-027_Sadhana During Our Body^s Sleep.htm XXIV SADHANA DURING OUR BODY'S SLEEP It is a fact that most people, including the aspirants after spiritual life, spend almost a third of their existence asleep. Consequently the time devoted to physical sleep well deserves our keen attention and should engage our careful Scrutiny. For, Sri Aurobindo has reminded us that "sadhana can go on in the dream or sleep state as well as in the waking." (Letters on Yoga, p. 1481) We deliberately used the expression 'physical sleep', for, as we shall presently see, it is wrong to assume that the whole of our being sleeps when the physical being goes into dormancy. Be that as it may, the question of

XXV THE CONQUEST OVER THE HOSTILE FORCES Sri Ramakrishna, the Saint of Dakshineswara, speaks at one place in course of his autobiographical narration: "Do you know, how many things I used to see when I would go into meditation? One day while I was meditating under a Bilva tree, the Evil Being came to me and tried to tempt me in various ways. He offered me money, name and fame, sex pleasure, powers of various sorts, etc. I invoked the Mother's aid. A very secret thing, indeed. The Mother appeared. I asked her to decapitate him." While reading this type of account our 'modern' minds brought up in the milieu of a scientifico-materialistic

VIII HOW TO CALL AND PRAY? A complete purification, a total liberation and a perfect perfection constitute the triple objective of the Integral Yoga, and this implies an integral transformation of the whole being and nature. To all appearances this goal may seem to be exceedingly difficult, almost impossible to attain, for the ascents of consciousness needed are too steep, the descents from above too precarious, and the path of the Integral Yoga too hard to tread. Indeed, left to one's own unaided Tapasya of will and aspiration, no human being however strong in spirit can ever expect to transform himself. The sadhaka of the Integral Yoga s

XXVI IS ALL THAT HAPPENS IN LIFE ALWAYS FOR THE BEST? Some time or other, whenever a sadhaka has to face a totally unapprehended turn of calamitous events which he cannot prevent with his all too limited power and resources, he asks himself this puzzling question: "Is my life rigorously governed by some sort of determinism, by an ineluctable fate and an unalterable chain of causes and effects? Can't I change the course of my life in any way? Am I bound hand and foot by my Karma, or pushed about by some arbitrary fiat of a despot, divine or undivine?" Another related question intrigues the sadhaka at the same time: "All th

XVI SADHANA THROUGH MEDITATION (Dhyāna-yoga) "Concentration is very helpful and necessary — the more one concentrates... the more the force of the yoga grows." (Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga, p. 729) All of us are more or less familiar with the terms 'concentration' and 'meditation'. Every sadhaka, we presume, is expected to sit in meditation as a regular feature of his sadhana-life. But what is after all meditation? What state of the sadhaka' s consciousness should deserve the appellation of a 'state of meditation'? We as sadhakas habitually meditate some time or other in course of the day. But the pertinent question is: What d

VI ON OPENING AND RECEPTIVITY When we look around or even study the spiritual history of mankind, we often find that some aspirants are progressing very fast in their sadhana while some others are registering a rather slow progress or, what is worse, even stagnating on the Path, although, apparently, all of them have the equal privilege of being close to the Divine and receiving his Grace. On noting this discrepancy we often feel tempted to impute a charge of partiality on the all-powerful Divine. We wonder why the Divine Shakti cannot make us progress equally when outwardly all of us fulfil the same conditions and religiously adhere to the same practices.

-012_How to Invoke the Divine^s Grace.htm IX HOW TO INVOKE THE DIVINE'S GRACE? The grace and the help are always there for all who aspire for them and their power is limitless when received with faith and confidence. (Words of the Mother, Cent. Vol. 14, p. 91) Man's life upon earth is full of uncertainties. Accidents and illnesses, frustrations and difficulties, and finally an untimely death are always stalking his way and may at any time turn from a mere possibility into an ominous reality stamping out the happiness of his existence. And yet, being painfully aware of his limited potency and resources, he knows perfectly well that it is altogether impossible for him to

XXII SADHANA OF THE VITAL Our last chapter dealt with the sadhana of the Mind. The present one has for its subject matter the sadhana of the Vital. A thoroughgoing discussion of the place, importance and conversion of the vital in the sadhana of the Integral Yoga is very essential. For the vital, as it is in its pre sent nature, acts mostly as a drag on the upward aspiration of the sadhaka. It appears at times completely incorrigible in nature. What is still more unsettling is the fact that not only does the vital remain itself impure and unregenerate, it constantly invades the functioning of the mind, the heart, and the body consciousness of man

IV ON REJECTION Sri Aurobindo, in the second chapter of his book The Mother, has drawn our attention to the interesting fact that although in Yoga the Divine is considered to be the Goal of attainment, he himself at the same time acts as the sadhaka, also the sadhana. Still, so long as a sadhaka remains under the control of his lower human nature, it becomes altogether imperative that he make some personal effort for his progress. This personal effort comprises the three operations of aspiration, rejection and surrender. The preceding chapter of this book dealt with the sadhana of aspiration; we propose to speak now of the sadhana of rejection. Sri Aurobi

XIV THE CONQUEST OF SELF-LOVE A total and unreserved self-giving to the Divine on the part of a sadhaka is the key secret of living a truly spiritual life. And Sri Aurobindo has reminded us that, in practice, this "self-giving... means a change from ego-centricity to God-centricity". (Letters on Yoga, p. 1374) But this 'God-centricity' is not so easy to obtain: it can come only if we truly and integrally love the Divine. Now the question arises whether, as sadhakas of the spiritual Path, we fulfil the above condition. Of course, if someone asks us point-blank: "Do you love the Divine?", our prompt answer will be: "Surely we do." If now a s