I
I learned that you want to know something about Sri Aurobindo and the Mother from me. But then there are three lines of approach: you may want to know about them, know of them or know them. Of course the last is the best. Indeed if you want to know truly something you have to become it. Becoming gives the real knowledge. But becoming Sri Aurobindo and the Mother means what? Becoming a portion of them, a part and parcel of their consciousness — that is what we are here for. And if you can do that, you know enough....
Once I told you, I think, how to study or approach Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in order to read them or understand their writings. There are two things: studying and reading; I made a distinction between the two. To study Sri Aurobindo is — I won't say fruitless, that is too strong a word, but it can only be an aid or a supplementary way. Study means: you take the text, you understand mentally each word and phrase, if you don't understand, you take a dictionary and try to catch the external meaning expressed by the words. That may be necessary but it is not the way to approach their works.
Simply to read them in the right way is sufficient. Read, it does not matter what you understand and what
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you do not, simply read and wait in an expectant silence. In studying you approach them with your external mind, your external intelligence. But what is there in the text is beyond your mind, beyond your intelligence. And to understand mentally means you drive your intellect forward into the thing. It is an effort and takes you only to the outside of the thing. It is an exercise of your brain, developed in that way, but it doesn't take you very far. Instead of that, suppose you could keep quiet, silence your mind, and only read, without unduly trying to understand, and wait for what is there in the text to enter into you. Instead of your intelligence driving forward, pushing forward and trying to catch the thing, let the thing come into you, for what is there in their writings is not words and phrases, dead material, it is something very living, something conscious, that they have expressed in the words, phrases and the sound and rhythm. And I may tell you that each sentence anywhere, not to speak of Savitri, is a living being with whom you have to make acquaintance — not that you understand or are able to explain, but it is a living being, an entity, a friend, even a Lover whom you have to know. And your attempt in that way will be rewarded. You will enjoy much more. You may ask: "Just because I open a book and read, how can what are in the lines come to me?" But I say they are living entities — if you approach in the right spirit, they come into you. The consciousness, the being in each line comes to you. And you find how beautiful it is. This is
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an approach of love, not of the intellect to understand and explain. Take for example, the very first verse of Savitri:
"It was the hour before the Gods awake."
It is a Mantra, a living person, how beautiful it is, you needn't understand much — and a whole world is there.
Or, take the opening sentence of The Life Divine — the rolling cadence of the vast ocean is there. It brings you a sense of vastness, a sense of Infinity and takes you there. And, as I said, it is a very living entity and personality.
Here is the whole passage:
"The earliest preoccupation of man in his awakened thoughts and, as it seems, his inevitable and ultimate preoccupation, — for it survives the longest periods of scepticism and returns after every banishment, — is also the highest which his thought can envisage. It manifests itself in the divination of Godhead, the impulse towards perfection, the search after pure Truth and unmixed Bliss, the sense of a secret immortality. The ancient dawns of human knowledge have left us their witness to this constant aspiration; today we see a humanity satiated but not satisfied by victorious analysis of the externalities of Nature preparing to return to its primeval longings. The earliest formula of Wisdom promises to be its last, — God, Light, Freedom, Immortality."
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There is indeed a personality behind it and you have to make acquaintance with that personality. That is what I meant when I said: become it, by an approach through love, an approach through your soul. Even in studies you shouldn't approach with the mere intellect, mere mental understanding; however fine an understanding or intellect you may have, it won't lead you very far. Only through your soul you can go far. Even intellectual things can be approached through your soul — because the soul is the very essence of all your faculties and being. The soul is not mere consciousness, mere being, it gathers in all the elements of your personality. The seeds of your mind, your vital, even of the physical personality, the true physical personality, are there in your soul, and you can establish a true relation with things and persons through that part of your being — your soul. And remember the soul is not very far from you because you are that—rather your mind, your vital, your physical are away from you; they are not your true personality. It is your soul that is nearest to you.
In this connection you may remember what the Mother has said more than once: what is one here for? What are the children here for? And what is she giving here in the school, in the playground, in all the activities? It is not simple efficiency in the outer activities that is given here, or meant to be given here. For such things one can get outside in a more successful way — external efficiency of your intellect, of your mind, of your vital
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capacity and your physical strength—the Russian or the German type. Our records don't match theirs, do they? But we don't aspire for those records. For, as the Mother has said: "I am giving here something which you won't get anywhere else in the world — nowhere except here." In your external expression you may cut a very poor figure: low marks — but that is not the sign of the Truth that we acquire here. You acquire it even without your knowing it. When you are in the swimming pool you are soaked all through, aren't you? You can't help it; so here also; even without your knowing it you are soaked with the inner consciousness of your soul. It is a very precious thing — I should say, the only precious thing in the world. And through that, if you study, you learn — if you approach that way, you will get another taste, another interest in things.
When I was reading with Sri Aurobindo, he didn't lay much stress upon the grammar or the language — just the most elementary grammar that was necessary. He used to put me in contact with the life, the living personality of the poet — what he was, what he represented in his consciousness. That was the central theme, because a truly great poet means a status of consciousness; in order to understand his consciousness you must become identified with his being.
Amrita also used to say the same thing, because he was learning the Gita from Sri Aurobindo. He could feel the spirit of Krishna and the spirit of Arjuna throughout
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—their relations and the atmosphere they created. It is not the mere lesson, the teaching, that is important — that is secondary. The person is the primary thing. And the person in the book or outside, you can approach only through your soul, through love. The soul alone can love.
I think I told you that once somebody asked me: "You speak of the soul but where is it?"
I said: "It is very near you; still you don't believe. If you see into yourself quietly, you will find that there are very many good things in you, not only bad things — bits perhaps, shades or shadows perhaps, but you know this is a good thought in you, this is a noble impulse, a sweet feeling. Each one has all these things, you have only to recognise them. All this is the expression of the soul in you. The beautiful, the luminous, the noble things that appear to you, in your consciousness, from time to time, all come from your soul." Even the greatest villain has such moments. You remember Lady Macbeth — known as the cruellest woman, well, she said about Duncan, "I would have killed him myself but he looked like my father" — well, that is the feeling even she had. So let us not despair, even the weakest among us should not despair. First of all, each one has a soul, and secondly, we have the luminously strong support of the Mother. It is the nature of the Divine that even if you don't think of Him He thinks of you. It is true, very true; because you are part of the Divine. Only you have to concentrate
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consciously on that part, that portion; then gradually it will increase.
Question: What is the distinction you make between "to know about Sri Aurobindo and the Mother," and "to know of them" ?
ANSWER: "About" means what a man does, what his profession is, his occupation — kimāsita vrajeta kim and "of " means his personality, his character, nature.
