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Earthly Paradise

 

   Liberation, Paradise, Goloka, Sivaloka and Vaikuntha are all worlds situated above.  They are not here on this earth.  Tradition says that earth is the place where the soul experiences birth. Sri Aurobindo's paradise belongs to the earth, and it is more blissful than the paradise above.  The Divine created the world seeking that paradise. Sri Aurobindo asks, why should man, when the paradise he seeks is on earth, give this up and seek one above? Though Sri Aurobindo's teaching is simple, it is new and revolutionary. 

   It will be easily understandable if we say that God created souls on earth so that they  may realise the Divine in life and matter and attain fulfilment through that, not seeking a quick liberation and return to their origin.

Sri Aurobindo has changed the tradition of the world that says the body is false and life is ghostly. He said that the body is precious and it alone can help one to enjoy the Divine fully. Further, he has announced a new principle which says that life is not to be rejected but is to be accepted and fulfilled by the soul.

   He has pronounced that growth and evolution are possible for the soul which is normally considered to have no beginning or end or movement or change. In this way he has called his yoga the yoga of spiritual evolution and has brought revolution into the sphere of the Spirit. The end goal of his revolution is the birth of the Supramental Being.  My essays set aside the ideals of yoga and describe the benefits of yoga in life.

   If ‘All Life is Yoga' and there is a measuring scale from 1 to 100, 100 would signify the birth of the Supermind, and 1 would signify the acceptance of Mother in life by a sadhak. A sadhak is above the line and because a devotee is in family life, he is below the line. If the devotee accepts Mother in family life and comes near the line, we can always decide thereafter if the merit required to cross the line is necessary or if it is there. If he crosses the line and reaches the first stage, that is earthly paradise. If he stays below the line, it is like being a cabinet minister. If he goes above the line, it is like being the Chief Minister. Crossing depends on us. Reaching the line is earthly paradise.  Whether one is above or below, these qualities are applicable. Only the intensity will vary for above and below.

   A life without failure, grief, confusion and disease is a life at one level.  A life full of victory, contentment, clarity, happiness and health is a life at the next level.  We can define these two levels as those that are found below and above the line. It would be fitting to describe this through an example. 

   Let us say a family that has been earning 15000 loses its assets through debts and one of the two working people loses their job. If such a family should come to know of Mother, their mental agony will decrease and go away. Their hopelessness will go and they will regain hope. Their minds which cannot even afford to think of education, or marriage for their children and which would be filled with fright on remembering these things, will now develop confidence. To the extent that confidence is regained, office, family, loan, education, work, income, status and happiness will all change. But all these will be like giving handouts to a hungry elephant. If this family comes near the line, the first thing that will happen is, the past income will come back and the lost property will return. If the property has not been lost, what education, job and marriage would have been likely will now come in a measure 50 times greater.

 Staying below the line will turn earthly life into paradise. If we go above, life will turn into yogic life and the paradise will turn into heavenly paradise. What is to be done to rise like that? Is it not enough to worship The Mother? Is it possible to explain acceptance of Mother to that extent from the viewpoint of yoga, life, family and worship?

   Those who have accepted Mother and worshipped her for 5 to 10 years have all seen the above-mentioned features individually. They have seen nine out of ten prayers being fulfilled.  If all that was seen individually in many people's lives should be realised in the life of one single person, this is the method for that.  This is the way for joining the group of 100 people. This method has ten or twelve spiritual features and corresponding life aspects also. I will describe each and every one of them and finally   summarise what the devotee should do.

   As society changes, yesterday's slave can become today's free man. Those who are kept at a social distance yesterday can now live in society with influence. Past defects can either no longer be defects or change into assets. In a similar way, The Mother has changed the basis of life today; therefore what was true till yesterday is not so today. A new condition that has not been in the world so far has arrived today. If we realise that, and try to secure that, the basis of life will change. What has not been there so far will become possible.  Those events whose very possibility we question, will occur. The climax of all this is the dissolution of karma. The crown for this climax would be the fact that we can generate our own luck. The crown has gems also.  If the soul that seeks liberation gives up that seeking and becomes one with the Divine and stays on in the world, expressing the Divine's Will, that is the gem on the crown.

The Spiritual Basis of the Earthly Paradise

Man is composed of body, life, mind, and soul. A soul takes birth in the world by accepting body and life and through a few thousand births matures. After its karma dissolves, it gets liberated and reaches the Divine, meeting the Divine in paradise.  The body has a soul and life has a soul also, and so does the mind. If the soul of the vital being comes out, it doesn't go to the upper worlds. It will remain in the living world. As the soul is coming out in life, life will become a paradise.  That is the earthly paradise.  This is the spiritual explanation for the concept of earthly paradise.

   The seer who gains liberation purifies his mind and follows the methods of Jnana yoga for that. When the mind is completely purified, it touches the soul, therefore the seer goes from the mind to the soul and seeks liberation that way. The ideas that we are considering form one part of Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga.  The aim here is the emergence of the soul of life. Life is filled with qualities and if those qualities are purified, life gets purified. Purified life grants liberation to its soul. The soul of the life thus comes out and conducts life on earth.    

Purified mind moves to touch purified spirit.

            Purified life permits purified soul to emerge into life.

Soul of Life

  The soul gets liberated from birth and attains moksha, but if the life soul comes out it doesn't get liberated. It fulfils life. Life is subject to feelings. If it submits to be controlled by mind, it will gain illumination.  If life is conducted by the soul, it acquires completion. Man is under the control of life and can't function by opposing or denying life. If the soul manifests in life, life will submit to the man possessing that soul. If life is amenable to man,

it means man can do anything successfully.

That is, what is desired will happen.

   How is this to be accomplished? Good and bad qualities are mixed up in us. Bad qualities have to be totally rejected.   If qualities are present, the soul won't come out. The soul comes out only when qualities have been given up. Therefore, we have to give up good qualities just as we give up bad qualities. How to give up good qualities?  When somebody falls down, helping him to get up is a good quality. When one person was helped in this manner, he said, "Don't touch me, who asked you to help?" The man who went to help him couldn't understand.  If devotees who are in this situation consecrate their desire to help, the consecration will indicate whether to help or not. When we act through consecration we don't act through qualities. We rise above qualities. The way to transcend qualities is to move from bad qualities to good qualities and then to consecrate them also, and finally to act through consecration only.

If action is done through consecration, the soul comes out in life.

Success in Life     

   If we function capably, success is possible.  Capacity is in proportion to how much our assets exceed our defects. That alone determines the scale of our success. When we act in society we try to hide our defects and bring out our assets. Such a manner of functioning helps us accomplish.  At a time when a man is not able to act, he sees his family coming to his help.  When he is able to act, he sees the capacity he derived from his family helping him achieve. The community may help at times when the family is not able to. The law helps when the community is not able to. When even the law deserts us, justice may help. When justice also deserts, the Divine help is possible.

  God is Spirit. When the Spirit comes out and acts, the Divine help is definitely available.  Since the help of the Spirit which is the ultimate help is there, the preceding stages of justice, law, community, caste, family and own capacity will rise to the occasion in a big way, and the act will succeed abundantly.  Therefore, permanent victory is possible and defeat is ruled out.

   Man's psychological constitution is in successive layers of superficial manners, deeper conduct that is behaviour, surface character, deeper character, personality that goes beyond character, and finally, the Being.

   Manners have defects as well as assets. The asset that exceeds the defect will accomplish.  If it fails, the conduct that is in the next stage will help. If that also fails, successive stages will help. When all fails, the Spirit that transcends the being will help. If all the layers are filled with assets, successive layers will strengthen action. If the soul comes out, all the layers will effectively accomplish.

            If the soul comes out in life, inner capacities will be enriched and outer ones

            will come to our support. Acting in this way will bring only success.

There is no scope for defeat, neither is there scope for victory to get diminished.

If there is no scope for failure or defeat, then everything we touch will flourish. All that we do will succeed. If at our present level we enjoy success in this manner, we can go to the next higher level and function from there. If we get success there also, continuous progress is possible. Progress will end at the point where we decide so.

If action takes place after the soul has come out, our competent efforts will reach the heights that we want to attain to in life.

The Psychic Being is the Power of Truth

Life is made up of falsehood. Though it submits to truth, its basis is falsehood. The saying that the body is false refers to this truth. The world has not admired and appreciated those who seek after truth. Truth has lived in this world in the form of a crucified Christ and an assassinated Mahatma Gandhi. Even Lord Krishna submitted to falsehood a little in order to establish truth. What rules the world today is falsehood. Moreover, Mother says the present time is a time when man is telling more lies. The soul in life means the psychic being. It is the power of truth. If the soul comes out and functions, what functions is the truth-force. Life that exists as a field of falsehood will submit before the Truth-Force. Therefore, full success is possible. The problem of success or failure is not there. Life that is false will submit to Truth that is the psychic being, much like jungle-hidden thieves crumble at the sight of an army.

Spiritual Plenitude  

   If we have a few hundred bags of paddy, their sale which fetch us only one single bundle of currency. Bags that fill up a whole godown will now fill up only a bag in the form of cash.  Paddy belongs to a smaller domination while hundred rupee notes belong to a higher denomination. If a thing of a lesser level is raised to a higher level, its mass gets diminished. By the same law, if things that are at a higher level are lowered to a lesser level, their mass will increase correspondingly. If we sell a small box of diamonds, it will help us buy ten or fifteen houses. A diamond box is small in size. In comparison the houses are very big. Truth belongs to a higher denomination, and falsehood to a lower denomination.  Truth being a higher element than falsehood, if it chooses to operate at the level of falsehood, its impact will be greater. That is, if the psychic being manifests in life, its measure of victory will be abundant.  It will be like the State player coming and playing in our town.  It will be like the Chief Minister appearing for the panchayat president elections. In England, Ph.D. holders are known to be working as elementary teachers. The results will be enormous. 

Creative Power

   A music teacher teaches the music he has learned to his students. Carpenters, blacksmiths and goldsmiths do what they learn in their childhood. If you ask a goldsmith to make a jewel in a new design, he says he doesn't know how.  Even renowned school and college teachers can only teach what is already written in the books. All these people are uncreative, routine workers.  Those singers who compose original music, carpenters who design new types of cupboards, a blacksmith who fashions a broken engine part using his own skill, a goldsmith who designs a new jewel, teachers who can write books on the subject they teach, are all original people. Their talent is a hundred times greater than others. Evolution is even greater than this creativity. Life is routine and soulless. Its spirit is creative, therefore it is hundred times more capable. The evolving psychic being belongs to evolution, therefore its capacity is unlimited.  When it comes out and functions in life, man turns into a poet, artist and saint.  If it functions in the day-to-day life of man, it would be like an Einstein, Tolstoy, Tagore, or Bernard Shaw working as teachers in a college. Life is an easy field for such people. Their success will give them abundant results. If Mother's force combines with that, life will blossom. Mother's force, Her consciousness, Her Grace and Her Blessings are all creative powers. Their natural abode is the psychic being. If Mother's Force operates in the psychic, paradise can be easily created.  

