Man in the Universe (23-03-11) It is easy to distinguish the evil worked by sin & vice, but the trained eye sees also the evil done by self-righteous or self-regarding virtue. Sri Aurobindo (355−Thoughts and Aphorisms)   Man in the Universe ……The universe and the individual are the two essential appearances into which the Unknowable descends and through which it has to be approached; for other intermediate collectivities are born only of their interaction. This descent of the supreme Reality is in its nature a self-concealing; and in the descent there are successive levels, in the concealing successive veils. Necessarily, the revelation takes the form of an ascent; and necessarily also

The Real Difficulty (15-05-11) The Real Difficulty THE real difficulty is always in ourselves, not in our surroundings. There are three things necessary in order to make men invincible, Will, Disinterestedness and Faith. We may have a will to emancipate ourselves, but sufficient faith may be lacking. We may have a faith in our ultimate emancipation, but the will to use the necessary means may be wanting. And even if there are will and faith, we may use them with a violent attachment to the fruit of our work or with passions of hatred, blind excitement or hasty forcefulness which may produce evil reactions. For this reason it is necessary, in a work of such magnitude, to have resort to a high

The Problem of Life (16-10-11) The Problem of Life LIFE is, we have seen, the putting forth, under certain cosmic circumstances, of a Conscious-Force which is in its own nature infinite, absolute, untrammelled, inalienably possessed of its own unity and bliss, the Conscious-Force of Sachchidananda. The central circumstance of this cosmic process, in so far as it differs in its appearances from the purity of the infinite Existence and the self-possession of the undivided Energy, is the dividing faculty of the Mind obscured by ignorance. There results from this divided action of an undivided Force the apparition of dualities, oppositions, seeming denials of the nature of Sachchidananda which

SAPTA CHATUSTHAYA (07-08-11) SAPTA CHATUSTHAYA Shanti-Chatusthaya. Samata shantih sukham hasyam iti shantichatusthayam. Samata The basis of internal peace is samata, the capacity of receiving with a calm and equal mind all the attacks and appearances of outward things, whether pleasant or unpleasant, ill-fortune and good-fortune, pleasure and pain, honour and ill-repute, praise and blame, friendship and enmity, sinner and saint, or, physically, heat and cold etc. There are two forms of samata, passive and active, samata in reception of the things of the outward world and samata in reaction to them. (1) Passive Passive samata consists of three things titiksha, udasinata, natih i

The Triple Transformation Psychic ─ Spiritual ─ Supramental (13-04-11) How shall I know God's will with me? I have to put egoism out of me, hunting it from every lair & burrow, and bathe my purified and naked soul in His infinite workings; then He himself will reveal it to me. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms 349)   The Triple Transformation Psychic ─ Spiritual ─ Supramental For the soul there are three realisations: − (1) the realisation of the psychic being and consciousness as the divine element in the evolution; (2) the realisation of the cosmic Self which is one in all; (3) the realisation of the Supreme Divine from which both individual and cosmos have come and of t

Hallucination is the term of Science for those irregular glimpses we still have of truths shut out from us by our preoccupation with matter; coincidence for the curious touches of artistry in the work of that supreme and universal Intelligence which in its conscious being as on a canvas has planned and executed the world. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-15) Basic Requisites of the Path ….. The Divine Grace and Power can do everything, but with the full assent of the sadhak. To learn to give that full assent is the whole meaning of the sadhana. It may take time either because of ideas in the mind, desires in the vital or inertia in the physical c

Open Yourself, Be Modest (05-10-11) Because God is invincibly great, He can afford to be weak; because He is immutably pure, He can indulge with impunity in sin; He knows eternally all delight, therefore He tastes also the delight of pain; He is inalienably wise, therefore He has not debarred Himself from folly. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Ahorisms 65) Open Yourself, Be Modest What you should do is to throw the doors of your being wide open to the Divine. The moment you conceal something, you step straight into Falsehood. The least suppression on your part pulls you immediately down into unconsciousness. If you want to be fully conscious, be always in front of the Truth- completely open

A Decisive Turning Point (29-06-11) God within is infinite and self-fulfilling Will. Unappalled by the fear of death, canst thou leave to Him, not as an experiment, with a calm & entire faith thy ailments? Thou shalt find in the end that He exceeds the skill of a million doctors Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-397) A Decisive Turning Point At the moment we are at a decisive turning-point in the history of the earth, once again. From every side I am asked, “What is going to happen?” Everywhere there is anguish, expectation, fear. “What is going to happen?...” There is only one reply: “If only man could consent to be spiritualised.” And perhaps it would be enough if some individual

The Sun of Divine Laughter (20-04-11) The whole world is my seraglio and every living being and inanimate existence in it is the instrument of my rapture. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms 426) The Sun of Divine Laughter This delight, this wonderful laughter that dissolves every shadow, every pain, every suffering! You only have to go deep enough within yourself to find the inner Sun, to let yourself by flooded by it; and then there is nothing but a cascade of harmonious, luminous, sunlit laughter, which leaves no room for any shadow or pain… And this Sun, this Sun of divine laughter is at the centre of all things, the truth of all things: we must learn to see it, to feel it, to

SRI AUROBINDO AND KRISHNA(02-02-11) The mediaeval ascetics hated women and thought they were created by God for the temptation of monks. One may be allowed to think more nobly both of God and of woman. Sri Aurobindo. (Thoughts and Aphorisms 302) SRI AUROBINDO AND KRISHNA You can't expect me to argue about my own spiritual greatness in comparison with Krishna's. The question itself would be rele­vant only if there were two sectarian religions in opposition, Aurobindoism and Vaishnavism, each insisting on its own God's greatness. That is not the case. And then what Krishna must I challenge, — the Krishna of the Gita who is the transcendent Godhead, Paramatma, Parabrahma, Purushottama, the c