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II
It seems my predecessors were telling you stories— stories of their own lives, their experiences, so I thought I should follow in their footsteps. But I am not going to tell you about my own experiences, I am going to tell a story, rather a history, that happened in the life of another person. It will be interesting and also instructive. So I will begin the story, I am the narrator:
I was a traveller, going about from place to place, seeing all things of interest — especially those of pilgrimage — and I happened to be in Madras. I was waiting there to take a bus to the railway-station which was a few miles off. I saw that there were also many other travellers waiting to board a bus. A busman was inviting people, so I approached his bus. Suddenly a lady came out of the crowd and said, "Please don't go there!" She was an elderly Tamil lady. I was surprised and asked, "Why, why?" She said, "Well, wait; you'll see," and I stopped. Then there were three buses that started — I was in one, the lady was in another and the third was the one I had wanted to board.
The lady's bus came last and the other two were running very fast — competing as to which should go first. Well, what happened is quite natural; the bus in which I was
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to go dashed against a wayside tree and was damaged, and the passengers were mostly killed or seriously injured. We reached our destination and naturally I was very eager to see the lady who had stopped me from boarding the bus. I asked her, "How did you know it? How did you guess?" "I'll tell you later on." So we started again, and went to a holy place on a hillside. It was a sort of jungle and woodland, full of bushes. The lady and I were walking quietly together. Then I stepped aside. I wanted to see what was to my left. Suddenly the lady said, "Please, please don't go to that side!" Naturally I was surprised and asked her the reason. Then I saw that behind the bushes was a 200 ft. deep precipice. If I had taken one step more I would have gone down! Then I pleaded with the lady: "Please tell me what it is; how did you see it?" She said, "All right, I'll tell you the story, let us sit down." Then she narrated the story. She said, "When I was young I lived with my grandfather, and we loved each other exceedingly, we were very much attached to each other. He used to tell me stories and pleased me in all ways, so I was with him almost all the time. Then one day he fell rather seriously ill. Doctors were called and they couldn't do anything. Then my grandfather called me and said, 'My child, go and pray to Shiva' — Shiva was the household deity. So I went and knelt down before the image of Shiva and prayed, '0 Shiva, my grandfather is ill, please cure him.' One or two days I did that. But he continued to be ill, he became rather worse! Then one day the doctors gave
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up all hope. I was weeping standing a little away from him. Suddenly I saw a girl by the side of my grandfather, and I was astonished, she looked exactly like myself. Then I asked someone near me if he could see anyone by my grandfather — 'No, I don't see anybody.' Then I went to the bedside, and the image and I stood together. Gradually my grandfather was cured. From that time on, wherever there is any danger, any difficulty, this image of myself comes, and helps me. So when you wanted to go in that bus I saw the same figure coming to me and telling me, 'Beware.' I don't know who she is."
So this is the story. I have brought these books because some of the poets have had such an experience.
Alfred de Musset says that from his childhood he had a comrade who was always with him — he was like a brother to him, he accompanied him in life's joys and sorrows, in dangers and happiness — he was always with him. I shall read out some stanzas (Alfred de Musset — Poésies Choisies, page 38, Nuit de Décembre):
'Du temps que j'étais écolier,
Je restais un soir à veiller
Dans notre salle solitaire.
Devant ma table vint s'asseoir
Un pauvre enfant vêtu de noir,
Qui me ressemblait comme un frère.
Son visage était triste et beau:
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A la lueur de mon flambeau,
Dans mon livre ouvert il vint lire.
II pencha son front sur ma main,
Et resta jusqu'au lendemain,
Pensif, avec un doux sourire.
Comme j'allais avoir quinze ans,
Je marchais un jour, à pas lents,
Dans un bois, sur une bruyère.
Au pied d'un arbre vint s'asseoir
Un jeune homme vêtu de noir,
Je lui demandai mon chemin;
II tenait un luth d'une main,
De 1'autre un bouquet d'églantine.
II me fit un salut d'ami,
Et, se détournant à demi,
Me montra du doigt la colline.
Je m'en suis si bien souvenu,
Que je 1'ai toujours reconnu
A tous les instants de ma vie.
C'est une étrange vision,
Et cependant, ange ou démon,
J'ai vu partout cette ombre amie.
Partout ou. le long des chemins,
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J'ai posé mon front dans mes mains
Et sangloté comme une femme,
Partout où j'ai, comme un mouton
Qui laisse sa laine au buisson,
Senti se dénuer mon âme;
Partout où. j'ai voulu dormir,
Partout où j'ai voulu mourir,
Partout où j'ai touché la terre,
Sur ma route est venu s'asseoir
Un malheureux vêtu de noir,
Qui me ressemblait comme un frére.
'Qui done es-tu, spectre de ma jeunesse,
Pélerin que rien n'a lassé?
Dis-moi pourquoi je te trouve sans cesse
Assis dans 1'ombre ou j'ai passé.
Qui done es-tu, visiteur solitaire,
Hôte assidu de mes douleurs?'
Now this form, that the poet saw, replies:
"—Ami, notre père est Ie tien.
Je ne suis ni l'ange gardien,
Ni le mauvais destin des hommes ...
Le del m'a confié ton coeur.
Quand tu seras dans la douleur,
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Viens à moi sans inquiétude.
Je te suivrai sur le chemin;
Mais je ne puis toucher ta main,
Ami, je ne suis que la Solitude."
Here is the English translation:
A DECEMBER NIGHT
In the days when I was a schoolboy
One evening I kept awake
In my lonely room.
In front of my table there came and sat
A poor child robed in black
Who looked like me even as a brother.
His face was sad and beautiful:
In the light of my lamp
He came to read in my open book.
He bent his head upon my hand
And waited till the morn
Musing with a sweet smile.
When I was about to be fifteen years old
I was walking one day leisurely
In a woodland upon the heath,
At the foot of a tree there came and sat
A young man robed in black
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I asked him my way;
He held a lute in one hand,.
And in the other a bouquet of eglantine.
He gave a friendly salute to me
And, half turning,
With his finger pointed to the hillock.
I remember him so well,
I have recognised him always
At every moment of my life.
It was a strange vision,
And yet, angel or demon,
I saw everywhere this friendly shadow.
Wherever all along my way
I held my forehead in my hands
And sobbed like a woman;
Wherever, like a lamb
That leaves his wool in the bush,
I felt my soul being shed;
Wherever I sought to sleep,
Wherever I sought to die,
Wherever I touched the earth
On my road came and sat
A miserable one robed in black,
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Who looked like my own brother.
"Who art thou, phantom of my youth,
Pale pilgrim whom nothing fatigues?
Tell me, why do I find thee constantly,
Seated in the shadow I have passed through?