Ego and the Universe

   What we know as ego is pride, selfishness, arrogance, etc. Mother divides man into two parts which are 1) soul and 2) nature.  Neither the soul nor nature have any ego. But the ego demands that both Spirit and Nature should be at its service.   

   In government, there is the political setup and the administrative setup. Those in the political setup work for the country. In the administration  people implement the rules that they enact. Neither politics nor administration display any inherent affinity for selfishness, corruption, or personal gain.  But both of them can admit personal gain. Ego is like that. Apart from the Spirit and Nature, all the rest is only ego. If selfishness and personal gain are given scope, they can spread in politics as well as in administration. At one point, you may be able to see personal gain everywhere, and no politics or administration anywhere. In the same way, ego has invaded man's soul and nature and has established full occupancy.

   The psychic arises after the ego is dissolved.  In other words, it rises after dissolving the ego.  The psychic being can spread over the whole universe. Ego is narrow and belongs to a single individual. It tends to shrink. The disappearance of such an ego and the emergence of the world-encompassing  psychic being

            is equal to the manifestation of the Spirit in life. Therefore, its capacity

            is thousand-fold. Victory is sure and will be abundant beyond measure.

   If one joins government service as a doctor, engineer or teacher, he can rise from the bottom to the top of his respective department and even become a director.  IAS officers don't come within the confines of a department. They work in the wider government service.  In a few years they can become directors of departments and can go to any department. State government officers cannot go from one department to another, but an IAS officer can even go up to the post of Chief Secretary or Governor.  A department is partial, while administration is an integral whole. Ego is partial, while the psychic being is integral.

If the part withdraws and the whole is allowed to act

            victory is sure, there is no scope for defeat; the extent

            of victory will be unlimited and the quality of the

            victory will also be high.

The difference will be equal to the difference that exists between a clerk that becomes a Deputy Collector and a direct IAS recruit to the post of Deputy Collector.

Peace, Silence, Harmony and Joy

   The above qualities are all those of the psychic being. Hatred, antagonism, and excitement are qualities of the ego. An act that we do with dislike may succeed a few times and fail many times. Nothing that is done with impatience succeeds. Even if it succeeds, the results will be much less.  Antagonism  blocks results. But peace, silence, harmony and joy help fulfil an act and the results will be great.  An ordinary man acts in a selfish way according to his ego and carries out his functions in a mechanical way, accompanied by qualities of antagonism and impatience. His capacities will be limited. The limitation will also be due to the fact that life, his field of operation, is also given to falsehood. The other determining factors will be his karma, horoscope, birth, upbringing, society, etc.

            The egoistic life is small and is subject to falsehood.

            It can't exceed its setting and is subject to fate.

            This is the life that many people live. 

            Day by day it diminishes. Neither can it achieve anything

            great.

   If a man accepts Mother and Her ideal of manifesting the Spirit in life, his life will become pure and because of that, his psychic being will emerge. It will remove the selfish ego, spread itself as wide as the universe and fill the creation with peace, silence, joy, etc.  Such a man can use Mother's evolutionary power to connect the inner psychic being to the Universal Spirit and live that way.

            That life can spread very wide. It is a centre of Truth life.

            It can exceed limits and become abundant.

            It is beyond karma and fate.

            It can make the multitude follow us.

            There is only victory in that life.

            Day by day it grows. It cannot even conceive of anything small.

            It can turn earthly life into earthly paradise for man.

The Play

   Vedanta says that the creation of the world is a divine play. Sri Aurobindo gives the explanation for the divine play. The Divine made the creation with a view to experiencing a new delight. Delight is of many kinds. Discovering what is hidden gives abundant delight, therefore the Divine chose that as the theme of his play.  The height of that delight would be seeking one's own hidden self rather than seeking others or other things. If we have to seek our own selves, we must first hide ourselves. If we had hidden ourselves in a way that made us not know ourselves, finding ourselves would be very difficult. The greater the difficulty, the greater the eventual delight, says Sri Aurobindo. In this manner, God who is full of knowledge forgot himself and lost himself in Ignorance. Having done so for the sake of the play, He must come out of that Ignorance again, and once more regain his awareness and self-knowledge. That is the Divine's aim in the creation, according to Sri Aurobindo.

   The emergence of the Spirit in life would mean the emergence of the awakened psychic being that is now sunk in the ignorance of life.  This, according to Sri Aurobindo's definition,

is equal to the fulfilment of the divine play.

Since the manifestation of the Spirit in life fulfils God's highest ideal, therefore it is capable of turning earthly life into a paradise.

Levels of Delight

   A human being who seeks delight in outer life does so through seeking other human beings and objects and activities. The higher type of human being seeks an inner delight through yogic penance. Those who seek the inner delight are denied the outer form and vice versa.  He who can give the delight that he has received inside to others in outer life, is capable of imparting delight to both the inner and outer aspects of life. Therefore, his joy is even greater than inner bliss. It can change earthly life.

   Those who earn a good reputation at the office don't take good care of their home. Those who are focused on their home don't have a good reputation at the office. There are some who are beyond both of these conditions. The status and culture of a man's home may be such that it gives him enough capacity to win a good reputation at the office also. The condition of such a man is a higher one.

            The emergence of the Spirit in life is such a higher condition.

   We know about domestic life and ascetic life.  The householder who leads a domestic life knows how to manage a family. The specialities of an ascetic life such as meditation and penance are not for him. Those specialities are for the enjoyment of people like rishis, saints, sannyasis and spiritual figures. They can enjoy these specialities only by giving up domestic life. This is what the world has known so far. Life is made up of both domestic life and ascetic life. The ascetic must accept life and bring about its fulfilment by experiencing the heights of both ascetic life and domestic life. In order to do that, the Spirit must come out in life and that is something unknown to the world so far. That is Purna Yoga.  The first stage of Purna Yoga is what I mean by the dividing line. He who stands just below the dividing line is a devotee. Crossing the line marks the first stage of the emergence of the Spirit in life. What we can enjoy as our right, after crossing the line, can still be enjoyed even within the line, but without any rights. 

   Proprietors are known to leave the entire responsibility in the hands of loyal, capable managers. The manager will exercise the proprietor's authority without any native rights. This is a condition below the line but almost bordering the line. The same manager can be made into a director when given those rights. That is the first stage after crossing the line.  An ordinary man is like an office clerk today. If he becomes  Mother's devotee, She gives him the chance to become a proprietor. The manager post that is secured through capacity and loyalty, the authority that one gets by way of trust, the rights that one secures through directorship, and the proprietorship that one secures by efforts are all possible for Mother's devotees due to their devotion. In life, an office clerk can become a head clerk. It is usually the proprietor's relatives who come for the manager's post. It is possible to retire as a head clerk but difficult to become a manager. When it comes to important matters, even the manager is not considered. The proprietor's PA gets to handle confidential matters.

            The emergence of Spirit in life is equal to touching the line.

                Crossing the line marks the first stage.

            The first stage is what I call Earthly Paradise.

            Rising from the first stage is yoga.

            The end is the hundredth stage.

            That is the Supramental level.

   The line is distinguished by a life led with a yogic discipline, devotion, full humility in conduct, absence of selfishness and a cultured sweetness. One has to touch this line and can either stay on the line or cross it.  But one must necessarily come up to the line.

   What was considered wrong at one time is not considered so after those times have changed. After some time, one may even pronounce the same act as good. That which was considered unpardonable by way of commission can also be considered unpardonable by way of omission at another time. These changes of attitude go with change of times.

   Things that are considered wrong and forbidden, and to be done in secrecy can become no longer wrong, and be considered good, fit to be done in the light of the emergence of the Spirit in life. The Spirit doesn't know how to commit a wrong. What is important is that our mentality rises to a higher level and changes.

   Economic spending is all right. Money is a gift of Goddess Lakshmi. But we have been trained that if money comes it has to be hidden from the sight of others and kept safely. We are taught that a bundle of currency should not be broken for petty expenses. It is a sin to spend unnecessarily. Excessive spending is an unpardonable wrong. We have accepted all these practices, but a transformed life would be different.  If the Spirit emerges in life, the 1 doesn't become a 10, rather it becomes hundreds and thousands. What comes, comes in thousands and what goes must also be in thousands.  If the income is abundant, expenses will also be abundant.  Those with the old mentality will say that money is being wasted if they witness these things.  They will say that money is being spent like water and even add that water itself is not squandered like this. The sight will be terrible in their eyes and they may shed blood, let alone tears.  We know the conditions of extravagance, luxury and the behaviours associated with those who have become newly rich.  Commenting on their changed situation in this manner issues from the old point of view.   If the personality seeks luxury, the spending habits are wasteful, and discrimination is absent, such comments are all right.  But if the personality is patient, habits are pure, abundant income will necessarily bring about abundant expenses.  It will appear wrong to those who look at it from the outside.

            Right and wrong are not based on the act.

            They are decided by our mental condition and life circumstances.           

When a man bought lands worth only Rs. 400 for Rs. 1000, he was described as being wasteful. But in the very next year when people understood his motives, the same people said,  "He bought these lands for a thousand rupees last year, but will these lands be available even for 5000 today? "   Mother says it is proper and necessary to spend money generously for good purposes on important occasions with the consent of our psychic being.   When we know this truth, it becomes clear to us that what was considered wrong before  is now right. Sin and wrong exit from our life.

   If the Spirit duly emerges, it can change all that is considered wrong now into its corresponding right version through inner change. There was a time when women were not supposed to go out, mantras were to be kept secret and business people were made to feel they were doing something wrong if they tried to figure out the income and expense accounts. It was considered wrong for a student to sit before his teacher in a chair. But now civilisation has advanced, psychologically people have grown a lot more. As a result, women now go shopping and mantras are being printed and chanted in public;  since auditors are now auditing company accounts, businessmen are able to give proper answers to the income tax officials, and in photos taken at college functions one can nowadays see the student leader sitting next to the Principal.

            When the Spirit comes out, life conditions change.

            In the altered life conditions, mentality changes.

            The changed mentality will be higher and more refined.           

Since this higher mentality is faultless, man gets liberated from sin. Hereafter there is no chance for karma to build up.  There is no more possibility for acts that disturb one's conscience.

            If there is no fault and no sin, success will be abundant.

There was a time when people were proud to say that the women of their family have never crossed their doorsteps, but now society considers it uncivilised to scold women who have gone out shopping.  In ancient days it was considered treason to aspire for the post of royalty and the penalty was loss of life. Now those who aspire to become Presidents and succeed in that are admired and appreciated.

