A Meaning in Each Curve and Line
"...all is deep and strange to the eyes that see, " said Sri Aurobindo.
In this section we look at the deeper meaning behind the
appearances, and discover 'a meaning in each curve and line'.
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All that I do, I do it consciously
and in accordance with the deep truth
manifested in all things.
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There is nothing in the world
that does not signify something
rather each circumstance in life has a significance.
What is needed
is to go deep enough
in the being to discover it....
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Long before the Christian religion made December 25th the day of Christ's birth, this day was the festival of the return of the sun, the Day of Light. It is this very ancient symbol of the rebirth of the Light that we wish to celebrate here.
Messages for December 25, 1967
Union and goodwill upon earth.
Behind the rigidity of the outward celebrations there is a living symbol; it is this that we must remember.
Peace and goodwill to all.
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Unless a break is made with the habits and the beliefs of the past, there is little hope of advancing rapidly towards the future.
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Father Christmas, I evoke you today!
Answer our call. Come bearing all your marvellous gifts. You are the great dispenser of worldly possessions; you are the untiring friend who hears every request and grants it generously. Give each one the material object he desires, and as for me, give me enough, give me much so that I may give largely to all.
Significances of the gifts offered by the three Magi to Jesus at the time of his birth
Gold: wealth of the world and supramental knowledge. Frankincense: purification of the vital. Myrrh: immortalisation of the body.
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A symbol, as I understand it, is the form on one plane that represents a truth of another. For instance, a flag is the symbol of a nation.... But generally all forms are symbols. This body of ours is a symbol of our real being and everything is a symbol of some higher reality....
Mental symbols, instances of which are numbers or alphabets. Once they are accepted, they too become active and may be useful. Thus geometrical figures have been variously interpreted. In my experience the square symbolises the supermind....
Sri Aurobindo
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The significance of numbers was one of the chief elements in the teaching of Pythagoras five centuries before Christ.
Sri Aurobindo
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Symbols are a convention, and their value is the same as the value of the languages.
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There is a meaning in each curve and line.
Sri Aurobindo
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Mother's Signature
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Numbers are a way of speaking. It is a language, as all the sciences, all the arts, everything that man produces; it is always a way of speaking, it is a language.
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What do the numbers 1 to 12 indicate? (tw
o explanations)
1
- The One
1
- The Origin
2
- Decision for Creation
2
- Appearance of the Creative
Consciousness
3
- Beginning of Creation
3
- Sachchidananda
4
- Manifestation
4
- Manifestation
5
- Power
5
- Power
6
- Creation
6
- New Creation
7
- Realisation
7
- Realisation
8
- Occult Formation
8
- Double Enclosure (protection from
inner and outer enemies)
9
- Power of Static Fulfilment
9
- New Birth
10
- Power of Expression
10
- Perfection
11
- Progress
11
- Progress
12
- Perfect Manifestation Stabilised
12
- Double Perfection (spiritual and
material)
14
- Transformation
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About Blessings Packets
There are some petals, flower petals inside, but they are charged with force, and if you keep them upon you, the contact with me is kept. So, if you refer inside... you can re-establish the contact and even have an answer to a question.
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.. .on Kali Puja day I always distribute the flowers of "Divine's Love"; for Kali is the most loving of all the aspects of the Mahashakti; hers is the most active and most powerful Love. And that is why every year I distribute the petals of "Divine's Love" on Kali's Day.
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When I give flowers it is always along with the capacity they represent. Each one receives according to his receptivity.
I can transmit a state of consciousness more easily to a flower than to a man: it is very receptive....
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Do you know what the flower which we have called "Successful Future" signifies when given to you?
It signifies the hope — nay, even the promise — that you will participate in the descent of the supramental world.
About the flower: 'Sri Aurobindo s compassion'
Innumerable, always present, and effective in every instance.
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[My] compassion does not wither with its symbol — flowers are the moment's representations of things that are in themselves eternal.
Sri Aurobindo
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Flowers are the spontaneous expression of Nature's adoration.
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Flowers speak to us when we know how to listen to them, — it is a subtle and fragrant language.
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Flowers teach us the charm of silence and thus the self-giving which demands nothing in return.
'Beginning of the Supramental Realisation'
With its charming beauty it is the announcer of victory.
'Transformation'
The goal of creation.