Who art thou, lonely visitor,
Tireless guest of my pain?"
"Friend, our father is also thine,
I am neither the guardian angel
Nor the evil destiny of men...
.
Heaven has entrusted thy heart to me.
When thou art in pain
Come to me carefree,
I shall follow thee on thy way;
But I cannot touch thy hand,
Friend, I am Solitude."
The poet thinks that it is the personification of solitude, but it is something more than that. As I said, it is your other self, your subtle self. The body, the personality that you see externally is only a reflection of the inner being that you are. I don't mean your spiritual personality, but your subtle material self—which is physically your true personality. And that is inspired by something greater which you all know — your true individuality —
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your psychic being. But that being can only be perceived, seen and experienced and heard in solitude, in loneliness — what you call calmness and quietness and detachment. This vision here, this being of Alfred de Musset says: "I can approach you but I cannot touch you, there is a separation between the two. We can touch only when there are some conditions fulfilled in the physical body."
Another French poet speaks of a similar experience. He speaks of it in a jocular way, in a funny way. He says that this inner self sees things in a quite different way than the external being does. Sometimes it does quite the opposite. While the physical eye says 'It is this', the other says 'No, it is that'. Different values and perceptions — what we see externally is only Maya. There is only a rope, but you see a snake there — that is Maya.
He is a modern French poet, Supervielle. The poem is amusing:
ALTER EGO1
In my outward experience I see a mouse running away.
"Une souris s'échappe"
(A mouse runs out)
But the other person says:
"ce n'en était pas une"
(It was not there)
1 Translated by James Kirkup (New Direction).
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The outward person says:
"Une femme s'éveille"
(A woman wakes)
The other says:
"Comment Ie savez-vous?"
(How do you know?)
And then my outward sense says:
"Et la porte qui grince"
(And the squeaking door)
"On 1'huila ce matin"
(It was oiled this morning)
But if it was oiled this morning, how can it make noise?
"Près du mur de clôture"
(Near the cloister wall)
"Le mur n'existe plus"
(There is now no wall)
"Ah! je ne puts rien dire"
(Oh! I can't say a thing)
Because you always say the contrary.
The inner being says:
(Eh bien, vous vous taisez!)
(Well, now you'll be quiet!)
The outward person says: I can't walk
"Je ne puts pas bouger",
(I cannot move)
"Vous marchez sur la route"
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(You're walking along the road)
The outer questioning mind says:
"Où allons-nous aussi?
(Does all this get us anywhere?)
"C'est moi qui Ie demande"
(I am asking you)
I think:
"Je suis seui sur la Terre"
(I am alone on Earth)
The other person says:
"Je suis là près de vous"
(I am here beside you)
The outer person says:
"Peut-on être si seui?"
(Can one be so alone?)
"Je Ie suis plus que vous"
(I am more alone than you)
"Je vois votre visage"
(I can see your face)
"Nul ne m'a jamais VU"
(No one has ever seen mine).
'I see you but nobody has seen me' — that is the inner personality.
These outer personalities — there is not one, there are many — you consider this body of yours as your only form, but you have many. Each level has its own individual form and a recognisable one. Each one has special
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eyes, nose, ears, so this inner personality also has recognisable features. If you know, you can even name them — it is this person, that person. The subtle physical is more concrete. Only the physical form, the material form does not change much. It changes, yes, according to your age, slowly but for sometime you are the same. These inner forms are changeful; they are not restricted to one rigid figure. Still they are recognisable. There is a plasticity which is very natural; according to the situation, according to your mood, according to your feeling, they change. But the most important, the most original form is your psychic being — your true being — that which we must strive to realise and attain. As the Mother says: It is the Divine personality in each one of us. Your outer personality is sometimes only a caricature, but still it tries to reflect, though with difficulty, something of the needs and urges of this inmost reality of yours. Someone has asked me: "How to find, how to know this inner being, the true being in me?" For, as the poet here says, he can't touch you and you can't touch him, but what you want is to touch that person. The fact is that it is not so altogether out of contact, not altogether — unless a man is a total villain, which is very rare. You can't obliterate that true existence of you, it is there. It expresses itself in all the movements that are good and noble and selfless. Whenever you see something beautiful or do something nice, be sure that it is your psychic being that sees or does it. The psychic being in you is the Mother — for it is an
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emanation of Herself that She has put in you, in order to protect you. When you see the sunset and feel happy, it is the psychic being in you that sees it. It is a small beginning but it is a beginning. Let your psychic being guide your acts. The only thing necessary is to be sincere. You have to be sincere. First day you will find it very difficult, second day you will find it easier, third day it will become still easier and then on the fourth day it will become your nature. It is not easy, but if you try you will be able to do it.
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III
King Janaka was a great king and a great sage. He wielded an empire without and equally an empire within: he had realised the Truth, known Brahman. He was svarat and samrāt. A friend and intimate of his was Rishi Yajnavalkya, who also was a sage — in fact, considered to be the greatest sage of the time, a supreme knower of Brahman.
Once upon a time King Janaka invited sages from everywhere, whoever wanted to come to the assembly. The king from time to time used to call such assemblies for spiritual discussion and interchange of experiences. This time he summoned the assembly for a special reason. He had collected a herd of one thousand cows and nuggets of gold were tied to the horns of each. When all had gathered and taken their places he announced that whoever considered himself the best knower of Brahman (Brahmishtha) might come forward and take away the cows. None stirred. No one had the temerity to declare that he was the best knower and the most eligible for the prize. The king repeated his announcement. Then all of a sudden people saw Yajnavalkya advancing and telling his disciples to take hold of the herd and drive it home. A hue and cry arose: how is it? How dare he? One came
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forward and asked Yajnavalkya: How is it, Yajnavalkya? Do you consider yourself the most wise in the matter of Brahman? First prove your claim and then touch the cows. Yajnavalkya in great humility bowed down and said to the assembly: I bow down to the great sages. I have come here solely with the intention of getting the cows. As for the knowledge of Brahman, I leave it to the knowers of Brahman. All the others in one voice said: That will not do, Yajnavalkya. You cannot get away so easily. Come, sit down and prove your worth. Yajnavalkya had no way of escape. So one by one the sages came up and put questions and enigmas to Yajnavalkya. All he answered quietly and perfectly to their full satisfaction. Towards the end a woman stood up, Gargi, a fair and famous name too. She said: Yajnavalkya;, I shall put two questions to you like two arrows directed at you, even as a king shoots his arrows at his enemies; if you can meet and parry them, yours the victory. — Yajnavalkaya: "Let me hear then". — Gargi: "Yajnavalkya, you once said that the earth is the warp and woof woven upon water; upon what is woven the water?" — Yajnavalkya: "Air". — "Upon what then is air woven?" — "sky". — "Upon what is woven the sky?" — "The world of Gandharvas." — "Upon what the Gandharvas?"—"Upon the Sun." She continued her questioning. And thus she was led successively through higher and higher worlds — from the Sun to the Moon, then to the Stars, then to the Gods and the King of Gods, then to the Creator of the
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Gods and the peoples1 and finally to the Brahmaloka (the world of the One Supreme Transcendent Reality).
