"Words, Words, Words..."¹   WHILE coming to you, I saw your beautiful display of excerpts and quotations from the writings of Mother and Sri Aurobindo on the walls all around. Yes, it was a beautiful picture – and the sayings and mottoes and lines of poetry were, needless to say, precious treasures dear to us. But – left at that, to see, admire and pass on, well – they are dead things – words, words, words – lifeless skeletons. They have a meaning and they serve their purpose only when you come in contact with the life and consciousness in them, when you live them with your own life and be the consciousness that is there. You know the well-known phrase: the letter kills,

THE MIND   [1]   The trepidating restless stuff of the mind is hard to guard, hard to control. The intelligent man straightens it even as an arrow­ maker straightens an arrow.   [2]   Born of water, the fish strains and struggles when thrown on land from out of its watery dwelling, even so does the mind­ stuff when freed from the dominion of Mara.  [3]   Hard to master, unstable, wayward is the mind-stuff. It is good to be able to control it. A controlled mind-stuff brings happiness.   [4]   Hard to grasp, extremely clever, moving as it pleases, the  Page – 203 mind-stuff is to be kept under control. A well-guarded mind­

ON ANGER   [1]   Abandon anger; reject egoism; overcome all bondage. No suffering assails him, who has no attachment for name and form, who possesses nothing.   [2]   I call him a charioteer who controls his anger that is like a straying chariot; the others merely hold the reins.   [3]   Conquer anger by freedom from anger. Conquer the evil one by goodness, the 'miserly by generosity and the false by truth.   [4]   Speak the truth, never be angry, give when asked even if there be little. These are the three ways by which one approaches the gods.   [5]   The sages who are self-disciplined, who have control over their bo

THE PATH   [1]   Of all the Paths the best is the Eightfold one, of all the Truths the .best is the Fourfold one, of all the Rules of life the best is detachment and of all men the best is one who has eyes.  [2]   This indeed is the Path, none other exists for the purification of vision. Take to this Path. This alone confounds Mara.   [3]   Take to this Path and you shall end your suffering. I have known where the thorn hurts and I am explaining the Path.   [4]   You must yourself make the effort, the Master only explains. They who take to meditation and follow the Path are freed from the bond ages of the Adversary.   [5]  

OF THE SELF   [1]   If you consider the self dear to you, guard it well and protect it. In one or other of the three vigils, (youth, ripe age, old age), keep awake.   [2]   Establish yourself first in the right way, then you may instruct others. Thus the wise one will avoid all blame.   [3]   One must practise oneself what one teaches others. Being self­-controlled he can control others. It is difficult indeed to control oneself.   [4]   One's own self is one's master. Which other can be the master? By self-mastery one attains a mastery that is rarely achieved.     [5]   The evil done to oneself, the evil born o

Ashram: Inner and Outer   I WILL tell you a story today, but of another kind. I will tell you of a dream, or a vision that I had sometime ago. It was an ashram, I say an ashram for it was not quite like our ashram although there was a great similarity between the two. In some respects it was like our ashram and in other respects somewhat unlike. First of all the whole ashram was in one place, a consolidated organisation, not houses here and there scattered about: there were no buildings or houses belonging to other people or other organisations, also the buildings were beautiful to look at and the general lay-out artistic, but all the activities we have were there. The s

OLD AGE   [1]   Why this laughter? Why this merriment? When there is always this fire that consumes you are enveloped by darkness and you do not seek the light.   [2]   Look at this decorated image, the body full of sores, a heaped mass, diseased, full of vagaries with no stable status.   [3]   This form is decrepit, given to diseases, a mass of corruption, it breaks up – life ends in death.   [4]   What lure can there be at the sight of these bones white as dovefeather, that are thrown away like gourds in autumn.  Page – 217 [5]   A fortress has been made of bones and it is plastered with flesh and blood. Age

OF THE PLEASANT   [1]   One who yokes himself to things unworthy, one who unyokes             himself from things worthy, One who abandons the goal for the sake of the pleasant,             will envy those who are yoked to their soul.   [2]   Never seek the pleasant, nor even the unpleasant; It is painful not to see the pleasant and it is painful to see the unpleasant.   [3]   Therefore regard nothing as dear, for the loss of what is dear             is painful; No bondage exists for those who have neither likes nor dislikes.   [4]   The pleasant gives rise to grief, the pleasant gives rise to fear;

November I7, I973   THE Mother's body belonged to the old creation. It was meant to be the pedestal of the New Body. It served its purpose well. The New Body will come. This is a test, how far we are faithful to Her, true to Her Consciousness. The revival of the body would have meant revival of the old troubles in the body. The body troubles were eliminated so far as could be done while in the body – farther was not possible. For a new mutation, a new procedure was needed. "Death" was the first stage in that process.   (2)   Sweet Mother, Your physical body belonged to the old creation because you wanted to be one with your children. You wanted this b

A Programme for the Second Century of the Divine Manifestation   I   IT IS Integration. I am using a much used, much abused word but it happens to be the word. We have reached a status of consciousness within as distinct units, individual or collective: our effort should now be to co-ordinate, to harmonise the different and differing units or separate elements into a well-knit single whole. That means, the ego-centres that are still left and active are to be exorcised, purified – the separative knot has to be dissolved and the true centre of unity to be found – the psychic divine centre. First each element in the individual, each level of hi