Renunciation (27-2-13) Revelation is the direct sight, the direct hearing or the inspired memory of Truth, drishti, sruti, smriti; it is the highest experience and always accessible to renewed experience. Not because God spoke it, but because the soul saw it, is the word of the Scriptures our supreme authority.   Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms - 98)   Renunciation There is in books a lot of talk about renunciation – that you must renounce possessions, renounce attachments, renounce desires. But I have come to the conclusion that so long as you have to renounce anything you are not on this path; for, so long as you are not thoroughly disgusted with things as they are, and hav

Stride swiftly for the goal is far; rest not unduly, for thy Master is waiting for thee at the end of thy journey. (Thoughts and Aphorisms - 313)   A Sort of Total Security When one has the positive experience of the one and only existence of the Supreme and that all is only the Supreme playing to Himself, instead of being something disquieting or unpleasant or troubling, it is… a sort of total security. The one reality is the Supreme. And all this is a game He plays to Himself. I find this much more comforting than the opposite view. And after all, this is the only certitude that all this may become something marvellous… You will see, there i

Fix thy soul without desire upon the end and insist on it by the divine force within thee; then shall the end itself create its means, nay, it shall become its own means. For the end is Brahman and already accomplished; see it always as Brahman, see it always in thy soul as already accomplished. (Thoughts and Aphorisms - 315)     Violence and Anger Agitation, violence, anger, all these things are always, without exception, signs of weakness. And especially when one gets carried away in his speech and says things one should not say, this indeed is the sign of a frightful mental weakness – mental and vital – frightful….. There is a great weakness in s

Judging Others (25-09-13) To commit adultery with God is the perfect experience for which the world was created. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms - 412)   Judging Others Unless your vision is constantly the vision of the Divine in all things, you have not only no right but no capacity to judge the state which others are in. And to pronounce a judgement on someone without having this vision spontaneously, effortlessly, is precisely an example of the mental presumptuousness of which Sri Aurobindo always spoke… And it so happens that one who has the vision, the consciousness, who is capable of seeing the truth in all things, never feels the need to judge anything whatever. For h

The Mother's Presence (21-04-13) The Mother’s Presence The Psychic and the Mother’s Presence The Mother’s presence is always there; but if you decide to act on your own — your own idea, your own notion of things, your own will and demand upon things, then it is quite likely that her presence will get veiled; it is not she who withdraws from you, but you who draw back from her. But your mind and vital don’t want to admit that, because it is always their preoccupation to justify their own movements. If the psychic were allowed its full predominance, this would not happen; it would have felt the veiling, but it would at once have said, “There must have been some mistake in me, a mist has aris

Make Your Consciousness Vast – II (06-11-13) Boast not thy riches, neither seek men’s praise for thy poverty and self-denial; both these things are the coarse or the fine food of egoism. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms – 351) Make Your Consciousness Vast – II There is a way also [of making your consciousness vast] by trying to identify yourself with all things upon earth. For example, when you have a small narrow vision of something and are hurt by others' vision and point of view, you must begin by shifting your consciousness, try to put it in others, and try gradually to identify yourself with all the different ways of thinking of all others.…Some people do this more easily. F

Make Your Consciousness Vast – II (06-11-13) Boast not thy riches, neither seek men’s praise for thy poverty and self-denial; both these things are the coarse or the fine food of egoism. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms – 351) Make Your Consciousness Vast – II There is a way also [of making your consciousness vast] by trying to identify yourself with all things upon earth. For example, when you have a small narrow vision of something and are hurt by others' vision and point of view, you must begin by shifting your consciousness, try to put it in others, and try gradually to identify yourself with all the different ways of thinking of all others.…Some people do this more easily. F

Rajasic Eagerness (13-3-13) There are many kinds of forbearance. I saw a coward hold out his cheek to the smiter; I saw a physical weakling struck by a strong and self-approving bully look quietly & intently at the aggressor; I saw God incarnate smile lovingly on those who stoned him. The first was ridiculous, the second terrible, the third divine and holy. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms - 289)   Rajasic Eagerness What does “rajasic eagerness” mean? “Eagerness”? It is vehemence, it is violence. It is an excessive ardour; and “rajasic” – it is the over-active and violent element, it is the turbulent element in the being. Rajasic – that’s the nature of all transports, flarings-

Learn to be Quiet (06.03.13) The world is a long recurring decimal with Brahman for its integer. The period seems to begin and end, but the fraction is eternal; it will never have an end and never had any real beginning.   Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms - 115) Learn to be Quiet The noise made by all the words, all the ideas in your head is so deafening that it prevents you from hearing the truth when it wants to manifest. To learn to be quiet and silent… When you have a problem to solve, instead of turning over in your head all the possibilities, all the consequences, all the possible things one should or should not do, if you remain quiet with an aspiration for goodwill, if po

The only business of reason is to arrange and criticise the perceptions. It has neither in itself any means of positive conclusion nor any command to action. When it pretends to originate or impel, it is masking other agencies. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms - 259)   How To Strengthen The Will   Mother, how can one strengthen one’s will? Oh, as one strengthens muscles, by a methodical exercise. You take one little thing, something you want to do or don’t want to do. Begin with a small thing, not something very essential to the being, but a small detail. And then, if, for instance, it is something you are in the habit of doing, you insi