You know the flower that I have named "Transformation" — it has four petals. Well, these four petals are arranged like a cross; one at the top which is the transcendent; two on the sides that form the universal, and one below which is the individual. The petal at the top is divided into two.
The transcendent is one and two (or dual) at the same time. It is a flower almost perfect in form.
*
'Supramentalised Psychological Perfection'
A psychological perfection aspiring to be divinised.
This flower has twelve petals in three rows of four. We call it "Supramentalised Psychological Perfection". I had never noticed that it had three rows: a small row, another a little bigger, and a third bigger still. They are in gradations of four: four petals, four petals, four petals. Well, if one wants to see exactly in the forms of Nature a symbolic expression, one can see a centre which is the supreme Truth, and a triple manifestation (because four indicates manifestation) in three superimposed worlds: the outermost (these are the largest petals, the best formed), that is the physical world, then a vital world and a mental world, and then at the centre, the supramental Truth.
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'The Avatar'
The Supreme manifested on earth in a body. The pink lotus is Sri Aurobindo's flower.
'Aditi'
The Divine Consciousness Pure, immaculate, gloriously powerful. 'Gratitude'
It is you who open all the closed doors and let the Grace which saves penetrate deeply.
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Mother's Symbol
The central circle represents the Divine Consciousness.
The four petals represent the four powers of the Mother.
The twelve petals represent the twelve powers of the Mother manifested for Her work.
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Sri Aurobindo's Symbol
The descending triangle represents Sat-Chit-Ananda.
The ascending triangle represents the aspiring answer from matter under the form of life, light and love.
The junction of both — the central square — is the perfect manifestation having at its centre the Avatar of the Supreme — the lotus.
The water — inside the square — represents the multiplicity, the creation.
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A badge was given in the year 1949 to the winner of each sub-group in the athletic championship of J.S.A.S.A. (Jeunesse Sportive de 1'Ashram de Sri Aurobindo).
Explanation given by the Mother
This badge is in the form of a golden tortoise with a full circle of red in the centre from which radiate twelve white rays.
The form and colouring of the badge have an occult significance and may be interpreted as follows:
The tortoise is the symbol of terrestrial immortality — that is to say, immortality of the physical being on this earth. The red centre symbolises the Illumined Physical and from this radiate the twelve white rays of the integral Light of Truth. The rays are curved in form indicating that the Light is dynamic in its nature and is in action.
The golden colour of the tortoise itself shows that it is the Supramental which supports this terrestrial immortality and which alone can effect the transformation.
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Significance of the Symbol of the
Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education
The effective manifestation of Ishwara and Ishwari in union.
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Medal given by the Mother on the Golden Day — February 29, I960.
The design on the medal signifies —
The twelve rays of the new creation issued from the manifestation of the Avatar:
Lotus — Avatar Square — manifestation 12 rays — new creation
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Sweet Mother,
Why does meditation in front of different photos of you give different experiences?
It is because each photo represents a different aspect, sometimes even a different personality of my being; and by concentrating on the photo, one enters into relation with that special aspect or different personality which the photo has captured and whose image it conveys.
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The photo is a real and concrete presence, but fragmentary and limited.
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Sri Aurobindo and I always put a force into the photographs we sign.
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...in every picture, photograph, there is an accumulation, a small accumulation representative of the force of the person whose picture it is, of his nature and, if he has powers, of his powers.
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Adoration and obeisance
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"Earth-life is the self-chosen habitation of a great Divinity and his aeonic will is to change it from a blind prison into his splendid mansion and high heaven-reaching temple."
Sri Aurobindo
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True knowledge is beyond words, beyond systems, beyond languages; it is in a silent identity. It is in fact the only one which does not err.
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There is a direct approach by identity which is much more effective and, so to say, gives you the concrete key to the whole machinery of things, a direct key that needs no complicated science to express itself — something that corresponds to movements of consciousness and will, which would not need all the mental complications to express themselves. Then the universal reality in its totality becomes a symbol and can be directly perceived in its essence.
Behind the surface of things there is a sea of perfect consciousness in which we can always dip.
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To seize the absolute in shapes that pass,
To feel the eternal's touch in time-made things,
This is the law of all perfection here.
Sri Aurobindo
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The Light now distant shall grow native here,
The Strength that visits us our comrade power;
The Ineffable shall find a secret voice,
The Imperishable burn through Matter's screen
Making this mortal body godhead's robe.
Sri Aurobindo
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