The Mother's brief written statements on various aspects of spiritual life including some spoken comments.
This volume consists primarily of brief written statements by the Mother on various aspects of spiritual life. Written between the late 1920s and the early 1970s, the statements have been compiled from her public messages, private notes, and correspondence with disciples. About two-thirds of them were written in English; the rest were written in French and appear here in English translation. The volume also contains a small number of spoken comments, most of them in English. Some are tape-recorded messages; others are reports by disciples that were later approved by the Mother for publication.
VOLUME 14 COLLECTED WORKS OF THE MOTHER Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1980, 2004 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA
This volume consists primarily of brief written statements by the Mother on various aspects of spiritual life. Written between the late 1920s and the early 1970s, the statements have been compiled from her public messages, private notes, and correspondence with disciples. About two-thirds of them were written in English; the rest were written in French and appear here in English translation. The volume also contains a small number of spoken comments, most of them in English. Some are tape-recorded messages; others are reports by disciples that were later approved by the Mother for publication. These reports are identified by the symbol § placed at the end.
The volume is arranged by theme in seven parts, each part having a number of sections. Within the sections, dated statements have been placed in chronological order, undated ones where they best fit in thematically.
Many of the one-sentence statements dated 1954 and 1955 are translations or adaptations by the Mother of extracts from her Prières et Méditations. A number of definitions of terms are comments by her on the significances she has given to various flowers.
The reader should note that most of the statements here were given to particular persons under particular circumstances. The advice in them, therefore, may not apply to everyone.
Why are we on earth?
To find the Divine who is in each of us and in all things.
Only one thing is important, it is to find the Divine.
For each one and for the whole world anything becomes useful if it helps to find the Divine.
Life is meant for seeking the Divine. Life is realised when finding the Divine.
Let this be our one need in life, to realise the Divine.
Yes, to live in the consciousness of the Divine Presence is the only thing that matters.
2 June 1934
To want only what the Divine wants in us and for us, is the one important thing.
5 April 1935
The individual self and the universal self are one; in every world, in every being, in each thing, in every atom is the Divine Presence, and man's mission is to manifest it.
30 October 1951
Page 3
We are upon earth to manifest the Divine's will.
27 July 1954
The only important thing is the goal to be attained. The way matters little, and often it is better not to know it in advance.
15 November 1954
Whatever we do, we must always remember our aim.
7 December 1954
The aim of our life on earth is to become conscious of the Divine.
The true purpose of life―
To live for the Divine, or to live for the Truth, or at least to live for one's soul.
And the true sincerity―
To live for the Divine without expecting any benefit from Him in return.
20 January 1964
What is my true destiny?
The true destiny is to reach the Divine Consciousness.
What is my true worth in this life?
To serve the Divine.
22 October 1964
Page 4
The only thing worth living for is to serve the Divine.
January 1966
Conversion of the aim of life from the ego to the Divine: instead of seeking one's own satisfaction, to have the service of the Divine as the aim of life.
What you must know is exactly the thing you want to do in life. The time needed to learn it does not matter at all. For those who wish to live according to Truth, there is always something to learn and some progress to make.
2 October 1969
The true aim of life is to find the Divine's Presence deep inside oneself and to surrender to It so that It takes the lead of the life, all the feelings and all the actions of the body.
This gives a true and luminous aim to existence.
28 March 1970
Life has a purpose.
This purpose is to find and to serve the Divine.
The Divine is not far, He is in ourselves, deep inside and above the feelings and the thoughts. With the Divine is peace and certitude and even the solution of all difficulties.
Hand over your problems to the Divine and He will pull you out of all difficulties.
3 July 1970
Page 5
There is a purpose in life―and it is the only true and lasting one―the Divine. Turn to Him and the emptiness will go.
Blessings.
You are here to contact your soul, and that is why you live. Aspire persistently and try to silence your mind. The aspiration must come from the heart.
11 June 1971
To be and to become more and more what the Divine wants us to be should be our greatest preoccupation.
25 July 1971
Page 6
Consider the Divine Life as the most important thing to obtain.
Happiness is not the aim of life.
The aim of ordinary life is to carry out one's duty, the aim of spiritual life is to realise the Divine.
In the world, as it is, the goal of life is not to secure personal happiness, but to awaken the individual progressively towards the truth-consciousness.
It is not in order to be happy that we are upon earth, for in the present conditions of terrestrial life happiness is an impossibility. We are upon earth to find and realise the Divine, for the Divine Consciousness alone can give true happiness.
Do not live to be happy, live to serve the Divine and the joy that you will experience will be beyond all expectations.
March 1972
The life of a man is unfulfilled unless he has found the Divine.
2 June 1972
The Divine is everywhere and in everything; and we are created to discover the Divine and to unite with the Divine for his manifestation.
17 September 1972
Page 7
Man was created to express the Divine. His duty is therefore to become conscious of the Divine and to surrender himself entirely to His Will. All the rest, whatever the appearance, is falsehood and ignorance.
26 December 1972
We seek not our personal salvation but the absolute surrender of our being to the Divine.
Concentration on the Divine is the only truly valid thing. To do what the Divine wants us to do is the only thing valid.
6 January 1973
What is lasting, eternal, immortal and infinite, that indeed is worth having, worth conquering, worth possessing. It is divine Light, divine Love, divine Life―it is also Supreme Peace, Perfect Joy and All-Mastery upon earth with the Complete Manifestation as the crowning.
Page 8
Never forget that you are not alone. The Divine is with you helping and guiding you. He is the companion who never fails, the friend whose love comforts and strengthens. Have faith and He will do everything for you.
Never forget that you are not alone. The Divine is with you helping and guiding you. He is the companion who never fails, the friend whose love comforts and strengthens. The more you feel lonely, the more you are ready to perceive His luminous Presence. Have faith and He will do everything for you.
27 September 1951
Page 9
It is in the Divine that we shall always find all that we need.
17 April 1954
Alone the Divine can give us a perfect safety.
18 April 1954
Let the Divine Consciousness be the leading power in your life.
22 April 1954
Let the Divine Presence be always with you.
27 April 1954
Whatever you do, always remember the Divine.
5 May 1954
The Divine manifests upon earth whenever and wherever it is possible.
10 June 1954
In each heart, the Divine's Presence is the promise of future and possible perfections.
16 June 1954
It is only in the Divine that we can find perfect peace and total satisfaction.
5 July 1954
Page 10
Behind the surface of things there is a sea of perfect consciousness in which we can always dip.
7 August 1954
There is a consciousness that nothing can debase or tarnish or defile; it is the one that we call the Divine Consciousness.
The Divine Consciousness must be our only guide.
11 August 1954
The Divine Consciousness is the only true help, the only true happiness.
12 August 1954
The Lord has said, "The time has come" and all the obstacles will be overcome.
9 September 1954
The Divine is the savour of all life and the reason of all activity, the goal of our thoughts.
10 September 1954
The Divine's Presence is for us an absolute, immutable, invariable fact.
12 September 1954
In the Divine, by the Divine all is transfigured and glorified; in the Divine is found the key of all mysteries and all powers.
14 September 1954
Page 11
In all there lacks the unchanging peace of the Divine's sovereign contemplation, and the calm vision of the Divine's immutable eternity.
22 September 1954
In the Divine's light we shall see, in the Divine's knowledge we shall know, in the Divine's will we shall realise.
1 October 1954
Outside the Divine all is falsehood and illusion, all is mournful obscurity. In the Divine is life, light and joy. In the Divine is the sovereign peace.
2 October 1954
All our strength is with the Divine. With Him we can surmount all the obstacles.
4 October 1954
The Divine's voice is heard as a melodious chant in the stillness of the night.
7 October 1954
The Divine's triumph is so perfect that every obstacle, every ill-will, every hatred rising against Him is a promise of a vaster and still completer victory.
9 October 1954
For the plenitude of His light we invoke the Divine to awaken in us the power to express Him.
10 November 1954
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The Divine's words comfort and bless, soothe and illumine, and the Divine's generous hand lifts a fold of the veil which hides the infinite knowledge.
18 November 1954
How calm, noble and pure is the splendour of the Divine's contemplation.
19 November 1954
To live in the Divine with a life quite new, a life solely made of the Divine, of which the Divine should be the sovereign Lord―and so all troubles will be transformed into serenity, all anguish into peace.
23 November 1954
We feel the Divine so living in us that we await events with serenity, knowing that His way is everywhere since we carry it in our being.
24 November 1954
The Divine's glory transforms defeats into eternity's victories, shadows have fled before His radiant brightness.
9 December 1954
The Divine's Presence gives us peace in strength, serenity in action and an unchanging happiness in the midst of all circumstances.
13 December 1954
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The Divine is the unalloyed happiness, the blissful felicity, but this felicity is perfect only when it is integral.
22 December 1954
The Divine is the sure friend who never fails, the Power, the Support, the Guide. The Divine is the Light which scatters darkness, the conqueror who assures the victory.
23 December 1954
The Divine alone is the support that never fails.
The only response that never fails is the Divine's.
The only love that never fails is the Divine's.
Love the Divine alone and the Divine will always be with you.
6 August 1963
The opinion of the Supreme Lord alone has importance.
The Supreme Lord alone deserves all our love and He returns it to us a hundredfold.
11 February 1970
Take the Divine alone into your soul's confidence.
Think of the Divine alone and the Divine will be with you.
A single occupation, a single aim, a single joy―the Divine.
Page 14
Concentration upon oneself means decay and death. Concentration on the Divine alone brings life and growth and realisation.
Without the Divine life is a painful illusion, with the Divine all is bliss.
The ideal attitude is to belong only to the Divine, to work only for the Divine and above all to expect only from the Divine strength, peace and satisfaction. The Divine is all-merciful and gives us all that we need to lead us as quickly as possible to the goal.
It is the Divine Presence that gives value to life. This Presence is the source of all peace, all joy, all security. Find this Presence in yourself and all your difficulties will disappear.
Day and night constantly the Presence is there.
It is enough to turn silently inward and we detect it.
Remember always the Divine and all you do will be an expression of the Divine Presence.
In activity and in silence, in taking and in giving, always the glad remembrance of Thee.
All our thoughts, all our sentiments will move towards the Divine as a river towards the sea.
Page 15
Let all thoughts, all feelings, all actions, all hopes be turned towards the Divine and concentrated on Him. He is our only help and our only safety.
Yes, my child, it is quite true that the Divine is the sole refuge―with Him is absolute safety.
Page 16
For those who are afraid of a word:
This is what we mean by "Divine": all the knowledge we have to acquire, all the power we have to obtain, all the love we have to become, all the perfection we have to achieve, all the harmonious and progressive poise we have to manifest in light and joy, all the new and unknown splendours that have to be realised.
7 September 1952
The Divine is indeed what you expect of Him in your deepest aspiration.
What is God?
God is the perfection that we must aspire to realise.
8 November 1969
The Divine is the perfection towards which we move.
And if you like, I shall lead you to Him very willingly.
Have confidence.
17 December 1969
Every being carries within him the Divine Inhabitant; and although no being in the whole universe is as weak as man, none is as divine as he.
2 October 1951
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The individual existence is a canticle perpetually renewed, that the universe offers to the inconceivable splendour of the Divine.
29 November 1954
With regard to the Truth, we are all divine; but we hardly know it. And in us, it is precisely that which does not know itself as divine which we call "ourselves".
Our worth lies only in the measure of our effort to exceed ourselves, and to exceed ourselves is to attain the Divine.
Human mediocrity is intolerable.
We aspire for a knowledge truly knowing, for a power truly powerful, for a love that truly loves.
Suffocated by the shallowness of the human nature we aspire to the knowledge that truly knows, the power that truly can, the love that truly loves.
24 April 1964
Who am I?
The Divine under many disguises.
1966
Page 18
All is relative except the Supreme. The Supreme alone is absolute; but as the Supreme is at the centre of each being, each being carries in himself his absolute.
After all, it is very simple, we have only to become what we are in the depths of our being.
18 May 1954
There is nothing more beautiful than to unite with the divine Consciousness.
One is sure to find what one seeks―if one seeks it in all sincerity; for what one seeks is within oneself.
None can say to the Divine, "I have known Thee", and yet all carry Him in themselves, and in the silence of their soul can hear the echo of the Divine's voice.
13 November 1954
One can live the Divine even though unable to express the Divine, one can realise and be the Divine's infinity though unable to define or explain the Divine.
15 December 1954
For him who is in union with the Divine, everywhere is the Divine's perfect felicity, in every place and in every circumstance it is with him.
17 December 1954
Page 19
Communion with the Divine: for him who has it, all circumstances can truly become an opportunity for it.
The joy of perfect union can come only when what has to be done is done.
"To conquer the Divine is a difficult task." I think I have not understood this sentence properly.
Take conquer in the sense of "acquisition" or "possession". You might say―the conquest of the Divine's consciousness is a difficult task.
Commentary: For human beings to become conscious of the Divine and to possess His nature is difficult.
As we progress and purify ourselves of our egoism, our friendship with the Divine becomes more and more clear and conscious.
Friendship with the Divine: delicate, attentive and faithful, ever ready to respond to the smallest appeal.
Closeness to the Divine will always grow with the growth of consciousness, equanimity and love.
God cannot be taken by violence. It is only through love and harmony that you can reach God.
Be in peace―my blessings are with you.
13 July 1966
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Attachment for the Divine wraps itself around the Divine and finds all its support in Him so as to be sure never to leave Him.
Affection for the Divine: a sweet and confident tenderness that gives itself unfailingly to the Divine.
Intimacy with the Divine: complete surrender to the Divine and total receptivity to His influence, without any conditions to this intimacy.
Intimacy with the Divine in the physical is possible only for the one who lives exclusively by the Divine and for the Divine.
Intimacy with the Divine in the vital: only a pure, calm and desireless vital can hope to have access to this marvellous state.
Intimacy with the Divine in the psychic: the natural state of the fully developed psychic.
Integral intimacy with the Divine: the entire being no longer vibrates except with the Divine's touch.
It pleases Him to be like that. He is like that.
And simply, the secret is to be in the "it pleases Him".
Not to be only what is objectified; to be also in That which objectifies. That is everything.
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The Omnipresent, Eternal Spirit remains immutably One. The various ways of serving and understanding It make no difference to Its Reality.
(Types of relationships)
The Lord and his Shakti
God and his devotee
The father and his child
The master and his disciple
The Beloved and Lover
The Friend and co-worker
The child and his mother
To give oneself to the Divine, to receive and be the Divine, to transmit and spread forth the Divine: these are the three simultaneous movements which constitute our total relation with the Divine.
Page 22
The Divine's Grace is wonderful and almighty.
And the ways of working of the Lord are full of a delightful sense of humour...
Be always ready to receive the Divine, for He may visit you at any moment.
And if sometimes He makes you wait at the appointed meeting-place, that is certainly no reason for you yourself to be late.
23 September 1956
It is quite evident that for some reason or other―or may be for no reason at all―the Supreme has changed His mind about it.
25 January 1958
The Supreme must have changed His decision in order to try your faith and see if it depended on such an external thing.
9 February 1958
Surely the Divine, like everybody else, has a right to change His mind.
1958
If we want to have conversations with God (of course within us), is it possible? If yes, on what condition?
God does not indulge in conversation.
Page 23
Does God ever become angry with us? If yes, when?
When you believe He is angry.
If we shed tears for God, does He ever shed a tear for us?
Surely He has deep compassion for you, but His eyes are not of the kind that shed tears.
21 September 1964
It may be that the Divine does not see things in the same way as humans do.
A sudden show may be very useful for Sadhana.
22 August 1966
According to the law of man the guilty ought to be punished. But there is a law more imperative than the human law. It is the Divine law, the law of compassion and mercy.
It is because of this law that the world is able to endure and progress towards Truth and Love.
November 1966
Mother,
Does the Divine punish injustice? Is it possible at all for Him to punish anybody?
The Divine does not see things as men do and has no need to punish or reward. Each and every action carries in itself its fruit and its consequences.
According to the nature of the action, it brings you near to the Divine or takes you away from Him, and that is the supreme consequence.
25 July 1970
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Human beings are capable of withdrawing from the Divine―and they often do it; but for the Divine to withdraw from human beings, that is an impossibility.
If the supreme Consciousness got angry over the defects of men, humanity would long since have ceased to be.
7 June 1972
Why was not man created good from the beginning?
It is not God who made man wicked.
It is man who makes himself wicked by separating himself from God.
The Divine may very well lean down towards you, but to understand Him rightly you must come up to Him.
To understand the Divine we must have no more preferences.
To understand the Divine one must become the Divine.
24 May 1972
Page 25
The mountain path leads always in two directions, upward and downward―all depends on what we put behind us.
Life is a perpetual choice between truth and falsehood, light and darkness, progress and regression, the ascent towards the heights or a fall into the abyss. It is for each one to choose freely.
29 February 1952
In each one's life a moment comes when he has to choose between the Path and the muddle. You cannot put one foot here and one foot there. If you try to, you will be torn to pieces.
A heart that does not choose is a heart that will die.
You take up the spiritual path only when you feel you cannot do otherwise.
27 October 1952
When the path is known it is easy to tread upon it.
19 August 1954
To follow the path to the end, one must be armed with a very patient endurance.
4 September 1954
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On the spiritual path each step forward is a conquest and the result of a fight.
5 September 1954
The road to the Divine: always long, often dry in appearance, but always abundant in its results.
Ascension: stage by stage one climbs towards the Consciousness.
Spiritual ascension: fearless, regular, uninterrupted.
One will pass through as many stages as it is necessary to take, but one will arrive.
The intellectual attitude comes first and practice follows little by little. What is very important is to maintain very alert the will to live and to be what one knows to be the truth. Then it is impossible to stop and even more to fall back.
All human beings have a spiritual destiny which is near or far depending on each one's determination.
One must will in all sincerity.
11 April 1965
All depends upon the choice of the force that you allow to make use of you as its instrument. And the choice has to be made at every moment of your life.
Page 30
It is the conflict in you between what is attached to ordinary life and what aspires for the divine life. It is up to you to choose which is the strongest in you and to act accordingly.
19 September 1967
You can follow the meanderings of innumerable reincarnations or choose the steep and rapid path of intensive "sadhana".
He who follows the steep path that climbs the heights can easily slip down into the abyss.
For those whose destiny it is to scale the summits, the least false step risks being a mortal danger.
The perfect path: for each one the path which leads fastest to the Divine.
All was gold and gold and gold, a torrent of golden light pouring down in an uninterrupted flow and bringing with it the consciousness that the path of the gods is a sunlit path in which difficulties lose all reality.
Such is the path open before us if we choose to take it.
Page 31
Sadhak = one who follows a yogic discipline.
Sadhana = yogic discipline.
Yoga = union with the Divine (by extension: the path which leads to this union).
Would you please explain to me how doing Yoga brings you near to the Divine? And what is the real meaning of Yoga? Is it only contortive body-excerises or is there a yoga of the mind also?
This has nothing to do with a spiritual life, not even with religion. X will explain to you in detail, but I can tell you that Yoga is not only an aspiration of the mind towards the Divine but also and chiefly a yearning of the heart.
6 November 1963
The whole world is in a process of progressive transformation; if you take up the discipline of Yoga, you speed up in yourself the process.
Yoga is commensurate with all life.
True spirituality transforms life.
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Three Conceptions of the World
1) Buddhist and Shankarite:
The world is an illusion, a field of ignorance and suffering due to ignorance. The one thing to do is to get out of it as soon as possible and to disappear into the original Non-Existence or Non-Manifestation.
2) The Vedantic as very commonly understood:
The world is essentially divine, for the Divine is omnipresent there. But its exterior expression is distorted, obscure, ignorant, perverted. The one thing to do is to become conscious of the inner Divine and remain fixed in that consciousness without troubling about the world; for this external world cannot change and will always be in its natural state of unconsciousness and ignorance.
3) Sri Aurobindo's view:
The world as it is, is not the divine creation it is meant to be, but an obscure and perverted expression of it. It is not the expression of the divine consciousness and will, but this is what it is meant to become; it has been created to develop into a perfect manifestation of the Divine under all His forms and aspects―Light and Knowledge, power, Love and Beauty.
This is our conception of it and the aim we follow.
24 February 1936
The usual sadhanas have for aim the union with the Supreme Consciousness (Sat-chit-ananda). And those who reach there are satisfied with their own liberation and leave the world to its unhappy plight. On the contrary, Sri Aurobindo's sadhana
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starts where the others end. Once the union with the Supreme is realised one must bring down that realisation to the exterior world and change the conditions of life upon the earth until a total transformation is accomplished. In accordance with this aim, the sadhaks of the integral yoga do not retire from the world to lead a life of contemplation and meditation. Each one must devote at least one third of his time to a useful work. All activities are represented in the Ashram and each one chooses the work most congenial to his nature, but must do it in a spirit of service and unselfishness, keeping always in view the aim of integral transformation.
To make this purpose possible, the Ashram is organised so that all its inmates find their reasonable needs satisfied and have not to worry about their subsistence.
The rules are very few so that each one can enjoy the freedom needed for his development, but a few things are strictly forbidden: they are (1) politics, (2) smoking, (3) alcoholic drink and (4) sex enjoyment.
Great care is taken for the maintenance of good health and the welfare and normal growth of the body of all, small and big, young and old.
24 September 1953
What we are doing now is a new thing; it has nothing to do with the past.
We want the divine conquest of this world, the conquest of all its movements and the realisation of the Divine here.
It can be called an adventure because it is the first time that a yoga aims at transformation and divinisation of physical life instead of escape from it.
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We want to translate into physical terms, as perfectly as possible, the inspiration sent by the Lord for the accomplishment of His work upon earth.
And for that, each individual soul is a help and a collaborator; but each human ego too is a limitation and an obstacle.
5 April 1960
To those who want to practise the integral Yoga, it is strongly advised to abstain from three things:
1) Sexual intercourse
2) Smoking
3) Drinking alcohol
12 June 1965
The more I go, the more I know that it is in work that Sri Aurobindo's integral yoga is best done.
9 October 1966
It is not what you do but the spirit in which you do it that is important for the integral Yoga.
1971
Page 35
From the standpoint of Yoga it is not so much what you do but how you do it that matters most.
It is not so much the act that matters, but the consciousness in which it is done. So all is well and do not torment yourself. My love is always with you.
24 March 1964
From the point of view of a spiritual life, it is not what you do that matters most, but the way in which it is done and the consciousness you put into it. Remember always the Divine and all you do will be an expression of the Divine Presence.
When all your actions are consecrated to the Divine, there will be no longer activities that are superior and activities that are inferior; all will have an equal importance―the value given them by the consecration.
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Whatever one does, it becomes useful if one puts a spark of true consciousness into it.
The consciousness one has is much more important than the act one performs. And the most apparently useless acts can become very productive if they are performed with the true consciousness.
10 August 1966
It is the spirit and the consciousness from which it is done that makes an action yogic; it is not the action itself.
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Divine Mother,
I wish to get light on the following points.
1) Have I the capacity and are there potentialities in me to follow this path?
This is not the question, the question is whether you have the necessary aspiration, determination and perseverance and whether you can by the intensity and persistence of your aspiration make all the parts of your being answer to the call and become one in the consecration.
2) How should I continue my practice (sadhana) after returning home?
Quiet yourself and in the quiet see and feel the Mother.1
3) How can I meditate? What is meant by opening? Where should I open?
An inner purity and receptivity that freely lets in the Mother's influence. Begin with the heart.
4) I aspire for the higher life from above the head; but I always feel strained in the middle part of the forehead. What should I do?
Do not strain yourself.
5) How does the psychic being open? How to understand the psychic and vital beings in the Adhara?
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By the force of aspiration and the grace of the Mother.
Psychic: your true being, the being that is in the heart and that is the spark of the Mother's own consciousness.
Vital: the part from which proceed desires and hunger and dynamic activities, having its physical basis round about the navel.
6) My family consists of myself, wife, two sons and one girl. I desire to come here and stay permanently, but my wife does not approve of it. What should I do?
Detachment.
7) I desire heartily to come here again for a stay of at least three months. Kindly give me permission.
Inform when you are ready to come. It is only then that the permission can be given.
8) In my daily life, I become dejected and fall a prey in the hands of the lower forces (anger, lust, etc.) I humbly request the Mother for help and protection.
9) My wife is devoted to Goddess Ambaji. Her heart opens to Her, but she cannot get rid of the worldly attachments. Please help her. May I send her photo?
If you like.
10) I request for permission to write letters to the Mother.
You can write.
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11) What attitude should I keep while doing my works of daily routine? How should I act with family members, relatives and friends?
12) What should I read at present?
Sri Aurobindo's books.
November 1928
How to open to the Mother? The following are the means:
(1) To remember You constantly or from time to time―
Good.
(2) By taking Your name through Japa―
Helpful.
(3) With the help of meditation―
More difficult if one has not the habit of meditation.
(4) By conversation about You with those who love and respect You―
Risky because, when talking, often some nonsense or at least some useless things can be said.
(5) By reading Your books―
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(6) By spending time in thoughts of You—
Very good.
(7) By sincere prayers―
Three things indispensable to begin with:
Absolute sincerity in the whole being and all its activities.
Complete self-surrender without any reservation.
Patient work on oneself and at the same time a steady conquering of perfect unshakable peace and equanimity.
4 February 1932
Our human consciousness has windows that open on the Infinite but generally men keep these windows carefully shut. They have to be opened wide and allow the Infinite freely to enter into us and transform us.
Two conditions are necessary for opening the windows:
1) ardent aspiration;
2) progressive dissolution of the ego.
The Divine help is assured to those who set to work sincerely.
What is the best method to find the Divine who is in each of us and in all things?
Aspiration.
Silence.
Concentration in the solar plexus region.2
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If need be, a prayer addressed to the Divine:
I belong to You and I want to know You so that all that I do is nothing but what you want me to do.
Encourage only what leads quickly to the Lord and serves His divine purpose.
The Examiners
The integral yoga consists of an uninterrupted series of examinations that one has to undergo without any previous warning, thus obliging you to be constantly on the alert and attentive.
Three groups of examiners set us these tests. They appear to have nothing to do with one another, and their methods are so different, sometimes even so apparently contradictory, that it seems as if they could not possibly be leading towards the same goal. Nevertheless, they complement one another, work towards the same end, and are all indispensable to the completeness of the result.
The three types of examination are: those set by the forces of Nature, those set by spiritual and divine forces, and those set by hostile forces. These last are the most deceptive in their appearance and to avoid being caught unawares and unprepared requires a state of constant watchfulness, sincerity and humility.
The most commonplace circumstances, the events of everyday life, the most apparently insignificant people and things all belong to one or other of these three kinds of examiners. In this vast and complex organisation of tests, those events that are generally considered the most important in life are the easiest examinations to undergo, because they find you ready and on your guard. It is easier to stumble over the little stones in your path, because they attract no attention.
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Endurance and plasticity, cheerfulness and fearlessness are the qualities specially needed for the examinations of physical nature.
Aspiration, trust, idealism, enthusiasm and generous self-giving, for spiritual examinations.
Vigilance, sincerity and humility for the examinations from hostile forces.
And do not imagine that there are on the one hand people who undergo the examinations and on the other people who set them. Depending on the circumstances and the moment we are all both examiners and examinees, and it may even happen that one is at the same time both examiner and examinee. And the benefit one derives from this depends, both in quality and in quantity, on the intensity of one's aspiration and the awakening of one's consciousness.
To conclude, a final piece of advice: never set yourself up as an examiner. For while it is good to remember constantly that one may be undergoing a very important examination, it is extremely dangerous to imagine that one is responsible for setting examinations for others. That is the open door to the most ridiculous and harmful kinds of vanity. It is the Supreme Wisdom which decides these things, and not the ignorant human will.
12 November 1957
Each time you have to make progress, you have to undergo an examination.
In ancient times the disciple had to undergo severe tests to prove his ability for initiation. Here we do not follow that method. Apparently there is no test and no trial. But if you see the truth, you will find that here it is much more difficult. There the disciple
Page 43
knew that he was undergoing a period of trial and after he had passed through some outward tests, he was taken in. But here you have to face life and you are watched at every moment. It is not only your outer actions that count. Each and every thought and inner movement is seen, every reaction is noticed. It is not what you do in the solitude of the forest, but what you do in the thick of the battle of life that is important.
Are you ready to submit yourself for such tests? Are you ready to change yourself completely? You will have to throw off your ideas, ideals, values, interests and opinions. Everything will have to be learnt anew. If you are ready for all this, then take a plunge; otherwise don't try to step in.3
The whole life is a sadhana. It is a mistake to cut it into bits and say this is sadhana and that is not. Even your eating and sleeping should be a part of sadhana.4
(To someone returning to the West)
Everything can be part of "sadhana"; it depends on the inner attitude.
Naturally, if one lets himself be invaded by the Western atmosphere, farewell to the sadhana.
But even in the most materialistic milieu, if one retains one's aspiration and one's faith in the Divine Life, the sadhana can and should continue.
1970
Page 44
A discipline imposed by the will for any spiritual end is tapasya.1
Tapasya: a discipline aiming at the realisation of the Divine.
Mental tapasya: the process leading to the goal.
Vital tapasya: the vital undergoes a rigorous discipline in order to transform itself.
Integral tapasya: the whole being lives only to know and serve the Divine.
Perfect tapasya: that which will reach its goal.
Page 45
No life can be successful without self-discipline.
To be a man, discipline is indispensable.
Without discipline one is only an animal.
One begins to be a man only when one aspires to a higher and truer life and when one accepts a discipline of transformation. For this one must start by mastering one's lower nature and its desires.
9 March 1972
It can be said that all discipline whatsoever, if it is followed strictly, sincerely, deliberately, is of considerable help, for it makes the earthly life reach its goal more rapidly and prepares it to receive the new life. To discipline oneself is to hasten the arrival of this new life and the contact with the supramental reality.
Page 46
The true attitude is neither to be an ascetic nor to indulge in desire. The true attitude is to take in all simplicity what I give, to be perfectly satisfied with it and neither to ask for more nor to refuse what is given. This is the true example to give, the one that can help the others towards a better understanding of their duties as sadhaks.
Remain my child, simple, quiet and content, and all will be all right.
5 October 1934
A sannyasi who makes demands is not sincere. To be sincere a sannyasi must be perfectly satisfied with what is given to him and ask for nothing more. In all that happens to him, he must see the Divine's Grace and be at once happy and grateful for it.
Moreover, he who wants to do "intensive sadhana" must be able to isolate himself from his surroundings and, if necessary, to sit in deep meditation even on a battlefield in the midst of the roaring guns.
I do not believe that sadhana in the cave is easy―only there the insincerity remains hidden, while in life and action it is revealed. You can look like a Yogi in a cave, but in life the humbugging is more difficult, because you have to behave like a Yogi.
6 September 1935
When I consider the seriousness of this type of severe Sadhana, the ideas of my physical and mental weakness begin to frighten me and I find little courage in me.
Page 47
One thing we want to know is how much you are eating and whether you sleep regularly and sufficiently. These two points are of great importance, for a sadhana of this kind demands in order to bear it that the mind and body and nervous system should not be weakened by undernourishment and lack of sleep.
16 December 1940
It is not by fasting but by improving the will that one obtains the Truth.
18 January 1953
You said that X was "doing mischief" with the children, because in your mind the idea of sadhana is associated with quietness, stillness and meditation, but the more you stay here the more you will have to realise that it is not only in meditation that one can reach the Divine consciousness, you will learn that one can remain in contact with the Divine even while playing or doing gymnastics or walking or doing anything; at every moment, you should remember the Divine and try to remain in the Divine consciousness.
