experience, not a single vision (the only things that have ever happened were in Ceylon or Rameswaram). I havent even managed to have a few slightly conscious nights.
Isnt this reason enough to be discouraged? In any case, these questions are stirring in meand the vital is not happy [nor the mental, nor the physical].
0 1960-07-12 - Mothers Vision - the Voice, the ashram a tiny part of myself, the Mothers Force, sparkling white light compressed - enormous formation of negative vibrations - light in evil, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
object:0_1960-07-12 - Mothers vision - the Voice, the ashram a tiny part of myself, the Mothers Force, sparkling white light compressed - enormous formation of negative vibrations - light in evil
author class:The Mother
--
So in my vision, my body was as big as the universe, and that (the Ashram) was so tiny, so tiny.
***
0 1960-07-18 - triple time vision, Questions and Answers is like circling around the Garden, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
object:0_1960-07-18 - triple time vision, Questions and Answers is like circling around the Garden
author class:The Mother
0 1960-07-23 - The Flood and the race - turning back to guide and save amongst the torrents - sadhana vs tamas and destruction - power of giving and offering - Japa, 7 lakhs, 140000 per day, 1 crore takes 20 years, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
And it happened quite early in the nightat such an early hour, they are not visions or things you observe: they are things you do.
Ive been seeing for a long time that nights are actions. They are no longer images or symbols or representations they are all actions. And they take place certainly not on a human scale.
--
And again this morning, when I looked at this vision, I asked myself, Will there be war?I dont feel it will be like that It may be worse.
You see, it didnt seem human.
I remember wandering about one night some time ago. Its no longer very clear, but one thing has remained I had gone out of India, and then when I returned to India, I found huge elephants installed EVERYWHEREenormous elephants. At that time I was not at all aware that the Communists in India had adopted the elephant as their symbol; I only learned that later. What does this mean, I said to myself. Does it signify the Indian army? But they did not resemble war elephants. These elephants were like immense mammoths, and they looked like they were settling down with all the power of a tremendous inertia. That was the impression something heavy in an inert and very tamasic way, forever immovable. I did not like this occupation. When I came back, I had a rather painful feeling, and for several days I wondered if it did not mean war. Then by chance, in a conversation, I learned that the Communists had selected the elephant as their symbol whereas the Congress had chosen the bullock In my vision, I was moving (as I always do), I was moving among them, and nothing moved. And if I needed room, some of them even tried to stir a little.
But when human beings are involved, I believe that visions take on a special formits a special image. Not an inundation like this. That was very, very impersonal. They were forces. A feeling of floodgates bursting open, of something being held back, retained or prevented, then suddenly
The vehicle and the forward movement are the sadhana, beyond the shadow of a doubt. I understood that the speed of sadhana was greater than the speed of the forces of destruction. And it ended in certain victory, there is not a shadow of doubt. This feeling of POWER once I was firmly grounded there [in the square], enough power to help others.
--
In fact, the Ashrams financial situation has never been so bad. Were living from day to day, minute to minute One day, it will crackall these things are connected (Mother is alluding to the vision of the flood She has just described).
I myself am clearly seeing it from the other side; I see a black, muddy forma black, black force. And I see the [Divine] Force acting on people and, miraculously, the money comesand then its like something armored1it seeps in with difficulty, a thin trickle from day to day.
0 1960-07-26 - Mothers vision - looking up words in the subconscient, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
object:0_1960-07-26 - Mothers vision - looking up words in the subconscient
author class:The Mother
--
I came out of the concentration at 4:10quite late. For I was VERY busy! I was in some sort of small house similar to my room, but it was at the top of a tower, for you could see the landscape from above. It was similar to my room here, with large windows. And I was much taller than I actually am, for there was a ledge below each window (there was a cupboard below each window, as in my room), and this ledge came quite low on me; in my room, it comes up to my chest, whereas it was much lower in my vision. And from there oh, what beautiful landscapes! It was surrounded by such lovely countryside! There was a flowing river, woods, sunlightoh, it was really lovely! And I was very busy looking up words in the dictionary!
I had taken out a dictionary. There, its this one, I said. Someone was next to me, but this someone is always symbolic: each activity takes on a special form which may resemble someone or other. (The people around me for the work here are like families in those worlds there; they are types, that iseach person represents a typeso then I know that Im in contact with all the people of this same type. If they were conscious, they would know that I was there telling them something in particular. But its not a person, its a type and not a type of character, but a type of activity and relationship with me.)
--
However, its not a personal subconscient, but a its more than the Ashram. For me, the Ashram is not a separate individualityexcept in that vision the other day,1 which is what surprised me. Its hardly that. Rather, it is still this Movement of everything, of everything that is included. So its like entering into the subconscient of the whole earth, and it takes on forms which are quite familiar images to me, but they are absolutely symbolic and very, very funny! It took a moment to see that vainquons is spelled q-u-o-n-s. And I wasnt sure! I meant to ask Pavitra for a dictionary which gives verb conjugations, for then if Im stuck on something while writing, I can look it up.
The other day I wrote somethingit was a letter I gave Pavitra to read. I think theres a spelling mistake, he said. Its quite possible, I answered, I make plenty of them. He looked it up in a splendid dictionary and, as a matter of fact, it was a mistake. I meant to ask him for a dictionary this morning.
--
The vision of July 12, 1960.
***
0 1960-09-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The most recent incident took place a few days ago, for there was a general excitement in the factory due to the expected visit of a government minister during the day. That afternoon, exactly at half past three, I felt that I had to make a little concentration. So I paid attention and saw poor L11 praying to me. He was praying, praying, calling mesuch a strong call that it pulled me. I was having my bath (you know what happens when Im very strongly pulled Im stopped right in the very midst of a gesture, then the consciousness goes wandering off! And I cant do anything, it stops me dead. Thats exactly what happened to me in the bathroom). When I saw what was happening, I straightened things out. Then they must have had their ceremony, for suddenly I felt, Ah, now it has calmed down, its all right. And I went on to something else.
The next day, L came to see me. He told me that shortly before 3:30, the machine had stopped once again, but this time it was quickly set right; they found out right away what had to be done. And then he told me that at 3:45 he had started praying to me that all should go well. Oh, I know! I said.
0 1960-10-02a, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Before going to bed, sometimes I say to myself, I will do what is necessary to spend my night in these great currents of force(because there is a way to do it). And then I think, Oh, what an egotist you are, my girl! So sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesntwhen theres something important to do, it doesnt happen. But all I have to do is concentrate in a certain way before going to sleep to spend my whole night in these very far from here, very far I cant say very far from the earth, for surely its in an intermediate zone between the forces from above and the earths atmosphere. Thats what it mainly is, in any case. Its a great universal current as well, but mainly its what descends and comes onto the earth, and it is permeating the earths atmosphere all the time, all the time, and it comes with this wide, overall visionit makes for wonderful nights I no longer bother about people at allat least not as such, but in a more impersonal way.
(silence)
0 1960-10-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The day before yesterday, I spent the whole night looking on. I had read the passage by Sri Aurobindo in The Synthesis on supramental time (wherein past, present and future coexist in a global consciousness). While youre in it, its marvelous! You understand things perfectly. But when youre not in it Above all, theres this problem of how to keep the force of ones aspiration, the power of progress, this power which seems so inevitableso inevitable if existence (lets simply take terrestrial existence) is to mean anything and its presence to be justified. (This ascending movement towards a progressive better that will be eternally better)How is this to be kept when you have the total vision this vision in which everything coexists. At that moment, the other becomes something like a game, an amusement, if you will. (Not everyone finds it amusing!) And when you contain all that, why allow yourself the pleasure of succession? Is this pleasure of succession, of seeing things one after the other, equal to this intensity of the will for progress? Words are foolish!
The effort to see and to understand this gripped me all night. And when I woke up this morning, I thanked the Lord; I said to Him, Obviously, if You were to keep me totally in that consciousness, I could no longer I could no longer do my work! How could I do my work? For I can only say something to people when I feel it or see it, when I see that its what must be said, but if I am simultaneously in a consciousness in which Im aware of everything that has led to that situation, everything that is going to happen, everything Im going to say, everything the others going to feel then how could I do it!
--
I told this to Xor rather had someone tell himto see his reaction. And I realized that he did not understand in the least! Once Amrita asked him how he himself SAW and KNEW things. So he tried to explain; he told Amrita that he had to pull his consciousness upwards by a gradual effort, to go beyond the heart, beyond the throat center to pull it right up here (the top of the head), and once there, youre divine, you know! All of a sudden, I understood that when I said it was there, above the head, it must have seemed absolutely impossible to him! For him, its the crown of the head1 (what they call the thousand-petalled lotus), just at the top of the head, whereas in my experience it opens, it rises and you go above, and then you settle there For a number of years it even changed my [physical] visionit was as if I were looking at things from above. It returns from time to time, too, as if suddenly I were seeing from above instead of from here, at eye level.
But the faculty of forming thoughts is now there, up above; its no longer here (Mother points to her forehead). And thats contrary to their teachings.
0 1960-10-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I also wrote one or two things, experiences I had noted down; they were rather interesting, which is why Id like to get them back. I had described some of my visions to Madame Theon, and then she explained their meaning to me. So I would narrate the vision and give its explanation. That was readable and interesting, because there was some symbolism.
(Pavitra:) What was this Chronicle of KI?
0 1960-10-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
S has a nephew in Bombay, and one day towards the end of August or beginning September, he told me an extraordinary story about this nephew, who had disappeared (he showed me his photographhe looks rather like a medium). He returned home two days later, I believe. Hed been found in a train in a hypnotic state; fortunately someone shook him and he suddenly woke up: Why am I here? What am I doing here? (He had no intention of travelling, you see; he had simply left his house to visit a neighbor in Bombay.) So he returned home without knowing what had happened to him. And he was quite bizarre, really rather off.
A few days later, this nephew had to go somewhere, I dont know where; he went down to the railway station and didnt return. Impossible to find out what had happened to him, he was nowhere to be found. Several days had passed when the family decided to send me his photograph and to tell me the story, adding that it was surely a sequel to the previous occurrence (there must be some people doing hypnotism), and then they asked me where he was and what had become of him.
--
About two weeks later (in other words, ten days or so before September 26), some more news the boys older brother, who lives in Ahmedabad (not Bombay), came to visit his mother, father and grandmo ther (theres also a grandmo ther), and he asked about his brother. He had come with a friend. Your brother has disappeared, they explained, we dont know what has happened to him. So the two of them decided to search for him: Well find him .
The day before their departure, the elder brothers friend said he was going to visit the grandmo ther (she lives some hundred yards away). He went outand didnt return. Disappeared.
So of course they were terribly worried; they wondered what had happened. I had someone write to X, I concentrated, and four days later the boy (the brothers friend, that is) returned in a lamentable state: white, emaciated, barely able to speak. Then he recounted his story:
--
(No sooner had Mother finished telling this story than, by a curious coincidence, someone brought her a portrait drawn by P.K., one of the Ashram artists. Several days earlier, at about two in the morning during an uncommonly violent lightning storm, P.K. had suddenly SEEN amidst the flashes of lightning in the sky a rather terrible, demoniacal head in front of his very eyes. Having nothing else available, he hastily drew his vision in chalk on a schoolchilds slate, which is the portrait Mother speaks of here:)
Well, well! So P.K. is clairvoyant! Its him, for surethis is the being behind those people. Thats why they had so much power. And he came here because of tha the was furious. Quite a demon!
0 1960-10-30, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
But its still not luminous in the dark. What is normally luminous in the dark is something else I had that when I was working with Theon (after returning to France, we had group meditationsthough he didnt call it meditation, he called it repose, and we used to do this in a darkened room), and there was it was like phosphorescence, exactly the color of phosphorescent light, like certain fish in the water at night. It would come out [of the body], spread forth, move about. But that is the vital, it originates in the vital. It is a force from above, but what manifests is vital. Whereas now it is absolutely, clearly the golden supramental light in an extraordinary pulsation, vibrant in intensity But probably it still lacks a what Theon used to call density, an agent that enables it to be seen in the dark and then it would be visibly gold, not phosphorescent.
But it is very, very concrete, very material.
--
And the experience just now (during meditation) was somehow mixed with what I usually see at night (it was not a combinationor maybe it was a combination ), for it had that same light It was a kind of powdering, even finer than tiny dotsa powdering like an atomic dust, but with an EXTREMELY intense vibration but without any shifting of place. And yet its in constant motion Something shifting about within something that vibrates on the same spot without moving (something does move, but its subtler, like a current of tremendous power which passes through a milieu that doesnt move at all: rather, it vibrates on the same spot with an extreme intensity). But I dont exactly know how it is different from the present experience It becomes less golden at night, the gold is less visible, whereas the other colorswhite, blue and a sort of pinkare much more visible.