Gargi still continued and asked again: "Upon what is Brahman woven?" To this Yajnavalkya cried halt and warned her: "Now, Gargi, your questioning goes too far, beyond the limits. If you question farther, your head will, fall off. You are questioning about a thing that does not bear questioning — ma atiprdkslh — anati prasnyd devatd —the Gods abide not our question." So Gargi had to desist and Yajnavalkya was accepted as the best of the sages (Brahmishtha) and he could drive his cattle away home.
The ultimate reality does not lie within the ken of the questioning mind, the Upanishad emphatically declares. We all know the famous mantra: "naisā tarkeṇ matirāpaneyā — this consciousness cannot be reached by reasoning nor by intelligence nor by much learning. Indeed the Self, the Divine discloses his body to him alone whom he chooses as his own.
(2)
It is to be noted that even when at the top of the consciousness, full of the Supreme Brahman, one with it,
1 It is difficult to locate or identify the Upanishadic worlds or explain their gradations; evidently they are symbolical. But for us it is sufficient if we know that they are mounting steps, higher and higher tiers of being and consciousness leading to the supreme Being and Consciousness, the Brahman.
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Yajnavalkya does not lose hold of the earthly foothold — he does not forget his cows, and thereby hangs another amusing tale of his.
Once King Janaka, as it was customary, was holding his court and there was a large assembly of people — courtiers, ministers, officials, petitioners and a crowd of curious visitors. All of a sudden stepped in Yajnavalkya. The king saw him, and after welcoming him asked with an ironical smile what he was there for. Did he come for cows (referring to the previous episode) or for the knowledge of Brahman? Yajnavalkya too answered with a beatific smile: 0 King, I come for both—ubhayameva samrāt.
In other words, even after passing through all the inferior worlds, the intermediary formulations of the Supreme, even after passing beyond, Yajnavalkya does not reject these stations as delusions but accepts them, subsumes them, within one integral consciousness — something in the manner imaged in those famous lines of Wordsworth:
Type of the wise who soar but never roam,
True to the kindred points of heaven and home.
(3)
Yajnavalkya one day, as it was almost habitual with him, walked up straight to the royal court, into the very
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presence of King Janaka and quietly took his seat — a seat always reserved for him. He came with the idea of not opening the conversation. He kept quiet. The King however immediately started and said: Yajnavalkya, I have a question to put to you. Please answer.
YAJNAVALKYA: I am ready, 0 King! Let me hear.
KING: What is the light that man has?
Y: The sun is man's light.
K: And when the sun has set?
Y: The moon is his light.
K: When the sun has set, when the moon has set, what light has man?
Y: The fire is his light.
K: When the sun has set, when the moon has set, when the fire has gone out, what then is man's light?
Y: The self is his light.
K: And what is this self?
Y: The self is the conscious Being, master of life-energies, dwelling within the heart.
Yajnavalkya's answer has been put succinctly and most beautifully in another Upanishad, the most beautiful verse in the whole Upanishadic literature. Here it is:
"There the sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the stars; nor do these lightnings shine there. And how can this fire be there? That shines and in its wake all
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others shine. By the light of That all this becomes luminous".1
All other lights, lights of the heaven, lights upon earth are evanescent. They pass away, the only light that endures and never fails is the light of the soul.
1 This is a literal translation. Sri Aurobindo gives a beautifully poetic translation, rather a transcreation of the mantra. Here it is:
"There the sun cannot shine and the moon has no lustre; all the stars are blind; there our lightnings flash not, neither any earthly fire. For all that is bright is but the shadow of His brightness and by His shining all this shines." (Sri Aurobindo: The Upanishads. Centenary ed.. Vol. 12., P. 261.)
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IV
Last time I told you the story of the great Rishi Yajnavalkya. But that was about the later Yajnavalkya when he had become a full-fledged rishi, a guru with an Ashram and disciples. Today I will tell you something of the earlier Yajnavalkya, the beginning of his rishihood, the start of his spiritual life. You know the structure of the old Indian society, it consisted of four castes, varnas, and four stages, asramas. I shall speak of the asramas now. Each individual person had to follow a definite course of life through developing stages. First of all, naturally, when you are a baby, in your early childhood, you belong to the family and remain with your parents. As soon as you grow up and the time for your education arrives, you are initiated into a stage called brahmacarya; you may generally call it as the stage of self-discipline, you go to a guru and pursue your studies through a disciplined life, something like the life of the children who are here like you. In those days a student's life did not mean merely studies, that is to say, reading and writing, book-knowledge, but as here a very active life. The physical education in the old time asramas in certain ways was even more complete than what is given here, for it included the art of warfare also, combatives like serious archery and
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many other items of physical training. When you have terminated this discipline or brahmacarya, when you have become an accomplished young man you are allowed to return to the world, and take to the worldly life, enrich yourself with all experiences of that life, that is to say, you marry and become a family man. It is the second stage called garhasthya. Next when you have fully enjoyed or fulfilled the duty of the worldly life, you pass on to the next stage that is called the vanaprastha. That is the hermit life, the beginning of the true spiritual life. Finally at the end of the vanaprastha, you pass still beyond and adopt the life of the sannyasi, abandoning everything, concentrating wholly on the Supreme Truth and merging into it.
