Face Yourself (23-11-11) There are two works that are perfectly pleasing to God in his servant; to sweep in silent adoration His temple-floors and to fight in the world's battlefield for His divine consummation in humanity. (Thoughts and Aphorisms 514)   Face Yourself Every time you are afraid to face yourself and hide carefully from yourself what prevents you from advancing, well, it is as though you were building a wall on the way; later you must demolish it to pass on. It is better to do your task immediately, look yourself straight in the face, straight in the face, not try to sugar-coat the bitter pill. It is very bitter: all the weaknesses, uglinesses, all kinds of nasty li

Humanity is Unable to Judge (30-03-11) All renunciation is for a greater joy yet ungrasped. Some renounce for the joy of duty done, some for the joy of peace, some for the joy of God and some for the joy of self-torture, but renounce rather as a passage to the freedom and untroubled rapture beyond. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms 94) Humanity is Unable to Judge The only true attitude is one of humility, of silent respect before what one does not know, and of inner aspiration to come out of one’s ignorance. One of the things which would make humanity progress most would be for it to acknowledge willingly that it does not know and is therefore unable to judge. We constantly

WE ARE ALL ACTING A PLAY (02-11-11) Valmekie, our ancient epic poet, includes among the signs of a just & enlightened state of society not only universal education, morality and spirituality but this also that there shall be "none who is compelled to eat coarse food, none uncrowned & unanointed or who is restricted to a mean and petty share of luxuries." Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Ahorisms 194) WE ARE ALL ACTING A PLAY You see, only the one who is watching the play is not worried, because he knows everything that is going to happen and has an absolute knowledge of everything – everything that happens, everything that has happened and everything that is going to happen – and it is all the

A Very Tiny Serpent II (07-12-11) What is vice but an enslaving habit and virtue but a human opinion? See God and do His will; walk in whatever path He shall trace for thy goings. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-347) A Very Tiny Serpent II And then there are two methods: either to put so intense a light, the light of a truth-consciousness so strong, that this tiny serpent will be dissolved; or else to catch the thing as with pincers, pull it out from its place and hold it up before one’s consciousness. The first method is radical but one doesn’t always have at his disposal this light of truth, so one can’t always use it. The second method can be taken, but it hurts, it hurts as badl

Jivatman, Spark-Soul and Psychic Being (19-06-11) Jivatman, Spark-Soul and Psychic Being The Jivatman, spark-soul and psychic being are three different forms of the same reality and they must not be mixed up together as that confuses the clearness of the inner experience. The Jivatman or spirit, as it is usually called in English, is self-existent above the manifested or instrumental being – it is superior to birth and death, always the same, the individual Self or atman. It is the eternal true being of the individual. The soul is a spark of the Divine which is not seated above the manifested being, but comes down into the manifestation to support its evolution in the material world

The Great Adventure (15-06-11) Kali is Krishna revealed as dreadful Power & wrathful Love. She slays with her furious blows the self in body, life & mind in order to liberate it as spirit eternal. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-519) The Great Adventure There are people who love adventure.It is these I call, and I tell them this:” I invite you to the great adventure” It is not a question of repeating spiri­tually what others have done before us, for our adventure begins beyond that. It is a question of a new creation, entirely new, with all the unforeseen events, the risks, the hazards it entails-a real adventure, whose goal is certain victory, but the road to which is unknown an

Transformation of the Mind (03-04-11) Transformation of the Mind The point is that people take no trouble to see whether their intellect is giving them right thoughts, right conclusions, right views on things and persons, right indications about their conduct or course of action. They have their idea and accept it as truth or follow it simply because it is their idea. Even when they recognise that they have made mistakes of the mind, they do not consider it of any importance nor do they try to be more careful mentally than before. In the vital field people know that they must not follow their desires or impulses without check or control, they know that they ought to have a conscience or a mora

TRANSFORMATION AND REVERSAL OF CONCIOUSNESS (28-12-11) 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. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-409) TRANSFORMATION AND REVERSAL OF CONCIOUSNESS Formerly, when one spoke of transformation one meant solely the transformation of the inner consciousness. One tried to discover in oneself this deep consciousness and rejected the body and its activities like an encumbrance and a useless thing, in order to attend only to the inner movement. Sri Aurobindo declared that this was not enough; the Truth demanded that the

Concentration, Consciousness and Divine Presence (04-09-11) Concentration, Consciousness and Divine Presence   Mother, an inner effort is often spoilt by dispersions in outer activities. When one is outwardly active, how to keep the concentration? Oh, this should not be very difficult. Truly it should not be very difficult. For me what seems difficult is not to keep a kind of intensity of inner consciousness, to be separated from it; this seems something impossible. Once one catches that within oneself, how can one separate oneself from it, if you have had it once, if it has become a reality for you, this consciousness and this inner union with the psychic, and this consciousness and inte

Religion and the Spiritual Life (14-12-11) Act according to the Shastra rather than thy self-will & desire; so shalt thou grow stronger to control the ravener in thee; but act according to God rather than the Shastra; so shalt thou reach to His highest which is far above rule & limit. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Ahorisms 366) Religion and the Spiritual Life The articles and dogmas of a religion are mind-made things and, if you cling to them and shut yourself up in a code of life made out for you, you do not know and cannot know the truth of the Spirit that lies beyond all codes and dogmas, wide and large and free. When you stop at a religious creed and tie yourself in it, taking it fo