When times change, mentality changes; when the Spirit manifests, everything changes.

Happiness and Victory

  Life is a mixture of good and bad and it takes all sorts to make the world.  If a man wants happiness without any worries, such a man would be considered inexperienced in life.  His demand would be for something that doesn't exist on earth. These are truisms known to the world.

            There are also truisms not known to the world.  

   We know that the body has life. There aren't any moments when the body is without life. We can't say life and death can be intermixed. The fact is, life persists untiringly from the moment of birth till the time of death.  Sri Aurobindo calls this unity in the subconscious. The superconscient also has unity. Only human life which is in the in between stage doesn't have any unity. Sri Aurobindo says it is the destiny of the human being to establish unity in human life. As life stays in the body without even a moment's break,  so it is possible for joy and victory to be present in life without even a moment's break. This is possible if the Spirit comes out in life.

This is a truth not so far known to the world.

This is something The Mother wants to give to Her children. 

This is accessible to those who become aware of it and make efforts to attain it.

A devotee who had known Mother for a long time, who had understood the secrets of life, who benefited by that knowledge and whose soul had blossomed, commented that he was willing to receive anything without making any efforts.  Such a mentality exists. What would be God's answer to such a statement? God is likely to say, ‘If you don't do anything, a wisdom will dawn on you that being without anything is better than having everything."

   When do we feel happy? We are happy to see people who are dear to us. If we accomplish something, we are happy. If some useful object comes to the house we are happy. People, things, and accomplishments give us happiness. These are all external. The inner happiness is something higher. If the soul blossoms inside, the inside feels a joy by itself, not due to any outer event or cause. Such a joy is called self-existent joy or causeless joy. If joy comes to the surface and touches our external life, our external joy will also rise in quality.

            This joy is a sign of accomplishment.

If a man with good and bad qualities wants to accomplish something, he keeps his defects under control and makes his favourable qualities more prominent. If a man who is harbouring both happiness and sadness wants to accomplish something, he rejects his sadness and brings his happiness to the surface. When we want to accomplish anything, we must bring to the front such things as capacity, harmony, joy, sweetness and make our other qualities like disharmony and sadness recede into the background.  Even if the Spirit blossoms only on the inside, still self-existent joy is possible. The soul doesn't have anything that it has to hide behind. The emergence of the Spirit turns defects into assets. There would be nothing that needs to be hidden. Therefore,            

we have only accomplishment and happiness to enjoy.

   Generally how is our mentality?  It seems to stress our defects and make them active on the surface.

"I am not going to speak to him. I am going to abuse him as if I am abusing somebody else. Somebody called him on the phone. If I don't tell him, how will he know?  Only when a scorpion stings is it taken seriously.  I will also sting him that way. If I don't co-operate, he can't do anything. Then he has to beg me. He is trapped very effectively. " 

   These are all ways in which people can speak. What is the meaning of this kind of talk? This means that we actively stress our defects and function egoistically. What is the price for that?           

We move away from the dividing line.

We come down from where we are.  

          What we wished for others will happen to us.

            We move away from The Mother in an egoistic way.  

            Our soul will go and hide in a cave.

            So long as this mentality exists, nothing good will happen.

            If there is business, it will shrink; if there is a crop, the harvest will be bad;

            family problems will arise. 

If the person is a sadhak, expected spiritual results will recede.

Good luck that is waiting on the threshold will turn back

            and if there is nothing, this nothingness will become permanent.

If there is something even that something will certainly leave you.

One has to make a big effort to save even the little that is there.

All signs of impending loss will arise. 

The mind will seek and cherish negativity. 

Lines of darkness will develop on the face. 

Faith in The Mother will desert us.

Psychological Wants and Needs

   There are people whose basic needs for food, clothing and shelter remain unfulfilled. Their problem is only that and not spiritual issues.  There are others whose needs are only partially fulfilled and they remain in a state of perpetual insufficiency.  There are others who suffer occasional shortages. If people in such conditions come to Mother, insufficiency will disappear on its own. Sometimes it will even turn into an excess. This is borne out by actual experiences of devotees.

  People with less education and experience are liable to be impatient. What is clear to all people may not be clear to them, and because their understanding is not clear, they may have mental regrets about that. If they come to Mother in this condition, they will receive the necessary clarity and their mental regret will vanish. 

   What will happen in such situations should the Spirit manifest in life?  If the Spirit in the physical emerges, it is capable of accomplishing on its own without help from others. Therefore under such conditions there is no scope for insufficiency. It will be replaced by abundant fulfilment of our needs. In other words, insufficiency will turn into excess.  If the Spirit in the mind emerges, we will understand everything and there will be no gap in that understanding.  In this essay I am not writing in detail about the emergence of the Spirit in the physical or mind. I am only writing about the emergence of the Spirit in the vital.  Since needs and insufficiencies are part of life, and since vital also has its own needs and understanding, I have chosen to write about the problems of life to the extent the mind and the body interact with the vital.

   In a recently published story written abroad, a millionaire had a very perverse first wife. In his forties, he came across a poor, but good girl and wanted to marry her. She found his wealth to be an obstacle to their relationship and told him that his status did not suit her conditions.  In reply, he said that for her sake he was willing to give all his wealth to his first wife, and added that he knew he could earn it all back quickly.  This is a demonstration of the truism that it is not difficult to earn great wealth after the emergence of the Spirit in life. Wealth is an expression of capacity. As such, capacity can always be turned into wealth.

          The emergent Spirit is naturally endowed with capacity.

            Capacity that is natural also makes wealth correspondingly natural.

   Among a group of four brothers in Bombay, one was ejected from the group but   easily earned many crores on his own and surpassed the others. This actual incident vindicates the statement in the above story.

Permanent Success becoming Perfect Success

   The incidents of success and failure changing into those of success only is very pleasant to hear about. Our experiences with Mother prove this truth to some extent. Though we are able to accept this, our intelligence may not be able to understand how this is possible. Let us say that we need to board a bus. We begin to ponder over the possibilities of whether we can get a seat, whether it will be crowded and necessary to wait, etc. Instead of these worries, if we go to the bus stand thinking only of Mother, our actual experiences are likely to be as follows: 

  • As soon as we reach the bus, only one seat is vacant is if awaiting our arrival.
  •  Fresh buses come with empty seats.
  • After being denied a seat, we finally get one because somebody cancels their ticket.
  •  Though we agree to keep standing, the conductor offers us a seat.
  •  A devotee comes and sits next to us and talks about Mother.
  •  Unknown strangers help carry our suitcase.

Such incidents have happened in the actual life of devotees. How do they happen?

   Normally when we go to catch a bus, we go with the same frame of mind as our fellow travellers. If we surrender the issue to Mother, and send Mother ahead of us, the possibilities mentioned above realise themselves. If the psychic being comes out in life and holds its ground, its impact will be powerful. In its fullness it can even cover the universe. But the amplitude of our ego ends with ourselves. 

   If our psychic is externally active in this way, as soon as we feel like going to the bus stand, our psychic will contact the hidden spirit of the bus. Though the bus is a lifeless physical object, there is still a spirit involved in it.  The contact our psychic makes with the bus gladdens the hidden spirit of the bus. Immediately the bus gives us the seat we want according to our preferences. It will wait till we come and will be glad about our arrival.  The possibility of not getting a seat can never arise. That is, success turns into permanent success.  As our psychic is in touch with the spirit of the bus, and smoothly integrates with it, permanent success becomes perfect success and gives us advantages at one level higher than where we aim.

   Whether we go to buy milk or to the bus stand or to see somebody, we can see people, objects, and events responding to us in this manner. If we observe these occasions, and the methods and processes involved, it will become clear.  In the same way, if we understand how the Spirit functions in areas where it has manifested, such a knowledge will help our own soul's emergence.

   Admitting that it is good for the Spirit to emerge and function in life, still, as with other things, for the Spirit also there are stages of its functioning. My aim is that devotees should know that there is such a power and be able to get rid of doubt about its possibility.

   "This is true, I have seen it, there is no more doubt. The problem is only how to get this power and how much I can get," should be the way devotees speak.

 "THAT makes everything possible..."

   Mother often made the above statement. What is the connection between what Mother refers to as "that" and the emergence of the psychic being?

   If we pray, things happen as we want. If we pray to get admission in a college, and if there is a specific college in mind, we see the prayer getting answered in that way. This is mental receptivity. It means that our mind easily accepts The Mother. Because the mind is receptive, the thought in the mind is fulfilled. . How will the mind become receptive?  If the mind is free of its own inherent defects, it means that it is receptive to Mother.

   Let us say there is a riot in the town and the market street is on fire. "Please save my shop, Mother", cries a devotee. After the riot is over,  the devotee sees that the fire has stopped just short of his shop. Because his emotions have surrounded his shop, the strength of his emotions  brought Mother to the scene.

   A devotee got a boil in an uncomfortable place and found it difficult to sit down. The Darshan was coming in two days and the question of his participating in the meditation was looming in his mind. The day before Darshan, the boil shrank a good deal and when he told Mother about this surprising change, She congratulated him and said that his body was receptive to Her Force.

   If there is good will, the Mother works through that good will. The same is the case with capacity. If there is silence, patience, dutifulness, strength, solid health, She works through all these qualities. If we have these things, we place our faith in them. Since our faith is in good will, Mother acts through that good will.  No matter how many good things we have, if we don't trust any of them,

            how will Mother act? Will She act at all?

If there is no faith in anything, it means the mind exits from the scene. After its exit, the psychic awakens momentarily. Mother works through that psychic awakening. If Her force comes in in this way, yesterday's cancer will not be there today.

            Anything can happen. If there is no faith in human capacities,

            the psychic will awaken, and Mother will act.

            This She refers to as "That".

            This emergence can accomplish anything.

  If the psychic emerges, and maintains that emergence, what Mother refers to as "THAT" will become permanent. If on some rare occasion we are able to achieve such a condition for a moment, then it means we have come near to the line and stand touching it.            

Human life and the Emergence of the Soul

   After the soul has emerged it will effect all those who have dealings with us to some extent. Let us say we go to a place for some purpose and we meet a friend or businessman regarding that purpose.  Before we begin talking, we think about the possibility of the person mistaking us to have come for seeking favours.  We speak to dispel any such doubts.  What is the meaning of this? The work we have undertaken represents truth. But our mind moves away from that and focuses on our dealings with the man. Ourselves, the other person and the contact with him all belong to life. Life means falsehood.

If we move away from Truth and dwell on falsehood, the success of our work depends on our strength.

Our strength is dependent on the strength of the falsehood in us.

In practice, the result is neither on the side of Truth nor on the side of falsehood. 

It occupies a place of its own.

