-039_Events Don^t Hurt Us, But Our Views of Them Can.htm Events Don’t Hurt Us, But Our Views of Them Can Things themselves don’t hurt or hinder us. Nor do other people. How we view these things is another matter. It is our attitudes and reactions that give us trouble. We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.

Harmonize Your Actions with the Way Life Is It is not so much what you are doing, but how you are doing it. When we properly understand and live by this principle, while difficulties will arise – for they are part of the divine order too – inner peace will still be possible.

About Art of Living How do I live a happy, meaningful, and flourishing life? How can I be both noble and effective person? Answering these bedrock questions was the single-minded passion of Epictetus, the venerable philosopher who was born a slave about A.D.55 in the eastern outreaches of the Roman Empire. One of the wittiest and wisest teachers who ever lived, Epictetus observed that everyday life, no matter what our personal circumstances are, is fraught with difficulty. Still, the life of virtue is within the reach of everyone. The razor-sharp instructions that make up The Art of Living encaps

Be Careful About the Company You Keep Regardless of what others profess, they may not truly live by spiritual values. Be careful who you associate with. It is human to imitate the habits of those with whom we interact. We inadvertently adopt their interests, their opinions, their values, and their habit of interpreting events. Though many people mean well, they can just the same have a deleterious influence on you because they are undisciplined about what is worthy and what isn’t. Just because some people are nice to you doesn’t means you should spend time with them. Just because they seek you out and are interested in

The Soul’s Cry Philosophy’s main task is to respond to the soul’s cry; to make sense of and thereby free ourselves from the hold of our griefs and fears. Philosophy calls us when we’ve reached the end of our rope. The insistent feeling that something is not right with our lives and the longing to be restored to our better selves will not go away.

The True Attitude ~ Remember and Offer It is quite possible for you to do Sadhana at home and in the midst of your work - many do so. What is necessary in the beginning is to remember the Mother as much as possible, to concentrate on her in the heart for a time every day, if possible thinking of her as the Divine Mother, to aspire to feel her there within you, offer her your works and pray that from within she may guide and sustain you. This is a preliminary stage which often takes long, but if one goes through it with sincerity and steadfastness, the mentality begins little by little to change and a new consciousness opens in the Sadhak which begins

How to work When you feel tired, don't overstrain yourself but rest - doing only your ordinary work; restlessly doing something or other all the time is not the way to cure it. To be quiet without and within is what is needed when there is this sense of fatigue. There is always a strength near you which you can call in and will remove these things, but you must learn to be quiet in order to receive it. Sri Aurobindo (Ref: Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, Vol. 23, P: 701) Orderly harmony and organisation in physical things is a necessary part of efficiency and perfection and makes the instrument fit for whatever work is given to it.

Perfection The ordinary life consists in work for personal aim and satisfaction of desire under some mental or moral control, touched sometimes by a mental ideal. The Gita's yoga consists in the offering of one's work as a sacrifice to the Divine, the conquest of desire, egoless and desireless action, bhakti for the Divine, an entering into the cosmic consciousness, the sense of unity with all creatures, oneness with the Divine. This yoga adds the bringing down of the supramental Light and Force (its ultimate aim) and the transformation of the nature. Sri Aurobindo (Ref: Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, Vol 23, P: 669) Not only liberation but perf

Working With Others From the point of view of sadhana - you must not allow yourself to be in the least disturbed by these things. What you have to do, what is right to be done, should be done in perfect calmness with the support of the Divine Force. All that is necessary for a successful result, can be done - including the securing of the support of those who are able to help you. But if this outer support is not forthcoming, you have not to be disturbed but to proceed calmly on your way. If there is any difficulty or unsuccess anywhere not due to your own fault, you have not to be troubled. Strength, unmoved calm, quiet straight and right deali

Work - Importance & Nature What is the use of only knowing? I say to thee, Act and be, for therefore God sent thee into this human body. Sri Aurobindo (Ref: Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, Vol. 17, P: 123) Of course the idea of bigness and smallness is quite foreign to the spiritual truth.... Spiritually there is nothing big or small. Such ideas are like those of the literary people who think writing a poem is a high work and making shoes or cooking the dinner is a small and low one. But all is equal in the eyes of the Spirit - and it is only the spirit within with which it is done that matters. It is the same