THE CANTO OF DESIRE   [1]   The desire of the man of deluded movements grows like the golden creeper. And as the monkey in pursuit of fruits in the forest leaps from tree to tree even so the man wanders from birth to birth ceaselessly.  [2]   For one who is overpowered by this poisonous growing desire, the miseries increase overwhelmingly like wild weeds.   [3]   For one who overpowers this growing desire, so hard to tame, the miseries slip off like water-drops from the lotus-leaf.   [4]   To all who are gathered here, I say, for your welfare: Dig out the roots of desire even as you dig out the roots of wild weeds     [

VIGILANCE    [1]   Vigilance is the way to immortality. Negligence the way to Death. The vigilant never dies; the negligent is already dead.   [2]   They know this thoroughly well, the wise in vigilance and they rejoice in their vigilance, ever in the presence of the Great Ones.   [3]   They who are intelligent, meditative, persevering, combat ceaselessly against themselves, reach the Nirvana that is supreme felicity.     [4]   He who is full of zeal, he who is mindful, he who is pure in deed, and acts thoughtfully, who is self-controlled and lives in accordance with the Law sees his fame ever growing.   [5]  

TRANSLATIONS   From Sanskrit Bengali French  Sanskrit   HYMN TO DAWN   Rishi Kutsa   (Rig-Veda – Mandala 1, Sukta 113)   Lo, the supreme Light of lights is come:             a varied knowledge is born in front spreading far and wide. She is born to give birth to the Sun,             even so Night opens her womb for the Dawn. [1]   With her reddening child, the white Mother comes blushing             red: the dark Mother flings open her dark chambers.             Both have the same Comrade, both are immortals, they             follow each other, as they move measuring out earth             and h

Liberty, Self-Control and Friendship   WE are a larger assembly here today – we have increased in number.... Now, we all want to be good boys and good girls, is it not? Nobody wants to be a bad boy or a bad girl; but the problem is how to be a good boyar girl and how not to be a bad boy or girl. In what does goodness consist? You all know the fine gesture that Mother taught us once. Gesture means a physical movement – here a physical movement to control yourself; control, self-control is a very important, a very necessary item of our life. So the Mother once said; supposing you are very angry and you are inclined to give a blow to your comrade, then, the Mothe

Muraripukur - II Now. I come to the last phase of our life at Manicktolla Gardens, that is when we turned towards terroristic activities like the manufacture of bombs, collecting pistols and rifles and making good use of them. The first chapter had already begun with the Yugantar newspaper. As we took up these revolutionary activities, we discovered that it was not easy to carryon this kind of secret work unless there was common in the country as a whole a keen desire I and hope for freedom. What was needed was a favourable atmosphere from which the revolutionaries could get the desired sympathy and support. One could not expect anything but opposition from a people cowed

The Evolutionary Imperative MAN will grow into superman – in spite of himself, if necessary. Has not the animal grown into man? And did the animal try for it or even wish for it? Just so, the plant grew into the animal, willy-nilly, having had no inkling of its destiny. Out of the plant the animal came: a sensory system, a nervous organisation tore, as it were, into the pulp of the vegetable substance and established itself there. And subsequently, ages after, the animal himself underwent a similar transmutation: a larger amount of brain substance and a more complicated configuration in it was implanted in the brain cavity of the animal. Whence and wherefore ca

Two Great Wars (I) WE have been through two great World Wars in the course of our life in Pondicherry. This was quite an experience. The two Wars were identical in their inner nature and import. From our point of view, they were both of them a battle of the gods and titans. On one side were the instruments of the gods, on the other of the titans. It is a curious thing, if not altogether strange, that Germany and, to some extent, Russia should have sided with the titans and England and France and America fought on the side of the gods. This is something that happens always in the history of man, this battle of the gods and titans. Whenever there is a New Creation in t

-33_The Cause of India^s Decline.htm The Cause of India's Decline WHAT is the cause – the fundamental cause – of India's decline? The mighty nation that was once the vanguard of the world in the field of learning and culture, whose all-round genius had almost no equal, is now ruthlessly stricken with poverty, incapacity, weakness and stands on the verge of destruction. Many are the factors that are said to have brought about such a downfall. But what is the main, the source cause? Loss of vitality, for that is the foremost feature. This statement applies equally to an individual as to a nation. When vitality runs short, the life-energy falls to a low ebb; weakness, disease and death gradually force

Shyamakanta I INTEND to write of another great Bengali who can be looked upon as a model of the Bengali race. He has shown the genius of the Bengalis in quite an unusual field. His name is Shyamakanta, later on known as So'ham Swami. I speak of the extraordinary capacity of Shyamakanta and not of So'ham Swami. In fact, for the achievement he attained in the domain of physical strength, he deserves nothing short of the term genius. In this field, too, a Bengali was able to show his unique superiority. His strength was not merely physical strength. It was not the result of any physical culture. For there was a peculiar magic, almost a mantric power in his physical strength and ca

Alipore Court "Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for an hermitage" –Lovelace IT was as it were a wheel within a wheel, a circle within a circle, a play within a play. The comedy of our trial was being staged within the world-play, and on the court-room stage itself we the undertrial prisoners had been doing our little private drama. The stage was set in the room of the Alipore Sessions Court. One corner of the room was fenced off so as to form a square enclosure but with wire netting that enabled us to see and breathe. They had also left a small passage through the netting for our entrance and exit,