If the result is favourable to us, we accept it; if not, we hesitate.

We go back to our old thinking on the subject.

   Now, after the soul has emerged, when we want to do that work, we think of Mother first. That is, our soul is in touch we Her soul. The Truth in us gets in touch with the Truth in Her. Truth gains some ground and eliminates any place for falsehood. When Truth merges with Truth, strength rises. When this combined Truth acts amidst the falsehood of life, it triumphs.  It gives us abundant success.

   When we act, our qualities also come into play. When our qualities interact with those of others, the results will be a response to the nature of the qualities.  We and our qualities are all psychological formations. When our mind interacts with other minds, results will be a response to the nature of our mentality.

The emergence of the soul means rising beyond qualities, beyond mind, and beyond falsehood into Truth.

Qualities are limited. The condition beyond qualities is great.  Mind is a small entity. The condition beyond mind is a greater entity.  As when diamonds are transformed into assets like houses, as money gets transformed into material objects, and as when Truth acts on falsehood, so under conditions exceeding qualities and mind, results here too will be unlimited and abundant.

Capacity

   Supposing you are a very capable and reliable manager. Anybody who sees you will comment, ‘What a pity I don't have such a manager as you!' All of them will ask you to move to their company. If their company is big, they will tempt you by saying that even at the same salary, being a manager with them is still prestigious. If they want you very much they may offer a higher salary.  The truth in you is the capacity to become a proprietor.  Because you remain a manager with that capacity, the managerial talents seem greater. But nobody will accept the truth in you and ask you to become a partner. A life filled with falsehood will not accept truth and reward it. If your soul emerges in life, it will go and touch another proprietor who is in line with that truth. That man will come to you and offer partnership. Therefore, if the Spirit emerges, truth will be rewarded. Life will not do such a thing in the absence of Spirit.  For the soul to get in touch with another soul, it is necessary that only those qualities that are conducive to the Spirit function in us.

Mother Wins

   We may accept that the Spirit wins. But still we may be curious to know how The Mother actually accomplishes. When the Spirit emerges, our energies increase. The increased energy turns into skill. As we look at issues from other people's point of view, they also understand us. But when we take the attitude that others should be pleased, they are gladdened. As the spiritual emergence works through such things as greater capacity, appreciation of the other person's point of view, the desire to please others, etc., others come forward to work for our success. If we talk without understanding others, and that too in an offending manner and incompetently, work won't get done.  Spiritual emergence is something that fundamentally generates more energy. That makes our mind, feelings and the body function more efficiently. Therefore success is sure.

The Law of the Epochs

   Sri Aurobindo brought about a new age. He has given to the world many new and revolutionary ideas. Some are as follows:

  • The Spirit is capable of growing.
  • Liberation is a bar to spiritual progress.
  • Physical discipline such as yoga asanas, pranayama and meditative postures are not any great help to yoga.
  • The body is a very precious asset and is not false.
  • All Life is Yoga.
  • Life is not to be rejected.
  • Ignorance is greater than knowledge.
  • Yoga has to be fulfilled on earth.

   So far yogis and wise men have been seeking knowledge.  But God is not in knowledge. God who was endowed with knowledge transformed himself and is now immersed in ignorance. Therefore, those who seek after Him must shift their focus from knowledge and bring their pursuit to the field of ignorance.  If this argument is pursued, Sri Aurobindo says that it comes to mean that darkness is compressed Light.  But how are these things relevant to the emergence of Spirit in life?  Life up until now has produced thousands of men distinguished in the fields of knowledge, culture and yoga. Those men have shone as kings, poets, saints and rishis etc. In the future it will be such people who will serve the world. We can expect such people and their descendants to become world leaders and guide it well. But according to Sri Aurobindo's teachings, future leaders and geniuses and experts are not going to come from such a stock. They will issue from people who have been so far discriminated against and segregated. The Ashram and Auroville have been established on that basis. Even the principle of transformation is built on that basis. The law that Sri Aurobindo has given for the new age is that those who are ignored the most will now take the greatest lead. To some extent the modern world in the course of its hundred year history has proved the truth of this principle.

            You should never value your talents. Your talents are your obstacles.

What is necessary is to look at your defects as your assets.

The law of the new epoch is - our psychological defects are miniature models of our great assets.

   The mind accepting this and initiating transformation and the Spirit emerging in life are one and the same.  When the Spirit emerges, transformation will come. How are we to implement this in actual practice?

  The Infinite is in the higher world. And the finite is there with us in the lower.  So far we have been searching for the Infinite thinking liberation to be the means, but hereafter we must realise that the Infinite is there hidden in the finite. If that knowledge is gained, the finite can become Infinite. In other words, the Infinite can be made to emerge out of the finite.

            The Law of the new age is to discover the Infinite in the finite.

Practical Implementation

   A Negro who has so far been a slave is now being requested to run for the American presidency.  The American public feels that a Negro candidate such as the current American Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces could win the elections if he stands for the Presidency, but he refused.  The society and the government are taking great efforts to promote the welfare of socially deprived people such as the handicapped, ex-convicts, the downtrodden, the retarded, and weaker sections like women and children. Through such efforts they have discovered that such people come up in life much better than the average public.

   At the next stage, the question is, what am I to do?  If somebody comes to us as a business partner and makes use of our money and then later on says, "you are a problem for me, I won't return your money, or even if I do so I won't give you a share in the profits', we call such a man a thief.  One of the principles of transformation is to look at an issue from the other person's point of view. If so, the attitude of our business partner turns out to be "I have no money to start a business; if this man gives me the capital, I can't afford to give him half the profits for all time to come. I will return his capital and then all the profits come to me only." This is daylight robbery. If this is applied to all  people, this attitude can be described as

            he does what is possible for him to do.  

   If we understand him in this manner, and examine ourselves, we can realise that on a thousand occasions, we do what is possible for us regardless of whether it is right or wrong. What do we understand from this?    He as well as ourselves have the same mentality. We are both one in the sense he is in us and we are in him.  Each in all and all in each is a Supramental principle. Once we understand this, the man who wanted to cheat us of our money returns that money and he who wanted to reject us gets eliminated. The Spirit emerges in life, the law of the new age goes into action and makes the finite become Infinite.

   This essay is about the earthly paradise. This earthly paradise is endowed with the special distinctions that are absent in the heavenly paradise. But one has to give up the ideal of liberation in order to realise these specialities. We have to appreciate the body and accept life, both of which were rejected as false and negative by our forefathers. We should not seek the jivatma that was realised by the Jivan Mukta, the realised  man. Rather we must seek the Spirit hidden in life which is the psychic being.  It has to be made to come into the forefront of life.  That psychic being will give a joy that even the heavens have not given. That is the delight that the Divine seeks. Liberation is to seek refuge in the Divine The earthly paradise gives us a greater delight than what is proper to the heavenly paradise. It is to become the Divine himself and fulfil his wishes in the physical world.

   Today industrialists and businessmen are in the forefront of society. They are neither royal or of aristocratic lineage. Most of them are descendants of craftsmen such a carpenters, blacksmiths, potters and shoemakers who expanded their business. The geniuses of this century such as H.G. Wells,  Bernard Shaw and Einstein were not born in royal or priestly or even scholarly families. Most of them were born in very simple families.

   In areas like Palestine,  Egypt, Greece and the Gangetic delta they have not fostered science.  Europe was responsible for global empire building and has been the centre of science. The prosperity, leadership and greatness that are the gifts of this century did not originate in Europe. They have emerged in America which was outside the mainstream. Japan which used to make useless products has now surpassed the US in quality production. Unknown places like Hong Kong and Taiwan are emerging as the new leaders.

            Darkness is dense Light. This is the principle.

            The lowest level contains the greatness of the highest level.           

   Hereafter, your capacities are not going to raise you. They have lost their distinction as royal families have done. Your higher qualities are not going to help you shine in public. Therefore, he who seeks light must move away from it and seek for it in darkness. In the same manner, you must withdraw your mind from such things as capacity, goodwill, and virtues. You must understand that your weaknesses, defects and bad qualities such as hatred, irritation, jealousy, competitiveness are all admirable forms of the Infinite. One must understand them to be so and yet not exhibit them. They should be transformed into their opposites and then exhibited. Afterwards, they are no longer qualities and they don't belong to the mind. They become expressions of the Spirit.

   Perennial rivers, lakes, and ponds are all considered to be surface water. This surface water constitutes only 3% of the available water. Water we take out through wells is considered ground water. And that forms 97% of the available water. For the last century, it is not the rivers that have sustained the world but only subterranean water. Perennial rivers are looked upon as gods. The main supply of water is not there.

   Forests are full of their own kind of wealth. But gold and diamonds are not there in the forest.  They are buried underground.  Pearls are found in the deep sea. Future greatness is not for those already renowned. It rests with those who have so far been neglected and downtrodden. Therefore, the lowly sections must be raised up and greatness sought among them.

            Hereafter service is not through great qualities.

The law of the new age is that lower qualities have the Spirit hidden in them and that spirit must be brought out.

The spiritual method devised by Sri Aurobindo for this purpose is transformation.

If transformation is accepted in day to day life, what comes out is the Spirit.

That is the title of this essay. What we obtain by that is Delight in this world.

   This theme should not be misunderstood to mean that lower qualities are great in themselves.  The time meant for appreciation of higher qualities has changed. What deserves our attention now are the lower qualities. If the lower qualities remain as they are, they may still be called low.  If they come forward to change themselves, then it would be equal to a lotus rising out of the mud. Mud can remain as mud if it wants. If it allows the emergence of a lotus, then it is different. The red lotus signifies Sri Aurobindo.            

Lower qualities and wrong things have to be rejected.

            If they get transformed, they will become higher.

            There is nothing inside the higher things but the lower things have a hidden

            greatness in them.

            Realising that gives us integral knowledge.

Bringing that out is transformation.

            That is the law of the new age.

   Wrong and negative things have to be transformed. If they can't be transformed, they have to rejected.  Their list is long.

1) The methods for liberation such as meditation, asanas, pranayama and their lesser versions such as austerities, festivals, recitation of slokas, conventions, temples, pujas, sacred ash, sacred thread and mantras, all have to be given up. Potentially dangerous things like divination, astrology, and miracles have to be also given up.

2) Bad qualities such as anger, jealousy, competitiveness, irritation, excitement, greed, impatience, itching, have all to be dissolved.

3) All negative sides of the inner personality and social activities are to be given up.

4) Acts known as complete folly should not be committed.

5) We have to give up all the present rules and regulations of life.

6) One should not tell lies.

7) Instead of relying on oneself or others or anything else, one should rely on Mother alone.

8) Ego must be dissolved.

9) One should not seek the past.

10) Selfishness and meanness must go.

11) Lifeless activities must be discontinued.

