Monday, July 26, 1926 I feel distinctly the overshadowing presence of a force above me. A small part of that force comes down and works in me. WHAT kind of work does it effect ? I cannot see very distinctly. It is a pressure that tries to expand. More than this I cannot say. Only, I feel that a small part only comes down. It also presses upon the physical mind and tries to calm and quiet it. There are two movements I make: one is to be passive and to open to that working. The other is to go above trying to unite with that force. I have then a sensation of broadening, of a vast and compact consciousness. It happened two or three times that I saw befo

Saturday, November 6, 1926 During the first part of the week I was disturbed by some movements of the vital which were possibly due to a hostile influence. And even when the possibility of the influence was removed some anxiety was still felt, due perhaps only to the novelty of the movement. But later this anxiety was thrown away and calm came again. The chief difficulty is always the activity of the mind. It is neither possible to quiet it completely nor to stand aside from it. Even when for some very short time it does not interfere with the concentration, it is not truly quiet and resumes its activity at the very first opportu­nity. It seems to me that if it were possible

PAVITRA Editor's Note These conversations were held from December 18, 1925 to November 20, 1926. Pavitra, a French engineer of the Polytechnic School, arrived at Pondicherry on the 17th of December, 1925, having come from a Mongolian lamasery where his spiritual search had driven him, after his having spent four years in japan. He never left Pondicherry again, where he lived for forty-four years in the service of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. He left his body on May 16, 1969. These brief conversations were noted from memory, most of the time in French, except towards the end. Hence, they do not represent the exact words of the Master, but are as faithful a record as po

Monday, March 1, 1926 During the last week there has not been much progress. I can't manage to get out of my prison and my mind doesn't want to yield. There are two inner movements which I practise successively : first, whilst keeping the mind as calm as possible, I try hard to open my-self to a higher perception, to become aware of the supra-mental reality ; the other is to detach my inner being from action and from the mental level, to establish myself, as we say, in the supra-mental region. Are these two movements both right ? THEY seem to me to be two aspects, active and passive, of the same effort. But it is always with the mind that you make this effort. It is un

On Meditation and Discipline by PAVITRA I On Meditation Select a quiet and secluded place where you will feel secure and undisturbed for at least three quarters of an hour to one hour. Sit in a chair or an arm chair with he back resting or, if you prefer, cross-legged on a cushion or a carpet. A straight body is preferable but without strain. In fact posture is of little importance. What is important is to feel at ease so that the body can be rapidly forgotten. Recumbent position is not advisable, except in case of illness or incapacity, as it induces sleep. Always begin the meditation by an inner call or a prayer, an aspiration

II The Needs of the Child The child has interest for an object when by that object he is capable of satisfying one of his needs. Hence the importance of knowing the needs of a child. As a growing being, the child has certain needs, quite a number of them, of various kinds - physical, affective, psychological, intellectual - and even some so deeply rooted and so important that they may be called "psychic needs", needs pertaining to the soul in evolution. If the parents and teachers know these needs and give them consideration and satisfaction, the child grows normally and is naturally happy. If they are ignored, two kinds of results may ensue. S

Notes and. Sources Bibliographical details about the sources listed below may be found in the Bibliography. The author's references to citations from the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have been updated by the editors of his fifth edition. The new citations refer to the volumes of the Sri Aurobindo Birth - Centenary Library (SABCL) and the Mother's collected Works (MCW). The reader may note that although citations from the Mother's works have been updated to accord with her Collected Works, the original translations of her statements in French have been kept: in other words the translations used by the author have been retained. Epigraph. Sri Aurobin

III The Dawning of a New Age The synthetic vision of the Vedas and the Upanishads forcefully restated by the Bhagavad-Gita Gita, was later broken up into opposing philosophic systems, although attempt were made from time to time to recombine them into some image of the original intuitive unity. One of these attempts is the large synthesis of the Tantras. Sri Aurobindo has taken up again this unifying endeavour and reconciled opposing views of the three great Acharyas. He has shown that the main Vedantic conceptions of existence are not mutually exclusive, but rather represent aspects of the total truth. According to him, each of these views is valid an

VI The Evolution of a Class I shall now describe, on the basis of the very limited yet significant experience of this year, the response of students placed for the first time in a new class. They pass very distinctly through three stages: 1. A Stage of Adaptation: Some children understand immediately what is asked of them and enter into the spirit of the new method. Some appear passive and try their best without much live understanding. Others find it more difficult to adapt themselves; for them it is a period of adjustment and wavering. A few, very few seem unwilling or incapable of doing away with unruly and mischievous habits. Little by little a