BHAKTI (Devotion) Fourth Period of Commentaries (1969 -1970) Bhakti (Devotion) Devotion is the key which opens the door to liberation. The Mother 408 − I am not a Bhakta, for I have not renounced the world for God. How can I renounce what He took from me by force and gave back to me against my will? These things are too hard for me. 409 − I am not a Bhakta, I am not a Jnani, I am not a worker for the Lord. What am I then? A tool in the hands of my Master, a flute blown upon by the divine Herd-Boy, a leaf driven by the breath of the Lord. 410 − Devotion is not utterly fulfilled till it becomes

83 – Shame has admirable results and both in aesthetics and in morality we could ill spare it; but for all that it is a badge of weakness and the proof of ignor- ance. One might ask how taking things seriously has pre- vented life from being more perfect. Virtue has always spent its time eliminating whatever it found bad in life, and if all the virtues of the various countries of the world had been put together, very few things would remain in existence. Virtue claims to seek perfection, but perfection is a totality. So the two movements contradict each other. A virtue that eliminates, reduces, fixes limits, and a perfection that accepts eve

* THE MOTHER - 1960

290 – There are many kinds of forbearance. I saw a coward hold out his cheek to the smiter; I saw a physical weakling struck by a strong and self-approving bully look quietly and intently at the aggressor; I saw God incarnate smile lovingly on those who stoned him. The first was ridiculous, the second terrible, the third divine and holy. Sri Aurobindo tells us that to radiate love in all circumstances is a sign of the Divine who has equal love for the one who strikes him and the one who worships him – what a lesson for humanity ! 17 January 1970 * 291 – It is noble to pardon thine own injurers, but not so noble to pardon wro

76 – Europe prides herself on her practical and scientific organisation and efficiency. I am waiting till her organisation is perfect; then a child shall destroy her.¹ When these Aphorisms were published in the Bulletin you said that this one should be omitted. It is a rather mysterious Aphorism, which I would very much like to understand. But I would like to know whether now we should publish it or not? Where did Sri Aurobindo write that? In the Aphorisms. Yes, but he did not write a special book; these texts were collected from here and there. No, no, not at all. Sri Aurobindo had a special note- book in which he wrote

Karma (Works) Fourth Period of Commentaries (1969 -1970) Karma (Works)   Self-development and spiritual aspiration enable one to master one's karma. 25 November 1969 * To learn is good. To become is better. 25 November 1969 * 206 – God leads man while man is misleading himself; the higher nature watches over the stumblings of his lower mortality; this is the tangle and contradic- tion out of which we have to escape into the self-unity to which alone is possible a clear knowledge and a faultless action. The only safety in life, the only way to escape from the consequences of past errors, is

43 – If God draw me towards Heaven, then, even if His other hand strive to keep me in Hell, yet must I struggle upwards. Does not God know what He wants for us? Why should He want to pull us in two opposite directions? God knows perfectly well what He wants for us. He wants to bring us all back to Him in a perfect union. The goal is one, the same for all; but the means, the methods and the procedures for reaching it are innumerable. There are just as many as there are beings on earth; and each one of these means is an exact expression of the will of the Supreme Lord, who, in his integral vision and perfect wisdom, does what is needful for each person.

7 – What men call knowledge is the reasoned acceptance of false appearances. Wisdom looks behind the veil and sees. Reason divides, fixes details and contrasts them; Wisdom unifies, marries contrasts in a single harmony. All that Sri Aurobindo writes about knowledge, reason, Wisdom is said in order to bring us out of the rut of conventional thinking, and, if possible, make us perceive the reality behind the appearances. As a general rule, with a few very rare exceptions, men are content to observe more or less accurately everything that happens around them, and sometimes within themselves, and to classify all these observations according to one superficial

As a rule, they did it only partially, through an emanation, not a total descent. For example, Vivekananda is said to have been an incarnation — a Vibhūti – of Shiva; but Shiva himself has clearly expressed his will to come down on earth only with the supramental world. When the earth is ready for the supramental life, he will come. And almost all these beings will manifest – they are waiting for that moment, they do not want any of the present struggle and the obscurity. Certainly Narada was one of those who came here… In fact, it was for fun! He liked to play with circumstances. But he had no knowledge of the psychic being and that must have prevented him from recognising the p

Jnana (Knowledge) Third Period of Commentaries (1962 - 1966)  69 – Sin and virtue are a game of resistance we play with God in His efforts to draw us towards perfection. The sense of virtue helps us to cherish our sins in secret. These Aphorisms clearly express the futility of our ideas of sin and virtue. You had also said, following your experience of 3 February 1958,¹ “I saw that what helps people to become supramental or prevents them from doing so, is very different from what our usual moral notions imagine.” You said besides, “What is very clear is that our appraisal of what is divine or undivine is not correct… At