31 August 1953
Here sensibleness is indispensable and the integral yoga is based on balance, calm and peace and not on an unhealthy need to suffer.
12 May 1969
As long as it is an austerity there are reactions.
When it becomes an imperative need, it is good.
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(About solitude)
If the need is a true one, the means to do it will come spontaneously.
30 March 1970
Should I spend some time in solitude?
It is the old methods of yoga which demand silence and solitude.
The yoga of tomorrow is to find the Divine in work and in relation with the world.
Look within yourself, reflect upon it and tell me what your choice is.
24 January 1971
According to my experience people fall into tamas when they go into solitude.
October 1971
To be by oneself very much needs a certain force of inner life. It may be better to vary solitude with some kind of its opposite. But each has its advantages and disadvantages and it is only by being vigilant and keeping an inner poise that one can avoid the latter.
Entire physical retirement is seldom healthy, although a temporary retirement is often helpful. But the main thing is the inner detachment and complete turning to the Divine.
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The movement that stores up and concentrates is no less needed than the movement that spreads and diffuses.
13 April 1935
Concentration does not aim for any effect, but is simple and persistent.
Concentration on a precise goal is helpful to development.
The more we concentrate on the goal, the more it blossoms forth and becomes precise.
The Yogi knows by his capacity for a containing or dynamic identity with things and persons and forces.
11 April 1935
"Knowledge can only come by conscious identity, for that is the only true knowledge,―existence aware of itself."1
There is always some kind of unconscious identification with the surrounding people and things; but by will and practice one can learn to concentrate on somebody or something and to get consciously identified with this person or this thing, and
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through this identification you know the nature of the person or the thing.
20 May 1955
Nothing is impossible for one who is attentive.
It is said that the faculty of concentrated attention is at the source of all successful activity. Indeed the capacity and value of a man can be measured by his capacity of concentrated attention.2
In order to obtain this concentration, it is generally recommended to reduce one's activities, to make a choice and confine oneself to this choice alone, so as not to disperse one's energy and attention. For the normal man, this method is good, sometimes even indispensable. But one can imagine something better.
At times I try to silence the mind, at times to surrender and at times to find my psychic being. Thus I cannot fix my attention on a single thing. Which one should I try first?
All should be done and each one when it comes spontaneously.
16 October 1964
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When you sit in meditation you must be as candid and simple as a child, not interfering by your external mind, expecting nothing, insisting on nothing. Once this condition is there, all the rest depends upon the aspiration deep within you. And if you call upon Divinity, then too you will have the answer.
26 January 1935
Each meditation ought to be a new revelation, for in each meditation something new happens.
Even if you are not apparently successful in your meditation, it is better to persist and to be more obstinate than the opposition of your lower nature.
I would like to know from you if it is good for me to devote more time to meditation than I am doing at present. I spend about two hours, morning and evening together. I am as yet not quite successful in meditation. My physical mind disturbs me a lot. I pray to you that it may become quiet and my psychic being may come out. It is so painful to find the mind working like a mad machine and the heart sleeping like a stone. Mother, let me feel your presence within my heart always.
The increase of time given to meditation is not very useful unless the urge for meditation comes spontaneously from inside and not from any arbitrary decision of the mind.
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My help, love and blessings are always with you.
17 October 1939
To keep constantly a concentrated and in-gathered attitude is more important than having fixed hours of meditation.
When you give us a subject for meditation, what should we do about it? Keep thinking of it?
Keep your thought focused upon it in a concentrated way.
And when no subject is given, is it enough to concentrate on your Presence in the heart-centre? Should we avoid a formulated prayer?
Yes, concentration on the Presence is enough.
(Examples of subjects for meditation)
New birth. Birth to a new consciousness. The psychic consciousness.
5 July 1957
How to awaken in the body the aspiration for the Divine.
26 July 1957
Turning one's gaze inward. Looking within oneself.
2 August 1957
The ill-effects of uncontrolled speech.
9 August 1957
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Spiritual experience means the contact with the Divine in oneself (or without, which comes to the same thing in that domain). And it is an experience identical everywhere in all countries, among all peoples and even in all ages.
18 February 1935
One must always be greater than one's experience.
It is always better to control an experience of this kind rather than to be controlled by it. I mean that the experience in itself is good and useful, but it must come when we want it to come and not at any time when it chooses to come. It seems to me that it is better to allow this experience to come only when you are quietly at home or during meditation. When you are at work it is always better to remain fully aware of your body and its actions.
The initial error was to hope to recommence the same experience as the one you had in your youth.
In life, experiences are not repeated identically, and if they are not better, that is, higher and more true, they become necessarily worse.
After a happy and favourable experience it is necessary to rise from the human to the divine, otherwise one risks falling into the infernal and diabolic.
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It can be useful for a time to have certain inner experiences, but this attitude is not to be kept permanently as it is only a partial truth and far from the whole truth of the integral yoga.
The true revelation is the revelation of the Divine.
The descent of calm and light which you experience is a sign that the sadhana has actually begun in you; it shows that you are open now consciously to the Divine Force and its workings. The descent of calm and light into the being is the beginning of the foundation of the yoga. At first it may be felt in the mind and upper part only, but afterwards goes further down until it touches all the centres and is experienced in the whole body. At first it comes only for a moment or two; afterwards it lasts for longer periods.
The other experiences show that the faculty of inner vision is opening; this is also a part of the yoga. The fire seen by you must have been the fire of aspiration lit in the vital being. The other things you saw are not definite enough to be interpreted.
Continue your progress.
Our blessings and protection are always with you.1
11 March 1931
Last night after a little meditation when I was about to sleep, my body from the heart above was filled up by some energy. I did not do anything but just observed. It lasted for a few seconds only. Two or three times it has happened to me and on the previous occasions it lasted
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for some minutes.I would like to know what this is. Is it an experience of Kundalini Shakti? What is the best attitude to be adopted when under such pressure?
The best attitude is to be quiet and calm, and to let the experience follow its course, observing it without thinking about it.
4 July 1939
I have felt a sort of pain, especially in the chest, as reaction to the intense descent of the vibration-force, and I have had the impression that the body wanted to prevent it.
In order that the experience may not be dangerously deformed and painful, one should keep an absolute calm.
It is only in the peace and the calm that the Divine Force expresses itself and acts.
You know that for many years I have been in the habit of leaving my physical body and making exploratory tours in my subtle body. [Here the sadhak describes various experiences.] I wonder whether I should keep up my practice of getting out of the body. It is extremely fascinating, but is it a necessary part of Yogic development for keeping the consciousness open to inner spiritual things?
It is much better to stop the experiences altogether. They seem to take you into levels which are undesirable and most unsafe; they are not at all necessary for any opening in the yoga.
28 March 1944
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(The sadhak wrote again, about the possibility of dying before turning entirely to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and related an experience in which a movement of total self-dedication went on.)
Certainly I have not given you up, not in the least. You are quite capable of the realisation if you make up your mind to it, and the experience you relate seems to me a valid promise that it will come.
As for what I meant in my last letter it was simply that there were things which might act to delay your spiritual realisation and might be otherwise dangerous for you. This does not mean that the realisation will not come.
19 May 1944
You had the experience you describe when the force was acting chiefly in the mind, the vital and, through it, in the physical. It is long since this time has passed. The force has come farther down in its action and now it is at work not only in the material but also in the subconscient and even in the inconscient. Unless you follow this descending movement and allow the force to act in your body and these material regions of the consciousness, you find yourself stranded on the side of the road without being able to advance any further. And to allow this working of the force it is a detailed surrender of all movements, habits, tastes, preferences, sense of necessities, etc. that is urgently required.
Read carefully Sri Aurobindo's article in the Bulletin2: it will help you to understand.
20 November 1949
Page 57
Sometimes when I meditate, the body seems to vanish. I do not feel any kind of physical sensation, but at the same time I am conscious of everything around me. My consciousness remains only like an idea in the head. At times there is not a single thought in my mind; thoughts do come in it, but they just pass without creating any kind of confusion. This state is pleasant―like having rest. Mother, what exactly is this condition?
It is a withdrawal from the most external consciousness into the Purusha, the witness in the physical. One finds there a great repose, indeed.
One night I had a dream-experience, almost a waking vision. I saw two beings, whose faces I could not see, two tall and sturdily built persons, wearing what seemed to be heavy fur-coats (later I thought they might have been carrying a big load of herbs on their backs, as some light was gleaming out at times); they approached me and looked at me. I had no fear at all, but simply said, "If you have come from the Mother, you can do what you like; if not, I have nothing to do with you, whoever you may be. I firmly withdraw from your influence and you cannot touch one hair of mine." With that, I quietly started taking your name and withdrew into myself, yet observed their actions. They talked awhile with each other. I suspected they smiled at my remarks. Then they drew something from behind their backs which showed as the light gleamed. But other details I could not follow clearly. Then they slowly left the room and I was fully awake.
Well, I am curious to know who they were, looking almost like twins riding on horse-back. In such cases what is the attitude to take? Obviously there should be
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no fear, but is there any particular way by which a sort of occult tact can be developed to discern the true nature of the embodied force or the being?
Your attitude was quite correct and the best one to have in the occurrence.
They might have been the Aswins, the twin riders, the healers.
18 February 1952
If, while meditating in front of a flame, I think that it is the Divine and that it is within me, if I feel that the flame and I are one and the same thing―the Divine, if I feel this always and for everything, will it be what you call "living within"?
Unquestionably yes. It is an important step towards the psychic depths.
1969
Your observation is very crude. No rule can be laid down about suggestions and voices coming from "within". Your "within" may mean anything. You must train your observation and try to distinguish between the sources from which the suggestions come. The voice or the suggestion may come from your own subconscient or it may come from something higher. If you know from where it comes, then you can decide whether you should follow it or not.3
Page 59
In an age like ours success alone counts and the material satisfactions it brings. However, an ever-increasing number of dissatisfied people are seeking to know the reason of life. And, on the other hand, there are sages who know and strive to help suffering humanity and to spread the light of knowledge. When the two meet, he who knows and he who wants to know, there springs up a new hope in the world, and a little light penetrates the prevailing darkness.
The western mind always finds it difficult to submit totally to a Guru and without total and unquestioning surrender to the Guru his help to you is paralysed. That is why generally I advise westerners to find the guidance and the Presence within themselves; it is true that this process is very often open to uncertainty and self-deception, mistaking some voice of the ego in disguise for the Divine's guidance.
In both cases, it is only an absolute sincerity and an unmixed humility that can be your safeguard.
With my blessings.
21 January 1955
If you have faith and confidence, it is not the human form of the guru that you worship, but the Supreme Lord who manifests through him.
Be not troubled and give yourself unreservedly to the Supreme Lord through whatever channel helps you.
With love and blessings.
Page 60
I am not at all convinced by X's theories. This seems to me to be merely the old human "animal" trying to satisfy its desires by mentalising them.
Generally speaking, when a man starts building yogic theories on his own particular work, one should always be wary.
All work can and should be done in a yogic spirit. But the "sacrifice" should be made to the Supreme Divine and not to a human being.
23 June 1960
To each one things are said according to his or her capacity of understanding.
It follows that the knowledge given to one may not be useful or good for another. That is why the personal teaching of the Guru must not be disclosed to others.
The disciples judge the forms by the Master, others judge the Master by the forms.
The Indians believe (or have the experience) that the Divine lives in the human being. The Europeans don't believe it. For them, he is somewhere above. He has incarnated only in Jesus Christ. So they don't bow down to any human person. But if one bows down to a person who has embodied the Divine Consciousness―of course with faith―then that person can more easily transmit his consciousness (or experience) to the other.1
March 1973
Page 61
Well-known or unknown has absolutely no importance from the spiritual point of view.
One man who earnestly pursues the yoga is of more value than a thousand well-known men.
16 January 1935
Of those who possess a true value the power of Yoga will increase the value, but from one who has only some false appearance of art, even that appearance will vanish or else lose its appeal.
Do you wish us to try and intensively spread the Yoga in America?
Yoga can not be spread by any exterior means.
30 May 1966
May I ask Your help in dealing with the feeling of loneliness which appears when I am alone.
Those who feel lonely in the world are ready for union with the Divine.
6 July 1966
Page 62
Sincerity is the key of the divine doors.
Be sincere.
Sincerity is the gate to Divinity.
Sincerity means to lift all the movements of the being to the level of the highest consciousness and realisation already attained.
Sincerity exacts the unification and harmonisation of the whole being in all its parts and movements around the central Divine Will.
21 February 1930
To be sincere, all the parts of the being must be united in their aspiration for the Divine―not that one part wants and others refuse or revolt. To be sincere in the aspiration―to want the Divine for the Divine's sake, not for fame or name or prestige or power or any satisfaction of vanity.
Be perfectly sincere in your consecration to the Divine's work. This will assure you strength and success.
Be sincere and absolute in your consecration to the Divine and your life will become harmonious and beautiful.
Page 65
Fear not, your sincerity is your safeguard.
22 November 1934
If earnestly you say to the Divine, "I want only Thee", the Divine will arrange the circumstances in such a way that you are compelled to be sincere.
8 June 1954
Simple sincerity: the beginning of all progress.
To reach your spiritual goal, be sincere, that is to say, make of it the single purpose of your life.
3 June 1958
An uncompromising sincerity is the surest way to spiritual achievement.
Do not pretend―be.
Do not promise―act.
Do not dream―realise.
Be perfectly sincere and no victory will be denied to you.
In sincerity is the certitude of victory.
Sincerity! Sincerity! How sweet is the purity of thy presence!
Those who are earnest and sincere have always the Divine for companion.
March 1962
Page 66
The only salvation is in an absolute sincerity and truthfulness.
25 March 1963
Absolute sincerity is required.
Sincerity, Fidelity are the two guardians of the Way.
21 February 1965
We want to be sincere in spite of all contrary opinions; sincerity is our safeguard.
19 December 1967
What do I need to develop most? And what do I need to reject most?
Develop―sincerity (that is, an integral adhesion to the Divine's way).
Reject―the pull of the old human habits.
25 February 1970
Be perfectly faithful and sincere towards your true Self.
Allow no deception to creep into your consecration to the Divine.
1 January 1934
Insincerity leads on the path to ruin.
Page 67
In your sadhana what is important is sincerity at every point; if there is that, mistakes can be rectified and do not so much matter. If there is any insincerity, that pulls down the sadhana at once. But whether this constant sincerity is there or there is any falling off from it at any point, is a thing you must learn to see in yourself; if there is the earnest and constant will for it, the power to see will come. Sincerity does not at all depend on satisfying other―it is an inner matter and lies solely between you and me.
12 May 1939
Be sincere and I am ready to correct your mistakes a thousand times if necessary.
Those who are sincere, I can help and turn easily towards the Divine. But where there is insincerity I can do very little.
I feel sincerely that I want the Divine and nothing else. But when I am in contact with other people, when I am busy with things without any value, I naturally forget the Divine, my one goal. Is it insincerity? If not, then what does it mean?
Yes. It is insincerity of the being, in which one part wants the Divine and another part wants something else.
It is through ignorance and stupidity that the being is insincere. But with a persevering will and an absolute confidence in the Divine Grace, one can cure this insincerity.
As long as there is within a person the possibility of an inner conflict, it means that there is still in him some insincerity.
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Any inner conflict is the sign of a lack of sincerity.
Only those who are already very sincere know that they are not completely sincere.
17 June 1954
When you are sure that you have attained absolute sincerity, you may be certain that you have plunged into falsehood.
It is no use thinking that one is very sincere. It is useless to think that one is not sincere. What is useful is to be sincere.
All division in the being is an insincerity.
The greatest insincerity is to dig an abyss between your body and the truth of your being.
When an abyss separates the true being from the physical being, Nature fills it up immediately with all kinds of adverse suggestions, the most formidable of which is fear, and the most pernicious, doubt.
Allow nothing anywhere to deny the truth of your being―this is sincerity.
7 July 1957
Before the Eternal Consciousness a drop of sincerity has more value than an ocean of pretension and hypocrisy.
I need not seem if I am.
It is better to be than to seem.
No need of seeming when one is.
Page 69
I need not appear to be good if my sincerity is perfect.
Be honest towards yourself―(no self-deception). Be sincere towards the Divine―(no bargaining in the surrender)
Be straightforward with humanity―(no pretence and show).
25 June 1963
Human beings for the most part have the inveterate habit of deceiving themselves. They deceive themselves in hundreds of different ways, each more slyly tricky and subtle than the other, and all this with at once a perfect candour and a perfect insincerity.
Whoever does Yoga sincerely is bound to have the calm and the strength needed to face all circumstances.
But innumerable are those who deceive themselves, believe they are doing Yoga but only partially do so and are still full of contradictions.
20 April 1966
Sweet Mother, how does one do Yoga?
Be wholly sincere, never try to deceive others. And try never to deceive yourself.
17 February 1968
Do not try to deceive the Divine.
Page 70
The important point is to be more and more sincere, always more sincere so that you never deceive yourself in the integrality of your aspiration.
This sincerity brings the sure help of the divine Grace.
It is easy to see that the mistakes are due to a lack of sincerity in the being―the only way out of it is to become sincere. You have been given the power of will and of knowledge for that purpose.
9 March 1968
It is not necessary to wait for the others to become sincere in order to become sincere yourself.
The greatest enemies of a perfect sincerity are preferences (either mental, vital or physical) and preconceived ideas. It is these obstacles that must be overcome.
Page 71
What is exactly meant by a sincere aspiration?
An aspiration which is not mixed with any interested and egoistic calculation.
12 January 1934
It is to the sincerity of your aspiration that the Love answers spontaneously.
20 October 1934
Let your aspiration leap forward, pure and straight, towards the supreme consciousness which is all joy and all beatitude.
We must aspire with all our being for the manifestation to come soon and complete.
2 February 1935
Prayer of Aspiration
Let us go to sleep with a prayer and wake with an aspiration for the New and Perfect Creation.
The urge of aspiration: nothing is too high, nothing too far for its insatiable ardour.
Page 72
It never does any harm to express an aspiration―that gives force to it.
Aspiration is always good, and if some demand is mixed up with it, you can be sure that it will not be granted.
Go on aspiring and the necessary progress is bound to come.
7 April 1954
Daily we must aspire to conquer all mistakes, all obscurities, all ignorances.
15 April 1954
We must always aspire to be free from all ignorance and to have a true faith.
29 April 1954
A constant aspiration conquers all defects.
21 May 1954
Day after day our aspiration will grow and our faith will intensify.
23 May 1954
When the aspiration is awake, each day brings us nearer to the goal.
15 July 1954
Page 73
Each one is responsible only for the sincerity of his aspiration.
17 July 1954
Our aspiration rises always identical, supported by a concentrated will.
1 November 1954
All is mute in the being, but in the bosom of the silence burns the lamp that can never be extinguished, the fire of an ardent aspiration to know and to live integrally the Divine.
6 November 1954
The flame of the aspiration must be so straight and so ardent that no obstacle can dissolve it.
7 November 1954
Page 74
Beyond words, above thoughts the flame of an intense aspiration must always burn, steady and bright.
My love and blessings are with you.
5 March 1955
In the silence of the heart burns the steady fire of aspiration.
Keep the fire burning steadily and wait quietly for the sure result.
Flame of aspiration: a flame which illumines but never burns.
An integral and exclusive aspiration is sure to bring the Divine's response.
31 August 1957
(Message for the "Home of Progress", an Ashram hostel)
If in man the seed of aspiration is watered with the true spirituality then he will grow into Divinity.
24 April 1966
As usual I will tell you to be quiet and peaceful.
Our only aspiration must be for spiritual progress. It is only for that that we must pray.
12 December 1967
Page 75
Increase steadily your own aspiration. Try to perfect your consecration to the Divine and your life will be arranged for you.
8 June 1969
Any suggestion?
About what?
About sadhana.
Patient aspiration.
7 June 1970
What is needed of me that I may not fail to progress as I should?
A constant and integral aspiration.
3 August 1970
How can I have more and more faith and calm, Mother?
Aspiration and will.
Mental aspiration: its expression is clear and precise and very reasonable.
True aspiration is not a movement of the mind but of the psychic.
22 May 1971
Page 76
Psychic aspiration: constant, regular, organised, gentle and patient at the same time, resists all opposition, overcomes all difficulties.
Spiritual aspiration rises like an arrow caring for neither obstacles nor laggards.
Let the sun of aspiration dissolve the clouds of egoism.
(Message for a seminar organised by the Maharastra Sri Aurobindo Centenary Celebration Committee)
Be sincere in your aspiration for progress.
Love and blessings.
1972
To aspire and to call for help are quite indispensable.
Mother, what is the difference between an ardent aspiration and a pulling down of force?
It is the vital that pulls down and the psychic that aspires.
20 February 1973
Page 77
There is certainly a great difference between calling and pulling―you can and must always call for help and the rest―the answer will be proportionate to your capacity of reception and assimilation. Pulling is a selfish movement that may bring down forces quite disproportionate to your capacities and thus are harmful.
Page 78
Faith is spontaneous knowledge in the psychic.
Faith is a certitude which is not necessarily based on experience and knowledge.
Faith―confidence in the Divine and the unshakable certitude of the Divine's Victory.
It is good to have this unshakable faith―it makes your path easier and shorter.
True faith does not depend on circumstances.
Faith in spiritual power must not depend on circumstances.
A faith based on material proofs is not faith―it is a bargaining.
Faith first, knowledge afterwards.
They who have faith will go through.
Page 79
It is indispensable to keep the faith and the will to conquer.
2 May 1949
Faith: you flame up and triumph.
Faith is the surest guide in the darkest days.
16 August 1954
In an unshakable faith lies all our hope.
3 September 1954
The night always is full of promises and we must face it with full faith and confidence.
18 October 1954
At every moment all the unforeseen, the unexpected, the unknown is before us―and what happens to us depends mostly on the intensity and purity of our faith.
3 November 1954
If we had a truly living faith, an absolute certitude of the almighty power of the Divine, His manifestation could be so evident that the whole earth would be transformed by it.
5 November 1954
Keep an immutable faith. Truth will triumph.
10 November 1971
Page 80
Have faith in the Divine, and go deep inside yourself. My help is always with you.
7 April 1972
Have faith and go on.
13 July 1972
Our best help is faith―the Divine is all merciful.
There is a great power in the simple confidence of a child.
17 November 1954
It is with the confidence of a child that our heart implores the Divine.
5 December 1954
The best way of meeting difficulties is a quiet and calm confidence in the Grace.
13 August 1966
Keep faith and confidence and remain cheerful.
Any advice?
Be steady and confident.
3 September 1972
Page 81
Everybody is imperfect and has to progress. Keep firm and confident.
17 December 1972
Be confident, you will become what you have to be and achieve what you have to do.
One must have entire confidence in the Victory of the Divine―and this general Victory will include in itself the personal victory of all who will have remained faithful and confident.
With confidence we shall advance; with certitude we shall wait.
We must march on with the quiet certitude that what has to be done will be done.
6 July 1954
Certitude: assured and calm it never argues.
Certitude of victory: it is not noisy but it is sure.
Page 82
The Supreme has sent his Grace into the world to save it.
It is the Divine Grace that must be prayed for―if justice were to manifest, very few would be those who could stand in front of it.
Justice is the strict logical determinism of the movements of Universal Nature. Illnesses are this determinism applied to the material body. The medical mind, basing itself upon this ineluctable Justice, strives to bring about conditions that should lead logically to good health. The moral consciousness acts in the same way in the social body and tapasya in the spiritual domain.
The Divine Grace alone has the power to intervene and change the course of Universal Justice. The great work of the Avatar is to manifest the Divine Grace upon earth. To be a disciple of the Avatar is to become an instrument of the Divine Grace. The Mother is the great dispensatrix―through identity―of the Divine Grace, with a perfect knowledge―through identity―of the absolute mechanism of Universal Justice.
And through her mediation each movement of sincere and confident aspiration towards the Divine calls down in response the intervention of the Grace.
Who can stand before Thee, Lord, and say in all sincerity, "I have never made a mistake"? How many times in a day we commit faults against Thy work, and always Thy Grace comes to efface them!
Without the intervention of Thy Grace, who would not often times have come under the merciless blade of the Law of Universal Justice?
Page 83
Each one here represents an impossibility to be solved, but as for Thy Divine Grace all is possible. Thy Work will be, in the detail as in the whole, the accomplishment of all these impossibilities transformed into divine realisations.
15 January 1933
Divine Grace, Thy goodness is infinite. We bow before Thee in gratitude.
What is the rationale of Divine Grace? Is not the Supreme Mother always ready with Her Grace for those who can call it down?
Yes.
Is it not true that even most of the seekers after God cannot call it down? And yet they can receive it if someone, a guru or avatar, has once called it down within him. Is it so?
So can we conclude that Divine Grace works best when it is established in the earth consciousness? Is it the aim of your endeavour to establish it permanently?
Please explain to me the whole principle.
The Divine Grace cannot be explained through words and mental formulas.
7 April 1939
Page 84
It is only the Divine's Grace that can give peace, happiness, power, light, knowledge, beatitude and love in their essence and their truth.
30 November 1954
Who is worthy or unworthy in front of the Divine Grace?
All are children of the one and the same Mother.
Her love is equally spread over all of them.
But to each one She gives according to his nature and receptivity.
Say―"I have received his Grace: I must be worthy of it", and then all will be well.
Let us give ourselves without reserve to the Divine, so best shall we receive the Divine Grace.
The Grace is equally for all. But each one receives it according to his sincerity. It does not depend on outward circumstances but on a sincere aspiration and openness.
Right use of the granted Grace: no deformation, no diminution, no exaggeration―a clear sincerity.
Call of the Divine Grace: not noisy but persistent and very perceptible to those who know how to listen.
Page 85
Whenever there is sincerity and goodwill, the Divine's help also is there.
19 April 1954
Be ever one-pointed in your surrender and sincere in your aspiration and you will constantly feel the presence of the Divine's help and guidance.
With the Divine's help nothing is impossible.
7 June 1954
For nobody would sadhana be possible without the Divine's help. But the help is always there.
The help is always there.
It is you who must keep your receptivity living.
The Divine help is much vaster than what any human being is able to receive.
28 December 1972
Those who will be able to become receptive by the mastery of the psychic upon the ego, will know what this help is and will have the full benefit of it.
Everyone is given his chance and the help is there for all―but for each the benefit is proportionate to his sincerity.
Divine help: modest in appearance, powerful in action.
Page 86
Have a steady faith in the divine Grace.
Continue to have full faith in the Divine's Grace, Will and Action and all will be all right.
6 November 1934
All depends on the intensity of the faith and the firmness of the right attitude.
30 May 1935
The Grace is always with you; concentrate in your heart with a silent mind and you are sure also to receive the guidance and the help you aspire for.
The Grace and the help are always there for all who aspire for them and their power is limitless when received with faith and confidence.
The Grace is always there ready to act but you must let it work and not resist its action. The one condition required is faith. When you feel attacked, call for help to Sri Aurobindo and myself. If your call is sincere (that is to say, if you sincerely want to be cured) your call will be answered and the Grace will cure you.
Yes, faith in the Grace always brings about its intervention.
Page 87
For the Grace to have a perfect and total result of its action, the faith must be total and perfect.
Once more, the lack of faith of the human mind brings complications and pain where with a quiet faith in the Divine Guidance all could be very simple and easy.
It is for the growth of this faith and confidence that I have been working for many years.
Obviously the resistance is obstinate.
Why disappointing? If there is one in a hundred who has a true faith, it is already a miracle!
The Grace will never fail us―such is the faith we must keep constantly in our heart.
10 May 1954
It is our lack of faith that creates our limitations.
30 July 1954
The Divine Grace is with us and never leaves us even when the appearances are dark.
17 August 1954
The Supreme's power is infinite―it is our faith that is small.
23 August 1954
Page 88
At each moment of our life, in all circumstances the Grace is there helping us to surmount all difficulties.
8 October 1954
In failure as well as in success, the Divine's Grace is always there.
1 December 1954
The closer you come to the Divine, the more you live under a shower of overwhelming evidence of His immeasurable Grace.
15 August 1955
Our faith in the omnipotence of the Grace is never equal to what the Grace itself is.
July 1956
An absolute faith and trust in the Grace is, in the last analysis, the Supreme Wisdom.
15 August 1956
Through this apparent chaos a new and better order is being formed. But to see it one must have faith in the Divine Grace. Cheer up.
13 October 1956
In the present growing conflict what should be our attitude?
Faith and total confidence in the Divine's Grace.
2 November 1956
Page 89
It is when all seems lost that all can be saved. When you have lost confidence in your personal power, then you should have faith in the Divine Grace.
28 January 1970
"At the very moment when everything seems to go from bad to worse, it is then that we must make a supreme act of faith and know that the Grace will never fail us."1
I mean, act according to our inner conviction regardless of all consequences and keep our faith unshaken in spite of the apparent so-called proofs to the contrary.
Surely, all this comes to teach us to have a quiet faith that what is truly needed we shall have and that, for the rest, we must not bother.
In the final analysis everything really depends on the Divine Grace and we should look at the future with confidence and serenity, progressing at the same time as quickly as we can.
In an ardent faith lies salvation.
In the final analysis, it is the Supreme Lord who does all.
We must be faithful instruments.
29 August 1972
Have faith and unshaken confidence. The Divine Grace will do the rest.
Page 90
Let us offer our will to the Divine Grace; it is the Grace that accomplishes all.
The Grace, the Grace alone can act. That alone can open the way, that alone can do the miracle.
Keep good faith in the Grace. She is the doer of all miracles.
We must learn to rely only on the Divine Grace and to call for its help in all circumstances; then it will work out constant miracles.
However long the journey may be and however great the traveller, at the end is always found exclusive reliance on the Divine Grace.
The divine Grace alone shall be our support.
The Grace is infinite for him who sincerely trusts the Grace.
15 March 1935
The Divine Grace is always with you and by your trust you allow its action to be effective.
Page 91
It is in proportion to our trust in the Divine that the Divine Grace can act for us and help.
Integral trust in the Divine: the trust that gives the true support to life.
Our trust in the Divine must not depend upon outward circumstances.
Very few are those who can stand firm on the rock of their faith and trust in the Divine.
11 October 1936
It is absurd to ask for help and yet to have no trust; on the contrary with confidence everything becomes so easy.
With trust in the Divine's Grace all obstacles can be surmounted.
20 April 1954
When we trust in the Divine's Grace we get an unfailing courage.
15 May 1954
Have full trust in the Divine's Grace and the Divine's Grace will help you in all ways.
4 June 1954
Page 92
Like the child who does not reason and has no care, trust thyself to the Divine that His will may be done.
27 September 1954
Whatever happens we must remain quiet and trust the Divine's Grace.
25 October 1954
Keep a cool head, strong and very quiet nerves, and a complete trust in the Divine Grace.
Aspiration for trust in the Divine: an intense need for that immutable peace given by the certitude of the Divine Grace.
Nothing can be compared to the peace that comes from a total trust in the Grace.
Leave all care to the Divine's Grace, including your progress, and you will be in peace.
5 May 1958
Sweet Mother,
How can I subdue the children's naughtiness when I tremble before it? How can I call down an atmosphere in which these wrong movements will not occur and no bad talk will come from the children's lips? How can I bring peace and wisdom into this chaotic mob? I am
Page 93
too weak, too shy. How should I act so as to be able to control this movement in them?
In order to bring peace and wisdom one must be wise and peaceful; you say that you are weak, but nobody is asking you to rely on your own strength; your strength, your wisdom and your peace belong to the Divine and you must rely on Him alone. Have an absolute trust in the Grace, set aside your little personality and allow the Grace to act; it will make you do what is needed and everything will be all right.
