ADWAITA People are apt to speak of the Adwaita as if it were identical with Mayavada monism, just as they speak of Vedanta as if it were identical with Adwaita only; that is not the case. There are several forms of Indian philosophy which base themselves upon the One Reality, but they admit also the reality of the world, the reality of the Many, the reality of the differences of the Many as well as the sameness of the One (bhedābheda). But the Many exist in the One and by the One, the differences are variations in manifestation of that which is fundamentally ever the same. This we actually see as the universal law of existence where oneness is always

A lotus flower indicates the open consciousness. The red lotus is the presence of the Divine on earth; the sun is the Divine Truth. It indicates the Divine manifestation on earth raising earth consciousness towards the Truth. The white lotus is the symbol of the Mother's consciousness, – it does not indicate any part of the individual consciousness. The opening of the lotuses in your experience means, I suppose, the opening of the true vital and physical consciousness in which the spiritual being (the Swan) can manifest with all the consequences of that opening. page 978, Letters on Yoga , volume - 23 , SABCL

Letters on himself and the Ashram His Life and Attempts to Write about It Knowing about Things in His Past For a long time I have wanted to hear something about the early days in Pondicherry from those who lived with you then. This morning I approached X and asked him. He agreed to tell me and a few friends some stories and anecdotes. Do you think it undesirable or objectionable in any way? Sri Aurobindo I do not know whether it is of much utility. Besides, it would be only myself who could speak of things in my past, giving them their true form and significance. But as you have arranged it, it can be done. 11 August 1933 On Writi

The tree is the symbol of subconscient vital. page 970, Letters on Yoga , volume - 23 , SABCL A bird is a very frequent symbol of the soul, and the tree is the standing image of the universe – The Tree of Life. page 978, Letters on Yoga , volume - 23 , SABCL The crown indicates the higher consciousness in its static condition, the wheel its dynamic action. The red light is the Power sent down to change the physical. The book indicates some kind of knowledge. The ears signify usually the place of inspired knowledge or else of inspired expression – red and gold mean truth and power joined together.

The Swan is a symbol of the soul on the higher plane. The swan is the liberated soul, the lotus is either the consciousness reddening to the colour of Divine Love or else the symbol of the Divine Presence on earth. page 978, Letters on Yoga , volume - 23 , SABCL The Hansa is the symbol of the being – it regains its original purity as it rises until it becomes luminous in the Highest Truth. page 979, Letters on Yoga , volume - 23 , SABCL

OM is the mantra, the expressive sound-symbol of the Brahman Consciousness in its four domains from the Turiya to the external or material plane. The function of a mantra is to create vibrations in the inner consciousness that will prepare it for the realisation of what the mantra symbolises and is supposed indeed to carry within itself. The mantra OM should therefore lead to wards the opening of the consciousness to the sight and feeling of the One Consciousness in all material things, in the inner being and in the supraphysical worlds, in the causal plane above now superconscient to us and, finally, the supreme liberated transcendence above all cosmic existence. The

All the difficulties are bound to vanish in time under the action of the Force. They rise, because if they did not rise the action would not be complete, for all has to be faced and worked out, in order that nothing may be left to rise up hereafter. The psychic being itself can throw the light by which the full consciousness will come and nothing remain in the darkness. Letters On Yoga , Volume-24, SABCL

It is on the Silence behind the cosmos that all the movement of the universe is supported. It is from the Silence that the peace comes; when the peace deepens and deepens, it becomes more and more the Silence. In a more outward sense the word Silence is applied to the condition in which there is no movement of thought or feeling etc., only a great stillness of the mind. But there can be an action in the Silence, undisturbed even as the universal action goes on in the cosmic Silence. page 647 , Letters on Yoga , volume 23 , SABCL

The first thing I tell people when they want not to eat or sleep is that no yoga can be done without sufficient food and sleep (see the Gita on this point). Fasting or sleeplessness make the nerves morbid and excited and weaken the brain and lead to delusions and fantasies. The Gita says, yoga is not for one who eats too much or sleeps too much, neither is it for one who does not eat or does not sleep, but if one eats and sleeps suitably − yuktāhārī yuktanidrah—then one can do it best. It is the same with everything else. How often have I said that excessive retirement was suspect to me and that to do nothing but meditate was a lop-sided and therefore unsound sadhana? page

Veda and Vedanta are one side of the One Truth; Tantra with its emphasis on Shakti is another; in this yoga all sides of the Truth are taken up, not in the systematic forms given them formerly but in their essence, and carried to the fullest and highest significance. But Vedanta deals more with the principles and essentials of the divine knowledge and therefore much of its spiritual knowledge and experience has been taken bodily into the Arya. Tantra deals more with forms and processes and organised powers – all these could not be taken as they were, for the integral yoga needs to develop its own forms and processes; but the ascent of the consciousness through the cent