CHAPTER III Reorientation It was Tagore who first told me that even as a child he had been imbibing things which had to lie for a long time in his subconsciousness as seeds before they could come to full flowering. He told me, as I have recorded elsewhere, that some of the best things in life work in us like a leaven, an invisible influence, as, for example, the inspiration of woman in her totality. "Woman's function in life", he said, "is not really confined to the physical plane: she is indispensable to man's mental creation as man is to her physical. It is only because on the mental plane she works from behind the screen that we do not visualise her contribution. But t

CHAPTER XII The Mother In the preceding chapters I kept the Mother somewhat in the background because to the superficial view hers must appear a personality very distinct from that of Sri Aurobindo. But one who has won to the deeper vision and tried to follow the phenomenal growth of the Ashram cannot but be persuaded that without her dominant presence, superhuman patience and genius for organization (not to mention her ineffable personality of light and grace and courage) Sri Aurobindo's Synthetic Yoga would never have found the convincing shape it has: in other words, his gospel could not have found an adequate medium of expression in the practical field. But even this

DEDICATION To our beloved President, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 0 noble judge, who declinest to condone The demon passions that blur God's sky of peace And yet canst understand why men are prone To outlaw the heights and acclaim the dread abyss! Thy windows are open to the soul's pure white Vast firmament of faith no doubts can mar; A contemplative of compassion's light, Thou sing'st "None but true lovers win the Star Of Love whose unique miracle alchemy Can resolve Hate's anarchy into a Harmony." Hari Krishna Mandir D.K. ROY Poona – 5 March, 1963 DESHBANDHU C. R. DAS My appeal to you is this, that long after the

CHAPTER VIII Guru, The Alchemist To emphasise the difficulty which every Yogi has to face, and for a long time, let me venture a little further and say that the moment one gets along in Yoga, be it ever so little, the ego is confronted with new trials at every turn insomuch that one often feels like giving up in despair. At such crises it is only the Guru's direct help and sleepless guidance that can lift one out of the perilous slough of despond. Only the trouble is that the Guru's help can hardly be fully effective without the co-operation of the disciple who is, generally, too apt to rely more on miracle than on sadhana. That is why in spite of the Guru's repe

CHAPTER I I The Pilgrimage As I look back, after having been havened at his feet for well over two decades, I find it still difficult to decide what it is that drew a man of my temperament to one whose ways were so utterly different. Was it his genius? His "face radiant with an inner light", as Rabindranath had so aptly described? Or, was it the magnetism of a mystic aureole that engirdled him, an overwhelming sublimity that conquered one even when it baffled definition? Or, was it the ocean of peace he spoke of so often, a vastness which cradled him or because his "life" had become "a throb of His eternity" as he put it in his beautiful poem, Bliss of Identity? He impinged

APPENDIX III Homage to Sri Aurobindo* I bow to thee, O Guru! How arduous is the path that you have trod! When the soul is clouded, it is your sunshine that radiates the new dawn—of hope: When the sterile heat of diffidence sears the heart: When the fresh garland of adoration fades into a loveless string: When the saltus of hope is arrested and the night of doubt closes in: When the vision of the Far-off seems a fatuity to the inner heart, imprisoned in its skeleton-cage: When the ray from aloft becomes wan and the soul's secret urge is broken to pieces by mortification: In that hour your starry effulgence sheds the certitude o

CHAPTER I Apologia I must start with an unusual apology: that I do not feel called upon to apologise for what I venture to undertake, to wit, to describe not so much how my Gurudev, Sri Aurobindo impinged on me, as how I reacted to him. For, when all is said and done, one can scarcely hope to delineate the beauty of a great personality in abstract terms with mere purple epithets. One can—at least that is how I have always looked upon all who are truly great—only portray one's own reactions of them, and very imperfectly at that. I would go further and submit that the greater a personality, the more he must elude us. Rabindranath once told me that we understand more than we thi

CHAPTER XI The Seer-Poet I have quoted earlier a letter Sri Aurobindo wrote to me vindicating the attitude of a seer which might well look like self superiority to others. But appearances are not always a reliable guide to reality. For instance, many may call his answer to a gibe of mine over-assertive. (I had asked whether the Supramental could really be true? Did it not look very much like a juggler whose legerdemain left us eventually high and dry in 'the land of nowhere?): "There is no question of jugglery about it. What is not true is not supramental. As for calm and silence, there is no need of the supramental to get that. One gets it even on the lev

-02_Mother^s Prayer.htm THE MOTHER'S PRAYER TO THE MATERIAL ENVELOPE OF SRI AUROBINDO To THEE who hast been the material envelop of our Master, to THEE our infinite gratitude. Before THEE who hast done so much for us, who hast worked, struggled, suffered, hoped, endured so much, before THEE who hast willed all, attempted all, prepared, achieved all for us, before THEE we bow down and implore that we may never forget, even for a moment, all we owe to THEE. December 9,1950 THE MOTHER Tributes "For thou hast conquered, at the journey's end, "The Sun-elixir to quell the hordes of Night. "Who once have seen thy Face have known, 0 Friend: "'Tis no

(REMINISCENCES) HARIKRISHNA MANDIR - PUNE First Edition - 1952 (Sri Aurobindo Ashram) 2nd Edition - 1964 (Jaico) 3rd Edition - 1969 (Jaico) 4th Edition - 1984 (All India Books) 5th Edition - 2004 (Revised) (Harikrishna Mandir Trust, Pune) Siddhiday 24th November © Harikrishna Mandir Trust, Pune 2004 All rights reserved Published by Hari Krishna Mandir Trust Pune-411016 Typeset & printed at All India Press Kennedy Nagar Pondicherry, 605001 India