4 July 1962
The more one knows, the more one realises that one knows nothing.
For one who has total trust in the Divine, in His wisdom and mercy, there are no more problems.
The triumph of the Divine is certain. If we keep the true trust, we shall never take the wrong path.
It is only by remaining perfectly peaceful and calm with an unshakable confidence and faith in the Divine Grace that you will allow circumstances to be as good as they can be. The very best happens always to those who have put their entire trust in the Divine and in the Divine alone.
9 February 1930
Page 94
When, in your life, you meet with a hardship, take it as a Grace from the Lord and, indeed, it will become so.
1962
In any case and whatever happens, always consider events as a gift from the Divine Grace which is leading you by swift paths towards the spiritual goal of your life.
14 January 1963
What can be done will be done, but it is a matter of regret that you waited so long for the warning.
In any case, the only thing which is really effective is to will what the Divine wills, and to keep an unshakable confidence in the supreme compassion of the Divine Grace, for through that it is always the best that happens; not the best according to human ideas but the best according to the supreme Truth.
Be calm and full of a solid and pure faith.
I have received your letter and understand your aspiration.
But the doctor says you have fever still and it is impossible to let you go, because it would be dangerous for your health.
Page 95
So, the only thing to do is to accept quietly the conditions in which you find yourself, knowing that for him who has faith in the Divine it is always the best for him that happens. The Divine does not want human beings to suffer, but, in their ignorance, human beings react in such a way that they bring suffering upon themselves. In peace, quietness and surrender is the only solution.
9 February 1964
All depends on what you want. If you want Yoga, take all that happens as the expression of the Divine Grace leading you towards your goal, and try to understand the lesson that circumstances give.
23 April 1964
For those who have given themselves to the Divine each difficulty that confronts them is the assurance of a new progress and thus must be taken as a gift from the Grace.
19 June 1966
When difficulties besiege you, know that the Divine Grace is with you.
People believe that the Grace means making everything smooth for all your life. It is not true.
The Grace works for the realisation of your aspiration and everything is arranged to gain the most prompt, the quickest realisation.
26 May 1967
Page 96
The Grace is something that pushes you towards the goal to be attained. Do not try to judge it by your mind, you will not get anywhere, because it is something formidable which is not explained through human words or feelings. When the Grace acts, the result may or may not be pleasant―it takes no account of any human value, it may even be a catastrophe from the ordinary and superficial point of view. But it is always the best for the individual. It is a blow that the Divine sends so that progress may be made by leaps and bounds. The Grace is that which makes you march swiftly towards the realisation.
Of one thing we must be convinced―all that happens is exactly what must happen in order to lead us and the world as quickly as possible to the goal―the union with the Divine and ultimately the manifestation of the Divine.
And this faith―sincere and constant―is at once our help and protection.
Page 97
Devotion: modest and fragrant, it gives itself without seeking for anything in return.
Devotional attitude: moderate and self-effacing, it gives remarkable fruit.
A devotion that keeps concentrated and silent in the depths of the heart but manifests in acts of service and obedience, is more powerful, more true, more divine, than any shouting and weeping devotion.
Sincere devotion is much more effective than the Ganges water.
Worship: the form or outer expression of your devotion.
True worship: total and constant without demand or exigence.
Life must blossom like a flower offering itself to the Divine.
Page 98
The only offering that truly enriches is the one made to the Divine.
Offering: the placing of your entire being, with all its movements true and false, good and bad, right and wrong, before the Divine for transformation.
Offer sincerely to the Divine your obscurities and you will be able to receive the light.
The offering of our being we make to the Divine must be integral and effective.
24 August 1954
Integral offering: the surest road to realisation.
Unconditional integral offering: the joy of offering oneself without asking for anything in return.
Consecration is the consummation, when the Light has illuminated all the parts of your being, with a central will acting on the feelings, impulses, thoughts, emotions, activities, directing them always towards the Divine and when you move no more from darkness to light or from falsehood to truth or from misery to happiness but from light to more light, from truth to greater truth, from happiness to increasing happiness.
Page 99
It is in a sincere consecration to the Divine that we can find relief from our too human sufferings.
The quiet mind one gets through meditation is indeed of short duration, for as soon as you come out from meditation you come out at the same time from the quietness of mind. The true lasting quietness in the vital and the physical as well as in the mind comes from a complete consecration to the Divine; for when you can no more call anything, not even yourself, yours, when everything, including your body, sensations, feelings and thoughts, belongs to the Divine, the Divine takes the entire responsibility of all and you have nothing more to worry about.
A sincere consecration of all you are and all you do is for the sadhana much more effective than meditation.
True love and consecration lead much quicker to the Divine than an arduous Tapasya.
26 April 1937
Self-giving is true prayer.
Self-giving: by this the whole being gets progressively unified round the central psychic being.
Give yourself up―it is the best way of finding yourself.
Page 100
Give yourself, all that you are and what you do, to the Divine, and you will have peace.
Give yourself entirely to the Divine and you will see the end of all your troubles.
It is a sincere self-giving that saves one from all difficulties and dangers.
Never say, "I have nothing to give to the Divine." There is always something to give, for always you can give yourself in a better and more complete way.
To the Divine you are worth no more than what you have given Him.
To give to the Divine what one has in excess is not an offering.
One should give at least something out of what one needs.
If you remember what you have given to the Divine, He will have no need of remembering it Himself; and if you ever mention the gift or speak of it to anybody, it is not to the Divine that you have made the offering but to the demon of your vanity.
Entire self-giving: fully open, clear and pure.
Page 101
Do not confuse the psychic realisation with the spiritual realisation, because the psychic realisation will leave you within time and space, within the manifested universe.
Whereas the effect of the spiritual realisation will be to project you outside all creation, outside time and space.
There is no joy more perfect than to give oneself totally to that which is greater than oneself. God, Supreme Origin, Divine Presence, Absolute Truth―it doesn't matter what name we give Him or what aspect we most easily approach Him through―to forget oneself totally in an integral consecration is the surest path towards Realisation.
13 January 1952
How beautiful, grand, simple and calm everything becomes when our thoughts turn to the Divine and we give ourselves to the Divine!
11 May 1954
We must know how to give our life and also our death, our happiness and also our suffering.
28 December 1954
Three typical modes of total self-giving to the Divine:
(1) To prostrate oneself at His feet, giving up all pride in perfect humility.
(2) To unfold one's being before Him, open one's whole body from head to foot, as one opens a book, exposing one's centres so as to make all their movements visible in a complete sincerity that allows nothing to remain hidden.
(3) To nestle in His arms, to merge in Him in a loving and absolute trust.
These movements may be accompanied by three formulas or any one of them according to the case:
Page 102
(1) Let Thy Will be done and not mine.
(2) As Thou willest, as Thou willest.
(3) I am Thine for eternity.
Generally, when these movements are done in the true way, they are followed by a perfect identification, a dissolution of the ego, giving rise to a sublime felicity.
Three Steps towards the Supreme Identification.
Give all you have, this is the beginning.
Give all you do, this is the way.
Give all you are, this is the fulfilment.
I have read and heard that one should "give oneself" to the Divine. I don't understand how one should "give oneself".
With your thought, give your thoughts.
With your heart, give your feelings.
With your body, give your work.
21 March 1965
Above all words, above all thoughts in the luminous silence of an aspiring faith give yourself totally, unreservedly, absolutely to the Supreme Lord of all existences and He will do of you what He wants you to be.
5 March 1966
Page 103
No joy can be greater than that of serving the Divine.
There is no greater joy than to serve the Divine.
14 May 1954
We must be always, solely and exclusively, the servitors of the Divine.
31 October 1954
We should be in no other service but in God's alone.
Above all preferences we want to be at the service of the Divine.
Page 104
To be at the Divine's service is the surest means of attaining realisation.
(About service to the Divine and meditation)
Both are equally good. Nevertheless, through service one can attain a fuller realisation than through meditation alone.
All service done sincerely to the Divine is sadhana.
And all increase in the urge to serve is a sure sign of progress.
Whatever you do in life must be done as a service to the Divine and nobody else.
Whatever you are, think or feel, you are responsible for it to the Divine and to nobody else.
He is the sole Master of your being and your life. If in all sincerity you surrender entirely to Him He will take charge of you and your heart will be in peace.
All the rest belongs to the world of Ignorance and is governed by ignorance which means confusion and suffering.
Energy is in perpetual movement. It enters and leaves your physical being (mental, vital and material) and it is during your stay in what you call "you" that you must make of it an offering to the Divine and put it at His service.
Then automatically you will do at each instant what the Divine wants you to do.
Page 105
The whole life turned towards the Divine, offered to the Divine, at the service of the Divine, to become little by little an expression of the Divine.
30 January 1973
Page 106
Surrender: the decision to hand over the responsibility of your life to the Divine. This is done either through the mind or the emotion or the life-impulse or through all of them together.
To surrender to the Divine is to renounce your narrow limits and let yourself be invaded by It and made a centre for Its play.
If you are truly surrendered to the Divine, in the right manner and totally, then at every moment you will be what you ought to be, you will do what you ought to do, you will know what you ought to know.
But for that you should have transcended all the limitations of the ego.
True surrender enlarges you; it increases your capacity; it gives you a greater measure in quality and in quantity, which you could not have had yourself.
Detailed surrender: a surrender which does not forget anything.
Page 107
Detailed surrender means the surrender of all the details of life, even the smallest and the most insignificant in appearance. And this means to remember the Divine in all circumstances; whatever we think, feel or do, we must do it for Him as a way of coming close to Him, to be more and more what He wants us to be, capable of manifesting His will in perfect sincerity and purity, to be the instruments of His Love.
If man surrenders totally to the Divine, he identifies himself with the Divine.
13 May 1954
Perfect surrender: the indispensable condition for identification.
In the integrality and absoluteness of bhakti and surrender, we find the essential condition of perfect peace leading to uninterrupted bliss.
2 December 1954
The path is long, but self-surrender makes it short; the way is difficult, but perfect trust makes it easy.
Surrender to the Divine is the best emotional protection.
The true repose is that of a perfect surrender to the Divine.
What is the secret of success in sadhana?
Surrender.
13 October 1965
Page 108
Surrender: to will what the Divine wills is the supreme wisdom.
To will what God wills―that is the supreme secret.
Will one with the Divine will: a condition that triumphs over all obstacles.
Divine Will―the will expressing the highest Truth.
Let us do our best in all circumstances, leaving the result to the Divine's decision.
20 May 1954
We must be satisfied with what the Divine gives us, and do what He wants us to do without weakness, free from useless ambition.
27 June 1954
Whenever there is any difficulty we must always remember that we are here exclusively to accomplish the Divine's will.
5 August 1954
And when our adhesion to the Divine's will is total then also our peace and joy become total.
6 August 1954
Page 109
The Divine's will is that we should be like channels always open, always more wide, so that His forces may pour their abundance into the mould.
16 October 1954
Our will must always be a perfect expression of the Divine's will.
17 October 1954
Our constant prayer is to understand the Divine's will and to live accordingly.
28 October 1954
We must lie before the Divine always like a page perfectly blank, so that the Divine's will may be inscribed in us without any difficulty or mixture.
20 November 1954
At each moment may our attitude be such that the Divine's Will determines our choice so that the Divine may give the direction to all our life.
22 November 1954
We must see only through the Divine's eyes and act only through the Divine's will.
26 November 1954
We must know how to depend for everything and in everything on the Divine. He alone can surmount all difficulties.
Page 110
In a total surrender to the Divine there can be no longer errors or faults or any insufficiency since it is what the Divine has willed that he does and it is done as the Divine has willed it.
3 December 1954
Always the Supreme Will remains the eternal mystery calling for all our wonder and marvelling.
16 December 1954
Like the child who does not reason and has no care we trust ourselves to the Divine that the Divine's Will may be done.
18 December 1954
To do at each moment the best we can and leave the result to the Divine's decision, is the surest way to peace, happiness, strength, progress and final perfection.
The only thing you have to do is to remain quiet, undisturbed, solely turned towards the Divine, the rest is in His hands.
18 July 1955
One of the main problems of the present world is that the population has increased enormously in the last 100 years.
(1) How have so many souls evolved in such a short time?
(2) What will be the destiny of the world in regard to its population? Will the numbers go on increasing with the current speed or will there be at a certain period a drop without any artificial means?
Page 111
(3) In case the population decreases in the future, what will be the fate of so many souls that have evolved so far?
There is a Supreme Consciousness that governs the manifestation. His wisdom is certainly much greater than ours. So we need not bother about what will happen.
The Lord is always victorious―in his own way, not in the human way―according to his own will, not according to the will of men.
The Lord is always present―only we do not realise it.
We are always free to make our proposals to the Lord, but after all it is only His will that is realised.
If one looks from high enough, whatever one does one never wastes one's time since one acts according to one's nature and―without knowing it―according to the will of the Lord.
16 August 1962
Be quiet and offer yourself calmly and confidently.
All that happens is always the effect of the Supreme's Will.
Human action can be the occasion but never the cause.
3 August 1968
Page 112
It is rare that somebody can surrender entirely to the Divine's Will without having to face one or another of the difficulties.
How many efforts and struggles again to give ourselves, to surrender, once the individuality is constituted!
For if the struggle is not an actual one, that does not mean that it will not come one day in one form or another.
For always, at least once in our life, we are placed in some circumstance to test whether we are ready for an entire surrender to the Divine Will; whether we are, before all, human beings striving to attain and manifest the Godhead; ready to renounce everything in the world―what seems to us good as well as what seems bad―for that supreme conquest. In that ascent towards the heights, both virtues and duties―that is to say our mental prejudices and preferences―stand far more in our way than our exterior weaknesses and faults. An error can always be used as a spring-board, whilst a virtue is more often a limit, a barrier that must be surmounted.
I will add, quoting a passage of The Synthesis of Yoga, "All these are within us waiting to wall in the spirit with forms; but we must always go beyond, always renounce the lesser for the greater, the finite for the Infinite; we must be prepared to proceed from illumination to illumination, from experience to experience, from soul-state to soul-state, so as to reach the utmost transcendence of the Divine and its utmost universality."1
Page 113
The way in which most people surrender:
Let God manifest his will but let it be the same as mine.
15 April 1931
One thing you must know and decide:
It is if you want the True Divine as He is, or if you want a Divine in keeping with your own conception of what He ought to be.
And if you have decided to surrender sincerely and totally to the Divine and to be and do what He wants you to be and do according to His own will, or if you want the Divine to do what you want Him to do and to act according to your own will.
I have forwarded your prayer to the Supreme Lord. But if you want to live in Ananda, you must not try to impose your will on the Divine, but, on the contrary, you must be ready to accept all that comes to you from Him, with an equal peace; because He knows better than we what is good for our progress.
13 August 1960
The time is come to rely only on the Divine will and to let it work freely through you.
I repeat, the time has come at last not to rely any more on one's own petty will, to hand over the whole affair to the Divine's will and let it do its work through you, not only your mind and feelings but mainly through the body; and if you do it sincerely, all this body nonsense will disappear and you will be strong and fit for your work.
Page 114
When men will understand that the Divine knows better than they do what is the best for them, many of their difficulties will disappear.
1 April 1963
If the Lord wills for you a hardship, do not protest. Take it as a blessing and indeed it will become so.
The Lord is not an all-powerful automaton that human beings can move by the push-button of their will.
And yet most of those who surrender to God expect that from Him.
22 June 1963
Page 115
In the Divine's love we always find all support and all consolation.
7 May 1954
When you reach the contact with the Divine's love you see this love in everything and all circumstances.
20 July 1954
The Divine's love and knowledge must always govern our thoughts and actions.
24 July 1954
May the Divine's love dwell as the sovereign Master of our hearts and the Divine's knowledge never leave our thoughts.
29 October 1954
The Divine's love can generate in all peace and the satisfaction that comes from benevolence.
27 November 1954
The Divine's love is an eternal truth.
21 July 1955
The Divine Love is the essence of Truth and cannot be affected by human confusions.
Page 116
An Old Chaldean Legend1
Long ago, very long ago, in the desert land that is now Arabia, a divine being incarnated on earth to awaken it to the Supreme Love. As one would expect, he was persecuted by men, misunderstood, suspected, hunted after. Mortally wounded by his assailants, he wished to die alone, quietly, so that his work might be accomplished; and, pursued by them, he fled. Suddenly in the broad barren plain, a tiny bush of pomegranate appeared. The Saviour stole under its low branches in order to give up his body in peace; and at once the bush expanded miraculously, increased itself, widened, became deep and luxuriant in such a way that when the pursuers passed by they did not even suspect that the One whom they were chasing was hidden there, and they continued on their way.
While, drop by drop, the sacred blood fell, fertilising the soil, the bush covered itself with marvellous flowers, scarlet, enormous―clusters of petals, innumerable drops of blood...
These are the flowers that, for us, express and hold the Divine Love.
14 November 1955
Yesterday morning I distributed petals of "Divine Love". The previous night was, here, the darkest of the year and in India it is a great festival. Its true significance is that the Divine's Love is at the base and core of all manifestation, even where it seems most completely inconscient.
When Consciousness separated from its Origin and became Inconscience, the Origin emanated Love to reawaken Consciousness from the depth of the Inconscience and bring it back into touch with its Origin.
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It may be said that at its origin love is the supreme power of attraction which awakens, in response, the irresistible need of an absolute self-giving; they are the two poles of the urge towards complete fusion.
No other movement could, better and more surely than this, throw a bridge across the abyss dug by the sense of separation that comes from the formation of the individual. It was necessary to bring back to itself what had been projected into space without destroying for this purpose the universe created thus.
That is why love sprang up, the irresistible power of union.
When the baker wants to make the dough of his bread rise, he puts some leaven into it, and it is from within that the transformation takes place.
When the Divine wanted to rouse Matter, awaken it and make it rise towards God, He threw Himself into Matter under the form of love, and it is from within that the transformation takes place.
So it is by living from within an organisation that one can help it to become enlightened and rise towards the Truth.
17 January 1965
Consciousness is a state and a power.
Love is a force and an action.
The Divine has an equal love for all human beings, but the obscurity of consciousness of most men prevents them from perceiving this divine love.
Truth is wonderful. It is in our perception that it is distorted.
26 November 1971
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Only he who loves can recognise love. Those who are incapable of giving themselves in a sincere love, will never recognise love anywhere, and the more the love is divine, that is to say, unselfish, the less they can recognise it.
To become conscious of the Divine Love, all other love must be abandoned.
Lean more exclusively on the Divine's love. When one receives the Divine's love, of what value can be any human love?
2 September 1939
There is always a bitter taste behind the human love―it is only the Divine Love which never disappoints.
5 May 1945
Do not grieve. Human love is fugitive. It is only the Divine's love that never fails.
Certainly one has the right to love and true love carries in itself its joy, but unhappily human beings are egoistic and immediately mix with their love the desire to be loved in return, and this desire is contrary to spiritual truth and the cause of passions and sufferings.
The one you love must have the right of freedom in her feelings and if you want the truth you must understand this right and accept it. Otherwise there will be no end to your miseries. This
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is an occasion to surmount your egoism and to open to the true life. If you decide to make this effort my help will be with you.
The need for human love, to the extent that it is not merely in obedience to the instinct of Nature or to a vital attraction, is the need to have a Divine for oneself alone, at one's entire and exclusive disposal, a Divine who is one's personal property and to whom one gives oneself totally only if the gift is reciprocated.
Instead of enlarging oneself to the size of the Divine and having a love as vast as the universe, one tries to reduce the Divine to one's own size and have His love for oneself alone.
Therefore, human love is not a need of the soul, but rather a concession it makes for a time to the ego.
I have postponed my answer to give you time to look carefully into the problem and to face it with more quiet and detachment.
One thing only I can tell you that whatever the sincerity, simplicity and purity of the relation between two human beings, it shuts them off more or less from the direct divine force and help and limits their strength, light and power only to the sum of their potentialities.
I cannot say that this is very advisable in your case.
15 February 1950
You lose a great part of your strength, energy and capacity due to your so-called human love. It is a great hindrance in your progress.1
If there is, somewhere in some part of your being, still the need for human affection and love, it is better to go through the experience of life; it is the best preparation for Yoga.
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The thirst for affection and love is a human need, but it can be quenched only if it turns towards the Divine. As long as it seeks satisfaction in human beings, it will always be disappointed or wounded.
There is a thirst for Love which no human relation can quench. It is only the Divine's love that can satisfy that thirst.
4 December 1954
They always speak of the rights of love but love's only right is the right of self-giving.
Without self-giving there is no love; but self-giving is very rare in human love which is full of selfishness and demands.
So long as the ego is there, one cannot love.
Love alone can love, Love alone can conquer the ego.
Self-love is the great obstacle.
Divine love is the great remedy.
One is outwardly alone only if one is closed to the divine love.
8 December 1960
You feel lonely because you feel the need to be loved. Learn to love without demand, to love just for the joy of loving (the most wonderful joy in the world!) and you will never again feel lonely.
11 April 1966
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The Rungs of Love
At first one loves only when one is loved.
Next, one loves spontaneously, but one wants to be loved in return.
Then one loves even if one is not loved, but one still wants one's love to be accepted.
And finally one loves purely and simply, without any other need or joy than that of loving.
15 April 1966
There is a love in which the emotion is turned towards the Divine in an increasing receptivity and growing union. What it receives from the Divine it pours out on others, but truly without demanding a return. If you are capable of that, then that is the highest and most satisfying way to love.
It is not the love that someone feels for you that can make you happy, it is the love you feel for others that makes you happy: for you receive the love that you give from the Divine, who loves eternally and unfailingly.
20 March 1967
All the forms that love has taken in the human consciousness on earth are but awkward attempts, deformed and incomplete, to find once again true Love.
23 March 1967
True love has no need of reciprocation; there can be no reciprocation because there is only one Love, the Love, which has no other aim than to love. It is in the world of division that one feels
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the need of reciprocation―because one lives in the illusion of the multiplicity of Love; but in fact there is only One Love and it is always this sole love which, so to say, responds to itself.
19 April 1967
Indeed, there is only one Love, universal and eternal, as there is only one Consciousness, universal and eternal.
All the apparent differences are colorations given by individualisation and personification. But these alterations are purely superficial. And the "nature" of Love, as of Consciousness, is unalterable.
20 April 1967
When one has found divine Love, it is the Divine that one loves in all beings. There is no longer any division.
1 May 1967
Once one has found divine Love, all other loves, which are nothing but disguises, can lose their deformities and become pure―then it is the Divine that one loves in everyone and everything.
6 May 1967
True love, that which fulfils and illumines, is not the love one receives but the love one gives.
And the supreme Love is a love without any definite object―the love which loves because it cannot do other than to love.
15 May 1968
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There is only one love―the Divine's Love; and without that Love there would be no creation. All exists because of that Love and it is when we try to find our own love which does not exist that we do not feel the Love, the only Love, the Divine's Love which permeates all existence.
5 March 1970
When the psychic loves it loves with the Divine Love.
When you love, you love with the Divine's love diminished and distorted by your ego, but in its essence still the Divine's love.
It is for the facility of the language that you say the love of this one or that one, but it is all the same one Love manifested through different channels.
I have given you the clue to find the love you are seeking for since many years; but it is not a mental clue; and it is only if your mind falls silent that you can feel what I want to convey to you.
14 March 1970
As for true love, it is the Divine Force that allows consciousnesses to unite themselves with the Divine.
True love is something very deep and calm in its intensity; it may quite well not manifest itself in any exterior acts sensational or affectionate.
Divine Love, true love, finds its delight and its satisfaction in itself; it has no need to be received and appreciated, nor to be shared―it loves for the sake of loving, as a flower blooms.
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To feel this love in oneself is to possess an immutable happiness.
21 June 1971
Love is not sexual intercourse.
Love is not vital attraction and interchange.
Love is not the heart's hunger for affection.
Love is a mighty vibration coming straight from the One, and only the very pure and very strong are capable of receiving and manifesting it.
To be pure is to be open only to the Supreme's influence and to no other.
I do not like that the word love should be polluted to speak of sexual desire, the human inheritance of the animal.
You are making a great confusion between maternal sentiment which is, in the physical, an expression of the force of the universal Mother, and the physical act of procreation which is something wholly animal, most often even bestial, and which is only a means that Nature has found to perpetuate the different species.
6 October 1952
Sexual relations belong to the past, when man was closer to the animal than to the Divine. All depends on what you expect from life, but if you sincerely want to do the Yoga, you must abstain from all sexual activities.
23 March 1968
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A decisive choice has to be made between lending the body to nature's ends in obedience to her demand to perpetuate the race as it is, and preparing this very body to become a step towards the creation of a new race. The two cannot go together; at every minute you have to decide whether you wish to remain within the manhood of yesterday or belong to the supermanhood of tomorrow.
Somebody has said, "Sex is of the mind. The act is no problem. Sex is a problem to us because we are not sufficiently creative."
Is not sex a thing not only of the mind but also of the vital being and the physical? What is it essentially and intrinsically? And how is the attraction between the sexes to be completely erased from the being?
Sex seems rather to be more of the body. It is only when you pass from the lower to the higher hemisphere that you can completely erase the thing. Sex belongs to Nature in her lower working and as long as you belong to that Nature, her working will be there automatically in you.
At present I am much disturbed by sex difficulty. My rejection is not of much value, and I feel confused.
You have to persevere until it is valid.
1933
When you will think no more of sex at all and see no more women as women but only as human beings, then and then only
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I will know that you are beginning to get cured.
Sexual desires do not come from eating well but from thinking wrongly and concentrating on that. The less you think about it, the better it is. You should not concentrate on what you do not want to be, but on the contrary on what you want to become.
7 June 1964
Instead of being dominated by the sexual impulsions, they must be put under the domination of the highest will.
Passion: it is a force, but is dangerous and cannot be used unless it is perfectly surrendered to the Divine.
Human passions changed into love for the Divine: may they become a real fact, and their abundance will save the world.
Perfect attachment to the Divine replaces all vital attractions and passions.
Greed, greed, always greed... is the response of material nature.
In whatever way the Divine manifests there, it becomes at once an object of covetousness. A rush to appropriate, an endeavour to rob, exploit, squeeze, swallow and in the end crush down the Divine, this is the receptivity of matter to the divine touch.
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O my Lord, Thou comest as the redeemer and these would make of Thee a dupe! Thou comest for union, for transformation, for realisation, and they think only of absorption and selfish increase.
9 March 1932
No half-measure would be enough to please you.
In short, what you want is a Divine for yourself, who would have no other occupation than to satisfy you, a Divine whom you could see physically at every hour of the day or night, whom you could argue with at your leisure, whom you could live with, marry―for in its ideal principle, marriage is nothing else but that.
But for it to be so, this Divine would have to be of your own size, your own stature.
And towards what could He lead you if not towards yourself as you are. Is this what you really want in the truth of your being?
I refuse to believe it.
Child, you say to me, "To love me is to do what I want."
But I say to you that for the Divine to love truly is to do what is best for the one He loves.
May 1946
Each and every one, when he turns to the Divine, demands that He should do for him exactly what he asks. Whereas the Divine does for each one what is best for him from all points of view. But man, in his ignorance and blindness, revolts against the Divine when his desire is not satisfied, and says to Him, "You do not love me."
28 May 1946
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You say of your God: "I have loved Him so much and yet He did not remain with me!" But what kind of love have you given Him? In its essence, love is one, just as consciousness is one; but in the manifestation, it is coloured and differentiated by each individual nature. If you are impure and egoistic, love in you will become impure and egoistic, narrow, sectarian, limited, ambitious and possessive, violent, jealous, vulgar, brutal and cruel. Is this the kind of love that can be offered to God? If you want your love to be worthy of the one you love, if you want to enjoy love in its eternal perfection, become perfect, break out of the limitations of your ego, partake of eternity. And then you will always be close to the object of your love, for you will grow into his likeness.
27 November 1952
It is said that one grows into the likeness of what one loves; but with regard to God it is also true that one can remain always with Him only when one grows into His likeness.
It is not through human love that one can learn to love the Divine, for the love is of quite a different nature. First learn to give yourself sincerely to the Divine and then the joy of love will come afterwards. By giving yourself sincerely all your difficulties will disappear.
28 December 1955
The true love for the Divine is self-giving, free of demand, full of submission and surrender. It makes no claim, imposes no condition, strikes no bargain, indulges in no violences of jealousy or pride or anger―for these things are not in its composition.
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When the true and sacred love is there (love from the Divine and for the Divine), whatever happens is always utilised as a means for increasing and perfecting the union. This leaves no place for worry, regret and depression, but, on the contrary, fills the consciousness with the certitude of victory.
Integral love for the Divine: pure, complete and irrevocable, it is a love that gives itself for ever.
Flaming love for the Divine: ready for all heroism and all sacrifice.
To love truly the Divine we must rise above attachments.
Love is with all, working for the progress of each one equally―but it triumphs in those who care for it.
(Message for the World Vegetarian Congress)
Love alone can overcome hate and violence.
Let the divine compassion express itself through you always and in all circumstances.
The divine compassion reaches out not only to the one who is eaten but also to the one who eats, not only to the one who is tortured but also the one who tortures.
1957
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Divine Love can overcome the evil and the cruel―the tiger does not attack the yogi.
Unmanifest Divine Love: the splendour of the marvellous love which the Divine keeps for the pure heart.
Indeed, all life is love if we know how to live it.
13 July 1963
Sweetness is within every heart.
Bitterness is an illusion that melts in the Sun of Divine Love.
July 1966
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Be very careful to remain always calm and peaceful and let an integral equanimity establish itself more and more completely in your being. Do not allow your mind to be too active and to live in a turmoil, do not jump to conclusions from a superficial view of things; always take your time, concentrate and decide only in quietness.
Mother, for several days I have been suffering a lot. It is the inner being that suffers and always wants to unite with the divine consciousness but cannot because of the outer consciousness. Mother, really I am suffering.
You know that it is indispensable to be calm; you must try hard to become calm. Then in the calm, pray to Sri Aurobindo to give you the right consciousness; pray in all sincerity, with faith and trust. Your prayer will surely be granted one day.
Sometimes I become absolutely quiet, I speak to no one, but just remain within myself, only thinking of the Divine. Is it good to keep this state constantly?
It is an excellent state which one can keep quite easily, but it must be sincere; I mean, it should be not a mere appearance of calm but a real and deep calm which spontaneously keeps you silent.
9 March 1933
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The first step is perfect calm and equanimity.
28 September 1937
You must learn to be calm and quiet even in the midst of difficulties. This is the way to overcome all obstacles.
Can "calm" give a solution to all problems?
Yes, but for this the calm must be perfect, in all the parts of the being, so that the power may express itself through it.
1960
So that the experience does not become dangerously distorted and painful, you must keep an absolute calm.
It is only in peace and calm that the Divine Force expresses itself and acts.
26 June 1967
It is very good to have recovered the calm.
It is in the calm that the body can increase its receptivity and gain the power to contain.
Do not confuse calm with inertia. Calm is self-possessed strength, quiet and conscious energy, mastery of the impulses, control over the unconscious reflexes. In work calm is the source of efficiency and an indispensable condition for perfection.
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Increase the inner rest, it must become a rest always present even in the midst of the greatest activity and so steady that nothing has the power to shake it―and then you will become a perfect instrument for the Manifestation.
Surely to be quiet is not tamas. In fact it is only in quietness that the proper thing can be done. What I call quietness is to do work without being disturbed by anything and to observe everything without being disturbed by anything.
