Chapter 6


Religion, Philanthropy, Politics,
Business


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL LIFE 


The Ashram is not a religious association. Those who are here come from all religions and some are of no religion. There is no creed or set of dogmas, no governing religiousbody; there are only the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and certain psychological practices of concentration and meditation, etc., for the enlarging of the consciousness, receptivity to the Truth, mastery over the desires, the discovery of the divine self and consciousness concealed within each human being, a higher evolution of the nature.


1934                                                                                                                                                                                                                               


SRI AUROBINDO


The Ashram has nothing to do with Hindu religion or culture or any religion or nationality. The Truth of the Divine which is the spiritual reality behind all religions and the descent of the supramental which is not known to any religion are the sole things which will be the foundation of the work of the future.


SRI AUROBINDO


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I may say that it is far from my purpose to propagate any religion, new or old, for humanity in the future. A way to be opened that is still blocked, not a religion to be founded, is my conception of the matter.


18 August 1935


SRI AUROBINDO


*


I see no reason for us to worship the gods, great or small. Our adoration ought to go only to the Supreme Lord, who is one in all beings and things.


6 November 1961


THE MOTHER


*


Those who still believe in gods can certainly continue to worship them if they feel like it-but they must know that this creed and this worship have nothing to do with the teaching Of Sri Aurobindo and no connection whatsoever with the Supramental Realisation.


October 1964


THE MOTHER


*


And then there was this particularly: no new religions, no dogmas, no fixed teachings. One must avoid, one must avoid at all cost the thing becoming a new religion. Because as soon as it is formulated in a way that is elegant and imposing and has a force, it would be the end.


23 November 1968


THE MOTHER


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Why do men cling to a religion?

   

    Religions are based on creeds which are spiritual experiences brought down to a level where they become more easy to grasp, but at the cost of their integral purity and truth.


    The time of religions is over.


    We have entered the age of universal spirituality, of spiritual experience in its initial purity.


THE MOTHER


HELPING HUMANITY


The true object of the yoga is not philanthropy, but to find the Divine, to enter into the divine consciousness and find one's true being (which is not the ego) in the Divine.


SRI AUROBINDO


The idea of usefulness to humanity is the old confusion due to second-hand ideas imported from the West. Obviously, to be "useful"to humanity there is no need of yoga; everyone who leads the human life is useful to humanity in one way or another.

  
    Yoga is directed towards God, not towards man. If a divine supramental consciousness and power can be brought down and established in the material world, that obviously would mean an immense change for the earth including humanity and its life. But the effect on humanity would only be one result of the change; it cannot be the object of the sadhana. The object of the sadhana can only be to live in the divine consciousness and to manifest it in life.


SRI AUROBINDO


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To concentrate most on one's own spiritual growth and experience is the first necessity of the sadhak- to be eager to help others draws away from the inner work. To grow in the spirit is the greatest help one can give to others, for then something flows out naturally to those around that helps them.


9 April 1937


SRI AUROBINDO


*


The best way of helping others is to transform oneself. Be perfect and you will be in a position to bring perfection to the world.


THE MOTHER


PROPAGANDA


You must not write to all these people encouraging them in the idea of coming here. It is only selected people who can come here. If anybody is encouraged, there would before long be 10,000 instead of 120- and it would no longer be an Ashram.


14 April 1933


THE MOTHER


As for propaganda I have seen that it is perfectly useless for us - if there is any effect, it is a very trifling and paltry effect not worth the trouble. If the Truth has to spread itself, it will do it of its own motion; these things are unnecessary.


SRI AUROBINDO


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Then, again, I don't believe in advertisement except for books etc., and in propaganda except for politics and patent medicines. But for serious work it is a poison. It means either a stunt or a boom-and stunts and booms exhaust the thing they carry on their crest and leave it lifeless and broken high and dry on the shores of nowhere - or it means a movement. A movement in the case of a work like mine means the founding of a school or a sect or some other damned nonsense. It means that hundreds or thousands of useless people join in and corrupt the work or reduce it to a pompous farce from which the Truth that was coming down excedes into secrecy and silence. It is what has happened to the "religions"and is the reason of their failure. If I tolerate a little writing about myself, it is only to have a sufficient counter-weight in that amorphous chaos, the public mind, to balance the hostility that is always aroused by the presence of a new dynamic Truth in this world of ignorance. But the utility ends there and too much advertisement would defeat that object. I am perfectly "rational", I assure you, in my methods and I do not proceed merely on any personal dislike of fame. If and so far as publicity serves the Truth, I am quite ready to tolerate it; but I do not find publicity for its own sake desirable.


2 October 1934


SRI AUROBINDO


*


Well-known or unknown has absolutely no importance from the spiritual point of view. It is simply the propagandist spirit. We are not a party or a church or religion seeking adherents or proselytes. One man who earnestly pursues the yoga is of more value than a thousand well-known men.

SRI AUROBINDO


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Queer idea all you fellows seem to have of "the prestige of the Ashram". The prestige of an institution claiming to be a centre of spirituality lies in its spirituality, not in newspaper columns or famous people.


