How to Listen I HAVE begun to notice that many among you, perhaps a very large portion, do not listen to what I say. For not unoften you have put questions on a subject on which I had talked in detail just a moment before, as if nothing was spoken. The fact is surely this: each one of you is shut up in his own thought, exactly as, I suppose, you do in the class also at school. You repeat to yourself your own lesson, thinking of what is expected of you – provided, of course, you are at all diligent and attentive – and do not listen to what your teacher asks and explains or what the other students answer. You miss in this way three-fourths of the advantage of being not all alone bu

Psychological Perfection THERE is a flower to which we have given this name. It is the familiar Champa. The flower has five petals. Each petal represents a quality or movement of consciousness, the five qualities or movements making up the psychological perfection. In the beginning I named them-(l) Surrender, (2) Sincerity, (3) Faith, (4) Devotion and (5) Aspiration. Of course the meaning can be changed. In fact, when I give the flower to someone, I do not always mean the same qualities. I change according to the need of the person and at the moment. However, we can have all the same a general scheme. In any case, in all combinations and to whomsoever I may give, th

Will and Desire What is the difference between Desire or Wish and Will? THEY are not the same thing. When, for example, you see that a thing is to be done and that it is good to do it, then normally your reason decides and judges; then it is your will that sets to work and makes you do what is necessary for the work to be done. Thus, will is the power of execution which should be at the disposal of what has been decided by you or a higher force. It is a thing co-ordinated and organised: it acts according to plan and is in full self-control. Wish or desire, on the other hand, is an impulse. There are people who are full of desires, but have no will; they are eaten up by

-008_The Mind^s Bazar.htm The Mind’ s Bazaar You can't imagine what a bazaar there is in the head. It is something terrible. If you look truly objectively at what passes there you will be shocked. You have then to put it in order, see into it clearly and arrange, you have to note that two contradictory ideas do not run concurrently on parallel lines. I know a considerable number of persons who shelter in their head contrary ideas, not at all synthesized – there is no question of synthesis here – but dwelling together like two brothers engaged in eternal quarrels and contradictions, that is to say, the two ideas cannot get on together, unless you lift them up and reconcile and unify them in a hi

Sri Aurobindo I From a certain standpoint Sri Aurobindo's message is very simple, almost self-evident. The sum and substance of all he says is that man is growing and has to grow in consciousness till he reaches the complete and perfect consciousness, not only in his individual but in his collective, that is to say, social life. In fact, the growth of consciousness is the supreme secret of life, the master key to earthly evolution. Sri Aurobindo believes in evolution. Creation, according to him, has a purpose and man moves to a goal. That is nothing else than the unfolding of consciousness. Originally all was Matter, only dead Matter. At a certain stage out of Matt

The Divine Grace and Love THE MOTHER says that there can be Love without Grace as there can also be Grace without Love, although the two are essentially one and the same. Grace means gift, it is a gesture of the giving of boon from the Divine. The Divine gives out of His Plenitude what we want, what we need, what we should have, naturally as per His choice. The most obvious, the most external, superficial and concrete form of gift is what meets our physical material need. And protection is the most appreciated and the most readily available treasure. Protection in its larger sense, includes all kinds and modes of welfare from the most physical to the utmost spir

Mind and the Mental World THE world of the mind is a vast field, even vaster it seems than the physical world. The physical world extends, science tells us, to millions of light-years. We may say practically, it is an infinite extension and mind is a thing which surrounds, envelops this measureless extension. Mind surpasses the physical on another count, that is to say, in respect of speed. A material body at its best travels at the speed of light, that is to say, in a second it goes about 200,000 miles (a little less). But thought does not meet any obstruction in respect of distance; whatever the distance, it reaches its goal immediately, it does not take account of

Our Finest Hour THIS is an age of deluge and devastation and decomposition. Is this also the Doomsday? Nature herself has started the process and man has lent his hand to hasten it. Or did man start it and Nature is hastening the work? Perhaps it is a vicious circle, but the outcome is the same. Anyhow the question now is whether there is a remedy. How can Nature be made steady and how can man come out of the muddle? For man the root-cause is that he is being imprisoned more and more, and circumstances of his life are such that he is losing all free movements and is being hemmed in on all sides. The walls are, as it were, pressing upon him, even to the point

Asceticism You have seen Sannyasins lying upon nails. Why do they do that? Perhaps to prove their saintliness. But when they do so in public, well, the suspicion is legitimate that it is something like a pose. There are some perhaps who do the thing sincerely and seriously, that is to say, they do not do it merely to make a show. In their case we might ask why they do so. They say it is to prove to themselves their detachment from the body. There are others: they go a little further and say that one must make the body suffer in order to free the soul. But I tell you that the vital has a taste for suffering and imposes suffering on the body because of this perverse taste for suf

The Ideal Centre ONCE when the Mother was asked by a group of disciples to give permission and blessings for opening a centre, She said in answer: "To open a centre is not sufficient in itself. It must be the pure hearth of perfect sincerity, in a total consecration to the Divine." This is the first motto or mantra that should be inscribed on the tablet of the inner constitution of every group organisation. It states the basic spirit, the true inspiration that should initiate the work and guide it through. The second mantra is embodied in these words of Sri Aurobindo: "Love the Mother: Always behave as if She was looking at you, for indeed She is always present." These a