SECOND CHAPTER THE YOGA OF THE INTELLIGENT WILL In the moment of his turning from this first and summary answer to Arjuna's difficulties and in the very first words which strike the keynote of a spiritual solution, the Teacher makes at once a distinction which is of the utmost importance for the understanding of the Gita,—the distinction of Sankhya and Yoga. The Gita is in its foundation a Vedantic work ; it is one of the three recognised authorities for the Vedantic teaching. But still its Vedantic ideas are throughout and thoroughly coloured by the ideas of the Sankhya and the Yoga way of th

EIGHTEENTH CHAPTER THE SUPREME SECRET ( The essence of the teaching and the Yoga has thus been given to the disciple on the field of his work and battle and the divine Teacher now proceeds to apply it to his action, but in a way that makes it applicable to all action. Attached to a crucial example, spoken to the protagonist of Kurukshetra, the words bear a much wider significance and are a universal rule for all who are ready to ascend above the ordinary mentality and to live and act in the highest spiritual consciousness.) 57. Devoting1 all thyself to Me, giving up in thy conscious mind all thy actions into Me, resorting to Yoga of the

APPENDIX III SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL PRESUPPOSITIONS A few words technically used in the notes in this edition require some explanation, as also certain metaphysical and psychological presuppositions. Each plane of our being—mental, vital, physical—has its own consciousness, separate though interconnected and interacting. These can be said to be interconnected because there is a continuity from one end to the other, and interacting because all the psychological processes in man—mental, vital, physical— are mixed up with one another. To our outer mind and sense they are all confused together; for the purpose of analysis, however, they may be d

APPENDIX THE DIVINE MOTHER ......The One whom we adore as the Mother is the divine Conscious Force that dominates all existence, one and yet so many-sided that to follow her movement is impossible even for the quickest mind and for the freest and most vast" intelligence. The Mother is the consciousness. and force of the Supreme and far above all she creates. But something of her ways can be seen and felt through her embodiments and the more seizable because more defined and limited temperament and action of the goddess forms in whom she consents to be manifest to her creatures. There are three ways of being of the Mother of which you can become aware when you enter

THE MIRACLE The great transcending sky leaned from above In silence kisses the aspiring earth; Its vast unbounded space Locked in the close embrace, It turns the stainless void to sapphire love. The one immutable Truth to souls below In mystic union far beyond all time Bends through the world's play-bars Its suns and moons and stars Are pale reflections from that Love sublime. Page - 163 THE MORNING STAR Far hast thou travelled from Light's unseen plane Bringing the dawn ray of Eternity. But oft thy missioned gaze has sought in vain My sleep-bound eyes through windows barred to thee.. Life after life, into morta

SMALL DETAILS It is through small acts and little details that the true nature of a man is revealed. When conscious that other people will know and judge, men take particular care to hide their defects. When roused by the seriousness or the importance of the occasion, men often show powers and virtues which are not at all characteristic of them. But in the small things of life, unknown and unnoticed by others, men allow their nature to have its own way. We negligently do small acts which are not of much importance to us; we carelessly omit to know details which seem to be insignificant; we easily yield to temptations which, we think, cannot lead to any serious conseq

SONGS FROM THE SOUL BY ANILBARAN ROY LONDON JOHN M. WATKINS 21, CECIL COURT, CHARRING CROSS ROAD, W. C. 2 First Published in 1939. Agents in India GITA PRACHAR KARYALAYA 108111, Monoharpooker Road. Kalighat, Calcutta. All Rights 'Reserved PRINTED IN INDIA BY THE JUPITER PRESS, MADRAS. SONGS FROM THE SOUL Follow your soul and not your mind, your soul that answers to the Truth, not your mind that leaps at appearances; trust the Divine Power and she will free the godlike elements in you and shape all into an expression of Divine Nature. SRI AURQBINDO TO THE DIVINE MOTHER

FAITH Faith, it is said, can move mountains, The great and difficult task of raising human nature into the divine can be accomplished only by genuine and living faith. A flame which flickers at every blast of wind cannot lead us very far. If we do not possess a living faith in our divine possibilities, we shall never rise above our human limitations. A faith which does not enter into every part of our being and does not influence all our life, all our thoughts and activities, a passive, weak and wavering faith is powerless to achieve anything great or glorious. We must then keep the torch of true and pure faith brightly burning in us at all times. Whenever doubts and misgiv

SINCERITY Afflicted by the sorrows of the world we earnestly pray for the Divine; but when the Divine comes to us we hesitate to accept it— such is the falsehood and contradiction in our earthly nature! The central being in us aspires to the divine life, but the different parts passionately cling to the earthly life, and obstinately refuse to give up the old ways and the old habits. We seek to open us to Thee, Mother, but ourmind brings in all sorts of rambling thoughts, which veil Thy presence from us. We seek immortal joy, yet our senses persistently pull us towards the poor, mixed, limited pleasures of the earth. We pray for heavenly light, but when it comes to us w

DIVINE PRESENCE Thou art always with me, Mother, Thou art inside my heart and above my head; if ever I do not feel or realise Thy presence, that is entirely my own fault, due to a still lingering play of the old nature in me Thou art not only with me, but Thou art also helping me always to realise Thy presence and by all means trying to draw me towards Thyself. Thou descendest into my mind in the form of luminous truths; Thou descendest into my work in the form of omnipotent will; Thou descendest into my heart, removing all dryness from it, flooding it with the divine joy of Thy love. External Nature, ever renewing its forms of beauty, indicates Thy play of