Oh, now I remember! It was PINK during the second phase, just afterwards, after Egypt! Oh, it was like like at the end of a sunrise when it gets very clear and luminous. A magnificent color. And it kept coming down and down, in a flood that part was new. Its something I see very rarely. It was not there at all the last time we meditated together. And it came filled with such a joy! Oh! It was absolutely ecstatic. It lasted quite a long time. And from there I went into this trance where I saw (laughing) that man congratulating you! I heard him say (his voice is what roused me from my trance, and then I saw him), Congratulations, its a great success! (Mother laughs)
0 1960-11-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
All this came to me yesterday. I kept Z with me for more than half an hour, nearly 45 minutes. He told me some very interesting things. What he said was quite good and I encouraged him a great dealsome action on the right lines which will be quite useful, and then a book unfortunately mixed with an influence from that artificial world (but actually, even that can be used as a link to attract people). He must have spoken to you about this. He wants to write a kind of dialogue to introduce Sri Aurobindos ideasits a good idealike the conversations in Les Hommes de Bonne Volont by Jules Romain. He wants to do it, and I told him it was an excellent idea. And not only one typehe should take all types of people who for the moment are closed to this vision of life, from the Catholic, the fervent believer, right to the utmost materialist, men of science, etc. It could be very interesting.
This is what you see in life, its all like thateach thing has its place and its necessity. This has made me see a whole current of life I was very, very involved with people from this milieu during a whole period of my existence and in fact, its the first approach to Beauty. But it gets mixed.
--
Its an approach which is not at all mental nor intellectual nor (God knows!) moral in the leastno notion of Good or Evil nor any of those things, absolutely none of that. Theres a moment in life when you begin thinking a little and you see all this from an overall or universal point of view in which all moral notions completely disappearFOR ANOTHER REASON. This experience with Z reminded me of a certain way of approaching Beauty that enables you even to find it in what appears dirty and ugly to the common vision. It is She trying to express herself in this something which to the common vision is ugly, dirty, hypocritical. But of course, if you yourself have striven assiduously and have greatly held yourself in, then you look at it reprovingly.
From my earliest childhood, instinctively, I have never felt the slightest contempt or how should I say (well, well! I was thinking in English) shrinking or disapproval, severe criticism or disgust for the things people call vice.
--
But since Zs visit yesterday, and this morning on the balcony Oh, its so I had already seen this long agothis whole milieu that is not very pretty and I had said, Well, its all right, thats how it is, and I didnt discuss it further: Thats how it is, and absolutely the whole world belongs to the Lord IS the Lord! And the Lord made it so, and the Lord wants it so, and its quite all right. Then I put it aside. But with his visit yesterday, it found its placesuch a smiling place. And theres a whole world of things of life which have found their true place in this waywith a smile!
(silence)
--
I know I told you that I had had a vision, but you didnt understand what I told you that day. It was a vision of the place you occupy in my being and of the work we have to do together. Thats really how it is. These things [that I tell you] have their utility and a concrete life, and I see them as very powerful for world transformation theyre what I call experiences (which is much more than an experience because it extends far beyond the individual)and its the same whether its said or not said: the Action is done. But the fact that it is said, that it is formulated here and preserved, is exclusively for you, because you were made for this and this is why we met.
It doesnt need a lot of explaining.
And, even with Sri Aurobindo, even with him I didnt speak of these things for I wouldnt waste his time, and I found it quite useless to burden him with all this. I would tell him I always described my visions and experiences at night I always recounted that to him. And he would remember (I myself would forget; the next day, the whole thing would be gone), he would remember; then sometimes, long afterwards, even years afterwards, he would say, Ah, yes! You had seen that back then. He had a wonderful memory. While myself, I would already have forgotten. But those were the only things I told him, and even then only when I saw that it had a very sure, very superior quality. I didnt bother him with a whole jumble of words. But otherwise . even Nolini,4 who understands well I never, never felt even the (its not the need) not even the POSSIBILITY.
I dont want to tell you this too precisely, to expand on it, for these things cannot be explained. I want you tonot know nor think it, but feel it suddenly, like a little electric shock within that leaps forth.
0 1960-11-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I dont know if its due to Zs visit1 or simply if the time had come and things converged (because thats what generally happens), but a whole period of the past is coming up again and its not a purely personal past, for it includes all the acquaintances I used to have, a whole collection of things that represents not only my individual life but something rather collective (as it always is; each of us is always a collectivity but we arent aware of it, and if anything were taken away, it would unbalance the whole). A whole set of things that were absolutely wiped clean from the memory (it must have been buried somewhere in the subconscient or the semi-conscientin any case, something more unconscious than the subconscient), and it has all come back up. Oh, things such things If just two weeks ago someone had asked me, Do you remember that? I would have replied, No, not at all! And its coming from every side. Oh, such mediocrity! (mediocre in the way of consciousness, experiences and activities) and so gray, so dull, so flat! Only this morning, while getting ready for the balcony, I thought, Is it possible to live like that?!
And then it became so clear that behind all this there was always the same luminous Presence, this Presence that is everywhere, always, watching over everything.
--
For me its different, because I KNOW that it can and must become something else. But then all this Consciousness which is there and in which I live and which has this world vision must come forward and manifest in the vibration of EACH secondnot in a whole which looks interesting when seen from afar; it must enter the vibration of each second, the consciousness of each minute, otherwise
(silence)
0 1960-12-13, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Now X is coming, and these days of meditation with him.2 What is going to happen? By the way, he no longer writes that hes coming to help the Ashram. He wrote to Amrita that hes coming to have the opportunity (I cant exactly remember his words) anyway, to take advantage of his meditations with me so that he can make the necessary transformations! Quite a changed attitude. I had several visions concerning him which Ill tell you later.
Later, Mother added the following: 'In this regard I don't know where, but somewhereSri Aurobindo spoke of this physical mind, and he said that there was nothing you could do with it; it must only be destroyed.'
--
The tantric guru. During his periodic visits to the Ashram, Mother used to give him almost daily meditations.
***
0 1960-12-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This realm that Im now investigating, oh! I spend whole nights visiting certain places, and there I meet people I know here materially [in the Ashram]. So many are PERFECTLY satisfied with their their infirmities, their incapacities, their ugliness, their powerlessness.
And they protest when you want them to change!
--
It goes back and forth between the two all the timea kind of curve like an electric arc between them; it goes up, it goes down, it falls and then climbs back up. In a flash comes the clear vision that the universal realization will be achieved along with the perfection of the material, TERRESTRIAL world. (I say terrestrial, for the earth is still something unique; the rest of the universe is differentso this blown up speck of dust becomes of capital importance!) Then, at another moment, eternity for which all the universes are simply the expression of a second, and in which all this is a sort ofnot even an interesting game, but rather a breathing in and out, in and out And at such a moment, all the importance we give to material things seems so fantastically idiotic! And it goes in and out In this state, everything is obvious and indisputable. And in the other state, everything is obvious and indisputable. But between the two there is EVERY combination and every possibility.
(silence)
0 1960-12-31, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
X seemed happy about his visit this time. We had long meditations of half an hourhe never seemed to want to leave at all! There was above all a kind of extremely calm universalization. An absolute and universal calm in all the cells of the body. I dont know if it was only me, but it seemed he was in the same stateunable to move, quite content, smiling. Once I heard the clock chime, and as I thought it was time and that perhaps he was ready to leave, I looked; he had removed the mala3 that he wears around his neck and I found him doing japa. As soon as he saw me looking, he quickly put it back on!
But whats most surprising is that with me, not a word, nothing, neither he nor I. And it seems to be just as comfortable for him as it is for me!
--
Oh, but you know, night after night, night after night, I SEE how things which in their truth are so simple become complicated here in the human atmosphere. Really, its so interesting; I have visions you see, the thing in its truth is so simple its stupefying, and then here it becomes so complicated, painful, exhausting, upsetting.
But its enough to take one step behind to come out of it all.
Ill tell you about that Wait, we still have three minutes; I want to tell you one of my most recent visions (but its almost the same thing every night):
I was in my home, somewherea world whose light is like a sun (golden with scarlet reflections); it was very beautiful. It was in a town, and my house was in that town. I wanted to take to someone some not presents, but things he needed. So I got everything together, prepared it all, and then loaded my arms with all the packages (I had taken my own time to arrange everything nicely), and I went out when the whole town was completely deserted there was not a soul on the streets. A complete solitude. And such a sense of well-being, of light and force! Yes, really a kind of felicity, for no reason. And instead of weighing me down, it seemed as if my packages were pulling me! They pulled me on in such a way that each step was a joy, like a dance.
0 1961-01-10, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
With this comes TRUE collaboration. For when you have this vision, this awareness, when you live in this consciousness, you also get the power to PULL That into the manifestation on earth and put it into contact with what, for the time being, distorts and disguises; thus the deformation and disguise are gradually transformed by the influence of the Truth behind.
Here we are at the top rung on the scale of collaboration.
0 1961-01-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But if we had the vision of the whole, if we were able to contain past, present and future simultaneously (as it is somewhere up above), then we would see how relative these things are and that its mainly the progressing evolutionary Force which gives us this will to reject; yet when these things still had their place, they were quite tolerable. However, to have this experience in a practical sense is impossible unless we have a total vision the vision that is the Supremes alone! Therefore, one must first identify with the Supreme, and then, keeping this identification, one can return to a consciousness sufficiently externalized to see things as they really are. But thats the principle, and in so far as we are able to realize it, we reach a state of consciousness where we can look at all things with the smile of a complete certainty that everything is exactly as it should be.
Of course, people who dont think deeply enough will say, Oh, but if we see that things are exactly as they should be, then nothing will budge. But no! There isnt a fraction of a second when things arent moving: theres a continuous and total transformation, a movement that never stops. Only because its difficult for us to feel that way can we imagine that by our entering certain states of consciousness things would not change. Even if we entered into an apparently total inertia, things would continue to change and we along with them!
Ultimately, disgust, rebellion and anger, all movements of violence, are necessarily movements of ignorance and of limitation with all the weakness that limitation implies. Rebellion is a weakness, for its the feeling of an impotent will. When you feel, when you see that things are not as they should be, then you rebel against whatever is out of keeping with your vision. But if you were all-powerful, if your will and your vision were all-powerful, there would be no opportunity to rebel! You would always see that all things are as they should be! That is omnipotence.1 Then all these movements of violence become not only useless but profoundly ridiculous.
Consequently, there is only one solution: by aspiration, concentration, interiorization and identification, to unite with the supreme Will. And that is both omnipotence and perfect freedom. Its the only omnipotence, the only freedomall the rest are approximations. You may be en route, but its not That, not the total thing.
--
When asked later about the meaning of this somewhat elliptical statement, Mother said: 'There are two stages. The first involves a mental (and possibly intuitive) vision of what will be (perhaps in an immediate future), and this is what we call seeing things "as they should be." The other is an identification with the supreme Will and the perception that at each second everything is exactly as the Supreme wants it to be, that it is the precise expression of the Supreme. The first is a vision of what is coming and says, "That's how things should be." But we overlook the distance between what presently exists and what is coming. While if we go high above and become one with the Consciousness of the supreme Will, we see that at every instant, at every moment in the universe, all is exactly as it should beexactly as the Supreme wants it to be. That is Omnipotence.'
Saraswati represents the universal Mother's aspect of Knowledge and artistic creativity. On this occasion, Mother would go down to the Meditation Hall and the disciples would silently pass in front of her to receive a message. This year they would receive a folder containing five photographs of Mother.
0 1961-01-24, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I came out of this trance two hours later, at 3 a.m. And during these two hours I saw with a new consciousness, a new vision, and above all a NEW POWERI had a vision of the entire Work: all the people, all the things, all the systems, all of it. And it was it was different in appearance (this is only because appearances depend upon the needs of the moment), but mainly it differed IN POWERA considerable difference. Considerable. The power itself was no longer the same.9
A truly ESSENTIAL change in the body has occurred.
0 1961-01-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have done these things beforeits a knowledge I already hadand it always had its effect when I did them; its not that I am passing from powerlessness to power, not at all. But its this kind of yes, something definite, absolutea kind of absolute in vision, in knowledge, in action and ABOVE ALL in powera kind of absolute that doesnt need to conquer obstacles and resistances, but ANNULS the resistance automatically. Then I saw that something had truly changed.
(After a digression, Mother gives another example of the change:)
0 1961-01-31, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
With my japa the contrast is the same, its absolutely astounding: I feel I am saying the words in the same way, with the same sound, exactly the same rhythm, but in some cases, with a particular inner attitude, the time by the clock is different! Yet nevertheless, bound up as we are in our physical Matter, we imagine it has taken exactly the same amount of time! Thats what is so strange, this extraordinary relativity vis-- vis the clock.
This must be what they tried to express by Joshua making the sun stand still.
