Guidance through Correspondence   Utility of Correspondence   It would be a great mistake for you to stop writing in the book;1 it is a means of direct and concrete contact with me and the help I can give you —  apart from that which I always send you at all times. It is an adverse suggestion and influence which wants you to stop writing, because it wishes to cut the connection established through the book so that you might find it more difficult to feel my help coming to you. It is absurd to break off because you are for the time being unsuccessful in keeping up an uninterrupted progress; the interruptions come, they hav

The Realisation of January 1908   General Remarks   It is not that there is anything peculiar to you in these difficulties; every sadhaka entering this Way has to get over similar impediments. It took me four years of inner striving to find a real Way, even though the Divine help was with me all the time, and even then it seemed to come by an accident; and it took me ten more years of intense Yoga under a supreme inner guidance to find the Way —  and that was because I had my past and the world's Past to assimilate and overpass before I could find and found the future. 5 May 1932   *     I think you

Remarks on Public Figures in India   Sayajirao Gaekwar   I find it strange that they have made the Gaekwar the President of the World Conference of Faiths. Is he a Hindu?   When I knew him the Gaekwar was a free-thinker without any religion; I don't know if he has altered his views since. Formally, he is of course a Hindu. 7 July 1936   *   I read the Gaekwar's speech at the World Conference of Faiths. It is full of commonplace ideas about brotherhood, fellowship and goodwill. These ideas seem to have become mere catch words and it is doubtful if they can be of an

Sadhana in the Ashram   Communal Sadhana   In respect to Yoga, what is the meaning of communal sadhana?   There is no communal sadhana. It is the individuals who do the sadhana and that creates a collective atmosphere with a character and movements of its own.   In the commune can sadhaks help each other in their sadhana?   What commune? There is no commune here, there is only a group of people who are supposed to follow the same sadhana.   In what way?   Anyone can help another if he has the capacity. It has nothing to do with a "commune".   Not living in a commune, is it possible to reach th

Remarks on European Writers on Occultism   Helena Petrovna Blavatsky   On reading La Vie de Mme Blavatsky, I had the impression that there is nothing but vital occultism in her. Her life and work are concerned mostly with the supraphysical worlds and spirits and miraculous powers and Mahatmas.   You are quite right. She was an occultist, not a spiritual personality. What spiritual teachings she gave, seemed to be based on intellectual knowledge, not on realisation. Her attitude was Tibetan Buddhistic. She did not believe in God, but in Nirvana, miraculous powers and the Mahatmas. 31 March 1936

Lights, Visions, Dreams   Sri Aurobindo's Light   If it is pale blue, it may be my colour. Pale lavender blue, pale blue but very brilliant in its own shade. 6 August 1932   *   Nowadays I see Sri Aurobindo's light for most of the time but in different forms —  sometimes like a big star, sometimes like a moon, sometimes like a flash of light. Why do I not see it in the same form?   It varies according to the circumstances. Why should it be always the same? 21 April 1933   *   Two days back in a dream I saw Sri Aurobindo coming towards me. His body

Section Three   Remarks on Himself as a Writer and on His Writings       On Himself as a Writer   Yoga and Intellectual Development   Can it be that in course of the sadhana, one may have certain intellectual or other training by the direct power of yoga? How did your own wide development come?   It came not by "training", but by the spontaneous opening and widening and perfecting of the consciousness in the sadhana. 4 November 1936   Yoga and Literary Expression   Suppose you had not studied English literature; would it be still possible for you to say something about it by Yogic experience?

Early Experiences   An Experience in England   Someone told me that it is written somewhere that you had a realisation in 1890 when you were 18. Is this true?   A realisation in 1890? It does not seem possible. There was something, though I was not doing Yoga and knew nothing about it in the year of my departure from England; I don't remember which it was but probably 1892 ­ 3 which would make 20 years, not 18. I don't remember anything special in 1890. Where did he see this written? 22 August 1936   First Experience of the Self   For, as to this "Grace", we describe it in that way because

Section Two   Sadhana in Pondicherry 1910 - 1950   The Early Years in Pondicherry 1910 - 1926   Sitting on the Path?   It is not clear what your Guru meant by my sitting on the path; that could have been true of the period between 1915 and 1920 when I was writing the Arya, but the sadhana and the work were waiting for the Mother's coming. In 1923 or 1924 I could not be described as sitting on the path, so far as the sadhana was concerned, but it may perhaps be only a metaphor or symbol for the outward form of the work not yet being ready. The statement about my having gone too high to red

Rules in the Life of the Ashram   No Fixed Rules   The Asram, not being a public institution, has no prospectus or fixed set of rules. It is directed by the Mother according to what she sees to be necessary for each individual and for the work as a whole. 19 March 1930   *   I request you to furnish me with the rules and regulations necessary for becoming a member of the Ashram.   Tell him that there are no public rules and regulations for the Asram, as it is not a public institution.1 Only some of Sri Aurobindo's disciples who are considered ready or called to the Asram life are admitted. At