Difficulties of the Path (24-02-10)  In those whom God loves, have delight; on those whom He pretends not to love, take pity. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorism 454) Difficulties of the Path ALL who enter the spiritual path have to face the difficulties and ordeals of the path, those which rise from their own nature and those which come in from outside. The difficulties in the nature always rise again and again till you overcome them; they must be faced with both strength and patience. But the vital part is prone to depression when ordeals and difficulties rise. This is not peculiar to you, but comes to all sadhaks − it does not imply an unfitness for the sadhana or justify a sense of

The Object of Integral Yoga (02-06-10) They proved to me by convincing reasons that God did not exist, and I believed them. Afterwards I saw God, for He came and embraced me. And now which am I to believe, the reasonings of others or my own experience? Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms13) The Object of Integral Yoga ….. The way of yoga followed here has a different purpose from others, – or its aim is not only to rise out of the ordinary ignorant world-consciousness into the divine consciousness, but to bring the supramental power of that divine consciousness down into the ignorance of mind, life and body, to transform them, to manifest the Divine here and create a divine life in Ma

Sadhna through work (03-10-10) Sadhna through work No, without sadhana the object of yoga cannot be attained. Work itself must be taken as part of sadhana. But naturally when you are working, you must think of the work, which you will learn to do from the yogic consciousness as an instrument and with the memory of the Divine. It is because the energy is put forward in the work. But as the peace and contact grow, a double consciousness can develop – one engaged in the work, another behind, silent and observing or turned towards the Divine – in this consciousness the aspiration can be maintained even while the external consciousness is turned towards the work. One can both aspire and att

Rebirth (19-05-10) He who will not slay when God bids him, works in the world an incalculable havoc. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms227) Rebirth THE soul takes birth each time, and each time a mind, life and body are formed out of the materials of universal nature according to the soul's past evolution and its need for the future. When the body is dissolved, the vital goes into the vital plane and remains there for a time, but after a time the vital sheath disappears. The last to dissolve is the mental sheath. Finally the soul or psychic being retires into the psychic world to rest there till a new birth is close. This is the general course for ordinarily developed human

Helping Humanity (09-06-10) When Wisdom comes, her first lesson is, "There is no such thing as knowledge; there are only apercus of the Infinite Deity." Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms 73)   Helping Humanity For those who practise the integral Yoga, the welfare of humanity can be only a consequence and a result, it cannot be the aim. And if all the efforts to improve human conditions have miserably failed in the end in spite of all the ardour and enthusiasm and self-consecration they have inspired at first, it is precisely because the transformation of the conditions of human life can be achieved by another preliminary transformation, the transformation of the human cons

The Motives of Devotion (10-11-10) Do not like so many modern disputants smother thought under polysyllables or charm inquiry to sleep by the spell of formulas and cant words. Search always; find out the reason for things which seem to the hasty glance to be mere chance or illusion. Sri Aurobindo (Thoughts and Aphorisms 17) The Motives of Devotion ALL religion begins with the conception of some Power or existence greater and higher than our limited and mortal selves, a thought and act of worship done to that Power, and an obedience offered to its will, its laws or its demands. But Religion, in its beginnings, sets an immeasurable gulf between the Power thus conceived, worshipped and

Love and the Triple Path (17-10-10) Love and the Triple Path Will, knowledge and love are the three divine powers in human nature and the life of man, and they point to the three paths by which the human soul rises to the divine. The integrality of them, the union of man with God in all the three, must therefore, as we have seen, be the foundation of an integral Yoga. Action is the first power of life. Nature begins with force and its works which, once conscious in man, become will and its achievements; therefore it is that by turning his action God-wards the life of man best and most surely begins to become divine. It is the door of first access, the starting-point of the initiation. When the

The Most Important Surrender (28-04-10) Forgiveness is praised by the Christian and the Vaishnava, but for me, I ask, "What have I to forgive and whom?" Sri Aurobindo ( Thoughts and Aphorisms22)   The Most Important Surrender The most important surrender is the surrender of your character, your way of being, so that it may change. If you do not surrender your very own nature, never will this nature change. It is this that is most important, You have certain ways of understanding, certain ways of reacting, certain ways of feeling, almost certain ways of progressing, and above all, a special way of looking at life and expecting from it certain things- well, it is this you must surrender.

22. November 1967     (Mutter nimmt Blumen entgegen) Ich werde sie ins Wasser stellen... Blumen, das ist die Schönheit des Lebens. Ein Fortschritt ist eingetreten. Ach, ja? Am Ende der Sportschau [am 2. Dezember [[Alljährlich am 2. Dezember führen alle Schulkinder und Schüler eine gemeinsame Sportschau vor.]] werden alle Kinder im Chor beten, und ich selbst habe das Gebet geschrieben. Ich werde es dir vorlesen. Die Idee stammt nicht von mir: man bat mich darum, und so verfasste ich es. Wahrscheinlich lasen sie das Bulletin und baten dann um ein Gebet - ein wirkliches Gebet des Körper

30. Oktober 1967     Man bat mich um eine Botschaft, um sie am 21. Februar von allen Radiostationen in Indien auszustrahlen. Ich sagte: "Gut, ich werde eine geben." Aber sie wollen sie im voraus haben. Und ich sah so deutlich: Wenn ich sie jetzt gebe, wird sie zu Kalis Periode des Kampfes gehören - ich habe sehr stark den Eindruck, dass von Anfang nächsten Jahres an die Atmosphäre sich... (Geste eines Ansteigens) klären wird. Ich weiß nicht warum. So wäre es besser, bis Januar zu warten. Denn mental kann man sich immer etwas vorstellen und es dann aussprechen, aber für mich geschieht es nicht so: es kommt, oder es kommt ni