0 1961-02-04, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
One could almost say that of all animals, the serpent is the most sensitive to hypnotic or magnetic power. If you have it (magnetic power comes from the most material vital), you can easily gain a mastery over snakes; all the people who like snakes have it and use it to make snakes obey them. Thats how I got out of my encounter with the cobra at Tlemcen7do you know the story? Theon had told me about this power and I was aware of it in myself, so I was able to make the cobra obey and he left. Afterwards (Ive told this story, too), I was visited by the King of Serpents I mean the spirit of the species. He came to me in Tlemcen after this and another incident when I helped a cat overpower a little asp (there are asps over there like Cleopatras, very dangerous)a big russet angora cat. At first it started to play with the asp, but then naturally grew furious. The asp struck at the cat, but the cat leapt aside with such swiftness that the asp missed it (I watched this going on for more than ten minutes, it was extraordinary). Just as the snake darted by, the cat would swat at it with all his claws outand the asp got scratched each time, so that little by little it ran out of energy, and at the end. I stopped the cat from eating it that part was disgusting!
Then after these two incidents, I received a visit one night from the King of Serpents. He was wearing a superb crown on his headsymbolic, of course, but anyway, he was the spirit of the species. He had the appearance of a cobra, and he was wonderful! A formidable beast, and wonderful! He said he had come to make a pact with me: I had demonstrated my power over his species, so he wanted to come to an understanding. All right, I said, what do you propose? I not only promise that serpents wont harm you, he replied, but that they will obey you. But you must promise me something in return: never to kill one of them. I thought it over and said, No, I cant make this promise, because if ever one of yours attacks one of mine (a being that depends upon me), my pact with you could not stop me from protecting him. I can assure you that I have no bad feelings and no intention of killingkilling is not on my program! But I cant commit myself, because it would restrict my freedom of decision. He left without replying, so it remains status quo.
I have had several experiences demonstrating my power over snakes (not so much as over catswith cats its extraordinary!). Long ago, I often used to take a drive and then stop somewhere for a walk. One day after my walk, as I was getting back into the car to drive away (the door was still open), a very large snake came out, right from the spot I had just left. He was furious and heading straight towards the open door, ready to strike (luckily I was alone, neither the driver nor Pavitra were there, otherwise). When the snake had come quite near, I looked at him closely and said, What do you want? Why have you come here? There was a pause. Then he fell down flat and off he went. I hadnt made a move, only asked him, What do you want? Why have you come here? You know, they have a way of suddenly falling back, going limp, and prrt! Gone!
0 1961-02-11, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Four times a year, for 'darshan,' visitors poured into the Ashram to pass one by one before Mother (and formerly Sri Aurobindo as well) to receive her look.
Since 'Bohr's atom' at the beginning of the century, which with its electrons orbiting around a central nucleus like planets around a sun was to have been the mathematical model representing the ultimate constituent of matter, nuclear physicists have discovered many new elementary particles in the universe: from leptons to baryons, with neutrinos, pions, kaons, psi and khi particles in between!
0 1961-02-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its a curious thing speaking evidently helps me follow the experience. But I cant just begin speaking all alone up in my room! And talking to a tape recorder is useless. Up to now, it certainly flows the best with youby far. I havent tried with others, although occasionally Ive said something to Nolini, but his receptivity is fuzzy (I dont know whether you can understand this impression: its as though my. words were going into cotton-wool). Once, as I told you, I spoke with R., and with him I felt that three quarters of it was absolutely lostand as a matter of fact it was. But with you I begin to SEE, and the need to formulate makes me concentrate on my vision. And this I experience with you more than I ever have with anyone. So.
So you are bearing the consequences!
0 1961-03-04, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I used to send him around to the various centers (because he had to do something!), and he would visit, speak to people I dont know about what. And during one of his trips to Delhi he happened to meet Z, who had been sent by the government of India to the Soviet Union, where it seems he delivered an extraordinary speech (it must have been extraordinary, because I have been receiving letters from everywhere, including America, asking for the text of this sensational speech in which he apparently spoke of human unity). So Z returned with the idea of forming a World Union, and J. and Z met. Furthermore, they were encouraged by S.M.7 and even by the Prime Minister,8 who probably had a special liking for Z and had given him a lot of encouragement. Thats how things began.
I treated it as something altogether secondary and unimportantwhen people need to gallop, I let them gallop (but I hadnt met Z). Then J. and Z left together on a speaking-tour of Africa and there things began to go sour, because Z was working in one way and J. in another. Finally, they were at odds and came back here to tell me, World Union is off to a good startwith a quarrel! (Mother laughs) Z was saying, Nothing can be done unless we base ourselves EXCLUSIVELY on the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and they are behind us giving support. And J. said, No, no! We are not sectarian! We accept all ideas, all theories, etc. I replied, and as it happens, I said that Z was right, though with one corrective: he had been saying that people had to recognize us as their guru. No, I said, its absolutely uselessnot only useless, I refuse. I dont want to be anybodys guru. People should simply be told that things are to be done on the basis of Sri Aurobindos thought.9
--
What shocked me was. You know I rarely leave my house, but each time I would come to the Ashram for darshan or to see you, always, as if by chance, I would find J. off in a corner with some European visitor. The repetition of this coincidence made me wonder, Whats he doing so systematically with ALL the European visitors?! And it shocked me to imagine myself in their place: just suppose, I said to myself, you are coming to the Ashram for the first time, very open, in search of a great truth, and you stumble upon this man who tells you: Sri Aurobindo = World Union. Well, my first reaction would be, Im leaving, Im not interested!
It serves as a test, my child, a very good test! There are many things like that.
For example, theres someone here, Mridou (you know her, shes as round as a barrel11), who gossips to everybody. She had quite a clientele for a long time because she used to make Indian sweets and the Europeans went to her place for snacks. She is a woman who, when there isnt any gossip, invents it! She tells all the dirt imaginable to all her visitorsa fact which was brought to my attention. I recall that a long time ago Sir Akbar from Hyderabad warned me, You know, shes the second Mother of the Ashram, be careful! Its a good test, I replied, people who dont immediately sense what it is arent worthy of coming here!
Well, with J. its the samefrom an intellectual viewpoint, its the very same thing: if people are taken in by what he says, it means theyre not ready AT ALL.
--
Oh, Ive had all sorts of examples! All these errors serve as tests. Take the case of P.: for a long time, whenever someone arrived from the outside world and asked to be instructed, he was sent to P.s room. (I didnt send them, but they would be told, Go speak to P.!) And P. is the sectarian par excellence! He would tell people, Unless you acknowledge Sri Aurobindo as the ONLY one who knows the truth, you are good for nothing! Naturally (laughing), many rebelled! (You see, out of lazinessso as not to be bothered with seeing people or answering their questionsone says, Go find so-and-so, go ask so-and-so, and passes off the work to another.) Well, it was finally understood that this wasnt very tactful, and perhaps it would be better not to send visitors to P., since so many had been put off. But actually. I was told about it afterwards and I replied, Let people read and see for THEMSELVES whether or not it suits them! What difference does it make if theyre put off! If they are, it means they NEED to be put off! Well see later. Some of them have come full circle and returned. Others never came backbecause they werent meant to. Thats how it goes. Basically, all this has NO importance. Or we could put it in another way: everything is perfectly all right.
(silence)
0 1961-03-11, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The tree of knowledge symbolizes this kind of knowledge a material knowledge, no longer divine because its origin was the sense of di vision and this is what began to spoil everything. How long did this period last? I am unable to say. (Because my recollection is of an almost immortal life; it seems that it was through some sort of evolutionary accident that the destruction of forms became necessary for progress.) And where did it take place? From certain impressions (but these are only impressions), it would seem that it was in the vicinity of either this side of Ceylon and India or the other, I dont know exactly (Mother indicates the Indian Ocean either west of Ceylon and India or to the east between Ceylon and Java), although certainly the place no longer exists; it must have been swallowed up by the sea. I have a very clear vision of the place and a consciousness of that life and its forms, but I cant give precise material details. Did it last for centuries, was it ? I dont know. To tell the truth, when I was reliving those moments I wasnt curious about such details (for one is in another mental state where there is no curiosity about material details: all things turn into psychological facts). It was something so simple, luminous, harmonious, far removed from all our usual preoccupationsthose very preoccupations with time and space. It was a spontaneous life, extremely beautiful, and so close to Naturea natural flowering of animal life. There were no oppositions or contradictions, nothing of the kindeverything happened in the best way possible.
(silence)
--
This is the origin of such legends as Shangri-la. But 'psychics' most often confuse two planes of reality, attri buting to their SUBTLE vision a physical reality which it does not have or no longer has: they have merely entered into contact with the memory of a place for places, like beings, have a memory.
At first, Mother had said, 'But it's impossible.' Then, laughing, she had the word deleted.
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 1961-03-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It seemed made of transparent alabasterhard, harder than stone. It was the result of an individualization that was my impressionan individualization that has become very hardened. It has tried to become entirely transparent but has no tangible contact with thingsthings enter only through the higher regions, through intellectual perceptions (not intellectual, a sort of mental vision). And I began to bang on it!
It was mainly on your right side I banged on it. But strangely enough, it didnt break it became supple, but then it lost its beauty. (It was so beautiful, as though sculptured!) I tried to pass through it, but to do so (this is what I found interesting), instead of passing through at this level (the chest), the psychic plane the level of the souls vibration I had to climb up above and then descend; and finally, without even realizing it, I found myself inside I had entered through sheer force of concentration. There, at the vital level, the emotional vital (solar plexus), I put two flowers: one very large Endurance in the Most Material Vital [zinnia] and another flower like the one X just gave me [cosmos] but bigger and pure white (it concerns sexual movements, light in sexual movements). But curiously enough, I passed inside through a trance; I was quite busy trying to make it more fluid when all at once, poof! I found myself inside. But since I entered through a trance it became completely objective: no more thought, nothing. And I saw I had put these two flowers there (at the levels of the abdomen and chest), one more active, a very large, dark purple Endurance flower, and another much smaller, pure white, slightly lower down. While I was watching this I think the clock must have struck something pulled me and it all faded away.
--
Then its in the realm of visions, of conscious perception.
Yes, conscious perception, visiono therwise, nothing ever happens!
I understand! But yesterday when I was concentrating, I seemed to be sitting right in front of you again; and in the same way, with my left side, I was banging, banging on that absolutely rigid thing on your right. I was astonished: Why am I banging? (I had no intention of banging!) It was strange. The left side isnt like that, its the right.
0 1961-04-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But I have had some cats. I had a cat who was the reincarnation of the mind of a Russian woman. I had a vision of it one day, it was so strangethis woman had been murdered at the time of the Russian Revolution, along with her two little children. And her mind entered a cat here. (How? I dont know.) But this cat, mon petit. I got her when she was very young. She would come and lie down, stretched out like a human being, with her head on my arm! (I used to sleep on a Japanese tatami on the floor.) And she would stay there, so well-behaved, didnt stir all night long! I was really amazed. Then she had kittens, and wanted to give birth to them lying stretched out, not at all like a cat. It was very difficult to make her understand that it couldnt be done that way! And one night after she had had her kittens, I saw her I saw a young woman in furs, with a fur bonnetyou could just see a tiny human face; she had two little ones and she came to me and placed them at my feet. Her whole story was there in her consciousness: how she and the two children had been murdered. And then I realized she was the cat!
The cat wouldnt leave her kittens for a moment! Not for anything. She wouldnt eat, wouldnt go outside to relieve herself, nothing: she stayed put. So I told her, Bring me your kittens. (If you know how to handle them, cats understand very well when theyre spoken to.) Bring me your little ones. She looked at me, went and brought one of her kittens, and placed it between my feet. Then she went to fetch the other one and placed it between my feet (not beside, between my feet). Now you can go out, I told her. And out she went.
0 1961-04-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When I used to speak at the Playground, I tried to explain this one day I was facing the same problem: what really is? And clearly, it is utterly impossible to understand with the mind. But I had a vision of a kind of infinite Eternity through which the Supreme Consciousness voyages7; and the path this Consciousness travels is what we call the manifestation. And this vision explained absolute freedom, it explained how both thingsabsolute freedom and absolute determinismcould coexist in an absolute way. The image in my vision was of an eternal Infinity in which that Consciousness voyagesone cant even say freely, because freely would imply that it could be otherwise.
All who experience this say that the first movement of the manifestation, or the creation (creation, manifestation, objectification: all these words are imperfect) is CHIT, Consciousness that becomes Power. Consequently, Consciousness goes voyaging along in SAT, in Beingstatic, eternal, infinite and necessarily outside time and space and this movement of Consciousness is what produces time and space within this Infinity and Eternity.8 This leads to the understanding that things can simultaneously be absolutely free and absolutely determined.
This vision I had is of no value to anyone else, but it gave me a kind of satisfaction, a kind of peace (for a while).
