PREFACE There are states and states of consciousness; there are profundities and Widenesses; there are heights over heights. To discover them one has to enlarge and explore ever-widening possibilities of psychological experience. In the depths of the being we may begin to integrate the threads and complexities of what we are and can become. It is there, perhaps, rather than in books or preachings, that we may begin to perceive and live what precisely is our aim of life. Free from dogmas and fixed beliefs, in the purity of experience, we may hope to discover the answer to the all-important questions: what am I to do? What role do I have to play in the vast and mysterious universe?

The Mother The Ascent to Truth Introduction The Mother was born in Paris on February 21, 1878, in a very materialistic, upper middle class family. She completed a thorough education of music, painting and higher mathematics. A student of the French painter Gustave Moreau, she befriended the great Impressionist artists of the time. She later became acquainted with Max Theon, an enigmatic character with extraordinary occult powers who, for the first time, gave her a coherent explanation of the spontaneous experiences occurring since her childhood, and who taught her occultism during two long visits to his estate in Algeria. In 1914 she

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The World as I see It Introduction The man who became a world-famous scientist during his own lifetime did not do well at school. Albert Einstein's teacher wrote that he "could not be expected to make a success of anything. "1 In fact, he was late in learning to walk and did not speak fluently until he was nine. He later wrote that at the age of five he had been stirred by the mystery of a compass and he said: At the age of twelve I experienced a second wonder of a totally different nature in a little book dealing with Euclidean plane geometry... Here were assertions, as for example, the intersection of the three altitudes of a triangle in

One of the first surah, or chapters, of the Koran in a manuscript produced in the 16th century Submission to the Will of the Supreme Introduction The Koran is a transcript of the messages revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel. These revelations were supernaturally received, in states of trance, over a considerable number of years intermittently, the first dating from about AD 610, and the last shortly before Muhammad's passing away in AD 632. The quintessence of Muhammad's teaching is that there is one God, who transcends the world, and that the aim of life is to commit oneself to Him and to submit t

Rene Descartes Proofs of the Existence of God and of the Human Soul Introduction Pursuit of truth is easily acknowledged to be an ideal for every thinking and living being. But what is truth and how can it be pursued? This has been debated through the centuries. What is claimed to be true by some is opposed by others. Some believe that truth is what our physical senses perceive; some others believe that truth is what our reasoning mind comes to conceive as real; some others believe that truth can be known neither by the senses nor by the reasoning intellect; according to them, truth is given to us through

Radha and Krishna, by M.A.R. Chughtai, courtesy N.G.M.A, New Delhi Ecstasy of Divine Love Introduction If we study the lives of God-lovers, we find that love for God comes to them in many ways. It may come as an awakening to the beauty of the Lover, by the sight of an ideal face and image of Him, by his mysterious hints of Himself behind the thousand faces of things in the world, by a slow or sudden need of the heart, by a vague thirst in the soul, by the sense of someone near drawing them or pursuing them with love, or someone blissful and beautiful whom they must discover. There are also instances where one seeks after Him passionate

Relentless Adventure and Ambition Introduction Alexander was born in 356 BC. His father, King Philip of Macedonia, had united Greece and had intended to free the Asiatic Greeks from Persian control. He also coveted the riches of the Persian Empire to pay for his professional army. At Philip's death, Alexander first quelled rebellions in Greece and then crossed the Dardenelles1 to start, at the age of twenty years, his 2800 mile journey into Asia. During his Asian campaigns, Alexander founded or refounded many cities to administer the conquered territories. The greatest of these was Alexandria in Egypt. From these cities, in territories later r

Apology Introduction A stout man with a flat face, broad nose, thick lips, heavy beard, shabby clothes and an unduly large paunch, which he hoped to reduce by dancing this is how Socrates has been described. Not a very flattering description of the man commonly considered the founder of Western philosophy. Although far from the Greek ideal of beauty, his face shows the honesty, courage and humour which has come to be called "Socratic". Plato speaks of him as "all glorious within".1 For the historical facts of Socrates ' life we have to rely on the accounts of two of his pupils: Plato, the philosopher, and Xenophon, the historian and biographer.2 Born

Shadows in the water. Photo: Carlos, Auroville Brahman is Real The World is a Lie Introduction Brahma satyam jaganmithya jivo brahmaiva naparah, "Brahman alone is real, the universe is unreal, and the individual soul is no other than the Brahman ": the call of the centuries that has held the soul of India in its spell. Some resounding echo of this powerful and impelling cry can still be heard in the remote corners of our own being — even though we belong to another age. The One Transcendent Reality, knowing which, all else seems unreal. The immobile and eternal Silence, the ineffable Peace, the Absolute Existence beyond all poss