Life and Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

That's French for "the ancient system," as in the ancient system of feudal privileges and the exercise of autocratic power over the peasants. The ancien regime never goes away, like vampires and dinosaur bones they are always hidden in the earth, exercising a mysterious influence. It is not paranoia to believe that the elites scheme against the common man. Inform yourself about their schemes here.

Re: Life and Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

Postby admin » Thu Apr 18, 2019 1:51 am

19. WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU WHEN YOU COME TO MOTHER

Your clumsiness comes down, mind is clearer, health gains, life is happy, you are treated better by others, you rise in life earlier, your income trebles, unmarried girls get married, new rules come to bestow unexpected gains, quarreling in families abates, you get employed, feel happier, rewards come your way, recognition is greater, you score against rivals, diseases disappear, constantly people exclaim, "Where was I, where am I now, it is unimaginable!”, tempers calm down, you become a better person, acquire new capacities, you are invited on foreign tours, irresponsible children turn around, intimidating management becomes soliciting superiors, coercive partners quit, miserly partners buy you shares with their money, abandoned projects come to life, a nobody becomes a VIP, life prolongs after decreed years, incorrigible bad habits fall off, lost speech is restored, a mere volunteer becomes a chief minister, the greatest of dangers turns into the greatest of opportunities, lost wealth is restored in greater measure, properties offered for sale get thrice the price, annual incomes become monthly income and later daily income, low level employees rise to be top level executives, last level worker rises to become a CEO, final tragedies in life disappear in seconds catapulting you into the limelight, you end up buying 300 acres having aimed at owning one acre, record prices greet your produce, unforeseeable help brings in unimaginable abundance, complicated arrangements work out smoothly, unrealised ambitions given up decades ago come to life yielding results, life brings in the whole when you aspire for a part, uncultured relations put up acceptable behaviour, hostile society calms down into an admiring one, sickness disappears from the family, accidents disappear from vehicles and factories, strikes are forgotten by your workers, employers lose the attitude of exploitation, bankrupt divisions come to life, truant children become regular and rise to the top, vain people become sober, sight lost 20 years ago is restored in full, water appears in wells given up as dry, arch enemies acclaim your accomplishments, longed for posts are now offered to you, you become dominant in situations where you were submissive, invitations come from heads of administration and heads of state, journals solicit articles from one who has never published, rewards given at the end of career are offered at its beginning, retarded children improve enough to marry, neglected children become popular, timid men turn into respected leaders, coolies become community leaders, a thief becomes a wealthy trader, copious rain comes in the middle of summer to save the crop from a pump breakdown, you get a house in hours in a city where it takes months, opposite lawyer discloses favourable facts, a plot turns against those who hatched it, dismissal orders are dismissed at once, letters with no address reach safely, money lent to rogues is recovered, offensive spouse becomes pleasant companion, poor father is able to conduct three marriages in three years, offensive boss is compelled by his superior to write favourable reports cancelling bad reports, admission to medical college is secured without effort.
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Re: Life and Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

Postby admin » Thu Apr 18, 2019 1:52 am

20. TO ACCEPT MOTHER IN LIFE

In life we act according to what we like and avoid what we dislike. We choose our friends, our food, our job, etc. We take care to avoid certain people or certain foods. Some jobs are anathema to us. This is the basis for man to succeed in life. When you have people around you whom you like or when you do a job of your choice, you naturally meet with success. If for any reason a job irks you, you constantly look for an opportunity to get out of it. This is normal human life at all levels. When Rajiv Gandhi was invited to politics with a promise of future Prime Ministership, he said he would rather be a pilot. That is the force of liking. It is right in life.

Should a man say that he would like to accept Mother in life, he would be touched at this point and, only if he is willing to change this attitude, can he think of Mother. Mother’s attitude is to rise above likes and dislikes, relate to work, do not express your personality but express your duty, do it without expecting results, do it without any attachment to the work itself. This is high sounding and seems idealistic. Our first response is to shun it at all costs. But this is a truth of life. At home, at the office, with relatives, friends, at a function in public, we do exhibit this ideal so as to be approved of in the society. "Here is an order to pay money to flood-affected people. Several others have come. I feel guilty in throwing away government money. But it is not for me to question. I am here to execute orders. Let me do it." This is what one in government service does.

If we look at the level of life we have risen to, at this level we will be following the above ideal at several points, in several ways. All men who continuously rise in life can be seen putting away their personal preference for one reason or another and relating to work on hand. That is the way of progress. Mother says it is good one makes several individual adjustments but it is better one gets that ATTITUDE permanently. To acquire that attitude forever is to accept Mother in life. To begin with, this attitude is essential in Mother’s way of life, which culminates in the final ideal of "No Reaction". Man’s life itself is a reaction to the environment. For him to reach an ideal of no reaction is a very high goal. Mother says reaction comes from the ego. Mother’s yoga stipulates the abolition of ego. Hence her ideal of no reaction. Taken in the best of spirits, this is a great opportunity for progress. What is very difficult for man becomes less difficult and possible, if he invokes the help of Mother. Should one try for a life of no reaction, he will soon discover how enjoyable and powerful life is.

Normal human responses are expectation, greed, irritation, vindictiveness, jealousy, etc. If these get fulfilled, the pleasure one derives out of them is sharp, not wholesome. Certainly it is far more satisfying and pleasant to genuinely feel happy at a colleague’s promotion and congratulate him, instead of feeling jealous about his advancement. It makes you feel good and that is a way of progress too.

Man anticipates the results of his present work and starts building on them. That is one reason for disappointment and frustration. To do the work and concentrate on it and think less and less about the result is a good attitude. Whatever discipline you follow, whether it is the right attitude, no reaction, feeling happy about another or not thinking of results, LIFE will cross the limits of our patience. If we succeed in one discipline at one level, life, as if it is consciously testing our endurance, will present a stronger occasion. If you manage to keep your cool at the provocation of your being bypassed in your office in the matter of allotting work, life will present you another opportunity where your promotion will be bypassed. The patience you managed to exhibit in the previous case will give way now. Even if you succeed here, another opportunity more difficult will come to break your endurance. Life is bent upon testing us and we should pass that test at all costs. Only with that attitude can we succeed in an effort like this.