(long silence)
0 1961-04-22, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I had a vision last night which lasted for a long timeit was rather interestingabout your work concerning Sri Aurobindo: the plane where its situated, what place Sri Aurobindo gives it and the HELP he is giving you. It was very, very interesting. I no longer recall all the details, but broad bands of a bluish-white light seemed to be spreading out in special forms (Mother sketches spirals in the air), showing how it would touch the earths mental atmosphere. It was truly interesting.
And Sri Aurobindo spoke of it as my work with you. I told him that I myself was doing nothing! But he told me it was my work with you.
0 1961-04-29, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Narayana: another name of vishnu, one of the gods of the Hindu trinity. He watches over the creation, whereas Brahma is the creator and Shiva the destroyer.
Rakshasa: demon of the vital plane, as opposed to an asura, a demon of the mental world.
0 1961-06-20, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yesterday, when I was in that immobility, suddenly I felt something obliging me to turn my head. I didnt turn my head, but the consciousness turned (gesture to the left), and then I saw myself standing there in the corridor (that kind of corridor separating the hall and Sri Aurobindos room) in my usual outdoor dress [Indian shirt and light trousers]. I was standing up very straight and holding a globe of light above my head and such a light! It was shining brighter than those strong electric bulbsdazzling. My own clothing seemed to be made of golden-pink light. I was standing very straight and carrying this globe (gesture above the head). When I saw that I said to myself, Now why on earth is he making me see this? And that was all. Nothing else happened except that. But near me there was a figure I didnt know, and it reminded me of Xs great guru,1 whom I had already seen once. There he was by my side, a tall figure, and he seemed to be the one who had tugged at me to make me see that vision.
It was a large globe. Although no distinct rays could be seen, it appeared to be projecting innumerable rays like flashes of lightning. It was sparkling all over.
0 1961-06-24, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There have been very, very few cases, a quite minimal number, when people have called (not very sincerely) and their call hasnt had much effect. But even these people have a protection. There was a woman here, an old woman who was not very sincere (she didnt live hereshe only came to visit) and the last time she visited she fell ill and died. Then I saw that she was completely dispersed into all her desires, all her memories, all her attachments and it had all been scattered here and there, into all sorts of things (one part of her was seeking, seeking where to go and what to do); anyway, it was rather pitiful. Afterwards I was asked, How did it happen? She was calling all the time. I replied that I had not heard her callit must not have been very sincere, only a formula.4
But its very rare that people get no response.
--
But there are all sorts of cases. Take N.D., for example, a man who lived his whole life with the idea of serving Sri Aurobindohe died clasping my photo to his breast. This was a consecrated man, very conscious, with an unfailing dedication, and all the parts of his being well organized around the psychic.6 The day he was going to leave his body little M. was meditating next to the Samadhi when suddenly she had a vision: she saw all the flowers of the tree next to the Samadhi (those yellow flowers I have called Service) gathering themselves together to form a big bouquet, and rising, rising straight up. And in her vision these flowers were linked with the image of N.D. She ran quickly to their house andhe was dead.
I only knew about this vision later, but on my side, when he left, I saw his whole being gathered together, well united, thoroughly homogenous, in a great aspiration, and rising, rising without dispersing, without deviating, straight up to the frontier of what Sri Aurobindo has called the higher hemisphere, there where Sri Aurobindo in his supramental action presides over earth. And he melted into that light.
Some time before his heart attack he said to his children: the gown is old, it must be thrown away.
0 1961-06-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Actually, as soon as one is not totally, totally tied down by the physical sense organs. For example, I am more and more frequently experiencing changes in the quality of vision. Quite recently, yesterday or the day before, I was sitting in the bathroom drying my face before going out and I raised my eyes (I was sitting before a mirror, although I dont usually look at myself); I raised my eyes and looked, and I saw many things (Mother laughs, greatly amused). At that moment, I had an experience which made me say to myself, Ah! Thats why, from the physical, purely material standpoint, my vision seems to be a bit blurred. Because what I was seeing was MUCH clearer and infinitely more expressive than normal physical sight. And I recalled that it is with these clearer eyes that I see and recognize all my people at balcony darshan. (From the balcony I recognize all my people.) And its that vision (but with open eyes!) which. It is of another order.
I am going to study what Sri Aurobindo says when I come to it in The Yoga of Self-Perfection. He says there comes a time when the senses changeits not that you employ the senses proper to another plane (we have always known we had senses on all the different planes); its quite different from that: the senses THEMSELVES change. He foretells this changehe says it will occur. And I believe it begins in the way I am experiencing it now.
0 1961-07-15, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
If there werent this clear vision and constant aspiration withinoh, its so dreary and exasperating so dull, so gray ugh!
(silence)
0 1961-07-28, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have had the experience of being missioned, so to speak, in a form of Love and Consciousness combineddivine Love in its supreme purity, divine Consciousness in its supreme purity and emanated DIRECTLY, without passing through all the intermediate states, directly into the nethermost depths of the Inconscient. And there I had the impression of being, or rather of finding a symbolic Being in deep sleep so veiled that he was almost in visible. Then, at my contact, the veil seemed to be rent and, without his awakening, there was a sort of radiation spreading out. I can still see my vision.2
(silence)
--
A visION
(of Mothers)
--
Has the sleeper sensed my presence? For now he awakens and rises in all his grace and beauty. He turns towards me and his eyes meet mine, mauve and luminous eyes with a gentle, an infinitely tender expression. Wordlessly he bids me a sublime welcome and my whole being joyously responds. Taking my hand, he leads me to the couch he has just left. I stretch out on this downy whiteness, and his harmonious visage bends over me; a sweet current of force enters wholly into me, invigorating, revitalizing each cell.
Then, wreathed by the splendid colors of the rainbow, enveloped by lulling melodies and exquisite perfumes, beneath his gaze so powerful, so tender, I drift into a beatific repose. And during my sleep I learn many beautiful and useful things.
--
See the addendum following this conversation for a transcription of Mother's vision as she noted it down for publication in Theon's Cosmic Review in 1906.
Cent. Ed., Vol. XVII, p. 28 ff.
0 1961-08-05, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yes; the subtle physical is visible visible. You have seen heat vibrations when its very hot, havent you? Thats the subtle physicalone form of it.
The subtle physical is right here (gesture on the surface of the skin). Some people are sensitive in the subtle physical; you move your hand near them and they feel it immediately. Others dont even noticeit depends on the subtle physicals sensitivity. And the circumconscient surrounds it like an envelope. If there are no tears in it, this envelope is a magnificent protection.4 And its not dependent on any spiritual or intellectual rationale, but on a harmony with Nature and life, a kind of stability in the material being. People with strong envelopes are almost always in good health and succeed in what they do. It isnt something mentalwhen they do a work it comes out nicely, if they want to meet someone, they meet him. Things of this nature.
--
When my grandmo ther died. My grandmo ther had the occult sense. She had made her own fortune (a sizeable fortune) and had had five children, each one more extravagant than the other. She considered me the only sensible person in the family and she shared her secrets with me. You see, she told me, these people are going to squander all my money! She had a sixty year old son (she had married in Egypt at the age of fifteen, and had had this son when she was quite young). You see this boy, he goes out and visits impossible people! And then he starts playing cards and loses all my money! I saw this boy, I was there in the house when he came to her and said very politely, Good-bye, mother, Im going out to so-and-sos house. Ah, please dont waste all my money, and take an overcoatits getting chilly at night. Sixty years old! It was comical. But to return to my story, after my grandmo ther died (I took a lot of care over her), she came to my mother (my mother was with her when she died; they embalmed hershe had gotten it into her head that she wanted to be burned, and since she died at Nice they had to embalm her so she could be burned in Paris). I was in Paris. My mother arrived with the body and told me, Just imagine, Im constantly seeing her! And whats more, she gives me advice! Dont waste your money! she tells me. Well, shes right, one must be careful, I replied. But look here, shes dead! Dead! How can she talk to me! Shes dead, I tell you, and quite dead at that! I said to her, What does it mean, to die?
It was all very funny.
0 1961-09-10, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Maybe this is what you were thinking ofwhat you would like to express in your book. It occurred in a place similar to the realm of expression where, as I told you, I have frequently been going lately. It is very, very vast, very open, but this time there were no walls. No ceiling, no walls. There was only a kind of groundvery pale, luminous, vast and very empty, empty. People were seated but I didnt see any chairs. Only the pianos were visible, and they were quite odd: you could hardly see anything but the keyboards, which were sort of overlapping. In front was a grand piano, and over here was a somewhat bigger one the one I had been leaning over sideways to play on and then there was one turned to the other side. And then this grand piano, right in front but with only the keyboard visible! Well, why shouldnt I be comfortable! I said to myself, and I sat down. Then everything became bluegreat, blue notes. How am I going to play? I wondered. I tried to play as usual and then: It doesnt work, it doesnt work, I said. Ah! It has to be played from aboveit has to be played from above! So I place my hands on the keys, I concentrate and brrff! It was like some not violent, not loud and noisy, butoh, overwhelming! Three, fournot notes: sounds, harmonies I dont really know what.
But this must be what you were thinking of, what you would like to use for your book.1
--
Strangely enough, some years earlier, when Satprem was writing L'Orpailleur, Sujata had a vision in which she saw him typing, and from the typewriter came, not typewritten lines, but music!
***
0 1961-09-16, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There you are, petit. Now if I can pass this vision along to you, your book will come easily.
***
0 1961-09-30, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I had a clear vision of the two kinds of opposites in nature (not only in nature but in life) which almost everyone carries within himself: one is the possibility of realization, the other is the path chosen to attain it. There is always (its probably inevitable) the stormy path of struggle, and then there is the sunlit path. After much study and observation, I have had a sort of spiritual ambition (if it can be called that) to bring to the world a sunlit path, to eliminate the necessity for struggle and suffering: something that aspires to replace this present phase of universal evolution with a less painful phase.
It greatly interested me when I read your letter. I was looking at why you have so many difficulties; twice in your note you wrote that it [writing] is a suffering. You have very often written this word, very often spoken it, and it seems dominant in one aspect of your beingwhile in the other is the glory of a supreme joy, the very stuff of the future realization.
0 1961-10-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But some people I dont hear at all! I see lips moving, but there is nothing, nothing, not even an ordinary thought! When people are capable of a little clear-thinking, I hear everything. But with others, its like oo-oo-oo. Just recently there was something really comical! I no longer know who it was, but someone came to see me and when he began to talk I understood nothing! All I heard was noise. What to do? This person was asking me questions (he came here for sadhana, mind you, not for external matters; it was a serious visit), and all that came out was oo-oo-oo-oo, nothing else. So I concentrated and put myself in contact with his soul, which was the only thing I could contact. It took some time. I kept silent, and finally so did he, since he saw that I was not replying. Then suddenly it came, so clearly, like drops of water falling from above: ready-made sentences. I began to tell him all sorts of things about what his soul wanted, what he had to do in the world. It was a revelation! Ah! he said, I have been waiting to hear this all my life!
But it took some time, because first of all he had to stop talking, and then I had to concentrate.
0 1961-10-15, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I dont know, I didnt hear the beginning, but certainly everything dealing with physical events [of Sri Aurobindos life] will be expressed in a very reasonable and normal style so that there will be no danger of people saying, Hes a half-cracked visionary! I dont know, the first part of what you read to me was so good! Gusts of golden light kept coming. Perhaps you wanted to explain too much. You dont know what happened?
Yes, its precisely this need to explain.
--
I have a sort of vision in my head of parts of sentences, three or four words where the impression was what I told you: Not necessary. But it was a very minor thing. It was more an attitude, an attitude in the expression. But it wasnt disturbing.
I keep feeling that Sri Aurobindo wants the conclusion to be swift; and I myself (probably not with his power of comprehension) have a vision, a sort of feeling coming from a great height above, that the most important part of the book should be very abruptlike breaking through a door, flinging it wide-open, and emerging in a rush of light. Thats all. Now keep quiet and see what happens.
***
0 1961-10-30, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
What I would have liked at the beginning of the book is my visionhow I see him now. But its untranslatable.
(silence)
--
Nor was it insignificant that fire, Agni, was the core of the Vedic mysteries: Agni, the inner flame, the soul within us (for who can deny that the soul is fire?), the innate aspiration drawing man towards the heights; Agni, the ardent will within us that sees, always and forever, and remembers; Agni, the priest of the sacrifice, the divine worker, the envoy between earth and heaven (Rig-veda III, 3.2) he is there in the middle of his house (I.70.2). The Fathers who have divine vision set him within as a child that is to be born (IX.83.3). He is the boy suppressed in the secret cavern (V.2.1). He is as if life and the breath of our existence, he is as if our eternal child (I.66.1). O Son of the body (III.4.2), O Fire, thou art the son of heaven by the body of the earth (III.25.1). Immortal in mortals (IV.2. 1), old and outworn he grows young again and again (II.4.5). When he is born he becomes one who voices the godhead: when as life who grows in the mother he has been fashioned in the mother he becomes a gallop of wind in his movement (III.29.11). O Fire, when thou art well borne by us thou becomest the supreme growth and expansion of our being, all glory and beauty are in thy desirable hue and thy perfect vision. O Vastness, thou art the plenitude that carries us to the end of our way; thou art a multitude of riches spread out on every side (II.1.12). O Fire brilliant ocean of light in which is divine vision (III.22.2), the Flame with his hundred treasures O knower of all things born(I.59).
