FOREWORD TO THE FIRST EDITION Of all the voluminous writings of Sri Aurobindo, his letters are perhaps the most relevant and helpful to practitioners of Yoga or of the art of perfect living. Written in answer to various questions of moment in sadhana, in explanation of the many types of experiences got by seekers on their path to the Divine, they cover an incredibly vast field and deal with practically every situation that can arise in the course of the inner pursuit by the awakened man. The collection of letters presented in this volume are a selection from the large number received by Dr. Govindbhai during his eight years of stay in our Ashram during the formativ

How and why I came to Pondicherry I am a deputy of the aspiring world, My spirit's liberty I ask for all. —Savitri I was born on the auspicious Ekadashi day of Kartik, on a Sunday, which according to the Gregorian calendar was the 28th day of October, the month of revolutions, and the year was 1906 when Sri Aurobindo was living in Baroda and had already made some advance in his sadhana. About the time I was born, my father was frantically searching for a guru who would help him to swim across the sea of ignorance which this human life is and attain liberation. He was, however, a teacher, and was endowed with a rather critical intellect

PREFACE This is a spontaneous creation of the bounty of Divine Grace that descended while following an ideal "All life is Yoga", in the shape of visions, experiences and realizations; and guide lights in the form of letters from the Divine Masters of Yoga —the Mother and Sri Aurobindo to explain them. It is presented to the reader as a simple and joyful offering in the book form, with love and devotion. The author claims here nothing of his own. He is simply a vehicle for expression of Grace of the Divine Masters. I am thankful to the copyright department of Sri Aurobindo Ashram for permitting me to publish the second revised edition of the book. I should not miss this opportu

The Divine gives itself to those who give themselves without reserve and in all their parts to the Divine. For them the calm, the light, the power, the bliss, the freedom, the wideness, the heights of knowledge, the seas of Ananda. Sri Aurobindo MY PILGRIMAGE TO THE SPIRIT DR. GOVINDBHAI PATEL GIFT PUBLICATIONS AHMEDABAD-380021 . Publishers : Dr. Govindbhai Patel On behalf of Grace Infinite Foundation Trust, Ahmedabad-380021. © SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM First Edition: January 1974 Second Revised Edition: August

PART II The Touch of the Grace He who would bring the heavens here, Must descend himself into clay And the burden of earthly nature bear And tread the dolorous way. SRI AUROBINDO 1 The Touch of Grace in the Thick of Life Heaven's touch fulfils but cancels not our earth —Savitri With the establishment of the Ashram in 1926, a message of hope spread throughout India and abroad that a lighthouse has been erected at Pondicherry to guide the spiritual seekers, to help them to their destination—to realize the Divine, and in addition something new and unprecedented, to help divinize the human consciousness by a special

PART III The Mother and Her Creation In Yoga also it is the Divine who is the Sadhaka and the Sadhana; it is his Shakti with her light, power, knowledge, consciousness, Ananda, acting upon, the adhara and, when it is opened to her, pouring into with these Divine forces that makes the Sadhana possible. Sri Aurobindo 1 The Mother I INTRODUCTORY "The Mother", also sung as "Ma Mira", came to India in 1914, met Sri Aurobindo and vividly felt that India was the home of Her soul and that Her work lay here with Sri Aurobindo for the spiritual regeneration of man. Since then She felt a deep identification with the country, her great past, her p

SOME REMINISCENCES I reached the Ashram on 30th December 1927, i.e., thirteen months after the birth of the Ashram. The descent of the light of overmind consciousness had illumined and charged the atmosphere with concentration and dynamic electrification, and whoever entered and breathed the air used to get his mind illumined and feel as if he was pushed deep into the ocean of a dynamic peace. The pressure and the working of overmental descent was so very strong throughout the day and night that everyone was driven to remain inward and one could hardly open his eyes fully even while working. Everyone was having two types of experiences—there was an experience that sat-chit-a

INTRODUCTION My Pilgrimage to the Spirit by Dr. Govindbhai Patel is the book of his experiences in sadhana in Sri Aurobindo Ashram as well as in his life outside, while following an ideal of Sri Aurobindo—"All life is Yoga." The book therefore is significantly divided mainly in two parts. The first part covers his Yogic experiences and visions guided by the Divine Grace in the form of letters by the Divine Master of Yoga in Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The second part covers his experiences in the thick of life outside, guided by the Divine Grace, which gives a touch of originality and uniqueness to the book, for it is the first book of its type which contains author's experiences outside

GUIDE LIGHTS from SRI AUROBINDO December 30, 1927 to March 1935 Towards Overmind 1 The time has not yet come for me to write about these things—(the physical transformation, its circumstances and its nature). Mentalizing about it is not of much use at this stage: The physical is the part of the being, least open to mental influence. A higher Power and Light are needed. January 15, 1932 Sri Aurobindo 2 It was the overmind power (that was working), not pure, but modified, mixed, clouded by the Ignorance of the lower planes. The stuff of the lower planes always mixes with the overmind forces and di