Now our Yajnavalkya in the normal course of things has passed through the stage of brahmacarya, he has also pursued the stage of domestic life and is now at the end of it. He thinks the time has now come to him to take to spiritual life and enter into vanaprastha. He had married and had two wives. So one day he called the first wife, Katyayani, and said to her: "Katyayani, I am now leaving this life and entering the spiritual life. You have given me comfort and happiness. I am thankful to you for that. Whatever I have, my possessions, movable and immovable, I have divided into two. This is your portion." Katyayani accepted the decision without a murmur. She answered: "Since you are my lord and husband, as you ask me so I shall do." Then Yajnavalkya went to his
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second wife, Maitreyee; to Maitreyee too he said the same thing as he had said to Katyayani: "Maitreyee, I am leaving this life, I am taking to the spiritual life. I have given to Katyayani her share of my possessions. This is your share." But Maitreyee answered: "Wherever you go, I will follow you, I will also give up the world and its life." Yajnavalkya said: "No, Maitreyee, it is a very hard, very difficult life, particularly for a woman. Follow the life to which you have been accustomed. Enjoy freely the possessions I leave you." Then Maitreyee uttered those famous words which you must have heard and which have been ringing through the centuries down to us also, even today:
"All these possessions, will they give me immortality?" Yajnavalkya answered: "No, Maitreyee, that they will not give you, it is quite another matter." Maitreyee answered — uttering a mantra as it were — "What am I to do with that which does not give me immortality?" So Yajnavalkya had to accept her and allow her to accompany him. Now Yajnavalkya gives his first lesson of spiritual life to Maitreyee: "Maitreyee, you love me, so you are coming with me. But do you know the real truth of the matter? The real truth is that you do not love me, but you love the soul that is in you, which is also in me: you love your own self in me. Therefore you love me. And I love you, I love you not for your sake but for the sake of the self in you which is the self in me. All love is like that. A husband loves his wife, the wife loves her husband, the brother loves his brother or sister, a sister loves her sister
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or brother, it is not for the sake of the person or the relation but for the sake of the self— one's own self which is in everybody. That is the first lesson which you have to learn. Forget the outer person, your own person or another's person, find the self that is in you and everybody else. That is the basis of the spiritual life."
I told you there were four stages of life for an individual in the ancient Indian society. You complete one stage and then proceed to the next, and then to the next and so on. But they also say that you need not go through the stages gradually, step by step in this way, you can skip one or two stages in your stride if you have the capacity to do so; if you want the spiritual life when you are young, even when you have not gone through the worldly life, even then you can jump over, take a leap into the life of the sannyasin. It is said the day you feel detached from your worldly home, then forthwith you may take to the life of the ascetic. It depends upon the urge in you, the insistence of the truth in you. A large freedom was given to all who really wanted a spiritual life.
I have said that Yajnavalkya had two wives. You did not ask me why: for to us moderns such a thing is not only immoral but inconvenient; it is however another story, a long story. In those days, those far-off early days of mankind, thousands and thousands, millions perhaps, of years ago, it was the law, the social custom and it became a duty, to have more than one wife and the relation too between man and woman was much freer and more
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loose. That was because, as you know, man started his earthly life at a certain stage of creation; before that stage there was no man, there were only animals. The earth was filled with animals, only animals, wild animals, ferocious animals, insects, worms, all kinds of ugly and dangerous creatures. Man came long, long after; he is almost a recent appearance. It was a mysterious, indeed a miraculous happening, how all of a sudden, out of or in the midst of animals there appeared a new creature, quite a different type of animal. Still in whatever way it happened, they were not many in number. The first creation of man must have been a very limited operation, limited in space, limited in number. Perhaps they sprouted up like mushrooms here and there, a hundred here, another hundred there, or perhaps a few thousands — few and far between. So man led a dangerous and precarious life. All around him these animals, some too big, some too small to be tackled withstood against him, and Nature also was as wild and as much against him. So for self-preservation and survival they needed to be numerous, to increase in number as much as possible. It is exactly what is needed in war; the larger the number of troops, the greater the chance of winning the war. So the impulse in man, in the social aggregate was to have more men, increase the number, to strengthen the extent and volume of the force to be able to fight successfully against the enemy. So a necessity became a religious duty to multiply, to procreate and redouble the race. In later days, even when the necessity
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was not so imperative, even then the habit and custom continued. To beget children was a praise-worthy thing, the more the number the greater the merit. Women who had numerous children were considered favourites of the gods. King Dasharatha had, it appears, a thousand wives, King Dhritarashtra had more than a hundred, Vashishtha had a hundred sons and King Sagar a thousand. Draupadi had five husbands and she was considered the ideal chaste woman.
In the modern age we have gone to the other extreme, we have tided over the danger of under-population. At the present day it is over-population that threatens the existence of mankind. Now we are anxious, we are racking our brains, trying to find out all kinds of means and ways to restrict and control any increase in population.
I said, in the early days the need to marry in any way — a very free choice was given in the matter of the way of marriage — and to procreate was a social duty: but note it is not for individual pleasure. Today we have discarded all notion of that kind of action as superstition, a form of tyranny. We are for freedom of the individual. Whatever we do we must do for our personal gain, our personal pleasure. But in those days that was not the ideal nor the custom. Even when you marry, you marry not for the sake of personal enjoyment but for the sake of the society, to give birth to healthy and useful children, to increase the number of able-bodied members of your society. Service for society, not personal pleasure was the aim.
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Yajnavalkya lifted that ideal on to a still higher level — you exist not for your own sake of course — own means the personal ego individual — but for the sake of your soul, the greater self.
In this connection I am reminded of what Sri Aurobindo said when he was taking leave of his students at Calcutta in his farewell address before starting his public political activity: he said, "When I come back to you again, I hope to see some of you become great, great not for your own sake but for your country, to make your country great. I hope to see some of you become rich, rich not for yourself but to make your country rich": that is the ideal ideal, not individual satisfaction, exclusively personal accomplishment or achievement, one must work in view of the welfare of all, a global well-being. The goal is not one's own little self, but the Great Self in all. This is of course, in the secular way in the secular field. But here also the appeal, it must be observed, is not to the social life as a mere machine of which individuals are dead helpless parts and units meant to serve as obedient instruments in the production of useful goods. The appeal on the contrary is to the soul, the free inner individual, choosing its destiny but with a view to collaborating and uniting with others in the realisation of a global truth.
In the spiritual sphere also Sri Aurobindo gives us the same ideal and outlook. In the early days spiritual realisation was sought for personal salvation, a complete renunciation of the world, absolute freedom from this transient
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unhappy world—anityam asukham lokam imam. The individual person leaves his individual existence upon earth and retires and merges into the Infinite Brahman. But here in Sri Aurobindo's Revelation we are taught that the individual realisation and spiritual attainment is not to dissolve oneself into the nameless formless Beyond but to maintain it, preserve it in a pure divine form, for the sake of the sorrowful ignorant world. The knowledge, the power, the delight that the individual gains — not as something merely individual but as the result of one's identity with the universal — are at the service of earth and humanity so that these may be transformed and share in the same realisation. One becomes spiritually free and Complete and enters into all so that all may be transformed into a new divine reality.
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V
Today I shall speak to you of the golden rule. When we were children we were taught, specially at school, at home too, certain golden rules. If you observe these rules you become good, good boys and good girls, you are loved and appreciated by all. These rules are simple and very common-place, you know them all and must have tried them. For example such things as "speak the truth, do not tell a lie, obey your parents, respect your teachers, do not hurt anybody" etc. etc. That was the basis on which one was to build one's character, mould one's nature, prepare for a pure stainless noble life.
