CHAPTER IV THE SACRIFICE, THE TRIUNE PATH AND THE LORD OF THE SACRIFICE THE law of sacrifice is the common divine action that was thrown out into the world in its beginning as a symbol of the solidarity of the universe. It is by the attraction of this law that a divinising, a saving power descends to limit and correct and gradually to eliminate the errors of an egoistic and self-divided creation. This descent, this sacrifice of the Purusha, the Divine Soul submitting itself to Force and Matter so that it may inform and illuminate them, is the seed of redemption of this world of Inconscience and Ignorance. "For with sacrifice as

VIII THE SUPREME WILL IN THE light of this progressive manifestation of the Spirit, first apparently bound in the Ignorance, then free in the power and wisdom of the Infinite, we can better understand the great and crowning injunction of the Gita to the Karmayogin, "Abandoning all dharmas, all principles and laws and rules of conduct, take refuge in me alone." All standards and rules are temporary constructions founded upon the needs of the ego in its transition from Matter to Spirit. These makeshifts have a relative imperativeness so long as we rest satisfied in the stages of transition, content with the physical and vital life, attached to the mental movement, or ev

CHAPTER I THE FOUR AIDS YOGA_SIDDHA, the perfection that comes from the practice of Yoga, can be best attained by the combined working of four great instruments. There is, first, the knowledge of the truths, principles, powers and processes that govern the realisation— sastra. Next comes a patient and persistent action on the lines laid down by the knowledge, the force of our personal effort —utsaha. There intervenes, third, uplifting our knowledge and effort into the domain of spiritual experience, the direct suggestion, example and influence of the Teacher—guru. Last comes the instrumentality of Time—kala; for in all things there is a cycle of their action and a period

CHAPTER XII THE DIVINE WORK One question remains for the seeker upon the way of works, when his quest is or seems to have come to its natural end,—whether any work or what work is left for the soul after liberation and to what purpose? Equality has been seated in the nature or governs the whole nature; there has been achieved a radical deliverance from the ego-idea, from the pervading ego-sense, from all feelings and impulsions of the ego and its self-will and desires. The entire self-consecration has been made not only in thought and heart but in all the complexities of the being. A complete purity or transcendence of the three gunas has been harmoniously established. T

CHAPTER VII STANDARDS OF CONDUCT AND SPIRITUAL FREEDOM The knowledge on which the doer of works in Yoga has to found all his action and development has for the keystone of its structure a more and more concrete perception of unity, the living sense of an all-pervading oneness; he moves in the increasing consciousness of all existence as an indivisible whole: all work too is part of this divine indivisible whole. His personal action and its results can no longer be or seem a separate movement mainly or entirely determined by the egoistic "free" will of an individual, himself separate in the mass. Our works are part of an indivisible cosmic action; they

-06_THE ASCENT OF THE SACRIFICE ( I) CHAPTER V THE ASCENT OF THE SACRIFICE (1) THE WORK OF KNOWLEDGE-THE PSYCHIC BEING THIS then is in its foundations the integral knowledge of the Supreme and Infinite to whom we offer our sacrifice, and this the nature of the sacrifice itself in its triple character,—a sacrifice of works, a sacrifice of love and adoration, a sacrifice of knowledge. For even when we speak of the sacrifice of works by itself, we do not mean the offering only of our outward acts, but of all that is active and dynamic in us; our internal movements no less than our external doings are to be consecrated on the one altar. The inner heart of all work that is made into a sacrifice is a

-07_THE ASCENT OF THE SACRIFICE(2) CHAPTER VI THE ASCENT OF THE SACRIFICE (2) THE WORK OF LOVE- THE WORKS OF LIFE mental preference, vital passion or physical craving, but on the recognition of soul by soul,—love restored to its fundamental spiritual and psychic essence with the mind, the vital, the physical as manifesting instruments and elements of that greater oneness. In this change the individual love also is converted by a natural heightening into a divine love for the Divine Inhabitant immanent in a mind and soul and body occupied by the One in all creatures.     All love, indeed, that is adoration has a spiritual force behind it; even when it is offered ignorantly and to a limite

The Authority for the New Edition   On what authority were changes made in Savitri?   Sri Aurobindo's manuscripts are the main authority for the changes.      What Sri Aurobindo wrote has not been changed anywhere in the new edition. What have been corrected are mistakes of various kinds that occurred when his lines were copied, typed and printed. Our idea was that Savitri should consist of Sri Aurobindo's own words as far as possible. Some people may disagree with this, but it is the principle on which the work has been based.      Corrections have been made in every edition of Savitri, so there is nothing alarmingly new about wh

Letter to Dr. Karan Singh April 27, 1999  Respected Dr. Karan Singh-ji,        Apropos of my brief faxed reply to your kind letter of 9.4.99, I put down in relative detail some cardinal facts about the new edition of Savitri.      The Epic Savitri was composed spread over a period of three and half decades (1916-1950). Sri Aurobindo used different kinds of paper at different times, altered, omitted and introduced new words often along the margins of the papers and it was far from easy to make out several words of his text. While making fresh copies of the original manuscripts, his disciples unwittingly made several errors. Then came the stage when parts o