The Ashram, the World and The Individual* MOTHER told us long ago that our Ashram is an epitome of India. It represents all that is good in India and also all that is bad – all the bad qualities, her weaknesses, all that is crooked and false, dark and obscure. And the Ashram, being a concentrated centre of all that, represents them in a specially intense form. Now the pressure from above has come to change and for that purpose all the dark points, all that is to be changed and rejected, have been exposed. They have been exposed everywhere – in the Ashram and also outside the Ashram, in the country in general the same defects and weaknesses, the same

The Golden Chain You have been here for many many years, isn't it? – many many years. From your childhood you are here, isn't it? perhaps all of you. Some of you are going out, Some are likely to stay, some still undecided. If you are asked: 'What have you gained here by your long stay, for some, a very long stay?'... I can tell you what you have gained. It is not any outward thing, nor any of the things that you have learnt at school, the knowledge that you have gained here, it is not that, but something else. Be sure of that. You don't know perhaps yourselves, but that thing is there, within you. You have not passed your time in vain here: you have the Mother's touch.

A Note On "The Mother Of Dreams" WHO is the Mother of Dreams? And what is a Dream, after all? Where is the world of dreams? Dreams simply mean possibilities, whatever has not happened physically, materially upon earth till now, but can happen one day. This when translated in the human mind is termed imagination. The Rishis spoke of three worlds, three states of being and consciousness. The waking state, the dream state and the sleep state. The waking state means the physical conscious­ness, the material reality, earth. The dream state means the inner consciousness, the world of subtler formations. It is called the mid-world. Further beyond is the sleep-worl

Page - 86 AGNI WHEN Agni, the Flame awakes, all other gods awake – Vayu and Soma and Indra and Aditi – Aditi, the Mother, one and indivisible, and the Word inviolate. All is burnt, burnt, burnt to ashes! It is the same, the Fire and the offering and the offerer; It is the same, the Energy above, the Energy below, the Energy ascending, descending and surrounding. It is the Self that is the sun, the cosmos, the Vast! Master of the Cavern, Ruler of the House, Sovereign of the Heavens; The universe is His bow and He draws it with a loud clang; He is the commander, He is the Voice, OM. Awake, O Word; awake, O wild Winds! Awake, O Tempests; awake

Notes on “Savitri” NARAD's VISIT TO KING ASWAPATHY* DEV ARSHI Narad, as usual, was sailing through the spaces, with his Vina, singing songs of innocence and joy. He was in the higher luminous heavens, the world of happiness, of light and delight, his heart full of divine felicity and his music echoing the music of his heart. Now he thought of coming down, into the lower spaces, regions nearer to the earth. And as he entered the earth atmosphere a change came over the tone and temper of his music. With the thickening of earthly shade, a darkness stole into the clear range of, his music and consciousness. Instead of peace and love and joy his music turned to themes of sadne

The Great Holocaust – Chhinnamasta* Throughout the ages whenever there has been a new creation on earth, or manifestation of a new consciousness in earthly atmosphere, it was always preceded by a stage of destruction and dissolution of the old. The dance of Shiva has its two aspects - the bliss of creation and also the joy of destruction – lasya and tandava – both have been equally necessary up till now – complementary to each other. Destruction means destruction of the unnecessary, unfit, all that refuses to accept the new advent, obstructs it, tries to deny it, – all that is out of harmony with the inevitable new future. Earthly evolution is a march of progression i

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Page - 80 CHILDREN'S SONG WE are Mother's children, We are Mother's children. No less are we, let Death come, we shall win at ease. Dangers we face on the way, and trample them under, Our battle-cry dries up oceans, sways over mountains. Sun and moon and stars move at Mother's word: Children are we of this Mother; who calls us weak? What is sin for us, what is heaven or hell ? The work done, at eve-tide the Mother takes us in her lap. Chandikananda Swami Page – 81

V SINCERITY The first condition of the spiritual life, and the last condition as well, is sincerity. One must sincerely want the spiritual life in order to have it. The soul—the psychic being—is always sincere: it is made of the very stuff of sincerity, for it is a part, or a spark of the Divine Consciousness itself. When one feels the call, turns one's back to the worldly life, moves towards the life spiritual, one follows then the urge of one's true being, the psychic being: one is then naturally sincere, firmly and spontaneously devoted to the Divine, unequivocally loyal and faithful to the Beloved and the Master. This central sincerity, however, has to be wo

-001_Publisher^s Note.htm PUBLISHERS' NOTE The essay entitiled "The Body Human" was first published in the Sri Aurobindo Mandir Annual, Calcutta (1945). The other essays appeared all in the Quarterly, The Advent, Madras. The Notes and Comments were editorials written for The Advent (1944-46).