Be quiet. We have only to work patiently without being disturbed by anything and keep unshaken the faith in the inevitable Victory.
Quietness, quietness, a calm and concentrated strength, so quiet that nothing can shake it―this is the indispensable basis for the integral realisation.
The more a person is quiet in front of all occurrences, equal in all circumstances, and keeps a perfect mastery of himself and remains peaceful in the presence of whatever happens, the more he has progressed towards the goal.
In quietness you will feel that the divine force, help and protection are always with you.
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At the hour of danger a perfect quietness is required.
When one remains perfectly quiet and without fear, nothing serious can happen.
The only thing you have to do is to remain quiet, undisturbed, solely turned towards the Divine; the rest is in His hands.
17 July 1935
That is always the best thing to do. To keep quiet, open and call or wait for the descent.
Be quiet always, calm, peaceful, and let the Force work in your consciousness through the transparency of a perfect sincerity.
6 June 1937
It is only in quietness and peace that one can know what is the best thing to do.
3 November 1937
The storm is only at the surface of the sea; in the depths all is quiet.
28 May 1954
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I have come to a point when I do not seem to understand anything. I do not lack ideas or understanding in terms of words. What I lack is a sense of Reality, a force of Being and direction. It is not at all a happy state of affairs.
You told me all that last night between 10 and 11, and as you were somewhat restless, I told you, "First of all you must be quiet." The whole thing was very vivid and I appreciate the power of your thought―but I insist on the necessity of being calm and quiet. It is indispensable.
21 June 1962
Do not get agitated.
Keep quiet and everything will be all right.
14 May 1967
It is in quietness, peace and silence that the spiritual forces act.
All agitation and excitement come from an adverse influence.
February 1971
The true Power is always quiet. Restlessness, agitation, impatience are the sure signs of weakness and imperfection.
Keep quiet, try to detach yourself and observe as a witness, to prevent all possibility of acting on impulse.1
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It is not in the outward circumstances that you must look for quietness, it is from inside yourself. Deep inside the being there is a peace that brings quietness in the whole being down to the body, if we allow it to do so.
It is that peace you must seek and then you will get the quietness you wish for.
Quietness is always good and even indispensable for a true and lasting progress.
21 October 1972
The peace must be immense, the quietness deep and still, the calm unshakable, and the trust in the Divine ever–increasing.
It is by a quiet, strong and persistent peace that the true victories can be won.
It is only in tranquillity and peace that one can know what is the best thing to do.
Truly peace is badly needed―without peace the simplest thing makes at once a big fuss.
Nowhere will you be able to find peace unless you have peace in your heart.
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If you ask from within for peace, it will come.
16 April 1935
When the heart and the mind are at peace, the rest naturally follows.
26 July 1936
There is no greater peace than that of a pure mind.
Solace in the mind: a silent peace.
The vast peace and the calm are there, ready for you to open to them and receive them.
11 September 1937
Let the vast peace of the Divine penetrate you entirely and initiate all your movements.
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Let the Peace be manifested in you more and more constantly and integrally.
Let the Divine's peace always reign in your heart and mind.
8 May 1954
In peace and inner silence you will more and more become conscious of the constant Presence.
In peace and silence the Eternal manifests. Let nothing trouble you and the Eternal will manifest.
12 May 1954
It is in an unshakable peace that can be found the true power.
13 June 1954
It is in peace that knowledge and power are truly effective.
The Divine's Peace must dwell constantly in our hearts.
11 September 1954
It is in the most complete peace, serenity and equality that all is the Divine even as the Divine is all.
26 September 1954
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Peace of mind must be acquired not through favourable circumstances but through inner transformation.
18 March 1960
It is from the Divine that a sadhak receives peace, a peace quite independent from outward circumstances. Turn more towards the Divine, aspire for the real inner peace and you will get enough peace to carry on your work without disturbance.
Be peaceful, confident in the divine working.
14 November 1969
Silence: the ideal condition for progress.
It is in Silence that true progress can be made.
It is only in silence that a true progress can be made; it is only in silence that one can rectify a wrong movement; it is only in silence that one can be of help to somebody else.
If you have found out a truth, or rectified a mistake in yourself, or made a progress, to speak or to write about it to anybody else than the Guru is to lose at once the truth or the progress.
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A silent help seems to be more effective and sure, more constant and detailed.
In silence is the greatest respect.
In the silence of the heart, you will receive the command.
In the silence of our heart there is always peace and joy.
27 May 1954
In a quiet silence strength is restored.
18 June 1954
Let us adore in silence and listen to the Divine in a deep concentration.
15 October 1954
In the perfect silence of the contemplation all widens to infinity, and in the perfect peace of that silence the Divine appears in the resplendent glory of His light.
27 October 1954
In concentration and silence we must gather strength for the right action.
8 November 1954
Certain silences are revelations and are more expressive than words.
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Meditation
We sat together in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the company of our soul, and we witnessed the gates of Eternity opening wide before us.
5 January 1955
It is in silence that the soul best expresses itself.
7 June 1958
It is in the silence of complete identification with the Divine that true understanding is obtained.
October 1969
With words one can at times understand, but only in silence one knows.
Silence: the condition of the being when it listens to the Divine.
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Openness is the will to receive and to utilise for progress the force and influence; the constant aspiration to remain in touch with the Consciousness; the faith that the force and consciousness are always with you, around you, inside you and that you have only to let nothing stand in the way of your receiving them.
Opening is a release of the consciousness by which it begins to admit into itself the workings of the Divine Light and Power.
Open to the consciousness which is working on and in you and keep always as quiet and peaceful as you can.
I pray that I may serve you consciously and sincerely, without the least encroachment or hampering by the ego, and be inspired by you in everything.
Open yourself more and more to the Consciousness and you will receive inspiration.
9 May 1934
The opening to the Divine Light cannot be made through coercion.
12 June 1939
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"To open more to love and to the light." This is exactly the answer I send to your last letter. Rise higher in the consciousness, love more widely, open to the light—and all divergences will disappear. You must be as vast and comprehensive as the world to do the Yoga.
2 August 1962
If you open yourself to the Force and the Help, there will be no strain.
14 December 1963
Opening: the help is constant in all the domains. It is for us to know how to benefit from it.
Integral opening of the being towards the Divine: the first step of the ascent.
Widen yourself to the extreme limit of the universe... and beyond.
Always take upon yourself all the necessities of progress, and resolve them in the ecstasy of Unity. Then you will be divine.
13 November 1957
To widen and open as vastly as one can is more effective than to bring down and to try to push the force into the narrowness of the small human being.
7 December 1964
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Plasticity: always ready for the progress demanded.
Receptivity is the capacity of admitting and retaining the Divine Workings.
Receptivity: conscious of the Divine Will and surrendered to it.
Integral receptivity: the whole being is aware of the Divine Will and obeys it.
Psychic receptivity: the psychic responds joyously to the ascending force.
Mental receptivity: always ready to learn.
Emotional receptivity: emotions wanting to be divinised.
Vital receptivity happens only when the vital understands that it must be transformed.
The vital blossoms in aspiration for the Divine.
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Physical receptivity: that which one should not have except towards the Divine.
Supramentalised receptivity: the receptivity of tomorrow.
It is with the widening of the consciousness and the one-pointedness of the aspiration that the receptivity increases.
22 December 1934
By revolt the doors of receptivity are closed.
In order to be filled anew the vessel must get empty sometimes.
It is when we are preparing for greater receptivities that we feel empty.
Consciousness?
Be receptive―it is there.
Try to be satisfied with what you receive―for it is a matter of receptivity, because―you can believe me―I give always much more than what the people are capable of receiving―and in two or three minutes they could have quite enough to go for a whole month. But the mind interferes with its ignorant demands and the whole thing is spoiled.
29 January 1964
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My love is always with you; if then you do not feel it, it is because you are not capable of receiving it. It is your receptivity that is lacking and should be increased; for this you must open yourself, and one opens oneself only if one gives oneself. Surely you are trying more or less consciously to draw the forces and the divine love towards you. The method is bad. Give yourself without calculating and without expecting anything in return, and then you will become capable of receiving.
How can we know that we are receptive?
When we feel the urge to give and the joy of giving to the Divine's work, then we can be sure that we have become receptive.
12 July 1965
To be receptive
To be receptive is to feel the urge to give and the joy of giving to the Divine's Work all one has, all one is, all one does.
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Purity is the best of powers.
This is purity, to accept no other influence but only the influence of the Divine.
On earth, true purity is to think as the Divine thinks, to will as the Divine wills, to feel as the Divine feels.
24 September 1945
If one lives only for the Divine and by the Divine, there follows a perfect purity.
Purity is perfect sincerity and one cannot have it unless the being is entirely consecrated to the Divine.
Mother, tell me how I can keep Your service holy and free from the slightest stain of human impurity.
By wanting it and always aspiring for it.
Integral purity: the whole being is purified of the ego.
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Power of integral purity: the power to accept nothing but the divine influence.
Mental purity: a mirror which does not distort.
Perfect mental purity: a spotless mirror constantly turned towards the Divine.
Integral mental purity: silent, attentive, receptive, concentrated on the Divine―this is the path to purity.
Vital purity: it begins with the abolition of desire.
Collective purity: a very precious achievement but one difficult to obtain.
Divine purity: it is happy just to be, in all simplicity.
There is a great beauty in simplicity.
Integral simplicity: the simplicity which is the consequence of perfect sincerity.
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Spirituality is supreme simplicity.
6 March 1971
True spirituality is it very simple.
To express Harmony, of all things Simplicity is the best.
Humility: adorable in its simplicity.
The greater beings are always the most simple and modest.
Correct self-evaluation: simple and modest, does not try to push itself forward.
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Modesty is satisfied with its own charm and does not draw attention to itself.
The more we advance on the Path, the more modest we become and the more we see that we have done nothing in comparison to what remains to be done.
4 June 1956
We must learn that whatever our efforts, whatever our struggles, whatever even our victories, compared with the path still to be traversed what we have already travelled is nothing.
Do not think yourself big or small, very important or very unimportant; for we are nothing in ourselves.We must only live to become what the Divine wills of us.
You are becoming very wise and approaching the realisation that we are nothing, we know nothing and we can do nothing; only the Supreme Divine knows, does and is.
True humility consists in knowing that the Supreme Consciousness, the Supreme Will alone exists and that the I is not.
To be humble means for the mind, the vital and the body never to forget that without the Divine they know nothing, are nothing and can do nothing; without the Divine they are nothing but ignorance, chaos and impotence. The Divine alone is Truth, Life, Power, Love, Felicity.
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Therefore the mind, the vital, and the body must learn and feel, once and for all, that they are wholly incapable of understanding and judging the Divine, not only in his essence but also in his action and manifestation.
This is the only true humility and with it come quiet and peace.
This is also the surest shield against all hostile attack. Indeed, in the human being it is always the door of pride at which the Adversary knocks, for it is this door which opens to let him enter.
Whatever is your personal value or even your individual realisation, the first quality required in yoga is humility.
A true and sincere humility is our safeguard―it is the surest way to the indispensable dissolution of the ego.
Humility and sincerity are the best safeguards. Without them each step is a danger; with them the victory is certain.
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Gratitude: it is you who open all the closed doors and let the Grace which saves penetrate deeply.
Gratitude
A loving recognition of the Grace received from the Divine.
A humble recognition of all that the Divine has done and is doing for you.
The spontaneous feeling of obligation to the Divine, which makes you do your best to become less unworthy of what the Divine is doing for you.
Detailed gratitude: the gratitude that awakens in us all the details of the Divine Grace.
Integral gratitude: the whole being offers itself to the Lord in absolute trust.
Mental gratitude: the gratefulness of the mind for what makes it progress.
The best way to express one's gratitude to the Divine is to feel simply happy.
23 April 1954
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There is no better way to show one's gratefulness to the Divine than to be quietly happy.
To accept gladly what I give is never selfish.
There is no better cure for egoism than a happy gratefulness.
Always joyfully accept what is given you by the Divine.
A self-willed man cannot be grateful―because when he gets what he wants he gives all the credit for it to his own will, and when he gets what he does not want he resents it badly and throws all the blame on whomever he considers responsible, God, man or Nature.
It is very difficult to keep up your gratitude; for a time it comes very strongly and again it goes back. The Divine can go on tolerating everything in spite of your ingratitude because He knows fully the how and why and wherefore of everything. He knows why you are doing a certain thing. He knows the full working and that is why He can tolerate it.1
The nobility of a being is measured by its capacity of gratitude.
Faithfulness: we can count on you. You never fail us when we need you.
Page 155
Incorruptible faithfulness: nothing can turn you away from the duty you have chosen.
This is faithfulness, to admit and to manifest no other movements but only the movements prompted and guided by the Divine.
The strength is always with you to be always faithful to the Divine Will.
2 June 1935
In the present condition of the world an absolute faithfulness to the Divine has become an indispensable need.
Surely when unfaithfulness prevails all around, it is time to be truly faithful and to stand untouched and unmoved in the storm.
Faithfulness is a condition for peace and protection.
5 August 1955
Without faithfulness in one's consecration to the Divine there can be no peace in the heart.
Be faithful to the Divine and you will enjoy a constant peace.
Be always faithful to your faith and you will feel no sorrow.
Page 156
Be simple, sincere and faithful in front of the Grace which is constantly with you.
28 May 1959
The obedience to the Divine Will must be total.
Perfect obedience: obedience to the divine order with joy and without hesitation or reserve in all parts of the being.
To learn to obey is good; to obey only the Divine is better.
Page 157
Will: power of consciousness turned towards effectuation.
A persevering will surmounts all obstacles.
One must have an unvarying will to acquire what one does not have in one's nature, to know what one does not yet know, to be able to do what one cannot yet do.
One must progress constantly in the light and the peace which come from the absence of personal desire.
If one has a strong will, he has only to orient it properly; if he has no will, he has first of all to build one for himself, which always takes long and is sometimes difficult.
22 March 1934
Even the most beautiful thoughts will not make us progress unless we have a constant will for them to be expressed in us through nobler feelings, more exact sensations and better actions.
18 November 1951
My lower nature continues to do the same stupid things. You alone can change it. What are Your conditions?
1) to be convinced that you can change.
2) to will to change without accepting the excuses of the lower nature.
Page 158
3) to persist in the will in spite of every fall.
4) to have an unshakable faith in the help you receive.
7 April 1969
AGNI
The true Agni always burns in deep peace; it is the fire of an all-conquering will.
Let it grow in you in perfect equanimity.
Agni: the flame of purification which must precede all contact with the invisible worlds.
Resolution: nothing can stop its development.
We must gather ourselves in a calm resolution and an unshakable certitude.
9 November 1954
Keep firm in your resolution and everything will be all right. Love.
28 October 1966
Let your resolution be integral and constant and little by little your future will be revealed to you.
9 February 1969
Page 159
It is difficult to get rid of all habits. They must be faced with a steady determination.
19 July 1954
It is not because a thing is difficult that one should give it up, on the contrary, the more a thing is difficult the more determined should one be to succeed in it.
1 July 1955
Determination knows what it wants and does it.
Ambitious plans generally fall flat. It is better to go slow and steady.
Be steady and patient―everything will be all right.
22 May 1934
You must keep your aspiration steady and be patient in your endeavour―and you are sure of success.
8 May 1937
Steady efforts always bring great results.
25 April 1954
Page 160
Remaining steady in our effort and quiet and firm in our determination, we are sure to reach the goal.
26 October 1954
Effort well-directed breaks down all obstacles.
Be steady in your aspiration and it is sure to be granted.
Love.
3 October 1966
No effort is lost. There is always an answer, even if it is not perceived.
7 December 1969
Personal effort is indispensable; without it nothing can be done. When the personal effort is sincere the help is always there.
15 October 1972
All sincere effort to progress and get rid of dangerous habits is answered and supported by an active help from the Grace―but the effort must be steady and the aspiration must be sincere.
Do not worry, be patient and persistent in your aspiration.
Persist in your aspiration and it will be fulfilled.
12 September 1934
Page 161
Persist in your aspiration and your effort and you will succeed.
12 June 1971
Continuity: knowing how to persist in one's effort.
Perseverance: the decision to go to the very end.
Perseverance is patience in action.
Perseverance breaks down all obstacles.
Persevere and all obstacles will be conquered.
Persevere―it is the surest way to success. What you have not been able to achieve in you last year, you will do this year.
With my love and blessings.
Persevere in your aspiration and effort, do not allow yourself to be discouraged by setbacks. This always happens in the beginning. But if you continue to fight without paying any attention to them, a day will come when the resistances give way and the difficulties vanish. My help is always with you, but you must learn to use it and to rely on it rather than on your own resources.
29 May 1956
Page 162
What you are not able to do today, you will achieve tomorrow. Persevere and you shall conquer.
It is by persevering that one conquers difficulties, not by running away from them. One who perseveres is sure to triumph. Victory goes to the most enduring. Always do your best and the Lord will take care of the results.
1961
What is obstinacy? How can one use it best?
It is the wrong use of a great quality―perseverance.
Make a good use of it and it will be all right.
Be obstinate in your effort towards progress, and your obstinacy will become useful.
29 May 1971
Page 163
I already told you that my help is with you and will continue to be so―you are sure to reach the goal but you must be very perseverant. To be constantly in contact with the Truth is not easy and needs time and a great sincerity. But you can be sure of my guidance and my force.
Endurance: going to the very end of the effort without fatigue or relaxing.
Endurance is the capacity of bearing without depression.
Cheer up, all will be all right, if we know how to last and endure.
To know and be able to bear and endure, undoubtedly produces a firm and fixed joy.
The most important is a steady, quiet endurance that does not allow any upsetting or depression to interfere with your progress. The sincerity of the aspiration is the assurance of the victory.
A quiet endurance is the sure way to success.
14 June 1954
Page 164
The things we cannot realise today we shall be able to realise tomorrow. The only necessity is to endure.
20 August 1954
The victory is to the most enduring.
6 September 1954
Endure and you will triumph. Victory goes to the most enduring.
And with the Grace and divine love nothing is impossible.
My force and love are with you.
At the end of the struggle there is Victory.
7 January 1966
In silent endurance, one step forward towards victory with the help of eternal love.
Open to the Divine Grace and thou shalt endure.
Patience: indispensable for all realisation.
Patience: the capacity to wait steadily for the Realisation to come.
Accomplishment is without any doubt the fruit of patience.
Page 165
With patience one arrives always.
It is not in a day that one can overcome one's own nature. But with patience and enduring will the Victory is sure to come.
With patience any difficulty can be overcome.
9 March 1934
Everything will come in its time; keep a confident patience and all will be all right.
9 August 1934
With patience and perseverance all prayers get fulfilled.
4 February 1938
With sincerity, make an effort for progress, and with patience, know how to await the result of your effort.
21 October 1951
To know how to wait is to put Time on your side.
I worry myself over being exact and regular and punctual. If I ever miss being so, even a little, I get upset and feel that I must hurry all the more. In matters of the inner life also, I incline to do the same.
I think this tendency is to be discouraged.
Yes, it is not good to be impatient and agitated―you must do everything peacefully and quietly without excessive haste.
Page 166
If the mind remains quiet in all circumstances and happenings, patience will be more easily increased.
Yoga cannot be done in a hurry―it needs many many years. If you are "pressed for time" it means that you have no intention of doing yoga―is it so?
It is not the soul, but the ego and its pride that feel "defeat and humiliation".
10 November 1961
One goes much faster when he is not in a hurry.
To really move forward, one should feel, with complete confidence, that eternity lies before him.
Too often the feeling of incapacity and of being far from You comes to discourage the will. I am tired of my way of living, of feeling―and it seems to have no end.
To realise anything one must be patient. And the vaster and more important the realisation, the greater the patience must be.
19 May 1968
Mother, when I write to You, there is always this "I"; I know that I have no right to write like this―it is so egoistic. I don't know how to overcome this difficulty. I know that it is not a big difficulty, but it is like a little pebble which one stumbles over even though one sees it.
One must be patient and stubborn in order to reach the goal.
8 May 1971
Page 167
Heroism is to be able to stand for the Truth in all circumstances, to declare it amidst opposition and to fight for it whenever necessary.
And to act always from one's highest consciousness.
Heroism:
1) To do always what is most beautiful and most noble.
2) To act always from the height of one's consciousness.
Heroic action fights for the beautiful and the true without fear of obstacles and opposition.
Heroic thought goes to the conquest of the unknown without fear of difficulty and incomprehension.
Only he is never vanquished who refuses to be vanquished.
We aspire to be the valiant warriors of the Lord so that His glory may manifest upon the earth.
30 September 1954
Bravery fears nothing and knows how to hold tight against adversaries.
Page 168
Boldness: do fearlessly what must be done, not dreading any difficulty.
Mental boldness: let your mind be capable of foreseeing the perfections of tomorrow.
Vital boldness must surrender to reason.
Physical boldness does not know the impossible in its consecration to the Divine.
Spontaneous boldness: one of the results of perfect trust in the Divine.
Courage: bold, it faces all dangers.
Integral courage: whatever the domain, whatever the danger, the attitude remains the same—calm and assured.
Courage is a sign of the soul's nobility.
But courage must be calm and master of itself, generous and benevolent.
Page 169
In true courage there is no impatience and no rashness.
Never mistake rashness for courage, nor indifference for patience.
4 November 1951
Vital courage must be controlled to be helpful.
A noblest courage is to recognise one's faults.
There is no greater courage than that of recognising one's own mistakes.
1 May 1954
There is no greater courage than to be always truthful.
31 July 1954
Have the courage to be completely frank with the Divine.
Whosoever has courage can give courage to others, just as the flame of the candle can light up another.
It is quite necessary that those who have courage should have some courage for those who have none.
The moral courage and endurance are often much more difficult to get than the material courage and endurance.
22 July 1955
Page 170
The true strength is always peaceful.
4 May 1954
All who are truly strong and powerful are always very calm. It is only the weak who are restless. True calmness is always a sign of forcefulness.
Integral silence: the source of true force.
An exterior power has value only in proportion of its expression of the power of Truth.
16 January 1955
Individual power: limited in its capacity and action.
Enlightened individual power: limited in its action but of a very high capacity.
Mentalised power: power becomes utilisable.
Dynamic power: indispensable for progress.
Page 171
Vigilance: indispensable for all true progress.
In each human being there is a beast crouching ready to manifest at the slightest unwatchfulness. The only remedy is a constant vigilance.
18 August 1954
Prudence: very useful for weakness because weakness needs prudence; strength does not need it.
Common sense: it is very practical and avoids any mistakes, but it lacks light.
Sobriety has never done harm to anyone.
Equanimity: immutable peace and calm.
In the deep peace of equanimity the love will grow to its full blossoming in a sense of pure and constant unity.
Page 172
The loss of money is of small importance, but the loss of equipoise is a much more important thing.
20 August 1935
All mischief comes from a lack of balance.
So, let us keep our balance carefully, always, in all circumstances.
10 August 1954
Perfect balance: one of the most important conditions of a growing peace.
Page 173
Joyous enthusiasm: the best way of facing life.
True enthusiasm is full of a peaceful endurance.
Our courage and endurance must be as great as our hope and our hope has no limits.
2 August 1954
A steady hope helps much on the way.
15 August 1954
Our hopes are never too great for manifestation.
We cannot conceive of any thing that cannot be.
22 August 1954
Straightforwardness shows itself as it is, without compromising.
Transparency can come only as a result of perfect sincerity.
Illumined transparency: an effect of the Divine Grace.
Page 174
Integral transparency: it is the result of perfect goodwill and sincerity.
Integrality is super-sincerity.
Page 175
Nobility: the incapacity for any pettiness either of sentiments or of action.
Aristocracy: incapable of baseness and pettiness, it asserts itself with dignity and authority.
Dignity affirms its worth, but demands nothing.
Dignity of the emotions: not to permit one's emotions to contradict the inner Divinity.
Dignity in the physical: above all bargaining.
Psychic dignity refuses to accept anything that lowers or debases.
Refinement: gradually grossness is eliminated from the being.
Sensitivity: one of the results of the refinement of the being.
Gentleness: always gracious and wishing to give pleasure.
Page 176
Charm envelops and conquers by an inexhaustible sweetness.
Sweetness adds its smiling touch to life without making a fuss.
Sweetness itself becomes powerful when at the service of the Divine.
A smile acts upon difficulties as the sun upon clouds―it disperses them.
I don't think that one can ever smile too much. Someone who knows how to smile in all circumstances is very close to true equality of soul.
22 September 1934
Generally speaking, man is an animal who takes himself terribly seriously. To know how to smile at oneself in all circumstances, to smile at one's sorrows and disillusions, ambitions and sufferings, indignation and revolt―what a powerful weapon with which to overcome oneself!
7 November 1946
Learn to smile always and in all circumstances; to smile at your sorrows as well as your joys, your sufferings as well as your hopes, for in a smile there is a sovereign power of self-mastery.
Page 177
If you can always smile at life, life also will always smile at you.
6 October 1960
If one can smile eternally, one is eternally young.
Eternal smile: a kindness only the Divine can give.
One often comes across the precept: "Love your enemy and smile at him." A hypocritical or diplomatic smile may be easy to manage, but a genuine smile is impossible to extend to those who have been repeatedly unfair in their dealings. We lose our trust, cease to expect anything good; an attitude of utter coldness and indifference is the natural one. How are we to get over it?
You can smile genuinely at an enemy if you are above all insult and offence. This is the primary condition for the yogic attitude.
To smile at an enemy is to disarm him.
Page 178
Cheerfulness: a joyous smile of Nature.
Cheerful endeavour: the joy that one finds in the effort towards the Divine.
Mental cheerfulness: it knows how to take delight in everything.
Keep a cheerful mind and a peaceful heart. Let nothing disturb your equanimity and make every day the necessary progress to advance with me steadily towards the goal.
29 October 1934
Happy heart: smiling, peaceful, wide open, without a shadow.
You must never forget that you are much more helpful when you are quietly happy than when you become dramatic.
5 October 1932
Be happy, my child, it is the surest way of progress.
12 April 1934
Page 179
Happiness is as contagious as gloom―and nothing can be more useful than to pass on to people the contagion of a true and deep happiness.
25 October 1934
Try to be happy―immediately you will be closer to the Light.
11 July 1935
Indeed he is happy who loves the Divine because the Divine is always with him.
7 March 1937
So many problems have been facing me of late. I wonder how they are to be solved happily.
The only way to a true and lasting happiness is a complete and exclusive reliance on the Divine's Grace.
19 October 1941
Always be good and you will always be happy.
13 October 1951
Let us always do the right thing and we shall always be quiet and happy.
24 May 1954
Let us seek our happiness only in the Divine.
5 June 1954
Page 180
When the Divine grants the true inner happiness nothing in the world has the power to snatch it away.
5 October 1954
Spiritual happiness: calm and smiling, nothing can disturb it.
Always remember that on the happiness you give will depend the happiness you get.
2 June 1963
The happiness you give makes you more happy than the happiness you receive.
4 July 1965
To be concerned for one's happiness is the surest way of becoming unhappy.
If we want to keep our happiness intact and pure, we must do our best not to attract upon it the attention of unfriendly thoughts.
To be always happy, with an unclouded, unfluctuating happiness—of all things this is the most difficult to accomplish.
Page 181
Joy comes when you take the right attitude.
Joy comes from submission to the divine command.
6 May 1933
Joy of spirituality: the reward of sincere effort.
Once a man has tasted the joys of inner life nothing else will ever satisfy him.
No joy is comparable to the feeling of the eternal Presence in one's heart.
4 July 1954
Joy of integral peace: calm and tranquil, a smile which does not disappoint.
Joy's call: it is modest and rarely makes itself heard.
There is no greater bliss than that of being like a newborn child in front of the Divine.
19 October 1954
Page 182
The immutable Beatitude of the Divine is translated in the consciousness by an impelling force of progress of an incomparable intensity.
This force is transformed in the most external being into a calm and assured will which no obstacles can overthrow.
20-21 October 1954
To know beatitude is to know the Divine.
To know the Divine is to know beatitude.
They are intimately and eternally united in an indissoluble identity.
30 August 1967
Page 183
Harmony: let us strive that the day may come when this will be the means and the end.
Harmony is my aim and all that leads to harmony makes me happy.
Integral harmony: harmony between things, harmony between people, harmony of circumstances and above all harmony of all aspiration directed towards the Supreme Truth.
A harmonious collective aspiration can change the course of circumstances.
Collective harmony is the work undertaken by the Divine Consciousness; It alone has the power to realise it.
There is a deep and true consciousness in which all can meet in love and harmony.
It is only in union with the Divine and in the Divine that harmony and peace can be established.
20 July 1935
Page 184
Surely we must always want peace and harmony and work for it as much as we can―but for that the best field of action is always within ourselves.
Look for the inner causes of disharmony much more than the outer ones. It is the inside which governs the outside.
4 July 1966
Do not worry or be impatient―all the disharmonies will disappear, but it must be on the true basis of a settled luminous consciousness leaving no room for the play of the ego.
For all to agree, each one must rise to the summit of his consciousness: it is on the heights that harmony is created.
April 1970
You must rise so high in your consciousness that it dominates the opposition. This is the solution.
4 March 1971
Collaboration: ever ready to help and knowing how to do it.
Collaboration does not mean that everybody should do the will of the man who asks for it. True collaboration is a non-egoistic union of all personal efforts to express and realise the Divine's Will.
Page 185
We must replace competition and strife by collaboration and fraternity.
2 July 1954
Substitute the spirit of rivalry and competition by the goodwill of collaboration and mutual understanding.
It is when things are going wrong that it is the best opportunity to show one's goodwill and spirit of true collaboration.
Indeed, the good will hidden in all things reveals itself everywhere to the one who carries good will in his consciousness.
This is a constructive way of feeling which leads straight to the Future.
One should keep goodwill and love constantly in his heart and let them pour out upon all with tranquillity and with equanimity.
16 December 1966
Good will for all and good will from all is the basis of peace and harmony.
14 August 1969
Goodwill: of modest appearance, it makes no noise but is ever ready to be useful.
Mental goodwill likes to show off a little, but is very useful.
Page 186
Benevolence makes life fragrant without attracting attention.
A tireless benevolence, clear-seeing and comprehensive, free from all personal reaction, is the best way to love God and serve Him upon earth.
I mean a benevolence sincere and spontaneous in thought and speech and not a supposed benevolence in acts which is accompanied most often by a dreadful sense of condescending superiority serving chiefly as a platform for human vanity.
Tolerance is full of a sense of superiority; it should be replaced by a total understanding.
Tolerance is only the first step towards wisdom.
The need to tolerate indicates the presence of preferences.
He who lives in the Divine Consciousness regards all things with a perfect equanimity.
9 August 1969
Page 187
What is liberty?
Liberty is to depend only on the Divine.
28 March 1932
If you have a strong and conscious will and your will is centred around the psychic then you can have a taste of liberty, otherwise you are the slave of all the outside influences.
24 August 1955
Freedom does not come from outer circumstances but from inner liberation.
Find your soul, unite with it, let it govern your life and you will be free.
31 August 1966
Freedom is to do only what the Supreme Consciousness makes us do.
In every other case one is a slave, whether of the will of others, or of conventions, or of moral laws, or of vital impulses, or of mental fancies, or, above all, of the desires of the EGO.
21 September 1969
Freedom is far from meaning disorder and confusion. It is the inner liberty that we must have, and if you have it nobody can take it away from you.
Page 188
The only true liberty is that obtained by union with the Divine.
One can unite with the Divine only when the ego is mastered.