It is easy to keep patient when someone wrongfully prods you, but when your right actions are twisted and motives attributed, it is not so easy to keep quiet without reacting.

You may pass that also. Yet there is one more test. You have loved a person as a good friend for a long time. He feels now there is an opportunity for him to serve a rich man and earn his good will, if he initiates an act of gross betrayal of your interest. Not many can stand that situation. A few may pass that test too. Added to that, he calls into question your otherwise spotless integrity to justify his own betrayal. Not to react here is not given to anyone who does not base his faith in the Divine. If one outwardly succeeds in this, still the inner reaction is not easy to abolish. Mother says that in such a situation one has to love the man who betrays you. Surely you cannot love his betrayal of your interest. Mother says love in him the Divinity, in spite of his betrayal. To find that love inside oneself is a sure way of accepting Mother in life. However intimidated you feel in such a situation, if you accept the ideal and call in Mother’s support, She makes it possible to emerge unscathed. Also She gives you no further occasion in life of that description.

We cannot compare ourselves here with others, because not many people are following these ideals. We can constantly compare ourselves with the ideals we have set for ourselves.

If this ideal is too high and one feels he cannot attempt it, he can make a small but significant beginning that will lead to the goal in time.

1. As a first step, it must be possible to drop jealousy, hatred, offensiveness, selfishness, etc. One can make a full-throated effort, at least, with one of them.

2. As a second step, try to take another man’s point of view, train yourself to listen, be pleasant and try any such attitude.

3. At the physical level of action, punctuality, orderliness, regularity, etc. will help the efforts above.

4. At a higher level act on faith.

If you are not able to follow any of these with full significance, at least start following the external physical versions of them in behaviour.
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Re: Life and Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

Postby admin » Thu Apr 18, 2019 1:53 am

21. DIFFERENT TYPES OF PROGRESS

Man seeks comfort and happiness. If this is the goal of a man and he wants it from Mother, it is easy for him to attain it.

If comfort alone is the goal, a prayer with faith will bring it. If one needs his life to be happy too, prayer with moved emotion will accomplish it. For most, the whole life is covered by the twin goals of comfort and happiness. There are other types of progress in life sought by many.

• Steady success in the present life as a continuous phenomenon is desired by one type of people. To maintain the relation and devotion to Mother steadily is an inner condition that will yield this outer result.

• There is a progress whose rate is far quicker than we can conceive of. Here the final results are awarded as initial returns. Such a result comes to those who are dynamic and diligent in work. Life yields great results to these people at the end of a career. If Mother’s devotees are diligent and dynamic in their work, Mother gives the final results in the beginning. Mother gives in the beginning what life gives in the end.

• Moving to the next higher level, the lessee of a land becoming a landlord, taxi driver becoming a taxi owner, high school teacher entering college service, etc.—are some expressions of progress. To all those devotees who accept Mother in life generally—not merely as Divine, but as a guiding force in life—this type of progress happens.

• Moving to the top level, a servant becoming master, a low-level officer becoming a high-level executive is another type of progress. If devotees accept Mother in life, not in a general fashion, but thoroughly and fully, they meet with such success.

• Moving from the lowest of jobs to the highest of posts and likewise from level to level is the highest progress life can afford to anyone.

There are those who accept Mother in life thoroughly and fully and also open their faculties wider and wider to Mother. Particularly, they open to Mother in their vital and let Her expand herself in their vital.
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Re: Life and Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

Postby admin » Thu Apr 18, 2019 1:53 am

22. INSOLUBLE PROBLEMS

There are nothing like insoluble problems for Mother. But, in the scheme of things, in the life of the devotee many problems are left unsolved which he comes to describe as insoluble problems. If problems of that description are taken up, there are two approaches that lead to solutions. One way is to change the human trait that generated the problem. That is a radical, substantial solution that would not only offer a solution to the problem on hand, but would usher the willing individual into a greater measure of prosperity. The other is to seek a limited solution. Isolating the problem from the man and his life, insulating it from other influences, concentrating our efforts on the solution, we find a solution. Either is possible.

For the first solution, it is necessary for a man to know why a certain problem arose. If he knows it and he is willing to change in himself that trait which created the problem, then it is good. Once he makes that inner change, a prayer will readily remove the problem, however knotty it appears to be. In case he is unable to locate in himself any characteristic or attitude or activity that led to the problem, he should come forward to assume that one exists inside him and be willing to give it up, whether he knows it or not. Before taking up a prayer to solve the problem, he must pray to Mother to remove what in him has caused it.

The second is not an attempt to change one’s inside but to aim at a limited solution, which is a total solution to the problem. A dozen methods are open to him.

1. Intense Prayer: If one is unemployed for years or a girl’s marriage is getting postponed for 10 years or one is suffering from a chronic disease, an intense prayer will remove it. By intense prayer I mean that the devotee should go deep into himself, as deep as the problems constitute a worry in him, and from there resolve to pray to Mother. Prayer from that depth will be elevating. Should he reach such depth for prayer, he should set apart three or four days and be fully absorbed in it. The problems will melt away. As the devotee goes to a depth within himself and voices a prayer from there, the problem receives the full impact of the prayer whose intensity is equal to the problem. Naturally it gives way.

2. Deep Concentration: The first method of prayer and this concentration are the same in essence but their forms vary. This can be resorted to only by those to whom concentration is natural and easy. A concentration should be developed in meditation and tested for its intensity against the intensity of the problem. If it does not match, day after day the intensity of the concentration should be increased until it reaches the intensity of the problem. In a few days one can reach it. Once it is reached, the problem can be forgotten and one can lose oneself in the concentration. The problem gives way on its own.

3. Complete Consecration: Narrating to Mother in prayer or in imagination the sequence of events that led to the problem is called consecration. If it is done without reactions of mind, after a few sittings the knot will be broken. One significance of this method is all the harassing life events that led to the creation of this problem, once consecrated, will not recur in the life of the devotee anymore.

4. Offering the Karma: If the devotee knows now that his past actions have led to the present situation, he should offer to Mother the original acts so as to dissolve the karma at its roots. A father whose son had run away from home acknowledged that in his youth he had run away from home as a truant. His offering of his earlier actions now to Mother brought his son back to him exactly at the moment when his mind repented.