They are good, these rules, so far as they go: but to say the truth, they do not go very far. They do not touch you intimately. They enter, as it is said, your head through one ear and pass out through the other. They do not quicken your heart and involve your soul. You follow if you are very earnest one rule or another for a few days and then you forget.
The other day I spoke to you of Yajnavalkya; he gave a better rule that was nearer to the golden rule. What he said in effect was that instead of following these outward rules or formulas you must leave them aside, go within yourself and find your self. Yajnavalkya said: you love
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your neighbour, not because he is your neighbour or brother, but because you find yourself in him. Find the Self, that is the golden rule. Find the Self that is in you, you will find that very Self in your neighbour, in all.
Here however you must take care not to confuse yourself with your Self. When it is said that you find your Self it is not your personal self that you find in another as if you grasp it as your own, exclusively your own possession. This Self is not the ego, it is beyond ego, it is not the kind of self-hood that Shakespeare depicts in King Richard where the King, deprived of everything, left all alone in the whole world, exclaims: "Richard loves Richard, that is, I am I"; for it is not a separative I-ness; the other I's are dissolved as well as the one I that I am, and all become one person or self. It is all one self, one soul although they may appear different, as different I's.
Here I will tell you a story narrated to our children. There used to be every evening a meeting where seekers and enquirers after the spiritual life assembled and conversed or meditated on the subject. There used also to come to that meeting a remarkable woman who had true realisations and was ready to help others on the path. Once the talk turned on souls and their re-birth and she was telling how after the death of the body souls pass out into another world, and when the time comes each one returns to the earth and takes a human body. Now there was one in the audience who felt a little puzzled about this matter of birth and wanted
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clarification. She put a question: (it was a she): "You say that souls come down and take birth, that is to say, assume a human body. But people are increasing in number upon earth, every year the human population becoming larger and larger. Now the question is: the additional number of people born every year, where were they before? Were they there all along since the creation, waiting? Do they appear gradually as time passes and bide their hour?" We in the modern age may suggest an analogy. Is it like the stars or galaxies that are gradually coming into our ken, phenomenally distant stars whose lights are taking time to reach the present day earth? The questioner asked: "Is there a fixed number of souls, can they be counted?" The speaker answered, "Yes, they are limited and they can be counted." With great curiosity and eagerness the questioner asked: "How many? how many?" Quietly the one who was speaking extended her hand and put out one single index-finger, and said: "Only one."
So, that is the truth. All these many bodies, many persons you see, it is only appearance, there is only one Soul and every one is that. If you realise this truth, you can love every one equally, not merely love but be one with all, because you are all and all are you. That universal Self, your own true Self you have to find, you have to know, you have to become. That is the golden rule as the ideal.
How to attain, how to realise it?
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The Mother in this matter has given us a golden rule, a truly golden rule and very simple. Generally we are confused as to our duty — what to do, what not to do, how to do, how not to do. The Mother says to her children:
"Do not do what you will hesitate to do or be ashamed of doing in my presence. Do not say anything which you will hesitate to say or be ashamed of saying in my presence. Do not think even what you will find it awkward to think in my presence." Well, try this way and you will find what a golden rule and a simple rule it is. Sri Aurobindo confirmed and said the same thing. He says — you all know the well-known phrase — "Always behave as if the Mother was looking at you; because she is, indeed, always present." You need not imagine that she is there, for she is actually always there whether you imagine or not; you do not know, for you are blind but she is always there, seeing you, observing you, guiding you, protecting you. She not only sees what you do, but even what you feel inside you, even your most secret thoughts. A child asked the Mother in his simplicity: "How do you know. Mother, what we do, what we think, what we feel, how do you know it?" The Mother smiled and answered, "My child, because you are within me, within my embrace always. Therefore I know. I know what is happening in me, isn't it? That is why I see what is happening in you. You are not outside me, you are part of myself, I am you."
Now if you follow this simple rule sincerely and persistently you will see the change miraculously happening in
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you, you will become the golden child of the golden Mother. You will find your thoughts, your words, your feelings, your impulses putting on a new colour, even your body will take a new glow of health and beauty. Normally our brain is made of mud, our thoughts are unclean — we have wrong thoughts, dark thoughts, our tongue also is made of mud or clay, we speak wrong things, impure things, our heart too is made of the same substance, giving out wrong feelings and unclean feelings; lower down in our nature in the vital region our impulses are also wrong and muddy and unclean, finally, the body is mud itself, it is made of diseases and weaknesses and incapacities. We are, as it were, a container containing this ugly and unclean mixture. What we have to do is to pour into it the golden liquid, molten gold that will wash away all that impurity and filth, clean the vessel and fill it with its own radiant substance, the molten gold which is the Mother's presence.
This process has been beautifully described by Sri Aurobindo in one of his poems. I conclude by reading out those magnificent lines:
THE GOLDEN LIGHT
Thy golden Light came down into my brain
And the grey rooms of mind sun-touched became
A bright reply to wisdom's occult plane,
A calm illumination and a flame.
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Thy golden Light came down into my throat,
And all my speech is now a tune divine,
A paean-song of thee my single note;
My words are drunk with the Immortal's wine.
Thy golden Light came down into my heart
Smiting my life with Thy eternity,
Now has it grown a temple where Thou art
And all its passions point towards only Thee.
Thy golden Light came down into my feet
My earth is now thy playfield and thy seat.
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VI
We are a larger assembly here today — we have increased in number.... Now, we all want to be good boys and good girls, is it not? Nobody wants to be a bad boy or a bad girl; but the problem is how to be a good boy or girl and how not to be a bad boy or girl. In what does goodness consist? You all know the fine gesture that Mother taught us once. Gesture means a physical movement — here a physical movement to control yourself; control, self-control is a very important, a very necessary item of our life. So the Mother once said: supposing you are very angry and you are inclined to give a blow to your comrade, then, the Mother's advice is, instead of stretching your hand towards your friend to give him a blow, put it in your pocket; that is a fine gesture and it brings you a fine result: you feel a kind of release, a joy and peace, something new and fresh comes into you. Your anger is gone, you are almost a new person. That is the lesson Mother taught us in the matter of controlling ourselves. Usually we are moved by our impulses and passions particularly towards wrong things, then what you need is to check yourself, to control yourself. You must note that this control you are taught is self-control, that is to say, it is a thing not forced upon you, you are not compelled to do it.
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You do it because of your own will, because you like to do it, because it is a fine gesture that attracts you. Usually the control is imposed upon you, out of fear of punishment, because of inconvenient or unpleasant results that might follow your loss of control. So instead of an outsider ruling you, you rule yourself voluntarily. The Mother adds also, illustrating the point: to train, that is to say, to control a wild horse what you do is to put a bridle in its mouth and hold it and check it. That is good for an animal who does not know what he is; for a man, he can do better: he can put the bridle himself in his own mouth, that is what controlling oneself is. It means as a human being you have been given freedom; it is given so that you may choose yourself what is to be done and what is not to be done. Instead of being forced to do the right thing you are given the alternatives either to do the right or do the wrong, to choose between the two and choose the right thing of your free will.