26 July 1971
Liberation: the disappearance of the ego.
Page 189
Effort towards the truth should exist in every man of goodwill.
Our life ought to be governed by the Love for Truth and the thirst for Light.
Absolute truthfulness must govern life if one wants to be close to the Divine.
Only those who are perfectly truthful can be my true children.
13 December 1933
Let the light of Truth be born upon earth from today and for ever.
21 February 1953
The Light of Truth broods over the world to permeate and mould its future.
Everything must be transformed by the knowledge of the Truth.
6 May 1954
Page 190
Take Truth for your force, take Truth for your refuge.
28 April 1954
The only important thing is to follow the Divine's truth with love and joy.
9 May 1954
The truth is in us, we have only to become aware of it.
17 May 1954
Blessed will be the day when the earth, awakened to the Truth, lives only for the Divine.
28 August 1954
The Truth is in you―but you must want it, in order to realise it.
29 August 1954
The Divine's Will is that the mind should know and He says, "Awake and be conscious of the Truth."
22 October 1954
Let the Lord of Truth be always with you.
17 September 1958
Let the flower of Truth blossom within you.
Page 191
We must all be the faithful army of the Truth.
3 November 1965
We aspire for the Truth and its triumph in our being and our activities.
16 December 1967
Let the Truth be your master and your guide.
Let your consecration to Truth be complete and constant.
Be more eager for truth than for success.
12 February 1969
Cling to Truth.
O Splendour of eternal Truth I call Thee. I salute Thee, O Sun of the morrow.
July 1971
Supreme Lord, Eternal Truth
Let us obey Thee alone and live according to Truth.
June 1971
Page 192
(Message for the Rayagada Study Circle, Orissa)
The moment approaches when the Truth will govern the world.
Will you work to hasten its coming?
Let us all work with a growing sincerity for the manifestation of the Divine Truth.
3 May 1972
Salute to the advent of the Truth.
Once falsehood is conquered, all difficulties will go.
In all human beings is not falsehood always mixed with Truth?
Falsehood is the great ally of Death.
Page 193
There is one Truth but a million ways of distorting it in the attempt to express it.
Hypocrisy and pretension are the homage ignorance pays to the truth.
Hypocrisy and pretension are the first signs of the inconscient's aspiration towards consciousness.
Simultaneous with the progress and intensification of the sadhana, there is increasingly felt the imperative need that all hypocrisy and compromise should stop.
This earth is still governed by ignorance and falsehood. But the time has come for the manifestation of Truth.
9 August 1954
Page 194
May the Truth be invincible, overwhelming, all-powerful, leaving no room for falsehood anywhere and for ever.
1956
Such is life!
The world is a place of falsehood and it is only in the silent depths of the Divine that one can find the peace of truth.
15 December 1964
Truth is stronger than falsehood. There is an immortal Power that governs the world. Its decisions always prevail. Join with it and you are sure of the final victory.
Worship Truth.
It will cure you of Falsehood
When men will be disgusted with the falsehood in which they live, then the world will be ready for the reign of the Truth.
14 August 1971
Before dying falsehood rises in full swing.
Still people understand only the lesson of catastrophe.
Will it have to come before they open their eyes to the truth?
So I ask an effort from all so that it has not to be.
It is only the Truth that can save us; truth in words, truth in action, truth in will, truth in feelings. It is a choice between serving the Truth or being destroyed.
26 November 1972
Page 195
For those who are eager to get rid of falsehood here is the way
Do not try to please yourself, do not try either to please others. Try only to please the Lord.
Because He alone is the Truth. Each and every one of us, human beings in our physical body, is a coat of falsehood put on the Lord and hiding Him.
As He alone is true to Himself, it is on Him that we must concentrate and not on the coats of falsehood.
There is only one solution for falsehood:
It is to cure in ourselves all that contradicts in our consciousness the presence of the Divine.
31 December 1972
Let us offer our falsehood to the Divine so that He may change it to joyous Truth.
Truth is eternally beyond all that we can think or say of it.
10 December 1954
Truth cannot be formulated in words, but it can be lived provided one is pure and plastic enough.
When the gates of true knowledge are crossed, no words are left to express what is known.
Page 196
He who has crossed the gates of the true Knowledge has nothing more to say or to teach.
To come closer to the Truth, you must often accept not to understand.
25 November 1961
When I am right, no one remembers. When I am wrong, no one forgets.
Because there is no true right and wrong―the only Truth is the Lord and He remembers everything.
26 January 1963
Each idea (or system of ideas) is true in its own time and place. But if it tries to be exclusive or to persist even when its time is over, then it ceases to be true.
Page 197
If any element of this totality is taken separately and affirmed as the sole truth, however central or comprehensive it may be, it necessarily becomes a falsehood, for then it denies all the rest of the total Truth. This is precisely what constitutes an indisputable dogma, and this is why it is the most dangerous type of falsehood, because each one affirms that it is the sole and exclusive truth. The absolute, infinite, eternal Truth is unthinkable for the mind which can only conceive that which is spatial and temporal, fragmentary and limited. Thus, on the mental plane, the absolute Truth is divided into innumerable fragmentary and contradictory truths which strive in their entirety to reproduce the original Truth as best they can―for each is a truth that attempts to affirm itself as the sole truth, to the exclusion of all the other truths, which, through their innumerable totality, express progressively in the becoming the Infinite, Eternal and Absolute Truth―that is how they deny the total Truth.
The truth is neither in separation nor in uniformity.
The truth is in unity manifesting through diversity.
Page 198
Intellectually, the Truth is the point where all the opposites meet and join to make a unity.
Practically, the Truth is the surrender of the ego, to make possible the birth and manifestation of the Divine.
Doubt is the best arm used by the ego to protect itself from extinction.
These are remarks on the way which may lead you a little further.
They are sent with blessings.
6 October 1965
Truth is above mind; it is in silence that one can enter into communication with it.
To pray to the Divine and to surrender oneself entirely and in all sincerity to Him are the essential preliminary conditions.
24 October 1971
He who sincerely wants to serve the Truth will know the Truth.
In the Ignorance mental opinions always oppose one another.
In the Truth they are complementary aspects of a higher knowledge.
All opinions are an aspect of the Truth that can be reached only when you can make a comprehensive whole with all these aspects.
11 January 1967
Page 199
Naturally, all these discussions (or exchanges of opinion) are purely mental and have no value from the viewpoint of the Truth. Each mind has its way of seeing and understanding things, and even if you could unite and bring together all these ways of seeing, you would still be very far from attaining the Truth. It is only when, in the silence of the mind, you can lift yourself above thought, that you are ready to know by identity.
From the viewpoint of outer discipline it is indispensable, when you have an opinion and express it, to remember that it is only an opinion, a way of seeing and feeling, and that other people's opinions, and ways of seeing and feeling are as legitimate as your own, and that instead of opposing them you should total them up and try to find a more comprehensive synthesis.
On the whole the discussions are always pretty futile and seem to me to be a waste of time.
5 June 1967
In all opinions there is something true and something false. It is indeed a great and useful thing to be able to listen to the opinions of others without losing one's temper.
To know how to listen: to be attentive and silent.
It is always better to tell the truth rather than give a pleasant and sweet smile. But what you are saying is not the truth. It is only an expression of your opinion.
To tell the truth is not to utter whatever crosses your mind.1
Page 200
Honesty is the best protection.
A peaceful heart is the best reward of honesty.
Be sincere and honest and your mind will be at rest.
10 December 1959
Vital honesty: not to allow our sensations and desires to falsify our judgement and determine our action.
Mental honesty: one does not try to deceive others or to deceive oneself.
Mental sincerity: the essential condition for integral honesty.
To speak always the truth is the highest title of nobility.
One drop of truth is worth more than an ocean of false information.
Never tell a lie: absolute condition for safety on the path.
Page 201
Each lie uttered is a step taken towards disintegration.
I have always and will always forbid lies.
If you do not wish to say something which is true, instead of lying just keep silent.
Let nothing be written with this pen except what is perfectly true.
14 June 1934
If we allow a falsehood, however small, to express itself through our mouth or our pen, how can we hope to become perfect messengers of Truth? A perfect servant of Truth should abstain even from the slightest inexactitude, exaggeration or deformation.
Silence is far superior to inexactitude.
30 December 1972
Control over what one says is more important than complete silence. The best is to learn to say what is useful in the most exact and true way possible.
5 March 1933
Page 202
It is the control over oneself that is the first thing needed, and especially the control over one's tongue! If people could learn to keep silent how many troubles would be avoided!
Be quiet and gather strength and force not only to do work but also, chiefly, to achieve the Transformation.
3 March 1934
If only people did remain a little quiet before speaking, acting or writing, much trouble could be avoided. So many things are said uselessly, they bring misunderstandings and bad feelings which could have been saved with silence.
If were spoken only the words that needed to be spoken, the world would be a very silent place.
29 December 1934
The world is deafened with useless words.
Mother, we were late with our drying work because they were behind with the washing. However, I am happy to say that I was not carried away by the violent discussions of my co-workers. With difficulty, I could do it. From now on I shall try to take this attitude. Give me the strength of Your Silence.
Yes, it is very good to know how to remain silent and not take part in discussions that are always useless and unwholesome.
There is a great strength in the power to keep silent.
Page 203
It is always better not to listen to talks especially on so-called spiritual matters. Each one must follow his own way and the others have nothing to do with it.
9 January 1938
An atmosphere of spirituality sometimes helps much more than an exchange of words.
22 November 1951
You must always do what you say, but it is not always wise to speak about everything you do.
When you speak, you must always speak the truth; but sometimes it is better not to speak.
18 December 1951
When speaking of physical things one should have a lively, pleasant, witty style.
When speaking of vital things the style should be eloquent.
When speaking of mental things the style should be clear, precise, exact.
When speaking of psychic things one must be inspired.
23 January 1953
Spiritual speech: all-powerful in its simplicity.
Frankness says candidly what it has to say without caring for the result.
Page 204
It is always a sign of strength to be able to say things gently and it is always weakness that bursts out into unpleasantnesses.
18 April 1956
Anger has never made anyone say anything but stupidities.
Never boast. By boasting you dissipate your capacity for realisation.
Boasting, boasting―one of the greatest obstacles to progress. It is a foolishness one must carefully avoid if one aspires to a true progress.
The criticising habit is more destructive than many bad habits.
Médire est une chose très vile. I don't know how to translate médire into English. It is not exactly "speaking ill". Crooked mind, crooked tongue, crooked heart: this comes out in speech that looks like honey but tastes like poison.
Every word spoken uselessly is a dangerous gossiping.
Every malicious word, every slander is a degradation of the consciousness.
And when this slander is expressed in a vulgar language and gross terms, then that is equivalent to a suicide―the suicide of one's soul.
When, in ignorance, one speaks ill of others, he debases his consciousness and degrades his soul.
Page 205
A respectful and modest silence is the only attitude befitting a disciple.
To cure a critical sense that manifests by incontinence of speech:
1) When you are in this state, absolutely refuse to speak―if need be, make it physically impossible for yourself to speak.
2) Study yourself without pity and realise that you carry in yourself precisely all the things that you find so ridiculous in others.
3) Discover in your nature the opposite way of being (benevolence, humility, goodwill) and insist that it develop to the detriment of the contrary element.
11 October 1958
True strength and protection come from the Divine Presence in the heart.
If you want to keep this Presence constantly in you, avoid carefully all vulgarity in speech, behaviour and acts. Do not mistake liberty for licence and freedom for bad manners. The thoughts must be pure and the aspiration ardent.
26 February 1965
Be careful always to keep the living Presence and Protection around you when you speak to people and speak as little as possible.
You are right in keeping quiet in front of those who do not understand, because the Divine is with you, and that is the only thing that matters.
Page 206
You need not go to apologize. But as your words were misunderstood you do right to resolve to be more careful about what you say.
It is certainly very bad to speak about the faults of others; everyone has his defects and to keep on thinking of them surely does not help to cure them.
June 1966
For writing, even more than for speaking, if you aspire to remain in the best attitude for advancing swiftly towards the Divine, you should make it a strict rule to speak (and even more to write) only what is absolutely indispensable. It is a marvellous discipline if you follow it sincerely.
27 July 1966
Neither too many nor too few words―just what is needed.
I think the tendency to gather information is not bad?
It is bad and harmful and lowers not only the consciousness of those who gossip, but also the general atmosphere of the place.
29 July 1967
To gossip about what somebody is doing or not doing is wrong.
To listen to such gossip is wrong.
To verify if such gossip is true is wrong.
To retaliate in words against a false gossip is wrong.
The whole affair is a very bad way of wasting one's time and lowering one's consciousness.
Page 207
Unless this very nasty habit is eradicated from the atmosphere, never will the Ashram reach its goal of Divine Life.
I wish all would repent like you and take the resolution of stopping this unhealthy activity.
12 October 1967
It is not enough to know, you must practise.
It is not enough to pretend, you must be.
15 November 1940
On the path of Truth, in order to know more you must put into practice what you already know.
A little bit of sincere practice is worth much more than a lot of written or spoken words.
July 1953
A drop of practice is better than an ocean of theories, advices and good resolutions.
1968 Speak less, act more.
Talk little, be true, act sincerely.
To listen is good, but not sufficient―you must understand.
To understand is better, but still not sufficient―you must act.
24 November 1969
Page 208
(Message for the inauguration of Sri Aurobindo's Action)
To speak well is good. To act well is better. Never let your actions be below your words.
29 July 1970
It is better to state a truth than to disregard it; but it is much better still to live it than to state it.
One speaks a great deal about this teaching but one does not follow it.
People who do not live what they think are useless.
It is good to read a Divine Teaching.
It is better to learn it.
The best is to live it.
A teaching can be profitable only if it is perfectly sincere, and that means if it is lived at the moment when it is given. Words often repeated, thoughts often expressed cannot be any longer sincere.
All theories, all teachings are, in the last analysis, nothing but ways of seeing and speaking. Even the highest revelations are worth no more than the power of realisation that comes with them.
To live the Supreme Truth, if only for a minute, is worth more than writing or reading hundreds of books on the methods or processes by which to find it.
Page 209
To realise a progressive truth, theory must be moulded according to the practice and not practice made to suit the theory.
Before acting, know what you have to do.
Page 210
It is an error or superstition to believe that an external thing or circumstance can be the cause of anything. All things and circumstances are the accompanying results of a Force that acts from behind the veil.
The Force acts and each thing reacts according to its own nature.
One must not take consequences for causes.
Never take physical happenings at their face value. They are always a clumsy attempt to express something else, the true thing which escapes your superficial understanding.
Do not mind the apparent contradictions. There is a truth to be found behind.
(Someone asked for sympathy regarding his circumstances at the time.)
I am full of sympathy but unshakably convinced that each one meets in this life the circumstances which he has, inwardly and outwardly, built for himself.
11 July 1939
Page 213
People keep lamenting about their lot and feel that their troubles and their unhappy reactions would go if other people and things were changed. Do you share my doubt about this feeling?
Each one is the artisan of his own miseries.
4 December 1939
It is always a mistake to complain about the circumstances of our life, for they are the outward expression of what we are ourselves.
28 July 1954
It is in oneself that there are all the obstacles, it is in oneself that there are all the difficulties, it is in oneself that there are all the darkness and all the ignorance.
16 November 1954
Addressed to People of Ill Will
The evil you have wilfully done always comes back to you under one form or another.
24 April 1969
Each one is free to do whatever he likes, but he cannot prevent his acts from bearing their natural consequences. It is only what is done with the Divine and for the Divine that is free from the slavery of consequences.
Page 214
There is a Supreme Divinity witness of all our actions and the day of consequence will come soon.
1 March 1971
Each one brings upon himself the consequences of his acts.
3 March 1971
About what you say on the last page of your letter. Things are not altogether what you think them to be. For some years already, I have had much to say on the subject. But what is the use? There are certain waters which are best left unstirred. In any case, I would like you never to forget this: What each one meets in life is always exactly in accordance with what he is. Not in the way ignorant human justice understands it, but according to a law that is much more subtle, more deep, more true. Let us never forget that the supreme Lord is behind everything and that it is He who is the master of our destinies.
Satisfaction does not depend on outer circumstances but on an inner condition.
26 July 1954
People think that their condition depends on circumstances. But that is all false. If somebody is a "nervous wreck", he thinks that if circumstances are favourable he will improve. But, actually, even if they are favourable he will remain what he is. All think they are feeling weak and tired because people are not nice to them. This is rubbish. It is not the circumstances that have to be changed: what is required is an inner change.
Page 215
If you feel that a change is needed, it can be in the attitude, giving importance to what is to be said and realised and using the past as a preparation for the future. This is not a very difficult thing to do―and I am quite sure that you will easily do it.
You have this trouble. It is an indication that there is something in you that needs an immediate change. There is something that is refusing to come into the Light. If you can change your consciousness, the trouble will disappear.1
When one is in need of outward changes, it means that he is not progressing within; for he who progresses within can live always under the same outward conditions: they constantly reveal to him new truths.
All outward change should be the spontaneous and inevitable expression of an inner transformation. Normally, all improvement of the conditions of physical life should be the blossoming to the surface of a progress realised within.
29 March 1958
There can be no physical life without an order and rhythm. When this order is changed it must be in obedience to an inner growth and not for the sake of external novelty. It is only a certain part of the surface lower vital nature which seeks always external change and novelty for its own sake.
It is by a constant inner growth that one can find a constant newness and unfailing interest in life. There is no other satisfying way.
Page 216
By changing house you cannot change character.
If you change your character you need not change your environment.
I have had a feeling of wanting to move into a separate house lately. I do not know whether I am right in this. May I have your divine guidance in this?
Exterior things must be of little importance when one does "sadhana". The needed inner peace can be established in any surroundings.
19 August 1966
Mother, I want to ask you why the life we lead is so dependent on material objects.
This need not be; if the consciousness is centred elsewhere, more deeply, physical things lose much of their importance.
Page 217
The difficulties are always due to a resistance, some part or several parts of the being refusing to receive the force, the consciousness and the light put upon them and revolting against the divine influence. It is rare that somebody can surrender entirely to the Divine's Will without having to face one or another of these difficulties. But to keep steady one's aspiration and to look at oneself with an absolute sincerity are the sure means to overcome all obstacles.
Surely all these troubles come from a resistance somewhere, something that opposes the work of transformation.
Always circumstances come to reveal the hidden weaknesses that have to be overcome.*
Difficulties are sent to us exclusively to make the realisation more perfect.
Each time we try to realise something and meet with a resistance or an obstacle or even a failure―what seems to be a failure―we should know, we should never forget that it is exclusively, absolutely, so that the realisation may be more perfect.
So this habit of cringing, of getting discouraged or even of feeling uncomfortable, or of abusing yourself and telling yourself: "There! Again I have made a mistake"―all that is absolute foolishness.
Page 218
Simply tell yourself: "We don't know how to do things as they ought to be done; well, they are being done for us, come what may!" And if we could see to what extent all that seems to be, yes, a difficulty, a mistake, a failure, an obstacle―all that is just to help us, so that the realisation may be more perfect.
Once you know that, everything becomes easy.
6 October 1958
Shocks and trials always come as a divine grace to show us the points in our being where we fall short and the movements in which we turn our back on our soul by listening to the clamour of our mental being and vital being.
If we know how to accept these spiritual blows with due humility, we are sure to cover a great distance at a single bound.
22 February 1965
Be absolutely convinced that everything that happens, happens in order to give us precisely the lesson we needed, and if we are sincere in the "sadhana", the lesson should be accepted with joy and gratitude.
For one who aspires to the divine life, what can the actions of a blind and ignorant humanity matter to him?
18 January 1967
If truly you love the Divine, prove it by remaining quiet and peaceful. All that comes to each one in life, comes from the Divine to teach us a lesson, and if we take it in the right spirit, we make rapid progress.
Try to do so.
13 December 1967
Page 219
Difficulties come because there are possibilities in you. If in life everything was easy, then it would be a life of nothing. Because difficulties come on your way it shows you have possibilities. Do not be afraid.
22 February 1968
You can say to X, on my behalf, that he must look at this apparently unhappy circumstance as the proof that the Lord considers that he is ready for spiritual life and that he must no more be attached to any exterior or material thing.
If he takes things that way, he will soon feel that all sorrow is gone away from him.
What I meant was, not to worry about it. Let him take what comes to him without getting upset or sorry, excited or nervous.
For the aspirant and the "sadhak", all that comes in his life comes to help him to know the Truth and to live it. Be confident, you will conquer; and it will mean a big step forward.
12 September 1969
The difficulties come always to make us progress. The greater the difficulty, the greater can be the progress.
Be confident and endure.
November 1969
The hours preceding Victory are most often the most difficult.
For the individual's surrender, it is the last resistances, sometimes quite insignificant, that are the most obstinate and difficult to conquer.
Page 220
But with a greater obstinacy a victorious conclusion of the fight is certain.
He who wants to advance on the path of perfection must never complain about the difficulties on the way, for each is an opportunity for a new progress. To complain is a sign of weakness and insincerity.
Where the two extremes meet, to complain of anything at all, of oneself, of others or of circumstances, is a weakness and an insincerity towards one's supreme Self.
The two extremes meet in their effect on the attitude towards the circumstances of life: the total surrender to the Divine Will manifested in all things; and the consciousness of the supreme power that organises all things according to its all-powerful conception. In either case there is no place for complaint: if one is completely surrendered to the Divine, how can one complain about His Will, whatever form it takes? And on the other hand, if one feels the power of organising the world according to the supreme truth of life, how can one complain about the state this life is in, since it depends only on oneself to change it?
Never grumble. All sorts of forces enter you when you grumble and they pull you down. Keep smiling. I seem always to be joking but it is not mere joking. It is a confidence born from the psychic. A smile expresses the faith that nothing can stand against the Divine and that everything will come out all right in the end.
Page 221
The more you grumble, the more your pains will increase.
If you are not satisfied with what you are, take advantage of the Divine's help and change yourself. If you haven't the courage to change, submit to your destiny and keep quiet.
But to constantly complain about the condition you are in, without doing anything to change it, is a waste of your time and energy.
The difficulties can disappear only when the egoistic concentration upon desires and conveniences disappears.
12 March 1958
Never worry.
Do with sincerity all you do and leave the results to the Divine's care.
Let us live each day without anxiety. Why worry beforehand about something that will probably never happen?
Page 222
Anxiety is a lack of confidence in the Divine's Grace, the unmistakable sign that the consecration is not complete and perfect.
Don't foresee difficulties―it does not help to surmount them and helps them to come.
5 August 1932
It is better not to worry about progress, because worrying only hinders the advance. It is better to open in all trust and simplicity to the divine help and to have faith in the Victory.
Live in the consciousness of the Eternal and you will have no more worry.
My nature appears childish to me!
One must not attach too much importance to these little things. What is important is always to keep in view the ideal that one wants to realise and always to try one's best to realise it.
6 April 1934
Yes, after all, these small superficial things are of very little importance if compared to the mission we have to fulfil upon earth.
29 September 1937
Page 223
We must always keep in mind the big ideal and work that is to be achieved so that we should not give too much importance to small details, trifles that must not draw our attention; let them come, let them go like small clouds in the sky, which do not affect the fine weather.
Do not attach undue importance to unimportant things.
We must be freed from all care for contingencies, we must be delivered from the ordinary outlook on things.
25 November 1954
Never think of a difficulty―you give it strength.
14 April 1958
Do not concentrate on an obstacle; that only strengthens it.
If you go on thinking of the trouble, it will go on increasing. If you concentrate upon it, it will swell up, it will think that it is being welcomed. But if you don't pay any attention, it will lose interest in you and go away.1
The best remedy is to stop thinking of yourself and your defects and difficulties.
Let us think only of the big work to be done, the ideal that Sri Aurobindo has given us to realise. The work and NOT how we do it.
I will help.
5 June 1961
Page 224
Forget your difficulties. Think only of being a more and more perfect instrument for the Divine to do His work and the Divine will conquer all your difficulties and transform you.
5 March 1968
Forget your difficulties.
Forget yourself...
And the Lord will take care of your progress.
Divine Mother, I implore you to illumine and put a living faith in this dark area in me.
Do not give any importance to that part and it will lose its strength and little by little even its existence.
My love and blessings are always with you.
Be grateful for all ordeals, they are the shortest way to the Divine.
The joy one experiences in living for an ideal is the sure compensation for all the difficulties of the path.
Have faith in your destiny and your road will be lit.
Page 225
The grace and protection are always with you. When in any inner or outer difficulty or trouble, do not allow it to oppress you; take refuge with the Divine Force that protects.
If you do that always with faith and sincerity, you will find something opening in you which will always remain calm and peaceful in spite of all superficial disturbances.
3 February 1931
Those who are sincere I can help and turn easily towards the Divine. But where there is insincerity I can do very little. And as I have told you already, we have only to be patient and wait for things to become better. But surely I do not see why you should get disturbed and in what way your disturbance would help things to be better. You know by experience that there is only one way of getting out of confusion and obscurity; it is to remain very quiet and peaceful, firm in equanimity and to let the storm pass away. Rise above these petty quarrels and difficulties and wake up once more in the light and the power of my love which never leaves you.
All unpleasantness should be faced with the spirit of Samata.
24 November 1932
It is good to turn a difficulty into an occasion for a new progress.
13 March 1935
Page 226
Surely you could not believe that sadhana could be done without facing some difficulties. As your aspiration is sincere, whatever was in the subconscient standing in the way of the Divine Realisation, has come to the surface in order to be transformed. There is nothing there to make you sad or depressed—on the contrary you ought to rejoice at these occasions to make progress and never forget to lean for support and help on my love, force and blessings.
15 December 1936
If you keep your faith unshaken and your heart always open to me, then all difficulties, however great, will contribute to the greater perfection of your being.
19 April 1937
Try to withdraw from your outward circumstances which alone can be upset by such things and find the peace inside which remains always untouched.
14 November 1937
Always when one faces difficulties and overcomes them it begins a new spiritual opening and victory.
7 December 1937
When you want to make a progress, the difficulty you wished to conquer increases tenfold in importance and intensity in your consciousness. You have only to persevere. That is all; it will pass away.
Page 227
In spite of all difficulties I go on with the belief that if I hold on, the difficult times will go. If I accept defeat, then I shall go.
This is the right attitude. Stick to it and you shall conquer.
Sadhana is always difficult and everybody has conflicting elements in his nature and it is difficult to make the vital give up its ingrained habits.
That is no reason for giving up sadhana. One has to keep up the central aspiration which is always sincere and go on steadily in spite of temporary failures; and it is then inevitable that the change will come.
3 May 1939
What do obstacles matter? We shall always go forward.
That doesn't matter! The difficulties are there for the pleasure of surmounting them.
Go forward, keep confident and all will be well.
I have always the same thing to say: quiet confidence and courage is the only way of getting out of difficulties.
Perfect mental balance: indispensable for facing the difficulties of life.
Page 228
To conquer the difficulties there is more power in a smile than in a sigh.
27 December 1941
Ordeals are there for everybody. It is the way in which one faces them that makes the difference. Some have a smile, some make a fuss.
Whenever things become difficult we must remain quiet and silent.
11 April 1954
Whatever is the difficulty, if we keep truly quiet the solution will come.
8 August 1954
The errors can become stepping-stones, the blind gropings can be changed into conquests.
8 December 1954
To keep steady one's aspiration and to look at oneself with an absolute sincerity are the sure means to overcome all obstacles.
10 May 1955
All difficulties are there to test the endurance of the faith.
13 June 1956
Page 229
Look life in the face from the soul's inner strength and become master of circumstances.
19 September 1956
May the Divine Mother give me the necessary force so that the following prayer of mine may become effective.
As a son of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, my greatest interest is in Truth. Let not the mountain of pride hidden in Nature distort in any way the movements of this Truth—the Glorious Sun. Lift me above smallness.
Do not let the view of the part hide the perception of the whole, and the details of one step obstruct the concentration on the Goal.
14 May 1963
I would like to pray to the Mother to kindly explain to me the meaning of the dramatising of everything by the vital nature.
What I meant is that life is always full of difficulties, hardships and sufferings; this is a common fact and each one has to face his own lot of them. The only way to face them properly is to endure and to put one's interest, hope and faith in the inner life and consciousness turned towards the Divine, aspiring for the Divine and capable of receiving the Divine's Force and Help. But often the vital being or some part of it takes a kind of perverse pleasure in giving a dramatic importance to each and every difficulty and thus cuts the contact with the inner being and the Divine's Force.
Page 230
This bad habit which is common to many people must be stopped and then each one can and will feel that he receives very concretely the help he needs to go through the ordeals of life.
2 February 1964
Our ordeals never exceed our capacity of resistance.*
The difficulties are for the strong, and help to make them stronger.
Persevere and you will conquer. You can be sure that my help, force and blessings are always with you.
With love.
12 July 1966
The ordeals are for everybody―it is the way of meeting them that differs according to individuals.
21 April 1967
The only way out of your difficulty is to find the psychic being and to live entirely in its consciousness.
Life upon earth as it is now is full of miseries and any sensitive heart is full of sorrow because of that. To get in contact with the Divine Consciousness and to live in its mercy, its strength and its light is the only truly effective way to get out of this difficulty and suffering and by uniting with the psychic we can obtain this condition.
My help and blessings are with you for this purpose.
6 April 1969
Page 231
All difficulties are solved by taking rest in the Divine's arms, for these arms are always opened with love to shelter us.
When everything goes wrong, one must know how to remember that God is all-powerful.
The Divine is present among us. When we remember Him always He gives us the strength to face all circumstances with perfect peace and equanimity. Become aware of the Presence and your difficulties will disappear.
7 November 1970
To live within, in constant aspiration towards the Divine—that renders us capable of regarding life with a smile and remaining in peace whatever the external circumstances.
Live within, do not be shaken by external circumstances.
To live only for the Divine: this means to have overcome all the difficulties of the individual life.
He who lives to serve the Truth is not affected by outward circumstances.
Page 232
Page 233
If errors and mistakes could not be effaced at every moment, there would be no hope of salvation for the world.
Do not give too much importance to the little incidents of life.
The importance of these incidents lies in the extent to which they have served you to make a progress.
And once the progress has been made, the consequences of past errors, if there are any, disappear through the intervention of the divine Grace.
For the Supreme Lord, sin does not exist―all defect can be effaced by sincere aspiration and by transformation.
What you feel is the aspiration of your soul that wants to discover the Divine and live Him.
Persevere, be more and more sincere and you will succeed.
Sin belongs to the world and not to yoga.
If you make one mistake in life, then you may have to suffer all your life. It does not mean that everybody suffers like that. There are people who go on making mistakes and yet they do not suffer. But those who are born for a spiritual life have to be very careful.
Page 234
If the sense of unworthiness fills you with overflowing gratitude and throws you at Sri Aurobindo's feet in an ecstasy of joy, then you can know that it comes from a true source; if, on the contrary, it makes you miserable and brings an impulse to hide or to run away, then you can be sure that its origin is hostile. To the first you can open freely; the second must be rejected.
4 February 1933
One must not torment oneself over errors that one may commit, but one must keep a perfect sincerity in one's aspiration and in the end everything will be all right.
4 January 1934
Thinking too much about one's impurities does not help. It is better to keep the thought fixed on the purity, light and peace that one wants to acquire.
7 February 1934
It is always our weaknesses that make us sad, and we can easily recover by advancing one step more on the way.
12 May 1934
The more I try to become conscious of Your presence within me, the more something in me comes in the way.
You must not worry about these little things―they have no importance in themselves; their value is to show us where unconsciousness still exists in our nature, so that we can bring the light there.