5. Offering of the propensities that have created the Karma: This is the same as offering of Karma but is deeper and has a greater purifying effect.

6. Constant remembrance of Mother: Instead of focusing on the problem, if one comes away in his mind from the problem and tries to remember Mother constantly, at the point the remembrance reaches maturity, the solution is found.

7. Gratitude: Mother says the god of Gratitude is the youngest in the life of earth. If one who is beset with a problem puts aside the problem itself and takes up other bright aspects of life and feels an intensely real Gratitude to Mother for each of them, before the list is fully covered, the problem will be solved.

8. Faith: A renewal of faith in the context of the present problem and fuller affirmation leads to a solution.

9. Higher Understanding: If one is of a mental bent, analysis of the problem in a wider context so as to arrive at a fuller understanding removes it.

10. Grace: Grace acts on its own. For us to bring ourselves to move Grace, all that we should do is to withdraw the faith from every other aspect. That makes Grace act. For instance, when salary arrears of 15 years are pending with the government, the mind will naturally rely on rules, procedures, etc. Grace cannot act as long as faith is there in any other aspect of life.
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Re: Life and Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

Postby admin » Thu Apr 18, 2019 1:54 am

23. PURNA YOGA

Mother says that She does not represent a teaching but is a creative force in action come on earth to expedite evolution. A teaching is an idea. One can accept a teaching and act on it. His willed action gives his own force to the idea. Non-violence, truth-speaking are such ideas that carry not a force of action but a force of idea. The idea becomes a force when the will of man lends its force to it. Electricity is not an idea, it is not a teaching or an argument. It is a force, a material force that can be used in several ways. Unless we use electricity, it does not come into action. All other theoretical explanations, however brilliant they are, are beside the point for electricity. Mother is a spiritual force. She is a spiritual force in mind, life and body. She emerges in full vigour and finds a play only when we let her work on the parts of our being. When so permitted Mother removes the shade of ego and desire from the soul, narrowness from mind and spirit, and darkness and tamas from the body. Man can achieve in a few days with Mother’s force what will otherwise take years or maybe centuries.

Lenin said electricity when combined with the soviet made communism. Scientific discovery of any description takes the society centuries ahead. The spiritual discovery of Mother can abridge millenniums into days and months. For instance, Mother says the sadhak can consider himself lucky if full yogic efforts bring out the psychic being in 30 years. She adds that in the atmosphere of the Ashram, if one lets her force work in him, the same can be achieved in a few months. Sri Aurobindo says this is the Hour of God when the Divine intends to take great evolutionary strides in a few short steps. He also adds that his yogic help can best be received only through Mother. It is the mission of Mother to distribute His grace to the sadhaks, devotees and the world-at-large.

Mother and Sri Aurobindo used the supramental force to deliver a mortal blow to death. The supramental is unique in more than one way. In mind if we have an idea and want to put it into action, we use the will to accomplish it. The idea expresses knowledge and the will implements it. Mind is so constituted that the knowledge and will can exist apart in it. One may have the knowledge without having the will. Another may have the will power without the knowledge of what to do. In a third, both may coexist without action. If we want to build a house, it is clear that the idea will not achieve it unless one decides to build it and swings into action. That is what we mean when we say knowledge and will exist separately in the mind. In the Supermind they are fused together. Knowledge there contains the will and will includes knowledge. To extend the analogy of the house, if one with Supramental Consciousness thinks a house can be built, the house is there instantaneously. In Her vision of the supermind, She explains how the supramental beings act just by thought. One of those beings wanted to have a garment and Mother says it was there on him at once.

Trikaladrishti, the knowledge of the past, present and future, will be a natural, permanent endowment of the Supramental Consciousness.

When we want to know about a person or a thing, we collect information, put it together, think and arrive at an opinion. That is the way of the mind, observation, sensing, thinking and inference. Supramental Consciousness has direct, total and integral knowledge of the persons or things it wants to know. When one endowed with Supramental Consciousness wants to know of another person before him, he turns his attention to that person and feels a total identification with him. The Supramental man feels the other man’s thoughts enter his own mind, his feelings enter into his nerves, making knowledge total and complete.

Spiritual attainments of any description can be imitated by adepts but, Mother says, the supramental attainments cannot be imitated. They do not lend themselves to be faked.

As Mother’s yoga advanced, Her sense organs began to change character. Instead of the physical ear hearing, the subtle ear started forming and slowly replaced the physical one. Her subtle sight came more and more to the front, pushing Her eyes to the rear. She narrates with interest how She sees with eyes closed. Her listening functions precisely when the speaker’s thoughts are well formulated and clear. She is unable to listen when there is lack of clarity in the speaker’s mind.

To take to Her Yoga, Her basic conditions were very simple. Avoidance of politics, liquor, smoking and sex were those conditions. To receive the most from Her, She demands sincerity down to the very physical. Her explanation of mental sincerity is to know one knows nothing. Vital sincerity for her is to renounce the enjoyment of success. She goes further and says if one can give up the right to happiness, one gets the right to Ananda. Material sincerity is to give all one’s material possessions to the Divine Work.

Mother often draws a poignant distinction between our life and the future life She has in store for us. One such dictum of Hers is: Explanations are mental, Power is Supramental. Her understanding of human nature crosses all known boundaries. She says that man now lies as never before and explains it is due to the fact that dying falsehood rises in vigour.

Until the age of 80, Mother did not sleep for more than one hour in the night. After 80, She changed Her sleeping habit. At night, She says, Her consciousness is as full as in the day. At various times energy of enormous intensities passed through Her. Once a sadhak received an ‘electric shock’ on approaching Her. She said an Italian discovered that the human body has such intensity of electric charge as to give a shock at a distance of 18 feet. Not only Her consciousness but even Her material substance of the body had acquired the power to spread out all over the universe.

Mother started hearing comments that She ‘looked’ tall at night and confirmed it was true.

Mother is a pre-eminent iconoclast. She says there is no destiny that cannot be changed.

In January 1969, the Superman appeared before Her. She saw no shadow of the figure. She says with the disappearance of the ego, shadow disappears too.