But the divine fire is not our exclusive privilegeAgni exists not only in man: He is the child of the waters, the child of the forests, the child of things stable and the child of things that move. Even in the stone he is there (I.70.2).
--
All is reconciled. The Rishi is the son of two mothers: son of Aditi, the luminous cow, Mother of infinite Light, creatrix of the worlds; and son as well of Diti, the black cow, Mother of the tenebrous infinite and divided existence for when Diti at last reaches the end of her apparent Night, she gives us divine birth and the milk of heaven. All is fulfilled, The Rishi sets flowing in one movement human strengths and things divine (IX.70.3), he has realized the universal in the individual, become the Infinite in the finite: Then shall thy humanity become as if the workings of these gods; it is as if the visible heaven of light were founded in thee (V.66.2). Far from spurning the earth, he prays: O Godhead, guard for us the Infinite and la vish the finite(IV.2.11).
The voyage draws to its close. Agni has recovered its solar totality, its two concealed extremities. The inviolable work is fulfilled. For Agni is the place where high meets lowand in truth, there is no longer high nor low, but a single Sun everywhere: O Flame, thou goest to the ocean of Heaven, towards the gods; thou makest to meet together the godheads of the planes, the waters that are in the realm of light above the sun and the waters that abide below (III.22.3). O Fire O universal Godhead, thou art the navel-knot of the earths and their inhabitants; all men born thou controllest and supportest like a pillar (I.59.1). O Flame, thou foundest the mortal in a supreme immortality thou createst divine bliss and human joy (I.31.7). For the worlds heart is Joy, Joy dwells in the depths of all things, the well of honey covered by the rock (II.24.4).
0 1961-11-05, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I dont like to talk about these things, though they dont interest me. As Sri Aurobindo said, I lived my whole life absolutely free. I watched myself living through events like watching a movie. I had an inner vision, an inner will, and my inner reason for doing things was an Order received, an Order I was conscious of; but outwardlyfantastic! Naturallyhow else could it have been?
Here in Pondicherry, those last days might have become tragic (but of course it was impossible). There was the great argument (for he was perfectly aware of who I was): But after all, he would tell me, since you are the eternal Mother, why have you chosen Aurobindo as Avatar? Choose me! You must choose meme! It was the Asura speaking through him. I would smile and not discuss it. Thats not how its done! I would tell him (laughing). Then one day he said, Ah, so you dont want to. (gesture to the throat) Well, if you dont choose me, then. He was a strong fellow with powerful hands. I kept quite calm and said inwardly, My Lord, my Lord. I called Sri Aurobindo and I saw him come, like that (gesture enveloping Mother and immobilizing everything). Then Richards hands loosened their grip.
--
But the ifs. There is a domain where no more ifs exist, and when I am there, I still dont find any signs of inevitability. The place X looks from is all mixed up. I have had a certain number of visions, but not THE vision of inevitable war.
Not that they arent trying!
--
No, they had a hint, like a vision of the thing, but there is no proof that they realized it. Whats more, had they realized it, it seems to me that we would certainly have found some traces but no traces remain.
Theon knew something about it, and he called it the new world or the new creation on earth and the glorified body (I dont remember his exact terminology); but he knew of the Superminds existenceit had been revealed to him and he announced its coming. He said it would be reached THROUGH the discovery of the God within. And for him, as I told you the other day, this meant a greater densitywhich seems to be a correct experience. Well, on my side, I have made investigations and had innumerable visions concerning the earths history, and I spoke about it a good deal with Sri Aurobindo.
(silence)
--
Mother is alluding to the following aphorism of Sri Aurobindo: 'If when thou sittest alone, still and voiceless on the mountain-top, thou canst perceive the revolutions thou art conducting, then hast thou the divine vision and art freed from appearances.' This aphorism is completed by another: 'If when thou art doing great actions and moving giant results, thou canst perceive that THOU art doing nothing, then know that God has removed His seal on thy eyelids.'
Cent. Ed., Vol. XVII, p. 92
0 1961-11-16a, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And of course, as always, theres an accumulation of people, of visitors asking to see me. There is always this external contradiction.
But a day more or less doesnt matter!
0 1961-12-16, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
One day (Im translating the last section of The Synthesis of Yoga, The Yoga of Self-Perfectionit plunges you into bottomless gulfs) and one day (I think Ive told you this), I had a vision of the gap between not even what ought to be, because we probably havent the slightest idea of that, but between our concept of what we would like to be and what is. And it was so dreadful that the body was thrown into, oh an anguish, a horror; and along with it an intensity of aspiration, a prayer. The gap seemed so tremendous: Is it possible?
Thats how it felt.
0 1961-12-20, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Here, just to give you an example: when I first began to work (not with Theon personally but with an acquaintance of his in France, a boy4 who was a friend of my brother), well, I had a series of visions (I knew nothing about India, mind you, nothing, just as most Europeans know nothing about it: a country full of people with certain customs and religions, a confused and hazy history, where a lot of extraordinary things are said to have happened. I knew nothing.) Well, in several of these visions I saw Sri Aurobindo just as he looked physically, but glorified; that is, the same man I would see on my first visit, almost thin, with that golden-bronze hue and rather sharp profile, an unruly beard and long hair, dressed in a dhoti with one end of it thrown over his shoulder, arms and chest bare, and bare feet. At the time I thought it was vision attire! I mean I really knew nothing about India; I had never seen Indians dressed in the Indian way.
Well, I saw him. I experienced what were at once symbolic visions and spiritual FACTS: absolutely decisive spiritual experiences and facts of meeting and having a united perception of the Work to be accomplished. And in these visions I did something I had never done physically: I prostrated before him in the Hindu manner. All this without any comprehension in the little brain (I mean I really didnt know what I was doing or how I was doing itnothing at all). I did it, and at the same time the outer being was asking, What is all this?!
I wrote the vision down (or perhaps that was later on) but I never spoke of it to anyone (one doesnt talk about such things, naturally). But my impression was that it was premonitory, that one day something like it would happen. And it remained in the background of the consciousness, not active, but constantly present.
As for Theon, he was European and wore a long purple robe that wasnt at all like the one in my vision. (Im not sure, but I think he was either Polish or Russian, but more probably Russian, of Jewish descent, and that he was forced to leave his country; he never said anything about this to anyone, its only an impression.) When I saw him I recognized him as a being of great power. And he bore a certain likeness to Sri Aurobindo: Theon was about the same size (not a tall man, of medium height) and thin, slim, with quite a similar profile. But when I met Theon I saw (or rather I felt) that he was not the man I saw in my vision because he didnt have that vibration. Yet it was he who first taught me things, and I went and worked at Tlemcen for two years in a row. But this other thing was always there in the background of the consciousness.
Then when Richard came here he met Sri Aurobindo (he was haunted by the idea of meeting the Master, the Guru, the Great Teacher). Sri Aurobindo was in hiding, seeing no one, but when Richard insisted, he met him, and Richard returned with a photograph. It was one of those early photos, with nothing in it. It was empty, the remnants of the political man, not at all resembling what I had seen I didnt recognize him. Its strange, I said to myself, thats not it (for I saw only his external appearance, there was no inner contact). But still, I was curious to meet him. At any rate, I cant say that when I saw this photograph I felt, Hes the one! Not at all. He impressed me as being a very interesting man, but no more.
I came here. But something in me wanted to meet Sri Aurobindo all alone the first time. Richard went to him in the morning and I had an appointment for the afternoon. He was living in the house thats now part of the second dormitory, the old Guest House.5 I climbed up the stairway and he was standing there, waiting for me at the top of the stairs. EXACTLY my vision! Dressed the same way, in the same position, in profile, his head held high. He turned his head towards me and I saw in his eyes that it was He. The two things clicked (gesture of instantaneous shock), the inner experience immediately became one with the outer experience and there was a fusion the decisive shock.
But this was merely the beginning of my vision. Only after a series of experiencesa ten months sojourn in Pondicherry, five years of separation, then the return to Pondicherry and the meeting in the same house and in the same waydid the END of the vision occur. I was standing just beside him. My head wasnt exactly on his shoulder, but where his shoulder was (I dont know how to explain itphysically there was hardly any contact). We were standing side by side like that, gazing out through the open window, and then TOGETHER, at exactly the same moment, we felt, Now the Realization will be accomplished. That the seal was set and the Realization would be accomplished. I felt the Thing descending massively within me, with the same certainty I had felt in my vision. From that moment on there was nothing to sayno words, nothing. We knew it was THAT.
But between these two meetings he participated in a whole series of experiences, experiences of gradually growing awareness. This is partly noted in Prayers and Meditations (I have cut out all the personal segments). But there was one experience I didnt speak of there (that is, I didnt describe it, I put only the conclusion)the experience where I say Since the man refused I was offering participation in the universal work and the new creation and the man didnt want it, he refused, and so I now offer it to God.6
I dont know, Im putting it poorly, but this experience was concrete to the point of being physical. It happened in a Japanese country-house where we were living, near a lake. There was a whole series of circumstances, events, all kinds of thingsa long, long story, like a novel. But one day I was alone in meditation (I have never had very profound meditations, only concentrations of consciousness Mother makes an abrupt gesture showing a sudden ingathering of the entire being); and I was seeing. You know that I had taken on the conversion of the Lord of Falsehood: I tried to do it through an emanation incarnated in a physical being [Richard]7, and the greatest effort was made during those four years in Japan. The four years were coming to an end with an absolute inner certainty that there was nothing to be done that it was impossible, impossible to do it this way. There was nothing to be done. And I was intensely concentrated, asking the Lord, Well, I made You a vow to do this, I had said, Even if its necessary to descend into hell, I will descend into hell to do it. Now tell me, what must I do?The Power was plainly there: suddenly everything in me became still; the whole external being was completely immobilized and I had a vision of the Supreme more beautiful than that of the Gita. A vision of the Supreme.8 And this vision literally gathered me into its arms; it turned towards the West, towards India, and offered meand there at the other end I saw Sri Aurobindo. It was I felt it physically. I saw, sawmy eyes were closed but I saw (twice I have had this vision of the Supremeonce here, much later but this was the first time) ineffable. It was as if this Immensity had reduced itself to a rather gigantic Being who lifted me up like a wisp of straw and offered me. Not a word, nothing else, only that.
Then everything vanished.
--
It was after this vision, when I returned from Japan, that this meeting with Sri Aurobindo took place, along with the certainty that the Mission would be accomplished.
(silence)
0 1961-12-23, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Prakriti: Nature or the executive force, as opposed to Purusha, the conscious Soul which sees, knows and creates through its vision. These are the two principles, feminine and masculine, of the universe.
See Agenda of March 26, 1959 (Vol. I, p. 288): the Titan sent especially to attack Mother's body, and who uses the people around her for this purpose.
0 1962-01-09, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This was counterbalanced by a terrible censor which never left me.11 It took Sri Aurobindo to clear it from my path. But I didnt have the sense of sin, of Good and Evil, sin and virtuedefinitely not! My consciousness was centered around right action and wrong action12this should have been done, that shouldnt havewith no question of Good or Evil, from the standpoint of work, of action alone. My consciousness has always been centered on action. It was a vision, a perception of the line to be followedor the many lines to be followed for the action to be accomplished. And any deviation from what to me was the luminous line, the straight line (not geometrically straight: the luminous line, the line expressing the divine Will), the slightest deviation from that, and oh, it was the only thing that tormented me.
And the torment didnt come from me, it came from that character hooked on to my consciousness and constantly whipping me, hounding me, ill-treating mewhat people call their conscience, which has nothing whatsoever to do with consciousness!13 Its an adverse being, and whatever it can change, it changes for the worse; whatever is susceptible to being changed into something antidivine, it changes. And it is constantly repeating the same thing: This is wrong, that is wrong, this is wrong.
--
And it has never left me. Ever since then I have kept that same vision of things. But I have to make it intelligible.
Ill see you on the 12th.
0 1962-01-12 - supramental ship, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I once told you I put a body on a vital being7but I couldnt have made that body material; it would have been impossible: something is lacking. Something is lacking. Even if it were made visible, it would probably not be possible to make it permanentat the slightest opportunity, it would dematerialize. What we cant get is that permanence.
