OF HELL   [1]   One who says of a thing that was not that it was goes to hell, also one who does a thing and yet says he has not done. Both of them on leaving the world will share the same fate else­where, for they are men of vile action.   [2]   Many with the yellow robe on do evil without restraint. They are evil men who, because of their evil doings, take birth in Hell.   [3]   Better it were to swallow a flaming iron-ball than to eat of alms quested while leading a dissolute life.   [4]   Four are the realms where the foolish who desire another man's wife are relegated: the realm of no merit, the realm of on sleep, the realm of cen

The Mother Abides   IF it is a 'pralaya', even a 'mahapralaya', all is not lost, all is not washed away. Something remains, untouched, deathless, the divine part in you, the Mother's part in you, the consciousness incarnate and articulate. Indeed it was your soul that she salvaged out of the inconscience and established in you as a living reality. That was her first and primary task and She has fulfilled it. It was there always, true; but it was a far-off, very distant and almost inactive point of light, an unknown and an uncharted star not yet come into the ken of human measure and potency. She has brought it nearer home and established in our living and dynamic consci

THE BRAHMIN   [1]   O Brahmin! Struggle hard, seal off the stream, drive away desires. Knowing that all elements of existence have dissolved, you will know the Uncreated:   [2]   When the Brahmin has gone beyond the dualities, then he attains knowledge and all his bondages disappear.   [3]   Him I call a Brahmin for whom there is neither the shore nor the shoreless, for whom both are non-existent, one who is free from fear, free from attachment.   [4]   Him I call a Brahmin who is given to meditation and is free from impurities, who has settled down and done what is to be done, the sinless who has attained the supreme Good.  P

THE GOLDEN JOURNEY   HE AND SHE THE MUSICIAN ANGEL FOUR GODS OR GODDESSES FOUR CHILDREN FOUR MAID SERVANTS Two INITIATES THE CROWD OF EARTHLY BEINGS THE NEW BEING   The Two-in-One play all the roles in the eternal round of a manifestation which enriches itself ceaselessly – the Golden Cycle.     It is He: the child, the traveller, the lover, the disciple, the triumphant, the holocaust – the One, the Beloved.     It is She: the mother, the tree, the comrade, the bride, the master, the adversary – the One, the Beloved.   The New Being incarnates, in a new cycle, their manifestation in a single body.  Page – 290

Maximes     Devenir conscient, c'est devenir Toi-même: Car la conscience, c'est la lumière qui est Ta Presence.   Devenir Toi-même, c'est I'unique joie: Car Tu es la Joie même.   "Elle est à moi" – voilà Ie moyen Ie plus sûr             de la perdre; "Je suis à Elle" – c'est Ie seul secret             de La posséder.                         O Faible, ne cherche pas devenir fort – Aime – I' Amour seul te sauvera: La force n'enfante pas l'amour, mais I'amour est toujours la force.   Si la foi qui transporte les montagnes te manque, ô mon âme, ancre-toi à l' Amour – même à lamour profane. . . . L'amour

ACT II: THE PLAY ON EARTH     SCENE I: THE MOTHER AND THE CHILD    THE MOTHER            You touch now the dome of your parents. You have reached your peak. Your tender body, my child, fills up the triumphal arc of its destiny. I must once again cut the cord that bound you to me. You are free.   THE CHILD                Mother, you wound me. To be your child, is it not for ever?   THE MOTHER            I am with you through eternity. But in another way. It is in you and everywhere that I must be. It is time to go where you must.   THE CHILD                A strong and gentle win

THE WISE   [1] If you meet someone who shows you a thing to be cast out, even like one who tells you of a secret treasure, seek such a   ¹ Kusa grass has in India a sacred character. To eat food with the tip of Kusa blade is taken symbolically here as an act of asceticism.  Page – 208 wise sage though he censures you. In such a seeking only good will come to you and not evil.   [2]   He will rebuke, he will command, he will prevent wrong doing. Such a person is loved by the good, he is disliked by the wicked.   [3]   Seek not a friend who is full of evil, seek not a friend who is among the vilest of men, seek your friend who is to

The Human Divine   THE PASSING OF SATYAVAN   This was the day when Satyavan must die.   THE day is come, the fateful day, the last day of the twelve happy months that they have passed together. She knew it, it was foretold, it was foreseen. And she was preparing herself for it all the while, harbouring a pain deep-seated within the heart, revealed to none, not even to her mother, not even to Satyavan. Satyavan was innocent like a child, oblivious of the fate that was coming upon him. The two went out of the hermitage into the forest; for she wished to move about in the company of Satyavan in the midst of the happy greeneries where Satyavan had passed his boyhood, hi

THOUSANDS   [1]   Better than a thousand phrases built with meaningless words is one single meaningful word which brings tranquillity to the hearer.   [2]   Better than a thousand verses built with meaningless words is one single verse that brings tranquillity to the hearer.   [3]   Better than a hundred verses built with meaningless words on the lips is one single word of the Law that tranquilises you when you hear it.   [4]   One may conquer thousands and thousands of men in a battle, but he is the best among conquerors who has conquered himself.   [5 & 6]   Better to have conquered one's own self than to have conqu

Bengali  Padavali     (1)   Even like a drop of water into burning sands.        Am I in the midst of sons and friends and women. I have turned my mind from you and bestowed it upon them.        Of what earthly use shall I be now?   Oh Lord of Love, hopelessness is my doom! But you are the Saviour of the worlds­ – ever kind to the destitute. Now my whole trust lies in you alone.   Half of my life I spent in sleep, The rest in infancy and old age And with women in pleasure-groves; I had no time to give to you.   Countless are the Gods who die and pass! But you have no beginning, nor end: All are b