The passage to Supermind is marked by the heart stopping. This was an experience of Sri Aurobindo according to Mother.

Her list of mantras that She had been chanting runs to over 100. One of them She used often. OM NAMO BHAGAVATE is that mantra. The experience of Mother was that the greatest of inner disturbances is calmed by the chanting of this mantra.

She explained this yoga from every point of view. One important explanation: Absence of personal reaction is the basis of Purna Yoga.

Kundalini is the stored-up nervous energy in the muladhara chakra, situated at the tail end of the spine. When yogis succeed in their tapasya, they awaken this energy. It rises trumpeting like a serpent through the chakras in the heart centre and those in the head to join the thousand-petalled Lotus chakra above the head when the Yogi attains samadhi. In our yogic tradition awakening of Kundalini is a major landmark and soon leads to Mukti and Samadhi. So, it was understood that a Yogi whose Kundalini was awakened could not live for long. In Sri Aurobindo’s Purna Yoga, the whole process is in reverse. The Yogi does not awaken Kundalini. He surrenders his ego and intensifies his aspiration. The Psychic being buried behind the heart comes forward and slowly opens the Sahasradala centre, the thousand-petalled Lotus centre above the head. The higher spiritual energy starts pouring in, opening each chakra in succession from above downwards, ultimately opening the Kundalini chakra. This happened to Mother and Sri Aurobindo, and both of them, contrary to the traditional belief, lived for over 50 years after the awakening of kundalini.

Her Peace is as tangible as any earthly force, perhaps, more powerful than that. She used to say that if anyone invoked Her Peace over a crowd in commotion or a quarrel, it would descend at once. It is the experience of many people that quarrels subside in minutes, noise disappears, disorder turns into order when Mother’s Peace is invoked on the situation.

Mother comes to us [not] according to our strength, rather according to our weakness. It is not given to man to receive all that Mother is. At best he can receive what his greatest strength permits. Receptivity to Mother, to Mother’s Force, to Mother’s Consciousness, to Mother’s Grace comes from purity, faith, devotion, sincerity, etc. It is not so easy to fulfil any of these conditions in a good measure. So, we have to look at what we are, instead of considering what Mother’s conditions are. As we are today we have accepted several things. We have accepted our own innate ability, better still, our own inner goodness, etc. To receive Mother most, the immediate practical step is to accept Mother at the level of our greatest reliance. Let us accept Mother instead of social opinion, if society is the highest standard we have accepted. Should a person disregard society also and be guided by his own conscience, let him accept Mother instead of his conscience. That way one can receive the most from Mother.

To practice self-restraint is the basis of all yogas and any discipline. Should a man agree to practice self-restraint as directed by Mother, it will be a great discipline. She says one should not seek comfort, and one should not seek to do the work he likes. Instead he should evince enthusiasm in the work assigned to him. This is no ordinary effort. It means if one wishes to sit and gossip but is asked to sit and type, he can bring himself to do it as part of duty and obedience. Imagine what will be the effort required for him to enjoy his typing as he would enjoy his gossip. That is the type of self-restraint called for to follow Mother. The day consists of 24 hours and if one decides to practice such a self-restraint, 24 hours are enough to make great progress.

Mother explains purity as exclusive reliance on the Divine. She draws a distinction between trust and surrender. One can surrender to another knowing that the other would ruin him but still can bring himself to accept it. Trust is different. One who has Trust (in the Divine) knows that whatever the Divine does to him, ultimately it will be for his own good. Surrender can have a dimension of self-immolation, whereas Trust is always self-fulfilling and elevating.

Another way of making progress in accepting Mother is to raise oneself. Each man is at one level of existence and functioning. Suppose he tries to raise himself one step higher than where he is, he requires prolonged persistent efforts. When he succeeds, the success may be for a short duration in the day. We must accept the small success and try to extend it throughout the day. This is a powerful way of growing more and more into Mother’s Consciousness, since after completing one level, there is always a next higher level open to him, making his progress endless. Such an effort can be made to speak in a low voice, to keep Mother’s Presence, to practice any of Mother’s disciplines.

One other way is to fully exhaust one’s physical, nervous and mental energies in the work we do. A foreigner working in a project took to this and in six or seven days he was exhausted beyond measure. At that moment near a machine he ‘saw’ Sri Aurobindo standing in resplendent form, a vision rarely granted to seekers.
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Re: Life and Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

Postby admin » Thu Apr 18, 2019 1:54 am

24. PURNA YOGA & THE TRADITIONAL YOGAS

The aim of any yoga is moksha, liberation of the soul from the cycle of births and deaths. In Purna Yoga the aim is not liberation of the soul but transformation of human life into Divine Life. To start this Yoga the soul is to be liberated, but not from the cycle of birth and death. The soul is to be liberated from ego and desire. The soul that seeks its own liberation while millions of other souls languish in darkness is expressing an egoistic desire. In Purna Yoga the human soul must renounce the desire for individual salvation and lend its liberated status as an instrument for the greater fulfilment of the original Divine Intention.

Hatha Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Tantra, and Raja Yoga are the main lines of Indian Yoga. In all these yogas, the system chooses one part and purifies it through austerities. Purification leads to the liberation of that Purusha, the Purusha of that part. Through that initial liberation they attain Moksha, i.e. give liberation to the Jivatma. Hatha Yoga’s instrument is the body. It liberates the Annamaya Purusha and attains final liberation of Jivatma through that. Jnana Yoga uses thought in the mind as the instrument to work on and attains the desired result, initially releasing Manomaya Purusha. Raja Yoga uses the whole mind to achieve the same result. Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga use the vital and will respectively. All Indian Yogas use one part of the human being. Purna Yoga uses all the parts of the being—mind, vital and body—and seeks the release of Psychic being from the domination of nature, the Prakriti. It is called Purna Yoga because its instrument is the whole being.

In our tradition Kundalini awakens and rises through the chakras in the heart between the brows and the head and joins the thousand-petalled Lotus above the head yielding Moksha through Samadhi. In Purna Yoga the entire process is in the reverse. The Yogi releases the psychic being hidden behind the heart from the ego and desire. The Psychic comes out and hastens the purification of the entire instrument. This opens the thousand–petalled Lotus, first and lets the higher spiritual force descend through all the chakras down to the Kundalini, which is awakened at the end.