12) One should not expect rewards.

Times have Changed

 We are in the midst of changing times. If someone is behaving according to the old mentality, we all ask how he can do this in these times. If someone is unwilling to give up what belongs to the old times, and accept what goes with the new conditions, they become backward. There is no progress for them. I will give examples of the new mentality to illustrate what is required for the new age of transformation.

During present times, can one afford to be uneducated, can one keep women uneducated?

Is it possible for ladies to not work?

Can handicapped people be given up?

Isn't a handicap an advantage now?

Can anybody afford to be idle, saying they are scheduled or backward caste people?

Is it all right to beat children and women?

Can we threaten servants anymore?           

   The grinding stone and wooden stove have disappeared long ago. Is it not prestigious to go to the USA? Why should we be ostracised for it?  Can't we buy goods on instalments? Who wants to raise paddy? Who wants BA's and MA's? Instead one should take MBBS or Computer Science. Isn't it foolish to try for government jobs? Can't a person start an industry?

   Those who marry their maternal cousin, do farming for a livelihood, celebrate fixing the earring, worship the family deity, take an MA and become a Taluq office clerk, smear the sacred ash on their foreheads and sport a tuft, live in the traditionally designed house with a wooden stove, don't send girls to school, and boss over their servants, don't have a rosy future.

The future is meant for all those who adapt these things to the changing times.   

Complete Folly  

   Even those who adapt themselves to the changing times can exhibit foolish or adamant behaviour when it comes to their personal affairs, knowing fully well that what they are doing is wrong.  We have seen people who actively stress their folly and ruin the work they are doing and still ask why Mother has failed to help them.

   In my experience I have seen plenty of these incidents.  Such people are unfit not only for the earthly paradise, but also act contrary to basic intelligent living. Since such behaviour is prevalent, and moreover as many men commit follies as soon as Mother acts on their life, I wish to speak about my experiences.

            Foolishness is not wrong since many of us are capable of it.

            But stressing that foolishness is wrong.           

   Even Newton and Socrates were not free of that folly. When Newton's cat delivered kittens, he was supposed to have made one hole for the mother to pass through the door and another one for the kittens. Socrates went around asking the famous personalities of Athens why they were called wise men. When they gave their answers, he replied that he was more wise than they were. Such an answer brought danger to his life. If Newton and Socrates are capable of folly, how are we going to be an exception?

   If we are unable to avoid foolish behaviour, at least on important occasions we should be capable of refraining from that. If a man feels that even that is not possible, spirituality still has an answer for him. Whatever acquires perfection is capable of giving us the divine realisation. We say that when the mind acquires total purity, it is capable of realising the Spirit. When life acquires perfect purity, we say it is capable of bringing forth the Spirit. In a similar way, if folly reaches its peak, that can also give us the darshan of the Divine.  But this essay is for those who want to avoid foolishness and act intelligently. 

  Some incidents that illustrate excessive foolishness:

  • One man believed another to be his dearest friend even after the other man was telling the head of the institution false complaints about him for 6 years. The head himself told him that every person was watching him. Even after that, this man was not aware of the wave of jealousy rising around him and lost his job. Mother saved him too.
  • Children of a rich man sent the remainder of the sweets they ate to their guru's house. The boy who sent them died. His parents didn't prevent him from sending the sweets like that. They simply stood watching.
  • One man bought a property even after knowing that if Rs. 65,000 is spent on it in a year, it will only return 35,000.
  • One man accepted another man's advice for earning a lot of money. Later on he went to the very same man and told him that he got all his wealth due to his own capacity. He thereby brought about the danger of losing what he had earned.
  • A man went to serve another man who was actively looking for ways to destroy him and thereby came under his hold and received an arrest warrant.
  • Another man vainly imagined that even if he didn't attend to his career, his family would still carry on somehow.
  • A man handed over the cash box to his thieving manager. Another expected a jealous man to appreciate his newly acquired wealth and status. Another handed over his money to a difficult partner and expected him to give profits on his own.
  • Taking as a bridegroom a boy belonging to a community whose members one can't converse with for even ten minutes is very foolish.
  • Expecting a totally selfish man to be grateful after his purpose has been served is foolish.
  • Refusing to sell goods to the man who lent you the capital for our business and still believing that you will do well in your business is foolish.
  • To treat one's subordinates with respect and do things to please them and still expect work to be done is foolish.
  • To hand over to a man who wants to destroy you along with your business and family the very weapons suitable for this destructive purpose because of one's trust in his deceptive friendliness is foolish.
  • Expecting to settle one's debts and build a house and get one's children married all with the earnings of the son-in-law and still believe the family will flourish is foolish.
  • To believe that because The Mother is a great goddess She will reward positively even the wrongs that we commit is foolish.
  • Parents who believe that simply because a man is their son he will accept their suggestions for his destruction are foolish.
  • To give one's daughter to one's younger brother, though he is not earning anything, is foolish.
  • To seek a bridegroom who is at five times higher level and because of that reject all other suitors for 12 continuous years is foolish.
  • To waste the money that the elder brother has given and still expect further help simply because they have not vocally objected is foolish.
  • To equate handsome looks in a bridegroom with intelligence is foolish.
  • To expect a prayer to be effective in spite of our foolishness, defects, perversity and stubbornness is foolish.
  • To equate self-confidence with faith in the Divine is foolish.
  • Expecting an incompetent man to earn a lot is foolish.
  • Waiting for a business to give profits on its own is foolish.
  • To expect more benefits through less and less work is foolish.
  • To consider as magnanimity the act of giving a man going broke lots of money without asking for receipts is foolish.
  • To hold in high esteem the very man who is jealous of you and to retain that esteem even after the jealousy has brought about a mortal danger is foolish.
  • To destroy properties given in one's care and reduce a mountain of assets to a pile of sand for ten long years and then to expect that a lorry one purchases will give earnings, is foolish.
  • To expect the world to approve expensive gifts that have come to a low level worker is foolish.
  •  A disciple who gets something accomplished by telling about it to his guru and then later on hides the accomplishment from the same guru is foolish.
  •  To expect because the guru is a good man that he will bless activities designed to do him harm is foolish.
  •  To hold up to the world as models of gratitude a family that for generations has lived by treachery and expect the world to believe that is foolish.
  • To expect that help will come only by speaking in an abusive and offensive manner is foolish.
  • For a man with Rs 1500 salary, to claim he is spending Rs. 12,000 and expect people to believe him is foolish.
  • To indulge in mad antics at home and still believe that Mother is on one's side is foolish.
  • To believe that treachery to one's guru will not stand in the way of Mother's Grace is foolish.
  • Asking how one can come up in life without being selfish is foolish.
  • To expect Mother to be effective in our life without strength of personality is foolish.
  • To proclaim that one can serve Mother through telling lies is foolish.
  • To ask how one can give one's Mother to others is foolish.
  • The penniless man's proclamation about his total sacrifice is foolish.
  • To find fault with others when one does the same thing himself is foolish.
  • To go and seek help from the very person whom one tried to destroy and expect the help to be forthcoming is foolish.
  • To believe that the other person has accepted your advice simply because the other party has not refuted it vocally is foolish.
  • To believe that one can say The Mother also lies and that things can be hidden from Her is foolish.
  • To believe that by asking everybody for something one can get an earning is foolish;
  • To believe that even a devotee will fall a victim to blackmail and as a consequence invite mortal suffering onto oneself is foolish.
  • To expect one's life to be saved and that too without any expenses or cost is foolish;
  • To speak about helping others when one is getting help is foolish.
  • To expect Jnana and realisation to be possible without faith is foolish.
  • To believe that even The Mother won't pardon our sins is foolish.
  • To believe that what is not possible for oneself is not possible for others is foolish.
  • To think that The Mother cannot do what we can't do is foolish.
  • To be unaware that our attempt to destroy somebody stronger than ourselves will bring about our own destruction is foolish.
  • To expect that money, secured through treachery and unfair means will do good is foolish.
  • To expect a friend to be present in an enemy's house is foolish.

Effort, Work and Change of Attitude

   In ordinary life these three things bring us results that correspond only to our social status and not to the quality of the effort or the extent of our work or the greatness of our mental transformation. The hard work of a clerk will fetch only a salary and not make him the proprietor. The hard work of a party member helps the leader to gain victory, but it doesn't make the member himself the leader. A change of attitude may at best assure of us a place in the heavens.   

   These things neither elevate our status or help us regain what we have lost. But with respect to Mother, since She has changed the nature of life, progress can be in proportion to the effort. One can become a proprietor through hard work, or become a leader too. In the new conditions now a change of attitude can help us achieve anything. Hereafter, devotees must reach the heights of life through such effort, work and change of attitude. At the same time, even amidst these new conditions, should one ask for a way to come up in life without hard work, should one demand that Grace give him everything without any effort on his own and if one wonders why Mother won't take the effort for himself,  etc. such questions have no answer in this essay.

Doubt

   If one does not understand what The Mother has said there is scope for doubt. Similar doubts include issues like how money will increase through expenses, how is consecration to be done and whether the Spirit will emerge in life on its own or should  we do something, and if so, what? Such doubts have answers available in books or through explanations by knowledgeable people. At the next level one says that though understanding is there, one is unable to act. That indicates incapacity and not doubt. Even with respect to incapacity there are solutions.

   If one raises questions with the understanding in the back of his mind that without even doing anything it is possible to receive everything from Mother, that is not doubt also. Such a question should not be asked and there is no answer for that. Still at the heights of spiritual progress there is an answer for even such a question. To do nothing is a great attainment. That attainment won't expect anything. At that level wisdom will reveal that not receiving anything is equal to receiving everything. The man who asks such a question must wait till that attainment comes.

Opportunities that Mother's Atmosphere Gives

   If we meet some ten or twenty people that we know and ask them about the opportunities they have witnessed in their life, most of them will reply that opportunities are a rarity and their worry is how to preserve what is already there. A lone man may say that he got a good opportunity and missed it. If one man has made use of some opportunity, that man won't be with us now. A college professor got a chance to become a MLC. Since he had to resign his job in order to stand in the elections, he refused. A man who was earning  650/- got an offer for a 2000 rupee salary but he was not able to accept it due to his wife's resistance. Another one who was earning only Rs. 100 received an offer for a lakh of rupees worth of property through adoption but he didn't accept that offer. A High Court lawyer got an MP post and the Prime Minister made him a Minister. Later on he became a Governor. He still remains so in West Bengal.  A high school headmaster got a Bishopric. A high school teacher became a college professor and later an MLA and finally the Speaker of the Assembly.  These are some of the opportunities that I have witnessed in my experience.