Here in the Ashram, the Mother has said very many times, you have been given almost infinite freedom. There are of course certain rules and regulations; naturally when you live in society and have common work to do, there must be some rules and regulations. But the beauty here is that even if you break a role, even a very important rule, you are not punished. In other words, the choice is left to you, you have broken the rule, you yourself find that you have broken the rule and then you try and rectify yourself, do
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the right thing. That is the true function of freedom — it is not freedom to do anything you like but to discipline yourself, to follow the right of one's own free will. A discipline here is not inflicted upon you, you are not ordered to do one thing and not to do another under pain of punishment, but you find the truth by yourself and for yourself and you do it yourself, and you have the joy, the pleasure of doing the right thing and the happiness of growing, maturing in your consciousness. You have infinite freedom here so that you may grow in your consciousness infinitely.
I was speaking of self-control, self-discipline in your inner being, that is to say, with regard to your desires and impulses and feelings. It is however the same discipline as you follow with regard to your body in the playground. Physical education means nothing else than controlling and disciplining the body. You control and discipline the body through physical exercises and these mean controlled and guided movements. You have to make these movements in a regular, persistent, ordered and a neat way, it is the way to make your body strong and beautiful. As by means of this physical discipline you secure a strong and beautiful body, even so by the inner discipline, by controlling your passions and impulsions you build an inner body strong and beautiful. Yes, even like a physical body you have a subtle body, a body as it were within this material frame. It is not, however, for that reason, something vague and imprecise, on the contrary,
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it is very concrete and has a definite shape. As I said, by controlled and directed movements you make this outer body strong and beautiful, the inner body also in the same way through controlled and directed inner movements can be made strong and beautiful. In properly doing the physical exercises, you know, two things are needed: first of all, doing the physical movements according to the rules, in other words, exercising the muscles in a given manner, and then along with it relaxation. Relaxation and exercise should alternate. Relaxation restores the muscles, brings repose to the system and serves as a kind of basic support. In the field of the inner discipline, this relaxation corresponds to what I have called freedom. And the muscular exercises correspond to the exercise of your will and consciousness in regard to the inner body.
The building up of the inner beautiful body has a great influence upon the building of the physical body, it adds something, it gives a feeling of inherent capacity, firmness and charm even to the physical frame.
Many find it difficult at the outset to make the right movement even in the matter of physical exercises. What is needed is will and persistence. More difficult, much more difficult it is to make the right inner movement, there also what is needed is will and persistence. Sometimes in the matter of inner discipline which means doing the right thing, you say, "If I know the right thing to do, then I can do it, to do the right thing I must know the right thing. If I do not know the right thing, how can I do it?" In
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the same way many exclaim: "How to find God, how to see God? I do not know what God is. Then how can I try to find Him?" They say: "First you must see God, then you can believe." In fact this is not true. The truth is the other way round. The Mother says, "If you are sincere, absolutely sincere and you take the resolution that you will do the right thing whatever happens, then surely the right thing will reveal itself to you." But the basic condition is that. Your resolve must be there, to do the right whenever it presents itself to you whatever the cost. Indeed you are not, a human being is not so obscure and inert as the appearance shows. There is a soul in everyone, there is a light within you which always points to the right. Only you are absent-minded, you do not care to look around and be on the alert. If you care, truly want to see the light, you will see it there before you. You must be ready to recognise it. It all depends upon your will, your good will, your inner sincerity. The inner sincerity will show you your path, the next step you are to take and you will know more and more as you advance. But if you hesitate, if you have in the background of your mind as it usually happens, the feeling that even if you see the right thing you may not do it, you may not be prepared to face too much difficulty or opposition in the execution. The very wavering thought that you may not do it will obscure your path and the light will not be there. You have to believe, believe blindly, for you know what you believe in is not anything wrong or mistaken, for your urge is to
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welcome the truth, a sincere readiness to welcome the truth when it comes, this will bring forward the truth and if you proceed, proceed in this way, welcoming the light every time it comes, disregarding all other pulls and distractions, your welcoming becomes easier and warmer and the light grows brighter and brighter. By your faith and trust you increase the power of your discrimination, increase the force of your character, increase the influence of a growing light upon your nature and your inner being; your true person in you grows in stature, grows in strength and beauty.
In this path there is another line for growth and development which is of considerable importance as you will see. You are here — or for that matter anywhere in society — not alone but you live together with others. You study together, play together, work together. You have friends, comrades, companions, you are in a group, in a company. Now it is of great importance to have the right company, you must have good companions, good comrades, good friends. That will help you in ways more than one. In this connection I can do nothing better than just to read out what the Mother says on the subject. She says: usually in your ignorance and simplicity, foolish simplicity, you choose convenient friends, that is to say, those who praise you, flatter you, who do not contradict you even if you go the wrong way, even they encourage you in doing the wrong thing in order to be friendly with you. Such friends are dangerous, dangerous to yourself and dangerous to your so-called friends too. Here is the text of the Mother's words:
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C'est cela qui doit etre a la base de l'attitude que 1'on est en droit d'attendre d'un veritable ami: il ne doit pas vouloir que vous lui ressembliez, mais que vous soyez, au contraire, tel que vous etes.
Et j'avais ecrit: "Notre meilleur ami est celui qui nous aime dans Ie meilleur de nous-memes." D'une facon un peu plus positive, je dirai: celui qui vous encourage a descendre au niveau Ie plus bas de vous-meme, qui vous pousse a faire des sottises avec lui, ou a devenir vicieux avec lui, ou qui vous approuve dans tout ce que vous avez de vilain, celui-la n'est pas votre ami. Et pourtant, tres souvent, beaucoup trop souvent, on fait son ami de celui avec lequel on n'est pas gene quand on est au-dessous de soi-meme. On s'associe avec ceux qui cou- rent au lieu d'aller a 1'ecole et qui vont voler des fruits dans les jardins, avec ceux qui se moquent de leurs pro- fesseurs et qui font toutes sortes de choses vilaines; c'est pourquoi j'ai dit: "Ceux-la ne sont pas vos bons amis." Mais enfin, ce sont les amis les plus confortables, parce qu'ils ne vous donnent jamais 1'impression que vous etes en faute. Tandis qu'a celui qui viendrait vous dire:
"Dis donc, au lieu d'aller courir, a ne rien faire, ou a faire des betises, si tu venais en classe, tu crois que ce ne serait pas mieux?"—a celui-la, generalement, on repond: "Tu m'embetes, tu n'es pas mon ami."