In the tradition we use one part to liberate the whole. This being an arduous task, naturally serious austerities are called for. Asanas, Pranayama, Japa, Mantra, Tantra, etc. are resorted to. In Purna Yoga, as the whole being is the instrument and the sadhak is not the human being but the Divine Itself, the path is broad. Hence all narrow austerities are avoided. Methods needed here are sincerity and aspiration. Only, they must be total and intense.

Tradition employs physical methods. Purna Yoga eschews physical methods and resorts to only spiritual and psychological methods.

Tantra Yoga, which occupies a place of pride in Yogas, starts with the dictum that MAN is a soul in the body. Purna Yoga begins with the assumption that MAN is a soul in the mind.

It is customary for the Jnani to look down upon the ignorant Bhakta, and the Karma Yogi frowns on the Jnana as insubstantial, etc. Each yoga is inimical to the other. In Purna Yoga, not only are all these three systems included, but each leads to the other, to finally integrate the effort.

Indian Yoga is a life-shunning path. Purna Yoga declares that all life is Yoga and embraces life in its fold. Rishis, Munis, Yogis, when displeased, are known to spell out a curse. Purna Yoga has as its experiential base ‘all life is divine’. It does not lend itself to curse anyone. If in its path an obstacle is laid, it looks into itself to remove the deep-seated curse, the eternal falsehood.

Traditional Yogas purify one part of the being and the ego of that part is dissolved, while the egos of the other parts remain. In Purna Yoga the ego in every part must be wiped out to bring the psychic being forward, the very first requirement.

Traditional yoga is done in the hermitages in the forest, away from life. Purna Yoga accepts life, lives it as the Divine Wills it to be lived, so that Life is divinised.

Guru is all in our tradition and even replaces God as far as the Sishya is concerned. The guru is God. Purna Yoga does not seek or accept a human guru. The Jagat Guru, the world Teacher in the heart of the sadhaka, is the only Guru.

Yogis pray to the gods Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna to grant them boons in their Yoga. The gods assent and grant the prayers. The Gods help the Yogi in his Yogic realisation. Purna Yoga aims at bringing down the power of the Vignana Loka, the Supramental plane that is above the plane of the gods, the overmental plane. If gods are accepted by the sadhaka, his yogic achievement will be limited by the limitation of gods, unless the participating god himself seeks spiritual progress through Purna Yoga.

Practice of this Yoga is not governed by Asanas, Pranayama, dress regulation, diet restriction, auspicious hours or even Mantras. Even meditation occupies a place of less importance here, not the pride of place accorded usually.

Indian tradition does not encourage women to take to sannyasa, yoga or Tapas. In certain disciplines there is even a prohibition. Mother accepts women with the same eagerness as men into Her fold. The only criterion for Mother is the fitness for yoga.

Our tradition says—and Sri Aurobindo also has said the same thing—that in sleep every human being goes to Satchidananda to be spiritually energised. The stone stillness of sleep enables the soul to raise itself to that height. Purna Yoga demands the same type of inner stillness in activity for its accomplishment.
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Re: Life and Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

Postby admin » Thu Apr 18, 2019 1:55 am

Part II

1. INTRODUCTION


Sri Aurobindo started yoga thinking he could gain enough yogic power to liberate India from British domination. As soon as his yoga revealed to him that India was free in the subtle plane, he realised that God had given him the work of emancipating humanity from falsehood and suffering. At the same time, there was someone in Paris doing similar work for God and meeting Sri Aurobindo in her meditations. In her mind she called him ‘Krishna’.

They met in Pondicherry in 1914 and discussed their plans to serve God and to finally dissolve pain and suffering from the earth. Together they agreed on a course of action that was a further step in Indian yoga. She returned to Paris because of the war and later joined him in 1920 to remain in India forever. She became known as The Mother. Indian freedom was their concern. She told Him that she saw India free in the subtle plane. Once that much was settled between them, they wanted to finalise their course of action to fulfil God’s original aim on earth.

Together they decided to carry Indian yoga to the next step from where Krishna left it in the Gita. Disciples in small numbers gathered around them to participate in their yoga. In contradiction to the Indian tradition that the body is false, they saw the body as the foundation for God’s Truth in man and believed it must be liberated from falsehood. Rama had come on earth to establish the Dharma of sattwic guna in the individual. Later Krishna went a step further and tried to establish God’s Dharma in collective human social life. Sri Aurobindo and The Mother decided to establish God’s Truth at a higher level, viz., in earth’s life, so that suffering, pain, falsehood, cruelty, and poverty in any form would be fully and finally abolished from earth’s life, not merely from human life. Rama worked for the individual, Krishna for the collectivity, and Mother and Sri Aurobindo for the whole earth. If about a dozen people could accomplish this feat in their bodies, God’s truth would descend, they declared. Hence they allowed seekers to collect around them. That was how the Sri Aurobindo Ashram was founded. Mother declared that in 1956, six years after He left his body, the promised Truth descended on earth, but for its full expression the earth was not ready.

The common man may ask where does he come in this scheme of things and what is the relevance of this yoga to his life. Apart from being an avatar, Mother is a mother to every created being. She comes to us as a mother too. Falsehood is found in several forms. They are poverty, illness, mental pain, human impurity, imperfection, disharmony, etc. If the ordinary man relates to Mother, Her Truth and Power reduce these forms of untruth and finally abolish them. If man, while suffering, prays to Mother for relief and is relieved from any of these deformations, he receives Her Truth and serves her. In other words, man comes to Mother to get his daughter married, his son employed, to restore his lost property, cure his illness, secure promotions and in this way he is serving God’s purpose of establishing Truth on earth forever. This book narrates several such experiences of devotees.
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Re: Life and Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

Postby admin » Thu Apr 18, 2019 1:56 am

2. THE MOTHER AND SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM

When a sadhak asked “since when were Sri Aurobindo and Mother here on earth,” Sri Aurobindo answered, “since the beginning of the earth’s creation.” To them, the Earth is a being, Mother Earth, a micro-unit of the Universe. Earth, they say, is an evolving being. At different critical stages of the Earth’s evolution, The Mother and Sri Aurobindo have come down on earth to personally guide the evolution. Today they declare that the evolution of Earth is at a critical stage, in the sense that Man is not the last term of evolution and the spirit of life is endeavouring to evolve the next higher species, the Superman. That is why Sri Aurobindo and The Mother have come down to direct and hasten man’s transition to Superman. The Mother was not an aspiring sadhak seeking spiritual realisation but a Divine Being presiding over the destiny of man.

