241 – Atheism is a necessary protest against the wicked- ness of the Churches and the narrowness of creeds. God uses it as a stone to smash these soiled card-houses. 242 – How much hatred and stupidity men succeed in packing up decorously and labelling “Religion”! Which is better: religion or atheism? So long as religions exist, atheism will be indispensable to counter-balance them. Both must disappear to make way for a sincere and disinterested search for Truth and a total consecration to the object of this search. 21 December 1969 * 243 – God guides best when He tempts worst, loves entirely when He punishes cruelly, helps per

you are unfit for yoga. Because, truly, you are not ready for yoga when you are in that state. It is a rudimentary state.   January 1961 * 51 – When I hear of a righteous wrath, I wonder at man's capacity for self-deception. When one deceives oneself, one always does it in good faith. One is always acting for the good of others or for the welfare of humanity and to serve you – that goes without saying! How does one deceive one- self?¹ I feel like asking you a question myself! Because your question can be understood in two ways. One can take it in the same spirit of irony and humour that Sri Aurobindo has put in his Aphorism, when he marvels at

456 − Dost thou hate the atheist because he does not love God? Then shouldst thou be disliked because thou dost not love God perfectly. 457 − There is one thing especially in which creeds and churches surrender themselves to the devil, and that is in their anathemas. When the priest chants Ana- thema Maranatha, then I see a devil praying. 458 − No doubt, when the priest curses, he is crying to God; but it is the God of anger and darkness to whom he devotes himself along with his enemy; for as he approaches God, so shall God receive him. 459 − I was much plagued by Satan, until I found that it was God who was tempting me;

JNANA (KNOWLEDGE) First period of Commentaries (1958) Jnana (Knowledge) It is no use reading books of guidance if one is not determined to live what they teach. Blessings                                       The Mother 1 – There are two allied powers in man: knowledge and Wisdom. Knowledge is so much of the truth, seen in a distorted medium, as the mind arrives at by groping; Wisdom what the eye of divine vision sees in the spirit. Someone has asked me, why are the powers allied? I suppose that we are so used to seeing all the elements in man quarrelling among themselves that the idea of thei

375 − What is this then thou callest death? Can God die? O thou who fearest death, it is Life that has come to thee sporting with a death-head and wearing a mask of terror. 376 − There is a means to attain physical immortality and death is by our choice, not by Nature's compulsion. But who would care to wear one coat for a hundred years or be confined in one narrow and changeless lodging unto a long eternity? If a person feels that his work is over in this life and that he has nothing more to offer, wouldn't it be better for him to die and be born again instead of dragging out an aimless existence? This is what

Sri Aurobindo (From a meditation written on the day after the Mother first saw Sri Aurobindo) It matters little that there are thousands of beings plunged in the densest ignorance, He whom we saw yesterday is on earth; his presence is enough to prove that a day will come when darkness shall be transformed into light, and Thy reign shall be indeed established upon earth. O Lord, Divine Builder of this marvel, my heart overflows with joy and gratitude when I think of it, and my hope has no bounds. My adoration is beyond all words, my reverence is silent. 30 March 1914 * Page–3 What Sri Aurobindo represents in th

General X might be told that apart from the superficiality and shallowness of his reasons for not coming for Pranam, there are others, much more advanced in Sadhana than he is, who do come. What about these? He is always trying to prove that he is far superior to all the other sadhaks. That is the root of his mistake. May 1932 * I am happy at your resolution and I hope you will keep to it. I was going to write to you that you must choose between seeing me and drink ― for I would not see you if you went on drinking ― but I am glad to hear that you have made the resolution already. 11 October 1935 * A great store of light, Ananda, knowledge and power seem

AUROVILLE Aims and Principles Page - 193 Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity. 8 September 1965 * 1. Who has taken the initiative for the construction of Auroville? The Supreme Lord. 2. Who participates in the financing of Auroville? The Supreme Lord. 3. If one wants to live in Auroville, what does it im- ply for oneself? To try to attain the Supreme Perfection. 4.Must one be a student of yoga in ord

Finance To find the necessary funds for Auroville one could proceed in the following manner: Find in every coun- try a very wealthy person who would be the centre for collecting funds for Auroville. Advantages: Such a person would carry weight, would be an example for the others and would never give the impression of begging. In principle this way is all right. But in practice, and to avoid all possibility of failure (because failure would have a deplorable effect), we must wait for an indication from circumstances of which I will be immediately informed. And then I will give the signal to go ahead. November 1965 * Mother, Will X play

Sri Aurobindo Ashram Sri Aurobindo was living in Pondicherry with four or five disciples from 1910 to 1920. In 1914 the Mother came from France (with Paul Richard) and Sri Aurobindo began to edit the Arya, which continued up to January 1920. In April 1920 the Mother came back from Japan and gradually, as the number of people increased, the Ashram was founded in 1926. Although there is a certain charm and poetry in the fact that there is no formal date for the creation of our Ashram, could it be said from the occult point of view that the Ashram was born with the Mother's arrival? The Ashram was born a few years after my return from Japan,