Its something Sri Aurobindo and I have discussed (discussed is one way of putting it), something we spoke about, and his view was the same as mine: there is a power, yes, to FIX the form here on earth, a power we dont have. Even people with the ability to materialize things (like Madame Thon, for instance) cant make their materializations last; it cant be done, they dont lastthey dont have the quality of physical things.
0 1962-01-21, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This is exactly the experience I have been going through these past few days; since the day before yesterday it seems to have reached its peak, and this morning it developed into a comprehensive vision, an earth-encompassing vision.
Its almost like a reversal of attitude.
Actually, people have always taken themselves for victims hounded by adverse forces the courageous fight back, the rest lament. But increasingly there has been a very concrete vision of the role the adverse forces play in the creation, of their almost absolute necessity as goads to make the creation progress and become its Origin again. And there was such a clear vision that one should accomplish ones own transformation thats what we must pray for, what we must work outrather than demand the conversion or abolition of the adverse forces.
And this is all from the terrestrial, not the individual standpoint (for the individual standpoint, its quite clear): I am speaking from the terrestrial standpoint.
And there was the sudden vision of all the error, all the incomprehension, all the ignorance, all the darkness andeven worseall the ill will in the earths consciousness, which felt responsible for the prolongation of those adverse forces and beings and offered them up in a great it was more than an aspiration, it was a sort of holocaust, so that the adverse forces might disappear, might no longer have any reason to exist, no longer need to be there to point out all that has to change.
The adverse forces were necessitated by all these negations of the divine life. And this movement of earth consciousness towards the Supreme, the offering of all these things with such extraordinary intensity, was a kind of reparation so that those adverse forces might disappear.
--
It came after the vision of the great divine Becoming.2 Since this world is progressive, I was wondering, since it is increasingly becoming the Divine, wont there always be this deeply painful sense of the nondivine, of the state that, compared with the one to come, is not divine? Wont there always be what we call adverse forces, in other words, things that dont harmoniously follow the movement? Then came the answer, the vision of That: No, the moment of this very Possibility is drawing near, the moment for the manifestation of the essence of perfect Love, which can transform this unconsciousness, this ignorance and this ill will that goes with it into a luminous and joyous progression, wholly progressive, wholly comprehensive, thirsting for perfection.
It was very concrete.
--
The first rather tangible manifestation was this vision of the boat; with that, things became more concrete, it radically changed something in the attitude.
Were at another stage now.
0 1962-02-03, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(A visitor has written to Mother about her difficulties, saying she is the victim of a "collective karma.")
Those karma stories.
--
This analogy is very apt down here on this plane, but for the higher realms it doesnt applyup there its just the opposite! As long as you remain the archer, touching one point, thats how it is; all intelligence below is like that, seeing all sorts of possibilities, so it cant make a choice and act. To see the whole target, the all-inclusive Truth, you must cross to the other side. And when you do, what you see is not the sum of countless truths, an innumerable quantity of truths added together and viewed one after another, making it impossible to grasp the whole at a glance; when you go above, its the whole you see first, AT A GLANCE, in its entirety, without di vision. So there is no longer any choice to be made; its a vision: THAT is to be done. The choice is no longer between this and that, it doesnt work that way any more. Things are no longer seen in succession, one after another; there is rather a simultaneous vision of a whole that exists as a unit. The choice is simply a vision.
As long as youre not in that state, you cant see the whole. The whole cant be seen successively, by adding one truth to another; this is precisely what the mind does, and why it is incapable of seeing the whole. It cant do it. The mind will always see things in succession, by addition, but thats not IT, something will always elude you the very sense of truth will elude you.
--
Then, action is no longer a choice subject to error, correction, discussion, but the clear vision of what must be done. And this vision is infallible.
(silence)
0 1962-02-09, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I wish I had a more comforting vision.
Yes, its miserable. I must say, the farther I go, the more I.
0 1962-02-13, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
My vision of things the SAME thingshas become very, very different. Very different. When you read these Talks to me its exactly as though I were listening to someone else saying things I am transported back into a different persons consciousness. But at least its accessible, while now.
At that time, I had the sense of a higher way of living: I used to make a distinction between different ways of life. Now this so-called higher way of living seems so miserable to meso petty, mean, narrow that I very often find myself in the same position as those who ask, But is there really something to it? And I understand them (even though I have a different will and vision of something to come that is not yet here), I understand the feeling of those who came into contact with spiritual life and asked, What good is itwhat good is it? Is there anything worth living in it? We are NECESSARILY hemmed in, bound to live in narrowness and pettiness simply to keep alive, for the sake of all the bodys needs.
It takes such an effort to bring Light into this poverty, to bring a Force, a Reality, a Power, something, good Lord, something TRUE! Through constant effort and will, constant tension, suddenly, ah! I get two or three seconds and then it all ebbs away again.
0 1962-02-27, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The closer you approach absolute certainty, the greater is the time span, because the realm of such visions is quite close to the Origin, and a long time can pass between the revelation of what will be and its realization. But being so near the Origin, the revelation is very certain.
When one is identified with the Supreme, there is a place where all is unequivocally known: in the past, in the present, in the future and everywhere. But when they return, those who go there usually forget what they have seen. A particularly strict discipline is needed to remember. Thats the only realm where you cant be mistaken.
--
Anyway, to go back to what I was saying, depending on the plane of ones vision, one can judge approximately how much time it will take to be realized. Immediate things are already realized, they are self-existent and can be seen in the subtle physical they already exist there, and the reflection (not even transcription) or projection of this image is what will take place in the material world the next day or a few hours later. In this case you see the thing accurately, in all its details, because its already there. Everything hinges on the precision and power of your vision: if your vision is objective and sincere, you will see the thing as it is; if you add personal sentiments or impressions, it gets colored. Accuracy in the subtle physical depends exclusively on the instrument, the one who sees.
But as soon as you move into a subtler realm, like the vital (and the mental even more so), there is a narrow margin of possibilities. You can see the rough outlines of what is going to take place, but in the details it can be this way or that way: it is possible for certain wills or influences to interfere and create discrepancies.
This is so because the original Will is reflected, as it were, in different realms, and in each realm the organization and relation of the images are changed. The world we live in is a world of imagesnot THE thing itself in its essence, but its reflection. We could say that in our material existence we are merely a reflection, an image of what we are in our essential reality. And the modalities of these reflections are what introduce all the errors and all the falsifications (what is seen in its essence is perfectly true and pure, existing from all eternity, while images are essentially variable). And according to the amount of falsehood introduced into the vibrations, the amount of distortion and alteration increases. Each circumstance, each event and each thing can be said to have one pure existenceits true existence and a considerable number of impure or distorted existences in the various realms of being. There is a substantial beginning of distortion, for instance, in the intellectual realm (indeed, the mental realm holds a considerable amount of distortion), and it increases as all the emotional and censorial realms interfere. Arriving at the material plane, the vision is most often unrecognizable. Completely distorted. To such a point that its sometimes very hard to realize that this is the material expression of thattheres not much resemblance any longer!
This approach to the problem is rather new and can provide the key to many things.
Take the case of someone you know well and are used to seeing materially: seeing him in the subtle physical, certain aspects become more prominent, more visible, more marked; physically they went unseen because in the material grayness they had blended with many other things. Certain character traits that never showed up physically now become so marked as to be quite visible. When you look at someone physically, you see the color of his complexion, the shape of his features, his expression. Seeing him at the same moment in the subtle physical, you suddenly notice different colors on different parts of the face, in the eyes an expression or a particular light you hadnt seen beforea strong impression of a very different overall appearance, which to our physical eyes would seem rather outlandish. But for the subtle vision its all very expressive and revealing of the persons character, or even of the influences hes under (what I am talking about is something I observed a few days ago).
So, according to the plane where you are conscious and can see, you perceive images and see events from varying distances and with varying degrees of accuracy. The only true and sure vision is the vision of the Divine Consciousness. The problem, therefore, is to become conscious of the Divine Consciousness and constantly maintain it in all lifes details.
Meanwhile, there are all sorts of ways to receive indications. That exact, precise and (whats the word?) habitual vision certain people have may stem from various sources. It may be a vision through identity with circumstances and things when you have learned to expand your consciousness. It may be an indication from some chatterbox of the in visible world, who has got it into his head to let you know whats going to happenthis is often the case. Then everything depends on your harbingers morals: if he is having fun at your expense, he spins stories for youthis almost always happens to those who receive their information from entities. To bait you, they may repeatedly tell you how things are going to turn out (for they have a universal vision in some vital or mental realm); then, when they are sure you trust them, they may start telling you fibs and, as they say in English, you make a fool of yourself. This happens frequently! You have to be in a higher consciousness than these fellows, these entities (or these minor gods, as some call them) and able to check from above the value of their statements.
With a universal mental vision, you can see (and this is very interesting) how the mental world operates to get realized on the physical plane. You see the various mental formations, how they converge, conflict, combine and relate to one another, which ones get the upper hand, exert a stronger influence and achieve a more total realization. Now, if you really want a higher vision, you must get out of the mental world and see the original wills as they descend to take expression. In this case, you may not have all the details, but the central FACT, the fact in its central truth, is indisputable, undeniable, absolutely correct.
Some people also have the faculty of predicting things already existing on earth but at a distance, far from physical eyestheyre generally those who have the capacity to expand and extend their consciousness. Their vision is slightly more subtle than physical vision, and depends on an organ subtler than its purely material counterpart (what could be called the life of this organ). So, by projecting their consciousness, and having the will to see, they can clearly see things that already exist but are beyond our ordinary field of vision. Those who have this capacitysincere people who tell what they see, not blufferssee with perfect precision and exactness.
Ultimately, absolute sincerity is the great deciding factor for those who predict or foresee. Unfortunately, because of peoples curiosity, their insistence and the pressure they exert (which very few can resist), an almost involuntary mechanism of inner imagination comes to add just that small missing element to something not seen with precision or exactness. Thats what causes flaws in prediction. Very few have the courage to say, Ah no, I dont know this, I dont see that, this eludes me. They dont even have the courage to say it to themselves! So then, with a tiny drop of imagination, which acts almost subconsciously, the vision or information gets rounded outit can turn out to be anything at all! Very few people can resist this tendency. I have known many, many psychics, many extraordinarily gifted beings, and only a handful were able to stop just at the point where their knowledge stopped. Or else they embellish. Thats what gives these faculties their slightly dubious quality. One would have to be a great saint, a great sage, and completely free from other peoples influences (I dont speak of those who seek fame: they fall into the most flagrant traps); because even goodwillwanting to satisfy people, please them, help themis enough to distort the vision.
(Smiling) Are you satisfied? Have I answered everything?
--
It was a vision. He saw the bellboy, but instead of the elevator, the boy showed him his hearse. Then, when he saw the same boy making the very same gesture (really just like the cartoon), he said, No, thanks! Ill walk down. And the elevator (a hydraulic one) broke. It crashed down, crushing all those inside it.
He asked me about it and my explanation was that an entity had forewarned him. The image of the bellboy indicates an intelligent, conscious intermediaryit doesnt seem to come from the mans subconscient.1 Or else he had seen it in the subtle physical and his subconscient knew but then why did it present him with such an image? I dont know. Perhaps something in his subconscient knew, because the accident already existed in the subtle physical. Before it occurred here, the accident the law of the accidentexisted.
--
For the subtler senses, the method is to create an exact image of what you want, make contact with the corresponding vibration and then concentrate and practice. For instance, you practice seeing through an object, or hearing through a sound2 or seeing at a distance. As an example, I was once bedridden for several months, which I found quite boring I wanted to see. I was staying in one room and beyond that room was another little room and after that a sort of bridge; in the middle of the garden the bridge changed into a stairway going down into a very spacious and beautiful studio built in the middle of the garden.3 I wanted to go see what was happening in the studio I was bored stiff in my room! So I stayed very still, shut my eyes and gradually, gradually sent out my consciousness. I did the exercise regularly, day after day, at a set hour. You begin with your imagination, and then it becomes a fact. After a while, I distinctly sensed my vision physically moving: I followed it and saw things going on downstairs I knew absolutely nothing about. I would verify it in the evening, asking, Did it happen like this? Was that how it was?
But each of these things must be practiced for months, patiently, almost stubbornly. You take the senses one after another: hearing, sight, and eventually even the subtle aspects of taste, smell and touch.
0 1962-03-06, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Thats about the only place where progress is really visible. I hope the fact of having spoken wont get me into trouble again!
But impatience and irritation. Well, if it makes you feel better. Some people need it as a safety valve but it makes you lose a lot of time.