She was born in France in aristocratic circumstances and was found to be a strange child since infancy. Often she would fall into a reverie and be lost to the world. At an early age she began to realise her special nature and was in pursuit of it, reading the best literature of the world, including The Gita. When her body fell into a trance, many spiritual teachers used to visit her and guide her in her sadhana. Among them there was an Asiatic figure whom she called Krishna. Her one aim in life was to discover the Divine inside and surrender herself to it. Also, she dreamt of creating a place on earth where she could provide all the material necessities to the seekers of the Divine, so that they could pursue the one aim she found worth seeking—their inner self-discovery. She was awaiting propitious circumstances for the fulfilment of this ideal. When she came to India, accompanying her husband during his election campaign, she visited Pondicherry. Ten miles away from the city she saw a column of light in the centre of the city and headed for that. Thus, She came to see Sri Aurobindo and at once recognised him to be the Krishna of her meditations. In him she found the same ideals as her own and took up work with him. After a visit to France she permanently joined him in 1920 and took up the spiritual work of Sri Aurobindo, around whom about 20 disciples had gathered.

Man acts to fulfil his needs and guides himself by his nature, known as human nature. This is selfish, aggressive, acquisitive, possessive, mean, vindictive, and so many other things that we know of. In his march towards civilisation, man learns to restrain himself and learns not to express these low aspects of human nature. In fact, human nature consists of high potentialities and low actualities. It is the lower side that often presses forward. When man advances further than the early civilised conditions, he seeks culture. He tries to change himself inside and express what he really is in his inner character. At the first stage of civilisation what changes is behaviour. In the second stage of culture it is character that changes. Below that remains the consciousness of Man, untouched and unchanged. Only when this changes from pettiness to nobility, from falsehood to truth, can human life turn into Life Divine.

The Mother’s aim is to found a place where sadhaks can gather to work for this change, which She calls Transformation. It is not given to man to bring about this change in himself. Only the Divine can do so. All that man is called upon to do is to totally surrender himself to the Divine. In practice, this is done by meditation, selfless work and an adoration of the Divine in one’s prayers. The triple key of yoga must be turned in the lock of the spirit.

In 1926 Sri Aurobindo had a further spiritual realisation and retired into total seclusion, which lasted until his passing away in 1950. In 1926 the physical organisation of the place fell to the lot of The Mother and She called it Sri Aurobindo Ashram. In the beginning all the sadhaks were doing all the works related to their maintenance, such as cooking, washing, gardening, maintenance of buildings, etc. All this work was given to them as part of their sadhana. The Mother herself did the cooking, served the food, ran the office, signed hundreds of papers, apart from conducting meditation, giving Darshan, listening to the spiritual problems of the sadhaks.

At 6:15 every morning she appeared on the Ashram balcony to initiate the day with her blessings. Sadhaks, who got up at 3 a.m., finished their own meditations and a good portion of the day’s work, and then assembled under the balcony to receive her blessings. Here she collected all the aspiring souls and lifted them upward, charging them with her spiritual energy. In those days there were only a few departments. Later, after the Ashram grew, many departments sprang up: the office, library, dining room, press, workshops, playground, art gallery, dispensary, farms, dairies, flower gardens, guest houses, legal department, audit department, and many others, too. Her sadhaks worked in all the departments and ran them as a service to the Divine. The heads of the departments met her in the morning and took her blessings and orders. Again at 10 a.m. she used to meet all the sadhaks individually and bless them. Once again, in the evening at 5:30 p.m., she conducted meditation and met each sadhak to give her blessings to them.

Four times a year she used to give Darshans known as public Darshans, at which a few thousand devotees gathered and received her Grace.
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Re: Life and Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

Postby admin » Thu Apr 18, 2019 1:57 am

3. PURNA YOGI SRI AUROBINDO

While standing on the threshold of Moksha, Swami Vivekananda said to himself that he would not accept the boon of heaven as long as millions of souls on earth were plunged in darkness. Thus, actuated by high selflessness, he denied himself the heavenly privilege. So did Buddha refuse to accept the liberation, moksha, that came to him. Sri Aurobindo began a parley with the Divine as to what he could do to wipe off sin, suffering, ignorance and darkness on earth. The Voice never failed to guide him. Now it asked him to totally surrender to the Divine Purpose on earth, so that the Divine might achieve in the world through him as a surrendered instrument.

Mother explains purity as exclusive reliance on the Divine. She draws a distinction between trust and surrender. One can surrender to another knowing that the other would ruin him but still can bring himself to accept it. Trust is different. One who has Trust (in the Divine) knows that whatever the Divine does to him, ultimately it will be for his own good. Surrender can have a dimension of self-immolation, whereas Trust is always self-fulfilling and elevating.


Yogis aspire for moksha and attain it through Jnana. Others open the heart of love and attain the same goal. Karma yogis resort to desireless work—Nishkamya—to reach heaven. All of them consider the body as false, an impediment. For this reason yogis disregard the body. This is our tradition. Sri Aurobindo realised that the Jnani who attained wisdom could spread light in the world but that would reach only a handful of high souls; the Bhakta, who in his laya dwelt in God’s chamber, in his Samipa poured the divine love on his devotees and followers, but the elevation of the masses at large was transitory. The Nishkamya Karma Yogi set a high ideal for other aspirants to follow. All this could touch vast humanity only on the fringe of its existence. After thousands of jnanis, rishis, and yogis have appeared on earth, the ignorance of the masses, their dense darkness, their infinite suffering still remain a reality. Sri Aurobindo realised that for this suffering to dissolve, it was not enough that several thousand souls reached the high heavens. The Divine should come on earth, bringing His light, love, and power not only to the minds and hearts of men but also to their very bodies, which had up until then been considered reservoirs of falsehood to be shunned and dreaded. All the tapas of the muni, all the yoga of the rishis are not enough to wipe out the falsehood of the body. These are individual efforts to reach the Divine. Sri Aurobindo realised that a higher power, higher than that of the aspiring yogi, should come into the human frame, if the dense falsehood of the body should dissolve and turn into divine light. His inner voice showed him that if a few—maybe 20—people could bring this higher light into their very bodies and their falsehood dissolve into light, the entire falsehood on earth would disappear, along with the age-old suffering and original sin. Perhaps this is analogous to one scientist making a wonderful discovery of a radio or a telephone and the whole ignorant world happily sharing the full benefit of it for no particular virtue of theirs.

