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

Need and Desire (17-10-12) It is rationality and prudence to distrust the supernatural; but to believe in it, is also a sort of wisdom. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-85) Need and Desire How to know if things are really necessary, not desired? ... For that you must observe yourself very, very attentively, and if there is anything in you which produces something like a small intense vibration, then you may be sure that there lies a desire. For example, you say, “This food is necessary for me” – you believe, you imagine, you think that you need such and such a thing and you find the necessary means to obtain the thing. To know if it is a need or a desire, you must look at

TRUE SINCERITY (14-03-12) Someone was laying it down that God must be this or that or He would not be God. But it seemed to me that I can only know what God is and I do not see how I can tell Him what He ought to be. For what is the standard by which we can judge Him ? These judgments are the follies of our egoism. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-18) TRUE SINCERITY When you are absolutely sincere, you make a constant effort to live in harmony with the highest ideal of your being, the truth of your being. At every moment, in all that you think, all that you feel and all that you do, you try as perfectly as possible, as completely as possible, to put yourself in harmony with the

Religion: Not Divine But Human (12-09-12) The sign of dawning Knowledge is to feel that as yet I know little or nothing, and yet, if I could only know my knowledge, I already possess everything. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-72) Religion: Not Divine But Human Religion belongs to the higher mind of humanity. It is the effort of man’s higher mind to approach, as far as it lies in its power, something beyond it, something to which humanity gives the name God or Spirit or Truth or Faith or Knowledge or the Infinite, some kind of Absolute, which the human mind cannot reach and yet tries to reach. Religion may be divine in its ultimate origin; in its actual nature it is not div

Work as Part of the Yoga (02-09-12) Work as Part of the Yoga   …Work is part of the Yoga and it gives the best opportunity for calling down the Presence, the Light and the Power into the vital and its activities; it increases also the field and the opportunity of surrender… Sri Aurobindo, SABCL vol 25, pages 200-201 …Yoga through work is the easiest and most effective way to enter into the stream of this Sadhana. Sri Aurobindo, SABCL vol 25, page 207 The only work that spiritually purifies is that which is done without personal motives, without desire for fame or public recognition or worldly greatness, without insistence on one's own mental motives or vital lusts and demand

What is one to do to prepare oneself for the Yoga? (01-02-12) In our sorrowful age, almost withered by the excessive domination of the intellect, nothing can be at once more necessary and more precious than Divine Love. In former times there was a noble form of asseveration for souls compact merely of force and action, “As surely as God liveth.” But for our modern needs another asseveration would suit better, “As surely as God loveth.” Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-503) What is one to do to prepare oneself for the Yoga? To be conscious, first of all. We are conscious of only an insignificant portion of our being; for the most part we are unconscious.It is this unconsciousness

Sri Aurobindo and Religion (21-11-12) Vivekananda, exalting Sannyasa, has said that in all Indian history there is only one Janaka. Not so, for Janaka is not the name of a single individual, but a dynasty of self-ruling kings and the triumph-cry of an ideal. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-103) Sri Aurobindo and Religion You only have to read all that Sri Aurobindo has written to know that it is impossible to base a religion on his works, because he presents each problem, each question in all its aspects, showing the truth contained in each way of seeing things, and he explains that in order to attain the Truth you must realise a synthesis which goes beyond all mental notions

The Greatest Obstacle: Hypocrisy (18-04-12) God is a great and cruel Torturer because He loves. You do not understand this, because you have not seen and played with Krishna. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-28)   The Greatest Obstacle: Hypocrisy Now I am addressing parents and teachers, for it is very important to teach children that it is absolutely useless to ‘look’ as if they were good, to ‘look’ as if they were obedient, to ‘look’ as if they were studying well, etc. Very often, the course parents and teachers adopt with their children is to encourage them to ‘look as if’. It often happens that if a child spontaneously confesses his mistake, he is given a scolding. This is one of th

 Kalidasa says in a daring image that the snowrocks of Kailasa are Shiva's loud world-laughters piled up in utter whiteness and pureness on the mountain-tops. It is true;and when their image falls on the heart, then the world's cares melt away like the clouds below into their real nothingness. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-506) Difficult to stop Meditation Is not an increasing effort of meditation needed and is it not true that the more hours you meditate the greater progress you make? The number of hours spent in meditation is no proof of spiritual progress. It is a proof of your progress when you no longer have to make an effort to meditate. Then

Perfect Sincerity(25-01-12) Neither do thou inflict pain, O man, on thy fellow; God alone has the right to inflict pain; or those have it whom He has commissioned. But deem not fanatically, as did Torquemada, that thou art one of these. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-503)   Perfect Sincerity   Do you know what perfect sincerity is?... Never to try to deceive oneself, never let any part of the being try to find out a way of convincing the others, never to explain favourably what one does in order to have an excuse for what one wants to do, never to close one’s eyes when something is unpleasant, never to let anything pass, telling oneself, “That is not important, next time