Songs from the soul

Small Details

It is through small acts and little details that the true nature of a man is revealed. When conscious that other people will know and judge, men take particular care to hide their defects. When roused by the seriousness or the importance of the occasion, men often show powers and virtues which are not at all characteristic of them. But in the small things of life, unknown and unnoticed by others, men allow their nature to have its own way.

We negligently do small acts which are not of much importance to us; we carelessly omit to know details which seem to be insignificant; we easily yield to temptations which, we think, cannot lead to any serious consequences. But it is these small things, apparently unimportant and insignificant; that ultimately determine our life. It is through these little lapses that the evil forces find a strong hold in us and gradually

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overtake our whole nature. Those who will not take care of the smallest details in life, can never hope to reach perfection.

It is not sufficient that in our inmost being we have an aspiration for the divine life; the superficial, the outermost parts also must aspire after perfection. We must remember, Mother, that Thou art always wide awake and art observing: the minutest detail in our conduct. We must turn to Thee and seek Thy aid even in the smallest and the most insignificant matters of our life ; only then can we hope to have our nature completely changed and transformed.

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WASTE

The manner in which we waste our time and energy is astounding. Every moment of our life, every particle of our energy can be harnessed to the cause of the Divine and can advance us towards the divine life. We have only to keep up a ceaseless flame of aspiration and earnest call; but through' our 'lethargy and ignorance we constantly allow this flame to be obscured by idle; senseless thoughts and desires, which lead us nowhere, but continually involve us in worry and anxiety and darkness. Turning away from the perennial stream of nectar and sweetness that is flowing before us, we continually drink from the dirty poisoned pool of the lower life. Such is our ignorance, our foolish- ness ; such is the inertia and incompetence of our will.

Then, the opportunities Thou hast created for us here, Mother, are so potent, so helpful!

Yet through sheer ignorance and inertia we fail to take full advantage of them, though always complaining that we are not making any progress. All this is such a foolish waste.

But the saving grace is that in spite of all our foolishness and incompetence and lethargy, we have been allowed to live under Thy direct influence, inside Thy own divine atmosphere. So there is hope that some day we shall make our surrender perfect, our aspiration ceaseless. and pure.

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SELF-DISCIPLINE

One who has not controlled his own self and has not conquered his own defects, cannot expect to conquer and control the forces of the world. It is by practising self-conquest that we learn how to conquer the world.

As long as we have not removed our imperfections and transformed our instruments, our work in the world is bound to be full of mistakes and failures. The intuitions we receive from above will be confused by the wanderings of our mind; the impulses we receive from Thy will, Mother, will be distorted by our egoistic desires and attachments; and though Thy divine force descends into us, through our own obstruction and rigidity it may lead to disasters instead of victory. So we must not meddle with the affairs of the world, until by practice and discipline we have made ourselves free, pure and plastic instruments of the divine will; we must

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confine ourselves only to such work under Thy direct guidance, Mother, as will serve to mould and transform us.

Before we venture to work upon the world? we have plenty of work and more to do within ourselves. We can easily recognise the false and lower movements in us, and can constantly invoke Thy will and force and light, Mother, in order to correct and transform them. It is thus that we can practise our union with Thee and steadily turn ourselves into perfect instruments in Thy hands for the victorious performance of Thy will in the world. It is by practising self control under Thy guidance and help, Mother, that we learn how to conquer the world.

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OBEDIENCE

It is by obedience to Thee; Mother, that we hope to discipline our lower nature. By resolving to obey Thee instead of our desires and attachments, we really start on the path to a higher divine life.

Desires and passions hold a tyrannical sway over us, and it seems well nigh impossible to subdue or control them by our unaided, will. But the consciousness that we are obeying the Mother gives us great strength, and we can easily conquer them supported by her will and her force. We must constantly seek to know her will and obey it; there is no other way of getting out of our bondage.

A forced obedience, an obedience from hope of gain or reward, or from fear of loss or punishment, is of little use. We must consciously and willingly offer our obedience to Thee, Mother, knowing Thee to be our higher self, and with the

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faith that only by obedience to Thee we shall rise to the divine life. And our obedience must be enthusiastic and joyful, an expression of our love and devotion to Thee as the Divine Mother. By a free and willing and joyful obedience to Thee,Mother, a harmony will be gradually established between Thy will and ours; all our desires and passions will be. controlled and vanquished; no impulse will rise in us unless it be directly from Thee. Thus, we shall grow into Thy own self, and our obedience will be ultimately merged in a blissful harmony and identification with Thee.

