A Certain Number Of Rules (07-11-12) Only by perfect renunciation of desire or by perfect satisfaction of desire can the utter embrace of God be experienced; for in both ways the essential precondition is effected,-desire perishes. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-95) Change Yourself First You can do nothing with others unless you are able to do it with yourself. You can never give a good advice to anyone unless you are able to give it to yourself first, and to follow it. And if you see a difficulty somewhere, the best way of changing this difficulty is to change it in yourself first. If you see a defect in anyone, you may be sure it is in you, and you begin to change it in yours

Yoga and Religion (02-05-12) I have forgotten what vice is and what virtue; I can only see God, His play in the world and His will in humanity. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-30)   Yoga and Religion Imagine someone who, in some way or other, has heard of something like the Divine or has a personal feeling that something of the kind exists, and begins to make all sorts of efforts: efforts of will, of discipline, efforts of concentration, all sorts of efforts to find this Divine, to discover what He is, to become acquainted with Him and unite with Him. Then this person is doing yoga. Now, if this person has noted down all the processes he has used and constructs a fixed system

WILL TO CONQUER ILLNESS, CONTROL OF DESIRES, PEACE AND QUIET, FAITH AND SURRENDER, CURE BY THE DIVINE GRACE (15-04-12) WILL TO CONQUER ILLNESS, CONTROL OF DESIRES, PEACE AND QUIET, FAITH AND SURRENDER, CURE BY THE DIVINE GRACE ….. Wake up in yourself a will to conquer. Not a mere will in the mind but a will in the very cells of your body. Without that you can’t do anything; you may take a hundred medicines but they won’t cure you unless you have a will to overcome the physical illness. I may destroy the adverse force that has possessed you. I may repeat the action a thousand times. But each time that a vacuum is created it will be filled up by one of the many forces that try to rush in. That i

Your belief and Others’ Beliefs (22-08-12) Sin is that which was once in its place, persisting now it is out of place; there is no other sinfulness. Sri Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-66) Your belief and Others’ Beliefs To think that your knowledge is the only true one, that your belief is the only true one and that others’ beliefs are not true, is to do precisely what is done by all sects and religions…. The contact which you have had with the truth of things, your personal contact – a contact which is more or less clear, profound, vast, pure – may have given you, as an individual, an interesting, perhaps even a decisive experience; but although this contact may have given y

It Is Not What One Does (20-06-12) Only those thoughts are true the opposite of which is also true in its own time and application; indisputable dogmas are the most dangerous kind of falsehoods. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-45) It Is Not What One Does It is not what one does (what one does is very important, that’s evident) that is the most important thing but what one is. Whatever the activity, it is not quite the way of doing it but the state of consciousness in which it is done that is important. You may work, do disinterested work without any idea of personal profit, work for the joy of working, but if you are not at the same time ready to leave this work, to change the

To See Oneself as One Is (04-01-12) Ravana's mind thought it was hungering after universal sovereignty and victory over Rama; but the aim his soul kept its vision fixed upon all the time was to get back to its heaven as soon as possible & be again God's menial. Therefore, as the shortest way, it hurled itself against God in a furious clasp of enmity Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-509)   To See Oneself as One Is It is no use at all hiding things and pushing them behind, like this, and imagining they are not there because one has put a veil in front. It is much better to see oneself as one is- provided one is ready to give up this way of being. If you come allowing all the bad mo

Reason Must Be the Master (25-07-12) When I hear of a righteous wrath, I wonder at man's capacity for self-deception. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-52) Reason Must Be the Master It is a good thing to begin to learn at an early age that to lead an efficient life and obtain from one’s body the maximum it is able to give, reason must be the master of the house. And it is not a question of yoga or higher realisation, it is something which should be taught everywhere, in every school, every family, every home: man was made to be a mental being, and merely to be a man... life must be dominated by reason and not by vital impulses. This should be taught to all children from their

Is the Aim of life to be Happy? (18-11-12) Is the Aim of life to be Happy? August 29, 1914 OF what use would be man if he was not made to throw a bridge between That which eternally is, but is not manifested, and that which is manifested, between all the transcendences, all the splendours of the divine life and all the obscure and sorrowful ignorance of the material world? Man is the intermediary between That which has to be and that which is, he is a bridge thrown over the abyss, he is the great X as the cross, the quaternary link. His true abode, the effective seat of his consciousness, should be in the intermediate world at the Joining point of the four arms of the cross, where all the

THE TEMPLE WITHIN YOU (08-08-12) God is great, says the Mahomedan. Yes, He is so great that He can afford to be weak, whenever that too is necessary. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-53) THE TEMPLE WITHIN YOU   In the depths of your consciousness in the psychic being, the temple of the Devine within you. This is the centre round which should come about the unification of all these divergent parts, all these contradictory movements of your being. Once you have got the consciousness of the psychic being and aspiration, these doubts and difficulties can be destroyed. It takes more or less time, but you will surely succeed in the end. Once you have turned to the Divine, saying, “ I want

Follow Your Own Path (29-08-12) There is no sin in man, but a great deal of disease, ignorance and misapplication. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms-67) Follow Your Own Path “Thou must reach thy own summit,” says Sri Aurobindo. Is the summit the same for everybody or does each one have his particular summit? In the last analysis, it is always the same summit – the divine oneness which is behind all things – but everyone will reach his own summit, that is, through his own nature and own way of manifesting the divine unity. This is what we were saying the other day: each one represents a special way of having a relation with the Divine and manifesting the Divine. You don’t need to fo