   The opportunities that Mother gives are very great if there is devotion and service. After completing a project for 8 lakhs, an opportunity came for 300 crores. A man whose business didn't give him ten lakhs for 15 long years got the chance to earn Rs. 30,000 every day. That is a great opportunity. After a few years, opportunities became unlimited and he along with some others similar to him received offers to earn a few crores. But nothing worked out and he didn't understand the reason. However, the reasons are simple.

    When Mother had problems securing enough finance to run the Ashram for up to 15 long years, Ashramites started asking why there is difficulty for money. Generally The Mother didn't answer such questions. But once She told, "if we give away what we have, more will come." After taking to yoga and service one should not keep anything for oneself. If we do so, more won't come to us.

   Family life and a life of service are different. The above-mentioned person, though he accepted service in his feelings, still his outer habits continued to be the same in his domestic life. As a result the conflicts occurring in his domestic life prevented anything abundant from coming to him.

   If The Mother is to shower  Her blessings in a great measure on any householder, he must be willing to serve his family.  His talk about serving Mother must not be mere talk. If there is truth in his feelings and actions, whether it be family or service, Mother will give abundantly.

   What is it that we have accepted?  It is necessary that one remains faithful to that. If there is an ideal of service in the mind and outwardly the person says that he wants neither service nor anything else, nothing will come. If there is only the family in the feelings, and outwardly the person speaks about service being their sole occupation,  the conflict between these two things prevents anything from coming.

            Opportunities coming from Mother are endless.

            Those opportunities respond to Truth.

            They can be made use of either for service or for family.

            Whether family or service, what matters is only Truth.

            Mother doesn't respond to mere acting or faking.

The Subtleties of Human Nature

   Generally, what is accepted by the public and practised by many is something we can also do. There are some who cannot even do that. There are some issues which will be still frightening. Though many people talk on the stage, there are some who can't do it.  Some people can do it only after practice. 

   People don't come forward to do what no one else has done. With respect to Mother, all things are like that. As an ordinary devotee is not able to easily accept the truth that leaving all his property to Mother will bring great opportunities in his life, so will it be for another devotee to accept Mother at a new level.   Whenever such a person comes near The Mother in his feelings, he will receive constant surprises as to how this or that is possible.

   If one is suffering from the pain of an illness, to trust The Mother and not the medicines or the doctor, to not act like others with respect to admissions and to proceed on the basis of faith in Mother, to give away one crore of property and believe that hundred crores will come are all things not possible for human faith.

 If such a thing is possible for any person ,that man can be said to have faith.

    Whether it be a trivial or big matter, a small prayer or a big issue concerning principles, at each and every step it will look as if it is not possible and as a result many people don't accomplish.

            He who crosses that stage is a devotee. His soul will manifest in life.

            If he seeks earthly paradise, he can get it.

   If a man feels like asking those who come to his house as to why they have come there, for such a man to change his attitude and behave politely is very difficult. It may be not only difficult but actually impossible. The impossibility may be an ever-present impossibility that guarantees that he will never go beyond that. It can be as difficult to change one's attitude and behave nicely as it is to give a property of one crore for service. He who changes at one point can change everywhere. He who can't do this won't change anywhere.   

   All opportunities that have come to you so far can be realised. Their worth runs to several crores. What you have is only one house. Apart from the liabilities on that house, its net worth is about Rs. 30 lakhs.  Your attitude of treating this house as yours is the thing that has been preventing the one crore that has come to you from being realised. It is a fact that cannot be told to a person in such a frame of mind.  Even if he is told, he won't believe it.  Even if he believes, he won't act on it.  Giving up a small privilege and giving away all of one's property are one and the same thing.

            What The Mother gives is unlimited Grace.

            What we give up is only a handful.

Like the monkey that has inserted its hand into a coconut, we are unwilling to let go of the handful of soil . If we relax our hand and let the soil fall, it will bring a lap full of gold.      

He who does that is a true devotee.

"My daughters have to get married. Given my present condition and that of my family,  with the understanding I have, and considering the experiences of a hundred to two hundred people known to me, and after subjecting my affairs to their mental scrutiny, it's not clear to me or to anybody else how these marriages will take place in my family. I have a profound devotion and unlimited faith, but even these have been shaken by this problem. Apart from this one problem, so many other things are getting resolved in my life. Some get resolved quickly and some more slowly. Nevertheless, things are getting done. But this one thing has become a question." This is a likely comment from a man in this situation. If we ask such a person to hand over this problem to Mother, he may say yes, though with some despair.  Handing the problem over to the Mother means accepting Her decision happily. If so, our mind raises the next question. If The Mother decides that my daughter need not get married, what am I to do?

   The prayer is that his daughter should get married. That has not been answered for so many years. Surrender means accepting Mother's decision happily. But one is unwilling to surrender the problem because of the fear about the prospects of  not getting married at all.

   But if the Spirit manifests in life, this fear won't be there and prayers won't remain unanswered.

The only reason for the prayer not getting answered is because we don't see any solution that appears possible to our knowledge. We don't have any faith in the prayer.

Even when we pray, we believe the solutions that we know. That is, we rely on ourselves and not completely on The Mother. If we rely on The Mother totally, the prayer would have been answered by now. If we consecrate the prayer, the scepticism will go. Even when we surrender the issue, still The Mother grants only what we want. We don't have the faith required for proper consecration.

   When we function through our Spirit which has already emerged, faith won't be lacking and obstacles will go. How will the Spirit come out? We have to purify life and its qualities. One believes that one has done all that and there is nothing more remaining to be done. But that is not true. If someone says that they don't abuse anyone and they don't commit any wrong, will those around them agree with that statement?  Faced with such a question, a person may be unable to reply. If so, much remains to be done inside.

   If one remains good out of fear, the result that comes will be what is due to the fears and not to the goodness. If there is fear, failure will come. If a man with fear prays for removal of fear, the fear will go. Then the marriage will take place. The dissolution of the fear will help the Spirit to come out. 

   "My son's factory is running at a loss. Loss means incompetence. My son is not competent enough." If that is the only problem, faith can offset that and remove the loss. Running an industry requires capacity, sense of duty, responsibility and enthusiasm. Are all these things there? They are there in some measure. Running an industry is like jumping across a well. One can't jump part way. What to do? If the son doesn't have the capacity for being a proprietor, does he have the capacity for being a manager? Does he have the capacity to be an engineer, or a supervisor or a worker?  "I don't know.  If he goes and works in another factory, the extent of his capacities will become clear. But that will make my son unhappy. If he becomes sad, the industry will suffer.  But if the debt burden keeps growing, the factory will have to be closed down.  When I have so much faith, why should I be in this situation?"

   When the basic requirements are not all right, things become difficult. There is no foundation here. The attitude of wanting to run an industry without the essentials and insisting on the son not getting upset is an attitude that stresses foolishness. "Is there no way out for me?" When the son doesn't have capacity or enthusiasm, responsibility and a sense of duty, assuming that these things are there in him is very foolish. He should have acquired these things by now. If the boy is keeping quiet even after a loss of Rs. 8 lakhs, he is not sensible. If a senseless person is sent to another factory and asked to do a job fit for his level, he will gain some sense. If the parents insist on their foolishness, the only result will be that the boy will become a useless person. When the parent asks about some solution to the problem,  he or she does so with a reservation in the mind about the boy not getting displeased. There is no truth in that. If the same boy does not obey the parents' wishes in some other matter, they won't say that he should not get upset. The parents have the habit of stubbornly doing a foolish thing for a long period.  The Mother won't put up with this even for a minute. The problem here is not the mother, her faith or the son or his unhappiness. The problem is what will others say. What about loss of prestige? He who cares for what others say can't become Mother's devotee. 

   How does the emergence of the Spirit apply in this case? If the Spirit comes out, it won't listen to what others say. What needs to be done in this factory is work. If work gets done, the factory will earn profits. A profitable factory will bring us respect. A factory doesn't generate respect but it will generate profits. The factory that should earn profits is made to earn a loss for the sake of prestige. Where does The Mother come in here?  If we want water to go from a lower level to a higher level, and ask why Mother is not working, the answer is, what we are doing is complete folly. The question   "why my devotion has not brought profits to my son" is not a proper question.  My intelligence will not help my son pass. The beauty of the mother will not help the daughter get married. My uncle's wealth will not bring me anything.

   Why has the Spirit not come out? I have assumed that it has already come out. The Spirit won't come out overcoming our foolishness and it won't act according to our assumptions. If the Spirit has come out, are the necessary indications for that there? That cannot be confirmed. If so, it means the Spirit has not come out.  You are simply assuming it to be so.

"What can I do?"

           One should give up senseless  functioning and function sensibly.

If the boy subjects his body and mind to labour and hardship, he will come up. Doing that is the proper thing and not doing it is wrong. 

You have no faith, only expectation; there is no clarity, only desire. The attitude that somehow it will get done only means the closure of the factory in one way or another. Nothing gets done somehow.  One has to function in the proper manner only.

Bliss, Delight

   What we enjoy are petty pleasures. The quality of that pleasure is very low. This pleasure includes the enjoyment of the senses,  the pleasure of material acquisition like purchasing clothes, the physical pleasure of sex, the egoistic enjoyment of an enemy's defeat and transient pleasures like that of watching a cinema, etc. Because these are all not permanent, they are called petty pleasures. They may be available at one time but not available at another time. These pleasures are what can be had through the enjoyment of women, through begetting children, acquiring valuables like a house and savings etc., etc.  The sannyasi gives up these petty pleasures in favour of the imperishable Delight. The delight he seeks is the Delight that comes through communion with the Divine and through having spiritual experiences of receiving peace, light and silence, etc. The yogi tries to gain the delight that comes through inactivity like the static Brahman. What man experiences in the vital, the sannyasi tries to experience in the spiritual plane. The vital is small and narrow while the Spirit is vast and great. Therefore what the sannyasi receives is called bliss and delight.  Because it is spiritual, it is imperishable.

   Bliss is part of Satchidananda.  Satchidananda resides in the fourth level called the Turiya. Temporal pleasure is limited while eternal bliss is unlimited. As such, bliss has an infinite dimension to it.  Because human pleasures are limited they are called temporal pleasures. Though a child enjoys playing, the play has a limit. When it is time for school, the play has to stop. Man faces a similar limit for everything. He doesn't have the freedom to behave as he likes. One can't talk freely in front of other people. The conversation has to be restrained. Even if it is very sultry, one has to put on a shirt in public. Similarly every human act has a limit. This limitation reduces bliss to the level of petty pleasures. The very definition of bliss is that it is infinite. Losing the confines of limitation brings about the sense of bliss.  The delight the sannyasi gets is this bliss which belongs to the heavens.

