Existence and Influence of Hidden Worlds It is a fact that mankind almost from the beginning of its existence or so far back as history or tradition can go, has believed in the existence of other worlds and in the possibility of communication between their powers and beings and the human race.... It is evident that the beliefs of the past are not a sufficient basis for knowledge, even though they cannot be entirely neglected: for a belief is a mental construction and may be a wrong building; it may often answer to some inner intimation and then it has a value, but, as often as not, it disfigures the intimation, usually by a translation into

THE HIDDEN FORCES OF LIFE   CONTENTS Pre-Content Preface Section I Life through the Eye of the Yogin Play of Forces  Forces of Action and Reaction and Destiny Forces in Human Interchange Human Will, Nature-Force and Divine Will  Section II Hidden Forces Within The Subconscient, the Subliminal and the Superconscient The Psychic Section III Hidden Forces Around Outside

VIII LIFE - A MASS OF VIBRATIONS Unseen here act dim huge world-energies And only trickles and currents are our share. Our mind lives far off from the authentic Light Catching at little fragments of the Truth, In a small corner of infinity, Our lives are inlets of an ocean's force. SRI AUROBINDO Savitri, Book Two, Canto Five Page-176 For my consciousness the whole life upon earth, including the human life and all its mentality, is a mass of vibrations, mostly vibrations of falsehood, ignorance and disorder, in which are more and more at work vibrations of Truth and Harmony coming from

I LIFE THROUGH THE EYE OF THE YOGIN Nothing we think or do is void or vain; Each is an energy loosed and holds its course. The shadowy keepers of our deathless past Have made our fate the child of our own acts, And from the furrows laboured by our will We reap the fruit of our forgotten deeds. But since unseen the tree that bore this fruit And we live in a present born from an unknown past, They seem but parts of a mechanic Force, To a mechanic mind tied by earth's laws; Yet are they instruments of a Will supreme, Watched by a still all-seeing Eye above. A prescient archit

Occult Worlds and Entities ... last week... I spoke of the "threshold of occultism". So a question is put to me about this occult world, that is to say, the world invisible to ordinary physical eyes, and I am asked for explanations or comments on the beings who live in these worlds which are invisible to ordinary eyes. I am even told that I speak very often of negative entities, that is to say, of hostile formations, of small beings formed from the disintegration of human beings after their death - the disintegration of the vital or mental being at death - but that I have never spoken of the great beings, the magnificent beings or positive entities which

VII SPIRITUAL FORCES OF HELP AND SUCCOUR A prayer, a master act, a king idea Can link man's strength to a transcendent Force. Then miracle is made the common rule, One mighty deed can change the course of things; A lonely thought becomes omnipotent. SRI AUROBINDO Savitri, Book One, Canto Two The earth you tread is a border screened from heaven, The life you lead conceals the light you are. Immortal Powers sweep flaming past your doors; Far-off upon your tops the god-chant sounds While to exceed yourselves thought's trumpets call, Heard by a few, but fewer dare aspire,

PREFACE A retrospective review of the course of one's life is apt to reveal that whereas some events in the past were the outcome of one's conscious choice and deliberate effort, a good number of incidents, including perhaps some of the most significant happenings that have determined the course of one's life, were unplanned and unforeseen. It is in what are regarded as the major events and milestones of one's life - such as choosing a course of studies or training after high school, selecting a career, decisions pertaining to marriage, living in a particular city or country, and the like - that personal choice and will are usually seen to have played a determining role. However,

Action of Higher Worlds and Evolution ... we find these higher worlds in our vision and experience of them to be in no way based upon the material universe, in no way its results, but rather greater terms of being, larger and freer ranges of consciousness, and all the action of the material plane looks more like the result and not the origin of these greater terms, derivatory from them, even partly dependent on them in its evolutionary endeavour. Immense ranges of powers, influences, phenomena descend covertly upon us from the Overmind and the higher mental and vital ranges, but of these only a part, a selection, as it were, or Page-144

GLOSSARY (The explanations of terms given below are based upon Sri Aurobindo's writings.) Agni Shakti (agni śakti) the force of fire. Ananda (ānanda) bliss, delight, beatitude, spiritual ecstasy; the essential principle of delight: a self-delight which is the very nature of the transcendent and infinite existence. Asura (asura) the strong or mighty one, Titan; a hostile being. Atma (ātmā); Atman (ātman) see Spirit. Body-consciousness The body has its own consciousness and acts from it, even without any mental will of our own or even against that will. A great part of the body-consciousness is subconscient and t

The Divine Grace I should like to say something about the Divine Grace -for you seem to think it should be something like a Divine Reason acting upon lines not very different from those of human intelligence. But it is not that. Also it is not a universal Divine Compassion either, acting impartially on all who approach it and acceding to all prayers. It does not select the righteous and reject the sinner. The Divine Grace came to aid the persecutor (Saul of Tarsus), it came to St. Augustine the profligate, to Jagai and Madhai of infamous fame, to Bilwamangal and many others whose conversion might well scandalise the puritanism of the human moral intelligence; but it can