13 July 1934
Page 235
It is all right to see the imperfections and deficiencies but only on condition it brings a greater courage for a new progress, an increase of energy in the determination and a stronger certitude of victory and future perfection.
22 January 1935
These ideas of incapacity are absurd, they are the negation of the truth of progress―what cannot be done today, will be done another day, if the aspiration is there.
6 February 1935
Even if things are not as they ought to be, worry does not help to make them better. A quiet confidence is the source of strength.
11 November 1936
Whenever you have made a mistake I always told you very frankly without hiding anything from you. Everybody makes mistakes and everybody has to learn and to progress. Moreover I have given you a big responsibility. I appreciate fully what you have done but there is still much to learn and I am sure that you will be quite glad to acquire knowledge and experience. With my love and blessings.
13 October 1943
It is quite wrong to go on brooding about the past. The true attitude is to remember that nothing happens but by God's will and to submit to that will quietly. If you have made mistakes in the past it is by lack of true surrender and the only way to repair the mistakes is to surrender truly.
Page 236
But it is not a reason for being upset about it. There is only to remain quite cool and do our best within the limits that the human nature ascribes to us.
After all, the whole, entire responsibility is the Lord's and nobody else's. So there is nothing to worry about.
It is good to recognise your mistakes, but you must not torment yourself.
You must not suffer, you must correct yourself instead.
Mother, I am tired because every day some new catastrophe befalls me.
My dear child,
You must not torment yourself about these little mishaps. Keep very calm and these accidents will not happen any more.
My blessings are always with you.
The buns did not rise today. We don't know why. We are afraid that the buns are not good. So at the last minute we prepared a kind of sablé [biscuit] which burned too.
Tell us, Mother, why do things go against us?
You must not worry about these little things, and above all do not believe in fatality. These little failures always have a cause that can be avoided with a little more experience, which is sure to come.
I tasted the bun―the taste is very good. They did not rise because they are not cooked enough. The oven must have been too hot, the bun burned and the outside began to brown before the inside was cooked.
As for the sablés, they are not burnt, they are very good.
Page 237
When a mistake is made, it must always be used as a means for progress; once the necessary change is realised, the mistake and its cause disappear and there can be no repetition.
6 April 1937
It is very good that you have become conscious of the mistakes and defects of the nature. Once you are conscious it is always possible to rise out of them and to change the nature.
23 January 1938
It seems to me, on the contrary, that the best way is to remain where you are and make an effort to discover your own faults―you are bound to have some as everybody has―and try to correct them. To be conscious of one's own mistakes is the surest way to come out of a difficulty.
A mistake recognised is a mistake pardoned.
14 October 1939
A mistake one denies is a mistake one refuses to set right.
Repentance: the first step towards rectifying mistakes.
Page 238
It is no use excusing yourself; you must have the will never to fall back into the faults you have committed.
Before going to sleep every night, we must pray that the mistakes we may have committed during the day should not be repeated in future.
20 June 1954
In this last day of the year, let us take the resolution that all our weaknesses and obstinate obscurities will drop from us along with the finishing year.
30 December 1954
A strong and effective resolution not to commit the same faults any more and a complete trust in the Divine's Grace are the only remedy.
28 February 1955
Page 239
Fear is always a very bad adviser.
It is the fear―more or less conscious―which does almost all the mischief.
Without fear nothing can happen.
Do not fear, keep your confidence, all these troubles will leave you.
Stop fearing and the bothers will stop also.
A child of mine cannot fear.
My protection is always with you and nothing bad can happen.
But you must take the decision to shake off the fear and then my force can work fully.
27 October 1937
Do not torment yourself, do not worry; above all try to banish all fear; fear is a dangerous thing which can give importance to something which had none at all. The mere fear of seeing certain symptoms renew themselves is enough to bring about this repetition.
24 July 1945
Page 240
This fear comes from weakness of nerves and of the vital. This fear must be got rid of, before any attempt is made to follow the path of Yoga.
9 March 1949
Yoga and fear do not go together.
You are frightened because your breathing seems to stop when you try to concentrate. Don't enter this path if you are so full of fears. Suppose it comes to the worst; then what will happen? You may die―and then? What great harm will be done if you are dead? Our Yoga is not for cowards; if you have no courage, better leave it―your fears will bring disaster.1
What can he fear who belongs to the Divine? Can he not walk, his soul expanding and his brow illumined, upon the path the Divine traces for him, whatever it may be, even if it is altogether incomprehensible to his limited reason?
14 October 1954
All fear must be overcome and replaced by a total confidence in the Divine Grace.
6 June 1955
On some days of each month, when I sleep at night on my cot, moonlight from the window of my room falls on my face and body. Is there any harm in the moonlight falling on me while I am sleeping? I ask You because someone told me that it might have a bad effect and so it would be better to shut it out. But I love the moon and
Page 241
the moonlight very much for they remind me of Your White Light. Will you please let me know if there is any harm if moonlight falls on me while I sleep?
If you are not frightened, there is no harm―it is not the moon, it is the fear which harms.
9 May 1963
Nothing can harm you if you do not fear.
So, fear not, be quiet and calm―all will be all right.
15 October 1966
The first thing from which you must cure yourself once for ever, is Fear.
It is more dangerous than the worst disease.
9 October 1967
There is nothing to fear―all is the Lord―there is nothing else than the Lord; the Lord alone exists and all that tries to frighten us is only a silly and meaningless disguise of the Lord.
Cheer up―the way is open before you, shake off this obsession of illness and bring down the Divine Calm.
Then everything will be all right.
Mother, I feel terribly ill at ease, there are doubts about the Power and all sorts of troublesome things. I feel as if I were suffocating little by little, I have a headache that drifts here and there, it is terrible; I feel bound
Page 242
to something tamasic, inert and dark. I cannot get rid of this. Help me, Mother, I don't know what to do, everything is dark, dark, dark. I don't know how long I can hold out against this, a sort of something which gradually drains my energy and wants to draw me into itself. Mother, help me, I really don't know what to do.
You must not be afraid. Have full trust in the Divine who is Love, Light and Life.
8 March 1972
Go safely to Siddhapur and do not fear.
It is only fear which hurts, not the "spirits". When people who have left their body appear in front of you, you must not fear―it is generally because they are restless and lack peace―give them a good thought and wish them to be in peace and it will be over.
In any case you can tell them to go to Mother and they will not bother you any more.
Go to Siddhapur and avoid unpleasant company if there is any, but always remember that it is only fear which harms and that with confident faith in the Divine's Grace you are safe.
You can be entirely free from fear only when you have driven out of you all violence.
Get rid of all violence and you will no longer have any fear.
Fear is hidden consent. When you are afraid of something, it means that you admit its possibility and thus strengthen its hand. It can be said that it is a subconscient consent. Fear can be
Page 243
overcome in many ways. The ways of courage, faith, knowledge are some of them.2
Fear is slavery, work is liberty, courage is victory.
Doubt is not a sport to indulge in with impunity; it is a poison which drop by drop corrodes the soul.
We must decide to get rid of all doubts, they are among the worst enemies of our progress.
29 July 1954
How to avoid attacks of depression?
Do not pay attention to the depression and act as if it was not there.
31 March 1934
My heart feels arid, sad and gloomy, Mother.
Why don't you try to read something beautiful and interesting and turn your attention away from yourself? That is the best remedy.
Page 244
Do not indulge in such ridiculous ideas. "Madness" and "hell" and "dark cell" are all in your imagination.
You had better replace them by the sense of my love and blessings.
9 October 1937
My dear child, I hope your poem is only a poem and that you are not truly suffering from depression. Indeed, depression is the worst of all illnesses and we must reject it with as much energy as we use to get rid of a disease.
With my love and blessings always.
30 January 1946
It is the devil of depression and despondency that we shall slay tonight―so that all those who have the sincere will to get rid of this disease will receive the necessary help to conquer.
20 October 1950
A depression is always unreasonable as it leads nowhere. It is the most subtle enemy of the Yoga.
31 May 1955
I have only one thing to say: Depression is a bad adviser.
My love is always with you. Have faith and you will be all right.
It is the depression that gives you bad health.
28 October 1967
Page 245
It is the ego that gets depressed.
Do not mind it. Go on quietly with your work and the depression will disappear.
18 August 1971
At these moments of depression or of revolt, no fresh decision must be taken under the impulse of the wrong movement, but practically one must go on with the usual routine, quiet and undisturbed.
When you feel unhappy like that, it means that you have a progress to make. You can say that we always need to progress, it is true. But at times our nature gives its consent to the needed change and then everything goes smoothly, even happily. On the contrary sometimes the part that has to progress refuses to move and clings to its old habits through inertia, ignorance, attachment or desire. Then, under the pressure of the perfecting force, the struggle starts translating itself into unhappiness or revolt or both together.
The only remedy is to keep quiet, look within oneself honestly to find out what is wrong and set to work courageously to put it right.
The Divine Consciousness will always be there to help you if your endeavour is sincere; and the more sincere your endeavour the more the Divine Consciousness will help and assist you.
19 May 1952
Periods of obscuration are frequent and common; generally, it is enough to keep quiet without worrying, knowing that these are spiritual nights which alternate with the full light of the days.
Page 246
But to be able to remain in peace you must keep in your heart gratitude towards the Divine for all the help He gives. If gratitude also is veiled, the obscure periods last much longer. There is, however, a swift and effective remedy: it is to keep always burning in your heart the flame of purification, the aspiration for progress, the intensity, the ardour of consecration. This flame is kindled in the heart of all who are sincere; you must not let ingratitude cover it up with its ashes.
You must remember one thing: the dark periods are inevitable. When your psychic is active, you feel a delight without any apparent reason. It continues for some time and again the same mental or vital reactions come in and you go back to the darkness. This will continue. The brighter days will become longer and the dark periods will come after longer intervals and for shorter duration till they finally disappear. Till then you must know that the sun is there behind the clouds and you need not worry. You must have the confidence of a child―a confidence that there is someone who takes care of you and you can entirely depend on him.1
My word to you is: Do not cherish suffering and suffering will leave you altogether. Suffering is far from being indispensable to progress. The greatest progress is made through a steady and cheerful equanimity.
10 May 1932
The world is full of sufferings and sorrows.
Page 247
One should try never to be the cause of any additional suffering.
10 October 1970
The only remedy for all human suffering: divine love.
Turn towards the Divine, all your sufferings will disappear.
Do not take the sorrows of life for what they seem to be; they are in truth a way to greater achievements.
It is a dangerous illness: laziness.
30 July 1936
Tiredness shows lack of will for progress. When you feel tired or fatigued that is lack of will for progress.
Fire is always burning in you.
Fatigue comes from doing without interest the things you do.
Whatever you do you can find interest in it, provided you take it as the means of progressing; you must try to do better and better what you are doing, the will for progress must always be there and then you take interest in what you do, whatever it is. The most insignificant occupation can prove interesting if you take it that way.
Page 248
But even the most attractive and important activity will soon lose all its interest for you if the will for progress towards an ideal perfection is not there while you act.
About every ten days I have an attack of fatigue and exhaustion which has a tendency to turn into inertia and discouragement.
Take no notice of it and go on with your programme as usual. It is the quickest way of getting rid of it.
If I work I feel all right, but the fatigue comes after that. Why? What to do?
It is because you are receptive to the force when you work and that sustains you. But when you are not under the strain of the work you are less receptive. You must learn to be receptive in all circumstances and always―especially when you take rest―it must not be the "rest" of inertia but a true rest of receptivity.
The forces behind the cyclone were not hostile but full of transforming power. You did the right thing, and I can assure you that to go inward and to receive the force is more helpful than to throw oneself into an agitated action. Certainly tamas is not good, but it is only through surrender to the Divine Consciousness that tamas can be changed.
What are the defects in me that are coming in my way of spiritual as well as material progress?
Tamas and sluggishness.
Page 249
What am I to do to get rid of these defects of my nature?
Become more and more conscious.
Do not expect any satisfaction from physical life and you will no more be tied to it.
For our passage in the material world, what is indispensable to our life and action is put at our disposal according to the place we should occupy there.
The more we are consciously in contact with our inner being, the more exact are the means we are given.
3 June 1970
What is truly needed will surely come.
Things must be asked for only when truly needed.
What is bad is slavery. Slavery to abstinence as well as slavery to needs. What comes we take but always ready to let it go, if it goes...
Page 250
Greed for anything concerning physical consciousness, so-called necessities and comfort of whatever nature―this is one of the most serious obstacles to sadhana.
Each little satisfaction you get through greed is one step backward from the goal.
When you have a desire you are governed by the thing you desire, it takes possession of your mind and your life, and you become a slave. If you have greed for food you are no more the master of food, it is the food that masters you.
A sadhak must eat to satisfy the needs of his body and not to meet the demands of his greed.
4 April 1937
If you prefer the pleasures of the palate to the union with the Divine, it is your own look-out and I have nothing to say, except that I do not approve, but each one must be free to choose whether he will rise above his lower nature or sink down in the material pit. My help is always for those who choose the higher path.
It is an inner attitude of freedom from attachment and from greed for food and desire of the palate that is needed, not undue diminution of the quantity taken or any self-starvation. One must take sufficient food for the maintenance of the body and its strength and health, but without attachment or desire.
27 April 1937
Page 251
It would be a hundred times more effective to never waste food than to cut down one meal as a show and to eat more before and after.
A strong, ardent, sincere campaign against the waste of food is essential and full-heartedly I approve of it.
Let the inmates of the Ashram show their goodwill and collaboration in never eating more than they can digest and never ask for more than they can eat.
Kindly suggest some simple way by which one can slowly diminish one's abject dependence on ordinary material food and open oneself more and more to the universal vital energy.
There is no easy way to get over physical animality and vital greed. It is only an obstinate perseverance that can succeed.
If each one took the resolution of mastering oneself and controlling one's impulses, the situation would become more clear.
When people allow their consciousness to remain in a turmoil, all their life becomes a turmoil.
An impulsive person who cannot control himself has a disordered life.
First learn to know yourself perfectly and then to control yourself perfectly. You will be able to do it by aspiring at every moment. It is never too early to begin, never too late to continue.
Page 252
Control over the lower impulsions is the first step towards realisation.
Renunciation of desires: the essential condition for realisation.
Yes, we must keep the seat of our consciousness in the higher being and do whatever we are doing from there, not allowing the lower, blind and selfish movements and reactions to spoil our work.
To accept the uglinesses of the lower nature under the pretext that they exist―if this is what is meant by realism―does not form part of the sadhana. Our aim is not to accept these things and enjoy them, but to get rid of them and create a life of spiritual beauty and perfection. That cannot be done as long as we accept these uglinesses.
To be aware that they are there and to reject them, not to let them touch us is one thing; to accept them and submit to them is quite another.
Beware of what pulls you downward. Do not yield to any lower instinct. Keep intact your aspiration for the Divine.
Yielding to desires is not the way of getting rid of them. There is no end to desires―each one which is satisfied is at once replaced by another one and they go on clamouring more and more.
It is only by conquering the desires that you can get rid of them, by coming out of this consciousness of the lower nature and rising to a higher consciousness.
29 April 1930
Page 253
Refuse to do anything whatsoever which leads you away from the Divine.
18 October 1934
If you want to become conscious of my presence in you and to be delivered from hostile attacks, you must renounce any attempt to satisfy your desires. Only when the vital has lost all hope of seeing its desires satisfied does it consent to be spiritualised.
My help and blessings are with you.
3 September 1935
A desire which knows that it will never be satisfied at once vanishes.
All the lower movements have to be conquered if ever anything divine is to be established upon earth.
18 March 1936
There is no greater victory than that of controlling oneself.
3 May 1954
It is indispensable to perceive the lower movements of your being, in a detached and scientific manner, as a witness with clear vision and insight. But you must never allow these movements to express and assert themselves as if they had the right to exist and govern the rest of the being. In other words, you must never act under the impulse of these movements, never physically translate their suggestions into speech or action, never permit their orders to be carried out in any inner or outer gesture.
Page 254
Do not act under an impulse.
Never forget that, as much outside as in the Ashram, if you want to lead a happy life, you must be the master of your lower nature and control your desires and vital impulses; otherwise there is no end to the miseries and the troubles.
20 September 1960
At every moment of life you are put in the presence of a choice between the Grace and your personal satisfaction.
13 September 1961
One cannot overcome one's desires by making oneself weak but only in strength, balance and peace.
If one is not master of one's desires, one cannot be master of one's thoughts.
22 August 1964
Sometimes you say "all right" even to our desires and ambitions.
The Grace works for progress on the path. The satisfaction of desire may also serve that purpose in showing the inanity of desire.
And the good of yesterday may no more be good tomorrow.
Page 255
So follow your inspiration and my blessings are with you.
30 May 1968
You have my love and grace and blessings.
But if you are to feel them you must be disciplined, attentive and concentrated; above all you must not listen to any of your desires and fancies.
In life, one must choose between a disordered and useless life of desires and that of an ascent into the light of aspiration and mastery of one's lower nature.
16 June 1971
No self-indulgence and no desire.
To conquer a desire brings more joy than to satisfy it.
Self-mastery is the greatest conquest, it is the basis of all enduring happiness.
Continence: control over oneself.
To be continent is to allow no other movements in the being (mental, vital and physical) than those strictly indispensable to manifest the Divine's Will.
Page 256
The ego thinks of what it wants and has not. This is its constant preoccupation.
The soul is aware of what it is given and lives in endless gratitude.
Abolition of the ego: one exists only by the Divine and for the Divine.
All bitterness in life always comes from the ego refusing to abdicate.
All that happens is to teach us one and the same lesson, unless we get rid of our ego there is no peace either for ourselves or for others. And without ego life becomes such a wonderful marvel!...
We can contemplate the divine smile when we have conquered our ego.
Without the play of ego, there would be no conflicts; and if there were not in the vital a tendency to drama, there would be no dramatic happenings in life.
Page 257
Yes, those who live in their ego live constantly in an ugly drama. If people were a little less selfish things would not be so bad.
Meanwhile we must meet all these adverse circumstances with patience, endurance and equanimity.
23 October 1935
The extent of your difficulties gives you the measure of your ego.
23 March 1957
My giant enemy ego is sitting directly in my path and will not let me pass. In what manner should I fight him?
Ignore him and go through.
12 May 1966
To get over our ego is not an easy task.
Even after overcoming it in the material consciousness, we meet it once more–magnified―in the spiritual.
How can one get rid of one's vanity and selfishness?
By a complete consecration to the Divine and a loving surrender to the Divine's Will.
15 May 1944
Page 258
Each thought turned towards oneself veils the Divine.
25 August 1944
We must be free of all selfishness to serve properly the Divine's Cause.
26 May 1954
Selfishness and self-pity lead nowhere. You would do better to get rid of them―for it is these two narrow movements which prevent you from feeling the Divine's help and love.
25 March 1965
Pride: a great obstacle to progress.
It is not the soul but the ego and its pride that feel defeat and humiliation.
Vanity: one of the most frequent forms of falsehood.
It is better to be than to seem to be.
Vanity is the most serious obstacle to true greatness.
Page 259
There was a time when your amour-propre was a great help. It saved you from doing many stupid things by telling you that they were beneath your dignity. But now it is the greatest obstacle in your way.1
We should always be on our guard against the interference of the ego, shouldn't we, Mother?
Certainly this is correct. Ambition is always a source of disturbance and confusion.
16 May 1934
Detaching oneself from the ignorant actions of the mind and vital and from any kind of ambition, and allowing the Divine Mother to work according to Her own will, one can have inner as well as outer peace and happiness; and this, I think, is the way one can serve the Mother gratefully and sincerely. Is this not so?
Certainly, action without ambition and egoistic calculation is the condition of peace and felicity―both inner and outer.
Behind all ambitions there is a Truth waiting for the opportune time to manifest. Now that the ambition is gone, it is time for the truth (the capacities and abilities) to manifest.
Take great care not to become "swollen"; but I am with you, helping you, in order to do something interesting.
Page 260
A part of my being has developed the bad habit of feeling miserable after Pranam. It gets jealous of certain people. Don't you think I should have the strength to reject this obstacle?
Certainly―but then you must do it in all sincerity and not accept these movements of jealousy in any way.
16 April 1934
I do not understand why my vital is always jealous of X. Apparently there is no valid reason.
There is never any reason for jealousy. It is a very low and ignorant movement.
20 April 1934
Jealousy comes from a narrowness of the mind and a weakness of the heart. It is a great pity that so many are attacked by it.
Jealousy with its escort of slanders is the output of the weak and the small.
It deserves more pity than anger, and must leave us perfectly indifferent to it, enjoying the bliss of our unshakable certitude.
You cannot expect the whole world to be at your service and everything to happen as you fancy it to be more convenient for you.
Page 261
You must stop quarrelling with everybody and about everything; otherwise how can you expect to make any progress in yoga?
23 September 1932
Keep this attitude—never side with anybody nor take up any personal quarrel—think only of the Divine Peace, Harmony, Light and Happiness and become more and more their purified and quiet instrument.
18 September 1934
You must never forget that I disapprove of quarrels and always consider that both sides are equally wrong. To surmount one's feelings, preferences, dislikes and impulses, is an indispensable discipline here.
1 October 1943
Of course, X told me the story in a very different way—but I am used to the fact that each one tells me things from a particular angle, the one which is most favourable to him—and I do not give much importance to that. There is only one thing I always regret: the useless quarrels that make life so difficult when, with a little mutual goodwill, everything could be settled harmoniously.
21 July 1947
You asked me not to quarrel and to agree with one another, but I frankly say that I miss the light that can show me how to agree with X. I pray for that light. I beseech your pardon for violating your order. Would you not pardon me? You have to, Mother.
Page 262
Pardon and blessings are there, but one way or another a different arrangement must be made to stop these quarrels.
26 October 1948
This is a very good opportunity to test the value of the relation. You must absolutely stop all quarrels. They are harmful for the sadhana of both of you.
Try your level best, and if you cannot succeed, then you will have to give up the relation.
23 September 1951
In quarrels I never interfere, because surely both are wrong.
10 May 1953
When two persons quarrel, always both are in the wrong.
It is always wrong to quarrel, even if one is not the aggressor.
When you start a quarrel it is as if you were declaring war on the Divine's work.
Yes, all these quarrels are a very sad thing—they interfere terribly in the work and make everything more difficult.
Before getting angry at the mistakes of others one should always remember one's own mistakes.
22 July 1954
Page 263
You must get rid of all inner as well as all outer movements of anger, impatience and dislike. If things go wrong or are done wrongly, you will simply say, "The Mother knows" and go on quietly doing or getting things done as well as you can without friction.1
That one feels sad for one's own faults,—this may, if necessary, be useful to strengthen one's resolution to correct them.
But that one can be offended by another's bad conduct, this has truly nothing to do with the spiritual life and the service of the Divine.
To be above offence or insult makes one truly great.
What is to be done if a person comes to quarrel because one has accepted in one case and refused in another? What is to be done to avoid such bitterness around one, provoked by repeated refusals?
As for ill-will, jealousy, quarrels and reproaches, one must sincerely be above all that and reply with a benevolent smile to the bitterest words; and unless one is absolutely sure of himself and his reactions, it would be better, as a general rule, to keep silent.
As usual, it is only a misunderstanding, and also as usual, the ego of each one, by its reaction, magnifies the thing and aggravates it. But it is easy to arrange, and, with the goodwill of all, I am sure that all will be well.
Page 264
I consider that we are at an excellent occasion for collective and individual Sadhana and that is why I engage myself in it and take special interest in it.
We do not work for the success of X's play, or of Y's dance, or of Z's scenario.
We want to render in physical terms, as perfectly as possible, the inspiration sent by the Lord for the accomplishment of His work upon earth.
And for that each individual soul is a helper and a collaborator, but each human ego is a limitation and an obstacle.
It is obviously very regrettable to allow oneself to be upset by such little things, and if each one gave more thought to his work as the really important thing, all these little quarrels would be seen for what they are, that is, as utterly ridiculous.
I hope that everything will be settled soon and that harmony will reign once more among the bakery-workers.
My blessings and my help are always with you and with those who work in the bakery, so that harmony may reign among you more and more.
This world is full of pitiable miseries. But of all beings those are the most to be pitied who are so small and so weak that they cannot avoid being nasty.
18 September 1963
Hostility, recoil and distrust seem to me so useless. We could so easily be friends, each and all.
Page 265
This is just what the Supreme Lord says to Himself when He sees the life of men upon earth.
14 September 1969
We speak of union and say we are working for it. But the spirit of quarrelling is in our midst. Shall we not conquer this insincerity?
I am here to ask you to do it. And the best way is to join in the service of the Divine.
12 March 1972
No disputes, no quarrels—the sweetness of a life without clashes.
Take the division out of the heart and then speak of no division.
The whole trouble comes from the fact that you cannot harmonise with someone unless he is in agreement with your own ideas and his opinion and way of doing things are in conformity with yours.
You must widen your consciousness and understand that everyone has his own law. It is necessary to find the ground of understanding and harmony in a happy combination of individual wills and not to try that all may be the same in an identical will and action.
Page 266
One of the chief obstacles to the establishment of a progressive harmony is our eagerness to prove to an opponent that he is wrong and we are right.
I am happy about your new arrangement; let us hope it works.
It depends on how much each one cares more for harmony than for the triumph of his own will!
How do you expect others to keep to an arrangement when you are not doing it yourself?
How do you hope to get out of your shallowness if you remain always one-sided in your perception of things?
June 1931
X is quite justified in thinking and feeling as he does, but he must understand that the others also are justified in their thinking and feeling although it differs from his and he ought not to despise them and call them bad names.
Among human beings, the most widely spread disease is mental narrowness. They understand only what is in their own consciousness and cannot tolerate anything else.
A person who considers only his own opinion becomes more and more narrow.
For each problem there is a solution that can give satisfaction to everybody, but for finding this ideal solution each one must want it, instead of meeting the others with the will to enforce one's own preference.
Page 267
Enlarge your consciousness and aspire for the satisfaction of all.
28 August 1971
You see only your side of the question, but if you want to widen your consciousness it would be better to look from all sides impartially. Later you will discover that this attitude has great advantages.
17 September 1971
As long as you are for some and against others, you are necessarily outside of the Truth.
Page 268
The more a mind is ignorant, the more easily it judges everything it does not know or is incapable of understanding.
I want the peace to come into your mind and also the quiet, patient wisdom which prevents one from jumping to hasty conclusions and judgments.
It is always better to keep a quiet mind and to abstain from rushing to conclusions before you have the necessary information.
12 April 1932
Tell your vital not to judge on appearances and to collaborate. All is well in the long run.
You were wrong to be disturbed; that shows that suspicion was in your mind and heart. And if one is perfectly pure oneself, one cannot have any suspicion. The mind is incapable of knowing; it judges by appearances and not even by their totality but by what it can perceive of them, and its judgment is necessarily false. Only the truth-consciousness can know the truth, and it never suspects or judges.
14 November 1952
Page 271
Before deciding that something is wrong in others or in circumstances, you must be quite sure of the correctness of your judgment—and what judgment is correct so long as one lives in the ordinary consciousness that is based on ignorance and filled with falsehood?
Only the Truth-Consciousness can judge. So it is better, in all circumstances, to leave the judgment to the Divine.
Whenever somebody is not just according to the usual pattern, if all the parts and activities in him have not the usual balance, if some faculties are more or less missing and some others are exaggerated, the common and easy habit is to declare him "abnormal" and to have done with him after this hasty condemnation. When this summary judgment is passed by somebody in a position of power the consequences can be disastrous. Such people ought to know what true compassion is, then they would act differently.
The first necessity is to abstain from thinking of anyone in a depreciatory way. When we meet a person, our criticising thoughts give to him, so to say, a blow on the nose which naturally creates a revolt in him. It is our mental formation that acts like a deforming mirror to that person, and then one would become queer even if one were not. Why cannot people remove from their minds the idea that somebody or other is not normal? By what criterion do they judge? Who is really normal? I can tell you that not a single person is normal, because to be normal is to be divine.
Man has one leg in animality and the other in humanity. At the same time he is a candidate for divinity. His is not a happy condition. The true animals are better off. And they are also more harmonious among themselves. They do not quarrel as human beings do. They do not put on airs, they do not consider some as inferiors and keep them at a distance.
Page 272
One must have a sympathetic outlook and learn to cooperate with one's fellows, building them up and helping them instead of sneering at whatever seems not up to the mark.
Even if somebody has a deficiency and is hypersensitive and self-willed, you cannot hope to improve him by summary measures of compulsion or expulsion. Do not try to force his ego by your own, by behaving according to the same pattern. Guide him gently and understandingly along the lines of his own nature. See whether you can place him where he can work without coming into conflict with others.
If those who are in power are puffed up with their own importance, they disturb the true working. Whatever their abilities, their achievement is not the real thing.
But it is not that they are always lacking in good-will. They have false ideas of what is proper. If they become more conscious of the divine aim, they can surely succeed in carrying it out.
With our own perfection grows in us a generous understanding of others.
18 July 1954
Do not trouble yourselves with what others do, I cannot repeat it to you too often. Do not judge, do not criticise, do not compare. That is not your lookout.
You have no right to judge a man unless you are capable of doing what he does better than himself.
27 June 1964
Page 273
And what is X's criterion of judgment? Has he become divine? Only the Divine knows the true value of each one.
She has climbed on the heights of a too recently acquired purity to judge and criticise with undue severity an elder brother who has always been very kind to her.
Be severe to yourself before being severe to others.
Do not mind the stupidity of others, mind your own.
It would be better if the mind also did not meddle with others' affairs, and still more if the vital took no interest in them.
I would suggest to you for your future guidance not to meddle in matters which do not concern you. If X is still here, it is because I choose to keep her with me.
It is one of the highest virtues—not to poke your nose in the affairs of others.1
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Suffering inflicted on others is not a good base on which to build spiritual realisation.
To advance alone on the path can be a form of egoism. One can liberate oneself alone only if the others refuse to follow. One must therefore first offer to lead them along. And if this burdens the advance and increases the difficulties, one should take it as the effect of a special Grace that tests the sincerity of the consecration in this way. The capacity to receive the divine help is in proportion to this sincerity.
To help others is the best way of helping oneself. For, if you are sincere, you will soon discover that all their difficulties and all their failures are the sure signs of the same corresponding deficiency in you. Indeed, they prove that something in you is not perfect enough to be all-powerful.
We find in others what is in us. If we always find mud around us, it proves that there is mud somewhere in us.
It is only egoism that is shocked to find egoism in others.
Each of those who are around us can be for us, provided we are attentive, a mirror in which one or more aspects of our being are reflected. If we know how to profit by it, it is a powerful help for our progress. And when the mirror is sincere and of goodwill, the value of the help becomes considerable.
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If you have sympathy for them and a true understanding of their difficulty, you can always help them.
You bring help to him who knows how to use it.
Humanity is a sick child always wanting what is bad for him. Philanthropy is like a mother who, in order to satisfy her child's demands, would give him the very thing that will make him worse.
It is a mistake to consider service to humanity as the highest expression of service to the Divine. To do so is to remain far too confined within the limits of an exclusive human consciousness.
The best way of helping others is to transform oneself. Be perfect and you will be in a position to bring perfection to the world.
Rise to a higher consciousness for the world to be saved.
Change your consciousness for the world to be saved.
Change yourself if you wish to change the world. Prove by your inner transformation that a truth-consciousness can take possession of the material world and that the Divine Unity can be manifested upon earth.
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Organisations, however vast and complete they may be, can achieve nothing permanent unless a new force, more divine and all-powerful, expresses itself through a perfected human instrument.