0 1962-03-11, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The other day, didnt I tell you the story of those entities working for me? (It wasnt you? Id had a vision.) In fact, I very often see entities like Nature spirits when I enter the subtle physical and work there (usually for people here and the Ashram, and for the world at large), I very, very often have them with me, or else I meet them in the course of my work. They are forces, generally feminine in appearance, that do some work and have a great deal of power. They are usually the ones that respond to Tantric invocations (I dont mean the Tantrics who call on Kali or Durga, thats something else altogether, those belong to a totally different world). Most of the time these Nature forces are very willing to helpat any rate, they are wonderfully obliging with me! But they are limited beings, with their own ideas and laws, their own volition, and when vexed they can do unpleasant things. Yet they are not hostile beings, nor are they vital beings: they are personified forces of physical Nature, in the subtle physical.
A world of things could be said.
0 1962-04-03, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There is in that group a man whom I must have seen once or twice, who is not with them in spirit, but only in appearance, but without knowledge. He does not know what kind of being it is. And he always hopes to make him accept me, believing it is truly Sri Aurobindo. I saw this being last night. I wont tell you all the details of the vision. It is not necessary. But I must say that I was fully conscious, aware of everything, knowing that there was an Asuric Force there, but not rejecting it, because of the infinity of Sri Aurobindo. I knew that everything is part of him and I do not want to reject anything. I met this being last night three times, even apologized for sins that I have not committed, and in full love and surrender.
I woke up at twelve, remembering everything.
--
I woke up at two and noticed that the heart had been affected by the attack of this group that is wanting to take my life away from this body, because they know that as long as I am in a body upon earth their purpose cannot succeed. Their first attack was many years ago in vision and action. It happened during the night and I spoke of it to no one. I noted the date, and if I can come out of this crisis, I will find it and give it out. They would have liked me dead years ago. It is they who are responsible for these attacks on my life. Until now I am alive because the Lord wants me to be alive, otherwise I would have gone long ago.
I am no more in my body. I have left the Lord to take care of it, if it is to have the Supramental or not. I know, and I have also said, that now is the last fight. If the purpose for which this body is alive is to be fulfilled, that is to say, the first steps towards the Supramental transformation, then it will continue today. It is the Lords decision. I am not even asking what He has decided. If the body is incapable of bearing the fight, if it has to be dissolved, then humanity will pass through a critical time. What the Asuric Force that has succeeded in taking the appearance of Sri Aurobindo will create is a new religion or thought, perhaps cruel and merciless, in the name of the Supramental Realisation. But everybody must know that it is not true, it is not Sri Aurobindos teaching, not the truth of his teaching. The truth of Sri Aurobindo is a truth of love and light and mercy. He is good and great and compassionate and divine. Et cest Lui qui aura la victoire finale.1
0 1962-05-15, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I told you about that experience of meeting Sri Aurobindo (the true Sri Aurobindo) in the subtle physical. This is the exact dateearly that morning I jotted it down on this paper. And it gives me the approximate date of the other vision: that is, I must have had my first experience with those people somewhere around the end of June or the beginning of July, 1959.
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.
So it was in 59 that I first saw them, and it must have been the end of June or the beginning of July. This note [the desk-calendar page] is what gave me the clue, because I know that the other experience [of Sri Aurobindo in the subtle physical] came a few weeks later.
--
No, nomy visions are in the subtle physical, but those people exist here on earth, although I dont know who they are. As I said, I knew only one of them. But its certain that a physical organization corresponding to these visions does exist. I dont know the details they just havent been given to me. But it corresponds to a group of PHYSICAL people.
Powerful?
--
But how powerful are they outwardly? The people around that fellow [the fake Sri Aurobindo], who leveled all those reproaches at me, used to be in the Ashram they have since left. They were quite real. But the ones in the last group [in the most recent vision], I dont know I dont know them physically, so I cant say.
One day, perhaps, Ill find out.
0 1962-05-18, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Pain is the one thing I sense the way I used to. Food, for instance, taste, smell, vision, hearingall thats completely changed. They belong to another rhythm. And this condition has come progressively, like a crystallization of something behind the senses that doesnt come from herein taste, smell, vision, hearing, touch. Except this one point. Even the sense of touch is different now but PAIN.
Pain is the old world.
0 1962-05-24, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I would like to ask you in what way your vision has changed since the experience of April 13what exactly is the difference?
I repeat.
--
In what way has your vision of the PHYSICAL world changed since that experience [of April 13]?
I cant give you more than an approximation of that awareness.
0 1962-05-27, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
and that its all closed to me now. I feel theres a knowledge Ive already had, a vision Ive already had
Certainly.
0 1962-06-02, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And I know I was in a state of knowledge, because I suddenly knew who certain people herepeople I have known for a very, very long timewere the reincarnations of (I had never tried to find that out, it just came). I was almost calling them by their former names. Yes, a special state, a state of knowledge but not spiritual knowledge: a knowledge related to the material world. In such visions, water always represents the vital. When everything is harmonious with the water, it means the vital is harmonious.
It was delightful (it happened around 1:30 in the afternoon): sitting on the water the way you would sit on a chair! And the water was so clear, crystal clear, transparent, rippled with tiny waves; the depths were dark blue, but the surface was perfectly clear, transparent, almost colorless. Then when the big brother came, boasting that he knew how to do it too, and would take me across, the water began to get muddy, as river water always isa dirty grayish yellow.
--
You remember all the difficulties I encountered in those other visions at night. Well, this was very interesting because it was just the opposite: I was in a very complicated place full of obstacles and difficulties, but someone or something was always there when I arrivedeverything would get sorted out and I would go on my way. It all sorted itself out automatically the feeling of a power putting everything in order. And I remember when the mason arrived, just as I was facing that rather big obstacle, there was someone on my right (someone very official, wearing a dark coat) who thought (the contact was through thought rather than words), Oh! Shes always calling on the workers for help instead of. And I answered, The workers are more efficient and their goodwill (all that business of caste, you know, or of society or social position). The workers have simple hearts, I said, they are efficient in their work and have more goodwill than the people who think theyre so smart! It was funny. So this made two interesting experiences yesterday, one after the other.
The afternoon experience was very intriguing; I was busy working (organizing things for one of the departments, I no longer remember which) and then I said to the person I was with, Now I am going to my cousins place! When I was very young I had a cousin, the eldest son of one of my fathers brothers (he had a large family, such as you seldom see in France). This cousin became some kind of engineera civil engineer, maybe, or a mechanical engineer (he was an outstanding chemist). Anyway, this boy was very attracted to me. He went off to the war as an officer and caught some disease (I forget what) and died around 1915, at the time I returned to France. Well, in my experience yesterday afternoon, a certain family living HERE gave me exactly the same sensation I had had towards those people when I was young. And especially for this cousin (for the rest of the family it was more vague, like a background to the experience). I am going to their place, I said. They have a lovely estate here, just as they had a lovely estate in France before (they had Madame de Sevignes chateau at Sucy, near Parisa beautiful property). And it was all so concrete! It wasnt coming through the head; it wasnt a thought but a sensation. I have to go see him now, I said. And even as I was having my vision I was telling myself, You must be going crazy! Can they really be here in Pondicherry? This uncle with whom I had only rather distant relations and this cousin I never saw much of, but whom I knew to be very nice and very loyalAre they really here?! The sensation was most strange (the head wasnt functioning at all; it was a SENSATION). So off I went to see this cousin, and it was on the way to see him that I had the experience of crossing the river. And on the way back, after the discussion with the spiritual brother (whom I really told off: Get out of here! I dont need you!), after that, when I found myself back on the bank, I started collecting my consciousness again, telling myself, Look here now! Lets try to see clearly. And then I realized that the cousin who died prematurely during the war had reincarnated in someone here. How strange, I thought. And the dates coincided.
But that is a singular state: there is no mental intervention at all; you live things POSITIVELY, just as you experience them physically, in the same way that this (Mother knocks on the table next to her) is physically a table. Its that kind of perception something positive. I positively said, I am going to my cousins place, and the relationship had an absolutely positive vibrationit wasnt at all something thought or even remembered: theres no remembering anything, its simply there, alive. A strange state. I have had it on several occasions, and when I have it I am aware that this must be the state people who know what is happening and make predictions are inin this state there is no possibility of doubt. No thoughts intervenenone at all, not one. Absolutely nothing intellectual: simply certain vital-physical vibrations, and then you know. And you dont even wonder how you know; its not that kind of thingits self-evident. And since I was in that state when I saw the reincarnation of the cousin, I am perfectly sure of what I saw. And god knows (Mother laughs), when I came out of it and began to look at it all with my usual consciousness, I said to myself, My word! I would never have thought of such a thing! It was millions of miles from any thought of mine. Besides, I never used to think of that cousin; he was a fine boy but I never paid much attention to him, he had no place in my active consciousness.
0 1962-06-06, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
For example, just now I was sitting and waiting for you. When I have nothing to do I cant stay one second without immediately turning withininstead of the consciousness being turned outside, its turned within and well, I noticed that the body, which was sitting and waiting, had the feeling of going into something woolly, rounded, soft. And in both cases I was motionless. I was simply sitting here waiting. Its like going from something crisp, clear, precise (forget about thought or vision: this is pure sensation), from something crisp, precise, defined, into something soft, mellow like a light white smokenot milky white, but soft, transparent and oh, such peace. As if nothing in the world could resist that peace.
It happened in a split second: I was sitting, waiting for you, thinking you were about to come; but the door wasnt opening, so automatically the body went like this (inward-turning gesture). And since it happened so suddenly, I noticed the difference in the way the body felt. What it normally feels is a formidable willvery tranquil, very peaceful, free of tension or agitation, yet so direct and clear, concentrated (not concentrated: coagulated) that it is almost hard. And thats what controls the body, thats what the body obeys. And when thats not there, its the other state: smooth, mellow, soft, woolly and what peace! As if nothing in the world could disturb it.
--
And what nights I have! Nights like the one I told you about the other day, with visions and actions; and then I have nights. All night last night, I didnt lose consciousness, I dont feel I slept for a minute; and it was like being in a sort of temporal Infinity (both hands open above the head). From time to time, I look at the clock (all at once I feel something pulling me and I look at the clock): two or two and a half hours have passedlike a second. Did I sleep, you ask? Did the consciousness fall asleep? No, not for a second. But the sense of time completely disappears into into an inner immobility. But an immobility in motion!
If it keeps on like this, they will put me in a padded cell!
0 1962-06-12, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Naturally he says he has kept all he felt and saw for me. He had said he wanted to remove his yantram2 from the Ashram, but in the end he left it. He writes to Z telling him he is working on his arm. He had a visit from A. and from that fellow M.that was comical! M., of course, had come to the Ashram to stay, but anyway hes looking for some kind of power, I sense that well enough. He had been frequenting some character who had power but wasnt putting it to very good use, and he felt something similar with Xhe is instinctively in search of power. When he went down to see X, he may have felt a power coming into himso hes going away! I dont think he has any kind of attachment either to India or the Ashram: hes looking for power.
Thats how things stand.
--
If within that immobility I had a vision of the Mother, for instancea vision of the Motherif She were here well, yes, as though She knew me, was near me, was aware of my existence! A relationship, something. Well, that would change everything! If I could say to myself: close your eyes and you will see Herlike Ramakrishna, for example, he had that kind of relationship. I dont know, my whole life would be changed, I would feel linked to SOMETHING. It wouldnt just be silence, silence, silence.
But all that belongs to a lower stage.
