How to do yoga?         Shri Nirodbaran once wrote to Sri Aurobindo' "Please give me some necessary instructions, not depending on my notes, as to what should be done. If I have seen the tail it must lead me to the head!"         Sri Aurobindo replied (26 March 1937):         "There is nothing to do but to go on concentrating and calling the Presence within and without you, the opening, the power to receive and let it come. The more the mind falls quiet during or as the result of concentration, the better (no other thought in or out). But no need to struggle for that, must come of itself by the concentration."         Shri Udar Pinto states: "I joined the S

SECTION I         Talk of 7 April 1929         Will you say something to us about Yoga?         WHAT do you want the Yoga for? To get power? To attain to peace and calm? To serve humanity?         None of these motives is sufficient to show that you are meant for the Path.         The question you are to answer is this: Do you want the Yoga for the sake of the Divine? Is the Divine the supreme fact of your life, so much so that it is simply impossible for you to do without it? Do you feel that your very raison d'etre is the Divine and without it there is no meaning in your existence? Tf so, then only can it be said that you have a call for the Path.    

 Interview with The Mother         1. If you were asked to sum up, just in one sentence, your vision of India, what would be your answer?         India's true destiny is to be the Guru of the world.         2. Similarly, if you were asked to comment on the reality as you see it, how would you do so in one sentence?         The present reality is a big falsehood - hiding an eternal truth.         3. What, according to you, are the three main barriers that stand between the vision and the reality ?         (a) Ignorance; (b) fear; (c) falsehood.         4. Are you satisfied with the over-all progress India has made since Independen

  Some Questions and Answers    The Mother's Answers:         Q: Sweet Mother, somebody asked me this question: "Is it not a great loss for human society if persons endowed with an exceptional capacity to serve mankind, such as a gifted doctor or barrister, come to stay here in the Ashram for their own salvation? They could perhaps serve the Divine better by serving men and the world! "         Nobody comes here for his own salvation because Sri Aurobindo does not believe in salvation; for us salvation is a meaningless word. We are here to prepare the transformation of the earth and men so that the new creation may take place, and if we make individual effor

The Lost Footsteps         ...Then two days before the moment which 1 was awaiting so feverishly, the whole team of warders was replaced by a new one and I had to give up my plan. 1 was overwhelmed by frustration. 1 fell as if I had been crushed by an avalanche and buried under the debris so that I could scarcely breathe.    After this my hallucinations became very frequent.         One evening, when the radiator had begun its mournful music, the wall in front of me rolled back and a chain of snowy mountains gleamed in the rising sun. In the foreground was a little Indian temple dedicated to the goddess Kali. A tall tree shaded it. At its foot an old man sat with hi

*     Conversation with a Sadhak*         Words of the Mother         Bonjour!               Bonjour, Sweet Mother.         Something to say?                (I give Her the paper on which is written Thursday 4.5.67)        Oh, it conies on a Thursday! 4.5.67 comes on a Thursday        Yes, Mother.         It is very well. It comes on a good day. It's good. Then I shall see you on that day, you come to me at three o'clock, do you understand?         (Mother writes on a piece of paper: Mona at three o'clock.)         Otherwise, are you all right? You know, I am not asking you if you are feeling better, or whether

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS         If you were asked to sum up, just in one sentence, your vision of India, what would be your answer?         India's true destiny is to be the Guru of the world.         Similarly, if you were asked to comment on the reality as you see it, how would you do so in one sentence?         The present reality is a big falsehood hiding an eternal truth.         What, according to you, are the three main barriers that stand between the vision and the reality?       Ignorance; (b) Fear; (c) Falsehood.         Are you satisfied with the overall progress India has made since Independence?         No.       

      SECTION IV         Words of the Mother         There is an ascending evolution in nature which goes from the stone to the plant, from the plant to the animal, from the animal to man. Because man is, for the moment, the last rung at the summit of the ascending evolution, he considers himself as the final stage in this ascension and believes there can be nothing on earth superior to him. In that he is mistaken. In his physical nature he is yet almost wholly an animal, a thinking and speaking animal, but still an animal in his material habits and instincts. Undoubtedly, nature cannot be satisfied with such an imperfect result; she endeavours to bring out a being who will be t

  European and Indian Music         Q: What is the cause of the great difference between European and Indian music? Is it the origin or the expression ?         It is both but in an inverse sense.         This very high inspiration comes only rarely in European music; rare also is a psychic origin, very rare. Either it comes from high above or it is vital. The expression is almost always, except in a few rare cases, a vital expression -interesting, powerful. Most often, the origin is purely vital. Sometimes it comes        from the very heights, then it is wonderful. Sometimes it is psychic, particularly in what has been religious music, but this

   Sri Aurobindo's Interview with Dilipkumar Roy         Dilip: I have come to know... to ascertain rather... if I can be initiated... I mean I want to practice your yoga to start with, if possible.         Sri Aurobindo: You must tell me clearly what it is exactly that you seek, and why you want to do my yoga.         Dilip: Suppose I suggested — or rather suffer me to ask if you could help me in attaining or shall we say discovering, the object of life?.         Sri Aurobindo: That is not an easy question to answer, for I know of no one desideratum which is cherished equally by all, any more than I know of an object of life equally treasured by all. The object