23 August 1952
No material organisation, whatever its degree of preparation, is capable of bringing a solution to the miseries of man.
Man must rise to a higher level of consciousness and get rid of his ignorance, limitation and selfishness in order to get rid also of his sufferings.
21 February 1955
The best way to help the world is to transform oneself by an integral and intensive yoga.
July 1965
The world will be made better only in proportion as we make ourselves better. The Vedantic truth that the world is only a projection—a function—of our consciousness is as pragmatically true as it is spiritually true. The ills that humanity suffers from—collectively and individually—stem from the errors that lie at the roots of our ignorant nature. We must be cleansed of these evils—individually first of all—if we ever hope to see a clean world outside. A yoga of self-purification is the condition precedent to a yoga of perfection.
But, in the end, a Higher Destiny leans over earth's children and its ways are beyond calculation.
16 August 1967
Page 277
So long as you do not have the power to change the world, it is useless to say that the world is wrong. And if you abolish in yourself the things that are wrong in the world, you will see that the world will no longer be wrong.
When you are truly changed, everything around you will also be changed.
Page 278
You are quite right in not allowing the moods and fancies of people to effect you. You must soar above all that in the constant feeling of the Divine's Presence, Love and Protection.
Don't let anything from outside approach and disturb you. What people think, do or say is of little importance. The only thing that counts is your relation with the Divine.
30 April 1933
It is always regrettable when one is open to the influence of another person. One shouldn't admit any influence except that of the Divine.
To feel hurt by what others do or think or say is always a sign of weakness and proof that the whole being is not exclusively turned towards the Divine, not under the divine influence alone. And then, instead of bringing with oneself the divine atmosphere made of love, tolerance, understanding, patience, it is one's ego that throws itself out, in response to another's ego, with stiffness and hurt feelings, and the disharmony is aggravated. The ego never understands that the Divine has different workings in different people and that to judge things from one's own egoistic point of view is a great mistake bound to increase the confusion. What we do with passion and intolerance cannot be divine, because the Divine works only in peace and harmony.
You are distressed because instead of listening to the voice of your soul, you have accepted the suggestions of vulgar minds
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and obscure consciousnesses who see ugliness and impurity everywhere because they are not in contact with the psychic purity.
Refuse to listen to these wrong suggestions, turn deliberately to the Divine and rekindle your faith in His Supreme Guidance.
The vital of some people calls always for confusion and disharmony, petty quarrels and confusion; they generally have also a kind of mania of perfection and believe that everybody is against them. To cure that is most difficult and requires a radical transformation of the nature.
The best when dealing with them is not to mind the reactions and go on doing what one has to do with simplicity and sincerity.
Do not worry about the reactions of people, however unpleasant they may be—the vital is everywhere and in everybody full of impurities and the physical full of unconsciousness. These two imperfections have to be cured, however long it may take, and we have only to work at it patiently and courageously.
Who has told you that your nature is inferior to X's? Each one has his own nature and follows his own path, and comparisons with others are always useless and most often dangerous.
4 April 1934
Timidity is a form of vanity. When you are timid, it means that you attach much more importance to the opinion others have of you than to the sincerity of your action.
Page 280
It is not necessary to attach any importance to the opinions of people because they are the passing results of passing impressions; other times and new impressions will easily change them.
He who is faultless does not care for the opinion of others.
Why should he listen to threats? He must act according to the inner command and not according to public opinion.
When you give yourself to the accomplishment of an unselfish aim, never expect ordinary people to praise and support you—on the contrary, they will always fight against you, hate and curse you.
But the Divine will be with you.
17 September 1953
To be plastic towards the Divine means not to oppose Him with the rigidity of preconceived ideas and fixed principles. And this requires a great strength, for the more you are plastic to the divine will, the more you come in conflict with the human wills that are not in contact with the divine will.
Give your will entirely to the Divine and it will feel free from the imposition of any human will.
19 September 1953
Even if you were the only person in the whole world to give himself entirely and in all purity to the Divine—and thus being alone, misunderstood naturally by everyone upon earth—even if it were so, there is no reason why you should not do it.
Page 281
I am shocked to hear that X has complained to you against me. I have been specially kind to her.
This is exactly the kind of treatment the Divine received from the world. Even Sri Aurobindo was not spared. So you see that you are in good company and there is no reason to despair!
Do not do your own will, but the Divine's will.
Do not either do other people's will, for you will be torn apart.
Page 282
All that is based on human relationship is unstable and transient, mixed and unsatisfactory; it is only what is established in the Divine and through the Divine that can last and give satisfaction.
21 July 1935
I am sure that in the conscious part of your being your relationship with X is what you say it is. But one must always be wary of the subconscious and that is why it is always preferable to have no [ ... ] friendships and intimacies, because in the subconscious vital, ties are established which form an obstacle to the sadhana.
My dear child, my blessings are with you.
A friendship free from desire and attachment might be the ideal solution, but to be carried out it requires a perfect mastery over oneself and an unshakable discipline of the vital and the body. And as for the moment it is not yet the case, it is wiser not to tempt the devil and to cut all relations.
There was a time when you were very passionate and your affections degenerated immediately into passions with all the disequilibrium that this entails.
But now you are more sober and undoubtedly you are more calm and quiet, until the day there will be no attachments any longer but luminous and sweet sympathies without any demand or egoism.
Page 283
All depends upon the kind of attraction.
If it is a physical attraction, the need, the instinct of the animal pushing it to reproduction, the best thing is that you leave the place and not see X again. For this would mean that this person's influence awakens and encourages the lower instincts.
If it is a vital attraction you can try to purify and control it, by avoiding a too close intimacy and cutting down your relation to what is indispensable when living in the same house.
If it is a sentimental and emotional attraction, it is easier to channelise and turn it to the Divine by confining your relations to a common seeking for the Divine and the spiritual life.
Then all will depend on your sincerity and reciprocal goodwill.
I very much appreciate your frankness and your sincerity. It is true that it is extremely difficult to keep free from vital mixture any close relation with human beings. But the remedy is not to cut all such relations, but to be constantly vigilant (on one's guard) and not to allow the vital attractiveness to rule one's actions.
29 August 1950
Keep yourself free from all human attachment and you will be happy.
6 June 1954
Remembrance is a dangerous ally of attachment.
For the time being, it is better to keep quiet and concentrate on your inner development. Later, when you feel free from every trace of attachment, you will be able to resume your
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correspondence spontaneously and without difficulty; it will then be useful and profitable. But the rule is always to realise yourself what you wish to give to others.
17 April 1956
Take advantage of the circumstances to get rid of all attachment to the members of your family.
You must learn that you have no more brothers, sister, father, mother, except Sri Aurobindo and myself, and you must feel free and unconcerned whatever happens to them. We are your whole family, your protection, your all in all.
Page 285
Duty towards the Divine is far more sacred than any social or family duty; it is all the more sacred because within the human collectivity it is almost wholly ignored or misunderstood.
One who has given himself to the Divine has no longer any other duty than to make that consecration more and more perfect. The world and those who live in it have always wanted to put human—social and family—duty before duty to the Divine, which they have stigmatised as egoism. How indeed could they judge otherwise, they who have no experience of the reality of the Divine? But for the divine regard their opinion has no value, their will has no force. These are movements of ignorance, nothing more. You should not attempt to convince; above all, you should not let yourself be touched or shaken. You must shut yourself carefully within your ivory tower of consecration and await from the Divine alone help, protection, guidance and approbation. To be condemned by the whole world is nothing to him who knows that he has the approval of the Divine and his support.
Besides, has not mankind proved its utter incompetence in the organisation of its own existence? Governments succeed governments, regimes follow regimes, centuries pass after centuries, but human misery remains lamentably the same. It will always be so, as long as man remains what he is, blind and ignorant, closed to all spiritual reality. A transformation, an illumination of the human consciousness alone can bring about a real amelioration in the condition of humanity. Thus even from the standpoint of human life, it follows logically that the first duty of man is to seek and possess the divine consciousness.
13 June 1937
Page 286
"We would be completely under Thy influence to the exclusion of every other."1
Each force or power has an influence on other forces and powers and this reaction is reciprocal. To escape this constant and general confusion or influence, there is only one way, to concentrate exclusively on the Divine Consciousness and to open oneself only to the Divine Consciousness.
There can be no true integral surrender to the Divine if any human relations and their habits and attachments are still maintained. All relations must be turned upward and directed to the Divine alone and transformed into means for the union and surrender.
Vital relations are always dangerous.
A complete, absolute consecration of the vital to the Divine is the only solution.
You preferred human friendship to divine friendship, but human friendship is unsteady and now you feel cut off from both. Not that the Divine has withdrawn his friendship from you—never does he withdraw it—but you have got into a state of vital incapacity for enjoying it.
What should we do to remain always in contact with the Divine, so that no person or event can draw us away from this contact?
Aspiration. Sincerity.
Page 287
Never keep company with those who follow muddy tracks for it is your own companions who will smirch you.
I had to face a very violent person. It had a reaction upon me.
Cut connection, suddenly if possible, to let the vibrations fall down.
By his way of thinking, feeling, acting, each one emanates vibrations which constitute his own atmosphere and quite naturally attract vibrations of similar nature and quality.
There is no better way to become friends than to laugh together.
Our best friend is he who loves us in the best of ourselves and yet does not ask us to be other than we are.
Page 288
SLAVERY
No law can liberate women unless they liberate themselves.
What makes them slaves is:
(1) Attraction towards the male and his strength,
(2) Desire for home life and its security,
(3) Attachment to motherhood.
If they get free from these three slaveries, they will truly be the equal of men.
Men also have three slaveries:
(1) Spirit of possession, attachment to power and domination,
(2) Desire for sexual relation with women,
(3) Attachment to the small comforts of married life.
If they get rid of these three slaveries, they can truly become the equal of women.
1 August 1951
Women are not more bound to the vital and material consciousness than men are. On the contrary, as they have not, in general, the arrogant mental pretensions of men, it is easier for them to discover their psychic being and to allow it to guide them.
In general, they are not conscious in a mental way which can be expressed in words, but they are conscious in their feelings and the best of them are so even in their actions.
There have been many outstanding feminine figures in spiritual life. But on one side women are more interested by action than by mentalisation and intellectual expression, that is why very
Page 289
few women have recorded their spiritual experience and thus they have remained unknown.
To be truly a good wife is almost as difficult as to be a true disciple.
The idea that women should cook for males is against my principles. Are they slaves?
Page 290
To unite your physical lives, your material interests, to become partners in order to face together the difficulties and successes, the defeats and victories of life—that is the very foundation of marriage, but you already know that it is not enough.
To be united in your sensations, to have the same aesthetic tastes and enjoyments, to be moved in common by the same things, one through the other and one for the other—that is good, that is necessary, but it is not enough.
To be one in your deeper feelings, to keep a mutual affection and tenderness that never vary in spite of all the blows of life and can withstand every weariness and irritation and disappointment, to be always and on every occasion happy, extremely happy, to be together, to find in every circumstance tranquillity, peace and joy in each other—that is good, that is very good, that is indispensable, but it is not enough.
To unite your minds, to harmonise your thoughts and make them complementary, to share your intellectual preoccupations and discoveries; in short, to make your sphere of mental activity identical through a widening and enrichment acquired by both at once—that is good, that is absolutely necessary, but it is not enough.
Beyond all that, in the depths, at the centre, at the summit of the being, there is a Supreme Truth of being, an Eternal Light, independent of all the circumstances of birth, country, environment, education; That is the origin, cause and master of our spiritual development; it is That which gives a permanent direction to our lives; it is That which determines our destinies; it is in the consciousness of That that you must unite. To be one in aspiration and ascension, to move forward at the same pace on the same spiritual path, that is the secret of a lasting union.
March 1933
Page 291
It was not at all a selection. I simply said that this girl looked the best of the three, that is all. In any case, marriage is not a direct way to prepare oneself for sadhana. It can be an indirect one if the outward nature needs troubles and disappointments to get rid of all worldly attachments, but in that case the experiment usually ends by separation and often a painful one, at least for one of the two associates. That is all I can tell you on the subject.
13 October 1940
In reference to the view of some modern social thinkers expressing fear of the possible breakdown and disappearance of the family system, You have remarked that this breakdown "was, and is still, an indispensable movement to bring humanity to a higher and broader realisation".
This raises some important questions which I state below for Your clarification:
1) Do You consider this dissolution of the family system indispensable only for the few exceptional individuals who follow some high mental or spiritual ideal or also for the general humanity?
Yes, only for the few exceptional individuals who follow some high mental or spiritual ideal.
2) If You advocate a complete dissolution of the family system for the entire humanity, do You consider it advisable for it to happen even before the new process of birth by direct materialisation has been normalised on earth?
More liberty and plasticity in the system are advisable. Fixed rules are harmful to evolution.
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3) Do You also consider the abolition of the marriage system as equally indispensable as the abolition of the family system for the higher development of humanity? So long as the new process of birth has not been normalised, would not the present manner of sexual procreation continue? In that case, would not some form of marriage relationship be necessary?
Marriage will always take place, but legal ceremonies must not be enforced, to avoid illegality.
4) So long as the new process of birth has not been normalised and the children continue to be born through the present sexual process, is not the family life and atmosphere best suited to their upbringing, especially in their early formative years? The other alternative is to provide for their care and upbringing through some other agency, like the State-nurseries, as was advocated by some Communist thinkers. But this view has not found many supporters, for it has been realised that the tender and affectionate care which the young children need could best be provided only in the intimate atmosphere of the family home by the parents. If this is true, then for the sake of the young children at least, would not the family be necessary, until the new method of birth becomes possible and normal in future?
Here also both things must be equally admitted and practised. There are many cases in which it would be a blessing for the baby to be separated from his parents.
A minimum of rules.
A maximum of freedom.
All possibilities must have equal scope for manifestation, then humanity will progress more rapidly.
21 July 1960
Page 293
You say that you could not bring up your children properly because although you are well-educated and cultured you have no time to spare for them, and that your wife has time but she is uneducated, uncultured, good for nothing. Will you tell me who is responsible for her condition? For more than twenty-five years she has lived with you. What did you do in these twenty-five years to educate her or give her your "culture"—absolutely nothing. Even the idea did not occur to you. You never thought that even if you had given her one hour daily for her education, it would have made a big difference in twenty-five years. For you she existed only as a machine to look after your comforts and produce your children. You could not take her into your confidence, you could not do anything for her improvement, but there you stand with all your vanity, blaming her for being uneducated and uncultured.
I hold you responsible for all her shortcomings.1
You want your children to do as you bid. What do you know of Truth? You want to impose your will because you are stronger. That way a giant can catch hold of you and you will have to do whatever he says.
It is a most difficult thing to bring up children. I have not seen many parents who can do the proper thing.
What right have you to impose your will on the children, you who have brought them into the world without giving any serious thought to their problems or making the necessary preparations?2
Do not beat your children—It clouds your consciousness and spoils their character.
16 November 1968
Page 294
Let us offer our work to the Divine; this is the sure means of progressing.
Consciousness develops best through work done as an offering to the Divine.
Indolence and inaction end in tamas: that is a fall into unconsciousness; it is contrary to all progress and light.
To overcome one's ego, to live only in the service of the Divine—that is the ideal and the shortest way towards acquiring the true consciousness.
You must do the work as an offering to the Divine and take it as part of your Sadhana. In that spirit the nature of the work is of little importance and you can do any work without losing the contact with the inner presence.
When there is not enough work in my department, can I spend my time reading or drawing?
Your work is your sadhana, and it is by doing your work in a spirit of consecration that you can make most progress.
I think it would be better not to tire yourself too much by reading or drawing.
18 February 1933
I would like to know, isn't there also the same sadhana in reading and drawing?
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Everything can be made into a means of finding the Divine. What matters is the spirit in which things are done.
21 February 1933
Work done in the true spirit is meditation.
15 September 1934
All depends on the attitude with which you do the work. If done with the right attitude, it will surely bring you nearer to me.
17 May 1937
I am quite satisfied with your way of doing the work and it is sure to help you to come nearer to me.
I make no difference between work and yoga. Work itself is yoga if it is done in a spirit of dedication and surrender.
25 January 1938
Sometimes when I am absorbed in meditation I see and feel that my physical being aspires through work. Then I see a sun manifesting in my physical with its brilliant light. All the gods and forces emanating from You are in this sun.
Yes, it is true that in and through work one can enter into contact with the sun of divine light and force.
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*Your attitude towards work is the right one and I see no changes to suggest. The work done through love and because of love is surely the most powerful.
8 June 1942
Works of love: the best condition for work.
Let us work as we pray, for indeed work is the body's best prayer to the Divine.
11 December 1945
To work for the Divine is to pray with the body.
One can progress through meditation, but through work provided it is done in the right spirit one can progress ten times more.
6 April 1954
Page 299
The progress in sadhana comes from the rectification of the inner and outer attitude, not from the nature of the work one does—any work, even the most humble, can lead to the Divine if it is done with the right attitude.
16 July 1955
It is not so easy to do work. In true work you have to do all that is done in Sadhana and much more.
21 August 1955
You have to do all that a yogi does, you have to reach the highest heights and bring down those conditions of consciousness, light and peace and manifest them in your everyday work. For you no job is insignificant or trivial.
22 August 1955
Go and prepare yourself and the best preparation is to be useful to the Divine's work.
May 1963
Should I try meditation?
It is not necessary if your work is a constant offering to the Divine.
13 April 1965
How can I offer my work?
Usually one works for one's own profit and satisfaction; instead of that, one should work to serve the Divine and express His will.
23 June 1965
Page 300
Whatever is our work and whatever we do, we must do it sincerely, honestly, scrupulously, not in view of any personal profit, but as an offering to the Divine, with an entire consecration of our being. If this attitude is sincerely kept in all circumstances, whenever we need to learn something to do the work more effectively, the occasion to acquire this knowledge comes to us and we have only to take advantage of the opportunity.
Now that you are about to take your first steps on the path of action, it is time to decide whether you will consecrate your life to your own personal interest or whether you will make an offering of it for the accomplishment of the work.
In either case the field of action remains the same. But the spirit in which it is done is totally different.
It must not be forgotten that the offering is made to the Divine's Work and not to any human enterprise. So the only thing that can be done is to express some appreciation in a few words.
What are the steps to follow for (1) sadhana and (2) silence of the mind?
(1) Do work as sadhana. You offer to the Divine the work you do to the best of your capacities and you leave the result to the Divine.
(2) Try to become conscious first above your head, keeping the brain as silent as possible.
If you succeed and the work is done in that condition, then it will become perfect.
2 April 1970
Page 301
Be faithful to your ideal and dedicate your work to the Divine.
Work for the Divine and you will feel an ineffable joy filling your being.
Disinterested work done for the Divine: the surest means of progressing.
Disinterested work: work done with no other motive than of doing as well as possible the Divine's work.
How is one to know what the Divine's Work is and how is one to work with the Divine?
You have only to unite and identify yourself with the Divine.
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You will become more and more perfect in your work as the consciousness grows, increases, widens and is enlightened.
7 October 1934
In all action, all work done, the degree of perfection depends upon the degree of consciousness.
To work in the Divine's way is not easy for a blind and egoistic person like me. By that I mean: to work unegoistically and to keep myself open to your force so that it may work unhampered in me. Am I right?
Yes, it is correct.
Judging by that standard I have no right to work for you at all; but it is also not desirable, perhaps, to cease to work for you.
Certainly you must not stop working for me. It is by working that the perfection of the working comes.
12 April 1947
Try to enjoy doing everything you do.
When you are interested in what you do, you enjoy doing it.
To be interested in what you do, you must try to do it better and better.
In progress lies true joy.
6 January 1952
Page 303
When work becomes attractive and is done with joy, how much better it is.
It is true that my force is always with him to help him to do his work; but my force is essentially a force for perfection, and to be able to allow it to work fully, one must have a constant will for progress in the work.
12 May 1952
It is by combined and patient effort that all good work is done.
8 April 1954
Perfection in the work must be the aim, but it is only by a very patient effort that this can be obtained.
12 April 1954
Open yourself more and more to the Divine's force and your work will progress steadily towards perfection.
11 June 1954
Let us constantly aspire to be a perfect instrument for the Divine's work.
27 August 1954
Let nothing short of perfection be your ideal in work and you are sure to become a true instrument of the Divine.
Page 304
There must be order and harmony in work. Even what is apparently the most insignificant thing must be done with perfect perfection, with a sense of cleanliness, beauty, harmony and order.
23 August 1955
With method, order and care there is no difficulty that cannot be solved.
Organisation: indispensable for all good work.
Regularity: indispensable for all serious accomplishment.
For the work steadiness and regularity are as necessary as skill. Whatever you do, do it always carefully.
Always do what you do with care.
Any work done with care becomes interesting.
Nothing is too small to be neglected, the same care meets all circumstances.
Page 305
To undo one thing in order to build another is not a good policy. Those who are consecrated and want to work for the Divine must be patient and know how to wait for things to be done at the right moment and in the right way.
14 February 1959
It is better to use the energies received from the Divine for perfection rather than for aggrandisement.
The perfection of the work done is much more important than its bulk or the bigness of its scope.
May 1959
When one works for the Divine, it is much better to do perfectly what one does than to aim at a very big work.
13 May 1959
It is better to do well than to do quickly.
To begin a work and to leave it half done and to start another work elsewhere, is not a very wholesome habit.
5 July 1959
In works, aspiration towards Perfection is true spirituality.
October 1961
Whatever work you do, do it as perfectly as you can. That is the best service to the Divine in man.
1 November 1961
Page 306
I was intending to write to you that this neglected work must be carried out immediately.
I accept your explanation that it is not bad will but negligence. But I must tell you that for me negligence is the worst form of bad will, for it is the refusal to surrender to the divine inspiration and consciousness which demand a constant vigilance.
I hope that this new year will bring you all the breadth of mind and generosity of heart which will make such unfortunate incidents impossible.
4 January 1966
Faultless planning of work cannot be obtained except with the consciousness of the Divine.
If men had to stop work when they are not perfect, everybody would stop working. It is in the work that we must progress and purify ourselves.
Continue to do the work you are doing but never forget that it can and must become better.
23 December 1971
To do the work that one does with all sincerity, as perfectly as one can, is certainly one of the best ways to serve the Divine.
18 May 1972
When the instruments of work—hands, eyes, etc.—become conscious and the attention is controlled, the capacity for work seems to have no bounds.
Page 307
Skilful hands, a clear vision, a concentrated attention, an untiring patience, and what one does is well done.
Skilful hands, precise care, a sustained attention and one compels Matter to obey the Spirit.
To know how to observe in silence is the source of skilfulness.
Skill in works must be used knowingly.
Page 308
The field of work does not change. What you are doing now, you will continue to do. It is in the attitude in the work, especially in the relation with the other workers, that the change must take place. Each one sees the work in his own way and believes it is the only true way, the only way that expresses the Divine Will. But none of these ways is completely true; it is only by rising above these divided conceptions that one can reach a better understanding of the Divine's Will. This means mutual understanding and collaboration instead of opposition and clash of wills and feelings.
23 May 1934
For harmony and better work, it is not by changing men that things can get better, but by changing one's own consciousness and character.
25 January 1937
As a general rule it is better not to intervene in things that do not fall within one's own work.
7 October 1937
If in the work you meet with some difficulties, look sincerely into yourself and there you will discover their origin.
Page 309
The difficulties in work come not from circumstances or petty outer occurrences, they come from something which is wrong in the inner attitude, especially in the vital attitude: egoism, ambition, fixity of mental conceptions regarding work, vanity, etc. And it is always good, in order to correct the disharmony, to look for the cause in oneself rather than in others.
19 April 1938
To recognise the presence of a "disharmonious atmosphere" is useful only so far as it wakes in each one the will to change it into a harmonious atmosphere and to do that the first important step is for each one to get out of his own limited point of view in order to understand the point of view of others. It is more important for each one to find the mistake in himself than to insist on the mistake of others.
I add that all those to whom I have given responsibility in the work are expected to be faithful to this responsibility and, without allowing of any "hurt feeling" to creep in, do their best to carry on successfully their duty.
My blessings are with all those who are sincere and have goodwill.
Indeed I have allowed X to shift her rose plants there. But I do not think she needs the whole place for them. Moreover, in the present food-crisis it is not wise to use for flowers a place where vegetables have always grown very well. It seems that the place where tomatoes were grown is now ready for beans—these beans must be sown and well looked after so that they may be productive. The trees and shrubs must be left in place and the sitaphal tree (custard apple) must be very carefully attended to as it gives excellent fruits. In consequence I wish that this garden should be looked after by both X and Y, each one taking care of the things with which they are concerned reciprocally. I hope
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they will take advantage of this occasion to show that work can be done unselfishly and harmoniously, putting in first place the welfare of the work itself and checking in themselves all wrong movements that could stand against this achievement.
Psychic work: a work governed by harmony.
I came to the bindery to explain to all of you what you had to do, and expect that you will do accordingly. I want you to work all together harmoniously, helping one another as much as you can.
Everyday programme
The university work goes first, then the library work, then the individual work, if there is time.
Without discipline, no good work can be done.
Each one to his place, doing conscientiously the work assigned to him, and all will be well.
17 August 1938
Organised teamwork: each one at his place and all together.
To make any change in a work, I require before taking any decision that both parties should write to me explaining their case and the proposed change and then I shall decide.
My love and blessings.
25 July 1947
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I do not believe that to change work will help you to change your character; it has never proved successful before.
The reasons for which you ask to change your work are psychological and do not depend on the work itself. Wherever you will go, you will carry them with you and nowhere will you be able to find peace unless you have the peace in your heart.
22 August 1949
When one has work to do for a community, to take a decision for personal motives and to abandon one's work is a serious mistake.
You mention faults committed which cannot be corrected: this is wrong. Any fault can be corrected if you sincerely set to work to correct yourself. To run away from the progress to be made is an act of cowardice and I cannot approve of it.
First of all make a sincere and complete confession of faults committed. Afterwards I shall see what is to be done.
30 May 1953
Collaboration and reciprocal goodwill are indispensable for good work.
To concentrate on a close collaboration in the work would be obviously a more useful attitude than to concentrate on mutual grievances.
The most important point is that the work should be quickly done and well done.
21 December 1957
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To the Bangavani Workers
No great work can be done without co-ordination and discipline.
A true and organised collaboration is the condition of success.
20 June 1959
It is only in harmonious collaboration that effective work can be done.
The important thing is to find the point on which you can all agree—and after this is firmly established, each one must be ready to yield his personal will in order to keep intact this point of harmony.
29 March 1966
When we have to work collectively, it is always better to insist, in our thoughts, feelings and actions, on the points of agreement rather than on the points of divergence.
We must give importance to the things that unite and ignore, as much as possible, those that separate.
Even when physically the lines of work differ, the union can remain intact and constant if we keep always in mind the essential points and principles which unite, and the Divine Goal, the Realisation which must be the one unchanging object of our aspiration and works.
If anyone were capable of seeing the welfare of the work quite independent of his preferences and without turning everything into a personal question, then most of the difficulties would be solved.
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If people could stop speaking of the work as their work it would put an end to a lot of trouble. Here, all work is the Divine's.
It is the work which is important, not the way in which our little self does the work.
Unless you can rise above your personal ideas, opinions and preferences, you cannot become a good worker. As long as you have your personal preferences, you will not be able to do the exact thing needed.1
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This morning I felt tired after five minutes' work. It was only polishing furniture!
All manual work is tiring the first few times one does it. But gradually the body gets used to it and becomes strong. However, when you feel really tired, you must stop and rest.
11 February 1933
With consecration the work can be done much more easily and happily. But nobody must be asked a greater effort than what he can do.
27 February 1935
The best way to work without getting tired is to offer the work you do (whatever work it is) to the Divine and to find in the Divine the support you need—for the Divine's Force is inexhaustible and He answers always to whatever offer is made to Him sincerely.
Then, when you will feel that it is the Divine's Force that has done the work in you and through you, in your sincerity you will know that the merit is His and not yours—so there is no more reason to be proud.
Do not worry about the work; the more you will do it quietly and calmly, the more it will become effective.
29 July 1935
Sometimes I fear that the rigidity of my nature does not allow you to act properly in me.
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But through work the nature becomes less rigid, more plastic and supple.
I trust you fully and know you are capable of fulfilling quite well your responsibilities. As for the difficulties and deficiencies, everybody has some and one is here to overcome them. This is the meaning of the sadhana of works. Go on courageously with your duties, keeping all faith in the Divine and relying only on the Divine's help and grace.
6 January 1942
I do not see why you should feel oppressed. It is not an easy job to run an establishment like X Garden and many bitter experiences may be necessary before you learn the job. I only ask that you should keep a good will to learn and to improve your capacities. For the rest, that is to say the results, we must be patient.
1 May 1944
Here, for each work given, the full strength and Grace are always given at the same time to do the work as it has to be done. If you do not feel the strength and the Grace, it proves that there is some mistake in your attitude. The faith is lacking or you have fallen back on old tracks and old creeds and thus you lose all receptivity.
1 October 1952
The resistance with which we meet in the accomplishment of our work is proportionate to its importance.
10 October 1954
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For work the present is the most important thing: the past must not come in the way and the future must not pull you away.
21 December 1954
Your work can never be good if you go on thinking of the next thing. For work, it is the present that is most important. The past should not drag you behind, the future should not pull you forward. You must be fully concentrated on the present, on what you are doing. You must be so concentrated on what you are doing that it is as if the salvation of the whole world depended only upon your work.1
Unless you work hard you do not get energy, because in that case you do not need it and do not deserve it. You get energy only when you make use of it.
13 August 1955
Be sincere in the work you have undertaken and the Grace will always be there to help you.
14 April 1959
Concentrate on your work—it is that that gives you strength.
10 September 1961
Continue doing your work with a simple and peaceful heart and a quiet mind. The aspiration will come gradually according to the need.
21 April 1965
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I have been feeling for quite some time that I should limit my outward activity and confine myself to quiet work where I have not to do much running about.
I am facing some kind of inner crisis. My life is becoming aimless. A persistent dream warns me of my inner instability. It is my urgent necessity that I should achieve inner poise and stability. The obscurity and heavy inertia must diminish.
If the Mother would permit me I would like to be free from my department work. However I shall do as the Mother directs me. Kindly guide me.
If you leave the department, the work will be ruined! As soon as I have a moment free I shall call you in the morning and we shall talk it over.
The more I grow, the more I know that it is in work that Sri Aurobindo's integral yoga is best done.
My mind is greatly perplexed. I do not know where I stand. The work we have taken up is huge. The commitments are many. What I have to do is not clear from outside or from within. Every day the decisions are altered, new questions posed, the ego confronted with unacceptable situations. I pray to the Mother that I be released from the department work till such time as I have some clear guidance or the Mother's definite directions as to the work I have to do.
This is a personal crisis. I have no quarrels or complaints about people. I wish to keep my mouth closed
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and wait and learn to read the message of light that should appear before me.
I pray for the Mother's light.
It would be so good if you were not affected and continued the work just now that there is so much to do and the help of all is so badly needed.
If you want to see me, I shall be glad to see you, but you know that I am never alone and it is difficult to speak.
In any case, be sure that my love and blessings are with you always.
7 August 1969
I am facing a personal problem and I pray for the Mother's guidance.
As yet I do not have any sense of inner guidance. My days are not well spent. I am sticking on with the department work although I often feel I am not wanted or trusted. But I do not wish to be guided by any ordinary thought or feeling. I crave for isolation at times. I pray that I may have a surer feeling that I am doing what my Master wishes of me. Let my personal likes, dislikes and egoism not tarnish the purity of action or word.