Together [Sri Aurobindo and The Mother] they decided to carry Indian yoga to the next step from where Krishna left it in the Gita. Disciples in small numbers gathered around them to participate in their yoga. In contradiction to the Indian tradition that the body is false, they saw the body as the foundation for God’s Truth in man and believed it must be liberated from falsehood.


With this guiding star of Jnana held before his vision, Sri Aurobindo set his foot firmly on the path of Purna Yoga. Moksha, the final goal of yoga or tapas, becomes the first step in this purna yoga. Long before Sri Aurobindo came to Pondicherry, he had attained this individual mukti, but had opted not to leave the body and the earth. Later in the Alipore Jail, God showed himself to Sri Aurobindo as the Cosmic Divine, the divine dwelling in every heart. After his release from jail, the inner voice led him to Pondicherry and his effort became more and more concentrated. His Presence was an ocean of peace, a peace that could not be penetrated even by the raging cyclone through an open window. He was able to pass the Akanda Mounam, the grand achievement of decades of tapas, to The Mother while he was engaged in conversation with her husband, Richard. Krishna came down and incarnated in Sri Aurobindo’s body, a vessel of light, to complete his mission initiated during the period of the Bhagavad Gita. When asked by a disciple, Sri Aurobindo explained that Shiva was a part of his inner being. He told the world that his was not a yoga for attaining moksha or a yoga for any high human ideal. It was a yoga of the Divine. He aspired to surrender himself more and more fully to the Divine, so that the Divine might achieve His Purpose on earth for His own delight.

Retiring into his room, he did his yoga with all his might and found the response of the Divine always there to come down into his own body and consequently on earth through his body of light. The Divine was totally ready. Sri Aurobindo’s body was very pure. But that was not enough for the Light to come on Earth. A few more yogis of his level, maybe 10 or 20, had to be available with the same purity of being and purity of the physical, for the Light to descend permanently on earth. He was striking a new path, a highway to heaven or, rather, a way for heaven to come down on earth. When he realised that all his great heroic effort had succeeded in bringing the Light down on earth, he was happy; but when he saw that the descent was limited to his own body, he understood his mission was not completely fulfilled. Still, he decided that the descending Light should, at least, touch earth once. That was possible, he saw, only if he withdrew from his body and offered that pure vehicle as a receptacle for the Divine descent. Having seen that, he decided to withdraw himself, so that the Light might come on earth for at least a few days. He withdrew from his body in 1950. The Golden Light came down and occupied his yogic frame for four long days. He promised to remain in the subtle world to continue his work and not leave for heaven in pursuit of his own salvation.
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Re: Life and Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

Postby admin » Thu Apr 18, 2019 1:57 am

4. THE MOTHER AND HER DEVOTEES

Though the Ashrams and swamis are exclusively devoted to the pursuit of the Spirit, in view of the reservoir of power that accumulates in them, the common people approach them with a view to solving some of their insoluble problems. Rajen Babu was an asthma patient who was advised to seek the blessings of Ramana Maharshi. He stayed at Tiruvannamalai for a month in the hope of having his asthma cured by the Maharshi. A villager came to Gnanananda swami and said his cow was not yielding enough milk and wanted vibhuti from the Swami. Great souls always listen to such prayers and grant them, though these activities are outside the pale of their central pursuit.

Several people not necessarily interested in yoga have come to The Mother with their prayers and have had them answered. As this is a place outside of the Indian tradition, people generally come to Mother after trying every other avenue. Parents come when a child has lost his speech or when a boy has run away; industrialists bring their woes of strikes; unemployed graduates pray for jobs; girls who remain unmarried for a long time pray for early marriage; patients with incurable diseases visit the Ashram to find out whether there is any hope for them. All of them go back rewarded. If any problem or news is brought to the notice of The Mother or even the message enters the area of Mother’s power or is brought to the Ashram, it means that that problem can be solved. (Mother says she holds herself responsible for everyone who has seen Her, even if it is only for a second).

I give below some experiences that are within my personal knowledge: (1) Anyone addressing a prayer to Mother finds the prayer answered. (2) If someone who has no faith suffers from a difficulty, another who is interested in him finds his prayer answered. (3) Unintended, unconscious relationship with Mother or the Ashram wipes out existing difficulties or creates fresh prosperity. (4) Diseases known to have no cure disappear at the touch of Mother’s force. (5) Difficulties given to a devotee turn into great luck for him. (6) When a man faces a problem in life—having foolishly exhausted all the life possibilities—for which there is no known solution, Mother creates fresh situations just to answer this devotee’s prayer. (7) A long-suffering patient given up by his doctor, whose prayers to his own faith have not borne fruit, chooses to pray to Mother and is relieved. (8) Unambitious people who come to Mother without a thought in their head about progress in life find themselves compelled by circumstances to accept better situations. (9) When both rivals to a post seek Mother’s blessings, both are rewarded in time. (10) Men who have casually seen Mother find themselves freed without their effort from impending, grave punishments.

1. A boy of 20 lost his speech and was in the hospital for three weeks. He did not know Mother or Her power. Someone sent him a flower from the Samadhi and requested him to pray to Mother whom he did not know. On the third day he spoke one sentence. His older brother was overjoyed and rushed to tell everyone that the first signs of speech had come. When this brother went to the devotee who had spoken to him about Mother and returned home, he found that his younger brother had come home from the hospital and was speaking normally.