   The world knows about these two types of delight. There is a further stage. It is Sri Aurobindo who has announced that to the world. The Mother granted that to everybody in the world.  Going to the higher worlds and gaining bliss is in itself a big thing. Can the person who has gained this bring it down to the world? Even if he brings it down, can he retain his hold on it? Can the bliss that comes through penance be received also in actual life? Even if it can be received, can it be given to others?  When the Divine who has lost himself in ignorance and matter recovers his self-awareness and regains his self-knowledge, that delight is even greater than this bliss. As of now it is not available either here or in the higher worlds. It is because the Divine sought this type of bliss that He turned Himself into matter and covered himself with Ignorance. When knowledge comes out of ignorance, the bliss the Divine attains  through that is bliss par excellence. Active delight is greater than static bliss.

One can become a genius, but it is not easy. One can also become a millionaire, which is also not easy. Anybody has the right to become the President, but it is difficult to realise that in practice.  Ordinary men remain as farmers, businessmen and professionals on a salary. This level can be compared to the level of petty pleasures. Becoming a genius or a millionaire or a great leader are all difficult propositions for men at this level. But if they do succeed, the delight they gain by that can be equated with the bliss of the higher levels. Is it possible for one who has become a genius to make someone else also a genius? Similarly, can a self-made millionaire turn another man into a millionaire too?  The same question applies to a man who has become a president. If these things can be given to others, the ensuing delight will be certainly more intense than bliss itself. What man knows is petty pleasure. What the ascetic seeks after is bliss. Bringing bliss down into the world is the next level. Giving bliss to others and making others receive that bliss are also further steps that are greater than bliss itself. This more intense bliss can be described as Mother's delight, integral delight, pure delight, and the delight of the manifested spirit. Since it is Sri Aurobindo who has brought it down, it can also be described as the delight of Sri Aurobindo.  As The Mother has taken the trouble to distribute it to others, it can also be described as Mother's delight.

           The ascetic goes beyond normal, human petty pleasures and gains the

           delight of the higher worlds.

           Our ideal is the manifestation of that delight through the Spirit in life.

           If the Spirit does manifest in life, we can verify this.

           The gradations are pleasure, bliss and delight.

The delight that issues out of the Spirit's manifestation in life is what turns the earth into an earthly paradise.  

This is the ideal of Sri Aurobindo and the vision of Mother. The aim of Integral Yoga is that we should all receive bliss. The sadhak is one who gains this by staying above the line. He occupies the number one position on the scale that I have developed. He who enjoys the delight by remaining below the line is the householder. What the sadhak enjoys as if by right, the householder enjoys without the rights. The extent of the enjoyment is equal. The householder can cross the line any time. When he does so,

           he has no more family, no more family attachments either.

           Attachment has to be transformed into love.

He has no property and must psychologically give up his rights to existing properties.

He must transcend qualities.

There is no more pettiness for him.

His personality has to be touched by the Spirit and its pettiness turned into greatness.

The body must observe the disciplines of brahmacharya.

   When one comes near the line and through that nearness enjoys something of the bliss, one will know that the earthly paradise is something possible. It is like travelling to the USA and obtaining a green card. The higher bliss is equal to becoming a US citizen itself.

The Good Qualities We Normally Possess

  • Though we may constantly criticise someone, when we see them we talk nicely.
  •  Though our personal life may have its faults and we may wish to do many wrong things, when we read fiction and when we refer to someone in town, our tendency is to appreciate higher things and look down on all that is low.
  • Though our minds may be prepared to commit the worst possible treachery, still a part of the mind says that treachery is wrong.
  • Though we may enjoy the sight of someone suffering due to our wrongs, at some point we also feel that the enemy should not suffer anymore.
  • Even if a brother robs us of our property and laughs at our failures, we don't display the hatred towards him that we might show to outsiders. And we do feel the attachment of that brotherhood on suitable occasions.
  • Even a dissolute person who has not been with his family for ten long years and who has led a shameful life, can on occasions feel genuine love for his wife and children.
  • Though we may have turned very bad, still when we see other good people becoming bad, it hurts us psychologically.
  • Any type of person can change and many do wish to change.
  • We appreciate our enemy's good qualities in his absence and recognise them.
  • There is a tendency to serve the country.
  • On some occasions we do feel like helping others.
  • Though for three generations debts have not been repaid, mentally we realise it is important that they should be returned.
  • Unwittingly we do praise others.
  • Even when we have given trouble to those who have helped us, still we do think about that help sometimes. Our acceptance of the help that our enemies give sometimes, our remembrance of our faults on some occasions, and the pleasure we feel when on occasion we remember the virtues of others are all some of our normal good qualities.

Faults We Normally Possess

 Though these are the opposite of the list given earlier, nevertheless I will include these also.

  • Taking for granted that we are good people.
  • To be in a state of wonder about our own intelligence and to speak it out sometimes.
  • To be unaware of the defect that everyone else sees in us and on the contrary to assume that we have the very opposite good quality in us.
  • To blow up some little good thing that we did into a mountain and to act on that basis.
  • To be unaware of the shame of seeking each and everyone's help for all sorts of petty things and on the contrary to feel inflated about one's greatness.
  • Because of one special quality in us, to assume that everything in us is special.
  • To be totally devoid of gratitude and to be unaware that we are like that and not even know that it is necessary.
  • Not seeing that our proclamations of gratitude demonstrate its absence.
  • To assume that everyone else has the defect that we have.
  • To appreciate lesser things instead of greater things.
  • To assume that the faults which others don't see are not there in us.
  • To vehemently assert that a nationally prevalent defect is not at all in us.
  • To compare our strengths with others' faults and in that way assume that we are stronger.
  • To have a taste for stolen pleasures.
  • To refuse to evaluate ourselves by our achievements.
  • To assume that we are people who can help others.
  • To assume that others are expecting our help.
  • To shrewdly infer other people's motives and to speak that out to them.
  • To equate intelligence with talkativeness.
  • To assume that the capacity to cheat others is a capability.
  • To assume that we are people who can serve The Mother.
  • To persistently refuse the very thing that one wants at a deeper level.
  • To accept injustice for selfish gains.
  • To do something without a sense of right and wrong simply because one can do it.
  • To talk ill of others when they are not there.
  • Even a really stupid person can feel proud of his intelligence. If you tell such a stupid person that others are bad, he will assume that he is good.

Defects, Removal of Defects and Turning them into Assets

   At lower levels of society and in low families, people will point out defective persons and give them a nickname which refers to their defect. At higher levels of society people will try to remove those defects. Transforming a defect into an asset by one's own effort has occurred in the lives of such people as Helen Keller, Roosevelt, and Herodotus.

   What Sri Aurobindo says about darkness is something new.  He says there is no such thing as darkness. There is only light and denser light.  We are able to see light. When we see dense light, our vision gets darkened and that darkening we refer to as darkness, says Sri Aurobindo. 

        Darkness is in fact dense light.

If that is so, and if our eyes only perceive it as darkness, then if we purify our sense of vision and look again, the same darkness will appear as concentrated light. It is the mind that sees through the eyes. The senses are the creation of the ego. And when they work as instruments of the mind, concentrated light appears as darkness.   If the mind withdraws and the Spirit looks at the darkness through the eyes, then it will appear as light. Sri Aurobindo calls this Divine sight. A similar Divine hearing is also possible. 

   Therefore, when the Spirit emerges in life, darkness will appear as light. People with defects will appear as great souls. Our own defects will appear as a different form of our good qualities.

   If a family ignores the defect of a person and likes him in spite of that, the defective person will lose his misgivings about himself. When we recognise a defect as a defect and then ignore it, his misgivings go. But if we look at his defects as a big asset, and accept him as such, we are then accepting his soul. Our soul accepts his soul. His hidden talents come to the surface and he earns distinction. Therefore, to consider other people's defects as great assets and accept them in that light, will  help them to become distinguished people. It is not even necessary that we do this for others. If we simply view our own defects as virtues and lose our sense of shame, that is enough to awaken our soul. This is the method for transforming all our faults and it is also the way for the Spirit to emerge in life.

Who can Realise This?

   Since this matter seems to be very serious and lofty, questions such as ‘who can realise this?' and ‘are we fit for this?' arise. But theoretically all those who have accepted Mother totally can realise this. People have received all kinds of experiences after coming to Mother. Their experiences prove the extent to which this is accessible to them. A man who came and stayed in Pondicherry for 14 years for the sake of Mother's service claimed that Mother had never worked in his life. That means, in other words, that he has never accepted The Mother.  Such people are not true devotees. There are people who have related to Mother through prayer and consecration. Their receptivity to Mother has given them experiences that can be classified under various sections, such as the body, life, mind, soul, service, etc. For all such people, emergence of the Spirit in life is possible if they take the proper efforts.

1) Accepting Mother in the physical is equal to accepting Mother in the body. Such acceptance amounts to physical receptivity.

  • A prayer voiced in the night shifted a boil by a full three inches from where it was to a place where it did not hurt.
  • An iron pin that entered the foot and was paining for 20 days disappeared after prayer.
  • He who prayed for a peaceful death because of unbearable pain, was relieved of that pain and granted peace by Mother within 24 hours.
  • A mother prayed that her son's cataract should not grow and required an operation. Later on she found out that the cataract not only did not grow but spectacles were also not necessary.
  • Abundant water was available for lands bought in an arid zone.
  • A prayer voiced by the parents of a boy who couldn't get a job got him a business opportunity.
  • Flames caused by riots in Calcutta came very near the shop and stopped at that point.
  • A house was protected even in the midst of a fierce storm and not even the trees suffered damage.

2) Vital receptivity is the acceptance of Mother in the feelings.

  • Breaking the friendship with a man who was with the traitor got a three year long unsolved problem solved within half an hour.
  • When the Chief Minister wanted to take revenge, the prayers of an industrialist devotee made the Chief Minister lose his job in 31 days.
  • When a devotee wasn't getting even a small company as a client, he decided to cultivate humility. Within two days of taking that effort, the proprietor of a very big company came to him.
  • A marriage held in the absence of the head of the family was conducted very successfully and won everyone's appreciation.
  • A small company in India secured the collaboration of a very big multinational company.
  • A man whose mission in life was to travel abroad received an offer to go to the US.
  • A situation was such that even Rs. 2000 could not be collected, but two lakhs came on its own.
  • A man with a paltry income of Rs. 500 got Rs. 5 lakhs through marriage.
  • When efforts to help a traitor failed a thousand times, an attitude of accepting the treachery as a marvel got the traitor a big business opportunity after 7 years.   

3) Mental receptivity is the acceptance of Mother in one's mind and understanding.

  • Opening one of Mother's books and through that coming to know what will happen the next day is successful through mental receptivity.
  • A company with a 5 crore turnover expressed a wish to be a collaborator with a 15,000 crore turnover company and the suggestion was accepted by the latter.
  • When unemployment became a big problem, the suggestion came up that everyone should be rightfully employed and the suggestion was accepted.
  • At a place where everyone was earning only Rs. 100, one man got an idea to earn Rs. 1000.