--- Overview of noun vi
The noun vi has 2 senses (no senses from tagged texts)
1. six, 6, VI, sixer, sise, Captain Hicks, half a dozen, sextet, sestet, sextuplet, hexad ::: (the cardinal number that is the sum of five and one)
2. United States Virgin Islands, American Virgin Islands, VI ::: (more than 130 southeastern Virgin Islands; a dependent territory of the United States)
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun vi
2 senses of vi
Sense 1
six, 6, VI, sixer, sise, Captain Hicks, half a dozen, sextet, sestet, sextuplet, hexad
=> digit, figure
=> integer, whole number
=> number
=> definite quantity
=> measure, quantity, amount
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 2
United States Virgin Islands, American Virgin Islands, VI
INSTANCE OF=> possession
=> district, territory, territorial dominion, dominion
=> region
=> location
=> object, physical object
=> physical entity
=> entity
--- Hyponyms of noun vi
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun vi
2 senses of vi
Sense 1
six, 6, VI, sixer, sise, Captain Hicks, half a dozen, sextet, sestet, sextuplet, hexad
=> digit, figure
Sense 2
United States Virgin Islands, American Virgin Islands, VI
INSTANCE OF=> possession
--- Coordinate Terms (sisters) of noun vi
2 senses of vi
Sense 1
six, 6, VI, sixer, sise, Captain Hicks, half a dozen, sextet, sestet, sextuplet, hexad
-> digit, figure
=> binary digit
=> octal digit
=> decimal digit
=> duodecimal digit
=> hexadecimal digit
=> significant digit, significant figure
=> zero, 0, nought, cipher, cypher
=> one, 1, I, ace, single, unity
=> two, 2, II, deuce
=> three, 3, III, trio, threesome, tierce, leash, troika, triad, trine, trinity, ternary, ternion, triplet, tercet, terzetto, trey, deuce-ace
=> four, 4, IV, tetrad, quatern, quaternion, quaternary, quaternity, quartet, quadruplet, foursome, Little Joe
=> five, 5, V, cinque, quint, quintet, fivesome, quintuplet, pentad, fin, Phoebe, Little Phoebe
=> six, 6, VI, sixer, sise, Captain Hicks, half a dozen, sextet, sestet, sextuplet, hexad
=> seven, 7, VII, sevener, heptad, septet, septenary
=> eight, 8, VIII, eighter, eighter from Decatur, octad, ogdoad, octonary, octet
=> nine, 9, IX, niner, Nina from Carolina, ennead
Sense 2
United States Virgin Islands, American Virgin Islands, VI
-> possession
HAS INSTANCE=> Macao, Macau
HAS INSTANCE=> British Virgin Islands
HAS INSTANCE=> United States Virgin Islands, American Virgin Islands, VI
HAS INSTANCE=> Gilbert and Ellice Islands
HAS INSTANCE=> Faroe Islands, Faeroe Islands, Faroes, Faeroes
HAS INSTANCE=> French Polynesia, French Oceania
--- Grep of noun vis
anthyllis barba-jovis
ayapana triplinervis
bette davis
callitris quadrivalvis
clevis
clovis
cryptotermes brevis
davis
dwight davis
dwight filley davis
elvis
federation of saint kitts and nevis
genus ovis
genus protoavis
jefferson davis
john davis
levis
mavis
miles davis
mirabilis laevis
molucella laevis
musculus adductor brevis
myasthenia gravis
nevis
oestrus ovis
ovis
parvis
pavis
pelvis
protoavis
quercus laevis
raja laevis
rara avis
renal pelvis
saint christopher-nevis
saint kitts and nevis
st. christopher-nevis
st. kitts and nevis
stokesia laevis
stuart davis
ulmus laevis
vasa brevis
vis-a-vis
vis major
visa
visage
visayan
visayan islands
viscaceae
viscacha
viscera
visceral brain
visceral leishmaniasis
visceral pericardium
visceral pleura
viscid mushroom
viscidity
viscidness
viscometer
viscometry
visconti
viscose
viscose rayon
viscosimeter
viscosimetry
viscosity
viscount
viscount nelson
viscount northcliffe
viscount st. albans
viscountcy
viscountess
viscountess astor
viscounty
viscousness
viscum
viscum album
viscus
vise
vishnu
vishnuism
visibility
visible balance
visible horizon
visible light
visible radiation
visible spectrum
visible speech
visibleness
visigoth
vision
vision defect
visionary
visit
visitant
visitation
visitation right
visiting
visiting card
visiting fireman
visiting nurse
visiting professor
visitor
visken
visor
vista
vistaril
vistula
vistula river
visual acuity
visual agnosia
visual aphasia
visual area
visual aspect
visual cell
visual communication
visual cortex
visual defect
visual disorder
visual display unit
visual field
visual hallucination
visual image
visual impairment
visual joke
visual modality
visual percept
visual perception
visual property
visual purple
visual range
visual sensation
visual sense
visual signal
visual space
visual system
visualisation
visualiser
visualization
visualizer
visually impaired person
xenopus laevis
Grep of noun vi
alexander vi
balsam capivi
bhumi devi
carum carvi
devi
divi-divi
edward vi
george vi
gregory xvi
gustavus vi
henry vi
kuvi
lashkar-e-jhangvi
levi
louis vi
louis xvi
mithridates vi
mohammed reza pahlavi
mohammed reza pahlevi
nanda devi
nervi
pahlavi
pahlevi
paul vi
pehlevi
philip vi
pier luigi nervi
pius vi
pope alexander vi
shah pahlavi
urban vi
vi
via media
viability
viaduct
viagra
vial
viand
viands
viatical settlement
viatication
viaticus
viaticus settlement
vibe
vibes
vibist
viborg
vibraharp
vibramycin
vibrancy
vibraphone
vibraphonist
vibrating reed
vibration
vibrato
vibrator
vibrio
vibrio comma
vibrio fetus
vibrion
vibrissa
viburnum
viburnum dentatum
viburnum lantana
viburnum opulus
viburnum prunifolium
viburnum recognitum
viburnum trilobum
vicar
vicar-general
vicar apostolic
vicar of christ
vicarage
vicariate
vicarship
viccinium membranaceum
viccinium myrtillus
vice
vice-presidency
vice-presidential term
vice-regent
vice admiral
vice chairman
vice chancellor
vice crime
vice president
vice president of the united states
vice squad
vicegerent
vicente lopez
vicereine
viceroy
viceroyalty
viceroyship
vichy
vichy water
vichyssoise
vicia
vicia cracca
vicia faba
vicia orobus
vicia sativa
vicia sepium
vicia villosa
vicinity
vicious circle
vicious cycle
viciousness
vicissitude
vicksburg
vicomte de chateaubriand
vicomte ferdinand marie de lesseps
victim
victimisation
victimiser
victimization
victimizer
victimless crime
victor
victor-marie hugo
victor emanuel ii
victor emanuel iii
victor franz hess
victor herbert
victor hess
victor horta
victor hugo
victoria
victoria clafin woodhull
victoria cross
victoria day
victoria de durango
victoria falls
victoria land
victoria nyanza
victoria plum
victoria sandwich
victoria sponge
victorian
victorian age
victorian architecture
victoriana
victory
victory celebration
victory day
victory garden
victory lap
victrola
victual
victualer
victualler
victuals
vicugna
vicugna vicugna
vicuna
vidal
vidalia
vidalia onion
vidar
video
video digitizing
video display
video equipment
video game
video ipod
video recording
videocassette
videocassette recorder
videodisc
videodisk
videotape
vidua
vienna
vienna roll
vienna sausage
vienne
vientiane
vieques
viet nam
vietnam
vietnam war
vietnamese
vietnamese monetary unit
view
view angle
view finder
viewer
viewers
viewfinder
viewgraph
viewing
viewing audience
viewpoint
vigdis finnbogadottir
vigee-lebrun
vigil
vigil candle
vigil light
vigilance
vigilance committee
vigilance man
vigilante
vigilantism
vigna
vigna aconitifolia
vigna angularis
vigna caracalla
vigna radiata
vigna sesquipedalis
vigna sinensis
vigna unguiculata
vigna unguiculata sesquipedalis
vignette
vigor
vigorish
vigour
vii
viii
viking
viktor korchnoi
viktor lvovich korchnoi
viktor vasarely
vila
vileness
vilfredo pareto
vilification
vilifier
villa
villa-lobos
villa hermosa
village
village green
villager
villahermosa
villain
villainage
villainess
villainousness
villainy
villard
villein
villeinage
villoma
villon
villus
vilna
vilnius
vilno
vim
viminaria
viminaria denudata
viminaria juncea
vin ordinaire
vina del mar
vinaigrette
vinblastine
vinca
vinca major
vinca minor
vinca rosea
vincent's angina
vincent's infection
vincent van gogh
vincenzo bellini
vincetoxicum
vincetoxicum hirsutum
vincetoxicum negrum
vincristine
vindication
vindicator
vindictiveness
vine
vine cactus
vine maple
vine snake
vinegar
vinegar eel
vinegar fly
vinegar joe stilwell
vinegar tree
vinegar worm
vinegariness
vinegarishness
vinegarroon
vinegarweed
vinery
vineyard
vingt-et-un
viniculture
vinifera
vinifera grape
vinification
vino
vinogradoff
vinson
vintage
vintager
vintner
vinyl
vinyl cyanide
vinyl ether
vinyl group
vinyl polymer
vinyl radical
vinyl resin
vinylbenzene
vinylite
viocin
viol
viola
viola arvensis
viola blanda
viola canadensis
viola canina
viola clef
viola conspersa
viola cornuta
viola d'amore
viola da braccio
viola da gamba
viola ocellata
viola odorata
viola pedata
viola pubescens
viola reichenbachiana
viola rostrata
viola striata
viola sylvatica
viola tricolor
viola tricolor hortensis
violaceae
violation
violator
violence
violent death
violent disorder
violent storm
violent stream
violet
violet-flowered petunia
violet family
violet suksdorfia
violet wood sorrel
violin
violin bow
violin family
violin lesson
violin maker
violin section
violinist
violist
violoncellist
violoncello
viomycin
viorna baldwinii
viosterol
vioxx
vip
viper
viper's bugloss
viper's grass
vipera
vipera aspis
vipera berus
viperidae
viperine grass snake
viracept
viraemia
virago
viral delivery vector
viral haemorrhagic fever
viral hemorrhagic fever
viral hepatitis
viral infection
viral pneumonia
viramune
virazole
virchow
viremia
vireo
vireo olivaceous
vireo solitarius
vireo solitarius solitarius
vireonidae
virga
virgil
virgil garnett thomson
virgil thomson
virgilia
virgilia capensis
virgilia divaricata
virgilia oroboides
virgin
virgin's bower
virgin birth
virgin forest
virgin islands
virgin islands national park
virgin mary
virgin wool
virginal
virginal membrane
virginia
virginia beach
virginia bluebell
virginia chain fern
virginia cowslip
virginia creeper
virginia crownbeard
virginia deer
virginia fence
virginia ham
virginia katherine mcmath
virginia mallow
virginia mcmath
virginia oyster
virginia pine
virginia reel
virginia serpentaria
virginia serpentary
virginia snakeroot
virginia spring beauty
virginia stock
virginia strawberry
virginia thimbleweed
virginia wade
virginia waterleaf
virginia woolf
virginian
virginian stock
virginian sumac
virginian witch hazel
virginity
virgo
virgo the virgin
virgule
viricide
viridity
virilisation
virilism
virility
virility drug
virilization
virino
virion
viroid
virologist
virology
virtu
virtual image
virtual memory
virtual reality
virtual storage
virtue
virtuosity
virtuoso
virtuousness
virucide
virulence
virulency
virus
virus infection
virusoid
vis-a-vis
vis major
visa
visage
visayan
visayan islands
viscaceae
viscacha
viscera
visceral brain
visceral leishmaniasis
visceral pericardium
visceral pleura
viscid mushroom
viscidity
viscidness
viscometer
viscometry
visconti
viscose
viscose rayon
viscosimeter
viscosimetry
viscosity
viscount
viscount nelson
viscount northcliffe
viscount st. albans
viscountcy
viscountess
viscountess astor
viscounty
viscousness
viscum
viscum album
viscus
vise
vishnu
vishnuism
visibility
visible balance
visible horizon
visible light
visible radiation
visible spectrum
visible speech
visibleness
visigoth
vision
vision defect
visionary
visit
visitant
visitation
visitation right
visiting
visiting card
visiting fireman
visiting nurse
visiting professor
visitor
visken
visor
vista
vistaril
vistula
vistula river
visual acuity
visual agnosia
visual aphasia
visual area
visual aspect
visual cell
visual communication
visual cortex
visual defect
visual disorder
visual display unit
visual field
visual hallucination
visual image
visual impairment
visual joke
visual modality
visual percept
visual perception
visual property
visual purple
visual range
visual sensation
visual sense
visual signal
visual space
visual system
visualisation
visualiser
visualization
visualizer
visually impaired person
vitaceae
vital capacity
vital force
vital organ
vital principle
vital sign
vital statistics
vitalisation
vitaliser
vitalism
vitalist
vitality
vitalization
vitalizer
vitalness
vitals
vitamin
vitamin-deficiency diet
vitamin a
vitamin a1
vitamin a2
vitamin b
vitamin b1
vitamin b12
vitamin b2
vitamin b6
vitamin b complex
vitamin bc
vitamin c
vitamin d
vitamin e
vitamin g
vitamin h
vitamin k
vitamin k1
vitamin k3
vitamin m
vitamin p
vitamin pill
vitelline circulation
vitelline sac
vitellus
vithar
vitharr
viti levu
vitiation
viticulture
viticulturist
vitidaceae
vitiligo
vitis
vitis labrusca
vitis rotundifolia
vitis vinifera
vitrectomy
vitreous body
vitreous humor
vitreous humour
vitreous silica
vitrification
vitrine
vitriol
vittaria
vittaria lineata
vittariaceae
vittorio de sica
vituperation
vitus
vitus behring
vitus bering
viva
viva voce
vivacity
vivaldi
vivarium
viverra
viverra zibetha
viverricula
viverricula indica
viverricula malaccensis
viverridae
viverrinae
viverrine
viverrine mammal
vividness
vivien leigh
vivification
viviparous eelpout
vivisection
vivisectionist
vixen
viyella
vizcaino
vizier
viziership
vizor
vizsla
xvi
xxvi