2. A man took to bad ways of life and was found to be getting worse with the passing years. Ten years passed and his family gave up on him. His wife and children were depressed. One of the family members became a devotee of The Mother and the prosperity of the family began to pick up. Soon it became a respected family in the area because of its wealth and status. What had not hurt the family earlier now began to make itself felt. The behaviour of this truant member became regrettable. The devotee member secretly sought some advice and began to pray that the truant member should change his ways. He was told that on the day he could pray to Mother without fail each time the problem came to his mind, the problem would be solved. The devotee intensified his prayer. Two weeks passed. One day the truant member broke permanently with his former friends, vowed not to return to those ways, went home and offered to take care of the family establishments.

3. A man was separated from his temperamental wife for several years. He was willing to put up with her in spite of her temperament, but she insisted that he not support his own family, which depended on him. The separation lasted years. When this man wanted to meet a friend of his in another location, they fixed a date and place at Pondicherry. When he went to meet his friend, he discovered that there was a crowd waiting to have the Darshan of Mother and they had somehow chosen that place. He too had Mother’s Darshan, met his friend and returned home. A week later he was reunited with his wife when his father-in-law brought his wife back to his house. She has remained with him since then.

A man was in a temporary government employment as an officer for four years. He could not pass the necessary tests. Therefore, he sought another permanent employment at a lower salary, which he got. During this period he happened to accompany some devotees to the Ashram and on the same day the scales of pay for his temporary job were revised to a high level. As he had exhausted all scope for remaining in the department on temporary assignment, he was in despair. He was advised that if he took full effort to pass the tests now, the Grace that gave him the fresh opportunity would also help him in all other fields. It was quite a task for him to secure an extended exemption, pass two tests that were anathema to him, and retain the job at the level of the higher revised salary.

4. A man was suffering from TB for 20 years, and his doctors told him that the bacteria was resistant to drug treatment. He was under the personal care of a doctor and moved to the town where the doctor had been transferred. A time came when one of his lungs had to be removed. It was at this time that he came to the Ashram. It was explained to him that if he took any medicine now with faith in Mother, the faith would cure him through the medicine. He opted for Ayurvedic medicine. When the doctor gave him powdered coral stone, he was disappointed as he had had enough of it already. However, after eight months he was cured and began to assume independent charge of his farms, often traveling long distances.

5. An officer came to the Ashram accompanying his superior, who was going to meet Mother. He also had Her Darshan and became Her devotee. Quickly his position was raised in his organisation. He became the junior-most at the top level. This was an all-India institution with great power. Officers at the top level would join together to act as they chose, but not always in the best interests of the organisation. This new officer at their level was a very honest man and hence an inconvenience to them. They moved strings and sent wild stories about him to the Ministry. The Minister became alarmed and had an inquiry ordered. The inquiry revealed that the devotee was the best of the top officers. The next year, the chief executive’s post became vacant. The Minister decided to appoint this devotee, overlooking more than ten of his seniors.

6. A foolish, dull boy struggled his way through ten years of schooling up to SSLC level and failed in the selection examination. In the next three attempts he also failed. Those were the days when only four attempts were allowed. Everyone advised him to take the exam only in the subjects that he failed in order to earn what is called a ‘complete SSLC’ degree, which is regarded as the same as the normal SSLC degree, except that he would not be eligible for government employment. The candidate was stubborn. He said he would rather fail than take the complete SSLC degree. He tried a fourth time and failed again. Now his poor family, which had been anxiously waiting for him to pass and get a job, was dismayed. At this time he came to see Mother’s Darshan. Someone who sympathised with him prayed for him, not knowing what to pray for. The next week the government changed the rules and allowed more than four attempts.

7. An orthodox Brahmin was suffering from an incurable skin disease with bad eruptions all over his body. He tried every medicine and prayers of all the usual forms. He made offerings at famous temples, but even though his suffering became less, the disease remained. His son was visiting the Ashram and suggested he pray to Mother. Being an orthodox person, he thought it was not right to pray to any person outside his religion. His disease as well as his suffering became acute. Without the knowledge of his son, he wrote to the Ashram asking for Mother’s flowers. The flowers cured him fully.

8. For five years, an old man was trying to sell 27 acres of land. He could not sell them because the land was sandy and nothing would grow there. At last he found someone and fixed a price of Rs.27,000. This buyer was anxious to buy, but for some reason the old man did not respond for several months. One day he visited his friend, a devotee, who had arranged for the sale and the buyer too was there. The sale talk was resumed, but the devotee friend was really anxious to know why the old man had not responded for a long time. The old man said he had had another offer for Rs.81,000 that had fallen through. The devotee then explained to the buyer that he had suspected some such thing had happened, because he had seen the buyer in one of Mother’s Darshans. The old man was exasperated because that offer was now lost. He was told that what once had come to him from Mother would not be lost, if only he were willing to pray. The old man took the clue and even visited the Samadhi to offer a prayer that the lost opportunity might be restored. When he returned home, the buyer was waiting for him and the sale was closed for Rs.81,000.

9. Friends of two presidential candidates approached Mother for blessings. She gave both of them Her blessings, some flowers from Sri Aurobindo’s Samadhi. One candidate waited for it, received it with care and kept it with him. The other candidate was more eminent and his friend could not reach him at all with Mother’s blessings. At last one day when the friend finally met the candidate and was about to hand over the flowers, some VIP’s walked in and took him away. Most unexpectedly, the first candidate was elected. The friend of the eminent candidate never had the courage to open the subject of Mother’s blessings to the loser. Years passed. Finally one day he mustered courage and handed over the dried flowers to the candidate, who received them with devotion. The next year this candidate was elected unanimously to the post. When asked by the press how Mother’s blessings dated many years ago had been delayed, he was unable to know why. He said it might be that they had been misplaced.

10. In a village feud two groups quarreled and one man was killed. The leader of the other group and his father were given the death sentence. One of their relatives was a devotee of Mother. He was disturbed. In the meantime, he found out that the leader had once visited the Ashram for Mother’s Darshan. The devotee was told that if a man had once seen Mother, he would not die this type of death. Encouraged by this, the devotee approached his relative, the convict, with a request that he pray to Mother. His punishment was set aside on appeal.
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