Part 4 Talks to the Students One day someone went to see the Mother on his birthday; it was our Prithwi Singh. Now Prithwi Singh, who was blind, plaintively said to the Mother, "Mother, here I am, so near to you; it's my birthday, a day so nice and precious to me, but I cannot see you, for I am blind in both of my eyes." Then the Mother answered, "What does that matter? You cannot see me but I am seeing you." And this is always so. You cannot see it with your physical eyes, but the Mother's look is always upon you, her look of love and protection: be sure and certain of that. You carry that within you for all time and wherever you go, whe

Man and the Other Beings Man is a complex being, an entity made of many personalities, holding together a variety of aspects around some centre. He contains a whole lot of different elements. He is a world in itself, or rather—why a world?—he is a universe or at least he represents it. It is not so with the other beings of other worlds, on other levels of creation. Each type there represents one aspect of infinity only and is in a way static; the beings there do not change or progress as man does on earth. They remain always what they are, they do what they do; it is rather fixed or at least the possibility of change is very limited. Earth is a conce

What Is to Be Done? Creation follows its cycles of evolution and it is said that at the end of each cycle there takes place a Pralaya—an annihilation of the existent grade of consciousness or of the species of beings incarnating that consciousness, and all the past is washed out, wiped away from the surface of creation and the next new phase starts. We all know the story of one such cycle, rather we have witnessed it; I mean the present cycle, still present though past and dead in a way. We know that matter evolved out of ether, life emerged from dead matter, and mind evolved out of life. We know that—although we do not know exactly how life sprang forth from lif

Part 5 The Integral Yoga At a point one must go beyond strivings. Do not strive or struggle, there must be no tension or tautness, it should be all relaxation. Tranquillise yourself. Allow the Other to take your own place. Leave it all to That. This too is not achieved but simply happens— through the Grace. "Wherever you see hope, faith, courage, trust and tranquillity, there you will see Me." —Nolini Kanta Gupta Page-89 Not to Destroy but to Transform Up till now, spiritual life or discipline usually meant a division—a division between spiritual and unspiritual, between what is a help and forms a base for

-002_Publisher^s Note.htm Publisher's Note These thoughts and reminiscences of Nolini Kanta Gupta were written or spoken during the final decade of his life— from the time of the Mother's passing in November 1973 until shortly before his own passing in February 1984. During that period they served as a source of guidance and consolation to the Ashram community, and they still seem relevant today. Many of these writings and talks were first presented to the students, young and old, of Nolini-da's classes. Later they were published in The Advent, a quarterly journal he edited, or in his Collected Works. Details about their publication and a life-sketch of the author are given

Intensity without Impatience One of the cardinal requirements for success in yoga sadhana is utsāha, zeal. The seeker has to give top priority to the demands of the sadhana—he cannot simply treat it as one of his interests. The spiritual life becomes the foremost concern, with all else playing subsidiary, if not contributory, roles. It is understood that the central aspiration is gradually communicated to all the parts of the being, and the whole complex of the body, vital and mind is made to participate in the effort. The effort must be intense, indeed, but not exhausting. There should be no impatience of any kind. Intensity in application and spirit r

Note on the Texts The texts in this book were written or spoken between 1973 and 1983. The first piece was written in November 1973 on the day after the Mother's passing; the last piece was written at the end of 1983, shortly before the author's own passing in February 1984. Almost all these pieces were first published in The Advent, a quarterly journal in English edited by Nolini Kanta Gupta and published by P. Counouma, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. Most of them were subsequently published in the eight-volume Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta (English edition), published by the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Pondicherry. A few pieces i

Falsehood Falsehood is the agony of the Supreme—so said the Mother. And to cure and dissolve this falsehood, the supreme Lord and His conscious-force, the supreme Mother, descended into the very depths of the abyss of creation. The radiating sparks of that supreme divine Presence are the souls on earth. Man, the human being, is nothing but that divine spark, the emanated spark of the Supreme, robed and lodged in the outer mould of an ignorant terrestrial consciousness. The soul, we might say, is a magic lantern put down here on earth to illumine and annihilate the surrounding obscurity of the material world. In its individual form each soul is unique: it has a uniq

A Vision The Mother says: "Just see. Look at me. I am here, come back in my new body—divine, transformed and glorious. And I am the same mother, still human. Do not worry. Do not be concerned about your own self, your progress and realisation, nor about others. I am here, look at me, gaze into me, enter into me wholly, merge into my being, lose yourself into my love, with your love. You will see all problems solved, everything done. Forget all else, forget the world. Remember me alone, be one with me, with my love.. ,"2 Published February 1978 2 One is reminded of Rabindranath Tagore's lines: Lo, from within our heart. O Mother, thou hast come forth

-007_The Soul^s Freedom.htm The Soul's Freedom l The pressure from above has been withdrawn and normalcy restored to the earth-consciousness. Pressure meant a separation: something foreign acting from elsewhere, an interference. As a process, as a passage needed for a time, for a special purpose and under special circumstances, it was necessary and welcome. But circumstances have changed. The higher consciousness has not to remain always high but to become level with the normal. Either the higher must come down and mingle totally with the lower, or the lower has to rise and merge altogether into the higher, or both meet and unite midway somewhere. Earth or material nature does