THE POWER OF WORDS

Words have a great creative power. When spoken in sincere faith and aspiration, they never
go in vain. The words we speak to Thee, Mother Divine, in prayer, act as a great power for our
inner transformation.

We do not realise the great power that is in words, and in our ignorant recklessness allow
them to be wasted and abused; we thus dissipate their force and bring trouble on others as well as on ourselves. In order to organise our life, it is essentially necessary that we should first be able to control and regulate our speech.

Words are the symbols of all our outward expressions and; activities; words give concrete form to our thoughts and sentiments; spoken in the silence of our heart, words exercise an immense influence upon the lives of ourselves as well as of others. If we can learn the right use of words, we shall learn the right use of life.

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Give this right use of words and speech to me, Mother. Let not a single idle or unnecessary word pass out of my mouth ; let me" not utter anything impure or false even in the silence of my heart; let all my words be pure and true, let all my speech be wholly dedicated, to Thy praise and Thy service.

When my words and speech, thus controlled and purified, will be used directly by Thee, Mother Divine, as Thy instrument, as a vehicle for the expression; of Thy will, only then the creative power of words will be fully realised in me.

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DIVINE HELP

Wonderful are the ways of divine help and guidance, Mother, never failing, never asking for anything in return, with infinite patience always ready to forgive and uplift.

When we think that we have lost all, actually we gain all; when we think that we have made ourselves utterly helpless,, ,we find the greatest possible help; when we give up all our old props and supports in response to the divine call, we find the Divine coming forward to hold and support us. Never will one have to suffer by following the Divine in life.

Often the path lies through thorns, but they are of our own making. We have formed and bound ourselves in such a manner that the divine Will cannot work in us for our good without breaking those forms and tearing asunder those bonds. The Divine opposes and baffles us only when we would go downward,

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And when we can place our entire reliance on the Divine, the shock and the pain becomes the least and soon turns into an ingredient of intense joy. Those who sincerely follow the Divine can have no real suffering in life.

Wonderful is the manner in which Thou art shaping us into divinity. Mother, with infinite love and power and wisdom. The little that we can know and appreciate of Thy ways with us makes us full of wonder and gratitude and firmly establishes us in faith and surrender and aspiration.

I have no excuse. Mother, to go against Thy will. With reference to me Thou canst have no will, no command which is beyond my knowledge to see or beyond my power to follow. Thy will is always on the side of the right, the good, the true, and the beautiful; I can always know it if I keep myself open and alert, and can always follow it if I seek the aid of Thy force. Any
conflict that arises in me against Thy will, however small or insignificant, shows the defect of my surrender and the perversion of my ego.

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I have no excuse to- be fidgety or restless. There is no situation in life out of which there
is no way. I have only to wait in silence, and. everything will be done for me at the right moment and in the right way., If I do not do this, that only shows the defect of my faith and the dependence on my ego.

I have no excuse to allow any lower movement to continue in me. I have only to dissociate myself from it and offer it to Thee, and it will inevitably be conquered and controlled. If I do not do this, that only shows the defect of my aspiration and the continued attachment to my lower life.

Thou art always there with outstretched hands, ever ready to help me, to protect me, to embrace me in Thy infinite love. If I do not turn towards Thee, that is solely my own weakness, my own fault. Yet Thou dost never forsake me, Mother, such is Thy grace and love and therein lies my hope of salvation.

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TRUE ATTITUDE

Everything will be done for us by the Mother, if only we can keep the true and right attitude.

All our attention is now turned towards the thoughts and feelings and works that go on in us; we regard them as our own, as essential parts of ourselves ; we remain absorbed in them and think that our life will become dry and empty without them. But in truth, they are the movements of the lower nature carried on in her blind and groping fashion; they are imperfect and perverted expressions of our higher nature, and it is only in this higher nature that we can find our true life.

We think that if we turn away from these lower movements we shall cease to be, but the truth is that by such dissociation the lower play will cease making room for the higher. It is always nature which works in us, though we ignorantly

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regard ourselves as the doer; we have only to replace the lower play of nature by the
higher by dissociating from the one and aspiring for the other.

It is sheer ignorance to think that if our mind becomes still and does not enter into the lower play, all our life will cease to be. As we keep our mind constantly engaged in the lower movements, the higher truth cannot manifest in us. We must turn away our mind from everything else and keep it constantly fixed on Thee, divine Mother; thus will it become calm and pure, and using it as a free channel or instrument, Thou wilt bring about our transformation.

Every bondage to the lower life that I cut asunder, every attachment, however small, that I renounce gives me such a relief, such a sense of freedom and joy ! And the consciousness of the persisting bonds makes me so miserable! It is good, Mother, that all my latent weaknesses and defects should be thus brought out and placed before Thee ; as Thy light falls on them, they will be corrected and transformed.