30 June 1938


SRI AUROBINDO


POLITICS


The Ashram is not a political institution; all association with political activities is renounced by those who live here. All propaganda, religious, political or social, has to be eschewed by the inmates.

1934


SRI AUROBINDO


*


What is called politics is too rajasic, unsound and muddled with all sorts of egoistic motives. Our way is the pressure of the Spirit upon the earth-consciousness to change.


SRI AUROBINDO


*


Our aim is to bring down a higher Truth, but that Truth must be able to live by its own strength and not depend on the victory of one or other of the forces of the Ignorance.That is the reason why we are not to mix in political or social controversies and struggles; it would simply keep down our endeavour to a lower level and prevent the Truth from descending which is none of these things but has a quite different law and basis.


SRI AUROBINDO


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No, it [politics] is not given as a work to anybody. People go on with that because it is a mental interest or habit they do not like giving up, it is like the vital habit of tea-drinking or anything else of the kind. Politics is not only not given as a work but the discussion of politics is discouraged as much as possible.


SRI AUROBINDO


*


We are not here to do politics but to serve the Divine.

THE MOTHER


*


Sri Aurobindo withdrew from politics; and, in his Ashram, a most important rule is that one must abstain from all politics - not because Sri Aurobindo did not concern himself with the happenings of the world, but because politics, as it is practised, is a low and ugly thing, wholly dominated by falsehood, deceit, injustice, misuse of power and violence; because to succeed in politics one has to cultivate in oneself hypocrisy, duplicity and unscrupulous ambition.


The indispensable basis of our Yoga is sincerity, honesty, unselfishness, disinterested consecration to the work to be done, nobility of character and straightforwardness. They who do not practise these elementary virtues are not Sri Aurobindo's disciples and have no place in the Ashram. That is why I refuse to answer imbecile and groundless accusations against the Ashram emanating from perverse and evil-intentioned minds.


Sri Aurobindo always loved deeply his Motherland. But he wished her to be great, noble,/ pure and worthy of her big mission in the world. He refused to let her sink to the


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sordid and vulgar level of blind self-interests and ignorant prejudices. This is why, in full conformity to his will, we lifthigh the standard of truth, progress and transformation of mankind, without caring for those who, through ignorance, stupidity, envy or bad will, seek to soil it and drag it down into the mud. We carry it very high so that all who have a soul may see it and gather round it.


25 April 1954


THE MOTHER


*


We do not fight against any creed, any religion.


    We do not fight against any form of government.


    We do not fight against any social class.

   
    We do not fight against any nation or civilisation.


    We are fighting division, unconsciousness, ignorance, inertia and falsehood.


    We are endeavouring to establish upon earth union, knowledge, consciousness, Truth, and we fight whatever opposes the advent of this new creation of Light, Peace, Truth and Love.


16 February 1965


THE MOTHER


FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS AND BUSINESS


Finally, about financial arrangements. It has been an arduous and trying work for the Mother and myself to keep up this Ashram, with its ever-increasing numbers, to make both ends meet and at times to prevent deficit budgets and their results; . . . only one accustomed to these things or who had similar responsibilities can understand what we have gone through. Carrying on anything of this magnitude without any


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settled income could not have been done if there had not been the working of a divine Force. Works of charity are not part of our work, there are other people who can see to that. We have to spend all on the work we have taken in hand and what we get is nothing compared to what is needed. We cannot undertake things that would bring in money in the ordinary ways. We have to use whatever means are possible. There is no general rule that spiritual men must do works of charity or they should receive and care for whatever visitors come or house and feed them. If we do it, it is because it has become part of our work. The Mother charges visitors for accommodation and food because she has expenses to meet and cannot make money out of air; she charges in fact less than her expense. It is quite natural that she should not like people to take advantage of her and allow those who try to take meals in the Dining Room under false pretences; even if they are a few at first, yet if this were allowed, a few would soon become a legion.


25 February 1945


SRI AUROBINDO


*


First of all, from the financial point of View, the principle on which our action is based is the following: money is not meant to make money. This idea that money must make money is a falsehood and a perversion. Money is meant to increase the wealth, the prosperity and the productiveness of a group, a country or, better, of the whole earth. Money is a means, a force, a power, and not an end in itself. And like all forces and all powers, it is by movement and circulation that it grows and increases its power, not by accumulation and stagnation.


    What we are attempting here is to prove to the world.


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by giving it a concrete example, that by inner psychological realisation and outer organisation a world can be created where most of the causes of human misery will be abolished.


27 May 1955


THE MOTHER


*


If business cannot be done with the true attitude of consecration to the Divine, then business will be stopped and banned from the Ashram as politics are banned for the same reason.


So unless the consciousness of the sadhaks recovers from this sad condition of confusion and pettiness, I shall find myself under the necessity of forbidding all commercial activities as it will be proved that they cannot be done in the true spirit.


THE MOTHER


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