śrāddha It is really for the vital part of the being that and rites are done – to help the being to get rid of the vital vibrations which still attach it to the earth or to the vital worlds, so that it may pass quickly to its rest in the psychic peace. I only said what was originally meant by the ceremonies – the rites. I was not referring to the feeding of the caste or the Brahmins which is not a rite or ceremony. Whether /śrāddha/ as performed is actually effective is another matter – for those who perform it have not either the knowledge or the occult power. page 433 , Letters on Yoga , volume - 22 , SABCL

I knew very well Sister Nivedita (she was for many years a friend and a comrade in the political field) and met Sister Christine,—the two closest European disciples of Vivekananda. Both were Westerners to the core and had nothing at all of the Hindu outlook; although Sister Nivedita, an Irish woman, had the power of penetrating by an intense sympathy into the ways of life of the people around her, her own nature remained non-oriental to the end. Yet she found no difficulty in arriving at realisation on the lines of Vedanta. page 557, Letters on Yoga , volume - 22 , SABCL

The soul prepares its own body, the body is not prepared for it without any reference to the soul. Are we then to suppose an eternal or continual Avatar himself evolving, we might say, his own fit mental and physical body according to the needs and pace of the human evolution and so appearing from age to age, yuge /yuge/? In some such spirit some would interpret the ten incarnations of Vishnu, first in animal forms, then in the animal man, then in the dwarf man-soul, Vamana, the violent Asuric man, Rama of the axe, the divinely-natured man, a greater Rama, the awakened spiritual man, Buddha, and, preceding him in time, but final in place, the complete divine manhood, Krishna,

The words “peace, calm, quiet, silence” have each their own shade of meaning, but it is not easy to define them. Peace – śānti Calm – sthiratā Quiet – acañcalatā. Silence – niścala-nīravatā. Quiet is a condition in which there is no restlessness or disturbance. Calm is a still unmoved condition which no disturbance can affect – it is a less negative condition than quiet. Peace is a still more positive condition; it carries with it a sense of settled and harmonious rest and deliverance. Silence is a state in which either there is no movement of the mind or vital or else a great stillness which no surface movement can pierce or alter. Quiet

The lion with Durga on it is the symbol of the Divine Consciousness acting through a divinised physical-vital and vital-emotional force. The lion is the attribute of the Goddess Durga, the conquering and protecting aspect of the Universal Mother. The Death's Head is the symbol of the Asura (the adversary of the gods) vanquished and killed by the Divine Power. page 389-90 , Letters on Yoga , volume 22 , SABCL

Nature is very largely what you make of her or can make of her. page 476 , Letters on Yoga , volume 22 , SABCL

The strength of Europe is in details, the strength of Asia in synthesis. Page 843, Bande Mataram , volume 1, SABCL Asia is the custodian of the world's peace of mind, the physician of the maladies which Europe generates. Page 842, Bande Mataram , volume 1, SABCL The East alone has some knowledge of the truth, the East alone can teach the West, the East alone can save mankind. Through all these ages Asia has been seeking for a light within, and whenever she has been blessed with a glimpse of what she seeks, a great religion has been born, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, Mahomedanism with a

Celibacy is one thing and freedom from sex-pushes is another. These have to be conquered and got rid of, but if freedom from them were made a test of fitness to go on, I wonder how many could be declared fit for my yoga. The will to conquer must be there, but the elimination of the sex-impulse is one of the most difficult things for human nature, and if it takes time, that is only natural. page 1528 , Letters on Yoga , volume 24 , SABCL

*W*E HAVE felt considerable delicacy hitherto in writing on the prosecution of Srijut Bepin Chandra Pal for refusing to take the oath in the /Bande Mataram /Case, as that prosecution has arisen directly out of our own. In fact, all the more important events of recent occurrence in Calcutta have been so closely connected, directly or indirectly, with this case that we have been practically compelled to keep our lip's closed on current public affairs. The imprisonment of the Nationalist orator and propagandist, the most prominent public figure of the New Party in Bengal , is nevertheless a matter of capital importance on which we cannot remain silent