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It is not really a divided life that I am living, my whole life is forming round Thyself; nothing else can have any real allegiance from me. The old movements that still persist, besides those purely mechanical, are suffered to have them play on account of their supposed insignificance, or they come in plausible disguises as being sanctioned or originated by Thee. With more light, more alertness, they are bound to disappear leaving Thy sway absolute in me.

My allegiance to Thee, Mother, rises spontaneously from the depths of my being, and it: has given me the taste of the truest love and joy. I am weak, ignorant and impure, but I have dared to love Thee with all my heart and soul, and therein lies my hope. In Thy grace Thou wilt correct all my defects, raise me out of human manners and impurities and make me worthy of Thy divine love and affection. With all my faults I entrust myself entirely into Thy hands, Mother.

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SECRET OF WORK

I was a passionate lover of work, Mother, and thought that I was a great worker. Work or the sake of work, the greatest amount of work, was regarded by me as the greatest good, and I always sought opportunities where I would
find the greatest scope for my energy and activity.

I did not know then that I was labouring under a great delusion, that what I regarded as my work was not really mine, but Nature's play in me; that when I regarded myself as being most active, I was really a helpless tool in the hands of the forces of Nature. In ignorance, I identified myself with these activities of Nature in me, I took an absorbing interest in the results,
thinking them to be my own, and so the play went on indefinitely, and I lived the life of an
enchanted slave.

At last, in Thy Grace, Thou hast opened my eyes, Mother, and shown me the true way of escape, and given me the taste of true liberty.

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Still the attachment is not wholly gone, still I lose myself in the mechanical play of Nature. Even when Thou workest through me, Mother, I think that it is the work of my ego, and I judge the results from the egoistic standpoint.

Remove this egoism and attachment completely from me, Mother, let me dissociate myself completely from the lower nature. I shall be really a free agent and a great workeronly when my identification with Thee becomes complete.

Whatever we may do, great or small, can be done in a perfect manner; there is a right way of doing everything. But in our egoistic ignorance we do things most clumsily ; we grope and stumble and seem to arrive at success merely by chance.

We are open to all sorts of forces, which continually pull us in all directions. Our mind is ever restless, and cannot remain fixed to anything for a long time. Our body is bound by fixed habits and instincts, and does not allow a

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free movement. We rely on our own power, we think that the results solely depend on our own exertions; we seek the satisfaction of our personal ends and desires, we are agitated by egoistic passions and emotions; we are impatient, fidgety,restless, sometimes excited, sometimes depressed, often indifferent. It is no wonder that our greatest efforts produce such mean results, and our works leave behind such unpleasant reactions and bondage.

The secret is to rise above the ego and to work always for Thee, Mother-, with the aid of Thy force and Thy will. We must leave the consequences entirely in Thy hands. We must see only what we have to do and do it with all our heart and soul. Working, thus, always in union with Thee, and for Thy sake, keeping our heart full of Thee, Mother, we can never go wrong, can never come to grief. At last a time will come when Thou wilt take up all our work, and directly use us as the instrument of Thy Will. Only then will all our work be perfect and divine.

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Work is a great force through which we can establish our union with Thee, Mother; there is nothing wrong in work itself; it is the false attitude behind our work and our ignorant handling of it that makes work a bondage.

We act for personal gains and ignorantly think that the results of our actions depend on our personal efforts, and that our life, our very existence depends on such work. Hence we are perturbed by hope and fear, we are disturbed by success and failure; and work done in this restless, ignorant, egoistic way becomes most imperfect and stumbling, and inevitably by its reactions forges the chains, which keep us bound to the lower life. Egoistic desires and personal motives have a validity only in the lowest scale in life. When we want to rise and fulfil the true mission of our life, they become great obstacles, and hide the Truth from us.

It is ignorance to think that, unless we act from egoistic motives, there can be no action. Everyone has a mission to fulfil in life, a divine mission, and the impulse we feel for work rises, .from this fundamental need of our nature. If we can free ourselves from the perturbations of

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the lower nature, our higher nature will spontaneously express itself in the right work in the right way. Instead of wasting ourselves in blind, useless efforts} we should calmly aspire to know the work which Thou demandest from us, Mother, and do it with all our heart and soul. Through such impersonal and dedicated work, we shall .gradually realise our union and identity with Thee.

Work is of value to us as a part of our sadhana only when it serves to bring, us closer to Thee, Mother; otherwise, it is an obstacle, a waste of time and energy, a mere concession to the ignorant hankering of our vital nature.