4)     Spiritual Receptivity

  • When a devotee was meditating sitting on some steps in the Ashram, he was taken by an Ashramite and asked to sit in Sri Aurobindo's room for meditation.
  • When The Mother attained Samadhi, a devotee saw a huge ball of light in the sky.
  • Entering Mother's room gave the devotee the experience of his body dissolving and spreading all through the world.
  • An act of black magic that was hurting a devotee for 7 years got dissolved after a bare 20 minute prayer at the Samadhi.
  • When The Mother's photo was taken around a house, an evil spirit left that house.
  • A child had faith and the father's cancer got cured.
  • Seeing The Mother and Sri Aurobindo in dreams and getting their darshan in meditation is a sign of spiritual receptivity.

5)     Subtle Receptivity

    Experiences of seeing light, Mother's figure or Sri Aurobindo's figure, hearing inner voices, foreknowledge, seeing things that were wished for happening, are all signs of subtle receptivity.

6)     Receptivity of Service

    Getting benefits through book service, progressing through conducting a meditation centre, and success in introducing others to Mother, are all signs of service receptivity.

7)     Receptivity of Prayer

    Unimaginable help becoming available, prayer getting fulfilled as it was exactly prayed for, seeing Mother come as a helper in situations in which one feels totally helpless, getting rains as soon as prayed for, getting a new solution to a problem when there are no solutions possible, to disbelieve the cable about someone's passing away and later to find out they are still alive, long-standing prayer getting fulfilled through Mother ....

   Devotees with the above-mentioned experiences can witness the emergence of the Spirit in life. If they take the required yogic efforts, such a result is possible. What are those yogic efforts?

  • 1. Total consecration
  • 2. Transformation
  • 3. The soul calling The Mother on its own for a period of 7-10 days.

The Line

What is the meaning of terms like next stage, ten stages, the line, devotee and sadhak?

                                    --100     

                               --50

Life of a sadhak          --1                                   

______________The Line______Earthly Paradise

                         Earthly Paradise        

Devotee stages                                                           

                                    -10                   Tenth Stage

                                    --9

                                    --8

                                    --7

                                    --6        } Ten stages of accepting Mother

                                    --5

                                    --4

                                    --3

                                    --2nd

First stage _________­_______________________The stage of coming to Mother

                                    ¯

            Mental condition before coming to Mother

   An ordinary man comes to Mother and his acceptance of Her passes through several levels and finally reaches the tenth level. Further efforts will make him touch the line.

If he decides to cross the line and does so, he will arrive at the first stage out of the hundred stages of yogic life.

   I have named that stage ‘Earthly Paradise'. This stage is there both above and below the line. Overcoming mind and the qualities will help us cross the line.

Are there Signs for the Emergence of the Spirit?

   When Mother and Sri Aurobindo were taking interest in the lives of the sadhaks, many people had a momentary emergence of their soul. Among those Tamil devotees who came to the Ashram after 1985, many have a very great devotion. Such people have not had the fortune of having Sri Aurobindo and The Mother's darshan. Still as a reward for their deep devotion, these people today receive at the Samadhi the same spiritual blessings that Sri Aurobindo used to give to sadhaks before. Only that many are not aware of what they are receiving. Still these people return with a sense of fulfilment. I know many of them. If these people take full interest in these kinds of efforts, they will succeed. If the Spirit does manifest due to such efforts,

  • 1) As when our surface vital gets filled with peace and delight in response to calling, the inner psychic being will wake up and fill us with peace and delight.
  • 2) An enormous strength like that of an elephant will arise from inside.
  • 3) Opportunities that have come to us so far will get fulfilled at the same time.
  • 4) The body will become light and vibrate with the Divine music.
  • 5) Our feelings will be as sweet as immortal nectar.
  • 6) Mind will lose all limitations and expand into infinity.
  • 7) Knowledge will be self-fulfilling.
  • 8) All that is inside us will say in unison, ‘Mother alone is Truth.'
  • 9) Our status in society will rise by many levels.
  • 10) We will feel like we have taken a new birth.

   Our spiritual awakening will be certain without any doubt and questions will no longer arise. What has come to us like a streak of lightening can be made permanent, depending on the intensity of our efforts.

How to Achieve Peace

  There are three ways: 1. total consecration, 2. transformation, 3. for a period of seven to ten days the being must call Mother non-stop on its own. Mother and Sri Aurobindo have stressed very much the greatness of consecration. Even for one full minute, if our life is consecrated, it is possible for the soul to emerge in that brief span of time. If consecration is done for five full minutes, the soul can emerge for a moment and fully reveal to us the truths of this essay.

   Man's consecration is the first step of yoga and it is very difficult. For the very same reason, many people succeed only partially in it. If it is fully possible,

the soul will emerge in life and make real the earthly paradise that is part of its nature.

Why is Consecration Difficult?

   Consecration is handing our nature over to The Mother. Going from the surface mind to the inner mind, and making the psychic being there function, will be the result of handing our nature over to The Mother.  When we silence our mind, make it concentrated, and then consecrate our thought, it disappears from our mind and takes another form. It stations itself behind the heart and functions as a point of pressure. Thereafter, The Mother will function through that.

The mind becoming silent,

thought disappearing,

mind becoming light and free of burden,

a feeling of pressure at the back of the heart,

   and our personal intention not expressing in the work, are all signs of consecration.  As the ego is there like a knot, without it getting dissolved for at least a minute,  silence will not fill our mind. The mind becoming silent is one thing, and silence taking over the mind is another. If silence does take over, consecration will be complete. If the mind becomes silent, one has to continue the consecration until the take-over by silence is complete. Even when the mind becomes silent, thoughts don't disappear without a trace. Even if they do, the sense of mental burden doesn't go. Even if that goes, the point of pressure behind the heart doesn't arise. If all these things happen to someone through consecration, that is more than enough.

   Though many people are fit for consecration, they do it imperfectly due to lack of spiritual stamina.  The first thing such people should do is to prepare themselves mentally. The mind should accept consecration fully, but for this decision to be implemented one has to wait for a certain period of time. In the meantime, one can see the energies that get dissipated through the activities of our thoughts, emotions and our body are slowly getting conserved through decrease of outgoing movements. When energies turn inward as a consequence, silence will arise to that extent. Gradually, it will gain full control of the mind.

   This is the first step in the realisation of silence. The end will be the experience of the silent Brahman as happened to Sri Aurobindo through his guru Lele. What requires 18 births can be achieved in 30 years through penance. But for Sri Aurobindo that experience was possible in a mere three days. Generally a mind that seeks silence has to wait for years. If Sri Aurobindo alone is present in the mind, it is possible in a few months. I have met people with such a potential. It is possible for them. 

   When the mind seeks silence, that effort is opposed by thoughts and feelings already entrenched there. Therefore, till the mind gets free of these, silence will be hindered. The thoughts that have filled our mind are generally those that make our personality silly, shallow and shabby. Those who are freed of these thoughts will become serious, strong and steady but the former condition as well as the latter are both hindrances to silence. If one wants to escape from both of these, the mind should hand itself over to Mother.

   If already there is an attitude that it is The Mother who is responsible for our life and not ourselves, that will help the mind to become free of these entrenched thoughts and receive silence. Doing this on our own will take a minimum of 30 years.  It can be done in three days in Mother's atmosphere.  People with such an attitude can accomplish consecration and through that achieve their further ideals.

Transformation

   Basically, consecration and transformation are the same, only the methods are different. Though consecration means changing all qualities into their opposites, even changing one quality in this manner can help us achieve our ideal. The list of qualities is very long and includes such things as total selfishness, fundamental treachery, lying, laziness, greed, uncontrollable desire, pride, pessimism, meanness, fraud, cheating, seeking help from all and sundry, irresponsibility, loud talkative nature, etc. If people who can't serve one meal to another person, won't return borrowed things, and who insist on others sacrificing for themselves, effect a 100% total change in the opposite direction in thoughts and feelings, that is transformation. This is Sri Aurobindo's definition and not an explanation.

   If a man who can't happily give a meal to his own family people invites ten people every day and serves them special meals joyfully, his nature will change. When two people travelled together in a plane, one person looked for a place to put his suitcase. He removed the suitcase of the other person already placed in the rack and put his own there. What does transformation mean for him? Wherever this man goes travelling, he should offer his seat to someone standing. One person had the habit of asking everyone he saw for their pen, their cycle, and their help in carrying his luggage, etc. Such a person should instead offer his watch, pen and cycle for others' use. He should invite others to use his STD phone facilities. He must offer to carry his companion's luggage. Arrogant people should treat those working under them as their superiors. If any quality is changed into its opposite through action and through inner correction, it amounts to transformation. This will help the soul to emerge.

   If a person has been abusing someone habitually, he should change that behaviour into one of incessant praise of that person. When the mind accepts the change, submits, and begins to enjoy the change, the result will come.

The Call of the Being

   We call The Mother orally and mentally. On reaching saturation, if we stop the calling, it will continue on its own from inside. Such a spontaneous calling won't come easily and even if it comes, it won't continue. Such a continuation is necessary, however. If the surface mind becomes quiet, the inner mind will awaken. Behind the inner mind is the inner vital and the Being is beyond both the mind and the feelings. If the surface mind, inner mind, inner feelings all undertake calling one after another and come to a stop, then the Being may take up the calling. If we voluntarily call through our Being and then stop, the Being may take it up on its own. If that continues for 7 to 10 days, the soul will emerge. One may try to do this either by sitting still at one place or along with one's work, which means, one has to call Mother before doing each act. Neither of these methods is easy. Still both will give us results. If in either way the reader experiences for even a minute the emergence of his soul, he has reaped the reward of reading this essay. It is up to the reader to fully implement this.

   A person who is spiritually awake and strong may not have a good understanding. If he accepts that and agrees to stop all the foolish activities that prevent his soul's emergence, he will get some results.

    If a man who is clear in his understanding doesn't stress his negative qualities, and accepts a discipline of rejecting them, the negative qualities will change into positive ones. Finally the positive ones also will leave and pave the way for the soul's emergence.

   If a weak, fear-ridden person gets rid of his fear and gains some strength, it will do him good. Instead of mistaking fear to be humility, and thus deceiving himself, if he recognises fear as fear and prays to get rid of that, the fear will go. It will become transformed into courage and the weakness will turn into strength. In that way, his transformation will become complete.

   If a dutiful, honest person undertakes consecration, transformation and calling, his sense of duty will turn into desireless action and his straightforwardness will turn into strength. The ripening of the calling will bring out the soul. It will then guide us in our life.

The straightforwardness of a ripening sense of duty is a very fulfilling path.



story | by Dr. Radut