How can we escape from other people's influence? (16-09-09) Our parents fell, in the deep Semitic apologue, because they tasted the fruit of the tree of good and evil. Had they taken at once of the tree of eternal life, they would have escaped the immediate consequence; but God's purpose in humanity would have been defeated. His wrath is our eternal advantage. Sri Aurobindo. (Thoughts and Aphorism 520) Sri Aurobindo. (Thoughts and Aphorism 343) How can we escape from other people's influence? By concentrating more and more totally and completely on the Divine. If you aspire with all your ardour, if you want to receive only the divine influence, if all the time you pull back towards yo

Knowledge Is Within You (29-07-09) Canst thou see God as the bodiless Infinite & yet love Him as a man loves his mistress? Then has the highest truth of the Infinite been revealed to thee. Canst thou also clothe the Infinite in one secret embraceable body and see Him seated in each & all of these bodies that are visible & sensible? Then has its widest & profoundest truth come also into thy possession. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorism 492) Knowledge Is Within You You can understand only what you already know in your own inner self. What strikes you in a book is what you have already experienced deep within you. Men find a book or a teaching very wonderful and often you hear them say,

Is religion a necessity in the life of the ordinary man? (01-07-09) The spirit within us is the only all-efficient doctor and submission of the body to it the one true panacea. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms 396) Is religion a necessity in the life of the ordinary man? In the life of societies it is a necessity, for it serves as a corrective to collective egoism which, without this control, could take on excessive proportions. The level of collective consciousness is always lower than the individual level. It is very noticeable, for example, that when men gather in a group or collect in great numbers, the level of consciousness falls a great deal. The consciousness of crowds i

Sadhana through Meditation (08-07-09) The Law is for the bound & those whose eyes are sealed; if they walk not by it, they will stumble; but thou who art free in Krishna or hast seen his living light, walk holding the hand of thy Friend & by the lamp of eternal Veda. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms 367)   Sadhana through Meditation The mind is always in activity, but we do not observe fully what it is doing, but allow ourselves to be carried away in the stream of continual thinking. When we try to concentrate, this stream of self-made mechanical thinking becomes prominent to our observation. It is the first normal obstacle (the other is sleep during meditation) to the effort for y

An Exceptional Hour (28-03-12) When I had the dividing reason, I shrank from many things; after I had lost it in sight, I hunted through the world for the ugly and the repellent, but I could no longer find them. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-20) An Exceptional Hour People sleep, they forget, they take life easy – they forget, forget all the time…. But if we could remember…. That we are at an exceptional hour, a unique time, that we have this immense good fortune, this invaluable privilege of being present at the birth of a new world, we could easily get rid of everything that impedes and hinders our progress. So, the most important thing, it seems, is to remember this fa

Spiritual Life and Morality (15-05-12) Men are still in love with grief; when they see one who is too high for grief or joy, they curse him and cry, "O thou insensible!" Therefore Christ still hangs on the cross in Jerusalem Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-36)   Spiritual Life and Morality The spiritual life, the life of Yoga, has for its object to grow into the divine consciousness and for its result to purify, intensify, glorify and perfect what is in you. It makes you a power for manifesting the Divine; it raises the character of each personality to its full value and brings it to its maximum expression; for this is part of the Divine plan. Morality proceeds by a mental

The Feeling Of Uneasiness (27-09-12) 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. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-76) The Feeling Of Uneasiness There is another quality which must be cultivated in a child from a very young age: that is the feeling of uneasiness, of a moral disbalance which it feels when it has done certain things, not because it has been told not to do them, not because it fears punishment, but spontaneously. For example, a child who hurts its comrade through mischief, if it is in its normal, natural state, will experience uneasiness, a grief

To Help Humanity- II (12-12-12) When he watched the actions of Janaka, even Narada the divine sage thought him a luxurious worldling and libertine. Unless thou canst see the soul, how shalt thou say that a man is free or bound ? . Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-108) To Help Humanity- II What do you want to do to serve humanity? Give food to the poor? – You can feed millions of them. That will not be a solution, this problem will remain the same. Give new and better living conditions to men? – The Divine is in them, how is it that things don’t change? The Divine must know better than you the condition of humanity. What are you? You represent only a little bit of consciousness an

A Desire Of Higher Kind (03-10-12) Genius discovers a system; average talent stereotypes it till it is shattered by fresh genius. It is dangerous for an army to be led by veterans; for on the other side God may place Napoleon. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-77) A Desire Of Higher Kind When a child is full of desires, if one could give him a desire of a higher kind… if one could awaken in him the desire to know, the desire to learn, the desire to become a remarkable person…in this way, begin with that. As these things are difficult to do, so, gradually, he will develop his will for these things. Or even, from the material point of view, the desire to do something difficult

The Ordinary Life and the True Soul (08-01-12) The Ordinary Life and the True Soul   The ordinary life is a round of various desires and greeds. As long as one is preoccupied with them, there can be no lasting progress. A way out of the round must be discovered. Take, as an instance, that commonest preoccupation of ordinary life the constant thinking by people of what they will eat and when they will eat and whether they are eating enough. To conquer the greed for food an equanimity in the being must be developed such that you are perfectly indifferent towards food. If food is given you, you eat it; if not, it does not worry you in the least; above all, you do not keep thinking about food