As long as we are attached to our work, and feel interested in the egoistic play of our energies, it keeps us hopelessly bound to the lower life, and obscures the Divine from our view. But if it can be turned to the service of the Divine, at once it ceases to be a bondage, and becomes itself a great force of liberation.

As work is an inevitable necessity of our nature, we should use it for our uplift by making

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it more and more selfless and devoted to the service of the Mother. Thus purified, we begin to get the direct touch of the Mother, to hear her voice within us, to receive direct guidance and inspiration from her; work, then, becomes a great joy and a great force of transformation.

Gradually, we shall feel that we are only instruments in the hands of the divine Mother, mere channels for her manifestation, in the world. In our work; we shall see the play of her forces ; instead of being ignorantly attached to our work? we shall through it be attached to the Mother. Our work will make our devotion more deep; our devotion will make our work more perfect and joyous ; thus, through devoted work and active devotion, we shall grow in light and power and joy, and ultimately become one with the consciousness of the Divine Mother.

We think that unless we act constantly with the mind, all our actions will cease and our whole life will be disorganised. This is an ignorance which we must get rid of before we can make any progress towards a higher life.

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As a matter of fact our mind is only used as an instrument in the hands of Nature for her own ends. The simple activities of the body are carried on instinctively and automatically, and the mind only creates confusion, when it interferes with its thoughts, prejudices and beliefs. The body has a consciousness of its own, and if left to itself can carry on its activities perfectly within certain limits. The mind is used for more complex actions; but here also it proceeds in a halting and imperfect manner.Our work will be perfect when we shall rise above these lower activities of Nature and give up all our work to be directly initiated and
guided from above by the supramental power. The body must be made more and more conscious and open, so that it may receive impulses from above and carry them out, the mind only serving as a free and open channel of communication.

So we must make our body and mind calm and free, open them to the Truth and allow the Truth to use them as plastic instruments; only then will our work be perfect, will be an expression of the divine will in and through us.

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THE MECHANISM OF THE LOWER
NATURE

As long as I lived the life of ignorance, the mechanism of egoism and desire was necessary for my self-development. But now that I am being taken up into the light of Thy consciousness, Mother, that mechanism is absolutely unnecessary ; it is, on the other hand, a great obstacle and must disappear.

Let me no more act from attachment or desire or blind instinct, but respond only to impulses coming directly from Thee ; let me not seek to satisfy the ego, but offer all my life and action as a sacred sacrifice to the supreme Divine. Let me not seek light and power for my own sake, in my own limited way, but offer my whole being and self to Thee to be used absolutely for Thy purpose in Thy own perfect and divine manner.

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But the old mechanism of the lower Nature is so persistent! The physical mind with its crude light, most limited and ignorant, would not believe in divine possibilities ; it persistently interferes and creates confusion. The impure vital cannot show up itself in the full light of Thy presence, but hiding its desires in dark corners seems to bide its time. The mind eagerly receives whatever light it can from Thee and seeks to use it in its own way for its own purpose.

I cannot escape from the bonds of this terrible mechanism unless Thou, in Thy Grace, lift me and take up my whole life into Thy divine being and consciousness.

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REALISATION AND ITS METHODS

The mechanical thoughts that play in my mind do no more belong to me than the roaring of the sea. Both are movements in the Universal, both enter into my consciousness from the outside. Yet in my egoistic ignorance I identify myself with those thoughts; thus, my consciousness becomes clouded, and I am cut off from the higher Light.

So with the movements in the vital and the physical; they come from the outside, and through my identification with them obstruct the descent of the higher Power and Joy. There is something in me which still takes an interest in these movements ; there is still such obscurity in me as identifies me with these movements; there is still much inertia and weakness in me and I cannot always watch, discriminate and reject these movements of the lower Nature.

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But as Thy ananda descends into me, the lower play diminishes in interest. Remove this ignorance and this weakness completely from me, Mother; give me more and more of Thy Light and Joy, and keep me occupied with Thy service, so that I may rise completely out of this lower life, and Thy divine rule may be established in me.

The outward-going habit of the mind makes us liable to all sorts of disturbances ; if only we can keep our mind always turned inwards to Thee, Mother, and habituate ourselves to receive all our ideas and inspirations from Thee, we shall be firmly established in calm and peace, which is the indispensable condition of all progress. The outward running of the senses opens
the door to the hostile forces, and constantly makes us liable to attack from the outside; if we can draw our senses inward and turn them to Thee, Mother, we shall taste the immortal joy, which will enable us to conquer all temptations in the world.