"Mother" has been my mantra and I take refuge in Her.
You are not only wanted but indispensable for the work which would not be done properly without you. So I ask you to be patient and not to attach importance to the difficulties on the way.
3 May 1970
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Take up the work and have faith, the force will come in proportion to the need; and your receptivity depends on your faith and confidence.
24 December 1971
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For the sake of sadhana and for the sake of work, it is always better to work silently.
When there is some work to do, the less one speaks of it the better it is.
Talk as little as possible.
Work as much as you can.
X has a very bad habit of coming and talking to people while they are working. If he does not work himself, he should at least allow others to work conscientiously.
So if he comes again to talk while you are working, you had better tell him–"No, not now, we can talk when I have finished my work."
7 January 1933
It seems to me that the proof of sincerity is in work and not in planning.
This is exactly what I have tried to make them understand—but the tendency to plan and talk seems to be too strong to be checked. Let us hope some work also will be done.
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Mother, my being wants to spend its time in silence. But it cannot because of my helpers. They tell me that it becomes difficult to ask me anything when I am grave. This creates confusion in the work. Mother, will You give me Your advice?
I don't quite understand your question. Certainly the work should be done as conscientiously as possible. But that does not mean that you have to be grave. What is necessary is to be always peaceful and full of calm energy.
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Mother, why do I lose things so often?
Because you do not keep things sufficiently in your consciousness.
It is always very good to make use of things instead of uselessly destroying them.
It was an act of ignorance.
Received in the right spirit the curtains could have lasted two or three years more. Received wrongly they might have gone to pieces within a month. Things also have a consciousness of their own.
The Divine is in things also and that is why they must be treated with care.
17 May 1955
Not to take care of material things which one uses is a sign of inconscience and ignorance.
You have no right to use any material object whatsoever if you do not take care of it.
You must take care of it not because you are attached to it, but because it manifests something of the Divine Consciousness.
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What would you say if a temple, built according to the design of some great artist, were to boast: "Admire my merits; am I not beautiful, well-built, solid and durable? Truly I am worthy of all praise!"—just as if it were the author of its own perfections. We would find that very silly and ridiculous, and yet that is what we are doing constantly. We, like the temple, are ignorant of the great conscious power that has made us what we are, and because we do not perceive the labour of the Sublime Worker, we ascribe the merit of the Work to ourselves.
19 January 1933
Power of action: the power which results from a true surrender to the Divine.
Once the consciousness is settled in the aspiration, it cannot depend on work or absence of work.
17 December 1933
There is a time for action and there is a time for concentration; if, by mistake, one chooses the time for concentration to start an action, the action is bound to fail.
But if one keeps faith alive, even failure can become a short-cut for reaching the Divine.
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It is true that the divine protection is always around us, but it fully works only when we are faced by dangers which were unavoidable; that is to say, if dangers suddenly rise on the way when we are doing some work for the Divine, then the protection works at its best. But to take up some work which is, after all, not at all indispensable and not even surely useful and which is extremely dangerous, counting on the divine protection to save us from all possible consequences, this is a movement which is like a challenge to the Divine, and the Divine will never accept it.
When action is initiated by the Divine Will, it is pure.
If in all sincerity one acts only to express the Divine Will, all actions without exception can become unselfish. But as long as this state has not been reached, there are actions which are more favourable for the contact with the Divine.
Each must find the activity favourable to his progress.
A good material work not exceeding normal capacities is most useful for keeping a good physical and moral poise.
13 July 1935
Have you no intention of working physically yourself? Yet, it is quite indispensable for the welfare of the body.
30 January 1945
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With a quiet mind and a peaceful heart, let us do the work happily.
16 May 1954
All work must be play, but a divine play, played for the Divine, with the Divine.
To work for the Divine is very good, it is a delight.
But to work with the Divine is a felicity infinitely deeper and sweeter still.
12 July 1957
There is no existence without labour—if you want to get out of labour you must get out of existence. The only way to accomplish that, is the way to Nirvana, and that way, to follow it, is of all labours the greatest.
6 November 1960
We have, every one of us, a role to fulfil, a work to do, a place which we alone can occupy.
(Anniversary message for the Ashram Typewriting Service)
Blessings for all who work with conscience, good will, regularity and good taste and for all who want to learn and progress.
Do the work with all your heart and as best you can and my help and my blessings will always be with you.
12 May 1971
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The soul is that which comes out of the Divine without ever leaving Him and goes back to Him without ever ceasing from manifestation.
The soul is the Divine made individual without ceasing to be divine. In the soul the individual and the Divine are eternally one.
Thus to find one's soul is to be united with the Divine.
It can therefore be said that the role of the soul is to make of man a true being.
Theories differ according to schools and sects, and each one puts forth excellent reasons to support what it asserts.
There is certainly truth in whatever one affirms and any case is not only possible but has existed in the history of the earth.
The only thing I can speak of is my own experience: the soul is divine, an eternal portion of the Supreme Divine and therefore cannot be limited or bound by any law whatever, other than its own.
These souls are emanated by the Lord to do His work in the world and each one comes upon earth with a special purpose, for a special action and with a special destiny, carrying in itself its own law which is imperative for itself alone and cannot be a general law.
Thus, in the eternity of becoming, any case imaginable or unimaginable must evidently exist.
The soul is eternal and universal, and all these incapacities and impossibilities have no reality for it.
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When one speaks to the soul of a man, one always speaks to the same soul, whatever may be the differences of body, race or culture.
23 September 1941
The soul cannot think the Divine but knows Him with certitude.
26 December 1954
Your soul blossoms to the Light as a flower opens to the sun.
30 May 1956
How can I make my soul progress?
To have any action on your soul you must be first conscious of it. And then when you will be conscious of your soul, you will probably find out that instead of you making your soul progress, it is your soul who will help you to progress.
23 August 1964
What is soul and in what form does it exist in us?
The first form of the soul is a spark of light from the Divine.
By evolution it becomes an individualised being and then it can take the form it wants.
August 1966
The mind, the life and the body must become and live what the Soul knows and is.
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When one has an awakened soul, it is not easy to get rid of it; so it is better to obey its orders.
Obey your soul, it alone has the right to govern your life.
Psychic centre: luminous and calm, it is made to govern the human being.
The psychic gets its power of expression when it governs the whole being.
The psychic power organises the activities of the nature to make them progress.
Under the psychic influence all activity becomes balanced.
The psychic influence compels the physical to turn towards the Divine.
Let this house be a symbol of the psychic, the temple of the eternal divine Presence.
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Live in the consciousness of the psychic centre; thus your will will express the Divine's Will alone and your transformed being will then be able to receive and manifest the Divine Love.
25 September 1934
The centre of the human being is the psychic which is the dwelling-place of the immanent Divine. Unification means organisation and harmonisation of all the parts of the being (mental, vital and physical) around this centre, so that all the activities of the being may be the correct expression of the will of the Divine Presence.
Unless and until the whole of the individual consciousness is organised around the central Divine Presence, the movements are fugitive, although recurrent, and we cannot expect them to have any permanence.
Nothing is permanent in a terrestrial being except the psychic.
(A sadhak wrote that after bright periods of sadhana, dark periods returned again and again.)
This is a proof that your whole being is not united around the central psychic Presence.
This is a personal task that each individual must do for himself. The help is always there but the effectivity of its action is in the measure of the receptivity and the conscious appeal.
After all it is a question of patience in the endeavour.
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A human being is made of many different parts and it takes time and conscious effort to harmonise and unify all these parts. When you surrendered, it is not the whole of your being that did so. Little by little some other part that had not surrendered came to the surface and the joy of the surrender vanished and was replaced by dullness and indifference. But after some time this part also gets converted and thus the happy condition comes back.
26 June 1949
Your letter has just come, bringing me your problem which, by the way, is the problem of the life of all human beings, especially when they have reached a certain degree of inner development but are not yet on the summit of spiritual freedom through the unification of their being around their conscious soul. For it is the lack of unification which is the cause of all problems. One part of the being pulls one way, another pulls the other way, sometimes one is stronger and gives a certain orientation to life, sometimes it is the other and then the orientation suddenly changes, and the result is an incoherence. And as it is the unsatisfied part which usually comes to the surface to express its want of satisfaction, so, unless one is a sage, one is never satisfied with the life one leads and always misses the life one could have led—whether in one direction or the other.
In your case there is something more. As your soul remains very closely linked with my being, as the contact with the supramental consciousness grows more and more total and constant, it acts very strongly on your soul like an almost irresistible attraction. This is what happened in 1958.
To conclude, "an easy and pleasant life" can only satisfy the outer being; but what answers in the physical being to the soul's influence needs for its flowering a life more in conformity with the soul's needs and "languishes" when it cannot find it.
3 December 1959
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It is because an individual is not made all of one piece, but of many different entities which sometimes even contradict each other; some want the spiritual life, others are attached to the things of this world. It is a long and difficult work to reconcile all these parts and unify them.
The force and light received by the most developed parts gradually spread to the rest of the being by a process of assimilation, and during this period of assimilation the progress of the parts that are in front seems to be interrupted. This is what Sri Aurobindo was speaking about.
29 October 1960
In fact all your different parts are correct in their argument, and the wisdom is to go deep enough in the consciousness to find the place where they meet and agree, completing one another rather than contradicting.
As for the actual action, a smooth, harmonious working is generally better than the difficulties created by too rigid principles, but that also is not absolute—and the ideal condition is at each occasion to receive in the inner silence the guidance from above.
With constant practice and goodwill, it becomes possible.
The psychic inspiration alone is true. All that comes from the vital and the mind is necessarily mixed with egoism and is arbitrary. One should not act in reaction to outer contact, but with an immutable vision of love and goodwill. Everything else is a mixture which can only have confused and mixed results, and perpetuate the disorder.
March 1961
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It is not the psychic being that suffers for personal reasons, it is the mind, the vital and the ordinary consciousness of ignorant man. This is because the contact between the outer consciousness and the psychic consciousness is not well established. He in whom the contact has been well established is always happy.
The psychic being works with perseverance and ardour for the union to be made an accomplished fact, but it never complains and knows how to wait for the hour of realisation to come.
The outer being, left to itself, is not very responsible; it is most often the plaything of the forces of Nature. But the inner or higher being, the deeper consciousness, is the master and builder of our destiny. That is why it is so important to discover this sovereign consciousness and unite with it in order to put an end to all the incoherences of life and all the conflicts of Nature.
17 March 1968
To find the psychic one must conquer the desires of the vital and silence the mind and then make a sincere submission to the Divine of whom the psychic is the instrument in man.
The inner contact with the psychic is a concrete and undeniable fact which imposes itself on all sincere consciousness.
5 April 1972
The psychic is always there, and it is strong.
It is the receptivity that is weak.
1 May 1972
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The best way to get rid of the rule of the ego is to find the psychic being, instrument of the Divine in human beings.
Go deep into yourself (i.e. the heart region) and aspire steadily. The true meeting of the psychic is unmistakable.
8 May 1972
It is indispensable that each one finds his psychic and unites with it definitively. It is through the psychic that the supramental will manifest itself.
24 June 1972
Why is there this dark and idiotic personality in me? Does it lie hidden in everyone or am I an especially difficult case?
Certainly you are not the only one. Many are like this. Only those who have centred their whole being around the conscious control of the psychic can cure themselves of it.
July 1972
When the inner state is ready for the next step, you will guide it directly or indirectly the way you wish.
The next step is finding your psychic being and uniting with it.
10 August 1972
The human being is made of different parts, sometimes clearly separated. They can unite only under the psychic influence and action. Persist in your endeavour and you are sure to succeed.
5 October 1972
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What you seek is always there ready for you. Let the psychic turn grow complete and it will of itself bring you to that for which you aspire.
The psychic is never depressed.
21 March 1934
I tell you that the psychic does not know depression because its nature is divine and in the Divine there is no depression.
The psychic can observe with regret the stupidity of the other parts of the being, but by its very nature it is impossible for it to be depressed.
In the psychic is the source of constant happiness.
Psychic purity: the condition natural to the psychic.
By its very nature the psychic is calm.
Psychic peace: it is spontaneous and knows no difficulties.
Psychic prayer: spontaneous and fervent.
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Psychic offering: it is the spontaneous attitude of the psychic in relation to the Divine.
Psychic generosity gives for the joy of giving.
Psychic perfection means to smile at everything.
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Mind: its true worth depends on its surrender to the Divine.
Purified mind: mind ready to surrender to the Divine.
Mental surrender: this happens when the mind has understood that it is only an instrument.
Conversion of the mind: the mind has liberated itself from its arrogance and knows it is only an instrument.
Clear mind: the first step on the road to conversion.
Birth of true mental sincerity: with its birth the mind will understand that it is only a means and not an end in itself.
The mind must learn to express only what is dictated by the Divine.
Power of mental expression has no value unless it is in the service of the Divine.
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Reason: an excellent instrument when at the Divine's service.
Physical mind becomes a good instrument of action when it is content to be that alone.
When the mind turns towards the Divine, it becomes a powerful instrument.
Work of the enlightened mind: it is very powerful for leading the being to the Divine and can be very useful for progress.
Higher mind: its superiority consists in its capacity to open to the divine light.
Voice of the higher mind: in quest of Truth.
The mind attains its full utility when it knows how to listen to the higher inspiration.
Aspiration of the mind for the supramental guidance: the mind feels that its complexity is powerless and asks for a greater light to illumine it.
Response of the mind to the supramental light: represents an important step towards realisation.
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Victory in the mind is the reign of the supramental Truth in the mind.
Supramentalised mind: mind has become an instrument for transformation.
Does one enter a temple with dirty feet?
Likewise, one does not enter the temple of the spirit with a sullied mind.
In human beings, along with the growth of the mental activities grows the subtlety of self-deception. The more they are intellectual the more they are, in their self-deception, completely candid and insincere at the same time.
[There is] the habit of always furnishing in the presence of a mistake a favourable explanation—this favourable explanation seems to jump out from the mind spontaneously and automatically—trying to obviate any sincere recognition of the error.
Your mind is driven by passion and to support the passion it gives a twist which prevents you from seeing the truth of things. Guard against the twist, be conscious of the passion.
Action perverted by such a twist looks like insincerity. Be always on your guard against this persistent defect. This is my gift for the New Year.
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May this new year bring you the liberation and enlightenment of an ignorant and arrogant mind which thinks it can judge everything without even having the elements of the problems that it judges according to its own preferences and attachments.
The whole world may perish provided my whims are gratified! Such is the attitude of the egoistic mind which seeks to impose its principles upon all.
In the divine sight, principles and desires are one and the same thing: principles are whims of the mind just as desires are whims of the vital.
Mental fantasy: wild, disorderly, it usually lacks coordination.
Imagination: abundant and varied, it may be charming but must not be substituted for the Truth.
Those who think falsely will live in falsehood and misery. Get out of wrong thinking and you will get out of suffering.
An old wise man in China has written, "Thought creates for itself its own suffering."
Ugly thoughts bring ugly feelings—ugly feelings take you away from the Divine and throw you defenceless into the arms of the devil who wants only to swallow you up—and that is the source of endless sorrow and suffering.
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I feel a darkness obstructing the back of my head. My head feels heavy and dark. Why has this happened to me and what is it?
Most often these attacks are the result of bad thoughts you have had, which fall back on you.
31 May 1935
We are always surrounded by the things of which we think.
Your mind also is full of doubts and has to be blamed as much as the vital because it believes in falsehood.
One of the chief functions of the physical mind is to doubt. If you listen to it, it will always find a thousand reasons for doubting. But you must know that the physical mind is working in ignorance and full of falsehoods.
It is only love that can understand and get at the secrets of the Divine Working. The mind, the physical mind especially, is incapable of seeing correctly and yet it always wants to judge. It is only a true, sincere humility in the mind, allowing the psychic to rule the being, that can save human beings from ignorance and obscurity.
Each time that I try to rise a little, there is a setback.
As for your progress—it is because you are trying mentally and the mental is always a limitation to the consciousness. It is only the aspiration from the heart and the psychic that can be
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effective. (And when you stop trying, you let me work in you and I know the proper way!)
Your mind is too active. It comes in the way of your being automatically guided by my will.
2 September 1937
Beloved Mother,
It seems I am not receiving sufficient protection in the vital and physical, in spite of calls and firm attempts on my part to open for progress.
My dear child, it is your mind that prevents you from receiving the help in the vital and the physical. Quiet as much as you can this galloping mind and you will see the results.
17 January 1962
Above all the complication of so-called human wisdom there is the luminous simplicity of the Divine Grace ready to act if we allow it to act.
Life could be quite simple and easy if man's mind did not introduce in it so many useless complications.
29 December 1962
Once the mind has started its working, it hampers the action of the Grace.
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Beloved Aditi:
At 8:15 a.m. today the mental words clearly came, "You must go back to Teachers' College now." This is an idea which I have never consciously entertained. Is He behind this?
Beware of fanciful mental suggestions!
3 April 1965
Formative faculty in the mind: it is a natural and very spontaneous gift.
Mother, sometimes when I use my mental will to become aware of Your universal presence and to link myself with You, I feel the peace and assurance of Your touch. Mother, is it true or is it my mental construction?
In this case, it is of no importance, because there are mental constructions which can be true and which lead safely to the experience.
You want to make me speak and mentalise the experience until a new "system" is established and you can sit down comfortably in your new mental construction.
Mind is so lazy that it wants convenient answers. But it is not like that. Each one is different.
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Perhaps there is an explanation which can give peace to your mind. In fact there is probably an explanation for each case—and the explanations also can be contradictory!... Poor mind! This is indeed a test!!
To make progress you must throw aside all the old constructions, demolish all the preconceived ideas. Preconceived ideas are the innumerable habitual mental constructions in which you live, which are fixed and therefore have no plasticity and cannot progress. All this must be thrown aside. Then new ideas are born, active thought which is creative.
Energy of a plastic mind does not draw back from any effort to progress.
Mental plasticity: indispensable for true knowledge.
In modern civilisation, men work on the surface. The mind is the surface of existence; they work on the surface and they try to find the Truth that is behind by studying more and more deeply. Whereas the true method is to enter into direct contact with the inner Truth, and impelled by that, guided by that, to make an outer construction which is not a seeking for the Truth, but a creation of the Truth; that is to say, the Truth-force realises itself outwardly through the human instrument.
Men always make plans, mental constructions and attempt to create on that basis, but not one human creation is a total realisation of their mental construction. They always add something, or else it is always altered by a force they do not understand; they think it is chance, fortune, circumstances, all sorts of things, but it is in fact the Truth-force which is trying to manifest on earth
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and which is exerting a pressure, and naturally this changes the mental and vital creations which are only superficial ones. In the Bulletin there was a quotation from Sri Aurobindo on this subject.1 He said: first one must know and then act, whereas men act and then try to know through their action.
26 August 19662
The more we know the more we can see that we do not know.
Quiet mind: the best way of learning.
Perfect quietness in the mind: essential condition for true progress.
Quietness established in the mind: the essential condition of its transformation.
You should not confuse a calm mind with a silent mind. You can calm your mind and stop its ordinary activity, but it may still be open to ideas coming from outside and that too disturbs the calm. And for the mind to be completely silent, you must not only stop its own activity but shut out all that comes from other minds. This is not easy.
Moreover, you must learn to distinguish between a phenomenon of consciousness and a mental phenomenon. One can
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be conscious of an experience in such a way that this consciousness is not formulated into a thought or thoughts. This is very important if the mind is to remain absolutely quiet and silent.
26 September 1963
But one thing is indispensable if they want a result: the mind must be silent. Then there is hope for the consciousness to be concentrated.
To begin with, they must know by experience the difference between mind and consciousness, two quite different things.
Unless they have the experience of it nothing can be done.3
12 April 1964
Practise silence of mind, it gives power of understanding.
Always I answer your letters but rarely I have time to put my answer on paper. You are capable of receiving these answers directly, but for that you must learn to keep your mind silent—this is the true meditation—the brain blank, immobile and turned upward. This is the necessary condition to receive the answers. If you can hand over the care of your existence and your development to the Supreme Consciousness, then peace will enter your heart and your problems will be solved.
16 June 1966
What exactly should I do to accelerate the sadhana?
Wait quietly for the exact indication; all mental intervention and decisions are arbitrary. The clear indication comes in the silence of the mind.
31 March 1970
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Mother, Your Voice said to me, "The Supermind is coming down in you." Mother, is it a false voice? Because I know that I am not at all ready for the Supermind.
It is only in mental silence that you can hear the voice without distorting it—be very peaceful.
Don't torment yourself, and keep your mind very quiet. True knowledge comes from beyond.
13 September 1972
(A sadhak asked how to get rid of the invasion of wrong suggestions.)
The only radical way is to concentrate and go beyond your mental.
Silence and contemplation.
5 January 1973
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In the silence of a simple and faithful heart one can understand the mystery of incarnation.
8 January 1951
A great joy is always deep in our heart, and always we can find it there.
16 April 1954
A simple and faithful heart is a great boon.
15 June 1954
Our mind must be silent and quiet but our heart must be full of an ardent aspiration.
1 July 1954
Look into the depths of your heart and you will see there the Divine Presence.
14 July 1954
Our heart is purified from the trouble and anguish; it is firm and calm, and sees the Divine in everything.
28 November 1954
The Divine is always seated in your heart, consciously living in you.
23 July 1955
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All help is given to you always, but you must learn to receive it in the silence of your heart and not through external means. It is in the silence of your heart that the Divine will speak to you and will guide you and will lead you to your goal. But for that you must have full faith in the Divine Grace and Love.
18 January 1962
The guidance is in your heart. Go ahead according to your inspiration.
14 January 1972
When I pray to You and open my heart to Your light and put my will in accord with Your divine will, I feel at ease; I have the belief that my being is placed in tune with Your universal Force, and for some moments I feel assured that Your presence is with me and that You have understood and replied to my prayer. It seems as if I am bathed in Your light, and I become very happy. But at other times, my physical mentality begins to question, and I wonder if it is really so easy to enter into a living contact with the Divine in Its essence. What is the truth of the matter, Mother? Kindly enlighten me.
Experience goes far beyond the reasoning mind. Evidently the reasoning mind finds it very difficult to reach the Divine, but a simple heart can enter into contact with Him, almost without effort.
It is the heart that has wings, not the head.
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Read with your heart and you will understand.
Page 352
It came to my realisation that Life-Force and the Force to create movements in the body is seated deep within behind the upper abdomen.
Yes, there is a seat of creative vital force there.
15 December 1933
The vital is the seat of our power, energy, enthusiasm, effective dynamism. It needs a systematic education.
Vital centre: passionate and strong, it asks for control.
It is the vital that gives enthusiasm, but the vital by nature is unsteady and always wants new things. Unless it is converted and becomes a docile servant of the Divine, things are always fluctuating.
Power of vital expression is useful only when the vital is converted.
Conversion of the vital: enthusiastic and spontaneous, it gives itself unstintingly.
The day the vital will be converted it will have much to give.
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Generosity in the vital gives itself unstintingly.
Strength in the vital likes to show its beauty and power.
Consent of the vital: amiable, smiling, ever ready for action, with a great goodwill.
Vital consecration: delightfully modest and fragrant, it smiles at life without wanting to draw attention to itself.
Steadfast vitality: the vitality which depends on integral consecration.
Stability in the vital: one of the important results of conversion.
Vital transparency: indispensable to conversion.
Vital patience: indispensable for all progress.
Vital progress: organisation around the Divine Will and a progressive surrender to this Will.
The vital governed by the Presence: the vital force rendered peaceful and disciplined by the Divine Presence.
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Formative faculty in the vital: spontaneous but not always happy, it needs to be disciplined.
Candid simplicity in the vital: one of the most difficult qualities for the vital to acquire.
Trust in the Divine: very indispensable for the impulsive vital.
Vital trust in the Divine: full of courage and energy, no longer fears anything.
Vital joy in matter: the reward for abolishing selfishness.
Peace in the vital: the result of abolishing desires.
Silence in the vital: a powerful help for inner peace.
Sincerity in the vital: the sure road to realisation.
Light in the vital: one of the first steps on the long road.
Spiritual awakening of the vital: it soars towards the heights in the hope of reaching them.
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In the vital even a little victory has great consequences.
To harmonise the vital is a psychological masterpiece.
Happy is he who accomplishes it.
I am disgusted with this world of battling egos.
This is natural: the world of the human vital is an ugly one; it greatly needs to be changed.
The egoistic vital reactions must disappear before anything serious can be done.
3 May 1971
Vital will manifesting in life: it is often the cause of the greatest disorders.
Vital sensitivity is excessive if not controlled.
I have become very sensitive and get upset for the slightest reason.
These are vital perturbations which show themselves in the course of the Sadhana and have to be eliminated. They must not be regarded as natural movements justified by the wrong actions of others and bound to continue so long as there is an external cause. The real cause is internal and it can be got rid of by yogic discipline, vigilance, self-detachment and a quiet but strict rejection.
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As for the change in the vital, it will come by itself when you form the habit of remaining in your higher consciousness where all these petty things and movements are worthless.
How can one conquer the obscure vital? Rather, how is it possible to change the obscure vital into a luminous vital?
By the surrender of the vital, its opening to the light, and by the growth of consciousness.
Right attitude in the vital:
self-confidence—
mental and vital quiet faith—
in your own realisation and in the Divine's help.
Page 357
The senses are liars—they do not convey to us the truth of things but only an incomplete and even falsified appearance of things.
It is extremely ignorant to think that the eyes and ears never deceive us. Every psychologist knows that they do; it is a fact known to all that one cannot rely on human evidence based on the eyes and ears and that human deductions founded on them can lead to gross errors. The same incident reported by ten different persons elicits ten different versions.
Accurate perception: a perception which does not deform the Truth.
Purified senses can be obtained only by a total surrender to the Truth.
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Physical centre: occupied mainly with material things, it likes to have an ordered life.
I want to realise Your Presence in all the parts of my being, penetrating even the body—only I don't know how to do it. You are the very reason of my being; why then do I live now without feeling Your Presence even in the cells of my body?
The physical nature is obscure and recalcitrant everywhere; it is very difficult for it to become conscious of the divine Presence.
That is why we must be patient and keep on aspiring with the certitude of Victory.
25 June 1935
Each victory we win over the obscure physical Nature is the promise of a greater one to come.
In the physical the joy of being is the best expression of gratitude towards the Divine.
16 June 1941
The Divine is present in the very atoms of our body.
22 May 1954
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The physical being itself can be the seat of perfect existence, knowledge and bliss.
29 May 1954
For the body, to know means to be able to do. In fact the body knows only what it can do.
23 June 1954
Peace in the physical: to want what God wills is its best condition.
Peace in the cells: the indispensable condition for the body's progress.
Light in the cells: the first step towards purity in the cells.
Purity in the cells cannot be obtained except through conquest of desires; it is the true condition for good health.
May I not expect a line with regard to the unprecedented nature of the resistance in the body I experienced the other night?
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It is the resistance of the mentalised substance in the cells of the body and can be overcome only by an integral and total conversion.
16 June 1961
Can the very physical cells of one's body have more aspiration than the rest of the being?
It is quite possible as the "sadhana" is done now in the body itself.
The inner progress has been sufficiently rapid for the exterior being to find it difficult to follow. Now the body must learn to receive the Divine Force and to keep it.
Transparency in the physical: the physical prepares itself for transformation.
Ananda in the physical: may it be welcome, even if it manifests itself rarely.
Ananda in the physical body: purified of all desire and all repulsion, in a perfect equality and surrender, the physical body is ready to enjoy the divine Ananda.
Ananda in the centres: this will be one of the good results of the conversion of the physical.
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Integral even basis in the material: when all your material movements are organised, harmonised and co-ordinated and when all things find themselves in you in their respective places and your entire material basis is thus prepared and becomes ready to receive the Light and the Power.
The material consciousness has a firm and solid steadfastness.
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(Mother told a sadhak that his hatred of someone was due to a strong attraction for the person. When asked to explain, she wrote:)
I was referring to some evidently subconscient movement—but you need not worry about it nor fix your attention upon it—one day the understanding will come spontaneously.
These are the explanations, the excuses the mind always finds in such cases; but these mental explanations follow or at the most accompany the movements to be explained, they never precede them.
What starts the movement is an obscure impulse, instinctive, almost mechanical and unconscious in its origin, something that contradicts without knowing why. (It is this unconsciousness which repels X although it is not a legitimation for repulsion or shrinking—these being themselves movements of unconsciousness.)
April 1932
Has the subconscient accepted the Higher Consciousness?
If the subconscient were to accept the Consciousness, it would no longer be the subconscient, it would become consciousness. I think that you mean: has the subconscient submitted to the rule, to the law of the higher Consciousness? This is not done as a whole, for the subconscient is vast and complex; there is a mental subconscient, a vital subconscient, a physical subconscient, a bodily subconscient. We have to wrest the
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subconscient fragment by fragment from its ignorant and inert resistance.
1 July 1935
These small physical inconveniences can also be made use of to hasten the progress. The seat of all these resistances is in the subconscient. We must enter there with a conscious will and establish the rule of the Divine even in semi-conscious matter.
2 February 1938
Your first attitude of detachment was the true one. The weakness that you are experiencing now is the result mostly of collective suggestion acting through subconscient memories of old ideas and feelings.
Our help and blessings are with you.
6 January 1939
Subconscient remembrance must be purified of all that is useless.
Power of the truth in the subconscient: it can act only when sincerity is perfect.
As your aspiration is sincere, whatever was in the subconscient standing in the way of the Divine Realisation has come to the surface in order to be transformed; and you must rejoice at these occasions to make a progress.
4 July 1955
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Can one learn to control one's subconscient as one controls one's conscious thought?
It is especially during the body's sleep that one is in contact with the subconscient. In becoming conscious of one's nights, control of the subconscient becomes much easier.
The control can become total when the cells become conscious of the Divine in them and when they open themselves voluntarily to His influence. This is what the consciousness that descended on the earth last year is working for. Little by little the subconscient automatism of the body is being replaced by the consciousness of the Divine Presence governing the entire functioning of the body.
13 April 1970
The Divine Will acting in the subconscient: the rare moments when the Divine asserts Himself visibly.
About accidents: can one say that unconsciousness and disharmonious vibrations attract accidents and that the mistake is never one-sided? This is why it would be better, after an accident, to stop driving for a time, until one has made "great progress in self-mastery and in consciousness".
This should be done and it is indispensable to enlighten one's subconscient.
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There is a psychological health as much, as a physical health; there is a beauty and harmony of the sensations as much as a beauty of the body and its movements.
Get out of your mind to have the true intelligence.
Get out of your sensations to have the true feelings.
Get out of your sensitiveness to have the true dynamism.
For the mind—knowledge.
For the heart—love and joy.
For the life—power.
For the matter—beauty.
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Most of the statements in this volume were first published between the 1930s and 1970s in books and journals put out by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram or groups associated with it. The remaining statements first appeared in 1980 in the first edition of this volume. About two-thirds of the statements were written or spoken in English, the rest in French.
The volume has been divided into six parts, each part having a number of sections. Each section does not necessarily contain all of the statements that could be placed there. Each statement has been put only in one section, though it might have been put in more than one. Statements that appear in other volumes have not, as a rule, been reproduced here.
Quotations from the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are occasionally cited in the text and footnotes. The sources of these works are the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library (SABCL) and the second edition of the Collected Works of the Mother (CWM).
The text of this second edition is the same as that of the first edition, apart from the correction of some typographical errors and the revision of a few English translations.
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