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.... II faut considerer comme son meilleur ami celui qui se refuse a participer a une action mauvaise ou laide, celui qui vous encourage a resister aux tentations infe- rieures; celui-la, c'est 1'arni.
C'est avec lui qu'il faut vous associer et non avec celui qui fortifie vos mauvais penchants et participe a vos mauvaises actions.1
1 Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education: Aug. 1961. Pp. 38-41.
"That should be the basis of the attitude which one has the right to expect from a true friend: he must not wish that you should be like him, but that you should be, on the contrary, what you are.
And I wrote, "Our best friend is he who loves us in our best part." In a more positive way, I would say: he who encourages you to descend to the lowest level in you, who drives you to do stupid things with him or become vicious along with him or approves all that is vile in you is not your friend. And yet, very often, much too often, you make a friend of him with whom you do not feel uneasy when you are below your own self. You associate with those who run about instead of going to school, who would steal fruits from gardens, those who poke fun at their teachers and who do all sorts of nasty things. That is why I said, "Such people are not your good friends". But they are the friends who are very comfortable, because they never give you the impression that you are in the wrong. Whereas if one comes and tells you, "I say, instead of roaming about doing nothing or doing stupid things, why not go to your class, don't you think it would be better ?" To such a person you would generally reply, "you are troublesome, you are not my friend."
... One should regard him only as his best friend who refuses to take part in a bad or ugly act, who encourages you to resist all lower temptations. He is indeed your friend.
It is with him that you should associate and not with one who strenthens your bad propensities and takes part in your bad actions."
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And the Mother adds :
Au fond, on ne devrait prendre pour amis que des gens plus sages que soi-meme, des gens dont la compagnie vous ennoblit et vous aide a vous surmonter, a progresser, a agir mieux et a voir plus clair. Et finalement. Ie meilleur ami que 1'on puisse avoir, n'est-ce point Ie Divin? Ie Divin a qui 1'on peut tout dire, tout reveler, parce que c'est la qu'est la source de toute misericorde, de tout pouvoir d'effacer 1'erreur quand elle ne se reproduit plus, qui peut ouvrir la route vers la realisation veritable; Ie Divin qui peut tout comprendre, tout guerir, qui vous aide sur Ie chemin a ne pas faiblir, ne pas broncher, ne pas tomber et qui vous mene tout droit au but. C'est Lui, 1'ami vrai, 1'ami des bons et des mauvais jours, celui qui ne fait jamais defaut. Quand on 1'appelle sincerement, II est toujours la pour vous guider, pour vous soutenir et pour vous aimer de la vraie facon.1
1 "In reality, you should take as friends only those persons who are wiser than you, whose company ennobles you, helps you to transcend yourself, to progress, to act better and see clearer. And finally, the best friend that one can have, is it not the Divine! the Divine to whom one can say everything, disclose everything, because here is the source of all kindness, of the power that effaces every error when it is no longer repeated, which can open the path to the true realisation; the Divine who can understand everything, cure everything, who helps you on the way not to waver, not to falter, not to fall down and who leads you straight to the goal. He is the true friend, the friend in good and bad days, who never fails you. When you call him sincerely, he is always there to guide you, to sustain you and love you in the true way." {Ibid.)
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So you see, the best friend that you can have, the Mother says, is the Divine Himself, that is to say, the Mother Herself. You can find no other friend so friendly, so loving and so lovable. Do not think she is too great for you, she is very far and you are very small. It is not true. She can be, she can make herself as small as yourself to be with you: because she is you.
I will tell you here a personal story. When we were together with Sri Aurobindo, long long ago, we were almost as young as you are, not quite though, only a few years older: we had then like you, infinite freedom, we did almost whatever we liked, went wherever it pleased us to go, we did not care much for food or dress or luxuries but we liked pleasant picnics, and along with that of course a little bit of study: but studying not any imposed lessons, studying whatever we liked, whatever we chose to read. Then one day, years after, Sri Aurobindo told us — we were at that time only four or five in number — he told us, somewhat seriously, he was seldom serious or grave with us, he had always his smile — "You have so forgotten yourselves, you do not think even of what you have come here for (because we had all left our family, even our country and all worldly considerations); to be with you, to be one of you, I have made myself very small, I have cut myself so to say to your size to walk with you, to be on the same level. Even then you cannot follow, I seem to be still too far from you. That won't do. Now you must try to run and come up to me. I cannot make
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myself still smaller. I have made myself sufficiently small."
I may remind you here of what Sri Krishna did in this line, something very similar. Sri Krishna, the Divine, became a very ordinary playmate of cowherd-boys and village maids and was one of them and with them, almost with no apparent difference. The Divine not merely as the Master, the Guru, the leader or the captain but as a loving playmate and comrade is a very extraordinary Indian conception of the Divine. Arjuna in his loving tenderness for his friend Krishna almost forgot to respect him and honour him, he could only embrace him. But one day revelation came to him as to who his intimate friend and comrade really was: he was dumb-founded and full of contrition and repentance for his past lapses. I may tell you Arjuna's state of mind in his own words — as stated in the Gita:
"For whatsoever I have spoken to Thee in rash vehemence, thinking of Thee only as my human friend and companion, '0 Krishna, 0 Yadava, 0 Comrade,' not knowing this Thy greatness, in negligent error or in love, and for whatsoever disrespect was shown by me to Thee in jest, at play, on the couch and the seat and in the banquet, alone or in Thy presence, 0 faultless One, I pray forgiveness from Thee, the Immeasurable."1
1 The Gita: XI. 41-2
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However what I wanted to say is, the Mother is truly your mother and as truly your friend and comrade. She loves you as no one else can love. She answers to your love as no one else can. And she teaches you how to love. Even if you are full of errors and mistakes, it does not matter, she takes you as you are, you can be quite free and open to her, she is there to understand you, to help you. She is not there to scold you or find fault with or criticise you. If you are not able to correct yourself, you have simply to look to her, she will do what is needful for you. I have always spoken to you of a body beautiful, an inner body beautiful and an outer body beautiful — any wrong thought or feeling or act leaves a stain, a scar upon your inner body, you are to see that the stain goes away and the body resume its glow, you are not always able to do it with your own will and effort because you do not know how to do it, but only try not to repeat the error and take your shelter in the Mother's presence, in her arms. The stain disfigures your inner beauty, you have to pray and appeal to her: with her healing touch she will remove all stain and disfiguring mark. It is an experience that some of you must have had in some way or other, must have felt in dream at least, the loving embrace of the Mother. You have to live in it, live it even in your waking hours. Be sincere and ask for it, your wish will be granted.
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