The blind inertia of our physical nature makes us yield to influences of all kinds from

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the outside, and thus places us at the mercy of the' evil forces; if we can open our will to Thee, Mother, and keep it alert with Thy light and power, nothing will be able to move us, except an impulse coming directly from Thee.

To open our whole nature to Thee, Mother, to check all outward tendencies in us, to constantly aspire to the higher life in Thee, to resolutely reject everything that is impure and undivine, undisturbed by all failure, undaunted by all difficulties however great or serious,—that is our sadhana which will steadily advance us towards the Life Divine.

To rise above all human imperfections is the most difficult task that has ever been set before man. It is only under Thy direct guidance and protection, Mother, only by Thy special Grace that we can hope to attain that great achievement.

It is not sufficient that we have the right intention to reject all falsehood and accept only the Truth ; we must strenuously carry it out in every detail at every moment of our life.

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Few men deliberately intend to be bad, but hell, it is said, is paved with good intentions.

It is not sufficient that we refuse to invite the evil or even be unwilling to tolerate it; but there must not be any slackness in us to reject it integrally. Evils often come to us unasked and uninvited, and humbly seek a little shelter in some obscure corner, promising absolutely to do no harm. But if suffered thus to remain, they will grow in silence and obscurity, and one day rob us of all our treasure. We must resolutely prevent anything untrue or undivine even from approaching us. But how many can do this? Only those who have Thy special protection can hope to achieve this victory, great Mother.

Thou wilt show up whatever is untrue or undivine in us; Thou wilt give strength to our will to reject it integrally and persistently ; Thou wilt support us with Thy infinite forbearance and love ; only' then can we hope to conquer all our imperfections and rise to the divine life, which is our destiny.

It is no use worrying over the old movements that still persist in us; they will continue until our nature is fully transformed. We
should calmly watch them as a part of an Universal movement, persistently reject them as they occur in us, and wait in silence and perfect faith for the Grace of the Mother to conquer them completely.

But we must always remember that these old ignorant movements in the mental, the vital, and" the physical, make us liable to the attack of the forces of falsehood. We should have sufficient strength of will always to deny them and resist their hostile suggestions; we should never allow ourselves to be careless or indolent as long as the rule of the Mother is not fully established in us.

We cannot altogether give up our thoughts and feelings and works; Nature will have her way. The best course is to connect all our movements, all our life with the Divine Mother. When we think, we should pray for her light to illumine our mind; when we work, we should pray for inspiration from her. At all times we should - be able to turn towards the Mother.

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This must be our ideal, in whatever we do or think or feel we should try to keep in touch with the Mother.

Thus, we shall grow in faith and surrender, in peace and purity, and the Mother gradually descending into us will take up all
our activities, all our life, and we shall attain the highest transmutation.

Let my aspiration ceaselessly rise towards Thee, Mother; let me resolutely turn away from the lower life.

I will not tolerate indolence or laziness in me; on the other hand I will not allow myself to be carried away by the restless craving for work. Always alert for Thy service, I will look up to Thee for inspiration, and whatever work Thou givest me I will do as Thy instrument regardless of consequence.

I will not tolerate any obscurity or darkness in me; but I will not allow the restless activity of the doubting, reasoning mind to
make my confusion worse. I will always keep

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myself open to Thy light and call it to illumine every obscure corner in me.

I will not discourage the yearning of my soul for beauty and love and joy; but I will firmly withhold the outward running of the senses. Freed from all egoistic hankering, I will peacefully accept whatever joy comes to me through Thy Grace; all the joys in the world that come to my lot, I will accept as a divine gift from Thee. Thus I will resolutely turn away from the lower nature and ceaselessly aspire to the divine life that Thou hast promised to me in Thy boundless love.

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THE DIVINE CALL

Never in my life did I come to grief or sorrow by following what I clearly recognised to be the voice of the Divine in me ; it took me higher and higher, to ever-increasing power and glory and joy; and at last it has brought me to Thee, Mother, my Divine Guide and Friend in the human form.

When we give up old ways. and old habits, and turn to a new life, a new mode, dread and anxiety seize us as to what will
happen to us, what will become of us; but wherever we may go in response to the divine call, we find the Divine surely present everywhere to guide us, to befriend us, to love us with an unfathomable love, though remaining hidden behind the veil. But this time, in Thy grace, Thou hast come out of Thy hiding, Mother, and taken direct and personal charge of me; all my fears and anxieties are ended.

We foolishly think that we can take better care of ourselves than the Divine, or can love ourselves better than our Divine Beloved. Those who can entirely rely on Thee, Mother, Thou takest their entire charge, and thus end all their troubles and anxieties for ever; they live and grow in the utmost safety in the peace and joy of Thy infinite love.

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