People are occupied with Outward Things (30-04-08)  This erring race of human beings dreams always of perfecting their environment by the machinery of government and society; but it is only by the perfection of the soul within that the outer environment can be perfected. What thou art within, that outside thee thou shalt enjoy; no machinery can rescue thee from the law of thy being. Sri Aurobindo. (Thoughts and Aphorisms - 343) People are occupied with Outward Things.* …. People are occupied with outward things. That means that the consciousness is turned towards external things—that is, all the things of life which one sees, knows, does—instead of being

Under the influence of the forces and beings of the vital world (12-11-08) Others boast of their love for God. My boast is that I did not love God; it was He who loved me and sought me out and forced me to belong to Him. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorism 410) Under the influence of the forces and beings of the vital world. .... The power of money is at present under the influence or in the hands of the forces and beings of the vital world. It is because of this influence that you never see money going in any considerable amount to the cause of Truth. Always it goes astray, because it is in the clutch of the hostile forces and is one of the principal m

Aspiration (15-06-08) Aspiration Is it the psychic will which wants the being to be identified with the Divine? Yes, surely. It is the will of the psychic. It is also the very reason of its existence. It is for that it is there. For example, in the mind certain activities (and even at times in the physical and vital certain activities awaken to the influence of the psychic without even knowing it. That is why those parts adhere to it and begin to aspire also for the divine knowledge, the divine union, the relation with the Divine. “The body has a wonderful capacity of adaptation and endurance. It is fit to do so many more things than one can usually imagine. I

Aspiration (07-09-08) Aspiration   Mother , What is an “acute resistance”? Acute? Acute is used in a figurative sense. Acute describes something pointed, don’t you know? – and perhaps this means an aggressive, sharp resistance which sinks deep like a claw. I did not understand very well the answer to this question: “ Does the power of aspiration vary in different sadhaks according to their natures?” Ah! Yes. You see, I think the question has been put badly. I believe the one who asked the question wanted to say “the effect of aspiration” and he put “power”. That is, aspiration in everyone, no matter who it is, has the same power. But the eff

Awake the Capacity of Loving (05-11-08) I may question God, my guide & teacher, & ask Him, "Am I right or hast Thou in thy love & wisdom suffered my mind to deceive me?" Doubt thy mind, if thou wilt, but doubt not that God leads thee. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorism 467) Awake the Capacity of Loving ....   Among those who have come into this world seeking to reveal the Divine here and transform earthly life, there are some who have manifested the Divine love in a greater fullness. In some the purity of the manifestation is so great that they are misunderstood by the whole of humanity and are even accused of being hard and unloving, altho

Inconscience (03-08-08) Inconscience Sweet Mother, here it is written: “All are linked together by a secret Oneness.”   What is this secret Oneness? It is precisely the divine Presence. Because the Divine is essentially one, and yet He has subdivided Himself apparently in all beings, and in this way recreated the primordial Oneness. And it is because of this divine Oneness – which, however, appears fragmented in beings – that the Unity is re-established in its essence. And when one becomes conscious of this, one has the joy of the consciousness of this Oneness. But those who are not conscious – what they miss is the joy of consciousness. But the fac

A Psychic Being Sufficiently Awake (17-12-08) To thy lover, O Lord, the railing of the world is wild honey and the pelting of stones by the mob is summer rain on the body. For is it not Thou that railest and peltest, and is it not Thou in the stones that strikest and hurtest me? Sri Aurobindo. (Thoughts and Aphorisms 443) A Psychic Being Sufficiently Awake …. If you have within you a psychic being sufficiently awake to watch over you, to prepare your path, it can draw towards you things which help you, draw people, books, circumstances, all sorts of little coincidences which come to you as though brought by some benevolent will and give you an indication

Offer up everything to the Divine (10-09-08) Thou mayst be deceived, wilt thou say, it may not be God's voice leading thee? Yet do I know that He abandons not those who have trusted Him even ignorantly, yet have I found that He leads wisely & lovingly even when He seems to deceive utterly, yet would I rather fall into the snare of the living God than be saved by trust in a dead formulary. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorism 365) Offer up everything to the Divine* Yoga means union with the Divine, and the union is effected through offering - it is founded on the offering of yourself to the Divine. In the beginning you start by making this offering in a g

A Prayer (26-11-08) Beyond Personality the Mayavadin sees indefinable Existence; I followed him there and found my Krishna beyond in indefinable Personality. Sri Aurobindo. (Thoughts and Aphorisms 433) A Prayer WHY all this noise, all this movement, this vain and futile agitation; why this whirlwind carrying men away like a swarm of flies caught in a storm? How sad is the sight of all that wasted energy, all those useless efforts! When will they stop dancing like puppets on a string, pulled they know not by whom or what? When will they find time to sit quietly and go within, to recollect themselves and open that inner door which screens from them Thy

BE GOOD FOR THE SAKE OF BEING GOOD (06-08-08) Perceive always and act in the light of thy increasing perceptions, but not those of the reasoning brain only. God speaks to the heart when the brain cannot understand him. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorism 261) BE GOOD FOR THE SAKE OF BEING GOOD You must not cherish the illusion that if you want to follow the straight path, if you are modest, if you seek purity, if you are disinterested, if you want to lead a solitary existence and have a clear judgement, things will become easy...It is quite the contrary! When you begin to advance towards inner and outer perfection, the difficulties start at the same time.